The Found Arcana - Chapter 10 [OOC] Options

[Gilga]

I would guess that the reagents were used to reduce the drain of the ward.

An F10 ritual would generate 20 boxes of drain to be soaked. The ritualist could use 10 reagents to lower than by 1 box, down to a minimum of 2 boxes. So for 10 (initial offering) + 180 (drain reduction) = 190 reagents, you could do the ritual without baking your brain. You could use fewer, of course, if you were confident in your drain soak.

(Mato would not know this ICly so he won't be saying any of it.)

Well, I think the drain of the ritual is twice the number of hits of the ritual's resistance roll, making F10 ritual expensive or dangerous (up to 40 drain if you are extremely unlucky - but very dangerous regardless). The success probability is also difficult because you need to beat 20 dice. So an educated guess is that this ritual is performed with the greater ritual metamagic.

but even if they use 200 reagents on that ritual - somehow it does not seem like the amount to warrantee a police inspection - I mean Raven buys them in similar bulks for her binding.

[Tecumseh]

Entirely possible. Jack might have to tell us what sort of quantities would hit people's radars, specially since they are not Restricted or Forbidden.

[Thanee]

So, there is definitely a third party here, since they would not just use a spy drone to record themselves, right? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

Bye
Thanee

[Jack_Spade]

We are talking about buying reagents worth over 100k - not necessarily unrefined 20 Nuyen per dram

[Tecumseh]

So, there is definitely a third party here, since they would not just use a spy drone to record themselves, right? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

Correct, although we already presumed as much due to the broken skylight.

And... that's a lot of reagents.

[Tecumseh]

A few more clarifying questions:

1) Does the recording capture the ritual? If so, can any of the ladies tell anything about it?

2) It sounds like the Xenobite Tesseract had a brief appearance at the beginning of the recording. Does that mean that it stayed in the bag the entire time and thus wasn't a part of the ritual?

3) Which one of the three left with the black sportsbag that held the XT?

[Jack_Spade]

1) Yes, but since you can't actually see what they do on the astral, it's of very limited value - -6 mod on an Arcana test
2) It was not part of the ritual
3) Xavier IV took the bag with him

[Gilga]

AM is pretty good at Arcana; she'll increase logic on the car (and suffer one stun drain) and then look at the recording and try to make sense of it. (5 hits)

With improved logic she has 18 dice of arcana -6 for not seeing the astral:
Arcana -6: 12d6t5 5

She buys four hits on the roll, so I only roll for the drain.
Drain: 11d6t5 2

I'd assume the improved charisma spell failed in the 6 BGC (because it was only force 6).

[Jack_Spade]

Alright, I'll tell you when you get back to the car then 😉

[Beta]

That many reagents might mean multiple uses? Be it binding or rituals, I don't think there is anything human feasible that goes through that quantity in 'generally known' magical activities. But I suppose if there was some crazy binding that used refined reagents?

[Gilga]

@Jack, I got the impression that we were done with hacking as the other tag is wiped clean. Did I understand correctly? (before I respond to Tam's text).

Also does any of them, or their friends publically posted anything about going hiking? (for my next post).

[Tecumseh]

For the record, Mato likes soykaf. AM is right that he doesn't need it, but he still enjoys the flavor (since orks like strong flavors) and I imagine that he drinks it every day.

Mato has 9 dice for Seattle Smuggling Routes so I bought a couple hits and wrote down what I could remember off the top of my head without looking anything up. Which probably means that I have the "Shadowun (Seattle Metroplex Smuggling Routes)" knowledge skill myself.

I have some knowledge karma left that I was intending to use for Contacts. I thought I had bought picked up a Chulo (Latino Ork smugglers in Carbonado) as a Contact a few chapters back but it looks like I never did. I'll do that now.

[Jack_Spade]

@Jack, I got the impression that we were done with hacking as the other tag is wiped clean. Did I understand correctly? (before I respond to Tam's text).

Also does any of them, or their friends publically posted anything about going hiking? (for my next post).

If you are done, depends on you - so far you haven't actually gone into any of the rooms or searched anything beyond sending drones into the other rooms.

You also haven't looked at the other tag and the actuator in detail.

And no, none of them have a social media presence where they talk about hiking.

You also haven't tried to call any of them or track their commlinks...

[Gilga]

Teamwork perception test for the apartment and its rooms: I assume Mato is the most observant of us.
Perception help: 10d6t5 2
Perception help: 10d6t5 1

For looking at the tag:
Examining the other tag: 10d6t5 3

Having their numbers, can AM find out if they are online - preferably in a passive manner rather than texting/calling?

Trouble would materialize on the roof test it for any signs of B&E or anything broken with the top window (what was its name?)
Perception rooftop: 10d6t5 2

[Jack_Spade]

Which room are you looking at first?

Trouble finds footprints on the roof - heavy, large boots with deep imprints. Though no prints leading to them. Just two imprints, square in the middle of the gravel decked roof.

[Gilga]

Which room are you looking at first?

Trouble finds footprints on the roof - heavy, large boots with deep imprints. Though no prints leading to them. Just two imprints, square in the middle of the gravel decked roof.

Which rooms are there? Living room we inspected, bedroom and kitchen? Anything else?

[Jack_Spade]

Here's the relevant post:

Using the RFID signal, the door opens and admits the team to the staircase and the elevator. At the top floor the transponder again works its magic and opens the heavy door into the condo. It takes a while for Trouble, AM and Rachel to get through the ward and across the doorstep, but once inside they see a spacious appartment with an open plan kitchen, a master bedroom with bathroom attached, a guest room, another bath, a work/study room, a small home gym, a storage room and the large living room, dominated by a hermetic lodge.

The place looks clean and organized. No stray papers, dust or anything out of place.

Several oil paintings decorate the walls - all of them seem to be from the recent 50 years and take on motives from the 6th world: The Great Ghost Dance, dragons in the sky, the horrors of the first arcology, a drug fuelled nightmare hellscape titled "Tempo" as well as the unmistakable Chicago crater, where Ares detonated an atomic bomb against the bugs.

The astral side is even more disturbing: A pervasive taint fills the room, raising the background count significantly. It has the feeling of rusty manacles closing around your wrists and ancles, weighing you down and demanding compliance. Trouble shudders in revulsion as her essense struggles to keep her moving.

[ Spoiler ]

BGC is 6 in here - aspected to slavery

Noise is 0 with very few wifi devices around - the kitchen seems very oldschool

The walls in the work room are covered with printed out diagrams


OOC: Arcane Knowledge Threshold 3

[ Spoiler ]

Those are detailed instructions for binding rituals - highly refined for maximum obedience

open plan kitchen,
a master bedroom with bathroom attached,
a guest room,
another bath,
a work/study room, (Here is where the drone found the second sensor tag, running silent)
a small home gym,
a storage room and
the large living room, dominated by a hermetic lodge.

[Gilga]

Alright, so let's start with the work/study room.

[Beta]

Ah, when Tamarind had made her perception role I'd assumed that was looking around the apartment, but at this point I'll interpret that role as having just looked in the first room (living room).

On visual perception Tamarind rolls 16 dice, with up to +5 more for teamwork, which I think is similar to Mato? (skill 5, intuition 6, perceptive 1, tetrachromatic vision 3, Sync 1)

perception (primary or teamwork): 16d6t5 9

[Jack_Spade]

@beta
If I understand you correctly, you are entering the work room with your drones?

@gilga
Please state explicitly, what you do:

Are you using matrix perception to analyze the sensor tag or the actuator? Or are you entering the room to pick up the sensor tag to get a direct connection and hack it directly?

[Gilga]

Yes.
For the tag:
Matrix perception: 11d6t5 4
and the actuator:
Matrix perception: 11d6t5 3

1. Do they have any magical device or spirit/watcher in there that can track them? Any notes there - or an obvious reason why the entire apartment is aspected toward slavery?

2. What kind of reagents? Who is studying there (according to fields of research)?

3. Anything matrix enabled they forgot - that may be connected to a comlink - e.g., earbuds or contacts or whatnot.

4. (in other rooms) but laundry so Mato (and Raven?) can identify their scent.

5. Notes, todo - comments - anything scribbled in there - they seem to like paper.


PS: When Phillip takes out the XT out of the bag do they use it for something or Victoria just looks at him and he puts it back. Just me being paranoid -but perhaps he shows where XT is to the cameras?

[Jack_Spade]

Answering an "or" question with yes, I assume you do both (IMG:style_emoticons/default/grinbig.gif)

Matrix Perception sensor tag reveals:

It has an infrared sensor,
it is actively looking for a human heat signature entering the room.
It is not slaved to anything
It sends a signal directly to the actuator

Matrix Perception actuator reveals:
It is an automatic can opener
It will activate once it receives the signal from the sensor tag
It complains that the can it should open is non-standard and that someone has activated its override funktion to open the can regardless.

1. You'll have to make an assensing test for spirit/watcher -6 from background count
2. As above, but you think they have at least refined reagents in use here
3. No other devices beyond the installed appliances are active
4. Perception rolls - tell me in which room you go
5. You can see from the living room, that the desk in there is clean, for anything else, you'd have to open the drawers.

Phillip took it out to take a look at it. The others weren't looking and he put it back quickly again. It didn't look like he was showing it to anyone but himself.

[Gilga]

For assensing AM is not the right person for the job, but her looking does not prevent Raven from doing so.
Anyhow here goes nothing: assensing -6: 2d6t5 1.

Do we know where the actuator is and when it was last activated? (should I roll hacking/edit file?)

[Jack_Spade]

You don't see any watchers or spirits around, though there have been summonings here recently. The reagents used are partially radicals but for the most refined.

You haven't seen the can opener in your search

[Gilga]

initiative: 13+1d6 15

Damn stupid of me (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)