I'm with Kliko on this. It's a great out of the box idea that should keep security busy if need be. Very "Home Alone" style (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

I was wondering, how good is Jamie at electronics and sneaking?

Bubba is willing to take that job... His "mad" sneaking and athletics skills have improved much.

Also, just wanted to say real quick that Ludi is done with her legwork (worked it out over PMs with Bastard; didn't want to clutter OOC with all the back and forth). I have a somewhat monster IC post to type ahead of me, which I'll start doing today for sure. So, at the latest, she'll be back on the same timeline as everyone else by friday.

She's flying into the UCAS sector though, so she'll need someone to pick her up (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

Does Bubba fit through the windows?

Heck, its going to be a challenge to get Kliko through. Bubba and Kliko could make for a nice diversion on the front though.

I think we should try and spring for the gamma-scopalamine and pay extra.

If we need to go in with a contact gas, we can always does up with binder to counter the effects.

I'd be worried about the slipspray. I thought we were trying not kill anyone. In the hallway would be fine. On the staircase, would be much more dangerous.

Stealth 5, Electronics 4. I'm not as good with build and repair. Athletics 3, so I can probably do the climbing. She was built as part covert operative.

Galen

Let me put it differently.

We could do another run in the 2 weeks that we're waiting for that Gamma-Scopolamine (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

Also its 3,960 (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nuyen.gif) extra (its 790 (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nuyen.gif) per dart more expensive). Its great for a truth-serum and willpower reducer (double effetcive for mindprobe I guess), but its not 3,960 (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nuyen.gif) great (unless Morningstar turns out to be a troll...)

It seems I misunderstood. I thought for sure you could pay more to get a rush job. But I couldn't find a way to do that. I did however find that you divide base time by successes. However the TN 8 would be high to expect more than one success. I guess we need to put that into the works for the next run so we don't get caught out later.

I wonder if we're over thinking this.

Galen

A few quick questions:
1. Does the packet indicate what type of security there is on the doors/windows, or the number and location of guards?

I'll make this into an IC, but I'm putting it here for clarity.

Planning priorities:
1. Acquire ID and Passes from Ms J if we are going to get them. If not, apply for visitor passes in person at the border?
2. Move to UCAS sector and get a hotel room big enough to plan in.

My thoughts on the entry:
1. Levitate one or two invisible people to the roof (Jamie and Ludmilla?) Or, invisible people climb up, allowing for more magical support if needed elsewhere.
2. Affix ropes to roof and lower down.
3. Disable alarm and enter through window to Morningstar's room. Tranq him and drag him to the window.
4. Lower unconscious (possibly invisible, not sure how I'll be doing on drain) Morningstar (and Ludmilla? to a vehicle that pulls over momentarily.
5. Invisible Jamie goes down another floor via window to Morningstar's Office if no computer in bedroom.
6. Invisible Jamie has a hacking job to do, or Felix drops other spells to attempt to Mindprobe access codes from Morningstar.
7. Jamie exits the building via window to second vehicle that drives past for the pick up.

Other thoughts:
Corsair - Getaway Driver, Drone overwatch for random police or other patrols.
Bubba and possibly Kliko - Stand ready to smash in the front door and create a distraction allowing Jamie and Ludmilla?) to escape out the window.
Felix - Lying down on the bench seat of the getaway car, sustaining spells and waiting to Mindprobe Morningstar. Astral overwatch if possible (# of spells sustained and drain)

Notes:
Felix will probably end up with a sizeable chunk of stun damage, and so will probably be unable to magic much of anything for a while afterwards. Probably could get a single Invis or Physical Mask spell but not the multiple spells needed to cross a border.

Good plan. Couple of questions.

Does the window actually open? Shouldn't we be able to get the security procedures from Ms J? We may be able to overwatch the camera feed to help us out.

Access codes may not be necessary. I should be able to hack in pretty easily. I will however need gel rounds for my predator. It would be helpful if the tranq pistol had a smartgun link.

Galen

That's good to know. I wanted to make sure Ludi wasn't the only one who could bypass maglocks and such.

On another note, I was wondering.... instead of hacking whatever computer the files are stored in... couldn't we just rip out the harddrive and pull the files off of it later? I mean, the less time we spent in there, the better, right?

If we can simply grab the computer, that would be the easy way. I don't think we know if the files are on a pocket secretary, desktop computer, or buried on the server somewhere though.

Suction cups and a glass cutter can take care of the window fairly quietly I would think. Start with a small circle to shoot through, then remove the rest one piece at a time.

It's an OMC chip. It may be hard to figure out which one is the storage memory chip. I'm not very good at hardware.

It would be easier to just carry away the cyberterminal. It's possible his personal data is not stored on the cyberterminal, but on the cult host. I'd hate to grab the system, then find out there's nothing relevent on it.


EDIT Ha ha ha. Looks like nwti and I had the same idea.

Open hole in the window might be noticed from the outset. I'd rather be able to open and close the windows so thing seem normal. Might we be able to get into the temple without going in through the window? Ms J should be able to get us passes onto the temple grounds. We have an inside connection. Why are we trying to crash the perimeter?

Galen

I must have missed that you did an astral recon of the temple. Can I get some rolls please and a description of where you are going astrally. Rolls for Perception, magic knowledge, etc.

Felix was going to make a quick astral flyby of the exterior, if he doesn't see any spirits or astral guards he'll then check the building for wards. If he does notice anyone or anything magical, Felix will assense them (Perception + Aura Reading as complementary).

If there are spirit guards, Felix will set his alarm and come back around dawn to see how long before the new spirit arrives. (spirits disappear at sunrise and sunset, and it will give me a feel for how sharp their security procedures are.)

It is something I had considered myself, but using an "insider" could pose a problem afterwards. We don't really know what our employer/insider intends to do with our target, and leaving too many clues that it was an inside job might prove problematic for our said employer. Personally, if he's ready to have us walking in through the front door, we should consider the option. That would entail using some sort of magkey or keycode, which could probably be traced back to him... and I don't think our employer would enjoy that (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif) BUT I speak only for myself! This is just my opinion and I might be totaly wrong (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

I think the main reason why Kliko suggested we use a window instead is that it would allow us to bypass a ton of security (cameras on the inside, guards, etc...) and get straight to the target. Sure, leaving a hole in the window isn't the most sublte of things, but they will eventually find out someone took Morningstar. How we broke in exactly will be of little consequences once they realize whats happened.

My main concern is to avoid as much travel in the corridors as possible. Unless I'm blantaly wrong, the plan showed a bunch of rooms listed as "quaters"... which would lead me to believe that people live there. The more time we'll spend there, either fixed or travelling room to room or in the hallways, the more chances we'll have of Murphy (or Bastard) rearing up it's ugly head (or
beautiful head for Bastard (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif) ) and fucking our shit up.

One thing we can already all agree on, I think, is that no matter what the plan is, Jamie is going in. Even though Ludi has 3 in computer, she's nowhere near qualified enough to grab the files, and so, our techhead will have to be part of group that goes inside.

I'll have to admit I am somewhat on the same page as ntwi for how we should plan the thing. It is pretty damn close to what I had discussed with Kliko off the boards this week. I'm with Kliko on the fact that Kliko and Bubba might actually not fit through a window (since they don't quite fit through most doors already...) and that trying to figure out how to bring them in might be a huge hassle.

On their last run, the team actually used a harness and a rope to get their extractee down to a boat. I don't see why we couldn't use something somewhat similar to this (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif) Hell, if Bubba is down there, we only have to lower Morningstar halfway down and he can probably just grab him (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif)

The only "problem" I can see with the plan ntwi put forth, is that it puts a ton of strain on Felix. Being are only magic user, I'd feel a lot safer to know he still has some juice left to deal with anything we might not see coming our way. I would say yes to the having the infiltration team being invisible, but I would hold off on the levitation. After all, Ludi and Jamie are pretty much the covert ops of the team; they should be able to climb the wall.

So yea, that's pretty much what I had to say concerning this (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

On another note, am I the only one who thinks we might need to buy some street clothes for Morningstar? I mean, if we grab him in his bed... we can't have him in his PJs the whole time... or naked (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif) I mean, we can... it would just be sort of assholish from our part (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

Yay, Jamie gets to do what she was built to do. I second the street clothes idea.

I'm not keen on being invisible while climbing. Might be hard to see where our feet are to insure safe climbing. I've done a little climbing and I never did it by touch only. I'd be perfectly happy to scale the wall, but, I'd rather have our main escape plan, after the package drop, be independent of our support group. I'd recommend zip line or rappelling off the top as our main exit and hold the levitation for when things go south.

We need to consider what the guards would do when they see people scaling the wall on their cameras. Perhaps spirit hazing could help us here. Or like a fog bank between the camera and the climbers. Once the insertion team is on the building, we could insert a dataline tap into one of the cameras. Then Jamie could own the security system. That would certainly help from a getting around the building perspective. Command sets are easy to make.

I think I was considering the hole in the window to be noticable before we grabbed Morningstar. That assumed we intended to be in Morningstar's room before he actually arrived. He walks in and we grab him. If he opens the door and notices the hole before we grab him, the ambush will be less effective. It's also cold here, so the room would have a noticable temperature drop if the hole is left open. If temp controls are wired into security, they might notice the temp drop before Morningstar even arrives. Perhaps we should cut into one of the windows in his bathroom or bedroom. That would be out of sight of the entrance. We would need to find a way to close the hole while we lurk.

I also noticed a Magic practice room on site. That suggests mages live there. Ludi and I probably cannot handle dedicated magical support. I suspect we will need Felix on site as well.

Have we considered the ventilation system as a insertion vector or for dosing Morningstar? His room is 3rd floor. It might be easy to get there from the roof through the vents.

Galen

Felix - Sorry. I forgot about that and when I was scanning back through I completely grossed over it. Minus another gm point from me.

Upon your astral adventure you find that Denver seems to be an odd plane, yet you cannot describe its differences or quite put your finger on it, as it is more of a feeling than anything else. Maybe it is just the high altitude. There seem to be a few more free spirits wandering about than you would expect to find as you make your journey. At the temple it seems the first floor is open to the public, but there is no traffic this late at night. There are some watcher spirits around the building, at least two to three. Keeping your distance they seem to ignore you. From afar you are able to accence an above average ward that covers the second and third floors. There seems to be no security to the first floor, other than the watchers.

I will put this into the same IC post as Jamie and Corsair's first night of recon when I get home from work, early tomorrow morning.

Good planning guys. Take all the time you need OoC and IC. I will not metagame against your plans if you are able to come up with something that completely bypasses my evil plot. There is no real time limit from Mr Johnson, so do all the recon you need.

The only thing I ask is that you put some of this planning in the IC at some point, even if one person just summarizes it. That way there is some flow to the story and all team members (plus me) are on the same page. Also some good IC back and forth would be cool.

Here's my list of questions and needed equipment.

Questions
How much inside help are they willing to provide? Can they plant a tracker on Morningstar? Dataline tap in security system?
Can we get inside info on security guard's capabilities, installed HW and protocols?
Who gets into this temple other than cult members? Technical repair, Physical trainers, Meditation gurus, Kitchen staff, Maintenance staff?
Is Morningstar magically active? Kliko asked Ms J, but never got an answer.
We have passkeys. What areas do they access?
Where do we deliver the package?
What are traffic patterns inside the building relative to time of day?
Can we get layout for the HVAC and computer transmission lines?
Who handles Matrix Security? Do they contract out to PCC? Mitsuhama?

Needed equipment
Gel rounds all around
Passes around Denver.
Neurostun or Tranq patch
Mage mask
Binder vs Neurostun
Slipspray
Redundant climbing gear

Galen

Couldn't we just wait for him to be sound asleep? Cut the hole, shoot him, open the window. Tada.

To most of your questions, you will have to send them to Mrs Johnson IC or continue recon.

Here is what I will answer now:
Yes. Morningstar is magically active. My mistake if I didn't answer that.
Passkeys access all except the highest security areas.
Call Mrs Johnson when you have the package to set up a meet.

Please set your thread DISPLAY MODE option (scroll to first post on any page, and select the Option drop box) to LINEAR.

This will leave the very first post of the thread at the top of every page.

In both the first post of the IC and OoC I have links to important posts, generally regarding to the job details (ie mission objectives, contact info for employer, and pay). This will be a very handy tool, and I will keep it updated.

A couple of revisions to my previous thoughts after reading Mr Juan/Ludimilla and Galen/Jamie's comments.

A few general notes first. I was thinking to hit the place at night, after our target is asleep. Trying to ambush him while he's awake introduces too many additional variables in my opinion. The other option would be to have Jamie hack into his schedule and hit him while he's visiting somewhere else.

Hitting the Temple at Night: revision 1.1.a

Prep: Vehicles warded <- I need to do this anyway for good SOP, and it will help prevent/delay magical tracking

Nightfall: Summon Large (Force5- 6) Air Spirit and order it to Conceal itself, us and our actions from others. (This will add a +5/6 TN for people to see us and may hide us completely from the watchers - I'll need to talk to Bastard regarding them more)
Summon Large (Force 5-6) City Spirit and place it on standby

Invisibility on one person, levitate them to the roof to anchor rope. Dismiss levitate.
Invis second person, they simply ascend the rope while the first rappells. (This eliminates the serious stacking of sustaining spells, and with the Focused Concentration edge it should be very workable)

All Sorcery and Spell pool dice moved to Spell Defense (Thats 12 dice for spell defense, should stop anything someone sends your way)

Quietly cut small hole with suction cup and glass cutter. Shoot Morningstar with tranq dart. Carefully remove remainder of glass. (If you can simply open the window, that would be easier, if not, then cut)

Jamie decks into the computer if it's in his bedroom. Lower Morningstar down the rope (if all is still quiet, I will momentarily drop the spell defense to cast invisibility on him). Corsair pulls up and Bubba loads Morningstar into the warded SUV.

Resume spell defense after casting the invisibility.

Exit via window and enter Morningstar's office via window if needed. Deck the computer in his office if needed, otherwise descend to ground, retrieve rope and enter second vehicle (Kliko driving)

Thats the everything goes smoothly plan, the contingencies are below.

Kliko and Bubba are fully suited up and prepared to make a loud noisy entrance in the front to pull guards and people that direction in order to allow Ludmilla and Jamie to make a fast exit out the back with Morningstar

A Large City Spirit is on call, with a simple action I can have it do anything from Confusion or Accident to simply attacking anything physically or astrally. It can also double up on the concealment on the way out.

I will have a TN +2 modifier for sustaining the spells, but certainly can still send a few large stun balls their way as needed. Worst case scenario, I might have to drop the invisibilities to smack a few astral heads but with the on call city spirit to back me up I shouldn't need to.)