I'm back--Is there anything you need from me at this point?

A kick in the planning pants?

OUCH!

Sorry about the drop off, life as usual has gotten in the way. Ok revieiwing the security of the safe house for possible weak points and will be warding it as well.

Security Systems Looking for the weak spots in the security at the house
01 02 03 05 05 05 06 06

Warding Masking Ward Force 9
01 02 02 03 03 03 04 04 04 05 06 06 (3 hits)

Drain
01 02 04 05 06 06 06 06 (5 hits/4 stun)

That's my part, this character is combat focused and does tactics but more the ones used in the heat of the moment which is why I haven't tossed much out for the planning phase. Sorry.

What tradition is Gellawyn? Does that matter in SR4 for mages helping one another? Need to refresh...

Physical Adept, with the new system all you need to make wards is astral perception and a Magic rating. As long as you have those you can help out with warding, though you would need Masking to make masking wards.

Masking in spades. What're the rolls then for assisting? (Don't have books on me, sorry)

Fen, who's this general? Did I miss a post? It's the second reference to him, is it an IC or OOC mention?

Lodgepole is a guy that was supposed to do some nefarious things in return for some evidence that his group didn't perpetrate some crimes that happened somewhere

We were going to give him the information for gear/cash, which kills two birds by taking it off the resource list for Templars, and making sure that whatever action they wanted done doesn't get done.

Sparky--Lodgepole was mentioned on the Political side of the breakdown, during my post of Criminal and Political plots that Ulick was managing. The Criminal side was where Dawn Morgan came back to haunt you...though not literally

@Bishop
Some D20 player hijacked "Red" on Invisible Castle, so I switched to "H&H: Red"

I also posted the resistance roll for the compile. Hope that's ok since I'm using a site.
Not sure what rating you would make the firewall. If 4 or less I'm in. My stealth form is rating 6 when the node attempts to detect my hacking.

Redjack--The resistance roll through InvisibleCastle is fine with me. Can you post your rolls in the OOC thread rather than Spoiler tagging them in the IC? Thanks!

@Bishop:

For some reason I thought Lodgepole and the General were two different people, so that we had 3 targets. That baffled me.

Thanks.

Red--

I need 3 Hacking + Edit tests for "to create three separate access accounts, modifying the database and logs to make them each appear to have been created at different times and by different existing admins."

A Hacking + Edit for the backdoor into the system.

@Bishop

I bumped along Red's step into the next node and Gell's building of the ward.

Items from the plan which I have not seen action on are:
Contacting the two targets
Checking in on the landlord

@Bishop
Is Fenris' requirements for communication enough or do we need to post the specific language of the emails?

Red--You can:
--send e-mails without any verbiage but what you were given above
--send e-mails, backed by a Social roll
--send e-mails, backed by a Social roll and some IC text

@Bishop

I'm looking for satellite photos to locate a nearby roof-top from where I could run drones. Also to figure out where roof top snipers might be placed and to figure out multiple escape routes.

Data Search + Browse to locate the images.

Security Tactics + Logic for sniper positions beyond what you may just point out yourself.

Local Driving Routes + Intuition for escape routes beyond what you may see.

@Bishop

As quick question, what do people have for vehicle driving skills? Additionally, does anyone have contacts that can get them some sort of airborne vehicle, and a driver if needed?

Bishop, do we still need satellite uplinks to connect to the Matrix at the location the General has provided for a meet?

Redjack - I recognize that you're obviously not a close fire support type decker, and that's totally okay. Are you comfortable with getting close? Should we take you to meet the general or are you more comfortable running surveillance from Seattle? Would you rather have this discussion IC or OCC? Questions, questions, questions!

@Fenris - While Red has some reasonable skills with guns, he definitely prefers not to test them in combat. He's bit of a coward when it comes to face to face combat due to feelings of inadequacy from a lack of reaction enhancement.
He also has drones and would be willing to provide some support via the drones... though none of them are currently armed. He planned in the near future to arm the roto-drone. The ship will probably be a closed system, limiting his ability to provide support from there.
He has a good driving skills and his car is rigged. He can serve in the capacity of hacker, drone rigger and driver.
Of course we can play up any in IC that you want to..

@ RedJack - Unfortunately we don't have time to arm the drones before the meet tonight. Do you have a vehicle of some sort? We'll probably put you on recon and surveillance on the actual meet. I admit, I love the idea of having a skilled driver at this point. Nothing against Herne, but I'm always kind of worried about having someone that can physically disappear in an instant in charge of my life...I get the feeling it leads one to be somewhat cavalier about danger ;D

@Fenris - A sedan. Four seats and a reasonable engine. Plus its rigged. He has pilot ground 3 (specialized in remote) so he pulls 10 dice when rigging or 6 dice otherwise to drive.
A spirit that drives? That is scary...

Hey that spirit also wears body armor, so he at least has some sense...just not in the areas you normally expect. After all, he is fond of thrash metal.

Oh... burning eyes... The visual... Ugghhh

@ Redjack - Sounds good in terms of transportation, that'll carry all the people that can't disappear into the astral

This is more your specialty, so I don't know how close or far away you need to be in able to oversee the meet? Can you set up on one of the sniper positions to oversee with drones, and then we'll rendezvous somewhere close to that if things get hairy?

@ Buddha - Is Gellawyn comfortable with Red driving?

Totally fine with someone else driving. I have no contacts for vehicles and drivers, sorry.

Ok roll for info broker, he's a 3/3 rated contact

Etiquette + Cha
03 04 04 06 (1 hit)

Edge reroll
04 05 06 (2 hits/3 hits total)

Ok now the divination, I am going for a general question (threshold 2) about whether or not there will be violence at the meet tonight.

Arcana + Logic
01 02 03 03 05 06 (2 hits)

Using Edge for a reroll
01 04 05 06 (2 hits/4 hits total)

@Bishop:
Intuition(5) + Matrix Data Havens(5): 3,2,5,4,4,4,3,5,6,1 = 3 hits
Intuition(5) + Seattle Street Knowledge(3): 6,2,6,4,3,2,4,6 = 3 hits

Redjack--I'm a little confused. What specifically are you attempting to do? The IC post mentions looking for the Exchange and needing data about the two men, but then you rolled 2 knowledge skills. Your knowledge skills will tell you of the existence of the Exchange and where to find a copy of the program to run on your commlink. However, it doesn't tell you anything about the people.

Also, by my understanding, programs designed to run on a commlink won't work for a TM brain because of the differences between a utility and a complex form. Please help me understand what it is you are trying to accomplish. If you have a different understanding of the system, let me know.

My intent with the rolls was to locate an Exchange data haven. Not having a comlink I can't run the program to tell me where an Exchange data haven is currently located.

The street knowledge skill check was to establish a baseline of what Red already knows about these gentlemen (in hindsight perhaps I should have made two of those rolls). If I locate The Exchange or an other shadowland data havens, then I would begin using browse on the public forums and archives and attempt to interact with patrons/users in the bar/lounges/chat-rooms.

Bump made. This is obviously assuming Red was going for the Exchange. If you want to track a different datahaven, let me know.

Sorry that I've been mostly disappeared I'm restructuring some stuff in Real Life, so I'll be back and kicking on Monday.

Alright, so just to bring things up to the present, we have two events coming up:

1.) Meet with Yamoto out on the pier in Tacoma. Our intent is basically to discuss the presence of a mutual enemy, and see how much he's willing to give up in order to get rid of said enemy. Our plan is then to show up sometime after that and collect our reward for hard work done

2.) Meet with General Lodgepole. We're providing him with info we already have that proves that he's not responsible for some attacks that happened previously.

@ Red - So, last we chatted, you're picking somewhere a fair distance away to wait with the get away vehicle, and you're going to run drone recon during the meet, right? I guess pick one of the sniper locations on the map? And before we actually arrive, can you check the other sniper positions you pointed out to make sure someone else doesn't have the same bright idea?

Other then that, I think we're ready to bump forward to about 10:00pm? I know the two elves will want to do some physical / astral recon of the boat a bit before the actual meet.

@ Bishop - BBB says that Movement only works in the area that is the spirits terrain. How does that work for ally spirits?
[Negotiation + Charisma]: 6, 6, 5, 4, 4, 4, 3, 3, 2

To network my way to someone that can get ahold of a Banshee or a Fed-Boeing Commuter, with or without pilot, to use for 24 hours. That should give us enough time to get out to the meet with the General. He's a 1/3 contact.

Fenris--Pick one terrain, based on what type of spirit you pulled the movement power from, and the ally spirit will always work there.

Ahh, very clever

So, since there's no description or details in the book, how broad are the terrains? If I choose earth, does that mean it works anytime I'm not flying, or does it not work in cities because I'm not touching actual earth? And if I choose air, does it mean I can't be touching the ground, or more like it doesn't work underground, or what? For reference, those are the only two of the spirits I summon that have the power, so I'm trying to choose between the two of them.

We'll make the distinction simple, on the ground is earth, off the ground is air. Example, walking down the street=Earth spirit. On the 2nd floor of a building=air spirit.

Analyze: 3,3,6,4,3,2,4,5,4,2,5,4,3 = 3 hits
Edit: 3,5,2,6,2,6,2,4,1,2,4 = 3 hits

Red--Were you wanting to do that before the team left? At this point you've been bumped to the docks and you would need to find a jackpoint.

I thought we were still planning our trip to the docks....?

My last post was locating and loading the Exchange program. You kinda bumped me from dealing with the program early in the day to the docks at 2200..... so.... as to not hold up progress, I was attempting to locate more in the Exchange about our two targets for the evening.. I assume they are known for double-crosses when it suits them?

Ok, I will post ahead to the docks as well.

Red--I think the problem comes down to a misunderstanding of how the Exchange works. The Exchange is not a Data Haven, so much as a vastly distributed set of needs. By fulfilling other needs, you establish a stock of karma which the system uses to provide your own needs.

Thus, my understanding is that the Exchange will occasionally ask you to complete tasks, which may not seem to have anything to do with what you are doing. This is balanced karmically, by things that you need becoming available to you.

I knew you were trying to get information, and provided you with a chance from the Exchange. You declined, and instead went to get an actual copy of the program. I moved the team down to the docks to do recon, from there, Red should be able to find a jackpoint and run the program as normal.

(Also, the bump had gone from 2040 to 2200...)

I understood the Exchange to be a distributed network... Essentially a peer2peer network with a authority nodes. So to further explain my thinking, I was under the impression that I needed to get a copy to the client program to access the Exchange (which is really an extranet - a virtual network over the top of the global network).

When you say "and provided you with a chance from the Exchange. You declined,".... I'm kinda lost. I thought I did exactly what you inferred.... Wait... The gun and the toy... I think a fundamental misunderstanding of the Exchange caused my whole issue... (Doh! moment now over.)

So in rolling with the game bump, do I need a client program to access the Exchange or not? In any case. I'll start from 22:00 at the docks.

The client program will allow real time access to the Exchange if you are running it on a pocket secretary or some such. Otherwise, you can hack into the system and send requests across the distributed network and get back tasks. Clunkier, but allow for you to interact without needing the client.

Hmmm.... please bear with me but that has brought another wave of questions to me mind.

So the program runs on the pocket secretary which in turn accesses the Matrix via the *cell phone network*, right? So then can I interface with a pocket secretary and get to the matrix wirelessly?

Red--Yes, it would be possible to run a jackpoint to another device and access wirelessly. In the time period, there were wireless methods for uplinking to the Matrix.

Ok. I've changed my post to reflect the correct scene. I'll come back to the Exchange later. - Thanks!