I agree. While Agility vs. Intuition makes a good debate in this case, Riggers are already stretched thin with all the requisite skills, attributes, and, resources they need to actually pull off being a good Rigger.

I would have had a hard time putting together a Face/Rigger hybrid like Grease, for fear of being too spread out with his talents. Many Hybrid character builds lose there effectiveness trying to pick up too many abilities at once. Dr. Z deserves a bit of credit for putting together a versatile character who is still very playable.

Ok - here we go

I am assuming everything that you have running wireless is running silent.

Amy's Invisibility Spell
14d6.hits(5)=4 - reduced to 3 hits by force

13d6.hits(5)=6 - No Drain

Jack's Stealth
9d6.hits(5)=1
Amy's Stealth
4d6.hits(5)=0
Grease's Stealth (for Rhex)
10d6.hits (5)=4
Overkill's Stealth
7d6.hits(5)=4

Edge anyone?

I can't use Edge on this test... you roll (for me) like shit, BTW.

Whoops - that's right - can't Edge skillwires tests. Sorry Jack, it is Invisible Castle that hates you, not I.

Anyone else going to spend Edge?

Looks like we will have to wait for a bit, since the only person I can see using Edge would be Amy, and Chrome won't log in for a while.

Now would be a good time to ask:

1) Jack, are you carrying your SMG, or is it slung?
2) Overkill, since I am assuming you aren't carrying all that equipment on you, are you carrying the SMG or the MP? Is it in your hands? What ammo are they currently loaded with?

That can't be good..

Don't worry guys; if you all get killed, I'm just going to collect on what we've already found from Ramirez, and go back to fixing cars / picking up taxi fares.

-DrZ

Yes, aside from the hardware and software being incredibly expensive, skillsoft comes with the added feature of removing good luck from the equation.
I like to think of the Azzie Execs in charge of the JACK program as being similar to the execs in the original Robocop or Justin Hammer from Iron Man 2. I imagine JACK V was probably the version where they tested whether a skillwire monofilament whip user was a good idea (thus moving on to JACK VI once the inevitable happened).

Jack would have had his SMG readied to rock and roll.

On the bright side, I have not rolled for anyone to see you yet. It is possible that with the Concealment power of the spirit will make their dice pools so low they don't get one success

Hmm... who is the defender in this case?

It is Stealth vs Perception - so the defender is the three guys in track suits.

As an aside, if Amy does not use her Edge, and any one of the three men manage to resist her Invisibility Spell, they automatically see her, and potentially Jack. (I'll tell you that with the Conceal power, none of them have a chance of seeing Overkill or Rhex)

If she does use her Edge, then a single success on their Perception test will spot Jack (and of course, if they resist the Invisibility spell, they still have a chance to spot Amy, depending on how many hits she gets on the reroll.)

Jack - can you put up an IC post showing the car arriving, dropping you off, and the progress of the group through the trees? Leave it at something like, "The group had to cross a gap in the treeline, potentially exposing them to the view of the thugs at the firepit."? I would, but I just got a pile of work dumped on me, so I'll be busy for an hour or so.

Yeah, I can handle that, no problem.

The SMG is (was) slung, loaded with explosive ammo. The MP is in its holster loaded with Stick and Shock Ammo, with my hand at the ready.

His Are Crusader II MP is the standard weapon he always carries, as its the same size as a handgun.

Edit: Unless Jack had given an indication to keep weapons at the ready, (which may be given that Jack has his weapon out...) in which case he would have his SMG pulled.

So to end the wishy-washiness on the matter, his SMG is out.

Yes, it apparently does: Sneaking Test (Just to see if IC hates me): Sneak (4) + Agility (5) (9d6.hits(5)=2)

I think this is payback because my other character is finally rolling well. I tracked her rolls and for a while, she statistically needed 4 dice to generate 1 success for a long, long time.

With Jack's one success and Amy rolling only 4 dice, I don't see a good reason to use my only edge on this. I'll just rely on the Invisibility to hold. Somebody will probably spot Jack anyway.

If they do, I'd like to try to perceive it and rapidly cast Phantasm as I had planned to do in an emergency situation.

Well, -5 dice is a huge penalty for perception. Factor in some other penalties they may be facing for distance and they may not have any dice to roll.

Says the guy who only got one hit on his nine dice sneaking test.

I'm gonna be out of pocket for an hour or so, FYI. RHex's orders are to protect his team at all costs.

Ok.

So, first things first - do the three resist the Invisibilty Spell

6d6.hits(5)=3, 6d6.hits(5)=2, 6d6.hits(5)=0

So one does.

Now, Amy got 0 successes on her sneak test. Technically, she has to beat the opposed Perception test.

Due to various factors, (The spirit's conceal power being the primary one), the three men have 0 dice to roll for their Perception test.

Just to walk you through the numbers:

Int 3
Perception 3
Object stands out (no one else is moving around the park at 3:00 AM) +2
Distracted -2
Object Not in immediate vicinity -2
Concealment Power -5
Dim Light would be -3, but is cancelled by Low Light glasses.

So, their dice total is -1.

I've asked on the official forums, but for right now, I'm going to assume that if they can't actually roll any dice due to the modifiers, if you don't glitch on the stealth test, then you beat them.

Go ahead and post IC what you guys are doing now, assume you make it to the ARO without being detected.

Near the ARO, is there any terrain for cover? Bush, trees, rocks, high grass?

Is there any way for me to scan to see if the commlinks down there are still functioning?

Under the assumption that the grave site is located in a copse of trees, I'll go ahead and post IC setting everyone up.

Stingray apparently had it way easier than us, LOL.

1) Yes, it is in a copse of trees.
2) Yes you can, it would be a Matrix Perception test (8 dice) - 2 for running silently, -4 Noise (which your datajack and Signal Scrub would reduce to a -1 penalty) for a total of 5 dice. Would you like to try it?
3) Just an FYI:

Jack
6d6.hits(5)=1

Overkill
11d6.hits(5)=2

Grease sees where Amy is, since Invisibility doesn't work on his sensors. Jack and Overkill failed to overcome the invisibility spell, and so they don't know exactly where Amy is.

Also, this came to me just now, and so since I forgot it, no reason to punish the group for it - just bear it in mind for next time.

Grease may indeed by able to control his drone very stealthily, driving it between trees and maintaining a low profile. It does, however, have an engine, whose noise would stand out in the middle of the night at a park. So, again, we'll skip it for now, but for next time, that might be enough of a bonus on their perception test for them to spot it.

I can let people see me, it's a mana spell. THis might even be possible with physical spells but I'm not as certain.

I never saw that before. I looked on page 290 under Mana Illusions, and 291 under the Invisibility spell - I even checked on page 282 for the difference between Physical and Mana spells. I can't seem to find where it says that.

Any idea where it says that you can pick which people are affected and which aren't?

Honestly, the only thing I've ever seen is that you aren't affected by your own illusions, so if you cast Invisibility on someone else, you would be able to see them no problem.

Hehe I was posting IC and realized I hadn't rolled dice yet. Silly me.


Hmm, maybe it's just a house rule I'm used to and/or something from a past edition, I apologize for making it sound like it's RAW. My reasoning is that since it's a spell that affects the minds of those who look upon it, and I'm the one creating said spell, I can probably, at least at the moment of casting, determine that some people won't be affected. But this logic isn't perfect either, and logic clashes with rules anyway. Also with the same logic I think a mana-based area combat spell would be a bit too good if you could hand pick affected targets. Maybe that's why they have a worse drain code only for area spells though, hmmm... I almost feel like going to post on the main board with this idea.

Anyway, you're right there doesn't seem be any clear rule one way or the other, so pick whatever you prefer.

----

Now back to summoning a new spirit. Earth Spirit F5, optional power: Concealment.
12d6.hits(5)=5

Spirit resists
5d6.hits(5)=2

Drain 4S
13d6.hits(5)=6

Damn those are amazing rolls again. 3 services owed.

I'm going to say that it affects everyone - so right now Jack and Overkill can't see where you are. (Jack, not sure if you want to go back and amend your IC post, as you wouldn't have known when Amy got across - you could put in something like Grease sent you a text that she was over - not a big deal, do it if you feel bored )

Ok, so sequence-wise, Amy has to dismiss the Spirit of Man, which will void your Concealment, then summon the Spirit of Earth, and then tell it to Conceal you again. (Assuming that is what you want.)

This means you become visible for a moment or two before the Concealment power takes effect.

ETA - this would mean you can (before she does this) make another Stealth test, and their Perception test would look like this:

Int 3
Perception 3
Distracted -2
Object Not in immediate vicinity -2
Dim Light would be -3, but is cancelled by Low Light glasses.

So, you would lose the benefit of Concealment, but they would lose the benefit of "Object standing out" - since you would all be sitting still.

I edited my original OP a while ago stating that we couldn't see her. Jack probably would have been marking time and guessed when he was good to go. I'm okay with it if everyone else is.

I would have thought it would have some high-density futuristic energy cells powering an electric motor, making it very quiet; that's at least my argument for it being inherently stealthy.

-DrZ

If you are good with it, I'm good with it.

Yeah - not really sure about this. Could go either way - hopefully would be addressed in Run and Gun.

I just edited my post as well to include the fact that Jack may not see her. My post also has a link for the appearance of the spirit, if that's okay.

You should all roll to resist the spell: Log + Wil (3)

Well, obviously I'm biased

One thing I'll add, is from the "signature" table for sensor detection

Metahumans: -3
Drones: -3
Micro-Drones (I imagine the Fly-Spy, etc.): -6

-DrZ

ETA: What am I rolling Chrome? Is it a Physical or Mental spell? I think I'm ok not knowing exactly where you are, but I think since I'm seeing through RHex I may roll something else.

@Amy - I rolled before for Jack and Overkill, they can't see you, and since it is a Mana spell, it doesn't affect Grease, since he is seeing you through Rhex's sensors.

@Everyone else, I'm assuming you are all sitting still waiting for the spirit to find what it is looking for?

Yes that's what I'm doing. But mostly I'm looking everywhere else to see or hear movement from someone that could have spotted us.

Yup, Jack has set up a firing position and has been taking consecutive Take Aim actions at one of the Guidokuzas for as long as he is allowed, using his Vision Mag enhancement in his helmet to eliminate one level of range modifier. He will share with the group via text which target he has selected, in case Grease wants to do something awesome like do an Active Sensor lock on one of the others.

ETA: Note to self, I need an Assault Rifle. This SMG range is for the birds.

Ok, so to search for the item, it is a Magic + Intuition test (5) with a base time of 10 minutes.

10d6.hits (5)=4
10d6.hits (5)=2

So it will take the spirit about 20 minutes to find the commlinks and return them to you.

For right now, let's deal with that in 10 minute increments. Is anyone doing anything in the next 10 minutes IC and wants to post it? If not, you can post (as Jack and Amy did above) what you are doing here, and I'll put up an IC post.

ETA - so when I say "anyone", I guess I mean Overkill and Grease

To be fair, it is for room clearing, not park clearing

So reviewing everyone's character sheets, we have one suppressed AR, one suppressed SMG, and one supressed Machine Pistol. This should be fun, LOL. If we need to do a takedown, the best bet would be for Rhex to fire at the dude still at the firepit, Jack fires at one of the walkers and Overkill fires at the other. The problem being that they'll have to be really close for Overkill to have a decent chance. Amy could also double up and cast Clout at one of them. With that said, I'm not sure if any of us but Rhex could do a single shot takedown given the DVs of our weapons.

ETA: Actually, Rhex could possibly snipe the guy by the firepit first without the other two walkers noticing it, meaning he could also attack the walkers.

EATA: We also have Amy's Phantasm option. In all honesty, that might IC seem like the best option (since we don't know IC that she would have to maintain it for 10 more minutes). It could be a little less crazy than originally suggested, Phantasm is multi-sensory from what I remember, so she could just have the spell create strange noises from a certain area of the woods and the Guidokuzas could go investigate it. Not sure if it would hold up for 10 minutes, but who knows?

Since there isn't really any penalty for him to try this, can you roll it for him? I feel like it got lost in the action.

Sure:

5d6.hits(5)=2

You do not see an icon for any commlinks.

If Jack has indicated in character that he'd like Grease to target one of the goons, RHex will use active-sensors to lock onto a target. I am presuming this is not something that someone can notice (i.e. it's not like in a fighter jet, where they start hearing alarm bells).

Man, AR choices in 5e kind of suck, even with Gun H(e)aven 3. Other than the Ares Alpha (and the obviously broken Rainforest Carbine), most of them seem less than stellar. I really can't get over the number of ARs in GH3 that don't have FA capability. I guess I'll get a Colt M23 and mod it. Too bad the DV sucks. I could go AK, but that's so ghetto (I'm surprised Grease would bring himself to put one on RHex, to be honest. LOL)

ETA: I think all I did was mark my target with an ARO on our map overlay. At this point, Jack is presuming (possibly incorrectly) that the others would target different opponents.

Only if their tracksuits had radar warning receivers - which will not be available until Run and Gun.

Damnit! Because I would have totally tried to loot one of those and have someone make the Hardware test to change ownership on it.

Possible strategies.

We need to take them down instantly if we're going for the shooting. Amy's only option for physical damage is much too loud (CRAAA POW Lightning Ball). She does have a single target option to do stun damage from range, however, but don't expect high damage from it. She'll be better utilized casting Mass Confusion to reduce their dodge, shooting, and perception dice pools, in case of confrontation. If you're confident in your shooting, that might be our best bet, but there's also the problem of sound. Sound suppressing is nice, but if we can hear their voices from that distance, someone might hear the shooting. Also, reinforcements are likely to arrive sooner or later anyway.

Amy does have other tricks however. Influence on one (or both) of them could divert them. One might be certain that something needs their immediate attention on the other end of the park, for example. But it will probably make them suspicious after the few minutes the spell lasts.

Phantasm, as suggested earlier, could create a specific threat or event that would bring them towards it. It lasts for as long as I want though it has to remain within my line of sight. I can even cast mass confusion first, and then Phantasm, so that there's no way for them to resist, and they may think the source of the confusion is the same as the threat that is created. It's relatively fool proof, but again won't last forever, especially if they call for reinforcements. Maybe the right choice will divert them for a while without making them suspicious.

I think Phantasm is worth a shot.

ETA: I was typing when Jack suggested it

ETA2: We can easily discuss this IC with subvocal.

Grease [the character, not the "character"] had to be extremely economical in his choices, which lead to the AK. I'd prefer to have a stable of dobermans, a few rotodrones, etc. The Face/Rigger is not cheap, especially when you want to have a backup car for tooling around. I could have gotten the van of shame (i.e. the GMC Bulldog) but I have *some* self respect.

I was honestly surprised by how many autosoft you took, but I see the reason for it. Some people are actually playing with the presumption that you can buy one and just copy it.

OK, going to post IC. To be honest, they may not even spot us.

@Lobo: If they follow the path, how closely would it take them to our position?

5 meters or so