Not unless you feel the urge.

I suspect Blue is well down the Initiative list. Should he survive long enough, I hope to improve his Initiative.

Coming out of astral perception is a simple action, so that leaves not enough time to cast a spell in the one initiative phase Blue has per combat round.

He will duck for cover behind a partition or under a table and reach in his pockets, still not quite sure magecuffs are not in the offing, and to put one hand each on the Influence spell item and the Powerbolt spell item.

If he can see as all this happens, was the t-shirt guy the one with the 'cuffs, and, as they're actions begin, does any of the other four not look like he is reaching for a weapon?

Blue could dodge-and-roll off his chair and behind a partition, but under the table is a quick slide/slither away too. Pick whichever suits you for your tactical needs.

The t-shirt guy did not have the 'cuffs.

All of them look as if they're taken by surprise right now, so none of them seem to be responding in a combative fashion. At a reasonable guess, they apparently hoped to just walk in, 'cuff Blue, and cart him off. Clearly a mistake on their part.

2nd attack, if it is Karma's turn...

I am imagining Karma moving to the right. That puts the person on her left the closest to Blue.

Going to fire the left-handed Sally at the closest person to Blue, on her left. And then whoever is closest to her on the right, is getting a chestful of Ingram jellies.

Karma's Rolls:


TN Adjustments:
0 Savalette: +1TN for two weapons (Amb Edge), -2 TN for SmartLink, +1TN Recoil (3 Burst, -2 built in comp)
2 Ingram: +3TN for two weapons, second target (Amb Edge),-1 TN for SmartLink, No Recoil (3 Burst, -3 Recoil (w/o stock))

Using 1 Combat Pool on Sav, using 3 Combat Pool on Ingram, leaving me with 3 left

Attacks:
I didn't stage the damage because I forgot how to stage for gel rounds, and I got to head to work soon

Savalette: 12S damage (burst) 5 Successes at TN4
Ingram: 10S damage (burst) 0 Successes at TN6



I will post IC after my results are handled.

It is now Karmakaze's turn.

Our mental images align well.

The burst at the person on her left is highly effective - the jellies hit him midships, and he goes down, projectile vomiting semi-digested coffee. The one on the right (mister fancyshirt) gets lucky and the jellies splinter a poor, harmless, innocent chair.

I think that's it for the two of us, isn't it? 20-10-10=0.

Yup, that's it. I'm letting her post before I respond. (Yes, they all did badly on surprise checks, even Blue did better. OK, granted it was a good roll for ol' Blue ...)

Thought my first move was out of initiative as a surprise attack.

Hm. Could be. I thought surprise determined who could act against whom in the first initiative pass. Could be proactive interference from another edition of SR.

pbangarth is right. Check the example on page 109 of the third edition rules.

oh damn....

When does combat pool refresh? Each combat or each initiative?

Combat pool refreshes each combat round, so if you use it up in the first Initiative phase, you have none for the second.

Are we into the next Combat Round, then? Roll Initiative?

You can roll initiative now, I'm just waiting for Bastard's post on this second salvo.

Blue's Initiative:

4 + 1D6 = 4+ 1 = 5

Aaaaannnnnd ... then there's this.

Koekepan, if you recall Quick Willie's Initiative scores, you will know how much this hurts. Down the line this has to change, if for no other reason than to keep me from blowing smoke out my ears.

Sorry... didnt realize you were waiting on me.

Initiative 3d6+9: 22 [3d6=5, 5, 3]

The goons' initiative:

Left booth: 7

Fancyshirt (central): 5

Right booth (knife): 8

The other two are hors de combat.


By this order, this round will be Karmakaze/Right/Left/Fancyshirt+Blue/Karmakaze/Karmakaze

I believe cover modifiers apply to targeting spells, however, does the daytime +2 modifier apply to spell items, that were likely created at night?

Check page 181 - cover affects difficulties.

The +2 modifier does not apply to spell items as per house rules - but neither does the -2 bonus at night. They are what they are.

Thanks. Actually, it's not a -2 to target at night, but 2 extra dice to cast, which would at least make a glitch harder at the time of fabrication.

That does raise some questions, though. Would the item's spell have built into it a number of successes from the casting at the time of the creation of the item? Why would the caster's successes at the time of use have an effect? And what about a non-Awakened user? They would have to cast it as if it were the maker. Use the successes at the time of creation, or use the maker's Sorcery Skill at the time of discharge?

Karma is going to shoot at the guy with the knife with both weapons. If possible, I want to also position her with the best cover from the other two attackers.

I am imagining Karma moving to the right. That puts the person on her left the closest to Blue.

Karma's Rolls:

TN Adjustments:
+4 Savalette: +1TN for two weapons (Amb Edge), -2 TN for SmartLink, +1TN Recoil (3 Burst, -2 built in comp), +4 partial cover?
+4 Ingram: +1TN for two weapons (Amb Edge),-1 TN for SmartLink, No Recoil (3 Burst, -3 Recoil (w/o stock)), +4 partial cover?

Using 1 Combat Pool on Sav, using 3 Combat Pool on Ingram, leaving me with 3 left

Attacks:
Damage adjusted this time for gel rounds.

Savalette: 10S Stun damage (burst) 2 Successes at TN8
Ingram: 8S Stun damage (burst) 0 Successes at TN8


I can edit my IC after if my target calculations were incorrect.

Karmakaze: I like your calculations, they stand.

Obviously, one burst connects and he goes down behind the partition, out of sight, but it's not clear whether or not he's out of the fight.

Moving further to the right would involve her hurdling a partition.

Blue:

Would the item's spell have built into it a number of successes from the casting at the time of the creation of the item?

Yes

Why would the caster's successes at the time of use have an effect?

The spell is effectively frozen in time. The caster's successes at the time of creation matter.

And what about a non-Awakened user? They would have to cast it as if it were the maker.

No they wouldn't, they'd trigger the already-cast spell.

Use the successes at the time of creation, or use the maker's Sorcery Skill at the time of discharge?

Creation.

Thanks, Koekepan. When I have a few more minutes, I'll roll the successes for each of the pre-made items Blue has. Obviously, he will have made them at night to maximize successes on the casting and on the Drain resistance. (Some of those spells have nasty Drain, and I have to roll it at the highest damage level to cover all possibilities.)

Pre-cast spells:

armor : 1 success - all that is needed (should have rolled 14 dice, but 12 did it )

astral armor : Sorcery 5 + Spell Pool 5 + Owl 2 = 14 dice, target 6 : 4 successes

Powerbolt 1: 14d6 : 3, 3, 3, 6, 4, 2, 4, 3, 5, 6, 5, 1, 6, 2

Oh, forgot Rule of 6 here, so for the three 6s : 3, 3, 1, so the 6s are really 9,9,7

Powerbolt 2 : 14d6 : 5, 5, 14, 1, 4, 3, 5, 5, 3, 3, 4, 15, 10, 2

Detect Individual : 14d6 : 11, 2, 4, 9, 2, 3, 1, 2, 5, 10, 1, 1, 1, 10

Influence : 14d6: 3, 3, 1, 1, 5, 5, 5, 5, 1, 4, 2, 5, 2, 1

improved invisibility : 14d6 : 7 successes

heal 1 : 14d6 : 4, 4, 1, 1, 3, 2, 2, 10, 4, 3, 4, 15, 11, 5

heal 2 : 14d6 : 10, 7, 3, 2, 1, 3, 4, 3, 2, 2, 11, 5, 1, 9

The sinister goon's entanglement tool:

https://orokos.com/roll/882145

"Huh"

Hahahaha.


So the guy on my left is left standing, but he is out of sight? And he is close to Blue?

Blue's never used it on a person before. Cleared some clogged drains, though.

Yeah, the guy's climbed over the barrier and is in full view, trying to get at Blue.

Piling on:

Yes.

Goons 1 and 2 are still down, moaning and regretting their life choices.

Goon on the right took a burst to the face and dropped out of sight.

Central goon with fancy shirt took a spell to the leg and is twitching, thrashing, gargling and bleeding spectacularly.

Goon on the left stood up, and started clambering over a booth partition so he is in clear view. He did however drop a net-like tangler thingy all over Blue from some kind of tool.

Alright! T-shirt boy is still alive. An opportunity arises to send a message to the wannabes hunting Blue for the bounty, parallel to one to the street crowd in general.

Now, if only Blue could get out from under the net.

TN Adjustments:
-2 Savalette: -2 TN for SmartLink, +0TN Recoil (3 Burst, -2 built in comp, -1 custom grip) - I have been forgetting that custom grip.

Attacks:
Damage adjusted this time for gel rounds.

Savalette: 10S Stun damage (burst) 4 Successes at TN2

Blue summons a hearth spirit. In this place? Bet it's a crusty version of Cap'n Highliner.

F2 Hearth spirit: target 2 + 2 (daytime) = 4, 5 dice : 1 success

Drain target 2+2= 4(L), CHA 4 dice : 3 successes No drain.

Well, enough to remove the net.

Damn! I could spend most of my time playing with the spirits you provide for me, Koekepan. No time for that here, though.

Bastard, I know we have to get the hell out before the authorities come, but Blue would like to take a moment to:

- see if t-shirt boy is still alive. Do what might be possible to keep him from bleeding out.

- send a message to the street through these thugs.

- make amends to the proprietor. Unsure how at the moment.

Slap me upside the head with a 2 X 4 if I am monopolizing.

I don't know if we can get away with all that, and I don't want to monopolize the play. (I've spent a lot of time being the only player in this campaign. It's easy to just keep rambling on.)

EDIT: Actually, Blue still has in his possession a credstick with about 600 nuyen on it from his life as Connor Tupolev. Without a doubt the police will figure out in short order who these thugs were after, so there's a pool of cash to dump right now.

My character would agree with all of those actions!

Thanks!

I hope the staff do cut the outside video, so the cops won't see Karmakaze's vehicle as it leaves.

I added some comments from Blue in my post. Do the same for Karma as you see fit. She is ex-cop and still feels the need to do right.

We can always go back and edit our posts if one of us wants an amendment.

Uhhh, remind me not to let Blue get on the wrong side of Karmakaze.

Yeah.

Actually, unless Koekepan has some strange effect underway, the Mindlink was destroyed by something. So, the two of them don't have any mental communication going on.

Blue will try a Heal spell on t-shirt boy, knowing full well how difficult it will be to evade Drain on this one. Given that the man is bleeding out, and the level of the spell that had to be put into the item in order to cover all possibilities, I am taking the damage level to be Deadly. At the same time, He will limit the Force of the spell to make the Drain a little bit easier. After all is said and done, t-shirt boy is not in Blue's tribe. So, no using a spell item, either. Dropping the 3 dice for spell defense too. Gotta use them for Drain resistance.

Heal spell: F2, target = (wound level [10] - Essence), Sorcery 5 + spell pool 4 = 9 : 5, 1, 1, 10, 4, 4, 8, 4, 4

Maybe the 2 successes allowed by Force!

Drain Target 1+ daytime 2=3 (D), dice = WIL 12 + 3 spell pool = 15 : 8 successes

Holy Shit!! No Drain!! I am impressed!

This is correct; the earlier spell was counterspelled.

I assumed that Bastard assumed that Blue would re-cast the spell.

Blue was already burdened with the daytime penalty. Adding a sustained Mindlink spell would have made the Heal spell even more difficult. With the numbers rolled, Blue would have been Drained quite a bit, and the Heal may not have done anything at all.

Erring on the side of caution paid off this time.

I can edit my post with the mind-link.

I wanted the guy to tie up the other mobile dude, not fancy shirt with the blasted leg. Then tie him up so the authorities could arrest them all.

That's how I read it, too.

Karma is going to loot all this dude's possessions. He seemed to be the leader. Maybe his ID, credstick or other possessions will give us a lead.

Koekepan, Blue has a number of spell items which can be used by others, including mundanes. If the spell is one that is sustained, how does a non-magician do that? For example, Blue could give Karmakaze the armor spell item. How could she keep it up?

Speaking of the armor spell, does it interfere with the bearer shooting out?

Sustained spells will last as long as an equivalent summoned spirit; i.e. sunrise/sunset.

Armour spells do not interfere with shooting.

Holy cow. That's immensely powerful. I'm going to have to think of ways for Blue to crank these things out.

Check the fine print: unless counterspelled, unwoven or otherwise interrupted. And they're expensive to do.

Oh yeah, I know. But still, having one or more of these active without having to sustain them is very useful ... in the right circumstances.

So, for example, he has a copy of some things ready to go for when the drek hits the fan (Blue {not pbangarth!} is starting to have fantasies like this):

Blue is hunkered down behind a cement barrier. It's the Boss Fight, and he and Karmakaze are in trouble. Too many of them, and too few of our heroes.
Shooters and possibly a mage saw Blue duck for cover and are waiting for Blue to reveal himself.
He beefs himself up with an Armor spell and Increase Reflexes +3.
He mentally warns Karmakaze he is ready, then drops the Mindlink.
Karmakaze, around the corner over to the left, blows away the mage, attracting some attention.
Blue rises, and before anyone can react to his motion, (except for the superfast sammy who unloads his submachinegun at him, and whose bullets are now like hurled popcorn), he Fireballs the whole lot of them, without +4 to the target numbers.

And he can do this ~~ two more times that combat round, unless the mage, who miraculously survived Karmakaze's bulletstorm, decides to attack a spell instead of Blue.

Yes, expensive, but money is cheaper than death. Blue is going to be saving his pennies.

Searching the truck...

Perception (5)
Police Procedures / Lone Star (4/6)

Whenever Blue gets a chance to heal the stun damage from the summoning, he will rest:

Target 2+ 1(from the damage) = 3, dice = 12: 6 successes

So. it will take 60/6 = 10 minutes of rest to heal the 1 point of stun damage.

I am thinking the truck is an SUV, since 5 dudes were in it. They weren't riding in the bed were they?