The Found Arcana - Chapter 12 [IC] Options

[Gilga]

"I can try and track the feather with a ritual but it would take a few hours again, and success is far from guaranteed. As it has a weaker link to its owner, and if they are part of the team I'd likely go into the same ward that stopped me the first time."

[Jack_Spade]

Bobby answered Tamarind: "Well, Mato here should be somewhat palatable to them. I can turn into a gorilla and give my self the illusion of being a troll. Though now that I have actually said that, that was incredibly racist and I feel bad for suggesting it."

To AM he said: "One thing after the other - try to get into the talismonger's contacts - maybe he has someone interesting in there."

[Gilga]

"get into his contacts?"

[Jack_Spade]

"You know, get a mark on his link and copy his contact folder."

Bobby replied

[Tecumseh]

"Yeah, I can talk to them," Mato says of the trolls. "But it's, what, 10:30? That's too early for a bar.

"Might make sense to start at Carnimore if they're open for lunch. Then The Grind and Hardpan when they open."

[Gilga]

"I am starting to feel like a digital stalker, but sure, let's do it the alternative is to praise the Wakan Tanaka for a few hours... and I am not in the mood for favors.... I am going hot so don't think I had a stroke or anything." my eyes light up when I get yet another opportunity to go to where I feel best—becoming my avatar, slicing through the firewall like an action heroine dodging automatic inspections and integrity tests and aiming for a key card - well, basic level entry to the device and permission to inspect that recent call log and other basic information about the device. The feeling is so addictive. Everything is so much faster and easier than in the real world.

[Thanee]

AM has no trouble finding the commlink and slipping inside. It's not very secure. Maybe Zhang Wong should ask the folks at Marcel's how to do it right. Anyways, AM finds a commlink of a very old-fashioned person. There isn't a whole lot, about 90% of the funcionality of a modern commlink are never really used. It's used as a phone and such, and that's pretty much it. He would probably just be fine with a model from last millennium. But calls are what she is here for, so she looks for the contacts and communication logs. Obviously, the talismonger knows about the dangers of the modern world, and therefore has not included a whole lot of information with the various numbers saved in his contacts. It's also all in mandarin, but that is hardly an obstacle. There are a few numbers with single names (likely first names), those also tend to come up more often in the communication logs, and another bunch, that just lists a few letters, like initials. And another few have discriptive words, like "lotus" or "jade" with a few animals mixed in there as well, "monkey", "tiger", "snake", "dragon". There are multiple "lotus" entries, actually, with different numbers attached to them ("lotus 2", "lotus 3"). No calls have been initiated since you left the shop.

[Jack_Spade]

Bobby waited until everyone had gotten in the car before continuing the discussion:

"Shame about the contact list. I'm not well versed enough in Chinese myths to understand which animal signifies what. We can use the numbers and do a matrix search what device is behind it. Maybe that would give us some insights.

But all in all, I think we should just call the number of this troll we got and see if we can shake something loose that way."

[Gilga]

"Interesingly, he is not calling anyone so let's not expect a call from him. The animals is another mystery. I mean it seems like he has something to hide in there. Its alright I assume, not entirely sure it makes him even interesting for our cause but it is almost s if he expects someone like me to go poking in there."

[Beta]

"Well, if you can't secure yourself technologically, secure it the old fashioned way I guess? If it really matters we could have Bobby break in later and see if he has a decoder guide written down on paper, but I don't know if it is worth that much effort."

[Gilga]

"I know we are strangers in this city and can just leave when it is over... but I don't usually poke around half randomly at people. It can take things sideways if I mess up, and instead of focusing on the job we'll be focusing on the mess we just made. Haven't been caught yet fortunately. We are missing something in this riddle, but I am unsure where we go from now.

I was thinking of a different approach -- one where we contact the kidnappers, tell them we have the money, and schedule a meeting. It is a bit too aggressive for my liking, but what else can we do?"

[Jack_Spade]

"I've got no problem with calling people I don't know - though calling the kidnappers has a bunch of problems:
- we reveal that we are in the game
- we rely on meeting with an aware opponent
- there is no guarantee we actually get a chance. There are too many ways to launder money with digital currency. Even a credstick can be transferred with a plethora of options - drones, spirits, street kids, dead drops, etc.

I'd rather try our luck with Frost first."
Replied Bobby.

[Tecumseh]

"Well it's nice to have a backup idea, at least," Mato says of AM's proposal.

"But, like Bobby says, there are complications. Based on the extraction, these folks are professionals. Unfortunately that means we can't count on them to make silly mistakes.

"They have no motivation to meet in person. They want an electronic transfer to a Zurich-Orbital account. There may not be any meet at all: they might just release Belenkiy into a random part of the city and tell us where to find them.

"In fact, I think odds are good that they wouldn't release Belenkiy at all. Falcone thinks that there's a personal note to all this. If this is indeed revenge, payback for something that happened earlier in Falcone's life, then what would be sweeter than stealing Falcone's money and fragging his reputation at the same time?"

Mato thinks.

"AM, did you get a look inside the Ranch's host? The thinking is that they had hacker support. I don't know much about network security; do hackers leave 'fingerprints' when they slice into the system? Or calling cards to brag about their work?

"In that breakdown we got from Dean, neither Trinity nor the Black Cats had a hacker on their roster. I wonder if that means that they brought in an outside resource. If so, maybe that's a thread we can pull, if we can find it."

[Gilga]

"They leave them if they mess up... it is easier to get the job done, but it gets messy if you get caught a few times while working on it. GOD doesn't converge on you immediately, but you leave a mark on the security log, and then erasing that is another risk. So they might have left something I am not sure it is something I can use to find them though."

[Jack_Spade]

Bobby said: "I'm calling Jack McPherson now. AM, can you monitor the call and try to get a fix on his location?"

<<Hi, this is Robert Crow, a friend showed me your add for bodyguard services. I'm a bit under pressure, so it would be great if we could talk directly and in person. There is a six figure payout involved.>>

Bobby has used his fake SIN for this message. Now he kept an eye on his device, for any suddenly appearing MARKs.

[Thanee]

It takes a few minutes until there is a reply from McPherson.

<< Mr. Crow, happy to make your acquaintance and always happy for a new client. I assume, you are thinking about something a bit more long-term. How about we meet over lunch to talk about some first details? Rattlesnake Grill in Westminster. Noon. Table 17. >>

[Jack_Spade]

Bobby confirmed the meeting and gave the others the update:

"Alright, any suggestions, how we should go about interrogating him? Or should we flake out and just follow him?"

[Gilga]

>> Yes, I know the drill..." I sigh and close my eyes again for another episode of Sisyphus and the comlink.
Yes, it is a good idea - I can't fault Bobby with that. It also feels a bit random and desperate. The time passes, and we don't have much to go on or anything to show for all the effort of coming so far from home. I begin to feel the pressure of our reputation and livelihood on the line.

but I did not get good by worrying... I keep myself focused and try to ensure that I am hacking everything like an overzealous script kiddy and does not eventually get us into trouble. I mean, between myself and Iktomi's gifts, I feel confident, but I don't like to give the Trickster a chance to take this entire episode sideways before it even goes in the right direction.

I center myself and focus on bypassing the link's security and tracing its icon as carefully as possible.

[Tecumseh]

"Well the challenge is that we don't even know if he has information we want," Mato says. "If he knew, then getting it out of him would just be a matter of incentive: the whip or the sweetbread, as it were.

"We need to shake the tree to see what falls out, but first we have to know if it's the right tree or not."

He turns to AM.

"Are there any tools in your magical toolbox to make him looser-lipped than he might normally be? I'm not talking completely hijacking his brain, but maybe something can be tweaked to make him more receptive to our inquiries?

"It's not as subtle as we usually play it, but we're running out of time and we're not on our home turf. I don't mind if things get a bit messy this far from home. I know word travels, but I'd rather the word be about getting the job done (even if it was loud) rather than not getting the job done at all."

[Thanee]

AM manages to track Frost's commlink to the western parts of Denver, to the Arvada district. Shortly after Bobby received his reply, he sends another message to a different recipient. The message is enctypted, but once intercepted, it is mostly a matter of time to break it. After about ten minutes, she has the text.

<< Hey buddy! What's up? I just got a message with a job offer from my ad. The guy wants to meet in person, so I offered lunch at the Rattlesnake. He mentioned a huge payout, which makes me a bit suspicious. If it is legit, maybe it is big enough for a whole team. Anyways, can you run overwatch during the meet? Just in case. I don't expect anything, but you never know. >>

[Jack_Spade]

Bobby smiled: "Seems like we get to meet his team as well. You all should be ready for trouble. I'll tell him the facts of the case and we'll see if they become violent and try to abduct me as well.

Anyone got a better idea how to spin this?"

[Gilga]

"Well the challenge is that we don't even know if he has information we want," Mato says. "If he knew, then getting it out of him would just be a matter of incentive: the whip or the sweetbread, as it were.

"We need to shake the tree to see what falls out, but first we have to know if it's the right tree or not."

He turns to AM.

"Are there any tools in your magical toolbox to make him looser-lipped than he might normally be? I'm not talking completely hijacking his brain, but maybe something can be tweaked to make him more receptive to our inquiries?
."

It is embarrassing to admit, so I take a bit of a breath. Once you admit to having mind manipulation capabilities, they always accuse you of their own bad ideas. Mato is not like that, right?


Reluctantly I say :"I can do that, but it is super illegal... so a bit risky to do in a public place."

To Bobby I comment Ideally, we could have him take you back to their place without knowing it, as a cockroach or something. Getting forced through a ward may be an issue though... but it seems odd that they'll do side jobs while doing a 500k gig."

[Jack_Spade]

"Yeah, I'm reasonably confident, that they aren't the ones we are looking for. But they are locals and know their fellow mercenaries. Nothing to it but following whatever lead we can unearth.
And yes, if they are any kind of paranoid professional, they will have a ward on their dwelling - just like we have."

Bobby replied.

[Gilga]

"I don't think they plan on kidnapping you; they published an ad - and are looking for work - you are offering. We may have to split our paycheck and offer them a bounty or something like that because we don't have much to go on. They will have matrix overwatch, so I suggest getting burner links for the meeting or I can provide our own overwatch and make sure we are not hacked. We could possibly have someone with you at the meeting to keep things more civil, and kidnapping more of a chore."

I kind of look at Mato there, though in principle Tam or I are also an option.

[Beta]

Tamarind gives a small smile at the thought of her backing up Bobby. "No, Mato is probably best, he makes sense as a guard, no explanations needed. And the threat from him is mostly visible -- He is a threat from all the things that he knows, which stereotypes might not make you think of, but in the immediate moment his threat factor is obvious from his 'ware. They have to give a bit of respect to that. Me, if things go badly having my body in there is just a liability. You only send me in if we want to look less threatening, but that doesn't seem to be the situation here. AM could go for the charm factor, and is perfect if we think we need to fight magic with magic, but the approach so far wasn't really charm offensive and magic doesn't sound like the big issue for now. So I say the obvious one to send is Mato. Although I'd like to send in one of my drones with him."

A few breaths later she asks Mato, in a carefully matter of fact voice "Would having Beauty riding on your shoulder be too strange? She doesn't fly in enclosed spaces very graciously but her sensor suite would let me get a good look around in there, so if I do need to send in more drones I'd know what is going on. If carrying a chrome bird on your shoulder would be too strange then maybe a Flying Eye in a pocket? At least I could listen in, and blast it free if need be."