[snake_eyes]

Once Mouse gets the information back from the sprite...
@Team: Uh...guys? Things just got better. <<ARO: data packet from sprite of bio on Nikolai and Maria>>
...
@Team: I'm with Unca Sam for the moment. All we know is that a short, brown haired woman shot Johnny in the back fifteen times. The description matches a string of women. <<ARO: fast list of said women living in the vicinity>> though we definately cannot rule her out. I wonder if she's the reason why the Nikolai is so interested in the 3Ks or if he even knows she's here.
...
@Team: I got not just Nikolai's com code but his whole group. Here's where they're at <<ARO: map of Denver area containing the Vory com links /w Nikolai's highlighted.>>

[Netzgeist]

Fractal ponders for a while, observing. Tension is building up, he knows it, and this is really not the best time for it.

"Guys, calm down. There's already a group here on the brink of dividing, and look how deep in shit they are. We don't need to follow their example."

As the boy shares the AROs to them, Fractal stops for a while to praise the boy.

"Thanks a lot, Mouse. Stupend job."

Then he raises his head and goes back to look all the team: "Ok, we are not certain that Maria is the killer; but she was really, REALLY hiding something when Johnny's death was mentioned, and the description matching her right now... I don't believe it's coincidence. I think Tony does not know about it, but that Maria was responsible for Johnny death... And you told me when she approached us near the warehouse she looked nervous. I also believe Kirillov does not know she is with Tony. He most certainly didn't send her." As the time is short, he continues without any pause: "There's another assumption that we should not forget it's just that, an assumption: Lady Don't-Mess-With-Me-I'm-The-Top-Bitch-In-The-Street out there may or may not be the Front's leader. She can be only a know and trusted envoy. Hell, she brought just two bodyguards to this endeavor. Don't you think that's a poor comitive for the leader of one of the biggest gang around?"

"I agree that Omar plan - no offense here, my friend - is not that solid, and I would preffer other way to deal with this all. It's also true that it's stupid to go there without a plan, but the time is short and I still don't know what to do. I fear we will have to improvise as we go, and that's a cheap passport to the morgue."

"What the hell shall we do? Do I still call Nikolai? Do I still create a fake message? The decision time is now!"

[Sichr]

One of those questions is easy to solve. Since Tony is online, Omar opens comunication channel:
Tony, this bitch is Steur from Fronts?

[Sichr]

Message, even if fake, should be usefull. Ill try to find a way to get it to them. Kirillov should wait IMO. We dont need to change our job description right now. I bet this should come handy later.
Ryker, whats that bitch status? Magical or not? Would you be able to use magic or your spirits to influence those gangers to be less willing to listen to her? She is arming against Russians so we cannot let her succeed, even if we have to kill her.

[Kouryuu]

"Mouse, He has the gun?" Sam was a bit surprised, but that was not as uncommon these days, still he will have to make sure he knows how to use it
"Hey, Mouse, Can i borrow the club?"
When Omar Gave the control over the drone Sam was reluctant to accept it.
"Will the drone target non vital areas, so we ca make sure there are no senseless death's?" Sam looked at Omar "if not the you better make sure you use it in such a way, as i doubt i will be able to control it so precise. You, Omar, are our best shot at these things."

"Ryker Waiting for Intel on them, Fractal You should start making the message as we are short no time. I will  hold the fort until you get it done"

[Sichr]

Don`t wory, Sam, I`ll be online with the dog, Well if sitation calls I may need to be jumped in Rover and even I can`t be on two places in one moment. So you will be able to give it simple orders to maneuver, protect, attack specific target and such. If there is some shoting, I dont want to disapoint you, but unless extremely necessary, even I won`t bother to target nonlethaly. We give you intel, but I supposed you and Ryker wanted to stay close to Tony and Maria. Well...

Omar points down the street, where Tony ad Maria dismounts the bike
color=navy]Its about hundred meters. You wont be any help from here.[/color]

[Kouryuu]

Omar points down the street, where Tony ad Maria dismounts the bike
Its about hundred meters. You wont be any help from here.

"Good, hope it will not come to shooting and you are right we should be on our way."
Sam turned to go to tony, but before leaving waited for Ryker to join.

[snake_eyes]

I don't have a club, Unca Sam. But I have this... He pulls out the stun gun and gives it to Unca Sam.
I could help control one of the drones. I've been practicing... Mouse says with some pride. Much to the surprise of both Unca Omar and Sam. Mouse decided not to mention it was using Unca Omar's FlySpy and while his complex form was only at beginning stages, he did have a Control program of R4 thanks to their endeavor at Red Wire. ...at least until you have another task for me to do.

Fractal ponders for a while, observing. Tension is building up, he knows it, and this is really not the best time for it.

"Guys, calm down. There's already a group here on the brink of dividing, and look how deep in shit they are. We don't need to follow their example."

As the boy shares the AROs to them, Fractal stops for a while to praise the boy.

"Thanks a lot, Mouse. Stupend job."

@Fractal: Thank you, Mr. Fractal!

[Netzgeist]

Sam turned to go to tony, but before leaving waited for Ryker to join.

"Before you go, Sam, pick one - Fractal presents him his two tasers, Sturm and Drang - you are a better shot than I am, and I only look cool shooting with my right hand."

Sturm is a Defiance EX Shocker (Damage: 8S(e), SS, it's clip holds 4 taser darts);
Drang is an Yamaha Pulsar (Damage: 6S(e), SA, clip holds 4 taser darts, shoot capacitor darts, so no wires attached to the shots);
Both tasers are modded with Skinlink, Smartgun system and Smartgun Camera Vision Enhancement Rating 3.
Unfortunately, Fractal has no additional clips to provide - he knows that if he has to shoot more than 8 taser darts he is already dead.
Fractal clearly preffers Drang, but it's really Sam's choice which one he gets. Fractal remembers how well Sam dealt with the guards of the Bow Mar Facility.

With a quick nod, he says: "Working on the message, guys." He closes his eyes to better concentrate on the woman's voice and way of talking: he hadn't heard her a lot, but the elf knew how to work with what he get. His commlink starts to record: "Now listen here, that's the way you will do it. You will put as many bullets as you have in Johnny's body, make it appear as a slouchy job from that Russian drunkards. That will teach them that they need us to survive, and they will come back to us."

Vocal range enhancer allows Fractal to do this. He rolls Charisma + Con to emulate her voice, and listeners "resist" with Perception + Intuition.
8 (Charisma) + 4 (Con) = 12 dice = 4 hits, no glitch

The ganger own mother, if she had one, wouldn't tell the fake voice from the real one.

[Kouryuu]

"Before you go, Sam, pick one - Fractal presents him his two tasers, Sturm and Drang - you are a better shot than I am, and I only look cool shooting with my right hand."

"Thats a Yamaha Pulsar right? just like the one i gave to tony, great, there is no doubt what my choice should be, and to boot i can use my spare clips in it.  " Sam looks very, very happy about Fractals generosity. " you will get it back right after i get mine back."
Sam took it and the comfortable feeling of skinlink and smartgun sys made him feel cousy with this gun in his hand, but a quick check reveled that this gun had some differences from his own ... Zapdos ... . "This gun will do perfectly, thanks Fractal."

[Netzgeist]

Fractal take a quick glance at Sturm, then puts it in the holster which previously held Drang. As far as he can see, he won't need the weapon today.

Still, he keeps his hands prepared.

He stream the recently created file with the fake message to Omar and Mouse, and then asks:

"Do you think we can work with this, or shall I make a better one? If Tony or Sam could buy us some time, I can manage to record an entire conversation, with her and the murderer; I don't know, as if she recorded it to blackmail him afterwards..." Although he says so, he can't really think of a way that would leave a possibility of blackmail. Well, maybe if it's found into a third party commlink to blackmail both mandant and executioner of the murder, but then we would need a third traitor/scapegoat. Nah, this would probably not work.

[JDA]

I assense the fronts leader to see what her status is? also if any other awaken people are present.

4d6.hits(5) → [1,3,1,2] = (0) no hits on the assesnion.

Still see if any other awaken creatures are present. Will relay all info. to group in PM when I return to my meat.

Ryker, joins Sam "We'll chummer, here we go again. If this goes bad im calling spirits in to conceal your escape. I will also be invisible during this encounter. but will always be to your right a few steps behind."
Then PM's team "I'm going invisible, if this goes bad im calling in Spirits to get Sam and I out"
Casting force 5 invisibility
8d6.hits (5) → [2,5,1,5,4,1,5,4] = (3) invisibility rolled 8 dice took 2 off for armor sustain and 1 off for previous damage.
Drain 8d6.hits(5) → [6,3,5,4,3,4,4,6] = (3) no drain

[Sentinemodo]

I assense the fronts leader to see what her status is? also if any other awaken people are present.

4d6.hits(5) → [1,3,1,2] = (0) no hits on the assesnion.

Still see if any other awaken creatures are present. Will relay all info. to group in PM when I return to my meat.

Rykers assenssion - should be Intuition(3) + Assension(2) to begin with. But there are modifiers for this is a long range assension (hundred meters away, lot's of other auras blocking LOS) -3 dices
that still is zero hits, and that still is a critical glitch.

Ryker attuned himself for the astral sight and strained to make anything out of the auras ahead of him. He couldn't make out red haired woman aura out of the mist, He strained further and something went wrong. He tried in panic to revert and then it occurred to him that he cannot perceive normally.

Critical glitch result - for the remainder of this scene, Ryker can only perceive the world through astral sight.

Ryker, joins Sam "We'll chummer, here we go again. If this goes bad im calling spirits in to conceal your escape. I will also be invisible during this encounter. but will always be to your right a few steps behind."
Then PM's team "I'm going invisible, if this goes bad im calling in Spirits to get Sam and I out"
Casting force 5 invisibility
8d6.hits (5) → [2,5,1,5,4,1,5,4] = (3) invisibility rolled 8 dice took 2 off for armor sustain and 1 off for previous damage.
Drain 8d6.hits(5) → [6,3,5,4,3,4,4,6] = (3) no drain

should be Magic(5) + Spellcasting(6) - Background Count(1) - Sustained spells(2) -> result the same, just with 2P there is no wound modifier yet.
With force 5 - you are overcasting.
Drain Value 5/2 + 1 -> 3
Drain Resistance Willpower(5) + Logic(4) -> 9d6, there is no modifier for that roll, you managed to resist the drain with your roll, so I won't be rolling for you the missing dice
Improved Invisibility cast with 3 sucesses.

I assume that even blind to standard vision you go with Sam.

One of those questions is easy to solve. Since Tony is online, Omar opens comunication channel:
Tony, this bitch is Steur from Fronts?

Tony, just like he was asked, left his commlink on, adn replied immediatelly Yes, that's Amy Steur.

Sam and Ryker walked out from the Rover.

Meanwhile Tony dismounted his bike and went between his gangers. He walked firmly, shaken hands, traded backs and elbows with his men. He was welcomed with enthusiasm by the South, a little less warm but still friendly by the North.

Tony, she greeted him like she was on her own turf, it's good that you came in finally - we need to talk. Amy is short and to the point. I was talking with Kings, while you're busy ha nodded meaningfully at Maria, who in turn blushed cutely some of them still want to know what do you say. Will you accept being lapdogs for the Vory? She didn't failed to mention he wasn't here, when he should be and she also implied, that she's close to taking charge instead of him.

Fractal watching Tony on the video feed from Dalmatian, has seen enough of him already to note, that he is affraid of her. Kings won't be anyone's lapdogs. You're welcome to share your opinion Amy, but this is King's turf, and we shall decide on our own he tried weakly.

That's not opinion boy. That's a simple question. Commies are coming this way. Will they walk over Three Kings or will the Kings become Three Jesters and dance to the new tune?

I only want the best for The Kings. Don't worry, we can hold our own, as we always had.

Of course you do, but don't tell me you couldn't use some help.

On the meta level, the matter is simple. When enough Kings will be convinced for any idea to join Fronts, to stay independent or other  - 10 hits required on the extended negotiations test, they will.

Tony is arguing for Kings being on their own. Amy however had a round before he came due to him being late.

hits, on the rolls may be used for reducing other options or pressing your own option.

rolls so far:
Amy:
base Charisma (3) + Negotiations(4)
modifiers:
Kings are on friendly terms with Fronts +1 dice
Kings would be annoyed to leave their independence -1 dice
Amy have a known street reputation +3 dices
total: +3 dices
10 dices

Tony
base Charisma (3) + Negotiations(-1 defaulting)
modifiers
Kings are loyal to him +2 dice
Kings would like to keep their independence +1 dice
Tony is distracted, internally torn because he want to leave -1 dice
total: +2 dice
4 dices   

Amy's 1st 10d6.hits(5)=1
Amy's 2nd 10d6.hits(5)=2
Tony's 1st 4d6.hits(5)=2

options:
Join Fronts: 3/10
Stay on their own: 2/10

All in all his appearance was well received by the Kings, and they think he is holding his own against her. Which is good for Kings. Still there is a small advantage of the joining Fronts supporters among them. For Fractal the case is simple, if nothing change, he will loose the footing very soon. The biggest problem however is that he probably don't see that as a really bad option and is close to being convinced himself.

[Netzgeist]

Fractal sighted. So now the gameboard is clearer, and the pieces are all named; better this way, one can antecipate the movements.

The elf opens Rover's door, and while jumping out of it, mentions to Omar and Mouse: "I am needed there. Tony will not make it on his own. Omar, if the discussion seem lost, resort to the last argument;" - calling a mounted Ingram White Knight a last argument is no novelty, but there's not enough time to construct elaborate metaphors - "also, you and Mouse make sure that these three can't communicate. It would not be a happy sight if they call reinforcements. Keep sending me the Dalmatian feeds."

A mental commands set the feeds trasparency to 70% and adjust the area where it shall appear as the lower-right corner of his visual field.

Calmly and firmly, the elf walks toward the gangers. He knows he is a stranger to all of them, and that his arrival may seem suspicious. He also knows the kind of people gangers are, and what they truly respect, so his controlled body language make it clear for everyone that he belongs to the streets also.

8 (Charisma) + 4 (Ettiquette) + 3 (Glamour) + 3 (Tailored Pheromone) = 18 dice = 5 hits, no glitch
It's possible that either Glamour or Tailores Pheromones to not come in play; he is walking all the way to where they are, and will be nearby, but he started from quite afar: if one of these are taken out, then the result becomes 4 hits, still no glitch; if both are taken out, then it's 3 hits, no glitch

He also expect that Tony will greet him in a friendly manner when he arrives, which shall improve the elf image with the gang. He knew in the calm pace he is walking he will not arrive there immediately, but showing a confidence look now is more importat than rushing things up.

While strolling among the gangers, he sends a message to Tony: "No need to fear Amy, Tony. You are in your turf, this is your gang; also, we got your back."

[snake_eyes]

Mouse was a little surprised and a little hurt that Unca Sam didn't take "his" stun gun, which if he wasn't mistaken, was Sam's own gun. As he remembered, Unca Omar got it from Unca Sam and Unca Omar gave it to him. He let the drone command comment slide by. After all, it was probably better if they didn't ask him any pointed questions about his newly developed ability. Instead...
@Team: Ok, Mr. Fractal. I'll look to see if they have any com links on.
@Fractal: That's pretty neat that you came up with that sample so fast! I could have sworn that was her. FYI, I ran some test against the sample voice streams that I have and the differences were so minute that you'd have to have augmented hearing to pick up on the differences.
Scanning for com-links on the scary lady (Fronts leader) and her bodyguards:
comp(4)+scan(3)+2tm-2sus=7d6.hits(5)=4