IC: Post or Die, Lifelines, and deadlines Options

[Seth]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 10:56 PM, Redmond

Jade Tiger thinks hard about the best way forward. There are names and there is some hunting to do. But to start with she needs a spoor. Still asking people about names can lead to a trail, and Big Daddy and The Viper 12 are good names to try.

Remembering what her mother told her about dealing with two legs, she focus's her mana to improve her ability to understand and deal with people

<<@John Star: Hey darling you got...bother....lines dead>>

<<@Yoshida Konachi: Yoshida-san greeting to you this...bother...still dead>>

<<@Team[Jade Tiger]: Hey guys I cannot get a line out to ask some questions, do any of you have a link to the outside? >>

[Saint Sithney]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 10:56 PM, Redmond, heading north

<<@team: Joe's not on this frequency Zo. He should check the feeds when he gets back meatside, though. Try telling his ghosty.>>

[Warlordtheft]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 10:56 PM, Redmond, Crosstown gas station

At Oz's comment, Zo looks at ferret in the gas station. "Ferret you in meatspace yet?"

<<@team:Oz, his eyeball thing isn't here. I think it went into da complex. I figure he'll check his comm eventually. Not important at the moment. Though dey ain'tt 162's, so hopefully dey only gots a few dozen feral ghouls. I'm not too worried abouts them, the ones dat can shoot, yeah we need to keep an eye on dem.>>

[Seth]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 10:58 PM, Redmond

Jade Tiger and her companions hustle supernaturally quickly towards the tower, surrounded by a green mist that deadens the sound they make, and makes them harder to see. Fortunately either nothing has seen them so far, or what ever has seen them was perceptive enough to realize that there is easier prey.

Despite that her every sense is out, the electronic sensors supplementing the supernaturally sharp natural ones, and her sense that there is trouble growing increases

<<team: So tell me more about this Big Daddy. Do we know what we can expect from him? Same goes for the Viper 12, have you any pictures that you captured from your last run in? >>

[Red-ROM]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 11:06 PM, Redmond

The three scouts in the green mist fly towards the tower with the speed of a charging rhino, but the sound of a strong wind. As they zip past the mall, they see some of the carnage that Ferret had reported on. A security truck on its side where it smashed through the front entrance. Professor noticed the truck was labeled "Ares" on the side. The group passes a few other large warehouses and office buildings. The spirit drops the group in front of a full megacorp business tower. The kind of structure that makes any runner's neck hair jump to attention. The building took up the whole block, and extended to the clouds. The place dark and the lobby appeared empty through the transparent concrete that constituted windows on the ground floor. The front doors were actual glass, three inches thick set in steel watched over by cameras.

Ferret had no problem making himself at home on the tower's node. He spent some time programming a back door into the system and forwarding alerts to the gas station. A motion sensor pinged quietly in a menu bar with a video feed of Oswald and friends at the front door.

Jovan's Air elemental was not having as easy a time with Amber's commlink. Following Jovan's instructions on operating this mundane contraption was belittling and frustrating. "The last message is from a 'mrs. Johnson' and there's another box here labeled 'Johnson and friend' is that related?

[Seth]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 11:06 PM, Tower in Redmond

Jade Tiger turns to her companions.

"Why don't we find a safe-ish place to wait...perhaps insides that truck. I will send a thought form to investigate the tower. Can you tell me everything you know about the boxes?"

After listening to the little that was known, she sighs, then concentrate on the thought form made solid as her mother taught her. With a whoosh the green mist moves towards the tower and vanishes.

"Well in a few minutes we will know if its easily findable. Of course if they are behind a ward, then this simple technique will not work. The 'spirit' as you call them is programmed to locate any such boxes and report on the presence of any wards. It will find me when it has finished. Should we get a report from Jovian or Ferret, we can of course act upon it. In the meantime, I guess we keep an eye, ear and nose out for ghouls!"

[pbangarth]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 11:06 PM, Tower in Redmond

Professor considers Jade's suggestion. "Do you mean the Ares truck back at the mall? We sped past it, but it does interest me. Ares is the original owner of the cargo. I wonder if this truck is connected to our job.

"Good idea with the astral reconnaissance. While we check out the truck, your thought form can add to what Ferret has told us. What do you think, Oswald?

"Oh. And it's Jovan, not Jovian. Though, his ego could be described as planetary in size."

[Notsoevildm]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 11:06 PM, Tower in Redmond

<<@team: I see you made it to the Tower. Looks all clear here for now. The system is no longer on alert. I can stay here in the system and provide overwatch or log out and try to catch up with you. I've got a back door in if we need it and an alert feed forwarding to the garage. I can slave one of the cheap comms to the terminal here and have it broadcast to us via the blimp.>>

Ferret switches to AR mode for a few seconds. His eyes open and he looks up at Zo.

"The rest of the team are at the East Tower. They might need me a little longer in case they trip an alarm. Otherwise we're about done here."

[Warlordtheft]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 11:06 PM, the Gas Station in Redmond

"Cool. While we iz waiting, do ya wanna set up a wireless relay with one of your spare P.O.D commlinks so you don't have to be standin here next to it."

[Notsoevildm]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 11:06 PM, the Gas Station in Redmond

"Good idea. Sounds like you got some experience of running the shadows, neh?"

Ferret blinks as he adjust his focus to the real world. He pulls out one of the cheap commlinks and duct tapes it to the terminal. A spool of fiber optic cable joins it as he mentally configures the comm, slaving it to the one in his head. He logs off from the Tower node, returning his persona to his headware, then disconnects the terminal from his datajack and plugs in the cheap commlnk. Finally, he logs back in via the wireless connection so he will be instantly warned of any alerts triggered in the tower node.

"Okay, we're good to go. I'll drop the rest of these links as we go just in case the blimp needs to move out of range of this place or otherwise loses the signal."

He pulls himself up onto his feet and stretches the kinks out of his system with a grunt. Then he draws his custom machine pistol and waves it in the direction the others headed.

"After you." he grins at the ork ganger.

[Seth]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 11:07 PM, Tower in Redmond

Jade Tiger, the Professor and Oswald head back to the truck to check it, while keeping all sense tuned for signs of an ambush, or perhaps signs of earlier conflict.

<<@ferret: We are checking out the tower astrally, and this Ares truck physically. We have a choice what to do: the tower is quite big, but my thought form should find any box similar to the ones we are looking for in around 20 minutes.

Do you think the ghouls you saw earlier will be back? If so I think we could set up a defensive position to be able to deal with them.... which probably means going into the tower. >>

[Warlordtheft]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 11:06 PM, the Gas Station in Redmond

Zo begins heading out towards Oz's location. Knowing it will take several minutes to get there. He looks at the dwarf trying to hurry up behind him. As he moves forward he keeps an eye out for any traps or an ambush.

<@team>Ferret and I are heading in your direction. ETA 11:46PM....I think.

[Saint Sithney]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 11:07 PM, Tower in Redmond

<<@team: Affirmative, Zo. We're at the tower where those yahoos tried to smash and shoot their way in. The truck is abandoned, so they either ate it on the scene, or got away with the gear. It's got an Ares logo on it. Ferret, is there any way you can give us a breakdown of what you found at each location and what systems you managed to get hold of?>>

"Jade, any suspicious plates or wires around the truck? If they didn't have time to booby-trap it, then they probably didn't get the cargo. If they did booby-trap it, that still doesn't mean they got the cargo."

[Seth]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 11:07 PM, Tower in Redmond

Jade Tiger considers Oswald's comment. Translated it into "look for wires". "Their presence or absence tells us nothing about the truck". Well it was good advice anyway. Jade had been more looking out for ghouls than for wires. Snorting a "metahumans" under her breath, eyes narrowing she examines the boxes.

[Warlordtheft]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 11:07 PM, Near the Catco Gas Station in Redmond

Zo carefully makes his way through the rubble street, keeping an eye out for any trouble and making sure Ferreet remains safe.

[pbangarth]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 11:07 PM, Tower in Redmond

Professor decides to add his heightened perceptions to the task of checking the truck for anything suspicious.

"I might as well take a look too."

[Notsoevildm]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 11:07 PM, Near the Catco Gas Station in Redmond

Ferret falls in behind Zo, slighty to his left to cover that flank. He keeps up as best he can while also trying to be quiet.

Just like old times he thinks to himself, remembering the many times he trailed along behind his buddy Throgg to drug meets with the Vory.

"I got your back...Zo."

<<@team: We got three main locations. First is the Bistro {image} where BDLL used to pick up his messages. Still looks habitable but no signs of life. Low odds that the trucks are there. I was only able to grab a few frames from one of the cameras in the street but no other active security systems here anyway.

Second is the mall. Some action {video of firefight} definitely went down here but not sure if anyone is still there. Likely to be enough underground parking there to hide a few vans. I was able to check out the few remaining security cameras but not much to see here.

Third is the East Tower or ghoul central. There is still some active security there {video from security guns}. I have an alert channel open to the system and a backdoor in so should be able to keep any countermeasures off our backs and hopefully get an early warning of any ghouls. The ghouls came up from the basement. There looked to be some crates down there. High probability that that's where the vans and gear are. Just hope the ghouls haven't hauled it away through that tunnel. {image}>>

[Seth]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 11:07 PM, Tower in Redmond

<<team: A few options for us... Firstly we could wait for the astral scout, Secondly we could sneak to ghoul central. Thirdly we could race there at full speed.

Personally I would like to race there...I feel they are attacking that area now...so lets get there quick>>

[Warlordtheft]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 11:07 PM, Near the Catco Gas Station in Redmond

<<@team: Whats da time stamp on the footage Ferret?---I didn't see it. We could be lookin at somethin that happend dayz ago. >>

[Sephiroth]

Friday, Sept. 11, 11:06 PM, Redmond

Peace, spirit. Do not let such a mundane device frustrate you so. There are much more frustrating things in this world, I assure you. Like bureaucrats, or ties. His curiosity cranked up another level at the elemental's mention of messages relating to Ms. Johnson. I'm certain that they are related. Open both of them please. I would very much like to know what they say.

In the meantime, Jovan himself was checking around the inside of the safehouse and inside the Rover, making sure that both Rusty and the Viper prisoner were still present and secure.


11:07 PM, Near the Catco Gas Station in Redmond

"Boo," Jovan's voice said with a deadpan tone. The basketball-sized translucent floating eyeball had manifested back into view, hovering a short distance in front of Ferret and Zo as they walked. "I hope I didn't keep you waiting; I needed to speak with a friend for a bit. Do you have any updates from your end? Did you find anything interesting in the local building nodes?"


11:07 PM, Tower in Redmond

"You might want to take a look at the signature left on its astral shadow. It seems it was hit indirectly by some sort of spell, but whether it was from one of the ghouls or from one of Long Legs' team... that I do not know."

"Oh, and Professor, I find it mildly curious that you seem to be the only one who cares enough to pronounce my name properly." He did not sound especially bothered by this.

[Warlordtheft]

11:07 PM, Near the Catco Gas Station in Redmond
Zo, raised his rifle and pointed in the direction of the eyeball. In AR the gun pulled out quick and the aim was true scoring a virtual direct hit. Zo quietly points to ferret, and makes a zip it sign across his mouth. And then points back to the safe house and then to his comm. Frag me, this guy is going to get us killed doin dat drek....

[Red-ROM]

Friday, Sept. 11, 11:06 PM, Redmond

Jovan's elemental tapped away at the commlink for another minute,"There is a text asking for a progress report, the other is a video and audio clip. A pale woman with no eyes talking to a German man." The spirit started the recording over again and dictated the conversation to Jovan. It was lucky he was a spirit of air that had blown through the black forest for quite some time.

Professor looked over the truck. The physical damage seemed to focus on the front axle and the passenger side of the front bumper. The vehicle look like it flipped over a guard rail and slid through the glass entrance. An astral look revealed traces of a physical barrier of magic. The signature was strange indeed. The structure was similar to a christian thaumaturgy, but far more chaotic. This was nothing the archaeologist had ever seen before, which he couldn't help but feel is a rare thing. The blood stains, and the trail of shells painted a fairly good picture. Two streaked blood trails and torn clothes mark two passengers as ghoul food. The passenger in the front seat laid down heavy, large caliber fire. There was a bloody scuffle. many red footprints on white tile danced around the car, a few without shoes. One pair of boots made their way backwards, deeper into the mall, trailing more shells. Further in the sprinklers washed the blood into a pink film, and the trail is lost. Inside the truck, the dwarf found Ares uniforms and ID badges. In the back was a large make shift machine that looked like a small radio tower. It was welded to the floor and wired into the car.

[Seth]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 11:07 PM, Tower in Redmond

Jade Tiger sniffed the area. Unlike the professor she had never studied the differences in styles of magic. Still knowing the astral signatue was always useful. If she saw that person's work again she would know it. Similarly with the snells in this area. For her the smells here wove a tapestry.

<<team: Well I would not be surprised if this was the truck we are after. If you want matrix access, I would not be surprised if we could jury rig this machine here <embedded image>.

The simplest option for us know is to follow the bloody footprints...however I think its unlikely they lead to the boxes. My reading of the situation is that one of the people managed to retreat into the mall, laying down suppressing fire. I doubt if he had time to pick up and move all the boxes.

So back to the earlier question race wait for the astral scout to conclude, sneak inside or race inside. >>

[Notsoevildm]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 11:07 PM, Near the Catco Gas Station in Redmond

<<@team: Whats da time stamp on the footage Ferret?---I didn't see it. We could be lookin at somethin that happend dayz ago. >>

<<@team: None of the footage I sent is current. It's all captured from when the alerts were triggered and is at least a couple of days old.>>

[Warlordtheft]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 11:07 PM, Near the gas station heading toward the tower

<<team: Jade...how astrally active is da ghouls. Aren't dey magical and can dey see da scouts? Wouldn't dat alert them that we iz comming? If dey can dat is. I remember one of da Street shamans saying something ta dat effect when he wuz helpin out fighting the 162s. >>