Mass Effect PbP Game Thread

[LD]

[ic=Lini Doesn't Give a $***, or Not Leadership Material]
>>That may be the safest way to approach her-- and it may give our tech specialists all the time they need to dig through whatever information they can access. Heh. I could probably provide a warrant to seize all of her data assets if we wanted to do away with the cloak-and-dagger ploys and be magnificently blunt.

Yeah, do whatever. If you need to serve her fascist-order-papers; I could even set up corroborating material in Illium's SecDatabase. The less she thinks she's being taken, the better.

Everything has a price-yeah-but do we have the funds? Better solve that one before getting out there.

And Chesla Don's house; Yeah, visit it- why not- but I doubt he's stupid enough to not cram the place with bugs, monitors, plants, whatever. Then again, most people are that stupid. Volus' particularly so--they don't want to shill out extra creds.

Lini starts bringing up her usual hacking tools and macros on her OmniTool. She rolls the Quarian chair closer to the table as she punches instructions. Then she kicks her feet up on the table, so she leans back deep in the bendable chair and makes a 45 degree arch on the table with her legs. Her OmniTool rests against her mostly-straight legs and she stares intently at its data.

[ooc]
She doesn't particularly care if anyone takes a look at her work and she'll even mug for them and detail exactly the steps she's taking, if they ask.
[/ooc]
[/ic]

[Elemental_Elf]

[ooc=For Chesla's Residence. ]Checking into the T'Parn Network you find the following data:

Chela's current residence is located in one of the richest apartment buildings in the city - Prinsaba Promontory Heights. The people who live in Prinsaba place their security and privacy above all other concerns. The Apartment is guarded by the Marte Oras Security Company, a bitter rival of T'Parn. The company is paid an unbelievably large sum to guard the Apartment Building, as such Prinsaba houses a small army of security personnel.

The Apartment itself is surrounded by three 50 foot concentric, electrified walls. In between each wall, a small horde of security personnel patrol in a fixed pattern, while assault and rocket drones are programmed to rove around in a random pattern both between the walls and up around the high-rise building. The basement of the Building is a bunker, with a full stock of weapons. Each of the 200 floors has a small command station where 10 security officers are stationed. The 51st-61st floors house the parking garage, which can be entered via a large bay on each of the 4 sides of the building. Most residents utilize valet however, many of the more paranoid denizens choose to park their own vehicle. A special parking signal, indicating your name and residency number, is all that is necessary for these residents to enter the[note= Gather Information Check about residents of Prinsaba]
Thanks to Lini's and Kai's great Gather Information Checks, you know one resident of Prinsaba, a Michael Lament, is a well known drunkard. His favorite watering hole is the Refreshing Spice Club, where he enjoys the wide selection of alcoholic beverages and the services of of the Asari Maidens.  He actually has two parking signalers and has a penchant for not returning to his home for weeks at a time. [/note] garage.

Nothing is known about Chesla's apartment other than it occupies the entire 140th floor and is garrisoned by 20 heavily armed Krogan and Vorcha.
[/ooc]

[ooc=Putting legal pressure on T'Kin]Utilizing the T'Parn network, you discover that T'Kin actually has several outstanding parking and speeding tickets. Her employers have kept the police at bay but thanks to Kai's knowledge of Bureaucracy, you can easily get the information into the hands of a Salarian police officer - one Sergeant Pepgon - who views law breakers as the worst kind of scum and isn't afraid of bucking his superiors to haul criminals in. The easiest crimes to forge additional documents for would be the following - Speeding, Parking Violations, Harassment, Bribery and Unlawful Hacking of a Government Official's Personal Computer. [/ooc]

[Steerpike]

[ic]It looks as if Don's apartment may not be the best starting point, considering the amount of security," Archimedes says after reading out the data on Chesla's residence.  "I think we've considered most of our options.  It still seems that T'Kin is our best starting point.  I agree with Kai that a double-pronged strategy would be best; I suggest that Sal and Kai approach T'Kin and ascertain whether or not she is susceptible to bribery or, if necessary, coercion.  Meanwhile, Lini'Leera and myself can attempt to hack her files covertly."[/ic]

[Elemental_Elf]

[ic=Message from Nani]

To: Squad 7
Message:
 --- I was able to bribe a mid-level manager from the Port Authority to create false identifications for the four of you. These fake IDs will expire in 2 days, so use them ASAP. Unfortunately, the person I bribed had the smallest hint of a sense of humor and gave each of you a human names...

Kai, you are now a Customer Relations Officer of the Port Authority going by the name of George Washington. Lini you are now Joan Arc Vas Orleans, a Technical Adviser. Archimedes you are now Leonidas, a Marketing Research Assistant. Sal you are Washington's devoted Secretary going by the name Marie Antoinette.

Officially, the four of you are being contracted by the Port Authority to assess the productivity, customer service and basic marketing strategy for the Ancomp Department. Unofficially, your goal is to investigate T'Kin, ascertain what she knows about Chesla and, if possible, prevent her from aiding him in finding a means off world.

I have included a voucher for new business-appropriate clothing that will aid in your disguise.

-   Best of Luck, Nani

Message Attachment:
--- Identification
--- Voucher for Business clothing
[/ic]

[ic][spoiler=To Sal][ic=Message from Nani]To: Sal
Message: Sorry I couldn't acquire a better fake ID for you. The damn Asari I bribed thought she was the center of the whole galaxy. She wouldn't relinquish anything better than Secretary.

- Don't get too carried away with your new responsibilities,  

Nani

Message Attachment:
--- Voucher for a Bottle of Vintage Losega Wine [/ic][/spoiler][/ic]

[LD]

[ic=Confusion]
Vas Orleans? "There is no ship called the Orleans?" Lini'Leera looked up after examining the profile on her false identity. Joan Arc was also not a traditional Quarian name; phonetically, the name should be Jllana'Erc to be most correct, if a phonetic relation was intended.

Lini brought up a culture module on her OmniTool and searched. Apparently her name was a reference to either a French City of Orleans, a Canadian City, an American city of 'New Orleans', a musical band http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orleans_%28band%29, or a reference to the French Royal Family.

She had no idea what Joan Arc was referring to, but a search brought up an actress: Joan Arc Orleans, from the Humans' middle 21st century and a Joan d'Arc who received a lot of search ping results, about a factor of ten more than Joan Arc.

She pondered how she could construct a story to deter any annoying questions about the ludicrousness of her name.[/ic]

[CoyoteCamouflage]

[ic]Kai begins openly laughing as the message is read. As the only human present, he is likely the only one guaranteed some measure of knowledge concerning these names-- though the Vorcha Encyclopedia Archimedes may very well be full of enough random information to know.

After a few moments, he is finally able to restrain his rampant humor. He is forced to wipe a small tear from his eye brought on by his laughter.

"Oh, that is rich," he says. "Beware bored mid-level management." He unleashes another short laugh before he is able to quash it with finality.

"Ah, so we have some convenient ident cards if needed--" He hears the Quarian testing the name. She isn't pronouncing it right. He considers correcting her, but then decides that it is simply too amusing not to.

"So, this gives us, for the time being, a brief window to act in a relatively unobstructed manner. I suggest we move to clean up and make use of the vouchers-- we will need to look the part..."

He hesitates when he looks at Archimedes. Somehow, a Vorcha walking about in casual business attire is simply disturbing. Then there is Lini. That could be a problem-- the Asari may simply assume that she stole anything nice.

He shakes his head quickly. This is going to be an interesting challenge.

"Alright. So we are investigating T'kin. That's a good start-- especially since it may be more trouble than it is worth to get into Chesla's residence. How should we approach her, first? Intimidation, coercion, deceit, or other?"[/ic]

[LD]

[ic=Shopping]
Lini'Leera paged through the available styles of business clothing that the provided chip would net her. The chip provided a voucher of 1200 credits and she intended to redeem every last cent of that business expense.

She netted the advertisement sound directly to inside her suit so she would not disturb the others, and so that the others would not see where she was searching.

She typed in: "Quarian Business Attire" on her first search. After a brief search, she found an appropriate pair of sanitized white gloves to be worn for formal interactions with other species and she purchased it.

Given that any Quarian would find it silly to wear anything else than her suit and she didn't want to paint it, she continued searching.

She typed in "Technical Adviser Clothing"; perhaps that could shed some light on what was appropriate to wear when dealing with aliens. She was treated to an array of jump suits in various colors. She filtered out the vibrant pinks and purples and lime greens until she was left with just blacks and blues. Blue went best with her eyes, so she chose a deep Royal Blue and placed it in her Universal Shopping Cart.

Next she typed in "Illium Style." The prices for the clothing listed there were far too expensive. And paging through the clothing images she saw way more Asari side-boobs and ass than she wanted to ever glimpse. She would not be dressed as a Quarian 'gone native' to Illium, she decided.

She looked up at Sal and furrowed her brow. Sal was not wearing anything that would have indicated to Lini'Leera that searching for Asari High fashion would have been quite so disturbing.

She saved a few random items in her false identity's Wishlist, to give the identity an veneer of reality. The items, selected at random from a script she wrote to select items from the pages that came up for a search on "Historical Business Clothing" visited included: Red suit paint, Blue Suit Paint, polka dot paint, red tie, pink bow-tie, jump-boots, Tail extension, Mickey Mouse Watch, and dandelion panties. The last two were from a Human attire website. The one before those two was from a Turian historical re-enactor's site; the tail enhancement was worn by Turian Judges three centuries past. She did not review the purchases.

She had over 1000 credits remaining. Time to buy something for herself.

She tapped a hand on the side of her arm, thinking; then she activated a search for: "Hot New Quarian Kit" and she started tabbing through the vocal and visual advertisements. There was no reason that she couldn't pick something up to keep for herself if she was under the credit limit after buying the relevant attire.

Page 1. "Sgt. Hal'Arac's Military Gear. When you have a robot infestation, sometimes you need a boot big enough to crush them."

NEXT

Voice 1 "I'm Commander Shepard and this is my favorite store on the Citadel." Voice 2 "Lingerie and Negligee for the discriminating Quarian. Come to Ell'Cellan's Exquisite Palace."

NEXT

PAGE 2 "Ward off Geth with your new No-Geth stencils! Apply directly to BioSuit!"

PAGE 3 "Bulk Up With Hal'Daeris' BioSuit Shoulder Guards"

Lini concentrated on that advertisement. It was in poor taste and it should not have appeared on her search. She would have to adjust her filters. Still... that could be useful for a disguise. She placed an order for the Shoulder Guards.

Lini clicked buy and ordered all selected items shipped to the discreet location provided for by her employers. She felt richer than she had ever felt before, except for that one time she siphoned off 30,000 credits from that Casino and took a vacation at that exclusive spa resort on Pasteur V, a Salarian desert world.

[/ic]

[ic=Dressed For Business]

When it came time to meet at the taxi, Lini wore her white gloves, and she added a little bulk to her suit's shoulders with Hal'Daeris' Quarian Mercenary Brand Shoulder Guards (tm). She also altered her voice modulation so she would sound about twenty years older. There was not much a Quarian could do to disguise oneself without going to great lengths to replace one's BioSuit--which was out of the question given the budget-- but most people couldn't tell one Quarian from another anyway, so for Lini, concealment was not a large concern.
[/ic]

Nearly done finishing it up; may add a few more stores to visit above.

[Ninja D!]

[ic=Salana T'Sara, dedicated secretary]As Sal read the message, her expression became dark. False names, her eyes narrowed. False identities, she released a sigh of annoyance, breath rough, almost shaking. Cloak and dagger shit.  

She spoke slowly, placing bitter emphasis on every syllable and pausing for a moment between words. "Dedicated secretary?" Another sigh, "this had better be worth it."[/ic]

[Steerpike]

[ic]Finding a suit cut to my dimensions will be a nightmare thinks Archimedes.  A necessary part of the cover, of course.  The thought of Sal as a secretary was amusing; the thought of Lini'Leera attempting to maintain a façade of corporate professionalism was worrying.  Perhaps as Marking Research Assistant he could get Lini and himself access to T'Kin's files without resorting to additional subterfuge.

The asari seems near-apoplectic.  Perhaps she would be more of a threat to their cover than the quarian... still, if their cover was blown, she could be indispensable.

"After we've picked up our attire, I suggest we rendezvous at the Ancomp Department before T'Kin gets off her shift.  Any objections?[/ic]

[Elemental_Elf]

[ooc]Taking the initiative to speed things along [/ooc] [note=Map of the top level of the Rodla Shopping Area][ooc][spoiler][/spoiler][/ooc][/note]

[ic]T'Parn didn't provide an independent means of travel, you think it best to travel as other business professionals do - by way of taxi. You hail a cab, its one of the larger model hover cars, more than enough room for the four of you. Dal, the Salarian driver, deflects all attempts to communicate, preferring instead to listen to his vintage, imported Earth music. The lyrics tend to be nonsensical, something about Poker Faces... Sal has a bit of a lead foot, and a love of weaving in and out of the three-dimensional traffic lanes. You make it across town quite quickly and none the worse for wear.

The Rodla Shopping Area is a multi-level, rectangular-shaped mall located at the top of the Rodla Building. At the center of the building lies an open air courtyard that extends from the ground level to the top. 4 glass elevators are located on each side of the court yard, ferrying people up and down the building. The mall itself is filled with overpriced specialty shops, principally selling clothing, trinkets and the latest needless doodads.

The Ancomp Department is located on the top level of the building, which also houses Skip's Used Books, a Volus bar called Ammonia Only, Voltage arcade, Yama's Café, a luxury movie theatre called High Town Cinema, a Salarian businessware store called Salarian Suits and Nikala, a lingerie store, which specializes in non-Asari body shapes.

Inside the Ancomp Department building, you find a blue carpeted reception area, with a small line in front of an octagonal desk. As you walk in, the human receptionist, a moderately attractive Asian woman with long black hair and pale skin, gives the four of you a bit of a nod then returns to the Volus customer who's booking a trip to Moscow. After a few minutes the line quickly dissipates as the receptionist rapidly and efficiently handles each customer's orders. Finally, it is your turn.

'Hello my name is Kim Eun and welcome to Ancomp. We specialize in booking trips and inter-Illium shipping. How may I help you?' [/ic]

[LD]

[ic=Self-Important]
Lini puffs her chest out, crosses her arms, and lofts her head up at an acute angle so although she only stands about a handspan and a half shorter than the human, she appears to be doing her best to sneer down at the lady.

She taps her right foot impatiently.

[/ic]

[CoyoteCamouflage]

[ic=Shopping]
Kai was hardly one to find himself lost in the throng of business attire-- and some already costly suits were in his collection simply by the sheer virtue of necessity. Most disguises are only so good as the clothes you wrap yourself within-- certainly a prospect that the Quarians or Volus ought to understand.

It doe snot take him long to spend the entirety of the credit voucher-- spending most of it filling out what wardrobe he already has at his disposal rather than an entire outfit.

He errs just this side of oppulent, trying to present the image of someone trying to downplay just how much wealth they have. Kai does not favor the trollish "I own this room, I own you," look. It offends his delicate sensibilities.

He has decided however, to invest in a new cologne-- a scent reminiscent of burnt sienna and amber, with a warm, mellow edge.

His purchases are made in person, unlike the Quarian no doubt peddling her hacking skills while she is at it. Despite this, he manages quickly, finding little difficulty in managing his way through the morass of societal expectations from such endeavors.

And once done, his is more than sure to spare a few minutes to present himself as a different person. Simple skin pigment and hair dye, change him from a pale-skinned blonde to a dark-haired man with a Mediterranean tan.[/ic]

[ooc=Disguise] Simple Deception to make him look like some random human. Being Simple, it grants a +5 bonus and only takes a few minutes of free time to prepare. With the bonus, he has a +24 to the Deception check, and is more than willing to apply his skills to any other party members who want it. I could probably even make the Vorcha look like a not Vorcha... (That would only be a Moderate, I believe, so it's still a +19 versus Will and about an hour of work. +17 to knock that down to about 10 minutes)[/ooc]

[ic=Arrival]
Kai smiles with the ease of a lifetime of deceptions. He glances sidelong at the Quarian and her behavior. He rolls his eyes theatrically. Come now, Joan, their networks can't be as bad as you fear if they have been moving so quickly." He flashes a grin at the Quarian before turning back to the receptionist.

"Good day to you-- I am Mr. Washington, and these are my associates Ms. vasOrleans," he gestures to Lini. "Leonidas," Archimedes. "And my secretary, Marie." Sal. "We are here on behalf of the Port Authority to assess Ancomp's performances here. I believe we are expected...?" he queries politely.[/ic]

[ooc]Sadly, I don't have time for too much more today, but I can add more in later if its needed.[/occ]

[LD]

[ic=A Breath of Not-So-Fresh Air]

"Clearly we were NOT expected. Otherwise, they would have known who YOU are." Lini sneers, gesturing toward Kai as she does. Then she jerks her head away and coughs.

Ever since she had been in that Salarian's stinking car, her skin had started tingling and now it was beginning to take on a bit of a burning sensation. She looked back at the female human and continued, as sharply as she could, and pointing a white-gloved hand at her. "At least MY pay is going to be justified, although I don't look forward to writing THIS report."

Lini coughed again and she turned away. Eyes watering, she looked down at her OmniTool and, after bobbling slightly due to the extra girth on her gloved finger, she keyed in an adjustment to her suit's filtration system to vent, use stored air, then recycle on infinite loop. Noxious fumes from the Salarian's car seemed to be persisting in their percolation within her suit despite the precautions she had taken in the car to recycle her air; she hoped the fumes didn't cause an allergic reaction beyond the Stage Zero or Stage One that she was already experiencing.

[/ic]

[ooc]...Cologne...the bane of Quarians. And LD. I hate that stuff... Like Perfume- to me, cologne is as noxious as cigarettes, tending to send me into paroxysms of coughs.[/ooc]

[Steerpike]

[ic]Archimedes remains silent while Kai speaks and Lini stroppily blusters.  He carefully and surreptitiously scans the room, noting the locations of cameras and darting brief but observant glances at the staff and customers, being as discrete as possible[/ic][ooc]Perception check (+6 bonus) - not sure if you're rolling those sorts of things for us, Elf, or we do them ourselves?  If the latter I got a 16.

Apologies for brevity, bit of a busier day.[/ooc]

[Elemental_Elf]

[ooc]You guys can roll when you are actively doing something, I'll roll if I need your characters to roll :) [/ooc]

[ooc=Archimedes' Check]Archimedes notices a camera in the corner of the wall, on the ceiling, nearest the exit. Archimdes' check is also high enough to spot a hidden camera in the center of the door leading to the rest of the office.

The Human Receptionist is behind an octagonal desk, which lies to the left of the door leading to the rest of the office. There are three customers in line behind you. One of the customers, a human male, wearing a brightly colored Hawaiian shirt, khaki shorts and sun glasses, is filming himself with a small video drone; he appears to be making a vlog, excessively utilizing the words "brah, dude, totally and chaaa". There are two other customers behind you, both elegantly dressed Asari, that appear to be in a rush. [/ooc]