totally,

but I do wonder, the more people we call and give details .. the more people to be pissed at us for not accepting their offers...

in a moment of lucidity (between meals) Silas will advocate caution, especially if all parties suddenly seem able to find us at a moments notice despite our amazing disguise van !

**EDIT** Also, on the way out of the restaurant, can we please not return directly to the van, they probably didn't see us incoming, but now they have your faces, they can trace You to the vehicle and thus follow us more easily

I will go ahead and say that while Laurent likes to be in the know on things, you got the impression from your previous encounter that he's much more into the clandestine nature of the Shadows than say Moreau, who is more of a legit business representative of Draco Foundation. So, subtlety would certainly have a better chance of working with this guy.

"Yes sir, I'm selling something, but I can't tell you what it is that I'm selling, or why it might be valuable to you. Interested?"

Unicorn tears, fine leather jackets ! ... but definately NOT wizards with magic books !

Here i'll give you a hint, last mission the Foundations and Laurent in particular were interest in a magical artifact (the Morel Stone). This mission there is this Thaljun Cordex, that could perhaps be called a magical artifact. Maybe there's a correlation with the types of things the Foundation and their agents are interested in?

So you have an address. You guys doing any legwork this time around or just heading strait there?

I emitted an audible groan, what is it with you and the 28th floor ?

or are you being nice and its the second floor, room 808

What can I say, you guys are just such HIGH society types. Or didn't you know that shadowrun takes that word high literally?

the only legwork we are doing is STAIRS ! ... no ropes

They do have elevators too you know?

Ask the Horizon guys how well that worked.

Well, I was hoping to hack into the node and find out exactly who is tailing us. I'm guessing Horizon, but if it was and they knew it was us they would have torn down the restaurant trying to get Acson back. Which means that a third, as of yet unknown party, is watching us, and that gives Needle the creeps.

So, if it's possible, I'd like to be able to hack the ship's main node and find out who is tailing us. But as I said in my post, by the time I've finished decrypting the transmissions, they are probably out of signal range. It took a little bit to net those hits, and they sped up and were moving, so I wouldn't be shocked (gasp!) if they moved out of signal range before I was able to.

And as far as legwork goes: If someone gives me the address, I can at least look it up. And maybe get us a catered meal in the room upon our arrival. And some fresh towels. And sheets. And maybe have them draw us a bath.

What? I'm a dirty girl.

No need to order ahead. The suite actually has a full private kitchen and Laurent's personal chef is cooking up something special.

As far as the, node goes I'll say you are able to hack it enough to tell that it does not appear to be from Horizon. The boat is registered to a dummy corporation, which is in turn is own by a shell corporation, which....well, lets just say that you'll get exhausted trying to track down the true ownership somewhere before you hit 7 layers deep of a series twisted business org chart. Your best guess is that it is a wholly new player in this game.

Hotel Nikko is at the corner of 3rd Avenue and Pike Street. The Asian decor of the lobby and restaurant of this boutique hotel appeals
to foreign visitors and those seeking a sleek, understated sense of style. The restaurant has a fine selection of sake, sashimi, and sushi, all expertly prepared, and some suites have private kitchens and dining rooms where the hotel’s staff can prepare individual meals for guests.

If you want to give me some data search rolls, I may be able to give you some more info.

That's all I needed to know. I'll continue to listen in/record the conversation as long as we're in signal range.

You guys going to try losing your tail or just head straight to the hotel?

If you tell me, I can try, but I make no guarantees on my ability to be unnoticed...

Just...I dunno, think small, Kiir.

Hahaha. I love this team!

On a more serious note, is that a Shadowing roll to avoid detection, or can I reverse Infiltrate to get back to the van more unseen?

Just nip into a phone booth and cast invis . Underpants over trousers is optional

That sounds like a hilarious geas for that spell. "Can only be cast with underwear worn on the outside of clothing. Improved version must involve a g-string and a push-up bra."

I guess I should learn invisibility first, huh?

What tail? They don't know my face and I'm not in the van.

<<meet there, same as be4. will let no if see nething>>

Oh! Oh! Hey, bad guys! Him! Get him! Yeah, the guy on the bike! He's the one you want!

Ok, well if it matters, I got 1 hit while defaulting on Intuition to perform a Shadowing: Tail Evasion...

Apart from that there isn't a whole lot we can do except load up and be ready in case the drek hits the turbine.

What do you mean "in case the drek hits the turbine"? This is Shadowrun - it's ASSUMED drek is going to hit the turbine.

Very true. You do not have a tail. On the gaudy van does.

I'm going to take it from this post that we are moving ahead straight to the meet. As it turns out. It's an extremely short ride. Hotel Nikko is less than 1 kilometer away if you walked. Though, it turns out that driving it takes nearly 5km because of the route you have to take (Pike Avenue basically ends at Pier 60, but the famous Pike Place Market blocks off through traffic just up the road and many of the other roads are laid out similarly in this part of town. You've got to follow the river down a couple kms to Madison then up to 3rd, before driving back towards Pike).

Hotel Nikko appears to be a large and very expensive hotel with faux-geishas greating new arrivals at the front entrance.

is Eclipse heading inside on his own or waiting for the others?

Ok, Gardner is doing his best to lose anybody tailing the team from inside the restaurant. Likely the two guys in cars outside the restaurant will notice the group of four people including a giant walking out though. Any other customers leaving at the same time are likely to give you guys a large berth as you walk down the long pier.

Come to think of it. Considering the proximity of the next meet, the 4 that were inside could just walk there while Needle and Eclipse drive there without them. That way the surveillance doesn't catch sight of the van.

Alternatively, you could try setting up an ambush with Eclipse waiting to see who follows you guys walking up Pike and then jumping them.

Or you could just try to lose them in the Pike Place Market. That place is always crowded (well i guess technically we're past their normal operating hours, but I'd be willing to say they've shifted to open 24hrs a day in the 2070's).

Yeah, I'm not helping anyone, but there isn't a whole lot we can do... Maybe we can try to lose them by driving around a- oh yeah, we're in a clown van!

::shrug:: oh well.

I have a feeling that we are not going to be able to avoid being tailed at some point, so our best advantage is keeping in motion.

Maybe Mr. White can slip away and take a cab to the meet ? hopefully un onbserved ? while we play chase out on the streets ?

I'm ok with walking...

There is a hefty incline to the route, but it's not that hard a walk. I've done it myself when I was there for a job a few years ago.

BTW. A note on the the frequency of posts, I should warn you guys that May 11-20, I'll likely be unable to post anything at all. I'm getting married and I doubt I'll be checking the computer all that much on the honeymoon.

Congrats.

Guess we need to finish the run by the 10th then, huh?

That's fine by me. Congratulations, and may your marriage be filled with nothing but happiness.

In the event I haven't mentioned it, I'm actually going to be on vacation May 7-18. The 7-9 I'll have limited internet access, but 10-18 I'll be in Princeville, Kauai (Hawaii) and will have no internet access at all.

GRATS ! ... it's also my birthday on 13th ... but I'm not having a week off .. the boss would murder me

Is there a specific reason we all shouldn't go inside at this point? If - no, WHEN - drek hits the turbine, if we're split up it's going to be a really bad ride. Those of us left in the clown car might have no way of knowing you are in trouble, and even if we do find out it could be a long time (relatively speaking - combat rounds are only 3 seconds long) before we get up the stairs to help you out. And Needle's specific brand of help requires that she at least be in the area. Which she could be doing from the clown car, but again, we come to the point of if she knows you need the help or not. And it's easier to spot hidden nodes when you have an idea where they are.

Just my .02 creds.

Thanks for all the congratulations. It's definitely something I've been looking forward to for a while.

I agree. Let's all go in. If anybody has a good, concrete way to ditch our tail, we can try it. Otherwise my vote is to get moving quickly and get this done...

In general, I would say there isn't much point to leaving people in the car if you are expecting some drek going down. You're right that your assistance would be limited should you stay in the van. Though you could go VR, log into one of the other team member's commlink and use their signal rating to try identifying hidden nodes and such, if they trust you enough for that.

At most, I would recommend physical backup be on the same floor, but down the all or something to avoid them missing out on multiple combat turns when should combat break out.

I am torn on this matter

1) this is a quick meeting with a trusted contact, they will either have provided a completely bugged out suite prepaid for the year, OR they have selected at random somewhere to conduct it with very little time for anyone to bust in.
Thus no need for us to be there in force

2) we go in force, but this leaves the transport exposed and no eyes on the street for activity.

My vote is for Mr. White and a close protection to go quickly while we maintain overwatch, WHEN the turbine interfaces the Drek, White can extract with Leraunt

**EDIT**
Slacker posted.
but can you explain the "Rating" of the area .. are we still in Bellevue ? or is this area a bit more shoddy and less secure ?

Does the hotel have an attached Parking Structure?

I say we all go up.

As a note, this is not an as trusted contact. This one is actually just a guy we got the business card of. He asked us to get something for him while we were on the job and actually failed to do so...

To clarify, unlike Moreau who is a contact for Mr. White, TundraWolf, and Gardner, they did not do enough in the last mission to get Laurent Nazaire as a trusted contact. He offered them money for giving him a magical artifact. They never said yes or no to that offer and ended up not obtaining it. They still had his business card though, which is how they knew to call him for this meet.

This is dowtown Seattle in a particularly rich part of town. It has even higher rated security than Bellevue. Were you to walk to the meet, you would notice more than one Knight Errant drone hovering its way through the crowded Pike Place Market. Should you drive you would notice several patrol cars.

Should the 4 that went inside the restaurant walk without calling attention to the van, there wouldn't be any reason to require somebody stay with it.

The Hotel has valet parking where they use a parking garage across the street.

okay gotcha,

I have no emotional attachment to the Clown Vehicle so we can ditch it for another mode after this meeting.
For the record, Silas is back in normal attire sans clown nose & paint.
I figure the long coat will be enough to cover me and my stuff, can try and sling the LMG, concealbility might be bad but I'll try and infiltrate (Hide Behind the GIANT!)
that into the place if I can. if there are obvious scanners then I'll hide it in the truck.

My legwork is going to involve a few knowledge tests based on the layout and how I would assault the 28th floor, so we can prepare adequate defense

Plan B, leave the Van here and walk... if there is a machine then "pay for parking" at the pier to avoid undue attention to the vehicle

so, are the four of us ok with walking while those in vehicles drive around and meet us there?

Frag it .. I'm just the Riggers Drone now
that's a good plan, I'll keep Needle safe so she can do her thing from outside

While the scanners aren't obvious in an elegant hotel like this, their use is as you notice a pair of well dressed Orks step up and address a guest that just arrived. They politely take him to the side momentarily and you notice him handing over a gentleman's piece pistol from beneath his coat. Then his lady friend is also address and she sighs as reaches beneath a fold of her shimmering dress and pull out a tiny pistol as well.

edit: I just realized that while this would certainly be appropriate for the hotel. It wouldn't be very good from a gameplay situation should something happen while you guys are up there. I'll say that Laurent has already spoken to the hotel staff, so that as long as you guys aren't carrying anything too obvious (like and LMG) you will be allow to head inside to the meeting (though you would be escorted)