Welcome to chapter 2.  When we're ready.

<<<System Loading>>>
<<<File Selected: Cyberpunk Red: Oscillation: Chapter 2: The Telescope is Broken>>>
<<<File Load: Complete>>>
<<<Story File: In Progress>>>
<<<NPC Personalities: Loaded>>>
<<<GM Activity: Detected>>
<<<Interrogatory: Character status: Go/No Go?>>>
     <<<Kentucky: Go/No Go?>>>
     <<<Lube Job: Go/No Go?>>>
     <<<Whisper: Go/No Go?>>>
     <<<Karma: Go/No Go?>>>>
<<<System Awaiting Replies>>>

-Kentucky: Go

-
This message was last edited by the player at 17:00, Sun 09 May 2021.

-Whisper: Go

Karma - Go

Lube Job - Go

<<<All Interrogatories Go>>>
<<<System Initializing>>>
<<<System Ready>>>
<<<Engage>>>

<<<Warning: Oscillation Detected>>>

I’ll catch up tomorrow work willing

Cool.  Thanks for the heads up.

I think I asked this already, but do any of the PCs (besides Cipher) have a personal vehicle?

It's realistic that a not-yet-established solo wouldn't have his/her own set of wheels. Although there's something appealingly humorous about post-urban mercs riding the bus and/or taking taxis/Ubers to jobs and such, there's also something jarringly incongruous about it. It's not very conventionally badass.

Anyway, I'm not complaining.

Kenji's planning on buying a lightly used street-bike ASAP. Keys, I couldn't find a price tag for most ground vehicles in the CP-R rulebook (it essentially says, "price varies").

I'm assuming that since Lube Job's side gig is at a garage, he may have a good source for good quality, yet affordable wheels?

And in cult news,

https://jezebel.com/the-mummif...eged-cult-1846889205

-
This message was last edited by the player at 00:27, Fri 14 May 2021.

With Moto 1, I can request a vehicle from the family - compact ground car, motorcycle, something like that.

Well that’s not creepy at all.  I hope when I’m 3 billion years I get wrapped in a sleeping bag and glitter bombed.


As far as vehicles go, if your own private luxury helicopter is $100k, lets say a decent new car is $10k and a decent used is $5k.  This would be the Honda Accord of CPRed.  Knock off bits and pieces of price as quality decreases.  Increase as you feel appropriate to level of cool and performance.  I trust your discretion.

Watch the linked video from Vice news. That cult is extra bonkers.




So would a decent quality used streetbike go for around $2500?

-

That sounds appropriate to me.

To address Kenji's point... I have been tinkering with a netrunner as a secondary PC but I'm having trouble making myself happy with the build.  The design intent was to have someone with strong intrusion/burglary skills and enough combat capability to not be a liability, but the numbers aren't coming out where I want them.  I'll try to refactor him this weekend.

I don't know if this will help, but keep in mind that part of netrunner's combat capability- if my impression of the rules isn't way off- is in his/her netrunning abilities. If you give your netrunner a decent score in pistols, he/she will still be able to pitch in during a firefight while the more combat-oriented PCs do the bulk of the heavy lifting. I kind of went with a similar design philosophy with Cipher, who's more of a utility PC than a combat monster.

-

True.  Sometimes, though, you just have to shoot a cyberpsycho in the face.  Or stab him.  Accordingly, backup PC is posted to the PCs/NPCs thread.

@Dave - the intent of my latest IC post is to give Karma the opportunity for an in-character intro and C.V.  Feel free to run with it or ignore it as seems appropriate.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:46, Sun 16 May 2021.

I’ve been thinking about the luck attribute.  It’s kinda wonky under the best of circumstances, but hard to work effectively with PbP.  Especially because the players generally don’t have the OOC table talk that results in “ehhhhh...that’s gonna be hard,” etc...

What I propose is that you all basically trust me when to use it.  And that I would basically use it after a critical roll that a PC missed by one or two.  Listener swings wolvers at your unarmored ass and you miss you evasion by 1?  Luck point.  If you wish to burn a large dose prior to a roll, I would leave that to your discretion.  The expenditure would be noted in the combat notes.

The downside of this suggestion is that you might end up at the “end of the level” with few luck points remaining.  Hopefully that would be balanced by being more intact upon arrival.

Thoughts?

Yeah, I can dig that. I totally trust you to use Luck to help a PC avoid grave harm, or cause it to a formidable/dangerous enemy, without needing to ask for permission first.

@All: What color are y'all's respective cyberlimbs?

-
This message was last edited by the player at 05:19, Sun 16 May 2021.

In reply to K. Takanori (msg # 19):

Cruz's is charcoal grey, for the same reason that's a good business suit color - black is too stark and associated with household staff, morticians, and waiters - lighter grey and brighter colors draw fire.  It was navy while he was in the Navy, but he changed it after he got out...
This message was last edited by the player at 13:47, Sun 16 May 2021.

@Teg, no worries, I'll follow up tomorrow (I'm about to jump in the car and drive to Aberdeen - as my 'official' address is still there I need to go there for my Covid shot, which is a 250 mile round trip. I realise that's probably not far for you guys but here that's a road trip)

@Rae, Monica doesn't have any cyber limbs.

I'm 100% on board with this.  It's the best way to handle it in PbP and this group has a pretty robust social contract.



That's still far enough here that most of us would probably make an all-day excursion out of it.



Whisper has no cyberlimbs.  His cybereyes have gray irises with a blue Zeiss brand logo at the 12 o'clock position and a thin chrome ring around each iris.

Peter Parkour's cyberarm (left) is black chrome with bright red EMP threading along the joints and major structural panel borders (he turns it off when he needs to be stealthy).  When the wolvers come out, the EMP threading also runs along the spine of each blade.

His chemskin is set to a natural tone; he mainly got it to control teenage acne.  His techhair is usually set to look natural but has a club mode which will pulse waves of red illumination in time to music or other pressure waves.

The interface plugs in his left temple are red chrome with additional EMP threading around them.  The threading can be set to provide a status indication of data flow rates through the plugs.

Uh... do cellphones have like, more than two week battery times by 2077?

Yeah, fuck it.  Elon Musk won the battery wars.

What do you guys want to do? Surveille the Molt (again)? Go in hard and hope to gain some more intel, maybe snatch a prisoner (not like they'll talk, but...)? Something else?

-

One problem is that these guys appear to have significantly more firepower than we bring to the party, so we have to fight smarter and stealthier.  It's really tempting to turn Viceroy loose on the tracing problem, then kick in the door as soon as the net trace and the van are in the same place, but I'm afraid we'd be ramming Mr. Studd into a blender if we did that.

In reply to M. Lowell (msg # 26):

I'm cool with that. If/when we decide to go looking for a fight, we have three more potential shooters. I don't want to make more work for Keys because more actors means more dice rolling and bookkeeping, but with P-squared, Cipher, and/or El Nino (pure combat build), we have a party of 6-7.

Whatever we choose to do next, my main concern is to avoid campaign inertia.

-
This message was last edited by the player at 19:52, Sat 22 May 2021.

Agreed.

It kinda feels like the simple path here is to get Viceroy set up with Emil, see what trace data she gets from his connection, and be ready to jump on whatever physical location comes out.

Simple, but probably not easy.

My recommendation is to pick a path and start operations on it.  Don’t worry too much about being outgunned as of yet.

There’s more to develop with what’s going on.
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:42, Sat 22 May 2021.

OK, so how about this? We start surveilling the Molt/van forthwith (two can watch, two can sleep); we'll need a vehicle, preferably something with a bit of room, black-out tinted windows, and no lingering ass smell. I figure Jasper can hook us up. In the AM, Cruz calls his Aldecaldo buddies and gets the info on Emil's internet activities for Viceroy so that she can start doing her magic.

Again, I'm not wedded to this plan- I just want to get things moving forward again.

And since we're in broad agreement that we should have a netrunner on the ground with us, when do we want to bring P2 into the picture?

-
This message was last edited by the player at 16:42, Tue 25 May 2021.

I’m heading to Michigan today.  Tomorrow I’ll get a post up following Rae’s general plan unless anyone else has other input.  The only change I’ll make is that Viceroy will accompany Lube to the Nomads to spike the signal.

In the meantime, don’t forget you have the ability to contact Pandora and the others you pulled out of the pagoda.

Lube can probably rig a Faraday cage with a reasonable roll.  You’ll need the fine copper wire for the mesh, a power plant, and a bit of time, but it’s not impossible.  And there’s always Denny’s Drone Delivery to get the pieces.  Or MDR could make some calls with that Exec background.

I’m cool with making a faraday cage.  Just got in to Sundance WY, so it may be a day or two till I am settled and can post. Please NPc as needed.

Is Karma in the van with us?

-

In reply to K. Takanori (msg # 34):

Yes. I'll try and post something tomorrow.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:25, Tue 01 June 2021.

Sounds like you're on a road trip of Kerouac-ian proportions. Are you travelling for business or pleasure, ATM?



Cool. Thanks.

-

Okay, check in time.

I’m back in IL.  Our pace has dropped here, presumably for various reasons.  I know Rae is excited to go, Spartan is traveling, and Teg and Dave are busy with RL and project things.  I also know that I jumped the gun and got us restarted before we were actually all good and ready to go.

 My fault on that one.

Is everybody still good?  Having fun? Want to participate?

I’m honestly totally fine if you if the answer is no to any of the above..  I’m also fine holding off another week or two (or whatever).  What i don’t want to do is stagnate out and lose the thread.  So let me know what you guys need.  If you don’t feel comfortable with it in public, drop me.a PM.  No hard feelings either way.  And if it’s just me getting impatient and squirrelly, that’s fine too.

On to the last day of school tomorrow! Our long school year of discontent has come to a close and we will have completed third and fourth grades.  Next school year we are officially moving (at the kids request, no less) to homeschooling for reasons. We’ll see how it goes!  Bring on summer vacation!

A little of column A, and a little of column B.  I am traveling by an Act of Congress.  The Rogers Act of 1924, as amended by the Foreign Service Act of 1980, established a third leave category (in addition to Annual and Sick leave) for Foreign Service Officers and Specialists - Home Leave, which my FSO spouse and I are currently enjoying.

There was some concerns in the past that FSOs were developing clientitis over successive tours overseas, so the Rogers Act directed that all U.S. direct hire employees receive a special category of leave that must/must be taken in the United States.  Various amendments now specify that this is a minimum of 20 working days between tours (up to a maximum of 45 working days).

Christy and I made a compelling case to the Director General of the Foreign Service that after keeping AMEMBASSY KUWAIT afloat during COVID (mostly her, handling Acting Management Counselor, Acting Human Resource Officer, and Financial Management Officer duties for the heart of 2020), plus, being two only-children of single-mothers who needed some eldercare interventions, we really really really wanted the 45 day option.  They gave us that and allowed us to tack on some use or loose annual leave.

So with Moms taken care of (as best as possible) early on, we are now on the enjoyable part of the trip.  Thanks to the Roger's Act, we saw the oldest U.S. National Monument yesterday (Devil's Tower), Mount Rushmore today, and will do a day trip to Montana tomorrow.  Then we leave here for Sioux Falls for a few days, then the north shore above Duluth, followed by Madison WI, Holland MI, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, then the Poconos, before we head back to Arlington VA.  After that it's a lot of getting the townhouse ready for House Hold Effects shipments from Antwerp, Haggerstown MD, and wherever they are keeping my Glock .40 cal (special storage facility).  Back to work in August, where I take over the Division I worked in as a Branch Chief before I left for Polska 6 years ago.

Home leave has been amazing and while a bit more expensive than I budgeted for, I'm not complaining.  This is the best part of the FS - even on leave from a post, I'm always worried about what's happening while I'm away.  For HL, Kuwait has another IMO, SAIT has an Acting Div Director, and I have no professional responsibilities; which gives me the great luxury of just enjoying life in the United States of America.  It is exactly what U.S. Representative John Jacob Rogers of Massachusetts envisioned almost 100 years ago.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:30, Wed 02 June 2021.

These can all be yes... just maybe posting time shifted to 3-4 weeks from now.  :)
This message was last edited by the player at 02:31, Wed 02 June 2021.

I'm still in.  Mass vax is over for the summer and we stood down the EOC yesterday (after 15 months of activation), so my life should be a little less chaotic and my brain able to function a little better.

Okay,
Let’s put this back to bed until Spartan is done with his US Adventure.  I’d rather hold off and hit the ground running than move sporadically through the next couple of weeks.

Temperature check here.

How are we looking?  A couple weeks out still?  Should I start plotting again?

I drive to DC tomorrow, check into the Residence Inn in Ballston, thus returning to Arlington County (fun fact - Arlington was part of the District of Columbia as Alexandria County until retrocession: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...irginia_retrocession), at which point I'll effectively be home.  We've got to get keys to the townhouse on Friday, move stuff in, install FIOS (5 days from now and counting down, whoo!), and a lot of other crap, but I won't be driving every 3 days, so I should have more bandwidth to post in the evenings or early mornings!

Everyone good with a July 5th restart?

That works for me!

I should be able to do that.

No other takers?

I need a refresh on the plan.  Are we going to try to capture an experimental subject first or are we just prepping the Faraday-molester-van in anticipation of grabbing one later?  Seems like our primary lead right now is the signal trace with Viceroy.

When we left off the question was up in the air to grab a Listener or not.  You certainly do not have to, I built the post around that idea to try and generate some momentum from what came before, but my feelings aren’t going to be hurt if you want to back burner that one and try something else.  Faraday cage might prove useful in the future.

Viceroy and Lune were going to go spike Emil’s data stream in the morning in hopes of backtracking the Listener transmission point/points.

I kind of feel like the data stream is the critical path here, both in terms of progress and in terms of the contracted mission.  Grabbing a Listener seems unlikely to produce immediately-valuable intel but could be a good supplement if we have the chance to abduct one in the process of hitting a transmission point.  I'm open to counter-arguments, though.

Sorry! I didn't see the call until just now. Not sure how I missed it. I am rarin' to go.

-

We tracked the one van back to the Molt, right? IIRC, it doesn't seem like the brain-scrambling transmission is originating from the pagoda, ATM.

-
This message was last edited by the player at 20:31, Thu 08 July 2021.

Yes, the van you tagged previously is back at the Molt.  Where it will go?

Can't tell if that's rhetorical or what.

All I know- at least, I'm pretty sure of- is that we prepared to follow said van if it should depart.

-

Yeah, sorry.  It was rhetorical, just not super clear.

So you guys want to monitor the van and trail and spin Lube off to meet with Emil?

In reply to Data Source (msg # 55):

I'm fine with whatever. I don't want to try to grab a Listener without Lube on hand to help out.

Hee hee.

That said, homeboy spent 100eb and a bunch of time and energy on a personalized faraday cage so, at some point, might be worth trying out.

-

Hang on Teg!  I’m trying to get to Whisper’s strong suit!

Not saying this is what you're playing at, Keys, but Teagan's latest text reminds me of something that happened early my sophomore year of college.

I was rooming with a buddy I met freshman year; some girls* we knew from the dorm then called us one night acting super freaked out and telling us that someone random dude** was banging on their apartment door, demanding to be let in. We're blocks away, no car, and so I tell them there's nothing we can do to help, really, so they should hang up and call the cops. They refuse, just keep acting freaked out, like they're about to get murdered, begging for us to come rescue them*** (we can't hear the banging or yelling in the background). This seems really fishy to me. I insist on them hanging up and calling the cops. Again, they refuse, so I say, "Okay, then I'm going to hang up and call the cops for you." At that point, the maniac [conveniently] leaves.

My buddy and I agree that it was all bullshit, to what end, who knows? The next day, these girls come over and are acting kind of pissed off that we hadn't tried to help, like why didn't we seem to care more or something? I flat out tell them I think they made the whole thing up for attention. They get super pissed and storm out. The way that acted- they doth protested too much- seemed to confirm our suspicions rather than refute them. We never really hung out after that.

*My roommate had dated one of them but they had kind of a messy breakup.

**Guess what race they said this dude was.

***If you're thinking, "Dude, were you stupid or something? It was a low key booty call!", the though did occur to me then; in my defense, I really wasn't into any of them.

-
This message was last edited by the player at 21:04, Mon 12 July 2021.

You guys are suspicious as hell.

I love it.

For some reason, this game hasn't been turning red for me when there are new posts. I just happened to click on it and there were two new ones waiting. I haven't been having that issue with Twilight Tales or Fuse's game. Anybody else?

-

Alright, so we’re going to grab a hostage.  Rad!

What’s your plan?  Sneak up and tranq her then toss her in the van?  I just want to make sure so I can start building the post.

Also, friendly reminder: we are in Chapter 2.  Dice may result in bad ends for characters.  On the plus side, I think I have auto fire down now ;)

I feel like this will work only if we can do it without the rest of the Listeners finding out about it.  So if stealth is compromised on the approach, or if she gets into an area of town with ubiquitous surveillance, we abort the run.

But if we can get her alone and by surprise, then, yes, basically do to her what she's been doing at the clubs.  Whacketty-whack, tranqy-tranq, a quick weapons pat-down, and toss her in the Faraday cage before she can unscramble her shit enough to get a message out on her assumed headware comms.
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 22:27, Sat 17 July 2021.

It'd be helpful if we knew the range on their "telepathy" coms, but we don't. We also haven't figured out a way to jam it. It's also going to be tricky to do this with only two people, but as Whisper's pointed out, we may not get an opportunity like this again.

What skills are we looking at using/rolling against here?

Stealth (to sneak up on target)
Brawling (to grapple the target)
Paramedic (to tranq the target)
Drive Land Vehicle (to operate the van- to follow target and/or get away)

What else?

One idea is to just drive up to the L (Whisper would have to be the wheelman), Kenji jumps out, tries to tranq the L, then tosses the L in the van. If he fails to subdue L, Kenji jumps back into the van alone and Whisper peels out.

Potential Reward- a L hostage/prisoner to interrogate. Best case, we access intel that tells us what the signal is, where it's coming from, and how to stop it.

Potential Risk- at the very least, the van gets made, complicating further surveillance, and the L's are now on guard. Worst case scenario, one of us gets killed.

I don't have any better idea, so maybe we should just go for it. Still waiting to hear back from Teagan, though, but I think we'll probably learn more about the L's from a prisoner than by riding shotgun on a parley.

Bottom line, I'm cool with whatever.

-
This message was last edited by the player at 23:52, Sat 17 July 2021.

looks at Whisper's sheet

Ugh.  Yeah, maybe we shouldn't do this without an actual driver...

We could try to start the ambush with the van's front bumper, but with neither of us a driver or a techie, chances are pretty good that the anticollision nannyware won't let us do that.

I suppose we could introduce her to the game of mailbox baseball...
This message was last edited by the player at 00:09, Sun 18 July 2021.

You don’t necessarily have to grapple to tranq the target.  A successful melee attack would result in drug delivery.  We’ll say the standard sedative would be strong to resist, but that as a Medtech you can dial up a double dose that would be deadly to resist (cv 15).  That would take two doses from the hypo per successful attack.  It will also take a successful Paramedic roll to keep the target alive with that level dose.  Failure would result in needing to wake up the target via an antidote or letting them die.  Critical failure would be full respiratory arrest with several more Paramedic rolls to save the patient.

In reply to Data Source (msg # 65):

I'm not sure I follow (especially the part about resisting the sedative), but based on I think you're outlining, I think I'd like to administer a single dose instead of a double. That will require less rolls. As I understand it, we want to subdue the L long enough to secure L in the faraday cage.

-

Everything makes perfect sense to me when I type it ;)

For clarification:

Administering a drug allows the target to make a Resist Torture/Drugs roll at the DV value.  Your Listener would need a roll of 13 to save against the effects of a single dose or a 15 to save against the effects fo a double.  Drugs are rated as Mild, Strong, or Deadly (11, 13, or 15 respectively).  See page 181 for the explanation that isn’t my gibberish.

And now I’m not getting notifications either…weird.

Next few weeks will be super busy with getting various shipments, new carpet, car sorted out (inspection, emissions, plates, then lots of work at the dealer), etc.  Would be a good time for Rae and Teg to take center stage for a bit from my POV.

With Martin's professional involvement in Night City's club scene, what does he know about that bar?

Six Bullet Sally’s

Located in Maelstrom territory, Six Bullet Sally’s is the home of owner and proprietor Sally Baier, a former Edgerunner of some repute. Rumor has it Sally’s former partner turned on her during a score, dropping six large caliber rounds into the petite woman’s frame.  One in each limb and two into the chest.  She emerged later with some significant cybernetic repair and “enhancement.”  Sally sports four cyberlimbs, and usually wears low cut shirts displaying two large scars, one on either side of her sternum.  The story falls apart a bit when one wonders why a professional killer would kneecap the the person they turned on instead of using one bullet to force a dynamic brain matter exit, but Sally won’t clarify, she just gives a metal tooth grin.

The bar itself is a classic booster gang shit hole.  Loud music, a couple scraped up pool tables, and a back room for brain dance or card games.  The borderline cyber psycho set has adopted Sally as a patron goddess of chrome and she serves up all manner of drink and other substances to keep them happy (and probably more than a few Eddies).  In return, they keep her free of unwanted interference.

Fodor’s 2042 Guide to NC reports: “Unless you have enough chrome to set off the metal detector of the airport next door, think about drinking somewhere else.”

@Spartan:  No problem.  I think I can keep these guys entertained while you adult.  Even if that’s less fun that beating in cyber brains.

So, Teg, what do we want to do? Do you still want to grab the L? If we do, I think we should try a single dose of sedative, but I'm down with whatever.

Also, do we want to follow up with Teagan? I kinda want to see where that's going but, IRL, the scheduling issues- for us and for Teagan- might be prohibitive. Like, we don't know what might happen next with the signal (our main quest), and the team is kind of spread out ATM; can we make a meeting? Can Teagan work around our hazy schedule?

Again, I'm cool with whatever, so if you don't think the Teagan thread is worth following, no problem.

-
This message was last edited by the player at 16:49, Mon 19 July 2021.

If we can make it a clean abduction, yeah.  If there are about to be witnesses, we wave off.  We need to make her just disappear off the planet as far as the rest of the cult (call them what they appear to be) is concerned.  A messy attempt is worse than letting her go for now.

I'm also curious about Teagan's lead.  Let's say we forward Cruz a copy of the chat log so he knows what's on the table.  OOCly, we know Spartan is in limited availability mode right now, so we can proceed without Cruz if the schedule works out.  ICly, though, I want Cruz to know what's going on with Teagan in case he has any insights or wants to tag along.

Sounds like a plan. I will to cover all of that in an IC post.

-

Tuesday, 3:24pm: we abducted an alien.

In reply to M. Lowell (msg # 76):

Ha ha! Now, where do we keep it?

-

Area 2045?

Heading out on a quick overnight camping trip.  Post will be up Saturday-ish.

So your options are:

1) Cruz’s garage
2) The drive in motel
3) Calling Jasper for a location.
4) Something I can’t think of.

Let me know what you’d like to do.

In reply to Data Source (msg # 80):

Hm. I wouldn't want to use Cruz's garage without Spartan's blessing. Maybe Jasper has a place we can use as a lockup?

-

You guys do what you need to do.  I'm gonna need some more time before snapping into this again.  Sorry.

I like the Jasper option.  I've been inferring that our fixer also has an interest in getting to the bottom of the Listener rabbit hole.  Presumably, he'll use whatever we learn to further his own profits, but that's how the street works.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:50, Wed 04 Aug 2021.

Take your time, we’ll be here.

In reply to M. Lowell (msg # 83):

Sounds good to me.

-

I have returned from Cleveland.  I’m aiming to post tomorrow.

To add detail to above:

I will pick up at the arrival of a Jasper provided safe house.

What were you doing in Cleveland?

-

In reply to K. Takanori (msg # 88):

I’ve been taking both of the boys on father/single son trips this summer.  My youngest wanted to go stay in a hotel in a big city (that is not Chicago) and settled on Cleveland.  We did the Rock’n Roll Hall of Fame, a pinball arcade, some board game time, and just wandered around the city for a few days.  I also have family out there I haven’t seen in like 10 years, so we reconnected with them and Pete got to meet some “cousins” he didn’t know he had.  All in all, a pretty good trip!

In reply to Data Source (msg # 89):

That's really cool. I've never been to Ohio. How was the RRHOF?

-

Hall of Fame was good.  Decent blend of current artists who the kiddo recognized plus enough classics he was familiar with.  My wife will probably kill me, but he’s moving towards becoming a Nine Inch Nails fan.  Should be interesting since he doesn’t listen to explicit music.  If the tag comes up in a song in the car he makes me change it.  Anyway, the museum was cool, reminded me why I like music so much.  It may not be worth a trip for the sole purpose of seeing the museum, buts it’s worth visiting if you’re in Cleveland anyway.

Appreciate the report.  If COVID Delta doesn't fuck the trip, Camille and I will be swinging through Cleveland in October on the way to DC/Williamsburg.  My aunt is there and I don't see her nearly enough outside of funerals.

If the Listener is physiologically capable of speech, we could try sodium pentothal to loosen her tongue a bit. I mean, it works in the movies...

-

Post coming tomorrow.  It’s a travel day to the farm, but I’ll find the time.

Rae,
You flipped a 1 for the 4 in the designation.  I fixed it.  Normally I’m not nit picky, but it’s relevant here.

In reply to Data Source (msg # 95):

Whoops. Thanks.

-

Current game times:

Whisper and Kenji are at about 2130 hrs.

Sam is somewhere between 1700-1900 depending.  I’ll nail that down after I give Rae the chance to fix some clarity issues with my earlier posts.  My bad.

Six Bullet opens at 2300hrs.

For other info:
MDR is still cracking away at work.
Lube and Viceroy should be getting somewhere with the interrogation.

Okay,
I back filled Sam's report to Gerald with the info that the Maelstrom who grabbed Mesa was run of the mill at the time, then showed up three weeks later with face tattoos in the hit that Brother Ezekiel was involved in.

My "witticisms" read clear to me on the first pass, but I see that I need to be more clear in the future.  No one's fault but mine.

Nah, I prolly coulda/shoulda caught it. Thanks for not letting me bark up the wrong tree.

I'll post some IC stuff this evening.

-

Heading out for some Labor Day camping.  I’ll be back Monday and ready to resume.  Have a good weekend fellas!

This is going to be an absolute clusterfuck and I am going to enjoy it far, far more than Martin is.

Great line. Made me lol.

-

In reply to K. Takanori (msg # 102):

Thanks.  Every now and then the snark scores.

I’ll story bump this afternoon or tomorrow if no one has any objections.

I was waiting on Teg and Teg was probably waiting on me. He's going on vacation pretty soon, I think. Maybe we should press pause for a bit? Teg?

-

Yeah, we can do that.  Two week hiatus can be done, no worries.

I'm back.  Currently excavating email.  I'll try to jack back in here later this afternoon.

Welcome back! Hope you enjoyed your vacation!

Just dropped a small post to get our minds right again.  I’ll put something more substantial up tomorrow or Monday depending on anything you guys want to add.  No worries either way.

I've started and deleted several posts for both of my PCs. It's just not coming today. I'll try again later, or tomorrow. Sorry, guys.

-

In reply to K. Takanori (msg # 109):

No worries.  No pressure either.

Nice pick up in your last IC post Rae.  Looks like you’re figuring out where these Listeners came from.

In reply to Data Source (msg # 111):

Thanks! I feel like there's still quite a bit I'm missing, but it's good to finally figure something out (kind of). :)

Did the bouncer close the doors or anything like that?

-

He will, I just wanted to give you the choice of where you wanted to be.

In reply to Data Source (msg # 113):

Cool, thanks.

-

Work worked all over my creativity today.  I’ll start the fireworks tomorrow.

Okay, here’s how I’m going to do this.  Each round I’ll flip a d10 for each side, Listener and Maelstrom modified by actions the PCs take or momentum in the fight.  I can’t roll each for everybody involved, but assume it’s an absolute shit-show for everyone involved.

Teg, the dice weren’t kind on the cyber system roll, but I see no reason Kenji can’t bring your systems back on line.  It will take him a complete action to do it, however.  Targets are available to shoot, Mesa is not yet visible to those inside the bar.  I’ll be rolling initiative for the combat after you guys post what you’re going to do and we’ll go from there.

Let me know if you need clarification on anything.

I wasn't certain, until the last GM post, that Sally's had no roof- an important detail I somehow missed. Must be tons of fun when it rains.

That's incidental to my question. Is Whisper incapacitated? I get that his cyber is tweaking out, but can he still fight? If so, at what kind of penalty (not necessarily rules/numbers-wise, but like, for example, he can't aim or he's slow or whatever)? I've got a big decision to make- treat or fight- and I don't want to make it based on false assumptions.

Thanks.

-

Same question, really.  If my neural link is down, that also takes out my boosterware and my smartgun functionality.

Other than cyberware, Whisper is fine.  No penalties, Solo training and normal skills and abilities intact.  He can’t hear and his neural link and speed ware are down, but otherwise he’s good to start shooting.

Apologies for not being clearer on the layout.  In my head Sally’s is a big fenced in square outdoor space with a dive bar/restaurant/entry point attached located against one side.  A few sheds and storage huts in the courtyard, but nothing like the main structure.

But that may not have been what i communicated.  If you have a plan based on my faulty explanation, let me know and I’ll try to fold it in.

In reply to Data Source (msg # 120):

I can totally imagine what you just described, and I can work with that.

I'll change the bit in Cipher's last post about the blast door.

Teg, you want repairs or shooter with a subgun?

-

Repairs, please. Gonna need too many systems that are down.

I’ll get an IC post up tomorrow night. Running a mass casualty exercise tonight and will be home late.

Just got my booster. Took longer than expected. Will post tomorrow.

-

Tactical recap:

Whisper and Kentucky are holding their positions near Slamhound and Teagan.  The car that peeled the wall back is roughly 15 meters away from their position.  There are roughly eight Maelstromers throwing down with twelve Listeners at present.  There may be/is more behind.  The Listeners got the worse of that exchange.  About five Maelstromers are down on the ground with malfunctioning cyberware.

 I will be setting up initiative for this coming round, bystanders may be hit on missed shots as there are a lot of them running around like chickens with their head cut off.

Outside, Sam is about to be in a one-on-one fight with a Listener.  Gonk rolled a 10 and got the bonus roll so he noticed her despite the penalties applied.

Teg:  Since you hadn’t specified prior to combat, I dumped your Solo skill into damage boosting for Whisper’s first shot on the Listener.  If you wish to change that for the next round, please feel free.  No penalty will apply, I’ll give you the free pick.

Let me know if you need clarification on anything.

Does Sam have time to engage the Wolver with her VHP, or is it Judo time?

-

In reply to S. Fletcher (msg # 125):

You have time to do whichever is more rad.

That works.  I'll start up combat tags again; wasn't sure if we were actually going to be in the fight yet due to distance between the gatecrashing and our position.

Read after IC post:

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
I’m not making this shit up and didn’t fudge the dice.  The Listener shooting at Teagan rolled a 1 followed by a 10 on his fumble check.  Totally rad and fits the moment, but purely random chance.

---

Tactical situation:

Maelstrom is starting to get the initiative, but one bad round and it’s going to go the other way.  Mesa and his guys are roughly 12 meters away and mostly occupied by Slamhound and Sally, though Sally looks bad.  MDR’s gyrocopter is six rounds away.  You can stay involved or start your fighting retreat.  Your call.

In reply to Data Source (msg # 129):

I'm starting to think we should take advantage of the melee and delta. You, Teg?

-

Yes.  Mission is get the principal in and out.  Getting the ceasefire is secondary, but accomplished, and I think Kenji getting Slamhound back on his feet buys us enough goodwill.  I'm not above dropping another Listener or two on the way out, of course.

Oh, and hey - there's a free shotgun on the floor.

I'll try to get an IC post later tonight.  We're adopting three cats tomorrow, so we're busy kittenproofing the house.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:02, Thu 11 Nov 2021.

In reply to M. Lowell (msg # 131):

Three at once? Bold move.

-

Camille had two when we first met, and we adopted a third when we bought our first house, so we've managed it before.  We lost the last of the original batch in March and we needed a while to get over that before we could reset.

 Three cats = three times the fun!!!

You’re in the midst of leaving combat behind.
Figure one fighting round to get to the gyrocopter and then the take off.  If you choose to use that as your exit.  If you don’t, MDR still makes a hell of a distraction.  Sam can see the sudden arrival of the gyrocopter as it sprays dust and debris everywhere.  She’s out of combat as well for the moment.

@Rae:

Does Sam want Pulpo to follow the gyro?  Just collecting info before I start the next post.  Thanks!

In reply to Data Source (msg # 136):

Yes. I forgot to assent to Pulpo, IC. The pedo van's got a tracker on board now, so there's not as much reason to follow them with a drone.

-

Bumpity-bump-bump?

Holiday weekend and all, no worries I know people are busy.

I don't think Sam actually saw, either with her own eyes or via the drone feed, the envoys board the gyro. Confirm?

-

Hrm…Sam was backing out, so she probably did not see the envoys boarding the gyro.  Pulpo’s drone had recovered by that point and was observing the action, so he probably saw it even if he wasn’t live feeding Sam again yet.  She was rather busy at that point.

So no, she didn’t see it, but she can confirm with Pulpo that Teagan is on board the gyro.

In reply to Data Source (msg # 140):

Cool, thanks.

-

Well.

This should be interesting.

Damn. Big decision, this. I'm not in the best spot to write up a turn, ATM, but I should be able to post something tomorrow after work.

-

I'm totally fine with playing this however you want to.  In character, Martin is ready to go, but he's going to leave it to Kenji because he's the one who's (a) emotionally invested and (b) carrying damage.

Tactical situation:

You've got roughly 10 NI dudes including Gerald.  What you've seen is mostly handguns and hand weapons.  Obviously there's no cyberware in play and they're not expecting a sudden infliction of violence.  Figure Light Armor Jack.

Take your time and post it how you want.  No rush.

Well hell guys, I went with difficult ultra violent options and the dice cooperated except for the flashbang, and even that crossed half the opposition off the list.  Martin delivered two called shots to the head and Kenji’s autofire worked pretty well.  If guys don’t want me using these kind of options without explicit instruction in the future let me know, but it seemed like the tactics your dudes would use.

Tactical situation: Gerald is dead.  You have five incapacitated Inquisitors on the ground that will be ineffective for the next 57 seconds.  You may react accordingly.

I was reflecting on this story while in the gym today and realizing that in the interest of pacing we might be nearing the time for a summary montage.  We’ve still go story to go in this chapter for sure but I don’t want to get bogged down unnecessarily.

If you guys want, we can plot out the broad strokes of a few big plans and then summarize how we get to the points of the big hit(s).  To that end I think we need to address a few things:

1) where are you going to take Teagan and what are you going to tell her (this will probably need to be dialogued to some degree to make it meaningful.

2) which do you want to hit first or only: Kannerack or the Source?  Info you sent, etc…

3) what are the teams you want to use if you decide to hit both at the same time?  If you go this route I would prefer that Kentucky and Whisper go in the same group so I only have to do one combat explicitly.  Feel free to plan on taking other PCs, etc…

Finally, are you planning on blasting out of the street or investigating Cipher’s imminent arrival at the scene of battle?

In reply to Data Source (msg # 147):

I'll address 1-3 a little later, but I think it would be funny if the envoy team took off in the chopper right before Cipher arrives.

That said, it does raise the question of how to intro her to the main group. But still, I don't see Kentucky et al sticking around to talk to, for all they know, the NCPD.

Teg, do you concur, or do you have other ideas?

If the chopper team does take off (literally), Sam's next move will probably be to check out the apartment that the pedo-van is registered to. So that's a locations she could connect with the other team/s, eventually.

-

Martin would have absolutely no interest in sticking around to talk to the cops.  Having said that, if Monica is confident that she can fast-talk or browbeat the cops, seeing her face off with definitely-not-a-cop Cipher could be amusing.

I have absolutely no plan for Teagan.  Martin will probably helplessly defer to Kenji on how to explain to her that we just wasted her cult friends but they were all bad people.

I lead toward hitting the Source.  Kannerack seems to be mainly Monica's lead and I'm not sure Martin would have a strong interest in that versus kicking the Listeners' infrastructure in its big metal dick.

I'd be down for that. Or not. Up to Keys.



Yeah, so I'm having a bit of trouble figuring out how to handle this situation realistically. "Yeah, our friend texted us that Gerald was going to burn you alive. We just assumed she meant that literally, figured, why take a chance, and made the snap decision to kill all your friends. Where'd you like us to drop you off?"

Maybe Monica meant that the NI was going to all tell off-color jokes about Teagan at a banquet or something? ;)

I'll think of something to tell her.



+1

-

We could stick that duty of explanation on Monica too, but that basically turns into Keys playing with hims... uh... something.

Yeah, too much self stimulation. Kenji will take care of it.

NOT LIKE THAT!

-

If this doesn't get Spartan to re-engage, nothing will.

oh god my brain

You guys crack me up.
Okay, hit the source, check.
Let Monica worry about Kannerack, check.
Craft hilarious narrative between Cipher and Monica, check.

As for Teagan…if only Whisper had a therapist on speed dial.

Shit!

I thought about that at least twice today, neither time when I was near a keyboard, and then completely forgot about it the entire time I was at my computer.  As I have just gotten out of bed to deal with a mis-programmed building alarm system at work, and am now going back to bed to see if kittens have stolen my spot, I will further explore that dangling plot thingie tomorrow...

Tried to make it funny.
Failed.

I have shame.

In reply to Data Source (msg # 156):

Dang. Don't be so hard on yourself.

-

Ah, I’m fine.  I just have trouble being funny on demand.  It’s much more of a snark as it comes thing.

Just spent an hour getting the runaround from the AZDPS website re fingerprint card renewal. My back hurts and I'm not in the mood to write. I'll try to get something up tomorrow.

-

If you guys want to reply, feel free, if not, no big.  Otherwise tomorrow I’ll get us set back up at the hide and we’ll get the details for the various raids worked out.

So as not to bind up the IC thread:

The TV station is not particularly well lit on the exterior.  You  guys are probably approaching 2am, but have enough darkness left to hit the facility if you move quick and want to use the darkness as cover.  Otherwise your probably going to have to get on-site recon to find another path.  The fence must not be done electric as you can see from Viceroy’s map that the shanty town attaches directly in several places.  You’ve also got a drainage ditch running down the steep north exposure of the hill.

Also, what would you like to do with Sara?  Dump her on the cops? Ask Jasper for assistance?  Leave her in place until after the hits?  Something else?

Edit:  presumably she would rejoin the network with a location ping on exiting the Faraday cage.  That might come in useful…
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:31, Sat 11 Dec 2021.

Darkness isn't much of a tactical benefit if we assume that most of this crew is cybered enough to have decent optics.  We'll need concealment/cover on the approach unless we're just going to drive through the gate all Killdozer-like.  Does the ditch look suitable for that?

In reply to M. Lowell (msg # 162):

Sure, why not?  Everything in Night City is concrete anyway.

By the way this campaign turns 1 in around a week, so yay us!

Okay, so first we hijack a delivery drone, tie Sara onto it, and send it around the city on a randomized course...

I'm planning on putting up a Cipher post tomorrow evening.

-

In reply to S. Fletcher (msg # 166):

No worries.  We start our trek across the country tomorrow morning so I’m not anticipating any large chunks of posting time for a couple of days at least.  I don’t want to go full hiatus mode, but if we need a little extra time that’s fine.

I’ve broken this down in my head as two teams:

1). Whisper, Kentucky, Lube, Viceroy, and Cipher hitting the transmitter site.  Tentatively planned as a frontal assault using the drainage ditch and a vehicle as the approach.

2) Karma, Pandora, Ringo, and Monica’s pet NetRunner hitting Kannerack address.  This will be handled largely off screen with some bits of action for flavor.

Do you all have more planning you want to do or should I just move us forward to the time of the assault?

A Christmas Cyberpunk bump!

I know everyone is busy with other projects and the holidays.  No worries.

I plan on posting Cipher's reply after work today.

-

Good with a frontal attack?

Not good with it, exactly.  Seems like a way to get chewed up.  Does the map or any available drone recon suggest a way to violate their perimeter and get inside their base to be killin' their dudes?

I'd rather try to ninja our way in first.

-

Best stealth approach would be coming up the drainage ditch side.  It allows purchase up the steep slope and avoids the population centers.  Figure the fence is in pretty shit shape on that side so you would be coming up a concrete trench with the occasional boulder and tree limb and that would give you cover until you reach the perimeter.  Roving patrols are two pairs of sentries moving in slow circles though with timing and a bit of luck you could reach the side of the building between sweeps.  After that its move to the wall and make entry through a window or door.  There aren’t any spotlights, just normal building light leaking through shut windows and a single bulb LED at the front (east) and back (west) door.

Alternatively there is a storm drain grate at the top of the ditch that you can see from a drone feed.  Unknown how its sealed and where it leads.  The grate itself is in shadow at the fence line but a lucky roll could tip the Listeners off that you’re there.

Oof I’m missing my flow here so no worries if you guys aren’t in the stream yet either.  I’ve tried to construct the MDR side of the op like three times and still haven’t gotten it right.

As a reminder, you can still create a distraction of some sort with Sara as her reintroduction into the net would probably have an effect on the Listener team.

Ooh! New Oscilation! Stoked!

-

Hehehe.

And then I post in the wrong OOC thread.  Weak sauce.

Anyhoo, I think we can assume if this gets resolved prior to our end of hiatus that Nyx would be available as backup on a Listener mission.  We’ll get to the how/why as we move through her story.

Tactical Situation:

Nyx has lightly wounded both guards and suffered a minor injury of her own (I was ready to spend luck, but the guard rolled a twenty five with a natural ten and bonus roll and then she rolled a 12 to dodge due to a natural one and a penalty roll, so that was moot).

Combat awareness was spent on an initiative bonus that allowed her to act first.  The only reason the guards got to act is that they are also wired.  You’ve got one guard up close and the other moving to secure Nyx’s target.

The hallway is long, strait, and has doors opening to theater balconies every 10 meters or so along one side of the wall.

Let me know if you have questions.

So just checking, second guard is wounded but still a potential threat, yeah? And Nyx is right up in his face?

In terms of game mechanics, can she try and finish off the guard with the sword and draw her pistol and take a shot at the target in the same post? Or is that pushing it?

That’s probably pushing it.  However, the RoF on a sword is 2, so she could in principle hit the guard, move, and hit her target.  The woman fleeing down the hall is not her target.

Great writing, my Chooms!

-

Okay, so Nyx has dispatched her target.  Now she needs to get out of here before/during security’s arrival.  Cuz they are on their way.

Also, here is a breakdown of the tactical decisions made on Nyx’s behalf to give everyone a taste of how I’m pulling these together.

Round 1:
2 standard sword attacks to one guard each.

Round 2: Attack 1, called shot to the head, -8 on attack roll, damage after armor is doubled.  He’s not wearing a helmet so it’s a lot.  Hit lands and a lucky critical is rolled.  Damage to the guard is enough to kill guard #2.  Attack 2, standard attack on the second security mook.

Round 3:  Attack 1: called shot to the head, -8 on attack, damage after armor (which is none in the noggin) is doubled.  Hit lands and a second lucky critical is rolled.  He dies where he stands.  Attack 2: standard attack on the primary.

Round 4:  2 standard attacks against the primary.

Round 5: 2x called shots to the head/neck.  First was easily avoided, the second Nyx missed by 1 and spent two luck points to push her roll into the success column (one to tie, one to take the lead).  The damage was not enough to kill the target outright, but it was enough to force a death save that she failed.
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:15, Sat 22 Jan 2022.

In reply to Data Source (msg # 182):

Right, so calling the location of the attack obviously carries a penalty to the die roll but if I'm following correctly if you do hit it causes increased damage, yeah? So essentially it's a case of risk vs reward?

In reply to K.N. Orlova (msg # 183):

Yep.  For a called shot you’re rolling skill+attribute+d10 with a -8 penalty.  Different hit locations have different effects (double damage, broken bone, dropped object, etc…).  The target gets their normal evasion roll which makes a called shot much easier to dodge in melee.

Sorry man, I'm getting hammered at work this week. Will catch up tomorrow.

In reply to K.N. Orlova (msg # 185):

No worries.  I’m teaching today and Thursday anyway.

In reply to Data Source (msg # 186):

Does she have her SMG with her? (i'm picturing something like an HK MP5 PDW type that can fit in a thigh holster). If not no worries, just thought I'd check.

Sure.  That would be a pretty lightweight weapon.  We can adjust accordingly.

In reply to Data Source (msg # 188):

Hmmmm....might be back to the drawing board I think....the flaw in my cunning plan is that I don't have autofire skill....

If you want to push some points around that’s fine.  Autofire costs double so the easiest switch would probably be to move the six points in shoulder arms to a three in autofire.  You lose your access to big guns, but pick up the ability to use your SMG more effectively.  Or you can wait until after this mission and see if you want to move anything.  Your call.

My experience with Martin, and watching Kenji, kind of makes me feel like Autofire is the must-have combat skill for anyone who isn't a dedicated sniper.  Pistols and even shotguns don't seem to cut it in CQB, which is where most fights happen in RPGs.

Yeah, fuck shotguns!

Ammosexual.

I think I’ll leave things as they are for now. In my mind’s eye she’s a precision killer and it feels like there’s more finesse reaching out from a distance with a sniper rifle. It probably gives the team more options as well. Submachine guns are so...nekulturny…

I've got a spare Adjudicator on my sheet, so once I'm back and we connect, you too can have a handheld sniper cannon.

In reply to K.N. Orlova (msg # 194):

Let’s pull the SMG from Tri’s character sheet and give her 200eb instead.  You’ll be that much closer to buying a sniper rifle.  Without Autofire, there’s no real advantage to holding the SMG.

Sorry, been a manic couple of days what with one thing and another. Will get caught up tomorrow.

All good.

Sorry that took longer than planned...

My turn to delay…

We’re traveling to the farm today.  It’ll be tomorrow before a post comes up.

In reply to Data Source (msg # 200):

No worries, no rush my end.

Okay,
That bring us to Nyx’s meet-cute with Black Jasper.  Leaping forward, she would be available for extra muscle on your hit on the Listener compound.  If you need to ninja your way in, she’s your girl.  Jasper can provide the introductions.

Let me know when you are ready to proceed.

Dave, if you want some back and forth with Jasper in the meantime, feel free.
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:04, Tue 08 Feb 2022.

I’m going to spin this bad-cat back up this weekend.  Stand by for Cyberpunk action.

Shimra, my choom.

-

@Spartan,

Should you wish to post, feel free.  Otherwise I will assume Lube stayed back to prosecute whatever distraction you guys come up with regarding Sara.

So I have this skill: Electronics/Security Tech (x2): 4/12.  Is there a way to use it at range to blind (or better, loop video/stale data) to the cameras/sensors?

Also - any chance to get my character sheet turned on under character details?  Just a habit, but it's faster for me to go there than find the PC/NPC thread and then Cruz's stats.

Edit:  really what I want is this:

https://armedassault.fandom.com/wiki/Spectrum_device

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQAEh0gFBuo
This message was last edited by the player at 13:09, Sun 27 Feb 2022.

In reply to A. Cruz (msg # 206):

Yeah I need to get the character sheets moved over there.  I’ll work on it today.

That spectrum analyzer is pretty rad.  I figure between you and Viceroy you can probably build and equivalent type device.  A common piece of equipment like that might tilt into the land of over power, but I really like the concept of custom rigs.

 I’ll make some rolls

Glad everyone is back!

Okay,
Cruz rolled a 19 and I spent one of his luck points to build a capture device.  Viceroy rolled a 21 on her penetration test.  Between the two of them and these rolls, I will give you 30 seconds of blanket system capture.  After that, it's as Lube says in his post, notice will be made that the system is under threat.

As a note, game canon in the time of The Red is that most systems are hardwired specifically to reduce NetRunner access.  You're going around that in a really clever way and I don't want to crap on that.  If you spoof the far side of the building first, you will pick up additional rounds before they notice you, subject to just how could the security forces monitoring the system are (meaning a lucky roll will spot the deception quicker).

Sound fair?

And to clarify, you could let the capture lapse without the opposition knowing that their system had been compromised.

Ex: capture system, PCs move, system released, no alarm sounded/PCs remain undetected unless physically spotted.

Call it 30min to modify what Lube already has.

That sounds good.  Teg, et. al - Please presume Cruz responds with the time required and relevant info, just to keep things moving!

I’ve got your broad outlines here, enough to start planning I think.  But to recap: 1) advance up the drainage, 2) hack the security system, 3) advance under Pulpo’s eye to the building, 4) enter and begin hunting the main server system.

What do you plan to do with your captured Listener?

Are you going to stay hidden, or spoof the bad guys to draw off potential security forces from where you actually are?

Can we get drones that fire stuff? Not like hellfire missiles obviously, but small scale stuff?

In reply to K.N. Orlova (msg # 213):

I like where your head is at, but not for free.  Pulpo may have a few weaponized drones laying around, but they’re going to cost eddies to access.

You have about thirty easy seconds to play with. Lube can pop a door lock quietly with a decent security roll.  Or Nyx can go for a window or something and loop back around.

Worth trying both maybe?  That way Nyx is flanking at the same time as door breach.

I like that.  It only splits the party momentarily (we hope).

Once Rae has a chance to chip in, I’ll get us going.

Does Nyx want company? If not, no problem. Trying to decide where to put Cipher.

-

In reply to S. Fletcher (msg # 219):

Sure, can do if you want.

Can I get Nyx and Whisper’s current combat settings?

Thanks!

Initiative Reaction +5.

What he said…

Does there appear to be a light on in the basement (visible via the stairwell shaft)? If not, Whisper might need to take point (IIRC, he's got night vision for his cybereyes). Kenji's got meat eyes and his smart glasses don't have low-light capabilities.

-

If you crack the door you’ll see ambient light in the hallway (dim but useable) and a glow coming up from the stairs.

Assuming that only Sam can hear Pulpo's transmissions?

Are we on the landing or just looking down at it?

-

In reply to S. Fletcher (msg # 226):

Yep, Sam got the message.

Just looking down.  You all are still on the main level.
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:09, Tue 22 Mar 2022.

Sorry, I’m drowning in stuff. I won’t be able to post until Saturday

In reply to K.N. Orlova (msg # 228):

It’s cool.  I’m traveling today though I have my book with me.  I’ll be able to post this weekend, etc…

Thanks for the update!

Has Cruz seen any gas lines, large piles of flammable material, or anything that might allow him to easily and readily set this MFing building on fire?

Ok, managed to get some time tonight after all.

Nyx tends to be over confident. If you all don’t want to split the group I’m good with other options that avoid that, just wanted to put it out there.

In reply to A. Cruz (msg # 230):

Old office furniture is basically plastic gasoline so that’ll burn without issue.  You might have to contend with a fire suppression system, but mechanical shut offs for those bad boys tend to be in stairwells.  Which Lube would know.  Wheel valve construction.

Okay, now that is a shotgun value proposition I can get behind.

Fumbles on stealth checks mess stuff up.

Sorry!

In reply to Data Source (msg # 234):

Errrr….how practical would it be to try and decapitate one goon and simultaneously shoot at another? I mean, it’s probably really impractical but it in my head it’s cinematic gold…
This message was last edited by the player at 19:52, Sun 27 Mar 2022.

Well you get two actions, so it’s worth a shot.  It would be rad if it works.

@Kenji has a firing arc to the bottom of the steps.  Just to make sure, are you going with burst fire or fully auto?

Whisper has a firing arc over Kenji’s shoulder at no risk of blowing his head off.  I’m NPCing Whisper through the weekend with Teg’s say so.

@Spartan, if you want you can slide to the other side of the wall and have a clear arc to the bottom as well.  Or you can support the top of the stairs.  Your call.

That was effectively a surprise round for the crew in the stairwell, initiative will be next round.  Nyx and Cypher had the drop so they got to act first but will be rolling initiative this next round as well.

It’s a furball for sure.

Well that post is moot.

Every PC beat every NPC on initiative.  That’s hilarious.

Keys, can you confirm how many baddies are still up in the stairwell? I know the wolver leader, but is there another?

Also, when you get a chance, will you change the author of the last turn post, please? It's silly that I let that sort of thing bother me, but yeah.

Gracias.

-

Huh, that’s weird.  Switched the author, don’t remember picking Nyx.

Two guys left in the stairs, goon and Wolverine LT.

I'll try and post something later today.

My schedule for the next few weeks looks a bit like this

I should be able to post sporadically the rest of this week.

Mon 18 April - Sunday 01st May I'll be travelling (work) and am anticipating very very limited opportunities to post other than possibly occasional OOC one liners, so best to assume I won't be posting anywhere on Rpol (or elsewhere for that matter) during that period.

Monday 02 May - Friday 06 May - sporadic posting.

Saturday 07 May - Thursday 26 May travelling again (holiday) but probability of some time to post.

In reply to K.N. Orlova (msg # 242):

Shouldn’t be a problem.  I’ll be posting a bit more sporadically at the end of this month/beginning of next as well.

On the post side, you’ve still got two goons shooting at you.  Sorry if I wasn’t being clear.

In reply to Data Source (msg # 243):

Sorry, I misunderstood, I thought we'd put them all down, albeit not fatally.  I edited my post - I'm afraid it's not my most profound effort but should keep things moving.

I have never seen so many damn 10s come up on attacks rolls in my life.  It was well timed for sure. Kenji pulled a 24 on his autofire check with his SMG.  At a DV 15 with our rule set that put 9 bullets into the guy.  That was that.

Tactical Situation:
The goons outside are down.  The outside is clear.  Should Cipher and Nyx move back into the building they will be assaulted with a general sense of fear that will escalate as they approach the steps.  At which point they will be rolling Resist Torture at DV 15 as well.

Inside the way is currently clear.  It’s up to you which way you want to go but Viceroy is going to to have to be physically dragged to get there.  She’ll help, but…

OOC Note: Martin is no longer affected by the fear effect.  I will also rule that his internal comms are on the near side of his audio firewall so that he can communicate via radio and pick up whatever is transmitted to him.

The die roller was not kind to the PCs that round.  Everyone involved in combat pulled a critical failure at some point during their action sequence.  Booooo.

You guys are still in the fight!

Looking through the rule book, it looks like you can lose humanity from the horrors of life.  This attack, for those who critically failed their rolls, certainly qualifies.  I’m looking at 1d6 per.  That leaves us with this:

Whisper: 3 humanity lost.
Lube: 1 humanity lost.
Cipher: 2 humanity lost.
Viceroy: 6 humanity lost.

I hope Jasper has a good therapist on retainer.

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In reply to S. Fletcher (msg # 249):

Cruz ain't gonna see no headshrinker.  I'm pretty sure I can drink my way to the other side of 1 HC loss.

Are we all cool with that as an effect?  I can be convinced otherwise, just seemed appropriate.  That said, I don’t want to be a jerk face about it.

I think it's cool.

I abstain…

I'll get some sort of post up tomorrow. My brain is way too fried to come up with anything even half decent tonight.

Fuck.  Gonna need to pay for therapy during the next downtime.  That cost me a point of EMP.

And how you gonna pay for that therapy*?  LOOOOOOT!!!

*this was a rhetorical question

Will post tomorrow.

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Lube Loot:

Mostly functional small drone packing a medium SMG.  I’ll get this thing stated up soon (week or so).
Grenade launcher, 6 round capacity, dial a grenade so you can hold different payloads and shoot what you want.
Cybernetic Monofilament whip with bits of flesh, standard quality.
Cybernetic surgical hand, the doctors version of the standard tool hand.
Roughly 1000eb of scavenged cyberware (street value), feel free to describe as you wish.

For planning purposes, are you guys all still interested in continuing our story here?  I can start to develop Chapter 3 as well as some interludes.  I’ll also start cracking out the IP rewards, reputation changes, etc…

If you are interested in continuing, let me know if there is anything you would like more or less of.  We actually just passed the 18 month mark on this bad boy so I want to make sure people are continuing to enjoy their time here.

If we do go forward, I do want to pull some of the focus back off MDR and her crew.  They ended up being necessary to finish Chapter 2 effectively, and i do like them, but you guys are the stars and I don’t need fan-fiction for my own benefit.  They’re available if you need them, just not necessarily getting the same amount of screen time.  They’ve got their own projects to run in the background.

You can write your opinions here, on Discord, PM either place, whatever is easier and more comfortable for you.  I’m a big kid, my feeling(s) won’t he hurt if something needs to change.

Thanks!
This continues to be fun for me!

I, for one, would like to continue.  This is still likely to be my last PbP but it's a high note to go out on.  I'm still struggling to find a consistent voice and persona for Martin, but I'm enjoying the story and interested to see where it foes.

I'm enjoying it and am good for carrying on (even if I feel like I'm winging it most of the time!)

My only issue is time. I'm seriously struggling at the moment and don't see that changing any time in the near future, but that's not unique to this game.

I keep going back to that last scene and thinking, shit, Martin isn't in the room with the Listener array and we need to GTFO anyway, but I really want more investigation here, and I know that's a really bad idea because SAN loss.

The option is there if you want it…

I'm enjoying this and good to go.

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Fuck this, fuck all this, fuck this cult, fuck this place, fuck those servers, fuck that chair, fuck the Inquisitors, fuck everyone involved with this shit, and fuck the one who got away in particular.

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This message was last edited by the GM at 20:32, Tue 05 July 2022.

The final goodies:

Experience Points: 120 IP for all characters.
Reputation bonus: 2 points for all characters.  You guys earned it.
Cash in hand: 2,500eb plus salvage.

End of chapter 1? April of last year.  Took a long time to get here boys, I think the ride was worth it.

I’ll start the interludes in a while, in the meantime discuss what upgrades you plan on and I’ll fold it in to the story.  You have three weeks game time until the next mission begins.

If you have questions, let me know.

For those of us who have armor damage, I'm not finding any price for repairs, just the difficulties in the sidebar on p. 140.  I'm guessing that falls under Basic Tech, as I don't see any more applicable tech skill.  Is that something we can drop off with a tech (I don't want to impose on Lube if he has other priorities) and pay a nominal fee to have done?

Did our payout include expenses (expended ammo, munitions, trauma supplies)?

I’ll say that armor can be repaired at 25eb per point.  Presumably in CP there’s enough armor damage going on that repair would be it’s own bespoke industry.

It’s also fair that a contract, as least one by Jasper, would cover “incidentals.”  What fixer wants his missions to fail based on something as simple as running out of bullets?

FYI - I'm taking Moto: 2 for 120 IP.  Will need to think about what to do with the $2,500 eb.

It looks like enough time has elapsed since the start of the story that it's time for us to pay for another month of lifestyle expenses, too.  Martin is going to spring for generic prepak and container housing so he can have an occasional nice night with Juliana if she's in port.

For skills, Concentration is going from 2 to 3 (60 IP) and he's picking up the basics of Criminology (20 IP).
This message was last edited by the player at 12:12, Wed 06 July 2022.

Great chapter, Keys. Lots of fun.

I'm refamiliarizing myself with the rules re skill improvement and purchasing items (and HL!).

I didn't keep track of armor ablation during the fight. Keys, did you happen to? If not, no prob, I'll look back through the IC and add it up.

According to my char-sheets, the last IG month was August. Next mission starts September? Rent's due on the 1st of the month! ;)

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This message was last edited by the player at 18:11, Wed 06 July 2022.

OK, I'm really going to lean into the PI thing and buy Acting 3 and Conversation 3 for Cipher.

120 IP earned, 120 IP spent.

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For Kenji, I count 3 points of armor lost? (Is that SP, or is SP something else?)

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Yep, SP is the armor value.

Sorry, I'm swamped again this week (my boss is on leave for three weeks which puts more work on me). Unlikely I'll be able to add anything before the weekend.

No worries Dave!

I'm still weighing the shopping list, but Martin's downtime is going to consist of one week of therapy and two weeks of bodyguard gig for a low-end client.

I’m digging through the rules here and I want to propose something here.

I will award you one point in your primary role ability for free.  At the speed we’re going (pbp speed l, not you guys) we’re never going to have the opportunity to increase otherwise.

Spartan, if you would rather take 2 levels of nomad, I’ll allow it instead of another tech point.  You may have this missions IP back if you want that option.

Thoughts?

In reply to Data Source (msg # 279):

I'm good with that.  I think that's very useful for PbP.

Yes, please. And thanks.

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What is Lube's availability (if any) for equipment upgrades during this downtime?

In reply to M. Lowell (msg # 282):

I'm still working on what I'll be working on for the 3 weeks.  Not 100% sure yet.  Let me iron out the details.  Hopefully there's some time available.