The Found Arcana - Chapter 8 [OOC] Options

[Tecumseh]

It's a viable option. You don't know how far it might get you, but you think you have a chip to play with the mayor from your Thanksgiving job at the Fun House.

[Tecumseh]

Good discussion. Everyone has said something correct, although I won't identify what.

Are we fast-forwarding to the evening then?

[Tecumseh]

We're actually going to rewind a bit. I've been debating about this but I want to play it out because it's potentially important.

Jack pushed things forward a bit too far when flew straight home as a seagull. The hawks were waiting for him outside the garage and aren't going to be deterred by a larger target. They're going to attack Bobby the Seagull.

Hawks' initiative: Initiative: 1d6+8 13

@Jack
Roll initiative. You can't lose the roll so go ahead and declare your actions and roll as needed.

[Jack_Spade]

Sorry, didn't mean to jump the gun here - I just didn't realize the hawks were more than flavor text. (Provided they aren't disguised drones or spirits, those aren't really a challenge)

[Gilga]

Technically I was going to send Trouble to keep an eye but you moved quickly for me. Let's flow with it as is.

[Jack_Spade]

Feel free to add that Trouble is keeping an eye on the astral for him - should those falcons be something else than normal birds of prey

[Gilga]

He'll just use the animal control power to keep them at bay (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

[Tecumseh]

Apologies for the delay; my wife and son have been sick for the last week and a half. I can feel myself fighting it - and so far I've been winning - but I've been flying solo on keeping everyone intact.

Hawk resistance: Logic + Willpower: 2#4d6t5 2 hits 3 hits

That second hawk almost beat it, but not quite. Bobby's net hits don't beat their Willpower but they're going to rethink things. They'll break off; combat complete.

[Jack_Spade]

Well, better than the alternative of you being in the Ukraine and fighting for your live there...

Wish you all the best for you and your family, get well soon!

[Beta]

Sorry you have been dealing with health stuff int he family, Tecumseh. I hope your kids manage to dodge it.

[Tecumseh]

I think he's past the worst of it, although it lasted much longer (10 days) than usual. Now it has passed to my wife, where it is migrating back and forth between her lungs and her sinuses.

Meanwhile, the tree pollen count is very high and so my eyes are burning. Part of me wonders if I'm fighting what they have or if it is just seasonal allergies.

As for Ukraine, I find myself being somewhat preoccupied these days. My company CEO sent an e-mail out saying, "I'm feeling distracted; it's okay if you are too." I appreciated that. My grandfather's family is from southern Poland and I still have distant relatives there (that, admittedly, I haven't spoken to since the 1990s), so it all feels just a little bit more relevant than the usual world conflict.

--------------------

Just to see if I have the B&E plan straight, the idea is that Bobby transforms into a weasel, cuts a hole in the glass, slips inside, prepares the explosives for transport, then Jawsey's spirit brings them back to the car? AM and Jawsey on Matrix and Astral overwatch, respectively.

I suppose my primary concern from a practicality standpoint is how Bobby is going to get up to the window. Weasels are good climbers but the walls are cinder blocks / concrete masonry units, which don't readily lend themselves toward being climbed.

If we're doing Weasel Pants^TM then I suppose Gecko Gloves for Weasels^TM is not out of the question. For convenience we'll say that there's no rain in the forecast, although this is somewhat unrealistic for February in Seattle (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Beta]

Spirit lifts Bobby up, perhaps?

===================================

The Ukraine situation is certainly distracting at the least. We had the omnicron wave, as it started receding my city had its core occupied by trucks and protesters for over three weeks before the federal government finally invoked never-before-used emergency legislation to help clear the problem away (setting a precedent that is worrisome), and just as that situation was being literally cleaned up, this war started. It feels like every time we go "Phew, finally that is over" then something worse happens. I don't have any personal connections to the Ukraine, but my company has a substantial office in St. Petersburgh, Russia, and my group was about to be working with them on something, but due to sanctions they've been essentially cut off from the company (the stuff we work on is covered by the sanctions), so I am reminded that this Putin is bringing pain to his own country with this, too.

[Gilga]

I was thinking Trouble/spirit can use psychokinesis to pick the weasel up from a distance weasels are not that heavy.

@Tec sorry to hear you guys are sick. We've been having a lot on our plate health-wise but luckily it is the grandparents. So we all are fine. The feeling of flying solo is shared, I stay home to look for the kids and my wife goes looking for her family.

Ukraine is an interesting angel from over here because it feels very close as Israel has a very large diaspora of ex-soviet,
and many of them have relatives staying behind, and we also have many people going to study in Ukraine (possibly the lack of language barrier). So many many people are trying to help their families get out of there to the point where there is an unprecedented internal political pressure to take refugees in.

It also feels very relevant because Russia has military bases on our northern border, and we managed to keep good relations with them until now. So there is a very heated political debate about how much we can be involved in this conflict without alienating Russia.

[Jack_Spade]

I wasn't going for a weasle to go up - but I found Weasle Pants™ to be funnier than Squirrel Pants (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

But yes, just flying up with a spirit would be also an option - provided we can do so unobserved at this point. Otherwise, I'd put my Weasle Pants on my western gray squirrel body to climb up and break in.


---
As for the Ukraine, I just got off the phone with our PR Agency in Poland. People are massively worried - it's a bit like an abusive ex turning up drunk in front of your home. I'm certainly not in favor of getting into Shadowrun History with the start of the Eurowars...

[Beta]

Calling up a spirit F5, man, optional power phychokinesis
summon F4+1=5 spirit of man: 11d6t5 6
spirit resist: 5d6t5 2
drain resist vs 4: 13d6t5 8

Nice rolls! 4 services, no drain.

[Jack_Spade]

Body Boost: 9d6t5 3
Taking squirrel form (based on domestic cat):
Shapechange F6: 16d6t5 7
B3(6) A6 R4 S3
Drain resist: 11d6t5 2
No Drain

Focused Concentration

Mindlink with Trouble
Mindlink F3: 15d6t5 7
Drain resist: 11d6t5 1

Taking one point of physical damage - not a good start, but I need my edge for the demolition rolls

Don't think I need a climbing test, but just in case: Climbing: 6d6t5 3 (-3 included for sheer brick wall - using strength for small animals somehow doesn't translate well through the rules)

Breaking and entering through a window is likely a Locksmith test, despite not actually picking a lock Locksmith: 7d6t5 3

Followed by Demolion tests - don't know how many packets I can reach that won't be missed from below, but I'll make three for the moment and add more if there are more to make (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Demolitions: 8d6t5 0[8d6t5=2, 1, 1, 2, 4, 1, 1, 2] and right at the start, I use edge - no glitch, but no successes isn't how I want to start either
Demolitions Edge: 8d6t5 2
Demolitions: 8d6t5 3
Demolitions: 8d6t5 4
A steady improvement (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

For the moment I'm just describing the climb up and break in.

[Gilga]

A bit too beat to post - I'll try to get one tomorrow.

[Tecumseh]

I would suggest that a rat or a ferret would be a better baseline for a 1.5kg squirrel, but it probably doesn't matter much other than an attribute point here or there.

The climbing rules are making me roll my eyes a little bit. I see the -3 modifier the book suggests for a brick wall, which seems fairly absurd as it implies that anyone sufficiently strong can just... muscle? ... their way up a flat wall. For "realism" purposes I would prefer the psychokinesis approach we discussed earlier, but ultimately it doesn't matter as there's a viable workaround available.

It would make a little more sense to me to Mindlink with AM and have her spirit-summoner connection relay things to and from Trouble, but - same as above - it probably doesn't matter much. I guess I would have a question about whether the Mindlink would persist across planes if Trouble materializes and dematerializes. To the degree that it's a mana spell it may not matter, but there's a part of me that thinks that being on different planes would break it. (Although if Bobby is assensing the whole time and Trouble is dual-natured then maybe that solves it... but then Bobby assensing impacts his ability to use Demolitions...)

How is Bobby using Demolitions? He doesn't have the skill. I presumed he would be using the Analyze Device spell, but it wasn't cast.

[Jack_Spade]

Bobby has the Demara power

This power grants the adept the ability to use an un-
trained skill at minimal effectiveness after watching a per-
son or recording of a person using the desired skill. Once
the adept has watched their reference material for at least
one hour, they can use the skill as if they have a skill rat-
ing one. This knowledge remains effective for a number
of hours equal to the adept’s Magic Attribute. The ability
does not provide any Karma assistance in learning a skill
through character creation or advancement.

[Gilga]

I am not entirely sure why we want to make noise? AM would do it but do explain is Bobby breaking the window? Trouble is with him with psychokinesis power that can open it, or perhaps put out the glass neatly.

[Jack_Spade]

If Trouble can do that - all the better - will edit my post - might even be possible to put the glass back in than too (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[Tecumseh]

As for Demara, that's not something we RPed in advance. Again, I'm not as worried about the mechanics since there's a workaround available with Analyze Device, but we should at least pay some narrative lip service toward setting up Demara. It's somewhat questionable whether watching AM (with Demolitions 1) would be sufficient, as her expertise is limited and the available equipment with which to demonstrate is even more limited. Nor is this the type of content (in terms of videos) that's readily available via Matrix Search. There are ways around the issue, but we should explore those and work our way through them. Perhaps a flashback when the time is right.

Are we going with the distraction or not? I'm not sure if the goal was to cover up the cutting of the glass or popping out the circle. Cutting the glass will make a coarse, scratching sound. It's a quiet night - no rain or wind or storms this time - so there's less white noise in the background.

Once inside, we'll need a Sneaking roll from Bobby. Alternatively, if we just want to keep this psychokinesis thing going, then Bobby could just get levitated to where he wants to go since that's probably the quietest away to move around.

[Jack_Spade]

I did in fact mention it twice

http://forums.dumpshock.com/index.php?show...t&p=1358319

And

http://forums.dumpshock.com/index.php?show...t&p=1358375

As for videos: I'm pretty sure there are online resources on bomb defusal basics in SR - since I watched two on YouTube before writing my post 😄

If necessary I could use a tutorsoft to reduce learning time to zero per the rules in core (rating one skill can be taught in one day, every hit on instruction test reduces learning time by one day, so tutor rating 2 would be enough to buy one hit)

The distraction was mainly meant for breaking the glass, but if the glass cutter is that loud, it would probably be a good idea to get one anyway.

Sneak: 13d6t5 2
Certainly not my best sneaking roll.

[Tecumseh]

I didn't know those previous posts were in reference to Demara. I thought that perhaps Bobby had spent some karma on Demolitions, which would also be viable.

I wouldn't take our current (2022) state of information decentralization to be the same as what to expect in the Sixth World. If we're going to ratchet up the corporate dystopia to a 10 then we need to put almost all information behind a paywall and/or actively suppress whatever the corps frown on. A tutorsoft it probably one of the more realistic approaches, if only because it allows some corp to wet their beak.

Did anyone play Alpha Centauri in the late 1990s or early 2000s? There's a quote from the game which always seemed directly relevant to Shadowrun: "Beware he who would deny you access to information, for in his heart, he dreams himself your master." That pretty much what the corps want to do.

As for the glass cutting, I was laying in bed last night looking at the ceiling and thinking, "If we just keep this psychokinesis thing going, why don't we just have the spirits telepathically open the window from the inside?" Then Bobby can float through the place nice and quietly and Sneaking isn't as relevant.

I presume this is agreeable to everyone but I'll ask first to make sure, or if there's a potential complication that I've overlooked.

[Jack_Spade]

@Tecumseh

I'd agree with that, but for a single fact: There is still a massive amount of shadow content in the matrix. Sure, you can't find stuff like that in the Ares net or any of the other big corps, but the public matrix has still loads and loads of suspect corners. Shadow forums abound on all possible topics, not to mention polyclubs discussing their personal favorite things and sharing homemade media. The core book even talks about the failed struggle of the corps to completely get the new matrix under control.

It's finding stuff like that, that can be a problem. But then, Bobby has a high Intuition and one dot in computer (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

And yes, I've not only played Alpha Centauri - I've still got it installed and play a couple of rounds now and then (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

As for the spirit materializing and opening the window...
I didn't realize those were windows you could open. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/eek.gif) I assumed a window high up under the ceiling meant just to let in some natural light. But of course if has a latch to open it, psychokinesis would be the way to go.