I think they've got this under control.. well at least, I Hope so. :)

IP 1 Appear to Mandala in the GOlden Beauty Zone
IP 2 Appear to Lean'drea
IP 3 StabbyMCStab SpiritBane in the back (hopefully with some surprise) using the Dagger of Suffering™


Logic(8)+closecombat(2)+anysurprise modifiers you want: 10d6.hits(5)=3
3 hits is acceptable.

Especially since I'm mostly just trying to drive the I destroy Aztec Magic dagger into him so that it will destroy his Magic Rating.

After Marduk's tacnet visit, Mandala reforms himself to be undetectable as a machine in the room:

Disguise as a multimeter:
(I don't know if I even have to do this test, but what the hell. I figure Mandala's Electrical Engineering Knowledge Skill includes exposure to these things)

INT 8 + Disguise 2 + Force 6 (from Mutable Form + Realistic Form) = 16 dice

==> 6 HITS

Aura Masking to hide astrally as such a machine:

INT 8 + Magic 6 + Edge 6 = 20 dice

==> 4 HITS

Hmmpph. Well, they have to actually look, and their Astral Perception will be blocked as well.

@Ghost

You have seen Cadarvermen before. They are slow shambling things until they experience pain. Pain buffs them (seriously buffs them) and they become crazed slaughtering machine. They attack things that cause them pain preferentially, then anything that moves, then maybe everything else. You can regard them as immune to voice powers (they are in such a berserk rage that they are not in control of their own actions) . They are dual natured, so have astral vision (although there is quite a strong background count here that might interfere with that).

This means that you are in a lot of mess. I think you mostly had the situation with Spirit Bane undercontrol: the guards were going to give Spirit Bane a bad time, and he would probably have done some damage to them, you have invisibility and could easily of slipped away. Unfortunately the situation is much worse name. The bad guys sent the Cadarvermen to "deal" with the invaders, and you are not a strong combatant, and not prepared. This is going to only end one way if you try and fight them. Using Spirit Bane might buy you a round, these guys are faster than you.

Playing dead might work especially if you mask (your pretty white shift is more a bloody rag covered with entrails at the moment). Getting a door between them and you might. Turning invisible / other illusions might, if they don't make an astral perception roll.

Feel free to post: the cadarvermen have acted already on IP1, and you go (just) before Spirit Bane. I'll still have him banging on Mandala's/Angel's door because that is funny, but we'll treat that as a free action for him.

@Mandala
He's coming for you...wait that banging on the door sounds desparate...and there are screams outside. You can still hide if you want to.

@Sabs
Noted. I am not quite sure that you see at the end of IP 2, as Lean'drea still has to act. I suspect though you will see Spirit Bane in the process of being shredded.
I suspect that at the end of IP 3 there will be no Spirit Bane left (more exploding / shredded bodies), and you will be in the happy position of toe-to-toeing it with the dual natured cadarvermen. I love it when a plan comes together!

@General
I think all the characters under my control have acted for IP1 (this is exhausting running four separate battles - 2 matrix, 2 real word, with around 20 different combatents, so I suspect I may have missed some).
Still on IP 1 for Angel/Ryl/Lean'drea/Alyena I think

@Ghost



I second this suggestion! My advice is to get on the floor, next to the 2 shredded guards and mask like hell. Let Spirit Bane attract their attention and then try sneaking away invisible. Mindless killing machines are not going to respond to anything more subtle . The machine gun nests are going to try protecting Spirit Bane. By firing on the cadarvermen they will probably become the next target.

As for Alyena, more parrying and more Slaughter Spirit I think. Will set my Pet on the minions behind the Major.

Parry

7 successes Oh Yeah!

Slaughter Spirit

6 successes

My pet spirit's Stunball on the minions

1 success grrr

and its resist drain

6 successes

@Alyena
The last spirit goes down. With it goes the spell suppression for everyone but the Major.

The stun ball is resisted by the troops http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3068563/

Well suprisingly, given the hideous onslaught that they have been under 3 go down. Or more precisely don't get up from the knockdown from Fearghas.

Well, there are a whole lot of things on Mandala's DangerNet™ on the other side of the door, and if they are chewing on each other, that's just fine with him. Despite what one might think from his actions to date, he is not suicidal. While things go down outside the door, he is in there as a last line of defense for Angel, and he can think about what to do next regarding the outer Ward.

Just want to quickly check before I decide what to do in IP1

What's the worst that trace IC can do? I assume when it finds me they will know I'm here <duh> and they can get my ID for spoofing my agents/drones - well I only have one of those in play...

I recall trace/burn IC from previous editions of SR but couldn't see rules for them (but then I've not been through UW in detail looking for that info...

It won't affect the tacnet (that everyone seems to have forgotten - it's only Rt 1) as that's on my other commlink!

Advice appreciated! Ignore trace, and attack the black...or go to the C&C node and risk being followed + any IC in there?!?

I don't think a trace is going to do much to you at this point. At worse immediately they can spoof your agent, which could kinda suck. They can try and hack into your commlink, but that it likely to take a few IP at least, so you don't need to worry about it immediately.

I would probably recommend ignoring the trace as well, though it's more meaningful to you than it is to me, since my accessID is nearly useless to a non-technomancer. (Bionode is unhackable and sprites can't be spoofed unless you're a techno.) We should probably kill off the IC though if possible, since they'll likely just follow us and add to whatever happens to be waiting in the C&C.

It may not matter though:

IP 1: Attack all 4 IC, 7 hits (11 damage + net hits if they fail to avoid. Clearly the roller knows that I didn't actually want to kill the IC last turn .)

Notes

Ghost had it mostly. It can:

• start hacking you on the fly, which would be unpleasant if they succeed
• alert troops and call them to your location (not such a big threat here as usual)
• spoof you
• other nasty things that a research and development lab such as this might decide to do

Don't forget that his defenses are not set up with the current situation in mind, but with a more general set of defenses, so their actions might not be optimized for the current situation. Normally the Major would find out where the hacker is and pay them a close personal visit.

Do you lot have a tacnet? If so you probably want to shout about it. Currently only Bjeorn would benefit from it I think.

I'm guessing that Angel squishes the IC while Ryl stands around waiting for her turn...lemme know and I'll post up my next actions...scanning for data bombs in the C&C node sounds a good idea!

Ok, will get my pet to stunball the minions a 2nd time, then I'll try to manabolt the Major.

Pet's stunball: 4 successes

Pet's resist drain: 5 successes

My force 9 stunball on the Major: 4 successes

My resist drain: 3 successes. I take another point of stun, bringing the total to 3

@Edana
Dodginess: 3, 7, 6, 5 For Guard, Guard, Dog, Dog
Soak : 2, Ignore, 6, 10
Translation: You hit one of the guard's very hard, his icon derezzes. One of the dog's 's is wounded badly, the other scratched before it vanishes.

@Aria
All yours.

@Alyena
Your pets deals with half the remaining guards. The Major ignores the Mana bolt as it sparkles and fades against his defenses.

Well more of the plot is revealed!

@Sephiroth
Fearghas is unconscious at the moment, but I suspect a couple of rounds of first aid will wake him up. In the meantime you have the opportunity to either listen to more monologues, or ask some questions. Ysthgarthe is quite chatty at the moment, and seems to genuinely want to join his side.

Gotta love that post Seth

Will try and get my IC IC bashing up later today

Matrix attack 20D = 6 hits (hopefully no dodging this time please )

Yeah, that outer ward is getting more important by the second. Mandala has to wait for the rest of the action to catch up to him, but he hasn't forgotten about the ward.

And I am genuinely debating whether to have Fearghas do so or not. He has immense pride for his race, and certainly wouldn't have agreed to something like this back in his Lightbearer days. But time can do a lot to change a person, and he may not be as much of a noble knight as he used to be (Harlequin is a prime example. The guy was dedicated to preserving Elven culture as a Lightbearer and is pretty much one of only two people in the world who would qualify as a force of good besides Dunkelzahn (and he admitted that he would have had to kill Big D eventually anyway, with the whole IE-GD bad blood and all), but in 2070 he's a self-serving coward who's hard to motivate to get back into the heroic schtick).

Anyway, I'm busy with job applications at the moment, but just two things:


The hell is he talking about?
Memory roll: Will 6 + Log 3 [4] = 10d6 = 4 hits but since remembering things that happened large amounts of time prior is applied as modifiers, not threshold increases, I don't know whether that's all that great.
General History: Log 3 [4] + General History 3 [4] = 8d6 = lol 1 hit
Earthdawn history: Log 3 [4] + Earthdawn History 1 = 5d6 = 1 hit

I just rolled all those because I don't know which particular one would apply here. You can take whichever one is most appropriate.


Is Ysrthgrathe actually talking about Alachia? I get that there's a potential link between the two having to do with the Ritual of Thorns, but "I have enjoyed her suffering" sounds more like he's talking about his emotional joytoy Aine Dupree. Queen Alachia does not suffer, that would be a sign of weakness to her!

@Fearghas
It all happened a long long time ago... You remember that the Theran empire had a widget that stopped mana levels dropping, and that was a bad thing^TM. The bad thing was some complex thaumaturgical stuff (think of the difference between where the mana is supposed to be, and where it is as energy in an elastic band. If the elastic band snaps, that would be a very bad thing).

You and the others were blackmailed asked to recover the widget but you forget the details. Something about putting the widget in a box, and gradually switching it off, so that the elastic band would be released slowly instead of snapping. The box was a powerful elven artifact that had been used in the ritual of Blood and Suffering. The big council players were all involved...so hard to remember the details. There was this woman that helped you: she had an anti magic aura that she could control, negating many of the Theran defences. She was a council member too...called the White Rose.

I agree that Aine is his chewtoy, and sex doll... very sad story. No you are convinced he is talking about Alachia. That is news to you. You have never seen her "suffer". Mind you sometimes when you are in charge you have to do unpleasant things, things that you rather not have done. Remember a person's public personna might be different to her private.

I encourage you to draw him out in conversation. As James Bond will tell you, getting caught is the best way to get the bad guys to tell you what is going on.

@Aria
We dodge/dodge/dodge all the day through! http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3071811/
You smack the little doggie that was once scratched by Angel, and give him a nasty wound http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3071815/
Can you IC this?

@General
I am travelling for a couple of days starting tomorrow and will find it hard to Internet. Its a chaotic time at the moment, but I trust normal service will resume soon!
When I get back it will be time for IP2. Time perhaps for the cadarvermen to find a new and tempting tasty target.

I was only attacking the one piece of IC figuring that my +2 targeting might be better than area 2 from Jonathan's attack prog... so happy to assume i hit something (although I'm not sure I did really if they dodged with 8 successes!!!)

Lemme know and i'll IC it

@Aria
Lets assume you went for the dog. You cut it nasty, it sparks, then it fades out as it starts tracking you.

Black IC guard on you, sparking and spluttering as it moves in for the kill: 5 successes
If it touchs you, please do the whole horrible "locked down by Black IC routine". I am Away From Books at the moment, so I cannot remember the roll

@Aria/Edana
OK having dealt with a guard, and badly wounded the trackers, you just have one piece of IC left. Feel free to move to IP 2: you two go first. Don't worry about the nice little doggies, just focus on the guard.

If you deal with the guard, its a complex action to move into the next node

@Sabs/Mandala
I guess you are meeting up about now. You can now hear the sound of heavy machine gun fire in the corridor, and more screams.

I'm a little confused on the state of the IC's health:

IP 4: I miss all around

IP 5:
15(4) -> 0 (Guard 1)
15(4) -> 13 -> 4 (Dog 1)
15(4) -> 13 -> 9 (Dog 2)
15(4) -> 0 (Guard 2)

IP 1:
18(7) -> 15 -> 13 (Guard 1)
18(7) -> 0 (Guard 2)
18(7) -> 12 -> 6 (Dog 1)
18(7) -> 13 -> 3 (Dog 2)

You've not been listing which order they're in for the rolls, so that's best guess based on what you indicated. But it should have been Guard 2 (Unwounded) and Dog 1 (10 damage) left for Aria to pick from. (Assuming R8 based on your rolls, thus 12 boxes of matrix condition monitor.)

I'll write up my IC post through IP 1 once I make sure I have things correct.

@Edana
I am not certain that I have been consistent in which order I have said attacks. I'm not too worried. The state as I understand it is "Guard1 down. Guard 2 badly wounded. Dog 1 and dog 2 badly wounded and vanished". If I am wrong, I am only wrong by a couple of condition monitor points, which will be max 1 IP out.

Yeah! Now we're talkin'! Stick that pig good, big guy! I'm right behindja! Well, behind the door, anyways.

I will sic my agent on the last IC...if by some miracle he hits it's armour piercing 3 (I bought 2 copies of the prog so can run both!)

14D = 6 hits woot! Rt 6 program

Will IC this and my own miserable attempt when Seth lets me know if I hit

I might edit that depending on what Seth says
If he's dead, and i'm surrounded by Dual Natured Cadavermen.. eeek..

OH That reminds me:

Seth - can I label me and Ghost as "friendly" in the magical Tacnet so that the cadavermen will leave us be

You can still run away faster than they can follow. And the instant Mandala knows Spirit Bane is out of the picture, you'd be surprised how brave he will become!

I'm going to assume Ryl doesn't kill the second guard IC (I'm assuming the attack from the agent won't one-shot it), so I'll end up attacking it for my IP 2. I'll go ahead and roll that, but leave the IC post until after I see how Ryl does against the guard's attack, and whether the agent hits.

IP 2: Attack remaining guard, (Oh god is he going to have a bad day) 9 Hits, 11 damage + net hits if he fails to avoid. (Dodge this? )

Whew, took forever to figure out where that updated map was to find out where the heck running to was an option.

Overcasting F2 improved invisibility Spellcasting (4) + Magic (1) = 0 hits
Using edge to reroll = 1 hit
Resisting 4P drain Willpower (5) + Charisma (7) = 5 hits
Okay, so, sucky cast but at least no drain.

Yeah, background count has fun with our dicepools, doesn't it?

Is Spirit Bane still trying to get into room 12, or has he changed behaviour?

Ouch. Lots of bullets.

So base damage
Their att (only 10 left by the time they get to shoot): 3, 4, 3, 3, 2, 1, 2, 1 ,2, 2
Dodging: 5, 4, 2, 1, 3, 2, 2, 3, 3, 0
Nett hits: 0, 0, 1, 2, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0,2

Nett damages to soak: 9, 10, 10
Soak: 10, 6, 11
Damage: 0, 4, 0
Soaking: Bjeorn laughs as the little bullets bounce of his body
Looks to me like I take 4 points of damage (-1 due to pain).

@General
Back. Its surprising that you can find a hotel without wifi any more. Still that was reflected in the price. I suspect we can move to IP 3 for everyone.
The following is my getting everyone up to

@Aria
Agent doing good. Black IC nearly as good. I forgot to remove two die for second attack, so 5 successes
Black IC soakiness. Gosh they are tough. Your agent smashes hard into the IC, a few sparks fly, but nothing happens 7 successes on soak
Two miserable attempts!

@Ghost
Sorry the map was hard to find. At the beginning of the OOC thread is summary of summaries. I'll make it so that the map is on there.

Lean'drea goes invisible just before the machine gun nest opens fire on the cadavermen to protect Spirit Bane. This is suppressing fire, so it you need to avoid it too, using Reaction + edge. An unpleasant 6 hits on the unarmoured cadarvermen, and the unarmoured you (Base damage 6 AP irrelevant). All off them are hit by machine gun fire. The bad news for the machine gun nest, is that this mainly just annoys the cadarvermen. The good news for you is that on IP 2 they charge the machine gun nest (taking yet more suppressive fire which is slightly more successful, but not really). You are not affected by the suppressing fire. On IP 3 they arrive and the shredding begins. There are more screams, more moments in which the entrails and gore hits the side of the room as the camera moves away from the horror. On IP 4 the shredding concludes.

Spirit Bane bangs away at the door on IP 1 and 2. He doesn't seem to be the bravest person in the world.

On IP3 a spirit manifests, and starts talks to Spirit Bane (see IC). Can you check that your invisibility still works (background now 6), and make me a masking roll? I suspect that you want to change your IC post, as the Cadarvermen ran toward's the machine gun nest being shot at, and I don't think you want to follow them into the machine gun fire.

@Sabs
Really cool idea labelling the Cadarvermen as friendly. It would be a complex action, and you would have to not be projecting (a free action to stop projecting). The really amusing thing for me of course, is that you arrive just as the other spirit arrives. The even better thing for me is that I didn't plan it: it just happened.
Can you roll surprise (I will give you +6 for ambushing them).
Surprise roll for the spirit (just the first roll of 10)
I forgot that you are holding the dagger. The hooded spirit and the Spirit Bane appear to not see you. Feel free to do whatever you want.

@Edana/Aria
The guard goes down. Very solid hit. Can you put this IC?
You probably want to make some matrix perception checks before moving in. Aria: you have multitasking, so they are free actions for you. I beleive you are on IP 2 Aria, and IP 3 Edana.

@Bjeorn
I overrolled the die that the guard's should have been using when I attacked you, so we are fudging the results a tiny bit, and will assume that the guard's attack once for a slightly better attack (I don't want you to have to go through those calculations again!)
I see there is a point in investing heavily in body...The fewer remaining guard's are shooting at you in IP 2.
They are not very effective, hanging in their by the skin of their teeths:2, critical glitch, 3, 0, 1, 1, 3, 1, 0, 2, 0, 1, 1, 2, 1, 1, 1. I suspect you will dodge/soak them


@General
The major's grenade goes off, and GREMLIN's last doberman in the storeroom is blasted. The damage where the Major is has dropped to about 4P. Everyone involved in that fight ignores it.

Moving into IP 3

Status in basement
Major pain is on his feet, moving first and is very angry at Bjeorn
The Major has no effective guard's left. Fearghas did most of the damage, then Alyena's spirit blasted them loads.

Status outside Angel's room
The spirit has appeared and started to talk. Sabs if you want to attack the hooded spirit or Spirit Bane, feel free to do so (I can change the IC post). Spirit bane and the spirit have completed the round unless interrupted.

Status in Matrix
Ryl still has IP 2 to go. The guard's are down. The nice little doggies have vanished and you can ignore them (just make a System + Firewall roll each please)


Actions on IP 3
The major goes first. Vibro cyberspurs out. Attacking Bjeorn begins. 6 successes Base damage 10

Alyena and Pet will do more of the same on IP2 I think.

Pet's stunball on remaining minions: 4 successes
Resist drain: 6 successes

Alyena will try manabolting the Major again: 6 successes
To edge or not to edge.... oh what the heck 3 successes
9 in total.

Resist drain 3 successes

My stun now at 4.

@Alyena
The Major is tough
Just as an aside, Alyena is now breaking crockery in the kitchen and sulking.

'Oh crap' is the only thing I can say to that last IC post , but then we always kinda knew what we were dealing with here...

Will get my feeble attempts written up today (need higher rated programs & link )

I will spend IP 2 sending feelers into the C&C node to check for data bombs, IC etc...I can do that right?!? I will suggest to Angel that we move in together assuming I 'see' anything...

Matrix Perception 17D = 6 hits and 5 hits (I get 2 frees per go with multi tasking?!?), will delay any actions I have to wait for Angel

System+Firewall 12D = 3 hits (perhaps not so good?!?)

I'm sticking iwth my stabbymcstabby after the Spirits dissapates. I'm really not in the mood to fight a Horror.
http://forums.dumpshock.com/index.php?s=&a...t&p=1078293

for the roll, I got 3 exciting hits.. but I haz surprise

Seth, can I see inside the ward pump room on this level through camera feeds? I've a feeling we could do with that backup getting in here sooner rather than later! Specifically I'm wondering if I could 'cook' the blood in the pipes to cause a block?!? Won't work if they are buried deep in concrete of course but it's worth asking...

Awww, shit.

I'm just assuming that whatever effect that Dagger has to hide Marduk from our enemies large and small also keeps Mandala from seeing him through the now open door.

Are cadarvemen flamable?

not any more than people are.

And you should be able to see me, you don't use Aztech Magic.

@Aria


You get two free observes with Multitasking, so you can still do something on IP 2 if you want.
Matrix perception reveals that the man doing the whipping is a Black IC of the same scale as the guard's outside, so you probably have his number. The soldiers lining up and watching are all links to his BotNet: Perhaps 2000 slaves processors that can do his bidding. The System and Firewall is lower in here...a mere 6, instead of the outside 8.

The System+Firewall roll: nothing to worry about, no need to get nervous...oh could you make a System+Analyse roll for no apparent reason on IP 3?


Yes you can see them. They don't seem to be connected to the matrix: they are using Victorian engineering it seems. However if you were to get a drone in... Perhaps the evo orderly in Angels room: that has two robot arms.


Stone is flamable if you get it hot enough... That answer didn't help of course. To the best of your knowledge they have no vulnerability to fire, however having seen them through the camera, they seem to be particularly resilient to bullets, and you have no reason to believe that they are as resilient to fire.


@Sabs
Discretion, Valor, best part of . Readjust this words to make a familiar phrase. The horror vanishes on IP4, so I suspect stabbymcstabby happens next round. And yes you have surprise, for some reason Spirit Bane cannot see you

@PBangarth
Good news: Mr Unpleasant Scabby hand has vanished: he seems to be busy.
Bad news: Spirit Bane is likely to come and get angel, and he now has his Cadarvermen back in his control
Good news: The Cadarvermen have gone all shambling again and will take 2 combat rounds to get here.

The dagger is not stopping you seeing Marduk. You have no idea why the Horror didn't blast him instead of the door. Spirit Bane is astrally active, so should see him (as Marduk is not being particularly stealthy) but something seems to be stopping him.

Actualy, can't I hold an action across IP? so I could do nothing on IP3, and stabbymcstab him on IP4?

System+Firewall: 3 Hits

Let me know if you need me to roll anything else, though Technomancers are flat out immune to hacking of their biological node from non-Technomancers. (An IC wouldn't likely know the difference though in its limited scripting.)

I think I will go all out defence against the Major's attack, and trust in the hackers and spell casters to deal with him.

All out defence: 10 successes

Right Plan A to try dealing with the cadarvermen: 3rd task of 4, will get my pet spirit to mob mind them and hopefully get them shredding each other. Also hoping that Spirit Bane will be concentrating on Angel having been told in no uncertain terms 'Get the sacrifice or be one' that he won't notice the spirit popping in and out of the corridor.

Oops. forgot that I haven't Cleansed here yet so only first 6 dice count 3 successes

Resist drain: only 1 success

Spirit takes 4 drain, ouch.

Alyena will mana bolt the Major: 5 successes (Think I see more sulking in my future )

Will use some more edge (sigh): 4 successes!

Resist drain: 4 successes giving 1 more stun which brings Alyena to 5 in total.

@Sabs
The robed figure is talking all the way to the end of the round, so stabbing time is I think next round.

@Sephiroth
Bizarrely you are left alone in the dream, you can get up, walk around, do stuff... Elapsed time here is not the same as elapsed time in "the real world", so you have several minutes to explore.

• The box is held in his faintly transparent hands, and if you wanted to you could do some suitable lores...if only Marduk was here. Perhaps I should try and arrange that...
• The cells are locked, but he left the keys hanging on hooks, so if you wanted you could get Aren "Out". You could try talking to him, but he seems to be in a terrified fetal position.
• The door opens if you want to check it, into an endless torture chamber with various unpleasant engines of torment, and a number of people being "worked on" by snake headed beings

@Alyena
The Major is not on top form...probably distracted by the dancing bear. 6 successes on soaking. Thats an unpleasant amount of physical damage by my calculations (Force 11 - 4 background + 9 successes - 6 soak - 2 platelet factories / trauma damper) thats still 8 damage...gulp...now I need to check how much damage he has taken.

He's still there, but only just...probably whining about his biomonitor moving into the red.

Okay then I will stabby mcstabby next round you mean gm you.

My understanding was that we were more or less in the center of the cross shape, with the cadavermen coming from the west. Spirit Bane ran north to the Angel's door, and I followed him as there weren't any machine gun nests in that direction. I was also trying to either duck in one of the western doors of the north corridor or run up the steps if none of them were unlocked. If one of the doors is unlocked, I should be able to get to safety before the nests start firing.

And no, invisibility will be suppressed till the BC goes back down, assuming that the BC increasing by 2 is the same as going from 0 BC to 2 BC.