I'll let you try to grab something with an Agility + Reaction test.

Reaction( 8 ) + Agility(7) [5,4,6,3,5,2,5,2,4,2,2,6,1,6,3] = 6 hits
Throwing Weapons(2) + Agility(7) [1,6,4,1,1,2,2,5,3] = 2 hits

Um, it should be Angel

The hulking troll ducks down to charge forward into melee with Takako, in the process dodging the thrown object handedly (4 hits).

---------

Following, Takako's failed throw, Angel feels a dramatic shift in her natural connection to the ebb and flow of digital data. (Noise in the area has suddenly jumped up to 5 instead of the typical 1 in this area of the city)


---------
Everybody else can post up their actions for IP2.

Damn, I just can't seem to get my head on right this morning. I've updated the map correctly with Angel being invis, just typed it wrong here.

Flowers will tell the family, "Child, Cover" and indicate the back room. The walls probably provide more cover than the aisles.

Does Swims have LOS on the troll?

The woman seems to want to say some shit to you, but her husband apparently is able to calm her down enough to at least listen to you. She glares at you fiercely as she grabs the kid, who continues to wail, under one arm and holds a light pistol in her other hand. The family makes it to the end of the aisle on IP1, but not into the back.

No. You have at least 4 aisles of shelves in between you and the troll that block line of sight.

Ok cool. I thought maybe he was tall enough now that he towered over the shelves.

Swims IP2:
Simple Action: Switch vision to astral
Simple Action: Observe in detail

He's looking to see if anything's going on astrally with this guy.

You'd need to give me an Ascensing roll to really interpret what you are seeing. But through the grey shadowy forms of lifeless matter that are the shelves and whatever goods are on them, you can see that he is a troll in utter chaos. He's obviously magically active, but something is very wrong with his aura. It's bubbling and swirling around him almost as if something were swimming within it, if that were even possible.

Assensing funky troll: 4 hits

With that you notice tiny specs of lifeless matter scattered throughout the trolls form. You can't tell what they are or what they could be doing to him, but you can see that he is linked to a Shark Mentor Spirit that is thrashing its way through his order, sometimes seeming to attack at the mundane material within the body and sometimes fighting back the trolls aura itself. This appears to be what has deformed him beyond his natural form.

The troll seems to be in a great deal of emotional pain that is overwhelming most any sense of physical pain it might be suffering from.

Let's see....what else can you discover with 4 hits? Oh and his magic rating is 7.

Cool thanks.

Swims will wonder if what he sees is something he's heard about in legends passed down about spirits that possess or inhabitate a person.

KS: Magical Theory: 0 hits
Edge reroll: 2 hits

3 edge remaining

You've never heard of anything remotely like this and would guess that it may not be magical in nature because of how it's connected to the non-living/non-magical specks throughout the troll's body. Like the effects on the Mentor Spirit and the trolls aura are by-products of something else rather than the cause of the situation.

Heh - *whew* well that's a load off the mind, no inhabiation spirit or anything

Indeed.

Currently we are waiting on actions from Sledge and Angel (Who for some reason I keep wanting to type as Angle) in Pass 2.

Didn't realize Sledge was up.

So far it is just the troll going ape shit, right? Sledge is covering the back door, and since his team isn't answering his messages, and telling him what is going on, he will assist any patrons who make their way to the back for coverage. He will also lock the back door if it has any locking mechanism, in case the two gangers that had come in have any buddies.

Sorry for not answering Sledge's question.

Answered now!

Okay... I wanted to make sure he was on the same page as everyone. He has no idea what is going on up front. So right now he is waiting on direction, or something else to draw him to the front.

From here he can go to the cashiers, or sneak around outside to the front.

Sledge, please notice your position on the map at the start of IP2, and my earlier post to you. If you are sneaking, I am assuming you are walking rather than running. If you are walking, you don't quite make it to the doors marked "Employees Only" on Pass 2.

Only if you were running/not being very sneaky would you be able to get through those and then you would just barely reach the exterior door on Pass 2.

I was thinking he is moving to not draw attention, rather than actual sneaking like a ninja. He should be able to stay behind the aisle for cover, then move across the main alley more stealthful, then continue to the doors. Once there he will have to be extra sneaky.

I was thinking more of blending in, looking non aggressive, and let the action up front provide cover.

Anyways, I will go back and edit my IC.

IC EDIT COMPLETED.

Here is another set of rolls if needed:
6 Sneak + 6 Agility, 4 Con + 4 Charisma
4 Hits Sneak, 2 Hits Con

Gonna be off the grid until Sunday 8/4. Please robot me as appropriate. Goal is to lead the troll out if possible.

In case you wondering, he really was off grid, otherwise the IPS driver error would have been fixed in an hour.

Sorry for the delay... I needed to run up to Home Depot for a bigger hammer.

Sorry for the lack of updates, work is going crazy this week with a big re-org.

We still haven't heard from Thanee for Angel's actions in IP2, but I'm going to say she is head towards the back for cover/get away from the berserker troll (at least until we hear otherwise).

Unfortunately, I've somehow lost the file where i was tracking all of this, but I believe that was everybody for IP2.

IP 3 only the troll and Takako have actions.

The troll charges through the sludge to try slamming a shoulder into Takako's gut....he gets 7 hits. Hopefully Takako can get a good defense, because the base damage is 13P!

Since he told me to roll for him, I am....He only got 3 hits on defense.... I hate bad rolls when I am doing it for the player. I would have let him do an interrupt action to Block the attack with unarmed, but he doesn't have the 5 initiative score left to do that (he's currently at 2).

This means he needs to resist 17P damage from the attack. Rolling for him again....he only gets 6 hits on his defense and will take 11 boxes of physical damage.

So, unless he rolls Edge on one or both of these rolls when he gets back this Sunday (which I am certain he will want to do) he goes down like a moldy sack of potatoes and is bleeding out.

Following that brutal attack, Takako may or may not have a turn (if he takes 6 or more boxes of damage from that attack he will be reduced to 0 initiative from the wound modifiers).

Then its time for us to start a new combat turn with everybody rolling initiative again.

Sledge's Initiative: 11

I must say that is an awesome result on a +8

Sorry, have been really busy the past few days/weeks.

Angel will basically just back away further for now, yeah.

Bye
Thanee

That's ok. I understand. I've been super busy myself. BTW, did you catch that Angel felt a dramatic shift her connection to the Matrix (i.e Noise within the store jumped up quite a bit higher than typical for the sprawl making it more difficult for you to feel the Matrix).

Swims-With-Sharks: Initiative 21 (7 base + 14 rolled)

Actually... no.

Even after looking for it now, I couldn't find it... any hints where you posted that?

Bye
Thanee

This happened at the beginning of IP2.

Ok, I finally found it.

Once Angel is in a (reasonably) secure location, she will investigate that further.

One thing I am wondering... normally, when you go into VR, the body is in a similar state to being unconscious. Is that also true for Technomancers?

Bye
Thanee

Flowers Init (10 + 1d6=12)

p. 229 "Your body relaxes and your
meat senses are blocked, as though your body were
asleep."

Ok, so I guess AR is the better choice here...

Bye
Thanee

Please roll edge on the defense, then.,if still needed on the soak. (Posting from my phone)

Takako
Reaction(8 ) + Intuition(4) + Combat Sense(1) [1,2,3,5,5,1,4,3,2,1,6,4,3] = 3 hits
Reroll failures(10) with edge: [2,5,2,1,5,3,3,1,5,4] = +3 hits (Total of 6)

13P + 1 Net = DV14P

Body(4) + Armor(9) [5,1,5,2,4,3,5,2,4,4,6,6,1] = 5 hits
Edge Failures(8) [6,2,3,1,5,2,3,5] = 3 hits (total of 8)

Spent two edge; Takes 6P

Wow, that would've been a nasty hit - glad Takako (mostly) avoided it! Combat looks like it can get really deadly, really quickly...

What is the new turn order? Is it my turn? I dont want to be the one holding the game up!

I think I just had some bad rolls here. I should have been able to get out of the way and two bad rolls on that got me...

True true. 7 hits is pretty heavy, and your defense rolls could've been higher.

But still, I cringe to think of any of the rest of us having to defend against something like this

Sorry for the delay folks. Family vacation ran a bit long and kept me too busy to post. Still haven't gotten new Init rolls from Angel or Takako but to keep us moving I rolled for them.

Combat turn 2 Init order.

Takako
Off camera NPC
Mako
Swims-with-Sharks
Angel
Bob the supervisor
Off camera NPC 1
Off camera NPC 2
Running Doctor
Running Amy
Sledge
Dax the drunkard
Shi-Thead the wailing kid who rolled max init like it will even matter
Jerry the dad
Shelly the clerk
Fontine the mom
Whiskers the punk that has pissed himself

The StufferShack map should be updated now.
Sledge has made it too the back door and can check it when his turn comes up. He does notice that there is a warning label that declares that an alarm will sound if it is opened by unauthorized personelle (a registered employee commlink would not cause any alarm).

The family has likewise made it to the back room, with Flowers currently covering the "Employees Only" door they just went through.

Angel has made it to the food prep area and likely considers that secure enough considering she's invisible to switch over to VR if she wants to do so on her turn.

Looks like that is secure enough for the time being. Angel will drop behind the counter then, to be out of sight, in case the invisibility will fade.

Bye
Thanee

Is there a registered employee around Sledge?

Only registered employees you've seen have been the supervisor who ran to the office near the front and the cashier who is hiding underneath the register at the front of the building.

The alarm goes if I open the door, right. I will just lock it, and direct traffic to hide behind the freezers.

Yep, that's what the sign on the door says. You going to be staying by the back door or moving to be behind the freezers with the NPCs?

No. Once the door is secure I will move toward the register/office to help the employees get to cover, thus giving myself access to the front.