Q: Help making a PCs Familiar an Enemy Spy

[Grimlock]

Hey all,

If I've posted this in the wrong forum, forgive me, but I do believe this is where I can get assistance on a GM issue.

Background: One of my friends is playing an Atlantean Shifter with a shady back story, and he's chosen to have a dog as a Familiar. The story is that he cast "Summon and Control Canines" in an effort to escape some baddies, and after the spell expired, one of the summoned dogs stayed behind and befriended him. The player wanted to have a scenario where the dog chose to be his Familiar, rather than the other way around. I allowed it, and something popped into my head:

The PC has some pretty powerful enemies, and they want to keep tabs on him. I thought it would be interesting to have the dog modified via Bio-Wizardry to assist in spying on the PC. The Familiar Link is exactly what the villains wanted, as it guarantees that their spy will be by the character's side at all times.

The idea I had was the following:
i) An baseball-sized Eye of Eylor could be implanted in the dog, somewhere in the chest cavity, and used a "data storage" so that the dog's observations, and the target, would be recorded;
ii) a Mindlink symbiote would be implanted in the dog's brain, allowing the villain telepathic access the information store in the Eye of Eylor;
iii) The "Alter Aura" ability could be programmed into the Eye of Eylor, perhaps triggered by the Mind Block Auto-Defense of the Mindlink, allowing the psychic abilities, and elevated ISP and PPE levels, to be masked when a curious psychic tried to investigate the dog;
iv) The dog could also be Transmutated into an MDC creature, to keep the villain's spy alive.


I guess what I want to know is:
a) Could the Eye of Eylor be used in that way, as a biological data storage device?;
b) If "a" is true, could the Mindlink symbiote be used to access this information?;
c) Could the Eye of Eylor be programmed with the psychic ability "Alter Aura", in order to mask the evidence of the symbiotes?;
d) Would the telepathic link between magician and Familiar reveal the the symbiotes, even if the dog itself is unaware of the symbiotes existence?;
e) Would MDC Transmutation make the dog a Supernatural creature and, therefore, not available for a Familiar Link?


I was thinking that someone could be monitoring the PC periodically, and accessing information psychically via the Familiar. A psychic henchman could pursue the PC inconspicuously, accessing info from the Familiar telepathically via the Mindlink Symbiote, and send that information to their superiors, the villains.

A little crazy, I know, as price is no object to the villain. Would my idea work, or do the symbiotes not work that way?


Thanks in advance,

Grim

[Vrykolas2k]

I think someone would notice an Eye of Eylor in a mutt's chest and say, "Hmm, something is definately not right here."

[The Dark Elf]

If they familar link will this not break the bond between the dog at the bad guys?

You could have a bionic eye as a replacement for one of the dogs which only transmits to the enemy. You could reveal this somehow by blinding the bog in the other eye only and letting the player notice that only one eye is blind yet the vision with the dog he shares is in darkness - hmmm, definately an odd eyeball...

[Grimlock]

I think someone would notice an Eye of Eylor in a mutt's chest and say, "Hmm, something is definately not right here."

The idea would be that the Eye of Eylor wouldn't be used as an eye at all; it would be INSIDE the chest, and hooked up via Bio-Wizardry to the Mindlink Symbiote to store information. It wouldn't be used for vision at all, just storage.

Possible?

[Grimlock]

Does it have to be an eye?

Seems like anything that requires direct sight to function is going to face issues. A simple ID chip or sound-only recording device could function pretty easy, but placement would be key.

If you really need sight, perhaps a parasite or very small creature that is attached to the familiar?
-Pax

Again, the Eye of Eylor would NOT be used to see; it would just be a means of storing information.

The bad guys are Splugorth and would most likely prefer to work with Bio-Wizardry, though a cybernetic/bionic option is not out of the question, however the Familiar Link allows the Shifter and Familiar to see/hear everything the other hears. If the Familiar is approached by someone in order for them to access the information recorded cybernetically/bionically, the Shifter will be aware of them. If the information is transmitted, then you have that signal to worry about. Transmitting the info telepathically, I believe, would be the preferred means for the Splugorth.

@MegaverseTraveller: I didn't think about the possibility of creating a new Symbiote from scratch. I also don't own a copy of Splynn Dimensional Market either, so I'm not completely aware of all of my options; Does Atlantis 2 have Symbiote creation rules?

[Grimlock]

Bump?