[rednblack]

James is going to Observe in Detail and see if he can track the behemoth's movement through the swamp water.  I have: INT (9) + Perception (6) + Visual Spec (2) + Specifically Looking (3) = 20 dice.
Behemoth Spotting: 20d6t5 8
Bumps right up against the Mental Limit.

Helluva post, by the way, Tec.

[Tecumseh]

I'm going to call this Tracking instead of Perception. We'll use your same roll, just the first 11 dice. That still leaves you with 5 hits, which means that James has little difficulty in tracking the behemoth. It's swimming back in the direction of its young.

[Tecumseh]

Here's a Perception roll for Illeana. I'm going to assume that "specifically looking" offsets the "far away" penalty and that her vision mods offset the "interfering sight" penalty.

Perception: Intuition 10 + Perception 5 + Perceptive 2: 17d6t5 6 hits

She only needed 3 hits, so not only can she see them but she can count their cute little teeth.

Alligators lay 25-50 eggs, but let's not get crazy here. Since we're talking about Awakened alligators, I'll say that there are three babies.

Levitating: Magic 6 + Spellcasting 7 + Mentor Spirit 2: 3#15d6t5 5 hits 5 hits 4 hits

Last one loses 2 hits due to sustaining penalties but the babies don't really have the dicepools to resist.

Drain: Willpower 6 + Intuition 10: 3#16d6t5 5 hits 5 hits 8 hits, no drain

Babies are levitating. Is James' plan basically to wait for momma and then orphan her adorable offspring?

[rednblack]

Is James' plan basically to wait for momma and then orphan her adorable offspring?

Yes, that is exactly the plan.  Momma surfaces because her babies are in danger, and James pops her.

Those pics really are cute.  I doubt they make very good pets in the long term though.

[Tecumseh]

Go ahead and roll it. You're a bit over 50 meters due to being 10 meters up in the tree.

-3 for moderate fog (from the spirit), staged down to -1 by James' thermographic. Medium distance is also -1, so staged together with the fog they make -3. James can negate the range with a Take Aim action combined with his Vision Mag, bringing him back down to -1.

[rednblack]

Wiz.  If there's time to Take Aim in a previous pass as he's waiting for momma to surface and then used a Called Shot: Bulls Eye Double Tap/Burst he'll go that route.  If momma's moving fast, he'll forgo the Take Aim action and keep the Called Shot, so I'll roll the extra 2 dice seperately.

That's: AGI (11) + Firearms (8) - Called Shot (4) - Vision Mods (3) = 12 dice.
Shoot Behemoth: 12d6t5 3
That's 4 ones. 

Take Aim: 2d6t5 0

Edging again to re-roll.
Edge Re-roll: 9d6t5 8
Ummm, ok.  Kinda a shame for what's probably like 2 hits, but wow.

James is at:
3/5 Edge
8/14 Desert Strike

[Tecumseh]

Hahaha, that's a 1 in 1,000 roll.

That is a lot of 1s, but luckily you only have one 2. The rifle does not glitch.

Gator dodge: Reaction + Intuition + Running - Wounds: ?d6t5 1 hit, that's not enough

Well it doesn't have any armor left nor does it have enough Body to soak the remaining hits to a survivable level.

Congratulations! You're alive... in a swamp... in sweaty sticky full body armor... with no transportation... and water-logged supplies... and witches...

[rednblack]

Congratulations! You're alive... in a swamp... in sweaty sticky full body armor... with no transportation... and water-logged supplies... and witches...

Yay!  And I blew 2 Edge on a para-critter that would probably be perfectly happy just going on its way with her babies.  But life in the sixth world is rough, chummer.  I hope it pays off.

I'm about to head out, so I won't get an IC in until tomorrow, but I probably need to think some about our next steps anyway.  The transportation is going to be a serious issue, as is the heat.

[Tecumseh]

Your current situation is a bit like a staging of Waiting for Godot. If that means anything to you. The world is very sparse.

Spirits have retrieved what their is to retrieve of your supplies. The boat is a loss but most of your goods are salvageable, if filthy.

Go ahead and roll or RP as you see fit.

[rednblack]

Your current situation is a bit like a staging of Waiting for Godot. If that means anything to you. The world is very sparse.

Thanks for that.  It does mean something to me.  Us liberal arts majors gotta stick together and all.

Fair warning, I had some stuff come up at the day job, so I might not get to an IC today.  I will go ahead and make some rolls, though.

Survival: I have: WIL (7) + Survival (4) + Survival Gear (2) - Poor Conditions (1) = 12 dice.
Survival: 12d6t5 4
I'm not sure if the spirit is able to negate all of the penalties from Armor, so I'll leave that to your judgment.  The first 3 dice from the right are Hits if James gets taxed.

I'm torn on the armor.  On the one hand, I think the Chameleon suit will help prevent him from being eaten alive, but the smoke from the fire should negate that anyway.  If James can get his rural kicks, I think he will sleep in those, as it gives him the best chance to get a good night's rest -- and OOC regain a point of Edge if there's enough hours for sleeping.  It really makes me nervous simply relying on his cyberware armor upgrades, but comfort counts for a lot, especially in a survival situation.  Yeah, he'll forgo the armor overnight.

For keeping watch, here's a general Perception Test, sans modifiers or Specializations.  I have: INT (9) + Perception (6) = 15 dice.
General Perception: 15d6t5 4
He seems fairly on the ball.

General plan after eating is to take shifts sleeping and keeping watch.  The fire should smolder all through the night.  If Illeana's spirit can keep watch for us, then I guess they both can get a full night's sleep.

[rednblack]

I completely forgot about seeing what can be salvaged from the gear.  James will clean everything that can be cleaned and made functional.

Here's what you brought that wasn't on your person:

1) Ares Desert Strike
2) Monofilament Garrote
3) Medkit (rating 3)
4) Medkit (rating 6)
5) Slap Patches (rating 6)
6) Trauma Patch
7) Survival Kit

Going to roll 1 die for each. A hit means it's okay with a bit cleaning, a non-hit means it's non-functional until fixed, and a glitch means it's ruined.

Mud and Muck: 7#1d6t5
1) 1 hit
2) 0 hits
3) 0 hits
4) 1 hit
5) 0 hits
6) 0 hits
7) 0 hits

Also, what is required to fix the above gear?  Since James has the Juryrigger PQ can he make some tests to fix stuff?  Would cannibalizing the capsized boat help at all?  I can also see the argument where some gear might need to be sacrificed in order to cannibalize parts for others, e.g. using components from the Rating 3 Medkit to get the Slap Patch operational, or vice versa. 

What about the Monofilament Garrote?  As I'm trying to visualize what could go wrong with it, the one thing that I can come up with is that the handle came loose, or something like that.  Re-attaching said handle would be dangerous and painful.  Anything that can be done without a kit of some sort?  If it can be fixed, that could go a long way toward cleaning the behemoth.

[Tecumseh]

The survival roll is good. James feels like he's had some training for scenarios like these and thus isn't particularly worried about starving to death or dying of dehydration. The survival kit is in bad shape but it is salvageable with some work. See below.

James' spare clothes (and Illeana's too) are a mess, but luckily she has a spell just for that! Fashion is becoming one of my favorite RP spells. She uses it to repair and clean your clothes. I'll put that in an IC post when the time comes.

Now, some build & repair rolls.

1) The Desert Strike obviously works, but its Accuracy is limited. It needs cleaning. The handle of the monofilament garrote is broken, so it's Accuracy is now 0. You're right that it would make processing the behemoth a lot easier. Boy, those garrotes are nasty.

I need a Logic 4 + Armorer 4 - Poor Working Condition 2 - Inadequate Tools 2 = 4 dice test. We'll make them Extended Tests with a threshold of 30 minutes. Each hit will add 2 points of Accuracy back to the weapon. Subtract 1 die for each subsequent roll, per usual for Extended Tests. Glitching will make things worse instead of better.

Illeana has essentially the same dice pool so she'll insist on working on the garrote, reasoning that glitching (or critical glitching) will be far less severe for her than it would be for James.

First roll: Logic 5 + Armorer 3 - Poor Working Condition 2 - Inadequate Tools 2: 4d6t5 1 hit
Second roll: Logic 5 + Armorer 3 - Poor Working Condition 2 - Inadequate Tools 2 - Extended 1: 3d6t5 0 hits, critical glitch!!!

hahaha, she cuts herself. The damage code is a bit uncertain in this situation since it's based on Strength (and she clearly wouldn't be using her full Strength). I'm going to call it Strength 3, so 9P.

Illeana soak: Body 5: 5d6t5 1 hit, she takes 8P, blood squirting everywhere

Regeneration: Body 5 + Magic 6: 11d6t5 3 hits + 5 auto-hits from Body = she heals the 8P in 3 seconds. Well that should make for some good RP.

2) The rating 3 medkit needs a thorough inspection and cleaning, but given the good condition of the Rating 6 medkit this is not urgent. FYI, I'm going to be using the Bullets & Bandages descriptions for medkits. Rating 3 is the size of a fanny pack and rating 6 is the size of a huge duffel bag.

The same is true for the slap patches and trauma patches. I'm going to call it a First Aid test (Logic 4 + First Aid 4) with the same negative modifiers as above. Each hit will return a point of rating to the medkit. The patches will be salvaged with a single hit each.

3) Survival kit, let's make this a Logic + Survival roll, same negative modifiers.

What was your major in college?

[rednblack]

Alright, let's see what kind of a workout I can give ol' Orokos today.

Repair Desert Strike: 4d6t5 2
First 30 minutes is quite successful.  Not sure what my Accuracy is, but I'll give it a second roll, since there's actually less chance of a glitch with 3 dice than 4.
Repair Desert Strike: 3d6t5 0
Nada.  Let's push our luck; James really wants his sniper rifle to be in working order.
Repair Desert Strike: 2d6t5 0
Still nothing.  I'll forgo rolling the 1 die.  So at the end of 1.5 hours, James Desert Strike has its Accuracy improved by 2.

If Jury Rigger applies, for the first test I have:
Jury Rigger Repair Desert Strike: 2d6t5 1
An extra hit!
Jury Rigger Repair Desert Strike round 2: 2d6t5 1
Another hit!  That would increase the Accuracy by 4 total.  I'm happy with that.

Repair Trauma Patch: 4d6t5 2
Trauma Patch fixed.

Repair Slap Patch: 4d6t5 1
Slap Patch fixed.

Repair Survival Kit: 4d6t5 2
Survival Kit fixed.

Phew, not a single Glitch.  I also didn't apply Juryrigger to any of the additional rolls,as it wasn't needed.  For future reference, would that PQ apply in situations like these?

Fashion is indeed a helluva spell.  I'd think about it for Uffington if not for his Distinctive Style. 

What was your major in college?

I got a BA in English and an MFA in Creative Writing with an emphasis in fiction.  What about you?

[Tecumseh]

I was a History major, with a focus in Ancient and Pre-Modern Europe, basically everything from Ancient Greece through 1485 or so.

I took a Creative Writing course in college but it turned out to be one of my worst professors. She "taught" by lecture, by which I mean extended monologues. Seems like the exact opposite way one should teach creative writing. She gave me a B-, largely due to attendance because I couldn't stand to listen to her. Sadly she got tenure, somehow.

After college I thought about being a writer, but then I decided that there was a large difference between something being an enjoyable hobby and something being a viable profession. So I sold out and went corporate, which seems to be going okay since the job is cush enough to provide writing opportunities during downtime.

How long was the MFA program? I had a couple friends go on to get MFAs. An MFA sounds fun to me but I'm probably pretty set in my ways at this point. I knocked out a book about six years ago, mostly as a proof-of-concept. (I finished it in early March 2010, which means that the anniversary is any day now.) I'll write another one once I get the spark. Maybe even something kid-friendly for my son.


The Desert Strike is clean and polished to a high shine. James wonders if the swamp water was actually beneficial in some way.

Juryrigger is an interesting situation since the description gives several rather specific uses for it. That said, as far as precedent goes it doesn't seem unreasonable for it to apply. Catlike costs 7 karma and adds +2 to a single (but very common) skill. Natural Athlete costs 7 karma and adds +2 to two (less common) skills. I don't see anything too broken about Juryrigger costing 10 karma and adding +2 to multiple (relatively rare) skills. I'm not sure I would apply it to every Armorer test, but for this situation it seems applicable.

I think there might be two slap patches but you're rolling well enough that we'll say everything is back to proper working order. I'll do an IC for Illeana and her little "accident" this afternoon.

[rednblack]

The other slap patch is in James' auto-injector.  Actually, now that I think of it, the Trauma Patch is too.  Scratch that, 2 trauma patches, so 1 in the injector, the other just there.  So, same with the stim patch: 1 in injector the other 2 just there.

For Juryrigger I envisioned it mostly for impromptu traps and the like, but thought it might apply to situations where James is trying to do things for which he doesn't necessarily have the proper equipment -- like cleaning an Ares Desert Strike in the middle of the swamp. 

I was a History major my first year of college.  Pre-modern Europe was my main area of interest.  Ever since I was a kid I read up a lot on medieval Europe, especially right up until gunpowder became common.  I've been in the process of writing a fictionalized account of John Hawkwood the past year or so, who was an English mercenary who tooled around Italy in the mid-to-late 14th century.  I think it'd make a great graphic novel, but I don't have an artistic bone in my body.

My MFA program was 2 years.  There are some 3 year programs out there, but I don't think I could've stood another year of writing workshops. 

That's great that your job gives you time to write.  I taught full-time for a few years, but it did not do so.  Now I work 3 jobs, one of which is still teaching, and that definitely puts a dent in the free time for writing.  Luckily, the day job allows me to tool around on the pbp boards, even if I don't feel as though I can focus enough here for my own projects. 

The vampire game was taken from a short story I wrote which failed miserably.  You guys are doing much better with it than I was.  Almost makes me want to steal all your great ideas   I'm not sure how many would transplant well from the SR universe to present day, but easily enough I'd imagine.

What was your book about?