Shadowrun, Episode 1: Soft Opening

[CandyLaser]

Episode 1: Soft Opening
Date: May 11, 2074

It was a bad night to be out. The weather was cool and rainy - no surprise there - but the rain was pulling all kinds of chemical nastiness out of the Seattle skies, and the few people who had to be out and about on foot were wearing respirators in addition to their rain gear. These nights were mixed blessings for criminals. The rain and smog made guards and cops want to go inside just like any sane person, and they cut visibility down substantially. But the lack of people meant there were no convenient crowds to duck into, and that anyone who was spotted on the road drew extra attention just because there was nothing else to look at.

Cross, the team fixer, didn't seem to care about the weather. A few hours ago, he sent you one of his traditionally laconic messages: "Business. Interested?" After a few more exchanges, he set the meet up. He'd asked you to meet your latest Mr. Johnson at a dive named Crooked. It's a bar in Renton, near the Redmond Barrens (not in them, but a bit too close for comfort). The normal way in or out of Crooked involved a two-story climb up a fire escape, which is no fun at the best of times and downright obnoxious in the freezing rain. The place was runner-friendly, so he probably thought he was doing you a favor by setting things up there. And when you need work, you go where the work is. So here you are: climbing a rickety rain-slick fire escape, heading up to a bar in a bad part of town to meet a stranger and maybe get a job.

According to Cross, the Johnson is a dwarf male, mid-40s, and a corporate type. Cross thinks he's probably got a military or corp-sec background. Word is that he's dealt with runners before, and always fairly. The job is an odd one in all kinds of ways: it sounds like a datasteal, but Cross says the Johnson says it's actually legal. For some reason, the Johnson's been pretty insistent that he needs runners to do it, even though it's supposedly on the up-and-up. The pay is reasonable, and it should be fairly easy, and plenty of opportunities for more profitable work in the future. Your fixer thinks it's legit, at least by the standards of your profession - that is, it's as above-board as any other business opportunity that involves meeting with thieves and con-men late at night in places where everyone makes a point to ignore everyone else.

You've got a picture of the Johnson. He's unseasonably tan for Seattle, and like most dwaves he's short and stocky. dark, slicked-back hair and a precisely timmed goatee. He's got ice-blue cybereyes and three datajacks clustered at one temple. Other than the picture, you've got your fixer's word that he's not likely to screw you.

As I mentioned in the OOC thread, for the first meet you've got no need to worry about traps, ambushes from third parties, or the like. That said, if there's any background work you want to do BEFORE the meet, describe it in your first post.

[SlyJohnny]

Saito trudges up the fire escape towards the bar, gripping the rusty railing. He doesn't want to slip and ruin his suit any more than this foul rain is already doing. He's scowling, and it's no mystery as to why; he's complained about it often enough. Coming from a Japanese corporate background means that business meetings held in seedy bars at the client's sole discretion are an oddity, to him. He's had trouble adjusting.

"So. Speculations? A legal datasteal, but he needs contractors to do it. Some kind of false flag effort, perhaps?" He says, conversationally. His Japanese accent has faded considerably since coming to Seattle, only the careful word choice and lack of slang offering any hint to the fact that he wasn't born here.

He takes out his commlink, frowning at the way the rain immediately gets on the screen, and calls up the picture of the Johnson. He gestures with his commlink towards Kerydw3n. "Why does Johnson have so many datajacks?" he asks, clearly considering this sort of thing the technomancer's area of expertise.

Pre-meeting buffs: Increase Charisma at Force 4. (rolled in OOC)

Increase Reflexes, Force 3, sustaining on a focus. [roll0]
Resist drain: [roll1]

Armor, Force 3, sustained on a Focus. [roll2]
Resist drain: [roll3]

Healing test (if needed, and assuming I can rest for at least an hour before receiving the call and having to set out): [roll4]

[The Glyphstone]

"A Johnson's definition of legal may be faryink konsiderably from ours, do not forget. Zey do, after all, live in a fery different vorld."

The hulking silhouette blocking what little light found its way in through the mouth of the alley resolves into Riese's towering frame - covered in an industrial-scale rain-repellent tarp probably stolen from a construction site, he's not so much a man as an eleven-foot tall lump of bluish-gray plastic. Unlike Saito, Riese's accent was still quite noticeable, though perfectly intelligible.

"Zough for zee redundant datajacks, I haf known men in zee past vith similar equipment. Zey served as data mules for zee Vory, and vere equipped vith datalock systems entirely separate from zeir own personal cybervare systems. Perhaps Mr. Johnson has done similar vork in his time."

Standing next to the escape, the top of his head was almost level with Saito's shoes. "Now if you vould kindly be moofink inside, Saito? Zee fire escape did not collapse last time I climbed it, but zere is a first time for eferysink, and best zat first time not be vile you are still shtandink on it."

[Frendle]

Itzhak preps his gear before going to the meet with Mr Johnson. It may go smoothly. It sounds good, but they all sound good. A Go-To on their Fixer would be nice, but such things never seem to be. Not at their pay grade.

Reassembling his M23 Colt and adjusting his leg guard, he takes a deep breath then sets out. He finds the team at the bottom of a fire escape and follows the others as they ascend.


He glances up at Saito as he asks about the Data Chips and smiles slightly, “I dunno, Johnson's a Wirehead?” then he listens to the Giant explain about Datalocks, “Interesting.” The Window looms above them. “So, Mr Face we go in shining, neh? More for us.”

[Taelas]

Rei glances at Saito, then shrugs, rolling his shoulders. "I couldn't say, omae. Why wouldn't you want to be associated with a job as long as it's legal? That's the only reason to go for runners, isn't it?" the short martial artist asks, his head tilted.

He lets out a soft sigh, scratching his bleached hair. "I don't suppose I will get to do much on this particular job. Easy money, I suppose, but I am itching for some action."

[Lentrax]

Kerydw3n doesn't even bother taking more than a passing glance at the commlink. She has the picture up in her mind right now.

She is also replying to a conversation on the latest Star Wars fan movie, reading an issue of a new anime she'd read about a couple weeks ago, and... damnit, lost her queen. Not that she was that good at chess anyway, but still... Wait, a question?

Dunno, the pink haired girl says, as she futilely sends her bishop to block the check. Works in a VR office? Networked to a couple other corp hackers? Maybe he hooks directly to drones? Or he's a mule, as our friend suggests.

She shrugs again, as a couple of other icons appear in front of her. Then she sighs inwardly as she concedes the board.

She considers lounging in a chair and going full VR, but then decides against it. Instead she decides to check the guild's node, see if anyone's up for an old skool MMO raid later.

Her voice sounds like she's somewhere else (again), as she goes on. Maybe dude's just got a fetish for holes in his head?

[Dimers]

"I heard about a guy like that," the older ork comments. "Drilled ten or twenty holes in his own head, got hospitalized over and over, until they finally dumped his meatbrain into a full-on cyberskull. Now he just acts like any other dumb bland sheep, never even tried to break the chrome. Not a runner any more." He shakes his head. "Let's get outta this liquid drek. Fourteen neurotoxins I've identified so far, and the pH is makin' my suit look drab." Eyes drifting out of focus as naturally as if they were still biological, he takes a short glance around the Astral before following the others toward the door to Crooked.

[SlyJohnny]

Saito frowns at Kerydw3n's vague response, wondering if she's taking any of this seriously. More so than any of his new teammates, he's never quite got the measure of her. He doesn't understand her obsessions, her many petty distractions and her childish games. He's always found the otaku so strange. But still, he's been around enough to know that "strange" is often a synonym for "rare", which is often used to mean "valuable". Hopefully the teen will prove her mettle if things start going to hell.

He considers Riese's suggestion, grabbing ahold of the window ledge just in case the fire escape really does collapse under the giant's weight this time.

"Some kind of courier, then. Perhaps he lost data, and wants it retrieved before his client finds out? Well. Conjecture is idle. Let's meet him and find out."

He reaches out to touch the giant's shoulder and murmurs a quick shinto prayer in Japanese. Riese feels the now familiar rush of surety that what he has to say is worth hearing, the magically heightened sense of social awareness causing him to straighten his posture and adjust his body language in a thousand tiny ways. "Go in shining." Saito says wryly, echoing Itzhak. He steps inside.

Casting Increase Charisma at Force 4 on Riese. [roll0]
Resist Drain: [roll1]

If I get less than 3 hits, I will drop the spell and cast it again:
Increase Charisma at Force 4 on Riese. [roll2]
Resist Drain: [roll3]

[SlyJohnny]

Saito mumbles for a few more seconds before stepping inside, making sure the kami understand that this is important.

Anddd again.

Increase Charisma at Force 4 on Riese. [roll0]
Resist Drain: [roll1]

A fourth time, if necessary. This all only takes like 12 seconds, I suppose.

Increase Charisma at Force 4 on Riese. [roll2]
Resist Drain: [roll3]

[CandyLaser]

In the real world, Crooked is dimly lit and smoky. In AR, though, it's still dimly lit and smoky, but there's also some music playing - Goblin Rock from the 2050's, no doubted a pirated feed from some Matrix music station. The place is small and manages to feel a bit cramped even though there's only a half-dozen customers there.

Klein, the owner, is behind the bar, which runs the length of the wall opposite the entrance. Three of the customers are sitting together, conspicuously minding their own business; they're chatting quietly at a table. Two people sit at the bar, both human; one seems deep in his cups, while the other is leaning back, staring at nothing. He appears to be watching something in AR. The drunk, on the other hand, is slumped over the bar, his head in his hands, with a half-full glass of beer resting on the bar beside him.

Finally, the man you're supposed to meet is here - he's arrived early and is sitting alone at a table in the corner, opposite the bar and to the left of the entrance. He's got his back to the corner and commands a good view of the whole establishment. As you come in, his cybereyes fix on you. There's a fraction of a second where he pauses, giving you an appraising glance, before he beckons you closer with a curt nod and a wave of the hand.

After you take seats at the table, he speaks in a low and quiet voice. "Our mutual friend Cross assures me you are people of skill and discretion. I'm looking to hire some such individuals." He pauses, briefly, to take a drink of water. "My employer is opening a new training facility for security professionals. It's supposed to open in two weeks. We need to make sure everything goes as planned, and we want to do a dry run before the official opening. Basically, we're looking for someone to do penetration testing." Another brief pause. His eyes flit from side to side, as if he was reading from a cue card you can't see. "Here's what you need to know: the pay is 3000 nuyen each, payable on completion. The job is a simulated datasteal. You'd be infiltrating the facility and stealing a dummy file. Risk is minimal; the guards are trainees, and they're armed with nonlethal weapons only. I'd expect you to avoid killing as well - we'll be providing gel rounds for your firearms, for instance. You won't actually be committing any crimes, and you don't actually have to succeed in the steal, as long as you can give us a good test run. As far as time goes, we need the test to be done by the 16th, so you'd have five days to do what you need to do." Once he's finished his pitch, he clams up, fixing each of you with his gaze in turn, gauging your reactions.

You can't be completely sure, but you'd guess that the drunk at the bar is the same blonde bruiser you saw in the other pictures you found in your search on the Johnson. Here in the bar, he's got his face concealed, but he's got the right build, the right haircut, and his cheap suit definitely looks familiar.

On the Astral, Crooked's nothing too appealing either. You're close enough to the Barrens to be getting some of the spillover from the astral pollution there - not enough to give the place a background count, but it's ugly, and the crew of poor drunks that come here to drink have definitely left some astral reside behind.

[The Glyphstone]

Riese leads the way across the gloomy room, moving casually and encouraging anyone in the way to move aside by way of sheer inexorable mass, like an oncoming glacier - stepping neatly and politely around those too oblivious to do so. At the Johnson's table, he nods once and settles back on his heels in a comfortable half-crouch, after making a quick assessment of the Johnson's height and posture at the table. Without moving, the man would be staring into Riese's collarbone, and would have to look up if he wanted to see Riese's face. It was one of a score of tiny tricks he'd learned in his time, keeping his opponent slightly discomfited or off-balance.

"Your proposhal is most intriguink, Herr Johnson. And yet it is raisink many questions zat schould be put to rest before vee seal zee deal, so to shpeak. You offer us a substantial fee for vat you promise to be and describe as a low-sreat, low-risk infiltration of your employer's facility, vat zose in our mutual business kall a 'milk run'. Vhy does your employer send you into zee schadows to hire men and vimmen such as us to do zis job for you at such an expense, instead of simply usink zee guards already on zeir payroll in vor games?"

[CandyLaser]

The Johnson gives a thin smile, and answers. "We've done things like this before, using internal assets. Their performance was underwhelming. Many people in corporate security are rather... set in their ways. We like to use outside resources, because they give us more realistic, more useful results. They find security holes that our people miss, every time. After all, that's what people like you do." If he was discomfited by Riese's size, he didn't show it, although he did crane his head back to be able to look the giant in the eye.

[Taelas]

Rei shrugs uncomfortably. Nonlethal combat? What was the point of that? He doesn't comment, though, as always letting Riese do the talking.

[Lentrax]

Cara sits in her chair, reminding herself to play with her commlink while she goes about the matrix. She's heard stories about other mancers who got found out. According to the rumors, most of them were never heard from again. Well, frack that.

She listens to Mr. Johnson. She plays with her commlink.

She blinks at the thought of three grand, paid to her. And all to steal a dummy file in a non-lethal run? Easy. She looks around, checking for the data coming from the others who came with her. She finds the signal she is looking for, and sends her own stream of data over to it.

Saito's commlink notifies him of a new message.

I'm in for this.

It is only after she sends the message, that she remembers that she shouldn't just send messages to people she doesn't actually know... Stupid trolls, don't they know better than to insult people having a friendly argument about which of the trilogies was better? Well, maybe if they are actual trolls...

[SlyJohnny]

Saito leans back, pretending to think it over. Superficially, the job seems like a cinch. Data steal with a long lead time? Even if the guy's lying about it being an exercise, or about the non-lethal rounds, or... anything, really, that seems like a cinch. Saito checks his commlink as it buzzes, reads Cara's message, and nods to himself.

He leans forward to Riese, murmuring.

"For a full test of a facility security, we'd need to try a broad spectrum approach. That'd mean buying some heavier equipment for this run, perhaps."

He sets his expression to "undecided" and acts as if he's advising a superior and makes it seem like his decision rests on the giant's decision, to cement Riese's authority as the group's negotiator and increase his bargaining position. He turns back to Johnson.

"Will the automated security at this facility also be using gel-rounds? What about the magic security? Metahuman subtleties are sometimes lost on things like spirits or hellhounds, particularly if they are also standing ready to prevent an actual attack."

Saito leans back, clasping his hands together on the table, the picture of serene confidence. He watches the dwarf closely, hoping his answers to these two questions cause him to give away more than he might otherwise about the facility security. He follows it up with more questions to keep Johnson from thinking about his answer too much.

"You said the guards are trainees. Are they students at this facility, then? Are they aware of an incoming attack, and that it's an exercise? Who do you represent? I would not normally ask, but if we're going to one of your facilities, I imagine it will shortly become obvious."

Negotiation roll to aid Riese, successes aid to his dice pool: [roll0]

[Dimers]

Hassan chuckles inwardly at a thought, keeping his amusement mostly off his face. With his extra-large right tusk, any smile mostly comes across as a grimace anyway. He messages the team, If we have the time while we're there, let's see if Kerydw3n can set up a back door into the system. She could earn us a bonus for the extra training opportunity.

Or, you know, she'd have a back door into a security training site. That's not bad either.

[CandyLaser]

The Johnson remains impassive in the face of Saito's questioning. He simply sits, still, his hands folded on the tabletop, until Saito is done, at which point he clears his throat and answers. "I'm afraid I can't divulge my employer until after you've accepted the job. Once you do, I'll be happy to tell you who I work for. I also can't divulge the details of our security systems at all - we want this penetration test to be realistic, and that means you'll mostly have to do your own legwork. I can tell you that our security forces strictly use nonlethal projectiles, except in high-threat response situations. Basically, if you start shooting live ammo at them, they'll shoot back. They will not be aware of the test in advance."

[Frendle]

Itzhak nods as Mr Johnson goes through the run. Such exercises are not uncommon in Mossad training.

When Mr Johnson mentions that the trainee’s will not know it is a test, and that they have the capability to respond with deadly force if pressed into doing so, he grimaces.

“It is a bit…. discomforting, that your trainees do not know this is a test, and that they have the capability to respond with deadly force. Even experienced Sec teams,” distain flashes across Itzhak’s face, “can overreact under pressure. Trainees are more likely to do so. Do you have a failsafe in place in case that occurs?”

[CandyLaser]

"It wouldn't be much of a penetration test if they knew it was happening, now would it? I assure you, you have nothing to worry about; none of our trainees will be given access to lethal weapons. Our HTR teams are never trainees; they're always experienced. In the event of an accident, though, we're prepared to pay any medical expenses incurred as a result of injury. In the case of death, we can provide survivor's benefits, but you'd have to provide a beneficiary for that, and I suspect that you wisely don't want to tell a stranger all about your friends, family, and personal life."

[Lentrax]

Trainees. that's probably a good thing, since I am not exactly experienced myself.

What about electronic defense? How is the hardware? How much of it is there? Does it all operate on one node, or multiple nodes networked together?

[The Glyphstone]

"Zen vee vill be testing your HTR teams as vell, not merely your onsite security. A useful piece of information, zat safes zee askink of a question. But vhile your promise of medical payment and death benefits is generous, you must understand zat for zose like us, zee difficulty lies in zee kollectink. After all, to official eyes, vee do not exist. I must look out for the velfare of my kolleagues, and if voe of zem vere to end up in zee kustody of your experienced personnel, how are vee to prove our actions are at your behest, rather zan simply zose of independent and opportunistik kriminals? And vhat if, to propose a hypothetical, von aspect of zee security we are testink includes a supplementary kontract vith Knight Errant? Zey are not known for zeir hesitation to escalate konflict, nor zeir inclination to resort to non-lethal veapons."



Going to make a Judge Intentions on the mention of Knight Errant, see if he makes any unusual reaction that would indicate something interesting.
[roll0]

[Dimers]

Though he snorts at the Johnson's mention of "beneficiaries", Hassan mostly appears to be growing tenser at the length and the untrusting tone of the discussion. He messages the giant,

Hey, Cross thinks Johnson checks out, I'm more worried about losing the job to someone who doesn't ask questions than about the job going wrong. Something always goes wrong anyway.

and

More likely Rei kills someone and we get in trouble than one of us eats it!

[CandyLaser]

"The only way you'd be testing our HTR teams is if you start shooting to kill or bringing out the knives. You don't need to worry about external security from KE or Lone Star, either. For medical expenses, we can put some extra money in escrow and authorize its release to you only if you suffer injuries, and you'll handle payment to your medic yourself. As far as network security goes, I'm not going to do your legwork for you. If you accept the job, I've got a dossier for you." He reaches - very slowly, and very carefully - into his jacket and slips out a datachip, then sets it on the table, keeping the tiny chip trapped beneath his finger. An ARO blips into existence, hovering in space above his hand and showing a revolving 3D wireframe image of what looks like a fairly typical office building. "This datachip contains all the public records about our complex. It's nothing you couldn't find on your own, but as a courtesy, we've compiled it all in one place for you. If you take the job, I'll hand this over and we'll all be on our separate ways. Any other information you might want, you'll have to find yourself - but you'll have days to do it. I'm making you a generous offer for a straightforward job. And now I need to know: are you in, or out?"

Throughout his little monologue, the Johnson's demeanor remains calm and collected. If he's tense, or worried, he doesn't show it. In particular, there's not even a flicker of emotion when Knight Errant comes up.

As best you can tell, the Johnson's dealing with you straight. But he's also not going to answer any more questions. You could still haggle over the price, but it's time to say yes or no.

[The Glyphstone]

"I believe vee vill be in, but vith conditions. It is customary for payment in zis business to be rendered in pre- and post-completion installments. Your offer is indeed quite generous, but zee old phrase of visdom 'too good to be true' is alvays vorth listening to, and a certain measure of good faith would do vell to assuage zose doubts. Shall vee say, 3500 nuyen apiece, one-sird up front and two-zirds payable upon completion?"


Riese's offer amounts to roughly a 15% increase in net pay, with the one-third up front instead of one-half thrown in as a counterweight.
With buffed Charisma, and a +3 dice boost from Saito's assistance, my Negotiation pool after all applicable modifiers is 21. I'll spend a point of Edge to re-roll my failures in this pool.
[roll0]

[The Glyphstone]

[roll0]
10 Net hits.

[CandyLaser]

"Acceptable. Give me just a moment, and I'll make the necessary arrangements." The Johnson's cybereyes glaze over for a moment as he stares at something in AR visible only to him. Then his focus snaps back to the group, and he says, "I've put your payment in an anonymous escrow account. Details on accessing it are on the datachip. The full payment of 21000 nuyen should be there in a couple of hours, and I've also authorized the release of 7000 nuyen immediately." He slid the datachip toward Riese, and then moved to stand up. "I believe we have no further business, and so I'll take my leave. If by any chance you need to contact me, speak to Cross and he can get in touch."

[The Glyphstone]

"Haff a nice day, Mr. Johnson. Vatch your step outside, it is slippery and I sink zee fire escape may be a little loose."

Riese scoops up the datachip, vanishing it into one meaty hand, and watches the dwarf march past him.

[SlyJohnny]

Saito watches as Mr Johnson leaves. He purses his laps around one of his tusks, in a kind of grimace.

"He came across as far too professional to be an honest man. Still. The pay is adequate. And we have a long lead time to prepare. Though I'm half tempted to go in now, tonight, and pre-empt any surprises." he murmurs.

He leans back to wait and give the Johnson ample time to leave. "But, we must do our legwork. I'll take care of the astral reconnaissance, to which end I'll head home and make use of my shinsha to call upon a kami suited for spying. You are all welcome to come with me, if you want a... change of scenery, while we plan and review Mr Johnson's datachip." Saito says, casting a mistrustful glance over at the other occupants of the bar.

"Plus, I'll make a stir-fry."

[Frendle]

Itzhak smiles at the mention of stir-fry. "I'm in, anything to avoid a soycaf dinner."

[Dimers]

"Sheconded," grunts Hassan. "Won't say no to a home-grown carrot or pepper. Riese, you want me to shhore up the fire escape, jus' point out the shpot -- you'd know better th'n me." The ork's teammates were familiar with his philanthopic tendency, and also his willingness to filibuster about how helping people improves the astral environment, sticks it to the megas, et cetera. He was often on the lookout for chances to use magic to fix or clean things. But having levitated himself up the fire escape, he didn't feel the slightest wobble in it.

I don't actually mean to sidetrack the important part of play with spellcasting, Drain resistance and healing rolls. Just characterizing.

[Lentrax]

Sure. Just give me an address. I am not leaving my bike out here.

[Taelas]

Rei perks up at the mention of stir-fry. "Count me in," he says with a grin.

[Dimers]

"Cara, make sure the chip's clean? Once we have the name and address we can see whether it'sh ever anything besides security training, whether they buy lotta regular ammo or just gel, see who'd benefit from an embarashment there ... what the traffic w'll be like on the way out ... I'll poke around ShadowShea, shee if anybody's done thish run before."

The old ork seems a bit more animated than usual. He may be enjoying the concept of a guaranteed-bloodless run. He slows down for a little while, walking behind the others automatically while he focuses on something unseen.

When KERYDW3N provides businessname and address, give TEAM an outline list of buildings and corporations at that address from mapfiles. Then compose but do not send message to DARK_WATERS asking about people's experiences with security companies that match name or address, "we'll make it worth ¥our time". Background: compile deep reports on traffic, air traffic, drone sightings, police visits in the neighborhood of the address, for presentation in two days.

Mechanically, should I make a Connection+Charisma roll to see if anyone from ShadowSea bites? Any bonus for suggestion of reward?

[SlyJohnny]

Saito's house is a large, open-plan building on the bay. The furniture is ornate and well crafted, but oddly spaced around, partially to accommodate the hanging plants and herb pots that dangle from the ceiling, partially to accommodate what Saito refers to "the flow of energy preferred by the Thousand Kami." You can hear the rhythmic sound of the lapping sea as he cooks, sitting in wooden and wicker furniture with ample cushions. It's quite relaxing.

He prepares a stir fry over a simple stove in an cast iron pain, formed from some orecchiette pasta and minced pork, with orange and yellow bell peppers, minced garlic, arugula, fresh tomatoes and herbes de provence, seasoned with black pepper and olive oil and white wine, topped with parmesan cheese. The herbs and vegetables are plucked from his garden, pulled from the soil, rapidly chopped and tossed into the pan. He serves this out in simple wooden bowels while it's still steaming hot, handing one out to each of the team.

"Riese, there's a terminal that pulls up from that panel in the floor over there. Feel free to call up the data there. Though we should of course research it by ourselves... I am sure Kerydwen will find something they forgot to compile."

Before he serves himself a bowel, he moves off to a shrine festooned with vines and charms near the centre of the room and chants for a while, summoning a suitable spirit to do astral recon as soon as Riese tells him the location of the target facility.


Summon Air Spirit: Force 6 [roll0]
Drain Resistance: [roll1]

[SlyJohnny]

Summoning roll redux
[roll0]

[CandyLaser]

The chip, when examined, turns out to be so clean it's spotless. There's no spyware, no viruses, no executable content of any kind. It's pure data, and the data on it is relatively sparse; as promised by the Johnson, it contains a compilation of public records data on the new facility. The facility is in Everett, near the Salish-Sidhe border and about five minutes off I-5 at the corner of Glenwood and Sievers Duecy Road. According to the public records, the building is owned by Ashlock Security. A quick search on Ashlock will reveal that it's a small local security company. It's not even a single-A corporation; they don't have extraterritoriality and they're not represented by or on the Corporate Court. They mainly do business in Seattle.

You can look more into Ashlock Security if you like, or roll knowledge checks to see what you already know.
The chip also contains floorplans drawn from the public records. They're not very detailed, and they make no mention at all of any security procedures. The building has four stories above ground, one basement level, and an underground car park. The floor plans on the chip, however, only cover the ground floor, two of the above-ground floors, the roof, and the car park. Notations on some of the files suggest that the top floor is dedicated to executive office, while the basement is given over to their servers and machinery.

They're big, so I've put them in an imgur album. (http://imgur.com/a/3a5Fv) Two of the above-ground floors have the same plan. The floors not covered are the top floor and the basement level.

Finally, the chip contains some information on the data you're supposed to steal. Unsurprisingly, it's not something you'll be able to get without going in; according to the text on the chip, it's found on a secure system that's not connected to the outside Matrix and housed on one of the two floors where you don't have floorplans.

[Taelas]

Rei accepts the bowl with a deep bow.

"Saito-san, itadakimasu," he says, as after he sits down in seiza -- the formal, traditional Japanese way of sitting correctly. He seems to enjoy the food a great deal.

"What do we know about this place we are to break in to?"

[Lentrax]

Cara sits in a chair, after taking the chip for a moment. She easily pulls the data off of it after she loads it into her 'link. She puts the chip back down for anyone else who wants to look at it, then she shuts her eyes and goes still. Her breathing slows, and you can tell she has probably just gone into VR.

Where she comes alive. The world resolves around her in sharp lines and a BTL level of clarity. She goes searching for the Matrix for Ashlock Security, and when she finds the node, starts looking around, checking for the public resources. If one is available, she pulls up any list of employees she can find. Most of this right now is to see what is there, and to get a feel for the lay of the land. Resonance usually changes little around corps, until they buy or get bought by bigger corps, or they go bust.

Plus, she doesn't want to draw too much attention to herself just yet.

Not sure what you'd like me to roll, and I am on mobile right now.

[CandyLaser]

Cara's search doesn't uncover much of note. Ashlock has some Matrix presence, but as with many smaller security companies their public face is vague about details. They're privately held, with control of the company firmly in the Ashlock family. The company is about twenty years old, and recently underwent a change in management when the old president and CEO James Ashlock handed the reins over to his son, Brian. That's probably related to the fact that company has recently started angling to be acquired by Ares.

Their public matrix node is cold and professional. It resembles an everyday office atrium, save for the fact that everything is made of glass and brushed steel. The company logo (a stylized ash tree) is embossed on the wall behind a virtual help desk, where a helper daemon stands ready to answer questions. On one wall, a screen shows a rotating assortment of news stories about Ashlock, including a few stories announcing the imminent opening of their Everett facility. According to the news stories, the facility - which appears to be the one you've just been hired to hit - opens on the 23rd, a week after your deadline. Just as the Johnson said, it's a training facility. The idea, as far as you can tell, is to provide a place to train security professionals in various simulated office environments. It's reminiscent of the UCAS's urban combat simulator in Fort Lewis, but for corpsec as opposed to the military. You also find the address for the public node for the facility itself, but all that's there is a bunch of PR materials. There's almost certainly a private node as well. It almost certainly won't be hard to find, but getting in will be another matter.

Normally, you'd roll Browse + Data Search for this. But as you're not under time pressure and not stressed, you can just buy hits and get all the data available on the public Matrix. Finding the private node won't require a roll either, but you will need to start hacking if you want to get in.

[The Glyphstone]

Riese practically vacumns up his food, as happy as the others to have a home-cooked meal of quality, real ingredients, and looks almost wistful when dinner is over before his professional mask slips back into place.

"Keredwyn, see if you can find a backdoor into zeir systems through vhatever interface is set up allowing potential clients to book or arrange zee use of zee facilities. Even if it is not publicly visible yet since zey are not open, it must be part of their Matrix infrastructure, and if it exists, it might be a vay for you to get inside zeir booking calendar. I sink I haf an idea, but it all hinges on getting access to zeir appointments database."

[SlyJohnny]

Saito calls up a few minor spirits with a quick prayer to Amaterasu and sits down in a large cushioned loveseat suspended on a wicker frame. He smiles over at Rei's politeness and formality. "Osomatsusama-desheta. You are too kind."

He takes off his tie and folds it neatly on a sidetable (his shoes and suit jacket long since removed), loosens his collar, checks the time on his commlink, and casts a longing glance at the steaming food he's prepared. Business first, he mentally chastises himself. He fluffs up the cushions on the loveseat until he is lying down comfortably. He announces to the group generally,

"I'll scout the astral space and try to get a headcount on personnel around the facility. If the site is warded, I'll have to try some other day once we can safely get in closer past the wards. I'll leave a watcher spirit here. Tell it to go and fetch me back to my body if there is a problem. Please, help yourselves to food or alcohol from the kitchen, while I am absent. But do not," and here his expression darkens, and his brow furrows at a disagreeable memory, "draw on my face."

With that, he lies back and falls unconscious, projecting his spirit out of his body and into the astral plane. He waits to see if Hassan intends to follow, and then rushes off, materialising some distance up the I-5 and flying more slowly the rest of the way to the site, circling round it from a distance to get a rough overview.

Forgot to roll the air spirit's opposed summoning test before.
[roll0] hits, drain x2 physical. 2 Services generated. Will spend a point of edge to reroll my earlier drain resist failures if I take any damage from this.

Summoning Watcher spirit 1 [roll1] Test.
[roll2] Drain resist
Summoning Watcher spirit 2 [roll3] Test.
[roll4] Drain resist
Summoning Watcher spirit 3 [roll5] Test.
[roll6] Drain resist

Will limit watcher lifespan as necessary to prevent taking any drain. Taking the longest-lived one with me.

[Frendle]

Itzhak’s mouth waters as the room fills with the aromas of actual food, being cooked, and intended for him to eat. He takes a medium helping, not wanting to take in too much of the real stuff to quickly. He does not wish to be rude when so many are in the room.

As he eats he goes over in his head what he has learned concerning various infiltrations of such facilities, more to bring it to the surface than to formulate a plan. Plans rely on intel, and the gathering of that had only just begun.

Once his meal is complete, he puts his dish up near the cleaner, then he sits in a corner out of the way and breaks down his Colt, checking it for any fault, cleaning it and reassembling it. Then he does the same to his Predator. When he has finished he leans back against the wall. This is not his time, his will come later.

Soon his breathing becomes deeper as he performs the only sensible duty a soldier should at this time. He sleeps.

[CandyLaser]

Saito's astral jaunt up the I-5 reveals a few things after even a cursory inspection. First and foremost, the facility as a whole is not warded. There might be wards inside the building - in fact, it's almost a sure bet that there are - but you should be able to get in the building before there's a problem. The building also isn't protected by awakened ivy. Doesn't mean there's no more subtle defenses. You'd guess that there are.

There are, however, a couple unsubtle defenses, in the form of a trio of patrolling spirits. In the astral, two of the spirits look like flocks of large luminous moths, while the third is a jagged shard of reddish iron.

Go ahead and roll Assensing, perhaps with an assist from your watcher spirit if you like.

[Dimers]

As Saito settles his body into readiness for an extended trance, 'the King' goes to a separate room to try to call the aid of another spirit -- a creature of sublime subtlety who may stand some chance of seeing closely without being seen. There's no result in the physical world, but a whisper-soft presence follows behind Saito from his home until he is close to the facility, then wafts away on a path that will circle around to scout from the other side.

Summoning a Force 6 Task spirit. Determining number of services and base Physical Drain to resist ...
Summoning die pool, specializing in Task spirits: [roll0]
Opposed by Force 6 spirit: [roll1]
Drain resistance against 2 x spirit's hits: [roll2]
If I take damage, a First Aid roll to deal with the physical trauma: [roll3] (missing the last die if I've taken 3 or 4 damage). I can only fix one box of damage, and I need three hits to do so.

Assuming I get at least one net hit on the summoning test, I'm calling for a remote service: to stealthily scout the magical aspects of the facility that Saito shows interest in, starting at the opposite side, and report back to me about a mile north along the shore.

The spirit's Optional Powers are Infiltration skill and Concealment power; I'm calling on a spirit whose very nature is to be obfuscated.

[SlyJohnny]

Saito ducks behind something with a large astral form as soon as he catches sight of the spirits. He doesn't fancy his chances sneaking around, and he catches sight of the slinking non-presence trailing him through the Astral, recognising it as one of Hassans, and better adapted for stealth than his own air spirit. Best leave sneaking into the facility to that creature.

He glances at the two watcher spirits, warped little japanese shiba puppies with swollen blackcurrant eyes that nip at his heels and chase each other around his legs. "Any idea what those three spirits were?" he asks them, without much hope.

I, uh. Forgot to take any points in Assensing >_> If we're still getting bonus karma for backgrounds and contacts, I'll spend them to snag some points in it now. Otherwise:

Watcher 1 Assensing [roll0]
Watcher 2 Assensing [roll1]

[Lentrax]

Cara smiles. She is in her element. She starts probing around the node. The first crack is in the secretary software. She feels it, begins pouring her mind into the crack. The firewall presses against her, pushing her resonance out, but it isn't enough. Enough of Kerydw3n gets through that she pulls herself into the secure servers.

[CandyLaser]

Finding the private node for the Ashlock Security facility in Everett is child's play for Cara. It's not even hidden, really - they just didn't publicize its address. But there are embedded pointers to it in their public node, presumably designed for employees to use. It's a textbook example of security through obscurity, and it's just as effective this time as it typically is.

The main node for the Everett facility is sculpted to appear clean and utilitarian. Like their public node, it looks like an office, with plenty of brushed steel and glass furnishings. A pair of attentive security guards wait and watch, scanning every icon in the node in turn. Three hallways, presumably representing connections to other nodes, branch off from the main room. There's also a floating, revolving Ashlock Security logo, the purpose of which you can only guess at - but it's an icon, not just decoration, so it must do something.

Strictly speaking, if you want to create yourself an account, you need to make a Hacking + Edit test, followed by a Hacking + Stealth extended test to hide it. And if you want to clean up after yourself, modifying the access log is Hacking + Edit as well. What you've got with a successful hack isn't a regular user account, and it'll be gone the next time they do a security sweep. As there's IC in the node, you'd probably want to deal with that before you actually try to make an account, as well.

If, on the other hand, you're just giving descriptive text for the successful hack and you don't actually want to log into the node, then good job on being evocative and shame on me for reading too much into it. :smallbiggrin:

Meanwhile, Saito interrogates his watcher spirits. The creatures aren't really smart enough to answer in words, but happily as their summoner it's not necessary for them to do so to be understood. Through a combination of mime and an empathic connection, they report that one of the moth clouds is a spirit of air (so probably the other one is, too). The spirit resembling a shard of rusting iron is an earth spirit.

Finally, Hassan's spirit is at a bit of a loss. It's been directed to investigate for Hassan, but as he's not leading the way it isn't clear how best to fulfill its task. It opts to circle around the facility, under cover of its own concealment, and then to make a brief foray inside if it looks safe. Unfortunately, despite its preternatural stealth, one of the air spirits spots Hassan's ghostly spirit as it flits from shadow to shadow. The three guarding spirits immediately spring into action, streaking toward Hassan's spirit. And Hassan's spirit, having not been ordered to engage in combat, simply retreats.

First, rolling the task spirit's Infiltration: [roll0]

And then the Assensing checks for the guarding spirits, at a -6 from Concealment.

Spirit 1: [roll1] That's a stroke of luck for the protectors.
Spirit 2: [roll2]
Spirit 3: [roll3]

Then comes the task spirit's Assensing for the outside: [roll4] If it goes inside, it'll make one more check: [roll5]

Only one success on the assensing check for the outside, which won't get any more information than I've already provided.

[SlyJohnny]

Saito eyes the nameless, nearly formless spirit as it moves towards the compound. When it gets spotted and pounced on by the patrolling spirits, he seizes his chance, immediately sending a telepathic command to his air spirit. Tipping their hand this early isn't ideal, but perhaps the distraction can be used to their advantage

"Uke-san, if you can get inside before that patrol disengages, approach from the opposite side using the building as cover and stealthily scout the inside of the facility as best you can, but do not penetrate any wards or lead pursuers back to me."

Forgot to mention earlier, Uke the Force 6 air spirit has Telekinesis and Noxious Breath.
[roll0] Infiltration if necessary (hoping to not need it on the outside patrol as he can just zip in from the other side with the building for total cover, if they're not circling around constantly. I'm also assuming it has Concealment active.)

[roll1] Assensing (outside)
[roll2] Assensing (inside)

[CandyLaser]

Saito's air spirit immediately notices a faint shimmering line stretching around the exterior. It's as thin as a wire, but it's astrally active, and as such it draws the attuned eye. It's an alarm ward, which will trigger if the air spirit attempts to enter the facility.

[SlyJohnny]

::Does this include the carpark? Is there any way in at all?:: Saito telepathically queries Uke.

::If not, perform whatever scouting you can by looking through the windows and apertures, and we will return.::

[Lentrax]

Cara takes a peek around the inside of the node. Seeing the guards sweeping the node, Cara needs to get to work. Moving off, she goes through the data, finding the User Account files. At the speed of thought, Cara writes a new user account.

Hacking+Edit: [roll0] 8 hits
Threading an Edit CF: [roll1] (see ooc)
Hiding the User account(including the -2 die penalty for Threading): [roll2]

Writing done, Cara then moves to cover her forced entry to the node. She floods the area with junk 1s and 0s, writing over her tracks with things that will just get swept away after a scan.

Hacking+Edit: [roll3] plus the hits kept from threading earlier.(just saw I screwed this one up too.)

Once her writing is finished, She attempts to log out.

Obviously the rest of this is moot if I trigger an alert while attempting to write the access account. If that happens, then I will deal with the IC, otherwise, attempting to do anything will trigger an alert and the whole point of trying to stealthily hack is lost.

[Dimers]

"Well, that was a bust on my end -- hope Shhaito's having better luck," Hassan announces to the room. "My shcout's coming back nearly empty-handed, but in case it's got somethin' that doeshn't mind-link well, I'm gonna meet it a bit up the beasch."

Seeing Itzhak catching his eclectic rest and Riese, well, not having mysteriously shrunk down to a typical metahuman size, the wizard asks Rei, "Come with me and watch my back?"

I don't figure there's any roll to make here. I waste IC time heading north, checking in with the spirit, failing to learn any more, then coming back. Levitating myself with a Force 1 spell maintained through a Manipulation sustaining focus, trivial to cast and soak. Rei loses the same amount of time if he comes with.

[CandyLaser]

As soon as Cara oozes her way past the firewall, the IC turns its attention to her, as she is a new icon entering the node. For a tense moment, the 'security guard' glares at her, giving her heightened scrutiny - but then the cloud of Resonance that surrounds her does its work and it turns away, leaving her free to do her work. Of course, it may be mere seconds before she's scanned again. Luckily, seconds are all she needs; in the Matrix, things happen fast as thought. She quickly creates a new account for herself and makes her escape unscathed.

First, Analyze + Firewall from the node when Cara logs in: [roll0]. Analyze + IC rating for the IC: [roll1]. That is opposed by a Hacking + Stealth roll from Lentrax, which I will make here: [roll2]. Assuming that doesn't find you, you get your account, clean the log, and get out.

And in the astral Saito and his spirit continue their reconnaissance. The spirit's investigations reveal that the alarm ward does cover the car park. Any astral form, spell, or active focus crossing the ward's border will trigger the alarm. Peeking in the windows turns out to be about all it can do, and that proves somewhat informative. There are guards; they've got what look like tasers and batons. It's not clear how many there are total, but there are at least 2 manning the front door and 3 more on patrol. A few cameras can be seen from the windows as well.

Perception: [roll3]

[Taelas]

Rei shrugs. "Sure. Up the beach, you said?" he asks, getting to his feet. He gets his bow, a complicated-looking compound bow with a lot of gears, that only someone as strong as Rei can draw fully. He looks expectantly at Hassan. "Lead the way."

[SlyJohnny]

::Alright. Retreat to a safe distance where you can see the road and stand watch. Keep count of any people, spirits or vehicles that leave or enter the facility. Try to get a count of vehicle occupants, and their appearance; return and give a full report to me of all you have seen, just before sunrise.:: Saito says, before blinking away, returning to his body.

Saito awakens, reaching for his terminal.

"Three spirits on guard. Relatively strong ones. The whole facility was warded and I thought it best not to put them on alert by breaching. They might be already, now. Cameras here, and here." he says, marking them on the map,
"Guards with non-lethal weapons, two on the front door, three patrolling, likely more. The kami assisting me did not get a good look. None on the roof, though. Perhaps we could effect entry there." He creates a copy of the floor maps and manually adds the locations he saw the guards and cameras.

He reaches for a bowl and spoons himself some pesto. "Let us hope our distractable wonderchild fares better at her task, or we will have very little intelligence to work from."

[Dimers]

Hassan and Rei move carefully along the weedy and malodorous shoreline for about a half hour, the meeting of water and land preventing many barriers from being built in their way. The mage homes in on his stealth-spirit through their mind connection; if it weren't for that, neither of the two would have been able to find its faint shadow of a manifestation. Spirit and summoner talk in low voices for a couple minutes before Hassan turns away with a sigh. The shadow oozes away and blends into the more mundane ones cast by a distant glaring security light.

"Nothing usheful. Could maybe try the 'environmental inshpector' trick to get me on-site to look around with the radar, lay down a spirit friend to pop up later. We'd have to pay for the licenshe and all that numbskullery, though." Hassan starts drifting back south from the meetup point. "Shorry to drag you out in this drek rain, Rei."

[Lentrax]

Time passes, Cara takes a path through several nodes, letting her resonance trail dissipate. Hopefully. She comes back to her body in the meat world, and opens her eyes to the incredibly dull AR.

I have user access to their server. It should last a couple of days before it gets noticed and deleted.

[SlyJohnny]

Saito smiles.

"Excellent work. What data can you acquire about their security? Can you get shift rotas? Personnel files? Access to appointment diaries? Is it possible to confirm where our target data is being stored? And please, share anything you found about the facility in general."

He turns his modified maps to where Cara can see them.

"My efforts were less impressive. The facility is warded. Three spirits on guard means they likely have multiple conjurers on staff, and probably redundancy in terms of keeping the wards strong. Elvis and I weren't able to acquire much data, and one of our spirits was spotted. Can you determine if there's any fallout from that, in terms of alerts or increased security?"

[CandyLaser]

Saito's spirit returns to report just before sunrise. No one, and nothing, went in or out from the facility during the night. The spirits on watch returned to their patrols, and there were no further disturbances. It's not clear if the mundane security forces even noticed the activities of the air and earth spirits that watch the facility.

[SlyJohnny]

Saito thanks the spirit humbly, bowing to it as it departs.

He immediately summons another spirit and gives it the same task of using Concealment and silently observing the facility from afar, asking it to telepathically update him if there's any movement, and to return with a full report of comings and goings (and any other activity) shortly before it leaves at sundown.

Summoning: [roll0]
Versus Force 5 air spirit (optional power: Telekinesis) [roll1]
Resisting drain [roll2]

[Lentrax]

Cara slumps over the side of the chair, yawning. Dunno. Neat looking icon in there I wanna check out later, but with proper user credentials I can log on without drawing attention from the start. Can also take my time, and poke the weird icon.

The pink hairs girl yawns again.

Is there any more food? I'd like a bite before I take a nap.

[SlyJohnny]

Saito nods at Cara.

"Of course. We can continue in the morning. I'll get some blankets for you."

Saito pauses, chewing over the etiquette involved here. Back in Japan, he would never normally insult valued colleagues by inviting them to stay over in a home too obviously humble to receive visitors, but he's discovered people from the UCAS tend to be more lax about these sorts of things. And everyone else's living conditions are equally humble from what he's seen, except for Rei. He doesn't know where Riese lives, but he's heard the giant refer to something left at home as "back at the shed" before, which he dearly hopes is a figure of speech.

He makes a decision. "You're all welcome to stay over, if you don't mind sharing the space here." He says, gesturing to the large room they're all in. "Forgive me for not being in a position to be a better host. I can move some of the plants around to clear space, most of them are hanging from rails on the ceiling. The opacity controls for the bay windows are there; I have them set to open in the morning because I like to see the sun come up, but do with them as you wish. Help yourselves to food, drink, or alcohol, whether you're staying or not. The kami that inhabit this house are mischievous, but they won't bother guests out of respect for me."

He fetches some throwpillows and a large stack of soft, folded blankets from his room, and sets them down in the centre of the room. Then he heads to bed himself. He pauses just before entering the room, as if reconsidering his last remark.

"Oh. I'm absolutely certain I've solved this problem now, but just in case. If you are woken in the night by a tall woman in a trenchcoat and surgical mask who asks you if she is beautiful, do not reply. Just come and wake me up. Oyasuminasai."

He heads into his bedroom and sends a couple of messages on his commlink. One to their fixer, asking if he's received a delivery of non-lethal rounds for the team's use yet, and if so, who they're from, what brand they are, and how they were delivered. Another to Officer Turnbull of Knight Errant Security Services, casually asking him if work is busy, and if there are any areas along Glenwood and Sievers Duecy Road in Quincy that have received a change in their security-response priority recently. He says it would be "valuable" to know, which is as close to an open offer of a bribe as Saito routinely likes to get over open comms. He grew up in a corporation and the old mannerisms die hard.

He showers, visits the shrine near his room and makes an offering, then washes his face again in a bowl of water as he leaves. He scrutinises his reflection in the bowl. This isn't the life he wanted, but he has a good team at his back, and... well. It's good to be working again. Perhaps that's enough.

He goes to bed and rapidly falls asleep.

Negotiation roll, if needed, for contact: [roll0]

[Dimers]

Hassan replies to Saito's allowance with an awkward bow and a murmur of thanks carefully spoken to avoid slurring on his one large tusk. He takes a pillow and heads for a corner. "I'm bushed. Times like these, I really wish I'd sprung for that sleep regulator. I'll be able to talk more in the morning with some decent rest and soykaf."

I sleep. :smalltongue:

I'd like my Agent to do several things:

Find out if the same company or the same building was at that address in my old mapfiles, the most recent of which was 2050.
If the building is recent, search for what construction companies were used to build it, and where they can be found.
If the building's old, search for whatever info is available on previous owners.
Compose -- but do not yet send -- a message to ShadowSea asking for people willing to share their experiences with the company or the building, with the phrase "we'll make it worth ¥our time".
Start compiling publicly accessible info on ground and air traffic, police visits and drones sighted in that neighborhood. Probably not going to look at that for a couple days, but once the Agent's done with other tasks then there's no harm in starting.

Agent's rating is 3, limiting skill rolls to 6 dice at a time. I have plenty of Analyze, Edit and Browse to make all rolls at 6. Technically Analyze would go to 7 for commlink optimization, but I don't think that's going to be an issue.

[CandyLaser]

In the morning, there's a message from Cross on Saito's commlink. Gel rounds, plenty of them, in all shapes and sizes. Delivered by a secure courier to a dead drop. They look like Ares make, but they've been repackaged. You want them? Give a location and I'll have someone drop them off.

There's a message from Turnbull as well. He's less friendly. I've heard a thing or two. How fraggin' valuable? This sort of thing needs more than beer money. Of course he'd want a bribe. Given what you know of Turnbull, 100 nuyen or so would probably loosen his tongue.

Let's find out if Turnbull's available. [roll0]

Hassan, meanwhile, wakes up to find his agent's been busy. The building's about ten years old, and it's been Ashlock property since construction. It was built by Emerald Ridge Construction, a local firm that's since gone out of business.

[SlyJohnny]

Saito rises, completes his morning ablutions and prayers, deliberates over which tie and shirt-lining to wear with his actioneer business clothes today, and heads out into the living room. He brews some tea for himself and anyone else that's up, makes sure the auto-hydration systems are keeping his plants as watered as he thinks they need to be, and checks his messages on the house terminal.

He nods unconsciously as he reads Turnbull's message. The guy is exactly as brusque as Saito remembers, so he clearly hasn't warmed to Saito since they last spoke, but it's good to see that the man is still embittered and hungry. Saito vaguely hopes the man's notably useful and exploitable brand of misfortune and unhappiness continues for a while yet.

He transfers 100 nuyen from the group's escrow account to a similarly anonymous account that Turnbull routinely uses for accepting petty bribes and kickbacks, and then sends a reply. Of course. Treat yourself to something stronger, on me.

Now. Be expansive, please.

He calls up the message about the gel rounds and shows it to anyone nearby that either slept over or who has reappeared with the morning, favouring Itzhak, if he's around.

"Cross has the gel rounds that Johnson promised us. Says they've been repackaged. I assume that's just standard for this sort of drop, but if you'd like to go and collect them, maybe you can check that they're good, and if they're actively trying to hide a link to Ares?" Saito says, preferring not to take the lazy way of just giving both Cross and some random shadowland courier his address.

[Lentrax]

Cara awakens in the early morning. As she stretches she yawns, and starts opening vids. News feeds, a couple of games sites. She even checks on a couple of threads she has in a way old-school message board site.

She starts writing out replies, and as she does so, she notes that the others are in varying states of awakening.

So. We have an agenda for the day, or what?

[SlyJohnny]

Saito crooks an eyebrow at Cara.

"That depends on you. You have access to the system? Now you are rested, can you get us personnel files for the staff? Day planners, diaries and schedules? Shift timetables? Details of the security systems en site? Floor plans for the two levels we weren't given details of?"

[Lentrax]

Sure. I'll see what I can do.

Cara then, closes her eyes, submerges herself into the reality of VR, and heads off to the node for the Ashlock office again.

Will attempt to log on with the account Cara made.

[The Glyphstone]

Riese declines the offer of hospitality overnight, evidently a little self-conscious about the volume of space he would be disrupting on Saito's floor space, but promises to be back early the next morning before driving away on his bike. As promised, he returns shortly after dawn, pausing only to send off an inquiry to Vladimir Cherdenko regarding anything he might know about the business at the given address - if it was under Mafia protection, at the least.

Arriving at the house just in time to catch Cara before she immerses, he reiterates his reminder/request to check for the presence of a booking calendar or appointments database of clients for Ashlock.

"I am sinking here, zat high-falue clients vill be zee sort to vant prefiew tours of zee facility zey are about to spend large amounts of nuyen training zeir employees in. If such a tour has been booked, and if our young hacker here can spoof zee entry appropriately to suit us, vee can simply valk in shrough zee front door as a party zey are already expectink vithout trippink any of zeir perimeter security."

[CandyLaser]

When Cara reenters the Everett facility's node, she once again comes under the scrutiny of the attendant IC. But this time, it's looking at a registered user - so after a moment, the 'security guard' agent smiles at her and says, "Welcome back, Miss Jameson. Can I be of assistance?" It seems personable and friendly.

I just picked a random name for your user account. Hope that's okay.

Officer Turnbull, on the other hand, takes his sweet time to get back to Saito. It's probably a power play, just a way of showing that he's not subject to your orders. He does come through, though, eventually, with a fairly detailed accounting of the current security reponse priorities for the neighborhood. The area surrounding the new facility is, on paper, higher than the rest of the neighborhood. However, Turnbull has annotated the file he sent, indicating that this a fairly recent change and (more importantly) that it's not entirely true. He says it's connected to the opening of the new facility - with the combat simulations that are planned, they expect a rise in calls, and in particular a rise in mistaken calls. As a result, the unofficial protocol for Knight Errant is to put calls from the area on the back-burner unless and until they can be confirmed to be legitimate.

Let's roll and see if Vladimir is available: [roll0]

Then there's Riese's contact Vladimir. He's quick and efficient. His reply comes back in Russian: "Не наша. Не кто-либо другой, либо."

I don't know if Google Transate did a good job with that, but in English it's supposed to be "Not ours. Not anyone else's, ether."

[Lentrax]

No, I don't think- actually, yes. You can do something for me. Could you please direct me to the tour schedule? I would find it myself, but you probably already know where it is in the directory.

[CandyLaser]

"I'm afraid I don't have that information. Please use the central information repository." The security guard nods to the big icon floating in the center of the room.

[Dimers]

Hassan drip-dries from a morning wade in front of the house while Cara is 'out'. "Hope she gets sommin' good," he comments as he applies a metal-bristled brush to clean sand and debris off his underarmor before coming in. "The Matrix ain't exactly sheething witsh people trying to put a hole in Ashhlock. No bites from ShadowSea yet, though I'd give it a day or two yet, sometimes people are slow. The corp that built the fashility is outta businesh. If they were bought out by Ashhlock to keep the designs secret ... eh, seemsh pretty unlikely, only the megas throw around that kind of nuyen."

The ork nevertheless asks his Agent to look at business news sources for the circumstances of Emerald Ridge's closing.

[Taelas]

Rei, who accepted Saito's invitation with customary politeness and an echoed "oyasuminasai", though he only slept a few hours thanks to his regulator, is going through various kata slowly though deliberately. They are generally flawless, and a thorough mix of karate, tae kwon doe, and wushu, though he restricts himself to those that can be performed without disturbing the others. He is quiet, except for deep, heavy breaths.

[CandyLaser]

As the day goes on, Saito's spirit checks in occasionally. There's a steady flow of people moving in and out starting at around 8 AM and continuing until a bit after 9. Then things trail off until lunch time, when a few people leave - and a few delivery services arrive for brief visits. All in all, it's about what you'd expect from an office building in terms of times, but there are quite a bit fewer people than there would be if the facility was a regular, working office building. Most of the vehicles enter and leave from the car park, which prevents the spirit from getting a good view on them.

Feel free to take additional actions during the morning, but I'm just aiming to move things along.

[Lentrax]

Having analyzed the icon, Cara begins accessing the data in it, opening and reading everything she can. Relying on her mind for recalling information, she makes a note to look for the information her team has asked for. Inspections, tests ad trials for the next several days gets prioritized for her reading.

[CandyLaser]

Hassan's message to ShadowSea doesn't provide much help. If anyone's hit the facility, they're not talking. You do get a message from a user (username: LightningLynx) who claims to have run for Ashlock in the past and asking what you want to know (and what it's worth to you); other than that, there's no reply.

Charisma + Connection extended test for Hassan, with a -1 to each check after the first.
Check 1: [roll0]
Check 2: [roll1]
Check 3: [roll2]

On the Matrix, when Cara accesses the icon, it brings up an array of windows. The main window reads: Welcome back, Miss Jameson. You have never accessed your account before. You have not worked a shift. You have no shifts scheduled. You have no assigned tasks.

There's a second window showing a few general action items.

Opening day is the 23rd. Are YOU ready? Make sure you are by accomplishing the following objectives.

Do you have your weapons certification?
Have you passed the Ashlock Standard Security Protocol Exam?
Do you know your team assignment?
Have you met your team leader?
Have you completed the mandatory magical security course?
Remember: Ashlock depends on YOU!

ATTENTION ALL STAFF: Elevator 2 is down for repairs. Please use elevator 1 - or try the stairs! Remember, passing physical fitness exams can earn you prizes as part of our "Healthy Family" initiative.

Finally, there's a window displaying a search prompt containing employee information and calendars. This is where most of what Cara wants can be found. There isn't a complete accounting of how many guards are on duty at any given time, sadly, but you can see that there are three eight-hour shifts. There is a global events calendar, as well, presumably to alert employees about what's going on. The next big event is an inspection tour tomorrow from 9:30 in the morning until 12:30. Then there's a break for lunch. The calendar entry for the morning just reads "AM Inspection Tour" and offers no further detail. In the afternoon, there another event labeled "AM Executive Meeting" from 2 until 3:30 PM.

The bad news: you don't have the ability to alter or examine any of the entries with your current level of privileges. You also can't make new entries. Unfortunately, it also looks like you also don't have access to calendars or employee lists. The underlying technology here is based on one of Horizon's social media platforms, and your user account doesn't have any friends; until you make some friends, you're not going to be able to get into their profiles (without doing some hacking).

Also, as it's daytime, the node you're in begins to fill up with legitimate traffic. Users are coming and going, most of them checking in with the control icon you're using. If anyone notices you, they don't say anything.

[Lentrax]

Cara watches the nose begin to fill as she reads.

Time to go.

Cara finishes her reading, and departs, logging out of the node.

Once she is logged out, she returns to reality to speak with her team, and deliver what information she uncovered.

Not sure what the inspection is tomorrow. And I don't know where to go for the data. But this is about as far as I can get on my own. Trying to befriend people on thier social media will raise too many flags, and could cause someone to trigger an alert and install more IC.

[SlyJohnny]

Saito looks at the appointment and the data-dump, rubbing his chin. He telepathically queries his spirit about whether the guard spirits were replaced shortly after it started watching, or whether they appear to be the same spirits working through sunset and sunrise. He also checks whether they take interest in people going in, suggesting that they're checking that arrivees have the astral signature that they're normally expected to.

"AM is probably Ares Macrotechnology. We have data suggesting that Ashlock are courting Ares, after all. I think you've found the real reason we're being hired to do this. Johnson gave us a five day window to hit the facility, with an Ares inspection tour smack in the middle. Surely there's no way a genuine company man would schedule shadowrunners to bust in and start breaking things immediately before or after they intend to talk to potential investors? Unless this is a screwjob in some way and he plans for us to be put down, hard, to impress them."

Saito sits down, stirring his tea. He sips slowly, and then looks at each of his team in turn.

"So. Assuming that's what the appointment is. We could pose as elevator repairmen, or new security intake... they are a busy office, they're still inducting new personnel, some of whom have perhaps not even met their team leaders yet. All we'd need is uniforms. Pros: being elevator repairmen means that questioning or scrutiny will be very minimal. Being new security hires means that we would be allowed into more areas. Cons: our movements will likely be restricted, they may have menial tasks they demand we perform instead of our objective, and you won't be able to bring most of your weaponry.

We could pose as existing security personnel by ambushing people as they leave for the day. I am confident we can abduct and replace people without raising alarm. Rei can disguise us to look like our targets, with the likely exception of Riese. I can magically interrogate our targets for passwords, hidden security measures, and eliminate any surprises. Pros: If three of us do this, and three of us make a diversionary attack on the facility, we could likely go absolutely anywhere inside with very little scrutiny or oversight, particularly if we claim to be responding to an attack in another floor or room. Hassan and I could replace wagemages, reducing their magical security and not raising suspicion about our own magic. We won't have to acquire any uniforms or codes that our targets don't already possess. Cons: their magical security likely includes their spirits checking astral signatures, which our disguises won't fool. We'll need a way around that. We'd have to commit to splitting up.

We could hijack those AM appointments by calling Ashlock and asking to move them forward to an earlier slot, and then arriving for them ourselves. Pros: We likely won't need to impersonate anyone they've met before. They will defer to us, and take us anywhere in the facility that we need to go. If we pull it off just right, this approach has the smallest chance of combat. Cons: We don't know how well they know the Ares rep, or if they are expecting a specific person or persons. Ares could contact them on their own initiative, either before our during our infiltration, and raise the alarm. We don't have enough information on whatever dialogue that may've occurred previously to convincingly fake a pre-existing relationship, unless we determine the identity of whoever we're supposed to meet, and either abduct and interrogate them, and/or mentally compel them not to raise the alarm during the tour. We will need to acquire a convincing vehicle- and if that vehicle is a rotorcraft, a pilot- and we if things go south we'll either have to abandon it, or commit to fighting our way back to the car park or helipad and escaping in it. Tomorrow doesn't leave us with much of a window to plan.

We could hijack those appointments by abducting and replacing whatever delegation Ares sends. The facility is remote enough that we could identify and intercept an unidentified ground or rotorcraft approaching, if we knew what to look out for. Pros: We'll likely be impersonating people they haven't met before. We will have direct knowledge of all previous dialogues and relationships. We won't need to alter the existing arrangements. With the Ares people removed from play, our chances of being discovered early by Ares' intervention is reduced. Cons: My spirits have only gathered one day of overwatch on vehicles leaving and entering, so attempting to find the right vehicle without more data might be a risk. Depending on the size and relative importance of the delegation Ares is sending, they could resist our ambush long enough to get off a warning unless we're certain we can jam them. Tomorrow doesn't leave us with much of a window to plan.

We could hijack those appointments during the lunch period, either by pretending to have returned early, or by abducting the delegation and their guides while they go for lunch. But we'd need more footwork for that. They can't be going too far if they plan to leave, eat and return in an hour and a half. How many upscale restaurants are within 15 minutes drive of that location? Do any of you know? Even if there's a cafeteria on the floor we don't have plans for, they probably won't make corporate executives eat there unless they're at least getting outside catering in, which is another potential infiltration vector.”

Saito takes another sip of tea, his throat dry after so much talking.

“All of this is on the assumption that the 'AM' appointment is what I suppose it to be. Another thing that's worth considering is that if Johnson really does want us to make a lot of noise and scare off his competitors investors, maybe we can do the job quietly, get paid, and have Ashlock pay us again to not publicise the attack. Does anyone have a preference? Or any ideas for eliminating the variables and the unknowns from any of these plans?”

Area Knowledge: Seattle, for nice restaurants near the target location. [roll0]

[Dimers]

Hassan adds, "Could alsho go the standard route, hacking open a physical door on our own timeframe. The traineesh won't occupy the building more heavily at night than any other secure building -- wouldn't do 'em any good in training if everyone'sh walking the beat in a big horde. And Ashlock ain't got the nuyen for world-class shecurity themshelves. Sho we pop a lock, make a couple brief illusionsh of empty hallsh for cameras on the way, find the fire stair (which it don't shound like too many people are taking). That close in, my radar shhould help. And we can summon help inshide without makin' the ward buzz."

"I like the ambush-and-replache, though. Plays to our abilities. Maybe Cara could have a couple victimsh call in sick, too, so they'll be short-shtaffed when we hit the fachility. We'd have to stash the live ones, though, and kidnapping is more serious than smackin' a guy around with ballishtic jello. Well, we'll figure shomethin'. I'm gonna write back to our new Shadowsea nibble, see what their relashionship has been with Ashlock." Keeping half an ear on the conversation, Hassan starts scribbling out his thoughts in AR using his commlink's mini-projector.

[Lentrax]

Cara, her job done for now, settles into her chair, and pulls up a couple of streaming videos, including last nights midseason cliffhanger episode of Technomancer and Mook.

And, as always, its hard to tell if she is actually there anymore or not.

[Dimers]

With input from the other 'runners and a couple phrasing suggestions from his commlink's editing software, Hassan preps a response to LightningLynx. He checks their user stats for reputation before sending.

Answers worth 25¥ to 75¥ each, not a bad day's work. Could be more if particularly juicy. TheKing doesn't mind spending for quality.

You said you worked for Ashlock, not against?
How were you hired and by who? Image and meaningful ID would be a bonus.
When were you employed? To do what? How'd it turn out?
Do you know anyone inside Ashlock now?
Any comment on Seattle building layout? [See attached diagrams]

[CandyLaser]

LightningLynx isn't anyone particularly noteworthy on ShadowSea. He's got a positive rep, but only from a few sources. His reply comes in just a few minutes.

Yeah, I ran for Ashlock. The Johnson was a dwarf. Dark hair, stocky, had three datajacks in his head. I didn't get a picture. I thought that was a no-no? Anyway, they hired me to do a fake extraction on one of their own. I guess it was a loyalty test, or something - the target was one of their execs, and we were supposed to come give him an offer and see what he did. This was about eight months ago? It went fine. The exec took our offer so we extracted him then delivered him to the Johnson. I don't know exactly what happened next but the exec was dead a week later.

I was offered some more work by them later but it didn't come at a convenient time. I don't have any way of getting in touch with anyone in the company. I don't know anything about that building, either.

Anyway seems like I've been pretty helpful, so let's say you send me 500Y and call it even?

[SlyJohnny]

"We need more intel either way, then. We should question a couple of employees. I will direct the thousand kami to locate some suitable candidates as they come off shift."

Saito leans back into his chair, draining the last of his tea as he telepathically communes with his air spirit and asks it to update him every time a vehicle leaves the facility, and assense the vehicle's occupants. If the occupants do not appear to be Awakened, he will dispatch a watcher spirit to tail each vehicle to it's destination, note where the occupants get out and enter a building (and if anyone else lives with them), and then report back. If the vehicle stops off at a Stuffer Shack or a bar or some other public place, he'll send the watcher back to tail the vehicle until the driver heads home. From this, he hopes to find out where some of the facility staff live, and hopefully find one or two that live alone and in conveniently low security neighbourhoods. Finding likely targets of the same metatypes as his team is also a plus.



Will summon up watchers as and when I need them, using the ones I currently have summoned first, their lifespan allowing.

Watcher 1:[roll0]
[roll1] resist drain

Watcher 2:[roll2]
[roll3] resist drain

Limiting lifespan as necessary to prevent drain.

[CandyLaser]

After dismissing the first spirit, Saito's second provides a more thorough view of the people entering and leaving. There's not much traffic during the day, but at around 6 PM there's a flurry of activity as people leave at the close of the work day.

Let's make a few assensing checks. A Force 5 spirit rolls ten dice, so here we go:

Roll 1: [roll0]
Roll 2: [roll1]
Roll 3: [roll2]
Roll 4: [roll3]
Roll 5: [roll4]
Roll 6: [roll5]
Roll 7: [roll6]
Roll 8: [roll7]

Should it matter, sunset's at 8:36 PM.

Two cars - a blue Mercury Comet and a red BMW 400GT - bear Awakened passengers. The rest are all mundane. The watcher spirits that Saito dispatches have little trouble, overall, tracking the vehicles. By 7:30 PM you've got four possible home locations for Ashlock employees. Two are in Everett, about twenty minutes from the facility. One is still in Everett, but further out - half an hour or so by car. The last is in Snohomish.

Of the Everett locations, the closest is an apartment building; by cross-referencing it with the information about KE's response times you received from Officer Turnbull, you can see that it's in a B-rated neighborhood - not too bad, but finding the actual apartment that the employee lives in might be tricky. The second is in a private home in Nelson's Corner, a AA neighborhood. But like Goldilocks, the third location is just right - it's down near the Snohomish border, in a C-rated neighborhood, near the corner of 52nd Ave W and 170th Pl SW.

Rather than rolling, I'm just taking averages here.

[SlyJohnny]

Saito directs the watcher spirits who were following the Everett people to locate them both in the apartment building using their Search powers and ascertain if they're alone, and asks the one in Snohomish to count how many people are in the building with it's quarry, and if there are any animals bigger than a rat around. He brings up the 52nd Ave W and 170th Pl SW address on a map from his house terminal, pointing to the building.

"Here. This one just got off shift. If he's back on before we've finished the run, I'll make him call in sick. I can probably squeeze this guy by myself, but I have a feeling we might need to abduct an executive in a neighbourhood with real security to get the information we need most."

Saito sets off to the address with anyone who wants to come.

[Taelas]

Rei looks up after a moment, then nods. "If that is how you wish to proceed, Saito-san," he says, "I will go with you."

[Frendle]

Itzhak lifts up head shaking it once to clear the sleep and addresses Rei and Saito."You want some overwatch on this op? Might be good if I tag along, yes?"

[Dimers]

LightningLynx isn't anyone particularly noteworthy on ShadowSea. He's got a positive rep, but only from a few sources. His reply comes in just a few minutes.

I didn't get a picture. I thought that was a no-no?

:) You're very polite and proper!


Anyway seems like I've been pretty helpful, so let's say you send me 500Y and call it even?

Great sense of humor, too! You'll have no trouble attracting a partner. Seriously, though, while I would've been overjoyed with personnel or building details, yr bonus info about the exec's fate is useful. Sending 300.

Finishing the rather arcane three-layers-of-security payment process Shadowsea uses to protect its clientele, Hassan finally pays attention to the room instead of his commlink display. "I'm happy to go too, if yer shhure it's a smart move. We got a couple daysh yet, can still see what elshe Cara can cook up inshide."

[CandyLaser]

LightningLynx's reply is straightforward: :(

Doesn't stop him or her from taking the payment, though.

[CandyLaser]

Saito's spirits have mixed results. In Everett, the spirit just can't manage the task. However, in Snohomish, the spirit has a much easier task. It darts into the house and does a count, revealing that he lives with three other people. The house is also inhabited by two animals bigger than a rat.

Search checks for the watcher spirit:

Roll 1: [roll0]
Roll 2: [roll1]
Roll 3: [roll2] Critical glitch, ending the test.
Roll 4: [roll3]
Roll 5: [roll4]
Roll 6: [roll5]
Roll 7: [roll6]
Roll 8: [roll7]

[SlyJohnny]

Saito nods vaguely. He asks the watcher to identify what the animals are, and the age of the other occupants.

"Our target lives with roommates or family. Tricky, but not unmanageable. It would be best if they didn't see our faces."

Saito sets off to the address with anyone who wants to women.

[CandyLaser]

The watcher spirit isn't well-informed enough about metahumanity to guess at ages itself, but it can offer up physical descriptions. According to the spirit, the target is a human male, with no wrinkles or gray hairs, but he does have a goatee. He lives with another human man of about the same age (judging from the spirit's description) and two small humans - kids, by the sound of it, a boy and a girl and both humans. The animals are a dog and a cat, although in a bit of a subversion it's the cat that's the larger of the two. The dog is one of those annoying tiny yappy numbers while the cat is a big tabby tom.

What time are you planning on making your approach?

[SlyJohnny]

Saito wants to head over immediately. Time is of the essence, and he wants to get it done before the situation changes or things get complicated.

[CandyLaser]

After a brief cruise down the interstate, Saito and company make their way to Snohomish fairly early in the evening. The neighborhood in question is conspicuously worse than other, adjacent ones - there are bars on windows, crappy old cars on the streets and in driveways, and people are either hurrying down the street, trying to get out of plain view, or lurking menacingly on street corners and in front of buildings.

The guard's house is about what you'd expect. It's a private home, one story and not an apartment or duplex, but it's quite run-down. Someone probably thought the white painted exterior would look nice, but between the pollution, the acid rain, and a general lack of repair it ends up looking stained and discolored. The car your spirits tracked is parked in a carport, with a cheap security camera clearly visible and watching the car. There are lights on in most of the barred windows, and the shades are drawn, preventing any easy view of what's going on indoors.

[SlyJohnny]

Saito will direct the group to wait with him a short distance away, out of sight of nosy neighbours or cameras. He turns to his spirit, Baku, silently communing with it. He relays the description of the two males to the spirit, explaining which is their target.

::Baku, use your Influence to make the other male to take the children out to a restaurant for ice cream for at least the next half hour, and to convince our target to enthusiastically agree with this idea, but to stay home and rest, himself. :: He directs a watcher spirit to relay the conversation that takes place inside the home, and to notify if there are any problems.

Assuming this goes off without a hitch, he'll detail a watcher to follow the husband or roommate and report when they're returning, and then approach the door with his team mates.

::Baku, cast Control Thoughts on our target, get him to come and open the door for us while staring at the floor, and then go and lie down in the middle of the room and hold him there until I'm finished questioning him. Do not let him see our faces. If he's breaking free of it, let me know. ::

Do I roll for the spirit, or do you?

[Dimers]

'Elvis' tries to make the group's travel through the neighborhood and up to the door less noteworthy, calling on the services of a spirit with a fine touch. Then he lets Saito take the lead, staying quiet so he can focus on the details of the ever-changing radar map in his head. You never know where trouble might show up, especially in a down-at-the-heels place like this.

Summon a Force 4 Task spirit with Concealment as its optional power: [roll0]
Spirit's resistance to the summoning: [roll1]
Drain resistance against Stun damage: [roll2]

Perception for radar sense: [roll3]

Awesome, no Drain again, even with the minimum 2DV. Obviously the spirit's first favor will be using Concealment on us.

[CandyLaser]

Saito's spirit does its thing, and within a few moments a man comes out with two happy-looking kids in tow. They hop in the car and head out.
That would be two services from the spirit for two uses of its power. Normally, you'd roll, but in this case I'll go ahead and do it. Here's the Influence for the first target: [roll0] and the resistance roll: [roll1] Here's the Influence for the second target: [roll2] and the resistance roll: [roll3]

Whether that works or not, the spirit doesn't have Control Thoughts according to your character sheet. The chummer file says Otohime's spell is Heal.
There's nothing unusual on the radar.

[SlyJohnny]

Saito motions for everyone to move over to the door. He pretends to rap his fist against it as if knocking, just to make things slightly more tricky for any observers that aren't already suspicious of a crowd of magically-shielded strangers. He waits for Baku to bring their target over to open the door.

[CandyLaser]

The spirit works its magic on the unsuspecting resident. Baku's control is tenuous - it lasts long enough to bring the man inside over the door and open it, but no longer. The man - he's in his late 30's to look at him, of Hispanic descent, and he could stand to work out more - opens the door, and then he just stands there, staring right at the assembled shadowrunners. Here, the concealment offered by Elvis's task spirit causes some minor trouble. He squints, his eyes darting side to side as if he is having trouble focusing. "Uh... can I help you?" he asks.

Control thoughts [roll0] vs. Willpower [roll1]

[SlyJohnny]

Damn. Saito inwardly curses, wishing he'd taken his time with a series of seperate suggestions rather rushing things with mind control.

He hurriedly casts his own befuddling charm over the man, instructing him to avert his eyes and go and lay face down on a couch for the next half hour (if one is visible) or the floor if not.

If the man shows signs of complying, Saito will hurriedly enter the house behind him. He motions for his comrades to restrain the man where he lies.

[rollv]11d6[\rollv] Influence, force 5
[rollv]11d6[\rollv] versus drain. Will spend a fate to reroll if necessary.

[CandyLaser]

The befuddled man nods, as if he's just heard something extremely sensible. He moves to shut the door, but only half-heartedly, and it's easy to get a hand or foot in the way and hold it open as he staggers over to the couch in the family room and plops, face down, onto the seats. The place is about what you'd expect for this neighborhood. It's run-down inside, and the furniture just screams "second-hand" and "pulled this from a dumpster." But for all of that, it's cozy. The family room has a couch and a trid system. A few AROs decorate the walls, depicting what look like children's drawings.

Will to resist: [roll0] Additional checks to shake off the effect over the next few seconds/minutes: [roll1], [roll2], [roll3], [roll4], [roll5]. If others are going to restrain him, I need to know who's actually doing it.

[SlyJohnny]

"Stay calm. I am going to ask you some questions about your employer. If you cooperate with us, you will not be harmed."

Saito gesticulates, making a few supplications to the Thousand Kami, prevailing upon them to remove the veil between his targets thoughts and his own mind. He stares fixedly at the man, letting the others restrain him, only moving to assist himself once the man is about to break free of the Influence spell.

Casting Mind Probe on myself. Penalty for sustaining the Influence spell accounted for. Spending a point of Fate to boost the roll, sixes explode: [roll0]
Roll to cover any exploding sixes: [roll1]

Mind Probe questions asked for the first five rounds:

1) What procedures or training do you have in place for being questioned/attacked while off-duty?

2) What security systems are there in this house?

3) Who else you expect anyone else to come to this house tonight?

4) What other places, if any, are you expected to be tonight?

5) What "under duress" codes or special security procedures for calling in sick to work do you have?

[CandyLaser]

Unfortunately, the man digs deep and finds a reserve of willpower. Saito's spell does let him invade the man's mind, but only at the most superficial level, and what that reveals is a confusing welter of clashing emotions and whirling thoughts. One part of him is panicking about these menacing strangers who've invaded his home. Another part, lulled by the mishmash of enchantments put on him by Saito's spells and summoned spirits, is quiescent, as if there was nothing in the least unusual about the scene that confronted him. No part seems inclined to address the questions posed. It looks like you might have to do this the old-fashioned way and use your words.

[SlyJohnny]

Saito frowns, irritated, as the man slips from control. You see him rocking back and forth intoning a prayer, trying to beseech a spirit to assist him, but whatever bargain or entreaty he's trying to make with whatever weird kami entity he's communing with apparently doesn't go well. As the others hold the man down, he tries once more to penetrate the veil of the man's thoughts, struggling to focus.

Casting Mind Probe. Spending yet another Fate point, because we really need this happen. Including the penalty for casting this spell a second time on the same guy in the same day. [roll0]
Roll to cover any exploding sixes: [roll1]

[Dimers]

Elvis scans around the room with his NLJD wand looking for hidden cameras or audio bugs while Saito gets to work.

To detect a device other than the obvious ones: [roll0]

Then the Shinto shaman starts swaying. Guessing that Saito's spells were going awry but seeing no reaction from the security guard, Elvis cautiously tries to get the man talking. He psychically leans away from his spirit's occultation while standing off to one side. Taking care to talk around his one protrusive tusk, he asks, "So. Ares might be sending a representative to Ashlock tomorrow. Know anything about that? Have you met the people involved?"

If my guess is that the guy knows more than he's willing to reveal, I might add, "Contrary to what you're learning in guard school, it's quite possible to come out on top by cooperating with intruders, at least while the cameras can't see you. And Ashlock can't see you here, can they? ... A reward for helping and a conveniently timed sick day sounds much better than having shadowy people annoyed with you. Your people and mine can get along just fine."

[CandyLaser]

"I'm just a guard, man," says your captive. His voice is tinged - no, positively saturated - with fear. "They don't tell me much. The Ares guys have their own security detachment, and all we're supposed to do is guard the perimeter." He gulps, audibly, and starts casting around. You get the sense he's being honest, but he also is just spouting information in the hopes it's what you're here for. "I haven't met any of them. Uh.... uh.... there's a rumor they're planning to buy us, though."

[SlyJohnny]

Saito continues to mumble prayers in archaically accented Japanese, but his mojo just isn't flowing today. He can't peer as far into the man's mind as he wants to. He curses inwardly, not wanting to have to actually speak.

"That's good. You cooperate with us, and you just walk away from this one." he says, sounding a lot more in control and relaxed than he feels.

"You got any security systems in this house? Any procedures for something like this, cute little panic alarms, or duress codes? Anyone due visiting tonight?" he says, watching the man's surface thoughts as he speaks, as well as listening for his answers.

He paces around the living room, formulating his next question.

"How many guards on duty for the Ares visit? How many of those will be Awakened?"

[CandyLaser]

"It's just me, but I don't know when my family will be back. Please, please, just leave us alone!" he sobs in terror. "There are usually only a dozen of us. I don't know if there will be extras for the visit. A couple of wage mages are usually on shift, too."

[SlyJohnny]

"Alright. You're doing good, here. If you keep being this forthcoming, we'll be out of here before your family even comes back. That would be best for everyone. Don't you think?" Saito says, his voice level and reasonable, but with an edge of potential danger.

"When are you next on duty? Are you on duty during their visit?" he says, watching the man's surface thoughts carefully as he frames his next questions about the floors they don't have maps for.
"What's on floor 3? Can you remember the layout, how you get there, what people are normally on it?" He pauses, letting the man's thoughts wander over these questions as much as they're going to, and then asks "And what's on the basement floor? Have you ever been down there?"

[CandyLaser]

"I'm on duty tomorrow morning, and during the visit. The third floor is where the executives are; I've never been assigned up there, and I don't know anyone who has. You need a special keycard to get up there. The basement's just a server room. I've been down there once, when I was hired, so I could get my access card set up. They use drones down there."

[SlyJohnny]

"Okay. What security measures are in place? Magical? Automated? How do you patrol the facility? Are there HRT or security reinforcements available besides Knight Errant?"

Saito continues, leaving a gap before each question so the man can properly think through his answer. He watches for lies or disassembling.

"I need you to describe everyone who is scheduled to visit the facility tomorrow, other than the staff. How are you expected to identify these visitors? How are they going to arrive there? Where are they coming from? Who is going to show them around? Who has been the point of contact for the arrangements of this visit, on your end and their end? What do you know about the itinerary for the tour... are they going out for lunch, or are arrangements being made at the site?"

[CandyLaser]

"They don't tell me most of that stuff. I know there are mages, and spirits, and drones, but they don't pay me to ask other questions. All of us grunts have an alert button we can hit on our commlinks, and that'll make the spider on-site scramble drones and backup. If there's HRT, I've never heard of it - the backups are just other guards from elsewhere.

I don't know much about the visitors, either. They're supposed to show up at 9:30, and they're supposed to be gone by 4. I'm telling you, man, I'm just a guard, and I'm just doing perimeter sweeps all day tomorrow. I don't know anything else. Please, just go. I've answered all your questions."

[Dimers]

Hassan messages Saito while he's asking the latest round of questions, Good stuff, better than I expected even if not as good as hoped. I'm sending the transcript to Riese. Should go soon. Ice cream might not be far away. He then directs his agent to bundle the last couple minutes of audio input as "interview.snd" and pass it to Riese ASAP.

[SlyJohnny]

Saito checks his message and nods to Hassan. The man's right; they need to speed this up. He allows a growl to enter into his voice.

"You're not giving me anything I can use, just-a-guard. You do not want to be useless at this moment. If you're on perimeter, they at least told you what kind of vehicle to expect. If you don't know anything about these visitors, then who does?" he snarls.

Do my readings from Mind Probe jive with what he's saying? Is he thinking anything interesting about any of these questions?

[CandyLaser]

The guard is quivering in fear while he lays on the ground. His voice breaks several times as he answers. "I don't know what they're coming in! We check IDs, not cars. My boss might know more - Gwen Stillson. I don't know where to find her or anything, though. Now please, just leave! I've told you everything!" The mind probe confirms what he's saying, and it doesn't reveal anything else. He's terrified, and mostly what you get are fairly vivid images of him getting his brains blown out by the scary home invaders currently interrogating him.

[SlyJohnny]

Saito scoffs as if he doesn't believe a word of any of this. "Then what ID's are you checking for? You find some weirdo wandering the grounds tomorrow, you're just going to let them pass if they got a SIN says they work for Ares?"

Saito paces, musing. He glances at the man's hands, looking for a wedding ring.

"Listen. You have a lovely family. Lovely enough that I want to just walk away from this, and never meet them. You scan? But you have to give me something I can use. You work perimeter. What about the wards and spirits? You must have seen if there is a wagemage that comes by and refreshes the wards every so often. What do they look like?"

[CandyLaser]

"There's a list at work. I don't bring it home - they wouldn't let me. But I do know one of the mages. He's an elf, named Bill Rayburn. I'm not friends with him or anything, but I've seen him and we talk at work sometimes. I walked him around the perimeter once while he was working. He's tall for an elf, and black. Black hair. Usually wears suits to work." He just starts to sob after that, and it seems unlikely that you're going to get much more from him. Saito notices that the terrified guard has no ring on his finger.

[SlyJohnny]

Saito takes a few moments to call a Spirit of Man to his side, and then says,

"Okay. Take a moment to compose yourself. Then you're going to call in sick to work, right now, and not show up the next couple of days. You're sweating, with a fever: something plausible. And then you're going to keep quiet about this and so live out the rest of your life without seeing any of us again. Whatever's going to happen, it won't get traced back to you... as long as you don't tell anyone about this conversation. I will know if you do, and what will happen to you and your family will make the news."

Saito gives the man a moment to calm down, and then commands the spirit to use it's Influence power to make him call in sick to work, and then again, to never tell anyone this happened. He hopes the man will be convinced enough of the merits of not talking that he won't ever be confronted by the "wrongness" of not saying anything, and thus won't question the Influence.

He sends a commlink message to their technomancer.

Kerydw3n. We're done here. This guy has a commlink with a panic button program on it. Would you mind setting up some kind of block or warning, for if he tries to contact work or the authorities? after we go? And maybe take a look to see if there's anything of interest on here. Copy his security access, analyse that panic button program, whatever you think helpful.

[CandyLaser]

The guard simply shudders and sobs wordlessly. It does look like he's nodding, though, so you're pretty sure that what you're saying is getting through (and being appropriately magically reinforced).

[Dimers]

Hassan leads the group calmly out, relieved to get away from the employee's naked fear. Psychic stink is so bad in there, he might as well have pissed himself. That distraction aside, he focuses on what his radar headware is telling him and on keeping a profile appropriate for the neighborhood. No sense making the spirit's job harder.

[Lentrax]

Cara reads the message as it pops into her vision.


Kerydw3n. We're done here. This guy has a commlink with a panic button program on it. Would you mind setting up some kind of block or warning, for if he tries to contact work or the authorities? after we go? And maybe take a look to see if there's anything of interest on here. Copy his security access, analyse that panic button program, whatever you think helpful.

Sighing, she pauses the mini marathon of old cable TV shows. As she closes the window, she mentally notes the times she'll need to skip the current episode of Salute Your Shorts to so she can finish watching it later. She then goes out into the Matrix again. Except this time, she's working. She tracks down the commlink and starts trying to assert herself onto the 'link.

Hacking on the fly. Will be trying for admin access rights.
(Rolling for three actions.)
[roll0] 3 hits
[roll1] 3 hits (6 total)
[roll2] 3 hits (9 total)

[CandyLaser]

The guard's commlink is, as you might expect, not particularly secure. He's shelled out for a decent firewall, but it's using stock settings, so the hack proceeds quickly and easily.

Firewall 2 plus Analyze 2, three attempts:
Roll 1: [roll0]
Roll 2: [roll1]
Roll 3: [roll2]

In less than a minute, Cara's got full control of the guard's 'link. She controls the horizontal; she controls the vertical. It looks like he's got an AR filter up which makes his house look nicer and cleaner than it actually is, blocking out stains on the furniture and marks on the walls. It's all very low-key. Other than that, he's got quite a few AR games, plus some work stuff. The panic button software is easy enough to find, but it won't actually work if you try to trigger it here. It looks like that icon detects whether or not the node it's in is slaved to an Ashlock system. If you took his physical commlink, and you were on the Ashlock site, you could log in as the guard (whose name turns out to be Derek Welch).

[Lentrax]

Wow. His Miracle Shooter scores are really low. I mean, seriously. Did he start playing yesterday?

Anyway, down to business. A little sculpting here... A touch of code there...

Well, if anything goes wrong, he'll be calling me instead of his buddies.

She looks at the software for identity authentication. That's neat, doubling the commlink as a keycard.

I wonder....

I think I can get me onto site without causing an alarm. Then all I need is a way to get access to this disconnected node, I can get the data, and we can get out. As Cara speaks, identical words get typed into her commlink to send out to Saito. Also attached to the message is another sentence.

The panic button couldn't call out from home anyway, but now it will call me.

[Taqukaq]

Fallon Din taps his temple in contemplation. Not entirely sure what use he could be until the night of the operation.

You guys want me to case out the place? I'll bring Fallon Din's reach so I won't even have to get closer that 300 meters. Could discover external levels of activity, out side security patrols and if there are windows I can get some basic internal information.

[Dimers]

"Soundsh wise to me. Between 'Reach' and the fly-spy, we shhould be able to learn a thing or two, maybe find a better route to take," Hassan responds quietly. He messages the elf what he was able to garner about the patrolling spirits' pattern before his probe was discovered, so as to reduce the possibility of discovery by non-visual means.

[SlyJohnny]

Saito opens his mouth to say something else to the guard, but there's nothing else to be said. Satisfied his magic compulsions are sticking, he gestures to the door, and heads out himself.

On the street a safe distance from the house, he takes out his commlink. As he dials, he shoots a glance at Fallon. "That's a good idea. We've seen the outskirts of it on astral, but it'd be good to have your eyes on the place too."

He puts the entire team on a group call.

"Well. You've all got the interview transcript, this guy doesn't know enough about the Ares visitors. Either we risk grabbing someone higher up that knows more, we get intel about their movements some other way, or we bury the plan to hit the Ares delegation.

Right now, I think it would be best to find some way to distract the guard spirits, and just go in via the roof during the shift changeover. I can lift us up there... Riese is a problem, but I'll cast on him first. We know where the cameras are. I'll ask a powerful air kami to speed us along, and Hassan can entreat... whatever creatures it is that he deals with... to conceal us, so we won't be very visible for very long. Then we head down to the exec lounge. Stealthily if we can. If the file's not on the servers there, either we find a way down to the basement there, or we withdraw, steal someone's car and go in under disguise, get into the car park, and then breach into the basement servers. Does that sound workable?"

[Taqukaq]

Fallon Don grabs his sniper rifles and puts it in a case, heads to his vehicle and makes his way to the nearby buildings around the target location. Careful to make sure he isn't followed. Making stops at different stores and stations to peruse their goods but will only buy something if he finds he is being followed.

[CandyLaser]

No one seems to be following as Fallon runs his errands.

Meanwhile, in the Matrix... Cara finds that logging in with her user account is easy and doesn't trip any sensors. However, it simply doesn't have the relevant privileges to create another new account. The breach she made earlier, to give herself admin access, is probably still open, although if it's not then things will get hairy fast. That level of access would let her make a new account. Alternatively, it might be possible to bootstrap the existing account up to admin, but that will also come with some risk attached. Decisions, decisions...

Sorry, I accidentally cleared the notification for Lentrax's post in OOC. For Taqukaq: you're planning on doing recon on the building, yes? Go ahead and roll Infiltration, then Perception. For Lentrax: you'll need admin access to the node to create a new admin account. Two ways to get it: first, you could use the entry from your earlier probe. The firewall will get another chance to spot you, but assuming it fails you'll be able to create a new, seemingly legit hidden admin account or upgrade your existing account to admin. Alternately, you could start hacking with your current level of access. I'm away from my books, but I'd say that would be a complex Hacking + Edit test, with a threshold of 6, while the firewall gets to roll every round to spot the unorthodox activity.

[CandyLaser]

Fallon's travels - purely by coincidence, or so any unseen followers would think - bring him close to the Ashlock facility. Once there, it's relatively easy work for him to find a place where he can observe the facility in detail through the scope of his rifle. That careful study proves fruitful, as well, revealing the routes taken by the external physical patrols, among other things. It looks like the perimeter security is mainly entrusted to the spirits that you all detected the night before as well as drones - Ferrets and roto-drones, mainly, sweeping over the perimeter in twenty-minute intervals. Human patrols occur twice a night.

In addition, there are cameras on the building exterior, at pretty much every corner and covering all the windows - almost. On the east and west sides of the buildings, there two pairs of offices, separated by a gap. It looks like the architects and planners left a gap, here, because the windows in that gap have no camera coverage. There are probably wire alarms on them, but it's a start. In addition, camera coverage on the roof seems to be light. You could probably get from the roof edge to the elevator doors up there unobserved.

[Taqukaq]

Fallon Din packs up his gear, and commits the information to memory and writing notes on his internal commlink. Time to report the patrol routs, security measures and weak points. Fallon Din heads back to the rest of the group, once again making a long drive stopping at stores and stations to look through and check if he is under surveillance.

[CandyLaser]

As before, the trip back is uneventful, and it seems like the whole excursion was unobserved.

[Lentrax]

Cara looms through the digital. Her mind pours through her previous breach.

They must have some terrible hackers on their payroll if they haven't found this yet... Maybe I should drop them a line about a job...

She once again goes into the files, and starts crafting. Soon enough, she has a new account, which she then uses to log into the system. Time to poke around.

Threading an analyze program: [roll0]

[CandyLaser]

Now that she has an admin account, the central node for the Ashlock facility shows a good deal more functionality. Virtually everything is accessible, albeit with some extra trickery. The main control icon in the node, for instance, grants users the ability to examine their subordinate's schedules, performance reviews, and the like. And admin users can set themselves to be anyone's supervisor. Digging up information on the Ares delegation requires some similar moves; Cara first has to grant herself access privileges to some restriced files, and then dig in, but as an admin user it's all fairly trivial.

What comes up after her search is a directory containing dossiers on the visiting Ares delegates, detailed itineraries for their visit, and information on which Ashlock folks are responsible for interfacing with particular visitors. The Ares people are mostly mid-range executives in Mergers & Acquisitions, along with one Ronald Doubletree. Mr. Doubletree is where Ashlock's attention is focused, because ultimately he's the one who has to power to make decisions that will drive any potential acquisition forward. His dossier includes a picture and a fairly thorough biographical sketch. He's a human (not surprising for Ares) and a former citizen of the UK (a bit surprising). It's not clear from the picture or the bio how tall he is, but he's clearly a heavyset, bald, mustached black man. He wears glasses that, according to Ashlock's research, are genuine vision correctives. The Ashlock PR and executive people have planned the whole visit around Doubletree and his schedule. The other visitors are less important, clearly, and there are two people - Alana Mortenson and Na'im Attallah - who are basically inconsequential, according to Ashlock. They have no pictures attached to their dossiers, and their personal schedules for the visit involve them getting shuffled into a side office with a stack of dull financial files to do due diligence. They'd be missed if they didn't show up, but they're not going to have anyone minding them while they're on site.

[Lentrax]

Tedious as the process is, Cara copies everything she can. She then proceeds to log out of the node, exit the Ashlock system, and heads back to reality. And depending on what everyone else thinks, she might wrap things up in time to grab something to eat and settle in before the good trid shows start. And if they don't, well... that's what a always online brain is for, right?

Cara slides back in to reality.

Okay, so. Here's what I found... She then proceeds to tell everyone what she found, and when she gets to the two accountants, she adds her thoughts.

I think these two are the players for the team. Probably hackers, or wage-mages. And while Ashlock may not know their faces, Ares will, and so they'll know if we replace them. I think we need to hit them before Ares arrives.

[SlyJohnny]

Saito smiles in praise as the technomancer shares her Intel. "This is excellent work. It is a shame the visiting delegation is well known to them. It seems to rule out the possibility of replacing them as we'd need to be specific people... is there enough on there about the accountants identities for you to pull information about them from an Ares server? It could confirm your hypothesis about them."


Saito drums his fingers against his leg, thinking. "It seems as if maybe we should just go in stealthily. But during the visit, or after?"

Saito examines the detailed schedule, wondering if the visit is going to create enough of a distraction that either of their target floors will be unusually exposed at any point.

[Lentrax]

You want me to run on Ares? That's as good as zeroing me out. They got ice that'll fry my brain faster than you can blink, omae. And if the ice doesn't fry me, they'll stick me with a tracker and then I'll be good as marked for the real run.

What she doesn't add is, And if they find out I'm a 'mancer? I'll never see daylight again. Frak, I don't even tell people I know I don't deck... I wanna live long enough to legally drink, thank you very much.

[SlyJohnny]

Saito nods.

"Then I suppose we're going in as ourselves. See what else you can get from your access... floor plans, security rotas, anything. I'd like to know what's on the floors we have no layout for, and how close the basement is to the garage."

He looks at the others. "We'll go in after the Ares visit. Hassan, you and I could get everyone up to the roof swiftly. I'll try to draw the spirits away with a watcher... Unless I can arrange better. Then, we work our way down, try to keep the alarm from being raised as much as we can. Remember the panic button program the guards all have. If it's on the upper floor, we'll leave via the roof, otherwise the parking garage. Does anyone have a better plan?"

[Taqukaq]

It would probably be a good idea to have me on the inside. I have short ranged methods of defense but honestly I won't even let it get there. With any luck, they wont even know I exist.

Faelon Din sits there after he returned from his scouting. Faelon Din then proceeds to share the information he saw when he went and scouted out the area.

It isn't everything about the area, but it certainly is a start. There are access points on the ground floor that aren't guarded. Security flaw perhaps? That way we don't need to go through the garage which is a widely used entry point which may have security; I honestly wouldn't know. I didn't check. We could also avoid using the roof which could easily be cut off as an escape depending on the situation, but that is just a possibility. It could be wise to consider if we are discovered as well. Which point would be the best to go to. If we are discovered in the upper floors, they will cut off the roof access. but we don't even know where the target is do we? It could be best to go in from the roof if it is up there. Just throwing out considerations, I actually like the idea, but I would like to go in with you.

[CandyLaser]

Date: May 13, 2074

The reconnaissance was complete. The team had dug into Ashlock's Matrix presence, done astral and physical recon, and questioned the guards. Now it was time to act. After night fell, everyone set off for the facility. At night, the building itself was well-lit, but there were ample shadows nearby in which to hide and make final observations. The first human patrol of the evening has just gone - two guards, walking the perimeter and chatting amiably with each other about the Ares visit earlier. From Din's observations, the next drone patrol should be coming by in about five minutes; after that, it'll be twenty minutes until the next one. The spirits are undoubtedly around as well, but spotting them would take astral perception.

[Dimers]

From the team's concealed gathering point nearby, Hassan takes a few heavy breaths to steady himself for the stress and rush of the job. He glances at Fallon Din and Cara, who will watch his body rest against a wall while he's 'out'. Back in a couple minutes, he texts in the last moment before replacing the computer's interface with the even more glowing and surreal landscape of the Astral.

His mana-form rushes between buildings and up city streets away from the Ashlock site, ignoring a mute nearby watcher spirit and glances of other astral shapes farther away. Turning back, he gains altitude, then directs his form back toward the target with a steady pace, as if flying over that particular building were a complete coincidence. As he passes over its lot on a gentle arc between the runners and the building, he tries to take in as much as he can without changing speed or giving himself away.

[CandyLaser]

Spotting the trio of patrolling spirits is easy for Hassan. They're making no effort to hide their presence; on the astral, they're like three spotlights, circling the facility time and time again. Three spirits don't provide enough coverage to to watch the whole perimeter, though, and there are definitely patterns in how the spirits move in their patrols. After a few minutes, Hassan is reasonably confident that he could plot a course to the building without running afoul of the spirits' sight, although if you were stuck outside the building for more than a few minutes it would be a different story.

[Dimers]

The ork returns his senses to his body and messages the group silently. "We can go pretty much straight to the weak point, starting in about a minute. Follow my path ... and try to look inconspicuous for the mundane cameras."

[Taqukaq]

Luckily this is where I shine friend. Lets go, I'll follow your lead and will gladly provide my services whenever required.

Faelon Din sticks by the Orc once he gives the go ahead.

[The Glyphstone]

Loading his Crusader with gel round and checking the charge on his shock baton, Riese followed after the others as quietly as he could, hunched over almost double to minimize his silhouette against any light sources.

(2 hits on Infiltration)

[CandyLaser]

Thanks to Hassan's astral overwatch and the team's careful planning, the first part of the infiltration goes without a hitch. After a brief but tense run past the perimeter and across the campus, the team ends up clustered together, hidden in the building's own shadow. If the securty schematics that Cara dug up are correct, you're not in view of any cameras - now the question is how you'll gain access to the building. You're currently on the east side, tucked into the indentation along the building's side, crouching down to stay out of the sight lines from the first floor windows.

[Dimers]

Hassan mutters a few grim-sounding words over the hand-forged pliers and bone rod that he uses as magical tools, bringing them back to an active state now that he's past the ward. He messages Fallon, Raising you now, tell me when to slow/stop, then lifts him the stealthy man up the cameraless chimney.

[Taqukaq]

Faelon Din continues up until just short of the desired destination. He messages to slow down and then to stop once he is where he needs to me. He peeks over to check the area before he vaults over and finds ground.

[CandyLaser]

The roof (https://i.imgur.com/g0W649T.jpg) is almost empty, and - it seems - unguarded. It's easy enough to take shelter against some of the rooftop machinery. There's a big set of HVAC units right in front of Faelon that might as well be tailor-made for hiding. There are lines of LEDs set in the roof, marking the borders of the helipad there, while a couple of dim lights on the south side of the building illuminate the elevator doors there. They've got keycard readers on them, and a pair of camera blisters mounted beside them. Other than that there are no obvious sensors or security systems.

[Taqukaq]

Faelon Din vaults over and turns around to give a thumbs up to his people down below. He messages the all clear but points a word of caution towards the elevator. Faelon Din immediately makes wis way to the HVAC units. He then checks the unit for an alternative entry point.

[CandyLaser]

It's not clear if the vents are large enough to fit a person. Even if they can, there's no easy, quiet way to get in from here. The HVAC units on the roof are big commercial jobs (http://www.lennoxcommercial.com/products/solar-ready/sunsource), and removing them is not something done lightly - or quietly. You might be able to tear one open and climb down, but the sound of metal tearing and whatnot would probably alert guards.

[Lentrax]

Time to earn a part of my pay for this job.

Cara sits down, mostly so she doesn't fall over, and then goes limp. To anyone unfamiliar to seeing someone going full VR, it probably looks odd. Odder still would be when they realize she was doing it without a commlink, or any other equipment.

But, in that same instant, Kerydw3n materializes in the Matrix. She leaves the meat behind, and in the infinite space between seconds of meat space, flits herself into the computers governing the security system. These small corps are so predictable with their programming, keeping it simple enough that Cara finds the data, and starts tinkering with the video cameras. She decides to start with the roof. After all, if they can't get in, there's no point, right?

Edit test: [roll0]

Fading resist: [roll1]

[CandyLaser]

Happily, finding and editing the camera footage is an easy enough task. Kerydw3n's digital presence is a ghost as she flits through Ashlock's systems, bringing up the live feeds from the external cameras and smoothly inserting benign footage in a loop. It's not perfect, but it should fool most observers.

Unhappily, the effort takes its toll on her. The rest of the team can see her shudder as fading takes its toll, resulting in a bloody nose, bloodshot eyes, and some bruising around the temples.

[Taqukaq]

Faelon Din does not notice for as far as he knows, he is the only one on the roof. He sends a message.

[We good to go?]

[Lentrax]

Owww. That is going to really hurt in a bit...

She gets the message from Faelon Din as she is finishing up the footage loop. [Yup. The guards are watching reruns, so they're gonna miss tonight's exciting episode.]

Nearly simultaneously, a message hits the entire group. [Someone pick me up. I'm gonna stay online for now.]

[Taqukaq]

[Once we all get up here, I'll need at least one person to watch my back. Worst case scenario I'll go in alone and Cara can guide me to where I need to go in order to retrieve the target. Either way, they will not see me.

Faelon Din loads all of his weapons with the nonlethal gel rounds as he sets up, still hidden behind the HVAC unit.

[Lentrax]

[Unless you're a hacker, I have to go as well.]

[Taqukaq]

[Fair enough. Need me to come down and get you?]

[Lentrax]

[Uhhh, no. You went up with someone else's magic, so coming down would be a pointless waste of his spell.]

[Taqukaq]

[Okay then, whenever you get up here we can go forward.]

[Dimers]

"Go ahead to the door, check the lock -- we gotta shtay out of sight of the spiritsh," Hassan mutters to Faelon. "I can grab her from here." He squats at the roof's edge and looks down, concentrating to lift his companions one at a time with levitating magic.

Buying hits on the spellcasting and Drain tests where possible. Levitate spell is pretty strong -- I only need two hits for Riese. But that means Force 2, which means 3 Drain, and I can't buy that off. [roll0]

[Taqukaq]

Faelon Din goes by the door and checks to see if the door is locked.

[CandyLaser]

As Riese and Cara float silently up the side of the building, Faelon heads to the door. The rooftop is quiet as he pads across it, with the sounds of the sprawl muted by distance and the late hour. The door itself is indeed locked, with a maglock linked to a keycard reader.