Jocasta Cases the Joint
Michael
Does Jocasta want to case Dominoe next?
And Leonard, have you given any thought to giving Jocasta the Observation skill? I ask because her Perception attribute is 15: quite high and great for generic situations like avoiding ambushes (combined with her Combat Reflexes) but it seems like she would have done and is doing a lot of surveillance-type ops where Observation would be a key skill. If you were to put one character point into Observation, you'd have a 14 at Per-1.
Leonard
Yeah, she'll scope out the record company yet. First she'll check out the exterior of the building, looking around for entry and exit points, security systems, electrics, roof access, anything like that. If needed, she'll pop inside under the guise of being a stringer for one of the wire services looking to arrange an interview just to get a peek at the inside (again, egress points, security, number of staffers), and she'll definitely see what its hours are. She's not gonna try anything yet, though, and will actually try to avoid being seen by the owner if possible. If this goes off without incident, she'll see if there's a café, restaurant, or any nearby public space she can use to observe the place until it closes. (I hadn't, but I'm totally willing to do that — do I have to wait until between missions to spend points, or can I do that now?)
Michael
(I would be willing to say that Jo's blowing the dust off her old surveillance training and let you put a single point in Observation right now if you want! You've got some left over character points from after Mission 1.)
Leonard
(Sure, let's do it.)
Michael
Awesome. So let's start with an Observation roll of the exterior. That's a 14.
Leonard
>>>> SUCCESS
Made it by 5.
Michael
The Dominoe property takes up much of a city block on Seventh Street right near the Nimitz Freeway. It's a low, single-story cinderblock building, its facade painted black with purple and white highlights. A vast mural takes up much of the building's facade facing Seventh. It features of all the artists Dominoe has put out records for over the past 30 years since the war. Not a lot of faces that Jo recognizes, but at the end of the Wall of Fame, there's E.L. Moore, smiling brightly. ALL of the building's ingress points, both doors and windows, are covered in security bars. There's a loading dock at the back with a steel shutter; it looks like Dominoe does its pressing and warehousing here too. All the facilities are in a single location. Most notably, Dominoe actually has closed-circuit security cameras: one trained on the front door, one on the loading dock. The current state of technology means that there's someone inside monitoring the cameras 24/7; there's no widely or readily available consumer-level video recording tech in 1973. A small amount of business goes on while Jo is observing; every time someone coming to the front door to deliver something to the business has to be buzzed in, like a pawn shop.
I would say in addition to the front door and back dock there's probably a heavy fire-door exit on the side of the building facing the parking lot.
No camera there, though.
(Should say that Mansa's album is being pressed and distributed by the major label in LA. Dominoe just does the pressing for local bands, 45s mostly.)
Leonard
Hmm. Interesting. She'll make notes, but probably not go inside, then, since she doesn't want to be filmed if she can avoid it. If there's a guard monitoring the cameras 24/7, we might have to do a little strong-arm work, and that is gonna have to wait, so she'll just make any other observations that might be useful, and then move on … but to where? She'll consider visiting Moore's apartment if she knows he's not there, but she doesn't have any B&E tools, nor does she have anything she could place there to discredit him other than a bunch of drugs, which, I'm sure most of his fans don't care, and why waste her own supply? I think, again, she'll just pick a likely nearby spot to keep an eye on the place, especially staff and visitor comings and goings, and at some point call in to Livermore and ask Sophie or whoever else is in the office to have the rest of the street team (Roger and Mitch) meet her there when they're done with their stuff to figure out an approach to getting the tapestry after hours.
Michael
Honestly the best spot to do a medium-term surveillance is likely underneath the Nimitz overpass in the shadows … the neighborhood around Dominoe doesn't have a lot of businesses for you to surveil from … of course, if Jo brought the car she can just stay parked on a nearby street.
Leonard
Well, I assume she drove, but the Javelin is a little conspicuous, so she'll have parked it a few blocks away. Under the overpass it is! The glamorous life of an espionage agent.
Michael
All right, Jo. Give me an Observation roll when you can. I want to see how long it will take for you to cruise the hood and find Roger and/or Mitch. Roger's car is indeed parked outside the social club where Mansa is rehearsing but the club is now closed since the rehearsals are done. There are still some dudes hanging around outside though. No sign of Moore at his apartment on a quick drive-by either.
(Can also say Mitch is nowhere near the giant postal service center anymore either; we'll retcon that Livermore told Jocasta that's where he was calling from.)
Leonard
>>>> SUCCESS
(Fair enough. Made the Observation roll by 6.)
Michael
I would say that in her second cruise down Seventh, Jocasta is like "holy shit is that Mitch talking to E.L. Moore outside the sinister Ace of Spades bar? oh crap yes it is" No sign of Roger from the car, though, yet.
Leonard
Jo doesn't want to make herself memorable to Moore unless there's an advantage to it, so she'll pull into the lot wearing shades and with a hat pulled down. She's armed, of course, if anything goes south, but she really just wants to get out of this with no lingering suspicions. So if Mitch seems to be in trouble, she'll get out of the car, and if he seems to be in a deep conversation that might yield intel, she'll hang loose, but otherwise she'll just honk and wave from the passenger side at Mitch: "Hey, honey, we're needed back at the shop, want a lift?"
Michael
if he seems to be in a deep conversation that might yield intel, she'll hang loose
That seems to be the closest situation to the current one for the time being.
Leonard
She'll keep an eye on them both, then, without leaving the car, but maybe rolling down the window so Mitch can spot her if needed and she can holler or deliver an ASL message.
Michael
Cool, waiting on his Observation check.
(I should add from the side of Dominoe facing Seventh, Jo could see faintly through the tinted and barred front window a simple reception area. And I'll fold in Jo's observations of the comings and goings of visitors into any eventual Tactics roll.)