Are you only going to be looking at the boat or roaming around the area too? Any smugglers that deal primarily in talismongery would likely have wards/watcher spirits and such.

Rather than draw this out, I'll go ahead and tell you that you find nothing on the Jack's boat. It is unoccupied with nothing astrally active aboard.

Your Scan certainly finds nodes in the area, some are obviously just commlinks, some are home units or business networks, and some others are shipboard computers... including one on Jack Turner's boat.

And no, we haven't heard from Forces in Motion at all. So i'm just keeping with the in-game idea that he and his drone are suffering some major software glitches. Once you guys got to the Pirates Cove, he headed to a first pub he saw and plopped down on a chair, ordered a soybeer, and started taking apart the drone and his commlink in an attempt to fix them. When he comes back we'll time it out as if he had finished fixing everything and just caught back up to you all.

Oh and i'll leave the Kraken off the last combat to make up for the missing drone....

Blah blah blah, bring up an AR display and throw an analyze/matrix perception at Jack's ship's node. Checking the system/firewall, presence of any data bombs, presence of IC, nodes that go off it that may be cameras, things of that like.

Analyze (6) + Computer (4) + PuSHeD (1) + Encephalon (1) - Wounds Modifier (1) (11d6.hits(5)=4)

Seems to have pretty basic security system/firewall = 4/4, you don't detect any data bombs, or IC.

I will take a quick look and quickly head back, don't want to draw any attention from the other smugglers' watchers and such.

I let the team know that the boat looks clear. "Doesn't seem like anyone is on the boat..."


Something that came to mind, that I would like to try. It doesn't really have to do with our mission at hand, but I want to try and make amends to the Skraacha... And so, particularly if Pip doesn't know anything else, he might be able/willing to run a little errand.

I will run this by the group quickly before I ask him, so if they think there is no way they want to do it I won't bother... Particularly since I would like Mr. White to help me out with talking to them.

Based on people's reactions (particularly since even Pip mentioned it when we first met him) it seems like my actions were misconstrued by the gang. Gardner is particularly concerned with having one of the major gangs down in Ork Underground annoyed at him (it's not like he can really lay low). I want to make sure they realize that while I may have targetted them to keep them from further injuring the civilians, I didn't cause any lasting damage (a couple hours of bed-rest and the guy that was stunbolted is good as new).

So my thought is that since Pip isn't likely to want to hang around here and potentially find himself in a fight that can obviously break out any minute among the smugglers that he might deliver a message and come back to potentially guide us back once we're done...

So, thoughts from the team on all this?

I'm sure you could convince Pip to deliver a message if that's what you want....for the right price.

Do consider though that it could take him hours to get a message back to Skraacha leadership, and more hours to get back. If a fight does happen hear in the Cove, do you want to be sitting around waiting for him to get back to be able to guide you out?

Mmmk then. Think I'll attempt an admin account (+6 to TN)

Exploit (5) + Hacking (6) + Encephalon (1) + PuSHeD (1) + Codeslinger (2) + Optimization (1) - Wounds (1) (15d6.hits(5)=6)
Exploit (5) + Hacking (6) + Encephalon (1) + PuSHeD (1) + Codeslinger (2) + Optimization (1) - Wounds (1) (15d6.hits(5)=11)

So, couple of secs and I have a nice, shiny admin account.

Inside the node, a matrix perception check for any nodes that lead off it or hardware connected to hit (such as cameras and the like) assuming I haven't tripped an alert.
Analyze (6) + Computer (4) + PuSHeD (1) + Encephalon (1) - Wounds Modifier (1) (11d6.hits(5)=1)
Possibly make a second check if that's allowed, can never remember with perception.
Analyze (6) + Computer (4) + PuSHeD (1) + Encephalon (1) - Wounds Modifier (1) (11d6.hits(5)=3)

Assuming nothing bad, gonna search for a current manifest of his cargo, any files with references to Fiona or a morel stone, and see if he has any sort of a schedule/calendar that lists his destinations for a period of time into the future.

Browse (6) + Data Search (4) + Encephalon (1) + PuSHeD (1) - Wounds (1) (11d6.hits(5)=3, 10d6.hits(5)=4, 9d6.hits(5)=3, 8d6.hits(5)=1)

If more rolls are needed, lemme know or just do them if you wanna. If I manage to pull any good information, I'll comm it out to the group.

There don't appear to be any other nodes connected to the computer and it doesn't seem like he has much of anything on it. You find some obviously faked cargo manifests referencing hauls of fish (the boat itself is an old fishing boat that has been converted), but you don't see anything related to real cargo. The only calendar on the node appears connected to those false cargo manifests.
You don't see any reference to Fiona at all, though you do come across some some search terms relating to the morel stone in his browser history from a few days ago.

Anything else you are looking for?

Anything the rest of you can think of that I missed? Will pass this information along, obviously, but my best guess is that anything of value/importance is going to be on a commlink if he has one.

My "trap" sense is tingling. Got nothing concrete to base it on, but a smuggler not on his boat and no traps or alarms active in a place called "Pirate's Cove". Feels like a bad trid thriller, like we're gonna step on board, find the body, and a suddenly there's gonna be someone yelling "Those assholes killed Jack!", y'know?

I'll go ahead and say that when Gardner did his astral projection thing he didn't see anything that would lead him to believe there was a corpse onboard.

So, what are we doing? Currently Gardner has scouted out the boat in Astral space, finding the boat empty. The boat's computer has also been hacked and the only thing found was the search history showing that Jack had been looking for info on the morel stone a few days ago.

Was there anything else anybody could think of for the hacker to look for on the computer?

Also, Gardner was considering sending the guide away on take a message to the Skraacha gang for him. Did any of you speak out against that or was that fine by the rest of the group?

If you'd like some suggestions:

Is it bad that I considered just randomly hacking devices to try and find Jack's commlink before you posted?

In all seriousness, I'd say have the spirit try his search thing, and in the mean time we could look at snooping on the boat.

Good point on the message taking a while... Instead, Gardner will tell Pip roughly the same thing, but instead asking him to stay here (in a secure location that we know where he'll be). Then, after we are done, I would like him to help me smooth things over with the Skraacha. I will of course tell Pip that I will pay for his help, I don't expect him to guide us again for free.
If it helps convince the group, I will mention that it might be a good thing to get on the good side of the local gang. I particularly don't want to be on their bad side...

I will go ahead and ask the spirit to go search for Fiona one last time. I actually went to a con this last weekend, so I have a bit more experience using the Search. Should I subtract any dice for possible barrier/concealment on our target? Also, can I ask the spirit to use it's Edge to help us find her? If I can bargain with the Spirit, I get 2 hits on an Influence test.

While the spirit is searching (it's going to take at least 10 minutes), maybe we can try searching the boat a bit, or some such.
And if it is alright with the group, Gardner wouldn't mind sitting and resting while all that searching is being done (both Astrally and Physically). He's still suffering from a couple serious bruises and an hour of rest might be enough to help. If I can buy hits, an hour is all I need to dip back into having no wound penalties. Sadly the rest of the group all need at least a day to recover from their wounds...

Edit: clarified a bit of what I said.
Edit 2: Added a request for Gardner to rest and try to recover Stun damage.

You'll suffer a -6 dice pool modifier on the search test for your spirit. Also, you cannot compel a spirit to use it's Edge on a task. If the task is important to them, they may do it or if they are being attacked they may use it for defense. But the summoner does not have control over Edge because the spirit has a will of its own.

I see no problem with waiting around for an hours rest, other than word of a group of well armed strangers might spread through such a small town like Pirates Cove. So feel free make the Body + Willpower test is that is what you are planning to do.

Well, since we're gonna be here for an hour anyways, TW will go check out Jack's boat. Lots of caution, though. A tripwire rigged to a speargun or grenade doesn't need a computer to run it.

We're going to be waiting around for the spirit to search as it is. If I can, I would suggest that we go somewhere less conspicuous. Perhaps one of our sneaky specialists can suggest a place to lay low while things get done...

I know I can't force it to spend Edge, I was just hoping that I might be able to convince it that this is important enough to really push itself to help (i.e. make the task important to them). It was a long shot though, I understand it not being willing to spend edge on this.

with a -6 to it's dice pool, it will start the extended test with only 6 dice. After nearly an hour, the Spirit has 8 hits on the Search test. If that isn't enough, after the full hour the spirit finishes off it's last possible test with a crit glitch (with only 1 die left, that isn't very hard). So hopefully, it comes back early, before running off it's dice fully.

I have 12 dice on Body + Willpower, so I'll go ahead and buy 3 hits rather than take a risk for more or less. Healing 3 more Stun brings me down to 2 Stun damage.

Well, I'm not sure that you're all definitely waiting around for the hour for Gardner to rest. But assuming you do, how are you approaching the boat? There are a few works on the docks at boats birth next to Jack Turner's. Are you planning to just walk by them? Trying to move from cover to cover to stealth your way past them? Diving into the water and swimming up on the opposite side of the boat to climb up the shear surface where they can't see?

In the middle of your trying to rest, you suddenly feel the link to your Spirit disappear (specifically the moment the spirit hit 6 successes on its Search test). It is no longer on this plane of existence.

Not sure how its supposed to work when your spirit gets disrupted, but I'll say you know a general area where your spirit was before it vanished.

Are you planning to continue resting, alert the others that something or some one just destroyed your spirit, go running to where you last felt its presence?

Refresh me - we're at Pirates Cove, and we know which boat is Jack's, right? Someone said that a scan indicated that there was no one aboard? Then we had a spirit search around and someone popped it?

Any thoughts, either Meta or IC about our plan of approach here? I still say we check out the boat, if it is indeed tied to Jack. Failing that we can certainly start asking around about him.

As to our approach - straight up, or more deceptive? Any thoughts?

Current situation: You arrived at Pirate's Cove and as soon as you stepped in, you could see Jack Turner's boat (converted fishing boat) at the docks in the middle of the cove.
Quixote was able to locate and subsequently hack the onboard computer of the boat. Finding no information on Fiona at all, though he did find Matrix search history from a few days ago regarding the Morel stone. So you definitely seem to be on the right track.
Simultaneously, Gardner did a quick astral perception followed by full astral projection to the boat. He found no life signs on board, nor any evidence of a dead body or any other violence.

Following that, Tundra Wolf has suggested boarding the boat to search for physical clues and I was waiting for details on how he wants to approach that.
Meanwhile, Gardner took the initiative to try having his Spirit search for Fiona while he tried to rest in order to recover some Stun damage. Half an hour into that rest (before any benefits of it have taken effect), he suddenly became aware that his spirit is no longer on this plane, likely has been forced back to his home plane due to disruption. He has a rough idea of where the disruption occurred, but no clue what caused it.
Could be a random paracritter, could be some spirit handling security for Jack or one of the other smugglers in the cove, could be unbeknownst to you Jack is a powerful mage and spotted the spirit (though i'll go ahead and say that none of the legwork you've done on him or the info from Knight Errant suggested that he is magically active), or it could be a charged ward that disrupted the Spirit when it tried going through to Search for Fiona.

If it was Jack's Spirit, Jack himself, or a charged ward, he is likely alerted to possible intruders.

Thanks for the catchup.

And I just realized that last page I had TW say that he'd just stay outside the boat, and now I'm saying he'll go searching it. I've gotta remember to look at my past posts before I start typing. There's nothing to be gained here standing here looking like a group sizing up the joint, though. Hmph. Maybe Mr. White goes to talk to the folks on the docks with TW as bodyguard? If they've got nothing to say, then we can look at the boat itself. I dunno. We're 30 minutes from knowing Gardener's spirit's gonna go 'pop', so that'd be metagaming to say anything about it from my perspective.

Let's do this.

Unless someone speaks up to the contrary, Mr. White and TW are headed over to the docks to ask a couple of questions.

While the two of you are...conversating with dock types, I'll take the opportunity to sneak aboard the boat and do some poking around. Gonna find a discrete, out of the way place to flip my chameleon suit on and then attempt to board the boat. Assuming there's space and such on the dock, I'll take that route. If not, just lemme know and I'll swim instead.

Infiltration (3) + Agility (7) + Enhanced Articulation (1) - Wounds Modifier (1) (10d6.hits(5)=1)

Yeesh, dice just aren't with me today. However, here's hoping that the chameleon suit's negative pool modifier and Mr. White's talkiness serve me well, eh?

Perception check to look for any traps or the like while boarding/once onboard.

Perception (1) + Intuition (3) + Vision Enhancement (3) - Wounds Modifier (1) (6d6.hits(5)=1)

Wow...just not my day today. This oughta be fun

Something destroyed the spirit? dang, that's never happened before. I'm a little surprised that it didn't spot something dangerous and just come back and say "she's somewhere in there." But that's assuming that it wasn't jumped or something... Hmm.

In any case, I'm definitely not going to go running. But I'm assuming I can at least let my group know that something is up while still resting. Gardner tells the team that the Spirit was disrupted, so see what they can find on the boat. After that he can lead them to where he thinks the spirit was.
Or if when he tells them all of that, they want to hurry, then we can just go straight to it. For now, though, I think they'll be done with the boat by the time the spirit pops. Which for the record, it had 6 hits on the test after 40 minutes (the results of the test was: 1 hit, 3 hits, 1 hit, 1 hit, 2 hits, crit glitch).

Not looking forward to facing whatever could quickly take down a Force 6 spirit >.<

I'll say you don't hear any shouts from people seeing you trying to sneak aboard the ship. And from your very thorough search of the gangplank that will take you aboard the ship you don't see any tripwires or other traps.

Generally, I consider the rest required for healing stun to be napping, but I'll allow you to tell the rest of the group that you've lost your Spirit without disrupting your rest. How are you telling them? Saying your Spirit just got ambushed vs saying your Spirit just alerted Jack Turner to your presence vs saying something else could have very different reactions among the rest of the group.

Mr. White, I wouldn't be surprised if you don't want to board Redhorn's ship to discuss payment on his terms, but you are welcome to post something IC discussing it with him. He likes doing things on his terms but mostly he's just not going to be shouting down to you about valuable information when you could just run off with that credstick.
He's going to open with a demand for 1000nuyen to tell you where Jack is. You can negotiate him down from there.

I think I have a fun idea how things will go. I'll wait for the exchange on the boat to finish/Quixote to search the boat (which all likely happens in the 40 minutes before the spirit pops) and I'll post something in character

Whelp, suppose I'll sneaky sneaky on board and do another look around on the deck to see what I can see. Assuming nothing, and assuming that the boat has a door leading below decks, I'll take a looksie at it to see what I need to do to get it open and check it for any hidden surprises.

Perception (1) + Intuition (3) + Vision Enhancement (3) - Wounds Modifier (1) (6d6.hits(5)=4) - deck check

Perception (1) + Intuition (3) + Vision Enhancement (3) - Wounds Modifier (1) (6d6.hits(5)=3) - door check (assuming there's a door)

The deck seems pretty empty, at least of anything of use to you. There are various fishing nets and tools scattered around that look like they haven't been used in years. You do take note of a couple of well oiled mounts at the railings that look like they could quickly and easily have weapons mounted for support. There is an opening for the cargo hold in the middle of ship with a ladder leading down as well as a door leading the the wheel house and below that the captain's quarters.

I'm assuming you are looking in the wheel house first. You find various sea charts with fishing spots marked on them. But you also manage to uncover a hidden compartment that if you know how to read sea charts shows the hidden entrance that allows access to the Pirate's Cove.

Give me another Perception check if you are searching the captain's quarters as well as one for the cargo hold if you are going to check there.

Yeah, basically I see this as playing out that everybody finishes up their tasks around the time Gardner loses contact with his Spirit. Probably a few minutes were spent with Mr. White and Tundra Wolf planning out how to approach the dock workers and create enough of a distraction for Quixote to sneak aboard the boat to do some investigations.

A few minutes for them to head down to the docks, a few minutes for the negotiations/sneaking, a few minutes to head back to your position. It adds up to close enough timing, though Mr.White may be doing a little bit of stalling to make sure to give Quixote enough time to finish up search and sneak back off the boat.

Perception (1) + Intuition (3) + Vision Enhancement (3) - Wounds Modifier (1) (6d6.hits(5)=2) for the captain's cabin

Perception (1) + Intuition (3) + Vision Enhancement (3) - Wounds Modifier (1) (6d6.hits(5)=1) for the cargo hold.

Note to self: If wants to be sneaky scouting mans, increase perception

Yeah. With those perception rolls I can't justify giving you much. Though, I will say just as you are about to give up in the captain's cabin, you notice a reference to Jack having a warehouse in the Pirate's Cove. It's on a scrap of paper in the trashcan, but you don't find anything that could possibly tell you where the warehouse is exactly.

Go ahead and give me another Infiltration roll to try to sneak your way off the boat.

A little semi-IC, as I was contemplating it.

Mr. White explained over drinks, "You see, information is a commodity, much like milk or bullets. It is bought and sold. The difference - the problem - is that information is difficult to quantify. If you and I are trying to complete a transaction for 10 liters of milk, then we're on the same page. If I'm trying to buy a crate of bullets, we're on the same page. But if I ask you for some information, and you tell me that you have some, we already have a potential problem. Perhaps I trust that you have information that is useful to me. Fine - we agree on a price and the information is shared. But what if it is not the information I was looking for? Or if it is unhelpful? Or if I already knew this particular information. Suddenly it is less valuable to me. Yet our transaction is already complete. Unlike milk or bullets, we cannot undo the transaction. For better or worse, it has already been completed. But on the other hand, if I am purchasing information, can you trust me to give you a fair price after you have shared the information? What if I simply thank you and leave? What if I falsely claim to have already known this information. Suddenly your valuable information is no longer of any value. So it is a difficult matter for both parties. But the seller of the information has a stronger position, because he or she has what you - or I - are seeking. I can refuse to play - refuse to conduct the transaction - but then I am left without the information that I am seeking. And so you see, I must play the game. My only protection is a gentleman's agreement - that you have what you deem to be information that is of value to me."

"Value is difficult as well. More than likely you did not pay for the information that I am about to purchase from you- so you are not a middle man or a distributor in honesty. In many cases too, the information that you might have is not specific only to you. There are of course other cases - a personal password for instance - but what you know, someone else might know as well. So it becomes a matter of supply and demand. If I ask you what Joe the bartender's last name is, and if your price is too high, I can simply ask someone else, and offer them less. It is critical to remember that the specificity of information directly correlates to its value. That's easy of course. If you tell me that the person I'm looking for is in Seattle, then the information is of relatively little value to me, unless perhaps I'm in Moscow searching for them. On the other hand if you can tell me that at 8PM they'll be sitting in seat 12L at Seattle's Downtown Opera Hall, the information is more valuable."

Infiltration (3) + Agility (7) + Enhanced Articulation (1) - Wounds Modifier (1) (10d6.hits(5)=5)

stealth check is go. Finally a decent roll. I will have an big ol' summary IC post within the next day or two, apologize for the delays, under the weather and classes have started back up, so I'm adjusting to a wake up at oh fuck thirty to go to work schedule with classes after.

No problem. I understand completely about delays. If you want to you can go ahead with adding to your IC post you meeting up with Mr. White and TundraWolf after they finish talking to Red Horn. You can start off with telling them you found out Jack has a warehouse in the area, to which they will tell you they just found out the address of his house/warehouse a few blocks away. And then all of you will make it back to where Gardner is trying to rest right around the time he looses contact with the Spirit.

I'm working up an IC post for Mr. White and will let you guys figure pick the timing on the Spirit disruption. It's either right before you get back to Gardner or right after you tell him you've figured out where Jack is (and yes, the Spirit's disappearance coincides with where RedHorn is going to be directing Mr. White.

My previous post about information and its value was meant to be something that Mr. White shared with his peers during conversation and drinks some time.

Ok. Everybody is back together. You know where Jack Turner is. What's the plan?

Jack is likely to be on alert now that somebody is coming thanks to the Spirit's search for Fiona. Gardner needs another 20 minutes of rest in order to get the stun damage healed that he already rolled for. You guys can interrupt that or not. It's up to you.

Wait for Gardner to heal up/wake up/pass info along, then head toward Jack's place.

Ok. So it only takes 20 minutes for Gardner to finish resting. How do you plan to approach the warehouse?

I'll assume that you are going to scout out the building instead of walking up to the door blind and knocking.

Turner’s building is a small, two story affair wedged in the middle of a row of similar warehouses of various shapes and sizes. It has a large wooden door that slides to one side to allow cargo to be loaded through, and a small door around back. A couple of small windows are set up on the second floor. The
building to the left is a single story warehouse, while the building to the right is a larger building with three floors.

If you are trying to scout out stealthily give me an infiltration roll.

Trying to get us moving along. The viewing angle from the street on those upper story windows doesn't providing you with anything and it looks like the curtains are mostly drawn anyway.

Quixote may be able to detect a commlink signal, but he'd need to roll for trying to find a hidden signal to know for sure.

Astral Perception on Gardner's part will reveal a pair of watcher spirits that travel back and forth from outside the building to inside, you'd guess reporting regularly and specifically about anybody/anything they spot on the street near the warehouse. Oh and you get the sense that their's a ward setup inside the building. I can't remember if astral perception lets you see through walls or not, but you can already guess that this is where that -6 for your Spirit's Search roll came from.

Showtime!

Mr. White will hang back while those more skilled in such endeavors do some scouting.

Unless we discover something strange inside, I'm still inclined to approach it rather directly. We knock on the door and ask about Fiona and the stone - then see where it goes from there. I bet - both IC and OOC - that Jack has the stone and will be completely unwilling to part with it. Fiona I'm somewhat less worried about, but we may still have some (arguable) duty to assist her if she's in some manner of unfortunate predicament. Technically speaking, we're just supposed to find out where she is.

I'm certainly open to other suggestions though.


Edit: Clearly he's hunkered down. What's he expecting? Us? Something badder than us? Should we be keeping an eye out for a megacorp to come trailing in behind us?

Just posted in the IC thread. I figure it's a toss up. Wait for me to heal, but risk there being something bad happening while we dilly-dally. Or rush in before he has a chance to prepare but we don't have that chance either...

You were hired to find Fiona AND make sure she is safe. So you definitely do have more to do before the Johnson would be satisfied with your work.

I think everybody is satisfied with letting Gardner finish resting and then scoping out the building and moving forward from there.

I thought he just wanted her located.

It was something in the OOC thread and not the IC thread. The Johnson did specifically say his client wants assurances that Fiona is safe.