Adamu
The hardware Spoof alternative I was talking about is described under 'spoofing the datatrail' at the bottom of p. 224. Sory but with my system runnig unstable, I didn´t bother to look up the book references in my original post.
Everything else sounds cool.

Vegas - no worries - it is just that your OOC comment about the shedim was in direct contradiction to the IC post MJ had just made (although it was just Conall's thoughts, not spoken out loud, and I can't remember whether your Mindlink is still active). So I thought one IC deserved another...so to speak.

But I know you all will have a chance to hash out your differing opinions about the shedims' behavior.

I think - and correct me if I'm wrong, MK - that what MK wanted to mostly keep OOC was the tech talk about commlinks, since it is complicated, crosses the OOC/IC barrier, and would just be simpler to handle OOC, which I agree.
But for people that want to IC it, that's cool too.

The shedim discussion should probably happen IC - although I don't mind OOC comments as well.

BTW, Mister Juan, is Conall still carying that ring at the chain around his nack?

And Adamu do I have a matrix addresss for Dairi Baito?

SOrry guys, I've been hit with the crud that's going around *shakes her fist at the little kids at the show this weekend with the snotty noses*

I'm kinda down for the count for right now, I'm getting better slowly, but sitting at the computer for long periods of time is brutal. I'll try to post something as soon as I can.

I feel with you! I have been down for the last three weeks, though I´m back on top again, I think.

Unfortunately, my laptop isn´t at all!
So I´m sending this from my very old (like 10+ years), semifunctional PC. I probably won´t be posting from it though (cant access my flatrate and working with it it a PITA in general). So you might not hear from me till next week - hope I´ve got a new harddrive and all the essential software installed by then...

Feeling better (finally) but have NO time right now to post, will try to put something up later this afternoon/evening. Now I'm on my way out the door!

Thanks people.

Having no time to do a worthwhile post is totally just the way things are sometimes, no worries.

Just disappearing without a word would be a stress-inducing bummer. I appreciate that everyone in my game has the consideration to let us know when they will be out of action for a few days.

It really is important on these forum boards, and I am grateful.

So much for being "better"... Got hit with round 2 again today. Fever, aches, chills and general dizziness (more so than usual)...

May not be around much till after Wed. between getting ready for another show (assuming I'm healthy) and trying to fight off this crap.

I'm chugging the vitamin C and airborne as much as possible, it'd be nice if I could manage more than a couple hours of sleep in there too.

Just another update as to why I'm being so flaky lately.

Hope You´ll get better, soon!

I´m back online with my regular machine now. Just have to recover all those internet links and get some work done, that suffered from my system crash (must have been those virtuacinetics). Anyway I should be on regularly, again

I should be around too, as usual, although I do have final exams next week.

I"m back on my feet (for now) as evidenced by my post

Still in a critical busy state till Thursday. But I'm around at least and not quite so deathly ill Hopefully it'll stop doing this "good one day, bad the next" kinda thing.. I can't take much more of it

Not been abled -due to my computer-troubles- to put up a perception roll, to get a good look at the ring Conall´s carrying on that chain. So here are 9 hits. What did it look like?



Keep in mind that I might not be abled to look at it from the best angle!

I am sure you get an excellent view of the ring with nine successes, especially with your vision mods. The band is dark forest green. It appears to be a signet ring, with a crest. In the middle of the crest, your vision magnification shows the letters CO.

MK

When Krait clips that "triad" of commlinks onto his belt, is that including both of Carla's commlinks? Because Carla hasn't actually given Krait her back-up commlink yet.

Nope, just the ones Conall & Carla gave me, plus the scavanged Airware I was waving around

With that one, it´s not necessary to sacrefice your personal com. Etain will only have to wait a bit longer.

In case you want to procede. I´ve got nothing more to say, except that the com-work should be done tomorrow and C&C can still -and should regularly- log onto the chatservers from any com or matrix access to receive and send masseges. If they still know the names and passcodes that is (You can look them up ath the wiki under my IDs).

I'm ready to proceed.

Me too, by the way.

Just nothing much I need to do.

Let me know if anyone does anything they need adjudicating or has questions or whatever.

Now, however, is a good time to say that I will be travelling for the next several weeks. I still plan on checking in every chance I get, but I will be much more sporadic than usual.

So if I disappear for a few days here and there anytime through the middle of January, not to worry.

I'm ready to keep moving.. seems the shedim discussion is going to get quashed every time it gets brought up and everyone could use some rest before starting back out on our search for Esmerelda.

I'm good to move on.

Well, Carla's just going to get some sleep and resume her day job at the clinic, so feel free to jump ahead without me. I'd jump us ahead myself, but I have a final exam in 18 hours - and I am not the type to pull all-nighters - so I need to spend my waking hours on the books.

I feel you are approaching your collegiate experience in entirely too level-headed a manner.

It's the price I pay for taking too many courses in logic.

You know that Logic dosn´t figure into Hacking-Tests right, BlueRondo? It´s not realy worth the Karma to improve it
What are you studying?

MisterJuan. I assume Conall is giving me an access-code for his com, too. Just shout if you intended something else.

Adamu
My plan is to checkout the Ground Zero node while I´m riding a cab. I´ll do some analyzing before I try to enter via my back-door. I´ll make a plan before entering the system, but I won´t bother to outline it and make all the rolls, untill you told me, that the node is online and the back-door is still working.

After that, I´m going to change the cab and go to the electronics-shop, to work on the comlinks. The book dosn´t say a word about how long it takes to implement the hardware solution for spoofing the datatrail (its Threshold 2, not extended) but IIRC, you judged way back when Adam did it, that it only takes a minute or so (though I might have mixed that up with another game). Puting together the com-protocols shouldn´t take that long, either.
Anyway, I´d need to know how long the hardware-switch to limit the coms to talk to my com would take and what the test would be, before I can decide if I´ll do it or not. Another factor for my decision would be how 'ugly' the switch will look, but I guess with the tailore-made-case option the shop offered when I did my com, this shouldn´t look like crap.

MK -

As I said before - GZ node is still there, just no longer open to public till further notice. Your back door still works.
As far as I am concerned you can get in and have a look around. Assume you get in undetected, let me know your stealth and other applicable ratings, and then tell me what you are looking for and how.

Yeah, if it is not listed as an extended test it can be done pretty quickly. Provided you succeed on the tests, I don't think you are looking at more than 30 minutes work just for the stuff you mentioned earlier. Once the work is done, can you just give me an itemized summary of changes made?

No reaon for your changes to hurt the appearance of the commlinks.

With your sleep regulator, how long till you need to sleep?

Last 3 or 4 hours of sleep had been in the last morning, so I could go for another 24 hours or so, but I´m intending to catch up on some rest after the work at the shop is done.

Here are the rolls for 'Spoofing The Datatrail' hardware-style:
Buying 2 hits each, with Logic 5 + Hardware 3, for Carla´s and Conall´s com.
The scavanged Airware for Etain will have to wait untill I scored the com for paydata.
So no extra test needed (or possible to buy hits as well, if no more then 2 are needed), to install the hardware-switch that will restrict the coms to accept wifi-signals from one sorce only?

The hacking stuff will take me some time to check out the book, so it´ll have to wait untill tonight or tomorrow, since I have a 'The Black Eye'-seccion this evening (too bad I don´t come around rping sr face-to-face these days).

Woo, one more exam to go.

I'm studying mathematics and philosophy, so topics in logic are at the core of what I'm interested in.

Anyway, Carla's working away at the clinic, as usual. As mentioned, she won't be able to get in touch with any of the teammates without her commlink.

So, I take it that as long as John has Conall's commlink, he can't really DO much, since he'll have no way of broadcasting his driving lisence (little hard to drive around then) or even a way of printing out a frozen frame of the video.

My original plan was to have him follow John's advice and hit the tattoo parlors around town. But then I realized.... what is he going to show them?

So, I guess we'll just have to "waste" time until John hands the commlinks back

Mister Juan you could still use Etain´s com.

Adamu
Ok, so here we go with the matrix stuff. Surfing from the backseat of a cab cruising the Downtown and Tacoma Destricts.

Program List
All running reducing Response by 1!

I already hacked the system, establishing an admin account (p. 216). Before I start, I want to spoof my access ID, to appear as the lead corporate rapist (scaned his com back in the club), which is Hacking+Spoof (2) and I´m buying the 2 hits. As I said, I do then Analyze the node for Alert status, we already handled this. Once I enter (Complex Action), the system rolls Analyze+Firewall (TH 3, p. 221) once, to spot me. The TH for random matrix perception by patrolling ice, spiders or other intruders is my hits on (Hacking+Stealth, p. 217, prepaired 3 rolls with 2, 4 and 4 hits). In case it makes any difference (I think with admin access it should) I´m loging onto the system in hidden mode (an admin account should have this option –most chat-room user-accounts have- not speaking of my com´wifi mode, which is of course hidden as well).

When I´m inside the first thing to do would be Analyze+Computer (Simple Action) buying hits, to learn alert status (thereby finding out if I was spotted), programs currently running and subscription list (buying the 3 hits). If there´s an alert, I log off immediately, if not I´ll scan for other users (buying hits, so they need 4+ hits on Hacking+Stealth to evade me) and then analyzing the online users (unless it´s more then 4), looking for account privileges, system rating and current activity (buying hits, Simple action per user). If it has been more then 1 user, I´ll again check the systems alert status after that.
Once that´s done I´ll start searching for the security files (Brows+Computer extended, buying hits, should be done in between 1 IP and 4 CR at most) and keep them open for editing. Next would be the access account files. Once I found them, I´ll copy the file (so I get all the passwords), create 2 new hidden admin account as a backdoor for me (Hacking+Edit, 5 and 4 hits p. 225) and keep the file open, so I can edit it further any time.
Once the basics are covered, I start searching for paydata about Esmeralda any secret vid-recordings from the club and information about the artists, buying hits again.
When work is done, I´ll finaly look for paydata not liked to our job –programs I could steal, any blackmail data, etc.
In between all this I´ll regularly check what the other users are doing (in case someone is trying to track me, Computer+Track (10, 1 IP), p. 219). I´ll also check any files and nodes for databombs, not touching them until everything else is done – I´d then have to decide file by file. And of course, if something needs to be decrypted, I´ll do so (buying hits, Response+Decrypt, p. 225).
Depending on what I find, I might do other stuff as well (like placing a data-tap, etc.). If I trigger an alart, someone trys to track or attack me, I´d have to decide my actions in detail.
Finally, I´ll eraze all logs of my activity (including the backdoor through which I originally accessed) and log off.

Adamu
So, Etain and Conall are going to start hitting all the tattoo parlors around town, with a print out of the guy's tats.... probably pretending to shop around for the same artist who did those if he's in Seattle, or just for info on where one would get tattoos like that.

Want us to IC the whole thing? How do we proceed?

Mister Juan and Vegas

The best thing to do would be for you guys to get things started by ICing your initial contact at the first tattoo parlor.

Since you are unlikely to find what you are looking for in the very first place, that will get us going by establishing your starting time, and I'll get to see how you are handling the place.

From there, I can decide how many places you might have to hit before you (IF you) find useful info, at which point I can do an IC, and we can go from there.

Good hunting.

MK hacking GZ

* Very skillful use of the hacking rules. It's fairly tough for a small private system, but you sliced right through it. All your matrix actions were successful as far as you know and you don't believe you were detected.

* You detected no one else logged on while you were.

* According to the recently filed security report (pretty amateurish reporting style, but content appears competent), the only member of the security team to be a casualty was Ernst. Security facilities should be reparable within the day, and the sec team is ready to resume operations by tonight, depending on what management wants to do.

* The shedim outbreak was connected to "the group in Room Three," the likely result of their "artistic activities." All members of that group in attendance have been confirmed dead. Subject Zero was probably their "female talent." There is no other mention of them in the sec file.

* You find no mention at all of Esmeralda in the system, including various searches on image, description, known dates of attendance.

* In other files, you find a reference to the sec report's info that "the group in Room Three" is all dead. There is a note to scan all recovered commlinks for any possible contact info with that group's larger organization.

* Apparently the club does make video footage of the place. There is complete footage (no sound) from several angles around the club from last night. Let me know if there is anything you want to copy or look at again. You find no video files for other nights. Probably in cold storage.

* You figure that the footage and, more so, the proof that the place does record the guests' activities, should be worth money to someone...

* Thank you for carefully showing all the rules used, including page references. That is worth 1 karma point.

Ok, I'll work on a post upcoming starting the twins off on their hunt.

Adamu can I be artistically creative to determine just what "Gaudy" tattoos the muscle man in the denim jacket (sans sleeves) had, or are there any of significance that we should know about even in general vague terms? I mean are there definite patterns like tribal banding/symbols, dragons, animals, naked women, things that look like gang tattoos or whatever on his arms?

Just formulating a plan... don't want to be like "Hey, we're looking for the artist that did this work so that I can get something similar" and it's some garish horrid thing no self-respecting Elven woman would have on her body

No mentioning of 'Cat' -Esmeralda´s lable in the scene, according to Zaphyr (IIRC, that is, would have to check my notes to be sure)- in the system either?

I´ll do something with that video (definitly copy, probably delet the original, maybe leave a massege), but I have to give it a second thought - it´s late and I´m tired. ... well I actually decided, to copy the vids, then trash the file, so it looks like it has been corrupted by some glitch (all footage not showing us or Kayla may be salvagable with some work, but said vids have to be gone beyond repair) and finaly plant some data taps. However it´s late, I´m tired, my book is upstairs, where I have no internet access (and I just bought a new computer, so my fingers are itching to do stuff with it), so I will do the rolls later and post them tomorrow.

Vegas & MisterJuan

Expect Conall to get back his com early in the morning (like 0800 maybe) - and probably handed Carla´s, too, since she will be unavailable. John will send a message to the SnakeBane account, asking to meet him, either at the 'the place we departed last night', 'the place we first met' or 'the lost ones place you changed your skin'. If you don´t answer, I´ll just turn up at your place. If nobody´s there, I´ll drop the two coms at Esmeralda´s and leave a message for you and Carla (at her Mary Jane account) that they are there.

MK

Ok dude, you have TOTALLY lost me here...

You're going to show up at the apartment and hand Conall both his and Carla's comms at 8am?

Why are you sending cryptic messages and to whom exactly are you sending them?

I am totally confused and would like to write the next post but if you're going to be able to get the comms back before the twins go off on a hunt I'd like to know BEFORE I put the effort into writing a post and then having to backtrack and re-edit...

Thanks!

And I'm wondering how will Conall get Krait's message in the 1st place? Does he have Etain's comm number?

Sorry to be so confusing, it was late and I wanted to hurry the post, since you both where online at the moment.

The first time John handed Conall a credstick, there was a massege on it, saying that he could reach me any time through voicemail to BlueBeard@BloodyFloor or via the Snake-Bane Account (the password was 386-493) on the DOA-Midland-NA MMORPG, that John created for him. So he could use it to send a PM to Targor (which is John).

I mentioned in another OOC post (and planed to put it into an IC, once I knew the nights events to put them all into one post - which I haven´t yet), that John will advise everyone to check the accounts (Snake-Bane and Marry Jane) that he established for them (which can be done from any matrix-access), so he can send you a message.

Of course it is entirely possible, that everyone but John forgot about those accounts, so you won´t get the message. Then he would just show up at Conall´s place at around 0800, maybe 0830. If you are still there, you will get the two coms (Conall´s & Carla´s). If your allready gone you won´t get them yet.

Vegas

Feel free to make up whatever tats the guy has on his arms, although I think specific gang connections would be inappropriate.

And please answer my PM - did you get it?

MK Ultra

Just like I said - no mention. But there are really no mentions of any specific patrons. As with the daily footage, it seems very likely that they keep that sort of stuff offline (if it even exists).

Edits to the previous night's footage noted.

IC to be continued..

Adamu

I didn't mean to say I could infer which gangs, just perhaps notice what looked like gang tats.

As for the PM, I didn't get it? Can you resend so I can answer ASAP? Thanks!


EDIT: Replied to the PM I found hiding unannounced in my PM box Sorry for the delay!

All,

There's more to come from my latest post. I sadly had to deal with the christmas crazies out shopping today when our router bit the big one and I couldn't connect to the internet. We got a new one, but we're still working out the kinks and my connection is spotty at best.

MJ - Feel free to run with the twins from that point to get us out and about and doing their thing as we talked about. Hopefully I'll be stable enough to chime in along the way.