John Doe - Session 4

= Clever title here =

25 Apr 21 IRL

Bottles flying everywhere, flames sprouting in small spots, Rendak is on top of the bar with his white pistol out, aiming at people. JD nods at Thistle, she uses earth magic to move the bar, knocking him on his ass. “Ah man, I was doing so good!”, Rendak whines. Thistle uses control fire to smother the flames. “He’s about a Level 3 fighter”, Thistle judges.

“This is what we call a safe learning environment”, JD muses. “It’s probably time we get a move on, yeah?” He asks Rendak, who nods.

Baby got back starts playing on Thistles phone. She answers it and hands it to John.

“This is Tide, we’ve got a problem. The French Canadians, they’re in town, looking for you”. John asks “why are they looking for me?”, “Why does ANYONE look for you John?”. Tide continues, “I’m not sure if this is her or not, meet me at the usual place, and then follow her and see if it is. Yani escaped”.

“Well shit, that’s not good”, John tells him. “Yeah we’re going after him with the French Canadians”, Tide informs him. “Shall I bring the kid,” John asks him. “Eh, how’d he do today”, Tide wonders.

“The kid did good today, he set the fucking bar on fire, little shit”,  John informs him. Tide laughs, “Nice, we haven’t had the bar on fire in about 30 years! Yeah, bring him”.

John and Tide make plans to meet up at the Violet Hour, where he will trail behind the French Canadians, with an aim to see what they can do, so he can beat them later.

John knows there’s no such thing as a lone wolf, so all Yari’s bragging about being solo can’t be true. He also wonders if perhaps Tide is letting him go, or if he really escaped.

On the way to Wicker Park, John gives Rendak an impromptu stealth check, which, eh, was only okay.

Perception 22 - as they walk in the wind, people are playing with kites, riding bikes, enjoying the August heat. John doesn’t notice anyone following him, Orange Cloak or otherwise.

John and Rendak walk up to a half-Goliath bouncer at the Violet Hour. “It’s been a long flight in from Texas me, and I think maybe 3 drinks, then where we going, Delaware, and then maybe one more stop”, John tells him. “Delaware is a shithole this time of year” the bouncer says. “But we just go where the tide goes. No cover for you. Is the kid with you?”. John indicates the kid is indeed with him.

When asked what he would do, Rendak tells John “Well, I was told to always find the way out, so there’s the door, and that door over there, and i could break that window and ..” he eventually gets to 5 exits. “That’s good, but there’s one over the bar”. John asks how he can blend in, as a kid in an adult fancy bar.

Rendak suggest getting him a drink to look like a halfling half-orc, or he could go sit in the corner and watch the exits, or create a scene like a normal kid would. John says “no, get a burger and fries and color in this book and pretend you’re obsessed with it”, as he pulls a coloring book out of his bag. The colors, but not in the lines. He’s coloring pistols and Orange Cloaks.

“That’s healthy therapy. Visualization is the key to success” John says.

Tide shows up, and Rendak pops up, alert. John puts the cutlery and straws into his bag and readies himself to go.

An elf in blue, black and brown runs through, followed by a woman with brown hair, a buffoon hopping around trying to get his shoes on, and then Tide runs after him. “What a buffoon”, John says.

“Always leave a tip, Rendak”, John says, tossing money on the table and waiting a heartbeat and a half before following them. “Manners are important”.

“Thanks buddy. Oh, It’s Frankfurt and five more before I finally get to Nebraska”, John tells the bouncer, as he hands him a gold coin on the way out the door.

Survival 19 - Yari is running down the street down N. Milwaukee Ave towards downtown. John doesn’t know what the purpose is, but he can tell that the elf is beelining for the downtown area.

John takes the opportunity to teach Rendak some skills. He wants to keep an eye on the woman, as well as the elf. He would take a train, which runs parallel to the street, but d20- 5,  no train is coming. They run behind the group, keeping careful distance.

He sees the woman take a 600ft bow shot from the top of a car, hitting her target. “Hmmm, interesting”, John notes. He can see that when she’s in shadow, she disappears, and then pops back into sight when she leaves shadow. He sees the buffoon jump and click his heels and start running super fast. “Huh, fancy boots”, John notes.

John takes the opportunity to educate Rendak, “Now I’m thinking, how far can someone run without tiring, how do we get ahead of them somewhat, what can we do to reach them with the least fuss”? He decides they should just take a train, his original choice. d20-12 - A train is coming, and there’s a station they can get up the stairs to the tracks 20ft above.

They get on the free inner-city elevated train, and go parallel to the group for a while before pulling off. They can see the running figures intermittently, still heading directly for downtown and the water. John and Rendak exit at the station by the water. They can see the figures running.

To John’s great surprise, the buffoon makes a flying leap over a toll bridge, and helps catch the woman, who slips and recovers. They fall down the far side of the bridge, only 40 feet away from John and Rendak. Stealth 23 - John and Rendak blend in as the two figures race past them, and then turn and follow them.

John hears a shout in elven, and understands enough to make out “Danger”. A bright orange and black Triumph motorcycle with a rider in a dark black helmet revs and heads straight for him and Rendak.

“Shoot him”, John calmly tells Rendak. They both pull out their weapons, John using Icy Hot, doing 19 pts of ice damage. As the bullet leaves the chamber, it gets charged with ice energy and a streak of blue hits the helmet, leaving a hole where the eye used to be. Rendak shoots and misses, and John tells him “It’s ok”.

Seeing that the bike is closing fast, 21 to hit, athletics 16 - John pivots to the side, and whips his arm out. He executes a perfect clothesline to the rider, feeling his muscles strain against the force of the rider, who is now on the ground. Seeing that he’s still breathing, John puts a bullet in the rider’s throat, who is now no longer breathing. He looks up, and 5 Orange Cloaks start to appear.

He disregards the Cloaks for the moment, and races after the people he’s been following. Up ahead, he sees a building’s lights go out, replaced with blazing purple safety lights, and people running out the doors. John and Rendak head into that building.

They see a woman crying, and Tide shooting at the cables of an elevator, which is dangling about 70ft above the lobby of the building. An elf jumps out of the elevator, and then winks out of sight. John quietly discusses how to assess their armor for weak points, taking the opportunity to educate Rendak.

As the trio he’s following take an elevator up, John and Rendak take the next elevator up. Once on the roof, he pulls the fire alarm, sending the elevators to the bottom floor. “How are we gonna get down”, Rendak asks. “Exercise is good for you, kid”, John informs him. “I dunno Mr. Coyote, we’re awfully high up....”.

John and Rendak hang back, watching the group ahead climb the ladder. The wind is whipping and pushing everyone around on the roof. Two shots ring out, and he hears the woman yell “TIDE!”. John goes out on the roof, and the buffoon see him. John knows him, when he was a younger man, the buffoon led a mission to capture him, but failed. “Coyote?”, the man breathes.

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