Beeper

GM: Shoeshine
Players: Caine, Forgotten, Shoeshine
Synopsis: Someone is playing a prank on a high-powered lawyer with a special beeper. He brings in some 'runners to get to the bottom of it, and to get ready to prank back. (This is based on a real-world even that happened in a friend of mine's law firm.)
Date: July 19, 2074


Shoeshine is the one who puts out the call this time. Specifically to Forgotten and Caine. "I have a friend of a friend who needs a little help. Shouldn't be anything big, but you never know what happens if you turn over a rock. If you need combat help, call me. Otherwise, his name is Boris Mendel, and he'll be waiting for you at 2247 Mockingbird, in the UCAS, seventh floor, 7 pm. He's a nice guy, so don't be mean."

Caine chuckles, "Waiting for us? So he knows what we look like, or we will know what he looks like?" He arrived to the meet with his cane, no chair today.

Forgotten shows up in his traditional manner, smoking the last inch of a cigar and in his trench coat and hat. He gives a shrug to Caine, "If two disreputable types knock on your door after you ask Shoeshine for help, it's a safe bet that's the help."

2247 Mockingbird turns out to be a moderate-rise office building. The front desk secretary has left for the day, but there's an elderly security guard sitting behind the front desk to raise the lock-down gate that sits behind the plastiglas security door (if he was out on rounds, you'd use the callbox outside). When you tell him your destination he was apparently waiting for two people at about this time to go to Mendel's office, which is actually the offices of Larson, Mendel, Franks, and Catherine; attorneys at law. He says, "The elevator will open at every floor, so just wait for it to take you to the seventh."

Forgotten has been in a few lawyer's offices in the past, having worked off and on as a PI. Not as glamorous a life as a jazz starlet, but not everyone's head is so far up their ass they get their nipples pierced for fresh air. He thanks the security guard and gets onto the elevator.

Caine is curious why an elevator stops at every floor, but perhaps it's just a thing. You'd think they could have sensors to know when folks are waiting, like the ones that open doors.

That question may or may not be answered in your knowledge when the thick, faux-wood-like door of the particular lawyer's office is personally opened by Boris Mendel. He looks to be in his sixties, with white hair under his yarmulke (beanie cap); an appropriately wrinkled face for his age, clear and attentive blue eyes, a firm handshake for those who will accept it, and when he turns to bring you into his office you can see the discreet jack behind his ear.
"Pleased to meet you; I was told that you were experts who could be discreet. Please, come into my office… and I'll need you to have a little patience." His office is goodly sized, enough to have an impressive and lawyerly desk with a working-style persocom and jackwire as well as papers and folders, an additional table, two main chairs, a sofa, a bookcase with real actual books as well as chipracks, artwork on the walls, and thick and comfortable carpeting. "Have a seat, and wait with me."

Caine nods, accepting the handshake, and slipping his vision to the astral to assense the fellow and penetrate masking. "Patience is a virtue, one of the few I have." He chuckles faintly at his own small joke, following the man in to take a seat. Assensing everything in the area too, just in case.
«Auto-Judge[]» Caine (#7926) rolls Centering vs TN 2 for "Bgcount":
1 1 3 4 15 = 3 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Caine (#7926) rolls Intelligence vs TN 4 for "assense":
4 4 5 8 10 20 = 6 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Caine (#7926) rolls Aura Reading vs TN 4 for "Comp":
2 4 4 = 2 Successes

Forgotten looks around and is somewhat surprised to not see stacks of files on every available surface. He takes the handshake and gives another firm handshake in return, then sits in one of the chairs and pulls off his hat, setting it aside. Thick wiry black hair slicked back and his thick bushy eyebrows raising.
«Auto-Judge[]» Forgotten (#9607) rolls Intelligence vs TN 5:
3 4 5 17 = 2 Successes

He is not a magician. However, the both of you can determine that age has given him wisdom to go with what is likely to be intelligence given his profession. (Also, the general cleanliness of the office indicates that he uses it to meet with people like yourselves as well as being rigorously disciplined.) All this, plus the shadows of cyberware and bioware you see in his brain indicate that he would be a very difficult person to affect with a spell or to fool with an illusion.
And so, he settles in and sits with you. Five minutes pass. Ten minutes pass. Twenty minutes pass. Yet he remains attentive and alert, exercising that powerful will.

Caine has no trouble with patience, anyone who can make Orichalcum knows what its like to sit for ten hours watching a boiling pot….really, over ten hours. While he is doing that though, his ally spirit is outside watching the building and its lobby. You know, for troops of rushing LS FRT teams or whatever.

«Plot» Shoeshine says, "Your ally spirit can make a perception roll."
«Auto-Judge[]» Caine (#7926) rolls 6 (ally int) for "Spy spy":
1 1 4 4 5 7
«Auto-Judge[]» Shoeshine (#844) rolls Stealth:
1 1 3 4 4 5
«Auto-Judge[]» Shoeshine (#844) rolls Stealth for "kp 1":
1 2 3 3 9 10
«Plot» Shoeshine says, "Your ally spirit does not detect Shoeshine also lurking around outside watching for rushing LS FRT teams or whatever."

Forgotten feels the void of time stretch as we sit there, we had been asked to wait with him and the dwarf waits, relaxed back in the chair. He thinks perhaps it's a little odd, but being a dwarf he's used to both little and odd.

«Plot» Shoeshine says, "Now, perception rolls for the two of you."
«Auto-Judge[]» Caine (#7926) rolls Intelligence for "Perceptive powers activate":
2 4 5 5 5 9
«Auto-Judge[]» Forgotten (#9607) rolls Intelligence:
2 5 5 9

It's at one hour, five minutes that you both hear it. A beep. That's all Less than a second. Sounds like a mechanical tone. A chirp, kind of, one like any number of technological things might make.

«Auto-Judge[]» Shoeshine (#844) rolls 9 for "Mendel's willpower":
4 4 4 4 4 4 5 7 22

Mendel doesn't move, or give any indication of having heard it.

Forgotten makes a slight twitch of an eyebrow but that's about it.

Caine sends a message to his ally, go home, text Shoe, ask him wtf. Tell him we have been here a while, and now something is beeping.

Mendel says, after giving the two of you about a full minute while you both come very close to maintaining stony silences. "What did you hear?" he asks.

Shoeshine texts back, "Find the bomb, idiot; do you need me in there?"

Forgotten hmms, "A faint beep of a technological device."

Caine stands up, "A beep, and apparently…" He looks to Fog, leaning down to whisper "Bomb, we need to find it."

Mendel says, "A bomb? It's been there for almost two weeks!" However, following your advice, he ducks under the desk which might very well be designed to take blasts as some sort of executive protection device.

Forgotten 's eyebrow elevates a fraction further, his stony face revealing not much else. "Oh joy." He looks around, suddenly keenly interested in the layout of the room.
«Auto-Judge[]» Forgotten (#9607) rolls Architecture for "If I were hiding a bomb in this postmodern apartment building where would it be?":
1 2 3
«Auto-Judge[]» Forgotten (#9607) rolls Architecture for "If I were hiding a bomb in this postmodern apartment building where would it be? KP:1":
1 3 8

«Plot» Caine says, "Alright…"
«Plot» Caine says, "Casting F1 Catalog."

Caine frowns. "Be ready to take notes ok. My ally will be taking notes on a computer at home….here we go…"

«Auto-Judge[]» Caine (#7926) rolls Sorcery + Sorcery Pool: 7 + 6 (pf) vs TN 6 for "Casting Catalog on myself to sense the room.":
2 2 2 2 2 3 3 3 3 3 3 4 4 4 5 5 5 5 7 10 = 2 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Caine (#7926) rolls Sorcery + Sorcery Pool: 7 + 6 (pf) - 2 vs TN 6 for "Casting Catalog on myself to sense the room. KP:2":
1 1 1 3 3 3 3 4 4 4 4 4 5 9 10 11 11 22 = 5 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Caine (#7926) rolls Sorcery + Sorcery Pool: 7 + 6 (pf) - 7 vs TN 6 for "Casting Catalog on myself to sense the room. KP:4":
1 1 1 2 2 2 3 4 5 5 5 8 9 = 2 Successes
«Plot» Caine says, "Stand on 9"
«Auto-Judge[]» Caine (#7926) rolls Willpower vs TN 2 for "M drain, need 2":
1 1 2 3 3 4 5 5 5 = 7 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Caine (#7926) rolls Centering vs TN 2 for "Ohh yea, forgot about bgcount earlier":
2 2 3 4 4 = 5 Successes

Caine stands up, looking around the room, then closing his eyes. Mana wraps around his head, opening his awareness beyond the normal scope of human/metahuman abilities. As his eyes open, he looks around the room and begins to talk. Listing items, every single item in the room, one by one. Sometimes it's just files, sometimes it's a more descriptive item if he thinks it's even minorly important. His ally spirit is back at the cave typing down the list on a computer, just in case.

Forgotten looks at Caine for a moment and gives a smirk, "I should learn that to find my socks."

«Plot» Shoeshine says, "Caine begins to write/dictate/record all items in the room. It doesn't say where anything is in the room, but some are obvious. For example, he goes through every book on the bookshelf, the pictures on the walls, the general precis of the contents of each folder of papers, the titles and contents of the individual chips, the more personal files in the desk plus a collection of business cards and contacts, and it takes a long time because there's a lot of individual things in this office. But it's clear that you have hit what you needed to hit when Caine reads off, "One key-fob sized gag gift beeper with randomized time settings and passive remote control, no heterodyning circuit."
Mendel says, "What the hell is that?""

Caine blinks for a moment, then stops. "That's what we are here to find. Now that we know what it looks like, that should help. Let's find it now, it's about." He gestures showing how big it appeared in his mind. "It's not large."

«Plot» Shoeshine says, "Caine makes a gesture indicating that is it a little smaller and thinner than your average automobile car-door opener, a little larger than your average computer chip."

«Auto-Judge[]» Caine (#7926) rolls Intelligence + Karma Pool: 1 for "Perception powers, GO! Searching!":
1 1 1 3 4 5 5
«Auto-Judge[]» Caine (#7926) rolls Intelligence + Karma Pool: 1 for "Perception powers, GO! Searching! KP:6":
1 1 2 2 3 5 7
«Auto-Judge[]» Forgotten (#9607) rolls Intelligence:
2 4 8 17
«Auto-Judge[]» Caine (#7926) rolls Intelligence + Karma Pool: 1 for "Perception powers, GO! Searching! KP:8":
2 3 3 4 5 10 14

Forgotten says "Found it."
«OOC» Forgotten does more with less!

The two experts-at-tossing-a-room go at it. A visual, then touching, lifting, moving, removing all the pictures and checking the frames and backs, unloading the desk, then opening up the sofa without cutting it (yet) and then the bookcase. Forgotten notices that the bookcase is not actually bolted to the wall, it just sits up against it (it's an earthquake hazard but this is Denver) and there is a thin open space behind it. So, after moving all the books off, which you would have had to do anyway, you move the bookcase away from the wall (or Forgotten does, at least) and the little device falls to the floor. Just the size and image Caine described.
It has a black plastic casing, a few small buttons on the front, and a little set of wavy openings in the plastic which no doubt have a little speaker behind them.

Forgotten gives it a looking at then crouches down to pick it up, looking at it before turning to offer it to Caine, "Your key-fob sized gag gift beeper with randomized time settings and passive remote control, no heterodyning circuit, sir."
«Plot» Shoeshine says, "Excellent. Forgotten has now gotten his fingerprints on it."

Caine nods, "Alright. Hang on." He has his ally send a text to Shoe with the information. "I'm contacting our middle man, apparently he knows more."

Mendel looks somewhat mad, but actually somewhat appreciative. "Fiendish! Do you know, sometimes it would beep twice in five minutes, sometimes it would go over an hour without beeping? Sometimes louder, sometimes softer. And I brought in a bug-sweeping team to try and find it! Thanks very much, you two. Now tell me, who the hell put it there?"

Forgotten plonks it down on the desk and hmms, "Know any 6 year olds that have it in for you?"

Mendel says, "Obviously a practical joke, yes. But I need to know who did it, so I can prank them back. This can't stand," he says with the smile of a sixty year old Jewish lawyer.

Caine snorts and picks up the item with a levitate spell. "Let's move this out of here, and then I'll come back and do another catalog…just in case there was something I missed. If you're alright with that sir." He looks to Mendel.

«Plot» Shoeshine says, "You could have finished the previous catalog and gotten the rest. In any case, you can catalog again, this is it."

Mendel allows this but he does say, "Power it down on the details; some of that is privilged information. You haven't gotten too dangerous yet."
«Plot» Shoeshine says, "And it is done."

Caine nods, does his thing with minimal descriptions, and then nods. "Alright, all clear now. The person that put us in contact with you can likely investigate this item better than we can. So I'll see to it he gets it." Using levitate to move it into a pocket so no touchy touchy.

Mendel says, "Well done. Let me know when you've figured out who put it there." He makes sure to give you his contact information, which could be easily found a hundred different ways.

The ally spirit of course sends the message to Shoe, that they have the device, but are asked to find out who planted it, and they will bring it to him.

Forgotten nods and takes down the contact information then gives Caine a look, "We were just lucky this time. Next time it could be a whoopie cushion."

«Plot» Shoeshine says, "You head out, using the curious elevators that open on every floor, waiting for them to slowly trundle down. Eventually you depart and can show up with Shoeshine, and meet."

Forgotten follows Caine out, giving the elf a strange look, "A novelty beeper? Really?"

Caine nods to Fog "I was thinking it was to conceal something, or maybe to get him used to the idea it's a gag. He finds a dozen gags, gets tired, when a bomb really is planted…he thinks it's a gag." When they meet Shoe, Caine levitates the device out of his pocket and lays it down for Shoeshine. "The man wants to know who put it there. He touched it when he found it." A head nod to Forgotten. "Other than that, I used levitate to move it."

Forgotten frowns, "But… a bomb? Who the fuck builds a bomb that beeps? That's like wearing hunter orange to sneak around."

Caine grins, "You wear orange so the other hunters don't shoot you. You make a bomb look like a beeping gag so it could pass cursory inspection. Or maybe it is just a gag after all, who knows. Maybe its a code, the guy has some post hypnotic suggestion that activates when he hears five small beeps in a specific order."

Forgotten shakes his head, "Just makes no sense. If you want to off him you poison his latkas or glue a penny to the middle of the road." He hmms, "Well maybe, but so elaborate when there's easier ways to kill someone."

Shoeshine hms. He thinks a minute, then puts on gloves and gets out his tools. In a moment he has it opened up and is looking at its tiny circuit board, little speaker, capacitor sized low-power receiver, and little watch-battery. "All this crap could be traced, but it says here on the inside that it's made by a company called 'Kotulas'." A quick matrix check indicates that Kotulas, which is a distant subsidiary of Ares Macrotech, makes a bunch of stuff like this.. spy gear too, little hidden cameras, concealed safes. And yes, their own high-tech modern-version whooppee cushions.

Caine nods, "He said he had the place sweeped for bugs, likely this wasn't transmitting or anything. I think there is another purpose to this beyond killing the guy honestly. You saw how he acted when I started using catalog and giving a bit too much detail."

Forgotten shrugs, "Even today there's lawyer/client confidentiality. Knowing what you know could get him disbarred. It's at least one reason to make him nervous. But who'd want him dead? Besides the fact he's a lawyer I mean." He does take notes about Kotulas and the other information Shoeshine gives him, "Does knowing who made it help? If they're cheap little kiosk things they could have been sold anywhere in Denver.

Caine shrugs, "Let's mention it to Mendel, maybe one of his associates is working for them right now?"

Shoeshine says, "Here's the manual online…ah. It says, 'Because a heterodyning circuit retransmits radio signals in order to strengthen them, it can be detected on bug sweeps. This device has no heterodyning circuit, which makes it undetectable. However, to reprogram the values, you should expect to be within ten feet.'" About the rest, Shoeshine shrugs. "They do mail-order, says the 'trix. They also might well be sold in those little 'spy gear' shops."

Caine arches a brow. "So you mean it could be recording, just downloading only when someone gets close to it?"

Shoeshine says, "It's listening right now, for a coded transmission on a particular frequency. If I had the transmitter that goes with it I could reprogram it. It doesn't send or record anything. If I had the receipt for it I could become a preferred customer on the site and download an app for my pocsec to reprogram it."

Caine grins. "Can you setup the device to something that lets us know when the transmitter is near? We take it back, walk throught he office and see where the transmitter is."

Shoeshine thinks about it a minute. "The transmitter would have to be actively transmitting."

Caine nods, "Alright, then can we find a way to watch for just that specific signal? Set it up in their office and let us know when it happens?"

Forgotten hmms, "Does the device have to work with a pocsec or does it have a programming device with it as well?"

Shoeshine says, "It has a little device that comes with it, so that's theoretically out there somewhere. And you can use the app if you lose the first I guess, or don't want to take out the little device in front of someone."

Caine nods, "Ok, so we need to setup a way to find out whoever comes to activate this device and use it. Likely it is only used during meetings since it's not recording. Someone waits till they want to listen, then moves up and activates within range. That seem right?"

Forgotten looks at the device. Does it have any kind of LED or battery indicator?

Caine grins, "Or I walk through each room of the office casting my spell and looking for the transmitter once you show me what it looks like online."

Shoeshine uhs, "No. Assuming I have this right, it doesn't record at all. All it does is have a little randomizer, and a little beeper. It beeps so rarely that it's really hard to find, it's random so you can't predict the time, and it's too quiet for you to easily find it without tearing someplace entirely apart, so you go mad."
Shoeshine says, "It's a gag. A prank."
Shoeshine says, "But yeah, if the transmitter is in those offices, you could find it with your spell."
Shoeshine pretends he knows this.

Caine frowns, "Really, then that isn't useful. So I guess that's it, only way to find the transmitter. Call Mendel and ask him if thats what he wants."
Caine snorts "Tell him for an extra five, I'll laes myself to forget all I learn."

Shoeshine calls and puts Mendel on the line with you. Mendel says, "Each of our offices has a low-power individual ward, and the building itself has a higher power ward. I bet that's why your spell didn't read anything in anyone else's office. Can you do your spell through those wards? Or would you have to go into the offices themselves?"

Forgotten says, "I could modify the toy to help us find the transmitter."

Caine grunts, "No, I'd have to go into the offices for the spell. We are discussing if we can track it with a device, though if the transmitter is deactivated I don't think we can."

Forgotten says, "I think I can add on an LED and signal strength indicator pretty easily. They're common parts I can get at an electronics shop. And just sit in the office or somewhere quiet and wait for the damn thing to light up."

Mendel asks, "Do you have to say the list out loud? Can you cast without being seen? Since you know what you're looking for, can you just skim the list and see if it's there? "

Forgotten says, "I've sat for days under a cardboard box outside of a whore house for a client before, this won't be new."

Shoeshine asides to Forgotten, "The only problem with your plan is that it assumes that the owner of the gag comes in to play with the settings from time to time. If he just sets it and forgets it, we'll never know. We just have to hope that he didn't throw away the controlling transmitter device, really."

Forgotten frowns, "Well if that's the case then there's fuckall we can do about finding him."

Caine replies to Mendel, "No, I dont have to say it out loud. I can type it out instead, I just don't get to remember it after I let go the spell. Honestly, it's one of the things behind the spells design for security. I can cast without being seen, I can be totally invisible and silent for that matter. Depends on how strong your wards are honestly."

Mendel says, "I can get you in during working hours and have you meet the partners. I can bullshit them on any kind of business. I mean, the person who did it to me almost has to be one of the partners, because they'd have access to my office just in terms of walking around."
Mendel says, "I'm asking if you can slip the spell by them while we're talking."

Caine nods. "Did I mention I also work for a legit security firm and could easily be there consulting on your security needs? Or do you have something in mind. Yes, I can slip the spell by them while we are talking. It's harder, but I can do it."

Mendel says, "Let's do that. We'll work up something rational for your security firm to do, and I'll bring you around to meet all the partners on Monday."

Caine nods, "Alright, sounds like a plan."

«Plot» Shoeshine says, "Fast forwards to Monday. You work up some bullshit. You have your legit security firm. It probably has to do with making a quote on magical services. On Monday, the elevators are standard elevators."
«Plot» Shoeshine says, "We'll do this mostly with rolls."

«Auto-Judge[]» Shoeshine (#844) rolls 1 vs TN 5 for "5+ means it will be found in the first office you check: Larson":
9 = 1 Success
«Plot» Caine says, "+2 TN for shamanic mask visible, +1 Bgcount. Will be centering vs that."
«Auto-Judge[]» Caine (#7926) rolls Centering vs TN 2 for "Base TN 9-grade7 =2":
1 1 1 3 7 = 2 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Caine (#7926) rolls Centering - 2 for "/2~KP:9":
4 5 9

Lars Larson is a younger, active, more energetic lawyer with gelled hair, exquisite couture, and a friendlier, more honest smile than you think a stereotype would have. He is conversant with how magical wards work, and is happy to discuss prices, maybe upgrading to warning wards or mirrored wards, and such blather.

«Auto-Judge[]» Caine (#7926) rolls Sorcery + Sorcery Pool: 7 + 6 (pf) vs TN 7 for "Base tn 6, +1 uncentered mods.":
1 1 1 2 2 3 3 3 3 4 4 4 4 5 5 5 5 9 10 11 = 3 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Caine (#7926) rolls Sorcery + Sorcery Pool: 7 + 6 (pf) - 3 vs TN 7 for "Base tn 6, +1 uncentered mods. KP:10":
1 1 2 2 3 3 3 4 4 5 5 5 7 7 7 7 8 = 5 Successes
«Plot» Caine says, "STanding with 8"
«Auto-Judge[]» Caine (#7926) rolls Willpower vs TN 2 for "Need 2":
2 2 3 3 4 4 4 5 9 = 9 Successes
«Plot» Caine says, "Per +info magic notice. 4+12 (magic) - Force 1. Base TN: 15, -2 if the guy is awakend, -2 more if astrally perceiving. I held off my mask."

«Auto-Judge[]» Shoeshine (#844) rolls 6 vs TN 15 for "He's a smart lawyer, just starting out. Mendel is also in the room, doing introductions, occasionally interjecting as a distraction.":
1 2 2 4 5 5 = 0 Successes

«Auto-Judge[]» Caine (#7926) rolls Etiquette for "ACting smooth during the whole process?":
1 4 4 4 7 9

«Plot» Shoeshine says, "He doesn't seem to notice. Skimming quickly through the list in your mind, there it is, clean as day. "One controlling transmitter, used to change frequencies on gag beeper, or set it to autofind (beep continuously so you can find it again if you forgot where it is.)" It is definitely in this room. Lars Larson is the culprit… unless of course there's one in another room."
«Plot» Shoeshine says, "To end the suspense:"
«Auto-Judge[]» Shoeshine (#844) rolls 6 vs TN 15:
1 1 3 3 4 5 = 0 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Shoeshine (#844) rolls 6 vs TN 15:
1 2 4 5 7 8 = 0 Successes
«Plot» Shoeshine says, "You check the two other lawyer's rooms, as well as the common area with the associates and admins. Clean."

Caine does his best to be the security salesman/consultant, and also sends a text to Shoe via his ally with the results to present to Mendel.

«Plot» Shoeshine says, "Since their highest perception was an 8 and your Etiquette was a 9, they seem none the wiser. You get the information on Larson back to Shoeshine and it gets back to Mendel, who no doubt has himself a laugh, and rubs his hands together fiendlishly plotting his prank-style revenge."

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