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[Seth]

@General
I had a chat with Alyena and Bjeorn

Bjeorns initial plan was to make an access hole then defend against the incoming troops while the rest of you escape..Alyena was planning on putting her body in a safe place in the storeroom. However a better approach seems to be be "everyone get out through the hole".

I'm happy for a little reality fudging, and Alyena and Bjeorn are up the hole. Bjeorn carried Alyena's unconscious body. I'll ask them to post this evening.

So that means that in fact Master Sergeant Huicton is chasing all of you up the hole. I think he won't cut and run, he will "all out defence while getting the hell out of the here".

I am not sure where Fearghas is.

I think that the only things left in the storeroom are the drones, Marduk & Alyena's astral form, and potentially Fearghas (although I suspect he will be getting out of dodge as well)

@Aria
I think that with all the concrete in the way you cannot sense the Major's commlink directly. However You suspect that if you go to the tacnet that he and his troops are using (which Jonathan has provided access to) you can start hacking him/cyber combat him from there.

Should you go in that node you are feeling quite a lot more stealthy than usual: you think someone is using the teamwork rules, and giving you 4 more die on stealth. If you go in could you give me a hacking + stealth roll, and a computer + analyse roll.

That node is very similar to the first tacnet. A map of the pyramid. The major is present as a shining metal blade with blood dripping of it. He has two sets of troops, marked A and B. Each of those sets has 10 individuals. They all have health bars and ammo bars very similar to a first person shooter...the difference is that the target they are going to shoot is you.

[pbangarth]

Sorted out the map.

Sadly Master Sergeant Huicton has a higher initiative (he had effectively a held action under the surprise rules...I had to read them a load of times, but I think I am correct)

Your idea of astral signatures I think is mostly invalid for attack spells. Attack spells damage you then fade. The signature stays around the place where the spell took place. I am not certain I am correct and I would put it on the main forum as a question if I were you. In any case he isn't actively hiding, and he has enhanced masking (its pretty obvious that if you can hide a spell you can hide the astral signature of a spell on you, otherwise enhanced masking would be pointless), so the answer wouldn't affect how we deal with this situation.

To see him upstairs you only need one success as he is not actively hiding, but the background is confusing (smoke and debris physical + aztech 4 background astrally). Don't forget the +3 for actively looking, but there is background and a -8 from concealment on him.

Yeah, it's a very limitedly useful idea, but I thought I would put it out there. Always scheming, I am.

@General
So that means that in fact Master Sergeant Huicton is chasing all of you up the hole. I think he won't cut and run, he will "all out defence while getting the hell out of the here".

I am not sure where Fearghas is.

I think that the only things left in the storeroom are the drones, Marduk & Alyena's astral form, and potentially Fearghas (although I suspect he will be getting out of dodge as well)

Given that MSgt Huicton is going before Mandala, Mandala will have to follow him out of the room. Mandala is at 225 m/ round so he should be able to get up there quickly!

The Detect Enemies is still sustained, so that is a -2 to other tests, but does it also help in the current situation of finding Huicton in the room above?

[Seth]

@Mandala
I think thats a fair question. You still need to get a visual line of sight for spells. Last time I get you an extra +1 for the spell going "hes here...hes here", in this circumstance you can have +2, as the main problem is working out where he is in the confusion of smoke / debris and hideously unpleasant astral count.

Alyena is working up her post at the moment, and I suspect she is going to try and get this area cleansed before the Major arrives. I'd wait to see if she does that before doing your perception rolls.

I suspect you will see the sergeant though...so I think his shelf life is limited.

[pbangarth]

Mandala seems to be a little flighty. This could be me, though. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/spin.gif)

Anyway, he's gone and done his stuff for rounds 17 and 18, and it doesn't include anything to do with the good MSgt.

[Sephiroth]

Do we have enough time before the Major et al arrive for Fearghas to wait in the storeroom, delaying his turn until the cavalry bursts in and taking Take Aim actions at the door in the meantime?

[Seth]

Sorry I am a little slow guys: its been a strange weekend.

@Pbangarth,
I gave the name of the person leading the way to pick up Angel... its spirit bane. Think very carefully before you go solo head to head with him: remember Captain Zeia. He is absolutely optimised for dealing with you. You have about 2 rounds before he arrives in room 12.

@Sephiroth
You have 2 rounds to build up. Sadly the take aim won't work as I assume you want to hit people and not the door. You can however have a held action and I'll give you +9 instead of the usual +6 surprise, as you know exactly when they are coming.

Just be sure that you aware that you are only one down there...Alyena is planning on blasting their spirit support from the astral plane. Everyone else is upstairs.

@general
We have another player. Edana is going to come and join us, and he is going to play Angel. I'll introduce him in character very soon.

[pbangarth]

Sorry I am a little slow guys: its been a strange weekend.

@Pbangarth,
I gave the name of the person leading the way to pick up Angel... its spirit bane. Think very carefully before you go solo head to head with him: remember Captain Zeia. He is absolutely optimised for dealing with you.

I know that. I wasn't sure Mandala knew it, though. Yeah, I don't really want to face him one-on-one, but the Angel thing sounds serious and I don't see anyone else getting there in time to help Angel. If they do, great.

I'm hoping the Blood Spirit will cause some delay. Speaking of which. did you want me to roll some kind of Influence Skill to see if Mandala gets the Blood Spirit to come out fighting?

[Seth]

I think some social skill would be very appropriate.


When you got to angels room you discover that the background is [Golden Beauty: 4], there is no trace of Aztech or Horor. It is serene and beautiful, and even though it is trashing your force you enjoy bathing in its harmonious glow.

There is little visible on the astral so I am assuming you are manifesting.

Make a surprise roll please. If you get more than 3 successes you can respond. You are aware of the bullets bouncing of your form: a drone is sitting on top of a cabinet, it sees you and blasts. It is using an Ingram White knight full burst. Good news for you is that its a narrow burst. It has 3 successes on its attack. The base damage is 5, AP -2, and it will get +6 if it penetrates your hardened armour. It will fire three full bursts then run out of ammo. The richochets are of course pinging around the room, damaging lots of expensive looking equipment.

The door to the corridor opens inwards, and should you choose there are a number of cabinets that could be moved to block it.

In the room as well is sensory deprivation chamber with a one way view into the inside. There is a girl probably as pretty as any you have seen, age about 14. Small robotic manipulators are tending to her bodily needs, and at this moment one of them is combing her hair. She triggers every paternal instinct that you have (and even as a spirit you have a few...).

There are controls on the control console. Of most interest is the drug feed: kill, sleep, wake, hyper are the four main settings: its currently set to sleep. To move to the kill position requires the pressing of another button.

[Seth]

OK the Major has arrived. He pretty much arrives as the Master Sergeant arrives upstairs.

To make life easy for me I will declare this the start of a new round: round 18.

I realised after I posted that there was one IP left in round 17 for the Master Sergeant, and I should have waited until that combat was resolved.

As every one involved in that combat has 3 IPs, I am going to say that the shock of the majors arrival caused everyone to blink and everyone lost an IP. That way everyone is on the start of round 17 which is 00:01:13.

I don't think anyone is going to be surprised by the Major's attack, but they may be surprised by you...so surprise rolls from anyone that wishes to do anything at +9 as you knew pretty much the exact second that they were coming through the door.

The suppressing fire is quite unpleasant. In any one area there are probably 2 troops firing, so we will treat that as 2 attacks which you need reactions + edge to dodge. They have 3 successes, and have a base damage of 5 AP -1.

[Sephiroth]

The suppressing fire is quite unpleasant. In any one area there are probably 2 troops firing, so we will treat that as 2 attacks which you need reactions + edge to dodge. They have 3 successes, and have a base damage of 5 AP -1.

*slams fist on table* I disagree! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/vegm.gif)

FEARGHAS USES FORCE 8 SONIC BOOM!

[ Spoiler ]

Magic 6 + Spellcasting 6 + Power Focus 4 + SURPRISE! 9 -Wound modifier 1 = 24d6 = 9 hits
http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3048854/

That wasn't nearly as dramatic as I was hoping for. FEARGHAS USES EDGE! (and doesn't get a 1 on his bad luck roll! http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3048865/)

[ Spoiler ]

15d6 rerolling failures = 7 hits! And these are NOT limited by the Force! http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3048868/

CRITICAL HIT! IT'S SUPER EFFECTIVE! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/devil.gif)

[/pokemon joke]

Resisting 11P Drain: 22d6 (using Centering) → [5,3,5,4,5,6,3,3,4,4,1,6,6,6,5,6,5,5,4,1,5,1] = (12)
MWA HA HA HA HA!!

I will write this up later tonight, when I don't have jobs to search for.

That's 8S/P (don't remember what we decided on, Seth) + 15 hits (they shouldn't be able to dodge, they're surprised) = 23P/S, which may or may not ignore armor (don't have time to check what we decided), gives a total of 31 damage for the purposes of rolling for Knockdown, and additionally makes sure that anyone still conscious after that hits is most likely deafened for 10 minutes and nausious.

Does everyone within 5 miles and their mother now know we're here? Probably. Was it worth it? I certainly think so. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/love.gif)

[Alyena]

Alyena will hopefully have finished cleansing the area upstairs by IP 1 of the round the Major makes his entrance.
She's going to set her pet Spirit on the dual natured master sergeant and then try slaughter spirit on the nasties with the Major.

To cleanse needs Magic (9-4=5), Counterspell (6), Initiate grade (4), so 15 dice

5 successes

Woo hoo! Background now Zero folks.

IP 2 send my pet Spirit to possess the master sergeant and then move to los on the Major's spirits

4 successes

[Seth]

Does everyone within 5 miles and their mother now know we're here?

Certainly everyone in the pyramid!

Very nice attack Fearghas. Using edge very good idea! Very appropriate for a counter shock and awe. I feel a cad to do the following:
1: you can be outside the effect of the hazing, but your spell will be affected
2: the 9 die for surprise were on your suprise roll, not on the spell. Can you make the surprise roll? you get intuition/reaction/combat reflexes and 9. The troops are just going to be surprised. The Major...not so sure...lets roll and find out (IMG:style_emoticons/default/ork.gif)

To do point (2)
the first roll is down the last 9 die, which makes it 6 successes I think
the reroll adds another 4 I think.

This is still 10 successes...which is a huge amount. I don't think I have seen such a good roll.

The spell is force 7, but it is reduced to force 3 by the astral hazing. Base damage 13.

The troops as you correctly point out (poor troops...the Major did warn them) don't get to dodge, but they do get counterspelling which is 6 pts. (The counterspelling is being provided by the two large spirits) all have about body 4, and armour 3 vs sonic (they are in clam shell armour which I recon is slightly better than wearing ear muffs. Wearing ear muffs gives you 2 points).
I will add the counterspelling to the soak roll (same game effect fewer die for me) 13 soak die.

Results: http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3048936/ are very bad for the plucky troops. By my calculations, as they have willpower 4 (they are on combat drugs), they have 10 stun boxes, so if they get 4 soak they are (just) still up. Summary: about have the troops collapse silently, the others are all running at signficant minuses, with huge headaches and ear/nose bleeds (which cannot be seen in their helmets).

Lets do the much more interesting attack vs the Major.
As an orc cyberzombie he has body 13. I'll give him 5 points of armour vs sonic (this is a lot better than any other element, as his impact armour is a lot more than 10 - his brain is in a jar...he doesn't actually have ears) and he has countermagic 6. He also has a pain editor... 24 soak. WHich is 6 successes...sigh...could be better Therefore he takes 7 stun. (His willpower is about 6 so pretty soon it will overflow into physical...however for now he smiles, and has a new target). If you don't surprise him, he will get a reactions roll as well which will reduce it further...

Summary: The majors sneers at your pitiful attack, and moves the point of the beam of destruction from his mini gun towards you... Half his troops collapse and the others are at very significant minus's.

Can you

• give me your surprise roll - I'll use it as initiative for the rest of the IPs
• check my calculations: you were crazy brave attacking a cyber-zombie and his troops on your own, and if you pull it off you get bonus karma out of respect (bit like Mandala will with Captain Zeia) but it is pretty scary.

[Seth]

@Alyena
Mu ha ha the plucky master sergeant fends off the spirit. http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3048953/ (I am mostly Rules As Written but to resist possession you get to add your best mental stat to your willpower)

The spirit can attack the sergeant in the next IP (If Bjeorn hasn't turned him into mincemeat), as the sergeant is dual natured.

[Sephiroth]

I'm having trouble posting, so I'm putting this up in pieces to troubleshoot.

"Very nice attack Fearghas. Using edge very good idea! Very appropriate for a counter shock and awe. I feel a cad to do the following:
1: you can be outside the effect of the hazing, but your spell will be affected
2: the 9 die for surprise were on your suprise roll, not on the spell. Can you make the surprise roll? you get intuition/reaction/combat reflexes and 9. The troops are just going to be surprised. The Major...not so sure...lets roll and find out


Can you
give me your surprise roll - I'll use it as initiative for the rest of the IPs
check my calculations: you were crazy brave attacking a cyber-zombie and his troops on your own, and if you pull it off you get bonus karma out of respect (bit like Mandala will with Captain Zeia) but it is pretty scary."

<3
Definitely, not a problem.
Reaction 2 (6 from Increase Reaction) + Intuition 5 (9) + Surprise bonus 9 + Increased Reflexes initiative bonus? 3 (dunno if that stacks with Increase Reaction) = 27d6 =

[Sephiroth]

11 hits. If the Increased Reflexes bonus doesn't stack, than it's reduced to 10 hits.

the first roll is down the last 9 die, which makes it 6 successes I think
the reroll adds another 4 I think.

This is still 10 successes...which is a huge amount. I don't think I have seen such a good roll.

This is correct. And thank you. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) I was impressed too

The spell is force 7, but it is reduced to force 3 by the astral hazing. Base damage 13.

a) It's force 8, not force 7
b) You may houserule this as you like, since the BGC does weird things in this game, but by Street Magic RAW instant duration spells are not affected by entrance into a background count.

Pre-existing wards, mana barriers, active foci, sustained spells, and quickened/anchored spells are similarly affected. Reduce their Force by the absolute value of the background count. If the Force is reduced to zero of less, wards and mana barriers will collapse, foci will deactivate, and spells will fizzle.

Notice that instant duration spells are not included in this description. Permanent spells are sustained until they become permanent, so pre-existing instant spells would be the only kind of spell that is not affected by entering a domain or ebb. EDIT: They WOULD be affected if they were cast inside a mana domain or ebb, like all magical activity. However, since Fearghas is casting from outside the perimeter of the astral haze, that is not the case here.

The troops as you correctly point out (poor troops...the Major did warn them) don't get to dodge, but they do get counterspelling which is 6 pts. (The counterspelling is being provided by the two large spirits) all have about body 4, and armour 3 vs sonic (they are in clam shell armour which I recon is slightly better than wearing ear muffs. Wearing ear muffs gives you 2 points).
I will add the counterspelling to the soak roll (same game effect fewer die for me) 13 soak die.

This looks ok. I would just ask you to make sure that the two spirits can actually see all of the troops they're providing counterspelling for, since the FAQ (take it with a grain of salt, of course) says that counterspelled targets must remain in sight at all times.

By my calculations, as they have willpower 4 (they are on combat drugs), they have 10 stun boxes, so if they get 4 soak they are (just) still up. Summary: about have the troops collapse silently, the others are all running at signficant minuses, with huge headaches and ear/nose bleeds (which cannot be seen in their helmets).

False! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/cyber.gif) You're forgetting that my Sonic Boom spell is a Sound + Blast effect spell, not just a sound spell. If they all have 4 body, and the Blast effect adds its Force ((IMG:style_emoticons/default/cool.gif) to the damage when comparing to the troops' Body, and a target is knocked down if he/she takes damage >= his/her Body... even the still-conscious ones should be knocked to the floor by the force of the shockwave. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/devil.gif)

Lets do the much more interesting attack vs the Major.
As an orc cyberzombie he has body 13. I'll give him 5 points of armour vs sonic (this is a lot better than any other element, as his impact armour is a lot more than 10 - his brain is in a jar...he doesn't actually have ears) and he has countermagic 6. He also has a pain editor... 24 soak. WHich is 6 successes...sigh...could be better Therefore he takes 7 stun. (His willpower is about 6 so pretty soon it will overflow into physical...however for now he smiles, and has a new target). If you don't surprise him, he will get a reactions roll as well which will reduce it further...

7 damage + 8 Force > 13. That man is knocked down. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/love.gif) Since he doesn't have ears, it makes sense for him not to be deafened. Does he still suffer the effects of nausea, since he suffered 1 more damage box (phew) than his willpower?

Summary: The majors sneers at your pitiful attack, and moves the point of the beam of destruction from his mini gun towards you... Half his troops collapse and the others are at very significant minus's.

The irony, I love it! <3 I don't think it was all that pitiful, though. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif)

Now that I think about it, this is a well-appreciated reversal of my previous miserably ill fortune with trying to slip through that F16 ward at the start. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

THAT WAS AMAZING!

[pbangarth]

I think some social skill would be very appropriate.

Mandala's Influence Group is rating 1, so whichever is appropriate:

CHA 8 + Skill 1 = 9 dice ==> 3 HITS Hope this gets the little guy riled! It may help that the guys in the corridor are live sources of blood!

When you got to angels room you discover that the background is [Golden Beauty: 4], there is no trace of Aztech or Horor. It is serene and beautiful, and even though it is trashing your force you enjoy bathing in its harmonious glow.

There is little visible on the astral so I am assuming you are manifesting.

Make a surprise roll please. If you get more than 3 successes you can respond.

INT 8 + REA 4 = 12 ==> 5 HITS

You are aware of the bullets bouncing of your form: a drone is sitting on top of a cabinet, it sees you and blasts. It is using an Ingram White knight full burst. Good news for you is that its a narrow burst. It has 3 successes on its attack. The base damage is 5, AP -2, and it will get +6 if it penetrates your hardened armour. It will fire three full bursts then run out of ammo. The richochets are of course pinging around the room, damaging lots of expensive looking equipment.

Neither Narrow burst or Wide burst will get through the ItNW. Mandala has Force 6 here, so his ItNW is 12, reduced to 10 by the AP. Base 5 DV + even no resisted hits of 3 = 8DV, so it doesn't penetrate. If it tries Wide burst, he gets little or no chance to dodge, but the damage goes no higher than 5DV.

The door to the corridor opens inwards, and should you choose there are a number of cabinets that could be moved to block it.

In the room as well is sensory deprivation chamber with a one way view into the inside. There is a girl probably as pretty as any you have seen, age about 14. Small robotic manipulators are tending to her bodily needs, and at this moment one of them is combing her hair. She triggers every paternal instinct that you have (and even as a spirit you have a few...).

There are controls on the control console. Of most interest is the drug feed: kill, sleep, wake, hyper are the four main settings: its currently set to sleep. To move to the kill position requires the pressing of another button.

OK. Got it, thanks.

[Aria]

@Aria
I think that with all the concrete in the way you cannot sense the Major's commlink directly. However You suspect that if you go to the tacnet that he and his troops are using (which Jonathan has provided access to) you can start hacking him/cyber combat him from there.

Should you go in that node you are feeling quite a lot more stealthy than usual: you think someone is using the teamwork rules, and giving you 4 more die on stealth. If you go in could you give me a hacking + stealth roll, and a computer + analyse roll.

That node is very similar to the first tacnet. A map of the pyramid. The major is present as a shining metal blade with blood dripping of it. He has two sets of troops, marked A and B. Each of those sets has 10 individuals. They all have health bars and ammo bars very similar to a first person shooter...the difference is that the target they are going to shoot is you.

Stealth 26D (if I get a +2 hotSIM bonus?!?) = 9 hits (or 8 without hotSIM)
Matrix Perception 17D (hotSIM?!?) = 4 hits

I was going to hack the tacnet but it seems like the troops are snuffing it faster than I can post (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif)

Will go straight for the Major through the tacnet (if I can...?) ...let's hope his cyber is fully subscribed to his commlink...he'll have trouble fighting if i turn his cyber eyes off (IMG:style_emoticons/default/devil.gif)

[sabs]

Actually Marduk is still in that room..
I'd like to find out if the Major is up and standing, or if he's flat on his back from the shockwave.

I have 3 IP. Since I'm using the magical tacnet, which aura am I being effected by, and is the astral hazing causing issues or not.
Also, what tradition are the two spirits. (I have this lovely dagger of destroy aztec things)

I am debating between two different possibilities:
1) manabolt down the spirits, if they are here.
2) levitate some hardshell infront of the minigun to act as cover for fearghas (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Aria]

Wyrmhacker, Ryl, I need you to hack these grenades in the storeroom for me. I need it now, if not sooner. If it's too far away up there, then send an agent with Exploit to do it from my comm. But I need this done immediately.

Think you might be out of luck there, apparantly the signal is too weak...if they are carrying any grenades I might be able to get to them via their commlinks though?!?

Will try and get the minigun to eject its belt feed or something... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Seth]

@Fearghas
OK thanks for checking my maths.

I didn't know about instant spells not being affected by background count, and I think I will carry on with the count affecting instant spells for the end of this combat. I'm going to have a chat with some other people and see what they think about it. At this moment I think its just an accidental omission, but perhaps there is some compelling reason for them being different.

Can you roll me surprise? I need to see if the major is surprised: he gets to roll his reaction to reduce the damage if he is not surprised, so its quite important.

@Sabs
I though Marduk was in room 27a. If you want to have moved here, thats absolutely fine, although that will leave the room undefended. Just let me know.

There are 2 large spirits that are being buffed by the Major's aura, and loads of little ones (rank 1/2) that are swarming around the troops.

@Aria
Thats pretty stealthy.
You can:

• 1: engage in cybercombat
• 2: start hacking the Major's commlink (roll hacking on the fly against a system of 7: do you want user 7 successes / security 10 successes / admin 13 successes), when in give me a few computer + analyse and a few hacking + stealth. The major is (like every sane? shadowrunner) using signal zero wifi, or DNI to talk to his gun and cyberware, so you need to go through his commlink to get to them.
• 3: Use your admin account on the secondary combat net to shut it down.
• 4: Do something else

Just post and let me know

@Mandala
"Who...coming...Grr" Sanguine stops his feeding and races out into the corridor. I'm guessing you are not watching (if you can see Spirit Bane, then he can see you)

The bullets bounce off you in a very satisfying way.

Are you doing anything with the control circuitry? You have a few seconds before Spirit Bane gets here (unless he is slowed down by Sanguine)

[sabs]

@seth

I am in Room27A. But I'm using the Magical TacNet to cast spells, and be a bastard in the Room. (Remember, I can't normally astral project, and I'm not really astrally projecting.. I'm doing something weird.)

Wait, The Major's aura shouldn't be buffing any spirits. Astral Hazing is unaspected, and should hose everyone. Even Toxic Spirits.

[Seth]

@Sabs
Yeah you are right about the hazing. But these are crazy horror spirits and they love it!

You are also correct that you are astrally projecting in the room. The Major as a cyber zombie is fact dual natured, although a very hard target. I think I said that there are two very hard spirits and lots of little spirits in here.

[Sephiroth]

Think you might be out of luck there, apparantly the signal is too weak...if they are carrying any grenades I might be able to get to them via their commlinks though?!?

Will try and get the minigun to eject its belt feed or something... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Signal 0 still has a range of 3 meters (and according to the grenade safety function described on SR4A pg 324, maybe even 5 meters in this case - not much, but better than nothing). If you stand near the edge of Bjeorn's hole, you might be close enough to do it. Or send an agent to do it from Fearghas's commlink, since he's definitely within 3 meters of the grenades (I'd have my agent do it, but my commlink doesn't have Exploit).

[Seth]

I'm sorry to spoil a good plan, but infortunately as I said above, most grenades are stored with the fuses away from the explosive. This is prevent exactly the sort of incident that you want to cause. This would be even more true in shadowrun were hackers are so effective.

[Sephiroth]

@Fearghas
OK thanks for checking my maths.

I didn't know about instant spells not being affected by background count, and I think I will carry on with the count affecting instant spells for the end of this combat. I'm going to have a chat with some other people and see what they think about it. At this moment I think its just an accidental omission, but perhaps there is some compelling reason for them being different.

Can you roll me surprise? I need to see if the major is surprised: he gets to roll his reaction to reduce the damage if he is not surprised, so its quite important.

I did roll surprise, it's at the end of my first post. I got 10/11 hits. Initiative would be somewhere in the 30's. o_O

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/frown.gif) I would point out that sustained/permanent spells are the ones that have the most versatility. In most cases, it is both more efficient and more effective to use a gun to kill someone than to use combat spells. The strength of spellcasting does not lie in its damage potential, since guns can deal out more damage than spells usually. The strength of spellcasting lies in its ability to do things that a gun CAN'T do - like turn something invisible, levitate something, project convincing illusions, incapacitate opponents with false pain/bug terrors/orgasms/fear, manipulate and influence the very minds of opponents, move around dirt/metal/concrete/fire/water/air/whatever, heal wounds, cure diseases, turn people to friggin' goo, shapechange... Since these are where the strength of spells lies, it makes sense for BGC to cripple the advantages those spells give, but not quite as much for it to cripple a mage's capacity for self-defense. Also, in this case, since Nopaltzin has well over 6 Essence worth of 'ware packed in his body, as well as his being both 1) incredibly tough with 13 Body and (I'm guessing) 4 initiative passes, and most likely 2) the brainiest brain that ever brained when it comes to the matrix, AT THE SAME TIME, it's not like he would be at much of a disadvantage in ranged combat with Fearghas if his Haze didn't affect combat spells cast outside of it.