does anyone in the barons gang take a shining to diamond or horizon?

diamond suggests that after were done with the building we"screen"all the denizens of the area and have them "move in"living on the outside apartments to act as lookouts and maybe do a few chores in trade for theyre comfortable living
and we can "scour"the area to make sure no (underground tunnels) or (other gang) or dangers are about we are currently unaware of maybe some of our less than better off neighbors have a skill or two that may be of use they cant have all grown up bums

horzon suggests also we do something about which buildings that block our view like maybe fix a few up and put people in them as lookouts or maybe refurnish or bind a watcher or cameras we could also try and get ahold of some radar or something maybe get rigger gear for the building

Ended up in San Antonio earlier than expected, so I will be back in mid October. Should be ready for a game on Oct 21st or so (I believe that is a scheduled Saturday). That possible for you guys?

Sounds good to me... See you all then, feel free to ask questions or have in-character discussions here...

UH ^ i asked stuff hope i can be there

Vega has spent his free time programming, specifically a pilot program. I had said he was studying the code from the Eurocar to work on his own and to look for not so obvious functionality. If he manages to create his own Pilot program in the 4 month period, he can work on targeting and clearsight programs for defense systems.
I figure his time breakdown would be 1 month studying the car's software and hardware and comparing it to the second Westwind we have, to see what has been changed out and gauge how difficult it would be to upgrade. That would leave 3 months for programming before the insect spirit event. Target would be a rating 4 Pilot program, but I forgot to bring my pdfs with me and characters with me, so I will have to check on it when I get back.

Sledge is also available to help with the cars and hardware, but has spend most of the time coming to grips with his magical abilities, limited as they are, and learning to summon from the NPC's.

i said long ago when we decided we were going to fix the building up that diamond and horizon would help im assuming thats what we did for 4 months and thats where we stayed for 4 months(assuming precautions versus radiation) also during the same time diamond and horizon wouldve been doing just what i said scouring the area for people that could help us clean up the buiding/neighborhood for a better chance at a good life i have no idea if my characters currently have transportation i assumed they both had bikes from one mission or another if not oh well as i said before horizon wants to set up a method of detection regardless of obstructions ie cameras radar watchers or lookouts horizon will also spend time making one of his weapons smaller/collapsable or something of that nature diamond will see if that bartender has had any trouble with anyone thats all i can think of to do

Crimson
The only people currently living in the area are not particularly worth recruiting. Their only skills are scavenging and running away. You might be able to bribe them into staying away by providing them with food on a regular basis, but they are otherwise currently useless (you could spend years helping them become normal people, but I didn’t think either of your characters was that charitable. Is one of them turning over a new leaf?).
The area immediately around the building you have is residential; apartment buildings of various sizes for at least two blocks in each direction. Because the vampires spent a few days there, you find several hundred dead bodies as you roam the area, and many more if you actually start investigating inside each building.
Unless you guys plan to spend millions of nuyen renovating buildings, you don’t have the means to provide a comfortable living of any sort in the other buildings; no utilities and scavenging being the only local food supply. Also, as noted above, there aren’t any useful locals, so you’d have to bring people in.
The gang you’re in is under the baron’s control, and there aren’t any gang members looking to change that, or move into glow city. The gang likes its job stealing and roughing people up, that’s why most of them are there. They don’t want to become your lookouts. Although everyone has a price, you’d have to offer outrageous sums of money to convince someone who has a roof over their head and regular food supply to move into an irradiated zone (common belief is that the area is too dangerous to live), and spend their days looking out a window for you.

DBA
You’ll have to modify the gun to be able to install it in the car, so it won’t be useful as a handheld weapon anymore. Also note, the car doesn’t have a turret, just a forward firing mount (just wanted to make sure you knew what it had). With mechanics, you could design a quick release mount, but you couldn’t pick up the gun and use it by hand (but you might want to be able to hide it, I suppose). You’ll have to buy some parts (you can’t buy weapon mounts legally, and you don’t have the tools to actually create complicated parts from scrap metal), but the chop shop should have what you need (negotiation test from whoever has the chop shop contact, cost 2,000, -200 nuyen for each success over 3, +200 nuyen for each success under 3). The work requires a mechanics extended test to design the quick release mount (10, 1 day), two weeks for one of the guys in the chop shop to find/create parts, and a mechanics extended test to install it (10, 1 day).
Remote turrets placed around the apartment building would be a little dangerous, and might attract attention if anyone ever notices them. How do you plan of getting turrets, hiding them, and controlling them? How far away do you want them?
And yes, the Baron’s gang, with its couple hundred combatants is useless compared to the enemies you guys attract.

For the map, it would take days to draw a detailed map of a couple mile radius around the building, that’s basically asking for a full city map for a normal sized city, so no. I will hopefully get a map of a couple blocks around you guys, but not miles. I don’t have a plotter that could print such a map at a useful scale anyways.
As for the viability of starting a survivalist community, that’s a big one. You don’t currently have people who would choose to live there. You haven’t decided to prove you could get clean water yet, and only people smart enough to realize that the radiation level in your area isn’t going to kill or mutate them would even be willing to consider it (but the lack of any amenities would deter most of them). The communes in the various parts of the barrens don’t help any of the businesses in town after they start up because their whole point is self-sufficiency. They don’t become good customers, just irregular customers with unusual needs (finding hand tools for farming isn’t easy when no one in the country farms by hand anymore). So the survivalists aren’t interested in starting a little commune in an irradiated zone, but they’ll be happy to sell you tents and blankets and other wilderness survival supplies.
For weapons accessories, they only openly sell used bayonets, scopes and basic tripods, not combat accessories (gas vents and smart links are only used to kill/hunt people, not food, not that hunting is legal in Seattle anyways).
Trying to find people with useful skills to live in glow city will be hard, and doesn’t fit well with your current contacts, but you might be able to find something, you’ll have to come up with a plan, however, not just “we recruit people”.

That’s all for now, I’ll try get back to you on the programming next week damaleon. My first thought on that is that you need hardware to make that work, in addition to a program, but I’ll look it up.

Sorry it’s been so long between posts.

Damaleon: For 2050’s (and earlier) cars, higher rated autopilots require higher-end physical control systems, not just better programs, although the programs are required. Since we don’t have details on vehicle parts published yet, I’m going to go with rating-squared times 500 nuyen for parts cost for anything car sized for bigger. Cheaper for motorcycles (which are limited to rating two because balancing a bike is difficult), much cheaper for drones, and more expensive for anything that flies. Installation / Replacement for the pilot system will be a mechanics extended test (rating x4, 1 day test).

The book rules on page 240 are good for the programming. So a rating four pilot program will require 12 successes on an extended test, with an interval of 3 months. You get +4 dice for basing it off an existing program, but unless the cars can hardware are exactly the same, you can’t just copy it. (the +4 came from +2 dice for having an equal rating program to study, and +2 for the cars being the same type).

The chop shop can sell you the parts for a rating four pilot upgrade for 5,000 nuyen, and will install them for 5,000 nuyen if you don’t want the practice. If you let the guys at the shop experiment with your car (i.e. let the new guys practice installing the high-tech toys instead of having the best guy install it) they’ll install it for 2,500 nuyen, but it will take a couple weeks (not that time is much of an issue for you).

I don’t think I ever gave you guys stats for the Eurocar, please correct tell me if I gave you something different from this, but I need it written down…
(As book, except as follows)
Handling: +4
Speed: 260
Pilot: 4
Sensors: 4
ECM: 3
ECCM: 3
Features: Rigger adaptation, as sealed (3 man hours), 3 bucket seats (only one person in the back), two firmpoints for weapons in the front, one in the rear, runflat tires, improved off-road suspension, armored glass windows, full rating 8 comm suite. Total street value is at least 1 million nuyen, the right buyer would probably pay twice that.

Buying all of the parts to make the other eurocar match that will cost at least 1 million nuyen, and the ECM/ECCM might not even be available.

DBA
If you guys have extra AK-97s, you might want to add guns to the car(s) the next time you have time. Its one of those things you hope you never need, but better to be armed when needed than unarmed because you hoped it wouldn’t be necessary… but then again, you could probably deal with any threat without mounted guns just as easily as with them…

Addressing your goals, first, then questions, just to make sure you have in-character information (Your goals are fine in-character, just because I don’t see how you’re going to reach all of them, doesn’t mean your characters won’t try to do it):
Territory: You have living space, but none of it is comfortable. You don’t currently have enough influence to change this, but you have enough cash to get good living quarters in the city if you want, but those places won’t be good places to start trouble. The Troll is looking for somewhere with exclusive underground parking, but parking is at a premium in the city, and few owners are willing to sell for reasonable prices. You have places you could store shipping containers in the open, where it is unlikely they would be bothered too much. A full warehouse that doesn’t mind you cutting up the building to make your own shop isn’t available (Seattle is a packed city, all space is at a premium, few landlords have trouble finding renters unless the space they are renting is particularly undesirable). If you get the contacts to do illegal construction work in glow city, you might be able to have one built.
Security: There aren’t gangs that are up to the challenges of blood mages, vampires and bug spirits. Most gangs could manage to take on one creature if the situation were favorable to them, but magical threats are outside the bounds on any non-magical gang, and there are few magical gangs that can manage more than one threat at a time. Sensors and alarms wouldn’t be difficult, but expensive and time consuming (I’m not aware of who in the group has electronics skills, so I can’t give you a time estimate). You don’t have the contacts to directly purchase drones, but the group does have three contacts I can think of how might be able to get them through friend-of-a-friend deals, just makes it more expensive and time consuming (who do you ask, and what do you want). As a note, drones might also fill the physical security, sensors and alarms goals. For physical security, the glow city apartment building can be easily locked up tight, just buys some good doors, put new bars on the windows, replace the windows with armored glass, add some drones to the roof. Not hard, just resource intensive. The other buildings you guys have squatted in are less defensible, but you haven’t been bothered in any of them since you dealt with the vampires. Currently, your best friend is stealth, don’t attract attention to your homes, and you’ll significantly reduce the chances of being bothered. You do realize, however, that the appt building will be hard to keep quiet because of the magical potential. And security through obscurity is never the best option, just in this case, it’s the only easy option. I’ll try to get maps drawn up that will make you feel a little better about your security situation and give you better information about how to improve it.
Contacts: This one is hard to deal with… your existing contacts are all great, but they are limited in focus. After dunkies death, this should change unless you deliberately avoid shadowruns. (That’s at the end of 2057, your in the middle of 2056). The fight with the bugs you’re currently in has a chance of opening up contacts as well, but they will require significant effort on your part because they are very goal oriented, and not prone to being distracted or sidetracked, but they may be willing to assist where your goals are similar. (I had a plan for this already, but its not supposed to be easy). As for customers, you’ve done a good job with that already, the only improvement is getting more… more on that during game time.
Tractor: Um… you can’t get a license without a SIN, a fake sin might help you get a licence, but it won’t stand up to much scrutiny. (More on that with my comments about sins below).
Respect: Shadorunners and gangers don’t get much respect from most of society. If you want respect from everyone around you, join normal society, get a legit sin, and run for public office. Getting respect from your peers is about showing them you deserve it, not intimidating it out of them. You all are very powerful, and your current situation has the potential to earn you respect form a new set of peers, with additional contacts as a bonus. The Baron and the rest of his gang have long since realized that you aren’t devoted to the gang, just using the gang for your quest for power and recognition. The Baron is friendly enough towards you to simply make it a symbiotic relationship, you help him with his minor gang activity, and proved an intimidating front for any threats against him, and he provides you with a group of friends, points you towards useful contacts (so far, just the chop shop), and looks for missions that will benefit your goals and his goals (the underground garage).
Getting an adult sin will require you getting a contact that can make one. So far, you have contacts that might be able to provide (through friend-of-a-friend deals) low rating sins, which will, through regular use, increase to high-rating sins over the course of several years. (After dunkie’s death, I plan on a few years downtime, we can narrate a couple low-risk missions and activities to help set you up as prime runners). Some GM advise is to ask the contacts you trust to get you some good fake sins (although they probably can’t get really good ones, you might as well ask), and be willing to pay top nuyen for them, and have two or three sins with separate identities for them. (This is also something that will wait for game time to elaborate on). Most of your characters have had rough lives, and can pass for older characters with only a little makeup and by simply acting older. They only need ID to back it up. Ten years older is a little difficult, however. In 2056, everyone is connected to the matrix, and is willing to do at least a cursory check of your creds, so passing as an adult is more about your character and his sin. With a disguise kit, and rating 3 skill, you could make yourself look much older without more training. (You might decides, that because of his upbringing, he has more trouble acting the part than his skill might otherwise indicate. So spending time studying adults is a good idea.)
For your GM questions: I think I covered most of them…
As discussed above, disguising yourself is as much personality as appearance. With your skills, you don’t have much of a problem. Give your odd bodies, you probably already have dark stubble (or, if you decide, unusual lack of body hair). So disguising won’t even require makeup, just a disguise test to make yourself look older based on cloths and hair, and an infiltration test to change your voice and attitude.
The fake sin is harder, as soon as your done with the fight you’re currently in, you can ask your contacts. The Baron is the only one who has anything positive to say about it. It’ll take him a while because he doesn’t know the guy, but he knows someone who knows someone, who is reliable, but it might take a long time. (Anyone else plan on asking their contacts, so I can plan out their responses?).

Crimson
I don’t recall answering the underground tunnels question… yes there re sewers in the area. A couple weeks of spelunking don’t reveal anything suspicious, none of the sewers have man-sized access to any of the buildings. Access is limited to 6-inch diameter pipes (often more than one per building.
As noted for DBAs goals and questions, drones can fill the roles of spotter if you can manage to purchase any, and program them appropriately.

Notes for everyone.
You don’t legally own the buildings you’d obtained. Not that it matter all that much, but if you could get legal ownership, perhaps tied to a sin, you could get construction done in the area, and get utilizes restored (which will cost millions of nuyen, but that’s not out of the question for you guys).
Starting your own gang (someone mentioned that earlier, right), will be very difficult if you base it in glow city, but if you focus on making a magical gang, you might be able to get street mages to at least consider it when they see the power site and you demonstrate control over it (that is, if you’re willing to show the power site). Having a group of people you are responsible for will be a big drain on resources, however, and people will leave if you bring magical threat back more than once (limiting the use of the power site so you don’t scare off friendlies). I don’t think you guys will be happy with your own gang, as it is a lot of responsibility, and requires significant resources, but don’t let that stop you from trying if you really want to do it.
For the next time passage (after the next mission after the bug hunt), the Troll will have looked for more places to open a bar. I’ll ask for edge rolls from whoever has the troll as a contact next game session to see what he finds.

How much cash do you guys have on hand?
OK, that's four pages... enough writing for now. Any more questions?

Is everyone planning on being there this Saturday? Would you guys like to try and start early, say 3 or 4pm?

DBA, I'll do my best to get to your questions before Saturday, but I'm takign classes in reston this week, and its more than a two hour drive with rush hour traffic (I'll be spending a little time trying to find faster routes tonight)., so I don't have a lot of personal time this week.

For quick answers: At best, the Baron might know someone who knows someone who can work some fake sins. He is careful not to give you enough information to let you figure otu who his contacts might be. He doesn't help in a search for a building if you ask (I'll have to think about more maps if you guys want more buildings).

OOC: I've made some of the NPCs less-than-cooperative because the direction the game should end up going after a couple more game sessions will change your questions (or provide obvious answers that aren't available in character yet), but I don't want that to affect your in character actions. Soem things are the result of other people manipulating the characters, some are simply fate.

As for political champaigning, you' might have a problem gettign hired, at least publically. Depending on which candidates (or staffers) you approach, you might be able to find shadow work, but without a good fake SIN, you won't be able to get any legitimate work except maybe handing out flyers (the information age makes checking otu your workers far more common and important, and being SINless can be either an advantage or disadvantage, depending on who finds out). I don't have NPCs worked up for this, so, for the time being, no one is hiring anyone without a SIN, and Han figures this out before anyone asks. I'll think about how far we can take that idea, and we can talk about it Saturday.

I'll try to have thorough answers before Saturday, but can't promise. And YES, taking care of downtime stuff via dumpshock is a good idea.

EDIT: posted before I was finished...

I can be there at 3 PM.

i will be on call i will try to make it

I'll be there.

Sorry guys, I have some mildly bad news. I've got to go into work this afternoon. (I'll talk about it later).

I WILL BE THERE, but I will not be able to make it by 3pm. I probably won't make it until 4:30 (I'll try to leave at 3pm, and depending on traffic, I should be there a little after 4).

I cannot use my cell at work, but please leave a message on that if you can't make it tonight. I believe I have your phone numbers, and I will try to call you all to make sure you got this message.

One of the bad effects this will have is that I won't have any prep time, so I'll need a little time for prep after I show up. Sorry for th inconveinience. Hopefully I'll see you all tonight.

understood. I'll try and get there around 4:30/5:00

What did I miss?

Nothing. Crimson called in sick, so Damaleon and I just talked for a bit and left.

I don't believe Damaleon is going to make it next time (Nov 4th, please confirm or deny Damaleon). Do we want to plan on meeting on the 4th, can both Crimson and DBA confirm around the 1st whether or not they can make it on the 4th?

Yeah, I will not be able to be there. I'll be up around Toledo and Ann Arbor then.

Can't do the 11th, as I will be in Texas from the 7th to the 17th. I should be able to do just before or just after Thanksgiving, the 18th and/or 25th. If we want to try this Saturday, I might even be able to do that, as long as my plane isn't late (lands at 2pm this Sat). That might not be an option though as Sren mentioned at least one upcoming weekend was out for him.

I'm going to a wedding this Saturday, so I can't make it this weekend.

The 18th is good for me.

Welcome, new player.

Still waiting for the "thorough answers"

DBA: I'm still tryiong to figure them out myself... too tired to think of all of them at 0400, I'll try again after some sleep.

i will try to be there i hope i feel okay

In character information for the last six months (hopefully with answers to all of DBA’s questions)

GANG: The Baron’s gang doesn’t have official meetings, however, the Baron does expect any member to come when he calls. The gang does raiding once or twice a week, most of it is just taking a cargo hauler’s worth of stuff and selling anything they can’t use. They also run protection rackets and occasionally run interference to help protect other vehicles trying to enter Seattle illegally. Individual gangers or internal cliques also to smash and grabs, but the Baron looks down on these and discourages them. The Baron doesn’t want any other coherent group moving into his part of the sprawl because they are a threat to his authority.

FAKE SINs: The Baron knows someone who might be able to procure a weak fake SIN that should generally work at gas stations and stuffer shacks, and on a lucky day would work to rent a poverty level apartment (Rating 2, 20% over book price, negotiate against the Baron to lower the price). The Baron only has a chance at getting one, but he’ll keep his ear to the ground to get more.

CURRENT PROPERTY: Most of Glow City and the abandoned areas around it are owned by one of a dozen corporations that only own property in this area. They are clearly shell corporations, and how many real corps are involved is unclear. There are no sale listings for any of the useful property in the area, and comparable buildings in the habited parts of Seattle are over ten million nuyen. (The apartments are larger than normal low-class apartments, but not quite as big as a typical middle class apartment. If utilities were restored and the remaining fallout was taken care of, then they’d each rent for 1,300 nuyen per month, even in the rough neighborhood they’re in).

LOCAL POLITICS: Legitimate work with local politicos requires a legitimate (or high quality fake) SIN. Politicians take care to screen any official worker bees for their campaigns. However, Seattle politics is as dirty as they come; at least in Azzy Land they are open about it. Even if you manage to find a clean politician, their staff is rarely so.

TROLL BARTENDER: (Anyone remember his name?) He’s looking for someplace you can afford. Someplace he can set up a bar that also has room for middle class apartments, copious enclosed storage (enough to hide all of your vehicles, have a vehicle shop and hide multiple 40’ cargo containers) and is an ideal location to sell stolen goods out the back… umm… not going to happen, but maybe he’ll find something close. Any good place in Seattle will cost over a million nuyen, and that’s without private parking, garage or otherwise.

CURRENT SITUATION: Currently, a couple of the characters have jumped down a whole they’ve found, along with a couple magical strangers. So far, it’s been winding tunnels filled with bug spirits. Swoop and Serric followed the strangers, Derric and (Sledge or Vega) are waiting outside for the rest of the group to show up.


Did I miss anything?

See you all Saturday? What time would people like to start? The potential new player said he couldn't be there before 8:30, so maybe we can finish the bug fight before (if) he shows.

I'll be there, going to try for 4-4:30 since I have forgotten just about everything we were doing. I'll check the boards around 12 or 1 and if everyone can be there earlier, I can be there by about 3, as long as traffic agrees.

ill try to make 300 or in spy terms 230 ^^ have to recon the joint

Okay, I'll be there at 3. Hopefully Sren can make it too

I should be there by three too.

Leaving now. It takes an hour to an hour-and-a-half to get there, so I should be there by 3:15.

See you all in a bit.

terry could horizon have a rifle centering focus? if so would that be usable with attuning? and is there a unarmed focus?

DBA, she only buys 30.

Crimson, yes you can get an unarmed bonus for magic brass knuckle foci, and you'd have to find someone who could make you a focus for the rifle entering focus. I'm not sure about attuning a focus though, I'll have to research that.

SAWEET! so would the group mind if both my characters bought the best foci they can get ? one for each

sren with the groups contacts (diamond and horizon)also ask the dragon whats the best foci each can get theyre hands on? dba said han and swoop dont mind if we get foci

You can find enchanted brass knuckes (weapon foci) up to rating four for book price, to get a gun enchanted, however, you need to find someone who can do it for you. Currently, none of the PCs or NPCs can enchant (I haven't spent their karma yet, so that may change). You can just get a necklace or something though, unless the rules for centering foci say you have to use the item for the task you are centering for. If you can just use a piece of jewelry, then you can get a rating four centering foci through the group as well (do you guys already have centering foci?).

I'm not going to make it for the rest of the year guys. There's a qualifier tournament next weekend I want to play in, and I'll be in CA for the next meeting after that (visiting parents for christmas).

Jon, when was the next possible time you could join us?

Anyone have any questions about spending karma? The IC year next time we play will be the beginning of 2057. Please post IC actions here. Make plans, discuss character goals.

The dragon doesn't show himself often, and when he does show, he's usually entertaining a young woman (different one each time), and doesn't want to be disturbed.

The shamans work on planting gardens and trees in an attempt to rebuff the creeping background count, and work other angles for that goal as well. Serric and Derric work on improving their skills and summoning Ally spirits (remember, you need to initiate and take the metamagic ability that lets you summon ally spirits). They also assist in clearing out the background count.

In the 21 months that the shamans are working to fix the area, they have only limited success. The do attract three more shamans and a wujen to the project, and after construction on the first child-friendly building is done, they attract about ten families who can't afford to pay, but can assist part-time with standard maintenance and the gardens while working real jobs to pay their own bills (They can pay enough to pay for the utilities they use).

Word does start to get out after the first year, you'll have to do work to convince people its safe at the edge of glow city, or work on collecting and rehabilitating current glow city residents.

After the first year (March 2056), utilities are restored, underground parking is built, the main building is done, and three other buildings are ready.

Do you guys ask the Baron for protection? How much are you willing to pay? (He charges 100 nuyen per business normally, which would normally get him 16k or more for a similar sized area (16 large city blocks)).

What additional items do you guys try to buy (enchanting shop, vehicle shop, electronics shop, drones... just ideas)? You can purchase legal things easily enough through the shell corp accounts, for drones, you might be able to find some used drones from any contact, but the smugglers are going to have the best chance of getting good ones.

DBA: Can you send me 12 edge rolls for Han (or would you rather I make the rolls)? If you intend to summon an ally spirit could you please email me the stats before next game?

Jon: Which of your characters was going to do landlord work? If you want to summon an Ally Spirit, please sned me the stats.

Crimson: Getting a clear shot to the freeway is impossible without building a 40+ foot tower. Unless you disguise it, you'd be easily observed and very noticeable sitting at the top of a tower getting ready to shoot people. How do you disguise it so it isn't obviously a sniping nest?

For everyone, please post your initiations here (as the group has to participate in them for the lowered karma cost, we should all known when you initiate).

40ft tower thatd look aweful i had an off the wall idea that we replant a 40ft+ tree right in the middle of that garden area like a center piece to it preferably one with a spirit protecting it or hire a (dryad)shaman with a blind in it.
sren i wouldnt want the npcs to take enchanting unless they were anyways
id just like to know whats the best foci i can get (possibly find)so i can calculate how much karma im working with for other things.
guys who wants to initiate? how many times? im working on some ideas for things i wil post them later maybe today.

Best time for me would be the Saturday following Christmas (Dec. 30), as I am moving over the following week. Even if I could get my car shipped, I would have to fly out the 6th so I can be there when my stuff is delivered.

I should have some time over the next few days to work out what my characters do with their karma and down time.

Sren, is it safe to say that we loose a third of the time to overseeing construction, working with the gang, and improving our skills, or would that require more of a characters' time? I ask since I want Vega to continue working on programming since he has no magic skills, and I have a few development ideas for building contacts that would require leaving the group for anywhere from a few days to a month or two.

In the mean time, I believe we have 3 rating 2 Fake SINs, one Vega has used, one Swoop has, leaving one for Horizon or Diamond. Over this 21 month period, I would think each ID would:
Be employed by the shell company of the dragon and a decent salary
Rent an apartment in our new area
Pay Utilities for apartment
Electronic subscriptions for mags (related to job and interests of fake identity)

Basically, the necessities and niceties of life for someone that lives within walking distance of work (no vehicle to register). This way we can establish a history to help improve the rating. Possibly even loans from the shell company for a credit history.

Also, they have a link to a 1.5 Errata for the rulebook on shadowrunrpg.com which, among other things, corrects the cost of the Nightsky limo to 120000

Been working on the ally spirit and moving the characters to spreadsheet form, but I have a quick question, what spells do we have in the group that Sledge could spend some Karma on?

All awakened: Maria can get you force 2 foci for anything but weapon foci for book price (legal foci in most places). She can get any non-weapon foci up to force four on commision for wands or small jewelry (with aztech tribal styling) for a 10% premium and it will take a couple months for her to get them made. She hasn't offered to do much in the way of custom work yet, but since you're buisiness partiners now, she's willing to do more for you. Anything else might take a year to get, btu you'll need to request it specifically.
Also, Bob Millers (the guy running the shell company, unless I already gave you a different name) has hired a security mage to watch over the construction crews with you guys, he works 10 ohurs a day, 7 days a week. If someone asks, he is willing to teach a spell for 2,000 nuyen in his off time. He knows Ball lightning, flamethrower, spirit blast, death touch, heal, oxygenate, increase reflexes, detox, levitate, detect enemies, barrier, and ice sheet. Maria can get you formulas for book price for any spell that can't harm a (meta)human. For a slightly higher price (10% increase), Mr. Millers can get bolt spells legally for the security team (and you guys will have access to those). Maria will also put you in contact with someone who might be able to find some less legal spells, but you'll need to make specific requests, and they'll const more. The two NPCs have levitate, heal, stunball, and increase reflexes (IIRC). The shamans working with you can't teach spells because of tradition differences (I'm not sure that being in the same group gets around tradition differences for teaching, I'll look it up when I get a chance. As the group of chamans has grown to around 5 by the end of the time, most of the book spells should be available).

Crimson: The enchanted gun will need to be done by party members or a personal friend (I don't believe anyone has any personal contacts other than maria who might be able to enchant). The NPCs aren't able to make powerful foci right now though. You don't need the gun to be your centering focus, the focus just needs to be touching you (so jewelry should work). As to your initiation question, each of the NPCs initiates to get the summon ally metamagic.

DBA: She can use those force two centering foci (she needs ten, she'll buy up to twenty) for 60% book price, but you'll need to make delivery in Seattle for 4 of them. She also asks for an update list of your low-force foci (force 1 and 2) around christmas.
Also, the NPCs are intereste in setting up the enchanting shop, they both have one rank in the skill, and want to have the ability to practice.

Damaleon: Yes, everyone spends about one-third of their time dealign with their new homes.