Guys, my group and I could use a bit of help for some brainstorming. Last session, our GM presented us with a run, which is kind of making us scratch our heads on how to go about completing.

Objective: Get some paydata off of a currier, without alerting them to this fact, nor making them suspect that they might have been compromised.

Challenges: Target will be traveling on a high speed public train between Seattle and SF. We do not know what the target looks like, what their name is, nor where they will be sitting in the train, and we will only get information about their appearance, and possibly their name, a few hours before they board the train, at the most. We have to expect that there will be other people about the target throughout the journey. There are no stops on the journey, and we are talking a high speed train going at an estimate 3-400km/hour, so we are not going to be walking on the outside of the train, nor just jumping off it. We have limited equipment, and limited funds. There is likely a limit on what we can realistically get onboard the train in terms of equipment.

The Group: We are not playing optimized characters by a longshot.
- Female 1: Heavy Weapons/Technomancer Rigger (Resonance 2, so basically not hacking or rigging anything at the moment). We do not have a flight capable vehicle.
- Female 2: Mechanic/B&E. Possibly Blandness.
- Male 1: Sniper/B&E. Blandness.
- Female 3 (me): Twisted Mystic Adept with a heavy focus on spellcasting, usually the negotiator of the group due to magically augmented Charisma 8. Black Magic tradition. Think Belatrix Lestrange from Harry Potter. Magic 5 (Mage 4/Adept 1), Spellcasting 6. Mild Sunlight Allergy. No foci. Horrible luck with summoning Spirits (7 dice). Resist Drain with 16 dice (Willpower and Charisma 8 due to Quickened magical augmentation). Day Job as stripper/prostitude. Pocket Hacker available on Comlink (Hermes Ikon w/ Iris Orb OS), which arguably is the best hacker in the group.
Spells:
- Flamethrower
- Ignite
- Control Actions
- Physical Barrier
- Levitate
- Agony
- Orgasm
- Dream
- Mind Probe
- Heal
- Cure Disease
- Aleviate Allergy
- Nutrition
- Decrease [Body]
- Increase [Willpower]
- Increase [Charisma]

So far we are kind of scratching our heads on this one. We have about 2 weeks to prep for the run. So far we've agreed that two of the characters should take a trip with the train to get an idea about the layout. The real challenge is that the target can't realise that he's been compromised. We can't pick-pocket the target, as we don't have the skills for it. Laes leaves the target wondering what happened to the last X hours, meaning that this is probably not an option either. Hacking is only an option if the Pocket Hacker can do the trick. Gassing the entire train with Neurostun can leave the target wondering about being compromised, so that's not a viable plan either. Abducting the guy isn't an option. Having him hand over the data isn't an option. Bribing him isn't an option. We've considdered trying to set the train on fire or similar, in order to create a panic during which we might be able to get at him and the data, but that's something of a gamble.

How would you skin this cat?

Tell the GM to tailor the game to the characters' capabilities or face the team walking away from the story? That's a prime runner level run, given to mostly street level runners without the required skills. Seriously, two b&e specialists with nothing to b&e, the combat characters prefer long distance engagements in a cqb situation, and a more pink mohawk bent to the characters but with a mirrorshades style run? Add with the lack of information or ability to prep, and this is a run you should have never agreed to in the first place unless you got paid a bunch upfront and the run has a serious payout after.

If you're serious about doing it, you need more information. What is the paydata? Who has it and who wants it? If you can, preemptively follow up the chain of where you are getting the identity instead of simply waiting for it. Where is the paydata going? Who should be getting the paydata?

Also, without the ability to pickpocket, you'll need an excuse to get your hands on it. Infiltrate the train system to pose as a version of an air Marshall and find an excuse to rifle through all of their belongings? Cause an emergency and copy the files while everyone is distracted?Alternatively, if you can find out who the courier is dropping it off to, you can set yourself up as said person and make the pick up yourself. If you have less moral qualms, disappear the courier but make it look like either the courier sold it him/herself or stole it or just kill the courier and take his/her place at the meeting to pass the paydata off? Either way, without a proper Decker, you'd better hope it's not encrypted or has other electronic protections.

Agree with tjn on this one. To be frank, this a job for an intelligence-type 'runner team. Your team simply doesn't have the skillset for this job.

The only option I can think of with your current team is to possibly set up a botched terrorist attack on the train and hope that the paydata can take a bit of lovin'. Center it right near the courier and snag his package in the resulting chaos. Return it to him via the conductor so they can run a background check on the returning party and find them clean. The main issue I see is that damn lack of a pickpocket skill because it's the only way you can do a search without being Capt. Obvious.

On such a train, you'll be on there (given presumed intermediate stops) at least five hours, probably more like six. Add customs delays for crossing multiple suspicious borders, and that can easily stretch to twenty. Find that out first - high speed doesn't mean human delays don't add up.

If the timing is such as to justify sleeper cars, odds are your courier will be in a sleeper car, for additional security. If so, you have a B&E job ahead of you. If not, your courier is almost certainly sleeping in a seat on the train. Either situation leaves you with excellent chances to exercise nefarious actions because of the cover offered by the noise and activity on board a fast train.

If your courier's data is on headware, or similarly built in, you need time and proximity to gently ooze your way past the defences and get in. If not, you need to abscond with it and spend a few hours cracking your way in. Given suitably equipment, chips and so on, either of these approaches is possible.

It will be tough, but I see openings.

In the ideal situation, your courier is cheap and stupid and has a public seat and you sit down next to him, or behind him. Pick his pocket to take it, rape it, replace it. Done, and walk out to a payday.

Thanks for the comments guys. Turns out that the Sniper/Infiltrator actually has 10 dice for Palming (I just found a copy of the character sheet for him from a couple of months back). I'd written off his ability to pick pocket because the one time he's so far used it, he mucked it up, which led me to remember him as being worse at it than he statistically ought to be. So depending upon how the data is stored, picking it out of a pocket, copying it and re-planting it might theoretically be an option. The dice be willing.

Anyway, I'm still open to suggestions on how this might be possible to pull off. If it makes it any easier, let's open up the challenge a bit, and ignore our team, and in stead look at how this could be done in general. If nothing else, it might spark an idea or two.

You need more info.

What form is the data?

Physical files in a briefcase, files on a storage module in the briefcase, locked in their skull mounted comlink?

What is their escort? How can you spot them?

Is the courier male or female? You need to get a photo of the courier, not just a description. Trains like that have hundreds of people on them, in possibly a dozen or more cars, so what car they get on or have a ticket for would be nice.

Assuming its a physical item you can gain access to, (not headware) my first choice for approach would be seduction, though not having anyone capable of summoning a spirit makes that more complex, as having a decent sized spirit use influence certainly helps that process.

Mind Probe to find out: 1) where the paydata is and if it can be physically removed, 2) the sexual orientation of the courier, 3) where the courier will be on the train. Use your very high Charisma to distract or possibly engage the courier in conversation, or use Increase Charisma on your male teammate if the courier prefers male company. Use Levitate or Palming to remove and replace the paydata if possible. Any ideas for the Dream, Control Actions, or Orgasm spells? Somehow compelling the courier to drink a lot might make a toilet trip necessary.

Agree completely that we need more info. Some of it the GM indicates will become available at some point either shortly prior to the arrival of the currier at the station in Seattle, or at least prior to arrival in SF. Not excately optimal conditions to work with, but that's the current situation.

We've considdered seduction as well, and though I agree that some spirit assistance always helps, my character rolls 11 dice for seduction (Cha 8, Con 1, Seduction spec. +2), so she ought to have resonable odds, as long as the target is into female humans

blow up the train. if the information is that important then there is another way to get to it or if it is the only copy nobody gets to play.

Have the seductive character make a pass at the courier. It doesn't even matter whether it works or not - the point is only to distract him while the Sniper/Infiltrator picks his pocket - since the run hinges on this, and on replacing the data later, use Edge on both rolls (getting the data, and replacing it).

Does anyone on your team have laes/lael aerosol spray or a laes filled gas grenade? it can be a good way to cover up an oopsie.

How long does the courier have to remain unaware? Forever, for the duration of the trip or just until your employer can capitalize on the data?

I haven't read the rules for simsense programming in a long while, but if the target is a Jonny Mneumonic-style data courier you could subdue him forcibly and use his headware to erase any memory of it.

If the data is in a case of some kind you could have part of your team board the train and surveil the target to get the make and model of the case. Then you could have a high-speed aerial drone deliver a matching decoy case en route (you'll just have to figure out how to land the drone on a moving train, which would be cool).

Pixie dust & laes cigarettes work, too.

Hmm, other idea . .
Get onto the Train, throw a gas grenade to knock out everybody, behead a guy in line of sight of the actual curier and take the head with you(makes for a nice gift, if wrapped propperly) and take the data from his headmemory while he is knocked out. when he comes to and sees the missing head of the other guy he should assume that he was just collateral damage in the attack after somebody else.

Ooooh, collateral damage as diversion - nice. You could also pretend to be anarchic/eco/[whatever group you want to get in trouble] terrorists.

violence IS always a viable answer.
don't let ANYBODY, especially a GM, tell you otherwise.
you just have to get creative about HOW to use violence.
and maybe change the mission parameters to suit your violent needs.

Something Like This?

This is not a job I would say your team is realistically capable of pulling off.

However, if you have to try, I would suggest not trying to compromise the courier at all - compromise the person or place the courier is going to deliver it to, swap one of your Blands in for the person the Courier is to drop the item to, use whatever means are necessary to make the courier not think too closely about who he gave the data to.

The job description says that the courier must not suspect that their data has been compromised. Mister Johnson didn't say jack shit about the people the courier's delivering it too suspecting their data's been compromised, so go ahead and kill them all/tie them up in a basement/whatever. If the courier's expecting to be paid, pay him - hopefully out of the money of the people he was supposed to drop it to, but out of your own money if need be. Try and soak the Johnson for this expense.

Mind Probe to find out if the courier knows who will be at the meeting.

The issue with Mind Probe, IIRC, is that the target is intimately aware of the fact that they have been skullfucked.

Blob drone (spy games p155 12R 4500)

"Because of its fluid nature, the blob can squeeze itself through openings as narrow as a millimeter. The outer surface of the blob is covered with tiny Velcro-like hairs allowing for vertical and inverted climbing movement.  The ball can fold
its membrane to grab a small object and roll with it back to its controlling rigger."

So have it ooze into the couriers briefcase grab the data chip and ooze back out and away.

Err, that won't work . .
Exactly like how you can get your hand into the cookie jar, but as soon as you make a fist around the cookies it won't come out again, the slime may be able to go through the small little spaces, but the chip most certainly would not O.o

I reckon something the size of a micro sd card could fit.

Some creative suggestions amongst the above. A part of me particularly like Stahlseele's suggestion about using collateral damage as a diversion. My character could find that to be a perfectly viable solution >evil chuckle<

The seduction/pickpocketing combo also sounds like a viable solution. Maybe in combination with the collateral diversion...

Shadowdragon's suggestion of replacing the recipient will also have to be investigated as a possible solution.

As specified, Mindprobing unfortunate leaves the target perfectly aware that they have been/are being mindraped, so that's not really an option.

The Johnson haven's specified any set duration for the how long the currier (and possibly also the receiver) must remain unaware of the theft, so until now we've operated under the assumption that the theft must remain permanently covert. But it's obviously something that need to be doublechecked with the GM.

Thank you so far guys If you have any further suggestions, I'm all ears (or eyes, technically...)

then that would mean that it could possibly also fall out of that bag.
which would make the whole point of that being used pretty much moot.

also, i think this whole discussion is going to be pointless, as it was stated that the data is in the headmemory(?)

So answer his questions by removing valuable jewelry and electronics from the other unconscious passengers. Keep the electronics to ones that are more impressive-looking than what the courier displays. If you can, do something similar before and after the run, but at some trid theater, or stuffer shack, or whatever, so that the news starts talking about "the neurostun bandits". Maybe leave "calling cards". Nothing traceable, of course...

Honestly, they're right. You don't have the tools to do this job.

So your priority is to turn it into a job you do have the tools to do.

Do you at least know which corp he is working for and transporting the data to?

I am just having images dancing in my head of your team slipping onto the train and finding it's a Herr Brackhaus playing courier sort of day.

Sendaz. Unfortunately we don't have that information either. That being said, so far in this game, the GM hasn't had us go up against any of the major corps, at least not in a manner where it has actually mattered to the run which one it was, and he's generally not the type to shaft us by i.e. having the currier just incedentally be Herr Brackhaus or similar *LOL* Also, he's also not the type to design runs that he can't imagine some way for our characters to pull off (though we have walked away from a potential extra job, because we couldn't see a way to pull it off successfully.)

Anyway, I agree that we probably have to think out of the box on this one, because frankly, the skillset required for this type of job, isn't excately the skillset we specialize in.

This already sounds like a clusterfuck waiting to happen. Maybe I missed some important data somewhere, but "keep the courier ignorant forever" is not an option unless you know what the data is about, who it's from, and who it's going to, because you can't make a workable replacement that the recipient will buy. This is what the employer should be providing, among other things.

Assuming you mean "keep the courier ignorant until the delivery is made", that's merely very tough, rather than impossible. I vote for stopping or diverting the train with a (real or fabricated) disaster on the tracks, then executing plan Great NeuroStun Robbery. The courier won't suspect he's been mugged because hey, the data's still here, and they were after cash anyway. Horrible luck, hell of a delay, but obviously not the work of a professional data-poaching team.

If the courier dies he will be unaware he lost the info...

Shortstraw: I like your thinking >chuckle<

Meatbag: Just had a confirmation from the GM. Both the currier and the recipient must be kept ignorant of the intercept permanently. So we basically have to get a hold of the data, copy it, and then replacing it on the currier without him discovering it. As we still don't know what form the data actually takes, and how it's stored.

We know that he will arrive at the station by VTOL capable aircraft, and we know which train he will be on. We don't know what he looks like, nor his metatype, gender, age, or name. We can expect to have to go through an ID check, because we will be crossing several borders underway, and we will be going through a security check. And KE is patroling the area. The train has both standard communal compartments and 1st class compartments. So yes. We basically have a part of a skeleton worth of needed information, in order to properly prepare for the run, and it's questionable whether or not we actually have the skills that we will need for a job like this.

I have to agree that this is a clusterfuck waiting to happen *Laugh* But I suspect it will be fun nevertheless. Worst thing that can happen is that we get to make some new characters for next time, in which case our demise was hopefully memorable.

I'll let you guys know how it pans out. We'll be meeting in a few hours...

Even the GM says to kill him (and the recipient).

That is going to be tough. You have to have some kind of diversion to separate the courier and his data, without him knowing, copy it and get it back in place.

Think seduction route may be the way to go afterall and while one team member is keeping the courier occupied (lots of orgy spell for distracting attention from anything else-not saying your team can't perform without, but every bit helps in this case) the others have to lift, copy and replace.

Should be fun

How comfortable are you with MUCH collateral damage? O.o
Get the data, blow the whole train up. Hard to figure out what whoever did that was after if the whole evidence was blown up.

Stahlseele: My character might be OK with that, slightly depending on how many children are onboard. However, I kind of suspect that at least one of the other characters on the team could voice some level of objection to that level of collateral damage *chuckle* Also, blowing up a train full of people for 8 grand/head + expenses is a little cheap, even for our characters... (Yes, we are playing with a somewhat low income level. 8k is not an insubstantial amount of money for us. We seriously did do some calculations on the possible return of stealing cars and selling them off to chopshops, just to get some more money in order to get some more and better gear. The GM seemed to take the hint, because the payout per run increased a bit after that debate.)

8k?
did you get an advance?
if so, tell the GM/Johnson to go fuck themselves with a cactus.
Take the advance and go camping with some beers.
This shit for 8k? that so would not fly with me/my characters . .

I had expected something along the lines of 20k per head or so x.x

Consisderign the pay, blowing the train is in my opinion out of the question. No matter what the character's morals, it's big anf Noisy enough to bring far more heat to bear from both the law and anybody important's employers or relatives for such a low pay.

If i had to go for a 'terrorsit' cover, I'd try to go for the nonlethal/nasty humilating prank route, passing it off as coming from an high image/low bodycount group.

We didn't get to finish the run tonight. We've managed to ID the currier and get onboard the train. Our Pocket Hacker got through her comlink and copied the content to my character's comlink, and apparently even managed to clean up after itself. We haven't been able to determine if we have what we are looking for yet though, but we did manage to catch a hand-off between the currier and someone else at the station, before the train left. So realistically speaking we are probably looking for a physical object of some sort, so having hacked her 'link probably won't do the trick for this run.
We've also successfully scanned the currier with a Cyberware Scanner, but it only show information about a build-in comlink, and a simrig, so that's not really all that helpful. A successful pick-pocket attempt have let one of the characters (the technomancer/rigger no less! I didn't realise that she's got 10 dice worth of Palming!) have a quick feel through of her handbag, without it revealing anything suspicious though. But any item the currier received at the train station can easily have been concealed within some other everyday object, or it might be hidden on her person for all we know.
So at this point we are kind of wondering how we are going to go about getting a better look at whatever she might be carrying. My character is lesbian and has a dayjob as a stripper/prostitute, so if worst comes to worst, I'll let her try and go for the seduction idea, but I suspect that this will probably fail. The information we managed to dig up about the currier, didn't suggest that she's into women.

If people are interested, I'll try and put together an IC description of tonight's events, seen from my character's POV.

That's why a spirit would be really helpful. Influence is pretty subtle and pretty effective.

- Impersonate security officers, or border controllers at the departure or arrival station and randomly select the target for a detailed examination. Depending on the way the data is stored, this can be more or less easy.

- Get the target to sleep (either wait for him to sleep, or drug him one way or another), then use the Dream spell to have him dream of the train getting under attack by a group of shadowrunners looking for him. Have the dream end up with "I should have hidden the data in [a place on the train where everyone has access but nobody would be looking]". Or have him hide the data in the dream before the attack, allowing him to get out of the attack alive because the runners didn't find the data on him.
Then, when he wakes up, dressed like the shadowrunners of his dream, walk past him and make him see "by accident" that you are indeed armed. He'll freak out, think that the dream was a warning, be very happy to discover that he's actually a mage who can predict the future, and hide the data according to what he dreamt.

This one is a bit more far-fetched, but it's cooler, so any good GM should give it more chance to succeed than a more classic plan

Eight thousand per head? For this shit?!

Take the advance, tell Mr. Johnson - our better yet, your fixer - you don't work for cheap fools who think they can get Prime Runner performances out of somebody they hired for beer money.

There are times to screw over Mr. Johnson. That time is upon you now. Then go with your carjacking chopshop idea and maybe knock over a few stuffer shacks while you're at it.

Yeah, you really don't have enough info to do this job, and you GM is not helping. You don't even know if this is a datasteal or a snatch. Given how little you know, she could be carrying it inside tamper locked headware, and you'll have to kidnap her to physically remove it.

We agree completely. Knowing the GM, however, we ought to be able to do this job with the skills and information we have available. But ya, this is a seriously annoying lack of information. It's unlikely that she's got the stuff locked inside some headware, as all she's got is a build-in comlink and a build-in Simrig, and we presumably already hacked her build-in comlink (unless she's uploaded the data she received to her headware and then turned it off, and the comlink we hacked, was an external spare one she's carrying...). My character is giving serious consideration to telling the fixer who set us up with this run, that if he comes up with another run without a basic amount of information about the job, she'll make him sodomize himself with a cactus, as suggested earlier in this thread (thank you for that description Stahlseele).

I'm a little surprised that no one has mentioned that it sounds like the Johnson is planning on have you fail, not your GM. When you manage to pull this off (you should be able to with Dumpshock's help), go back expecting a double cross. Also be sure to have a trusted hacker contact (if you don't have one, get one) look over the paydata and make you a copy for "insurance purposes."