Episode II: The Gathering Storm IC Thread 3

[whoiam]

"If it gets us inside without any alarms going off, getting the doors open is more then enough to count as 'your part' of the endeavour."

[RandomLunatic]

"Yeah," Shyar agreed, checking the charge on her carbine. She folded the stock to make the weapon handier for room-to-room fighting and slung the weapon over her shoulder as she stepped out of the speeder.

"Lead on."

((Take 10 on stealth, 25))

[Thundercracker]

Zoccom:
A light drizzle starts as you make your way towards what appears to be a strip club.

A block away quest stops and looks at the both of you.

“There’s a pool on the roof, I think that’s your best way in, now that it’s raining,” she said, “we’ll have to climb the fire escape and go past a few windows though. Or we could go through the front door.”

(1d2)[1]

[RandomLunatic]

"Don't need da fire escape. We got grapplin' hooks, if dere's a side witout windows."

[Thundercracker]

Zoccom:

“Yeah, this way,” Quest said.

She leads you around the back of the building, over a chain link fence, and then up to the side of the structure. Dark paint peels off the sides and the windows are bricked over. The showroom must be on the other side of the wall.

You send up the grappling hooks and climb the wall. Quest needs a little assistance due to her backpack but all three of you make it to the roof, which appears deserted. You are squatting among what appears to be filtration equipment for the water, and the groaning of the pumps masks sound quite well. Landscaping on the roof is present but cheap; some of the plants appear to be fake. Still, you imagine this must be a nice VIP section of the club. There is an attached hot tub, a diving board, a deck complete with tables chairs and umbrellas, and a storage shed, probably for cleaning supplies.

Quest leads you in a roundabout route along the edge of the roof, crawling so as not to be visible from below, owing to the camera above the door leading to the changing rooms. Sitting underneath the id scanner, she pulls out a computer from her pack and hooks up a card to it, then places it gently in the scanner. Less than a minute later, the door clicks open.

[Thundercracker]

To Gial, the Force was simply a tool: not being sensitive, he didn't really get all the implications of its use, the stuff about light and dar side, and all those other Jedi things. In his eyes, Kikari's decision to not use the Force was just like, I don't know, decideing to slug it out with an Elcor instead of relying on that handy starship cannon over there.

He shot her a glare that was a combination of reproachful and worried, then pulled out a credstick. Unfortunately, threats weren't an option, seeing as they'd have to remain in the area afterwards.

"Yeah, I ain't paying that. He's not that important. 250, and you save me the hassle, or you get nothing and I'll find him myself."

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Persuasion [roll0] to haggle (if Kikari rolls as well, consider this an Aid). Actually +10, so 13.

“Alright, good luck,” the besalisk said, and went back to his various administrative tasks.

[RandomLunatic]

While Quest worked, Shyar again pulled the hood of her thinsuit back into place, and completing the ensemble with a pair of goggles.

When the door clicked, she looked at Quest for some kind of confirmation. Once she got it, Shyar slunk through the door and into the building.

((Perception - (1d20+4)[8]
Take 10 Stealth, 25.))

[Hazuki]

"How rude. Perhaps," Kikari said, then reached for the besalisk's mind. "You should apologize for your greed and tell us what we want to know."

Spoiler: Mind Trick

Show

Taking 10 for 26.

[Thundercracker]

Coruscant:

“Eh, maybe I should tell you want you want to know,” the besalisk replied, “the guy you’re looking for is in room d-314, that’s on the other side of the thruway.”

“I sent a kel-dor up there just a few minutes before you dropped by,” he added.

Zoccom:

The hallway in front of you is well lit and stretches at least 10 meters, with changing rooms on either side, and one more door for a utilities closet. There is an exit sign at the end of the hall, where the passage continues around a corner. There’s nobody in sight though you do hear a loud whirring sound coming from one of the changing rooms.

[Hyperbolic sine]

"Finally. Thanks." Gial said to the besalisk, not thankful at all.

So we're not first? Damnit.

He wasted no time in getting outside the office, then proceeded with a a quick pace down the row of apartments to find room D-314. "We need to hurry."

[whoiam]

Spoiler

Show

"Perception" - (1d20+19)[29]
Zavi's take 10 on Stealth is only a 13, but if she spots anything approaching that she'd need to hide from, she's going to turn invisible again anyway...

When they reached the door with the whirring sound behind it, Zavi would pause for a moment. Apparently listening at the door for something, she was actually using the force to decide if entering the room would be a good idea...

Spoiler

Show

'Search Your Feelings', to check whether entering the door would lead to favourable or unfavourable results in the next 10 minutes. Zavi will always hit the required DC unless injured.

[RandomLunatic]

Shyar moved quietly down the hall, but paused in her tracks to look quizzically at the door... and Zavi.

[Thundercracker]

Zoccom:

Zavi does not sense any immediate danger from entering the changing room, no more than would be expected from sneaking around a gangster’s hideout anyway.

Coruscant:

Assuming you make your way across the undercity thoroughfare to the apartments across the way, and up the steps (carves directly into the rock, perhaps another time you might pause to appreciate the engineeering and architecture) to d-314, you find the door is ajar.

[whoiam]

Zavi merely shakes her head and moves on. They can loot the place on the way back out. Instead, she'd follow Shyar down to the corner, taking a moment to peek through the corner before deciding whether or not to signal Shyar to continue...

Spoiler

Show

As RL pointed out earlier, Zavi's UTF check is high enough that she can see through walls at will, so she can peer through the corner instead of having to stick her head out and look around it. Taking 10 on the perception check for a 29.

[Thundercracker]

Zoccom:

You don’t sense anything ahead and proceed.

The hallway leads to a staircase down. You can hear music playing from below, some kind of synthesized remix of something which might have been popular 20 years ago. The scent of death sticks and other smoking vices mixes with air sweetener for an overall scummy smell.

You can hear voices from down below, but they are quite indistinct.

[Hyperbolic sine]

If all this has been for nothing... Gial though, angry that in the end someone got the jump on them. Drawing his blaster, he approached the door and tried to listen for any sounds coming from inside.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Perception (1d20+15)[34]

[Thundercracker]

Coruscant:

You can hear calm murmuring from inside the apartment, followed by silence.

[RandomLunatic]

Voices. Plural. Great, Shyar thought as she carefully descended the stairs.

[Thundercracker]

Zoccom:

The staircase smells even more strongly of smoke, and there is at the landing between the two levels, a security camera facing the stairwell, red light staring unblinking. You don’t think you’re in the field of view yet but depending on the model of the camera it might be too late.

The camera definitely covers the landing and you don’t immediately see a way past it without walking past it.

[RandomLunatic]

Shyar muttered a curse and pulled back out of view as soon as she saw the camera. "Camera," she said to Zavi. "Any ideas?"

[whoiam]

"Not really, " Zavi replies, a touch embarrassed. "I've got a couple of ways to get past it myself, but none of them could be used on you. Um... we could go back, raid the changing rooms, see if there's enough in there to disguise you as something? Or I could sneak past and hope it's being watched by a person in a control room and not some expensive remote droid intelligence buried safely underground or something..."

[Hazuki]

Kikari uses her force radar.

Spoiler: Use the Force

Show

Taking 10 for 26 and I guess this refers to sensing surroundings? Either way, same for Perception. 26.

[Thundercracker]

Coruscant undercity:
Inside is a simple one bedroom apartment with minimal furnishings: bed, table, one chair, fresher, and that’s about it. Standing next to the bed is a tall kel-dor wearing blue robes. He is looking down at the bed, which is covered in dried blood and what appears to be a corpse.

He doesn’t appear to be actually _doing_ anything, just standing there.

[Hazuki]

Kikari reports what she senses to Gial, as quietly as she can.

[RandomLunatic]

Shyar thought a minute, then nodded and headed back upstairs. She went up to the door that had been whirring when they passed a moment ago, and went inside.

[Thundercracker]

Zoccom:

Shyar enters what appears to be a changing room where patrons can switch out their clothes for bathing suits or whatever swimwear is appropriate for their body type.

The whirring noise comes from a bothan using a handheld blow dryer on herself.
It looks like a painfully slow and cumbersome process.

[Hyperbolic sine]

A corpse? ...damnit!

At least the Kel-dor was still there. He took a deep breath, the quickly opened the door while leveling his blaster (set to stun, since they might need to question him) to keep the intruder at gunpoint. "Hands up, no sudden movements."

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Ready an action to shoot if he doesn't comply.

[Thundercracker]

Coruscant:

The Kel-dor is silent for a moment, not moving a muscle.
“Are you with the police?” he asked calmly.

[RandomLunatic]

"Darn," Shyar muttered, quickly backing out and closing the door. "I was hoping it was da cleanin' lady or somethin'. Forget messin' around. Let's just go."

As she walked back towards the staircase, she turned to her partner-in-crime and asked, "Is dat hat it's like for ya when ya get caught in da rain?" jerking a thumb back in the general direction of the Bothan.

[whoiam]

Zavi's response was a rather brusque "I'm not exactly famous for my streaking, you know." Drying out wasn't nearly as much of an issue when most of the water had ended up on your clothes. Swimming was different, of course, but the average rainfall of most planets wasn't high enough to be the equivalent of full immersion.

"So do you want me to go ahead, or are we just gonna storm the lower levels?"