I have no idea how to answer Dan Dan's question about creating a background count on the fly...

If the Spirit of Fire is gone, that's good... but we're saying that, for all intents and purposes, watcher spirits are infinite and constantly popping up?

You don't necessarily have to create the background count. It could be pre-existing due to the nature of the place or time.

The watcher spirits aren't infinite in the sense that there's an impenetrable dome of them encasing you. What we're saying is that they are unending, so that if one goes down another watcher (or low-level spirit) will immediately take its place.

From a gameplay perspective, the idea is that you have to think your way out of the watcher net rather than brute forcing your way past.

Raising the background count is fairly straightforward. Push a lot of power into the local manasphere. It's safer done as a ritual. It likely won't persist but it doesn't need to. Dan can assist as awakened but he foes the have the I game skills needed to perform the ritual.

Corrupting the local astral space is the brute force version, such as blood sacrifices or dumping toxic waste into the environment.

Aspecting things is a more subtle  approach. It means dedicating it to an entity or ideal through ritual. It aids some actions whilst hindering others. If it doesn't work, it would still raised the Count though less powerfully.

The effect of all of these is it makes things harder for spirits and magicians. It's only likely to stop the weakest, such as watchers but will affect all. Including us. It's like throwing a cloud of chaff or smoke. They know we're somewhere inside it but it's hard to target us or pinpoint exactly where. It's also temporary unless the action causing the change is persistent or repeated into the background a lot.

The advantage to aspecting things is whilst it might make most spells and effects harder it makes others easier. As cat (who Dan follows, not that he'll mention this) is about stealth and agility, magical actions that favour these and it's followers are easier. Everything else is harder, which knocks out the watchers. Things that are diametrically opposed to stealth and agility such as finding us are much harder. Expect an uptick in crime as it affects people's emotions. Of course this has little effect on purely mundane means.

Oh and it requires a lot of force with resulting drain.

The other hurdle is that the background count can't be too localized, otherwise the watchers are just going to wait outside of it and catch you when you get out. If you just walk into a church, they're going to be patiently waiting outside for when you emerge ... if you ever do.

What you need is a perimeter large enough to potentially evade or lose them. We'll say 5-6 is the numbers you're looking to avoid at any given time.

@Jayde Let's get some orders up ASAP or you'll land wherever I land you.

OK... so trying to get my head back in the game.  Honestly, losing our initial posts and switching over has thrown me...

So, did a bit of research.  Spending a plot point and utilizing Astral Topography to have the site of the Massacre Canyon Battle have a background count.

Looked up various real world historical incidents that might have created background counts, massacres, natrual disasters, etc... tried to find one that was relatively close.

Massacre Canyon is 50 miles away as the crow flies, maybe we can make it, maybe not.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massacre_Canyon

"'71 Pawnee warriors were killed, and 102 women and children killed', the victims brutally mutilated and scalped and others even set on fire"

It's especially poignant since it's the Souix that did the massacring.

In reply to Chante (msg # 30):

Shiriki is Pawnee. This should be interesting

Well Dan-Dan is Dakota, so ... a bystander?

Dakota = Souix

They had it coming!

In reply to Dan-Dan (msg # 34):

So, Knowledge Skills don't have a dice mechanic in Anarchy. Shiriki has N. American History, and it would make sense for him to know about inter-tribal warfare, especially as it relates to the Pawnee, as he's had a hard time finding a home nation over the years, but knowing about this particular battle seems like it might be a stretch.  I want to let the dice have their say, so I'm going to say he has 4 ranks in the skill, with a specialization in Pawnee History and call this a Very Hard test.

[url=http://orokos.com/roll/539565 ]LOG (7) + History (4) + Pawnee Spec (1) = 12 dice.[/url]: 12d6t5 5

[url=http://orokos.com/roll/539566 ]Very Hard: 12 dice.[/url]: 12d6t5 6

Well a good roll followed by a great one.  Shiriki doesn't know what's up.

@Tec, I'm not sure what you want me to do about getting to the battlefield.  Shiriki started piloting the Dragon SE, the team discussed their next move, and now he's going to turn and go NE.  I'm not sure how long this conversation would've taken ICly, but I'm guessing at least a few minutes.  Do you want another Piloting roll to see what kind of ground we can cover, or are we at the end of our rope, and I just need to set us down?
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 18:52, Wed 09 Aug 2017.

This is a good plan. I like it!

The last stated wind conditions had the wind swirling and actually pushing you N-NW. (ICly, this was to make you downwind of the possible nanite cloud, plus to add some extra aggravation when turning around from the Sioux border.) Given those wind conditions, I'm going to say that tacking 50 miles to the NE is actually easier than the previous plan of flying SE toward Colby, KS. With Shiriki's strong piloting roll - which we can use without calling for another - you'll be able to reach the canyon before the fuel gives out.

Rednblack will be disappointed that we're heading away from Oklahoma. It's still a possibility! You just need to lose the watchers, then you can double-back if you choose.

The Canyon has a nasty background count that will serve as a brick wall for the watchers. The Anglos - specifically, the border-dwelling Nebraskans - have done nothing to diminish the site or sweep it away. On the contrary, they have maintained and even developed the site as a monument to the Cruelty and inherent Barbarity of the Red Man.

@rednblack I'm going to overrule you. Given Shiriki's age, Logic, and Knowledge Skill, this is definitely something he should know about. If you insist on making it a dice roll, then I'm going to call it Hard, which drops two dice and one hit from the resist roll. That means 5 hits each, which is a tie, which go to the attacker, which means that Shiriki knows about it.

If, for story reasons, you don't want Shiriki to know about it, I'll let you spend a plot point to forget.

Some things to consider: as best I can tell, the Republican River (which runs through the canyon) joins with the Kansas River which joins with the Missouri River which joins with the Mississippi River which runs through St. Louis. This would be the very scenic route to your safehouse. I actually have no idea what river traffic is like in the winter.

This plan has an excellent chance of losing your astral surveillance, but you'll want to be careful not to reacquire said surveillance by making a splash in the physical world. If you want to do something that might garner some attention - like raiding a clinic to treat Ité, or breaking into a store, or getting in a dust-up with the local authorities - you may wish to do it before losing your tail(s).

Wizard.  I really hoped Shiriki would know, but it kinda felt like cheating to just assume it.  I'll keep my plot point for adding a Glitch die to whatever Negotiation or other social test Shiriki may make to inform his Sioux brethren that their forefathers were absolutely barbaric in their treatment of the noble Pawnee, thank you very much.



I think Shiriki might actually be the first to use one of his Contacts.  Margueritte White Owl might be an ideal person to tap for some sort of underground street doc who may be in these parts, and could keep Ite under care so that we're not dragging around an unconscious troll for the next 1,000+ km.  Or, she may be able to forward a name for some really unsavory types who may be able to give us vehicles in exchange for some equally unsavory work.

Anyhow, let's see about getting the Dragon to touch down voluntarily.  Piloting roll!
[url=http://orokos.com/roll/539618 ]Drone Piloting: AGI (8) + Pilot (5) + Control Rig (2) + Combat Pilot (2) + VR (1) = 18 dice.[/url]: 18d6t5 6

[url=http://orokos.com/roll/539619 ]Environmental Opposed Roll: 12[/url]: 12d6t5 3
What storm?

Landing is a snap. "Snap" as in easy, not as in "it snaps you in half".

The default location is the municipal airport just northwest of Trenton, but anywhere is fine. Chante can give orders but Shiriki, as the pilot, gets the final say.

For the record - mostly because I just spent way too long trying to piece this together from old maps - the Sioux/UCAS border is approximately in Stratton, which is 20km west of Trenton.

The good news is that Margueritte White Owl is awake and takes Shiriki's call. The bad news is that it's 1am on Sunday (so, late Saturday night) and she's a bit intoxicated down at the watering hole where she and Shiriki play their pilot sim.

Margueritte knows the area because it's along the border, and it's her job to know the border. She knows of a medical clinic in Trenton but it's tiny and only open during daylight business hours. You could break in for medical supplies, but there's no secret underground clinic there.

If you want a secret underground doc, you have to go to McCook Hospital, 40km to the east down Highway 34. There's a doctor there - or maybe he's a Physician's Assistant? - who has a problem with Cereprax (p. 180, Chrome Flesh) that he supports with shadow work. The only question is whether he'll be "on" or "off" when the team comes to visit ...

Ghost fraggit.

Ok, this should be good. I'll get an IC in tomorrow, hopefully early.

What are our rules on boosting cars?

If they sotto us coming down near here they m7st think we're making a run for the border. Especially local yokels. All  icely diverted and out of position when we don't. Not saying they won't have peeps looking at the other directions but they'll be far fewer.

Street doc nice. Facilities nicer. A vets would be good.

You're Wildcats. You'll be able to boost something.

I'll say Logic + Hacking vs. 8 dice by default for a regular car. An expensive one or a security vehicle might be 10 dice. I'm open to other skill suggestions. I can't remember what Hardware got rolled under in Anarchy. Electronics? Anyway, it's flexible.
This message was last edited by the GM at 07:47, Thu 10 Aug 2017.

In reply to Shiriki (msg # 37):

Ike Richmond, awakened physician might also know things in this line. He's less shady though, so perhaps not. Dan's talislegger might know more ,maybee. Let's go with your coyote friend after we shake the watchers. I still think a big emp would help. We could use the bird as the basis for it. If there's a welcoming committee it should mess with them. Probably best after we set down though.

I grant that my technical credentials are minimal, but I don't see:

1) how you're going to trigger an EMP, and
2) what good it's going to do you since there's nothing technological on your tail that you know about.

If Dan-Dan raises this possibility ICly, I'll be curious to hear Swoopy's thoughts on the matter given his "Bias against Emission" negative quality.

Following up on Shiriki's questino, I will accept any of the following skills for pinching a car: Hacking, Electronics, Engineering.

All you need is a big (really big) unshielded electric current. Your phone or your toaster gives off a very weak electrical signal. It helps if you can charge some particles in the atmosphere such as with a nuclear blast, though it needn't be one. That's all it is really, lots of highly charged particles flooding a region. Of course, my knowledge is very old and half remembered from my school days, but I think that's the basics of it.

With the anti emissions bias. Interesting. It very clearly is a very big if brief emission, that has the effect of knocking out a lot of electronics. How would he react?

Dan-Dan already suggested it in character as a way to slow any nanite spread, though he doesn't have the know-how to enact the suggestion which would have to be by Swoopy or Shiriki.

IC up. I thought this would be a good stopping place in case anyone wants to respond, or deal with some of the EMP discussion, or ICly address the Watcher Spirits, which Shiriki can't.

Shiriki's opinion on the EMP are complicated. 1. He has a lot of cyberware, so CFD scares the drek out of him. 2. If what he knows about other infections holds true for CFD, knocking them out early stands the best only chance of success. 3. Setting off a bomb right now risks drawing in local attention, and if that local attention focuses on them before they make their escape, the Watchers will just be right back on them as soon as they exit the canyon.

It would be possible to set off a small explosion inside the Dragon, and so not otherwise alert anyone nearby.  We'd all be likely to take some substantial S damage if we did so.

To the best of my knowledge, those exact coordinates are the location of the roadside marker for Massacre Canyon, but not the Canyon itself. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but the canyon is about 3km south of that position, with the Republican River running down the middle of it.

@Jayde Let me know if the intention was to land closer to the canyon (as 3km is a pain in a blizzard) or if you were specifically landing outside of it, perhaps to hijack a car on Highway 34, before passing through the canyon's background count.

I believe the Dragon still has a couple grenade rounds left, if you wanted to detonate them.

I noticed that as well. I thought the intention was to land in the canyon proper for concealment purposes and to keep meat-based surveillance from immediately tagging on us, but I left in vague in the IC.

Intention was the Canyon itself, but wherever we are is where we are, Chante's not super picky, "OMG YOU DIDN'T PUT US RIGHT IN THE CANYON, GET OUT!"

FYI, next week, I'll be at GenCon running tables for Catalyst, so my availability to post will be slim to none.  Hoping for some real good stuff to come of this years trip, so...

In the meantime, can we get a new thread page or whatever that just has our current info on it?  Kind of like the combat tracker, but not buried in these other threads?  Also it would be the combat tracker when we're in combat...

I'm still a little confused. Are we playing this like we're in the canyon, or above the canyon and near the highway? Shiriki would've piloted where he was told to, but I think going into the canyon proper is a smarter call. We can always move by foot to the highway, or the town, and run less of a risk of having meat/drone eyes put on us.

Further notes on my IC:

To my knowledge nothing has been said explicitly about heading to the Canyon for its Background Count. As Shiriki is not at all sensitive to this kind of thing, he's a little unsure about why the hell we're out in this canyon, and is probably thinking that the Captain chose it for its low profile.

Also, while he's not sensitive to noticing the BC, I am playing this like the BC is having an effect on his personality, so he's going to be grumpy and more combative than usual.