Total fluff post.

I was doing my Facebook thing last night when one of the posts by a writer from the Seattle area encouraged other folks to pick up the nearest book and post the 5th sentence on page 56. For me that just happened to come from the glitch section of SR 4 core rules.

p. 56 has only figures, so 5th from p 57:



I am not fit to translate

abject apologies to all
computer went totally belly-up
getting repaired now...but I am in the UK
FULLY intended to live up to my commitments from June, and then this
as soon as i have computer i will be back online as promised for those that have not given up on me
adamu

@adamu

Are you implying that the Brits are lacking in technical skills?

Nice.

@adamu: Dude did you look for a reputable repair shop or is the work being done by a cockney version of my character?

I am now going to weekly check ins.

Damn Brits´ lack of technical skills *shakesfist*

Then again, maybe it was the japs putting gremlins in your baggage

Just to state clearly that I am still around.

My weekly check in.

I'm having to satisfy my gaming jones with Mafia Wars on Facebook now.

Hello - my computer is now fixed.

I am truyly flattered and amazed that so many are still checking in.
I take it that you trust me to let you know if I ever actually quit this game - which I certainly will.

I apologize for this situation of the past (how many?) months in which there has been one problem after another with my ability to continue the game.

However, looking ahead at what is going on in my life, I feel confident that I can now return to my twice-weekly bumps in a reliable manner - at least for the next three months, and hopefully that will create the momentum to keep things up.

I will need to go back through the most recent posts and get up to speed, see what is still needed from you, and what is needed from me to push things forward.

But for now the very first topic that needs to be addressed is Carla.

I have tried every means I can both on and offline to confirm one way or another whether Blue Rondo is still with us. But I have had no word.
This is very very sad for me, but BR can hardly be blamed for drifting away considering my abasenteeism.
Suffice to say that BR will always be welcome back in the game, but also that for now we have to decide how to proceed in BR's absence.

Carla serves not only as the nominal leader of the team, but also as the central hub to which the other PCs are bound - not many lateral ties between the snooty elves and the Krait/Jack half of the team. And in addition to leadership and social hub, the Johnson for the current run has dealt exclusively with Carla.

The good news is that in terms of actual adventuring, Carla's skill set is more typical of the support NPC.
So what I propose is that I assume the role of Carla and we proceed in that manner.

So there, I have convinced myself.

I will have a more concrete "bump" by the end of the week, but until then, please do not hesitate to remind me of anything you will need from me.

Oh, and as to the talk of UK tech skills - I have no basis for an opinion about that, and no reason to think they are substandard.

But what I can tell you from increasing firsthand experience is that the further a society allows itself, even in supposedly segmented fashion, to embrace socialism, that disease inexorably spreads to all aspects of the society.
As such, getting any kind of service better than "shockingly inadequate" in any industry is next to impossible.
And my computer taking over a month to get back to me is just one manifestation of that.

There - I have clarified my aspersion on the UK - which I stand by - and tried to keep the rant to a minimum.

Jaｃｋ - the ammo request for the Slav is no problem. He will charge you 20% over book price - feel free to roll a Negotiate or whatever if you care to contest that.

You can IC a quick purchase meeting if you care to, or just mention somewhere in the IC that you met him and bought some ammo.

Everyone - I am really hoping to put up SOMETHING on the IC thread today.
time is just so tight - I am pretty eager to get things rolling, though.
I may sort of force things back onto a unified location/time situation, but if there are objections to any way that I do that, let me know.
I will try to get that up within today.

Silly double post.

Okay everyone - all are in sync and ready to PLAY!

If my IC stepped on anyone's toes as to how they would like to be presented, do let me know and we will adjust it. Feel free likewise to add your own IC of your feelings about what is going on.
And of course chime in with the plan - which is fine to supplement with OOC discussion. But if we keep it mostly IC, then the dreaded planning phase won't take a month!

MK - regarding your IC queries on the info you were looking for on Kenichi:
There is an SIN, though it lists home contact info as in Renton, and profession as dentist, so you suspect it is a high-grade fake.
The account is paid for by automatic withdrawal from a local Wells Fargo Malaysia branch in Renton - there is a routing code to the account - naturally useless without various identifiers.
There are also hundreds of contact profiles stored in the account, including pix, voice samples, and contact information. A quick skim suggests that at least half are "friends and acquaintances" of Tom Leary the Dentist, but there are enough that it is possible some are actual contacts mixed among the fakes.

My two bumps next week will probably be clustered between Wed and Sat.

Praying for BR's return and hoping the rest of you are still up to rock onwards.

While I'm thinking about it; I had posted a question somewhere in OOC. I was wondering how many spells Conall could learn in the downtime he had... just so I can prioritize in case he can't learn all of them.

Working on it ...

just a side note, i will be out of touch from wed or thur till sat or sun - don´t make my absence let you think, you got rid of me

EDIT:

Ok, as you see, I didn´t come far, yet, sure won´t manage to finish today - though soething´s piled up in my head, ready to type. In the mean time:

Has there been any datatraffic of interest (beyond the usual background-traffic) like actuall fonecalls, messages, file-transfers through the Matrix-Service-Provider´s server? I´m especially looking for clues about the reality/fakeness of any stored contacts, but unless there is really a lot of traffic, everything substantial would be of interest, of course!

Rolls&Rules&Refferences, as posted before:

"Hold the red star proudly high in hand!"

It's nice to have you back adamu. I need to spend some time reviewing older posts and my aim is to have a new IC up detailing Jack's Saturday activities by Saturday latest. I've got a lot on my plate right now.

Mister Juan - looking at the time stamps, it seems only a day and a half has passed since you got the spells. Since you found and moved into an apartment in that time, I will generously say that you have been able to squeeze in one 8-hour study session.
Note that the spell learning test is a one-day interval, so if you also study tomorrow, you could roll twice on the extended test to learn the spell (for details please see BBB 172. Or, if very lucky, two spells in one day each (?!?!?).

Learning the spells also requires a magical lodge at least equal to the force of the spell. Ouch. You have the materials, but setting up the lodge takes one day per force point!
However, since the "target leaves tomorrow" is an artificial thing I foisted on you to speed the game along, I will waive that - we'll say that you chose a place with a very perfect lodge-space, and all the pieces just fell into place with Wolf-Power!

But again, that is pretty generous - so you will have to pass the Extended tests as explained in the book. Also pay 5 karma per spell learned, but you are sitting on a pile of points, so that shouldn't be such an issue.

Good luck.

MK Ultra -

Listening in on the traffic, you determine that Kenichi uses an agent to simulate activity on the face contacts in order to make things more difficult for people like you.
However, with the "human" touch - namely, your social skills - it is possible to sift the real from the fake activity - to a point.

You identify three contacts that you are pretty sure are real, and several more maybes.

One of the contacts is apparently a mistress/girlfriend of some sort, and seems to spend her time in or around his apartment.

Another is a fellow in a downtown office block (which you will eventually trace to an Aztechnology subsidiary). With that person, the conversation is painfully boring, and you suspect they are conversing in some sort of code (in addition to all the electronic encryption).

The third probable is hard to pin down - probably an underworld figure. Again, they discuss nothing of relevance directly. Kenichi is scheduled to meet him in an izakaya (Japanese-style pub/speakeasy) in the International District tomorrow at 8:00 pm. If any of the stuff you got is as real as you think it is....

Okay - here for this week's second bump. But there has been no activity since my last bump 48 ago.

NOT criticizing or complaining! Rather, I fear my own post credibility has suffered grievously of late, so confirming that I am active and on the job, ready to respond to any queries or, better yet, actions.

I´m back again. Hope to put up something tonite

Wow, I'm having to put considerable effort into remembering to check in now that we have our GM back online.

@adamu

I have posted IC. Jack presents his so stupid it might work plan there.

If the rest of the team agrees to the plan, I would like to get a jump start on the action by doing the following:

Jack - great post. And way to get the planning ball rolling.

As for your test -welcome to SR4!
Unlike our glory table-top days of SR2, when two successes didn't count for much, it is good stuff in SR4.

You mention in your IC that there is one main road into SeaTac - so following your lead that it is basically like the real world, yeah, for the public there is just one big stretch of freeway rolling in, moderately rough terrain on both sides. It runs on its own basically for a mile or so, fed by just a handful of other freeways, if memory serves.

Assuming he doesn't take a chopper into the airport (evil GM!), he will be on that one stretch.
Your knowledge tells you there is nowhere on that stretch that is not heavily surveilled.
But no sec response for 3 combat turns - heck, that would be fast for astral response, accounting for comms to the mage and just going astral.

So no problem with that.

In any case, in the spirit of your query - there is a spot where the surveillance appears to be restricted by a low hill on one side and a heavily trafficked truck lane on the other. There are still cameras and drones, but relatively fewer - if one wished to muck with them, it would be easiest here. That is also a place that meets your other criteria re. a curve for the ambush.
Turnaround is a trick, as once you are on the final stretch of freeway, the only real place to turn around (short of jumping the divider) is by going into the airport.

Those are the points you get for your test - if you seek clarification on those points, just ask and I'll tell you to the point your two successes are worth.

As for making another test, you can make another test with that skill, but looking for different information.
Or you can repeat the same question at such time as you have done some research so as to alter your character's point of view sufficiently to justify a new test.

@adamu

I am just hoping that you will be merciful but I am fully cognizant of the potential for Kenichi to enter the airport by many different routes. Helicopter, via a maintenance access road, via some secret tunnel provided for the express use of his corp., etc.

With regard to those I am hoping that Frank can find out more about how he would most likely enter the terminal in the intervening time.

My experienced player conjecture is that Kenichi and others are being moved because our team is getting a bit too close to the truth and he is a liability. The death of Naguel probably raised a few eyebrows and the evil spirit (shedim?) has probably reported back to its masters.

Been killer busy with work! Sorry for not writing anything sooner! I should be able to squeeze in some writing time tomorrow night.
I'll make the rolls 'n such for the spell learning; and since you've already been REALLY nice with that, I'll only have Conall learn a single spell... cause thinking about having him learn more just makes me feel guilty as hell.

If it can help with the "planning" phase, I plan on having Conall learn Shatter, the touch range version of Powerbolt. Up to now, his main method of combat was the usage of Death Touch (touch range version of Manabolt), which is only good on living targets. Withouth going into too much detail, him punching a car for exemple can have the same effect as said car being hit by a HE Rocket So yea, if shooting the windows doesn't do it, Conall can literally body check the car off the road.

Hah, year, that´s the reason you don´t want to be around with your car, when a wiz-go-gang plays tagging

Sorry for not putting in another IC till now - I think I can make it on Saturday.

Just so you know what I´m up to in advance, though. I´ll give everyone to consider that there are other airports in Seattle, Sea-Tac is just the main one - maybe Carla can confirm that he´s using Sea-Tac or not. Further, I´ll mention the possible date in the international destrict - this is only an A area as oposed to the AA-AAA he usualy frequents - and we know the destination. I´d rather try to make the hit there, because we might get a second shot at the airport, if it goes wrong. When we attack just before the airport, though, he will most certainly escape, if we fail!

@MJ well that spell sounds pretty neat, as long as my character is not on the other side of the car.

@MK I remember Carla specifically stating that Kenichi was flying out of Sea-Tac. I suppose it might be worthwhile to double check that IC and verify my admittedly poor memory. If Krait's information proves correct it looks like Kenichi's itinerary for his last night is Seattle is 20:00 party/biz at the Japanese pub, then 22:00 fly out of Sea-Tac.

My take on hitting him at the pub.

Good: we know where he'll be. He'll have to park and get out of the vehicle (eliminates the need for shooting out windows). I District is not far from some handy freeway onramps and scuzzy neighborhoods (at least at this point in history).

Bad: Do we know Krait's info is reliable? (Hell this is SR, is Carla's info reliable?) Could be a rumor to throw off potential pursuit. There will be people around to cause further complications. Bodyguards will have a better chance at our team if they get out of the vehicle before we get a shot at Kenichi. Whatever security is attached to the pub will join their side, not our side.

My firm belief is that we will only get one chance at Kenichi. If we blow it at the pub, then his security will increase proportionately to handle our team's perceived threat level. He will be taken to the airport by some safer means than car or he will be killed as a liability.

Options: Adjust the basic plan to take him out en route to the pub. There will no doubt be many routes for Kenichi to travel to get to the pub. Choosing the right one will be critical. If Krait can determine without doubt a suitable bottleneck then I'm for it. Otherwise, I say our team tackles him at the airport.

Now Jack is just a dumb ork, ya know? Just point him in the right direction and tell him what to shoot.

"He and three companions will be on a flight out of Sea-Tac tomorrow evening at 10:00, bound for Havana."

That is from adamu's last IC post. For me, that kind of blatant clue dropping from the GM means do the job here.

It also means he might be in the process of being taken over by the spirit of Nigel Findley

Now that's a creepy thought.

I'm not too worried about our team being overpowered by any sort of security. Well, actually, Conall isn't worried AT ALL of being overpowered by anyone

Right off the bat, I can tell that Conall would rather have the ambush be "on foot" rather than "vehicular". For all intent and purposes, Conall's strongest point is his close quarter combat skills. Unless I'm mistaken, I believe that Jack is also good in short to medium range engagement. This means that, to maximize our "firepower", something thats fought in very close quarter should put us at an advantage.

I would saw, lets hit him at the pub. We stake out the place to see what vehicle he arrives in. Once he goes in to do his business, depending on where the vehicle( or vehicles) is, we might even be able to disable it... so that if things go wrong, beside literally running away, Kenichi won't have much of a means of escape. When he gets out, we hit him straight inside the parking lot. Depending on the size of the place, we might have a lot of cover/concealment (which could give us the drop on Kenichi).

The vehicular ambush is also very doable; but I find it to be a little more risky. There's no way to tell if we'll be able to stop the car (or cars) for sure. That and the fact that Conall's spell might actually kill everyone inside the car....

We also have to keep in mind that the twins can both get on spirit on call. I have no idea if Krait wants to take part in the actual "fight", but with 2 spirits, we'd have 4 "combat" characters ready to roll.

If we assume that Kenichi's two companions are his sole security detail.... then I think we might be just golden.

I say, someone takes a decision and we roll with it

Conall would prefer to catch them on foot, rather than in a vehicle.

@Jack
What's Jack's heaviest weapon, in terms of firepower?

@Adamu
Well, here goes nothing!

Learning Spell: Shatter
http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2248458/ 1 hit
http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2248462/ 2 hits
Well.... thats 2 hits short... so no Smahs spell..... Damn it....

MJ - bummer about the spell. But keep the rolls - assuming you can find 8 hours the following day, you can continue the extended test.

Everyone - obviously I won't comment on your plans (aside from any queries to me), but I will say something about PBP mechanics.

Clearly you are debating a number of possible ambush points. And it is for that very reason that I have not mapped out any of them yet. But I am ready to answer questions about them, and at such time as you finalize a choice we can talk about more detailed depictions (naturally incorporating any details you have confimed through research/knowledge).

One more thing - are you with us, Vegas?
Your character's provisional status as a member of the runner team per se (sort of in, but sort of just Paddy's strung out sister) make it easy to justify you not accompanying the others on the action.
I am sure they and I would prefer to have you though!
So if you are able to be active with us, great. If not, I will have you off engaging in other pursuits.

Also regarding Carla - neither her nor the gangers will be helping with direct action, though she (and they within reason) are ready to take on support roles.

I basically agree with MJ. Of course Sea-Tac is a big neon-pink arrow storywise and while it´s not overly likely that this is just a red herring, the fact remains, that from my IC pow, I´d considder the very real possibility, that the target may go there by heli or another rout.

Of course, the pub-info could also be a distraction, but following that only deminishes our chances to succeed at the airport, while only concentrationg on the airport gives us no other chance in case he just fly´s over our heads or uses some other rout.

If we chose the bar, we can check out the place, make our preparations there and still have the hope for a rushed action on the way to the airport, if the target dos not turn up. Besides - if we hit, while he´s leaving the pub, we have a good idear, where he´s heading in case he escapes and we have to persue him.

And the fact that we are strongest in close quaters (and have to close in to grab him in the end, anyway), as well as stopping a car on the freeway is not a trivial task is also very true.

Finally i think the escape routs for us, after the grab (or a failed attack) are much more divers in the I-Dis then on the freeway bound for Sea-Tac.

So, the pub it is.

@MJ Jack's heaviest weapon in terms of statistical damage in his Remington 990 shotgun firing solid slug ammo at 7p. However this weapon lacks the bells and whistles to give Jack a really good die pool for the test. My opinion of Jack's best weapon for taking down opponents at this point in time is one of his Ingram Smartguns loaded with APDS. With some creative min/maxing Jack is a total killing machine with that weapon.

For non-lethal take down Jack plans to use his Ares Pred. loaded with stick and shock ammo.

I agree to the pub. Let's get the fragger.

Alright. Let's do a quick planning OOC, and we'll translate it in IC posting afterwards. Pure IC planning just usually takes way too long.

So, pub it is. I know assumption is the mother of all fuck ups, but lets do a dry run with a few assumptions. Lets assume that those who will be travelling with Kenichi on his flight are part of his security detail. So, the minimum of "others" we'll have to deal with is 2. Counting Kenichi, that makes a total of three warm bodies, one of which might or might not be a physical threat. I'm mentioning this because we have to keep well in mind that Kenichi won't just let himself be kidnapped. For all we know, he could very well be a high grade adept who will whoop our collective asses (let's hope its not the case, and that he'll pee himself ).

Personally, I'm seeing the senario as follows:
We get there well in advance, stake the place out a bit, get a quick lay of the land. If it has a well filled up parking lot, we can stash our own van there. This makes me think; is Krait any good behind the wheel? I'm mainly asking because I believe Jack has mentionned he's horrible with wheels of any kind... so if Krait isn't doing the driving, it'll be Conall. So, we stash the van there, wait for Kenichi. Depending on where he stashes his own vehicle, and if someone stays with it, we might even be able to partially disable it (slash the tires????). We then wait for him/them to come out, with Conall and Jack "on foot", ready to ambush. We hit them hard, kill off all the protective detail and snatch Kenichi. Yes, it is the vaguest of plan. I am very well aware of that. The main issue is that we know absolutely nothing of the situation. For all instance and purposes, we'll probably have to just go on the fly and improvise with the situation at hand.

Since Conall has no real way of taking Kenichi out without seriously injuring him, I think Jack should be the one tasked with securing him. Above all else, Jack's job is to get Kenichi, and shove him in the van. Whatever the opposition brings, Conall will do his best to counter. Since he's the only one with another mode of transportation, he'll round the back... making sure no one gives chase. Worst comes to worst, as soon as Kenichi is a few feet away from the scene, Conall can literally nuke everything in sight

I say.... we roll

Much planning progress makes a happy GM.

I see the current phase of the plan only involves the three of you - probably wise given my earlier mail and no response yet from Vegas (though fingers always crossed).

Any support you might want from Carla and her minions, bring up in IC.

Some thoughts--

We are now agreed that the pub is the place to do the extraction. I don't see any reason our team should wait to start getting the lay of the land. We should now proceed to the club and begin perception tests to find the following:

electronic surveillance in the parking lot
how many guards/bouncers are posted outside the pub (at the doors)
how many ways there are into and out of the pub
the size and layout of the parking lot
the best, easiest escape routes

Jack and Connal should handle this phase of the preparation. They are the ones who will be doing the real fighting, so they should know the most about the terrain.

Meanwhile, Krait does some matrix digging regarding the pub. Ownership, typical clientel, possibly a layout of the interior. Also he makes a determination as to where we take Kenichi for Q & A, then makes any arrangements needed. Carla and the gang could help him with that task.

When we do the job, perhaps we ask the gang for some backup in the form of our own bodyguard detail. I am thinking one ganger assigned to each of the principal PCs. This could be quite useful if the drek hits the fan. We do the real work but if things go south they start slinging some lead on our behalf. My understanding is that they have some sort of vested interest in rescuing Esmerelda so why not have them help out.

Carla should be close at hand, meaning edge of the parking lot, ready to provide 1st aid and liaison with the gangers. Etain should be with her also to provide 1st aid and also spiritual support if needed. (All depending on the availablility of Vegas, of course.)

I'll proceed to post an IC version of this a little later in the day.

Okay - some good opportunities to get things moving.

Jack has laid out some concrete plans for legwork - is it okay with you guys to treat his IC/OOC suggestions as the voice of the "caller"? In other words, rather than waiting for everyone to agree on everything everytime, which really slows us up, can we just move ahead as if Jack's recon plan is a go?

No worries if people have objections - just looking for ways to speed things along.

MK definitely stated some actions in the IC, but I can only resolve them so far without a little OOC back up.
For now, suffice to say that you find no bugs on the team, but if you don't trust me and want to roll dice, cool enough.
Your Agent of course has no problem finding the location and creating 3D holo maps of the interior and exterior. Readily available rumors describe the place as sort of one foot in the shadows, but one foot in the legit world.
If you want more specifics, you will have to let me know what.

Having me act as "caller" is fine with me, although I fully understand if MK, MJ and Vegas should want it otherwise. After all, I'm the to this group, forum gaming and 4th ed. I certainly appreciated MKs input in the recent IC posts and would welcome input from MJ and Vegas as well. Don't forget, we can PM this stuff to death if we like.

I´m also fully ok with the caller option. I do give opinions whenever I can, but I apreciate things to keep rolling when I´m not abled to reply in time :)

Sorry for the lack of rolls, but the stuff was anyways fluff or success-buying, so thanks for handling it that way. As for data searches, besides the stuff Jack mentioned 3 posts upstream, Id like to know the usual responstime for emergancy services in the street and any additional security contracts of the bar or buildings neer by. Looking for links to Yakuza/Triads/Seoulpa, gangs or other criminals will also be on the list, as well as checking for ownership & corporate afiliation and any known link to our friend Mr. Chu (we don´t want to piss in our friends garden).

For the questions Jack posed earlier, yeah, you could get answers from the Matrix, but they will be more reliable from a meat look-see. With MK seconding Jack acting as caller - at least for the mean recon - I would encourage Jack to run with that. If MJ comes in with a comment - that also is totally cool.

As for your other questions MK - all but one are easy to get (or at least within the scope of what you can buy successes for) within a few minutes.

All of your questions on response time, additional sec contracts, and OC connections is answered in the Jackpoint listing on the International District (top of p. 104, Runner Havens - I know you have it, dude).
Where they say street crime in the area is unknown, that is because the Yaks control the streets for the entire district - though more by threat than by actual feet on the street.
Lone Star response will be reluctant, and might even check with a yak official first!

Any other criminal denizens of the place will be people on good terms with the yaks. And yes, the yaks have been known to do business in this bar.

As for Chu connections, they are unlikely to show up on a public data search. But if you want to clearly state your search parameters and roll dice, you can give it a try.
Or use other means than a public data search.

Finally, I said you search would get you maps.
In the past, Vegas has provided some map support sometimes, and other times I have provided links to maps.
If no one steps up with an offer to do up some maps in consultation with me by my next bump, then I will find something suitable and provide a link.

Also, I am going to try to light a fire under Vegas - but as I have warned, if I can't get her online, then Etain is going to go get high or something...thoughts, MJ?

I'm here... in theory. As in I try to keep up with the thread via email, but have next to NO time to post

I really want to stay in and be a part of the run, but I'll understand if Etain has to run off to get her fix instead.

I can try to piece together a map, if you give me the details here or via PM, but I can´t garantee for quality

Sorry I dropped off the last few days.

Yes, Krait should join the scouting expedition. He certainly has skills, implants, etc. that will greatly benefit the gathering of intel.

As I mentioned earlier, Jack, Conall, and Krait should travel and scout the pub separately. We should each post our own OOC and IC based on the information that adamu gives us. Then we meet at the gang hideout in the barrio at 0800 on Monday morning for final planning and prep.

Having established this plan, Jack will stop off at his apartment to gather equipment and then will immediately set out for the pub, using commuter train (the sounder or its 2070 equivalent) and good old walking to reach the location.

I will post a list of perception tests in OOC after I return home from work tonight.

Agreed

Will try to get up some rolls as well, when I get home - it´s friday night though, so that may not be till tomorrow ;-p

Yea, right. Jack plans to maintain a 10 to 20 meter distance from the building whenever possible. He will take his time and observe in detail. He is outfitted as follows:
Armored Jacket
Shock Gloves
Ares predator w/ stick and shock
Hammerli w/ gel rounds
Commlink, initially set to on to get an idea of the RFID traffic, then changed to private team mode.



That should keep Jack busy for awhile.

Remember the -2 Perception Mod for Distraction if not observing in detail, or the (much more likely) +3 mod for Observe in Detail!