//File 0.11 - Helios and Missy//

Feb 23, 2020 10:00 am

Missy goes over to take a look at the marina, where personal boats are mored. She finds a map of the docks and comprises a mail to Lollypop bunny her matrix contact and dealer in information.

Quote:

Hey, Lollypop bunny. Do me a quick favor, will you? Cross-reference the owners of boats currently docked at Hong Kong marina, locks L14 to M45, with arrested or recently deceased. I'll trade you the client list of the Lotus Dragon (Hong Kong BDSM parlor)

She makes sure that Lollypop bunny name is in the correct font and color as bunny likes.

Helios, this is might be a long shot, but perhaps there is a boat down there that no body will miss for a while.

Last edited February 23, 2020 10:01 am

Feb 23, 2020 11:56 am

OOC:

Just to clarify, Lollypop Bunny is an information dealer, not a decker. This means she can get you information, for a price (because she has to pay someone to get it, who has to get/con/steal it from someone etc etc). If you're trading it depends whether she has any value for what you offer.
Roll Influence + Charisma, and you may add her Loyalty as a dice pool modifier. p51 on Contacts.

Rolls

Lollypop Bunny Connection + Connection - (8d6)

(35624252) = 29

Feb 23, 2020 6:52 pm

OOC:

would expect that recently dead and incarcerated would one of the backbone list of an information broker. The marina owners could be a challenge.
I thought an information broker and decker were the same, but that is fine. I'll invent a decker contact

Rolls

Rolling Influence + Charisma +2 loyality - (11d6)

(21515415136) = 34

Feb 24, 2020 2:05 pm

OOC:

I see 3 successes for Lollypop Bunny to know about docked boats with dead or incarcerated owners. You're right in that getting a list of dead or imprisoned people isn't difficult, around a level 2 on Legwork Results. Knowing whose boats are currently docked is trickier and more specific, because they are private boats. Arriving boats clear immigration via the port authorities before they are allowed to dock, and vice versa. The information is registered by the port authorities, which is less accessible, around level 3 or 4. (This is the slightly-harder-to-get equivalent of the BDSM client list). So what you're asking from your broker is actually 2 pieces of information, not one. Then someone has to compare the list of owners of boats docked with the list of dead people, that's not just information, but some minor investigative work.
You rolled 4 successes though, this means Bunny is prepared to share what she knows for free.
Finally, sure, you can still swap your Contacts around, if you want a decker.

I can send you a list of people who died or in jail, just a sec. If you want me to find whose boats are currently docked in the Aberdeen marina, I don't have that in hand, need a bit of time to get that. Missy's commlink blinked with a long list of all the deaths in Hong Kong for the past half year, numbering in the thousands. The list for those who were imprisoned was shorter, about two hundred.

Feb 24, 2020 4:16 pm

OOC:

I thought we were using green for Sperethiel

Helios nods to Missy's comment, "Okay you handle that and I will think up a plan to get it safely out of the harbor." Helios then starts pondering methods of getting a boat out of the harbor undetected assuming that borrowing one is not something the harbor authorities would approve of.

Missy

Feb 24, 2020 9:21 pm

Missy is typing away on her AR
While my contact is working on a list of owners, do you have any ideas? Perhaps chat up a spirit, an old sailor or something

OOC:

When having several languages in play at once, then yes, I like to use colors.

Feb 24, 2020 10:33 pm

OOC:

So are you saying she is not talking in Sperethiel since your text is not in green? ;) I am assuming otherwise right now

Note more intense look around involves him taking time to literally get eyes on a very large number of things

Helios is brought out of his mental speculation with Missy's question. He thinks along what she is asking but it was not an avenue that he often explored all that much. "Well I spent a few days getting to know the harbor folk by mingling and helping them and I eventually found someone where it was a mutual beneficial endeavor. However, that was not Hong Kong and while Hong Kong is much more accepting of my kind it is not nearly as nice in general. It seems that general cultural prejudice can be easier to overcome with kindness than it is overcome general cultural paranoia because folks read the kindness as a ploy and you are really out to fleece them. Still if any boat here has been unused for a while that should be easily determinable. However, if you could find some one who is in touch with the harbor on a more personal level that would be extremely helpful but I am not very good at finding that kind of information quickly. So do you want me to take a intense look around or do you think the people approach is a better option?"

Feb 25, 2020 2:02 pm

OOC:

Let me flesh out the area a bit more to help you make your decisions. You're at the port side of the docks. That's where the businesses and shipping offices and warehouses are. Earlier on you passed the big container ports, now you're nearer the smaller docks, and the Chan fishery was one of the businesses with a small warehouse and presumably a couple of fishing boats.
If you want the marina, where the private boats and yachts are, that's on the other side of the harbour which you will need to get to. It's a further walk, but you'll eventually get there. That's the recreational side of the docks. There should be many of those boats and yachts docked there.
In addition, if you want to talk to harbour folk, let me know. I'll describe who's around on this fishing side, and/or the marina side.

@dejoker since we're talking about language a lot, may I ask, backstory-wise, how has Helios survived both in Japan and in Hong Kong thus far, speaking neither Japanese nor Cantonese? Has he exclusively dealt with elves only? Has he magicked his way through every conversation? I also ask this because I'm looking at your Contacts with a view to be using some of them, but can't reconcile them yet. Are they all Sperethiel speaking?

Feb 25, 2020 4:44 pm

OOC:

The two contacts he has in Japan both speak Sperethiel the international contacts are via the matrix and this is auto-translated by them or they too speak Sperethiel -- once I get enough money I will augment my comm-link and maybe Missy will teach me some of the languages she knows (once I get more Karma) ;)

Basically I got the impression that the language barrier -- other than under special conditions (aka Shadow-Running) -- was a minimal issue so I have treated it as such within my character.

Other than that yes he is either dealing with folks (such as Missy) who speak Sperethiel or he is borrowing the language from someone so that he can speak and/or understand it for short periods of time -- using his excellent memory to hold onto phrases/conversations that he feels might need translation latter on if he does not happen to have a means of getting that language on the spot Still he mostly has been dealing with animals so his humanoid contacts are minimal compared to his animal contacts which while he has I am not even sure if or how that should be represented -- and further they would be very transitory and localized to begin with -- so again not sure how that would even be represented if it can be at all

BTW I thought it was an interesting flaw (due to creation constraints and trade-offs) and one I am sure you will exploit before I am able to compensate for

Last edited February 25, 2020 4:56 pm

Feb 26, 2020 2:14 am

OOC:

Quote:

Basically I got the impression that the language barrier -- other than under special conditions (aka Shadow-Running) -- was a minimal issue so I have treated it as such within my character.

Absolutely, my question, and also the question about the Contacts, is so I can do story-building. Exploit is too harsh a word. :D :D :D

Feb 26, 2020 2:31 am

OOC:

Oh but why beat around the bush -- I am all about exploiting my players weaknesses its part of what makes the game challenging and hopefully fun for them as they figure out how to get around it and such. Besides I played a character once that in the system they were in -- had no weaknesses -- they were boring

Last edited February 26, 2020 2:32 am

Feb 26, 2020 3:08 am

The bunny icon appeared on Missy's commlink again. Too tedious to get someone to hack the port authorities for the list if you want it fast. Here's what I have instead. A list of private boat owners who are dead or imprisoned, and the names and models of the boats registered to them. You can figure out yourself whether any of their boats are moored at the marina. It was a much shorter list, about twenty-ish names.

Missy

Feb 27, 2020 9:46 am

Helios, we have a list of boats to find and check out. Let's look for a harbor office or an info screen where we can find these boats. She shows Helios the list with boats

Feb 27, 2020 11:33 am

Helios glances at the list then glances around where they are at then says, "I do not think these boats are in our current vicinity so I doubt any electronic manifest is going to be anywhere nearby either. Perhaps we should locate where these kinds of boats are first, go there and then start looking around."

OOC:

Does this list have enough information on it that Helios could identify these boats by their names and/or other external markings?

Last edited February 27, 2020 11:35 am

Feb 27, 2020 2:10 pm

Helios and Missy were at the side of the harbour with the business ports and trade docks, but it wasn't difficult for them to backtrack a little to head towards the marina side of the docks. Pleasure craft and private yachts were moored in the marina, a swankier, cleaner, and at this time of night, a much quieter affair than the fisheries they just came from, which often bustled in the wee hours when the fishing boats made their way in and out.

At the Aberdeen Marina, there were quite a number of boats, some distinctly luxurious cruisers, some smaller catamarans, and a couple of speedy bowriders, all the way to small dinghys. As it was late at night, it was hard to tell if they were occupied, with most of the lights out, without closer investigation. Only one or two showed activity. The immigration clearance office, a small building at the far end was also closed at this time, naturally, with the sign Quarantine and Immigration Anchorage clearly printed on its exterior doors.

OOC:

I'll rule that it wasn't difficult to infer that such boats are at the marina end of the harbour, and that it was easy to find the way there, so I've taken the liberty to 'move' you to the location.
The list contains full names of the owners, make, model and registration number of their boat or craft, and name of craft (if any). It does not contain descriptive features, such as colour or design details. Neither Helios nor Missy has relevant Knowledge related to boats, so if you were looking for a specific boat I'll be asking for some rolls sooner or later.

Feb 27, 2020 2:29 pm

OOC:

A quick google map measurement, showed that it is a ~3000km trip by boat. It should be an ocean-going boat that can be handled by 2 people

Feb 27, 2020 6:28 pm

DeJoker sent a note to BedzoneII

As the two get near to the marina end of the harbor, Helios begins releasing his network letting them know in terms they understand that he is looking for boats with letters or numbers as well as any that seem to contain a good amount of dust. As he does this he is looking for a high point that is somewhat centrally located that would give him an excellent vantage point to view there area from. "Okay I think you said you are going to see if you can track down a harbor manifest which sounded good. However in the meantime I think will see what more direct physical information I can find. How does that sound? You know divide and conquer kind of approach."

OOC:

With our abilities to conjure/control elementals I think we would just need a boat that is easily handled by them unless you have boating skills but yeah I concur something not too small but not too big. Do we need to make a roll to determine what size boat we should be looking for? I was thinking a typical Chinese Junk but the smaller ones might do as well assuming any of these are on the list we got.

The ocean going Chinese vessels are of three kinds; large ships called chunks (junks - which are about 36ft wide by 100ft long), middle sized ones called zaws (dhows) and the small ones kakams (I could not find dimensions for these other two types). The large ships have anything from twelve down to three sails, which are made of bamboo rods plaited into mats. They are never lowered, but turned according to the direction of the wind; at anchor they are left floating in the wind.

Last edited February 27, 2020 6:49 pm

Feb 29, 2020 1:11 am

OOC:

It's the 2070s, and you're at a marina, so the boats are mostly cyberpunk future versions of modern engined boats. I've described what kinds of vessels are anchored here in my last post. The ones you've described still exist, but are rarer and unlikely to be found at this location. They are more properly found in private boatyards or at the outlying islands, or used for tourism. The smallest of such boats (like dinghies, smaller dhows, sampans, rowboats, etc) aren't licensed.

Short of climbing on a sea vessel, or on top of the anchorage office, the marina elevation was a rather flat affair, with not much vantage point for Helios to climb on top of. His goggles did enable him to see down each pier as he walked, although it was generally too dark to make out the finer details of each of the boats moored there. His spider familiar poked her head out of his coat, and before long, a swarm of spiders formed, which then began to disperse down each sidewalk and pier.

OOC:

Roll Perception for Helios, and for Arianr, to gather information on ship names and models, and to note for dust (or lack of use). Check your bonus dice modifiers and your bonus Edge for these. If you want to take an Extended test, you can. This simply means, given enough time, you will have checked each boat.

BedzoneII sent a note to DeJoker

Feb 29, 2020 3:47 am