We'd talked about this in regards to the upcoming events surrounding the introduction of the wireless matrix, the gathering storm so to speak. Dragon was supposed to be in Seattle as an advanced scout to lay the groundwork for Combat Inc's Urban Operations Section. As such, he'd been provided (probably drafted by himself) a list of equipment and personnel that he could expect and a timeline of certain mission tasks which had to be accomplished. Due to recent events, though, Combat Inc. has had to reassign personnel and equipment, cutting the amount available for the Seattle Urban Operations Section in half. While it's not unusual for there to be last minute changes, this kind of drastic action indicates that the Company is taking on additional tasks and is finding itself over-extended. A situation which usually only occurs when there's a hot war going on somewhere.

Spirit Force lvl = 7

Conceal on me and accident on the guy threatening Scrap. That is if I can issue both commands]

You can only have a Spirit perform 1 service at a time. For example, you can have the spirit use Conceal on you until you get to safety and then tell it to use Accident on the guy fighting Scrap, but you can't do both at the same time, they must come in sequence. Let me know which command you'll be ordering the spirit to do first. Although I suppose you can just say it in the IC post, I'm sure I can figure it out from that. Cause if I can't, the spirit can't.

LOL!

I will be using conceal first. After being shot and not really knowing what is happening to Scrap it makes the most sense.

My pistol rolls are below. I only included the -3 for firing while in melee. Let me know if other mods apply.

Shot 1:
06 06 05 05 04 03 01

Shot 2:
06 05 05 05 03 02 02

You need the following additional modifiers:

Smartlink: +2
Recoil: -1 for second shot unless you have recoil compensation
Visibility - Heavy Fog/Mist/Rain/Smoke: -2 since i know you have Low-Light and Thermographic

I checked your sheet, from what I see you have no recoil compensation, so -1 to your second attack.

I rolled for you to see if I take off a hit or miss, I rolled a 5 so I removed one hit from your second attack, making your second attack roll:

06 05 05 03 02 02 for 3 hits.

Opponent’s Reaction Rolls

Roll 1: 6 Defender hits vs. 4 Attacker hits = Defender Dodges

Roll 2: 4 Defender hits vs. 3 Attacker hits = Defender Dodges

Opponent’s Action for Combat Turn 3, IP 2

Complex Action: Melee Attack with Katana

Opponent Attack Roll: 6 hits with Katana.

Base Damage with Katana = 6P, -1 AP prior to net hits.

Roll your Defense Roll with a -2 Visibility penalty. Opponent had a -2 Visibility penalty included in his roll as well.

Remember that Melee Defense is Reaction + Skill.

I took the smartlink into account, but not the recoil, so thanks. And is the smoke from the grenade? I didn't think that went off yet?

Also, I'm sure you included the -3 modifier for the swordsman's defense roll (for defending against ranged attack while in melee).

I think Scrapheap's in trouble...

Hey, I remember how to make a spoiler tag!

Ready to overcast Agony on Scrapheap's opponent to all of 2 max Force ;) but using EG points to max it out.

If I calculate it right, out of 4 EG points, I spend:

1 to add EG to the roll (allowing more successes than Force, as well as exploding dice)

+ 1 maybe to go in the third pass -- when exactly did the girl scream/Scrapheap injured? If in the first pass, Alleycat did have a held action; which would allow her to spellcast at the end of the second without having to spend the extra EG.

+ 1 ONLY if spellcasting has to be done in the third pass and Scrapheap is hit in pass 2, so Alleycat can go first in pass 3. (Judgement call for the end of pass 2: how badly has Scrapheap been wounded? would a small wound make a significant difference? ie. enough for a further significant wound to drop him? Based on what I've seen, is he likely to take enough damage to drop him? I'll spend it if I have to, but I'd like to hang onto one EG if at all possible!)

+ burning an EG point for the critical success, combining this with the roll hoping to incapacitate the target. Desperate times for desperate measures.

Roll is Spellcasting 4 + MG 1 + 4 EG for total nine dice, against the target's WL; each net success is an illusionary box of Physical Damage.

Any drain Alleycat takes will be physical as well. But at least no -2 dice for astral -- it's a mana spell.

Sorry for the complexities -- some of them are just getting the timeline straight.

I forgot to mention this, but just in case you're curious, since you are astral, you can see this guy is a physad. Thought you'd like to know.

ie. I'm really hoping Iron Will is not one of his fortés! though I suspect his strongest is the katana, and -- three passes, that means at least 2/3 of basic magic went on initiative, doesn't really leave much room for Iron Will. Unless he's an initiate? Assensing: 3 + Intuition 2 = 6, 5, 6, 3, 5, for 4 hits! (Really hoping that didn't use up all my 6's-to-be.)

It goes without saying she'll be making her spellcasting very non-obvious -- she doesn't want to be seen as the source, although she'll have to hold line of "sight" until the combat is resolved. Could do that simply by keeping to the stairway as cover.

Nora screamed in IP 1, but Scrapheap has not been injured yet.

I thought your action in IP 1 was used to grab Nora and Lady Dove and persuade them to follow Alleycat to the NE staircase.

Critical Success from burning 1 Edge = +4 hits. The basic requirement for a natural critical success is 4 net hits, so obviously this would enable Alleycat to meet that prerequisite, if she rolls at least a tie with the target. Since this is an opposed test, I am ruling burning the Edge only adds 4 hits to however many hits you roll on your own, instead of granting an automatic critical success.

In other words, you can't just burn 1 Edge and get 4 net hits on someone without them having a chance to do anything about it or reduce the number of hits. The opposed roll must still remain an opposed roll. Sure, I could just have him burn an Edge to counter and reduce a critical success to a normal one (i.e. -4 hits to you), but I don't think that would be very fair to you, especially cause he's not exactly a 'named' NPC or anything like that.

Does that answer your questions currently?

He is not an Initiate, but he does have a magic of 6. Obviously his powers went heavily towards increasing his reflexes, and you suspect other direct combat related powers as well from your reading.

Additionally, he doesn't seem particularly hostile towards Scrapheap. This genuinely appears to be just business for him. You suspect that whoever his target is, it's not Scrapheap, and probably not Nora, Lady Dove, or yourself. Probably.

Alleycat reacted to Nora's scream, so she wouldn't be a distraction to Scrapheap and also because it made a good intervention point for her and Lady Dove, whom she'd been scoping throughout. That makes it her 1st pass held action, we agree.

The revised Alleycat has the Improved Reflexes I'd been discussing with you since the initiatory quest, so some of the e-mails involved are old indeed. That was the hard cap I'd been talking about recently: SR4 made it impossible to ever get a second pass unless you had it inherently, which changed priorities on how MG points should be assigned. Fortunately, she'd saved the points from that quest -- we'd discussed Improved Reflexes as one of the possibilities immediately after that quest, decided to keep it open then -- so now in the SR4 version they could go straight to Improved Reflexes to guarantee her that second pass. The e-mail discusses it.

(We could even play with a degree of prescience wrt to her greater quest: she came back with exactly what she'd need to help another.)

Suppose I spend the EG point for now for the additional pass, although the revision of the PC shouldn't need it. When you find and if you approve, you can give me back that EG point.

Re critical success -- in this context I had also seen it as +4 hits rather than net, so we're on the same page. However, if after his resistance she gets through, I do expect that the resulting fluff text for an EG-burned spell will be significant.

"whoever his target is, it's not Scrapheap, and probably not Nora, Lady Dove, or yourself. Probably."

Probably ;) Not personal, so it's not crucial for her to find out employers etc. here and now. That was another option for later.

OK then, sounds like we're on the same page.

For simplicity's sake, assume you have Improved Reflexes. I'm inclined to give you the benefit of the doubt because A) I hate the conversion process enough already and don't want to see you potentially screwed because you need this pass and end up a crucial Edge point short later, and B) we did discuss it earlier and I'm fine with saying she ended up picking it up at some point in time. You've been the most consistent out of anyone with writing training posts, so it's fine with me to say she was training for it earlier at one of her numerous downtimes.

If we end up changing Alleycat later to not have Improved Reflexes, then you all dodged a bullet here. No sweat, I have plenty more bullets up my sleeve.

Agreed on critical success. Assuming you succeed, fluff text will be significant, but more to the point will have additional non-mechanical effects to make it more useful than a straight success, due to the burning of Edge.

And thanks -- we'll work this out, and I can "see" just how many bullets you have in motion here and now!

Reiterating, to make sure it's right --

Pass 2, after Scrapheap is wounded and I realise he is overmatched, I spend:

1 to add EG to the roll (allowing more successes than Force, as well as exploding dice)
+ burning an EG point for the critical success, combining this with the roll hoping to incapacitate the target, giving +4 successes.

I no longer need to go first in the pass, I don't think? especially since the pass is already well underway? I am last, but they have already gone in pass 2.

Roll is Spellcasting 4 + MG 1 + 4 EG for total nine dice, against the target's WL; each net success is an illusionary box of Physical Damage.

= 5, 6, 6, 1, 3, 1, 4, 5, 3 , the two sixes rerolled for 2, 5, giving a total of 5 base hits + the four from burning the EG point. Now his turn to resist with WL, and mine to take Drain.

Quick -- for her new understanding of her magic, which do you think is most appropriate for drain: INT or CH? For sure it shouldn't be LG.

Feels like the old days, doesn't it? Endless emails, posts, correspondences. Now I know LITS is rolling again.

Target rolled 1 hit, giving you a whopping 8 net hits!

Regarding Drain: Um, actually, if you look at Street Magic pg. 43, wujen use Logic. Go figure. Thoughts on this?

"Um, actually, if you look at Street Magic pg. 43, wujen use Logic. Go figure."

Noticed that, noticed also the change in their description; suggested in e-mail that we alter it to mudang (p.47), perhaps with an Aztlaner overlay (spirit animal? you already teased with something of this). Won't go into detail here for the sake of everyone else! Besides, it's in e-mail.

"Feels like the old days, doesn't it? Endless emails, posts, correspondences. Now I know LITS is rolling again. "

Oh, good

"Target rolled 1 hit, giving you a whopping 8 net hits!"

Yay, usefully burning EG! Do you want to write the next post or should I? It won't incapacitate, but at least for a second the blinding pain may make him hesitate, giving Scrapheap the opening -- and maybe you can give his action a part of the flavour of my burnt EG?

Darn it, forgot that. My mistake.

OK screw it, I don't like either the Mudang or Aztlaner template very much for Alleycat.

Here's my general proposal. Off the top of my head, I remember there being some problem with Alleycat and conjuring (I'd have to check emails for details, but for now that's my basic recollection) and her learning to conjure was going to be something we'd work towards.

Since so much of Alleycat is us creating stuff anyway, why not toss something else into that pile? Specifically, part of the process of Alleycat's overarching quest for identity is discovering and understanding her own magical tradition.

For now, all you'd need to know is she uses Charisma to resist drain, and I think we can both agree that's a reasonable choice overall. I wouldn't be opposed to Intuition per se, but I think Charisma fits her better.

As far as assigning the types of spirits for each school of magic (Combat, Health, etc.), that would be something she would discover as she gradually learns to conjure, which would also play into her understanding of her magical tradition, and ultimately, her identity.

I'll pause here for now because I don't want the meat of a major character related proposal buried in a spoiler on the OOC thread, but what do you think of the basic premise so far?

I will write the IC post after Scrapheap responds in the OOC thread with his Reaction and Soak roll. It will incorporate his response to being attacked as well as your intervention, which will include the flavor of your burned EG as well as conclude IP 2.

Premise is as far as you want to go with it -- and yes, e-mail, definitely.

Short form was that she can't conjure, reason unknown.

For now, Drain Value = F/2 - 2 gives minimum 1. CH 3 + WL 5 = 4, 4, 4, 2, 3, 3, 2, 3 ... not one hit (but at least not a glitch), so one box of Physical damage, for overcasting.