Charm City II [IC] Options

[pbangarth]

Bongo replies to Lenny. << Sammy, Willie and I have moved a couple of levels down and have a clue to follow and a guide. It might be tricky for you to get to us now. Maybe it would be best for you to stay there, continue your investigation into the building. If more drones come looking for Monifa, someone with your skills would be a real asset to Monifa's crew. >>

Willie takes the hooded blanket and expertly flips it around his solid frame. "Reminds me of the good old days." He chuckles. It sounds like a frog regurgitating.

Bongo goes for the red and black Renraku look. Once Selina has made her choice, Bongo remarks to himself that she could wear a burlap bag and still be striking. That could draw unwanted attention. Worth it though, for her talents.

"Looks like we're ready to go. Lead on."

[OOC: edited to match colour with corp]

[sunnyside]

Angel initially responds to Paul with some alarm. <<Did something happen?!? I'm all alone in here, what's going on!?!>>

(OOC: Assuming Paul can calm her down a little for expedience.)

As she relaxes a little she replies <<I don't think they tracked us. I don't think they could even detect me. I can make myself stealthier than stealthy, and they were busy beating on Lenny. I think he got dumped twice. It was rough enough that I got dumped once.>>

She does shift her focus, and with little persuading, will rummage through the door locks and such in the matrix. She still isn't so good searching for other active radios, but can. With more persuading she might wander around the house in her wheelchair with the gun out. It suddenly feels more scary, and every "thump" from people being too raucous or out of it in the speakeasy the safehouse shares a wall with makes her jump.

But eventually Paul can gain a reasonable degree of certainty that there's nothing odd at the safehouse.

-----------------

(OOC: The azzie shirt was green and black, but null sweat. If Selina is down for it once dressed, Lana will get in an elevator for floor 52. There's still a lot of chaos, but not many people are using the elevators. It still takes a while as there aren't all that many of them given the population in the building. On the way down she'll ask if anyone is comfortable playing something like newcomers to the building that would like to party. Though with drugs you don't always have to say anything. The three of you could just start having a good time somewhere, others will come, and then others will see locals and come too. It helps if you'd good in that scene. )

[Koekepan]

Paul takes the time. He does not push Angel too hard, but does explain to her that, while they were in a fight, it's possible that a sneaky investigator might have traced their online behaviour, and found something that led back to the safehouse, and that therefore a little safety check, at least electronically, is justified.

Once the coast is clear, he gets to dismantling the drone in the back. Shifting it will just be that much easier as stacked panels and frames, than trying to muscle the whole thing in through the door. He most emphatically does not turn it on, or even put it near an inductive charging loop.

[Thanee]

Selina looks at the clothes with a bit of discomfort. "Have those been washed recently?"

"Just give me a moment..." She waves off immediately, not taking any chances with that.

She will still take one of the hoodies and thank Lana.

[ Spoiler ]

With Fashion and Makeover (F3 should be good enough, and Drain would be low that way) she should be able to give herself an appropriately rundown look, I suppose.

Also, she is not wearing her helmet indoors (maybe she put it on during the fighting, but definitely not running around with it on).

[Koekepan]

Paul starts his disassembly process, in the back of the van, lifting each part out of the way using the rails in the top of the van as gantries for the purpose. Each part is scanned for tags, whether as tricky as professional tracing kit or as simple as the manufacturer's original units. However, each part is also scanned for shape, design and damage. There's a lot to be learned here. Some will be recycled - why let junk take up space - but some will turn into interesting new parts for his purposes.

[pbangarth]

Bongo and Willie check each other's outfits for suitability, making sure as much of their own material is covered or masked. Selina's fashion magic seemed momentarily attractive, but getting their own clothes and armour back to their own style might not work completely. NOT to dis her magical ability, of course.

Street boys have a certain persona to maintain.

[sunnyside]

As Paul starts pulling the drone apart, he starts stripping RFID tags. They might have come with the equipment, but he's glad he had a low level jammer on in his van. Not enough to knock cars off grid guide, but it should have prevented even stealth or security tags from being able to get a message out. Otherwise anybody trying to keep an eye on their drone would know where the safehouse was, at least if they bothered to check before Paul got to any of them they would know to check. As it is, they most they would have noticed was the drone going dark. There's even a slight chance that the forest was a dead zone, at least as far as an RFIDs range goes, so they might have seen it drop off when it landed and they still don't know it's gone. Of course who knows, maybe even the ghouls have comlinks to run BTLs about eating people.

The main radio was definitely off, though.

The drone isn't particularly modified, just an LMG and grenade launch on either side in the concealed softpoints meant to take different sorts of accessories or allow for storage. An easy mod to get weapons in there as far as Paul is concerned.

The drone is in pretty good shape. It took a few rounds onboard, but just regular lead and they must not have been well aimed, as the armor on these fliers isn't that impressive, and the bullets didn't manage to seriously damage anything important. Explains why Bongo was able to knife one of them though.

The electronics are fully intact. If they were set to boot up after a time delay, Paul figures the drone might well have been able to fly out of there. Though it also might have gotten tangled up while trying, it'd be a tricky maneuver.


-----------------------

Lana gets the vibe that the group is ready to go, so she leads them to one of the elevators. People aren't moving around a whole lot at the moment, so despite there not being nearly as many as a place like this would seem to require, they don't have to wait long.

While on the ways down Lana looks at the team awkwardly, but then gets a thought and has her comlink display her comcode for Bongo to take down. Normally someone could just flick an ARO over, but maybe she has some issue, or its something with her old software.

Eventually she says, "Uh, I guess I'll do the talking. Just, uh, try to look a little down on your luck, but not quite so far down it'd be easy to roll you."

The group gets out on the 52nd floor and she leads the way out of the elevator. There are some gawkers looking over the edge. A old male Ork says to the others, "And you were whining about not being able to get at the scavenge on the first floor. Did you see what happened to them? Kabloey! So you might get something every now and then, but it's all trouble. You just stay here on the good old 52nd."

He looks over at the newcomers as they came off the elevator and gives them an eyeing, "Speaking of trouble, I don't recognize you!"

Lana replies, "What you know everybody on the floor? I'm from the ninety eighth and we just got shot up because of whatever drek they've gotten themselves into up on the hundred. Looking for someplace a little more chill. You're making the "good 'ol fifty two" sound just like the place. "

The curmudgeonly Ork waves at her, "We're too crowded here and already have plenty of trouble."

Lana doesn't miss a beat but gives her winningest smile given her shortage of gums and a complete set of teeth. "We brought some gifts to be hospitable. Coming into somebodies home and all." She flashes the baggie Bongo had paid for, which was full of little crystals of something. "That is if we had a home to chill in."

That got the attention of not just the old Ork but the two younger ones he'd been lecturing. They get another earful as the old Ork turns to them. "See you two! A little respect and politeness! You could learn something about how your treat your uncle!"

They roll their eyes, and they square up their shoulders to consider the newcomers. "Whatever. But sure. We've got a place to party." Their voices are low and they look around, apparently not too keen on having too many in attendance at this party.

Lana follows them as they make their way along the metallic promenade. With her disguise it seems either they don't not or don't care that Selina is an elf. She hasn't seen any other of her kind here though. The 52nd isn't quite a purely ork as the top floors, and there are a fair mix of at least humans.

As they go around the corner, Bongo's special memory highlights the subtle differences in the scuff and rust marks on the floor between this spot and other floors. This is where the bodies were, though that's all gone now and just looks like a regular part of the promenade.

There doors down, the group heads into an apartment. The layout is identical to the other apartments they've been in so far, except the wide open areas where Monfia had torn down walls.

A male and female human are in the kitchen along with another Orc. The fridge is powered off, and is being used to store mostly knickknacks. The trash is overflowing with the silvery remnants of the food packs, which don't require refrigeration. Old Ork says, "Hey. You know how you were complaining about not trusting being near the windows anymore? Well, maybe we have some friends that could crash in that room for a while. "

Lana interrupts their inevitable complaints with the smile and the bag again, "We brought some hospitality."

Since their friends already seemed down, their objections, at least for the moment, vanish, and see group is in the room by the main window and trellis with Lana handing out crystals like candy while starting to play some tunes on her comlink. Getting a chill vibe going with some LoFi. Or perhaps it isn't supposed to be LoFi but her speakers suck, either way it's relaxing.

(OOC: It wouldn't be to hard to fake not taking anything. They'll all be pretty relaxed soon. Lana didn't properly assemble and share intel in terms of the social media stuff she looked up. But so long as the vibe keeps going someone could mess with her comlink, or get one of the teams hackers to look into it. )

[Koekepan]

Paul nods to himself. Nothing too crazy, other than that this thing could actually have been thrown together over an afternoon with a torque wrench and a software update. He removes the weaponry and sets it aside for later use. However, he does take the time to scan and, where possible, catalogue the tags so that he can decide what fun things to do with them.

[pbangarth]

Bongo and Willie are not about to addle their minds while on the job. Between jobs? You betcha!

The two of them make motions as if they take part in the good (?) stuff, but pass it along. Bongo finds a couple of kitchen utensils and plays rhythm along with the music Lana provides. No magic, though, he wants the flow to continue. Willie takes part in any food sharing that goes on.

Bongo passes Lana's comcode on to Lenny. He includes the other two here. <<Lenny, check this commlink out for anything to do with our other task. Should be some images at least. Share back when you can. We'll slowly try to draw out any info here we can. We're on floor 52, where the bodies were found.>> While Bongo jams with the music, both he and Willie run through in their minds the clues they have about the spirit they seek.

[ Spoiler ]

I've pulled together the posts I think talk about that subplot. Once I refresh my memory about it all, I might post more, and even get into charming data gathering mode.

[sunnyside]

The good news as Paul goes through the drone, is that he doesn't run into any booby traps or anything of that nature. No smuggling compartments of any size either, as he'd have found those. While the overall weight of the thing is fairly bulky, like a medium sized motorcycle, none of the individual piece parts are as heavy as a motorcycle engine since the turbines are significantly lighter. So everything can be removed by hand after taking out a few bolts. Though he'd need to flip or lift it to get the weapons and some other components out from the bottom. The unit shows distinct signs of wear. He wouldn't be able to sell it as new, but not so old. Just settled nicely somewhere in the bathtub curve of reliability.

(OOC: Well, the rulebook seems rather confusing about finding stealth tags. It's written like an opposed test with a concealability modifier, but palming doesn't seem to make sense here. I'm thinking logic + hardware or maybe appropriate mechanic skill.)

---------------

The room quickly gets pretty chill. Pretty good vibes, but the team is the only ones really with it. The rest can still talk, but now they seem to be able to find a corner of the room fascinating. Lana seems to be in the best mood and is attempting to dance.

This gives Lenny a little time to work.

Soon he replies to the team

<<Well, my agent and I ran around her socials that she'd pulled up. I didn't see anything there really that we didn't know.

I was really hoping there'd be some link between the two groups of bodies with the flowers in their faces, but I'm not seeing anything in the matrix.

But it's pretty general stuff that got a little popular that she has access to. Also, I don't think there's a Hemingway in the bunch. They just don't get into a lot of writing. I think two or three of them might have know them more. If you wanted to shoot them a message you could. Maybe they'd be more chatty in person.>>

[Thanee]

With the orcs eager to get their share of the "hospitality" Lana brought, it is easy enough to pass the bag along without really taking part.

<< I will check out the astral here. Maybe there are some clues left... do we know where exactly the bodies were found down here? >>

Selina waits a bit, but then figures it might be helpful to take a look into astral space here. There is a small remnant of hope, that it isn't quite as polluted as above, but she is not holding her breath.

[Koekepan]

Paul whistles while he works. There's a lot to be said for being in his workshop truck, because not only is there standing room in the back (moreso for how short he is) but because he can use elements of the truck as a light duty workshop crane to hoist bits for careful rotation and exposing to the awesome power of his endoscopic tools. He does try to mentally assess the likely service life (and working life hitherto) of the drone, but as standard as everything looks he's tempted to mentally ascribe it to whatever was cheap and convenient to a crew that wasn't devoted to this particular drone as a tool for their regular use.

On the other hand, that suggests something about their funding.

[pbangarth]

Bongo's keen perceptions and memory allowed him to recognize the place where the photos of the bodies were taken. <<Yes, we passed the location on the way here.>> He describes it to Selina in the message.

The crew look to be well 'lubricated'. He begins to slowly work information out of the locals.

"Things upstairs on the top floor were pretty hairy a little earlier. Those folks seem to be drawing a lot of unwanted attention. You guys get any action like that here on your floor?" He keeps jamming with the music as he speaks.

[ Spoiler ]

Influence Group 4 + CHA 6 = 10 dice: 5 hits !!

If he notices Selina moving to look at the location he described to her, he will draw attention to himself to keep the others from noticing, warning his teammates as they have worked out in the past.

[ Spoiler ]

Enthralling Performance: MAG 6 + Percussion 14 = 20 dice (IMG:style_emoticons/default/eek.gif) : 12 hits (IMG:style_emoticons/default/eek.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/eek.gif)
So, ahem, add 12 to the threshold for noticing Selina getting snoopy.

[pbangarth]

Even knowing what is coming, Willie is hard pressed not to be mesmerized by Bongo's performance. He adds what he can to the distraction by moving in the opposite direction to Selina's moves.

[sunnyside]

Paul manages to find a security tag in the top center of the drone near the antenna, a stealth tag in the frame near the front cameras, and another by the spring in the grenade launcher. Being stealth tags there isn't any indication of who "owns" them.

It's quite cramped with a large drone in the back of the van, given all the equipment and other drones, but Paul is fortunately compact. (OOC: Unless he opened it up.)

-----------------------------------

The group was already distractable before Bongo puts the whammy on them. But before that happens there's a wide mumbled consensus that nothing like what happens on the top floors happens here.

The old Ork elaborates. It takes him a while to get the words out. Occasionally getting stuck on vowel, or having to pause, but he really does seem to enjoy having an audience some he manages to struggle through getting out a set of thoughts "Sure, sometimes people show up with a knife in their side or a flower in their eye, but there's never a ruckus about any of it. No people running and screaming and definitely not bullets and magic flying every which way and tagging people. Just scores being settled in the nooks and corners. Sooner or later somebody finds the bodies and they get drug out to be picked up by the drones when they deliver the food. Maybe some pictures get taken once they're out in the better lighting of the promenade. Bored people can't always resist morbid curiosity, but they don't go in for being too curious. Things are just a little quieter on the floors here in the middle."


Everyone else mumbles assent. Though Bongo might notice that Lana agrees as well, but she probably wouldn't know. There may be some issues with relying on people on these drugs.

That also seems to be the case in terms of Selina opening her third eye. There's still a background count, but the murk obscuring everything isn't as thick (OOC: One instead of two that she'd run into at both the top and bottom of the building).

[pbangarth]

Hmm. Maybe there is a chance for Selina to sense something where the flower thingy actually happened, seeing as the bodies appear to have been dragged out into the promenade.

Bongo shakes his head. "Man, upstairs I heard about some flower thing down here. But, did somebody actually get killed with a flower? Here in this room?" He keeps up the rhythm.

[sunnyside]

Easing out of the magic allows the people in the room to be able to listen again. Bongo's adept abilities lack the pizzazz of spells, but turning it on and off doesn't create a visual effect. Just a subtle thing, where he then feels like he could leverage some of his other powers even within the challenging astral space he's in.

Lana pales a little at the thought of somewhat recent death in the room she's in.

The Orks and humans don't seem so worried though. One of the younger Orks says, "Chill. Chill. It was two doors back the way we came."

The human manages to get his spindly fingers into Lana's bag and pops the crystal he manages to get ahold of like candy. He adds, "Hey. We'd. Well, I mean. We'd. Well, it would be cool if you stuck around. And you'd need a place to say. If you don't want to try and squeeze into the stacks in a corner I don't think the central tower has rekeyed anybody to that room yet. Weird to be afraid of flowers. I think they messed with people. So maybe somebody snuck in, or, like, a friend wanted to rob 'em after a score. But something so they could be done pretty quiet like. So, I mean, whatever it was it shouldn't matter to you. "

[Thanee]

Selina is relieved a little to feel the pressure on her astral senses lessen a bit down here. It's similar to the refuge where Lisa likes to go to work her magic. Still present, but better, at least.

<< @Bongo: He mentioned pictures being taken. Maybe that is also something we could look into? Or do you think those are the ones we have seen, already? Either way, getting access to the room seems good. >>

[pbangarth]

Well, there's a stroke of luck. They are offering the team (or at least Bongo) a place to stay that happens to be where the flower attack might have happened!

As he finishes with a flourish of percussion, Bongo answers Selina, <<Yeah, pictures were taken in the hallway. Let's get that room. Hopefully we can detect something.>>

He responds to the offer. "That sounds good. Kind of you to offer. We don't actually have a place to stay given to us, yet, so, If you don't mind, we'd love to have a look at the room. If we're here for a while, maybe I could put together a little music for the folks here, or even a jam session with anyone here who likes to play music."

[sunnyside]

The crowd is less articulate to Bongos question. But he takes it the groans and waves mean they don't want to go to the murder room.

But they make much happier noises at the offer of music.

[pbangarth]

"Can you at least let us into the room? We're not picky."

[sunnyside]

(OoC: They don't want to leave in their current state. But Bongo and Selina can be very persuasive. However Bongo should be able to find the place from the directions he's gotten)

[pbangarth]

"OHHH Kayy. You guys look really comfortable here. How about you give us the key or the code and we will go look on our own? That work for you?"

[sunnyside]

The Old Ork managed to say "Prob Probly no code. You can try to sign up at the machines on the ground floor, like when you came here. Just, Just don't select random. Type in that you have family here. Something like that, so you can be on 52. But if ....door open you can just jam the door with a chair. " He got a bit more energy for the jamming part holding up his hands like he was waving around a chair, but then deflates into the effects of the drug.

(OOC: For expedience, I'll point out that the door has been closed. But it's just a low rating maglock. It's screen indicates the room is unallocated. With some astral scouting or maybe listening you could determine the room isn't occupied. Inside, it seems whoever removed the bodies also removed anything of particular value. But they didn't clean it out. There's still trash, furnature, and personal effects like old clothes, pictures, odds and ends. You can make various tests, but there aren't any obvious signs of a fight or anybody having bled. )

[pbangarth]

Bongo's maglock passkey makes short work of the lock, and the three of them enter. "What a mess." Willie keeps watch at the door while the other two do their thing. Bongo studies the room and tries to find anything that could be a clue.

[ Spoiler ]

Perception(visual): Perception 7 + INT 5 + vision enhancement 3 = 15 dice: 3 hits. Heh. Paying for that 12 hit roll earlier.

Once that is done, he checks the photos and personal effects to see if there is any correlation with the bodies in the images.

[ Spoiler ]

Perception (visual) 15 dice: 6 hits