Ok, so last minute preparations:

1) Snap needs to just determine what type of spirit and which extra power she summoned (she has one service)
2) Which gear you are each carrying
3) What gear is Wireless on/Running Silent - and what, if any is slaved to Mel's deck
4) My understanding is that Huiquing will be on the 2nd floor in the northernmost office, Mel will also be upstairs (if so, in the other office? in AR or VR?) and that Jack, Sisco, and Snap will meet the arrivals at the door to the east.
(is the plan to stay inside and let them knock? Go outside and meet them?)

I'll have my Ingram slung under my jacket, behind my back and an extra clip...all stick-n-shock
I'll have the AK-97 w/explosive rounds propped next to the door that is only partially welded.
I'm going to have nothing on wireless other than the my Erika elite/Mr T and the Doberman (all of which will be running silent)
I'm going to leave my stuff slaved to my Erika Elite

Oh, I guess I should take one of the smoke grenades

Hope everyone had a great weekend - looking to get back to at least one post per day per player. so we can get back on track.

Just need answers to my previous post for the rest of the team, then I can start pushing the scene forward.

GEAR


(W) denotes Wireless-On. Everything is running silently and slaved to his commlink. The rest of his gear is in Mr. T. Jack's Flash-Pak is currently attached to Huiquing's breast pocket (Wireless-On and Running Silent). If Mel has space on her deck, it would be great if it were slaved to her to activate in case hostilities break out.


As I imagined it, Mel would be set up in the other office using the door as cover, in AR and helping to cover the bottling plant floor. Maybe have Sisco and Snap meet them outside, with Jack staying with Huiquing to appear as a bodyguard and to defend him in case they try something funny.

Gear


As Jack mentioned, Mel will keep watch through AR in the other office.

Currently, she has eight devices slaved to her deck, leaving one slot open.

1) Air spirit, elemental attack
2) same as usual, wearing an armor jacket
3) Contacts and mic are on, obviously W, and slaved to her link. She'll give access (marks?) to her commlink to Mel, so that she can keep watch.
4) Snap will be on the welcome party, yes. I think we should just let them come to us, to the door,, and let only one person in?

I was thinking if we met them outside, we could better control the situation and keep most of the security detail at a safe distance. I doubt a highish level Triad member is going anywhere without some protection and will probably call off the meeting if we tell him he has to come in without any bodyguard. But if we can forestall it and only have a small group come in, we can further winnow it down to only have two of them (the primary and his bodyguard) in the office with Huiquing, which should be manageable and allow us to escape if things go bad.

This is a bit riskier at the onset but makes it more managable

I have to think Huiquing is the only thing they're going to care about if they are gunning for him. I doubt they would risk tipping their hand before they have him, specifically, in their gun sights. With that said, Jack wouldn't ask anyone to do it before him, so he'll offer to meet them out there. Snap would need to watch Huiquing in that case, which might be a better deal anyway with her spirit and spells.

If you guys would like to do anything while they are sweeping the area, let me know and I'll be happy to put that into my last post.

Also, at this point just tell me your actions, and we can continue IC.

My OOC suggestion: I guess we meet them at the door. Jack will insist that only four of them come inside, the primary, his bodyguard, and two toughs. The other two can stay outside with their vehicles and the drone. Inside, the two toughs will remain downstairs with Sisco. Mel in her position covering the floor from the office above. Jack and Snap in the office with Huiquing.

This sounds all right. Let's hope they agree to it.

Mel is in AR, running silent.

ASDF = 6,5,3,5

Signal Scrub
Stealth

She's going to look for devices running silent in the area.

Ok - so:

Mel
Int+Comp+Codeslinger=13dice
13d6.hits(5)=4

You find 4 devices running silent in the area. The icons that you see denote them as 2 Personas, and 2 weapons.

Judging by PG's post, he will be with Jack greeting them at the door. Are you guys actually going outside, or opening the door and remaining inside?

I know that Mel is upstairs, where is Snap? Also, is Snap's air elemental manifested, or is it lurking off somewhere within 600 meters?

I guess meeting them at the door now. We can make our demands there and hope they leave a pair of people outside.

Hmm my bad for not making an IC post about this. No orders yet, just staying not far from Snap in astral, I guess.

Snap will stay with Huiqing for security and to provide a quick exit for him if needed. They shouldn't try much when they haven't seen Huiqing yet.

Concentrating on the two personas, let's do Matrix Perception to get more info.

@PG,

Your quote says 4 bodyguards should be enough - he has 4 guards, plus the woman, so you are asking him to leave one person outside?

I just want to clarify what you are asking before he responds.

Ok - so I forgot to take into account the penalty for running silent on your first roll, which would negate 2 of your successes.

We'll assume that was one Persona and one weapon.

Making another test for the Persona that you did spot (and now including the penalty)
11d6.hits(5)=3

You have 3 hits - so you get to ask 3 questions.

While I didn't say anything, I was hoping to leave two thugs outside, two thugs inside, and the principal and his mage lady in the room with Huiquing.

ETA: Did we House Rule Matrix Perception? I don't remember, it's been a while. I was thinking one hit notified you of the presence of silent running icons (no matter how many), then subsequent Matrix Perception checks could be rolled to try to learn more information about each one. Admittedly, it's a morass of rules, so I'm happy to go with it however y'all want. Something just tickled my brain when I read the above adjustment.

That's what I thought you wanted, but that's not what Sisco had said - and I wanted to clarify before I go forward - PG, did you just misunderstand Jack's plan or are you changing it?

With Matrix Perception, we didn't house rule it - you are right, that first roll would be how many icons are there, the second would be what kind of information.

So, the first roll would spot 2 icons. He would have to pick one at random and do another perception test. So, the first hit of the 3 he just rolled would be to determine it is a persona, and he has 2 questions left.

Good catch - its been a while

Actually, I was thinking the first hit reveals that there are X number of silent running icons within 100 feet. I didn't think the hits limited the quantity discovered. Again, I dislike Matrix Perception rules, but since I'm playing a decker in a different game, I'm interested in seeing how it works in play.

ETA: Re-reading it, it looks like the first hit just says that "Yes, there is an icon running silently within 100 feet" but doesn't tell you how many. That would be amazingly annoying to actually play in an environment where there are a lot of silent running icons. Particularly given that Matrix Perception is a complex action. So at least two complex actions to spot a silently running icon, unless you know pretty much exactly what you're looking for (which would presumably bypass the first roll).

I think if I were to ever GM, I would allow the first Matrix Perception to remain standing, letting you know of the continued presence of silent running icons in the vicinity, until you had found all of them.

Hmm, I guess I've just been misreading that this whole time. I've been playing that you the first test not only tells you if there are silent icons, but also the number of hits you got is how many you've spotted.

I think we'll leave it this way for now (assuming you guys are ok with that), otherwise the decker is spending tons of actions to keep checking if there are any silent icons. Considering that your team alone could have 20 or 30 icons silently running, that is a LOT of complex actions and extra die rolls.

ETA, Mel spotted 2 icons. She could make another test to see if there are any more hidden icons, and the number of hits is how many she spots.

I'm down with that... the more I play, the less I'm a fan of Shadowrun's poor rule system.

The way you've been running it, Lobo, is fine with me.

Okay, Mel will try a second MP roll to see if there are any more silent icons.

Evidently I misunderstood...
What was the plan actually suppose to be?

Evidently I misunderstood...
What was the plan actually suppose to be?

Well, we were going to meet them outside, but that got nixed... somewhere.

Anyway, new plan is for them to leave two thugs outside, two thugs inside on the ground floor, and the principal and mage upstairs.

Ok - we'll go with that, and PG can change his IC post to reflect that when he logs in.

In the meantime, Mel checks again:

11d6.hits(5)=4

Spots 4 more icons - so this time you get a Persona, a weapon, a drone, and a piece of clothing.

Just need to know if Snap is allocating dice to Counterspelling or not before I resolve the spell, and what, if anything, Jack and Sisco are doing.

Oh, note. I screwed up. Jack would have had his Chinese Linguasoft loaded. So drop Pistols, and add the Linguasoft and his Running Soft instead. The Linguasoft was R1, right? I need to add it to my sheet.

Yes - you purchased a rating 1 linguasoft - and no problem swapping out the two 'softs.

I'll have them react to what you say once I resolve the spell, and I'll just wait until Snap responds to do that.

Yeah, I guess my actions are largely dependent on whether I'm still breathing or in control of my body, LOL.

Yes, sorry for not thinking of mentioning it. But whenever possible Snap turns on counter spelling on all the allies closest to her. I'm not sure what the range of extending counterspelling is though. She doesn't really see what's going on, nor does she see Jack and Sisco right now. As per the number of dice.. if she's allowed she'd use all of them (they refresh every turn, right?).

If they let her know what's going on, she'll get her ass down there to assist though.

Pretty sure it's Line of Sight.

Ok - yes Counterspelling only affects targets in LOS, but as the spell affects both Huiquing and Snap, it applies

Mage casts spell
14d6.hits(5)=9 reduced to 6 by force

Resists Drain 5DV drain
11d6.hits(5)=6

No Drain

Jack resists
6d6.hits(5)=0

Sisco resists
4d6.hits(5)=2

Mel resists
10d6.hits(5)=4

Snap resists
12d6.hits(5)=6

Huiquing resists
14d6.hits(5)=10

Ha, this should prove interesting. Snap is probably out-magicked, but she'll do her damnest to keep the upper hand.

I suppose Snap sees no spells active? No focus or other magical equipment active either?

Any info on our relative magic rating, what kind of awakened she is, anything of the kind?

That is correct - OOC, you got 2 net hits on the Assensing test, which gives you:

The general state of the subject’s health (healthy, injured, ill, etc.).
The subject’s general emotional state or impression (happy, sad, angry, etc.).
Whether the subject is mundane or Awakened.
The presence and location of cyberware implants.
The class of a magical subject (fire elemental, manipulation spell, power focus, curse ritual, and so on).
If you have seen the subject’s aura before, you may recognize it, regardless of physical disguises or
alterations

One more hit and you would have had what you are looking for
The presence and location of alphaware cyber implants.
Whether the subject’s Essence and Magic are higher, lower, or equal to your own.
Whether the subject’s Force is higher, lower, or equal to your Magic.
A general diagnosis for any maladies (diseases or toxins) the subject suffers.
Any astral signatures present on the subject.

That being said, I do suppose that the "class of magical subject" would give you the information that she is a mage, rather than a shaman.

Sounds good, thanks.

Jack and PG,

I'm going to assume you let them in, if not, then I can modify my next post.

ETA - I've paused it where I did to allow you guys to interject any actions or ask questions, if you have none, let me know and I'll keep going.

I'm good with letting them in, I'll post something to Amber.

Just to be clear, do the bodyguards downstairs have weapons drawn?

All carry FN Praetor's. All of them cradle their weapons, none pointing at you, but all ready to go if necessary.

I'm almost willing to screw this up just to get my hands on one of those. LOL.

Ok, I started to put up an IC post, but then stopped, not sure how you are handling this.

The older man will head up the stairs, how is this working? Are all of you going in the room with him and Huiquing? Is Snap casting Analyze Truth?

Just checking on the plan.

Well, Jack and Snap are definitely both going in the room. I figure the explanation I provided to Amber should explain why; she also didn't seem to have an issue with it. As far as Analyze Truth... given that I warned them about not casting magic without permission, we might cause an incident by doing it. Not to mention the reaction we might get from a Triad big wig if we basically tell him to his face that we're checking to see if he is lying in the event we do ask for permission. I don't think the Triads are quite as honor-bound as the Yaks, but it's still probably culturally inappropriate.

Given the circumstances, my intention was to wait a little bit until the casting. Snap won't cast any spell without warning, and she'll ask for her client's approval first too, not wanting to start a conflict. Even though she doesn't speak Mandarin, she'll try to get a feel for when's the appropriate moment to speak up (perhaps following the conversation through a translation from Jack). Maybe an Etiquette roll could be appropriate here.

I expect the others to agree to it, and if not, it's a pretty bad sign. Note that the spell will be cast on herself, not on other people, but she'd like the other mage to "let her through". We should of course RP all or some of this.

Ok - I'll put up a post and then pause leaving a spot for any interjections.

To save on extraneous posts, I'm going to assume that Jack will be sending you translations via commlink as they go.

Safe assumption. One way I've seen to retain the flavor of translation stuff is to write in the foreign language and then spoiler block the translation. It would save on the PMs for sure, LOL.