I haven't been checking in... I figured y'all might have been busy with the holidays, but I am back.

Are you waiting on me to post for Booker?

I think Booker is Koekepan's creature now, no?

I'm just waiting to see whether Karmakaze has anything to contribute in this context; after all, she's still in the scene.

yeah, but that pbangarth guy won't keep his mouth shut. This post is a case in point, though he does it through Blue as well.

Okay then....

Booker is here!

I am waiting on you guys... not sure if Booker and Blue have more to talk about.

Well, that last part was electronic because Booker didn't want to talk about it aloud in Stuffer Shack.

Holy shit. The Karens have organized!

The Karens are revolting!

I don't want to monopolize the conversation with Booker. He's Karmakaze's contact.

Unless trouble comes looking for us, Blue has things to do like rebuild his Lodge, buy materials for the one-off spells and charge up the devices for same. Maybe even spend some Karma?

This could take a couple of weeks or more.

We could develop a downtime agenda for you, sure. What does Karmakaze want to tackle?

Blue’s original work at Biozu required him to do a lot of repetitive spellcasting. So, having a whopping big willpower (WIL) made sense, as recovering from Drain was downtime Biozu didn’t appreciate. They were willing to spring for an expensive F4 Sustaining Focus to keep their magician working rather than resting. And out in the big, bad world, it still is cool to be able to sling a few spells and shrug off the Drain or at least recover from it in a matter of minutes.

However, life in the shadows of Seattle, with only himself and Karmakaze working as a team, has required Blue to be more active in dealing with spirits than he needed to be in his former career. In that respect he is limited by his charisma (CHA). Summoning for Blue is difficult because of his CHA of 4 which limits the Force at which a spirit can be effectively summoned. So, despite my whiny bitch entreaty at the start of this campaign, I believe Blue will be willing to re-bond his F4 Sustaining Focus to sustain Increase Attribute (CHA). He will just have to put up with a mere 8 for WIL, but also have an 8 for CHA. A half-WIL spirit (for a Drain of L) will then be F4 instead of F2, and Blue will have 8 or 10 (at night) dice to resist summoning Drain. He will have to be a little more careful when spellcasting.

None of this will change until Blue acquires a F4 Improve Attribute (CHA) spell and learns it.

Rebonding will cost 4 Karma and learning the new spell will cost 4 Karma, using up 8 of Blue’s remaining 10 Karma. Yes, it might take a few kicks at the can to get all four successes to maximize the effectiveness of the spell.

There being only two of them, Blue and Karmakaze, after long deliberation Blue has come to the conclusion that he needs to be faster so he isn’t a dead weight/target during most of a combat situation. So he will look for a F1 Sustaining Focus (health) and a F1 Increase Reflexes +3 spell.

Bonding the Focus will cost 1 Karma and learning the spell will cost 1 Karma, using up all the remaining Karma that Blue has for now.

No fetish or Exclusive limits on the new spells.

Items Blue wants to buy with 60,500 nuyen available:
(Try ordering the following through Mary Margaret McMahon and hope Mitsuhama has had enough and stops keeping an eye on her.)

F4 Increase Attribute (CHA) spell formula – 1,500 Street Index 2
F1 Increase Reflexes +3 spell formula – 1,000 Street Index 2
EDIT: F3 Control Thoughts spell formula - 1500 Street Index 2(+?)
F1 Sustaining Focus (Health) – 15,000 Street Index 2
Materials for spell-on-a-stick:
1 X F6 armor – 3,600
1 X F6 Powerbolt – 3,600

(Requested earlier through Karmakaze’s contact)
Form-fitting body armour, full suit – 2,000
Cougar fineblade knife (short) – 800 Street Index 3

Order of Operations: (Assume purchases all go through, reorder if some fail)

1) Request items from Mary Margaret, let her know he is busy for 6 days, maximum availability time frame for these items is 7 days
2) Rebuild F6 Lodge in Blue’s apartment – 6 days
3) On 7th day negotiate with Mary Margaret and purchase items
4) Make the two spells-on-sticks , about 1 day
EDIT: 4a) Learn F3 Control Thoughts spell, 3 days or less if successful
5) Learn F4 Increase Attribute (CHA) spell, 4 days or less if successful, should work on first shot even with target 8
6) Rebond the F4 Focus, 4 hours
7) Cast F4 Increase Attribute (CHA) into Focus till max successes, heal Drain [6 and 7 together about 1 day]
8 ) Bond F1 Focus, 1 hour
9) Cast F1 Increase Reflexes +3 into F1 Focus, heal Drain
10) Get items from Karmakaze’s contact

Barring interruptions, all this should take EDIT : 17 or 18 days. Speaking of interruptions, Blue will have a F2 Sweez on guard duty any time summoning doesn't interfere with his work. He'll make it up to Sweez somehow.

All of that sounds pretty reasonable, availability depending. Bear in mind that I was also going to gift you Karma and money for returning Daisy.

We got the money already from Booker.

Karma? KARMAAAAA!!!

If he has more karma, there might be more to do.

Three points of additional Karma for Blue and Karmakaze each. Effective once you've finished speaking with Booker.

Wow. I added the 3 karma to Blue's data sheet here, and I see we started this thread in June 2020!

I am back...

Been a rough few weeks. Everyone at home and at work had the flu for like a week, but each a different week. Lots of OT and lots of sickness, lots of sleepless nights, and lots of sleeping all day.

I am catching up on what I missed now.

Okay, caught up.

I feel like we left some loose ends...

• What about that kid Blue was trying to help?
• Look through data-chips from goons truck from the first run, pass along to decker if encrypted.
  [ Spoiler ]
  I think I already passed these along to Jaxx, but don't recall

What to do over the next two weeks:

• Look into what's going on in the PoliHuminus area. If able collect evidence of human trafficking.
• Check in with Torquey, maybe throw him some cash for helping us recover Daisy. Building contact.
• ...

OK, on review I'm upping the Karma award for Daisy's safe delivery from 3 each to 6 each.

Let me know how you want to spend this, and we'll settle in on that while also accounting for downtime.

This brings Blue to a total of 22 Karma earned, which means he gets another Karma Pool point! He has 2!!

Given the expenditures proposed above (Post #1063), should they all pan out, that would leave Blue with 5 Karma points saved.

Any time you would like to work through those, Koekepan, let me know.

EDIT: Blue will have 5 Karma points left.

EDIT AGAIN: Oops. Bad Karma Flaw means he needs 40 karma earned. So, he has 6 karma points left.

We can tackle that - might want an updated character sheet at this point.

Post #546 on page 22 about Blue is up to date to the return of Daisy and rewards thereof. I can edit it again once success/failure and costs of his plan pan out.

Click the green link in my signature for Karmakaze's character sheet.

Had to remind myself of the Bad Karma Flaw. Whew! getting that monkey off Blue's back will cost 50 karma plus a lot of role playing.

Well, shit. If he has 6 karma left, I might as well go whole hog and try for the F3 Control Thoughts spell. With Blue's reduced WIL from 12 to 8 it won't be so egregious. That would be 3 karma to learn and probably a good lot of cash.

See the post above for the changes.

Control thoughts is a tough call. In my iteration, as mind-affecting, it's illegal. You'd have to pay extra for that formula. Or work it out yourself.

Yeah, we talked about it earlier. If Mary Margaret can't come up with it, then Blue will just have to save his money and karma for later. Poor guy.

OK, so we can fast-forward through downtime.

Let's just get a detailed OOC list here from each of you on what you're committing to for your downtime. Just for the record, as it were.

Items Blue wants to buy with 60,500 nuyen available:
(Try ordering the following through Mary Margaret McMahon and hope Mitsuhama has had enough and stops keeping an eye on her.)

F4 Increase Attribute (CHA) spell formula – 1,500 Street Index 2
F1 Increase Reflexes +3 spell formula – 1,000 Street Index 2
F3 Control Thoughts spell formula - 1500 Street Index 2(+? maybe more because of the touchy nature of the spell)
F1 Sustaining Focus (Health) – 15,000 Street Index 2

Materials for spell-on-a-stick:
1 X F6 armor – 3,600
1 X F6 Powerbolt – 3,600

(Requested earlier through Karmakaze’s contact)

Form-fitting body armour, full suit – 2,000
Cougar fineblade knife (short) – 800 Street Index 3

Order of Operations: (Assume purchases all go through, reorder if some fail)

1) Request items from Mary Margaret, let her know he is busy for 6 days, maximum availability time frame for these items is 7 days (more for Control thoughts spell?)
2) Rebuild F6 Lodge in Blue’s apartment – 6 days
3) On 7th day negotiate with Mary Margaret and purchase items
4) Make the two spells-on-sticks, about 1 day

Learn spells with Sorcery 6, Spell Pool 7 and Complementary Skill Magic Background Knowledge 3

5) Learn F1 Increase Reflexes +3 spell, 1 day
6) Learn F3 Control Thoughts spell, 3 days or less if successful
7) Learn F4 Increase Attribute (CHA) spell, 4 days or less if successful, should work on first shot even with target 8

8 ) Rebond the F4 Focus, 4 hours

At this point Spell Pool drops to 6

9) Cast F4 Increase Attribute (CHA) into Focus till max successes, heal Drain [8 and 9 together about 1 day]
10) Bond F1 Focus, 1 hour
11) Cast F1 Increase Reflexes +3 into F1 Focus, heal Drain


12) Buy items from Karmakaze’s contact

Barring interruptions, all this should take about 19 days. Speaking of interruptions, Blue will have a F2 Sweez on guard duty any time summoning doesn't interfere with his work. He'll make it up to Sweez somehow.

OK, I'll put a fly in the ointment: all of that (rolls permitting) is reasonable, except that the availability for Control Thoughts will be 12/Force * 4, and the street index will be 8.

Those numbers would be different outside the enclave, but there's a definite factor of supply at work here.

Yup, I understand that spell is a difficult one to obtain. If it doesn't work, fine. One small factor in Blue's favour is that for negotiations regarding price as set by the Street Index, his WIL will still be 12.

And yes, I am having a small pang of regret about dropping that whopping number. Still doing it.

I have increased Karmakaze's Body from 3 to 4.

You can see the update on my character sheet in Cast of Shadows: Karmakaze. Look under Karma for my balance.

I also want to purchase more gel ammunition with clips for her weapons, but I am looking through an old copy of Cannon Companion for other ideas.

Probably want to get some surveillance gear as well, seeing as she is a PI.

Gel ammunition will be readily available for her, as would any reasonable surveillance gear. She can just wave her PI authorisation and get geared up.

Let me know when you need dice rolls for negotiation, learning spells, etc.

Double post.

You can roll right now.

OK, here are the rolls for availability and cost. Learning spells, etc. to follow in another post. (Got called for dinner!)

I'm not sure whether, in game, these etiquette tests come before Blue builds his lodge, or on the seventh day after it is done, according to the order of operations above. Be kind.

OK, the BBB says halfway through the availability time, there needs to be a meet, so I hope during the lodge building process Blue can take some time each day to meet with Mary Margaret, otherwise lets just stretch the time Blue needs before the next run, OK?

Hmmm. I don't know where I got the cost for some of the items, but the list in the previous post is sometimes incorrect. I'll let you figure out if any extra successes in the availability apply to the base cost*street index.

Blue: Etiquette 3, WIL 12 during item acquisition, Negotiation 2

F4 Increase Attribute (CHA) spell formula (M level Drain)

availability 4/48 hrs: Etiquette 3 dice: 2 successes

price base cost 400 Street Index 2: Negotiation 2 dice: 2,4

F1 Increase Reflexes +3 spell formula (D level Drain)

availability 1/7 days: 3 dice : (Assume I need 2s?) 2 successes

price base cost 3,000 Street Index 2 : 2 dice: 1,5

F3 Control Thoughts spell formula (Yeah, right.) Availability 12/12 (days?) Cost 1,500 Street Index 8

availability target 12 : 3 dice : 4,2,1 NOPE.

F1 Sustaining Focus (Health)

availability 2/48 hrs: 3 dice: 3 successes

price 15,000 Street Index 2 : 2 dice: 6,3

Materials for spell-on-a-stick: I think these are just available, right?
1 X F6 armor – 3,600
1 X F6 Powerbolt – 3,600

Items from Karmakaze's contact

Form-fitting body armour, full suit – 2,000 no availability or street index issue

Cougar fineblade knife (short)

availability 5: 3 dice: 0 successes Well, shit.

Mmmm. Dinner was good!

Learn F1 Increase Reflexes +3 Spell: target 2, 1 day
Sorcery 6 + Spell Pool 6 + Owl 2= 14 dice: 14 successes
Complementary Skill Magic Background 3: 3 successes

==> 15 successes should be a couple of hours even with any distractions.

Learn F4 Increase Attribute (CHA): target 8, 4 days
14 dice: 2 successes
Complementary: 3 dice: 0 successes

==> 2 successes

Next batch of rolls later after "Will Trent".

Alright! Will Trent saved the little girl and broke the child trafficking ring.

So, here are the rest of the things Blue wants to do during the break. The following flips a couple of steps in the Order of Operations he planned earlier. hey, he's had days to think it through.

1) Bond F1 Sustaining Focus. About 1 hour.

2) Cast F1 Increase Reflexes +3 into F1 focus.

target REA 4, Sorcery 6 + Spell Pool 6 + Owl 2 = 14 dice: 7 successes

3) Drain Resistance: WIL 12 + Owl 2 + Spell Pool 1= 15 dice, Drain 2(D) : 12 successes No Drain.

4) Assuming Learning the F4 Increase Attribute (CHA) spell works, he will re-bond the F4 Sustaining Focus for the CHA spell. About 4 hours.

5) Cast F4 Increase Attribute (CHA) spell into the focus (this could take a while!)

Target CHA =4, Sorcery 6 + Spell Pool 6 + Owl 2 = 14 dice: 4 successes

Resist Drain target 3(M) : WIL 8 + Spell Pool 1 + Owl 2 = 11 dice: 9 successes No Drain.

Phew. I think this is it.

No, the meet cannot happen halfway through the lodge construction process. This is an absolute block of time that must be uninterrupted by anything save the sheer necessaries of life.

The materials for a pre-cast spell are readily available, no big deal. You lay down your cash and you get your stuff. Any talismonger could oblige from right off the shelf. Unlike the fancy body armour, which ... well, you get to postpone your dreams of dwarven axe-wielding rumbles.

Other than that, looking good so far.

OK, then Blue will build his lodge first, which will take 6 days.

Then the rest of the purchasing, seeing as multiple purchases taking different lengths of time can happen simultaneously, takes up to 7 days.

Then the learning/bonding/casting takes 6 days.

So, everything that can be done should be done by the 19th day.

Oh! I still have to do the casting of the two spell-on-a-stick spells. I'll have Blue do these before his WIL drops, so before the rebonding of the F4 Sustaining Focus.

F6 armor: target 6, Drain 5(M): Sorcery 6 + Spell Pool 6 + Owl 2 = 14 dice : 4 successes. So, Barrier rating of 8.

Drain resistance 5(M): WIL 12 + Owl 2 = 14 dice : 6 successes No Drain.

F6 Powerbolt at Deadly level: target B, Drain 4(D): 14 dice: 4, 1, 4, 6, 1, 4, 5, 4, 1, 6, 1, 3, 5, 6

Oh, should have done exploding 6s: 3 dice: 5, 3, 9

So, the rolls are 4,1,4,11,1,4,5,4,1,9,1,3,5,15

Drain resistance: target 4(D), 14 dice + 1 Spell Pool = 15 dice: 8 successes No Drain.

Heh. Finished off the use of WIL 12 in style!

Why don't we give the poor guy a day or so of rest in there somewhere? Make it an even 3 weeks for all of this.

Oh. How much did all of this cost? Do I need to roll anything for that?

All the things that the dice said that you could get, you can get at list price.

Thanks.

Updated character sheet HERE.