We met up at a truckstop before the mission. From there we split up to do recon and whatnot before the hit. Adam's plan is to have everyone meet back up at the truckstop. There should be at least a little privacy there, and we can turn the Love Machine into a make-shift ambulance if we need to. Course, from Sledge's post, it sounds like she thinks it will be a while before Smith is ready to meet. *shrugs* Either way.

Chances are, Smith'll be contacting the team sooner rather than later, but if people want to set up a safehouse first, that's fine.

Casting force 5 physical mask on Sledge&bike
Spellcasting -1 Wounds # dice 10 :: 6 2 3 3 3 6 2 5 6 3 -- 4 hits
Drain # dice 12 :: 4 5 1 5 1 1 4 5 2 4 2 3 -- 3 hits

Casing force 5 physical mask on Love machine
Spellcasting - 1 wounds -2 sustaining # dice 8 :: 6 5 2 2 3 4 5 2 -- 3 hits
Drain # dice 12 :: 6 2 4 3 2 2 6 4 2 5 2 5 -- 4 hits

BlackHat - thanks. It's all coming back to me now. The same truck stop up north where you and Sledge headed after the eco-freak run, right?

pragma - all good. Any particular appearances please post in IC.

Okay, pragma's last set of posts was the nail in the coffin of the various ways I had predetermined to allow Lone Star to spot you on the streets once you were away from the site. So I don't get to have the cool traffic stop scene (for now...).

And with a couple other things resolved, that means you are now clear to proceed (by whatever route and with whatever stops on the way you see fit and with whatever RP you'd like to add) to the truck stop, and also to play out the scene there.

If anyone does NOT plan on going to the truck stop, please let me know.

Cerberus doesnt know if its smart to be reaching out in the matrix with his commlink or not. There are a couple of things that have been on his mind since he awoke in the clinic. #1. Where is his bike and what is its condition? Is it impounded? #2. Is there anyway he can transfer money from his online account to credstick or cash? Can the cops lock down bank accounts and stuff?

He/I dont know if trying to find out or do any of that stuff himself would raise any flags or anything.

Hey it happened so long ago is my SIN even compromised? There was a massive shootout at my apartment, they didnt find my IWK, they didnt find me. Maybe im just a missing person at this point? Cerberus is afraid to try to find that stuff out himself.

Reasonable fears. I think they didn't find the IWK because the mobsters that shot at you took it. As for whether or not the cops CAN lock down your cash. Probably. In any case, they can certainly keep an eye on it - and if there is suddenly a large authorised transfer to a new SIN, they'll probably go investigate. You will have effectivly made your shiney new fake SIN a criminal SIN.

That is, assuming Cerb is actually a criminal and not a missing person, like you suggested. If you're a missing person, though, they'd still probably like to track you down and ask you a few questions.

Thats why im gonna transfer it to cred or stick somewhere where I hardly hang out and then get my comm wiped or whatever it will take. Im thinking you can just have some techie guy or girl switch out the "sim card" with a hardware test.

I cant really talk to the cop's either... I would make their cyber scanners light up like christmas tree's. I hope Adamu will let us buy two comms and then just assume our characters turn the one connected to our SIN off while we are running the shadows. So we dont have to worry them unless something happens at our house or we get captured and the bad guys get their hands on the legal comm.

A SIN is an Account Number. It's not tied to a device unless you make it so. A commlink also has an ID, but Spoof takes care of that. Tracking a commlink and tracking a SIN are going to be two different things.

I need a good rundown of how a compromised SIN or comm ID would affect me in general. And what things I would get back from spoofing the comm ID. Or rather i need a good rundown on the electronic trails people leave behind in general.

Like if i pay for a taxi with my commlink and an online account. Wouldnt my comm ID and "name" both be registered? What happens when I tell my commlink to locate my bike, what kind of trail does that leave behind.

If my SIN "name" gets flagged for whatever reason wont they figure out my comm ID within a couple of keystrokes. Then whoever can watch for any instance of my "name" or my comm ID. If they see any activity associated with my "Name" but it has a new comm ID, that would just get my new comm ID flagged too..

And likewise if my "name" changes but I keep using a flagged comm ID they would just flag my new "name" to.

Ok i got another question. Lets say the cops see a spoofed comm ID. Then they try to trade it back to a SIN. Who would be listed? it would just come back unknown or to somebody else that has nothing to do with me ? lol.

These are all directed at Adamu!!!!! Just kidding. Anybody can try to help me out.

You can think of a SIN = SSN or DL#, and a commID = Phone Number.

You can get phones easily without needing to identify yourself in any way, people can call you etc.

But to get a bank account, travel across borders etc, you'll need your SIN. (Show your ID to withdraw your money from your account)

As for how Law Enforcement is able to connect those things to you, that's up to Adamu.

It's not usually a question of whether or not there is a way to track you, but really on how easy it is to find the data needed to track you and cross relate it to you specifically in combination with how much effort they make.

I think for Cerb & Rocky our real concern is going to be who in Louie's Org has our information, how much they have and what are they going to do with it?

They could use it to try and ambush again for revenge at our apartments, or pass it on to the Star to make it easier for the Star to find us and take care of us since they haven't been able too.

I think this is where how badly people wanted Louie gone will come into play.

If we grab our stuff quick, and then never go back to the old places we should be ok on that part. I think should be able to move the funds as well but this part I'm not 100% on.

As for the SIN's we will have to see what happens, but if we want to play it safe we can dump our current ones and then pay for new ones. At least thats the plan for Rocky, he's already running on a Fake SIN as it is.

Anyone that thinks I'm wrong or has better info please speak up. I think I have the shortest time in the SR universe of us still playing.

JD

The questions raised about tracking people based on SINs, comms, or any other way are valid.

Getting bogged down into specifics, however, could literally fill volumes. In fact, it has filled volumes - check out a Paladin Press catalog!

The reality is that a powerful corp with the right local resources - in other words, Lone Star Security Services - can probably find ANYONE they want...IF they are willing to devote the resources to it.

The same will be true of any AAA. Look at Bourne Ultimatum, assume that the CIA people are not all complete idiots, and project their tech into 2070...

Dire's last line hit it right on the money - depending on how hard they try.

For the corps, it's all cost-benefit. All things they do have a nuyen value - patrolman hours, computer time, astral efforts - and they will spend X nuyen depending on the potential rewards or penalties at stake.

They could assign a bunch of undercover guys and astral assets and solve any single mugging in the Redmond Barrens. The cost, however, might be that of solving ten muggings in a nice, camera-filled area where people don't shoot at them. And the Redmond victim was probably SINless, while the ten victims in the nice suburbs pay taxes and vote in the mayoral election.

All crimes are therefore prioritized based on a number of factors - level of violence, likelihood of further violence, political ramifications, public exposure, cost of solving the problem, whether an officer was hurt or killed, and so on and so on. Heck, there might even be some rogue cop out there somewhere that is actually driven to solve crimes based on justice (though those will probably work for the government rather than a corp).

The GM looks at each crime and determines roughly what sort of resources will be brought to bear.

Then compares that with the precautions taken by the runners and acts accordingly.

The more things you do to (A) minimize Lone Star's (or whoever else's) interest in the event, and (B) cover your tracks, the less chance you have of something coming back to bite you in the ass.

You as players can use common sense and some careful thinking about what has happened, what you've done, and who it effects, etc. to decide how much trouble you're in (and of course there are other, more direct ways to find that out). And how many precautions you take is basically limited only by your energy as players. Frankly, keeping the GM apprised of a lot of countermeasures takes a lot of work, and I try to reward it.

Vague answer for a vague world.

You'll never know all there is to know...

As for specifics about aliases, comms, and SINs, etc, Dire's brief explanation was right on. Wish I could refer you to an SR4 book...there is SOME stuff in the matrix and gear chapters of the BBB, but it is lacking.

The sort of question you can always be asking yourself is Where and when exactly have I used Commlink X? Under what name/SIN is it registered? Is there a connection to it and my last crime?
IC-wise, consultation with the sorts of people that traffic in fake IDs might be useful.

In the end, common sense combined with a knowledge of the game world is king.

If anyone has more specific, less general questions, fire away.

The safest is to forget all your stuff and your old SIN. Don't go back to your old life in any way. Obviously that's not always possible nor desirable for your character, but is what you are leaving behind really worth risking when you already know people are after you?

I believe several of us have already encountered opponents while visiting our old haunts. Does this mean it can't happen again? Who knows...

Money. The original starting money most of us had is in accounts tied to a SIN, money moved out of those accounts can be tracked to the new accounts. You can think of your old money as a stack of bills marked by the FBI. Do you really need it?

One idea to look at is possibly finding someone who will "launder" it for you, giving you untraceable money in exchange for access to your old SIN accounts. Be lucky to get 20 percent return on that unless you get a good negotiator.

I was just wanting to know what I can do on my end to keep my exposure down.

Dire you keep saying you shouldnt move money from one account to another..duh. What is the problem with going to a bus terminal a few minutes before one is expected to leave and then slot a credstick into my commlink and downloading my money on to it?? I will now have a credstick that nobody knows where the money came from and the only "electronic paper trail" will be "Bob Michaels account was transferred to credstick at 7:45pm at that bus terminal". Of course I will either have to be disguised and fake getting on the bus or get a hacker to edit the camera recordings for that time period. Trail ends.

Dito whats wrong with going to some atm machine and having it spit out my cash, that could be alot more risky as it could delay me while it calls the cops or at the very least record me and send out the footage real time to surrounding cops or something. If It actually gives me the money though im gone and thats where the trail ends.

Unless they freeze bank accounts.

Free to do as you wish. I just pass along information gleaned from the Bank Examiners, Auditors, Financial and Banking Industry Regulators I build electronic financial transfer systems for.

So if i'm understanding correctly it would be best for Rocky to ditch his new Fake SIN (picked up after hitting bottom) and getting a new one. I'm looking for feed back from the team here since I know Adamu can't really tell us what to do.

Also, I think my money should be ok cause its been on cred sticks the whole time and Louie paid in cash. OR am I missing something here?

Thanks

JD

Re: Cerberus's bank account.

Its not very clear how these sorts of things work in the SR universe, but since a cred stick is certified money, I imagine they have to go through some sort of bank (who does the certification)... which means somewhere along the lines, there is a certification going on with someone's SIN before the amount on the credstick is increased.

In this case, since you want the money in a credstick that isn't tied to a SIN, you're hoping to use Cerberus's old semi-legitimate SIN to certify the transaction.

You're doing the 2070 equivilent of taking cash out of the ATM. Normally an easy process, and once complete, there isn't (as much of) a paper trail tying you to whatever you do with that money. However, if you are right and Cerberus is in trouble, and his account is in any way on hold, it probably wouldn't work.

Cerberus could try - but if he's actually a criminal (or even just wanted for questioning) there isn't a lot of chance that the bank is going to give him any money. If there is something wrong with the account, it is way safer for them to NOT hand out the money than to do so. After all, in order to complain, you would have to come turn yourself in.

There certainly not going to let a wanted criminal withdraw his money and THEN alert the police. You'll probably be told to wait while the transaction is certified, and then a few minutes later, Lone Star is tracing your commlink's location. You could hop on that bus and leave, but the progress bar for the transaction probably won't finish and you'll be told to contact someone else for further "processing".

To address your earlier question, Angel could theoretically hack into the bank and free up that money (authorising the transfer, certifying it herself) - but it would be just as easy (if not easier) to just take money from someone else's account who DOESN'T have the cops and bank monitoring it.

And making free money out of thin air is hard enough that most hackers would rather risk their lives shadowrunning, then to just make a living hacking banks.

Happy free day off... if your in the US i guess. For all the rest of you, Happy Thursday!

Also, I left my post on an open note incase Cerberus wants to post a counter reply to Caittie, either verbal or digital.
The van is headed towards the truckstop following standard traffic laws to the T.

Happy Turkey day!

Okay, Konsaki has declared the van is now going straight to the truck stop. Take about an hour to drive there.

Sledge? BlackHat? Doing the same? I know you are using different routes. Any stops? Or can we put you there?

People free to IC any stops they make, or their respective arrivals - you arrive in the order you IC post it.

Once you get there, well, the ball will still be in your court - do what you went there to do and we'll go from that point.

Same destination, but a little more round-about route, and probably going a little bit faster. Still, if the team is heading straight there on the highway they'll probably arrive first.

Either way, we can move Smith there whenever.

Okay - everyone is at the truck stop.

Unless anyone does anything silly, you all have about 36 hours to do what you wish.

Once you get done with the truck stop scene, I hope for at least one IC from everyone for how their characters spend that 36 hours, as well as an OOC green light from each player when they are good to go forward from there.

Naturally I will be here six days a week in case you need anything at all from me.

Ok sorry to ask this again but im going to try and be really thorough and then add your answers to the wiki.

"Resting" to try and heal.
Can you go over what kind of physical activity you CAN do while resting while trying to heal? Do you have to be asleep for 24 hours at a time? Can you get up and walk around? Could you sit at a table and eat food? Could you sit at a table and assemble a weapon or make a bomb or do whatever with your hands?

What about matrix activity. Can you lay in bed and watch tv/movies, search the matrix? What about play video games?? What about hacking?

I promise that will be the last time I ask lol.

Good rule of thumb, anything that takes a diceroll (other than healing tests themselves) or requires an action to be made (simple, complex) would interrupt healing. The rest would be common sense. If you were surfing the internet for hours, it might allow rest if your just idling on your favorite web comics, but if you were actually reading the news to learn about the coming ellection to make an informed vote, you would be taking you mind and breaking your rest.

Healing test for the hour plus ride to the truckstop.

Bod+Wil = 8 dice
3,5,6,5,1,4,3,5 = 4 hits

New stun damage = 3S

Hey thats a good idea.

Body (8) +Will (2) + Quick Healer (2) = 12 Dice
2, 4, 5, 2, 3, 5, 5, 1, 2, 4, 6, 6 = 5 hits

Current Stun = 0

The plan for the next day and half will be to lay low, get some healing and comtemplate the universe. (to help explain his new combat abilities and magical apptitude)

More details to follow once we have a better idea of where things are going down.

I would like to stop by my place at some point to try nad grab the remains of my personal stuff. But thats down the road aways it looks like.

JD

Uhh I'll take one of those!
Body 6 + will 5 = 11
1, 4, 6, 6, 4, 6, 6, 3, 2, 6, 6 = 6 hits
5S - > 0S ....
Overall condition: 1P/0S damage.

Fort plans to heal Sledge, but he's waiting on first aid from someone who actually knows medicine and not magical quackery. (I think biotech needs to be appied first, if not, then Fort will insist on using magic first.)

Once real first aid is done he'll make sure there are no witnesses, drop the mask and cast a force 5 heal:

Spell - 1 wounds: # dice: 10 :: 3 2 2 5 5 1 1 6 6 1 -- 4 successes
Drain - # dice: 12 :: 2 5 1 3 6 5 5 4 3 2 1 1 -- 4 successes

After that he'll double check there are no witnesses and re-up the mask at force 5, but not well. If anyone complains, he'll do it again, we'll burn that bridge when we get there.
Spell - 1 wounds # dice: 10 :: 2 3 2 2 5 4 2 1 2 3 -- 1 success
Drain # dice: 12 :: 2 6 1 4 6 4 4 2 5 2 2 3 -- 3 successes

Finally, wiping his signatures.

Caittie will put on some med gloves and perform some first aid on Sledge, after a quick bit of tech magic on the medkit.

Compile R6 Machine Sprite
Compile 4 + res 7 - damage 1 = 10 dice
5,6,3,3,4,2,3,5,5,3 - 4 hits

Sprite resist = 6 dice
1,1,5,2,2,6 - 2 hits

Fading resist
Will 5 + Res 7 = 12 dice
6,4,3,1,6,3,6,6,3,4,2,2 - 4 hits (Full resist)


Command sprite to perform diagnostics on the medkit
Sprite performs task = 12 dice
6,2,6,4,2,3,2,5,2,6,6,2 - 5 hits
+5 dice to first aid test

Leadership test to get Rocky and Cerberus to do what she asks
Leadership 2 + Charisma 4 - damage 1 = 5 dice
5,5,4,6,2 - 3 hits


First Aid on Sledge inside the van
First Aid 2 + Logic 5 + Diagnostics 5 + Medkit 5 - damage 1 - poor conditions 2 - cyberware 1 = 13 dice
5,5,2,6,4,4,3,6,3,6,4,5,6 - 7 hits
knock off 2 for the TN and Sledge is healed for 5P damage

First Aid on Fortunato (dont know if you have had first aid already)
First Aid 2 + Logic 5 + Diagnostics 5 + Medkit 5 + Teamwork 3 (adding Sledge) - damage 1 - Poor Conditions 2 - Mage 2 = 15 dice
6,6,6,6,4,5,6,5,1,1,4,5,3,1,1 - 8 hits
knock off 2 for TN, get 6 net hits, reduce that to 5 for medkit rating and Fort is healed for 5P damage

Fort had already been worked over physically. I have a question. Do physical and stun tracks count as different things as far as only being able to try and heal one set of wounds? Or can we try to heal physical wounds and then move on to stun wounds and vice versa.

Oh Konsaki our medkit was R6 also....

Ok, rolling for the unrolled for rank - 4

As for your healing question, I would say that anytime you use a healing method, you cant use it again until you get damaged again.
Like how Fort has already had First Aid done to him. He cant have First Aid again until he gets hurt even farther. Even then though, he can only be healed for what the new damage is, not farther.

IE Fort has 3S, 5P
Cerberus heals Fort with FA with 4 net hits, Uses all net hits on P leaving Fort with 3S, 1P
Fort cant be healed with First Aid again until he gets damaged again.
Fort takes more damage, now at 5S, 3P
Cerberus heals Fort with FA with 3 net hits, since you have the prior damage healed of 3S, 1P you cant use all 3 net hits on either so you have to split it up. Fort has 4S, 1P or 3S, 2P after first aid is used.

Reminder that all timehacks need to be updated to Thursday the 21st in the IC board from now on.

Good catch. Fixed.

Abbandon

Regarding the "can vs. can't" of resting time, Konsaki is basically right on.

Let me elaborate.

First, according to the rules you are supposed to be asleep. I have been loose with that in the interest of allowing people to be able to keep role-playing, as opposed to having to be sidelined from the fun.

Basically, you can't DO anything USEFUL while resting. I don't even want talking that extends to planning or other info sharing. You can pretty much do any pure fluff you want, especially as relates to taking care of yourself - eating, showering, whatever. You can have interpersonal interactions with the other PCs. But you can't actually achieve anything that is materially useful to you or anyone else.

Thus, you should be able to continue to make IC posts and keep having fun with the game, but you suffer the game-terms cost of the healing, i.e. forfeiting other actions.

Hope that answers your question.

Sledge starts at 9P and 1S, none of which is recovered on the way to the truck stop. Otherwise, as you've all noted, she keep quiet concentrates on breathing and occasionally glaring at people.

pragma

Near as I can tell, you've been sustaining TWO masks - Love Machine and Sledge/Bike (generously allowed) - do you drop the mask on the Love Machine also to cast the Heal? If so, I need to know. If not, that's one less success on the spell.

One way, all Sledge's Physical should be healed, the other way she still has one box...

I mentioned in the IC that I dropped Sledge's mask, sorry if that wasn't clear.

Ok its crystal clear. I dont agree though =P. If somebody shot me in the gut and I was saved by doctors theres no way in hell I would be sleeping for 24 hours at a whack until i was 100% again. I might not be moving but I sure as hell would be watching tv, reading, playing video games, flirting with the nurses.

Now if I was suffering from the flu then hells yeah I would be totally incompacitated. Even while awake I wouldnt be interested in doing jack or shit!!

@adamu

Forgot to actually calculate drain on the previous spells b/c they were pretty good drain rolls.

Fort picks up two boxes stun from healing sledge.

@Abbandon

How is Cerberus seeing everything that Caittie and Sledge are doing inside the van? The doors are closed and windows tinted...
The whole reason you guys are outside the van is so you CANT see what's going on inside...

I think he said he glanced in when Fort went to go inside, or come out of the van.

Well I thought Angel had opened the rear doors after she was done to let Fort in and stuff. Maybe you said it or just implied that she only cracked the door and stuck her head out to call to Fort. I'll look at it and maybe edit it.

Ok I tweaked it.

Just stopping by to say hi.

I appreciate all the great role-playing.

I will be checking in regularly to see if anyone has any questions or needs any resolution for anything they want to do.

Otherwise, when external events start happening all depends on when everyone accounts for that free 36 hours I announced earlier.