Freedom City PBP

[hero4hire]

"I say we try to narrow our choices down and I dont think we have the luxury of waiting. I say we hack the traffic cameras surrounding the zoo area and find out if we can figure out which direction the took her. Then we investigate the base in the direction they were going."

 

[Graf]

Curiouser and curiouser. I wonder who they want to trap. And why...

That sounds like a reasonable plan to me Bastion. I'm not sure they're related but it makes as much sense and anything else.

After that I can ask around and see if anyone has heard something about this 'Yellow Sign'.

ooc
[sblock]
Going with Bastion's plan unless the rest of the group is against it.
[/sblock]

 

[hero4hire]

Curiouser and curiouser. I wonder who they want to trap. And why...

That sounds like a reasonable plan to me Bastion. I'm not sure they're related but it makes as much sense and anything else.

After that I can ask around and see if anyone has heard something about this 'Yellow Sign'.

ooc
[sblock]
Going with Bastion's plan unless the rest of the group is against it.
[/sblock]

"No sorry. I am not a wait and see kinda guy. The girl could very well be sacrificed by tonight. You guys wait. I'll see what kinda trail I can pick up and then I am following it. If not I'm going with my gut and picking a place to investigate...and pray I am right! If its a trap..I'm willing to risk it."

 

[Tonguez]

"There were more kids than just Diaz, a lot more and that means lots of missing persons. Why only Emily got reported I don't know, it might have just been her father throwing more money around that made it interesting enough for the papers.

If we go to the bases I say we start with either the residential home, but personally I don't really want to be doing this without some good backup"

 

[Insight]

Outside Freedom Zoo, Feb. 14th, Evening

Mnemonic, Bastion, and the Entrapper, having discussed what to do next, set about trying to find the most likely Yellow Sign base in the area. Time not being necessarily on their side, the heroes took the quickest course of action to try to pin down where the Brotherhood may have taken Emily Diaz and the other captives.

"I say we try to narrow our choices down and I dont think we have the luxury of waiting. I say we hack the traffic cameras surrounding the zoo area and find out if we can figure out which direction the took her. Then we investigate the base in the direction they were going."

On the way in, Mnemonic noticed a small cement building not far from Freedom Zoo, the sign on this small building reading, "FCPD CC - NO TRESPASSING". Of course, this meant Freedom City Police Dept, Closed Curcuit, obviously some sort of remote location whereby someone might access said traffic recordings.

The building, being unguarded and unmanned, it's easy enough for the Entrapper to slip inside, open the door, and allow Mnemonic and Bastion into the building. Once inside, Bastion and Mnemonic work to scan the traffic tapes corresponding to the time when the Yellow Sign likely left the zoo. A trio of unmarked white vans left the zoo around the suspected time, and left going down Claremont Ave. Accessing those recordings, Bastion manages to locate the trio of white vans headed down 123rd Street, turning north. Following along to the next set of recordings, the vans head towards the freeway.

Based on this information, the vans could only have been heading to the airport, since the other suspected locations are not along this path. Assuming the vans belong to the Brotherhood of the Yellow Sign, the heroes may now have a target!

***

POWER SURGE
[sblock=DM_Matt]Power Surge has been investigating some strange cults around Freedom City for some time. The majority of these cults are fairly benign religious organizations, perhaps with a bit of an odd take on life. The government's been watching these extremist groups more closely with recent terror and supervillain events, and Power Surge has been used in a variety of ways to help the government track down and keep surveillance on these groups.

Recently, Power Surge was sent back to Freedom City's waterfront to search for clues regarding a rumored Brotherhood of the Yellow Sign, an organization said to worship serpents and perhaps perform human sacrifice, along with other criminal acts. The government has never been able to get any concrete evidence to act against the Yellow Sign cult. Power Surge's job is to try to score something actionable against this group.

Searching the waterfront, Power Surge found an abandoned underwater base that doesn't appear to have been used for some time. The cult, though it was careful to remove almost all shreds of evidence of their existence from the underwater base, didn't quite get everything. Power Surge found a disk containing data fragments. Once the data was analyzed, Power Surge discovered three other possible bases: one in Hanover (a residential area), one in or around the Freedom Zoo, and one near the airport. Consulting superiors within the government, Power Surge was next sent to the airport, considered a potential high threat vulnerable target.

Power Surge is currently scoping out the Freedom City Airport, looking for a possible Yellow Sign base.[/sblock]

 

[DM_Matt]

Outside Freedom Zoo, Feb. 14th, Evening

Mnemonic, Bastion, and the Entrapper, having discussed what to do next, set about trying to find the most likely Yellow Sign base in the area. Time not being necessarily on their side, the heroes took the quickest course of action to try to pin down where the Brotherhood may have taken Emily Diaz and the other captives.



On the way in, Mnemonic noticed a small cement building not far from Freedom Zoo, the sign on this small building reading, "FCPD CC - NO TRESPASSING". Of course, this meant Freedom City Police Dept, Closed Curcuit, obviously some sort of remote location whereby someone might access said traffic recordings.

The building, being unguarded and unmanned, it's easy enough for the Entrapper to slip inside, open the door, and allow Mnemonic and Bastion into the building. Once inside, Bastion and Mnemonic work to scan the traffic tapes corresponding to the time when the Yellow Sign likely left the zoo. A trio of unmarked white vans left the zoo around the suspected time, and left going down Claremont Ave. Accessing those recordings, Bastion manages to locate the trio of white vans headed down 123rd Street, turning north. Following along to the next set of recordings, the vans head towards the freeway.

Based on this information, the vans could only have been heading to the airport, since the other suspected locations are not along this path. Assuming the vans belong to the Brotherhood of the Yellow Sign, the heroes may now have a target!

***

POWER SURGE
[sblock=DM_Matt]Power Surge has been investigating some strange cults around Freedom City for some time. The majority of these cults are fairly benign religious organizations, perhaps with a bit of an odd take on life. The government's been watching these extremist groups more closely with recent terror and supervillain events, and Power Surge has been used in a variety of ways to help the government track down and keep surveillance on these groups.

Recently, Power Surge was sent back to Freedom City's waterfront to search for clues regarding a rumored Brotherhood of the Yellow Sign, an organization said to worship serpents and perhaps perform human sacrifice, along with other criminal acts. The government has never been able to get any concrete evidence to act against the Yellow Sign cult. Power Surge's job is to try to score something actionable against this group.

Searching the waterfront, Power Surge found an abandoned underwater base that doesn't appear to have been used for some time. The cult, though it was careful to remove almost all shreds of evidence of their existence from the underwater base, didn't quite get everything. Power Surge found a disk containing data fragments. Once the data was analyzed, Power Surge discovered three other possible bases: one in Hanover (a residential area), one in or around the Freedom Zoo, and one near the airport. Consulting superiors within the government, Power Surge was next sent to the airport, considered a potential high threat vulnerable target.

Power Surge is currently scoping out the Freedom City Airport, looking for a possible Yellow Sign base.[/sblock]

OOC:
[sblock] I put Surge in the RG thread, with one FINAL point shuffle, if you dont mind: I turned some general bab into specific bab to buy a bunch of languages (Might not come in handy, it doesnt make sense that he would only speak English), Ult Save(Tough) (I had gotten rid of it for the sake of Century Girl's niche protection, but that's not an issue anymore), and one more attack cofig and a rank of imp crit. I also named the weapons powers with the actual weapon they manifest as/simulate, and switched around the mind control and computer control flaws such that I need a concentration check for computer control and an attack roll for mind control rather than the other way around, since perception mind control is kind of over the top, while technopaths don't ordinarily need attack rolls to interface with machines. I also replaced subtle on the radar in the cyberbrain array (passive radar doesn't really make sense when combined with analytical) with more distance instead[/sblock]

Surge ponders what he's found "Hmmm, the airport. Big place. I guess I wasn't lucky enough for them to leave a full-on map of the airport with a big arrow saying Evil-Snake-Cult-Base-Here. Then again, if they left something THAT details lying around in a cleaned-out abandoned base, that would just mean its a trap. Of course, if they were smart and WERE setting a trap, they would do something like this. Oh well, in my force field I trust."

Surge teleports to an appropriately-unseen area at the airport (since he would have reason to go there every once in a while, presumably he knows where to teleport unseen(and I do mean unseen, as in, invisible)...the only requirement is that there needs to be a power or communications line or jack in the area). He walks out of an electrical closet or whatnot, switching from invisibility to morph, appearing as a random male human.

As he walks around, he pulls down the appropriate data from the Internet or other resources he can somehow access. To start, he gets aerial photos (Google maps if he must, spy satellite if he can, over-time info being best to track unusual activity, all rapidly-processed using the Quickness 8 for cyberbrain programs) and a map of the airport (as detailed schematics as he can get his hands on). He also takes anything he can find about the Yellow Sign.

[sblock]Taking 20 with Quickness 8, Computers and Information Gathering Checks = 35, plus the benefits of the Contacts, Connected (Dip Bonus +15, will roll if necessary, but if I do not need to use it I won't, and if I do and can just take 10 I will), and Benefit: Security Clearance feats). For hacking he also has comprehend codes, and with worldwide (in fact, far enough to access satellites directly) datalink/machine control and communications he can untraceably hack by remotely controlling random terminals somewhere else in the world, or even by directly datalinking to the target if he can locate it (if that actually is untraceable). [/sblock]

Using this information, he tries to determine where the base might be, or at least where it is not. Does he find anything useful with all this?

Staying in heavily-trafficked areas, he uses radar to search the unused portions, or at least areas that he suspects, but from afar. He also accounts for the fact that they might be underground.

 

[Insight]

As he walks around, he pulls down the appropriate data from the Internet or other resources he can somehow access. To start, he gets aerial photos (Google maps if he must, spy satellite if he can, over-time info being best to track unusual activity, all rapidly-processed using the Quickness 8 for cyberbrain programs) and a map of the airport (as detailed schematics as he can get his hands on). He also takes anything he can find about the Yellow Sign.

[sblock]It doesn't take long for you to find relevant information about Freedom City Airport. You even have access to FAA servers, given your security clearance. You can see real-time arrivals, departures, flight vectors, etc. You can get somewhat delayed satellite footage of the area of the airport, but none of the COMSAT satellites are anywhere nearby, so you won't be able to get granular "street-level" information that way. Besides, even if you did try to access COMSAT, you've heard tales of some sort of AI that lives inside COMSAT that doesn't like intruders.

But you are able to get reasonably good intelligence about the airport and the surrounding areas. Nothing is terribly surprising, the normal stuff. There is one hangar that appears to be reinforced with military-grade materials and armor. You can't find any information about the hangar, and whatever electronics are inside are shielded against intrusion. You also see that the Freedom League has a special hangar at the airport. It is currently unoccupied.

Accessing the airport's blueprints (dated Oct. 17, 1962), you see that quite a few improvements have been made since the airport's initial construction. Some of this is most likely due to the Terminus Invasion. You recall that much of Freedom City was destroyed at that time. Some of the improvements that are obvious to the naked eye are registered with the local planning office, some not. You can't find anything unusual in any of the official sources.

You already have quite a bit of anecdotal information about the Brotherhood of the Yellow Sign from your mission dossier. Essentially, culled from a variety of sources, you know that some organization known as the Brotherhood of the Yellow Sign has been in existence since at least Victorian times. No known documents explicitly declare the organization to exist, but it's fairly obvious from rumor and innuendo that such an organization most likely does exist in one form or another.

Most sources describe the Brotherhood as a religious organization. Rumor has it that they worship Dagon, an ancient Babylonian sea god sometimes depicted as a serpent. The majority of the Dagon-related theories come from a series of short stories and novels written in the 1930s.

Only one person has ever been linked to the Brotherhood of the Yellow Sign, Sir Edward Norrington, a British ex-patriate who has lived in Boston and Freedom City since leaving Great Britain in 1987. Norrington, once a promising British astrophysicist, worked for Astro Labs here in Freedom City from 1988 - 2004 as a consultant, but has since retired to parts unknown. Information about Sir Norrington's alleged ties to the Brotherhood surfaced in 2003, hastening his departure from Astro Labs. As soon as Norrington left Astro Labs, all further investigation of his link to the Brotherhood ceased and vanished.[/sblock]

Using this information, he tries to determine where the base might be, or at least where it is not. Does he find anything useful with all this?

Staying in heavily-trafficked areas, he uses radar to search the unused portions, or at least areas that he suspects, but from afar. He also accounts for the fact that they might be underground.

[sblock]Based on what you've found thus far, it seems fairly obvious that if a base exists, it must be hidden, even from within the computer networks you've been able to access. There's nothing large enough to show up on radar (and you have to be careful using the radar that you don't interfere with the air traffic control). All that shows up underground on any of the blueprints are the normal maintenance walkways, water, gas, and electrical pipework, and some fuel storage.[/sblock]

 

[DM_Matt]

[sblock]It doesn't take long for you to find relevant information about Freedom City Airport. You even have access to FAA servers, given your security clearance. You can see real-time arrivals, departures, flight vectors, etc. You can get somewhat delayed satellite footage of the area of the airport, but none of the COMSAT satellites are anywhere nearby, so you won't be able to get granular "street-level" information that way. Besides, even if you did try to access COMSAT, you've heard tales of some sort of AI that lives inside COMSAT that doesn't like intruders.

But you are able to get reasonably good intelligence about the airport and the surrounding areas. Nothing is terribly surprising, the normal stuff. There is one hangar that appears to be reinforced with military-grade materials and armor. You can't find any information about the hangar, and whatever electronics are inside are shielded against intrusion. You also see that the Freedom League has a special hangar at the airport. It is currently unoccupied.

Accessing the airport's blueprints (dated Oct. 17, 1962), you see that quite a few improvements have been made since the airport's initial construction. Some of this is most likely due to the Terminus Invasion. You recall that much of Freedom City was destroyed at that time. Some of the improvements that are obvious to the naked eye are registered with the local planning office, some not. You can't find anything unusual in any of the official sources.

You already have quite a bit of anecdotal information about the Brotherhood of the Yellow Sign from your mission dossier. Essentially, culled from a variety of sources, you know that some organization known as the Brotherhood of the Yellow Sign has been in existence since at least Victorian times. No known documents explicitly declare the organization to exist, but it's fairly obvious from rumor and innuendo that such an organization most likely does exist in one form or another.

Most sources describe the Brotherhood as a religious organization. Rumor has it that they worship Dagon, an ancient Babylonian sea god sometimes depicted as a serpent. The majority of the Dagon-related theories come from a series of short stories and novels written in the 1930s.

Only one person has ever been linked to the Brotherhood of the Yellow Sign, Sir Edward Norrington, a British ex-patriate who has lived in Boston and Freedom City since leaving Great Britain in 1987. Norrington, once a promising British astrophysicist, worked for Astro Labs here in Freedom City from 1988 - 2004 as a consultant, but has since retired to parts unknown. Information about Sir Norrington's alleged ties to the Brotherhood surfaced in 2003, hastening his departure from Astro Labs. As soon as Norrington left Astro Labs, all further investigation of his link to the Brotherhood ceased and vanished.[/sblock]



[sblock]Based on what you've found thus far, it seems fairly obvious that if a base exists, it must be hidden, even from within the computer networks you've been able to access. There's nothing large enough to show up on radar (and you have to be careful using the radar that you don't interfere with the air traffic control). All that shows up underground on any of the blueprints are the normal maintenance walkways, water, gas, and electrical pipework, and some fuel storage.[/sblock]

[sblock]So that unidentified shielded hanger is not military or Freedom League, and shielded against radar penetration and datalink? Looks promising. Are there any antenna's, satellite dishes, or other communications devices on the outside that I can try to hack? How about a radar scan for land lines? Are any signals being emitted that I can tap into? What about external security controls? I also use analytic to determine the nature of the shielding if I can. I look into all that stuff from afar, but I do not approach it to try computer control or animate machines or anything like that. Not without backup. [/sblock]

 

[Tonguez]

"Perfect" Bastion smiles as he is dragged along behind Ras "lucky that we found a police station so close that wasn't affected by the explosion. So its too the airport with us three? Um I can fly but I'm not sure that I can carry the both of you - anyway there's no point waiting around now, and hopefully the airport security can help if we get into too much trouble

Bastion feels the surge of energy around him as he rises off the ground ready to move...

 

[Graf]

Century Girl flew me here... I, uh, usually use a car or the subway to get around.
We should get to the airport as quickly as possible.
I don't suppose you could make some sort of floating forcefield?