I didn't have time to do this earlier, but now that I do:

Draining 1 Essence point from Jack (extended test):

Cha 4 + Magic 1 (assuming Jovan does this in Glow City) + Power Focus 4 = 9d6
9d6.hits(5) → [5,2,5,6,4,4,2,5,2] = (4)

9d6.hits(5) → [1,5,6,6,4,1,5,4,6] = (5)


Unless Jack has an Essence score < 1, it should take Jovan two minutes to drain him (threshold 10-target's Essence, 1 minute)

Erasing Jovan and everything related to Jovan (like telling Oswald he doesn't want to be eaten, for example) from Jack's memories:

My SM copy is in another state, so I can't verify the rules for Alter Memory, but IIRC altering the memory of an unconscious subject is just a Success Test.

Force 2: magic 1 + spellcasting 3 + power focus 4 = 8d6 = 4 hits. I assume only 2 of those count.

Can someone give me the drain code for Alter Memory please?

I dunno, I think Jovan could possibly manage to summon a Force 7 spirit without getting insta-killed from drain. Won't be able to summon higher than force 8 in Glow City b/c of the background count counteracting his to-be-boosted-sometime-soon Magic, but if we can get the errands done and get out of Glow City before Jovan's 12-hour boost is done, a 9 or 10 might be possible to survive from summoning, although that might be problematic in regards to keeping that spirit under control and NOT mad enough to use Edge and insta-kill Jovan from drain.

I wasn't planning on going to glow city. I was just figuring we'd hang out by the body mall two miles south in lower Redmond. We'd only be a few miles away, and since the Rover is an off-road vehicle, it even handles better on those shitty roads, so getting on site in a hurry wouldn't be much of a problem. I could easily control my drones from there, and you could summon stronger spirits with less drain. So, rather than trying to summon with a truncated Magic score of 1, you'll have access to your full magic score.

Remember that BC increases DV from drain by 1pt for each 2 BC (rounded up, I think.) So, a magic action which would normally cause 3 drain will cause 5 drain in a BC of 3-4.

@ Saint: ok, I'll have to edit my post tonight. I don't have time right now.

what exactly are you guys doing with "Jack"? where are you draining him? does draining him knock him unconsious, or are you doing that first? Are you doing this in front of Oz? also, the sun hasn't set all the way, are you waiting until dark (8:30), or doing this inside the rover, or back in the warehouse?

edit: I just chopped it out, you can post something more specific to what you are doing

So Acme, is it cool if we FF til around 7:20pm? BTW, I wasn't trying to be obstinate before, it's just I didn't recall that a troll named Snot was a person of interest for us prior to seeing Ferret's message about him, at which point it was already too late. We can pursue him through the Stilettos if you want, or I guess just skip him for now and join the rest of the group. What do you think?

The way I recall Essence Draining to work, I think that the anesthetic keeping him under would prevent him from being targeted. But, since we're going to lower Redmond anyway, it shouldn't be difficult to find a stand in... and one which might not be a potential contact for the future...

I was led to believe that Essence Drain would work on an unconscious subject, as "knocked unconscious" is listed as one of the examples of helplessness given in the power description. Thus my intention was for Jovan to drain Jack in the Rover, and I assumed based on ROM's post that we would have already been in the BC when Jovan attempted this.

I can retcon the draining if needed, since I haven't written anything about it IC yet.

Yea, I haven't posted yet either, trying to get sorted here first. Oz isn't going to glow city. So you can add some dice if you took the -3

In reference to "Jack" I thought he was being dropped at a bus station, which made me think he would be consious, You did mention drugging him, but I thought it was just to make him loopy. The essence drain does specify unconscious, so that's fine. I was just trying to visualize what was going on. I'll let you guys post all that. F2 Alter memory, drain = 2 and it's opposed: [3,1,2] = (0)

alright, in theory, it was opposed. so you get to change a single memory for at least 2 months

@Notsoevildm: You got one day buddy I went back and edited a post to include your delivery, If you ordered something different I can edit it again, just let me know.

Done, no worries, and yeah.. Heh.

Perception test, Professor looking for the 'bike' and 'biker'.

12 dice==> 5 HITS

Does anyone want me to do an "arriving at the redmond body mall" post?

My assumptions are, Oswald is wearing his armor as before. Has his redline on hand. Jovan is somewhere in the Rover. The GTS Tower is locked and loaded and floating not too far off from Oswald's position.

If you want me to post it, I will, but... New Vegas... playing..

hey guys, I'm on my way to Tennessee, can't post right now, not sure I'll have Internet before Sunday

I think I'm supposed to kill Ferret. Maybe if he posts before I get back.... what do you guys think?

He's been out of town, too, so why don't you wait till you get internet back to see if he spontaneously combusts?

Hopefully in under the wire. Will try and get another post up tomorrow, to keep me alive as I'm away again this weekend.

Drain roll: Log 6 + Will 3 = 9d6 = wtf 0 hits

2 stun damage taken. =/

Work has been nuts this week, sorry for the shortness of my recent posts. Let's not anyone die now!

HugeC and pbangarth, teleporting from Cheap-Oh's to the inside of Oswald's Rover is supposed to be impossible (a.k.a. your timestamps are off). Just so ya know.

Fixed mine, thanks for the heads up!

Professor is at 7:22. I don't see how that is wrong.

Professor, Acme, and Thirty are still in Glow City by Cheap-Ohs. Oswald and Jovan are the ones near the body mall.

Does Ferret have the right attitude:
Charisma (3) + Etiquette - Street (5) = 8d6.hits(5)=2.

Silly archaeologist! You need to focus on space as well as time.

The time-space paradox is fixed, and it's good to see Ferret still alive!

Perception roll for Professor as 'radar':
9 dice==> 4 HITS

Seph, you do know what a rigger cocoon is, right? It is a fully sealed chamber as thick as military blast doors. Armor 20, barrier rating 17.

I would guess that hearing a guy chuckle through enough armor to shrug off an anti-vehicle missile is unlikely.

I wrote that under the assumption that Jovan's good and infrasonic hearing would let him hear the low, inaudible-to-humans vibrations of Oswald's voice on the shell of the cocoon, and that he could deduce from its monotone and rhythm that Oswald was laughing at him. It's based mostly on Jovan's infrasonic hearing rather than just his generally sensitive hearing. I remember reading a similar idea somewhere some time ago, but I don't remember where. Perhaps my logic is off. I can edit it out if you wish.

Nah, it gives me some way to interact with you and post during the down time. I'll just assume that the car is wired for sound. It is pretty fancy.

14d6.hits(5) → [2,4,3,3,3,1,4,6,3,4,1,6,3,2] = (2)

By the way, ROM, what's the BC in lower Redmond?

@ All: I have returned from the caves of Tennessee! I'll start working on posting this evening. I'm glad to see Ferret among the living, and I apologize to any of our deceased if they take offense at my leniency. As I have said, my goal is to keep the game alive, not the players dead.

@ PBan: you don't see the Biker in the visible vicinity. I'll keep the perception roll in mind when I post the next bit.

@ Notso: Your attittude is somewhat street appropriate, depends on who's watching. Can you give me a currant PAN set up with running programs and subscriptions?

@ Seph and Saint: The BC and Matrix Static are both at 1 in your neighborhood, don't worry about changing rolls before this point. I have noted the 2 stun. What is Oz rolling for? And I think a "setting up shop" post would be helpfull. Also, what happened to "Jack"? dropped at the bus station?

Jack is still unconscious in the back of the Rover, in the seat that Oswald would use for healing Jovan (hence their need to figure out what to do with him, as he's "in Jovan's seat," as Oswald put it). The above roll is a literature knowledge skill roll to recognize Jovan's Hamlet quote.

Question. This may still be fairly premature, but in what book is this cash for Karma optional rule that I've been seeing mentioned over in the main forums these past few weeks? It's not from an earlier edition, is it? Currently, my priority list for dealing with Jovan's weird playability issues is:

0. Get Plotting knowledge skill.
1. Initiate and get Masking ASAP so he doesn't have to worry about people looking at his aura/astral form.
2. Learn the Physical Mask spell so he can accompany the team in the meat more often at night.
3. Learn Alleviate Allergy so he can be out in the sunlight with either no adverse effects or just constantly congested sinuses (depending on ROM's interpretation of the spell). Maybe also buy a good sustaining focus.
4. Initiate and get Extended Masking.
5. Initiate and get Quickening.
6. Learn and quicken a couple Increase [Attribute] spells so Jovan can have some of the raw physical ability of most nosferatu and not be quite so squishy.

As you can imagine, it is quite important for Jovan to get Masking as quickly as possible. But I can't find this cash for karma optional rule in the 4A index. Anyone know?

@ Seph: I don't think I've seen it since 3rd edition, but who knows. It might be lurking somewhere.

Thanks for not killing me. I was in Italy for a few days with the missus. Lets' just say she would not have appreciated me visiting an Internet cafe during that time, for any reason.

Ferret's PAN is always Hidden unless he absolutely has to have it Passive or heaven forbid Active.
Active programs are back down to Stealth, Analyze and Scan.
The van and his smartgun will be slaved to his comm unless not in range.
Any wireless nodes in his cyberware, especially his spur will either be OFF or set to range 0 and slaved to his comm if that's not possible.

Here are Thirty's stealth and perception rolls for entering into Twisters.

Agility 4 + Infiltration 2 = 0 hits (but at least it wasn't a critical glitch!)

Intuition 3 + Perception 3 = 1 hit

While he's being careful and sneaky, Professor realizes the Living Focus Power isn't doing much for him. He allows the background count to erode that power and re-energizes Three-dimensional Memory (this twisted place deserves a second look, when out of the background count) and the Attribute Boosts. This probably takes, what... a Complex action?

Whenever that trade is complete, he feebly tries to boost AGI and REA with two Simple Actions.

MAG 3 + Power Focus 1 (how the mighty have fallen!) + Boost rating 1 = 5 whole dice!

REA first, then AGI ==> 2 HITS, 1 HIT

So REA will be 5 (and INI 9) and AGI will be 4.

Checking if there is an active node on the helmet and what it is:
Computer + Analyze = 7d6.hits(5)=1 - should give me a result unless it's running stealth

If there is no node visible, a quick attempt to detect one:
Computer + Scan = 7d6.hits(5)=4 - enough unless it's running stealth

Yep and yep.


BTW, rolling to resist Fallout: New Vegas addiction (threshold 4.) 7d6.hits(5) → [3,1,5,5,2,2,5] = (3) So close! Guess I'm hooked..

@ Saint: I could use a general Idea of what kind of place you have chosen to park. Especially since your playing Fallout and I will probably have to kill Ozwald when you aren't heard from anymore

Call of Duty just about ended my presence on Dumpshock. It also almost ended my marriage, so I don't play too many video games anymore.

@ all: I'm waiting on posting to give others a chance to post again. especialy Jovan and Ozwald getting into position and whatever Ferret is doing. I think the others are in the room with Rusty and company,right?

Been there.

Yup.

There ya go. Ozzy's penchant for hiding wireless frag grenades everywhere and slaving them is an easy excuse for Oswald or Jovan to die if it comes to that. I doubt it will, but who knows..

Assume one in the car and one in the cocoon (leftover from when it was on the blimp and was sent to pick up Jovan for the first time.) Either one should be able to detonate for chunky salsa goodness, but won't be enough to damage the armor of the car or the cocoon, so there'll be null effect outside of the dead player..

Perception test on Rusty:
Intuition + Perception - AIPS = 7d6.hits(5)=3

Matrix Perception for active/passive nodes on Rusty:
Computer + Analyze = 7d6.hits(5)=2

Check for hidden nodes on Rusty:
EW + Scan = 7d6.hits(5)=2 - nothing detected on initial look (threshold is 4)

I'm glad Thirty said that. It wouldn't have sounded right from Professor.

hack on fly(admin):
8d6.hits(5) → [5,1,4,4,5,5,4,3] = (3)


Ferrets firewall + analyze:
9d6.hits(5) → [5,1,4,3,5,6,5,3,4] = (4)

Alert Triggered!!

I'll post it soon, hopefully. I'm short on time today

I don't have enough to say to warrant a full post, but Jovan is making sure to keep his mouth shut (literally) and try to present a somewhat more neutral and less intimidating demeanor. Just seeing that he's pale, without seeing his fangs, should be enough for Jay to not remember that Jovan is a 'vampire.'

EDIT: Also, what happened to Jovan not having to worry about Jay seeing him?

Beats me. I'm not there.

Well, maybe Jay only sees his arm? I'd wager his arm is pretty pale too.


Also, I don't know, and certainly Oswald doesn't know, how Essence Drain affects a guy in a lingering fashion.
It's supposed to be an experience so intense that there's a threshold 3 or 4 test to avoid getting addicted to it.

So it turns out that the edit button and the quote button are two different things.

Whod'a thunk?

Trying to detect the hacker:
Computer + Analyze = 7d6.hits(5)=3

Programs going live in the following order:
Track
Biofeedback filter
Reality filter
Attack

Order may change depending on what happens next.

@ Seph: are you not standing over him with a commlink? He is still pretty loopy, but if your going to conduct an interview, he might catch a glimps or two right? Is there something I'm forgetting?

As for the addiction, he doesn't yet remember what happened, so It's kind of like being dosed with Heroin, wou want more, but you don't know what it is.

@ Notso and Saint: I guess we need to get specific on PAN's and Programs. This is gonna be complicated and I pre-apologize for the upcomming Matrix mistakes, like the fact I already forgot the -1 for both the hacker and Ferret. Taking the last dice away doesn't change the results. Now the question is, What is Ferret looking for? The Hacker hasn't yet aquired an account on his system. But I guess he's on the "Matrix", so Ferret is looking for his Icon on whatever node he's hacking from? So just trying to beat his stealth program?

I imagined it as Jovan standing near Jay's chair and holding his comm out at arm's length, so that Jay can maybe see his arm but not his face. As Oswald said, there doesn't seem to be room for Jay to actually sit up in the back of the Rover.