Heist in The Heights [RP]

- Miles -

The Heights rises from the street, like a monolith into the smog above. The stucko and faux-columns aesthetic of a mid-town mall gives way to stark glass --that would have counted as 'modern' when it was built, but now looks tacky-- just before vanishing from sight.

It used to have many lower level entrances when it was a mall, but they have mostly been filled in and barricaded over the years since the Lowlifes took up residence.

In your time watching, you have seen almost nobody coming or going at street level, and the below-ground parking structures and access from the underground rail-system is heavily guarded.

These perimeter guards are the only source you have had to judge appropriate attire for a disguise, but that is probably not a bad thing, since they tend towards the 'armed-and-militant' side of general gutter-trash milieu that dominates the style, and that probably allows for more gear and weapons to be incorporated into any disguise.

While also convenient, you suspect, from your observations, that impersonating a guard could come with its own set of troubles, if discovered. And, while you don't see much structure or organisation, they may well know each other or be known by the people they protect, as is common with community-gangs.

To learn much more, you would definitely have to expose yourself to scrutiny from the guards.

What do you do?

- Blank -

While the Lowlifes don't trust or accept you, you have had more contact with them than most. Maybe this is why the Operator hired you? They obviously don't care about your desire to spread medicines around --else they would have offered you the plans for the medical manufacturing prototype you are stealing, instead of just creds for handing it over to some other faceless corporation.

You have even been --almost-- inside. The Lowlifes arranged to open up an old loading dock to give you access to do your work, and you had the chance to observe a bit about them and the interior-just-past-the-walls.

When you recently contacted them, you were not immediately rebuffed --as is their wont-- and have been able to open a dialogue with them.

• What have you told them about why you are in contact? Did you discuss this with your team?
• What was the nature of the medical emergency last summer?

- Kamisori -

So far you have confirmed that the High-levelers' deliveries use only small-drones, as per the datapacket.

Each drone has to transmit its encrypted waybill before it is allowed past the antiaircraft guns --you lost at least one of yours by straying too close.

While you have made some, very few regular drones are large enough to carry a person-sized load. If you could assemble enough to get the team in the top that way, you would still need to get around the lethal protections the high-Levelers have to keep people like you away.

<< Scanning livecasts: ... >>
Categorisation: [Insular]

There are almost no feeds being projected out into the world, it is almost like these people don't want to be part of the global economy, or something. Was the Operator, maybe, right to be so dismissive of them?

One interesting thing you do learn from the few sources that watch these quasi-private feeds, is that one of the drones that features a fair bit on the feeds inside is one of yours.

• Do you participate in robot fighting? Have you ever?
• How did one of your old drones end up here, under someone else's control?
• What is interesting about that particular drone?

- D. -

Your contacts are all surprised and baffled by questions about the 'Lowlifes in The Heights'. Most know nothing about them, those that do mostly only know that they don't deal with the outside world.

If they have problems, they tend to deal with them internally, and with direct and savage violence. Your normal set of skills would not be of much interest to them, but there are hints that your new profession of 'medical sales rep' might get you closer towards a connection.

The Lowlifes don't trust the corporations that make the medicines, and have refuse to deal with them, so there have been (unsubstantiated) stories of sickness within their compound.

Who knows: Maybe someone would be willing to talk to you.

- Miles -

Over the years, the Lowlifes have either barricaded or set guards on all the entrances in their area. Though, you have not seen anyone checking how well the barricades are holding up, nor maintaining them, so you might be able to find one that could be opened given enough time and effort.

An agile crew could definitely climb the walls, at least up to the level where the glass windows start, above that --and possibly hidden by the smog layer-- climbing may be possible, but is hard to test until you try.

Being spotted climbing the sides would very likely get you shot at by either side.

- Blank -

Your contact is very interested in talk about gaining access to their upstairs neighbour's parts of The Heights. They have been trying for years to expand into the higher levels, but the barriers the Higher-Levelers installed have defeated their every attempt.

• What is your contact's name?
• Do the other Lowlifes know he went to an 'outside doctor'? Has this fact hurt his standing in a community so distrustful of outsiders?

- Winston -

Some effort was done to remove blueprints from the city archives when They Heights severed their connections with the world. But you are able to track them down in a forgotten backup of the original architect.

These are old, and still list the lower levels as 'mall', and the mid levels as 'offices'. This lends credence to the Operators guess that the work you are interested in is probably done below the residences at the top. Until you can get in, you can't know what has been changed from the blueprints, though.

When they disconnected from the system and became their own enclave, they did so completely. The surfaces above the smog cloud were affixed with energy harvesting solar panels --aided by the reflective windows-- in the years before, which suggest some amount of thought and preplanning went into the act before anyone knew it was happening.

- Kamisori -

You have made it past the initial proving bout virtually unscathed --well, your bot has, but people talk about this sort of thing in the first person.

Now: "... IT'S ROBOT FIGHTING TIME!" The announcer shouts. The crowd is hyped up and excited to see what this outsider can do. There has been a lot of betting against you --on general principles-- and they want to see you go down.

All eyes are on the arena, so your companions were able to slip away unnoticed --no one cares about the pit crew mid-event-- but you don't know how long you will need to keep the show going.

Knowing that you might not get to take this fighting bot with you on the rest of the mission: What have you brought? And how do you feel about possibly abandoning it?

• Are you, perchance, facing your old bot?
• If so: Does that give you an advantage or a disadvantage?
• If not: Where is that bot now?
• Do you have any plans for it?

- Everyone else -

You were able to slip away unnoticed while your drone pilot distracted the Lowlifes.

You don't know how long you have. Whether Kamisori wins or loses, the Lowlifes will be looking to the the pits and your absence will be noted.

• Are you trying to keep this operation secret from the Lowlifes?
That will add some pressure since you need to avoid being noticed, but you know it will avoid some complications down the line. Allowing them into higher levels now will create chaos, which might play to your advantage, but only a fool --or the desperate-- relies on chaos.

- Winston -

The barrier --scarred and pitted by decades of attempted cutting-- is right where your blueprint-inspired-guesswork suggested it would be. You were pretty sure there should be a control node you can try hack to get the barrier down... but the barrier and walls are several feet 'closer' than you hoped, and the physical access point to that node is on the other side. This makes sense, but was both awkward for them when building the barrier, and is now a problem for you and your team.

You thought this might happen. How do you plan to gain access through the two feet of tungsten/steel alloy to the physical port on the other side?