[Poindexter]

THIS IS GREAT READIN!

[Malevolence]

My understanding of permanent barriers is that they completely reform at the end of each CT. The book doesn't make any distinction between a partly damaged barrier or a fully damaged barrier, so I assume that the barrier will reassert itself at the end of the CT. Not that it will likely matter much for this combat, but it could be handy for when Canon shows up.

Ohanzee will try to banish the summoned/bound spirit that attacked his barrier. If he's only summoned, this should be easy-ish as it only resists with its force (six dice). If it is bound, it adds the summoner's magic rating, which could boost its defense by up to another six dice (or more if the mage bumped his Magic). And since everyone apparently already knows I'm a Mage and not just a Face, I'll use Centering. Here goes:


Banish Guardian Spirit [Magic 6 + Banishing 6 + Focus 2 - Wound 1]: 13d6t5 5
I'll take it. Here's my soak roll. I'll know my target once the spirit resists (2 x spirit hits):
Drain Resist [Charisma 6 + Magic 6 + Centering 2]: 14d6t5 3
That blows. I think I'll Edge-reroll that:
Edge Reroll Banish Drain resist: 11d6t5 4
Better.


I have 2 Edge left.

[Tecumseh]

Banishing! That's actually very clever. When was the last time any of you saw Banishing put to use? Years from now we'll be telling our kids, "I remember the great Banishing of '15..."

Provided that it works, of course. Let's see what the dice say. Another six hits on six dice? Ohanzee could be in for a world of hurt. Luckily, the summoner did not succeed in his/her Binding attempt, so the spirit is not bound.

Spirit resist: 0 hits... I should stop being surprised. Ohanzee soaks the drain and moves on with his life. Still has to spend the Edge though.

The magical lodge and its mana barrier are gone. The grenades, running, and gunfire have disrupted the materials Ohanzee used to construct it, so it can no longer reform. (See the box on p. 317.)

@Poindexter Oops, yes, I meant Stun for the gel rounds. I actually caught that error as I was reviewing the post but then totally forgot to correct it. Nice work eating the flash-bang. I was going to let you run for your life because I figured Sam could push himself up into a sprinters crouch and launch like a bolt, what with those sinewy bioware muscles of his.

@rednblack Everything looks good, nice posts.

@Zweiblumen You're up!

Edit: Upon checking my map, it appears that Katsina has to soak the grenade directed at Chino. She's six meters away so she needs to soak 4S -5 AP.

Katsina soak: Body 5 + Lined Coat 9 + Ballistic Mask 2 - 5 AP: 11d6t5 5 hits, damage soaked

Next
IC post from Tec to cap off CT1 IP1
Doc @ 17 (how long does it take the Agent to load?)
Guardian spirit @ 17 departs
Katsina @ 16

[Malevolence]

Ah, true about the destruction of the lodge. Still, it did good, so we'll call it a win.


It's a good thing the artifact is buried - wouldn't want to see what happens if a grenade hits that and possibly triggers our little boomtex embrace.


The mage loses 5 services from the spirit, and if zero services remain, it leaves on its next action, so we'll know if it worked after Doc's action.


Speaking of banishing, I'm a little curious what happens if I attempt banishing one of the Free Spirits. As Free Spirits, they get Banishing Resistance (the number of "services" is equal to the spirit's Edge),  but when those are gone, I'm curious where they go (maybe back to their original body, but the current consciousness "wins out" and simply regains the old memories). I guess we'll find out next CT (assuming Ohanzee survives this one).

[rednblack]

Banishing is awesome.  If you've got the dicepools for it, it can definitely be a great way to deal with those nasty uninvited guests.  NIce work, Mal.

@Poindexter, I love Colorado.  Haven't been there in years, but I did a really nice backpacking trip through the San Juan National Forest in my early 20s.  Still one of the best trips I've ever done.  Glad you had a good time.  And I agree, great reading.

Can't wait to see what happens next.

[Zweiblumen]

Attack: 7 (8 ) Sleaze: 5(6) Data Processing: 4 Firewall: 6
Decryption, Stealth, Hammer, Agent

I'm a bit torn as to what to do with Ace.  Doc probably stands a better than average chance of one-shotting the Rigger on his next pass, but Ace isn't aware of that, or of the fact that the decker has already been dealt with.  I'm loathe to give up a second pass, but I don't like staring down the barrel of the jumped in rigger, so Ace is going Full Defense.

This is a good idea, as I don't think I can pull off a 1shot with no marks on the bloke   It'll take me 2 IPs if all goes well.  Lets see how orokos likes me today

CT1 IP2:
Free: Swap Stealth for Signal Scrub
Complex: Go Big or Go Home - 3 marks Brute Force against the rigger
GBOGH on rigger (Cyber-combat 7 + log 9 + spec 2 + VR 2 - Noise 5 + DJ 1 + SS 2 = 18): 18d6t5 6
Well crap, I forgot the GBOGH -6. Though I was planning on edging misses anyway, so we could say I just pre-edged to push the limit and the 7 edge dice I'd get from that plus explodes would be more than my likely misses.  If its okay with you Tec I'll just roll another 1 the 2 sixes I rolled there?  Here's that roll:
edge fixing screwup (1 more die + 2 sixes = 3 exploding): 3d6h5 0
And my math was all kinds of wrong there.  Just to be safe, I'm gonna re-do it with the right math and Tec you can choose which screwup you want me to use
GBOGH on rigger with push the limit (Cyber-combat 7 + log 9 + spec 2 + VR 2 - Noise 5 + DJ 1 + SS 2 - Three marks 6 + edge 7 = 13): 13d6h5 7
The second roll ends up being better as I think my first one still needs -2 dice that I screwed up on.  But it's 1 hit +/- shrug.
That leaves me with 5/7 edge.

[Tecumseh]

The math seemed right on the first two rolls (the initial roll and then the correction). I'm not sure what the need for the third roll was. We'll go with the first two rolls and 6 hits. Those 7 hits on 13 dice for the third roll are nice though. We can save those as the base for Doc's next roll.

The rigger, having been alerted that there is a madman in the Matrix, is going on Full Matrix Defense.

Rigger defense: 6 hits, a tie. Doc doesn't get any MARKs but nor does he incur any damage from failing in a Brute Force attack. The rigger drops -10 initiative.

@Zweiblumen When does Doc's Agent load? I couldn't find anything in the core rulebook about whether programs load instantaneously with Configurator or if it's one of those "next Combat Turn" things. Did I miss it, or does Data Trails say?


17 - Guardian spirit is bowing out of the fight

16 - After much internal deliberation, Katsina is going to finish off Rozkhi. This could get messy.

Katsina attack: Agility 6 + Blades 6 + Swords 2 + Weapon Focus 2 + Charging 2 + Opponent Prone 1: 19d6t5 5 hits
Rozkhi defense: 2 hits

Base damage is 12P -5AP + net hits = 15P -5AP. Immunity to Normal Weapons does not apply to the weapon focus.
Rozkhi soak: 6 hits, CRUNCH
Rozkhi takes 9P and is now at 20P. Trolls being trolls, he's not dead, but he's seriously messed up.


16 - Action Hidden

15 - Doc Hack continues his astral attack on Katsina

Doc Hack attack: 2 hits
Katsina defends: Logic 5 + Intuition 8: 13d6t5 5 hits, Katsina bats away the amateur


14 - The smaller guy on the right flank (near Sam) is trying to flash-bang Ohanzee again.

Flash-bang: 9 hits, lucky for you they're getting all these hits on rolls that don't stage the damage up.

Ohanzee is still running as part of his Run For Your Life action from IP1. This allows him to put an additional 3 meters in between himself and the grenade when it detonates. Soak is 7S -5AP.

The smaller guy, perhaps being a little on-edge/overexcited, has actually shot a little close to home. The flash-bang catches him in the explosion, so he has to soak 3S -5AP.

Soaking 3S: 2 hits, hahaha what a dork. Spent all his hits unnecessarily on the shot. Takes 1S.


Next
soak roll for Ohanzee
Bear @ 12
Sam @ 11
IC post from Tec to cover the above

[Zweiblumen]

The math seemed right on the first two rolls (the initial roll and then the correction). I'm not sure what the need for the third roll was. We'll go with the first two rolls and 6 hits. Those 7 hits on 13 dice for the third roll are nice though. We can save those as the base for Doc's next roll.

The rigger, having been alerted that there is a madman in the Matrix, is going on Full Matrix Defense.

Rigger defense: 6 hits, a tie. Doc doesn't get any MARKs but nor does he incur any damage from failing in a Brute Force attack. The rigger drops -10 initiative.

@Zweiblumen When does Doc's Agent load? I couldn't find anything in the core rulebook about whether programs load instantaneously with Configurator or if it's one of those "next Combat Turn" things. Did I miss it, or does Data Trails say?

Damn, so close!  But I kept him from firing again form his drone, so that's good.  Some impact on the field of play.
As for the Agent, I haven't found anything in the books that says one way or the other as to when they are available.  Personally I'd treat them as a summoned spirit or sprite.  I'd say it's a viable target on the matrix for anything, but I've not been able to give it a command yet due to action economy.  I used my free-action this round to switch out programs... Speaking of I should post this:

Attack: 7 (8 ) Sleaze: 5 Data Processing: 4 Firewall: 6
Decryption, Signal Scrub, Hammer, Agent

[Tecumseh]

Yes, the drone above Ace will mysteriously fall silent instead of continuing to pelt him with SnS and/or grenades.

Sounds good. We'll treat the agent like a spirit that's been summoned but which doesn't have instructions yet. Go ahead and roll initiative for the agent.

[Malevolence]

Well, this is almost certainly going to hurt. The AP on the Flash-Bang is only -4 (not -5):
Soak Flash-Bang [Body 3 + Armor 9 - AP 4]: 8d6t5 3
The extra die didn't make a difference, but 3 hits on 8 dice isn't too bad. He's taking 4 damage on top of the -4 becomes -8. I could use an Edge for an average  of 2 more hits, bringing it down to 6 total, but that doesn't change much so I'll let it ride. Heal doesn't do anything for stun damage, so I'm out of options to fix it quickly. What Ohanzee really needs is a stim patch, but we were woefully unprepared for stun damage. On second thought, he will Edge that in the hopes it keeps him in the fight just a little longer.
Edge Re-roll Damage Soak: 5d6t5 2
Average, but I'll take it. I was half expecting to get 0 hits or otherwise totally waste the Edge.
So, he takes 2, bringing his Stun track to 6/11.


I had meant to take one of the medkits, but when I went back to see which one I had grabbed (I was thinking the 4 for portability) I noticed that I instead wrote a long missive on locating devices from icons. And then I failed to include it in my list of gear being brought to the meet (which I had written before you reminded us of them), so, yeah, Ohanzee's kicking himself about now (as am I).


Ohanzee wants to reach shelter, so whatever direction he moved (I'm assuming to the right, toward Sam's position) should get him closer to the trees (unless there is a closer option). How far is he currently then? This will inform whether it is worth it to keep running to the trees or throw down the barrier.


I also just noticed (while looking through his load out) that he is wearing his helmet, upping his armor by 2. So, adding those to his two soak rolls:
Accounting for helmet on two soak rolls: 2#2d6t5 2 1
That knocks off 3 hits, bringing his stun track down to 3/11. He also gets to re-roll the miss from the second one because he Edged it:
Edge Re-roll Damage Soak from helmet: 1d6t5 0
Bummer, was hoping to bring my wound modifier down to 0. Oh well. At least things are looking MUCH better for the beleaguered dwarf.


Status:
Stun: 3/11
Phys: 0/10
Wound Mod: -1
Edge: 1/3

[Malevolence]

Bear will finish eating O':
Bear Astral Combat [Astral Combat 7 + Force 7]: 14d6t5 4
That should do unless O' can get 4 hits on 6 dice (or Edge it up for 4 hits on 10-ish dice). Hopefully that eliminates some more incoming pain for Team Purple.

[Tecumseh]

Indeed, the flash-bangs are -4 AP instead of -5.

Ohanzee is about 5 meters from the treeline. He'll move about 4 meters during CT1 IP3, so he'll arrive during CT2 IP1.

Ohanzee Prime defense: 1 hit

Base damage is 7, staged up to 10 DV by net hits. Ohanzee Prime doesn't have enough dice to soak that down to a level he/it can survive, so Ohanzee Prime is disrupted. He vanishes for now, but will almost certainly come looking for Ohanzee again in the future.

Next
Sam @ 11
IC post for Bear

[Malevolence]

How many services did the other spirit have left? I realized that since Ohanzee is running, all of his actions are at a -2 - including Banishing. Since he had no wound modifier at the time (due to his helmet), he gains a die, but loses two to running, which eliminates a die which happens to be a hit, so he only reduced the number of services by 4. Probably still enough to banish it, but I want to catch it now if it isn't.

[Tecumseh]

Just two. I'm not concerned about the running modifier. I didn't apply it to Katsina's casting of Mana Bind. By RAW the modifier should probably apply, but to me it seems like it's more relevant to physical actions (shooting guns, etc.) than it is for mental actions like magic. Granted running (and not falling, especially on snow) takes some concentration, but it's not like you're skipping between ice floes on a raging river.

[Zweiblumen]

Attack: 7 (8 ) Sleaze: 5 Data Processing: 4 Firewall: 6
Decryption, Signal Scrub, Hammer, Agent
(every post to make my life easier... tempted to put it in my sig for now )

Agent Init (Int 6 + DP 4 = 10 + 4d6): 4d6+10 28