[belaran]

#3

Overhearing the barman mentioning something about Frau Schnee, Franck goes to the floor. As he spot the woman, along with the guy sitting at her table, he tooks a minute to assense her before joining the table.


Assessing the Lady in White: 9d6t5 5
 (5s ! - drop the masking Lowfyr, I see u )

[Jack_Spade]

The girl nodded to Waywalker, looking concentrated at his lips.
With a curiously accented voice, missing any trace of melody she replied: "Pleased to meet you. Have a seat. Where are the others? I was told there would be four of you."
Waywalker could barely make out her voice over the "music", also he did get the impression that the girl was forcibly keeping her hands still.

Franck the ghoul had found its way upstairs too. Looking into the astral he was nearly blinded: The walls weren't just decorated with pseudo magical script, they were in fact filled with living, dual natured moss, creating an effective barrier for any purely astral individual. The upstairs room was entirely contained and the magic script all of a sudden seemed to be more than just decoration.

Looking at the girl he knew at once that she was a mage, and a powerful one at that. Classical trained hermetic mage if the bound fire elemental over her shoulder was any indication.
Her aura showed some damage around her head, some kind of sickness or defect, but no missing essence. Otherwise she looked healthy if a bit anxious.


@belaran
There is a little link under your roll result. If you click on bbcode it generates you a pretty summary + link of your roll, so the result is obvious at a glance



#8

[belaran]

#4

"Guten Abend, Frau Schnee - I'm Frank, also an accointance of our ... common friend." - says Franck as he joins the table. "He however was not very explicit around the ... specifics of your predicament... But I guess we will have to wait for our party to be complete."

[Haywire]

Another guest made his entrance and sat at their table.
Ms. Snow had no trace of melody in her voice...As it was coming from a speaker or a personafix...
Better not upset our employer right away asking her,thought with a smile Waywalker.
Instead, he looked the other member of the team, gave a mental order to his Agent and introduced himself:
While we wait for our other "comrades", I'm pleased to meet you. My name is Waywalker, I like speed and tosurfthe Matrix. What is your...specialty?

I'd like that my Agent on the cyberdeck performs a Matrix Perception on the new guest, looking for icons on him, eventually running silent.

#5

[k-sim]

#2

With a swipe from his cyber limb Käse's car came to life. He ordered grid guide to take him to the Jeder Vernunft bar. He had no need to rush, there was plenty of time to get to the bar, even accounting for traffic. A few simple taps in AR and the driver seat switched from driver to passenger mode, tilting back a little and creating more leg room. To get in to the mood of what ever was coming Käse tuned in to one of his favorite stations: 24/7 D-Tech. A never ending mix of old school, new school and classical death metal, grindcore and speed metal. Guitars howling the car made its way to the Jeder Vernunft bar on Hohe Straße. To not be caught off guard Käse summoned a fairly weak spirit of air and ordered it to scope the place out for him, taking special note of things astral.

About twenty minutes later the spirit reported back. "Master, I have returned with news on that which you ordered me to seek out. A large group of metahumans have gathered in that location, many of which appeared to be under the influence of some sort of spell or potion affecting their auras. There also seemed to be a sort of large plant like entity floating above the large crowd. This awakened plant like entity might very well be the cause of the metahumans affected auras. The plant like entity seemed very strong for I could not assense it. I trust I have informed you to a satisfactory degree master, I shall now take my leave."

Before Käse could reply the spirit had left for it's home plane, leaving only a faint breeze of fresh air. Käse had little difficulty interpretating the spirit's message. The bar was crowded and quite a lot of the patrons were drinking and/or drunk, this was to be expected. What did interest him though was the plant like entity the spirit had seen. It was probably not a ward, these weak spirits weren't the brightest of bulbs but a ward it would probably have recognized. No, this had to be something different. He had heard of people encountering an awakened type bacteria that tries to eat your magic, but the spirit called it a plant like entity, so it probably wasn't that. Maybe it was just that, a plant, maybe the entire second floor was covered in living vines or something. Either way, the second floor was probably where he had to go.

Grid guide gave a sharp beep as it turned the car onto Hohe Straße, indicating Käse had to take the wheel again. He switched his seat back to driver mode and navigated the car down the street, looking for a place to park. Finding none on the street he turned his car into an underground car park and made his way towards the bar. Once inside Käse briefly switched to astral perception, the spirit was right on both accounts. The ground floor was packed with many auras showing the telltale signs of inebriation. But more interestingly, there indeed seemed to be a plant like entity on the second floor. I'll be damned, Gusty was right, it looks like moss or something.... Huh... Weird... Using his elbows and muttering entschuldigung under his breath Käse arrived at the bar and tried to get the barkeeps attention, resisting the urge to use a mind control spell. He ordered four bottles of beer and a glass of white wine, someone called Schnee had to drink white wine, just had to. Hands loaded with drinks Käse made his way upstairs, holding the drinks above his head to keep people from knocking them out of his hands. Because he had his hands full and couldn't use his elbows it took him significantly longer to get to the stairs than it did to get to the bar.

The bizarre music took Käse by surprise, almost dropping the drinks. But taking a moment to actually listen he decided he actually kind of liked it. A glance around the room confirmed his suspicions, some kind of astral moss and ritual markings everywhere. He resisted the urge to switch to astral and inspect the markings. Instead he scanned around looking for some one who might call herself Frau Schnee. Her full white outfit shined brightly in the lightshow. Looking at the two men accompanying the white apparition Käse figured he wasn't the first one to show up to the meet. These two are punctual, good.

With a big grin on his face Käse made his way to the group of three. "Guten abend aller zusammen, wie ghet's?" Käse gave a slight bow and looked around the table and at the drinks in his hands. "It seems I have bought too many drinks, or are we still waiting on one?" He set the drinks down with the white wine facing Frau Schnee and grabbed one of the beers for himself. "I am called Käse, pleased to meet you all."

Summoning spirit of air, force 3: 11d6t5 5
Spirit of air resist: 3d6t5 0
Drain resist: 11d6t5 3

[belaran]

#5

Frank was about to reply to Waywalker, when the new guy, Käse, jumped in. "Käse ? The guy calls himself "cheese" ?" thought Frank to himself, qui amused by the moniker. "Guten Abend, Fromage. It's nice to meet you", says the ghoul with a soft voice and a thick French accent - which tends to soften the German language. Frank has also has a grin on his face - apparently very amused by the nickname he just gave Käse.

"The name is Frank. Mister Waywalker here just introduced himself to us, stating he likes "speed and surfing the matrix"... He also just ask me what was my.... How did he put it ? Speciality. Hum, probably an accurate description. And it's nice to be ask something more elaborate than "what is your thing, dude ?". Anyway, to reply to him and finish my brief introduction to you, my speciality is to make living things... permanently non living. One way (showing the heavy pistol in his holster) or an other (gesturing toward his datajack)... Oh, and of course, I can also complains about food and wine - but that is more and less a birth defect."

Before any of them can reply anything to that, he turns to Frau Schnee - "Up to your knowledge, do we have to wait for an other person, or can we - as the UCAS citizen like to say, start this party ?".

[Jack_Spade]

Frau Schnee shrugged: "There should be one other person. It's not to late yet, so I'd prefer to wait a bit."
Once again she spoke much to silent for the ambient noise and her manner of speaking lacked any rhythm. One by one she looked at the three runners with a focused gaze before she averted her eyes and took a sip from the white drink in front of her. She had acknowledged the glas of white wine from Käse but more than a nodded thanks hadn't come from it.

[Haywire]

Before the other guest could speak a word, another one arrived at the table. He introduced himself as Kase.
 He calls himself Cheese? At least he brought us something to drink.
The smile on Waywalker face did not fade, as he opened a beer for himself.
Then "Frank" proceeded to speak, keeping clear that he was a Muscle, or so Waywalker thought.
"Tipical street samurai? Let's see what pops up with a little search..."
"Do not be hasty, Frank, we should enjoy the company of this Lady for as much as she wants. And thank you, Kase, for the beer. Anyway, as I asked before to Franck, what is your...specialty?"

Matrix Perception on Frank: 6d6t5 3
Matrix Perception on Kase: 6d6t5 4

#6

[belaran]

#6

"I'm not hasty, but I'm here for business...". The ghoul then display a large, and somewhat creepy smile, "... and ladies really appreciate my company for that long."

"Oh and by the way, to clarify, I'm not the muscle. I'm an assasin. So don't count me to shout you out of any mess of your own doing. I like my op, like my kill, to be neat, clean and organised."

Pulling out a cheap commlink, a meta-link, Franck continues: "Maybe we can start building a PAN for our devices ? As we wait for the last guest..."


out of character: building a PAN will allow us to discuss whatever the Schnee Frau tells us - in real time, without hear hearing our comments. And note that I am proposing to PAN one of my burner Commlink, not my cyderbeck - feel free to do the same.

Resisting Matrix Perception (everyware is PAN to my deck): Resist Matrix Perception from Waywalker: 10d6t5 2   (@Haywire: how rude !!!)

[Haywire]

#7

"Mr. Frank, I think we have something in common: the love for things well done. Where everything works together like a symphony... and you go away before drek hits the fan.
I gladly accept your offer of forming a PAN."
Waywalker proceeds to Invite a Mark on his Meta Link to Frank's Meta Link Icon.

[Zweiblumen]

#2

Realizing he's behind schedule, Schöner sends a command to his Mirage to meet him in front of the building and races out the door grabbing his great coat, glasses, and respirator as he heads out of the building.  Not wanting to wait for the elevator he races down the stairwell, his long legs taking them three at a time.  He reaches the bottom surprisingly un-winded.  The bike barely comes to a stop before he gracefully slides into the saddle and races down the street.  As he's weaving through traffic he ponders taking a hit of nova before the meet but decides to hold off.

As he rolls up to the hotel he sees the usual evening crowd starting to gather.  The bar is packed to the gills with those looking for an escape, wether from drugs or synthahol or the arms of a stranger.  Where others need to use their elbows or knees to cut through the crowd, Schöner is able to do so in half the time his little more than his smile and a friendly word.  He makes his way to the bar, and while he still has to wait the bartender skips several others that have been waiting to help the tall dark dryad.  He calmly says, "A double of whiskey and a bottle of white at the table of Frau Schnee, bitte."  The barkeep nods and points to the stairs in the back and shouts, "They'll be waiting for you at the table.  Top of the stairs, fourth on the left, rest of your party is already there."   Nodding in appreciation, he heads to the stairs.

Schöner approaches the table and sees that he's late, again.  It's a good thing he's as pretty and personable as he is, otherwise folks would get tired of this.  "Sorry for my tardiness, I had to make some arrangements for the table."  He sees that everyone already has a drink, but figures no one will mind the second.  He takes the last seat and addresses the lady, "Schöner, at your service.  How can I and my associates assist you this evening?"  On cue, his whiskey shows up and a chilled bottle of wine is brought up and set to the side of the table for when the others finish their drink.


When he comes in, he's going to do a perception check to see what's going on, my post above was from the results of previous posts so I'm assuming he doesn't find anything unusual.  If he does, I'll clear that up in a followup post.
Percept (Int 4 + Perception 6 + Visual Spec 2 + Glasses 2 = 14): 14d6t5 7 Mental limit of 4 + 2 for VE means 6 hits kept.
For working through the crowd:
Crowd Control(ish) (Cha 10 + Eti 6 + Glamor 1 + Suit 2 + Pheromones 2 = 21): 21d6t5 7 Social Limit 15, that should move the crowd gently
For smoothing the Bartender:
Bartender Attention (Cha 10 + Eti 6 + Glamor 1 + suit 2 + phe 2 = 21): 21d6t5 9 I think he'll take my money
For the table (smoothing ruffled feathers for being late and butting into the conversation):
Table Manners (Cha 10 + Eti 6 + Glamor 1 + Suit 2 + Pheromones 2 = 21): 21d6t5 6  Hopefully that will soothe any bruised egos.

At the table Schöner is going to act as if he's familiar with the other runners.  He wouldn't want a client to think he or they or that disorganized.  He'll spend up to 200¥ on the bottle and his whiskey.  (feel free to give any discounts or upgrades based on the roll with the bartender, I don't mind. )

[Jack_Spade]

The young woman looked unimpressed, but nodded to Schöner to take a seat. With her unmelodious voice she began:
"Now that you are all here, we can begin."
From her handbag she removed a piece of digital paper. On it was the face of a good looking man with Italian features, long black hair bound into a ponytail.
"This is Antonio Vasco. He is a mage and he has a number of blood samples, hidden somewhere in this city. I want you to recover those samples and make sure that he never again will be able to collect them again. He is an accomplished ritualist and combat mage and does occasional work for various criminal organisations. I've asked for specialists of your kind because he might be very well protected in the astral and the real world, but he is not nearly as strong in the matrix."

#10

[Zweiblumen]

#3

While talking he searches Frau Schnee for any clues or breaks in her poker face.  Her non-melodic voice is almost painful in his ears, but he continues anyway.  "Hrm.  Interesting.  Do you know of any other aliases he may go by, or any specific locations in the city?  Rhine-Ruhr isn't exactly small.  Do you happen know which particular organizations he tends to work for?  Any additional information you could provide will hasten the conclusion of this task."

He looks to his companions and assumes that at least one of them is a decker.  It's hard to tell though as the only tell-tale sign is the data jacks visible, but even he has one in his wrist and Ghost knows he's no matrix monkey.  For once, he practices patience and lets the others speak up before barreling ahead.


Looking for anything of note about Mrs Snow.  Body language or facial tics.  Looking for any more information, is her voice due to cybernetic voice modulation or is she an anthropodic drone or under some type of spell etc etc.
Checking out Mrs Snow (Int 4 + Percep 6 + Vis Spec 2 + Glasses 2 = 14): 14d6t5 5 Limit 6.

Do you want a Negotiation or a Con roll for trying to get more info out of her?

[Jack_Spade]

The woman didn't seem to be a drone, under drugs or otherwise influenced, but Schöner noticed that the woman focused entirely on his lips while he spoke. Before she answered she let a pause of about one second happen:
"During his ritual circles he goes by the name of Avascula. As far as I know his latest work was for the Mafia here in Cologne. They have a large brothel - a boat on the Rhine - from where he operated for them. He usually has two or three assistants, but has the ability to do ritual magic by himself. The assistants change regularly, most of them are students at the Cologne University, where he used to teach before he was fired two years ago.
He is a so called aspected mage - he can't create alchemica or call spirits, but he is a highly competent spell caster, anti mage and ritual caster.
He is also a classical Hermetic."


If you have it, a magical theory knowledge test, as well as an organized crime knowledge test would be appropriate now.

[Haywire]

Finally the fourth member of the team arrived. A dryad, and a damn good loking one.
He went right at the tableand had very adequate manners and some whiskey, not a thing widely spread today.
From the way he talks, my bet is that he will be our Face. And we damn need one.
Frau Schnee talked about the run: recover some blood samples from a Mafia mage... really, a walk in the park, only that you are chased by an hungry dragon...
After finishing his beer, Waywalker says: "Frau Schnee, first I'd want an explanation: by "to make sure he never be able to collect them again" you intend that we need to destroy them or that he needs to have a final meeting with afterlife?"


Duisburg Knowledge: 4d6t5 2
Matrix Perception on Schoner: 6d6t5 2
What did my matrix perception on other characthers tell me?
#8