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Smart_Alec_Mercer
So for the last couple of sessions my PnP Shadowrun group have been in Congo trying to find our Hackers sister (Who may or may not be possessed by a great spirit/ lying to her family about her relationships in the Tir/ in Loftwyr's pocket/ an alien/ a dude. You know how it is.) and as part of that we've broken into a Warlords base camp.

We ran across some drones entrenched partway up a small earthen corridor. They were shooting anything they saw come around the corner and I decided to check out the area they were defending in order to see if bypassing them was a worthwhile expenditure of resources. I'm playing a magician and I projected down the corridor.

Only to get jumped by a force ~high Fire Spirit.

That's not a problem. I was ponying out by myself, into enemy territory, into an area where we knew there were magical defenses. Getting hurt as a result of that is entirely reasonable on the DM's part. (Though we are now fighting a special forces unit while I have only one physical box left. That sucks but I'm still calling it my fault.)

I'd assessed the tunnel, while solid, and gotten two hits. No spirit. I've since checked the books (Though I haven't got Street Grimoire yet.) and yeah, there's Concealment but that only works on perception tests. I can't find anything that would have made this "rules legal."

I'm not interested in bitching about it. I'm just asking so I know for next time and so I can use it. Astral invisibility seems like a useful skill to have.

Is there anything rules or fluff wise that would have allowed this to happen or was it just fiat?
Shaidar
It is possible to obscure your Astral Form by submerging yourself within the Astral Form of the Earth. Most likely within the wall of the "earthen corridor."

Also, what type of Spirit did you tangle with, omae?
Jaid
you actually can't go inside the earth's astral form. it's solid on the astral plane. you can, however, go through walls, and it's possible the spirit was there. it's also possible it had a metaplanar shortcut to the area, i suppose.
Sendaz
Alternatively, if you were already engaging drones, their rigger may have put a call into their own mage who in turn sent out the fire spirit to get a look at the team and ran across you in the process.

So it might not have been there originally but moved into the area and you just were the first thing it saw.

So yeah it was unfortunate and you did take a beating in the process, but it would probably have been even worse for the rest of the team had it manifested unopposed right in the middle of them for a little up close barbequing.
Smart_Alec_Mercer
QUOTE (Shaidar @ Oct 3 2014, 08:20 AM) *
It is possible to obscure your Astral Form by submerging yourself within the Astral Form of the Earth. Most likely within the wall of the "earthen corridor."

Also, what type of Spirit did you tangle with, omae?

As Jaid confirms. I didn't think it was possible to enter into or pass through the space occupied by another astral form.

Being a city kid the DM had mentioned that my assensing would be weaker (Though the verdict reached by the group was that it wasn't expected by the background count in the area as it's not a "magic [stat] linked skill.") in areas with heaps of plant matter as it cut off visibility and magical fluberly whurbly that I'm sure the character in universe understands. Though it did make drones easier to see via their silhouette.

This wasn't one of those locations though so I'm only bringing it up to fill space and try to mention things that could be useful.

It was a fire spirit.
QUOTE (Jaid @ Oct 3 2014, 09:12 AM) *
you actually can't go inside the earth's astral form. it's solid on the astral plane. you can, however, go through walls, and it's possible the spirit was there. it's also possible it had a metaplanar shortcut to the area, i suppose.

As I said. The tunnel was a hole in the ground. Not even shored up to help prevent cave ins.

I asked another player about it and he remembers a little more than I do. He said that the DM described it as being ordered to attack anybody or anything that crossed over a line in the ground. (Figuratively.) Which implies it was observing the area somehow.

How does access to the metaplanes work? Hell. How do the metaplanes work?

The books seem intentional vague about them and it hasn't come up in game so I don't have first hand experience.
QUOTE (Sendaz @ Oct 3 2014, 04:56 PM) *
Alternatively, if you were already engaging drones, their rigger may have put a call into their own mage who in turn sent out the fire spirit to get a look at the team and ran across you in the process.

So it might not have been there originally but moved into the area and you just were the first thing it saw.

So yeah it was unfortunate and you did take a beating in the process, but it would probably have been even worse for the rest of the team had it manifested unopposed right in the middle of them for a little up close barbequing.

It turned out that all the riggers were dead and everything we we're going up against was remotely controlled or set up before hand. They'd been killed by the same SpecOps team that we're about to throw down with.

Amen to the second point as well. The only thing that I have an issue with is that I'm going to have to spend the next session taking care of the hostages while the rest of the team get to do their Predator impression.
Sendaz
QUOTE (Smart_Alec_Mercer @ Oct 3 2014, 09:52 AM) *
I asked another player about it and he remembers a little more than I do. He said that the DM described it as being ordered to attack anybody or anything that crossed over a line in the ground. (Figuratively.) Which implies it was observing the area somehow.


Okay, so let's see what kind of lines it could be.

Pg 125 in Street Magic/pg 122 in 5th Street Grimoire discusses some advanced forms of ward and two possibilities may fit the bill.

The Alarm Ward is designed to be camouflaged on the astral, to even notice it takes an Assensing + Intuition (3) Test.

The other is the Masking Ward. While not mentioned in the Street Grimoire, it is talked about in 4th on pg 125 Street Grimoire.
Like the Alarm Ward it is transparent on the astral, plus has the nasty effect of hiding magical things on the other side of it.
So the fire spirit could have been sitting on the other side of the ward and you would not have even seen it if the assensing roll hadn't been high enough.

However wards are usually tied to the owner, so the Alarm ward would have alerted the mage who might have then sent the spirit.
With the Masking Ward the spirit may well have been there already, just hidden from your sight until you came to close and it jumped you.

As for metaplanar travel by the spirit, yes it could.
If the spirit has been in the location before, as per pg 94 in Street Magic/pg 191 in 5th Street Grimoire, it can do a metaplaner shortcut to bypass a dual nature obstacle.
So even though it was an earthen tunnel and a spirit could not come through the walls since it is of the Earth and thus dual natured, if the fire spirit had been brought to the tunnel previously and something alerted it there was an intruder or similar it could have travelled to the spot via a quick metaplanar hop, bypassing the earthen bits.
Jaid
it is also theoretically possible that the spirit had a detection spell running and was originally around a corner or something. many people don't realize this, but the way detection spells work in shadowrun is that you cast it on someone and they gain a sense. so, for example, "detect life" can be cast on anyone you can touch, and they gain the sense... not necessarily the caster.
Shaidar
Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't Background Count obscure Assenssing somehow?
sk8bcn
yes it does.

I imagine it as kind of a dark fog.
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