How far does the Vergot SIN go back? If Portia/her family knows him by that name, then presumably its been for a while, possibly long enough for the fake SIN to have a trail of its own.

The trail goes back years, but it's erratic, it's clear he doesn't pay someone to fluff it. He exists, then doesn't, then does again...

Spent 1 edge on the hacking test.

@Jake

What sort of Teamwork rules are you using for Hacking, are you just sticking with what Brent was using or are you doing something different?

I'm thinking I'll need copies of Sam's hacking programs to give to pyre, and I'll need to upgrade him, and my Response to 6. Out of curiosity, when you upgrade, you seem to pay the same price regardless of what you are ugrading your commlnk from, does that mean you could sell the old response back and use it toward the new response, or is it possible to just pay the difference?

You'd almost be as well just buying a whole new one and using the old one as a public dummy link.

I already have a public dummy. I don't think a 5/5/6/6 is that bad, is it? I'm never going to be a dedicated hacker myself so it doesn't have to be 100% top notch, it just needs to be a bit up. I guess I could just run optimized programs on it and it would be fine in that case.

Well I have a whole bunch of Optimized programs that I am happy to share with anyone I'm risking my neck with.

Okay, tell me about Sam. I should have a solid picture of his skills before I make assumptions about his success.

(Any results from DD's hack?)

Good morning! And yes. Seems the guy entered the building with her that morning, and the car he was driving was registered to Vast Vergot. The ID attached to the name makes you think it's the same guy.

(did the guy leave again? Or has he a room in the hotel?)

Data Search, usual stealth protocol, target Portia Opfenmeier [attached SIN and AiD], her family and any business, criminal and shadow enterprises they are associated with.

Portia Opfenmeier gets alot of hits, on operatic music recordings, college degrees, published works on literature and music- "The Role of Fate In Fodor and Dostoyevsky", "Kafka and the Surreal", "A Treatise on Homer's Use of the Dative to Imply Cautious Love"...she's a prodigy. A genius of sound and letters...parents are Madeline Thatcher, and Anderroch Josef, both management in a corporation well under the radar, mostly dealing in medical supplies and replacement treatments. Surgical tools, prosthetic cyberware for the poor, and a support network for transplant recipients. Broderrich Mikael Ofenmeier is the brother, a social gadfly, and man about town, apparently living well on the family credline. More than a few hits show at events with him with a tight joygirl on one arm...or both...

Digging deeper, you sense a more malevolent tone...rumors of the Opfenmeier clan having connections to Tanamous, and other organleggers, rumors of them being the ones to see over in Germany for ghoulish deals.

Yes, he left, checked out less than 20 minutes ago.

(DD's trying to hack the gridlink then, to trace his car.)

(7 hits on that hack.)

Nasty hack there, about as bad as the Military Base job...you can sniff around easy, but editting will get the dogs sicced on you.

Knowing the data from the parking deck makes the job easy, he drove off to a house, nice part of town, registered in the same name. You manage to get in and out without pissing off the IC.

DD is not editing, just trying to trace the car.

Sam is a Prime Runner with 10 active years in the shadows running with the same team. He has a connection rating of 5 which has been built up over a decade of successful runs, and a lot of that is his reputation of doing a job right. I would rate him at the superior level with his connection rating he is known through out the west coast for pulling big jobs.

If Easy finds out about her sin leaving a trail, he will offer arrange for her to be seen leaving (Physical Mask) and leave a data nice trail away.

And if the target tries to pick her back up then all the better.

Also Jake would have heard that Easy was running the shadows now and was slinging spells, but he wouldn't have seen Easy with a cyberarm or using magic.

He would have know Easy as a professional poker gambler who loved the game and was a lot more soft hearted than he let on.

Spent 2nd edge to hack into the house, trying to get to the cameras to check Vergot's location. 7 hits.

You find a shot of the drawing room, he's actually sitting by the fire, sipping brandy, like some Moriarty-wannabe...

Since I'm going camping until Sunday afternoon,

It might be nice if Easy does use Physical Mask to lay a false trail for the child.

With her cred stick (or one saying it was her), he could lay a financial trail for her.

Have her walk down to a club near by here then take a taxi to the next club.

She could end up in a coffin hotel or something a little bigger and not coming out (Invisibility).

Or be seen swiming out in to the Pacfic for that matter (Trid Illusion).

He will offer the following.

He will check up Astrally on the Creep (at least enough to see if there are any serious Astral Security there)

Easy does offer a Silence spell for any conversations with the Creep.

He even willing to lay down a false trail for the Creep too, but would want some backup for that one.

This has been a lot of fun!

Sorry, I just assumed Portia would be transmitting a SIN. For all I know she doesn't even have a commlink...

She is computer illiterate, so that would suggest that she doesn't have one.

D'oh, missed that...

I'm at work right now so posting is less than easy. I did do some rolls earlier for the Agents scanning local Matrix traffic but I've no idea how to post them from my mobile. I'll put them up in the morning before I go to bed.

Hey Jake, the way I meant to imply the timing of that sentence was so right after Jake said
Then Celeste would say

I figured. He's calling you on it, to speak up. He's not exactly quiet here.

Jake, did I get anything on my search for licenses (magical, cyber, etc) for either Vergot identity?

Nope, however, Vergot has a notation about large amounts of bioattenuation treatment.

I'm trying to post... Addam's family has my attention, however.

brb

flat battery...

What is bio attenuation?

According to what it says elsewhere, basically, according to his files, all his bioware is in him to fight deterioration, not exactly Leonization, but certainly fighting osteoporosis, muscle loss, etc. Though, that could be bullshit. Sleepytime for me though. I run the trip to snag the asshole tomorrow.

Sounds good.

That does remind me though to sock away some cash so that in a few hundred years when Pura is old the interest will cover leonization.

I'm at the sleep or die stage. Talk to you all tomorrow! (technically today)

Yeah, the Sun will be up in a minute so I'm off to bed also.

Back soon...

Okay kids, I'm online, nomming some hot pockets and setting up for the rush. Though I have to ask...what happened to legwork? Everyone calls their hacker buddies, or hacks themselves, but not seeing alot of chasing of a major pair of leads here. Don't be afraid to bother your contacts, that's why you took Loyalty.

Well, DD is a hacker, so she focuses on that sort of legwork if time is pressing - which seems to be the case. She's also now involved in observing the target, so can't really do much legwork at the moment. On other occasions she'll do more face to face legwork.

Mia is basically asking them if they know anything about the target. Any criminal connections he might have and suchlike. Plus if they've hired him before for any jobs (and thus know anything about his skills).

She'll phrase the message as if she was potentially doing some business with the guy.

As for hacking the car, do we have it's matrix ID info so she can hack it directly? Or will it require some snooping around to find?

Edit - She'll also ask her ID manufacturer to run Portia Opfenmeier's name through her databases. See what comes up.

The Triad contact is Modified Connections 8 (sadly RC doesn't breakdown how that's split up) and Loyalty 4, being the second biggest organised crime group in the city according to Corporate Havens.

And Kari is connections 2 and loyalty 3. But because of her profession she's likely to have much better access to databases of personal information despite her lowish connections score.

Well, Pura did ask her brother for information on the guy, but outside of that I don't she has te experience to do a lot of legwork, or to know what legwork needs to be done.

The two major leads that I can think of would be looking up Portia and trying to find out why she was sold, and finding out about all the security the Orc might have in place.

Vergot is, according to your Triad contacts, a German invader, someone who has stepped on a few toes, bringing his money here. He's brought a few thugs, and hired some here as well. He is connected to organized crime in Europe, and is considered something of a heartless monster. If you can get ahold of someone in the German shadows, they think you can peel his identity wide open. The shadows around here think he stinks of work few 'honest' runners would touch, but what that is exactly is vague.

Portia Opfenheimer is a published writer, virtuoso opera singer, and media mystery, her datatrail is so vague, you'd think she never touched a commlink in her life. However, your ID man tell you it's a real, undoctored SIN.

Was Sam able to get Pura anything on Vergot? He is connected enough to ossibly know stuff outside of just hacking the guy as well.

Sam's busy trying to find the gaps in the guy's two known identities, and see what name fills them in. It's hard, cognitive work, and he's grown quiet, but he says he's close.

We were looking at getting totally wiped out if the 4 of us just walked in there, weren't we?

Does the target live alone in the building? Or is it an apartment?

Not totally wiped out...

Okay, I thought I had posted this before my girlfriend pulled me pleasantly away, but here's what your hack on the house gets. And Fuchs, I don't see you on Yahoo anymore, it would make these interactions faster...

You have access through his CHN, which is managing surprisingly little. Home security, home entertainment, and it seems he hasn't bothered to upgrade most of his system to wireless, so it's still in majority, fiberoptics. Even his connection to the LTG is wired. His home node though does have a wireless modem, letting it interact with remote controls and commlinks. However, because of it's wired nature, and the fact that only his home nexus really provides wireness networking, you are easily able to discover a second layer of network...a Public Eye home security system. Cameras in every room of the house, with low-light and audio, speakers, and panic buttons, all on a dedicated pre-Crash 2.0 landline to the Public Eye corporate security services. A quick check estimates a fifteen minute response time. You find that all of the IC in the home systems are laughably out of date, relics in the bleeding edge hacker market of today. In fact, you'd think no one has updated these systems beyond the barest essentials to keep services going since before the Crash 2.0. Someone's fallen behind, and it's a weakness. It's quite easy to take over the house systems, using the tools you got from Jake earlier in the year, and with your more recent skillset. Using the cameras, and a basic 3d modelling program, you can easily create a tactical map of the building, confirming the blanket of cameras. You can also confirm that there are no armed drones in the building, or others beside the old ork waiting by a vintage copper and oak phone.

I am really impressed by how this is going, so far. You're all very, very good players... I've been out of the online RPG scene so long, and you all are making me regret having stayed away! I am on for the next several hours, and I am very very much enjoying watching this unfold.

I have a question as well, as I am finding that the whole SIN concept is leaving me a bit in the dust. How much information would be connected to a person's name? Is it similar, perhaps, to a highly advanced Google/Social Security system, where you get stuff about employment, criminal records, and basic indigraphy, plus anything that might have been "newsworthy"? I guess I am not really understanding how much would come up, in an ideal sx attempt.

(Since I'll be GMing my pen and paper campaign soon this evening, I'll be on sporadically at best - so, assume DD keeps a watch on the computers, makes some mental comments to herself, and does reasonable hacking if needed).