ShadowRock! Chapter 18 (Patreon)

Chapter 18: Afterparty

“Ms. Rhodes, we have a bit of a security problem.”

I had to restrain myself from groaning out loud. Nothing good came from one of the venue’s employees coming backstage to say something like that after a show. Best case scenario, a few fans had gotten extra drunk, and were being disorderly in the parking lot. Something about how worried the guy was made me think we weren’t that lucky.

“What is it?”

The employee took a breath, and said, “Unfortunately, it seems that the crowd has drawn the attention of a less reputable section of the public. There are gang members outside. One of the bouncers recognized their colors, calling them Fleshtearers. Right now, the manager is asking everyone to stay inside, and he has already called the APD.”

That got my attention. There was a nonzero chance that the ghoul gang had managed to get something off the cybereyes the gangers we took out by the factory, and figured out enough to link it back to us here. Not bloody likely, though. Maybe a 5% chance, I’d say, especially since we didn’t have the work vehicles with us today. They would have had to connect images from a few frames and overcome the cognitive dissonance that a rock band was out in the middle of nowhere killing their people in the middle of the night. More likely that it was a coincidence. We were in their current ‘hunting range’, after all.

I ran a quick mental inventory. Not in ‘work’ clothes, but the Second Skin suit that I wore on stage under my clothes. Not something I’d choose to wear for a firefight, but better than nothing. For weapons, I had the hand razors implanted in both hands, the extendable fangs, my taser, and my Sakura Fubuki with the SnS ammo. All low-threat stuff. Enough to not be an easy target, but I wasn’t going to be winning any wars.

Everyone else was in more or less the same boat. Some of them had some melee weapons with them, of course, but Lioness didn’t have any of her drones with her, and Cougar had left the weapon focus locked in her ride, because you didn’t go flashing something like that around at a rock show, and she certainly didn’t have the bow with her. This was far from ideal.

“Right, are they doing anything, other than being a menace in the parking lot?”

The employee shook his head. “No, not yet. Just loitering in the open. But some of the crowd are getting antsy, since the gangers are parked right in front of the doors. You would need to go past them to get out of the building.”

“And has someone checked the fire doors? Or roof access? Big, obvious gangers out front make for a great distraction.”

The employee’s eyes went wide, and he said he’d go talk to the manager. Once he was out of sight, I looked at the others. “Options?”

Cougar shook her head. “Too early to know what is going on. Might just be gangers causing trouble for kicks. While they are technically loitering, just sitting in the parking lot making people uncomfortable isn’t a major offense. From what my ‘Atlanta Gangs’ knowledge skill is telling me, attacking people coming out from a rock show is too high-profile for them. They prefer getting their meals without drawing in a ton of heat, that will make them have to relocate early, and might keep them from coming back anytime soon. However, it does make for a good distraction.”

Tigress nodded once. “That makes more sense. Big, obvious distraction, to pull people away from the other possibilities. Having the venue check the emergency exits and roof access is a good idea. It would also be good cover for someone trying to sneak into the club’s matrix node, if they have a hacker, while everyone’s looking at the real world. Or, they could be drawing attention to this place doing something annoying and very visible, but harmless, so that the APD is slower to respond to another group doing something more important elsewhere.”

TechKat shook her head. “I hacked myself a hidden admin account on this node back on Monday when we were waiting for our unlamented Mr. Johnson. There’s no one trying to sneak in. Or, if they are, they’ve got more than ganger-level patience for the work, since they’d have to be going slow.”

KittyKat took a breath, and said, “I could go astral, and scout around the outside. But, if I do that, the ghouls are definitely going to see me. I can keep up, out of their reach, and I could hit them with a couple Stunballs, if they’re grouped together. But they’re going to see me, and any survivors may be able to ID me by my aura, if they have enough Assensing training. And if there’s a magician or mystic adept in the group, they’ll be able to hit back.”

I looked at the mage, and then to Cougar. “You’re our resident expert on ghouls. How likely do you think that is?”

“Not likely to be any mages in the group,” Cougar said, flatly. “Even being Infected, mages are rare enough that they’d be able to do better than getting involved in gangs. Either Tamanous would hire them, or a megacorp would. Possibly mercenary companies. At the very least, they’d be a shadowman, not a ganger. Having some Talent makes them too valuable, pure and simple.”

“There may be an Adept or two in the mix, though,” Tigress added. “Because a ghoul is dual-natured, their physical attacks can hit on the astral, just like your spells can hit them while you’re on the astral. If one of them has the Distance Strike power, then they can ‘punch’ you at a distance. Only a few meters, but it is something to keep in mind. But they shouldn’t be able to infect you like that, so small bonus?”

I chuckled, and looked back to KittyKat. “We’ll cover your body. Check the emergency exits and the roof first, then see if you can’t knock the ghouls out before the APD gets here. Things are a little too chancy for me to feel comfortable right now, and we’re not set up for this right now, even if we do have a minimal amount of weapons and armor on us.”

“On it,” KittyKat said, as she sat down on one of the chairs in the dressing room and leaned back, like she was taking a nap.

(Outside)

KittyKat grinned as her astral form floated up above the club. She low-key loved astral projecting. Sure, there were all sorts of dangers, and she didn’t have even half the protections she did while in the meat, but moving through the astral was as close to flying as you could get without having wings. Or a wing-suit, but that was more ‘falling with style’ than true flight.

Looking down at the roof, she saw the space was clear. Roof access from inside was through a locked security door, and no one had opened it. Ladder leading down the back of the building, next to the loading dock. No one out back. The odds of this whole thing being a distraction for the APD were looking better and better. Which was good, because there was too much that could go wrong if the ghouls attacked, and people started panicking. The aura inside the building was already getting choked with annoyance and fear, and when you added alcohol to the mix, that was the kind of combination that led to people being stupid. Perhaps stupid enough to start something, which would allow the gangers to claim self-defense when the cops showed up. Probably should end it before things got to that point.

Floating over to the parking lot, she saw the ghouls, glowing brightly amongst the astral shadows. Seven of them, all clustered in a group. None of them looking up. Which was good, because she didn’t have the same kind of speed here in the astral as she did in the real world. Her Increase Reflexes spell only covered her meat body, after all. When she got more Karma, she’d need to pump some points into the Arcana skill. Maybe she could write an Astral version of the spell, to boost her Initiative in the astral. But that was something for much, much later. Right now, she needed to settle the ghouls before they could get any bright ideas that got people killed.

KittyKat’s Spellcasting Test (Stunball, F5): 15d6 = 6 Hits, 1 Miss (Limit 5)

Stunball: (5+Net Hits) Stun damage

Resist Drain (3S): 13d6 = 7 Hits, 1 Miss (No Drain)

Ghoul 1’s Defense test: 4d6 = 2 Hits, 0 Miss (3 Net Hits)

Ghoul 1: 8/10 Stun Monitor

Ghoul 2’s Defense test: 4d6 = 0 Hits, 1 Miss (5 Net Hits)

Ghoul 2: 10/10 Stun Monitor (Unconscious)

Ghoul 3’s Defense test: 4d6 = 1 Hits, 0 Miss (4 Net Hits)

Ghoul 3: 9/10 Stun Monitor

Ghoul 4’s Defense test: 4d6 = 1 Hits, 1 Miss (4 Net Hits)

Ghoul 4: 9/10 Stun Monitor

Ghoul 5’s Defense test: 4d6 = 2 Hits, 0 Miss (3 Net Hits)

Ghoul 5: 8/10 Stun Monitor

Ghoul 6’s Defense test: 4d6 = 0 Hits, 1 Miss (5 Net Hits)

Ghoul 6: 10/10 Stun Monitor (Unconscious)

Ghoul Lieutenant’s Defense test: 6d6 = 3 Hits, 1 Miss (2 Net Hits)

Ghoul Lieutenant: 7/11 Stun Monitor

The stunball slammed into the group like an American football linebacker sacking the quarterback. Every last one of the ghouls was rocked, hard, and a couple of them were already falling off their bikes, unconscious. Which meant that they wouldn’t be fighting at full strength, even if they could reach her from ten meters up. Perfect.

Initiatives:

KittyKat’s Astral Initiative: 6d6 = 3 Hits, 1 Miss (Init 9, 3 Passes)

Ghoul 1’s Initiative: 7d6 = 4 Hits, 2 Miss (Init 11, 2 Passes)

Ghoul 3’s Initiative: 6d6 = 1 Hits, 1 Miss (Init 7, 2 Passes)

Ghoul 4’s Initiative: 6d6 = 2 Hits, 1 Miss (Init 8, 2 Passes)

Ghoul 5’s Initiative: 7d6 = 3 Hits, 2 Miss (Init 10, 2 Passes)

Ghoul Lieutenant’s Initiative: 7d6 = 2 Hits, 4 Miss (Init 9, 3 Passes) (Glitch)

KittyKat’s Spellcasting Test (Stunball, F5): 15d6 = 7 Hits, 0 Miss (Limit 5)

Stunball: (5+Net Hits) Stun damage

Resist Drain (3S): 13d6 = 5 Hits, 1 Miss (No Drain)

Ghoul 1’s Defense test: 2d6 = 1 Hits, 0 Miss (4 Net Hits)

Ghoul 1: 10/10 Stun Monitor (Unconscious) (Overflow to Physical)

Ghoul 1: 7/11 Physical Monitor

Ghoul 2’s Defense test: 1d6 = 1 Hits, 0 Miss (4 Net Hits)

Ghoul 2: 10/10 Stun Monitor (Unconscious) (Overflow to Physical)

Ghoul 2: 9/11 Physical Monitor

Ghoul 3’s Defense test: 1d6 = 0 Hits, 1 Miss (5 Net Hits)

Ghoul 3: 10/10 Stun Monitor (Unconscious) (Overflow to Physical)

Ghoul 3: 8/11 Physical Monitor

Ghoul 4’s Defense test: 1d6 = 0 Hits, 0 Miss (5 Net Hits)

Ghoul 4: 10/10 Stun Monitor (Unconscious) (Overflow to Physical)

Ghoul 4: 9/11 Physical Monitor

Ghoul 5’s Defense test: 2d6 = 0 Hits, 2 Miss (5 Net Hits) (Critical Glitch)

Ghoul 5: 10/10 Stun Monitor (Unconscious) (Overflow to Physical)

Ghoul 5: 8/11 Physical Monitor

Stun Baton: 6S(e) damage

Ghoul 5 Damage Resistance: 10d6 = 5 Hits, 1 Miss (1S  damage)

Ghoul 5: 9/11 Physical Monitor

Ghoul 6’s Defense test: 1d6 = 0 Hits, 0 Miss (5 Net Hits)

Ghoul 6: 10/10 Stun Monitor (Unconscious) (Overflow to Physical)

Ghoul 6: 10/11 Physical Monitor

Ghoul Lieutenant’s Defense test: 4d6 = 1 Hits, 1 Miss (4 Net Hits)

Ghoul Lieutenant: 11/11 Stun Monitor (Unconscious)

“Wizzy! Take cover!”

The ghouls weren’t idiots. They knew what a spell slamming into them out of nowhere meant. Two of them, the ones who had been more lightly touched out of the group, scrambled behind nearby cars, taking cover. The move did give them some concealment from the club’s doors, the roof, and the nearby alleyways. All the places they expected a magician to be hiding out. But because Stunball didn’t have directionality, which meant no trail to back-trace, they hadn’t considered looking above them, not yet.

The one in the center, who looked to be in charge, did manage to look up and see her. However, his eyes were clearly unfocused from the first Stunball, and his gums flapped open and shut as his brain tried to get into gear. Either way, it gave her the split second she needed to send another spell their way. And none of the ghouls had cover from above.

The spell slammed into the seven ghouls, and none of them were lucky enough to still be standing. One dropped the stun baton he’d been playing with, delivering an extra shock to his crotch. Embarrassing, but at least he was likely unconscious before that, so all it did was add a bit more damage as insult to injury, instead of giving him the full effect. A couple of the ghouls were close to dying, but none of them were actually there, yet. All stable, for now.

KittyKat returned to her body and was all smiles. “Right, someone let the staff know that the party crashers out front have been handled. They’re alive, but they won’t be waking up for a couple hours, at least. Certainly won’t be up before the APD comes to haul them off, unless they decide to slow-roll things.”

Pussycat grinned at her. “Good work, KK. And no dead bodies means we don’t have to stick around and answer questions. Anyone near the loading dock where the company trucks are, so the crew can load up our stuff?”

“It was all clear. Definitely sitting as distractions for someone else. No other reason to be out there like that.”

“Well, if it wasn’t for us, then it isn’t our problem. We’ve at least made the situation a little easier for whoever comes to clean this up. Now, we just sit back and relax.”

Tigress grinned. “In that case, I managed to get one of the barbacks to slide us a bottle of whiskey. Any takers?”