Corco's Villa (IC)

[TGLS]

Originally Posted by ericthered

you're getting off that now, yes?

Yep, I'll let V go.

Originally Posted by ericthered

Disabling the emperor involves removing at least five stones. You have been given several sets that will do. It will take at 6 seconds per stone if hurrying.

OK, 30 seconds in a hurry.

Originally Posted by ericthered

You'd need to cave in somewhere that isn't in view of the atrium, or someone will come and investigate.

So like roll to find the right arch or risk blowing up the wall? It looked like a pretty straight shot from the atrium to me. Architecture if I need a roll:

[384] 22-04-08 20:52:54 BST
Architecture at default
3d6 <= 11
5 + 2 + 1 = 8 ... success

Originally Posted by ericthered

When the emperor goes down... you're not sure what the imperial infrastructure and conspiracy will do. The conspiracy 100% knows about the wall, and they have active responders present.

The speed with which they could enter... it all depends on how much they are willing to damage the architecture. If they blast a path back open, its probably a minute to get the explosives, and a minute to place the charges. If they dig it out, you've probably got five to ten minutes, depending on if they stick immortals* to moving rubble or not.

Maybe we could knock out the emperor, have V transform into Kunnifax, and send "Kunnifax" back to run interference on the response. I get the impression that they can get in right quick once they decide to get in. Maybe we could try to convince them that the wall has been completely destroyed (with some good timing and explosives) and the saboteur is somewhere else.

[the_matrix_walker]

Originally Posted by ericthered

Disabling the emperor involves removing at least five stones. You have been given several sets that will do. It will take at 6 seconds per stone if hurrying.

How far into the ~30 hurried work-minute investment can this be? Can we move around other stones in preparation so that there are only a few minutes of work left between taking him offline and getting him back on?

Originally Posted by ericthered

You'd need to cave in somewhere that isn't in view of the atrium, or someone will come and investigate. When the emperor goes down... you're not sure what the imperial infrastructure and conspiracy will do. The conspiracy 100% knows about the wall, and they have active responders present.

We'd have to blow the wing walls I was talking about using as anchor points to separate us from the central chamber and antechambers.

Originally Posted by ericthered

The speed with which they could enter... it all depends on how much they are willing to damage the architecture. If they blast a path back open, its probably a minute to get the explosives, and a minute to place the charges. If they dig it out, you've probably got five to ten minutes, depending on if they stick immortals* to moving rubble or not.

Two minutes is a rough clock if we have to blow the explosives too soon

Originally Posted by ericthered

Yes you can stack efforts if you choose a leader and they make a leadership roll or administration roll. Failure gives +3 minutes extra work/wasted time per point of failure.

I think Halcyone is the superior administrator.

Originally Posted by ericthered

If you want to roll... There might be something useful in the tech books, and you did come in on a hand truck... you're getting off that now, yes?

Construction foam is TL 10 on UT pg 83, so probably not a Vassarious idea, but again maybe Halcyone would think of it. Using it to make walls closer in and quietly would mean they would find a new wall when they came around the corner to check the "Emperor Wall" when Maximus is de-activated with no loud explosion required. And being closer to the important stones may dissuade them from using explosives to penetrate so close to the important stones...

Or used following an explosion, sprayed over the debris field after the blast would make digging or blasting through more difficult.

Once out of sight, Vassarious gets off of the hand truck and shifts their facial features to match a young technician with the day off...

Disguise 3d6 <= 14
6 + 4 + 3 = 13 ... success

[the_matrix_walker]

Originally Posted by TGLS

Maybe we could knock out the emperor, have V transform into Kunnifax, and send "Kunnifax" back to run interference on the response. I get the impression that they can get in right quick once they decide to get in. Maybe we could try to convince them that the wall has been completely destroyed (with some good timing and explosives) and the saboteur is somewhere else.

We could try it that way... I want to see how long we can stall taking him offline.

Spoiler:  

If Vassarious is going to fully shapeshift, it's tempting to try the Maximus form he has and see if he can get the immortals to defend us from the hybrid soldiers...

[TGLS]

Originally Posted by the_matrix_walker

How far into the ~30 hurried work-minute investment can this be? Can we move around other stones in preparation so that there are only a few minutes of work left between taking him offline and getting him back on?

I assume that knocking out the emperor may not actually be necessary, but if we make the adjustments without knocking out the emperor he'll be alerted and go look at the wall (probably via his clairvoyance). We could probably play off the emperor getting knocked out, while the emperor would not be so easily fooled.

Originally Posted by the_matrix_walker

We'd have to blow the wing walls I was talking about using as anchor points to separate us from the central chamber and antechambers.

Two minutes is a rough clock if we have to blow the explosives too soon

Hm. Maybe we should rig them as a last resort.

Originally Posted by the_matrix_walker

Construction foam is TL 10 on UT pg 83, so probably not a Vassarious idea, but again maybe Halcyone would think of it. Using it to make walls closer in and quietly would mean they would find a new wall when they came around the corner to check the "Emperor Wall" when Maximus is de-activated with no loud explosion required. And being closer to the important stones may dissuade them from using explosives to penetrate so close to the important stones...

Or used following an explosion, sprayed over the debris field after the blast would make digging or blasting through more difficult.

Well let's see if Halcyone has that idea... I do like it, less violent than blowing it up.

[386] 22-04-09 05:02:55 BST
IQ
3d6 <= 16
4 + 4 + 2 = 10 ... success

Hm, maybe I brought twenty gallons. Hopefully they don't light it up and gas us on the inside.

Originally Posted by the_matrix_walker

If Vassarious is going to fully shapeshift, it's tempting to try the Maximus form he has and see if he can get the immortals to defend us from the hybrid soldiers...

Well, I think that might be a little risky, depending on whether they saw his unconscious body or not...

[ericthered]

Originally Posted by the_matrix_walker

How far into the ~30 hurried work-minute investment can this be? Can we move around other stones in preparation so that there are only a few minutes of work left between taking him offline and getting him back on?

That's an interesting question... hmm... <gm shuffling sounds> ... you think you can do 20 minutes of work without knocking him out... roll IQ to see if you got the plan for doing that from Holo-maximus.

Once out of sight, Vassarious gets off of the hand truck and shifts their facial features to match a young technician with the day off...

Disguise 3d6 <= 14
6 + 4 + 3 = 13 ... success

Got it.

Construction foam is TL 10 on UT pg 83, so probably not a Vassarious idea, but again maybe Halcyone would think of it.

Originally Posted by TGLS

Well let's see if Halcyone has that idea... I do like it, less violent than blowing it up.

Hm, maybe I brought twenty gallons. Hopefully they don't light it up and gas us on the inside.

Well, its TL10, and you're in a TL9 area... but these folks do like their grandiose buildings, and its a pretty tame technology, so I'll allow it.

Originally Posted by the_matrix_walker

If Vassarious is going to fully shapeshift, it's tempting to try the Maximus form he has and see if he can get the immortals to defend us from the hybrid soldiers...

Well, I think that might be a little risky, depending on whether they saw his unconscious body or not...

Decisions, Decisions...

[TGLS]

Originally Posted by ericthered

That's an interesting question... hmm... <gm shuffling sounds> ... you think you can do 20 minutes of work without knocking him out... roll IQ to see if you got the plan for doing that from Holo-maximus.

Well I guess I can try that IQ roll:

[387] 22-04-11 16:35:59 BST
IQ
3d6 <= 16
3 + 4 + 4 = 11 ... success

I say we seal up this area and get to work remodeling under the no KO plan. Hopefully Maximus is sufficiently distracted to not notice the changes we're making.

[the_matrix_walker]

Ok, sounds good, so we seal it up, do our work, and if we're lucky we can finish before they get through, and if not we'll fight them off while we finish correcting the pattern.

So we can get through 20 "hurried-work-minutes" before they are alerted, that leaves 10, which we can split.

They will need to investigate the shutdown, discover the wall, decide how to penetrate it, and then get through... If that takes 5 minutes, we will be done.
If they are faster, we'll have to defend the position.

If they get through too early or in too great numbers to hold them off, V can try the Hail-Mary of turning into Maximus.

[TGLS]

OK. Splitting the 20 gallons in two gives a mass of 50 lb. and thus 30 HP. DR depends on how thick the wall is and thus how big the entrance to the wall hallway is; assuming a 9 yard square gap, the thickness is 2.5 inches or DR 5. I'd be happier with more foam but more than a hundred pounds probably starts making the hauled in load ridiculous. Should leave in a few air holes at the top so we won't suffocate, unless the room has other ventilation shafts.

I'll make a masonry roll at the default to assemble this wall (not sure if that fits best, but I probably don't have the right skill either):

[388] 22-04-11 19:51:42 BST
Masonry Default
3d6 <= 12
4 + 1 + 6 = 11 ... success

Hopefully it sets before anyone notices.

Originally Posted by the_matrix_walker

If they get through too early or in too great numbers to hold them off, V can try the Hail-Mary of turning into Maximus.

And if that fails too we can blow up the wall and try to make an escape. Possibly shooting any of the high priests we find along the way.

[ericthered]

You have to block 7 square yards rather than 9, so that's DR 7.


Halcyone sticks up the wall quickly, and the two of them begin moving the stones around. Both of you should roll DX, and Halcyone should roll administration.

[TGLS]

Turning away from the foaming and bubbling wall, I refocus in on the more classically built wall that caused all this trouble. I quickly figure out how to keep to holomaximus's plans, while keeping out of each other's way.

[390] 22-04-12 16:45:10 BST
Admin

3d6 <= 15
4 + 1 + 1 = 6 ... success
w ddd

[389] 22-04-12 16:44:47 BST
DX

3d6 <= 14
6 + 3 + 1 = 10 ... success