[Tecumseh]

You would be resisting the spell's net hits, not the spell Force.

The way I'm picturing it, James doesn't have to fight the spell unless he's trying to move in the opposite direction. As the spell is only holding him up - and not yet propelling him in one direction or the other - he would only have to fight it if he somehow wanted to fall or jump toward the ground. It's more of a safety net at the moment.

So, yes, James could kick off the trunk - trying to clear the web of branches and Spanish moss - and in theory Illeana should be able to catch him. That could certainly work, and would be a Gymnastics test.

If he wanted to swim through the branches and brambles, probably the wisest approach would be to pop the cyberspur and try cutting his way through the thicket as it falls toward him. This would be a series of Unarmed Combat [Cyber Implant] tests. Like, three of them.

No need to apologize. Questions are fine.

[rednblack]

Ok, I'm going to go the Gymnastics route, but I'll go ahead and pop the cyber spur anyway.  It might give James a little bit of leverage, and it'll be handy to have out should a vine wrap around his ankle, etc. as he tries to clear the tree.

CT2 IP2
Free: Pop Cyber Spur
Complex: Gymnastics Test.

I have: STR (8) + Gymnastics (6) - 2 (Slippery) = 12 dice.
Climb that tree again: 12d6t5 5
Yep, that donations to Orokos did go through alright.

If the Levitation spell counts as Assisted Climbing, then that's 5 meters up.  If not, it's 2 meters, which should still clear most of the thicker branches that might pull him into the swamp. 

I'll get an IC up soon that covers the last few moments, but I won't clear James from the immediate danger of the tree, as there's still plenty that can go wrong there.

[Tecumseh]

So are you crawling/climbing around the tree or are you jumping away from it? If you're jumping away from it you can add your Hydraulic Jacks.

Levitate seems like would accomplish the same thing as ropes and harnesses, so we can call it Assisted Climbing.

[rednblack]

Let's go ahead and add the Jumping test as well.  I have: AGI (11) + Gymnastics (6) = 17 dice.
Jump out of the tree: 17d6t5 3
That's 1.5 meters up from the trunk.

ETA: while re-reading I noted that you said that I could add my Hydraulic Jacks.  Did you mean add the rating to the climbing test, or make the above Jumping test while including the Hydraulic Jack's rating.  By RAW James doesn't get the bonus dice if he doesn't have Wireless bonuses, but as I said before that's one of the Wireless bonuses that don't make much sense to me.  I'm including a straight Hydraulic Jack's bonus, in case he gets the goodies.

Hydraulic Jacks: 6d6t5 1
Not great, but another hit never hurt anybody.  That's 6 meters up total if climbing and 2 meters total if jumping.  Isn't that odd?

[Tecumseh]

Oh wireless bonuses. So do they actually need to talk to the global Matrix or do they just need to talk to James' commlink and the vast sensor array that is James' body? We'll take a liberal reading in this case.

So we've had a lot of back-and-forth here. Just to be clear, which direction are you jumping?

Illeana will try cutting her way through the tree as it descends on her.

Agility 6 + Swords 7 + Spec 2 + Focus 2 - 4 Sustaining: 3#13d6t5 6 hits 4 hits 6 hits

Good rolling. Pity it's for an inanimate object and not an opposed test. She slices her way through with ease while maintaining her concentration on the Levitate spells.

Her distraction means that James is largely on his own as far as movement is concerned, as she can't divide her attention well enough to pilot James' floating.

[rednblack]

Oh wireless bonuses. So do they actually need to talk to the global Matrix or do they just need to talk to James' commlink and the vast sensor array that is James' body? We'll take a liberal reading in this case.

By RAW my understanding is that the device must connect to the Matrix.  In the case of Hydraulic Jacks, it makes much more sense to me that they would need to be connected to the user's PAN, as I can't see how Matrix information would increase their performance.  Smartlinks, on the other hand, are supposed to function at a higher level when they can stream weather conditions in real time, which explains why the Wireless bonus would require Matrix access.  Laser sights are a weird middle ground for me; I can see it going either way.

So we've had a lot of back-and-forth here. Just to be clear, which direction are you jumping?

James is going to take the path of least resistance up.  If he has a choice, he'll try to get himself more in line with being directly above the stump of the fallen tree.  This should put a little more distance between him and a straight shot up from the swamp.

Her distraction means that James is largely on his own as far as movement is concerned, as she can't divide her attention well enough to pilot James' floating.

Understood.  Once he's cleared the tree, there probably isn't much he can do to direct himself at all.  The last IC makes me think that everything in the boat is unobtainable now, but James is not quite ready to give up on his Desert Strike.

[Tecumseh]

The fate of your gear remains to be seen.

Illeana will steer you both over to another tree and set you down so that she can summon a spirit more easily. Hopefully the behemoth doesn't eat this tree too. She drops the Levitate spells and their sustaining modifiers.

Summoning F4 water spirit: Magic 6 + Summoning 4: 10d6t5 2 hits

Spirit resist: Spirit Resist: 4d6t5 1 hit, one service

Soaking 2 drain: Willpower 6 + Intuition 10: 16d6t5 4 hits, drain soaked

Illeana tells the water spirit to retrieve the bags.

The water spirit reports that the bags are squished in the mud and muck underneath the tree. This is good, because it means they aren't crushed, but bad because water and mud aren't great for a lot of things.

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

No glitches, how improbable. There was a 72% chance that there would be at least one.

So you Desert Strike lives up to its billing as a sturdy, durable weapon. You also have your good medkit available. The rest needs to be thoroughly cleaned before it can get used. Good luck cleaning the monofilament garrote.

[rednblack]

So a few options to consider.  The IC description of 2 seconds before contact makes me think that James has 2 IPs to pull his plan together before the behemoth makes another snack of a tree.

The dice rolling makes me think that the Desert Strike is ready to be used, but I'm not sure if it's ready to be used immediately.  From the IC description, I'd be worried that firing without clearing the barrel could make the weapon nonfunctional, or worse blow up in James' hands.  James would know more about this that rednblack does, so how about a Firearms Knowledge Test.  It might also be necessary to clear the chamber manually and get a new round in the breech before firing.

I have: LOG (4) + Firearms (3) = 7 dice.
Firearms Knowledge: 7d6t5 3

That roll makes sense given James' training.  If the weapon is currently operable, James will:

IP1
Free: Comm Illeana, <<Get ready to jump.>>
Simple: Ready Weapon
Simple: Take Aim

IP2
Free: Called Shot: Bulls-Eye Double Tap/Burst
Complex: 3 round burst

That stages base damage to 13P -16AP + Net Hits.  AP is calculated as ([Base Weapon AP] 4 X 3) + APDS (4) = 16

If the weapon is already considered "Readied," James will shoot in both passes.

If the Desert Strike is currently not operable, this complicates things.  The Desert Strike is a suppressed weapon, and James is worried about making a racket, but without an operable and high damage-dealing firearm he may need to forgo the comfort of quiet and opt for a HE grenade.  Being 10 meters up will at least keep them from having to soak any damage.  The idea is:

IP1
Simple: Ready grenade
Free: Wirelessly enable grenade
Simple: Throw grenade at base of trunk.  (Really, he's dropping it straight down, but I imagine a Throwing test is in order, as if it clips a limb or the trunk, it'll most likely end up in the swamp where it isn't likely to do any substantive damage.)
Free: (If allowed) Comm Illeana, <<Going loud.>>

IP2
Free: Comm Illeana, <<Get ready to jump.>>
Simple: Observe in detail.  James is going to wait until the behemoth is directly on top of the grenade before detonating it.
Simple: Wirelessly detonate grenade using Change Linked Device Mode action (usually free but staged up in this case)

Damage in this case would be 16P -2AP.

[Tecumseh]

James knows that weapons are often stress tested by being submerged in sand, mud, etc. Weapons stressed in this way are less accurate and are at risk of catastrophic failure.

Cleaning the barrel is simple with the right time and tools, neither of which James has at the moment.

From a game mechanic standpoint, there will be three effects which I won't detail too explicitly to help maintain some of the shroud of war:
1) lower Accuracy,
2) increased chance of glitch/critical glitch, and
3) the first bullet (which will effectively clear the barrel) will not count toward the bull's eye burst (turning it into a bull's eye double-tap).

The grenade approach looks reasonable. I would rearrange some of the action economy, but the end result would be what you've described.

[rednblack]

Hmm, decisions decisions.  I'm a bit worried that an HE grenade would just tickle.  Fuck it, James has immeasurable faith in Ares; let's do some shooting.  The single Take Aim action will increase the Accuracy and dice pool of the weapon, so hopefully that will mitigate some of the penalties.

I have: AGI (11) + Firearms ( + Take Aim (1) - Called Shot (4) = 16 dice
Bulls Eye Double-Tap/Burst Behemoth: 16d6t5 3
Not a fantastic roll.  Only 1 1 though, so that makes me breathe a little easier.   
Edge to re-roll failures
Edge Re-roll: 13d6t5 5
That'll hit the modified Accuracy.  Base weapon Accuracy is 7, stepped up to 9 with Smartlink.  But, the Smartlink won't know what to do with a clogged barrel so he's probably looking at 7 before extra penalties.  Maybe I should've just rolled Edge dice.

We'll save the grenade for when James is really desperate and tries to actually toss the thing in the behemoth's mouth.

[Tecumseh]

Illeana isn't helpless, although she doesn't have the armor-piercing qualities that James does. She'll throw one of her Fireball preparations, which is on a throwing knife.

Step one is to hit. Well, I suppose hitting it optional, given the nature of the preparation. That makes me wonder if I should be treating this like a grenade instead of a knife. We'll go with knife for now. If she connects I should count the damage from the knife itself, but it's highly unlikely that she'll be able to phase the behemoth through its armor.

Her throwing spec says "Aerodynamic" but it should say "Knives".  Not sure where aerodynamic came from. The range is 14 meters (10 meters down, 10 meters away, a² + b² = c² = 14 meters,  which is Short thanks to her Precision Throwing III adept ability.

Throwing: Agility 6 + Throwing 4 + Spec 2: 12d6t5 5 hits, oops forgot my Missile Master die: Missile Mastery: 1d6t5 0 hits

Behemoth dodge: REA + INT + Running: ?d6t5 4 hits

So one net hit stages me up from 9P to 10P -1AP. It's going to auto-soak almost all of that due to hardened armor.

Body + Armor: ?d6t5 5 hits + 7 auto-hits = 12 hits, no damage, oh well

She triggers the preparation. Damage is Force 6 + net hits, -6 AP. Maybe this will scratch it.

Magic 6 + Enchanting 8 + Focus 2: 16d6t5 8 hits, bang, wow, that's like a grenade

So 14P -6AP. As you are also 14 meters away, the edge of the flames licks your legs.

Behemoth soak: Body + Armor: ?d6t5 8 hits + 5 auto-hits = 13 hits, so after all that it only takes 1P. Tough bastard.

Then it's on to James the next IP.

Behemoth dodge: Reaction + Intuition + Running: ?d6t5 3 hits

You hit the mud-affected Accuracy limit so you lose some of the Edge hits, but at least they allowed you to connect. We'll call it 14P -12AP.

Behemoth soak: Body + Armor: ??d6t5 4 hits + 2 auto-hits from hardened armor = 6 hits.

Damage is 8P, combined with the pre-existing 1P for a total of 9P.

The behemoth is decidedly unaccostomed to being injured like that. Composure check: Willpower + Charisma - Damage: ?d6t5 2 hits

It decides to stage a tactical retreat. It dives underwater and is no longer charging the tree. James can continue to fire, or otherwise pursue it, although he knows that the water will act as an extra layer of armor for the beast.

[rednblack]

I got on a bit of a tangent guessing about Accuracy in my last post an forgot to correct gun stats. If the first round doesn't count toward the Called Shot then the AP is only staged to 8. That's 2 more auto-hits and 4 more Soak dice.

[Tecumseh]

The AP of the rifle is staged to -8, then you add in the APDS for -12. I rolled it correctly.

[rednblack]

Shit, you got it. I'm working the odd job tonight but will get an IC in tomorrow.

Will Illeana find a behemoth corpse useful for magical woo stuff?

[Tecumseh]

Go ahead and ask ICly. She will lay out the pros and cons as she sees them.