I haven't really made my shopping list since I'm not sure how much time we have before part 2. Might change how the update sheet will look (notably karma related trainings).

Also for gear we just handwave the buying with books' prices? As long as it's not forbidden stuff ofc.

Up to availability 12 I'd assume that you are connected enough to find. Anything above it requires a roll (and some time) which we'll handwave unless you overdo it.

That's generous of you. In that case I'll take the opportunity to round out my shopping list.

10 Doses of Pharma-Grade Cram - 200¥ Avail 2R
10 Doses of Pharma-Grade Psyche - 4,000¥ Avail 0
Force 6 Magical Lodge Materials - 3,000¥ Avail 12
Hermes Ikon - 3,000¥ Avail 10

Time to initiate.

Initiation: 6d6t5 1

I'll be taking the Metaplanar Quest Ordeal (SG p. 140) and I'll be spending the 12 Karma up front.

I plan to acquire some flying options, and notably a roto drone with a Sniper. But I don't really have the contacts for a decent sniper, anyone have access to a good armorer for something like a Cavalier Arms Crockett EBR or an Ares Desert Strike?

Yep. Kynos has a crooked quartermaster as contact, able to organize most military hardware.

Nyx has 15 dice in negotiation, so up to that should be able to get what you need. She doesn't have any contact of note for stuff like that though, so no help there.

I think that you can use etiquette or negotiation also to search for the right buyer.
I am not next to a book right now - so not sure.

To buy stuff, it's Negotiation. It's also required to negotiate the price when selling. Etiquette is to find a buyer for when you want to sell things. Not that it matters much for Nyx considering that she has both at 15.

@gilga

by the way: How much exactly did each team member receive from the deal? I had 50.000 Nuyen in the back of my mind. (In addition to the 21.000 we received for the pixie sell)

I think you make slightly more, I'll check my notes.

1,750,000 *0.3 = 525k for everyone:
Devided to: Casa, Ayato, Irris, Kynos, Nyx, Maxwell, Finestra, Simone, Wheely (didn't forget anyone?) : 9 runners.
= 58.3k for each.

Seems reasonable?

cool, that means I've got a bit more cash over than I thought.

Ok finished the list, tell me if you see anything out of bond Gilga. I don't expect to have most of that stuff before the end of our little "break", just tell me if the sniper is available before part 2 or not.

Tool Kit (Aeronautics Mechanic) = 500¥
Tool Kit (Hardware) = 500¥
Autosoft (Aeronautics Mechanic) (Rating 2) = 1000¥
Tutorsoft (Pilot Aircraft) rating 6 = 2400¥
MCT Fly-Spy x3 = 6000¥
Medium Drone Rack = 10000¥
MCT-Nissan Roto-Drone = 5000¥
Standard, Concealed Weapon Mount = 5500¥
Autosoft (Rating 3)(Sniper) = 1500¥
Smartsoft (Rating 3) = 1500¥
Ares Desert Strike = 17500¥
250 APDS = 3000¥

And as for Karma :

Pilot Aircraft : 0-4 = 20 Karma
Aeronautics Mechanic : 0-2 = 6 Karma

Can I toss in my Krime Boss on the buy order?

Hey Jack can we get you opinion?

Gilga and I are trying to decide if you can summon or otherwise bring your bound/unbound spirits with you when you are in another metaplane.

Like bringing an air spirit into the metaplane of earth for example. I say you can since aetherology lists like a bunch of different types of spirits just living inside the metaplane of man alone.

Recall that anything above 12 availability requires a roll and Nyx (or if you want one of your contacts) would probably roll for you but considering the nature of your relationships where you are not exactly BFF's it is unlikely that Nyx would spend a month shopping for you out of altruism.

It takes several days at least to find each item and well, try to be realistic with your interactions. Are your characters friends or just colleagues - if it is the latter I suggest some reimbursement to keep it real. I would not strictly enforce it, but well nobody likes to spend days looking for hard to find illegal stuff and speaking to shady people for nothing.

Bound spirits can be called to you where ever you are - if they suffer from the environment into which you called them is another question entirely (that's what allergies are for)

For me everything is under 12. Only the Sniper reach that limit and since its forbidden it could be hard to find but Kynos seems to have the contact for it so… I don't mind adding an extra if you think it's needed.

I'm using the Arms Dealer connection from Run Faster p.182

He has 9 dice to find what you need:
Negotiation: 9d6t5 3
AVA: 12d6t5 2

So, no problem for him to find your rifle.

Krime Boss
Negotiation: 9d6t5 4
AVA: 11d6t5 3

The Krime Boss is likewise no problem.

I think that you add his connection rating dice as well - but nice rolls.

You add the connection rating to the Limit unfortunately.

Let me make a day-by-day list of activities.

Day 1 Sovereign gets his spell fetish.

Day 2 Sovereign orders 1 more dose of pharma-grade Psyche 400¥.

Day 3 Sovereign gets his Shaman Tuxedo and he starts summoning and binding fire elementals. He'll start by summoning one right as the sun goes down and he'll project outside of the city to do so or Simone will drive to a 'cleaner' part of the city.
Summoning Force 6 Fire Spirit: 15d6t5 6
Spirit Resistance: 7d6t5 4
Drain Resistance: 11d6t5 5

Force 7 Fire Spirit summoned with 4 Services. Optional Powers of Fear and Search.
Sovereign suffered 2 Stun that will heal up in an hours worth of rest.

Binding Force 7 Fire Spirit: 16d6t5 6
Spirit Resistance: 14d6t5 5
Drain Resistance: 11d6t5 2

Force 7 Fire Spirit bound with 4 services. Spent 175 drams of reagents.
Sovereign suffers 7 boxes of stun damage though.

Day 4 Same thing as above. Just a big rinse and repeat.

Summoning Force 6 Fire Spirit: 15d6t5 7 Force limits that to 6 hits sadly.
Spirit Resistance: 7d6t5 2
Drain Resistance: 11d6t5 3

Force 7 Fire Spirit summoned with 6 Services. Optional Powers of Fear and Search.
No drain taken.

Binding Force 7 Fire Spirit: 16d6t5 4
Second Chance: 12d6t5 4 Force limits that to 7 hits. Spent 1 Edge.
Spirit Resistance: 14d6t5 2
Drain Resistance: 11d6t5 2

Force 7 Fire Spirit bound with 10 services and Sovereign takes 1 stun. Spent 175 drams of reagents.

Day 5 You get the idea by this point...

Summoning Force 6 Fire Spirit: 15d6t5 6
Spirit Resistance: 7d6t5 0
Rolling for drain resistance would be kinda pointless so I'm gonna skip it on this one.

Force 7 Fire Spirit summoned with 8 Services. Optional Powers of Fear and Search.
No drain taken.

Binding Force 7 Fire Spirit: 16d6t5 5
Second Chance: 11d6t5 4 Force limits that to 7 hits. Spent 1 Edge. Currently out of edge. I think?
Spirit Resistance: 14d6t5 6
Drain Resistance: 11d6t5 5

Force 7 Fire Spirit bound with 8 services and Sovereign takes 6 stun. Spent 175 drams of reagents.

Alright so I have three force 7 fire spirits bound. All it cost me was 10,500¥...

one with 4 services.
one with 10 services.
one with 8 services.

Mulcarn, I do not mind a spirit sustaining a spell for a scene but not indefinitely (unless you want to abuse the spirit).
If you do not object, I'll limit it to force hours. Which let you augment yourself before/during a run but to do so 'all the time' would still be expensive. If you go longer, it'll be painful to the spirit and I'll treat it as spellbinding which gradually damages the spirit.

What I'm having the spirit do is different from the services of spell sustaining and spell binding. Only bound spirit can do those types of services.

Innate Spell Critter power is found on page 398 of CRB.

Type: as spell Action: Complex

Range: as spell Duration: as spell

This power allows the critter to instinctively cast a single, specifc spell. To use this power effectively, the critter has to have the Spellcasting skill. Innate Spells are chosen from the list of spells cast by magicians, and magicians can oppose them with the Counterspelling skill as normal. Innate Spells also produce Drain as normal, and suffer a –2 penalty for sustaining. Critters and Spirits resist Drain with either Intuition or Charisma, at the gamemaster’s discretion.

Unbound Spirit Service

Combat: You can have a spirit fght on your side in combat. The entire fght counts as a single service.
Power use: You can have a spirit use one of its powers on a target or targets of your choosing. If the power is sustained, it counts as one service no matter how long it’s sustained. If the spirit uses a power as part of another task (often in combat), then the power use doesn’t count as a separate service.
Physical task: A spirit can materialize to perform actions on the physical plane for you.
Remote service: If you send a spirit to complete a service beyond your Magic rating x 100 meters, it’s a remote service. Once the spirit is done with a remote service, it is released and goes to its home metaplane, no matter how many services it still owes you.

Alright.

@Gilga - I'm 6 days into the future. I'm bringing all three of my bound spirits with me. I've taken a dose of Pharma-grade Psyche and I have a spirit of man sustaining an innate spell on me.

Okay, just verifying.

When exactly does Casa pay us? Is it at the start of Chapter 2 or a little before it?

A bit before that... So strange that SR does not have digital currency.

It does. Certified Credsticks are merely a form of untraceable digital currency (a bit like Bitcoin)

@Mulcarn Please give me intimidation roll +2 for having a bunch of powerful spirits bound to you.

Intimidation: 6d6t5 2

Resist being intimidated by rolling Willpower + Charisma.

Sovereign Astral Initiative: 17+4d6 33

Fire Elementals Astral Initiative: 3#14+3d6 24 26 22

Hatespark 24
Svarog 26
Doom-bringer 22

Initiative(astral): 4#10+3d6 20 22 18 19
Initiative(astral): 12+3d6 26

Order:
1. Sovereign 33
2. Spirit leader 26
3. Svarog 26
4. Hatespark 24
5. Doom-bringer 22
6. Spirit1 22
7. Spirit2 20
8. Spirit3 19
9. Spirit4 18

Sovereign will manabolt the spirit leader.

Force 7 Manabolt: 15d6t5 5
I'll buy the hits needed to resist drain.

resist manabolt: 6d6t5 1

He takes 4 physical damage. (-1 wound penalty)

He would assult Maxwell with astral combat. (Defense is intuition*2, Damage is 6 + net hits resisted by willpower).
Astral combat: 11d6t5 5

Order:
1. Sovereign 33 Manabolt Spirit leader (4 damage)
2. Spirit leader 26 (-1 wound, 4 damage) Astral combat Maxwell 5 hits.
3. Svarog 26
4. Hatespark 24
5. Doom-bringer 22
6. Spirit1 22
7. Spirit2 20
8. Spirit3 19
9. Spirit4 18

Unarmed astral attacks are an performed through an Opposed Astral Combat + Willpower [Astral] v. Intuition + Logic Test. Which would be 9 in Sovereign's case.

Going on Full Defense for -10 Initiative.
Full Astral Defense: 14d6t5 6
Dodged the attack.

Svarog using Fear on Wasp Spirit 1
Fear: 14d6t5 5

Hatespark using Fear on Wasp Spirit 2
Fear: 14d6t5 4

Doom-bringer using Fear on Wasp Spirit 3
Fear: 14d6t5 6

Resist with Willpower + Logic.

Resist Fear: 3#10d6t5 2 6 3

Two spirits escape (1 and 3)
Order:
1. Sovereign 23 Manabolt Spirit leader (4 damage) -10 initiative for full defense.
2. Spirit leader 26 (-1 wound, 4 damage) Astral combat Maxwell 5 hits.
3. Svarog 26 Fear
4. Hatespark 24 Fear
5. Doom-bringer 22 Fear
6. Spirit1 22 --- run away
7. Spirit2 20 -- astral combat Astral combat: 10d6t5 3
8. Spirit3 19--- run away
9. Spirit4 18 Astral combat: 10d6t5 3

The rest of the spirits will focus on Sovereign. (recall the penalties for multiple attacks).

(You forgot to add the 'Friends in Melee' bonus to the other two spirits)

Full Astral Defense: 13d6t5 5
Full Astral Defense: 12d6t5 3

1 dodge and 1 graze.

Initiative Order for Pass 2 will look like this.

Svarog 16
Wasp Leader 15 (-1 wound, 4 Physical damage)
Hatespark 14
Sovereign 13
Doom-bringer 12
Wasp Spirit 2, 10
Wasp Spirit 4, 8

Svarog will use Confusion on the Wasp Leader
Confusion: 14d6t5 6

This power renders the target unable to think clearly. He becomes indecisive, forgetful, and befuddled. The critter makes an Opposed Test using its Magic + Willpower against the target’s Willpower + Logic. Any net hits the critter scores become a negative dice pool modifer for any action the target character takes.

Friends in Melee: 2#2d6t5 2 0

So you get two grazing hits.

resist confusion:
resist confusion: 12d6t5 0

With -7 dice pool, he'll just withdraw from the fight along with the remaining spirits.

Nice fighting.

Thanks. I aim to do my best.

Lucky Edge: 2d6t5 0
Disruption: 1d3 2

Svarog will be temporarily disrupted for a few weeks.

Let me go ahead and get this out of the way. Spending 3 Raw Reagents.

Calling Force 3 Ant Spirits: 8d6t5 3
Ritual Resistance: 6d6t5 1
I'll buy the two hits needed for the Drain.

Okay cool, the ritual went off without a hitch and a small gateway has been opened from our world to theirs. There are five different insect types (Soldier, Scout, Caretaker, Nymph and Worker) that the bugs could be but I'll leave it up to you to decided what kind they are.

Alright, this is going to be a rather creative and unusual way to go about this so bear with me. I'll err on the side of caution and assume the bugs will want good merges as opposed to bad ones. And technically speaking the insect spirits will need three days time to properly gestate and fuse with their host. Since the first one was written as a "good merge" I'll be rolling to see how the other nine will turn out.

Ant Spirits roll Force x 2 versus the Pixies Willpower + Intuition + Sovereign's Binding Skill
Inhabitation: 9#6d6t5 2 4 3 1 1 0 0 2 4
Vessel Resistance: 9#12d6t5 3 7 2 2 3 5 5 4 7

The results - 6 Flesh form merges and 3 Hybrid form merges. Totaling for 7 Flesh forms and 3 Hybrid forms.