The native goblin tongue sounded like a line of profane words and foul-mouthed explicatives. Aaron would not have been surprised if that was the only way this race knew how to communicate—when it came to their native tongue. The taxi had stopped, and their driver was talking to someone on the radio who was answering in the goblin tongue. Aaron rubbed his bleary eyes and adjusted the dark spectacles to better protect his eyes from the sunlight.
“Yu’s twos pay in cardz or coinz?”
Aaron – Investigation Skill 10 vs. Normal DT – SUCCESS
As Tommy shifted awkwardly to check his pockets, Aaron looked out the window as something passively caught his eye. Paranoia latched hold of Aaron, and the dwarf leaned back from his window in trepidation. “Drive.”
“What?” Tommy paused in his pocket search.
“No cardz, no coinz, me’s no drive!” The goblin stated very matter-of-factly.
“Drive!” Aaron demanded.
“Payz!” The goblin grinned wickedly—though Aaron was pretty sure that mouth was not intended to look like a grin.
“Hold on,” Tommy said, shoving Aaron back. “I got coins, friend.”
The goblin watched Tommy carefully as the large bronze elf pulled some coinage from one of his pants pockets. The goblin took the coins offered by Tommy and inspected them between thumb and forefinger. Aaron was creeping back into Tommy’s half of the back seat when the goblin barked a shrill exclamation in goblinesh and quickly drove further down the road.
The taxi screeched to a halt a block away at the corner of an intersection. The cabby spat out more goblinesh before stating, “Coinz gets yu’s theez far. Outz befores he’s shaat’maz me’s seats!”
Tommy frowned slightly but nodded and got out of the cab.
Aaron shuffled and huffed as he worked out of his side of the taxi. “You’re about of valuable as a quarter-karat milkstone.”
The goblin said something back, and Aaron was pretty sure he heard “dwarf” in the goblinesh before the cab sped away from them. The ordeal left a sour taste in the dwarf’s mouth, and Aaron repositioned his glasses to keep the sun out of his eyes.
“What got you riled up back there, buddy?” Tommy asked while getting his bearings on the area. “Seems like a nice neighborhood.”
“Axemen were guarding the house.”
“Axemen?”
Aaron nodded. Axemen were part of the local Yakuza chapter, and the Yakuza were among the great elites when it came to international gangs. The Yakuza operated across the world and had more than one chapter in the city. Aaron had some virtual interactions with a couple Yakuza chapters in the past, but he tried to avoid any direct interactions. Yakuza that interacted directly with hackers often ended in excessive violence. Except now, he needed to get into the safe house, and there did not appear to be any way to avoid a direct confrontation.
“Did you catch their levels?” Asked Tommy.
Aaron shook his head while digging through his trench pockets for a cigarette. He frowned and cursed under his breath when none could be found.
“Let’s get closer. If their levels are low enough, I should be able to take them without a problem.”
“Dude, their Axemen! You don’t mess with Yakuza, which means you don’t mess with Axemen.”
“Buddy,” Tommy smiled and thumped his chest. “Don’t doubt me. I can do this. Just check their levels for me.”
Aaron’s equipped Investigative skill offered some unique advantages, such as improved passive observations and the ability to see the stat sheets of others. Anyone could try to do this, really, but looking at someone else’s stat sheet without asking was like looking through their bathroom window when they’re in it—you just don’t do those things unless you’re a creep or looking for trouble. If you’re clumsy, the person you’re checking out will be able to feel that you are looking at the stat sheet. Also, if they’re a high enough level, certain details on their stat sheet could be blocked—which means you have to make an increased effort to see around the blocks. So, while Tommy could try to see the Axemens’ stat sheets, Aaron would have a better chance of seeing into their stat sheet bathrooms without being detected.
Tommy had already walked up the sidewalk, staying close to the tall fences that were a border between the sidewalk and home lawns. The muscular elf paused, took a knee, and waved Aaron over while pointing. “You can see their legs from here.”
Tommy taking a knee put the elf roughly at the dwarf’s height. A large tree with drooping branches hung over the fence, obscuring most of the view of the safe house. However, underneath the low-hanging leaves, Aaron could see the feet and lower legs of the sentinels standing on either side of the front door to the safe house. The dwarf steadied his breathing and focused…
Aaron – Investigation Skill 8 vs. Normal DT – SUCCESS
Stats of the two Axemen began to scroll across Aaron’s vision. They were both two levels below Aaron and Tommy and only had a couple of skills equipped, Axes and Dodge. “They’re both minions. Low levels, couple skills, and a couple Moxie—no strikes.”
Tommy grinned wide, “I got this, buddy.”
The great, bronze islander elf stood and strode out to the front of the safe house. He turned and directly faced the two axemen, who jumped slightly at the sudden appearance of the imposing elf. Both axemen raised their respective hatchets but then looked to the other for what to do next.
Tommy did not wait for their response. The elf barked out a command in his native language while raising his thick, tattooed forearm perpendicular to the ground. His other hand rose and sharply slapped his raised forearm while stomping his foot down, placing himself in a wide-stance squat. Tommy thrust his arms and pounded his chest, chanting and calling out to his ancestors, still in his native tongue. He stomped another foot forward, maintaining the squat, increasing the tempo of the song-like chant. Faster, his strong arms rippled as muscles flexed and bulged, hitting his shoulders, slapping his thighs, thumping his chest. He stomped another foot closer, and a ring of ancient island fire sigils began to light around him.
Tommy – Ailoa Afi Skill 9 vs. Normal DT – SUCCESS Area of Effect skill activated.
The sigils lit up and burned with a flame that remained on the circle’s perimeter. The circle quickly expanded to a level 6 area of effect. The Axemen could not dodge out of the circle in time, nor could they resist the effects. As the skill’s effect enveloped the minion-level Axemen, one dropped his hatchet and ran away screaming in fear, while the other Axeman fell to his knees and begged for mercy.
Aaron did not quite understand the mechanics of island magicks, but Tommy said it was the ancestors who flowed through him that provided strength in the magic. It was an interesting loophole to avoid registering as a magic user, as current protocols did not cover ancient ancestors as a source of magical powers. Aaron grunted, not liking magic as a principle but unable to argue with the elf’s effectiveness.
“Where is the key to this house?” Tommy demanded of the begging Axeman.
Whimpering for mercy, the Axeman pulled a key from his pants pocket.
Another successful passive check from his Investigation skill alerted Aaron to a new threat. The soft whirring of drone propellers caused the dwarf’s ears to perk as he pressed close to the wall and opened his Hacklet. Pulling up a wifi detector, Aaron pinged multiple sources in and around the safe house. One was swiftly moving down the side and toward the front of the house where Tommy was.
Tommy heard the drone as it rounded the corner of the house. It fired a stun projectile, and Aaron watched his friend successfully grab the key before dodging the shot. The drone’s stun round hit the Axeman center mass, causing him to collapse to the ground in electric convulsions.
Aaron got to work isolating the drone’s signal and hacking into its controls. Success scrolled by as Aaron got into the drone’s control codes, but someone on the other side of the signal was hacking back and trying to firewall the dwarf’s attempts at control.
“I’ve got the drone in a standstill, working on gaining control,” Aaron called out while scrambling through code on his Hacklet. “Get inside. There’s another drone hovering, and I’m pinging two other sources in the house—probably MIST techs.”
“I’m on it, buddy!” Tommy ran back up to the door, used the key, and charged inside.
Aaron placed a few daemons to lay in wait for the MIST tech’s hacking and continued to work on the drone’s interface.
Aaron (Hacking) vs. Mist Tech – 10 vs. 6 Aaron succeeds.
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One of the daemons triggered and unleashed a responsive attack at the MIST tech’s system, halting the tech’s progress and giving Aaron the edge he needed. The drone’s interface opened, and Aaron could see all of the drone’s central control protocols. With a few more keystrokes, Aaron had the visuals on and was quickly piloting the drone through the front door of the safe house.
“I’ve got control of this one,” Aaron’s voice crackled over the drone’s comm as it came to settle just above and behind Tommy’s shoulder.
Tommy gave a thumbs-up as he quickly moved through the kitchen, living room, dining room, and bathroom. Despite his size, the islander elf was incredibly light on his feet, and he moved swiftly through the house with barely a sound. Aaron kept the drone swiveling to ensure no one was attempting to sneak in from behind.
“Wait,” Aaron whispered through the drone as Tommy approached the stairs.
Tommy paused, and the drone whirred quickly up to the second floor. As Aaron piloted the drone up, he panned steadily to try and see around the first corner. A stun projectile flew past the drone’s camera and impacted the wall behind with a spark of electricity. The other drone was in the dwarf’s sights, but Aaron only had 2 of its three projectiles left. He knew they started with four pings on the wifi, which meant if two of them were drones, then the other two were likely the techs—Aaron did not want to waste a round on a drone.
The dwarf’s drone pitched forward as if to ram the tech’s drone, but Aaron quickly dipped down, flying fast under the adversary. He steered hard right and flew into a bedroom, quickly panning the scene. There! The other tech was absorbed in his screen and almost didn’t realize what had flown into the room.
Aaron (Hacking) vs. Mist Tech – 8 vs. 7 Aaron succeeds.
The MIST tech leaped up from his console but didn’t have a chance. Aaron fired the stun round and hit the tech in the chest. The tech locked up and fell to the floor, convulsing from the electricity.
Mist Tech vs. Aaron (Hacking) – 5 vs. 3 Aaron fails.
Aaron jumped as his drone’s vision lurched and went grainy as it fell uncontrollably to the ground.
“There’s one left up here, Tommy!” Aaron yelled through the comms before the drone went offline. Aaron slammed his Hacklet closed and raced to the safe house.
Charging through the open front door, the dwarf could hear thumping and shuffling on the second floor. The dwarf ran up the stairs, taking some steps two at a time. When he came to the top, Aaron saw the large elf smiling and standing over the body of an unconscious MIST tech.
Tommy flashed his brass knuckles. “He didn’t want to talk.”
Aaron smiled and got to work inspecting the unconscious tech on the floor. The dwarf pocketed a few gold coins and verified the individual was indeed a tech from MIST but did not find anything else significant on the tech.
The upstairs had three bedrooms and a bathroom. One of the bedrooms was staged as a type of control room, while the other two looked like minimalist bedrooms. The tazed MIST tech was still unconscious, lying on the floor of one of the bedrooms. In that same room, Aaron saw a bat on the floor next to a smashed drone—that was enough explanation for the dwarf to know what happened to his hacked drone. The other drone was on the floor in the hallway; one of its rotors was crunched, probably from the scuffle between Tommy and the other tech.
“Check that guy for me, Tommy. I’m going to check the hardware.”
Tommy answered with a nod and went to check out the tazed tech. Aaron went to the control room and woke up the console inside. It did have a hardline, and it required a simple login to get in. Aaron plugged his Hacklet into the console and easily bypassed the login. He quickly scanned through the logs and MIST data, looking for more information on the canceled party line of sombreros.
“Got some coinage,” Tommy called out from the other room. “Not much else here. These guys seem to live pretty simple lives.”
Aaron grunted loudly in response. It was nice not needing to hack through encryptions and firewalls, but finding this discontinued line of enchantments still wasn’t easy. Lots of cheap party favors, pseudo-enchantments, some successful lines of temporary gag-like enchantments—Found it!
“Says here they made about a hundred of these enchanted party sombreros that were meant to serve about a fifth of tequila,” Aaron called out while reading the text on the screen. “The tequila could only be served while someone had the sombrero equipped on their head… The enchantment would be void once the hat was removed from the wearer’s head… product was recalled due to ‘enchantment unreliability’…”
Aaron heard Tommy lightly walking and clearing the rest of the upstairs. After calling out all clear, Tommy could be heard relieving his bladder in the bathroom and sighing loudly. Aaron chuckled as he continued to scan the console for more information.
“Hold on,” Aaron continued loud enough for Tommy to hear. “Says they recalled and collected ninety percent of the sombreros. The unreliability of the enchantment ranged from varying quality of the tequila, varying proofs, and varying amounts… In three recorded cases, the sombreros’ enchantments caused the hats to be permanently equipped to the wearer’s head. When this happened, the hat would not be limited to a fifth of tequila—a limit has not been determined with the amount of tequila that would come from the hat…”
“Sounds like we’re on the right trail,” Tommy said as he entered the control room and pocketed his brass knuckles. “Think the boss’s gnome is one of the ten percenters?”
“Yeah… says here there’s a register of all the individuals who purchased the sombreros, but I don’t think this gnome would be on that list.” Aaron continued to skim through the data that scrolled across the screens.
Tommy strolled over to the only window in the room and peeked through the blinds. “How safe is this safe house?”
“I dunno,” Aaron answered absent-mindedly as he peered over his round shades. “Why?”
“Because I think some guys are here to make this house safer.”
“What!” Aaron tore his focus away from the screens to face Tommy.
Tommy smiled and shrugged as he re-equipped the brass knuckles. “It’s more of the Axemen gang. I’ll greet them at the top of the stairs, but you may want to hurry this up, buddy.”
“What in the dark depths!” Aaron turned back to the screens, fingers rapidly typing commands, queries, and responses. “How’d they know so fast?”
“Maybe one of those techies sent out a mayday when we came to the door.”
Aaron nodded at Tommy’s assumption as he tried to find demographic data on the list of registered sombrero users.
A voice yelling angrily in a foreign language could be heard from downstairs. Aaron didn’t know the language and wasn’t interested in learning it right now. The only gnomes on the register had returned their party hats. As Aaron suspected, their gnome had not registered as a purchaser.
Tommy (Pugilist) vs. Axeman – 6 vs. 2 Tommy succeeds.
Aaron heard Tommy’s fist connect with something and then the subsequent sound of a body tumbling down the stairs. More voices, shouts, and tumbling could be heard as the body collided with other bodies that all fell down the stairs. Success scrolled by as Tommy dodged a hatchet that flew by and stuck into the doorframe of the control room. More yelling and clambering as the Axemen made another push up the stairs.
Further searching of the databases accessible from this location was proving futile. Aaron needed to find a new angle to figure out where this gnome was and find it fast.
Aaron – Hacking Skill 9 vs. Difficult DT – SUCCESS
There it was. A particular MIST server repository was located in a community library… that was in the heart of Yakuza territory. Aaron cursed.
Axeman vs. Aaron (Dexterity) – 3 vs. 4 Aaron succeeds.
The dwarf nearly fell out of his chair, ducking the hatchet that flew over his head. Success scrolled by his vision as Tommy punched the Axeman, who made it to the control room door. The Axeman collapsed to the floor, but Tommy had to duck and move fast as another Axeman attacked from behind, swinging his hatchet.
“You ready to go, buddy?” Tommy called out as he blocked the other Axeman’s swing by grabbing his opponent’s arm, then giving a swift, cracking headbutt. “It’s getting a little tense here.”
“Almost done!” Aaron scrambled back into his chair while Tommy swung the Axeman by his arm, using the gangster as a living club against another charging Axeman. Success scrolled by as both gangsters cracked the floorboards.
Aaron – Hacking Skill 7 vs. Impossible DT – EXCEPTIONAL FAILURE (-2 Modifier awarded) Hacking attempts detected. Intrusion responses initiated.
“Fracking slag!” Aaron yanked his Hacklet connection before the intrusion response could wipe his data.
Tommy yanked the hatchet from the doorway and threw it at an Axeman downstairs, but a failure message scrolled by. “What’s wrong?”
“Some impossible-level security bot caught my hacking attempts,” Aaron answered. “I think I know how to find the gnome, but I can’t do it here.”
“So it’s time to go?”
“Time to go, Tommy.”
The sound of a window breaking was heard from one of the bedrooms, and a drone suddenly flew into the hallway, firing a stun projectile. Success scrolled by as Tommy dove to the floor, barely dodging the stun round. More Axeman renewed their vigor and made a second attempt at storming the stairway, all charging with raised hatchets.
“Follow me!” Tommy yelled. The great elf leaped up from the floor, barreled through the control room, and jumped through the only window in the control room.
Glass shattered, and the blinds tore apart, then the elf was gone, leaving painfully bright sunlight beaming through the broken window.
“Are you fracking crazy!?” Aaron yelled as he looked out the window.
Tommy brushed off some debris as he smiled at his successful stunt. “Jump, buddy! I’ll catch you.”
Aaron’s angry mutterings were sharply interrupted as a thrown hatchet was suddenly impaled in the wall next to his head. Cursing, the dwarf dove out of the window.
Teamwork roll: Aaron (Dexterity) – 2 Tommy (Strength) – 5 Teamwork succeeds
Aaron collided clumsily into Tommy, causing Tommy to fall to the ground but leaving both unharmed. Angry shouting came from the window above as the Axemen crowded around the broken window. One of them leaned out and haphazardly threw his hatchet. The elf and dwarf did not wait to see what the gangsters would do next—they both ran from the safe house, putting distance between them and danger.
“Run, run, run!” Aaron called out, even as Tommy was already running ahead of him.
“Where do we go?” Tommy asked over his shoulder.
“Away from here!”
Tommy quickly ran left at an intersection, then ran right at the next intersection. They were on a backroad that was typically used for maintenance workers. Ahead, there was an orange maintenance flag with a sign that read maintenance at work. No one was around, but there was an open manhole with caution tape surrounding it.
“Come on,” Tommy called out as he picked up the pace. The islander elf quickly hopped over the caution tape and descended into the open manhole.
“Oh, no.” Aaron stopped at the caution tape. Stories of his grandfather’s exploits killing wererats in the sewers haunted the dwarf’s brain. “No, no, no. We’re not going down there.”
Tommy stopped his descent. “You’ve got a better idea?”
Screams and yells echoed distantly off the building walls. It sounded like the Axemen. Aaron cursed as he looked back, then looked to Tommy. The elf’s head looked up from the sewer entrance.
“I’ll carry you, buddy. Don’t worry.”
Aaron cursed as the foreign yelling became louder. “Fine. Let’s get moving through this coprolite dungeon under the city.”
Tommy disappeared through the manhole. Aaron cursed again, then stepped over the caution tape and descended into the darkness of the sewers.