Until we stop you by gouging out our eyes! Ha! Then how will they force us to see their AR imagery???

Possession vs drones especially biodrones works just fine. Biodrones are just animals with cyberware that controls their brain functions. Drones have an OP of around 5..6: so you need quite a few successes, but biodrones are easy to hack (no pilot) and easy to possess

I'll manifest and initiate conversation

I will be travelling for the next couple of days (heading to LA from London) so I will be very intermittent in posting

I've modified my post to take out reference to the tacnet...I'll assume it's still offline and you are running dark!

Obviously My squad is not running dark
We need to be able to communicate with the guys down bellow, and our drones, etc, etc.

Well the guys down below are talking to you on microwave comms and the drones via laser link and the LAV via hardwire fibreoptic so you are effectively 'dark' !

Although the jamming seems to be gone there is still no link to the outside matrix, even via the LAVs satlink...!

True

You know, Sticks is getting closer to wanting to shoot Gash in the head

Well, you could claim to have a good case for insubordination charges..

In the middle of an OP, you can just shoot them saves on paperwork

Aww thats so sweet. There is a reason I am still private third class!

So I think we need an IC post between Roberts/Bryn and Sticks...you recognise each other and there doesn't appear to be any nasty illusions or anything going on...

Meanwhile I'll work up another Interlude post to keep you on your toes with tantalising hints of the Truth

Ok, it has clearly been a very long time since I went through the rewards process and now seems a good time...will try and update this soon!

EDIT: Here we go...

Sabs 21 karma & 52500¥
Seth 16 karma & 40000¥
Big Fella 8 karma & 20000¥
Black Hat 6 karma & 15000¥
Mr J 5 karma & 12500¥

Retired:
Branmac 1 karma & 2500¥
Klink 8 karma & 20000¥
AStar 7 karma & 17500¥
J. 5 karma & 12500¥

If you've spent karma or cash can you remind me please and I'll add that in...

Woot Cash and Karma!

What can we do with the karma?

For example can we initiate (we were obviously already an initiate, it just never occurred to us to mention it), learn spells (I just haven't used that spell yet), learn skills (practice makes perfect) or specialise?

Exactly that! Karma and cash can be spent retroactively...I don't think it will unbalance anything...I hope

Availabilities are also more or less waived but just flag it up if it's 18 or higher so I can make a judgement

Thanks

I can't help but notice that we seem to be stuck in a time loop. I moved it on to 23:16, which seemed to go on for ages, then back to 23:15 for a while, and back to 23:16 again. I think we should probably be at least 5 or 6 minutes further forward... ?

I'll edit my posts to match what you think

I see what you mean...lol, I'm copy pasting timestamps and forgetting to keep them moving

Don't worry about amending them, we are on 23:21 for the next few...

Bonus karma to whoever guesses what the hell is going on

Feel free to make wild guesses at any time...might give us all a laugh and give me some more evil ideas

OK well bonus Karma you say. Normally I don't allow my paranoid delusions out early

• A spell like "guards and wards" from D&D. Confusion areas, concealment areas...
• Metaplanes of existance merging together like the faeire regia from Ars Magica: lots of planes they are almost the same. As you go further into faerie land you get stranger and stranger. Shadowrun supports this idea with concept of verges
• Distance Distortion effects that make you believe or actually distort space, so that you think you have been somewhere but actually you were somewhere else
• A confusion spell/spirit power cast upon the group
• Hallucinogenic drugs
• Being hacked by a technomancer (there are powers that allow them to do this if they touch you...maybe this is a ranged area of effect version)

I understand that there are strong concealment magics around, but this doesn't feel like a concealment effect to me: it feels more like there are multiple towers, and they join together at certain places on the physical world, but not the astral. For example Sticks, Josh and I are in tower 1, the others are in tower 2. I astrally reconned 1, they astrally reconned 2. When we got to where we are now, the towers are joined like with a verge.

One of the most interesting things to do now I think is for me to do an astral recon, and see if I can see the same things as Brafton.

I like the idea of verging, but I thought differently

I think it may be something along the lines of a time differential instead of multiple instances. When we arrived we were attacked by drones that Sticks thought he was controlling, the LAV appeared empty etc, like all of this had passed already. This also supports things like the massive ward and cloak on the building, a ritual that it was mentioned would 'take hours' but instead seemed to happen instantly, like maybe we brought the ward down in the future but now it's back up again, and the fact that we reconned and couldn't find any signs of life, but then you were there, like we'd stepped through one big time distorting bemuda triangle. If it is time difference ala Lost, then that would explain our lack of outside comms without any jamming etc too. As for why it's happening, that's anyone's guess.

Oh, and if this is correct it's very mean, but also I'd prefer not to know as I like surprises!

Chortle chortle chortle

Keep guessing...neither of you are there yet

So turning tail are we? Big bad mercs ...it's ok, I understand, the nasty GM is being mean to you all...so mean that you won't get out alive <<muwah hah hah hah...!!!>>

I think I'll wait for Sabs to post before continuing to describe you igmonious flight

Is that baiting perchance?

Who, me?!?

Seriously, I have no problems with you trying to leave...

Yeah, I'm not really expecting to get away from the adventure. Even if we get lucky enough to retrace our steps without issue, and drop off the wounded, we've got to come back in for Stick's men on the lower floor. Even if we get them and get out okay, I'm pretty sure we'll end up reporting to HQ (probably during the first trip out) with all this interesting new information and they'll say "Wow, that is interesting, which is why we sent you guys in to get information about it. So get back in there."

Still, doesn't hurt to at least try.

Go for it

Sabs, just a minor point, you are Squad 2, squad 1 was Klink's...

Will try and IC this afternoon...

ooops
I'll fix that

I'm not sure how many men it makes sense to send. I don't really expect them to make it back unscathed, but we did clear the way on the way in, so I think we wouldn't, for example, split the platoon in half.

Also not sure how many men to send up to protect the LAV (I suppose it depends on how clear Sticks thinks the way up to that is), but I think we should send some to protect the wounded.

Everyone else will be coming with us down to save squad that got cut off.

Oh, and the team sent back to report, will have orders about what to report in. The idea being that even if we don't make it back up cause some werewolves rip us apart in the next room, Deep Watch needs to know what is going on in this tower, because that was the whole reason our platoons were diverted into this area. Maybe the next team to be sent in will be better equipped to handle the situation.

Don't count on it

Aria, most of the wounded ARE in the LAV. Except for a handful that are protecting the hardwired link. They should all fit in the LAV, especially now that I lost so many drones! (Big meany)

Ah, ok

Don't forget that you haven't explored the auditorium space yet (without wishing to get too D&D about the whole thing...)

As far as I remember he's the only hostage

I thought we had been talking about a squad that is a couple floors down that we were going to march down and rescue...

Let me clarify. This guy wants us to turn around and leave. That isn't going to happen if it means leaving that other squad down there.
If this guy is planning to let those guys walk out too, maybe that's okay, but he needs to say it. So far, all he has agreed to is returning the Lieutenant and letting us walk away.

Well, the other squad is now supposedly outside the tower. Not sure how they managed that.
Also, Kitt is still missing.. so technically she's also a hostage.

Squad 1 has walked out...they are the ones talking about swimming back to meet you all...

Wow that was a lot of posts today

OK So looking at the IC and OOC posts, how people are missing that we don't know about?

I see we are missing Kitt...are there any others?

Ok, a very quick summary of what has happened so far (this is from memory so chip in if I miss something...)

• DW arrive. Capture some kids (who escape). Go to the school. Destroy a squad from the tower. Split into 2 groups
• The tower manage to divert your Heavy reinforcement to the river where they are attacked by toxic spirits (well he did take astral hazing!!!)
• The tower jams all comms & nicks the Nimrods. Sticks gets them back
• Squad 1 goes in through Hobbiton, the underground living complex on the mainland
• Squad 2 takes the LAV to Level 3. The Heavies join you along with reinforcements in the form of Gash & Joshua
• Lose contact with Squad 1
• Squad 2 engage the tower. Defeat some bad guys. Get attacked by a drone army carrying grenades. Kit goes missing
• Proceed inside the tower. Set up comms relay. Find (and ignore) a cybernetics lab. Duke it out with two inhabitants. Get contact back with Squad 1 - Lt missing
• Roberts & Bryn are diverted to assist as comms have been cut. Attacked by Nimrods, shoot them down
• Platoons defeat a drone tank in the entrance of the tower. Go up to lvl 2 and defeat some hard shells there
• All meet up...get a talking to from the Tower(?!?)

As I said, quick summary...!

I'll post my intimidation check here in a moment

Ok, a good roll at last!

Intimidation check here

As mentioned in the roll notes I rolled a few extra dice in case there were any modifiers, but none of them hit anyway. I got 5 successes on the base 7 dice

Will do an IC this afternoon, but OOC I think this is looking like a good deal (although interrogating our captive may violate the deal). The only concern is that we have to take his word for it that Kitt is electing to voluntarily stay behind. He basically can't prove it, though (even if Kitt told us, personally, there could be coersion or brainwashing involved).

Main thing is, how much of a security-risk is Kitt, for Deep Watch? Assuming Kitt is compromised, how much about Deep Watch do we think they could learn? That would be the perspective Roberts would be looking at it from. You can't just switch sides and walk away - especially voluntarily.

Kitt is a Rigger/pilot. She's a younger, less experienced version of Sticks.

Time to spend some Karma!
I have 1 karma from the last time you gave it out so:
Learning spells: Mind probe range touch (5), Stun ball (5). Leaves 7 left

Casting mind probe: http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2982031/
Spending edge because that sucked http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2982032/
Total of 4 successes
I can eat the drain with the 4:1 rule

What do you expect to find in the trog's brain? Just curious...

This seems to be a weird impass. If they let us leave, then.. uh, we're unlikely to come back and the game is over. If they don't then things get ugly.

I imagine if we leave, we'll get a chance to lick our wounds (spend some nuyen/karma for real) and report to HQ... and then HQ is going to say "that sounds fascinating, and much more urgent than we originally thought. Suck it up and go back in there."

....The advantage is that we can then maybe requisition some specific equipment to deal with some of these issues....

I dunno, we lost a lot of officers, and they want us to crack a heavily defended tower that can vanish from space/time? Sticks might tell them to go blow Thinking himself lucky they got out once.

You fool! You've doomed us never to get away, now!!!!!

Hee hee. Did my intimidate work? I know he's been mindread now, but I like the old methods