The Found Arcana - Tenth Interlude - San Angelo [IC] Options

[Tecumseh]

<<Tuesday Evening - 18:00 - March 21, 2079 - San Angelo, CAS>>

Tien III and Gladius pull away in the Ford Percheron. It's the larger vehicle and has space for Tien IV and Phillip as they're being transported to medical attention.

Mato leaves in the C-N Journey.

That leaves AM, Raven, and Tamarind in the GMC Armadillo with their gear, including Tamarind's drones.

The weather is hot and sunny, about 27C. There are about two hours until sunset so Raven's spirit is still hanging around. The sun dips toward the west, behind the ranch.

Tien III confirms your departure time as 02:00. Evidently that helps makes things easier with your cargo, even considering the private air strip. The flight will be about four hours, but you'll move back two time zones, so you'll land at 04:00.

[Gilga]

I am a bit upset and not entirely myself after burning what appeared to be a perfectly healthy woman alive, and in fact, I am happy I don't have to look the young Tien in the eyes after doing that to his evil girlfriend. I mean, she dabbled in mind control and murder. There are no moral issues with the deed. Looking so close at the fire and being burned was not entirely terrifying; it had some allure that I could not explain. I begin searching for a formula for fire magic where I stop myself and remind myself again that I am no Karl-Combat mage. Still being able to manipulate the flames... Dammit, I need to stop thinking about it before I'll start wearing excessive amounts of makeup and tossing molotovs for sports.

Tam, is holding her new dongle, and I ask "You know, it is probably a bad idea, but the farm has a perfectly slick RCC to match that dongle. Don't think anyone would go looking for it - out of all the crimes in this world, this one seems the most innocent." I say, completely at peace with the idea of stealing/looting. I grew up with nothing, and here there is so much expensive equipment lying around without anyone even plundering it. We infiltrated the farm already; it seems reasonable to do - miss Lopaz is not going to file a complaint. Unless some Shedim gets her as well, but well, one can never know exactly what is and isn't possible in this world.

[Thanee]

"The place is abandoned, does it even really belong to anyone right now?" Rachel adds with a sly wink. "I doubt the governements have a big interest there. They are looking at the land from a very different perspective. So, if we can get it out of there without them noticing, why not."

"So, what's an RCC, anyways?" She has absolutely no clue what they are even talking about. Something technical, obviously. But that is where her knowledge about these things ends.

"We also need to talk about the items we got here. The foci, and also the reagents. That's some really valuable stuff, and if AM cannot or does not want to use them, I will happily take them. They will definitely help me a lot. Maybe I can just take a much smaller cut from the money to compensate the rest of you a little bit?"

[Gilga]

I explain, "It is a portable control station for drones with the ability to streamline programs and state-of-the-art signal processing it is the real deal for controlling drones, and with a little creativity, a great platform for a makeshift cyberdeck."

I sigh and look at Raven . "You can keep the foci; it is a huge leg up in magical capabilities for you. As a full mage, you'll be able to do much more with them than I ever would. Besides, I am not powerful enough to use them, and I don't plan to increase my connection to the Wakan Tanaka anytime soon; they drive me crazy.

Whatever talent I have is not very pleasant; it is a buzzing at the back of my mind whispering, plotting, and subtly manipulating me into action. A will that is not entirely my own, and it gets stronger as I develop my talent. The last thing I wish to do right now is to make the whispers stronger, the buzzing into words, the words into sentences, and the sentences into demands. I'll get closer when I am ready for it, not a moment too soon and not due to outside reasons such as stumbling on the one ring to rule them all.

[Beta]

Tamarind pulls out her RCC -- Raven has seen her use it, but apparently didn't know quite what it was. "This is my RCC, a 'Proteus Poisedon.' The one in the farm is a 'Lone Star Commander' which overall is a bit better. A little more ability to handle large amounts of data, including supporting more programs or managing slightly larger swarms of drones. But a little less protected against matrix manipulations. Even mine is supposed to only go to licensed users, but Lone Star is even more restrictive, they normally only use them internally or sell them to other licensed law enforcement companies. If you've ever seen trid footage of law enforcement drones dispersing crowds, they were probably being run through Lone Star Commanders. How the late farm owner got her hands on one I have no idea, not to mention that they cost not too much under."

"I'd be happy to get that RCC out. But if we are going to get more seriously larcenous, maybe we can get more ambitious and see if we can figure a way to also bring out either the roto-drones or the anthro-drones, or both. I don't know that we could bring out the large agricutural drones and do anything useful with them in the time we have left, but that would be where the biggest value most likely is."


"As for any foci that the two of you can't make use of, obviously saving them against future need is reasonable. But if they are anything like as difficult to get at this RCC is, perhaps they could also be a way of making friends? The opportunity to buy something like that at a fair price can still be a favour, if it is normally hard to get access to something like that at all."

[Gilga]

I smirk; she is never satisfied to the point of even considering heavy agricultural drones for our small suburb. Perhaps a post-trauma for losing all her stuff to that dragon dude? I am not sure - Tam appears well-equipped for me, especially considering that all I have is a deck, a couple of guns, and armored clothes. Perhaps she wants a lot more.

"I am sorry, I just imagined our neighbors when we park one of these big boys on the lawn." Then I pretended to explain the situation to our neighbor, Lisa, that had to leave early during the last HOA meeting. Did you miss the last-minute vote where we decided to replace all lawns with corn fields? This is the seeder drone to do so, and we have a couple of Tractors coming in from Atzlan, along with blood ritual instructions for growing corn in Seattle; It's a fantastic ritual involving a public orgy that symbolizes fertility, prosperity, and growth." I laugh and let the tension go.


We need to transfer ownership of each stolen piece; it is not trivial, so let's stick to small high-valued items. I can ask Trouble to disassemble one or two drones and move the pieces through the pipe. I can instruct him on how to do so. For the record, I think this is likely a terrible idea - but Iktomi would immensely enjoy it, and I owe him big time.

[Beta]

"I was never thinking of the agricultural drones having value in our lives, rather I was thinking what some shady dealer might offer for them. But we have been paid well, and they are big enough to attract attention. So forget those. Although it would be amusing to watch our neighbours drop dead from shock as we drove one of those up the street!"

Tamarind has been reading the HOA rules about gardens, and at this point digging up the yard to plant a fine crop of barley or something is beginning to appeal.

[Gilga]

Oh, they are fine really, but the little girl inside me just wants to burn the place because they have a private security firm and uniform front lawns whereas we could not even afford heating and everything nice we ever had was stolen or robbed.

[Thanee]

Rachel listens to the explanation.

"I see, it is the interface you use to control the drones. And some more."

"Anyways, if I can help with this, let me know. Unfortunately, most of my abilities are rather obvious to the spirits guarding the place."

[Gilga]

What little I have as a plan involves a certain magical cat sneaking in there through the pipe, and then using psycokinesis to get the RCC out. Open to better plans.

[Beta]

Tamarind looks a bit abashed, but ploughs ahead with presenting a more ambitious plan.

"First step, yes, we can get one of the anthro drones to position the RCC, then Trouble can hopefully use the pipe to get into the farm and push or pull the RCC out. Or we feed through a wire and some tape and have the anthro drone attach that to the RCC and try to drag it through the pipe.

Then we take the RCC and back well away from the farm, then maybe try phase 2, drone breakout. I task the flying drones to get ready, then all fly out of the farm at the same time. If the spirits react, we give up and leave. If they don't then those drones scatter to pre-programmed locations, while flying low enough to avoid most sensors aimed at air crossings of the border. Then they land in various ditches and go wireless off, and we go pick up what we can.

In combination with that, we could have the anthro drones March out. They should be able to climb the gate, with a little help. We leave them walking up the road as the easier distraction for security to react to.

Another possible twist is to use that drone you have from a previous job, and I load it with looper rounds. It depends a bit on how many cameras would have to be looped, and if they pay attention to drones suddenly being in a different place, or if they only react to things crossing the line."

[Gilga]

My head is spinning when Tamarind offers to rob the place with such an outgoing approach. "I love stealing from dead rich people as much as the next gal, but having the drones openly leave the farm is a bit too high-profile for me. One thing I learned is that I don't want my exploits to reach the local news. Please don't. There is a dead body there of a rich lady that was burned alive. We really don't want to do anything that stirs attention to the farm or gives anyone a plausible excuse to enter the territory such as the evidence of a potential crime. "

[Beta]

"Fair point about not attracting attention here. So looping the cameras would likely be a better plan."

[Tecumseh]

The fence is weathered and rusted in places. The cameras on top of the fence are in much the same condition. Not all of them are functional anymore so it looks like you would have to defeat one camera that's looking at the barn (where the RCC is located) and another camera looking out that covers the drain pipe entrance/exit. Of course, that assumes that anyone is paying attention to the footage. Perhaps you don't need to defeat them at all.

The CAS side of the fence employs two elemental spirits - air and fire - while the Aztlan side has a guardian spirit and a beast spirit. Both sets stay sharply on their side, not entering the compound. They float above the fence to give themselves some elevation to see better. They mostly pay attention to what's inside the fence rather than what approaches from behind, but anything large enough will catch their attention.

There is corn outside the compound that can shield your approach - astrally and visually - most of the way. There is a gap of 15m or 20m from the edge of the cornfields to the drainage pipe, but it would only be on the peripheral vision of the CAS spirits. The primary concern will be getting the RCC from the barn to the drainage pipe without being noticed. Both sets of spirits would have a clear view to the front of the barn; in fact, it seems to be their primary point of interest.

[Beta]

"I'm assuming that the spirits only know so much about drone behaviour, and so don't react to anything that doesn't seem violent or like a break-out. So my suggestion is I have one of the anthro drones go get the RCC. Then have it go up to the fence, away from the pipe, and start inspecting the fence. Crouch down, touching 'hands' to the ground, then standing up as it inspects bottom to top. Have it move along, doing this inspection every couple of meters. When it is near the drainage pipe, it leaves the RCC on the ground when it crouches down, but otherwise continues. Having taught it what to do I can let its autopilot keep inspecting the rest of the fence. Well, pretending to inspect anyway."

"Then roll out one of the big agricultural drones, along with an anthro drone and a flying drone. Have the big drone back right up to near the fence, then have the other two thoroughly inspect it. Then AM could have Trouble use the metaplanes to bypass the fence line, and come back to reality under the agricultural drone, where the spirits don't have line of sight on it, but where Trouble can see the pipe. Then Trouble uses psychokinesis to slide the RCC into the pipe and push it as far as Trouble can see."

"Finally, when the 'inspection' is done, the agricultural drone backs up just that bit more, to be briefly right over the pipe, letting Trouble slide into the pipe and finish pushing along the RCC. From there Trouble can depart through the metaplanes, and we just need to retrieve the RCC from our end of the pipe."

"Any concerns or suggestions about this?"

[Thanee]

"Since they use spirits to guard this place, whatever they are looking for must be awakened in nature. I would assume, that the Shedim we encountered wasn't the only one, and the spirits are here in case another one of them pops up. The fact, that they wanted to do their ritual here, also highly suggests that there is some kind of gateway, maybe temporary only. There is the ley line, also. And, of course, the Shedim that possessed Arione must have come here somehow in the first place. So, what I am saying is, the spirits will very likely be watching especially for astral activity inside the farm area," Rachel comments.

[Gilga]

I say "Sounds like a plan, I just don't want a massive drone jailbreak not because I think the spirit would react violently but because it is very visible and there is no way to keep such a thing quiet, as opposed to stealing an RCC through the pipe when at the worst case a few spirits spot us and react according to their orders that not necessarily prevent us from stealing RCCs. Anyhow, let's start with the RCC and discuss the rest if it goes smoothly. "

[Tecumseh]

Using AM's backdoor to the farm makes it easy to gain access. The drones are there to do your bidding. It's simple to give an anthro drone instructions to take the RCC and bring it to the drainage pipe.

Neither the Aztlaner nor CAS spirits react when the anthro drone emerges from the barn. They don't pay any significant attention to the drone but instead keep their attention on the barn.

The anthro drone places the RCC in the drainage pipe as instructed. It's now time for Trouble to retrieve the RCC.

Or is it? Your ears catch the sound of a siren. A quick observation with one of Tamarind's drones or one of the spirits will reveal that there is a fire engine turning onto the dirt road that leads to your position. Its sirens are sounding and its lights are flashing.

Perhaps Iktomi has other plans for you. The fire engine will arrive in about one minute.

[Thanee]

"I guess, they did see the smoke after all..." Rachel remarks.

"We should probably hide and wait it out? The spirit is still here and can conceal us. I doubt the fire truck has any awakened personnel."

[Beta]

"We should probably hide and wait it out? The spirit is still here and can conceal us. I doubt the fire truck has any awakened personnel."

"What if they find the burial? Is there some way could point towards the house, which they can't access and is not currently burning? Might satisfy their concerns?"

[Tecumseh]

The smoke is gone, so there's nothing pointing directly toward the location of the immolation, but the ground at the site of the burial is freshly disturbed and somewhat obvious compared to the surrounding terrain. It just depends on if the fire fighters would 1) notice, or 2) care.

[Gilga]

My heart skips a bit, and my senses sharpen at the danger of being caught with a dead, burned body like a psychopath. Priase the Trickster for bringing us down to earth. I felt like a kite until now. I try to think quickly, there is no fire here; whatever it was is covered don't think firemen are going to spend time digging the ground in case somebody burned a regenerating body and burned it again and again. My logic says they'll see that there is no fire and go away.

I take a few breathes to calm myself and say "We still have a few hours; we can go and grab something to eat and then do damage assessment. If they really are firepeople, they are not going to dig for forensic evidence, and there is no fire here. I feel like anything we actively do just increases the danger."

[Thanee]

"If they come too close, we could maybe convince some of them that there is nothing to see here," Rachel suggests.

"Actually, I could also cover the part with the car in an illusion. Having it look all normal. There will still be tracks outside of it, of course."

[Gilga]

I grin at Raven . "Let's hide in the corn field, and leave the car, perhaps park it on the hot spot. If they linger and dig too much, we can pretend we are lovers, and exit the field with messed up clothes asking what is all the fuss about." Not to offend Tam, but I feel Raven would make the better wing woman in this specific hint of a plan.

[Tecumseh]

The plan is put into motion, which means that you hide in the corn field.

A minute later, a truck rolls up marked "Franklin Fire Services". This company actually originated in Seattle, starting out as an insurance company that later decided to capitalize on the privatization of fire-prevention services. They won Seattle's contract in the 2040s and have had it ever since. They used their foothold in Seattle to continue to expand throughout the UCAS and to the CAS including, evidently, San Angelo.

AM:

[ Spoiler ]

From her knowledge of the Underworld, and her association with Tom Jones, AM knows that the Mafia are major shareholders in Franklin Associates, Inc. and have a controlling interest in the company. The company is not controlled by any specific Mafia family but rather by the Commissione itself.

Spying via drone or spirit reveals four people inside the fire truck, all men. In terms of metahumanity, they're straight out of central casting: a barrel-chested ork, a stout dwarf, a thin elf, and a medium-sized human. The ork is driving. The elf is Awakened, but his power level is only half of yours. He actually has a small water spirit (F3) accompanying him.

They stop pretty close to your position, or what would be your position if you weren't hiding in the cornfield. They get out.

"Aight, boys, let's get looking," the barrel-chested ork says. Evidently he's taking point. "What's that sour look on your face, Slim?"

Slim is the elf. He does have a twisted expression.

"The air feels... dirty here, Chief," Slim responds.

"Makes sense," Chief (the ork) nods. "That there's the haunted farm, neh?"

Slim considers the farm distastefully. The human and the dwarf look around, presumably searching for fires. They spot and start to wander toward the Armadillo. The human is carrying a fire extinguisher while the dwarf carries a fire axe.