Third breathes out as it slowly begins to move, slipping out from the cover they have, beginning to creep it's way towards the east exit, motioning for the others to follow it... Unfortunately, luck doesn't seem to be with it, as it steps on a loose rock, fallen from the ceiling. It assesses things for a moment. It may need to get violent, now.

[Private to GM: Well, 6 successes on the Int+Lore check... And then none on the Stealth check. There's a sticky wicket. :-p. If worse comes to worst, Third can quickly give them directions and take off, leading security on a wild goose chase.]

Being newly arrived to the group, Talia chooses to let the others take the lead.  She remains motionless in the darkness when Third begins to move.  When the loose rock shifts, she freezes, tensing in readiness for a fight.




[Private to GM: 17:11, Today: Talia Zerith rolled 1 success using 5d10 with the White Wolf Exalted system with a target of 7 with rolls of 4,1,2,2,7. Wits+Stealth. ]

"That's a problem..." Danae whispered a bit harshly, pulling out her Firewand and looking around--it was a bit of an overly obvious approach--but the one with the best possibilitiy of shutting a drone down long enough to escape...

"I get the feeling this may not have been one of our better ideas..." She muttered, keeping her eyes peeled for something that might try to investigate the noise, and preparing to take it out quickly.

Talia miraculously manages not to make a sound to alert the Spider Eye. Third, however, does... and it is the only one that bothered to move. The little machine scuttles toward the dark haired Twilight's position while Danae and Talia look on.

Then, unexpectedly, the automaton pauses midway between the tunnel opening and Third's position, momentarily stuck in a decision loop as it realizes there are multiple targets to investigate. The eight legs tap on the earth, then start moving toward Danae, the multifaceted eyes swiveling toward her direction...

At this point the Exalts remember two things about the Spider Eyes. One, that it will not raise an alert if it has no reason to consider its target is outright dangerous or criminal; rather its first directive will be to follow the suspicious individual(s) to gain further information. Two, it needs a few seconds to scan and successfully identify its target, so if spotted there is still a short window of action.

---

OOC: Roll Join battle so I can figure out the order of what occurs. Remember if you're going to go with attacking the automaton you'd best overwhelm it quickly. If you don't think you have a good chance at taking it out in one shot, Third's idea of attracting its attention and leading it away may be the better one.

[Private to Third Beneficiary of Orderly Knowledge: Whoops! Almost forgot--I'll apply the results of your great Lore roll after the Spider Eye is dealt with.]
This message was last edited by the GM at 14:07, Mon 13 Apr 2009.

Talia glances from Third to Danae.  "What are the odds we be too boring for it tto bother with us?" she mutters.  The best-case scenario is that the automaton decides they're unimportant and ignores them.  Worst-case, they have to destroy it and the struggle attracts more attention.  Talia is ready to back up the others, whatever they choose to do.

[Private to GM: 21:30, Today: Talia Zerith rolled 3 successes using 6d10 with the White Wolf Exalted system with a target of 7 with rolls of 8,7,6,4,1,8. Join battle]

Third is momentarily put out of sync by the misstep as it processes possible solutions. It cannot remember at the moment if SES automatons are capable of sound-recognition, or recording, or the records it will have available on  so for the moment, it slowly takes out it's sword, and facing perpendicular to the Spider-eye, begins a simple kata from the Even Blade style. The simple clothing, jade daiklave in its hand, and lack of threat MIGHT be enough to fool the spider-eye into believing that Third is merely a wandering Dragon-Blooded or mortal who has chosen a secluded area to practice its style. At the very least, it can draw the spider-eye away from the others, as it begins to think of a way to communicate the directions towards the stairway.

The Spider Eye hesitates and finally moves toward the source of the greatest motion, scuttling toward Third as it begins its katas. It pauses to focus on it, on the motions of the sword (which it notes almost immediately to be jade), and attempts to analyze the situation. [Private to Third Beneficiary of Orderly Knowledge: Incidentally it can record both voice and visual, but the visual is more reliable.]

There do not seem to be any other automatons in close enough proximity to notice the situation near the tunnel exit.

---

OOC: actions
tick 0 - Danae
tick 1 - Talia
tick 4 - Spider Eye

(Third starts his katas at tick 4 so it will not act again until tick 10, assuming there is still a conflict by then :P)

Danae pauses in thought for a moment--then lowers the firewand--thumbing instead at her sword.

"Actually...  Are we in a particular rush?" She whispered to the others.  "I just had a rather interesting idea...  And I think we can help things along...  You mind pulling back after I'm done here?"

As soon as the Spider Eye begins to focus on Third then--Danae was quick to act--her sword flashing out of it's scabbard and striking, a silent staccato of blows aimed to disrupt it's functions in as thorough a manner as possible...  While admittedly, the steel of her own weapon was already suffering a great deal of fatigue by this point--and ramming it through four blows when it was built only to strike three strained it to the breaking point...

But as the attacks faded, Danae's sword still shaking, on the precipice of shattering entirely, she nodded, and added.  "Let's bring it back with us, I think I've figured out a way we can get around the security..."


12 motes personal on Peony Blossom Attack, spending a willpower on the final blow.

21:43, Today: Danae Adela rolled 7 successes using 12d10 with the White Wolf Exalted system with a target of 7 with rolls of 3,7,6,7,8,2,10,10,1,2,2,5. Swordspam the fourth.
21:43, Today: Danae Adela rolled 5 successes using 12d10 with the White Wolf Exalted system with a target of 7 with rolls of 5,1,8,6,2,5,10,4,2,3,8,7. Swordspam the third.
21:43, Today: Danae Adela rolled 3 successes using 12d10 with the White Wolf Exalted system with a target of 7 with rolls of 2,5,5,4,8,1,4,5,2,10,6,1. Swordspam the second.
21:43, Today: Danae Adela rolled 7 successes using 12d10 with the White Wolf Exalted system with a target of 7 with rolls of 4,10,3,8,1,1,6,7,3,1,9,10. Swordspam the first.

7, 3, 5, 8 successes prior to stunt then--should be enough to beat it--though whether it costs me another weapon or not is up to you.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:52, Wed 15 Apr 2009.

Against Danae's flurry of attacks the surveillance automaton does not fare well at all. Three out of four sword strikes damage the Spider Eye, taking out its visual capabilities, then its recording device and finally powering down the Essence generator with a last decisive blow.

The Spider Eye isn't outright wrecked to pieces (it might have been should Danae have been using a daiklave and not an ordinary sword), but it'll take some examination to see if the right parts are salvageable for whatever Danae is planning.

Her sword still remains intact but the blade is starting to warp a bit, and the edge starting to dull.

---

OOC: Well that was quick! Third if you want you can abort your kata so you don't actually spend the essence.

[Private to Danae Adela: Didn't roll damage because you did more than enough of it. You get 2 motes back from your stunt. As for your sword, I don't really want to deprive you of a weapon completely before you're done forging your new one, though you could go back to camp and take one of the short swords the acolytes had... Anyway, your sword lost either 1 accuracy or 1 damage, take your pick.]

Third stops the kata as Danae strikes the SES, and nods. "This trip may prove more useful than we have thought... Third would have to do some tinkering, but we may be able to work on some ways to make them less effective. If we can find out how they raise alarms, we may be able to modify the device to work as a damper, disrupting the communication... It would make our lives infinitely simpler, to be sure." Third looks around quietly, and considers. " Third doubts that the stairway will be going anywhere soon, and if we are able to somehow rig up a defense against the SES automatons, it will make our trip that much easier." it says, clearly not terribly bothered by the idea of getting to study one of the automatons up close. It sheathes the daiklave again.

"I had a similar idea" Danae admitted.  "Actually, I hope to rebuild this thing to act as a vector for a virus to get them to ignore us...  Let's head back for now, this'll probably take a bit of work to get done"

"This should be fun," Talia says, quietly but with obvious enthusiasm.

Danae, Talia and Third gather the pieces of the deactivated Spider Eye and return for the moment to the lights and relative safety of the settlement. By now both Celestials and refugees alike have already packed up what little belongings they have, and toil to sweep away, bury or incinerate the last traces of their existence in the area. The group returning from the tunnel exit knows they ought not to delay their task too long, as everyone will have to be moving soon, before the Immaculates come looking for their comrades.

The blacksmith's workshop that Danae has been using for the past few weeks seems to be the best place to work with the surveillance automaton. Once they have the machine body and broken pieces they gathered arrayed on one of the work tables, the hard work of assessing the Spider Eyes' complex functions begins.

---

OOC: Roll Perception+Craft(Magitech) if you'll do a more hands-on examination, Int+Lore if you'll do a more theoretical one. Since the automaton functions both with a hardware and software component, I'd recommend both approaches.

You can either split the tasks between you, have everyone do both separately or use teamwork (have the person with highest pool roll, with the others contributing +1 die each). And of course stunts are welcome!

"So, how do we want to do this?"  Talia asks, idly turning over a loose piece of the sentry in her hands.  "You're more familiar with these things than I am."

"Well..." Danae began, rummaging through the things and clearing a space.  "Third's good with the theoretical business--and I'm good with the mechanical side of things...  You can help one of us out I suppose, but if we split our efforts, we should be able to meet in the middle... Or something like that anyway..."

Putting the rest of the pieces together, Danae takes a deep breath, then begins to rummage through it, systematically assembling, dissassembling, and otherwise determining how exactly this thing happened to tick.

OOC:
20:51, Today: Danae Adela rolled 3 successes using 8d10 with the White Wolf Exalted system with a target of 7 with rolls of 1,5,9,3,9,3,5,7. Perc + Magitech (+5 succs).

+4 succs from Second Craft and a WP, total of 8 succs
This message was last edited by the player at 03:52, Fri 17 Apr 2009.

Third quietly nods as it stands by the other two at the workbench, and begins to study the pieces, it's mind slotting the parts together, studying serial numbers, easily sliding them together in its mind. " Third will work on its theoretical knowledge." it says, and begins to contact Harmony. Third requests your help on processing powers. If you are able, Third would request your aid in studying these parts. Third is attempting to figure out the communication system for these machines, and a way to properly counter it. Additionally, discovering the proper method for introducing a viral meme into the Automaton's network conciousness, to make it ignore us, to create a blind spot for them. Third converses with the Intelligence, even as it thinks smoothly.

OOC: 01:05, Today: Third Beneficiary of Orderly Knowledge rolled 6 successes using 20d10 with the White Wolf Exalted system with a target of 7 with rolls of 3,8,5,8,10,3,3,8,4,3,4,5,6,4,4,2,8,2,3,5. Charmed Int+Lore roll, heavily boosted.

6 total successes. Not TOO bad. I don't know if the Specialty applies there, if it does, GM can include it with any stunt dice.

It doesn't seem that either Danae or Third need much aid, at least for the moment, though simply watching the two work gives Talia a crash course on both magitech automata and artificial intelligence programming.

By the time Danae has assembled, disassembled and reassembled the Spider Eye, she is quite certain of its basic function. This includes its eight legged locomotion, the range of its sensors (up to 30 yard radius reliably, up to 50 if it focuses on a specific target), the sight, sound and motion sensors (no smell or taste here), recording functions, and its few means of combat (a pair of spinnarets that emit a sticky web-like substance, and its mandibles which can deliver an essence venom; relatively low damage, but aggravated.) The spinnarets and venom containers can be removed safely.

Its essence battery is in a plate embedded into the bottom of the spider body, but Danae and Third unpleasantly discover a second, low power battery near the SES's Central Processing Unit, which continues to power certain basic functions even if the main power is deactivated. One of those functions seems to be to trigger an alarm should the recording device, the 'black box' at the heart of the Spider, be destroyed or removed prematurely. The alarm trigger is in the base of the spider's neck, which also contains the circuitry that connects it to the District of Earth Surveillance Network and the unit's serial number (SES-005-036).

Neither Danae nor Talia can see Harmony directly, but when Third connects the orb containing Harmony's consciousness to the automaton's exposed CPU, all three Exalts see the yellow-gold Essence lines tracing through the previous dormant circuitry, indicating her influence. She begins to feed Third knowledge about its BIOS and operating system, projecting lines of code to it mentally so that it may memorize pertinent lines, in particular the protocols by which it communicates with the Network.

Harmony claims that she would be able to 'ride' the automaton personally, basically take control of it, move it around and use its sensors and functions. Possibly she may even be able to go 'deep cover' if Third were willing to relinquish her, or at the very least serve as a virus carrier. They would not be able to communicate with each other at all while she's away in the Spider Eye's body, though.

---

OOC: Ok! Both hardware and software checks passed. Now you'll want to write the virus (which is another Int+Lore and I'd recommend Third rolls it with teamwork from the others. It'd have to write by dictating through Harmony as there's no keyboard to insert code with.) The roll will get a +2 success bonus due to your previous successes.

Also start thinking on how the virus will be conveyed: remotely or through Harmony.

"Okay" Danae began, making sure to avoid prodding anything in a way that would cause it's second battery to activate.  "Here's the big problem as I see it--no matter how powerful we design this virus--if it acts openly, we'll be announcing our presence in a way that we may not like...  It needs to disseminate across the network in a manner that would be inobtrusive--but still allow us to move about relatively freely...  Ah... Harmony, was it?  Your aid so far has been exceptional--but I can't help but think security on the Earth District and above has been tightened heavily since the Water District was subverted-it might be dangerous to send you directly inside--if the powers that be have 'Any' reason to believe that the network has been comprimised, they'll do an extensive sweep, and it'll turn things around on us...  Then again, we 'Could' design a back door to get you in quickly when we begin work on subverting the Gatekeeper of Earth eventually...  Or at least figure out how to insert you inside."

So, she sat back, and tapped a finger on the table.  "The way I see it--we shouldn't just 'Shut Down' the network entirely--nor should we rewrite the protocols they have entirely...  Rather--we should create a minor exception--in the same way that the Automatons 'Already' ignore figures such as the Dragon Blooded...  Maybe have it that a certain design or symbol borne by the viewer is to be disregarded?  It's simple, but it's not likely to attract a great deal of attention--and I can rig up some badges to allow this pretty easily...  But that's just my call, AI work isn't really my specialty--though I'll provide what help I can..."
This message was last edited by the player at 03:23, Sat 18 Apr 2009.

Third considers quietly. " Third agrees. While Harmony may be able to be effective in the system, Third does not wish to risk her existence at this time... The Dragon-Blooded will likely be wary after losing control of the Gatekeeper of Water. Third will leave it up to Harmony, if she feels confident in her ability to avoid detection, then Third will be willing to send her in." It speaks in the third person for Harmony, bowing its head. "A badge system sounds wise. A small, innocuous symbol that will trigger the automatons perception filters, something we can keep on our clothing... It will be much easier to insert a small section in the code, and if we make redundant copies, then the commands will be that much more difficult to eliminate completely. Do you have an idea for a design? Third will begin dictating code to Harmony, but we will need to think of something helpful." It considers, and closes its eyes, beginning to string together the divine symbols in it's mind, the strings of specialized language that determine the behavior of an automaton. It strings the syllables together, taking the example given by a prohibition against following or studying certain Dragon-Blooded and other individuals, carefully tailoring the words to look as much like those as the others, to keep it innocuous. After it finishes an initial write-up, it looks towards the others, sharing the code with them, to give them an opportunity to check through it, before compiling the first version. "The smaller the differences we make, the easier it will be to keep it hidden."

OOC: Going to let Talia get in a post before I roll my dice. ^_^ I'll edit said dice-roll into here.

Edit: 18:38, Today: Third Beneficiary of Orderly Knowledge rolled 12 successes using 20d10 with the White Wolf Exalted system with a target of 7 with rolls of 4,2,2,7,7,3,8,5,2,6,10,5,7,1,3,7,10,9,10,3. Int+Lore for coding. You rolled 4 successes using 6d10 with the White Wolf Exalted system with a target of 7 ((1,10,7,2,7,1)). 18 successes with the extras. 10 motes spent on First Lore Excellency.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:44, Sat 18 Apr 2009.

"A symbol...it'll need to be something distinct enough to be recognized by the system, but simple enough to be easily reproduced, and inconspicous enough that it won't be easily identified as a symbol by living veiwers."  She begins to trace simple shapes on the work surface with her finger tips.  Circles, crosses, stars, she runs through various configurations in her mind.

Harmony, when addressed, reroutes some of the Spider Eye's battery power to briefly take a translucent but visible shape: that of a six armed female spirit with her legs crossed in lotus position. Her face is covered with a pale, eyeless mask that covers all but her mouth. The form is not solid, and flickers now and then as the imperfect and quickly hacked connections struggle to maintain the image.

"I-AM-CALLED-HARMONY-OF-ENLIGHTENMENT," she confirms to Danae in her feminine but otherwise inflection-less speech, this time aloud for all to hear. "YOUR-POINT-IS-TAKEN. SECURITY-RISKS-ARE-TOO-GREAT-FOR-SOLO-INFILTRATION-WITH-CURRENT-PARAMETERS. ESTIMATED-SUCCESS-RATE-ONLY-35.7-PERCENT. CONCLUSION: IMPLANT-VIRUS-INTO-REACTIVATED-SPIDER-EYE-AND-RELEASE-IT. IT-WILL-INFECT-THE-NETWORK-THROUGH-ITS-NORMAL-DUTIES."

With Danae, Talia and Harmony's aid, Third manages to design a virus that all of them feel is both foolproof and innocuous. It does, however, take some time to write. Normally, something of that complexity, programmed with only theoretical knowledge of the network, would take about a week to complete. However, Third is an exceptionally skilled programmer, and it is possible it can sacrifice some quality to speed up the process.

The symbol to use is more of a cosmetic choice; anything relatively simple to scan, but unique enough not to be mistaken for anything else, will do.

---

OOC: 18 successes is great. You can choose to raise the difficulty of the roll in order to reduce the time it takes to program this. Difficulty 5 would be to do it in a day, Difficulty 10 to do in less than an hour. The trade-off will of course reduce the final net successes, so it's up to you.

Suggestion for the symbol: a sunburst disc, with a crescent moon and a star inside? Maybe?
This message was last edited by the GM at 07:12, Tue 21 Apr 2009.

"My own call?  Let's take our time with this" Danae says when the possible responses come up.  "We're not likely to get another shot at this, and I'd like to make it as absolutely effective as we can.  It'll also give me a little time to finish up my weapon and get some badges hammered together with what materials we have left.  Once this is all taken care of though, we'll have much more freedom--enough to make a serious attempt at taking the Earth Districts at the very least."

She stands back a bit, and taps her chin.  "You know what though?  I think this'll come together quite nicely--it'll help us move the others around as neccessary as well--and we're close enough to the Fire District to cause trouble as well--we're going to need the extra manpower."

"I can make badges; a simple design shouldn't take very long at all.  But I agree, it's better to do this right than to do it right now.  If something went wrong, we could end up worse off than when we started."  Her fingertrips trace out one more shape on the tabletop; a circle, an arc, three intesecting lines.


OOC: Gatekeeper, your symbol idea was pretty much exactly what I was trying to think of; I'm breaking it down to pretty much the most basic form to make it less obvious as a significant mark and also easier to reproduce in various matierials.  I'll try to draw it up and scan it (or maybe break out MSPaint)

Third nods quietly. " Third would certainly prefer to take advantage of this spare time that we have been given. Third shall be careful." It bows its head to Talia. " Thank you, Talia." it says, and studies the symbol. It is both innocuous, and unlikely to be made by accident. " That should be ideal." It begins the lengthy task of its design...

OOC: I figure, haste makes waste, I'm willing to take the long time and get it done right. We can hurry when they find us.

Third has to spend at least eight hours a day working on the programming to complete the task in a week. This does, however, free it some time during the day to participate in other activities.

Danae may of course use the tail end of the week to finish more crafting while Talia works on the task of making the badges. The badges themselves are a relatively simple work of forging, at least compared to the complex weaponry Danae spends her time doing. Getting the initial design done will take perhaps a day, and after that one hour per item would do. [Private to Talia Zerith: I don't think you'll need more than 3 successes on an int+craft(fire) roll (1 day duration) to get the badge design right. Then you could just do a series of int+craft(fire) rolls (1 hour duration) at difficulty 2, to represent producing enough of them for everyone. There's plenty of metal to work with for something that small, so that's no issue even if you mess some up.]

---

OOC: If you do decide to be in the hive queen scene after all, keep in mind that Third is already there, so would make more sense that this scene happened before or after that one, not simultaneously. (Time paradox!)
This message was last edited by the GM at 07:18, Tue 21 Apr 2009.