Seito pulls her hand cannon. It has been a long time since she had fired it in anger and it showed in her delayed reaction time. Her focus had been elsewhere, on different times in different warzones patching up soldiers who were barely old enough to have began enjoying life.

Those memories serve no purpose now. Focus on the mission at hand.

"For what it's worth, I am with you. But I am not taking point." With that she moves to stand behind and to the side of Cade, mindful of the barrel of her cannon.

I laugh to myself "point" yeah right and look ominously at Dammek and Cade.

Cade nodded in agreement. "I'll take point." He said, wishing he had his Long Las. He almost felt as if a trip back to their office to recover it might be in order. No. Probably not. No time. The tracks would be long gone by then. He hefted his las pistol and began to travel down after the tracks, being careful to observe for any tracks, or signs of an adversary. He'd been caught in an ambush once today, he did not intended to repeat the process.

Though Cade was injured, his Guard training and armor did make him the most logical one to take point. He moved down the alleyway, not slowly, but certainly cautiously, eyes peeled for signs of his quarry.

[Awareness Test: Perception 39, rolled a 99. Ouch. Someone else should probably help me out here, I used all my good luck on not dying to that rebel back there]

Seito follows behind Cade, albeit not too closely. Her hand cannon dipped at her side, ready to be brought up in a moment's notice.

She scans the area for any clues at all as to what might have happened to the group's missing ally. However, the combination of night sky and dirty streets do nothing to aid in the process.

[Awareness test: Per 38; rolled 67]

It does t take long for your 2 "guides" to lead you in such a wrong direction that you lose the lead...

Now only a navigate +20 test can bring you back on track, or the lead is lost for good.

[With +20 need a 59 or lower, rolled a 34 for Navigation: Surface, for 3 DoS]

Cade cursed in his mind as he lost the trail. He did not say this to the group, however, as he brought his guard training to bear. He'd been in a recon unit! This was his area of expertise! Come on. Stay focused. Bring the group around.... there! Before long, Cade brought the group back to the trail they'd been following. He continued to do his best to follow it, and not lose it this time.

You are able to re-locate the trail. But in the meantime it is not that clear anymore.

With survival +10 any character may try to follow it.

(Nobody is trained in survival. I do not have the rules to hand so can someone confirm if survival is a basic or advanced skill? If it is basic do we all get a roll at a minus as per DH1?)

Its -20 if you dont have the skill.

I look down at the dozens of boot prints in the mud and shrug as I can't make any sense of them.

[survival -20 Perception, +10 difficulty mod. Per 33 + 10 - 20; target 23; rolled 88.... failed by lots ]

[survival test, target 28; rolled a 07 for 3 DoS!]

Dammek looks around in despair. They had such a promising lead on Asterius's whereabouts, but the trail had become unreadable.

After some frantic searching, Dammek notices a small pile of trash visible from behind a street corner. He goes to investigate and finds a recently toppled trash can with a large dent kicked into its side. He smiles to himself -- he wasn't sure what had taken Asterius, but it was plain to see that the Arbitrator hadn't gone quietly.

"Hey, ladies and Seito! I believe I've found the trail. Lets go catch this fether before he gets any farther."

The trail leads you to a building in a rather rotten state.

Once it must have been a proud building of someone with a lot of thrones.

Now it is only a ruin.

From around the buildings corner...you hear a silent noise.

Letting Dammek take the lead as he relocated the trail, Cade followed Dammek, to the ruin of a building. Cade really didn't like this. This was ambush central, he acknowledged, as he scanned his surroundings carefully. Anyone could be here, hiding in windows, just in a doorway... the sound from around the corner rang out to Cade, who focused in on it. Could that be a distraction though? To bring their attention away from the door? Cade knew the men they were tracking were certainly clever enough to plan such a thing.

[Awareness Test: 39 needed, rolled 74]

Letting Dammek take the lead as he relocated the trail, Cade followed Dammek, to the ruin of a building. Cade really didn't like this. This was ambush central, he acknowledged, as he scanned his surroundings carefully. Anyone could be here, hiding in windows, just in a doorway... the sound from around the corner rang out to Cade, who focused in on it. Could that be a distraction though? To bring their attention away from the door? Cade knew the men they were tracking were certainly clever enough to plan such a thing.

[Awareness Test: 39 needed, rolled 74]

You have tne feeling that it could be a wouded grox.

Seito smiles at Dammek's comment. Now he is funny , she thinks to herself following their quarry's trail. The building that it eventually led to looked like a good place to get raped and murdered - and here they were, about to walk into it.

She strains her ears against the sound. What in the Throne's name was that?

This did not seem like a promising start to her new rag tag adventure.

[Awareness <38; rolled 96 - well, f*ck me at least I am getting these awful rolls out of the way now].

[Awareness test, target 38; rolled a 40 for a basic failure]

Dammek raises his laspistol as he cautiously enters the dilapidated building. He creeps across the moldering rugs as he sweeps his weapon around the room. A soft noise issues from around the corner, and though Dammek strains his ears he can't discern the source. These so-called Venom Snakes can set up devious traps at a moments' notice, as shown by their last encounter, and Dammek has no intention of blundering into another one.

He looks distastefully at Seito's whirring optical mechadentrite. Something about the unnatural precision of their movements gave him the shivers. That said, the sensor's long reach could prove handy when peering around corners after mysterious noises.

He calls softly to Seito: "Hey, Doctor Eyeball, can you poke that eye stalk of yours around the corner? We already got ambushed by these mercs once, and I do not want to eat any more grenades today."

Seito stares at him and nods. Funny but kind of a horse's arse.

The optical mechadendrite on her left shoulder could serve their purposes well here. She makes sure Dammek and Cade are covering her from both directions before hugging tightly to the wall and slowly letting the optical mechadendrite find its way around the corner - scanning as much as she can as she does so.

I groan inwardly as I notice Cade and Dammek become more cautious and draw their weapons 'not more trouble' I think. Sighing to myself I hunker down in some nearby rubble, draw my las pistol and cover the groups rear.

Seito stares at him and nods. Funny but kind of a horse's arse.

The optical mechadendrite on her left shoulder could serve their purposes well here. She makes sure Dammek and Cade are covering her from both directions before hugging tightly to the wall and slowly letting the optical mechadendrite find its way around the corner - scanning as much as she can as she does so.

The optical mechandrite gives you a clear picture of what is around the corner.

A man, could be one of the mercenaries your new warband talked about, lies in the gutter, half hidden behind a fallen trash box. He seems to be wounded, but he has a firm grip around his weapon.

A trail of blood can be seen, leading from a dark alley to him.

Seito looks back at the group, making sure she gets eye contact.

She points with her index finger and her middle finger to a corresponding eye on her head. The message is clear: I see.

She then holds up 1 finger out in front of her. One figure. She mimes holding a lasgun tucked into her shoulder: He is armed.

Finally, she makes a waterfall motion from her wrist to her elbow, as though blood were dripping down: Wounded.

It all might be for naught; the figure on the ground may have heard them enter. But, it was better to be safe than sorry.

Watching Seito as she gestures silently at us I begin to form an idea about what she is trying to convey... She can see one man around the corner and that we should shoot him. The vague waterfall gesture over an arm I am stumped at though!

I shake me head and gesture back. I make a vague shape of a gun in my hand and shake my head and then point to myself and give a thumbs up. I smile back at the group to see if my idea has sunk in.

Dammek sees his companions gesticulating wildly and decides he'd better contribute. He looks at Dral and ponders his hand motions for a moment, then his eyes light up in recognition. He makes a sweeping gesture that includes everyone except Dral, then waves his sword in the air and mimes firing his pistol. He promptly cuts off this motion, shaking his head vigorously. He then points at Dral and takes several exaggerated tip-toed steps while pointing towards the corner. He then places his fingers to his temples and squints before thrusting his arms foreward dramatically. He then turns to Dral, one eyebrow raised quizzically.

Seito stares at her new team mates with little irritation and even more confusion.

Feth me.

"Hey, grox-ticklers," she whispers. "There is one man with a weapon. Wounded."

With that she gives the only gesture she can think of that no one will mistake.

I whisper "yeah that's right Dammek. Let me distract him for a moment so you guys can overpower him as safely as possible, we need this one alive. I will give you a go when I have his mind under control. Are you ready?"

Seito nods and grips her pistol tightly in both hands.

She knew that she was no match for a full grown man when it came to a contest of strength, even a wounded one. She would make sure the group was covered from any outside threats should this be a trap.