[Spycraft/S9] A Simple Heist

[Vardeman]

Gheist's foot inadvertently kicks a carelessly discarded pen as he slips out into the hall. Still in the shadows and hopefully hidden from the unblinking eye of the camera down at the end of the hall, he freezes, watching the pen rebound from the far wall and spin to a stop. He holds his breath and counts to 30, listening intently for any reaction from the guard or the dog, and watching the camera for any signs that might indicate when its feed is live. Silently cursing himself for a clumsy fool and whispering to Raven, "I'll take the guard, you take the dog." He then begins moving once more down the hall, keeping out of the pools of light as much as possible and staying against the north wall, his finger on the trigger of his dart gun.

[ooc: The ideal plan will be for Gheist and Raven to get to the open control room door undetected, and for Gheist to shoot the guard (ranged attack +6), bracing (+2) and aiming (+1), with a nerve toxin dart (DC:18, paralysis, 1d4 CON) while Raven takes care of the dog. If detected prior to this, Gheist's first priority is to keep the guard from activating any alarms or his radio.]

V

 

[Codename: GhostFox]

((It's been a few days and I still haven't heard from Raven yet regarding his Spot and Listen threats, I'm going ahead on the premise that he doesn't want to spend any AD.

The first set of skill checks above occured when the agents travelled down the corridor from the sewer and were peeking around the corner.

Here are the second set of Move Silently rolls. These occur as the agents approach the command centre doors.

Gheist's Skill Checks: :
Move Silently: 28=14+7:Ranks+3ex+2EPT_bonus+2:FEAT(Stealthy)

Raven's Skill Checks:
Move Silently: 21=16+2:Ranks+3ex

Here are the guard's and the dogs checks (which include any ranks, ability mods and other misc modifiers):
Guard Dog's Listen checks: 20=14+5:Ranks+1:Wis
Security Guard's Listen checks: 18=17+1
I won't be spending any AD to increase the Guard and Security Officer rolls and the agents' Move Silently Rolls definitely good enough for a surprise attack.

Note that bracing and aiming are half-actions. If Gheist does both then bracing and aiming takes up his whole surprise round. The first opportunity to attack would begin on the 1st regular round of combat. Also note the house rule regarding surprised and flat-footed minions: A successful attack on a surprised and flat-footed minion is an automatic critical hit. The player does not need to use any Action Dice to activate the critical hit.))

The camera gives no indication of whether or not it is transmitting the video feed live to a display. However, their exposure to field ops makes the agents' sure that their approach down the hall is being recorded onto tape.

The security officer and the guard dog are inside the command centre and have no direct way of seeing the agents approach the command centre doors. Neither the guard or dog give
any indication that they have heard the agents footpad down the hall.

The guard is still trying to calm down his pet. "Will you get down from there... I said SIT! What are you trying to sniff up there anyway?"

Raven and Gheist are now just outside the command centre door, weapons ready, locked and loaded when...

 

[Codename: GhostFox]

... Raven hears shuffling and scraping noises coming from the HVAC (Heating, Ventilation & Air Conditioning) system. A narrow strip of vents run along the top of the northern wall. Every 90 feet or so there are larger HVAC grills, perhaps large enough for someone to squeeze through and into the HVAC crawl spaces.

If Raven had to guess, the scraping and shuffling noises are somewhere to north and west of agents' current position.

 

[Vardeman]

Note that bracing and aiming are half-actions. If Gheist does both then bracing and aiming takes up his whole surprise round. The first opportunity to attack would begin on the 1st regular round of combat. Also note the house rule regarding surprised and flat-footed minions: A successful attack on a surprised and flat-footed minion is an automatic critical hit. The player does not need to use any Action Dice to activate the critical hit.

(ooc: ok, knowing that, Gheist will brace and not aim, and will only use enough AD to guarantee a hit on DEF 12, unless he spots that the guard is wearing fairly heavy body armor, then he will use an extra AD.)

Gheist silently half-steps into the doorway, bracing his arm against the door and shooting the guard with his dart gun.

 

[Festy_Dog]

Raven holds his breath as the pen skitters across the floor. Then exhales in relief as it stops short of exposing their position. He continues along to the dog kennel, giving a nod to Gheist as they both reach their objectives. He lines up the dog and silently wishes he didn't have to take the animal out, but business is business, and he pulls the trigger once the animal is in sight in the hope of taking it out quickly with minimum suffering.

"Off to doggie heaven with thee loyal beast," he whispers.

 

[Codename: GhostFox]

((Gheist's Attack Roll vs DEF 10: 11=3+3:BAB+3ex+2:Bracing. Since the guard is surprised and flat-footed, the automatic critical hit reduces the minion to 0 wound points. I'm not going to bother rolling for a FORT save.

Raven's Attack Roll vs DEF 11: 22=14+3:BAB+3ex+2:Circumstance(Laser Sight). BTW, I just checked the mag again. The listed damage for the P-229 is 1d10+1 and not d12. However, other weapons that use .40 S&W ammo usually do 1d8+2 dmg. Not that I have to roll for damage since the auto critical hit also reduces the guard dog to 0 wound points.))

Gheist slides out from his hiding place and searches for his target. The guard is not wearing armor and is simply clothed in the tan long-sleeved shirt, mocha brown pants and shiny ankle-high boots of Champion Security Inc. A duty holster on his hip holds service pistol.

The security officer is sitting on an office chair, pouring a trio of sugar packets into a steaming cup of coffee as the small dart stings the outer side of the guards left thigh. The guard grips his thigh and doesn't even have the time to utter a desperate cry of surprise or help before the nerve drug courses through his veins, causing instant paralysis.

The guard dog is standing on its hind legs, leaning on the wall with its forepaws, sniffing and barking at the HVAC grate above the soda machine on the western wall. Raven delivers on his promise with a quick, well-aimed shot that strikes the poor pup in the back of the head. Rover ascends to dog heaven, leaving behind crimson splatter marks on the soda machine.

There is a strong smell of sweat, dog fur and coffee in the air.

The security command centre is well-lit office, 20 feet wide and 30 feet long. There is a one-way mirror window on the south side of the western wall where the security officers can observe their colleagues do their good-cop/bad-cop routine in the "chat room". There is a similar window on the south section of the eastern wall, where the officers can look out into a small section of the north-south service tunnel. On the north-west end of the room are two doors. To the left and right sides of the security centre doors are tall lockers secured by a lock and electronic keypad. There are office desks cluttered with loose paper, binders and other sundry office items the middle of the room. A soda machine and coffee maker stand by the western wall (in between the window to the "chat" room and the N/W doors). The northern and eastern walls are dominated by a security console crammed with keyboards, switches, buttons and displays showing the status of the security devices, doors and elevators. There are also two sets of telephones on the console and some comm gear. Below the console are drawers, wastebaskets, a few personal computers and something that looks like a mini refrigerator. Above security console are three tiers of video screen arrays that cycle through the video feeds from the cameras that monitor the various areas of the museum.

After the split-second fracas, the only sounds the agents hear are the soft whining of the fans that cool the electronics and a hum of the ventilation and air-conditioning system.

 

[Vardeman]

Gheist signals to Raven, motioning towards the HVAC grate and moving toward it while holstering his dart gun (half action) and drawing his SOCOM (quick draw-free action). Watching and listening carefully he tries to determine whether something or someone is in the ductwork in this room.

V

 

[Festy_Dog]

[ooc: So should I consider the P229 to do 1d8+2 or 1d10+1? Just for keeping the char sheet up to scratch and all. ]

Raven shakes his head, regretting having to neutralize the animal, at least when killing other people he knew they were consiously aware of why they were being killed. He nods soon after in response to Gheist's signal, indicating to where the dog was taking interest.

If ever I needed thermal goggles. Meh, maybe I'll remember next time... I'll probably forget.

Raven points to his P229 then to the vent before shaking his head, instead reaching into his pocket and exposing the decoy necklace for a moment. He does however get an evil grin on his face and indicates towards where the paralysed guard is... and all the surveillance equipment.

He moves over to where the guard is and takes his radio, then if possible wheels his chair out of the way. He indicates to Gheist that he needs to speak, if Gheist comes over he whispers the message quickly while keeping an eye on the vent, careful not let anything slip to the paralysed guard.

"We make a call on the radio requesting special attention to the HVAC system, suspected intruder, then I fck the security and we go plant the decoy. On top of that, I wanna take the most expensive lookin' painting here. Reason for that is a) less chance of competitors realising the decoy is a decoy and b) guards think we're just art thieves, attention goes to the blank space on the wall and not on the box. That sound good?" Raven suggests, and hands Gheist the radio as he starts trying to find a way to shut the securty system down.

 

[Vardeman]

Gheist will check the guard, and secure him to his chair with his own handcuffs and belt and gag him with his tie. He will also retrieve the spent dart and secure it in an empty pocket of his vest.

(ooc: Is the guard conscious but paralyzed, or unconscious and paralyzed?)

In the same whispered tone, Gheist replies, "Sounds good, but we also have to find and either destroy or take the surveillance videos. Also before you screw the system, we could track down the current position of the remaining guards and dogs. As for the theft of another item, you were reading my mind." He grins raffishly.

(ooc: What skill would be used to imitate the guards voice on the radio just long enough to call in the HVAC report? Bluff maybe? Also take into consideration the static from the "system crashing".)

V

 

[Codename: GhostFox]

((Gheist's Listen Check : 17=12+4:Ranks+1:Wis
Raven's Listen check: 11=8+2:Ranks+1:Wis

I'll have to say the P-229 does 1d8+2 damage.

Mimicking another's voice is the province of an innate ability (a feat of somesort), or someone who has been trained in that skill, or some type of gadget. If you do try to mimick the guard's voice, someone whose voice you haven't had a chance to study, but you probably won't do a good jo unless you have one of those 3 advantagesb. Of course, you can try to explain why you sound different. The static from the system crashing "*cough* Sore throat *cough* something stuck in my throat *cough*" And it would be a difficult Bluff check (+10 to the target's Sense Motive Check) to convince someone who knows the guard's voice that nothing is out of place and security hasn't been compromised.))

Focusing his attention on the HVAC ducts, Gheist now hears the shuffling and scraping noises that Raven heard earlier. There is something moving through the crawlspace above and to the west or northwest of the Command Centre.

The young security guard is both unconscious and paralyzed.

There are some displays on the console that indicate that the video feeds are being recorded but no indication of where the tapes are.

Raven and Gheist figure out the location of the two pairs of security officers and guard dogs by checking the video screen array above the security console. A security officer and guard dog are patrolling the Southern Museum Complex and are currently a section that is hosting the museum's current feature exhibit.

The other security officer and guard dog are roaming the Northern complex and are currently in the African Antiquities area, two sections away from the room where the antique box is on display.

The Lionsgate Metropolitan Museum is home to a number of expensive paintings and art objects. But there are three rare and priceless objects that are the pride of the Lionsgate Museum:
* A 10th-century ink-on-silk hanging scroll, a masterpiece from the founding father of the landscape tradition in China. More than 7 feet tall and 3 and a half feet across, the expansive monochrome composition depicts mountains rising above a riverside pavilion from which a scholar observes an approaching gale.
* the Aztec skull mask of Tezcatlipoca: A priceless work of art, a cultural object of such rarity and magnificence that just to stand in front of it sends shivers down your spine.
* And a painting by Picasso, thought long lost until it resurfaced in the late 1980s when it was entrusted to the Museum by an anonymous donor.

EDIT: The hanging scroll and the Aztec are in the South Museum Complex. The Picasso is in the Northern Complex.

The alarms around these pieces will be much harder to defeat, but then again the agents are at the heart of the Museum's security centre.