Copperhead, how long are you hanging out? Remember, the longer you hang out, the more likely you are to be spotted.

Once the circuit is done, the drone will try to find a safe place to observe the main entrance where it's unlikely to be disturbed.  E.g. the roof of a building with decent line-of-sight that can't easily be seen from elsewhere and which looks like it's not visited too often.  I figure it'll take at least an hour to get a good look at everything without looking like I'm looking at anything.  Obviously, I'm keeping an eye out for LoneStar or anyone else who might wonder what a LoneStar drone is doing running around the area.  Then I'm hanging out until the truck leaves (making sure I get a plate number) and until shift change.

I don't have a good sense of what's around this space.  We've got a building that's inside a hill inside a treed park.  However, what's around the park?  What rating of neighborhoods?  What kind of buildings?  How big is the park?  I'm assuming that 3km away and a km up is unlikely to get noticed by much of any, given that it's not exactly a huge drone, it's night and LoneStar start patrol drones presumably aren't super uncommon in Seattle.  If that's not the case, then I'll call it quits and wait until I can bug my Shaman friend to get better cover.

"Sure.  Get rite on 'at.  An be sure when yer deckin ta watch out fer this ice stuff.  I hear'd the black'uns 'll give ya real headache.  An' when yer done, log-out real grace-full like, don' jus yank the cord outta yer head."

She hangs up.  Dreckhead

Don't take it personally.  Copperhead has a charisma of 1 and a bit of an attitude . . .  I'm assuming I should have answers to those questions from what looking I've done unless no-one's outside, in which case I won't find out until folks leave in the morning.

Noruas winces at the speed of Copperhead's hangup and tuts.  He then decided to call his fixer.

Hey, Rayna, I was wondering if you have any info on this J I just found...

The park is fairly large; large enough that there's nothing really 'in scope' for the adventure. Between that, and the treeline blocking direct LOS on the entrances, it does make observations from a distance more difficult (including tracking radio traffic).

The truck maps to Russel Overland Transport, a separate private company. Whatever they do in the loading area takes about twenty minutes, then the door opens and they roll out. You can get images of the drivers; just a pair of orks in coveralls.

There is no radio from the intercom; it's probably a laid wire somewhere. There are some cameras watching the area. No indications of other sensory tools. The camera coverage doesn't appear to be very good, and doesn't extend much past the paved areas.

The emergency exits are little cement shed-like exits built into the sides of the hill. Neither of them have handles for opening from the outside.

Toombs swoops past the facility a few times. It's blank, as far as he can see; no wards, no elementals, no spirits. Quiet. Just the normal wildlife that comes standard with woodsy parks. He'll need to enter the lobby to get more useful data.

It's hard for Copperhead to get a bead on the two guards. They don't have rifles though, and they do have the MCT colors. If you care to spend the time watching the parking lot to follow them home, you can.


Rayna answers.

"It's late."

She listens as Noruas gives the low-down.

"Eve Donovan. I haven't heard that name in a long time. She used to be a fixer of some caliber in the Pacific region. We worked through her once or twice. Dependable. She fell off the radar. I'm not sure what happened. You might need to talk to some people out east. It's daylight there, you know. Not here. Anyway, the name matches, but the pictures don't quite. She looks about ten years younger here, and her facial structure doesn't quite match. Close, but not perfect. I'm not saying it's not her, just noting that people change."

Got it, thanks.  Sorry for waking you.  I'll call you later in the day.

The sun rises over a foggy Seattle day. For Noruas, it's time to clock out and head to the office. (You can still write what you're up to--but in the game timeline, it's resolved before or after you clocked in.) For the rest of you, that probably involves making yourselves scarce as traffic picks up.

The sight of morning light brings a sense of relief to the dwarf as he unplugs his jack and equipment.

Mr. St. Velveteen, I'm guessing that this location is safe for stashing the equipment? asked Noruas in his raspy voice.

(If so, then I'm leaving most of the equipment setup here except my deck.  If not, then I'm throwing everything back in my trunk.)

Regardless of the response.....Noruas looks at his watch and walks back to his car.  The fresh morning air by the water had a tinge of salty flavor to it.  He smiled as he started his car and drove back home.

Once home, he heads back to his secret room to remove the mask and disguise.  It wasn't hard to remove the latex mask, but he needed to keep it intact for the later meet.  He gingerly propped it on a rest and hung up his weapon.  Time for a quick shower before heading to work. thought the tired dwarf.  It was going to be one of those long weeks.

Noruas stepped into the hot shower and washed off the weariness.  Anders stepped out and dried off.  He quickly picked out a shirt and suit before heading back out again.  This time, he took the bus to work.  The smartly dressed dwarf arrived at work by 08:30AM.  30 minutes early and plenty of time to get two soykafe americanos at the company's cafeteria.  One for him, and the other for his mentor.  He stepped back into the elevator and headed up to the office.

I'm going to go ahead and assume St. V's search didn't turn up anything noteworthy.

"Yeah, should be fine 'til the run's over.  I'll pop in now an' then to make sure everything's still in order."  Some time after Noruas leaves, (and probably after the others check back in) St. V will spend some time going to grab the rest of his gear, then make the hideout a little more livable before taking a nap.  He more or less plans to be a squatter at the hideout for the duration of the run.

Sorry about that!

The tunnels do have steel gratings at regular junctions, presumably to keep hobos and ghouls out. With a solid padlock for your entrance, it should keep out anyone without access to a pair of bolt cutters. However, it doesn't help much against the vermin. There's also plenty of work to be done removing debris and trash, if so desired.

St. V guesses that there is a risk of flooding. It seems like these tunnels are a little dated, so it's possible whatever area they used to serve don't cause the run-off like they used to. But still, they are active, and during a heavy rainfall, flooding seems to be a possibility. There are stains on the cement walls up to two feet up. The weather report suggests the next few days won't have anything more serious than a drizzle though, so it's not an immediate concern.

Toombs spends the rest of the morning (or at least the next 6 hours) drawing runes on the cabinets with sharpies. Amid the arcane etchings, he leaves winged phalluses, some sort of six legged bug thing (it's a HORSE!), a frowney face with one ear, a distressed boobed stick figure with all her hair missing; all critical to the magical art of warding.
Six hours later, he plops himself down and proudly declares the task finished.
Magic (6) test, 1 success; Copperhead now has force 6 wards on her RV
"Right, this should keep most anything out for the next week. Just don't erase anything."

While Toombs is drawing penises on Copperhead's van, Copperhead is riding 'in' her aerial drone.

The guards change shifts at 4am. Once the relief arrives, the previous shift hits the elevators before heading to their cars in their security uniforms and a handgun on the hip. They say their goodbyes and drive out.

Copperhead has to choose which one to follow, and so chooses the one with the more distinctive car. It's about a ninety-minute drive out to a C-rating neighborhood, where she heads into half of a run-down duplex.

How many guards?  Any distinguishing marks on the uniforms?  Anyone other than guards - e.g. janitorial staff?  What races are represented?

If Copperhead spends the morning watching who comes and goes, she can get a good count of who was there for the overnight shift. It totals about five people, that she can see--four guards and a janitor. The janitor is an ork, but the rest are all humans. All of the guards wear the same uniform, which is registered as Cavilard.

A bit later in the day, when he figures Rose would be at work, St. V will call her up again.  "Hey Rose, I got another favor to ask of you.  Think you can look into a company called the Cavilard Research Center?  See what sorts of junk gets shipped to them or from them?  Should go without saying to tread lightly though.  They're a megacorp subsidiary.  They supposedly deal with researching compu-optic systems and biotechnology, I guess."

"Hey St. V! I was a little worried when you headed out last night, but it sounds like you'll be buying next round, huh?

"Yeah, I know Cavilard. They do a lot of microtronics work, don't they? Word is, they're working on something important. Some research data or something. A uhh... 'friend' of mine I guess? He's there as an associate researcher or something, but also owns stock in it. It sounds like it's going to make a lot of money for Mitsuhama.

"Not that I know anything about that."

Toombs melodramatically calls out "Spirits 'f nature, hear my cry"
In response, a dust mote rifts from the cieling.
"Gimme a secun', gotsa step outside to work tha mojo. You wanna use a whirlybird drone, neh? 'sright." He pops the passenger door, hops to the 'crete and puts his hands out from his sides.
"Oi! You git! Quit bein' a lazy bugger an' I can get outta' yer hair quick as pos'bul."

Summoning 6 v TN 6, 1 success. Resisting 6M damage with CHA 6: 1 success, full damage. Toombs is now at Moderate stun.
For purposes of future summoning, Toombs has observed the area. Can he choose to summon spirits of Land, Sky and Man in/around here? Because if the book says a city park is not a Man domain, then that is important for me to know.

The spirit appears with a suckerpunch to Toomb's ribs. Its head is a wedge of crumpled newspaper tucked between a black fedora and a whispy trench coat that fades to nothingness half a foot off the ground.
"Righ', righ' I forgot the old rituals. Spirit o' air, creature o' dark and chill, I b'seech ye in me hour o' need." He manages a respectful, if pained, bow at the spirit of sky. "We need ya to conceal us from th' eyes 'f our en'mies. Me, the driver, the truck and all her little machine beasties. I'll call ye back when we're done."

This spirit owes me only one service, so I have requested that it use its Concealment power on the van, the two metas, and all Copperhead's drones.
Critters (p8) says that the TN to notice us is now 6. Can we add to that with Stealth rolls, or are we gonna do that separately?

He ushers the spirit onto the roof of the van, then steps back inside. "Drones sh'd be good for snoopin, just don't push it. Might also want to crank the heat in here, 'cause that little spook on the roof'll make it a bit chilly in here 'til we're finished."

Copperhead watched the etchings with moderate annoyance.  She'd have her friend check the work later.  If the dwarf just been drecking around, she'd take him out so he could assist her with tuning her gunnery sensors.  She'd probably keep it to gel rounds . . .

Force 6 spirit will add 6 to the signature - so going from 4 to 10.  Presume I can use my stealth to hide it a bit more.

So ka.

She brought the drone close enough so the spirit can find it and watched as it become concealed in a faint layer of fog, blending into the smog, smoke and other debris that obscured all but the most determined stars in the mostly cloudless Seattle sky.

Can ya do forest ones too?  Forest concealment would be useful for her ground drones.  And for her.

She sent the drone drifting slowly over the tree-tops, taking advantage of the shadows formed by the faint dawn appearing in the east.  From what she knew about spirits, she wouldn't have long.  The nice thing about light is that the constrast made it that much harder to see those things that were still in the dark.  Time to get a good look at a few of the cameras to see just what they could pick up - while making sure she wasn't one of the things they recorded.  She already knew the terrain.  And she knew where she'd have put cameras and sensors if she had the funds.  And what she'd settle for if she didn't . . .

quote:

15:27, Today: Copperhead rolled 3 successes using 6d6 with the Shadowrun system with a target of 4 with rolls of (6+3)9,1,1,1,4,4. Complementary (Security Protocols).
15:27, Today: Copperhead rolled 3 successes using 6d6 with the Shadowrun system with a target of 4 with rolls of 4,3,3,(6+4)10,5,3. Perception.
15:26, Today: Copperhead rolled 4 successes using 6d6 with the Shadowrun system with a target of 4 with rolls of 4,(6+1)7,5,4,1,1. Complementary (Security Devices).
15:26, Today: Copperhead rolled 3 successes using 6d6 with the Shadowrun system with a target of 4 with rolls of 1,5,2,5,4,2. Stealth.

Not sure exactly how stealth rolls will work when added to signature and the spirit's concealment power (or even whether I can use my complementary skill).  For perception, I should see anything needing a 10 or less.  Or 4 successes against a target of 4.  Only one success for target of 5.  I'll be using active sensors briefly to try to pick up metalic sensors.


Armed with as much information about the perimeter security as she could get without actually penetrating it, she guided the drone on a round-about way home.

Ya wan' me ta drop ya some'ere 'for I pick up the troll?

Copperhead scans the area again carefully with her drone.

There's a landing pad on top of the hill; small, probably for executive helicopters, and an adjoining small radar tower, just big enough to track vehicles within a few klicks. Given it's position and size, there's no way it has the fine sensitivity for drones, or to detect anything below 80m.

There are some spotlights tucked in here and there among the trees, and a few more cameras at critical points, but surprisingly, no other indicators of sensors outside of the facility. Of course, the real thorough search for such would have to be conducted by your decker. Magnetic detection systems and such are frequently buried and invisible to visual sweeps.

Would level 5 sensors include ground penetrating radar?  Or at least an ability to pick up shallow-depth electrical cables?

"Sounds like you're pretty well informed," St. V muses.  "Not that I'm surprised.  Tell ya what.  If you can dig me up a list of all the things that go into and out of Cavilard, and the comp'nys that do the shipping, I'll not only buy the next round, but it'll be top-shelf too."  He pauses for half a second before continuing.  Giving Rose time to let his request sink into her noodle.

"That friend of yours sounds like an interesting fellow.  He tell you anything else 'bout the project?  Like in what way it is going to make the megacorp all that cred?"  He wanted to ask for the guy's home address (or equivalently identifiable information) but also didn't want to overstep his bounds with Rose.  He knew she wouldn't sell out the great St. V, and so didn't want to ask her to do the same to another one of her contacts.  But if the corperate researcher wasn't that kind of 'friend' then he hoped that he had made it clear enough that he would find that kind of info useful, and Rose would make it clearer if it was on the table or not.

"Oh!  And one more thing," St. Velveteen adds.  "Do you know anything about those gangers in the bar last time we were hanging out?  The ones with the red outfits with all the gold splashed all over 'em?  Couldn't quite place them, and it's been buggin me."

I'd have to double check Rigger 3, but off the top of my head, no, ground-penetrating radar is not standard issue at Sensors 5.

Rose responds to Saint V. "Well... Let's say, my 'friend' isn't really up for talking. I might be able to tap someone else in the know though. It's complicated. Let's just say, what I shared already 'fell off the information truck', but I can introduce you to that truck if that's what you want.

"But... well, I can't do it for free. Sorry, V! He's a bit paranoid. I'm going to need to grease some palms to get anything from him. I could probably make all the arrangements for ... one thousand nuyen?"

(I assume the answer is 'yes', since Eve is footing the bill for this one.)

"Alright, listen, in a previous life this guy was named Haruhiko Blake. He used to be security director for the company. Now he goes by 'Blood' and he runs a high-grade chop shop, the Blood Brothers. He's not easy to get a hold of, and he's definitely not a 'friendly individual'. But I'll see what I can dig up."

(Have to disappear--make sure I dont forget this later!)
This message was last edited by the GM at 13:41, Wed 25 Mar 2015.

12:00pm


About twp hours later, St. Valentine gets a text from an anonymous number:

Meet me tonight at midnight. CEREBUS SHIPPING, warehouse district. -B

(A note for later, but I will forget it if I don't post it now ...)

That evening, Rose calls up St. Valentine:

"Hey hun. Listen, that Blake fellow you were asking about? Someone else has been looking into him too. I don't know any details, but stay safe out there, okay?"
This message was last edited by the GM at 13:46, Wed 25 Mar 2015.

"Everyone's gotta get paid," St. Velveteen says to Rose when she names her price.  "Part of the biz.  And if you can get me that list and the other intel I need, I'm more than happy ta pay ya."

After everything's all settled and the call is over, St. V will ring up his associates and tell them what's what.  He'll dial Copperhead first, since she seems more in touch with reality than the shaman.  "Yo.  I got a lead on an old security director for Cavilard who runs a chop shop now.  Got an anonymous text with a time and place.  Should I call up Eve to arrange the details?  Maybe we should discuss this in person..."

St. V didn't recognize the gangers at the bar, but do the names "King's Crimson" or "Alan Corliss" jog any memories in St. V's brain meats?

11:24, Thu 26 Mar 2015: St. Velveteen rolled 3 successes using 4d6 with the Shadowrun system with a target of 4 ((2,5,(6+4)10,(6+4)10)).
Street Rumors - King's Crimson or Alan Corliss.

King's Crimson is mid-sized and generally runs outside of your personal stomping grounds. You did hear something about Corliss running into some sort of trouble, but it worked out alright (in that he is still alive). You don't recall the details, though. Otherwise the gang is quite young and, in your estimation, probably won't last for more than six months.

@St V.: Given our respective charismas, you might find the dwarf a lot more agreeable than Copperhead.  He probably even smells better.  But I suppose it's possible that BO is your thing . . . :>

@BB: No mention of ground-penetrating radar at all in SR3.  In SR4, they introduce ultrawideband radar which would sort of do what's desired, however in SR4 what sensors you have can be customized and is orthogonal to sensor rating.  A level 5 sensor package has availability 8 and isn't available on the street at all.  And it's from a LoneStar drone, so radar that can peer inside thin walls would seem reasonable.  That said, up to you as to how good it is - and whether I rolled well enough to find anything.

In any case, did I detact any cameras around the periphery or just by the automated guard hut?  If only the latter, are there approaches to the guard hut that wouldn't involve being exposed to cameras or other sensors I'm aware of?

Also, based on my knowledge of security protocols, does the level of external sensors make sense for the type of facility this is, the level of the corp, etc.?

Waiting for Toombs to respond before I pick up the troll and do my other stuff before retiring for the day.

"Ace.  I wouldn' ring the J 'til closer to.  And I wouldn' give 'er details.  Just ping 'er a bit 'for an giver the address.  Say it's 'nonymous.  Better yet, tell'er some'ere else.  When she gets der, I can take er ta the rite place.  If ya let me know where, I can scope ta place up fron too."