Alright, I am gonna drop Defuse and put in Sneak, and turn off my Agent to put in Encryption.

And Overkill will not be taking a full matrix defense action

So: its still A-3, S-5, D-5, F-6. And Stealth, Signal Scrub, Virtual Machine: Sneak, Encryption

IP 2

Overkill 18
New IC 12
Patrol IC 9

So Overkill attempts to copy the file

15d6.hits(5)=6

7d6.hits(5)=2

So you successfully copy the file. and as a free action, swap Sneak for Defuse.

The New IC attacks you:

4d6.hits(5)=2

10d6.hits (5)=3

So you deal one point of damage to the IC.

IP 3

Overkill 8
New IC 2

At this point, you just exit the host, then switch to A/R, and then jack out.

I'll put the IC post up in a few minutes.

I'm (meta)curious about who set that data bomb, that thing was powerful!

@Lobo: DrZ and I have been talking OOC about fake Lone Star badges. Would we have any idea how to get something that could serve as such or is this going to be a contact call?

Get a toy at the store for a rating 1

It did seem odd for a rating 2 host, didn't it



I was reading your posts, and since you are only going to use it to fool a "normal" person and not walk into a crime scene with it, you probably can, as Overkill said, get one from a toy store. If you dress and look the part, you should be fine. It would be different if you were trying to fool another Lone Star officer.

I was actually going to google how to do it in real life, but I'm not sure that putting in those search terms would be a good thing

I honestly had that in there when I first wrote it, but deleted it before posting. Seriously, if it sounds like the girl REALLY wants to talk to us, I'll go buy a box of NERPS Loops to get the fake Lone Star badge out of it and slap an RFID chip on the back with our "Names" & "Badge Numbers" on them. Put it in a badge holder and flash it at her.

I even have a plan for getting through security if we get caught with it... which would of course involve Grease and Jack pretending to be male strippers as the RFIDs on the badge would read "Officer Hard Stick" and "Officer Panty Riot" when involved in any activities not related to Mrs. Sanders.

ETA: I would also like to second Overkill's accolades for your Matrix scenes. They are really well formulated.

For the sake of Grease and I not having to go back through and edit our posts (damn timeline), it might make sense for Amy and Overkill to go track down MJ Kelly first before sending us whatever they pulled off the video feed. Per the timeline, Jack and Grease are just about to board the commuter VTOL to head to the Hub when Overkill finishes up his matrix run. If the video shows evidence that Lynx and crew were involved, it would kind of change a lot of Grease and Jack's conversation. Sorry about getting ahead! We're pausing until Amy and Overkill can catch up.

That's always the problem when we split up like this; I think it's best to just assume for whatever reason they didn't get us the info prior to our Argent meet.

-DrZ

I don't think it's a big deal. It doesn't really change what you have done and what you would have looked for, just the conversations.

With our very good posting speed, I think we might want to keep it to real time as we move forward, if we ever split up again. Messing up the chronology is more important when each post has to wait a week for a reply imo.

I agree, it is something we need to work around, but as Chrome said, it is better to do it this way than have people sitting around waiting for one side to finish.

The video footage (once Overkill pulls it up to look at it) shows the officer leaving his apartment, and it shows the van come around the corner being driven by a beautiful female elf with red hair. The side door opens, and a black ork with a with an assault rifle looks down at a dwarf next to him, who points at the officer. The ork fells him at point blank range, the door slides closed, and the van speeds away.

Well now, that probably puts a wrench in things... unless those are Gutter, Stinger, and Falcon. Hmmm... there also seems to be some disagreement between what the waitress said and what the video shows. I thought the driver was a short dude with the sides of his head shaved. Hmmm... Magic? File Tampering? Simply bad memory? I think y'all need to track down MJ and get a second opinion.

Yes we do!

I'd say it's magic. It's pretty hard to fool sensors with magic and you got to have the right spell too. Now we need to figure out who those guys are. I'm especially interested in the dwarf. He might be just the guy who knew Newton.

Mask works against people, physical mask works against people and technology. May account for the difference. Would also possibly explain why there was a databomb on a file on a rating 2 host.
-DrZ

A rating 5 databomb no less...

So, just so there is OOC misconceptions (since most of your characters are fairly intelligent)

Either Jill is right, or the video file is right.

It could be:

a) Mask - which would make Jill wrong and the video right
b) Physical mask - which would be weird since then they would both have the same info
c) The video file has been tampered with
d) Jill is lying to you
e) Jill has been put under an Influence spell after the fact.

To OOC follow up on this:
a) Quite possible, particularly since the driver would be the only one typically visible, so they may have only cast Mask on the driver.
b) I guess one or the other could have resisted the spell, so no real way to tell which one is correct.
c) Also very possible, particularly given the databomb, although that seems like a bit of a brute force way of doing things. If you're going to plant false evidence, why put up red flags with a data bomb?
d) Also possible.
e) Influence only lasts net hits in minutes, so I'm not sure if that one is all that viable.
The above all obviously OOC since Jack doesn't know drek about magic or decking.

It'll be interesting to see what Mary Jane says.

Lobo: I don't suppose the van's license plates were visible, were they? The van seems to be the one constant in the stories.

@Jack,

Yes, the license plate of the van is visible. AAX578J

b) I guess one or the other could have resisted the spell, so no real way to tell which one is correct.

True - in this case then one of them is wrong - hard to tell which

c) Also very possible, particularly given the databomb, although that seems like a bit of a brute force way of doing things. If you're going to plant false evidence, why put up red flags with a data bomb?

Yes - but it is difficult to ascribe motive to someone.


e) Influence only lasts net hits in minutes, so I'm not sure if that one is all that viable.

True - it is unlikely, but possible, if they got to her just before Overkill and Amy did.

I'm not sure how vehicle registration works in 2075. Would the license plate be part of the information tied to the Device Icon for the vehicle like a commcode would be for a commlink?

I can see that as definitely a way to do it. However, if the driver of the vehicle has the vehicle running silently, then you would not be able to find that device icon unless you happened to be within 100 meters of it.

Bottom line, these things can be modified, fake, etc. just like anything else. In this case, it's especially easy.

I don't feel like we can reject any leads out of hand, although it helps to know if it is easily faked.

I've also been interpreting the running silently rules incorrectly. I had thought you could spot any device, regardless of distance, if you knew a piece of information about it. I thought the 100 meter rule only applied to detecting hidden icons upon which you had no information.

I wonder how that works for a Host running silently? It has no physical location, so would spotting hidden icons fill up your feed with all of the host icons running silently worldwide? That could get messy...

The way it works - ok the way I have it work is this:

1) If it is a non-host, you cannot spot it running silently if it is over 100 meters.

2) If it is a non-host, and you are within 100 meters, and you just search for "any silent icons within 100 meters" - for instance, you aren't looking for anything specific, just is there something out there, then it is a Matrix Perception check and every hit reveals one icon at random.

3) If it is a non-host, and you are within 100 meters, and you have something specific to look for - i.e, "Find me any guns running silent within 100 meters", then any hits will bring back random guns within range. The more specific the information, the less random the results. If you said, "find me any Ares Pred V's within range" then the results narrow down.

4) If it is a host, then you can search for it and no range applies. Again, without specific information, you are going to get random hits - so the odds of you finding the host that way are astronomical. You need specific information that will narrow your search.

Hope that helps

I'm cool with that, it's a reasonable way of doing it.

Two thoughts:

1) Eyewitnesses are notoriously unreliable. A split second look at someone is hard to remember. Additionally, being intimidated is entirely possible.

2) The Influence spell is "Permanent" in duration. Basically, you have to maintain it for (Force) Combat turns and it becomes "a lasting, non-magical characteristic".

This is going to be noticeable if you influence them into thinking they're a chicken, but changing the race/gender of a criminal after the fact? Seems very plausible. How does anyone get convicted of crimes in 2075? I guess reasonable doubt has been replaced by extraterritoriality.

-DrZ

The end of the spell description states: "In any case, the suggestion fades naturally after a number of minutes equal to your net hits."

I'm honestly not sure which way to go on this one. The data bomb is pretty suspicious. I think a lot of it is going to ride on what MJ Kelly has to say. Additionally, this crime is linked to one other, so we could try to check that one out. The problem being that we don't have any specific location for the hit and it happened over a month ago.

Just wanted to make sure, we're just pausing for Amy and Overkill to do figure out what they're going to do IC, correct?

Few Questions:

Do I know if I have tipped off the GOD squad to my whereabouts?

Can I conduct any tests to see if the video was indeed tampered with?

As far as I know yes - I'm waiting for Amy and Overkill to decide what to do next, and you and Grease are waiting for Amy and Overkill to catch up with you on the timeline.

Yes, if your OS had reached 40, you would have been dumped from the Matrix. The fact that you were able to jack out normally means that GOD doesn't know where you are.

Good question about seeing if the video is tampered with. There is nothing in the rules covering it - so I'm going to say you just don't have the necessary equipment for now.

I don't think you can with the copy you have. From what I remember, when you copy a file it is a new entity and you are its owner. Like when you do it IRL, your copy will say it was created whenever you made the copy, rather than the date of the original file.

With that said, one of the pieces of information you can receive from a Matrix Perception check is: "The most recent edit date of a file." I think I had suggested that Overkill ask that as one of his hits on his Matrix Perception test. Not sure if that ever happened though. Granted, if they edited the file as it was recording, we wouldn't have any idea. Wheels within wheels, LOL.

You must have added that after your original post about how much money you needed for the files (I'm not suggesting you just added it now, I'm just saying you must have added it at some point, because I remember reading your post and not seeing that comment about the Matrix Perception.)

I'm wondering if looking for a data bomb should be the only result of that Matrix Perception, and another test might be necessary to find the other data.

Since it is not covered in the rules, and you did get two extra hits, we'll say for argument's sake that you were able to see the last edit date, and it is on the same day as the robbery, but from an hour after the video was recorded.

Going forward, can I get a pre-set list of the information you are looking for when you examine something using Matrix Perception?

I need one for when you examine:

1) A Host
2) A file
3) An icon

It will save time, and not then have to have us go back and retcon stuff.

Sorry, that's entirely possible, I tend to go back and edit posts if I forgot to put something in it, but I usually don't do that if another post has occurred. But yeah, I would definitely bet on it not being part of the original post. (It's a little annoying that this board doesn't show if/when someone edited a thread, or at least provide those details if requested).

I don't think it would be game-breaking at all (particularly if you let net hits pick up the rating of the bomb and other information that might be related, like when it was set). Given the design goal of less rolling rather than more, I think the intention was that you could pick it all up in one shot.

I'm ready for a transition to the new scene! Let's meet with Mary Jane. The person! (Grease I'm looking at you )

I am just glad I am not the only one who had that pop into his head when reading her name.

Do we want to go to her work to speak with Ms. Kelly? Given her job she probably has an office of her own, I could call and set up an appointment for us.

I think we should yes.

@Amy and Overkill,

Are you planning on just showing up to her job or are you calling to make an appointment?

I am sending her a comm message now.

Should I delay in sending the footage we found over to Jack and Grease, as well as the witness report of the Waitress? I remember reading in an earlier post there would be some continuity errors if they had that footage before meeting with Argent.

I don't think it would change things, in that since Argent has never seen any of Lynx's associates, he wouldn't be able to confirm or deny that any of the people in the video are members of his team.

Jack - Grease - would seeing that footage change how you speak to Argent?

If yes, then we'll have Overkill wait a bit, if not, then he can send it now.

Doesn't really matter. Just because we get the message doesn't mean we may check it right away, particularly since we would be focused on the task at hand. Especially if Overkill tells us he thinks it has been doctored. About the only question that might bring up would be whether Argent knows if Lynx works with any deckers (since we've heard no specific mention of deckers yet).

I know I'm probably stretching that a bit, but since it doesn't really effect things, I'm good with just saying that we reviewed the footage when we sit down for lunch. It doesn't really change our plans, IMO, since we're focused on the Mitchell case.

Oh!!! The plot thickens.

I was gonna post but it's pointless with this new development, I'll just let Overkill post again and we can rp this.

Oh no! Poor Mary Jane!

Indeed, why would you get rid of her? Were the cops knocking at your door? Oh wait.. that only makes too much sense ^^

Changing the footage won't have changed my conversation, no. I'm also cool with reviewing it over lunch.
-DrZ

@Chrome: Not sure, going through the files now, but I don't think we had any more leads regarding the Newton murder. We could start on the Manuel murder, its not far and ballistic tests indicated that the Newton and Manuel murders were carried out with the same weapon. So we could start there if you want.

I don't think we have an exact location for that one. It was a traffic stop out in the middle of nowhere, as I recall.

You may want to reread the Lone Star file again, I think you guys are confusing names.

Actually Manuel was shot through the window of his home, but I was wrong on the ballistics. Newton and Taylor's matched, not Manuel.

Right. But we could go check the Manuel murder scene, for sure. Maybe there were witnesses.

Sorry, I wasn't looking at the names. I did remember that the Newton murder was related to the murder of the guy on patrol duty in BFE.

ETA: Samantha Jackson's murder is the closest to where you are now. It was at a Stuffer Shack, so there are definitely cameras. With that said, that murder was more than a month ago, although I'm sure people are still going to remember a robbery/murder to some degree.

Manuel's murder was a few weeks ago. His murder seems the strangest and possibly least connected. He was murdered at home, not in the line of duty and worked Robbery rather than Gangs or Smuggling...

EATA: Actually, I'm not sure where the King's Inn is, so it might not be that close. I was thinking about it in reference to Mary Jane Kelly's house.

Sounds like a plan, gotta run to the shop and get my car. Should be back in an hour or so.