I know many of these questions will be answered during their speeches, but if we know what Chomsky and Rebuilding Together are planning then we can better assess whether there would be an actual threat.

I hope we don't spook Chomsky too bad with all this, (though who wouldn't be spooked if a group of professional mercenaries came to you fearing you may be the target of an assassination attempt.)

I'm not sure he would really consider us to be professional mercenaries. Amy is part of our crew and Chomsky pretty much knows this is her first run, so I doubt he pegs our experience all that high, to be honest. I would assume a guy like Chomsky probably gets semi-regular threats from people who have a vested interest in the Warrens staying as they are.

That's a good point. This probably isn't the first time he has received a threat like this.

...And hey! Drave would certainly be considered a pro at this point, he has been doing this for 20 years; the first 5 of which were spent fighting MegaCorp mercenaries on the urban battlefields of Berlin, (2055-2060) (though with dice rolls like these I have no idea how he survived this long...) Chomsky knows Drave's past, I imagine he would have been very intrigued with his war stories.

Being the sleazeball that he is, Grease is going to record this whole conversation with Chomsky with his AR glasses. I presume that's possible to do, no trouble at all without anyone knowing?

-DrZ

That's part of the problem with how introductory character building works. Since your Street Cred is the same as the rest of us (0), it's fair to assume that NPCs aren't going to credit you with much at this point (mostly from a mechanical perspective).

Hahaha... video or audio? Granted, he's disguised, but Overkill is apparently currently wanted for questioning.

"Uh, Grease? The red light on your glasses is on..."

The problem that I could see with it is that you don't have a camera in your glasses, you only have a Smartlink.

You have a camera in your commlink, which you can turn on with you DNI, but the actual lens is going to be covered, since it will be in your pocket - unless you want to try and pull it out.

The other alternative is for you to have one of your drones record it with their camera and microphone - I imagine the Microskimmer is nearby after finishing its sweep.

That is easy to explain - your Street Cred from Berlin doesn't translate to over here, especially since everyone thinks you are dead. Since you faked your death, I would be surprised if you are using the same handle over here - as MegaCorps tend to be able to reach across continents

LOL, that was the sound of a MASSIVE other shoe dropping.

ETA: ...although before we freak out. Remember that we don't really have anything conclusive on Bradshere yet. That text from Ramirez may be kind of interesting now.

Gotcha; for some reason I thought I had cybereyes (it's odd that I don't; what kind of mundane character is this?!). Sure, let's have the little microskimmer take a few minutes of video; I probably have cameras from the drones flying above recording all this as well (although at obviously lower quality, given the distance).

-DrZ

I bet your surveillance drones are jealous that you haven't named them yet.

That is coming, I'm sure

Btw - loved how the Microskimmer tried to trip you when no one was watching

ETA You guys need anything from me?

I imagine we're going to have a quick IC conversation about the Bradshere connection. Beyond that, I'm not sure if we have anything to do other than get ready for the event. I believe Amy wanted to find some place to summon a spirit, so we need to do that at some point.

Maybe when they start packing, they'll be worthy of nicknames!

Nah, I just haven't thought of any yet

I'm fine moving the scene forward to the event, unless Amy wants to come talk about the Bradshere thing in which case I might chime in.

Thanks,
-DrZ

Amy just needs to wait until 7:35pm at the earliest before summoning.

I think she'll want to tell Chomsky not to trust the Lone Star and that Bradshere guy.

Ok - here is the way I see it - we have several fast forward points:

1) Fast forward to 7:00 when Ramirez's text to Overkill will arrive
2) Fast forward to 7:35 when Amy will summon her spirit
3) Fast forward to the start of the Rally (around 8:00)

Obviously we will have IC interaction in between each fast forward point. For right now, you guys just tell me when we are ready to go to fast forward point 1.

I'm ready to FF to 1.

me too.

+1 (Trying to mess around with SRO but can't stay connected)

Ok - looks like we are waiting on Overkill.

@Overkill,

I already sent you the message via PM, once you come back online, can you just fast forward the time to around 7:00, and then share with your fellow runners?

At this point Chomsky and Greeley are going to be too busy with last minute preparations to continue to answer questions, unless it is an emergency.

Sorry for the delay, took my 10 month on an impromptu zoo trip.

I read Chomsky's response about Lone Star and my reponse was an, "Oh F*ck..."

Since Jack asked, Drave would check the Ramirez's link a bit early and share his findings.

No problem - hope you enjoyed the zoo

If that is the case, go ahead and share the message with Jack and the others, we'll consider fast forward point# 1 reached

1: I have a 3 in my knowledge skill "Smugglers"; have I heard of these guys before? I could also ask around some UCAS sector buddies.

2: ...What division is my cop contact Murphy in? Is he, for example, reporting to a Detective Bradshere?

Thanks,
-DrZ

I got a guy in the ZDF border patrol, I may check with him if the lead is important enough. Considering how we know each other, it might be difficult.

Ok - so, when you are all ready (and there is no rush, I'm just going to be out of pocket for a couple of hours), you can fast forward to 7:35.

Amy's Summoning

13d6.hits(5)=2

Spirit Resists:

6d6.hits(5)=2

Resist Drain - 4DV
13d6.hits(5)=6

No Drain.

Since there was no detriment there, I'm assuming she would try again:

12d6.hits(5)=6

Spirit Resists:
6d6.hits(5)=2

So four services

Resist Drain - 4DV
13d6.hits(5)=2

So Amy takes 2 points of Stun damage, but has a F6 air spirit with elemental attack and energy aura.

Sorry - just saw this:

1) Red Rocks isn't what you would consider a "Smuggler". For "Smuggler" think Captain Mal from Firefly, or Han Solo . Red Rocks is more of a transportation company.

2) Murphy works in the Patrol Division - which would not be reporting to Bradshere.

I'll have to see if there is a Goblin Rock concert scheduled for Saturday, August 1st.

Sweet!

ETA: Been thinking about what Amy will tell the spirit. I think she'll take a few minutes to explain the situation to the spirit, maybe even walk around with him just a bit to point a few things out. Who's who, what's about to happen, what's our goal tonight, what kind of stuff to look out for. Once the spirit has a good grasp of all that, it'll be easy to give a rather vague command, such as "I want you to look for possible threats in the surrounding area, by doing active surveillance in the astral, and let me know whenever you find something of interest or a potential danger, and be ready to intervene." Something like that. Would that make sense?

@Jack & Chrome: Just so you guys know I'm not frustrated at either of you, the impassioned stand Drave has taken is just IC...

Slightly more impassioned than I thought it would be, but I am rolling with it; it makes sense for him and his character to think of it like that. Worst case scenarios.

COMPLETELY OFF TOPIC: Getting to do some prefight shopping before encountering a heavy assault team in another game, (Looking Glass, which I think both Lobo and Dr. Z were in the planning phase of before Nothing's Free rolled in as a hit.) and I am picking up an AR for my lil assassin Lany.

I am currently torn between an Ares Alpha and a Yamaha Raiden. The Raiden has accuracy, a larger mag, and a built in suppressor; while the Ares has one critical component the Raiden lacks (other than the grenade launcher): Single Fire setting. Raiden only has BF/FA

The Grenade launcher is a moot point, as I would need to buy heavy weapons just to shoot it, and I already bought thrown weapon for standard grenades.

As the combat system is still relatively new to me, I wanted to hear your opinions on how important or unimportant not having SF would be?

I wouldn't worry about that Overkill. We're all (at least I assume) veteran RPers. There wasn't much of a confrontation there, and I wouldn't be afraid of that either tbh.

This being said, if I come off as too confrontational at times (which I might), please let me know and I'll adjust my behavior. But for characters, I think anything goes if it makes sense in game.

LOL, I think the bigger issue is that my guy only knows me as a bodyguard, rather than a runner. Figuring out a way to bring it up might be tough... I always figured he would be a good person to be an entry point to the ZDF to find someone to turn over the evidence. Might even get him a promotion...

Same! If Jack starts getting annoyed, you can read about it in his thought bubbles.

P.S. If you're allowed the Raiden (availability usually puts it outside chargen rules) I think the ammo capacity makes up for the lack of SA, assuming you're playing with the errata recoil rules. It can get kind of expensive after a while, but it depends on what kind of ammo you're using (Hell, Jack's one CT of suppressing fire with regular ammo cost 40 (FML) Honestly, I don't get why it's so illegal, other than in the same way the Praetor is.

Glad to hear; its been my experience that even amongst veterans RPers, tempers can flare and feelings can get rubbed the wrong way.

I think you may be right about the Raiden, Jack; slap a Gas Vent 3 on it, it'll be cherry. If I wanted to take one shot I would be better off using my Predator, as Lany has specialization in semi-autos.

Hmm - hard to judge what counts as a "service" as far as time and distance is concerned. If you told the spirit to look for threats in a 600 meter radius circle (the maximum zone of control you have before making it an extended service), would having that sort of early warning radar until either sunup or sundown count as one service? I'll take input from people as to their thoughts - maybe ten minutes is a service? 15? 5?

As far as the actual request, I would just want specific parameters - such as "if a spirit enters the area", or "if someone is astrally projecting" or "if someone casts a spell".

Honestly, if you're just asking them to keep watch over an area for intruders (inside the radius of the spirit/summoner connection), I'd just charge one service. Notice if it spots something it thinks is a threat and the summoner asks it do something in response to the intruder, it would cost another service to get it to go back to what it was doing.

That's fair - so just keeping watch and reporting is one service.

Having to do anything about it would count as a 2nd service

Sending it back to watch again (even if it was not asked to do anything) would also count as a second service.

So, for instance:

I ask the spirit to see if anyone came through a doorway, and to report to me if anyone does. That takes up one service, and it will continue to watch that doorway until either it sees someone go through it, or until sundown or sunup.

An enemy mercenary walks through the door, and the spirit reports back to me. If I tell it to kill the mercenary, that takes up a 2nd service. After it is done killing the mercenary, I tell it to watch the door again. This takes a 3rd service.

OR

I ask the spirit to see if anyone came through a doorway, and to report to me if anyone does. That takes up one service, and it will continue to watch that doorway until either it sees someone go through it, or until sundown or sunup.

My friend Bob walks through the door, and the spirit tells me. If I tell it to go back and watch the door, that would take a 2nd service.

I agree. The alpha is boring. Everyone uses a Longsword; be the guy with the battleaxe.

Per the other question; don't sweat it. We've got an ooc thread if things are uncomfortable. My whole play at the Manuel house was a bit sketchy, but since I felt comfortable I wasn't offending someone I went for it more. This game will get boring fast if we just agree all the time; don't hesitate to rock the boat!

Ok - with me working out the services issue (thanks Jack ) are we ready to move on to FF point 2? (i.e. when Amy actually summons the spirit at 7:35)

Or is there more to discuss prior to that?

I'd like my drones to look out for that van, too! The one we got footage of. Other than that, grease will set up fort in the bmw and monitor. I'm good to move forward.

I'm ready to rock. I'm basically going to be looking at the crowd as it arrives. Once we get closer to kick-off, I'm going to focus on doing bodyguard stuff for Greeley and Chomsky.

Ok - so, I just need your RCC's stats w/ regards to Sharing and Noise Reduction, and what, if any, Autosofts are you sharing (probably none, since you bought autosofts for all of your drones - but it doesn't hurt to ask )

Also, where are you having the drones patrol? Houses A, B, or C? The roads? The bridges?

I will have to get back to you in the morning with that after I look at the map again. My thinking was they'd patrol in a big circle, with me jumping directly in on occasion to provide more direct watch (alternating which ones I jump into). Let me know if that makes sense.

DrZ

Ok, you can have them running in circles around it if you would like, I'm just trying to get a sense of your patrol perimeter.

Yeah I think that's fair. You're saying every time a spirit reports something, it's a service being spent. I agree. You're also saying I need to be more specific, so I'll try.

Bottom line, I'd still like to let the spirit use its own judgement in assessing the threats, if allowed. I could tell him something like this: Whenever you detect a hostile astral or dual-natured form and/or hostile magical action being performed in the park and surrounding (within the limit of our link), or if there's any good reason to believe one of our team, Greeley, or Chomsky, is in imminent danger, inform me and be ready to intervene (at the cost of another service, of course). With Log 6 and Int 6, and the spirit being informed of the current situation, I'd let him determine what constitutes a "hostile" action, and what constitutes an "imminent" threat to any of the 6 people mentioned. Is this specific enough, or do you want more details?

For onsite security, is there a way for Amy to be perched somewhere? Amy would like to have a good line of sight of the stage as well as the crowd. That's where I'd like her to be if possible, so that she can perceive the astral over a large area easily, while maintaining LOS with people to use counterspelling on. In the middle of a crowd, it's harder to see well in the astral due to the density of living beings, and it's harder to keep LOS on a lot of things at once.

That should be specific enough, no problem

As for a perch - if you look at the map, unless you want to be up in a tree, there isn't really anywhere to perch.

On top of the stage in the girders?

There aren't really any girders - if you look at the picture - there is just the rigging for the lights - not really designed to support her weight - plus she'd be hanging out up there in full view of everyone.

ETA - maybe, maybe on top of the stage - but again, it isn't really designed for people to be up there.

::grumble::

HDD booted up with clicking noises this morning. Can't access the drop box folder at the moment, but assume my drones are patrolling "hot spots" where traffic (foot and vehicle) are likely to congregate. One would always be near the stage, for example.

As far as programs go, I don't have the PDF of the game on this machine, but presume I'm running the noise reduction software, and however much extra noise reduction it takes to eliminate my penalty from our location and distance. If I have any left over, I'd run the program that increases my firewall.

Thanks,
-DrZ