BishopMcQ sure go ahead and do a Computer + Analyze to check the parameters of security level account. The storage nodes appears to be organized along two tiers - one much larger than the other. The first tier is some sort of personal log or journal while the other is an archive with multiple media types stored in each file. Sorry I missed that and thanks for bringing it to my attention.

Computer + Analyze test: 11d6.hits(5)=5

BishopMcQ you know with your current level of access you can shut down the IC without triggering an alert and can back up the datastore as well.

Please let me know if you need me to do anything. Did you want me to IC reporting the info about the wards and the divination?

JxJxA yes please because at this point the other characters have no idea.

Alright, let's initiate the backup.

Hacking + Edit to hide the evidence: Hacking 6 + Edit 4 + Hot Sim 2 (12d6.hits(5)=6)

I'm going to ignore the IC for the moment, so that there are fewer signs that I was here.

Is this node powered on?

With the update about wards and the opportune time being tonight, let's skip the powered down nodes. (I've got Access IDs and can try probing them later.)

When the backup is complete, Log Off the System.

Thread Browse
Software 5 + Specialization 2 + Resonance 6 + Paragon 2
Threading Browse (15d6.hits(5)=4) Take all 4.

Fading DV 4P
Fading (13d6.hits(5)=5) No Fading

-------

Dice Pool -- Browse 4 + Threading 4 + Data Search 5 (13 dice start)

Data Search (13d6.hits(5), 12d6.hits(5), 11d6.hits(5), 10d6.hits(5)=
[4, 3, 2, 6, 3, 2, 6, 6, 4, 5, 6, 5, 4] 6
[4, 1, 6, 4, 1, 4, 4, 3, 1, 4, 1, 3] 1 (7)
[5, 1, 5, 1, 4, 5, 6, 3, 5, 6, 4] 6 (13)
[6, 5, 1, 1, 3, 6, 2, 4, 3, 1] 3 (16)

Looking for invoices and delivery slips in the backup archive that might be able to be intercepted or modified. Looking to get the crew good and drunk before we have to hit them.

Happy Monday All!

I updated the 1st post as usual. I'm going to post a bump today though I would like to do a big scene change tomorrow or by Wednesday by the latest. Taking Emilio to the meet with the mechanics and then moving the group to the hit on the gang that night.

Emilio let me know what steps/precautions you're taking (if any) for the meet.

Alright then, Data Search to find a Forgery skillsoft.

Activesoft Rating 4 + Avail 8 = Threshold 12
Browse 4 + Threading 4 + Data Search 5

[1, 4, 4, 3, 1, 4, 2, 2, 4, 3, 4, 3, 2] 0
[5, 5, 3, 4, 1, 4, 1, 6, 6, 2, 2, 6] 5
[2, 3, 1, 4, 1, 4, 3, 5, 2, 4, 3] 1 (6)
[4, 1, 3, 5, 1, 1, 1, 2, 6, 1]) 2 (8) (Glitch)
Glitch (1d6=1) Down to 7 hits
[2, 3, 6, 6, 1, 4, 5, 3, 4] 3 (10)
[3, 5, 3, 3, 1, 4, 3, 3] 1 (11)
[2, 4, 2, 6, 6, 6, 4] 3 (14)

Drop the Browse

Emulate the Forgery skillsoft -- Threshold = Rating (4)
Software 5 + Specialization 2 + Resonance 6 + Paragon 2
15d6.hits(5)=4 Spend the karma to learn it.

So what kind of Forgery timeframe/test am I looking at for the falsification?

Lets say an Extended Test with an interval of an hour and where you stop will set the threshold to detect the forgery. I found tables for more permanent forgeries but this is just a bogus message to get them to drink beer. So Hacking + Spoof for the computer side and a Forgery + Charisma (non-extended test) to make it read right like the person you're attempting to impersonate.

Hacking 6 + Spoof 4 + Hot SIM 2 (12d6.hits(5), 11d6.hits(5), 10d6.hits(5)=
[6, 1, 6, 2, 6, 6, 5, 2, 3, 6, 4, 6] 7
[2, 1, 6, 6, 5, 4, 6, 1, 5, 2, 6] 6 (13)
[2, 4, 5, 1, 3, 5, 6, 6, 3, 1]) 4 (17)

Forgery 4 + Charisma 7 (11d6.hits(5)=3)

Rawr! 3 hours and a few minutes later...I have a technological monstrosity and a reasonably written note, that they hopefully will take on face value because they want beer and not peer too deeply into the mysteries of language.

BishopMcQ you have a solid forgery ready and prepped to send.

First step for Emilio is to contact Zian, in ICC. He's using the new fake ID.

Will 500 cover a couple kegs of Blackstaff (Hurlg, Arsenal 75)? Strongest alcohol I can find in the game. It's 5 per dose (figure each pint of beer). That would be 2-3 glasses each, and should rightly get them blitzed out of their minds.

Place an order for delivery tonight, under a common name from the data searches for similar orders. Then send the forged note with the delivery confirmation.

Looks solid - what time do you all want to hit the ranch? Let me know.

BishopMcQ going to hand wave the hacking the beer shipment - at your level it should be a relatively easy task so consider it done and ready when you want it to happen in-game.

Early morning (maybe right after dawn) would make sense to me.

Have the beer arrive around 9pm, should get them good and drunk, then hit them around 5-6am and anyone who drank should be hit with a massive whammy right about then. Earlier, any non-ork/troll/dwarf (should be the whole gang) who drinks will be disorienteds

If we pull up around 2AM, with the cars under Concealment and just watch with drones or any stealthy types, then we can hit them hard as soon as it looks like we have a good opening.

Spirits go bamf at dawn, so if we go that route we might want to hit them before dawn - otherwise we will drop Concealment briefly.

Not if they're Bound...but sure, before dawn is fine. We should all have low-light is similar vision mods. If not, I'll turn the lights on for folks.

If you summoned the spirit just after dusk and then hit the ranch at 2 am - how long do you think it's going to take? If dawn is it at 6 am (usually I think) then that's 4 hours before it pops. Am I missing something?

Bishop was suggesting we pull up at 2, then wait until 5-6 AM to strike.

Striking at 2 AM is fine - it's just troublesome if we pull up at 2 and strike at (say) 6:15, because then we'd temporarily lose Concealment, and also have to resummon spirits right before we strike. I was just suggesting we start the actual strike part with a decent lead on dawn - say we attack no later than 5:30.

Ahhhh! See I did miss something.

Ok going to bump forward to everyone arriving at the ranch at the appointed hour which is 2 am with the intent of striking before sunrise. Feel free to post any prep rolls (summoning, compiling, etc).

Rating 5 Crack Sprite
Compiling 3 + Resonance 6 (9d6.hits(5)=3)
R5 Crack Sprite (5d6.hits(5)=1) 2 Tasks
Fading 2S (13d6.hits(5)=1) 1 Stun

Task 1 -- Probe the node attached to this Access ID and give me the backdoor (probing the node that was turned on attached to the archive) Threshold = System + Firewall
Probing (10d6.hits(5), 9d6.hits(5), 8d6.hits(5), 7d6.hits(5)=
[3, 4, 2, 4, 1, 2, 4, 6, 5, 2] 2
[4, 5, 1, 4, 2, 3, 4, 3, 1] 1 (3)
[6, 2, 2, 1, 5, 6, 4, 6] 4 (7)
[6, 5, 6, 3, 3, 1, 3] 3 (10)
Probing (6d6.hits(5)=1) (11)
Probing (5d6.hits(5)=4) (15)

Sleeping off the stun while the Sprite gets me the access.

Summoning a Force 7 Guardian Spirit:

Resist: Force = 7d6 http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4106903/

Summon: Summoning (1) + Spec (2) + Mentor (2) + Focus (4) + Magic (7) = 16d6, http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4106905/ 5 hits (3 services)

Drain soak: Intuition (6) + Willpower (6) + Centering (4) = 16d6 http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4106906/ fully soaked

Fat Man is wearing his Assault Gear set and is giving the Guardian Spirit the Guardian Spirit equipment set.

The shen is going to be Materialized and wearing armor and carrying the HMG.

EDIT: see post on next page for services.

The shen is going to have the Holoprojector on and set to look like a nondescript man wearing casual clothing (Fat Man wouldn't be fiddling with programming a different hologram - he'd just be using a "default" setting).

Buddha: How big an area around the party is under the ward? How far are we from the edge of the ward?

Just a note to everyone: Fat Man will have to break the ward (he does now have Shattershield so he can do it reliably) to go through, and he can let the spirits in with him (he'll have to blast his way out too). This is not going to be subtle - high Force spells are really visible - so that's going to be Fat Man's "surprise attack". The shen can shoot through the ward if needed.

If I'm walking through another ward, this'll be another case of me casting after we sneak in. I forget, if I summon a spirit and put it on standby, can I call it into the ward afterwards? If not, then I'll probably just have a Force 7 fire ravmalakh hanging outside with Fat Man and the shen just in case things turn ugly.

Yes - you can call Standby spirits to you, but remember it does take you a Simple Action.

Given that Fat Man has to blow a hole in the ward, you may also want to cast before we go in - spells are pretty noticeable. Remember that it's only 6-F to notice a spell being cast.

Hope my post doesn't take too many liberties with the plot. My intention is to get Eklipse as close as possible to the party but concealed somewhere where he can pick off any threats as they appear while the more heavily armored Fat Man and Fleet draw attention away from him. Of course at some point he is likely to lose his composure and charge into melee.

Stealth test to get into position: Agi 6 + Infiltration 4 = 10d6.hits(5)=2
- not great, but he does take his time and is wearing a ruthenium polymer stealth suit. Frag, I don't want this run to go wrong from the start so I'll edge it: 8d6.hits(5)=2 - 4 hits total, 1 of 2 edge remaining.

Wards are only here:




So until you enter a building, I don't know if we need to blow holes in anything. There's probably more guys outside than there are in, and depending on the numbers, Eklipse and myself may be able to deal with the people inside.

@Buddha, do I think I can get the drones down far enough to look in windows in the house or in the open bar again, like before, without drawing a lot of attention?

@NotsoEvilDM - TacNet, that's funny. Do you have the bandwidth to set that up on your comm? I don't, and that's without the vehicles. My assumption is that the TacNet went boom with the nexus in the cars, sorry. I'd have to unsubscribe everything I own to try and get enough connections for people to benefit.

@Team = Does anyone have a spare moderately powered commlink? I think it would have to be at least a System 4 for the rating of the program and for enough subscriptions for everyone in the group (Fleet, Fat Man, Zero, Rikik, Elipse, Emilio.

Oops, you're right - I missed that only the house and barn are warded. We might be able to take down the outside people quietly; holes only need to be made to go into the building/barn.

Fat Man does actually have a rating 4 commlink (meaning all ratings 4) currently running the following; if Fleet would have asked he'd be happy to volunteer routing the TacNet through it (but someone else would need to configure it to work).

Modified Commlink rating 4 (runs in hidden mode)
Browse 4
Analyze 6, Optimization 2
Encrypt 6, Optimization 2
Agent Rating 3
Home Ground Autosoft 3
The agent’s routine is to stay in the commlink, maintain dynamic encryption, and Analyze any icons it sees. If it sees an unauthorized user, it will sound an alert and then contact Rikik with a pre-programmed message, or if it can’t, shut down the node.

I'm not sure if Rikik has the subscription slots, but possibly he could run a TacNet?

The wards are Force 10. The converted barn and main house are warded only so there is nothing around the grounds or outside areas.

UmaroVI Ok I want to discuss the services and your spirit. I have a problem with issuing one task and using three powers on the group when the rules require each power being used to burn a service of which you only have 3 at present. I need you to break down each service please attached to a power use on the team or is the spirit not fighting with you at all? If it's just maintaining those powers then its fine since it would use the services you have but that would mean it would take no other actions on your behalf during the fight. Can you clarify?

I want to avoid abuses of tasks where spirits and sprites are concerned. I am fine with giving a spirit a command such as "Assist us as we rob the bank" but at that point it would most likely use a power on the group to do that. It would use a power that best fits its type/tradition in aiding you. An air spirit might use Concealment or Movement while a Guidance spirit might use Magical Guard. The rules make it clear that each use of a continuous power burns a service and even altering that service to say include a new person would burn another service. They only make the exception of powers and abilities used by the spirit on behalf of its summoner only counts as one service, regardless of the number of foes involved.

Fenris Sure just give me a roll to do so.

Nosoevildm no problem but can you adjust the time stamp? I think the team was going to hit them earlier in the evening and not just before dawn. Also there are no wards for you to deal with on the outside area so you can be powered up if you want. In addition, there is no real security presence at all being maintained as least by the people.

Oops, sorry about that. You're right and it would only maintain 2 powers along with assisting in the fight.

Those will be Concealment and Magical Guard, and I had not realized the part about needing another service to adjust who they were used on.

So it's services will be:

1. Concealment on the 6 PCs + itself

2. Magical Guard on the 6 PCs + Zero's spirit

3. Help us defeat the Swords.

Just to make sure: are you OK with orders like "Help us defeat the Swords" and a spirit engaging in combat using its powers however it would consider most effective during the fight (eg, using Fear on enemies, but sustaining powers needs to be its own service)? Or do we need to be more specific about that type of service?

EDIT: I also noticed I forgot to specify its optional powers: those are Concealment and Skill: Heavy Weapons.

@Umaro - Just tossing in cuz I know the GM's busy this after noon chasing more three-headed acid spitting children

A general command like 'Assist us in the fight' would basically leave it up to the spirit, with variations based on available powers and it's tradition/type, to determine how to use it's powers. Yes, it may use Fear or Elemental Attack or whatever, but you won't be able to specifically command it to do so without burning a task...you're basically leaving power and action choice up to GM's interpretation, at the trade-off of not having to burning multiple services over a possibly extended period of time.

@Buddha - Covert Ops(4) + Pilot(6) (10d6.hits(5)=3, 10d6.hits(5)=3, 10d6.hits(5)=7, 10d6.hits(5)=4)

We'll say in order by location it's Team, Barn, House, Paddock. Please note that they'll have a -6 from size and a -4 from Chameleon Coating on Perception dice pools to spot.

@All - As a general reminder for after the hit here at the ranch, hoping someone else remembers it because I probably won't - We have a pile of stuff that will supposedly feed a frugal family of four (good alliteration, right?) for years that we took from the 'Office', so we should sell that stuff off, too. Unless anyone wants silk women's kimonos and expensive makeup, and then you can take what you need before we sell it ;D

Right - I just wanted to make sure we were on the same page there, and it's just that I had it doing 4 services (3 powers + fighting) when it only had 3.

UmaroVI I am completely fine with that. I feel like it falls under the banner of using its power to aid the summoner. So this spirit could use any of its powers or just physically attack members of the gang as it saw fit for the given circumstances as one service but if you needed it to use Guard on the team that would require another service but you could direct to attack a specific ganger next without needing to expend a service.

Should have read back a couple of pages before posting. I'll rework the post. Eklipse is aiming to get close enough to take out guards / remaining party diehards with his SMG.

Okay, casting some spells before summoning. I'll do it after dawn so that the spirit doesn't disappear on me. :-p

Casting F4 Increase Willpower:
Magic(7) + Spell(4) + Focus(3) = 14d6 for 3 hits. I'll drop after soak and recast for 7 hits, only 4 count. Dropping it into my sustaining focus.
Drain: (4/2) - 2 = 0 for 1S
Will(7) + Cha(5) + Cent(1) = 13d6 for 2 hits, so no drain. For round 2, 14d6 for 3 hits, so no drain.

Casting F7 Increase Charisma:
Magic(7) + Spell(4) + Focus(3) = 14d6 for 3 hits. I'll drop after soak and recast for 6 hits. I'll take it.
Drain: (7/2) - 2 = 1S
Will(8) + Cha(8) + Cent(1) = 17d6 for 6 hits, so no drain. 20d6 for 6 hits, so no drain.

Summoning F7 Fire Spirit:
Magic(7) + Conj(3) + Focus(3) + Mentor(2) - Sustain(2) = 13d6 for 8 hits.
Opposed Roll: 7d6 for 2 hits. 6 services total. Placing him on the astral (I'll hunt down a name later).
Drain: 2x(2) = 4S
Will(8) + Cha(11) + Cent(1) = 20d6 for 7 hits. No drain.
Optional Powers: Noxious Breath, Guard

Casting F3 Increased Reflexes:
Magic(7) + Spell(4) + Focus(3) - Sustain(2) = 12d6 for 5 hits, only 3 count. Popping it in my other sustaining focus.
Drain: (3/2) + 2 = 3S
Will(8) + Cha(11) + Cent(1) = 20d6 for 3 hits. No drain.

I'll spend the time to disperse the spell residue aura (not like it'll matter in a little bit), activate spell defense on myself and the team, and I'll stay outside.

@Buddha - Raising Stealth group from 2 to 3 and Firearms group from 2 to 3, before we roll initiative and it looks cheesy

Howdy All!

I am out of town next week for a family vacation and then heading to Paizocon to geek out with friends but I should be able to post some while traveling (wifi, laptop, etc) but no promises so the next week is going to be a "let's see what happens" sort of space. Thanks and see you all in a week maybe.

Spending 1 of the spirit's services to have him protect us. I have 5 services left.

Same here. I'll try to to post, but going to be slow.

Updated the karma total for the week and I will be (hopefully) posting results for Rikik and Eklipse today. Was there any other actions people want to take before springing the ambush? Let me know.

JxJxA can you clarify the tasks given to your spirit? It sounds like from the IC you want it to do non-lethal things to the Gangers? Thanks.

@Buddha: That's right. I'd prefer to have it hurt but not kill (blast with fire if necessary, but not enough to kill). Zero won't stop the others from killing them, as that's their choice. However, he won't contribute to it. :-/

I've got nothing else to do before the ambush. Push forward!

Do we have an opening gambit? Something 'kablooie' to attract attention or are we going sneaky in which case, Eklipse is happy to open the event by picking off guards/stragglers.

NotSoEvil--Sneaking. Silencers and knives to slit the throats of the unconscious was the plan. The more we can kill before anyone knows we're coming, the easier it will be when they start fighting back.

At that point, I vote for the fire spirit to go loud and proud, flinging fire at BBQ gas tanks. If it attracts the attention (and is immune to small arms fire), we can keep sneaking through the chaos. Other than the loss of loot, I'd ask the spirit to start melting the bikes too, since that would be guaranteed to attract the attention of a biker gang.

It appears you all were in the same head space I was. I wanted to start off with giving you all a head count of people and locations. Let me know if you want other details from the locales.

Paddock
10 conscious people
4 unconscious people
8 bikes

Barn
9 conscious people
2 unconscious people
6 bikes

House
8 conscious people
5 unconscious people
7 bikes (parked in front of the house)

I need a Perception roll from Eklipse and Fleet please - vision based for modifiers.

How awesome is Eklipse at sneaking? With all your adept stuff, ruthenium, etc, do you think you could sneak into the house (or around it) and place grenades in the windows or by each doorway? Then we trigger them wirelessly for the big badaboom when the eventual alarm is raised from our massacring the folks in the barn and paddock...

Flash-bangs, white phosphorous, or high explosive would all be fun. We just need to time it so the team all has their back to the house for the silhouette moment.