Copycat Killer Help with Scene 7, Warning, Spoilers Options

[Bearclaw]

OK, so Arnold's commlink has Mather's disposable comm code. Mather's commlink has Walker's comm code. We are supposed to be able to find Walker, but not Mathers.
But, to get Walker's info, we must first hack Mather's commlink.
What am I missing?

[Silverback]

Hi!

Mathers called Arnold using his disposable commlink. He called Walker with the same one. So if the team's decker hacks the commlink or the node of the telephone company (s)he will learn that only two numbers have been connected to this commlink.
The identity of Mathers can only be found if the decker finds out that the budget for the disposable commlink has been raised using the bank account of a certain Mr. Mathers.

Hope that helps
Silverback

[Bull]

Silverback has it, and hopefully that helps.

The Mathers link is really outside the scope of the adventure, as it's the link that MacCallister eventually finds and follows up for 04-05. I put that in there more for GMs than for players, to let them know more was going on behind the scenes. But it is a link that dedicated players could potentially find, so I didn't want to remove it completely.

[Bearclaw]

So my issue is, to get Walters comm code, you have to hack Mathers commlink. That's where the number is stored, because that's the commlink that called both Arnold and Walters. But the notes say that Mathers commlink is turned off and almost impossible to find or hack. So, I feel like I'm missing something that's obvious to everyone else (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Silverback]

To hack Mathers' disposable commlink would be Plan A. But if this is turned off, you switch to Plan B, the node of the telecommunication provider (think Telekom, Vodaphone, AT&T, whatever).
In that case you would have to estimate the node's difficulty, because I think it is not given and then the decker can obtain a list of all the commcodes dialed by Mathers' commlink (in that case just one).

Then you have to find out, who is the owner of that commlink number at that means you have to hack in the provider's data storage. Then the name "Shawn Walker" should pop up.

And then the decker has to triangulate the the location of Walker's commlink.

We handled this by a few dice rolls for the NSC-decker.

[Bull]

Keep in mind that the commlink is only one of several possible ways to track Mathers, as a note. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)