Shielding is up. +3 to the TN against Iblis, Moe and Steel. They also have 3 dice to roll against any malicious magic. Sorry WinterRat, I can only get 3 people with shielding. 2 dice of Spell Defense allocated to Nameless

AStral Perception: 10 08 04 02

Guess I drew the short straw, huh? Blast! It's fine. Of the four of us, I'll be the easiest for you to magically heal when I get shot up.

Winterrat1 It might be possible to sneak past them, but at least one point in your path takes you through a pool of light in front of a doorway, where it will be extremely easy to see you should someone glance at the right moment

Initiative Order:

30 Iblis
27 Steel
27 Nameless

Still need Initiative rolls from McQuillan, Panzergiest, and Joker9125. I'll roll them if I don't get something by tomorrow morning.

Sorry, thought that was only for the insertion team.

06 04 04 01 +5=20

Damn, just one more point...

[Edit:] I knew I should have read the IC post before the OOC.

Astral Initiative is 29 if I have time to project before we drop into the time lag of Combat. [/Edit]

21. No spell defense for now.

10, 02, 02

Sorry I thought it was just for the stealth team as well.

McQuillan, Panzer, it's go time. You may spell away when ready. Stealth team is up and running. Here we go...

Winter--I've got sword in hand ready to pop a watcher and take the spirit out.

Panzer--Where are the watchers you were supposed to summon? Drop the goons with guns and get your astral hoop out here to help me.

Mcquillan- If things get desperate in the astral, I've got astral perception and killing hands. Since I'm still physical (and using killing hands, which CAN hurt spirits), I get to use my brawling skill, NOT willpower. So if it gets a little too hairy, holler for help if you need it.

Alright, just to clarify things for everyone involved (and myself :

The boat has been brought off course and stopped as planned.

Your rent-a-rigger has brought you up to the side of the boat.

Loki has summoned a great form ocean spirit and used it to slow down the movement of the ship, in case it does start moving again.

The insertion team (Steel,Iblis,Moe,Nameless) has grappled up to the deck of the ship, and seen 3 people with guns patrolling the deck.

Back on the boat, Jake has spotted a spirit and a few watchers rapidly moving towards the superstructure rising above the deck. They look like they were out and about, and are suddenly fleeing. Jake has gone astral in response.

Nameless has spotted the astral spirits, and dropped back into normal perception.

Initiative:

30 Iblis
29 Jake (Astral)
27 Steel
27 Nameless
21 Loki
20 Diesel (Assuming that rule was an initiative roll, and taking into account that the rule of 6 doesn't apply to initiative. In the future, please post the entire initiative total, saves me a step

Iblis, it is your action now, after the spirits have acted in the IC post.

[Edit] To specify for the gunbunny types, looks like the guards are wearing jumpsuits and armored vests, no helmets or other obvious weaponary besides the SMG's.

Reaction to get the drop on the guards.

06 06 06 05 04 03 03 02 01 (TN 2/8 successes)

Going to quick draw my hvy. pistols (loaded with gel rounds)

06 06 06 06 06 04 03 02 01 (TN 6/5 successes)

Going to call the shot and hit the nearest guard in the head with gel rounds with a burst from each gun.

Left Gun (TN 10/2 successes)
10 10 05 05 04 04 03 02 02 01 01

Right Gun (TN 10/2 successes)
10 10 05 04 03 03 03 01 01 01 01

Base Power is 11S Stun, calling the shot to avoid armor.

If the guy drops I will switch to the next nearest guard and hit him with 2 bursts. If the guy is still standing I will unload another 2 bursts into him.

Left Gun (TN 6 for the same guy or TN 11 if the new guy/1 success)
13 05 04 04 04 03 03 03 02 01 01

Right Gun (TN 6 for the same guy or TN 11 if the new guy/1 success)
11 05 05 03 03 03 02 01 01 01 01

Base Power is 11S Stun

The last IC post was legit, accidentally posted under McQuillan.

"Nothing to see here, just move along, nothing to see..."

I know it is Jake's turn next, but I'm going to roll now cause I'm afraid I'll do it wrong and I might need help sorting things out.

I'm going to unload on the remaining guard with both my guns, a 6-round bursts from each (I think I can do that, right Fenris?). My notes are making no sese to me, I thought I could do two bursts from each gun but now I think I can only do one each. So here goes.

Left Gun (TN? Fenris help!)
[09] [05] [05] [04] [04] [03] [02] [02] [01]


Right Gun
[17] [11] [10] [08] [05] [04] [03] [02] [01]

Man...that first round sucked, but the second was awesome! Those each do a base of 16 D (according to my notes, which seems awfully high). And I haven't used any combat pool yet.

Now we have ample time to correct me if I made mistakes.

did I miss something, or was there no surprise round?

You missed something.

We are in normal rounds with the spirits around the boat but rolling reaction against the guards on the deck since they aren't aware of us yet.

Then doesn't that mean we should be rolling reaction to engage them? while my initiative sucks, it's very likely that Moe will be higher in the order (BTW...don't forget me on the list!) than she is on base initiative. (which will give her a chance to move while everyone is engaged.)

The first round IS the surprise round, per se. The only effect rolling reaction has is to determine who can act against who. There is not a special 'surprise round' that uses reaction to roll for order. The reaction roll simply says who you can or cannot act against in the initial round. Does that make sense?

I know right now is kinda wonky because of the dual combats, but standard combat with an Element of surprise is handled where everyone rolls reaction. Based on total number of successes (TN 2 for the Suprisers and TN 4 for the suprisies) that is the order in which the surprise round is held. The surprise round consists of one complex action or two simple actions and you can only affect those below you. Once the suprise round is concluded (basically everyone's had one turn) then everyone drops into initiative, rolls their initiative and combat resumes as per standard rules. So, as you can see, for someone who usually goes last and only once in an initiative pass, the surprise round is actually rather important for that player to have that additional first action.

Can you give me a book and a page number on that, Blitz? That's not how I've been handling it, so if I'm wrong, I definitely need to adjust a few things.

Rolling Magic Opposed test for Astral Pursuit
TN# is force of watcher.
15 08 05 05 05 04 03 01

Opposed against my magic rating which is 8.

I see where you're coming from Blitz, but I think you may have missed the sentence immediately following the example in SR3.

Fenris: SR3 (BBB) pg. 109. Relevant section for the purposes of this discussion is at the bottom of column 1 (right after the example) which states, "All losses of or limitations on actions pertain to the character's current action or to their next action, if the current action is not the character's. Resolve surprise before any actions in a Combat Phase."

So basically, we roll surprise first, to determine who can act against who. That applies to our current actions (if surprise occurs during combat) or our next actions (if it happens preceding our actions, as in this case). The last sentence simply states we resolve who can act against who as per the instructions on pg. 109 before anyone actually gets down to doing anything.

Blitz: I'm definitely not trying to diss you or get into a rules fight with you; just wanted to help clear up the surprise issue, and I thought I could see where you were coming from and wanted to see if I could help clarify. Please don't take any offense.

Actually, it's the line: "Resolve surprise before any actions in a Combat Phase."
that has always led me to that conclusion and that is usually how it's handled in all the games I've played in...Surprise round, roll initiative, combat rounds. Hence why a character with fast reaction, but slow initiative can usually perform much better in a surprise, before everyone drops into combat leaving them behind.

I, too, mean no annimosity by my post, just trying to clear up what might have been a long standing misconception.

I suppose the phrase "resolve surprise" then hinges on the definition of 'surprise'.

Is the process of 'surprise' (and the resolution thereof) a separate round in and of itself, or is surprise simply a instantaneous determinant of who can and cannot act against whom?

Well Fenris, that's pretty much the relevant section on surprise, and two separate interpretations. Give us a ruling and we'll move right along with killing the bad guys and accomplishing our mission.

No worries now..actions have already been taken and it looks like we're just not rolling reaction this round. I'll check with Rob or Adam about how it was intended to be.

Fenris,

Did all three guys drop, or are any still standing after those shots fired? I'm waiting for a status assessment (holding an action if necessary) and checking out the scene to see if anyone either is still standing or has arrived on the scene.

Winter--Only Iblis has shot...which means at most 2 have fallen down. We're frozen in time as Jake flies through the superstructure of the ship and the insertion team holds their collective breath before depressing the trigger.

Except of course, Moe, who dropped the flashlight and had to pick it back up before prepping her gun--that's why she's so slow--she actually went long before even Iblis but didn't want to scare everyone with her 50 initiative... --Love ya hon!!

why I oughta....

Don't worry, you can tease me when I roll a single digit initiative...

Wait, Medesha (Steel) fired her weapons. I'm waiting for Fenris to correct her rolls where necessary, and help her through it, then tell us what happened as a result of her and Buddha's shots, since obviously I won't fire at nothing if they dropped all three guards, and if necessary, I held till 26 to see what happened.

We just got sidetracked on a discussion of how surprise works, but she did roll.

And ok, I have to ask. What exactly is the deal with the flashlight story/incident? There've been references since we started this thing, and if no one minds, would someone please tell the story? I'm dying to know.

Winter--Medesha rolled the dice, but we are still at the 29 in the initiative which is Jake. Steel and Nameless are both at 27.

Long story, short--Moe sold herself as the world's best cat burglar. She goes into a pitch black house, no flashlight, no eyelights, etc. She then left the house to go to the stuffershack and buy a flashlight...

I'll write up the longer version of the story later if I can remember all of it.

I categorically deny any of that ever happened.

Got an alternative version of the story for us then Blitz?

It's going to run like this:

I interpret this situaiton as running like this:

You drive up, and are spotted by the astral creatures. You bop up to the deck and someone checks astral, which is the spirits bailing rapidly towards the ship. The spirits, while going first in the initiative because of astral presence, won't beat your reactions, so couldn't act against you. They left, in lieu of direct actions. In the same turn, you're rolling reaction against the slower, meatbody guys to see if they spot you while you're acting. Basically, 'resolve surpise' does not mean 'resolve surprise round' in my mind, but you still get the benefit of ambush since your reaction TN's are lower.

So, it's Steel and Nameless's actions.

Fenris,

Are you counting Medesha's previous rolls as her rolls for her action or not? She was unsure exactly how combat worked, and I told her to let you help her, since you know her character better than I. Nameless is going to wait until Steel fires, (holding till 26, the phase right after, if necessary) so he can observe the situation and react accordingly, depending on the results of her shots.

Well, now that Jake has gone I'll do my actions from the last page.

When my turn comes around next--

If the man enters astral space, either through projection or perception i'm going to slaughter him taking reach for myself, otherwise I will swat the biggest spirit in the room.
11 08 05 04 04 04 03 03 01 01 (7 skill + 3 from focus)
05 04 04 01 (4 Astral Combat pool)
I used one Karma.
TN 4-1 for reach = TN 3 (11 Successes)

Yes, I'll be taking her rolls.

Medesha - Everything on the rolls look fine. Your Target numbers are going to be:

Distance: 80m - Base TN 6

Partial Light: +2

Smartlink: -2

Recoil: +6
Recoil Compensation: -6

Final TN: 6

You have the option of either doing 2 3-round bursts from each gun, or 1 6 round burst from each gun. The difference is 1) The difference between 2 rolls and 4, with the possibility of having to split up combat pool between more attack rolls, 2) Damage: The two longer bursts will do 16D, the the four shorter bursts would do 13S each.

As it stands, both rounds will hit their target, the first with 1 success, the second with 4 successes.

Feel free to add in whatever cinematically appropriate action you're taking as you fire at them, and I'll post the results

Loki casts levitate on himself. Force 3 levitate, TN 4, Drain 3M.
Casting: 2 2 3 4 5 16
Drain: 1 2 2 3 4 5 7 9
No drain, maximum movement rate of 24 m/turn. I levitate 1 meter above the deck of the boat this combat phase. I also spend a free action to send a telepathic message to Katie.

Err, just wanted to check, Medesha - Did you load gel or regular rounds?

Panzer - What's the message to Katie?

Unless anyone disagrees, the insertion team is moving towards the gas dispersal point. Fenris, I'll leave it to you to tell us if/when we get there, or if we encounter anything/anyone en route to the location. We know the route, so it's just a matter of getting there (hopefully) unmolested.

Just letting yall know im still here. For some reason I cannot access the fourms from my dorm so I will be posting mondays and thursdays without fail while im working in the computer lab

Fenris - one six-round burst from each gun, please.

Steel lifts her guns and fires with an almost audible sound of relief. She unloads a dozen shots into the remaining guard and then strides forward towards the gas dispersal point.

She'll save the acrobatics for later.

Joker--you may want to try checking the forums from your dorm sometime next week. This week the Forums have been going down and coming back due to some changes made to the servers.

WinterRat, action please? We haven't dropped out of combat.

There went the Non-lethal option boys and girls...everybody wave

(claps hands gleefully)