[Zweiblumen]

If the plan is to destroy the cabin - especially in an explosive fashion - then Katsina would point out that the emergency responders might try to evacuate the neighboring homes. If the firemen and paramedics find an older couple doped out of their minds it is going to look suspicious.

even if we made it look like smoke inhalation was the culprit behind said doping?

Easier said than done.  We are starting to get into multi hour prep times to do this.  And complicating things even further, likely killing the codgers.  I'm gonna vote to keeping this as simple as possible.  Everything is going to have a risk and we are time limited on how much we can do to minimize it.

If we go with killing them, I'd actually recommend having doc try to make it look like heart attacks got them rather than having Kat do it.  Still, if we blow up the house we are going to raise all kinds of alarms in all kinds of places.  That said, I'd still recommend it and calling the cops as a diversion.  Not sure what to do about the old folks.

[Poindexter]

If the plan is to destroy the cabin - especially in an explosive fashion - then Katsina would point out that the emergency responders might try to evacuate the neighboring homes. If the firemen and paramedics find an older couple doped out of their minds it is going to look suspicious.

even if we made it look like smoke inhalation was the culprit behind said doping?

Easier said than done.  We are starting to get into multi hour prep times to do this. 

Not really if we just make sure some fire gets on the other side of their house before the emergency people get there. That's pretty easy.

[Tecumseh]

Heh, "some fire".

Sounds like a plan is forming. Let's get an IC post or two up to push things forward. I would vote for Ohanzee or Doc, although I've already lost track of which idea was whose.

[Malevolence]

I know that the device has to remain on the Matrix during the hardware test and I thought I had read that the device could not be used during that period as well, but I can't find that last bit anywhere in the book or after a brief search online. The remaining on the Matrix bit is from the German book and might even be in the reprint of the English book, but is otherwise not in the errata. At any rate, as Tecumseh says, leaving the couple behind could be a problem if anybody thinks to check their place for any reason. Adding another layer of complexity to the plan (not a good idea, but I'll bring it up anyway), we could have Doc (because, really, he's just sitting around doing nothing through all this - not) trigger their health alert or something when the house goes boom. Might make it look like they went into shock from the nearby explosion, at least until they have a more thorough examination.


Or, we could knock them out and take them with us. Dump them somewhere after the ownership change is complete. The less they see of our faces, the better, but at this point any criminal activity would likely be linked to us as primary suspects anyway. Our only saving grace is that possibly our pursuers have left the local authorities out of things thus far, so we might have that advantage. But Ohanzee at least is a person of interest in Gloria's disappearance (I still wonder if an anonymous tip to her body's location could pit the authorities and our pursuers at odds), so he at least has to keep a low profile.


Only issue with Chino intercepting the spirits is that since he can't astrally project, he isn't going to be able to do much intercepting. He can help fight them when they get here, but since they would be able to inform their summoner of their status via the spirit-summoner link, it wouldn't really prevent our discovery. We could try to lure them to a different location (Ohanzee or Kat could lure them) and them all of us beat them senseless. Since they wouldn't have discovered our location, it could reset their search, and since they were the only witnesses to Ohanzee, that could basically end it.

[8-bit]

All right, character sheet updated. I forget, did we refresh Edge after last IC night?

[8-bit]

Actually, maybe the old people would have biomonitors. Doc can send alerts to their biomonitors for any medkits in there to sedate/drug themselves (painkillers, and the like). I seem to remember this from the book, let me check really quickly.

Found it; it's not about biomonitors, but the concept is the same.

A hacker can’t hack into your bone lacing and break your bones, but a hacker can tell your bone lacing that your bones are broken, causing your bone lacing to tell your commlink to call DocWagon, or tell your medkit that you need painkillers.

Perhaps we can do the same to get the old people out of our way for a bit? Maybe it would just be simpler to go in and do it ourselves.

[Tecumseh]

Edge was refreshed. Ohanzee is already through his but Chino hasn't spent any since then.

[Malevolence]

Just a thought, but one of Ohanzee's remaining spells wouldn't happen to be Astral Armor, would it? That could be pretty handy in the near future.


I'll attempt an IC, but I'd like to know what it would take to try to find the pursuing spirits/astrally projecting mages and lure them to a location of our choosing. Just so that I can decide if Chino's plan is something our characters would reasonably propose or if it is pie in the sky territory.

[Zweiblumen]

I'll make a post from Doc.  He can stay in VR and talk out that way.

[Tecumseh]

Ohanzee does not have the Astral Armor spell.

Finding the pursuing spirits would not be hard; just go back to the address you were just astrally visiting. They may be nearby, perhaps beginning their methodical search for you. Finding their summoning magicians would take an Astral Tracking action, so at least an hour. I don't see a problem in luring them to a location of your choosing. Again, the astral movement rules aren't really designed for a chase sequence, but since you can basically go as fast as you want then I don't see why you couldn't go slow enough to lure someone into a trap but fast enough to avoid attacks.

That said, Katsina would point out that destroying the spirits doesn't take address the root problem, as the summoners will presumably just summon more. KOing the current spirits might set back the search a few minutes, but the summoners already have Ohanzee's signature from their spirits (via the spirit-summoner link) so newly summoned spirits could resume the search.

Hacking biomonitors (or other cyber) is a viable approach, if the old folks have them. Doc should also have the skill to safely sedate them if you can get close enough.

[Tecumseh]

When Katsina mentions malfunctioning appliances, Ace recalls that he has Hardware 3. Chino recalls that he has Hardware 2. Both of them understand the basics of how electronics work, including appliances.

Heal preparation at Force 5 with Contact trigger:
Magic 6 + Alchemy 5 + Mentor Spirit 2 + Focus 2 = 6 hits

Soaking 3 drain:
Willpower 6 + Intuition 6 = 6 hits

[rednblack]

@rednblack, the house is not run on propane. The city (and the house) is powered by a combination of geothermal wells combined with solar thermal panels designed to take advantage of Aspen's 250 days of sun each year.

What about the stove?  Is it electric or gas?

[Malevolence]

That said, Katsina would point out that destroying the spirits doesn't take address the root problem, as the summoners will presumably just summon more. KOing the current spirits might set back the search a few minutes, but the summoners already have Ohanzee's signature from their spirits (via the spirit-summoner link) so newly summoned spirits could resume the search.

Ah. I was under the impression that the spirit-summoner link was limited to communication that could be relayed verbally. The part about not allowing "any other visual or audio connection" made me think that images (including astral) were out of the picture. But I guess it could also be read as "no real-time streaming of audio/video" from the summoner to the spirit (or vice versa).


Which brings up an interesting question - can spirits "hear"? Astral perception is the only perception they have. Light and sound have no natural analog in the astral (spirits can't see colors in the material world and so can't read signs of computer displays), so would a spirit be able to listen in on a conversation in meat space?

[rednblack]

Which brings up an interesting question - can spirits "hear"? Astral perception is the only perception they have. Light and sound have no natural analog in the astral (spirits can't see colors in the material world and so can't read signs of computer displays), so would a spirit be able to listen in on a conversation in meat space?

I did some research on this recently for the PbP game I'm GMing.  I was able to find this:

[Street Magic pg 114: Other Senses]

Characters may converse and be heard in astral space, and language
is still a communication barrier there, but an assensing
character will be struck more by the emotive content rather
than by the words themselves. It is also possible to eavesdrop
on the noises, communications, and even smells of the physical
world from the astral plane, but just like reading a physical
book, the assensing character will perceive the emotional tone
and impressions rather than the physical sensation.

[Tecumseh]

The stove is electric.

The spirit-summoner link allows the summoner to see/hear/feel everything that the spirit does, although these senses cannot be transferred or conveyed via electronic means. (I suppose a summoner with a bunch of headware could be an interesting exception, but that would be an outlier.)

Spirits can see/hear/feel in the physical world if they are materialized. It's more complicated if they are manifested, in which case it is more like a telepathic connection. Rednblack has found the relevant passage for astral-only entities.