(WI) Leg Work

[Witch]

Well. She had motioned for them to lead the way. And so Moira had. Her quick steps taking her far enough ahead that for a moment the only thing linking her back to Witch was the fact that they both held cups from the same spot.

Not that Witch dallied. This was not a dallying matter after all.

And so only a moment or so after Apollo, she too was settling into a chair, placing her hot chocolate carefully on the table away from edges and elbows. Idly she wondered if she would see Riley, hoped she wouldn't, and ade a mental note to try and reach out to her.

"Well- lets start there then. You said you had an invite, Allegra?" She doubted it was Moira's true name, but it was an interesting pick for a cover name.

Let's start the dice rolling with a good ol' opening shot at investigating

1 success

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2022-12-02 04:51:01	Witch rolls 6 to WI Preliminary Investigation (Int+Investigation) (10 Again)	4, 4, 9, 2, 5, 1	1 success

[Moira]

Moira wanted to go into the actual game and poke around, seeing if she could get a look at any of the developer tools etc. With access to EA's dev kits, she may be able to hack into the program itself and find out more about it. Might was the key word here. Best to start poking around first and find out.

"Yeah I do. What I'm gunna try to do is get into the game, and see if I can hack into the developer tools, or if its open source software, I should be able to look at it anyway. Might give us more information about who or what made it exactly."

Knowing this was gunna take a little time, she dug in taking a long pull from her hot chocolate.

Extended Roll Inteligence + Computer

1 success

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2022-12-02 10:53:32	[01] Moira rolls 5 to Inteligence 3+ Computer 2 (10 Again)	2, 4, 2, 9, 2	1 success

2 successes

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2022-12-02 10:53:32	[02] Moira rolls 5 to Inteligence 3+ Computer 2 (10 Again)	6, 4, 8, 6, 9	2 successes

failure

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2022-12-02 10:53:32	[03] Moira rolls 5 to Inteligence 3+ Computer 2 (10 Again)	4, 5, 5, 5, 2	failure

2 successes

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2022-12-02 10:53:32	[04] Moira rolls 5 to Inteligence 3+ Computer 2 (10 Again)	3, 10, 7, 6, 8, 3	2 successes

failure

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2022-12-02 10:53:32	[05] Moira rolls 5 to Inteligence 3+ Computer 2 (10 Again)	7, 5, 2, 3, 6	failure

[Apollo]

Apollo used his phone, looking into the company. Computers did not come naturally to him and the fact that he spent a good minute or so looking at the google search and the I'm feeling lucky button like it was written in an ancient language was clear.... it wasn't a plant or something natural.

Rolls

failure

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2022-12-05 09:36:13	[01] Apollo rolls 3 to Int + Inv / Comp (10 Again)	7, 7, 2	failure

failure

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2022-12-05 09:36:13	[02] Apollo rolls 3 to Int + Inv / Comp (10 Again)	3, 5, 1	failure

2 successes

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2022-12-05 09:36:13	[03] Apollo rolls 3 to Int + Inv / Comp (10 Again)	8, 4, 9	2 successes

[Witch]

Quiet settled over the group. Looking up after a few initial pokes, Witch recognized the stillness- the stillness of work. Of absorbtion into tasks.

Well. She was comfortable with that. The sound of keys punched and scrolling resumed from her as well.

Witch will continue to research along for the 45 min that Apollo does.

3 successes

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2022-12-06 05:55:20	Witch rolls 6 to WI Preliminary Investigation 2 (Int+Investigation) (10 Again)	2, 10, 5, 8, 2, 3, 9	3 successes

3 successes

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2022-12-06 05:55:34	Witch rolls 6 to WI Preliminary Investigation 3 (Int+Investigation) (10 Again)	7, 9, 1, 10, 1, 9, 3	3 successes

[Xander]

And so the mages began their studies.

Apollo, bless his heart, does the best he can. The combination of Matter, Fate, and Forces in his hand proves ultimately rather difficult for the Libertine. He finds a linkedin profile for Liam Andrews though! A software engineer with twenty years experience and a masters degree, he cites playing Mortal Kombat at the arcade as sparking his interest in gaming. Other then that? Apollo doesn't even know what some of those job titles even mean, and he doubts someone that only got C+ in school would be especially good at their computer job. Plus the guy's so oblivious he put an extra plus after the C+. Clearly not the most observant.

Witch has the skills to fair a bit better then the Shaman. A google search of Whispered Invocation yields nothing. Odd, given a new game in playtest would likely be drumming up hype and advertising leading up to a full release. Shard Productions likewise yields nothing. No trademarks, investors, website, or anything else besides the email for the game. When she searches the name Liam Andrews though things got a bit more interesting. Not only does she find his linkedin profile, but she even manages to find his obituary! He died at Motel 6 here in Sacramento. Officers ruled it a suicide by handgun, and it happened just over a week ago. A few days after the beta was emailed out to the sleepers.

Moira digs in and is immediately frustrated. The software isn't open source, and the dev kit isn't accessible to her. Moreover, attempts to hack into those systems are met with a stubborn defiance by the program itself. It's as if someone was reprogramming the game in real time as she was attempting to access things. What she learns in the process is that there's some form of malware associated with the client side of the software once it's installed. It's clear someone is watching how she attempts to interact with the software and responding accordingly. Yeah, that's probably it.

So I forgot hacking is 30 minutes per roll meaning Moira is committed for two and a half hours. Her discoveries (and ability to interact) are therefore locked for the time being. Apollo and Witch have an hour and a half of actions or waiting so please let me know what they want to do with their time and feel free to skip Moira until the timelines are resynced. Rerolls are possible if you'd like to try further research. Moira can be assumed to be present and listening but to deep in thought to interact, which hopefully isn't to bad given the posting interruption mentioned in discord.

[Apollo]

Apollo put his phone down and rubbed his temples as if he was getting a headache. He was, it was called an Apple Smart phone. If this thing is so bloody smart it should know what I want to find and find it for me.

He pondered over the list of qualifications on the guys linked in profile and it may as well have been written in Ancient Greek, in fairness he would have better luck if it was in Ancient Greek. Apollo looked at Witch and shrugged for a second. When it came to knowing his own morals, values and things he took pride in he was there. Technology.... clearly he needed to take one of those courses the old people take. He frowned, criticising himself which had become common place lately. He had started college and the theory was proving to be difficult. He was far more a hands on person and learnt by doing. In short, he felt stupid. Although he was not going to tell Witch or Moira.

He put his phone down for a second, maybe he was just searching for all the wrong things? Maybe finding out what Witch had found would lead him towards a better avenue... maybe waking up the spirit in his phone was the next course of action or maybe there was a spirit of information in the library somewhere?

He looked at Witch, and for a moment contemplated asking for help. No, you can't let some random mage you don't know or trust know you are stumped. It shows weakness.

"I haven't found much as of yet. I found the guys linked in profile" he shrugged semi apologetically "I am not the quickest at google fu." there that ought to throw her off. "What have you found?"

[Witch]

"Liam Andrews? Witch asks, looking up from her search. Apollo hadn't specified which profile but given that she found a remarkable lack of intel on anyone else except Liam Andrews she figured it was likely that was who he meant.

"Same here. And that he apparently committed suicide about a week ago." She was a Guardian. Secret game that reeked of Awakened knowledge being shared with sleepers plus the one person findable ending up dead within days of the release? Definitely going with "apparent" on the suicide front.

Chewing her lip, she glanced over at Moira who was frowning at her screen and then back at Apollo. She was grinning, but she wasn't sure he would be with her next suggestion.

"Only a week means we might have a chance still to get to his body... if you're up for it?" As she waited for his answer she turned back to her keypad for a quick search on if Mr. Liam Andrews had already had his funeral and all the relevant details for such.

Looks like Pisces' situation got worse :(
So if we want to have an avenue to continue, Witch is suggesting they go gravedigging and talk to a dead guy. If they can.


And in that vein- do you want a roll for determining details on the funeral arrangments? Occured/still to happen/time & place/etc.

[Apollo]

Apollo raised an eyebrow he had not found that juicy bit of information. "Maybe, just hope they have not been quick releasing the body for the funeral. Any idea where the body is right now?" he paused and looked at Moira "I think she may be here a while" At some point at least one of them was going to have to go and at least play the game, he would just rather avoid that and know what they were getting into.

Good Idea, if Xander is okay with that approach? We check out the side line while Moira trys to hack the game / do battle with the librarian.

[Xander]

According to the articles found, the body was being prepped for the funeral at Gormly and Sons where it currently stays. The crime scene has also been sanitized and unsealed from the public. Personal effects have been moved to the funeral home and some 'close friends' have been arranging the funeral.

Sounds good to me! Let me know if you want to check the funeral home or the site of the suicide and I'll open the thread. Both are available depending on your approach.
pisces DM in discord when you feel up to continuing and I'll start a thread for you to continue in.

[Witch]

Witch's grin deepened when Apollo didn't pull a face or make one of those eww-gross-dead-bodies noises. Punching some keys and scrolling to double check the facts she nodded, "Gormly and Sons. Funeral hasn't happened yet. Oh- snap! Looks like we could go check out the site of the death too. Hmm..."

Pursing her lips, she considers for a second and then shakes her head in the negative to whatever she was considering. "The voodoo I do works better with corpses. And this one has a time limit anyways. We can always swing back to the scene if we want after." Standing she glances to Moira and nods in agreement with Apollo's assessment.

"We'll tag up and swap notes..." She says scribbling her number down for Moira. And then grabbing her still untouchedhot drink she grins at Apollo, "Shall we?"

My vote is funeral home. Suicide site can wait versus the mages needing to get access to the body prior to it gets buried under a bunch of dirt.