"I love the smell of data in the morning. Smells like...victory."

Jimmy knows that, while his tribemates' wanton vandalism will likely pull any security deckers in the system away from the target, all it's going to do to the the IC is piss it off and jack it up. Time is of the essence; if this system goes to alert he's going to have a much rougher time of it. Obviously the first step is yet another Locate Host, so we'll jump right in on that. Things are likely to be tougher here, but he's counting on his high Detection Factor to keep the system off his back

Rolling Computers (+3 hacking pool dice) for a total of 11 dice against the PLTG's Index rating, modified by my Index channel, and leaving me with a much more reasonable 9, 4, 4, 3, 3, 2, 2, 2, 1, 1, 1.

I don't know how the system imagery deals with my search...is there a guide or a "You Are Here" board by the base of the tree?

Actually, right now the plan for your tribesmates is to redecorate the public -- not the private -- side of the museums matrix presence. Therefore, their actions should put this system directly on alert -- i.e. they're not generating a tally on the PLTG and later on the museum's administrative grid itself. However, if the security that they draw puts the system on passive alert because they're paranoid --- well, that's what detection factor is for

A small squirrel appears before you and scampers down the tree trunk waiting at your feet. Shrugging, you begin to follow it up into the branches of what appears to be the largest virtual oak tree you've ever seen.


Here's the behind the sence information about what's going on: Jimmy is performing a Locate Access Node operation (I gave it the wrong name previously). This is an interrogative operation. The 9 that he rolled above was good enough for 1 success, and the grid didn't roll any successes. However, because Locate Access Node is an interrogative operation, Jimmy needs 5 successes before he actually finds the host for the museum.

Therefore, Req: Roll again -- in fact give me like four rolls in succession and I'll use the ones that are necessary.

Trying his best to coerce the squirrel into leading him where he wants to go, Jimmy works his way up the branches of the oak hand-over-hand.

Riiiight, forgot all about interrogative tests. So we'll work on this and try to keep the security sheaf from getting too high.

I'll continue with contributing 2 hacking pool dice to each attempt, and keep the attempts spaces 1/turn so the pool will refresh between attempts. So each attempt will be 10 dice.

The next four tests:

5, 5, 5, 5, 4, 2, 2, 2, 1, 1 (ouch!)
14, 5, 5, 4, 4, 3, 3, 2, 2, 1
17, 14, 11, 7, 5, 3, 3, 3, 1, 1
7, 5, 5, 4, 4, 3, 2, 1, 1, 1

That third one ought to do it.

Note to self: dump the whole pool into a test, and you're less likely to let the host make more checks and jack up the security sheaf.

Yup, between the second and the third you're good to go.

The squirrel leads you to out onto a branch running roughly parallel to the ground. At the end of the branch is a treehouse incongruously suspended from a branch above you far too thin to support it's weight. The treehouse is labeled, NAM which you assume is the acronym for Native American Museum.

Now all we need is a logon to host and we'll be able to get down to business.

Also, I think I posted this above, but I don't really visit DSF on the weekends, so if we're slow on Saturdays and Sundays, that's why. Just FYI for those playing along at home.

Dammit, trouble at work - sorry for the last two days.

Logon to Host - Computers, plus 2 dice from Hacking pool, against Access subsystem, modified by my Access channel which is 5.

11, 5, 4, 4, 4, 3, 3, 2, 1, 1

Wild! One of the rare times I've seen this. The host rolled 2 successes against Jimmy's 1 to log onto the new host. Therefore, Jimmy gets the virtual finger from the museum host.

As you move toward the treehouse with intent to enter it, the door swings silently shut and audibly locks before you. Pushing on it yields no results. As you step back for a moment, the squirrel icon almost looks to be laughing at you before it slides back into the digital foliage.

This means that Jimmy has to log onto the host again. And I even toned this host down from what my program resulted in!

Muttering guttertrash obscenities under his breath - and wishing for a virtual shotgun for when that squirrel shows up again - Jimmy takes a quick look around him for any sign of trouble, and then returns to the treehouse door with a vengeance.

Assuming that nothing is going to jump me the moment I log on (which is becoming more and more dangerous to assume given my long string of failures...) I'm going to throw four of my five hacking pool dice into this. That's 12 dice. This should not be difficult... Of course, unless I'm missing something, the fact that my 5 wasn't good enough tells me that I'm looking at an Access rating of better than 10...this is going to be a sketchy run...

Booyah. 11, 9, 9, 7, 5, 5, 4, 3, 2, 2, 1, 1

Im confused, with all the rolls being made wouldnt the security tally be huge by now?

Why would it be? If the host isn't getting successes, the tally doesn't go up.

~J

That, and the four sets of tests a couple of posts ago weren't all used, Dash was just expecting me to fail a bit more I think.

But I am concerned that as soon as I get in there and start looking for the camera slave - especially given my wholly ass-tastic Slave channel - that things are going to get real hot, real quick.

Actually, that was one of the reason that I made sure you had to do some form of slave operation. And, the tally once he gets on the host could be very high, yes. The DF of 9 that he has as an Otaku is helping out a lot in that case, and I set the trigger steps a little farther apart than I normally would for the purposes of a tutorial. Plus, the current host that he's on isn't as well secured as the museum host will be. Right now he's on the grid for the City of Denver Education and Outreach Centers (CDEOC) which is a group that I created a long time ago (its not canon, in other words). When he gets onto the museum host (which he did, see below) the tally from the PLTG will carry over to the grid.

However, as Req said, the rolls above for the browse test went largely unopposed by the host, but he just wasn't getting enough successes. And now, without further ado:

The roll above is more than enough to get Jimmy online with the museum's grid. Metagaming for a moment, since the first logon to host operation failed, we know Jimmy has some kind of tally on him. Now let's see what happens...

You put a shoulder down and make to bust open the door to the treehouse, but as you approach at a charge, you feel your channel take control over the grid's access subsystem, registers are copied, flags are reset, and just before impact with the treehouse's door, it slides open and you stumble through onto the Great Plains.

The host around you looks like it's right out of the 1700s somewhere north of the Rio Grande and west of the Mississippi. The rolling grassland of the Great Plains of North America extend beyond the horizon as far as the eye can see. As you get your bearings and look around, you can sense that the virtual architecture of the host is not as wide as it is meant to seem.

Lacking any sense of direction or landmark, you decide to think of north as the direction you were facing when you arrived on the host. To the west, then, you think you can sense the shifting bits of that represent something other than green hills, grass, and sky. Turning in that direction, you don't know whether to expect a herd of buffalo or a Native American settlement.

Does Jimmy have any knowledge of common iconography or system architectures? If so, roll them. Iconography TN 4, system architecture TN 6 -- you only need one or the other, not both.

Also, now that you're on the host, you'll have to decide which you want to do first, look for the records of Drawn Moon or try to find your way to the camera and control it.

I ain't got no specific architecture skills. Got me an Etiquette: Matrix... Speaking of skills, though, I do have System Familiarity on Green and Orange systems. Assuming this is one of the two, when are those checks made?

In terms of overall goals, it's clear I should start with the file copy - modifying the cameras is a monitored operation, right? Wheras the file copy just gets done once, and then it's behind me. So I suppose I'll start by looking for the datastore. Is that a locate file operation?

I am a bit concerned about what IC is waiting around; I know the system has got to have felt me at this point, but it's not worth risking jacking the tally up even more to scan for hidden icons. I assume if something wants a piece o' The Squid, they'll come and get one.

Yes, to start the search for the files is a test against the File subsystem of the host modified by your File channel.

Dealing with the camera could be a monitored operation. There are two ways you could try to do it: Edit Slave or Control Slave. Control Slave is the more logical idea where you would control it and keep it pointed away from the direction the assault team is moving in from. Or, control the feed so it loops over the last 10 minutes and hope the guards don't notice, whatever. Edit Slave, as I usually run it, would commit the results of a Control operation. So you move it to face the wrong way. Instead of monitoring that operation, you could Edit Slave and lock that position. Not sure if that's canon or not but it's the way I've always interpreted it.

I'll have too look up what to do with the System Familiarity skills. No one's ever had them before for colored hosts, just for Chokepoints or stuff of that nature.

Yeah, reading through Matrix it seemed like the System Familiarity: <color> was pretty broken, since you can buy four skills and be covered for any possible system...but I figured I'd see how that went.

So making an attack utility test is therefore much like making an attack spell test?

Awesome. So it's option 1 then in my table which is what I've always used anyway.

Oh, and Req, I'll get back to your post above today, I promise I have deadlines at work tomorrow so it'll probably be tonight.

It's all good, Dash. Don't sweat the delays.

Regarding your question about system familiarity (SF) skills. Page 24 of of Matrix says that the SF skills come in varieties as listed on p. 25. Then, on p. 25 it also states that individual SF skills have specializations that are the security code of the system. Therefore, you could have an SF skill like Chokepoints (Orange) 4(6) but not just Orange. So, by my interpretation, the skills you chose actually don't exist. Sorry for not catching it earlier but it's never come up before. Here's the relevant quote:

Dammit! There was a post! And I missed it, and it dropped off the front page, and...and...now it's five days later. Bad Req, no cookie for me.

Tomorrow morning at work, I promise. Have to leave now.

No problem. I'm here when you need me

More please I am playing an Otaku on a Shadowrun Denver and tips are helpful

Dude ... almost four year thread necromancy. Amazing. I have to admit, though that after 4th edition came through, I don't think I'm the best person to be working with you on a 3rd edition otaku. Sorry

Neat!