The Ganoltir Project Forum

Hikaru shrugs. "We've hardly even looked so don't start writing him off as innocent yet," the pop star says, leaning against the wall and glancing between his colleagues of sorts. "We should check his bedroom if anything."

"Oh, I'm not," Cass says. "Guys like these always have some dirt that their boss doesn't know about. Just haven't seen anything in the same vein as that other goon's data-breach yet." He peers back through the doorway toward the rest of the apartment. "C'mon. Let's keep hunting. We don't got much time left before their meeting ends."

He moves for the bedroom, taking stock of what he sees. Under the bed? Behind the picture frames? There's got to be more.

Tess nods along to Cass' words, placing all the items back in the small package and carrying it with her to the bedroom. "That's true," she says, at his mention of dirt, "though most are smart enough to keep things well hidden. They'll talk about it if you get them drunk enough, but it is rare to find solid evidence. This one is either sloppy or setting out false leads."

OOC

[SHOW]

For searching, do we roll again or use old rolls? Not sure how this game's skills work fully.

OOC

[SHOW]

If you're searching a new room make a Notice/Wis check.

Hikaru follows the pair back towards the bedroom, eager to finish their job before they run out of time. "Let's just hope it's the former. The sooner we finish here, the better," he says, looking around the room for anything unusual. He peers under the bed, curious if anything is hidden below.

Mechanics

[SHOW]

Notice: 8(2d6) -1 = 7

"Agreed," Tess says to her friend, as she focuses once more on the search. Now let's see what you've got hidden in here.

Mechanics

[SHOW]

Notice/Wis to search the master bedroom: 8

Hikaru

[SHOW]

Searching under the bed you find a couple of old socks and a small doll, all covered in dust, but little else.

Tess

[SHOW]

Leaving Hikaru to search under the bed, you turn your attention to the end tables on either side. In the first draw all you find are socks and a half empty box of condoms. However you then examine the lamp and find a small black circle, about 2 cm across, attached to the inside of the lampshade. It comes off easily although turning it over it your hands you can see no identifying marks of any kind.

"Anything?" Cass calls behind him, helping the others search — opting to check the bathroom attached to the main bedroom. He pores through cabinets, peers under surfaces, but his mind keeps drawing back to the woman's face. Damnit. Wish I had an implant to scrub that shit from my mind.

Mechanics

[SHOW]

Notice/Wis to search bathroom: 6(2d6) -1 = 5

ooc

[SHOW]

Just making sure; does anything happen as I make my way back to the hovercar? If not I'll just keep an eye here and wait patiently.

Eridas

[SHOW]

You step out into the hallway finding it as deserted as before. The elevator comes a few moments after pushing the call button. On the way down it stops on the fourth floor and a young woman with neon pink hair gets on, giving you a strange look of unfamiliarity as she does. She stands across from you fiddling with her compad as the elevator descends to the lobby.

When the doors open she steps out into the lobby and stops on her compad, letting you walk past her and out of the door. The street is fairly quiet with only a few people around. As you start heading back towards the card you see a tall man with short well kept black hair and a woman with a blonde ponytail walk up to the entrance of the apartment building, although instead of going inside they wait around outside.

Eridas awkwardly waits for the elevator to get to the ground floor, not looking over at the woman until the doors open. He offers a polite yet almost forced smile as she lets him out first, and he quietly walks over to the car. He mumbles curses under his breath at himself for not being more useful. Getting to the car he takes notice of the two people waiting outside, and leans up near the gravcar and keeping a half eye on them.

"Just this," Tess says, holding up a very small, black, circular object. She looks at it inquisitively, trying to discern what it might be. "Found it hidden in the lamp shade. Clever," she adds, continuing to rack her brain.

OOC

[SHOW]

What should I roll, if anything, to see if I have an idea what it is?

Hikaru shrugs and shakes his head. "Not much under there. Some socks, a doll, and a lot of dust." Has this guy ever heard of cleaning? He perks up as Tess mentions her find. Raising an eyebrow, he asks, "And what is it?"

Tess and Cass

[SHOW]

You both recognise it as likely being a listening device

"That's a listening device," Cass confirms. "Which means... either our man was recording his sexcapades, or he's been compromised by somebody who got in and bugged his room." He sighs, beckoning for Tess to hand it his way. "Let me see that. I'm gonna kill its network access, cut it off. If we're lucky, it may even have some of its previous recordings stored locally."

Hikaru's eyes go wide as Cass identifies the strange device. "So someone could be listening to this right now. That's not comforting." Maybe if I start singing, they'll just think someone left some music on. He shakes his head, instead watching for Cass to work his tech magic.

"Yeah..." Tess says to Hikaru, as she hands the device over to Cass. "Though not for long if Mr. Tech here can turn it off. Without breaking it, ideally," she continues, as she hands the item over. Let's hope he knows what he is doing.

Eridas

[SHOW]

The pair hang around outside the entrance to the building for a few moments looking around. Once a few people have passed by and the coast is clear one of them pulls out a Compad and starts fiddling with the building's lock similarly to how Cass had earlier, while the other keeps watch.

"Shut it," Cass whispers, once again feeling the pressure of other pairs of eyes on his work. He turns the device over, searching its paneling. Ah. Here we go. Sliding out his compad again, he pulls up a crack-app does his best to access the device wirelessly and gain entry.

Mechanics

[SHOW]

Program / Int to try and cut it off from the grid. If any files are stored locally, then pull them to my compad: 10(3d6.takehighest(2)) +2 = 12

Cass

[SHOW]

You quickly find the device has no local storage and is instead continually transmitting its data, a connection you quickly sever. You aren't able to see exactly where it was transmitting to, but you can work out in was fairly nearby - within a kilometre. Again you recognise some of the device's underlying code as being that of League Intelligence.

Cass tinkers with the listening for a device before looking back to the others. "Shit. Nothing locally stored, but it's transmitting to a host within a single klick from this apartment. It looks League-based, like our... maid-slash-hacker," he says, grimacing. "Guess I was right, in a way. Both of these shit for brains are tapped."

Eridas does a half turn and quickly pulls out his communicator, sending a quick text to the others.

Text Message

[SHOW]

"Hey uh, guys? Problem. Two people showed up just before I got out here. Looks like they're fiddling with the lock now. Looks kind of fishy. Might want to wrap up whatever you're doing quickly."

"Which means-" Hikaru's words are interrupted by the buzz of his compad. He quickly checks it, reading the message from Creed. "Yep, time to go. Now." He begins speed-walking towards the door, hoping the others share his sense of urgency. He lowers his voice, unsure if elsewhere is being tapped.

"Maybe we take the stairs, go down a couple floors, wait to hear the elevator go up, and then continue down?" he says, knowing such a tactic has worked with escaping rabid fans.

Tess checks her messages as well at Hikaru's words. "Shit," she mutters under her breath. This was supposed to be easy espionage. These goons are involved in something, must be. It shouldn't be going down like this.

"That is a good idea," Tess says to her friend, as she follows after him as quickly as she can without making too much of a sound. "Cass, can you disable that? If not, we need to leave it. Or smash it. Not good to leave it on any longer."

"Already done," Cass says with a smirk, twirling the listening device harmlessly in between his fingers. "Let's go," he says, nodding toward the others to lead the way out of the flat. With an anxious pit in his stomach, he keeps a hand on the laser pistol in his jacket pocket.

Eridas

[SHOW]

A few moments after you send the text message, the pair manage to get the building's door open and disappear inside.

Everyone else

[SHOW]

You quickly make your way out of the apartment and back into the hallway. Looking at the elevator you see it is currently descending towards the lobby.

"Stairs," Cass reminds them, noticing that the elevator is likely descending to meet the approachers. "Or... fire escape?" He begins to pace the floor, looking for a way out that isn't the elevator.

OOC

[SHOW]

What we got?

The room is fairly small, a square only a few metres across. It is flanked on all sides by doors. Schaberg's apartment behind you and another in front, and then the elevator to one side with a smaller more utilitarian looking door by the edge of the wall opposite the elevator.

Eridas grits his teeth. He sends another message:

Text Contents

[SHOW]

"They've gotten through the door, should I follow behind?"

"We should just stick to Hikaru's idea," Tess says, moving for the more utilitarian looking door. If this isn't a staircase then what could it be? She moves to open it, hoping it is not locked for some reason.

Cass moves closely behind Tess, making for utilitarian-looking door. "Yeah. Fire escape's backup." He looks over his shoulder anxiously at the descending lights above the elevator door. "And a bloody gunfight in the elevator's the backup to the backup. Not too hot on that one."

Tess, Cass, Hikaru

[SHOW]

You find the door unlocked and pile onto a small landing at the top of a narrow concrete staircase, with a metal handrail, leading down. Your Compads suddenly buzz in unison with another text from Creed.

Text Contents

[SHOW]

"They've gotten through the door, should I follow behind?"

"I'll answer," Cass whispers, nodding for the other two to lead the way down the stairs. As he follows behind, he sends a reply to their companion.

Text

[SHOW]

"No, stay with our ride. Headed down. Get ready to go."

"Let's move then," Hikaru says, increasing his pace as they make for the stairwell. "But not too fast, with how slow that elevator is. They might still be in the lobby by the time we get down!" And wouldn't that be awkward?

"Yes, and last thing we want is for them to hear us rushing down if it's slow," Tess adds, following after Hikaru.

Eridas sees the text and hops back in the gravcar, turning it on and spinning around, ready to make a break for it.

Tess, Cass & Hikaru

[SHOW]

You make your way down the stairs at a steady pace, descending from the top floor of the building to the ground floor in a couple of minutes. Reaching the ground floor you find yourself at another door, identical to the one you entered the stairwell through.

The stairs end here, meaning either the building doesn't have any levels beneath the ground floor, or those levels aren't accessible via these stairs. From your mental picture of the building you think the door in front of you opens slightly off to the side of the lobby.

"Hold on a sec. Might still be in the lobby." Cass places an ear to the door, listening for the elevator's approach, or strangers in the lobby.

Mechanics

[SHOW]

Spot / Wis to try and listen for the approachers: 10(2d6) -1 = 9

"Anything?" Tess asks, her heart pounding a bit at the danger they find themselves in. She grabs her gun and keeps it at the ready, hoping she has no need for it, but confident if she does she will be able to at least protect herself. If anyone is going to die here, it will definitely not be me.

Cass

[SHOW]

You can't hear any sounds coming from the lobby.

"It's empty," Cass whispers. "Let's go."

He opens the door and steps into the lobby.

Cass and anyone who follows

[SHOW]

As you step out of the door you find yourself in a small corridor only a couple of metres long off of the main lobby. Moving towards the lobby you spot a man stood by the elevator, which you can see has arrived at the floor you just left.

The man is stood still, likely why Cass didn't hear him, but after a couple of seconds he steps forward to call the elevator. He has yet to spot the three of you.

Tess frowns as she spots the man. She watches to see what he does, keeping her gun at the ready in case the man turns his head and spots them.

OOC

[SHOW]

Does the man seem more like a tenant, or more like one of the people who came to the other house? Is there a check needed to know? If so which?

Assuming no checks, and assuming he seems like one of the hostiles, Tess would keep her gun at the ready to perform an execution attack against the man assuming she has sufficient time. She would only perform the attack if it seems like the man would notice them if he continues to move.

Notice/Wis: 7

Tess

[SHOW]

Without having had a clear view of the people at the other house you can't be truly certain if the man is one of your pursuers or just another resident. However you do notice that the man's clothes are very plain and neutral in colour, to the point that he would be hard to describe beyond a few basic words, almost as if he is trying to be as nondescript as possible.

While you don't see him looking in your direction you do spot his hand hovering near the front of his jacket which hangs open.

Shit, that's probably them. Cass slips back into the stairwell, peering around the doorframe to beckon Tess in as well.

Hikaru grits his teeth, watching Cass slide back into the stairwell. Not a good sign. C'mon, elevator, show up already! He looks at Cass nervously, hoping Tess doesn't try anything brash. The last thing any of us need is to end up dead. Me most of all. How would my fans even react?

Eridas

[SHOW]

As you wait you keep checking your compad but see no reply from the rest of the team. After a couple of minutes a young man clearly local to the area, no older than 18 or 19 sidles up to the gravcar and taps on your window. ""Hey man, you looking for anything or what? I've got some of Zeus' stuff. Real good shit man, he says, glancing around the area as he talks to you.

Everyone else

[SHOW]

You pull back and wait for a few moments. Eventually the elevator arrives and the man steps inside leaving the lobby empty.

Eridas looked up, "Me? O-o-oh uh n-no, I'm j-j-j-just waiting for my f-f-f-f-friends." he tried to smile.

"Think we're good," Cass says, stepping through the threshold and into the lobby. He immediately makes his way toward the front door, intent on regrouping with Eridas and their ride out. Close call.

"Yes, now let's go," Tess says, following after the man. She keeps her gun at the ready and her eyes on alert. There could be more waiting outside.

Mechanics/OOC

[SHOW]

Since we are in a sticky situation for now, I want to just make sure to remind you, Jake, that Tess cannot be surprised or the target of an execution attack.