[MaxKojote]

Fang eyed the drone with some concern, before pulling out his decoy commlink and a fiberoptic cable. A moment later and his own commlink was on the table, connected to the drone. He took a breath, and then slowly began the negotiations for a sprite's services, his eyes focusing on the matrix.

[spoiler=Matrix Actions]Compiling Machine sprite: Compiling (6) + Resonance ( 8 ) (14d6.hits(5)=3) + Machine Sprite Specialisation (2) [forgot that] (2d6.hits(5)=1) vs Rating (6) (6d6.hits(5)=0)

4 net hits = 4 tasks from rating 6 Machine sprite.

Fading DV = Sprite hits = 0.

Extra CFs: Decrypt, Fuzzy Logic Autosoft (Rank 1)[/spoiler]

At least the negotiations went well, the sprite was a machine sprite on its own, and it would be able to decrypt the barrier. This would make his life much easier as he could leave it to do the task while he focused on the team. The sprite itself had oddly taken on the form of a changeling in its own right; its appearance was that of a light-brown furred anthropomorphic canine, with a bone constantly in its mouth. Wearing an outfit that appeared to have come from a steampunk universe, with additional goggles to give it a pilot's outfit, it was ready to accept his request.

@Red: Not really your speciality, but would you mind decrypting the encryption of the node hardwired to the node you currently  are in?

The sprite sent a response in the affirmative and began the first stages of the painstaking decryption process.

[spoiler=Matrix Actions]Issue Remote Command: Decrypt node connected to commlink.

First half hour: Sprite (Red): Initiate Cryptanalysis (threshold 8, 30 minute interval): Electronic Warfare (6) + Decrypt (6) (12d6.hits(5)=4) 4/8 hits

Second half hour: Sprite (Red): Electronic Warfare (6) + Decrypt (6) (12d6.hits(5)=2) 6/8 hits

Third half hour: Electronic Warfare (6) + Decrypt (6) (12d6.hits(5)=4) 10/8 hits.

It will take 90 minutes for the node to be decrypted by the sprite.

At the end all tasks will be consumed and sprite will return to the Resonance.[/spoiler]

"With regards to the metasapient in Herr Wong's place, I can consult with it. It may be more willing to speak to a being of the Resonance. No promises that I'll get the answers willingly, but I should be able to get them one way or another." Fang really hoped he wouldn't have to force the sprite to help them, he felt bad for treating a being of the resonance in such a manner. But it might become necessary if all else fails. Hopefully it was fond of the kid and would help them.

[vinnmun]

Judah eventually makes his way to the Aurora, parking his bike to the side. He slides off his enlarge helmet that looks similar to that of the Predator from the movies. His own personal dreadlocks fall down over his face, black and dirty. He wore a hoop nose ring in his right nostril and a look that could kill. He slips his perception into the astral and takes a glance around and than heads into this pub. Once there, he looks around to find where he is suppose to be.

Assensing - 6 hits
Assensing + INT + Spec = 10 dice (10d6.hits(5)=6)

Perception - 1 hit
Perception + INT = 8 dice (8d6.hits(5)=1)

Bars & Clubs - 4 hits
Bars & Clubs + INT = 7 dice (7d6.hits(5)=4)

[Sichr]

Aurora bar. Place where existences of all kinds find serenity. There is lot of confusion in the air, just recently emerged cloud of lost memories spreading out to adjacent streets. You notice even some drunks laying down in the alley, sleeping right where they fell down, their aura showing aparent traces of strong intoxication. Alcohol. Nicotine. Laes. Chummers got doped.
That itself would be funny, except for the toxic domain only recently emerged on the spot, spoiling surrounding mana streams in the manner that makes you feel sick. In addition to this, odour of psychotic behaviour and violent masacre completes the scene. You can almost touch traces of fading auras of dead, only recently carried out and loaded to vehicle, that drove them away into oblivion.
Voices sound inside indicating you are expected.

[Sichr]

Btw. common sense tells you that ghouls and shedims may be on their way, as such domain is like lighthouse to them. Drunkards catched outside would be very lucky if they see the next day.

[Ren]

Brian looked with a curious look at Fang for a moment. "So, we can take that you're a being of resonance as well? If that is the case we may be lucky. I don't think i could fully understand a metasapient." He was quiet for a moment, then spoke suddenly as if some idea came to him suddenly. "Say, Fang, can you follow a hacker by the signs he left in a system, as a magician can find someone by her aura? If you look back at the log about the car's blackbox, it seems there was a hacker at work there. The sensor cut-off was timed perfectly, so that the car didn't retain any information about what happened during the attack. It's strange though, that the hacker didn't erase the videofeed from the security cameras of the mall."

[vinnmun]

He felt death surrounding this area, the the traces of Babylon's trash has shown its affects in the astral. He notices the gathering in hopes that these were the people he was going to be associated with. "Death surrounds this area and Babylon has cursed it. What is happening?" His English was decent enough, but he kept some bad habits in his speech.

His helmet in hand, a cigarello roach in his mouth, and a look of worry and annoyance in where he happens to be standing at. He looks grizzeled and darkest shade of green you'll probably ever see. He flicks his head as his dreads flow away from his face.

[MaxKojote]

"May be lucky is the correct phrase. Sprites are sapient, with all the benefits and issues of such. The difficulty is getting around the lack of meatspace knowledge they generally have." He tilted his head to the side in thought as Brian brought up the point of the hacker's behaviour. "It's possible that the camera was inaccessible to the hacker, either due to slaving or range. Or a number of other possibilities. If we get that blackbox though, well I'm not sure how much I can do to be fully honest. Resonance signatures rarely last longer than a couple of hours, and normal hackers don't leave a signature. If they tried a normal hack I might have been able to, but this was a spoof."

He paused, before continuing. "I could try to go to the Resonance itself, but that might take a while, and there is no guarantees if I'll find anything, particularly if it's not a technomancer doing the action. Still, it's worth a try. The problem is that while anyone can do a trace on the matrix, they need an access ID of the target to do so. Think of it like a person disguising their aura to be completely like someone else's."

And if I found a thumbprint lasting as long as that, I'd want to change sides.

"The Resonance always remembers. But I need to know what I'm looking for to get a helpful answer."

As the newcomer entered, the changeling looked up in surprise. He took in the ork's appearance and scent, resisting the urge to wrinkle his nose at the cigarillo. He hoped one of the others would answer the question, as they probably could phrase it in a clearer way than he had before.

[Sichr]

Ah. The mojo slinger finaly decided to honor us with his presence. Come, come and see before we put the bees to work...
William theatricaly invites newcomer to the lounge.
@Judah:Doors at the end of the bar open, and you are free to enter the lounge. William stands outside, lets you enjoy the scene.
Bodies were already taken away. The place itself is gore. Almost everything is covered by blood. Walls, ceiling, remains of the furniture, the floor. In the middle of the room stands some kind of hitech container, clean, as if it was brought to the scene after the mess was done. You almost hessitate to use your astral sight. Well...apparently that is what you are expected to do...

[vinnmun]

Assensing + int + astral sig spec (10d6.hits(5)=5)

Judah flipped on is astral perception as he gave another look though, this time on the inside. He looked through the death in hopes to find a signature lingering to track. He shrugs off the negative as he peers around, entering the lounge.

"So what has happened here thus far?"

[Sichr]

The signature is still here. Fading, but persistent, asi it is imprinted to the toxic taint that was left here. To the level you understand the matter, the spirit was Toxic, Man, powerfull as hell and in Great Form. It was guided here by its Search (well it is not apparent who or what it seeks), and it seems it lures around the group for a while, Conccealed, waiting for the right moment to strike.
Powers that it manifested are those of Materialization, Influence, really twisted version Desire reflection, that seem to affect everone who can see the spirit, showing each one what he wants to see...their lost loved ones in this case...Its Toxic aura seems to polute the place where spirit materializes like environmental dissease, turning the place into toxic domain at the very moment of spirits physical appearance, poisoning everyone around. From what you can see the use of the Desire reflection turned the people inside against each other and made them to kill each other in the most violent manner.Especialy one of them, cyberpsychotic to the level it is almost painfull to watch his traces, losts the controll over himself and went into overkill. There is sole survivor...from what you have seen so far, it is the woman sitting in the bar.
One of spirits oponents was magician. Nutcase, as far as you can say, but powerfull and skilled. His spell turned the spirit on the run, and he set for pursuit, but before he can get too far he got killed by that cyberpsycho. His traces are barely visible now, as he is dead and it fades realy quick. Your guess they will be visible for maybe an hour before disappearing completely, and it may change with magical background of the area the traces goes.

William leaves you to your doing, returning to the table.
@All:It seems that in the end he knows what he is doing. As I have confidence in you, it seems like it would be time for me to leave. I believe you will be able to answer any questions Rastaman has, and that you will be able to continue the way you see fit. Mission budget we were talking about is transfered to Brians account, and I will hold him accountable for the sucess of this mission, for he is one of my tennants and it is his neighborhood the same way as it is mine. When Rastaman is done with his search, tell my men and they will finish the cleaning, and as the nanomachines in that container are designed to decompose every piece of organic tissue they find, I would suggest you to leave the area. They are programmed to stay in that lounge, well...experimental tech...accidents can happen from time to time. Ill send someone to get this place back in order magicaly later, dont waste your time, the clocks ticking and the boy may depend on you...if he is still alive. As soon as Citizen calls back Ill give her your ode, brian, so you can make your own arrangements. Conditions are the same as for everyone othe in the team, dont get fooled by the shine of celebrity. Good hunt.

He waits for your reply, then he takes his hat from the bar, finishes his drink and, accompanied by one of his bodyguards, he leaves the Aurora.

[farothel]

"So that resonance thing is a bit like when a mage goes to the metaplanes," Sylvia said, beginning to understand, "in that case let's keep it as plan B then and let's see what we can find through more conventional means first."

When the mage came in, she did what she had done for all people, assense his ass.  He didn't say much but was quickly brought to the back room.  While he was there she also activated her masking power.  'Let's appear a bit less magicy at the moment,' she thought.

'Who the hell is McLister,' she wondered when the mage had come back and he started talking about nanotech.  At that point her interest was drawn.  She had always been curious, something which had helped her in her previous life.

"Anybody knows a good place in the vicinity where we can continue the conversation," she asked.


assensing the mage:
intuition 4 + assensing 3 =7 (7d6.hits(5)=2)

masking my own aura (appearing mundane):
intuition 4 + magic 6 + initiate 2 =12 (12d6.hits(5)=2)

[vinnmun]

"I need to stay here for while." he lights up his roach as a strong stench of deepweed wafs over him. he takes a seat. "Would someone keep watch over my body for awhile? I need find out more, this toxic spirit has some sort of connection i think i can find. It will take some time though." he takes one long puff and places the roach on the table and than exhaled slowly as he slips into the astral. He floats around in hopes to track it's sig.


Assessing + int + spec Astral tracking 1 hour interval (10d6.hits(5), 9d6.hits(5)=[3, 1, 3, 5, 6, 6, 4, 6, 1, 3], [1, 1, 3, 2, 6, 5, 1, 1, 3])  6 hits in two hours. any result?

 

[Ren]

"Don't worry, Mr. McLister, we will take care of it. When Citizen arrives i will fill him in." Brian watched as the man left, then turned to Angeline. "Yes, it is a good idea, let me think about where we should go."
[spoiler=area knowledge]looking for a place with private rooms and tech defense agains eavesdropping, still open for at least a few hours
INT(4) + Area knowledge: Auburn(5) + mnemonic enhancer(2) + Home ground(4) (15d6.hits(5)=9)[/spoiler]

He then noticed what the mage was about to do, but was late to interrupt him. Not a team player. I can see we will have problems. With an angry expression, he turned to the others. "Do any of you know how we can make our mage pay attention to us, in his current condition? I don't think he would be happy to come back and not finding his body. And he also didn't summon our astral guard."

[Sichr]

Bodyguard that stayed back to finish the cleaning, watches Judah with increasing suspicion. As mage sits and prepares to leave, McLister`s man jumps on his feet, making a few really quick steps towards rastaman...not fast enought:
WHOA WHOA WH....AT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH THAT MAN!
He kicks a bar stood angrily, killing it with one vicious blow... then casts one frustrated look at the rest of the team and returns back to his place, uttering some curses, focusing on his PAN. Apparently, this wasn`t planned shift that went much worse than expected. Strange...how often this happens to people working for Bill.

[Kouryuu]

Mark stopped his midnight drive for a moment, his comlink had recieved a message and he could use gap he had gained from the go-gang to read it.

... a job? Who would know my real name? Is this work of Travis? In the Aurora, intersting ...

Mark was about to call back as the go-gang turned around the corner.

... This will have to wait. Let's lose the tail first. ...

With that thought in mind the blitz speeded of in the distance leaving the go-gang eating its exhaust fumes. After 10 blocks Mark was sure he had lost the gang, he put the SMG he had prepared for an ambush away and rode of in the direction of the Aurora.

The view was incredible, a well dresesed, well build gentelmen venting his anger on furniture, while a what could only be described as a hippy was sitting in a middle of the establishment.

" someone called me? Ussually I would let my agent set up meetings, but i guess you did say its an urgent matter."