[Malevolence]

I can't believe he resisted the spell!    He's gotta be working with like -6 to rolls. I'd imagine he spent Edge.


Regardless, this doesn't have to be a complete loss. We can speak (in English) about heading to some place not Aspen that is in the same direction we are heading. He won't understand us, but should recognize the location name. Then we shoot him and "leave him for dead", but make sure he will "miraculously" survive (I can use a heal spell for this I think). When we decide to ditch the car, we instead leave every piece of traceable equipment we looted from the assault team in the car and hack it and command the pilot to drive it to the place we intimated to the prisoner. When they trace their stolen gear, it will jive with his story and they should chase their tails there for a bit.


Meanwhile, we steal another car and go to Aspen as planned.


Thoughts?

[Malevolence]

Also discovered that the Dwarf has Fireball:
http://forums.shadowruntabletop.com/index.php?topic=17834.msg315960#msg315960


Updated sheet.

[rednblack]

@purvue, not a bad idea, really. 

[Malevolence]

@Ryo
What would it take to shoot him unconscious but allow him to live while not being obvious to the casual observer (and specifically the target) that we aren't trying not to kill him. I see it like this - we stop the car (assuming we are moving - ahem, Chino), toss him out of the vehicle, follow to stand over him, shoot him "dead", then while I lean to "check his pulse" I use the contact to stabilize him with Heal. If we do it right, 1-2 Combat Turns should be all I need to complete the spell, and shouldn't seem like too long for a pulse check.


Alternatively, if it is simple enough for someone to surgically place their shot to achieve the same effect we can skip the heals. Chances are he only needs to survive another half hour or so tops before help arrives. Heck, if we have reason to believe he has active audio recorders, we could skip the concern for his survival altogether.


Also, what is his emotional state like? Astral Perception [Intuition 4 + Assensing 4 - Wounds 2]: 6d6t5 5


Holy Moses! That would have been REALLY handy a couple rolls ago...


Also, updated IC to reflect the spell failing.


ETA: Are we in the Mt. Elbert vicinity or near Basalt? You mention we started 27km outside Aspen, but I don't remember which way. Since we were nowhere near civilization, I presume we are in the mountains. Basically, I ask because that makes Carbondale a good decoy destination. Otherwise, maybe like Leadville? There just isn't much past Aspen heading east.

[Malevolence]

Also, thought I'd share this since I took the time to write it, but I don't think it fits with our plans to try another Con on him. Also, it ended up a lot longer than I originally intended - what can I say, I got bored.




Ohanzee sighed. Switching back to Lakotian, he spoke again, sending the translation to his teammates as he spoke.


"You're right. I left some things out in the interest of brevity."

"It's obvious that they didn't tell you what we took. Or, if they did, they lied. So, let me enlighten you."

"It is very old, and as such it has many names, but the most relevant, I feel, is the Soul Anchor. When a metahuman dies near it, it prevents the astral energy of the person from vanishing as it usually would, and instead anchors it to the artifact, hence the name. As many such magical effects, this anchoring lasts one year and one day. During this time, it is like wandering the Astral, except of course, you can't leave the physical space near the object."

"The Astral, for metahumans, is like... the desert or, well, or like these mountains we are in. At first, it is breathtaking scenery and new sensations. But, all too soon, the environmental conditions begin to outweigh the awe and wonder. We are not beings of the Astral. Many of the Awakened have the practice and discipline to stay in the Astral for extended periods, but mundanes begin to suffer very quickly."

"The purpose of the artifact isn't completely known, of course, but the theory is that it is used as a sort of catalyst for immortality. While anchored to it, the Awakened essence can complete a potent ritual and become a full fledged spirit, no longer bound by the physical world's inexorable march of entropy."

"But, while the Awakened have a year and a day to complete the process, mundanes have less than a day, if that. Without hardening to the Astral space, your spirit decays - evaporating into the void. When alive, the link to your physical body counteracts this, though it often takes a slow toll to your sanity. Once your body dies, however, the pain is, well, more severe than anything the physical body can produce. Interesting fact - your brain has it's own built in pain inhibitors. After a certain point, you are simply incapable of feeling a higher levels of pain. But those are gone once your Astral form is caught by the artifact. It will still drive you mad, but it will hurt beyond imagining before it does. And still the magic of the artifact will bind your suffering spirit to it for the remainder of that year and a day."

"So, why do I tell you this? Because I can end the suffering. I can banish, and thus dissipate, the astral forms caught by the Soul Anchor. I can make the pain stop, and let the blissful peace of nothingness take you. I can do the same for your friends, already wailing and crying and begging in the artifact's hold. So far, they refuse to trade information for escape. But the pain hasn't come close to peaking yet. It may take hours - hours I don't think we have."

"So, I'm afraid you are quite wrong that there is nothing 'they' can do to me that is worse than what I can do to you - because I can put a bullet in your brain, and after that, all I have to do" he paused and gestured, spreading his hands "is nothing. Your compatriots could do no worse to us. Though, as an awakened, they would be well advised to end me before I could master the ritual."

"You may be thinking to yourself that if I can destroy these spirits, then perhaps you could be similarly rescued by your employer. But consider the facts. First, what is the likelihood that those sent to recover the artifact will be told anything more about it than you have been? Second, your superiors may consider your fate a fitting reward for failure. Third, those that your employer will inevitably have researching the object have likely been anxious to have subjects succumb to the artifact's effects so that they can observe them. Your team will prove most fortuitous for them. And Lastly, considering the obvious value of the artifact, how confident are you that our backers don't have similar resources, making recovery of the artifact by your employers unlikely?"

"You may also be thinking that if I am telling the truth, you can simply tell me what I wish to know after you are caught by the artifact, and gain your release that way. Win-win, except the dying part. To that I warn you - you have very little reason to trust me to spare you that fate to begin with, but much less so the more you resist and make me wait. Also, I only need one of you to talk, so the first one to tell me what I want to know I will spare, but I have no incentive to do so with the others. Especially those that have proven difficult."

[Malevolence]

Continuing my overabundance of free time induced activities, I started compiling cliff notes on what has transpired so far, as well as relevant details for each team member (strengths and weaknesses and contacts), equipment and resources, and general notes about events. While doing this I made some interesting discoveries.


1. I don't think Ohanzee ever checked for additional gear, and I'm not sure what all was discovered and who took what from the duffels. @Ryo, can I get a summary of what gear we have and, while Ohanzee won't check the bags just now, he will as soon as we get rolling after dealing with the prisoner. Mostly, I'm looking for ammo, but anything could end up being helpful.
2. @Uncle Sam - set an alarm on your commlink for 3:05 PM. You have a regular weekly "Call" to make with Mom. Could be important. I don't know if the messages are code, so if we have someone with codebreaking skill (Encryption spec of EW? Not sure what we would use) it might be worth running them by that person.
3. @Ace - you are missing a contact on your character sheet named Rhodes. You last talked to him/her 3 days ago. He/she lives in Aspen.
4 - Most of us seem to have a contact in Aspen - The Masked Woman and Ace both appear to have residences there. It might be a good idea to have Crumpled take a look at our contacts, as well as us. Might help us to decide who is worth, you know, contacting.


I'm not sure how much of 2 and 4 is in character knowledge for anyone but the character that owns the commlink, so it is up to you if you want to share with the group and have things looked into further. I will certainly be asking Crumpled to look into Gloria, again, once things get rolling and we have a moment to breathe.

[Malevolence]

And, because I haven't posted enough yet, I'm taking Parageology 3 and rolling:

Parageology on the artifact [Logic 3 + Parageology 3 - Wounds 2]: 4d6t5 1

I really have to get rid of these wound modifiers.

[Tecumseh]

Still traveling so this will be short. I will be home on Sunday and then able to post more fully.

Purvue, I like the Con story. Clever. Thanks for posting, even if it didn't get used ICly.

Wound modifiers do suck, especially for rolls where your dice pool isn't very high to begin with. I'm only at a -1 but I've rolled so many times that I wonder how many hits it has cost me. Luckily no more than 1 per roll, but still.

Can we assume that the van gets underway? I see Novocrane online relatively often but it's been almost three weeks since he posted ICly.

[Malevolence]

@Novacrone
Let's roll, Omae! Though in all fairness, we might be stopping for a spell to drop our prisoner, but I'd hope we have put 500m or so between us and our enemies before we do so.
Also, http://forums.shadowruntabletop.com/index.php?topic=18367.msg325141#msg325141. Might be a possible explanation for your AR games. Or maybe you have a mild addiction. Just spitballing.


@All
First decision: do we just dump the prisoner, or do we try my idea to use him as a decoy? As Ohanzee mentioned when GrimWulf was still running him, they know what direction we are headed, so Aspen is possibly problematic. If they have roadblocks up, misdirection may not matter, but if they haven't had that kind of time (or are trying to keep a lower profile), we may have a chance at buying time.


Second decision: APB's body. I hate to strip and dump a teammate, but truth is, due to our condition, we don't have much investment, so it is an easier decision than it would be otherwise. Her armor is custom fit, so when I say strip, I actually just mean loot, as the armor is likely useless to us. Ammo is a definite, maybe weapons. Here's what I have for her inventory:
Second Skin
Quick Draw Holster
A duffle containing:
A machine pistol
A light pistol
A taser
Your Nitama Sporter
[Accuracy 6(7) DV 6P AP - Mode SA RC 1 Ammo 5(m)] It's loaded with Gel Rounds and has a built in laser sight.
A Coldsuit that looks like it's your size.
[Armor Rating - Capacity 4. Custom Protection (Insulation 4), Flare Compensation. Wireless: +1 to Survival Tests in cold terrain.]
An Ares Armored Survivalist that looks too big for you.
A spare clip for the machine pistol
A Survival Kit.


I'm not sure what exactly she took from that duffel - I think that the Survivalist was taken by its owner.


And, how do we dispose of her? Unceremoniously drop her off the side of the road? Torch her body?


Third decision: Where exactly do we ditch the SUV? I could probably burn a service from my spirit to find a nearby place that has a decent concentration of metahumans (heck, I could probably just get a bird's eye view in the Astral and do the same), under the assumption that where there are people, there are cars to steal.


Fourth Decision: Where are we headed? Aspen? Do we want to find a place in the wilderness to hole up? If we head to Aspen, do we contact Vinny? Or do we hook up with one of our contacts or hit one of our residences for the folks that have addresses there (which may or may not be legit)?


@Ryo - how sound does my misdirection plan seem to the PCs?


@All
My thoughts
1. If it seems sound, I'm all for going with my plan and heading to Aspen. Trying to hole up in a low population area is more likely to get us found if they are looking for us - safety in numbers so to speak. Aspen is a bigger haystack.
2. Torch her. Somewhere between ditching the prisoner and ditching our current ride. Or leave her in the car if we use it as a decoy - let KE or Ares or whoever take care of her body.
3. Look for some folk that are sleeping, hack their car, bring it to us, take it to Aspen, have it head back - if it is back before the owner wakes up, they may be none the wiser. Would help keep our pursuers off our backs for a little longer.
4. I vote Aspen (per 1 above). As far as where specifically, I recommend staying away from residences, as well as trying to check in to whatever hotel reservation the SUV's previous owners might have had. Our pursuers will likely have the residences watched if they know enough about us (and they have our pictures, so it seems likely - must have happened when Crumpled was between decks and thus not scrubbing video feeds), and if they've identified the car (or find it later), reservations made by its owners would not be too far behind. I'll wait for a check on our contacts before we decide beyond that. I'm really not sure about Vinny - he may not take kindly to us showing up without his bear. Of course, we don't have to tell him how we got his commcode.


ETA:
We're in Aspen, at least one of us should have Skiing as a Knowledge skill. I'm tempted, because, you know, dwarf on skis? Priceless.

[rednblack]

Dumping the prisoner and using him as a decoy are not mutually exclusive.  I think it's a good idea.  As for not killing him, Ace can use the Splitting the Damage Called Shot from page 196.  Ace's handspurs should keep the attack all stun damage, but will certainly put him out.  The way I see it, if it works, it buys us time.  If it doesn't, they still have to devote energy and men to a wounded compatriot, and if he freezes to death before they find him, it's not like it cost us anything.  @purvue, I'll post IC tomorrow and take Ohanzee's lead on that, if you want to float the idea there.  I'll also update this post to address the rest of your questions.
 

[Malevolence]

@rednblack
Sounds good, but I'd like to give the rest of the team a chance to weigh in.


@all
I'll do an IC in the early afternoon tomorrow whether I have heard from others or not so we can keep things going, unless someone else posts that they'd like me to hold off longer. I am still waiting for some input from Ryo, but I don't think it is critical to dealing with the prisoner.


I don't want to dominate the action, but I do want to keep things moving. I hope I'm not overstepping any bounds - this is my first PbP game.

[Tecumseh]

I generally prefer to do planning in the IC forum, although this game is a bit more flexible with where information is presented and shared. I can play it however Ryo prefers.

That said, my opinions on the decisions:

1) I'm not opposed to setting up a decoy but I think it might be overly elaborate. I don't think it's any secret that we're headed to Aspen and I'm not sure the decoy would buy us an appreciable amount of time. I have more thoughts on this but I'll save them for the IC forum if it comes up.
2) I was thinking of sending APB over the cliff but torching the body isn't a bad idea. The Masked Woman would not want the body found for IC reasons of her own. As for her gear, yes, let's take it. Her armor is cool but I doubt it would fit anyone but me, and I've already got cool armor of my own.
3) When we're done with the Rover, we can give it the same treatment as APB. I doubt we're coming back for it and no reason to make things easier on whoever is following us. It's possible that the decoy plan addresses this issue too but I have forgotten many of the particulars and it's late enough that I don't want to scroll back too far.
4) I think we're definitely headed toward Aspen. Whether we try to pinch the hunter's hotel reservations or break into some rich corper's winter ski chalet or make arrangements with Vinny the Bear is open for debate. I was thinking of a chalet myself, if only because it probably represents the least interaction with other people, but Vinny might be a decent option for actively keeping us hidden.

As for dominating the conversation, my general philosophy for PbP is "post early, post often". As I see it, you're doing a good job of providing leadership, which meshes well with Ohanzee's build.

[rednblack]

I generally prefer to do planning in the IC forum, although this game is a bit more flexible with where information is presented and shared. I can play it however Ryo prefers.

Yes.  This.  That said,

1. I covered this already, and I don't really see any reason not to.

2. Ace will likely defer to the waggly finger ones about how to best honor the dead.  I think we could use some extra ammo, though.

3. The only thing I worry about hacking the Rover to drive to the decoy location is if some sort of back trace is possible.  If so, it would be better to torch the vehicle, and leave it wherever is convenient.  Or off a cliff.  that can be awfully convenient.

4. Aspen seems like the place to be.  As for what we do when we get there, let's chat IC.  As far as road blocks, I'm pretty sure the group after us is in pursuit and not any sort of LE group that will be able to get a roadblock up in time. 

Adding contact to char sheet.

[Ryo]

Right now we're missing Novocrane and Ravensoracle, and it doesn't seem like Poindexter has been active in the RPs. That's half our group, and is making it difficult to want to push things forward.

I also still don't know where you're planning to go. Your options are Aspen, drive straight through Aspen, ditch the car prior to reaching Aspen and hike around it, or turn around and go back where you came from.

@Ryo
What would it take to shoot him unconscious but allow him to live while not being obvious to the casual observer (and specifically the target) that we aren't trying not to kill him. I see it like this - we stop the car (assuming we are moving - ahem, Chino), toss him out of the vehicle, follow to stand over him, shoot him "dead", then while I lean to "check his pulse" I use the contact to stabilize him with Heal. If we do it right, 1-2 Combat Turns should be all I need to complete the spell, and shouldn't seem like too long for a pulse check.


Alternatively, if it is simple enough for someone to surgically place their shot to achieve the same effect we can skip the heals. Chances are he only needs to survive another half hour or so tops before help arrives. Heck, if we have reason to believe he has active audio recorders, we could skip the concern for his survival altogether.

He'd notice you healing him. Just put bullets in him and leave. Called Shot to intentionally miss anything vital.

Also, what is his emotional state like? Astral Perception [Intuition 4 + Assensing 4 - Wounds 2]: 6d6t5 5

Terrified, but also resolved, as if he expects to die.

ETA: Are we in the Mt. Elbert vicinity or near Basalt? You mention we started 27km outside Aspen, but I don't remember which way. Since we were nowhere near civilization, I presume we are in the mountains. Basically, I ask because that makes Carbondale a good decoy destination. Otherwise, maybe like Leadville? There just isn't much past Aspen heading east.

You were between Aspen and Denver. Aspen is west of you. There is nothing between you and Aspen except a campground and a bunch of mountains.

1. I don't think Ohanzee ever checked for additional gear, and I'm not sure what all was discovered and who took what from the duffels. @Ryo, can I get a summary of what gear we have and, while Ohanzee won't check the bags just now, he will as soon as we get rolling after dealing with the prisoner. Mostly, I'm looking for ammo, but anything could end up being helpful.

All gear has been accounted for. You have no spare ammo.

Parageology on the artifact [Logic 3 + Parageology 3 - Wounds 2]: 4d6t5 1

You believe the artifact is made of Hepatizon, which you know to be an alloy or Orichalcum and Cerrukite. You don't really remember what the properties of Hepatizon are.

@Ryo - how sound does my misdirection plan seem to the PCs?

You'd have to ask the PCs.

[Tecumseh]

Agreed that progress is difficult with only half the team. The question of where are we going in Aspen is an excellent case-in-point.

(Speaking of where people are going, what's happening to all these 1,000+ post players? One would imagine that post counts that high suggest a certain degree of stability and consistency, or at least a familiarity with PbP, since it is hard to get the count that high without PbP.)

Purvue, if you want to make an executive decision - perhaps informed by the OOC commentary - and back it up with a Command test, that might be a way to keep things moving forward. Your Leadership rolls should easily beat the rest of us, even with your wound modifiers, since most of us will be defaulting. PvP social rolls can be a touchy subject but in this case I think it's a legitimate use of Ohanzee's skillset. I'd be willing to live (or not live) with the consequences.