"I see," Fix says as he shakes Nix's hand, "is there somewhere more private where we can discuss the tactics? Also I'll need a layout of the area and a briefing on the capabilities of the guards I'll be facing. I will need to procure more gear if we're infiltrating tonight, but ideally after we discuss logistics."

"TeamNet is as private as it gets outside the astral. We can discuss tactics en route and make a detour to get your gear." Nix transfers over his and Caliph's notes on the mansion, including the ork team that was repelled by the hell hounds and the large caliber fire.

<<@Team [Nix] My thoughts are we start with Dingo scanning and taking over wireless nodes, then insert surveillance drones while I make another round in the astral. Fix, you lead the physical insertion. I can levitate us from where we enter the grounds to where we enter the mansion; I would expect that Dingo advise us on both locations once he controllers the security system.>>

Fix quickly scans through the uploaded notes, ensuring there is an adequate map of the mansion grounds.

<<@Team [Nix] Do we have an idea of the source of the large caliber fire and how quiet will this need to be? I'll be needing to stop by my car and office for gear before we head out. I'll also need some time to check the area from a distance, is there any decent vantage points within a kilometer?

Nix pulls the spent round from his pocket.

<<@Team [Nix] This was pulled from one of the initial insertion team members. I believe that it was fired from a drone or fixed point weapon. I always prefer quiet. Noise brings complications.>>

He waits for Dingo to provide map data.

"Well let's head to The Ship, I parked there and I can drive myself to pick up the rest of my gear. If its all the same, I'd prefer you all to not see where I live.

Nix nods. I think I'm gonna like this guy.

Understood. I healthy bit of paranoia never did anything except save a few lives.

Dingo sighs.

"You both are nuttier than a fruitcake. But I can respect a bit o' privacy."

<<@Team [Dingo] Map's attached. On a related note, I'm gonna want to check your commlink later, Fix. I take personal offense to anyone using low-quality OtS junk.>>

Outside the Estate - 0230

Although it's only a few hours, it seems like it's been forever. With their geat together, the small team is finally gathered outside the old estate, looking at it from a distance. The house defenses have already taken the lives of other shadowrunners looking to find it's weakness and expose it's. Perhaps tonight will tell if this trio has better luck, and if information really is power.

Outside the Estate - 0230

Although it's only a few hours, it seems like it's been forever. With their geat together, the small team is finally gathered outside the old estate, looking at it from a distance. The house defenses have already taken the lives of other shadowrunners looking to find it's weakness and expose it's. Perhaps tonight will tell if this trio has better luck, and if information really is power.

Outside the Estate - 0230

Dingo looks up from applying the finishing touches to his master plan, and grins at the others. "So. Are ye both understandin the plan? I'm gonna fly this," he holds up the dragonfly drone,
"near the mansion's roof and then have it cut this zip cord" he points to the plastic tie holding the micro-tapper bug to the dragonfly, "An' then the little guy," he points to the micro-tapper, "will tap into the drone's wiring, allowing me to own the giant gun o' doom, which will in turn allow us to use it to kill anyone comin' behind us to kill us. Good plan, right?"

Outside the Estate - 0230

His hood firmly in place over his face, Nix activates the chameleon suit as they arrive. "Sounds good enough. Let's see how work it works in action. I'll proceed astrally." With that, he lays back in his seat to meditate and relax for a moment. He then calls forth a sizable spirit of man and then his astral form separates from his physical body. He moves out of the vehicle and near the edge of the estate, looking for astral and dual natured guardians... or anything living.

Astral Perception Check

Outside the Estate - 0230

Dingo blinks at Nix as he slides into the astral. "Well. Guess that means it's just the two o' us, mate," He chuckles to Fix. "'Less you're plannin on vanishin' on me, too. Gonna scout personally, or do you wanna watch o'er our bodies as we do our thing?"

I'll keep watch for now, let me know what you find out.

Outside the Estate - 0230

Dingo nods and settles back in his chair. "I'll give you feed from the cameras I've got watchin over us to help keep an eye out. Try not to get me splattered!" He slips into VR, activates his drones, and gives the flyspies orders to patrol near the van, feeding video to himself and Fix. He then slips into the mansion's central node through the backdoor and checks to see if there's a way to get live video of the roof.

Remembering the lessons of the not-so-distant past, he quickly calls up his agent. With a thought, he sets the agent to scanning for any signs of online dangers.

Nyx
Doing a recon of the grounds from a distance, Nix sees no signs of the dogs that supposedly attacked the last team, or anything else moving. Everything seems quiet. While he observes, Nix begins to notice tell tale signs of a disturbance. There's lingering signs of magic use in the area, and damage to the wards, although they seem to be holding.
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Dingo Perception Test - Visual - 2 modifier
Sliding into the system in the house, it doesn't take long to discern that there isn't much present in terms of high end security. For a manor of this size, and from what they've seen so far, there should be substantially more available than the standard door and window locks the system shows, including nothing for the roof.

Dingo/Fix
As the team starts it's recon, Dingo scans the area, looking only to keep an eye out, until something catches his attention: tire tracks.
The team had only been to the manor house once before, stopping in much the same point, for the good vantage it had. The previous team had walked in from another direction, leaving no mark around the area. Dingo's van leaves a fairly wide tread, easily distinguishable. But the marks in the light mud just off the road are wider than the ones that they left on their previous visit, and deeper. Further, the vehicle seems to have left quickly, reversing direction and shifting direction enough to have left a spray and deep indentions.

From astral space, Nix takes another moment to assense both the damage and the ward itself before returning to his body.

Sitting up in the vehicle he makes several observations. "There was a recent attack here. Magically, it did not penetrate the defenses. The creator of the ward, if still alive, is surely aware of the attempts to disrupt it though." He pauses a moment. "The grounds seem to be without defenders though...?"

<<@Team [Dingo] Something big happened. They left in a hurry though. They parked about a hundred feet south of us. Fix, can you see a nasty looking gun on the roof? I wanna try and take the gun before we see what happens.>>

While he loads his Pilot Aircraft autosoft, he begins scanning the central node for any signs of changes since he was last in it.

"I'll take a look."

Looking out the windows at the estate, Fix the scans the roof and grounds for threats and signs of a confrontation.

Knix
There is a lingering signature from a number of spells still lingering in the astral, as well as the remains of the fire elemental. The two air elementals are still present. Nix spots them after a moment as they move around the perimeter, although they seem to be staying closer to the warder building. One of them is definitely injured, and both are agitated.
There's no sign of the mage that cast the spells, although there were certainly some directed at the ward. Closer examination shows that its still holding, and that not all of the spell signature in the area is the same. There's more astral left overs further off, where there's also lingering traces on the astral of a vicious fight. It takes Nix a moment to spot it since he wasn't looking for it, but the remains of a hell hound are hound lay perhaps 100 meters from the manor house. There are no visible signs that a mundane eye would see that would have caused its death, but the astral is ripe with mana damage. There's also enough blood on the grass still to show that there was something else there besides the dog.
Depending on the force of the spells used, the scene could be anywhere from a few to several hours old.

Dingo
5 hits for system analysis
Despite the signs of a disturbance, the home system doesn't show any alerts sent up, or any markings of an attempted hack.

Fix
8 hits on visual
It takes some looking, because the device is carefully concealed among the arbors, but after a few minutes, Fix spots something that looks out of place on the old english style manor.
Roll Hardware to identify

<<@Team [Dingo] I'm not seeing any of the normal signs that they got into the mansion's central node, but that could just mean they have a decent hacker...>>

"On the roof, directional transmitter pointed up. Has a fiber optic line feeding it. Think your drone can get there?"

That done, Fix starts playing Spot the small flying drone in the sky.

Nix continues his assessment of the astral. "There are two spirits and a sizable ward. I can deal with all of the, but something hit them hard earlier and took out the hell hounds."

<<@Team [Dingo] Fix, fiber optic lines are the exact purpose for my drones. So that won't be a problem. There's not a zeplin sniper drone up above the transmitter, is there? Nix, can we neutralize the threat of the ward and spirits without destroying them? I'd rather not do someone else's job for them by destroying the magic defenses. On a completely unrelated note, think I should change my call sign to something that ends in "-ix"? I'm feeling sorta left out...>>

"Sounds like someone got in before us. We need to disable this gun and get moving, but he may have been taken already, if he was still alive. Dingo, what's the status of your drone?"

<<@Team [Dingo] Drones are inbound. Look up. Way up. See that area I highlighted on your AR? There's something cham-coated up there. I think he did have a zeplin deathbot! How rich is this guy?!>

"I think you should start by owning that drone..."

<<@Team [Dingo] Yeah, yeah. I'm on it. Saaaay... If I own it, then I own it, right? >>

Dingo seems much more chipper as he slips into VR and begins using a virtual joystick to guide the drone towards the transmitter.

Dingo - Van/Estate Roof top
Maneuvering the mini-drone into place along the rooftop, Dingo manages to locate the fiberoptic line. Getting into position, it doesn't take long to find a spot to splice into it. With the drone in place, Dingo has a better vantage point on the transmitter. It looks straightforward enough, a tight beamed transmitter designed to send it's signal in whatever direction it's pointed, in this case, straight up.
Cutting in through the drones link, Dingo quickly finds a new node accessible, and a much more secure system awaiting his hot little virtual fingers.
The node he's accessed looks like a wide grass covered field, the only thing of interest the tall tower of rough cut stone. It looks positively medieval, standing some fifty feet tall with what looks like a rough cut catapult a top it. Besides the watch tower, the only other feature of the grassy terrain apparent is a dirt road leading off into the distance.

Dingo - VR

Well. This looks like it'll be fun...
Dingo grins to his virtual self, feeling the soft green cloak of his stealth program settle around him. He ducks off into the grass and switches programs, a spyglass appearing in his hand and armor forming beneath the cloak. He studies his surroundings carefully with the spyglass, noting the catapult some attack program. Don't wanna get hit. and the path off into the distance. Likely the link between the node and the drone. Do I take the tower first to ensure an easy escape, or do I sneak past? I'm in a hurry... Sneak past. Decided, he begins creeping through the grass along the side of the road, trusting in his cloak to see him through.

Dingo - The Secreted System/Manor House Grounds
Once Dingo takes some time to analyze the layout of the node, the system becomes more clear to him. The watch tower it's self is a virtual construct, housing some sort of program that analyzes data feeds and relays them up the 'tower' to the catapult, a representation of the relay link to a weaponized drone.
The incoming feeds are routed in from data paths, all coming down the dirt road to the tower it's self. The drone is slaved to the node, taking direction and commands.

Dingo - The Secreted System/Manor House Grounds

On second thought... maybe I shooould take the tower first. It'll be quicker than intercepting and fixing all of the input...
Dingo creeps over to the tower and begins searching for a window or other way in that doesn't involve using the main entrance.

Dingo - The Secreted System/Tower
Stealthfully moving around the structure, Dingo pokes and prodds, looking for a seam in the programming. With his Exploit running, he's quickly able to find a weak point in the code. Although it's good, it's simply out of date. What might have been a drek hot system when first set up is now a few years out of date, leaving vulnerabilities that can be exploited. Slicing some hot code at the old firewall, Dingo is able to make a simple crack in the wall into a gaping hole he's able to slip in through.

Inside, the tower is rather spacious, everything still fitting with the dark ages motif, including the robed scribe, wearing a house tabard. The scribe is handling missives on parchment, quickly writing orders and relaying them up the tower, the messages flying off on their own, up the center to another uniformed man, this one in mail. He appears to be the catapult's captain. While Dingo watches, more messages slowly filter in at regular intervals, sliding through the chute in the main door and landing lightly on the scribe's desk, where he addresses each one.

In his meat body, Nix notes Dingo's progress into the sculptured node via the TeamNet feed. He shifts his view back to the astral, continuing to watch for changes there are well.

Dingo - The Secreted System/Manor House Grounds


Dingo stays in the shadows near his entrance and studies the room and especially the scribe, carefully looking for any signs of hidden dangers. Once he's satisfied, he begins making his way over towards a nearby bookshelf and looking for the roster.

Nyx While the astral is still fairly buzzing with energy, nothing seems to be moving actively at the moment. Now that he has an idea of where to look however, Nix can see more evidence of the vicious battle. Blood dots the gruond, blending with biomatter of the grass. The trail is heavy as it leads up towards where the van waits in one direction, a messy pool of it much closer, where the fight took place.

Dingo
It only takes a moment of searching before finding the system link through the rosters, the subscription for the drone accessible through the transmitter.

Dingo - The Secreted System/Manor House Grounds


Dingo quickly flips to the page of the book with the title Users and Their Privileges. Once he finds it, he pulls a quill from a pouch on his belt and begins quickly adding a line to it. D...I...N...G...O... Admin....

Finding it more than easy on the out of date system, Dingo finds what appears to be a "practice" admin account, probably from a built in system tutorial that was never removed. A few lines of code and some creative editing, and the old admin account is suddenly active with his system information attached.

Dingo quickly adopts the newly updated credentials and begins getting down to business. He starts by studying the outgoing messages, trying to quickly understand the "Everything is OK" message. Once he feels he has it, he deactivates the scribe agent and activates his own, quickly issuing the command to send the message. Once that's done, he gets ready for the real fun to begin. While he waits for everything to go to hell in a handbasket, he composes a quick message to the others

<<@Team [Dingo] I'm in. Drone's slaved to this node. Sending it "everything's ok" messages. Tell you to go once I know I'm not gonna start bleeding from the ears. >>

After a few moments, Nix shifts his perceptions back to the mundane word and finds the hacker's update. He tries to summon a spirit, but the effort is not focused and lacking direction of his willpower and intent; the spirit simply ignores his call. He then takes a moment to focus his attention, takes a deep breath and again calls out to the astral, "Spirit I call thee to my service."

This time, a spirit answers the call. It takes the form of a youthful man in the fine clothes of a man servant, the personal attendant of a man of position. "Yes m'lord. Ye have task for me to perform?"

Nix looks at the spirit of man, its form shaped by the location and the mage's expectations. "Yes. There is work to be done."

<<@Team [Nix] I'm ready to start the party with the magical defenses. Somewhere a mage is gonna know when I bring them down. That may... or may generate a response. In any case, we should prepare for a quick in, quick out. Flix you found an entry point you like?>>

While he awaits a response, Nix pulls several watchers out of the nether to have them awaiting his commands. The first presents itself as a hound, panting and waiting for a order. The second as a small man, or gnome, in a waist plaid coast with an eye glass and a magnifying glass. The third bears the appearance of a native-American runner in a loin cloth, bouncing with energy from anticipation. Looking to them Nix says, "Stay with me for now. Watch for threats to me."

Finally, he reaches his thoughts out across the spirit link to his bound air elemental. "Thate hiyu. You are needed." A moment later, the swirling form of the bound air elemental appears near Nix and the other assembled spirits.

Dingo starts to relax a little while later when he realizes that he's not going to have to fight a billion ICE to keep from dribbling his brain out his ear. He quickly sends off a message to the others.

<<@Team [Dingo] Aaaand... we're good to go. Who is the greatest? That's right. I am! Anyway! The death zeppelin won't be shooting at you, so feel free to start your own side of things. I'm going to keep busy at this end. Let me know if you need me to save the day some more. >>

That done, he stares up at the node representing the drone and starts analyzing it for convenient weaknesses while he contemplates how to make it his fully.

The drone is a light air variant or protoytype, similar to a condor or other zepplin based, solar powered model, with the exception of a mounted high powered rifle and pilot program. The drone receives data from the sensor net around the estate and engages on anything the system notifies it as "hostile". While it has adequate programs, especially the Shooter program, it has limited versatility. The power of the rifle limits it's firing speed, as the light drone takes a good deal of time to reacquire a target, and it has a limited payload, with only five rounds remaining.

The drone is also completely slaved to the "tower" system, taking it's firing commands and trget designation from below. It's system runs in Hidden mode, and is only equipped to receive a certain type of signal, such as that being sent from the transmitter below. It doesn't make any decisions, only does what it's told.

Huh... almost as if they don't want any hacker who comes along to steal their precious death zeppelin... not like they can stop me! Now, how to do this...

Dingo takes a moment to hide his new Admin account and conceal his activities while he considers his options.

Dingo hums a drinking song to himself and drops an ARO over the steering wheel, reminding himself to recover the drones before he leaves. Once that's done, he opens another window, logging into the mansion's central node and searching for any traces of whoever was here and left in such a hurry. He also commands his agent to do the same on the secret node.

<<@Team [Dingo] Well. That went faster than expected. Need me to save the day yet? >>

The only log entries are from the only authorized used, Abner Stanton. Most of the log entries are pretty standard in the past, except that the regular traffic stops 19 days ago. The manor house was placed on 'Secure', and has remained set as such ever since.

<<@Team [Dingo] Update: Looks they didn't get into the network, though any decent hacker would be able to cover their tracks. Seems our target left of his own accord, too. The mansion was locked down in Secure mode 19 days ago. I'll leave my body in the van to make ready for a quick escape. Try not to get your commlinks smashed. Dumpshock's a bitch.>>

<<@Team [Nix] I'll pop the magical support. Physical security seems to be already down.>>

With that, the mage activates his chameleon suit and exits the vehicle heading over to rendezvous with Fix for a physical infiltration.