Talk:Session 5: The Grinch Who Stole Mana

From The Whereabouts

Dmitri

Dmitri will attempt to hack the Golden Gate computer systems ahead of time to have backdoors ready to use during the mission. I will post the results of this attempt soon. If there's anything additional you want him to do or look for on the matrix, post it here. Kirkland 01:39, 21 December 2010 (EST)

The characters want to know about:

  • Security cameras
  • Foot traffic to building
  • Security patrols

General Q&A

Somethings that Doc would start asking as soon as the mission went into planning, and that maybe Dimitri could get though they might need to station some recon teams in the area physically as well. Maybe Hector's drones would be of some assistance. If not Gideon could play his first minor role in a mission, though I was planning to mostly play Doc in this mission he could stake out the bridge area a bit before hand. (I'm still deciding if he was transfered in from another office or if he has worked in San Fran the whole time and wasn't around at the beginning.)

What is security like in the area?

  • How are we looking on the astral plane? Watcher spirits patrolling the area, or more powerful ones maybe? Any obvious use of spells that would imply a mage is actively guarding the location.
  • What about physical presence?
    • Are there watcher drones anything of the sort? Obvious use of a rigger for actively guarding the area?
    • Security cameras? I'm sure there are some watching the maintenance building, but to what extent and anywhere else on the bridge?
    • What about corporate security? I'm sure there is some around, but what are we talking about? Is there a specific compound for them or are they just around? Outside patrols or just in the building itself? I'm guessing we don't know what they have inside, though we might be able to get a general idea of how many they have in there based on general in and out traffic?
    • Who goes in and out of the building quite a bit? I'm guessing the maintenance staff still uses this place, besides for robbing the place of mana. Any chance we could infiltrate through one of them, or even pay them off for info if they might have any? Impersonating one of them out of the question? (This seems like it would be hard in Shadowrun. Though they have fingerprint stealing and face copying gear.)
  • What are the rules of engagement and how much time is needed to defuse these things? Are we to retrieve them, if we defuse them and leave them there wont they fix them? Can we launch a full scale attack on the place, as long as we dont blow up any nuclear reactors? Or should we play this more low key? Does defusing them take a long time? (Like generally... 1 complex action... 1 minute... 10 minutes? General idea so we know how long we need to be in there.) Do we know how many reactors there are?

--FyreFly 00:07, 22 December 2010 (EST)

  • Astral Security - Along with watcher spirits, there are guardian spirits around the bridge, particularly around the warded areas. These are significantly more powerful spirits and their presence means that more than one mage has been deployed to defend this location.
  • There are no obvious uses of watcher drones in the area
  • Security cameras - It's known that the bridge is heavily surveyed. There are speed cameras on the roadway that track vehicle usage of the bridge. There are pedestrian cameras on the walkways that are most famous for their suicide watch for bridge jumpers. However, as I noted in the briefing, the weather forecast is heavy rain and storms, which will limit the effectiveness of the cameras if the forecast comes to bear.
  • Security for the bridge is hired out to Lone Star, but with the devices present it would not be surprising to see more corporate security. Though no additional physical security has been confirmed, astral security has been notably heightened.
  • Dmitri will attempt to get a list of users that go to/from the building. But typically it would be maintenance workers, your standard security guards, and a few miscellaneous office workers. Impersonating one of them is certainly on the table, Eric's Lone Star contacts come to mind as a starting point. Dmitri will also see if he can create some fake ID entries into their systems, if successful you could forge valid passkeys.
  • You can absolutely launch a full scale attack on the place. FATE would prefer the bridge remain intact, and to keep nuclear explosions to a minimum. The important thing is to disable the devices to prevent further damage to the mana line that runs through this area.
  • Defusion time will depend on your skill level. Right now I think it will be a Logic+Demolitions extended test. Expect a defusal time of between 30-120 seconds depending on your rolls. Completing Dr. Yau's training exercise will provide a bonus to the roll, I'll work out the details of that soon.
  • Based on the astral survey provided by the anons of the matrix, there are 3 distinct mana ebbs. It's possible there are multiple devices in these warded areas. So expect at least 3.
  • The general timeframe to complete this is Christmas weekend. 3 or so days of preparation would be fine, but FATE does not want to delay much further than that.

Kirkland 02:15, 22 December 2010 (EST)

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