We're kicking off a new adventure, Silver Angel. This is the first published Shadowrun adventure, way back in 1989, written by Tom Dowd.

The setting is Seattle, 2050. The ruleset is 1st edition. I'll be fudging numbers when necessary to update them for 3rd edition and experienced runners. The Matrix is the biggest difference, and I'll be using the SR1 "feel" with the SR3 ruleset, as much as I am able. If you are familiar with any of the Shadowrun video games (the Genesis one or the Shadowrun Returns games) you have a pretty good idea of what I'm aiming for. However, I'd also like to incorporate more 'mobile' matrix so we don't have two months of just the decker posting. Meanwhile, our poor decker is going to be a little put upon, in that I'm going to be hurrying his matrix-only turns along a bit.

I will be playing more serious than the Drop Bear adventure, but I'm not doing Mission Impossible. At this stage in the Shadowrun lore, the corporations are still at each others' throats, and admitting a successful break-in is just heaping a new injury on an old one. Rarely will you need to worry about heavy duty forensics behind you, although if you're noisy, the security response teams will be called and may arrive on site before you've left. So be quiet, but don't feel you need to be paranoid.

With that ...

It's the Ides of March, 2050. The sky is overcast, day or night and the city whipped by a constant drizzle; a grey haze that soaks in under coats and burns the eyes.

It's a Saturday night. The clubs are hopping, the late evening vehicle traffic is light, and drugs are selling cheap. But you've got rent to pay, and the checks aren't coming in as reliably as you'd like.


Go! Post a little bit about what you're up to, where you are, etc. You don't need to be together, just able to be contacted by potential employers.

Anders looked at his watch again as he wondered what was going on.  It had been a two weeks since Rayna had left any message on their website.  He checked the site again.

Nothing.

Maybe she's swamped with work.  She did say she was brokering a new deal between two other families.....or she could be injured somewhere.....or worse....shit...I better call her.... thought Anders.

He recalled that she said not to call her unless it was an emergency or pertaining to a job.  Maybe this qualifies as an emergency? suggested Anders to himself.  He ground his teeth unsure whether or not to proceed.  DAMMIT ANDERS!  Get a hold of yourself.  You knew something like this could come up when you let her go...

"I could say I'm looking for a job...that ought to work." said Anders as he assured himself of that excuse.

Smiling meekly, he picked up his other burner phone and dialed her number.

Toombs struts off stage with her electric guitar in a meaty fist, the screams of thousands of fanatic followers echoing across the stadium and thundering through the microphone like feedback cannons. The stage is draped in undergarments, like beaded sweat across the plasticrete stage, glistening in the lights of twinkling zippo starlight held aloft in swaying constellations.
"Good evening, Ms. Trixie Toombs, I am mr. Moneybags from BastardCorp LLC. We would like you to sell out for a boatload of cash. Imagine it: beer, pizza and hookers as far as the eye can see. All you have to do is sell out"
Sell out
Sell out
Sell out his voice echoes in the back hallways.
"Fuck you, you corporate twat!" She punts him so hard his testicles shoot out his nostrils. "Those are MY people out there. Not your corporate gits. Get ready to meet 'em!" She grabs a fistful of the J's expensive suit and throws him bodily through the stage lights into the mosh pits.
In half a hearbeat, she's back at the mic, screaming vocally and across her guitar as the assembled masses bound to their angry feet. Rage is all she needs, all she wants and that's all she is. A rage elemental, screaming to strange stars that dance at her feet.

Toombs awakes with a 'snirk', snuggled close to a pile of beer cans and empty pizza 'spress boxes. He's hungover (again) and fell asleep in his clothes on top of an oversized guitar. He rolls off the mattress onto the floor and passes his hands across his body, tracing the lines of the guitar strings down his face, then patting his hands down his body and rifling through pockets. One hand comes free with a Nyx-Stick soy-cig, the other a trusty ancient Zippo.
click
click
Goddamnit.
Empty.
He grabs two slab of rock-hard pizza from one of the boxes, tosses one on the floor and yells out "Oi! Calcifer! C'mere, I need a light."
An ember sizzles to life, consumes the pizza, and floats over the carpet. "Boss, this shit's demeaning, and you know it."
"Pizza. Burnt offering. You took it, you owe me a Service. Light it."
"May all your bacon burn"
"Light it... please?"
"Asshole."
The cig ignites, a deep drag follows.
He can barely make out the muffled screaming of Puddle of Snot's epic hit "Bleeding Out Your Eyeballs" coming from The Pile - his all in one dresser, filing cabinet and garbage can. Call coming in. If these aren't his Yesterday Pants, then whose are they?
Passing aside the thought for later, he rearranges The Pile into two smaller The Piles, digging sullenly with pizza and cig in hand.

Anya perched on a worn bar-stool, hunched over a dark cup of soycaf.  She idly studied the the ripples and eddies that formed as a pair of go-gangers rumbled past on the street outside.  Likely Hellions. Others would have had to move faster.

In a fancier place, the multi-colored sheen swirling on top of her drink might have been some flavor enhancing additive.  Here, it was probably just a sign of poorly washed dishes.  She took a sip anyhow.  The heated water should have taken care of any pathogens by now.  Probably.

She grimaced slightly as a large bulk slid onto an adjacent stool, but kept her gaze on the steam rising from her cup.  Three empty stools on either side meant whoever it was was looking to chat.  She brought her cup to her lips, pointedly ignoring the newcomer.  Though the smell of sweat and faint odor of stale urine made it a bit more challenging than she'd hoped.

"Fraggin' wet out."

Obviously not a local.  Commenting on rain in what passed for spring in Seattle was as insightful as noting that the sky was blue.  Or was supposed to be blue.  She slurped loudly in the faint hope of discouraging further conversation.

It worked.  For the 60 seconds or so it took him to order and receive a synth-beer.

"Ya doin' anything tonight?"

Frag it

"No plans, but I could be talked into having some fun.  What'd ya have in mind?"

"Ace.  Well, I thought maybe . . ."

She put down the cup and turned on her stool to face him fully.

"Oh...  I mean.  Uh, actually I already got plans.  Uh, yeah."

He grabbed his can and bolted for the door.  The bartender looked up at the ork's departing back and then at her.  She sighed.  Drip-wad hadn't paid and it'd likely end up on her tab.

She turned the stool back to her cup, the steam already starting to fade, and gazed at her reflection.  The right side was pretty enough.  Not stunning-gorgeous like that Mercurial chicka, but nice.  Nice enough to get a pick-up line or two, even from those who weren't desperate.  At least until they saw the other half - the scars, the malformed ear, the skin that looked like a partially melted candle.  Melting wasn't far off, really - though it seemed a rather soft word for such agony.

Anthony had told her she should get some plastic surgery.  He knew a guy who knew a guy.  But that was when she'd had more nuyen.  Besides, this was her now.  She had earned it.  Deserved it, maybe.  And anyone who didn't like her face could frag themselves with an ice pick.

She quaffed down the remainder of her cup and signaled for her bill.  The troll wandered over and actually smiled over his single tusk.  Just the soycaf.  She attempted a smile back and slotted a couple of extra nuyen as a tip.  She wasn't flush with cash, but it was important to reward those few in the service industry who weren't total dreck-heads.  She did need to score soon though.

She resisted the urge to pull out her comm and ping her fixer.  Frequent calls meant desperate.  And desperate meant jobs that were cheap or deadly or both.  She headed out the door, studiously ignoring a chip-head huddled under the entrance overhang and turned up the collar on her long-coat.

Her stained combat boots splashed through the rapidly growing puddles of acid rain and worse as she made her way to the alley where she'd parked the Buffalo.  She had to admit that the trog from the bar was right.  It was indeed fraggin' wet out.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:27, Fri 20 Feb 2015.

The rain falling against the hood of his coat was like a barrier.  A shield that blocked out the hustle and bustle of the outside world as he stood alone, leaning against a rail at the end of a dock at Lake Union.  The steady barrage of raindrops helped him to think.

Not that there were a lot of thoughts going through Saint Velveteen's head at the moment.  Mostly that he didn't want to buy a sub from Eddie Fingers Sandwich Shop again.  The one he had now somehow managed to be soggy and rock-hard stale at the same time.

He ripped off a chunk with one of his tusks and spat it in the direction of a nearby seagull.  Even the bird pecked at it hesitantly before finally deciding to fly away with it to choke it down elsewhere.  He watched it disappear into the raindrops, its infrared signature fading from view slightly slower than its normal colors.

"Pretty," he mused before ripping a loud one into the wind.

"If you don't want me to approach, just say so.  No need for chemical warfare!"

St. V started and turned to see a familiar dwarven face waving a hand in front of her crinkled nose.  He couldn't help but crack a smile.  "Why does someone always show up the moment after?  Never before?"

Rose returned his smile but ignored his question.  "C'mon ya oversized lug.  Gonzo's starting up a game of Saints and Sinners in the bar, and I need a genuine Saint on my team.  Ya game?"

St. V looked down at the second half of his sandwich then back up at her.  He pushed himself up from his resting spot against the rail of the dock and chucked the other half of his sandwich out into the lake as far as it would go.  He watched it plop and sink like a stone before replying.  "'Kay, but you're buying me a drink when we win.  Something strong."

"Deal."

Rose and St. Velveteen return to Gonzo's. The place is quiet, considering the time of night. Suspicious eyes keep flickering over to a trio of gangers in red with spatterings of gold on their jackets, hair, and glasses. They seem content to sip their brews, but their presence puts a damper on the game.

Fortunately, Rose is true to her word, and St. V scores a few drinks to help put him in a better, if no less smelly mood. And forty minutes later, the drinks work their magic, and St. V needs to hit the little trolls' room.

One of the gangers leaves the table and follows him in.

Once the two of them are alone, the ganger pulls off the shades and approaches. "St. Velveteen. Pretty hard to miss. I hear you're in the business. You still taking contracts?"




Toombs' phone rings fifteen times, then shuts off, leaving Toombs to continue digging through the pile.

Somewhere on the far side of the room, Toombs' pager buzzes. The sound seems to be buried under the equipment boxes, heaped haphazardly against the wall. After a few more plaintive buzzes, it stops.

Toombs has an opportunity to dig through either pile for a few minutes before there's a banging at the door. Outside is a punk. She's wearing an oversized surplus Desert Wars jacket and looking around nervously. Just behind her parked on the sidewalk is a bike, painted red and gold. Likely gang colors, although not a local one.




Copperhead makes her soggy way towards a (hopefully) dry van. A pair of bikes roar up behind her and stop, the motors still idling. She can hear them chatting to one another before one shouts her way.

"Oi! You. Trog. Come'ere." Their tone isn't threatening, but they do sound like gangers plenty confident in their place in the world.




As Noruas puts his hand on the receiver, the phone rings.

"Hello? Is this Noruas? We are looking to employ an individual with your... specialized skillset. If you are interested, we will be meeting at Matchsticks in two hours. The password is 'Steward'."

With that, the line goes dead.

3 meters to the alley, 5 seconds to pop the door and get in.  Not a neighborhood to help a damsel in distress, let alone, one that looks like me . . . Frag.

She slowed to a stop, taking the time to memorize as much as she can of her surroundings - cover, hazards, sources of noise.  She turned slowly to her right, taking advantage of the opportunity to slip her left hand in and out of her pocket, relying on the rain and the distraction from the sight of her face to conceal the thermal smoke mini grenade in her palm.

"If you're lookin' for a trog, maybe you boys've got the wrong girl."  Her voice was even, matching theirs in confidence.

Her right hand reached obviously into her right pocket and gripped the bag of ULTRA-SOY-Bits in what she hoped to be a non-aggressive manner, while her left toggled the delay on the grenade to zero and released the safety.  Her gaze took in the bikers as well as the surrounding area, looking for anything she could use to her advantage.  Overwatch was unlikely for a crew like this, but you never knew.  More likely was someone waiting for her in the alley - which was why she had no plans to go anywhere near it.

quote:

11:38, Today: Copperhead rolled 4 successes using 6d6 with the Shadowrun system with a target of 4 with rolls of 2,(6+4)10,2,5,(6+2)8,(6+4)10. Stealth - palm and arm grenade.

Even allowing for off-hand use, that should have been enough even without the rain and distraction.

quote:

11:45, Today: Copperhead rolled 4 successes using 6d6 with the Shadowrun system with a target of 4 with rolls of 5,4,2,(6+5)11,(6+3)9,3. Observe in detail.

She's going to hold action until she gets a better sense of whether she's actually in danger.  If she decides she is, she'll drop the grenade, attempt a distraction (nod of recognition to a stranger across the street or something), make like she's running for the alley and, as soon as the smoke is thick enough, roll under a nearby car so she can grab her sim-rig cable out of her pack and jack in.

Did I mention that it's kind of fun to be paranoid? :>

Hey, paranoid is how you stay breathing!

The two keep on their bikes, waiting for Copperhead to reach them. "We got a friend looking to talk to you. There's some money in it. Matchsticks, two hours. You in?"

Toombs, torso deep in The Pile(s), straightens up with a crack as his head strikes wall. "PERKELE!" He pops open the door, letting the chain lock crack against the reinforced door. "Men's is down the hall, third on your right. And if you're the little shit who keeps stealing my guitar picks, I'll put the next one through yer knees!"

He will then listen to what the gutterpunk says. "Ah, right. k. Uh. One sec. You're not here to kill me, right? 'cause I'm a GREAT AND POWERFUL MAGICIAN, and I can... I donno, boil your guts out your nose or some shit." He shrugs halfheartedly, pops the lock open, and "Since I assume you aren't gonna drag me behind that bike, help me find my stuff first. Beeper's over there, prolly attacked to another pack of cigs. Or pants. Whatever. Behind those boxes over there."

After much excavation into the exciting world of smells, he pulls his jacket out of a family sized bag of soy-chipz. He pockets all the street gear he can find, and mutters "You mind giving me a lift? Scoot got repo'd again."

Copperhead made no move to approach the bikers, but she didn't move away either.  She remained alert, but moved her thumb into position to flick the safety back on.

They were professional enough not to comment on her face, so that was a good sign.  Provided they weren't here to kill her.  "Nuyen's always welcome.  Your friend got a name?"

She didn't bother asking how they knew where to find her, though the fact that they had made her far more nervous than the obvious hardware the two were packing.  She'd have to review her precautions.  Again.

The call came through just as he was dialing Rayna's number.  He listened carefully to the message that came through and paused as the other side hung up.  Anders was still concerned with Rayna's lack of communication.  There was no other way to put it, this was a job offer, and she did say call at a time of emergency or relating to a job.  His fingers gently touched the dial pad on his burner unsure whether or not to call.

He decided against it....for now.

A new job meant some cash, and he could always call her after hearing out the details of this job.

The dwarf got off the sofa and headed for the secret room in the basement of his house.  He placed his palm on the smooth wall and three seconds later, a section of the wall slid back revealing a smaller room the size of a walk-in closet.  The room was lined with equipment needed for his side jobs.  He headed for the very back where there was a large mirror on a makeup desk.  Anders slid open a desk drawer and pulled out a latex mask kit.

Now....who am I today? said the dwarf to himself.

Ten minutes later, he looked like the twin brother of Ares Corporation's CEO....with dwarfism.  Anders smiled at himself and strapped on his personal Predator to his hip.  Time to go for an interview...  Grabbing his coat and shades, he exited the room, stopping only to close the door behind him.

Bus or car? thought Anders as he peeked outside his front door.  There was a lot of rain. Car it is.

The dwarf opened his garage and got into his sleek black Honda, slowing down to make sure the garage door had slid back into place.

Noruas arrives at Matchsticks with half an hour to spare.

As Toombs opens his door, the ganger starts her spiel. "I heard you run ... what? No, I don't need the crapper. I said I hear you run the shadows. "

Toombs' poor ganger is... a little confused. She shuffles on into the room. "I'm just here to offer you a.... Yeah, yeah sure, I can look." She gets down on her hands and knees and digs through the pile, fortunately wearing synth-leather gloves while she does so. "There's a job over at Matchsticks and they're looking for someone like you. Ask for Steward." She finds the beeper and pulls it out, handing it over to Toombs.

"A RIDE?" She glowers at Toombs for a moment. "I'm not a taxi service! Fine. Fine! Don't know what she sees in you." And with that, she leads the way down to her bike.





The two punks facing Copperhead nod. "Ask for Steward. She's expecting you." With that they rev their engines and roll out.

St. V zips up his fly and heads to the sink.  Without even looking directly at the ganger he says, "Depends on who's askin."  He was trying to act cool, but in fact he was just frustrated.  The faucet on the sink was too close to the drain for him to properly fit his hands under.  #JustTrollProblems.  Finally he gives up and examines his teeth in the mirror instead after wiping away a layer of grime.  He glances at the ganger's reflection in the mirror and tries to place which group he is from.  "Eh, you look like you prolly know your drek.  Whatchya got?"

10:48, Today: St. Velveteen failed (no successes) using 4d6 with the Shadowrun system with a target of 4 with rolls of 1,1,3,1. Street Rumors.  Red and Gold gang

His colors don't seem too familiar. He's certainly outside of his normal turf, and it's gotta be a smaller gang (or it's not from the metroplex). "A job. That's all we're sharing here. Matchsticks in two hours. Ask for Steward. It'll be worth your time."

Anya flicked on the safety and returned the grenade to her pocket.  A job would be good.  Maybe fortune had decided to smile on her for a while.  Time would tell whether the smile was due to a kick-me sign she'd decided to pat squarely onto the rigger's hoop.

She glanced at her wrist.  Still enough time to ditch the wet clothes and shower before making her appearance.

She scoped out the alley carefully before making her way to the vehicle and backed out onto the street.  It was tempting to go to the meet with just a drone, but she didn't really have time to un-mount the weapons and who knew the timelines once the clock started ticking.  She settled for the Doberman in the "trunk" and the Strato-9 on a nearby roof.  If the dreck hit the fan, then at least she'd have some cavalry nearby.

Copperhead will arrive about 20 minutes early and, after surveying the area with the Strato-9, she'll park it somewhere it's not likely to be disturbed - with instructions to take evasive action and alert her if anyone approached.  She'll then get a stool at the bar with as good a view of the room as she can manage and keep an eye on those going to the back rooms.  She'll ask for Steward a couple of minutes prior to the specified time.

Figuring that he needed to scope out the place first, Anders parked his car across the street and started to walk around the block of the bar, checking for entrances and exit to the place.  When he was sure he memorized the outside, he moves into the bar and orders a soda.  He continues to scope out the interior surreptitiously making sure to note all points of entry and exit as well as the patrons inhabiting the area.

With ten minutes to spare, he walks back up to the barkeep and says, Who's the steward around here?

Toombs pats himself down one last time, ensuring that everything your punk-on-the-move needs is in his pockets or attached to the assorted chains and studs somewhere.
"Good. Great, thanks." He follows her out, "If you want, I got a tab running here. You can grab a bottle for the road, or I can cover gas." He fishes another cig from one of the folds in his cap, "Want one?" Even if she takes it, he'll mutter "probably shouldn't, awful stuff these."
Rolling Etiquette to not be a total drekstain; 1,2,1,(6+4)10,3,1; 1 success.

Arriving two hours early (minus travel time), Toombs announces he's here to see Steward, but can wait out here 'til they're ready. He takes a booth, strings his headphones and electric guitar through his wrist comp, and begins playing through a few songs - starting with Barracuda and bridging into the Ramjam edition of Black Betty; all while watching crowds and deciding whether Trixie should be the one running the negotiations.

St. V grunted his acknowledgement before heading for the bathroom door.  He had heard enough.  It was either a setup or a genuine job.  Either way, he had some business to take care of at Matchsticks in two hours.  He needed to get prepared.

---

After saying goodbye to Rose and the guys, St. V went to his house to pick up supplies before heading to his destination.  He had his armored vest and coat on, hiding his silenced pistol in his concealable quickdraw holster.  His shock gloves were also in his coat, just in case.  After watching the place for a few minutes from across the street, St. V goes in at right around the specified time and asks whoever looks to be managing the restaurant, "Your name Steward?"

Matchstick's is in the substreet level of an office building near the Needle. Access is through a door that leads down into a comfortably furnished bar, where a large ork bouncer is keeping an eye on things.

Toombs arrives first. The place has just opened. There's a few regulars and the band is still setting up. It's not an unusual scene for him, but usually the band can expect at least a free sandwich or some bottled water. That's not quite the case when you're just another bar fly. The ganger doesn't seem eager to hang out for drinks, and she scrams as soon as her passenger is dropped off, but at least she seems to be in an okay mood about it.

The bouncer at the door seems a little incredulous that Toombs is asking for Steward quite so early, so Toombs has to make do with the booth and headphones for about an hour before the bar tender waves him over and points at a door in the corner of the lounge.

Noruas and Copperhead both get to scoping out the area. Since Matchstick's is built underneath another building, it's tough to get a lot of good information. The building on top is older; all concrete and mortar with metal fire escapes and wood-frame windows. Over the door there's a marble placard declaring it an insurance company, but signs around indicate it's now some sort of financial firm. There are a few windows that would seem to peer into the basement, but otherwise it's tough to get a sense for the footprint or escape routes from the bar. There are also a few other basement-level shops around; a tattoo parlor and a little coffee and book nook are tucked in around the corner.

Noruas arrives first out of the two. At the bar, he gets a full Aztec Cola and a nod towards a door tucked into the corner of the bar.

When Copperhead arrives, the bouncer will stop her. "She's waiting for you. There's a white door in the back corner."

St. V arrives last (but definitely not least) and is similarly directed by the bouncer.

(For those who go through the door ...)

Past the door is another flight of stairs, then a short corridor. There's a faint but definite buzzing in the air. At the end of the corridor is another white door. Through that is a small 'office'; a table with five seats, but otherwise featureless. Likely an old store room. A woman sits across from the door; tall and athletic, with midnight-black hair cropped short. She's wearing loose-fitting white pants and a shirt the same color of deep blue as her eyes.

Noruas enters the room and takes the chair furthest from the door.  (Unless Toombs takes that seat, I'll take the one next to him.)

The dwarf keeps his shades on and sits down quietly waiting for the meeting to begin.

Focusing through the music, Toombs draws the bar's hearth spirit forth and shares the sounds in his mind with it.
Just making sure I have a handle on conjuring.
Summoning a Force 3 Hearth Spirit. Conjuring 6 vs TN 3; (6+1)7,5,1,4,2,4; 4 successes.
Drain is 3L (half his CHA), resisted with his CHA. 1,3,3,4,5,4; 5 successes, drain is dropped to nothing.
With a poof, a small cartoony beer bottle with Mickey Mouse style hands and feet appears in the seat opposite Toombs. "What can I do for you, boss? ha-HA!"
"If you please, spirit. Wander around this bar and Search out any weapons I should know about. If there is anyone about who's itching for a rumble with me, I'd like to know ahead of time. Come back to me when you're finished, aye? I'll see if we can't scrounge up a sandwich to share."
Spirit should now be down to 3 services.

=-=-=-time skip-=-=-=
Toombs nods as he walks in the meeting room, and will perhaps waggle his eyebrows seductively at St V. If the table is low enough for him to see while standing, he takes position on the corner opposite the J's left. Otherwise he takes a chair, spins it about and uses it as a stepping stool so he can see the entirety of the table.
Toombs takes the initiative, "So. Sounds you've got a problem. Well looks like we got yer shining armor. What's yer gig?"

"Thanks."

Anya nodded and looked at the door but headed to the bar instead.

"Soycaf.  Black."  She checked out the bar's other selections.  Mostly standard fare, but a few higher end products.  And a locked cabinet that probably held the really good stuff - for those celebrating a big score without the good sense to know what to do with their earnings.

Steaming mug in hand, she headed for the door in the corner and then down the hall, trying to get a sense of where she was within the building.  Somewhere right in the middle of the basement.  The cavalry was going to take a while . . .

On opening the second white door, she paused in the doorway, surveying in the occupants.  None of them were familiar, but that wasn't a huge surprise.

She moved into the room, allowing the door to swing closed behind her, but opted ignore the two empty chairs, preferring to stand in one of the corners.  She leaned quietly against the wall, left hand in a pocket, the other clutching her mug.  Her sunglasses and respirator were still in place - the latter looking military issue, though a little the worse for wear.  A black skull-cap, now rather damp, covered most of her head.  However, visible patches of skin around her forehead and cheek still exposed the discolored and misshapen skin of a burn victim to anyone looking at her for more than a second or two.

The rest wasn't much to look at.  A dark nondescript long-coat with the odd bulge, hung almost to her feet, still dripping with the last remnants of Seattle's current weather.  A pair of combat boots left slightly muddy tracks where she walked.  After waiting a few moments for reaction or comment, she unstrapped the respirator, allowing it to hang beneath her chin, exposing significantly more of her face.

Copperhead kept her mouth closed.  The Johnson obviously knew who she was - well enough to send her peons out with her name, a description and a pretty good idea of where she'd be.  Whatever the Johnson said about herself would be lies.  The information from the other runners too, most likely, though perhaps with a few more half-truths mixed in.  No-one worth anything dropped trou in front of a Johnson or a bunch of strangers.  At least at no one who hoped to last long.

She took a long, slow sip of her drink and waited, lazily studying the others in the room as well as the room itself.  There had to be another entrance.  The only point of the long hall was to give whoever was in the office sufficient time to bolt before whoever was coming in got through the second door.

quote:

15:29, Today: Copperhead rolled 1 success using 6d6 with the Shadowrun system with a target of 4. Observe in detail.

St. Velveteen headed toward the white door without making any stops.  He looked around as he walked though, keeping track of who might be keeping an eye on him.  Although he was a troll, so it was probably more suspicious if anyone was making a point to not keep an eye on him.

At any rate, he enters the white door when he reaches it and heads down the stairway to the hall below.  Most would probably think a guy like as big as him might start to feel claustrophobic underground in such tight quarters, but he actually found it a little comforting.  Almost like he was reliving the instincts imparted on trolls from the fifth world or before.

When he opened the door and say the two empty chars and a woman in the corner, he put two and two together and decided he would slide the last two seats together to make himself a double-wide.  Once seated, he took a moment to inspect the others.  Apparently this was going to be a four man operation.  Unless the woman who looked like a Johnson was actually a fifth member.  He raises his eyebrows at the flirting dwarf but otherwise remains silent.  It wasn't odd for metahumans of all kinds to be attracted to his rugged good looks, but most were more subtle about it, and he had learned that confronting people about it usually made them deny anything about it.

St. V folds his hands together on the table and twiddles his thumbs idly while waiting for a response to the flirting dwarf's gig question.

Toombs' little hearth spirit does a little dance from one leg to the other, before holding up both hands and a total of 17 fingers. "Lots fun guns and stuff, boss! Something big behind the bar too. But no one wants to show anything off, it would ruin their dance moves!" The bottle does a little scooching dance across the table. "But I wouldn't worry. Everyone is having a GrEaT time tonight."


Once everyone is settled in the room, the fixer begins.

"It seems one person has refused the invitation. No matter, four is enough.

"My name is Eve Donovan. Each of you has been selected for his or her particular skills, and favorable loyalties. I need you for a data steal; a single file, currently held in the data banks of one of our local megacorps, Mitsuhama, or specifically their subsidiary, Cavilard Research Center. They do pure research and development, focused on compu-optic systems and biotechnology. I do not expect significant physical security, or really, much difficulty for you whatsoever.

"However, the matrix security is more substantial. The file you are looking for, codenamed Silver Angel, is stored on their air-gapped server in the Executive System, accessible only from the facility's server room. This of course will require the skills of our decker, Mr. Noruas.

"There are two additional requirements you should be aware of.

"Firstly, the run must go down at precisely 2:00am three days from now.

"Secondly, while I will not accompany you on the run, I must be present at any meetings with external actors as part of your prep work.

"There are no exceptions to either of these conditions.

"The pay for the job is 40,000¥ each upon acceptance, 30,000¥ upon completion. Another 15,000¥ to be paid for maintaining absolute secrecy. The target should not know the file was ever accessed."

As people are discussing, Eve puts a tablet in the center of the table. Clearly displayed is a map of the facility.

Note the updated Game Map.
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:08, Mon 02 Mar 2015.

Noruas whispers loudly, Why do you need to be present at any meeting involved?  Isn't the point of having us the very idea of deniability?  And why must the hypothetical deed be done at that specific time?

Um...can someone please direct me to the Game Map, please?  Is it the old Google Map account?  Oh, and can someone please explain to me what air-gapped means?  Is it an internal system with no connections to the outside making it impossible to hack from the outside?
This message was last edited by the player at 16:01, Mon 02 Mar 2015.

Copperhead's eyebrows rose a bit at the notion of "favorable loyalties".  At this point she had loyalties to very few, and the Johnson certainly wasn't one of them.  The notion that Ms. Steward or whoever the frag she was would be meeting with any of Any's contacts was laughable.  Though the request itself was a bit of a concern.  The only reason the rigger could think of for a Johnson wanting to meet their contacts was to clean up loose ends, and Anya was going to be a lot looser than any of her contacts.

While the obvious questions were being asked, she walked over to the table where her chair had once been.  Putting down her cup and picking up the tablet, she scrolled through the maps.  As per usual, the Johnson was under-selling the risk.  A 16-square-meter armory plus another 32 square meters devoted to security offices sure smelled like "significant" physical security to her.  And it was naturally in the most secured part of the facility.

There were a few possible angles, but this map wasn't going to be sufficient to tell how feasible they'd be.  She placed the tablet back on the table, retrieved her cup and returned to the corner.

Exactly.  Air gap = no electrical/optical connections to external networks/matrix.  So we need to get you physically into the server room before you can deck.  Or at least before you can deck that particular piece.  It also means that while you're digging for the file, we'll have no matrix overwatch on the rest of the facility and we'll have to be watching your hoop while you're at it.

"I want to be involved because this is my mission as well, and I want to ensure that we do everything feasible to ensure it succeeds. My skillset is dealing with people, so unless one of you is more skilled than I am, it is prudent that I come along as well. I know Shadowrunners are usually independent-minded to the point of self-destruction, which is why I am including it as a stipulation, not an option."

She considers her second answer, clearly weighing her trust in you all before continuing. "There is a second run planned for another facility at the same time. If one run comes before the second, they'll likely increase security at all corporate locations, making the work more difficulty."

Copperhead smirks.  "So when I rent a coffin ta frag a couple of go-boys ta convince'em to give us a nice distraction, you wanna make sure y' get in on the action?"  She removes her shades and eyes the woman slowly up and down before slipping them back on.  "I'm sure yer skills are gonna be real appreciated."

Eva scowls. "I think you overestimate your bargaining power there.

"But yes, if you're meeting in person to bargain with a subcontractor, I want to be present."

Riiiiight...people skills...like that's going to fly with me.  Noruas smirked at the Johnson's response.  It was highly likely she wasn't going to be paying the extra 45 large.  And he wasn't going to have any of that.  The dwarf furtively pulls out his cellphone and beings recording the Johnson's answers as well as her face.  He's going to need some answers before he throws himself into this mess.

So how do I roll stealth in this situation?  I would like to get down the Johnson's features and voice.

"Great. You can fade back into the woodwork for now, but keep an ear on me - I might need your help if this meet and greet goes poor." (putting the spirit in reserve and back in its plane).

=-=-=-=-=-=-time skip-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

"Just for clearing purposes, you need us to start the op at 0200 and be out when it's out? or do you need us to be out by 0200?
And By 'present for prep' do you mean hiring extras for the gig, or do you also mean when we call for intel and gear too? Because I'm afraid you're grabbing a little far if you think we're just gonna show you all of our secrets out of hand."
If she stipulates gear & intel in addition to extra hands, Booster will respond "How about I meet ya halfway. You don't get ta know all our contact network. That's not how we do biz. But if you wanna be there for negotiation, we can get comms over burner phones and secure Matrix drop sites. You don't meet our men, but you're there for the greet. That scratch the itch?

He leans against the table and takes careful measure of her responses. You can't trust your J, but they can usually be confidenced enough not to scrag their own run.
"Now way I figure it, you lay out a couple of tricky stipulations. Pay seems fair, but with your extra requirements we should get expenses covered. That's how it sounds - beans, bullets, bandages. I danno about the others, but I got some gear I need 'fore this run can go down successful, and I think we can both agree that's important, ja?"
Negotiation, 5,5,3. If he's right on his position, then that could be 3 successes, especially since he's not asking for more money. Pity I can't use Etiquette.
This message was last edited by the player at 13:10, Wed 04 Mar 2015.

"Covering some business expenses sounds good to me too," St. V adds.  "In fact, If you really think you need to be there for every bump along the road, then maybe you should be in charge of paying the tab at every meet-and-greet.  Especially if you're so sure you can get a good deal for us."  Saint Velveteen also suspected she may be trying to collect information on their contact networks.  Possibly to add to her own.  After all, St. V himself had somehow been inexplicably added to her contact network. Sure, the fixer probably had her own agenda separate from their own, but he had known her for exactly the same amount of time as he had known his fellow runners, so he was at least willing to entertain the possibility that she actually wanted to help them succeed on some level.  If she was willing to pay them to complete the mission, then, well, she could pay to complete the mission.

"I could prolly handle any negotiations on my own anyhow, but that kinda work is boring.  Tedious.  Not usually my style.  So if I can tell you what I want from a contact and you can manage to get it, then as far as I'm concerned you are yet another asset for us to utilize.  To get the job done."

Anya grins back, though there's little humor in it.

"Maybe you'n me get t'gether and I'll demonstrate"

At an appropriate interval, she interjects her own questions.
"What's "abslute secrecy" mean?  They dunno we was there, or we slag the server and mebe most o' the basement so they dunno if we took dreck, let alone what?  Or mebe somethin in between?

Also, you got any intel 'sides this drecky map?  Like ductwork, elecricals, s'curity charts, org charts?  Somethin we can use t' plan?"

@Toombs: She actually did offer us some up front - $40k a piece.  Which, scares the dreck out of me, actually.  She's paying more up front than for completion.

OOC: Guh, this is what I get for trying to read all bleary eyed. I can edit for accuracy, or we can just agree that Toombs is now limited to asking for "expenses covered".

"Your entry should be at 0200, and you exit when you're done. I don't expect you to be more than twenty minutes for this whole operation.

"And by 'present for prep', I mean interviewing people, interrogations, and so on. If you need to talk to your fixer for more rounds for your guns, you're welcome to do that in private if you want. My focus is only on the points where this directly intersects with my employer's interests.

"Fine, we'll cover additional expenses, up to 10,000¥. I don't expect to be purchasing a new vehicle for anyone, but I understand your 'beans and band-aids' can be a considerable offset." If Eve is upset by the party's balking, she doesn't show it.

She does not, however, react so well to Copperhead's offer. Her face visibly blanches. "No. Thank you."

"By 'secrecy', I mean no one is aware you were there.

"I don't have any more details on the map than what I've provided, except to say they take their bio-containment features very seriously. There is a significant concern of bacterial infections of their biotech work. You can expect any ventilation systems to be closed off and difficult to use for your purposes. This facility has been custom-built for their work."




Noruas: Stealthy recording is just a Stealth roll. This is an open test, so your highest roll (plus modifiers) is her TN to see it.

"Your loss . . ."


"So we gets our ¥15k if there's nothin in the papers and the s'curity chief don't get called on the carpet 'next day, but s'ok if a janitor takes an un'spected snooze they decide's better to not chat 'bout?  Cuz genrally 'terogations an 'secret' don go t'gether, 'less you wan' a wet op, an that costs more.  An innerviews gotta be real su'tle.  Havin' a corp to the party ain't much su'tle."

"Whatabout d'livry?  How soon y'wan it after?"

"Precisely. As long as they don't document a security incident about a break-in or data manipulation, that is considered 'secret'.

"The file should be delivered immediately upon your return, and I expect I will receive the only copy. We can make the exchange using a location and method of your choosing."

"Excellent, glad of the accord. Do you have any other information you would care to share with the class?"

"In my homeland, there's a phrase 'no bad weather, just unprepared people'. I'm more of a boom-and-gloom mage myself, so... well let us say I will aim for a clandestine operation, but be prepared if the storm breaks."
His smile is stained from years of tobacco use. The unnerving aspect is that the stains are not uniform - many of the teeth seem mismatched, or even split in different colors on the same protrusion. This is the smile of a man who has had teeth broken and replaced, regularly.
This message was last edited by the player at 15:17, Thu 05 Mar 2015.

How big is the file?  And which room is it in according to the plans you just showed us? whispered Noruas again.

"I understand the file to be approximately 250Mp, but that's just an estimate. It's in the server room. I believe that's marked as '18' in the basement level.

"We do have a little more. I imagine you're interested in security. They do have 24/7 night watchmen. I'm not sure the company. There are cameras in the facility. A lot of the internal doors have keypads, for controlled access.

"The facility itself is built into a hill in a wooded area that used to be a park. They purchased the entire area from the city, and it gives them a good field of view of the surrounding area. It will be difficult to reach the front door unseen.

"You're also going to want to be careful about your inquiries. Mitsuhama has people watching for signs of a possible mission. Tip your hand to early and you can expect a full security team waiting for you."

Jus' keypads or're we lookin at keyfobs an' bi-metrics an drek too?  The cameras an' doors airgapped too, or can we deck those from outside?"

"You gotta comm for if we needja?"

Copperhead drained the remains of her mug and set it on the table.  It was already tasting stale, but she was going to need the caffeine.

"I'm not aware of any biometrics or key fobs. Employees do wear badges for security guards to check.

"I don't believe the facility's matrix is air-gapped, but you will need to confirm that on your own.

"I can provide communications equipment if you need it. Something discreet and encrypted."

Saint Velveteen listened carefully to the other runners' questions for a while.  He was still rather new to running the shadows, so it was interesting to observe others in action who were, presumably, more experienced than himself.  They were good at asking questions that he hadn't even thought to ask about.  Although he supposed their specialties related to whatever they were asking.

Which brought up the question of St. V's own specialty within the group.  It sounded like they were supposed to get in and out unnoticed.  So why hire a big beautiful troll good at causing a ruckus?  That conundrum bothered him for an entire moment and a half before he figured it out.  He probably wasn't hired so much to help get everyone in unnoticed, but probably more so to help strong-arm their way back out if the drek hit the fan.  And if that didn't happen, well, then he would be getting paid a lot regardless.  A half smile crossed his face at the thought of that.

"Discrete and encrypted is good," St. V said, referring to the communications equipment.  He would decide later if he could trust it.  "What about the loading dock?  What sorts of credentials do you need to have to drop stuff off and pick things up?"  He was looking at the map and thought it might be a viable point of entry.

"I don't know on that one. They don't take a lot of deliveries, especially at 2am, but you'll need to research that on your own."

"Sorta meant what's your comm number, but yeah, gear'd be good."

She could always try to sell some of it.

"If t'other team frags up, what heaviness are the japs likely to throw our way?"

"In the short term? It depends on how quickly they put two and two together. Likely a security alert almost immediately, additional security personnel. Mitsuhama has heavy response teams if they decide to use them. The good news is, just like we're locked out of decking into the system directly, so are they. But it won't take them too long after to realize what the goal is and to pull Silver Angel off of the system."

The dwarf listened to the questions and answers intently as he pulled the tablet towards him.  He left his seat and took to a corner of the room with the tablet and begins examining it and its contents.  Noruas smiled to himself as he introduced a memory stick into the little tablet and begins downloading the plans.  At the same time he begins hacking the tablet to make sure there were no viruses in the content he downloaded.So how do I roll for this with my computer skills?  Is there an open test?  Or is Papa Bear going to roll for me?

In this case, you'd roll your Computer skill. If you're plugging it into your deck to leverage your programs, any appropriate antivirus software would reduce that TN. But the actual TN is a secret, so you'd roll, post the full roll, and I'd tell you the results. Your success is based on how many dice you get above the (secret) TN.

Without missing a beat, Noruas plugs his deck into the tablet and begins.

17:12, Today: Noruas rolled 2 successes using 6d6 with the Shadowrun system with a target of 4 with rolls of 4,3,1,(6+1)7,2,3. Hacking tablet for security risks.

Well that sucks, the first time I rolled, I got 4 successes, but since it didn't show my rolls its not considered official, right?

Your scan doesn't find any viruses or malicious software.

In general I trust players to be fair, but yes, you want to show the rolls, and in this specific case I can't compare without seeing the numbers.

Feeling paranoid, Noruas scans the tablet again.

03:26, Today: Noruas rolled 4 successes using 6d6 with the Shadowrun system with a target of 4 with rolls of (6+4)10,3,1,4,5,4. Paranoid search of viruses or malicious software on tablet.

After he is sure there isn't any tracking software either, he downloads the schematics...as well as everything he can copy from the tablet.  Better to be safe than sorry.

As an FYI, if you fail on a first test and try again, normally the TN increases by a step.

Noruas doesn't find any viruses or malicious software on his second scan.

Thanks for the warning.  So, do I need to roll for download too?

Toombs is going to sit and listen.
This might be a good time to open up the planning, plotting, and scheming thread so we can get to that and fall back on this thread if we have questions we need answered IC. That format has worked for us before.

No, you can download/share/post without any rolls.

"Well unless you have something else to share, then I say I'm in. If one of you all has another acceptable site to pick each other's brains, I'd like to head there now."

St.V, if you want to track down that rabbit hole for us, that would be great.

Noruas shrugs as he hands back the tablet.

I guess I'm in, whispered the dwarf.

"I'll letcha know when the boyz is ready for negotiatin"

"The job's as good as done," St. V says to the fixer as his way of agreeing to take the job.  He stands up, shares necessary contact information, then heads back out into the hall when the others do.  Once they are leaving he says, "I'll see if I can scrounge up a place for us to work from.  I'll let you know soon as I got somthin."

In a secluded corner of the bar, St. V dials up his buddy Rose, whom he had been playing drinking games with earlier that day just before this job landed in his lap.  "Yo, Rose.  Ya know that surprise gig I got just before I left?  The one I didn't know any details about?  You know any good places where me and my new band members could work on our music?  Someplace our noise won't disturb the neighbors."

"I'm glad to hear it." She pulls out four certified credsticks, taps each one in turn to her own stick, and hands them out. The display reads 40,000¥.

"I'm sure you need some time to yourself. My LTG number is 314-077-1040-6677. I trust you will contact me if you have any issues or during your meetings, as we discussed."

Rose answers St. V's call. "A quiet place? Sure. I know the perfect place. Great acoustics too. Hit 95th and 151th over in Kirkland. Head southeast about a hundred feet, then through the hole. That whole place is safe. I'm there all the time. Quiet, out of the way, all the space you could need, plus it even has doors."
This message was last updated by the GM at 20:52, Mon 09 Mar 2015.

Before he goes, Toombs is going to pop astral perception and memorize (or familiarize himself with) her aura.

"If anyone wants to do a little physical recon of the site, I could use a place to stash the meat while my mind takes a wander."
This message was last edited by the player at 17:19, Mon 09 Mar 2015.

I'll go with ya for the recon, whispered Noruas, But I'll also need everybody elses contact info before we go.

Anya takes the credstick and drops it into her left pocket.

"Let us know when the comms're ready."

She follows the others out of the room down the hallway toward the bar, listening to the others and doing her best to appraise them.

She debated internally a bit on hearing the dwarf's proposal request Inviting near-strangers into her second-home wasn't something she normally did spur-of-the-moment.  On the other hand, she was likely to be placing her life in the hands of these men in less than 72 hours.  Getting to know them sooner rather than later might be advantageous.  Besides, coordinating the astral and physical views might be useful.

"Yeah, yer meat'll be safe in my rig."

She nods at the less noisy dwarf.  "You can come along for the ride too.  Second set'o eyes can't hurt."

She gives the troll an appraising look.  "You'll fit too, but it probly won be comfy.  If ya got wheels, mebe ya come pick these two up after they gets bored?"

She passes Noruas and the others a card with the LTG of her current burner phone.  If an opportunity presents, she also offers a small query to decker, "Somethin' frag you speech or you jus' quiet?"  There's a tinge of sympathy in her voice.

While the others continue small chat and passing around contact info, she signals the bartender and orders a triple-jolt soycaff.  It was going to be a long night.  And a long day following as well . . .
This message was lightly edited by the GM at 14:28, Tue 10 Mar 2015.

The dwarf just smiles and shrugs in response to Copperhead's question and hands her his LTG for his burner phone.

So who's ride are we taking?  Or are we going separately? whispered the dwarf again.

What does LTG stand for?  Is there a way for me to deck wirelessly?  Or do I need some point to jack in?

LTG is Local Telecom Grid. It's like a combination phone/IP address.

While we may change locations, I plan to keep this in the one thread until the next 'event'.

For the purposes of wrapping up your negotiations you get 1 karma each. I don't plan on awarding karma for research since you all don't need the encouragement :P

You can do basic research via wireless (once you're out of this area, no connection down here. The bar is fine.) But you'll want to plug in before you go in full VR.

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.

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."

"Oh yah, boss lady, I can do all dem spirit types 'cept elementals, but I gots a special way with the sky ones. It's godam magic touch." He rubs his ribs "'sides, anywhere dat Sky meets groun' is somewhere one o them critters can show up. I tol the little spook t' cover all yer drones, so should be good if you want a little scuttlebug out."

Now that he is properly concealed in the spirit's haze, Toombs slips out of his body again and does a closer sweep of the grounds. He's not going into the building, since the Concealment would wear off, but he will check out the guard shacks and such, and make sure he didn't miss anything. After the quick jaunt (I'm guessing 10-15 min max), he'll hop back into his body and let Copperhead get on with her planning.

"'saright, I gots time 'fore my nightly gig. I'll stick to the next part if'n ya can abide the compny. Just lemme take a nap on tha drive home, see if I can' get a little less winded."
This message was last edited by the player at 13:09, Fri 27 Mar 2015.

I'm going to rule no on ground-penetrating (or wall-penetrating) sensors (except when it's something really big, like detecting an active radar).

There are a few more cameras around the facility, but not a lot. They have lots of blind spots. You should be able to approach without much issue. Just a normal stealth roll for the general 'who knows?' factor.

The security does seem lower than would be appropriate.

Toombs doesn't turn up much else. At this hour, a guard actually sits in the guard shack to wave people in. There's no sign of tiger kennels, patrolling spirits, or wards.

At 2.30PM Noruas calls Copperhead to let her know he's coming to the site they are at.

Have you guys found any points of entry I can use yet?

Noruas half an hour later.

Damn, that means they must have *secret* tiger kennels.
Well, I'm done. We can move on to the scene where we interrogate some guy.

"Alright, will do," St. V says to Copperhead.  "I'll text you the address."

@Copperhead: The dwarves might be more agreeable stat-wise, but Copperhead's mannerisms are a lot more similar to St. V's, and therefore more within his comfort zone, so he's not very put off by the way she acts.  (V also has rock-bottom charisma, despite what he may claim).  To St. V, Toombs is sort of alien, and Noruas is very high tech.  Copperhead is also high tech, but she has cool toys that look cool, like the tank.  Noruas has cool toys that make V scratch his head.

6:00pm

A quick poke to keep moving! I'm back, so I'll be trying to get back on the Tu/Th posting schedule.

If you want to jump ahead, tell me.

I　would like to jump ahead to whatever moment that has me hooking up to the perimeter's security camera after having discovered its location from Copperhead who somehow informed me somewhere between the time I called her and arrived at where she was.

On another note, are we still playing this game or are we putting all this on hiatus...again?

Toombs is ready to talk to the guy St V pointed out.

Because decking will take forever and a half, I would also appreciate it if any dataline taps were installed early. That way Noruas can get to work while everyone else is doing all the other footwork, and there's no delay for anyone.

Copperhead, you discussed doing that. Is that still the plan?

Sorry.  Work deadline had me heads down for a few days.

I'm thinking we do St. V's guy, then we do the decking (and perhaps some closer rigging work and/or magical penetration?)  Even if we do a radio connection so Noruas' meat doesn't have to be too close, we still want to have someone watch over him.  And seeing as St. V got a warning (which I presume he'll pass on).  That said, agree that it might make sense for the decking thread to get going, so if we want to split the timeline with me rolling to do the installation now even though it'll technically happen later, I'm fine with that.  It raises the possibility of needing to recon if I get geeked at St. V's meet, so probably makes sense to let BB decide whether doing things that way is ok or not.

Yup, St. V informs them of the warning as soon as he gets it, then gathers up his gear in preparation for the meet.  Did Copperhead find any info about the meeting site with her drones?

Copperhead drives back to the "pipe", sending her drone off to replenish its fading batteries.  She either drops off the dwarf there or takes him and St. V wherever they wish before returning to her own place and crashing.  It was likely to be a long night.  She awoke, showered and prepped the next morning, checking out what maps she could find of the warehouse before heading there a few hours early to conduct aerial surveillance.  If necessary, she'll pick up anyone who needs a ride - presuming they're willing to sit and twiddle their thumbs for a few hours.

Let me know what rolls you want.  Feel free to deck the warehouse

As they get to the appointed time to pick up their J, the rigger drives to wherever St. V had told her to be.

What warehouse are you referring to?  And why should I deck it?  I thought I was supposed to be going in to deck some camera you found on the perimeter?

You can absolutely split time for the purpose of getting your decker started. I really don't want a month-long pizza break. No roll required for taxi service. I'll open up the new thread for the meeting at the warehouse today.

Noruas--St. V established a contact at a warehouse with the previous security manager for the site. Copperhead wants to know if you'll be hacking the warehouse as well.

I guess I'll be decking the warehouse....first?  I'm confused, do I deck the camera on the perimeter first since I got there first?  Or am I supposed to put that off till after the warehouse?  Copperhead never responded to my character and just went back to the pipe when I said I was going to where she was BEFORE 6PM.

The warehouse will be very quick. I'd prefer not to do both of those simultaneously, but we can kick off the warehouse now, on the assumption that you'll find a place to jack in on the exterior without much issue. I'll post in your Decking thread.

Sorry Noruas, missed responding to your post.  Copperhead won't do the tap until it's dark.  And given the warehouse meeting is at midnight and she wants to keep the warehouse under surveillance for a while ahead of time, doing the tap after the warehouse makes more sense.

If you go to the site on your own earlier, I guess you can, but you're not going to know where the cameras are (because Copperhead hasn't shared that with you yet) and will have to do the stealth yourself.  You'll also have no-one to watch your meat.  Plus, there's more likely to be another decker in there during the daytime.  (And Copperhead would be royally pissed at you for going it alone, but not sure if you care about that.)

When her comm rings, copperhead swears briefly from under her pillow.  She'd set a do not disturb, so it was either from the team or her fixer.  Better be important . . .

"Ya?"

"Na yet.  Savit for t'nite.  After dark.  Ya need a ride t' the warehouse?"

Sure, pick me up by the 'Pipe'.

As I said elsewhere, I'm voting that we alert Eve of this development. She set is as a requirement, and I've no mind to scrag the pooch now.

"If'n we're na' gettin yer little tech doohickey workin now, we'll need ta stop off a' me place 'fore I can summon another one a' them critters agin. Ain't easy ta summon th' big'uns in me knickers." He stretches before popping his head out the truck's door "O grea' spirit, once tha boss lady packs in her kip ye're free ta go wi' my compliments."

"I gots nowhere tae be until later t'night anywae. Migh' as well save meself on th' cab fare. Just lemme nick a few brews t' pass th' time."

Copperhead will drop Toombs off at a local bar, but she won't bring him back to her "home".  Not yet . . . 

Toombs just wants to pick up a 6-pack so he can drink off the stun damage. I keep mentioning his Lifestyle because he's got a Power Site running through it, which would make summoning the spirit easier.

But any spirit he summons at the power site is going to be limited to a range of space around the power site - to that particular spirit's "domain".  A sky spirit's domain isn't the whole sky around the world - it's the sky around a particular space.  The size of the area depends on the spirit's power.  Specifically:

Rules#21:

All spirit powers can only affect characters within a spirit's domain.  The area in which a power can have an effect is limited to force * 10000 square meters, with the "center" and "shape" of the area being determined by the GM for spirits.  E.g. If you summon a water spirit at the edge of a lake, the boundary of their domain is likely to be the edge of the lake, or perhaps the edge of the beach.  A spirit can invoke their power on a larger area, but suffers a +2 penalty on their success tests or a -2 on their effectiveness for each doubling of effected area.  E.g. A force 6 city spirit could search 480000 square meters (2x2x2x60000), but would suffer a +6 penalty.  At the GM's option, a spirit *might* be convinced to accompany characters who are mobile and extend a power such as concealment or guard without penalty beyond their standard range, provided the characters remain within the spirit's domain.

If the spirit's going to help you with something local, the power site will help.  Otherwise you won't be able to get much benefit from it.  And the only real local benefits are Conceal and Guard to protect your space.

In any case, Copperhead will drop Toombs off wherever he wishes.

Well this is what I get for not playing a mage before. That does cut the usefulness of the Power Site edge down a little bit. Though your excerpt still states that if I summon a City or Hearth spirit (according to whichever an office building is), I *could* still have the Concealment coverage that I'm asking for if BB approves of it.

Moved post
This message was last edited by the player at 14:22, Sun 05 Apr 2015.

Copperhead, was that post supposed to be in the Haruhiko Blake thread? I'd prefer to keep things separate, if possible.