Down in the Hole (Murdoc)

You catch Boyce trailing behind Amelita, who walks with far more purpose through the stripped interior of the place. The smell of mold is almost overwhelming, and the incessant dripping sound from some unseen pipe is almost enough to stir the beast.

Spoiler:

The pair navigate through to a back-office piled up with those metal desks which were ubiquitous in the '70s. Amelita runs fingers over the dust while Boyce strains away at a door missing its handle, prising it open with a screwdriver. Once it's open you see a set of stairs leading down.

Spoiler:

As Boyce slinks down the steps, Amelita stares right at you before going after Boyce. It's hard for you to get a read on whether she's spotted you or not. It could just be a fluke. She leaves the door open as she creeps down after the Daeva. You can hear voices downstairs. One is low and mellow: Lidelle. The other one is unknown to you and far more high strung. Boyce turns around and stares at Amelita, clearly unsure as to what to do.

The moment that Murdoc heard Lidelle it slowed him up more then Amelita's lingering gaze. He used Lidelle as a contact, and the last thing he wanted to do was alienate him if he didn't have a replacement for him lined up. Hopefully even if Amelita did see him she saw someone else, she couldn't have broken through both of his defenses... could she? Murdoc didn't go too much farther, he hadn't gotten as far as he had by taking undue risk. He decided that he didn't need to be in room to hear what was going on, he'd make out the second man later when their were less people in the room that could potentially spot him, if Lidelle was a Mekhet their was no way in hell he was getting close to him in a room full of kindred with guns. Murdoc activated his Auspex and listened in on the conversation.

Pitches shift slightly as your senses alter. You hear another person beyond the door, pacing, breathing.

"I can appreciate that. But I can't sell what I don't have. Whoever your man is... he got it all twisted." Lidelle offers. He's calm, but the lie's transparent.

"Over here. Look at me. You might not know me from Conant or Black Bottom or wherever the fuck you came up, but I'm not hearin' that. You don't see bank from me 'cept on a sure thing and you sure as shit don't see me swallowing what you're trying to serve. Ten large. Last offer. We can make this a transaction or you can fill my fucking ashtray."

You recognise the voice. It's Bob Brodniewicz and for all the threats, he sounds a little desperate. He's a Haunt with the Carths. Richer than God, they say, mostly from gutting things like unions, businesses and buildings.

Boyce's ear is against the door, but the looks Amelita's exchanging indicate that she can hear just fine. Her expression grows dark when Brodniewicz makes his threat.

Murdoc waits a bit. He's much more confused then when it started, and he had new players entering the mix at every turn complicating the equation. Murdoc continued to listen ready to bolt if violence started. He Aura reads Boyce and Amelita some more, but waits to pick up any clue as to what the hell was so important about the phone. To see if there was some connection with the murder, or something special about the information on the phone itself.

Your head rings as two gunshots ring out. All of a sudden, Boyce is hurtling past you in an attempt to flee before you can get a read on his aura. Amelita remains, but her aura is the same as before. Distrustful. She seems unmoved by the burgeoning conflict on the other side of the door and simply crouches and stares at you knowingly.

"Here's how it is. Money's off the table now. Cough up the phone or we can burn you right here and turn the place over."

You hear a weapon being reloaded and then a grunt from Lidelle.

"Where's the phone?" Another gunshot. Nothing from Dunham.

"Where's the phone?" Another bullet, another grunt.

Amelita glowers at you and from her crouched position alongside the door, pushes it open.

You see Lidelle slumped against a wall. You can smell vitae. He looks up at the now-open door. He, too, makes eye contact with you, with a weary, puzzled expression.

"Find out what the fuck that was," Brodniewicz mutters, and a scarred, severe-looking woman ventures into your corridor, toting a pump-action shotgun. She passes Amelita by.

Murdoc doesn't wait to figure out who's doing what, the moment gunshots started to go off he steadily began to get out of the area. He had no idea who Lidelle or Amelita was seeing when they looked at him, though their was the slightest glimmer of unmanifested anger that they saw him at all being that was his the only skill he cultivated. He put his pride away and coolly started to walk into the undercity away from the commotion. He lit a cigarette at the same time attempting to reactivate Cloak of night and Familiar Stranger, whether they saw him or not he opted to hide before he'd run. He was as calm as someone may be at the beach, despite people with shotguns stalking his way, and annoying hall monitors. He contemplated double backing to see what happened to Liddele, but that'd have to wait until he knew he was ok.

Spoiler:

[I'm not sure that Cloak of Night and Familiar Stranger stack, or that they work like that. I figure the drawback of a free invisibility power is that it's a per-scene deal]

((If you say it doesn't work like that I won't argue, I probably wouldn't have gotten that close had I known that, because all that sneaking around is for nothing now that everyone knows it's me. I'll just cloak of night and if the shotgun lady sees me I'll do it))

(I'm not sure myself, but I'd go for either adding a willpower/vitae cost to the discipline or limiting it to per-scene thing. As things stand Murdoc knows that a Haunt and a Shadow are staring right at him, but the shotgun toter can't see him.)

((Technically it'd be 2 clashes of wills. One for the Cloak one for the Stranger. I'm pretty sure you can activate powers in Obfuscate that are defensive, like vigor, or celerity but I'm not an expert on the subject so I couldn't say with 100 percent certainty. I'll spend the extra vitae to activate Familiar Stranger and Obfuscate, and a willpower to make it work. I'll abide by whatever you roll and I'll not bring it up again I'll just assume that however we do it this time is how we're doing it all the time))

((Don't worry about it. I always assumed that Obfuscate had a vitae cost to it, so I was like 'wait, how much vitae does he have, or is that willpower?'))

((Neither one of those are vitae powers, they're both automatic))

The shotgun toting woman strides past you, subconsciously gazing in every direction but the spot you occupy. Amelita glares at the thug's back, producing a butterfly knife from her frayed hoody.

Another shot rings out, scoring a graze in a piece of the wall next to Lidelle's head. Crumbs of drywall rebound into the Shadow's face, causing him to screw up his eyes and groan. After a few moments you hear the staccato report of a Mac-10 exchanging fire with the shotgun's roar. A couple of grunts. More gunfire. Another burly stooge makes his way out of the make-shift interrogation room, but finds only a blade in his side as Amelita tackles him, and the pair crash through a water-damaged wall. The sudden stink of hot, coppery blood tells you that he's mortal and that he's losing the fight. Lidelle suddenly disappears.

The only entrance you have knowledge of lies beyond Lidelle's office.

[Roll Extended Wits+Investigation at -5 to locate another way to Undercity]

Murdoc puts out his cigarette on his shoe when the shotgun woman charges his way, figuring he didn't need to be calm anymore he could go right back to being focused. Helping Liddelle was not his first priority, but he didn't wish death on him. Seeing he disappeared chances were good that he'd make it out. Murdoc decided it best to find another way out and work on this project from a safe distance. In fact he attempted to hurry to see if he could catch up to Boyce before he got away. He texted Doris swiftly. "Do you think you can snag Boyce's Distributor Cap, he's on his way but I don't want him to leave yet". All Murdoc needed was a few moments with him alone and he was confident he could get a few tidbits of information out of him.

Spoiler:

The firefight continues somewhere off the path you took, echoing out after you. By the time you've made your way topside the chatter of automatic gunfire is the clear victor and you're covered in dust. You feel your cell chime or vibrate or whatever it does as you receive a message.

'i didn't know what a distributor cap is'

Nevertheless you see your car blocking in Boyce's ride, though Doris whereabouts aren't immediately apparent. You hear heavy footsteps from within the cannery.

Murdoc looks around for Boyce, while putting in a quick text to Doris, 'steer clear'.

Murdoc drops his cloak of night and activates his familiar stranger. He gets in the drivers seat of the Sunfire, hotwiring it without a thought. When Boyce came around the corner hopefully he'd see someone who was an ally, he'd honk his horn, and with any luck he'd hop in with him in the heat of the moment.

Another minute passes before Boyce leaves the cannery. His shirt is scored with powder-burn holes, revealing pulped flesh beneath. Wearily he makes his way over, jerking his head up sharply as you honk your horn.

"Hey! Fuckwit! You're blocking me in..."

The aggression goes cold as soon as he lays his eyes on you. Whoever he's seeing, he isn't pleased.

"What the fuck are you doing here? Actually, fuck it, I don't care. Tonight's been long enough already..."

He raises up the Mac.

"Move. 'Else I blow you away and move this thing myself."

Murdoc puts the car into gear and lets Boyce out, whoever he was seeing he wasn't going to get anything from him tonight. He turns the corner and texts Doris the street he's on, and tells her he can pick her up

Boyce frowns as you roll by. He gets into his car and makes a hasty retreat.

Doris texts back to meet her at a corner near the Davison freeway.

Spoiler:

Murdoc can still hear faint gunshots from below. He also notices Boyce's car double back round a block and idle.

Murdoc continues to drive towards Doris' location. He casually watches Boyce in his rear view. He was doing everything in his power not to have to resort to violence, but he was really trying his patience. He lit a cigarette and turned on the radio calmly.

Sure enough, Boyce's piece of junk appears in your rear view. It's hard to tell whether he's trying to tail you covertly and failing or if he's trying to send a message to whoever he thinks you are.

Traffic's nonexistent in this part of town at this time of night. You're about a block away from Doris' meeting place.

Murdoc shakes his head, he probably saw his ghoul, or assistant or whoever that guy was, but that didn't matter anyways now. He did a quick turn swerving down the first available alley and disappeared as best as he could. He turned down the cars music, as he whipped into a U turn

Spoiler:

You lose Boyce easily. He ends up parallel to the Davison Freeway before leaving your line of sight. Doris waits on a corner opposite, wary of the Freeway.

Spoiler: