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

[Aria]

Seth, as I'm currently oblivious to all these spirits floating around can you confirm what is between Ryl and Angel's room? Where did the cadaver men go to?

I don't think I have to dodge a machine gun nest (an intact one anyway) to get there?!?

Think we're about done in the matrix now unless anyone can think of anything else specific that needs doing? I'll link the camera feeds into the tacnet and then take on drake form I think for some carnage (at least until I realise that the astral is lousy with spirits in a bad mood...(IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif) )

[Seth]

@Fearghas
To be honest I don't know how long first aid takes. I tend to think of it being (in this case) sticking a trauma patch on you, or waving ammonia under your nose. I had a quick look in the rule book, and it takes a complex action per point of damage that it heals. I guess that means at the start of round 20 you are coming round, and by the third IP, the first aid is complete.
When I said all systems functional, I should have been clearer. You have the boxes of stun back that Alyena's spirit gave you. As I recall you are under the effect of loads of narcotics that mean you are not at a crippling penalty for all those stun points.
As far as climbing goes: the body had strength 11 and if it needed to it could have used psychokinesis
(Mostly I was trying to make it so that you didn't spend the next few weeks of real time not doing anything...)

@Edana
Hope you had a good weekend.
The DOS hasn't gone down...in fact its getting worse (the bots are doing what they were last instructed to do). You just needed to grab the whip, study it, and then use a command program to tell all the bots in the botnet to do whatever you want them to do. As it happens I think you are now dumpshocked, so I don't think the DOS will still be getting you.
I agree its inconvenient: the rage spirits smashed up your life support system, and when it stopped working properly it initiated an emergency wakeup.

@Aria
I suggest that you go and turn off the DOS attack before leaving the Matrix, in case you want to go back in. (you can be still subscribed in that node, so I suspect its a free action to work out what the whip did, and a complex action to issue a command program: computer or hacking (your choice) + command).
The rage spirits were flooding out of the dagger that Marduk used (there are no new ones leaving it at the moment). They have by now killed everything living (apart from you lot) on Angel's floor. They have reached your room and would be killing you , but Alyena was ready for them with a mana barrier and a slaughter spirit.

@General
Just a quick reminder where people are:

• Marduk room 27a
• Alyena and Ryl above the basement storeroom (actually these are Snake Head's quarters)
• Fearghas is in the basement storeroom on top of some shelves
• Bjeorn is in the security room
• Mandala and Angel are in Angel's room

Apart from the rage spirits (which are a serious threat) there are no living enemies below the temple area, although there are now plenty of undead threats as the rage spirits are possessing the bodies of the people that you and they have dealt with.

[sabs]

Well, You might as well be in Drake Form, Aria. You're dual natured all the time (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) not just in drake form.

I'm trying to catch up and understand where we are at. I think.. I'm busy studying the dagger till round 21? And then I reconnect to the tacnet, and have 3 ip again. (I think)

Is that right Seth?

[Edana]

@Edana
Hope you had a good weekend.
The DOS hasn't gone down...in fact its getting worse (the bots are doing what they were last instructed to do). You just needed to grab the whip, study it, and then use a command program to tell all the bots in the botnet to do whatever you want them to do. As it happens I think you are now dumpshocked, so I don't think the DOS will still be getting you.
I agree its inconvenient: the rage spirits smashed up your life support system, and when it stopped working properly it initiated an emergency wakeup.

@Aria
I suggest that you go and turn off the DOS attack before leaving the Matrix, in case you want to go back in. (you can be still subscribed in that node, so I suspect its a free action to work out what the whip did, and a complex action to issue a command program: computer or hacking (your choice) + command).
The rage spirits were flooding out of the dagger that Marduk used (there are no new ones leaving it at the moment). They have by now killed everything living (apart from you lot) on Angel's floor. They have reached your room and would be killing you , but Alyena was ready for them with a mana barrier and a slaughter spirit.

Yeah, it was pretty good. In any case though, depending on the actions necessary I still had my entire IP 5 free to grab the control and shut down the bots. (Threading isn't an action, I just listed it on IP 5 as something I was definitely doing.) Regardless though, being dumped means I don't have to worry about it any more since I can just respoof my accessid if I try to connect again.

Angel's awake, but is she still in the tank? How much equipment is still connected to her, etc? Sensory deprivation is a non-trivial thing, so I'm guessing she's going to be stuck until someone gets her out?

[Aria]

I'm pretty sure I'm only dual natured in drake form

Might as well turn off the botnet before I go...rolls soon...

[pbangarth]

Well, Mandala is right there, Edana, and the immediate spirit threat is neutralized, so he will head over to see what he can do.

[Seth]

I'm trying to catch up and understand where we are at. I think.. I'm busy studying the dagger till round 21? And then I reconnect to the tacnet, and have 3 ip again. (I think)
Is that right Seth?

You can be projecting in round 21 and have three actions.

I think I have told you about what happened, but here is a little more:

• You stab someone and spirits come out.
• If you make your willpower check then you can (roughly) control some/most of them (depends on how many successes you get).
• You suspect that you need a sympathetic link to your target to really get the spirits to do what you want them to do.
• You have used up about a third of the spirits in the dagger, so if you want more fun and games, you could try and let the rest out (IMG:style_emoticons/default/ork.gif) .
• Mostly you were unprepared for it, so you got blindsided: hence the dumpshock. You think if you did it again you would have much better control.

@Aria
Don't worry about rolls, you or Angel are easily good enough to do it.
You are correct Ryl is only dual natured in her draco form. (its very nice actually all the wins of dual natured with an off button)
The rage spirits are manfesting if they can, and possessing anything dead if they cannot. They don't seem to be possessing living things at the moment.

[Seth]

Angel's awake, but is she still in the tank? How much equipment is still connected to her, etc? Sensory deprivation is a non-trivial thing, so I'm guessing she's going to be stuck until someone gets her out?

This is proper high tech stuff. 3 complex actions will remove all the bits of wires and stuff on her: most of them had allready retracted.

@Edana
I covered the rough guidelines above: you are at -2 on all actions (the equivalent of 6 wounds...so that's pretty tottery). You have seen the real world through cameras, and have controlled drones before. This is similar but different, but I'm not going to cripple you that much.
In practice this sensory deprivation was used to enable you to surf the networks and live in a virtual world, so the mental instability caused by sensory deprivation is not a problem for you.
Your body is in good working order, maintained by machines which exercise it, and even sorted out basic hand eye coordination

The really good news for you is that there is an Evo Orderly here complete with 2 robot arms and walking legs. Its taken a bit of damage, but thanks to Mandalas quick intervention is not that damaged (it wasn't alive or containing something alive, so it wasn't that attractive a target).

[sabs]

Gonna make my skull study roll :)

logic(8)+Magic theory(6)+PuShED(1)+analytics(3)+Itemhistory(4)=22d6 4 1 6 6 2 4 2 2 1 6 5 4 4 1 5 6 5 1 5 2 5 3 (9) hits

That's much nicer.
Oh and what does my happy TacNet say once I have reconnected to it.

[pbangarth]

Ah.. OK. I'll rewrite my post to use the orderly.

[Seth]

Mispost

[Big Fella]

Hi guys.

Bjeorn will duck dodge and weave those pesky spirits that are attacking him: The third one will land a single success
I'll soak the damage from that spirit: 7 successes

Then I'll attack one for 3 successes

This doesn't look like a good situation: I can fight for a while here but I will eventually go down. Jonathan's body is here as well. Does anyone know if I could pick up/push his Rigger Cocoon and try and get back to the basement where I can meet up with many of you others? If I leave Jonathan here he will probably get chewed to death.

[sabs]

You can, but you will shunt him into dumpshock.
Not sure how much damage that would do.
Get Ryl to tell him to disconnect first?

[Seth]

Just checking where people are in posts:

Bjeorn is now about to start IP 2 of round 20
Aria: not sure...you tell me
Edana: I think you need to post about dumpshock and the real world
Sabs: You might want to post about your musing on the dagger etc
Alyena: I think you are most of the way through 20.
Fearghas: as per last OOC post, I think you are happily posted until the start of round 21

I think you need to come up with a plan to deal with the rage spirits. There are very puny inside Angel's aura. Alyena's mana barrier (just) held and the rage spirits are going after easier pray. At the moment they are down to the ground floor, but it won't be long before they get to the basement.

I'm happy to move away from combat rounds very soon if you come up with a credible plan.

I suspect Lean'drea is lost in the dragon's egg room. I have a couple of people wanting to join in as reservists, so I will probably invite them when the situation has stabilised.

[Seth]

I think its reasonable that the rigger cocoon is on coasters. I have this image in mind. Its probably going to be very bumpy for Jonathan going down the stairs, if that's the way you go

[Alyena]

Hmm..... I think I was getting a little ahead of myself. The task spirit will not be done with all the first aiding necessary 'til the end of round 22. I'll leave the IC post as it is, it's still correct just finishes later.

My suggestion is we regroup on Angel and her fluffy aura, perhaps more accurately she and Mandala regroup on us. She can move through the rage spirits (in the evo-orderly) more safely than we can, especially with Mandala riding shotgun!
Bjorn can bring Jonathan in his cocoon, my task spirit can use my body to carry Ryl. (Have this vision of her ending up draped over the cocoon with Bjorn pushing them both!)

@ Mandala
Does a spirit pact mean you can cast one of my spells? It would be really useful to have more Slaughter spells or Mana barriers atm!
How best can we bring down the Temple ward? I believe the 2nd and 3rd blood pumps are in the Temple and on the floor above. We still need to take them out with either the chemicals or physically to bring down the blood ward. The rage spirits have trashed the first one by now, I think, so we can't use that for the chemicals (IMG:style_emoticons/default/frown.gif)

[Aria]

my task spirit can use my body to carry Ryl. (Have this vision of her ending up draped over the cocoon with Bjorn pushing them both!)

Heh! I can walk/fly for myself thank you very much! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Let's regroup (somewhere) and go horror bashing (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[pbangarth]

My suggestion is we regroup on Angel and her fluffy aura, perhaps more accurately she and Mandala regroup on us. She can move through the rage spirits (in the evo-orderly) more safely than we can, especially with Mandala riding shotgun!
Bjorn can bring Jonathan in his cocoon, my task spirit can use my body to carry Ryl. (Have this vision of her ending up draped over the cocoon with Bjorn pushing them both!)

I'm not sure whether the background count in Room 12 will move with Angel. If it is the result of Astral Hazing, once she moves out of the area it will shrink to be only around her, slowly growing again only after she stops moving.

@ Mandala
Does a spirit pact mean you can cast one of my spells? It would be really useful to have more Slaughter spells or Mana barriers atm!

Yes, Mandala could take one of Alyena's spells. Slaughter [X] is not his bag... Pacifist and all that, and his Stunball seems to do fine. Mana Barrier would be OK. But wouldn't Shatter be useful to take out a pump? What Spirit Power would Alyena like to have? If I recall, Seth won't allow sharing Immunity to Normal Weapons, but I bet you could use Resist Background (1). I haven't figured out the mechanism for Spirit Pact, but I suspect over the millenia we have worked out the details and kinks.

How best can we bring down the Temple ward? I believe the 2nd and 3rd blood pumps are in the Temple and on the floor above. We still need to take them out with either the chemicals or physically to bring down the blood ward. The rage spirits have trashed the first one by now, I think, so we can't use that for the chemicals (IMG:style_emoticons/default/frown.gif)

Shatter spells? Two of us in concert, for 3 or 4 times per combat round? Something's gotta give. Or at least open a hole to put in the chemicals. Is there a Ward keeping us from getting to the floor above? I'm confused about that point.

[sabs]

can't Bjeorn just rip something open?

[pbangarth]

can't Bjeorn just rip something open?

I suspect he can. I am a little worried about one of us actually touching the blood, though. No clear idea what it might do, but erring on the side of caution seems prudent in this hell-hole.

[Seth]

'm not sure whether the background count in Room 12 will move with Angel

As I understand it, hazing has a range of essence metres in any case. A 10 metre diameter bubble of Golden Beauty should be adequate!

Spirits powers: The ITnW ban was just so that I didn't have to increase the threat level even higher. Interesting aside though for rules aficionado's like yourself: If you read the power materialisation you can see that it grants you the power ITnW. So you only have the power while materialised. Spirit Pact explicitly prohibits the sharing of materialisation or possession...so I suspect that the non sharing of ITnW is RAW.

Spirit Pact: Heavy form: an hour long ritual with candles, mantras, suitable stuff. Light form: 1 complex action for each edge attribute Mandala possesses, and I complex action for each essence that the recipient has. (Not RAW: but it feels about right).

Wards: The only ward inside the pyramid left is the natural ward around a Magical Lodge. All the other wards evaporated when Warder was defeated. The Magical Lodge though has its ward as a function of existing, and was not maintained by Warder. The middle area of the floor above you is the temple area (according to the map). Ask away if you want more data about it. You suspect that it will not take long for your shattershield to smash through almost any ward: and as far as you know the ward around any temple is a basic ward with no unpleasant retaliatory effects.

but erring on the side of caution seems prudent in this hell-hole.

Did Mandala say that? Mr "I can deal with the Sword Witch on my own"???

[Aria]

Just checking where people are in posts:

Aria: not sure...you tell me

I think you need to come up with a plan to deal with the rage spirits. There are very puny inside Angel's aura. Alyena's mana barrier (just) held and the rage spirits are going after easier pray. At the moment they are down to the ground floor, but it won't be long before they get to the basement.

I'm happy to move away from combat rounds very soon if you come up with a credible plan

I'm with Alyana behind her ward. Matrix stuff being now more or less useless as far as I can tell I'm going to shift to drake form and help clear these spirits before we head upwards...

IC post hopefully this afternoon...

[pbangarth]

As I understand it, hazing has a range of essence metres in any case. A 10 metre diameter bubble of Golden Beauty should be adequate!

Oh yeah. OK.

Spirits powers: The ITnW ban was just so that I didn't have to increase the threat level even higher. Interesting aside though for rules aficionado's like yourself: If you read the power materialisation you can see that it grants you the power ITnW. So you only have the power while materialised. Spirit Pact explicitly prohibits the sharing of materialisation or possession...so I suspect that the non sharing of ITnW is RAW.

I've vacillated between both sides of this one for a while. I'm happy with whatever you say.

Spirit Pact: Heavy form: an hour long ritual with candles, mantras, suitable stuff. Light form: 1 complex action for each edge attribute Mandala possesses, and I complex action for each essence that the recipient has. (Not RAW: but it feels about right).

Works for me. So the Light Form would take something on the order of a minute, tops. Would the Light Form last a shorter period of time than the stated 24 hours? That would make sense, too.

Wards: The only ward inside the pyramid left is the natural ward around a Magical Lodge. All the other wards evaporated when Warder was defeated. The Magical Lodge though has its ward as a function of existing, and was not maintained by Warder. The middle area of the floor above you is the temple area (according to the map). Ask away if you want more data about it. You suspect that it will not take long for your shattershield to smash through almost any ward: and as far as you know the ward around any temple is a basic ward with no unpleasant retaliatory effects.

I was more concerned about someone actually touching the blood than the ward itself. OK, so if I interpret the map correctly, that Magical Lodge seems to be around the second floor, where the Horror is based. I believe our task is to get rid of the outer ward that is keeping our 'employers' out. There is a pump on the third floor, but we can't get to that without either going through the second floor or outside the pyramid and back in. The latter is not going to work until we get the blood pumps nuked, so it looks like we have to go through the Horror's center of power.

Our employers are much better suited to deal with the Horror than we are, but they can't get at him till we bring down the outer ward. We can't bring down the outer ward till we, probably, deal with the Horror right where he is strongest. Do I have this about right?

Did Mandala say that? Mr "I can deal with the Sword Witch on my own"???

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/embarrassed.gif) Yeah.. ummm... well... that was sort of a spur of the moment thing. If he has a chance to think about things, Mandala may be a bit more cautious. See above.

[sabs]

I'm still waiting on finding out what my investigation on the skull is.

[Aria]

Hopefully nobody wanted any more matrix stuff doing (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif)

Power up time!

Agility Boost 2 hits = Agi 7
Reaction Boost 3 hits = Rea 6

Drain at 1:4 (only needs 1 success to cancel) = 0

Initiative 11D 3 hits = 14 [2IPs]