Ah, ok. I was thinking he took 9 boxes of physical. My bad for not going back and re-reading everything. x_x

I was going to have Leo deal with the injuries on Papa so I say let him handle that and do something else.

Sounds good. I'll cast a quick detect enemies spell and then GTFO depending on how Argent fares against those shots.

As a head's up, I'm traveling for the next week. I expect to be able to keep up with posting without a problem. (Yay WiFi!) If technology fails me, I will pass the word along.

Waiting on Fenris to roll the reaction tests, then will move on to the next bad guy and to Uetz.

First Dodge:

Reaction(7) (7d6.hits(5)=2)

+2 dice for running

Running(2) (2d6.hits(5)=1)

Second Burst:

Reaction(7) + Running(2) (9d6.hits(5)=2)

Fenris--please soak 8S, +1AP impact, and 9S +1AP impact

Will post the actions for the next enemy after breakfast.

Still here. We are heading to the end of pass #1, correct?

Correct.

Initiative:
Enemy 1 -- 20
D'zan -- 19, 4
Leo -- 17, 2
Enemy 3 -- 16
Quahtli -- 15, 2
Papa -- 15, 3
Argent -- 15, 4
Enemy 2 -- 13
Enemy 4 -- 12
Uetz -- 8, 3 <<

Uetz is up.

Okay, here we go:

Complex Action: Casting Detect Enemies at Force 5
Free Action: Walking to cover (or running if no cover is available in walking distance)

Casting Detect Enemies at Force 5:
Spellcasting(6) + Magic(6) + Mentor(2) + Power Focus(4) = 18d6 for 5 hits.
Resisting Drain: (5/2)+1 = 3S
Willpower(9) + Charisma(5) = 14d6 for 9 hits. ???

Hopefully, this will help us figure out who or where the bad guys are.

JxJxA--As a reminder, using Edge will allow you to bypass the normal cap in hits based on Force.

All right, makes sense. I'll hold onto it, then.

JxJxA--it was a hint for next time, I've already posted the results of this spell. Please use Edge before results are posted.

All--We're starting the 2nd pass. I need damage soaks from Fenris for the two bursts (above). Hidden movement for Enemy 1. Buddha is up with D'zan and Leo.

Initiative:
Enemy 1 -- 20
D'zan -- 19, 3 <<
Leo -- 17, 1
Enemy 3 -- 16
Quahtli -- 15, 1
Papa -- 15, 2
Argent -- 15, 3
Enemy 2 -- 13
Enemy 4 -- 12
Uetz -- 8, 2

@ Bishop: I read it just before you put up the IC, so that's why I got confused about the edge hint. Thanks for the heads up, as I did forget about that rule. Based on what is going on, I'm going to try and drum up a heavy hitter in the next IP.

Stunball Force 8 (at the orcs, trying to get as many as I can avoiding Argent)
11d6.hits(5)=4

Edge Reroll
7d6.hits(5)=4

Drain 5P (Using Centering)
15d6.hits(5)=12

Leo is going to fly towards Papa and try to heal his wounds. I need to know what modifiers are in effect and what his Essence is please.

To avoid Argent, you'll need to withhold three dice. Pulling off the end dice gives ou 2 hits from the first and 4 on the Edge, for 6 total hits.

I've never used ally spirits before, so can I ask a quick question? Do they have the immunity to normal weapons ability like other materialized spirits? I know it says to treat them like others in the book, but it never specifically says if they still have that feature.

Also, one more question, I'm only pinging one enemy via the detect enemy spell despite what I see?

Yes allies have ITNW. Detection spells are resisted, including spell defense. Uetz would know that either the enemies resisted the spell, or their is only one person intending him harm within range of the spell.

Okay, cool. I'm mulling over whether to send a shapechanged Quauhtli into the fight, and the ITNW was the big issue.

Gotcha on the detect spell. Now I've got two characters with different info, and hopefully they'll get to share that with each other and the group on Quauhtli's turn.

Heal Force 7 (on Papa)
10d6 (-4 dice for Essence and conditions) for 4 hits

Edge Reroll
6d6 for 3 hits for a total of 7

Drain 4
14d6 for 5 hits

PS Invisible Castle is not working for me on this computer

Save the Edge, Papa only had 4 boxes of damage to my knowledge.

He might want to use the extra hits to reduce the combat turns for sustaining the spell?

Possibly, Buddha hadn't mentioned doing it so I thought he was going for more healing.

Buddha-- are you saving th edge or reducing the time for permanence?

Sorry for not being more clear in my post - I was trying to generate more hits to reduce the time needed to sustain it.

Just want to make sure I understand where we are (and I'm not holding anything up): We're waiting for the next enemy to act and then Quauhtli's turn?

JxJxA--That's correct. I will be posting shortly.

All--Fenris has let me know that he will be withdrawing from the game for awhile. When things clear up for him, he'll be welcome back. Buddha will be posting a notice in his thread about recruiting a few more people to keep us trucking along. If there are specific folks that you think would be a good addition to the team, let me know. I'd prefer to recruit individuals that we know have a strong history of posting regularly, rather than playing the roulette of an open call.

Initiative:
Enemy 1 -- 20
D'zan -- 19, 3
Leo -- 17, 1
Enemy 3 -- 16 <<
Quahtli -- 15, 1
Papa -- 15, 2
Argent -- 15, 3
Enemy 2 -- 13
Enemy 4 -- 12
Uetz -- 8, 2

Reaction test please from Quahtli, two shots incoming.

Well, looks like you decided my next action for me. Interrupting to full dodge and burning her action

Shot #1:
React(6) + Dodge(6) = 12d6 for 2 hits, edge rerolling misses for 4 more hits for 6 hits total.

Shot #2
React(6) + Dodge(6) - Prior Dodge(1) = 11d6 for 4 hits.

I'm down to 1 point of Edge for Quauhtli.

If she can use her free action to fly down to Uetz behind cover, she'll do so. If not, then she'll be dodging and weaving in the skies.

Initiative:
Enemy 1 -- 20
D'zan -- 19, 3
Leo -- 17, 1
Enemy 3 -- 16
Quahtli -- 15, 1
Papa -- 15, 2 <<
Argent -- 15, 3 (KO)
Enemy 2 -- 13
Enemy 4 -- 12
Uetz -- 8, 2

Papa's up. Give me a few minutes to post IC for the reaction.

Movement: Moving towards cover.

Action: Throw fragmentation grenade at orks, centering on center shooter. Thrown Weapons(2) + Agility(6) + Edge(5) [6,1,6,5,3,2,5,6,4,5,5,4,5] Reroll6's [1,5,1] = 9 hits

Initiative:
Enemy 1 -- 20
D'zan -- 19, 3
Leo -- 17, 1
Enemy 3 -- 16
Quahtli -- 15, 1
Papa -- 15, 2
GRENADE
Argent -- 15, 3 (KO)
Enemy 2 -- 13
Enemy 4 -- 12
Uetz -- 8, 2

Redjack--Are you going for the same cover as Uetz and Quahtli, or taking cover separately?

All--I haven't received any hits from Buddha's thread. Are there active players that you would like to recruit directly, or should I send the call for open recruiting?

Not really being clear on the scene, I'd say separate cover so as to keep them from doing what I (hope I) just did with the frag grenade.

As to recruiting: Thanee has been a good, consistent player for years, as has Satyr.

Redjack -- invitations sent out. The area is an open walkway between the campus buildings. Along the edge of the walk, benches and trashcans are spread out. They will provide partial cover. Further away, the buildings are primarily concrete structures on the lower floors. Newer ones have glass fronts and use modern structural materials.

hi everyone i was invited to make a occ post i will be putting together a human/troll bullet magnet, i wanted to get everyones feel on it to see if that kind of runner would be a good fit for everyone. please feel free to let me know if i need to reconsider to better suite what the team needs. he will also be concentraring on close quarter combat.

Hey Satyr, welcome aboard.

Looks like we lost our group's face for the moment. Right now, we have a troll tech guy, a pixie combat mage, a healer mage (that's me!), an ally spirit healer, and an ally spirit fighter. I'd recommend someone who can talk the talk and walk the walk (a la physical fighting), since we're pretty magic heavy here.

That's just my two cents, though.

Initiative:
Enemy 1 -- 20
D'zan -- 19, 3
Leo -- 17, 1
Enemy 3 -- 16
Quahtli -- 15, 1
Papa -- 15, 2
GRENADE
Argent -- 15, 3 (KO)
Enemy 2 -- 13
Enemy 4 -- 12 <<
Uetz -- 8, 2

Buddha--I need a reaction test from D'zan.

Reaction
5, 6, 3, 5, 6, 4 (4 hits)

Satyr - I would say the troll bullet sink would work just make sure you get the Influence skill group for us but I will always say play what you want and have fun.

Buddha--Soak 7P Impact, please. Also as a note, magical healing of this wound is at -2 dice.

Initiative:
Enemy 1 -- 20
D'zan -- 19, 3
Leo -- 17, 1
Enemy 3 -- 16
Quahtli -- 15, 1
Papa -- 15, 2
GRENADE
Argent -- 15, 3 (KO)
Enemy 2 -- 13
Enemy 4 -- 12
Uetz -- 8, 2 <<

JxJxA-- You're up.

Ok, Invisible Castle is down, but I am planning on calling in some reinforcements.

Just out of curiosity, can anyone identify that red crap that was sprayed on us? BTW, is it okay if we do some table-talk, Bishop?

Table talk is fine, that's what the ooc thread is here for.

Appropriate knowledge skills would be explosives, modern threats, nanotechnology, or similar.

Okay, cool. Sorry for not rolling yet, but Invisible Castle is still down.

I just want to put up a rundown of what has happened so far so we're all on the same page. I'm doing a lot of this from memory because I gotta jet, but I'll edit as errors are pointed out to me:

1-We saw the astral image of a fairly powerful mage and D'zan zapped it
2-We ran into the troll hologram (covering for a sniper) and spotted a group of magical raccoons (or something)
3-The troll "shot" at Argent, but Papa took the hit for him
4-D'zan zapped the raccoons and an alarm for "armed backup" started sounding (Docwagon?), with one raccoons still barely alive.
5-The orc shot a grenade at us that covered us in some red powder/dust
6-Leo tried to engulf the sniper, but it turned out to be an automated rifle
7-Quauhtli tried to manabolt the orc, but the bolt passed through it (and she got a warning that the "will of man" cannot affect Tezcatlipoca's minions)
8-D'zan tried to stunball the group of orcs, but the bolt passed through them.
9-Uetz tried to use detect enemies, but just pinged one enemy (either they resisted or there is only one out there)
10-Argent got gunned down with gel bullets
11-Papa tried to lob a grenade at the enemies, but they caught it and flung it away
12-The orc "threw" a blade at D'zan as fast as a speeding bullet

I'm a greenhorn at all of this, but I'm getting the distinct feeling from the situation (and Bishop's writing style) that we're dealing with a rigger and/or drones. I'm planning on having Uetz call in a guardian spirit with lightning as a chosen elemental attack, but does anyone have any advice on what powers abilities a spirit should take to combat machinery?

Of course, if it's that damn raccoon that's a rigger and all we needed to do was double-tap it, well...then this is kind of funny...

1--separated by a few minutes from the ambush. D'zan zapped the mage, then left to create a diversion while Uetz as scrubbing signatures.

3 -- was the sniper--Papa tracked the laser sight (via thermal) to the building not the hologram.
4 -- species identified as a Bandit, awakened version of a raccoon.
5 -- was smoke and dust
11 -- action was a complex action to catch and throw the grenade (Arsenal p. 163)
12-- Magical Theory knowledge skills

Elemental attack and a spirit would be a good choice. Stun effects (such as electricity) will have no effect directly as drones do not have stun track. Secondary effects may still work.

Assensing may provide more information or utilizing the stone, as it has provided Papa the ability to see through large matter and see the true details in the past.

Happy New Year's all!!

Cool, thanks for the notes, Bishop.

And, yes, Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!!

Soak 7P Impact
5,5,1,4,5,5,1,5,4,5,6,1,6 = 8 hits

Invisible Castle is still down.

So correct me if I am wrong but does a mage know the difference when they are casting a spell and it is resisted (spell defense, etc) vs. just not hitting anything? I cast Slay Orc and my bad - it's an Elf?

Buddha--In general the mage will know whether a spell was successful or not. In situations where there is no way to confirm whether or not it was successful, I'd make a secret Spellcasting + Intuition test for the character against an appropriate threshold. (SR4A, p. 184, top left column) I have not made that test for any characters in this combat.

To clarify:
The Detection spell, Uetz would know from the fact that he got sparse details, means that it was successful, though barely. An example of a highly successful detection spell, for a single target would include metatype, identity if the person is known to you, and specific details about them-- ie "A heavily armed ork, with a submachine gun, and the intent to kill you without mercy." The knowledge that an enemy is nearby, means that he likely had 1 net hit on one target and any other targets fully resisted the spell.

The other spells (Quahtli's manabolt and D'zan's stunball) were effective, though resisted.

Leo's attack required a living target, so it automatically failed when targeting the drone.

JxJxA -- As I said before, Kn: Magical Theory could determine more precisely the effect surrounding the orks and the stunball. If you'd like to roll Magical Theory, there are three tests -- Manabolt, Stunball, and Knife, that could provide information to you.

Similarly, Papa could ask the stone a question and see if it responded.

Thanks for the clarifications on the spells. I forgot to give Uetz magic theory as a knowledge skill. I'd be happy to buy it at lvl 1 and give the tests a go, but I don't know if that'd be kosher in the middle of a fight.

It looks like Invisible Castle is back up, so I'll get my post up sometime today to move us along.

If Uetz doesn't have the skill, I'd suggest saying something IC, then having another player roll it. I'm fine with buying up knowledge skills during advancement, but buying it on the spot in the middle of a conflict seems a little dubious.

Sounds good. Here goes nothing on the summoning:

Summoning a Force 6 Guardian Spirit:
Magic(6) + Summoning(4) + Specialty(2) + Power Focus(4) = 16d6 for 3 hits. Edge rerolling misses with my last point of edge for 2 more hits. Five total.
Opposed roll: Force(6) for 1 hit. PHEW!!!
Resisting Drain of 2S:
Willpower(9) + Charisma(5) = 14d6 for 6 hits.

I'm hoping Fire elemental attacks will fare well against drones (assuming no fire resistance armor)...

Here's the new Tlacelel

I'll use the free action to talk to the group. Would Uetz's mental link with Quauhtli mean he knows her insight on Tezcatlipoca's minions?

I'd like to take my held free action to ask the stone a question.