[badneighbor]

Hey guys, just poking my head in to say I'm still on board and ready to roll. IC, I think Expo feels like he's said his piece and is deferring the combat planning to MW and Knucks for the most part. I'm hesitant post IC because as of now it would just be him nodding and saying "I agree" or "whatever you think is best".

But yeah, I'm here and active and paying attention. I'll get something up IC as soon as it makes sense for Expo.

[rednblack]

Zwei, I think we're probably ready to move up the hill.  Do you want any rolls from us?

[Zweiblumen]

I've got the perception rolls, everyone give me a sneaking roll, I've got the numbers from Uff's invis to act as a neg modifier on the oppositions perception checks.

Also, lemme know how you guys want to be setup.  You've got planning and confidence in your stealth (OOC, you don't know if anyone knows you're there or not, but assuming you're gonna get the drop on the Technos) so lemme know how you wanna be and what your opening move is gonna be.  You can do this OOC or IC, up to you.  If you do it OOC, I'll write it up in the walk to the bridge and the reaction, otherwise we'll do the normal back and forth we've had so far.

[badneighbor]

Sneaking: 3d6t5 2

That's lucky! I was worried Expo would blow the whole thing. Well, there's still time, I guess.

Anyway, in the interest of keeping things rolling I think we should plan the setup and opening move OOC and defer to Zwei for the IC writeup. I'm ok either way tho.

[rednblack]

For Sneaking I have: AGI (3) + Sneaking (3) + Urban Spec (2) = 8 dice.
Sneaking: 8d6t5 3
Not bad.

I'm also ok with Zwei taking the lead on the approach.  I can add in my own flavor in my next IC. 

[Zweiblumen]

Just want to know what your setup is.  IE. are the three of you standing in the middle of the street (which will give bonuses to their perception), are you hiding around the side walls on the bridge waiting for them to cross, are you hiding behind cars in the street near/on the bridge?  And are you going to open fire on them as soon as they walk onto the bridge or into the "zone" wherever that is?  Going for fear and intimidation or murderating folks?

[Tecumseh]

Knucks sneaking: Agility 9 + Sneaking 5 + Urban 2: 16d6t5 4 hits, ehh, looks like I loaned you guys some of my hits

1) Knucks' likes the idea of bottling them up near the end of the ramp so that they can't retreat very easily. Side-to-side means they have to jump off the ramp. Retreating doesn't provide any cover, meaning they have to advance into fire.

2) He also likes the idea of letting them pass by, then nicking them one-by-one from the rear, perhaps quietly with fists or throwing knives so that the ones further up aren't alerted.

He might suggest that he does #2 while Expo and Uffington position themselves in front to open fire if/when the Technoids notice that someone is chewing them up from the rear. His only hesitation is that would potentially put him in the line/cone of fire from Expo/Uffington. Expo and Uffington can't aim to miss because they won't be able to see Knucks (well, Uff might if is assensing, but he already has enough negative modifiers from sustaining spells - he doesn't need more from firing while assensing). Under other circumstances they might be able to use some sort of friend-or-foe beacon on their commlinks, but we're going wireless off to avoid alerting the Technoids so that isn't going to work.

Thoughts?

[Tecumseh]

Other thoughts:

1) We could go the cut-the-head-off-the-snake route, where we try to identify the Technoid leader (forgetting the name at the moment) and geek him in order to minimize the violence and/or give the Chulos the opportunity to absorb the remainder of the Technoids. Knucks, with his prejudice to humans, will be interesting in punching as many of them as possible before they surrender.

2) Just grenade them all. This is an expensive approach, and loud. Knucks, being budget-conscious, will not advocate for this. He's rather get his hands around their scrawny necks.

3) Knucks and Uffington have the strongest Invisibility spells on them. Uffington could drop his and save himself a point of sustaining penalty, as it's semi-likely that one of the Technoids will see through it. Uffington and his spirit could act as the anvil while Knucks and Expo are the hammers that hit from behind or the sides.

[rednblack]

1) Knucks' likes the idea of bottling them up near the end of the ramp so that they can't retreat very easily. Side-to-side means they have to jump off the ramp. Retreating doesn't provide any cover, meaning they have to advance into fire.

I think this is the best route to take.

2) He also likes the idea of letting them pass by, then nicking them one-by-one from the rear, perhaps quietly with fists or throwing knives so that the ones further up aren't alerted.

Likewise, I think it's best that we let them pass, but instead of picking off the rear flank, my vote is to spread our resources a little thin to start.  Uffington can drop a Lightning Ball, and get his spirit in the mix centered on the Technoid Leader, while Expo and Knuck focus on the rear flank.  With the Chulos advancing on their front after we give word, that should be pretty debilitating and take a lot of the fight out of them right off the bat.

As for the Invisibility spells, Uffington will likely be dropping at least his once we start swinging.  I figured the invis spells are mostly for getting into position.

Also, Uffington is currently on Psyche, so he's only looking at -2 for Sustaining Penalties, not -4.

[badneighbor]

((sorry, I was AFK for the holiday weekend))

Me personally, I'd say come in swingin' with explosives and drop as many as possible as quick as possible. But IC, that's loud and expensive and Expo would worry that it would disrupt the gallery showing and/or cut into their pay too much.

Expo would advocate for taking out the leader (Wizkid, I think) first and seeing if that takes the fight right out of the rest of them. Make sure they have a way to retreat back up the hill if they want to run, cause if they're cornered they'll *have* to fight and the whole thing might get drawn out longer than it would otherwise need to be. But if they *do* want to slug it out, that's when the cavalry(/Chulos) can jump in.

Who would be able to make the most surgical attack on the leader?

[rednblack]

Who would be able to make the most surgical attack on the leader?

I think Knucks is mostly kitted out for melee, and chances are Wizkid will be mostly surrounded by other Technoids.  Uffington can drop a Force 6 Lighting Ball centered on WizKid for an average of 10P -6AP, but that isn't likely to one-shot him.  If Knucks can be convinced that he'll get plenty of time to bash heads after we drop WizKid, he could lead off with his shotgun -- no Defense Test possible if we catch him by surprise, and he won't be able to dodge Uffington's Ball Lighting anyway -- and that may very well drop the chummer straight off.  Uff's crossbow is another option, as Narcojet puts hoops down fast at 15S, but his dice pool of 9 is not be relied on too heavily.

I'd likewise prefer to avoid a drag-out fight with the Technoids, and that's part of the plan we sold to the Chulos to begin with, but Uffington and Expo may need to reign Knucks in for that to work.  If we can Thor-shot Wizkid in spectacular fashion and have the Chulos approaching, Expo can use his silver tongue to try to try to get the remainder to drop arms and accept new leadership.

[Tecumseh]

Knucks is a violence-prone ganger but he's not a psycho. He's on uppers right now, so he's a bit more rabid than usual, but he hasn't lost common sense. (He's still Logic 3, even on downers.) As convenient as grenades would be, he's wary of making a big scene. Plus he's in debt and doesn't want to waste money on explosives when fists and feet will do.

And Knucks is Prejudiced, but he is only Biased. I may be RPing him closer to Outspoken, but in his heart he doesn't want to kill all humans. (Alternatively, he doesn't want to kill all humans.) He just likes showing them who is boss.

(Answer: Knucks. Knucks is the boss.)

He doesn't know the town well and will be concerned about potential heat if things get too noisy or messy. He'll advocate for punching WizKid in the face if he can get close enough while invisible; if not, he'll suggest throwing a knife into WizKid's throat. It's not the (literal) shock and awe of a lightning ball, which he is not opposed to. Knucks would prefer not to be electrocuted, so he might have to give up his idea of descending into the center of the Technoids as a whirling dervish of melee madness.

OOCly, a good lightning ball will probably incapacitate a lot of Technoids without necessarily geeking them. If the Technoids throw us a curveball and come downhill in vehicles instead of on foot, we might have to lightning ball the vehicles and then have Knucks and Expo close in for the finishing touches. It won't be too hard to rein in Knucks in terms of him going overboard, but he wants to break a sweat. Especially on uppers, melee will be that much more satisfying to him than shotguns.

[Zweiblumen]

Seems like we are getting pretty close to a plan here.  It's weird being on the other side of the GM Screen and not putting my two cents in.  Lets try and get the planning stages wrapped up by the end of the week?  I'd love to be able to get things going no later than Monday.

[rednblack]

I'm fine subbing out a throwing knife in place of the shotgun if we can't get that close to the man in charge. Hell, we barely sacrifice anything on straight DV.

[Tecumseh]

Sounds like we're close. Badneighbor's point about giving them an opportunity to retreat is an interesting idea. Alternatively, we could surround them and get them to surrender. That will probably only work if we take down WizKid first, and hard.

Sounds like the rough steps are:
1) Identify WizKid
2) Knucks throw a knife into WizKid (if possible)
3) Uffington lightning ball the kiddos
4) Knucks and Expo mop up remaining resistance
5) Profit!

Uffington's spirit can probably do... something. I'll let rednblack strategize that. Uffington only has one service, so we'll have to make it count. (Rednblack, don't forget to pick your Optional Power.)

Zweiblumen, what do you want for IC posts to cover this?