At this hour, the Space Needle is pretty quiet. The trees are largely bare. There's a small parking lot just under the space needle, with only a pair of sedans parked overnight. There's some sort of squiggly ... I guess it's modern art? A sculpture? Man, Seattle is weird. Pretty sure it's a sculpture. You're probably not sure how you feel about it, except insofar that it is extremely squiggly. Probably the meaning of life (is to be squiggly). There's some like... purple bushes. And a hot dog vendor, ringing his little bells. Okay, that's enough description, let's go.

You guys can decide if you're arriving before or after, and where you're positioning yourselves. I had a map, but I seem to have lost it, so here's what it looks like:


.. (cars)   O (space needle)
    , (hotdog salesman)

      & (squiggle sculpture, per google maps).

Carver piles out of the truck, muttering to himself in Filipino and dusting off the herpes of art supplies from his jacket, pants and hair. He wanders in a spiral, leaving a pixie-scat trail behind him.

   // - the truck, parked poorly
  @ -Carver, muttering
..  O
    ,

      &

Snow exits the truck and heads over to the hot dog vendor to buy a hot dog for himself and tell the guy that he might want to get out of dodge.

"anyone else want one, or 6?"  the addendum was directed at St. V.

St. V nods to Snow eagerly, unable to pass up the opportunity to get a few free hot dogs.  He then makes sure all of his weapons are secure and his smartlinks are ready, then heads over to the sedans to see if they are empty.  And if so, to see if they might provide some good cover if things go sour.  He takes a couple practice aims at various locations with his Ingram Valiant, not even bothering to keep it concealed.  "Make sure you get his info, Pants!" he calls out to Snow.  "You know, in case we want more hot dogs later.  Then we'll know how to find him."  More importantly, (debatably) it would probably keep the guy from deciding to contact any authorities.

The hot dog guy doesn't even look up from his paper.

"On break."

Deciding that it's been a surprisingly long time since she's had anything to eat, Firefox places a finger in the middle of the man's paper and burns a small hole through it.  The small hole rapidly expands into a large hole.  Once she can clearly see the man's face, she gives him her most winning smile.  "Off break?"

Carver is going to closely examine the man and the cars to see if they are, are compused of, or are surrounded by Dropbear Commandoes.
5,3,1,3,(6+2)8,4

"Bah."

The fellow pulls out a bun, opens the wagon, reaches in and retrieves a dog, which he places on the bun.

Carver, with his keen sight, realizes that the hot dog is in fact a disguised drop bear!! Albeit, one who is more than a little nervous at this sudden turn of events.

"Whatyoo want? Ketchup? Mustard? Chili? Onions?"

Carver taps FF in the upper hip "Careful, red. That dog's got bite."
Carver subvocalizes into his radio "Looks like the pyramids have a few of their own boys around here. Expect things to get messy."

As the group is purchasing tactical resources such as hot dogs, a black limousine pulls up on the far side of the parking lot. The engine idles. To the south side of the lot, a combat helicopter lands, the backblast whipping at your clothes and such. The helicopter touches down and the rotors slow down. Then the cockpit opens, and a man climbs out, dressed all in the blackest black that ever did black, carrying two swords and a submachine gun, half of his face covered with cyber.

While taking his place, there's an explosion to the north side of the lot, and a motorcycle jumps over it and lands, and a tall elf dismounts. He's wearing clothes even blacker than the last guy, and also carries a sword, a pair of handguns, and what appear to be a bandolier of C4 primers.

The doors open on the limo, and three big, hulking, elf body guards climb out, wearing black suits and black shades. Owing to the black shades, they have to look around a few times to see anything here, in the middle of the night. It only takes a moment to realize they're all packing.

And finally, out steps Fortuna, carrying with him a briefcase. He smiles as he sees the group.

"Oh, hey! Driver, why did you park on this side of the parking lot? My friends are over there. Yoo-hoo! I'm over here. I'm coming over to talk about those damned drop bears and their plans for global dominance."

Firefox looked at the chopper and found herself wishing she'd invested a few karma points in Piloting(Rotorcraft).  Flying that thing would have been fun.  She supposed she'd have to make due with stealing the bike.  Limos were just too darn hard to park and were graffiti magnets.  Plus the bandolier sort of reminded her of a past teammate.

Firefox waved at the Johnson and gestured to her hot dog.  "Want one?  They're yummy!", then proceeded to apply the fixings to her own meal, careful to avoid getting horseradish in the poor critter's eyes.

St. Velveteen stands silently between the two parked cars, leaning against one with his big gun resting on one shoulder, playing it cool.  He would let the others do the talking.  In the meantime he would keep an eye on Mr. Chopper and the sunglass kids.  He grins at the guy with the two swords, gun, and cyber enhancements.  He reminded St. V of a punier, less-sexy version of himself.

Carver's lenses slide into place with a 'snikt'; he grimaces to keep the grit out of his teeth. His hands stay clear of his holsters, preferring to hold out the hat at arm's length. "You've been such a great Johnson, the boys and I scraped a little cash together and got you this, on account of how likeable you are."
Meanwhile he readies his off-hand hotdog for a flinging, on the off chance that his meat-derivative-product-inna-bun is also a cleverly disguised paranimal infiltrator.

Snow goes to take a bite out of his hot dog only to end up with a mouthful of bun, onion and relish.  His attention is squarely on the Johnson and his hand is millimeters away from his weapon.

"Ah, no, I don't eat umm.... whatever that is. So you have data for me? Excellent. I could use some good news. Those... damned bears, they ruined my summer house. Just destroyed it. Stole my classical VHS cassette collection too. Well then, let's wrap up payment and be on our way, shall we? I'm a bit short on cash at the moment, after having to pay so much for Batman and Dom there, but I have these excellent BTLs... I'm sure you'll enjoy..."

F approaches the group, chatting all the way, apparently at ease. He stops perhaps twenty feet from the group.

"Well? Where is it? Where's the data chip?"
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:54, Mon 12 Jan 2015.

"The dwarf's hat.  It's in the hat.  You put it on and you get your data chip."

"I think fair payment might be to let your well-dressed friends over there know that the small contract you took out on us is no longer necessary and that they're free to keep the funds and disperse?

It's our understanding that the hat provides a degree of drop-bear protection as well.  They'll simply refuse to drop on it."

quote:

15:02, Today: Firefox rolled 3 successes using 6d6 with the Shadowrun system with a target of 4 with rolls of 5,1,(6+5)11,(6+5)11,2,3. One last time.
15:01, Today: Firefox rolled 2 successes using 6d6 with the Shadowrun system with a target of 4 with rolls of 2,4,3,1,1,5. Re-rolling failures (karma).14:59, Today: Firefox rolled 3 successes using 5d6 with the Shadowrun system with a target of 4 with rolls of (6+2)8,5,4,3,3. Complementary (psychology).
14:58, Today: Firefox rolled 1 success using 6d6 with the Shadowrun system with a target of 4 with rolls of 1,4,2,2,1,1. Negotiation.

So, 3 points of karma later, I've got 2 11s

St. V keeps a vigilent eye on the Johnson's backup, but still sneaks a curious glance every now and then to see if F will actually put on the cap.  He doesn't want to miss the big bang!

Fortuna considers the hat for a moment.

"Yes, I've heard that. About the drop bear protection. You can't be too careful. They're everywhere."

He takes the hat and adjusts it onto his head.

"Where's yours? Don't tell me you're not afraid of them. Vicious critters. Toss you right out a window and tell you they're doing you a favor. Terrible. Now, where's my chip?"

"Well, it's not quite yours yet.  I believe you were going to inform Batman and whoever over there that the contract has been cancelled?"

"Ridiculous! The deposit is non-refundable. But I tell you what; once I have the chip, I'll take all of their weapons first. That way it's at least a fair fight for you."

"You never know what other valuable materials we might come across.  If we're dead, who would be around to help you hunt down other annoying critters?  I'm sure your contractors would be willing to keep the money without worrying about needing to complete the terms of your agreement if you were to cancel.  Just think of it as paying for the chip.  You can chat with them about it privately in your limo if you wish."

"That they keep the money is precisely the problem. I've paid for a service. If I cancel now, I basically just give them money for nothing. I know this is complex for you street people, but it's a simple fact of business. Paying something for nothing is foolish. Soo... I just have to look at the financial situation as it is now.

"Sure, I could call them off and maybe you'll find something else of interest to me, but certainly you'd charge me for it. And frankly, I just can't tell you poor people apart anyway. But I'm sure you're qualified enough to deal with it. Chip please!"

"eugh! this hot dog has more rat droppings than usual!" Carver flings his hot dog at the nutter next to his helicopter, hoping that the frank is more than meets the eye.
Carver failed to throw the weiner at the interloper. 1,3. However that's not a crit fail, so it should just go sailing.
With a second smooth motion, Carver quickdraws his pistol and takes aim on the same tough.
Quickness (2) test; 1,1,3,5,3,3 - 4 successes
"Snow! Hit the button!"

"One Chip Coming Up!"

Snow crossed his fingers and hit the button the trigger.  Then he did a hood slide like Bo Duke across the hot dog cart and took cover behind it.

10:28, Today: Snow failed (no successes) using 3d6 with the Shadowrun system with a target of 4. Athletics: hood slide ((2,3,1)).

Or at least that was what he intended but instead he failed to bring his back leg along for the ride and ended up half straddling / half racking himself on the cart.

Noticing that Snow's hand appeared to hold a detonator rather than the chip, Firefox quickly determined that it would be far better to be on the far side of the stand rather than the near side.  Surprisingly she managed to do it, and thanks to Snow managing to can himself, managed to avoid getting landed on.  She reached out to her elemental but waited to see what Batman and JD would do before doing anything with it.

With Firefox and Snow trying to take cover behind the wiener cart, Saint Velveteen figures it is about time to lighten the weight of his weapon by letting out some bullets.  Using his smartlink to help guide his heat-seeking troll eyes, he points his light machine gun at the limo crew (focusing on the closest guy first) and opens fire.  "It's pay day, suckers!" he yells to his targets.


08:27, Tue 20 Jan 2015: St. Velveteen rolled 3 successes using 4d6 with the Shadowrun system with a target of 4 ((4,4,4,2)).  Reaction to decision to blow the hat.
08:31, Today: St. Velveteen rolled 2 successes using 6d6 with the Shadowrun system with a target of 4 with rolls of 4,3,(6+5)11,1,3,2. Heavy Weapons - Firing Ingram Valiant.

Initiative rolls:
Fortuna: 19
Dominic: 22
The Batman: 24
Snow:
Firefox:
St. V:
Carver:
Earth Elemental1 (9):
Diva Elemental1 (5):
Gasoline Elemental1 (4):
Diva Elemental2 (5):
Drop Bear Wave 1: 6
Drop Bear Wave 2: 6
Drop Bear Commandos: 5
Drop Bear Council: 11
Thugs 1, 2, 3, to be added soon.

In this case, it's not a 'surprise roll' so much since it's Snow pushing a button and running headfirst into a hot dog cart. The exception would be people watching St. V and Carver pull guns, so I'll roll a surprise check for who wins that quick draw.

Batman gets 6 successes. In this case, they can exchange blows, but Batman goes first. Dominic gets 5 successes on reacting to Carver.

Order of events here is due to dramatic purposes only. Initiative is used for the next turn.


Carver throws a hot dog at the helicopter. It is not an AV hot dog, and so it 0 damage to the helicopter. With that done, he pulls his gun, perhaps for a follow-up throw?

Snow hits the button, then mounts his own vehicle, the hot dog cart, and apparently prepares for vehicle combat! The hat ignites in a cloud of fire, smoke, and glitter. Fortuna shouts, "my hair, my beautiful hair!"

Snow previously rolled 3 successes on his demolitions test. Fortuna in this case has nothing to react to, so he gets no reaction test and therefore, no dodge, and also, only his magical armor because the hat is on his unarmored head. Damage code is 4S, which Fortuna's armor reduces to 2S (it would go lower, but the minimum is always 2).

Fortuna rolls his body, 6, vs. 2. 5 successes, minus Snow's 3, gets 2 net successes, reducing the damage to M, plus Fortuna is on fire.

Fortuna screams and shouts as fireworks launch up into the air and explode in a festive, hair-scorching blast. Snow can hear an electronic voice cheering from on top of the Space Needle.

Rather than clambering OVER the hot dog stand, Firefox walks around it, like a sensible person. Her elemental is on the ready.

Dominic pulls his weapon (1 simple action) and uses his second action to tell you how much Carver sucks.

"You suck!"

10 dice vs. Carver's willpower of 6. Carver resists with his 6 willpower vs. Dominic's insult strength of 5 and gets 1 success. Carver takes a Moderate ego wound.



A few important points specific to SR3R, not the canon rules. They do apply here though;

St. V's big gun divides non-hardened armor in half. Also, St. V decides how many rounds to fire and each additional round beyond the first adds a die to his attack. Recoil penalties apply though. In this case, St. V has 4 points of recoil compensation (1 from shock pads, 3 from GVIII, plus a smartlink). So he wants to fire 5 rounds since beyond that you get penalties. The car is still in Short range, so TN is 4, Smartlink reduces that to 2. You probably want to put 3 rounds into the first guy, 2 into the second.

For the sake of expedience, I assume that's what you'll do and throw in some more dice.

That brings your first attack up to 7 successes (the TN is 2, not 4, remember).

Next target, you get to roll your skill again with one additional die for the additional round, with a +2 modifier for attacking multiple targets.

rolled 2 successes using 7d6 with the Shadowrun system with a target of 4 ((5,2,3,2,1,4,2))

The damage code for the Ingram Valiant is 7S. Let me roll reaction checks for both guys ...  First guy gets 1 success, second guy gets 0. So first guy can react, and the second guy cannot. (Yes, I'm butchering the surprise rules here since they don't QUITE apply normally.)

So the first guy will dump his combat pool in trying to be anywhere but there.

His TN is 4 + 2 (two extra rounds coming at him) = 6. He dumps his full combat pool in that. 0 successes.
His armor is halved, because this is a big gun. So he subtracts half his armor (5/2 = 2) from the damage code (7S) so he's facing 5S. He rolls his Body (7) against 5.
He gets 5 successes. Subtract that from St. V's 7 successes, that leaves 2. 2 successes stages the damage up from S to D. First thug is down.

Second Thug does not get to react at all. Probably had his finger up his nose. But he does still get to ward off the damage. Again, rolling Body (7) vs. TN of 5. In this case, he can't use his Combat Pool (surprised!) so it's just a straight roll. He gets 1 success, vs. your two. So that's a solid hit, but he's still standing (barely).


St. V leads fire across the bodyguards. Rounds punch through fine silk and armor vests, and plink off the armor of the limo behind them. Two of the guards drop to the ground, one permanently, while the third realizes he should probably be doing something and dashes around behind the car.

"Boss! They're shooting! What you want me to do?"

Batman throws a batarang at St. V's gun! At this range, it bounces off harmlessly and lands on the ground. Batman turns on his heel dramatically and stalks off into the night. Ominous!





Status:

The Batman: 24
Dominic: 22
Fortuna: 17 (M wnd, on fire)
Drop Bear Council: 11
Thug3: 10
Thug2: 5 (S wnd)

Snow:  (on the hot dog cart)
Firefox:  (behind cover)
St. V:
Carver:  (ego bruising)
Earth Elemental1 (9):
Diva Elemental1 (5):
Gasoline Elemental1 (4):
Diva Elemental2 (5):
Drop Bear Wave 1: 6
Drop Bear Wave 2: 6
Drop Bear Commandos: 5
Thug1: DED

This message was last edited by the GM at 16:58, Tue 20 Jan 2015.

quote:

11:28, Today: Firefox rolled 7 using 1d6+5 with rolls of 2. Initiative.
11:30, Today: Firefox rolled 12 using 1d6+6 with rolls of 6. Fire elemental initiative.

Not clear on distances.  Firefox's base diameter for a fireball is 16 meters (~52 feet).  She'll take up to 5 more dice (off the end) to expand the diameter to make sure she hits both batman and dominic - maximum 85 feet diameter.  If she can encompass the goons by the limo and/or Fortuna, she'll do that too (with that order of priority), but she won't expend more than an extra die to do so.  And, of course, she won't do anything that will encompass any of her team members other than the elemental who won't mind too much.  If she can only hit one of Batman and Dominic, she'll deal with Dominic, seeing as he hasn't decided to stalk away yet - ominously or not.

The elemental likes Firefox and may choose to do something to defend her and/or amuse itself with its first action.  If not, it'll probably hold action and wait for orders.  I'll roll for my fireball in a second post.

Pretty much everything is a circle with a seventy five foot diameter. You guys are north, the limo is south, Dominic to the west, Batman to the east, although he's moved back, stretching that a bit. 85 feet you can hit as much of the battlefield as desired, but note that hitting both Batman and Dominic, who are opposite sides from each other, will likely result that you also hit your team, or at least lightly toast it. So it sounds like the target is 'car and Dominic' who are 53 feet from each other.

Initiative 6+1d6(4) = 10

Turn 1
(modify as appropriate for wounds, since I'm posting out of turn order. Also, need ranges...)

Carver drops to a knee, has drawn a bead on Dominic, and decides there's nothing like a good double-tap.
Fire one!
Base TN (range unknown), with Pistols 8 and 5 Combat Pool dice:
(6+3)9,3,(6+4)10,(6+6+6+1)19,2,1,3,2,(6+1)7,5,1,3,4
5 (20m) -1 Aiming -1 Stationary target -2 Smartlink = TN 2; 11 successes
6 (40m) -1 Aiming -1 Stationary target -2 Smartlink = TN 2; 11 successes
9 (60m) -1 Aiming -1 Stationary target -2 Smartlink = TN 5; 5 successes

Fire two!
1,2,1,5,5,3,4,1
Base TN (range unknown):
5 (20m) +1 second shot -1 Stationary target -2 Smartlink = TN 3; 4 successes
6 (40m) +1 second shot -1 Stationary target -2 Smartlink = TN 4; 3 successes
9 (60m) +1 second shot -1 Stationary target -2 Smartlink = TN 7; no successes

Carver is firing EX Explosive rounds for a base damage code of 11M
Assuming Dominic is within 40m, that comes out to 11D+7 successes left over. Memory serves, that means he's rolling against 14D if he doesn't spend combat pool to dodge.
The second shot does not do as well, doling out only an 11S wound (same range assumption).

Note, St V: if I had a scope on my pistol (or in my cybersunglasses), the base TN would be one step closer - so even at 60m, I would be rolling against a 6 or 5 (depending on rating).
Also note, if I had fired the second shot at our beloved J, that would be a +2 TN and I would have completely missed even if Dom & Fortuna were shoulder to shoulder.
This message was last edited by the player at 17:32, Thu 22 Jan 2015.

quote:

14:03, Today: Firefox rolled 5 successes using 15d6 with the Shadowrun system with a target of 5 with rolls of 4,5,5,(6+5)11,1,4,2,4,3,5,3,4,1,2,5. Using last karma.
14:01, Today: Firefox rolled 2 successes using 15d6 with the Shadowrun system with a target of 5 with rolls of 4,4,2,4,1,4,1,2,3,4,4,2,5,1,(6+3)9. Big flash of light (and hopefully heat).
14:22, Today: Firefox rolled 5 successes using 6d6 with the Shadowrun system with a target of 2 with rolls of 1,2,4,2,2,5. Drain.

So, based on the update that happened while I was rolling, I only need to lose one dice for range.  So that means I had one success on the first roll, and I lose the last success on the "re-roll failures", so in the end, I've got 5 successes.  So that makes it an 8D fireball hitting everyone except batman.  If I can get Mr. F too without hitting team members, I will.
I take moderate stun.


Firefox's thoughts reach out to the elemental even as it's forming Kill my enemies, starting with guy with the burning head

Then she peers around Carver's flailing leg and lets fly with a satisfying KA-BOOM, then pulls back to listen to the shrieks and screams - which more than made up for the sudden headache.

Snow gingerly dismounts from the hotdog and hobbles around it to take cover.

He draws his taser and gets ready to shoot as soon as he catches is breath and his voice goes back down a few octaves.

After the batarang clinks against Saint Velveteen's gun, the big troll turns toward Batman to try and track and aim at him with his thermo vision.  He catches visions in his peripheral of a huge fireball erupting as he lets loose with a burst of 5 bullets.  "Now those are fireworks!" With his finger firmly holding down the trigger on his gun, shooting at the batman (or his general vicinity), St. V was thanking the stars that he had sprung for flare comp and sound dampening enhancements even though his sister said it was a waste of money.

Let's see if I got this right now.
Simple action 1, take aim.
Simple action two, fire weapon.
Assuming St. V sees his target and he is still in short range,  Target number should be 4.
-1 for aim, -2 for smartlink, +1 for vision = Target number of 2
+4 for using 5 bullets, -4 for recoil comp = Target number or 2

Using those adjustments, here is his Heavy Weapons 6 roll:
13:50, Today: St. Velveteen rolled 5 successes using 6d6 with the Shadowrun system with a target of 2 with rolls of 4,(6+5)11,1,5,5,4. Heavy Weapons - Firing Ingram Valiant.
Edit: +3 successes from combat pool (see below)
This message was last edited by the player at 20:38, Fri 23 Jan 2015.

St V, the *only* thing I can see that you did wrong is Full Auto is a complex action, and Burst Fire is 3 rounds (+/-1). Are you reserving your combat pool for defense exclusively? Because it refreshes at the beginning of your turn, so you could add more dice (like what I did).

Oops, my bad.  I guess he'll be firing 3 bullets then.  I think I will take your suggestion and add 3 dice from my combat pool into the Heavy Weapons roll though, if it's not too late.

14:35, Today: St. Velveteen rolled 3 successes using 3d6 with the Shadowrun system with a target of 2 with rolls of (6+5)11,5,5. Combat pool.

Status:

The Batman: 24
Dominic: 22
Fortuna: 17 (M wnd, on fire)
Firefox's Elemental: 12
Drop Bear Council: 11
Thug3: 10
Carver: 10 (ego bruising)
Snow: 9 (on the hot dog cart)
Firefox: 7 (behind cover)
St. V: 6
Thug2: 5 (S wnd)
Drop Bear Wave 1: 6
Drop Bear Wave 2: 6
Drop Bear Commandos: 5
--
Earth Elemental1 (9):
Diva Elemental1 (5):
Gasoline Elemental1 (4):
Diva Elemental2 (5):


The Batman goes first and does ... nothing (that you can SEE!)

Dominic quickdraws one handgun and quickdrops the other. No matter. With one firearm, he starts running laterally away from the limo, popping off rounds and who-knows-what. Regardless, he closes the distance and is now about 10 meters from the group--and about 22 from the car.


08:49, Today: ~Dominic failed (no successes) using 6d6 with the Shadowrun system with a target of 10. second shot.

08:49, Today: ~Dominic failed (no successes) using 9d6 with the Shadowrun system with a target of 9. First shot. (added 3 Combat Pool)

08:46, Today: ~Dominic failed (no successes) using 10d6 with the Shadowrun system with a target of 6. Quickdraw2.

08:45, Today: ~Dominic rolled 1 success using 10d6 with the Shadowrun system with a target of 6. Quickdraw1.

Dominic's Quickness is 7 and his Running Modifier is 3x, so he moves 21m in a turn. However, that's divided up by initiative passes. Since his initiative is 22, we expect him to get 3 passes, so each phase he moves 7 meters.

Fortuna remembers his training as a youth on what to do when on fire; panic, shout, and flail. He doesn't take any damage from it, though. Instead, he screams for his elementals; "protect me!", "hurt them!" A giant mound of stone with glimmering ember eyes rises up from the asphalt, charging at Carver, a fist like a battering ram leading the way. An elemental appears by Fortuna, flickering and flittering its lovely self, apparently a beautiful sashay of scarves and hats. It bats at the fire on Fortuna's head, "oh dear oh dear, awful, it's ruining your jacket!" The fire dies down.

The Drop Bear Council gives mysterious orders to its followers! Very mysterious. No one can guess what its orders are.

Another elemental appears about 10 meters from the group; it looks almost like a water elemental, the way it glistens and moves.

Carver drops to firing position. Dominic was very kind to close the range from "Medium" to "less Medium, but not enough for any bonuses". (TN is 3, not 2--target running. So it's 9 successes, not 11. As an aside, in general, 'target stationary' only applies when a target truly can't move; she's sleeping, or watching TV, or inanimate. Everyone here is reacting to combat, so none of them are 'stationary', even if they don't change their actual position.) Dominic dodges (rolls his remaining Combat Pool of 5 vs. a TN of 4.)

12:41, Mon 26 Jan 2015: Papa Bear rolled 2 successes using 5d6 with the Shadowrun system with a target of 4 ((3,1,4,5,3)).

Subtract Dominic's 2 successes from Carver's 9 for 7 net successes. Note, this is why combat pool is very important! Dominic spent 3 points earlier, and so didn't have enough to dodge effectively.

Dominic now rolls Body (6) against a damage code of 9M - armor worn (6), so 6 dice vs. TN of 3:
Papa Bear rolled 6 successes using 6d6 with the Shadowrun system with a target of 3 ((3,3,(6+4)10,5,5,4)).

His 6 successes subtracts again from Carver's 7, leaving Carver with 1 net success. That's not enough to stage damage up, but it's definitely a hit.

Second attack; Carver has no Combat Pool left to throw in, so it's just his skill. TN is 6 (5 for range, +2 target running, -2 for Smartlink, +1 for recoil). Carver has 0 successes.

The first round hits Dominic in the chest. He stumbles for a moment, but catches himself and keeps charging. The second round goes wide.

The thug behind the car takes a few shots at St. V. He's definitely fearing for his life, so he holds back a little. He sprays fire, which hits St. V's chest, then a second burst over St. V's head.

Range is Medium, so 5, -2 for smartlink. Burst and 1 point of recoil compensation adds a +1, so the final TN is 4. Because of our special burst rules, he gets 2 additional dice. (I forgot the smartlink, hence the reroll.) He's expecting to be dodging soon, so he's holding all his combat pool back for that. His second roll the TN goes up to 7--3 more points of recoil. So he misses on that one.

In this case, St. V has two choices;
1) Spent combat pool on dodging. The TN is 6 (4 +2 extra shots). The combat pool spent here cannot be used to later squash people. He has to get 2 successes for a clean dodge (i.e., no damage taken).
2) Try and soak it. St. V's armor is 6, so the weapons damage drops to 2M. St. V needs to roll his body (11) vs. a TN of 2 and get 6 successes.

Between the two, soaking looks to be the best, so I'll assume that.
Papa Bear, on behalf of St. Velveteen, rolled 11 successes using 11d6 with the Shadowrun system with a target of 2 ((4,3,4,5,5,2,3,5,4,3,(6+3)9)).

It's good to be a troll.

A burst of three rounds pounds into St. Velveteen's chest. St. Velveteen does not deign to notice it.

Snow didn't specify a target, however he did have time to take an aim action, and the only person who was within range at the time was Fortuna, so that would seem to be the ideal choice. Poor Fortuna, is just about point blank. And since Snow doesn't seem to be the immediate target of anyone, he can afford to toss some combat pool in too. An aim and fire and a fire;

Papa Bear, on behalf of Snow, rolled 8 successes using 8d6 with the Shadowrun system with a target of 2 ((3,4,2,3,(6+1)7,3,3,5)).

Fortuna is injured, so has a penalty to dodging, but not to soaking damage, so he'll go that way. His armor is very high, reducing the damage to 2S. He'll chip in some pool to help soak it down.

Papa Bear rolled 6 successes using 10d6 with the Shadowrun system with a target of 2 (((6+2)8,(6+6+5)17,1,2,2,4,(6+2)8,1,1,1)).
Fortuna also has Karma Pool, and so will use that to reroll failures.
Papa Bear rolled 4 successes using 4d6 with the Shadowrun system with a target of 2 ((5,3,3,(6+3)9)).

10 successes, he reduces the damage down to L Stun. His successes and high armor also means he doesn't suffer Shock. But now he's at a -3 penalty to everything (-2 for moderate wound, -1 for light stun).

Second shot:
Papa Bear rolled 1 success using 5d6 with the Shadowrun system with a target of 5 ((1,(6+5)11,2,3,1)).

This one he'll dodge--and fails twice (after karma pool reroll).

So Fortuna dumps the rest of his combat pool. 6 successes vs. S + 1 success isn't enough. He has karma pool out the ying-yang, but this is getting crazy. Another reroll to get his total of 10 successes. That reduces the damage down to nothing.


Snow hits Fortuna twice. There's a pop of electricity and Fortuna screams like a little keebler elf.

Firefox brings up her spell. The entire battlefield flows with fire as a fireball detonates practically in the middle of it.
Okay, so this one took some puzzling.

My understanding here, from looking at the math:
1) You're casting a 5M fireball.
2) You're pumping your last two karma pool into it (one to buy an additional die, 1 to reroll failures).

With that, the TN is 4, not 5. So your first roll is 9 successes. Your second roll only rerolls the failures, so I'll only look at the first 6 dice; I see 4 more successes, for a total of 13.

Drain TN is Force/2+1 DL+2, so 3D (not 2D). With that, you get 2 successes, not 5, so you'd be taking a S stun wound, not M. Please tell me if I missed something, although with how this is going, it may not be relevant for long :P

Everyone in range, with funny enough is pretty much all the bad guys, get to roll Combat Pool to dodge if they want, and Body + Combat Pool with half impact armor to soak, vs. a 5M attack with 13 successes. Dodging is not very likely.

So...
Batman--2 successes on dodge, 5 on soak, takes M+6 so Deadly.
Dominic--no combat pool left, 6 on soak, takes M+7 so Deadly.
Fortuna--no CP left :(, 6 on soak, so M+7, so Deadly.
Drop Bear hiding in the hot dog, 4 on dodge, 4 on soak, so M+5, so Deadly.
Okay, I'm seeing a pattern here.

Please tell me if I did any of the math wrong here.

Here is the status of play at the time I started calculating this:

The Batman: 14, disappeared!
Dominic: 11 range: 10m, running, M wnd, no CP
Fortuna: 7 (M wnd) CP0/7 KP-3
Earth Elemental1 (9): 4 (mat., charging Carver)
Firefox's Elemental: 12 (astral, chillin')
Diva Elemental1 (5): 1
Drop Bear Council: 1
Gasoline Elemental1 (4): 0 (mat., taking aim)
Carver: 0 (ego bruising) CP 4
Thug3: 0
Snow: 0 (behind cover, CP 6)
Firefox: 7 (behind cover) <-- we are here
Diva Elemental2 (5): 7
St. V: 6
Thug2: 5 (S wnd)
Drop Bear Wave 1: 6
Drop Bear Wave 2: 6

But unless I'm missing something, Firefox will basically clear the field, albeit, walking away with a Serious stun headache in the process.

You ignored that Dominic was getting hit by EX Explosive rounds, 11M damage. TN 5, 3 successes, 4 Net in Carver's favor. M->S->D

Also I thought with wound penalties, only the highest counts.

In the meantime, Carver will soon be turned to greasy smear courtesy of elemental. Good thing I have my snikt blades. So where was that other dropbear - was it the helicopter or the batarang?

Good catch on the rounds.

With wound penalties, you count Physical wounds + Stun wounds. So L Stun and L Physical is as bad as a Moderate in either (although much quicker to heal).

The drop bear in question was disguised as a hot dog which you threw at the helicopter. She was just totally not ready yet. She was going to jump out on her turn, but it may be too late for that, I guess. Reprocessed meat is not exactly heat resistant.

Cool. Good to know on the wound penalties, and not annoyed over the ammo thing. Just being thorough.

A blast of fire rolls across the field. Moving from the center and going out, Fortuna drops to the ground and invokes the 'Hand of God' rule, immediately burning all of his Karma Pool to not immediately grease stain. However, his suit is ruined, and his armor spell pops and fizzles. The two Diva elementals both benefit from their natural armor, which reduces the power of the fireball to 2M, but nevertheless, both burst into beautiful, glittery flame and pop into nothingness.

There's a series of blasts that immediately follow; first is the 'water' elemental, who shrieks for a moment before immediately combusting. Carver, Snow, and Firefox are all right next to each other, behind the hot dog cart, when the gasoline elemental explodes.

The cart is unarmored, but it is insulated to keep the dogs at proper temperature before serving. You are each 10m from the elemental. I used the rules for FAE, and assumed its 'rating' would be half that of an elemental made of the same ingredients, with a mass of 90kg, which is about average for a human. So the rating is 2D, with a range of 2 meters. You're all safe.

The elemental BURSTS into a fury of light and sound.

Also highly combustible; Dominic. Dominic is also 10m from the three party members, and carrying ... that can't be right. Let's say it's only 10 kilos of C12.

Rating 12, square root of 10 is 3 (and change), so 36D damage for Dominic to soak. No combat pool left, but armor applies. So he rolls ... no successes, and indeed explodes. It loses 12 power every meter, so at 10 meters, does nothing.

Dominic craters the parking lot of the Space Needle. There is not even a fine, red mist at this point. The heat and power of the blast is sufficient to chemically bond his atoms into new and exciting molecules.

On the far side of the lot, Fortuna's limo rocks on its shocks. The goon, already looking for an excuse, ducks for cover, and a moment later, opens the back door of the limo and climbs inside.


In this case, the limo offers cover to the goon behind, increasing the TN to hit him from 4 to 8. Firefox only got 2 successes at 8+. The goon, who wisely saved up his combat pool, easily resists and stages the damage down to nothing.

The Earth elemental thundering towards Carver is not so easily dissuaded though. It just puts on a pair of sunglasses as everything explodes around it.

Fireball damage code is 5M, elemental's rating is 9. In this case, the rating is not doubled, so it's just 9 - 5 = 4. Every two difference reduces the damage by one level, down to 0. So no damage. This is per the Rules thread.

The edge of the fireball tickles the hot dog cart, causing it too to rock on its shocks ... and lacking shocks, it mostly just falls over onto the three runners and one hot dog vendor hiding behind it. Ouch.

The entire field is filled with heavy smoke, concealing most everything from view.

St. V, who I note is the only person to take cover behind anything heavier than a hot dog cart, also gets to put on his shades.

St. V cannot actually see Batman, which confers a pretty heavy penalty (+8), however he can provide some nice cover where Batman is/was. In this case, taking aim isn't possible, but full auto is (hurrah!) The TN is 3 (yes, with the range of an LMG, pretty much everything is 'short range' +8, so 11.

Also bear in mind, we're not using the vanilla SR rules. So here, rather than staging up your damage like in the book, going auto gives you more dice; 5 rounds = 4 more dice. I rolled for you, but no hits. You already had two 11s, so that works out nicely. Because your line of fire just skirts but misses the ring of the fireball, no smoke penalties apply, but they'll apply for pretty much everyone else.

St. V sprays fire. The helicopter pops and bings as rounds bounce off it, but somewhere in the distance you hear someone shout, "ow!"

And that's when the drop bears start. They start as tiny specks from the top of the Space Needle; they accelerate quickly towards their targets, grinning the whole way.


Height is 180 meters, which gives them about 4 phases before they 'land'.

The Batman goes first. He's mostly grumbling, as he (not as sneakily) closes into range for his batarang.

Fortuna picks himself off the ground, whimpering, then starts hobbling back to the car. "Don't shoot, don't shoot! You wouldn't shoot an elf in glasses!" He fumbles in his coat pockets for a pair of spectacles.

The elemental's fist connects ... gets 7 meters closer to Carver's nose (now at 3 meters).

Firefox's elemental gives her a high five.

Rerolling initiative!

The Drop Bear waves close in to 120m.

Batman continues to sneaky sneaky!

The earth elemental crashes with Carver's nose like continental drift. Carver's Combat Pool is fully refreshed; I expect he's taking advantage of that.


Elemental gets 6 successes on a pretty nasty blow.

Because no one in the party at all has initiative enhancement, it seems easier to just run everyone to Intiative 12, and give people a chance to react. Plus, there's not a ton of targets left on the field; Earth Elemental (currently in melee with Carver), Fortuna (leaving combat), Batman (trying to be sneaky), plus the nice car that's just chillin'.


Drop Bear Wave 1: 20 120m
Drop Bear Wave 2: 20 120m
The Batman: 9, disappeared! (L wnd, 0 CP)
Earth Elemental1 (9): 8 CP 6/12 (mat., charging Carver) <-- stopped here
Firefox's Elemental: (+2 actions for not wailing on Fortuna from last turn) (astral, chillin')
Drop Bear Council: 7
Fortuna: 5 (M wnd) CP7/7 KP0
Carver: (ego bruising) CP
Snow:  (behind cover, CP )
Firefox:  (behind cover, M Stun)
St. V:
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:21, Thu 29 Jan 2015.

Why didn't the fire elemental go beat on Mr. F as ordered?  And I should be at moderate stun.

You're correct on both counts. Fixed. I'll try to roll for the elemental's attack, but I may not get to that today.

I think you missed out on one of the goons still in the limo...

That goon has reconsidered his life choices.

Picturing Fortuna reaming on the door handle of the limo while the goon inside urgently shakes his head "no" :>

Snow came out from behind his onion and relish smelling cover and ran over to where Fortuna was.

"Normally no, I wouldn't but for you I am going to make an exception." he replies to the Elf's Question.

Seeing that everyone else seems to have the fireball area under control, St. V lets loose another spray of bullets in Batman's direction for cover fire.  "Come out, come out, wherever you are!"

Firefox's mad grin watching her rather impressive personal inferno turned to a frown as she saw that the pussy-eater was still not only alive, but mobile.  And the earth elemental bearing down on the cart didn't much improve her mood.  The blood pulsed through her head as she shifted to astral vision and struggled to cast one more spell.

quote:

09:26, Today: Firefox rolled 3 successes using 6d6 with the Shadowrun system with a target of 3 with rolls of 2,(6+1)7,5,2,2,(6+3)9. Drain.
09:25, Today: Firefox rolled 9 successes using 15d6 with the Shadowrun system with a target of 4 with rolls of 4,1,5,3,5,3,5,5,(6+5)11,2,(6+3)9,4,2,3,4. Immolate.

Immolate: Force 5 damage level S.  (Effectively stun bolt w/ elemental fire).  Target = body + 2(for moderate stun).  So that's 9 successes if he has body 2, 6 successes if he has body 4 and 2 successes if his body is less than 7.  He can use spell pool, dodge, then resists using body.  Resisting 3D drain, staging it down to S.  If the spell goes off and he fails to dodge, he's also on fire - 6M damage for the first turn, power increases by 2 per turn until extinguished.

Smoke shouldn't affect her targeting on the astral.

Carver mutters "this is going to huuuuuurt" and holsters his pistol, flicking out the forearm blades with a "snikt". He is going to delay an action to intercept the elemental as soon as it gets within reach. He grits his teeth and resists the brown trousers reflex.

Instead of initiating the attack, Carver is going to try and deflect the Elemental's melee attack and counter. The delayed action is in case the Ele decides to do anything but smash Carver to goop - in which case Carver will stab the everloving pebbles out of it.
Carver has Edged Weapons 10, +5 (1/2 his skill) from Ambidexterity, and uses 7 of his 9 Combat Pool dice on the attack.
10 14 successes using 17d6 23d6 with the Shadowrun system with a target of 4 (I.E. assuming the Ele is using his reach offensively; otherwise that is only 6 8 successes).
(1,1,1,2,2,2,2,3,4,4,4,4,4,4,5,5,5,5,10,10,10,17)

Since not being goop is high on his priorities, Carver uses Karma Pool to reroll his failures.
If reach is being used offensively (TN 4), then Carver replaces the 1's and 2's with 6 7 more successes (2,4,4,4,5,5,5,5). If the elemental is using reach against him, that means he also gets to reroll all the numbers below 5 (11d6 14d6 instead of 7d6 8d6) for a total +6 successes (5,3,3,2).
So bracing himself against the charge, Carver manages either 21 successes (TN 4) or 14 successes (TN 5). Base damage is 8M.
KIAI!

Edit: forgot ambidexterity bonuses, +5d6
(3,5,5,4,4) reroll as 4,5,5,2,4
This message was last edited by the player at 22:11, Sat 31 Jan 2015.

Firefox's elemental appears next to Fortuna and pulls him in for a squish hug. Fortuna shouts and thrashes, but to no avail.

The TN here is 4 +6 (for smoke) /2 (because it's melee) -2 (because Fortuna is prone). Melee combat is a complex action, so it takes the elemental's full combat phase. Elemental gets 4 successes.

Fortuna rolls against 4 +6 /2 (as before) +2 for injuries. He also gets 4 successes. Unlike ranged combat, the tie here goes to the attacker. Fortuna needs to shrug off 5M damage with 0 extra successes, which fortunately for him, he does.

The drop bears have reached terminal velocity, at 60m and about 90m/s. The wind whips around their fluffy ears and they brace for impact.

The Earth elemental cuts through the asphalt like a ship hitting harbor; pieces of black tarmac fly up on either side and it thunders forward, fist leading the way. Carver braces and, at the moment of impact, is apparently late being where the elemental expected him to be. Instead, Carver is behind and slightly to the left, blades out, and returns with punches and slices. The elemental's immunity to normal weapons is enough to reduce Carver's damage code from 8M to nothing. Carver punches into the elemental, but the blades refuse to bite, instead sliding uselessly across its armored hide.

Snow (I assume) shoots an elf in glasses. The area is thick with smoke and Fortuna is not making an easy target, and both shots go wide.

The earth elemental continues dancing with Carver, now swinging wide and aiming for the benches. Carver spends the rest of his combat pool and easily dodges, striking back at the elemental, but again, the blades just can't penetrate the thing's thick hide.

Fortuna realizes the act isn't working. He leaps to his feet and draws a katana, then charges towards Snow with a scream. Aaaand... the scream continues, as he bursts into flame. He drops to the ground again and rolls around, beating on the fire. Firefox, meanwhile, is so close to the sweet embrace of sleep, she is barely able to stay upright.

St. Velveteen is now operating by sound, as he puts another five-round burst downrange. Batman's combat pool is depleted, so this time he just has to take it like a batman. He hears someone shout from the darkness: "Ouch! That... that really, really hurt! I... why did you do that?"

With a 'thwap', something buries itself in the exterior of the car St. V is standing behind. Looking at it, it seems to be an arrow with some sort of bat-shaped fletching. There's no way that thing can fly straight.

Firefox's elemental gets another chance to punt Fortuna. The elemental wraps up in wreathes of flame, burning up his very fine suit.

Fortuna uses his last simple action that he was holding;

"To be, or not to be, that is the question-whether tis nobler to take the slings and gunshots of ill-fortune, or to take arms against the wicked creatures that bear them; to sleep, perchance to dream; aye, that is the question. When beggars die, there are no comets seen; the heavens themselves blaze forth the death of princes.

"And thus I fall, to the hateful stings of my enemies; weak though they are, they outnumber me by the multitude. And as the tide rises and falls, too many to be numbered, and thus are forgotten, thus shall they return to the seething masses; wastels and drunks, prostitutes and louts. While a prince may die by drowning or by war, his name shall be spoken of forevermore. Thus will the bards sing of me, oh Fortuna."

He coughs, a little blood runs from his mouth, then begins to sing.

"Oh Fortunaaaa!! the pipes, the pipes are calling
From glen to glen and down the mountain side, for you Fortuna they're calling.
Your time has gone, your rose is falling
'Tis you, 'tis you must go and we must bide
Oh Fortuna, Oh Fortuna! I love you so!"

Rerolling initiative!

Batman emerges from the shadows, charging at St. V. He's wielding some sort of long, black, bat-shaped club. "I am the goddam batman!" he shouts as he closes in.

Firefox's elemental is driven away by Fortuna's cacophony, instead moving to fight the earth elemental. The two enter into a combat of rock and fire, but neither can make headway. With the two elementals tangling, Carver is now free to direct his attacks.

The drop bears approach lithobraking altitude. They bare their paws, and claws come out, jaws open wide. They enter their final approach ...


Drop Bear Wave 1:  30m
Drop Bear Wave 2:  30m
Carver:  (ego bruising) CP
Snow:   (behind cover, CP )
The Batman: (L+S wnd, CP)
Earth Elemental1 (9):  CP 12/12 (mat., charging Carver) <-- stopped here
Drop Bear Council:
Fortuna:  (D wnd, using his Adept power--resist pain (geas: sing about self)) CP0/7 KP0
Firefox:  (behind cover, M Stun)
St. V:
Firefox's Elemental (5):  CP 8/8

Pretty sure Firefox is at S stun - 9 boxes worth

Firefox rolls onto her back and looks up at the astral spectacle of the drop bear wave.  Sooo pretty . . .

If it looks like any are planning to drop on her, she'll attempt to roll under the hotdog cart.  And she'll shout a warning to her teammates if she feels any are at risk.

As a side note - killing Fortuna is the best chance we have of getting the earth elemental to go away

St. V squints in confusion at the man running toward him.  A man with a bat running toward a troll with a machine gun.  Smart.  But instead of filling him with bullets, St. V reaches for his own bludgeon.  If Batman wants to play, The Velveteen will play.  And teach him a lesson!

"If you're a bat, then I'm a cricket!" St. V yells at Batman as he rolls over the hood of the car.  With his hand-carved cricket bat ready, Saint Velveteen prepares to face off against his new rival.

Carver charges the limo and slides underneath it. Hopefully the vehicle is tough enough to avoid overpenetration from hi-V marsupial militia.

Only reason for the elemental to switch targets would be if: Fortuna is dead (elemental was ordered to kill him first) or if it decided Firefox was in danger and cared more about her than fulfilling its instructions - which is possible).

Fortuna is technically at 'dead' on the condition monitor, and only still singing through his use of a magical effect. Plus, for dramatic purposes, it's not very exciting if his swan song is cut short by an NPC.

So his elemental decided to stick around and party anyhow?  That's unfortunate . . .

Nah, his elemental is obviously just trying to get a damn hotdog.

Bear in mind also, there are different definitions of 'dead', which may apply differently based on the restrictions in question. The fire elemental has met the basic requirements of the request, as defined mechanically. The earth elemental is bound by Fortuna being conscious, which through magic, he still is, even if strictly-speaking 'dead'.

(Yes, this is also a story consideration as much as a mechanics consideration.)

This message was last edited by the GM at 18:54, Tue 03 Feb 2015.

Batman reaches St. V swinging. in this case, Batman has a +3 modifier due to injuries, while St. V does not. Per our additional SR3R rules, he also gets a reach bonus as he has higher initiative. Since his TN is already at 7, subtracting 1 doesn't help, so he'll bump up St. V's TN by 1. However, St. V is also a troll, and has a reach of +1, which he can use to either reduce his TN, or add to Batman's. Who to apply that to? All else being equal, you apply it to the one with more dice.

St. V's skill is 3, so he can dump at most 3 combat pool in it. When it comes to melee, it's always good to dump all the CP you can. So that would have St. V rolling 6 dice, Batman has 16. However, Batman's TN is already at 7. Even with his 16 dice, you're not likely to significantly change his number of successes. But with 6 dice, you're only expecting to add one more success for yourself as well. So which is better? Screw it. I'm sick. We'll throw the extra one on him because I like rolling dice.

You both get 2, that's a tie, goes to the attacker.

Batman swings and his club connects solidly with St. V's chest. However, the troll still doesn't feel it, which gives St. V plenty of time to return the favor, and this time, Batman doesn't have the advantage of speed or combat pool.

6 dice vs. 9, with Batman at a TN of 7, it's clearly better to reduce your TN than to increase his. You get 3 successes. With your strength? There isn't much he can do to resist that, so he now takes an S stun. That puts him at S+1 physical, S stun, so a +6 to all future actions. The two will continue to dance back and forth, probably until St. V gets his next swing.

The Earth elemental brings a massive fist at Carver again. It doesn't seem to be done yet! Its fist slams into Carver, sending him reeling back, but not enough to put him down.

Carver's a little far from the limo to make it in time, but he can start legging it nonetheless. The fire elemental keeps the earth elemental busy enough for Carver to make good on his escape.

Firefox gets some hot dog safety, next to the poor vendor, who still is not quite sure why all these people are fighting for his hot dogs.

Snow lines up his shot and fires at Fortuna. There's a SNAP of electricity. Fortuna squaks, and drops.

The earth elemental sighs. "Well. Another internship down the drain. You guys... you guys wanna keep fighting anyway? I felt like I was doing really good."

Then the drop bears hit. The pavement craters under marsupial rage. The earth elemental explodes in a shower of pebbles. The limo crushes in the middle, the windows exploding outwards.

A few more seconds of shattering... everything, and a voice sounds from far above. "Excellent job, Elder Orphis! Your commandos have indeed carried the day. Now let us go down and thank the brave Shadowrunners. Shadowrunners, wait up a moment, we're coming down!"

One by one, monoliths tip over the edge of the space needle and smash into the pavement below. The lead one rights itself and wobbles over, the black glossy surface covered with a spider web of cracks.

"Well! Congratulations, shadowrunners! You have carried the day. I believe you have earned this."

There's a brief pause.

"I would hand you your certified credsticks, but as you can tell, I have no hands. Brother PTHHHHHT where are the credsticks?"
"I'm sorry elder, I think I dropped them on the way down. No one move, I'm sure they're around here somewhere!"
"Well... how about we deliver you your payment in the very near future. Likely, in disguise, in a way that you would never possibly expect."
"Don't forget the conspiracy! Offer them the conspiracy!"
"Ah yes, the conspiracy. We are offering you the rare, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for you, as a non-drop bear, to join our sacred brother- and sisterhood, and become part of the drop bear conspiracy. As such, you will have access to all of the benefits of membership, including contact with the council, access to our secret safehouses, and a discount at participating restaurants. No refunds. What do you say?"


At this point, I believe we're wrapping up.

If you have not finished your character, time to get to it!! Yes yes, Carver, I will look at your six custom spells very soon. I've been sick.

For the record, I am more than certain that St. V could survive the Great Drop with a good roll. He might not look so pretty afterwards, but I am actually curious what that roll would look like.

Carefully extracting himself from the wrecked car, carver winces and starts snooping around for the credsticks. He is chanting "payment on delivery, payment on delivery" to himself and peering into the many varied craters.

St. V brushes the settling dust off his sleeves and sticks a toothpick in his mouth as he approaches the drop bear council.  "I'm up for some discounts, that's for sure.  I would prolly make a great drop bear too."  The troll hops up into the air and lands on all fours before bouncing back up, mimicking the act of dropping down on someone all stealthy-like.  "But I'm my own man.  Conspiracy or not, can't be tied down under someone else's rules."

He folds his arms and leans against an invisible wall, striking an epically cool pose.  He holds it for about 10 seconds longer than he should have, then gets down on his hands and knees to help Carver look for their cash.

Seeing how the DBC had been 2 steps ahead of the runners every step of the way, Snow spoke up, "You know what, sure.  I'll join the conspiracy."

Firefox slowly pulls herself to a standing position, wincing each time she moves her head.

"The conspiracy doesn't involve eating eucalyptis or cats or anything does it?"  She rummages around in the cart for a new hot dog, preferable one not made out of drop-bear.  Spell-casting always made her hungry.

"Understood, Sir St. Velveteen. Well, we wish you the best, regardless."

For Snow, the answer is different. With his answer, the surviving drop bears gather around him to pat him on the back ... of his knees, basically. He's pretty big, compared even to their own bear majesty.

"Of course you will! What sensible person would do otherwise. Brother PTHHHHT! Bring the holy scriptures. Student Snow, you will read the holy scriptures. This may take a few days. Once you have done so, you will choose the location for your own Great Drop. Worry not! Your faith will protect you. We look forward to helping you on your journey. Mister Firefox, I'm sure you will decide to join him!"

Carver and St. V manage to locate the majority of the credsticks. The rest are delivered to St.V at 2am while he is visiting his apartment's undersized restroom, flung at his head in quick succession from the toilet paper drawer.

Snow reads the scriptures, losing 6 points of Sanity, before taking the Great Drop. After two weeks in the hospital, he is regarded as an irreplaceable part of the conspiracy, and eventually has a fulfilling career as an Elvis impersonator.

(Still waiting on Firefox's decision! But I'm sure it's good and everyone lives happily ever after.)


That's it! Good job, everyone. I hope you enjoyed it. The adventure is actually only three quarters written. I probably should have checked that before I picked it up. But if you have any comments/recommendations/critiques, I know the author, so feel free to share. Otherwise, we'll wrap it up and move to Silver Angel.

If you're still running with us for Silver Angel, all the karma from this adventure can wrap over to Silver Angel, whether you're using your current character (St. Velveteen) or a new one (pretty much everyone else).

St. V, now that you know the system better, you're welcome to make some character changes.

Karma! I've been giving karma after every chapter, so your end karma is a little reduced, but still, big battle, good tactics, lots of funny moments. I loved it! 5 karma for each.

I'll try to get the first Silver Angel post up on Tuesday(ish). We should have a few weeks for any character updates while we're going through the initial Johnson meet.

Snow, if you want to make any announcements, now is probably a good time.