@pragma - hey buddy - this game's in Boston, right?

Correct.

The cult was hanging out on Beacon Hill. Not sure where Wing's place is.

Neighbourhood near to Beaconhill, unsure which one, maybe half an hour drive.

North End seems likely then, but 1/2 hour drive could take you all the way out to Cambridgeport or Allston if you were bent on it.

Mmm I miss living in the North End Great place to live... and eat!

I will be on vacation and away from a computer from July 27th through July 31st. NPC Toobit as needed.

Actually - I only asked about Boston as a roundabout way of wondering why our target might be at an airport in Seattle....

Not a big deal.

So anyway - we are deciding whether to just take Jun with us or calling the Johnson to help us with that, which was a very valid suggestion from Wing/Metatron.

The latter is certainly more convenient, but IC I am pretty reluctant to turn a possibly innocent person over to the clutches of the Draco people - if she's nice and they treat her badly, that's no good. If she's not nice and they figure that out for themselves, we might lose our bounty!

That said, I DO think someone with a good negotiation skill (I roll a lousy five dice) should be having a conversation with the Johnson about expenses in case we miss them at the airport and have to go to France!

Speaking strictly OOC - I think we should take Jun with us just so Vegas can stay in the game (c'mon, do you really think our deliciously sadistic GM is going to let us part with his "favorite toy" so easily?).

Cool - looks like we are on the same page regarding our IC/OOC motivation dichotomy.

What say Wing calls the J to report, and at the same time explore the possibility (strictly IC) of dumping Jun, and also talk about provisions for extra expenses, maybe some badass IDs that'll let us travel with our weapons (if we end up Paris-bound)?

Of course, the call should probably be made from the Landy - reckon we got no time to waste if we want to catch up to our prey before they vacate the country!

Heheh it's up to you guys what the team decides IC'ly to do with Jun (and with Ophis' input too of course.)

OOC'ly however as a player I don't want to get dumped off and be in "limbo" with the Dracos until you guys get back from the airport... or Paris or whatever.

@Pragma, while you guys might have a better chance making up the "head start" if they're actually leaving from JFK, I'd assume they'd likely be leaving for Paris from Logan International being that it's about oh, 10 minutes (without traffic) from the North End.

Right. I swear that I use airports, maps and the English language all very regularly in spite of what my airport naming skills may ave indicated.

Actually fixed this time.

It's all good.. we still love ya man

Ophis says players make their own decisions. However good business sense suggest giving Mary a call about it.

Also an assault on an airport may be a bad idea. However the booking details include pictures of the passengers, and the destination (Paris France). Other details may be linked to the IDs.

So - as I suggested IC -
We
1) Start moving toward airport
2) Wing calls Mary en-route about the various issues we've been considering
3) JW gets us tix to Paris, just in case.

As for action at the airport - obviously every runner knows that getting into the shit at one of the most secure types of public places in the world is something to think twice about - but let's consider this -
We are sort of the good guys here - however bad getting nailed by airport security would be for us, our quarry wants public attention EVEN LESS, and will try even harder to just get away from us than take us out.
So if we go in, we might be able to approach and gain some advantage - grab the hostages, or prevent the spirit/mage/whatever from making its flight...

Even safer (for most of us...), pragma, any chance of just screwing with their reservations?

Just a thought...

I'm going to do Wing's conversation with Mary in RL rather than hogging post count for a n IC conversation with some I share living space with.

Seemed in desperate need of a bump, and rather than six different "I go to the car posts," I took some liberties. If I stepped on any toes, please let me know and I will get to editing.

pragma or Ophis - does Flat have the pix JW took of the writings on the sacrificial chamber's walls yet?

Yes you have the pictures.

Thanks for the bump. I haven't been finding time for the converstaion between Mary and Wing, will get that done in the next couple of days.

It's all good. And now, in the meantime, you know I am going to torture you with questions and rolls about the writings on the walls.

Since you've got the list of languages Flat reads, I assume you'd have told me if it was any one of them....?

Questions -
Does anything stand out about the size or calligraphy? Do they look roughly brushed on, or meticulously stroked? Are the characters particularly large or small? Any indication of what the medium was (blood, mud, etc)?
Do they appear to run top to bottom, or crosswise? Maybe concentrically? Do they appear East Asian? Arabic? Pictograms or phonetics (judged by complexity of individual characters?

I am certainly not so annoying a player as to expect answers to all that from a busy GM - it's just to give you an idea of the beginnings of the analysis, and if any of those questions just HAPPENS to produce a lead or a die roll bonus...

Okay - next - scan some samples of the text into my commlink and do a data search for the language - maybe I can find an online translator - free or fee, either okay. Failing that, any academic reference to the language. If my Linguistics (Ancient Texts) 4 adds any dice to the roll, go ahead and roll them for me.
Basic data search -
Data Search + Browse = 8 dice
Searching entire Matrix so 1 minute interval
Using the rolls limited by dice in pool rule, search for 8 minutes on way to airport
3 4 5 1 1 6 2 2 = 2 hits = 2 total
3 6 3 1 4 3 1 6 = 2 hits = 4 total
1 5 1 3 3 3 4 6 = 2 hits = 6 total
6 5 1 3 1 5 6 6 = 5 hits = 11 total
6 5 4 2 1 2 3 2 = 2 hits = 13 total
5 6 5 1 3 5 6 6 = 6 hits = 19 total
1 4 6 2 1 3 5 6 = 3 hits = 22 total
6 2 4 6 6 4 1 2 = 3 hits = 25 total

Naturally hoping that I can get a translation. If not, hoping that anything I do find will assist next two rolls -

Linguistics + Ancient Texts Spec + Logic = 11 dice
Trying to decipher as much as possible or learn about the language of origin
6 5 2 3 6 6 6 2 2 3 1 = 5 hits

Magical Theory + Logic = 10 dice
Determine if these are specifically magical symbols, and if so their tradition and/or purpose
6 4 2 6 4 4 4 1 2 5 = 3 hits

Speaking of annoying players, as threatened earlier I'm throwing dice everywhere. JW is working from full VR and is engaging in every brand of hackery he can think of so:

Finding flight information pertinent to cultists --- should tell us when their flight is leaving, from what gate, when boarding, rough layout of airport, etc. Let me know if you want more rolls.

Data Search + Browse
# dice: 10 :: 6 2 6 3 6 5 6 4 4 6 -- 6 successes
# dice: 10 :: 4 6 2 1 6 4 2 2 2 4 -- 2 successes
# dice: 10 :: 3 6 4 5 1 5 1 2 3 1 -- 3 successes

~ 3 minutes

- my agent is going to monitor the plane and flight staff's locations and any changes in departure time using data search + browse

Backing personal information out of plane reservations -- Parsing the information in the reservation (presumably some hashed version of the person's SIN and other identifying info) to try to figure out who the chief of cultists and the hostages are.

Matrix Security + Logic - to figure out how the data is encoded, etc.
# dice: 10 :: 4 6 5 3 6 1 4 3 6 5 -- 5 successes

~ 3 seconds

Data Search + Browse - to find the data and put it to good use
# dice: 10 :: 5 4 1 1 4 5 2 1 5 5 -- 4 successes
# dice: 10 :: 2 1 4 4 4 4 1 6 4 2 -- 1 success
# dice: 10 :: 1 2 6 3 3 6 6 2 5 3 -- 4 successes
# dice: 10 :: 1 2 5 6 5 2 6 3 3 1 -- 4 successes
# dice: 10 :: 5 5 6 2 1 2 2 6 4 1 -- 4 successes
# dice: 10 :: 6 1 4 6 2 6 3 5 4 6 -- 5 successes
# dice: 10 :: 1 1 5 4 4 3 6 5 4 5 -- 4 successes
# dice: 10 :: 3 3 3 3 5 4 3 1 4 3 -- 1 success
# dice: 10 :: 5 1 5 4 1 5 3 1 3 6 -- 4 successes

~ 10 minutes

Response + Decrypt - in case it's needed
# dice: 10 :: 1 4 1 1 3 4 6 6 3 5 -- 3 successes
# dice: 10 :: 2 5 2 6 4 4 2 1 4 1 -- 2 successes
# dice: 10 :: 5 5 5 5 3 5 5 4 1 4 -- 6 successes
# dice: 10 :: 5 2 5 1 6 3 3 2 3 1 -- 3 successes
# dice: 10 :: 4 4 5 3 3 2 6 5 1 3 -- 3 successes
# dice: 10 :: 3 4 4 4 3 6 1 1 5 1 -- 2 successes

~ 18 seconds

Tracking commlink data from personal information -- Trying to use the personal information to figure out where the commlink is. If I managed to back out a commcode I'm going to look for the datatrail it left behind, this won't work if they're running spoofed. If I backed out SINs I'm going to compare that with the commcode to verify the datatrail or I'll just start looking for places where that SIN has turned up in order to back a commcode out of it.

These rolls are data search + track in order to filter through all of the possible SIN/commcode combinations

Track chief cultist by getting commcode from SIN
# dice: 10 :: 2 3 3 3 4 6 2 4 3 3 -- 1 success
# dice: 10 :: 5 5 3 3 1 5 5 1 5 3 -- 5 successes
# dice: 10 :: 6 5 6 5 1 6 4 1 6 1 -- 6 successes

Track hostage 1 by getting commcode from Fake SIN

# dice: 10 :: 5 2 1 5 5 6 3 1 1 6 -- 5 successes
# dice: 10 :: 1 6 2 1 6 1 6 5 5 5 -- 6 successes

Track hostage 2 by getting commcode from Fake SIN

# dice: 10 :: 2 2 6 6 1 6 4 3 6 6 -- 5 successes
# dice: 10 :: 4 3 4 6 4 4 2 6 4 6 -- 3 successes
# dice: 10 :: 4 2 3 4 4 3 2 5 3 4 -- 1 success
# dice: 10 :: 2 1 1 3 1 6 1 5 1 5 -- 3 successes, glitch

These rolls are computer + track, to locate the offending nodes

Track chief cultist by commcode

# dice: 10 :: 5 1 4 3 6 5 5 5 5 2 -- 6 successes
# dice: 10 :: 1 5 2 4 4 2 4 1 5 2 -- 2 successes
# dice: 10 :: 4 3 5 3 2 1 6 3 6 3 -- 3 successes

Track hostage 1 by commcode

# dice: 10 :: 3 1 6 5 2 1 6 3 6 4 -- 4 successes
# dice: 10 :: 5 6 2 2 5 2 4 6 4 3 -- 4 successes
# dice: 10 :: 5 5 5 2 2 3 4 1 6 4 -- 4 successes

Track hostage 2 by commcode

# dice: 10 :: 6 1 6 2 2 4 6 3 3 1 -- 3 successes
# dice: 10 :: 1 3 5 4 5 3 3 6 5 3 -- 4 successes
# dice: 10 :: 2 6 2 3 1 4 6 2 2 6 -- 3 successes

In total ~ 10 minutes

Exploiting an account on cultitst/hostage commlinks -- I'll slow hack until 1 hour from flight departure time. After that I'll fast hack.

Before engaging in hacking, I'm going to run computer+ analyze in order to determine whether any data bombs are present, rating of firewall and rating of system in that order. Then I'm going to fast hack the lowest firewall rating, then slow hack the highest firewall rating until 1 hour before the flight departs, then switch to fast hacking. Finally fast hack the last one.

Analyze hostage 1:
# dice: 10 :: 6 4 4 5 4 4 2 6 4 5 -- 4 successes

Analyze hostage 2:
# dice: 10 :: 3 2 1 2 5 1 3 2 4 1 -- 1 success

Analyze hostage 3:
# dice: 10 :: 6 3 2 2 4 2 3 1 5 5 -- 3 successes



Here are the exploit tests, divide them up appropriately for

fast Admin account on lowest firewall:
slow Admin account on highest firewall:
fast Admin account on other comm:

# dice: 11 :: 3 2 2 6 2 6 6 5 5 2 4 -- 5 successes
# dice: 11 :: 1 1 4 2 6 4 5 3 2 4 1 -- 2 successes
# dice: 11 :: 6 2 2 5 3 6 3 3 3 6 2 -- 4 successes
# dice: 11 :: 2 1 3 3 5 6 6 5 6 2 3 -- 5 successes
# dice: 11 :: 1 5 6 4 4 3 3 5 2 1 1 -- 3 successes
# dice: 11 :: 1 6 5 6 5 3 5 6 2 3 3 -- 6 successes
# dice: 11 :: 1 4 6 6 5 6 2 5 2 6 3 -- 6 successes
# dice: 11 :: 6 1 4 3 4 5 4 1 6 3 1 -- 3 successes

~ 3 seconds per fast test, 1 hour per slow test. Please note that JW will edit ticket information (as below) as soon as he gets an account.

Editing flight information on tickets -- the goal here isn't to make another valid piece of flight information, it's just to change the data stored on the commlink such that it doesn't match the airport's information. This will hopefully cause a delay and, with luck, an investigation.

Matrix security + logic to accomplish his goals as best he can
# dice: 10 :: 2 1 2 3 5 2 1 1 5 2 -- 2 successes

computer + edit for each cultist
# dice: 10 :: 1 4 2 3 1 5 5 5 5 3 -- 4 successes
# dice: 10 :: 3 5 4 5 5 2 4 5 1 5 -- 5 successes
# dice: 10 :: 1 2 2 6 1 2 2 6 4 4 -- 2 successes

~ about 9 seconds

Erasing security logs and making himself invisible -- for thoroughness

computer + edit for each cultist
# dice: 10 :: 2 6 1 4 6 6 2 4 1 5 -- 4 successes
# dice: 10 :: 4 4 2 3 5 5 5 4 1 1 -- 3 successes
# dice: 10 :: 2 2 5 2 6 6 1 6 4 1 -- 4 successes

Whew. Let me know if you want anything else.

Okay...

Now my brain has recovered I shall reply...

Adamu - No known language but show similarities to ancient pre-vedic indian alphabets, also to very early Mayan stuff, could be conicidence.

The set up seems to be magical like a magical lodge. You think one word is akin to name Shiva an Hindu diety. Another symbol, looks a bit like parts of the hieroglyphics used for the god Apep - basically chaos/destruction a serpent that Ra fought during the night.

Pragma - Wha? SORRY Still Blowing my mind a bit. assuming all your trying to do is cause a brief delay, you got. Post as appropriate. Given flight time, you should be able to get to the airport before they leave. Those hacks were fast and dirty.

To simplifiy:

1. find commlinks using information in plane tickets
2. locate precise position of those commlinks using programs
3. get accounts on those commlinks to fuck with cultists in the future
4. cause delay at airport by hacking ticket information

WIll post IC shortly.

Thats what I thought.

As said all done.

Further note. JW is in the front seat of the Landy. His car had been left behind as to drafty and obvious.

Will edit. I'm trying not to get too far ahead of the current IC position though.

Out of curiousity: Where precisely did the tracking action tell me that the cultist and company are hanging out?

Ophis - thanks for the detailed response.

I assume that anything I can find regarding those myths and language groups on Google, Flat can find in a heartbeat on the Matrix...

Which is to say, is it okay with you if I do some RL research on those things and when I'm done toss in a quick IC mention of some lightweight data searching?



Anyone have any idea how many minutes from Wing's place to the airport?

And the more I think about it -

Not only Google...

Same question for my old SR sourcebooks - does Flat have access to those sorts of things via the Matrix - in other words, can I search through my old sourcbooks?

Yes to all of that.

Flat's thought are that either they were written by a well read wacko or they predate known history, though thinking that might make you the wacko...

I edited my last post to include hacking results and JW's presence in the landy.

Please let me know if I need to edit anything.

Please also note that my agent is tracking the location of the targets and updating the team mapsoft. On average we should get a complete update every nine seconds.

In an airport at the security desk...

I'm going to be away from my computer until August 19th. Probably won't be able to post.

Also, I have a bump for the IC thread, but I don't want to step on your toes regarding the conversation between Wing and Mary.

JW will do what is asked and intends to hack everything he needs to in order to keep the cultists away from the gates. If things look dire he'll recommend sabotaging the plane.

Yeah, sorry about that. I've been knackered most evenings, so haven't found a chance to do the chat yet.

Oh while it's on my mind I'm away in a field from the 23rd (thursday) til the 27th (nex monday). Feel free to bump before I'm off and I will respond as much as I can.

Well, I did a bunch of reading on Egyptian and Indian myths and also on ancient language families, but they hardly seem like a separate IC post, especially since I ICed last.

I'll bring it in after some time goes by, or else when and if I have that chat with the Draco Foundation mage.

Other than that, I guess we just need to arrive at the airport. I've never been to Logan, and have no idea what sort of situation awaits us there.

What do you think, folks? JW found out the people we are after are at the Security Desk. Should we go in and approach them? MAYBE they are even more reluctant to get into a huge fight at the airport than we are - I mean, we would get arrested, but for the spirit it could be pretty disastrous to be publicly exposed like that....

Thoughts on how to handle that...?

I think our best bet is to have our best unarmed heavy hitters go in and try to do some subtle takedowns. Alternatively, a hacker could flag them for security and we could try to pick them up when they get turned over to KE or something.

Things to watch out for include unregistered cyberware, unregistered weapons (really, any weapons) and any illegal magical objects. We don't know what the sensor system inside the terminal looks like. After we arrive JW should probably get on figuring that out (he can't do much remotely unless he hacks the security node.

You could always toss Jun out there for bait...


I KID! I KID!

We need a visual ID at the very least. We know which plane they are on, and where it is going. I think it would be better if we can arrange for them to have a party pick them up on the otherside.

I for one am not getting involved in a combat in an airport. I'm not Jason Bourne...

It would probably be easier to stop them on this side of the flight. We do not know what sort of arrangements they made for the landing.

I agree with amra28 that it would be better to make a move now rather than just let them get halfway around the world and try to pick them up again. Anyway, that option will still be on the table if we fail at the airport.

We know they're at the sec desk, and JW seems to have a good line on them.

Personally, I'm ready to leave my Predator and katana in the Landy while we go in and make a play. (Metatron - that Landy has a GOOOOOD sec system, right???)

If we end up flying, weapons we have licenses for can generally be transported in baggage.

Possible, but hard, for some reason Airport security is top notch... Just a fair warning.

Oh flight time for the targets is about 5 hours (supersonic jet) A sub orb at the same time would beat that to paris by about 2 hours...

Sounds like a broad GM hint if ever I heard one.

Don't want to derail the game or anything, but Metatron's plan sounds good to me...

Something of a warning, something of a bit of extra info that may help (ie it may be possible to beat them to Paris... If the team can pull off a strike in an airport, I'll let you, though it may end the game quickly...

What? You want us to actually THINK and MAKE CHOICES now?????

Well, if we are going to try Metatron's plan, I'd suggest the following -

* JW finds a copy of the airport's evacuation plan, so we can see where the evacuaees go - if it's all crowded out into some open field somewhere - cool for us. If it's corralled into some sort of guarded, fenced area (so as to keep the area sealed for immigration purposes and so as not to let whoever started the trouble get away), then we maybe bag it.

* If the situation looks promising, we put JW on the case to see how hard it would actually be for him to pull it off. OR we could actually start a fire or something, but they probably have SOTA fire control systems, so it would have to be big, and endanger a lot of people, which is not really cool.

* While JW works, the rest of us can be either (A) staging outside the evacuation area or (B) going into the airport and hanging near the sec desk so that we get into the evacuation flow along with our targets (and see if they escape some other way).

Just some general ideas.

The thing is, as much as trying it now at the airport seems like a better idea than losing control of the situation in Europe, it will take some serious planning and coordination in a very short amount of time....

So what we have to decide is - do your (Metatron's) plan or not.

As I've said, my first inclination - and still a strong one - is to try SOMETHING now - before letting them get totally out of our reach on a trip halfway round the world, during which who knows what could happen. I mean, we are close NOW. Plus, Boston is our home town, which gives us a big advantage over operating in Paris.

On the other hand, as has been pointed out, airports are one of the highest-security public places in the world, now and in 2070. Moving now or at Orly is really risky for us (even if it is more so for them), but they will eventually have to leave Orly, and it would be a lot easier to hit them once they are out of such a security zone.

IF, that is, they don't just get on another flight from Orly. IF, they don't meet the spirit's private army in Paris. IF they don't parachute out over the Canaries, sending their plane to a watery grave. IF IF IF IF.

Tough choice.

Ophis

What time of day is it for us? What time of day was it when the cops got slaughtered? I had the idea it was around dawn, but going back through the IC posts, I can't find any confirmation of that - probably my imagination.

What time will it be in Paris when they arrive? More towards dusk than UCAS east coast, right?

What time is dusk? Early, cuz it's winter, right?

Why not take a two-phased approach..

Get JW to hack his way into the airlines servers placing paid-in-full tickets on a sub-orb to Paris (Orly or de Gaulle?) to get most of the team to Paris before the bad guys.

Place one, or two lookouts on the regular flight with the evil ones to ensure they end up on the plane and can change direction if they do not board the flight.

hard because you'd be splitting up the group which could suck OOC'ly for anyone "cut out of the action", but at the same time all bases would be covered...

Eh, I just woke up and am rambling, pay little to no attention to it