[IC] Behind the Shadows, First Iteration Options

[Chrysalis]

[Everyone make a perception test].

If using AR or cyber eyes Perception target: [4]

[ Spoiler ]

A statue is silently walking up among the statues towards you. The water raining down and off the lip of the unstrapped helmet. He grips his rifle with one hand, the poncho covering the rest of his body. A bayonet though can be seen on his hip. He looks at you as he turns and faces the wall and walks into the relief. The relief on the wall stops for a moment, letting him step through into the Battle of the Chosin Reservoir.

Otherwise:

[ Spoiler ]

The rain is coming down as heavy as ever. All that can be seen is the swaying of the trees and the splash of water against the memorial.

[Mickle5125]

While within his Markus Shindler guise, Dick leans against a tree casually, looking for all the world like a local wanting nothing more than to get out of the rain for a few minutes. He scans the surroundings absently, his chameleon-coated Savalette Guardian close at hand.

[ Spoiler ]

perception = 12d6 = 3 hits

[crizh]

Anyone paying attention sees the jogger who has stopped on the path lined with benches 50m North of the Memorial start a stretching exercise in preparation for starting off again in this cold, damp November evening.

She spreads her legs and reaches her left arm up over between her shoulder blades before dipping slowly towards her right knee.

<<encrypted text burst>>He's hiding in plain sight amongst the statues. **attached AR tag**

Swiftly she flicked through AR windows looking for the best targeting solution, it was a toss up between Thermo and Radar. She gradually released her breath as she zoomed her vision in on the offending statue and took careful aim with the AR cross-hairs she placed over his jugular.

[ Spoiler ]

She can make 3 Take Aim actions per IP. Now that she knows where to focus the Scan does her Radio Scanner pick up any broadcasts coming from the target?

Perception again if necessary.

6 Hits

and Electronic Warfare for the Agent running the Scanner.

4 Hits

[Mickle5125]

<<He, being...?>> Dick queries as he folds his arms and pushes off the tree, shambling towards the memorial as if to pay his respects to the dead.

[bmcoomes]

<<Got him, lets handle this with some soft-hands...>> As warrior walks towards this subject. "Evening, what's the occasion?" addressing him directly.

[ Spoiler ]

I'm on high alert ready to do anything, plus covered by Cruze. I'd say I'm by the professor by the wall already.

[Chrysalis]

Warrior and Jane (and those who succeed in the previous perception test):

[ Spoiler ]

The soldier looks at Warrior. The face looks impassive, a metal face. Only thing that would indicate that it was alive was its piercing blue eyes. It gripped its rifle in a self-conscious manner. It turns and looks at Warrior. It touches the wall, turns and walks into the wall. It is no longer there. Whatever it was it did not register on thermographic and only as highly localized jamming on the ultrawideband radar.

[pbangarth]

[OOC - Holy cow! I go do some work for once, and s**t starts flying!]

Professor heeds the warning and scans around, once visually, and then astrally.

Visual

[ Spoiler ]

INT 4, Perception 6 - don't think Analytical Mind applies, so 10 dice: 4 hits

Astral

[ Spoiler ]

INT 4, Assensing 5 (not sure I shouldn't be using another Perception roll here, but going with Assensing), 9 dice: 3 hits

EDIT: [OOC - somebody kick me the next time I don't add the 3 dice for "actively looking"!]

[Chrysalis]

Professor:

[ Spoiler ]

Visual: You see through the rain Warrior going and talking to an unlit statue. The statue did a singularly unique thing, which was turning towards Warrior. It looked at him for a moment before turning around and walking into the wall. Then it was simply Warrior in the rain looking down a long line of larger than life soldiers.

Astral: This is the first time you are looking at Arlington, the gash near the Watergate hotel, swirled in and out of existence, like some kind of obscene all-seeing slitted eye. The Arlington cemetery though was more immediate. Their presence was like the Terra Cotta Warriors and Horses of Qin Shi Huangdi, the First Emperor of China. Except there were more of there were more of them and they are angry - the tension was very real and the threat palpable. Warrior shows up as vibrant hues with a black band crossing his body. The soldier is not visible in the astral. It is as if he did not exist.

[pbangarth]

GM:

[ Spoiler ]

Just to be sure, I read a lot of angry presences in Arlington cemetery itself, right? In/around the graves themselves?

EDIT: [OOC - Never mind, GM. I get it.]

[pbangarth]

Professor communicates to the team. "That statue... or whatever it is... doesn't show up on the astral at all. And... holy shit! The cemetery! I've never looked at it in the astral before. You could swim in the anger spread throughout it."

[bmcoomes]

"What in the holy fuck was that!," As Warrior looks around. "Guys lets get what we need and get the hell out of here. I don't like this place anymore."

I really need to start laying off the kamikaze...

[pbangarth]

Warrior's comment snaps Professor out of his fascination with the aura around the cemetery. He activates his Three-dimensional Memory, enhanced by his Eidetic Memory, and memorizes the immediate area of the monument, in particular the drop zone and the area where the apparition occurred. He will touch the monument as well as look at it, to remember tactile impressions as well as visual. Smells, sounds, astral, every sense. He will ignore the distraction of the cemetery and the Watergate rift, using Heightened Concentration if necessary.

Afterward, he will remove the Astral Signature of the activation of his powers.

[Chrysalis]

Those who see the apparition:

[ Spoiler ]

Whatever had once been at the memorial was now gone. There was no trace of its existence. There seems to be a problem with your virtual memory. You recall seeing him, but you do not seem to have data of its existence.

[Mickle5125]

<<What's going on, Comrades? Who did you see? Did you manage to ID the assassin right off the bat? Because that would be crazy good luck.>>

Dick walks slowly and silently along the memorial, pausing here and there to trace his fingers over a name or a figure.

[SincereAgape]

November, 18th 2069: A few blocks from Karkoff's apartment complex.

Lights. Camera. Action. The soft hum from the engine of the fire engine red Suzuki Mirage was barely vibrant as the figure strode upon it finshing off the remains of a cigarette. Arlington, Virgina is the haven of the affluent, serving as an ideal commuter location for the middle aged workers that worked for the UCAS governemnt. Settling his sports bike in the parking lot of a small community shopping area just outside of the Cathedral View living complex, Tyler Crey checked the digital display on his retinal scan just before flicking away the remains of the ashes from the cigarette butt. His 'allies' were sure taking their time.

The parking lot had a small amount of traffic going to and from the shopping center. Most likley it was people picking up groceries and other items from the various stuffer shacks which littered the area. Despite having to wait for the moment, Tyler could say the day had been productive not only for him, but for the man whom is currently under watch. Karkoff is a machine. Even though he was pushing 80 years old, the man worked tirelessly from the beginning of his shift to the end. Rarely did he take a break. Working at a Washington DC abortion clinic in 2069 might do that to you.

He gave himself an impatient sigh. He hated waiting.

Vroom..vroom.. With a flick of the wrist on the handlebar, the engine from the Suzuki Mirage came to life. He switched his PAN network to private, filtering out the advertisements from a local sports bar which was broadcasting the Urban Brawl blood match between Washington DC and Baltimore. It was time to check up on the old man again. The results of his last astral projection were rather interesting. A thunderous roar from an engine of a sports cycle beckoned into the night. In the suburbs of NoVA his sixth sense said something was going to happen tonight.

[pbangarth]

"Dick, I don't know if there is any connection between what happened here, or the emotions coming from the cemetery, with our mission. Places of huge emotional content sometimes develop their own weird traits. I have closely memorized this scene for later analysis. Maybe Warrior is right and we should go meet our other teammate."

[Chrysalis]

November, 18th 2069: Outside Karkoff's apartment complex

Across the street of the row house is a tennis court. Despite the rain the burning of incadescent lamps illuminate two die hard tennis players. Rain running slick off their memtex jackets and billed caps they chase the soggy tennis ball with their smart AR assisted tennis rackets.

There are four units to the row house. Karkoff lives on the far right. The lights are on in the apartment. Next to it is a darkened apartment thick sheet plastic covers the facade a red storage trailer sits on the pavement. It's one wheel prominently placed in a wheel lock.

The other two units, 3 and 4, are also lit. A dog an be heard barking on the inverse side of the building.

On the left is an open space of a parking lot, home to a neatly illuminated 24h stuffer shack.

[OOC: Will you be standing outside or will you be by car, what is your plan for the stakeout?]

[pbangarth]

Professor scans the area in the Physical first, and then Astrally.

Physical:

[ Spoiler ]

INT 4, Perception 6, Actively searching 3 ==> 5 hits.

Astral:

[ Spoiler ]

INT 4. Assensing 5, Actively searching 3 ==> 5 hits.

[SincereAgape]

Elves are like wine. With age they only become more refined. Born in 2045, Tyler Crey had just hit the ripe age of twenty-four. He had already been running the shadows and serving his home country for years before being relocated to Washington DC a few weeks ago. His aptitude in the ways of the arcane had become more refined over the past year since taking a more traditional route in search of his magic. Still straddled to the back of the Suzuki Mirage, he gripped a dark ebony staff which lay in a scabbard like compartment that rested on the side of the motorcycle. Earlier in the night he had astrally perceived into the apartment, keeping a watch on Karkoff just as he was finishing his dinner. Nothing seemed out of the norm, until the doctor began to read. If Tyler was in the meat world standing next to Karkoff in the apartment he would have been able to find see what the man was reading, but in the astral world all he could make out was a number of symbols and glyphs.

Tyler Crey was as tall and slim like most elves, with bronzed skin so dark it almost looked black in the night, contrasting sharply with the yellow-bone color of his hair pulled back in a tight pony tail. A stylized tattoo of an Eastern dragon started on the outside of the arch of his right eyebrow, trailed down the side of his face, and curled its tail about his neck. The only interruption of the artwork was a thin shrapnel scar showing white against the bronze skin at the wing of the dragon. He was adorned in designer clothing, underneath a black lined coat duster.

At the present moment he was parked in a guest parking space within the complex, steam from the engine of the Mirage breaking into the slight drizzle. He had been only waiting there for a few moments, appearing as if he was a boyfriend waiting for a girlfriend to come out of the dossier for a date. He would not stay in this spot for much longer, he only wanted to get an up-close look at the building and survey the perimeter of the complex. Hopefully the other runners would arrive soon. The elf struck up a lighter and lit another cigarette. Tobacco in 2069 was soothing to his soul.

[pbangarth]

[OOC - I assume we do a drive by/around first to allow for a first scan by the team members. This ties in to my previous post. Do we have any information on our new team member? From the data files we just picked up, maybe?]

[Mickle5125]

Dick stands at the edge of the light on the far side of the tennis courts watching the two players battle it out. He arrived walking down the sidewalk, only to stop to start watching the game with an appreciative grin on his face as he sips from a soycaf. Fairly regularly, he looks past the court to check the targets house.

<<To: known Team>>
<<Well, comrades, anything interesting in your lines of sight? I'm seeing 2 fairly skilled tennis players and... what looks like an elf waiting for a girlfriend. Any guesses on who's our latest friend?>>

[Chrysalis]

[OOC: Retocnning Sincere's post a bit, the next housing complex and its parking lots are quite far away and do not have a line of sight to the four units. The difference is the nearest parking lot and local community centre on the REMAX site's street view, which has been demolished by 2069 and turned into a stuffer shack. ]

There is the sound of a child calling out, the dog barking becomes intense and the stops with the sound of a door slamming shut.

There is an elf waiting for someone in the nearby stuffer shack parking lot. Although there does not seem to be anyone inside except for a young woman troll behind the counter.

The rest of the street is quiet as most upstanding streets are. Not even a drug pusher at the corner. Despite the next corner only a few miles away.

Professor:

[ Spoiler ]

There is nothing that shows up on astral. Except some residual bleed through. Despite walls being impenetrable, there are always cracks and chinks, after all the astral world is not seen with the eye, but an inner eye.

Professor:
Zoltan sends you a message with his favourite avatar of a big red bearded man, wearing a mock Roman centurion's uniform and angel wings.

<<Sorry for the wait chummer. Just got your message was in a ritual which seemed to last forever. I mean honestly how long does it take to to make tea and set out a plate of cookies? Anyways, perfect excuse to leave my mother's and her eligible "friend of a friend". I take it you need this pretty quick? Tell you what I'll do this for the price of escaping my mother as yentl.>>

[SincereAgape]

[OOC: Chrysalis: Okay sounds good.

-Forgive me for not knowing the codes to make spoilers and change font on texts yet. For time constraints right now bear with the post.]

He figited a bit. His body was craving a dosage.

Not right now..best to be active right now. Fight the urge. He thought to himself as his body throbed.

He peeked inside the stuffer shack and only saw a troll female working at the counter. He pushed the outer part of his cheek with his tongue as a sly look came across his face at the irony. He then thought to himself how he would be able to discern whom his new allies were and how they were supposed to meet him. Perhaps displaying a token he received upon being employed for this job would be helpful. Maybe the others received a simliar item.

(OOC Let me know if this is cool Chrysalis) Taking out the white rose, Tyler Crey gets off the Mirage and walks to the edge of the parking lot. (Attemping to find a landmark such as lamp post, or something to place the rose down.)

He then casually makes his way back to his motorcycle and patiently waits once again. As he reaches the bike, he leans against it, lowers his head and attempts to take a moment to himself.

(OOC Astrally Projecting. Viewing the tennis players and any other figures in the vicinity. Roll. Int=3, Assessing=3, Act Searching=3 Total of 9 dice. [3,3,5,4,1,4,3,1,3]= 1 Success!)

[pbangarth]

<<Yeah... mothers. Glad I could be of service, Zoltan. Here's what I need, and sooner is better than later, I think. You know I can sustain a spell cast on me. My current team doesn't have a magician, though we have yet to meet the last member. In case he/she also isn't a magician, and just in general, I'm hoping you can connect me with a freelancer who will cast the occasional useful spell on me. I don't know the running rates for that kind of service, so if you could fill me in on reasonable rates, I would be much obliged. You know I am drek in negotiations. Let me know.>>

Hmmm. Someone sitting alone on a motorcycle, just sitting outside the store? Nobody in the Stuffer Shack? Last time I saw that it was a drug dealer. I think I'll have a look. Whoa! What is he doing? Is that ... a white rose?

Perception:

[ Spoiler ]

INT4, Perception 6, active search 3 ==> 5 hits

Yes it is!

"Chummers. White rose by the Stuffer Shack. Check out the guy who put it out by the lamp post."

Assense the guy by the Stuffer Shack:

[ Spoiler ]

INT 4, Assensing 5, active 3 ==> 5 hits Oh God! This run will end at a bad time, I just know it!

[Chrysalis]

Professor and Tyler:

[ Spoiler ]

Professor: The elf who owns the motorcycle lights up like a christmas tree. That elf is also looking on the astral level and see you. You see the white rose the man is carrying.

Tyler: The car rolls slowly by the Stuffer Shack, you see a dwarf man looking at you.

You both see each other as being magically active, interested and looking at each other.