He's desperate - but not stupid - he isn't going to admit to murder on video

Hey, figured I'd sneak that one in there

I'm fine continuing IC (I'm sure you have a devious clock running in the background..) but if you'd prefer, I can ask a bunch of questions here OOC, and you can post the back and forth IC to speed things along. Up to you! We could have the cops busting down the door any minute, so I can understand the desire to keep the call and response.

-DrZ

You can post them all here that is fine - it will speed things up for us out of game

I'm going to post OOC here to collect my thoughts a little; since we're communicating IC via text messages, would it be kosher to have other people give me input on a list of questions?
-DrZ

That's fine - lets keep it to a short couple of notes - don't want long in depth conversations - but some quick back and forth should be fine.

I don't really have much to add. I think I've pretty much texted most of my questions. The real challenge now is how to get the goods from Stinger while not letting him get away since that is one of our requirements for the job.

If he actually has proof, that would go a long way to wrapping up the other half of our job (the part dealing with the conspiracy).

If you can get that out of him, where does Lynx hang out/live these days... and Falcon. Though they will probably be on the move or coming after us anyway.

Actually any info on Falcon would come in handy. What kinds of spells does he cast, what kinds of spirit does he conjure, what other tricks does he have?

Questions for Stinger:

About the crimes the crew has committed:

• Where else did he hide evidence, like with the databomb?
• Did they always take out witnesses?
• What happened to Mary Jane Kelly?
• (Giving him the list of officers) Who else did the crew take out?
• Does the crew have anything big planned soon?
• What other evidence can he provide against the crew?

About their Hideout:

• Where is their hideout?
• What kind of defenses do they have there?
• How often do they move?

About Lynx:

• What type of 'ware and weapons does he have?
• Who does he talk to outside of the crew the most?

About the rigger:

• Was he at the rally the other night?
• What type of vehicles does he have?

About the mage:

• What spells does he have?
• Can he summon spirits?
• Does he have spirits watching their hideout?

I am sure I will think of others after his response. Additionally, feel free to just have him volunteer stuff, rather than having Grease ask all those questions in a row

Excellent questions.

Any particular order?

What, in general is most important for him to answer?

I like the order for the most part, although I'd be interested in finding out about the mage before the rigger before lynx.

-DrZ

Ok - IC post up later today - little busy with work atm.

No problem; looking forward to it.
-DrZ

That video of Lynx and Bradshere (and everything else he might have) is priceless. We need to make a deal, because intimidation isn't the solution anymore unless we start torturing him (which Amy would be for if it weren't for Overkill's sensibility). Maybe we can even show him that we played him and Overkill isn't dead and go from there?

Yep- if it exists. It could just be him playing his only hand- his #1 goal is to get out of this room.

-DrZ

Good point... wait isn't data always in the cloud in SR5 anyway? Is his story even realistic, to have a video recording on a physical medium that he doesn't have access to?

The advantage of having it on a physical medium is that it can't be hacked remotely.

You have to physically obtain the chip in order to retrieve the data.

If Overkill were still alive, he would point out it's exactly what a particularly paranoid hacker would do!

A drone should go get the chip.

I'm not sure if any published drones really have appendages to do something like that.

Considering we know IC that we should probably get moving ASAP, I would suggest we get him in the car and try to head towards his place. Yes, we need to be super-careful, but we don't seem to have a lot of other options.

I'd say it depends where his place is. If it's away from where we ambushed him, sure. If we have to go towards that position... maybe we should wait. I'd like to avoid detection if possible.

Considering how close we are right now to the ambush site, I'm not sure if waiting works in our favor.

Then again, he probably doesn't know where we are in comparison to his place right now, so that might work in our favor.

@Amy: Did you see the thing about blood magic IC?

-DrZ

I'm not Amy

And yes she did, that's part of the reason for the shrug.. but let's just leave it at the PCs not entirely understanding each other.

OOC: my character knows about as much about blood magic as Grease, not much more. She has no knowledge about magic, magic theory, cults, magical groups, traditions, etc., outside of the knowledge associated to her active skill set, and she has no ritual spellcasting either.

@ *chrome* (sorry )

No problem; that makes perfect sense. Grease doesn't have any of those either, but he's seen the trids, and was thinking Amy could take his blood and waggle her fingers, or somesuch. Perhaps I have been taking the BSing a little too far

I'll post IC to move things along.

-DrZ

Just an FYI, I made knowledge checks and Grease and Overkill passed.

I'll do a write up of Valkyrie soon and post it in the dropbox (along with a description of the Bifrost) - but the salient fact for now is that both Grease and Overkill have heard of her, and heard good things about her.

Could I get a judge intentions check on whether or not I buy that he's on the level? I've indicated some skepticism in my post IC.

-DrZ

Sure - no problem

You are pretty convinced he is on the level.

Grease:
9d6.hits(5)=3

Stinger:
7d6.hits(5)=4

Updated the dropbox

For those of you who don't have access:

The Bifrost Bar, corner of E. 76th Ave and Kearney Drive, Derby, Denver, CO
The Bifrost Bar is a sports fan’s dream. Matrix feeds from around the globe funnel into this large, two story building, and patrons are allowed full VR or AR immersion into their favorite sporting events. Gambling, virtual and non, goes on at all times under the watchful eye of the Chavez family enforcers, who take a cut from the profits of the bar’s owner, a woman who goes by the name Valkyrie. Set in a relatively nice section of town, the clientele is (usually) of middle-class or higher background, and with the enforcers there to keep the peace, is not a bad spot to spend an evening watching a ball game.


Valkyrie (Connection 4) – A towering blonde woman from Scandinavia, Valkyrie keeps her long blond hair up in a tight bun. A sports fanatic, she conducts business and pleasure at her establishment, the Bifrost Bar. She spend years as a corporate bodyguard, handling contracts for Ares Macrotech, and then retired and started a business of her own – Valkyrie Industries, a grandiose title at the beginning, but she has built it up into a very profitable and large business. Her payroll includes mostly former-corporate types: riggers, deckers, and bodyguards, and if rumor is true a mage or two. Her contracts tend to be for private citizens or small businesses, but word on the street is that she is approaching a deal with Federated Boeing that will elevate her business to the next level.
[20% bonus for Surveillance and Security, 20% Cybertech and Electronics]

Bifrost Bar added to our map. For reference for everyone it is located pretty close to the Sioux Border and is in pretty close proximity to Stingray's Magic Shop and the house where Officer Manuel was shot/killed (as well as Wright, but that one doesn't seem to be part of the deal now).

Wright was the one killed by random gangers (possibly los mags), right? Not one of the ones they hired Lynx and his crew to hit.

-DrZ

I apologize here for not knowing where we keep track of this stuff- do we have any burners left over?

-DrZ

ETA: I just dropped the Missions Hot Patch Errata into the dropbox folder, in case we want to use any of their rulings.

I don't remember where we came out on this one, but here's their ruling on repairing damaged items:


"Fixin’ All the Broken Drek (p. 143, Run & Gun) seems cost prohibitive. Can we do something about those costs?
Fortunately, Goober has you covered. So long as the item was not completely destroyed (i.e., takes more boxes of damage than it has), the item can be repaired at a rate of 2% of the item’s base cost per box of damage taken. For Missions play, this also covers the cost of the repairman, parts, etc. Keep in mind this does not cover Matrix damage, which is covered elsewhere in the FAQ."

That's what we suspected based on the info and corresponding bodies in the park that we unearthed. I would say Stinger not knowing anything about it confirms it, given we have two completely different sources for the information. I don't think it was Los Mags though, more along the lines of the Yaks with whom we ended up getting into a fight.

I'm not sure how many burners we have left. I'll have to go back and look, I know I bought several and believe I gave one to each person. I may have a couple left, but they probably would be at Nic's.

According to the resource tracker the team bought 4 metalinks - giving one to each person (this does not include the one given to you by Ramirez, which Overkill is carrying).

Of the 4 burners:

Grease has used one to contact Argent.

Jack gave his to Honeypot.

I believe that Overkill and Amy have neither given away nor used their burners. Overkill would have his on him, and I'm assuming Amy would as well.

Ok- so I've still got the one I used to contact Argent? That shouldn't be a problem, I don't think.
-DrZ

You definitely still have it yes. I'm not sure you have it on you, but why you wouldn't I'm not sure

If not on my person, certainly in the vehicle we were traveling around in.

@Lobo: A quick rules question on messages; do you prefer they are sent in the open (in the IC thread), or via PM? I can see the thinking being both, but my concern with the PM version is that it's hard to go back into the thread to read what happened when. Of course, if you like the secrecy that PMing provides I can see that being a factor as well.

-DrZ

That is up to you. If you want it to be secret go ahead and PM me. If not, feel free to post it on the IC page.

So - one thing to bear in mind if you don't get a response right away is that it is 400 in the morning...

I figured I'd take a flyer on that- if she runs a bar she may be around either closing it, or cleaning up.

-DrZ

I guess since we aren't entirely sure about when she's going to return the message, we need to figure out what we're doing in the meantime. I'd vote to drive around in the UCAS sector as far away as we can from the ambush site. We could even head out to the area where that one cop was killed that we never checked out. We didn't really have an address, but it is pretty far away (if we're worried about them tracking us down via spirit).

Might be safer to actually stay in the Warrens part of the UCAS, but towards the south end, far away from the ambush site and the Los Mags. Whatever we do, we shouldn't get closer to the ambush site at any point during our moving around.

Ok - so you do not receive a call back within 15 minutes of your call - what is the plan?

I think I am up to date on this, but I think that Grease will take 6 boxes of unresisted stun damage at around 9:00 AM when his cram wears off.

In the meantime, I like the idea of driving randomly around the neighborhood. If nothing else, it puts us in a position to make a break for it if/when Lynx manages to track us down. The alternative would be for us to try and go after Lynx directly, rather than waiting for the evidence that Stinger claims he will provide. For the time being I am willing to operate in good faith.

If we don't hear back soon, we should think of trying to find someplace to stash Stinger where we can keep an eye on him. I'm thinking a coffin motel or something similar (the type of place where they don't ask questions). I don't think taking him to any of our homes is wise.

-DrZ

You are correct - at 9:00 AM is when you take the stun damage.

I'm good with driving around, I guess the main question is where? As best I can determine, we're maybe 1-2 miles from the crash site right now. We can drive south and get further away, although that puts us into Yak territory. We can drive north east and head out toward the airport, maybe circle around Rocky Mountain Arsenal (I can't remember how far it extends).

Also bear in mind if we get to the UCAS sector, Grease will know all sorts of places to go to lay low, as he has the "Home Ground" positive quality.

That would probably be my initial plan; provided the border between the warrens and UCAS is something we can get through without having to pass through passport control or somesuch.

-DrZ

As long as the travel never gets any closer than we are to the crash site, I'm okay with the plan.

Your best bet would be to travel east out of the Warrens into the UCAS zone and then north - that would take you both away from the crash site and then back toward the Bifrost.

If this is acceptable, I can skip time if you want.

If so, how much should I skip?

ETA - let me be specific - is your intention to ride around until one of the following happens:

1) Valkyrie calls you
2) Lynx's team finds you
3) Grease takes his unresisted stun damage

Or is there something else you want to do in the meantime?

I think that's a solid plan (although #1 would be ideal!)

I am fine with that plan, unless Jack/Chrome wanted to do something else in the meantime. Is there anything we could put Overkill on hacking while we're busy with this stuff and he's "dead"?

-DrZ