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Dumpshock Forums _ Shadowrun _ Batcave
Posted by: Machiavelli May 31 2011, 10:02 AM
My GM granted me access to a aspected domain for my black mage, based in a old, rotten ruin of a church. Unfortunately i need to renovate it before i am able to use the site (donīt want something falling on my head) but i am lacking the skills as well as access to spirits that could do the job (e.g. task spirits - We already had this topic, related to the question how i can get rid of my workers after the job is done...pyramid style). So it is clear that i will be in need for professionals to do the job. But will their work and the highly processed materials they use, somehow interfere with the domain? Do i have to do it by myself? What if i get access to spirits (e.g. through a pact) that donīt belong to my tradition. At least their magical presence and abilities could cause trouble, donīt they?
Posted by: Harboe May 31 2011, 10:11 AM
Well, I'd probably hire SINless people with decent (read: any) construction skills... and hold sermons during the construction work.
Or just ask the GM, if using spirits outside your tradition would redefine the aspect.
Posted by: Dahrken May 31 2011, 12:09 PM
Have you thought about spending some nuyens on a tutorsoft or lessons and investing a bit of karma in the required skills ?
Granted, two skills at level 1 (one Knowledge for theory - and to use as an associated skill to increase your dice pool- and one Active for performing the actual work or ordering an Earth elemental around) is 6 Karma that you may prefer to use differently, but this way you won't have to rely on anyone (unless your Logic score is really low).
Alternatively, if there is someone in your team or among your contacts you trust enough and who has skillwires, you can buy the software and use him as a taskmaster. Both of those options save you the trouble of locatoting and hiring peoples with the (somewhat specific) skills required, risking to leave a trail that can bite you back if you decide to dispose of them after the job is done.
As for materials, you will probably be fine as long as you stay away from the more high-tech stuff (like pasteel or highly processed chemicals) and favor stuff like concrete, steel beams (old-fashioned brick laying or stone cutting and wood beams would be the best, but it is really uncommon and expensive, thus likely to attract attention).
A low-tech approach would be to do it Beirut-style inside of the ruins : rows of stacked 55-galons drums filled with rubles as walls and support for a "ceiling" of metal beams and plywood or planks covered by a layer of sand (or dirt, gravel...) to stop whatever may fall from above. It's rustic but can easily be done with unskilled labor (you and a few spirits) and very little money.
Posted by: baronspam May 31 2011, 01:22 PM
I don't think killing your workers makes any sense, security wise. Even if your character is cold enough to do that, I think it causes more problems than it solves. If bodies turn up, or people go missing, there will be people in their lives who try to figure out what happened. If an entire construction team goes missing you don't have to have Batman's detective skills to figure out the obvious connection is the last job they are working on. Murders bring down the cops, or loved ones who will be happy to burn your church all over again if they become convinced you did in the missing workers. If you really don't want to be associated with the site then get a fixer you trust to hire a contractor for you, and have him hire the workers and supervise the work. All the workers know is that they were hired to do some structural repairs to a damaged building. Follow that up with solid bribe to the contractor. If anyone asks, he was hired to do a structural rehab on the place, but the client ran out of money after that so the restoration was never finished.
Posted by: Machiavelli May 31 2011, 01:42 PM
This is the basic problem: there is no logical reason to repair anything in the location where the church is based. We are talking about the strange area in (i think) puyallup, where everything is covered under layers of volcanic-ashes. I was really happy for the opportunity to get this kind of "gift" from the GM, but the more i think of it, the more i think it was a bad joke. Because (almost) nobody is living there, i cannot enter the area without causing attention, my traces are easily readable, i cannot do repair works and even if i spend the karma for the skills, i donīt know how to get the stuff/material there without attention. And even if i find a way to get tons of building-materials and machinery to the church, it would take years to renovate parts of the church completely alone. If i take freelancers or if i hire e.g. a gang to help me, the main purpose of the hideout is broken: secrecy. Maybe i see it too negative, but i am not going to place my 50k Nuyen alchemist workshop plus 100k Materials in a place either everybody knows or that has holes in its walls that even trolls can come in without doors. I really donīt know what i can do.
Posted by: baronspam May 31 2011, 02:52 PM
I think you are being excessivly paranoid. From a metagame perspective, if the GM let you have it, he probably doesn't mean to screw you to the wall with it.
Its not going to be secret, but it is going to be mysterious. That might be good enough. Yes, some of the locals (not many, as there aren't that many locals) know someone fixed up the old church and moved into the basement. Who, why, and what they do there will still be pretty obscure. Hey, unless you can make youself and your team and your vehicle invisible people will still see you come and go, so I wouldn't plan on total secrecy. But take steps to have some isolation between you and the guys actually doing the work, and have the team hacker plant some internet rumors that the place is actually far, far worse than just the workshop of a black magic mage and no one should come poking around. You are still going to have way more privacy than just living in a low lifestyle apartment.
Posted by: Doc Byte May 31 2011, 04:16 PM
Why don't you buy (or better rent) some construction drones?
Posted by: CanRay May 31 2011, 04:37 PM
Renting is not such a good idea. Who knows what extra recording systems are added to those things.
Posted by: Dez384 May 31 2011, 04:40 PM
Fix'd the suggestion.
Posted by: CanRay May 31 2011, 04:41 PM
Much better suggestion. Then burn out the Wireless, and program them with hardwired connections only.
Posted by: Fortinbras May 31 2011, 04:47 PM
GM Mr. Fix-It 2071. Any Build/Repair Autosoft at Rating 3. 
6,000. Good times.
Posted by: CanRay May 31 2011, 05:03 PM
"They wuz here when I locked up, boss!"
"DAMNED TECHNOMANCERS! They did it, I'm sure of it!"
"Why'd dey use a Monofilament Chainsaw ta cut through th' wall then?"
"They can do things like that with their MINDS! You saw the news reports out of Hong Kong! They blew up a Ghost-Damned HOSPITAL! That's it, fire the security crew here, they had to have been on it with them, probably Techno-Lovers themselves! AND FIRE THAT DAMNED MAGE!"
"Mikey? But he's th' best foundation guy wez got, he whips up dat rock spirit ting and it digs like a mo'fo! And we've been working wit' him fer ten years! He's good people!"
"Can't trust anybody that and think you dead! Do I have to include you in on that list! ARE YOU A TECHNOMANCER OR MAGICIAN AS WELL?"
Posted by: redwulf25 May 31 2011, 05:51 PM
"DAMNED TECHNOMANCERS! They did it, I'm sure of it!"
"Why'd dey use a Monofilament Chainsaw ta cut through th' wall then?"
"They can do things like that with their MINDS! You saw the news reports out of Hong Kong! They blew up a Ghost-Damned HOSPITAL! That's it, fire the security crew here, they had to have been on it with them, probably Techno-Lovers themselves! AND FIRE THAT DAMNED MAGE!"
"Mikey? But he's th' best foundation guy wez got, he whips up dat rock spirit ting and it digs like a mo'fo! And we've been working wit' him fer ten years! He's good people!"
"Can't trust anybody that and think you dead! Do I have to include you in on that list! ARE YOU A TECHNOMANCER OR MAGICIAN AS WELL?"
How did they wind up with Longbowrocks as a boss?
Posted by: CanRay May 31 2011, 06:07 PM
Murphy's Law, everyone you know gets the good boss, and you get the bad one that goes insane at the drop of a hat.
Posted by: Modular Man May 31 2011, 09:21 PM
My suggestion would be to get a few drones, yeah. Maybe get some of the heavy work done by an earth spirit. Maybe add in a "Shape Concrete"-spell (useful anyway).
Just don't try to attract too much attention. People in Puyallub will have a lot of better things to do than searching some ruins just because somebody moved in there. If you really want to cover your tracks, you can even try and build an escape tunnel - at least you've got the gear (and magic) to do it. Be sure to have somebody who knows how to do stuff like this, though.
I don't think that the aspected domain is that fragile, either. If it's been there for a time, it's kind of solid. Some domains are that solid, they cannot be damaged even by the appropirate metamagic, just by major (read: cluster bomb) rearranging of the whole site. It's not like a ward or a magical lodge.
The idea of a building inside the church is also good. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shipping_container_architecture! Dig a massive hole in the basement and install your own dungeon - well, some rooms... You don't have to build a whole new church unless you want to admire the view.
Posted by: CanRay Jun 1 2011, 02:29 AM
Having a Contact that is an architectural engineer, or even a very experienced person with the "Industrial Mechanic" skill at a high rating would be a great benefit to this type of project and planning.
Having a player that has some Engineering background (And a character who has the knowledge skills to back up that know-how) helps even more. One of the guys in my old group got his hands on what he called "Cheesy, but Cheap, AutoCAD" (Campaign Cartographer) and designed a Keep that was built on the foundations of an large old warehouse in the middle of a Dwarven city.
The last thing you want is the whole thing crashing down because your Rigger with his army of Drones and the Mountain Magician with his Earth Elementals didn't know about Rebar.
Posted by: Tiralee Jun 1 2011, 04:36 AM
Spirits! Elementals! Magic! Oh, and yes, some drones.
Someone's already mentioned the Mr Handy (or whatever it was) - 5 of those and you're laughing.
Spells: Shape Earth, Silence, Illusion ones to fool the locals, invisibility.
And your Technomancer best buddy to deliver all this to your doorstep without an eyebrow being raised.
-Tir
Posted by: CanRay Jun 1 2011, 04:45 AM
Raw materials as well need to be delivered. Supporting beams, concrete, ventilation, lighting, wiring, fiber optic lines, nexi, the whole nine-yards. A lot of that stuff is bulk and is not subtle.
Especially if you're building underground. (The amount of support structures you need when building underground would boggle the mind of a layman.).
Posted by: Faraday Jun 1 2011, 04:56 AM
Get some corp logos. Make it look like a R&D lab.
Posted by: Faraday Jun 1 2011, 04:56 AM
Bah, double post.
Oh well. Anyway, you could do a warehouse thing too. That way you could have shipments come in and out.
Posted by: Machiavelli Jun 1 2011, 06:51 AM
I could purchase the whole thingie officially, put a fence around it and mark it as a corporate ground. Then i go there with trucks full of material and drones, put some sentry weapons around the church and live my life as an official talismonger.^^
Posted by: Dahrken Jun 1 2011, 07:22 AM
Use an Air spirit, they are perfect for the purpose. Movement help you get there much faster than expected so you can make a detour without loosing time, Concealment can hide your vehicule, and the spirit can stir the dust to cover it's tracks. Confusion, Accident and Fear are also handy tools to take care of unwanted visitors without outright killing them.
You may not need to make your work and presence completely undetectable, it may be easier to misdirect peoples into thinking the place is something else they can understand but don't care about. At the moment I don't know what could do the trick, you may talk about that with the GM. Do you trust the other characters at your table enough to tell them about the place ? If yes, they may help you shape a cover.
Working on that can be interesting. It helps flesh out the characters (they have a life and goals outside of the runs), you can plan (and play !) self-motivated runs to get stuff or plant false data (or take care of some interference !), and it gives the players something to blow their nuyens other than gear and the like to directly boost their characters.
Posted by: Machiavelli Jun 1 2011, 11:49 AM
I think i go for the official version. So this is not a real secret anymore, but i can put as much security in the building as i want to. So if somebody needs vast amounts of orichalcum...let me know.^^
Posted by: CanRay Jun 1 2011, 04:17 PM
Well, that's what front companies are for.
"OK, so I set us up a rock solid front companies for this."
"CompanIES?"
"Yes. Kaos Construction, a wholly owned subsidiary of Mystic Holdings, Ltd., who is owned by Faery Gold, who has members of Koas Construction's owners on it's board of directors."
"... ... ... You lost me at 'Yes'."
"Exactly! Anyone who researches the company will find out that they 'accidentally' bought each other during the buy-out chaos of Post-Crash 2.0 market openings. Also, they're a tax write-off for Faery Gold which is the entire purpose of that corporation, so thank me when you get a major tax return next time your fake SIN files for it."
"YOU USED MY FAKE SIN?"
"Wasn't about to let mine crash and burn if someone figured out what I did."
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