No alert.
No databomb.
No activity.
You slip in no problem.
Other user is Sophie.
All the gear you found on him that would need a subscription is subscribed.
There are inactive subscription slots for a huge array of other cool gear that you did not find on him.

That might be awhile in light of adamu's recent announcement and post replys.

Hey guys. Long time no voice from me

I know Adamu has mentioned that he's gonna be mega busy from the sounds of things, but I'm thinking I'm ready to get my feet wet again and start playing a bit here and there, assuming you guys will have me back of course

Looks like you all got into a little trouble without me eh?

Yay, Vegas is back!

Very most mega happy tidings. Soooo happy about this! Post away, girl.

You better believe we want you back, ya know?

Wow, I got so excited about the return of Vegas that I actually forgot to take care of biz.

@adamu could you let me know when it will be appropriate to raise Jack's willpower score. He has enough karma at this point.

@Vegas: Well, if adamu is happy with it – I guess this is not a democracy, so welcome back

@Adamu: Is the bike subscribed to the com as well?
I want to analyze Sophie (Computer+Analyze, buying 3 hits, p. 217), to learn type, rating and current activity.

Adamu - If it's not too much trouble, could you bring me back up to speed where Etain is concerning any mods, wounds, where she is in her addiction cycle, etc? It's been so long and I don't know where she's honestly at and I'd like to hit the ground running without having to backtrack on rolls and or suddenly have her mood/demeanor shift.

Thanks a million, I'm looking forward to diving back in with her.

I'm actually really busy today and tomorrow. I should have time for a post tomorrow. But, what I wanted to say was concerns a single person.

Damn am I glad to see you. You can't imagine.

'some high and mighty keebler from turnagog' made my day

@Adamu: maybe you can also give me a rough description of the nodes and Sophie´s metaphor for my next IC.

@MK happy to obleege.

@BlueRondo

If John is still present, when Carla comes back and asks, he will also remind her to considder Encryption Utilities for the Team Comlinks (even rating 1 will go a long way), even though they are not included in his recent listing. However, it is not unlikely, that he´ll be on the move again, as well, so better not to include it in IC, untill adamu has hashed out the matrix stuff with me, unless you feel you have to.
In any case, he´ll send a message to remind her of that, if they miss eachother.

@MK
I can't remember if John got a usable commlink off from Naguel. Conall might be interested in upgrading his cheap knockoff

@all
Also, this isn't the proper time to bring it up ICwise, but we could all get Micro-Transceivers. After all, they can't be hacked. Right?

@BR & Adamu
Here is Conall's list. Its mainly in order of priority

I´ll have a new com for Paddy, once it is cleaned and modified with a spoof-chip.

Everything can be hacked - well allmost, but microtransceivers certainly can. Still they are usefull for thair good /signalrating ratio.

All this OOC technobabble is making me dizzy.

If Jack joins the team his current comm gear consist of an off the rack Renraku Sensai, with Renraku Ichi OS for a rather unimpressive Response 2; System 2; Firewall 2; and Signal 4. He also has encryption 4, which only runs at 2 because of the limitations of his commlink.

In addition he has a microtransceiver 6 with subvocal microphone.

Hopefully MK can integrate all that into the team network. That is, if Jack makes the team, ya know?

Well, if micro transceivers work only with radio waves, how would one hack them? They aren't considered a node, or linked to one. They can be jammed, or listened in if you know the exact frequency. But to my knowledge, they shouldn't be hackable par se. But then again, I could be mistaken.

By default, everything running on electricety in SR is hackable. Plus, everything that´s hackable is by default wireless (even if it just has signal rating 0), unless specifically mentioned, not to. After all, you have to set up the device, change frequencies, turn it on and off. Of course, what you can do with a hacked device depends on it´s nature. With microtransceivers, i.e., you could tap in on the traffic, learn the stored frequencies, change them, block any or all traffic and of course introduce traffic.

The only way to escape this is to either use anachronistic gear, that´s lacking behind sota enough (like walki-talkies, that only have manuel controlls), modify the stuff to at least not be hackable wirelessly, or get gear specially designed to minimize hackability. So with a bit work, microtransceivers can be unhackable (at least without plugging a cable into them), but that also makes them less flexible, as frequencies and encryption protocolls have to be changed manuelly or by voice controll, which limits the number of set up routines that can efficiently be used, no changes on the fly, only preprogrammed protocolls, plus they would´t be abled to use the matrix to communicate beyond signal range.

For the record - MK is right on this one. Any current microtransceiver will itself be a node on the matrix. As he said, ALL electric anythings have nodes in 2070, unless specifically designed not to - though the social and legal paradigm makes virtually anything in that category tantamount to gray/black market.

Now, if you got yourself some pre-Crash microtransceivers you'd be in business, but they would indeed have the disadvantages MK described (although, to be fair, none of those disadvantages bothered us much as players ten years ago when we were using them).

***

MK - the node you are now in is configured like a beautiful villa on a coast somewhere. All the decor, however, seems to have been painstakingly depersonalized so that no clue about the user can be gleaned from the architecture. So it is kind of ultra-modern and bland.
I may have misled you about Sophie. She is not at this moment a user, she is listed as the only other authorized user.
EDIT - you also asked about this node and the bike. Yes, there is a subscription slot for the bike here.

As I mentioned much earlier regarding the first node - the one wired to his head, it has been so scrubbed of software that it no longer even has whatever sculpting it might once have had.

Vegas - sorry to be late responding to you.

My notes show you with a Moderate Addiction to Bliss.
I think you were exploring Novacoke addiction too, but since I don't have anything written down, that is all fluff for now.
In game terms, the rule has been that you must take a hit at least once a day. To avoid that you need one success on a Willpower test with a -4 dice pool modifier.
I leave current Gear to players to track. I vaguely recall you not really having any stash, but if I am wrong let me know.
You will not have had a hit yet for the current calendar day, so you either get and take a hit before midnight, or succeed in a test by then. Barring meeting one of those two conditions, you go into druggie-desperate mode until you get your hit.

Unlike JDragon in the other thread, we have not explored shaking your addiction in game terms.

Thinking about it, you´d probably also have to jurry-rig the transceivers to use analog signals instead of digital ones (and I bet, even pre-2nd-crash used digital signals), because the later kind of connection would probably be an inroad for a skilled hacker, as well.

Then you have to ask your self, how analog signals fare on super-miniaturized gear in a wireless world with massive cross-talk over the whole bandwidth. After all, these SR-microdevices probably don´t hit that Signal 6 (10 km range for a stable full-vr transmission) by pumping out that much more energy then current day tech, but more likely by being more apt at amplifieing and filtering very faint signals, sending multiple repeats of superdense digital pakages and switching frequencies on demand. So with preset frequencies and analog signals, you can probably drop Signal Rating to 1/2 or forget it alltogether in a regular urban environment. ECCM may help a bit, but it only goes so far. Of course, I´m hardly an expert on SigInt, so this is just my thoughts.

Going through all that hastle is like todays business-people -the 24/7 type- using fone booths instead of a cell fone. Of course, gangsters might do that, so can runners, but as adamu pointed out, that makes such devices probably plain illegal and hard to come by, as it won´t be mass-produced.

@ Adamu
Thanks, planing to put up an IC tomorrow. Next steps would be as usual, find access account files, to insert two new hidden admin accounts and freez all other accounts, so they won´t work for the time being, How ever, any file I access on this com, including the access previlages, will be analyzed for a databomb first. Have no time to make the rolls right now, though.
After that I´d check out the software on this com. Then any stored contact-data/comcodes/addresses. Finaly sift through the rest of it´s contents, to see if anything catches my eye and get a general overview of the stuff. I don´t want to spend more then 5 to 10 minutes, though.

Well, this all goes to show how much I read the matrix section ;) Actually.... I don't even own Unwired now :P
So, all in all.... what is the advantage of having a micro transceiver over a commlink? Yes, they cost less than a full fledge commlink. I guess I just answered my own question!

Annnyyywwwaaayyyssss! I've started writing up my body chopping post up, but I've gotta go to the "in laws" tonight... so I might come back too late to finish it up. It should allow MK to post, and maybe Vegas as well :D

@Adamu & BR
I forgot an item on my list: Leadership (tactics) tutorsoft skill chip. If that is doable :P

For all the matrix stuff (creating 2 new accounts and freezing all old accounts), I did 3 Edit rolls with 5, 6 & 4 hits. For the analyze stuff, I´ll buy 3 hits.

Just wondering: would having a conversation prevent Jack from "resting"?

@MJ: I would hope that conversing is allowed. The rules on page 242 say nothing of having to sleep, only having to rest. I've had three long stays in the hospital and I certainly conversed with my nurses, doctors and visitors. The key factor as I see it would be physical inactivity. Jack could certainly use a distraction from just lying on his cot and listening to The Fighting Uruk-hai or Darwin's Bastards Keeb Bleed 2070 Live!.

I've said before that conversing is fine.

Note that for me it is far less about moving your body or not moving it, than it is about fluff vs. non-fluff.

Wounds are a game effect that penalizes the player with the inability to do anything constructive. A hacker might not move a muscle in full-VR, but I wouldn't let them heal wounds if actually hacking something.
Conversely, Jack could get up and start doing stretches, and since it is all fluff, I wouldn't care.

Anything that actually accomplishes a tangible game effect - serious planning, data searching for run-related stuff, fighting, negotiating with an NPC, repairing electronics, cutting up bodies - these things will set you back to square one on healing.

Chatting with the other PCs will not.

MK Ultra - ten minutes poking around in this now totally unprotected node allows you to figure a lot of stuff out.

No databombs.

It is clear from all you have seen of the three comms that the R3 was just a cover for purely day-to-day functions.

The R6 you are in was clearly for active operational use - not only is it set up with subscription portals for all the gear, it has all the good software - you find the following:
Analyze (Rating 6)
Browse (Rating 6)
Command (Rating 6)
Edit (Rating 6)
Encrypt (Rating 6)
Reality Filter (Rating 5)
Scan (Rating 6)
Decrypt (Rating 6)
ECCM (Rating 3)
Black Hammer (Rating 6)
Attack (Rating 6)
Armor (Rating 6)
Spoof (Rating 6)

The one wired to the guy's brain is more mysterious, since everything was wiped, but it is a good guess that all his data files were kept there. You find absolutely no data on any of the three commlinks.

Your reworking all the access codes (letting yourself in, locking others out) is all well and good. But keep in mind that all three commlinks are biometrically locked. No problem since they were all ON when you found them, but turn them off and you will have to get around biometrics hardware to activate them again.

Clearly I am trying to streamline this process. If you have any other questions, let me know - you can do pretty much whatever you want in these comms since nothing is around to stop you.

Well I hope we haven't crossed the line at this point.

I just want to let you guys know I'm not neglecting the game. I'm going to try to post Carla's shopping adventures in one (or a couple) of posts so I can get her back to the rest of the team and we can move on.

As described IC, I want to silence, but not turn off the gear, after I searched it (including subscribed periphery nodes, especially the bike).

Following that, I will spoof my access ID and check out that Kenichi guy´s comcode Vanity gave us. Obviously, I don´t want to call it, just check the node adress to learn iff it´s online and analyze it two times (system, firewall, alert, traffic volume, databomb?).

Nice IC MK - you succeed in shutting off the wifi without turning off the devices. I have no doubt that a cleverer player at hacking than I could get around that, but you are safe until your GM gets smarter or gets evil advice.

Spoofing your trail, you find the node associated with Kenichi's commcode. It is there, it is in passive mode. No alert, no databomb anywhere you have accessed (which is not much, just looking from outside), not much traffic, just short messages occasionally. System and firewall 6 each.

@Jack
I can't speak for Vegas, but just as a quick side note, Conall asked Etain twice to leave the room while he was chopping up the body. Never in a hundred years would he dismember a corpse in front of her. So, depending on what Vegas posts we might have to change the scene a bit.

Just assume for the moment that Etain left the room when told, in a huff of course for being "ordered" to do anything, even by her brother. I will try to get a post up as soon as I can with her adventures away from the dismemberment.

I can edit. When did she actually leave. I'll try to play off her upcoming IC.

BR - great ICs - awesome indeed is the power of the PM!

But if I may pick a nit, very little of the action you described took place in the Los Locos basement...

Good point.

@Jack
I can't speak for Vegas, but just as a quick side note, Conall asked Etain twice to leave the room while he was chopping up the body. Never in a hundred years would he dismember a corpse in front of her. So, depending on what Vegas posts we might have to change the scene a bit.


I can edit. When did she actually leave. I'll try to play off her upcoming IC.




Just assume for the moment that I have a higher logic score than my character. Now that I've really read these posts, I'll edit the posts in question right now.

Okay - the following is NOT NOT NOT to discourage lotsa role-playing - all the freestyle interaction has breathed a lot of fresh life into this game. Rock on!

So keep doing any and all of that anyone wants.

That said, in terms of advancing the storyline, you'll notice that Don Ricardo has promised delivery of some gear in 24 hours. No coincidence that. Not like anyone has all that stuff lying around. And just happens to be how long Jack will take to heal.

Now, in terms of constructive action that can take place within that 24 hours, I think it will, at this point, largely rest on MK's shoulders.

So MK, as soon as possible can you get me an agenda for the next 24 and we will resolve it as quickly as possible. (Anyone else, too, of course, if you have story-related actions you want to take.) Once we get turbo through those chores, everyone should be up to snuff and maybe you will have found some new leads (although a careful reread of past posts will probably turn up lots of overlooked leads as well...).

And of course until we get through those 24 hours of chores, everyone keep up the cool RP.

Sorry for the delay, intended to post yesterday, but I made the 'mistake' to borrow Fallout 3 from a friend and got kind of stuck

But I will most definitly post an agenda tonight! It´s allready in my head, I just need to type it down

I have not forgotten that Intuition-roll, to get a hint from Naguel´s ware brands (I was just hoping to get a datasearch done, that wiould ease that roll), but I guess I should sift through the previous posts again, anyway ;-D

Uh oh, now I spent all the time to püut together this tiny IC

Next actions will roughly be

-get forensics kit to collect samples and prints from Naguel´s remains. Should take about an hour (won´t be pleased that teeth are drawn and fingers cut off by then - prepair for a harsh IC).
-Take some hours off, to sleep, eat and meet with Violet if she has time.
-Do some datasearches in between (Naguel´s gear, Naguel, Shedim´s strange aztec talk, and then some).
-Probe Kenichi´s comlink.

Sorry again, for not having time to detail this stuff, yet, but I have to get up early tomorrow

Well, Conall is planning on packaging them seperately. Actually, he'll be wrapping everything seperately
Fingers, head, teeth, hands, lower arm, upper arm, torso, upper leg, lower leg, feet. Everything all nicely wrapped in individual packages

So, if John wants the fingers, they'll all be in the same bag!

Sorry about my silence also.... Work is kicking my ass.

Well, that should suffice then - will still be disapointed that there are no compleat handprints to take anymore - at least not in one piece

I forgot to mention that I also intended to fiddle with Naguel´s agent a bit.

I have probably forgotten other things and of course left out all the details and rolls, but if you want to rush forward, you have my general intentions. I´ll try to get this stuff up tonight, but I can´t prommiss I´ll make it befor sunday.

Well MK - the sleeping eating and talking to Violet you can handle yourself. Just IC what you like.

The other stuff will obviously take some rolls and, in some cases, some more specific instructions. I intend to keep all of this as brief and straightforward as possible.
We can move forward when you give me at least the first set of rolls (data search/probe) or instructions on how you intend to proceed with the agent or the forensics kit.

Well Jack is in resting wait mode. He'll try to entertain himself with his commlink while staying aware of the surroundings. He'll respond to conversation, take care of bodily needs, eat some more food around 20:00 then start sleeping around 24:00. He'll wake up around 08:00 Saturday morning.

I'll keep an eye on the IC and update as appropriate for my character. Don't look for any long flashback sequences. I've got other creative endeavors tugging at my time.

@MK, good luck with Frank's various endeavors.

Here is my detailed agenda, including all rolls, I thought might be of use. All datasearches buy 2 hits per interval, for a maximum of 22 hits per search. All Analyze rolls buy 3 hits as well, unless otherwise mentioned. I will be very careful to change my access ID multiple times, even during ongoing datasearches, so they will probably take a tiny bit longer then standard.

1300-1400
-Leave Naguel´s standard and securety RFID Tags in some cab.
-Get Forensics Kit from my stash and return to Hideout or Clinic, wherever the corpse is.
-Looking for tails 8 hits and trying to throw off any followers 4 hits.
-Datasearches:

--Check out the strange gibberish (probably Aztec) the Shedim talked (through Jack) and find translations or references. Just for reference:

So basically these search parameters would lead ME to master shedim, aztec bloodmages (strong latin accent) and the apocalyptic tzitzimine cult. I have no idea where they will lead John, but here´s another roll on Conspiracy Theories with 2 hits and although I have no special knowledge skills to back them, maybe these quote from my character timeline and questionair help a bit as well..


--The corporate affiliations of cyberware (and to a lesser degree other gear) brands of Naguel´s equipment, to find any link, which hopefully helps the Intuition roll you asked for that purpose. Said roll without any modifiers scored 0 hits unfortunately – if Economy (w or w/o BlackMarket) /2 would apply, I´d have 1 hit.

This leaves much time for follow-up searches to elaborate on these two topics, before I return.

-Once back, I´ll take tissue samples, finger and palm prints, scans of his teeth (using his cyberscanner if need be) and collect other samples that may provide a hint (i.e. dirt from his boots and the bike´s wheels, plants from his cloths, etc.). Logic+Forensics 3 hits or Perception supported by Forensics / 2 with 9 hits.



There is some more stuff I´m planning, but it´s getting quiet late. If you like to go on however, the simple way to aceive the most important stuff would be buying hits for another datasearch on Naguel using all the info I have so far (including fake sin, ware brand results, prints, pictures, voice recordings, etc.). Buying hits for probing, to gain 1 admin access to Kenichi´s com (would take 9 hours). Buying hits to analyze Naguel´s agent in the isolated comlink, to learn program load, ‘name’ and authorized users if that´s possible.

MK - valiant post. I will let you work out how long in game time your actions take, and adjust your IC accordingly.
See in-line for results.

While you posted, I made some rolls for the exploits. Since you allready confirmd the Kenichi hack, it will probably take 9 hours anyway. Either way, it dosn´t make a big difference, except that I would have a bit more time to rest.

I´m aiming for an IC tomorrow.

Since Agents & Pilots are defined as specialized Operating Systems, I would like to Exploit my way into Sophie´s heart. I guess that Firewall is considered equal to system rating for this specific purpose. So, if that´s workable, I´ll probe for admin access.

The rolls I did, would make the first Exploit take 5 hours, but we can also just stick with 9 for bought hits. The second Exploit for Sophie (which allready spawns wonderfull IC idears) would be 6 hours. So everything should be done with time left to rest in the 24 hours.



I´d like to do a few other Datasearches -The results do not metter yet, I just want to use the time, to search the stuff, in case we need it later, so don´t bother to make up answers, untill then- on seattle Aztech Holdings (purposes and locations), the Aztech Pyramide (specifically Security in the public areas) and the purpose of the Pyramides non-public areas.

This tiny IC is of course not exhaustive, but I decided to post as I write, instead of putting up one giant post, in case somebody wants to interact. So everybody, feel free to intercept with IC of your own.

Final lag planned for tomorrow night.

Here´s a composure check, as John is realizing the involvement of some of his greatest boogy men, btw, 5 hits.

After all the exploit action, I´d like to bring Jack´s comlink up to team standards if he agrees to surrender it for 2 hours and I still have the time. I´d also give the other teammebers fresh encryption/frequency lists and backups (so we no longer use the old ones and also keep one backup that has not been used before and that Jack does not possess, just in case). 5 hits on a software and a 1 hit hardware 3 hits on a retry check.

Furthermore, if there is still some time left and I deem it possible and low risk- I´d like to externally back-up all data/programms from the captured comlinks and then circumvent and disable the biometric locks, so the coms will work fine without them. 4, 2/Glitch and 2 hits for hardware.