(For clarity sake Jacki: Archibald is a guard at Doorman&Doppler, the office opposite the former Front. The lobby security guard with "Yanowich, Dreisel & Associates", the former Vigil front, was Red Brown, and he definitely got creamed)

OOC: Oops, my misunderstanding. Post edited. It still tracks, as no one was killed beneath, it looks like, the 4th floor.

(except for Red Brown who was in the lobby on the ground floor at the front desk :p. He was the guard who let the owner of the car that's parked outside into the building before the flashy entrance of the purported murderers. When in doubt check the gamewiki, it's updated when new facts come to light :))
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:39, Fri 18 Mar 2016.

Devon went about marking Jacki's stated locations on his iPad. "Depending on how it was fried, there might still be some salvageable data. Failing that, let's hope the old boss was paranoid... that's a joke, by the way."

Tapping his ear piece to contact the van James voice came throuhg a couple of seconds after the initial sound, "Looks like whoever turned up just before the hit went down left their car. Might have some information about who they were inside if we can't find out the owner from the plates."

Lauren explained to the guard at the entrance that the team was sent by the insurance agency to make a more detailed damage report and Devon's ID's did the job of convincing the guard to let them pass the barrier. Lauren contacted James as she went inside:"James, see if you can get into the car without drawing attention. You can contact Homefront if you need the licence plates checked".

(where's everyone at this point?)

Devon walked in Lauren's wake, continuing to note any and all surveillance structure in the building, and speculating about the wring layout. Anything that can hold a charge records information... though he's not really equipped or trained in that kind of analysis. Some of his old lab buddies could possibly help out if he called in a favor o two, if needs be.

"Can do." Strolling to the car James eyed it for a moment or two as he replayed the man's departure from the vehicle the previous night, slowly pulling on a pair of gloves as he did so. Glancing behind him as Lauren and Devon entered the building to see if the security was focusing on them rather than him he waited for an opportunity then, once he was content, checked the door to see if the driver had even bothered locking it in his rush out.

OC: Outside the front of the building by the road.

Devon explored the lobby desk, a long and slender chrome and glass design with the company name etched into it. It had monitors linked to the various cameras in the building. Several of the screens were black, most likely linked to cameras on the top three floors that were caught in the fire. "The police made copies of the footage", one of the guards who called himself "Tom, not Tommy"  mentioned:"They were all over the building the past two days but I think they finished their initial investigation".

Walking around the car James noticed two holes in the back of the car, burned clean through at a 45 degree angle as if something had been fired from up top. Glancing around to find the right moment James tried the doorhandle. The owner hadn't bothered locking the door before he had gone into the building.
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:55, Wed 23 Mar 2016.

Jacki remains in the van, on the street. Keeping a watch out for signs of surveillance. Anyone in the know enough to strike the office might be on the look out for the next target to strike. And that would be bad news for them.

How are my drones faring, anything worth seeing from above?

"Yeah, I'll need copies for the assessment, too. Mind getting me some while I go up and start looking at the site?" Devon's hand dipped into a pocket and produced a Snickers. Devon knew a desk job could still work up a mean hunger, and a little lubricant could help grease wheels.

The desk guard smiled slightly at the sight of a Snickers bar as he took the sugary bribe:"Yea I can do that. Oh hey, it's a mess upstairs and the fire department said the top two floor are off-limits because there is the danger of possible collapsing ceilings and walls".

(Jacki you can make a perception + (appropriate skill such as alertness or awareness) to scan your surroundings).

(Devon, I've put up stats for your drones in the OOC thread. You can make a perception roll on their behalf).
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:50, Thu 24 Mar 2016.

Investigation, as Jacki is actively looking for things unusual or out of place:

20:39, Today: Jacki Tanner rolled 4 successes using 5d10 with the World of Darkness 3rd ed system with a target of 6 ((5,6,10,6,6)).

As Jacki was sitting in the van, with the airconditioning at full blast to combat the sweltering heat outside, she looked out over the street. The seven floor tall building of "Yanowich, Dreisel & Associates" was flanked by a number of offices and stores. Since it was now around noon it was fairly busy in the street, with people sitting outside eating lunch, visiting the restaurant on the streetcorner 5 buildings further up or commuting back and forth between work and whatever else they did during their break.

A small class of children accompanied by two adults walked by the van before they went into an office. Several of the children stuck their middle finger up at Jacki and laughed before their adult companions berated their rude behaviour and raised their hands apologetically at Jacki. Five businessmen passed by the van on their way to the corner restaurant. One of them, a younger man with short black hair waved at her. A small group of out of place highschool kids were skateboarding until they got chased off by a guard. Two asian women with bags of groceries walked by hastily, glancing at Jacki as they stomped by on their stubby legs. Jacki saw them look back at the van in the rear view mirror, both shaking their heads to each other and then laughing.

Checking her rear view further Jacki noticed a shabbily dressed elderly man with a scruffy beard staring at her reflection in the mirror. He made no attempt to hide, standing in the middle of the pavement, out of place in an otherwise high priced neighborhood in his stained beige raincoat and dirty brown corduroy pants.

3 Perception on surveillance drones? Ehh, those are probably gonna go in the scrap heap when I get home then and I'll work on building something better.

Drone Perception: Devon Arc botched using 3d10 with the World of Darkness 3rd ed system with a target of 6 ((2,1,5))

Devon made his way up to the damaged levels.

"Huh," Jacki says to herself. Leaning against the door, keeping her eye on the side-view through her sunglasses. Pulling the map from her back pocket, laying it against the wheel. Her pen marks off where the man stands. Then she starts counting as she watches him walk, timing out the period it takes for him to get to the next street.

OOC: Casting Track Person.

21:01, Today: Jacki Tanner rolled 2 successes using 2d10 with the World of Darkness 3rd ed system with a target of 5 ((8,8)).

The holes caused James a moment's pause and he was briefly tempted to check potential firing arcs. However with only a small window whilst attention was focused inside with Lauren and Devon he wanted to get a closer look at the contents of the car. Opening the door he ran the check quickly for the usual hiding places for a driving license; sun visor, glove compartment, any other obvious nooks. That check done he plucked out the briefcase and moving to the back of the car to check its content and also see if the boot yielded anything.

As Lauren and Devon left the hallway Devon noticed the two holes in the wall behind the desk and a congealed puddle of blood, police markers stuck above them. This was where Red Brown had been killed, two holes through the chest. The middle of the lobby, where the intruders appeared to have made their entry the floor was dusty, a layer of dirt and pebbles strewn across the tiled marble floor, but appeared otherwise undamaged. Several footprints were visible in the dust.

Even after the fire had long been extinguished the smoky smell lingered in the hallways, the staircase, the offices of the building. It hung on the air throughout the law firm ready to greet whomever opened the front door and it only got worse as one moved further upstairs. On the way to the upper floors there was water damage everywhere from the sprinkler system and the firebrigade's rescue attempt. On the fourth floor Lauren checked the outline of Morgan Freehand's body with yellow tape still marking the location he had succumbed, supposedly due to smoke inhalation.

Eventually Devon and Lauren went up to the 5th floor. The 5th floor held the board room and meeting rooms where clients had been invited to discuss their particular cases. 3 big offices had been the workspace of the associated laywers. The hallways were black with soot and the electricity didn't work on this floor anymore so only the light that came from the sunny outside through the large windows lit up the floor. The ceilings were blistered black and the panneling had fallen to the ground in places, revealing pipes and wires. This floor had seen the least of the fire but would still have been considered a total loss insurance-wise.
Nothing had escaped the fire entirely unscathed, the soot-covered metal desks with melted computers and barely recognizable personal nicknacks, the leather office chairs, the oaken board room table, Dreisel's priced stamp collection, Yankowich's Warhol print.

Lauren looked around the charred board room, glancing at her tablet:". The floor one up from here housed the server room .. ".

(The drones are mundane tech, not Devices. They are a lot more useful when remote controlled and used as foci by you but on their own their function basically is to fly and record. Even the level 3 Scout Drone Device from the Technomancer's toybox has an effective  perception pool of 4, so these drones aren't all that bad given that they are not magic)
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:26, Sun 27 Mar 2016.

Devon noted the pool of blood, amazed that forensic clean-up hadn't been through yet. No wonder the pointy-hat types had so much representation here, if this was the norm.

He coughed, then fought the impulse down as he moved through the smoke-laced wreckage. He noted the half-slagged tech, popping a few cases open to see if the mobos or memory sticks were remotely salvageable. Data was infinite and inviolable and magnetic re-imagers could do a lot, but some physical properties would take nearly infinite time and resources to fully re-capture. The old problem of diminishing returns.

Shaking his head at the tragedy this place represented, he let the side of a computer tower fall and nodded to Jacki. "Hopefully the damage was a bit less extensive up there. Keep an eye out for internal cameras for me, those will get us the most on what actually happened. I'm..."

He looked at Jacki speculatively. She worked media, she had to understand at least a good bit about NWO standard operating procedures. "We're,"</darkblue he chose the inclusive instead of the singular to subconsciously remind her that both the team and the Conventions were supposed to all be one big happy whatever. <darkblue>"Especially looking for surveillance designed to monitor the previous Amalgam and the support staff."

So saying, he moved upwards and onwards to the next level, becoming more and more careful of his footing.

The car smelled of coffee, vanilla and sweat. Having been in the sun since early morning the heat in the car by the time James stepped inside was close to unbearable. James quickly found a driver's licence in the glove compartment, registered to Francis Stryker.

The briefcase held a tablet computer, a burner phone, a vial of pills, a bag of gummiebears, sunglasses and oddly enough .. someone's face. The skin felt strangely real but it couldn't be real skin as the backside was featureless pink and had no skintexture and felt slightly sticky to the touch. There was no apparent cut by means of which the face had been separated from the skull nor  a trace of blood. It was a sort of mask but more real than anything James was familiar with. Who the face was supposed to represent was unclear it its current boneless state.

The scruffy looking man kept watching Jacki's van and wasn't moving. He divided his attention between the burned office building and the van, observing both without apparent fear for being noted. And then suddenly he was on the move toward the van, crossing the 20 meters with a slight shuffling gait, his hand reaching in his pocket ..
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:56, Mon 28 Mar 2016.

Tapping his earpiece again James sent out, "Looks like our late night visitor who possibly was not part of the raid was a Mr Francis Stryker and by the look of the holes in his boot he might have been taking some fire on his drive here. Also a glance in his briefcase suggest we might have something for Ai to look at as well as a tablet for Devon to crack open. Anyone want to grab the case and stow it in the van?"

Jacki keeps her casual watch on the out of place man. Her finger slides over the button that unlocks the doors with a click. Just in case she needs to get out.

Flashback to Devon and Lauren entering the building.

Sandra followed in the pair's wake. She wore the disposable coverall personal protective equipment of a forensic technician which obscured most of her features and the outfit she wore at the meeting. She carried a hard plastic kit that contained her high tech gear, disguised currently as mundane sensors, testing, and diagnostic equipment.

Sandra kept quiet as they talked their way upstairs. But her glasses were active. Micro sensors embedded in the frame were capturing and analyzing the structure of space-time and the dimensional properties of the Gauntlet. The results were being stored for the Pan Dimensional Corps of the Void Engineers, should the need arise, and fed to a HUD overlay in the lenses in real time.

The present.

Sandra knelt down and opened her kit. She removed a handheld amplifier, disguised as an environmental air testing device, which enhanced her glasses' readings.

"Hmm... nothing so far, but this should give me a better picture..." she said to no one in particular.

OOC: I assume I'd need an Inspired Science roll? I'm thinking Correspondence 1, Time 1, Dimensional Science 1 to try to read for disturbances?

(you assume correctly)