Best of luck, Vegas.

Hitting bottom has been going on for more than a year now!

Woo!

I can't believe it's been that long. An entire year, dang!

I'm cooking up a post for Etain, just trying to get it all sorted out in my head.

Planning on having a little "chat" with Ernst through the chainlink door separating VIP from the rest of the club. Trying to squeeze whatever info out of him that he can give on Cat and the last time he saw her and under what circumstances.

She's also gonna ask about the woman and the artist's group she was escorted in with.. She's gonna tread carefully on this one.

If he balks she'll offer cash and turn up the charm if necessary. She'll also try to be as respectful to the job he's doing at the door and not try to get in his way, calling in another "favor for the friends of George" if necessary. If none of this works, she'll resolve to get info from other means (i.e. magic). If you let me know how it goes I can write stuff up, or just write up to that point and let you run with it, however you prefer. Tossing up a few rolls to be used as necessary.

Etiquette:
Charisma (5) + Etiquette (3) = 8 dice
4 4 2 2 [5] [5] 4 [6] Hits:3

Charisma (5) + Etiquette (3) = 8 dice
[6] 2 [5] [6] 2 4 1 [6] Hits:4

Con:
Charisma (5) + Con (3) = 8 dice
1 3 [6] [5] 3 [6] [6] 1 Hits:4

Negotiation:
Charisma (5) + Negotiations (3) + Moon Maiden Bonus (2) = 10 dice
[5] 4 4 2 2 [5] 1 [5] [5] [5] Hits:5

Vegas

I was starting to get worried....

Anyway, I am going to hold off on resolving your OOC action until I hear back from MK Ultra.

He appears to be leading up to some sort of intervention with the ugly scene with "1st timer", and if he does anything, the action will be measured in seconds, while yours will be in minutes.
So just in case his actions precipitate anything extreme, I need to keep us all on the same timeline.

MK Ultra

Ball's in your court, dude. You indicated you were going to take some action, so we will let you go first.

Cool to have you back online, Vegas

Had a lazy weekend, but here we go on the road to selfdestruction

5 hits to judge Tiger´s intentions.
6 hits to get the knife (or another weapon, if she dosn´t have one) from Violet



Next thing I´d do would be analyzing the rapist´s comlinks (buying 3 hits each with Agent+Analyze=12) to know their System, Firewall and wether access is mined with a databomb.
Analyzing will only take a simple action, but in case it becomes relevant here is the order in which the agent should scan the coms:

corper friend of 1stTimer´s friend
1stTimer´s friend
Dildo-Girl
Ork
Dwarf

Also, would like to know if any of the PANs seam to post owner´s real name.

You said the bar (in the public area) was stocked with planty of bottles. But drinks are served in plastic cups. So, I guess there is no beer (or whatever else) to be had in a glas bottle.

Is there any glas-bottle within arm´s reach at this bar?

Situation the same on VIP side - everyone served with plastic cups. You do notice that Tiger has some sort of ceremonial-looking blade in a sheath in her cleavage. She will obviously give it to you if you ask.

Allright, here is the plan. I´ll post everything OOC first, so you can say how far IC is going according to plan and if, when & how it deviates.

-With little time to go, instead of giving Tiger further instructions, I´ll just slap her in the face and take the blade from her. I´ll only use the flat hand and not hit her full force, but not too weak either.
-I´ll walk over to the rapists, preferably approaching the woman from behind. I don´t want to loose any time to be subtile, but do my best to still do so -i.e. looking like I´m just intending to walk past them. 4 hits to do so. The blade is held against my forearm, the papperpunch in the other hand.



-get close to the female rapist and if possible touch her nack with the hand holding the pepperpunch. Not grabbing or something, just touching with the finger tips. At the same time I´ll send a huge/loud message to the other participant´s PANs saying 'BACK OFF!!', while I shout 'freeze, I´ve got nervous handrazors' into the females ear. Next thing would be to put the blade to her nack.
-once I have their attention, I´ll state my intentions. shouting into the females ear, while the other participants get the same message via their coms.

"I´ll take this worthless slut for my own purposes!" The blade wanders down to her chest with the tip pointing at her heart, putting up enough preasure to be painfull. "You can have your fun with someone else. I bet that softy-wannabe over there would be most unpleased to be in her place." hand with the pepperpunch points into Tiger´s & Violet´s direction, then goes back to female´s nack. "Unless you want me to satisfy my needs with your blood!" blade wanders up the nack and cheak, untill the tip points at the base of her eye, puting slight preasure to the base of her eyeball.

While I´m talking, the first participant that makes a threatening move towards me catches a load of pepper-punch. If nobody does so, the corper participating (not the one on the sideline) will catch some, just to help along my intimidation, if I think I can get away with it without the situation escalating into a fight.

7 hits on Intimidation without negative mods. NPCs would either resist with designated Leader´s (probably the female) Intimidation+Willpower OR highest pool of Intimidation+Willpower+3.

So the mod´s (see p.122) I´d apply on the Intimidation-Roll are as follows. Note that in the roll I only applyed the positive modifires (just ignore the last dice for any mods you don´t agree with) but not the negative ones (just ignore an according number of dice for the negative modifires you agree with). That way, you shouldn´t have to roll additional dice, even if you don´t agree with some (or all) mods.
NPCs neutral +0
Result of no value (they´d get a replacement after all) +0 OR annoying -1
Subject is physically imposing (the female isn´t, but the ork and/or dwarf might be, note though that this shouldn´t aply if the female is the designated leader and also that superior numbers is a different mod) -1 to -3
NPC´s outnumber PC -2
PC wielding weapon +2
PC causing pain +2
Grand Total would be +4 and -2 to -6



If some of the above dosn´t work, I´d try to stick as close to the outline as possible, without a fight breaking out. Even if I don´t get to use the blade/spray to induce pain, that´s marely 2 dice less!

MK Ultra

Sometimes you make me feel like a wimp GM - but once you get your plans all detailed out, they almost always make perfect sense.

You did give me a scare by typing Negotiation into your spoiler, at which point your whole roll was going to go up in smoke, but a frantic perusal of your character sheet showed me you have Intimidation at the same level, so I guess it was just a typo!

Anyway, two things -

First, just so you know, only the woman will be able to hear you, with all the music.

Second, once the knife is visible, the ork will take a step towards you - he's not rushing you, just trying to intimidate back. If you want that inflicting pain bonus, it will depend on how well you spray him -
So that's Exotic Weapons (spray) + Agility with -2 dice (was going to be -3, but I gave credit for your multitasking) for holding the knife on the woman at the same time.

I've pre-rolled the ork's reaction and resist, so in order to save post cycles, I will tell you right now that:

If you get less than four successes, he won't be hurt much and you will have initiated combat, and an ugly brawl will break out. Fun fun fun as players, but maybe not as characters.
In that case, stop there and await combat instructions, etc.

If you get four or more successes, then things will go according to your plan.
It will take all week if I IC the rapists' responses, so I will let you IC the whole episode. Feel free to make yourself seem cool, but include the following -

The woman is furious at first, but your combination of threat and reward change her mind. She leads the dwarf toward Tiger, who is pretty convincing as a victim. As she leaves, you almost thing she got a thrill out of what you did.

The ork lies on the floor, half-undressed, and screams like a baby as his sinuses empty out onto the floor.

The corp rapist will back off to his Corp Friend; the two of them will not interfere, but they will not go far away. They will watch closely to see what you do with the woman.

Vegas & Mister Juan

If MK fails with the pepper, stand by to see what happens.

If he succeeds, then once he gets his post up, you will be free to post. So here is the result of Vegas' actions. Vegas, as with the MK thing, the IC will be up to you, as follows:

Ernst is more than happy to talk to you about Cat. He remembers she came three or four times, but was an immediate hit. Hasn't seen her in a couple of months, though. When you ask exactly what she did or why she was a hit, he shrugs and spits on the ground - "Girl, I just let people in and out. The less I know about what goes on inside, the better I sleep at night. You want details, talk to the freaks." By his tone, you can tell he assumes you are here professionally, and are one of the "freaks."
If you press him, your Etiquette rolls get the following - "Last couple o' times she was here, when she left I wanted to call a doc or somethin'. She could take some punishment. But she always walked out on her own two feet. And the management don't exactly appreciate callin' in outsiders, anyway."

When you turn to the conversation to the "artistes", since you "tread carefully" he will not get angry, but will also avoid the topic. "That's why I don't pay no attention." is all he says.

Using 1 Edge to gain extra-dice. 8 hits, that ork is out of luck! I´ll see, if I can get up an IC tonight. If anyone wants to procede in the mean time... I´m going to haul my new toy to the restrooms.

Ok... so we're still waiting on MK for his post before I can post anything regarding Ernst?

I think I'll start knitting something

I think as long as you don´t want to interact with me, it´s save for you to procede. The Intimidation will work without a fight, so OOC everything is resolved. I will take Violet and the 1stTimer to the restrooms and send an 'I´m ok and back at work' message to the Team, while the rapists get Tiger.

I´ll try hard to put my IC (at least a brife one) up tonight, but this won´t be befor a few more hours.

I suppose so.

Post forthcoming in the next few hours. depending on how deep i get lost in cleaning

I´m on the way out to a DVD-night, but I´ll post when I come back home, we´ll see, who´s first

There it is - I´m going to bed now.

Dos the Pepperpunch-canister say how many doses it holds? Or maybe even what´s it´s off-the-shelf price?

Two rolls to calm down 1stTimer (finally an aplication for Crisis Management, no?) and win her trust. 8 & 3 hits without modifires respectively.
The Etiquette-roll was not so great, but I don´t look like an SM-Freak and she didn´t hear what I said to rescue her, so she could cut me some slack, I guess.



EDIT: bet Vegas on posting first

BTW: WOOOHOOO over 1 year

P.S.: Adamu what do you mean by feeling like a whimp GM? I honestly think you are the best SR-GM I ever knew!

MK - I feel like a wimp because your plans are always so solid that I usually end up having to say "yes" to them. I honestly can usually not find many holes in your schemes!

Anyway, MK is right that whatever he does in the bathroom with 1st Timer will take at least as long as whatever chatting the twins do, so you guys feel free to post (no need for knitting!).

MK - no, you don't know how much pepper you have, or how much it costs. You've got the brand name, though - how hard can it be to look up?

That´d be the next thing to do.

EDIT: So, do I get her name & com-code?

If you look up the pepper, you get the stats from the BBB.

As for her commcode, her PAN is clearly hidden, so not yet that way. If you want to ask her for it, that'll be some roleplaying, as she is not even verbal yet.

And the corpers are hovering, watching closely but from a short distance.

If the corpers are going to walk by I´ll edit my IC, otherwise they have little chance at this bottlenack then loose sight or be confronted.

Got 4 hits to scan for 1stTimer´s com. Analyzing it (buying 3 hits), I´d like to know System, Firewall and which brand the operational system is.

I just want the two guys to piss off. 7 hits on Intimidation. I am still holding the dagger and the can, so that´s +2 and with V close by, they don´t outnumber us, but I didn´t aply any other mods negative or positive (funny btw, that it is easyer to intimidate friends ).



BTW, in case you did read my IC right after I posted it, I added a few sentances at the end, so you might want to re-check.

Seeing as Etain is doing her thing, and not wanting to intrude on her show, Conall is going to trail off to make sure that Krait is in one piece, and in no real trouble.

Since he probably hasn't noticed what actually happen, and just taking into account he's spotted Krait leaving off toward the restroom, he's simply going to head in that direction.

Mister Juan your timestamp is a bit off. Krait´s second message went out at 22:24:50. After that he moved out of VIP towards the restrooms, where he confronted the two corporate guys at 22:26:00.

EDIT: If the timing is right, I´d also try to use Conall´s arrival (that is if he passes the gate instead of waiting in the VIP Area) to put some more preasure on the corpers. Sending him an answer to scarr away the corp guys, which would block his way to the restroom.
The easyest way would be to give a +2 dice bonus for outnumbering, but since the target NPCs don´t know we are one group, I think a Teamwork test (p. 59) would be more appropriate with a separate Intimidation roll (PC outnumbered but physicaly imposing) for Conall, adding his number of hits as bonus dice to my roll (a critical glitch would raise the threashold by 1 instead).
So if you want to participate in the intimidation, fastest thing would be for you to simply roll the bonus dice (either simply +2 or +(number of hits)) for my roll, to save us a post cycle.

Wow - GREAT posts from everyone. Awesome to see the thread getting back up to speed!

@MK Ultra - her comm is sys 5 fire 5 Novatech Platina - very high-end stuff. Like the other corpers, a headware model.

@MK and MJ - I actually already factored Conall's presence into your intimidation while I was lurking at work today, so no need for extra rolls. It'll all be in my next IC post.

@Mister Juan - Based on your IC, I will put up an IC of the things you see in the aftermath of Krait's little coup, and then put you at the bathrooms.
Since Vegas posted you as joining her in talking to Ernst at the other gate, I am assuming you plan on heading over there as soon as you've helped handle the situation at the bathrooms.

Correct me if I'm wrong so Vegas can edit you out of her post.

@Vegas - Since I OOCed you more info, I am guessing you were putting the ball into MJ's court so he could contribute, rather than blowing the whole wad in one post. Once we confirm what he's up to, you can either edit him out, OR he'll post his arrival and join the questioning of Ernst.

Timestamps are a bit confused, but that is only natural. Once you guys are sort of all back in the same "moment," I will post a summary of correct times and ask everyone to make the corrections then.

I'm going to eat now, but will IC in a couple of hours.

Ah - sorry - I see the confusion. My fault - this came up a real long time ago - and maybe it was actually on the other thread.

Some people put the timestamp for the time the IC action STARTS, and som for the time it ENDS. This leads to confusion.

Everyone please timestamp for the point in time at which your IC action ENDS. Then we will have a much easier time staying synced up.

@adamu

I was planning on continuing with the OOC that you gave me, I just needed to stop last night, I could only write so much and I knew MJ was wanting to post as well.

I'll just go ahead and edit the end of my post to exclude Conall's arrival at the gate, so that he can keep his eyeballs on Krait and the suits and decide what to do from there. Assuming that's ok with everyone... if not I"ll just edit again

Another Etiquette-Rroll with 7 hits to gain her trust and friendship (not to forget her name and com-code).
I assumed that since we have privacy and time to talk now, I could do another roll unmodified. Otherwise that would be -2 dice (and thus - 2 hits) for trying again.



EDIT: I like my Charisma 'Rating'

While I´m talking to the girl, I´d like to initiate some matrix-work, too.

Basically it´s 2 complex commands to my agent - intercepting (if necessary decrypting) any wireless traffic from the 3 corp coms and the rapists and analyzing their PANs a bit more.

I have allready detected all 6 comlinks. If necessary my agent would have to decrypt their signals next (buying hits that would be (Encryption Rating) CTs). For 'Intercepting Wireless Signals' Id have to roll Electronic Warfare+Sniffer (3). The order in which to acomplish the tasks and the hits I got would be as follows.

In case of no success, what would be an appropriate time to try again without -2 mod?

1: 1stTimer´s Friend 2 hits
1 imediate re-try: 1 hit/Glitch :-S gess I´d have to reloade the program or something, gladly wifi interception can not be detected!
2: Corper Rapist 5 hits (can I shuffle 2 of them to another interception joking of course)
3: 1stTimer 3 hits
4: Strap-On 1 hit
4 imediate re-try: 1 hit
5: Dwarf 4 hits
6: Ork 3 hits



After the signals are intercepted (except 1 & 4 for now), the agent should do an additional Analyze Actions per corper com (-2 dice for re-trying still leaves enough dice (Computer 6 + Analyze 6) to buy 2 hits.
I´d like to know the comlink´s brand/model and look for databombs in 3 and for comlink´s & OS brand/model in 1 and 2.

MK Ultra

You can make up whatever brand names you want based on ratings I've already given you.

Any ratings you don't have yet are 3.

No data bombs.

Too tired to post now, allready loosing concentration for this OOC, so, more tomorrow...

Do I know which target the message is intended for - I mean, it´s quiet obvious, so that´s more a general question.

Also a Rules Question: p. 225, Intercepting Wireless Signals, 2nd §, last sentence.

'If you want to block out some parts of the traffic or add in your own, you must make an Edit action.'

Would that actually enable me to Edit what the target sends (by somehow 'jaming' part of the signal and sending the modified version, or how ever you want to explain it) or just edit the copy I´m storing/forwarding?

Mister Juan

Was that last line of your IC-post spoken to Etain, or was it transmitted over the commlink to Carla? It looks like a continuation of the transmission, but it's in quotes rather than yellow font.

BR

Judging by the wording, seems pretty clear it is a continuation of the message to you.

But looks like you went ahead and moved forward on that assumption, so all is well.

My rule of forum gaming: when in doubt, keep things moving!

MK

There is no address in the message body. As you know, I am totally computer-illiterate, but I would suppose that if you had recorded the transmission and then did an analyze, you could get the commcode it was addressed to. But like you said, it seems pretty obvious.
But I don't think there's an EW way to simply determine destination - even with the infrastructure for triangulation, the wireless signal itself diffuses omnidirectionally and stupidly.

Your question about the rules opens up a big can of worms. Like most of the matrix chapter, it creates more questions than it answers.

My personal belief is that that is intended for "streaming" content - a wireless sec camera or something that is constantly transmitting, providing the predictability the metahuman operator or agent would need to do some editing and have a reasonable expectation that it would still be applicable when it was done.

Even if what you are asking about could be done with something like the message you just intercepted, the message happens too fast for an opponent to even dream up the edit he wanted to make. Even if the sender transmits in real time, by the time you've heard what he is saying, it's said. The speed of light is pretty fast!

Now, as for recording and playing around, go for it. And as I said, with streaming, cool. Or, if you pre-prepared additional content and just sat there waiting for the transmission to go out, then maybe if you were operating at hot sim VR, then maybe you could get it in fast enough.
The reason I stressed additional is that without jamming capacity, you can't stop the original message from going through, not matter what you add.

(Unless you could manage to edit an essentially instantaneous message-in-transit fast enough to reroute it - but that would beg credulity.)

I hope I am communicating the way I see things common-sense-wise. If you have differing thoughts, I would be most delighted to hear you out.

By the way MK - as you know, I have a policy of rewarding people that help me out by giving thorough rules explications of their matrix actions, which you have been doing a lot lately, so 1 karma to you.

Mhhhm, Kharma-Cookies , btw, when Do I get back my Edge Point

I´m of the same opinion about editing intercepted wifi signals, anything else just seems to incredible tech-wise. I´d actually interpret the sentence as just refering to the data stored/forwarded, thus not touching the original transmission at all. I just wanted to make sure I´m not missing an oportunity because of deviating rules-interpretations.

It´s another thing with wired transmission, where you can delay the dataflow to insert changes, but that dosn´t aply here. Which makes me think of a possiblility.
I´m going to scan for the WiFi-Network-Provider´s local node (should be easy to find, as I´d actually be loged in myself) and Analyze it (buying 3 hits as usual, to get System, Firewall and Alert Status).

EDIT: If -since we are in the barrens- the Club´s Node itself is 'The Local Network Provider', that´d be fabulous of course.

Memo to Me: Probe Local WiFi Network Nodes for all the places you go in advance

MK

In MY Redmond Barrens, there are very few Local Network Nodes outside of Touristville (you may have been following the other thread...).

But you are actually close enough to Touristville that anyone with a decent signal (4+) can get out onto the matrix. But in any case, YES, the GZ node does provide a LAN for the club and its immediate environs (which is why I haven't had to hassle you guys regarding your comms and signal ratings).

So there is your OOC response. Time is short - IC may have to wait a bit.

Well, then I´d bump up my signal range to 4, to check out the closest working Network Node in Touriville and Analyze it (Sys/FW/Alert Status), in case the guy trys to contact someone without using the GZ-Node.

Mister Juan

That last thought-message to Etain - "Let's get this over with, sister." - Was that heading you guys to the non-VIP area to watch the corp guys, as Krait requested? Or was it to follow Etain's lead to the dominatrix, to go along with Carla's request for more info?

Either way is completely up to you, but it helps me if I know which way you are headed.

Okay, thanks for clearing that up.

So that leaves the ball in MK's court to continue with what he's doing (or just wait for Ernst - somehow I'm sure MK has lots more stuff he wants to do while he waits!).

And puts the ball in Vegas' court to approach the dominatrix (unless you want to pick it up, MJ).

Oh, I thought about some hacking, but due to Kayla´s backdoor raid, those plans went out of the window (for now). So, all I´d do besides talking and giving my windbreaker (which V hopefully brought with her from the check-in) to her. Since waiting for Ernst would make it a bit hard to scrounge some more cloths together at the moment.

Only thing would be to update Ernst on the situation - I´m in the D-Rest, Pictures should allready be erazed.

Okay - thanks for the update. With you a bit ahead in time and in waiting mode, I am going to wait for Vegas' approach to the dominatrix before ICing anything in the club.

See you guys next week.

Everyone

You'll notice that you are all within about 30 seconds of each other - let's try to keep it that way.
All are free to post, but let's keep it to a line or two of dialogue or comm message (text or vocal), or a brief action.

Vegas

Let's have a straight Charisma test. I'll worry about the mods - except you'll have to drop the Mindlink or take off two dice.

Okies..

Dropping Mindlink (since it's easy enough to reestablish even with the BG count)

Charisma (5) = 5 dice
[5] 1 [5] [5] [5] Hits:4

Okay - Map Adjustment

I was just now looking at the map again, and I had a wrong impression. I thought all those private room doors on the right/east faced onto the dance floor, and from other peoples' posts, I think other people had that impression as well.

But now I see there is a wall blocking access to those doors, and the only access is at the northeast/upper right corner past the exhibition area.

Scratch that wall. There is no long north/south wall on the right side of the room. The private room doors face directly onto the main area.

Vegas and MJ - the door Mistress Nightshade is referring to is the southernmost of the private rooms that has a door on it (as shown by the door-swing symbols). So about the middle of the right edge of the room.

Sorry about the confusion. Please return to your regular state of suspended disbelief.

Re-Casting Mindlink, Force 5
Magic (5) + Spellcasting (5) + Background Count (-1) = 9 dice
[5] 4 4 2 2 [5] 1 [5] [5] Hits:4


Drain Resist (5/2) +1 = 3
Charisma (5) + Willpower (4) = 9 dice
[5] 1 3 [6] [5] 3 [6] [6] 1 Hits:5
No Drain

Adamu

I "fixed" our version of the GZ floor plan and put it up on the HB wiki under the locations page for First Wave

Hope that helps clear up all the confusion for everyone.

let me know if you need/want more changes.