[rednblack]

Interesting. The Mana Surge sounds like a completely (super)natural phenomenon. I'm on the phone but I think I'll have more to say on that tomorrow. Gotta mull.

If the four shooters are to the south then I think we head east, assuming the voudon are heading back the way they came. We'll want to put some cover between them and the trees for makin a jump for it. Changing course will also mean that James and Illeana will need to crawl so they're not just putting the thin hull between them and the shooters. AFB so I don't know if crawling/slithering is a Simple Action or if it just costs movement.

If we can move forward, James would like to ask Illeana to have her spirit transmit the location of the shooters to her. If she can mark them in AR based on that imprint that would be just wiz.

I'll update my last IC tomorrow to cover the new info and changes.

ETA: can James pilot using his smart linked Alpha at a penalty?

[Tecumseh]

Illeana gave a mini lecture on mana surges and their implications here: http://forums.shadowruntabletop.com/index.php?topic=23178.msg435585#msg435585

James' Magical Theory roll suggests that he already knew everything she said and was just humoring her.

The amount of action required to crawl/slither is dependent on the distance moved. If you're talking about crawling around the bottom of the airboat, it's probably a Simple action.

Are you asking if James can pilot using the smartgun camera on his Alpha? Potentially, yes, but his Alpha will be caught in the suppressive fire if he lifts it above the edge of the boat. He would need to figure out some way to keep it pointed in the right direction without exposing his hand to suppressive fire.

Illeana will wonder why James will want to go into the water if he thinks the opposition is going to start dropping grenades on them. James knows the effects of underwater explosives: an HE grenade would be a nice little depth charge.

[rednblack]

Back to the Mana Surge: since this sounds like a supernatural phenomenon, it seems that James would not think that this is a part of a trap for them, correct?  This seems more like unlucky timing combined with the phenomenon more than adversaries that are aware of Illeana's strengths and weaknesses who have found a way to manipulate the playing field to their advantage.  Will the voudon also be suffering the penalties of the Mana Surge to the best of James' guess?

As for the grenade possibility, I'm of a couple different lines of thought here.  Had it been James, and he really just wanted to geek the fraggers who messed with his product in order to send a message, he'd start off with grenades.  OOCly I was thinking that the GM was starting off with Suppressive Fire to give an action or two before the HE grenades starting exploding some PC faces.  But you don't generally play like that.  Operating off of IC assumptions, James will still be worried about grenades.  They're pinned down, and kind of ripe for the taking right now.  If the gunmen are after the product and the cash, they'll want to forgo that route, but if it looks like they're going to get geeked, then grenades are a contingency plan that needs to be accounted for. 

I wish I'd brought my endoscope, as I could conceivably use that to see with while I steer, but it seems James left that in the RV.  James should be able to get a decent grasp of where the trees are by looking up from the bottom of the air boat, but it will be far from perfect.  I think the play here is to pilot east, try to avoid the trees as much as possible, and see if we can get the air boat into cover, negating some of the Suppressive Fire penalties.  James might even try to jump out from the air boat and into a tree if the opportunity presents itself.  Assuming Illeana's spell that's protecting her from her wood allergy is popped.  Will her coat, ballistic mask, etc. keep her safe on that front?

Any ruling on whether or not James can get a bead on the shooters from Illeana's spirit and Illeana?

[Tecumseh]

Regarding the mana surge, James is aware that it could be a natural phenomenon. As such, it would be an unfortunate coincidence and not a trap.

Other possibilities that James may or may not be aware of:
1) It's a powerful Mana Static spell. Illeana didn't identify it as such, but she's so debilitated that she might not be able to accurately distinguish between astral phenomena.
2) The surge is the intentional product of a powerful initiate geomancer. The voudon houngan could certainly meet that description.

James doesn't know if the voudon would suffer from the Mana Surge. On the one hand, they are locals, so they might be aspected to this environment. On the other hand, they are presumably a city gang (judging by the way he reached them via Ohanzee and his fixer) and so might not be aspected to a swamp domain. In short, he doesn't really know.

James doesn't know if Illeana's spells are popped or not. She does not quicken the Alleviate Allergy [Wood] spell. Presumably her coat, gloves, and mask will protect her, but if the tree takes suppressive fire - filling the air with wood chips and sawdust - then she could be in trouble.

Nothing Illeana does is very easy right now, so I'll roll to see if she can place rough AROs on the shooters' locations:

Placing AROs: Logic 5 + Computer 2 - Background Count 5: 2d6t5 1 hit

What do you know, she dug up a hit. James has a rough idea where the shooters are (which he already did from the directional sound of their fire).

I'll try to get an IC up with what happens next based off the above.

[Tecumseh]

Illeana has used her one service with the fire spirit to instruct it to use Fear. Whether or not this is tactically the wisest decision is overrided by the fact that she isn't thinking clearly at the moment. That said, the power does target attributes which should (in theory) be worse for shooters.

Fire spirit fear: Magic 8 + Willpower 8 - Background Count 5: 11d6t5 2 hits, background count taking a heavy toll

Goon chosen at random: Willpower + Logic: ?d6t5 1 hit

2 hits is enough, but the effect won't last long. The automatic shotgun falls silent for the moment.

Someone without flechette rounds is firing specifically at the fire spirit with an SA burst. I'm not mentioning this ICly because the odds of you hearing it over the suppressive fire are slim, especially given the LMG.

Shooter: Agility + Firearms + Bulky + Smartlink: ?d6t5 3 hits

Fire spirit dodge: Reaction 11 + Intuition 8 - Background Count 5 - SA Burst 2: 12d6t5 5 hits

Fire spirit dodges that drek. Maybe it will buy you a moment after all.

Let's roll initiative and move into CT2 IP1.

[rednblack]

Initiative: 16+4d6 33

What kind of penalties is James looking at if he wants to Blind Fire at an ARO of a gunman? 

So, back to the Mana Surge, it could potentially be manufactured.  So, it's either really bad timing on the James' and Illeana's part, or someone was counting on powerful magic to be there and found a really strong way to counter it.  I'm not sure if James would be aware of those possibilities ICly or not, but he'd be very suspicious of the Background Count just showing up at this particular time.  Also, if it's the latter that could very well mean the voudon are combatants, which would up this particular firefight from 8 on 2 to 15 on 2, 7 of whom can tear into Illeana something fierce if they're not also debilitated by the BC.  Nasty.

With the shooters to the south, and the boat heading east, James is going to crawl behind the control panel of the boat for additional cover.  Will he be able to pop his up from there to see where he's piloting the boat?  If not his head, can he use the slim profile of his Alpha to do so?

I feel as though I'm severely missing some out-of-the-box thinking right now, but I've been sitting on this situation for almost a week now, and I'm still not coming up with a clear plan.  A bunch of wood in the air from the Suppressive Fire certainly complicates things even if the air boat isn't shredded before it can make it that far.

CT2 IP1
Simple: Crawl to north side of air boat behind control panel.
Simple: Ready Alpha (if it can be used for steering) or Take Aim (depending on penalties for Blind Fire)

[Tecumseh]

It depends on how you blind fire.

If you stick your Ares Alpha up over the edge of the boat, you'll only be at -3 for "Attacker firing from cover with imaging device". This, in my opinion, is ridiculously generous, but I don't want to come up with something new on the fly.

That said, if you stick your Alpha up over the edge, it's going to get hit by the flechette suppressive fire. You won't know how bad the suppressive fire is (what the penalty is) until you stick the gun up and try. OOCly, it will be the cumulative suppressive fire penalties from the three shooters that are currently maintaining suppressive fire. Depending on how they roll, this could be anywhere from "0 to a lot".

If you want to try to fire through the airboat and make holes in your own cover, well that's interesting too. That would probably be the regular Blind Fire penalty, although the power of the projectile would be reduced by whatever the airboat soaks before passing the projectile on.

(A very literal interpretation of the rules would say that there's a break here at the beginning of the CT, since suppressive fire only goes until the end of a CT and they technically haven't had an action to resume yet, but they have no intention of letting up so I am ruling that the suppressive fire is ongoing.)

With some careful positioning using the airboat controls and seats, James might be able to peek up enough to see where he's headed to the east.

CT2 IP1
James: 33
Shooting at Fire Spirit: 26
Fire Spirit: 19
Other Guys: ??

Shooting at Fire Spirit: Agility + Firearms + Bulky + Smartlink + Take Aim: ?d6t5 3 hits
Fire Spirit dodge: Reaction 11 + Intuition 8 - Background Count 5 - SA Burst 2 - Second Attack 1: 11d6t5 4 hits, shots miss

Fire Spirit Fear: Magic 8 + Willpower 8 - Background Count 5: 11d6t5 5 hits
Goon resist: Willpower + Logic: ?d6t5 3 hits, this guy is gone for a bit longer than the first
Picking chummer at random: one of the assault rifles falls silent.

There are now just two shooters actively engaging in suppressive fire.

For now, Illeana will spend her actions updating AROs while trying not to vomit inside her mask. James figures that the non-shooters may try to encircle you. If they used something like a Waveskipper then odds are good that they are faster and more maneuverable than an airboat, although maybe they're using something else since they managed to set up their ambush without making too much noise.

[rednblack]

It depends on how you blind fire.

If you stick your Ares Alpha up over the edge of the boat, you'll only be at -3 for "Attacker firing from cover with imaging device". This, in my opinion, is ridiculously generous, but I don't want to come up with something new on the fly.

That is ridiculously generous.  That said, I'm not keen on giving these guys a Defense Test, so I'd rather fire through the barrier and hit them Unaware, with only their cover bonuses -- should they have them -- to save them.

If you want to try to fire through the airboat and make holes in your own cover, well that's interesting too. That would probably be the regular Blind Fire penalty, although the power of the projectile would be reduced by whatever the airboat soaks before passing the projectile on.

I'd like to further reduce my chances of hitting by making a Called Shot.  Bulls Eye Burst would seem to fit the flavor here.  The point is to reduce the holes that James is putting in his own cover, while trying to mitigate some of the DV loss.   

(A very literal interpretation of the rules would say that there's a break here at the beginning of the CT, since suppressive fire only goes until the end of a CT and they technically haven't had an action to resume yet, but they have no intention of letting up so I am ruling that the suppressive fire is ongoing.)

Yeah, that's silly.  James is fast, but he's not slip up between a lack of bullets that only occur because rule sets fast.

For now, Illeana will spend her actions updating AROs while trying not to vomit inside her mask. James figures that the non-shooters may try to encircle you. If they used something like a Waveskipper then odds are good that they are faster and more maneuverable than an airboat, although maybe they're using something else since they managed to set up their ambush without making too much noise.

This brings up a new question.  Of the 8 AROs, how many of them are elevated?  I'm curious how many are entrenched in their positions vs. likely on the move.

Back to wonky rules discussions, has the Spirit been using any movement?  Since Fear is a LoS power, by RAW it should be able to use that power even while putting some distance between itself and the shooters, so that they suffer range penalties.  On the other hand, a retreating Fire Spirit doesn't seem to really put the fear of Dunkelzahn into someone like a spirit right up in their face would.  On the other, other, hand, a Force 8 spirit is fucking scary, and the attack is magical in nature, not necessarily reflective of the critter itself.

Since shooting through the air boat seems like a go, I'd like to take the shot first, and then do my movement.  This way, if they try the same thing back at James he will have at least put some distance between himself and the location he was in when he fired.

CT2 IP1
Free: Called Shot: Bulls Eye Burst
Simple: Take Aim
Simple: FA burst.

James will single out the chummer with the LMG if he's able to discern from what direction the big gun is coming from.  If not, he'll take his clearest shot.

Recoil is: Free (1) + STR (3) + Gas Vent III (3) + Shock Pad (1) = 8.  Well over the 6 that I need to avoid further penalties.
For shooting I have: AGI (11) + Firearms Group (8) + Take Aim (1) - Blind Fire (6) - Called Shot (4) = 10 dice.  Fingers crossed here.
FA burst on LMG chummer: 10d6t5 3
Perfectly average.  At least it should beat cover bonuses.

Base damage is 11P -18AP, staged to 14P -18AP against the barrier.  AP is calculated at: Base AP (6) + [Base Weapon AP (2) X Shots Fired (6)] = 18.  Also, -18AP is the most that the Alpha can reach, so no going Complex FA to hit -26AP.

[Tecumseh]

Are you firing the Alpha? You still need to Ready Weapon. That removes Take Aim, but doesn't cost a hit.

You don't know which chummer has the LMG. You don't even know which AROs are firing and which ones aren't. Illeana's AROs aren't that sophisticated. (It's probably generous to say that she could place them all one 1 or 2 IPs, given her current state. I should probably make her roll each one separately, but I don't want to roll that much.)

There's only one ARO that appears elevated. The ARO is at the 6 o'clock position.

You can pick a target, 1-7, or you can fire at the closest, etc. The shooting is too chaotic to know which one is which exactly as far as weapon types (especially since a few aren't even shooting) but you would guess that the LMG is somewhere between the 4 o'clock and 5 o'clock positions. That gives you three AROs to pick from.

Per the rules, a Bulls-Eye Burst is capped at x3 so you can only get to -12 AP. I calculate Base AP (2) + APDS (4) + [Base Weapon AP (2) X Shots Fired (Max 3)] = 2 + 4 + (6) = 12. That's still enough to cut through the airboat like butter. It doesn't get any Armor dice, just Body.

Air boat soak: Damage Soak: 6d6t5 5 hits, oh man, hard luck. Of all the rolls to score 5 hits on 6 dice.

Pass-through damage will be 8P -12AP. I'll let you pick a target before I roll for potential cover, soaking, etc.

The fire spirit, under its own initiative, has decided to fly into the face of the gunfire. It is moving south and, so far, seems to be doing a good job of reducing the amount of incoming suppressive fire. OOCly, it decided that a big flaming spirit would be scarier up close than retreating, but you're right that there's no game mechanic for that. Maybe Composure, if it gets close enough or starts lighting people on fire.

[rednblack]

Let's go with the chummer closest to the 4 o'clock position.

[Tecumseh]

Reviewing the rules, you're attacking from a moving vehicle so technically that's another -2. That costs a hit, so James is at 2. Let's see if 4 o'clock's cover is enough to save him or her:

You have no idea. You're blind firing.

OOC spoiler with the results:
[spoiler]

Sure you want to know?

[spoiler]

Super sure?

[spoiler]
Good Cover 4: 4d6t5 2 hits, indeed it is

That's a tree. Given the nature of the attack, I'm going to see how well the tree fares against the damage. The AP chews through its natural armor, so it will only roll Structure:

Poor tree being used for cover: Structure 6: 6d6t5 2 hits

For DV, I'm not going to subtract the hit that was lost to shooting from a moving vehicle, so we will leave it at 8 DV. The tree soaks 2, which means that 6 boxes are not soaked. Per the rules: "If the total boxes of damage are greater than or equal to barrier Structure rating, the attack has made a hole in the structure. Each hole is one square meter per increment of Structure rating." In other words, James has done six boxes of damage to something with Structure 6, so he's chewed up a square meter of the tree. The cover has now been degraded.[/spoiler][/spoiler][/spoiler]

The suppressive fire pattern does not change as a result of the attack. Either James missed or he shot a non-shooter.

The rest of CT2 IP1 plays out as previously rolled. Other actions are hidden from view.

CT2 IP2
James: 23
Shooting at Fire Spirit: 16
Fire Spirit: 9
Other Guys: ??

[rednblack]

Gotta admit, I hit the first two spoilers, but then the good player in me took over and thought it would be more fun not to know.

CT2 IP2
Simple: Crawl to north side of air boat under cover of control panel
Simple: Observe in Detail.

For Observe in Detail I have: INT (6) + Perception (6) + Visual Spec (2) + Specifically Looking (3) - Vision Penalties (3) = 14 dice.  I'm not taking Vision Enhancement dice, as James is using his Alpha.
Perception + Specifically Looking: 14d6t5 5
Hey!  There's a slightly above-average roll.  Neat.

May not get an IC in until tomorrow.

James is at 36/42 Alpha, 2/5 Edge.

[Tecumseh]

You can have three rounds of APDS back since there's no advantage to Bulls Eye Bursting with six rounds instead of three.

You stick your Alpha up. It basically looks dark, since the smartlink doesn't have all the vision mods that James does.

That said, the roll is pretty good. James picks out a small island with a thick tree that could be decent cover and may be suitable for climbing. It is at least 3 CTs away, presuming that the airboat can continue to accelerate.

Shooting at Fire Spirit: Agility + Firearms + Bulky + Smartlink + Take Aim: ?d6t5 4 hits
Fire spirit dodge: Reaction 11 + Intuition 8 - Background Count 5 - SA Burst 2: 12d6t5 1 hit

Fire spirit's luck finally runs out. Luckily, it is still well-armored, which isn't affected by background count. Damage exceeds the modified armor rating so the spirit still has to soak.

Fire spirit soak: Body 10 + Armor 9: 19d6t5 5 hits
Fire spirit also gets half its armor as auto-hits. All said and done, the fire spirit takes 5P.

Fire spirit using Fear: Magic 8 + Willpower 8 - Background Count 5 - Wounds 1: 10d6t5 4 hits
Goon resist: Willpower + Logic: 6d6t5 1 hit

Another guy goes barreling off into the swamp.

Other goons:
The suppressive fire from the LMG continues. For a moment, this is the only suppressive fire. After a moment, more suppressive fire begins, presumably from one of the goons who had been silent before. You are now down to two suppressive fire penalties, should you risk it.

Unknown attack: Unknown: ?d6t5 5 hits
Combat sense inspired surprise test for James: Intuition 5 (6) + Perception 6: 12d6t5 2 hits
Combat sense inspired surprise test for Illeana: Intuition 6 (7) + Perception 6 + Perceptive 2 - Background Count 5: 10d6t5 5 hits

There's an incoming grenade attack. Illeana is aware of it; James is not. Using a creative interpretation of Right Back At Ya, Illeana will try to use one of her Physical Barrier preparations to detonate the grenade early, or to have it bounce harmlessly into the swamp. Unfortunately, the preparation is a bit flimsy due to the background count. It's Force is 1, which means that it's maximum Structure is 1 and Armor is 2. I will presume that the preparation gets at least 1 hit on its triggering, which is the maximum it can benefit from.

The good news is that the grenade is going to detonate early. The bad news is that it's going to tear through the barrier like wet tissue paper.

Barrier soak: Structure 1: 1d6t5 1 hit, what do you know, it took a bit off
Random roll to see how many meters the barrier saves you: Random 1-6 meters: 1d6 2 meters

Illeana soak: Body 5 + Coat 9 + Mask 2 - AP 4: 12d6t5 6 hits

Illeana takes a box of damage and gets her bell rung a bit, but it's an afterthought to the background count.

Give me a roll to soak 7S -4AP, then declare and roll for CT2 IP3.

CT2 IP3
James: 13
Shooting at Fire Spirit: 6

[rednblack]

For Soaking I have: BOD (5) + Globetrotter Jacket (12) + Ballistic Mask (2) + Cyber Armor (4) - AP (4) = 19 dice.
Soak: 19d6t5 9
No damage.

James would have had the Alpha on FA, as in a stand-up fight he could really use the extra hit to defense dice.  If you're feeling magnanimous I will take an extra Free action to both change firing modes and talk to Illeana though.

CT2 IP3
Complex Action: Piloting Test: Break Away //or// Get-vehicle-out-of-suppressive-fire-weirdness-test
Free: Change firing mode to Burst.
Free: Comm Illeana.

The test is described on page 200 of the CRB.  Apparently James can roll REA + Edge to get out of the Suppressive Fire zone.  With only 2 shooters right now, it might be the best time to do so.  The same sidebar also lists out how Hitting the Dirt does not save someone from Suppressive Fire in vehicles, but that isn't how we've been playing it so far.  I think a vehicle like a car or VTOL, which the rules are most likely assuming, is a far cry from an air boat and their particulars, so I'm unsure how you handle that.  If you'd rather ignore the sidebar in general, I'd like to roll a Break Away test to try to put some additional distance between Illeana, James, and the shooters -- or at least make them spend a test to keep up/gain on us -- and maybe bring that island a bit closer than 3CTs away.  Just let me know how you want to proceed. 

[Tecumseh]

How interesting, and pertinent.

Long story short, we're getting to the same place as the rules but via a different route. Say Hit the Dirt doesn't work, but instead you get the vehicle's Armor to soak. Well theses guys are pumping flechette at you, and flechette just isn't going to penetrate the vehicle's armor. So we'll play it the book's way, but if the Armor of the boat is 8 and flechette adds +5, then the boat is turning back all attacks of 13DV or less. Suppressive fire doesn't add net hits, and flechette suppressive fire loses DV with distance, which further reduce the suppressive fire's ability to break through the armor. And even if they did hit you, James would roll 28 dice on his own before adding another 8 for the boat's armor, which together are going to average 12 hits, so then we're back to nicks and scratches. If the point were to riddle you with needles, we might go through the effort of rolling all that, but the point is to make you keep your head down, so we won't bother.

The get-out-of-suppressive-fire test is a good find. The trick is that James isn't piloting the boat himself; he's giving instructions to the airboat's Pilot. It doesn't have Reaction or Edge, like the special test requires. If you decide to give the order anyway, then there's the rule: "When faced with something novel or unexpected, or a complicated command, a Pilot program must make a Device Rating x 2 Test against a thresholdset by the gamemaster based on how confusing the situation is." I'm not sure how well the Break Away test works for the same reasons. We can roll the boat's Pilot (which is bad) but I'm not sure how much more effective it's going to be other than James' acting instructions, which are probably "go east fst as pssble!!1!"

If James is willing to jump up and grab the controls, then either of these options are possible, and pretty badass. He'll be getting shot if it doesn't work though. Per Run & Gun p.120-1, the damage of flechette suppressive fire declines with distance, but it is also harder to dodge. Maybe James wants to take that chance, given all his armor. Or is he willing to lay low, hope the boat opens up some distance, and that the grenades don't keep coming?