Mission 2a - What's New Pussycat?

“Hey Sam, glad that you’re back with us.  I tell you what, we’ve stumbled across this great new puzzle game that we need your help to solve.  It’s like one of those ‘escape the lock’ puzzles where you have to find a clever way out of a room using only the tools they’ve given you inside.  The twist here is, this box is moving.”

“I am confident you can solve it.  I have noticed you are a real clever puzzle solver.”

“Also, if you can do it soon-ish, I’d appreciate it. Nobu’s idea for a solution is likely to cause my driver to get rather irritated.”

Nobu's attempts at kicking down the door are no more successful than before. They are fairly sturdy doors designed to withstand heavy gunfire. Unfortunately Nobu's gunshow appears to be insufficient at the moment.

Sam disconnects from his deck and puts it away. He connects his data jack to Nobu's commlink. What model is it?

Sam instinctively makes a matrix perception check. But, none of his hotkeys work, so nothing happens.

He sighs and does it manually.

Sam Dekker carried out 12 launched of one d6 :

, , , , , , , , , , ,

Nobu's commlink appears to be an Erika Elite (Device rating 4, A0 S0 D4 F4)

Sam, now pulled out of his meltdown, realizes that he's at least safe for now. He's stuck in a car that seems to be circling, but he doesn't seem to be in any immediate physical danger. He just needs to figure a way out of this, with limited resources. He's got a puzzle to figure out now, and he can put all of his focus into that.

Sam knows, as soon as he sees the model of Nobu's commlink (and probably even before seeing it) that, despite Sato's confidence in him, there's no way he can go up against a hacker using this equipment. His only hope is that Roku hacked the limo and then moved on, leaving it to drive around without her paying further attention to it.

((I also noticed, when I was researching what my plan for trying to get out of this is, that Sam might not even be able to connect the commlink to his datajack unless it has a sim module? So he might just be using it by hand.))

The matrix perception roll should still be the same though. So, assuming that Sam does his matrix perception and doesn't see signs of Roku continuing to monitor the limo, he'll get to work hacking it with the commlink ((depending on the GM's rulings on some things...))

Sam reconfigures some settings on the commlink, overclocking it as much as he can to add to its sleaze rating (which is currently 0). If he can successfully accomplish this, then he can at least attempt a sleaze action. Sam probably knows, though I don't, if a 1 sleaze rating is likely to be enough to get a mark on the limo's icon.

If the GM allows Sam to use his overclocker quality in this way, and Roku isn't monitoring, and Sam thinks he has a reasonable chance to get a mark on the limo using it, then he will set about the slow work of trying to get some marks, definitely one mark at a time, onto the limo so that he can give control back to driver.

If Sam finds that plan to be unworkable, for any of the reasons contemplated above or for any other reason that I haven't considered, then the only other option that I can think of for Sam at this point is to pull out his repair kit and get to work trying to restore enough functionality to it that he can at least get he and Nobu out of this mess.

Either way, none of this is happening quickly. And there's no chance that Sam will be tracking Roku from this current interaction.

"Sato," he relays over Nobu's comm, "I'm not going to be able to track down Roku right now. I'm working on getting this runaway limo back under control. Don't let Akane get away."

He starts to set to work, but then he sends an addendum to Sato and Tetsu.

"But also, try not to hurt her."

((here's my hack on the fly roll for one mark, if all the above stuff makes it a relevant thing for Sam to be attempting))

Sam Dekker carried out 17 launched of one d6 :

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

A quick search about matrix space shows no signs of Roku. As far as Sam can tell, she has done her mischief and gone on with her life. At least he hopes so, because with her about, any plan for him to hack anything without a functioning cyberdeck is pretty much dead in the water.

Hoping that his attempts are not a waste time, Sam takes a look at Nobu's commlink and realizes there is no way he can tweak it on its own to be a hacking machine. It just doesn't have the juice he needs to get it to function. However, he does have a cyberdeck which technically still functions, but just requires a whole reinstall of the OS for it to be useful. Reinstalling is doable, but very time consuming and while he is safe now, who knows how long that will last. Besides, he has things to do that don't involve touring the city in a wheeled cage.

He cracks open his cyberdeck as well as the commlink casing, strips down some spare wires from his tool kit and solders some parts from the cyberdeck to the commlink, a process that takes him about 20 minutes to do at which time he is long down the road and away from Tetsu and Sato. The end result is a hideous monstrosity of juryrigged wiring, and likely a fire hazard that will melt down Nobu's commlink, but he manages to get enough juice into the commlink to squeak out a fraction of his cyberdeck's sleaze into the commlink. If he is lucky, it might possibly be enough to hack the limo's wireless signal.

((Alright, so the overclock ability really doesn't apply as it only works for cyberdecks, but I'ma give it to you because you got a lot of successes and it's cool.

At this point, Sam needs to hack his way back into the system with a sleaze of one. That means no matter how many successes he makes, the most number of net successes before the system resists is 1, unless you use edge to push the limit. That means if the limo's firewall gets even one success, the attempt fails, again unless you've used edge and gotten more successes that way (so if you have the edge left to use, you really should use it, and see if you can get multiple marks).

Since the commlink is not supposed to be used this way, I am going to say that every 2 1's you roll will count as a point of matrix damage on the commlink, as you basically have overclocked it to the point of meltdown. If you can get 1 mark, that's enough to operate the doors/windows. If you can get 3 marks, that's enough to regain control of the car. This is of course assuming the commlink is still functioning at that point to do those actions with.




This is all going to take some time though, so before we get to that, I would like to see what Tetsu and Sato are up to for the next 20 minutes. Are you pursuing Akane? If so, how are you doing it? If not, are you just waiting around for Sam to regain control of the car or are you doing something else?))

Sato acknowledges Sam's message and immediately starts moving quickly, attempting to keep tabs on Akane. Maybe she will think she lost him.

He messages Tetsu "Do you have a fix on her?"

Perception check:


Sneak check to keep her from seeing him:

Akane is not too hard to spot, at least for now, as she tears her way through the crowd, running as fast as she can into the train station and leaving a trail of confused people in her wake. If you are going to catch up to or at least maintain distance with her, you will need to run as well. Relying on stealth will get you left behind.

Sato breaks into a sprint, keying his mic to the group channel.  “In pursuit. Tetsu I need your help.”

As he moves quickly through the crowd, he thinks to himself I know I promised no harm to this woman, but she is our only lead

((Run check. Sato has AGI 5, so he’s pretty quick to start with.))

Dashing through the station, Akane quickly scans her commlink at a ticket turnstyle and pushes through, charging through the crowd. Sato remains in visual range as he approaches the turnstyle.

Drek, a turnstyle.  I don't want to be on record as being here.

Sato glances about as he runs to get a sense for the situation.
How far from the turnstyles are the trains?  
Are there a lot scheduled to depart soon?
Are there any security officers or drones who would notice if he jumped the turnstyle?

The station here is a busy one. There are quite a few different platforms with a wide variety of stores between them and there is a train going through at least one of the platforms every couple of minutes. The longest one would expect to wait for a train at any particular platform is 10 minutes if you arrive just as the last train left. Short of someone jumping on the tracks to end their lives or some other emergency, the trains are always extremely prompt, both leaving and arriving at their exact scheduled times, give or take 2-3 seconds. On the ceiling just behind the turnstyles, a digital list of the next 10 trains to leave shows that 3 of them are scheduled to leave within the next couple of minutes

There are about 10 turnstiles here with a manned booth at the far end for people who need some kind of assistance, be it ticket problems, accessibility issues, or simply questions on which train one should ride on.

Hopping the turnstyle is certainly possible in the crowd, though there is always the chance that the station attendant might notice you. If leaving a record is an issue (beyond the normal security cameras in the station), one can purchase a ticket with cash at an automated ticket machine right next to the turn styles. Though there is a fair chance of losing Akane in the time that would take to do.


((note: I didn't add that circle to the image, that was already there when I found it. This is a fairly accurate image of what it looks like though, except imagine more people there))

Tetsu dashes off along with Sato in pursuit of Akane.  He is slightly behind Sato during his sprint.  As he notices the turnstile he calls Sato during his sprint "Can you distract the guard while I hop the turnstile?  Don't want to lose her  Then you can purchase a ticket and catch up.

Any plan for what we do when we catch up to her?"

Hearing Tetsu's request, Sato sends a message to the group "Tetsu, just follow her at a distance as carefully as you can...don't approach her...we need to determine if Sam has any way to trace our target...until then, she's our only lead.  I'll be a minute but will try to catch up."

Then Sato sends a few AR commands to his smart wig, causing it to grey considerably.  As he approaches the guard post, his posture begins to stoop and his gait adopts a more and more pronounced limp/shuffle and his face creases with a few wrinkles.  

He approaches the post and speaks with a thin, reedy voice:
"E-e-e-excuse me young man, I'm trying to get to Chizu to see my granddaughter.  Can you help me discover the right train?"

Just as he finishes, he stumbles, falling against the glass window loudly enough to attract attention from the surrounding crowd.
"Oh dear!" he cries pitifully, but manages to regain his balance after a moment.

((Con/Impersonation check for toshiyori))

Tetsu goes to leap over the turnstyle. He manages to get over without an issue, but slams into the back of a man on the other side, sending both crashing to the ground. The man gets up and turns around, clearly pissed off, then starts yelling at Tetsu. ((glitch. if you want, you can clear the glitch by spending a point of edge, or you can just play through it however you like))

The man makes a big scene, blocking Tetsu from running through and doing the sort of shove grandstanding that generally marks the beginning of what would be a fight. The noise catches the attention of the guy at the desk, who says to Sato, "Pardon me a moment, I need to deal with this situation."

He then steps away from the desk to go deal with the fight.

With his way open, Sato slips through the counter area and heads after Akane ((give me a perception check to see if you can still see her))

(I'll spend a point of edge here if it gets me around the guy)

Tetsu picks himself up from the ground and apologizes to the man he knocked over

"Hey, sorry man, I didn't see you" He tries to continue on around the guy, keeping up with Akane.

Sato ducks past the distracted guard and disappears into the crowd, heading towards the next departing train, but also keeping an eye out in case she runs out one of the other exits.

((okay, edge spent))The guy accepts the apology and Tetsu is able to move on before the attendant arrives at the scene. The distraction is just enough for Sato to get past the desk on his own. Luckily he catches a glimpse of her fiberoptic hair bouncing far down the terminal.

((Give me a running check, both of you))

Sato ducks and dodges through the crowd.  He is fast ((AGI 5)), but not super strong ((STR 3))

Though she is well ahead of him, Sato manages to keep up enough with Akane to avoid losing her. He sees her running into a women's bathroom.

((Sato looks around to see if there’s more than one exit from the bathroom))

Sato does not notice any other exits to the bathroom.