(10/07) A Dark and Restless Tide - (A D20 Dark*Matter Story Hour)
(Psi)SeveredHead
Adventurer
Update!
HeapThaumaturgist
First Post
Stake-Out!
((Because you asked so nicely ... I hadn't realized it'd been two months since I worked with this last. We're actually coming in on the end of Episode 1. Here's a short-ish update. I'm stuck at the office with no car, so I may end up writing some more!))
Nanoteknowledgies Inc. had a smallish, single-story office in a local industrial park. All of the buildings in the area were low and utilitarian, brick or corrugated steel, with plate glass windows in varying states of cleanliness. All of the buildings had a series of shared parking areas; clear-cut, flat concrete, with manicured lawn in the medians and the occasional skinny, lonely tree. There wasn’t much in the way of area to hide, especially for a white van with five agents inside. Sam had done the best he could, and parked in a group of vehicles as far away from Nanoteknowledgies Inc. as they were able to manage and maintain a clear line of sight to the front. Nathan had cunningly rigged up one of their digital video cameras to point out the windshield, mostly hidden beneath a half-folded newspaper, with a good view of the office’s front (and only) entrance.
All of them sat in various states of discomfort, huddled in the rear of the van out of casual sight. Their cover wouldn’t withstand prolonged scrutiny … but no-one was really expecting them. Right? Nathan and Sam watched a small TV monitor hooked to the DVCam on the dashboard, zooming in and out with a corded remote. They’d been there for the better part of the day, had even been brave enough to leave some time after noon for lunch, and absolutely nothing seemed out of place. Only two people had entered or left the building, barring the lunch exodus, all day; certainly nothing suspicious.
“I really have to pee.” Georgie said.
“And I told you not to get the Big Gulp.” Kyong replied.
“But dude, how often do you see a 7-11 anymore?” Georgie said. She huffed and squirmed around. “I’m starting to agree with Olie: Let’s just come back tonight, break in, grab Bauer’s stuff and be done with it.”
“Shh.” Nathan hissed. He was peering intently at the monitor, zooming in on the Nanoteknowledgies front door. Something was happening.
“Pft.” Georgie sniffed.
Two men in black suits walked up to the nondescript entrance and went inside. Quick. Simple.
Kyong, however, recognized them.
“They are the men who attacked us yesterday.” She said, simply.
“And they just went inside. See? Stake-outs pay out.” Sam said over his shoulder.
“Cool. Now let’s go back to the 7-11 so I can PEE.” Georgie demanded.
“Well, now we need to see when they come out. Or if the whole building turns to sand and blows away on the wind.” Sam said, and held up a quieting finger.
“Riiiight.” Georgie replied.
They had little wait, however, as “Agents” Ferris and Oric exited the building within fifteen minutes. They walked calmly to a nearby black sedan, got in, and drove away.
“Ooo. Even more exciting than their entrance. Now, outta my way!” Georgie said. She flung open the door of the van before anyone could protest and sprinted for a nearby Cable TV office.
“There goes our cover.” Nathan said.
”I think we have enough, though.” Sam said. “We know the ‘Agents’ are still poking around. That means there’s probably something unfinished, and that it’s in that office.”
”They might have already taken it.” Kyong said. “Nanorobots could be carried in any small container, and scientific data could be stored on a zip disk in their pocket. We’d never know. Everything could be gone already.”
”We’ll just have to see. We’ll come back tonight … Nathan can ‘investigate’ inside, see if there’s anything left hinting at what Bauer was working on.”
”Good.” Ollie added. “I was hoping I’d get to use those nightvision goggles again before we had to return them.”
((Because you asked so nicely ... I hadn't realized it'd been two months since I worked with this last. We're actually coming in on the end of Episode 1. Here's a short-ish update. I'm stuck at the office with no car, so I may end up writing some more!))
Nanoteknowledgies Inc. had a smallish, single-story office in a local industrial park. All of the buildings in the area were low and utilitarian, brick or corrugated steel, with plate glass windows in varying states of cleanliness. All of the buildings had a series of shared parking areas; clear-cut, flat concrete, with manicured lawn in the medians and the occasional skinny, lonely tree. There wasn’t much in the way of area to hide, especially for a white van with five agents inside. Sam had done the best he could, and parked in a group of vehicles as far away from Nanoteknowledgies Inc. as they were able to manage and maintain a clear line of sight to the front. Nathan had cunningly rigged up one of their digital video cameras to point out the windshield, mostly hidden beneath a half-folded newspaper, with a good view of the office’s front (and only) entrance.
All of them sat in various states of discomfort, huddled in the rear of the van out of casual sight. Their cover wouldn’t withstand prolonged scrutiny … but no-one was really expecting them. Right? Nathan and Sam watched a small TV monitor hooked to the DVCam on the dashboard, zooming in and out with a corded remote. They’d been there for the better part of the day, had even been brave enough to leave some time after noon for lunch, and absolutely nothing seemed out of place. Only two people had entered or left the building, barring the lunch exodus, all day; certainly nothing suspicious.
“I really have to pee.” Georgie said.
“And I told you not to get the Big Gulp.” Kyong replied.
“But dude, how often do you see a 7-11 anymore?” Georgie said. She huffed and squirmed around. “I’m starting to agree with Olie: Let’s just come back tonight, break in, grab Bauer’s stuff and be done with it.”
“Shh.” Nathan hissed. He was peering intently at the monitor, zooming in on the Nanoteknowledgies front door. Something was happening.
“Pft.” Georgie sniffed.
Two men in black suits walked up to the nondescript entrance and went inside. Quick. Simple.
Kyong, however, recognized them.
“They are the men who attacked us yesterday.” She said, simply.
“And they just went inside. See? Stake-outs pay out.” Sam said over his shoulder.
“Cool. Now let’s go back to the 7-11 so I can PEE.” Georgie demanded.
“Well, now we need to see when they come out. Or if the whole building turns to sand and blows away on the wind.” Sam said, and held up a quieting finger.
“Riiiight.” Georgie replied.
They had little wait, however, as “Agents” Ferris and Oric exited the building within fifteen minutes. They walked calmly to a nearby black sedan, got in, and drove away.
“Ooo. Even more exciting than their entrance. Now, outta my way!” Georgie said. She flung open the door of the van before anyone could protest and sprinted for a nearby Cable TV office.
“There goes our cover.” Nathan said.
”I think we have enough, though.” Sam said. “We know the ‘Agents’ are still poking around. That means there’s probably something unfinished, and that it’s in that office.”
”They might have already taken it.” Kyong said. “Nanorobots could be carried in any small container, and scientific data could be stored on a zip disk in their pocket. We’d never know. Everything could be gone already.”
”We’ll just have to see. We’ll come back tonight … Nathan can ‘investigate’ inside, see if there’s anything left hinting at what Bauer was working on.”
”Good.” Ollie added. “I was hoping I’d get to use those nightvision goggles again before we had to return them.”
Christopher Lambert
First Post
I'd love to see your stats for the
!
etoile! And if those MiB are the Dark*Matter variety, I'd like to see them too
HeapThaumaturgist
First Post
I'll have to find my stats.
Hopefully I'll find some time again to update in a few days (19th or so) after the seminar papers are in. I'd like to get this episode rounded out so I can start in on one of the next ones.
--fje
Hopefully I'll find some time again to update in a few days (19th or so) after the seminar papers are in. I'd like to get this episode rounded out so I can start in on one of the next ones.
--fje
HeapThaumaturgist
First Post
That Evening ...
Nathan scratched his head and eyed the window again. He hadn’t really gotten a chance to pack all of his gear before he’d been sent out, and he didn’t have the proper electronics to crack the sophisticated security system Nanotecknowledgies had installed. In a word, he was stuck. He turned back toward the van across the parking lot and mugged an exaggerated shrug.
(( In-game, the actual problem was that Nathan’s player, having created an “investigative journalist”/B&E specialist had totally forgotten to put any ranks in Disable Device. This was just a run-of-the-mill skill check I’d added for flavor, but I didn’t realize he’d overlooked it … so we had to drop back and punt. Olie’s player made a good argument and burned an AP, so …))
Olie said something unintelligible and slipped out of the van. Sam threw up his hands and whomped his head lightly on the steering wheel.
“Like the freakin’ Keystone Kops …” he growled.
“The who?” Georgie asked from the back. She tap-tapped at her computer, lost in its violet-tinged white glow.
“Oh God, nevermind.” Sam sighed.
Olie scurried across the parking lot with surprising speed and stealth, long coat fluttering around his feet. He slid up to Nathan.
“And? What’s the hold up?”
“Look at the sill, along the sides here … if I’m not mistaken that’s a Hudson/ADEMCO Vista. It’d take me maybe five, six minutes with all of my gear … but they whisked me out before I thought to grab anything and, well … “ Nathan said. He shrugged again.
“Yea. Hrm.” Olie rubbed at his chin for a moment, then started reaching into pockets.
He pulled out a piece of gum, which he unwrapped and popped in his mouth before putting the foil wrapper on the windowsill. Alongside it he set two toothpicks, a bent paperclip, a pop-can tab, some thin copper wire, some beer-nuts, and a fingernail clipper. He ended up eating the beer nuts. The rest of it went up on the window.
“This should about do it …” Ollie whispered to himself and levered the window upward. He and Nathan waited, looked around. Nothing happened.
Quietly they hefted themselves inside. They had entered through a break room along the side of the building, and they slipped through the doorway into the darkened office space. After a quick walk around they spotted an office door with “Bauer” on the door. Nathan knelt by the doorknob and pulled a couple of slender metal instruments out of his pocket. With a quick moment’s work he picked the lock and opened the door.
“That’s more like it.” He muttered under his breath.
They spend a few moments going through the papers in the office, checking the drawers. For a research scientist’s office, it seemed surprisingly neat. So neat, in fact, that eventually Nathan realized:
“He doesn’t do any of his work here.”
“Probably right. I imagine there has to be a research station around here somewhere.” Ollie said.
Just then, they heard a noise and light sliced into the room through the slats of the drawn shade.
Nathan scratched his head and eyed the window again. He hadn’t really gotten a chance to pack all of his gear before he’d been sent out, and he didn’t have the proper electronics to crack the sophisticated security system Nanotecknowledgies had installed. In a word, he was stuck. He turned back toward the van across the parking lot and mugged an exaggerated shrug.
(( In-game, the actual problem was that Nathan’s player, having created an “investigative journalist”/B&E specialist had totally forgotten to put any ranks in Disable Device. This was just a run-of-the-mill skill check I’d added for flavor, but I didn’t realize he’d overlooked it … so we had to drop back and punt. Olie’s player made a good argument and burned an AP, so …))
Olie said something unintelligible and slipped out of the van. Sam threw up his hands and whomped his head lightly on the steering wheel.
“Like the freakin’ Keystone Kops …” he growled.
“The who?” Georgie asked from the back. She tap-tapped at her computer, lost in its violet-tinged white glow.
“Oh God, nevermind.” Sam sighed.
Olie scurried across the parking lot with surprising speed and stealth, long coat fluttering around his feet. He slid up to Nathan.
“And? What’s the hold up?”
“Look at the sill, along the sides here … if I’m not mistaken that’s a Hudson/ADEMCO Vista. It’d take me maybe five, six minutes with all of my gear … but they whisked me out before I thought to grab anything and, well … “ Nathan said. He shrugged again.
“Yea. Hrm.” Olie rubbed at his chin for a moment, then started reaching into pockets.
He pulled out a piece of gum, which he unwrapped and popped in his mouth before putting the foil wrapper on the windowsill. Alongside it he set two toothpicks, a bent paperclip, a pop-can tab, some thin copper wire, some beer-nuts, and a fingernail clipper. He ended up eating the beer nuts. The rest of it went up on the window.
“This should about do it …” Ollie whispered to himself and levered the window upward. He and Nathan waited, looked around. Nothing happened.
Quietly they hefted themselves inside. They had entered through a break room along the side of the building, and they slipped through the doorway into the darkened office space. After a quick walk around they spotted an office door with “Bauer” on the door. Nathan knelt by the doorknob and pulled a couple of slender metal instruments out of his pocket. With a quick moment’s work he picked the lock and opened the door.
“That’s more like it.” He muttered under his breath.
They spend a few moments going through the papers in the office, checking the drawers. For a research scientist’s office, it seemed surprisingly neat. So neat, in fact, that eventually Nathan realized:
“He doesn’t do any of his work here.”
“Probably right. I imagine there has to be a research station around here somewhere.” Ollie said.
Just then, they heard a noise and light sliced into the room through the slats of the drawn shade.
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