Quick question, where do I recognize the old man (other than a familiar face)?

I figured you had dealt with this supplier before, and seen the old guy as an employee, probably in a similar role, as doorman.

You're enjoying drawing this scene out, aren't you pbangarth?

I don't want to force a PC's hand, especially one as paranoid as Jovan. If you want me to make a few assumptions and move things along, I'm happy to do so.

Jovan feels somewhat safer than he usually does out in public because he is with Zayne, who he knows is combat effective. I think he is also trying to stay as discrete as possible, so he isn't summoning any watchers or spirits as a precaution. He doesn't want to tip off any club mages or Awakened patrons that there's another mage nearby, since that would lead them to him and put his aura masking under scrutiny. So for now he is willing to cautiously follow Zayne's lead and avoid attracting much undue attention, while making sure to stay aware of things on the astral.

Also, it looks like things are starting to get exciting!

Not much happening yet with Void - he is still four hours ahead of the others right now. It might pick up a bit when the action catches up to him.

Everybody is out of synch. Carry on if you want. I'll eventually pull us all together.

By the way, Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays, one and all.

Thanks. Merry Christmas, everyone.

Merry Christmas, Happy Kwanza, Happy Fesitvus, and Happy Haunaka, and a Happy new year!


Did I miss anyone?

That's all the main ones, at least. Happy holidays to all of you as well.

These are rolls for Jovan against those two patrons, to see whether he notices or feels anything about them that I didn't catch.

Judge Intentions on the two patrons: Int 6 + Cha 4 = 10d6 = 4 hits
Behavioral Probability knowledge check, to see whether Jovan can further deduce why the patrons would have been motivated to act so visibly explosive: Logic 6 + Behavioral Prob. 1(2) = 8d6 = 4 hits

BTW--Zo request two sets of armor, with level 2 chemical protection and level 4 non-conductivity.

Zo's next post will be either at 2:00 PM Game time or if professor or one of the other crew members contact him or one of his alarms goes off.

Once Jovan has a chance to introduce himself to Pertwilling, I'll move things along and bring everyone together.

Let's just assume all the requested equipment (other than the special book(s) in which Jovan is interested) will show up within 24 hours. I'll work out prices when I get home and in touch with my books. I should actually be on my way home now, to Toronto from New Jersey, but a bit of a storm came up last night and made it dangerous to drive today. Tomorrow should be relatively clear weather.

pbangarth, what is your status?

Keeping flood waters away from my basement apartment door at the moment. I'll get the game on track tomorrow...

During the rest of the evening before the meet, Jovan will try to do the following in preparation:

• Purchase a rating 5 Browse program for his commlink for :nuyen:500. Oops. Since Jovan doesn't know much about Matrix nuances, he won't bother getting any software packages for now.
• Attempt to upload a description or image matching that of the two people who left Pertwilling's table to his commlink. Remembering their faces gives Logic 6 + Willpower 3 = 2 hits from Jovan, although he would ask Zayne to assist him in filling in any details he might miss (teamwork test?). He would then draw their faces on paper (because he's an old-fashioned hermetic) and upload them to his commlink using the image/text scanner that all commlinks come equipped with. If you would like some sort of Artisan (Drawing) test to do this or similar, please let me know. I am not sure how else to do this. After that, he will search the entire Matrix (interval 1 minute) for names associated with their faces: Data Search 2 + Browse 5 = 16 hits after 5 minutes.
• He will send the list of items to Professor that I accidentally only posted OOC.
• He will do RESEARCH! First he will have his rating 2 remote agent (that comes from MSP services due to his high lifestyle) search for people (formerly) in archeology by the name of Dr. Jones who have been involved in trials. The agent gets 1st roll 2nd roll 3rd roll. It takes a little under 25 minutes for the agent to complete the search (up to threshold 24, Hidden or Actively Hunted and Erased, which I presume is higher than I needed to go). Jovan is looking for any and all personal information on Professor - full name, place of employment, records from his trial, family, and so on.
• Next he will do research on ZO, using the recording that he made of the group meeting hours before. He is looking for pictures and information on members of "the crush" gang (he doesn't know of the Crimson Crush name at all) and looking for news articles etc. that mention recent shootouts at the Humanis Policlub's Redmond chapterhouse. He will do that himself while his agent is working on Professor. He gets 26 hits in 10 minutes. Sorry Warlord, no offense.
• Lastly, he will do some digging into Pertwilling's background. He gets 17 hits after 10 minutes, but glitches once.

Flood waters are nasty business. I hope you're making it through without much water damage!

Sorry guys, I've been sick for a while. I last threw up over 12 hours ago, so I'm hoping I will have the strength to get a decent post or two out tomorrow.

OK:

1) The two who left Pertwilling: No match. It's as if they live in the shadows.

2) (See Professor's background for some info HERE)

Nathaniel Jones, father Thomas Jones, grandfather Henry Walton Jones III, great grandfather Henry Walton Jones Jr. Family seat in Princeton, New Jersey. Relatively wealthy family. Last known place of employment the University of Toronto as an assistant professor of archaeology.

Trial in India regarding the theft of a document unearthed in an archaeological excavation and the murder of Jones' two assistants. Lot of money spent on the court case, leading to an acquittal. No leads on the stolen artifact or other potential suspects.

Lots more info, but one item sticks out. Jones is quoted as saying, "Why don't you find Pertwilling? That son of a bitch is likely your man." No info on whether this lead was followed.

3) Warlord, PM me what you know of the incident Jovan is researching. I'll answer after that.

4) Pertwilling: International dealer in rare goods and art. Decades of experience, one of the best. You want it, he likely can find it. Rule of law is reputed not to be a problem, though no convictions under the law.

Did everybody get a look at the map of the Spaniard's safehouse? It would be good to have that done before we meet in the coffee house.

Where is the link? I went through both the IC and OOC threads, but I can't find it (maybe I scrolled past it).

Here's the LINK .

Wow. I posted that picture on September 29th. We've gone about ten hours game time in four months of play.

Indeed. Since this first job is going to be the first in an arc of tasks that we will have to do to fight against the Blind Man, would everyone be ok with focusing briskly on this upcoming infiltration job so that we can complete it quickly and move on to the next tasks? It's not like we as a team can do as much without information on the Blind Man anyway.

Buh ... buh ... focus on the ... buh ... focus on the task at hand!?!?

Which task is, in fact, at hand.

Hooooooold on a second, when did it become common knowledge that Jovan avoids sunlight specifically and isn't just a super-paranoid recluse? Did I miss something?

Professors comment about allergies is what sparked Zo's response. Zo, doesn't know what specifically what your allergy is. Zo put an "if" in there for a reason, he is not really sure just that is the one that would make most sense to him. You can avoid the Soy Latte or <insert most other common allergies here>, the sun not so much. But again it is an intuitive guess on Zo's part. Also, being an Ork growing up in the barrens he knows more than a few metas that have similar issues with sunlight. IIRC Professor knows for sure because I recall him assensing you at some point.

Keep in mind I'm playing a street smart ork ganger.

Professor is an imperfect runner, not yet wholly paranoid and secrets-oriented. He will slip up on occasion and thereby potentially make life difficult for his crew, which of course will make life difficult for him.

There will be occasion for you to be pissed off at him. Hopefully not enough to shoot him in the face, though.

Oh, and this allows me to on occasion cover up my own mistakes by blaming them on him.

Void, in turn, is going on what Zo said, although he hasn't made any vampiric connections yet.

And Zo has not either. Many an ork has sunlight allergies. Zo himself doesn't like salt water.

Ok, I suppose I can accept that as a valid answer.

Glyph, give me a memory test for Void, please.

Here is Void's memory test.

*Edit* I am assuming 4 hits is enough, because it is a location he knows, from a dream just the night before. If it isn't, just let me know and I will edit Void's post in the IC thread.

Things to help me write my post:

Recognizing the snake theme in Uncle Zola's clothes as a magician's expression of a mentor archetype: Logic 6 + Magic Knowledge 5 + College Education 1 = 12d6 = 4 hits. So Jovan is presumably able to recognize that magicians, especially powerful magicians, are very into symbolism and meaning and would not decorate themselves with such themes out of mere fascination.
Searching for major magical archetypes (as a hermetic would call them) found in Voodoo tradition: Data Search 2 + Pocket Mage Library 2 = 14 hits in 8 rolls, which hopefully is enough. No glitches, thankfully.
Figuring out possible options and necessary components of each to deal with Uncle Zola: Logic 6 + Tactics 1 = 7d6 = 2 hits.
Remembering information about shedim: Logic 6 + Magic Knowledge 5 + College Education 1 = 12d6 = 4 hits. Not bad. Shame Jovan doesn't have a Magical Threats skill, though. That would go well with his interests.

Post will be coming later today.

@pbangarth:

There's a strong likelihood that Uncle Zola has the mentor spirit Damballa (Great Serpent). Lots of interest in new things, mysteries, problems to be solved. Bonuses to Binding and detection.

A powerful voodoo magician, if walking possessed, will be very difficult to hurt with mundane weapons.

Voodoo has CHA as one of the Drain attributes, so U.Z. is likely charismatic... and therefore may have multiple spirits at his command.

Professor was unable to astrally perceive U.Z.'s awakened nature, so U.Z. is probably experienced enough to have multiple metamagics.

Your post is fine. The intersection is one through which the team passed on the way back from the barrens with the trucks. Void's dream may just be a manifestation of a sighting that didn't register right away. "Resting" may have been in a vehicle on the way out.

Jovan definitely realized 2 and 4, but it is 1 and 3 that I was uncertain about. I think that hermetics view mentor spirits as just archetypes that magicians follow, rather than living spirits in and of themselves (am I remembering that correctly?). But are the characteristics of people who follow certain mentor spirits common knowledge among the magical community in the 6th world? I didn't know whether Jovan would know that U.Z. would be highly charismatic and interested in mysteries and hidden secrets just from figuring out the Damballah mentor spirit connection. This is for my own information as a roleplayer, btw.

I think a lot of info is available to those who study long enough. I figured Jovan fit that category.

Holy crap! Zo just turned into a dwarf!

So should I feel shorted? Did Prof short circuit? Must be professors short memeory.... Problem with dwarves are their short commings...

Roll to see whether Jovan senses something in ZO's Urban Brawl reference: Intuition 6 + Behavioral Probability 1 + College Education 1 - 2 arrogant nosferatu with a superiority complex = 6d6. Invisible Castle is down, so I rolled 6 dice and got 1 hit. I'm not sure whether that's enough... Poor ZO.

Too many games, too many things going on at home, and too little attention to detail. Sorry, Warlordtheft. I altered my post.

I'm desperately trying to keep my basement apartment from flooding as warm weather is trying to turn tons of snow into a torrent through my front door. Once I get some sleep I'll catch up on the conversation. You guys go ahead, though!

Yeah, I don't think one hit does much, Jovan. You do know he's talking sports-talk, though.

No worries. We'll keep going without you for now. I'm walking Jovan's talk and putting together an action plan in my spare time this weekend. Couple questions for you in the meantime while you're fighting off the floodwaters:

• Do we know from Orlando how strong the FAB in the walls of the Spaniard's apartment are?
• My feeling is that Jovan would be very keen on being the planner of our infiltration from afar and not be physically present for it, as he sees Uncle Zola as a significant threat to his anonymity and security (and if someone is already onto Zo and Void, then Jovan would also see himself as the team's intellectual ace in the hole that should be kept a secret from prying eyes). Assuming he sends a remote service spirit to assist them and everyone else is ok with this, would good Tactics and Plotting rolls and good planning on my part be able to give the rest of the team bonus dice on actions related to infiltrating the apartment?
• Is it possible to "calibrate" GloMoss to Void's personal background count, so that it only activates if it senses the presence of additional magic (like a possessing spirit) unrelated to his personal domain?

Orlando thinks it is "the best available."


Couldn't hurt. Problem is, if you want to use the spirit as your astral "eyes and ears", I think you would have to be within the control range based on your Magic. Otherwise the concept of remote service has little meaning.


Hmmm.... no.

Are folks waiting for something from me? Rattle my chain if you are.

I'm behind on work as always and my schedule is heating up substantially as midterms approach, which is why I have not returned to this yet. My apologies. The main obstacle I have been encountering in putting together a plan for the infiltration has been Void's quirks, to be honest. He's the best infiltrator we have on our team, and his ability to perceive small things is on par with ZO's and slightly less than Professor's, and his memorization ability is also quite high. That has suggested to me that he should go into the apartment with ZO and/or Professor to improve the group's awareness and help them get inside. However, his personal background count is problematic, because it would severely hamper ZO's combat abilities and Professor's perception and memorization abilities if he was inside the apartment with them, as well as drastically reduce the Force of any spirit Jovan sent remotely to accompany and support them. Moreover, if Void infiltrated the apartment by himself, he would be in a vulnerable position of isolation from the others - the anti-wireless wallpaper inside the apartment will block any commlink communication, and even if Jovan can sneak a spirit or watcher inside through the FAB (which I have currently have two ideas on how to do), Void's BGC would likely just disrupt it.

I'm going to give this some more thought and get back to you in a few days. Does anyone have feedback or know of options I've missed in the meantime?

I will keep Professor out of IC runs as much as possible. It's your show, guys, and he will be the fixer/info man. If the team really thinks they need him, then he will take part.

Forgot about the Viper coms, I thought we ditched those. Zo already got rid of the commlink he used last night.