Congrats on the move. Where did you move to?

-Laurie

I moved from 77 Feero Drive to 1 Feero Drive. Coming up in the world, I guess.

Is that at the junction of Baxter or Sunset?

Yes, big brother is watching you....

Two things.

1. "War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, Ignorance is Strength." I love that book. Especially the final chapter where Winston was broken down psychologically within the Ministry of Love. Orwell. Orwell. Orwell.

2.

Classic Professor. Is anyone else imagining the professor twirling a greasy mustache and saying "Iiinnnteresting!" with a high pitched voice, as if he was singing soprano or had just consumed a large amount of helium?

Hope you guys don't mind. Have to express some thing that I'm thinking about around 12:17 AM local time. My friends and I just booked our plane tickets to visit Vancouver, BC in the beginning of July. Vancouver is on my top five places to visit in the world. The Pacific Northwest from what I hear is gorgeous. With some luck, we'll be able to hit Seattle. One day I would like to visit Portland because I have a few friends who live there.

But for now it's Canada. If work gave you a week off and provided you with an all expense paid trip to anywhere in the world, where would you go? Or at least provide a top five list.

1. Israel. Tel Aviv.
2. Japan. Kyoto and Tokyo
3. Brazil. Rio de Janiero
4. Portugal. Anywhere off the coast.
5. Canada. Vancouver

Honorable mention: Was talking to some co-workers about Amsterdam. Amstel-Lite is one of my favorite weekday night and small gathering beers, and I've been hearing a lot about alcoholic drinks based off fruits. Or was this that city in Poland? Dang I get my conversations mixed up . Anywhere in Europe which is beautiful works actually.

SincereAgape. Umm.. I turned the clock in my last post so that it is Friday morning.

Ah okay. I thought it was Thursday game time. I'll change the post.

*Edit 2:37 EST. Slight descriptions have been edited as well as the dialouge. Specfically the monolouge explaining the date*

Sunset. Google Earth is fun, no?

Waiting for the damn modem that got lost in the mail is not fun, though. Two days in Edmonton terminal, and it still hasn't come. "We're not quite sure where it is. It definitely should have been here by now, though. Did you check the automated tracking system?"

"Yes, dammit, that's how I can tell you it's in Edmonton since the ninth!!!"

'Priority Courier Post', my ass.

The replacement modem came. It is defective too. I still have no internet. Thank God I am not some Shadowrun character like Toreador. Heads would be rolling by now.

I'm checking out a different internet service provider. Hopefully this coming week I will be able to participate more regularly.

I will definitely keep my fingers crossed. Did you check to make sure you got your ISP to come and check that the broadband works?

"mic check, 1, 2, 1, 2. Is this on?"

Yup, mic is on, but no one is out there.

My next shot is this Wednesday, with a different provider. The problems occurred with the hardware, even before the connection could be checked. And getting them to come out would involve setting up an appointment a week in advance.

The new provider I am trying is the local cable company, and their availability is way better, plus the hardware I bought won't take a week turnaround to replace, as the 'free' stuff from the other guys did.

Just a small flavour thing.

Ultrasound produces a 3-D model that you can overlay over your own vision. I looks a bit like a computer game with none of the texture mapping. The special effects in Daredevil give you a good idea of what the output would look like.

She wouldn't hear the dog whine but she would 'see' it disappear into the trees.

I look forward to your input on the game Peter.

Oh by the way the scripture on the back of the icon. It's not Slavonic, but Old Slavonic, but using post 1650s punctuation. Most icons involve copies of originals. These are based on Byzantine iconography from the 14th century.

The phrase in Greek was written by someone who was used to copying Greek with a rudimentary understanding of it, but not a native understanding. The sentence can be understood two point five ways: "The ever-virginal [mary] is a wonderworker (thaumaturge)", the term thaumaturge is also used in Eastern Orthodox to mean miraculous icons, for a period of time all icons were/are considered miracles, the other is more humorous but literal "Being a virgin (old-maid) is hard work."

A triptych is uncommon as an icon, meaning an influence of Western Catholic traditions. It was most likely a family piece awarded for instance during a meritorius event (i.e., marriage, first child). The silver is thick, and the jewels are glass. Most likely early to mid 18th century, it would be nice to place it as Bulgarian as it was a still part of the Ottoman empire and Christianity was forbidden, but more likely it came from one of the many monastery workshops along the Volga.

Providence is near impossible to tell, but if it was brought out after 1990 then was smuggled out as no icon older than 100 years could be taken out of the country.

I knew that.

I have internet at home!!!

Ohhh... it feels soooo goood! Little tinglies running up and down my spine, flashy lights before my eyes, and a warm, melty feeling in my ...

um....

yeah.

toes?

Router?

Maybe you meant malty?

Welcome back to the land of the living Peter.

For astral security I was thinking about summoning a two higher force water spirits to act as security. The maximum number of unbound spirits Toreador is willing to hold is one. So he will be attempting to bind another throughout the Friday.

Also. What do you guys think about attempting to enter Karkoff's apartment and setting up a ward there?

It will take a fair amount of time and might give the game away.

On the other hand you could have the Spirit do it whilst you are Binding it. Assuming you have enough services.

SincereAgape, the last count I know of, we had spent 26,410 nuyen of the 60,000 in our possession.

And it's good to be back.

Thank you for the information Pete. Once again. Welcome back. You were missed Captain.

Crizh brings up a good point. He'll stick with two spirits and himself running astral security.

You are going to spend five hours Binding the Spirit anyway. You could have it put up a Rating 5 Alarm Ward in that time.

It would cost one of your Services but it seems like a worthwhile investment.

It would be able to Ward a space up to 250 cubic meters which amounts to one floor of the house.

Ok, so now I am starting to catch up and read in detail. So where exactly did these 20 children come from, and why were they 're-patriated'? Does Professor's research answer either of these questions?

EDIT: Should I roll? And any idea where the other 16 are?

[I'm cracking my knuckles, preparing for some extraordinary dice rolling.]

The maid is a poor credit risk, with extensive use of her credit card. This could make her vulnerable to extortion. What do we know about her?

How the HELL did I not notice the birth dates of Miller, Turner and Parnell? Shit!!

And Karkoff, born in 1989! In the Soviet Union. Did the others come from there as well? How come he has a Russian name and theirs are not?

The 20 children came from an orphanage in Stepnogorsk, the Kazakhstan area of the USSR at the time. The purpose of the programme was to have babies and the very young emigrate to the United States, no further explanation was given. Karkoff was adopted by Abraham and Susan Karkoff. The father of Abraham emigrated to the United States in the 1930s from France.

[And a data search roll for further detail.]

Logic 5 -1 (default Data Search) +2 Analytical mind ==> 6 dice: 1 hit

[OOC - Man, I'm gonna get me some Data Search skill soon. Damn, I'm paying for that silly oversight. With this skill level, I'm surprised Professor's dissertation didn't take ten years! This should have been his primary skill! Well, the painful lessons are the best-learned.]

Stepnogorsk is a former closed nuclear city. During the Soviet era, was the location for nuclear weapons-related research and production facilities. The existence of these cities was kept secret from the outside world until the end of the Soviet regime. These cities were enclosed by double fences, with the perimeters patrolled by armed guards of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

As for the other 16, it is very hard since you would have to prove to the archivist that the individuals are dead and that you are doing genealogical research, until then they are still covered under various local, state, national and transnational privacy laws. Also it is noticeably easier taking four people and do a backtrace of their origins than doing a forward trace.

Yes, and 1 hit won't cut it.

I'm getting an idea though, about Professor. Maybe my mistake in Skill assignment is actually an opportunity to enrich Professor's story. Maybe he isn't as good an academic as he thinks he is. Maybe he's been riding on his raw talent, and not developing the basic skills he should have been. Maybe the committee that railroaded him out of his tenure wasn't entirely out of line when they found 'errors and omissions' in his work.

In the tradition of thousands of years of quest epics, his dismissal and entry into the shadows to redeem himself might in the end transform him into the man he could be, the hero returning to conquer the demon he couldn't beat before he left.

Yeah... that's it! My 'mistake' was actually a stroke of genius. Hot damn, I'm good!

To the Prof:

"Go Ninja Go Ninja Go"

To Cruze:

Was thinking it would break the game to set up a ward in the apartment. But if what Toreador is encountering in "Behind the Shadows: Toreador's story" is a prelude of what is to come, the force 5 ward probably would not do much to detour the main assassin.

However it might be able to ward of any watcher spirits or minor spirits that come in conjunction. Having a force 8 toxic spirit burst through a decent ward as if he was batting away an eyelash would add more drama to the game. Hopefully

That's why I suggested an Alarm Ward. It wouldn't keep anything out but would alert you if anything did show up and would delay it long enough for you and your Spirit army to respond.

As of Tuesday, I will be gone until Friday and then off until Monday. Monday I am planning on flying out, so I am going to be on hiatus for a while.

Thanks,

-Lauri

So what can we do before Tuesday that requires Chrysalis?

Hmmmm... I didn't specify how Professor handled the dog collar. The extra set of male skin cells may actually be his. Damn.

Smart player , but I did not even think about it. So no they may not be.

Phew.

Okay, so Cruze is researching the collar data, and Blackie is riding herd on the electronic traffic. Toreador is maintaining astral surveillance on the residence. These three are in the next-door-condo hideout, I assume.

I guess Professor should be with Warrior and Dick near the clinic, to provide astral perception at that location. He will hitch a ride with... is it Warrior's vehicle we are using?

Hmmm... any chance the vehicle has a fire extinguisher in it?

Dick, Warrior: in your surveillance of the clinic, did you notice any fire extinguishers in the clinic? Can someone get a schematic of the clinic to give layout and location of water sources and fire extinguishers? What about detectors on the clinic doors? Are there MAD detectors, chem sniffers, something else?

Toreador, can you give some thought to the sorts of instructions you can give water spirits to douse a blazing human without killing him?

Let's keep an eye out for potential distractions and impediments at the clinic, like for example a demonstration against abortion by religious fundamentalists. Such a demonstration could get in the way of regular fire fighters providing aid in time.

Once we have a sense of the layout of the clinic, we should develop an exit plan for getting our boy out quickly if we see trouble coming. For example: a spirit of fire on the astral plane hovering; a person entering the clinic who looks wrong, physically or astrally; someone whom Karkoff should know but who wouldn't normally be there.

The death of the neighbour's dog would suggest that the attack will come at the condo, but far more people have access to Karkoff at the clinic, including all kinds of strangers, so I think it is still a strong candidate for the site of the assassination attempt. At the condo we have five defenders (3 PCs plus two spirits) and at the clinic we have three.

Hmmm... two spirits. So one of them is bound. That offers extra opportunities for distribution of the magical defenses. Toreador, can you consider tactical options here for distributing the spirits between the two sites? How long would it take for a spirit to get from the condo to the clinic, or vice versa?

EDIT: OK, so I flip between player and PC here. So what?

We're leaving home tomorrow (3 July) to drive to our cottage, 3500 km away. (Yeah... Canadians are crazy, but the dogs hate flying.) I will try to connect and get up to date at least once a day from friends', relatives', or motel connections. We should be there, even with fun detours, by the 7th or the 8th, at which time we should have a stable internet connection.

I am finally reconnected, after travelling, fixing broken well-pumps and plumbing and fighting with the ISP to get the 'old-style dial-up' at our island cottage working. I will catch up over the course of the next day or so and do whatever I needed to have done in the last week.

Hmmm.... looks like nothing much happened while I was away!

not much a'tall

Hi,

I am currently in Tripoli, Libya and the net connecction is really, really slow. Actualy email by far is even faster.

Anyways, after waiting what feels like hours but more likely minutes, I am wondering what is the current situation with the game and a touching of bases with each of you to see what are you going to do in the meantime.

If I am rambling it is because I have not slept very well last night and it is really hot here.

Lots of love with hugs and kisses,

-Chrysalis

Ok, so Karkoff is back home, and we are all nearby. Professor is touring around the condo to see what he can see. What about the rest of the team? It sounds as if Chrysalis is waiting for us to tell her what we are doing. Shall I speak for us all?

sorry just seen that, Warrior should be close by and geared up (discrectly). I'll read over the IC thread again to make sure I'm up to speed. As a heads up I'll be going hunting (Bear) from July 31 to August 9th and will have not net access.

Thanks,
Brent

Hello everyone,

I should be lurking around Dumpshock the next few weeks at a pretty consistent basis (At least every few days), thus I am geared for progress in the story.

Peter - Just came back from Canadian Country (Vancouver to be exact). My flight back to NY had a stop over in Calgary for a few hours. Friends of mine came out to meet me at the airport and we were able to get a good view of Calgary from the airport. The downtown scenery looked beautiful. My friends noted that it was stampede seasona nd the prime minister was going to be in Calgary a few days. I've always been a Jarome Iginla fan for a long time, thus it was nice to window shop at a Flames store at the airport. Finally, thumbs up to Brett and Owen Hart.

tbh, my life has gone completely insane for the last couple weeks. But, this time next week, I should be back to sorta normal. Dick's gonna be tailing our target. He will have also acquired a small fire extinguisher (as large as he can hide moderately easily, and is likely to pop one of his combat drugs (I forget what I bought) at the first signs of trouble.

Sorry all, I have been busy with life if not work. I promise I will get something written up tonight as things sort themselves out first with work etc.

All the best,

-Lauri