The Found Arcana - Chapter 10 [OOC] Options

[Jack_Spade]

JA2 is the starting point if you like old games - and a lot of jokes only make sense if you have played it.

Though if you prefer a modern experience like X-COM, you'd be better off starting with JA3

[Beta]

I just read the wikipedia article on the history of the Jagged Alliance games, and I'm amused that I first read about the series in this game thread, when a lot of the development happened here in Ottawa!

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Should we leave poor Mato not in a hole? I think he was going to be ready to rush the car once it stops? Alternatively Tamarind could be a few hundred meters back, doing her best to hide in the corn, and could still do her thing well enough.

[Tecumseh]

Having played computer games since the mid-80s on an Apple IIe, I have a fair degree of tolerance for old school experiences.

That said, now that my gaming time is relatively limited, I confess that I don't mind a certain amount of handholding. Automaps, journals with to-do lists, a bit of a tutorial, yes please.

~~~

The plan was to put Mato in the foxhole.

Are we surrounded by corn then? If so, how tall? Might be great camouflage, both physically and astrally, but could also work against us if the vehicle is on autopilot and the ne'er-do-wells are on foot.

Edit:
Jack, how much ammo did we get out of Bobby Ray?

And what sort of shells were available for the Marpinger Mannlicher's shotgun barrels?

[Beta]

I thought vehicles were electric by default? Jack, from what Tamarind saw of the vehicle, what type of engine is it (and if internal combustion, is it aluminum?)

[Jack_Spade]

This car is an electric one - but for shooting its engine, it doesn't really matter - it's the same modifier either way.

You got enough ammo (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

The shotgun barrels are supplied with flechette and stick'n shock

The corn is currently about 150 cm high - tall enough to hide a car

[Thanee]

A drone spy from above should be useful there.

Make a Disguise+INT check - your successes define the threshold for how hard it is to spot the platforms.

Can we help here? Rachel has Intuition 5 and Disguise 5.

Bye
Thanee

[Tecumseh]

Definitely seems like Raven would be able to help with the camouflage.

And, okay, wow, tall corn. Different than what I was envisioning but here we go.

(I pretty much assume that Texas is always brown and dry and dusty, but of course this is a gross overgeneralization.)

Also, a point of clarification: the IC post from three days ago said it was a black SUV. The most recent IC post calls it a "van". Does the vehicle appear to have changed from an SUV to a van, or do we think this is a different vehicle altogether?

[Jack_Spade]

A drone spy from above should be useful there.





Can we help here? Rachel has Intuition 5 and Disguise 5.

Bye
Thanee

Yes, certainly.

@Tecumseh

The vehicles look quite different. Though there are more than one explanations for that (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

[Beta]

Maybe we don't start shooting until after it has gone through the mana barriers? If there is no sign of astral intersection, we hold off until we can learn more?

If Gilga is off-line right now, would it be OK for us to roll for AM hacking the vehicle to see what she could learn?

[Thanee]

Should I make one roll or multiple rolls for the disguise?

Any teamwork bonus dice? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Bye
Thanee

[Beta]

Tamarind doesn't have Disguise skill, but she can improvise assist.

disguise improv.: 4d6t5 0

Hunh, I probably should have thought that through a bit more before rolling four dice. Critical Glitch. I don't even want to know what all that would mean just now, so she'll spend 1 edge to reduce that to a glitch.

[Jack_Spade]

Maybe we don't start shooting until after it has gone through the mana barriers? If there is no sign of astral intersection, we hold off until we can learn more?

If Gilga is off-line right now, would it be OK for us to roll for AM hacking the vehicle to see what she could learn?

Sure, roll matrix perception

[Tecumseh]

@Thanee
Yes, correct, Mato is holding fire until the targets are confirmed.

@Beta
It's not a critical glitch. It would have been in 4E rules where 50% of the dice needed to be 1s, but in 5E's rules it needs to be 51%. So it's a close call but not a glitch.

Good IC post though. I liked how you explained goofing up.

[Thanee]

Disguise + Intuition 2 hits

Not great...

Bye
Thanee

[Thanee]

Well, well, well... that definitely leveled the playing field quite a bit.

Rachel's Initiative 14

Bye
Thanee

[Gilga]

I will post tonight, summer is a bit difficult to keep up.

[Gilga]

Some rolls for the Trix/ prepping for combat with improved intuition seems like a good spell before combat.

drain: 11d6t5 5

Matrix perception:
Matrix perception(AR): 16d6t5 6

Let me know if there is anything to hack before combat.

As for combat:
Initiative: 17+1d6 18 --> AM
Initiative: 10+3d6 22 -->Trouble:

[Beta]

Initiative:
init: 15+2d6 24
Oh, first use of Lightning Reflexes is a nice one (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

(IC will be tomorrow though)

[Tecumseh]

Hmm, I don't see any illusion spells under those spoilers. Curious.

Initiative, CT1: 1d6+15 18

I'm not sure what's immediately obvious. I'll spend a Simple Action from Mato's first Initiative Pass on Observe in Detail to see if he can acquire a target.

Visual Perception: Intuition 6 + Perception 5 + Specialization 2 + Vision Enhancement 3 + Attention Coprocessor 1: 17d6t5 6 hits, his vision magnification and flare compensation should help too

The second Simple Action will likely be relaying what he sees to the others. Any attacks will probably be in his second Initiative Pass.

What's the approximate range to the vehicle?

[Jack_Spade]

@Tecumseh

Since you are going to learn it soon anyway: during their travels they used vehicle mask to change the appearance of their car. Once they got close to the border with it's spirits, they dropped the spell, so they wouldn't cause attention.

The car is now about 25 m from your position and about 50 from Gladius.

[Thanee]

during their travels they used vehicle mask to change the appearance of their car.

Yeah, that part was pretty clear. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

And once outside of "camera territory", they do not really need the disguises anymore. Those were mainly to not easily be able to identify/track them during their travels.

Luckily, their canine behavioral knowledge was a bit lacking. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

Bye
Thanee

[Thanee]

Alright, let's go...

P1 - I14 - Rachel summons a F12 Spirit of Air (which will be F13 when it appears; Optional Powers: Elemental Attack, Fear, Guard, Noxious Breath)

Summoning 3 hits + Edge Re-Roll 5 hits vs. Spirit 3 hits = 5+1 services
Drain (vs 6P) 8 hits (no Drain)

Those spirits really want to help with this, it seems. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

P2 - I4 - Rachel commands the spirit to materialize inside the car, ideally behind the passengers, in order to knock out the two mages with Noxious Breath at the first opportunity, and generally try to disable any hostiles there without killing them



Spirit of Air

Initiative 35

P1 - I(35)14 - Delay
P2 - I(25)4 - Materialize inside the car
P3 - I15 - Noxious Breath on Tien IV and Phillip (holding off to roll for this, as I do not know if anything else happens before)
P4 - I5 - ...

Bye
Thanee

[Tecumseh]

Does Mato's Observe in Detail notice anything?

[Jack_Spade]

Does Mato's Observe in Detail notice anything?

I'm not sure what to tell you - the car stopped, but it has the standard mirror shade windows, preventing outside observers to look in. No-one got out yet and the car doesn't look to have been modified.

[Beta]

@Jack_Spade, I have some questions, that effect when things happen (and then I queue up some rolls for once they happen)

1) Tamarind actions to issue commands
I realized that I'm not actually sure what sort of action it is to command a drone to perform an action (under its own pilot, as opposed to using Control Device to do it directly). So I'm not sure if Tamarind can order both Toothless and The Aunties in the same pass?

2) Distance from Toothless to the Van?

The CRB speed tables are incredibly borked, but by them at speed 1 'running' would cover 10 meters in a turn. Alternatively, if I make a wild assumption that ground speed 1 is ~30km/h, then with acceleration 1 Toothless would average 15km/hr over that turn (hitting speed 1 by the end of turn) which would be on the order of 12m moved in the turn, so that checks out the table reasonably well for that speed.
- If that is not enough, then Toothless is not ripping open anything this turn. For when it is ripping, rolls are below.

3) Type of van? In the rolls below I assumed a Bulldog. (if it is an Econovan, such as what Tamarnind drives, then Toothless opens it up in two 'attacks' (not counting the last six dice of each roll soaks one less damage on the first pass and two less damage on the second pass, and it only has body 14))

Rolls:
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Since they are taking their own actions now, initiative rolls for Toothless (medi drone, pilot 4) and The Aunties (Flying Eyes, pilot 3)
Toothless
Toothless init: 8+4d6 20
The Aunties
Aunties init: 6+4d6 23

Tamarind goes at 24, so at 20 Toothless should move (and start working on the door?)

With the car immobile, I don't think this takes an attack roll? But can it 'attack' on its first pass, or does it need a 'ready weapon' to position the tools properly?

Be it on pass 20 or 10, when it starts doing damage, per Jack some pages back:
For the Crash Cart: 18 strength translates to 18P damage, enough to get through most vehicles in one or two cuts, using the barrier rules (Armor+Body to resist, with Body boxes of damage for a 1m wide hole)
I'm not sure of the model of van, but just to be pessimistic let's assume that it is a Bulldog, with body 16 + armor 12=28 soak
soak vs Toothless: 28d6t5 9
So takes 9 damage, less than its body of 16, so no hole yet.

The next question is how fast the jaws of life work? Can they roll every pass? Anyway, whenever the next 'attack' happens, let's have the damage soak roll ready:
soak 2 vs Toothless: 28d6t5 12
only takes 6 more points, totally 15, and still not open ... but maybe other damage happens by then?

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I've not provided Tarmarinds other actions yet, depending on how many actions to do the two sets of drone orders, and whether Toothless attacks this turn or not, I'll determine appropriate actions for her to take.