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BlueRondo
MK

Just making sure I haven't overlooked anything: Krait never told Carla anything about the deal with Morningstar, right? He just asked her about the loose shedim.
adamu
BR

MK is nothing if not thorough.

Here is a recent quote from the IC thread, including a slight English correction for clarity.

QUOTE
John sent another message to his teammates, instructing them to give him a call and move into ghoul-turf as a last resort, if things got real nasty. Save passage guaranteed for 800 . He´d send the money and relay their position on demand.
adamu
QUOTE (MK Ultra)
Didn´t IC any reaction to the Ghouls and Morningstar´s call, as it depends on what Carla and Conall told me. I´d certainly ask for as much detailas possible -especialy number & location of shedim, number of potential victims and unpossessed bodies that might be shedim by now, any other threats they perceived- but we don´t have to IC it all.

Looks like they've answered IC.

I´ll also ask the twins about any shedim on the astral, though unless Conall summons a spirit for the job, they probably won´t spot any with the condition Etain is under, as IIRC, Assensing isn´t her bro´s strength.

If you want that done, I think you may have to ask for it directly in an IC post. Appears the Conall/Krait rivalry remains in full swing.

Adamu, how many Ghouls do I count? (Perception 5 hits)

You identify at least six individuals.

Also, when Morningstar calls (and possibly before), do I sense any motivation to rob us or (in the case of us using her service, as well as if we don´t) dos she sound trustworthy to me or is she even openly trying to intimidate me? (6 hits to sense intentions, though some dice might be subtracted because we are on voice only, as well as 7 hits on a social roll to resist Con).

In earlier calls, she seemed very professional - you sensed she was eager for your business. In the latest call, she seems very annoyed and, yes, threatening. The "no relationship" line, combined with the presence of the ghouls, was an intentional attempt at intimidation.

[ Spoiler ]


BTW, not to be pushy, but IIRC you mentioned some time ago, that you where planing to do Karma on a regular basis again (don´t remember if you sayed per month or week or whatever) and asked us to remind you if we get no PM. I thought waiting untill combat is over would be a good thing to do. But here is a reminder smile.gif

Thanks for the reminder.
As you know, for the past year I have struggled to strike a balance between rewarding everyone for their consistent and excellent play, but prevent insane karma inflation in relation to the actual amount achieved in the game. This PbP thing is just horrible for determining a proper amount of karma.
Anyway, yeah, you guys are way overdue, but in both threads I have decided to wait until you reach a sort of "pause" in the action, which hasn't happened yet...

See in-line.
adamu
House rule on Gymnastics

This came up in the other thread, so posting it here as well.

Dodge you can use in pretty much any circumstance short of total paralysis, but Gymnastics dodge can only be use if you have room to do gymnastics.
BlueRondo
I edited my last post to respond to Krait's inquiry about Morningstar.
MK Ultra
My intention with the 22:38:46 timestamp of my previous post was to handle the talking before Morningstar called me back, since there was a space of 1 minute between the four of us joining together again and the ghoul rinnging the fone. But I edited the timestamp now, for simplicity´s sake.

For the reply to Morningstar, here is a Con roll (5 hits) to make her think I don´t have the cash on me and need to call someone to send it to me or whatever and also an Intimidation roll (6 hits) to make her think twice about attacking us.
If the fact that Carla didn´t give her ok to spend the 800, yet, and the possibliity of shedim spreading into the 162s turf give any bonus, you´d have to factor this in, as with any other modifires (not that I didn´t use First Impression either, since I didn´t actually meet Morningstar).

I´d also like to do an Analysis of Morningstar´s Comlink, if possible. Agent 6 + Analyze 6, buying 3 hits to get her System and Firewall ratings and alert status.

[ Spoiler ]
adamu
Morningstar's commlink is Firewall 4 and System 4, not apparently on alert.
MK Ultra
Thanks, 400 nuyen.gif expenses noted.
adamu
Okay - you guys are free and clear back to the parking lot, at which point I will have an IC post for you.

So do any role-playing or anything else you want for the walk back, and someone let me know OOC or IC when you are ready to get there - or if more than a day with no posts goes by I will just do it myself.

MK - Morningstar responds with a suggestion that you cross the street to their turf, in order to protect you better. But it's up to you guys. Just please write a brief response from her in your next IC post.
BlueRondo
I'm more than willing to participate in more IC conversation, but I don't mind jumping straight towards the parking lot if everyone else is ready.
Vegas
I'm just kinda staying quiet because I really didn't see a point of writing a post from Etain's POV since she's barely coherent.

So in other words, I'm totally fine with jumping forward wink.gif Anything that gives me an opportunity to be that much closer to healing stun damage is good for me wink.gif

Though I really do have a great post cooking in my head for "later" dependent on just how badly Adamu screws us over... I mean Orchestrates wink.gif
Mister Juan
There's nothing more Conall wants or needs to do. So, from his point of view, we can jump forward.
MK Ultra
Me neither, going to post an IC when I´m back home today.
adamu
MK Ultra

Great, that's what I was hoping for.

Once you have posted, I will post the team's arrival back at the bar's parking lot.
MK Ultra
Is the cop that Violet talked to before we entered the hot zone still around?
BlueRondo
Here's a proper health-assessment test for Etain

First Aid (5) + Int (5) = 6, 4, 1, 4, 2, 5, 5, 3, 2, 3 = 3 hits

Any serious injuries she didn't pick up before?
adamu
QUOTE (MK Ultra)
Is the cop that Violet talked to before we entered the hot zone still around?

Yes - he is part of the anti-shedim squad. Your social skills are good enough that you know he may be annoyed if bothered right now.

adamu
QUOTE (BlueRondo)


Any serious injuries she didn't pick up before?

No - nothing serious. No concussion. Just a nasty bruise across her face as noted earlier.

If you choose to do first aid, note that some of her stun damage (is that 2 boxes, Vegas?) is from drain, so cannot be healed medically. But that still leaves I think seven other boxes of stun, which is probably more than even Carla can take care of in one shot with first aid.
adamu
Campaign Note

Just finished reading Emergence.

Even if its events will not be central to our campaign, you should all know that I will be sticking with canon, so those things are happening in the world and media surrounding your characters.

Canon is important because it provides a wealth of common information we can all share regarding the game world, helping keep us all on the same page.

So right now for you guys it is August 14th - a month and a half after the Hong Kong incident. The public has been aware of the confirmed existence of technomancers for about a month, and the world is at the peak of anti-technomancer fear and hysteria.

If you don't have Emergence, you have the BBB, which describes TMs in game terms. Suffice to say that their very existence was not public knowledge until about a month ago, and now the media is painting them as a horrible menace to society.

Naturally it is up to each individual character to decide their own attitudes toward TMs. If any of you feel that you characters may have been among the very rare people that were aware of TMs before they hit the media spotlight, let me know in a PM with an explanation as to why.
BlueRondo
What kinds of threats, exactly, do people fear that technomancers pose? Are they afraid that the technomancers are going to cause mayhem by hacking up the Matrix and taking over everybody's commlinks/cars/electronic households/etc.?

I know its not uncommon for people to be fearful/hateful of new and unfamiliar things, and I could easily imagine people in the real world freaking out about technomancers. But how does a person react if he is already familiar with (and perhaps even tolerant of) things like orks, elves, dragons, spirits, magicians, cyborgs, and the like?

Also, I assume Carla can't do any first-aid right then and there without equipment of any sort, right?
Vegas
QUOTE (adamu)
If you choose to do first aid, note that some of her stun damage (is that 2 boxes, Vegas?) is from drain, so cannot be healed medically.

Actually Etain's carrying 3S from Drain and 6S from getting the crap kicked out of her by Ernst. biggrin.gif

I'm trying to piece together a post and I need to do a nice little attempt at a first healing roll but i'm stuck at work atm with no books and the like. Maybe I'll copy them over onto my flash drive and bring them with me to work from now on wink.gif
adamu
QUOTE (BlueRondo)
What kinds of threats, exactly, do people fear that technomancers pose? Are they afraid that the technomancers are going to cause mayhem by hacking up the Matrix and taking over everybody's commlinks/cars/electronic households/etc.?

That's about the size of it. Even though TMs are not necessarily more powerful than hackers, as a cop is quoted as saying in the book, hackers need lots of expensive gear and a very hard-to-develop skill set, making them easier for law enforcement to track and profile. TMs can be literally anyone from any walk of life with no training at all. So they present a much greater potential threat.
Plus, it seems that quite a few are crazy....
Or that's what the media says.
A key factor is that the corp-controlled media paints TMs as monsters in order to wag the dog of public perception away from exposes coming out of the indie press of horrible human experiments on TMs.
Also, keep in mind that society is only six years down the road from the Crash of '64, which was a disaster unlike any in history. This makes people doubly wary of unknown computer threats.


I know its not uncommon for people to be fearful/hateful of new and unfamiliar things, and I could easily imagine people in the real world freaking out about technomancers. But how does a person react if he is already familiar with (and perhaps even tolerant of) things like orks, elves, dragons, spirits, magicians, cyborgs, and the like?

A very very good point. As I tried to convey above, it's a little bit about fear of the unknown, but also about the perception of a very real potential threat, subsequently blown out of proportion by the corporate media.

Also, I assume Carla can't do any first-aid right then and there without equipment of any sort, right?

Yes, but you can only do it once, and there will be lots of negative mods - see the BBB for an idea of those - as opposed to all the possible bonus dice if you use a good medkit. Up to you.

Good questions. I had some of the same. I won't say the book is a well-thought-out masterpiece...I have some issues with it. But it is canon, and until I have time to write 120-page fluff compendiums to use in our game, this sort of resource provides rich game world detail that any of us can access (for $25).
adamu
QUOTE (Vegas)
I need to do a nice little attempt at a first healing roll

Probably better to wait on that until after you've had the requisite rest period (assuming you get one!). The other thread ran into a spot of trouble with people rolling their heals BEFORE resting, and then having to keep track of when it would come into effect, and forgetting they'd already rolled, and so on. You'll need at least one full hour of rest - and being carried through a ghoul and shedim infested Z-zone does not count!
Vegas
QUOTE (adamu)
QUOTE (Vegas @ Oct 10 2007, 07:48 AM)
I need to do a nice little attempt at a first healing roll

Probably better to wait on that until after you've had the requisite rest period (assuming you get one!). The other thread ran into a spot of trouble with people rolling their heals BEFORE resting, and then having to keep track of when it would come into effect, and forgetting they'd already rolled, and so on. You'll need at least one full hour of rest - and being carried through a ghoul and shedim infested Z-zone does not count!

Of course.. I meant eventually. I'll do my bestest to keep track of time that passes and roll appropriately smile.gif

But yeah, "assuming" I get the opportunity.
MK Ultra
Adamu
Was only looking for the cop, to give him a nod of recognition, in case he´s looking at me.

Carla´s question made me think of something. Is the Paralysis still in effect? The Shedim reduced my Reaction by 2 ponints. Do I sense any improvement, is it compleatly gone or didn´t change at all?

Mister Juan
I don´t know if I got your last post right:
QUOTE
As she looked her over, Conall couldn't help but noticed that she kept her attention divided betweeen Etain and her own commlink. His head turned to the side to keep an eye on Krait (in case he got himself in any more trouble), the young shaman spoke again.

“Everything aced with ye, mam?� he asked, his tone sounding strangely polite.


The context seems to indicate, that Conall´s talking to me. In that case, is 'mam' a typo, actually meaning 'man' or is he calling me 'mam'? Or is he speaking to [b]Carla[7b] again?
Mister Juan
No, he's speaking to Carla.
MK Ultra
Ah, allright. I was just wondering, since he´s polite to her most of the time.
BlueRondo
Adamu et. al.

Just a note: the only major "project" Carla is working on right now is her conversation with the mystery woman, which can be done just about anywhere (in the lot, in the cab, back at home, etc.) So I'm ready to fast-forward to the arrival of the cab as soon as everybody else is. Of course, until then, I don't mind the IC chatting.
Vegas
So much for getting that needed "hour of rest" nyahnyah.gif

Might not be a bad idea afterall for Carla to work her magic on Etain before they do much else ;P

Adamu

Assuming there are no more zombie/shedim attacks, the group doesn't end up in the middle of a firefight in the parking lot, the cops don't haul them off to SINlessville or anyother horrible icky non-resting things happen, may I assume I can start Etain's "hour of rest" from this point forward or do you take it to literally mean laying prone and doing NOTHING else save for breathing nyahnyah.gif
adamu
Vegas

I am not quite so strict as that. In the other thread I let people talk a little, but that got out of hand and I had to clamp down.

The idea is to be in a physically and psychologically mellow state.

I am afraid that propped on the back of a motorcycle in a parking lot full of drunken gangers and shedim-hunting police does not count.

Now, if you were to declare yourself completely unconscious, the rules state clearly that that counts.

Up to you. Sleep or wait.
Vegas
Adamu

Fair enough, it was worth a shot wink.gif Didn't want to put her "out of commission" for longer than necessary or have to have you remind me to make a heal check nyahnyah.gif

Quiet, mellow, relaxed. Check. biggrin.gif

yeah, that's not happening for a while
MK Ultra
QUOTE (MK Ultra @ Oct 10 2007, 10:26 PM)
Adamu
...

Carla´s question made me think of something. Is the Paralysis still in effect? The Shedim reduced my Reaction by 2 ponints. Do I sense any improvement, is it compleatly gone or didn´t change at all?

...

???

EIT: BTW, what dos 'I'll take your offer under advisement.' mean?
Vegas
QUOTE (MK Ultra)
QUOTE (MK Ultra @ Oct 10 2007, 10:26 PM)
Adamu
...

Carla´s question made me think of something. Is the Paralysis still in effect? The Shedim reduced my Reaction by 2 ponints. Do I sense any improvement, is it compleatly gone or didn´t change at all?

...

???

EIT: BTW, what dos 'I'll take your offer under advisement.' mean?

MK,

I'm not Adam, but I'd guess that Combat Paralysis no longer applies as we're not in combat smile.gif You might still have the panicked adrenaline rush or something, but I'd doubt you're (we're) still taking dice penalties to rolls. But that's just my opinion.


And "I'll take your offer under advisement" is sort of and overly-polite/business like way of saying "I'll think about it"
MK Ultra
QUOTE (Vegas)
And "I'll take your offer under advisement" is sort of and overly-polite/business like way of saying "I'll think about it"

Ah, thanks for helping the language impaired biggrin.gif

The 'Paralysis' question was not about the combat paralysis, however. When the shedim attacked me, it somehow reduced my Reaction attribute by 2 points. This is a temporary effect I guess, but I don´t know how long it lasts and I didn´t want to read the rules for shedim to figure it out, to keep the Meta-Knowledge low.
adamu
QUOTE (MK Ultra)
QUOTE (Vegas @ Oct 12 2007, 03:08 AM)
And "I'll take your offer under advisement" is sort of and overly-polite/business like way of saying  "I'll think about it"

Ah, thanks for helping the language impaired biggrin.gif


MK - I would hardly call you language-impaired. I am in never-ending awe of you and MJ for your ability to play such a linguistically intensive game in other than your mother tongues. Seriously impressive.

Anyway, it's like Vegas said - it's a polite way of saying "I understand your offer, and I may or may not consider it."

The paralysis wore off after a couple of minutes - sometime while you and Etain were staggering south.

All Lone Star officers have last name, serial number and customer service contact commcode in their PANs.

The cop's commlink is mostly R4, but R5 firewall, and lots of warnings about the use of deadly force against hackers.

Violet's comm is R3.
adamu
MK - since the conversation has moved on past the proper point, why don't you edit the following into one of your posts wherever you think it is most appropriate.

QUOTE
The proferred commcode promptly disappeared into the recesses of the blond's node.  She gave Krait a long curious look, and as her cab pulled up, she said, "No.  Definitely not an enemy.  But..." and she shook her head and got into the cab without another look back.


I assume Violet is still with you?
Mister Juan
QUOTE (adamu)
MK - I would hardly call you language-impaired. I am in never-ending awe of you and MJ for your ability to play such a linguistically intensive game in other than your mother tongues. Seriously impressive.

hehehe
Thanks mate wink.gif
Playing SR on these boards is pretty much all the opportunity I get to "practice" my english. Keeps me up to speed and in good shape nyahnyah.gif
I'll admit I do spellcheck most of my posts.
adamu
MK Ultra

The credstick is standard certified, and contains Y579.

Just from looking at the casing, the commlink is a Novatech Airware.
MK Ultra
QUOTE (Mister Juan)
QUOTE (adamu @ Oct 12 2007, 08:08 AM)
MK - I would hardly call you language-impaired.  I am in never-ending awe of you and MJ for your ability to play such a linguistically intensive game in other than your mother tongues.  Seriously impressive.

hehehe
Thanks mate wink.gif
Playing SR on these boards is pretty much all the opportunity I get to "practice" my english. Keeps me up to speed and in good shape nyahnyah.gif
I'll admit I do spellcheck most of my posts.

Dito - though I do no spell-checking, since the DSF-spellchecker scrambled most of the posts I used it on. Hope that´s not too much of an annoyance nyahnyah.gif

Once Carla gave us directions and last minute instructions, I´ll be ready to go, when Conall is. So no need to wait for me, once BlueRondo posted, unless you have a question for John.

Adamu, just occured to me, that I didn´t mention flipping my cybercam on again, since we entered GZ, so I´m doing it now.

Also, if it´s still in reach, I´d like to scan for the node of the cab that picked up Kayla, to get it´s vehicle-number, etc.

Autosoft (4) + Scan (5) = 9 dice
[5] 4 4 2 2 [5] 1 [5] [5] Hits:4
adamu
No problem on the cab's number - it's publicly available on the PAN, along with a customer service number.
Vegas
I'm totally ready to move on to the healing/resting bit but was waiting to post anything to the effect of being loaded into a cab until I knew Carla had completed telling the boys what they needed to know.

smile.gif
Mister Juan
Unless the meet is REALLY close, Conall will ride his bike, with Krait in tow. Also, if there are any places where Conall might be able to at least wash his hands (water hose at a gas station for example) he'll do so. If not, he'll ask Krait to go fetch him some water in the bar.

Beside all that, Conall doesn't really have plan par se. He's just going to show up to the meet.
adamu
Mister Juan -
the address is again in Heartbreaker turf, somewhat farther than Ground Zero was.

You can find water. A spigot on the side of the building, or go in the bar to the bathroom and wash up. Water in the gutter. Whatever.

Vegas - you can IC your cab arriving whenever you want.

MJ and MK - looks like you guys now have access to the same messages that Carla got, including the video and all that. Feel free to go back and review those posts and draw your own conclusions.
Mister Juan
Adamu
Did Conall lose all of his spirits at Ground Zero?
adamu
Mister Juan

I thought it was painfully clear when it happened - but yes - unless you have any more Bound ones that you never called - all the ones that were active at Ground Zero, including Etain's, were swarmed and slaughtered. It's all there in the IC.

Vegas

Okay, barring major interruption, you will be eligible for a heal roll at 23:53. In order to rest, I assume that you now drop the two spells....

Vegas and BlueRondo

The cab ride back to the church will take at least an hour. It will probably take a bit of posting to get through with Conall and Krait's upcoming scene, so the two of you feel free to toss in any actions that you want as the timeline moves forward (try to keep your times roughly in sync with the guys'). Vegas, although you are resting, you can feel free to RP, as long as it's not strenuous or tactically oriented.
Vegas
Adamu

She'll hold on to the Mindlink spell for as long as possible (i.e. till the distance between her and Conall physically breaks the spell) but the armor spell she'll drop as soon as she's in the cab. So yes, effectively she'll quickly be dropping both spells.
MK Ultra
While Conall watches the girls go and cleans his hands (in what hopefully is not piss ;P), I´ll watch the vid (conecting credstick to custom somlink via datacabel in my sleve) and check the meeting location on my map-soft (soon to be ICed).
I´ll also compile a message to Conall, but probably not before we get moving - and I also don´t know when I´m going to send it.

MisterJuan:
All John can tell Conall about the location on the spot is that it´s HB Turf and approximately 1.5 times as far away as GZ (unless the mapsoft tells me something interesting.
Once I know if Conall want´s to take the bike, I can deal with Violet, saying goodbye (unless she´d been asked to lead the way for us by her gang-superiors), or asking her to come along (Conall didn´t give any preference, yet).
If you decide to take the bike or just not to take V along (to make a clendestine approach or talk in private), you can move on IC - Krait will just say some words to V, but no need to halt the IC for that.

Adamu:
Do I recognize any of the Shedim on the vid? I.e. is the female the one that left GZ through south gate, is the one entering the crowds at GZ northgate there?
Not an overly importent point, but would be interesting to know.
adamu
Yes, there are definitely other takers for the cancelled cab.

And yes, thanks to your photographic memory, you can confirm that both the shedim you saw leaving the VIP area were among those in the video.
adamu
Announcement

Real world pressures mounting.

I generally ignore them in favor of gaming, but family, church and work responsibilities are coalescing.

For the next ten days, I may or may not be doing any GMing. I do plan to keep up with the games I am a player in - sadly, that takes virtually no time whatsoever - so I will be checking in, and if I have time I will post to this thread. But I've been slipping into a quantity over quality trap lately, and would like to take a step back.

This is a good chance for IC posts and player-on-player role-playing - even in situations where seconds count, I never frown on RP interactions between players.

Look for renewed daily action from about Oct 30.
MK Ultra
Any dos and don´ts for us? I.e. should we stay at the parking lot or not procede beyond a certain point or time?

MisterJuan maybe this would be a good opportunity for Conall to watch the vid and discuss Ms Johnson´s/Our shedim problem IC. Or we could discuss looting. I´d normaly do this at some other point, but since we won´t move on with our objective too quickly...

... or we could just hit each other in the face (well, Conall could hit John and he could try to hit him nyahnyah.gif).
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