Agreed.

I unfortunately am also going to be out of pocket this afternoon driving. Grease's preferences, in no particular order:

1) Go check out the Yaks Stingray Killed
2) Try to get a lead on Lynx
3) Try to look at all of the evidence as we now understand it, and draw connections

EDIT 4) Try to get eyes on the GF of the dead guy from the club in the Hub; either electronically or physically. See what she's up to.

Are there any other loose-end witnesses we haven't spoken to yet?

The Lone Star lieutenant who was at odds with Manuel is probably worth looking into. It's our only lead inside the LS who might be part of the LS's side of the conspiracy.

Someone else might want to look through the Manuel notes. I believe Overkill has an analytical mind and that could go a long way in connecting the dots in there.

ETA: And there's also the problem of covering Amy and OK's tracks somehow. Does anyone in the team have a disguise kit and/or disguise skill?

My preference is to deal with the bodies tonight when it's dark. Lynx is a high priority, but we don't have much to go on right now. The lieutenant definitely needs to get our attention as well.

We also have two other crime scenes that we still need to cover if we want to check them all.

Manuel's Notes: Yup, that was what I was thinking too. I have them at Nic's so whoever wants to scope them out is welcome to them. Maybe Overkill can look through them while his agent is looking for Lynx. Overkill may very well come to a different conclusion from the notes than Jack did.

Lone Star LT: If Overkill's anaylsis regarding the Lone Star LT is the same as Jack's, we might want to connect with our Johnson about this one. He suspected something might be going on inside the Star, so it would probably be best if he knew who he might need to keep an eye on.


I have a Skillsoft for disguise, but it is a low rank one at 1 or 2 (plus my linked attribute is average. Jack of all trades... master of none).

I also agree about checking the bodies (or just the signal from their commlinks if they make it through the dirt) tonight. If we finish that earlier enough, we might be able to check out one of the final crime scenes as it is not too far away from Sagebrush. To be honest, I have no clue how we would find the remaining crime scene. It was a traffic stop and we don't even have a cross street to reference. We just know the road it happened on (a major one) and the area of town in which it happened...

Drave is going to tear into the Manuel files, after the initial warning has been passed.

Our thoughts regarding the warning and how we plan to proceed needs too be covered.


Question regarding the Yak's burial site, could we (we meaning Grease's drones) dig there without drawing too much attention to ourselves?

With a (very) broad reading of the Movement power, Amy might be able to exhume them using an Earth Elemental, LOL.

I don't think you could use the Movement power to do so, but certainly you could have the Elemental dig up the bodies physically. Stingray had Miksa use Engulf to bring them down into the ground (perhaps a slightly broad interpretation of the Engulf power).

As far as Overkill's question - would you attract attention? You would be crossing into Yakuza territory and exhuming 4 bodies from a park - if someone saw you, they would probably want to know what you were doing.

Also, I'm not sure how any of Grease's drones would dig up the bodies, as none of them have appendages that could be used to do so.

...I have faith in Grease's ability to BS his way through the dirt...

K, I will admit, it was a much better idea in Theory (Let the machines do the hard work,) than in practice, (digging requires large, heavily specialized tools, and will obviously draw attention if a workzone pops up in a public park within a major city.

I am curious to see the plan you guys come up with

I just wanted to make sure y'all weren't waiting on me. I was waiting for someone just to post up a "What's up?" or whatever to break up the wall of text post I had going.

I was under that impression as well - if for nothing else, the team should be, well, if not shocked, at least put on alert by Jack's change from mild-mannered business Jack to bad-ass Jack, and want to find out what's going on.

Grease will also want to read the files. He's actually got a decent background in crime, especially illegal drugs (surprise!)

Relevant knowledge skills:
Smugglers: 3
Street Drugs: 2

Less relevant, but potentially useful:
Denver Knowledge: 2
Street Rumors: 1

ETA: IC post is up. I figured someone else would have posted while I was driving yesterday!

LOL. Well, we need to think of our options here. Shovel work is likely to draw attention if it's in the middle of a busy park. This seems like the type of activity best saved for the deepest dark of night. I (both IC and OOC) am not aware of Amy's powers: does she have invisibility or something? A Spirit to Conceal us? Seems like it would be the easiest way to go about it while keeping a low profile.

My plan all along has been to summon an earth spirit to dig up the bodies (that's what earth spirits are for!). It would probably be force 4 or 5 and I'd select the concealment power to help keep this under the radar. Concealment could affect all 4 of us (+ the spirit if manifesting and force 5).

For the record, Amy does have the invisibility spell (which stacks with concealment I believe). She also has detect life but not the extended version which would give a much more meaningful range in this particular case. Phantasm could be used to attract attention elsewhere while the job is completed by the spirit. And once again, Influence can be helpful in making a single target ignore what's going on.

So yeah, I don't think it's crazy to attempt the digging once we're at the park. More difficult is getting us there unnoticed, depending on their magical defences. Amy is a mystic adept so she can't project and go check in advance.

Let me roll a quick Area Knowledge: Aurora Warrens and see what Amy knows about that park and surroundings.
8d6.hits(5)=2

ETA: I'm sorry but I'll be gone most of the day. Amy intends to call Sam first thing, and then go right back to her place to 'rescue' her. She'll want to place her in a safehouse or just in a different house and tell Kevin not to hang out in her apartment for a while.

Ok - just some things to make sure we are all on the same page:

1) Reading the files is going to take a little while - say 40 minutes or so (if both Grease and Overkill want to read it, I assume they will split it in half and swap halves once each has finished to save time.) Not a problem, since you don't have any pressing need to be anywhere, but I just wanted to give you a heads up.

2) With regards to Amy's area knowledge check, you know that it is in the middle of Yakuza territory. It is a park, it isn't something that has defenses in and of itself. The Yaks patrol their area in general, using the Tigers as footsoldiers.

If Amy needs a place to hide Sam, Nic might be willing to babysit. They have a common connection in their backstory. So far, we don't have an indication that anyone is looking for Jack just yet.

That's pretty much all up to Lobo though.

Ok - no problem. Hopefully Grease will be nice enough to lend you a taxi - its a 6 mile walk or so from Jack's to your apartment building.

Any idea where you are going to put Sam? You could reach out to Chomsky, maybe - the Warrens are a little dangerous just to drop Sam off in a random house somewhere

ETA - Nic seems cantankerous, but my impression of him is he is a little bit of a softy for kids. So I don't have a problem if you wanted to bring Sam to Jack's house.

At this point, I think it's fair to consider the Taxi as the group's "transport". He hasn't charged Jack anything for it, and has been more than willing to lend it to anyone who asks. If anyone wants to borrow it or go somewhere, they really just need to ask.

The BMW is for when we need to get to (or away from) someplace fast.

-DrZ

Ok - IC post up for Amy - Grease, if you put up something indicating your willingness IC, then we can assume Amy is out and about for 30 minutes or so - and the three of you can RP freely for a while.

I'm going to put up something IC thanking Nic, but we might want to fast forward given that two of the three characters remaining are planning on reading through Manuel's files.

Working on my post, sorry for the delay, chasing after a little one.

Ok - so assuming we are going to put aside 40 minutes or so to allow Overkill and Grease to read, and Amy to go get Sam and Kevin,

Here is what Overkill and Grease discover (respectively) among the files.

Grease
1) There seems to be no ties in any of the cases to the Yakuza, or Yakuza owned establishments


Overkill
1) Lieutenant Bradshere, although mentioned previously as Jack had seen, had recently been promoted. Previous to Manuel's problems with him, he and Manuel were equal rank.

...Is the information we're reading valuable, in Grease's opinion? Would, for example, his smuggler friends be interested in it?
-DrZ

It is private notes from a Lone Star officer, but they are at least 2 months old. I'm sure you could probably use it as paydata for the right contact, it might get you 400-500 at most.

Two questions on that:

1) Does it sound like they had a good relationship before Bradshere's promotion?

2) Do the notes imply there was a change in Bradshere's behavior following his promotion?

1) not good, but not bad either
2) yes.

See below - here is the information Jack had gleaned from the files.

1) The notes cover Manuel's caseload for the past year.
2) Manuel seems to be good at this job - the files show many cases where he notes arrests were made.
3) Manuel has worked with multiple partners before, among others you see, Vic Hawthorne, Samantha Jackson, and Gregory Taylor.
4) Most of his cases seem to be about drug smuggling from the Sioux sector into the UCAS sector, but not the other way around.
5) As the cases notes get closer chronologically to the present day, Manuel seems to have a problem with a Lieutenant Calvin Bradshere. Looking back through the notes, Bradshere was mentioned several times throughout, but without the same level of animosity.
6) The most recent case file is regarding an investigation into another smuggling incident, referencing a case#5427 but receiving a lack of resources to pursue it.
7) Among the last thing in the file is a transfer request from Manuel to be moved from Border Patrol/Smuggling to Robbery/Homicide.

Did Bradshere's promotion place him in charge of Manuel's unit?

If so, I am curious as to the record of the previous Lieutenant that Bradshere replaced, (though obviously hacking may be involved.)

It meant that Bradshere would be superior in rank to Manuel, although as a lieutenant, would not be in charge of the whole unit.

ETA - per the notes, Manuel did not seem to have problems with his previous Lt - in fact, he isn't really mentioned much in the notes.

Do the notes describe any animosity between Manuel and his other commanders?

Not that you saw.

How long ago was Bradshere promoted?

About 3 months ago.

By the way, one thing I'm curious about is how you intend to actually get Grease's drone back from Manuel's house. Unless she opens the door or a window, I'm not sure how the Fly-Spy is supposed to get out.

I am open to ideas though

Maybe it is strong enough to push out that duct tape over the bullet hole in the window upstairs..

See, this is why we like Jack, always thinking

Despite his odd techno-fear of Grease's vehicles...

They are CLEARLY out to get me. Jack is going to snap one day and it's going to be like Maximum Overdrive.

Ah, back when Emilio Estevez still starred in movies...

Ah, back when Emilio Estevez still starred in movies...

Where there's a will, there's a way!

Also, Chimney?

-DrZ

ETA: This Fly-Spy is pretty souped up. Not only will he perform a free in-home insulation inspection, but he's also got an Ultrasound detector to navigate like a bat. Not to mention being loaded out with pretty much every time of listening device in the book.

Thanks for roleplaying Amy for a bit Lobo, it was pretty close to what I would have done and fits perfectly with what I had in mind. It's interesting to see Kevin come along, but that's his own decision. Amy's not responsible for him and he can take care of himself.

ETA: Oh and I assume that Amy has brought with her the few possessions she has, along with a few things for Sam, leaving nothing of real value back at her apartment.

No problem

And that's fine - I honestly don't think she would really have anything of value at her home anyway, given her lifestyle.

Now that we know that word is getting around about our inquiries, I think we should probably adopt a higher operational security profile than we've been using. I would suggest that any calls we make with people we don't (relatively) trust should be made with a burner phone that we keep off except to make calls. When it is active, we should slave it to Overkill's cyberdeck and have him perform matrix overwatch on it to detect MARKs and shut down the device if it appears compromised.

Anyone have any other suggestions?

ETA: I've updated the word doc on case leads in the Dropbox folder. For the sake of not making everyone access the folder, here's what I have:

Thanks for the Summary. I will be sure to dig into it this evening

As far as other suggestions, one thing I (or Grease) would add would be to change up the roles whenever possible. I'd like to think (other than Luck) the reason Jack and I have been clean is because we haven't been the same people twice in a row. By taking on different roles, it makes it harder for other people to make connections as to who you are.

That said, I think Amy / Overkill have covered more ground than Jack and I; so it's entirely possible it's just my ego that's making me think this

I liked Jack's idea of switching the team up; either all 4 of us going together, or Jack & Amy taking the lead together. That said, Jack & Amy are 80% of our firepower; it might be safer if we all just stuck together. It'd be a shame if the hacker and rigger got hosed because they were chasing down a lead without any help.

Grease has a 3 in Disguise; I mentioned briefly in one of my IC posts that he was "changing his look slightly" to try and avoid detection. If I got him an honest to goodness disguise kit, he could work on the whole team and change their appearance enough to make it seem like they're different people.
The only reason I didn't buy one in Chargen is because I ran out of nuyen trying to be a face and a rigger That may be something to check on, I can't imagine they're too expensive. They have an availability of "-"; I presume that means I can just run to the store and get one?

-DrZ

Just the gear she wasn't carrying with her (extra clothes and 100 drams of reagents, which has significant cash value).

My accent might make disguise tricky, but not impossible. I may just be more prudent to let someone else take the lead at times.

I was actually going to have Overkill offer to slave the crew's devices to his cyberdeck for security purposes.

Be back soon, gotta run to my bro's

They are 500 and you can purchase one with no problem with a SIN.

What is the feasibility of getting a visitor's pass into see a prisoner?

Hack job? Not sure where the process would begin with that one.

My guess would be hacking the jail's Host and then finding and editing the Visitor Log, or something to that effect. Granted, I imagine a jail's Host would be pretty freaking tough...