Yeah Amy wouldn't take offense to the filming. The drug thing is another matter. She's seen a lot of junkies and doesn't trust those at all.

Nice response by Overkill in IC, btw. I wasn't disappointed.

LOL, would he have come clean about it if shit didn't get real?

I'm not sure. Potentially. It doesn't pay to deceive people watching your back.

Seems that argument could be made for manipulating them too, LOL.

I'm ready to move on with the story.

In terms of planning, what's our exit strat, secondary exit strat (taxi in a second spot?), explicit description of the main plan for each member, etc.? I think a quick recap is in order, and we'll be ready to move to the next scene, the ambush!

Amy would have started looking into those things, but now it's Overkill's job.

I think it would be handy to have Overkill scout the Visitor Center with his Fly-Spy as a secondary extraction point; both of Grease's are tied up monitoring the two main locations (the ambush site, and the drug house).

-DrZ

I feel it's important to remain true to his namesake

There isn't really a solid exit strategy. The plan is pretty much built that we either kill them or die trying. Our vehicle is located rather far away from the ambush site.

With that said, since Grease is going to be off hiding in the woods somewhere, we could have him move closer to whatever vehicle they are using to access the site and try to steal it while they're busy with their ritual. If Overkill can identify the owner, he could try to MARK the guy's commlink and be prepared to to spoof device the vehicle to turn it on and unlock the doors. Then Grease could hop in the car and presumably shut the wireless off so the owner couldn't shut it down. Then we would have wheels to escape.

Very good idea.

Whenever you guys are ready to go, let me know - to save a little bit of time, if you go back exactly the way you went there to begin with, there will be no problems arriving back at the ambush site. Total journey time will be about 1 and a half hours.

Other than potentially scouting the visitor center, I'm good to go. Grease would also suggest having Overkills drone loiter there, so if that's where they're entering from we can have an idea of when they're about to show.

-DrZ

Sorry for the lack of updates today, had a CRAZY busy day, I've barely had a chance to catch my breath.

On taking the lead for the raid; it wasn't his (or my) original intent, but I suppose Drave did indirectly nominate himself for the job. He has the background for it. He doesn't take jobs like this lightly, which, along with other reasons in his backstory, is why he hadn't jumped up to volunteer sooner.

@Chrome: I hope you understand that Drave's objection to Amy jumping into the command chair had NOTHING to do with your abilities OoC, it was purely an IC judgment call. (Not trying to snake the job away from you either.) But I imagine as a longtime gamer you probably already figured as much. I just like to throw out the disclaimer to be sure.

I will have Drave (and myself) go over all the info we can to make sure we have all our bases covered, but thusfar I think Jack has delivered a solid plan, and there will likely be little that I will need to change. All we need to do is execute, and hope that our many sacrifices to the gods of the Invisible Castle have not gone unnoticed.

I'll take this opportunity to thank everyone, and point out I think that everyone is doing a great job. Any disagreement or strife I'm creating is purely an IC invention in ways that make me (the player) cackle.

-DrZ

Nothing to worry! This is all role play, and it's great fun. I understand your worry but I wouldn't even sweat if Grease shot Amy or something crazy like that lol... I'd just dodge and make his brain explode


I enjoy every bit of it You've taken a very particular role in our team in that regard

Indeed, I feel we have all done very well in creating diverse and intricate characters for this group, and have been consistently presenting the story in such a tone that one could mistake our stories as coming right out of Shadowrun Canon. We have fleshed out a sizable part of the Denver Free Zone, and in my humble opinion, are doing full justice to the setting.

We have had a quiet couple of days thusfar this week, but I know that we are just busy with RL stuff, (I know I have been,) and I am in no way concerned that any members of our group lack the dedication needed to keep this story going at such a great pace.

I'm quite happy with the way things have been going

I have been quiet this week, mostly because you guys are busy roleplaying, and I don't want to put a damper on that.

Just know that I'm watching the thread every day, and once you guys are ready to go, we can proceed.

I'm waiting for Jack to respond to Overkill (as Grease has no background in tactics), otherwise I'm ready to go.
-DrZ

Same for me. Amy will go along with the plan and the instructions given to her. She'll give advice about the hiding, and magical threats, as needed.

Have we decided what our actions will be specifically, once we get the go? What's the target priority, etc?

My target priorities are:

Vampire Troll
Vampires
Teammates ?

-DrZ

ETA: I know they're probably not vampires; I am just latched onto that concept.

Sorry, I thought that was an IC request of the group. I'll toss something out IC here.

Quick Note: I am heading out of town today through Sunday. I will be AFK, but will have my cellphone. I may be able to post OOC from there. Thanks!

Are we waiting on anyone, or could we advance the scene?

Also, I am cool with waiting til Jack gets back, if that's what you were planning. Either way, I'm fine!

-DrZ

Question on the plan; had we decided how we were choosing which moment in the ritual to spring our trap? If we have a few moments to survey the group, Amy may be able to figure out which cult members are the biggest threats and give us better target priority.

I think we should wait - from my end, basically you guys are going to leave the house, go to the sacrifice site getting there around 7:00 PM, and then wait until the bad guys get there, which could be several hours.

Things that can be decided in the meantime while we are waiting for Jack would be summoning Amy's spirit (I know that she won't actually summon it until around 7:40 PM (i.e. right after sundown) - but that can be taken care of mechanically now.

Force 6 spirit of air with what optional powers?

Also, think about after the plan. For instance, and I'm sort of curious no one has mentioned this so far, what exactly are you going to do with Truck assuming you incapacitate him? He is almost 12 feet tall and is probably 600 lbs - so transporting him is a problem. Then again, if you are just planning on leaving the body where it falls, no problem.

Well we presumably have his vehicle handy. I imagine we could rig something to the rotodrone to help drag him using rope? Rolling him would be difficult and time consuming, but with 4 people seems feasible.

-DrZ

@OK

I agree we should wait to assess the threats. That won't take long (we're talking 5 seconds? By the time they're _at_ the site, it's already done). Another question is whether we want them to be in the middle of something when we attack, as that would take them even more by surprise, perhaps. On the other hand, the longer we wait the more likely they notice the grenade or one of us hiding. Finally, we want to make sure they're all present when we spring the ambush, I don't know if they all arrive at once and we're not sure how many there'll be.

@Lobo

I'm worried about summoning a F6 spirit again. I checked the numbers and there's a not insignificant probability that the spirit rolls 4 successes or more (10%, 2% for 5+). This could take both me and the spirit out of the fight. Difficult decision. I think I'll go for F6 anyway but I'm worried. The powers would be Elemental Attack (if they have no ranged, the spirit can fly over their heads and shoot them down) and Energy Aura (seems very powerful in combination with Engulf, if someone attacks the spirit in melee, they automatically take damage).

If you don't want to summon F6 - that's totally fine - you had just mentioned it a couple days ago in one of your posts. There is, as you say, a risk that the drain is very problematic. You can certainly take more time to think on it, there is no rush.

If you are definitely sure you want the force 6, let me know, and I'll summon it for you.

Ok guys - had a slow week last week, we are all back - let's get the action going again

Sorry, ended up not really having much in the way of internet access. I've got some work piled on my desk that I need to knock out and have to pick up my dogs from boarding, but I'll try to get something up. If there is anything in particular that I need to address, please let me know in case I miss it on my re-read.

I'm cool to transition to the next scene whenever you're ready.
-DrZ

Just an FYI - I'm not scolding anyone for not posting or anything - just excited to get back on track

I was waiting on you guys to finish your RP with regards to the plan, who is in charge, etc, and everyone to say, "Ok, ready to head to the ambush site".

Looks like Dr.Z is ready, is everyone else?

Looking forward to it!

Will be out at work for a few hours. I will check in as soon as I get home.

I'm ready to move forward. I've said OOC what I think might be useful to address about the plan. Amy has not much more to add IC.

Amy summons a force 6 Air Spirit

12d6.hits(5)=9 - Nice! - it is reduced to 6 hits by the limit.

Spirit Resists
6d6.hits (5)=2

Amy resists 4 DV of drain
13d6.hits(5)=4

No drain

So, you have 4 services from the spirit with no drain.

I'm going to fast forward to 7:45 - which will put you at the ambush site, and it is right after sunset, which means Amy will summon the spirit.

At this point, you can determine who is in which hiding spot on the map, since I'm assuming you aren't going to be getting out of them and changing positions anytime soon. Any other things you want to take care of before we move to the actual ambush scene should also be taken care of now.

Just basically making one last look through to make sure we haven't left any obvious signs of disturbance. Everyone should have a Flash-Pak set up at their holes as well to activate if we start taking return fire. I've got one, I think Overkill has two.

Ok - so is Overkill loaning a Flash Pak to Amy?

Also, which hex are each of you going to be at? (Speaking of which, which hex did you dig the 4th hole for Grease?)

Yes, I will lend a flashpak to Amy.

Let me check the map real quick and give my two nuyen about deployment.

My preference for location would be near-ish where we think they're going to park, but not close enough they'd notice me on the walk in. In a blind or something would be ideal.

-DrZ

Overkill will take the island at C4, (not overly thrilled about being stuck right there, but our options are limited.) Jack should likely take the H3 position, so he will be able to make his move to rescue the sacrifice. Amy can take the E2 position, which should allow her the option to displace if she comes under heavy fire.

Wow! Absolutely amazing!

So I'm thinking about what to do with the spirit for this ambush and I was wondering about the best place for it to hide. Is high in the sky a good place for that? Otherwise, it can wait a fair distance away (up to a few hundred meters), and join us at astral speeds when it's time to fight (should take about one pass I guess, knowing the path to take)? Any other obvious hiding spots I'm missing?

Well, I guess it depends on what direction you wanted the spirit to attack from. I would say have him attack from the east, and have him hide in the woods across Potomac Street, giving it a wide berth while our targets first arrive at the sight.

Ok, we are good for these placements. I need to know which hex Amy had the spirit dig the fourth hole (back before Overkill saw the site). This would be where Grease hiding.

The drone will be under some leaves and branches (I guess) in hex J9.

Amy was following instructions from Jack for positioning.

I figured Grease would be pretty close to the drone where I marked in on the map. That was before I came up with the idea of having him jack the car, so I would place it where I originally had it marked on the map.

Ok then, I now have everyone's position, Chrome, I'm assuming the spirit will be somewhere off to the west in the woods across the lake? (The trees will give it some cover from Astral Perception).

If we are all okay, I'm going to fast forward to when you hear the approaching vehicle(s) - so if there is anything you want to do before then, speak now or forever hold your peace.

I think we're good to go. Everyone has their gear turned silent. All of the drones/grenades are slaved to Overkill's cyberdeck. We've got the target area sighted in. I think we're ready to move forward.

We just need to decide when to have Overkill set off the grenades. Do we want to do it while they are still setting up for the ritual or after the girl has been placed on the cross?

Hacking their ride won't take long, and I will do it as soon as they have left there vehicles to go to the site. Amy's Assensing should also be quick.

Also, I was thinking that we should just leave the bodies, its remote enough that it would be hard to tie us to the site in any way, and someone like Truck probably has a laundry list of potential suspects who would want to do him harm.

Once we decide, I will throw up an IC addressing the crew before we get into position.

Sorry - I threw up the IC post before I saw Overkill's.

I thought Jack had spoken for everyone - my bad