I just love it when Shadowrun teaches me something new :>

Just an FYI, I want to have Duck eavesdrop for awhile to see if these two get into a more vulnerable location/spill the beans on anything we need to know.

Sweet.  And while he is doing that, Caduceus will continue to assess the security measures they may have to deal with if things go wrong.  It's good to be prepared.  (He will also update White Duck on all that he has found out thus far.)

I am a little confused about what you mean by "He is wary about holding it too long."  Could you please clarify that for me?  It sounds potentially important.

The longer he sits on the server, the more likely it is to detect him, attack him and either injure him, draw police attention or do other nasty stuff - plus eliminate his ability to act.

Or in other words:

I'm a sitting duck.

So am I, haha, well, I'm at least that guy whose several steps behind in a line dance who just can't seem to get it.

Maybe I should have posted in PM prior to acting? Either way, boss, I feel like the bus has sort of left without me here. I'd wanted to put Duck in with the initial group of suitors, but she entertained them and split off with one before I could throw Duck's hat in the ring. It could have led to Duck and our mark on the balcony alone, but yeah...

Now I'm in this situation in which I apparently botched a roll I couldn't have made in the first place. No idea on what to say, as clearly things have proceeded along here without my control... so does anyone have any idea here?
This message was last edited by the player at 12:33, Wed 21 Sept 2016.

I don't know, Copperhead.  PB, can I actually set up a timer to go off instead of being stuck there waiting for the other shoe to drop?

@Duck: Crappy dice rolls happen from time to time.  No worries on that.

We're about to lose one option.  That doesn't mean it's the only option.  It may be possible to get the chip without a matrix-invoked distraction, it's just a bit harder.  You still get to call the shots.  We can rush, grab the one chip and (hopefully) get out or you can take a longer play, recognizing that you may not get the same degree of support.

Staying longer means you may get more intel.  I think this scene is actually set up to encourage subtlety.  Even if she does have the chip, that doesn't mean we need to get it here.

So don't feel you need to pull the trigger.  You can tell us to stand down.  As a character, Copperhead will shrug her shoulders and wish you luck.  As a player, I think that may actually be the right call.  (We probably had Noruas go in too soon - challenge is that learning if we have a matrix option looks like it'll need to be temporally close to triggering the option, which is something none of us realized.  We'll do better next time)

Have you actually confirmed that she's got the chip?

Alternative plans:
- you could "save" her from a rogue drone (I'd have to do some fancy flying to get out of dodge) and pull the chip in the process
- plant the tracker and we grab her after the party (when presumably there will be lower - but probably not insignificant) security
- you could try talking her out of the chip
- caduceus could try to magic her into wanting to give up the chip (her charisma's through the roof, dunno about her willpower though) if he thinks he can avoid spirits or mages getting upset
- you could rig your own distraction and do a snatch and grab and cross your fingers on making it out through the security
- somehow convince her she's in danger and move her into a location that's easier to grab the chip
- we could have Noruas jack out right now and let the system cool down a bit and then have him jump right back in once we're ready to go - now that he knows where were to go
- Noruas (and probably me) could enter so he could jack in locally which might bypass some security, though he might have to discover a new path

Probably several others I haven't thought of.

But if you're going to do the alarm thing, we're going to have to trigger right soon.  And the ball is in your court :>

@Noruas - I think to do a timer, you need to program a "frame".  I don't remember the details on how that works and I don't know how hard it is or how vulnerable it is when you leave it on its own.  (And right now, don't have the bandwidth to read up on it :()

I was also wondering about Noruas being able to set up some sort of timer for the sprinklers.

White Duck, if you need any spells from Caduceus, just Mind Link him.  He is willing to assist at your discretion, and White Duck should know his spells from their pre-op planning.  I suspect the spirit in the room may be watching for malicious magics or something though, so keep that in mind.  Also, certain spells will end the mind link as well, such as Influence or Physical Mask.  Could do a Mind Probe or Magic Fingers though if either of those would be useful to you.

Would be good to know what astral oversight is out on the balcony.

If you can magic fingers the chip out of its slot, that could be quite effective.

WD, your roll wasn't bad. Copperhead would do as well playing chess in a Mensa convention. Your issue isn't that you're not playing well enough; it's that you're playing fair.

Noruas: Per the rules, Copperhead is right. This would be best accomplished by Frames. But that requires advanced Matrix rules. As I am both lazy, and think timers are both reasonable in the world and a lot more fun, the answer yes, you can create a trigger and attach it to the system clock. It's a simple programming task and you'll need to link it with a Slave action (i.e., two Computer actions, one contested, one not.)

If Rupert here shows any sign of noncompliance and tries to wire in security, which I'm expecting, Duck will either ask that cad confuse him or that ch triggers the alarm right when he calls, the first option preferred if possible.

PB: Wooo, now that sounds awesome.  So do I roll separately for programming the trigger AND the slave action?  Or are they both just one roll of the computer skill?

Are you broadcasting your conversation over the mind link?  Otherwise Caduceus doesn't know your conversation is getting heated since he is currently in the bathroom. On the plus side, he is in a good spot to call back his spirit and instruct it to Confuse people.

Yes, I figured that it was the default for this spell, sorry.

Ok, cool. I will assume your conversations are coming over the brainwaves from now on unless you specify othwrwise.

So you can choose to have "private" thoughts when subject to this spell?

I assumed so, but I don't have my book with me at the moment.

If theres any sort of emotion-sensing thing linked to it, Cad can also tell that Duck doesnt have any sort of actual killing intent behind his words. He seems to be enjoying getting to trash talk another rich guy. I mean, two in one day!
That said, he'll relay that his plan is to irk the guy into taking some sort of action- either stepping back to call security, taking a swing at Duck, or going to change his undies. Since the plan is to trigger the alarms after the chip is snatched, Rupert here is getting verbally roughed up because his romantical timing is incredibly inconvenient.

Noruas: Two tests. The second is technically harder (since the TN is higher), but you need more successes on the first (to reduce the programming time).

Here is what the book says about Mind Link.  To me it sounds like mostly only what you want to transmit over the link goes through, just like other forms of communication.  Although it doesn't actually say that, so it is up to Papa Bear's judgement.  Either way, I think Duck can accurately convey all the info he wanted Caduceus to know, so we should be good there.

PB:  Thanks!
This message was last edited by the player at 03:08, Sat 24 Sept 2016.

Hmm, I have an idea that doesn't involve threats of violence and with bear's already granted permission I'm gonna go in, edit my last post, then dial it back and do something different.
I'm travelling, so I won't be able to put it in today, but essentially, I think the best move here would be to rely on Cad for confusing Rupert away without any hostile conversation, that way instead of being confused with someone to point at, he'll just be confused and wander off.

Went ahead and posted my change.