1) Yeah, I think he would deploy it.
2) Noted. What kind of lock is on the door (or is it visible). Also... visible cameras?

ETA: He also has a microskimmer with an olfactory sensor as well.

1) Ok - I'll post something to that effect.
2) No visible cameras, no.

I don't think we have any B&E skills, so short of breaking down the door, I'm not sure how we can get in (without Overkill's help). I guess we could try and trick the building superintendent into letting us in, but that seems like it's going to end up in a call to Lone Star, which I don't think we want. (at least not while in the vicinity).

That's a pretty big skill missing on our team.. no one has locksmith, not even at 1.

Maybe Jack could invest in buying a skillsoft for it

Yup, that an an autopicker and I could be OK. Then again, most locks seem to require multiple skills, so who knows. If Overkill were here, he could hack it and control device on it to open the door.

While I hate to agree with you (from a storytelling point of view) - it would seem you are correct.

Btw, it is a an old fashioned lock (this is an old building). Most newer buildings would have Maglocks that require a card.

Meaning that Overkill can't help us out on this, LOL.

ETA: Leaving for a lunch meeting in about 20 minutes. We can head back to Nic's unless Grease latches on to the fire alarm attempt for some reason.

One other thought, up to you.

Your Agility is 3, so a Locksmith test which you spend a point of Edge would let you roll 7 dice with exploding 6's. Not sure if that is worth it for you.

If not, then I'll send us back to Nic's.

I think my Agility is 5, but Locksmith is a No Default skill. As good as Edge is, I don't think it lets you attempt a No Default skill.

ETA: I also think I would need, at a minimum, a lockpicking set ("They are necessary tools for picking locks") or at least get the -4 penalty for Tools Unavailable under the B/R chart.

You are right of course (you Agility is 3 base, but 5 with enhancements).

And Locksmith is apparently one of the only Agility based skills that are no default.

Ok - I'll put an IC post up getting you back to Nic's.

But before I do, Amy and Chrome are basically out of it until like 5:30. Should I skip ahead to that point? What are Grease and Jack going to be doing?

Oh wait, we had mentioned swinging by the park on our way back to check it out and see what the layout is like to help us pick out good vantage points, etc.

Unless that is going to involve any interaction, you can roll it into the return to Nic's post. I don't think we really have anything else planned as far as I am aware. You can probably just advance it.

Heading out for my meeting. Should be back in two hours or so, then out again an hour or two later.

Okay, added an overview to the drop box.

In the meantime, the dais from which they will be speaking will be between the baseball diamonds. Approach from the west is limited to Bridge 1 (unless people want to wade across that stream) and approach from the northeast is limited to Bridge 2 (again, unless they want to go swimming).

Distance from the dais to Houses A is about 270 meters, Houses B is about 370 meters, and Houses C is about 300 meters.

The zoomed in map shows that they have security posts 1 and 2 that will handle security of the main parking lot - which is where Chomsky and guests will enter.

The purple line shows the ring of volunteers around the dais, and security posts 3 and 4 are at the bridges.

IC post up shortly.

So, IC is down right now, but here is how I did the disguise.

Since I didn't think he was being super elaborate, I rated the test as a Extended test Average difficulty, with an Interval of 10 minutes.

For Amy's disguise, it took Grease 50 minutes to finish, and for Overkill, it took a full hour.

He then got to add 1/2 the threshold (up to a max of 4 die) to the disguise test.

For Amy:

Int 3 + Disguise 3 + Bonus 4 and got 4 hits.

For Overkill

Int 3 + Disguise 3 + Bonus 4 and also got 4 hits.

Not that it matters over much, but Jack does have a disguise skillsoft. He may be able to help if it can be considered a teamwork test (4 dice).

I actually had thought about that, but I had Grease do it alone, it didn't seem like something he would want help on (I think he likes the idea of choosing what Overkill and Amy look like) - or at least that's my interpretation.

That works for me. The scene is better that way it's written in any event.

ETA: Let me know if any of my assumptions were wrong.
- I was thinking that the parking lot would be where most of the people would be coming from, but I wasn't sure. Are we actually expecting most of the crowd from the two bridges?
- Where exactly is the crowd going to be? At first I thought at the bottom, but if it's big enough I guess it could be in the baseball fields.
- I'm a little confused by the ring of volunteers. Does that basically demarcate the edges of the stage?

Added a question to Amy in my IC post.

Your assumptions are spot on

Ok, to try and clear some stuff up. Think of the parking lot to the south of the stage as "backstage" People coming from the south won't be allowed there, and they will be funneled to the north to the baseball field where they will be for the rally.

People coming from the west, east, and north will stop in the baseball fields - the crowd will basically be on the north, east, and west sides of the purple ring.

The purple line is not really the stage, per se (it is a little too big for that) but it is a ring of volunteers keeping people away from the stage (no one would be allowed inside that purple ring except for staff, basically.)

Does that help?

Have some unexpected family stuff going on, I will try and catch up this evening.

It's pretty obvious from my IC post, but Amy will summon a spirit when the sun comes down. (is that 7pm iirc?)

I think I'll opt for a F6 air spirit with elemental attack and energy aura. It's extremely powerful in a fight, and being force 6 it can assense well and just generally be a big threat in the astral. I just hope I get at least 2 services (one for surveillance, one for combat if needed) and not too much drain. Summoning is very random, because the successes of the spirit's relatively small dice pool effect both drain and the number of services.

Sundown is 7:35 to be exact

It is very random. That Force 6 spirit can do anywhere from 2 to 12 DV worth of drain

Yeah, there's a 10% chance of facing 8+ drain. =/

It's part of the game to take those risks though, and it's the only way to get a very powerful ally like a F6 spirit, so... we'll just have to see how it goes when the time comes

Thanks Lobo, the setup makes sense.

@Everyone,

For now, I've updated the Expense report to reflect Grease spending 500 on a disguise kit and 175 on a concealable holster.

I believe that most of you were talking about splitting the cost for the disguise kit fairly, and I have no problem with that - but it should be done IC at some point, and I (maybe I'm reading Grease wrong) don't see him sticking his hand out and asking for the cash.

Also, Jack, you had mentioned you wanted to contact Chapel regarding buying some ammo - we had discussed prices as:

Gel rounds would be 29 for 10
S&S would be 92 for 10

I believe you wanted to have:
10 S&S Streetline Special
60 gel rounds for the HK

You would have had plenty of time to contact Chapel already, and given the availability, he would have probably had all of that on hand, and you could have met him and picked it on the way back to Nic's. Did you want to complete that transaction?

Yeah, that would be great. Jack would have thrown Grease his share of the disguise kit when he bought it, knowing it was for the team.

ETA: I added my ammo purchase, disguise kit share (adjusting Grease's in turn), and added the 50 nuyen bribe Grease gave Jill.

Going back to an earlier discussion we had OOC, I continue to think that Jack is positioning himself as the natural leader for our team. He's always finding tactics and ways around problems, he's also calm and rational. Amy's not the smartest, she can be emotional (as will become even more obvious when someone gets injured), and she's new to the biz. Overkill can be gone on the matrix during a run, and we've seen that he doesn't have the greatest self-control. Grease... well he's the new face that no one knew before. While talented, he also hasn't earned the group's trust just yet, given his actions up to now.

So keep it up Jack, we'll follow your lead.

ETA: About the cost of the disguise kit, Amy will immediate give her fair share if asked. It's not on her mind right now IC, but we can do this later.

Ok - I'll edit that IC post, showing you picked up the ammo.

ETA - done

Question on the Map, is the small cluster of structures to the east of the baseball fields a group of Restrooms? Playgrounds?

Definitely is part of the park, just need to know their nature. Depending on the elevation, seems like they would have a good view of the whole rally from up there.

@Overkill - what specifically are you talking about - I'm not sure - could you open the map in Paint, and put a mark on it?

Thanks Chrome. I will say that I'm not trying to short change the IC conversation about whether we want to have a leader of some sort. I figure Jack has some half-forgotten Corp team-building techniques that he learned at one point in time. Trust falls tomorrow, kids!

Honestly, it's really all Jack has to offer to the group. Amy has her magic, Grease is a rigger and better face, Overkill has hacking and is about or slightly above Jack WRT combat. I think I take a bullet better than all of you though and, of course, I'm luckier.

So... planning guy!

At highest zoom, it looks to me like a playground (the two larger structures look like a swing-set on the right and one of those slide/fort things on the left).

Paint wouldn't open it; but I think Jack knows what I am talking about, and its probably a playground.

Oh - I think I know what you are talking about now-And yes it is a playground.

You know, if Rhex did look like that photo I posted, he would probably fit into the playground. Just need to paint the AK pink.

Caught up IC and ooc. Sorry I'm out of pocket here. Lobo; thanks for running grease and keeping the story moving. I will try to keep up ooc tomorrow, and maybe post ooc what I'd like to do? That way lobo can post ic, and I don't trip us up at this point in the story. Thanks again to everyone being so accommodating, I'm moving this week/weekend so I should be back to normal early next week.

Thanks,
DrZ

That gave me an idea; if we put a fake Cruz security logo on the outside, we could put RHex in the open... Does anyone have forgery?

Nope, does it count as a disguise?

I think that actually would be more Disguise than Forgery, although I'm not sure if a Disguise Kit would be applicable to the test. I guess we could try to paint it on Rhex's chassis. I think Forgery would cover any registration documents or IDs that Rhex should be broadcasting as a drone. With all that said, the Cruz Security folks may have an issue with a weaponized drone bearing their logo that they do not control. Brand Management and Risk Management would probably be going crazy...

ETA: We could just go Metal Gear and flip a plasboard box over him, cut out holes for his sensors and AK to stick out, then stick him on the edge of the park somewhere.

Agreed it is more disguise than forgery - forgery would allow you to (theoretically) mock up something that looks like a drone, or as Jack said some type of documents - remember they wouldn't actually pass any type of background check. That being said, who are you trying to fool? The members of Cruz security wouldn't be fooled, since they know no armed combat drones were assigned. For fooling others, depends how you are trying to fool them.

Painting it to look like a Cruz Securities drone would work for most, I imagine. If someone comes up and asks you for any type of proof, you'd be screwed, but I'm not sure who that person would be (apart from Cruz security personnel, who again, will know you are lying.

I think, given the setting, you are much better off with the Ninja Hedge approach from the Tick, as opposed to the Metal Gear Solid.

And if you do not get the Ninja Hedge reference, you must go and buy a copy of Night of a Million Zillion Ninjas immediately

I'm holding off here until everyone has a chance to respond. Don't want to steamroll our team planning.

No problem

As always, if anyone has questions for me, please don't hesitate to ask.

Nothing that I can think of that wouldn't require chatting with an NPC, unless any of our knowledge skills would tell us anything about Cruz Security.

Overkill would know they are a small firm, specializing in low threat security needs.

Basically they normally handle security for stuff that doesn't really need it. I work for a book publisher, and we have security on site, but its like 1 guy who sits in the foyer and makes sure that people have a badge, and he is armed only with a radio.

I just have to note out loud that Fliegegeheimagent is a priceless translation. I laughed so hard when I found that's what you get when you put Fly Spy in an English to German translation engine.

Why is the translation funny? I can't understand, I think, because I don't know German.

I have nothing to add for the planning. My post covers what Amy thinks is needed for magic, and I've told you what spirit she'll try to conjure up at 7:35pm (probably en route to the park).

Cool. I'd like to wait for DrZ as well, as we know he's busy right now (Good luck on moving, man!). Grease's drones are going to be a significant part of the surveillance net.

Totally understand - and again, for planning purposes, not sure I want to be taking Grease's spot.

Good luck with the move

In all honesty, neither do I. Its just funny that something as short and simple as FlySpy becomes quite a mouthful when you just switch the language.

Amuses me, anyways.

There's a whole aside in the movie, "the informant!" About how the word for pen is "Kugelschreiber." I'd imagine the concept is similar.

Thanks for the well wishes guys. I should be able to post tomorrow, then I'll have limited availability over the weekend. The tricky part is IC posts; it's tough to get the formatting right touch typing on a tablet.

DrZ

I forgot about that. Funny movie.

Spy (like a secret agent) in German is der spitzel, I believe (at least that's what all the old CI guys who used to operate in Berlin would jokingly call each other when I was in the Army). I think yours translates to Fly Secret Agent or (alternately and hilariously) Bow Tie Secret Agent.