[Mercy Merchant]

Astarix shakes his head as he sips from his flute.  "So I still have heard nothing that will get me back on track in the Family or find my boss.  All this ANZ stuff is fine, but what can I do to stop it?  Am I to abandon all of my life's ambitions to work with the authorities?  And this Gerald; I have spoken to him and he seemed normal to me."

He turns to see the experienced VH approach.  He could never get tired of watching Minnie's avatar.  She had spent lots of in-game funds on the special body sculpting and the effect was worth it.  After the close kiss he turns to face Kynos.  "Minion?  Hardly.  Partner is more like it.  We mesh well together.  She is single classed Master Vampire Hunter and might be able to show you some things if you are interested."

Astarix turns back to Newbie_827.  "So, what advice do you have?"

[gilga]

@Minnie Athos Kynos Max say ANZ is the name we invented for them. We have no reason to think they are Jewish. It is just that things without a name are difficult to perceive. But when other people see randomness we see manipulation and loaded dice.  One of their brilliant idea is having no name and no handle. It is just the ridiculous amounts of money that certain individuals suddenly have that give concrete evidence to their existence.
 
To Kynos next year is election year but that would be the vice Ralph Page.

To Athos: I can show you the video showing Gerald do that. Add to that the skills and expertise  that are required to remove and carry active explosives over hundred of miles and than putting it all together, there is just one person capable in the shadows.  The legendary demolition man, non of the others is even insane enough to try it and I have camera feeds that place him at the warehouse and at the prison. The man has lost a few marbles, his entire building became a fortress and he is terrified of what he apparently did but has no knowledge of doing.

[Mercy Merchant]

Astarix nods.  "So may I have the video to show to my superiors?  But even that does not prove who is behind the plot.  It is nearly the perfect crime when the perpetrator does not know he did the thing."

[Shaman_Yuri]

Standing beside Astarix, I simply listen and watch the others. Clearly a lot has happened while I've been on my own.  Doubtless after the others leave Athos will explain what doesn't make sense to me right now.  In the meantime, I use my 'social skills' to get a good sense of those Athos is now working with.  Whenever the opportunity presents itself, I flirt in order to throw the new faces off balance and get to see their reactions beneath their facades.

Seduction: Flirting with Kynos and Max: 13d6t5: 4 [13d6t5=4, 2, 4, 5, 1, 1, 2, 6, 4, 5, 1, 5, 2]

[Jack_Spade]

Composure: 9d6t5 1


Kynos acknoledged Minnies presence with a smile. Unfortunately his mask wasn't meant to show any emotion at all and the distortion effect to his voice gave the friendly meant "Hello and welcome!" a somehow menacing and creepy vibe.
But he did give her a quick recap of the aforementioned events. Than he turned to Max and Athos:
"Ok, I understand. So following the money would be the best solution to both your problems, am I right?
I plan to catch up with Venom and have a serious talk somewhere privat. If you want you can get in on that action. I am pretty confident, that I can get him to tell me who his contact is. All I need is someone with a reliable method of transport."

[gilga]

Everyone but Mulcarn: Max shares the video with you but shortly after her avatar just freeze and stops responding. 

[gilga]

@Maxwell - The lady takes you to a spacious office at the top floor of the building. A corner  office with city view. "The chip" she say, " We need to see whats on it... I do not like being dragged around town in a wild goose chase any more than you." Said (the wrong) Amy.

[Mulcarn]

Maxwell was busy looking out the window when he heard her speak.  Turning around to face her with a sullen look he says: "Only if you tell me whats going here.  Who are you?  You're not the Amy I was expecting and I was led to believe that someone here would have some information regarding Venom and that supposed bomb at my place."  He reaches into his pocket to pull out the chip, holding it close to his angered face.  "If I was just duped into playing errand boy then I have half a mind to just smash this thing."

[Jack_Spade]

"OH COME ON." Kynos poked Max' unmoving avatar. "Don't tell me some fragger got to your meat."
He turned to Athos: "Well, shit. That looks like dumpshock. That was a quick meeting. So, you onboard catching Venom?"

[gilga]

@Maxwell Amy White tells you, I am a decker a security expert. My contact at the shadow, a decker named Blue Vixen have sent me in goose chase after all sort of unrelated things. I brought her some hardware garbage from the brain eaters and this kind of drecks, stuff so ancient it is from decades ago not even optical computers.

She said that you will have answers with you when you come, so I assume it is the chip because you seem just as clueless as me. She then slot the chip in the trid projector and you see an hologram of the right Amy.

"If you are seeing this it means that I am in some very deep shit, I was taken by a vampire called Damian Grail. Apparently he is up to no good he has me doing some really fucked up shit and threatens to infect me and make me murder anyone I ever loved if I refused. Damian wants to assassinate the vice mayor and I am helping him. In the following bank account there is money that was already taxed and is ready to use, use it to hire people to rescue me.

The next 3 hours are going to be technical I am going to teach you how to build a comlink. The brain eaters have built an alternative matrix.  The original matrix is very dangerous these days, there is something new in there some killer AI that kills deckers that ask a specific kind of questions, I helped create it for Damian but it was upgraded far beyond my capabilities when I was not with Damian.

About Venom, he sucks up to Damian so badly, he begs him to turn him that sadistic fuck, he tortured me. What is a punishment for me is a reward for Venom. Damian practically owes him."

The next 3 hours are indeed very technical but at the end of them you have a very primitive comlink that is functional, sort of there is no video/trid, just low quality audio.

[gilga]

@Athos Minnie, Kynos not just max is frozen, every avatar in the game seems frozen. Then completely out of theme cartoon mice swarm your avatars and try to nibble them. You can fight the mice, but there are so many of them to even begin.


Data spike: 3#16d6t5 5 4 5
Athos roll firewall + willpower against 5 hits. (damage is 8+ net hits.  You will also suffer biofeedback. physical if you hot sim, stun if you don't)
Kynos against 4 hits damage goes to matrix + biofeedback (8 again).
Minnie 5 hits - damage


@Kynos You get a message from Max >> I am okay I was ARing, but my expensive link is fried. Get out of there NOW, it fired me within a single strike. I think it followed me in the server, I am not sure difficult to say now. 
Sadly her message is just a tad too late.

[Jack_Spade]

I go to full matrix defense:
Int 6 + Firewall 5 + Willpower 5
Defense Data Spike: 16d6t5 7 [16d6t5=5, 4, 1, 5, 6, 3, 5, 4, 5, 4, 2, 6, 4, 5, 3, 4]
Back to sender
Next action: Switch Interface Mode.
I didn't get damaged, so I should not be link locked.



Kynos' avatar calmly stood up and stepped onto the chair, giving the command to change back to AR. "Lock out, both of you."

[Mulcarn]

Maxwell's expression at the hologram message turns from frustration to perplexed.  The gears within his head slowly turn as he takes in all this new information.  He begins to pace slightly, rubbing the back of his skull as if he could massage his brain into processing faster.  "So this is where the black path has taken me."  Once he was finally done thinking he speaks to the elf saying: "Alright this answers a few questions but raises a legion of new ones.  The first one being is what does a vampire hope to gain by killing the vice mayor?  Why does he need a master decker?  How did Amy get tangled up with him in the first place?  How does this Damian Grail know Venom?  And how do you fight an A.I. that's been created and upgraded to kill anyone who asks the wrong questions?  Maxwell stops himself when he hears that hes rambling on endlessly. 

After a few brief moments he asks the most important question.  "Why me, what do I have to do with any of this?

[gilga]

@Maxwell Amy White tells you, "Sorry for background checking but Venom has a prize on your head, so you must be on the outside circle... me? Because Blue Vixen and I go long back and she knows that I am loyal.  I have no idea how these two assholes met, EvilAsshole.com perhaps? The part of the vice mayor makes no sense to me... why not kill the mayor or blackmail him for all I care. Killing is a bit drastic, more of a statement than a practical method."

[Mulcarn]

@Amy White - Maxwell annoyedly responds with: "Does everyone know about that damned bounty!"  He pauses for several seconds to cool down before continuing on.  "Makes no difference, I now have two reasons to kill Venom.  Also I believe that vampire is responsible for the undead haunting the barrens at night.  I don't really have any hard evidence to that other than a strong hunch.  And how much money is on that bank account?