Because the spirit has taken on the identity of the vessel.

Also, the text mentioned that the character knew some spells, right? Sounds a bit like it could be a barrier spell inbetween the bomb and the brain.

And finally, given the ITNW, even if the bomb wasn't on the outside edges of the brain, the blast could have been channelled through a safe part of the brain. Before you say "there is no safe part of the brain", let's not forget that people have survived javelins to the brain.

Rehlor, the answer is yes. ITNW does indeed make you unto like Superman at high levels. The grenade is going to take the path of least resistance. I don't really see what your problem is. It screwed up the main character's head, and took ALOT of rehab to get back to normal. There have been cases where ordinary people shot themselves in the head with the intent to die, and failed. This is simply the spirit equivelant.

So what's the problem. The explosive lost. As was already pointed out, the explosive was made to instantly kill a metahuman. This spirit is not a metahuman. It is tougher, can take more damage, can potentially ignore damage unto like Superman, and for goodness sakes it doesn't require internal organs! Humans think with their brains; spirits think with their spirit.

Yes, yes - The high explosive grenade damaged the "safe" part of the brain, shattered the skull, and killed the man next to them. Good catch with the barrier spell, though - I like that you talked yourself into believing that the spirit had a bomb implanted to kill itself, then used magic so it wouldn't die. And all this without even being written in the story.

And I agree with the guys who said the spirit can live without a head - Inhabited bodies just need a good push of will to keep going and nothing else. That's why life support was a key part of the story, because it was completely unnecessary. Also, facial reconstruction = having a whole new head, brains, eyes, teeth, et cetera put in. All of which are easy to attain while missing your head, I'm sure.


I think the reason you guys are having such an easier time suspending disbelief is because you can't remember what happened from one paragraph to the next.

I seriously wonder if you're reading what you write. Ok, let me try this again: Your brain = soft. Your Most people's skull = hard. Ok, now - which do you think will be the path of "least resistance" (remember, skull hard, brain soft). Got an answer yet?

And a cranial microbomb is made to kill a metahuman. A cranial area bomb is, once again, a high explosive grenade inside someones head. One makes a small pop and kills someone (no matter how many cyberfeet they have, WeaverMount), the other one is a big enough bang to turn you into a Islamic extremist in an Israeli coffee shop.

Here's your homework:

1) Someones skull is harder than their brain - True/False
2) A microbomb is a) bigger than b) the same as c) smaller than d) much smaller than a cranial area bomb?

There's just the problem that the skull would receive the same amount of protection from immunity to normal weapons.
So at the end of the day, it's still harder than the brain.

Oh wow. You're being facetious. Can I call you champ? You're whining with increasing intensity and vitriol about your suspension of disbelief being broken, and we just want to help, Champ. We're trying to talk you into believing anything about this story where a dead male/female with bits of her body popped out and off and replaced with machine parts being possessed by a powerful spirit that lets him/her identify wine, see ghosts, quote star wars and fly through the air. Oh, I forgot to add "purge a grenade blast through his/her face" and "Be a vessel for thematic elements and the delivery of the ironic denouement". Magic did it, champ.

Whoops, double post. I'm sure I don't have to repeat myself.

Aww, are you upset that you got called on your blatant hand-waving? It's ok. Your "safe parts of the brain" argument is still my favorite line of bullshit in the thread.

it was an entertaining story and well written, it suffers only from a lack of fact-checking.

Beyond the fact that the Immunity would make the initial surgery a bitch and a half to perform, I would think that even if it was successful, the bomb would pop, the head would expand comically and then smoke would poor from the poor darlings ears, having no effect on the implantee or the rapist. Really though this depends on how you see Immunity working, is it bullet-bouncing ala Superman Immunity, or is it a type of Regeneration on a scale that no damage is ever inflicted. Personally I go for a mix of the two.

I also imagine that reconstructive surgery went "oddly";

Shadow clinic Nurse: "um, doctor...*barf*...there's a patient...*barf*... to um, see you."
Shadow clinic Doctor: *goes to see what the problem is* *faints, pukes and shites himself upon seeing faceless meatbag/cyber-zombie*

I'm upset that you missed the point. That was that the more sarcastic and facetious you get, you contribute even less to the thread than you already were, no matter how authoritatively you shout your argument at everyone. As proof of concept, you might note that you completely ignored the content of my post, focusing only on the tone, and replying with more of the same tone, less content, and even a little swearing to really hammer in your superiority over some guy on the internet.

But because you fell into your own trap, no-one wants to listen to your insightful and constructive critique anymore, and bless your heart, it'll probably feel just like a victory for you. The rest of us will probably go and play a science fiction fantasy roleplaying game, and maintain our suspension of disbelief doing so, Champ.

It's hardened armor, like a car/tank. And I'm with you - the more likely scenario is that the surgery would fail (since it would be like using a scalpel on a concrete wall), or the bomb would just make a loud noise, some smoke, and a headache.


And I see Sir_Psycho has put on his "Net Psychologist" coat. Gosh doc, can I get some prozac please? Keep shifting the subject and someone (hint: not me) might forget that you got yourself into this mess by suggesting the spirit cast a barrier spell to stop their own suicide bomb, and that a bomb might only hurt the "safe parts of the brain." I wouldn't suggest returning to that line of thought though - You don't have a leg to stand on, and we both know it.

I had forgotten about that part, though I'd change it for scene sake, like I could see a Earth Elemental with the power, bouncing bullets and whatnot, I think they'd just pass through a water or air elemental (not saying they have the power, as I can't remember off the top of my head, just using them for an example). Same thing if a humanoid critter had it, unless they come with dermal plates of some fashion, I see the bullets passing through the figure while insta-healing. Either way the net is no effect, just different ways of picturing it.

though a thought with the surgery, since the scapel and other surgery tools may be used with one's hands, would that be possible to consider as a melee attack, pitting the surgeons will vs the spirit, thus allowing the surgery?

Here's something to keep in mind... can you turn off ItNW? If so, then surgery becomes a lot more palatable.

(don't have any of my books with me)

Maybe, but you're opening up a can of worms by doing so. How often do you make the test, which tools count, what does failure (or dramatic failure) translate into, and probably more to the point, how does the average street doc stand a chance in this contest against a F6 spirit?

Assuming success, my question would be: having noted highly irregular durability during surgery, and knowing the patient intends for the device to kill both it and those around it, would the doc just use more explosives?

good point with the avg street doc vs the F6 spirit, but otherwise if it's a possibility it's enough for a story IMO.

for the story to work, logically, the doc and initial mage would have to be so drek hot, cutting edge shadow operators, that the kink bomb would have never gotten out of the testing facility it was implanted in and would instead be banished/controlled to pull shadow work for the Megacorp the surgeon worked at...or the initial mage who summoned and bound this spirit would have never been so lax as to forget to include some sort of do no harm through willful action or inaction clause.

Let's roll with this point for discussion.
The ItNW can would simply shut down an average street doc. No to ways about it. ItNW isn't a listed power of any spirit, it's an aspect of the power that lets them exist on the physical. "Turning off ItNW" means turning off materialization and going back to the astral. The cyber-technicians would have to be familiar with and equipped to work on possessed and inhabited patients. So if they are familiar with spirits then they would know how much force it would take to kill one. Here's an idea the doctor knows how Ally spirits work and what could possibly motivate it to request such a surgery, and installs the device is with the specific aim of sparing a patient and killing an evil mother fucker. Hell it doesn't even have to be altruistic. The doctor could just think it's good business move. I'd like to have a high force heavily chromed runner owe me one. Now I'd be really surprised in Hyzmarca intended any of that, but it's consistent, and exploring possibilities and extending a story is more interesting to me than being a jack ass. Lastly, Rehlor lay off the cyber foot thing, I brought that up as a clearly marked aside, and didn't use it to draw a specific conclusion. This thread started with original fiction, and good discussion. It would be real bitch move to get a thread locked down over personal attacks.

I could be down for that version of the story. I prefer yukongil's darker version, which is more SR to me, but both are at least internally consistent. Seeing as the Nestor ended up fooled by humans and dead in Asimov's Little Lost Robot, it would actually be appropriate in my mind for the bomb to be powerful enough to kill the spirit but not Simon, or simply fail to damage either of them. Of course, I don't think Asimov would have written Dr. Calvin as a rapist, but...

But come on man - The cyber foot thing was funny. People get so hung up on combat rules around here. Ah well, I won't kick you in the cyber-shins about it anymore.

@ hyzmarca

Wow, I feel for ya. Nothing like a creative excercise to excite the masses. I just hope all this hullabaloo doesn't veer you off future fiction contributions to the board.

Ignoring the post story discussion, I thought it was a great story actually.

What I wonder is how the streetdoc was able to perform surgery on the vessel.
"Dang, there goes another scalpel! Bring me my monowire scalpel, the one I use for the troll tanks!"
Or maybe his Strength is high enough to bypass ITNW.

And don't forget kids: always dikote your ally spirit before having sex with it!

I have read through a few of the post and really dont see the problem, okay BEFORE it was made into an ally spirit it needed life support? that was at least how I read it, and I dont see even one problem with that part of the story. second all that with the bomb, for me, it is a spirit, indeed a very powerful one, and I would really have a hard time justifying for myself that a bombcould kill such a powerful being. it is okay to think logically about but really, is a spirit logic?

well not to start new discussions or anything, just my opinion and well I really liked the story and if okay with you hyz I would like to let my players read it, so can you PM me or write here if it is okay I copy-paste it to them in a mail?

hope to hear more of this being since it can be evolve into more stories and good ones:D

You know, I've heard you old timers saying that forever, but now I know why.

Interesting story. The Star Wars reference didn't actually bug me at all. I mean, the author could have used a film reference from 2050, but then none of us would have got it. Even the fine wine reference seemed reasonable to me.

I actually thought the narrator was a man, and I was quite unsure what the mage intended back at the hide out after the run until the reference to explosive orgasms. I also didn't think it entirely explicit that Simon died, just that he was worse off than the narrator.

As for the cranial bomb implantation, one would assume that a heavily cybered individual would have certain components designed for easy maintenance. I don't think ItnW would prevent a streetdoc from popping a cranial bomb in or even behind a cyber eye.

Overall I think it was a well written vignette, which says more about how magical power can be corruptive than how tough an ally spirit in a 0.1 essence street sam can be.

I also assumed it was a man when I read through it. *shrug*

The cranial bomb thing makes sense when you remember that spirits and physics don't mix. If the host body hadn't have been inhabited by a spirit, then yeah, sure, instant death. But I think that the spirit surviving while the guy within the blast radius dies is entirely legit.

Also, there's no penalty to surgery from ItNW. If it really bothers you, assume that surgery is an attack of will and that the surgeon was also the star of a hit medical drama...

arguably, the path of least resistence would probably be out through the nose, mouth, eyes, and ears. which means you would've had a directed blast pointed right at the mage if the explosion is going to follow the path of least resistance...