[Tecumseh]

A ballistics mask would only be socially acceptable in the Barrens, Puyallup or Redmond (minus Touristville).

A respirator might cause you to stick out in polite society but I don't think it would necessarily be cause for alarm or undue interest from the authorities. I doubt anyone would directly tell you to take it off, given that the user could be wearing it to avoid spreading their own germs.

That said, the constant pollution is far more of an issue in the Barrens (especially Puyallup, which suffers from ash from Mt. Rainier) than a AAA neighborhood like Queen Anne. Downtown Seattle is also going to benefit from its proximity to the sea: not only will there not be pollution and/or acid rain coming from upwind (since upwind is Salish-Shidhe and Puget Sound) but also because whatever pollution is produced locally will be quickly wafted away by the sea breezes coming off Elliott Bay.

@rednblack, my reading comprehension might be dull but I've read the IC post a few times and I'm having trouble sorting out the pronouns. Since this is a fairly pivotal decision, can we break down the available options regarding the Manet?

#1: ¥250,000, painting goes into a private collection and may be occasionally available to undergraduates, money is immediately available

#2: ¥2,500,000, painting goes to auction in February, buyer unknown due to the nature of an auction in the future, money is available when? I'm not sure if by saying "I am willing to make that offer" that Duncan is guaranteeing that price (in the sense of purchasing it himself to assume some of the risk and reward of the auction) or simply projecting the future proceeds minus various commissions.

#3(?): ¥? Duncan to look for an immediate buyer - perhaps Hong Kong Museum of Art or the Denver Art Museum - who may not conform to Sister Rebecca's original criteria, sale price and sale date unknown

[rednblack]

#1, correct

#2, is the money Abbey is willing to pay Achak for the painting today. What he does with it after is no affair of Achak's.

#3, waiting for Abbey to arrange a deal before relinquishing ownership, or putting the painting in Christie's February auction has the potential for a bigger return. I guess it has the potential for a smaller return as well, but that's probably unlikely given how much Abbey is willing to give for it.

[Tecumseh]

Achak is interested in option #2. I'll get an IC up today with his thoughts on the matter.

What are the potential tax implications, if any?

[rednblack]

Achak is interested in option #2. I'll get an IC up today with his thoughts on the matter.

What are the potential tax implications, if any?

Financing will be covered ICly in Abbey's response, but the basic gist is that you can get it all tax free on a credstick, which will make it perfect for off-the-books purposes, you can have it transferred to one or more of your SINs, which would mean tax payments, or you can incorporate yourself, which would also lead to tax penalties and an incorporation fee. Mix and match as your prefer.

ETA: I neglected to answer the question about Licenses. A Qi focus License would be a good one to have.

[rednblack]

@Tec, actually will you give me a LOG + some business skill should you have one or can make an argument for one. Default if not.

@Herr, since there isn't much for Jaeger to do at the moment do you want to try your hand at Divination, or something like that? We can adjust the timeline as necessary.

[Tecumseh]

I will BUY Business 2 for three of my banked knowledge karma! Ha ha!

This is probably fair, given that Achak's last speech was better informed than it should have been if he didn't have it.

Logic 2 + Business 2: 4d6t5 1 hit, better than zero

[Malevolence]

Oh, yes, speaking of karma spend, when buying my knowledge skills, I largely went down Stake's list, so I have a bunch of Infected based skills. I notice Jaeger took a specialization for Infected in Magical Threats. Would such a specialization help Mercer any, or do his other knowledge skills sufficiently cover what that might entail? Or, could I conceivably consolidate?


And yes, I AM just now noticing this...

[Tecumseh]

Hold on, I might be getting confused. Duncan is our fence, not our fixer. Is Rose our fixer or is she more of an information broker?

If so, I can retract the last question to Duncan. ICly, Achak will be entertaining reasonable suggestions for gear that might be beneficial to their upcoming targets. Time might be the bigger constraint, as high-cost or high-Availability items may not be available on short notice.

[Zweiblumen]

Welp, you can always buy time.  Buying hits and whatnot to reduce the amount of time required.  That said, while you have a *lot* of money, it's not in inexhaustible amount.  I'm sure the team could burn through that pretty quickly.

That said, if you want to buy some laser weapons to put on some drones and a few skill softs for them to go with it, that could be fun

In the more reasonable section, pilot upgrades are *always* useful, but additionally, getting some way to prevent the zekes from healing any wounds SF puts in them would be great (like the sawdust grenades, etc etc).

[rednblack]

We can probably abstract the rest of the meeting.  I just need to know what Achak plans on doing with the cash in the short term, and we can make the additions to the char sheet. 

@Mal, if you have anything you'd like to talk with Abbey about, you have the opportunity.  Otherwise, he'll stick with small talk, and general catching up.

[Tecumseh]

It depends what you mean by "short term". His overall plan is:

1) set some aside for retirement
2) donate some to HTLC to help rebuild (FYI, for Zweiblumen and Herr, it was shot up during Chapter I)
3) spend some to finance the upcoming operations

Now each of these probably has several component steps. I'm going to be treating the money as realistically as I can from an IC perspective rather than splurging on things that might be fun from an OOC perspective. I'm enjoying the trenchcoat/mirrorshades aspects of the game and don't want to turn it pink mohawk.

It will occur to Achak that the most sensible approach from a risk perspective would be to hire shadowrunners to take out Sunrise assets for him. Again, I don't wish to change the nature of the game so I'll avoid turning Achak into a Mr. Johnson for the moment. His drive for revenge for Stake will keep that notion at bay for a while.

Going down the list:

1) Achak knows he'll need a lawyer, accountant, and financial adviser. He also knows that it's Friday afternoon and that things like LLCs, tax strategies, and investment plans take days, not hours. He'll ask Duncan for reputable referrals, but Achak might have to stay alive for the weekend to take advantage of them.

2) Achak is not opposed to handing over a credstick to Pastor Llewellyn, but he doesn't want to create additional security concerns for the church (by having a fat certified credstick floating around). He'll want to make sure that the money is donated the 'right way', which may be contingent upon what happens with #1 above.

3) As I mentioned before, our greatest constraints here might be time and Availability. I don't know if Duncan has procured things in the past for Stake & Co. or if that has been Rose/Raven's job. Similarly, I don't know if rednblack wants to use a flat Availability rating for what we might have access to or whether he prefers to roll for each item.

Mal's wishlist of glasses, a receiver dongle, sensor tags, and full body armor is a good example of reasonable, practical gear that Achak is willing to underwrite. Similarly, Eli's old gear (including the sawdust grenades) might make sense. Laser weapons and other exotic gear that we don't have the skillsets to employ are probably not on the list.

Is there any equivalent to sawdust grenades for wendigos? Can we get mini-grenades full of iron filings instead? Could Mercer make them with the Armorer skill? (Achak has Armorer too but not the Logic to make much of it.)

[Tecumseh]

Separately, Achak will not be announcing a nuyen figure to the team at large.

Given that Duncan wrote down the figure on a piece of paper and pushed it across the table, I'll leave it to Mal to decide whether Mercer would have been in a position to see and/or would have looked. Mercer will know that it is at least seven figures from the nature of Duncan's celebration.

[Malevolence]

Mercer would also like to add a smuggling compartment to one of his cyberlimbs, but aside form that, he's mostly planning on spending any nuyen he gets to pay off his debts. I'm still trying to write up an IC, but largely it looks like this:
-Uneventful trip to Duncan's with perception checks
-Yummy chicken (compliment)
-Looking to Achak to see if he wants Mercer to handle the negotiations, then pretty much keeping to himself out of the way, with a wary ear, when Achak immediately takes the lead
-He will not attempt to see the figure being passed around, so he will remain unaware of the exact amount agreed on, but will assume it is high six figures or more (edit: just read the IC, so I guess that Mercer is aware it is at least 1 mil)

If we get into a "what should we spend the money on" conversation, I'm not sure what he'll suggest as I'm not sure what we need. He'll suggest taking the question to the team as a whole
If asked if he wants anything, he'll mention that the money is not his - he had nothing to do with the procurement of the painting nor the negotiations. If Achak insists, he'll provide the list I have mentioned above, and ask if he could borrow an additional 30-60k to start paying off his In Debt. I have the karma to pay off half of it and I'm guessing that Achak would probably accept more reasonable terms than 10%/month. Or, if Achak is feeling generous and just handing out money, Mercer is fine with that too.

[Tecumseh]

Achak is thinking more about the next 1-7 days. If the team manages to survive that long and possibly take down a portion of Sunrise in the process then he'll be happy to loan nuyen to Mercer at more favorable terms than the usurious rates that Mercer is currently under. Say, 1% a month instead. (Not coincidentally, this the rate of return assumed by purchasing a permanent lifestyle.)

Of course, if we do our jobs right then we might have enough bounties and additional prizes floating around that Mercer won't need to borrow any.

[rednblack]

@Mal, don't forget about Nori. A call needs to be made there.