OOC: SRM04-00: Back in Business, OOC thread for Back in Business Options

[Slacker]

Actually, I was referring to the Dead Man's Trigger (SR4A p. 163) which allows you to take one last action before you go down (either unconscious or dead). You are thinking of the Hand of God rule to avoid death, which since Tundra Wolf isn't dead (as you pointed out), he luckily doesn't need to do. The Dead Man's Trigger requires you to have 3 things; 1-A remaining action in the Combat Turn (Tundra Wolf had not yet gone on Pass 2, so check), 2-Spend a point of Edge (not sure if Tundra Wolf had any left), and 3-requires a successful Body+Willpower(3) Test (which in my opinion is the hardest part). In any case, this is assuming TW wants to do this, it is totally not required.

Given the need to revise my actions because I forgot to take into account picking up people as an action (silly oversight on my part). Would you mind if I revise the actions as such:

Turn 1 - check, getting Fiona secured
Turn 2 - get over to Tundra Wolf, perform first aid (as far as I can tell, it only takes the one Complex Action to Stabilize with First Aid) - Pass 1, Grab him - Pass 2, then make sure everyone is safe and secure before dropping the Increase Reflexes - Pass 3.
Dropping the spell in the 3rd pass vs. the 1st is the same as far as the next turn's actions go. As soon as I drop it, I lose any further actions during that Combat Turn, but it doesn't prevent me from using my increased speed for any actions before that.
Turn 3 - Climb out of building - check.
Turn 4 - Send spirit after Jack while moving toward a safer location to aid my two patients (Fiona and TW).

I'll be using First Aid first, to try and reduce the drain on any Healing spell I end up casting, and using First Aid to heal actual damage takes several Complex Actions to complete. So assuming TW is stable, I want to make sure all our ducks are in order before I make myself vulnerable to anything happening around me.

Mr. White, looks like we'll need to know what you are going to do, what with the angry smugglers/orks across the way...

I'm cool with the revised sequence. And if you're plan isn't to stick around here for long I'm going to gloss over any difficulties the angry mob might create. There's certainly insults and threats heading your way, particularly as more people come from the surrounding area to check out the explosion and fire only to discover a bunch of no good top-siders at the center of it all.

What safer location is are you trying to move to?

[ChromeZephyr]

I've been out of Edge since our first encounter with that spec-ops veteran masquerading as a gang leader, so no DMT for me. Wouldn't have done anything, really. I could have shot it to very little effect, or thrown myself out the window and die upon hitting the pavement. *shrug* The life (and/or death) of a merc/shadowrunner, neh?

[Kiirnodel]

I was thinking not too far away. Probably down an alley, a building or two down from the warehouse. Far enough so that we're out of sight, but close that Mr. White can keep an eye on things while I deal with our unconscious friends. I would prefer to head in the direction that Jack went, so that when my Spirit drags him back, I can intercept things...

On the way, I'll tell my Watchers to alert me of anything leaving the warehouse from the upper floors. Try to have them on alert for the Stone, if it is somehow being retrieved... I still want to try and get it too if we can. Tundra Wolf going down just...complicates things a little.

From the sound of things, my spirit inside, fighting the fire spirit will eventually prevail. Particularly if the enemy doesn't fight back, eventually my spirit will roll well, or the enemy will roll poorly. Unless we're looking at impending sunset in a minute or two, my spirit isn't going to run out.

That isn't my immediate concern, though. How would you like to play out getting Jack back? As I said, within a few seconds, I sent my spirit to chase him down and retrieve him. Do you want me to roll anything, or is he going to back down against the spirit as quickly as he did with Tundra Wolf?

[Kiirnodel]

I've been out of Edge since our first encounter with that spec-ops veteran masquerading as a gang leader, so no DMT for me. Wouldn't have done anything, really. I could have shot it to very little effect, or thrown myself out the window and die upon hitting the pavement. *shrug* The life (and/or death) of a merc/shadowrunner, neh?

Ah. Still, it can be worth mentioning...

In any case, still not dead yet. Probably won't be in much shape to fight after this, but you'll live to run another day.

As it is, I'll be looking at a -5 to my spellcasting to try to heal you, not to mention probably at least 7-9 Drain, it's not going to be a happy day...

[Slacker]

I was thinking not too far away. Probably down an alley, a building or two down from the warehouse. Far enough so that we're out of sight, but close that Mr. White can keep an eye on things while I deal with our unconscious friends. I would prefer to head in the direction that Jack went, so that when my Spirit drags him back, I can intercept things...

On the way, I'll tell my Watchers to alert me of anything leaving the warehouse from the upper floors. Try to have them on alert for the Stone, if it is somehow being retrieved... I still want to try and get it too if we can. Tundra Wolf going down just...complicates things a little.

From the sound of things, my spirit inside, fighting the fire spirit will eventually prevail. Particularly if the enemy doesn't fight back, eventually my spirit will roll well, or the enemy will roll poorly. Unless we're looking at impending sunset in a minute or two, my spirit isn't going to run out.

That isn't my immediate concern, though. How would you like to play out getting Jack back? As I said, within a few seconds, I sent my spirit to chase him down and retrieve him. Do you want me to roll anything, or is he going to back down against the spirit as quickly as he did with Tundra Wolf?

Well, seeing as how it takes a complex action to materialize and materialized plant spirits only have a run speed of 15, Jack is likely to lead the Spirit off on a merry little chase through the alleys of Pirate's Cove that he knows so well. Every time your spirit materializes he will run away down a different direction and your spirit will be forced to go astral again to catch up to him, only to have him run away a different direction. Eventually, Jack will give up, but it's not going to be as instantaneuos as you think. It would take a couple minutes before he finally gives up.

For your spirit inside, I just rolled a sequence of 20 dodge tests for the Fire Spirit and he received between 6 and 11 hits on all of them except for the third from last one which was a 5. Do you want to roll through the sequence of all of those?
By the end of that time enough for the second story floor to give out underneath where the ward's charm is kept. At which point the spirits will need to roll Force x 2 or be disrupted by the charged ward being moved. Or I guess I could give the spirit a chance to React and move as the ward moves.

[Slacker]

Ah. Still, it can be worth mentioning...

In any case, still not dead yet. Probably won't be in much shape to fight after this, but you'll live to run another day.

As it is, I'll be looking at a -5 to my spellcasting to try to heal you, not to mention probably at least 7-9 Drain, it's not going to be a happy day...

With this in mind I would really suggest that it might be a better idea to move out now. There is going to be a sizable crowd of hardened criminals in front of the building by the time you will ever get a chance to go back in and do any searching for the stone. All things considered they probably won't look to kindly on a trio of wounded top-siders with an unconscious woman trying search for anything of value.

But, if that's what you are really wanting we can run with that situation.

[ChromeZephyr]

Guys, the Stone can be regained. If we have Fiona and (eventually) Jack, we're ahead of the game. If we cannot get the Stone, we take the rep hit with whoever the mysterious Johnson-from-nowhere is, and we get out with our other two objectives and, more importantly, alive. Not every run ends in success.

Though given how big of a clusterfuck this mission has become, I'm beginning to doubt we'll even make it back to surface with any of them.

[Dak]

Guys, the Stone can be regained. If we have Fiona and (eventually) Jack, we're ahead of the game. If we cannot get the Stone, we take the rep hit with whoever the mysterious Johnson-from-nowhere is, and we get out with our other two objectives and, more importantly, alive. Not every run ends in success.

Though given how big of a clusterfuck this mission has become, I'm beginning to doubt we'll even make it back to surface with any of them.

I'm with you.

[Slacker]

I'm with you.

If that's agreed upon, we can jump forward to when you catch up to Jack and Gardner's spirit. Jack is covered in sweat and grime from his mad dash through the alleyways. He's now crumpled to the ground in front of the spirit crying in frustration and exhaustion.

Where to now?

[ChromeZephyr]

I'm still unconscious but have been stabilized, correct?

[Dak]

If that's agreed upon, we can jump forward to when you catch up to Jack and Gardner's spirit. Jack is covered in sweat and grime from his mad dash through the alleyways. He's now crumpled to the ground in front of the spirit crying in frustration and exhaustion.

Where to now?

I propose that we tell Jack that he can live through this, or we can shoot him in the face and leave him in the street.

If he wants to survive, we ask him where the stone is. Likely he's secreted it somewhere. So that's a while 'nother can of worms.

Then we tell him that we're all headed back to his boat, and that we're going to sail out of here to the Seattle harbor. If he doesn't like this, we kill him. No haggling, we make it very clear that we can leave with him and his boat, or without him.

[Slacker]

I'm still unconscious but have been stabilized, correct?

Until Gardner makes a Healing check on you, technically yes. But I'm willing to let you at least be conscious when everybody catches up to Jack.

[Slacker]

I propose that we tell Jack that he can live through this, or we can shoot him in the face and leave him in the street.

If he wants to survive, we ask him where the stone is. Likely he's secreted it somewhere. So that's a while 'nother can of worms.

He will point back towards the column of thick black smoke coming from his warehouse as a loud crash of it reverberates off the cave walls making it seem all the more devastating and dramatic.

[ChromeZephyr]

Until Gardner makes a Healing check on you, technically yes. But I'm willing to let you at least be conscious when everybody catches up to Jack.

Nah, I'm good. Just wanted to make sure I was clear on what had been happening since the elemental fried me. It's probably better TW's unconscious right now, at least for Jack.

[Dak]

He will point back towards the column of thick black smoke coming from his warehouse as a loud crash of it reverberates off the cave walls making it seem all the more devastating and dramatic.

God damn.

[Slacker]

Then we tell him that we're all headed back to his boat, and that we're going to sail out of here to the Seattle harbor. If he doesn't like this, we kill him. No haggling, we make it very clear that we can leave with him and his boat, or without him.

I think you can safely convince him. Why don't one of you roll his Pilot:Watercraft dice for me since he just glitched when I tried rolling it to get you through the narrow winding passage from the Cove to the ocean. He's only got 5 dice thanks to the injuries and the boat's handling.

[ChromeZephyr]

5d6.hits(5) = 2 hits. Nearly glitched, as well. Whew.

Just as an aside, Kiir and Dak...how are we handling turning this son of a whore over to KE and not getting our "illegal weapons" taken? Though at this point, I think that comes down to just me, with my combat cybernetics and assault rifle.

[Slacker]

5d6.hits(5) = 2 hits. Nearly glitched, as well. Whew.

Just as an aside, Kiir and Dak...how are we handling turning this son of a whore over to KE and not getting our "illegal weapons" taken? Though at this point, I think that comes down to just me, with my combat cybernetics and assault rifle.

That's good enough to make it to open waters without incident. And I'm not going to have KE harrass you about the illegal gear when handing in Jack. So no worries.

[Slacker]

With an exhausted Fiona and simpering Jack in tow, it's time to make some phone calls so you can get paid. Who are you guys calling first?

[Kiirnodel]

Well, seeing as how it takes a complex action to materialize and materialized plant spirits only have a run speed of 15, Jack is likely to lead the Spirit off on a merry little chase through the alleys of Pirate's Cove that he knows so well. Every time your spirit materializes he will run away down a different direction and your spirit will be forced to go astral again to catch up to him, only to have him run away a different direction. Eventually, Jack will give up, but it's not going to be as instantaneuos as you think. It would take a couple minutes before he finally gives up.

For your spirit inside, I just rolled a sequence of 20 dodge tests for the Fire Spirit and he received between 6 and 11 hits on all of them except for the third from last one which was a 5. Do you want to roll through the sequence of all of those?
By the end of that time enough for the second story floor to give out underneath where the ward's charm is kept. At which point the spirits will need to roll Force x 2 or be disrupted by the charged ward being moved. Or I guess I could give the spirit a chance to React and move as the ward moves.

I had forgotten that with Full Defense the opposing spirit effectively gets triple his force in defense dice... And thinking about it, I had told the spirit to defend us, which it no longer needs to do if the spirit isn't attacking us (same logic as why the fire spirit doesn't attack back). So my spirit would spend some time "distracting" it, and then sit tight. As it is unable to leave the ward (or at least not interested in trying unless pushed) it waits inside. Just for giggles I went ahead and rolled those 20 attacks, and only got above 6 hits three times total. Each was just 7 hits, on the 4th, 4th to last (so close! heh), and last tries. Maybe the 4th one might have hit, but I'm not worried about it. The two spirits could just sit there shooting the breeze for all it really seems to matter...

However, wards don't move. I made sure to look it up several times to be sure. Wards are described briefly in SR4A p. 194, and goes into a lot more depth in Street Magic p. 122 (really starts on p. 123 but the section heading is on 122). I don't mean to be a pain, but I remembered reading about the immobility of wards before and it stuck with me. When the ward anchor moves too much (which the floor giving out and dropping it several meters would probably count) the ward collapses.

If the ward does collapse, I would have the spirit inside use the Search power to track down the stone and then bring it to us. It would be able to conduct the Search astrally and only need to Materialize once it needs to interact with the stone itself. It could then use its Movement power to get back to me quickly, or we might be able to go scoop it up or something. That's my last ditch attempt at grabbing the stone. And it may end up taking the spirit longer than we stick around and we'll end up handing over the stone after we get Fiona back...

As it is, I am still interested in coming back to the Ork Underground to try and make that ammends with the Skraacha.
Speaking of which, before we leave can I get to Pip(?) and ask him to bring that message to the Skraacha gang? If I can, I would like to find a way to set up a meeting. Preferably in a way that isn't likely to have them just geek me before I can do anything...

I'm still unconscious but have been stabilized, correct?

As far as healing goes, with everyone stable, Gardner starts out by treating his burn so he isn't as distracted when he tries to help the others. Beforehand, if Mr. White is with them, he will tell him to try and slowly give Fiona water. She seems to be severly dehydrated... In any case, after he treats himself, he will help Tundra Wolf then Fiona first using mundane medicine, then magically. If I recall correctly, you mentioned that Fiona had no physical wounds, so magical healing would not likely provide any benefit for her.

First Aid on Gardner: 2 hits - no damage healed.
Heal spell on Gardner: 5 hits on spellcasting - 4 damage healed.
Drain test: 2 hits - no drain.

First Aid on Tundra Wolf: 4 hits - 2 damage healed.
First Aid on Fiona: 3 hits - 1 damage healed.

Heal spell on Tundra Wolf: 3 hits - 3 damage healed.
Drain test: 5 hits - 2 Stun damage sustained.

Totals: Tundra Wolf heals 5 damage in total, making him conscious after the first aid, and feeling even better after the spell.
Fiona might regain consciousness after a bit of First Aid has been applied, but I'm not sure her condition is purely from damage...
Gardner trades in his burns for a Migraine. Which, coupled with the bruises that haven't quite healed yet, leave him in about the same spot as far as distraction goes.

[Kiirnodel]

With an exhausted Fiona and simpering Jack in tow, it's time to make some phone calls so you can get paid. Who are you guys calling first?

My vote would be to call up Mac first, I should have his number. I can call MacCallister to tell him we found Fiona, and Mr. White can call the number on the card we got from Lone Star to hand over Jack. And we'll arrange deliveries for both. If it comes down to priorities, I'd prefer to drop of Fiona first. Tundra Wolf (or a spirit I conjure up) can guard Jack and make sure he doesn't get away again.

[Slacker]

I had forgotten that with Full Defense the opposing spirit effectively gets triple his force in defense dice... And thinking about it, I had told the spirit to defend us, which it no longer needs to do if the spirit isn't attacking us (same logic as why the fire spirit doesn't attack back). So my spirit would spend some time "distracting" it, and then sit tight. As it is unable to leave the ward (or at least not interested in trying unless pushed) it waits inside. Just for giggles I went ahead and rolled those 20 attacks, and only got above 6 hits three times total. Each was just 7 hits, on the 4th, 4th to last (so close! heh), and last tries. Maybe the 4th one might have hit, but I'm not worried about it. The two spirits could just sit there shooting the breeze for all it really seems to matter...

However, wards don't move. I made sure to look it up several times to be sure. Wards are described briefly in SR4A p. 194, and goes into a lot more depth in Street Magic p. 122 (really starts on p. 123 but the section heading is on 122). I don't mean to be a pain, but I remembered reading about the immobility of wards before and it stuck with me. When the ward anchor moves too much (which the floor giving out and dropping it several meters would probably count) the ward collapses.

If the ward does collapse, I would have the spirit inside use the Search power to track down the stone and then bring it to us. It would be able to conduct the Search astrally and only need to Materialize once it needs to interact with the stone itself. It could then use its Movement power to get back to me quickly, or we might be able to go scoop it up or something. That's my last ditch attempt at grabbing the stone. And it may end up taking the spirit longer than we stick around and we'll end up handing over the stone after we get Fiona back...

Oh yeah, I was misremembering the FAQ example that says you can anchor a ward inside a van and the ward would move with the van. But that's only if everything is moving at a relative rate. A floor falling out would be different.
But really, if we want to be a stickler for the rules, the times you have cast Stunbolt like at the fire spirit right before you left the building the Drain has been much higher. On Direct Combat Spells, your successes on the spellcasting roll increase the Drain. So that last stunbolt actually gave you 3 stun damage (Base Drain 4 + 3 from your success - 4 successes on the drain test).

Can we just move forward with the story as is? I don't know that your spirit would be able to find the morel stone. It specifically doesn't have a magical aura and you've only ever seen a sketch of it in Fiona's notebook. I don't believe you'd be able to give the spirit a good enough visual image of it especially with all the other stone/rubble from the collapsing building.

[Slacker]

My vote would be to call up Mac first, I should have his number. I can call MacCallister to tell him we found Fiona, and Mr. White can call the number on the card we got from Lone Star to hand over Jack. And we'll arrange deliveries for both. If it comes down to priorities, I'd prefer to drop of Fiona first. Tundra Wolf (or a spirit I conjure up) can guard Jack and make sure he doesn't get away again.

The contact number Mac gave the team at the start of the mission is different from the number you have for him as a contact. Which will you be calling?

[Dak]

Jack is a rabid dog, so I'd sooner be rid of him first. Maybe we can sell his boat to some enterprising smuggler or something (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

Either way works for me.


Mr. White will call up ADA Dana Oaks, and tell her that they've got a package that may be of interest to her and Athack. Now, I don't think we did any price haggling on the front end, and since Athack was such an enormous prick about the whole thing, the price has gone up. Way up. Negotiation test: 9D6E5 => 4 successes.

[Slacker]

First Aid on Fiona: 3 hits - 1 damage healed.

Fiona might regain consciousness after a bit of First Aid has been applied, but I'm not sure her condition is purely from damage...

Fiona's more simply exhausted than anything. She probably opens her eyes for a second at the healing being done on her, but she very quickly slips back into sleep, a much more restful sleep than the unconsciousness she'd been under before. After a couple hours of sleep she could be shaken awake if you want.