So I guess I'll ask the question that now seems kind of obvious to me. Amy tasked the spirit to recover the commlinks. I thought we were going to exhume the bodies, but no big deal. But it does seem like it might change our tactics.

Understanding we're only waiting for relatively small items, is there any reason why where hanging around here? As long as Amy stays within the appropriate distance, she can communicate with the spirit and tell it we've moved locations. Grease and the car can meet us on the street directly south of us and we can cut through someone's backyard and get to the car without being exposed in the park any further.

That's true. But there are pros and cons of doing this. We could be detected as we're leaving, especially without having the concealment power to help us out anymore. Normally we'd just get the heck out, but this will leave the spirit vulnerable to detection. And the spirit itself might be detected as it is leaving to find us... and followed.

At this point, I consider rhex there as fire support. I understand why you may want your meat bodies out of there though.

Wow, a lot to catch up on.

At this point I think we just wait for the spirit to get the commlinks and go, better to leave in one group as opposed to us and the spirit leaving separately, increasing the time for our exposure.

Can I do a Matrix perception check to see if any of their guns are smartlinked?

@ Overkill

First Matrix Perception test to find their guns (they are running silent)

8d6.hits(5)=0

You have no idea where their icons are.

Jack, if it makes you feel any better, IC hates Overkill more that it hates you. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/eek.gif)

No kidding...

Think I should switch from Stick and Shock to Explosive rounds for my MP? Not sure how well lethal and stun damage stack, and it seems like everyone else is using live rounds.

If Lobo is playing them as mooks, they may only have one condition monitor.

ETA: I'm going to post IC my suggestion we vamoose. Jack would definitely do it IC.

Off-topic: Working on an NPC Rigger for a game I am co-GMing, and I cannot for the life of me find the price of the Autosofts for my drones. Any clues on where to find it?

It is in the hot patch errata. Availability is Ratingx2.
Price is ratingx500 (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nuyen.gif)

Thanks for the help, I was going to pull my hair out if you told me a page number.

I understand that making a Core Rulebook like this is a dauntingly massive undertaking, but it still makes you wonder how they could leave something like that out; its a major bump on the road in Rigger chargen. Seem like someone would had to have bumped into it and asked where the frag they were...

Back to the situation at hand, are any of the other group of bums drawing the guards attention as they flee?

Perhaps we could wait until the see the other groups take off, then slip off on the route Jack suggested?

Basically, the guards are going to figure out any second that they've been dealing with an illusion.

The groups are running away from the gunfire (as would most people). None of the groups are really near you, (if you look at the map) - and to get closer to you would be to get closer to the gunfire.

Right now, the guards are busy with the illusion. Shortly, they are going to start searching for the person behind the illusion.

As an aside - I believe interpreted the Phantasm spell a little too liberally.

I believe the way that the spell is supposed to work is this:

The caster picks a spot within his LOS.
The caster causes the illusion to appear at that spot, or within the normal area of effect for spells (which is Magic Attribute in meters)
The caster cannot cause the illusion to move from that spot.

Otherwise, the Phantasm spell starts to become very overpowered - allowing a freeflowing illusion to be whatever you want, and travel with you wherever you go - or move from one spot to the other makes the spell too powerful.

No harm, no foul on this one, Chrome gave a suggestion as to what he wanted to do, asked if it was okay, and I said yes - so it is all good here, I was just thinking of the potential ramifications going down the line.

There are still a million uses for the spell - but allowing it to move freely anywhere within LOS of the caster makes it enormously powerful.

What kind of fences are we looking at to the South of our position?

Got it. I think you're right, I didn't really think through it, it just seemed like what I needed at the time. I think we both misinterpreted what the range of an illusion means.

Anyway, I can still go for a last attempt at something sneaky here. Does only one guard seem to be figuring out it was an illusion?

@Overkill,

The are no fences to the south - you basically can just cross into the back yards of the houses. Any fencing that was once there has long since rotted away/been knocked down.

@Chrome

Goons A&B are close enough to figure it out. Goon C (the one by the firepit) won't know until they tell him.

Do any of the houses look abandoned? Just want to minimize the risk of being spotted fleeing the scene by the neighbors who have already likely been awoken due to the automatic gun fire.

Off-topic: Man those Autosofts add up fast, I am spending as much on them as I am on the drones.

I may need to cut my combat drones down to 4, I have 3 Rotodrones and 2 Dobermans. Do you think I should drop down to 2 Rotos or 1 Doberman? He is the Support Rigger, mainly the chopper pilot doing overwatch and providing fire support. I am leaning towards dropping down to 1 Doberman and keeping 3 Rotos as they are easier for me to maneuver them where they need to be.

It depends on what kind of game you are playing.

My games don't tend to allow for too many situations where you are running around with a small army of drones with automatic weapons fire.

What kind of game is it?

Also, if you want to save on Autosofts, get the same kind of drone, and buy one copy and share it across the board with the RCC.

The houses are a mixture - some abandoned, some not. As far as being spotted, in general, people don't tend to stick their heads out the window when people are shooting. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Actually, at this point, I'm going to treat this as a combat - just to get things moving along.

Jack
2d6+7=12
Grease
4d6+7=23
Amy
4d6+11=22
Overkill
2d6+9=16

Goons, A, B, and C (in order)
1d6+7=8, 1d6+7=9, 1d6+7=13

So, Combat turn 1:

IP 1:
Grease 23
Amy 22
Overkill 16
Goon C 13
Jack 12
Goon B 9
Goon A 8

Everyone declare your actions (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

ETA - this does not mean that they are attacking you - but just so this way we get an idea of how we are proceeding. You can say "Hold" if you want to do nothing.

Its a Mercenary game, so I imagine there will be a lot of action.

Then rotodrones with long range weapons are probably a good idea. Keep them out of harms way, because they are extremely fragile.

A question you should ask the GM immediately is how much he is going to charge you to fix the drones, as I don't believe that is covered anywhere in the rules, and it might be cripplingly expensive depending on how he house rules it.

Drave is holding his action until they are spotted or the group decides its booking.

Can I do another Matrix Perception check to see if I can find their Smartlink Icons?

Jack is keeping his aim trained on whichever Goon he had previously designated, vaguely wondering how staying here makes any kind of sense.