Data taps have wireless capability so you wouldn't even need the commlink although there technically is no such thing as an offline host, since hosts are by definition matrix constructs. You could have breached an old Nexus that runs on a server, or it's a hidden running host of which you data tapped a device to find it and get easy access.

OK, we are getting close. I will avoid any additional posting until I see what you guys are doing. I have Tanya up to about 2100 on Monday and out near Tacoma after fighting off some assassins. If Glo is hitting the Bright Path Casino and Hotel, can you make it happen after that time? Tanya can react to that on the way to the hospital and they will think it is just a continuation of the assassination attempt. There is more than one casino in Chinatown and perhaps you are hitting one of those instead? That is up to you and I will roll with it either way.

Okay, per OOC and IC planning, Al is reaching out to Silk.

Since Aria's in this game, figured I'd better give him first crack at the reply.

Obviously this should tip us off to a possible ally in Glo.

How much of the larger picture that points us toward Mercy's story is in this initial intel dump and how much we have to work harder for and get later I'll leave to Aria.

It's a start...I'm assuming Silk sent you info from the Seattle 2072 book, maybe anything currently on Jackpoint too. It will be fairly generic unless you request something more specific! Perhaps the 'researcher' hint will be enough to start a link to Glo, but on the whole I thought it might actually be more fun to meet mid run!

As to Lady T, whilst Silk will no doubt be aware of her I don't think she'd make a connection with Ai's actions with the 88s... I don't think there's anything to really link the two together yet?!?

So we're aiming for an insertion around 10.40pm right?!? Should be easy enough, Glo had already said she'd be hitting the joint while it was open! She will try and avoid a shift change if possible, assuming she has that info... and if she has it Silk will have passed it to Al! Mercy, did you set out shift patterns in your IC? Don't want to disrupt continuity if I can help it

Only two people are aware of Tanya's association with the 88s, Ni Ni Xiaolu and Monique.

Shifts are 0800, 1600, and 2400. There is a slight overlap between shifts.

Perfect, so hit the place towards the end of a shift when people are tired but before there are twice the number of guards during a watch change...so about 11pm

Just remember that there will be lots of tourists in the casino at that time.

Exactly! Maximum chaos to cover a hasty exit!

+Bullet sponges

Wasn't precisely what I was getting at

Seattle 2072? Yikes. I own three different Seattle sourcebooks, and the most recent is 2068. How many are there even? Matter of time before they put one out for SR5, I suppose, maybe get that one.

Anyway, Aria, looks like you are having Glo hit Fu Shing's casino at 11 pm this evening. Going straight for the Tanya involvement.
I won't argue - I think she's picking herself up off the side of the road at 10:32 pm way down in Tacoma, and going to a hospital from there. So seems pretty unlikely she'll be there to create PVP conflict.
And then - for better or worse - you or we would be on her radar (with a little baggage to overcome before we could get to the win-win of taking out Rick Wu).

So, assuming you go ahead with this, two questions for orchestrating the game:
(1) I agree that running into Glo during the action would be fun, but if Al just got a download on dozens of Triad assets covering all four Lodges, what are the odds he and Jan and John would choose to target the same one Glo is at the same time (and with so little time to plan)? If we want that to happen, we need to assume something in the download from Silk acts as a hook...
(2) How do we want to handle the casino incursion game-wise? Just storytell it? Will Mercy mind if we tear the place up a bit, steal some decent cash? Or should one of us (Al?) be the outside wheelman, and I could GM the security? Or maybe Mercy could GM the (her) security, or is that too PVPish?

For now in my next IC I'll just have Al start studying the material. No need to relay it Jan IC just yet, since I think Mr. J's next IC task is bringing John in.

Hopefully people will chime in on points one and two above, since we don't have the luxury of a full-on GM in this (the downside of the joys of collaboration).


PS - how much is this invoice Silk sends? Not expecting any freebies....

There are likely to be some issues to resolve if the casino is damaged a lot or if a lot of people are hurt.

There is a SR5 version of the Seattle source book that you can download.

I am still hoping that someone runs into Ni Ni for some reason and she clues you in on Tanya.

Far as I can tell the latest Seattle source stuff doesn't have much more than the 72 version which seems to be more comprehensive... will get to Adam's points when I'm not typing on my damn phone

As Al was informed by Silk that she had an 'operative in place to receive detailed information' I think it would be more logical (if not quite as much fun) for us to wait on that intel after Glo's run? There doesn't seem to be an IC reason to strike immediately (the same night we met!) without any time for planning when there's a good chance we'll have great intel in a day or so.

Also, hitting a casino isn't really what we're about. We aren't after collateral damage. We're in 'head off the snake' mode.

Just my tuppence worth

Ps. I had the Seattle 2072 sourcebook and loved it, then it was in my mates car when he had it nicked

Have to agree with Mr. J on what's the smart play.
Though, as he admits, maybe not the funnest.

Assuming the data dump from Silk does not (as yet) have any mention of Ni Ni, here's a way we could reconcile fun and smart:

Among other things, Al puts together that Fu Shing's casino keeps a buttload of cash, which of course gets moved periodically. With an eye to jacking that transfer, we three boys set up surveillance on the place this evening.
Glo then does her (covert?) thing, gets in trouble somehow, and we help her out (shooting her evil Triad pursuers, or even simply scooping her off the street and high-tailing it, whatever). From there it's enemy-of-my-enemy and all that.

Fits everyone's story, still smart, justifiable based on current IC knowledge, and gets all the four of us together plus puts us on Mercy's character's radar...

You had me at "shoot Triads to get their cash".

Please remember that the security at the Bright Path casino will be very heavy due to the assassination attempt just a short time ago.

Maybe it's a different casino.

Also, I have the main boulevard as pedestrian only, but maybe that is during certain hours only.

is it just me, or have both Shadowgrid and OP crashed?

Seems so.

By the way, I'm still waiting for Mister_Joshua to reply to John so he knows where to go

Not just you

Hadn't forgotten, but Glo is reconning around 8pm, the sec force will get ramped up after the attack at 10:30 right? Coincidentally just as she begins her run

It's a Dodge Scoot, practically a pedal bike lol...traffic restrictions?!?

LOL. The scoot is probably OK.

Yes, your run will be just as they are increasing the security. Be careful. Most of the casino guards are using stick-n-shock or gel rounds. The guards at the private elevator are using APDS and are primed to defend. There might be a couple of these men roaming near the elevator and able to help defend the casino.

My SG seems to be down, still. Is it the site or me?

Nope, still down for everyone else too.

Looks like I'll actually have to do my work instead

Yeah, soz. I'll get on it today

Still down...OP is back at least

I've jsut dug out my copy of the Seattle 2072 sourcebook and read that the Komun'go Ring have connections with Tamanous. I have connections with Tamanous! That would've been handy to know before our last run out

I picked 2 random street names in what would be the International district based on Seattle'd Google maps. I don't know Al's actual address. I was going to say we met there and walked to the unknown location, but I'm happy to run with that being Al's actual place if Adamu is fine with it

I always find it dead confusing coming up with locations in a sprawl like Seattle. I find it hard to imagine a city that size.

Ah, sorry I didn't realize that you sent us two different meeting points. Luckily it doesn't affect my post - the smoker could be someone else beside Al.

Sure, I don't have a set address in mind - Jack's post was cool, no worries if we just go with that being Al's address and he sees Al etc and we go from there.

I used to live in Seattle, and there's a steep hill rising up on the east side of the Int'l District, and there are some crappy-looking apartment blocks on it - my impression wa that it was sort of a lower-class housing area for Asians living in Seattle (but I'm not sure).
Anyway, that's what I based Al's original Seattle home on, but never knew the address.

I mostly just set the meet there since I thought it was funny, since, unbeknownst to Al, after the place got burned down and Al moved out, Jan moved into the same basement room, right? Fun connections!

Ah, ok. I didn't realise that. Until I read the source book yesterday I always assumed the international district was a business district. I'll probably edit my post as I guess Jan knows the area better than I thought

Edit: All tidied up! Did a thorough Google Street view search and found a proper dirty tenement. Edited my last post slightly, and put up a new one. Should all fit together now. I don't think Jan knew where Al's old place was, so he'd a little unsure how you found him

Al's old place

Cool link!

Al doesn't wear a hat - no edit necessary, though!

@Mr J, Jack - so again, the proposal to surveil the casino right away is to get us in proximity to Aria's Glo, who happens to be making a play on that casino this very evening.

It'll also, for better or worse, get us on the radar of Fu Shing (and Mercy's character Tanya), who is the guy we need to collaborate with as part of Option 2.

Just remember, there is no real driving by, as the main boulevard is pedestrian traffic only, with two lanes for scooters and bicycles in the middle of the road. You will need to park the vehicle in one of the three large parking lots just outside of Chinatown proper.

Or we ruthlessly drive over the bike lane and honk anyone aside

But thanks for the info, much appreciated

LOL Yes, you could do that, but it does make your passage a bit obvious.

I added a post for Glo that covers her getting out of the kitchen and out to the main casino area. I can edit or remove if it is out of place for me to post this. Just thought I would add a bit of flavor since you guys are about to raid my casino. I have some thoughts on the money being moved to the bank for deposit if Jan, et al are interested in looking into that for a payday.

Can I just clear something up/clarify something? This casino we're looking at is in Chinatown, yeah? According to the books there isn't really a Chinatown in Seattle. The old one burned down (I assume IRL from the date) and after that the International District grew from it. So the casino is here, where we are? And I've now got 2 conflicting views of the ID; one as a run-down area and another as a busy bustling Casino-quality area. It's not very big (by the book) either. Have we made up a Chinatown?

Yes, I made up a Chinatown to use for the characters in my other threads. It is a thriving area of businesses, and the home to my Triads. Connected to it is an area that is much like the Redmond Barrens that I called the Chinatown Barrens, which is where some of my NPCs and PCs in my threads operate in on occasion. I put my Chinatown at the edge of the International District.

I apologize if I have confused anyone and we can go with something else if desired.

I'm fine with that. It's just that I've been using official sources when trying to give my posts an internal consistency, so if that's not what we're using it's good to know so I can seek confirmation on the location.

How big do you envisage your chinatown/barrens then as I think in the official material (and real Seattle) the whole area is only a few blocks. I can easily see this expanding and increasing in value given the gang activity. Just trying to avoid crossed-wires really. Are the Yaks still a player in your International District/Chinatown? Is the bit of the ID we're in likely part of the chinatown barrens? Probably not the best place to hide from Triads!

Wow, I have probably messed up and am sorry for the issues.

I envisioned my Chinatown to be a number of blocks long and spreading out from one major boulevard, so I guess I have expanded the area beyond the source material. The boulevard is primarily a pedestrian walkway and the entire place caters to tourists and is home to the Triads.

The Yaks have influence in the International District, but not in Chinatown.

The Chinatown Barrens is a large area hidden behind Chinatown and connected to it by a warren of alleyways. There is very little organization in these slums except for what local gangs offer, much like the Redmond Barrens. The Chinatown Barrens is a bed of a lot of criminal activity that focuses on the sex slave trade, other human trafficking, and drugs. Much of this activity eventually flows through the Triads and into the greater Seattle sprawl.

Okay, so just reviewing the source material on Seattle, the various editions are pretty consistent that the International District, while a mix of Asian cultures, is Yak controlled, with some Triad opposition. (There is mention in older Seattle books of a Little Asia in Tacoma that is the main Chinatown, but I think our story is happening downtown in the International District).

That's how I've handled it as player and GM, in particular when Al iived there.

But of course who cares!

I agree, continuity is important, and we should try to be on the same page.

I don't think Mr. J is trying to catch anyone in a mistake. Just trying to make sure we all see things in the same way.

All we need to do is follow the Anarchy axiom of "yes, and...".

International District as canon. But we add everything Mercy has created as an appendage - a clear, Triad-controlled Chinatown as a part of the International District. Problem basically solved except where you get down to the level of actual streets.

Again, we keep the streets as they are in RL and the way they correspond to canon, and then tack this Chinatown onto that somewhere, and that too can be overlaid onto a RL street map if anyone has the energy to do so.

Anyway, for the current casino job, some points about what was initially proposed (of course subject to change anytime) might simplify things....we are just going through the motions of checking this place out because the expectation is that Glo will get into trouble on her own, already started, incursion. And then we will be on hand to help her, and then we get Aria into the group.

From there, we can give serious thought to tactical considerations, but at this point it is all just a collaborative storytelling exercise to bring Aria in, and maybe get on Tanya's radar.

Thank you for being kind. It would be cool from my perspective to just modify the canon a bit to include my version of Chinatown. I appreciate the help. I was not trying to steer anyone wrong. I just saw a missing piece and needed it for my own threads and thought it would be neat to just create it.

Below is entirely my fabrication, no problem adding a Chinatown to the mix

Maybe a quick post on the wiki for non-canon places would be in order if anyone has the energy alongside mapping

That all sounds good to me. As Adamu said, I don't mind any changes from canon as long as we're all 'singing from the same hymnsheet' as it were. The only reason I noticed at all is because I know so little of the canon around that area that I read it to help me understand the story, and then realised that I still didn't know where we were talking about

If Mercy had the time to create it, a wiki entry on OP for Chinatown would actually be really helpful to me at least.

Does John set off security scanners? Just something that popped into my head. I know it's something you'll have thought of, but I was curious.

Not more or less than a typical street sam.
If necessary I can call my contact to send a strong sprite to manipulate the scanner for me.

So heya peeps - with us three young fresh fellows watching or hanging nearby the place, are we then just waiting for Aria to post something that attracts our attention...?

Or is there anything else we want to achieve in the intervening hours?

Well, as soon as we act, we'll have to pretty much keep moving and shaking until we are done or we retreat.

Once John is done with casing the joint and creating a map, he'll call on Al and Jan for a little strategy meeting.
If Glo makes a move during that this gets thrown out the window and we have to improvise.

Made my move , purposefully haven't decided what the guards do in case Mercy wants to chip in at this point?!? I think it's reasonable to assume the fire alarm does indeed go off however as that is how sprinklers are designed to work!