[Tecumseh]

IC is up. It is now Tuesday midday. James has not seen Illeana since early Saturday morning. It's been a half week of Hell Week since then, in the Navy SEALs sense of the term. James has been getting less than four hours of sleep a night. His next scheduled R&R is for Thursday afternoon.

[rednblack]

I'd like to roll Judge Intentions on old Bobby here. James will be suspicious of the placement, and is curious if Bobby really does just have loose lips, or if he's actively trying to feed him any information.  I have 14 dice for this roll.
Judge Intentions: 14d6t5 6

I'm also going to roll Con, though Etiquette may well apply here too, to see how good James is at encouraging Bobby to run his mouth.  Normally just being an interested ear is enough for some people, but let's see how it goes.  I have: CHA (5) + Con (6) = 11 dice.  Assuming Fast Talk does not apply here.
Con: 11d6t5 2
And that'll be a Glitch with Social Stress.  Should be fun.

ETA: I guess by RAW Social Stress doesn't affect Con rolls, but I'm kind of of the opinion that it should be applied to all Social tests for the Karma award.

[Tecumseh]

Hmm, yes, strange that Social Stress doesn't apply to Negotiation or Con. We should probably say that it applies to them too.

Also, it appears that it doesn't subtract dice from the dice pool, it just changes the number of 1s for a glitch. I subtracted 2 dice from the rolls yesterday, so technically you should have had those. I'll cancel the execution.

Judge Intentions: James thinks that Bobby has been drinking the Ares Kool-Aid. Bobby is in his early 20s and must be exceptionally good at whatever scientific or technical things that he does if he's been entrusted to monitors James, especially since he doesn't meet the physical fitness standards (often militaryesque) that Ares expects of its employees. Bobby has the Zeal of Youth and My Corporation, Right or Wrong. Looking at him, James wonders if he was the same way during his early years at Knight Errant.

As for the nature of Bobby's comments, James is unsure. He doesn't know if Bobby is offering him a certain form of encouragement during Hell Week, or if he's trying to add pressure by letting James know who is paying attention to the results. Bobby looks pretty enthusiastic about the whole testing process, so James doesn't think that he's blabbering out of boredom. Maybe Bobby is overflowing with enthusiasm about working on such a high-profile project. The fact that Bobby is actually sociable and willing to look things for for James on the Matrix also suggests that his personality and approach to his work is significantly different from the good Doctors.

Con: I think this is more Etiquette than Con. Since your specialization would apply, the net result is the same. Tailored Pheromones apply. That gets you 2 extra dice to help avoid a glitch: Etiquette bonus dice 2: 2d6t5 1 hit (accidentally rolled 3)

There is one extra 1 in that roll. You now have six 1s. Your dicepool is 13, so with 5E's >50% threshold you would normally need seven 1s to glitch. With Social Stress you only need six. You have six 1s so, congratulations, you glitch.

[rednblack]

Well let's pop the champagne bottles. I'm not sure if you have anything in mind for the Glitch, but James could inadvertently offend Bobby, let something slip about the nanites, or you could simply give him more dice to resist James' ministrations.

[Tecumseh]

IC is up. James has made it back home.

James is currently at 9S and 2P from injuries sustained while training. He is not scheduled to be anywhere until Monday at 06:00, but that could change at a moment's notice.

I'll preemptively list the information below, simply because I believe James would be thinking about it tactically even if he doesn't have immediate plans to act on it.

Should you think to escape, you currently have your cyberweapons but no firearms. For armor, you have the clothes you arrived in plus a full closet of Ares Victory clothing to choose from. You have lost the rest of your loadout from when you met Doc:

Joseph Shimko SIN (PCC) + (it's uncertain if this is burned or if Ares might have left it operational to use in the future)
Hermes Ikon +
Defiance EX-Shocker +
Arm Slide for same+
Stealth Tag X3
Endoscope
Rating 6 Stim Patch X1

Illeana has the form-fitting body armor she was wearing when you met Doc, her ballistic mask, and the Victorinox Memory Blades she was able to smuggle in concealed as a bracelet and a belt. She doesn't have any throwing knives but she could potentially use the kitchen knives. You're also free to MacGyver anything else that might be available around the unit.

You're not entirely certain which floor your unit is on, but Illeana could probably do enough astral recon (via spells) to figure out that you're somewhere between 18-22 floors above ground. You have Matrix connectivity through Ares' grid, but might assume that traffic is being monitored at some level. The windows are too small to fit out of unless you widen the windowframes somehow. The exterior wall is metal and concrete, so at least Heavy Structural Material (Structure 12, Armor 20). You won't know for sure if it's reinforced without testing it, although James might hazard a guess with his Architecture knowledge skill.

Let me know if you have any other questions about your situation. The ball is back in your court. Let me know what your high-level plans are for the next few minutes, few hours, and few days.

Illeana will note that the troll is an adept and that the ork is heavily cybered. Bound spirits also astrally patrol the hallways (at high speed) at least once a minute.

[rednblack]

I put up just the briefest of IC posts, as I've got to run, want to handle some of the crunch, and don't know how far to push ICly anyway.

For the next five minutes, James will be intimate with Illeana.  I guess he'll go to sleep for the rest of that four-and-a-half minutes

Then James is going to try to sleep off some of that Stun damage.  I'll make 3 checks to start.  I have: BOD (5) + WIL (7) = 12 dice for each.
Heal Stun: 3#12d6t5 5 6 5
Well, that'll take care of that.

After sleeping and a good meal, James will want to go shopping.  General lay of the land stuff, see how short a leash he's on, etc.  He'll also want to take in a trid and probably do desert and coffee out.  Next steps will largely depend on what they see while out.

I'm going to make a general Perception test to see how they're being followed, and what kinds of security are in place, as well as make notes of employee corridors in the complex.  I have: INT (9) + Perception (6) + Visual Enhancement (2) + Visual Spec (2) + Specifically Looking (3) = 22 dice.
Perception + Specifically Looking + Visual: 22d6t5 7

In general, James will talk pretty freely about how much training sucks and this isn't exactly what he signed on for, but he will not discuss escaping, being generally unhappy, or anything negative about Ares management and practices.It may suck, but it's completely understandable, blah blah blah.

[Tecumseh]

IC is up. James is healed and at full Edge.

James and Illeana have an escort wherever they go. It is very overt, ostensibly to discourage anyone from making an extraction attempt.

James' Perception roll is good enough that he sees at least one drone providing overwatch at all times. There are also too many cameras and other fixed sensors to count. Presumably an Ares asset could jump between these at will.

In OOC terms, James knows that Seraphim are the rough equivalent of Professional Rating 5. James and Illeana are getting treatment generally reserved for executives.

[rednblack]

IC is up. James is healed and at full Edge.

That's very gracious.  Thank you.

With James' Perception test does he see if the troll is wearing Trodes?  I'll assume an implanted commlink on the cyber monster, but if he's got Trodes on as well, that would be good to know.

I'd like to make a few Matrix Perception tests.  I'm interested in what kind of links these guys have going, as well as what other icons they're rocking.

Let's do Hartman first.  I have: INT (9) + Computer (4) + Matrix Perception Spec (2) = 15 dice.
Matrix Perception: Hartman: 15d6t5 3

And for Towser: Matrix Perception: Towser: 15d6t5 6

And for the drone: Matrix Perception: Drone: 15d6t5 7

And for stealth tags in James' clothing: Matrix Perception: Tags: 15d6t5 6

Dice are pretty hot right now.

I doubt the goons are going to give James a gun, but it seems like an appropriate request, and it certainly puts them in a difficult position should they refuse him.  This is probably a GM call thing, but I'll go ahead and roll Negotiation to see what happens.  I have: CHA (5) + Negotiation (4) + Tailored Pheromones (2) = 11 dice.
Negotiation: 11d6t5 1
Not looking good.  This is probably not the thing I want to spend Edge on.

While shopping James is going to want to buy a commlink.  He does not feel good about going around with an Implanted Commlink being his only interaction with the virtual world, and I think security-minded escorts would feel the same way.  During an extraction attempt, that would be the enemy hacker's primary target, and bricking an internal link, while not necessarily dangerous to his person, is not something to take lightly.  Let me know if this causes trouble.  He'll want a Hermes Ikon, or nearest equivalent.

James is going to want to be in as crowded a trideo plex as possible, and he'll gently nudge Illeana toward whatever feature is likely to draw the biggest crowd on a Friday afternoon, should she not select that trid herself.  Traditionally, movie theatres stagger their start times, so that each film begins in about a 30 minute window.  I'll assume that's still the case in the SR universe.  As such, James will make note of the start times, and excuse himself to the restroom about 45 minutes to an hour-and-fifteen minutes into the trid, as there are not likely to be many people in the bathrooms at that time.  Who follows?

[Tecumseh]

Towser and Hartman both have Leviathan-brand commlinks, both rating 5. James also picks up the icons for their Ares Executioners and their Ares Predators.

Towser (ork) also has cybereyes, wired reflexes, and reaction enhancers.

The drone circling above is a Cyberspace Designs Dalmatian.

James finds stealth tags in his clothing. There seems to be two in each piece of clothing.

Conveniently, Friday the 13th is a payday. You have 10 days of wages. Between the two of you, you're making ¥15,473 a month (although this is in Ares scrip, we'll keep the figures in nuyen for convenience, but note that this is not nuyen). Your 10 days of wages come out to be ¥5,158. Between using Ares scrip and being an Ares employee, you can purchase Leviathan commlinks for the equivalent of a 50% discount. The purchases must be made with your Ares SIN.

Towser and Hartman do not follow James into the movie theater. They remain in the lobby. They are still there when James uses the restroom. They do not follow him into the restroom but do keep sight lines on the entrance/exit to the restroom while he is in there.

[rednblack]

Point of order question: The Ares Executioner is an F rated piece of gear, meaning that even Ares' employees wouldn't be able to carry them in public legally, or at least that's my understanding.  Have James and Illeana plus entourage been on Ares sovereign corporate territory for their shopping excursion?  For cool points, are they carrying them in those wizbang briefcases?

Assuming they are in Ares territory, can James see through the itinerary where Ares' territory stops and where UCAS, or a rival corp's territory starts?  How far is that from the movie theatre? 

James will make some surreptitious cuts with a minimally extended cyber spur to cut the stealth tags free from his clothing.  He will pocket these, and do the same for Illeana's, which she can deposit in her own pocket.  This will be done under the cover of darkness in the theatre. 

How much for the Leviathan? 

I will assume that there are no ceiling tiles in the bathroom, or any other easy access above the halls.  Is there anything that James may be able to use to start a fire, or even better manufacture a small explosion?  The latter is almost certainly out, but James may well be able to unwire something, pop it with his shock hand, overload some circuits and start a little electrical fire. 

Let's see if the dice play this out.  I'm going to include my Juryrigger Quality even though this is purely Knowledge-related at this point.  For the long shot explosion, I'm going to roll LOG (4) + Chemistry (1) + Juryrigger (2) = 7 dice.
Chemistry Boom: 7d6t5 2

For the electrical fire I have: LOG (4) + Hardware (3) + Juryrigger (2) = 9 dice.
overload circuits?: 9d6t5 4
That might be possible.

It's probably also worth rolling Security Design to see if there is some sort of failsafe that he'll need to disable.  I have: LOG (4) + Security Design (5) = 9 dice.
Fail Safe?: 9d6t5 3

Related question: anyone in the bathroom when James enters?

Can you give me a general layout for the immediate area?  Are we in a high class promenade where people typically walk around, or are there rows of shops that people typically drive from one to the other?  Does the trid plex have a dedicated parking lot?  Is it physically attached to other buildings and shops?  Is the Dalmatian outside somewhere?

Working plan is to create a diversion, and try to slip away.  I may see if Illeana can manufacture a Trid Phantasm of James exiting the bathroom and heading toward a back hallway exit as the diversion takes place, sending Towser, Hartman, and hopefully the drone to an area of the trid plex where James and Illeana aren't.  James will deposit his stealth tags in some poor schmuck's pockets, popcorn, etc. using Palming, and then we'll see what kind of a break they can make for it.

[Tecumseh]

The Greater Detroit Metropolitan Complex is extremely prosperous and one of the safest cities in the UCAS. From a megacorporation perspective, it's basically an Ares company town. There are other businesses and smaller corporations but they're all in Ares' orbit and/or suckling Ares' teats.

No one is going to stop Seraphim from carrying Forbidden weapons. Knight Errant certainly won't. Yes, the Executioners are in briefcases when in public.

James doesn't have a thorough map of what is Ares territory and what isn't. He assumes most everything is Ares territory. UCAS portions of the city are under contract with Knight Errant and might as well be Ares territory. James does not recognize any locations nearby that might conceivably have extraterritoriality outside of Ares and the UCAS. It would be safe to assume that the local government is largely an extension of Ares, even if it is nominally independent.

If James wants the Leviathan version of the Hermes Ikon (R5)  then it will cost ¥1,500. We'll say that all Leviathan devices are named after weather systems:

R1: Squall
R2: Blizzard
R3: Gale
R4: Storm
R5: Cyclone
R6: Hurricane
R7: Tempest

If you want R5, you have the Cyclone.

There are air vents in the bathroom ceiling.

From a chemistry standpoint, James could break into the cleaning supply closet in the bathroom. There's low-grade maglock on the closet door. He could easily break it but that would be much noisier. He doesn't have the proper tools to disable the maglock, and doing so would be suspicious to the others in the restroom. Inside the supply closet, he might expect to find cleaning chemicals. If any of them are aerosols then they are potentially flammable and/or explosive under pressure. Other than that, most of the chemicals will be caustic.

James' shock hand could probably be used to start an electrical fire. Toilet paper is flammable.

There is a fire suppression system in the ceiling that James may wish to disable. However, doing so will likely trigger a central system that the failsafe is offline. How much attention someone pays to this is an open question.

The bathroom stalls will have the most privacy.

Hmm, how many people in the bathroom. We'll get cute and say 2d6 minus 1d6 to allow for the possibility of there being zero (which would not be possible with just 1d6).

People in the bathroom: 2d6 12, ha, double sixes
People not in the bathroom: 1d6 3

You have nine other gents  in the bathroom with you. Looks like the rush after a show just got out. There are five humans, then one elf, one ork, one dwarf, and one troll. You could wait for them to leave but more might arrive. Lingering too long may arouse suspicion among Towser and Hartman.

Generally speaking, you're in a high-class promenade/plaza where people walk around. There are no motor vehicles allowed except underground. There is extensive parking for the complex. This being Detroit, the underground parking doubles as a pedestrian walkway so that shoppers can avoid blizzards and other weather systems that aren't on the Ares payroll. There will be plenty of people down there today due to the thunderstorms. The Dalmatian, being a VTOL the size of a hang glider, is definitely outside. It could not track someone in the parking garage, but presumably there are lots of other sensors down there which could.

James is almost positive he and Illeana can get to the parking garage, if only because they can run faster than 99% of the world. Now whether they get shot in the back for doing so is another question, as is what their plan will be once they are in the garage, but he's reasonable certain they can get there.

Illeana would suggest a simpler approach: namely, casting Physical Mask and walking out with the crowd at the end of the show. It would only give a minute or two headstart since Towser and Hartman will realize that the pair never exited, but nor will they know who/what they are looking for unless Hartman can assense, which is a possibility.

[rednblack]

Oh, Hartman can Assense.  Otherwise, I doubt he'd be given this particular detail.  Granted, James and Illeana are both roughly Professional Level 6 or so, but putting 2 Professional Level 5-ish goons on them at all times has got to be incredibly expensive, and my guess is that they wouldn't leave the Astral relatively unguarded.

But Illeana does have Aura Masking, which won't help James at all, but it can at least add a layer of anonymity for her, which might also be useful if we want to Thor Shot Hartman while he's in pursuit. 

Given the number of hoops in the bathroom, James will return to the theatre and try to slip out with the crowd.  While the trid is playing, James will try to get a read on the layout of the underground promenade and compare it to the city streets above.  Given the number of water ways, James will be paying a lot of attention to what isn't there in the public records -- large empty areas, doors and passageways that lead to nowhere, etc.  The best bet may be to stick with peopled areas for as long as possible, and then duck out and down into a lake, sewer system, etc.  Or, make it appear as though they took that route, and go above ground. 

For the underground promenade James has: LOG (4) + Computer (4) = 8 dice.
Computer: Promenade: 8d6t5 2

Same roll for above ground: Computer: Above ground: 8d6t5 1

And maybe Architecture?  I have: LOG (4) + Architecture (2) + Blueprints Spec (2) = 8 dice.
Architecture: 8d6t5 1

Not great. 

How does hot wiring a car work here?

Also, what Ritual would Ares use to locate James, to the best of his or Illeana's knowledge?

[Tecumseh]

The underground promenade looks like it covers all the areas that are pedestrian-only above ground. There are obviously some service doors and closets but James can't dig up enough detail to find things like sewer systems or entrances. Presumably the service closets have things like utility access (water, electric, wireless) but that's not publicly available information.

When you say "slip out with the crowd," do you mean as you are, or do you want to go with some sort of disguise (magical or otherwise)?

A ritual would probably revolve around the Detect Individual spell (SR5, p. 286). Spirits with the Search power are another possibility, especially during the initial escape.

Steps to hotwire:
1) break into the car, either physically or via Locksmith
2) hotwire the car, either via hacking (direct connection) or Hardware

James will be at a negative modifier without the proper tools.

GridGuide will shut down the vehicle and report its location once the owner reports that it has been stolen. That could be anywhere from 60 seconds to 60 hours in the future.

It's Friday. Your R&R is scheduled to last all weekend. You could form a plan and try to escape on Saturday or Sunday, or they could cancel your R&R on short notice for no reason at all.

[Tecumseh]

Sounds like the basic plan is for Illeana to dope Towser and Hartman with Euphoria preparations and then run. Simple, straightforward. Let's see how well it goes.

Per the house rules, Alchemy is no longer a nested roll. We'll do the rolls when the preparations are triggered. I'll say that Illeana has an hour before the end of the film to do her preparations. She has a ton of Essence that she can dump into attribute boosting.

For drain soak, she has Intuition 10 + Willpower 6 + Centering 7 for 23 dice. She doesn't have her centering focus on her so she can't use that. I'll be a bit OOC and have her pump up her Willpower by 1 so that I can get to 24 dice so that I can buy 6 success for drain soak so that I don't have to roll. She's now at Essence 11.

Actually, let's do the math on that. With 24 dice she has an 84% chance of soaking 6 drain. She's going to be doing about 10 preparations so odds are she would take drain on 1 or 2 of them. I'm only going to let her buy 5 hits (94% chance with 24 dice) so that I don't feel as guilty about not rolling.

Let's pump up Illeana's Magic too, since that's always useful. She'll go from 7 to 11. She's now at Essence 7.

Her base running rate is Agility 6 * Vampire Celerity 3 = 18 meters/turn. James' base rate is Agility 11 * Running 2 = 22 meters a turn. They can both sprint, especially James with his hydraulic jacks, so Illeana needs to be a bit faster to keep up. As the lights in the theater come up, she'll cast Vampiric Speed @ F6 and use the changing light conditions to conceal her shamanic mask. She'll sustain it with Focused Concentration.

Spellcasting: Magic 11 + Spellcasting 7: 18d6t5 7 hits, capped at 6 by the spell's Force. She can now zip along at 24 meters/turn, plus she gets good bonuses to her sprinting rate and initiative score as well.

Illeana doesn't have knives to throw so she might skip the offensive preparations like Fireball since there isn't a great way to deliver them. She'll mostly do buffs. She'll do two (2) each of the follow, one (1) for James and the other for herself

2x Heal @ F7 with command trigger (14 minutes)
2x Euphoria @ F7 with contact trigger (14 minutes)
2x Physical Camouflage @ F4 with contact trigger (8 minutes)
2x Physical Barrier @ F5 with contact trigger (10 minutes)
2x Catfall @ F7 with contact trigger (14 minutes)

Catfall is a fun spell but is somewhat redundant with Levitate.

Alright, now on to the show. Illeana will dope the Seraphim, who may or may not see God in their ecstasy. Illeana will walk right up to them because she figures if she throws something then odds are good that they'll dodge it out of instinct. Plus the Accuracy on thrown straws is abysmal. She'll do Towser first then Hartman:

Magic 11 + Enchanting 8 + Focus 2 + Mentor Spirit 2: 2#23d6t5 8 hits 4 hits

Towser's euphoria is capped at 7 hits by the force of the preparation. Now they resist. This is a mana illusion so they resist with Willpower + Logic:

Towser: Willpower + Logic: ?d6t5 3 hits, so he takes 4 hits and is at -4 and probably sees God
Hartman: Willpower + Logic: ?d6t5 4 hits, so he takes 0 hits and does not see God

Well that didn't work. Edge cannot be spent on triggering preparations so Hartman is unaffected and probably unamused.  Time to roll initiative.

Illeana: Initiative + Vampiric Speed: 4d6+24 33, quite a poor roll, actually

James has a 95% chance of acting before they do, so go ahead and declare your actions after you roll.

[rednblack]

On the way out of the theatre James is going to try to dump the stealth tags in some unwary moviegoer's purse.  For Palming I have: AGI (11) + Palming (6) = 17 dice.  I'm not sure what this is actually resisted by for planting something, but for noticing Hidden Gear its V. INT + Perception.
Palming: 17d6t5 5

Initiative: Initiative: 16+4d6 30

So, it looks like I'll be coming in after Illeana.

Not sure what she can do that might one-shot Hartman, but I'm thinking about Called Shots.  Against many opponents in this situation I'd think about doing a CS: Genitals, but a Troll Adept is just going to shred BOD + WIL tests, but it would be a great low key attack that probably wouldn't draw that much attention.  CS: Neck is probably the next best thing, but then we've really got to punch it in drive afterward.  And I need to decide if the secondary benefits are worth the -8 penalty.  Between Reach, Combat Sense (assuming he has it), and a healthy starting pool for INT + REA, it would be an uphill fight.  On the other hand, straight up trying to murderize the guy isn't going to one-shot him with the cyber spur, and since the Shock Hand is capped at 9S(e), that's not going to bring him down either. 

Through gritted teeth I'm deciding on going big with a Charge Attack + Called Shot: Neck.  Now I've got t figure out how I want to use Edge.  Pre and post have roughly the same result, as does Miracle Shot, but the best bet is probably to re-roll misses.  I have: AGI (11) + Unarmed Combat (7) + Charge Attack (2) - Called Shot ( = 12 measly dice.
Called Shot: Neck: 12d6t5 6
There's some rolling.  Let's roll James' Edge attribute to see if we can stack up a hit or two.
Push the Limit: 5d5h5 2
Ok, 8 hits total.  Apparently my coding is off, as I had it re-roll 5s, but neither was a Hit.

Base damage is 11P -2AP.  Hartman must make a BOD + WIL (3) to avoid a -10 to Initiative and suffers Bleedout (target suffers 1P unresisted for every action they take that is not First Aid until a First Aid (4) test has been made or Heal Spell heals at least 1 box of damage.  After the Soak test the most Hartman can take is 10P.

CT 1 IP 1
Free: Charge
Free: Pop Cyber Spur
Complex: Skewer Hartman

Fingers crossed.