"Checking," Stringer responds as he puts down his magazine and switches Snoop to active surveillance mode.
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Back safe and snug in the safehouse, Stringer monitors comm channels and video in between reading a popular electronics magazine and watching an Australian rugby match on tv.
Stringer relays the information about Fitch to Faith. "You've also got a shadow." He describes the man spotted on the footage.
Even though he is staying back at the safe house to do some research, Stringer still sends Snoop along with Faith and Salvo to perform overwatch and allow him to try to sniff any radio or other communications.
Oh yeah? Do tell...
DM, could you tell us a little about the tech level of this setting? I was thinking it was modern or better but it seems like network storage and remote hacking (movie style, not real life) isn't a thing? I just want to calibrate my idea of what Stringer can do on the computer. For instance, could he attempt to hack the cameras from off site? Or would he need to be on site? Or is that just not a possibility? Thanks!
Stringer nods. "I couldn't find an address listed anywhere. It's weird. We might need to get into the museum's records to find it."
With the +25 temporary bonus Stringer should be able to arrange virtually anything. Let's do 3 cars, then, one fast one for Faith, one super boring one for stake outs (preferably with a big engine under the hood in case they need to chase somebody?), and one rugged one for the outback. Let's do a safehouse with all the bells and whistles and a backup that's not tied to anybody's current IDs, just in case everything goes to hell. And another set of quality IDs for everybody. But seriously, he has a 48 Wealth with that +25. If somebody wants something Stringer will get it.
"Shouldn't be hard to track down somebody named Willoughby who we knew worked at the museum recently," Stringer says as he opens up his laptop.
I think we may want to discuss some stuff OOC. First off, I'm assuming all 3 of these guys can be found in Sydney, so we need accommodations in Sydney but we might also want to check out that first mine in the Outback? Anyway, re: accommodations would we want to AirBnB a house or use a hotel? There's benefits and drawbacks to both. Second, we probably want at least 2 cars so we can split up if we need to, maybe 1 city-type car and 1 outback-type car. Are we going after Smythe first? I'm not sure how we approach Smythe- we could try to pose as business people (or shady criminals) and set up a meeting? If that's the case we might want to try to set up fake credentials to make him take us more seriously (or even just to get him to agree to meet with us in the first place). Or we could find his offices and residence and stake them out? That will take some research online and/or with local people on the ground. Other ideas?
Stringer shares the information he gathers with the rest of the team. "Looks like Smythe is our best bet here. Gives us a place to start, at least."
Stringer starts doing research on the names from the article: John Bellingham, museum curator, Joey Miller, local gem expert, and Winston Smythe, owner of mines in the Outback.
Stringer has been taking notes while trusting his specs to record the audio for him to reference later. "OK, so I've followed everything you said except I missed what the heist was. Do you mean the kidnappings?"
Stringer is young but he has been through his parents' corpo-school's contracting class in preparation for entering the corp's executive university. He skims most of it quickly, looking in particular for any mention of ownership of items or cred acquired during the course of the contract or requirements for paying back items purchased with the corporate credit card. Becoming indebted to the company store is a classic hook to keep people working for the company, and nothing he wants any part of. "Does this agreement include access to Oyama Corp tech?" The young man asks, head still down as he's reading the document. He only had access to corp-public and educational facilities with his parents' corp but was idly daydreaming about using Oyama's professional level facilities to upgrade his drones and gear.
Having seen many strange and scary things over the past few days, Stringer doesn't scoff at the idea of Klaus having been alive in 1935. Rolling with it instead of trying to apply any sort of scientific thinking, he asks the obvious question. "So what's the Heart of Darkness? Other than a cool name, I mean."
Sitting in the car, Stringer had seemed fairly comfortable- being chauffered around in a black SUV seems perfectly natural to the young man. But once in the building, especially in the conference room, he realizes how grubby he is. His overalls are rumpled and singed, reeking of smoke and gunpowder, and while his scout armor is still pristine underneath it wearing combat gear into a business meeting is terribly gauche. Not to mention it sending the wrong message. Then again, maybe it was the right message? Stringer shakes his head. "Still, I wish I could change before we meet these guys," he mutters to himself as he sits down and starts to grab food off the charcuterie plate. While they wait, he fills in the group on what he knows about Oyama Corp and its dealings in the world of the weird.
Stringer nods at Salvo. "Here's hoping they're picking us up for a reason."
Stringer clears his throat and takes a step forward. If they'd meant to shoot him they wouldn't have talked to him first. If nothing else, he was a well trained corp kid. "Yes, of course," he said. He gestures over his shoulder at the building with his thumb. "You should know, there was shooting in there not long ago. There are..." what was the good little corp word for 'bodies'? "that is, there is collateral damage inside. Municipal authorities may be on their way." "I will gather my companions." He gestures at Tank as he turns to go into the building. "You can start loading our gear." The young man walked crisply into the building to find Faith, Salvo, and Hibo. He had calmed down from a few minutes before but his voice was a trifle unsteady and he pointedly did not look at the body of Faith's person of interest as he spoke. "Ride's here. We should clear out."
The look on Stringer's face says that while he didn't have a problem making bodies out of people who are trying to shoot him, finding the bodies of people he knows is a new experience. He doesn't say anything but leaves his display specs on while he usually takes them off inside- trying to hide the tears in his eyes from the older, more experienced adults. "Hey, guys, I have to, uh, make a call. I'm gonna go out to the car for a second. Be right back." Stringer's voice is none too steady, and he quickly bolts for the door and goes out to catch his breath and calm down.
"Gotcha." Stringer does as Salvo suggested, scanning the area for wifi, radio, or other signals that might indicate they're being recorded.
Stringer rushes out of the burning building and crosses the street to get away from the flames and possible pending explosion, depending on how they heated their food. He tasks Snoop with flying a patrol pattern about 200 feet up to warn of any more incoming threats and has Tank cross the street with him. "So, that guy disappeared through a glowing portal, right? Everybody else saw that? Because sewer mutants, worm monsters, and full skeleton cyborgs I'm 100% on board with but actual literal magic is not something I was expecting to have to believe in today."
Stringer runs for the front door, trusting Salvo, Faith, and Tank to keep the bikers distracted. "Let's go, let's go, let's go!"
Stringer ordered Tank into autofire mode, the bot choosing its own targets of the three selected enemies. "One, two..." He watched Salvo, ready to run when the grenade flew out.
"Kitchen's on fire! Gotta get out of here!" Stringer has Tank take up a guard spot just outside the front door, waving its big gun around threateningly while Stringer runs around the counter to go through JC's pockets for anything useful- keys, phone, pocket computer, anything.
"Bad guy backup outside. 3 bikers pulling up!" Stringer shouts to his companions.
Stringer pulls back his SMG and checks Snoop's camera to see what's coming down the road. Tank, per its programming, attacks the obvious threat.
Stringer had taken a seat at the end of the bar. As soon as Salvo fires, he ducks around the corner and hits the script he'd pre-written for Tank. The dog-bot charges the door and fires its big pistol at the doorman.
Once he's under cover he pulls the HK off its sling and sprays it in the magic man's direction.
Lead us off, Salvo!
Stringer takes in the information, storing it away for later use, and watches his companions to see how they react. "That is... quite an offer," the young man says noncomitally.
To this guy? No. There's no profit in it for us. Also 'use her as a vessel' sounds pretty bad. But telling the corp about pre-identified psionic individuals who might be valuable for some kind of experimentation or recruitment? Stringer might be down for that. If he knows someone he trusts to reward him (family, maybe?) he might give them the info this guy wants.
Stringer sighs and follows Salvo inside, making sure Tank is ready to run across the street and light the doorman up if anything starts up.
Stringer glances at Faith and Salvo but shrugs. "Just don't go inside without us, I guess. I'll fly Snoop in so we can hear what you're saying." He orders Snoop to fly over the building's roof and land above the front door and starts getting Tank ready to accompany Faith and Salvo.
"That one guy knows we're here. The private party could be for us," Stringer says.
Stringer frowns. "Powers? Like in comics?" He shakes his head. "I can see 'vampires'," he makes air quotes around the word, "with some kind of disease or chronic condition or something, but like magic? I don't know about that. That thing that guy was doing could just be some kind of holographic tech. Neither of those two we rescued seemed like they could do anything weird." He shakes his head. "But I guess it's better to plan for anything than get surprised because I can't imagine something." Stringer sighs and nods at Faith. "I don't know about 'good'- it's not my main gig or anything- but I can boost us another car if we can find something better where we can get at it."
Stringer nods at Salvo. "I like 2, too. I don't know about a tracker- he spotted Snoop across the street when it wasn't even moving. He'd probably spot a tracker even easier." He shrugs. "He already knows he's being watched, though, so I guess it can't hurt to try." He gestures at the door, indicating their borrowed piece of crap vehicle. "We might need to upgrade to something less likely to break down going up a hill if this has a chance of turning into a chase, though."
Stringer shakes his head and gestures at Salvo and Faith. "Gun and sword seem like you guys should split them up between you." He glances at Hibo. "Do you have any idea what the necklace or those red vials do?" "Regardless, a front assault on Joao Carlo's doesn't seem like a good idea. We should do some recon on the place first- net research, maybe spotting from a drone or a building with line of sight- to get an idea of when its busiest, who's there, that kind of stuff. But how do we want to try to get in there? To me, it seems like the only two options are sneak in or talk to them. But both have problems. What do you guys think?"
Level 3 changes: BAB +1
Rep +1 +13 Skills
Fast Talent: Uncanny Dodge
+1 Feat: Great Fortitude |