[John Schmidt]

Were I in your situation...I would not wait for the hammer to fall.

Recon the target and once you know what you are facing, put together a plan and then go after him/them.

Remember though, the objective is the material link. Popping a cap into the bad guy may give you that warm after glow but it isn't the actual objective. I have seen many a plan go sideways simply because the players lose sight of the objective.

[Ashiguer]

I have to agree, going after the link is the best answer.  After all, as Derbyshire says, "you move your ass toward the trouble, then let it fly." (Sixth World Almanac, pg. 6)

[Mordoyh]

Have discovered a little more info about our nemesis, he's got a life link with a nasty free spirit and he's also the head of a magical group.  Nasty fellow really.  I'm not really worried about the material link anymore, it's been too long for it to be viable any longer.  Although he's been keeping track of me/us with watcher spirits, etc.  We have taken measures to help counteract that as well.

Thanks for the suggestions!

[Kot]

Track him with Watchers too. Or send a Spirit after him whenever he sends a Watcher (the spirit should be able to follow a watcher's trail, or beat the info out of him ). Don't let him think you're a small fry.

[seth]

I notice that no one has suggested hiding your link using a meta-planar quest

Many things bear an astral link to a magician that can be used to track the magician through astral space. Spirits, foci, spells, and material links are all things that can lead right back to a magician. It is possible to divert these links through the metaplanes, concealing the link to the magician to all but the most determined pursuers.

Now its up to your GM how he wants to run this, but I think this could be a very different session or two.

Another thing to remember is that he can only use the ritual link once: and if the attempt is aborted..the link is used up.

Defensive options:
Get your best spell caster to make a force 12 ward (painful, but that is why you have edge!). Sitting behind it you get +12 to all resistance rolls. If you have an active countermagic (say 6) as well that will stack..By this time you are getting +18 die on resisting effects. The ward will be useful to you anyway: it stops most of his magical scrying and sneaking around.

Remember that the spell caster has to be in a magical lodge of rating equal to or higher than the force of the spell. The availability of the materials is forcex2, so any thing greater than 10 or 12 will be unlikely. Remember that all casters need to resist drain, and its hard to get extra die resisting drain.

Having your best assenser is worth it too...It normally takes 4..6 hours to cast a ritual magic (twice as long if there are multiple traditions involved). You are probably only worried by spells of force 10 or more...so you assenser needs 8 to 10 hits in an extended test to spot it.This gives you options to boost your body/willpower with drugs, or be buffed by your friendly spell caster. The more powerful the spell, the easier it is to spot, and the more likely that you can astrally track back to where it came from

Most likely case: Force 10 damaging spell with 10 successes. You will be rolling edge on your 20+ resistance die, so will get around 6..8 sucesses. You are full of drugs, and have a medic on standby, you are quite likely to live. If the spell is much more than this, then he has the resource of a mega-corp (force 12+ lodges are hard to come by), and would probably have beaten you anyway.

Normally its quite grim for your bad guy: its quite likely that he (and his friends) will take serious physical drain. Sure he has a life pact, but he doesn't have infinite karma (otherwise he has already won). The damage you take from the spell is fixable magically. The damage they take isn't. An attack straight afterwards is well worth considering

[Mordoyh]

@Seth  Very good suggestions.  I am probably the best assensor and spell caster as it happens.  And I'm dual natured so I'm always assensing.  Metaplanar quests usually require you to be an Initiate, which I am not at this point.  However we have played since he initially got the material link and at this point I would have to say that it's unlikely that it's still viable.

[The_Gun_Nut]

Here's an odd idea.  Since the material link is a part of you (since it has to be for the link to be established), have a mage buddy get another link off of you, ward you up, then do some quick ritual magic on the other material link.

Since that one is the only one easily "visible," it gets nuked.  Use a sterilize spell, since it would be faster/less troublesome to toss than a full power combat spell would be.

[Mordoyh]

Here's an odd idea.  Since the material link is a part of you (since it has to be for the link to be established), have a mage buddy get another link off of you, ward you up, then do some quick ritual magic on the other material link.

Since that one is the only one easily "visible," it gets nuked.  Use a sterilize spell, since it would be faster/less troublesome to toss than a full power combat spell would be.

Interesting.  Doing a ritual spell casting of sterilize on the material link could work pretty well.  What's to keep me from doing this myself?

[FastJack]

Chances are, if they have a material link to you, they're going to keep it in a restricted area that will be hard to reach, even with ritual casting. By upping the power of your ritual, you have a better chance of getting through any barriers/defenses they may have around it.

[Shadowwalker]

Here's an odd idea.  Since the material link is a part of you (since it has to be for the link to be established), have a mage buddy get another link off of you, ward you up, then do some quick ritual magic on the other material link.

Since that one is the only one easily "visible," it gets nuked.  Use a sterilize spell, since it would be faster/less troublesome to toss than a full power combat spell would be.

Didn't I suggest something along this line Earlier?   

[Kontact]

Being dual natured means you should always take precautions against magical attack.  To that end, Manatech is a good resource to have.

Manahazard Containment Device: An object that might be
subject to ritual sorcery is known in security circles as a manahazard,
and the secure containers used to transport such objects are
Manahazard Containment Devices, or MCDs. Standard MCDs
consist of a one-millimeter-thick layer of natural earth containing
a simple self-contained symbiotic ecosystem consisting of dualnatured
earthworms, three strains of bioengineered bacteria, and a
nanite hive, all sandwiched between a pair of two-millimeter thick
plasteel boxes. The earthworms generate a weak astral static that
inhibits ritual sorcery and astral tracking.
When sealed, MCDs are airtight, watertight, and apply a –2
dice pool modifier to all Ritual Sorcery and Astral Tracking Tests
against the MCD or its contents. The MCD’s earthworm colony has
a projected lifespan of five years, after which these dice modifiers no
longer apply; destruction of the case kills the earthworms. The three
most common types of Manahazard Containment Devices are:
• Manacases: Armored briefcases with a Barrier rating of 8 and a
Structure rating of 3.
• Manacoffins: Armored troll-sized sarcophagi with a Barrier rating
of 8 and a Structure rating of 7.
• Manasheaths: Meter-and-a-half long metal tubes with a Barrier
rating of 8 and a Structure rating of 3.

[FoxBoy]

Apparently A GM's of mine in an online game has been reading these forums here... someone got a hold of the fox's blood here from a 'vet visit'...

He didn't quite count on the hacker ripping off their accounts, and then the money being turned around to hire a couple runner groups to totally destroy the guy's office, component included and with no attempt at all to hide the money trail. Getting hit three ways by three separate runner groups all in the same day with orders to obliterate the building along with every asset in it (aside from people), and then information leaked to the owning corp that the office's resident mage ripped off the corp to destroy their office? Priceless.

For obvious reasons, the party's done and skipped town for a while. Seems someone mentioned Chicago was good this time of year... Foxy's already finished his sustained version of the sterilize spell.