Amanda thinks quickly then says "Hai" into the mike, using the guard leader's voice before turning to Spriggan. "I need help to make me look like this second man. I am going to change my face and torso to match his, so can you get me his pants and shirt?" In less than a minute, her chest is flat and her face and hair alter to look exactly like the man on the floor. While this is happening, she is putting on the clothes of the man. "Thanks. Keep listening on the channel and be ready to jump in with some magic to create an illusion to allow me to escape if things go south. Now wish me luck. Oh wait." She quickly bends over the man and looks at his hands, noting the missing pinky finger on one. "Damn. Almost forgot that. You will need to craft the illusion of a missing finger."

Amanda shakes her arms then settles into the role of a Yakuza soldier. She has had dealings with the criminal organization in the past and has observed how the soldiers act in the presence of their superiors. She will have to trust that her knowledge is enough to get her through. Slipping the dart pistol into an outer pocket of the man's jacket, she slips it on and walks out to the front of the villa to meet his boss. Fortunately, she expects that the boss will do all of the talking and relies a bit on the greatest illusion of all; that the man will see what he expects to see.

@Mercy - you should put the above post into the IC thread!

Great stuff!

Success or failure here at of course an Impersonation test and possibly a Con test depending on what happens will obviously be more than critical for you guys.

I'm going to hold off on a resolution/IC post until I confirm Spriggan casts the spell and see how many successes.

Then I'll be able to roll the bad guys' resist, and after that let you know your modifiers for the Impersonation test. Obviously there will be bonuses for your various appearance-changing and mimickry ware/abilities, but I'll need to see the success of the spell to determine the final mods....

LOL Yeah, it so belongs in the IC post. Added it there.

I am hoping that the guys will buy into the illusion because it is what they expect to see. The boss might just be so busy with his own project that he pays little attention to his subordinate. Hey, a girl can hope, right?

I usually appreciate good arguments like that and add an appropriate dice pool bonus.

But he didn't get to be a top Yakuza enforcer in 6th World Seattle by being stupid or lazy-minded, or ignorant of the various sorts of threats that are out there.

Once we hear from Aria on the spell....

Ok, Spriggan would have done some ‘buffing’ prior to ‘going in to battle’ having learnt from her jaunt into the Glow!

So, improved Charisma Force 7! Drain 4P 12d6t5: 5 [12d6t5=3, 2, 3, 5, 4, 1, 6, 4, 6, 5, 3, 6] capped at +4 Cha
Drain 10+4D 14d6t5: 6 [14d6t5=2, 3, 4, 4, 5, 2, 4, 6, 1, 6, 5, 5, 6, 1] no drain
Spell sustaining penalty is taken care of with Heightened Concentration

She had one service left from her Fc4 air spirit (assuming she could use conceal and movement on her and Lady T as a single service which I believe is possible?!)…but actually she may as well roll for a new one for a more dangerous adventure!

Summoning 8D +2D Air Force 5 10d6t5: 2 [10d6t5=5, 3, 2, 1, 2, 3, 6, 2, 4, 4]
Spirit Resist 5d6t5: 1 [5d6t5=6, 1, 3, 4, 4] one service
Drain 14d6t5: 2 [14d6t5=4, 2, 5, 6, 2, 4, 2, 4, 4, 2, 1, 1, 4, 2] no drain

Now some spellcasting

2x Improved Invisibility 12D +2D Illusion (knock 2D of second) Force 4 Drain 3 14d6t5: 5 [14d6t5=1, 5, 3, 1, 1, 6, 1, 2, 4, 1, 6, 5, 3, 5] & 6 [14d6t5=2, 2, 6, 4, 2, 5, 5, 2, 5, 1, 5, 5, 6, 1]
2x Drain 14d6t5: 4 [14d6t5=4, 5, 1, 3, 1, 5, 4, 4, 4, 6, 2, 4, 6, 2] & 3 [14d6t5=6, 4, 2, 2, 1, 2, 6, 4, 3, 5, 3, 4, 2, 3] no drain

Now dropping ImpInvis on Lady T, cast Physical Mask Force 4 Drain 3 14d6t5: 8 [14d6t5=1, 4, 6, 5, 6, 1, 6, 6, 3, 6, 3, 1, 6, 6]
Drain 14d6t5 7 [14d6t5=2, 5, 2, 6, 4, 6, 3, 2, 6, 1, 5, 5, 6, 2]

From the OoC this is more of a gloss to her ‘actual’ appearance than a full-blown mask so hopefully the low force will be enough, 8 hits capped at 4

Okay - Physical Mask is a pretty powerful and effective disguise if it works, especially since Tanya's various appearance changing implants have done a lot of the work already. So I'm going to double your net successes as a pool mod for Tanya's impersonation test.

Adding that into various situational mods, RAW mods, and some other stuff I thought was fair to toss in for her impressive investment in cool mods, I eyeball her pool for this test at 26 dice (saw some other stuff on her sheet that might argue for more).

So I am just forced to call the Impersonation attempt as a huge success in her favor, initially.

And depending on what happens, it will stay that way, but there's one weak point in the plan - the dialect Japanese vs. her rudimentary skill in the language. She passed the test to undestand and make a simple answer on their comm net, but if the people she is with need a long response or issue complicated instructions, a situation like that will need 3 or 4 successes, depending, and still be at the -2 dice pool mod.

Con tests may come up if she tries to convince these guys of anything weird besides her identity.

I'll put up an initial IC for the first meeting with the incoming guys...

@RaiderJ - nice post.

Yah, really enjoyed reading that one!

Thanks. I wad worried I made it too sappy. Maybe thats ok though. Putting your past behind you should be a big deal.

Nice post Raider.

IC post up that covers the couple rolls we had done and slows things down some.

@JD - great!

@Mercy - I was surprised as I read your IC post - and dismayed in a way - that you used the yak's ‘link to download the language soft, etc. Had assumed you’d use your own head ware - which would have been a fatal misstep in here.

Many more potential pitfalls ahead, but nice job sidestepping that one!

I have another big chunk of a post to toss up for Rave's excursion away from the safehouse, but I'll toss it up in Rave's thread as its not totally finished and I thought it more prudent to keep the DES thread on track

Sweet - I'll look forward to reading that whenever you get to it!

And nice one bringing back all that data you mined a million years of RL time ago - that should make the next discussion more interesting once Revenant and Rocky are in the room!

I'd better do some kind of sneak roll I guess, I've not added any situational mods in here (traceless walk is a mod to their perception check I believe?!?), so mod as needed

6d6t5: 1 [6d6t5=6, 1, 3, 4, 3, 2]

Well, one success is a success.

I hate to be easy, but the thing is, you're invisible, and you're not moving or otherwise trying to bypass some sort of guard, and they're not really looking for you.

So given all that, one success does it, I think.

@safehouse group - okay, I've given you what info D-Pop has, and transferred the information Vegas figured out in her thread over to this one, since she said she would share it at the meeting.

So there's plenty for you to think and talk about.

@all - okay, I am off to Japan for a week. Plan, converse, flashback, otherwise RP, and I'll be back in seven or eight days.

Oh this is fun. John can't perceive manifested mages ^^

Enjoy your trip.

Hey, Aria, got any ideas on how to get us out of this intact with the mission a success? I have some thoughts, but most of them end in violence. Are you able to support a combat scenario by keeping some of the enemy isolated from the battle by illusions? Or any other ideas?

It seems that we are about a full day ahead of the other group.

Nothing springing to mind bit frazzled so I'll try and come up with something overnight...

Off for my next vacation. I expect to have internet access but it is not guaranteed.

I will be back on the 31st.

I am thinking of making this a real hum-dinger of a ploy. Early thought is that the boss thinks the others don't need dinner so it is just him and Tanaka (me). I lure him in to try the gyoza and pour the boiling oil on his head and face then whack him with the wok. You drop the illusion as I change my face to that of one of the first guys we knocked out. I can yell for help and say that Tanaka has killed the boss and has done a runner out the back. In the confusion I can isolate a couple more of the guards and try to dart them. Perhaps I can change my face a couple of times as I get closer to the back bedroom. I will likely need some help with illusions at key moments and almost certainly at the door to the bedroom. Get in and neutralize the trix wizards.

Pretty bare bones and still working on the details, but do you think it might work if we are bold enough? I am looking at your illusions as a key element. So, what can you do to help the scenario? Or do you have a better plan? I am open to suggestion.

I was thinking the classic 'create illusory foe between them and let them shoot each other' but I'm happy to run with whatever...! Are we able to communicate while wifi dark by the way? Otherwise there's going to be quite a lot of guesswork in this

I hope you don't mind somebody butting in from off thread .... Seldom have I seen a situation more perfectly suited to the accident power (to get the ball rolling, before all the other tricks), at least IMO.

I don't know how good Spriggan's summoning is, or how much edge she has (Accident is kind of terrible in fifth since it is resisted by the initiative stats, so edge would probably be needed to get any chance at a critical glitch.). But I think it would be perfect for creating that initial confusion

LOL I do not mind others getting their two nuyen in. And, yes, I think we can communicate by the subvocal micorphones I bought us at the black market place. We each have one and should be able to talk via them. Am I correct in this assumption?

Perhaps an illusion of Tanaka running about after I change to someone else? That way he could show up in several places and keep the guards moving about.

The only flaw is Spriggan doesn't speak Japanese so he might manage commands in accented English but it might be a bit odd...

The illusions would only need to be visual. At the point they are needed, it will be human nature to believe something that does not appear to be completely wrong. With luck, their boss will be dead and some confusion will exist. Even if we can gain an advantage for just a few seconds, it might be enough to let us act first or by surprise. For example, you can have an illusion wave its arms to motion for others to follow. If you do that after placing a finger to your lips in the well know visual indicator for silence, such a motion is likely to be believed and perhaps followed, even if for just a few seconds. An illusion of a bloody body will attract the eyes away from us as we do something. An illusion of a couple of grenades rolling on the floor to a small group of people guarding a door will get them to at least jump away and be distracted from the real threat, especially if accompanied by a real flash-bang. That is the sort of illusions I am thinking of.

Yes, microtranceivers can work independent of the matrix (wifi-dark).

There are other EW countermeasures in existence, of course.....

@Mercy/Aria

Okay, bumped the thread a bit.

Just a word of caution for moving forward - now with the translate-ear Tanya will be able to basically understand everything she hears. But the rules are specific that it doesn't help speech...

Any verbal communication by Tanya besides stuff you might learn in a first-year Japanese class (any complex grammatical constructions, any subject matter besides very general day-to-day chat) will only be coherent with a roll, not forgetting the -2 dialect penalty if you want to sound like a yak.

Yeah, the number of successes is subjective, depending on complexity...if you get a great roll, just speak, cool. Marginal roll, you might want to wait for a ruling on what you want to say. Once the IC post is up, you do risk the next IC post being something along the lines of "what the hell kind of gibberish is that?" accompanied by anti-social behavior.

@Main team -

okay, looks like a lot of planning has gone on.

So just to be clear - Jack, you did actually send that message to the Koreans, right?

Also, Rocky won't fit in that Valkyrie module unless it's been troll-modified.
Since you've already ICed the offer and i hate retconning IC posts, you could always pay the modification charge and upgrade on your sheet.


Moving ahead to actual action - seems like you guys are headed down to the warehouse area for some more in-depth recon...

I think we have at least Revenant, Rocky, and Vexboy going...

Obviously pros and cons to doing that with a larger group...

So I am not going to offer any more info on the site until I am a bit more clear on who is going and what they are looking for/doing there.

Feel free to clarify that IC or OOC.
Anyone I don't hear from soon, no worries - someone should mind the fort anyway.


Finally, bear in mind I don't think you've yet ascertained anything about the timeline for the exchange, so it literally could happen at any time as far as you know....

Welcome back adamu, I hope you had a good trip.

Valkyrie Module is one size fits all as far as I can see - at least there are no rules to modify its size. If you tell me what to pay, I'll do it.

And yes, the message was sent - for better or for worse.
Honestly, I had no idea whatsoever how i could dictate the time for the exchange while also dictating the place (which I think was more important)

So it's stake-out time

As for the timing, that comment wasn't related to your message, which was fine.
I was just reminding you all of the uncertainty/remaining riddle.

As for the Valkyrie, isn't there a blanket +50% charge to mod any piece of gear for proper use by dwarf or troll?
That's actually getting off pretty easy, considering you want to have a huge troll reclining somewhere in the back of a vehicle like a Morgan.

I'll try to get an IC up with more details of the site you are going to as soon as I get a few minutes - but don't wait for me if anyone wants to post onward.

I can try and get some info on the time, rather than send an extra body to the packed recon. Did we have a lead to follow up?

Well, if you go back a few IC posts, there are a couple that fully detail Rave's findings on the timing of past transactions.

Brought the link forward for you guys, now that this will (more likely, if your plan works) be the actual site.

As detailed a few IC posts ago, the site itself (based on the address Jan provided) is the old auto service place in the center (larger structure on left, smaller on right), and that's now burned out. Nothing physical securing it but tattered old police tape. The buildings are too damaged to ever be secure, so no locks. But those are pretty low structures anyway - only two stories, and no roofs on the second stories.

The two logistics centers (the former Costco and Home Depot) to the north and south both would provide good elevation on the target site - they are equivalent to about four stories (about 15 meters). Both are in operation, and there are indeed locks aplenty if you want to pick one - see upcoming IC post.

I'm going to focus on the two big buildings - but if you need details of any other structures on the map (or if there is something in particular you are hoping to find), I can decide on/come up with that if asked.

EDIT: Okay, the IC should help you get an idea if you want to get into any locks or whatever, or perhaps have other thoughts on how you want to proceed.

Sorry for the delayed response all, that vacation stuff getting in the way.

If it makes things easier Rocky would have been happy to stay at the safe house and rest. I misunderstood that this was a recon run and not everyone rolling out. If its to late to back out I'm fine with that as well and Rocky will stay with the vehicle or close to it but out of sight.

I think either way is fine by me - just let me know which way you want to go.

Seems like you prefer not to go - I am just going to edit the word 'trio' out of my last IC.

But if you change your mind cool - just let me know soon.

Nope Rocky will pass on the recon run and will try to get some rest. I'll see if I can edit my post when I get some time.

So are we ready for the next step in the Tanya/Spriggan thread? I do not want to go too fast or try to cover too much ground, but I am ready to go into violence mode, unless Aria has other ideas?

Gymnastics roll I have assisted climbing for distance in meters. 1 meter per hit for 6 meters.

Gymnastics Climbing: 18d6t5 6

Climbing(Movement): Climbing: 17d6t5 5 [17d6t5=1, 6, 5, 4, 3, 5, 5, 2, 4, 2, 4, 4, 5, 4, 4, 2, 3]

Slightly slower
But I guess the building is higher than 6 m, so another roll to see who gets there first

Climbing: 18d6t5 10

This isn't flying... This is climbing... With STYLE.

Climbing: 17d6t5 4 [17d6t5=3, 6, 1, 5, 1, 1, 3, 1, 3, 4, 2, 6, 6, 4, 2, 4, 3]
Alright, you win. John is the rotten meat bag

Its very IRONic. Geddit?

@Jack & Raider -

I need to know exsctly which building you are ciimbing (and what face) before I can proceed...

Probably time for some slow motion posting. I did not want to go too fast and make assumptions I would have to go back and edit. Lots of things, good and bad, are probably about to happen. Will our intrepid duo survive against 15 to 2 odds? Stay tuned to these threads for the next exciting installment.

Good question.
The answer is: That side and building that seems to be the tactically most advantage for us to see into both loading areas and without being seen from the ground.
If there is no such place, we can split up to cover both.

If you could give me a visual aid I might be able to give you a better answer

@Mercy/Aria

Wok + knife...a nasty combo...

Yeah, things will go to "combat time" (initiative, complex/simple/free actions) as soon as people start hurting each other...at this very moment though I think Spriggan will have a few seconds for some initial 'set-up' actions to have been done while Tanya cooked/chatted, etc.

Well, there's the link to the Google Earth image....and you won't be able to see what exactly awaits you on the roof until you get there...and I've tried to give as many details as possible also in the IC and OOC posts.

If you have specific questions, I am happy to also answer those.

I'll be posting again in the next hour or so, and at that time if I don't hear otherwise I am happy to pick the building for you based on your characters' knowledge and the parameters you've stated.

Talk again soon,
Adam

Ok, more specific then:

- I'd prefer a facade with good hand/foot holds and without illumination that would reveal our two spider man wannabes
- The roof where we are most likely to find no activity from guards going up for a smoke (so not the one where we can see a guy with a glowing cigarette standing at the edge and looking around)
- If the facade is the same on all sides, we take the one on the river, where we are less likely to be noticed from the street
- If all things equal, I'll prefer the southern building to climb - just because.