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> Infiltration Challenge, Examining situation variables
Siege
post Dec 13 2003, 03:37 AM
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There's probably a lot of things we're missing -- but we weren't hired (coerced) into investigating this site, but to obtain a target and exit the location with zero evidence.

We might be able to piece together some of the information based on analyzing the evidence samples and video recordings, as well as the elf. However, I find it highly unlikely that we will learn the whole story with our peripheral efforts into the bowels of this "cluster-flock waiting to happen."

The question is: how much do we want to know? Do we want to leave a "if we die" information bomb?

-Siege
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Velocity
post Dec 13 2003, 06:55 AM
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QUOTE
Siege wrote:
Do we want to leave a "if we die" information bomb?

You mean that isn't SOP? Hell, I leave databombs when I go to the Stuffer Shack for cigarettes.
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Shanshu Freeman
post Dec 13 2003, 07:52 AM
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QUOTE (Siege)
There's probably a lot of things we're missing -- but we weren't hired (coerced) into investigating this site, but to obtain a target and exit the location with zero evidence.

Perhaps. Then again, our survival may depend on our ability to piece together the puzzle.


In a race against time.


Against unbeatable odds.


Fighting an unseen enemy.


<insert movie preview cliche here>
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Siege
post Dec 13 2003, 01:13 PM
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QUOTE (Velocity)
QUOTE
Siege wrote:
Do we want to leave a "if we die" information bomb?

You mean that isn't SOP? Hell, I leave databombs when I go to the Stuffer Shack for cigarettes.

Well, if we want to do that, we want to do more digging into what this whole mess means -- as Shanshu pointed out, the more we know about the puzzle the better our chance of skewing the odds in our favor.

-Siege
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Talia Invierno
post Dec 19 2003, 04:48 PM
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Just got back into town, which is why I am so late in replying. (Among other things, I'm afraid I was a contributor to the RotK opening day records.) I didn't even have time to go on-line beforehand to warn! just ran to catch my transport.

Will be around from now on for a while, however, barring a specific day or two. Sleep is optional ... although I think I might like some at some point.
QUOTE
:lol: yeah, you're right. Can we keep an eye on him [the other building security guard] to make sure we attempt to intercept any followup calls on his part if he freaks out? Would that divide our attention too much?
- Shanshu Freeman

The rigger could probably cover that angle without too much difficulty.
QUOTE
hmm. Does the powder in storage resemble the powder from our dusted elf?

Are you checking the room out, then? So far, I will mention that there seem to be several different types of powders - at least they "feel" different astrally. A couple of them seem similar, but you can't tell if they are the same or not without some rigorous analysis.
QUOTE
exactly, that's one of the things at the back of my mind. maybe the night crew is something heinous kept onsite.

:evil: :grinbig:
QUOTE
Maybe this weekend I'll pour over the ENTIRE thread and try to piece it together.
- kevyn668

Works :D and will respond in kind within a day. I'll begin with going through your list of "what we know", just by way of confirmation. (Hope that's all right with you.)
QUOTE
Here's what I got from memory (damn mnemonic enhancer on the fritz):
1) a elf girl held against her will

Yes, to the best of your knowledge. Shanshu Freeman reminds correctly that I did specify "kidnapped".
QUOTE
2) a corp thats in the "import/export" business
3) has its roots in eastern Europe

That's what the computer files you've "liberated" strongly seem to suggest, as well as employee names and accents.
QUOTE
4) backgroud count in the basement

Background count probably sourced in the basement, but also "leaking" somewhat to the site as a whole.
QUOTE
5) assorted wierd drek going on

:grinbig:

Then you get into some speculation and general brainstorming which I can't yet go confirming or denying, but in part of which I'll tell you that you're getting warm.
QUOTE
I don't think we know if our elf lady is willing or not. She *was* kidnapped which implies at one point she was against it, but all things considered she may be "turned" at this point.
- Shanshu Freeman

You don't know about her current state of willingness. According to your fixer, the J had emphasised that time was an issue. (It was one of the reasons you had so very little scoping time for the run.)
QUOTE
@ Talia, as per your offer for background info-> Did we think to ask if she has any important contacts/relatives/etc?

You hadn't, but we're rewriting anyway, so I'll give you initially what's publicly available (say off the official bio plus fan sites), and I'll give more based on how you would have gone about getting it and whether you could have pulled it off in the limited time available. (I'm bearing in mind that Matrix knowbot research can be extensive and fast.) It will be heavier on "tone" than straight facts: most of this is from the fansites, and there don't seem to be all that many facts. (Maybe if you can figure out the right questions to ask ...?)

Her birth certificate name is Juliana d'Erethiel, but it's listed on all her other documents as just "Juliana". She's 23 years old. (There's no day of birth listed. According to the fanbase, she uses May 1 as an "official" birthday, but she doesn't actually know when it is, and she'd never learned about celebrating birthdays until she got to Seattle, so she still doesn't for herself, only for others.) She was born in Tir Tairngire, and looks like everything glamorous and other-worldly that the rags have ever associated with that place - only there seems to be nothing elitist about her. (I forget - anyone in this team who knows anything of Tir customs?) She's Good Looking And Knows It, but she also seems to genuinely like other people, of all races. No one's been able to link her in with a troll yet, but the fanbase feels it's only a matter of time.

She has a general arts degree from the University of London (England). She's obviously travelled, although she's not been back to Tir Tairngire for a few years now (as far as visas/the fanbase know). There's few traceable details (although roughly two-thirds of her university credits are British), but she talks about NYC like she knows it (and always with a secret smile) - she has an NYC Giants and an Islanders banner hanging in her bedroom, along with the Dodgers banner. She also comes up sometimes with the oddest pieces of trivia all along the west coast. The fanbase loves to endlessly analyse her comments ("See! She's been to Denver." "Has not! She could have picked that up from when she was in the Mojave." "That's never been proven." ...)

She works the late night Seattle Spy newscast, along with two co-anchors: Jim Dial, a father-figure older male human, and Tiffany, another piece of eye-candy (although they do both seem more intelligent than the average bimbo, to watch the clips). Her name and Tiffany's are listed on birth records, Jim uses a professional name and has had it changed legally. She has famous and frequently loud fights with the show's producer (Ernie Dundas) all the time - the whole office knows about them - but they seem to get along well for all that.

She goes out on the town every night. It's like it's part of her work, but she also loves it. Regular at the Penumbra, semi-regular virtually everywhere else in Seattle. She's even been seen in the seediest of strip clubs, and the fans are still Matrixing around the pictures that were taken when she spontaneously decided to turn one of the pole dances into a double act for the night. (The fans keep trying to number-crunch what her expense account must be. Although she dates the upper strata of Seattle quite regularly - think minor Hollywood celebrity entertainment section pictures - she's also been known to take complete Joe Averages out for a whirl around the town, and she genuinely seems to like them (and people generally). She's been seen with people as assorted as the governor of Seattle, a [human] plainsclothes (former beat) cop, a Mafia [ork] boss (she's known to have a permanent "on the house" tab at a restaurant he owns), and a [dwarf] cityworks accountant (who exemplifies Blandness). She also has ties with at least one yakuza oyabun. And she has had an exclusive with the UCAS president - just happened to be at the right place at the right time.

Basically, if she wants to do a thing, she seems to be able to find a way. And yet she's never been known to do anything like pulling rank. Others seem to do that for her, and quite regularly.
QUOTE
Are we upsetting anybody other than her takers by retrieving her?

She definitely has people who don't care for her, and she may have some active enemies. There's a famous (among the fanbase) rivalry with Tiffany, although the elfgirl seems, well, not completely unaware of it, but somewhat puzzled by it. There's the screaming fights with Ernie Dundas. There's quite regular semi-threats from Humanis. Oddly enough, she also seems to have a source somewhere inside Humanis.

There was a strange incident on the news one night - you'll be able to get the clip - where suddenly it seemed like a huge burning bird half-manifested out of astral space behind her and was about to seize her. At one point it almost seemed like it was part of her. She seemed half in a daze, but then she screamed and fainted. And then the cameras cut to a "Please Stand By" signal, although a pirated version of her, dishevelled and recovering, seems to be making the rounds. The current popular interpretation is that someone tried to attack her magically.

After that incident and the concurrent break-in into her apartment, her company upgraded her accommodations and hired a pair of Knight Errant bodyguards to protect her. She seems to have spent most of her time trying to ditch them. (She seems to have been rather pissed off over the break-in - she reported it no less than three separate times on the same newscast.)

Almost immediately afterward there was a hostage situation with families trapped in a church: the demand was that she be sent in to cover it. She went in with her camera, but the picture went black and sound went dead almost immediately. (The camera had been physically destroyed.) What's known is that two gunshots were heard almost immediately - it was found out afterwards that two of the hostages had been executed by the hostage-takers - and then most of the people escaped quietly through the side doors. The SWAT teams didn't even immediately see them until they were clear of the building - and then they seized the opportunity and stormed the place, killing the hyper-wired [human] shadowrunner, but not before he managed to shoot a third time, he'd been holding a gun to the head of another hostage. (The film clips from the immediate storming show her horrified and shell-shocked. Only one runner was seen in the confused footage and he was killed, but there's a huge fan debate about whether she initially said "hostage takers". A few of the hostages seem to suggest there was more than one, but nothing more is known.) She still donates regularly to a fund she created to support the orphaned children of those who died.

That's the overview. More, you'll have to ask the questions.
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kevyn668
post Dec 19 2003, 06:09 PM
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QUOTE
Talia Invierno Posted on Dec 19 2003, 04:48 PM
QUOTE 
Maybe this weekend I'll pour over the ENTIRE thread and try to piece it together.
- kevyn668


Works  and will respond in kind within a day. I'll begin with going through your list of "what we know", just by way of confirmation. (Hope that's all right with you.)


A-OK by me. Of course I did not manage to do it....more supposition to follow.

QUOTE
Talia Invierno Posted on Dec 19 2003, 04:48 PM

Her birth certificate name is Juliana d'Erethiel, but it's listed on all her other documents as just "Juliana". She's 23 years old. (There's no day of birth listed. According to the fanbase
....etc.

Holy drek!! We didn't ask about this before!? Shame on me.

Its too late now but we should have done a little diggin on the SR team that nabbed her.

Update:
6) has been the target of assassination attempt before. Or at least hostile action.

7) KE is probably also looking for her (should've checked their database)

8. [foiled by the smiley gods] The amount of effort involved in obtaining her is beyond that of jilted lover

9) Has connections w/ organized crime (should've made use of that)

10) She's probably awakened or at least a latent

Time for some "stretching"--hey, its brainstorming, right? Think of me as the kid that was reading the "Neverending Story" :)

1) Julianna is part of/integral to some nasty ritual (a la "Ivy&Chrome" or "Cast a Deadly Spell")
2) Julianna found out about the slave trade (this requires that my earlier supposition is also correct--unlikely, but not impossible)
3)(the BIG one) any connection w/ Snowdinai--whatever, the place where orichalcum occurs naturally, run by that Rhianion chica....

Oh, I'd like to thank all the other Lurkers for flocking to my banner. ;)

(kidding, I know your all waiting for the right moment)

and I just noticed: I've been upgraded to "Moving Target"!! SWEET!

(Of course if its been there for a while, I'll have to take that "Perceptive" edge of my "You as a Shadowrunner" post...)

This post has been edited by kevyn668: Dec 19 2003, 06:13 PM
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kevyn668
post Dec 19 2003, 09:28 PM
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Okay, I blew off part of the "in office office party" and have been working through the old thread.

The first thing that I came up w/ is the elf chica/broadcaster was originally sold to us as a "wage slave". Time to ask for more :nuyen: :nuyen: ....more to follow, 16 pages to go! :)

QUOTE
Talia Invierno Posted 
QUOTE
Also, we we have any specific data on the target? As in a positive retinal id so we ensure we have the right target before hauling hoop out of the building?
- Siege


Of course! Also photographs, fingerprints, and a host of other identifying information. Anyone who participates in the non-shadow world to the extent of watching trid has a reasonable chance to recognise her ...? [/me asking]


Ooops. :spin:

12 pages to go!
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Talia Invierno
post Dec 19 2003, 09:50 PM
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:D Unless of course the in-office office party offers more in the way of spectator entertainment than most. Either way, hope you have fun :)
QUOTE
Time to ask for more  :nuyen:  :nuyen:

Isn't that always the case?

I'm around for another hour or so today and most of tomorrow, so I'll definitely get to any and all questions by then. (And then I might actually be able to begin reading other threads!)
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kevyn668
post Dec 19 2003, 10:07 PM
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hmmm, apparently you have to hit "update" to save things to the note pad....guess I should've read those directions. crap.

This will now take longer than I thought...

Thanx Talia! BTW, this is waaaay more fun!!
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Siege
post Dec 20 2003, 12:13 AM
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Damnit, we should've cross-referenced her name and personal info with public databases.

Although I don't believe this blurb sheds any more light on the inner wierdness surrounding this run.

Based on the parameters given us, I make the following assumptions:

Our employer wants to either recover her or co-opt her to their interests
(Otherwise we wouldn't need her alive)

Our employer is either interested in keeping her good favor or remaining as completely untraceable as possible
(Given the zero evidence clause)

We also know that at least one person here is magically active -- I'm going to guess that, based on the nature of her behavior, she's a shapeshifter of some sort.

*They are often puzzled by human nuances -- celebrating birthdays, for example. *She seems to be completely unmarked by human biases which exist in all of us.
*The Phoenix has been suggested as a magical attack, but it might have been her losing control or shifting in self defense.
*Extreme fascination with human behavior -- the massive clubbing without the usual hedonistic excess one might expect from socialites on the town

Assuming I'm right, we have to assume that either we subdue her from surprise or be prepared for one hell of a fight.

Something else is screaming at my inner "oh drek" alarm, but I can't think what it is right now.

-Siege
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kevyn668
post Dec 20 2003, 01:14 AM
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Don't forget the extreme allery to unalloyed iron...

finally finished collecting all the bits I thought relevent. Should take me some time to go thru it all. [replaces "perceptive" edge w/ "obtuse" flaw] :P

@Siege: I'll back ya on the Shapeshifter thing. 1+1=2 (most of the time) ;)

The elf that was hauling the wheelbarrow was Dual....do shifters ever disintigrate?

@Talia: [alternate reality]what were the last few stories Julianna had been working on? I'm working on the assumtion that if she was nabbed by someone for a reason other than publicity or simple revenge (which seems to be the case) then whatever caused the "other party's" interest was related to something that happened recently. Given how much she moves around. Unless she was on the lam, in which case why would she get a Trid job??[/alternate reality]

To all you well read magic types: are there any creatures/entities that are dormant but require lots of essence to be "awakened" ( as in " woke up")? What sort of rituals are there for mass syphoning of essence w/o the subjects' knowledge? Could a mana line be harnessed to help w/ the above or supliment it?Does the structure of the building seem to be designed for the express purpose of gathering and harnessing mass amounts of psychokinetic energy? (Whatever you do, Ghost, DON"T THINK ABOUT A GIANT SOY-PUFT MAN!!!) :D

Beacuse that's whatt seems to going on here (well, not the soy-puft man part, anyway). Its not bugs. It IS bad.

Also, Talia wrote this wierd quote a while back it got all my red warning flags flapping.

QUOTE
(And no, what follows isn't [completely] OOG, just by way of a hint)

Nasrudin used to take his donkey across a frontier every day, with the panniers loaded with straw. Since nearly everyone who crossed that border was involved with smuggling one way or another, the frontier guards searched him again and again. They searched his person, sifted the straw, steeped it in water, even burned it from time to time. They searched the panniers, they searched the rope binding them together and the harness carrying them. They even made Nasrudin dismount and searched him. Meanwhile Nasrudin was visibly more and more prosperous, until after a while he retired and went to live in another country, where one of the (now-former) customs officers happened to run into him, years later. "You can tell me now," hinted the man, "whatever was it that you were smuggling, when we could never catch you out?"

"Donkeys," said Nasrudin.


Which to me means something is being hidden in plain sight.
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Siege
post Dec 20 2003, 02:15 AM
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Old story, but we have no way of knowing what, if anything, they are smuggling. (I heard it with bicycles and bags of sand)

Hell, it could be shapeshifters --> although I can't fathom what on earth for.

For that matter, they could be liberating shifters from our employers who want this fairly obvious and valuable one back.

We have a lot of suspicions and no information to guide our hunches.

-Siege
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kevyn668
post Dec 20 2003, 05:06 PM
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So maybe these guys are smuggling sand... :)

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Talia Invierno
post Dec 20 2003, 07:02 PM
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For what it's worth, I don't think the initial infiltration itself up to this point could have been run much better. (Differently, certainly. Better, doubtful. There are always glitches, of course - but that's what a post mortem thread is for.) It's the background information that's throwing you now, and its relevancy or lack thereof.

I'm temporarily "freezing" the current action to allow for that direction of back-research. It was a well-planned infiltration, and I don't think this direction of legwork would have significantly changed your plans to this point. However, new knowledge might possibly affect what the team expects or chooses to do from this point in.
QUOTE
Damnit, we should've cross-referenced her name and personal info with public databases.
- Siege

Which public databases? Any other parameters for searching? Thus far I've given you the public areas of Seattle Spy and the fanbase. It won't have taken long at all in this search for Solitaire to run across mention (or maybe she's previously heard) of another decker who calls themself "The Juliana". (The on-line icon is a digital representation of Juliana, always in different clothing.)

I think most of the rest of your post was speculation, Siege, rather than requests for information from me?
QUOTE
1+1=2 (most of the time) ;)
- kevyn668

Except in parenting, chemistry, physics, Shadowrun NPCs, and number theory :D
QUOTE
The elf that was hauling the wheelbarrow was Dual....do shifters ever disintigrate?

Your Magic Theory experts think not. At least they've never heard of such a thing.
QUOTE
@Talia: [alternate reality]what were the last few stories Julianna had been working on? I'm working on the assumtion that if she was nabbed by someone for a reason other than publicity or simple revenge (which seems to be the case) then whatever caused the "other party's" interest was related to something that happened recently. Given how much she moves around. Unless she was on the lam, in which case why would she get a Trid job??[/alternate reality]

Juliana's really more an anchor for the last couple of years than a story-chaser, so I'll have to give you a bit more information than you asked for in order to answer you. She began with Seattle Spy straight out of college as a society/fashion/entertainment reporter, held that for about a year before she was planted in the anchor desk a year and a half ago. There's fan rumours that she'd tried a couple of serious stories before that, but it's debatable, and there's no existing footage on the fan sites. (Pre-empting: or in the Seattle Spy database, so far as Solitaire could have discovered.)

As an anchor, she has had maybe four significant stories of her own (other than the fluff pieces she still occasionally does - think Bruce Almighty), and most of those seemed to be the result of pure luck rather than digging: right place right time, but on the spot for entirely different (if sometimes related) reasons. (There's speculation that she has a couple of well-placed sources who feed her the major stories.) The exclusive mentioned earlier (second-last in your list) falls under this category, but it was over a year ago.

Then came the hostage incident. She visibly pulled herself together to report on it herself, it's a famous tear-jerker among the fanbase and was short-listed for presentation and style in last year's media awards. That was the last story she worked on individually, partly because very shortly afterward she ended up taking nearly half a year extended and unscheduled paid leave: Bryan [elf] (she had said his name upon seeing him, no one had ever seen him before) had come into the media office, picked her up, and said that he was taking her home to family for a while, and the producer agreed with relief. (Solitaire has found the deluge of hate mail aimed at Ernie Dundas, since the cameras couldn't hide her emotional condition.) He walked out of the office with her in his arms (she's not resisting at all), and the two of them vanished from the public ken for about six months. (Not "vanished" literally. It's the SR world, it's necessary to specify.) But no one seems to know where they were - or, for that matter, who "Bryan" is. He hadn't been seen before with her, no one on the fanbase has been able to place him, and he's only ever been seen with her once since, a couple of weeks ago, they'd had dinner in the mafioso's restaurant. (His is one of the more reasonably-priced places that serves real food.)

Then she returned one night just on time to take her anchor shift, apparently completely recovered. She hasn't taken what would be considered a serious story since then. There's even rumours that she's getting ready to leave Seattle Spy.
QUOTE
To all you well read magic types: are there any creatures/entities that are dormant but require lots of essence to be "awakened" ( as in " woke up")? What sort of rituals are there for mass syphoning of essence w/o the subjects' knowledge? Could a mana line be harnessed to help w/ the above or supliment it?Does the structure of the building seem to be designed for the express purpose of gathering and harnessing mass amounts of psychokinetic energy?

Yes, your Magic Theory types would definitely know that such is possible and has happened in the past, but each case seems to be a unique thing. Where it's not simply a matter of adequate mana level = Awakening, many seem to additionally require the equivalent of decades if not centuries of research/knowledge.

Did I miss anything asked?
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Siege
post Dec 20 2003, 08:50 PM
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QUOTE (Talia Invierno)
QUOTE

QUOTE
Damnit, we should've cross-referenced her name and personal info with public databases.
- Siege

Which public databases? Any other parameters for searching? Thus far I've given you the public areas of Seattle Spy and the fanbase. It won't have taken long at all in this search for Solitaire to run across mention (or maybe she's previously heard) of another decker who calls themself "The Juliana". (The on-line icon is a digital representation of Juliana, always in different clothing.)

I think most of the rest of your post was speculation, Siege, rather than requests for information from me?

I was arm-chair quarterbacking for the most part -- had I asked about a name and a personal profile, I could have contracted a decker for a rush job on querying all available records for mention of "Juliana" and any video hits on a picture recognition program, as well as any relevant keywords (key wards?)

Since we didn't ask, it doesn't seem fair to ask for a do-over since we failed to ask some integral questions.

Realizing that she might be a shapeshifter or perhaps host to a Spirit of some sort would severely complicate our ability to procure her against her wishes which means the whole thing can explode in our faces PDF.

Unless you want Int checks to recognize the face from a glanced screamsheet cover, which would make our spook even more cautious.

-Siege
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Talia Invierno
post Dec 20 2003, 10:25 PM
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I'd noticed the armchair quarterbacking - heck, if I remember correctly, you never would have taken this run in the first place! Still, it's a challenge and an examination, so I don't have any problems if you don't with insertion of information you could have gotten within the time period available. I'm just not going to change anything that's already happened in the actual infiltration. Like I said, I don't think you could have done that first part much better no matter what you knew.

But I guess I'm asking what you would consider "key words"? You'll need them, if only to reduce the available data to a manageable size.
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Siege
post Dec 20 2003, 10:52 PM
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You remember correctly -- about this time, I'd be having a beer and planning the next job with the proper advance notice. :grinbig:

Keywords and topics of Interest:
"The Juliana"
"shapeshifters, a shadowrunner's primer"
Video clips of "The Juliana"
"spirits possessing people"

And a condensed version of Shadowtalk touching on Juliana and the rampant speculation regarding her (you know there'd have to be some). I'd be interested in speculation from mages and magical types on the secondary effects.

I'd also have the decker compile a profile on "The Juliana" -- business interests, agent, people constantly around her and so on.

I'd probably be sitting in a van with a wireless laptop doing background information, trying to do as much research as I could prior to going hot.

Oy.

-Siege
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Talia Invierno
post Dec 21 2003, 12:06 AM
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I wonder: wouldn't there normally be an implied [metagame] contract between GM and players, that the GM would try to create an adventure suited to the players, and that the players would normally at least attempt that adventure? That would make walking away a concept which exists - must exist - within the in-game structure, but which would not normally be the case within a group.

Juliana + "The Juliana"

"The Juliana" is a handle used on Shadowland. By the subject matter, appears to be extremely computer-adept, and definitely works as an independent decker. Where the subject touches on "Juliana", the answer is teasing, saying neither yes nor no. The writing style seems extremely different from what you've seen in the video clips, though: high level of literacy, but with deckers' shortcuts.

Juliana + shapeshifters

Only where "The Juliana" comments on them. General knowledge, with high possibility of a personal [non-hostile] encounter.

Juliana + "a shadowrunner's primer"

Nothing. Not even in variants of that.

Juliana + "video clips of The Juliana"

No video clips of "The Juliana seem to exist.

Juliana + "spirits possessing people"

Shadowtalk speculation on just what exactly happened in that on-air incident. Opinion is split between an attempt to attack her magically, an attempt to possess her (a mage raised that theory, and it remains most common), and an attempt to blackmail her by possibly pinning the blame on her for something (no one really knows exactly how that would work, but the theory remains).
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And a condensed version of Shadowtalk touching on Juliana and the rampant speculation regarding her (you know there'd have to be some). I'd be interested in speculation from mages and magical types on the secondary effects.

Not really any current rampant speculation regarding her on Shadowland - she's generally dismissed as "that media slitch". There's two earlier spikes of interest: the attack (as noted above) and something from about three years back by "the Adder", warning against her. She'd apparently screwed over a shadowrunning team she'd hired by airing their faces as part of a story she was covering. When Solitaire checks out "the Adder", she discovers that he was a street samurai, extremely wired and half-psycho (her assessment based on his text, shared by most of the Shadowland commentators who knew him). He ran with a team of two others. He also was the one killed in the hostage incident. (That didn't quite make a third spike of interest - most commentators who knew him figured it was inevitable.)
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I'd also have the decker compile a profile on "The Juliana" -- business interests, agent, people constantly around her and so on.

"The Juliana" does not conduct business on-Matrix, and does not seem to have an agent - but does frequently buzz fan sites, sometimes in outfits before Juliana is seen publicly in them. No one, on Shadowland or off, seems to know "The Juliana" outside the Matrix.
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I'd probably be sitting in a van with a wireless laptop doing background information, trying to do as much research as I could prior to going hot.

That's what I'm back-assuming Solitaire & company were up to. After all, you were trying to track every lead you could get.
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Siege
post Dec 21 2003, 12:17 AM
Post #194


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Yes and no -- to the metagame clause.

I've had GMs that ran the spectrum without giving any particular thought to the players. One had a game style that required characters made in a particular fashion to survive his world.

Bring it to his attention and it was always our fault (insert various reasons why). He tended to write scripts and always wondered why we never lived..."Well, how the hell were we supposed to know that attacking the Dragon with a spoon was the right thing to do?" It would have been easier if he'd let his actors see a copy of the script beforehand...

Not that I'm lumping you in that category, but I tend to be a little jaded.

As to the rest: Got it. Any SL information could be contaminated as "The Juliana" is an online presence of "Juliana".

Do we have any background data on the other two runners screwed by Juliana?

-Siege
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Shanshu Freeman
post Dec 21 2003, 01:24 AM
Post #195


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QUOTE (Siege @ Dec 20 2003, 12:13 AM)


Something else is screaming at my inner "oh drek" alarm, but I can't think what it is right now.

-Siege

goes double for me


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Assuming I'm right, we have to assume that either we subdue her from surprise or be prepared for one hell of a fight.

Let's be sure to announce we're here to "help" when we find her.

QUOTE

You don't know about her current state of willingness. According to your fixer, the J had emphasised that time was an issue. (It was one of the reasons you had so very little scoping time for the run.)
So we have to find her before "they" "change" her.
</muse>

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The elf that was hauling the wheelbarrow was Dual....do shifters ever disintigrate?
Verification: Are you asking if they Terminally Disintigrate? Or is it maybe possible for a shapeshifter to voluntarily or under co-ersian (sp?) appear as dust?

Also, might bugs have a use for a shapshifter? Can they merge?
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Siege
post Dec 21 2003, 02:14 AM
Post #196


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QUOTE (Shanshu Freeman)


QUOTE
Assuming I'm right, we have to assume that either we subdue her from surprise or be prepared for one hell of a fight.

Let's be sure to announce we're here to "help" when we find her.

That's the catch --> we don't know what relationship our target has to our employer.

It's possible she's being abducted against her will, which means tipping her off is going to cost us the element of surprise and terminally frag with the "no evidence" clause if she can and does put up a fight.

-Siege
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Talia Invierno
post Dec 21 2003, 02:20 AM
Post #197


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I see your point, Siege. (It almost exactly matches my opinion re far too many videogames.) I'm beginning to think I was just extremely lucky in my introduction to RPGs.
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As to the rest: Got it. Any SL information could be contaminated as "The Juliana" is an online presence of "Juliana".

SL? Don't know the term.
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Do we have any background data on the other two runners screwed by Juliana?

Not hard to find, on Shadowland. They still run as a team: Galina and Bob. One is an electronics/computer expert, the other is a street shaman. They specialise in on-site data extraction, but have been known to do other types of jobs.
QUOTE
Verification: Are you asking if they Terminally Disintigrate? Or is it maybe possible for a shapeshifter to voluntarily or under co-ersian (sp?) appear as dust?

Also, might bugs have a use for a shapshifter? Can they merge?
- Shanshu Freeman

According to your Magic Theory experts:
Terminally Disintegrate: no.
Voluntarily or under coercion appear as dust: not that they've heard. As far as is known, the shapes must at least be living.
Bugs having a use for a shapeshifter: who knows what bugs want?
Can they merge? I don't see why it shouldn't be possible. (Edit: there is some debate on my side whether already dual-natured beings would be vulnerable to bug infestation.)

(Edit: no post on Shadowland suggests that Juliana was dual-natured at any point.)
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Something else is screaming at my inner "oh drek" alarm, but I can't think what it is right now.
-Siege 

goes double for me
- Shanshu Freeman

:vegm:
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Siege
post Dec 21 2003, 02:30 AM
Post #198


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SL -- Shadowland (the bulletin board forum in-game)

-Siege
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Shanshu Freeman
post Dec 21 2003, 10:12 AM
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QUOTE (Siege)
QUOTE (Shanshu Freeman @ Dec 21 2003, 01:24 AM)


QUOTE
Assuming I'm right, we have to assume that either we subdue her from surprise or be prepared for one hell of a fight.

Let's be sure to announce we're here to "help" when we find her.

That's the catch --> we don't know what relationship our target has to our employer.

It's possible she's being abducted against her will, which means tipping her off is going to cost us the element of surprise and terminally frag with the "no evidence" clause if she can and does put up a fight.

-Siege

We can't pop in and say "We're here to help you, this is for your own good." as we stun her somehow?

Hmm You're right, maybe that's not so practical.




Alrighty, so the whole smuggling analogy-> Theory: Metahuman employees = smuggled donkeys, hence the high turnover rate.


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kevyn668
post Dec 21 2003, 07:30 PM
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Okay, I've been thinking about this before I read the post about Julianna not being dual. She could be a mage and masking, I guess...but I was wondering can an elf be a shifter? Or could she have had cosmo surgery?? I don't think even cosmo surgery would stay on a shifter. Also, she's (possibly) a regular poster to SL. Have we ever looked at her pictures to see if she has a datajack?

so much for my 1+ 1 theory... ;)

Can we run a pic of this Bryan guy through some databases and get an ID on him? I thought her dramatic departure was captured on tape (or pixels, whatever). If I misunderstood we could use the footage from the newsroom sec cameras.

Galina is a Russian name, IIRC. Its probably just coincidence....Then again, any connection between friend Galina and the "import/export" corp? (I know Russian and ukrainian aren't the same thing)

What were the details on the exchange w/ the J? Do we have any? Are we supposed to just call him? Did we happen to get a pic of the J? If so, can we run that thru some of Solitare's databases and/or have Dimond do some diggin?

Do we have the details on her currant kiddnapping? Did we/can we take run at the KE files?

QUOTE
Shanshu Freeman Posted: Dec 21 2003, 10:12 AM 
Alrighty, so the whole smuggling analogy-> Theory: Metahuman employees = smuggled donkeys, hence the high turnover rate


A reasonable guess. That leaves the questions: Was the dataslave excited because his work was done for the day or because his indentured servitude was over or because the ritual to return the Old Gods to thier former glory is almost complete?

-and-

Whats with the dust? (the samples and the dual elf)

On a personal note: Did I piss anyone off by asking all theses questions and getting the currant action stalled? Should I have waited for the Post Mortem Thread? It doesn't seem that way but I didn't want to step on anyones's toes. :)

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