"Least we're moving away from the guns... If we're avoiding CPM, we'll need to bypass the casino level as best we can."

"If they're herding people into the casino...  XO," he tries to catch Shinasato, and pull him a bit away from his mother for a moment, give Ms. Shinsato time to rest and hopefully not overhear them, and get worked up, "I don't think there's any real risk of radiation boss.  Those shoots looked more like sedatives, and this?  This is just herding everyone into one place.  This feels more like a crackdown, they're trying to shake out insurgents.  This feels very anti-OPA.  Hope's right, we should skirt the casino if we're going to make it to the ship and not get swept up into a lock-down."

Shinsato was glad for Abang's assessment of the situation as he had definitely gotten caught up with his mother and ensuring her safety.

"I agree.  We should avoid the casino.  Assuming radiation truly isn't a concern, we can afford to go to greater lengths avoiding it.  Let's be on our way."

A native of Eros who had lived on station her entire life, the young 17 year old mentions the one thing that no one wants to say or acknowledge. "The only way to any of the docks is through the casino level."

"Sure, but there have to be maintenance and service areas.  We should be able to avoid being in the open for most of the main casino level.  Just need to keep our eye's open."

Kattalin doesn't even bother looking at the people controlling the casino area, she stays fully out of view and very nearly whispers to those she was rescued by.  ”If one of you has a halfway decent hand terminal I can make use of it is fairly likely I can get another copy of the map of the station, my last one seems to have gone missing at some point.  And we don't want to tangle with those thugs if we don't have to, it doesn't go well.”

As the corridor widens into the Casino level the group sees two pairs of CPM guards waving people by. They are not checking anyone's items, or conducting any shakedowns.

Beyond the guards the entire Casino level is a maze of Slot machines, Poker, Blackjack, Roulette, and Craps tables. Interspersed amongst all this are walled off Pachinko parlors, betting halls for races or prize fights occurring throughout the system, and small restaurants.

From their vantage point in the widening corridor, it looks like about one-third of these places are open, their proprietors acting as if business is as usual. There are people too acting as if things are normal, gambling away their money. Groups of 2-4 CPM guards patrol the casino area but are not being hostile to anyone.

Signage pointing to the groups relative left show the general direction where the transit tube station is, and signage to the right show the general direction one needs to go to reach docking bay two.

OOC: The above is just a perspective of what you can see before passing the guards and entering the casino itself. This way you can turn around if you so wish or enter the casino level to see how you can try to get to the docking bay two.

[Private to GM: Massive shutters have closed off all but one of the exits leading ‘up spin’ to docking bay two. This one exit is guarded by a large force of CPM personnel, and about a dozen other individuals. These dozen individuals are wearing an as of yet never seen before type of vac suit/armor that is grayish silver in color. These individuals are armed with and odd type of rifle with what appears to be a top mounted grenade launcher.]

Hope quietly says to the others, "If they're not stopping anyone, we should be able to walk right past and just head to the docks, right? Just be casual and walk along?"

From their current vantage point the actual exits/lifts to the docking level cannot be seen.

Abang slips his pistol into his coverall pocket, but keeps his hand on it in case, his other hand slips his heavily ruggedized terminal out and thumbs it on, "The Eros network is down, SOP communications lockout, though local networks might be operational," he turns the hand terminal to show Kattalin the flashing "no access" icon, "here, if you can get a ping in, feel free to try.  XO, I don't see a way around, I think we're going to have to go through, and I bet dock access is going to be blocked, at least guarded if not locked out.  But we should be able to find maintenance access from inside the casinos."


OOC:  The Hand Terminal is Very Durable.

Kattalin accepts the offered Hand Terminal and spends a few moments familiarizing herself with its current settings, layout, and capabilities, but even that is done very quickly.  Settling down to begin working she shares a few thoughts out loud before her focus is fully absorbed in the task.  ”Ahh, a classic Nokia scion always a reliable choice.  They can be very quick to resort to violence to ensure that people follow the instructions they have been given, each set likely has only a very small piece of the overall plan.  Avoiding contact will almost certainly be better.”[Private to GM:
Trying to find any signal, or hack whatever system is running the interference, even if it is just the short range comms of the thugs, but with a preference for something with data on the station.  Also keep in mind that I get an extra unit of information if successful when hacking.
Kattalin Zubiri rolled 23 using 3d6+8 with the AGE System with rolls of {6}, 4, 5.  Technology (Hacking).]

Kattalin attempts to find a network connection and fails to do so. She then tries to manually connect to several different wireless bands and also fails to find a connection. What the Martian woman is able to determine is that ALL wireless networks, even those used by emergency responders are down.

Trying to connect to radio communications she finds a few frequencies still in use. Two are the ever repeating 'Welcome to Eros station' announcement and the radiation hazard breach a announcement. Everything else is encrypted, and with only snippets of encrypted static on each frequency its clear that frequency hopping is also being utilized.

Whomever has taken over Eros Station has gone to considerable extremes to cut the general populace off from communicating within and outside of Eros...

[Private to Kattalin Zubiri: Lets save that Technology (Hacking) roll of 23 to be used at a later time when it really matters. Just remind me. ]

Shinsato looked at the others then back to his mother.  It seemed they would have to risk passing the guards and enter the casino.  It worried him given his current belief that something untoward was happening on Eros.

"We will have to do our best to look like we aren't entering with an agenda.  Thoughts on our reaction should they attempt to detain us.  My first thought is that we should likely resist and not allow ourselves to be captured...but I want your thoughts as well as we will have civilians to protect in the process."

"We could also simply find a place in here out of the way, and wait for the lockdown to end.  If they're rounding up a terror cell as I suspect, once they've finished all this craziness will end."

He again gives Hope and Kaeya a sympathetic glance, "But I agree, if we can find a way through, we'd all be safer on the ship."

Shinsato turned to Asha for her input as to what she thought was the best plan.  He realized he was the XO, but in his mind, that only really mattered when on the ship.  Here they were all equals and he valued both of their opinions.

Hope replies to Abang's comment. "You're right. If they're not giving out real meds, it's not what they're saying. So we're not in the danger they claim. It's just the Inner security doing things their way. But something did happen - we felt it. So if we can get to the ship, that seems best. Otherwise hiding is probably best."

"I think we should make our way to the ship.  We'll try to slip through, but if need be we'll do whatever we need to do, to get there. Perhaps my mother, her aid, and the doctor should attempt to pass through first.  Asha and I will hold back and provide support if your efforts are impeded"
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 03:08, Sun 07 Nov 2021.

Clearly disappointed in the usefulness of the hand terminal Kattalin makes several attempts, in what are presumably different ways, to assess the situation.

”Even without the direct personal evidence of their hostility the total lack of any of the normal emergency support and direction channels being open would be more than enough evidence of a wild misrepresentation of their intent.

I don't have any more fight left in me but I should be able to reimburse your crew for whatever help they can provide once we reach a more civilized place, or if we are forced to stay here long enough for some kind of larger scale rescue operation to take place.”

A pair of the CPM thugs begin to walk by the group, then suddenly stop. There is some chatter from their radios (the two thugs are not responding) that some people can hear and understand.

[Private to Kattalin Zubiri:
You do not recognize any of these voices from the thugs you encountered earlier.

Male voice
“Hey dis es team sixteen, me bossmag and one uter are dead at de Pur’n Kleen office. Dey gear es gone too! I got’s fore of da corporate coyo’s wit me. Dey do noa giv’ a shit an wanna go back to de docks.”

Female voice
“Berata we gots an hour b’fore casino level es shut down. Afteir dat no one outside of casino or dock levels es getting’ off dis rock.”

2nd Male voice
“Al teams, we got’s two dead and gear of ders es taken! Switch to encrypted channel now!”]

[Private to Asha Blackburn:
I made a Perception (Empathy) roll for you, and have added some more info.

Male voice
“Hey dis es team sixteen, me bossmag and one uter are dead at de Pur’n Kleen office. Dey gear es gone too! I got’s fore of da corporate coyo’s wit me. Dey do noa giv’ a shit an wanna go back to de docks.” This guy sounds really distraught, and stressed.

Female voice
“Berata we gots an hour b’fore casino level es shut down. Afteir dat no one outside of casino or dock levels es getting’ off dis rock.” From her tone of voice, it does not sound like this woman is lying.

2nd Male voice
“Al teams, we got’s two dead and gear of ders es taken! Switch to encrypted channel now!” This voice is speaking with an air of authority.]

Hope stands close to Shinsato and whispers, trying not to draw attention to her group. "Bosmang, from de sound of it we need to be in the casino or the docks. If the Inners in charge are headin' for the docks, we should too."
This message was last edited by the player at 17:00, Thu 11 Nov 2021.

Shinsato gave Asha a very slight nod of understanding and made to continue on toward the casino entrance.  He didn't make any sudden outward movements but he was prepared to draw his weapon at a moments notice to defend the others should the need arise.

As they move into the Casino foyer, Dr Kaos asks for his terminal back for a moment, he bumps the saved off into the terminal lodged into the top of his EMT duffel, wipes a few things and hands it back to young woman they'd rescued.

"You seem more competent with this than I am, there was an... Incident once, whole ship and station I was at lost comms.  In the, umm, in the situation that followed an orderly was able to set up hand terms to function as some sort of scrambled peer-to-peer comms relay network?  I think that's what they did, I don't remember how as I was focused on, doing, other things at the time.  We certainly can't blanket the whole station, but as long as anyone of us is in range with another in the net, we'd be interconnected.  Is that something you can setup?"

PM

[Private to Kattalin Zubiri: Yes you can set up a peer to peer network with the PC’s and NPC’s present. No roll needed

The terminal the Dr gave you is a full sized tablet. ]

As the corridor widens into the Casino level the group sees two pairs of CPM guards waving people by. They are not checking anyone's items, or conducting any shakedowns.

After passing the guards the entire level is a maze of Slot machines, Poker, Blackjack, Roulette, Craps, and Belter Juice tables. There is even a table playing the newly created game called ‘Remember the Cant’. Interspersed amongst all this are walled off Pachinko parlors, betting halls for races or prize fights occurring throughout the system, as well as small, medium and large restaurants.

About one-third of these places are open, their proprietors acting as if business is as usual, albeit with all transactions being carried out with physical scrip. There are people acting as if things are normal, spending or gambling away their physical scrip. Groups of 2-4 CPM guards patrol the casino area but are not being hostile to anyone.

Signage pointing to the groups relative left show the general direction where the transit tube station is, and signage to the right show the general direction one needs to go to reach docking bay two.

Massive shutters have closed off all but one of the exits leading ‘up spin’ to docking bay two. This one exit is guarded by a large force of CPM personnel, and about a dozen other individuals. These dozen individuals are wearing an as of yet never seen before type of vac suit/armor that is grayish silver in color. These individuals are armed with and odd type of rifle with what appears to be a top mounted grenade launcher.

OOC: Since it was mentioned in previous posts that you guys may be looking for maintenance and service areas please make a perception roll (TN 16) to see if you find any.

Kattalin sticks with the group, staying out of direct line of sight of the guards as much as possible, but keeps her eyes open still, paying more attention to the layout of the area than to any one moving person in it.

[Private to GM: almost immediately she updates the shared map on the network of hand terminals through the one she was loaned to her to include a maintenance hatch she noticed along one wall that looks like it should be accessible.
Speaking more cryptically than quietly she makes sure the others are up to date on the discovery without shouting it to the guards.  ”That might be what we are looking for.”

Kattalin Zubiri rolled 16 using 3d6+4 (2 stunt points) with the AGE System with rolls of {2}, 5, 5.  perception.
2 Stunt points (CORE) WHEN A PLAN COMES TOGETHER: You reveal this test was part of your plan all along, granting a bonus equal to the SP spent on one ally’s next test during the same encounter to accomplish the same goal. ]
This message was last edited by the GM at 07:06, Sat 13 Nov 2021.