Actually Seth, before we do that. I have a question. Isn't the first roll an Aura Masking Roll? Would he not know he failed it before trying to walk through the super-death ward of doom that would alert snake-head we are here?

Could he not, having failed it so badly (2 hits) try to attune again at -1 die? (which he could spend another edge point on) hopefully not roll a 1, and probably get 9 hits? (with exploding 6's)

Sabs has a point though I don't know about this kind of ward not doing damage. Fearghas' failure to pass through would not warn the warder, but having tried to pass through, would the ward not hurt him?

Here's Mandala's Force roll if needed: 8 dice==> 2 HITS

Well, that's 2 more boxes Healed.

EDIT: I wrote in the Alyena-aided Mindnet thing. I can edit it if Fearghas ends up not being damaged.

Thank you. One went very badly do to my running out of time, and the other went decently.

I'm going off of what it says under Charged Wards and Fooling Wards in SM - that I failed and fell outside the ward, but did not alert Warder of the attempt. Yes, I believe you may have touched on it a bit.

Those rolls are for healing damage boxes of ...what exactly? Both of my condition monitors are completely filled in. I'm not sure whether it's possible to bring Fearghas back to consciousness, unless the first aid goes to the stun damage and the heal spell to the physical.

I just re-read the rules:
You only take damage if you try to press through the ward, or cast spells at it.

Fooling Wards: You do your masking opposed test and if you win you can walk through, if you fail that you can't.
I would think you should be able to re-do your masking roll, but that's strictly up to Seth.

Charged Wards still do damage on failed synchronization attempts even if the subject is trying to Mask his way through, though.

I would also think a masking redo would be reasonable, because magic is not intelligent and therefore a ward shouldn't be able to recognize a masked aura that failed to pass through the first time when it tries again.

I don't see anything in the Charged Ward description that says you take damaged on a failed synchronization attempt.

@sabs

I'm struggling with this. Given Fearghas's post we'll go with the zap. Ambrose will first aid, and roll pathetically giving 2 hit points back. (I gave him 20 as he has some cool schticks and can summon a task spirit to help). Do you mind posting a summary of just how much damage you have taken after the first aid and any healing.

@Aria: yeah getting in quietly is awesome. Your free pass requires a computer + edit roll, but 4:1 die are good enough.
The techs are actually people doing their jobs. Soldiers are representations of real world soldiers: You can see where they are on the map. You suspect that once bad guys have been sighted their icons will be visible on the board.
The security logs are yours...what do you want to do
You can respend adept powers, but the background count will be something fierce, probably around -6.

Ah, I see what you mean now. I was reading the damage stuff into the synchronization line. I guess it's up to Seth whether a charged ward should do damage to intruders who aren't attacking or pressing through it.

Checking on the damage you took sephiroth.
The ward does 16 damage. It doesn't roll nett hits to add its a straight 16 damage (like an elemental aura ). So thats 16 stun not 23 stun. You can roll willpower instead of body. This makes the situation a tiny bit better. The heal spell will deal with all your physical wounds. The first aid heals 2 stun back.

Cool. That's a bit of a relief.

According to Using First Aid, 4A pg 252, it seems that only net hits over a threshold of 2 heal damage boxes. Do we want to use this rule, or no?

We are all posting like crazy (because its important), so I will summarise what I think happened.

Fearghas tried to synchronise and got zapped. He takes 16 stun, but needs to roll willpower - not body (and I'll even through in a counter spell) to resist the damage. Ambrose heals 2 points of stun, and any physical damage is healed by spells.

The medikit has a rating 6 stim patch which acts as high pain tolerance 6 for stun.


I think so.

<3

Will 6 + Counterspelling 3 = 9d6 = 2 hits

That puts him at a final of 0 Physical and 9 Stun

Good thing we have modern medicine: stim patches are where its at for times like this.

So I guess at the end of this you are on 9 out of 11 stun. You have a stimpatch 6 given to you, and thus effectively at -1 to all actions. In about an hour you will come down from the stimpatch, and that will be one serious hangover.

If you can roll to get through the ward again (+4 for the foci, -1 stun, -1 for second attempt) we can write this up IC

Its a standard retry: you get 1 less die each time you retry. It gets painful quite quickly!

Its worth noting hardly any spirits can mask, and not all mages can mask. Normally you would have to astral track to see the aura of the maker, and that would take a lot of hours and you would need around 21 success. With the -1 die per extra test its very few mages that can mask past this ward.

Did Mandala's 2 hits on a Heal Aid help here anywhere?

@Pbangarth

Only a little. The physical damage was very small, so a standard heal spell would just do it.

You probably missed it in the frantic posting: can you give me a "force" die roll?

spend edge on the initial sleaze roll for the exploding 6's

I am indeed writing up my post at the moment.

I did, HERE. Sorry, I thought it was for the Aid Sorcery for the Heal spell. If you were wanting it for something else, it is 2 hits. Or do you want a second Force roll?

Oh, by the way, the Movement power is still in effect, so if you want to get somewhere in a hurry, until you go around a corner out of Mandala's sight, you can move over 200 meters per combat round. Watch for friction burns.

IIRC, the forums came to the conclusion that Movement doesn't actually make you go faster, it just shortens space so you get to a destination faster (because spirit powers aren't completely restricted by the same rules as sorcery). So friction burns shouldn't be a problem.

Could be my prejudice, but I didn't think a conclusion had been reached. Seth, how do you want to work it. Either way is fine for me, and my two cents worth is that it is more fun with friction burns.

The thing that sticks in my memory the most in favor of space dilation over speed increase is the fact that using Movement on a bullet or arrow doesn't make the projectile do more damage, when by all accounts it should if it's making it actually move faster (that's partly why meteor strikes are so powerful, they come into the atmosphere at speeds measured in km per second). Also there are a couple other things spirits do that already violate a few of the restrictions on sorcery, but I can't remember any off the top of my head.

@Pbangarth

No the force roll was to see if you could sense the access paths to your metaplane being cut off by something...something horrible. And you did! . The last time you felt something like this was...you try and remember...ah yes as they closed the seal in the Kaers. You cannot remember much from that time, but you certainly remembers this feeling.

Movement is broken, but we are running RAW, so I will play it as written. I'm not worried about physics: this is magic. Spirit powers can violate the limits to sorcery, but then again...spirits ain't sorcerors so I'm not too worried. I think you are right about it being more fun, but I would have to invent some rules about. Personally when pnp we run that each movement post adds or subtracts 1/5 of your basic speed. So a force 5 makes you go twice as fast. I don't know how movement has stayed unchanged since version 1, you would have thought the game designers would have fixed it by now.

Well... shit.

OK Biffing the guard http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2934311/
Damage is stun: 13 + 1 nett success (the guard apparently rolled 4 successes) = 14 stun

A gentle tap...mu ha ha

OK people welcome back after the weekend.

Current situation:

• It is the start of rounds 7&8
• The time is 00:00:30
• The background count is Aztech 2 Toxic 1 in the Reactor Control Room, but only Aztech 2 in the corridor and storeroom
• Bjeorn is in the store room opposite the reactor control room
• Feargash still has to get through the ward, but has been treated, is hopped up on drugs and is ready to have another go
• Ambrose is still being NPCed as Ol' Scratch is still not able to post
• Everyone else is in the Reactor Control room
• The visibility in the Reactor Control room is appalling, and its hard to see stuff.
• Mandala has cast and is maintaining a mind net to keep everyone in touch
• Ryl's matrix presence has entered the main security system, and he is still sneaking around it like a really sneaky thing, although he is holding a leaf (file) in his hand that implies someone has spotted him.
• There are currently no guards in the corridor, although you believe that everyone is awake, and probably running around the pyramid to get to their designated General Quarters position. Some people will be putting on armor, which takes up to a minute.

External things

• General Quarters has been sounded
• Multiple hypersonic aircraft have sighted approaching the pyramid
• Large astral forms have been detected about to assault the wards on the pyramid
• Plan 'Blood Alpha One' has been invoked which among other things seems to involve the creation of a ward using lots of hideous blood magic, which involves blood running through pipes around the pyramid. The created ward is strong enough to separate Mandala's link to the metaplanes which was last done in the Earthdawn Kaers.

Immediate goals:
Up to you. The plan was to split, half going to room 27a, the other half heading to take out warder. Before you actually open 27a, I will run the flashback into world war II

Things I need:
A rough idea of who you were, what you were doing in WWII, and why you were in the Wolfs den. (Spy, military commander, for or against, reporting on technical progress, reporting on the recovery of a valuable thing...) there is going to be a meeting with Hitler, and most of you will be at or near that meeting. If I can get most people's view, I will kick off the flashback thread (I'll run it as a separate thread so as not to confuse the main story line) towards the end of the week

Ryl's a HER!!!

Go look at the image file

Hi Guys,

Sorry I wasn't around over the weekend. It sounds as though you've all been having fun, especially Fearghas!

Alyena will be using the 4:1 rule for Slaughter Spirit so Mandala will be able to absorb it with no problems.
She will then Cleanse the corridor so the background should drop to nothing, in case we're attacked.

As far as the team split goes can I suggest the following?

Get Warder team: Alyena (counterspell his hideous magics) Bjeorn (to soak damage and rend him limb from limb) Aren (to scout ahead) and Mandala (as a good all round support and bullet shield - as we have to go past troops)

Guard 27a team: Ryl (while she's hacking) Marduk and Ambrose (to figure out the door puzzle and wierd stuff inside) and Fearghas (as combat + magic)

Just a thought, but without that we have no bullet shield or counterspell against Warder.

In round 7 & 8 Alyena will move into the corridor and go with which ever team we decide on

Mandala is a pacifist
He might seriously cry if we make him go on the hit squad.
But other than that your fine. I figured I could counterspell as well as Alyena.. but I can't drop background counts, so perhaps I cannot.

I basically suggested a similar setup, although I had Aren(scout), Fearghas(murder by death), Me(Counterspelling), and Ryl (because we want Ryl to use her womanly ways to open doors for us as we head to him). But perhaps Ryl can open doors from here? That would certainly work out for us. Your suggestion is good too. Bjeorn might be of better use defending Room 27a. I'm not sure.


I would have thought that my Character would have Spent WWII in Russia, as a scientist under Stalin. But it sounds like we were being used by the Council. So perhaps he was a Scientist working for the Nazi's. Maybe he was intentionally sabotaging the German work on Nuclear Theory? To make sure they would not get the bomb. Or perhaps he was working for the Nazi's looking for "Paranormal" relics, and making sure that the stuff from the Balkans never got found?

By my counting (I might have made an error) Alyena is up to 17 die counterspelling combat spells, and 13 for other types.



Few options for you:

• Russian scientist captured by the Nazi's and being presented as a "prize"
• Infiltrating the Nazi bomb project to sabotage it. The bomb project is going well, you have managed to set up a production plant for quality uranium oxide and you are reporting that to the Reich Research Council.
• Looking for the holy grail (Queeny dearest asked you very nicely), you have found a clue and you are delivering it

Yeah that's better than my 10 or so

Will try and get an IC post up this evening but I've got meetings all day today

Hope I've not jumped the gun with my IC post...I'm assuming I'll be able to re-establish matrix comms very quickly...?!?

I think that Ryl would have been a spy for either the nascent MI-6 or possibly the French resistance working out of Brittany. Either way she will be posing as an archaeologist (not many women military types in WW2)

LETS TRY THIS AGAIN.

Magic 9 + power focus 4 + Int 9 - wound modifier 1 + Edge 3 = 24d6 = 12 hits

No, I didn't get a 1 on the bad luck roll

That's better. Fearghas is now through the ward.

@Sephiroth: Glad it went better this time.

@Aria:
on the tactical dispay that you are looking at, you see that two armoured troops (one of them a paramedic) have been tasked to investigate the flashing blue light.
a new leaf appears in your hand. THE RESEARCH FLOOR ABOVE THE WAY MAIN IN, BELOW THE MAIN TEMPLE. ROOM 12. YOU WILL NEED TO CARRY HER. BRING SOMETHING WITH A ROBOT ARM OR A DEMOLITIONS EXPERT

@everyone/WWII:
Thanks for the those that have indicated their WWII cover. Its sounding like a common theme is "occult artefact recovering group": some voluntary and some not. I'll post a brief in the next couple of days for the flashback. If you want to be a partisan, a Nazi sympathizer, and estranged military officer... let me know in the next 48 hours.

@everyone/group split
I think this group split decision is holding a lot of people up. I am tempted to suggest a modification of Alyena's plan with Sab's observation that Mandala is a pacifist.

• Group Alpha/Warder: Bjeorn, Alyena, Aren, Markduk
• Group Beta/27a: Ambrose, Fearghas, Mandala and Ryl

That way there is a scholar in each group, a hard combatant in each group and a non poster in each group. If anyone wants to move themselves to the other group, just do so as I can shuffle around the (now) NPCs easily.

I suggest you all IC move out into the corridor and start heading in your separate ways. At the moment the corridor is quiet, it does have wifi.

Ok, Ryl will log back onto the security node ASAP and consider her next action...

Seth:
Marduk was looking for the Holy Grail I think. The scholar role would fit him well. Btw, Ambrose and I. How did we hide what we were? I guess I'm just a short human?

Also I don't remember how mindnet works, let me know if I need to edit my post.

The spell I want him to sustain:

Combat Sense: Force 6,
Spellcasting test: 14d6(-2 from background count): 4 6 1 5 4 2 3 4 6 6 5 2 1 4 (5) hits

Just so that you know: Mandala will be at -2 on all actions if he sustains the spell, and if he maintains it for a day he will loose a point of force...

Ambrose has an alchemical elixier that he drinks to disguise his horns: he still looks ugly
I think there are plenty of real life dwarfs around. Of course in the Nazi eugenic period, you might have problems: You will have a ton of paperwork saying that you are legal, and still will be spat upon everywhere. A lovely time to be a dwarf

The limitless possibilities of what Mandala can be and starting a new job have delayed my response to the WWII thing. Sorry.

I've got the scholar thing going with another character on DS, so I don't think I'll do it with Mandala.

I think with Mandala's background, some kind of propaganda ministry official would work. Sussing out good propaganda film material, looking for 'heroes of the Reich', expected to poke his nose into all kinds of places, that sort of thing. With his charisma he could be a good 'A-list' party-circuit mover and shaker. I'm open to suggestions from teammates if a more cohesive unit can be formed by Mandala filling another role.

The closet door across the hall is the storeroom door that Bjeorn has just demolished. He dealt with the guard and hapless clerk. There is no one other than you in the corridor now (Bjeorn is still in the store room, and everyone else is behind you. I am NPCing Aren, and he has invisibly zoomed towards the stairs.

If Mandala finds nothing in the closet, he moves down the hall to 27A. Wait a minute! That's the room Bjeorn just went into and knocked a guy out. Who is the girl?? If there is a girl there Mandala has to investigate. Can't leave an innocent in the line of fire, now, can we?

EDIT: Ah, posted just after Seth answered my question. Oh well. My IC post is not too out of line.

I'll sustain the spell myself then. Which is irritating because I get 5 extra dice, and then lose 2 for sustaining but oh well.

He probably gets accused of being a Jew all the time. I mean he looks like a caricature of a jew from that time period. But he's really smart so.

So I have a question:
Were we pro-nazi? or were we anti-nazi pretending to be pro-nazi?

Up to you. Quite a lot of the immortals are Facist, racial supremists. Most of the immortals are supporting the Nazi's, and are in for a rude shock when the mundanes kick their butt .

My character is Throalic, and the Nazi's really strike me as 'Theran like'
Unless his personality seriously changed, I would think he would be anti-nazi. So perhaps this was a dissagreement amongst friends In which case.. I think I'll make him a Russian Scientist, who gets captured as a prize. (I think He'll be using a Russian Jew Identity)

The WWII brief will look a little like this. It's based on what you have been saying

Its the middle of July 1944, you are entering the "Wolfs lair" in the Black Forest.

You are mostly a group of occult investigators that have just found a prize. The prize you find is the "Bird of hope" which is a guide to the Holy Grail. It's physical manifestation is as a blackbird, and its currently in a golden bird cage. The bird of hope can only be found at the gates of hell by those who have lost all hope. The group of you have just returned from Auschwitz where you recovered a significant artifact, and are feeling somewhat scarred (and probably full of anti-Nazi sentiment). Marduk I think they saved you from the chambers, and have given you false papers indicating that you are part of the crew, and I think you found the bird.

You are in the process of handing the artifact to Queen Alachia, and probably planning on clearing out of Germany. We'll skip over the hold she has over you (again: are you spotting an MO) but recovering the bird of hope should be enough to stop her interrupting you.

For the purposes of the story it would be helpful if you decide to steal the bird back from the Nazi's after clearing your "debt" with Queeny.

I wouldn't mind your help embellishing the brief (roleplaying after all is communal story telling). I'll post the brief in its own thread soon.

The new IC thread is here

the background count is only -5?
Does that mean we have /roughly/ a 5 magic rating? (since I don't have any cyberware yet)

It certainly does. The wolfs lair is a magic hot spot that is about 3 or 4 points higher than the general background.

Oh for future reference:
Marduk (if he has a choice) will lose Spellcasting Magic Rating before he loses Adept Power Magic Rating.

So for him to start losing Adept Powers he has to be in a -8 environment. He loses all spellcasting at -7