OOC- Shadow's Dawn: Diving into the past Options

[Seth]

@Marduk/Mandala
You are a long way away from any action...so you can mostly go now, and I'll soft out what happens soon

[sabs]

Mandala, what do we want to do? My spell choices are pretty dismal (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) although YAY for line of sight.
I've got mana bolt (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[pbangarth]

Well, there's the Snake's Fury coming after the Storm Swift, and a drake rising from it to attack Ryl. Why doesn't Marduk nail the drake with a Manabolt and Mandala hit the crew of the Snake's Fury with a Stunball, centered on the guy at the helm?

That should give Ryl enough help. Then we can turn our attention to the two air defense crews. Or save our own asses as whatever has been chasing us comes up after us.

Sound OK?

[Seth]

Visibility modifiers are quite extreme through the storm: rain / lightning.

• Ryl is at -2 for less than 100 yards.
• Call it -5 for the 1/2 mile that the Storm Swift is. (It's not quite invisible...)
• I don't think there are any range penalties or anything.
• This will quite likely be an unpleasant surprise for Mr Quetzali

[sabs]

Mana Bolt! Tally Ho! (Don't worry I'm actually kinda bad at spellcasting)

Spellcasting(4) + Magic (6) + Talisman (1) + Foci (3) + desperate spell (6) -5 = 15d6(exploding 6's)
2 6 2 6 5 2 3 5 5 5 2 5 5 5 2 | 6 6 | 3 2 = Hits 11 (rhorho, I might die)

Force 9 Mana Bolt

Drain: 5+7=12d6 4 6 2 3 5 4 3 3 6 4 3 5 (4) hits
DV: 5
1 stun
Plus how ever many hits I over-hit by.
Sorry Mandala (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) it's been fun knowing you.

[pbangarth]

sabs, I don't think Seth is using the optional rule that gives you extra Drain for extra hits, so the spell only does 1S to you. However, don't you have to do a Drain resistance for the use of the Matrix through which the spell was cast?

Force 9 Stunball at the Snake's Fury making sure to get the guy at the helm:

Magic 9 + Spellcasting 3 + Talisman 1 + Dream Manipulation point as Edge 8 - visibility 5 = 16 dice, exploding 6s

==> 5 HITS phht! That was a waste of Edge. So 9S DV plus net hits.

Drain DV 5S
Resistance 19 dice ==> 5 HITS no drain

Matrix Drain, hmm this one is also 5S because I cast Force 9.
Resistance BOD 3 + WIL 7 = 10 dice

==> 2 HITS Man, I'm on a roll today!

OK, DM point as Edge (There you go, Seth!) 8 dice exploding 6s ==> 4 HITS Sheesh! Good thing Mandala has Guard in effect!

No drain.

[ Spoiler ]

Dream Manipulation points 15-7=8
Edge 8-2=6

[sabs]

I couldn't remember the drain rules for the spell matrix

body(4)+willpower(7): 11d6:
6 2 3 1 2 6 5 3 3 1 6 (4) hits.
1 stun again

[pbangarth]

Fortunately, the matrix stun damage wears off quickly. That is, if we have a minute or two before more shit happens.

[Seth]

Notes:

• The only rule for the spell matrix is that it takes time to put spells in, and that the "enhanced ones" knock a point of drain off.
• I'm not using many optional rules: RAW it is. Meaning that the drain code for combat spells is the same as all others. (I think that the optional extra drain code for combat spells was one of the more poorly thought out optional rules: it actually encourages overcasting and has the exact opposite effect to the one they were trying for. If we were using it, you can choose how many successes you want to cap at).

@Pbangarth
Nice to see "Mr Lucky" is doing well.

My poor drake. Well I'll wait to see what Ryl does, but I suspect Quetzali is going to sleep

[Aria]

@Pbangarth
Nice to see "Mr Lucky" is doing well.

My poor drake. Well I'll wait to see what Ryl does, but I suspect Quetzali is going to sleep

Well I won't need to do anything if my opponent is a red splat on the ground faaarrrr faaarrrr away (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif)

[sabs]

Note:
I don't have Stun Bolt, or Ball. I have MANA Bolt (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)
Single Target Physical Damage, not stun.

[pbangarth]

Yes, sabs, I think the little snake-boy is going for a dive, the sudden stop at the end of which will finish the job if your spell didn't.

Seth, do you want us to post these actions in IC, or wait till you tell us the results here and we do action and result in our posts?

[Seth]

Much as I would like to have a tough fight here, I think that the sniper mages have it. Ah well.

I'll IC tonight or tomorrow the falling quetzali.

Aria: the boats are still coming together, so you need to either fly across / land / wreck the mechanisms or do something else clever. Your crew and their's are exchanging missile fire, but in the current weather conditions they may as well be throwing matchsticks. Just decide what you want to do, make a few suitable rolls (you pick) and we'll work out what happens.

Mandala/Marduk
After preening for a moment in awesomeness, you might want to consider your next move. You cannot see most of the crew of the Snake's Fury (the ship is above you, so lines of sight don't work too well).

The air defences radiate powerful wards, so they will keep out most ranged spells you do (although as demonstrated you do have powerful spells).

I'd also like a perception roll from the two of you.

[pbangarth]

Hey, Seth. SR4A tells us that mana barriers like wards affect critter powers in the following manner:

Adept powers and many always-on critter powers are innate and
so are unaffected by a barrier, though if the gamemaster chooses certain
ranged and sustained critter powers (such as Concealment or
Movement) may suffer the same fate as spells or foci (using the critter’s
Magic rather than Force).

So for things like Accident and Psychokinesis, its up to the GM whether wards interfere with them. How do you run it? Mandala also has Shattershield for just such circumstances.

Perception roll for Mandala: INT 8 + Perception 2 - (not sure about this) general chaos of the storm 2 = 8 dice

==> 2 HITS hmmmm....

Well, sabs, it looks like its up to Marduk to notice the big nasty sneaking up on us from below.

[Seth]

If it's my call then: Critter powers are reduced just like spells...i.e. whatever benefit you would get vs a similar spell, you would get vs a critter power.
Shattershield was indeed invented for this.

Perception modifiers are around -5
Assensing through the shield is -10 (that's a clue), as well as the -5 for the storm unless you go "just astral"

However the big nasty sneaking up on you below...well...if it's sneaky its sneaked past that.

[Alyena]

Alyena's rolls

Initiative: 7 hits + 16 = 23

Perception: 5 hits. Forgot the minus due to storm so total = 4

[Aria]

Much as I would like to have a tough fight here, I think that the sniper mages have it. Ah well.

I'll IC tonight or tomorrow the falling quetzali.

Aria: the boats are still coming together, so you need to either fly across / land / wreck the mechanisms or do something else clever. Your crew and their's are exchanging missile fire, but in the current weather conditions they may as well be throwing matchsticks. Just decide what you want to do, make a few suitable rolls (you pick) and we'll work out what happens.

Ho hum, no drake to fight, ah well, will just have to land on the Snake's Fury and take on the entire crew (IMG:style_emoticons/default/ork.gif)

Seriously though, I will try and fry the winch mechanisms: breath weapon 15D = 4, 3, 6, 5 hits...I can roll more as needed...I really don't want the Storm Swift rammed...if it looks like frying that won't work I'll go and snack on the Captain!

[sabs]

So apparently I Suck.
I never bought perception with Marduk. WTH is up with that.
int+perc=3 - 1 - 5 = -2 dice.

Dude there's a storm out there, I can't see shit.

On the otherhand, assensing (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) its' my thang (sorta)

Sensing: magic(9)+Intuition(3)+ Initiate Grade(4)-10=6d6 6 5 2 5 6 (4) hits

Well, I guess it helps to roll lucky everyonce in a while.

[Sephiroth]

Seth, what would I roll to figure out Fearghas's wondering question IC? Log + Magic Knowledge or something? I forgot to do knowledge skills for ED Fearghas, so I'd probably have to do that now, I guess...

[Seth]

@Aria
I've been struggling how to GM this Aria. Shadowrun doesn't handle mooks well, and a fight between a hero and mooks can be a long drawn out and not very exciting thing. I
think I will just go with:

• Can you make a "how well it goes roll": pick a suitable combat skill and roll it.
• The bad guys will get 10 - the successes in how well it goes attacks on you:
• 3, 3, 4, 4, 0, 4, 4, 4, 4, 3
• These will be doing 5P base damage.
• You get to roll your normal defence roll - about 3 die (as there are loads of them) to simulate a big fight

Can you do an IC post of you being suitably heroic, and smashing the winches / ripping the ropes, while either taking some light wounds, dying horribly or ignoring their pathetic attempts (I suspect the latter).

@Sabs, Pbangarth
OK the elemental appears asks for orders. As it does so, the double door way into the Hall of Two Axes opens about 2 feet, then closes again. If you want to have a go at doing something while that happens, an initiative of 12 or more would let you.

@Alyena, Fearghas
The guard's are about 100m away (I hope there isn't a continuity error there). They are spending a combat round picking up/drawing weapons then moving towards you.

The are splitting into 4 groups:
1: 8 people still doing their stuff
2: A group of 4 guards with the man who is obviously Argbod Deleram.
3: A group of 3 who are rushing to a ballistae
4: A second group of 3 who are rushing to a ballistae.
You mostly have a free round to do what you want, as they get ready: you have strategic surprise on them
their

[sabs]

Seth? Did my assenssing rolls not pull up anything? I know my perception test failed mightily.

[Seth]

@Sabs
It's fair
I was looking at perception totals, but assensing will tell you:

• A dwarven aura moved into the room while the door was open. There were powerful illusion spells on that dwarf.
• There are mighty magical wards still on the door, so presumably he was someone allowed in by the wards.

[pbangarth]

sabs, I don't think it was our task to take out the defensive weapons, but rather to hold this position for the ship to land. Now, seeing as we are free at the moment to aid the assaults on the defensive weapons, we could do something while we wait for nastiness to come to us. Helping neutralize the weapons surely is within the purvue of "hold the landing field at all costs."

Mandala could go and shatter some wards to make our magic more likely to affect the guards staffing the weapons. What do you think?

I will be leaving tomorrow to visit my daughter in Liverpool, England for a week. While she does have internet, my presence on DS will probably be more sporadic than usual. So, sabs, if I am holding things up too much, just improvise and have Mandala do something cool.

I don't think Mandala saw the dwarf, did he?

[Aria]

@Aria
I've been struggling how to GM this Aria. Shadowrun doesn't handle mooks well, and a fight between a hero and mooks can be a long drawn out and not very exciting thing. I
think I will just go with:

• Can you make a "how well it goes roll": pick a suitable combat skill and roll it.
• The bad guys will get 10 - the successes in how well it goes attacks on you:
• 3, 3, 4, 4, 0, 4, 4, 4, 4, 3
• These will be doing 6P base damage.
• You get to roll your normal defence roll - about 3 die (as there are loads of them) to simulate a big fight

Can you do an IC post of you being suitably heroic, and smashing the winches / ripping the ropes, while either taking some light wounds, dying horribly or ignoring their pathetic attempts (I suspect the latter).

I suspect I don't even have to roll anything as I have 6 hardened armour in drake form (and higher armour than that because of my adept powers...) but maybe I'll make some rolls...it's no fun if it's too one sided (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif)

[Alyena]

@Alyena, Fearghas
The guard's are about 100m away (I hope there isn't a continuity error there). They are spending a combat round picking up/drawing weapons then moving towards you.

The are splitting into 4 groups:
1: 8 people still doing their stuff
2: A group of 4 guards with the man who is obviously Argbod Deleram.
3: A group of 3 who are rushing to a ballistae
4: A second group of 3 who are rushing to a ballistae.
You mostly have a free round to do what you want, as they get ready: you have strategic surprise on them

Alyena is going to cast Mob Mind on the group still trying to bring the air defence under control. Her aim is to cause them to flee thinking it is about to blow and that they need to save their friends. This will hopefully cause some confusion at the ballistae posts (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

As I have a spirit atm it actually reduces my dice a bit (IMG:style_emoticons/default/frown.gif)

8 hits capped by force of spell to 7

Resist drain: 4 hits
Dream point as edge: 2 hits Total of 6 so 1 stun

Have 5 Dream Points remaining.