You could get a Skraatch but it would have to be returned.

There are only 30 personal securing the dam. Out of the whole enclave there are only three mages, one at each station and there are no wards as of yet. The Blood spirit is patroling the whole enclave area, there are only 10 gurads on at a time for each station so yes for the whole enclave there is 30 people on guard. Thought the two outer stations are mostly for check point security. There are no patrols going on looks like they are reliying on the spirit.

Sorry, no nukes.

Three mages between three locations isn't it? The problem is of course that some of the guards are also adepts and could have astral sight. Which means our cover will get blown if they spot Charlie or Gecko's magical talents as they're hardly that common in the engineering trade...

We do however know two things, firstly sneaking is our only option here. We probably don't want to risk bringing in (on the B&E itselft this is) more weapons than we need to, simply because they increase the risk of being caught. And Secondly we shouldn't even think about going easy on our expense account. Our employer probably had some hint as to the sort of forces on guard here and 20k alone isn't much of a reward (OOoo maybe we should all ask for a Gauss Cannon or two?).

Edit - How about a Neutron bomb? Kills all the people without ruining the nice expensive dam!

Presumably, unlike the last job, it would be much better if our intrusion was never discovered at all.

I'm I right in assuming that this is not Grand Coulee Dam? We are just using sat-images of Grand Coulee as reference?

I was kinda kidding about the Skraatcha.

Kinda.

No it is Grand Coulee Dam, just updated for 2070.

I agree that this should be a heavy stealth mission. I wouldn't worry to much about the guards at the check points to much there is vary little patrol right now.

And no about a Neutorn Bomb, it's all about messing with the Azzie's data not killing people.

Anything really big they'll ask for them back just so you know.

Brent

*Crosses the case of fifty disposable rocket launchers off her list*

Softly softly catchee monkey huh? Well Etoile can do sneaky, providing there isn't a lot of social engineering involved. If there is I advise somehow gagging her....

id be wiling to say that if we have to shoot at all it will blow the mission

if done before we plant the agent we blow it if done after then theres a chance the tighter security will cause them t find the package.

Well, it'd be pretty hard for anyone to assense Charlie's abilities given her Masking and the Astral Chameleon quality. If it comes to taking on the spirit at all though we are kinda hosed since it has Counterspelling 8 on top of an 8 willpower so magic is pretty well out of it, 8 edge too.

I think the next spell I learn is going to be mana static .

Honestly a Metaplanar quest would be pretty useless since Charlie doesn't have banishing, or binding, or arcana. About the only thing that I can think to do would be to have a Force 10 Earth Spirit to smack it around, and even that woud be a bit less than ideal looking at it from the perspective of Drain killing her.

Have we decided if we are going in during the day, or during the night?

Either way, Charlie is going to summon up a Force 10 Earth Spirit to act as our ace in the hole for the fight:
4 hits Charlie, 2 Hits Spirit; Spending Edge to reroll 9 failures, will buy 2 automatic success with 8 dice
Result: 4 Services owed
Resisting 4 DV Physical Drain 2 hits
Result: 2 Physical drain damage

With 4 services I can have it lay down a F10 concealment on us, which nothing should be able to see through, and still have 3 services to use on Combat, or Movement. Hopefully someone will be able to patch up 2P damage before we get going on the run.

Oddly, I think daytime is best, we walk in with our fake documentation + tools + skillsofts etc and simply bullshit our way to the target.

Sneaking about at night is easier, but we have fewer reasons to actually be out and about. Which means anyone spotting us will assume the worst and call security.

Between me and that Earth Spirit I ain't in the least scared of that Blood Spirit. With Concealment like that we could sneak in at any time with little chance of getting caught.

Could we get our hands on a souped up GMC Everglades?

Hmmmm, it had slipped my mind Gecko can punch through anything smaller than a main battle tank without breaking a nail.

With concealment 10 plus everyone in Chameleon suits we should be able to get in ok, the problem is that the scientists would be getting in our way and might just notice us while we work if they are in the room when we start installing software/hardware.

Who exactly is in the run?
Charlie
Gecko
Truth
Noowan
Tom
Etoile
Cutter

With 7 people plus whatever transport we get The Earth Elemental can cloak us, the transport, and itself. With no wards, and the blood spirit being a free spirit we can at send it packing without worrying about its summoner getting a heads up. I'd almost want to kill the thing before we went in so it couldn't pile on when we were already in the middle of a fight.

well lets try walking in on the sunday game. if it goes south we should have a distracting plan of some sort letting us bail.

maybe a nice fire or something that looks like an accedent.

whos our face this time around. If ever there was a time for the face to shne its this mission.

Well, one thing is getting added to the list: Rating 6 Medkits. If I can get someone who isn't brain dead to apply it, Charlie will be at 100% when its time to go in.

With building going on at all hours it wouldn't matter which time of day it would be.

Yes, you could get a GMC Everglades (souped up).

That is my list for the runer team.

You can get fixed up in time Charlie, plus you can get medkits (6) easly.

What you need is an Evo Orderly with a First Aid Autosoft. It would benefit from a Response and Pilot upgrade but wouldn't be too shabby out of the gate.

It would benefit a lot from a valkyrie unit upgrade and fuzzy logic upgrade too.

Etoile has a first aid autosoft at rating 4 so she can either provide it for the drone or use the medkit herself. At least she does unless due to the stupid software degeneration rules the damn things have dropped in rating during downtime without ever getting used that is.

it would only degrade if you aren't getting the updates, you do have a hook-up to keep that from happaning.

It degrades if it's a pirate copy unless the person who got it pays for the latest version updates. Which does actually cost nuyen according to Unwired, so technically I'd have to pay Truth to pay someone else to provide the patches.

Unless you're saying Ochir can get us free software updates for our pirate software?

He could if there something in it for him. Services or Pay.

Yes that would be skick to see.

If thats the case then we should definitely do it at night. People are always going round the clock meaning we would be fine with our fake SINs night or day; but we'd have the best chance of not being noticed at night with visibility mods (on top of the concealment).

Hey Brent can I take a metaplanar quest to replace my ability to summon plant spirits with spirits of man J/K. It would be awful bad ass to see a spirit throwing around a Force 20 Stunball though, or a Force 20 Orgy.

Hmmm, well at least this time it's possible to use the 'Truth only just got the skillsofts before the run so they haven't downgraded yet' reasoning.

Force 20 Orgy...... Now that is an idea made of pure elemental comedy. Especially if we could somehow peek in on the blood spirit after the mission, to see what it said to the Azzie mages.

Unfortunately its not an option since my spirits are Air, Earth, Fire, Plant, and Water. The badass spirits are Guardian, Man, and Task.

How much can Ochir fence stuff for us for? I just realized I've a bunch of gear here I don't need anymore, hell they don't even need to be fenced really, how much can I get for three Hermes Ikon comm-links, barely used?

I could use the cash to buy slightly better Nexuses than I originally budgeted for and hell of a lot of Smarties....

[edit]

Some legwork.

I notice that Grand Coulee is a significant distance inside the SS and I want to know some of the background to the Azzie's getting their hands on it.

I'll set one of my agents off on a Data Search to see what info it can glean on the history of the site and Aztechnology's takeover.

Spoofing the Datatrail: Hacking + Spoof (2) : Pilot 6 + Spoof 6 = 12 Dice = 4 Hits.

Data Search, Extended, 1 Minute (Entire Matrix): Pilot 6 + Browse 6 = 12 Dice = 19 Hits.

Which takes about 6 minutes.

He can get you 50% of the listed price for the commlinks, any where else you'd only get 25%.

You can find a good bit of information on it. From what you can find of the documents the east side of SS is hurting for work and funding so the Azzie's approached them with a deal. They use local workers and provide data and the prototypes of there project. Which is Tokamak reactors, they have listed two built and already up and running. Which is has reduced the brown outs and black outs of Seattle already. Plus there is a couple of year’s worth of work plus they'd also added in that they would develop a joint force with the military's to boost both sides. When SS looked at all that was involved and there potential for growth out of this they had to jump on it. So that’s is how the Azzies got the Dam, but looking in the fine print the SS made out in that it's really only Leased to them for 99 years but that gives them away out if need be. With the deeper dig they are only working with the local tribes and not the council.

Once Truth has gotten drones set up, he'll set his secondary commlink to the task of intercepting wireless traffic between the base, the drones, and the guards.

Breaking Encryption
Turn 1 13d6.hits(5)=5
Turn 2 13d6.hits(5)=3
Turn 3 13d6.hits(5)=3
Turn 4 13d6.hits(5)=6

Buying hits gets all the wireless traffic intercepts.

As soon as he gets a chance to observe the matrix personas of the drone pilots, he'll launch a trace on them, to get their Access IDs, to allow him to keep tabs on their locations.

Drone 1
Perception 14d6.hits(5)=2
Track
Turn 1 14d6.hits(5)=3
Turn 2 14d6.hits(5)=6
Turn 3 14d6.hits(5)=3


Drone 2
Perception 14d6.hits(5)=6
Track
Turn 1 14d6.hits(5)=5
Turn 2 14d6.hits(5)=6


Drone 3
Perception 14d6.hits(5)=7
Track
Turn 1 14d6.hits(5)=3
Turn 2 14d6.hits(5)=5
Turn 3 14d6.hits(5)=5

His Agent is commanded to monitor all 3 traces, and run them again if lost.

What can I find in terms of wireless nodes for locks on the doors and gates to the dam?

@DWC

Ms J will apparently supply us with an upgraded Everglades Hovercraft, does Truth want to specify a few upgrades he would like to see on it?

@Brent

I'll sell them on to Ochir then and make a couple of minor changes to my gear with the extra cash...

You pick the normal radio chatter nothing special for the most part thats how you guys got the numbers and type of guards they have, which drones are you talking about?

You can't find any nodes for doors or gates, Cutter or Tom will tell you it looks like there hardwired in. Currently there is vary little matrix presence out here at lest wirelessly.


Cool not a probelm Crizh.

Any chance we can get an old Hughes Stallion or Sky Train instead?

If not, rigger adaptation, small landing drone racks, a satellite link, and a retrans unit should suffice.

Edit:
The Phoenix drones that the Azzies built using the plans we stole.

Also, are the locks opened with physical passkeys, or is there a keypad or something?

Yeah your looking at an Everglades the other are just a little out of there of her to get.

K, there to far away to get any wirless pick-up on them. They are running with stuff turned way down, and/or off at times.

There passkeys.

Can I toss in a vote for uprated Armour, a smuggling compartment and Chameleon Coating on the Everglades?

Also some of the anti-MAD stuff in RC....

Don't forget Signature Masking. As without it a Chameleon Coating isn't going to help except against the guards and visual sensors.

How is the site supplied? Are construction materials being flown in, then trucked to the site? If so, how many trucks are there, and are they slaved to a remote node, or to the drivers’ commlinks?

i seriously think we increase our risk by going in over equiped. I think the fake worker sins will do the trick.

we just need to make sure the face or who ever is our best face if we dont have a dedicated one is acting as our forman so he/she interacts with oppisition first

Do we even have a face now?

I have this suspicion Charlie is now up at the front of our social skills pecking order either her or maybe Tom or Gecko.

Truth is unlikely to actually be on site, which rules him out and Etoile has Uncouth. Can't say for Noowan as I've not read his sheet in any great depth.

Edit - And going in with equipment in reserve is a lot smarter than just trusting our luck. The chances of being picked up don't increase all that much with a smuggling compartment equipped vehicle than they are with just sneaking a few pistols in.

humm .. uncooth fits in pretty much for most construction workers i know..

ROFLMAO!!

't ain't me, that's for damn tootin'.

We don't even need to take the vehicle in with us. Which is why I was liking the idea of a Stealth Hovercraft. There are probably several similar vehicles operating on the Lake, it's a damn long way by road from one shore to the other and only about five minutes by Hovercraft.

It could either be our 'van' depending on the trade we are emulating or it can remain hidden on the water until needed.

There is of course a slight difference between rude construction worker and sociopathic vindictive killing one.

All that you are able to find out is there materials are truked in from Spokane, there are only a few (3) turcks on site. There all slaved to driver's commlinks.

Charlie isn't a face, she doesn't even have any spells in that direction either.

So, we're officially a Face free zone?

On looking harder at the maps all the construction seems to be happening on the spillway side of the Dam. Is the reservoir itself part of the lease agreement? It's a pretty large 'tract of land' in a pretty deserted area and presumably provides fishing opportunities for the local tribes.

The lab we need to access is inside the Dam?

Wow. I am mildly terrified that with her skillwires Etoile is the closest we have to an all round face, with DP's of 6 in each social skill except Leadership...... I think the only DP higher is Noowan with a 7 in I think Etiquette.

Lets hope our NPC companion knows how to talk with people without starting a fight!

Edit - And @Crizh yeah I think Brent mentioned something about the target location being inside the dam itself.

Yes, the lab is in the dam with the tokamak reactors.

Add yes most of the building is on the spillway side.

Some of the reservoir will be controled by the azzies but with the agreemant that the locals can us it to fish.

here is a land agrement pic, Link

I'm at work so I can't load it anywhere else.

Cutter does have some good people skills, he has skillwires 4 and a good charisma.

Brent

Escrima. Nice.

Which means that the Reservoir side of the Dam has the narrowest security cordon. Even if we walk in the hovercraft can be standing by to evacuate us either over the Reservoir towards Spokane or along the canal towards Coulee City and the airport.

If Etoile is our face then perhaps a straight intrusion is a better option.

You practice?

Cutter would be a better choice than Etoile. He'd have a DP of 8 and doesn't have the uncoth quailty.

Not anymore. Back when I got out of college, I got into Isshin Ryu, and my instructor cross-trained the hell out of us. Escrima and jiujitsu were big on his list of other things to expose us to.

I think the point was more along the lines of 'we should ensure our plan has the lowest amount of talking possible' rather than specifically nominating Etoile for face duty....

And wouldn't having Cutter along doing the talking mean he's away from his new Drone killing heavy weapon though?

Yeah, I'm very happy with the Eskrima I study. I think there are very good schools out there as long as there not the McDojo types. I can't stand them.

Right, it wouldn't be the best idea to have him away from that.

Brent

My thought would be sneak onto the base so we can carry whatever we want in, and once we arrive have the Chameleon suits shift to showing normal worker clothes, and then just turning off that program when its time to be sneaky again. The place is under construction, and we will have pass keys, etc. carrying boxes around with our stuff in them shouldn't be hard (unusual), and we'd still be under concealment 10.

If people see through the concealment well, we look like we belong, if they don't then they aren't a problem.

Are the crew at the construction site wearing anything distinctive, like Aztechnology jumpsuits, or are they just wearing typical Carhardt-esque work clothes?