Ummm, Ophis?

okay - gonna get feisty again...

What I most hope will happen is that Ophis will chime in and finish up with the interrogations. Even if we feel we are done with Tara, we haven't talked to Hayden AT ALL.

Second choice is someone else takes over.

But if neither of those happens within about 48 from now, Al is going to take the task upon himself.

Fair warning!

Salient points:

1. Doing this will be tremendously fun for ME!

2. Doing this could, I suppose, be productive, but in fact almost certainly will yield us no benefit whatsoever. But it'll be fun for ME!

3. But no benefit is better than no game.

Why now - because it is about three days until our game suffers the ultimate ignominy, the IC falling off the Into the Shadows forum and into the abyss of the archives.

Hold me back!

The problem is that it isn't only Ophis' absence. There are a number of people involved in this game, and some of them haven't chimed in for quite a while now. It's disappointing, but I really can't talk, as I had my own share of absences.

No argument there - goodness knows I am not online every day, much as I'd like to be.

But we're at a point where the obvious move - which we have a consensus on - is to finish interrogating these two women...and Ophis is playing our Face.

In any case, the last thing I intended with my last post was to point fingers or criticize anyone. Just trying to do something constructive to get the game rolling.

Only gave the "warning" instead of just going ahead because, well, if anyone remembers the last time Al attempted a social interaction with and NPC...in fact, Sun specifically requested he NOT be a part of the interrogation!

So hopefully someone else will step up before our IC thread falls into the void...otherwise Al will have a shot at interrogationalizing some delectably naked lady demon drug dealers!!!

No commlink (that we can find) on Hayden. But I believe we ascertained she had some sort of headware, but we couldn't tell what exactly it was.

Is there any way our tech people - now that she's tied up and unconscious - can look into that more? Not only a key question related to the fact that she definitely pulled some hacker-style tricks on us back at the bar, but heck, if we could find a commlink somewhere between these two girls, who knows what treasure troves of information might be available....

An Extended Test with a cyberware scanner will give more information. The presence and muddling of reads from multiple implants wasn't any clearer because it was just a quick scan.

Bubbles doesn't have a cyberware scanner, anyone else have one?

Otherwise Bubbles may ask her contact CB if she can get a hold of one. Which may take a while to get a hold of.

Judge Intentions from anyone in the Interrogation.

I believe Pesto had the scanner.

Bubbles could steal it from Pesto?

I believe it's a device rating test?

Not there at the moment. Probably for the best considering Al's line of questioning.

No need to steal anything from Pesto I am here. I have been quiet because we were on the interogation phase and there was nothing for Pesto to do.

The scanner is on his big drone (steel lynx) so he will either need to bring it inside or bring hayden outside to the van.

What time of day is it again?

Approaching mid-day.

Judge Intentions
Charisma + Intuition = 6 dice
5 4 1 4 4 2 = 1 success

If I'm reading too much into the IC post, let me know, but does Al get the sense that Tara is (consciously?/subconsciously?) mimicking/reflecting the personalities or mannerisms of those around her?

That would be exactly what Al reads. Whether it is a conscious decision or not is unclear (not enough hits)

Cool beans.

It seems that Sun is also in the room. She can probably read that sort of thing better than Al can.

Any help on that, Ophis?

Using the drone's cyberware scanner to isolate Hayden's headware comm would be a great thing to do - I am sure we can overcome the minor logistical difficulty of putting her together with your combat toy.

Plus, I would feel less like a game-hog interrogating Tara if you guys were busy doing that at the same time (preferrably while the vixen is still unconscious).

Alternatively, why not skip a step and just try to hack her? It'll have to be less weird than hacking TM Tara was!
Of course, we haven't confirmed a headware comm yet, but just scanning her for nodes (even other headware mods will usually have wifi and therefore a node) and then analyzing them should pretty much identify the commlink, and then you guys could have at it.

I've been pushing the interrogation along.

What is the rest of the team doing?

Quick Judge Intentions to try to read whether she is looking to "try" something with the knot changing request:

Intuition + Charisma = 6 dice

3 1 6 2 1 3 = 1 meager success

Sorry this chat is going a bit long, folks.
I just don't have the dice to push things along in a more straight-ahead manner.

I think the real info is with Hayden, and I hope Ophis is back with us soon for that chat.

For now, all I want from Tara is a name of someone Hayden cares about.

If we can get that, we can do a datasearch on the guy, pick up some details maybe like his address or something, and use that as major leverage to get Hayden to tell us stuff.
At least, that's what I'm hoping to achieve anyway.

Ryan would already be bored with all this talkin' shit anyway.

Adamu

As far as Al can tell, she just wants to be able to stretch her legs.

RE: Not having enough dice--I give modifiers for role playing.

A man after my own heart. Was hoping for that.

TEAM - IC post coming up in ten minutes.

After that we need to talk to Hayden. I feel sure she knows a lot more than Tara. I will try to wake her up, and maybe set her up with a morphine drip that we can modulate the flow to - sort of a reverse/positive torture.

But BEFORE I do that, I will give the name I got from Tara to the techs to have them dig up some further detail on this Mickey fellow through a Data Search.

So I will not be moving forward with the next chat until I hear from Dire or amra on that (or a heinous amount of RL time elapses).

In the meantime, hoping for Ophis to take this gig over at any time.

Browse + data search:

4,2,6,1,3,2,2,1 = 2 Hits
3,3,4,6,2,1,5,5 = 3 Hits, 5 Total
1,6,5,4,4,4,1,5 = 3 Hits, 8 Total
4,6,3,3,6,6,3,2 = 3 Hits. 11 Total
5,2,2,5,4,5,1,6 = 4 Hits, 15 Total
2,6,5,1,3,6,2,1 = 3 Hits, 18 Total
1,5,3,2,2,5,6,1 = 3 Hits, 21 Total
1,6,1,5,3,6,3,1 = 3 Hits, 24 Total

http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/1611824/

Not sure about the interval between rolls. If there are any modifiers just subtract the dice.

Sweet - great job on the search, amra28. I'll wait for Al to hear from Pesto IC before moving forward.

Any thoughts on which route to use in isolating Hayden's commlink?

Using the cyberware scanner brings up to obvious situations:
1. Either we carry her outside to the van
2. Or a large drobe exits the van and enters the building

Since it is daylight both options may attract attention.


As for hacking we can scan for hidden nodes on her. If she only has one then that makes things easy. If she has multiple hidden nodes then we come across a problem my table top group has encountered, ie: are the rules intended for the hacker to have no idea behind the purpose of a hidden node before he hacks it?

We have gone both ways on this issue depending how how the gm felt about the node.

If someone else saw something in the rules that we missed to make this clearer please let me know.

My understanding is that each hidden node must be hacked before you can run an Analyze and get the ratings etc. It may be possible to localize nodes. Ie. Use the directional jammer to block all headware and see if you detect the same number of nodes or fewer. Jam her right arm, repeat. Jam the torso, repeat. That method would let you know where the nodes are coming from--then a cyberware scan of that particular section can tell you what is there creating the node.

Note, unless it is custom configured, I presume that all cyberware with wireless capability is routed through your PAN and thus only accessible through the commlink/DNI. (Standard hacking/spoofing rules apply) This would mean that even if an individual has multiple pieces of cyberware each with wireless connectivity, there would only be a single node.

Surgery, pre or post mortem.

Amra--Are you going to share IC the info you found?

Adamu--At this point, I'm guessing Ophis is on an extended AFK, feel free to bump over to questioning Hayden and we can always transition Sun to the front when Ophis rejoins.

I just saw Ophis the other day on the forums, and the profile says lists 'last appearance' as being only 13 hours ago.

Eager as I (always) am, I wasn't pushing on this point cuz I thought maybe amra28 was holding off on the report until he got caught up on sorting the headware comm thing, which made sense to me.

amra - what do you want to do? Shall we confer IC and then I move forward with talking to the woman, or would you prefer to keep working on the headcomm problem (seems like we have a number of solutions on the table, and the complications seem relatively minor).

Either way okay - if you feel stymied, I'm happy to push ahead; if you need some time, I'm happy to wait.

Okay, my TENTATIVE plan, and please anyone feel free to jump in, is to wait 24 and then leave the techs to the headware mystery while assuming Pesto briefs Al on the data search.

Works for me.

Tech dudes - it really would be nice to get into her headcomm....

Ophis - you will do a much better job of interrogating than me - jump in any time.

Bishop - in the profiles of the other team members, any women? Anyone that could possibly be Hayden (or anyone else we have encountered in this story)?

If it looks like it will just totally mess Hayden up to wake her, Al is happy to sit and smoke (though he will grow impatient for beer and will certainly go looking for some if he doesn't have any by dark!), and we can let time pass. He will TRY not to fall asleep sitting there beside her...

If he thinks he waking her up won't do too much extra damage, he will go for it (leaving her tied, of course).

Skill + Attribute + Medkit = 12 dice
I'll assume Average (indoors) for -1, and I don't care about being nice to her magic or implants.
5 4 1 3 4 5 6 1 6 5 3 = 5 hits

Is it the standard exploit + hacking now, or do we still need to scan for it?

Dire--You have plenty of time to have scanned for it. Go ahead with the Exploit + Hacking. (Watch out for wogs.) As a note, please recall that the directional jammer is pointed at Tara's head so you don't have to worry about the cable for a direct connection when hacking Hayden.

Adamu--From the bios, the only way for Hayden to be a team member is if she has undergone Gene therapy. Bios on the women have an Asian Human and a Scot Dwarf as the ones with violence and military backgrounds. The other woman is a UCAS Troll with a higher Awakened Index than Mikael.

Please make a Judge Intentions test for Al.

Judge Intentions - six dice

6 3 1 1 3 5 = two hits

I think we are in a pretty good position here -
GM green light to start the Exploit on the headware
and
likely wireless signals to be intercepted.

And I reckon both oughtta be done sooner than later since she is up to something.

Since we are lucky enough to basically have two hackers, maybe one could take each of those two tasks...

And of course I am totally open to any other ideas.

Barring other action, Al will at some point become impetuous and take matters into his own hands.

But would much rather do it with some teamwork.

hacking 4 exploit 4 (8d6=1 hits, 8d6=1 hits, 8d6=3 hits, 8d6=1 hits, 8d6=4 hits, 8d6=2 hits, 8d6=1 hits, 8d6=4 hits)

Dire--I'm presuming that Bubbles is doing a fast, brute force hack and trying for normal access. What is Bubbles' Stealth rating?

Rating 4 Stealth

Pesto trying to intercept the wireless signal:

6,2,3,3,5,5,4,1,2 = 3 Hits
5,6,5,5,6,3,4,1,1 = 5 Hits, 8 Total
5,5,2,1,1,2,6,3,4 = 3 Hits, 11 Total


Decrypting the signal:

5,1,4,6,6,3,4,5,2,2 = 4 Hits
5,4,3,3,3,3,1,2,2,1 = 1 Hits, 5 Total
2,1,3,2,2,2,3,3,5,2 = 1 Hits, 6 Total
1,4,2,2,4,6,3,2,5,6 = 3 Hits, 9 Total
6,1,6,6,1,6,1,5,6,5 = 7 Hits, 16 Total
6,6,5,1,6,3,2,6,2,5 = 6 Hits, 22 Total

Sorry i forgot to put the link to the rolls before I closed the web page. Let me know if you want me to roll again.

Well, that last IC was among the most unpleasant I have ever read!

We were obviously far too careless with our "unconscious" guest.

Three points are now clear (and many more are not!):
We have to move from this location.
Her system is on alert, so no more need for passive eavesdropping.
The bad guys (gummint bad guys???) have Al's picture and two others.

Hopefully she is desperate enough to get that data file out on that third channel that she won't cut it off before Pesto can grab as much as possible. Or else Bubbles can get at it before she deletes it.

Ball is in tech-trogs' court.
Al won't do anything until one of you advises.

Good luck!

Pesto does have to tell Bubbles about it.

No rest for the wicked.... !

Time to put a bullet or two in her head yet?

You know, the moment I saw that you had posted, I knew that this would be your line.

Don't think the idea hasn't occurred to me, too!

Bishop - not sure if there's a roll to make here - I am just trying to create enough physical stimulus to force her out of VR.

If she attacks, Al will just go on full dodge - if she can attack him she's out of VR, and that's all he cares about for immediate moment, as I try to give Bubbles free rein in her node.

Damned sucky timing, but I will have to be almost completely offline for the next two weeks.

That said, anytime I can find my way to an Internet connection for even ten minutes, this will absolutely be the first thread I post in.

Don't want to slow things down - as stated above, if she wakes up and does some badass fighting-while-naked, wounded and tied up sort of thing, Al will just go on full dodge and stay away from her long enough for Fortune to take over and keep that end of things going.

And on the other end, the tech end, I reckon there is plenty to do that Al is not really necessary at all for.

Sorry about any hassle.

Okay team - for now I am all about keeping her talking (and deceiving her and getting information out of her). But mostly just trying to make sure she stays out of her node while y'all work. Let me know if you need me to do, or try to force her to do, anything more active.

Fun. I'm in a bit of a quandary in deciding which way to go on this. On one level I'm tempted to just cut and run, take our loss of data. On the other, more info is always useful.

I'm open to suggestions for what you all would like Bubbles to do.