Mobile Guard Section One (IC)

[Fri]

"I guess I'll... watch the fort..." Albert shrugs his shoulders.

After everyone who intend to join enter the coach, it races toward the harbor. After some while, it stops suddenly.

"Sorry ma'am." The driver says. "Can't move any further. There's a crowd on the road."

[smuchmuch]

"A crowd ?" Arthur take a quiet step outside of the coach (it looks like they'lll have to walk anyway),and start walking quietly in order to see what's up head. are they blocking the port, facing the other direction, do they look angry (it's usualy easy to tell, by the noise), waitng for something in particular...
In short, are they just curious gathering around a spectacular accident or an angry mob ? Given the situation, non would be too good.

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I supose Notice would be indicated.taking 10 for a 20

Assuming the situation doesn't look too hostile or dangerous:

The detective approaches one of the person gathered. With his coat covering his police insigna for now, there no real way to say he's not a simple curious bypasser who just stumbled on the scene, as he asks nonchalantly one of the gathered personn
"Hello sir. may I ask what is going on ?"

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Just a genral note.
In general, I'm not going to crank the gather information and investigate checks just yet if it looks I can just ask in character. Because, as much as I want to test conspiracy theorist and want to get the game flowing, I still prefer doing things though roleplaying rather than dice rolling

[jiriku]

Deacon looks ahead, trying to get a good view of the obstacle they face. How large is the crowd? What's their mood? Are there any nearby alleys the team could use to maneuver around the crowd, either in their vehicle or on foot? Can he see anyone in police uniforms, or any large transports that could be the squad's missing supplies?

To Marie Lestrade, he asks, "So, what's this captain of ours look like? I might be able to spot him in the crowd."

Notice check, taking 10, is 23.

Fri:

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As a reminder, Deacon sees ten times farther than a normal human, can read the emotions of the people in the crowd, and can see through solid objects, including people, buildings, and whatnot. If dust, smoke, or something else interferes with his vision, he'll simply switch to Golden Gaze and he can see through that too.

[JeminiZero]

Jirai hops off the coach along with... the Walking Stick Man and Gun Man, and takes a look around. His training led his eyes to wander upwards, searching for rooftop routes that a trained Shinobi could traverse easily, in case he had to go ahead alone.

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Take 10 on Notice for 17. Includes looking for alternative overhead paths. Wall Climbing and a Grappling Hook should enable him to get from anywhere to just about anywhere else along the top of buildings.

[Sornas]

Brennan poked his head out of the wagon, glancing around with a sour expression on his face. "The hell's goin' on?" He said impatiently, hopping out himself to get a better look.

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Taking 10 on Notice as well, for 20.

[Grey_Wolf_c]

"I knew I should've sprinted ahead on my own..." says Ta'Lab to himself. With all the others looking at or even moving towards the crowd, Ta'Lab instead gets down the other side, leaving the helmet and breastplate behind. Removing the weapons, but making sure his vox and badge are firmly held on his necklace. Then, with a practiced jump, he turns into a wolf in midair, slipping out of the remaining clothes.

The shock, as always, is intense. His senses get attacked by the thousands of smells and sounds that were muted before. In a brief moment, he takes in what is going on and indeed, since smells stick around for long times, what has been going on for the last few hours. Ta'Lab runs to the crowd, and starts slipping between the sea of legs.

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Take 10 in both investigate (18) and gather information (20) whichever skills are relevant: notice (24) & search (24). Use super-senses to get a picture of not just what is going on right now, but what has been happening for the last... couple of hours? More if needed, but basically going back to the start of what's going on. I'm happy with "color-smells", if that's how you want to do it, Fri.

I assume that as a slightly-large wolf, I shouldn't have trouble slipping through the crowd, but if growls and a few snips are needed, then Ta'Lab uses them to get through

[jiriku]

A Rhea strips out of his gear on a public road, leaps into the air and morphs into a wolf, then streaks off, Deacon just stares, open-mouthed. He looks into the crowd where the wolf has vanished, then back at the ground where Rhea's clothes are piled. Then at the crowd. Then at the ground.

"You ain't nothing but a hound dog," he sighs.

Shaking his head, he hops out of the coach and collects the clothing and stows it in the police vehicle, figuring Rhea will probably be very naked and very in need of it shortly.

[Fri]

The crowd doesn't seems to be dangerous. Something is happening, but this might not be what you're expecting.

In the middle of the crowd, some town guards are making human fence to keep the crowd away from a particular clearing beside a warehouse. A bit beyond that, there's a pile of vehicles with the town guard's marking. Two of them are bigger than the rest, and covered with heavy cloth.

"I'm sure that he didn't mean that..." You can hear the reverberating voice of a sound that had been magically amplified.

"No! I totally meant that. She's my sister and I know her better than anyone! She's a whore and a bitch!" If you're close enough to the clearing you could hear a slurred speech.

"Nobody talk about my honey that way!" another slurred speech, and a crash.

Even from the edge of the crowd you could see it. Two ARMs are currently engaged in something that can only be described as a brawl. Though it's clear that both of them aren't very good at it, because there are more damage on their surroundings compared to the actual damage on the mechs. The ARMs look burly and painted in poseidon project's blue livery.

On top of one of the guard vehicle, you could see a middle aged man looking both vaguely exasperated and very amused, holding a conical magic item.

jiriku

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strangely, you can't read the middle aged man's emotion. It's either that he's very good at guarding his mind, or he got some sort of magical mean to block your magic eye

You could recognize that both pilots are very drunk.

well informed

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You've heard about this man. The infamous Captain James Marlowe. Also known as ‘the daydreamer’ , ‘the old man,’ and ‘the irresponsible.’ He got half dozen more nicknames, none flattering. Mostly infamous for being very lazy and ineffectual. Sectors led by him always have the lowest number of criminal arrest.

ARM recognition

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You recognize the ARMs. Well, it’s just because it’s one of the most common mech ever. It’s AW-80 Ogre, one of the most widely used construction mech. It’s used for everything from heavy lifting, construction work, to heavy duty mining. It’s very basic, cumbersome but very strong. In fact it's one of the strongest ARM

[Grey_Wolf_c]

Staying well away of the fighting mech, Ta'Lab skirts the edges and moves at top speed, jumping over whatever is in his way, making his way to the cloth-covered objects, and slips under one of the cloths.

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50 mph and Jump should be enough to do this, I hope

[Sornas]

Brennan, having hopped out of the wagon and made his way through the crowd, using his small stature to duck and weave between people, ((I can make a check for this if you like, Fri)) looked up at the ongoing fight and promptly facepalmed.

"Oh come ON!" He yelled, most likely not carrying very far in the roar of the crowd. "Don't involve them in your fight!" He grumbled and kicked the dirt. Watching the fight for a few seconds so as to get a feel for how dangerous these guys really could end up being.

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Using Assessment on both:
(1d20+10)[14] 1
(1d20+10)[26] 2

[JeminiZero]

Jirai takes in the situation at a glance, before returning to Marie. "Ma'm! Two workers are apparently drunk and fighting ineffectually in construction mechs. Their brawl is happening just beside our first supply shipment, thereby preventing approach." Jirai says while scratching an impromptu map on the ground. "Local Townguard has established a perimeter, and their leader is trying to talk the two men down. Your orders?"

[jiriku]

"The lady wants us to stop them before someone gets hurt, pajama-boy!"

Deacon finishes stowing the were-cop's clothes and shifts his eyepatch to uncover a gleaming, golden eye radiating a soft, lustrous glow. Gently but firmly, he begins to push through the crowd towards the crated Paladins, making much less effective progress than Ta'Lab.

"'Hey, folks! Police mobile guard, coming through here! Make way, wilya!"

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Switching to Golden Gaze, can I confirm that our paladins are under the two larger crates? Assuming I can reach one, can I see a way I could access it quickly, or does it seem likely that we wouldn't be able to get them uncrated without significant effort?

[Fri]

Ta'lab reaches his target easily.

Meanwhile, back in the coach, Marie facepalms. "Oh bother. Thank you, Jirai. Come, let's rendezvous with this so called leader of the local town guard."

Marie weaves through the crowds without any subtlety. "Town guard here, step aside!" she says as she raises her baton.

After a while, she reaches the human fence. "Ah... Sweet Marie. I wonder why you're kinda late..."

As you moves closer to the vehicle, you could see the man better. In contrast with Marie's proper uniform and hairdo, this man's uniform looks mussed, and his hair that's just starting to grey looks like hasn't touched a comb for a while.

"You're the late one you old man!" Marie starts to fume.

"I assume that you've brought the new pilots. Or are you here to help me talk them down?"

"In fact, I brought the pilots." Marie calms herself. "Now what is the situation?"

"Two workers from the poseidon project got into a drunken binge all night long, and somehow they managed to get themselves into their ARMs. And as you can see, they wrought quite some havoc. They blocked the road for a while, and managed to thrash our supply wagon.

I don't think any of the Magic Knight would want to bother dirtying their robes for this. Normally, we'll just wait until their ARMs run out of energy before arresting them. But this might be the perfect job for the new Mobile Guard."

"Okay." Marie assesses the situation. "Mr Black, go find Mr Rhea and start the Paladins. I assume that they're somewhere in that pile. Let's try to contain this incident."

"And before you do that." Captain James reaches into a wooden box. "Here, I managed to save the vox-caster attuned to the mobile guard's frequency. This should be better than yelling to each others later." He says as he throws some red crystal toward the mobile guard's member.

"What a job eh?" He says as he watches the two ARMs trying to pummel each other.

jiriku

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You confirm that the Paladins are under the clothes, and if you manage to enter them, freeing them from the pile should be easy

sornas

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Both of them are just construction workers, and they should be less competent at fighting with ARMs compared to trained guard pilot. In fact, their moves are wild and staggering and even worse than how you think construction pilots should move.

But if the data sheet of the Paladin was true, both of the rampaging ARMs should be considerably stronger than the Paladin

[Grey_Wolf_c]

Under the heavy cloth, Ta'Lab changes back into human and scampers his way up to the cabin, where he fastens himself in. There was a whole list of pre-start checks he'd normally have to do, but mentally classifying this as "emergency start", he skips directly to "wake the elemental, start the magic pump, check alchemical levels are green, good to go". Checking he has full control of all fingers, he pulls the cloth off the machine and steps forward.

Lights flashing, siren ringing loudly, the giant white figure steps out. A voice rings loudly, "Police! Freeze! What's going on here, then?"

More privately, Ta'Lab calls Deacon on his Vox Caster, and says, "I'll try to distract them, but I'd take it as a personal favour if you get into the other AG-98 with some haste..."

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I had already mentioned Ta'Lab having a Vox back here, not expecting to get it later, so I'm not sure if my call to Deacon is kosher.

Also, I've taken police blue as the loud speaker for the Paladin.

[smuchmuch]

Maybe the most impressive thing is not so much ARMs themselves but the rapidity to wich we have becomme used to them. Arthur gaze fall from he two titans, crashing against one another to the surrounding crowd as he makes his way to the police vehicles.
Seeing an Arm do somme heavy lifting as becomme such a common thing nowaday that it take something like this to grab our attention. Yet they are power. Of a sort. With only a few we can now acomplish what would have taken hundreds before. Turning a costal swamp into a city, though from one nest of crabs to another you'd be hard pressed to make difference sometime, forest into plains... The loud thump of one of the giant feet creating an impromptu restructuration job into the wall of a nearby warehousse bring him back to reality and a simple drunken brawl into potential catastrophy. Trully we live in enlightened times.

"Sir" Saluting the captain, the detective grabs distractedly one of the vox caster as one of the Paladin unveils itself and prepared ifself to join the clumsy choregraphy of creaking gears and rampant proprety damage
Just in case this break out of control..." In Sambre experience, drunks can get really stupid when you try to break them apart. he has no idea how these two, manegeed to get the focuss to get into a,nd start their ARMs while being obviously completly plastered but... You certainly have to admire their determination into get to the far end of idiocy They're not going to listen to reason and comme along peacefully at this point.
"...Maybe you should ask your man to push the crowd a little further from the scene ?"

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So we have only two pilot characters ? (I just realised now that Jirai wasn't one.)
You'd think in a game were the robots are more or less supposed to be focuss there's be more pilots character than non pilot ones.

[JeminiZero]

As the first Paladin rose from the cargo pile, Jirai quietly unbuttoned his grey hobo coat. In a smooth sweep, he slid it off his arms, over his head, and into compact bundle, revealing a custom fitted black Shinobi Suit underneath. He kneels down to place the bundle on the floor, dirtying the less than pristine ground with his far from pristine coat. At the same time, he grabs a fistful of pebbles before standing up. It looked like there was going to be a fight, and it was best if he got prepared.

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Don't expect too much. He's just going to throw pebbles as a distraction, to give you pilots +2 to Attack via Aid Another.

[jiriku]

Deacon looks at the massive construction mechs and their drunken pilots, and at the ground he has to cover to get to his Paladin.

"Oh in the name of all that's mad and crazy...!"

He dashes wildly for the Paladin, running around behind Rhea's mech to use it as cover from the melee. Without that mech, he's useless at stopping a raging ARM.

However, the VOX caster will come in handy.

"Hey, Pajamas! How many viable avenues of escape do these guys have if one of them tries to run for it? Can we block some of those routes off with carts or wagons? I don't want to have to chase them through the city.

"Arthur, Brennan, can you get these people out of here? There's likely to a be a stampede if the crowd is still packed in when we start shooting.

"Lestrade! ....Interesting choice of undergarments. I didn't know those were legal here. Are you free Saturday night?"

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Full run for the crated Paladin, free actions to talk to teammates and hit on the commander. VOX communications are italicized.

[Sornas]

Seeing Deacon run for the Paladin, Brennan's expression visibly soured, not that any of the team were likely to see him at the moment. Grabbing the tossed Vox Caster, he held it for a moment to switch it on, using his own magical abilities to amp-up the volume in Ta'Lab's and Deacon's receivers, so as to more clearly make his point.

"Fine. But if either of you hurt them seriously, I'm going to have your heads on a damn pike. Got it?"

He looked towards the human wall and called out to them. "Hey! Let's get these people out of here! All of you! Move it!" He was clearly irritated, barking orders to the regular guards with little regard for Marie or the Captain. As far as he was concerned, there was no time.

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Just tell me if you want me to make a check for this Fri, he will show his Mobile guard ID to any regular guard who questions him, but I can do Intimidate, diplomacy, or maybe bluff to make him seem more important than he really is, though he's not trying to convince the crowd, he's just getting the guards to help get them out.

[Fri]

Everyone winces as one of the Ogre misses the others with its charge and destroys some part of a nearby warehouse.

Then the paladin rises from the rubble, a white, shining knight that rise as high as buildings. It doesn't need to look like that, in fact simpler design like the ogres makes a lot more sense. But its looks are specifically designed to awe citizens and intimidate criminals.

Though, all of its subtleties are lost for the drunks.

"Hey, what are you?" Says one of the drunkards.

"You see it too? Leave us alone you giant... shining.... white thingy. This is our private business!"

Ta'lab can say that his distraction is a success, because they stop to watch him at least for this instance.

"Everyone! Our main priority is to prevent them from injuring other citizens and to stop them from destroying more of their surrounding." Marie says to the Vox. "Captain, my men are right. We should move the crowds further from the scene. And, hey!" Marie blushes and covers her front with her hands. "What are you talking about, Mr Black? What I wear under my uniform is my own business... wait that's not the important point..."

"What are you doing here kid," say one of the guard to Brennan. "This is a dangerous place, stay farther if you want to watch."

"No, the kid is right." Captain James smiles and stands up. "Shoo, you guys!" He says to his magical voice amplifier. "Move farther! There, there's a nice building there where you can have a better vantage point to watch this! Come on help me with this you guys" He bellows toward the crowds, then whispers to the guards.

The arrival of the paladin both help and distraught the evacuation. The paladin radiates an aura of authority that makes the crowd feels like they should listen to the guards today. But it also makes the crowd want to see what is it going to do next. City dwellers always love free entertainment.

[JeminiZero]

Jirai glances at the heavily built Construction Mecha before something occurs to him. Whispering into the Vox Caster, he asks. "Before you pilots begin attack, considering the Paladin just came out of its box, are there any weapons on it?"

He then turns briefly to the crowd (while holding the pebbles behind his back). "Please listen to the Townguard and retreat from the premises."

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Diplomacy/Bluff/Intimidate check to Aid Another (whoever is going to try and drive the crowd back): (1d20-1)[12]

[jiriku]

His back turned, Deacon completely misses Brennan's expression...and his point.

"Of COURSE I'm not going to hurt them. They're just drunkards, it's not like they're marauding dragons come to burn the town and carry off our young virgins or something! Jeez!

"Rhea, I'm on my way, but watch your flank! I've got to get this bucket of bolts started."

Reaching the remaining paladin, Deacon shoulders his way under the tarp, vaults into the cockpit and slams the cold-start levers, his adrenaline pumping and his breath coming in ragged gasps.

"Now GIDDYUP you worthless overgrown lawn ornament!"

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Pilot check if it's necessary to quick-start the Paladin:
(1d20+17)[33]
Oh, and, umm, Jirai makes a good point. Where are the arms for our ARMS?
Also, do we have an initiative sequence of any kind here or does it not really matter?

[Fri]

"You most likely could find your weapons in that pile" says Captain James. "Now Henry, Mike, tear down that other gate!" Now the guards are directing the crowds to a building at the higher grounds with promise of better view of the fight.

(I guess the initiative run should start now. Anyway, I guess just this time we don't really need initiative. I run by the "your turn-enemy turn" style of combat to simplify things. Basically the initiative list would be Ta'lab, The two drunkards, and then the rest of you could move.

And I also don't think that we need map now.)

[Sornas]

((It's alright to do non-action RP between our actual actions though, right?))

Brennan did a double-take, struck speechless for a moment by Deacon's words...and then promptly started laughing.

"You...you thought I meant the DRUNKS?" He laughed, almost looking like he was struggling to stay upright. "You can toss them into the ocean for all I care, hell, maybe it will sober them up some."

He waited at the same location as before, not going with the rest of the crowd, instead electing to stay close to the battle in case support was needed.

[Grey_Wolf_c]

"Hey, what are you?" Says one of the drunkards.

"You see it too? Leave us alone you giant... shining.... white thingy. This is our private business!"

"Good, good," says Ta'Lab, "Your business is your business. But see, right now you ain't gonna get no business done. Now, if you got out of those junk piles and had a proper fight, on foot like the gods intended, now that would show who's right, and who's wrong. The lady ain't gonna think no good of you havin' picked the working robot, ain't she? Nah, she'll respect a proper fighter that can, ya know, defend her."

While he is talking, Ta'Lab looks down at the mess of boxes around his ARM's feet, looking for something he can use to defend himself if this gets even more out of hand

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Diplomacy - (1d20+5)[23], I suppose?

Edit: umm... nice roll. Maybe with some other encouragement (i.e. aid another rolls), we can actually solve this police style instead of adventurer/butcher style?

[Fri]

"You know, it's still none of his business, but what he says does makes some sense."

"What? And you want me to step down so you can stomp me?"

Both of them stop fighting at least, but they're still in a fighting stance.

"Great job, Mr Rhea! But careful now!" says Marie. "They could easily start pummeling each other again. Uh... any idea what should we do now?"

[jiriku]

"I'VE GOT AN IDEA!"

Deacon levers his paladin upright and three steps forward, planting it squared-hipped. He cracks open the cockpit and hops onto the superstructure of the mech, waving his broad-brimmed black hat at the two combatants to draw their attention. He fixes his gaze on the labor housing the fellow who spoke in agreement with Ta'Lab's words.

The paladin tosses aside its covering tarp and stands astride the police cart, gleaming a brilliant white in the morning sun. A deadly serious and quite fully loaded revolving crossbow is held at ready in its hands, covering the nearest civilian labor.

"How about you come on down first, so he knows that you're no coward and you mean what you say. My friend here will make sure there's no funny business. Do it now."

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1. Free action to quickdraw a revolving crossbow from the equipment stack.
2. Move action to hop up to a commanding position atop the cart (which should hold my weight, since it was bearing two Paladins until a moment ago).
3. Free action to Outmaneuver my target.
4. Standard action to perform the Cover action. Are the optional Aimed Shot rules allowed (Mech&Mangap.77)? If so, I'll aim for his torso. If not, I'll just take a regular shot. Per the cover action, my shot is withheld until I specify. I'll take the shot if he does ANYTHING other than immediately power down his mech and dismount on his turn.
5. Free action to crank up the Paladin's speakers and speak impressively but with no effect.
6. Dice rolls will be added in a post below.

[Grey_Wolf_c]

"How about you come on down first, so he knows that you're no coward and you mean what you say. My friend here will make sure there's no funny business."

"What about it, neighbours?" says Ta'Lab, picking up on Deacon's cue, "I'm not a lying man, and on my word there won't be no stomping. You'll be free to solve this the proper silverportian way, my friend and I witnesses, all fair and square. Deal?"

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Let me know if Ta'Lab's "street language" is starting to get out of hand. I know what I mean, but in the process of dumbing it down and adding as many triple-negatives as I dare, I might start getting a little too obscure

Not sure if this counts as "help another" in the "hard convince"/mind control going on. Should I be rolling something?

[JeminiZero]

As the 2 pilots try to talk the drunkards out of their mechs, Jirai tries to sneak around the scene of carnage, and climb atop a nearby warehouse. Specifically, he is looking for a place where he is far enough from the ground to avoid getting punched by Mecha, but close enough to the scene to throw rocks at them.

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Jirai is going to pretend to be the team sniper.

Stealth: (1d20+9)[16]

[jiriku]

Dice rolls for my post above:

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The Outmanuever action is an opposed maneuvering check. I'll use piloting. If I beat his maneuver check, I'll take a +2 to hit on my Cover action.
(1d20+17)[37]
The Cover action is essentially a readied attack. I'll cover him and take my withheld attack if he does ANYTHING other than power down and exit his mech on his turn.
For my cover attack, I'll use All-Out Attack for +5 to hit, taking -5 to my Defense. Higher ground (on a cart vs. climbing out of the rubble of a warehouse) gives me another +1 to hit. I'll assume the Outmaneuver check works and include +2 for that as well; subtract 2 from my result if I fail to outmaneuver him.
(1d20+20)[36]
My target is his Defense +5 if the optional aiming rules are allowed, or else just his Defense otherwise.
Damage is 15+6+1/2 the amount by which I exceed his Defense (capped at a maximum of 26 damage). Again, I'm just covering him, so the shot is withheld if he powers down and exits his mech at the first opportunity.

Edit: Wow, nat 20 on the Outmaneuver check. Bet he's wishing he didn't have Captain Morgan and Jose Cuervo as his co-pilots.

[Fri]

"That's a huge crossbow"

"You know, I'm starting to think that his idea is sounding better and better."

"Yeah, I don't think that this should involves the guards anyway."

One of them starts to drunkenly climbs down his ARM.

"I'm down here you harebrained oaf. Come, is your mouth is as big as your fist?"

The other drunk climbs down after him.

"Okay, that's enough everyone." Says Captain James. Before any of them manage to land any punch, the town guard swarm them and pin them to the ground. "You both could cool your head in the jail. If you still feel you want to punch each other after that, be my guest."

Marie leans to one of the crate as if her legs turn into jellies. "Great... great job everyone."

The crowds start to boo. They don't want their free entertainment to end this peacefully.