Umbrae Europae [IC] (part 3) - Mist of Nycthemeron, A third installment of the Umbrae Europae Campaing (started elsewhere) Options

[Romain Pelisse]

The professor answered Waywalker almost immediately. And she was clearly not pleased.

"You've been assigned to my project? First I hear of it? Who's the frag authorize this? This is a sensible project, I cannot add random members to it before a proper vetting. It's not a cat shelter! I'm not here to pick up stray cat in the street. Let me call the dean to clarify this right away..."

[ Spoiler ]

I'm again confuse in our color convention. I though Red was for talking, Blue for Matrix communication and messaging and Green for telepathy / mental link...

[Jack_Spade]

[ Spoiler ]

Hm, nope
I've consitently used red for speech, green for electronic transmitted and blue for purely mental messages/thoughts
Rex uses a trode net to "speak" to Waywalker through text and voice messages.

Also, Leadership test to help Waywalker smoothing the waves with the Professor:

Leadership: 13d6t5 6

Rex listened in on the conversation and told Waywalker: <<She's overworked, tell you that you were send to ease her workload. Make it clear that you don't need to be added to the group and would just as easily support one of her colleagues instead.>>

[Haywire]

#192

Waywalker responded to the Professor Duquesne: "I'm sorry if I caused you any problems; I was sent to help you and ease your workload. If you want I can support one of your colleagues instead."

[ Spoiler ]

etiquette: 7d6t5 2 + 3 successes from Rex's Leadership

[Romain Pelisse]

Rex message came in just in time and Waywalker was able to reply to the professor before she hang up. And his reply score him some point because she paused for a second.

"Hum... Well, I guess that we are swamped. There is some authorization process to consider that appears to be missing. Arg, this is a mess. I don't know who the frag hacked this thing together but it is some shoddy work."

Waywalker refrained to smile as she said the work "hacked". She had no idea how close she was to the truth.

"OK, I'll deal with that when I have time. You are right, we need help and I can think about a dozen low priority tasks you can most likely accomplished without proper accreditation. Drop by my office at the end of the day, we'll do a quick on boarding meeting and I'll check if your skill set is worth going through the approval process."

As she hang up, Waywalker received an ARO containing an invitation to come to her office in few hours. The runners discussed for a while, to prepare the meet, and figure out how to park nearby the university without being filmed by all the camera around. Fontainebleau is not part of Paris but the security in the vicinity is almost as high as within the capital. Despite, they found a place to park a few blocks away from the professor's offices.

[ Spoiler ]

Obviously, Waywalker image is going to be recorded by several devices as he goes to the meet. You could solve that by hacking or by disguise him, however it's a story's detail, so I'm going to assume you dealt with that somehow and move forward to the meet with Dusquenes. I'm not narrating where Rex is so you can either pull off the "emotion support dog" trick again or simply say he stayed in the van. As this is a magical study university there is a lot of mana barrier running around but for the purpose of the story we'll say Rex won't run into any to get to the offices.

Waywalker could have got lost in the never ending corridor of the University but fortunately for him the ARO including an AR plan that leads directly to the office. He also had to cross a couple of security doors. But no scanner that would be able to notice his cyberdeck. It was lucky but it still did not make Waywalker comfortable. If the meet goes bad and it's time to bolt out of Dodge, going back to the van will not be a simple affair.

The hacker paused for an instant, in front of the wooden door of her office, took a deep breath and knock. Dusquesnes replied immediately, in french: "Entrez!". Waywalker knew enough about the language to know it meant "come in".

"Ah, here you are. Sorry, since we had a chat earlier today, I had to deal with a lot of things and our meeting escaped my mind. Your file in the system is pretty confusing. I did not even know that you were awakened! How on Earth did you ended up being assigned to this project?"

[Jack_Spade]

Rex had decided to brave the mana barriers with Waywalker - most of all so the spells he had woven onto him did not get disrupted. That necessitated him to move slowly, so Rex had time to attune him and his spells to the different barriers before slipping them through. He also needed to be around to watch the astral, so he could tell Waywalker what he was supposed to see.
Rex had taken the form of a rather small Retreiver to bring the maximum of cuteness into the meeting.

At the moment he kept himself in the background, but letting his friend know: <<Say that there are at least three other students with your name and that you've had trouble before with the administration mixing the details up. She's the type to despise bureocrats>>

[Haywire]

#193

Waywalker smiled at the hint of hacking of the professor.
"I'm sorry, but my name is a pretty common one, and I've already had some trouble with this kind of paperwork. Yes, I am Awakened but my talent is not enough to cast spells... I requested to partecipate in a project focusing on the arcane side of the city, so I can put in my CV and in my thesis, and I was assigned at your research team."
Waywalker stood and smiled as he talked, waiting for the professor's reply.

[Romain Pelisse]

Rex's psychology analysis of Professor Dusquenes was spot on:

"Incredible! Those damn bureaucrats can still handle properly students having the same name. In these day and age" - she added, shacking her head.

"Well, I'll guess we'll have to rise to the circumstance and do the best of bad situation, don't we? So, let me see what I can do with you..." and then she closed her eyes and started, very obviously, reading Waywalker's aura. It was obvious by her attitude, but the hacker could also feel the slight change of temperature on the room - a common phenomenon tied to what some awakened called "mana bleed".

As the temperature slightly lowered in the room, Waywalker also had a strange sensation along his spine. A bit like if he was suddenly visited by some invisible ghost. Looking at the professor he could see her closed glimmer and shine. As a shadowrunner, it was not the first time he had his aura read but it remains a painless but uncomfortable feeling.Especially factoring in that she might see through Rex's mana illusion and call security!

Her reading barely lasted a second but it felt longer to the decker. She opened her eyes and continued:

"You are right, you are far from being the most potent awakened student I have, but you are in lucky, there is so much to do on this project that I'm sure I'll find a useful to use you Talent to the maximum."

Waywalker breathed a bit more easy. The professor appeared to be fouled by Rex's spell and will not be calling security right away. Now remained for the runners to steer the discussion in the right way for them...

[Jack_Spade]

Rex kept himself small as not to draw attention from the irritable professor, still he gave Waywalker a few pointers:
<<Ask her first where the most work is to do at the moment, then try to flatter her a bit and finally mention how exited you are to have a chance to find an astral gate>>

[Haywire]

#194

"I'm looking forward to my work with you. Where is that I could help more? I've herd great things about your reaserches and I am excited to witness them firsthand. An astral gate is not something you see in the eleven o' clock news..."

[Romain Pelisse]

At the mention of an astral gate, the professor Dusquenes immediately frowned:

"Astral gate? You've been quite misinformed, young man, this is project is dedicated to analyzing and categorizing echo of the past on an arcanoarcheologic site. You've been informed, we are not looking for an astral gate... or any astral gate..."

As the woman kept mumbling, Waywalker knew that she was lying. She had been caught quite off-guard by his question and she was keeping up with the pretense that this project was about arcanoarcheology, but the runners knew better - thanks to their little hacking expedition.

[Jack_Spade]

Rex perked up at that reaction. Maybe it was time to learn one of those mind reading spells to cut short having to deal with bad liars all the time.
<<Don't apologize, just try to look confused. Maybe you can hack her commlink for more information.>>

[Haywire]

#195

"Next time you will talk and I'll be the mind behind the scenes..."
"Was I badly informed? I'm looking for a research project to explore the arcane manifestation in the city, subject on which I'll write my thesis, and I've been counseled to look forward to you and your team..."

[Romain Pelisse]

The woman looked immediately reassured by Waywalker reply. Waywalker thought again that she was, for sure, not ready to work in the shadows. She had simply no talent for lying or reading people. She relaxed and continued:

"Well, this being sorted out, let's discuss what we can do with you. With your talent being so... undeveloped, I don't expect you to be able to astraly project - and even so certainly not to the extent needed for our 'echoes' gathering operation. However... Am I right to assume that you are a bit of a tech savvy? Because we got some founding from a ... anonymous sponsor, in the forms of a few of those fancy and weird looking drones. How are they called? Oh right, Bertillon drones."

On his top of his head, Waywalker never heard of those, but a quick matrix search gave him the answer. The Bertillon lines is a series of knockout of the Telestrian Shamus mentioned earlier by Rex. They are produced by a subsidiary of Dassault (a branch of Aztechnology). The name is a direct reference to Alphonse Bertillon which was part of the marketing operation about it as Dassault clearly targeted the drone to be sold to Neo-PD.

"I can see this is familiar to you. Well, we had issue with those devices. We deployed on the site, Montmartre, a couple of times, spends hours configuring them and even monitoring their progress is capturing informations on the astral and since they are back at the University, we haven't be able to recover the data. They appears to be completely glitchy. Maybe you could take a look at them? Of course, this is only a proposal maybe you have a better idea on how to integrate you to the project..."

[Haywire]

#196

"Of course I can give a look at those drones. Just send me the address and I'll be there."

[Jack_Spade]

<<Nice, that way we can access their research and have the computers make a statistical analysis where the gate hides most likely.>> Rex sent through his feed.
<<If we manage to get her into a good mood, we might even be able to ask her about our book...>

[Haywire]

#196

"Yep, that's a good idea. I'll work into that. I'd prefer to complete the task with the drone before approaching her on the book, so we can gain her trust."

[Romain Pelisse]

"A la bonheur! The drones are store within our facilities. Of course, they are at the other side of the campus. Here is the location and an ARO that should give you access to the storage facility. Be aware that because those are a bit pricey and actually 'corporate assets' lend to the University, security around the facility is a bit... Overzealous. However I don't expect this to be a problem."


Waywalker could however. Rex and him were very aware that their cover was far from perfect. If a security officer were to double check his credentials, this could go wrong and quickly. Going across the campus will also means staying longer and exposing themselves even more...

[Haywire]

#197

"Of course it won't be a problem. I'll send you a report as soon as I can."
Waywalker walked away from the university teacher greeting her and then tried to imitate the look and the movings of other students.
"The best way to pass unnoticed is in plain sight, after all..."

[ Spoiler ]

etiquette: 7d6t5 2

[Jack_Spade]

Rex replied: <<Right, let's try to stay under their radar. If everything else fails I'll make us invisible and ask a Kami to conceal us. Actually, I'll just ask one of the Wise One's to accompany us - just in case we need to persuade a guard more effectively>>

Rex kept up with Waywalker and tried to stay both in his role as support dog and make Waywalker look non-threatening and friendly as well.

[ Spoiler ]

Etiquette/Con for Rex:
Etiquette: 13d6t5 7
Teamwork test for Waywalker: Teamwork: 13d6t5 5

[Romain Pelisse]

Waywlaker and Rex were happy to see that they were doing a good job at looking inconspicuous. They got across the campus without anyone raising an eyebrow. They even run into a couple of security guards who ignored them after a the first look. They were now reaching an old looking building. It clearly looked like one of those cheap building, built in the beginning of the century. It was not in a good shape, but far away from the entrance of the campus, so potential students were not exposed to it the day they tour the university.

Getting closer to it, Waywalker could see that most of the classroom had been re-purposed into a storage facility of all kind. The main door and main corridor appears to be pretty large, so it was easy for the staff to get things as large as the Shamus drone inside the facility. When he got to the door he found out that it was looked by a simple key pass but it won't open with the ARO the professor Dusquenes give him. Looking in detail into the ARO, he realized that the woman mislead him to believe this would open the door, but in fact it was signed form for him to get a keycard!

And of course, now, the proper offices to do so was, again, at the other side of the campus... Also, Waywalker was not sure the frail identity Rex and he managed to build would be enough to pass the verification. Consider his options Waywalker looked around him and was happy to see he was in a rather deserted part of the campus. Taking a look, in the matrix, at the keypad it appears to rather simple one. However, it was protected by the University's host, so hacking it wirelessly might be a bit more tricky.

[ Spoiler ]

@Waywalker If you decide to pick the lock, or rather the keypad, know that it is rating 3. If you decide to do so, or to connect to it over DNI directly, you'll need also to roll a Stealth test to not look too suspicious. Unless, of course, Rex come to your help somehow (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

[Jack_Spade]

<<Do you need help? If you give me half an hour I could have a Kami call up thick fog or rain to cut down our visibility.>>
Rex asked his partner

[Haywire]

#198

"I'm not particularly at moving in the meat space, so a fog or a concealment done by your mojo could help."

[Jack_Spade]

<<Right on, let's go over to that archway to sit on those benches and pretend to phone someone. This will take a while.>>
Rex called on a Kami of the Sea Court to call some bad weather to this area.

[ Spoiler ]

Summon F6 Spirit of Water: 20d6t5 14
Spirit of Water resist: 6d6t5 1
Drain resist: 21d6t5 5

No Drain.

Powers:
Weathercontrol
Guard

Starts manipulating the weather:
Weather Control: 12d6t5 2
Weather Control: 11d6t5 5
Weather Control: 10d6t5 2
Weather Control: 9d6t5 3

It took two hours, but very slowly the wind got fresher and clouds began to push in front of the sun. As temperatures began to fall so did the first drops of rain. After about two hours a massive rain storm had cut visibility down to a few meters and Rex called on the Kami to make them even less noticeable.
<<Sorry about the rain, but sudden fog would likely have drawn attention and wouldn't have prompted people to stay inside.>>

[Haywire]

#199

"Thank you for the distraction, my coat should be enough to keep the rain at bay. I have my deck inside the cyberhand so no weather could damage it."
Waywalker proceeded to hack the keypad with the cable from his deck.

[ Spoiler ]

Hacking on the fly: 17d6t5 6
Control device: 15d6t5 4

[Romain Pelisse]

It took barely a second for Waywalker, now properly shielded by the fog provided by Rex, to open the door. The few people around were too busy trying to get cover from the rain or navigating in the light fog to pay attention to him anyway. Once he sneaked inside, the decker got the confirmation that this building was in bad shape. He was no expert but between the flickering light and the stench of mold, he was sure this was not up to code to be used for classes. No wonder why they turned it into an improvised drone storage. He just hoped he would not have to stay there for too long...

Find out which room has been used to store the Shamus was no challenge. The first room on the left had a door jammed open and Waywalker saw right away the three large drones standing in it. The frame of the door was in fact a bit damaged, because the drones were too large to be stored in it and whoever decide to put them there opted for ramming the frame rather than finding a better solution. The coating of the drone was good, however, and Waywalker saw no damage left by the operation.

The drone appeared inactive but Waywalker actually noticed they were just running silent. Looking at the operation log, it looked like the operator tried to shut them now, but failed and finally, switch them to "silent mode"! Gosh, those people really had no idea of what they were doing...