In reply to Audrey Eden Davis (msg # 24):

Bullfrog chuckles on the other end.  Sorry.  Didn't mean 'AWOL' to sound like that.  Old Army habit.

Lillian got a hearing out as far as she could.  But because Flo's a minor, the Court can't sit on it too long.  So we got two weeks.

Aubrey continued

"I'll send a secured email to update on the latest and get back in touch if I am able to go forward on my lead. Be careful out there Bullfrog"

Aubrey hangs up and leaves a message with Lillian. After sending a text and not seeing Charlie respond or read it an hour later, puts the nervous butterflies in her tummy. Was Charlie in trouble? Was Charlie on the lab side....was he on her side, where was he. Aubrey uses her phone to look up any mention within the last few days on Condor. If she finds nothing she will try to call the lab he works at to see if she can either hear his voice (and hang up, cause maybe he is ghosting her) or get his voice mail that might say something about him being in the office or not.

In reply to Audrey Eden Davis (msg # 26):

There is a blurb.  Apparently the day of your accident Condor and his partner The Blur got in to some kind of meta-brawl downtown.  The page you access on your phone only has one video:  a brief four second clip of some man in a yellow leotard tackling Condor in mid-air.  The two of them hurtle in to the side of a billboard.  And that's it.  The clip just replays itself.

So you can watch Charlie getting smacked in to the billboard over and over and over again.

The article just says there were no casualties and the outcome of the brawl is uncertain.  Neither side in the fight have been seen since and the police aren't commenting on the matter.

Aubrey reaches over to her phone at the side of her bed and calls the main number for the hospital. When the receptionist answers she asks to be transferred to Charlie (Last Name) room and if pressed she claims to be his cousin. She starts with the hospital she is in and works around to the ones that were closest to the incident. When the nurse comes to walk Aubrey around the ward Aubrey looks at the nurse station to see if there is any male around the age range Charlie is in, in the ward. She knows that this is probably bordering on the whole stalker girlfriend like behavior. But it really is her being a caring and loving girlfriend. And he knew what profession she was in before they started dating, so if anyone is to blame for this is him.

With her mind made up on her complete innocence and "saintly" behavior, Aubrey starts to do her work trying to find her.... boyfriend. This will at least keep her busy until she can get going on something else.

In reply to Audrey Eden Davis (msg # 28):

Results of the Charlie search:  You get through to a guy named Charlie Kowalski.  He's in St. Bettis having his gall bladder removed.  He's also 54, on his second marriage, and pretty sure his youngest daughter is a lesbian, though she won't admit it.  That Charlie Kowalski.  He likes to talk, that one.

Something occurs to you as you hang up the phone.  Charlie never said his real name was 'Charlie'.

You could try Bullfrog.  It's possible that, since they run in the same circles, he may know what happened.

Otherwise, it may be time to consider what to do about Anodyne.  The doctor says you will have the staples out Friday.

It never dawned on Aubrey the thought that Charlie was never his given name. It was one of those "a ha" moments and caused her mind to work way harder than it should after her injuries. She had actually felt... special... that he had trusted her a little with something important and now she was coming to terms that it was never the case. It made sense, she couldn't blame him but....

Aubrey checks the feeds from Brad's house when she is able either in the hospital or when she is released. The red folder with the documents that Brad had talked about were either inside the house or back in the labs office. But first she was going to have to rule out the house.

In reply to Audrey Eden Davis (msg # 30):

Log in to your agency's monitoring feeds from your cell phone?  Of course there's an ap for that.  You spend the rest of your convalescence not thinking about Charlie...er...watching the feeds.  Sorry.  Had to throw that in

Brad's Mom mopes around the house.  Not a surprise given what she's lost.  But you are able to ascertain Brad's Father is in the hospital.  So the red folder is probably at the lab.  You can send someone in to check, but it makes sense that a document so important wouldn't be left lying about.  Anodyne would have retrieved it once they realized their head researcher was in the hospital on life support.

Vic confirms from his monitoring station:  there haven't been any raids on the house.  And it looks like security has beefed up in one wing of Anodyne labs.

Aubrey sets out to find what information she can on how to get into the wing of Anodyne labs. Do they use an out sourced maid service, or what company restocks their food bins in the lunch room. If she is able she looks at the security her group had put in and if there is any back door into the lab and areas where you can move without being totally out in the open. Aubrey also looks into the house and if there seems to be any pattern to the house being empty (wife visiting husband or getting her hair done etc). Mad scientist tend to leave copies of their stuff for their own records and if she can check Brad's dad office she might get lucky and not have to break into Anodyne.

In reply to Audrey Eden Davis (msg # 32):

The house is a no go.  Mad scientist he may be, but he's a cautious one Nice try though.

That wing of the building is apparently reserved for top security clearance labs.  Of course it is.  Anodyne remodels it every three years, but even if it's top secret, the schematics still have to be approved by the city.  You manage to hack your way in to the latest set.

The good news is, the scientists all appear to have offices on the west side of the wing.  It also seems there is a records room there.  According to Vince's observation log, while there is almost always someone in the labs, the offices are relatively deserted during the evening hours.

The bad news is, you have to cross through the lab space to get to the offices.  And there are four separate security checkpoints:  two guardposts and two top grade security doors.  There is a fire stairs out the back.  But it comes with it's own set of top grade security doors and the hallway leading to them looks like it's camera'd up pretty tight.

The security system is also a closed system.  You can't seem to hack into it.

The janitorial service is all employee run.  And the employees on that crew are all well known and given the stink eye several times.  A guard also accompanies them around the labs and offices.  So that seems a dead end.

The food service angle may have an opening though.  The cafeteria is run by an outside contractor.  And though the cafeteria staff are not allowed outside the cafeteria (they even have their own bathrooms in the back), there does appear to be ductwork that may connect to that wing...

But of course that would be too easy, right?  Remember all the remodeling done?  The schematics for the last two remodels aren't very detailed in regards to the duct work.  Best guess:  the duct work leads in to the halls somewhere in the lab portion of the wing.  From there, you would be winging it.

Aubrey danced around the room after she managed to hack into the schematics for the labs. After  printing it out she put it up on the wall and took her time to look through them. She looked at them from every angle and had to smile to herself when she was once again looking at the ducts. It was what got her in trouble with Tzal... or more correct gave her a friend and experience. Perhaps her way of looking at this was a Stockholm situation.

Dragging her thoughts back to the problem at hand she wrote down some possible plans. She tosses the paper with the idea of janitorial crew in the shredder and continues with her plans. She looks at the bathroom in the back to see if there was any duct work that might be something she could follow deeper into the lab. Aubrey does her research on the company doing the cafeteria portion and more importantly the uniforms. After getting her plan she calls Vic to come in and go over the plan.

Her plan needs to be mobile, best case would be at night in a duct crawl. First to the office of Brad's dad and if nothing there then to the records. She just has to move through the ducts and past the four guard checkpoints. If she was lucky it would be done all through the ducts (If only LOL) and in the middle of the night. If she wasn't so lucky

"I need to get eyes on where the ducts can take me so I can plan accordingly. That being the reason it might be more than one night. But that makes it harder to go in and out and not be detected.  Or we can hack into their security system for the fire stairs and go up that way. The problem would be the security doors. Seems like a better option to leave then go in. They are not, normally locked to keep you in but out. Fires and all.... How about the roof? "

Audrey looks at the plans to see what security they have on the roof. Smokers need to smoke and that might be a way to do it.

In reply to Audrey Eden Davis (msg # 34):

Well, looks like my work on Jonas' game will pay off here

Vic thinks a moment than his eyes light up.  Ya know...I saw this thing.  On the internet.  Hold on...

Eight minutes later he calls you over to his lap top.  On the screen is what looks like a small roller skate.  But it's apparently a ground based drone on wheels with a camera.

And then there's this one...  He goes to another page and this is a small camera with weird mechanical legs.  Like if a Nikon and a spider had a baby.

Since we don't have a paying client any more, we could probably only finagle one of these.  But this one, he points at the roller skate.  Has more range but can't climb up or down.  It can only go backwards and forwards.  This one, he points at the spider baby.  Can go up and down, but the range isn't as far and...doesn't look like the battery life is as good.

So if you wanna do recon, you could sneak in on the day shift, plop the drone in the shafts.  We turn it on that night and run it through.  Bing bang bong.  We got our recon.  Oh.  The spider is probably the one we want but this says the remote range is shit.  You'd have to be in the building or at least the parking lot to get it to work.  And it would probably need to be after hours too.

So maybe go in as a cafeteria worker, and either drop the skate in, leave at the end of the shift, and we operate it from our survey point in the building across the street?

Or.  You go in as a cafeteria worker.  Drop the spider in the duct work.  Hide in the building.  Or the parking lot somehow.  Probably the parking lot since it looks like they keep a count on people going in and out.  And then operate the spider that way.

Or you could just say to hell with it, go in as a cafeteria worker, and at the end of the shift hit the duct work.

Whaddya think?

Of course that's just Vic noodling on it.  Go with whatever method you think of.
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:19, Fri 22 Nov 2019.

Aubrey jumped off her bed and moved in front of Vic's laptop


"Are you serious?! I have never sceen this before."

Aubrey looked at the items Vic was pointing out and read what they did and what to expect.

"hmmmmm. I think a mixture of both of those plans would be good. I'd rather go in at the end of the day to restock their vending machines and clean up the kitchen. You know, put the sodas and water in the execs fridges sort of thing. You know I ran into one when I got the paper and then the others were shooting at me, so I'm thinking they may have some picture of me somewhere. I mean a wig would be fine but scooping out Tuesday Delight might be too much of a risk. But I can plant the spider and we can do recon before I sneak back in and go through the ducts. How long would it take to get spidy?"

In reply to Audrey Eden Davis (msg # 36):

Vic checks and whistles.  Well, this says we can have it tomorrow...

Okay.  We're gonna do this in four stages.  Stage one.

You, Vic, and your team prepare...

The initial approach is you and your team approaching the current vendor who handles machine restock.  You need to infiltrate that company to pass as a new trainee.

You can approach the driver who currently has the route, one Tommy Alliston.  Tommy is in his mid forties.  Divorced with three kids, one of whom is in college and the other two are coming up to it quickly.  From what little info you can gather, his moral character is so-so. He's not a bad man.  But he's divorced because he was cheating on his wife.  But apparently he has been feeling pretty sorry about the whole thing and been trying to be a stand up guy for his kids sake since then.

Instead of Tommy, you can bribe the company's dispatcher and try to get another driver.  One who might be more amenable.  The dispatcher is Fay Olgood.  She's a woman in her mid thirties.  She's had a number of boyfriends but never one for long.  A little bitter about things, she does drink some but not to the point of showing up to work drunk.  Your research shows she would like to go back to finish her accounting degree.  She's about a year and a half short of credits.

Pick one of the two options, and tell me how you approach the person involved.  You can have one of your agents or Vic make the approach.  You will just be telling them what to say.  Or you can make the approach.  Get as detailed or general as you want.  After that, roll me 1d6 and post the result at the end of the write up.

Let me know if there are questions.  Thanks

Aubrey looked at both the marks and try to dig into their histories. She didn't want any blowback on any of the marks. But there was a little wiggle room on each. Everyone has some sort of weakness that can be used against you. It was a little sad that she was going to have to exploit something to get something. Was she doing the right thing....


Aubrey talked with Vic about her ideas.

"Okay.... First i'm going to check and see if they have any job openings. Kind of like not checking to see if the door is unlocked"

Aubrey checks out the web site (good try ;) )

"I'm thinking that I go at the guy. Do you think we could pull off a community work thingy? You know like i'm having to do a few hours and this was a suggestion. I could be the same age as his daughter and maybe it would be something like he is helping out a troubled young adult.  What do you think?:



16:46, Today: Audrey Eden Davis rolled 5 using 1d6.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:47, Wed 27 Nov 2019.

In reply to Audrey Eden Davis (msg # 38):

The website only lists office staff positions at the contractor.

Not that it matters.  Things work out swimmingly with Tommy.

Vic approaches him as your social worker.  Tommy laps it up and the company brass gives it a green light.  They need some good will with the city at the moment.

Stage Two

Luckily you're still a little puffy from the accident.  Ow.  Don't hit me.  Vic laughs as he boops you on the nose with the end of his finger.  But you still look like the same ol' brat.  I think they will have your pic.  So we need to change  as much as we can.  And you'll need to wear platform shoes or somethin'.  Would be good if we can vary the height.

Or...you want me to send in one a' the temps?  That Shirley girl seems to have a good head on her shoulders.  We can send her in to plant the bug.

Decision time:  you going in or sending a stunt double?  If you go in, I need you to tell me what you work on changing about yourself.  If you send in the stunt double, give me the briefing you give them.

And roll a dice.  1d6.  Thanks.

Aubrey looked at herself in the mirror as she placed a black hair wig on her head. Having already put on the work outfit she added both butt pad underwear and increased bra size. She next inserted hazel colored contacts in and worked on her beauty make up. Lastly she put on some platform sneakers and put in one of the shoes some sort of wade of tape the would remind her and cause her to alter her walking stride. Turning around and walking across the room she looked back to Vic when she was done and shrugged her shoulders


"What do you think? Is it enough? I just don't know if having others know what we are about do do is a good idea. Less chance of it leaking out"


ooc
16:55, Today: Audrey Eden Davis rolled 6 using 1d6.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:55, Thu 28 Nov 2019.

In reply to Audrey Eden Davis (msg # 40):

Vic blinks.  That is, without a doubt, the best disguise I've ever seen.  Holy crap Bree.  You don't look like you.

---

Tommy turns out to be a really nice guy.  He bought your line completely.  He keeps trying to 'advise' you all during your run.

He pulls up to the Anodyne gate.  The guard comes out, checking Tommy's pass.  Then, the guard studies you long and carefully.  Tommy explains you're a trainee.  Since he believes that, so does the guard apparently.  The gate lifts and Tommy pulls you on to the lot.

You both unload the large tubs of Cheetos and Whatchamacallit candy bars.  Tommy is loading stacks of soda cans on to the dolly he uses.  Soon, the two of you are headed for the vendor entrance.

There's another guard check point.  Two uniformed guards and a guy who looks like he might have been in the car.  They study you closely...

There's not much you can say here.  It's just a matter of how you act.  Let me know if you try anything to alleviate any suspicion.  And roll a 1d6 please.

"how much Cheetos can people eat" Aubrey snorts as they load up the dolly. Walking up to the entrance felt like it took forever and then they had to stand in front of two guards as they were studied. Aubrey is almost certain that the one guard is the one that shot at her. She tries to get a glimpse of his name tag, if any is worn, as she looks like a bored young adult wishing she was home doing whatever they do and not here to work.


10:31, Today: Audrey Eden Davis rolled 5 using 1d6.
This message was last edited by the player at 18:32, Mon 02 Dec 2019.

In reply to Audrey Eden Davis (msg # 42):

You're really knocking it out with those rolls.  Last one...

The guards scowl at you.  They have a little confab, but they can't seem to come up with a reason to hassle you, so in you and Tommy go.

You make quick work of the vending machines.

Tommy busies himself fixing a jammed Dr. Pepper machine.  Now is your chance.  The security in this place is crazy tight.  The guards are keeping a tight eye on you and there isn't much in the way of hallway space not covered by a camera.  But you can reach a grill behind one of the machines if you act like you're fixing something.

You'll need to work fast.  And have some luck...

If you can can think of anyway to make planing the drone less conspicuous, add it in your post.  Otherwise, one last 1d6.  And then we'll play Whack A Mole...

Aubrey tries to keep her eyes from roaming too much as she restocks and helps Tommy out. Looking for an opportunity Aubrey either drops some chips near the grill in order to open and set her spider drone up or gives an excuse to go to the restroom and setting up her spider.


ooc
15:09, Today: Audrey Eden Davis rolled 5 using 1d6.  I've been so LUCKY in these rolls. Which means i'm in for some hurt coming up LOL>  Was the spot in the bathroom in the ducts or does it need to be grill in the vending area?

In reply to Audrey Eden Davis (msg # 44):

Vending. They're not going to let you use the restroom.

Tommy comes by and smiles.  All done?  Let's get on to the next stop then...

---

Vending machine stocking is a good workout.  You stretch as Vic fiddles with the ap that will drive the spider.

It's online.

Following the schematics, you have the closest access to three office looking rooms that are located at the near end of the labs.  Past that is what you and Vic call 'Lab A'.

On the other side of the hall are labs 'B' and 'C'.  Getting the spider over the hallway poses a little bit of a risk.  It's pretty stable but not the quietest thing.  There's a chance a guard could hear the soft tap tap tapping as the spider passes through the vent over the hallway.

At the other end of the building are more offices and the records room.  It looks like you'll have to go down the vents over Lab A to reach the offices.  And then past those to reach the records room.  The same concern about noise is relevant in passing over any of these areas as well.  It probably isn't a concern.  But still worth bearing in mind.

The question is where do you want to go?

So you start in Lab A.  What I need to know is:

In what order do you examine the rooms after A?

Below is a schematic of sorts.  If the name is close to another name, you can get there directly.  Also, you can cross the hall between A and B using the ---- vents over the hallway.  So for example, you can start in Lab A, go to the Near Offices, back to Lab A, then over to Lab B.

You can't hop from Lab A directly to Lab C.  You'd have to go through Lab B first.  You can't hop directly over to Records without going through the Far Offices first.

Clear as mud?  Let me know what questions you have.  Otherwise, I need to know in what order you go through the wing.  Again, start in Lab A.  Thanks.

Records
Far Offices
Lab A------------------Lab B
Near Offices           Lab C

ooc:

Are the guards stationary or do the roam? Does the air conditioning or heater seem to be turning on.

If the guards roam or if there is some sort of sound she can mask the spider's sound she will try to do that :).

 Go from Lab A to Near Offices then back to Lab A to cross to the other side and then do Lab C to Lab B and back out.

In reply to Audrey Eden Davis (msg # 46):

Guards:  Both.  There are stations outside the Near Office, Lab B, and Far Office.  But each station is manned only by one guard.  It appears a two man team makes round between each section.  The patrol doesn't appear to use a set routine either.  They vary the order of the rooms visited with each pass.

This is late fall.  So heater would be on, yes.

You can try to match the movement across 'noiser' areas in time with the heater going on yes.

Okay.  First two stops.  Lab A and Near Offices

Lab A seems to be one large room divided by cubicle walls in to five smaller areas.  Two of the areas are dark and bare.  If any experiments go on in them, the work is packed up at the end of the night.

The other three areas in Lab A are:

-What appears to be an area set up like a green house.  A set of potted plants are being kept under various kinds of lights.  A woman in a lab coat and wearing a surgical mask is walking among them with a clipboard and a watering can.

-The smallest area has two men seated across each other with a nightstand set between them.  On the nightstand is an aquarium.  One of the men is staring intently into the tank while the other is scratching his ear with a pen.  Suddenly the observer says, Blue

What kind of blue? asks the other man.

The observer frowns.  Periwinkle maybe?

From what you can tell, there is nothing in the aquarium.

-The largest area has five tables laid end to end.  Around them are set a large group of chairs, with a person in each chair.  Each of the people are shaved bald, regardless of gender.  Each one of them is wearing a white paper hospital gown.

At the head of the table is seated an older woman in a bright pink bathrobe.  There is an old metal box with a crank handle jutting out of one side.  Smiling, she reaches over and begins to turn the handle.  From within the box, a music box plays "Pop Goes The Weasel".

We don't have to do this, says the woman in the bathrobe, still turning the handle.  We can all go to the Bright Farm together ya know.

About seventeen seats away from her, one of the bald men seated at the table begins to cry.

Watching all this are two men in lab coats.  One turns to the other and says, That's Subject 1054, isn't it?  Odd.  I would have thought Subject 2022 would be the one to exhibit the symptoms first.


The spider moves to the Near Offices.  Thankfully, this set of rooms seems to be deserted.  There are five offices.  None of the names on the doors mean much to you, although one is for a Dr. Halforth.  He's listed as the research director on Anodyne's website.

Let me know if you want to examine any of these areas in more detail.  Otherwise, we'll move on the Lab C tomorrow.  Thanks.

Aubrey makes notes of the different things she found in the rooms. She is shocked when she sees the bald experiments and hopes that whomever these people are they are volunteers and not like the homeless pulled off the street. Aubrey does try to get a better look at Dr. Halforth's office, wanting to rule it out of having the binder before moving off to the other lab

In reply to Audrey Eden Davis (msg # 48):

Let's deal with Halforth before moving on.  Roll me 1d6 please.

The spider looks over the office from the grate set in the top of the wall.

Right underneath the spider is a file cabinet.

About two steps away from the cabinet is a large oak desk.  Real oak too.  This is a power desk.  There's a monitor and a docking station, but no computer.

On the other side of the room are two more sets of filing cabinets and a bookcase.

The spider will have to come out of the grate.  Let me know what you want to look at and in what order please.

The nearby file cabinet.
The desk.
Far Cabinet 1 and 2 (Count them as a set)
The bookcase