WillGM: Some recollection: "Present" is the second day after the Analyzer was run. Last night, Ars, Jack, and UL went to the headquarters of the True Connectedness Society, where they met Shyla. Today, Nicole has an interesting conversation with Bill Handel in her math class -- I'll put up the log of that soon for those of you who weren't there. Edward: please do WillGM: Later today, Ellis will be bringing Wes to class with him to face down Carver. Fearless: and let's not forget, off-screen, Pete is infiltrating the one frat Fearless: what's the URL of the logs and the report? WillGM: http://earl.of.sandwich.net/Game_Logs/ is the logs, and earl.of.sandwich.net/AnalyzerSummary.txt is the report. The latest logs aren't up yet. WillGM: The scene I can run right now, in fact, involves Ed. Edward: one sec while I grab cola Edward: ready WillGM: This morning, Edward received an email from his boss noticing heavy activity from Ed's terminal -- naturally, the Analyzer, which was poking around every major system in the University. Ed quickly fired back an email saying, yep, there was indeed something up, and asking to meet. ----- The original email from Dave was via IRC; Ed's email response was: Dave: Yeah, that was me. I thought I'd spotted something funny in one of the older logs and went to check the hunch. I was right, by the way, and we need to talk. There's something very fishy going on and we need to get to the bottom of it in short order. -- edw ----- WillGM: Ed: An hour after you send this email (there are still several hours to go before Ellis' class), he walks in to your office. WillGM: Have we given him a name yet? Edward looks up and tosses a salute. "Welcome, oh Captain my Captain." Edward: David whatever. WillGM: "Hey Ed. Can you show me what you were talking about?" Edward nods, scoots a bit sidewards to allow him to view the monitor and calls up Lieder's records. WillGM: He pulls up a chair and sits down, looking. Edward: "At first, I noticed a couple off modification dates in the logfiles. That prompted me to check this lady out..." WillGM: He frowns. "They're very incomplete." Edward: "That ain't half of it. First off, she hasn't paid a bill since she signed up, yet for unspecified reasons deferrals keep being granted." WillGM: "So I see. She's registered for classes, too, and that shouldn't have... Ed, remind me to look into making sure the registrar's software matches University policy more closely." Edward: "So noted." Edward: "Second off, I checked on U-o'-Mich, and they don't have anyone named Laura Lieder or anything even close to that name graduating from anything in the past decade or so..." WillGM: He leans back. "This is too fishy. Usually they fake the records to pretend they've already graduated... Has anyone you've spoken to contacted her personally?" Edward: "Not yet. I only found this out day before yesterday. I wanted to talk to you first and discuss who we scream at and in what order we do the screaming." Edward: "If I'd have to guess... I'd say whoever she is and who she's working for, they're trying to create a legit paper trail starting from here. For whatever reason." WillGM: "In what order? Oh no, my young apprentice. We do it simultaneously." He grins. "I'll take it from the Registrar's office, to see what the story is there. You have someone contact Laura and see what you get from that end." Edward grins as well. "Roger." WillGM: He stands up. "Let's compare notes afterward. Can you meet me after shift this evening?" Edward nods. "My busy schedule for world domination has an opening I can work you into, no problem." Fearless: *snrk* WillGM: He nods. "Good. See you in my office, after 5." He heads out. WillGM: And the real question is... now what? :^) Edward nods back and waves. Edward: Hmm. What contact info do we have on Miss Lieder? Phone number? Edward: oh, wait... She's in the Frat House, right? Fearless: Lambda Beta Kappa House Fearless: 3124 Brainard Ln., Phila. Edward: *nod* WillGM: From where you're looking, you have the information in the summary, plus anything that's in the files the Analyzer referenced: her admissions papers, financials, her current class schedule, etc., etc. Fearless: and remember that Pete is infiltrating the brother frat, Kappa Beta Lambda... Edward: yeah, yeah. Edward phones the LBK frathouse. Edward: *click* *ditditditditditditditditdit* WillGM: *two rings* "LBK House." Edward: "Hello, this is Ed Wong from the university. Our records show a Miss... Lieder living with you. Is she there?" WillGM: "Laura? Yeah, she lives here. I think she's in class right now -- or lab, or something. She's a grad student, doing research, I think." Edward looks up her schedule. Where is she supposed to be right now, and what time does she get off it? WillGM: She is listed as taking two classes in Microbiology, one of which gets out shortly and then nothing for today. She is also doing research for one Prof. Harding. Edward: "Ah, ohkay. I'll see if I can contact her there. Just to be sure, when she comes in, could you ask her to call the network admin's office? There seems to be a problem with her e-mail account." WillGM: "Sure thing. Network admin's office?" Edward: "Yeah, you know, the room right next to all the big servers that *someone* keeps trying to run a P2P filesharing server on..." Fearless: *snrk* WillGM: "Uh... okay. I'll let her know." WillGM: *click* Edward: "Thanks. Have a nice day. *click*" Edward leans back for a second, then checks what Harding is supposed to be up to at the moment and if he's flagged as "disturbable" at the moment. WillGM: I doubt there's a "disturbable" flag with that level of precision; he has an office and access to a lab in one of the Life Sciences buildings. WillGM: At the moment, he isn't teaching scheduled classes. Fearless: ring the lab, see if he's there? Edward: His office wouldn't be conveniently close to the place Laura is studying at right now, would it? Edward rings his office first. WillGM: The class she's taking? Oh, they're probably in the same or nearby buildings. Universities in my experience tend to cluster subjects. Edward: *nod* Just making sure Fearless: biochem grad student? hrrm... a biology, chemistry, or science building depending on the class and campus. WillGM: You get his machine at the office. "Hi, this is Professor Harding. If you've reached this machine during school hours, I'm probably in the lab, at a seminar, out to lunch, or teaching -- big help that is. If it's outside school hours, I'm probably home. Leave a message at the beep." Edward waits for the beep. "Professor, this is Edward from net-ops. I'm trying to reach you concerning a problem with one of your RAs. Can you call me back at earliest opportunity? Thanks. *click*" Edward: Okay, call the lab. WillGM: A gruff male voice answers. "Retroviral lab, Harding." Edward: "Ah, professor. Edward Wong here, from Net-ops. I'm calling WRT one of your RAs. A Miss Lieder..." WillGM: "Laura, yes?" Edward: "That would be her. There seem to be some problems regarding her registration that need clearing up. Have you seen her recently?" WillGM: "Yes, she's in the lab now doing some work. Should I get her?" Edward: "Sure, if whatever she's working on won't mutate into THE CHICKEN HEART THAT ATE THE WORLD! while she's not watching it..." WillGM: You can practically hear him blink. Edward: "Oh, and you can disregard the message I left on your office answering machine." Fearless: *snicker* BA: :) WillGM: "One second." *lower volume* "Laura? Man from IT for you." *pause* WillGM: "Hello?" Edward: "Miss Lieder? This is Ed Wong from net-ops. We've been tracking some anomalies with your registration and I was hoping to see if you could answer some of the questions that cropped up..." Edward unconsciously fidgets with the yin/yang pendant he's wearing. WillGM: "Of course I can. I'm sure it's nothing." Edward: "Probably. Nonetheless, I'm obliged to check it out. You graduated with a Bach's from umich, is that correct?" WillGM: *pause* "Yes, that's correct. Microbiology." WillGM: Ed: Of course she did. How else could she be working in the lab? You *do* believe her. It's obvious. Edward: no will roll? WillGM: Dicesuke isn't in; I rolled RealCubes[tm]. Edward: Considering that I'm looking at the webpage that lists a total lack of Laura Lieders on the year she supposedly graduated? WillGM: Such things can have errors. WillGM: From the description of the Balseraph resonance in the box, I figure your own senses can override; things other people say (like documents) are less likely. Edward nods. "Ah, okay. I guess the error is somewhere else then." (hey, didn't that program say she might be a balseraph? What did balseraphs do again? Must be nothing though...) Edward: Depends on how much you'd trust official school records, I suppose. WillGM: "Why do you ask? Perhaps I should clear something up in the system." WillGM: Oh, the official school records wouldn't be available over the Web; I was figuring this was a brag page from the UMich Life Sciences Department. Edward: "Oh, there seems to be a problem with umich records... they don't have a Laura Lieder listed as graduating in the year you graduated." .o(I'm missing... something? I'll have to check later) Edward: I emailed their sysadmin for a yes/no confirm request whether she existed to make sure IIRC WillGM: "Ah? How odd. Thank you. I'll have to see to that." WillGM: Ah, yes. I remember that now. Fearless: no email address set up upon admission? WillGM: Fearless: Common sense is being very strongly overridden at the moment. ;^) Fearless: *heh* Edward: "Anyways, somehow we seem to have forgotten to set up an email address for you when you were admitted. Would you like us to set one up now?" Fearless: Balseraph. ;) WillGM: "That'd be so good of you -- I've been wanting to ask for one. Thank you. Oh... how will I know what it is?" Edward: "*clicketyclick* lld666@mail.upenn.edu. I'll have a card with your password sent over -- security and all." Edward stares at his fingers. .oO(Why did I enter that number?) WillGM: *giggle* "You're too kind." Edward: "I know. Have a good day." Edward: *click* BA: Lying, lying devil 666? :) Fearless: *snrk* Edward: common sense being overridden. Subconscious being harder to influence. Edward sits back, goes back to coding, trying to make sense of what he's thinking. WillGM: About three minutes later, Ed, you snap out of it. Edward: "..... shit." Fearless: kill the account? :) BA: "BA won't trust it. BA doesn't trust anything! ... He trusts it! Hey, BA!" BA: :) Edward spends the next two minutes cursing himself for a moron for missing the obvious AND having forewarned one of the suspects. Edward checks. Anyone else in the office right now? WillGM: You're in your personal office at the moment. Your staff (interns and co-ops, mostly) is outside in a larger bullpen. Edward: *nod* Edward calls the 'works. WillGM: *click* "Erath Stone Works, Zeke Leonard speaking." Edward: "Ey Zeke, it's Ed. Rath around?" Edward sounds annoyed at something. Definitely off his usual speech mode. WillGM: "Yeah; I could fetch him if something's up. This the thing with Wes we had for today?" Edward: "Not quite, but related." Fearless: "Well, it could be worse." "It's worse." WillGM: *pause* "Did something happen? You're awfully down on yourself right now." Edward: "Remember that list? I just confirmed one of the entries -- a Balseraph." WillGM: "I don't recall a list, no -- oh, that must have been what Rath was talking about. What happened?" Edward: "What's worse, I probably clued her in that someone's on to her. If we're lucky she'll think screwing my brain over was all she needed to do to get off clean, but I don't particularly feel like making an ass out of U and me more than once a day." WillGM: "Well, first off, go easy on yourself about it. That's what they're made to do. I've had it happen to me more than once, and it's not pretty." WillGM: "Can you come by later and give me the details?" Edward: "Yeah, I know. That doesn't actually make me feel any less a moron for falling for it. At least we know now." Edward: "Yeah. I'm gonna talk with my supervisor after work to see what he came up with from the registrar, I'll see you after that." WillGM: "Okay. Talk to you then." Edward: "ta. *click*" WillGM GMly ponders. Fearless: hrrm... Edward ICly ponders how he's going to explain this to Dave. "Yeah, she's a demon and messed with my mind while I talked to her." erm, NO. BA: :) WillGM: Bleh. It's only been an hour and a half, but I need people if I want to do scenes. We've really gone as far as we can without resolving the big two parts that we had on the table coming in to the night. William: --------------- Session End -----------------