//File 0.11 - Helios and Missy//

Please use this shared thread for your phone conversation and subsequent thread if/when you meet up.

I've moved Helios' message to Clarice here.

From @dejoker. I am assuming we have a normal place we meet from time to time, some out of the way hole in the wall joint -- of course we could have 2 the Usual Place and the Other Place. I would also assume our meeting times are pre-arranged to be 2 hours before whatever time is messaged -- so if you say 3pm we would be meeting at 1pm kind of thing

I have no idea if I get any Edge for any of these rolls though

Am resolving with @dejoker his equipment use and his assensing. Optical devices are either wireless or wired. Sorting that now. :)

Let's start with commlinks. They can come in all sort of models, from basic handheld to implanted headware. I'm assuming everyone's commlink allows them to view AR. Helios' model is presumably handheld and manual. He needs to look at it to see digital information sent to him, or it can speak to him, since he has no other way to interact with it.
Now, the eyewear. If the vision enhancements are supposed to be concealed or disguised, they use the Glasses stats, ie. capacity max 4. If you want up to capacity 6, then we'll use Goggles stats, but lose concealability (too many enchancements are obvious). Default eyewear are wireless, or they can be wired by a universal data cable. If you like, we can say it's an older model, so it doesn't have wireless nor wired capability, but needs to be operated by hand, like the touch of a button.
Physical objects are gray shadows in the astral. So @runekyndig is somewhat correct, wearing eyewear while assensing will show a gray shadow right in front of your eyes. You can still assense, but the goggles hamper that. This is easily solved by saying that you take off your eyewear when you assense, and put it back on after you're done.
Next, for Mystic Adepts, they use Astral Perception in order to assense. Using Astral Perception makes the adept become dual-natured, and gives a -2 dice pool penalty to all non-Magic actions, this will include your Perception roll. If you want to get round that we can of course say that you assense first, complete your assensing, then use your Perception after that.
Putting both together, there's basically a lot going on in what you're trying to do: take off glasses, turn dual-natured, stop being dual-natured, put on glasses, turn on glasses, turn off glasses. Nothing wrong with that, but it's not going to be as stealthy as you think it might be.
Just to clarify, is your Scrutinize roll meant to be a Perception roll? (Trying to add up your 11d6)
Finally, the rolls grant Edge if they are opposed. Eg. if someone is hidden, and you roll Perception with superior dice, this gives you Edge against that person. Think of Edge as 'edge over someone'. But if you use Perception generally, you can perceive all sorts of things in your surroundings, the cars, the cats, the rubbish on the ground, etc, but none of these will give Edge.

Yup, no worries. My bad because I assumed that you were trying to make Helios do it stealthily. I make a difference in this game between stealthy and non-stealthy use of equipment because it seems very important in SR. Some characters are fully wired with headware commlinks that control what they see/do etc with a thought, because of their neural interface. The contrast is character like mages/adepts with no cyberware, so they have to manually manipulate their gear. In the first case, no one can tell. In the second case, it's typically more obvious that they are using equipment, and grants a chance for an observer to perceive it.
I think it's perfectly fine in many contacts, especially non-combat ones, to scan a place first before entering. I'll handwave most of it, unless I think it's a problematic social situation, ie. you're talking to a mafia boss and his cronies, and you decide to scan him there and then, or unless it's a tactical situation, ie. the place is already being watched. In those circumstances, you can propose a roll as customary for your character (ie. Helios always scans before he enters a building), or I will ask for a roll (ie. I'll say something to the effect of "Helios arrives, and wonders if he'd better take his usual precautions."
Sure, the goggles can have various settings. If it were wireless you'd control it remotely. If it's manual, you'd have to manipulate it somehow to get the setting you want, like a button or a dial, eg turn on the full suite of vision enhancements, turn on individual enhancements, turn off everything.
Alrighty, let me post a response. Thanks for being patient as we talk through a crunchy ruleset.

Oh can I make the googles appear like they are fully wired although they are not kind of thing that would seem like a nice camouflage

I'll let you two talk it out, and will jump in either because I'm needed to clarify something, or when I need to do a plot advance, soon...

From Missy description of the insectoid features can Helios gauge the kind of insect it might have been?

I'll flesh it out here a bit more in case it wasn't too clear. I'll helpfully clarify that the astral spirit she met is different from the human insect hybrid vision she saw.

I don't have any more for this scene right now

Ok, I'll wait for @dejoker, and we can move to the boat journey.

(Those who were traveling on planes have their own problems, ahem. :)

No worries @dejoker. And I know you were asking for more details about the image of the insect spirit, and I didn't ask for a roll from either of you because that's all the details Missy could make out then. Sometimes the astral isn't as clear with all the details.

Let's move to the boat ride. If you want a legal ride like most citizens take that'll be different from if you want to stay in the shadows, in which case you need a fixer.

LOL damn you autocorrect!

Note I am assuming us taking longer to get to Japan will not cause an issue with the flow of the game -- if wrong please let us know

No worries there, if you don't mind playing with a bit of time dilation, ie. all the diferent threads arrive roughly the same day.
Once @runekyndig replies we can take the scene over to the dock (in case something needs to happen before you officially leave Hong Kong ;), and then you'll get to the boat journey, fast forwarded at the appropriate places)

What kind of spell slinger is Helios? Missy is, in lack of better 6e option, shaman, but in 5e, she should be closer to black magic

Well I would probably consider him more a naturalist kind of spiritualist which in 6e would also be the shaman tradition. But he does not know any specific cleansing spells? Is that just a general process kind of thing?

Argh my apologies I should've explained. Both of you were talking about cleansing, so I posted the Cleanse rules so that you can role play the parts you wanted from those rules, or help clarify what else needs to be done.

But those are the Astral Signature cleansing guidelines -- I think Missy is talking about checking to make sure her current signature is not tainted by some attached tracking spell -- and remove it if it is kind of thing -- which I do not think would be the same thing -- yes/no??

If you're trying to see if a spell or magic effect is affecting a person, and what kind of spell it is, the action required is Assensing.
If you are trying to remove a sustained spell condition on a person (such as a tracking spell, which currently and assuredly doesn't exist in the 6e spell list), the action required is the Dispelling action under Counterspelling.
A third option is what I thought @runekyndig was concerned about. Missy cast spells earlier, and now she wants to remove traces of her spellcasting in case she is being tracked via her astral signature. That's the Cleanse action.

Spell casting Signature residual normally only last for 1 hour x Force Rating and I am pretty sure it does not move with you but remains wherever you cast that spell -- other than that if you do not cast a spell you do not leave behind any traces -- secondly I do not think you can like reach out and find that easily since again you have to be where the spell was cast to even sense it -- but I could be wrong -- lastly just because we do not have access to a spell does not mean the GM's NPCs do not have access to it ;)

Missy has 6 houres' worth of trace that she needs to disconnect her self from. I don't think any rolls are needed

The rules, page 160
Conscientious casters can clean up behind them through the Cleanse Major Action. When choosing this action, the player scrubs traces of a single spell or other magical effect from the astral plane. Each Cleanse action taken acts like an hour of time passing in terms of aura fading. Characters may take this action as many times as they want until the signature is entirely removed.

Ok, then that wraps up the temple. I've moved the action to the docks already. You are at or nearing the fishery, depending on whether you want to prep anything beforehand, or go straight to talking to whomever is there.

Ooo here is a question how does one learn lip-reading in this version of the game? Or can I create a spell to do that ;)

I'd ask for a Perception test to make out the lip movements, difficulty adjusted by distance, light, etc. But without knowledge of the language all you'll see are mouth shapes. :)
We house ruled a Translate spell, so two parties can communicate. But if you want to cast Translate on an unwilling or unaware target, I will probably make an opposed roll for the target.

Eavesdrop, or knock and go in? Eavesdrop requires Perception. Going in will require Influence, but later.

Its cool was just curious on that one - currently you have to touch someone that knows the language to speak the language -- but I suppose if you are doing lip reading you would just need a means to perceive the words clearly and/or some such but that will be an in-game endeavor I suppose. Are we outlining what it might take to create your own spell as opposed to using spells others have already created? Just curious again.

Replying to @dejoker's thoughts: I believe the current spells cover Increase Skill or Increase Attribute, both of which will help Perception. Then it's a simple matter of the Translate spell.

First Impression: You gain 2 Edge for Social Tests during your first meeting with anyone, and both your Heat and Reputation are ignored for this first encounter.

Mentor spirit: Edge Boosts cost 1 less for Influence tests

3 -edge boost: Buy one automatic hit: You get an automatic hit. This one adds on to the total hits you roll. This isn’t an automatic success at whatever test you’re attempting, just another hit to add to your total.

For my 2 Edge and with a one boost discount, I would like to buy one automatic hit. I don't know if its a clever use of my edge, but I am using the system

4 +1 succes

Missy's Influence test has 3 net successes.

3? My first thought was 3, but then I looked it up, 1's don't negate 5's or 6'es any more. The only time 1's are important, is if half the roll is 1's, then its a glitch. Critical if there are no 5's or 6'es. But I might have missed something

You rolled 4+1 successes, that is opposed by my roll of 2 successes for the Chans. So that's 5 - 2 = 3 net successes. :) Which is why their response is positive, with only one question of concern which was more for self-preservation.

Having worked a few times together in the past Missy would know that Helios and make them both completely Invisible -- which is what he means when he says very discretely

A quick Missy relates the conversation is fine by me which I believe is what she did as that makes it more linear and I can then responded accordingly. And we are speaking in Sperethiel because currently that is the only language Helios understands unless he borrows one of Missy's languages which he does not currently feel is necessary. Maybe she will get slightly annoyed with Helios not knowing any other languages and make it a priority of her's to teach him the ones she knows. Or maybe she is fine with him not knowing other languages since he does know how to speak and deal with animals really well. To me its all about character development and character interaction and relationship development. We have a bond due to the mutual need and respect for one another but we do run in the shadows where trust is often rare and sometimes dangerous. So it is hard for me to say why Missy thus far has not chosen to instruct Helios on how to speak another language and I am fine with the other player defining that for their character and letting it come out in role play :)

Sounds good! Hope I didn't imply that either of you should roleplay less. Please keep it up both of you, I'm enjoying the clear characterisation between both Missy and Helios.

Alright, where next? Or tell me what kind of boat or owner or business you'd like to find.

Just to clarify, Lollypop Bunny is an information dealer, not a decker. This means she can get you information, for a price (because she has to pay someone to get it, who has to get/con/steal it from someone etc etc). If you're trading it depends whether she has any value for what you offer.
Roll Influence + Charisma, and you may add her Loyalty as a dice pool modifier. p51 on Contacts.

I see 3 successes for Lollypop Bunny to know about docked boats with dead or incarcerated owners. You're right in that getting a list of dead or imprisoned people isn't difficult, around a level 2 on Legwork Results. Knowing whose boats are currently docked is trickier and more specific, because they are private boats. Arriving boats clear immigration via the port authorities before they are allowed to dock, and vice versa. The information is registered by the port authorities, which is less accessible, around level 3 or 4. (This is the slightly-harder-to-get equivalent of the BDSM client list). So what you're asking from your broker is actually 2 pieces of information, not one. Then someone has to compare the list of owners of boats docked with the list of dead people, that's not just information, but some minor investigative work.
You rolled 4 successes though, this means Bunny is prepared to share what she knows for free.
Finally, sure, you can still swap your Contacts around, if you want a decker.

I thought we were using green for Sperethiel

When having several languages in play at once, then yes, I like to use colors.

Let me flesh out the area a bit more to help you make your decisions. You're at the port side of the docks. That's where the businesses and shipping offices and warehouses are. Earlier on you passed the big container ports, now you're nearer the smaller docks, and the Chan fishery was one of the businesses with a small warehouse and presumably a couple of fishing boats.
If you want the marina, where the private boats and yachts are, that's on the other side of the harbour which you will need to get to. It's a further walk, but you'll eventually get there. That's the recreational side of the docks. There should be many of those boats and yachts docked there.
In addition, if you want to talk to harbour folk, let me know. I'll describe who's around on this fishing side, and/or the marina side.

@dejoker since we're talking about language a lot, may I ask, backstory-wise, how has Helios survived both in Japan and in Hong Kong thus far, speaking neither Japanese nor Cantonese? Has he exclusively dealt with elves only? Has he magicked his way through every conversation? I also ask this because I'm looking at your Contacts with a view to be using some of them, but can't reconcile them yet. Are they all Sperethiel speaking?

Absolutely, my question, and also the question about the Contacts, is so I can do story-building. Exploit is too harsh a word. :D :D :D

Does this list have enough information on it that Helios could identify these boats by their names and/or other external markings?

I'll rule that it wasn't difficult to infer that such boats are at the marina end of the harbour, and that it was easy to find the way there, so I've taken the liberty to 'move' you to the location.
The list contains full names of the owners, make, model and registration number of their boat or craft, and name of craft (if any). It does not contain descriptive features, such as colour or design details. Neither Helios nor Missy has relevant Knowledge related to boats, so if you were looking for a specific boat I'll be asking for some rolls sooner or later.

With our abilities to conjure/control elementals I think we would just need a boat that is easily handled by them unless you have boating skills but yeah I concur something not too small but not too big. Do we need to make a roll to determine what size boat we should be looking for? I was thinking a typical Chinese Junk but the smaller ones might do as well assuming any of these are on the list we got.

The ocean going Chinese vessels are of three kinds; large ships called chunks (junks - which are about 36ft wide by 100ft long), middle sized ones called zaws (dhows) and the small ones kakams (I could not find dimensions for these other two types). The large ships have anything from twelve down to three sails, which are made of bamboo rods plaited into mats. They are never lowered, but turned according to the direction of the wind; at anchor they are left floating in the wind.

It's the 2070s, and you're at a marina, so the boats are mostly cyberpunk future versions of modern engined boats. I've described what kinds of vessels are anchored here in my last post. The ones you've described still exist, but are rarer and unlikely to be found at this location. They are more properly found in private boatyards or at the outlying islands, or used for tourism. The smallest of such boats (like dinghies, smaller dhows, sampans, rowboats, etc) aren't licensed.

Roll Perception for Helios, and for Arianr, to gather information on ship names and models, and to note for dust (or lack of use). Check your bonus dice modifiers and your bonus Edge for these. If you want to take an Extended test, you can. This simply means, given enough time, you will have checked each boat.

I would assume the top of Anchorage office might give the best vantage point but if it does not look like he can ascend that without easily being spotted he might opt to climb some ship's mast assuming there were any of those. Helios has absolutely no reservations to climbing in fact he kind of enjoys it.

Okay I believe both would be an extended test of a sorts so not sure how you want to handle that exactly. Further I have listed Arianr's Perception but I realize this is information actually being conveyed to her via the other spiders so not really sure how that ends up playing out.

Arianr Perception -- Perception (3) + Intuition (3)
--- Low Light Vision
--- Gets no Edge

Helios Perception -- Perception (2) + Intuition (5)
--- Specialization: Observational Awareness (+2d)
--- Low Light Vision
--- Vision Enhancer (+1d)
--- Vision Magnification (Range Reduced by 2)
--- Will Use Gained Edge (if any) to Help

6 successes from Helios is plenty, I think we don't need an extended test in this case. No successes on Arianr and her spiders though, I'll describe that too.

Now just giving @runekyndig a chance to post, and I can describe which boats they are.

As to your question about how Arianr communicates with her spiders, I have something I'll post under house rules that'll help. But in short, the spiders will use Arianr Perception stats.

1 success on Perception, 0 successes on Assensing.

Note though that Missy wouldn't know what exact security guard uniform she had to mimic. The security cameras will show a security guard walking around, not necessarily belonging to this place. :D Hint from your friendly GM.

Ah ok, I didn't assume it was shared, in which case...

No need to search for them again. You already know which pier they are at. Take your pick.

Next up is how you're getting on/in the boat.

Yep, see House Rules, under Sensor Sneak

I'll help clarify, both Helios and Missy are near the entrance, outside of security camera range. You're both about to approach the boat, under magical cover of some sort. When next to the boat, I'll grant no extra effort is needed to step from the pier onto the boat. On the boat itself, you want to check for security, and move the boat with magic while camouflaging it in some way. (And you are not operating the engines).

If so, go for it. First step I need your Spellcasting for the magical cover you'll use to get to the boat. Once we clear that, I need the second step, getting on the boat and checking for security. Third step later...

Yep, wanted to clarify and let @runkyndig jump in

I looked up the boats

Step 1: spell casts to hide/make illusion of the boatI think we have a plan, now let's do it. Helios and Missy coordinate their efforts and spell casting to pull it off. Missy can concentrate on 2 spells at once.

I'll note 3 successes on the spell and 1 drain

Your Magic test is superior to the cameras dice. Gain 1 Edge.

I'll rule that it entirely depends on how Missy cast the illusion. If @runekyndig wants to clarify the illusion I'll let him describe it more before I say whether Helios needs to overcome it or not.

So go ahead and move along. I understand @dejoker says his next step is to board the boat? Since the boat illusion is exactly overlaid where the real boat is (I assume that's the plan all along), I see no problem with Helios and/or Missy boarding the boat and do not need a roll for that. You may move to entering the inside of the boat, but maybe the doors are locked or there's a security system, etc

Hint: @runekyndig you do realise that Helios' spider companion has Improved Invisibility over Missy now, which means you don't need your Mask.

Not sure how much Force you feel is needed but whatever seems right I would guess a 1 or 2 but maybe a 3

Well I don't yet know what else you might want the water spirit to do, but if the only service you want to use it for is moving the boat, a Force 2 will do. Unless you would like it to possess an additional optional power, in which case you need Force 3 and above.
You've rolled 5 hits, and the spirit rolls 0 hits, so you have 5 net hits, which means 5 services. 5 hits on resist Drain, so no Drain effects. I'll grant that the water spirit is hidden by the illusion of the boat.

I will require 2 services for this. One to raise anchor, one to push the boat away from shore. The spirit has 3 services left. The boat is moving. Let me know what's next, ie. how far out before you drop the illusion, what actions you're taking in the meantime while the boat is slowly being pushed out, if any.

Sorry I should've been clearer. I simply meant the boat was moored in some way, whethered anchored, or moored as in tethered, either to the pier itself, or tied to a mooring anchor or buoy. I can grant that Helios or Missy did do so. I can also grant the elemental remained underwater even when Helios summoned it. Perhaps it'll help if you understood a number of my descriptions as flavour. Functionally it makes no difference, eg I say the elemental rose up vs you had imagined the elemental being submerged. Unless you as a player flesh it out beforehand. Same with whether the boat was tied or not. However I can see how player posts can end up overly long and detailed, eg I step on the boat, then I untie the rope from the pier, then I push off, then I summon an elemental, but I make sure the elemental remains underwater and unseen, etc etc. So I suggest we can take some creative licence with the descriptions, unless it has some in-game effect. So in this case I will rescind the service of the elemental having to weigh anchor ie. unmoor the boat. Let's count only 1 service used so far.

So does the elemental create or reduce the wake? Would removing the wake count as a service? But you were clear about moving the boat at an optimal speed so there'll be no or minimal wake, so that totally makes sense and we can leave it at that. I was also going to comment on steering, but realised your latest post specifies it already, so we're good there.

Haha I wouldn't want you to overly detail every action either, I figure that'll truly be too tedious, especially for PbP. So let's play it by ear, and ask questions to clarify if details are missing or assumed, or if a description is literal or figurative. I'm doing that for all threads anyway.

Yes a Force 2 spirit does not understand that much, its Logic and Intuition would be at animal intelligence (compared with typical Critter ratings). So I have assumed Helios' instructions would have been something to the effect of, "move this large object slowly in this direction as quietly as possible until it reaches such-and-such a distance".

I will assume for the next part that the boat is moved at least up to line-of-sight, so that @runekyndig can post his dispelling of the illusion. Then you can decide how to command the elemental to sail the ocean, or do your breaking and entering into the cabin, etc.

The combat movement rate of spirits is listed in its stats, which is half the speed of PC movement. But it doesn't give normal movement rate. If you're intending to have the elemental 'push' the boat all the way to Japan I'll figure out a travel speed if it's relevant, ie. only if there's combat or a chase. I'm not intending to play out the weeks of traveling!!

@runekyndig can I first check how you intend to have the illusion disappear? Are you following @dejoker's suggestion earlier?The one about the sinking boat? Or did you have something else in mind?

I'll need your actions if you want to enter the cabin. And how you intend to continue steering the boat, ie. what kinds of instructions are you going to give the spirit. You are out of the harbour, and about to reach open waters, towards the South China Sea. It is around 4am in the morning now, if you need the time.

So, expect the next couple of posts to require some 'problem-solving', before you safely get to Japan. Two things to start with. Firstly, post how you intend to navigate. @dejoker can I have an Outdoors test, just to check that you're giving decent directions to the elemental at the moment. I've described what it can reasonably do.
Secondly, if you intend to break or blast something, the rules for Barriers are on p111. The door is 5 Structure, the windows are 4 Structure. And @runekyndig you're right, if it's a lightning blast, we'll see if it damages anything else. :P
I'll rule that your 'Force the Door' doesn't work, just a bit of GM intrusion because you have Impaired Strength.

Are you saying that my small max/min flaw is coming to bite me?! :D Hehe

Go ahead and make a gun attack roll.
And yeah, neither of you can carry anything! Leave that heavy lifting to your conjured spirits! :D

Helios has no relevant Knowledge skill for this, ie. South China Sea, geography, sailing, etc. I'll let you make an Outdoors test. But I'm taking into account that Helios has Incompetent (Piloting), so while there's no strict roll required here, flavour-wise I see him very likely to screw up piloting and directing a 'vehicle', even one with a water elemental engine :D :D .

Missy's Comlink: Sony Emperor with software: Mapsofts - just saying ;)

Thank goodness for mapsofts, otherwise this part of the adventure might end up being Robinson Crusoe. :P You still have no GPS nor satellite uplink, but at least you now have a complete and detailed map (not real time though) of the entire region.

I assumed you'd do a stock-take.

I'll assume Missy and Helios by default are sharing information, including the maps, so they know the Hong Kong / China coastline, and the direction of Japan. For 3 successes Helios knows that following the coastline at a set distance is a sensible thing to do, and can explain to the elemental to do so.
I'm don't think you can entirely hand over the steeting over to a Force 2 elemental. Force 2 means it roughly has animal intelligence (Logic 2), so I imagine it's like a horse drawing a cart, left to its own it can somewhat stick to a road, by will require direction, reining, etc. Hint: cast a more powerful elemental if you want a smarter one.

Just checking, so Missy won't be running the engine right?

Ok noted. Once you solve the navigating problem, and, more easily, the food problem, I'm going to advance the plot. Not really going to shipwreck you or make you fight sea monsters. :D

Yep I'm either going to invoke that, or use something from Helios' background, namely that he had to attend to a more urgent matter in the village he came from previously, leaving Missy to travel to Tokyo without him.