Shadowrun
Shadowrun Play => Play-by-Post => Topic started by: eighth circuit on <04-16-12/0952:18>
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It's approaching midnight in Hong Kong. The Hong Kong Cavaliers have just decimated their cross-bay rivals, the Macau Marauders, and the city is awash with glee and synthohol. Every building downtown is lit up so colorfully that RL looks like AR. The street vendors of Yau Tsim Mong are open late, plying their wares to wide-eyed tourists and drunken sports fans, while the sky swells with glowing and screaming advertisements. The denizens of Happy Valley Arena spill out into the red light district, ready to gamble, drink, and dance the night away. In Kowloon, the sound of gunshots--celebratory and otherwise--fills the air, while Knight Errant squads brace for potential looting and riots. There are even rumors of a police raid on the walled city tonight, though rumors, like molecules, speed up as the temperature increases, and it is a hot spring night in the city.
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Grind was riding his Mirage down an long stretch of avenue heading to a bar he knows and loves, Lover's Stone. Always an interesting atmosphere for him, but that soon slows down to almost a halt as traffic in Hong Kong is backup as always and especially close to the stadium.
Randal speaks to Grind, "Traffic ahead from the looks of things.
Grind just sighs, "Said information could have been told to me way before this.
Randal responds, "Yah...well rivalry combat biking match just finished with the Caveliers defeating the Marauders."
Grind sighed some more as his bike moved at a crawl, "Oh great, the real wackos are out tonight." He looks around for a way cut and bob and weave and continues to do so without breaking any laws.
Carrying: Smartpack with 10 Barbed, SnS, & explosive tipped arrows. Shock gloves in pants pocket. Wearing all my armor and collapsable bow is in smart pack.
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Meili Song, AKA Kitten, was currently curled up on a couch in the luxurious penthouse with her roommate Megumi, watching old trids. The heat (and threats of riots) had convinced them to have a 'girl's night in', and they were currently into the second bottle of wine. Wrapping her tail around her leg, Kitten laughed as she leaned against the free spirit that shared her living space here. The current trid was a Cantonese translation of some of those old Gary Cline films.
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Grind
The traffic has come to a dead halt, as the streets are consumed by revelry. A crowd is packed together and chanting, and police stand by at the perimeter, ready to bash skulls if necessary. There is no getting through this any time soon.
[Randal] I've found an alternative route down some side streets
The side streets in this part of town are either lined with seedy bars and whorehouses, or dark medieval alleyways. The ones Randal wants to take you down are far enough from the action that they shouldn't be very crowded.
Kitten
Your relaxing night in is interrupted by a message from Jenny over commlink:
[JJ] Hey Kitty cat, got some easy work for you if you're interested. There's this guy I'm supposed to be keeping tabs on--nobody interesting, just some mid-level corporate guy. Think he's out on the town tonight. Unfortunately, so are the guys I had watching him. I'm afraid I might have to bail them out tomorrow... anyway, I'll give you one grand if you just follow this guy around, tell me where he goes and what he does. I know you've got a knack for getting around quietly.
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Kitten sighed. So much for a girl's night in.
All right, JJ. I'm on it. Give me the info, and I'll get on it. Just got to get dressed first.
Leaning over, she gave Megumi a kiss on the cheek. "Sorry, doll. I got to go make some money. But feel free to bring down a couple of your friends to finish off the bottle, 'kay?"
She left the living room for the bedroom, and began slipping into her 'work' clothes. Since this was a stealth run, she decided to wear the chameleon suit. And since it was likely to be a rough night, she brought her 'toys' with her. Never know whether you'd have to go and play with a violent mob, afterall.
In fifteen minutes, she was blowing a kiss to Megumi as she headed down to the basement garage where she kept her cars. She passed the Ford Spiral she kept as part of her party girl lifestyle, and straddled the Cyclops monocycle she used for work.
Wearing: Chameleon Suit, SecureTech Forearm guards, SecureTech Shin guards (6B/6I Armor)
Dynamic Polarization lenses
Gecko Tape Gloves
Voice Mask
AR Wristboard
Modez shoes
Carrying: Both Predators, with spare clips, Monofilament sword, 2 Flash-bangs, 2 smoke grenades, medkit, B&E tools
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Grind nods, "Strong work Randal." he grins as he peels a bit and goes down the side streets. "What's going on in the enws tonight other than the cops being out and the Cavs winning."
He drives around until he gets to his destination while Randal reads news article tickers to see what Grind would be interested in.
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Kitten
[JJ] Great! Thanks for helping me out. The guy you're looking for is Fong Wei-Lei, here's his picture. Corporate guy, harmless. He just left his apartment on the slope and is on his way down the Dragon Path. Probably headed for Happy Valley is my guess, though it's gonna be hell getting around there at the moment. Good luck! I'm sending you 500 now, you'll get the other 500 after you follow him back home. Keep me updated!
Fong is an unremarkable middle-aged Chinese man, with a balding head and a gut.
As you leave, you hear Megumi's plaintive yell, "Guys! What did I tell you about using the door!?" along with the clatter of your liquor cabinet being raided. The garage is quiet and well-lit as always, and a security guard nods to you on your way out. Most of the main roads are pretty packed tonight, but you manage to work your way through traffic at a moderate clip.
See OOC thread for location info
Grind
You zip down a dark, empty side street.
[Randal]Bloodbath in the Valley--90% of Marauders Players Evacuated by Helicopter
Cavaliers Coach: Mayhem is What We Are All About
Rowdy Cavs Fans Assemble Barricades on Arena Ave as Cops Move In
As you get a few blocks from the Arena district, you feel an ebb in the resonance, as if wireless traffic is thinning out. Odd, for a city. The street you're on is devoid of streetlights, lit solely by the headlight on your bike. It's quiet here except for the buzz of your engine. You could swear the dumpsters on the side of the road are moving...
[Randall] Fires Erupt on Arena Ave as Cops Begin Skull-Bashing--Hey, sounds like we're missing a good time!
You see some blinking yellow lights in the distance. As you come up on them, you realize it's a roadblock. However, upon closer inspection, it is the most otherworldly roadblock you've ever seen! It stretches up off the ground, the white and orange striped bars a mouth, the blinking yellow lights wide, sinister eyes. It opens its mouth and screams, "AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
[Randal] What's goin on dude?
The spirit is not attacking you (yet...), so no need to roll initiative unless you want to attack.
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When Grind gets to the darken road, he slows down a bit, looking around as Randal talks his ear off, "Missing a good time? Head bashing is not my idea of a good time, but to some others it is." He looks around as is bike cruises at a moderate speed, he notices a road block ahead. "Couldn't help me on roadblocks." He went to creep close until it came alive, "Holy drek!!" He stopped to a halt and he'd peel a 180, getting some distance from the 'roadblock'. "Where the hell are we?" He looks around to see if he notices anything knowledgeable.
First roll is perception, second roll is area knowledge. (7d6.hits(5)=3, 5d6.hits(5)=1) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3473480/)3 hits on perception and 1 on area knowledge.
Also for the bike move.
180 peel (6d6.hits(5)=2) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3473489/)
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Grind
You spin your bike around and white-knuckle the throttle. The engine revs up, but the bike doesn't move. You look down and discover that the wheels aren't touching the ground....
The entire neighborhood is dark, and from what you can make out the scenery isn't anything out of the ordinary. You do notice a dim light emanating from a ground-level window, with a staircase next to it, a dive bar maybe? If there's any sound coming from it, you can't hear it over the hum of your engine. You remember hearing rumors of quiet neighborhoods in Hong Kong being inhabited by spirits, but you can't recall exactly where or whether they are hostile to trespassers.
A mystical force lifts you up, bike and all, and flips you upside-down. You squeeze your legs to the seat for dear life! You hear a deep, gravely voice from behind:
"What have we here?"
The "roadblock" speaks, "This silly gwailo was the one making all that racket!"
"A midget gwailo too! Haghaghaghghgh! Should we eat him?"
"Hmmmmm, hey gwailo! What are you doing here anyway? And why shouldn't we eat you?"
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"Oh Drek." He tightens his grip and holds on with his short legs and stubby arms.
"Because I'm too cute to eat?" He retorts to the spirit. "Listen, just let me pass by and you'll never see me again."
@Randal: Suggestions? And something not from a trideo you've seen would be great.
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Sitting in a local soykaf shop, Frostmane watches the hullabaloo in the city through the window by her table at regular intervals as she flips through a dead-tree book marked with strange sigils.
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Driving down the Path, Kitten easily maneuvers the nimble monocycle through the traffic, heading down to the bottom of the hill, as she keeps an eye out for her target. A thousand wasn't much for a night's work, but it was something, at least.
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Kitten
You make it down to the bottom of the slope without much hassle. No way this guy could have beat you on foot. You park at the side of the road by the entrance/exit to the Dragon Path and wait. After about 10 minutes, a short, plump, balding man you recognize as Fong exits the Path. He heads down the street to the nearest MTR station. You hurry behind and board the first train headed for Happy Valley. In the crowded car it's easy to watch him without being noticed. An announcement comes over the loudspeaker:
"Attention passengers: we regret to inform you that Happy Valley station has been closed due to security concerns. This train will not stop at Happy Valley station and will proceed to Happy Valley South."
Fong appears to curse under his breath. He stays on the train until Happy Valley South, then gets off and walks north about 1 KM toward the red light district. The streets are busy, but fortunately the madness around the arena hasn't spread this far. You manage to shadow Fong as far as an old three-story stone building. There a muscled ork out front; Fong nods to him and goes inside. You don't recognize this exact part of town, but the setup is certainly familiar. You know what Fong is here for.
Grind
[Randal] Is this a spirit? Awesome! I've heard them compared to sprites before. I wish I could do all that cool stuff.
The street sign says, "We can think of more interesting ways to never see you again!" The two spirits share a belly laugh.
"Maybe," says the yet-unseen thing behind you, "this gwailo is not entirely useless. Anyone running around in the dark by himself is either an idiot, or tougher than he looks. Let's take him to see Lee."
You find yourself righted and set back down. The spirits--the one behind you is a large mound of dirt and rocks--herd you toward a staircase leading down below the street. A door opens and you catch the distinctive whiff of crimson orchid. Inside, you see all varieties of odd creatures drinking, smoking and gambling. Mahjong tiles clatter and ethereal patrons flicker in and out of existence. You feel many eyes watching you. "In the back," grumbles the pile of dirt.
You enter a room in the back, with a wooden table where a large fern is playing solitaire and drinking something that smells awful. Upon seeing you, the fern's spiral fronds unroll violently, pointing straight out in a hostile way. "Why have you brought this meat-gwailo in here!?"
"We thought he might help us with our... human problem," replies the roadblock.
"Hmmmmmmmmmmmm..." the fronds curl back up with a pensive tension. "Perhaps. Have a seat, meat man. What do you know about capturing humans?"
[Randal] Human capture! Seen plenty of trids about that!
Frostmane
Despite all the excitement outside, it's not much of a night in the old soykaf shop. Around you are some corporate types winding down, youths who are too old to burn things but too young for the real vices, matrix addicts grabbing some caffeine to fuel one more game of 3D cyber wordgammons with friends. There are a pair of cops sitting by the door munching down donuts.
The cops get a call over their commlinks, something about skull-bashing, and head out. Despite this not being a particularly dangerous neighborhood, the skinny ork barista looks a bit nervous to see them leave.
Roll perception. Also, what gear do you have with you?
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Grind gets wide eyes and shoved all over the place until he stops at the gaming spirits doing their thing. He looks around a bit on edge and than snaps back when he hears human capturing and pay no mind to Randal's response.
He ponders for a moment, stroking his big black beard, "That's kind of broad. Kidnapping, popular around these parts of the world." He stops pondering and looks at the one that was talking to him. "Please continue..."
First one is News and the second is Corporate Rumors. (7d6.hits(5)=2, 5d6.hits(5)=3) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3476682/)2 hits on news/current events and 3 on corporate rumors.
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Noting the apparent nervousness from the barista, Frostmane watches the ork out of the corner of her eye.
Well there's a shit roll...
5d6.hits(5)=1 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3476736/)
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Once she'd found her target, Kitten set her cybereyes to record. Slipping into the shadows, Kitten activated her chameleon suit, and moved like a ghost nearby. As they began walking through the red light district, Kitten smiled to herself. So the guy was going to see a joygirl, hmm? Or maybe a joyboy? Slipping into an alleyway, she climbed up the side of the building thanks to her gecko gloves, and began checking windows, taking care to try not to be seen while she did so.
Infiltration to keep from being spotted. And they get a -4 to their perception due to my suit.
8d6.hits(5)=3 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3476765/)
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Grind
"Hmmmmm, yes, too common in fact. One of our spirits has been kidnapped by an ignorant human." Lee's fronds bristle with agitation.
"A very important spirit!" The pile of dirt chimes in.
"My faaaavorite spirit! Hehehehe..." says the roadblack.
"Now we want you to capture the human and bring him to us. We will teach him a lesson."
"And get our spirit back!" Adds the roadblock.
"It's probably gone by now" grumbles the pile of dirt.
Lee bristles again. "Just bring us the human. If the spirit is gone, we will take something that belongs to him! It will not be difficult. He is a very stupid human."
Good use of knowledge skills, unfortunately spirits do not care much about metahuman news :)
Frostmane
Unfortunately, you fail to notice a small black cylinder roll through the doorway. It goes off with a *BANG!* Stunned, you can only watch as an elf in a black trenchcoat bursts through the door, training an SMG on the patrons. A rough-looking ork follows behind him, grabs the barista from across the counter, and hurls him over it. "Nobody move!" shouts trenchcoat.
Roll body + impact armor -1 (-3 for the flashbang, but I'll give you +2 armor since there is some furniture partially blocking the blast) to resist 6S damage. Don't worry about wasting edge if you want to use it--it'll be refreshed after this mini-episode.
Also roll for initiative.
Kitten
The general theme of the place is understated, classy, and discreet. Discreet enough that drapes obscure your view through the windows. Your thermographic vision helps you determine which rooms are "occupied", though you can't recognize anyone. Unfazed, you listen at each window, hoping to find something.
Roll climbing, with -2 due to flat surface. Balance augmenter and tail apply in addition to gloves. I'll ignore the results unless you glitch.
Also roll perception, and add your hearing enhancements. We'll say the fact that you're actively listening balances out the windows being closed.
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"Well that's unfortunate." he sighs a bit, "Do you have an image or something I can go on to find this human?"
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Easily making her way up the side of the building, Kitten began searching the occupied room, hoping to hear which one the man was in.
Climbing (Athletics 1, Strength 3, Balance Tail 2, Balance Augmenter 1, Assisted climbing 2, Flat surface -2)
7d6.hits(5)=2 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3477357/)
Audio Perception (Intuition 3, Audio enhancement 3, defaulting -1)
5d6.hits(5)=1 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3477368/)
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Grind
The spirits show you a picture. He's a young Asian man with a wiry build and large, shaved head. He's got tattoos covering his head, but you can't make out any symbols.
"We also know where he lives," says Lee the fern. "In a tenement in Kowloon. We would go ourselves, natch, but his jerk brother warded the place up. He's been holed up in there lately. I think the fool realizes what he's done. Soon he will pay the price!"
"Pay the price!" shout roadblock and dirt pile in unison.
Kitten
You shuffle carefully from window to window, but hear nothing of interest other than moans and creaking furniture. At one window you hear what sounds like a grown man crying, and you'd believe it was Fong, but there's no proof.
Rounding the rear corner of the building, you notice some people walking through the alley. Two humans, somewhat respectably dressed but they walk and talk like gangers.
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Initiative...crap: 7d6.hits(5) → [6,2,4,3,3,4,1] = (1) So that comes to 8 total...unless you're willing to let me have a Increased Reflexes already in my sustaining focus...
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Menzo had been tagging a piece of the astral near the edge of Kowloon city, just after a nice breakfast of whiskey and two day old pizza, when he received the call from his boss. Xiao Lu wanted him to come to the bar and work an extra shift since business was going to be crazy tonight. He was currently wading through the crowds on the streets a couple of blocks from the bar, struggling to get through the drunks with his skinny frame.
Carrying commlink (contacts and earbuds as well), camera, sustaining and summoning foci, 1 dose of deepweed.
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Hmm, now this is interesting... She wasn't going to get more from listening outside of windows, so she switched her focus to the two gangers for the moment could be valuable paydata here. Or at least knowing who controlled this building.
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Frostmane
The wild ork grabs the barista, who had tumbled onto the floor, and starts hauling him away. The elf steps back toward the door but continues to cover the crowd with his gun.
Kitten
The gangers don't appear to have spotted you. They come around the corner of the building and walk toward the road, but stop about halfway down the alley. They're both about medium build, wearing faux-silk blazers and stylish glasses. One, skinnier, has thin, neck-length black hair and color-shifting forearm tattoos poking out of his sleeves that seem to flow all over his hands. The stockier one has a slick black mohawk. "Shouldn't be long now," says one of them. "Eyes is gonna let us know when he comes out."
Menzo
You manage to make it to work without incident. The bar is in Yau Tsim Mong, far from the excitement in Happy Valley, but the area is still packed with rubes, swindlers, and drunk sports fans hopping the bars. You greet the troll bouncer on the way in, and see your coworker Leroy behind the bar. Leroy is an elf from UCAS, the type of person who travels the world in search of new places to party, who always seems to know everyone and how to get anything.
"Heyyyy, Menzo! It's crazy tonight. Check it out," he points at the trid screen, which shows burning piles of debris on Arena Ave, and police chasing and being chased by drunk youths and opportunistic anarchists. "Glad we're not in Happy Valley, huh! I'm gonna go take my break now." He pats his jacket pocket.
The bar is loud but not prohibitively crowded, and the patrons are being reasonably polite tonight, so far. An thin, attractive human woman, possibly around 30, with long black hair approaches the bar. She's wearing one of those edgy new cocktail dresses with various translucent sections. "Vodka, on the rocks," she says once she gets your attention, which doesn't take too long. "Top shelf, the real stuff." You get her drink and she smiles. "Hey, you look like one of the weirdos. Anything going on tonight?"
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Frostmane quirks an eyebrow as the ork is dragged off, but as she doesn't know the ork from Adam, she just shrugs and leans back in her seat, staring directly at the elf.
Holding action for better timing on a casting. Trigger will be a relaxation of the elf's guard/lowering of weapon.
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Kitten didn't believe in coincidences. Here she was, set to follow a guy, and here two gangers dressed above their station were also here to find a guy. She would have to keep an eye on them, and follow, if she could. She was glad she brought her weapons with her for this run, as it looked like she may need them before long.
As a bit of a status update, she sent the man's location (including a picture of the outside of the building), and a picture of the two gangers in the alleyway as a status update to JJ.
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Frostmane
The ork runs out the door, dragging the barista, who is shouting in Cantonese, behind him. As he makes his exit, the elf backs away, then turns and runs out the door.
You can still see him as he turns, and his gun is down now. After you go, roll initiative again.
Kitten
[JJ] Fuck! It's the 289s. They're after this guy, but I'm not sure why. In fact, that's sort of what we're trying to find out, so keep your eyes and ears peeled. They're dressed up like that so they don't look suspicious as they walk through the streets with him. And watch out. If they know he's here, there's probably been somebody else tailing him.
This guy's not worth a street fight right now. Can you just follow them as far as possible? I'll add an extra thou. But try not to get hurt, I don't have money for doctor bills.
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Reaching down as she stands to clasp one the heart-shaped fetish dangling from her belt, Frostmane calls up the mana to attempt to boost her own reflexes and speed.
Force 3 Increase Reflexes: 15d6.hits(5)=5 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3479971/)
Resisting 4S drain (I rounded up on the half Force to be safe): 12d6.hits(5)=4 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3479981/)
I believe that soaks it all.
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Grind nods and accepts the image and jots down the address in AR, "Very well, consider it done." He gets up and nods his head goodbye. "I shall be back with the human." He gets on his motorcycle and drives off again down the same road.
Randal: So we doing this job I take it.
"I ain't pissing these Spirits off, so yes we are. Starting to like Vietnam a lot better" he sighs and with a twitch attempts to compile a rating 5 Data Sprite as he pulls over to the side and stops hopefully back in normal traffic area.
Rating 4 Data with Encrypt 10 dice vs 4 dice (10d6.hits(5)=3, 4d6.hits(5)=1) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3479980/)
2 Services on the data sprite. Randal gets to tell it what to do for it's first service. I'll buy 2 hits to resist the fade.
"Data, find me information on this gentlemen and his family please." He pulls up the picture and stairs at it for the data sprite to go on. He lights hsi tires up and drives off heading to kowloon, "Randal do me a favor and find me some live news feeds of Kowloon?"
Data Sprite using it's edge for the first 4 rolls. Data Search for this human. (12d6.hitsopen(5,6)=4) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3479991/)
11d6.hitsopen(5,6)=10 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3479993/)
10d6.hitsopen(5,6)=1 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3479994/)
9d6.hitsopen(5,6)=3 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3479996/)
18 Hits. Should i need to roll further it'll start from 4 dice on down.
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Frostmane
The elf runs out the door to the left, following the ork and his "cargo".
Don't forget, you've got a -1 modifier from the flashbang damage. Doesn't matter for that last roll since you got so many hits anyway, but you should have only rolled 14. Also, drain rounds down, you only only needed 3 hits.
If your next action is to run to the door, go ahead and roll initiative.
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Frostmane moves hastily to the door and looks around as she runs her spell through the sustaining focus corresponding to the fetish used for the spell.
Initiative 9 after Increase Reflexes - 1: 8d6.hits(5)=2 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3480009/)
Total: 10
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Grind
The spirits give you the man's address and his street name: Bull. As you get up to leave, Lee says, "As you probably know, tell no one about this place. We have our ways to find out, and the consequences will be dire."
Your data sprite finds a couple news clippings on Bull and his family. Some noteworthy clippings and rumorboard comments:
...Hong Kong police investigating a series of carjackings in the Yau Tsim Mong market area believe they have found the culprit. Twenty-three year old Cheng Yat-Sen of Kowloon, aka Bull was apprehended late tonight while breaking the windows of a parked car. Cheng, believed to be a member of Triad gang the 289s, is suspected to be responsible for up to 7 carjackings around the market area. Cheng resisted arrest and three officers were required to restrain him...
...The Great Shadow is perhaps not as great as he'd have you believe. As a 289 he doesn't have much competition--all the real action happens with the more well-established Triads. Still, he's an interesting up and comer...
...from what I've heard, The Great Shadow is one Cheng Man-Long, whose brother and cousins in Kowloon have been involved in a lot of gangbanging activity as low level 289s. The cops can't seem to make anything stick to him, though...
...The Great Shadow--what a cheesey name!...
...Knight Errant Captain Scott Yau refused to comment on Det. Wang's disappearance. Wang was investigating a series of botched police raids in which officers turned their weapons on each other and themselves, and later complained of menacing otherworldy presences. This level of magic was unprecedented among street-level Triad gangs...
...Cheng's brother, Chang Man-Long, was barred from attending the court appearance, with police citing security concerns...
...Cheng, aka Bull, was a suspect in an armed robbery this year but was never charged...
...there are definitely some 289s challenging the power structure in Kowloon. A lot of the lower-level gangers live in Kowloon Walled City, where magic is all but impossible. But outside of the walls, magicians such as the Great Shadow are helping to turn the tables...
As you ride, Randal selects some news headlines:
Gunshots Heard Across Kowloon--Assumed Celebratory
Knights Errant Mobile Command Center Spotted Entering KWC
Urban Gardening Takes Kowloon By Storm
Frostmane
There's a car parked on the side of the road, which the kidnappers appear to be running toward. Their backs are to you and they don't seem to have noticed you. However, the driver of the car sees you and reaches across the seat....
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Menzo pats Leroy on the back as he walks past him into the bar, pulling off his jacket to be properly "in uniform". The girl asking for top-shelf vodka gets his usual display of celerity, twisting around behind the bar to showily place the glass of vodka in front of her. "That'll be five nuyen, m'dear."
"One of the weirdos?" Menzo asks. "I take offence at that, miss," he teases. "Other than the riots from the game, nothing that I know of. I've only just got up, myself. The benefits of being nocturnal," he adds with a wink. "Why? Did you have something in mind?"
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On seeing the two who interrupted her time in the cafe, as well as seeing the driver of the car they were approaching reaching for something, Frostmane clasps the dangling clear rod also hanging from her belt and attempts to drop an Orgy spell in such a way so as to catch all three in it's area.
You said I could see the driver, so that means he could be affected. ::)
Spellcasting Force 5: 14d6.hits(5)=4 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3480672/)
Drain Resist (resisting 2S): 12d6.hits(5)=6 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3480674/)
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Kitten grinned. Will do, JJ.
So, what had started as tailing a sarariman now became tailing some triads? Well, it could be worse. Moving towards the side of the building, Kitten hung there, hidden, watching the two 289s, waiting for them to get the signal that they were going to move. She'd have to move quick to try and hitch a ride on their transport, since she'd been forced to leave her bike at the train station. But this could work out for the best.
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"Figured it was some low punk triads. Drek!" He sighed as he was making his way on the bike. "Randal my man, that Urban Gardening looks a bit interesting; what's up with that?" He cruises a long getting close to Kowloon.
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Grind
Urban renewal with a "green" twist! Volunteers from the Hong Kong Citizens' Initiative have teamed up with Kowloon City youths and nature enthusiasts to plant gardens in the city's medians, alleys, and gutters. Flowers, vegetables, and ornamental trees are springing up in the most unexpected places, adding cheerful scenery to the horrendous blight that is Kowloon City. Local residents this of this as just a first step toward a more livable Kowloon. Another hot green trend: rooftop gardening. The rooftops of dilapidated tenements are being turned into urban nurseries. The gardens not only improve the looks of the buildings; they also absorb heat and slow the erosion of these poorly maintained structures. As gardens spread throughout Kowloon, some even claim to have seen an ancient nature spirit from before the days of Kowloon's massive development, helping the plants along. Many families have their own personal trove of vegetables, or just a place to escape this urban hellhole. It's all some can do to keep from sinking into hopeless depression!
The article is accompanied by a photo of a small boy in filthy clothes holding a huge head of cabbage.
[Randal] What the hell is a garden?
It takes about an hour to reach Kowloon (the traffic is still pretty bad). You reach Cheng's apartment building, one of many monstrous structures packed side to side along the street. Their crumbling concrete facades are adorned with rusty iron balconies and graffiti. On the matrix side of things, AR is also filled with graffiti and icons reminiscent of gangster movies, along with the standard blinking, screaming advertisements, which seem even more hostile around here.
Gangs of teenagers patrol the streets. Some look at you funny, but most ignore you. The occasional gunshot rings in the distance. The police are nowhere to be seen, and the vending machines on the side of the road are heavily armored and set in concrete.
Kitten
The gangers pass the time talking about bitches and combat biking. After a while, the long-haired appears to get a call over his commlink. "Here he comes!" He says. You see Fong walk by the alley. When he passes, the gangers run out behind him, and the stocky one puts an arm on Fong's back in a "friendly" way. "Don't do anything stupid," he mutters, "and act like we're buddies, ok?" Fong attempts a nervous grin, but he's not much of an actor.
The walk three abreast, north toward the busier part of town. You scamper behind them. Before they get too far, a jalopy with two more people in it catches up to them. They push Fong into the back and get in with him.
Frostmane
The elf, the muscled ork, the barista, and about a dozen bystanders collapse into the throes of ecstasy. A passing car slams to a halt; a biker coming up behind it can't stop in time and slides into the back of the car. He's thrown off his bike, over the car, and skids along the pavement, writhing with passion.
The driver of the getaway car manages to grab a shotgun. As he points it at you, his hands shake and his eyes roll back.
Your move again! To be exact: the getaway car is parked on a street perpendicular to the one you're on (i.e. at an intersection) about 10 meters from you. The kidnappers are a few meters away from the car. Don't forget the -2 penalty if you want to keep sustaining the orgy.
Menzo
"I'm always looking for a good time," the woman says. "Though, my tastes go a little beyond starting fires and bashing skulls. Not that there isn't a time and place for everything. But like, for instance, the other night I went to a free spirit poetry slam. Those guys are a riot! And so I come in here, and you've got this fine dark fur," she strokes your forearm, "and you smell like the stuff these spirits were smoking. I mean can spirits even do drugs? How does that work? Anyway, somebody told me there's a bartender here who knows where all the action is. So I figure that's either you, or the handsome fellow in the leather jacket who was here before."
-
He chuckles slightly at Randals question. "You know those green and colorful flowers around walkways and alongside the white picket fences in those stupid ads? That's gardening. Planting flowers and such to be grown." His bike halts into a dark alley by the building and gets off of it, paying no mind to anyone but aware of their presence. He slide the pack off places it on the seat, pulling out his collapsable bow, putting it together. After a minute of assembely and finsihes to putogether with a 5 arrow quiver stuck on it, placing 2 barbed, 2 stick n shock and 1 explosive tip. he grabs another barbed arrow and hold it at the end of the shaft where the tip meets. He shoves the bow back into the pack, assembled yet petruding a bit out of the smart pack. He slides the backpack back on and walks off, scoping the area out.
Rolling visual perception and area knowledge (7d6.hits(5)=4, 5d6.hits(5)=2) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3481883/)
4 Hits on perception and 2 on knowledge
"So Randal, what you think would be the best way to get this done? I'm thinking the front door for this." he wanted to see what Randal had to offer, even if it was wierd, atleast it help hism calm his nerves a bit.
"Data, get me schematics of tenent's building." check to see if there are any public records on this building, he knew it was a long shot.
Datasearch (8d6.hits(5)=3) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3482397/)
Datasearch (7d6.hits(5)=2) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3482398/)
Datasearch (6d6.hits(5)=2) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3482399/)
Datasearch (5d6.hits(5)=1) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3482400/)
Datasearch (4d6.hits(5)=0) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3482401/)
Data reports back and disappears.
-
As the girl speaks about the free spirit poetry slam, Menzo switches his perception to the astral and examines her aura. "What, Leroy? Nah, he's a good kid but he don't know shit about us Awakened." Menzo leans forward on the bartop and rests on his elbows. "Let me see if I can ask a good friend if he knows anything goin' on tonight..." Menzo closes his eyes.
Hey, Phoenix, you there? Give me a hand here, yer man needs some help to get laid.
Assensing 3 + Intuition 5: 8d6.hits(5)=2 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3482026/)
Going to try to contact my Phoenix mentor spirit to see if it knows any local astral hangouts.
-
Following along close behind the 289s, Kitten smiled as she saw the jalopy come up next to them. Just as she thought. As they got in, Kitten scampered up onto the roof of the vehicle, counting on her gecko gloves and excellent balance to keep her in place as they moved through traffic. So far, this was the most difficult part of the whole run.
Infiltration. They have a -4 to Perception to spot me thanks to the suit.
8d6.hits(5)=4 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3482507/)
-
Kitten
With a light foot you hop onto the back of the car, and nobody seems to notice. It rumbles off down the road. The traffic is heavy enough that the car mostly creeps along, and you don't have to try too hard to hold on. After about half an hour of tedious navigation over city streets, the car rolls up at the Star Ferry terminal. The two gangers and Fong get out of the back, and the other two drive off.
Let me know if you want to take any actions while waiting for/riding on the ferry. Otherwise I'll just have you follow them as normal.
Menzo
You assense that the woman is mundane (must be a mage groupie!), in good health, and has a positive disposition toward you.
Phoenix appears out of a ball of fire, caws at you, then appears to soar over Hong Kong's magical landscape, riding the mana surges like aethereal surf. He then dives straight downward and bursts into flame. His ashes hit the ground in the pattern of a spiral.
"Awakened, huh? Can't wait to see what you've got to show me!"
Somewhere across the bar, a few patrons begin to speak in raised voices.
Grind
[Data] I'm sorry master. No relevant data on this building exists.
[Randal] I dunno, what if there's a mage in there? If he's anything like the mages in the trids he's gonna be all flying around, shooting fireballs at you. Might wanna think this one through.
This is a neighborhood like any other in Kowloon City. Dilapidated, depressing, full of gangers. You do notice that Cheng's building seems to have some plants growing on the roof. There is a fire escape running down the building, linking all the balconies together. It doesn't look very safe, though. As you check on your bike one more time, you think you hear some movement in the alley.
-
As they drive, Kitten sends a progress report to JJ. Hey girl. Hitching a ride with the 289s. Looks like we're heading for the ferry. I'll report in again when they get wherever they're going.
Hopping off the car as Fong gets out, she prowls along behind the trio. This kitten was ready to play, if it came to it, but she preferred stalking, for the moment.
-
Menzo opens his eyes again and grins apologetically. "My spirit friend is being a cryptic bastard as usual, I'm afraid. They're all a bit like that. But I'm guessing you found that out from that slam, eh? Impenetrable lyrics and chaotic poems, right?" As he speaks, Menzo tries to listen to the raised voices, just to make sure it isn't something he should call the bouncers in for.
Audio Perception check. Normally 5 but -1 for defaulting, right? 4d6.hits(5)=1 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3482775/)
-
Grind replies to Randal through txt
Well rumors have it his brother is some mage with an alternate name, Shadow something, so I wont be taking it lightly in any case. I would take the fire escape, but that thing will break at any notice. Front door it is.
He looks sees what the noise was and if it was nothing of a matter, he walks away form his bike and attempts to walk in and will heads for the front door of the target's apartment.
Spatial Recognizer aswell, visual and audio of where that noise was in case it was needed or something troublesome. (7d6.hits(5)=3) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3482782/)
-
With a grin which turns to a scowl on seeing the driver resist--even partially--her spell, Frostmane calls up a bolt of lightning to fling at the man.
Force 5 Lightning Bolt: 12d6.hits(5)=4 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3483632/)
DV 5P + any net hits, Damage resisted half impact, Body + Will (3) or take -2 to everything
Resist Drain 5S: 12d6.hits(5)=4 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3483641/)
Full dice pool because wound mods and sustaining penalties don't apply to drain resist like damage resist (pg 184 SR4A)
-
Kitten
There are a few security guards by the gangways, mainly to keep troublemakers off the ferry, but security is lax enough that you're able to hitch a free ride. Upon disembarkation is Kowloon, the two gangers are met by another car, which you hop onto in a similar manner. The car speeds off into the sprawl, and you hang on tight.
After a short tour of some unsavory neighborhoods, the car pulls up in front of a beat-up block of tenements. The two gangers and their driver escort Fong into one of the buildings.
Yes, you are now in the same place as Grind. However, he is distracted at the moment :)
Menzo
An elf and a human--rough, stocky, working-class types--are having a verbal altercation. Something about which combat biker is most ruthless, is all you can tell. Things escalate, and they stand up and start shouting at each other. "Hey hey guys!" you yell, to no avail. The human says, "Eat me ya pointy-eared bastard!" and shoves the elf. The elf grabs the human by the collar, but one of the human's buddies grabs a chair and breaks it over the elf's back. You call the bouncer over commlink. The first human grabs the elf, who's now sprawled over a table, and swings at him, but the elf dodges, grabs the human's arm in a joint lock, and flips him onto his back. The elf then grabs the second human, but at this point the bouncer has arrived. He takes the elf in both hands and tosses him across the bar room, where a table nearby your spot at the bar breaks his fall.
As the elf lies before you in a daze, you look and can't believe your eyes. On his muscled shoulder, tattooed in glowing red ink, is a spiral.
Frostmane
You call a great lightning bolt down upon the driver. It zaps him and you see some smoke rise off his skin. He begins convulsing along with his orgasm, which reminds you of some stories you've heard about freaky sex parlors.
The driver tries to pull himself together to get a shot off at you. He does, but it goes wide.
You get one more action, then roll initiative again.
Grind
You peer into the alley whence came the noise. Nothing. Must have been one of them big rats, you think. Then you hear it again. You take a couple steps closer. As your eyes adjust to the darkness, you see a faint image in infrarad, like maybe someone hidden behind a pile of trash. You look closer. You hear a hiss. Suddenly, a crash, as the trash pile collapses. You see several pairs of glowing eyes.
All of this is deep in the alley, maybe about 15 meters away.
-
Kitten gives another progress report to JJ, and tries to follow the gangers and fong into the building. She was getting paid to follow them to wherever they were taking the man, afterall, and if they were sufficiently paranoid, they could always sneak him out a back way. Too much ground to cover on the outside, so following them in was the only way.
-
Grind gets a bit on edge, and slowly walks back and than about faces and heads for the apartment building, looking over his shoulder to make sure the glowing eyes were not following him.
"We might have to deal with that later." He opens the door and would slide on in and head for the door. Once he gets there he would see what kind of lock it had.
-
Now somewhat irritated with the driver not going down, Frostmane decides to do something which she rarely does. Clasping the same fetish tightly, she calls more mana than she knows she can normally handle to hurl a Stunbolt at the individual, a very small trickle of blood starting to ooze from her nose.
Overcasting Stunbolt at Force 10 with last remaining Edge: 14d6.hitsopen(5, 6)=6 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3484128/)
DV 10S + plus any net hits, Resisted by Willpower-only (I believe)
Resisting 4P drain: 12d6.hits(5)=3 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3484133/)
Well, sitting at 5 stun and 1 physical now...hopefully won't be much more going on this night.
Next Initiative: 6d6.hits(5)=1 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3484149/)
Total: 10
-
Frostmane
Your veins bulge as you channel a dangerous amount of mana into the physical realm. The driver drops his weapon, clutches at his head in agony, then slumps over, unconscious.
Your move again. The others can't doing anything. Though if you attack them, I might be merciful and give them another chance to resist the orgy spell.
Grind
When you look over at the building, you notice a car has just pulled up, and there is a group of people going in.
Make a perception test to spot Kitten, don't forget the -4 due to chameleon suit
-
Menzo completely ignores the girl at the bar and walks around, nodding at the bouncer before grabbing the elf by the scruff of his neck and giving him a slap to the face to try to wake him up. "Oi, you. What's with that tattoo you got?" He shifts to the astral again, trying to find something about this new schmuck.
This better not be some bullshit like last time, Phoenix, or I swear to the non-existent gods I'll get ya back for this.
Assensing 3 + Intuition 5 again: 8d6.hits(5)=1 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3484834/)
I fluffed it :<
-
Before entering, Grind takes note of the car, and tries to hide himself a bit when it pulls up.
Visual Perception & rolling infiltration to hide. Defaulting on it. (3d6.hits(5)=1, 4d6.hits(5)=1) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3484839/) lol glitched on my hiding test. 1 hit each.
-
Keeping an eye on the pair of would-be kidnappers, Frostmane calls back into the cafe, "If someone can come get this barista back in there, that would be much appreciated. Preferably someone who can finish knocking these two out. They won't fight back." With that, she steps to the side and leans against the wall, watching the pair and waiting for someone to come get the ork back inside.
-
Infiltration. I am sneaky sneaky.
8d6.hits(5)=5 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3485636/)
-
Menzo
You assense that the elf is not hurt too badly--and furthermore, he is awakened!
He comes to and grins. Meanwhile, the bouncer is tossing the other two combatants out of the bar. "They started it!" he yells. "You gonna let me stay? Thanks. Yeah, you like the tattoo? Spirals are pretty neat. They just keep going and going... trippy shit, ya know! Er... I got it when I was seventeen. Name's Frank, I'm from out in California. What can I do ya for?"
Frostmane
You step back and notice that a wide-eyed, slack-jawed crowd of patrons from the cafe has congregated behind you. A meathead in a leather jacket pounds his fist and says, "I got it, ma'am!" He runs out to where the barista and the goons are. As he enters the area of the orgy spell, he shouts "aaaaAAAA" and collapses onto the ground, moaning. The other patrons look around at each other nervously.
I considered warning you about that, but I couldn't resist :)
Kitten
On your way into the building, you hear a *thud* and some muffled cursing in English.
Grind (and Kitten again)
You attempt to hide, but you bump into one of those reinforced vending machines while trying to get under a shadow. Fortunately, nobody seems to notice or care.
After waiting a few minutes after the people to enter the building, you follow them in. Cheng lives on the 8th floor (which is actually the 7th, since this building has no 4th floor). No elevator to be found, so you climb the six flights of stairs. The building is poorly lit, filthy, and smells of urine, especially in the stairwell. As you come around the corner into the hallway, you see the people who entered the building earlier, standing in front of a door. You wait at the corner and listen.
They bang on the door. "Hey Cheng, quit playing with yourself and get out here!" The door opens, and they go in.
-
"Yeah, you can stay..." Menzo says. "You're a magician, right? That tattoo o' yours mean anything? Or... d'you know anything about phoenixes?"
Short as hell but that's all I really need/want to do.
-
Menzo
"Shhh, I don't want any of these jerks to know. Yeah, I do some. But it's mostly focused on my acting. Funny you mention phoenixes! My theater troupe is called The Immortal Birds. Ever seen any magical theater?"
"Hey barkeep, how about a drink!" Yells someone from the bar. You signal that you'll be a minute. The woman you were talking to is watching you with interest.
"We're putting on a late late night show in a little bit. You should come see, if you get off in time! Got a pretty good play lined up. Lots of music and magic." He looks over and sees the woman watching. "Wow, hey she with you? Bring her along, that's a bad bitch." He grins.
-
Kitten slips in the room after the two gangers, her eyes recording everything she sees. This was potentially risky, but well worth it if she got some quality paydata out of it. She climbed up the wall, so that she was now hanging upside down from the ceiling like some sort of spider. While this wasn't an ideal situation, it did allow her to observe with little risk of getting bumped into by accident.
-
Grind gets up stairs, putting the barbed tipped arrow setup in his bow, keeping the bow low for now until he is fully ready to shoot. He felt a presence was around with that group, but could not put a finger on it. "Not liking that there's additional people to be leary of now.", he says to himself kind of.
He creeps down the hall and checking the area out before doing anything else. Seeing what kind of lock system these doors use.
Visual Perception (7d6.hits(5)=2) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3487769/)
-
"Magical theatre?" he asks. "Yeah sure, why not." Sometimes I forget how much of a magnificent bastard you are, Phoenix. "With me? Naw, not yet. Still gotta seal the deal. Not long left o' my shift, send the details to my commlink, I'll see if we can make it..."
With a friendly pat on the elf's shoulder, Menzo walks back behind the bar and gives the woman a wink before going to serve the yelling patron. Once he's done (and made sure no-one else is going to bother him to work while he's at work) he scoots back along to the girl.
"So, spirit poetry slam one night, how'd you feel about a magic theatre show tonight?" he asks coolly. "Just spoken to yer man Frank over there, says he's been up to some magical acting and invited me to a show. I'll get off me shift in an hour or so, only overtime as a favour to the boss because o' the game, and we could go see what the fuss is about."
-
Grind
The hallway is empty now that the group has entered the apartment unit. The door is a scraped-up wooden door with with a plain mechanical lock (this building appears to date to the early 21st century, at latest).
Gonna wait a little more what goes on in the apartment--wanna see what Grind does first
Frostmane
You grin sheepishly, then, focusing as intently as you can, you cut out a pocket in the mana for the man to slip through. He gets up with a pleased look on his face, grabs the barista, and carries him back to the cafe. The barista speaks very quickly to you in Cantonese--you assume he's thanking you.
The meathead then walks over to the ork kidnapper, still on the ground, and stomps on his throat. The ork, however, manages to pull himself together and rolls out of the way in time. He then gets up and runs toward the car, grabbing the elf and dragging him along with him.
I'm gonna give these guys one combat turn to escape. No need to roll initiative--just take your three passes and assume they're not gonna do anything but run and get in the car.
-
Grind walks pass the door and stays a few meters away from it and waits with the bow in hand and switches his arrow to an explosive tipped one, if he needs to bust down the door. He'll simply wait in whatever shadow he can stand in.
infiltration (4d6.hits(5)=2) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3488128/)
-
With the two would-be kidnappers now running toward the car, Frostmane ceases sustaining her spell and clasps the combat fetish again, unleashing a stunbolt at the one closest to the car while calling out to the 'meathead'--not using that term of course--to 'take care' of the second assailant.
Force 7 Stunbolt casting--with sustaining penalty gone: 14d6.hits(5)=4 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3488247/)
Drain Resist (2P): 12d6.hits(5)=1 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3488248/)
Blew my gamble a bit, but a couple days and all should be fine, maybe a few hundred at a local clinic.
-
Frostmane
The ork (closer to the car) stumbles a bit but stays on his feet, and dives into the getaway car through an open window. The elf, noticing the meathead coming after him, turns while still running and unloads his SMG your way. The meathead manages to avoid getting hit, but trips and falls over.
Defend against supressive fire (reaction+edge -injury modifiers, +dodge for full defense). You only need one hit, but if you don't get it resist 5S damage.
Kitten
You climb into a corner of the ceiling and watch the three gangers, Fong, and the man they called Cheng. Cheng is a well-built human with a large, bald head and tattoos running up his neck.
Fong finally opens his mouth. "What did you bring me here for? What is this all about?"
"You'll shut up if you know what's good for you," says the stocky mohawked ganger. He pushes Fong down onto a ratty couch, and turns to Cheng. "They'll probably come by for him tomorrow, not sure when."
"I wish you hadn't brought him here," says Cheng. "I told you, I've been trying to keep a low profile. And there are four of us here now. Bad luck." He walks across the room and pulls a sword out from an umbrella stand. He comes back toward the others.
"Ha! You still haven't given those spirits their whiskey back?" says the driver.
"Don't worry about that, I'll deal with them another time. For now," Cheng suddenly looks at you, "we've got your interloper to deal with!" He points his sword at you as he speaks, then lunges toward you.
initiative time!
Grind
You hear some Cantonese voices inside the apartment, then some commotion.
roll perception (hearing) and Cantonese language
-
Initiative 11, 3 passes
9d6.hits(5)=2 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3488844/)
-
Grind listens in a lot better....
Hearing Perception (7d6.hits(5)=2) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3488862/)
4? 1 and 3 chances there's a mage, i'll take my chances than... Grind steps to get a better angle and aim for the door with the explosive tipped arrow in the noch and readied back.
intitiative (8d6.hits(5)=4) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3488864/) 12 init, 3 passes
-
Kitten
Initiative:
Cheng 13 (2 passes)
Kitten 11 (3 passes)
3 Other 289s 7 (1 pass)
Cheng leaps toward you and thrusts his sword upward. However, he slips on an empty bottle on the floor, sending him off balance, and after his attack he tumbles to the ground.
Melee defense: he got two hits (and a glitch!). You may use superior position. Base damage 6P, 0 AP.
Frostmane
The elf, satisfied to get you off his back, also dives into the car, but not before finishing off his clip in your direction. The car squeals its tires and tries to drive away. Unfortunately for its passengers, the back of the car fishtails and slams into the curb. One of the tires starts smoking and then blows. You hear someone in the car shout, "Goddamn computer!"
I'm assuming you dove for cover. You get one more pass this turn, but if you come out you have to resist suppressive fire again with 2 hits, and now there's a -2 visibility modifier to cast on someone in the car. Otherwise roll initiative again, unless you just want to let them to get away.
-
Kitten easily avoids the clumsy blow and whips out her trusty silenced Ares Predator, taking aim at the closest of the two goons, who had picked up Fong pumping out two rounds in rapid fire. She hadn't wanted this to devolve into a firefight, but it looked like she wasn't going to be given much of a choice. Best thing she could do is to end it as quickly as possible.
Reaction 6 + Dodge 3 + Reakt 2 = 11 dice. 4 hits.
11d6.hits(5)=4 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3489679/)
Quickdraw (3), got 6.
12d6.hits(5)=6 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3489682/)
Shot 1. 6P, -2 AP. 5 hits.
14d6.hits(5)=5 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3489683/)
Shot 2. 6P, -2 AP. 6 hits.
14d6.hits(5)=6 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3489684/)
Integral silencer means they have a -6 to Perception to find source of shot.
-
Menzo
Frank gives you an address in Hong Kong Island, just east of Happy Valley.
You tell the woman that you've been invited to a magical spectacle, and she is welcome to come. She is excited and agrees to come along. You introduce yourselves. She says her name is Linda.
Your shift finishes up in a couple hours, and you make a cool two hundo in tips. You and Linda hop on the MTR. When you come up the streets aren't as crowded--it's now late enough that things have gotten a little quieter. You arrive at the address and are greeted at the door by a spirit. He seems to have been expecting you, but maybe that is just the way with spirits. "Come on in," he says, "it's starting soon."
Inside, down a short hall, is a large room with a wooden stage on one end. Everybody is seated on the floor, except for some spirits in the crowd, and a few magicians who are levitating themselves. You sit down and another guest asks if you have any deepweed. "You're gonna wanna be astral for this, trust me," he says.
All of the dialogue and singing is in Cantonese, so you have a hard time understanding everything. However, the play is so astrally vivid that you're easily able to pick up on the emotional content.
The Play:
Act I
The play begins with a man walking through a miniature city. Otherworldy voices chant in a soft fugue. As he climbs a small hill, the buildings slowly grow to proper size, and he enters a luxurious palace. Suddenly, he becomes old and feeble. He picks up a box resting on a mantle. He opens the box and is sucked into it.
A small girl comes and sees the box lying on the ground. She opens it. Green smoke rises up out of the box, and as she breathes in the smoke enters her body.
Act II
You are treated to scenes from the girl's life as a young woman. She has become an actress, the most beautiful and powerful woman in the land. Legions of fans adore her, and she leads a life of opulence and decadence. She meets a man--played by Frank--who falls in love with her, though she resists his advances. Frank sings many songs and performs miraculous feats, such as walking on his fingertips, to impress her, but to no avail.
Act III
The woman's behavior becomes erratic. She dares others to perform dangerous or deadly feats for her amusement. She calls together a troupe of actors and stagehands and produces her own film. The members of the troupe are given directions to burn the city and incite riots. In a particularly impressive visual trick, scenes from the film-within-a-play are superimposed upon the actors and stagehands, while they set up and act out those scenes. The scope of the film expands in both scale and violence, until it appears that the woman is directly manipulating the entire population of the city to conform to her visions of chaos. She looks around with a wild face, laughing. The soft fugue of spirit voices, which has varied subtly throughout the play, rises to a boom, as she chants along with it, in matching time and harmony, "This is Art! This is Art!"
She then shrinks to the size of your hand, as the whole scene seems to "zoom out," revealing that she is standing at the top of an impossibly tall tower. She dives off the tower, and the stage appears to lift off the ground and tilt towards you. The woman is falling through a dark, swirling vortex, which seems to be some sort of bottomless pit in the stage. Terrified, Frank's character dives into the pit, after her. He disappears into the void, as the woman rises back out, laughing maniacally. The lights fade.
Act IV
The booming fugue grows even louder. A haze descends upon the stage, and ghostly creatures appear to form out of it. They circle around the woman, chanting and growing taller. The woman's face falls blank, and the green smoke from the beginning of the play explodes out of her head. It is a demon of some sort. The other spirits seem to chastise it. You get the impression that they tell the demon it is time to stop fooling around with the humans, and come back to the spirit world, where she must grow into her true form and occupy her life with the serious tasks of mature spirits.
All of the spirits vanish instantly, and the lights come on, revealing the ravished world left on the stage.
Everyone claps and cheers. Frank comes by to greet you afterwards. "How'd you like it? Pretty crazy, huh!" He then lowers his voice. "Hey, I meant to ask--you seem like the kind of guy who works for a living." He winks. "Interested in an easy job with me tomorrow?"
-
Kitten
You expertly put two bullets in the skinny 289, taking him down before he even gets a chance to fire back.
The stockier one fires two shots at you. The driver also attempts to fire at you, but his gun jams. Cheng falls, but is able to roll as he hits the ground and lands back on his feet. He comes at you again with the sword.
Dodge 1 shot:
2 hits, 5P, -1 AP
Defend in melee again:
5 hits, 6P, 0 AP, -1 to defense test
Grind
You hear lots of motion and 4 gunshots from inside the apartment.
-
Once again, Kitten nimbly avoided the sword thrusts and gunshots as they tried to bring her down. Sure, she couldn't carry on like this for too long, so she needed to end this quickly. Aiming at the gunman who was actually able to get his gun working, Kitten pulled the trigger twice more. The Predator barely made a sound as she fired off the two rounds. If she was lucky, she'd be able to take them all down, without taking damage.
Defending against shot. 5 hits. No damage.
8d6.hits(5)=5 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3489966/)
Defending against sword. 5 hits. No damage.
10d6.hits(5)=5 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3489967/)
Shot 1. 6P, -2 AP. 7 hits.
14d6.hits(5)=7 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3489972/)
Shot 2. 6P, -2 AP. 7 hits.
14d6.hits(5)=7 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3489973/)
-
Kitten
You drop the second 289 just as easily as the first. The driver is still fumbling with his gun, while Cheng stands before you, sword drawn, incredulous that he can't seem to touch you.
One more pass, then roll initiative. Don't forget to make a separate roll for surprise, since Grind will be busting in.
-
Swinging her gun around, she pointed it at the incredulous Cheng, and pulled the trigger twice. Two shots, two arguments against pointing sharp things at a lady. Kitten meant to end this before it could go on too much longer.
Shot 1. 4 hits. 6P, -2 AP
10d6.hits(5)=4 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3490304/)
Shot 2. 3 hits. 6P, -2 AP
10d6.hits(5)=3 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3490305/)
Initiative: 14
9d6.hits(5)=5 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3490307/)
Surprise: 4 hits
9d6.hits(5)=4 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3490308/)
-
Suprise!!! (14d6.hits(5)=0) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3490467/)
EDGing!!!
Suprise!!! (14d6.hits(5)=3) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3490470/)
Grind arms an SnS arrow, kicks shoves the door open and looks in side, looking for his target or target's brother.
perception (7d6.hits(5)=4) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3490482/)
-
Kitten and Grind
Surprise hits:
Grind 3
Kitten 4
Cheng 4
Driver 2
Grind can't take any action against Kitten or Cheng in the first pass.
Initiative:
Cheng 14, 2 passes
Kitten 14, 3 passes (dead tie! you both act simultaneously)
Grind 9, 3 passes
289 Driver 8, 1 pass
Kitten:
Cheng absorbs the two bullets, but being a lot bigger than his friends doesn't go down as easily. You stare each other down, you wondering how on earth he can see you, Cheng infuriated by his inability to hit you from a foot away. Suddenly, the door bursts open, and there stands a dwarf with a drawn bow.
Cheng stares at Kitten, then at Grind, then back at Kitten. Better to get the one who's shooting at me. Who knows what this dwarf wants. He again raises his sword and swings it at Kitten.
3 hits, 6P, 0 AP. If you somehow happen to take any damage, ignore the modifier for your first pass
Grind: You see Cheng standing in the middle of the room, sword drawn, fighting an eerily translucent figure holding a gun. To your left is a couch where a balding middle-aged man sits cowering, and a ganger in a leather jacket pointing a pistol toward the combatants. Cheng sees you, then swings his sword at the "ghost."
No need to roll again to see Kitten, I'll just give you that there's something there but you can't tell what
-
Frostmane
The car and its severely unlucky and pissed off passengers manages to limp away. Bystanders who had previously been enjoying an extended climax come to, confused. The crowd from the coffee shop cheers and pats you on the back. A short nervous man says something to you in Cantonese and winks at you.
The barista has disappeared into the coffee shop. He comes back out with a first aid kid, and speaks to you some more in Cantonese. He hooks the first aid kit up and dresses some of your wounds.
You heal 1P damage.
A skinny man in a sharp suit with a strong jawline approaches you. He speaks to you in Japanese: "Frostmane, I presume?" He pulls you away from the crowd. "You've got an impressive record. I am even more impressed by what I've seen! I work for Xiao-Renraku. As you may know, we represent Renraku's interests in Hong Kong. Your information was not hard to track down, given your previous dealings with the corporation. Now that I know you are in Hong Kong, you may be of some use to us. May I give you a call some time?"
-
Frostmane gives a nod of thanks for the treatment of the damage she sustained as well as a gesture showing that she does not understand the language being spoken and makes a mental note to try and find a translation program on the net so that she could at least be able to read future things said either on her 'link or via the image link in her contacts. As the man in the suit approaches and speaks, she turns to him and responds also in Japanese, "Of course, the company still holds my loyalty for all it has done for myself and my family. However, if I am to be staying in the city much longer, I may need some assistance finding a lingual tutor for the area."
-
Kitten nimbly avoids yet another slash of that sword, squeezing off two more shots in Cheng's direction. She registers the new arrival, but right now dealing with an angry swordsman has more of her attention than dealing with the bowman who kicked in the door. Once she was done with Cheng and the driver, she could deal with the bowman, and arrange for Fong to have a nice long sit-down with some members of the Red Dragon to figure out why the 289s were interested in him.
Shot 1. 6P, -2 AP. 3 hits
10d6.hits(5)=3 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3490955/)
Shot 2. 6P, -2 AP. 5 hits.
10d6.hits(5)=5 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3490956/)
Dodging blade. 4 hits. No damage
11d6.hits(5)=4 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3490959/)
-
Kitten and Grind
Cheng takes two more bullets--not direct hits, but one pierces his armor and he scowls. The driver shoots at Kitten, but the shot wizzes by harmlessly. Cheng, finally discouraged by swinging and missing, takes advantage of the distraction to jump over to the couch and grab Fong.
Since you're moving simultaneously, you get a chance to shoot at him before he grabs Fong, if you want. No more melee penalty. Gonna wait till you go to finish Fong's turn, in case you happen to kill him.
-
Oh, wonderful. Now the big one was going to try and use Fong as a hostage? Or was he just going to kill him? Either way, this idiot needed to be put down, now, before he could cause her any further problems. She really wished that he would just die, and spare her any more trouble. Hopefully a couple more shots would bring him down.
Shot 1. 6P, -2 AP.
14d6.hits(5)=7 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3492117/)
Shot 2. 6P, -2 AP.
14d6.hits(5)=6 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3492119/)
-
Frostmane
"Of course! says the man, smiling. "Give me your commcode and I will have a Cantonese tutorsoft sent to you. Consider it a welcoming gift. Now, for the moment, I feel that it would be in your best interest to get out of here before the police arrive. I will explain what happened and try to smooth things over. I even took some pictures of the kidnappers myself, and I can share them if you're interested. Anyway, you may expect a call from me soon. As you can see, something is always happening in Hong Kong!"
As the Renraku man leaves you, the barista approaches you again. In simple English, he says, "Thank you for saving me. I thought I was finished! You look like you might be a friend of the people." He hits his chest with his fist, then offers you a fist-bump.
-
Kitten and Grind
You get two good shots on Cheng as he runs towards Fong. He staggers, but manages to stay on his feet, obviously in serious pain now. He grabs Cheng and uses him as a human shield, placing his sword at Cheng's neck as he backs away. "Nobody move, or baldy gets it!" he yells.
Grind's turn, then Kitten's again. See OOC thread for a discussion of the mechanics here...
-
Giving a respectful bow to the company man, Frostmane says, "Arigato, and while the pictures themselves would do me little good, I would like to see any information you may gather on them. If you don't mind of course.", and sends her comm code to the man. At the thanks from the barista, she says, "I don't like standing by when an innocent is being assailed." Rather stiltedly, as though not accustomed to the gesture, she returns the 'fist bump' before turning and heading to her bike to return to her hotel.
She does not travel lightly when she does so, the accoutrements of her lodge generally get packed up in her baggage so she has access when abroad.
-
"This is not negotiable!" Grind pulls back the SnS arrow and releases in elegance for a dwarf. Arrow heading towards Cheng in hopes to knock him out and maybe call the dude's bluff.
Rerolling my attack for you (10d6.hits(5)=2) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3492768/) Cheng is a bigger target so i figure there was no minus if so you are welcome to reroll it for me
-
As the play begins to start and he shifts his perception to the astral, Menzo hands Linda the cigarette of deepweed he had secreted in his jacket pocket. "I think you'll be needing this to fully appreciate the performance."
Menzo shakes Frank's hand when he approaches him, congratulating him on the performance. "Well that would depend entirely on the nature of the job," Menzo says slyly. "O' course, if it was night work, that would make it much more palatable for me. What's the skinny, my man?"
-
Kitten responds by simply turning her gun to shoot the driver. "I wasn't paid to ensure the man's safety, only to follow him and see what happened. Now, you're going to drop the sword, or I will shoot through him to make you drop it." And it was true, she wasn't paid to care about Fong one way or the other. In fact, she had no idea who he was or why he was important. But she was not going to simply allow the man to walk away after trying to stab her so many times.
Shooting the driver. Shot 1. 6P, -2 AP
14d6.hits(5)=5 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3492677/)
Shot 2. 6P, -2 AP
14d6.hits(5)=6 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3492679/)
-
Grind and Kitten
The arrow flies true, and Cheng is too distracted by pain to use Fong as an effective shield. He convulses from the shock and falls to the ground, unconscious.
Kitten's heavy pistol rounds cut down the driver with ease. Fong, overwhelmed by the gratuitous violence around him and being used as a hostage, faints, falling on top of Cheng. The catgirl looks at the dwarf, the dwarf puzzles over the invisible figure holding the pistol.
Grind gets another pass this turn. The two of you can decide if you want to roll initiative again or just resolve this in roleplaying. I don't like to encourage metagaming, but try not to kill each other :)
Menzo
Frank lowers his voice. "Simple extraction, on a willing target. Only problem is, we have to find him first. I don't wanna get into too many details here. Most of these guys are cool, but you never know.... Shall we meet up tomorrow evening? No pay for this one, unfortunately, but it will curry great favor with the spirits. Sort of a charity I'm involved with."
Linda comes up to you. "Wasn't that amazing? I wish I could do magic. You were great, Frank. It's late now though, I think I ought to be heading home."
-
"I'm just hear for Cheng, nothing more... nothing less." He noches a Barbed arrow this time, as he slowly makes his way over to Cheng's limp body, staring at the ambient figure.
-
"No pay? You're lucky I'm so friendly to spirits. Then again, a being of pure magic owing your favours can be worth more than cred," he chuckles. Menzo clasps Frank's hand into a handshake. "Give me the details and I'll be there."
"Aye, it was pretty good," he says to Linda. "Let me walk you over to the station."
-
Kitten deactivated her chameleon suit as she dropped down from the ceiling, landing with catlike grace on the floor. Fitting, since she looked like a catgirl. "Whether you can have him depends on what my contact says. You wouldn't want to step between two Triads, would you?" As she spoke, she sent a quick update to JJ, letting her know what had happened.
-
Kitten
[JJ] Damn, girl! Impressed as I am that you managed to single-handedly wipe out a gang of 289s, you went and killed off all our leads! Shit. Well it sounds like Cheng is still alive at least. Bring him to me. And be careful, his brother is a magician. It's lucky for you he didn't happen to be home.
Oh, and find out what the dwarf wants with Cheng. Not that he can have him, but maybe we can get some leverage here. See if he has anything to offer.
-
Well, they didn't exactly leave me much choice, JJ. I'll bring Cheng in. You want Fong, as well?
Looking back at Grind, Kitten switched the gun in her hand for the other gun resting at her back. She didn't have any reason to kill this one, of course. "Sorry, you can't have Cheng. I've got orders to bring him in for questioning. The Red Dragons are very interested into why he had this man," she indicated Fong, "brought here. So I'm going to be taking him to them."
-
*Summoning Rating 5 Courier Sprite*
Compiling Courier rating 5 (13d6.hits(5)=4, 5d6.hits(5)=0) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3493449/)
4 Services
Resist 2 fade (10d6.hits(5)=3) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3493454/)
"Wrong answer."
Courier, scan for her commlink plz
Courier is going to scan for her commlink. (10d6.hits(5)=2) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3493520/)
Courier is going to scan for her commlink. (9d6.hits(5)=5) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3493523/)
Courier is going to scan for her commlink. (8d6.hits(5)=1) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3493525/)
Courier is going to scan for her commlink. (7d6.hits(5)=2) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3493526/)
10 total hits so far.....
He puts the barbed arrow back into the slot, no longer in the noch.
"Proper answer was, yah you can have him." He sighs, "I have a group way worse than any triad you name."
He makes quick glances to see if there's a window.
Perception (7d6.hits(5)=2) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3493519/)
-
Grind
See OOC for extended tests. In this case though you got plenty of hits anyway, though.
[Courier] I've located the commlink, friend. Awaiting further orders.
You see a few windows along the rear wall of the apartment, as well as a door, which you assume leads to the fire escape.
-
@Fault Sprite 1: Hack said commlink.
@Courier: Stand-by for further instruction.
He ponders a bit while still in conversation.
Fault SPrite exploiting (10d6.hits(5)=2, 10d6.hits(5)=4, 10d6.hits(5)=3, 10d6.hits(5)=2, 10d6.hits(5)=4, 10d6.hits(5)=3, 10d6.hits(5)=3, 10d6.hits(5)=1, 10d6.hits(5)=1, 10d6.hits(5)=6) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3493718/) Going for security access.
-
Grind
Rolling for Kitten's 'link:
7d6.hits(5)=1, 7d6.hits(5)=6 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3493809/)
god damn Mirikon you have the luckiest dice I ever seen :o
The sprite has been detected. Also, you need admin access to do anything to a commlink. Since you're already detected, I'll give you the third roll. You've now got admin access.
[Fault] I've gained access to her commlink, but I appear to have been detected. Standing by.
Kitten
*bweetleetleetleetleeep!* You get a message on your commlink:
WARNING: Unauthorized access detected
-
@Courier Sprite: Search for an Icon and leave cookie.
Once the sprite informs him of the spotting, "I'll tell you what, you come with me. I need to borrow him for a moment, when the spirits are done with what they need from him than he's all yours."
-
Kitten gives a simple command. She turns her commlink off. As Grind is speaking, she doesn't even bother with words, she just fires her gun at him. There are consequences for hackers trying to do things like that to her.
Shot 1. 6S(e), -half AP, impact armor.
12d6.hits(5)=5 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3494453/)
Shot 2. 6S(e), -half AP, impact armor.
12d6.hits(5)=7 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3494454/)
Initiative: 12, 3 passes.
9d6.hits(5)=3 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3494455/)
-
He just sighs as the shots ring.
Initiative (8d6.hits(5)=1) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3494569/)
Defense (5d6.hits(5)=2) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3494570/)
Defense (4d6.hits(5)=2) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3494571/)
3 net hits and 5 net hits. 9S & 11S.
resist (7d6.hits(5)=4, 7d6.hits(5)=2) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3494572/)
Taking 5S and than 9S. 11 Stun knocked out with 3 going to Physical
Grind gets hit and falls to the floor, out cold.
-
As Grind falls to the ground, a giant trog appears at the door, wielding a large pipe. He appears to have just woken up.
"Would you keep it down in here?" he shouts. "Some of us are TRYING to sleep!"
surprise roll--need to beat 2 hits
-
Kitten turns to point the gun at the troll as she turned her commlink back on, rebooting it. "Go on back to sleep, sir. We've just finished our discussion, and these people won't be bothering you any further." She tried to be diplomatic about it. While shock bullets could drop a troll easier than regular bullets, she didn't care for seeing how much ammo it would take, and how many swings the troll could get in with his pipe. And who knows, perhaps her attempts at 'diplomacy' would work better considering she was standing in a room full of bodies (plus Fong).
As soon as her commlink is back online, she sends a message to JJ.
Hey girl. Situation resolved. Cheng is unconscious, and I have Fong. If you could send someone to pick us up, they should be able to answer all your questions.
Surprise. 2 hits
9d6.hits(5)=2 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3495257/)
Negotiation
16d6.hits(5)=4 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3495261/)
-
The troll looks around at the carnage in the apartment. He scratches his head with the pipe, then glares at you, shrugs, and walks off.
[JJ] I'll see what I can do, Kitten. Like I said, my normal guys are out of touch tonight. I'll see if I can get someone to come around, though. Keep an eye out.
While you are waiting, you hear a sound on the fire escape. Before you can investigate, the room goes black. You hear the door open.
perception test -4, low light/thermographic do not apply
-
Kitten muttered a curse as she was plunged into what she assumed was magical darkness. Only way the lights from the city outside could have been blocked out as well, and her thermal vision would be blocked. Since she couldn't see anything, she pulled out a device in her pocket, and activated the ultrawideband radar. There was more than one way to see in the dark, afterall.
Perception before radar. 0 hits, no glitch.
2d6.hits(5)=0 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3495697/)
Rating 4 Ultrawideband radar. Same modifiers as Ultrasound, but it can penetrate up to a cumulative 20 points of Structure. Can also detect cyberware and weapons.
-
Your radar map shows two figures by the fire escape door. One appears to be a human carrying a pistol-sized weapon. The other is a much larger, unfamiliar form.
"Get out of my house," you hear one of them say.
initiative or GTFO
-
Why oh why did everyone have to start making complications? All she wanted was to wait for someone to come to help her carry out Cheng and Fong, and then get paid for a job well done. Still, it looked like one more group of nobodies was going to try and force her to abandon the mission. Taking the scrawny one for the mage, since the big guy looked like a bruiser of some kind, she fired two shots from the silenced pistol at him, going under the universal 'geek the mage first' theory.
Initiative: 11, 3 passes.
9d6.hits(5)=2 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3495945/)
Shot 1. 6S(e), -half AP
14d6.hits(5)=6 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3495946/)
Shot 2. 6S(e), -half AP
14d6.hits(5)=1 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3495947/)
-
Initiative:
Big figure 17, 2 passes
Small figure 12, 1 pass
Kitten 11, 3 passes
Pre-empted! Thanks for trying to speed things up, but next time don't roll dice until you know when you're going. Also, should be a -1 vision modifier (there are no rules exactly for how to handle vision modifiers for magic w/r/t enhancements, so I'm going to say -3 or less counts as partial light, with each negative beyond -3 subtracting 1 from the "partial vision" modifier--this seems consistent)
The large figure moves toward you, shielding the human behind it. You hear a hiss, and a cloud of toxic fumes envelopes you.
Resist 4S damage with nausea: incapacitated if unresisted damage exceeds willpower, double wound modifiers
As you choke on the fumes, you feel a force sapping away your energy.
10S damage, resisted with willpower, threshold 3 to resist the spell
-
And like that, Kitten was out.
Crit glitch against the breath.
3d6.hits(5)=0 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3498284/)
And just normal failure against the spell.
3d6.hits(5)=0 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3498288/)
Which puts me unconscious, with 4P damage.
-
Sunday Morning, June 5, 2072
As the last of the rioters and looters are hauled off to jail, the clean-up begins, and the city is finally quiet. A hazy sun rises over the South China Sea, and it is looking to be another hot, humid day in Hong Kong.
Morning news headlines roll in:
Six Killed and Dozens Injured During Night-Long Combat Biking Riots
With Police Absent, Mage Foils Robbery Attempt Accompanied by a video of an intense, silver-haired mage throwing lightning bolts
Self-Made Millionaire Announces Bid For Council Seat--Expects Backing From Horizon Among Others
Grind and Kitten
It's dawn when you wake up, arms and legs bound in plasteel restraints. You're riding in the back of a car with Fong, similarly restrained. An unfamiliar man in a suit is driving, with Chang riding in the passenger seat.
When Cheng notices Kitten come to, he turns around--with considerable pain, you notice. Kitten's commlink is gone, along with her chameleon suit, weapons, and other gear. Cheng jabs her with the muzzle of a pistol. "Not moving so quickly now, are you? It's a good thing for you there are some thinking people involved, who thought you might be worth questioning. I wanted to throw you in the alley, to the ghouls. Don't worry, I still may get that chance." He turns to Grind, who is similarly stripped of his gear. "They tell me you were down at the scene, with electric bullets stuck in you. Came from her gun, what I hear. So, two separate people following this baldy around, huh? Hey baldy, I don't even know what they want you for, but it sounds like you got a lot of friends!"
The car pulls up to the curb, in an old warehouse district. Cheng and the driver get out, taking Fong with them. "Don't you go anywhere," Cheng smiles. "We'll deal with you later." They disappear into an alley.
Frostmane
You wake up and rub your eyes, thinking you have deja vu. Yes, that's you, throwing a lightning bolt at a car. Not every day you see yourself on the morning tridcast. There's a message on your commlink:
Re: last night's discussion: please call ASAP
Menzo
You were not as successful as you hope last night, though you did manage to exchange commcodes. You look around your filthy hovel, surprised you can even get a woman to talk to you. Your head is foggy from last night's indulgences, and between horrific images from the play burnt into your memory, you remember something about meeting Frank back at your bar later tonight.
Your commlink rings with a voice call. It's Linda, and she sounds panicked. My husband! He's missing! Probably just stayed the night with those... oh I don't know, he's never done this before. Look, I'm sorry I didn't say anything last night. I don't have what you would call a good marriage. I don't expect you to go find him for me, he can drop off the Earth for all I care. But what if they come for me? I mean I don't know that he was kidnapped, but you hear what happens with some of these cutthroat corporate guys, and I'd noticed him involved in something that seemed sort of important and secretive. I mean, the guy is such an idiot, I don't know why they told him anything, but.... Look, I just don't like being alone in this apartment, think you'd like to come over? Sorry if it's a shitty second date. We've got a fully-stocked bar.
-
The dwarf came across s a snarky grin, and an annoying pain coming from his chest. Once the car steps and the two leave, he looks over to Kitten.
"So, it looks like for us to survive this, we'll have to work together." He glares, "I'll be the bigger meta in this and look pass the fact you shot me over nothing." He looks around a bit. "I'll work the trix a bit, I entrust you can get us out of these new accessories." Grind goes to relax himself, "I'll be back." and falls asleep into VR
Grind's persona in the trix is no different than in real life, a knack for no imagination that Randal never understands.
@Randal: Talk to me Randal, what's been going on. *starts to compile a Rating 6 Courier Sprite with Scan & Exploit.
VR Hot Sim (15d6.hits(5)=2, 6d6.hits(5)=1, 10d6.hits(5)=4) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3498529/)
1 Service, resist fade....hoping for more than 1 but oh well.
He tells the courier to scan the area and report back to him while he listens to whatever Randal has to tell him.
-
"You hack my link, you get shot. You're just lucky I switched to nonlethal rounds. Next time, I'll put a sword through your gut. You hackers are all the same, think you can just go waltzing into anyone's link without permission. I ought to do a public service and ice you right now."
Turning away from the hacker, she sighs, and waits for Cheng to return, not having any way to pick zipties, and not being strong enough to break through them.
-
Rising up out of the bed and putting in an order for room service breakfast, Frostmane slides into a soft terry-robe while muttering an obscenity about the media before looking at the message on her comm link and keying in a return call.
[Frostmane]: "This is Frostmane, apologies for missing the call."
-
Grind
[Courier] I've found two personal commlinks and an automobile control node in the immediate vicinity. There are several nodes in the area, but node density is somewhat less than normal here.
With that, he departs.
[Randal] Hey man, you were out for a while! Guess you're not much of a gunfighter, huh? Say, when do I get to eat one of your sprites? I been hankerin to recompile.
Frostmane
[Dong Fengpai] Thank you for getting back to me. I have got an issue that requires immediate attention, and I was hoping you would lend your services. The compensation will be generous. There is a company warehouse at the address I'm sending to your link. Please meet me there. Oh--I apologize for not giving out my identity, as I'd prefer to remain partially anonymous. You may call me Dong Fengpai.
-
Menzo wakes up groggily from sleep, squinting at the sunlight coming through closed blinds. After swatting at it a few times, he regains the level of consciousness required to understand it's his commlink ringing, not an alarm, and picks up.
Jaysus, Linda, it's... He glances at the commlink's display. Eight in the frickin' mornin'. I did tell you I was nocturnal, didn't I? For fucks sake... fine, I'll come over, as long as you've got some whiskey and rum. Shutting the phonecall off, Menzo drags himself off the mattress laying straight on the floor and stands up, shoving on some of the clothes lying about until he's half decent. With a discontented peek past the blinds at the sun outside, he finds some sunglasses to throw on and leaves.
Even behind the sunglasses, Menzo is squinting his eyes at the sun. There are so many reasons he likes sleeping through the day. Mainly the horrible heat and humidity here. He continues on, internally grumbling and really hoping this girl puts out soon.
Carrying: sustaining and summoning foci, commlink, contact lenses and earbuds.
-
Menzo
Linda calls you back as you're leaving:
Oh! By the way, I live on the slope, and there's a lot of security around here. So keep your commlink visible, and try not to look like--um, somebody who doesn't belong.
-
Grind gets a scan on commlinks and is not pleased. He goes to compile another courier sprite.
Dropping the courier sprite for another one. (14d6.hits(5)=5, 5d6.hits(5)=3, 10d6.hits(5)=3) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3499086/) resist fade, 2 services with exploit & Scan
Courier sprite, look for Cheng's commlink and leave a cookie.
Scanning (14d6.hits(5)=4, 14d6.hits(5)=6, 14d6.hits(5)=2, 14d6.hits(5)=8, 14d6.hits(5)=4, 14d6.hits(5)=4, 14d6.hits(5)=4) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3499094/) Scanning for Cheng's commlink
Cookie (12d6.hits(5)=6) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3499099/) Cookie cookie cookie! nom nom nom
Once that is done he compiles another courier sprite, rating 6 with Scan & exploit
Rating 6 Courier with exploit & scan (14d6.hits(5)=5, 5d6.hits(5)=1, 10d6.hits(5)=1) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3499118/)1 Physical dmg :-( But 4 Services.
Scan & Hack into this vehicle. he says to the courier sprite.
Scanning the car (14d6.hits(5)=4, 14d6.hits(5)=3, 14d6.hits(5)=5, 14d6.hits(5)=6, 14d6.hits(5)=5, 14d6.hits(5)=7, 14d6.hits(5)=5) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3499141/) Scanning for the car
Hacking (14d6.hits(5)=3, 14d6.hits(5)=6, 14d6.hits(5)=5, 14d6.hits(5)=7, 14d6.hits(5)=3, 14d6.hits(5)=3, 14d6.hits(5)=5) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3499142/) Hacking it.
Grind comes out of the sleep and see nothing has changed, he looks over to Kitten, "Really, really no luck getting us out." he sighs and looks around for anything to break the restraints.
finding things hopefully (4d6.hits(5)=2) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3499003/)
2 Hits to find something we can use to break restraints.
-
Grind
The first courier sprite locates Cheng's node quickly and plants a cookie. You will be kept up to date on Cheng's matrix activity.
[Courier] Node opened, and I have created a personal account for you. Have anything more challenging, friend?
Personal account is all you need to drive a car, I'm thinking. At this point you can drive the car yourself in AR or VR.
You look around the car but see only junk food wrappers and cans of iced soycaf.
-
He looks over to Kitten, "Alright I have access to the vehicle. Got a destination for us?"
-
"Not having my commlink on me, I can't say where I need to make the drop. And no, I can't get us out of these. If they were handcuffs, no problem. But my claws aren't enough to cut through these restraints. So for the moment, we're stuck. Now, if I had my link, then I could at least call my employer, and find out where to make the drop."
-
After hanging up from the comm call, Frostmane walks into the bathroom, slides out of the robe and hops in the shower to clean up. By the time she's done, breakfast has likely arrived and she quickly eats before dressing and heading down to her bike. After sending the address to the Pilot program, she climbs on and heads that way.
-
@Courier: You may go.
Grind releases the Courier and didn't want to bother Randal with something like this, as it was not a dire emergency so he goes to compile a Machine Sprite.
Rating 4 Machine Sprite with Maneuver (Car) (11d6.hits(5)=7, 4d6.hits(5)=1, 10d6.hits(5)=3) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3499811/) 4 Services. Fade Resisted
@Machine: Drive us to the Kai Tak for now.
"I'll just have us go to kai tak unless you get any ideas.
-
Frostmane
Your bike takes through the tunnel, past Kowloon, into the industrial district of Kwun Tong. It is a somewhat rough neighborhood, though not nearly as bad as Kowloon. As you approach your destination, the streets begin to empty, and you soon find yourself navigating a maze of warehouses. There's no graffiti or broken-down cars in the area, and you notice a few security drones buzzing around the streets. You find the address, an unremarkable concrete building with large frosted windows. You press the buzzer on the front door, and before long a security guard appears, gives you a cursory search, and escorts you into the building.
You pass rows of giant shelves, stacked to the ceiling with cardboard boxes. Forklifts beep and hum over the smooth concrete floor. Emerging from the labyrinth of containers, you come to a door. The guard pauses to say something over his commlink, then opens the door and invites you in.
Your in a small office, neat but obviously worked-in. Behind the desk sits your contact, "Dong Fengpai." He smiles and offers you a seat. The guard leaves, closing the door behind him.
"Thank you for coming on such short notice. A very important matter has sprung up. I'm sorry to have dragged you all the way out here. I don't like to conduct business at the corporate offices. This location is secure and discreet.
Let me get down to business. One of Xiao-Renraku's junior executives, Fong Wei-Lei, disappeared last night. As you probably know, there is zero tolerance for AWOL in our policies, and this disappearance is most uncharacteristic of Fong, who has been a loyal and predictable worker. I'm sending his personnel file to your commlink now." The file includes Fong's address, title and division, names of business associates, record, and miscellaneous information that Xiao-Renraku has gathered on him. There's also a picture: a short, balding man in a charcoal business suit, looks to be in his mid-forties.
"We have reason to believe Fong has been kidnapped. There have some unsubstantiated rumors through the back-channels that seem to fit the facts, and also suggest that organized crime may be involved. We've currently got an investigation team searching Fong's apartment and questioning his wife--in fact, you may wish to start by catching up with them there. We also plan to conduct an internal investigation. I will let you know if anything turns up. Another thing--Fong has a security tag implanted under his skin. The signal disappeared last night, in the Happy Valley area.
The reason we're not handling this with our own corporate resources is that Xiao-Renraku is wary about getting involved in the criminal underworld, especially in a case like this which could possibly have public consequences. Similarly, we do not want common criminals acting on behalf of our important interests. You possess the perfect combination of trustworthiness, discretion, and deniability for this case, which is why I feel so fortunate to have run into you last night. We are willing to pay twenty thousand nuyen for your services.
One more thing: those back-channel reports also indicate that there are others investigating this case. It may be wise to find them and discover what they know. But it is imperative that you guard your employer's privacy. For all we know, they may be working against us!
I believe you've got everything you need. Let me know if there is any assistance I can provide. I will relay any new information to you as I receive it."
-
Grind and Kitten
The machine sprite starts the car and speeds you away to freedom. It's a short drive over to Kai Tak, where you roll up and down the backstreets, trying to find a parking space. The swindlers and thieves are still out hustling, and "buyers and sellers" from around southeast Asia are packing up and making last-minute deals as the sun rises. If nothing else, this is a good place to hide at the moment.
-
"Alright, so we got some distance." he looks around. "Any ideas?" He accesses any commands to open the trunk.
@Randal: Any updates on anyones' commlinks.
-
Grind and Kitten
The machine sprite unlocks all the doors and pops the trunk. If you venture to hop out around to the trunk, you find your gear in there. Good chance Cheng was going to bring it here to fence after he took care of you! While the people around here are generally the type to look the other way, hopping around in restraints does attract some attention.
Menzo
You take the MTR across to the base of Victoria Peak, and enter the Splendid Dragon Trail to walk up the slope. AR warnings advise you to keep your commlink on active, and security drones buzz around, seeming to take particular interest in you. Along the Dragon Trail you are bombarded with ads for items and services you could not possibly afford.
You exit the trail about halfway up the slope and find Linda's apartment. It's a huge, glitzy building, apparently owned by Renraku. Like any runner, you feel just a little bit queasy entering a Renraku building....
You call Linda over commlink and she authorizes security to let you in. As the gates to the property open, you are greeted by a security drone. "You are entering a Xiao-Renraku extra-territorial zone," it says in a firm, robotic female voice. "Please wait while you are scanned." Luckily, your fake ID holds up, and the drone does not find anything objectionable about you. It leads you up to Linda's apartment.
You knock at the door, and are greeted by two very serious-looking security personell. They pull you inside, throw you against a wall and pat you down. "Want to explain what your business is here?" one of them asks. A third person in talking to Linda. She looks at you with a guilty face.
"I'm sorry!" she says. "They just arrived ten minutes ago, and they wouldn't let me tell you they were here. They're investigators from Xiao-Renraku, where my husband works." She turns to the security officer. "He's just a friend of mine, he's got nothing to do with this."
Her apartment is glamourous indeed, with expensive wooden furniture, top of the line living convenience drones, and huge bay windows overlooking the city. The security team appears to be tearing the whole place apart. The officer searching you finds your magical foci. He scrutinizes them with a puzzled look. "What the hell are these?"
-
"Ow, jaysus." He squints at being roughed-up against the wall. "The lady jus' said she was a bit scared. Didn't want to be alone, thassall." When the officer pulls out his foci and asks them about them he says, "Oh come on, you're really going to bother me about a couple a' keep-sakes? Not quite everythin's a fracking weapon these days. Whas' all this about, anyway? And why d'ya thinka a dirt-poor elf like me would know anythin' about it?
-
Getting over to the trunk, Kitten grabs her commlink, and immediately turns it on, sending a report to JJ as she clumsily scoops up the rest of her gear, and hops back to the cab of the van. At least now she's armed, and that's a plus. Still in her underwear, since she can't get the suit on over the restraints, but that's no big.
-
Nodding to the company man, Frostmane records the information given to her and says, "If I can retrieve the man, I will." With that she stands up and gives a deep bow of respect before turning and leaving the room to head back to her bike. Once outside, she decides to check out this 'Happy Valley' area, and thus she heads there to ask around and find out who may or may not have seen him or perhaps these other individuals tracking him.
-
Menzo
"Imagine," says the security officer, "an important executive disappears one night. The very next morning, a freak dark furry gwailo elf shows up to run off with his wife. What would you think? One of you had better explain, and I need to know where both of you were last night."
Kitten
A few men hauling boxes of contraband whistle and laugh as you hop around in your underwear. When you pick up your commlink, you find a message from JJ:
[JJ] Get out of there, Kitten! The guys I sent over there just got turned around by an army of 289s. They're right outside the building!
Shortly after updating JJ on your status, she gets back to you.
[JJ] Glad to hear from you. I thought you were a goner. There's know a mechanic shop in Kowloon where you can get those restraints cut off. Here's the address. I can meet you there. Find out what that dwarf wanted from Cheng. And if he's a matrix specialist, he may be useful. See if he can find out anything about Fong.
Frostmane
You pick up Fong's trail in Happy Valley. According to the security tag's data, Fong traveled from his home on the slope, over to Happy Valley East MTR station, then to a location in Happy Valley. He spent some time there, then left. Shortly after that, his signal was lost. He appeared to be heading north toward Kowloon at the time.
The location where he stopped in Happy Valley is an old, run-down stone building with drapes in all the windows. You can't tell what sort of building it is, but the general vibe you get from the neighborhood is seedy and secretive. It's very quiet here early in the morning, and you see no one around except a few passing pedestrians.
You get a call from Dong:
[Dong Fengpai] I've got some news already. A stranger was found attempting to meet with Fong's wife at their apartment. Our security officers are holding him there as we speak.
-
[Frostmane] Will head that way now. How long can they hold her? Is the stranger still there?
With that, she hops back on the bike and sets the pilot program to head toward Fong's home. Once there, she'll question the wife. She'd prefer not to, but if necessary, she will employ Control Thoughts in order to get the needed information. If the stranger is still there, she has no compunctions about the Control Thoughts to rip the information from him forcibly.
-
Grind gets out of the the car and scurries on over, grabbing all he can throwing it into the backseat of the car and go back for a second. "So any idea how we get rid of our new accessories?", he says to Kitten before he goes to scurry back into the car.
-
"Explain? I jus' fucking told you why I'm here! She said she didn't want ta be alone in the flat. Was probably right to fuckin' worry with you meatheads on the way. And you really want to know what we were doing last night? She came into the bar I work at, down in Yau Tsim Mong, and we started chatting. Then we caught a show. No Triad meetings, no plotting, no cloak-and-dagger shit. We watched a play. I didn't even know she had a husband until this mornin'." He scowls at the officer holding him to the wall. "Happy?"
-
Menzo
"Mmm" the officer grunts with contempt, "fair enough. You stay here for now. We've got an investigator on the way who will know whether you're telling the truth." You go and sit with Linda on the swank couch, and she offers you a drink. The security team continues to rummage through the house.
After some time waiting, a handsomely-dressed Japanese woman enters the apartment.
Frostmane
You arrive at Fong's apartment on the slope. With your Renraku clearance, you are easily waved by security, and you arrive at his apartment. Inside are three Renraku security officers. Two are combing the apartment for clues, the other, who answered the door, is guarding two people on the couch. One is an attractive woman, the other is a strange elf-like creature with dark fur covering his body. You've heard tales of the "night ones," but of course you had never seen one in Japan.
"Thank you for showing up so quickly. Let me fill you in. We're still searching the apartment for anything of interest. This one--" he jabs the elf with his baton, "showed up shortly after we did. He claims to have met Mrs. Fong just last night, and to have no idea of what happened to her husband. We were hoping you could help get the truth out of them."
-
Kitten told him the address of a mechanic's shop in Kowloon Walled City. "Get us there, and we'll be able to get out of these. And in exchange, you can do a matrix search to find out why Fong here," she nodded at the other occupant of the car, "is so important."
-
Grin amuses Kitten in her little give and take and nods to her. "Let's roll than." He gets back into the vehicle and goes out like a light.
@Machine: Thanks, you can go for now. He dismisses the machine sprite to summon a rating 5 data sprite.
Data Sprite with encrypt Rating 5 (15d6.hits(5)=5, 5d6.hits(5)=2, 10d6.hits(5)=1) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3504368/)
took 1 Stun
A sprite with glasses comes about, @Data: Data, find me info on a triad name Fong in Hong Kong. Might be with the Dragon Association, from what I am gathering from one of these metas. He than 'jumps in into the vehicle and drives off to the destination.
Data Sprite with encrypt Rating 5 (12d6.hits(5)=1, 12d6.hits(5)=3, 12d6.hits(5)=4, 12d6.hits(5)=5, 12d6.hits(5)=4, 12d6.hits(5)=3) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3504375/) 20 hits on the data search in VR
-
Grind and Kitten
Data returns after a few minutes, pushing his glasses up on his nose and holding a clipboard
[Data] 1,172 results found for "Fong" and "Triad". Would you like me to list them all?
On your way into Kowloon, a car rams you from behind. It then attempts to pull up alongside and someone with an AK leans out the window and points it at the car. They are signalling for you to get off the road before things get ugly.
Roll initiative. If you want to use your guns it'll be -7 dice, between being in a moving vehicle and having your hands bound. I would advise you to duck! For vehicle tests, use Mercury Comet stats.
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Grind wakes up and remote controlling in VR.
Threading command (6d6.hits(5)=1, 10d6.hits(5)=4) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3504891/) Rating 1 Command. 2 dice for driving.
"What the fuck?" He looks over to see what's going on and starts to talk to himself out loud. "Randal buddy, would you mind habiting this vehicle while i take care of somethings before we die by driving off the road?" He looks over to Kitten, "I need more info on this fong person to find him out, too many Fongs in the world."
Initiative (8d6.hits(5)=4) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3504896/) 12 Init
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Kitten shook her head. "That's all I got. Simply follow this guy, and see what happens. Then one of the guys starts trying to stab me, so I had to put them down. Then SOMEONE tries to interfere, and I have to waste time with him, which allowed a mage to get in and stun me."
Looking back at the car chasing them, she said, "Ram them into oncoming traffic."
-
Looking from the elf to the woman and back again for a moment, Frostmane turns to one of the security agents and says, "If you'll take her into the other room..." With that, she reaches down to clasp the manipulation fetish, and begins twisting at the fabric of mana to attempt to compel the man's thoughts. "Tell me what you are doing here, and elaborate on what has happened to the man who lives here."
Force 5 Control Thoughts: 15d6.hits(5)=7 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3505148/)
Resist 4S Drain (Friggin Crap roll, dammit): 12d6.hits(5)=2 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3505149/)
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Grind with his cuffed hands on the wheel, releases the Data sprite and summons a rating 4 machine sprite with maneuver autosoft.
Rating 4 machine sprite (13d6.hits(5)=5, 4d6.hits(5)=3, 10d6.hits(5)=5) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3506368/) Resist fade with 2 services.
-
The car pulls up along side you and attempts to run you off the road. The man with the assault rifle fires a burst at the car, peppering the body with bullet holes and breaking windows.
Vehicle test for either Grind or the Machine Sprite, whoever is driving. Threshold 1, make a crash test (-1 to dice pool) if you fail.
-
Grind tries to steady the vehicle to defend against the run off.
driving (5d6.hits(5)=2) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3506647/) phew!
Grind commands the machine sprite to habit the vehicle and tells the dog pilot use defensive maneuvers. (Car has 6 dice, pilot 2 + 4 maneuvering from machine)
-
"Oh boy. Fuckin' mage investigators castin'--" Menzo begins, stopping suddenly as the spell takes affect. "I came here because Linda asked me to. I don't know what has happened to the man who lives here."
2d6.hits(5)=1 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3507105/)
-
Grind is figuring out the best offense is probably.....offense.
@Machine: Continue to destination, make sure this car can no longer follow us.
-
Grind and Kitten
Machine Sprite Initiative: 10, 3 passes (only 2 this turn)
The Sprite takes control of the car, and daringly swerves to the right, trying to push the other car off the road. But the driver makes a deft maneuver, hopping up on the curb, avoiding oncoming traffic, and swerving back into the lane beside you. The sprite driver takes another swipe at the enemy, but he dodges skillfully again.
Grind and Kitten are both sitting out now. Initiative:
Machine Sprite: 12, 3 passes
Triads: Critical glitch! No actions this turn
The sprite makes yet another attempt to push your pursuers off the road, catching the driver with his hands off the wheel. This time, your car gets a good sideways push, and the other car's front end dives toward the curb. The driver tries to turn back, but his way is blocked by an oncoming car, which honks loudly, swerves and narrowly avoids missing him. Your pursuers are not so lucky, however, and their car spins out and crashes into a building on the side of the road.
[Machine] You can thank me for that one later!
You make it into Kowloon without further issue. This area is near the site of the old Peoples' Army Barracks, in secure Red Dragon territory. You pull up to the repair shop and see a tall blonde woman outside in sunglasses and a leather jacket, leaning against the building.
"Finally made it, huh?" You relate the tale of your chase. "Shit! They must have tracked the car's signal. You're safe here, but they probably know where you are. Kitten! Looking sexy as ever," she winks. "Come on in, let's get you outta those shackles." You walk into the garage, where a fat, greasy man with a crown of unkempt hair sticking every which way sits, eating noodles and smoking a cigarillo. "This is Chuck."
Chuck grins at you. He walks across the shop, and wheels a cart with gas canisters back toward you. He hooks up some hoses and a torch nozzle, and puts on a pair of dark glasses. "Who first?" He hands the volunteer an insulation blanket to tuck inside the cuffs. Smiling wide, he turns on the gas, takes the cigarillo out of his mouth, and lights the flame. "Don't move!" he laughs, as he guides the blue cone over the plasteel restraints, cutting through them easily. It only burns a little bit.
Once you are all suited up again, JJ takes you into a back room and sits you down. "So, what's the scoop? Anything I should know about?"
-
Kitten was first to get the cuffs off, quickly getting dressed again, as she was not keen on showing everything off at the moment. "Yeah, they wanted Fong for some reason, but I didn't get to hear too much before I was spotted. The wizworm managed to get the jump on me, and I woke up in the van."
-
Grind nodded and would interject after kitten spoke. "Well I need Cheng alive, I got people that need information on a kidnapping." He looked over to kitten after speaking towards the triad guy. "The wizworm was probably his brother." He looks over to the triad. "I tell you what...i'll help you retrieve Fong, I get to keep cheng."
-
Grind and Kitten
Again, Fong is not with you anymore! Pay attention ::)
JJ takes her jacket off, sits down, and spins around in the chair. "Too bad you couldn't find out more. Well, here's the scoop. I noticed a few weeks ago that the 289s were taking particular interest in Mr. Fong. So, I did some research and had my people keep an eye on him, because it's unlike the 289s to be interested in these corporate guys. Turns out, Fong is a mid-level executive with Xiao-Renraku--nobody important from what I've been able to tell. So I'm still lost as to why the 289s want him.
This guy Cheng is just another thug. He's got some magical powers, but he's not all that bright, and I don't know how involved he is in this business with Fong. I have a feeling they took him to Cheng's because it's a particularly secure location. His brother , as you found out, is a powerful Wujen. He generally doesn't involve himself with the typical 289 activities, and only lends a hand when absolutely necessary. That should tell you something, if the gang leaders are willing to let him make his own schedule. But I don't know how involved he is with the Fong thing either, because this is the first I've found of either Cheng being involved.
Word through the grapevine is that Renraku suspects kidnapping and is looking for any information about Fong's disappearance. They've even hired an 'outside consultant' to look for him. As a matter of fact, there she is!" She points to a beat-up trid in the corner, with the volume muted. A silver-haired woman with an intense look on her face is throwing a lightning bolt at a car. "She looks like she can handle it. Then again, she doesn't have the inside information that we have. From what I hear, Renraku is wanting to keep all of this very quiet. But given your knowledge of the incident, they might be hiring. If you're interested I could hook it up."
-
Grind looks at the trid and nods a bit, "Fair enough, As long as I get cheng and maybe his brother under my custody, I'll play along. I got people that are not very patient."
-
Kitten shook her head. "Fragging wizworms. They're always trouble. But if there's magic to be fought, its better to have magic of your own to take it on. Yeah, sure, I'll take the job. I owe the spellslinger for knocking me out like that. Set it up, JJ, and we'll find out what the 289s want with Fong."
-
Frostmane nods, satisfied with the veracity of the meta's statement and turns to face the security guards saying, "Keep an eye on him for the moment." With that she steps inside and approaches Fong's wife, lowering herself to sit down beside her. At that point, she attempts to put on an air of compassion and sympathy to see if that will loosen the woman's tongue in speaking of her husband's dealings. Whether it works or not, she'll maintain the sympathetic tones until she walks back to where the 'elf' is being held where she returns to her cold demeanor and says, "I don't think we have any pressing reason to hold this...man...for the time being, but with proper motivation, perhaps he could be of use in our current endeavor." She turns to the elf and continues, "Assuming you--or others you may know, or both--can be of use in getting the man who lives here back, I am prepared to vouch for you in order to keep you out of a holding cell. Is that term acceptable to you?"
-
Frostmane
"You ought to know," Linda replies, coldly. "He'd been very secretive about something at work. Something he seemed excited about. Very confident. He never actually talked to me about work, so you'd have to find out from somebody there. Maybe that has something to do with it?"
Linda doesn't appear to know any more. Neither do the security officers, who have finished searching the apartment without finding anything interesting. They seem more than happy to unload the elf on you.
A message flashes over your commlink:
[Dong Fengpai] Good news! I have been contacted by someone with knowledge of Fong's whereabouts. They claim to have two people who were present with him last night. These witnesses may be of some additional use to you: one is an infiltration specialist, the other works with computers. If you want to bring them on to assist in your investigation, I can authorize 1500 nuyen/day each. That should be enough to keep them from asking too many questions. Remember, they need not know any more than absolutely necessary.
-
Frostmane looks at her 'link as she receives a message and shoots back a response.
[Frostmane] May I inquire as to what projects Fong has been assigned to at work? It is true that this abduction could be unconnected, however, I find it more than likely that a connection is probable depending on the nature of the project(s). As to what you have authorized as pay for these witnesses if they can be of assistance, can you authorize the total being relayed to myself directly and disseminated from there? This could keep yourself quite unconnected to them except through me.
Turning to the elf, she says, "Well? Would you rather stay here and spend some time in a cell, or assist with finding the missing executive?"
-
Frostmane
[Dong Fengpai] We are conducting an internal investigation at Fong's office, and I will send you the results as soon as it is completed. Fong worked at the Matrix security division off Xiao-Renraku, so of course much of what he did is highly sensitive.
We will place the payment for these witnesses' services in an anonymous account from which their daily allowance will be dispersed to them. It is how we often handle these sorts of payments. You can contact them through a fixer known as "JJ." Here is her commcode.
-
"Bullshit. I haven't done nothin' wrong. I was just visiting an acquaintance when yer men here," he nodded toward the security men, "roughed me up fer no good reason, then you come on in with all yer magician bullshit and cast fuckin' mind control spells on me." He crosses his arms and leans back slightly. "I don't owe you shit, and you got no reason to put me away. Now, I might be inspired to help you, if only there were some sorta payment involved..." he says, trailing off with a sly tone.
-
Frostmane looks down at the elf and says, "Oh, quite the contrary. You are on Renraku property by being at the home of a Renraku executive, and thus the company can charge and hold you for trespassing on corporate property. So, I'm afraid that you don't have that much choice." She crosses her arms over her chest and continues, "The company can be quite magnanimous, however, and some compensation can be arranged quite easily. How does 1000 nuyen a day for the duration until he is found sound?"
While she speaks, she sends a text message to the commcode Fengpai sent her with what information she does have about the individuals she was told about and the same offer she presented the elf.
-
Menzo squints at the mage, not quite sure if he believes her. "Fine. I'll help find yer man for ya. What's the skinny on this guy?"
-
Kitten and Grind
JJ tells you that she's heard from the Xiao-Renraku investigator,who is offering 1000 Nuyen/day for your services. She gives her commcode to you so that you may respond directly.
-
Grind gets the comcode into his address book in AR and nods, he releases the machine sprite and summons a data sprite.
Rating 5 Data Sprite with Encrypt (10d6.hits(5)=5, 5d6.hits(5)=1, 12d6.hits(5)=3) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3519912/) Fade resisted
@Data: Build me a private chatroom and encrypt it please.
Grind knows chatrooms pretty well form his past. And awaits for the sprite to finish. "I'll have us a private trix room."
Computer Edit for chatroom (10d6.hits(5)=4) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3519916/) Encrytion (10d6.hits(5)=3) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3519917/)
Once the encryption process is done and the sprite lets him know. He shoots invites to Kitten and Frost.
-
Kitten kissed JJ on the cheek. "Thanks, doll. I'll be sure to keep you in the loop when we find out what the 289s want Fong for." Looking over to Grind, she sighed, and shook her head. "I dislike matrix meets. You're too vulnerable to hackers there. And there's no way to judge someone's truthfulness when you're not face to face."
-
He laughed at the absurdness he thought, "We can still meet in person, but having a constant stream of information is pretty nice." he nods as he gets up from where he rested. "As for security, I'll know and Randal is a good bouncer to. He likes to think of himself as one of those troll bouncers on those trid shows, but in the trix." He shrugs. "Just accept it, I'll worry about the security."
-
Kitten muttered, "Yeah, yeah. And then someone blows up a hospital." It was a none too tactful reminder about the riots that started right here in Hong Kong only a few years ago, and exposed technomancers to the world. "Fine, I'll be in AR. And if you try to hack me again, just remember I won't be using nonlethal ammo this time." She accepted the invite, and went in via AR.
-
"You don't have to worry about that..." he resends an invite to Frost. "I already know what i need to know so you need not worry lass."
@Frost: Link Secured room for the info savy.
-
Frostmane looks down at her comm link as the message is received and gives a slight frown before sending back a simple text message.
[Frostmane] I would much prefer to conduct such things in person, as in face-to-face.
-
Grind simply sighs....
@All: Well we don't have time for meet and greets. We need to get back to the trail before it gets cold.
Grind ponders to remember any landmarks to the last sighting of Fong.
Memory.... (7d6.hits(5)=3) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3521449/)
What you got so far on this Fong guy, also what's his full name. I can cross reference and get some stuff on the guy.
He looks over to Kitten, "You mind driving this time?"
-
[Frostmane] While time may be running slightly short, you must realize that not everyone is comfortable with such things.
With that, she sends any and all non-classified information on the man that has been given so far.
Can't remember most of it off-hand, so I need to rely on our GM on that one. :(
-
Kitten shook her head. Hackers. Fragging nuts, the lot of them. "Face it, everyone's more comfortable doing things in person, where we can judge reactions. Let's meet at Dante's in an hour, and sort everything out." As she spoke, a monocycle rolled up next to her, clearly called by her PAN from where she had parked it the night before. Looking to Grind, she said, "We can't take the van. It is probably tagged, if not bugged. And we'll need to change into more appropriate clothes for a meet. So call yourself a cab, because there's only room for one on my ride."
-
Grind grumbles, This is going to be 9 kinds of hell...... He looks over to Kitten, "Fine..." He walks off calling a taxi.
@Randal: See what I have to deal with Randal? You should be happy you have to be in contact with goons.
@Chatroom: In any case, to Dante's in an hour.
Grind summons his bike and it shows up after awhile. He hops on and drives off heading for the area he remembered.
-
-----//////Xiao-Renraku Personnel File//////-----
Name: Fong Wei-Lei
Age: 46
Began Employment: 2050
Title: Junior VP Sales, Matrix Security Solutions Division
Major Clients: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Direct Supervisor: Chong Jun-Min, Chief of Matrix Security Solutions Division
Distinctions:
- 2063 Employee of the Year
- Sales Leader 2051, 2056, 2059, 2061, 2062, 2063
- Recognition for Exceptional Cooperation and Loyalty: 2070
Complaints Against:
- 2056, XXXXXXXX, Difference of opinion (resolved)
- 2066, XXXXXXXX, Unfair management practices
- 2071, XXXXXXXX, Wrongful termination
Committee Involvement:
- Corporate Image Committee
- Diversity Committee
- Community Outreach Team
- Intercorporate Liason Committee
Spouse: Fong Li-Xia
Extracorporate Involvement:
- Lantau Island Development Board
- Hong Kong Corporate Ethics Committee
- Planning Board For the Upkeep and Beautification of Victoria Peak
-
Grind
You ride over to the block where you remember last seeing Cheng and Fong. It's a dense warehouse district, and something tells you it isn't the safest place. You think you recognize the alley where Fong was taken after leaving the car. It appears to lead back to the side entrance of one of the warehouses.
A picture for reference:
-
Grind parks his bike by the alley, southside in front of warehouse one. He takes his bow and puts it back together, grabs a handful of stick n shock arrows. Slots 5 in the quiver attached to his bow. He keeps a 6th sns arrow in one in hand. He walks down the alley way look for entrances and would look for and enter the left warehouse.
Perception, visual (7d6.hits(5)=2) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3522953/)
-
Looking at the elf as she receives a message regarding the location of the meeting, Frostmane says, "We may have a couple more associates to assist in finding Fong. We're to meet them at Dante's in an hour." With that she sends a quick message to Fengpai.
[Frostmane] I think I may have gotten the others to agree to 1000 per day rather than 1500. This may change, however. If it holds, might I request the remainder from each be placed in a shell account in my name?
After sending the message to Fengpai, she climbs on her bike and sets the pilot program to go to Dante's.
-
Grind
You walk down the alley toward the back of the warehouses. The alley connects to a truck lane that runs under an elevated expressway. The warehouses have loading docks and entrance doors back here, but the doors are locked. You see a group of rough-looking guys hanging out under the expressway. They look over at you.
Careful with your time. You've got about 40 minutes to get to Dante's. The drive will probably take at least 15 minutes.
-
((Thank you, I was going to ask that.))
He was doing this form the start as well, but also looking for any trail left behind by anything possible to be cheng or whatnot.
tracking (4d6.hits(5)=3) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3523049/) 3 hits tracking....boom
He tries to dodge the group if possible but if he gets their attention, he'll head back.
-
Grind
It's hard to make out any traces of activity over the general clutter in the alley, but you do notice what appears to be a sign of someone's feet dragging. The trail leads to the right, up to the warehouse door. The people under the bridge watch you curiously.
-
Dante's Inferno
Given that it's mid-morning, there's no crowd in front of Dante's Inferno, so the velvet rope is pushed to the side and you can walk straight in through the main entrance. Despite the lonely appearance, you can hear muffled electronic beats and booming bass emanating from within. Once inside, you meet the host(ess?), an attractive elf in a white silk suit, with short blond hair, a thin, angular face, and exceptionally radiant skin. The look on the elf's face is one of utter contempt, as if you just ruined hir day by showing up.
Anybody entering the Inferno, roll etiquette and try to convince the elf that you're not total scum.
-
Grind does a quick check on the door to see if it was unlock, if it is he'll look inside. He notices he's being watched...but he just needed to take a peek to find something before he has to jet.
perception if needed (7d6.hits(5)=4) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3523109/) just in case.
-
Kitten had gone home to change clothes, now wearing one of the new Tegmentum holowear outfits, currently displaying the latest in club wear. She smiled at the host as she entered, and said she was expecting friends. She definitely looked like she belonged. One reason for that being the fact that she was a regular at the club, and really enjoyed herself. The few times she came alone, she never left that way.
Etiquette
14d6.hits(5)=7 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3523228/)
-
Grind
No dice, the door is locked.
Frostmane
You enter Dante's and the host gives you the 1000-mile stare. In Cantonese he asks, "Can I help you?" Your translation program doesn't do sarcasm very well, but you can tell it from his face. You respond in English, but he rolls his eyes and says he can't understand you. You try some Cantonese phrases you've picked up but he just looks at you blankly. After a few failed attempts to communicate, he past you and his face breaks into a smile.
Kitten (and Frostmane)
"Oh hey there Kitten!" The host's name is Byron and he's seen you around him before. He's arguing with a white-haired Japanese woman. Byron has a way with strangers, and frankly management is just as sick of him as the patrons are, even if he does lend an air of exclusivity. But he finds your cat girl look absolutely charming.
"Funny to see you here this time of day! Guess things are about to heat up in here, eh?" He puts his finger to his lips, and rolls his eyes upwards. "Say, this gwailo here isn't one of your friends, is she?"
-
Grind frowns and heads back to his. He breaks down his bow and places that and the quiver back into his backpack and drives off to Dante's Inferno. He'll have to comeback later with someone that can break in. After 15 minutes or so he reaches to the infamous, Dante's Inferno. He pulls up to a side street and parks. Grind, gets off hi bike, adjusts himself a bit and struts over to Inferno.
ettiquette (1d6.hits(5)=0) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3524395/) yah...we'll see how this works. lol
-
Looking at the Japanese woman, Kitten checks her out for a second before looking back to Byron. "Yes, she's one of the people I'm meeting. I've got another one coming in, bit of an idiot, but work is work. He goes by the name of Grind. Send him down to my usual table, yeah?" She speaks in Cantonese only.
Looking back to Frostmane, she motions for the woman to come with her, before heading into the club, moving down the spiraling ramp to her 'usual table', which just happens to be in the lowest level that people can get to without reserving the ultrasecure rooms on the floor below. As she sits down at the table, she looks over to the Japanese woman. "Frostmane, I take it?"
-
Grind
The elf host looks at you and rolls his eyes. "Down, 9th level." He points toward the stairs and says no more.
You're lucky Kitten spoke for you, and that you didn't glitch!
-
Grind nods to the elf and heads down the stairs to the 9th level, the thumping hurting his brain a bit as he enters and heads over to the table Frost & Kitten, "Ladies.." He hops up onto a chair. "Sooo...those warehouses were unfortunately locked. I hoping by chance something was open. Something to start I guess if we got nothing." He gestures a nod to Frost, "The name's Grind, I can assume"
@Data: Cross reference Dong Wei-Lei with Lantau Island Development Board & Hong Kong Corporate Ethics Committe
10d6.hits(5)=2, 10d6.hits(5)=3, 10d6.hits(5)=3, 10d6.hits(5)=5, 10d6.hits(5)=5, 10d6.hits(5)=2, 10d6.hits(5)=5, 10d6.hits(5)=4, 10d6.hits(5)=1, 10d6.hits(5)=3 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3525836/) 32hits
-
After several minutes of back-and-forth with the host, Frostmane is forced to hide relief as the 'cat girl' enters. At the girl's question, she gives a short nod of affirmation and goes ahead and follows her--keeping an eye on the woman in case some sort of problem--or treachery--should arise. Once everyone is present, she leans forward and says quietly, but in a tone the other two can hear, "Well, shall we get down to business?"
-
"Let's..." Grind hangs back relatively relax.
-
Kitten's face wrinkled slightly as she saw Grind approach. He really chose to come here dressed like that? She'd be hearing about this for weeks from the doorman! As the others talk about business, Kitten turns her attention back to Frostmane. "Yes, starting with the pay. Fixer said the opening bid was 1K. We both know that was a lowball number, so let's cut to the real scan. Otherwise, no one will be making any money, yeah?"
-
Leaning back in the booth, Frostmane says, "I did say per day, and even at one thousand, that can accumulate rather quickly to quite the sizable sum."
-
Kitten smirked. "Only if it takes us forever to find the guy, yeah? And by that point it goes from 'missing person' to 'find the body'. So why don't we say two thousand a day. Nice and simple, yeah? Gives us incentive to not have this drag out too long, and still get paid decently."
I dislike rolling social skills against other PCs, so I won't unless asked. But Kitten does have 16 dice to Negotiate tests.
-
Frostmane shakes her head, "That's more than the man I talked to authorized. All right, can't blame me for trying, but he did authorize 1500. I'm sure you can guess why I was trying to get you guys to take 1000." She gives a bit of a grin.
-
Grind nods, "Well shall we get down to business than? I don't mind the extra cash, but my life is more valuable than any nuyen i can get right now."
-
Menzo skulks up to the club, seeing the bouncer and the high-class entryway. Shit. As if to make sure, he looks down at what he's wearing, making sure he looks as grubby and scruffy as he thinks he does. Yep. Trying not to catch the eyes of the bouncer, he walks into the alleyway just shy of the club, and begins reaching into the astral to create a spirit.
Talk me past this bouncer so I can get inside.
Summoning test, Force 1 spirit of Man (Summoning 3 + Magic 4): 7d6.hits(5)=2 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3532487/)
Drain resist: (Willpower 2 + Logic 2): 4d6.hits(5)=1 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3532489/)
-
Kitten grinned, and said, "Fifteen per day each. Sounds fine. And yes, let's get down to business. You were contracted to find Fong, yes? What did Renraku say about what his job was? That'll go a long way to figuring out why someone wants him so badly."
-
Frostmane looks to Kitten and says, "I sent you all the information that I have, but there is an internal investigation going on. I am reasonably certain that the results should be relayed to me. However, with how long an internal investigation may take, perhaps any...less savory contacts you may have might be able to come up with something more quickly."
-
Kitten sighed. "Well, I can tell you that the 289 triads are the ones who grabbed him. Unwilling extraction from a lovely little place in the red light district. What we don't know is why. The 289s called in some of their heavyweights on this, so either they want him for something important, or they're sending him to someone with serious juice. Either way, knowing why they want him will give us an idea of where to start looking. If he's the Matrix Security VP, then there's a lot of things that could be happening here."
-
Menzo
A pudgy, disheveled spirit materializes beside you. He's got scraggly hair and looks a bit like the guy who played The Penguin in that old 2D Batman movie. Don't worry, I got this. Watch, and learn.
The spirit bumbles over to the host and says, "Hey buddy, what say you move over and let us cool cats slide by?"
The elf looks extremely unamused. He stares down the spirit, then shouts, "SECURITY!"
Spirit to resist summoning:
1d6.hits(5)=0 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3532771/) No hits, but still 2S drain, so you take 1S damage. Next time, it's ok if you just roll for the spirit. In fact, you can roll all your spirits' tests, so long as you're in good standing with them. No edge unless I say so, though, or to prevent disruption.
In this case I'll allow edge, since this is probably about as much action as this guy gets. Influence:2d6.hitsopen(5,6)=0 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3532845/) Ouch! Critical glitch. Next time summon a better spirit!
-
Grind
Your data sprite turns up several news articles about Fong's involvement with the Corporate Ethics Committee and the Lantau Island Development Board.
The Hong Kong Corporate Ethics Committee is an inter-corporate group that recommends corporate ethics standards and researches ethics violations for Hong Kong's Executive Council. At least that's its "mission." In reality, it figures out ways for megacorps to weasel out of ethics complaints, while making business harder for corps without any clout--all while presenting a sanctimonious front. Fong was recently named vice-chairman. He's got a reputation as a reasonable and fair-minded man of the highest moral standards, and has even been known to consider criticisms of Xiao-Renraku. He's a deal-maker who's always got a good statement for the press.
The Lantau Island Development Board is in charge of responsible development of Lantau Island, balancing development interests with environmental protection. That is, it is the knife with which Hong Kong's megacorps divide the remaining bits of wilderness on Lantau. Again, all the articles about Fong are positive, and he's even made statements favorable to some environmental groups. Xiao-Renraku has been particularly effective in acquiring and developing Lantau property, though there is little official speculation that Fong's presence on this ostensibly independent board has anything to do with that.
-
@Randal: Distance of Lantau Island to where we met those spirits please?"
@Data: cross reference Fong Wei-Lei & Upkeep and Beautification of Victoria Peak. Also Cross Reference 289s with Planning Board For the Upkeep and Beautification of Victoria Peak and Lantau Island Development Board
Data Search for Dong Wei-Lei & Upkeep and Beautification of Victoria Peak (10d6.hits(5)=0, 10d6.hits(5)=2, 10d6.hits(5)=6, 10d6.hits(5)=2, 10d6.hits(5)=2, 10d6.hits(5)=7, 10d6.hits(5)=3, 10d6.hits(5)=4, 10d6.hits(5)=4, 10d6.hits(5)=2) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3533183/) 32 hits
289s with Planning Board For the Upkeep and Beautification of Victoria Peak and Lantau Island Development Board (10d6.hits(5)=5, 10d6.hits(5)=5, 10d6.hits(5)=3, 10d6.hits(5)=4, 10d6.hits(5)=6, 10d6.hits(5)=4, 10d6.hits(5)=3, 10d6.hits(5)=5, 10d6.hits(5)=1, 10d6.hits(5)=5) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3533185/) 31 hits
-
No relevant articles involving the 289s. They mostly stick to the Kowloon peninsula, it appears.
Board for the Upkeep and Beautification of Victoria Peak: This board is made up of residents of Victoria Peak. It's a bit like a residents' association that has a huge corporate influence (seeing as megacorps own pretty much all of Victoria Peak). Fong is a member of the board, but since the Board's business mainly only concerns other residents of the Peak, there isn't much news about it.
FYI: Lantau Island: http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&safe=active&q=lantau+island&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.,cf.osb&biw=1024&bih=625&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wl
Happy Valley, which is near where you met the spirits, is in the middle of Hong Kong Island, to the right.
BTW, it's "Fong"
-
Grind strokes his chin a bit, there has to be a connection between the spirit napping form Cheng and Fong being kidnapped by him aswell. He figures he'll need more information from his original employers about this spirit of theirs.
"Well while you guys ponder or whatever, I'm going to go and talk to my original employer." he gets up to leave and than comes back to the table, "Short version of my story, I am employed by spirits looking to get back one of their own and bring Cheng back for punishment/questioning. I have a feeling there's a tie in to all of this with Cheng snagging Fong." Grind nods and scurries off, dodging whatever little scuffle is going on in the front.
-
"Oh for fuck's sake..." Menzo curses under his breath, walking over to the bouncer. "Look, I really need to get into yer fine establishment here. Ignore my piece o' shit spirit companion here, he's gone." He let the bond between him and the spirit dissolve. "I'll give some nuyen to make it worth your while. What kinda cover charge ya lookin' for?"
-
Menzo
The elf glares at you. "Mmmmmmmm.... Well, at least you bounced your friend for me." He waves off a heavily pierced ork heading your way. "Personal service starts at two hundred. Finish your business here and leave ASAP. I don't want to see you here at night. Your stench might scare away our better patrons."
-
"Don't worry yerself," he says, tipping the bouncer with his last nuyen. "I'll leave as soon as possible." He walks past the bouncer after giving the money over and grumbles, "asshole" under his breath, then looks through the club, spotting the white-haired wagemage sitting down with some other misfits. He briskly walks over to them, sitting down in the booth. "Sorry I'm late, but you chose exactly the wrong fucking place for me to get into. Do we get expenses out of this job? 'cos I gave my last cred away just to get in here and I was planning to eat tonight."
-
Grind
A tall, bald man with pale skin and dark sunglasses bumps into you on your way out. "Going somewhere?" His voice sounds menacing, but you can't quite put your finger on why.
-
Grind takes a quick step back, "Leaving your fine establishment. What of it?"
@Data: Cross Reference, Xiao-Renraku & Corporate Image Committee, Diversity Committee, Community Outreach Team,
Intercorporate Liason Committee, any and all info on these would be pro.
I think that was the last service right?
Data Search... (10d6.hits(5)=6, 10d6.hits(5)=6, 10d6.hits(5)=4, 10d6.hits(5)=3, 10d6.hits(5)=2, 10d6.hits(5)=4, 10d6.hits(5)=2, 10d6.hits(5)=3, 10d6.hits(5)=1, 10d6.hits(5)=3) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3543225/)
34 hits
-
Kitten eyed the scruffy looking man, and shuddered slightly. Why oh why couldn't people at least get a decent change of clothes before coming here? She turned a questioning eye to the elven woman, waiting for introductions to be made.
-
Frostmane, Menzo, Kitten
Just as Frostmane is about to introduce Menzo, a waiter arrives and informs her that someone very insistent is requesting her out front. Frostmane takes her leave, and that is the last you see of her.
After a few moments of staring awkwardly at one another, Kitten receives a message on her commlink:
This is Frostmane's employer. I apologize for her disappearance. We required her presence for a more pressing assignment. You will now be reporting directly to me. Please keep me updated. I trust that you will complete your work quickly.
Grind
The man grabs you by the collar and drags you into the nearest alley. Even in the ritzy part of town there are dark places. You get the sense that resisting would not be in your best interest, as the man's strength seems to come from beyond his body. After reaching the alley, the bald man takes on a greener, more fibrous form. You now recognize him as Lee, the plant spirit from last night. Lee gives you a look of consternation.
"You have not yet delivered Mr. Cheng to us, and now I see you here, partying it up? Explain yourself, human."
Sweep and Sleet
You have been hired as "assistants" by a woman named Linda Fong, who is paying you 1000 Nuyen/day. At the moment, you're riding in Sweep's van with Linda, whose first assignment for you is to find a man who goes by the name of Menzo. Sleet has managed to track down his commlink, and his last known location was outside Dante's Inferno.
Since this will be your first post, feel free to describe yourselves and what you think of this crazy woman who hired you to drive her all over town. We'll assume you pull up in front of Dante's soon.
-
Sweep sits in the driver's seat of the van, deftly and subconsciously flipping switches on the dashboard. Without even being prompted, he states rather matter-of-factly in a deep, growly, scratchy baritone "For your saftey, ma'am". His voice was direct but not mean, forceful but not rude, and the words came out easily and quickly, but slow enough to be heard and understood.
Just another day at the office.
The office. An interesting choice for a word to describe his chosen profession. With his huge size and imposing looks, one would have expected him to find a job where physicality was in the forefront. But what he did for a living...that was something that wasn't expected. The business suit fit his large frame easily, and hid the pair of Savalette Guardians hanging in the concealed holsters under the suit-coat without even so much as a noticeable bulge. And the leather overcoat hanging on the hook behind his seat belied the armor plating and special modifications that made it necessary for his job.
When Linda instructed him and Sleet to find Menzo, he immediately began using his available resources to find the man's last known location, tracking him down to Dante's Inferno. He then fired up his commlink, pulling up a map of the city to find the quickest - and least visible - route to the place. When the AR display showed the route, he started to program it into the van's pilot program, but decided against it after a few moments, putting his hands back on the wheel and driving manually.
In case I need to make quick decisions. This lady doesn't seem off, but the target...well, I don't know much about him.
"Excuse me, Mrs. Fong - do you have a recent picture of Menzo that you could pull up for me please?
She had shown him the picture before, and even though he had recorded a snapshot of it using his cyber-eye, it was a habit of his to get clients to show him a picture for confirmation a second time.
Better safe than sorry. Don't need another incident like what happened back in Chicago...
-
Grind was not pleased how he was being handled until they reached the alley. He clenched his fist to punch out the bald man and than he shows his true form and Grind relaxes a bit. "Whoa whoa whoa! No one really parties this early in the day. I have to work with those riff-raff to get Cheng. Apparently he's a busy man kidnapping Xiao-Renraku emploees. They're looking for a man name Fong Wei-Lei." *he straightens himself out a bit* "What was this spirit that Cheng was messing with doing or what was his purpose. There's some sort of tie in to all of this. Give me more info on what was going on with Cheng and your spirit friend."
((Sorry, trying to remember what I was going to ask them.))
-
Grind
Lee does not look impressed. "I am the one who asks the questions here! I do not know who this Fong is whom you speak of, anyway. However, I can tell you that Cheng just boarded a hydrofoil headed for Macau. I would go after him myself, but I'd rather not deal with any mercenary friends he may have. Just deliver Cheng to me, and all will be revealed." With that, he vanishes.
Macau is a short boat ride across the bay from Hong Kong. It's known as a mercenary haven and gambler's paradise.
-
Sleet herself was buckled into the front passenger seat, which she had reclined backwards approximately thirty degrees; this allowed her to plug into the Matrix without worrying about her meat-body flopping all over the place. Currently, immersed in VR, she was keeping an eye on not just this Menzo guys signal, but examining the signals close around him as well - nothing in-depth, just pulling up names and checking brief background information on them. Best pays to be prepared for trouble, and backup was always trouble.
Once they got closer to Dante's Inferno, a club that she'd heard of but never been to, the slim and pale elf frowns a little to herself, then 'reaches out' to examine the clubs Node. Not dumb enough to try hacking into it, given its reputation, she instead seeks out potential close-by cameras.
With a little luck there will be some paparazzi there, or even outside security cameras. I'd like to get a better look at what we're getting into.. she thinks to herself
While she scans the area, Sleet pops open a chat-window to Sweep. <Hoi, chummer. Drive by a couple of times, see if we can pick out our mark. I'm going to try and get a security-cam view of the area while we're at it.>
Note: I've n ever played a hacker before, so I hope I'm doing this righ! >.>
Actions
Detect Active/Passive Nodes (specifically looking for nodes that could be cameras of some sort)
If a Node seems to stand out as possible, then Analyze Node on it 15d6.hits(5) → [5,1,4,2,6,4,2,2,6,5,2,1,1,3,5] = (5)
http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3620468/
-
"Alright, I'll take your word for it. I'll get Cheng, you worry about whatever you spirits worry about." and at that the dwarf turns and heads back into Dante's, and takes a seat back in his original chair, looking at the group, "Well I hope you love water, because it looks like Cheng is at Macau." Grind had only been gone a couple of minutes.
And news on the info my Data Sprite was trying to get for me?
-
Kitten sighed as she looked at the message on her commlink. That was just perfect. Well, no use sticking around here, then. She finished her drink, and got up to leave. She'd have to rendezvous with the hacker and figure out their next course of action soon. Such a bother, but they were getting paid 1250 a day for this, so...
-
Sleet
Matrix actions are Skill rating + program (+ encephalon in your case), so you'd roll 11 dice for matrix perception (I'm assuming you included logic in your pool, which shouldn't be). In this case, however, I don't have a list of nodes with ratings for every neighborhood in Hong Kong, so I'm just gonna wing it--the above is just FYI.
You're able to find a few street cameras near Dante's with lax security, and a few of them have the entrance in view. Dante's isn't super-busy this time of day, but there is a steady stream of stylish party people going in and out. One thing that catches your eye is a scraggy-looking dwarf--maybe a homeless man?--who walks out of an alley and into the club.
Grind
Your search on the various corporate committees of Xiao-Renraku brings up nothing of interest, just a lot of mission statements, corporate buzzwords, and fluffy news pieces. You get the sense that this guy Fong is very well-connected but doesn't actually do anything important.
Sleet and Sweep
You pull up in front of Dante's. Before you can do anything, Linda runs out of the van and into the club. Byron the host smiles as she walks in. "Well hellooooo Mrs. Fong. Starting the night early, are we?"
Linda smiles back. "Hi Byron. I'm actually here on business right now. You wouldn't happen to have seen a disheveled, surly, dark-furred elf walk in here, would you?"
Byron bristles at the thought of that filthy elf uglifying his club. "Well yessssssss... I do seem to recall someone fitting that description. What do you want with that urchin? Has he stolen your purse?"
Linda asks to be taken to see him, which Byron does, even though Kitten's table is ostensibly a private one.
let me know if your characters follow Linda or wait in the van
9th Level of Dante's Inferno--Kitten, Grind, Menzo, and anyone who followed Linda
As the party is getting up, an angry Chinese woman bursts into your private chamber. "YOU!" She glares at Menzo. "What's the idea of up and leaving me like that? With those filthy Renraku goons. I swear, if those people come into my house again...." She calles a waitress over and sits down. "Sorry for yelling. I need a drink. I've hired my own security team, since YOU," she pokes Menzo, "seem intent on leaving me in the dust." Not gonna happen. I'm tired of being kept in the dark. I wanna know what's going on. And I figure if I want to be safe from the people who got my husband, the people looking for them might be the best ones to be around. Maybe we can even help you out.
"In fact, I do have something that might help you. I didn't say anything earlier, Menzo, when those security officers were there, because I don't think I'm supposed to know this. But I think my husband might have been in the running to represent Xiao-Renraku in the next election. Not sure if the kidnapping has anything to do with this, but I thought it might be useful to you."
-
Grind rubs his head as the asian woman comes storming in jabbing at Menzo.
@Randal: Hey buddy, you've been quiet. Would you mind working on something for me?
Grind stays in the background listening and waiting to move, he figures going after cheng with quality numbers is going to be the best route and hopes Cheng is there for awhile.
-
In the period of awkward silence at the table, Menzo coughs and, after a second, introduces himself.
"Eh, well. The name's Menzo. Little Miss Mage saw fit to blackmail an' strongarm me inta finding yer man Fong." He rubs his face tiredly. "Frankly, it's the wrong time o' the day to be askin' me ta do anything. But she didn't give me no choice in the matter."
"Hey, hey, hey," he barks as Linda comes in, yelling and pointing fingers. "Listen, lass, I've known ya fer less than a day an' ye've got me inta two shits of trouble already. An' fer yer information I know just about shit all. Yer husband went missing, and I've been threatened inta helping find 'im. That's all I've got."
"And I've no fucking clue about corporate politics. So I got no idea what you just said."
"Ehh, miss..." he says, not knowing the name of the woman across the table, "this is Linda Fong. Our man's wife an' an... acquaintance o' mine."
-
When Linda jumps out of the van, Sweep immediately gets out, switching the pilot program into gear and grabbing his armor jacket. Using his commlink, he gives the van the command to go park itself somewhere, and he follows Mrs. Fong into the club, shielding her from anybody that may look like they want to do her harm.
Up at the private table, Sweep takes a look around the room and takes stock of those sitting there. When he hears Menzo's name mentioned, he looks over to Sleet, nodding slightly at the completion of their latest task.
He notices that there are a couple of chairs that are empty, and he could make the decision to take one of them, but instead he stands behind Mrs. Fong, his large troll body still comfortably fitted with a business suit. The armor jacket is now draped over his large frame, providing even further concealment for the pair of Savalette Guardians sitting in their holsters under his arms. And what was even more comforting was the telescoping staff, compacted into a nice short stick, sitting in a lined sleeve on his right leg, at just the right spot so he could pull it out with one hand easily and extend it should need be.
He looks down at Mrs. Fong and the others, his arms crossed to show that he is on duty, and his stance behind the lady showed everyone that she was his client and in his charge.
At least, I hope they realize that. Although, I wonder what is going to happen now that we've found Menzo?
-
Switching from cold-sim to meat was simple enough, taking mere moments; Sleet shifting position in the seat before resetting it into its upright position, then unbuckling the belt.
As Mrs Fong darted out of the van Sleet let out a soft curse beneath her breath, then quickly opened the door. Although she didn't particularly enjoy meat-operations, she knew it had to happen once in awhile... and the young hacker did NOT want to risk a thousand nuyen per day job. Stowing her private comlink into a breast pocket on her blouse then tugged on her own lined jacket, checking to make sure Alta was tucked away in its concealed holster.
That done, she moves to follow Sweep and the chinese woman, offering an apologetic nod to any staff that gets in the way; as she moves, she quickly activates her public commlink (SIN: Sylph Al'sharrii, Tir Tairngire) and sets it to passive mode, while of course the private commlink is set to hidden as always.
The group of people around the table which Mrs Fong approaches causes Sleet to twitch just a little, a feeling of discomfort trailing down her spine. Sighing softly again, however, she moves to stand to Sweeps left and a half-pace behind, doing what she can to not draw attention to herself.
--
Sleet is a tall, five-foot-ten or so, lithsome female elf of indeterminate yet obviously young age; probably late teens or twenty at the oldest. Rather strangely, she is even more pale than is normal for a typical elf, let alone a hacker elf; her flesh (what can be seen around the black lined coat, dark crimson blouse and black leather pants) stands out in contrast to her darker clothing as being nearly pure white. Deep violet eyes peer out from beneath creamy brows, while similarly hued straight hair tumbles down to just past her shoulders, making her look very much like a ghost. The young elf wears a bit of a dour look, seeming perhaps a little uncomfortable in these surroundings.
--
-
Linda, now on her second vodka, looks around. "Oh, sorry! I suppose I really should have introduced myself." She nods at Kitten and Grind. "I'm Linda, and my husband is Wei-Lei Fong, the man you're looking for. I had been hoping Menzo here would help out with my security, but since he ran off I decided to hire my own team: this is Sweep, and Sleet. Don't be shy, fellows." She looks at the elf and the troll, as if expecting that they wouldn't be this antisocial, and sighs.
"Now, I understand you probably don't want some dumb girl tagging along with you. But I know a lot of people, and I may be able to help you out. Plus, I've got my own safety to think about, and at the moment I don't feel Renraku territory is the safest place for me. So since I've hired these two, they may as well help out, right?
"So what's the plan now?" She downs her glass and orders another.
-
"Where we need to go is not going to be any safer lady." he sighs as he now has to bring along three more people. "Alright, well last person to know your husband's where abouts is in Macau, he was handled before that at a warehouse, that I have not fully checked as it's locked. So I'm ready to go to Macau, I do not think we need to send the calvary over, but hey who am I right?" And at that he makes his move, impatient and focus, hates hunting on cold trails.
-
Sweep continues to stand behind Mrs. Fong, watching the rest of the people at the table and trying to keep a cyber-eye on Linda at the same time. He mostly pays attention to the conversation, hearing something about the island of Macau and a warehouse, but his ears perk up when he hears Linda attempting to insert herself into whatever mission the others have going on.
"Forgive the intrusion, ma'am," he calmly but firmly states "but Sleet and I are charged with your safety. I do not think it is wise of you to want to go traipsing all over the Indian Ocean looking for your husband when these guys here are more than capable of doing so. However, seeing as you have all but volunteered myself and Sleet..."
Sweep takes about 3 steps towards the nearest chair and drops his large frame into it easily, leaning forward and resting his elbows on the table itself.
"Hostage extraction is my specialty, and you will probably need all the help you can get. So I have a few questions of you before shit goes south, so to speak. Namely, why hasn't the warehouse been checked yet? And secondly, how trustworthy is this source you have that is sending you to Macau? And finally, once you get to Macau, where exactly on the island are you going to start looking?"
Sweep eyes the others, waiting for the answers that he hopes are coming.
-
He counts on this fingers, "Warehouse was locked, source is very reliable, and what to do...figure that one the way. Mercenary island, talk to people, look stuff up. Legwork." He gets to the door, "NO times to sit down, I don't like my trails cold, and I think the warehouse might be a bust right now."
Goes to summon a data sprite.
What happened to Randal?
Data Sprite with Encrypt Rating 5 (11d6.hits(5)=4, 5d5.hits(5)=1) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3626847/)
3 Services
Resist 2 Fade (10d6.hits(5)=3) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3626860/) Fade Resist
@Data: Cross Reference 289s with Macau island and Awakened activity in Macau.
Data Search (10d6.hits(5)=2, 10d6.hits(5)=5, 10d6.hits(5)=7, 10d6.hits(5)=3, 10d6.hits(5)=5, 10d6.hits(5)=3, 10d6.hits(5)=4, 10d6.hits(5)=4, 10d6.hits(5)=2, 10d6.hits(5)=2) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3626859/)
-
"You let a simple lock stop you from searching the warehouse?"
Sweep turns to Mrs. Fong, almost laughing.
"You sure these guys are ok to look for your missing husband?"
-
Grind shrugs, "That was before I got roped into all of this, so think of it as a favor. If you wanna start somewhere other than Macau, than go there and see if anythign was left behind, I'm going to grab Cheng," he looks over to Mrs. Fong, "That's the guy who kidnapped your husband." Grind sighs as he has to deal with another punk with a mouth, "But you newcomers have a seat and relax, I'm going to do what I was sent to do." he says this looking at the troll that was about to sit down and at that he jots down the warehouse address and a commcode with his nickname on it, lays it on the table and than walks out of Dante's to head off for Macau. He sends a text on his way to his bike over to his lawyer buddy from Eastern Tiger, Liu.
@Pong: Mr. Pong, it's been sometime. Give me a call when you are available, I need a favor.
@Randal: Randal, buddy why so quiet. Think you can find me a ferry or some sort of charter to Macau?
-
Grind
There isn't much information on Macau, but your sprite turns up a few links between the 289s and a mercenary group, The Heroes. Compared with Hong Kong, there is not as much of an awakened presence in Macau, and mercenaries tend to stick to more mundane methods.
[auto-reply from Pong] I am a busy man! Leave me a message and I will get back to you at the earliest convenience!
[Randall] Sorry dude, got distracted. Lots of crazy stuff going on in this place! As for ferries, there's the official hydrofoil ferry, which leaves every half hour from Victoria Harbor and costs 20 nuyen each way. You have to go through customs, though. Some people prefer to run anonymously with the smugglers out of the Container Port in Kwai Chung, who don't ask for ID.
All
Linda eyes Grind. "Are you going off on your own?" She looks at Kitten and Menzo. "How do you expect to find anyone, if you can't keep track of what your own people are doing? I think it he's got a good lead we should go along, though it would be nice to have more information first.
She turns to Sleet. "Sleet honey, would you ask these people what they know so far, and maybe search the matrix for any clues that might turn up?"
There's an info dump on Fong upthread. Assuming the others are cooperative, you'll have access to that--Grind has been looking into some of the info. Just wanted to make sure the new players know about it.
-
Sweep turns to Mrs. Fong, nods once, and then addresses the entire table.
"I don't mean any disrespect to what you have already accomplished or where you think you need to go. But it has been my experience that having as much information as possible is always for the best."
Sweep stands up and takes up a position near Mrs. Fong, ready to protect her if something bad were to happen.
"There are currently 2 leads on the table, so to speak: Heading to Macau, and checking a warehouse. And while it may be that Mr. Fong may be on the island of Macau, where exactly is he?"
He waits for a few moments, enjoying the silence, before speaking again.
"Exactly - you don't know exactly where on the island he is. So you could spend days, weeks - hell, even months - looking for him and not even sniff a trace of where he is. Not to mention that you don't know who else is on that island, or what defenses they may or may not have.
"My instintcs tell me that the warehouse should be searched for any potential clues about the kidnappers, where they may be on Macau, and what they may have done to him already. It may also tell us WHY they took him to begin with, and what they may be looking for out of his capture."
Sweep then stands there, looking at the table, waiting for a response.
-
*Grind hops on and starts his bike, gets the blip display about 289s and The Heroes and reads it*
@Data: compile a list of smugglers out of Container Port with the highest praise and possible prices.
*he continues to read the article and when he's done*
@Randal: So whacha doing?
-
Sleet looks to the others, then at the retreating form of Grind, then back to Mrs Fong and her partner, then finally back to Kitty and Menzo.
"Well, this has certainly started on an... interesting foot." the pale-skinned elf murmurs, taking a half-pace forward. "Grind mentioned a reliable source, a warehouse, and someone named Cheng. If the two of you could fruther elucidate on those, I would very much appreciate it; I can start digging around for further information. Maybe that warehouse has internal security I can tap into as well." the hacker adds, shrugging her slim shoulders slightly then flashing a fanged grin.
"I do think that someone should accompany Grind however; think you can handle that, Sweep?" she asks, her tone showing just a hint of teasing to the big Troll.
-
Sweep looks down at the elf, a scowl crossing his face.
"You want me to blindly follow someone I just met - who just walked out on us, no less - to an island in the middle of the Indian Ocean with no information other than Mr. Fong might be there, even though there is a solid lead that wasn't checked because it was locked? Is that what I'm hearing?"
-
Sleet returns the trolls gave for a moment, wrinkling her nose a little. "Well, when you put it that way, I suppose not." she replies with a little shrug.