Ferret has your back, way back!

@ Sephiroth: you can still keep talking, it just might be difficult while being attacked. Are you rolling the spirit's initiative as well?

@ all: I was thinking there should be some damage on jade's hearing in a confined space with the assault rifle going off, coupled with her heightened senses, but I couldn't find anything in the books, so I let it go. Anyone have any thoughts or references on that?

Not wanting to screw over other team members but:
* normal DM: Flashpak gives a -4 to attack tests, -2 with flare comp, so give a similar mod on hearing tests for the rest of the scene.
* not so evil DM: Just make her deaf for rest of the scene, saves having to remember to deduct the dice mod.
* rat-bastard DM: as notsoevildm but throw in a body test with a negative mod for heightened senses to see if she is permanently deaf.

The books assume that there is no modifier. I have ear buds anyway.

Earbuds with sound filtering, etc. should make her safe.

Red-Rom: How many steps is the staircase?

And if you can visualize what Zo is doing, he is basically concealing himself behind the door and wall while leaving the door cracked open just enough (4-6 inches) that he can see what is going on in the workshop.

Cool. Just checking....not that Zo was being stealthy (one of those oops I forgot that skill).

Yeah I forgot it too. Still that's what Karma is for!

@ War: theres about 14 steps. the door at the top opens to a landing, and the steps hug the wall descendingto the left. the door to the workshop is at the bottom of the stairs to the left. does that make sense? theres a road running in front of the stairs from the bay doors to the right down a tunnel to the left. Accross from that is a tall wall runnng on the other side of the road, with a rail gun along the length of it underneath a row of windows that run along the top of the wall.

Archer goes on [6,6,1,3,6,3,1,3,6,6,4] = (5)
=16

alpha dog [6,4,4,4,2,3,6,4,1,1] = (2)
= 12

other dogs = 11 to 13

ghouls = 9 to 14

@ Jovan: how high would you say you are floating toward the cieling? the warehouse is about 10 meters tall underground.

This is basically the truth.

We've been chomping at the bit to kill these turds, and the only thing keeping us from the task has been Jovan and the possibility of a deal.

Also, what up with vis cast? I keep getting an unhandled exception error.

@ROM- probably 7-7.5 meters up, off the top of my head without any sort of math involved. Archer isn't going to Great Leap attack me, is he?

@all: Is anyone actually interested in our making a deal with Archer et. al? I've been going off the assumption that a) we still don't know wtf is going on on both Ms. Johnson's and on BDLL's end, b) that some extra info and assistance with Charles and/or Mrs. J would be good things to have, and c) that 6 paranormal dogs + 24ish feral ghouls + an armed ork ghoul + another armed ghoul who may be a troll, or an ork, or maybe is just a big fellow + another armed ghoul (Archer) who is probably an adept or mysad and is armed with a strong focus + background count = not something we want to get into a fight with. But if y'all would have more fun gunning down the lot of them, I can back off now if that is what the group prefers.

Professor:

-never prefers fighting.
-always prefers gathering more information.
-would dearly like to know what the fuck is up with the Johnsons.
-does not have his ass in the fire at the moment and will defer to the opinions of those who do.

@Sephiroth
Try and get the info.

@Zo
Just an idea for you: break that rail, so more drones don't come.

The rail drones were BDLL's thing. They ran out of ammo during the ghoul invasion. Don't know what was up with the doberman, bit it might have been out of ammo too.

Oz doesn't trust people, and people who eat people are, like, double untrustworthy.

I'm not sure that there aren't any more rail drones that was all.

I'm not to fond of people who eat people either.

I'm shooting at the rail-drone with a short narrow burst. Invis castle is having issues ATM. Red-Rom, you can roll it (I was going to spend 3 Simple actions aiming for +3 dice to hit for a total of 14 dice--9 from S&A, 2 from the smartlink).


I was getting to that since they might be using it to view us.

@ all / sephiroth: Archer is delaying his actions in case you guys get closer, I believe Jovan is next

@ War: 8 bullets down, 30 to go

@Red Rom-Long burst 6 shots, short burst 3 shots. Clip held 45 rounds (extended clip), so I'm at 34 rds actually.

Zo will fire a narrow long burst at it in his next IP.


BTW-is invisable castle down?

its been really spotty lately for sure, thanks for the update on the ammo

Actually after my next long burst--28 rounds.

@Red-ROM
I take it that we heard Archer's comments? (like other people I am having "503 service not available" problems with invisible castle, but using 4:1 rule I would get around 4 successes).

Initiative: on 4:1 rule, I go on about 16.
Free action: Fingers in ear time. I'll leave it to you Red-ROM to decide how that works: I think the Barghest howl is sound based, and I have ear buds and fingers blocking it.
Held action: If I see a doggie energy projection time, hopefully before the howl.

If you have select sound filtering, Oz sent a copy of the howl from earlier for use with sound filters.

Though that might just mean that you can't hear the howl that paralyzes you...

Might as well do the roll for shooting out the window. Let's see if I can remember everything.

Not going to use active targeting on a window, but I'll assume 3 take aim actions... since it's a window.

Command 6 +3 gunnery +2 smartlink +2 hotsim +2 codeslinger +1 commlink optimization +3 take aim = 19d6.hits(5) → [3,2,2,3,4,6,2,4,2,4,6,6,4,5,6,2,5,1,4] = (6) Boo, only 6 hits. Well, here's to hoping it's not armored glass. Ah, what the hell, I've got 6 edge. Rerolling misses. 13d6.hits(5) → [2,5,4,2,3,4,5,5,5,2,4,5,1] = (5) This'll teach that barrens shanty what for! 11 hits. base 2DV for the bullet, so 13 damage vs. barrier.


By the way, guys, if you want, Oz can tear the roof off with high explosive bombardment.

I'm not in the building. It's OK with me.

This is probably going to have to be a multi-initiative-pass process.

Free action: talk.
Free action: talk.
Simple action: order the spirit to hold off on pwning the ghouls and dogs a little longer.

ROM, do you want me to roll a defense roll using the ceiling as good cover, or is how I wrote in my post good for you?

Lol. My moneys on the ghouls and dogs. Especially the dogs

@ Sephiroth: what you will find with many megacorp buildings (including this one). is that things are built underground with the intention of keeping out mages. so there is a layer of earth above the ceiling. Meaning that going through the ceiling for cover involves pushing through the earth's aura.

Nice idea. I'll be using that!

Oh. Oh no. Oh dear. Does that mean there is just flat out no possible way for Jovan to slip through the ceiling to use as cover this Initiative pass, or even this Combat Turn? The interval they use in SM for passing through the astral earth is 30 minutes!

I suspect using your high movement rate to GTFO is your best option. Mind you they might get those interception options.

If you yell for help we'll come running.

Jovan has to either manifest to yell for help (assuming that would even work in this topography), or speak through the watcher/Oswald/commlink network.

A couple of things about the earth layer.

1) If it is completely encased in the building floor, is it as connected to (and therefore as astrally 'dense') as the full Earth?

2) Jovan doesn't have to go through it, only into it. Also, if it is only a few feet thick, should the interval for testing be reduced, which then could perhaps be reduced more by a rush job?

This issue with earth is that it's full of life in the form of micro-organisms.
If it's full of poisonous chemicals or isolated and all dried up, that's not gonna be so true anymore.

Ok yell astrally...I am dual natured

.
I think the issue is that it is "part of Gaea", and that can be translated any number of ways. Bed rock for instance is definitely "part of Gaea". Still if I was designing a building to be mage resistant, I would have very thick layers of dirt (many metres) and would have passive drainage into it from outside. Basically where there is water there is life.

Ferret's commlink:
Response 4(3), Signal 3, Firewall 6, System 4
Programs running: Stealth, Analyze, Exploit, Armor, Scan, Spoof

Actions (all in AR mode):
Jump into Zo's link
Check for active or passive nodes (free action, automatic)
If none pop-up then start looking for hidden nodes (threshold 15+, 1 combat turn):
Computer 4 + Scan 3 = 7d6.hits(5)=5, 7d6.hits(5)=2, 7d6.hits(5)=3, 7d6.hits(5)=1, 7d6.hits(5)=3, 7d6.hits(5)=3, 7d6.hits(5)=0 - unless he gets lucky with 5 successes on first roll, then will take 6 combat turns to find any that are not running stealth or give up. I expect the fight will either be over by then or spilling out into the street.

Zo's roll for the longburst against the rail drone:

11d6.hits(5) → [1,6,6,4,2,4,3,2,3,3,4] = (2)

Wow--crappy roll there.
http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3189550/


Anyway, Invisable castle is up again!

@NotSoEvil
I think it's EW + Scan if that makes any difference.

Nah, Ferret has both the cracking and electronics skill groups at 4 and all his programs are at 3. Now that I know the rules a bit better, I would have built him a lot differently (more specialised in hacking and better progs for stealth and exploit at least). At least I can fix the latter with cash, assuming we ever finish the run and get paid!

@ seth: so, on one hand, you are listening intently, and on the other, you have your fingers in your ears with ear plugs. You have roughly 200 meters of road before you get to Archer and company(not that jade knows that).

Sound filters are designed, according to fluff, to focus in on specific sounds, and block others out. So If Jade had been wearing them (which I didn't see in the sheet), she could focus on the conversation and block out everything else, including any howls or approaching attackers or what have you. In defense of the howl, you would add the rating of the earbuds to your willpower test (sr4a 296).
Also, any bonuses for hearing have to be considered. even with your fingers in your ears, you have a keener sense of hearing than most. I'd give you a -1 for the fingers in the ears, and you could get another -3 if you turn off the earbuds, but you still have to roll an audio perception, which is a lot of dice.

Edit

@ Notso: You picked up 5 comminks. All in hidden mode. 4 of them are running out of the box firewalls (r2) and one has an r3.

Sorry I forgot... I was mostly posting to avoid dying.

If my sheet doesn't have the select sound filters, then I don't have them: sorry. I'll be better prepared if there is a next time!

Just checking I have it correct: the "low hum of people shouting" is I think coming from a long way down the tunnel?

Ferret's commlink:
Response 4(3), Signal 3, Firewall 6, System 4
Programs running: Stealth, Analyze, Exploit, Armor, Biofeedback filter, Browse, Command

Juggle progams to above before hacking commlinks.

3 IP per combat turn, hack on fly is complex.
Hacking user accounts on the 4 basic commlinks: Hacking 4 + Exploit 3 + Hotsim 2 = 9d6.hits(5)=3, 9d6.hits(5)=5, 9d6.hits(5)=1, 9d6.hits(5)=3, roll edge on third test = 2d6.hits(5)=1, just enough. Think that's him out of edge but gets a user account on all the 4 basic links. All get 1 Firewall + System roll against my Stealth rating 3 to detect the hack.

Hacking the R3 link: 9d6.hits(5)=1, 9d6.hits(5)=1, 9d6.hits(5)=3, 9d6.hits(5)=4 - Typical! Takes 3 attempts to log on if it doesn't detect me, 4 if it goes on alert.

Quick snoop on R3 link for interesting data (like phone numbers): Computer + Browse + hotsim = 9d6.hits(5)=3

Once he is into all the links or just the basic ones if he gets kicked from the R3 one, he uploads the Troll porn and sets it running, ideally in sim mode but AR mode will do.
Computer + Command + Hotsim rolls (last one is R3 link): 9d6.hits(5)=3, 9d6.hits(5)=4, 9d6.hits(5)=3, 9d6.hits(5)=2, 9d6.hits(5)=2

@ROM- So, like pbangarth was also wondering, since the earth layer is only a foot or two thick, does that reduce the interval needed to push through it?

If not, then after sitting on this for a couple days, these are the options that have come to my mind:

• Dive towards the trucks or bus to use as cover instead. This would depend on either of them (the cargo trucks behind Jovan, and the passenger bus in front) being within 30 meters of the point on the ceiling above Jovan.
• Go for an Influence on Archer to try to get him to call off or delay the dogs' attacks. This would depend on how comfortable you as GM are with me taking the complex action for it instead of the simple and extra free actions I declared before I was aware that one can't quickly float through the ceiling (did Jovan not notice any of the earth's aura shining through the ceiling?)

So, uh... can I triangulate those links? If there's earth in the way, that's some pretty serious signal attenuation.

I think the proccess is complicated and dangerous. And has the potential to disrupt your astral form. A single success is only three feet in half an hour. so I don't think the interval can be shortened. I thought I had mentioned the earths aura before when you were trying to flank them

You can go for cover behind the trucks, but the movemet rate of your attackers might overcome that obstical before you can act again.

You can try to influence Archer, but there are two things to consider there. one, He has resisted you once already, and two, he would only be able to give the order at the same time the dogs are attacking you .

to be fair, I didn't design this adventure to be done by one person. So going in alone is going to be tricky for anyone

ok, cheep coms, no problem

the R3 goes on alert, you still get in, nothing happening yet

yeah, I don't think you can triangulate the signal right now

Not trying to solo it or anything, just trying to do as much as I can on Jovan's end. I was under the impression that this space in the annex didn't have the same aspect of being surrounded on all sides by dirt that the earlier tunnel had, hence why I thought there was a clear path through the ceiling.

Given that everyone else's assault is already underway, any effect an Influence on Archer would have would probably be temporary, methinks now. So it seems that going for cover in the trucks is the best bet right now.

You could run on the astral about 1000m in a pass.

My suggestion earlier was to hightail it out of there and ready an ambush near their other exit.

So, ROM, the wherehouse where the bus went in, how far is that from the proposed ambush point?

Yeah, I know. Maybe I'm interjecting physical world physics into astral metaphysics, but I'm afraid that astrally "running" in such a confined space would end up kind of like trying to run through an unfamiliar room with furniture everywhere and the lights off.

I'm only concerned that the dogs might make things difficult later for Jade/ZO and for Jovan/Windy if they aren't dealt with soonish.

Any one played City City of Heroes with Super Speed? Running around caves at 80mph is...exciting. "Bump. Bang. Got Trapped. Reverse. Slam. Bump. Bump. Reverse. Got Trapped again. Curse. Slam. Try again"

I'm headed towards you and should be there end of this round/start of next, as long as there are no unforeseen issues going down the tunnel. Since I think the mostly likely effect is that the dogs will fear you, and send you towards me, as long as you can stay alive we should have met up. It's also likely that the dogs and ghouls will follow, so probably I will be following you terrified out of the tunnel