Seneth to…Jules character(I’m too busy at work to access my notes)
"My child, this is a stupid plan and I am completely against it. Trusting some machinery to track someone this important is lazy, foolish, and irresponsible. It will most likely fail. We must do this job our selves, and following along in cars is not adequate.
My powers are great, but I will not assist a plan as foolish as this, at least not in a direct way."
Kirk will be working right up until the last minute on “improving” Goethe’s skinlinked glasses. She and Darwin are camped at a makeshift workbench in the room provided by McManus. She’s oblivious to the conversation around her as she immerses herself in her work, with Darwin zipping around her and working as a third arm.
“Clamp here,” Kirk says, and Darwin’s arm rotates to the vise attachment. Darwin grasps the glasses frame, and Kirk applies a dropper full of chemical dissolver to weaken the sealing on the frame. Two sections of the glasses fall neatly apart, exposing microscopic components inside. Kirk peers into the circuitry, and mutters “Bah, that’s no good. Darwin, I need magnification. I’m coming in.”
McManus checks on the progress of the group while Kirk is working. “Mind if I sit in on the planning?” he says to the group. Then he notices Goethe’s glasses in several pieces on the desk, and Kirk motionless while she’s occupying Darwin. “Uh…is that part supposed to be on the outside?”
McManus doesn’t wait for an answer as he takes a seat with the rest of the group. “Listen, I know you’re tied up in knots about how to nab this Chaggo creep, so I have some advice. Rule 1 in this business; never fight the cops. Even if you win, you need to replace your fake SINs and lay low for a long time. It’s more trouble than it’s worth. Let Goethe tail this guy somewhere that Lone Star doesn’t have a dozen fuzzies lurking. It’s what I’d do, anyway. Hell, follow the smell all the way back to his hideout, if you can. Saves you the trouble of beating the info out of him.”
Goethe to McManus:
“You make a good point. And it’s not too long ago that I got this SIN, as you no doubt remember. I’d like it to at least last longer than the last one.”
To the group:
"So there we have it. We’ll tail this guy. I’ll take point. Nail and Donovan, you stay in the general area and get ready for anything. Senneth, stay within view of me and Chaggo at Fortnight’s meeting spot. I’ll find a cozy bench or something to watch the spot from, you keep an eye out on the rest of the crowd. And Kirk will be monitoring the whole situation from her vantage point. When Chaggo moves, I’ll let everyone know. I’ll tail him, and the rest of you can set up a moving perimeter. At some point, I’ll probably have to pass the shadowing off to Nail or Donovan lest Chaggo get too suspicious.
“If we need to jump him, I’ll give the word.”
“I predict we will have to jump him, my children, but I will try to ensure we don’t have to.”
Kirk has finished repairing Goethe’s glasses. When Goethe puts them on, they seem to be working better than ever.
“See? Told you it would be awesome,” Kirk says. Goethe frowns in confusion. Kirk’s lips weren’t moving, but he heard her voice quite plainly.
“Neat, huh?” Kirk says again, and now Goethe is even more confused.
“What’s going on?” Goethe says.
“Don’t say it, numbskull. Just think it! Your glasses pick up signals from your brain waves and port them directly through the Matrix to me, and the same in reverse. Oh dear…honestly Goethe, is that all you think about, pervert?”
Goethe takes the glasses off again before any more of his thoughts can leak out to Kirk. Goethe must now consider that Kirk may be able to read his surface thoughts when he wears the glasses, although it might also just be an elaborate prank she has played with subvocalization software.
–
The time is 1125 am, and Goethe is waiting at the train station, looking as inconspicuous as possible. He doesn’t exactly stand out among this crowd. Corporate pencil pushers, street thugs, Lone Star cops, and unsavory enforcer goons regularly rub elbows here. The lobby is quite large, with food and shops all around. Goethe is positioned in a waiting area with a clear view of the terminal which he expects Chaggo will arrive at.
Donny and Nail have taken positions at opposite ends of the perimeter, outside of the lobby building. Seneth is browsing the shops inside the lobby, and keeping a visual on the opposite side of the station, where Goethe can’t see a pedestrian entrance. Seneth attempted to use a comlink before coming to the station, but found the machine much too difficult to understand. He is currently sustaining a telepathic “Mind Link” spell with Goethe, allowing them to communicate wordlessly. While he sustains the spell, he will suffer minor dice roll penalties, for the distraction caused by spell sustaining. He may end the spell at any time, but if he does he is required to physically touch Goethe if he wants to re-cast the spell.
Meanwhile, Kirk is safe at McManus’ place. She’s linked into the access point McManus provided for the Transportation Authority, giving her access to the train and station’s security cameras. She is doing very low-level hacking for now, with virtually no chance of being discovered. If she attempts to do anything but observe passively through the security systems, she will have to begin a series of stealth tests to avoid the Transportation Authority ICe programs.
Kirk is monitoring the train the group believes Chaggo to be on, but she can’t see him among the passengers. She may attempt to manipulate the cameras to get a better view, which could potentially alert the Transportation Authority network security if she rolls poorly in her stealth tests. Kirk’s impression of this network is that it is severely under-secured, and relies much too heavily on reactionary defense measures, instead of proactive defense. There are some monstrously powerful ICe here, but they seem almost out of place in the old and dusty network.
Additionally, Kirk has a small dragonfly-sized drone flying above the station with an aerial view of the area. The drone has a pilot ability of 1, which will make it exceptionally inadequate for on-the-fly decision making, but it can follow her specific orders reasonably well. She can jump into the drone at any time, or direct her registered machine sprite (with a much better rating than the built-in pilot rating of the drone) to control the drone. The sprite isn’t as smart as Kirk, but is miles ahead of the built in AI software for the drone.
The group may now make any last-last-minute communications to each other, before Chaggo is scheduled to arrive in approximately 30 minutes. Kirk may attempt to take a more active hacking approach in the train’s network at this time, but she will risk alerting the network security programs.
It’s not worth risking giving away her position, especially this early- at least for the moment Kirk will keep observing passively, and inform the group of this: if there are any particularly glaring holes in her camera network she’ll appraise the field team of this, so they can ensure that either her dragonfly or some human eyes scope the blind spot.
Nail is bored. He subvocalizes to Goethe, “Hey Goethe. Want to make a bet?”
The 1155 arrives at the station, and Goethe observes the passengers as they unload. Chaggo is not among them.
“What’s the word, Goethe?” Donovan says over the comlink. “Train’s been there long enough you would’ve seen Chaggo if he was on it.”
“He’s not here,” Goethe says. “He must be arriving on foot. These passengers are just…” Goethe’s voice trails off.
“What is it?” Donovan says.
“I’ll get back to you,” Goethe says, and stands suddenly. His body is jittery with adrenaline as he sees exactly why Chaggo never got off the train. A human in a business suit is standing in the center of the waiting area, speaking into his comlink microphone. Goethe has the sudden certainty that this man is a lookout for Chaggo, and his suspicion is confirmed as he casually walks nearby and eavesdrops on his conversation.
“No, boss, the elf 'aint here,” the man says. “None of his crew, either. Must have had cold feet.” The man pauses as he waits for a response in his conversation, then says “Got it. See you tomorrow.” The man shuts down the commlink and begins to walk toward an exit.
The passengers on the 1155 train have finished unloading, and new passengers are boarding. The time is 1158. The train will leave in two minutes, presumably taking Chaggo with it.
Goethe has succeeded in a Perception test, identifying a man acting as a lookout for Chaggo. The man does not suspect he has been overheard. From the man’s conversation, it’s apparent that he isn’t returning to Chaggo’s hideout, and there’s no guarantee the man even knows where it is.
If the train departs with Chaggo aboard, it will quickly outpace any of the group’s vehicles and Kirk’s dragonfly drone.
Sorry about the bet autolycus. Goethe might have taken you up on it, depending on what it would be, but Goethe isn’t much of a gambling man. Dumb luck tends to screw him over enough as it is. He doesn’t usually add money to the equation. So since it’s probably to late for the bet, I’ll adjust what Geothe would have said to fit with his character anyway
Geothe to Nail (and by default the rest of the party) over the commlink:
“A bet, eh? Sorry, if you’re good enough to stop McManus from betting against you, I sure as Hell ain’t going to start.”
Goethe over the commlink after seeing the lookout:
"Shit. This chummer’s good. He sent a lookout. Nail, Donovan, watch the lookout. He’s heading out [insert exit here] and is dressed in a [insert description here]. Don’t approach him; we don’t need him tipping off Chaggo. Just follow him for a bit and see if he looks like he might know anything. If you think he doesn’t, or aren’t sure if he does, leave him be. And if you’re certain he does, well, just don’t give him any reason to tip Chaggo off. Pretend you’re mugging him for his stuff, or something. Take his commlink if you can.
“Anyway, Chaggo must still be on that train. I guess it’s time for Seneth and I to go for a ride. Kirk, can you see what car he’s in? And can you tell if he decides to make for an exit? We can’t afford to lose him.”
That being said, Goethe feigns receipt of a call and says loud enough as if he was having a phone conversation that would be overheard by any in the area:
“Gotcha. I’ll get on the train then. I’ll see you when I get there.”
Goethe then casually strolls onto the train the lookout came off of.
After Goethe gets on the train: “Savin’ all the fun for yourself again, eh?” Nail vocalizes to Goethe.
Nail is sorely tempted to get on the train in order to engage Chaggo, but resists temptation after realizing he’d be leaving Donovan alone with the lookout.
Nail then stealthily shadows the lookout to the best of his ability.
Kirk will attempt to use the surveillance at her disposal to narrow down which car Chaggo is in, but she refrains from moving the cameras- the dragonfly can do the same job with a much lower risk.
Chaggo must be deliberately avoiding areas covered by the default camera angles, because Kirk can’t see him while monitoring the cameras passively.
While she’s in the TA network, Kirk has a few options. She can attempt to hack the train’s functions, preventing it from departing on time. If she does, she will have to roll increasingly difficult stealth tests to avoid being detected by the Network security for as long as she sustains the delay. She may attempt to hack the security cameras to adjust their viewing angle. This will force Kirk to make less frequent stealth tests, as it is a much less invasive procedure. Additionally, she can have her dragonfly drone attempt to fly into the train, but it is quite likely to be noticed by someone.
Goethe is entering the train, and Nail is tailing the lookout. The other characters should decide how they want to proceed.
Donovan to Nail:
“Stick on the lookout as well as you can, but don’t get in his face. There’s no sense in two men for one lookout who might not know shit. I’m getting on the train. If Chaggo gets wise and decides he wants to fight it out, I want a piece.”
Donovan will board the train.
With operatives on the train, Kirk will refrain from attempting a hack- she would be exposing them to potential discovery for intelligence that their frontman will acquire in seconds, anyway.
I’m not quite sure where Seneth is in all of this, but if it is possible to board the train, he will.
Nail easily spots Chaggo’s lookout man in the gray business suit as he exits the building. Kirk’s drone also spots the man, but its AI is not good enough to decide whether he is a target worthy of attempting to follow. For now, the drone is perched inconspicuously on a nearby windowsill, surveying the area outside of the station lobby building.
Nail isn’t sure how to proceed tailing the lookout man without arousing suspicion. The man glances his way, and Nail reflexively turns away to avoid eye contact.
“Damn!” Nail mutters, realizing too late what an obvious gesture he made. “I think he spotted me,” Nail says over the comlink.
The man looks at Nail suspiciously for a moment, and then hurriedly changes direction to avoid crossing Nail’s path. He’s now heading East on Pine st, toward a retail shopping complex on Belmont. He’ll be out of range of Kirk’s drone soon, unless she either directly controls the drone or commands her registered machine sprite to pilot the drone, in order to make it follow the man.
Nail failed his attempt to use Shadowing skill (by defaulting with his Intuition stat only), and the lookout man now suspects him. If he sees Nail attempting to follow him again, he will be certain of Nail’s intent, and almost surely contact Chaggo.
Meanwhile, Goethe, Seneth, and Donovan have boarded the train on different cars, and begin their search for Chaggo. As the train begins to pull away from the station, Goethe sees the ork in the first car, directly underneath a security camera. He’s wearing a gray hooded jacket, which obscures his head from the camera. The ork is surrounded by civilians, as the car is completely packed with afternoon commuters.
Goethe also notices a wiry looking human standing nearby, acting as another one of Chaggo’s lookouts. The man couldn’t be more obvious, as everything from his tense and alert posture to the mean-looking scowl on his face practically paints a neon sign announcing his purpose. As he covertly examines the pair, a Lone Star security officer brushes past him. “Excuse me, sir” the man says. “Please take your seat.”
Goethe has succeeded in a perception test, to discover Chaggo and at least one of his agents on the train. He also succeeded in a shadowing test, to determine whether Chaggo picked up on the fact that Goethe was watching him. Chaggo is oblivious, for now, but Goethe will have to roll again if he wants to follow Chaggo off the train when it comes time for his stop.
Seneth to Goethe:
“Goethe, I am coming to join you in your car. Make no notice of me when I enter.”
Since there are two men on the train, Kirk will keep her attention on the monitor and have her machine sprite tail Nail’s guy in the dragonfly.
Goethe to Nail subvocalized over the commlink:
“Well, look on the bright side. Your duty probably can’t kill you.”
To Seneth over the commlink:
“Gotcha. The package isn’t arriving alone, by the way.”
Goethe will keep a partial eye on Chaggo and his companion to see if they prepare to leave at any point.
“Damnit.” Nail mutters under his breath. “I better give this guy a longer leash,” he thinks to himself.
He vocalizes to the group: "The lookout is suspicious of me. I need to follow at a distance. Kirk, can you relay me the machine sprite’s location? Your drone is tailing the guy, so I’ll trail the drone.’