Zero Signal

[Rook]

It was a few days ago that you received the message. You all received it under dinner plates, in your mail, or even in your hideout: A single piece of electronic paper with a chip and a receiver on it.

If you're getting this letter, it means you owe me a favor, or I owe you a job. Either way, you're a beginner, so I have to bring you up to speed.

You want to be a runner. Admirable line of work for those with an admirable lack of self-preservation. To be a runner, you need to get jobs. That's where I come in. My name is Snow, and I'm a fixer. A fixer fixes to fix miscreants with problems that need fixing. You do enough work for me, get on my good side, you might get to see me work as your mission control in the future.

In any case, I'm calling you in. This first job's easy, just something to get your feet wet. The gist of it is that some broad thinks her husband is cheating on her, and wants you to figure out if that's true. How you figure it out is up to you, just so long as he doesn't figure out what's going on. Her husband's some low-level guy at a AA-class corp. You can get on and off the territory easy, but don't do anything explosive. If you've gone brain dead and forgot, corps have extraterritoriality. Means they can do whatever they want on their own soil, up to and exceeding wasting your ass.

You'll meet your team in two days at sundown at the address provided on the attached datachip, you'll get your briefing then. Don't be late. I found you once, I can find you again.

-Snow

The name rings a bell. You got the name of this fixer through your various means, stated your case, but Snow simply said there were no jobs for you.

When you try to look at the paper again, the text is gone. You take a look at the datachip attached, and it turns out to be encoded. You figure it to be a test. It takes you some trouble, but in the next two days, you get it decoded, find the address and make it there at sundown, as requested.

You're not alone. There are others in the warehouse you've entered. A palpable uneasiness falls over the area, and no one speaks. Is one of these people Snow? Are we working together? No answers come as you wait for something, anything to happen.

"Well since nobody feels like breaking the ice..." The voice echos throughout the warehouse, and over in the corner a monitor lights up. You're not sure how you missed the desk coming in, but you all move towards it. On the screen there's a window that houses the face of a generic-looking icon. Its voice is deep and irritated. "Allow me to introduce us all. I'm Snow, and these are your new best friends."

So that's one mystery solved, you're supposed to be working together.

The windows on the monitor shift around, showing a picture of a human. Overall, he has the kind of face one would find forgettable. Underneath that is some physical description, his height, weight, his place of business, even his SIN.

"This is the guy. Name's Gordon Lancaster." Another set of windows pulls up, this time it's a woman. "And this is his wife, Karen. Plug in your commlinks and sync up with this information."

After the information has been downloaded, the files move off screen and the icon comes front and center again. "This is a test of your basic skills. You do well, I'll have more work for you. You screw up, you won't hear from me again. Though I can't really see how you could do that."

It's obvious from her tone that she doesn't think very highly of you.

"Oh... and since this woman offered such generous compensation for success, I guaranteed her that the job would be done in three days. Don't ask how you find out if someone's cheating on their spouse in three days, I don't know. But hey, you do it and you won't go hungry for at least a week." Sarcasm seems to be Snow's default form of communication, so far as you can tell. "Well, that's all I need to be here for. Get to know each other, get some rest, get ready. I'll call back in three days. Ciao!"

The computer on the desk turns off, and the lack of sunlight now makes the warehouse pitch black, save for the two or three lights in the middle. The night is young, and the mission starts tomorrow morning.

::

OOC

Alright, ladies and gentlemen! Here's a quick legend of the characters and their players!

Dresdon as Oceana
A tough as nails Troll who made a modest living as a bouncer. Incredibly strong and terrifying. Specializes in kicking teeth in, making people soil themselves and occasionally confusing English speakers.

PaperLapin as Cibo
A cynical magician with a knack for healing and defensive spells. She's deeply in tune with the astral plane, able to sense life and feelings with relative ease.

spiderbyte as Serix
An individualistic technomancer gifted in the arts of hacking and tracking down data. Though well-equipped for the Matrix, her ability to work on-the-fly is impressive by any standards.

Michey as Marilyn
Charismatic and deadly, Marilyn uses her beauty and silver tongue to get what she wants. When that doesn't work, her skill with a gun is second to none. Augmented by her powers as an Adept, she is a dangerous marksman.

[Dresdon]

Well, here he was in this warehouse. It was a miracle he even managed to make it this far, what with the encoded data chip. Thank Dragons that he'd managed to find an A.I. with a humanistic personality, had he not intimidated the computer he wouldn't have been able to get the address to this place. But he HAD made it, and that was all that mattered.

It was time for some big bank. Sure Oceana had his job as a bouncer, and it paid well enough, but he needed to see some big numbers for once in his life. Shadowrunnin was one of those fantasy type things for him. Running was one of those things that he could do, and do well at that. Ever since he'd been a fetus there had been three things that he was good at, being strong, being tough, and being scary. Rumor among his family was that he'd come out of his mother with his placenta in a headlock and had it crying for mercy.

He snorted and looked around the dim room after Snowball left. Since no one else seemed to be talking, he took that as his invitation. "The name's Oceana. You lot can call me Oceana. From the looks of us all, I'll be the muscle in this job." He temporarily lowered his voice "Provided muscles needed..." Then raised his voice back up. "I'm also good at scarin' goons and cowads. Tough as nails too, I'd reckon I could take a clip of bullets without feelin a thing!" Oceana stretched his arms upwards, knocking his hands on the ceiling before he had even fully extended them. "You heard the tusksucker, we're new best buds. Introduce yourself."

[PaperLapin]

There was an awkward pause. She crossed her arms.

"I'm Cibo. Magician and healer." No reason to say anything else; best to get it out of the way as soon as possible. She was careful to keep her face blank as she examined the others one by one. The troll would be difficult - probably not the type to keep a low profile. The others she was less sure about.

It was a strange feeling. Here were people she had never met, and she would be expected to look out for their lives. Not so different from the hospital in that sense, but here, she had hoped to escape that responsibility. I wonder if one of us will die? she thought. It's possible. Might even be me.

Suddenly Cibo found herself thinking of one of her patients, a girl she'd had in last year for two broken legs. You're such a cynic, she had said.

Attempting to hide her sudden amusement, she stared at her shoes and listened as the next person began to speak.

[spiderbyte]

New best friends. Right.

Serix eyed her teammates with distaste. None of them looked like the type she'd especially like to work with - with the possible exception of the healer. The troll in particular reeked of arrogance. Typical. Combined with the icon's grating disrespect, she already felt like tearing her hair out. Not that she'd expected much better....

She resented taking orders from anyone, a troll least of all, but her turn had come before she could think of a safe way to argue. "Serix Jin-Ilem, technomancer."

[Michey]

"Hmm, so it's my turn now, I guess~?" Marilyn uncrossed her legs and slid herself off the pile of boxes she was seated on and smiled at the group. Judging from the expressions of the two girls who went ahead of her, they weren't really planning to take what Snow said about them being 'best friends' seriously. Then again, of course, neither was she- it was easy enough to fake stuff like that, though, acting was one of the things she was best at.

"I'm Marilyn. ♥ As you can probably tell from these," she patted the guns tucked into the holsters hanging around her hips, "I'm a gunslinger. And I'm pretty fraggin' good with them, if I do say so myself. I'm also pretty sociable and good with people, if you know what I mean?" She winked. "Like, getting information and talking people into things, y'know, so hopefully I'll be good help. But aaanyways, that's enough about me! We're here to introduce ourselves and talk strategy today, right? We've got the first part done, so what's the plan?"

[Dresdon]

Well wasn't this lot of people just charming? Personally he'd been hopin for a couple of ork strippers and a sassy dwarvish sidekick, though these women would make do. An astral crack head, a techie crack head, and a foxy gun lady. 'Least it was a well balanced team, covered all the bases and whatnot.

"Aight, so if I understand'd dah man right, we gotta figure out whether or not some guys cheatin without lettin him know was' goin on. So I already got a plan brewin in my noggin. I say that instead of finding out whether or not he IS cheating, we skip all the trouble and MAKE him cheat. Marlyn over there can get him to a bar, get a few drinks in him, then use her...ASSets to persuade him into bein a bit dirty with her. We get some pictures, boom, we're out of there and running for our paycheck."

If you asked him, he thought it was a flawless plan. A little disappointin that he didnt get to smash any heads in, but as long as he could see that blondie gunslinger get a little bit dirty, he didnt think that he would mind too much. The other two didnt matter so much in this job he decided. What use would a healer and a techno-troll be if they wanted proof of someone cheatin?

[PaperLapin]

...Make him cheat... It was possible, but not something she'd like to do. Cibo hated the thought of interfering in an innocent person's life, but then again, if the wife was this paranoid, it was unlikely that her marriage was all that happy.

She considered Marilyn. A pretty face and silver tongue. Not a bad choice. Still, she found herself running through a list of worst possible scenarios: the target might take poorly to being bothered, the girl might say the wrong thing, or perhaps worst of all, someone would do something foolish and the target would end up dead. That's why I'm here, she reflected. Out of habit she recited the names of spells to herself: heal, armor, stabilize, detox, influence...

Influence. That might be useful. It was a way of implanting a thought into another person's head, a spell she rarely cast out of principle. She made a mental note to use it if the time arose, but decided not to mention it to the others. Some things were better kept secret.

[spiderbyte]

Make him cheat. The team had been together a total of, what, twenty minutes? - and already their wonderful morals were beginning to show. (Along with the troll's apparent enjoyment of crude innuendo - although she couldn't resist cracking a dry smile at "ASSets.")

Of course, there was the question of ethics involved.... Before her ambitions had drifted in the direction of shadowrunning, she might have had a problem with purposely ripping apart someone's marriage.... Now, on the other hand, she could even justify it. The wife's probably just a needy brat or something.

"Alright." She folded her arms. "But if we intend to fabricate evidence, we'd better make darn sure there's no way around it."

[Michey]

"Assets, huh..?" Marilyn tapped a finger against her lips thoughtfully before flashing a cheeky grin. "Mm, I can do that! No proble-- ah, but wait.." The grin stayed frozen to her face, but it was a bit forced, now- she was nervous. "What if this paranoid wife turns out to be the vengeful type, y'know? And she comes after me to take care of me for ripping apart her marriage...?"

It figured that she was more worried about her own ass than the morality of faking an affair with a married man. She was getting paid to not care about morals, though.

"Ehh, I guess so long as I've got a bit of a disguise it should be alright, actually.." she reassured herself. "A bit of well applied makeup can do wonders, after all. I'm all for it, then! It sounds like it'll probably go well enough~"

[Rook]

Much to all your disappointment, yesterday was a holiday for the corp Gordon worked at. To be safe, you shadowed him and found him on a picnic with his wife and kid.

You have two days left.

This morning, it seems to be business as usual. The file on him suggests that he's middle-management, which corresponds with his suit and briefcase. He walks toward a building, where at the entrance his ID card is scanned by two guards before he quickly disappears behind the walls of the skyscraper. Before he enters, Serix attempts to access Gordon's commlink, but it appears to be running in hidden mode.

Marilyn and Cibo wait across the street for his departure, while Oceana and Serix are a block away, keeping out of sight in a corner store while Serix observes the building entrance. Closer to noon, a small crowd of people exit for lunch, still likely connected to their work terminals. Oceana watches as Serix's look changes to intense concentration as she attempts to hijack a wireless signal.

Reaching forward through the Matrix, Serix's persona grabs hold of a distinct looking node. It seems well-protected from the outside, suggesting it might belong to someone with a little more money, probably a higher-up.

Threading a sniffer program takes some work, but she creates a decent one that she then works against the node's wireless signal. It took a second try, but she now has access to the wireless signal! The security is more lax than was expected, and Serix is able to gain access to the node of her target's work terminal using the information in the wireless traffic.

As supposed, he is a higher-up or some sort, and has connections to many work terminals on that floor. She finds the one labeled G_LANCASTER and accesses it using the manager's login information, easy as that.

Serix, you now have access to Gordon's work terminal and commlink, which is connected to the terminal.

::

Serix's Rolls:
You first attempt to choose a node at random. (Computer + Analyze [7d6]) : 1, 2, 3, 5, 5, 6, 6 [4]

Once finding a suitable node, you attempt to capture its wireless signal, supposing that it still communicates to the building's network. However, you do not know the Sniffer complex form, so you must attempt to thread it. (Software + Resonance [8d6]) : 1, 2, 4, 4, 1, 5, 6, 6 [3]

Once you created the complex form, you then attempt to capture the wireless signal.(Electronic Warfare + Sniffer [3] [6d6]) : 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 6 [3]

[spiderbyte]

"Bingo."
For a guy in middle management, Lancaster's security hadn't been to hard to get through. Now to look through his terminal. Serix was careful to keep an eye out for anything risque - photos, messages, anything. She still had to wonder whether or not the target was really a cheater. Probably better for him if he was. Of course, either way, he'd be rid of a suspicious wife...although he probably wouldn't feel that way, judging by the picnic he'd been on yesterday.
Too bad for you, mister. There had to be some kind of evidence in here somewhere....

[Rook]

It might be an indicator of other Gordon's personal conduct or that of the corporation, but his conduct with female employees is nothing short of impeccable. Minus his vocal disdain of workplace sensitivity seminars, he seems to minding his P's and Q's around the office.

Checking Gordon's commlink though, it can be said that his activities are a tad bit suspicious. As of the last month or so, he has received various messages from ID's that don't seem to belong to the Seattle area, and never the same one twice. They come at intervals of every two to four days, are small in size and encrypted.

::

Serix's Rolls:
You search Gordon's computer and commlink for any sign of implicating material. (Intuition + Computer [8d6]) : 1, 2, 3, 3, 5, 6, 6, 4 [3]

[spiderbyte]

Encrypted messages, what a shame.... And the guy hadn't been looking half bad, either. Serix turned to her companion - the troll, not quite as unbearable as she'd expected - with a smirk. "He's been receiving encrypted notes from somewhere outside Seattle...." As she spoke, she sent an identical message through her commlink to Marilyn and Cibo.
This mission was starting to look a whole lot better, really....

[Rook]

You all take the messages as proof that something is up and prepare as you had planned earlier.

You stake the place out for a while, but Gordon doesn't leave until six-thirty. He hadn't left the building since he had clocked in bright and early.

Gordon takes a look at his commlink and puts on some VR glasses. He scans the area for a moment before walking down the street. Some of you figure that he must be using a navigation program. He walks down the block, away from the cornerstore, and starts to cross the street.

::

OOC:
Alright, it's anyone's game again. Anyone who has a specific action in mind can post, otherwise let me know that you pass. I'll assume that you're merely tailing him alongside your current partner if you pass.

[Dresdon]

Oceana was getting mighty impatient from all the waitin. It was hard enough to blend in inside a corner shop for hours as a human, and it was nearly unpossible as a troll. There was only so much time that he could spend awkwardly sitting in a chair designed for people three feet shorter than him reading books that were about as big as his hand before he started feeling out of place.

Judging by the reactions of the first few people he had tried it on, whispering "Do not mind me, I am just a troll reading a human book in a shop." to people as they passed only raised their suspicions that he was here for not completely wholesome reasons.

He activated the commlink between him and his comrades. "Comrade Marilyn, Comrade Cibo. It's been six spin and half of the clock past mittag. Has the roach left the soy? I repeat, has the roach left the soy?"

The answer damned well better be Aye, or Oceana would be taking things into his own hands.

[Michey]

Marilyn knit her eyebrows together in confusion. "Has the roach left the soy? What-- oh! Do you mean has he left yet?" Geeze, why did he have to ask like that? "Yeah, we're keeping a close watch on him..

"I'm not quite sure where he's headed to, though," she bit her lip and turned to Cibo. "If he's on his way home now, do you think we should just start with the seduction plan~? Or keep following him like this?"

[PaperLapin]

Nonplussed by the roach-and-soy question, it took Cibo a moment to respond.

"I-I don't know." Embarrassed, she trained her eyes on the target so as to avoid eye contact. "It might be better to see where he's headed first?" He didn't look very suspicious, but hopefully he would do something to incriminate himself and save them all the trouble.

Or maybe we could report that he's innocent, offered a plaintive voice in her head.

"Serix," she said, hoping she had got the name right. "Anything unusual?"

[spiderbyte]

Serix leaned against a bookshelf and yawned, keeping one eye on Oceana as she thought out a response. "Mmm.... Besides what I just told you? Not really." She glanced lazily out the shop window. "But what do you guys think of him? Roach or no?"

[Rook]

Following Gordon carefully, you all watch him make a b-line from his work off of corp territory. He's fairly noticeable, so it's easy to tail him from a safe distance while he makes a few turns and finds his way into a more luxurious part of town. Eventually, he comes to a small hole-in-the-wall restaurant, where he makes his way in. He says something to the man behind the table, he escorts him farther into the building, past your vision.

[Dresdon]

Oceana was bored with this whole 'sneaking' business. It took too long and too much not hurting anyone. There wasnt even any witches piss or scantily clad wenches. How was a troll to survive under these sort of conditions? Not to mention that he was the only one of the four of them that had to REALLY try to sneak. When you were tall by troll standards, there wasnt any 'blending into a crowd', he had to find tall things to hide behind.

Fortunately for him, the boring sneaking was over not so long after it had started in the first place. UNFORTUNATELY, there was still something grinding on his thick trolly nerves, which was the fact that Serix was still there. Which remiiinded him... Serix hadnt ever decoded what she'd found. As Gordon strolled into his fancy restaurant, Oceana turned to Serix and grunted out a command threateningly. "Woman, you shud' go off n decode the fancy crypted files you got from Gordon with your technovoodoo."

Intimidate (physical). Intimidate 5 + body 8

13d6: 6,2,6,6,6,3,1,2,1,2,6,1,5
6 Hits

[spiderbyte]

"I don't think so." Serix frowned, still glancing out the window. The troll's order seemed like a threat. Definitely not a good situation to be in. She stepped towards the door slowly. "Although...you know...maybe I will. We'll see.... Later, troll."
But truthfully, as she slipped out of the shop and down the street, she had little intention of coming back at all.

Roll(8d6)+0: 6,3,6,5,4,4,6,1,+0 Total 35