Now what?

[tomcat]

Two days passed quite busily for the companions. Caden, Sam and Kara worked hard on getting the Aegis up and running with her new components, while Brim enjoyed the grounds around the mansion. Dan busied himself with both - helping when he could with the ship, and joining the Rodian on hikes or climbs.

Ranie's personal vehicle, and security escort, finally were heard entering the manor's garage. From the landing platform, Caden wiped his hands and watched as the speeders parked. "Now what?" he thought to himself. Behind him, the sun was setting on another spectacular Bakuran evening.

Throwing down the towel, he looked to Sam and Kara, and they nodded back in understanding. The work day was done. It was time to go see the senator, reveal their findings, and see if they could call this thing complete and get out of here.

Puk and the Shade watched as the two men offloaded from the transport. They were twins, but not by a natural birth - they were clones, created on Kamino some years ago and veterans of the war with the CIS. Now they were civillians, discarded by the Emperor's army due to the rapid aging of their bodies, having served the usefulness for which they were made.

Hacks approached the Rodian and the sinister cloaked Force-user and nodded. He was a tech specialist in the GAR and had amazing skills at slicing. Puk had already used him once on Bakura, for the killing of Seelig, but the clone didn't expect to be back so soon. The other clone was named Jasper, and he was a weapons and explosives specialist. He followed the trio over to a waiting speeder, his hands laden with bags.

Once inside the vehicle, Hacks spoke, "What's up Puk? Why the call back?"

The Rodian replied in his native tongue, "I have another job for you. Pay is the same for the both of you, and in advance."

Hacks and Jasper both smiled at that. Shade then spoke, handing out travel documents as he did, "Once you have completed your work, here are your travel documents and tickets to leave this world. Immediately." The last word was stated in a stern whisper. The shadow also handed a packet to Puk, "You, too, Puk. Your service here is done."

Puk took the travel packet quietly, staring hard at the shadow as he did. He had begun to enjoy Bakura... it had its pleasures.

Shade continued, "I have been informed that Senator Ranie shall be returning to his estate this evening. When the house has quieted for the night, we shall commence. It should be a relatively easy job. Hacks, you will quiet the mansions security system while Jasper plants explosives. It should only take a few well placed charges to drop the whole thing into the sea."

Puk drew forth blueprints of the mansion and handed them to Jasper. The clone looked them over briefly and saw the large struts and supports that kept the pictaresque house poised over the cliff. "Won't take much at all."

The nondescript vehicle pulled away from the curb and disappeared amongst daily Bakuran traffic.

[tomcat]

Jasper kneeled quietly in the tree line, watching through his binoculars as the gates closed to Ranie's estate. The speeders carrying him and his security personnel had already entered and were making their way down the long drive. The clone lowered his viewer and looked to his comrade, "Alright Hacks... time to work your magic. Once inside, we duck into hiding until the grounds are dark. Then you shut down the surveillance while I set the charges. We'll be out by midnight if we do it right."

"When did we ever do it wrong?" asked the slicer. Jasper smiled at that - the two clones had fought side by side in the war with the CIS, and being alive was proof enough that they had done it right.

The duo moved forth, towards the gate. Hacks took from his backpack a handheld computer which had two data leads coming out of the top of it. Using the flora for cover, he followed along the fence line until he came to a small lid on the ground. Setting down his computer, and pulling out a screwdriver, he quickly opened the small box that lay in the ground and revealed the many wires that transmitted the communications within the house to the cameras, the gates, and even to the city far away.

He connected the leads to two major buses and smiled when his computer lit up with data. Tapping a few commands, he then linked his wrist terminal to the handheld and waited until they too were communicating. That done, he turned to Jasper, "All right, I have control of lights, gate functions, alarms, and cameras. I don't want to take anything off of its standard protocols for too long, so that no one notices. What I am going to do is start recording with the security cameras and once I get enough video, I will loop it so that the monitors in the mansion will not show us moving about the struts."

Hacks confirmed his wrist computer was controlling the other unit, and then closed its lid for the moment so that nothing happened by accident. He lifted up his blaster carbine, Jasper mirroring him, and the two moved towards the gates.



Hacks mechanics test to link into the mansion's security, and also stay covert
DC 20 Mechanics +17, Circumstance bonus for equipment +2
-------------------------
Roll(1d20)+19: 8,+19 Total:27

An opposed roll may be made by any PC that might think they see something, the DC would be 27.

Also, feel free to let me know what your PC's are up to and where you are in regards to the mansion, grounds, etc. Also, RP as you'd like...

[watanabe]

Kara was about to get out of the refresher, and was happy to get the grime off and was walking into the quarters she had been housed in, when she saw the computer terminal in corner of the room flashing strangely for a moment.  She looked at the screen for a few moments and shrugged, probably just her imagination she thought, and realized it had been a while since she had felt the itch, and immediately and began to come back.

Leaving her weapons and gear in the room, she headed back to her private refresher, taking a single stick with her that she had bought, making sure to lock the room door and refresher door, just in case...



So I rolled a 19 on a perception check to notice something wrong, and then rolled a 1 on a use computer check to see if I couldn't figure out something was going on with the Manor security system.  I hope that's not too much of metagaming. 

[donimator]

Sam works, well...mechanically on the Aegis to install the combat thrusters during the down time. There was some time still before he had to shut down for routine maintenance and figured he had better get them working as their next course of action was undecided. The physical parts of the job were mostly complete - just the cable routing and computer interfacing remained. He kept his internal commlink synched with his friends...just in case they needed him for anything.

[sdrotar]

As usual, Caden slept on the Aegis; he was rarely comfortable with leaving his "princess" unwatched.
Caden always left the ship's perimeter scanners running at night, and while Sam and Kex had the access codes, even their entries would ping him in his quarters.

It's not that Caden was a paranoid man, but he definitely believed in protecting what was his.

The work on the new combat thrusters had gone well, according to all his instruments - the advantage of buying new, he figured - and before he left the cockpit for the night, he switched on the scanners like always before heading back to his quarters.

***

Perception check (DC 27):
Roll(1d20)+8:8,+8 Total:16

I don't know if the Aegis' perimeter scanners have any in-game function; I just added them for flavor, reasoning that starships have some sort of key-chain car alarm. But if they do, It's probably worth noting that the scanners on the Aegis wouldn't be fooled by the loop on Ranie's security cams.

[BrianM]

  Perception Roll(1d20)+8: 4,+8 Total:12

IC

There was not much else to do about the situation with Kara, so rather than pursue accusations that had no proof to back them up, Brim decided that for now he would drop the issue and simply keep a close eye on her. If she was a drug user, the signs of her addiction would eventually reveal themselves.

While the others saw to the upgrades of the starship, Brim spent his time at the villa execising and climbing (more carefully than his first attempt). He rather enjoyed the fine accomodations and the excellent food, and began to think of the time here as a vacation from the struggles with drug dealers and empires and cloaked figures with glowing eyes ...

[tomcat]

Okay, I have your activities for the evening (and Brim's for the two days of hardware install), but no one wanted to talk to Ranie when he returned to tell him of what you all found? I will go with the assumption that everyone was worn out by the time the Senator came home, and you guys figure you'll just talk to him in the morning and reveal the find of Seelig's bad business.



Ranie's house had once again become quiet for another night. The senator had returned with his entourage, and had quickly made himself scarce. No one in the team knew why, but it was assumed that governmental affairs had the man worn out and that he needed some rest. And so, the companions went about settling themselves for the evening - only Qinos and Brim were still about in the main study. The Rodian's arms and legs ached from the rock climbing he had done over the last two days, and he sat quietly rubbing on sore muscles. Dan sat looking over the evidence, trying to piece together Seelig, the drugs in his storage unit, and his death.

Dan was a soldier. He saw most things as black and white and investigative work was making his eyes sore. The man sat back in his chair and closed his eyes, while pinching the bridge of his nose. It was then that again he felt a weird sensation and knew that something was wrong. He abruptly stood, causing Brim to stir from his own drowse.

More to come... I am gonna go play Xbox.

[sdrotar]

Okay, I have your activities for the evening (and Brim's for the two days of hardware install), but no one wanted to talk to Ranie when he returned to tell him of what you all found? I will go with the assumption that everyone was worn out by the time the Senator came home, and you guys figure you'll just talk to him in the morning and reveal the find of Seelig's bad business.

For some reason, I thought we had mentioned the drugs before Kara took the two vials, but you're right, of course. Oops.  Anyway, your explanation makes sense enough to work in the story... obviously, we're not a professional detective agency here! 

[BrianM]

Brim looked up and stared at Dan in that disconcerting way that Rodians were capable of. "Is something the matter, friend Dan? You suddenly look worried."

[tomcat]

Qinos looked at Brim and then to the open door from the office that led to the living area of the mansion. The lights were out in the corridor as well as the room beyond, but something felt wrong. Maybe it was his soldier's instinct, maybe it was the Force that he had been told that he was sensitive to. Dan went with the former, "I don't know Brim, but something is going on."

Dan walked from around the desk, picking up his holstered blaster as he did. He quickly wrapped the belt around his waist and tied the holster off to his leg, then unbuckled the strap that kept the heavy weapon in place. The whole process made Brim very concerned. The rodian also stood, and followed his friend out of the office, a few paces behind.

The duo moved quietly into the living room and saw the sliding glass doors that went to the balcony overlooking the coast were open. The curtains fluttered in the strong, cool ocean winds that blew. Other than that, the room was silent, dimly lit, but empty.



Okay, here is what I have as far as character locations:

Caden on the Aegis
Sam on the flight deck, under the Aegis (maybe working, maybe recharging)
Kara in her room, medicated
Dan and Brim, together in the house, looking around

Am I missing anyone, or incorrect with what I have? Let me know and I will make the next post.

Brim needs to make a Stealth check to move quietly, as well as Dan (but I did that); Brim also needs to make a Perception check... just give me the roll and I will determine the success and include the result via narrative.

Brian, let me know if you are going to search through the house, or what you wanna do... with Dan as an NPC now, I do not want to lead the story with him. I will react Dan to you with a little of his own initiatives.

The image below is a rough idea of how I see Ranie's place, just to give you all visual reference of where your PC's are.



Area 1 - where Brim, Dan and Kara (in her room) are. Brim and Dan are approaching the double doors to the balcony
Area 2 - medical facility where Kex and Neja are
Area 3 - the senator's main home (private to guests, save the area where the rail goes to the landing pad)
Area 4 - flight pad; Sam and Caden are here
Area 5 - the struts that are holding the house up and over the cliff

[watanabe]

  Looks good to me, especially since I'm uhhhhhhh medicating right now.

[tomcat]

On the flight deck, Sam stood near the Aegis' forward landing strut. The droid had finished the last computer system links to the thrusters, and now all that needed done was a test flight.

With all that done, and Caden apparently asleep aboard his ship, the doid also went into 'sleep' mode allowing his systems to recharge. The lights that served as eyes dimmed out, but only for a moment. There was a sudden electrical change and the droid's detection systems picked it up. Sam's eyes immediately re-lit to see the mono-rail car moving and returning to the house. The droid was not completely sure, but the vehicle appeared empty.

Suddenly the night sky flared with a lightning discharge, well out over the sea. There was a storm front blowing in, and it would only be a few hours before the weather over the coast would be changing.

[donimator]

A lightning strike? The house systems should be shielded from that, Sam processed to himself as he went to a secondary control station of the Aegis. He interfaced the ship computer with the landing pad hookup and checked the subsystems to see if the monorail controller was online or if it was acting up.

Use computer +9
Roll d20 +9 = 11 +9 = 20

Perception +11
Roll d20 +11 = 13 +11 = 24

[tomcat]

The computer screen began to scroll data, which Sam both read visually as well as processed internally via the data-link he made with the terminal.

All systems were functioning normally. There were no alarms or outages from the incoming, inclement weather. The droid read the command order script that was sent to the monorail car - it was a recall/lockdown order made from the main station within the house. Yet again, there were no alarms going off within the mansion.

Sam withdrew his datalink from the terminal and his head turned to look back towards the house.



I want to let you know that they incoming storm is more for scene setting than anything else... a dark, stormy night! Perfect for murder! 

So, you don't have to spend a lot of time trying to connect environmental conditions with what's going on... unless that is how your PC might interpret things, so please RP how you want too! 

[donimator]

I want to let you know that they incoming storm is more for scene setting than anything else... a dark, stormy night! Perfect for murder! 

So, you don't have to spend a lot of time trying to connect environmental conditions with what's going on... unless that is how your PC might interpret things, so please RP how you want too! 

I think we're on the same page. Sam noticed an electrical disturbance, computer systems checked out okay, wrote it off as some anomoly with the weather (missed Perception check)

What is the physical distance from the landing pad to the house (along track if traversable on foot, if needed, or along the ground)?