Mission 1 - Jumping to Conclusions

Michiko smiles and gives a deep bow, exclaiming, "Domo arigatou gozaimasu!"

She then starts interviewing each of you, starting with those who agree to be on camera. She asks a great many questions so as to get as much information as possible about the story. Sam and Chougou presumably leave out the less than legal portions of their investigation, of course. Other than hacking into the police systems for evidence, this job has been largely above board, so it is pretty easy to give most of the truth that won't get you into any trouble.

((Alright, everyone who is agreeing to be seen on camera, I want a charisma+influence(negotiation) check. Those just giving interviews, but who want their faces/voices masked don't need to make a check.))

Sato hops in the front seat of the van and dials the commlink.

“Good day...WuJen told me you are the Tanaka-san expecting our cargo. We have managed to capture it alive, but it was much more difficult and dangerous than we expected.”

“I understand from him that you would prefer to study it alive. We are of course very supportive of academic research, but would also like to offer some additional services to pacify it for short periods for more efficient study and dispose of it when your research is complete. We are honor-bound to our patron to ensure it does not harm any other innocents, so I hope you understand our responsibility in this matter.”

WuJen stands up and steadies his shaking.  He closes his eyes in concentration, calling Little Dragon to his side as he smooths his hair and straightens his clothing, taking a moment to shine a few of the dragon talismans that dot his jacket.  Suddenly he looks different in seemingly 100 ways, without really changing much at all.

His clothes are similar, but now immaculate and crisp, with the sharp clean lines of a tailored suit that would cost 1000's.  The Talisman no longer look ludicrious, but rather finely made and beautiful works of art that shine with a subtle arcane glow.  He appears to be clean, well groomed, his face losing stubble, grime, and a bit of its youth to appear to be an accomplished man in his early 20's.  Little Dragon appears at his side dressed in a stunning white gown that accentuates the tatoos that glow softly on her skin.

(ooc: Physical Mask, force 4)
(Sorcery+Magic, -1 for wounds, +2 for aid sorcery from Tatsuo)
WuJen carried out 13 launched of one d6 :

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Drain Resist
WuJen carried out 10 launched of one d6 :

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The addresses Michiko in a voice that is not quite his own, richer and fuller with no trace of stress or fatigue.  "What would you like to know?"

(Charisma+Negotiation -1 for wounds.  All rolls in one post, so I guess we will see if I explode)
WuJen carried out 5 launched of one d6 :

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Sam grins like an idiot into the camera and does his best to get through this with the minimum of stuttering, and definitely without mentioning hacking into the koban or City Hall.

Sam Dekker carried out 1 launched of one d6 :

(woops.  Not that it matters much with the roll, but I forgot to subtract 2 from the last one for sustaining the mask.  Maybe little dragon took it for me long enough to make a good impression)

While the others do their best not to embarrass themselves on television, Sato quietly calls Wujen's contact Mikuzume. ((I assume that's who you mean))

The commlink image remains off and a female voice answers, "You have secured the creature. A pickup will be arriving shortly. Please provide whatever means you have of dealing with the creature and payment will be provided in the form of a certified credstick for each person involved in the creature's capture. When it has been disposed of, you will be provided a brief video as proof of death, should you wish it. Due to the sensitive nature of our research, we wish to do not wish to include any outside talent at this time. Please inform Wujen that we will expect a final report with any findings he has made about the creature."

A nondescript, driverless pickup truck comes to a stop next to the coffin and then automatically pops open its hatchback. A pair of spider-like drones crawl out of the truck bed and lift the coffin into the truck. Once their prize has been secured, one pops open a small compartment, roughly large enough to fit the stakes and ofuda. They then wait patiently, unmoving.

"Sun, give up the stake, and let's round up the remaining Ofuda"

WuJen looks at the truck, "It's got to die Mikuzume. Find out what you can, but it's far too dangerous to risk it getting loose again. I won't require video, I will need it's head when you are done."

WuJen whispers to Little Dragon "Tell Sato to hang on to his Stake. The deal was for the means to kill the creature, but that does not mean we have to give up all of it, and we paid a very high price for it. If the creature does get loose we will need it in the future."

The voice says on Sato's commlink, "Inform Wujen that the creature will be eliminated once study is complete. Testing countermeasures is a planned portion of experimentation."

Sato purses his lips - there is something weird about the voice on the phone - it missed his reference about giri and seems unwilling to engage in any niceties of conversation.

Looking for leverage. Do I just adopt a non-desnan approach?

The voice speaks perfect Desian as far as pronunciation and grammar are concerned, but she does so in a very controlled and monotonic manner. Kind of like she is cold reading from a script rather than speaking on the fly like one normally does. Furthermore the script sounds like it was written by a scientist as opposed to an artist.

((Does Sato realize that the voice is an AI?  He probably doesn't have much experience with Matrix things, but there's obviously chatter about them in this world too right?

While waiting to join the story, I peeked at everyone's character sheets to see what roles I could help with and I noticed his contact))

"I apologize for the indiscretion, but for such a rare and dangerous creature, it seems illogical for a scientist to miss the chance to interview the field agents who had the most contact with the creature.  Perhaps we could come by and discuss this in person?"

"It is very important to my patron that this creature remain under control and that I receive proof of death. WuJen also requests the head of the creature after disposal."

(ooc:. I choose the name from the legend of a shapeshifting creature that pretended to be human. It was supposedly obsessed with knowledge and power, was beautiful, and married an emperor under duress and then murdered him before fleeing I to the wild.... Why an AI would choose that name for itself is left to the GM)

"The head is mostly for you, Sato. There are few more certain proofs of death. I just want to be certain we won't be chasing this thing down again. I've never known Mikuzume to be dishonorable in it's transactions, but sometimes there can be a disconnect in our perception of reality that creates disharmony. I've found over the years that it's best to be very clear to avoid miscommunication."

((I'm assuming that Chougou didn't do anything absolutely embarrassing, but probably came off as maybe a bit overly analytical and went on about details that weren't relevant to the discussion?))

WuJen gathers the stake from Sun and the remaining Ofuda, and calls over to Torpor " Hey chummer, you want to slip that peach bullet in here? I'm sure Mikuzume would be happy to test it out to see if it would have worked."

He places the materials into the compartment. "It's not that I don't trust you Mikuzume, it's just that this thing is terrifyingly strong. I've never even heard of something with an aura like this. Time is on it's side, it can wait for opportunity, so don't wait to long to finish it off. I am sure whoever sealed it in that chamber thought it would never be a problem again."

Torpor draws a colt agent from under his left arm, ejects the clip from the pistol, removes a bullet with a wooden looking head, and hands it to Wujen. Then reloads the clip and holsters the pistol.

"But of course chummer. Here you go. "

Sun hands the stake over to WuJen and just enjoys watching the others be interviewed, while he keeps one eye on the coffin, just in case.

WuJen wrote:He places the materials into the compartment.  "It's not that I don't trust you Mikuzume, it's just that this thing is terrifyingly strong.  I've never even heard of something with an aura like this.  Time is on it's side, it can wait for opportunity, so don't wait to long to finish it off.  I am sure whoever sealed it in that chamber thought it would never be a problem again."

"I agree. Mikuzme-san, this monster is extremely dangerous and deeply magical. We will provide detailed instructions for it's management via ofuda (and an example) and its disposal with our peachwood stake, which we acquired at great cost, but we simply must insist on proof of death in the form of its head and a rough timeline so I can set expectations with my patron."

((you can tell Sato is struggling to be this direct - he is very Desnan.))

((@Sato If Sato has any knowledge skill relating to AI, I'd give him a knowledge check to think of a way to test it through conversation. Otherwise he probably wouldn't think to assume it was one as they are rare enough that most people don't expect to have conversations with them. It is responding better than a chat bot at least, and those can fool people these days for at least a really short while.

@Chougou So long as you didn't glitch/critical glitch, you do fine on the interview. Reporters deal with weird people all the time and creative editing of the footage does wonders. So far the best interviewee among you is Wujen at 1 hit.))

The drone accepts the bullet, stake and ofuda with a beep. Then the second drone approaches each of you and ejects a standard certified credstick at your feet. Anyone who bothers to slot the credstick into their commlink to check the balance finds it contains 3,000 nuyen.

Sun continues to watch the coffin carefully. Though he hears a lot of struggling coming from within, the coffin itself is not moving at all. Those who check the camera feed can see it jumping up and down (well, technically side to side since it is on its back) in an attempt to smash through, but there is no effect on the coffin,

There is a long pause on the commlink, before an answer is provided, "We would prefer to keep the head for dissection, but if you wish it, it can be provided afterward. The approximate timeline for the completion of live testing as well as postmortem analysis is 1 month. You do not have clearance to come to the lab in person, but you are correct that your data will be helpful. Please provide it now or a drone can be sent to a location of your choosing to receive your report at a later time.

"I assure you that every security protocol required for dealing with magical creatures will be in place. We have processed creatures of designations vampire, demon, and ghost in the past without incident and the calculated chance of incident with creature designation jiangshi is well within safety parameters. Provided that the warding and weaponry you have provided are effective, the predicted chance of escape is only 0.05%. To provide a frame of reference for a layperson, the predicted chance of escape for the most powerful creature we have processed was of designation demon which had a predicted chance of escape of 1.7%. It was safely disposed of after research was concluded. There is no need for concern."

Torpor logs in to the camera feed of the coffin and saves a three minute recording for his own files, saving it to his comm. He then takes his offered credstick, slots to check the balance,  then pockets it.

((On mobile, but 3,000 nuyen seems much less than agreed upon - is this glitch shorting us?))

Chougou picks up the credstick and checks the balance before dreaming of noodles...

GameMaster wrote:((@Sato If Sato has any knowledge skill relating to AI, I'd give him a knowledge check to think of a way to test it through conversation. Otherwise he probably wouldn't think to assume it was one as they are rare enough that most people don't expect to have conversations with them. It is responding better than a chat bot at least, and those can fool people these days for at least a really short while.))

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There is a long pause on the commlink, before an answer is provided, "We would prefer to keep the head for dissection, but if you wish it, it can be provided afterward. The approximate timeline for the completion of live testing as well as postmortem analysis is 1 month. You do not have clearance to come to the lab in person, but you are correct that your data will be helpful. Please provide it now or a drone can be sent to a location of your choosing to receive your report at a later time.

"I assure you that every security protocol required for dealing with magical creatures will be in place. We have processed creatures of designations vampire, demon, and ghost in the past without incident and the calculated chance of incident with creature designation jiangshi is well within safety parameters. Provided that the warding and weaponry you have provided are effective, the predicted chance of escape is only 0.05%. To provide a frame of reference for a layperson, the predicted chance of escape for the most powerful creature we have processed was of designation demon which had a predicted chance of escape of 1.7%. It was safely disposed of after research was concluded. There is no need for concern."

Sato takes the credstick and slots it to verify the balance is as expected.

"Thank you for your prompt payment, it is appreciated. I look forward to many mutually beneficial transactions."

((Sato does not have any relevant knowledge skill, so I will make the call that if his roll above for Judge Intentions roll of 5 successes isn't enough, he will conclude that Mikuzume is just a very clinical researcher with all the stereotypes that entails))

"Of course, Mikuzume-san, we will provide you with extensive data, meticulously formatted.  Please allow us a day to put it together and then we will contact you for the exchange.  Proper science must be done with precision and cannot be rushed."  ((he is trying to make a connection))