Laghail Posted February 16, 2017 Author Report Share Posted February 16, 2017 San Cha Bar, 9th & Alice Street, Chinatown, Oakland The imperturbable image of a corporate mouthpiece, Mister Tanaka receives Vintage's objections with poise and then, waiting for an overlong beat after Vintage finished speaking; loudly slurps his gunpowder tea. "I deeply empathize with your concerns, the task of walking into an arcology, a corporate sponsored work/life habitat, and scooping up a cat, this presents more risk than your usual contracts of doing what exactly? I can concede, there will be time and effort spent, and if liquidity is your concern, we could..." He trails off to focus on his private AR workspace, fingers dancing on invisible prompts until he makes a 'flick' gesture from the wrist and a revised contract materializes in the shared AR workspace. He holds up thumbs and forefingers in twin L's and widens the gap between them to zoom into the 'remunerations' section of the contract, where a bolded block has been inserted [The consideration to be paid Contractor, as provided herein, shall be in compensation for Contractor's expenses incurred in the performance hereof, including travel, per diem, and taxes, unless otherwise expressly so provided, and payment not to exceed the sum specified and full payment due to contractors within one banking day of fulfillment of terms specified, with 10% advance payment transferred to Contractor immediately upon signing. Failure to fulfill the terms specified above shall...] and the bit after the ellipsis describing rather severe measures that amount to, 'you best think twice'. He looks up from the AR document with a please expression, "yes, that rather should do it. I recognize this team comes with some exceptional talent, and this should allow your members from out-of-town to provision themselves appropriately." Tanaka looks at Kaanta as he emphasizes the last word; the ADHD empowered simian being, well, himself. Firefox: Your discreet attempt to hack the shared AR space and original file Tanaka played with it's metadata intact was successful. That same backdoor you found last year meeting with the Sacramento Mister Johnson is still in place, thank God for industry standard software packages. You're able to tell from the geocoding and time stamp, this video was made three years ago, and was recorded at 37.78793, -122.40754. The copy that played in the shared AR space was a 3D video of just the cat, no background or context included. The original file shows the cat doing the same yawn, stretch, circle, lie down clip; but the cat is doing so in a cage housed in a laboratory setting. Kaanta: Your personal AR notification window is never boring, always NSFW - it's still going bananas with forwarded messages from Joyce. The digital secretary permissions setup was supposed to expire after an hour, but you're still getting a flow of junk mail. Almost like you shouldn't give a decker "temporary" access to your inbox. FWD: Wanted: Savvy investors for an amazing business opportunity, own a virtual timeshare! FWD: Digital Secretary role assigned: KUNTARANG_K@M0RI – time remaining: 0.99.99.99 minutes. FWD: Got a final body count, 15 dead. Johnny's burned down too, so much for cago cult juju - Phaarsyde <No Message> FWD: You may have already won this amazing sweepstakes offer! Non-humans need not apply FWD: Saw the kennel dumped on X-men turf, we can hold neutral if they run reprisals but we're not raiding across the bay - Uldred <No Message> FWD: Try the new simsense episode of Neil the Ork Barbarian! So realistic, it's almost Better Than Life! FWD: Your boy Druss be all political now? How come washed up super-stars gotta go starting a riot?? - Garthnixy <No Message> FWD: That botbottle was supposed to start a riot, corps can't generate a civilian massacre unless us SINless "started it first" - Phreaker <No Message> FWD: Squat life got you down? New rent-a-coffin units are opening in your neighborhood, never wake up to the angry ravings of a cranked out troll again! FWD: Hey, someone in Manslayer said they saw those lights in the UB arena again, weird drek going down - Skexie616 FWD: Digital Secretary role assigned: KUNTARANG_K@M0RI – time remaining: 0.99.99.99 minutes. FWD: You deserve release. Call Orksploitation Adult Chat and get talking at our green skinned goddesses FWD: R-day is too close for this drek. I have squats full of kids and elderly that I'm hiding, and those fracks want hostage guarantees?? This ain't Seattle - Uldred <No Message> 5 Quote Level 38 [TBD] Link to comment
Volki Posted February 16, 2017 Report Share Posted February 16, 2017 "Yes, that rather should do it. I recognize this team comes with some exceptional talent, and this should allow your members from out-of-town to provision themselves appropriately." Tanaka looks at Kaanta as he emphasizes the last word; the ADHD empowered simian being, well, himself. Kaanta looks up in surprise as he removes his previously occupied finger from his nose. "Hey, I'm as classy as the next slag when it comes to getting Jing." He flicks a booger as an accent on the end of his statement. "Well I've heard enough, I'm in." Kaanta said as he walked up to the AR contract and manipulated his name and account numbers into the open fields. While he waited around for the natural conclusion of the meeting he spent his time sifting through a steady stream of AR trash being forwarded from various sources. FWD: Wanted: Savvy investors for an amazing business opportunity, own a virtual timeshare! -Message Deleted- FWD: Digital Secretary role assigned: KUNTARANG_K@M0RI – time remaining: 0.99.99.99 minutes. FWD: Got a final body count, 15 dead. Johnny's burned down too, so much for cago cult juju - Phaarsyde <No Message> FWD: You may have already won this amazing sweepstakes offer! Non-humans need not apply -Message Deleted- FWD: Saw the kennel dumped on X-men turf, we can hold neutral if they run reprisals but we're not raiding across the bay - Uldred <No Message> FWD: Try the new simsense episode of Neil the Ork Barbarian! So realistic, it's almost Better Than Life! -Message Deleted- FWD: Your boy Druss be all political now? How come washed up super-stars gotta go starting a riot?? - Garthnixy <No Message> FWD: That bottle was supposed to start a riot, corps can't generate a civilian massacre unless us SINless "started it first" - Phreaker <No Message> FWD: Squat life got you down? New rent-a-coffin units are opening in your neighborhood, never wake up to the angry ravings of a cranked out troll again! -Message Deleted- FWD: Hey, someone in Manslayer said they saw those lights in the UB arena again, weird drek going down - Skexie616 FWD: Digital Secretary role assigned: KUNTARANG_K@M0RI – time remaining: 0.99.99.99 minutes. FWD: You deserve release. Call Orksploitation Adult Chat and get talking at our green skinned goddesses -Forwarded to folder Spank Bank in the Fap directory- FWD: R-day is too close for this drek. I have squats full of kids and elderly that I'm hiding, and those fracks want hostage guarantees?? This ain't Seattle - Uldred <No Message> "Hmm I definitely need to link up with Abdul and see if he has any more information about this job or if he knows anything about user Uldred. If I know my boy Abdul he is always in the same spot around payday." Once the meeting was over Kaanta sent out a broadcast message to the new team -Gone to pull on a few threads, I'll be at Trouble Coffee in 24hrs which is a relatively close location to Shiawase Arcology so it should serve as a good regrouping spot. If shit hits the fan link me at KUNTARANG_K@M0RI -- Kaanta - Kaanta made his way down 8th street toward Cock-a-Doodle cafe. If there was anywhere, Abdul would be on pay day, a strip club would be a safe bet. Just to be safe Kaanta sent out a quick message for him to meet him there in 20 minutes. 6 Quote Link to comment
DarK_RaideR Posted February 17, 2017 Report Share Posted February 17, 2017 Vintage takes a closer look at the revised contract terms. "Taxes? You are killing me, Mr. Tanaka..." Kaanta jumps in and signs up before Vintage can finish, but ever the man to turn a situation to his advantage, he simply smiles. "As you can see, my associates appreciate the extra effort. I'll be a professional and sign this up, but there's one last question I'd like to ask." Vintage fills in his credstick info on the contract, using the time for extra dramatic effect. "Is there a deadline for completing the contract? I mean, we could take our time and prepare, but we'd hate to betray your generosity and drain your funds on that 'per diem' basis." Having done his fair share of Johnsoning back when he was a corp man, Vintage knows there's always hidden terms and info in these negotiations, so he might as well fish for them by looking like he's doing Tanaka a favor. Easing back into his chair, Vintage toys with his commlink as he waits for an answer or the rest of his group to chime in. To User: Reese Frenzy Message: Corps out for the little man again. They wrecked Johnny's tonight. Any idea on the body count? To User: Shades Message: Mitsuhama dropping the drones now? I thought they brought the troops when they wanted to go hunting for pointy ears To User: Mistress_Makiko Attachment: CameraPhoto00001_Tanaka Message: Look familiar? To User: El_Santo Message: Johnny's got burned down. Word on the streets about retaliation yet? To User: Sickle Message: Your boys around Johnny's tonight? What's the feedback? 5 Quote Lvl 60 Multitasker Baking (2)🧁, Charisma (4)🕶️s, Cooking (7)🍳, Fitness (2)💪💪, Gourmet Cooking (3), Handiness (0), Media Production (6)🎬🎬🎬🎬🎬, Mixology (3)🍸, Research & Debate (1)📖, Video Gaming (3)🎮🎮, Wellness (2) Link to comment
Laghail Posted February 17, 2017 Author Report Share Posted February 17, 2017 San Cha Bar, 9th & Alice Street, Chinatown, Oakland As first Kaanta signs the contract and then Vintage coyly enters the banking information, Tanaka relaxes visibly, until Vintage drops the hammer and asks about timing. "Deadline? Oh, you know, the standard timeframe, finished by this weekend. It's Wednesday night, so wrap this up in the next 3-4 days so business on Monday can start up with, uh, with my friends' beloved cat safely returned." Recovering smoothly, Tanaka flicks his banking transfer window into the the shared AR workspace, the full 10% advance sum blinking with the tag "transfer pending". Carefully not looking at the paused transaction, Tanaka makes eye contact with the remaining members of the group one at a time and clarifies, "this isn't a deal with the empire, that world ended years ago. Simple business men needing professionals to handle a complicated errand. Can I clarify anything to make the decision easier?" Kaanta: A short walk takes you down Alice street and west on 8th through the Oakland downtown. The two and three story downtown of 50 years ago has been replaced with neglected skyscrapers and drone built mid-rises, neither style has been kept up with only metahumans and non-Japanese living in the area during the Japanese protectorate, and the ravages of armed action that ended the protectorate have left piles of rubble where buildings stood. Combined with the mini-red light district on Washington street, the whole effect is like ye olde east berlin in the bay - poor but sexy. Cock-a-doodle café is on the lower floors of one of the drone constructed rectangles on Washington, completely un-differentiated from it's neighboring grey rectangle buildings, except several business owners have tried to bring back the classic Oakland Victorian row house feel by applying a cheap, inflatable façade over the lower three stories. The effect is only slightly tarnished the neon billboards plastered along the fourth story and higher, and it's hard to tell if the blinking advertisements are more garish in AR or meatspace. As a low rent meatspace adult venue, the café is built in a faraday cage and it's patrons know to expect their AR lives to pause until they leave. This feature is perversely popular with the hacker / otaku-lite crowd; being forced to unplug is practically it's own fetish. You're enough of a regular at the café (business purposes, mostly) that you have a passcode for the door that auto transmits as you walk up the steps. The door pops open, a brief "signal lost" symbol flashes on your HUD, and then it's just you and your local storage. A short hallway lets onto a small bar area with faded carpets and sagging seating. Three kinds of people drink in the waiting room at cock-a-doodle - jittery sarariman first timers, 20 minutes early of their "massage" and stocking up on liquid courage before they brave the exotic orkland flavor; congenial regulars that make small talk over a drink, comfortable with the fleshpot that's so pedestrian it's practically wholesome; and finally, Big Dai. The doublewide red oni works his endless managerial chores on an actual handheld tablet at a table by the window, always wrangling refills for his massive cup of soycafe from Jun, stout blue oni woman in a high neckline and sensible heels behind the counter. Jun sees you enter and tiredly waves you over to a barstool. A nervous first timer would have been your neighbor, but the round eared wageslave is already at the limit of his courage and can't handle mixing with an uncommon metavarient like you; he takes his beer and moves to one of the tables to wait out the last minutes of his ork-flesh virginity. "Hey Kaanta, it's been a minute since we've seen you in here, you looking for Abdul?" Jun asks as she pours you a double of whiskey. Seeing you absent mindedly toggle your AR payment icon without remembering the need for an physical cred stick, Jun laughs at your chagrinned look and corrects you. "Special-K, you know the first one is on the house for you. Don't think we forgot last summer and that fragging breeder with the spy cams that you took care of. But anywho, Abdul is downstairs in the group sauna and it's a slow Wednesday so he might be a while. I could waive the weeknight entrance fee if you wanted to head down. Hell, a furry halver like you would probably draw a decent spectator crowd, I should pay you! But if you're hungry, we got some kebabs in yesterday. Nurisoy, but they got the chems right and they taste almost like the real thing. Or if you wanted to head upstairs, I think Kou-Kun could fit you in. Today is a cream-n-dream special, and Kou has a decent purple Buddha in the hookah too. None of that harsh drek we pack in for the weekend tourist crowd." Regardless of which option you chose to kill time, a gentlemonkey never tells, you and Abdul are nursing mugs of soycaf back at the bar a few hours later. "You took a meeting with a Tanaka at San Cha?? Abdul's steam flushed dwarf face wrinkles in puzzlement over the incongruity. "You know that's a Triad spot, right omae? And he was asking you to bust into the Shia-pet for a cat?? Sorry, I mean the Shiawase arc in west-town, you seen it? It's not the biggest arcology, this ain't seattle, but they went all green in the 60's and this thing has plants growing out the hoop. Looks like one of those freaky 5th world statues, a china-pet or whatever. Didn't all our granddads have one? But so ka, so ka, the point is this ain't a day-pass arcology. You sign up for life and only two ways a chummer gonna jander out of there," the black bearded dwarf sticks two sausage thick fingers out of the sleeve of his human sized terry-cloth robe, "one, you get promoted high enough you can write yourself day passes. And unless you're a flat-tooth breeder, that ain't happening. And two, you die. Then you're cremated, they use your ashes to fertilize the onsite crop gardens, eat your remains after they're converted to vegetable matter, and crap you into the closed-cycle plumbing system, and you never leave; even post mortem. So I lied about the second way." Abdul folds his index finger down to flip you the bird with his remaining digit. He rocks back in his seat and brays laughter, only to cut it off with a wince and slide out of his seat to stand. "Lemme dig around a bit and get back to you if I find anything. Maybe send me those vids you pulled, or at least some face captures, and I can run the data through my sources. You'll owe me one, but I know you're good for it." Vintage: While you run last minute pressure tactics on Tanaka, notifications scrawl across your smart lens as your sources feed you what they can. From: Reese Frenzy Message: Depends on who you ask, 15 or 50, either way it's a smaller reprisal. Heard you lost your favorite pub, haha, you geezers and your froo-froo tiki drinks! From: Shades Message: Yeah, another day, more Troubles drek. Standard corporate math - kill one of us and we'll throw a militant kill squad in the most volatile neighborhood in orktown, just so when we play the footage from their smartlink cams of them shooting tusker kids, we can smugly say the bodycount was provoked. Fight the power. From: Mistress_Makiko Attachment: CameraPhoto00001_Tanaka Message: Yeah, free-lancer. He's a suit for hire, if you're taking his meeting, don't lend him money - you never seeing him again. If he mentions friends, he lying. He's not cheap, but he's not bad, just for sale in every sense. Actually makes him popular. Yaks, Shiawase, Mob, out of towners, anyone could pay him. But you never replied about Vegas, you owe me and I know you seen that Halloweener geezer before; he from your first life? From: El_Santo Message: Hey Vinny, how come you only write when you need something?? You need to come by for sunday dinner again, my abuela misses your sorry hoop. But yeah, drek went down, this morning in Nob Hill, some wageslaves get themselves geeked. So some botbottle rolls up and hands out retaliation in McClymond's, and these locos are saying that some washed up ballplayer come and cut they hoops up, saves everyone. Then talk is a flying monkey is pulling fire out of his ass, the fragging ancients be roadhauling someone, and some chicka be riding a troll out of the wreckage?? Chummers gotta be drinking less. Or more. They are just not drinking the right amount. To User: Sickle Message: Yeah we were around, we were so around, our fragging gun barrels are still hot. Phreaker took a few rounds but he's stable, those old school streetsam's don't go down easy. The hotheads on a few turfs are talking about marching up the bridge, and we geezers gonna spend all night calming them down. Bad time for humans to be on the streets in orktown, but all the bangers don't gotta worry about crossing turflines tonight. Nothing makes street peace like a common enemy. 6 Quote Level 38 [TBD] Link to comment
DarK_RaideR Posted February 20, 2017 Report Share Posted February 20, 2017 Still waiting for the rest of his team to play their cards and sign the deal, Vintage deals with the load of messages coming up like a snowstorm To User: Reese Frenzy Message: I don't drink that fancy coctail drek, Reese, you know that. Not a lot of decent places to swing one in Orcland and I just can't stand those stuck up Laésa folks at the 10th & Wood. Let me know when you've grown past adolescence and drinking soybeer like the orc rock star you are, maybe we can go together for a pub crawl and find us a new spot, maybe buy you your first whiskey even. To User: Shades Message: That was retaliation for the Nob Hill shootings? Never thought Mitsuhama would spend that much to avenge a bunch o' wageslaves. Well they got their vengeance alright and some nice shots for the MCT evening news. Stick it to the man. To User: Mistress_Makiko Message: Nope, had a job in Seattle a while back. Standard Break & Extract. I needed a distraction so I reached out to the 'weeners, figured they know how to start a riot plus any evidence of our presence would literally go up in flames. Turned out our stealth expert wasn't that stealthy when instead of a smoke grenade, he threw a damn phosphorus grenade through the entrance. Well, that was his target anyway, 'cause the throw was terrible. We pulled out and aborted the mission, geezer was my contact to arrange calling in the 'weeners and he also pulled me out of there. Guess he respected me for taking them chem burns? Thank heavens for reconstructive surgery. To User: El_Santo Message: I write when I need something because when it isn't business I visit you in person, esse. We totally need to hang and watch AztecLucha again. You make the tacos and I'll bring the tequila. For now I gotta know 'bout 'em shootings. Any clue who the shooters or victims were? To User: Sickle Attachment: ContactData_Patch Message: You're wise for not letting folks charge to their slaughter. That's just what the megas would love. Give my regards to Phreaker, I'm sending you the ComCode of someone you can call if he needs help. Tell 'em Vintage sent you. To User: Multipass Message: Time's short, so I won't ask for a front door ID. Gimme the time and cost of a small-time backstage pass to the Shiawase arcology. Janitor or handyman, I guess. 5 Quote Lvl 60 Multitasker Baking (2)🧁, Charisma (4)🕶️s, Cooking (7)🍳, Fitness (2)💪💪, Gourmet Cooking (3), Handiness (0), Media Production (6)🎬🎬🎬🎬🎬, Mixology (3)🍸, Research & Debate (1)📖, Video Gaming (3)🎮🎮, Wellness (2) Link to comment
starpuck Posted February 20, 2017 Report Share Posted February 20, 2017 Morrighan looks over the information showing on her AR, lifting a loose shoulder in a shrug. "A lot of players for a single cat. But hey, that can work out favorably. Besides, we got Captain oh my Captain over here. He can round up the kids and hand out assignments." She casts a grin toward the more tenured elf (Vintage) and then offers her signature on the contract. Once the business side of things seems to be wrapping up, she leans back against the wall she's standing near and folds her arms loosely across her chest. She does give Sally a look, curious to see if the other is going to hop onto this train. [Sorry guys! I'm playing the quiet follower type since this setting is so new to me. I'll get more in depth when I start settling into the atmosphere more!] 6 Quote Level 83 ~*~ Ranger Deviant Art Gallery || YouTube Channel Current Challenge "It is difficult. All things worth keeping are." Thane Krios - Mass Effect 2 "Maybe it's not as simple as you imagined, Seeker." Varric Tethras Dragon Age 2 "Staying within your limits is no fun, Ryder." Vetra Nyx - ME: Andromeda Spoiler ::PAST CHALLENGES:: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41 | 42 43 | 44 | NEIN | 45 | 46 | 47 | 48| 49 | 50 | 51 | 52 | 53 | 54 | 55 | 56 | 57 | 58 | 59 | 60 | 61 62 | 63 | 64 | 65 | 66 | 67 | 68 | 69 | 70 | 71 | 72 | 73 | 74 | 75 | 76 | 77 | 77.5 | 78 | 79 | 80 | 81 82 | 83 | 84 | 85 | 86 | 87 | 88 | 89 | 90 | 91 | 92 | 93 | 94 | 95 | 96 | 97 | 98 | 99 | 100 Link to comment
Broba Fett Posted February 21, 2017 Report Share Posted February 21, 2017 Pendergast shakes his head politely at Tanaka and quietly signs the document. He then leans over to speak to Vintage while the others do the same. "Got any buddies who can get us in there quick and quiet? I think we're all deferring to your experience on this one. Let me know how I can best be of service." 7 Quote Spoiler Currently... Playing (Video Game): RDR2 DMing: Tyranny of Dragons. First session 11/29. Broba Fett tracks em down. Facebook (Personal) Facebook (Author Page) Past Challenges: 13,12,11,10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1 Link to comment
Teros Posted February 21, 2017 Report Share Posted February 21, 2017 On 2/14/2017 at 10:51 AM, Wild Wolf said: find our lost cat. Teros grimaced at the thought of this striking a parallel to an ancient film called 'Men In Black'. On 2/15/2017 at 5:25 PM, Laghail said: "An inconsequential thing, except my friends carelessly left an important data fob clipped on to the beast's collar." The satyr only continued to smirk and mouthed 'Orion's belt' as the conversation continued. Teros had many acquaintances, but very few people he could call 'friend'. Messaging Reese Frenzy, he posted about the recent shoot-out that occurred and asked for details. Word travels fast and most likely Reese knew all-too-well what had transpired. Since the group split in the thick of it and some time had passed, an actual account was probably already known. Who knows which media outlet would spin it differently, though. Honest and true news was a relic of the past. These days, every source was carefully crafted to pander to their shrieking demographic, only further dividing the population - fingerpointing, blaming, shaming, and demonizing each other as a distraction. Restless in his head, the satyr also sent out a message to BTO about what had happened as well as a very short synopsis of the job. He would spare messaging the others. Teros preferred face-to-face and the alternative communication method. With the details being ironed out, Teros signed the contract. The nagging feeling in the back of his mind kept reminding him of some job he did with Vintage. How long ago was it, though? 'They'll probably defer to him' the satyr reflected 'we each have our roles.' 6 Quote Link to comment
Laghail Posted February 21, 2017 Author Report Share Posted February 21, 2017 San Cha Bar, 9th & Alice Street, Chinatown, Oakland As the group digitally inks the contract Tanaka allows a modest smile to color his face. "Such a pleasure beginning a business relationship with such a group of prof--" He's interrupted by Kaanta grumping out of his chair and leaving the table while muttering about strip clubs. "... group of metahumans." He finishes smoothly. "I'll be in contact by matrix, but please let me know when you have my dear friends beloved pet. Ah the extremes people will go to on behalf of their silly cats." Shaking his head bemusedly, as if commiserating on the ridicules lengths you're both being put to on your anonymous employers behalf, Mister Tanaka closes the meeting by covering the bill with the flourish of his hand signing an invisible payment window in his private AR. He stands, offers a respectful bow and vanishes behind the nearest pale yellow curtain. Almost immediately, a group message appears in your inbox. From: Joyce Cho So very pleased to hear your meeting went well and you are under contract with the very respectable Mister Tanaka. It makes my heart warm to know he very special needs are being cared for. As runners that I have personally vouched for, I would like to say that I am invested in your success. If you need anything, please consider yourself welcome, at Cho Holistic Solutions. As for the unfortunate business at Johnny's, I would like to thank you as a group, and Mr Druss and Mr Kaanta specifically for your wise planning in making a distraction, and dismantling one of those horrid drones so quickly. Many lives were saved because of your gallant effort. Vintage From: Reese Frenzy Message: It's a bad time to be a keeb these days - Laésa got their ears out of joint over snotnosed ancients, but the other go-gangs won't leg for the outfit. If I knew you were into that sorta thing, or had any clout with the green Mohawk crowd, I could recommend you as a useful go between before things get to ugly down between the shipyards and the freeway. Yeah, 10th and Wood is a bit over the top these days. Any place where you need to run a spetherial translation-soft just to order the same goddamn soybeer as you could at rhinoburger, it's too much. I get it, we're elven, but do we need to be quite so elven? Anyway, if you're serious about wasting both our time playing mr social hour, I wouldn't say no to checking out that new Zehphyr place. Astral bar, talismonger, and mage space; like an arcane lab for rent kinda deal. Laésa, but they're more trying to shit on the welcome mat before any other outfit can. And they're in Hecate turf so it gets pretty damn quantum who's calling what shots when the local wiz-gang is half of the client base. Remember that high planes drek you were on about before your stint on ice? I know half of that was just you trying to impress Megan, but some of the way these dandelion witches talk, reminds me of the old you. From: Mistress_Makiko Message: I've a hell a time finding that ganger, the reconstructive surgery with a fake SIN would explain some of it. Thanks. I'll be in Oakland next month for a Lone Star subcontracting gig. Call me. From: El_Santo Message: You mean the Oakland crew that iced the wageslaves? No, the reprisal was too fast for it to get around, and now the body count is so high, might look bad for a gang be bragging they caused this. My money is on manslayers taking credit tomorrow anyway, but I says Stonewall crew actually did it. Buncha queers, salaryman roll through looking for a side of ghetto beef, shit could go down. From: Multipass Message: I respect a man in a hurry. Janitor credentials: It's not a thing. No externals are in that place. Shiawase doesn't hire uglies, unless they work your side of the bay, and unless us filthy trogs and keebs voluntarily imprison ourselves in their high-rise labor camp. Digital brochure attached, for a show of good faith. Attachment: ShiawaseArcology-LiveWorkThrive (the attached brochure plays an opening sequence of soft music and consists of split screen documentaries on each side of the window. Actors on the right live out a slightly dramatized version of sprawl life. The grays are grayer and the heartbreak is extra, well, heartbreaking; but it's nothing that an Oakland resident hasn't seen on a daily basis. On the left, a conspicuously all meta cast live out an affirming lives of safety and personal growth within an earth tone complex. Scenery porn is redolent with spilling vines strung between open air elevated walkways, quiet echo's of laughing children at play, and multistory interior walls of planters as a backdrop to the group hugs in every scene. Very little hard information is presented, and the muted dialogue that only conveys the tones of angry street warfare on one half, and vibrant community life on the other. The interactive portion of the brochure allows the users to steer a virtual camera around the first floor entry hall, and a blinking prompt allows a VR user to jack in and have the same experience on the matrix.) Teros As you finalize your end of the contract and various members of the group peel out, maybe you stay and finish some tea peacefully, maybe it gets awkward how long you're holding a table. Maybe you wander to a lower rent watering hole, or brave the streets to get back to your squat for a few hours sleep. Maybe you even headed towards one of the gyms for a spot of training. The Green Cube in downtown, or the Crucible in Acorn, both are intense training centers that unofficially cater to adepts and bioware street samurai, but would certainly pose a challenge to a brawny satyr like yourself. On your way to wherever you're headed, you would have gotten the following: From: Reese Frenzy - The McClymond's massacre? Yeah, I got something, but I need a favor. Goods first - lotta chatter about the shootout, 15-50 is my best guess for bodycount in McClymonds, but similar beatdown went down in Pill Hill earlier this evening two. Friend of mine was onsite and stopped counting bodies after 20, and that was just in the street. The Hill Dragons were napping or something, because, not only did those cheapo drones actually get out of there intact, someone opened fire on the drones from inside an apartment building. Kazama doctrine lets the triple A's invade buildings if they've been provoked, or if they're "defending company assets". Means they did a floor by floor harassment sweep of one of the Pill Hill highrise squats and it wasn't pretty. Lot of metahumans "accidentally" fell to their death while being "identified". No one claimed responsibility for the geek MCT wageslaves that started this all, but this is the worst reprisal I've seen since '72. Couple vids attached from Pill Hill, don't say I don't dish. Anyway, I'm looking for word of this new drug on the street, supposed to look like deepweed, but it hits harder and it's not just for magic types. Chatter is some uyghur in Chinatown are trying to find distribution for this drek, but the families on both sides of the bay won't touch it after the Tempo bloodbath. You hear anything about a burqa babe with funky ganj, you ping me first, so ka? Attachment: <P1LL|-|1LL$|-|0071|\|9\/1D> Attachment: <PHfallingbodiesNOTMADEUPvid> From: BTOjuice - Hoi small-fry, what you doing up so late, past a little trog's bedtime! No no, but you getting hired to pickup a cat? That's bassass goatboy, any day now you getting a real job, like walking a dog! Haha! Then maybe you man enough I letting you ride with my crew! Shiapet? That building right off Nimitz in the Shipyards? We cutters is free, never lock us up in no leafy jail. That setup supposed to turn a sprawlrat like you into a Shaikujin with pointy ears. Rat checks in, never checks out, maybe works a minute or two before they bury you. Only way one us sprawl filth gunna work for the man. Plus, that Wolves turf. Cutters, fragging ancients, any other go-gangers stay on the freeways, we trash may any streetgangers that get on two wheels. But you take a go-gang crew on settled turf? That's a war omae. Cutters cool with a good war, just want more than a fragging pussy-cat before I start one. You gotta ticket out of there before the weekend? Ciao goatboy 5 Quote Level 38 [TBD] Link to comment
RedStone Posted February 22, 2017 Report Share Posted February 22, 2017 Sally returns Morrighans shrug in kind as she signs off on the job. A simple B&E with a live target was right up her alley after all those snatch jobs she did for Officer Beef. A cat wasn't exactly the same as pulling battered little kids from their abusive homes in the dead of night, but it had been awhile since she got to work with Morrighan and it seemed like a quick and easy nuyen. Catching Morri's eye, Sally flashes open the book with a mischievous wink and a raise of eyebrows that asks - you in? There was some time to kill after all, and not being awakened, a little deepweed wouldn't do much more to Sally than a few rounds of hurlg, though it would probably take Morri a bit deeper down the well. With or without her something was getting smoked right after this meeting... 4 Quote ~Peace Be The Journey~ one - two - three - four - five - six - seven- eight - nine - ten - eleven - twelve - thirteen - fourteen - fifteen - sixteen - seventeen - eighteen - nineteen - twenty - twenty one - twenty two - twenty three - twenty four - twenty five - twenty six - twenty seven - twenty eight - twenty nine - thirty - thirty one - thirty two - thirty three - thirty four - thirty five - thirty six Link to comment
DarK_RaideR Posted February 22, 2017 Report Share Posted February 22, 2017 Vintage hastily files Joyce's message into a Read/Spam graveyard folder and continues texting his contacts To User: Reese Frenzy Message: I got a lady in my crew for a job these days, she rolls with the Ancients alright. Name's Morrighan, in case it rings any bells. Might be a chance to get on her good side, have her chip in for me like you do. I'll keep you posted. As for Zephyr, I may as well take you up on your offer. Magefolk are marginally more bearable than Laesa and way more bearable than reminiscing about Megan. You just had to go there, didn't you? To User: Mistress_Makiko Message: Lone Star? Alright, I won't judge but I'm not exactly happy either. Runners gotta do what runners gotta do. Just so you get it right, it was me that needed the surgery. Haloweener got away with the skin on his behind and even if he didn't, I'd expect him to wear any burn scars with pride. If you want him that bad, I could try digging him up, pave the way for your arrival to glorious Oakland, so ka? To User: El_Santo Message: Regardless who did, I'm hoping nobody starts a turf war over it. Racial hatred's got everyone united for now, but once that boils down and we get back to the everyday stuff, it might just get ugly. So what's your take on the story, just losers slumming it out or was it a setup to justify a sweep? To User: Multipass Message: So you're telling me only way in is to pose as a settler dreaming of the arc life? in that case, getting in might be easier than I thought but getting out will be a lot harder than expected. Finally done with messaging, for now at least, Vintage records another message for the entire team and sends it out to all involved. He knows some won't be paying attention at first and will probably need to come back and listen to it all again, so instead of starting a call, he decides to record and send everything in a voice file. "Good job keeping it together in front of Tanaka, team. It's time for everyone to pull your weight and do your legwork. Information's the name of the game and the more we know going in, the better our chances of completing the mission and come out in one piece are. I expect the place to be warded astrally and guarded by spirits, so astral surveillance will give us more trouble than info. Firefox and Kaanta can check out the Matrix, dig up blueprints of the arcology, plans of its safety measures, cameras, drones, turrets, anything you can find. Reach out to your contacts people, see what you can find out. I already got info on who Tanaka is, the body count at Johnny's, a shooting on Pill Hill that might have triggered the drone assault, gang reactions and relationships in the aftermath, a potential retaliatory strike and the only legit way to get in the arcology clean. Try to catch up." Smiling to himself in satisfaction, Vintage closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. Now to check out what his contacts came back with. 4 Quote Lvl 60 Multitasker Baking (2)🧁, Charisma (4)🕶️s, Cooking (7)🍳, Fitness (2)💪💪, Gourmet Cooking (3), Handiness (0), Media Production (6)🎬🎬🎬🎬🎬, Mixology (3)🍸, Research & Debate (1)📖, Video Gaming (3)🎮🎮, Wellness (2) Link to comment
Laghail Posted February 22, 2017 Author Report Share Posted February 22, 2017 Vintage From User: Reese Frenzy Message: God, foot in mouth syndrome. She was quite the woman. Let me buy the first round at Zephyr, maybe tomorrow night? Bring Morrighan - I haven't heard of her, but that's a plus in this sort of conversation. Plus, she's supposed to be awakened? Yeah, it could be interesting to get her talking with a Laésasa. From User: Mistress_Makiko Message: Girl has gotta eat Omae. Don't worry though, supporting wet work on some sleazy gangers, this job is practically a good deed. Oh you got your face burned off? No drek you got all quiet when I flashed that pic. Confession: I read that wrong and figured there was a connection. Last I was in Orklands, I showed your face around a few 'weener thugs. I wanted to get the events straight for a bounty I was chasing, but I wasn't feeling the tact. Halloweeners being the diplomats that they are, you might stay out of their neck of Oakland Chinatown until that simmers down. Sorry. From User: El_Santo Message: No, you reading this wrong, this ain't a turf war going down, this just one more chapter of the troubles. Gangs 'round here, we got skirmishes sure, cutters hating on the rangers, spikes hating on everybody, but no one join up with a crew that don't count coup. Your crew geek round ear sarariman, take a tie or watch off the body for a trophy? Maybe kids look at you stepping with more respect, maybe the crew across the street don't say nothing if you need to cross. Killing japs is orkland life, is orkland religion. No one wondering why someone killed wageslaves, just wondering who. From User: Multipass Message: What ever you plan, I'm always good for fresh SIN's, for a price. 2 Quote Level 38 [TBD] Link to comment
Laghail Posted February 22, 2017 Author Report Share Posted February 22, 2017 Pendergast Maybe feeling left out of the digital information frenzy happening around you with your crewmates, your com decides to forward a slew of messages once you toggle off your 'in meeting' setting. The following scroll past on your AR feed: From User: ThinkandGrowRich - Are you tired of just scraping by? Click SUBSCRIBE to receive daily tips on attracting weath. Break the cycle! From User: HumanisWatchlist - Policlub members Luke Graevel killed in San Francisco shooting today. Hit completed by Stonewall Avengers member Tyrone Schwitzer using a suicide bomb belt, after carjacking Graevel and forcing the victim to transport them across the Bay. Other casualties did not include additional Humanis members. From User: Whitecastle - It's time to give your tastebuds the loving they deserve - hand curated soybeef patties on fireroasted, glutenfree artisanal buns, delivered to your door daily. BurgerBox - Get Yours. From User: GospelMarta - Jeremy, I got a prayer circle together here at the Bay Community Fellowship to combat the dark powers of racism and hatred that have been flying across the bay. I know this ain't your faith yet, but the almighty be working on you boy. Last time we had us a Humanis wolf in our midst, you came in and did some righteous killing to defend the flock. Surely is hard times gathering for prayer and trying to work miracles with that "Shiawase Arcology" across the street. Fancy name for what they should be calling "great temple of evil and bondage!" We stand out there and witness and protest, and that turns back some of the spiritually blind, who would trade their freedom for a loaf of bread. Praise be, you taught us those rituals to open the eyes of the blind. I don't care if you call it magic, it's a gift to be used for the kingdom! Anyhow, is there a chance you could come down Thursday and join us in a breakfast prayer circle, or a "ritual" as you call it, ya hard headed heathen. With a 12 member to complete the prayer circle, the power of the light will be strong indeed! We intend to peer behind the curtain of deception and walk in the spirit and make war on that temple of mammon! From User: NPR - Classical music has been proven to increase IQ and promote calm in its listeners. Tune in for soothing broadcasts of DeadMau5 and Avicii; classical music good for the children and the elderly. From User: Jenna - Gerongee or Irenis, it is time you must chose. We've talked at length Pendergast, rare for me to invest my time in a goro, but your exploits in the Tir were handled with a deft hand. But saving my life isn't enough, raen lives are long for a reason, and mine is already pledged to the Rethen. The only way I could continue hearing your goronit suit is if you entered my service in some capacity. No, not a full milessaratish, I wouldn't cage a wild bird. But something. One of the blood is not free to squander time on inferiors. If you would serve me in any capacity, meet my agents in the astral at the summit of Mt Livermore at midnight. You'll recognize their face. OOC Note: @Broba Fett if you wanted to run with either plot tangent, you could write about your half of the plot. Say for the first one, astral projecting out to the island, Pendergast's view of the spirit world, any precautions he took scouting the area in the spirit, any hostile spirits he met and dealt with, or even flesh out your relationship with Jenna in a flashback. The second one you could narrate the trip across town, negating any gang or law enforcement hassles. Even narrate what circumstances led Jeremy to teach a coven of Christian ork witches a mind control spell. Only write the bits that sound fun to you, handwave and scene skip past any boring parts. 4 Quote Level 38 [TBD] Link to comment
Leigh Posted February 23, 2017 Report Share Posted February 23, 2017 Firefox reads though the contract and submits her account information and her digital signature in the area provided and then slips back into the Matrix, her fingers swishing through various command actions as she puts her skills to work. She fires off a few messages at first and sifts through the dregs of various Cat Videos that keep spamming her feed now that she has probed the shared space for the data on that video file. "Really needed to un-sub to iCanHasCheeseburger one of these days... I've seen all of these at least twice now." she mutters quietly and then smirks as a classic video clip pops up in the VR foreground. To User: Cosmetology_Queen Message: Hey babe! I need to get my hands on a new stick of Vicious Trollop and if you've got a bottle of the polish I'll grab that too. Had to trade them off tonight. :'( Oh! And Sequins and Silk is getting a new shipment of tops next Thursday, I think Simone is working so we can go through their 'damages' pile before they put out the new line on Friday Call me! To User: Kaanta hey Donkey Kong! Star Fox here, I dunno about you but this girl wants to know what the deal with Mister Kitty here is. Seems he was in a cage in some freaky lab when they shot that trideo clip and I wanna know what was on that fob, might be able to copy it and sell it off for a little side bonus. You in? I could use an extra set of digital hands in breaking through some firewalls and poking around where we aren't invited. ^_~ With a wave of her hand, she blinks a few times and looks at anyone who might be left at the table. "I'm going to head over to Cho Holistics for a while, I figure they're linked to our Tanaka, so I imagine I'll be able to find something useful over there, or at least find some dirt on our employer in case drek hits the fan and we need to ammo to save our asses." she smiles and gets up from her seat. "Anyone care to tag along?" she asks nobody in particular as she heads for the door. Her glasses slipped down over her eyes again as she starts running a low level tracking attempt on Goodwin's MySafePet collar, searching for his known locations for the last few days. She keeps to a slow walking pace, using her peripherals to keep from walking into people, lamp posts and oncoming traffic as she makes her way towards Cho Holistics. Dice stuff: Tracking 2+6 +1(datajack) = 9 rolls results: 3 Fives, 3 Sixes = 6 successful Her tracking attempt is a success and as the data starts pouring into her feed she does a little happy dance and slips on her head phones, her left hand automatically tapping the familiar screen of her nearly ancient iPod, selecting one of her oldest songs as she cracks a smile and starts creating a digital map to paint the trail of Goodwin's last known locations. Her head bobs to the beat of the song as she simplifies the map and boxes it up into a message for the rest of the runners with the following note attached: To User Group: Hide and Seekers Message: I have a slightly lead on our wayward kitty. If anyone knows anything useful about any of these locations, or how they might lead into the arcology let me know. OOC: not actually sure where the cat's last known location is, I'll leave that for Laghail to post so that we can all go from there. But assume that you all get the same message and map from Firefox. 5 Quote Link to comment
DarK_RaideR Posted February 23, 2017 Report Share Posted February 23, 2017 To User: Reese Frenzy Message: First round's on you. I'll invite Morrighan and page Teros too. We all in the same crew these days, thought he might tag along. I know you miss his wooly butt and the wiz-kids'll love him. Might make us look less suspicious too. To User: Morrighan Message: Hey there, I'm meeting a friend tomorrow night at the Zephyr Gate. Thought you might like it, place being an astral bar for the local awakened, including the neighborhood Hecate wiz-gang. Dude's cool and I'm inviting Teros too, mutual acquaintance and such. Z-Gate is near the arcology too, give us a chance to check out the place, fish for some local rumors over team-building drinks. What do you say? To User: Teros Message: Well, now that the initial Johnsoning and running out of burning buildings is through, let me say it's good to see you again. I'm meeting Reese at the Zephyr Gate tomorrow and Morrighan's probably coming along too. Feel like catching up in a more relaxed setting? To User: Mistress_Makiko Message: So now the local 'weener patch knows my new face thanks to you? Good job girl, thought I'd get some work done to ease your arrival but you already done your work to mess up mine. I'll add it to your list of favors owed, consider the Tanaka and Halloweener info a fair trade of information among friends. Enjoy your trip. To User: El_Santo Message: Of course. Ganger's way to earn street cred. Thanks for the info, keep me posted when the real perpetrator shows up. Oh and the offer to AztecLucha and chill still stands. Might need to lay low for a while pretty soon. To User: Druss Message: Hey there Hotshot. I know you didn't mean to start a riot back there at Johnny's, but this is how things work here and the deck is stacked against us. Don't blame yourself too hard over what happened, just remember to think twice before saying or doing anything next time. Gotta think several moves forward to stay ahead in the game. Vintage takes a moment to check the map Firefox sent in the team chat. Could it be that the cat crawled into the arcology or did somebody pick it up and take it there on purpose? To User Group: Hide and Seekers Message: Nice title, F-Fox. Just wanna let everyone know there's no way we're going into the Arcology with fake SINs as janitors or handymen, seems like the only way to go through the front door is pose as dreamers of the corp life. That's my style at least, you're free to investigate options like cat burglary or hacking some drone to grab the cat and deliver it outside to us. Let's use this group chat to pool information and ideas, alright? 5 Quote Lvl 60 Multitasker Baking (2)🧁, Charisma (4)🕶️s, Cooking (7)🍳, Fitness (2)💪💪, Gourmet Cooking (3), Handiness (0), Media Production (6)🎬🎬🎬🎬🎬, Mixology (3)🍸, Research & Debate (1)📖, Video Gaming (3)🎮🎮, Wellness (2) Link to comment
Broba Fett Posted February 24, 2017 Report Share Posted February 24, 2017 Pendergast alternates his attention back and forth between his messages and the road as he drives his Shiawase sports car away from the meeting with Tanaka. From User: ThinkandGrowRich - Are you tired of just scraping by? Click SUBSCRIBE to receive daily tips on attracting weath. Break the cycle! DELETE From User: HumanisWatchlist - Policlub members Luke Graevel killed in San Francisco shooting today. Hit completed by Stonewall Avengers member Tyrone Schwitzer using a suicide bomb belt, after carjacking Graevel and forcing the victim to transport them across the Bay. Other casualties did not include additional Humanis members. DELETE From User: Whitecastle - It's time to give your tastebuds the loving they deserve - hand curated soybeef patties on fireroasted, glutenfree artisanal buns, delivered to your door daily. BurgerBox - Get Yours. DELETE *Pendergast hangs a hard left towards White Castle* From User: GospelMarta - Jeremy, I got a prayer circle together here at the Bay Community Fellowship to combat the dark powers of racism and hatred that have been flying across the bay. I know this ain't your faith yet, but the almighty be working on you boy. Last time we had us a Humanis wolf in our midst, you came in and did some righteous killing to defend the flock. Surely is hard times gathering for prayer and trying to work miracles with that "Shiawase Arcology" across the street. Fancy name for what they should be calling "great temple of evil and bondage!" We stand out there and witness and protest, and that turns back some of the spiritually blind, who would trade their freedom for a loaf of bread. Praise be, you taught us those rituals to open the eyes of the blind. I don't care if you call it magic, it's a gift to be used for the kingdom! Anyhow, is there a chance you could come down Thursday and join us in a breakfast prayer circle, or a "ritual" as you call it, ya hard headed heathen. With a 12 member to complete the prayer circle, the power of the light will be strong indeed! We intend to peer behind the curtain of deception and walk in the spirit and make war on that temple of mammon! REPLY: Marta - I would love to come down and join you ladies on a spiritual journey sometime! In fact, I have some friends who heard I'd been down there a few times and have been asking me spiritual questions that I don't yet feel equipped to answer. Maybe I can bring them by sometime and introduce them? They might even be up for a good protest of those heathens across the street! What sort of things have you seen going on there?!? I know I'm still new to this God thing but I've been feeling something that I think might be the love of God! I can't wait to meet with you and discuss it more! From User: NPR - Classical music has been proven to increase IQ and promote calm in its listeners. Tune in for soothing broadcasts of DeadMau5 and Avicii; classical music good for the children and the elderly. Pendergast sighs and turns up the Beethoven vibrating his core through the premium Shiawase sound system as he pulls away from the dingy restaurant with his sliders. Ignorant apes. From User: Jenna - Gerongee or Irenis, it is time you must chose. We've talked at length Pendergast, rare for me to invest my time in a goro, but your exploits in the Tir were handled with a deft hand. But saving my life isn't enough, raen lives are long for a reason, and mine is already pledged to the Rethen. The only way I could continue hearing your goronit suit is if you entered my service in some capacity. No, not a full milessaratish, I wouldn't cage a wild bird. But something. One of the blood is not free to squander time on inferiors. If you would serve me in any capacity, meet my agents in the astral at the summit of Mt Livermore at midnight. You'll recognize their face. REPLY: JENNA - I'll be there. Pendergast parks his car and finishes his slider before drowning his hands in sanitizer. He then walks up to his apartment and write the following: COMPOSE: TO HIDERS AND SEEKERS: All - I have a group of very hospitable ork women who may be used to provide a base of operations across the street from the Arcology. They attend church across the street. They also have been keeping an eye on things and actively protesting the goings-on thereabouts. I will be pushing for more information and keeping the option open of working them and the local rabble up into some sort of Jesus-mob protest frenzy if we need a distraction to cover our comings and goings. I'll also be meeting with another contact soon but I have no idea if the meeting will produce any leads. I will update soon. -Pendergast After showering and changing into some more comfortable clothes, Pendergast gets comfortable on his bed and enters the astral plane slightly before midnight. It's hard to explain just what being astral is like. Thoughts and spirits burst into being and wither away on a whim. Every sense is mentally alive while being physically dead. You "see" without seeing. The thoughts of the billions of beings of earth and trillions of spirits that reside in this sector of the universe constantly bounce off of every surface, both those that are actually there in the material world and those that are complete mental constructs. It all creates a weird sonar effect, only as if viewed in the negative. If he had to describe it in physical terms, Pendergast would describe it in the way that Frodo views Middle Earth when he puts on the One Ring. The nuns at the orphanage used to play those ancient flicks for the "poor little" meta children. Leaving his material body on the bed, Pendergast comes to a vertical position floating over himself. He takes a moment to look down at his still form. I'll never get used to that. Pendergast always manifested as a completely clean version of himself clad completely in the finest white suit Nuyen could buy. He takes a moment to turn his consciousness in all directions while reaching out to the limits of his mind's eye. Emotions and moods show up as the only colors in the astral plane. Across the street dark black tendrils pulse out from two very close points. Lover's quarrel? Pendergast didn't care enough to spend any further time focusing on it. Finishing his rotation, a huge burst of colors pulsing from red to orange to yellow and back again. Well there's no argument there. Everyone there seems to be quite happy. As much as he would enjoy sticking around to watching the mental processes of several being expressing their love in a very physical way, Pendergast willed his consciousness up through what would have been the roof so that he was several hundred feet above it. No, that's not quite right. It was almost as if he willed himself to a certain spot and the Astral Plane moved to him. Regardless, he stretches his consciousness out in every direction and, not sensing any threatening spirits, focuses on the mental image of Mount Livermore. The tempestuous reality composed completely of mental and spiritual energy stopped swirling for the barest fraction of a second and then stretched into unending lines as Astral Pendergast moved at mental lightspeed toward the mountain. In the blink of an eye he was a few hundred feet above the summit. Taking a moment to straighten the front of his jacket, in spite of the inability of astral linen to wrinkle, Pendergast again stretches out in every direction, looking for any kind of trap, malicious spirit, or Jenna's agents. (OOC: Sorry got a bit caught up in describing the astral plane. I'll halt there in case I need to roll to sense things. If I do not need to roll or if I fail to sense anything wrong, Pendergast will astrally descend towards the summit and see what the agents' spiel is.) (Also OOC: Yay! Look at me doing things!) EDIT: Left the message to the ork woman unfinished. 6 Quote Spoiler Currently... Playing (Video Game): RDR2 DMing: Tyranny of Dragons. First session 11/29. Broba Fett tracks em down. Facebook (Personal) Facebook (Author Page) Past Challenges: 13,12,11,10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1 Link to comment
starpuck Posted February 24, 2017 Report Share Posted February 24, 2017 As the group departs, Morrighan looks over to the other female elf in the crowd. Her gaze shifts down, subtly, to the book being quietly shared with her and she tips her head off to the side with an exasperated frown. Her head shakes no. "Working," is her single word reply as she turns to head out of the bar. Once she's outside it's a brisk walk to where her bike is parked. A hand rubs over the back end as she inspects for any harm done by Sally's shenanigans. It takes a moment, but eventually she's satisfied that Rook is unmarred. "Sorry about that, love. It was a rare exception. It's not like I could leave her punk ass flailing among all those drones." With practiced ease she mounts up and settles into the familiar embrace. "Well. Let's take a look and see what the street level crowd looks like, shall we?" Rook responds as he always does; eagerly and with that reassuring thrum of power sitting ready for his riders beck and call. She maneuvers the bike away from the bar and goes mostly into autopilot mode as her thoughts begin to drift on the job. Awful big crowd on this one. You'd think that going after a single cat would've called for a smaller, more discreet group. And no shortage of those who seem skilled when it comes to more ... aggressive negotiations. Nothing is ever simple. And this one has the prologue of being anything but... Well, at the very least, getting the layout of the area scouted is going to come in handy. See who and what hangs out over there, make a friend or two. It's just at this point that the message from Vintage pops up. "Team building drinks..." she lets out a sigh as she mumbles this aloud to herself, or perhaps Rook. "Well, it does pay to get on the Captain's good side I suppose. And it's business related." [To User: Vintage] [Message: Not sure your definition of 'cool dude' matches with mine, but if you're vouching and buying, I'll go along with it. Details on when- and anything else I'd need to have a heads up on on would be appreciated. I don't gotta dress to the nine for this do I? Because I'm sure that's another angle our definitions will differ on.] Now there's even more reason to head over that way tonight. 3 Quote Level 83 ~*~ Ranger Deviant Art Gallery || YouTube Channel Current Challenge "It is difficult. All things worth keeping are." Thane Krios - Mass Effect 2 "Maybe it's not as simple as you imagined, Seeker." Varric Tethras Dragon Age 2 "Staying within your limits is no fun, Ryder." Vetra Nyx - ME: Andromeda Spoiler ::PAST CHALLENGES:: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41 | 42 43 | 44 | NEIN | 45 | 46 | 47 | 48| 49 | 50 | 51 | 52 | 53 | 54 | 55 | 56 | 57 | 58 | 59 | 60 | 61 62 | 63 | 64 | 65 | 66 | 67 | 68 | 69 | 70 | 71 | 72 | 73 | 74 | 75 | 76 | 77 | 77.5 | 78 | 79 | 80 | 81 82 | 83 | 84 | 85 | 86 | 87 | 88 | 89 | 90 | 91 | 92 | 93 | 94 | 95 | 96 | 97 | 98 | 99 | 100 Link to comment
Laghail Posted February 24, 2017 Author Report Share Posted February 24, 2017 Firefox Your digital tracking skills, combined with the excellent hack job you already pulled on Tanaka’s system allowed you to break the privacy buffer on the tracking software and yielded you the full history of the Cat’s movements over the life of the MySafePet tracking account. (See the new layer in the shared map: https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=1oPjVS2W1Mu9MpxTNZxQbCbUphxw&ll=37.802143331453706%2C-122.2879594813781&z=14) Setting off for Cho in McClymonds on foot, you would have headed west on 9th, getting as far as the flower market by just keeping with the heavy foot traffic still shopping and running anonymous errands after 20:00. The downtown is bustling and, short of pickpockets, you’d have no reason to be concerned about security. Which is why you’d maybe be surprised by the basso profundo shout from inside the maze of steel sheds that constitute the market space. “Hey girl, who said you could be walking on my street!” Although most of the stalls that vend every commodity in this open air market don’t sell floral arrangements, a nine foot mass of leather clad troll stands up from among the piles of tulips he was bundling into bouquets. His scarred face twist into a happy grin and he waves a tiny cylinder of lipstick with his frying pan sized hand. It’s Titus, your ride from earlier in the night. He clears his board plank sales counter with a single high step and bounds over to you, exclaiming “I forgot to ask about your return policy, that lipstick you sold me, jus ain’t my color.” Drawing up to you, you can see his mismatched eyes are sparkling with good humor even as he towers over you, still brandishing the lipstick playfully. “Problem Is, that would mean you still owe me for a free ride across town. Any idea how to settle that bill?” A disturbance east down 9th draws both your attention away from the lipstick, as a not entirely sober Sally is making her not entirely inconspicuous way towards to two of you. From User: Cosmetology_Queen Make-up, yes, Sequins and Silk, totally!. But girl, we gots a stalker! Someone has been asking about you at the store! They’ll hit the buzzer to get through the security door here at the Sunbeam Market, and, on the camera, it’s some old squatter in a long coat and a Santa beard. Then he’ll ask in this weeeird voice if you’re there. You know how ratched the intercom setup is? Well his voice is cryssstal clear, like no static, but he talks like, totally a foreigner. I send Hank out with the gun to clear him off, but when Hank opens the door, the cam goes fuzzy for just a frame or two, and he’s gone. Hank still hasn’t seen him. Isn’t that totally exciting?? I think he loooves you! He said something about your history together as a couple, or something, like, “I still remember Firefox, but she won’t escape!” He has a crush on you, he has a crush on you!! I tried to send you a vid, but the cameras are like, retarded, and it didn’t save the file. Hank has one of his pervy film cameras pointed at the street and he said he has footage, but it’s here at the store still. Isn’t that funny?? Totally lates girl! 2 Quote Level 38 [TBD] Link to comment
Laghail Posted February 24, 2017 Author Report Share Posted February 24, 2017 Pendergast Astral over Mt Livermore Midnight strikes in the astral, that gut twist stroke of the lunar clock that wobbles the whole of the astral plane on its fourth axis. The auras of the plants and night birds around you retract for an instant, and then the world blooms with color as the life and spirits of the summit around you radiate outward, the whole plane plucked and still reverberating with the new day. Before the reverberations fade, you’re no longer alone. Your spirit is joined by the spirits of three elven women, their auras bright with the power of magicians. They’re all three dressed in the same white linen shift, but their faces incongruously are that of your grandmother, your mother, and a third woman closer to your own age. The youngest has your mother’s sharp features with the added softness of youth lending her a lovely vitality. She sees your interest and smiles with a hooked smirk that you finally recognize as your own smile from the mirror every morning. The three women share that trademarked Pendergast smile, and the youngest raises an elegant hand in greeting. “Sa’Seterin Pendergast, fortunate favored of the blood queen. Will you walk with us?” Without waiting for a response, the three begin to walk down the from the summit, their confident steps never quite touching the earth as only the youngest speaks over her shoulder to your spirit trailing behind. “Do you see the city Pendergast? All the lives and loves stretched out before us? Truly the summit offers the best view into the two hearts of the city. The red beating auras of the humans on the west of the bay, and the tangled and messy lives of the older races glowing in the east.” She crosses her hands behind her back as the three of them rise above the summit and drift to face Oakland squarely. “You may wonder what interest the queen has in the distant bay cities, so far from the Tir as to be irrelevant, but it’s these two cities that bedevil the fragile peace of the elven homelands on these shores. The labor of the beast races, the power of the round ears; the two are locked in symbiosis and they fuel the northern resistance.” She looks back at you, gauging your reaction as you levitate in the air below her. “No, this isn’t the part of your quest where we pledge death to the bay cities and she-“ Here she indicates the older spirit, the one wearing your grandmother’s face and wispy white hair. “-and she gives you orders of death and war. This is the part where you accomplish a small favor for you beloved, and perhaps lives are saved in the bargain. Perhaps even yours, Goro.” In one of the instant movements common to powerful spirits, the youngest has appeared in front of you, close enough to touch, close enough to kiss. Her hand softly is laying on your wrist, and the four of you have moved. The summit and Angel Island is now across the bay to the northwest from you as you hang in the air above the Brooklyn Basin. Normally, hanging in midair for longer than an instant would attract dangerous attention from the various indentured spirits that traffic between the two cities in an invisible astral flow. The occasional snarl of colliding and violent spirits would caution you to a more discrete vanage point in the astral sea, but the flow of power from the women blankets you so that even as a enormous fire spirit of possibly Iranian summoning tradition (a djinn, an efritii?) passes within a body length of you, it’s coal burning eyes slide past you. Your mother’s voice and the middle-aged elf woman’s pointing finger now directs your gaze down to the prison on the tiny island in the bay. “There is a woman in the prison below. Your queen wants her freed. She will be imprisoned later today and orkland prison spits out the bones of its inmates within a day or three at the most. She’ll be cast out of her place in a matter of hours and the fall will land her here.” An astral ripple beside her and a conjured seeming of a Japanese woman in a conservative blue silk kimono joins you in the air. “Ren Hongo, she will be arrested at the Suigetsukan academy in twelve hours. She will receive a summary trial and sentencing and be delivered to the prison in fourteen hours, she will be dead in fifteen.” She looks at you to again gauge your reaction, her own a cool mask. But the final words of instruction are spoken by your grandmother’s voice, the cold and cracked tones that you hadn’t heard since the cradle. “This isn’t a heroic quest; you don’t save the celenit and thereby save the world. You save the woman, and the queen might speak to you again. This is the price of being her suitor.” The three women vanish as she finishes talking, leaving you no longer concealed as you hang above the bay. A burly Hopi air spirit that had been passing beneath you suddenly cranes its raptor neck and takes an interest before you disappear from the scene, the astral moving around you to fling you back to earth and out of sight. You wake back in your bed after taking appropriate precautions to ensure you weren’t followed. The Women’s Prayer Breakfast starts in six hours. 5 Quote Level 38 [TBD] Link to comment
Laghail Posted February 24, 2017 Author Report Share Posted February 24, 2017 Druss From User: KatTom808 Hey Harasser, chatter on the street is you’re up to your old trouble causing way. Lemme guess, a drone popped in front of you, and you went all blender-mode without thinking about the cameras?? You’re in luck, you looked excellent in front of the cameras and your instincts were spot on. It was also too embarrassing for the corps to have threatened a former UB player, so you’re not getting any play except in hand-recorded vids being passed around this side of the bay. About your cat, man, this is how you’re paying the bills after UB? Can’t fault a man for hustling. But you need street level chatter Druss. I know you’ve been having a rough go of it professionally since the league gave you the boot, and it’s been weird with your fans not knowing if you were doping or if you got shafted. If you wanna clean up some of that karma that’s been dogging you, you might check into the crucible. The adepts on the street can be fairly closed to outsiders, too much prejudice and hurt. They tend to do their job and keep quiet about their abilities, doesn’t pay to admit you got magic flowing through you. The guys the crucible are a mix of free running couriers and street gang muscle. It was an open secret that the Terminators had some Yak money behind them, but that won’t hurt you there. A few Shatei put in time there too, and there’s a general peace agreement for any street muscle that comes in, enforced by the Wolves toughs that run the joint. Show up, ask for Warbeard, and then it’s up to you to impress them. I don’t wanna know what you have cooking, but I know a guy like you always has a deal running, and you’ll always make good for Orklands. If you need news off the streets, you gotta make good with these guys first. From User: ThousandEyes Druss-kun, good to hear from you greenie. I’d love to help you on this cat caper you described for me, but it sounds well above my paygrade man. It’s an open secret that the arcologies are a way to get some labor out of us metahumans without having us dirty the precious streets of Frisco. Someone hiring you to bust into an arcology in Oakland, this week? No, I’m not gonna say nothing, I’d like to keep the rest of my fingers. For what it’s worth, there’s a truck that runs through McClymonds and the low bottoms. Leaves out of Shiapet around midnight on Tuesdays and Thursdays, sticks to Low Bottoms, Acorn, maybe as far north as McClymond or Hoover Foster.. You follow that truck, you’ll get an idea what you’re playing with. Only thing is, you follow that truck, you’re going to be walking across enough turfs at the wrong time of night, you’re gonna have a problem if you’re on the streets. OOC Note: @Wild Wolf Feel free to write your half of either subplot, but only write the bits that are interesting for you. The crucible is a ghetto but elite parkour and street fighting gym. Go bonkers describing the obstacle courses and training facilities, should mostly metahumans, lots of rune tattooed wolves of odin street gangers. Wow the guy running the program for the day, Warbeard (an astaru ork adept), crush the obstacles, do the druss thing. Druss doesn't need to give away all his secrets, but this is a place for adepts to be awesome. For the second one, that can be a series of diplomacy/intimidation street encounters as you chat with the gangs and get gang passes to clear up any problems you might have running across west Oakland after midnight. Or, get your free running game, athletics and adept powers, and stay high and above it all roof to roof. Or both. You shouldn’t have problems with Wolves or Hecate turf as long as you wow the crap out of them in the first half. Turf maps are a layer here: https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/edit?mid=1oPjVS2W1Mu9MpxTNZxQbCbUphxw&ll=37.810320976760636%2C-122.28361238282036&z=15 3 Quote Level 38 [TBD] Link to comment
Laghail Posted February 25, 2017 Author Report Share Posted February 25, 2017 Morrighan From user: Green Hornet Hey Morri girl, how's orklands treating you? I spun through there last week with a crew and it was a close run with the spikes holding the 880. Trog bastards gonna regret it when we have the time to sweep through. About your question, the best lead I can give you on the Shiapet Arcology is Ren Hongo. She's a program designer with Suigetsukan, a Yakuza affiliated single A corp. She does high level indoctrination design, the worst kind of corporate thought-police drek. Bad news is, my source in Portland says she's about to get very unpopular after those riots that went down in the city today. If you're going to chat her up, I'd do it soon. Attachment: <Hongo-Dossier> --------------------- OOC Note: @Starpuck - feel free to coordinate with me and @Broba Fett on details for the mission, but highspeed highway extraction / carjacking while Pendergast fends off harrier spirits straffing you? Yes please. I want to read that. 4 Quote Level 38 [TBD] Link to comment
RedStone Posted February 25, 2017 Report Share Posted February 25, 2017 Only superficially bristled at Morri's expected response, Sally teasingly shakes her head at her friend in mock disapproval, but the taller elf is already absorbed in her feed. Frowning to herself, she feels into her hip bag for the necessary accoutrements while the team disperses with varying levels of purpose. Opting against waiting out the day with nothing to do, she decides to tail Firefox who seems to be on her way to some adept joint, where Sally could easily turn some quick cash from whatever deep weed she wasn't currently rolling for herself. Slipping out the back door, spliff between lips, Sally reaches for the fire escape and in a series of graceful flips and grabs, lands with a soft thud on the roof. She pauses for a moment before flicking her matte black flip top lighter, taking a moment of peace in the quiet of the city. In as much as she loves the chaos of a confused crowd, she equally relished slipping through the cracks and removing herself from it quietly, the roof tops her favorite playground and means of transportation. From there she could see the darkness of the water receding in the distance, an empty abyss against the cerulean lights of the city refracting against the thick air, clouds of smoke to the north west where Johnny Midnight's stood not that long ago. Shaking herself back into the present, Sally sees Firefox heading down 9th. She quickly lights the deep weed and takes a long hit as she sets off in a sprint. Only several blocks later the deep weed is nearly gone, but something isn't quite right. The familiar gentle softening of her tight sinew is there... but something else is as well... a shimmering haze in the outer edge of her vision is pulsing... like a heartbeat... with a sound growing louder and louder as it fills Sally's ears until she can just make out the words: ~nereye gidiyoruz~ Startled mid jump, Sally crashes down between buildings into a late night crowd doing their shopping in a small vender alley. People are looking at her as she stands and wipes the rubble from her hands onto her pants before bringing her palms to her temples, which seem to be shouting at her, the words getting louder and louder: ~nereye gidiyoruz~ ~nereye gidiyoruz~ ~nereye gidiyoruz...? The last one is clearly a question, and for some reason, Sally answers it with a stammer. "Ba..bara sa...satmak..." People are getting out of her way as she stumbles along muttering to herself, her vision clouded with dark shimmering blobs of colors, pulsing, filling her ears with some language she can't identify but seems to understand, and even speak. The pulsing colors are organizing themselves into something that looks like a face, and chills Sally down to her core. She feels like blood drain from her face and be replaced with ice. ~Kavga zamanı, satmak değil~ "K..K...Kavga? Kim?" ~kendin. git şimdi.~ "Beni ya...yalnız bırak!" ~Ben dövüşürsem...~ With new purpose, Sally steels herself and finds a dark corner to regroup. She's too horrified to register how little sense this makes, but will do anything the voice says to make it go away. "Nerede." ~The Crucible. Git şimdi~ 6 Quote ~Peace Be The Journey~ one - two - three - four - five - six - seven- eight - nine - ten - eleven - twelve - thirteen - fourteen - fifteen - sixteen - seventeen - eighteen - nineteen - twenty - twenty one - twenty two - twenty three - twenty four - twenty five - twenty six - twenty seven - twenty eight - twenty nine - thirty - thirty one - thirty two - thirty three - thirty four - thirty five - thirty six Link to comment
DarK_RaideR Posted February 26, 2017 Report Share Posted February 26, 2017 Vintage reads Morrighan's response with a smile. This young lady is so full of herself she thinks she's got him all figured out. He quickly digs up a link to one of Reese Frenzy's most well known -read: political and controversial- videoclips, complete with the shirtless orc rockstar raising his fist in defiance over earth-shattering guitar riffs. To User: Morrighan Attachment: Reese Frenzy - Rough, Rowdy & Rebellious Message: I'm sending you his CV, should tell you enough about his 'coolness' and the dress code for the place. He's actually buying the drinks, but I hope you still think of me as marginally 'cool' too. With the practiced boredom of having done this a million times before, Vintage erases the entire history of his communications for the night. 4 Quote Lvl 60 Multitasker Baking (2)🧁, Charisma (4)🕶️s, Cooking (7)🍳, Fitness (2)💪💪, Gourmet Cooking (3), Handiness (0), Media Production (6)🎬🎬🎬🎬🎬, Mixology (3)🍸, Research & Debate (1)📖, Video Gaming (3)🎮🎮, Wellness (2) Link to comment
Leigh Posted February 27, 2017 Report Share Posted February 27, 2017 ”Hey girl, who said you could be walking on my street!” Slightly startled by the booming voice and the huge body it belongs too bounding up to her from amidst a riot of flowers, Fox shakes her head slightly and waves a hand to clear the feed from her glasses. With a deep breath she tips her head back and looks up in the smiling face of possibly one of the largest and most mangled trolls she’s ever seen. ”Well, I figure if you’d let me on your bike you’d let me take a stroll though the market here… Oh please Mister, can I walk down this street? It’s awful scary a block over this time of night” Fox replied with an over the top look of innocent fear. The twitching of the side of her mouth gives her act away as she starts laughing. She holds out her hand for the lipstick he’s waving around and tries not to flinch at the thought of what he could do if he was actually angry with her. ”I forgot to ask about your return policy, that lipstick you cold me, just ain’t my colour” Titus grind as he looms over Fox with that same boyish smirk on his face. The lipstick in his hand and the absurdly happy look on his face eases her nerves and Fox relaxes ”Problem is, that would mean you still owe me for a free ride across town. Any idea how to settle that bill?” He asks finally dropping the lipstick into her open hand. With a dramatic sigh, Fox pops the cap off of the tube and slicks on a neat layer of red and glances at the wall of leather in front of her. She shrugs and grabs his sleeve and hooks her right foot into a handy steel chain hanging from his belt to a side pocket and hauls herself up to his height and smack a kiss on his cheek. ”You were using it wrong if you think this isn’t your colour. I do have a very flexible return policy, but you’ll have to give me some idea of what you think is a fair exchange, I walked here, from the far side of Edmonton, so you’ll have to give me a clue about the cost of a ride across town.” she says with a wink and hops back down to the side walk, amused by the slightly stunned look on his face. ”I’m Firefox by the way, I didn’t catch your name before.” she smiles and puts out a hand, Titus shaking it automatically, but still looking a little dazed. A muffled crash and a few startled yelps from random passers by draws her glance as she steps back up onto Titus and peeks around him to see a very unwell looking Sally clutching at her head as she steps out of the remains of a crushed stall next to the nearest building. ”What the hell?” She jumps down and winds her way through the stream of pedestrians and steps up a few feet away from Sally ”Hey, what’s wrong?” she asks the distracted and terrified looking elf. She waves a hand in front of her face trying to get her attention as a new message pops up and scrolls up her glasses. Fox pales almost as much as Sally and shivers strongly. ”Oh shit… I’m so geeked…” she says to herself and glances back at Titus who has followed her up to Sally; a look of badly concealed terror on her face. 5 Quote Link to comment
Laghail Posted February 27, 2017 Author Report Share Posted February 27, 2017 Last time on Shadowrun: CalRIP (To view the geo-coordinates below, open the group map, and pop the long/lat coordinates in the search bar. https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1oPjVS2W1Mu9MpxTNZxQbCbUphxw&ll=37.80760505105566%2C-122.28696808236748&z=16) Main - Your group was assembled by the fixer Joyce Cho, to take a job from an anonymous Mister Tanaka. While meeting initially in McClymonds at a bar (37.8171, -122.28534), the race tension between the two cities prompted a shootout. Fleeing the mayhem, you make it to the meeting (37.799, -122.26885) with Tanaka on time and accept his request to extract a cat from a sealed arcology in Oakland (37.8084, -122.29829). No physical, astral, or matrix scouting has been conducted. Reaching out to various contacts, you've amassed the following on the arcology: Shiawase arcology (Shiapet) is a sealed facility. Only joining members are admitted, and only upper level executives have access to come and go at will. The cat has been moved from various research facilities and arcologies over the last three years. Individual subplots: Druss You've been invited to audition at the Forge (37.80497, -122.29064), an elite adept gym, with the suggestion of info if you pass. It was suggested you follow the collection trucks that leave Shiapet and make midnight pickup runs through southwest Oakland. Firefox A troll go-ganger Titus has made contact again (37.80208, -122.27726) and is potentially a transportation asset. A digital ghost has been asking for you at the Sunbeam market (37.80972, -122.28586). An employee, Hank, may have analogue footage of the figure. Kaanta No active sub-plots. Firefox suggested you help run an info hack on a research lab in San Francisco (37.78793, -122.40754) and/or Shiapet itself. Morrighan Your contact informed you that Ren Hongo is a propaganda designer that has more info on Shiapet. She works for a small corp (37.79806, -122.2579) but she's about to get in trouble with the AAA corporations. Pendergast You were ordered to rescue Ren Hongo from her impending arrest/conviction/death in prison (37.78203, -122.24922) You were invited to a prayer breakfast (37.80943, -122.29751) on Thursday morning lead by awakened Pentecostal women, with promises of astrally or magically attacking the Shiapet building. Sally A Uighur woman slipped you a sample of a new drug. So far, it connected you to an astral / spiritual experience when ingested and you had something instruct you to visit the Crucible. Teros Your contact suggested you could make some money if you find the Uyghur distributing a new street drug in Chinatown. Your gang contact indicated you want to get out of Oakland by this weekend. Vintage You have an invitation to meet your contact at the awakened Zephyr Bar (37.81276, -122.29865), Thursday evening for information You have a request to bring Morrighan and Teros to the same bar to begin negotiations between the elven crime syndicate, and the elven go-gang smuggling operation. Edit: Current time window is 12-1AM Thursday Morning. 6 Quote Level 38 [TBD] Link to comment
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