Yes, although the spirit will no longer be under your control after the service (since it is considered a remote service as it has to go more than 600 meters from you), you can tell if it is disrupted or banished prior to the completion of its assignment.

ETA - will have the next IC post up either late tonight or tomorrow morning - along with the next edition of the Tribune in the dropbox

Judging by the map, that's really close to LM territory, but not sure if it is actually in LM territory. Either way, we need to be quick and silent if we're going to try and take them since back-up would be very, very close.

Just a quick note- it is now August 3RD; I just want everyone to make sure we put the right dates in the header so we don't all have to go back and change 50 posts

I think I only had to change 4 or so.

ETA: Fortunately, we don't timestamp our OOC posts...

Good catch - The Tribune is up!

Damn, I always forget to mention stuff that we need to buy. We currently only have one set of restraints for 3-4 targets.

Here is our non-lethal ammo situation (not that we necessarily have all of this with us):
Gel: 32 Light Pistol & 92 SMG
S&S: 10 Hold-Out, 197 Machine Pistol, 100 SMG, 40 AR

I've got 6 rounds of S&S in the Streetline Special and 56 Gel rounds in my HK + Spare Magazine. The Colt is loaded with regular ammo.


ETA: I'm leaning toward maybe disguising ourselves as LM to get into the building without attracting much attention, but I want to wait for Chrome to have the chance to allow Amy to provide input on the magic front. Thanks for the Tribune Lobo! Always a good read. I'm really starting to find this Sioux/UCAS border thing to be interesting, particularly considering the possible impact our exposing this conspiracy may have on it.

I'll post something tonight. Sorry I was around as much as usual today. I'm glad it didn't seem to slow things down too much.

Just a few tactical thoughts if we decide to go through with this:

- For non-lethal, I don't think anything beats a spirit of Air. They automatically get a Stun Damage Engulf power. Also, a reasonably high force Air Spirit with Noxious Breath can do Stun Damage to multiple targets in addition to potentially causing nausea, which is pretty good.

- If Overkill can manage to MARK Gutter's drones, he gets MARKs on his RCC. If he can manage to get a few MARKs, he stands a chance of bricking the device right there, which could take him out entirely.

- I agree that Falcon is probably going to be the most difficult (especially if he was that initiated mage Amy saw at the beginning) and should be a primary target, although we know that Lynx is pretty damn deadly too, given that he almost killed Amy at the Rally.

Meta-gaming wise, that was a lucky shot. Regardless, he's very deadly, I agree, but much less scary than Falcon. Also, take down the mage, whatever spirits he has go away too, that's a pretty good deal.

I agree about the Air spirit, it was already my intention. Noxious breath could be nice, good idea. The spirit should go after Lynx, and Jack and Amy (at least) should focus on Falcon first and foremost. If we go in, Amy will take some serious risk during the summoning and get at least a F6.

I'd almost stick the spirit on Falcon. Air spirits have high Agility (particularly at F6), so it should have no problem with the engulf test. Mages, particularly human mages, tend to have average Body, and that's the only thing he gets to resist with if he doesn't have a respirator/gas mask and a F6 air spirit engulfs for 12SDV + Net Hits. Even if he does stay concious, his options are kind of limited. He could try to Banish or cast a spell, but if he tries to escape, he has to take a Complex Action, so even if he does escape, he doesn't really get to do much else (like issuing a spirit an order or recklessly casting, etc). Finally, if he does escape, there's nothing stopping the spirit from engulfing again. It's pretty nasty.

My problem with that is that Falcon gets to see the spirit coming, that's for sure. Can't sneak up on him in the astral (and materializing takes a pass anyway). Banishing has a good chance of working on the spirit and he'll probably get at least one go at it, maybe more (and astral combat from other spirits is possible as well), whereas the spirit will be quite resilient to physical attacks.

ETA: I think there is some rock paper scissors going on. Magic is weak against drones, drones are weak against firearms, metahumans are weak-ish against magic. If we play our cards right, we can get the upper based on that imo.

It all depends on how much of a drop we get on them. Falcon can't assense through a wall, so if we can get all the way to their door and open it without being detected by them, it might be lights out. Sure, he may have watcher spirits or guard spirits about, but Amy's spirit can be within a few 100 meters (IIRC), which is pretty far away and can travel directly to her in a combat round on the astral (assuming no wards, that could be a sticking point). Then 1 combat round to materialize (which is hopefully the surprise round). Hell, if we go late at night, it's possible some of them might be asleep. :crosses fingers:

I'm just imagining that Falcon or gutter are probably going to be most susceptible to an Air Spirit engulf. Lynx could be like Jack and be completely immune to it, which would suck to find out in the middle of combat. With Stinger out of the picture (hopefully), Overkill should have an advantage over Gutter, the main problem is him having to split duties between infiltration (requiring him to be in the host) and dicking around with Gutter's drones (requiring him to be outside of the Host).

I'm enjoying this strategery.

Glad you are enjoying it - I am as well

There is a lot of stuff for you to hash out OOC and IC - I'm reading and keeping up - if you have any questions for me, or need anything adjudicated, just let me know.

CS Grenades might not be too tough to get. Availability 6! It's just kind of low strength ( Power: 8 ) and doesn't come into effect until the end of the combat turn following when it is deployed (although if they're trapped in the apartment, it might not be as big of a deal). With that said, assuming they don't have any protective gear that covers both inhalation and contact vectors, they would roll Body + Willpower to resist. Assuming they have combined ratings around 9, they average three hits or so bringing the power down to 5. If that's higher than their Willpower, they're incapacitated for three combat turns. Either way, they take an additional -2 penalty for disorientation, and 5 points of stun damage. Gutter would be a problem though, being a dwarf. He probably has higher than normal Body and Willpower as well as natural resistance. Gas from a Gas Grenade lasts four CTs, so it shouldn't kill any of them.

Given the limited nature of the kit, I'm going to try to change the group's appearance as much as possible. Since we aren't trying to impersonate anyone specific, I don't anticipate it will be too difficult. Let me know if you need any more input on the disguises Lobo- otherwise I'll leave it up to your discretion.

If desired, I can roll 4 dice as a teamwork test to add to Grease's disguise.

Good strategy so far. The quickly arriving spirit is an interesting idea.

I see your point about vulnerability to Engulf and so on, but it's still true that banishment is the main weakness of the spirit, so I dunno. I'll think about it.

I sketched out a quick floor plan in excel of the apartment complex based on Overkill's information. I put it in the Broken Star Adventure file on Dropbox.

Depending on whether there are cameras IN the stairwell at each floor or simply on the doors into the stairwell, I think the best plan would be to clear a way to the fifth floor through the northeast stairwell. Gain control of at least the eastern elevator to shut it down if the alarm is raised, plus preferably all of the stairwell door maglocks on floors 1 through 5.

...and fuck. Remember the problem we had with trying to move the long-haired blonde guy from the sacrifice ambush? Namely the fact that the team consists of one ork with beefy arms and three reed-thin, spindly elves? How are we going to move all of these bodies? I'm starting to think disguising ourselves as a cleaning crew might work? We might be able to roll in some carts which we could use to move the bodies. If that's the case, we'll have to use the elevators instead. Hmmm... hack in a request for a late night exterminating crew? We might even get away with chemical protective suits and gas grenades with that...

Ingenious! I love that plan - and you're right that we need carts and access to the elevators to move the bodies. It's probably unusual to have exterminators come in the middle of night, though, so maybe we need to flesh out some of the details.

And nice floor plan btw.

Another aspect that I'm not too sure about is how we can possibly avoid that anyone raises alarms before we get out. Gunshots (from our opposition) and other loud sounds will resonate through the building, making the end of the plan very difficult to execute. Exterminators walking away from the sourse of gunshots in the middle of the night, well that's suspicious.

It's all kind of stretch, particularly within the confines of the rules, but...

1) We have the emergency request indicate it's a devil rat infestation in one of the apartments. The owner of the apartment discovered it when he/she got out of the shower and is trapped in the bathroom. This might require somehow intercepting any comm traffic between security and the apartment and impersonate the supposed owner, confirming the request. The target we pick needs to be in an apartment on a different floor, but in the exact same relative position as Lynx's apartment. Bonus: Grease could do an awesome impersonation of a trashy exterminator, "You ever seen't a devil rat's teeth?!? Well, have ya'? Better yet, you ever seen't what a devil rat's teeth do to a leg?"

2) Overkill somehow manages to swap the feeds showing up at the security terminal to make Floor 5 appear to be whatever Floor on which we claim the infestation is occurring. That way they won't know based on the feed that we're hitting the wrong apartment.

3) The plan would heavily depend on pulling it off without shots fired on the other side. I guess if we actually interacted with security, Grease could try and con them about the equipment we're using causing loud pops. "Might get some ah these pusses reportin' gun shots. It's just the fume bombs, don't worry nuttin'"

If we do go this route, despite all of the improbabilities, I think it will be entertaining if nothing else.

I'm in!

Very nice OOC and IC stuff over the weekend - I had a family party on Saturday and then my son and I went to the Giants game today

Are you waiting on anything from me? It doesn't seem like it, but I'm just checking.

I don't think so. We haven't really put much IC up about it for Overkill to weigh-in on. Once DrZ gets back on during the week, we'll probably develop something a little more solid.

Sure- I'm just waiting for you to make your exterminator suggestion IC.

-DrZ

I just kind of left it hanging out there in case anyone wanted to use that idea themselves or had another idea. I think the more immediate concern is how we deal with the cart transportation situation.

We really could use a van right about now...

I am but one rigger! I'd love the proverbial "runner van"; but as you can tell I am stretched thin here

LOL, it was more directed at Lobo, who had to be a killjoy and not let us take the last van.

ETA: I went ahead and put in a throw-away line about exterminators to get things moving, IC.

Lol - I'm a GM not a car dealer

Reminds me of Jayne in Serenity - "Boy, it would be really nice if we had some grenades right about now!"

I could buy 4 or 5 GMC Bulldogs with the amount of Activesoft I have in memory.

OK, so... I figure if we're going to try this plan (and I really think we need actual eyes-on recon before we do), we have two options:

1) Finding a 24-hour industrial supply store where we could buy a cart and assemble it on-site since we really only need it going in and out, I figure we can keep the bodies in trunks between the two cars we have available.
2) Try to boost a van/cart for a limited time.

We also would need to contact Chapel if we want to try to get our hands on CS grenades (note that we would also be affected if we were in the room since none of us are impervious to contact vector toxins... the toxin rules need more granularity, IMO). I'm thinking we toss the grenades in, have the spirit go in, then close the door and keep it closed as best as possible until everything hopefully quiets down.

ETA: OK, Jack just sketched out a plan IC, feel free to pick at it!

Neuro-stun VIII Grenades are going to have 14R availability and cost 100 each (meaning it falls in the lowest category time-wise of 6 hours). A CS grenade has 6R availability and costs 60 each.

P.S. I don't really have any money left to donate to the cause. Well, I may have 80

2 things:

1. I think Grease has the most funds left, so he would contribute to any additional gear (especially if it's the type of stuff that will make sure he stays alive)

2. I am going to be out of town Wednesday afternoon, and most of Thursday- just figured I'd give everyone a heads up ahead of time like I normally do.

Thanks,
-DrZ

EDIT: Actually- 3 things. Lobo; could I attempt to acquire either type of grenade on my own? It feels like this falls under a general availability test, right? So I'd roll my Negotiation + Charisma (11) vs. the items availability? Additionally, can I try for 2 different types of grenades on 2 different tests, or is it the type of thing that has to be done sequentially? I guess the timing of the tests are a bit up in the air- It says if I fail, I can try again in twice the time listed on the table, but it's unclear how long the actual test itself takes (I am presuming that falls under GM discretion).

EDIT2: 4 things. I bought beer and dinner for everyone; my current resource tracker puts me at 1,866 , minus whatever that costs.

Good to know about you being out of town - we'll get what we can done before then - but obviously we'll wait until your return to keep moving forward

As far as availability, the way it works is this.

You want to find a single NeuroStun VII grenade. This is 100 making the base time 6 hours.

In character, you call Chapel (or whomever) and see if he knows someone who can get their hands on it.

If you get 1 net hit, Chapel says "Sure, let me check." and six hours later he calls back with the stuff.

If you get 2 net hits, the same thing, only he calls back after 3 hours.

If you get 0 net hits, then it takes him 12 hours to get back to you with the stuff.

If you fail, then he still says "let me check" and then 6 hours later he comes back and says "Sorry, couldn't find anything." At which point you are allowed to try again.

I would say the fair way to do it would be to lump all like product together into a single test, with a cumulative cost.

Thus, if you are looking for a CS grenade at 60 and an SMG at 1500 nuyen, those are two different tests with two different base times.

If, however, you were looking for 10 CS grenades, then you would use the cost of 600 to determine the base time - to factor in the difficulty in finding that quantity of material.

I think (at least my reading of it) is to differentiate between calling contacts and using general shady dealings. If I roll on my own, I'm using my dice, limited by my social limit. If I call Chapel specifically, he rolls HIS dice, plus his connection rating (whatever that happens to be). I am not sure I need to roll to get him to look- he is my contact after all, and he gets a "finder's fee" for the item.

I am not really sure how it's supposed to work in game for the first method- I post on ShadowList, "WTB: Gently used crowd control grenades; no calls plz" or somesuch?

-DrZ

True - you and I are on the same page, but I worded it poorly.

If you go to a contact, like Chapel - everything is the way I described it except as you say, he uses his dice. It also means you are putting an order in, and you can go and do whatever you want with the time.

If you do it on your own - it isn't clear, but it could very well mean that you are actually "beating the pavement" so to speak (via the Matrix, over the phone, physically) hunting for someone who has the material you need. Which would mean that you are actually spending that much time finding the product.

This seems like a dumb question, but would this be subject to a teamwork test?
-DrZ

IMO, I think that's the fairest way to do it. Doing it yourself should probably take you out of the action for as long as it takes to have the item delivered, you'd be contacting potential leads, negotiating prices, coordinating logistics, making the pick-up, avoiding scrutiny, etc.

That would be my impression as well- there's a reason fences get finder's fees! That said, Grease has this skill in his toolbox, and if we want we can use it going forward for downtime, or when Chapel is unavailable. Or heck, even when we don't want to pay additional costs.

Since the 6 hour time frame takes us to morning, it's probably best to avoid trying to use it on this particular item. I'm ok moving forward; just figured we should get this hashed out while we're thinking about it.

I wish my connection rating was higher- we could borrow a van from someone. Or at least try. The cost of an abundance of acquaintances instead of a few close friends.

Depends on which one you go for. A single CS grenade (Avail 6R, 60 something nuyen) could probably be acquired in an hour or two given your skills.

So... have we OOC decided to put this off until tomorrow night to try and get a hold of all the items (grenades, vehicles, uniforms, etc) we need to try to pull this off? I assume we would still want to get disguised and head over to do a little recon and make sure everything squares with our thinking.

I've got an L4 Connection, but it's Nic and he probably would not have access to a van. He may have some grubby, mismatched coveralls and exterminator-looking gear if we're desperate.

I don't have a problem letting you make it subject to a teamwork test, but that would mean that all of you are out looking for it. So if you were looking for something that took you 6 hours to find, and Jack and Amy helped, then all three of you would be busy for the whole time it took you to find it.

I think we can still do it IC tonight. Let's call Chapel and see if he has any CS grenades lying around. If not, I can do some searching. We need to recon the place, but I think our plan is pretty solid at the moment. I don't trust they'll stick to one location; not to mention that if they saw Amy's spirit they may already be hightailing it out of there. Uniforms shouldn't be a problem at all- I've got a disguise kit, and it's not like it's hard to get coveralls; in fact, I may have some; I do have a garage at my house where I work on my cars.

-drZ

Logistics
Disguises: Check (Jack wants a Magnum P.I. mustache)
Costumes: Check (or at least, should be easy to acquire)
Grenades: Working
Auxiliary Gear: Spray containers, etc? Do we need these?
Vehicle & Cart: No idea. Are we still doing this?

For extra equipment that might be more convincing, Amy can create an illusion if need be. It's unlikely that they would look through it in too much detail. Just get stuff that looks close to the right thing, and noticing the difference will be really difficult.

I'm still in favor of getting a cart, but the vehicle is going to be really hard to get (and that's too bad, really). Maybe stealing one just before starting the attack wouldn't be too hard? I dunno. It wouldn't have time to be reported stolen, found, and reached by law-enforcement (who has better things to do than to look for stolen vehicles in the Warrens I'm sure) in just the half-hours or so that we will need it. I wouldn't use it as our escape vehicle in any case.

Whatever we decide to do, let's try to get the planning details done before DrZ is out on Wednesday, then we can knock out any legwork rolls while he's gone, and be fresh to try to start it off when he gets back (or the following Monday).

How many grenades do you want?

For the purposes of the actual roll, I'm assuming you want more than 1 and less than 17

Chapel's roll
14d6.hits(5)=6

Item's roll
6d6.hits(5)=1

So, 5 net hits, so he will have it in about 5 hours.

Gas masks are legal so he will have them on hand. How many are you looking for?

4 masks, I would think. Don't net hits divide the time, not reduce it, or am I remembering that wrong?

-DrZ

Unless the masks are just for show, Jack doesn't need one.

Cost of 1 CS grenade =60 - so as long as you are ordering more than 1, that makes the base time 1 day. If you are ordering 17 or more, that would make it the next threshold up, and jump the base time to 2 days. Net hits do divide the time, and 24 hours divided by 5 is roughly 5 hours.

For what it's worth, I don't know if we need more than one CS grenade. The area of effect is a 10 meter radius sphere. 20 meters should probably cover the entire common area of the apartment. Granted, if they're staying in the bedrooms and/or bathrooms, it may not be as effective.

This is true - the roll stands either way - you just have to give me final totals and then I can do Chapel's response IC.

ETA - to be clear, I mean the number of successes on the roll.

If you only get 1 grenade, it means that the base time is 6 hours, and the 5 net hits would reduce the time to slightly more than an hour.

Per usual, you know what you're doing.

Jack- do we need more than 1? I think we'd probably want 2-3, right?

-DrZ

EDIT: So, I think we'd be happy with 1. We wanted something we could use tonight.
-DrZ