Useful piece of info Smohalla just got!

Tecumseh, should I wait for you to tell me how many of those hits work? Then I would build the vignette based on the info.

Actually if you check Ellesar's background info he used to be a magic user. When I made him up I thought it would be an interesting quirk that might make for some good storytelling down the line. He has the Cursed attribute even though he doesn't have magic. I originally added it not knowing full well the actual effect of the attribute. It didn't get mentioned when we went through the editing process so I really didn't think much of it until recently. I saw it as more of something that would be placed upon a magic user by another, whereas the actual text is more along the lines of random acts of misfortune. His backstory includes the Ghosts stripping Ellesar of both his property and his magic before they kick him out of Tir Tairngire. I'm still not sure if that's possible but I see it as a hurdle for him to overcome.

Yeah...we've been put on notice. Like a dog with one of those shock collars

Pbangarth, you got 4 hits for your attribute boost. Go ahead and RP it as you like.

As for Edge, I intended to have it refresh when I distributed karma. Looking back, it seems that I didn't say so. As such, I'll say that Edge refreshes right now. So, pbangarth, the good news is that your Edge roll for your attribute boost roll is effectively free. The bad news is that your drain roll is a glitch. If you want to buy it off with Edge, it will have to come out of your refreshed pool. If you don't want to buy it off, it could be as simple as not soaking the 1S or it could be something far more devious. Just saying.

Atropos, well HOLY CRAP. I didn't remember that at all. We might have to do something with that. LOLs all around!

latent awakening...doooooo it!

Well... Sheeee...it. I was prepared to use a point for the roll, so this isn't any worse than I thought it would be. So, yes, I will use that point of Edge to avoid a glitch. I don't want to test the GM's creativity at this time.

As an aside, the number of hits Stogie does get, along with a glitch appearing, tells something about the meta-mechanism involved in the beefing up we get from the mana line.

Smohalla's perception roll: ??? hits

Let me know if you want to go further than the post describes, but it will take longer. I haven't done the research around the cruising speed of eagles yet. Smohalla isn't to Greenwater yet, he's just close enough to see that nothing's going on there.

Smohalla'll try to find the place he saw the other 'runners last night and see if there are any tracks he can follow...

Perception to find the spot: 5 hits
Tracking if found: 2 hits

*edit* also throwing an Assensing in there if Smohalla finds the place, looking for astral signatures and maybe will help with tracking..
Assensing: 6 hits

an aside:

Phlapjack, it's about 60km between the Sisters' camp and North Bend where you saw the men last night. Visibility is good now but there are clouds closing in that will impact visibility in an hour. (For the record, I'm using an almanac of weather for the area, so that the weather patterns in the game aren't random - they match the historical weather from dates I'll decline to specify.)

According to the game rules, the "walking" rate for flying eagle shapeshifters is 18 meters/turn. This translates into about 22 kph. Based off my limited Internet research, this is on the slow side for eagles. The problem is that most Q&A sites say, "They fly up to ___ mph!!!" but we need cruising speed and not "up to". For the sake of simplicity, we'll follow the game rules. Plus Smohalla's actually a giant eagle, so maybe they're slower.

Smohalla doesn't have to fly all the way to North Bend but it's still going to be a long trip. I'm going to say that it's five hours, round trip. I might call for endurance checks, as Smohalla hasn't eaten and hasn't a significant amount of sleep.

Let me know if you want to fly down that path.

That...is pretty darn cool!

Yeah, I had first thought of doing it astrally to save time. But spending the time to do it in the meat world hopefully is worth it, plus flying for real is more enjoyable for Smohalla

So all of that sounds fine. About the eating part, he did have some of Stogie's wonderful breakfast . Also I've been assuming that eagles don't eat every day, but re-reading wikipedia, it seems I misread that part.

"An fully-grown Golden Eagle requires about 230 to 250 g (8.1 to 8.8 oz) of food per day but in the life of most eagles there are cycles of feast and famine, and eagles have been known to go without food for up to a week and then gorge on up to 900 g (2.0 lb) at one sitting."

So yeah, I'll need to start having Smohalla eat regularly...

Fast forwarding a bit. Smohalla has gone off for a morning flight and won't be back for a bit. Stogie, you can interact as much or as little as you like with the Sisters. Ellesar, if you're on watch then go ahead and toss a Perception roll.

INT 4 + Perception 2 = 6 dice >>> 1 Hit

Well that's disappointing.

Apparently this post was doubled when I submitted it and I have no clue how to delete it.

I don't think there are delete capabilities on this forum, unfortunately.

Sorry to keep spamming these pictures, but I think it's funny. Seems that real life is as interested in the Sisters' campground as in SR.

This could've been a pic from that drone during the night...

That's a different lake in the shadow of Rainier but it's very similar. I think there a plenty of such lakes circling Rainier, any one of which would be a good stand-in for the Sisters' camp.

Current day, the hike to Mystic Lake is highly regarded as beautiful but also strenuous. (I probably should have been laying it on a little thicker when it came to doing the hike on back-to-back days.) Lots of fields full of mountain wildflowers in the summer, but lots of bugs too.

Let's crank out some more RP while I have the time to respond in full. I'll push things along tomorrow.

OK, OK. I get the hint.

I have no idea what you mean.

My roll to make sure I don't miss one of the hundreds of trees.

AGI 4 + Throwing Weapons 4 + Specialization in throwing knives 2 = 10 dice >>> 5 Hits

Ellesar hits the tree for 3P + 5 net hits = 8P damage.

The tree fails to dodge.

The knife penetrates the tree's bark (armor rating 4, structure rating 5).

Soak roll: 11 HITS

The tree soaks all the damage.

Let's get some RP cranking. Pbangarth, Atropos, it's been a week. Keep it moving.

Just got off work and saw your post. Working on a response as I type this.

Moving day(s) for the next few days. I'll try to get a response up tonight or tomorrow.

Update! We're obviously in a bit of a lull right now; I'll take my share of responsibility for that. My wife and I put in an offer for a new condo on Monday, had counter-offers and counter-counter offers on Tuesday and Wednesday, and then spent Thursday and Friday looking for mortgages and working on loan paperwork. During which, of course, none of my regular work was being done, so now I'm behind at the office and online too. I'll try to get a new post up today to jump start things so that we don't get hung up on a single scene. But that's what's going on in the background.

I've been in that negotiation quagmire. I feel for you.

Yeah, no worries. Good luck!

I'm glad to see everyone is still here.

Seconded! We can't quit until we see Ellesar express that magical talent again

I'm vaguely thinking that Smohalla would be fine with some down-time in-game, if that's at all possible. Researching a spell (new spell?), something like Wreck Drone / Drone Barrier / etc. Haven't done enough research out-of-game yet, but those types of anti-drone spells are along my line of thinking. This would be the "mediation" he talked about.

He'd also like to use his nature skills to collect materials for things like putting up wards and so on. I think he has materials for setting up a magical lodge already.

Woah! Looks like Smohalla has been hunting in Russia!

http://www.natureworldnews.com/articles/41...ught-camera.htm

(It is still Russia in the Sixth World. I had to double-check to make sure this wasn't in Yakut.)

I'll move things along ICly.

EDIT: New post is up. There's an opportunity to talk now private, if you like. If not, I'll presume the usual watch schedule is kept. Phlapjack's request for some in-game downtime is duly noted and rejected in favor of an all-out assault by wouldn't you like to know!!!

Smohalla's POV

Downtime doesn't have to happen right this second. I'm sure after we boil/bake/steam whatever it is that's thrown our way, we'll have some time

I'm jealous. I want to be an eagle.

I'm glad Stogie will get some sleep tonight.

I'm out tonight, all night, for Nuit Blanche. The city stays awake and alive through the night, with art, dance, music, food, drink, and freaky stuff best not described in writing. I should be conscious again by Sunday night.

I'm embarrassed to say I'd never heard of it until wikipedia-ing it just now. What a great idea

Remind me not to leave Ellesar "on watch" over my sleeping body.

Yeah, the Ghosts weren't a fan of his tactics either.

Below are the rolls for Ellesar's attack on the drone. If you see any issues with either or would like an additional roll let me know.

Surprise: REA (4) + INT (4) + Lightning Reflexes (2) + Ambush modifier (6) = 16 Dice >>> 5 Hits

Ellesar's shot: AGI (3) + Longarms (4) + Specialization in Sporting Rifles (2) + Aim (1) - Long Range? (3) = 7 Dice >>> 3 Hits

With Smohalla's hearing trouble, does he need a perception check or anything? For the gunshot, or for Ellesar's comment?

Surely not for a gunshot almost right beside him!

Ellesar is off hiding in the woods, so how near the gunshot is to Smohalla is an open question. After being asleep for 30-60 minutes, Smohalla would be in Stage 3/4 of non-REM sleep, during which, "The sleeper is less responsive to the environment; many environmental stimuli no longer produce any reactions."¹ (Presuming, of course that Smohalla's sleep cycles mirror those of a man instead of an eagle.) So, given that he's hard of hearing, it seems plausible that Smohalla would not wake up, although that's not as much fun so let's say that he does.

Work went from "quiet day at the beach" to "tsumani!" alarmingly fast so it will take me a day or two to resolve Ellesar's gunshot. Presumably I should remind myself of how drones dodge, although maybe I'll just sweep that under the table and say that the drone was surprised.

They need the software that allows Dodge, and it needs to be running. Maybe the rigger was complacent?

Okay, let's do this. Apologies for the delay, which is entirely my work's fault

Atropos, I think you got your Agility and Longarms values reversed, but the net effect is the same.

This goes for everyone: when rolling dice, feel free to suggest negative modifiers - like distance - but go ahead and roll the maximum number of dice you could conceivably roll, including bonuses but not negatives. That lets me subtract dice from the end of the roll if I need to make the dice pool smaller and saves me from having to roll more dice if you didn't roll enough. In this case, the range is only Medium (since sports rifles have generous ranges) so I had to roll two extra dice for you. Not a tragedy (except that the result was no extra hits) but just a general suggestion to make things easier if we end up rolling more dice.

Drone is surprised by the Rambo elf hiding in the woods with a full camo suit, so no dodge roll.

Base damage is 7P + 3 net hits = 10 boxes

Drone rolls to soak: 4 hits, drone takes 6 boxes of damage.

P.S. I just noticed Ellesar's rifle has a silencer, so the shout would be what wakes up Smohalla. Stogie, being a Perception adept, can choose whether he wants to be woken up by the shot, the shout, the metal-on-metal ping of the rifle round connecting with the drone, or the small mewing of a wolf pup several kilometers away.

Perception test to notice the drone: 2 hits

I'm going to assume Smohalla spots the drone and work that into my IC. If that's not the case, let me know and I'll alter it.

*edit* also trying to spot Ellesar : 3 hits

Sure, Stogie can say all that in one combat round. Sure he can.

Here's a Perception roll for on the astral, if you want it:

INT 5 + Perception 6 = 11 dice ==> 5 HITS

.... aaalllrighty, then ....

Smohalla doesn't have low-light vision so odds are good (between low light - or blinded by the campfire - plus Ellesar's camo suit and Infiltration) that he doesn't spot Ellesar.

Unless you guys start rattling off rifle shots and spells willy-nilly then we won't drop into strict Initiative Passes. Stogie's speech is fine, as long as you grant that the drone is getting further out of range.

I won't do a full post for it: Stogie doesn't see anything unusual in the astral. No spirits or projecting magicians or anything like that.

Ok - updated IC accordingly

Summoning a F5 air spirit please
(*edit* I've decided I'll always have the "Thunderbird" spirit have the optional power Elemental Attack...kinda fits I think)

Gonna be out of town for the next 4 days (til Tuesday night). Hope to be able to post some, but it's not certain. Tec, please remote-control Smohalla as you see fit

Hmm! The possibilities...

Work will be busy through next week. I'm hoping to get the next post up this weekend. Atropos, drop an IC post before then if you can.

Sorry for the late response. My girlfriend was in the hospital and I honestly didn't even think about anything Shadowrun related these past few days. I just back home recently and sleep is calling my name. Fortunately it's my weekend so I'll be able to get a post up as soon as I wake up.

Best wishes for your better half.