While Copper is ordering the coffee, he pulls the hearth spirit close enough in the astral to mutter "I release you from yer service. My regards to Heimdall."
"I... got a bad relationship w' 'lectronics, so I'll be keepin me hands to meself. Prob'ly somethin to do with the mana or some drek." He cracks his knuckles "that or The Boss thinks it's funny."

Toombs attempts to lead the party out the door, propping up his collar and slicking on a beat-up old trucker cap. If they all pile into Copper's wheels (or are at least outside and away from other patrons) he'll continue "Any case, name's Toombs. People call me Booster. I turn innards inta outards. I'll be yer mojo support. I also gots ways o' squeezin out a little extra help from contacts, if'n you trust others with th' negotiation. Otherwise I can call up Trixie to mix it up with th' beat sticks."
"Up front, 'm not ok with a body count. Means we got somethin wrong. Beatdowns'r ok. Nat'ral part o' livin', but kills means questions. That kosher all 'round?"


Wireless decking is screwy and covered in later books (and editions). Most people plug into the wall socket at home or in one sort of coffe shop/gamer hub or another.
Memory serves, it's Local Telecommunication Grid. Provides audio/video realitime comms to those with the hardware to support it. So, I have a wrist cel with screen and I can skype.

"Thanks Rose.  We'll go check it out.  If it's as good as you say, I owe ya one.  Make sure to mark this down on my tab."  He hangs up his phone and gets back to joining the others.

"I don't got no wheels," he says, replying to Copperhead's question and exchanging his own contact info with the group.  "I'm usually a walker, but I don't mind an uncomfy ride every now and then.  Especially when it's real wet like today.  I got us a potential work address lined up too.  We can swing by and check it out once we are done with our other errands."

Cup in hand, Anya makes for the door. She was a bit surprised when the dwarf brings up the notion of body count, but she supposed it was necessary.

"My rules is: Don' make noise if ya can keep it quiet.  Don' make a mess if ya can keep it clean.  Don' kill if ya can in'capacitate.  Don' kill non-combats 'less it means yer life er yer mate's.  Don' kill kids no matter."

That last had got her in drek a few times in Spain, but a girl had to have some sort of morals.  She thought about mentioning her rules around teammates, but decided it was a bit premature.  Those sorts of judgments couldn't be based on words anyhow.

"I rig.  Pretty good shot when jacked in, but not much for offense meat on meat.  If you break it, I can fix it.  Probly better than when ya bought it.  Pretty good on B&E and secur'ty dreck too.

How bouts we dump rides at walker's new digs.  Then we goes from there.  Walker ride w'me an see if likes the 'commodations"

Alright, then Booster will ride with me.  We'll leave our rides at Walker's place and decide from there, added Noruas in a loud whisper.

The drive is about forty minutes; the location is less than ideal. An old water drainage pipe in the middle of a sunken lot, with a steel cap that's come unbolted. Still, the pipe is six feet wide and an oval; large enough for everyone to fit in. A few inches of water flow along the bottom, but the runners can easily walk along the edges and stay dry.

Thirty feet in is an intersection. The ceiling rises to eight feet, with square pillars in each corner where people can sit above the running water. With the tunnel cap in place, it's just you and the devil rats, and the devil rats are smart enough to seek higher ground during a long rain. A few of the side tunnels are dry, permitting people to set up there if they'd like, and if Noruas lays out a length of cable to the entrance, he could even tether himself to a cellular point, permitting some online research while people are talking.

And Noruas does just that.  He lays out the length of cable and begins setting up a makeshift work place.

I'll need you all to keep an eye on my meat while I do a little research on our project, whispered Noruas loudly again.

He was sure he would eventually let them hear his normal voice, but that would have to wait until he was sure they could be trusted.

You trust us to watch you meat, but not hear your voice? :>

Copperhead leads the troll to an oversize camper that looks like it's seen its better days.  The sides are partially covered with random graffiti.  She reaches into her pocket and fumbles for a minute and the door clicks.  She pulls it open and gestures to the inside.

"Make yourself comfortable.  Comm won' work inside less ya stick one of them cables on yer device.  Don' open none of the cabnets less ya like snortin Neurostun.  Ya need food?"

She watches as the troll attempts to position himself on the bench seat and arrange his head between protrusions.  If this turned into a permanent arrangement, she'd have to make some mods.  She flicked a small switch on the open door before closing it and moving to the front seat.

The interior is clean but rather dated but the seating is comfortable.  Or at least would have been if the occupant fit.  Each seat was fitted with a 5-strap harness with quick-release, but St. V. quickly determines that trying to make it fit around his bulk was a non starter.  The cab was partitioned from the back, but a large display screen allowed him to see the view out the front.  A smaller screen focused on the rigger's face as she climbed into the drivers seat.  She fumbled briefly, then went limp, eyes closed.  St. V. felt a rumble as the vehicle backed out of the alley and into the light traffic of the early Seattle morning.

What time is it, by the way?  And when's sunrise?

En route, she swung by a stuffer shack and picked up a dozen soy-burgers plus two more for herself.  She passed popped the side door and tossed him the sack.
"Save a few for the others.  Oh, and closet at the back's the pisser.  Ya probly won' fit, so watcher aim from the door."

Arriving at the target address, she ran a scan of the area before remotely opening the troll's door and hopping out herself.  She eyes the water tickling out of the pipe and gives a bit of a sniff before entering, keeping her boots as dry as she can.

When the decker proposes they hang out while he decks, she offers a counter proposal.

"Ya gonna be long?  Cuz if so, how bouts Walker keeps an eye on ya.  Booster 'n me can do an initial scan, then we figgure out from there.

Walker, y' wan my tank as backup?"

I'm using Walker for now because I don't have a name.  I'll edit appropriately presuming St. V. decides to disclose IC

The 'walker' bit I figured out, but it took me a few moments.

It's currently Tuesday morning, around 12:20am. You could certainly hit Cavalier before 2 if you cared to. Sunrise is around 7:30.

Toombs is blissfully wolfing down one of the burgers when Copper says his name. He pokes his head out of the wrapper and nods before muttering "n' t'm like th' preffent."

All in good time, Copperhead.  I'm still not sure what race you are either!  ;)

Fine, Walker will hang with me if he doesn't mind, replied Noruas in a raspy voice.

If nothing else happens, Noruas will proceed to jack-in to the Matrix.  This is where I will need a LOT of help.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:17, Thu 12 Mar 2015.

A cramped camper ride and several soy-burgers later, St. V checks out the new digs.  It was a little damp and a little cramped, but it was certainly better than the bridge he used to live under.  He could make due.

"Yeah, I'll watch yer back.  Name's St. Velveteen though.  The one and only."  He pauses and strikes a pose to let them realize just who he is, probably confusing any blank stares for looks of awe.  "I'm kinda the opposite of you guys, it sounds.  Toombs turns innards into outards, an' I turn outards into innards.  You can fix what's broke," he points to Copperhead, "and I can break what's fixed.  I'm pretty good with guns too."  He pulls his pistol from its concealed holster and points it at an imaginary target, pretends to shoot it, then returns the weapon to its hiding place.

"But yeah, I'll play bodyguard for ya, Decker.  Keep the rats at bay and whatnot.  And the tank as backup prolly wouldn't hurt either."  St. V starts working on making their hole in the ground more home-worthy while keeping watch over Noruas.

I'm not exactly sure what you meant by leaving a tank as backup, but St. V would probably accept the assistance whatever it means.

Copperhead's reaction to the troll's name is concealed by her shades and breather.

She moves to the rear of the van and keys something into a keypad.  There's a sharp click and then a faint whir as a pair of hidden spools begin unraveling and the rear of the motorhome begins to open.  A good-sized wheeled drone sheathed in heavy armor is attached to the door.  Slightly less than a meter wide and about a meter in length.  A turret on the top holds a rather formidable gun and a small tube protrudes out the front.  She scoots around on either side, releasing some straps, before grabbing some sort of control device out of her backpack.

The "tank" rolls easily down the remainder of the ramp and over to the pipe.  It's a tight squeeze, but it manages to fit.  The rigger walks behind, still doing her best to keep her boots dry and parks it in the center of the "room" at the end of the pipe.  She spends a few more minutes doing something or other with the controls and the gun swivels back and forth.

She has the troll recite several words multiple times - "fire", "cease-fire", "left", "right", "grenade".

"Is not too bright, but it'll probly tell ya if somethin's comin down one o'them pipes and'll point the gun at'm.  Once ya figger out what's up, ya tell it ta shoot if ya wants.  It'll keep shoot'n that way till is got no targets or ya says stop.  Try nots ta waste ammo.  Ya say "grenade" an it'll toss a boomer right out ta door.  That bit don' swivel an I ain't teachen ya how ta drive.  Ya got it?"

Once the troll seems to have the hang of it, she heads back outside and clips the straps together before closing the door again.

"Anyone wan's to take a dreck while there's TP handy, have atter.  I leaves in 5 minutes"

Oh, and I'm human.  Forgot to mention that in my initial description post.

Not exactly the best looking group - 2 dwarves, a troll and a butt-ugly human :>

I don't believe we got your name yet, rigger? asked the dwarf in his raspy voice as he continued to set up his equipment.

Guess I'll be making a google search of our J first.  I thought this was a Saturday?  Because if it was a Tuesday, there's not a very high chance I would have showed up at the meet!
This message was last edited by the player at 03:43, Thu 12 Mar 2015.

March 15, 2050 is a Tuesday.  We hit the site on the Friday the 18th

"Name's Copperhead.  Ya can call me Gun'r fer short."

Toombs begins balancing knives on his fingers. No matter how much is hand shifts, the blade stays stiff as concrete on the tip. "Drek! Pinprick!"
His hand lashes back, but the knife stays exactly where it was, suspended in midair. He smirks and levitates it back into his sheath before drawing three and pretending to juggle.

Eventually he tires of showing off, and instead decides to investigate the camper. His knives hop along behind him like ducklings.
"Oi, Gunner - looks like yer wheels ain't warded. Want me to do that fer yeh in b'tween astral hops?"

When everyone who wants to is done their pit-stops, Copperhead gives the same admonition to the mage as she had to Noruas.

"Don' go pokin' 'round 'less ya likes Neurostun", then clambers back into the cab and heads out.  She takes a somewhat round-about route to the target complex.  At some point during the ride, she passes within range of her aerial drone and gives it instructions to follow via an indirect route that keeps it in range but provides no obvious correlation that the two vehicles have anything to do with each other.  Where the driving is appropriately straight-forward she turns on the auto-pilot and checks the GPS and her own maps to get a sense of a good place to park that will give her maximum radio range while still not being likely to get her rig noticed as being out of place.

If she's watching while Toombs plays with his knives, she gives no indication, but when he makes his offer, her slouched body becomes semi-erect and her eyes open.

She'd never had her vehicle warded, but from what she'd picked up in school, it seemed a useful enough thing.  She should probably have had James do it a while ago.  It'd just never crossed her mind to do it for something mobile.

"Sure, why not.  How long it take ya?  We's about 10 minutes out."

"Takes few hours, longer I take stronger it be. Always been a fan of keepin elementals from peekin their head through my walls. Figger'd that could be the least thanks I c'n give fer th' food. If not now, mebbe later. I got time."

"Les check out th' place first and see waz up 'round o-2-hunred.  Then ya can ward while I works on der radios"

The drone traced an irregular pattern that, over the course of the next hour managed to complete a circuit around the perimeter of the campus from an altitude of about 1km and with a distance between 2 and 6km, doing her best to not look like she's circling anything in particular.  She recorded all of the images for later analysis and projected them real-time on the large screen inside the camper for Toombs viewing pleasure.

For now, it was a passive search.  She looked at the windows, doors, security cameras, hvac equipment, powerlines or other connection points in or out, parking areas and number of vehicles, guards on patrol and their routines, any visible uniforms, checkpoints and whatever else might be useful in approaching the site, using her knowledge of security procedures to guess where the most likely locations would be for cameras and other sensors to allow her to focus her attention accordingly.  She also looked for the most vulnerable camera - one that was near the periphery and which seemed to be approachable with minimal chance of being picked up on that camera or any other - a good place to put a data tap to jack in with.

quote:

00:10, Today: Copperhead rolled 4 successes using 6d6 with the Shadowrun system with a target of 4 with rolls of 2,5,3,5,4,4. Observe in detail.

quote:

00:13, Today: Copperhead rolled 3 successes using 4d6 with the Shadowrun system with a target of 4 with rolls of 4,4,5,3. Complementary (Security Procedures).

At a distance of 2km, her visuals should be equivalent to 40m away with both low-light and infrared capabilities (rating 5 sensors).  So that should be 5 successes against target 4, 2 successes against target 5.


Once she's done with the visual scan, she sets her sights on detecting and breaking the radio channel used by local security.

quote:

00:24, Today: Copperhead rolled 2 successes using 6d6 with the Shadowrun system with a target of 4 with rolls of 1,1,(6+6+1)13,1,4,2. Try 4.
00:24, Today: Copperhead rolled 3 successes using 6d6 with the Shadowrun system with a target of 4 with rolls of 3,2,4,3,(6+6+5)17,5. Complementary (try 3).
00:23, Today: Copperhead rolled 5 successes using 6d6 with the Shadowrun system with a target of 4 with rolls of 4,5,5,(6+1)7,3,(6+3)9. Scan - try 3.
00:23, Today: Copperhead rolled 2 successes using 6d6 with the Shadowrun system with a target of 4 with rolls of 3,3,1,4,2,5. Scan - try two.
00:22, Today: Copperhead rolled 3 successes using 6d6 with the Shadowrun system with a target of 4 with rolls of 4,(6+5)11,3,3,(6+3)9,1. Complementary (Electronic Warfare).
00:21, Today: Copperhead rolled 4 successes using 6d6 with the Shadowrun system with a target of 4 with rolls of 2,2,4,4,4,5. Scanning for signal.

So, if their radios are rating 2 or less, she finds it in 15 minutes.  If not, she changes position and re-calibrates her antenna and tries again (trouble-shooter, no penalty).  No better luck.  She keeps at it (+2 penalty) and this time will find a device of rating 4 or less.  Her final try (+4 penalty) will find rating 6 devices ($3000 for regular tranceiver, $6000 for microtranceiver).  Total time of up to 2 hours.

quote:

00:35, Today: Copperhead rolled 4 successes using 6d6 with the Shadowrun system with a target of 4 with rolls of 5,5,(6+4)10,1,1,4. Decrypt 3rd try.
00:34, Today: Copperhead rolled 5 successes using 6d6 with the Shadowrun system with a target of 4 with rolls of (6+6+5)17,(6+2)8,3,4,4,4. Complementary (Electronic Warfare).
00:34, Today: Copperhead rolled 4 successes using 6d6 with the Shadowrun system with a target of 4 with rolls of (6+5)11,(6+5)11,5,3,3,5. Decrypt - 2nd try.00:30, Today: Copperhead rolled 3 successes using 6d6 with the Shadowrun system with a target of 4 with rolls of 2,1,2,(6+1)7,5,(6+4)10. Complementary (Electronic Warfare).
00:29, Today: Copperhead rolled 5 successes using 6d6 with the Shadowrun system with a target of 4 with rolls of (6+6+1)13,(6+1)7,(6+4)10,(6+1)7,1,4. Decrypt.

Target is encryption rating +4, needing encryption rating/2 successes.  So if rating is 3 or less, that means I crack it in 3 * 5 minutes / 4 successes = drecking fast

If it's rating 4 or 5, I still succeed, but it'll take 20-25 minutes.  If it's over rating 5
($15-18k+ per radio), then I can't break it., though I'll try for another hour.

As she worked, she finished her two burgers, gathering up the trash to dispose of when convenient.

After having set up all his equipment, Noruas begins switching things on.  He begins by searching the Johnson's name for images and any information in general.  Please roll for me, BB.

Once he has compiled the information, the dwarf figures it might be high time to begin checking other more 'official' sources.  He uploads the video he captured on camera and begins to create a reconstruction of the J's facial features that can be used in any facial recognition software, and saves it.  Finally, armed with the information he had obtained, he plugs in his jack and begins his own adventure.  What do I do now?
This message was last edited by the player at 07:41, Fri 13 Mar 2015.

Tuesday, 0300.

Noruas spends some time hitting the social networking and visiting some pattern matching sites. Unfortunately, most of these sites are pretty well locked down, and they don't share data with each other, and no smart runner is going to post anything useful to MyFace. While Noruas gets plenty of hits, sifting the wheat from the chaff is tough.

What he does come away with is that Eve is indeed a real person, although she also operates under a number of pseudonyms. She went offline for a long while about three years ago. Her social history was artificially recreated (you think) showing her spending some time Euro-side. Her earlier history is a little more convoluted. It's difficult to see who she associated with, because her trail leads everywhere; corporate ties, Lone Star, mafia operations, projects in the barrens. You can tell she pinged these entities, but not the contents of the communications.

Ultimately, the matrix trail for someone like this might not be as effective as the old human network.


Copperhead and Toombs head out to the location.

The facility is built into (and under) a hill. Only the south-facing front entrance and the west-side entrance to the loading dock are visible from outside. There's an employee parking lot just southwest of the facility, and a private lot to the east of the front entrance, then a long road out to the public street. The lot is heavily forested, but it's a long hike. Getting a vehicle in there undetected would be difficult.

Where the facility driveway meets the public road there's an unmanned gate with a security camera and intercom.

Breaking the radio is a bit of a trick, not because it's heavily encrypted, but because they're weak radios buried underneath a hill. Copperhead has to put her drone almost on the ground to establish LOS on the two guards in the lobby. Fortunately, with the tree cover, it's not that difficult, and there doesn't appear to be any active sensing equipment.

The lobby is open even at this late hour, and Copperhead can pick up the radios. They use channel modulation on a restricted frequency, so they can't be picked up by commercial radios, but they aren't encrypted. Once you have the channel, you can listen in (and jam and whatnot) pretty easily. It's quiet right now, with most of Copperhead's sitting in the van not spent hacking, but waiting for the two in the lobby to transmit something.

As you're waiting, some sort of hauling truck rolls up to the gate. They click on the intercom, the gate opens, and they rumble on up to enter into the loading dock. The garage door slides shut and it sits there (until at least 0300, possibly longer if you keep waiting).

Copperhead grabs the plate information from the truck and captures any stills she can of the occupants as well as of the guards.  She records radio chatter when it happens and tries to get a sense of the number of guards and what their routines are as best she can from what signals she can pick up.

Is she able to pick up the audio from the use of the intercom?  Can she tell from the guard's uniforms whether they're rent-a-cops or employees?  Is she able to pick up any cameras or other sensors on the periphery?  Can she identify the exit points for the "emergency exits"?

When things are slow, she gathers the plate numbers of the vehicles in the parking lot and, at shift change will take note of what vehicles the guards get into and try to catch a better image of their insignia.  If there's anything that denotes rank, she'll follow the highest ranking one home.  If not, she picks one at random.

Feeling that the information obtained simply wasn't enough, Noruas decides to give Copperhead a couple more things to do.  He dials her LTG and adds in a raspy voice, Hey Gunner, sorry to bother you guys, but while you guys are still there, could you please try and figure out what kind of security Mitsuhama provides?  I mean I know that's what you guys are doing, and I'm not telling you how to do your jobs but I need to know does Mitsuhama have their own security company for Cavilard?  Do they hire out?  Do they wear full body armor or look more like your average mall cops?  Possible weapons carried?  Brand of security cameras?  Sensors?  You know, the whole works.  Anything related would be valuable intel for me to research on.  Thanks.

While Copperhead is being terse and nonconversant over the electronics, Toombs makes himself comfortable in a chair and suddenly slackens.
From the Astral, he takes a gander at his own body, sleeping peacefully. It blows spit bubbles amid the drooling snores.
With a flicker, he shoots out the camper at the speed of thought and takes a couple slow passes around the site, staying at the very limit of his ability to see the perimeter fence. He's watching for paranimals, concealed guards, spirits, and greenery that does not show up on the Astral.
Toombs is doing three sweeps from long/extreme range. With his Perceptive edge base TN is 3, lower if he can take extra time.
Stealth: 3,4,(6+6+1)13; sets the TN at 13
Sweep 1 TN 3: 4 successes (3,5,4,2,2,(6+2)8)
Sweep 2 TN 4: 4 successes (3,(6+5)11,4,4,4,1)
Sweep 3 TN 5: 3 successes (5,4,(6+2)8,4,5,4)
After milling about, Toombs swings back to the camper to fall back into his body and relay what he knows to Copperhead.

While everyone else is out having their fun, St.V sits in their hole-of-a-hideout guarding Noruas whenever he is in too deep to keep track of his own surroundings.  He passes the time by checking out Copperhead's novahot tank, by eating eucalyptus cough drops that he got from who-knows-where, and by throwing rocks at rats and other critters using his thermal vision to pierce through the gloom.  When he doesn't have to be overly concerned about Noruas being eaten alive by rodents, Saint Velveteen will take some time to make sure that their location is really as secure as Rose made it sound.  He will meander around the perimeter and make sure none of the neighbors, if any, look like they will come poking around.  He will also try to deduce whether or not there is a serious risk of flooding. (Checking weather reports if necessary.)  If he still has more time, he will work on sprucing things up a bit.