[IC] Four Horsemen: Wager

[Doctor Malsyn]

The Cognagion
1 HP | LP 4
Status: Normal
-—o—-

He blinked, the few seconds of pause very tangible and real as he struggled for a moment to get himself back on track. Luckily Gerald seemed to have his back just enough to give him an idea of how to proceed. So Roger finally found the crew manifest, and sure enough the hacked in names of both false crewman were there front and center. Perhaps a little too much so, but perhaps it'd only stick out to people in the know about what was going on.

"Yes, here they are. A lot going on today, it's put me on edge. So many unfamiliar faces aboard today that it makes me worried someone might've slipped in without our noticing. You know how it is." Tucking the Clipboard under his arm, Roger looked as if he was trying to force himself to calm down by relaxing his shoulders and standing just a little less straight. A seasoned man like Leon would recognize what the real problem might've been; Roger had been so busy today he hasn't had a chance to sneak off to somewhere cameras weren't rolling and have himself a smoke.

Half a step to the right, Roger paused, a look of contemplation crossing over his face. "Actually, it's good that I've run into you. I needed to speak with you about something."

A half glanced at the 'workers' beside him before meeting leo's eyes should've been all the signal he needed to know it was a more confidential matter, not something they'd want the blue-collars to know about.

Persuasion: 37

Perception, for the hell of it: 25
Ooo, a twenty, Maybe he's seen something interesting.

[Flynnarrel]

Catastrophe

Kaito knew the others didn't think the cameras were important or useful. And to be fair, it was when the rig was swarming with disparate people - investors and business executives - that the value of being able to track folks would come in handy. Since they already knew where the God Squad were and things could escalate now maybe they wouldn't even get to that point but dangit, he didn't like to let others get the better of him [Complication: 'Challenge Accepted!"].

"Guys, give me the section you're in and what systems the 'Angels' are working on. I'll send a surge or tamper with pressure settings and it'll look like incompetence or sabotage on their part. That'd be useful to you, right?" Kaito asks. "And if they're connected like we're connected they'll call for help from their hacker and pull his or her attention from the camera system."

"Win. Win."

When/if Kaito gets the information he'll set up a minor sabotage of the systems the opposition are pretending to work on. Electrical surges for lights off and/or over pressurization of nearby steam pipes causing bursts and flooding the area with steam. He'll warn his fellow Horsemen so they are expecting it and can capitalize on the chaos.

technology: 1d20+18 37 hacking to make a mess.
And to capitalize on the counter Hacker's distraction: technology - counter: 1d20+18 33

[Sakuro]

Garald Medvedev
HP: 1
CND: Healthy


Garald give the group's hacker the location of the opposition and provides him with a rough idea of what the Sararitan and Ferari Jacket Guy are working on. But the Russian didn't give just the information, he tried to merge the two actions being undertaken into a coordinated plan. Timing would matter.

"That distraction could come in handy for pulling attention off Cognagion and Leon. Wait for my que Kaito."

With the request that Kaito hold on on the distration until he gave the signal, Garald watched for an opportune time. Ideally he'd call the disruption if it looked like the enemy was going to follow after Cognagion/Roger and Leon when Cognagion tried to take Leon some place more private.

[mrdent12]

Kaito keeps working away with his distraction ready to trigger at a moments notice. The other hacker is good. Real good. He very nearly gets the better of Kaito again to break through the fifth firewall to gain control of the cameras, but this time Kaito just manages to pushback momentarily trapping his electronic foe in a subroutine. its not going to last long though, Kaito knows. A best it will buy Kaito a few seconds before the other hacker breaks out.

Some of the workers are starting to look at Kaito a bit oddly as he works. They even stop by to ask him whats he's up to. A few more even come up to him grumbling about the company watching them like dogs and that Kaito shouldn't give in to them.

Each lock out attempt will be success or failure. Whoever gets to 3 successes first gets control of the network. Right now its Other 1 and Kaito 1.

Back at the drill area where Leon is working, Cognagion doesn't see much more than Garald saw previously. The ferrari jacket guy and the angel have a more apprehensive look on their faces as "Roger" speaks. Their eyes dart around looking for possible private areas. With all the activity, finding a private place isn't easy, but they don't seem to know if "Roger" knows of one or not. Cognagion does glimpse a shadow of a figure that based on the angle is standing behind a wall. Its too generic to get a positive read on, but may potentially be another one of the Others.

"Is this urgent? We need to get this fixed and I have to show these two new hires the details. They are pretty good, but the details here can be tricky.", asks Leon. He seems amenable to the idea, but he's not one to step off a job either without a good reason.

As if right on cue, the Ferrari jacket bloke looks at the work. "So was it 80 or 90 volts of power it needed to the rotator engine? Going too high might fry it.", inquires the man causing Leon to look back at the connection.

[Doctor Malsyn]

The Cognagion
1 HP | LP 3
Status: Normal
-—o—-

Mentally the Cognagion tried his hardest to make sure Gerald got a good mental glimpse of where he saw that shadow, in hopes that Kaito's device would help him pierce whatever veil existed here. Roger blinked at Asshole #2's prompt question, doubtlessly trying insert themselves in exactly the wrong place. He frowned at their butting in and off-offhandedly gives the answer that was already present in his mind. Taking Leon by the shoulder he turned his coworker just enough so that he'd face away from their rivals, and spoke in a low private tone that was clearly only meant for that man's ear.

"There are still a few key details we need to work out, regarding the recent work we've done on the pipes." Roger spoke, the lines of his face grim with unpleasant news. Leon and him both should've known about the recent leak, chances are if Roger had something new to say about it, it wouldn't be good news.

Deception: 25 *Breathes deeply.*
Luck Point Reroll: 28+10 Dice, please don't be like this.
Stealth to hide the conversation from ear: 24

[Sakuro]

Garald Medvedev
HP: 1
CND: Healthy


Garald turned is eyes to the figure that Cognagion directed his attention to. Moving to investigate it would take him out of position. But that wasn't as much of a hinderance for someone that could move as fast as he could. It was worth confirming if another threat was in the area.

"I'll look into it. Continue with with the plan to get Leon away from the opposition."

Breaking away, Garald makes his way through the people in the area, using bodies and objects to block line of sight with the Enemy as he moved. Or at least used environmental cover to obscure his identity when he could. As he relocated Garald tried to get a clear line of sight on this Unknown Person that Cognagion had noticed. Ideally while still allowing himself to see what was going on around Leon if he needed to react quickly or to signal Kaito.

Garald will continue to try move to a spot where he can get a better look at the person Cognation thought might be one of the Others.

Incase it is needed, here is a Stealth check for blending in with the crowd as he maneuvers. Stealth: 1D20+13 = [13]+13 = 26

For Kaito's diversion, I am waiting until Ferrari Jacket and The Samaritan move to purse Cognagion and Leon. So the diversion happens to pull their attention away from the withdrawing Cognagion and Leon.

[Flynnarrel]

With still no word on the triggering of the pre-set distraction Kaito does his best to spoof the feeds with prerecordings and trick the hacker in accessing that.

technology - counter: 1d20+18 36

[mrdent12]

Kaito's effort into creating fake feeds at first seems to be working, once the rival hack breaks from the code loop, but the appearance itself is a ruse to trick Kaito into keeping up the spoofing as the Hack finds a back door into the heart of the camera network. The backdoor hadn't been exploited yet, but Kaito knows if he doesn't plug it fast the network will be compromised and with it the surveillance power it provides.

Each lock out attempt will be success or failure. Whoever gets to 3 successes first gets control of the network. Right now its Other 2 and Kaito 1.

"There are still a few key details we need to work out, regarding the recent work we've done on the pipes." Roger spoke, the lines of his face grim with unpleasant news. Leon and him both should've known about the recent leak, chances are if Roger had something new to say about it, it wouldn't be good news.

Leon nodded and looked poised to go with "Roger", that was until the ferrari jacket wearing bloke spoke up once Leon started walking away. "Crap! The engine is going to overheat because of some faulty control circuit and we'll lose the drill!", exclaims the ferrari jacket wearing bloke staring at some circuit measuring equipment. Leon was stuck between fixing the drill issue, which Roger knew would hurt the presentation, or discussing the pipe issues with Roger. He looked back at both with a look of indecisiveness in his face. Roger hinted at a compelling point, but the drill was a concrete right now type situation.

By this time, the good samaritan had moved away following Garald, bu tin a way that made it lok like he was going to work on some pressure measurement tools. Garald noticed the tail easily, but the good samaritan didn't seem like he was trying to be stealthy about it. Regardless, Garald sees the stationary shadow belonging to a worker who was at some panel which by all appearances was in good working order. It was tough to tell if the worker was just their to look busy to impress the VIP's or if he was backup.

The NPC's rolled really well this time around.
I will need a power check for Cognagion's mind control power and a deception or insight check from Garald.

[Doctor Malsyn]

The Cognagion
1 HP | LP 3
Status: Normal
-—o—-

Roger was of course going to look up in actual alarm at the sudden exclamation, there wasn't any reason he wouldn't. Mentally the Cognagion delved further into his host's memories to try and find any situation similar to this one to try and provide an actual solution to the problem Ferrari was lying about. If that wouldn't pan out, then he'd have to resort to the classic tactic of baffling them with bullshit. He needed to get Leon away from these two, and it had to be in a way that wouldn't make these two monkeys realize why that was.

Power Check: 29
Expertise (Oil Rigs): 15 (Figure out an actual solution to the issue)

[Sakuro]

Garald Medvedev
HP: 1
CND: Healthy


Seeing some suspicious movement in his wake Garald used his peripheral vision to keep track of the Samaritan as the other man moved to follow him. Good. We wouldn't be assisting his companion with any overt maneuvers near Leon while he was tailing Garald. Still, he was quick to update the other Horsemen. They were both busy and might miss the development.

"The Samaritan is onto me, which means the rest probably are as well."

Pretending to be a worker who was pretending to be busy Garald set his ears to listening in on the social maneuvering between Cognagion and their opposition while at the same time he observes the figure working at a perfectly ok panel. It reminded him of spinning plates.

"They're using a technical malfunction to try to keep Leon near them? Maybe you can make it seem like they caused it. Either as sabotage or through incompetence. A suggestion, if you feel it would help."

Insight check: Insight: 1D20+10 = [9]+10 = 19

If you think Garald offering Cognagion advice work for an Aid/Team check, here is one: Deception to Aid Cognagion: 1D20+8 = [5]+8 = 13 ... which should be +2 to Cognagion's Deception, if he wants to go with turning things around on Ferrari Jacket Guy.

[Flynnarrel]

Catastrophe
CND: fine-ish
HP:1>0

You want a disaster? I HAVE a disaster on tap and just waiting for the word. Kaito reminds. He was getting better at the sending between Horsemen, no explicative came through the link.

He bent his mind to the Hacker knowing he was losing ground.

technology - counter: 1d20+18 21
technology - counter reroll: 1d20+18 22 goes to 32

[mrdent12]

Cognagions feeling of losing thralls on the rig abates, for now. Based on the wave of losses though, he knows its just a matter of time before he starts to lose thralls again or need to battle for control. It is getting more frequent, he feels. Unlike the last week, where it was a steady back and forth, the local loss feels more like rapid pulses of pushback to his control. Through it al though, he is able to delve into Rogers memories. When it comes to losing a drill, not much trumps that except imminent environmental disaster or something that puts the rigs crew at risk like an explosion of something.

Garald looks at the man and for a moment thinks he sees something off, but based on the other workers keeping busy for a show maybe the bloke is just keeping busy for show as well? its not that the bloke looks out of place even as he's dressed like every other worker with some tools around his waist. The doubt is of course there. The Others also fit in and are only suspicious because they are known enemies.

I'll let Garald and Cognagion act before resolving the hacker vs hacker dual allowing for the distraction to be triggered, if desired, and factored into the current tech check.

[Sakuro]

Garald Medvedev
HP: 1
CND: Healthy


From his new position Garald begins monitoring the actions of the two hostiles and third potential hostile. Kaito was dealing with a fourth. A computer specialist who was trying to take control of the cameras that Kaito himself put up. He began to play through the moves and counter moves that had taken place, and those that yet might, when the young hacker spoke over the their communal link.

"I have not forgotten. Now is not the time. Creating a real problem now will only add weight to their lie and waste the potential for creating an opening on our terms. Be patient. I will signal you when it is time."

There was a brief pause before Garald went on to inform the others of what little he was able to gauge about the person Cognation had directed his attention to previously.

"We may have a third party, or new member of the opposition on site."

The Devil was a third party. The employer of the mercenaries they'd encountered at the Golden Gate Bridge was still unknown. While he observed, and waited for Cognagion to make his next move, Garald went over the possible enemy strategies at play, and ruminated on means of thwarting them.

At this point Garald will use his Precognition to try to gain some insights into the developing strategies of potential opposition on the oil rig. Does it seem like a third party is on scene, such as was the case with the mercenaries on the Golden Gate Bridge? Does it seem like the "Forces of Light" will be content to try to maintain the social duel between Cognagion and Ferrari Jacket Guy? Is there something happening behind the scenes that Garald could intuit/instinctively twig on the enemies game plan?

Here is a Perception check: Precognition Perception: 1D20+10 = [3]+10 = 13 Which doesn't even meet the minimum possible DC.

[mrdent12]

Garalds attempt at divining the enemies plans dosn't go as planned. It's likely they have something in mind. After all, they did hack the crew list and add themselves to it when they could have just as easily tried to get the item off Leon earlier. All Garald sees though is a thick fog.

[mrdent12]

Kaito manages to close the hole in the final firewall just in time, but the other hack is precariously close to breaking through getting full access to the camera system. Given the hackers skill, Kaito knows it won't take too long for them to get all they need. One right move though could fortify the network.

Each lock out attempt will be success or failure. Whoever gets to 3 successes first gets control of the network. Right now its Other 2 and Kaito 2.

Leon listens to Roger say again they need to talk without any compelling reason why. Cognagion just can't come up with a good reason. So, Leon walks back next to the Ferarrir jacket wearing bloke and starts to go over the data with his face clearly alarmed. However the others got the data generated, it is definitely compelling enough to convince a seasoned rig worker. Meanwhile, the good samaritan heads back over as well with both of the Others looking over the data next to Leon.

Cognagion gets a HP for lack of imagination. Further instances of it this scene will not result in a HP.