Gotcha...also, POST 4000!

I feel like there should be some sort of celebration.

Anyway, will act that out IC when I get the chance, barring Nouras or Cad see some issue with taking the action.

Just do what you think White Duck would do and I'll roll with it, whether or not it turns out to be good or bad.

CH- I meant to relay it via text, but forgot to plug the "Via text" part in there. Doing so now, sorry bout the confusion.

Did you text us both?  (I guess that's something that would presumably work in 2050 :))

Yeah, I am performing a tactical facepalm right now.  You guys do realise I left my crime scene several posts ago, right?  Ever since CH gave me the heads up that we might just be leaving, I had packed up and entered the van already.

Not sure you had the chance to make it into the van.  I told you we might need to move when he got on the elevator.  At which point you'd have needed to jack out, remove your tap, grab the drone, make it back to the ladder & climb up.  My presumption was you'd started to climb when Copperhead dropped the manhole cover back in place and told you to jack in again.  And 5 seconds later she's telling you it's your call whether to jack in or climb the ladder.

(So facepalm is more than appropriate - she was a tad hasty.)

So, are we still going with the 'I jack into the system again?'

I don't know.  Realistically, you won't be able to get in before the elevator hits the lobby.  whether there'll be anything useful to do at that point with the fire alarm already going, I don't know.

If anyone was waiting on me, I 2as planning to wait and see how injured Caduceus was before writing his next post.  Also wanted to make sure Duck was on the ground floor, which it seems he is.  Also also, I am going to have limited internet connection and no source book until Sunday, so I may not be able to give detailed responses from my phone.

Just waiting for confirmation of where Duck is.

Also, as a heads up, I won't be on-line at all the last two weeks of the month.  (So that would not be an ideal time to get into vehicle combat :>)

Sorry, yes, I did in fact have Duck travel downstairs.

Given Pengrave's clout and the serious security, my leaning would be to plant the tracker on the car and try to avoid being noticed as the individual who triggered the alarm.  (Spirit might be able to help with that.)  If you can plant a suggestion in Pengrave's head to drive somewhere "quiet", that'd be a bonus, but I'm not sure that'll be possible with the elevated security.  I just don't think we should try anything further in this environment - too risky.

Are they still headed towards that vehicle at this point?

Also, I can't do the suggestion planting thing- That's Cad. If Duck can't talk someone into doing something, he's unable to magically manipulate any aspects of that conversation.

Has combat ended now, or will Caduceus still receive a penalty for casting in combat if he tries to heal himself?

You are out of combat.

Last post I have is WD will try to make another grab. I'm guessing this is more obvious a grab than the last? Cleo seemed to be fast last time, and he doesn't have an 'in'.

Bear- To clarify, I was looking for two things-

1. An opening and
2. Whether they are going to their vehicle.

If an opening doesn't pop up, my plan is to toss the tracker onto the hubcap just as soon as it starts rolling off, which I think seems like the best way to pull it off as opposed to approaching their vehicle now and potentially being there planting the bug when they arrive.

You might want to define what you mean by an "opening" - I get the impression that security is pretty tight at the moment, so even if the targets present an opening, that doesn't mean you'll have a chance for a clean get-away.

They are heading towards their vehicle, but slower, with security clearing the way. There's a lot of chaos though, with people wandering out of the lobby onto the driveway, sometimes pressing against the vehicles, and more people pressing into the lobby from upstairs.

So presumably it shouldn't be too hard for White Duck to "lean" against the vehicle before they get to it, particularly if he can look a bit different than when he accosted Cleo upstairs.

Correct. Of course, it's a little tougher to place a bug on the underside or somewhere it won't be easily seen if he's just 'leaning'. But getting close to the vehicle isn't an issue.

Well, there's always Plan B.

- WD tries to plant bug on car.
    - If WD is successful, we don't do squat.
    - If WD isn't successful, we light up the driveway with bullets (either in person or with a drone).  Basically it's just a distraction to allow WD to make an escape and possibly give WD another opening to place the bug again, while everybody is screaming and confused.  Cleo and Pengrave might also try to slip away into their ride to get out of the scene.

I think bullets in this environment is a *very* bad idea.  I'd probably lose the drone, if not worse.

The tracker is a "nice to have", but if WD can't safely plant it, I'll just try to track the vehicle without it.  Unless it goes screaming away at 140km per hr (which is hard to do in the Seattle environment), I should have no issue keeping up and it would have no reason to try to evade.  Tracker is more of a safety net and not worth putting lives at risk.

I thought your drone could aim and fire from about 1km away?  Well, never mind.  It's just a thought.

It can.  But there's a bunch of other drones around that can do the same, plus at least one chopper.  And some of those can probably fly faster than I can and presumably have dedicated riggers - or at least would if they were in hot pursuit of a "terrorist".  Not to mention that I'd probably have to drop my signal (and abandon the drone) before they triangulated on the van I'm using to communicate with it.

This is a high-society gathering with lots of security.  LoneStar is going to want bodies if we cause a disruption.  It's a risk I'd take if there was a chance WD or Caduceus were in danger.  But it's not worth it just to plant the tracker.

So I presume we're going to hit them in the house?  See if they go to sleep, break in, toss in a gas grenade to encourage them to stay that way?  I can probably monitor what room they go to.  If they go hang out outside, that may make things even easier - I can help sneak up with a drone.

Presume we will want to find a place where Noruas can jack in so we can bypass some of the security systems.  This should presumably be easier to do than the last location.