The Tacoma Entanglement

[Cairo]

Pop Idol

Elf

Tall & Skinny

Outgoing

Face

Low-Light Vision

 

Harry listens to Bang's report and smiles. "Nicely done. Blood trail? Could be our Mr. Johnson. We know he was bleeding when he left the warehouse."

The elf hears Phantom and Rampage out and nods in agreement. "Let's keep this contained. Bang, take Phantom through the blind angle you found. Phantom, widen that blind spot and ping us, we'll follow you in. Even better if you can make the camera transmit a loop of us absolutely not being there."

He reaches into his jacket to grab his adorable excuse for a sidearm, checking the slide and chamber as he continues. "Squeezing through might work fine now, but we don't know the circumstance of our departure. One less thing to worry about."

Satisfied that his weapon is good to go, Harry considers the massive troll for a moment.

"If someone's still alive inside, you climbing onto the rooftop to prowl about might draw their attention. We could use that to slip in with the keycard, unnoticed.. hmm.. yeah."

Harry makes a clicking sound and winks at the troll. "I like it."

[Neopopulas]

Ram "Rampage" Gils

HP: 10/10 | AC: M16 / R16 | Damage Soak: 6 | Trauma Target: 7

Attack Bonus: +0 | Saves: Phys 11+ | Eva 16+ | Men 15+ | Luck 15+

He mutters under his breath, but he is clearly readying to move out, but maybe not entirely happy about how they are planning to do it

"Small pistol whispers
While the shotgun roars with might
Unequal in force."

[Aavarius]

Phantom⌥SIN://>E҉̰̰͎̆͞r҉̵҉̛̠̩̥̋ͦ̆͆͟͞͡͞͠r҉̵҉̛̠̩̥̋ͦ̆͆͟͞͡͞͠o҉̢̡̲͇̌͗̀͢͝r҉̵҉̛̠̩̥̋ͦ̆͆͟͞͡͞͠_(n̸͐̈́͟͟͝u̶͖̖͆̊̈́͡͡l̶҉̰͚͖͕̍̈́̅͗̏̇͢͜͜͝l̶҉̰͚͖͕̍̈́̅͗̏̇͢͜͜͝) ▣☐
HP: 6/6〘Damage Soak: 5/5〙Trauma: 7
╘ AC: R-15, M-13 | Saves: P-15, E-13, M-15, L-15
╘ Karma: ▣▣▣▣▣ | Strain: 0/9.75

⌥Cyberdeck://>《Access: ▣▣▣▣, Shielding: 5/5, CPU: ☐▣》_Glitch Camera

---

Good ol' Bang, Phantom mused while she was lead across the darkened parking lot. The quick-drawing gunslinger was a deft hand at this. Her good eyes had gotten Phantom in close enough this was going to be a helluva lot easier.

"Give me a leg up," she whispered to Bang when they had gotten sufficiently close to the camera. She needed just a bit of extra height to plug her cyberdeck's output jackline into it. When the pair got that sorted, she fished enough extra line out of her deck to comfortably get down to business from the comfort of asphalt level. She could hardly think of a better companion to keep her meat safe and sound while she went full-sensory into codespace.

The input line she zipped out of her deck with a quick, practiced motion. She did two beats of breathing before slotting it into the cybernetic jack on the back of her neck. Diving into the deep end of infinity sort of tended to take one's breath away.

《 Somewhere in the warehouse network, a skeletal woman in a red dress, accompanied by spectral lights and ghostly servitors, manifested. Her visage was flat, emotionless. Cold as the grave. 》

At this point, doing this was all second nature to Phantom, so she had a read on the specs of the camera without really needing to think about the procedure for getting it. Another moment later and she had the right build of the attack program compiled for injection.

With her thumb hovering over the key to execute, she whispered to Bang, "Signal the team to get in position. I'm about to short the feed." And when all was in readiness, she ran the program.

《 The Red Wraith directed its attention to the digital eyes on the exterior of the building. There, it wordlessly commanded one of the silently shrieking phantasms at its beck and call to subsume the eye nearest the Wraith's hostess. 》

They were officially on the clock now.

Mechanics

I'm going to keep track of all the hacking bookkeeping up in the top area of my posts. As you can see, I'm currently running "Glitch Camera" at the expense of 1 CPU.

Glitch costs 0 Access and gives me a +2 bonus to the roll. Assuming it's successful, Glitch deactivates it. The drawback is that it only lasts 3 rounds right now and I'll need 24 hours to re-glitch this particular camera again.

 

[Cairo]

Pop Idol

Elf

Tall & Skinny

Outgoing

Face

Low-Light Vision

 

Harry's playing his smartphone like a spinner while eyeing the warehouse from the relative safety of the Bulldog, when a message comes in. He perks up, swings the phone the right way around and glances at the screen.

"They're in position. Let's rock."

In a series of slick moves the phone slides back into the breast pocket, the van door wide open, and the elf out of his seat. Harry's done this a hundred times before. Executing a tacticool crouched run he crosses the parking lot towards the big building, pistol down, eyes up. This is the blindspot Bang indicated. If all is going according to plan, by now Phantom's made it a blindlot you can drive a tank through.

Reaching Bang and Phantom Harry presses his back against the wall and brings the pistol up near his chest. He looks up and down the wall they're huddled against before addressing the women.

"We cool? What's on TV?"

[Landid]

Wesley "Doc" Valentine

HP: 7/7 | AC: M16 / R16 | Damage Soak: 2 | Trauma Target: 7

Attack Bonus: +0 | Saves: Phys 14+ | Eva 13+ | Men 13+ | Luck 15+

Harry gave the signal and Wesley did his best to follow his motions across the street. The only difference was he didn't draw his pistol until he came up to the rest of their group. Stealth obviously wasn't his forte and if it wasn't for his chrome that would have been a lot more obvious.

"We cool? What's on TV?" came out of Harry's mouth and with a smirk Wes replied confidently, "Not us of course."

Wes had no idea if what he said was true, he just knew there was no time to second guess his companions, doubt would get them killed. This was going to work, it had to.

 

 

[Neopopulas]

Ram "Rampage" Gils

HP: 10/10 | AC: M16 / R16 | Damage Soak: 6 | Trauma Target: 7

Attack Bonus: +0 | Saves: Phys 11+ | Eva 16+ | Men 15+ | Luck 15+

"Finally..."

People wouldn't guess, but this was Ram's favourite part. Sure, he loved seeing the face they made when he kicked in a door and opened up with the street-sweeper, but nothing beat the look on their face when he was in places they thought he shouldn't be. They expected him to come in like a wrecking ball, they didn't expect him to just be there behind them in their bedroom.

This is why he had the stickpads, activated as he approached the wall he could scale the side of the building with ease and he would be in through the ceiling in notime - assuming he could time it right.

[Arcticus]

Phantom sees the red light on the camera wink out for short period of time. Enough for her team to reach the blind spots easily. Through her virtual eyes, she sees connection points for five cameras, the same ones Bang noted in her patrol around the perimeter of the warehouse. They are all interconnected with one another. You also see a sixth object in the virtual space, a massive brick wall with an inferno engulfing it. Red, yellow, and orange lick against the brick wall. It looks sturdy.

All is still quiet as you all sit, waiting with bated breath to enter the warehouse.

OOC

This is what you can see of the network thus far.

The firewall blocks your access and your vision in.

Ram sees a set of windows, up near the roof, just off the side of his projected path to the roof.

Edited November 18, 2023 by Arcticus (see edit history)

[Aavarius]

Phantom⌥SIN://>E҉̰̰͎̆͞r҉̵҉̛̠̩̥̋ͦ̆͆͟͞͡͞͠r҉̵҉̛̠̩̥̋ͦ̆͆͟͞͡͞͠o҉̢̡̲͇̌͗̀͢͝r҉̵҉̛̠̩̥̋ͦ̆͆͟͞͡͞͠_(n̸͐̈́͟͟͝u̶͖̖͆̊̈́͡͡l̶҉̰͚͖͕̍̈́̅͗̏̇͢͜͜͝l̶҉̰͚͖͕̍̈́̅͗̏̇͢͜͜͝) ▣☐
HP: 6/6〘Damage Soak: 5/5〙Trauma: 7
╘ AC: R-15, M-13 | Saves: P-15, E-13, M-15, L-15
╘ Karma: ▣▣▣▣▣ | Strain: 0/9.75

⌥Cyberdeck://>《Access: ▣▣▣☐, Shielding: 5/5, CPU: ▣▣》_System Idle

---

Phantom smiled at Doc's response, to which she herself replied, "We're clear so far. There's a barrier between the outside cameras and the rest of the system, so I'm going to unlock it momentarily. You can give that keycard a go if you're ready. Soon as I find the security system's node I'll be able to look through more than one camera at a time."

Her voice got a lot more concerned sounding. "Go slow," she cautioned. "I don't know if the Poochie the Throat-Ripper is still here or not. Tell you as soon as I have eyes on the inside."

The technowizardry commenced forthwith.

《 The Red Wraith glided whisper quiet toward the warding obstructing its passage. Its servitors were already at work, a wispy cloud of poltergeists making a way for their dark sovereign. No salt circles or thresholds of sacred oil could bar such a powerfully willful spirit. 》

 

Mechanics

• Glitch Camera is self-terminating (returning 1 CPU)
• Spending the returned CPU to Unlock Barrier (also self-terminating), which costs 1 Access
• Moving through the barrier into whatever node is on the other side, assuming the Unlock succeeds.

 

[Cairo]

Pop Idol

Elf

Tall & Skinny

Outgoing

Face

Low-Light Vision

 

"Yeah, you got that right, Doc," Harry responds, flashing a wide grin at his fellow elf. His hand grips and re-grips the pistol handle as he listens to Phantom's report of the local net.

"Slow it is. Bang, keep her safe. Rampage, the wall's all yours. Let us know what you see up there. Doc's with me through the door. Let's get a feel for the sitch before committing fully."

The elf reaches into his jacket, coming out with the keycard held between two fingers. He flips it around and holds it close to the RFID reader as Doc repositions to pull the doors open.

"Ready? Here goes."

Expecting great things, Harry taps the reader.

[Neopopulas]

Ram "Rampage" Gils

HP: 10/10 | AC: M16 / R16 | Damage Soak: 6 | Trauma Target: 7

Attack Bonus: +0 | Saves: Phys 11+ | Eva 16+ | Men 15+ | Luck 15+

Watching something Ram's size go up a wall like that can be unnerving, but on the upside you don't have to watch it for long. He slinks along, as much as anything his size can slink anywhere and heads over to check the window. The roof was good, but if he spotted something better...

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mechanics

I'm going to roll sneak just in case i need to, to speed things up.

 

[Lonewalker]

Jennifer "Bang" McCall

HP: 5 / 5| AC: M14 / R16 | Damage Soak: 5 | Trauma Target: 7

Attack Bonus: +0 | Saves: Phys 14+ | Eva 14+ | Men 15+ | Luck 15+

Jennifer watched Rampage scale the wall with no small amount of fascination. It was like seeing a car drive vertically up a building.

After a moment, she shook off her distraction and continued to keep watch. Though she was nervous, her hands were steady on her pistol. She was taking slow, easy breaths, keeping her nerves in check and her senses alert for any sign of trouble. Per Harry's direction, Jennifer stayed close to Phantom. She had no idea how long it took a decker to breach a building's security. Were they going to be out here for minutes....or hours?

[Arcticus]

Phantom

The Red Wraith walks toward the hellish-looking firewall and the flames start sputtering out at it's center, spiraling around and around until the entire wall is all but flame-free. A simple door appears in the brick wall in front of the Wraith. It opens as you draw near and plunge into the dark portal. On the other side is a dark, windowless room, but all along the sides are holographic screens playing back what the cameras are seeing. You see glowing circuit-like connections that connect to the five cameras you saw outside, but there are three additional cameras that you can now see that appear to be capturing footage inside the warehouse. You see portals leading to these three new cameras and another portal on the opposite side of the room labeled "Office Terminal".

Before you can do anything, a shadowy figure emerges from one of the corners. It's red eyes stare at you, and you see a faint glimmer of matrix-like web behind it. You recognize it immediately. A Renraku Tripwire Demon. Based on the web, you'd guess it's a Trapper. It wordlessly moves toward you.

 

Network Map

 

Demon

 

 

Ram

The window in front of you is a solid pane of glass, one you could easily break, but otherwise no other openings you could easily exploit. Inside the warehouse, you see every other overhead light on, casting a dim light that barely seems to reach the floor below. In some places, all the lights are out completely, plunging the entire area into darkness. From your vantage point, you can see the metal stairs leading up to the second floor office and along the metal landing in between and on the stairs themselves, you think you see bodies. The lights occasionally flicker, but otherwise it seems like a ghost town—or a graveyard—in there.

For just a second, you think you see a flicker of movement in the center of the room, but it's gone before you can focus on it. You wonder if you actually saw it or if your eyes are playing tricks on you.

Harry

You hear a small beep as the card reader flashes green and you hear and audible clunk as the door unlocks, followed by a soft shush as the door slides open. A squalid stench assaults your senses as the smell of death crashes over you. It's dark in there, the lights over this particular area don't seem to be on, but the light from outside spills in illuminating the entryway. Immediately in front of the door, a mangled corpse of an elf—decked out in black tactical gear—lies torn apart on the ground, his arm stretched out toward the door.

You can see a wall of shipping containers immediately in front of you. Forcing you to go either left into a dead-end corner at the back of the building or right toward the front doors.

 

OOC

Welcome to the first cyberspace combat! Everyone roll initiative.

[Lonewalker]

Jennifer "Bang" McCall

HP: 5 / 5| AC: M14 / R16 | Damage Soak: 5 | Trauma Target: 7

Attack Bonus: +0 | Saves: Phys 14+ | Eva 14+ | Men 15+ | Luck 15+

Jennifer tensed as Harry slid the door open. She had half-expected a unit of armed guards or a ravaging cyberhound to be lying in wait right inside. She grimaced at the sight of the dead elf, wondering if she or any of the others would be joining the hapless runner tonight. With a shake of her head, she pushed the thought aside and eased herself against one side of the door, where she could still keep an eye on Phantom and the streets outside.

Her pistol held low but ready, Jennifer flicked her artificial pupils in a measured heartbeat of movement, engaging her infrared lenses and HUD displays. Watching Harry for direction, she gave a quick glance inside the warehouse, scanning for moving heat sources and seeing what her tactical software could track.

[Aavarius]

Phantom⌥SIN://>E҉̰̰͎̆͞r҉̵҉̛̠̩̥̋ͦ̆͆͟͞͡͞͠r҉̵҉̛̠̩̥̋ͦ̆͆͟͞͡͞͠o҉̢̡̲͇̌͗̀͢͝r҉̵҉̛̠̩̥̋ͦ̆͆͟͞͡͞͠_(n̸͐̈́͟͟͝u̶͖̖͆̊̈́͡͡l̶҉̰͚͖͕̍̈́̅͗̏̇͢͜͜͝l̶҉̰͚͖͕̍̈́̅͗̏̇͢͜͜͝) ▣☐
HP: 6/6〘Damage Soak: 5/5〙Trauma: 7
╘ AC: R-15, M-13 | Saves: P-15, E-13, M-15, L-15
╘ Karma: ▣▣▣▣▣ | Strain: 0/9.75

⌥Cyberdeck://>《Access: ▣▣▣☐, Shielding: 5/5, CPU: ▣▣》_System Idle

---

"¿Queeé pasa..?" Phantom drawls cheerily under her breath. She didn't usually make a habit out of talking to cyber entities, but she did realize nobody standing around her in the meatspace would have the faintest idea what she was reacting to.

"Found the ice," she explained, "and a lead on the interior cameras--soon as I frag it."

Phantom's heart did a little rabbit maneuver. Her adrenals were getting warmed up. Yeah, yeah, she'd done this network stuff before, but doing it out here on an actual run with a cujo and God-knows-what-else lurking just around the corner was all kinds of exhilarating and terrifying all rolled into one.

Frankly, she could get used to this.

《 The Red Wraith, on the other hand, had no such emotional reaction. The sentinel barring its will from being enacted served no purpose to the ghostly avatar except to be destroyed. 》

 

Mechanics

• Stun Avatar is self-terminating.

 

[Neopopulas]

Ram "Rampage" Gils

HP: 10/10 | AC: M16 / R16 | Damage Soak: 6 | Trauma Target: 7

Attack Bonus: +0 | Saves: Phys 11+ | Eva 16+ | Men 15+ | Luck 15+

Despite his size, he liked getting the jump on people - and things - and didn't want to jump down into an ambush.. So he decides to be a little on the quiet side as he tries to get through the window.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mechanics

Still doing sneak stuff to try and get the window open/broken without being too loud.. Loud comes later...