A Time For Secrets OOC

I don't think Kess has ever bothered to assense our dear drake friend nor would he necessarily know what a Drake is either just because he's a paracritter himself. That said it's likely Drakes are semi common knowledge in the Shadows. Maybe not dead on specifics but Drakes have now been around for about 7-8 years now as having been revealed in the shadows and I believe more than a few of them have since become known to the public eye as well in large part thanks to the Draco Foundation making flat out public offers of sanctuary for Drakes.

That doesn't mean however that one really knows anything more than 'they are some sort of tiny dragon that can look like a normal person'. Much less necessarily give them the ability to spot latent drakes via their astral signature.

informative thanks for the input kess!!!!

On the whole one must remember Drakes are still quite rare.

The stated known percentage of awakened species amongst Metahumanity is approximately 2% of the world population. This figure has probably gone up in recent years as new forms of magic, especially among the much harder to identify adept becomes known. SOTA and related books are always full of new and increasingly diverse types of adepts. They have now popped up as singers, dancers, cooks, mechanics, public speakers, porn stars, hackers, chess players, detectives, vehicle pilots/drivers and well.. just about anything you can think of when until round 2065 they were primarily considered just to be found as Athletes and fighters. This was why they are referred or were once referred to as 'physical adepts' because all their talents were showing up in purely physical abilities. However the reality of the Adept by 2070 is that many have abilities that are purely mental in nature or have far more subtle physical talents like painting or playing musical instruments. Even here, in a field very heavily researched and once thought to be fully understood knowledge of magic had proven to be limited and it's taken since at least the 2040's to figure this all out. That means that there's been over 32 years of research into adepts vs at most 7-8 years of any sort of public research into Drakes.

Of course Dragons know all about drakes, they created them after all but they are not exactly the type to share and they spent many years around 2065 onward when the comet started awakening drakes the world over and probably a couple of years prior as there had, if I recall been one or two rumours of drakes being around before the comet arrived. Even now it's a very rare drake that is on their own. Almost all of them, probably a good 99% are tied to some one else for protection and/or service, be it one of the dragons or big corporations and groups like the Drako Foundation. (And even there you are technically tying yourself in to a dead dragon and his wishes as the DF was created specifically to carry out his will well past his death). So lets just arbitrarily say that if you take into account all magically oriented metasapeints the world over, not just meta humanity the percentage of awakened life is probably less than 10% of all life on the planet. Out of this Drakes represent less than a 1% share. Not only that but they are not only rare, but still quite new to the world as most know it. This means that even among experts there is much that isn't known about them yet (Such as how they've come out with a few new drake species since they were first introduced).

This means that anyone who hasn't specifically spent time reading up on Drakes isn't likely to know a damn thing about them as far as facts are concerned and most, even other awakened species are not likely to have even met one. Some species such as Shapeshifters like Kesslan probably don't even care what a Drake is beyond 'is it a threat? Is it food?' Shapeshifters are after all 100% pure animal even if they are intelligent. Drakes actually sort of fall into the same catagory but only pure drakes are 100% dragon and even then that's debateable as they were an apparently artificially created race. Most drakes in the 6th world however are some how descended from pure drakes and.. given the sort of activities Dragons like Damien have been up to, possibly descended from a coupling of dragons and humans. I mean no one's really sure (It's never been stated in official material at least) that Damien has actually been having sex with humans (90% female though he's been known to hook up with the odd guy too) it's been rumoured and more recent material puts out some deeper hints that he might actually have gotten a few knocked up, or is definitely up to something with all these companions he's been finding (With a large percentage, surprise surprise, having been runners). So it's possible that he's doing something to create Drakes along those lines as it's obvious that the ability to become a Drake is something that has to be able to be passed on via either sex, or magical manipulation of a fetus. This is strictly because the average drake in this day and age was born metahuman and has a drake bloodline that dates back all the way to the previous magical age where Pure Drakes were created. This doesn't necessarily mean that everyone in their family line was a potential drake, but does guarantee that the magical genetic markers were passed along in some way parent to child for thousands of years.

So this also in the end backs up why most people probably wouldn't have any idea that LT is a Drake and some, such as Kesslan simply have had no need to study his Aura, nor is Kess particularly adept at studying auras for anything more than the base key markers that would tell him if he's up against another predator or if it's possible prey. The specifics don't particularly matter in this case. To use another example, as a large feline Kesslan would know that say.. an aligator is a predator of some sort that might become prey but he's got no real way of knowing what his odds might be of winning a fight. This is in direct opposition to the knowledge that prey species such as rabbits, deer, monkies and the like pose minor threats if any and thus are relatively 'safe' to go after. Even then prey can surprise the predator and real life examples of this can be seen in many youtube videos where the prey beats up the predator or even kills the predator. (There's videos of deer beating up human hunters even)

On a game related note:

Gala, let me know what if anything you want me to roll to search the guard for handcuffs or zip ties. Wasn't sure a perception check was strictly necessary as restraints are typically placed in a fairly obvious pouch by legitimate security and Kess isn't particularly concerned with looting the guy right now. (Also let me know if I need to do some sort of test to drag the body off to the side somewhere and dump it out of view)

kess where in the nine realms did you learn all of that about drakes lol i need to read what your reading

Not necessary. You can simply know - your background gives you the general location, and that's where they are. In fact, you don't even have to look, you can find them without looking.

While no test is necessary for finding his cuffs, you will have to do a test to drag the body.

Ghostmaker wrote:

kess where in the nine realms did you learn all of that about drakes lol i need to read what your reading

Information on Drakes is found in a few scant mention in SR3 books such as Year of the Comet, Dragons of the Sixth World and tidbits pop up every now and then in quite a few books onward. Some of the information is from very recent releases actually while other bits are from pieces in older ones. What I gave you there is basically a summary of all the information I've seen so far and can recall on Drakes as well as a few extrapolations on possibilities. Right from his first mention Damien/Damion/and many other handles has been known to be a dragon that loved working the social scene. He's notorious for giving away 'his secret' as often as keeping it. The most recent SR4 book on dragons goes into a little more detail such as how Damien has kept every property he's bought up as he's drifted city to city having all these huge parties. The rumours of him picking up companions is even backed up in the fluff stories about him however none actually delve into sexual exploits the rumours are actually presented in the SR4 update on his activities.

Damien is basically a playboy dragon but like all dragons he's obviously been working up some agenda in the background though to what end is anyone's guess. That said I wouldn't be too surprised if it some how involved drakes. If I recall correctly in the initial book entry on True Drakes and their creation it had something to do with dragon scales, blood and so on. The entries on Drakes actually covers much of the rest of the information on the whole part of it being genetics passed down over time that lay dormant.

I don't pretend to know everything about SR nor always recall it correctly but I most certainly do read almost everything I can get my hands on as far as the RPG books and source materials are concerned. Drakes and the Draco foundation as well as Damion are things I've been following along as I suspect there's far more to come of it all. Shadowrun has a long history of giving even GMs just tidbits and letting things play out from there. Hell as it stands SR Missions are still officially helping form the future of SR and the successes or failures of many a big NPC player. I suspect this will become even more true once the SR MMO goes live assuming they do it right.

@Ghostmaker: Not a glitch. You needed another 1 for a glitch. More 1s than successes means nothing unless there's half or more. So, it's just 2 successes.

oh sweet ill post something bout LT's perspective or just something cool later k

@Ghost: Add another perception test with the bonus for Thermo. And I'll bet you have contacts or goggles on which give a perception bonus as well - if so, add that too. If not, you still have the natural Thermo, so add that bonus (I think it's 4; but I'm at work so you'll have to check yourself).
@Kesslan: You're right behind him. You can roll a perception with a -2 (LT is in your way) but with all other bonuses at the same time. You can do Astral as well, also at -2; but I think your physical is better after your enhancements are considered.
@Darkon: You can roll an Astral Perception with a -2 (again, LT is in the way). You've been switching back and forth, and my random die roll just told me that you're perceiving in Astral at the moment.

yeah i lost a die to thermo but i still got too hits GALA TELL'EM WHAT HE WON!!! lol

Yup Darkon: that's a crit glitch... We're going to have fun with this!!!


@Ghostmaker: I realize that there are many circumstances where thermo may damage a perception test. This is not one of them. Re-roll, and this time add the bonus dice from thermo.

Sounds good umm what page do i find that on i really cant find it...

G i know your the GM but i rolled 2hits again umm ima scared now lol thats three in a row lol something strange is at work her

Ok, that's really funny! I suppose you were supposed to roll a 2!

I edited my last post to take the glitch into account. It isn't pretty, sorry team.

Gosh... I think I seriously need to raise Specters intuition somehow.

Wow. Nicely done! I've been looking forward to what you would come up with - and you did not disappoint! I will be able to respond to this tonight; but @everyone else: feel free to post in your responses as well! No need to wait on me; this is good material here!!

Thank you for the compliment.

The poor girl will be entirely embarrassed when she realizes the truth. And dragon shamans are sore losers. I feel pity for the next fire elemental that really pops up.

i cant respond till i know what the roll reveled ill wait then when you respond to my two ill respond
Darkon nice!

Yeah, I really feel bad for her. This is worse than wearing a summer skirt in a brisk wind, with both hands occupied... That said: it could be worse.

@All:
We are on the south side of Tokyo Bay. The warehouse is on a pier, which protrudes north off the shoreline (which is not visible due to all the buildings). We are entering the warehouse from the south end, which is also the short end. We are entering left (west) of the central road, facing north.

@Kesslan: LT seems to be moving aside as you step up to the door. It is very dark inside. In fact, if the door that you guys were coming in was closed, you suspect that it would be complete darkness and impossible to see anything at all. Well, in the physical, that is. You can see very faint outlines of shleving in front of you, running the long way. There seem to be more of them to the right than to the left.
As you switch to Astral, you can immediately see significantly more. The warehouse is laid out as you would expect a docks-warehouse to be laid out. There is a main "road" down the center, large enough to allow 2 full-sized trucks to pass each other. And to either side is shelving. Each set of shelves is about 3 meters wide, and there is a 2 meter break in between each set of shelves. On this side of the "road" you can see 5 sets of shelving. You can see more shelving on the other side of the "road" and it looks like there may be more than 5 sets over there, perhaps 7 sets.

Ok, good. We're all here. Initiatives, everyone.

initiative 9dice = 4hits 13 2passes

Init: 12 Dice + 3 hits = 15 (3 Passes)

Initiative Rea3+Int3=6d (6d6. hits(5)=4)4 hits

Ini6+4 hits= Initiative 10