Robert says I have 3 left, so I'll spend them until we win or I'm empty.

What's Kasumi's plan?

We want the guy to get to Adler, but we don't want him to know he's being followed. Is anyone else in earshot so that there could be a hand-off to another ninja? Basically make the guy believe he's given Kasumi the slip?

Well, as far as Kasumi's plan goes, she wants to get across that she's trying to kill him, and then let him get away while the people we have following him keep on him.

Following the informant (I presume you want to stay unnoticed?) would be a Sneak check with synergy from Acrobatics/Athletics as applicable for the ISO standard "ninjas on rooftops" strategy. I'm always open to justifications for alternate skill uses, though.

Can I work Sneak with Investigation, basically using what I know now of Adler and the informant's general behavior so far to follow him without actually having to keep him in my sight at all times?

Laborer "disguise" or not, I don't want to rely on blending with the crowd. I'd rather him simply not see me, and the best way to do that IMO is to outthink where he'll be.

Can we non-flying, non-ninja pedestrians somehow keep track of where the action is, or should we just go back to the meeting place and wait for reports?

Maybe Aiko should drop in and "rescue" Adler's cronie from the half-naked ninja? Armed opposition might make him decide his boss isn't worth the trouble, while back-up might well strengthen his resolve.

Adam, you can use Sneak with a synergy from Investigation, sure. We'll call it as Toshiba's skill at canvassing letting him picture the city roads in his head and therefore follow a parallel route.

Mike, unless you want the informant to see you follow him, you'll have to use Sneak. A good alternate use of your time would be to deliberately stay behind the main chase (thus avoiding the need to roll) and see if any city guards are coming after the informant, and the team by extension.

Quote:

Adam, you can use Sneak with a synergy from Investigation, sure. We'll call it as Toshiba's skill at canvassing letting him picture the city roads in his head and therefore follow a parallel route.

Make it so!

Since I'm as stealthy as an elephant, I'll opt for staying behind.

Speaking of broken wax seals: I should have a sword with one of those as well by now. Does that give me grief if I run into the local fuzz? That would somewhat influence what I'll do next. Incidentally, could Takao have not used Mizu, but his other katana in the fight against the ninjas? Mizu is reserved for worthy opponents, which the ninja weren't, despite their numbers.

Yeah, one of Takao's seals is broken, and yes, that will be trouble if one of the guards sees it. I rolled your fight with Mizu, but since it's a wash whether Mizu or your other katana is unsealed as far as the law is concerned, sure, we can retcon that - but it does mean that if you want to use Mizu in an upcoming fight, you'll have two broken seals.

Does the trouble go linear with number of broken seals, or exponentially?

Takao will make sure to get out of sight once the guards appear.

Let me put it this way, one broken seal is really quite bad enough. Two are definitely worse, but one is no slap on the wrist - you should endavour not to get caught at all.

If I am mistaken about the size of the crowd, Takao will try something else, like point in the direction in which the Oni left and yell "He went that way! Quick, you'll catch him if you hurry!"

The crowd is definitely big enough to disappear into, especially since Takao wasn't in the thick of it to begin with.

Is there a higher vantage point Takao could use to continue observing, an easily accessible roof or the like?
Would I even recognize Van Synt if I saw him in person? Takao hasn't rubbed shoulders with the local authority like the rest of the gang.

Hey, were can I find the rest of the Shinobi threads?
I know Robert posted a summary on the Crafty-forum, but I wanted to read especially the last bit before I joined to get the full scoop on the Blue Oni etc, and I can't seem to find it.

I thought I had everything pulled from Wave already. I'll go over it tomorrow and bring anything I missed into the threads here for future reference.

Maybe I'm looking in the wrong place, too.
I see up to Shinobi 4 in this subforum, and I started in wave 14 (and could read 13a). I guess the ones I'm looking for are 10ish upward.

Why does it suddenly feel like we're in the middle of an episode of Afro Samurai