The previous thread

Edit: New link to the previous thread


Repost of initial challenge:


Amazing how much more difficult basic jobs become when only a few assumptions are removed ...


Challenge: to find and retrieve a kidnapped wageslave. Unharmed. The Johnson's information suggests she is unharmed at present, but might not remain so, and almost certainly won’t if there is any sign of an attempt to free her. So far, nothing exceptional.


Location: middling size building (10 floors), classic brick exterior covered with ivy, double-paned windows (bulletproof and reinforced, probably as strong as the walls, and what’s that floating between the panes?), lobby entrance, well-placed cycling security cameras (covering each other's arcs). Two vehicle entrances into the building itself: one into what looks like an underground parking lot, the other a service entrance. Still nothing exceptional.

Exterior: The building, like every other building in this area, occupies its own block, and each building in the area has a similar exterior layout – at least, this one doesn’t look exceptional. A few cars do park on the street outside, but most of them won’t be going anywhere. (Hard to move without wheels, an engine ...) Roughly 30 metres or so on every side of tarmac. (This means that the next building over on any side will be at least an additional road-width plus 30 metres away.) Ten-foot chainlink fence surrounding the whole, topped with barbed wire but probably not monowire: you’ve seen pigeons land on the posts. The gate opens to admit each vehicle by transponder and stays open maybe 5 seconds before closing behind them. There is also an occupied guard shack by the gate. The top strands might be electrified after hours, you’re not sure but you doubt it. (But see “Catches” below before shrugging and thinking it’s a piece of cake.)

Between 6 pm and 7 am security teams patrol the grounds, it's not one of the big companies anyway. Actually, they're mostly inside, probably monitoring the cameras. There's also at least one dog handler: some nasty canines are released to roam the in-between areas during the off-hours. A cleaning team arrives at 6 pm and leaves at 9 pm by the service entrance. They use an unmarked van and you haven’t been able to learn which company they work for. And they don't use a consistent route of arrival or departure. Maybe you could find out more, but you've run out of time, and this is the information you have to plan with.


Catches

1. You're not sure the kidnappee is actually at this location – but so far it’s your only lead. If she's not here, this place itself will hopefully provide you with your next lead(s).

2. You can't leave any traces of your having been here. It’s a condition of the job. If anyone here is harmed, heads will roll: yours. And you can forget about being paid. Besides which, if the kidnappee isn't here and the kidnappers discover you've been here, it's going to make your job a whole lot more difficult. (Don’t forget about spell signatures!)

3. The place has a significant background count (3). For this version of the challenge, "house" rules interpret every point of background count as an extra "1" roll – and any spellcasting rolls which result in more net "1's" than successes are treated as botches. (Some of the later challenge versions won’t allow spellcasting PCs at all: so this is a "nice" variant. Mwaa-ha-ha.)

4. The building computer system is completely isolated from the Matrix. Damn.

5. According to the city planning department and every other source you can tap, this building doesn’t seem to exist. The block is licenced as commercial use, but all those power conduits and sewer maps and so on just show the area in blank gray.


That's just the challenge to kick off the thread. I'll hope that others come up with new challenges and requirements as to how they are to be filled as each one gets solved. The only condition is that each challenge has to in some way limit common assumptions. Some possible examples include that no one can get hurt, that no magic can be cast, that no property damage can occur …

Oh, and you can't custom min-max PCs just to deal with this challenge. You can't change your PC each and every time you are given a job, after all!

There's too much information given in the other thread to easily summarise, but I'll repost some general information:



If you do choose to build the characters, it's 120 base build points, usual starting maximums of 6, maximum 5 each Edges and Flaws: then dump 100 karma into each of them whatever way you want, to a maximum skill/Force/whatever of 8 (and if you want to buy off Flaws it's 10 x points in karma). For resources, over and above what you choose to start with, magically active characters get 300 kY and non-magically active characters get 600 kY, spend as you like but maximum availability 8 and subject to GM approval, basic rulebook, Companion, and MitS only, and if something's in an earlier edition book I might approve that too. Sorry, but that's what I currently have access to. (As someone pointed out earlier, these are moderately established characters.) Yes, this means you can start with a conjured elemental (two services up to Force 4, one service up to Force 8) - but you have to pay from your nuyen for it. No, you can't start with modified equipment or foci etc. you made yourself: you're runners, not manufacturers!

The Johnson won't spring for equipment as such, but is willing to pay specific run-related expenses later. You can't buy on credit though. (Ah, the joys of the itemised expense account: he'll be expecting one, and he won't approve anything I consider "unreasonable" - but you get to find out what that is after the run.) If there's something I do approve as run-related which ran over 100 kY, that counts as your bonus upon successful completion: that's over and above the 200 kY per team member being paid for the contract itself. The J won't approve anything, even if it's specifically run-related, over 200 kY.

Bear in mind that it is a continuing team: future challenges will need to be met by the same team.



Since that initial post, a team has been created to test possibilities. Next post summarises them.

Team consists of:

Diamond: Mage, ‘The Face’
Trogdor: Dragon Slayer shaman, ‘The Mage’
Ghost: Infiltration Adept
Advent: Drone Rigger
Solitaire: Decker

(5 people total)


‘Diamond’ (The Face)

B 3(4), Q 4, S 3, C 6, I 6, W 6
Magic 6, Essence 5.04

Skills [specialties in ()]:
Active
Sorcery (Spell casting) 4/6 , Conjuring (Summoning) 2/4, Etiquette (Street) 4/6, Interrogation (Verbal) 2/4, Intimidation (Mental) 2/4, Negotiation (Bargaining) 4/6, Performance (Acting) 2/4, Athletics 3, Instruction 3, Computer (Decking) 1/3, Unarmed Combat 3, Stealth 3, Assault Rifle 3

Knowledge
Magic Theory 4, Area Knowledge: The Barrens 6, Economics 3, History 3, Philosophy 3, Literature 3, Political Science 3, Local Politics 3, Paranormal Animals (Urban) 1/3, Psychology (Social) 1/3, Law (Criminal) 1/3, Forensics (Magical) 2/4, Housecleaning 3

Full Hermetic Mage

Spells (E means exclusive for cost)
Increase Reflexes III 1, Stunbolt 6, Levitate 4, Sterilize (E) 3, Heal (E) 6, Cure Disease (E) 4, Antidote (E) 4, Healthy Glow (E) 3, Clean Item (E) 3, Fashion (E) 4, Makeover (E) 4

Initiate Grade 1 (Group, ordeal: meditation)

Metamagic: Masking

Foci: Sustaining 1 (reflexes)

Edges: Good Reputation I, Quick Healer, Good Looking and Knows it
Flaws: Obligation 1 (reworked Day Job 10/hrs), Infirm 1, Compulsion light (Cleanliness)

Cyberware (all alpha):
Plastic Bone Lacing, Datajack
Cyber Eyes: Disp Link, Low Light, Flare Comp, Thermographic
Cyber Ears: Dampener, Hearing Amp, Select Sound Filter-2

Other Gear:
Cheap Deck (for data searches)
Standard runner stuff

Contacts:
15-20 contacts (mostly street level)

Something of a SR Che Guerva, has philosophical issues with things like ‘power’ and ‘agency’, spends a lot of time teaching local youngsters how to fight the man, and has a good reputation due to doing things like Fashioning out-grown clothes, curing the common cold, healing broken bones, and so on.

Was taken seriously ill as a child, due to naturally good immune system (quick healer) did not die, but suffers some continuing health problems (infirm). He can some times be mistaken for a cat shaman due to constant grooming/cleaning. Bacteria fear coming to his house like doughboys fear a call of ‘Over the top lads!’.

'Trogdor' (Dragon Slayer shaman, 'The Mage')

B 4k (6), Q 5, S 3, C 8, I 4, W 6
Reaction 4, Initiative 1d6(4d6)+4, Astral Init 1d6(4d6)+27
Magic 9(11), Ess 6, BI 0
Pools: Karma 6, Combat 7, Spell 6, Astral 3, Astral Combat 7

Skills:
Active - Sorcery 6, Conjuring 7, Stealth 5, Assault Rifle 4, Etiquette 4, Edged (sword) 1(3)
Knowledge - Magic Theory 4, Gang Identification 3, Smuggling 3, The Metaplanes 3, Ecology 3
Languages - English 4, Sperethiel 2, Russian 2

Spells (Force - none are limited):
Increase Reflexes III (1), Stunball (6), Mind Probe (6), Alter Memory (6), Levitate (4), Catalog (1), Sterilize (1), Ice Sheet (1), Increase Body (2), Heal (3), Impr. Invis (5), Manabolt (6), Physical Mask (4)

Metamagic:
Masking, Invoking, Shielding (sorry, no anchoring)

Foci:
Power 2, Sustaining 1 (reflexes), Sustaining 2 (body)

Edges: Focused Concentration, Good Reputation II, High Pain Threshold II
Flaws: Spirit Bane (sea), Mild Allergy (dogs), Mild Phobia (sea travel)

Typically, no more than 3 force worth are active at a time, so they can be covered by masking.

Other gear:
Tricked out assault rifle with laser sight.
Highly concealable pistol and dart pistol (use default rules)
Armor with plenty of environmental protection.
B&E and survival gear.
Rating 6 medkit.
Shamanic Lodge hidden somewhere in the city (Force 9)
Com gear (suitable to whatever the rest of the team has)
Odds and ends (standard stuff like a trauma patch, white noise generater, bug scanner, etc.)
~40,000 Y cash on hand

Contacts:
t-bird smuggler (lvl 2)
smuggler's wingman (lvl 2)
talismonger
fixer
TPF officer
russian mob enforcer
chop shop owner
Telestrian Johnson
Lone Star vice cop

'Ghost' (Infiltration Adept)

B 4, Q 6, S 4, C 3, I 6, W 4
Magic 10, Essence 6

Edges: Double Jointed, Well Connected
Flaws: Sensitive System, Pacifist

Skills specialties in (), adept boosts in []:
Active
Whips (Manriki-Gusari) 5/7, Pistols (Narcojet) 2/4, Stealth 6 [12], Athletics 4 [6], Etiquette (Street) 2/4, Negotiations (Fast Talk) 2/4, Demolitions (Safe Cracking) 2/4, Bike 3, Divination 3, Electronics (Maglocks) 4/6, Electronics B/R 4

Knowledge
Yoga 3, Local Fences 3, AK: Seattle 4, Smuggling Routes 2, Archeology 2, Architecture 3, Art 3, Security Systems 5, Magical Background 3, Chemistry 2, Dreaming (linked divination) 3, Magical Threats 2

Physical Adept

Adept Powers:
Improved Stealth 6
Improved Athletics 2
Spell Shroud 6
True Sight 4
Traceless Walk
Magic Sense
Pain Resistance 1
Improved Reflexes 2
Improved Senses: Low Light, Flare Comp, Smell, Direction

Initiate Grade 1 (Group, no ordeal)
Initiate Grade 2 (Group, ordeal: Meditation)
Initiate Grade 3 (Group, ordeal: Deed)
Initiate Grade 4 (Group, ordeal: Oath)

Metamagic: Masking, Divining, Centering (+ technical Skills)

Gear:
Motor Bike
B&E Gear (Maglock passkeys, etc)
Gas Detector
Gas Mask
Plastic Explosives
Narcojet pistol
Manriki-Gusari (basically a long weighted chain, reach 2 str +2L)
Gas and smoke grenades
Runner stuff

(Would have bought a weapon focus, but they start at 390,000 Y, I should have gone into enchanting instead…)

Contacts:
8-10 contacts (mostly fences, smugglers…)

‘The Ghost’ started a life in the shadows as a rather greedy thief, but has recently changed course due to an encounter with (magic threat of GM discretion) (deed) and a recent (magical) oath to dedicate at least some of her (non-money making) time to fighting these things. She is still easily motivated by a large paycheck, but is slowing transforming into a magical crusader. Though if you want to move an expensive piece of artwork, a 50 kg solid gold Buddha, or some other difficult to dispose of item she is the one to talk to (well connected is applied toward the sale of high priced, odd, or hot items). She is a pacifist in the ‘I’m a thief, not a murder sense’; she will not take wet work, etc. Note that this pacifism no longer applies to ‘magical threats’.

We don't have created characters yet for Advent or Solitaire. Thus far I've been responding based on typical averages. We do have the following fixed drones for Advent (which do count against the nuyen total given earlier - but if the total happens to come out more in this case, I'm letting it slide).


Artemis Nightglider

Handling 3, Speed 60, Accel 4, Body 2, Armor 0
Signature 9, Autonav/Pilot 1/-, Sensor 0, Cargo 4, Load 190
Seating 1, Fuel Electric (100 PF)
Econ Landing/Takeoff .25km/PF STOL
Cost 34,500 nuyen

Add rigger adaptation (1 CF, 10 kg, 2800 nuyen), remote-control interface (5000 nuyen), Rating 1 Sensors (1 CF, 12 kg, 5000 nuyen), 4 CF External Cargo mount (1000 nuyen, +1 to handling) and 1 bucket seat (6 CF, 100 kg, 700 nuyen) for a final cost of 49,000 nuyen


Condor (LDSD-23) p174
Small (~ork sized?) blimp.

Hand Speed Accel Body Armor Sig Auto Pilot Sensor Cargo Load
4 60 3 2 0 10 0 1 1 1 50

Avail SI Cost
2/24 1 9,000

Arachnoid Mini-Drone p178
Small (~10-15cm) 'spider' drone.

Hand Speed Accel Body Armor Sig Auto Pilot Sensor Cargo Load
3/3 2 - - 0 12 0 1 1 0 0

Avail SI Cost
2/24 1 12,375


Ferret p174
Small wheeled drone (don't know approx size, maybe microwave oven sized)

Hand Speed Accel Body Armor Sig Auto Pilot Sensor Cargo Load
3/4 30 2 1 0 8 0 3 4 4 50

Avail SI Cost
2/24 1 18,500

The following plan has been proposed and the first stage has been implemented:


Objectives:
1 Get extractee safely from target building.
2 Leave as little evidence of the presence of the team as possible.
3 Safely extract all team members
4 Safely extract all supporting elements (the gang members)
5 Preserve equipment for later use

Notice that this list of objectives give the ‘priority’ (you said the team motivation was high, right?). Also notice that pulling out the extractee is given priority over not leaving evidence. So if it comes down to a choice between leaving the extractee and starting a gun fight, we will come down on the side of getting the extractee out.

Pre-game positions:
Rigger, Mage, and Decker in the riggers ‘war-wagon’ several block away.
Adept in night glider, circling over the area.
Diamond with gangs members.

Plan Outline:

1 Air duct infiltration drone approaches target building.
2 Air duct drone anchors over target building, begins infiltration.
3 Dataline tap installed by drone
4 Gangs stages ‘tense meeting/face-off’ (no shooting yet).
Gangs members given magazines containing blanks, etc.
Gangs briefed on hell-hounds, etc.
Diamond has full complement of watchers standing by for communication (along with regular radio)
Diamond has 3 elementals paid for, Air, Air, Fire (all force 4, 2 services)
5 If extractee found by drones, gang face-off degenerates into shoot-out.
Rigger monitors police radio to warn of potential interruptions by Lone-Star
6 The Adept inserted into air ducts.
The Mage provides astral backup.
(Shamans need a great form spirit to cross domains?, not sure).
The Mage also has full complement of watchers already summoned.
7 Adept gets extractee, leave building
8 Infiltration drones and gang members extract.
9 Adept flies with extracee to medicine lodge. Mage still provides astral cover.
War wagon waits to retrieve drones, then meets adept at medicine lodge.
Diamond extracts with gang members, meets at medicine lodge.

Contingencies:

Extracee not present:
Team extracts, as per plan, meets at medicine lodge.
Heavy Magical combat:
Gang members extract early, take Diamonds body to pre-determined location. Diamond goes astral, call elementals to support the Mage.
Heavy Physical combat:
2 pronged attack by combat drones and gang members to cover extraction of the Adept. Gang members receive bonus income.
Lone Star or other outside intervention in ‘Gang Event’
Gang extracts early, Diamond provides astral cover as per ‘Magical Combat’.
Extractee Dangerous (Infected, Possessed, etc)
Extractee hit with KO drugs/Fist of Justice by adept, sorted out at medicine lodge.
Decking difficulties:
Possible mission abort, Decker makes decision.
War Wagon comes under attack:
Possible mission abort, Rigger makes decision.
Adept Disabled before insertion:
Diamond levitates into place, replaces adept. Gang members attempt to retrieve Adept’s body.


I think that's as much as I'm going to attempt to summarise. (Maybe it's too much already.) There's tonnes more information on the other thread. Anything else you want highlighted on the first page or two of this new thead - including the initial results of the first stage - or if you think I missed something crucial that needs reposting - is up to you guys :D

As to actual update: give me another couple of hours. Although I knew it was coming this change still caught me by surprise - I really hadn't been expecting the former threads to be frozen! - and there's a few other things I have to get done as well. I would appreciate it if the specific posts you want me to react to were reposted here: easier!

I'm curious why this isn't in the Runs & Run Ideas section?

No extinguisher needed, it's a perfectly reasonable question.

Because its direction completely caught me by surprise, and later no one said otherwise. I wrote as much here. It was originally intended as an examination of how taking out things taken for granted suddenly complicated what might otherwise have been extremely basic runs. (And my GM, over my shoulder: it started from "how would someone do something this way" and then somehow went to "let's do it")

But if it should be, I think it's possible within this board's coding for it to be moved? I'll follow as needed.

Sorry for continuing this in the Shadowrun (general) area and not the Runs section, but couldn't some astral recon be performed by moving through the earth near the second basement level? It was mentioned access couldn't be obtained by any pathways known to the Ork Underground, but the old thread seemed to place tunnels (or sewers, or whatnot) in the general area.

[Edit: changed 'vicinity' to 'area' because I couldn't ascertain correct speeling offhand]

We were avoiding astral recon of sub-level 2 because it seems to greatly increase the team's chance of detection. Notice that one of the requirements is that there be as little evidence of the team's action as possible. Setting of the wards or getting seen by a spirit, or whatever ruin this whole thing.

Also, note that the 'travel through the earth' thing only applies to 'living earth'. I assume that you can go through concrete, etc just fine, except for it being dark. I would assume that the top layer of a city street (at least in a modern city) would not qualify as 'living earth' so is rather trivial to pass through.

To expand my eariler comments about radio coverage (made in the previous thread), the wavelengths used by 'tactical' radios does not tend to penetrate the earth that well. While the teams radios should have no trouble communicating on sub-level 1, sub-level 2 may be deep enough to make our radio coverage 'spotty' (but probably not deep enough to completely block the radio waves). Thus, I was asking Advent to investigate the possibility of using one of the spider drones to extend the teams radio coverage down into sub-level 2 (i.e. team talk to drone, who re-broadcasts the message to Ghost and vice-versa). This will hopefully reduce the chances of any inconvienent radio outages. Since the spider drone would be getting it's radio message via wire from the roof, there would be no trouble getting the msg to the drone, then since the radio msg from the drone only had to go through the 'floor' between sub-level 1 and sub-level 2... The fact that the team's radios would be using digital signal processing would also tend to cut down on the static, but it is best to cover all the bases that you can.

When you said that the company had other offices in 'Georgia' did you mean American Georgia or Russian Georgia?

I tell the Johnson where he can stick his job and take the hit to my rep. No skin off my nose -- the GM has to keep running for me anyways.

What? The GM won't keep running for me? Fine, I open my own game. The runner gets hired on as a security consultant to a global-scale fixer. I win, either way.

So, the projecting mage is going to follow the spooky wageslave, the adept is ready to go and circling the area, the drones are moving to -1 and -2 for a look-see via the air vents. the gangs are mustering, the decker is waiting for the security tally to drop....

Then the next move will be determined by what the mage or drones can find out. If the wageslave goes all the way down, I don't think the mage should follow, since the drones are going to search down there. If the drones can't see anything, then there isn't any other option. This might be overly cautious, any other opinions?

There has to be something useful for the decker to do... are there any large Matrix controlled flying things for the decker to take control of? You know, in case they need to crash it into the building later. For those that don't know, a Mona Lisa Overdrive reference.

As you will have noticed, weekends are truly bad for me access-wise. Apologies. (And this format is still disorienting to me!)

Thanks to your thread, Everial, I seem now to have an answer why not to place this into the Runs and Ideas forum: it's open season in this thread, not individual-specific. Certainly I don't want anyone feeling any need to ask permission before jumping in with possibilities and new ways of looking at things!

I'll be back - really, this time - in about two hours. (Sporadic access today, but not weekend-bad.)

I'll start with what's in this thread and then filtre back to the original, if it's not been superceded. Again, if I miss anything, tell me! (It's entirely likely.)

Travel through earth:

Anything in a city up to upper sewer level (roughly equivalent to one floor below ground level) I'll consider totally man-made. There's a chance of losing your way - like Crusher Bob said, dark - but nowhere near as bad as the original rules on moving through living earth.

Anything below that, case by case basis. Find a sewer or subway line, concrete a good 3-4 metres on either side of that, no problem. Quite possibly living earth beyond that, though. (How deep are the Muscovite subway lines again?) And living earth, as we all know, makes its own rules: and they're not really fun for the astral mage.

From the last page of the original thread:

Is this idea dead?

(And no, what follows isn't [completely] OOG, just by way of a hint)

Nasrudin used to take his donkey across a frontier every day, with the panniers loaded with straw. Since nearly everyone who crossed that border was involved with smuggling one way or another, the frontier guards searched him again and again. They searched his person, sifted the straw, steeped it in water, even burned it from time to time. They searched the panniers, they searched the rope binding them together and the harness carrying them. They even made Nasrudin dismount and searched him. Meanwhile Nasrudin was visibly more and more prosperous, until after a while he retired and went to live in another country, where one of the (now-former) customs officers happened to run into him, years later. "You can tell me now," hinted the man, "whatever was it that you were smuggling, when we could never catch you out?"

"Donkeys," said Nasrudin.

Personally, I am sorta busy at work this week. So I can't post that often. I don't think we've had a post from Doc Sportscar since the thread was re-booted. Since he was the other regular contributor, you might need someone to take his place...

Going on the next 'stage' which would be trying the get the drones down the sub-level two, and putting Ghost in the building may attract some attention too.

Don't count me out yet, troops. I've been busy relocating and being caught in the NYC blackout, but I'm still watching. My net access is going to be sporadic for a couple days more, but come Saturday I should be back in the swing of things.

Just to give Talia something to do in the meantime: we had the drones heading for level -2 for a look-see and to extend the range of our comm network. Since there were no cameras or vent access in -1, I think the consensus was that we have to insert Ghost to take a look at that area, since the girl is probably there if she's present at all.

How's Solitaire's security tally these days, by the by?

All right ... have to break off to do some work-type stuff ("just to give Talia something to do" ), but will update at ~7 pm this board's time. Hope everyone caught in that blackout didn't lose too much by it or had any serious consequences as a result. It has been a crazy couple of weeks, no? And I'm dead opposite everyone else wrt weekend free time. Means Monday is catch-up time, is all.

I hadn't gone to -2 because that was a physical problem - elevators don't go down that far, ditto vents etc. Thus far, all you really have of that is rumours of excavation ... might be a bit more than rumours now since one of the drones in the parking area has picked up sounds of digging. The wageslave is heading for the elevator. You've already managed to get one of the drones into the central part of -1 (as described earlier). Ghost was in a holding pattern, can land whenever you want: down to the main floor won't really pose much of a problem (all you're doing is dodging cleaners - and you had the door-opener card, yes?), but let me know if Ghost wants to catch up to said wageslave. And you still had the shaman astral.

Solitaire's security tally was in the process of resetting, I thought ...? You've got four large files out of it, they'll take time to make heads or tails of though: the joys of financial records. Looks like there might be a few more business names which could potentially be attached to addresses, but that will take some time to decipher.

Reminder to lurkers that this is a free-for-all thread: I'm just holding back descriptions where they're dependent upon specific actions actually having been taken, but suggestions, questions, proposals and scoping are always good.

Considering it's going to take a while to get her down to level -1 to even start getting into level -2, we should put her in now. The drones have not found anything that would be a danger to her with Togdor on astral overwatch. IIRC we are 1 hour to 1.5 hours into the run. It will take at least 30 minutes for Ghost to work her way down, and then maybe another 30 to creep out. This means that if it takes more that 30 minutes to find a safe way into level -2 we'll need to start thinking about what to do about the spiders (they have only aroud 4 hours of power for non-idle work (iirc)).

Makes sense. Okay, Ghost goes in now and starts making her way down to -2. Solitaire starts hacking the elevators, both to get the drones access to the shaft and to get Ghost down there eventually. Just for fun, we'll swap the files we downloaded to an offline datastore in case we meet any really interesting IC.

Drones will sweep around the -1 central level (since they're apparently in), then go back into the ducts and idle until we have elevator access.

[QUOTE]=Shanshu Freeman,Aug 24 2003, 09:33 AM] [QUOTE]
Also, schedual - wise, where are we in relation to the security shifts, and cleaning crew shifts? Perhaps our girl goes in and out with them, a la the parable [/QUOTE]
or maybe she can be found at the home offices of the cleaning crew?

Glad it's still liked, and thanks for the vote of confidence, Shanshu Freeman. I'll keep running free-for-all scenarios as long as there's interest in them - but, like this one, they'll be exercises in planning and infiltration, not extensive characterisations and storylines ... although as it happens this series does have one.

In that quick summary top of thread, I forgot to include your tentative timeline, Doc Sportscar. Here it is, non-quote format for easiest reading (I hope):

"Tentative Timeline:

1930, or as soon after sunset as there's true dark: Infiltration drones hit the roof and gain access to the vent. The dataline tap is installed, and the decker makes a quick run to scout out the system layout, the security level, and if possible to locate the slaves he'll need to take control of the security system. He then logs off to avoid having to stick around in the system too long, hopefully with enough time to let his security tally reset before the real thing. Astral recon of the upper levels now, before the doggies come out.

2045- Assembly time for gangs, make astral recon of level -1 before the dogs come out.

2115- After a margin to give the cleaners time to leave, the fun starts outside as the gangs begin to exchange heated words. Decker begins his second run, this one for real as he uses the knowledge he gained before to seize control of the security system. Note that by this point the drones have had an hour and a half to recon the building, so if the girl is in an upper floor they should probably have found her, and level -2 should have been scouted.

2130- Hopefully, by this point the girl has been located and the decker has control of the building's system. Ghost lands on the roof, inserts into the building, extracts the girl, and returns while the gangs stage their fight. The Nightglider and drones leave, the gangs leave after a convincing interval, and everyone moves back to the medicine lodge.

If the girl hasn't been located, we'll play it as it goes, depending on how distracted the guards are and how easy it looks to be to get more information."

And my own added information from before:

Last of the regular employees gone ~17:30, cleaners 18:00-21:00, dogs released after 21:00, sunset at 19:20. Far from spring equinox, but not dead of winter either.

... Add that if the security protocol hasn't overly changed from that of the other company, the shifts should be 05:00-13:00 (8 hrs); 13:00-21:00 (8 hrs); 21:00-05:00 (8 hrs); with about a 20 minute overlap. But you haven't been able to confirm beyond the shift change at 13:00. More protocol from the previous company: about an initial hour before and after change was spent just on paperwork and monitor notations. Patrols didn't really begin before about an hour or so into the shift, but then they were somewhat random.

By this timeline, we are now at 20:35: some things took much less time than expected and the organisation of the gangs is more or less right on schedule (or maybe just a tad early), but the unexpected sight of the wageslave froze events for a couple of minutes while alternatives were quickly debated. Solitaire manages to gain control of the elevators just as the wageslave reaches them and is about to enter them - tally had reset but that last was a bit hairy. Decking always seems to be either the long boring stretches of searching or the rushed sequences of trying to take something over before the team gets there, without setting off an ungodly number of alarms: that last bit was definitely the second. (Just fyi there is IC but it's nearly all been white and probes so far, light as such things go until Solitaire got to the nested system: then it began to cascade and there was a hurried retreat.) The files already acquired moved off-line first np. At this point Solitaire won't really have time to go hunting for more and still be able to monitor. (You get a sharp retort: "What do you want me to do, follow the elevators, follow the worm, follow the money, follow the cameras, or go hunting for eyes in the sky?") For what it's worth, none of you noticed any earlier. Then again, you have been aiming to be unnoticeable yourselves.

As of 20:35 Ghost has landed and finds no real problems getting through the vents and into the top floor - is she working her way through the vents all the way down (can be done, but much slower and definitely not fun), or is she getting out of the vents earlier and using either the stairs or the (now decker-controlled) elevator (or maybe some other means of changing floors I don't know about)? Estimated time for vent-descent to -1 (crawling): 30-40 minutes. Estimated time for (cautious) stair descent: 15-20 minutes. Estimated time for elevator descent: well, it's a reasonably fast one, and there are more than one.

He hasn't been compromised - at least, not more than the place is making all of you a bit testy. He's now got an iota of personality. It usually only kicks in when he's trying to do three things at once and another gets tossed in

Bump. Needs moar attention.

I'm around, the weekend is here, and for once I'll be able to monitor and reply. Quick question: Ghost is the only one physically entering, correct? What is she wearing? What does she have on her? (Again, discussion: jig as you feel necessary - but not after this point, please!)

Had to go back and check the old thread, and we never specified Ghost's gear that much. It stated that she had "B&E Gear", which to me means a maglock passkey, a microtronics kit, and wire cutters. (Never liked sequencers personally- they're only good if your Electronics B/R isn't stellar, in which case you probably won't get the case off). We've also got "Gas Detector, Gas Mask, Plastic Explosives, Narcojet pistol, Manriki-Gusari (basically a long weighted chain, reach 2 str +2L),
Gas and smoke grenades" listed, and it sounds like that's stuff we'd bring. There's also "Runner stuff" listed, which to me sounds like a form-fitting full body suit, a camo full suit (urban, night pattern out, useless inside but potentially useful outside), and a fairly high-rating microtransceiver with encryption, ECCM, and a subvocal mic and some earbuds.

Anyone else has an idea, chip in. Sorry for the light posting, but until I go back to school in a few days I'm stuck in Dialup Hell.

I'd go for:

Black armored suit (5/3) with chemical seals
(suit semi-smart and has casualty carry handles and 'instant stretcher mode')
Helmet (+1/1)
Climbing Harness + spider silk w/ small grapnel
Gas mask that clips on to form fully sealed suit
Gas detector hooked into the radio (so the rest of the team can get the 'gas!' warning too)
Medical condition monitor (heart rate, bp, temp, etc)
Handless radio, with capability for video and external audio (hey team, look/listen at this...)
'radio' also will also do recordings if 'asked' to. (so you can either so a voice log, or record the conversation that you are watching)

plastic restraints + gag (set of 4)
Narcojet pistol (+ 2 spare magazines)
Manriki-Gusari
Flash-Bang Grenades (1)
Thermal Smoke Grenades (2)
Neuro-Stun Grenades (1)
Anti-pursuit Device (1) (self deploying claymore mine)
Breeching Charge (1) (will blow a man-sized hold in doors and interior walls)
satchel Charge (1) (5kg C-4 + detonators)
Medkit
Counteragents for Narcojet and Neurostun
Book of matches (for luck)

Maglock Passkey
Electronics toolkit
Small supply of Thermite (for burning out locks)
(any other B&E gear needed?)

The total load should be in the 15-18 Kg range, the satchel charge is obviously the heaviest item, and is mostly there to blow a hold in the exterior wall of the building, if Ghost needs to get out really fast.

Second the motion. As for additional B&E gear, I suggest mechanical lockpicks (don't recall the cost, but they're not much- from SOTA 2063 if anyone has it). You've never experienced true embarassment until you realize that your heavily cybered, expensively equipped, breaking an entering ghost-agent-from-hell can't pick the old padlock your team just ran into... Wire cutters might not be a bad idea, either.

Following the discussion. Still needing to know how she was planning to get down from the top floor. Re "maglock passkey" - is that the one you acquired from the cleaning company?

I think we meant the one from the SR3 main books that does voodoo magic on maglocks. On the other hand, Ghost should probably have the other one, too.

As for her getting down: we've got the elevators, let's use them. This might be time-critical, and we just have to make sure we jigger any in-elevator sensors. Any dissenters?

Yep, I forgot a multi-tool .

Since I have a bit more time right now, let me add a bit more in-depth info on this stuff, to show where I am coming from... (Mostly a SR world involving things like forged end-user certificates…)

I dislike the armor layering rules in general, so tend to avoid using them IMG, since they 'add' very little to the game...

I'll describe the smart suit as follows:

It starts with a form fitting suit of chemically sealed ballistic cloth (for those of you who came here to see Ghost as drawn by Shirow ). This suit provides the medical monitoring, the last layer of chemical seals, interfacing with whatever data interface points the user has (i.e. smart link pads), in addition it provides for the moving of sweat away from the body, and so on. Think of it as being a very expensive 2/0 armored cat-suit.

The next layer of the smart suit is a day/night reversible camo-suit that goes over this. It provides the second layer of chemical seals and very minor protection against radiation. (For a full NBC environment, a third layer would go on top, giving you defense in depth against corrosive agents, and some protection against simple wear and tear. The second layer suit is 4/3 armor (providing a total of 5/3). This suit upon radio command can either extend 'handles' of the back to facilitate dragging the wearer, or stiffen up and provide something of an 'instant stretcher' for the wearer. Either of these functions can be disabled or overridden by the wearer. (Via DNI as a free action, or a simple action otherwise).

The armored suit has ‘break-away’ panels if you need to take it off quickly (or the team medic needs to do so; the under-suit can be cut quite easily by medical grade equipment (the under-suit has no impact armor).

The ‘Anti-pursuit device’ is basically a mine that you can throw over your shoulder while running away, and have it take care of itself. If is about the size of a softball, weight around 1-1.5 KG. The user arms if and then emplaces it, or simply throws it. A user-set time afterwards (between 3 seconds and 3 minutes) the mine deploys several 5 meter long pressure sensitive wires. These wires are slightly sticky when first deployed, so they will stick to walls, ceilings, trees, etc. If these wires are disturbed, then the mine goes off. An internal computer has a pretty good chance of telling the difference between environmental conditions like wind or rain, and actual people. Though sleet, heavy rain, or hard wind will tend to confuse the mine. The mine will self destruct after a user set time (4 hours to 4 days). The mine is also capable of doing basic color matching on it surroundings, so that it gets to camo-colored bonuses when being looked for.
If the mine goes off try 15D(f) -1/Meter on for size (IPE AP grenade).

The breeching charge is around 3 meters of explosive cylinder (well more trapezoidal, a bit bigger around that a garden hose maybe…) that is sticky on one side. To emplace, you stick it to the offending wall or door in a circular patter, attach the provided detonators and set it off. You can stand within a meter or two (better make that two) of the charge going off, though it will be quite hard on your eyes and ears. Anyone within maybe 3 meters of the other side of the wall may take a little damage, and anyone actually leaning against the wall or door is probably going to be toast. It will also be hard on the eyes and ears of the people on the receiving end of the charge (like a flash-bang, more of less).

The ‘satchel charge’ is just a bag containing several 1Kg charges of explosive and several ways of setting said explosives off.

The maglock passkey is the thing in the BBB. Using the original availability rules you gave us, I think we could get a rating 4 one (don’t quite remember).

For action: fast-forward to Ghost on elevator arriving at -1. There are some concealed heat detectors and linked cameras in the elevators (the cameras start recording if the heat detectors are triggered): Solitaire will tell you that they look to be timed - right now they're just registering and reporting (he's dodging that second - a brand new +1 for the security tally) but they aren't set to automatically alarm-react without a proper code until after 21:00. The elevator has a back door; the corresponding button on the bank is for main floor (rear). The bank of buttons additionally has the "If trapped call ..." button, an internal alarm button, a magreader, and a place to insert a key.

I still don't know what Trogdor (astral) is doing after seeing the wageslave arrive at the elevators. (I'm jigging time a bit - some things are not quite simultaneous.) The drones are still stranded in that -1 vent corridor. Gangs are arriving with Diamond, who maybe is looking for a quick exit?

Rating 4 works - we need detail but none of us want to get bogged down in it. Of that list, what (besides the smart suit and the cleaners' passkey which she uses to get into the elevator, Solitaire could do it but this does it automatically, without complications) is Ghost currently wearing and/or actively using (as opposed to having on tap for later)?

Notes on the B/E kit:

A flashlight of some sort, an ultrasound detector and a means of detecting IR/UV light.

A monocle with microscopic and teleoptic vision options.

(since I don't recall the spook's powers, I'm not sure how much of this would be redundent)

For all the gear the thief is hauling, the armor rating on the body suit is a little high (IMHO) -- I would either say no armor (ala second skin) or something a little lighter, along the lines of a form-fitting suit. If the character is going to be slithering through ducts, a helmet might be a bit much to haul around with _everything_ else the adept's going to be humping around.

Body harness and monofilament climbing line with anchor and remote flywheel (visual: MI: 1 and related thief-films)

I might even go so far as to suggest some sort of powered, hand-held tool with cutting and drill heads.

For caltrop options, I'd suggest one or two flashbangs, a concussion grenade or chemical grenade for quick distractions.

Depending on how the GM rules on antidote patches, a biomonitor and external autoinjector in case of chemical contamination or critter poison.

Oh. And duct tape.

-Siege

"bump"

c'mon, guys! on the edge of my seat here!! its like the season finale is a cliffhanger and I have to wait for the next season to find out what happens.

scene: two gangs approach eachother, looking menecing. Diamond can be seen in the back. Solitaire snaps into the mic telling the rest of the team if they think they can do better than come down and try. Trogdor...uh, zips around the astral. The drones scurry around in the vents trying to find a way down. Ghost desends to the roof and takes the elevator down to -1. Just as the doors are about to open...

To Be Continued...

*bump again*

This is too good to be forgotten, keep up the good work Talia.

Can I get a *bump*?

I've not forgotten! I just need to know what the other PCs are doing before I can update, and what's being used actively among Ghost's equipment (as opposed to what's being carried on the "just in case" basis). I've already kinked "simultaneity" about as far as it will stretch. (I'll use the generous interpretation for antidote patches. Sorry, missed that implied question earlier.)

You guys can suggest things too, you know

Diamond is probably a) making sure the gangs don't start their "diversion" too early and b) scouting for any possible escape routes for Ghost and the package. Ghost is making her way down. The rigger is trying to move the drones so that they can descend with Ghost's elevator car (into a vent that leads to the shaft, from there hopefully into the car and into -2.

As for Trogdor...um..well...

I think astral recon is more or less out where we're going, so I'm not entirely sure what he's going to be getting up to. If he has some combat spells, how about getting him moving towards the site in case we need to do the extraction phase the fun way?

Talia, if you like I could post completed characters for Solitaire and /or Advent, I'd be able to do both over the weekend, so at the least they'd be available for the follow on runs.

As for the escape plan if things go badly wrong on level -2, the rigger in my campaign has a Westwind fitted with a remote control system so it can be used as a large drone, he also has a MCT-Nissan roto-drone fitted with a retransmission unit and power amps.

If Advent has these in his inventory, then if Solitaire can open the parking area door, the Westwind could be sent down to level -2 to evac Ghost and hopefully the girl, the rotor drone can hover at level -1 to retransmit Advents signal down to level -2 and also provide covering fire.

Raiko: I think everyone would like! If someone else wants dibs on one of those two, I'll assume they'll speak up by tomorrow. (Weekends seem to be when everyone but me is most Internet-accessible ... and I do remember what the first week of school is like!) Re Advent's equipment: such vehicles and drones as were already fixed (ie. used in this adventure) I reposted earlier in this thread (Aug 16 2003, 09:49 PM). Beyond that, it's open season, subject to original nuyen and availability restrictions as noted in the original thread. I'm asking also that modifications be kept minimal or specifically cleared through me: I won't have too much issue with most sensor levels up to security level, though. Off-hand, the Westwind and the MCT-Nissan roto-drone sound acceptable ... you might run into nuyen issues though.

If the decker is able to securely and discretely communicate with other denizens of the Matrix, I'd like those files sent to a trusted (very trusted) contact who can quickly crunch numbers and get back about what they are. Are there any decker friends, cult of otaku, pure data fetishists, etc. as contacts?

This run already involves two gangs, so more outsource labor shouldn't be a big deal, the only issue is the reliability of the contact. The decker can pay them some of his/her cut if necessary or better yet, get some gear (cred, whatever) from Johnson, since it was necessary for the run's success (in a way).

If this makes sense, I want to know what those files are. Could this have started shortly after finding the files or is it too late for that?
-------------
EDIT
If the drones can't investigate level -2 and the decker has nothing on it, then Trogdor (astral edition) might as well take a quick look around since it sounds like Ghost is going there anyway. A spirit would see Ghost just as well as T, but at least mundane security is a non-factor for the mage. If T is careful, I don't think it's too risky to follow the spooky wageslave down to lev -2 (is that where he's going?). Better that Ghost has some idea of what's down there, or at least what it looks like.

You'll need an appropriate contact (note for Raiko). It could have been done prior to start of active run (let me know if it was - within the structure of these threads I'll definitely let it slide), but it's much too soon to expect an answer. (Ah, the joys of converting raw numberage back into concepts and then into interpretation.)

In any case, "securely" is a relative concept