IC: Post or Die, Lifelines, and deadlines Options

[pbangarth]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 10:41 PM, Cross Town Gas, Redmond

"I'll be glad to just get to the point where I can ask for a raise."

Rather than twiddling my thumbs here, maybe it's time to put my vaunted intellect to work.

Professor begins to pull the disparate threads of information he has come across the last couple of days, tugging to see what links or patterns come to mind. His pistol is still at the ready.

[Notsoevildm]

<<@Ferret: What, you don't need me to shoot the bird? I'm almost in now.>>

<<@Oswald: No, don't attack the bird. I just needed you to distract it and you did just fine. I'm going to see if I can set you up with a security or user account, then I'll take a look at the other system alerts and see if I can find us some trucks full of stolen hardware.>>

<<@Team: I am into the system with a security account. I have found three icons with active alerts. They are listed as: Phoenix Mall, CATco Tower East and another Annex 3. I will try and overlay them on the maps we have and then will go take a look to see if I can find our missing trucks.>>

The digital ferret pauses to scratch another error out of its icon, then accompanied by the digital wails of the latest Nodecrash album, begins to investigate the active alerts.

[Acme]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 10:40 PM, Cross Town Gas, Redmond


Acme was a bit nervous about why Jovan seemed to be so intent on doing things his own way and not have people looking over his shoulder... Or even at him sometimes. He shrugs with a frown to Professor. "Just let me know where so I'm not stepping on Jo's tail I guess," he replied with a shake of his head. Hermetics. Always had to have an attitude.

He cleared his throat and thought about "Johnathan". "Well, best I remember.. He looked fairly normal, wasn't trying to break into the cab, just... arguing with the cabbie. Not too many ghouls I've seen had the patience to actually argue with someone before resorting to scare tactics. He said he needed the cab, offering double... Dammit, I know where he was going too...." He snapped his fingers. The reason the cabbie was spooked was that John wanted to go to the Barrens."

[pbangarth]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 10:41 PM, Cross Town Gas, Redmond

"Jovan is not so bad. He just has some .... issues about his privacy. Heaven knows we all have our issues."

Professor continues to cogitate, including the information he just got from Acme.

[Warlordtheft]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 10:40 PM, Cross Town Gas, Redmond

"Acme, ya sure Jonathan is the dead ghoul? an he isn't his twin, after all them ghouls look alike after a while.---Aw frag it. Does he have commlink that ferret or Oz could check out an see if he caught a cab to da barrens from where you waz at? Or at least any payments from the area where ya was at when meeting Ms. J?"

[pbangarth]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 10:41 PM, Cross Town Gas, Redmond

"Good idea for the info, Zo. That would solve one question. Can we check that without touching him? Otherwise, does someone wanna go out and check through the bloody, infectious remains?"

[Sephiroth]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 10:41 PM, Cross Town Gas, Redmond

"...after all them ghouls look alike after a while."

The floating translucent eye stares for a long moment at the ganger, then looks up and around in a one-eyed eyeroll. It is a peculiar sight, but the eye says no more about what topic it is specifically rolling itself at.

"If the dead ghoul outside seemed rather animal-like to you, then it wasn't Johnathan. Johnathan is not himself feral; he is the voluntary guardian of a group of those degraded ghouls. It was probably one of those under his care."

It turns back to the AmerInd shaman. "I was afraid you were going to say that, Acme. If he was trying to get back to the Barrens today, then this is what I believe the situation is from his perspective. Several weeks ago, from what I know, Johnathan takes several animalistic ghouls and heads for the Redmond Barrens, as he desires to help such ghouls and the Barrens would have more space for them to roam. Around that time was when Long Legs vanished in the Barrens, correct? Suppose for a moment that John manages to find Long Legs' hideaway. Suppose further that he and his entourage of brain-damaged cannibals manage to overrun Long Legs' defenses. They decide to stay there, for reasons I am extremely suspicious of and am trying to ascertain while I'm out here looking around. Then, today, Johnathan goes back into Seattle proper and somehow discovers that our Ms. Johnson has hired some runners to find the trucks Long Legs was keeping. Upon hearing this, he starts looking for a way back to the Barrens ASAP - and that's where you ran into him. This is what I believe is the case from what I and we know."

The eye pauses. "And to put it simply, I think he knows we're coming."

[Red-ROM]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 10:45 PM, Redmond

The ghouls seemed to be in a hurry. They slowed from an all out run, but only by a little. The pair of them broke from the huddled grey masses of decrepit buildings into a clearing. A shadowy crust of pavement dimmed the glow of the Earth below. Jovan began to get a sense of sickness infused with the magic ahead. A darkness swirled through the Astral like an foreboding wind. The two hunters below were heading towards a light in the distance. "The dog ahead appears to be waiting for our friends" mentioned the Air spirit casually as the glowing aura of the hound stood watching the approach of the ghouls. It was uncertain if the thing had seen Jovan and his associate or not.

In the Matrix, or the left over remnants of the Matrix of old, a metal ferret Ran through his security options. He turned the Alert on the system off and the pulsing red sea shifted to a cool blue green. A window popped up with Security IC that were currently running. One labeled Master IC, which appeared to be the bird and his tail, and two other IC. One a tracker IC, and one labeled crasher. The latter two were shut off with ease, but the Master pair prompted Administrative approval codes.

[pbangarth]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 10:45 PM, Redmond

Professor continues to sift through the day's events and data. Something sticks in his mind. Not necessarily a resolution of the various threads twisting through the run, but a potential problem.

"I just remember Amber was communicating with someone before her demise. Her commlink is in our vehicle. Anyone have a way of checking it out? There may be an open channel through which we could be tracked."

[Saint Sithney]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 10:41 PM, Cross Town Gas, Redmond

With Ferret in control of the system Oswald had little to do, so he backed out, brought up his typical program load and focused his attention back on controlling the skies. Maybe he could find that dog again before it found them.

Sitting cross-legged and still on the floor he responded to Jovan's watcher, "The weird disembodied voice is right about the first part. That geek out there was feral as a wild boar. Didn't have a beard either, if that matters for anything. But as to the second part, I don't think this Jonathan guy knows we're coming. He may know that something's in the wind, but there's no way he's prepared for this crew. I don't expect that he even knew about the existence of the shipment before today, if he does at all. Otherwise there'd have been waves somewhere, right. He wouldn't just sit on the guns for so long. He'd have moved them or tried to arrange something before now, wouldn't he?"

[Warlordtheft]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 10:41 PM, Cross Town Gas, Redmond

"Great and you don't suppoz dey might use the guns themselves? Besides, it sounded like they ran into one of BDLL's traps so I'm with Oz. They might have been just passin through and had the bad luck to run into us, and BDLL's traps."

[Notsoevildm]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 10:41 PM, Cross Town Gas, Redmond

Okay, let's just keep away from the big fiery bird, thought Ferret, scuttling away from the admin level IC. Let's take a look at what caused the alerts in the other nodes instead.

His form shimmered briefly and resolved into three digital Ferret's each one somewhat grainier than the original. They then zoomed off in different directions, each heading for one of the three nodes that had been on alert. Arriving almost simultaneously in the nodes, the Ferrets performed the same set of actions, nose sniffing and whiskers twitching as they scanned the nodes security logs for the causes of the alerts, while their dark eyes glowed with video streams from any still operating security cameras.

[Saint Sithney]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 10:42 PM, Cross Town Gas, Redmond


"Doubt it Prof. We're in a dead zone, Matrix-wise. We can barely stay connected to each other. No one's got access to the Matrix proper." Still scanning the area with his radar, Oswald decided to change the subject to his current quarry. "By the way, what's the deal with the dog? Anyone know? Originally I thought we could use it to clean house for us, but now I don't even know where its gone."

[Red-ROM]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 10:42 PM, Cross Town Gas, Redmond

Ferret scanned through the security logs at the mall. The Fire system had been activated. The cameras were accessible. Half of them reported no response, and the rest had lenses too grimy to see through. One camera, positioned high in the ceiling at the front of the mall was almost usable. Ferret could spot what looked like a car at the front door, but it was terribly blurry. The Tower was a private node. The only cameras the system had access to were in the streets near the building. The roads were empty save for fallen caution tape and debris. The Anne node was private as well. Only one camera seemed to be working in the area, but Ferret caught sight of an almost familiar sight, The Bistro was across the street. It looked abandoned, yet intact. another sight that was getting to be familiar was the men with claws and drool. Three of them appeared on the camera by the East Tower, heading south with pieces of bodies that looked like they might match up if you had the chance to put them back together.

[Warlordtheft]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 10:42 PM, Cross Town Gas, Redmond

Zo Moves to the corner of the of the garage to get a better look at the now dead ghoul. Shaking his head, he looks up to see if anymore ghouls are around.

"One thing about the dog, cant on of the mages mind frag the dog and make it as compliant as a meat puppet in a bunraku parlor?"

[Sephiroth]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 10:42 PM, Cross Town Gas, Redmond

"To an extent. It will depend on how appropriate mental influence will be to the situation. The dog is still a poorly understood factor in the current scheme of things, and I'd prefer not to make a move on something until we have a better idea of what the consequences would be."

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 10:45 PM, Cross Town Gas, Redmond

"Oswald, you were asking about the dog earlier, correct? Well, we found the dog. It looks to be waiting for the ghouls we are following, though to what end I do not know."

[Saint Sithney]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 10:45 PM, Cross Town Gas, Redmond

"If history can tell us anything, the dog's gonna blow them the fuck up. If that doesn't happen then it's somehow their watchdog. And if that's the case I'll put a round of four-four-two through its skull. See if I can't change its mind the old-fashioned way."

[Red-ROM]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 10:42 PM, Cross Town Gas, Redmond

Another strange noise began as a chilly breeze picked up. A metallic whining overhead. The elf shaman peered up at the old sign outside the gas station. It swayed some, and showed the deterioration of age and neglect. Small metal fragments fell from the bottom to the ground. Acme turned towards the garage to head inside as the sign tipped from it's perch and fell to the ground with a sickening thud. The body of the elf giving little pause to it's course. Acme was suddenly gone. Only his limbs remained, twitching out from the wreckage.

[Warlordtheft]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 10:42 PM, Cross Town Gas, Redmond

Zo jumps away from the falling sign. After realizing the sign wasn't falling in his direction, he looks towards Acme and Prof. He notices the still twitching limbs of Acme.


"DREK!---I thought dem dandilion eaters were suppoz'd to be quick on der feet."

<@Ferret>Hey Ferret get a move on---Acme just bit it. Seems dis garage is not the most stable place.

[pbangarth]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 10:42 PM, Cross Town Gas, Redmond

Buried in the task of scouring data hidden in his memory, Professor notes the accident coolly, files it away along with all the other strange deaths in the last day, and continues his analysis.

No one notices the tears welling in his eyes. Damn, I liked him already. Dangerous thing to do in this business.

[pbangarth]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 10:42 PM, Cross Town Gas, Redmond

Professor shelves the analysis and studies the building for any further weaknesses. It would be a shame to survive that fiasco in Palenque only to go the way of Acme here.

His concentration is not the best.

[Saint Sithney]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 10:42 PM, Cross Town Gas, Redmond

"Sweet shitty Christmas! We're under attack! Those Viper savages must have found us already!" Still in VR, Oswald scrambled blindly backward from the fallen debris to better hug the wall.
"Quick! Sacrifice yourselves to protect me!"

[Notsoevildm]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 10:42 PM, Cross Town Gas, Redmond

Ferret3 blinks, capturing the image of the Bistro and overlaying it on the digital map. Ferret 2 does the same with the blurry image of the car, while Ferret1 captures some video of the ghouls movng down the street near the tower. He then sends the data to the team's commlinks, a small ferret icon bouncing up and down in their AR or VR feeds with a speech bubble saying 'Map data update'.

He feels the crash as the sign lands on Acme, his physical body curling reflexively into a ball.

Three digital ferrets transmit simultaneously <<@team: What the frag?>> just as Zo's message reaches him.

The three digital ferrets log off the nodes and scuttle back to the security node, where they merge back into one. He checks that no alerts have been triggered then, pausing only to ensure that his security account will work and creating backup accounts for himself and Oswald, logs off to find himself covered in dust and debris.

[Red-ROM]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 10:42 PM, Cross Town Gas, Redmond

The world was getting surreal. Even for the Barrens. The sign that fell seemed to have just jumped up and attacked the elf. And now he was gone. Professor analyzed the building for trouble. Someone must have cut corners on weather proofing. Or maybe some of the chemicals from the old lab that exploded had an effect on it. The walls were made of concrete though. It seemed sturdy enough, and the roof doesn't have the weight that the sign did. At least not so concentrated. Ferret returned to a less altered reality. The main alteration being the scene in the parking lot.

Oswald was momentarily distracted as the blimp sailed north to catch up with the ghouls, but he looks back in time to see his prey. Two ghouls laden with meat heading towards a huge black dog. Jovan was on the scene as well, in the astral space. The dog was in both worlds. and spotted the incoming trackers. He barks loudly with deep resonating growls. A wave of magic emanates from the dog's aura towards Jovan. The two ghouls look up to see the spirits following them, and they bolt north towards the condoes ahead of them.

[Sephiroth]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 10:42 PM, Redmond

That girl's commlink is still broadcasting? No, no, no, that can't be! This must be rectified before it brings death down upon us... before her signal is captured by the ghouls, or the Vipers, or bugs, or worse... Yes. This must be fixed immediately. I'll be damned if I let those secretive Saeder-Krupp insect spirit-filled strike teams catch up to me now.

With these paranoid thoughts in mind, Jovan turned to his elemental servant as the pair continued to follow the ghouls. A problem has cropped up due to an oversight. We need to return to the vehicles. Come. Calling up the image of the safehouse in his mind, Jovan and the elemental blurred into nothing as they returned to the Rover and the van, moving faster than a bullet.

There is a small commlink lying on the front seat of that van. It is broadcasting a signal and poses a security risk. I need you to go in there and turn it off.

The aloof spirit raised a metaphorical eyebrow, a bit insulted at such a trivial request. This kind of activity is in the domain of spirits of lesser caliber. I can do this for you, but not for free.

Jovan scowled. We do not have time to argue about this, spirit! My work is too important to permit even the slightest risk of my death unless it is on my own terms. In any case, turning off that commlink will reduce the chance of hostile persons finding us, which means that no situations should come up where I must use you in ways more painful than your liking. It will benefit us both. Quickly please, before the ghouls are gone.

Quietly, the spirit materialized in the van and shut off the commlink after a quick look for the proper switch. Within moments, the pair were back in Cross Town on the trail of the two ghouls.