System Failure -IC-

In character stuff for System Failure.

Setting notes:
System failure is a Cyberpunk game using the 4th Edition anniversary rules with the following exception: The awakening never happened. There are no metahumans, dwarves are people with one of 200 medical conditions that result in dwarfism, there is no magic in the fantasy sense of the term (Wiccans and other neo-pagans may argue that point but thats irrelevant at this point). The governments factured, the NAN nations still rose up, mega corporations still rise, still fall, and still answer only to the Corporate Court. There are no Technomancers, no Otaku, able to surf the matrix without the use of decks/commlinks. AIs have risen in the stream of information, Deus of Renraku fame being the most famous, and he had a couple of predecessors. Since the rise of Deus there is a growing fear that an AI will rise again and create even more chaos than Deus has, there exists groups of people who make it their goal prevent the rise of another AI. These Zealots often clash with the groups that seek to bring forth another AI. As a result there are currently no AI's in the matrix or on any known computer system.

The Main location for System Failure is Seattle, UCAS though jobs may take the characters elsewhere.

Characters:
This is, for the most part, a solo game. As a result characters are going to need a little help to survive. Characters will be based on a 625 BP build, standard limitations to skill ranks, attribute ranks, and gear are removed. The characters have been in the game for a bit. Despite the generous freedoms granted at character creation, characters are to be 3 dimensional with personalities and a story that is realistic (relatively) and appropriate.

Genre:
Cyberpunk buy its very nature is a dark and gritty genre. The world that these people live in is a dangerous one. As a result I am not going to pull punches (unless i swing to hard), Characters that make mistakes could die very easily, poor decisions will have bad results. Any decision will have real results: You start firing missles in an urban area and Lone Star will be looking for you, if not the military. Tick off a Fixer and it will become very difficult to find a job (if he doesn't use his contacts to have his revenge). Kill Somone and their brother may come looking for you.

That said, Cinematic action is fun as well. I plan on bringing in the concepts of Brutes, Henchman, Villains/Heroes.
Brutes are the dime-a-dozen nameless faceless guys hired on en mass. They drop like flies when contronted with anyone of moderate skill or better. But dont underestimate them, just because they can't take a hit doesn't mean they can't dish it out, and there is usually a lot of them.

Henchmen have it a lot better than brutes. they can take a few hits and are better skilled than Brutes but not nearly as much as Villains/heroes.

Villains are one the same level as the player characters and they know it.

Springtime in the sprawl usually meant one thing: more acid rain. It was like the ecosystem wept and tried to wash away all of the grime and pollution that build up over the winter. Unfortunately the atmosphere was so polluted that the acid rain just burned and reaped havoc on everything it touched. Somehow, as luck would have it, it wasn’t raining this evening. There were still plenty of puddles from the storm that ripped through the sprawl yesterday. It rained so hard that the rats left their subterranean homes and found shelter on the upper levels. Most of that water had drained away leaving only slick concrete and puddles in its stead. The air still seemed scrubbed clean; the foul odor of the city replaced by something… a little more pleasant, something slightly cleaner.

Logan and Ronin stood in the center of the street, amazed by what they saw. It looked like the street was hit by a color bomb. Bright, pastel colors decorate every surface, here and there the dark grays and black of the acid etched concrete and stone could be seen, but mostly it was an assault of color. Slipping from shadows and alleyways the perpetrators, or the victims, of the color assault could be seen: children and teenagers ran around, wearing white clothes stained with the bright pastels colors, the color decorated their faces, their hands and even their hair. Their laughter echoes off the tall buildings, like the cries of anguish of a dying man. Music could be heard in the distance, snaking its way through the urban jungle, strange sounds with drums and string instruments, a woman singing in an unknown language. With the music and the peals of joy comes the aroma of exotic spices: Turmeric, coconut, cumin and the spice of chilies fill the air.

Cautiously they make their way through the street, their dark clothes and survivalist attitudes stand out in sharp contract to the joy, laughter, and bright colors around them. A child runs out of an alleyway directly at the two, in one hand bright blue powder, in the other red powder could be seen falling between his brightly colored fingers. A sharp look from Logan sends the boy running the other way, towards another brightly colored child, there is an explosion of blue and red dust around the two. Logan and Ronin continue on their journey, sharp eyes on the look out for brightly colored dangers.

The building they reach looks abandoned, there are no lights on inside but the front door is covered in the pastel colors like the rest of the street. Logan checks his ‘Link again, all signs point to this building. Logan tries the door and finds it unlocked, his gloved hand now decorated with pastel colors.

Stepping inside the building is like stepping into another world. The garish colors of the street replaced by the dark browns and black of the decaying foyeur. The music and the laughter muffled by the walls, and the sound of rodents scurrying takes it place. The musty smells of mold, mildew, rot, decay and dust take over as the spicy aroma of the food becomes just a memory.

The message said room 436, so the travelers make their way upstairs, gauging each step before putting their weight on it, hoping it would hold. The hallways are dark, but technology has long ago conquered the dark. The hallway is all shades of green in their eyes as they make their way to room 436. Nearing the end of their journey light fills the hallway, streaming out of room 436. Shifting back to regular vision Logan and Ronin look into the room. Sitting there in the dilapidated room, on an old stained mattress is an older man in a suit, the bright pastel colors that decorate him stand in sharp contrast to his drab surrounding. In his hands a bowl of food, strongly spiced.

Seeing Logan and Ronin Arrive he puts down the food and stands up trying to look as professional as he can covered in pastel colors.

“Good evening, I’m glad you could make it.”

After entering the building, Logan had reached under his camouflage jacket and grasped the butt of one of his short-barrelled shotguns strapped to his back; in case of attack from gangers, street thugs, or any number of other sprawl predators. He released it now, sensing no immediate threat from this pastel-enshrouded man. One never knew for certain, however, not in this biz, so he kept his wired reflexes primed so he could react in the blink of an eye if necessary.
Still, protocol had to be observed, so he stuck out his gloved right hand in the timeless gesture of introduction. He noticed the colorful dust on his glove and wiped it on his jacket, then grimaced at the blotch it made there.

Logan looked at the stranger, then at Ronin, then back to the stranger before saying:

"We were given this address and this room number..."

He glanced again at Ronin before switching his gaze once more to the man in Room 436 and continuing:

"...but we're not sure why."

Ronin Enters the room behind Logan, her eyes on the lookout for dangers. Then the man greets them she gives him a respectful bow but chooses to say nothing at this point. When it became time to talk she would.

As Logan moves in to shake the man’s hand he can see that the man is a older man, his hair under the assault of colors is more grey than black, age has caught up to his skin and wrinkles can be seen around his eyes and mouth. Despite his age the man’s grip is firm, it takes a firm hold of Logan’s hand, it is the grip of someone half the man’s age with Kung Fu grip.

The man pauses for a couple of seconds after Logan makes his comment, standing perfectly still, his eyes staring into the distance. Then he begins to meander about the room.

“My name is Mr. Johnson. Seriously, Arthur Johnson is my name. I know that you two are probably more used to meeting in dark alley ways, busy night clubs, Conference rooms, the backroom of a bar, or something along those lines. Perhaps I am starting to get a little nostalgic in my old age, but I used to live here. In this very room. As a child I wrote my initials on the wall in the back room, I checked to see if they were still there but unfortunately rats and decay have erased my mark. But I suppose that is the way of things, you come into being, you leave of mark and then time takes it away.”

He sits down on the bed again and pauses like before.

“I felt it fitting to meet here, since my mark on the world is what I wish to discuss with you two. I was told long ago by someone much wiser than I that when things go wrong, you go back to the beginning. So here I am, at the beginning.”

He pauses again before standing up and taking position in front of the two runners.

“My legacy has been taken from me. Though I suppose Daughter would be a more appropriate term. A group of misfits known as the Earth Liberation Force has taken her from me. I would like for you to get her back. Though it may seem heartless of me, if you unable to retrieve her then I need for you to eliminate any and all leverage that they may hold sway over me.”

Another pause.

“Are your orders clear?”

Spoiler:

Logan's eyes narrowed as he stared at the man. He'd seen a lot in his years as a runner; corporate greed and intrigue, metahate, gang violence, and even crimes of the heart. But this Mr Arthur Johnson's cold judgement of his daughter's fate was something totally new and unforseen to Logan's up-to-now hardened perspective of people's unfathomable depths to which they could delve.
Just when he thought he'd seen it all; when he thought no one could dive deeper into the pit of metahuman indecency, someone always came along and plumbed into never-before seen horrors of the metahuman psyche.
What could this man - this father - possibly have locked in his interior 'closet of skeletons' that could be so cataclysmic to him that the loss of his own flesh and blood would seem to him a reasonable price to pay?

And the other side of the coin was this: could Logan, in the pursuit of completing this mission, terminate a girl whose only 'crime' was being unfortunate enough to be in a situation that prevented her rescue? He had no qualms about killing; he'd pulled the trigger on many a meta in his time. But kill a mark simply because he couldn't extract her? He wasn't sure about that, but then again, he'd just have to make sure they were able to bring the girl safely back to her father.

All this went through Logan's mind in the blink of an eye, and none of it showed on his face, else the Johnson might have deemed him unfit for the mission before things even got off the ground.

"Let's say we're in, for the sake of hearing you out," he said. "Obviously we'd need more details; where do they have your daughter, what are their demands, etc. We'll also have to discuss payment, natch. I know its insensitive of me to mention payment, what with your daughter's life hanging in the balance and all, but its a hard old world and our expenses still have to be covered."

As he spoke, Logan watched the man's face for any sign of emotion at the mention of his daughter's possible death. He wanted to know if the man had any feeling for his girl or if she was nothing to him but a pawn to be moved - or sacrificed - in his game of personal gain. It wasn't critical that the man show some kind of emotion, Logan and Ronin would do the job regaardless, but it would make Logan feel a lot better about the man to know that being a father meant something to him.

psst Jagger, no metahumanity in this game. Just sayin'

Ronin did not like this man. He was cold and heartless. At the mention of sacrificing his daughter something welled up from deep within Ronin. Something that haunts her in her dreams. It flooded her mind with rage, her face developed a scowl and the muscles in her shoulder twitched with a deep desire to draw her gun and shoot this man where he stands.

Then it passed, Ronin doesn’t carry a gun, those are weapons for those who of weak of mind and will. Ronin is a sell sword, if she accepts a job then she do all that she can to complete it. But this man is without honor and when it comes time she will make him pay dearly for their services.

Logan tried to prod the man, tried to get some reaction from him and was rewarded with nothing. The man’s expression didn’t even flicker. There hasn’t been a hint of emotion from the man the whole meeting. Not even while he was reminiscing about his childhood here in this room.

There are those who spend a lot of time and effort to gain complete control over their emotions. Buddhists, martial artists, Johnsons, politician and other criminals, but the man before them could give the best of them lessons. There was been rumors of chemical cocktails that exist to repress a persons emotional response, these are used by some surgeons, engineers, and mathematicians who feel that emotions get in the way of their logic. If this man is using that then he must have all but overdosed before the meeting. Or maybe he just has had one to many botox treatments and his face is paralyzed now.

Regardless of the reason there is no emotional response. He simply answers Logan’s questions as best he can.

“It is not insensitive at all, my friend. I asked you to come here knowing that the issue of money would come up. I do not know where my daughter was taken or where she is being held. The demands from the Earth Liberation Force are simple; I am to cease production in three of my factories, install new pollution removal equipment that I cannot afford, and pay for cleanup services to ‘heal the wounds that I have already caused.’ All of my factories are in compliance with EPA regulations and are frequently inspected by agent of the UCAS government. I am told that I have till April 1st to comply with their demands. They have not stated what failure to comply will result in but I am sure you can imagine.”

“I am not the CEO of a megacorporation, most of my wealth is tied up in assets, as a result I feel that I cannot pay what you are worth for this assignment but I have been able to scrape together enough to offer you 40,000 nuyen in certified cred for its completion.”

Logan had heard enough. His demeanor became distant and matter-of-fact. This Johnson was like all the rest; intent on getting what he wanted and to hell with the collateral damages. Even if those damages included his own daughter.

"I think we can come to an agreement at that amount," he told the Johnson. "I'd still like it better if you could give us more details on this Earth Liberation Force. Do you know anything more about them that could help in our search for your daughter's whereabouts?"

Logan felt he could include Ronin in his conviction that they would focus primarily on getting the girl away from the ELF safely...and alive. If for no other reason - and there were plenty - than to show this mockery of a father that dispensing with children was not a chip to be played in some corporate gamble; whether or not the corp was a AAA player or a small fish.

Ronin felt it was time for her to chime in, she acted calm and distant but inside of her there was a raging battle.

“I disagree with my partner Johnson San,” Her voice was thickly accented, melodic, and soft but it cut through the air and demanded attention, “The ELF is obviously a fanatical force and such an opponent is very dangerous. We will require additional hazard pay. In addition is the lack of knowledge you are able to or willing to supply. Information on the street does not come free, and we will be compensated for such. Finally, there the possibility that this job will be an assassination. Normally we avoid such jobs, so greater compensation is in order.”

Ronin pauses and pretends to think, she already has a number in mind but that is not how the game is played. No matter what she gets out of this man it will not make her feel good about this job.

“I think 80,000 in certified cred will make this job worth our time. 20,000 as a deposit, the balance to be paid upon proof of job complete.”

Negotiation Cha 5 + Negotiation 3 + Pheromones 2 + Street Cred 2 (12d6.hits(5)=1)
Glitch

Vs. Negotiation (8d6.hits(5)=4)

Arthur Johnson Pauses for a couple of seconds, seeming to process the arguments that Ronin presented. When he finally acted again he spoke quickly and talked circles around Ronin’s case faster than either she or Logan could follow.

In the end he simply said, “I have offered all that I can in respect to your reputation in a hopes to avoid this part of the game. 40,000 upon the job being finished but I will agree to a deposit of 10,000. I will have to wire the money to an escrow from which you will be able to draw upon.”

Facing Logan, “Unfortunately the only things I know about the Earth Liberation Force is what their public Matrix site presents and that they have chosen to take actions against me personally. I am confident that you will be able to shift through the lies to get the job accomplished.”

“Do we have an agreement?”

The muscles in Ronin's jaws clenched. She liked this man and this job even less now. But having entered into negotiations she was now committed to the job. She still looked like she might walk away before finally bowing to Arthur Johnson.

"My sword is in your service, Sir."

Logan knew he'd acted presumptively. He had spoken for Ronin without consulting her about the offered pay rate. The sum had seemed generous compared to the usual rate, but it was not his place to accept on her behalf. He'd have to remember in future negotiations not to preclude her participation.
And only time would tell if Ronin felt that some 'atonement' was in order for Logan's intrusion.

For now, Logan indicated their mutual acceptance of Mr Johnson's job and his terms:

"Aright, we'll need your commcode to keep you up on our progress...and in case we need additional assistance from you. Also, where was your daughter's last known location, before she was kidnapped?"

They needed a starting point and the girl's home or favorite hangout would be as likely a place to get some initial intel.

"And one more thing, do you have a photo of your daughter? It would help a lot to know what she looks like."

The man’s lips curl up at the edges in what can only be described as an attempt at a smile. It doesn’t come close to reaching his eyes and looks more like a grimace.

“Excellent,” he says and the 'smile' fades quickly, “I am glad that we could come to an agreement.” He makes some motions in the air, accessing his PAN. “All of the information that you need is there. A profile for my daughter, the access code for the escrow I will setup after this meeting, as well as the commcode for a temporary commlink that I will use for the duration of your employment.”

“Unless you have any further questions, I believe that our business here is complete.”

Ronin will follow Logan’s lead at this point. She is anxious to leave the dishonorable, emotionless Johnson but will not leave Logan’s side.

Please see the NPC Profiles thread for data on Elizabeth Johnson.

Logan left the Johnson and headed back out of the building with Ronin right behind. He felt dirty from being in close proxximity with Mr Arthur Johnson, but it was the nature of the biz. If the Js were after ethical goals, there would be no demand for shadowrunners at all.

"Okay, we've got some legwork to do," he said to Ronin as they stepped back out on the sidewalk. "We need to find out all we can on this Earth Liberation Force group. And it wouldn't hurt to take a peek at the daughter's digs. Could turn up a clue or maybe a neighbor saw something. Its worth checking out."

Logan moved as he spoke and within moments was standing near the door of his HumVee. By mental command he disarmed the vehicle's security system, unlocked the door, and was sitting inside and firing up the engine in seconds. He liked the HumVee's wide wheel-base and squat profile. The truck was customized for off-road driving as well. The HumVee could go just about anywhere.

"We'll start with Elizabeth's residence first. If there's anything there that might narrow our search for the ELF, it'd be best to have it now."

Ronin followed her companion. As she stepped out of the room the stale pungent air of the hallway and the rest of the building was like a fresh mountain breeze compared to sharing the same air as Mr. Johnson. Steeping out onto the street the bright colors made Ronin flinch. The aroma of the food was less but still hung in the air making her stomach rumble a little bit with the promise of sustenance.

After climbing into Logan’s HumVee Ronin spoke. “I do not like this job. I do not like that…” Man was to strong for him, “Worm in that room. I will not kill his daughter for being an inconvenience. That is wrong. I will happily hurt those who took her but I now consider her to be under my protection.” She turned in her seat and looked at Logan, her expression was deadly serious, “I will protect her from anyone who may try to harm her. Anyone…” She didn’t outright accuse Logan of anything but it was definitely implied: You try to harm her and you and you will find yourself at the wrong side of my Katana.

Kitsune, Ronin’s Emotitoy though she will only think of it as a fox spirit, heard Ronin’s voice and the tense tone of it. It jumped from the backseat, where it had been sleeping, and into Ronin’s lap. Kitsune spun around in a couple of circles before standing up and licking Ronin’s nose until she smiled and laughed.

“Yes Kitsune,” Ronin spoke to the two tailed fox, “It is good to see you too.” She stroked the Fox’s fur and went back to speaking to Logan, the edge in her voice gone.

Ronin took a moment to look at the information that Mr. Johnson provided for them. Her hand awkwardly moved through the virtual objects in her PAN, it’s been how long and she still couldn’t get used to interacting with the matrix…..

“Our only two leads are the girl herself and the ELF. If you want to drop me off at her residence Kitsune and I can start looking for information there and you can do your thing,” she mimes working the matrix, “Also, I want information on Johnson-San. I do not like him and something doesn’t seem right here.”

The drive out to Bellevue was fairly pleasant. It was still early in the evening so the dangers of the night were just waking up and Bellevue is a nice suburb that managed to avoid a lot of the troubles that the less affluent have to deal with. Logan’s Humvee cruised through the streets surrounded by nice houses and nice cars. Children play in their front yards and parents sit on their porches enjoying the fresh(ish) air. Every so often the smell of a charcoal grill cooking real meat makes it through the car’s filters.

The HumVee gets several looks as it navigates the city’s streets and even get a Lone Star patrol car tailing it for a couple of blocks while it’s IDs are read. The University Campus is easy to find. Several academic buildings and residential dorms decorate a well manicured campus of walkways, groomed lawns, and trimmed trees and bushes (no doubt housing the latest and greatest of Low Profile surveillance technology). There are a lot less students on the campus than Logan and Ronin would expect.. A few people can be seen walking about but normally at this time there would be a bunch of students coming from or going to late classes or making plans for the weekend. There are several lights on in academic offices and in the resident halls, but for a college campus on an early spring evening the place is relatively deserted.

Elizabeth Johnson’s apartment is not far from the campus, there are plenty of places to part in the area.

(please note I will need to know any relevant equipment that the runners choose to carry with them due the security in the area. Even the off campus residences in the area will be covered by the schools security net)

Certain of the high-grade surveillance scattered about the campus and surrounding area, Logan opted to leave his twin short-barreled shotguns in the truck. His cyberware, however, offered no such option. Hopefully, if they did run afoul of campus security, the guards would content themselves with simply running Logan and Ronin off campus. They were not here to get into a scrap with a bunch of schoolyard watchdogs.

Moving as if with authority - as if they had every right to be where they were and going where they were going - Logan and Ronin headed for Elizabeth Johnson's dorm. Knowing his military-like outfit would draw attention, and playing up the part, Logan spoke firmly and directly to the house receptionist, requesting to see Elizabeth on behalf of her father who had sent them here. He hoped the authoritative air might grease the wheels and allow the two of them access without too many potentially awkward inquiries.

Etiquette 3 + Charisma 2
2 hits

Logan and Ronin probably would have gathered more attention from the locals if there had been more people around As it was they did got some strange looks from some people and definitely received the attention from campus security (judging from the drone that decided to follow their every movement). But in the end they were on a college campus and to be honest, there isn’t much that you can do that will shock to many people.

So they make it through the well manicured campus and approach the off campus apartments without any problem. There are plenty of guide posts that appear in their PANs directing through the winding walkways till they reach their destination.

Once they get inside Elizabeth’s apartment complex things change a little bit. The Rent-a-cop stationed in the lobby to make the parents of the students who live here feel safer has his hand on a Panic ™ button from the moment that he sees the dual approaching the crystal clear ballistics glass doors.

After Logan demands to see Elizabeth the Sec Guard looks very nervous (beads of sweat can be seen appearing on his brow, this isn’t what he signed up for when he took this job, he just wanted a nice easy job with a bunch of cute college girls). He makes some motions accessing the complex’s matrix (looks even more nervous) and responds, his voice cracking a bit as he starts, “I’m sorry ummm…. Sir, but according to the entry logs Ms. Johnson is not in her unit at this time. I also do not have authorization for any visitors at this time. I’m afraid I am going to have to ask you to leave at this time.”

Logan eyes the rent-a-cop's finger on the panic button and raises a consoling hand.

"Look, pal, there's no need to get twitchy here. You know how it is, over protective father doesn't hear from his rebellious daughter for a while, he gets worried. You got any kids? You look like a family type. I'm sure we can come to some kind of agreement here, right?"

Logan gives a mental command to his commlink and beams an obvious bribe of 100¥ to the guard's PAN.

"All we need is to take a quick peek at her room - see if maybe there's anything to give us an idea where she went, you understand, right? We'll be outta here in two shakes. You never even saw us, get it? Coffee break, cancer stick break, whatever."

Negotiation Test
2 hits

The Sec Guard accepted the bribe, though he still looks very nervous.

"It's time for my break anyway. There is a side door that you can use," he points off to the left, "I will send a message to her roommate asking to speak with her about something. You have 10 minutes." he stands up and starts to head towards the front door, pulling a cigarette out and packing it against the box.

As he was walking out the door Logan's enhanced perception hears the Sec Guard mutter, "thought she said he died..."

Judge Intentions = 5 dice
1 hit

Logan's head whips around to face the guard's back as he exits the dorm building, eyes narrowed in concentration as he tries to determine if the man is serious about his muttered statement. But he can't see the guard's expression from the back. Still, its a bit of info worth noting, and Logan does just that, adding it to a running data file before heading towards the side door the guard had indicated. He also made a note of the existence of a roommate; perhaps he'd want to question her/him at a later time.

Logan payed little attention to the furnishings of the dorm, focusing more on the general layout in terms of tactical advantages/disadvantages (i.e., ambush points, entrances and exits, potential emergency routes, etc) He basically left the aesthetic conditions of the place to Ronin, as women were typically more attuned to such things.

As they made their way upstairs to the student rooms, the absence of the usual activity and incessant chatter of a college dorm was impossible to ignore. Was it some kind of collegiate holiday? Or was it more a case of midterms or finals week, causing the students to hole up in their rooms cramming? Logan didn't know, but the almost completely silent halls were a bit spooky.

Arriving at the room number their employer had provided, Logan knocks smartly, in case the roommate happens to still be inside. Barging in would cause the person to remember them more vividly than Logan wanted. As it was, their visit would probably be a topic of some casual discussion, coming as it did during such a lull in the usual goings on. It could not be helped, unfortunately. They would simply have to minimize the amount of time they spent here as much as they could while getting as much info as possible.

The side door led to a flight of stairs. They obviously don’t get that much use except as a place for some of the students to sneak a smoke or to meet in between levels. As the runners climbed to the 4th floor they heard someone coming down the stairs. Rounding the bend a cute red headed girl skidded to a stop when she Logan. She looked him up and down, “Wow, Beefcake,” She exclaimed, “You are going to have to meet me at the gym. I would kill to have some abs like…..” She trailed off as she noticed Ronin standing slightly past Logan, “Oh my God, I am so sorry, I didn’t know, are you two…?” The fumbles all over herself try to apologize. After Ronin says that she and Logan are not ‘together’ in that way the Red head’s demeanor quickly changes and she gets very flirtatious with Ronin. Ronin does something very uncharacteristic for her, and suddenly starts flirting back with the girl. Her voice loses some of her accent and her body language moves toward the seductive. She sends Logan another subvocal message, “Go ahead, I’ll be along soon”

Not long after Logan leaves the two girls in the stairwell he gets another message from Ronin, “It’s the roommate, take your time up there.”

The security lock to the room is easily bypassed by Logan. Opening the door he finds Elizabeth’s room to be a very nice Suite (for student housing, hell Logan hasn’t slept in a place this nice in a few years), two bedrooms each with its own bathroom, off of a common living area with a kitchenette. There is a musty smell to the entire suite, somewhat offset by the smell of incense coming from the common room.

The kitchenette is clean, and the cabinets are full of quick instant foods, perfect for a student to grab on the way to class. The little fridge has lots of fruits and veggies in it (no beer, as a matter of fact there is no alcohol of any kind). Stuck in the back of the fridge is a plastic container with something growing in it, written on the lid is “LJ EX-1, do not eat.” Sitting on the counter is a study guide from a culinary arts class open to a vegan recipe for chocolate chip cookies.

The living area looks like a monk’s chamber. There are a couple of yoga mats rolled up in the corner next to an alter/shrine with a statue of Buddha on it. And a short traditional Japanese table on the other side of the room. A pile of large pillows makes up the rest of the décor/furniture.

It’s pretty easy for Logan to find which room is Elizabeth’s, each door has an old fashioned dry erase board on it, one clearly says “Lizzy J’s Crib! Yo!” and is decorated with hearts, stars, and little flowers. Below the header is a note, “That creeper from two floors up stopped by again. –S”

The door opens to Logan’s touch, it has a lock but it wasn’t engaged. Her bedroom is decorated with a couple of posters showing thick forests with a setting sun, cute wildlife, and the latest boy band to come out of NAN. There are several course books on the shelves above a desk, it looks like Elizabeth is studying ecology.

There is a collage of printed out pictures showing Elizabeth with various people. There are a lot of her and the redhead from the stairway, and there are a good number of her with the same boy, obviously a boyfriend.

OOC: In the paperless society of 2072 there are no receipts in the garbage or anything that easy, give me a visual perception check so see if Logan notices anything that would be helpful.

Visual Perception = 4 dice
1 hit (glitch)

Logan moved through the dorm room looking for anything that might give a hint to Elizabeth's whereabouts. Unfortunately, however, there was nothing in the way of printed evidence to find. The place was tidy, as was typical of women, even young women. What he did not see was any sign of hasty packing or even items stacked in preparation of being shoved in an overnight bag or suitcase. Would a college girl own luggage? He didn't know.

If there were clues here, he was either missing them or didn't know them for what they were. Maybe Ronin was having better luck with the roommate. Right now they had precious little to go on. They needed some intel to track down, something to give them direction in their hunt for Miss Johnson.

Logan stared at the collage of photos tapped to the wall. He knew that there was something to learn from them but he couldn’t quite wrap his head around it. There was one picture at the edge of the collection that kept drawing his attention but he couldn’t quite put his finger on it.

Logan receives a message from Ronin, “Sarah has gone to talk to the Sec Guard, finish up. I’ll meet you outside.” Ronin seems to have returned to normal, her accent has returned and she has the no-nonsense tone that Logan is used to.

Logan's instincts will not allow him to leave the dorm room without taking the photo. It could be a lead and later examination might make its significance clearer.

"Down in 5," he subvocals to Ronin, broadcasting over their encrypted transmission channel.

Before heading back downstairs, he takes another look around the apartment, giving it a final once-over. He doesn't think anything looks out of the ordinary, not obviously anyway. So he steps back out into the hallway, pulling the door closed behind him as it was when he arrived. Again, with that authoritative demeanor, he retraces his route back to Ronin.

"Get anything from Sarah?" he asks Ronin once they're out of earshot from any would-be listeners.