Part 10: Painting the Penthouse

Part 10 - Painting the Penthouse










We emerge into a small hallway towards the back of the penthouse. Had we taken the elevator we could've chatted with Tranq (one of Stevie's thugs) about the hellhounds and whatnot, but with this approach we're in combat mode from the word go. Of course, we weren't gunning for a diplomatic victory anyway.



Sounds like our goal is just behind this wall.



Tranq is the first person we come across here as well.



Murphy attempts to infiltrate the enemy ranks disguised as a Roomba, but the man doesn't fall for it. Maybe it was the guns that tipped him off.



"oh my god did you just kill that person"

"nah don't worry man i just shot a tranq"



The path to where the voice came from is blocked by Stevie's infamous hellhounds and the remains of their past meals. Can you imagine the smell in this place?



These things are actually pretty dangerous as they have the ability to spit area damage fireballs and will happily do so even through the bars.

Fortunately, we've come prepared and toss them something else to satisfy their hunger with.



If you tell a hellhound that they're a good boy, will it feel happy or offended? These are the questions that keep me up at night.

With the chtonian creatures pacified, we very carefully proceed into the cage and open the door on the other side.



Within we find two women. One of them looks like the victim of torture and the other has a shotgun, so it doesn't take long to figure out which one to open fire on.



Murphy shows off to his canine buddies.



Ouch. I think we're gonna be facial scar buddies.

Are you alright?

No time to talk.

[Coyote kneels and picks up the fallen guard's shotgun.]

It's time to finish this.

At least she's got the right attitude.


Coyote joins the party, and our mission now is to wipe out everyone on the floor while keeping her and Paco alive.





Stat-wise she's almost identical to Paco (+1 ST & -1 QU compared to him) minus his bizarre Charisma, but her skills leave something to be desired. Of course an extra body is always an extra body, and she does have 2 armor which makes her slightly tougher than her boyfriend.



The shotgun she picked up is the same one used by Sam in the initial flashback fight. It's actually slightly weaker than the lowest-tier Street Sweeper, but it does have twice the ammo capacity.




Heading back to the previous room and passing through the doorway to the southwest leads us to the big man himself, alongside a couple more gang members. Either the soundproofing here is extraordinary or people getting shot really is an everyday occurrence, but either way they've remained oblivious to our presence until now.



I know who you are. You're the guy I'm gonna kill.

Hell yeah.



I didn't know it was possible to channel pure anger to power up shotgun shells until now. Those are some scary eyes.



Stevie rushes to grab an assault rifle from the closet while the not-yet-blasted-to-hell gang member boosts his accuracy. Of course this leaves him in a rather precarious position in the middle of the room next to a pair of killerbots.

Meanwhile a dwarf who must've finally heard the commotion rushes in from the hallway.



Hello World attempts to show off its concussion grenade capabilities, but whiffs a 90% shot on Stevie. The newcomer finds himself stunned by such blatant disregard of probabilities.



You should always geek the mage first, but Thistle here has to settle for second place.

Also I kind of love how hilariously excessive the amount of blood flying from hits is in these games. The hit sound is also very satisfying, though you'll just have to take my word on that one.



Murphy lands a couple of solid shots on Stevie, but Coyote has no such luck. Since we've now switched to Normal due to Very Hard being bugged, everyone's hit rates are overall quite high, even at low skill levels - this was a miss at 75% hit chance.



He returns the favor with a grenade of the ordinary kind but really, at this point the fight is practically over.

In case you were wondering where Amazon is while all of this is happening, she hasn't moved an inch since we found Coyote because she has no AP to move with. Plus there are fewer bullets flying around back there. Drones - all the joys of murdering with none of the risks!



It seems only fair to let Coyote finish him off.



Good riddance.



Paco runs out of ammo trying to take out the last person still standing, so he opts to lightly bop him on the head instead.







Yeah, you're welcome.

Right now, I'm the lady who's saving your ass.

I can see that. And... I appreciate it.

Coyote, we need to get you back to the Union. Mrs. Kubota has that med-lab in the basement...

Right, the standard issue medical laboratory you can find in every half-decent drinking hole.



Delilah? I thought you said you'd never do another deal with that man.

Look... Paco... I needed an excuse to come back here and settle some debts. Figured... figured I might as well get paid for it.

[Her voice is strong still, but her body's beginning to shake.]

Look lady, we're not gonna have you bleed out after all this trouble as we're a little short on leads without you.

We have the option to hightail it out of here right now, but maybe we could get a cut from the gem job...

Paco, help her back to the Union. I'll find those gems for you, then meet you there.

[Coyote looks as though she's about to argue... but says nothing.]

Come on Coyote... let's go.


And go they do, leaving us alone with a couple of happy hellhounds, a pair of locked doors and our ever-faithful drone friends.

Speaking of locked doors...





This'll probably do the trick. First we check out the door to the north, opposite of the hellhound cage.



It turns out to be a storage room. Rummaging through it, we eventually end up with about a hundred nuyen and an Advanced Medkit, but no gems.



Can't complain about free stuff.



Time for door number 2!



Uh



No! Bad dog! Sit!



Down!





Bah, now we've gone and bled all over our stylish shirt. These things had better be worth it.



Time to leave this place behind for good, and no reason to take the stairs this time. Hopefully we'll manage to get some actual answers about what exactly went down the night Sam died, next time.