It's fun to think of this game as "the worst week in Jack VII's life".

ETA: I feel pretty clever making it seem like Stinger is in more trouble from his betrayal than from us..

...and to think it all started when he first met Grease. LOL

Just to be clear, we don't know which zone Stinger lives in right? This is as much a question for Jack & Chrome as it is for Lobo.

-DrZ

I can answer that - click on the spoiler below - otherwise you can wait for Jack or Chrome.

Rather than me just post that she says "Yes"

Just insert this into your post


Valkyrie nods, and a moment later the door opens again, the striking redheaded woman opening the door to allow one of the team to leave.


Or something like that - who is leaving, btw?

I'd go, but who are we supposed to be calling? Or is that a euphemism to go to the trunk of the car and get the info from Stinger?

It wasn't clear. MY intention is that I'm not sure what to do, so I'd let Amy or Jack deal with it. You could go to the trunk, or call Overkill and have him do it, or any number of things. I'd hesitate to go with the Overkill option because from a Metagame perspective if Stinger makes a break for it, it'd be bad for Lobo to be fighting against himself

I don't know... considering the way he rolls.

To be honest, Jack isn't a creative enough thinker. If he were to walk out the door, he probably try to get Stinger out of the car and bring him inside since he doesn't see this meeting going anywhere good at the moment. That may be a bit too meta, but I figured I would throw it out there. At the moment, he isn't moving anywhere since he isn't sure who or what is supposed to be calling.

Let's wait for Chrome to get on and see what they think.

-DrZ

My character is very intuitive, but not that bright, and she has no idea who you want her to call. She would get out though, walk to the car, pop the trunk, and ask Stinger for the info. After all, we only need the general location (what zone and general neighborhood).

I can post with Amy saying something like "I would just go outside to make that call." if you want. She'd be a little hesitant, not sure that it is what Grease wants.

I guess part of the subtext (I don't think this is too metagamey) is that Grease doesn't want to tell Amy/Jack to "go pop the trunk and ask him" in front of Valkyrie, so he said "make a call" instead. I guess that may have been to subtle compared to how I imagined it in my head.

-DrZ

I posted a follow-up to get things going. I took some liberties there, let me know if you want me to backtrack on any of the details, Lobo.

The only thing that you left out (and I'll fix it in my post, is that Overkill is going to follow you on his bike. Not only to prevent any torture (since I think he knows Amy well enough to know her more belligerent tendencies) but also to keep an eye on you in case Lynx manages to track you down.)

ETA:

1) Minor quibble - he is gasping for air, not hair

2) I doubt the spirit would actually fit in the trunk with Stinger - we don't have to fix it for now as it doesn't really affect the story, but for future reference, that probably won't work.

1) fixed

2) fixed too. I thought it would be funny, but it is very unnecessary anyway since the spirit doesn't need to continue seeing his target. There's no real good reason for it to be there.

ETA: I'm curious, how would an influence spell work here? Can it be used to force the information out of him, something like: "Better tell her what she needs to know or she'll hurt you real bad."

I've been thinking about it a while - sorry for the delay. Here's my thought on it.

The problem is the position you've put him in. The chip is his only bargaining, well, chip for lack of a better word

If he gives out the location, he's got no leverage, so it is REALLY bad for him if you get the exact information from him, which I think would mean that it would be beyond the limits of an Influence spell to grant. Remember - even if he gives you the information, there is no guarantee you won't hurt him real bad anyway, that's why he is insisting on the third party.

I think that a successful use of the influence spell might allow you to get the general information (i.e. the house is in the UCAS Zone or something like that), but apart from that, he has to hold on to the specific information as tight as he can.

That seems reasonable. We'll see if it comes to that.

I'm just gonna start by asking him directly. I've been asking him for the full information, just because it's easier to get him to accept to give away part of it afterwards

Okay, he's being difficult so let's try it.

As he's talking, Amy loses patience and attempts to Influence him into giving her the location of that damn chip.

I'll let you roll it at F4. It shouldn't be hard to beat him in an opposed test with 12 dice, injured as he is. Drain is 3S against a 13DP. I believe it would take 12 seconds to take effect.. so pretty much as he's talking. Oh and he might notice that she uses magic, so we can test against that as well, though I don't think it would affect the outcome of the spell.

Ok Amy's spellcasting attempt:
12d6.hits(5)=3

Resist 3DV Drain
13d6.hits(5)=7

No Drain

Stinger's resistance
Willpower+Logic -3
8d6.hits(5)=3

So he is able to resist the spell

See if he notices you casting it

Perception + Intuition, -3 dice threshold 2
5d6.hits(5)=1

So interestingly enough, he fails to notice you casting the spell.

So, from an RP perspective, he finishes his speech, just thinking Amy had been glaring at him

I am never playing a pbp with less than 3 edge again

Wow I don't know what to do, Amy's running out of options here, apart from trying one last time to influence him into spitting it out. If that fails, she's just gonna give in and bring him inside with her.

For once, can you throw those drain dice during the spellcasting roll?

Its that one extra die you roll for drain - it changes the math somehow

Ok - one more time - casting spell
12d6.hits(5)=4

Resisting 3DV Drain
13d6.hits(5)=5

No Drain

He resists:
8d6.hits(5)=2

So it is successful and will last 2 minutes

Seeing if he notices you casting it:
5d6.hits(5)=1

He still doesn't notice you cast it.

If you want to put up the post detailing your success, Stinger will tell you that his home is located in the northeastern part of the UCAS Zone.

Will post IC later today, sorry for the delay and the PST =/

No problem at all

Haha now I kind of want them to attack us - maybe we can even try to make that happen They'd be taken down, all on Stinger's tab

Btw, we need to make him pay the full amount upfront (or plan how to arrange that without him going on the matrix), but he'll need to be in the room for that to happen, and also reach an agreement with Valkyrie.

Can Grease negotiate on Stinger's behalf? Perhaps a discount if 50% is provided up front?

-DrZ

EDIT: Hmm. Are we going to front the cash for Stinger, or trust him to access the matrix?

Lol - would you have given Ramirez a discount had he offered you more money up front?

At the end of the day you are going to have to get Stinger in a room with Valkyrie, and if you agree to something Stinger balks at, that is going to cause Valkyrie to be like "What the hell, I negotiated with you in good faith and now your money man won't agree" - which isn't going to go down well.

Well, that's why Grease has a 6 in negotiation!

I agree though- unless anyone has a clever idea, we're going to need to get stinger out of the trunk, dust him off and bring him in.

I didn't really see this thing going down any other way, to be honest. Jack will get him.

So, I have more to post, but I'm not sure if anyone is interrupting or has anything to say, I don't want to post all of it before I get feedback.

Is anyone interrupting or should I continue the conversation?

If you want to continue that's fine- I would just interject, "Once we've had a chance to confirm it's what we're looking for".

-DrZ

Will do - want to make sure Chrome and Jack have nothing to add and then I will post

I'm good. Jack isn't okay with letting him get away, but they don't really have much of a choice now.

Yeah; I get that. Grease (as in most things) is looking for a simple solution to get the big fish and let one of the little fish get away. He is probably the least honorable of the group. I wonder is there a way we could tag Stinger without his knowledge? It's a little late for that now; it probably would have been best to plan that ahead of time, and do it when he was unconscious before we talked to him. Could Overkill mark his deck somehow?

-DrZ

Overkill was never able to find his deck - and even if he could and could mark it, Stinger is going to be able to see that and wipe it off.

As you said - that probably should have been though of ahead of time - but even if you had some sort of tag you could put on him, Stinger, being a decker, is going to be the best equipped to spot one.

Hey- we could always kill Valkyrie and her whole team when we get the chip!

-DrZ

Macic 8-Ball Says: Outlook Not So Good

Or just crazy enough it might work?!

All kidding aside, we could call the Johnson and have him meet us at the location with the cavalry, but that may garner us a bad rep in the Shadow community.

Given what Ramirez has told us, I doubt he has access to the cavalry, so to speak, for this particular run. Even if he did, it would probably blow our rep even more if we called in that favor to tag one guy with three still on the loose.

Anyway, I think we're "all in" at this point. I don't see us having the ability to cancel the deal even if we wanted to, since we don't really have the leverage to do so. Our only hope would be to somehow snag Stinger after he concludes his business with Valkyrie.

If you had Ramirez meet you with cops at the location (assuming he could find some who he was sure wasn't compromised) they would run into Valkyrie's team - and there are really quite a few different ways that could turn out badly for you guys.

Now, as Valkyrie said, it will be about an hour before she can have her team assembled. What, if anything, is the plan between now and then? Some thoughts to keep in mind.

1) Stinger is no longer concealed by Amy's spirit
2) Before Valkyrie's team shows up, Grease is going to crash and take 6 unresisted stun damage.
3) Are all 4 of you going to the house? If not, what is the plan? Come to think of it, if you are all going, what is the plan?
4) Is Overkill still going to be on the side so Stinger thinks he is dead?

Discuss

Other than Overkill, the rest of us are kind of stuck with wherever the taxi goes. I don't think it would be a smart move on our part to split the team up. Honestly, there are so many ways this thing can go wrong, I'm not entirely sure if it would be worth it to try to plan anything other than in very general terms.

I think our general concern is what to do when/if we start getting shot at by whoever.

We have made Valkyrie aware of the situation, and we're on her turf. I think we should stay in the bar until her team arrives, so we have the advantage were Lynx and co. able to find and attack us. Once we're on the move, we have a team of bodyguards helping us out so it should be fine too. So all in all I'm not that worried that they find us. My spirit is still on the lookout for searching spirits, so we'll know if they're on to us.

We should all go to the house. All sorts of things can happen and we have no other important place to be at. I think Overkill can come back to inside the car with us, we don't need to keep him a secret anymore as far as I'm concerned. But I don't mind if we'd rather keep him separate. Our team would be more effective, I think, with him in the cab than on his own though.

I think we keep Overkill hidden for the time being- I think the element of having an unknown actor available outweighs the potential benefits.

-DrZ

So, where do we stand?

What do you need to know from us Lobo to keep going?

-DrZ

We are currently waiting for Valkyrie's team to show up, which should be around 9:15. Not sure if there is any RP that you guys want to do between now and then.

If not, I can fast forward to the team arriving and you going to Stinger's house.

If that is the case, then Dr. Zaius do you want to write up a blurb about Grease crashing at 9:00 and taking the 6 boxes of stun (and I'll insert it into my post) or do you want me to write it - either way I'm fine.

Jack / Chrome- Anything we want to do before then?

Lobo- should we come up with a list of stuff we plan on bringing?

-DrZ

Yes please

I don't have anything planned.

Since I don't think we have the option of returning home before now and then, I imagine we're going to be bringing everything that we had from the ambush on Truck. I doubt anyone decided to leave any of their kit at the safe house.

Good point- Geez, this game is so spread out (IRL) it's sometimes easy to forget we're at what- 3 in-game days here?

Nothing to add. Amy's got her usual gear (pretty much everything she owns). And she's still got the spirit watching for anything that might be searching for us in the astral.

We are actually on our 5th day in game

Just let me know about what you want to do about the stun damage and I can get up the next post.