[Tecumseh]

CT2 IP1

Illeana @ 35
Illeana was running for 1 IP so she should be about 16 meters from the doors now. Given 4 IPs this pass, she can run about 6 meters per IP. However, she will be slowed to walking rates while navigating the cluster of people blocking the door. She can't jump the same way James can, nor does she have a really great spell to knock people out of the way. She needs to make an AGI+Gymanstics extended test against a threshold of 10 to move to the front of the line.

Here are some tests all at once to make it convenient:
Agility 6 + Gymnastics 3: 5#9d6t5 3 hits 3 hits 4 hits 4 hits 5 hits

As long as she doesn't lose any dice, she'll clear the crowd after CT2 IP3. Right now I'll give her Partial Cover, due to the the crowd, increasing to Good Cover during IP2.

James @ 23
James is up next. He blasts through the ballistic glass and is in the process of landing outside. It's all very awesome and dramatic, people are screaming, someone might be 2.0 streaming, etc. etc.

As James is in the process of landing, his options are somewhat limited. The good news is that he's got a bunch of people acting as cover from Towser, but he can't resume running yet as he is still flying/landing. (He still travels distance due to his jump. He doesn't need to spend an action on this.) He can still use Observe in Detail or send comms or give the finger to the drone overhead or other things that don't involve his legs.

[rednblack]

Let's do an Observe in Detail.  James has: INT (9) + Perception (6) + Visual Spec (2) + Vision Enhancement (2) + Specifically Looking (3) - BZZZZ (1) = 21 dice.
Perception + Specifically Looking + Visual: 21d6t5 3

James will also turn his SIN off, and send a message to Illeana.

CT2 IP1
Simple: Observe in Detail
Simple: Turn off SIN
Free: Comm Illeana

James is at 9/12 S 10/10P 2/5 Edge

I'll get an IC post up today covering the goings on.

ETA: I forgot James' Wound modifier.  Dropping from the right doesn't affect hits.

[rednblack]

I've updated my last IC to carry us through CT1.

[Tecumseh]

I forgot to subtract Illeana's BZZZZZ from her dicepool too. It will take her all 4 IPs to navigate through the crowd.

I'll try to get an IC up for her soon too, either today or tomorrow.

What is James Specifically Looking for with his Observe in Detail?

Outside, it's still raining hard. Panicked people are starting to stream out of the the theater but most of the plaza in front of James is empty due to lack of pedestrians on account of the rain. Glancing about, he doesn't see any obvious security waiting for him. It's a relatively peaceful afternoon that's been disrupted by shattering glass and screaming movie fans who like their action on screen (or "on trid" as it were), not surrounding them. A stairway down to the underground parking is maybe 30 meters away.

[rednblack]

James is on the watch for any potential combatants, or shots that may be coming his way.

Depending on how things go I'm considering whether or not I should go Full Defense, and sacrifice a pass of Sprinting tests, or if I'd be better off with the extra couple of meters.  Considering how things have been going I'm leaning more toward Full Defense, but will James get a Defense test if the drone fires from above?

[Tecumseh]

I owe some posts on this for the rest of CT2 IP1. I was traveling over the weekend and came into work this morning to find several fire drills, so I'm stamping those out first.

Short version: James does not see any security in the plaza waiting for him. The weather might be working for him in this case, since patrolmen aren't just lounging around outside in the thunderstorm. He might assume that an APB will be issued, but it also might take a bit to get said APB routed through the right channels, issued, received, and then have units respond. Guards for local stores might step outside to respond, but their professional rating might not make them a concern other than as snitches who might give away his position.

Due to Combat Sense, James will get a Defense test if the drone opens fire on him.

[Tecumseh]

CT2 IP1

Towser @ 20
The fire spirit has materialized between Towser and Illeana. Towser knows that his SMG isn't going to be terribly effective against the fire spirit, even with stick-n-shock loaded.

Complex: Action hidden, but he does not fire nor move meaningfully

Hartman @ 19
Actions hidden

Fire spirit @ 18
Per Illeana's instructions, the fire spirit will use Fear on Towser.

Spirit: Magic 6 + Willpower 6: 12d6t5 1 hit, I guess that's why we roll
Towser resist: Willpower + Logic: ?d6t5 5 hits

Towser does not seem to be phased.

CT2 IP2

25: Illeana
13: James
10: Towser
9: Hartman
8: Fire Spirit

Illeana @ 25
Complex: weaving in and out of people rushing for the exit

Towser @ 10
Towser has accessed the theater's host and is activating the fire suppression system.

This constitutes an undodgeable area attack against the fire spirit. This triggers the fire spirit's Severe allergy, so it is now at -4 to all actions. While the rules for allergies say that damage accumulates at the rate of 1 box per minute (unresisted), I am going to say that this isn't severe enough. I'm going to take the rules for fire damage (from p. 171) and reverse them. Namely, the damage will be 3 DV this combat turn, then 4 DV the next combat turn, then +1 every turn after that until the fire spirit expires or departs.

Fire spirit resisting 3 DV: Body 7: 7d6t5 1 hit

Fire spirit is not performing up to expectations. It takes 2P and is at -4 due to its allergy. It would be safe to say that it is unhappy.

Hartman @ 9
Actions hidden

Action is to James. There's nothing obstructing him at the moment so he can take his IP2 action (@ 13) and his IP3 action (@ 3) at the same time.

[rednblack]

James will go Full Defense, so he'll be acting at 3 on IP2.

For IP2 he will Sprint.

I have: STR ( + Athletics (6) + Hydraulic Jacks (6) - Wound Penalty (1) = 19 dice.
Sprinting: 19d6t5 9
And that's why we roll.  Physical Limit is 10, so I can keep all the hits.  James base Running speed is 22 meters + 18 for Sprinting brings him to 40M through the CT.  James will end up somewhere in the stairwell I would guess.  What do things look like down there?

[Tecumseh]

That's a good sprinting roll. I should probably knock a couple of dice for environmental modifiers (i.e. running in the rain) but that's not going to prevent you from making it down the staircase.

During the remainder of CT2, Illeana will comm you with updates, namely that she's fighting her way through the crowd in the theater and that the fire suppression system is going off. (I should probably apply environmental modifiers to her as well, but I think she still has enough hits to get through by the end of CT2.)

James sees the parking garage extends in all directions underneath the plaza. It's fairly empty right now due to the weather and the fact that it's midafternoon on a Friday. There are plenty of cars, but given the extensiveness of the lot it is only 1/4 full or so. The cars are mostly nicer, given that this a high security district.

The following will be available if and when James spends an Observe in Detail action:

The parking lot extends at least 100 meters in any direction before reaching a ramp or other outlet back onto the streets.

To the E-NE, there are ramps and stairs up to the stadium that are maybe 150 meters away.

If there are ramps or stairs to the west, James cannot see them.

For cars, the ramps out are 100 meters each to the north and south.

We're on to CT3 so let's go ahead and roll Initiative.

[rednblack]

Initiative: 15+4d6 29

CT3 IP1
Simple: Observe in Detail
Simple: Take Cover
Free:

For Observe in Detail I have: INT (9) + Perception (6) + Visual Spec (2) + Vision Enhancement (2) + Specifically Looking (3) - Wound Modifier (1) = 21 dice.
Perception + Specifically Looking + Visual: 21d6t5 9
Mental Limit is 8, staged up to 10 with Vision Enhancement.  James see all.  He is specifically looking for security cameras and gaps in their field of view that he can duck into.  Bonus points if he can do so while remaining concealed from the stairwell as well.

James will then take that position.  Movement should cover it, but I figure Take Cover makes sense Action Economy-wise.  If James can have another Simple Action at his disposal I'd like to increase REA with his funky new CFD powers.

Otherwise, I've been having a hell of a week between day job and parental craziness, but things should calm down here soon.

[Tecumseh]

I wouldn't worry about it. I have plenty of pots on the stove now too, so a slowdown works reasonably well for me.

CT3
42: Illeana (wow, just wow)
29: James
23: Hartman
20: Towser
19: Illeana's fire spirit
19: Not Illeana's fire spirit
19: Not Illeana's fire spirit v2

Illeana @ 42
Illeana breaks through the crowd and out the doors and into the rain. Via her Regeneration power, she shakes off the remainder of her damage from being tazed.

Simple: Command fire spirit to return to astral
Simple: Command fire spirit to protect her astrally
Free: Run to stairs, covering 5 of 35 meters

She'll need to sprint if she's ever going to catch up, but she's done for now.

James @ 29
Good roll. James spots all the cameras and can use his Free + Simple (Take Cover) to duck behind a Rover 2072. If James wishes to continue avoiding them, he can use Sneaking rolls. This will slow him down somewhat - say 1.5x movement rate instead of 2x for running - and may look unusual to the other people around. Or he can act nonchalant and move/sneak at walking speeds.

Looking around, James also spots: People in garage: 4d6 8 people who are passing through the garage within 100 meters of his position. They are minding their own business and don't pay any attention to James. They either heading toward their cars, or away from their cars, or are otherwise staying out of the rain. There are also Cars in garage: 1d6 4 cars that are actively driving around the garage. If you want to know more about cars or pedestrians then let me know and I'll randomly generate it.

Hartman @ 23
Actions hidden

Towser @ 20
Towser is going to shoot Illeana's fire spirit. The fire spirit will go on Full Defense.

Simple: Take Aim
Simple: Short Burst

Towser shooting: Agility + Automatics + Smartlink + Take Aim - Euphoria: ?d6t5 5 hits
Fire spirit dodge: Reaction 9 + Intuition 6 + Full Defense 6 - Short Burst 2 - Allergy 4: 15d6t5 4 hits

Fire spirit gets tagged. I was going to say that the fire suppression system amplifies the effect of the stick-n-shock round, but some Internet research suggests that this would not be the case. Fire spirit has to soak 6S(e) -5AP.

Fire spirit soak: Body 7 + Armor 7: 14d6t5 2 hits

Man, this fire spirit sucks. Luckily it gets 4 additional auto-hits due to Immunity to Normal Weapons acting as hardened armor. It doesn't incur any additional damage.

Illeana'a fire spirit @ 19
Illeana's fire spirit (gladly) follows its orders and returns to the astral, where it is no longer subject to its allergy.

Complex: dematerialize
Free: move to cover Illeana

Fire spirits that aren't Illeana's * 2 @ 19
Two fire spirits astrally arrive on the scene. They spend the pass using Observe in Detail actions to get a grasp on the situation, then move to follow Illeana.

CT3 IP2

Illeana @ 32
Illeana is not under any illusions about why the fire spirits are there. They will undoubtedly punish her dual-naturedness. If she could astrally project, it would be interesting to have James carry her body while her astral form fled elsewhere, but that's not an option here. She'll need to fight them off, which she isn't as good at without her weapon focus.

Free: Run 5 meters (she has now covered 10 meters
Complex: Cast Powerblade

According RAW, Powerblade is technically a Combat spell, but I've written beautiful posts that convincingly argue that they should be treated as Manipulation spells instead, so I'm going to give Illeana her +2 mentor spirit bonus for Manipulation spells. She'll cast at F6.

Spellcasting @ F6: Magic 11 + Spellcasting 7 + Mentor Spirit 2: 20d6t5 10 hits, bye hits! Force caps hits at 6.
Soaking 4S drain: Willpower 6 (7) + Intuition 10: 17d6t5 4 hits, no drain

The good news is that Illeana has armed herself with something that will affect the spirits. The bad news is that she's already sustaining Vampiric Speed and will now be at -2 for sustaining Powerblade.

James @ 19
James is up!

[rednblack]

An Initiative score of 42!  Holy drekballs that's fast.  James and Illeana are pushing physics to the limits here.  With James last Sprinting roll of 40 meters a combat turn, that comes to 800 meters a minute, or 48,000 an hour, which is just shy of running 30 mph, slightly outpacing Usain Bolt.  I've read that in theory humans could run up to 40 mph, which James doesn't touch, but he also only got 1 CT with which to Sprint.  Maybe next time.  If you hadn't rightfully halved the Walking/Running speeds from RAW, James would have hit just over 46 mph, which is perhaps on point with what a cyber soldier with Hydraulic Jacks could achieve on a straight track, but given terrain, turning, keeping a lookout for potential threats, and everything else going on in a combat scenario, I think your house rule is a good one.

But Illeana's 42 Initiative wow.  Getting 5 passes with which to hit someone in melee, for example, pretty much makes her this guy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BW5D_O8g8oU

I would like to know about the people in the garage.  James sees 2 options.  1. hotwire the Rover 2072 he's crouched behind.  For that I'd like to know what kind of penalties James is looking at for breaking into and using Hardware on a car with only a cyber spur and shock hand to assist him.  2. commandeer a vehicle from a pedestrian returning to his/her car, and take them on a joy ride.  For the latter he'll need reads on the 8 and 4 moving vehicles in the garage.

[Tecumseh]

Ahh, Ameri-do-te. The martialest of the martial arts.

I think a 42 initiative is a new record for me. If I pumped some extra Essence points into Reaction and used Edge roll 5 dice, I could theoretically hit Initiative 58. Or if I had cast Vampiric Speed at a higher Force, I could even break 60...

James will be at -4 for hotwiring without tools. It's not impossible but it might require Edge.

James had a good Perception roll so I'll let him piggyback on that a bit longer.

4 people are dry, suggesting that they are just arriving and have not been walking around outside. 4 people are wet and might reasonably be heading back to their cars, or perhaps they don't have cars and are just using the garage as a covered walkway.

The 4 wet people are two separate pairs. One pair is all female while the other pair if male+female.

The female pair is Distance: 1d100 96 meters  away.
The male+female pair is Distance: 1d100 84 meters away. Not particularly close. Kudos to James vision for seeing that they are wet from 80+ meters away.

Here are the distances for the four cars driving around:
Distance: 4#1d100
82 meters
77 meters
19 meters
6 meters

Detroit is an Ares town so most of these will be GMCs and Hondas (which evidently fell to Ares instead of a Japancorp). As such, I should retcon the Rover 2072 into an Ares Humvee.

Generating and assigning them randomly to the above distances:
1) Eurocar Westwind 3000 (someone visiting from out of town, or a corp traitor)
2) GMC Escalade
3) Honda Artemis (from Stolen Souls)
4) Ares Humvee

That concludes what you can learn from your last Perception test. If you want to know more, you'll have to Observe in Detail again.

[rednblack]

CT3 IP2
Free: Ready Cyber Spur
Simple: Bump REA with CFD powers
Simple: Comm Illeana

CFD Woo: 6d6t5 1
Well, a sub par roll there isn't going to give me another pass, but James REA is now 8.

Let's go ahead and roll the Soak.  I have: BOD (5) + WIL (7) = 12 dice.
CFD Soak: 12d6t5 3

James' adjusted Initiative is 20.

He will start picking the lock in IP3, and since it's an Extended Test [Combat Turn] I guess he will continue doing so until CT4 IP3.  Can he take other actions while this is occurring, so long as he spends one Complex that turn with Locksmith?  Does James' Initiative score help him in anyway as far as additional tests per CT?  I'm thinking no, but trying to figure out how best to do this.

Oh yeah, and James is going to opt for hotwiring the Humvee he's already crouched behind.

I'm going to go ahead and roll for Locksmith.  If someone bursts down the stairs looking for a fight, this could change things.  I have: AGI (11) + Locksmith (4) - Proper Equipment (4) = 11 dice.
Locksmith: 11d6t5 5
Not bad.  He may get that door popped in one CT.

[Tecumseh]

I'll say that James can do things like take Observe in Detail actions (at a negative modifier for being distracted by the lock) but can't accomplish anything else physically while he's working on the lock, other than something basic like standing up or kneeling down. I suppose things like Attribute Boost would be fine too. As you say, improved reaction doesn't benefit the process in the current rules. There are certain fine motor skills - like surgery, for example - that you probably don't want to do as quickly as what your muscles will allow you to.

Alright, so James is tied up for a CT. That leaves me with some rolling for Illeana.

CT3 IP3
22: Illeana (wow, just wow)
9: James - picking a lock
3: Hartman - action hidden

That leaves three fat IPs for Illeana to do whatever she wants. It will likely be some combination of:

Free: Run
Complex: Astral Combat

Or vice versa. At the end of the running, she will have covered 25 of the 35 meters to the stairs and will be 20ish meters to James' position.

Keeping with Ryo's "astral combat is ranged" interpretation, I'm going to let Illeana's Powerblade operate for astral combat since it's a sustained spell and therefore active on the astral plane. The spell won't add dice to hit like the sword focus would, but it will add damage if she connects. The sword would be limited by its Accuracy for limit; I'll say the spell is limited by its Force.

Willpower 6 (7) + Astral Combat 7 - Sustaining 2: 3#12d6 4 hits 5 hits 4 hits, I bungled the syntax but that's how many hits I got

Alright, spirity defense. Illeana will concentrate her fire on one and will only move on to the second one if the first goes down.

Spirit dodging: Intuition + Logic: 3#?d6t5 7 hits 7 hits 3 hits

The first two strikes catch nothing but astral air. The third connects. The spirit doesn't lose any hits even if we're subtracting dice for sequential attacks.

Powerblade is a funny spell where the Force sets the damage, not your Strength (or Charisma in the case of astral combat), so the base DV is 6. Illeana connects with 1 net hit so the spirit gets to soak 7 boxes.

Spirit soak: Willpower: ?d6t5 1 hit

The spirit eats 6 boxes of damage and is now at -2.

That brings us to the end of CT3, so it's time for Initiative and CT4.

CT4
36: Illeana
25: Unfriendly Fire Spirit v2
20: Towser
19: Illeana's fire spirit
17: Hartman
16: Unfriendly Fire Spirit v1

Hmm, given that James is tied up with lockpicking, I guess that means all this rolling is on me. It's late now so I'll defer for the moment. Let me know what else James might want to do while he's busy picking a lock with pocket lint and a straw from the concession stand.