Took me a bit to realize Thanee was waiting on me, so I added the missing roll. Lets see what happens next.

According to the SR5 book Disarm Data Bomb is a Software + Intuition [Firewall] test.

Does AM have anything that changes that to Logic? Otherwise, you might have the wrong dice pool there...

If I got this right, AM is looking at 15 dice (which would still give you the 5 hits, since the last three dice were no hits, anyways).

Software 1 + Specialization (Data Bombs) 2 + Intuition 5 + Hot Sim 2 + Bobby's Assist 5 = 15 dice.


Also, not entirely sure what your Limit is for that (Firewall).

And you might want to consider using Edge (maybe even pre-Edge (which would be okay still), depending on what your Limit looks like, since you can go past the Limit when you pre-Edge).

It's a pretty important roll, after all...

Bye
Thanee

AM has no more edge according to my notes. The limit is at least 5 overclocker plus deck. Six with a cyberprogram, and yes 5e is super wired with matrix skills. I just assumed it was logic since chummer list it as a logic linked skill. Don't do databombs a lot.

Alright.

Bye
Thanee

AM crack file attempt:
I am a bit vouge since I think that her limit is 6 configuring the deck for attack + overclocker + program.


The calculation is hacking 8, logic 6, hot sim 2, Bobby's spell 5 = 24 dice... so she just buys 6 hits.

Ok.

Bye
Thanee

Hi Thanee... I am still waiting to conclude the hacking on the commlink.

Do you still need anything there?

Bye
Thanee

I noticed after you ask that we posted in parallel which is why I never saw your post.
I'll let the others say what they want to do with the numbers before we keep rolling stuff.

Ahhh... I thought that one was in reply, basically putting the mechanics into words, heh.

Bye
Thanee

"The maximum bonus a character may gain from sequential Take Aim actions, either to her limit or her dice pool, is equal to one-half the character’s Willpower, rounded up."



Yeah, those rolls were pretty good for sure!

The 31 threshold was pretty arbitrary, since it looks close to 301. But needing just over 5 hits on average seems like a decent number.
Originally, I did not have the six throws minimum in there, but since you need at least six to get those 301 points, it seemed right.

Bye
Thanee

Hacking personas: 2#26d6t5 15 6

forgot codeslinger, but it does not matter:
Hacking personas (codeslinger): 2#2d6t5 2 0

Obviously she doesn't have a limit of 17.

if she gets two marks:
She'll try to trace the link.
trace icon: 19d6t5 5

What's our plan? Are we just sitting back and eavesdropping? Or are we intending to speak with them directly?

It might look a little odd that we all walked out. Mato can go blend in with Cassy's table. Mato's ears might be good enough to eavesdrop if the drone doesn't work for some reason. (Although his Select Sound Filter is only rating 1.)

More options is better - but I doubt they'll say anything incriminating in the main room.
I was also thinking about being a stowaway as something small on their car, taking a stealth tag with me.

The way I see it, we don't really have conflicting objectives. We need to get Belenkey back to the farm, but he can be taken after he leaves the farm... Our employer don't want the reputation hit, if I got the vibes right... I think we should try to negotiate or at least gauge them if there is anything to negotiate.

That's a very high risk proposal:

- they could say no and improve their security or accelerated the transfer
- the collecting party has unknown capabilities - in the worst case they transfer him directly into a Thunderbird and we won't be able to catch them.
- it's highly unlikely the Black Cats would risk the hit to their reputation - even if we hit after the hand over this will point to their poor operational security.

As sympathetic as they may seem - this is still a dangerous crew we are tangling with. I wouldn't risk it for such a Hail Mary play

I'd say it is safer for both sides than handle an extraction attempt... but I understand it might fail. There is the very real possibility that they have completed their extraction delivered their mark got paid, and are now free enough to go and meet us. It feels more likely then them leaving in the middle of a paying gig for a casual chat.

The only reason we were called is because it was supposed to be a ransom - so the kidnappers were expected to wait for their money... but this time we discovered that there is no ransom just a plain extraction, and we are days in delay. Do you still accept that objective to be feasible?

That would be the worst case - we'd have to extract information from them about the transfer. Low probability of success all around.
Mind probe looks more and more appealing...

AM does not have that spell do you have it through reverent adept?

Not yet - revenant adept only lets me regenerate four times a year, but I intend to add it to my portfolio with my next magic increase.

oh so a different quality... There is the one that lets you cast touch spells perhaps bare handed adept.

Yeah, barehanded adept - though in my case "bearhanded adept" would also work

Still, what's the opinion of the others?
All in with the truth and hope to win favor from the Black Cats, or continue clandestine and hope they still got our mark.

I had to look up Revenant Adept. I hadn't cracked open Forbidden Arcana in ages.

Mato would agree that odds are good that Belenkiy has been delivered. If it's not a ransom, then why would the Cats still have him? By all accounts they are professionals, and we should expect them to behave as such. As gilga points out, that includes not lining up new jobs while in the middle of a job (thus implying they are no longer in the middle of a job).

Plus Mato still has his pet theory that the extraction was voluntary, given Belenkiy's behavior prior to the event. If so, we may be able to find Belenkiy, but are we really going to force the issue and re-extract him? In a traditional game of Shadowrun - with a team composed of mercenary supercriminals - that would be an easy decision. But SIS has its own morality, one rooted in the grey-market nature of our profession.

A while back, Mato proposed something of a middle way of being semi-truthful about our intentions using Razak's interest in the Cats as cover. That might allow us to be direct about our business, but in a manner that doesn't immediately trigger an escalation.

Separately, Bobby (or a drone) hitching a ride on the Cats' vehicle seems like a good play.

Besides... if you really want to open the can of worms, we have Belenkiy's commlink with all sort of valuable paydata on it. Might be more worthwhile than Blenkiy

The commlink is still locked - maybe it's time we take a crack at it while you still have Bobby's bonus.

or just hand it to Razak and collect a pay for it. I don't think AM would want to sell the paydata herself.

The commlink could reveal if he went willingly - in that case our client would be off the hook - he has a resort not a prison.

I like that idea, although given the protections the commlink is presumably Ares property. One would think that if this is a voluntary extraction then Belenkiy would have arranged it on a burner and not on his work commlink.

What's our plan here?

Mato - inside, eavesdropping?
Tamarind - planting a drone and/or a stealth tag?
Bobby - hitching a ride with someone?
AM - meeting with whoever shows up?

Basically, that - still don't know if we should reveal our interest in Belenky.
Telling them about Razak's offer needs a lot of tact so it doesn't threaten their existing fixer and seems lucrative enough to be considered.

Fair points about not stepping on the fixer's toes.

Presumably Razak would want to test the Cats out - a trial period of sorts - so perhaps there is an angle about freelancing for starters, which would keep the fixer involved.

I don't think this information was on the commlink, AM hacked it already and it got us to this club I don't remember the name.

That was the italian restaurant Marcel's.

Bye
Thanee

Right... Marcel that got us a tip on the local runners.

Some pretty busy days... I should be able to move on tomorrow, though. Sorry for the delay!

Bye
Thanee

Thanks for letting us know. Always good to know if we're holding things up or if something else is.

BTW on vacation now through Apr 1st. Have my phone with me so probably no slower than usual, but maybe with less formatting (and at different than usual posting times)

and... we're back up.
Missed the game.

Yey, been reloading the age every day

Glad to see we are back!

Yeah, that was a long one. Last IC post was a week and a half ago.

Yeah, that is a bit scary, when the page is down so long.

Bye
Thanee

Anyone else still getting scattered errors when refreshing the page?

It's stable for me right now.

Ready to proceed.

I will update tonight.

Bye
Thanee

@Gilga: Susan is the bartender and owner (and, apparently, fixer), that you talked with before. She is still at the bar.

Bye
Thanee

I'll edit. Sorry it has been ages.

I'm traveling though Wednesday. In theory I will have internet access the whole time, but I might be slower to respond for a bit.

Happy Easter to all who celebrate it.

Checking in here. We haven't had an IC post in over a week. Going further back, we've basically been at the Hardpan since mid-December. Since it is now mid-April, that means we've been here for about four months.

First off, is everyone/everything okay? Second, presuming everything is okay, can we accelerate our progress? I'm fine with fast-forwarding and/or skipping ahead to a logical outcome. We've lost momentum and I'd like to get it back before the game dies off completely.

Yeah - I'm still around - just waiting for my cue to post again

Time skip to the finale would be my preferred option as well

I'm around and checking in every 2-3 days, but haven't had much to add in a while. I contributed to things slowing down, and kind of sidelined Tamarind in the process (making it harder to help move things along). But I'm willing to focus on trying to speed things back up however I can.

There is an unfortunate feedback when the game slows down, because at this point I just don't remember if there is anything to be doing other than waiting for the NPC runner team conversation. It has been an interesting mystery over all, and I'd like to get to the bottom of it, but I don't have most of it current in my mind anymore.