[Mercy Merchant]

Athos tells Paprika that he is going out for a bit and to keep him informed about Faith.  He also sends a reply to Nagisa.  >>Nagisa.  Athos.  Thanks for the word on Strawberry.  I think she is suffering but does not want to share and heal, which is sad.  I am wondering if you can ask around about the mage that attacked her?  I need to let someone know if he is still a prisoner or if he is dead or let go.  There is someone who is determined to find him and he is a very violent person, who might do much damage, which would hurt the crops.  Please do that for me.  And for Strawberry and anyone living there, including Minnie and you.<<

>>I also want to ask you directly if you will help me and Dona Valentina?  She believes that you are still loyal to the Finnegans and to her.<<

Athos gets in the van and drives to the Vault at Cat's directions.  He contacts Max as he gets closer.  >>Max.  Athos.  I am approaching the Vault.  Where do you wish to meet?<<

[gilga]

After a crash course in demolitions, that consisted mainly of things he should avoid doing,

I just assume, that someone manages to buy one hit in teaching to reduce the time to zero days.

Kynos took some time to think.

From a tactical perspective it would make the most sense to attack Strawberry's territory again and with a lot more force, so he could ensure the quickest release of Sovereign.
The problem was, he didn't know if the mage was still alive. Expending his limited resources for a corpse was unacceptable.
Yet there was no good way for him to gather the necessary intelligence.
Finding Strawberry's rigger might be an avenue to gain that information.
He sighed. Finding people seemed to become a permanent occupation. And all to find the one person he knew who could reliably find people by sending his spirits after them.

He realized that there were still some people he hadn't tapped for information yet.
The first he approached was Gerald:
"Hi, thanks for your hospitality. Count yourself as holding a favor from me. By the way: Do you or anyone from the RHN have any news about where the vampires have their base?"

<<Hello, Balls. How is life for you with the Yaks? Are you all still on watch for the Ginger Elf?
I'm interested in finding the mage with which the whole thing started. Do you know if he is still held captive or if he was killed by now? Also, can you bring me in contact with the rigger that tried to blow me up? I've got a few questions for him and I'd prefer to ask him in a civilized fashion.
It would save us all so much time and pain.
Also: Do the Yakuza have any information on the whereabouts of the vampire Grail? Love Kynos.>>

<<Hello IT. Sorry to disturb you, but I was wondering: Do you have any information on the whereabouts of the Vampire Grail? I'm in the market for bounty hunting him. You have the connections: Is there anyone of his enemies that has put a price on his head?
Likewise I'm looking for Sovereign. Last I heard he was captured by Strawberry. Any Information on that front would be very much appreciated. Love Kynos>>

<<Hello Ryan, how is the fixer life? Just for your information, I've taken a retainer from Athos for the next two months, but I'm still in the market for quick 'n dirty jobs. Also, could you inquire if anyone has posted a bounty on a Vampire called Grail? I'm very much interested in taking him on. It would also be helpful to find out where he is hiding. Love Kynos>>

Balls answers
>> Cheers Kynos, Ginger decided to lay low many mages have gone missing so it was a good opportunity to hide our own mage until we figure it out.  I am not sure who the rigger is, nobody I know carries such firepower at a fingertip.  Probably one of the elite squad Andu-San our leader has, sorry I cannot be of more help. 

IT replies
>>  Ares Seattle has withdrawn all bounties on him as of today.  So out of my hands right now, I'll keep you posted.

Rayn replies >> I have some jobs but not anything I'd call you up for. Hit me if you need some spare change. I'll check about the vampire and let you know. 

@Athos >> you do not know the half of it - she was my comfort here. I used to listen to her play every morning, but now she shut me out.

About Donna Valentina, I am a family lady but the question is can she keep me alive?
I am only with Strawberry because they tried to assassinate me You report to her to consider me compromised as Strawberry did some mojo stuff to me.

[gilga]

@Maxwell as you sneak past the drones you suddenly hear fire sound, not a bullet a grenade. One of the the drones must have spotted you, they are simple roto-drones but armed with Ares Alpha.

[Mulcarn]

The sound of a grenade screaming through the air shocks Maxwell into action.  Immediately, he makes a 180 turn back to the compound and runs with everything he has.  "How the fuck was I seen?  I performed the spell perfectly!  What kind of rich dumbass puts military grade weapons on commercial roto-drones?"

[gilga]

@Maxwell the grenade explodes just behind you, in the meanwhile the other drones scan the area trying to understand what it is all about. The compound you left is just 20 meters more to return.


If on a tie the observer wins than the next round is going to be problematic for Max.
Perception test: 2#9d6t5 3 3

[Mulcarn]

Maxwell whips his head around to see the other drones soaring towards him.  Huffing and puffing as he continues his wild dash towards safety.  Dropping the invisibility spell he was sustaining for their was no point in maintaining it any longer.

Free action to continue running another 16 meters this IP.  No longer sustaining the spell.

[gilga]

@Maxwell The drone hurls another grenade and then once you are close enough to the perimeter backs off and watches you from distance.

Grenade: 9d6t5 6

[Mulcarn]

Damage Resistance: 11d6t5 5
5 Stun taken, totaling for 6 Boxes.

The flash-bang explodes right in front of him, deafening and blinding Maxwell.  He keeps going, keeps running until he reaches the handle of the door.  His hand grabs the rigid metal and he turns it to let him inside.  Beads of sweat slowly fall down from his forehead to his chin, dripping onto floor as he pants heavily.  He wipes the sweat from his face and saunters to the elevator.  Maxwell sits down with his back resting against the wall during the ride up.  Wearily he rambles and giggles to himself.  "So... i'm going to be even more reliant on my spirits just leave this prison.  I'm tempted to destroy the drones and save myself the hassle of trying to evade them every time I want to come and go."

The elevator doors slide open to the second floor.  The worn out mage gets up and treads for bed.  Eager to sleep for a few hours and start again later in the night.  Much was needed to be done, he would have to find other runners that were willing to stand with him in his hunt for Grail.  Serge the street medic would be too busy with his clinic to help, that and the two didn't get along either.  Papa Ratzy was some weirdo that liked filming random mundane shit instead of shadowrunning or fighting.  He thinks about the team that Strawberry assembled to find Venom and wonders if they'd be interested or not.  Once he's better rested he might make some calls. 

[Jack_Spade]

Wearily, Kynos relied to Balls:
<<I understand. Seems like I'll have to do it the hard way than. Thanks and bye. Love Kynos>>

To IT he wrote:
<<Thanks. Seems like I'll have to look for alternative revenue streams then. Love Kynos>>

To Ryan he sent:
<<Alright, keep safe while investigating - There is a nanite based AI loose that likes to make meat puppets of people, working with Grail. Love Kynos>>

He turned back to Gerald: "Now, you were saying - what was that about the Vampire?"

[gilga]

@Maxwell when you get back one of the girls look at you, "Oh god fresh-blood, what happened to you?" She asks. Everybody seem to crazily be looking for Charlie and Sarah fearing Grail's response when he discovers they are gone.

@Athos you approach the vault, Max extends you all the necessary clearence and you decent deep underground. She meets you in a massive hall that used to be a lunch chamber for a rocket. "Welcome to my home Athos and Cat. I hope I can be of help."

@Kynos Balls texts you >> Just don't die man... I think you made quite a splash in the pool if you know what I mean.

Ryan texts you >> I know about the AI, it is the main employer right now, mainly wizard extractions things like that, appeared to be cooperate at first but as I dug deeper it was pure madness. Stay away from that shit it is extremely toxic. I assume you won't listen so I'll let you know what I find out.

The explosive training goes well and within a few hours you gain the basics about demolitions, mainly how not to blow yourself up while doing so.

Gerald tells you when you ask about the base "We do not get out much these days, just for food and supplies. Fucked up things happen in the city and when people get into troubles I have to go fetch them. I prefer anyone here for the coming weeks until I see what happens. I have an uneasy feeling that you will meet your vampire in city hall.

The KE are laying low, the military is not interfering and people block streets fortify homes, zombies run amok - it was almost like they were testing their techniques on our castle. Started with Zombies that could barely dodge a bullet and ended up with insanely powerful things that jump over fences and are difficult to shoot down. Things of super human strength.

The one you delivered us the other day was of the primitive kind, but then came a city wide attack and since the mage we hired to investigate the zombie said it was made by ritual magic. There must be hundreds of mages to generate a city wide offensive. They should be somewhere in the sewers only places they could hide so much mojo without people running away. Or they are located in the north of Redmond where people have already escaped. The mayor did a chemical attack on the sewers - so this was his gamble if their base is there they might be wiped out. This is all I know so far - and frankly we are fortified here waiting to see what is next these things are above our influence level."

[Mercy Merchant]

Athos nods to Max.  "Well, seeing you here means by first question is not necessary.  You seem to have landed on your feet.  If you have time to talk, I would like to have a better knowledge of what Cat, Red, and Alice are.  I am sure that such knowledge will be useful at some point.  I am scrounging about for people who might make good soldiers for me and the Finnegans.  Or even administrators, deckers, riggers.  Pretty much about anyone.  Would you please consider turning someone my way that I might be able to use?"

"Would you happen to know anything of Grail or Sovereign?  I am trying to find both of them.  Whatever help you can give me would be appreciated and reciprocated."

[gilga]

@Athos Max said "Me? please leave me out of Mafia politics, I have enough of my plate. Some things are difficult to explain but  If you came all the way here you might as well meet my husband and the rest. I am part of a cult you see. A Jewish cult called the new Breslev movement, we are fighting these powers for years now. Before we even knew that they existed, I know it sound odd. I do not believe it myself, but these guys prepared for catastrophe for over fifty years now. They could have never know that powerful AI's will be made in this city and put everyone in danger. They say it is hinted in old books and prophecies but I honestly do not believe in these things.  I am an Athaist and do not share any of this faith, yet I followed them and even married into this group because some of the things they said actually happened and my husband said that this way the catastrophe will be less. That because I do not believe I am easier to predict and my fate is easier to manipulate.

I know, completely insane, but when I met them few years ago I was a young knight. Then I experienced a meteoric raise to power. I solved crimes that I could not have solved, I reached the right conclusions without enough information and eventually the knights trusted me enough to tell me about the AI's they develop. The future of law enforcement.  Pre-crime, a system that will not wait until you make the crime to arrest you, it will identify the thought patterns as they envelope and as soon as you are close to break the law you will be imprisoned.

It should have make the knights the most powerful cooperation in the world. So they thought, and with an endless web of half truth and lies they developed great AI's. Cat is to be the moral heart of the system, to decide who are the criminals. Red is the jailer, she execute the sentence and Alice is the judge. You see in pre-crime you do not need holding facilities. People are imprisoned inside their own bodies, controlled until their sentence is out. Doing public work, for the general good. The AI's  all contain parts from the old Renraku AI, Deus. The technology have changed, this time they took safety measures. These beings are so powerful that it is naive to assume that can be contained. "

She takes you around to the main room where tens of people are in life support boxes wired to and deep with hot sim. "I afraid my family do not operate now in this world... the bandwidth required from them to predict the future and calculate course of action requires them to be in hot sim most of the day. I guess this is why my career in the KE did not interfere with my marriage much."  She clears one of the life support units and handles you a set of trodes...
she adds " If you are seeking for answers, they are on the other side. I am not allowed to go with you. The prophet says that if I am aware of the process then I can no longer be predicted, it means that I am alone most of the day. A career in the knights with long hours kind of worked perfectly... it is difficult now when I have more free time."
 

[Jack_Spade]

Kynos patted Gerald on the back: "Yeah, I understand. Just give me the word when you need some muscle for an excursion."
Kynos changed into his full body armor, but didn't apply the KE patches yet and also left the rifle in his bag.
"Say, you wouldn't happen to know any mages that haven't been nabbed yet and are still in the city? I sure would like to talk to one of them."

[Mercy Merchant]

Athos looks around and considers the options.  "Is this going to hurt Cat?  If so, I will pass."  Not completely sure if he can trust her answer, he also asks Cat.  **What do you think of this, Cat?**

[Mulcarn]

Maxwell smirked sadly and shook his head.  "It's nothing.  I was worried about Charlie and wanted to find her.  I looked and looked but she wasn't anywhere.  I had thought that maybe she left through the courtyard on the first floor.  So I snuck down to see if she or Sarah were there or needed help.  Didn't know about the drones while I was searching.  They shot some flash-bangs at me and I was forced to run back inside.  I'm sorry, I still don't know where they are.  It's like they just vanished into thin air."

Con: 5d6t5 1