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  1. - Top - End - #1141
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    OldWizardGuy

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    Declan stiffened up - though he tried not to make it show - when Sean asked Agent Ash to step outside, and followed them both with his eyes when they did. And, then, he was left alone in a room full of the pople he riled up just a moment before.

    ...awkward.

    "Well. You might not have liked the stunt I pulled, but thanks to that I'm pretty sure none of you did it. Not knowingly, at least...which brings my next question. And I'm pretty sure you're all intending to answer me with a no, but please, try to actually think about it. Each minute spent stonewalling is a minute the real culprit has to cover their tracks."

    "So. Did you notice anything strange with yourselves lately? New habits? Memory blanks?"
    To the optimist, the glass is half-full.
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    To the engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.

    Might suffer occasional hiccups in posting rate. Apologies for the inconvenience.

  2. - Top - End - #1142
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    Sean

    Spoiler: Perception (Scent) DC 36
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    Just before the door has completely closed, as Declan says he's pretty sure none of them did it, you just manage to catch beneath the basically omnipresent rage a subtle but clear note of relief from Engineer Jennings.


    Another IIN agent did come with the reports Ash was waiting on. Unfortunately there wasn't too much useful in them; checking cameras and such around the time the stolen suit's GPS was lost, they were able to confidently exclude Engineer Dunn - she was on camera reliably enough that she couldn't have taken it. All of the others were off-camera often enough in that time frame that they couldn't be entirely excluded.

    They also hadn't found any evidence of tampering to the RFID logging system. They couldn't say for sure it hadn't been spoofed, but their tests were inconclusive.

    Agent Ash received the reports with his typical poker face, but to Sean's nose, his biochemistry was sighing. Exasperatedly.

    "I agree that seems odd. I'm not...certain I agree that the best method to investigate the matter further is to give him access to the investigation. Is there a particular reason you want to let our suspects try to collect evidence for us? This is the second time you've suggested it, and if I'm honest, I can't quite fathom your reasoning."

    Declan and Sebastian

    "Don't answer that," Patty said. "Mister Reynolds...I believe you are being sincere when you say you don't think my clients are responsible. But your sincerity does not guarantee safety for my clients.
    I have seen law enforcement use the possibility of mind control to get suspects more relaxed and willing to answer questions before, only to use that information against them for prosecution rather than using it to actually investigate the possibility of control. If you truly believe they were under influence, and are not just using that as a ploy to get them to lower their guards, what you should be doing is investigating the possibility of the influencer. Operative Levitt gave you an excellent starting point to do just that."


    ...Since Sinna isn't really listening to the attorney though, he replies (after a few moments to think about it), "None that I'm aware of. I can't say I have a perfect memory of every second of every day, but I don't have the sense that I'm missing anything, and I don't recall making any decisions that in retrospect strike me as out of character. We've only been seeing each other intermittently during leave, but when I did see other members of the squad nothing they did struck me as suspicious."
    A role playing game is three things. It is an interactive story, a game of chance, and a process in critical thinking.

    If brevity is the soul of wit, I'm witty like a vampire!

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  3. - Top - End - #1143
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    Default Re: Heroes of Millaine IC 2 - Coming Soon to a Theater Near You!

    Sebastian's eyes went between Sinna and Patty. He didn't want to give any quarter to Declan if the squad wouldn't like it...but it would look strange to appease Patty after he had been acting in defiance to her.

    "I, uh...don't remember anything of the sort," he feigned, injecting more distrust into his voice than he actually felt.

  4. - Top - End - #1144
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    Declan was expecting a string of "nope, nothing", not his question being completely blocked by Patty. Though perhaps in hindsight he should have, after all that's what lawyers do.

    He offered a nod of acknoledgment to the only two who replied, and then glared at her, not bothering to show his irritation at all. "Do I look like law enforcement? Do you think the IIN is so incapable that they called me to do their job?"

    "I'm here to catch the mo********er who masterminded the death of hundreds of people, not to hand out disciplinary sanctions for not double checking the suits or having a loose tongue or Arch knows what. What they tell me won't be used against them, and so on and so forth. But I need a concrete lead, and the only one you're helping is the mo********er."


    Spoiler: OOC
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    Spending another success. Intimidation to get Patty to stand down (1d20+22)[28].
    To the optimist, the glass is half-full.
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    To the engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.

    Might suffer occasional hiccups in posting rate. Apologies for the inconvenience.

  5. - Top - End - #1145
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    "Because my powers are pretty well-known, particularly among the Defiant, and there are people who can control their emotions enough that I can't always detect what they're truly feeling. Especially if they're sitting in a group, letting other people do the talking, and not having to focus on anything but maintaining their emotional state."

    He paused for a moment, half turning back towards the room. He closed his eyes - and his tongue flickered out of his mouth briefly, tasting the air like a snake. Then he turned back to Ash. "Case in point - Jennings has been nothing more than an overpowering scent of fury this whole time, right up until the moment I left the room, when he suddenly smelt relieved. Now, maybe he's just feeling relieved that people aren't trying to antagonise him any more, or maybe he was just worried that he might be picked on as a likely suspect...or maybe he knows he was responsible, willing or otherwise. In the half a second I got to smell his true emotions, I couldn't say."

    "Honestly, if you have an idea on how to get them doing something and focused on it - and preferably alone - instead of maintaining their emotional state, that their lawyer would agree to let them do, then I'm all ears. But this seems like the most plausible option to me - and as a bonus, the ones that aren't guilty know more about these systems than your guys, so maybe they'll be able to find something you haven't."

    "And...no offence, Agent, but if General McAllister thought that the normal methods of investigation would get a result in a timely manner, she wouldn't have asked us to help 'by whatever means we see fit.'"
    "Follow the moonwalking Nosepass!"
    "Can you put the lich in a box?"

  6. - Top - End - #1146
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    Sebastian and Declan

    Although Patty did wince some at Declan's retort, she didn't back down. When she replied, it was with cool poise. "No, Mr. Reynolds. I am protecting my clients. You are not law enforcement, you are not internal affairs, but you are working with them. If one of them said something that gave you reason to believe they might be even indirectly involved, would you hide it from Agent Ash so that he did not pursue a punishment? Would you lie to him if he asked you if they had said anything? If they said something that got Ash to focus on one of them as a suspect, do you honestly think you would be in a position to discourage him from pursuing what he perceived as a lead?"

    "I understand that you find my advice obstructive, but what I don't think you do understand is just how easy it is for law enforcement to draw the wrong conclusions and fixate on an innocent in their pursuit of justice. The perpetrator goes free if an innocent is convicted in their stead too, and frankly, better that a thousand criminals go free than even a single innocent be convicted of a crime they didn't commit. So yes, Mr. Reynolds, if my advice has a ninety-nine percent chance of impeding your efforts to find the killer against a one percent chance of keeping one of my clients from being punished for something they didn't do, I will call that a bargain and take it every time."
    Her voice grew more passionate as she spoke, and the intuitive might get a sense that Declan was not the only person in the room her words were meant for.

    Returning to a more businesslike tone, she said, "Now then. The fact is that anything they say in here can indeed be used against them, whether you personally intend to or not. However, you seem to understand that my clients have not done this, or at least not willingly, so perhaps we can work together to the benefit of all. If you can secure an immunity agreement for my clients, then I would of course have no objection to them answering whatever questions you wish, and I'm sure that they would be eager to help you find the individual who violated their security and used their technology in such a horrific attack."

    Several of the members of the squad gave you hopeful looks at that, a couple of them even giving little unconscious nods of encouraging agreement. And indeed, there was eagerness gleaming in more than one set of eyes.

    Sean

    Ash didn't dismiss your argument out of hand like he had before, so that was something. You did catch a scent of resignation and bemusement at your final point. He considered your words for several moments. "I concur that your power offers us the fastest potential resolution to the case. And while it would not be sufficient evidence to convict before a civilian court, it would be fine for internal affairs work and...might be enough for a Court Martial hearing. That being said, while speed is important, it isn't everything. Security will of course be tighter following this breach, and the actual killer is dead, so the likelihood of a similar crime happening in short time is low. My concern is that we don't know which of the squad are involved or how - bear in mind that if we do give credence to the theory that they might have been psychically compelled, we then also have to consider the possibility that more than one of them was compromised. If you are wrong and we allow the guilty party access to the evidence, clues that we might find eventually could instead be lost permanently. I'm also not entirely convinced that if any given member of this squad were to find evidence pointing to one of their teammates, they might take it on themselves to protect them."

    "Perhaps your power is sufficient to overcome the risk to a mundane investigation. Perhaps not. How do you propose we guard against that risk? I am willing to consider your strategy, but only if we have precautions in place to ensure we don't get burned if it doesn't work out."

    "Also, did the relief come when we left, or when Mr. Reynolds expressed that he didn't think they did it?
    Or can you tell? Although Reynolds was the one who originally antagonized them, so if anything why would he feel relieved that the cooler heads had left the room...?"
    The wheels in Ash's head were turning. You could smell the suspicion wafting off of him, as well as the scent of almost predatory intent. You could tell that your words had just shot Jennings up to the top of Ash's suspect list, anyway.
    A role playing game is three things. It is an interactive story, a game of chance, and a process in critical thinking.

    If brevity is the soul of wit, I'm witty like a vampire!

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  7. - Top - End - #1147
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    OldWizardGuy

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    Declan weathered Patty's rebuke impassively, but then...sort of deflated, and grabbed a chair to slump onto. "You're right, I wouldn't hide it. Protocols and regulations are there for a reason, and if someone not following them made it so that they could be exploited, then," he said, pausing to look at the whole squad to better drive the point home, "they ought to be held responsible for that breach of protocol, because they allowed this to happen."

    "And no, I can't and won't ask for immunity for that,"
    he continued, refocusing on Patty, "but I'm sure being forthcoming would help their case. And for whatever they might have done under the influence of some power, the controller is the one who's going to be held responsible. You should know that."

    "So. Is there anything I can ask? Because if that's what I'm going to get at every question, I might as well let Agent Ash himself take over. I must say, it's disappointing to see that only two people here seem to have a totally clean conscience."


    Spoiler: OOC
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    I might not be able to sway Patty, but maybe I can convince someone to stop heeding her advice. Spending a success, Intimidation (1d20+22)[39].
    To the optimist, the glass is half-full.
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    To the engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.

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  8. - Top - End - #1148
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    "I'm not suggesting we just let them have uncontrolled access to everything. I admit that tech isn't really my thing, but even if your people aren't sure exactly what has - or hasn't - happened to the gear, if they were watching the pilots and engineers as we got them to do this, would it really be possible for someone to erase the evidence right under their noses?"

    "As for Jennings..."
    Sean sighed. "Best I can tell, it was when I - or, well, the two of us - left the room. Not from what Declan said. And I think it was more personal, too. Like, if it had been that he was glad Declan said that we thought none of them had done it, he'd have been relieved for the whole squad, not just himself."

    "I'm not certain his relief was related to this yet. Not directly, anyway. For one thing, if it was him responsible, then why would he have been the one to return - or, well, apparently return - the suit that was stolen? Surely that would naturally make him the most suspect of the group."
    Sean paused for a moment, considering. "These evaluations happen every six months, right? Can we get access to Jennings' last one - specifically the medical and psychological parts?" Sean was no lawyer, and he had no idea how patient privilege interacted with military-mandated tests, but it was worth a try.
    "Follow the moonwalking Nosepass!"
    "Can you put the lich in a box?"

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    "Yeah, come on." Sebastian sat up straighter to face his team.

    "This room is tense. Obviously. But what reason have we got to be quiet? Him?" He pointed at Declan with reverence.

    "That man is an Ilessian hero. This is one defender of the country talking to fellow defenders. But she," now he looked at Patty without pointing,

    "Wants to talk a lot about false accusations, the letter of the constitution, freedom to silence, and the reliability of the courtroom. That's not soldier business. Ms. Abel, you're a talented professional, but I think your desire to keep your clients safe has led them to believe that their safety is in more peril than it actually is. And now we're sitting around afraid to engage with this ex-military, Hero of Millaine. Forget about Declan saving the planet, or whatever - to me he's just a man that's consistently displayed a strong foundation of character. I know any one of you would risk death to protect the country, and getting killed on the field is a lot more likely than getting caught up in some disaster of misplaced justice. So, why be hesitant?"

    Spoiler
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    Persuasion to Aid Declan (1d20+12)[21].

  10. - Top - End - #1150
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    Declan and Sebastian

    Patty frowned as Declan, and then Sebastian, pressed for the squad to answer more openly. "And this is why I am telling them not to answer your questions," she responded to Declan with steel in her voice. "Remaining silent is not a sign of a guilty conscience - it is nothing more than a sign that one understands their legal rights. I would love to be able to say that law enforcement is always perfectly trustworthy and exerts the full effort necessary to ensure they never convict the wrong person in every circumstance. But it is not true. Refusing to answer your questions is not a sign of guilt or mistrust. We have offered to assist your investigation in exchange for immunity. You yourself, Engineer Steele, offered to use your expertise to seek out evidence for them, even after being more forthcoming than I advised, and were rebuffed." She looked at Declan firmly. "Are my clients witnesses, or are they suspects? If the former, I am happy to let them assist you with your investigation. If the latter, I will continue advising them not to do so. You do not get to treat them as both."

    ...Or, well, that was Patty's view, anyway. But Joubert gave an exasperated huff and said, "This is wasting everybody's time. No, I haven't noticed any blank spots in my memory, or anybody else acting oddly. Next question."

    Emmett smirked a little bit. "Classic Vonda," she said under he breath, before giving Declan a cheery smile and saying more clearly, "Ahem. Nothing here either."

    Holzer considered for a moment, and chimed in, "I haven't either, although I would be remiss if I didn't note that a skilled enough mental manipulator would not necessarily leave discernable blank spots. Human memory is sufficiently malleable that it's actually not all that hard to cover up lapses. That said," she took her cell phone from her pocket, entered the passcode to unlock it, and slid it over the table toward Declan. "The GPS information in there would probably indicate if I've been anywhere unusual. If the agents find any questionable locations, and I'm unable to account for when or why I was there, that would be a better indication of if my mind has been tampered with."

    "Oh that's pretty slick. ...Uh, I don't really want people rummaging around in my phone though."

    "They should be able to access the GPS logs from the signal company if you give them written consent. This way's just faster."

    Joubert took her phone out, unlocked it, and slid it towards Declan with an almost challenging stare, as if daring him to find something incriminating on it.

    Drechsler considered for a moment, and then looked apologetically to Patty. "When you're right you're right, and Sebastian's right. We've taken bigger risks than this, and for matters that were less important to the safety of Ilessia to boot." Then he looked at Declan and said, "I can't say I perfectly recall everything that's happened over the past few days, but no, I don't feel like I'm missing any memory or anything, or that I recall taking any action inconsistent with what I feel I would normally do." He eyed the phones on the table skeptically for a moment. "That being said, I also can't say I'm particularly inclined to invite that level of violation of my privacy, when I'm fairly confident it won't actually turn up anything relevant to the investigation. If the IIN can get a warrant for the logs fine."

    Levitt glanced to his teammates, but didn't seem particularly pressured when he said in a somewhat-teasing tone, "Well, I do believe I will continue availing myself of the advice of the seasoned legal professional, if it's all the same to you guys."

    "Yeah that's why you're the smart one," Emmett joked.

    The engineers stayed conspicuously silent.

    Sean

    "It's possible, yes. I'm not much for the tech side myself, but my understanding is that powered armor has at least some neural interface functionality. If they hook into that, everything they do won't necessarily come up on screen. And I'm pretty sure when the techs are doing deep diagnostic stuff it gets more into direct coding than going through a nice user interface. I can't be sure my techs would recognize a command that threatens evidence that they aren't yet aware of. Our guys are good, but anyone who could hack into military security systems is very good. And as you've said, they'll know the systems better than we will."

    Ash nodded at your explanation, though he did note, "If he's the traitor, than he'd be relieved for himself rather than the squad upon hearing Declan say he didn't think any of them did it. But yeah, it would draw suspicion for him to 'return' the suspect suit."

    "I'll need to file a formal request, but yeah, I should be able to get access to it,"
    he said. Military-mandated reports were certainly going to be protected by the military, but they didn't carry quite the same sort of confidentiality that civilian medical and psychiatric information did.
    A role playing game is three things. It is an interactive story, a game of chance, and a process in critical thinking.

    If brevity is the soul of wit, I'm witty like a vampire!

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  11. - Top - End - #1151
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    OldWizardGuy

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    A shadow of guilt and regret passed over Declan's face when Sebastian assessed him as having a strong foundation of character, but it was gone as quickly as it came. In its place, some relief surfaced as between him the Engineer Steele they managed to get someone to at least answer.

    "We'll have to agree to disagree on that, Miss Abel. Someone with a clear conscience would not have anything to fear, as there would be nothing incriminating to find."

    ...but this is a start. Thank you."
    he then said to those who answered. Then, he returned the phone - and the stare - to Vonda, with an "I appreciate it. But it's pointless for me to look, I couldn't make anything out of it." and instead told an IIN agent (or called Sean, if there were no other agents left in the room) to tell Ash to ask for a warrant for the squad's personal phones GPS log, before returning to the questioning.

    "I know some portions of the test had the suits' GPS go dark. Anything you can tell me about those times?"
    To the optimist, the glass is half-full.
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    To the engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.

    Might suffer occasional hiccups in posting rate. Apologies for the inconvenience.

  12. - Top - End - #1152
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    "I see," Sean nodded, when Ash explained the tech side of things. "But couldn't you...save a copy of the current code somewhere before letting anyone look at it? And then if they don't change anything, then that's fine, but if they do change something, you'd be able to pinpoint what was changed - or just undo whatever changes they made."

    He was quiet for a moment or two once Ash had told him that getting access to Jennings' last evaluation would be doable. "I'm wondering if Jennings wasn't glad to be rid of me because of something that isn't directly related to the case - or maybe not even related at all. The draft from the door closing moved the scents around in the air - that's probably partly why I caught his relief - and I caught another smell as we left. I couldn't figure it out at first, and it's been bugging me, but I think Jennings has been drinking heavily. Not alcohol, exactly - it probably wouldn't work on him - but something that has the same kind of effect even on someone with his level of enhanced physiology. And assuming that he wouldn't have gotten drunk around the evaluation, the fact that the scents are still on his breath means that he must have drunk a lot. Like, enough that he'd have been completely smashed."

    "I'm thinking that it's possible he just didn't want me to notice that smell. So once the evaluation starts back up and he has the psychological evaluation you and General Travers mentioned outside, comparing that to his previous one would be a pretty good indication of whether this is an ongoing thing for him or whether this is something that's only just happened."

    "Although, on the topic of scents and smells..."
    Sean kinda perked up a bit. "You said my powers would possibly be enough for internal work, right? I'm pretty sure I could track the squad's movements from yesterday by their scents - and possibly even Kayode's, if I went into Garden City. Wouldn't help figure out if the traitor was willing or coerced, but it might have a pretty good shot at figuring out who's responsible."

    He didn't immediately head off, though - primarily because he needed Ash to let the IIN and General Travers know that he'd be sniffing around and to not start interrogating him when he showed up at the armoury and barracks (and probably to call in an IIN agent to tag along with him for security reasons), but also because well Ash was the trained investigator and if he thought Sean's powers would be more useful sticking with the squad, he wasn't immediately going to waltz off on his own. Declan would be fine interviewing the squad.

    He paused, and revised that thought slightly. Declan would be probably okay interviewing the squad.
    "Follow the moonwalking Nosepass!"
    "Can you put the lich in a box?"

  13. - Top - End - #1153
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    Sebastian glanced across the lineup before looking back to Declan and shrugging his shoulders. His look said it all - he wasn't there, as much as he was beginning to wish he had been.

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    Declan and Sebastian

    "There doesn't need to be anything incriminating to find for an investigation to have a pronounced impact on a person's life. At the very least, it can be a tremendous hassle, and the consequences scale up from there. And of course investigating the wrong people just wastes time that could better be spent finding the actual culprit. Since law enforcement probably can get warrants to conduct more targeted investigative and legal actions based off what people say, but they absolutely can't based on a refusal to talk, then unless you have information that either unquestionably exonerates you or provides a clear lead on the actual culprit, it is best not to answer their questions at all." She said that last a bit pointedly, not that like half her clients were listening to her anymore, evidently.

    "We conduct a series of tests with each suit in dark mode, both to make sure there's no signal leak that could reveal the suit and to ensure that all systems are functional while dark mode is engaged," Levitt said. "This includes standard operations and combat tests, as well as flight and navigation tests."

    There weren't any other agents in the room, but Ash and Sean were still outside the door. Ash acknowledged the request.

    Sean

    At the question about copying the code, Ash answered with a shrug and a, "Maybe?" As he had said, he only had rudimentary tech skills.

    At your suggestion about Jennings's drinking, Ash gave you a little bemused smile. "Bit of a tip, you can always come up with an innocent reason for what you find. And sometimes, even a lot of the time, it'll turn out to be just that. But even so, you don't judge a lead based on the possibility that it's innocent; you judge it based on the possibility that it's a clue. Sure, there's a lot of reasons that relief could mean nothing. But there's also a chance that it's a sign of guilt. So we investigate that possibility, and if it doesn't pan out then it doesn't pan out. But it's a good lead, make sure you don't talk yourself out of that fact just because you can predict ways it might be a dead end."

    When you suggest tracking them, Ash's brows raise slightly. "I mean, yeah. If you can get their trails with all the foot traffic on the base and such, absolutely. I'll make sure everyone knows to let you through."
    A role playing game is three things. It is an interactive story, a game of chance, and a process in critical thinking.

    If brevity is the soul of wit, I'm witty like a vampire!

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    M&M 3e Character Guide

  15. - Top - End - #1155
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    "People can hide their emotions with a willpower and training. Hiding their scent is a lot more difficult." Sean gave an small smile. "I guess I might as well make a start." Then he hesitated briefly. "Uh, could I borrow a spare...commlink or something, so I can report back to you without having to run halfway across the base?"

    Once he had acquired a commlink (or just, like, an IIN agent's phone number or something), Sean set off. Since all the squad were in the room he'd just left, he'd had plenty of time to get to know their scents...and though the mundane sense of smell from a hunting animal might have been foiled by the crisscrossing paths and changes in scent, to Sean, all that one of the squad members meeting someone else meant was that that squad member now smelled of the person they'd met as well.
    "Follow the moonwalking Nosepass!"
    "Can you put the lich in a box?"

  16. - Top - End - #1156
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    Declan decided to return his whole focus on the questioning and let the argument with Patty drop, but the grunt that escaped his lips betrayed the fact that it wasn't because he had run out of things to say.

    "And are you required to stay at least in pairs while dark, or otherwise be able to keep tabs on each suit with means other than the GPS?"
    To the optimist, the glass is half-full.
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    "Not at all." Sebastian was speaking less like he was answering the question, and more like he was figuring something out aloud.

    "Maybe things are different since last time I did comred, so...well, sorry to assume. But typically, no, it would be possible to get a moment to yourself during dark testing. And dark mode is dark mode. There's no tracking or tracing. It's nanotech, so you can shrink the suit down for convenience while it's still shadowed like that. Is there, erm..."

    He looked awkwardly at the squad.

    "Is there anything stopping an operative from using one dark suit to transport another suit somewhere while it's both dark and miniaturised? Would they have been noticed?"

  18. - Top - End - #1158
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    Sean

    Ash got you a commlink. Tracking the movements of the squad wasn't difficult. As keen as your nose was it was like following trails of differently-colored strings. There were a bunch to follow, sure, but they were distinct enough that it wasn't like you were going to lose them. And most of them went around the same places, so it wasn't even all that time-consuming, considering how many trails there were to follow.

    Tracking them when they suited up and went through the air was somewhat harder, but far from impossible. It was actually easier than it might have been if these had been less-advanced suits. The ADE suits used nanotech. Nanites were tiny, after all, and there was a lot of power running through them; they'd burn out eventually. And while Aranthian technology was capable of grey goo style nanofabrication, it typically worked through nanfabs - the nanite equivalent of amfabs that supplied ammunition to high-end weaponry. Since the replacement nanites were just matter-generated, there wasn't really any use for the burned-out ones. They got shed like humans shed dead skin cells, and to a nose as keen as yours, could be just as identifying.

    And dark mode, evidently, was designed to foil electronic detection, not olfactory tracking. Maybe Haptarus should consider investing in a good pack of bloodhounds? (To be fair, he'd probably just spend all day kicking them.)

    All of the operatives and some of the engineers had led the base in suits at one time or another. Most of them had flown around in some fairly consistent patterns. Only one had gone far afield and ended up landing in a secluded lot behind a highway stop. Only one had evidently met with somebody who left behind traces of sweat, gunpowder, and fertilizer.

    One whose scent trail smelled of oil and polish, of cheap food and stale, strong alcohol.

    One whose scent trail reeked of rage as strongly as if it were leaking from a wound to hiss amygdala.

    Declan and Sebastian

    "You think there might have been a protocol change that fast? You really have been gone a while, haven't you?" Seudou ribbed Sebastian.

    "It would be possible, sure," Drechsler agreed with Sebastian's assessment. "And no, I can't say for sure we'd have noticed it. Certainly, we wouldn't have been looking for it."

    "But there's not really much question that one of us could have absconded with a suit if we put our minds to it," Cavill noted.

    "No, but if we could pin down how it happened, it would help us figure out if we're looking for a mind controller, or just a really good thief. Would someone need our sort of access to take one of the suits?"

    "And if we are dealing with outside influence, it would give us clues to the type. Like...when I possess someone, I'm still relying primarily on my own knowledge and skills to direct their actions. Now, I can root around in their minds to learn things they would know, but even then, it falls to me to put their knowledge into a cohesive plan. I could learn, say, what security measures they know exist, but I couldn't learn what they would do to get around them.
    On the other hand, someone who can enthrall the will or implant an irresistible suggestion could very well be making much more use of their victim's capabilities and experience."
    A role playing game is three things. It is an interactive story, a game of chance, and a process in critical thinking.

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  19. - Top - End - #1159
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    Sean prowled briefly around the secluded lot where the exchange had happened. Then he sighed, and contacted Ash (or, like, whatever IIN agent he'd been given the contact details for.) "Well, Jennings flew a long way off the base about..." He paused briefly, sniffing the air. "About ten or so hours ago. He landed in a disused lot out of the way of any cameras and met someone else. So, more evidence pointing at him, I guess." There was definitely a kinda...disappointed note to his voice. "Not that that helps us know if he did it willingly - or if any of the others helped him. I'm going to head back to the armoury - I can probably figure out which suit Jennings used at the time, so your guys would have a better idea of where to look to see when the thing was tampered with. Then I can follow the other scent trail back from the meet and see who it leads to."

    He texted the address of the previous night's meetup to Ash as well, just in case the IIN wanted to cordon the place off or something else investigate-y, and then did just that, heading back to the base and hoping that Ash had indeed made sure he was allowed into the armoury.

    Spoiler: OOC
    Show
    Just copying over from the discord - Edit Scene to say that Jennings being ANGRY all the time means he got picked up by the WATCHER satellite on a random search for APEX-y stuff, so we have actual physical (er, digital) evidence showing he wandered off the base at an odd time of night. Up to you how that gets included; maybe Sean just gets a text from Maestro or something (I mean, I'm assuming the other PCs know why we've disappeared off to a military base!)
    "Follow the moonwalking Nosepass!"
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    Sean

    Sean got a text from Luisa on the way, oddly enough.

    Hello. I thought I should inform you that your beacon's GPS just pinged you at a location where the Mentallo Industries satellite recently flagged a potentially APEX-like organism. Not actual APEX radiation was detected during a closer scan, but even so you may wish to take precautions.

    "Understood," Ash replied. "I'll make sure you're let through. Unfortunately my guys still haven't found a clear indication of when the suit was tampered with on the cameras. But I'll have them follow Jennings's appearances and disappearances and see what that brings up."

    The IIN agents let you pass when you arrive at the armory. After tracking its nanites so far, identifying the suit in question barely takes more than a sniff. It's another of the reserve suits, and while you can smell traces of several of the squad members on it, Jennings's are easily the freshest and strongest within it.
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  21. - Top - End - #1161
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    Sean was...kinda confused for a moment when Luisa texted him. (How did she even get his number? Maestro, presumably. Also, why was she tracking him? Probably again: Maestro, presumably.) Then he sent a reply back to her. [I'm guessing the satellite detected this 'APEX-like' thing about ten hours ago? Could you (or Maestro) do me a favour - if you have a spare one of those handheld APEX scanners lying around, could you set it to pick up the same not-APEX frequency?] It was perhaps unsurprising that the part of the Heroes of Millaine movie where the Defiant attacked the city had stuck most firmly in Sean's memory, and the scene with the scanner dramatically exploding when Maestro had pointed it at the Maelstrom had come straight after that.

    (Of course, he didn't know for sure that the scanner wasn't just a plot device Lucas had written in to get across to the audience how dangerous the Maelstrom was. But there was obviously some APEX-detecting capability at Mentallo Industries, and...well, it was Maestro. The guy could probably just build a scanner before Sean would ever actually get there to pick it up.

    Once he got back to the armoury, he just kinda...paused for a moment, eyes closed, before indicating the suit whose scent he'd been tracking. "You guys might want to focus on this suit," he told the investigators, eyes still closed. "It went way off the base about ten hours ago, so I'm guessing at least that part of the logs must have been faked. Maybe it'll help you find something."

    And then he was off again, back out to the place where Jennings had (presumably) handed over the stolen suit, this time to follow the trail of the other person who'd been in the lot - if for no other reason than to see if the scent of discarded nanites suddenly began to mingle with their trail as they returned a stolen suit back to its normal size.
    "Follow the moonwalking Nosepass!"
    "Can you put the lich in a box?"

  22. - Top - End - #1162
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    Perhaps it was naive thinking, but Declan had actually been convinced the suit hadn't been voluntarily stolen when Sean didn't pick up anything but anger in reaction to his provocation. What were the chances the culprit was ready for something like that?

    The more he tried to explore the mind control angle, though, the more his guts expressed disapproval...and they were never wrong. But what to do? Certainly coming out with 'you know what, actually I think one of you is the real culprit' wasn't going to get more cooperation from the squad. [COLOR="#008000"]Hmm...

    He fell silent, thinking, then pulled out his phone to send Sean a text.

    Gut's telling me one of them did it willingly. Managed to get Joubert, Emmet, Holzer and Drechsler to open up, and Steele's even helped me with that. Cavill also seems clean. The others are still silent, which is suspicious. Got anything to help narrow it down?

    The best course of action was probably to buy some time until the reply came back. And if he managed to make the thief nervous and cause them to make a mistake, all the better.

    "I see, I see. I've been told there was some mixup with the serials when checking in and out the suits...is that a common occurrence? I suppose they all look the same, but do they change pilot during the tests?"
    To the optimist, the glass is half-full.
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    Sebastian narrowed his eyes when Declan sent a text. He glanced down at the stains on his outfit. While he couldn't be sure exactly what the Unbreakable's game was, Sean was going to turn up lots of information out there very quickly.

    "Not common. We don't mix up serial numbers. Or, if we did, the system would try to stop us. Suits are meant to be operated by multiple pilots though, that's part of the procedure."

  24. - Top - End - #1164
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    Sean paused in his pursuit of the gunpowdery smell when his phone buzzed with Declan's message. His small frown deepened slightly as he wrote a brief reply. [Jennings went much further off the base than any of the others did, and met with someone who smelled basically like your average terrorist. Might have been Kayode, but without knowing his scent I can't tell. I'm following the trail - even if it was Kayode, if he knows how to make bombs and didn't use any in the attack he might have left them elsewhere. I told the IIN when and where the meeting happened and which suit Jennings was in, so hopefully they'll come up with some evidence we can use to convince the lawyer and the squad that we're telling the truth.]
    "Follow the moonwalking Nosepass!"
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    Sean

    Luisa sent a reply back promptly. That technology has been deprecated. With extreme prejudice, as I understand it. However, I can task the satellite to attempt to scan in your general for the signature it detected previously. It will take half an hour for the satellite to get into position and may take up to an hour to conduct the scan. Should I initiate the process?

    The IIN agents acknowledged the information, although you were gone before you could see how they'd be acting on it.

    The trail led to the street off a bit from the rest stop, where it was replaced by the smell of a vehicle (which, itself, left a fairly strong scent of fertilizer behind). That trail led back into town, and to the parking lot a kinda run-down apartment building. You tracked it to a beaten-up old pickup truck that showed more rust than solar paint. As a bit of luck, the building had reserved parking spaces. The truck was in the space reserved for apartment 2E.

    Declan and Sebastian

    "Yeah even with our own suits we pass them off a bit to get more eyes on everything. You'd be surprised how many times we just didn't notice some minor issue because we just got used to it or something," Drechsler added.

    "What indicated that there was a mix-up, exactly?" Levitt asked.
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    Sean gave a little disappointed frown when Luisa told him that there wasn't a spare scanner available. An hour and a half...well, let's hope the IIN are meticulous and slow.

    [I see. Could you scan the area around Declan for the same signature instead of my location? The more precise the location you can get back the better.]


    After a moment, he paused as a small thought came to him, and sent Luisa a second message. [PS: Declan's in a military base. Call General McAllister if this causes any awkwardness and tell her I asked you to do it.]

    When he found the pickup truck parked, he glanced into it briefly and then wrote Ash a brief message. [Tracked Jennings' contact to an apartment complex. Judging from the lack of investigators I'm guessing it's not Kayode's house, but judging from the smell of the person I was following it could well be another Defiant.] He attached a photo of the pickup - including the numberplate. [Also, Jennings' anger powers got picked up on a Mentallo Industries satellite by chance when he was at the stop. Either that or someone else really angry was there at the same time, which seems unlikely. I figure if the same signature that was at the rest stop is present at the base now, that'll be at least some evidence to suggest what's going on even if your guys can't find anything on the suit. It'll take a while to confirm, though.]

    Then he...kinda hesitated for a moment or two. His grasp of Ilessian law wasn't great, but he was pretty sure the IIN and the military had no jurisdiction out here, and even if they did his sense of smell wouldn't warrant...uh, a warrant...on its own. But even if he had no authority to get inside the apartment itself, there was absolutely nothing stopping him from wandering past the apartment and seeing what smells were leaking out.

    And if a Defiant saw him walking around and decided to do something foolish...well, that would be a pretty good excuse for SIDE to investigate the place.
    Last edited by Llyarden; 2019-02-25 at 03:08 PM.
    "Follow the moonwalking Nosepass!"
    "Can you put the lich in a box?"

  27. - Top - End - #1167
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    "The logs and actual serial numbers, of course." Declan replied, then briefly looked at his phone to read Sean's reply. Jennings...if there was someone who could have faked his emotional response, it was certainly him...but it could also have been genuine. And if it was him, well...he and Sean might not be enough to put him down if he resisted arrest, and as of now he was alone. He'd better tread carefully.

    ...it was a good thing his impulsiveness had been curtailed in the last months, because even now there was a part of him screaming that that with all that evidence Jennings was clearly a Defiant.

    "Of course, the system was tampered with so that it wouldn't warn about the inconsistencies." he then continued, locking eyes with Levitt. "Why do you ask?"
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    "What, Levitt? I think he's just being thorough."

    He almost cursed to himself after that - no reason not to defend Levitt, but he hadn't done it for a reason, it had come out as a reaction. Sebastian could see Declan's texts coming in, and with them, he felt the tension in the room rising. He glanced quickly at his peers.

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    Sean

    Exploring around the apartment, you located something potentially interesting. Off on the far side of the lot, several recent scent trails were clustered, including the one you had found earlier. Somewhere between a dozen and a score of people - which at a rough estimate could feasibly be approaching or hitting the building's full capacity - along with the smell of enough spilled alcohol to suggest they had A) pretty much all been drinking and B) been jostling their drinks enough that they spilled a rather fair amount. You could also smell the faint metallic o-zone scent of a sizable discharge of railgun-based weaponry, residue of explosives, charred metal and asphalt, and, more importantly, nanites similar to but, to your nose, still distinctly different from the ones you had been tracking previously.

    The concrete wall around the lot was a good three feet thick, and had bullet holes punched clean through it. Looking around a bit, you could find the scorched, warped, twisted remains of a solid steel girder, which itself looked like it had bullet holes punched through it in...what may have been more-or-less the same pattern as the wall, but it was kinda hard to tell considering it had been blown into three different pieces by what was presumably military-grade explosives.

    But I mean, you know, other than that, nah, there weren't really many clues around outside the place.

    Declan and Sebastian

    Sebastian could see that the engineers were seeming a bit agitated by Declan's texts - well, except for Jennings. It took way more than that to agitate Jennings. You could tell because of the high living-people-to-pulpy-blood-spatters ratio in his general vicinity. The operatives didn't show much reaction, aside from Vonda who looked just a little annoyed because it was like, you know, texting during a meeting. Rude.

    Levitt glanced at Patty, who gave him a kinda resigned nod. If you go asking the investigators questions and then go all silent when they ask you why, well, that looks suspicious. "I wanted to make sure you had actual evidence and weren't just fishing for reactions. Again," he replied. But since Levitt would never use a sentence where a paragraph would do, he added, "That being said, it occurs to me that even given the assumption of a thief capable of meeting some minimum objective level of difficulty in circumventing military security, it would likely be subjectively easier to falsify the logs than our scanners and RFIDs, notwithstanding familiarity with the same. Though perhaps not conclusive, it would likely be safe to say that any tampering with our systems is evidence in support of the conclusion that one of us is responsible for the crime, while a falsification of the logs would suggest an outside entity. While I'm certainly no investigator myself, I should think that given two mutually contradictory pieces of evidence, an unbiased investigator would consider both to be suspect until one could be corroborated. Of course, if one is trying to prove a certain vision of the crime, it would be an entirely natural tendency to assume that the evidence that conforms to that vision is the correct one. Why, I daresay that a sufficiently clever thief might even leave just evidence of just such a contradiction, to point investigators at an alternative suspect, in an effort to waste their time or even throw them off the thief's trail entirely. Would you agree, Miss Abel?" he finished smoothly, though probably not smoothly enough to hide the smugness of his tone, as he cast a meaningful glance at the members of the team who had foregone their attorney's advice.

    Emmett gave a half-amused-half-annoyed snort. "You're such a jerk, Azhar," she told him, in a kinda sisterly tone.

    Even so, the other operatives, save Cavill, were regarding Declan with more suspicion than they had been before.

    Spoiler: OOC
    Show
    If someone can't present a solid counter to Levitt's point, it will break Declan's previous influence. If you can make a solid enough counter it can succeed on its own merits, otherwise you may need to make a social check. An argument that doesn't really counter the thrust of his point can't succeed regardless of social skills.
    A role playing game is three things. It is an interactive story, a game of chance, and a process in critical thinking.

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    Declan blinked.

    "Operative Levitt."

    He blinked again.

    "You refused to speak until just now, and when you do...this is your defence? That you're being framed because altering logs would have been easier?"

    He raised an eyebrow.

    "It could work the other way, you know? In fact, if I didn't know better, I'd be tempted to say that it might as well have been a setup for this very line of defence."
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