IC: Post or Die, Lifelines, and deadlines Options

[HugeC]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 7:33 PM, behind Twisters, Redmond

Thirty is alarmed by Ferret's spasms, but maintains his calm, alert demeanor as the group of strangers shuffles through the streets of Glow City. Keeping his eyes peeled for danger, he whispers into the comms, <You OK in there, Ferret?>

[Saint Sithney]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 7:33 PM, Oswald's Rover, near the body mall, Redmond

"Pah! God damn this noise! I can't pinpoint the signal without canceling out the interference, and it'll take hours of sampling to work the static out of my calculations. I've got a good idea of where the signal is coming from, I'll just pop the top and take a look inside." With that, Oswald fired at the roof of the shanty, hoping to crack a support beam and cave it in on whatever or whomever was below.

[Sephiroth]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 7:33 PM, Oswald's Rover, near the body mall, Redmond

Jovan narrowed his eyes suspiciously. As Oswald mentioned, this seemed too much like some sort of feint or distraction, and the man and vehicle splitting off did nothing to assuage his paranoid suspicions of an elaborate trap or diversion to draw their attention away from something important. Try to follow the man. If you can do so while occasionally checking on the status of the group, that would be preferable - but not at the expense of losing that man's trail.

"Not that I wouldn't love to help you with your algebra (though I suppose you could try a different reference frame), but we have other concerns to attend to as well. Our unidentified little tourist is hastily heading south, and what I suspect is the vehicle he was by is driving away in a different direction. I cannot keep track of both of them; you will have to keep a wireless eye on that vehicle."

<@team: I hope you didn't leave your vehicle or anything else important south of your current position.>>

[Notsoevildm]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 7:33 PM, Over Thirty's shoulder, Redmond

<@team: I'm fine...grunt...van on autopilot...ouch...follow the ferret...take that you fragger!>>

A data packet named 'ferret' arrives in the commlinks of everyone on the team frequency. On viewing the data, a small animated ratlike creature appears in your AR display with the word 'ferret' floating above it's head. It immediately scurries off in the direction of Ferret's van.

[pbangarth]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 7:33 PM, behind Twisters, Redmond

Professor can't help but smile at the AR ferret leading them to the van. Ain't technology wonderful.

[Acme]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 7:33 PM, behind Twisters, Redmond


Not having any sort of AR goggles on, Acme just went along with the group, but still wondered what the hell was going on with Ferret, waving their new "guests" in front of him so he could pick up the rear. "We're going to get some sort of explanation, right?" he asked out. "Sudden attacks on our hacker doesn't give me the greatest confidence of this going smoothly...."

[Saint Sithney]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 7:34 PM, Oswald's Rover, near the body mall, Redmond

"Follow the Vehicle? You mean Ferret's van?! The guy you mentioned was standing by Ferret's van?! Son of a bitch."

<@team: looks like your ride might be compromised.. confirming now, but scan it anyway.. Also, the source of Ferret's attack? I dropped a building on him. It was a small building.>>

Oswald made the blimp puff out a bit of smoke again, to break up its outline in the darkened sky.

[pbangarth]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 7:33 PM, behind Twisters, Redmond

Note to self: We may need to set up some SOPs for future runs.

[Red-ROM]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 7:35 PM, Glow city, Redmond

The bullet from the blimp pings off a chunk of plastiboard, sending it flying. Oz can now see a man laid out, either unconcious or dead. The group in the alley make their way out onto the street, where the van is now waiting for them.
The air spirit dives into glow city in search of the mystery man. I mentally calls out to Jovan, This place is sapping my strength, I can't find the man, he must have gone into these buildings, or maybe that vehicle. I will keep looking

[pbangarth]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 7:35 PM, Glow city, Redmond

As they approach Ferret's van the confusion about where the mystery man is brings up images in Professor's mind of all those cheesy horror stories in which the killer hides in the back seat. Before they enter the van, He checks it out, front and back, for unwanted passengers. Hell, he even submits himself to the astral pollution and perceives in that dimension as well.

[HugeC]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 7:35 PM, Glow city, Redmond

Thirty hefts Ferret's twitching body and scans the surroundings, watching for threats. The dwarf is starting to get heavy, but he doesn't let his face show the strain. Since his hands are full, he asks, "Someone mind getting the door?"

[Red-ROM]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 7:35 PM, Glow city, Redmond

Ferret took one more lunge at the nearly crippled icon, sending it crashing out of existence. Professor's glance over the van turned up no hidden passengers. The exterior seemed as dirty as he remembered. It would be hard to say if the handprints on the side were new or old.

[pbangarth]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 7:35 PM, Glow city, Redmond

As Ferret is loaded into the van and the others take seats, Professor applies his photographic memory, and, as is prudent, his vision-magnification-equipped goggles to record palm and fingerprints from the outside of the van. A few photos, a few seconds, and he jumps in the van himself. It looks like he is the driver again, seeing as Ferret is hors-de-combat at the moment.

"How about we get to somewhere safe and .... clean? Anybody able to check out the vehicle for locator devices? Wouldn't want to lead unknown factors to where we hole up." He fires up the vehicle and starts back the way they came in. "Any news from our astral and space observation teams?"

[Saint Sithney]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 7:36 PM, Oswald's Rover, near the body mall, Redmond

<<@team: The thing from the roof was a ruse. Looks like the guy hammered some sucker to death and then made his agent attack from the dead man's commlink. No indication of other players on the scene. Well, the good news is that I don't think he knows that we know he was messing with the van. Bad news is that we have no idea what he did to it and you could be sitting on top of a bomb for all I know. Just don't mention the guy or searching the van and we can use you as bait. Those RFID tags only have a range of 40 meters or so, which means he'll have to stick close to you. If he's using something bigger, Ferret should have been able to pick it up by now.>>

Feeling resolutely disappointed with the outcome of that little chase, Oswald quickly moved the blimp out of the area again, hoping that he hadn't yet shown his hand.

"Gah! This is the Block Crushers all over again! No attack plan. No exit strategy. Just walk into the lion's jaws and get surprised when you're eaten."

Once again, Oswald resumed the soporific drip keeping Jay sedated.

[Notsoevildm]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 7:37 PM, Ferret's van, Glow City, Redmond

Ferret's elation at beating the decker turns to disappointment at Oswald's message. He keeps the trace running for a few seconds longer, hoping it will move and prove the rigger wrong. In the meantime he performs a little bit of digital housekeeping. He loads up his 'Dr Defragger' medic program and sets it to repairing his icon while he spoofs a new commlink ID and sends it to the team.

He then checks the van for bugs, hoping that that's all he finds. When he finally opens his eyes to the real, he finds himself squeezed between Thirty and Rusty in the passenger seat of his van. Glancing over his shoulder, he spies the new lad, Acme, sitting in the office chair that is bolted to the floor next to his worktable. Across from him, the red-skinned ork is perched on his scooter's seat with the green-faced kid hunkered down on the van's wheel arch next to her. It's a bit cramped but at least they are alive, on the move, and have some armor plate between them and the Barrens.

"Don't be messing with my stuff back there," he grumbles. You break anything, you pay for it."

Rubbing his temples, he looks up to Thirty, "Thanks for hauling me outta there, big fella."

<<@Team: We need a safe place to talk to Rusty. Ideally somewhere that can't be traced back to any of us. Anyone know a spot or do I need to call my buddies in the Crush?>>

[pbangarth]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 7:37 PM, Ferret's van, Glow City, Redmond

"I'm all for getting the hell out of this background count. I feel like the Wicked Witch of the West after the bucket of water." Professor wonders if anyone here will get the allusion. The story has achieved fairy tale status. Maybe.

[Sephiroth]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 7:37 PM, Oswald's Rover, near the body mall, Redmond

"Where we are, there's daggers in men's smiles: the nea'er in blood, the nearer bloody," Jovan said with a sigh, shaking his still-aching head slightly at Oswald's news - more at the murderous use of the man as a decoy than at the success of the unidentified attacker's ruse. It was a clever ruse, and Jovan could respect that somewhat; however, it was very unlikely that this opponent would be able to outlast Jovan in this little game. He certainly did not have the patience of an immortal Infected. Unless the man was not what he appeared to be, such as a shedim, bug, or another Infected...

<<@team: And it seems that the sneaky little rat has disappeared in the buildings to the south. A bit of a shame, really. I'd go after him myself, but I am no fool; I have not the necessary resources to support myself in that deathly place. It's more enjoyable to let him walk into a mousetrap after this anyway.>> He subtly licked his fangs.

As an afterthought, he added sarcastically, <<Hail to Glow City, the professor is dead.>>

[Acme]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 7:37 PM, Ferret's van, Glow City, Redmond


Acme shivered. "Yeah, I'm tired of feeling like crap,"he replied, looking around. "I need a shower and a drink after all this... Just mostly the drink." He stretched in the chair a bit, nodding to see Ferret still kicking. "No fair, you get to get a nap in while we're all fearing for our lives." He chuckled softly.

[HugeC]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 7:37 PM, Ferret's van, Glow City, Redmond

Rubbing his temples, [Ferret] looks up to Thirty, "Thanks for hauling me outta there, big fella."

"Null sheen, chummer, though if this gets to be a habit, I'll hafta start buying you salads instead of soyburgers and fries," Thirty says with a grin.

He calls up to Professor in the front seat, "Let's just head to the bus depot for now, we can decide where to go after that on the way."

Then he composes a quick message via DNI on his commlink. <@team: Oswald - We heading to your place or somewhere else?>

[pbangarth]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 7:37 PM, Ferret's van, Glow City, Redmond

Professor smiles at Jovan's response-allusion to Wizard of Oz, and wonders whether Jovan prefer's Baum's Oz, or Maguire's. Probably the latter. Hmmm... both Washington and Seattle have been referred to as the Emerald City. I am a little like Dorothy here. Where are my ruby slippers?

He waits for Ferret or Oswald to tell them about any electronic nasties in the van.

[Notsoevildm]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 7:37 PM, Ferret's van, Glow City, Redmond

Ferret opens an audio channel on his commlink so that Jovan and Oswald can listen in. He does run a level three encryption on the signal, his paranoia cranked up a notch after recent events.

"Well, the good news is we ain't primed to blow. The bad news is that we're bugged. I've picked up at least two bugs on the van. One is transmitting video from underneath the front bumper, the other is transmitting our location to anyone listening in. So, I don't think its a good idea to go to Ozzie's place right now. I can probably loop the video on the camera but jigging with the GPS beacon will let them know we're on to them.

So while the bus depot sounds like a good place to lose the trace, I have a different idea. We cross into Crush territory and find somewhere to hide the van. Ideally, somewhere big like an old warehouse and preferably one filled with junk. I spoof the video feed and peel the bugs off the van. Then we shift the van to the other side of the warehouse and wait to see if anyone comes to take a look. In the meantime, Rusty here can fill us in on his buddy and his pals. Anyone see any flaws in that or got a better idea, I'm listening.

[pbangarth]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 7:37 PM, Ferret's van, Glow City, Redmond

"Sounds like a plan to me. Which way to Crush territory, and what shit will be getting into when we go there?" Professor brings up Yahoo Maps on his commlink.

[Acme]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 7:37 PM, Ferret's van, Glow City, Redmond

"Mmm, not too terribly far from here," Acme replied, pointing at a few places on the map that Professor brought up. "They're here in the Barrens, ah.... Closeish to the tourist strip I think." He frowns hearing the issue with the bugs, but othewise he can't offer much help with the electronics, just content to pal up with his fellow arcane user.

[Sephiroth]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 7:38 PM, Oswald's Rover, near the body mall, Redmond

<<@team: I do see at least one flaw. You are undoubtedly going to require the assistance of Oswald and myself for this little trap. However, with our joining you, there is a possibility that the very act of doing so will alert the target to our presence - one should not assume that those two are the only bugs that were planted in the vehicle. That would lessen the advantage of surprise in the trap.>>

<<@professor: Now then. I believe you were just about to inform me of what we know of our employer at this point.>>

[Red-ROM]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 7:38 PM, Ferret's van, Glow City, Redmond

Rusty scratches his fuzzy chin in the cramped space inside the van,"These guys want ol' Long legs worse than you guys. Thing is, he ain't answering the door, so to speak, lately. He hadn't been around for a few days, so I went to check on him. No answer, and it's not the kind of place you walk around uninvited. I'm not even sure he's alive. "