We would have been better off just storming the compound after getting the idol's location. That way, we wouldn't have wasted literal real life months on planning and prep.

So far, the GM has manufactured a misunderstanding with the old man to put us on the back foot. The army has shown up, for the second time, at just the right time to fuck us. He withheld where Torley's and Lil' Homie's spotter positions were going to be and is punishing us for not having info he refused to give. Now Silence is moving Starlet into a position that conflicts with O'Connor's attack plan.

Got to hand it to you Crossbow, it's almost hilarious how specifically you've concocted this scenario to put all that effort and engagement with your game to waste.

It is possible that the new guy (yours truly) added to the confusion by not knowing where he was supposed to go/ not reading back through the notes after a lengthy hiatus / not knowing the long-term character interactions in order to be able to forestall confusion with cogent and charismatic questioning. For any part I may have played in the mix-up, I apologize.

As for our fearless leader, Crossbow has given me the benefit of a doubt more than once, so I am willing to reciprocate.

I am trying to push things along Necrogigas. I know it is frustrating, especially with the timeframes involved. I honestly forgot some of the stuff you had planned, but I am really not trying to screw you over any more than what is dramatically appropriate. I know at this point you may not believe me, but I am just trying to tell a good story.

farothel, the map of the compound that was online is gone. I posted the map,with a few notes I made using Paint 3d on my Discord server, and posted an invite here in the OOC thread on the 25th of February.

I've been posting as if the window from which Torley is observing events has a view of both 'armies'. That is correct, no?

No, you actually can't see either group. You can see the guard at the compound waving his arm, but the convoy that Silence and Starlet see is just a dustcloud rising over buildings at this point, and the military forces are behind you. I will try to make a basic map of the larger area to show orientations and positions once I get a clearer understanding of what Con and Homie are doing.

farothel, I don't see your login on my discord server yet, if the other invile expired here is another https://discord.gg/tUmqz5zc

O'Connor doesn't know, nor can see, that Silence and Starlet are entering his attack zone, so once he's in position he's going to follow the plan unless told otherwise.

I specifically asked for two different spotter locations, so if Torley's already at one, Lil' Homie is heading to the other.

You should get a feed from Sammy's goggles' camera (I put that on), so you might be able (at least in the beginning) to figure out where she is. And we still have comms on just in case.

I am a little confused about what is going on with O'Conner and Homie.

I realize Necrogigas is pissed at me for messing up whatever plan there was, but I still need to run the game.

Near as I can tell he intended to attack Adegoke's troops, who are arriving a block or so away to the west of the compond and are setting themselves up to attack the compound in the near future. Now he seems to want to attack Oluleye Uzochi's arriving reinforcements on the east side of the compound.

Additionally, I have no clue where he sent Lil Homie to.

farothel, I am also still waiting for you to join the discord server.

O'Connor's part in the plan was to storm the compound at the gate and draw any guards out of the buildings towards the courtyard. That's still the plan I guess but now also hoping that the army is drawn into the engagement rather than continue their retrieval operation.

When we were pulling togather our reconnaissance, I asked for two spotter locations, one for Torley amd one for Lil' Homie. You said we were able to find those no problem without elaborating on the specifics. So if you're confused it's your own doing and it needs to stop being my problem.

The simple solution to the confusion is for Crossbow to elaborate on the two observer locations and then arbitrarily place Torley and Li'l Homey in their respective places. Who is confused, and why, then become unimportant.

I'm happy to have Torley teleported, and Li'l Homey is Crossbow's anyway. So let's just do it and get on with it.

In terms of O'Connor's plan, the arrival of multiple, new, unaccounted-for elements might lead to a change in plans. Just sayin'.

From a meta point of view, it's not surprising that major factions come together the day before the idol is scheduled to be destroyed.

I think the main problem is that due to the slowness of PbP that things that were asked six months ago IRL are basically 10 minutes ago in game. And finding stuff like this back is not always easy.

Yeah, I agree. We soldier on, though.

I posted an updated map of the larger area with Lil Homie placed in position, and Silence and Starlet inside the compound on my discord server.

Part of my confusion about this is the indication that O'Connor might attack Adegoke's forces when they first showed up. Feel free to indicate who and how he intends to start festivities.

The earlier links to your Discord server don't recognize me any more. What should I do to be able to see the updated map?

A direct assault on royal forces was never on the table. O'Connor's plan is to continue with his assault on the compound through the gate and draw entrenched defenders to the courtyard. The spotters are to report, on all groups, troop movements and call out specialized units such as heavy weapons teams and snipers.

At this junction, O'Connor is waiting for Starlet to leave his area of operations before attacking, and hoping to draw both royal and sedition forces into conflict with each other so that we have a clear exfil out the other side of the compound.

I still have you as a member, it should be in your list of servers.

Depending on what you are using to attack with, Starlet is in the clear now. If you are planning to wait until she is out of the courtyard, Uzochi's reinforcements will be inside the compound

Indiscriminate fully automatic weapons fire, a few flash bangs, slightly more discriminate burst fire, and a couple smoke grenades.

YAHHHHH!

Girl Got a Gun

Chaos at the gate? Yeah she is in the clear of that.

What kind of guard presence is visible in the compound at the moment?

That would depend on your actions, right I have you, with no movement, basically next to LilHomie on the map. That means you can see the two gate guards out in the street waving for the trucks. I am assuming you are going for a surpise round that will include movement to the other side of the street which will give you a view through the gate.

That's the plan more or less.

Well give me a surprise check so I know if any one has a shot at responding to you and tell me what you are doing. Actually, go ahead and do it in the IC thread.

I'm following Silence into the compound.

My wife and I are flying to Vancouver Island this Monday, 28 March, to visit family and friends. Other side of the continent!

We will be there and traveling around till 11 April. I will have my phone and, I'm sure, relatively common WIFI connection, so I should be able to put my two cents' worth in during that time. Forgive me if my presence is less than the overly eager, retired guy looking for something to do, it usually is.

O'Conner is going INTO the compund? I thought he was staying outside.

Doesn't matter for this part. Neither of the gate guards can respond to you. Do your thing, I will roll more surprise as needed.

Yes, into the compound. Original plan was to stay on the perimeter, but now we have sedition reinforcements and royal army groups about to move in.

O'Connor's calling a mulligen. He's moving into the courtyard, which will draw in the seditionists after him, and hopefully will force the royalists in as well. With two seperate opposition groups in play outside the Compound, the courtyard will be O'Connor's bottleneck until he can rush out the other side.

O'Connor's thinking is that the royal army will move in swiftly since there's clearly a third party in play and they need to get the idol before anyone else does. He's hoping they will rely on superior training and equipment to pivot to a violence of action plan and run straight into the seditionists and bog down both groups. Rope-a-dope worked when we extracted Silence, hopefully it works again.

I just hope he waited until Silence and Sammy were out of the courtyard (and as you have Sammy's video feed, you should be able to see when that is).

Well, take you actions, the guards can't respond.

I'm away from my books, as I am traveling. Could someone tell me the range of Voice Control's "ventriloquism - throw voice" effect, please?

Voice Control doesn't have a ventiliquism aspect to it, it is for disguising your voice.

We are currently waiting for Necrogigas to handle his surprise actions.

As it turns out, some time ago I downloaded the SR4A manual to my phone. I found it while looking for SR3 info for the other game I'm playing.

So, on page 197, Voice Control is described as allowing the adept to "throw" her voice up to (Macic X 2) meters away. Are we not using that set of rules?

You are correct, my bad, so you also answered your own question.

Anyone else currently in play have multiple Initiative passes, or can I continue Con's actions?

I looked back through my posts till the one where Crossbow told me no initiative roll is needed yet, so I guess I better roll now.

INIT 7 : 7 + 4 hits = 11

So, I think Torley can do something before O'Connor goes again. Is that right, Crossbow?

Oh, I'm back home from my peregrinations. My one cat that likes to sit on my desk in front of the computer when I am typing is there again, and purring contentedly.

The only place Torley could use his voice to sow confusion without venturing from his position would be with the soldiers in the streets beind him.

Torley is all for not venturing from his position. Get out there in the middle of a fire fight? Really??

*crickit* ... *crickit*

I'm not letting either the OOC or IC thread fall off the bottom of the page. Torley, couldn't take the ignominy.

Oh, my wife and I are fighting a COVID infection. As bad as it is, I shudder to think what it would have bene like had we not been vaccinated.

I think DS was down for a few days, no? I asked about it on a Facebook DS page, and the response suggested I was the one that twigged the powers that be. Huh?

It was down for me as well.

Same here. I couldn't get on since the beginning of the week.

oh good, we're back

I can't go further until O'Conner finishes his actions, he is in a surpise round of actions.

Okay, so there's one injured guard left at the gate. Did Statlet and Silence see anyone within the courtyard?

They see a lot of people, the court yard is quite active, but can't relay anymore in the seconds of your surprise round.