(Q1 SJ1) Sweet Justice (Black Swan, Emi, Whiskers)

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Koshnek
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(Q1 SJ1) Sweet Justice (Black Swan, Emi, Whiskers)

Post by Koshnek »

Black Swan's TAP receives an unexpected message from Kit, "Can you drop by the bar outside of business hours, Nakama? I have something to share with you but not over the 'net."
Meeting at the Downside
Kit greets Black Swan and shows her into the usually locked back room. It's a rather spartan setup inside. There's a bunk, a small bathroom and a tiny closet but not much else. A desk stands across the room from the entrance, and an antique from another era sits on top of it. A laptop computer sits within a metallic enclosure on the desk, both of which are plugged into an blocky contraption on the floor. The block itself is plugged into the nearby electrical outlet.

"Welcome to my home, Nakama," Kit says with an amused smile as she looks at Black Swan's facial expression, "It is not much, but it is mine."

"I have a job for you," She says as she pulls Black Swan by the hand over to her desk, "I keep my notes here. It was hard to find a mobile computer that still works. I removed its connectivity hardware, so no one can hack into it without being in this room. Unwanted intrusion would activate the magnets and fry this old tech, so everything is very secure."

The neko girl whizzes trough the archaic interface and opens up a file. She scrolls through the information once, closes the file and deletes it. Black Swan's TAP receives an encrypted text file moments later.

Kit looks at Black Swan and says, "A contact of mine, an investigative journalist, is concerned with the happenings in Sugar Grove near the Sweet Sweets candy factory. Homeless people have disappeared, and the journalist has a few leads that need to be checked out. One person needs to ascertain which is the location these abductions are taking place, and another is needed surveil the location. The client's offering 1000 cryptodollars for this job but will authorize an extra 500 cryptos for someone to break into the location to place a bug and recover any physical evidence of wrongdoing."

"This job might be tricky, nakama," Kit cautions Black Swan as they walk towards the front, "The client thinks this could be the next big story and payment is dependent upon the client receiving usable intel."

Before closing the door, the neko girl leans in close to Black Swan. Kit gives her a quick kiss on the cheek then whispers coyly, "What happens between us in the back room stays between us, ok? Don't bring it up during business hours."
Sugar Grove is a winding mass of prefab housing, homeless warrens and poverty. One exception is the Sweet Sweets factory in the central area of Sugar Grove. Children love Sweet Sweets, and anyone who tries the snacks will tell you that they're the best on the market for sure. Closer to the factory are better kept housing units for the workers and even a new corner malmart, but only a few blocks away the rundown conditions return in full force.
GM Instructions
This side job has two, or optionally three, tasks. The Investigation team determines which location is being used as the base of operations of the kidnappers. The Surveillance team stakes out the location and discovers all the juicy details that Kit's contact can use for a big story. Optionally, the B&E team enters the location and plants bugs and possibly retrieves physical evidence for a fat paycheck.

Successfully completing this mission requires at least one success per number of players participating in this Side Job. Regardless of the number of successes gained, at least one of the successes must come from the Surveillance Team. Optionally, one of the successes could come from the B&E team if available. (Example: Three players are participating with one character per task. The job requires 3 successes to complete, but at least one of those successes must come from either the Surveilance or B&E team.)

Pick which team your character is on and follow the GM instructions for that task. This side job's tasks need to be done in order, so wait for the Investigation team to complete their task before rolling for Surveillance. Then if anyone is on it, the B&E team can roll after the Surveillance team completes their task.

Investigation Team
Kit's contact identified three locations. The first is one of the refurbished housing units on the outskirts of the Sweet Sweets area of influence within Sugar Grove. It's close enough to the poor areas that the homeless can be found nearby.

The second location is a forgotten three story apartment building several miles north of the Sweet Sweets facotry. No one claims ownership of the building, and despite being well past full capacity and condemned, no one collects rent from its "tenants" nor attempts to evict them. The final location is further from the factory. It is a two story house nestled right between Sugar Grove and the Aurora Badlands. It's close enough to the badlands that it sees some gang activity, but deep enough into Sugar Grove where the homeless will take every scrap they can get.
GM Instructions
1) Roll Common Knowledge (at -2 if not a long-time resident of Chicago), Electronics (with appropriate surveillance gear), Networking (see SWADE), Notice, Piloting (with a drone), or Street Cred.
  • Raise: You've eliminated two locations, and the surveillance team can add +1 to their roll.
  • Success: You've eliminated one location and relieved some pressure from the surveillance team. They may roll at no penalty.
  • Failure: You messed up. You have absolutely no idea which location is or is not involved with the disappearing homeless folks. The surveillance team is forced to work twice as hard to compensate and rolls at -1.
  • Critical Failure: Are you even a professional? This result is the same as a Failure except you also gain an Enemy (Minor).
2) After you roll, use the result to eliminate one or two of the three locations and narrate your methods and discoveries.

Surveillance Team
The investigation team has determined where the homeless people are and aren't disappearing. It's up to you to stake out the location(s) and dig up the pay data. Who frequents the streets? Does anyone regularly come and go from the location(s)? Does everyone who enters eventually come back out?
GM Instructions
1) Roll Electronics (with appropriate surveillance gear), Hacking, Notice, Piloting (with a drone), or Stealth. Apply any bonus or penalty gained from the Investigation Team.
With a Raise or Success on the Surveillance task, the Surveillance team is able to determine the correct location if the Investigation Team hasn't already eliminated one or two of the locations.
Note: This Side Job requires at least one success in Surveillance or optionally B&E. If no success are gained, the job is botched.
  • Raise: You know exactly who come and goes from the location, and when. Optionally, the B&E team can add +1 to their roll.
  • Success: You've gathered solid intel on the location, but you can't help but feel like you've missed something. Optionally, the B&E team may roll at no penalty.
  • Failure: You messed up. You have gathered no usable clues and are forced to rely on the B&E team's discoveries (if available) to complete the job. Optionally, the B&E team is forced to work twice as hard to compensate and rolls at -1.
  • Critical Failure: Are you even a professional? This result is the same as a Failure except you also gain an Enemy (Minor).
Success
An unmarked car with heavily tinted windows arrives nightly at 1:05 AM. A supply drone flies out of the passenger window and into the location. It quickly returns to the car and the driver leaves.
Throughout the day several different people come and go, some homeless, and occasionally one of the homeless does not come back out. There isn't a clear pattern for the selection of victims.
Some manner of law enforcement officer shows up several times during your surveilance. He is in plain clothes, but you can tell he's either Chicago Defense Force or Ravenlock from his mannerisms. He never actually enters the location but he pays close attention to it whenever he shows up. You can tell that he is trying to avoid being noticed for what he is.
Raise
You notice some detail that allows you to ascertain that the car and/or drone belongs to the Sweet Sweets factory.
You can tell that either the old or the young homeless are preferred, and while mental health of the victim doesn't seem to be a factor for selection, only those victims in relatively good physical health disappear.
You ascertain that the law enforcement officer is in fact working for Ravenlock.
2) After you roll, use the result to narrate what discoveries you made (or didn't), and how you went about it.

B&E Team
Working with the intel gathered by the Surveillance team, its the B&E team's job to break in and gather physical evidence. Sneaking into a kidnapper-possibly-murderer's lair is a dangerous job, but the risk could be worth the reward.
GM Instructions
1) Roll a Social Skill (-2), Stealth, or Thievery. Apply any bonus or penalty gained from the Investigation Team.
Note: This Side Job requires at least one success in Surveillance or optionally B&E. If no successes are gained, the job is botched.
  • Raise: You make it in and out unnoticed. You were not only ghost-like, but also attentive. You find a vial of evidence and manage to plant bugs for Kit's contact.
  • Success: You complete the job undetected and manage to plant bugs for Kit's contact.
  • Failure: You messed up. You either botched the infiltration and were chased away before you could plant the bugs, or you were discovered while exiting the scene and alerted the kidnappers who find the bugs.
  • Critical Failure: Are you even a professional? This result is the same as a Failure except you also gain an Enemy (Minor).
Success
You find where the kidnappers are set up at. There are rooms with old style doors which lock from the outside, and you can hear signs of life on the other side of some of the doors. You are able to plant bugs and get out undetected.
Raise
While planting the bugs, you discover an unopened vial labeled "Sample 3.2" filled with a clear liquid. You also find a ring of keys and quickly determine that they open the locked doors.
2) After you roll, use the result to narrate what discoveries you made (or didn't), and how you went about it.
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Re: (Q1 SJ1) Sweet Justice (Black Swan, Emi, Whiskers)

Post by Black Swan »

Persuasion (Networking) 1d10!,1d6!-L: [2]+[5]-L = 2 Persuasion (reroll from Charismatic) (1d10!, 1d6!)-L: [5]+[3] = 8

Kassandra takes in the backroom and suddenly understands why Kit is so protective of it. Much like her own doss above her "office" it's far too open to being violated if it's known. Even being invited is a major show of trust. She takes the job, of course, wheels already turning on how to accomplish the task. The kiss on the cheek isn't a complete surprise. Kas returns the guesture and whispers in her ear in a seductive voice, "I wouldn't dream of it. Where better to pet the kit than her own den." But she takes her leave and heads out, immediately contacting Whiskers and Emi. "Meet me at my office. I have a job." Both of them know where she has her office.

Upon meeting, she takes them through the job, its details and her plan. "I'll handle the canvas of the locations. Once we have a better idea of where we're going, we'll go from there." The three of them roll out on their bikes. The first location nearest the factory checks out as clear, but it takes Black Swan a long time to figure this out. As she meets up with the others, she huffs. "Next time I go in disguise. Bunch of ingrates and malcontents. Still, this area is clear. On to the next."
Last edited by Black Swan on Mon May 11, 2020 8:06 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: (Q1 SJ1) Sweet Justice (Black Swan, Emi, Whiskers)

Post by Baltimore »

Hacking 8, Raise
Whiskers Hacking: 1d10!!+2: [2]+2 = 4
Whiskers Wild: 1d6!!+2: [2]+2 = 4

Free reroll from Hacker Edge: 1d10!! +2: [5] = 5
Wild: 1d6!!+2: [4]+2 = 6

Sprite Hacking Support: 1d8!!: [9!!] = 9
+2 to roll
Whiskers cracks their knuckles and loads up their programs of choice. "Okay, gang. Just gimme a minute and we'll get this party kicked off."

A virtual HUD appears in their vision, and Whiskers' thoughts begin to race, selecting option after option, probing the network's defenses through her TAP.

For a kind of crappy neighborhood, the place has decent security, but nothing close to what Whiskers is used to. With a little bit of effort, they're in, and they're controlling every camera in the place.

"Okay, team, I'm in and I've got the cameras. Let's go slow and by the numbers. @Emi, the south entrance is going to be your best bet. Let me turn off the security on that door, and then you're going to want to go down the hallway and take a right..." Whiskers walks the skillful thief through the building's layout, remotely clearing the way for her and then erasing any record of her passing. Of course, there's nothing Whiskers can do about unlocking actual tumbler locks, but Emi can handle that without help.

Once Emi is safely out, Whiskers hits the networks on the buildings nearest the target, grabbing every security camera feed they can and setting up neat back doors so they can hop back on at regular intervals to retrieve data feeds. Honestly, the word "hacking" barely applies; with security like this, there's hardly a need to do more than just click "login" with their mind, but ease is no excuse for sloppiness, so Whiskers is thorough.

"Okay, I think I've got everything there is to get. Short of a military-grade satellite, this is the best surveillance setup money can buy."
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Re: (Q1 SJ1) Sweet Justice (Black Swan, Emi, Whiskers)

Post by Emi »

Emi made her point of entry on the second floor, bypassing the entry controls and guards entirely. Some factory worker had, at some point in the past, left a window there open against the afternoon heat. Scaling quickly to that window on a grapple line, Emi slipped inside with none the wiser, thanks to the timely intervention of Whiskers, disabling the motion sensors on that floor.

From there, progress was quick. Emi dodged a patrol that Whiskers warned her of, made her way to the service elevator and rode it up to the office level upstairs. A remote hack let her into the office blocks, where she found what was likely where at least some of the perpetrators slept while off duty. In fact she could hear some snoring from a few cubicles down. As quiet as a shadow, Emi lifted some personal effects; good for genetic analysis perhaps, but also including some photos. She also left some of the surveillance bugs for Whiskers to collect data from.

Then to the task at hand. The third floor maintenance access didn't have a maglock, but Emi was able to pick it just ahead of someone coming up the stairs and slip inside. From there she climbed out onto the girders that looked over the workfloor and set up the mics and cameras.

By that time though, activity was picking up. More people were awake, and they were more alert. Instead of trying to make her way back out through that she went up to the roof. Per the plan, Emi had worn her glide-suit armor and was able to simply leap off the roof and glide two blocks before touching down and cutting through an alley to the rendezvous spot to join the others.

No one on the premises had ever even known she was there.

B&E 8, 1 benny spent
Thievery 1d8+1!, 1d6!: [2]+1+[1] = 4

Yeesh, not a critical, so...benny

Thievery 2: 1d8+1!: [6]+1 = 7
Wild 1d6+1!: [5]+1 = 6
+1 from hacking!
Last edited by Emi on Sat May 16, 2020 1:34 pm, edited 4 times in total.
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Re: (Q1 SJ1) Sweet Justice (Black Swan, Emi, Whiskers)

Post by Koshnek »

Black Swan puts her skills to the test and is able to eliminate the first location near the Sweet Sweets factory. Tapping into the local grid, Whiskers is able to monitor the final locations and narrows their search down to the three story apartment. Having a single location to watch, Whiskers is able to focus his digital presence in that area.

Emi ghosts through the building with guidance from Whiskers. There's a lot going on here. She doesn't piece together whats happening on scene, but the bugs she plants and evidence she confiscates will be sure to provide a clear picture for the team. Particularly of interest to the team is a vial of liquid labled as "Sample 3.2." It would take a chemist, scientist or possibly a doctor with testing equipment to identify the substance.

Using his access to the grid, Whiskers traces the late night/early morning deliveries to the appartment building back to the Sweet Sweets factory. He's also able to identify a plainclothes Ravenlocke officer patrolling the area sporadically, but he keeps the team well away from him. Also of note is that the disappearing homeless are physically healthy. Some are young children, but most are elderly.

After testing the substance in the vial, the team learns that Sample 3.2 seems to be some kind of psycho-active chemical. Whiskers' sprite helps him compile the data coming in from the grid, the planted bugs, and physical evidence. Sweet Sweets is conducting human experiments on homeless children in an attempt to forcibly unlock human psionic potential. The use the elderly to test the safety of the new samples before experimenting on the children.

When Black Swan reports back to Kit, she is pleased with the team's work. She wires Black Swan 1500 cryptodollars and an extra 225 cryptos if

Sample 3.2 (Two Doses)
Sweet Sweets' experimental psycho-active chemical Sample 3.2 is one of many designed in an effort to forcibly unlock human Psionic potential. It has been shown to be neuro-active and brain scans have shown it to cause activity similar to that of a zeek's. It is unknown what effect Sample 3.2 might have if ingested by a psionic. Note: Sample 3.2 has no contramedication available.
• Trapping: Chemtech
• Base Cost: NA
• Base Strain: 2 (Streetware)
• Abilities: Increase Psionics by two die types.
• Quirks: Sample 3.2 supercharges a zeek's neural pathways. They suffer from hyperactivity (Quirk) for it's duration, and receive a level of mental fatigue after it's duration ends. The fatigue goes away after a full night's rest.
is included with the handoff.

Roughly a week later, a story covering the horrors occurring in Sugar Grove airs. An as of yet unknown organization is accused of involuntary human experimentation and kidnapping. The story airs with footage of the Chicago Defense Force raiding the same building the team put under surveillance.

It's unusual for the CDF to conduct the raid instead of Ravenlock, but not much attention is paid to it.

Sadly, a local journalist was found mutilated and partially eaten by some manner of biohorror in the Des Plains Recyc Sector shortly after the story aired. His investigations had turned up more than one injustice within Chicago. His followers still frequent his page rabidly discussing conspiracies pertaining to which corp must have carried out the hit. Everyone is convinced that there was more to the story than aired, and what did air must have only gotten as much coverage as it did because of the CDF involvement.
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