Smooth Jazz -- IC (Shadowrun 4)

[Lost Demiurge]

SMOOTH JAZZ

Part I: Slumming it

There are those who say Seattle's a beautiful town, a testament to metahuman ingenuity and business acumen. The shining green towers of the "Emerald City" stretch into the sky worry-free of weather, faultline, or extremist action, and the streets are safe to walk, glittering with AR, and filled with friendly people enjoying the prosperity of their home town.

The people who say this with a straight face usually end up dead in an alley the first few minutes after they step off of the AR self-guided tour and take a wrong turn into a bad neighborhood. Once you get out of Downtown, there are a LOT of bad neighborhoods in Seattle. They tend to eat people, swallowing them up whole and making them disappear as if the very concrete had risen up and swallowed them up.

One of the worst neighborhoods is undoubtedly the Redmond Barrens. The ‘Star doesn’t come here. The corps that run the local factories (called “Toxic Castles” by those who work in them) post token security teams around their properties, but the rest of the place can go to hell for all they care. Looking at it, it’s hard to say that it’s not already there.

Gangers rule the streets, BTL dealers sell digital happiness on crumbling sidewalks, and squatters and criminals shack up here to avoid taxes, law, and a rich elite that doesn’t care to notice them. Ghouls lurk in the barely-functional sewers, and entire blocks of the power grid are non-functional. There’s a few square miles to the east that still glow faintly in the right light… That’s where a reactor melted down.

During the day, in the more-inhabited parts, you could mistake it for a third-world slum. During the day it’s not so bad… Sure, the dealers are still here, but you’ll also see women hanging clothes to dry, groups of ork kids playing hunt the devil rats, and blue-collar workers hopping beat-up buses to the Toxic Castles. The gangers are more relaxed, less-likely to pop you for fun. And maybe every once in a while Lone Star sends a car through. Just in case someone rich is getting murdered on the sidewalk.

During the night, though… If you go out, best be a badass AND lucky, if you want to ever be seen again.

You’re out in the Barrens at night. Good thing you’re a badass. Time will tell if you’re lucky.
+++

Earlier this week you were going about your daily routine, finishing up Christmas shopping and making holiday plans, when you noticed that your account was looking a little anemic. In fact, after checking the calendar, you realized that rent this month was gonna be problematic at worst, severely painful at best. So you called around to your friends and acquaintances, looking for business.

This afternoon, you got a reply back from Lojack. Lojack’s an elderly ork, at least 30 or so. Most orks are dead by 40, so he’s not so spry anymore… Back in the day he was a seriously tough ganger, and he’s one of those rare types who realized that gangs have lousy retirement plans. He moved on up to fencing cars and drugs, and climbed the chain making contacts and small scores until he’s where he is today. Mind you, any serious black market merchant would laugh at his capital and scale, but he’s cheap, cautious, and keeps his promises. That’s a good combo.

You’ve done small work for Lojack before… Two-hundred nuyen jobs here and there, mainly lookout duty or bodyguard work. Never anything big. That seems to have changed, judging by his last message.

“Hoi, chummer.” The balding ork grins, showing a gold tusk. He’s never been hard to read, and right now he seems a little nervous. “Swear to Bob, you called JUST the right time. Look, I got somethin’ tonight. BIG business. I got a new client, and she got money. She needs experienced and smart folks to do somethin’ complicated. This ain’t no drek-work, this ain’t no bull, and yer one of the smarter omaes’ I got. Come on down to the Banshee, 8 tonight an’ we’ll hang.”

+++
The flickering neon sign proclaims the squat concrete cube of a building to be the B NS EE. There are no windows in the weathered and pockmarked walls of the bar. It’s in a bad part of the barrens, but it’s relatively intact… The parking lot has a few choppers and beat-up cars in it, monitored by a figure on the roof with a lawn-chair and hunting rifle… A parking lot sniper. The building’s got a tag on it that looks like a pumpkin head, the mark of the Halloweener gang. Those who know Redmond know that the building is neutral ground. The inside, anyway. When you go out, all bets are off.

There's a light dusting of grey slush on the ground. The forecast for tonight is for another inch or so. On the plus side, the air quality is up to level 2... Record carcinogen lows for the next few days.

The door inside reveals a short hallway, a couple of firing ports, and a weapons check counter. The scanner in front of the inner door looks pretty expensive compared to the outside décor. It doesn’t take long to check your weapons in.

Inside, you’re looking at a dingy, ill-lit room. Plas-crete tables are bolted to the floor, and a long metal bar runs from one end of the far wall to the other. Doors against the far and near wall both read NO ENTRY. Looks like Classic rock is the soundtrack of choice tonight… The speakers hanging above the wall are thumping to the beat of hard songs by Concrete Dreams. The bartender, the ugliest human you’ve ever seen, gives you a hard look before getting back to wiping the bar, evenly distributing the grime and muck.

It’s early, yet. There’s a group of honest-to-god hell’s angels occupying the center tables, laughing and throwing back beer. The only other people in the place are two figures shoved into a back corner, where they can easily watch the door. One of them, a wrinkled and scrawny ork in grey urban fatigues and a do-rag lifts an arm and waves easily in your direction. This is Lojack. Six cans in front of him stand as a testament to the liquid nature of his last hour’s work.

The other is an elf in a trench coat. She’s wearing sunglasses, and the clear drink in front of her is untouched. She’s got black hair, and a bulge under one armpit that shows through the coat… Probably deliberate. She keeps picking at some grime on the table, and shifting in her seat every minute or two. Clearly, this is not her scene.

“Sup, omae,” Says Lojack as you draw near, “Meet my old friend, Ms. Johnson.”

[SuperMuldoon]

Arkady finished locking the door to his dreary apartment and stepped out into the winter night. Pulling his grey and brown longcoat tighter around himself as the wind picked up, he checked to make sure his roll was still in his pocket. 500 nuyen, all he had to his name. He'd just finished buying a christmas gift for Julie...spent a little more then he should have but frak it, he loved the joygirl. Regardless, he wouldn't have enough cash for this month's rent, or to pay off the slottin' Vory collectors if they decided to come calling. Thats why, when he got the call from Lojack, his eyes lit up. Something big was going down, and he had jumped to take this job.

Arkady loaded his van with all of his toys. He didn't know what to expect from this job, but he wanted to be over-prepared. This could be his big score. Turning the key in the ignition, he gave the van a few minutes to warm up and shake the December cold from its engine. Checking himself in the rear view mirror Arkady brushed his unruly dark hair out of his face and ran his hand over his 5 o'clock shadow. His cyberized steely blue eyes looked right back at him. Damn I look strung out... he thought. Looking back out to the road, he shifted out of park and headed to the Banshee.

Pulling into the parking lot and finding a spot a decent ways away from the choppers and other vehicles in the lot he stepped out into the grey slush. Nodding to the rooftop sniper, Arkady headed into the bar. He quickly surveyed the place, meeting the bartenders glare for a moment before spotting Lojack sitting in the corner with what he assumed to be the client. "Hey Lojack," Arkady said, heading over to the table. "Heard you had someone who needed an answer to their problem." he said as his usual greeting to meetings like this, as he pulled up a chair and sat down.

[loopy]

Earlier that evening: Redmond Barrens, 6pm

A lone elf guns his Mirage down the twisted alleys of the Redmond Barrens. Black classic bomber jacket closed tight, ganger tats glowing green along his face and arms, any who saw Eoin dismissed him as just another piece of trash... Just the way he liked it when crawling the Barrens. Didn't pay to be a gaijin around the area. As the saying goes, the nail that sticks out gets hammered, and the fleshmongers and worse could smell weakness from a couple klicks away.

Like, for instance, the two young club-bunnies wandering around the streets ahead. The elf sighs, pulling up next to the two girls. Late teens, he guessed, beautiful and dressed to the nines, heading out to some warehouse party or other. They were lucky he had found them first, or they'd likely be on the next days missing persons datasheet. A quick couple button-presses and the nanotats on his face deactivated, leaving the dark-haired elf looking at least somewhat respectable.

"Hello there," Eoin calls out in his Irish brogue, flashing a smile, letting his charm start to work. The girls slowed, uncertain, obviously out of their depths in the Barrens. "How is the night treating you? Nice night for a rave. Don't suppose you are heading to Infinity in Sno-ho? Tale-Weaver is playing, he kicks some pretty classy hardstyle and breakbeat. Besides, nothing on around here, its a rough neighbourhood."

The younger of the two girls, a redhead with a bit of Irish in her ancestry, smiled nervously. "We might be, we got lost... Our ride bailed on--"
"We can take care of ourselves." The other girl, an asiatic looking orc, cuts in, her voice tough, but a tad shaky.

Fronting, Eoin sighs to himself. She has spirit, shame it won't help her out here. Bah, and I was going to catch up with Alec too... Eoin smiles genially. "I'm sure you could. Still, I know the promoters who are running this event, and if you want, I could get you there. No pressure, but..." He shrugs, "I'm one of the few nicer guys you'll find in this bad neighbourhood. Now pardon my rudeness, I forgot to ask your names?"

The redhead blushes, "Ami. My name is Ami. My friend is Katia." Eoin bows slightly, "My name is Eoin McGlaughlin. A pleasure to meet you bot--."

"Now what do we have here, boys? Nice bike, dandelion eater. Fine company as well. Shame your bike only fits one. So... What do you say you leave one of those slitches here to party, and we'll forget you stepped on Spiders turf." Eoin turned, a branded orc wearing gang-colours and a bowler hat leading several other toughs around him."

"Go slot yourself, you ugly piece of ****!" Katia spits, the lead ganger tensing.

"Calm down, Katia, you aren't helping." Eoin mutters in a low tone. He turns to the Spiders. "Apologies omae, didn't know we were stepping on your turf. It wouldn't be worth your while to mess with me though." He looks directly at the orc, gloved hand moving almost imperceptibly at his side. "I'm not as always as nice as I look." Hitting the kickstand, the elf gets off the Mirage.

The orc tough laughs, and the other gangbangers cackle sycophantically. "Like we care. One lone elf against five Spiders? We'll take your girls and your bike, give you a couple broken ribs for mouthing off." A muted rumble slowly builds.

"One last chance." Eoin warns. "Leave us, or you'll be in for trouble." The gangers laugh and advance, lead pipes and knives raised threateningly. The two girls cower against the wall. Eoin reaches into his leather jacket, pulling a pistol out with one hand, using his glove to activate his green Ancients nanotats with the other.

"These two girls are under the protection of the Ancients." Eoin puts a round through the head of the orc. "You sorry gaks think better before you try messing with us again, grok me? Oh, and I'd look down the way if I were you." The other gangers, rattled by the sudden death of their leader, look down the road, seeing a whole group of motorbikes heading up the road toward 'em. The riders wore Ancients' green.

"Slot this, Sack's been blanked, run!" The gangbangers scatter as the Ancients ride in. The lead rider flicks up his visor. "'Lo brother. Nice to see you taking in some local colour."

"Hoi, kin. Thanks for saving my ass. Reckon you could do me another favor? Help me take these two down to Infinity, they've got a night out at Infinity waiting... Unless you've had enough fun for one evening and want to be dropped home?" Eoin looks at the girls.

Katia is slumped against the wall, her tough front temporarily broken. Ami speaks quietly. "We'll... We'll go to Infinity. Thanks for helping us."

Eoin puts his shades back on, smiling. "No worries, lass. I have a blast meeting new people." YYYEEEEEAAAAAHHHHH!!!

====
Later that night - 8:00pm
Having dropped Ami and Katia off at Infinity, promising to meet up with them later, Eoin turns and heads back to the Barrens for tonights business. He'd gotten the girls details, and it was always nice having a tale of heroism attached to his name, though he'd made them both promise not to mention the Ancients involvement... And to stay out of the Barrens from now on.

He turned his thoughts to tonights work. Lojack had always treated him right, though his choice of meeting place often left something to be desired. Most previous jobs had been using Eoin's social skills to good effect, helping smooth ruffled feathers so business deals didn't escalate into grudges and violence. Still, his apartment in Bellevue doesn't pay for itself, and times had been tough since he'd have to leave his cushy job at Horizon to save his brother from grief in Seattle.

Parking his bike outside the bar, he switches his gang-tats to a more neutral tribal design, puts on his leather gloves, and enters the... Banshee? He shrugs. The synthahol allergy made things a pain in his line of work, but he had dealt with it all his life so far, so he could deal.

The bar was pretty empty. Not surprising, the place was dingy and reeked of old synthahol, which made Eoins exposed skin start tingling. Hope I don't have to be in here too long. Swear Lojack picks these damn places on purpose.

Sliding into the chair across from Lojack, he lays the full force of his personality on Ms Johnson. "Evenin' love, hoi Lojack. What can this humble elf do for you both this fine night?" He nods at the other unfamiliar face at the table. A vaguely Baltic looking fellow, interesting. "Seems like there could be an interesting job planned, no?"

[Thanatos 51-50]

Ah.
Lojack.

Nikolai couldn't help but grin. The ork had come through. It was nothing much, really, pulling a small job for Lojack, it helped him get though, to cut through everything. It was better then spending his days desperatly trying to get his miserable shell addicted to some outside stimulant.
Lojack was rapidly becoming Nikolai's drug of choice.

The deal was Banshee. At 20. Good, then. It gave him time to...
To...
Nikolai wasn't exactly sure what it gave him time to do. His groceries were bought, his rent was paid, his weapons and ammuntion properly stowed and cared for, his Christmas gift to his father sitting in the corner, wrapped.
The human groaned as he let himself fall backwards onto his bed that was also his couch and stared at the cracked ceiling and listened to the people scurrying around their daily rituals. At least they had task, drive, and purpose.
Being corp security was better then this. He'd be dead by now or a legend, but damn'. It was something.

Nikolai ran his hands over the metal and circutry that had replaced his forearms. He still felt a bit cheated that their neither contained flesh, bone, nor blood. But this was his lot.
Even the desire for revenge against the man who had nearly killed him had been reduced to smouldering embers. Embers which were kind of gently rolling down an embankment into a pond.
Left with nothing better, or nothing else at all to do to occupy his sleepless mind, Nikolai found himself practicing his marital artistry a bit before he had to leave for the Banshee.
It was the same routine, walk up, get his weapons checked, walk over to meet the Ork.
He bows his head to be polite and mutters a hasty "Konbanwa" to the Elf, tugging at the sleeves of his jacket to cover his forarms more.
He was dressed simply. Rough blue jeans over mid-calf black boots and his plain black jacket (Which just happened to be armoured) over a green shirt. It was nothing fancy. There was probably some mundane and pointless corp logo on the T-shirt. He never bothered to check.
With that he... just kind of stood awkwardly and waited for someone to start talking to him and tell him what needed to be shot.

[Krrth]

Borric

Borric sighed as he looked over his bills. Freelance mage work had fallen off and he was running a bit short this month. While he did have some emergency money kept away to pay the rent, he really didn't want to touch it if he didn't have to.

On the other hand, he really did need to buy his siblings, along with their assorted offspring, some sort of present. Thus he was rather relieved when the call from Lojac came in. Packing up his gear, he headed down to the garage and started up his bike and headed out.

He wasn't too particularly worried about being picked off by a ganger. Dwarves had a reputation of sticking together...not to mention that they were usually not worth the trouble.

He still took precautions however. No dark alleys, no stopping for hitchhikers, no rude gestures at people he passed.

When he arrived the bar, he waved at the figure on the roof. Good to know his bike would still be there when he left.

Well, that or a body.

In any event he walked into the bar. Spotting Lojack, he slipped his vision into astral long enough to assess the person sitting next to him.

He then moved forward.

Lojack , Ma'am. Good to see you.

[Lost Demiurge]

Ms. Johnson gives a cautious nod back to Eoin's greeting, and glances over the others as they approach. Lojack grins, and waves at the bar. The waitress on duty, an ork with scars on both her arms, drops off another six pack of Budwisest, and a smaller carton with a straw. Lojack pushes the carton over to Eoin so he can read the label... It's Eggnog. Probably at least 90% soy, but safe for him to drink. The old orc then starts handing around the beer. A couple of the Hell's Angels glance over, curious at the sudden flood of people to the rear table.

"Merry Christmas, chummers. Santa couldn't make it, so he sent one a his elves." He laughs his ass off at his own joke. Ms. Johnson's face doesn't shift one way or the other, but she takes her own drink in hand and considers it for a moment while Lojack regains composure. The Angels look away. Nothing interesting there, just an old drunk and some friends. As soon as they're not watching, Lojack's laughter cuts off like a switch was thrown.

"Anyhow, lissen up. Lady's the real deal and cred's already paid down. She's serious, so respect'er. Alright Miss J, tell'em the score."
The Johnson leans forward. You have to work to hear her against the music of the bar.

"I'll keep it short. This is a two-part mission. Do the first part well enough and the second part will pay much better. You have the option of refusing the second part when the time comes. This is the task; There's a man, an executive for a minor corporation. We need his reputation ruined. At least one good, believable scandal, but the more you can do the better. This is time sensitive, so you'll only have a couple of days to finish it. For this task, we are offering 1500 nuyen to each of you. Five hundred up front, the rest on completion. If the scandal or scandals are particularly creative or well done, we will give you a bonus proportionate to your effort."

"Is this task agreeable to you?"

As she talks, Borric gazes into the astral...

Ms. Johnson's in relative good health, if a little stressed. She's not at ease. There's a few tiny black dots scattered around her aura, they seem to coat her skin. Glancing over at the other elf at the table, (Eoin,) he seems to have something similar on HIS aura. Ms. Johnson's also got a black tube in her head that's probably a datajack. It's well concealed if it is, it doesn't show up in Borric's regular sight.

[Thanatos 51-50]

The syntax for spoiler blocks is <spoiler>, with square brackets replacing the angles.

"You want us to pick one at random, or are you going to tell us who it is?" Nikolai asks bluntly (But quietly), shifting his feet slightly, as if uncomfortable at all this as he takes the slightest sip of brew. "Acceptable collateral damage wouldn't be bad to know, either."

For good measure, he gives Miss Elf-inna-coat and then everyone else here assembled a quick once-over with thermographic vision, mostly being interested in any "cold spots" on their bodies. The Hell's Angels are not finding themselves exempt from this.

[Lost Demiurge]

Ms. Johnson doesn't seem moved by Nikolai's bluntness. "Oh, he has a name. In fact, we'll give you some information on him, once you've agreed to take this task."

"Do any of you wish to leave now?"

Lojack leans forward.

"That price she offered agreeable to you?" The elf frowns at him slightly, then goes expressionless again. Out of sight of the Johnson, Lojack's right eye winks twice at Eoin.

Nikolai's cybereyes scan over everyone in the bar...


It's harder than the movies make out to use thermal vision to scan cyberware. Most of it's made to look unobtrusive by default, so unless it's really cheap stuff, or it's openly displayed, it's easy to miss. Especially if it's under clothes. Still, if you work security long enough and have time to study people unobtrusively, you learn to read a few colors.

About half of the Hell's angels have a few augmentations here and there... Looks like mostly limbs or hands, though that ork in the middle of 'em has some telltale bulges that are a little darker... Probably dermal plates. The other guy across from you (Arkady) has patches here and there on him and Lojack, of course, is a furnace of cheap 'ware. Nothing visible pops up on Ms. Johnson.

The walls of the bar, unsurprisingly, conceal anything beyond them. Very thick concrete and metal, probably.

EDIT: You're also seeing a few cold patches here and there, probably commlinks and knives. Surprisingly enough, you don't see a single gun. That bulge in the Johnson's coat is the same temperature as her coat.

[Krrth]

Borric

Borric thinks for a moment, then simply asks:

Well, that depends.

Looks directly at Lojack

I assume you know some of the details already. Since I'd like to look my nieces in the face on Christmas, I assume this particular gentleman isn't pure as the driven snow, and in at least some small way deserves this? If so, I'm in.



Yeah, a runner with at least some morals. As long as the target has done at least something to deserve the amount of trouble he's getting, Borric can have a clean conscience

[Thanatos 51-50]

Nikolai shrugs noncommittally.
"What do I care if we make this guy's life a little bit difficult? As long as it's not someone I care about - and that list includes exactly zero Corp execs - I'm in."

[Lost Demiurge]

Lojack shrugs and opens a hand.

"He's a rich fragger who makes more'n a year than you ever made in yer life so far. An' he's on wife numba 3. So I figure he can mebbe stand a little grief. Sides', no one gets that high up wi'out some sins to 'em."

[Krrth]

Borric


*shrugs*

Good enough, I guess. Now...how badly does this reputation need to be ruined? Loose face ruined or change your name and retinal pattern ruined?

[loopy]

Eoin

The elf shrugs, fair skin tinged faintly pink by the reeking synthahol. "If you are going to do something, may as well go the whole way." He looks at the elf at the table. "However... I must ask, even though I tend to appreciate this kind of approach... If he's an annoyance to you, why don't you just off the poor bugger?" Eoin indicates the two heavies at the table with him. "You obviously know where to find the right sort for it."

He leans back on his seat. "Still, time sensitive makes things interesting. I can work my magic in that time, as Lojack probably told you, but... It'll be difficult. I'm thinking someone with your connections could afford to pay a bit more to be sure the jobs done well."

Negotiation(Bargaining): [roll0]

EDIT: Oops, forgot to add the +2 dice from First Impression, but ah well.

[SuperMuldoon]

Arkady

Arkady was about to open his mouth to accept the offer, but the other elf at the table began to talk...and Arkady liked what he was saying. He could tell that one had a silver tongue by the way he chose his words. Maybe they could get some more money out of this...and he needed the nuyen. His mind was already spinning ideas at how they could earn that bonus money...

[Lost Demiurge]

The elf leans back in her chair, and rubs her neck, considering. She glances around the table, and nods. "Well, as to offering more, I don't know that we can do that. It's a great deal for two days of work..."
Five minutes later, she's shaking her head, completely outmanuvered by Eoin's clever bargaining. "All right, all right. It IS short notice, and Mr. Lojack has assured me that you're 'The Shizz for Bizz.' I suppose that's good enough for 2000 each for this first part. Downpayment's still 500 nuyen, that's not going to change. AND the bonus stands if you get creative enough."

She takes a deep breath, and smiles. Some of the tension goes out of her as she takes off her sunglasses and looks each of you in the eyes. Black eyes, they match her hair. Round cheeks for an elf, makes her look a little more human.

"Well, since no one's opted out, I think I can answer some of those questions. And clarify a few things that weren't brought up."

"Your target is one Thomas Corner, a member of the Pharmadyne board of directors. Mr. Lojack has his file... After we're done here, he'll give you each a copy, along with your credstick downpayment. The file contains most of the publicly available details we could acquire without leaving an electronic trail."

She looks at Nikolai.

"We don't care about collateral damage. We don't care who you rough up or smear to get the job done, or how you get it done. But be aware that indiscretion makes noise, and may complicate if not the first part, then the second part of this task."

She looks at Borric.

"We need at least one believable scandal tied to this man's name. Loss of face is the minimum expected. However, it shouldn't be anything so terrible that would get him immediately arrested or incarcerated. In fact, this is a condition. If his corporation hands him over to Lone Star or another incarceration-capable authority, you will NOT be paid."

"Ideally we want a scandal or two that paints him as a horrible person in a few different demographics AND takes a while to investigate. Something to disgust the common man, something that stands to lose Pharmadyne money, and something to alienate his acquaintances and peers."

Finally, she turns back to Eoin and smiles. "And if we wanted him dead, well, then we wouldn't be here discussing this with you. But we don't want anything as simple as that. We want him staring at the sudden appearance of ruin and despairing enough to give Ozymandius' observers fits. WHY we want that is not within the scope of your job, gentlemen, so I recommend you consider other questions besides our motivation."

She settles back in her chair, and steeples her fingers in front of her, looks around one last time, then puts her sunglasses back on.

"Mr. Lojack assures me that beyond your more violent skillsets, you can also lay claim to intelligence, discretion, innovation, and subtlety. This first part is to prove that he is correct in his assessment to my employer's satisfaction. So far we've seen nothing amiss, and I hope this trend continues."

"Now, one last thing. It is VITAL that those I represent not be tied to your actions in any way. To that end, I cannot know what you're doing or speak with you from the moment we leave here until the job is done."

"The most I can do is advise you to do some legwork and investigate Mr. Corner's past and present and find something that lends the appearance of substance behind your efforts, but I neither care nor want to know about your investigations, the nature of your scandal-to-be, or how you go about any of this. Wakarimasu? (Understand?) Good. When you're done to your satisfaction, contact Mr. Lojack and he'll set up a meeting."

"Any other questions?"

[loopy]

Eoin

All business now, Eoin leans forward. "Two main questions. One, when you say 'get this done in a few days', how many do you mean? An exact time limit helps. Two, any chance you could get me a Pharmadyne employee ID? I'd love to do some poking around and any official clearance gained is one less piece of blarney needed."

The elf looks around at his new associates. "Any of you lads have anything to add?"

[Thanatos 51-50]

"How do we contact you to receive payment, or will you be calling us?" Nikolai asks simply, still standing awkwardly and takes other small sip of the synthanol.
He wasn't too happy with the elf's mile-and-mineute talking and the slang was completely alien to him. The only thing that bothered him was that the more time they spent asking questions, the less time they had for legwork and evaluating Corner's file.

[Lost Demiurge]

Ms. Johnson looks to Eoin.

"Ideally, we wish this completed by midnight, two days from now. So 52 hours. If necessary, we will accept completion by midnight, three days from now. This has potential to impact the timeline for phase II, so if you do this you're probably going to lose your bonus pay. But if you need the time to succeed, so be it."

"If you want a Pharmacorp badge you're going to have to get one yourself. We're trying to leave a minimal trail back to my employers, here. However, if you expend enough intelligent effort, you should be able to obtain a badge somehow. Pharmacorp employs around a thousand Seattle residents, not all of whom live in their corporate housing. Or clever forgery might work, I don't know."

She shifts her face toward Nikolai.

"Again, once you finish the job, call Mr. Lojack. Once you do this he will call me and I will meet with you. If you've succeeded, payment will be waiting."

[Lost Demiurge]

The elf glances around.

"Well, why don't you look over the file. And take a moment to consider if you have any more questions for me... Otherwise I'll be leaving."

She nods to Lojack, who hauls out a commlink that's got a pair of fuzzy dice attached, and pushes a couple of buttons. Four AR manilla folders shimmer into existence on the table, showing up on your eyeware/cybereyes as identical downloadables.

Lojack also puts four small black cylinders on the table, popping each one to show the digital readout of "500", then replacing them. Plug n' play, just pop one into your commlink's UUSB port to transfer the cred.

THE FILE

THOMAS CORNER

This file is about ten pages long. Much of it is relatively uninteresting, or detailed about what seem to be minor things. It shows a tall man in his fifties with a politician's grin. Black hair that's slowly turning to grey, blue eyes, blue suit, wrinkle lines around the eyes, slight paunch, but not FAT. Probably using metabolic adjustors. Skin's a bit too smooth, probably adjusted that, too.

According to his background, he was born in Boston in 2018, graduated from Harvard 24 years later, with an MBA and a minor in corporate history. He was a member of a high-powered networking fraternity, Sigma Omega Delta. His mother was a senator (Cow Moose party affiliation). His employment record is missing gaps here and there... Looks like he bounced around a bit between investment firms and government contractor oversight before settling into the chemical industry. Spent five years as CEO at a small R&D lab called ISOGI out in Okinawa, Japan, then sold the company two years ago and moved into Pharmadyne, going straight to the board of directors.

He's made the cover of FORBES.finance once, and been mentioned in their article archive about two-hundred times over the last twenty years. Some of the articles are linked, all are positive. He's got a reputation as a steady businessman who occasionally pulls off a miracle when the chips are down.

First wife (Sarah Harvey) was divorced and lives in Seattle, second wife (Tina Kennedy-Corner) died in a car crash, third wife (Deanna Corner) is living with him in the penthouse of Pharmadyne-owned luxury apartment complex Cedarlake Tower. He's got two kids by his first wife, and has full custody, though the first wife has visitation rights for another few years. The son, Michael, is sixteen and in a UCAS naval academy in Maine. The daughter, Britney, is fourteen and living with her father and stepmother.

Tom's a dues-paying member of the First United New Deific International church, and has donated sufficiently that his online status is SAVED for the next decade. He maintains a sparse Eyebook page, but updates once every four months at best. It has minimal comments on it, most of which seem to be from old school acquaintances. He rarely responds to them.

If he has a criminal record of any sort it does not seem to be public information, and is not included in this file.

[Thanatos 51-50]

Nikolai nods and spends the next several minuets reading over Corner's file, cross-referancing any important bits with his vast mental database for criminal originations and activities.
He makes a few mental notes over certain passages and another to see if he can't contact Whyte to take a peek into the man's criminal record and quietly spends time memorizing the entire file.
Okay, I'm trying to do a bunch here, so let me put it in game terms. Pulling a Knowledge check on the following: Arms Dealers, Smuggling Routes and Criminal Organizations to see if anything red-flags. Pulling a Memory check to memorize the file (Reminder: Nikolai has a photographic memory).

[SuperMuldoon]

Arkady

Arkady takes one of the credsticks and immediately transfers the 500 nuyen to his account. Opening the target's file on his comlink, he briefly reads it and makes a few notes about things to investigate later. Potential in a few areas...

"I'm ready to go, the clock is ticking and I feel there is much to do." Arkady says and looks at each of his new teammates.

[Lost Demiurge]

BORRIC


While the discussion goes on and the files come out, Borric's eyes are drawn to the sixpack of Budwisest.

The sixpack that noooooooobody's touched.

Probably swill. Probably cheap stuff. Usually is. Tastes horrible, almost always does.

...

Unless they changed the recipe again. They do that every once in a while. And sometimes when they do, it's actually... Well, not exactly GOOD, but better than nothing.

Come to think of it, it's been a while since Borric's had Budwisest.

...

Ah, it's probably no good.

90% chance or so that it's the usual swill.

And well, there's only one way to know for sure.

.....

But if it's bad, you'll have the taste in your mouth for a while.

Or at least until you drink something better.

............................

[loopy]

Eoin

Eoin transfers the data and credits to his commlink, before looking at the others. "Well, I've got myself a nice place over in Bellevue, though if we are wanting to spend any time around there, you'll want to look like an upstanding citizen. Still, decent area to do some research, unless you've got any other ideas."

The elf stands, brushing off his gloves before clapping Lojack over the shoulder. "Looks like we are away. Ms Johnson, Mr Lojack, always a pleasure." He smiles broadly, then moves to leave the 'Banshee'.

[Krrth]

Borric

Borric considers the brew for a few seconds, then reaches over and pops one open almost without realizing it.

Absently drinking it he plugs the credstick into his data port and transfers the funds before reading the file.

This should do nicely, yes indeed.

[Thanatos 51-50]

Nikolai

Upon hearing the talky-elf try to get this meeting over with so they can do some honest-to-Gods legwork done, Nikolai quickly snatched up his credstick and deleted the file from his commlink. The thing wasn't very secure, anyway, and he DID have it memorized.
He pops the credstick and takes a long moment to recover his weapons from the counter, taking care to only holster the Ares where other people can see him, and slides both Fichettis into his arms when nobody is looking and palming the Streetline Special completely.
He steps outside and commences inspecting his bike, waiting for his new team to step out so they can get down to business.
For the hell of it, he decided to keep Whyte's commlink on standby so he could call the guy when nobody else was paying attention and do what he can to investigate any connections Mr. Corner might have to anything he could leverage.

[Lost Demiurge]

As Eoin starts wrapping up the meeting there's a pop and a hiss, and the odor of cheap synthahol assaults his nose. His guts churn in protest, but with an effort of will and lots of practice holding back this kind of thing, he keeps from spewing.

BORRIC

Yep, swill again. Damn. Well, at least that's confirmed.

...
Still, about half the can is gone from the last gulp. Shame to waste it.


NIKOLAI

As Nikolai memorizes and destroys the file, his unmatchable memory notices something.

The Pharmadyne logo is displayed prominently in the file. It's a red and white capsule, with the red and white letters RX within it. He's seen that many times before.

It was on every first aid kit in his Lone Star precinct house. It was on every chemical kit that the forensics guys carried around. It was on every Jazz inhaler that sat in the glove compartment of every Lone Star cruiser.

[Thanatos 51-50]

While killing time for everyone else to show up, Nikolai runs searches for the words ISOGI, "Tina Kennedy-Corner", Pharmadyne and pulls up the issue of FORBES.finance where Corner was on the cover.

[SuperMuldoon]

Arkady


Eoin

"Well, I've got myself a nice place over in Bellevue, though if we are wanting to spend any time around there, you'll want to look like an upstanding citizen. Still, decent area to do some research, unless you've got any other ideas."



Arkady stands up, "That sounds good enough to me, we'll form a plan and then go from there." He turns to Lojack, and then the Johnson, nodding at each one and turns to leave.

[Krrth]

Borric

Looking with distaste at the can in his hand. After all, it was truly awful. On the other hand, it really would be rude not to finish it.

He finished it. After all, one couldn't hurt. Right?

Alright then, let's get moving. We've got a lot of work to do and not a lot of time.

Lojack, You've really got to call my cousin Morgan. His stuff is way better than....whatever that is in this can.

Turning to the elf he gives a small bow with a smile.

Ma'am, it's nice to have never met you.

Turning to leave, Borric is already thinking ahead. Perhaps that auto accident should be investigated.....setting the parameters on his com-unit, he lets the search engine get to work.

[Lost Demiurge]

As he waits, Nikolai starts up several searches... It'll take a little while to sort out the answers those turn up.

The rest of the team heads out, and the group drives to Eoin's apartment. Arkady ends up taking the long way around... The border between Bellevue and Redmond is lined with guards, defenses, and checkpoints. Can't have the riff-raff running across the lawns of the wealthy, after all. And a few of the toys that Arkady's got in his van would make the guards (Mostly Knight Errant) sit up and take notice.

Eoin's apartment complex is small, a mere twenty stories high, overlooking the lake and Council island. It is set up in the usual modern method... Guarded doors at the base open into a courtyard, with high-class shops on all sides. Discrete clear-glasstic elevators slowly take residents up to the apartment levels, past the three floors of shops and all of their merchandise. Discrete AR informs you of today's specials... The Dim Sun Deli offers their Chubby Family special, half price today, a mere 35 UCAS $$. (about 25 nuyen.)

A few more floors up, and Eoin's swiping his apartment door open. The matrix connection within the entire building is strong, and for the nature of the searches some of the team plans to do, this is a good thing.

As everyone gets into the apartment, their commlinks inform them that they've got textmail.

It's from Lojack.

Yo, thnks chummaerz. Srsly, this is brake for me into big circles if it wrks. Wrking hard to get to this poynt. Paying off. Do me prod. Give call if need n e thing. Piece, owt.

[Thanatos 51-50]

Nikolai

Nikolai's mirage purrs softly as he trails Eoin all the way to the apartment, taking mental notes of the route along the way and overlaying it with his mental map of the city to make a route back to his run-down apartme...
Oh, my.

The Russian let loose a low whistle when he sees Eoin's digs and eyes all the security with a discerning eye, taking note of their kit, just in case.
As soon as they enter the apartment proper, the shooter sits on the floor facing the entrance and leans his back against the far wall.
"Nice Place, Dandelion." he says in a distracted tone as he cross-references his hits on Tina Kennedy-Corner with 'Death' and 'Early Life'.
He also scans the room quickly (using thermographic vision just to be sure) to ascertain whether or not they're alone.
He also takes a moment to catalogue his allies's scents on his cybersnout.

[loopy]

Eoin

"Welcome to Casa McGlaughlin," Eoin announces, "Its not much, but its home." He smiles, so his companions know he doesn't intend to be taken seriously. "Two bedroom, two bathroom, views of downtown, a nice little piece of calm in this big noisy city. Come with, I'll show you all around."

From the door, wall-length windows show the skyline of the Seattle Sprawl on the horizon. The window doubles as a large screen, and can display whatever shows or feeds required, or scenic vistas if the mood strikes. The decor is understated, modern, stylish, with Neo-Japanese and Irish influences. "You can access any entertainment you desire in here, trid, AR, music, I've got everything short of BTL's here. The connection to the Matrix runs strong, the complex runs its own IC for security, which is always nice."

"Oh, and if you feel like heading out, I've got reservations at some good clubs and restaurants... Now, speaking of food." As the group passes through the kitchen area, he continues showing off the house. "Got a MCT Housekeeper that does most of the food prep, though if you feel like it theres some high-quality food-prep units, fruit, chocolate... Just check the RFID's on the cooler and pantry to check what I've got around. Theres vodka, whiskey, scotch, some imported beer on the bar. No synthahol found here."

He points to three doors. "Okay, thats the guest bedroom, its got a double and a bunkbed that I couldn't be bothered removing, I'll let you guys fight it out for who gets what. The bathroom across the hall is yours to share. Don't have any spare clothes, everything I own is tailored, but if you want to swing by your places at some point tonight or tomorrow, you can get some spare clothes for the duration of this job."

"And speaking of clothes... Please dress and act appropriately around my joint. This is a nice neighbourhood, and no one cares about you as long as you look the part. This building has drones patrolling and security contracted for disturbances. If anyone bothers asking you why you are here, say you are guests of Seamus O'Connor."

He stops at the final door. "Anyway, I'm gonna take a shower and put a call in to my old Horizon workmate, Johnny Good. See if he can trawl up any useful data on our little victim. If someone could tell the Housekeeper drone to make me some dinner, that'd be tops. Cheers, boys, its nice to be working with ye."

As he steps into his bedroom, he turns around. "Oh, and by the way, the name is Eoin, Eoin McGlaughlin."

[Lost Demiurge]

Nikolai finishes reviewing his initial searches. He seems to have grabbed some commonly available facts.

ISOGI: This corporation folded in 2nd quarter, 2068. It is no longer in existence.

TINA KENNEDY-CORNER: Looked to be on her way to becoming a spoiled rich-kid heiress celebrity. Had three marriages before she reached Thomas Corner in 2062, none of which lasted longer than a year. Died in 2063 due to a grid-guide malfunction that sent her car off a bridge.

The great Matrix Crash of '64 did a number on most records from around that date. There may be something more out there, but it'll take skill to find.

Pharmadyne is a UCAS-based corporation, with its company headquarters and main processing plants in Seattle. (The Tacoma district, to be exact.) It deals in both industrial chemicals and pharmaceuticals, hence the need for different production facilities. They've got a nice public matrix page, which looks to have a private section for handling corporate customers and orders. On their "About Us" page, it mentions some of their more high-profile customers. Lone Star Law Enforcement is one of the higher names on that list.

The issue of Forbes.finance is from 2062. The story on Thomas Corner shows a younger version of him, with more black in his hair. It talks about how a brand-new, avant-gaurde Japanese corporation has recently offered Thomas a high-powered management position... Something nearly unthinkable in the business culture of the day. (Why this is so, Nikolai doesn't know. The article seems to drop hints but he's not up on corporatespeak or corp culture.)

[SuperMuldoon]

Arkady

After taking the long way around and arriving at Eoin's place, Arkady flops down on the nearest couch. "Well, at least it looks like one of us is doing well for himself." Arkady says grinning. "Seriously though, these are some choice digs you got here, I wouldn't mind making this our base of operations. It's almost like a vacation from the dump I call home. Anyway, I'm going to do some searchin' on the 'trix and see what I can come up with, see if we can find some real dirt on this guy we can blow totally out of proportion before we start trying to just invent things to ruin his image. Mind if I grab a drink? I have a feeling I'll be up for a while."

Arkady fires up his commlink and starts searching for anything on their mark, specifically information about his college life in the fraternity Sigma Omega Delta, information about those missing areas in his employment record, his family members, the First United New Deific International church and his involvement within, and his eyebook page. Also any criminal charges that he may have been involved with, even though they didn't appear in the file it doesn't hurt to check.

[loopy]

Eoin

"Feel free. I'm off to have a shower, back in ten." Eoin heads into the bedroom, shutting the door. He sets his commlink to search some information, then strips and turns on the shower.

Minutes later, the last of the synthahol taint scrubbed from his skin, Eoin dresses in a black polo shirt and grey dress pants, then joins the others.

Eoin sends a textmail to Lojack: "No worries. You take care of me, I'll take care of you Omae. See if you can get a Pharmadyne passcard for me. Cheers, Eoin." Then another to Johnny Good at Horizon: "Hey champion, long time, how's the wife? Listen, could you scrounge around and see what info you could find me on a 'Thomas Corner', director of Pharmadyne. A link to his Eyebook is attached. I'll owe ya."

He then sets his commlink to search up information on Pharmadyne, ISOGI, Thomas Corner, his wives, and pulls up the Forbes article. As an afterthought, he checks on the Sigma Omega Delta fraternity.

[Thanatos 51-50]

Nikolai does what he can to access a secure Matrix connection (Something admittidly not readily available on his commlink), and sends a quick text message to James Whyte.

Whyte -
Need intel : Thomas Corner, esp. Crim. Records.
Also: Any unclass supply in relation to Lone Star medical purchases.
~ Preston

As soon as he finishes composing the message and thumbs send, he looks up to teh rest of the Room.
"M'names Preston - or that's close enough for our purposes. I specialize in martial pursuits."

[Lost Demiurge]

After a few hours of searching, midnight rolls around and the team's come up with the following results.


SIGMA OMEGA DELTA

-Sigma Omega Delta is an active Harvard fraternity, with a long history. A view of their rather professional pages seems to give the impression that they're set up to cater to the rich, and give them a head start into professional business environments. Looking at it closely, they seem to specialize in grooming their members for corporate environments, while providing a network of information and contacts that graduates can draw on later in life.

It's also expensive as hell. The dues are most likely around double what Eoin's paying for his apartment.

Following down a few of the links shows an interesting fact... Sigma Omega Delta currently has perhaps 2 active nonhuman alumni out of a total membership of about 80. A scan of their rolls shows that while they recruit the same level of nonhumans as most other harvard fraternities, most leave after about a year. Less than 1% stick around through their entire college life.

There isn't much dirt on the SODs. A quick browse of crime reports doesn't turn up any SOD members being arrested within Cambridge city limits within the last couple of years.

FAMILY
-Deanna Corner has her own Eyebook page, and it's a lot more active than her husband's. She looks like the typical corporate housewife, lists raising her stepdaughter as a prime interest, as well as a slew of other lesser hobbies, most of them involving Pharmadyne social organizations and...

...Huh. This is interesting. That one thing she's into, the Virtual Symphonic Composition and Review Society, that trips a few alerts on your browse program. Some cross-referencing later, and you find that thing's pretty popular in its niche of classical music aficionados. And it was started and has been supported by Saeder-Krupp throughout its lifecycle. A few other corps have knockoffs of it, but this is the actual VSCRS she's in.

-Michael Corner has a few awards on his record from the Pharmadyne lacrosse championships. A quick check turns up that he's nabbed other sports-based awards here and there. His recent records are sealed... He got into the naval academy, and they do not release information about their students into the public matrix.

-Britney Corner has her own Eyebook page. And tweeter. And Gothjournal. Most of it is typical teenage girl stuff, whining about the latest crisis (OMG!) in her life, or about how her parents don't understand her (OMG!) or about how hard her life is (OMG!) She lists her favorite C-virts (Chat room equivalents with interactive avatars), and is a big fan of the Dusklight series. (OMG NEDWARD X ELLA 4EVA!) She has no awards from her academic record to date on file.

EX-WIVES

-Sarah Harvey is currently living in Seattle (Renton), and working as an administrative assistant to a local car dealership. Any details on her divorce or custody are not public record. She does not have an eyebook page, and has minimal matrix presence.

Tina Kennedy-Corner: It looks like you found most of the public information available on her so far. (See previous posts)

MISSING AREAS IN THOMAS CORNER'S EMPLOYMENT RECORD

-From what it looks like, Thomas has a knack for leaving corporations before they fail. The man picks the right moment far in advance, sells his stock discretely over the course of a few months, and leaves with a golden parachute waiting for him. Invariably, something negative always hits the corporation that he leaves not long after he goes. You find pictures of him on cruise ships and hiking with his family during times that he's unemployed, always grinning at the camera.

RELIGION
-The First United New Deific International Church, or FUNDIes, as they're called, are not well regarded on the Matrix or among the international religious community. They are widely considered a scam.

Their chief philosophy seems to be roughly christian in nature, but they've brought back the old Catholic tradition of indulgences. This means that practitioners can buy forgiveness in advance for specific sins. The FUNDIes have carried it a step further, judging that since charity is the highest virtue, only those who keep a positive donation balance to the FUNDI church can get into heaven. Every time a lay member gets caught sinning, their balance is fined to pay for the sin. Those with negative balances are clearly going to hell, unless they atone through payment, and quickly.

The Fundies, oddly enough, take a patriarchal view on their dogma. That's uncommon in this day and age.

CRIMINAL CHARGES
-None current for Thomas Corner.
There were a few lawsuits against him from one Kiba Ginarami, which went straight to the Pharmadyne legal defense team and were settled a year ago, and their exact details sealed. It would take some major digging here within Pharmadyne corporate records to figure out what these involved.

Going back a few more years, it looks like he was being investigated for involvement in his second wife's accidental death. That investigation was interrupted by the massive matrix crash of '64 which caused a hell of a lot of chaos. After the corps picked up the pieces, the investigation was closed... Probably due to a loss of records, evidence, testimony, and other legal issues that the Crash messed up.

PHARMADYNE
-Pharmadyne is a medical and raw chemical processing corporation, that sells the bulk of its products to other corporate institutions. They don't directly market most of their stuff. Their west-coast production facilities are based in Seattle (Tacoma), as is their corporate headquarters (Downtown.) Pharmadyne employs about a thousand natives, 600 of which are blue-collar labor in the plants, the rest being office drones and management. Pharmadyne has a good reputation, among other corporations. It funds low-cost housing for its workers (Not required to live in it but strongly encouraged), and luxury housing for those of its better-paid employees who can afford it. (Odds are you'll never see a promotion unless you live at least part-time in their Cedarlake apartment complex.)

Pharmadyne seems to be a sub-corp of a mega-corporation. Based on a few indicators and that classical music thing that Deanna Corner's into, it looks like Saeder-Krupp is on the other end of the chain.

ISOGI
-Isogi was a cutting edge Japanese medical research corporation, that managed to survive the Matrix Crash of '64, and market some radical new products. Well, you assume they were radical, none of you are doctors or medical professionals. They are most noted for being the employers of the chemical genius, Kiba Ginarami, who invented the low-grade, nonaddictive, system-gentle combat drug that would come to be known as Jazz.

[Lost Demiurge]

As they're looking it over, Nikolai's commlink chimes. It's Whyte.

"Hey, Nicky. Who's this Corner guy again? Okay. Huh, gimme a sec.... No. No, not turning up any records on him. We've never caught him doing anything bad on Lone Star turf. Looks like he's corp... If there's anything on him, then his corporate security team will have their own records. Without a good reason, I can't ask for those. Even with a good reason they're not likely to give'em to me just for asking."

"Huh, wait. His corp is Pharmadyne? That's interesting. Those guys are the sole supplier of Jazz for Lone Star, y'know. And a lot of the other chemicals we use... Like the forensics **** and the medical supplies. Pretty much everything but the fire extinguishers."

"I remember we used to get our stuff from all sorts of different places, and some of the old-timers used to gripe about how it was better back then, but I only saw about a year of that... And you came in after the switchover, so you didn't see any of that at all."

[Krrth]

Borric


Huh. Does this mean that Pharmadyne is getting ready to go under? The timing on this is too close to be a coincidence. Either this guy is causing the companies to fail and reaping the benefits, or he's being tipped off by someone and jumping ship.

*pause*

Either way, giving him the reputation as a Jonah would fit the bill nicely.

[Thanatos 51-50]

"Thanks, Whyte. Keep in touch, bro." Nikolai responds evenly and surprisingly pleasantly into the commlink before cutting the connection.

"It doesn't sound like Pharmadyne is going under
soon." Nikolai claims soon after and moves over to the rest of the team, but not before hitting Eoin's fridge and liberating a beer.
"However, if it does, then theres quite a bit going on."
He sits across from the other human and speaks animatedly.
"My source tells me that the reason there is nothing on Whyte is because he's never actually been caught for anything - at least not in Lone Star turf. Best we can hope for to dig up actual dirt is his corpsec. That's a slight bureaucratic roadblock for my contact, so we'll have to legwork that on our own.

"Main Pharmadyne processing plant is in the Tacoma district. Where this becomes relevant is that Pharmadyne is the sole supplier of medical gear, forensics and Jazz to the Star. If there was some way we could get in there and taint the supply without leaving witnesses, theres sure to be an investigation. I'm not sure we can do that with our time limit, though."

He reads over the team's accumulated data and frowns a bit.

"If it weren't for the time limit, I'd be inclined to say we could work that FUNDI thing by spoofing a large payment in his name right before any industrial sabotage plans we cook up. That's certainly the kind of evidence people would look for if they were trying to find a donkey to pin it on."

Nikolai pauses to take a hearty swig o' alcohol.

"Just throwing ideas out to the smarter people in the room."

[Lost Demiurge]

Eoin recieves a call from Lojack, around 1 AM.

"Hoy, chummer. Got a lead on that badge you want... It'll run 250 nuyen. S'from one of their plants down in Tac-town."

[SuperMuldoon]

"Well there definitely seems like theres something odd about this guy...if we can sabotage Pharmadyne and make it look like the mark did it, and then lead the authorities onto the information that he leaves corps right before they go under, it would be quite a scandal..." Arkady says. "But it is quite an undertaking in the limited time we have. We would have to decide to do it as soon as possible if we were to take this route. However, it looks like his first wife lives here in seattle, might be worth it to see what we can get from that angle as well. Also, we can try to find out what those lawsuits that were filed against him were about. Everything seems to be leading back to Pharmadyne."

"Oh, jeez, I forgot to introduce myself!" Arkady chuckles and says "Name's Arkady, though I'm known in a few circles as "the Answer". My specialty is getting things from point A to point B with no problems, though I also have a few other tricks as well."

[loopy]

Eoin

"Well, as I said before I went for a shower, I'm Eoin McGlaughlin, and you can probably tell why Lojack called me in. I've got connections around the place, and if I don't know someone, I can generally turn them into my best friend within the space of an evening. With me you can get in and out of most any club, event, or political fundraiser. Of course, I'm also a decent shot, so if things go to hell I'm not completely useless."

He leans forward. "I think I may go poking around the Pharmadyne offices tomorrow, see what I can find out from his colleagues, maybe his secretary. No one notices a temp, tech, or janitor in the wageslave world. If I get the opportunity I'll poke around their records as well. Speaking of which..." Eoin breaks off conversation to message Lojack back. Cheers omae, have it delivered to me the usual way, the sooner the better, how do you want the nuyen wired?

"It'd be good to look into the car crash that killed his wife as well. Grid-Guide malfunctions are one thing, sure, cars get dinged occasionally, but dropping her off a bridge? That seems a tad unlikely. It'd be interesting to know if he got a pay-out from Grid-Guide as well." He looks around at the others, "By the way, anyone scrounged up that Forbes article? I know a bit about how corps run from back in my wageslave days, I might be able to read between the lines a bit more."

[Thanatos 51-50]

Nikolai wordlessly shoots the Elf a link to the FORBES article.
"Hey, Dandelion, while you're there. Try to case the joint a bit, in case we have to stage a break-in." he orders in a calm, blunt, mildly offensive manner.
"Answer - you said you move stuff? You know alot about the Grid then, right? See if you can't check out that crash."
He then points to the dwarf.
"Um... I don't have a clue what you do, Hammerjockey. Do something useful, I guess."
"As for me, I'm going to hit the hay for a couple hours here before I check out Pharmadyne's night security.
He then grins and says brightly "Or you could all ignore me and do your own things, I guess."

Assuming nobody objects, Nikolai sets himself up behind a reasonable amount of cover from all possible points of entry and sets his commlink to searching for Jazz (Specifically, the inner workings of the chemical), and attempts to find a programme which will pull a composite of their Ms. Johnson from his memories. Then he takes his forty winks.
(READ: Three hours)

[loopy]

Eoin

Eoin smiles tightly at Nikolai. "Its pronounced Eoin, not Dandelion, thanks. Besides, I'm Irish, so 'Shamrock' will do for a slur if you must continue the "Elves are tree-hugging hippies line."

"Anyway, I'm off to bed. A wageslave goes to work bright and early, so I'll probably be gone when you wake up. Try not to attract too much undesirable attention while I'm gone." He yawns, stands and heads off to bed. "Night all."

Eoin reads the Forbes article and checks to see if Johnny Good at Horizon has messaged him in his room. He then calls Ami, the girl from earlier, "Hi there Ami, its Eoin. Hope you are enjoying Infinity, but somethings come up at home, and I'm not going to be able to make it tonight. Anyway, enjoy yourself, and I'll call you when I'm free, yeah? Should be in about 2-3 days. Have a good night lass." He then goes to sleep.

[SuperMuldoon]

"Sounds like the start of a plan. I'll see what I can find." Arkady says with a nod to Nikolai. Arkady then sees what he can find on the 'trix regarding said accident, and any known Grid-Guide malfunctions of this scale or other known cases where Grid-Guide has been sabotaged. During all this, he sends a quick reply back to Lojack. Thanks for letting me in on this one, I needed it. I'll get it done. After finishing up, he finds a place to sleep for a few hours before taking action.

So I don't really know anything about grid-guide OOC, but maybe Arkady does? If I can't find any info, Arkady will give his contact Dillon a call, see if he has any knowledge about grid guide, especially how to rig a car to make it look like an accident. But only if I can't find it on my own.

[Lost Demiurge]

EOIN

Lojack sets up a drop with Eoin in the Touristville part of the Redmond Barrens, for the morning.

Johnny Good HAS messaged him. "Kinda busy. Sorry, a kittle drfrunk right now. Wha t u need?"

After looking at the Forbes article, Eoin can see WHY this is such a big deal. Japanese corporate culture is VERY insular, and rather racist, even in this modern day. To have an ivy-league white-boy offered the CEO slot for an otherwise Japanese company... Even a minor one like ISOGI was at the time, that's a serious breach of the unwritten rules.

In the morning, Eoin makes the transaction and gets the badge without problem. It proclaims him to be John Humphrey. The dwarf that drops it off warns him that John's human... He doesn't know if the badge records that, or what Eoin's doing with it, but he might want to be careful, and not overuse it.

There are two Pharmadyne facilities in Tacoma... One for the industrial chemicals, one for the pharmaceuticals. The corporate office is in Downtown. Which one would Eoin prefer to infiltrate?


NIKOLAI


Nikolai finds a commercial graphic designer program (Edit 2, basically), on sale for 100 nuyen. It should serve to put together a composite from memory. (Especially considering his own skills.)

After searching for Jazz all night, his commlink pulls up a couple of things.

1. The creation of Jazz is credited to Lone Star security services. Nikolai finds that a little odd... When he was in the force, the R&D department was a joke, typically underfunded and famous for being unable to keep scientific talent. Also, the detailed searches that the team performed on ISOGI claimed that their head researcher, Kiba Ginarami, invented Jazz. Hm... Are the wikis wrong?

2. The chemical composition of Jazz is an open secret on the anarchist wikis, but widely considered to be useless. According to their notes, you need a serious industrial setup to synthesize it, and it has to be created in large batches. Given a shelf-life of four months at best, it's not cost-effective for anyone but a corporation or other comparable operation to make and sell the stuff.

Other anarchists note how they've tried to vary the formula and substitute costly components, with bad results. Either it becomes a lot more addictive, or it causes serious medical problems. As in "Oh god she stopped breathing!" medical problems.


ARKADY


Arkady's a good enough driver to know about Grid-guide. Mind you, the pre-crash 2.0 grid guide was a different thing. Back when Tina went over the bridge, the system wasn't totally hammered out yet, didn't have the safeguards it does now.

Today, this wouldn't happen, unless the car itself was hacked. And unless you're a world-class hacker, that would leave thumbprints. Or something that the system didn't detect, like a spirit or something, pushed the car off the bridge. Or a car could be mechanically rigged to fail at the wrong point. But again, stuff like that would leave thumbprints.

Back then, it MIGHT have been concievable that hacking grid-guide directly would let you override and drive a car off a bridge. Maybe. If you were good. Hacking cars wasn't really feasible back then... Everything was hardwired. Of course, a spirit or a mechanically rigged car could also do it.

Getting hard facts about the accident from the Matrix isn't easy. The Crash happened shortly after the accident, and a lot of electronic records were corrupted and never restored. If Arkady had access to uncorrupted records from 8 years ago, this would be a LOT easier.


BORRIC

Borric checks around in the magical community, and searches a few boards. The few folks who know about the FUNDIs seem to regard them as a joke. They don't seem to have any significant magical pull beyond that attributed to a national organization.

On the high-end, he finds that there's a local physical FUNDI church in Bellevue. Seems to be the organization's headquarters for Seattle.

On the low-end, they've got several stalls set up in the junk markets of Redmond's touristville.

Turns out that Eoin's got the GOOD beer. Not the BEST beer, but better than that synthetic crap.

[Thanatos 51-50]

Nikolai doesn't even think about buying the graphics programme, and pays for it online, setting it to a priority download.
Meanwhile, he searches for the "Serious medical problems" changes to the formula, and memorises them.
As soon as all the downloads and such are completed, he wipes away all history and temporary files, grabs a shower (Probably the first to use it, thanks to the sleep regulator, he only needs three hours), snatches up a quick bite, and hops on his Mirage, driving out of the area and switching his PAN over to "Hidden" mode as soon as it wouldn't draw any suspicion.

He cuts a more-or-less straight line to the Tacoma processing plant and finds an outdoor cafe or similar nearby, where he runs the programme to put together a composite of Ms. Johnson.

[SuperMuldoon]

Arkady wakes up and takes a shower, thinking about what to do next. He didn't have enough Matrix-fu to go hacking around looking for info, and the grid-guide seemed to be a dead end (no pun intended). "I'm going to go see if I can find his first wife, info says she works at a car dealership down in Renton. I'm going to pose as a customer, maybe score her contact info. Something is fishy about the divorce...how did this guy get full custody? Maybe she knows something. If I get her info, maybe we can make some sort of anonymous call or something...or snoop around her house. I could always follow her home and send in the Fly Spy..." Arkady says to whoever is still in the house. He runs his hands through his hair, frustrated..."Frak it all...shoulda just made up some sex scandal...put his face in some dirty pictures or something..."

[Krrth]

Borric


When Borric wakes up, he starts his usual morning routine. Light meditation to calm the mind, hearty breakfast, shower. He looks longingly at the beer, but it's probably a little too early to start that just yet. Maybe tonight after he gets back.

Heading out, Borric goes to the low end booths first. Who knows, they might let something slip.

If it's cheesy enough, that could be embarrassing right there.

[Lost Demiurge]

ARKADY


Arkady rides down Renton way, and finds "Robb's used car lot. It's a steal, at Robbs!" That said, the cars look legit. Arkady doesn't note any chop shop markings or signs of rework on the ones out in the lot.

The bored dwarven salesman shows Arkady a few different models, then when Arkady makes it clear he's going to be browsing for a while, finds an excuse to wander off and surf the matrix some more. Arkady's easily able to make his way into the lot's office, and pokes around until he finds a middle-aged human woman poking at an AR keyboard. Her nametag identifies her as Hi I'm Sarah, so odds are good this is his target. She's got too-dark hair, probably dyed, and is a little pudgy. Still not bad looking, even with the layer of makeup and slightly old-fashioned clothes.

She's bored and only too happy to talk. Arkady opens by asking questions about several of the cars, and Sarah pulls up information as they chat. Mild flirtation seems to be bearing fruit, and she seems happy for the interest. Seems a little lonely.

Steering the conversation toward her ex makes her grimace, but she talks. Almost like she's relieved to have a sympathetic ear.

"You know how the saying goes, never marry your childhood sweetheart? Yeah, that was us. See, his mother insisted he go to public school, that's where we met. I was from a poor dockside family, he was from up the hill. It was one of those Disney stories... We got married in June of 2046, much later after school was done. We went to a high school reunion and got to talking, and I'd just gotten out of an abusive relationship. He was a breath of fresh air."

She sighs, and pulls a bottle of pills out of her desk, taking four of them one by one, downing them with a shot of soykaf.

"It... Well... It worked for a while. Five years or so. He was always bouncing to different jobs, but they were all good. He had his frat friends to give him the inside scoop on different corps. He never got tied down, that was the first clue, I guess."

She looks at a picture on her desk. It shows two young children.

"He was sleeping around. Not just mistresses, but using... prostitutes..., too. Elves, dwarves, even some orks and trolls, I think." Her face twists. "Twisted freaks. He couldn't be happy with just me, with his own kind. I confronted him on it, he laughed. "Baby, you're the one I come home to." I... Tried to accept that. Couldn't. So I got a little stupid."

"I went off birth control, got pregnant with Michael. Refused an abortion. He was livid... He calmed down when Michael was born, and I thought maybe we had a chance. There were no mistresses that year, I thought. I found out later he just hid them better. We had Britney not long after, and that was good too, but after her he went and got a vasectomy. The message was clear. And a few years after that, he started stepping out again."

She rubs her face. "I started making threats. Threats about exposing him, talking the society gossips, "leaking" my blog. That was stupid. He got Arthur... That was one of his friends, Arthur O'malley." (Something about this name twigs Arkady's notice, but it slips out before he can remember it. She continues.) "Everyone knew Arthur was in something dirty but no one talked. And he got Arthur to sit down and talk to me. I don't remember exactly what Arthur said, but I remember his eyes. And how he never blinked, as he looked at Britney in my arms. So I shut up. And a little while later I asked Tom for a divorce."

"He took it well. Bastard. That was... 2060, I think. Michael was 8, Britney was 7."

"I'd forgotten how most of the area judges were in his social circle. I'd hoped for fairness, but I got screwed. He got full custody... I had partial visitation. I appealed several times, but no luck. And now that I was out on my own, I didn't have the money to keep trying."

She turns her head. There are a few tears in her eyes.

"The worst part of it, is that I have to pay travel costs for my own visitation. I moved around to follow him and his job-hopping path, while he was in the UCAS. That was hard, but doable. I only saw them a few times, while he was in Japan. I couldn't afford the fare most of the time. It... There's virtual time, of course, but it's not the same. Fortunately he's settled in Seattle for now... It's not so hard, here. I only have to work two jobs to pay the rent."

She pecks at her keyboard, then rests for a while. Finally, she looks out the window, at the roaming salesman.

"I'm sorry. Here I am going on about ME. And on company time, too. If you'd like, I get off at six. There's a nice bar down the street, and I'd love to hear more about YOU." She smiles.


BORRIC


The Touristville section of Redmond is designed to draw in pampered sight-seers who want to take a walk on the wild side, maybe see the street without bleeding out in the gutter. To that end, it's got a few attractions that wouldn't last five minutes deeper in the Barrens. One of them is called the Junk Market. Actually several flea markets that combined into one massive collection of scrap, stolen consumer goods, and semi-legal possibly-imported products, the Junk markets are a good place for a tourist to drop some money on a "souveneir".

The FUNDI booth is, appropriately enough, located next to the ATM. (This place uses physical money, UCAS dollars mostly.) The bored looking orc girl at the booth offers Borric a free stress test, and is surprised when he accepts. She fumbles out a clunky-looking electronic device, straps his arm in, and tells him his stress is WAY high. Probably got some sins on his soul. She goes into a spiel about how god loves everyone, and offers a few easy payment plans, based on some possible sins that Borric might have partaken in. There's a plan for each type of sin, from Adultery to Wrath.

She actually seems to believe in what she's saying.


NIKOLAI


Nikolai finds a coffee house, not far from the Pharmadyne medical processing plant. Many people on their way in to the plant stop there, and the coffee's good. Working for a few hours, he puts together a damn good composite of Ms. Johnson.

As far as security goes... They've got three gates at the plant, only one of them open to non-industrial traffic. That gate's got two guard booths, one for foot traffic and one for car traffic. Ingoing workers seem to be handing the guards their IDs, then getting them back and passing inside. Around 8, the car traffic booth puts up a "LOT FULL" sign. The rest of the ingoing workers are foot traffic, though a few nicer cars get to go in... Nikolai is fairly certain those are people with reserved parking spaces. The other two gates are closed. They don't have booths. One of them has a card reader. As the morning goes on, Nikolai watches a tanker truck pull up to the one without a booth, wait, and cruise on through after it opens.

Aside from the gates, there is a tall, slotted fence surrounding the compound. It's about twenty feet high, and topped with what looks like monowire. There are large AR signs around that say "No trespassing". He notes that there are a few AR stickers advertising "Lockdown Security INC." He's never heard of it... They're probably a small firm.

[SuperMuldoon]

Arkady

"Well, I would love to tell you more about me...but I'm not sure I can make it tonight. Tell you what, give me some way I can reach you and I'll get in touch with you before 6 and let you know if I can make it? If I can't, well, we can reschedule, yeah?" Arkady says with a smile. He says his goodbyes and heads to his van and drives away to an area where he can park and make a few calls.

First he sends a message to Eoin, Nikolai and Borric with the details he found out from Sarah. Any of you heard of an Arthur O'Malley? I'm looking at you Eoin. Anyway, our mark was into prostitutes, even of the orc and troll variety. Also a total scumbag. I'll let you guys know if I find out more.

Then, he sends a message to Julie. Hey Julie...I've got a problem that maybe you can help me out with...also, I need to give you your Christmas present! Let me know if you can meet up.

-A

With that, Arkady puts the van back in drive and cruises around waiting for a response, or until 6 when he has to contact Sarah.


Arkady is sincere about meeting up with Sarah, and he's not just blowing her off but you know...in the middle of a time-sensitive run and can't commit 100%, but he is thinking of getting more info from her and maybe if she has some proof of his taste in prostitutes. Hell, maybe she would be all for ruining this guys image, maybe she can get her kids back. Who knows what he can find if he gets into her house, but he feels terrible about leading her on. He's not feeling too comfortable about this :smalltongue: Anyway, he plans on asking Julie if she knows or knows some prostitutes that this guy still visits, maybe he can catch them in the act! That would be awesome. Oh, and what time is it now in game?

[Lost Demiurge]

A glance at your commlinks show that Seattle time is 9:02. It is 20 December, 2070. A light, greasy snow is falling.

ARKADY

Sarah seems a little embarassed at first but then brightens up. She glances toward her pill bottle and rallies, agreeing to wait for your call.

Julie agrees to come and meet you. She was just doing some shopping today, but it can wait. She has you pick her up at a Renton mall complex... Not FANCY, but generally good stores here. She squeals with glee over her present, and gives you a look. You know that look. She hits the button that polarizes the windows and moves nearer. Much nearer.

+++
A few minutes later you note that the suspension's doing pretty good since the last time you worked on it. You can probably put off maintenance on it until January. Then your attention is drawn elsewhere.
+++

A short time later, Julie's putting her boots back on. A check around shows that mall parking lot security didn't seem to notice anything. Julie rests a hand on your shoulder. "So, what's the deal with this guy you wanted to talk about?" She asks. "What's the sitch, mistah A?"

[SuperMuldoon]

Arkady

Looking at her, Arkady can't help but smile. If only moments like these could last forever, but her question snaps him back to reality. "I'm looking into a guy named Thomas Corner...I've come across some info that he was interested in...um...people in your line of work. And by people I mean human, elf, orc, troll anything. Have you or maybe someone you know heard of this guy?" Arkady says, pulling his shirt over his head and wiping some of the sweat away. He shows her a picture of the guy.

[Lost Demiurge]

Arkady

Looking at her, Arkady can't help but smile. If only moments like these could last forever, but her question snaps him back to reality. "I'm looking into a guy named Thomas Corner...I've come across some info that he was interested in...um...people in your line of work. And by people I mean human, elf, orc, troll anything. Have you or maybe someone you know heard of this guy?" Arkady says, pulling his shirt over his head and wiping some of the sweat away. He shows her a picture of the guy.

Julie looks him over, then nods. "I think so. Seen him around the Champaign Room with Tula once or twice. She's an elf, so that'd fit. You want I should ask her anything?"

She also goes on to explain that the Champaign Room is an upscale strip joint in Bellevue. You must meet dress requirements, absolutely NO weapons allowed, and a 100 nuyen cover charge to even get in the door. Stupid amounts of security, and a covered parking garage with area jammers to prevent people from taking unauthorized footage while customers are walking from their cars to the club.

"It's more than stripping that goes on inside... That's an open secret, but their brothel license is paid up and they keep it clean. No drugs. And they keep it classy, you should SEE the decor."

[Thanatos 51-50]

Nikolai pushes a few buttons and shoots a copy of the Ms Johnson composite to Whyte, attached to the following message.
Hey, James -
Need ID on the attached. Composite of a person of interest. Of course, any intel you can send alongside ID is good.
Also - Totally lost as to what I'm getting you for Xmas, buddy. Hints are nice.
-Preston
He then sends another text to his team:
RE: Arthur O'Malley
Rowena "Dona" O'Malley is the head of Seattle's Mafia. She has an uncle in Boston named Arthur. Same Surname.
There are links between Art & Tina. Looks like he was a posssus in the case before the crash.
He then, as a bright afterthought, shoots a second text to James.
Still gunning for Detective? PI work has pulled a few refs to a Pre-Crash CC you may wanna check out. Look into Tina Kennedy-Corner. Car accident. Potential homicide angle? Check up Mafia/S-K/Pharmadyne involvement?

As soon as thats done, he shoots a text to Eoin containing the alterations that would cause serious medical complications in Jazz and the following:
Three gates, one manned ID chk. Two unmanned, one cardreader, one inbound supplies. Wageslaves entering through manned gate. Lot loaded by 0800.

He also whips the registry and license plate number of the tanker to Arkady attatched to Inbound Chem Truck 2 Pharma Jazz PP. Intel help?

Nikolai runs a quick search for "Lockdown Security INC".
He also takes the time to enjoy his coffee and size up anybody who looks like they might work security for the plant. He'll get one alone if he can. Preferences for the off-coming watch.

[Lost Demiurge]

Preston gets a message back.

Nice picture. Got a context for me? If I run her against general, it'll take at least a week. Is she street, syndicate, corp, cop, civilian, fed, animal, vegetable, mineral?

Oh, and if you owe me, then I'll cash it in now. Well, in 5 days, anyway. Ex-wife's pawning the kid off on me for Xmas day. Full day, not half like we agreed. Already got tickets to play, reservations at eye of needle and girlfriend ready to be all romantic. You watch Bernise, take her to light show or something that evening, we're even.

---
The second message back gets a slower reply. It's about half an hour before he responds.

Wow. Real conspiracy drek... Ancient drek, too. Still, might be useful to one of the bulls assigned to the mafia beat. Anything to do with R. O'Malley gets combed through carefully. This might help make a few connections, shake a few trees, scare some guidos.

I don't have pull to do much with it, yet. But this might earn me a favor... I know two detectives I can give this to and it won't vanish or get laughed down. One's fairly clean, one's def. dirty. Which one you think should have it?

---
The public matrix page for Lockdown Security is pretty simple. They're a small private security corp, that advertise their skill at physical, mechanical, and Matrix security. They serve both Seattle, and a couple of smaller cities in the surrounding Salish-Sidhe territory. You note that their list of actual clients is fairly small, and limited to the better areas of town. You also note that they don't seem to offer any astral security services. Their main office is Downtown.

--
After 1000 rolls around, the shop's nearly empty. Two guys and a woman in black uniforms with armored vests (One of them has his tied wrong. A bullet actually hits him, it'll probably peel the vest half off the guy) come in and grab coffees and pastries to go. The Lockdown Security logo is emblazoned on their backs. They seem to be sticking together and looking to leave as soon as they've got their lunches.

[Thanatos 51-50]

Before 1000:
Nik shoots a text in reply almost as soon as it's received.
To the first:
Keep an eye on a kid? Me? I think I can handle it. Is easier then shopping (Boy, I'm going to regret that, aren't I?)
As for the PoI: the face is all I have to go on. Run against corp, mainly. then general if you come up with nothing. I didn't notice any 'ware on her, if that helps narrow it down.
To the latter:
If you can keep him from asking too many questions, clean is less likely to sell you or I out, or make it disappear. Keep my ID to yourself, and if you gotta credit it to someone, I'm a snitch of yours you'd really rather not make too public.
~~~
Nikolai links the page to his team, with a note explaining its importance, and highlights their lack of Astral security.
~~~
1000:
Nikolai drains the dregs of his coffee and whistles sharply at the trio after they've ordered to get their attention, and beckons them over, putting on his best "Grizzled Veteran Security Guy" face possible. He focuses his gaze on the one with the mis-tied armour and sizes up any heat they may be packing.

[SuperMuldoon]

Arkady

"Well, only ask Tula if you trust her." Arkady checks the incoming message about Arthur O'Malley being realated to the head of the mafia. "See if you can find out if he is going to be at the Champaign Room tonight, but just be careful. This guy apparently runs with some heavy friends, and I don't want anything to happen to you if they find out you are wondering where he is." Arkady checks his messages again and sees Nik's message about the truck. "You want to grab a bite to eat or something babe?"

Arkady will check the matrix on what he can find about the truck Nik told him about. Also will look up anything he can find on the Champaign Room, and enjoy a meal with Julie

[Krrth]

Borric


Well now Missy, that does sound interesting. Although, I usually get rid on any stress with a good beer.

*looks thoughtful*

Let me see those plans, would ya?


Borric is looking at the plans to try and establish a baseline. Later, he'll try to compare what he finds to the spending habits of our target, and use that information to better target info searches.

[Lost Demiurge]

NIKOLAI

Nikolai's whistle draws the attention of the chubbiest guard. He turns around angrily, then blinks and regains his temper when he realizes that he's looking into cybereyes. "Yeah?" he asks. His friends look over as well.

They look to be packing pistols. Probably Fichettis, light pistols that are popular with security firms due to the corporate discounts on bulk orders and maintenance plans.

ARKADY

Julie is indeed hungry, and mexican food is procured. She considers him for a second, then shakes her head. "If it's dangerous or there's something going on I better not. If the guy's taking Tula to the Champaign room, then he's a high roller. If I ask her and then something happens to her john, then she'll remember me asking, and she'll blame me for messing with her business."

A quick whirl of his browse program and a few visits to TRUCKWATCHERS.HOBBY, and he finds that the truck is licensed to the Docwagon corporation.

EOIN

Eoin easily hacks the passes' encryption key, and changes a few of the fields. He notices that it's tougher the second time around... Still, he manages it before lunchtime's over. At 1100 he's ready to roll.

The corporate headquarters of Pharmadyne are glass and steel, somewhat artistically designed modern building next to a cluster of taller skyscrapers. The busy traffic of Downtown whirls around him, as he parks his bike in a public spot and pays the charge. Eoin had to leave his pistol behind to come here... Too many random scans in this neighborhood, and his experience tells him that the Pharmadyne building is certain to have weapons scanners.

His pass gets him through the cardswipe revolving door without a problem. Once in, no one seems to pay much attention to him. Most doors open automatically when he walks up to them. The lower floors are meeting rooms, lobby, and small shops and kiosks for food, sundries, and other supplies for the corporate drones. The middle floors are cubicle land, with suit-wearing drones working on AR keyboards. The upper floors are sealed to him... He walks up to a blue-colored door, and a light next to it flashes red. No go.

Most doors are colored green. Those open fine. There are blue doors, which don't open. Once, he sees a black door. There's a guard by it.

BORRIC

Borric looks over the plans. They're scaled to a person's income... The more you earn, the more you have to pay to buy off a sin. The rationale behind it, is that when richer people sin they do more damage to people around them. Also, God expects more out of the wealthy.

It's hard to say exactly what Mr. Corner's income might be, or how much exactly he's paid into the church, but going by the main file and the team's speculation so far... If he's paid up for the next ten years on even three of these sins, he's probably sunk somewhere in the neighborhood of a few million into the church.

Of course, exact numbers would make this a lot easier. A look at either the church's financial record or Mr. Corner's commlink would probably get you those.

[Thanatos 51-50]

Nikolai, in as calm and detached a manner as possible, waves almost lazily to the improperly worn armour.
"Now, now." he begins in his best baess-Star-vetren voice, "Is that any way you want to represent Lockdown? Your armour is gunna be just dead weight if a firefight happens."
He moves in a completely non-threatening manner to stand up. (Or, at least, as non-threatening as possible.) "Besides, it's not too good if say, a prospective employer were to be scouting your company for services."
He crosses his arms, placing his hands on each forearm and gives a world-weary smile.
Nikolai is also subtly prepping for a fight if it comes to that. Assuming the tables aren't bolted to the floor, he's hooking one foot at the base of his so he can throw it down for cover, and is placing his hands near where the grips of his own Fichettis will pop when he deploys holdsters.

[SuperMuldoon]

"Yeah, thats exactly what I would be afraid of. I can't have anything happening to that pretty little face of yours, right?" Arkady says with a smile, before taking another bite of his burrito. "I'll just have to figure out another way to find out if he will be showing up there tonight."

Arkady shoots a quick message to Nikolai - Truck belongs to DocWagon

Good old TRUCKWATCHERS.HOBBY, never fails he thinks to himself, finishing up his drink.

[Lost Demiurge]

NIKOLAI

The badly-dressed guard frowns. "Don't see what you're getting at. Whaddya want, Mac?"

ARKADY

After a little more time, his program search comes back with info on the Champaign club. Most of it confirms what Julie told him. There is no information on its security, other than assurances that customers are guaranteed discretion, privacy, and safety while visiting.

A few comments elsewhere on the net, say that the club has some unwritten rules. They have the right to refuse entry to anyone with no explanation required. As such, a lot of orks and trolls get turned away. Probably some bias there.

Also, prices for drinks, room rental, and "Company" are astronomical. The floor show is the only thing that's free. Supposed to be good shows, though. Very tasteful.

[Thanatos 51-50]

Nikolai waves almost lazily to the ties on the body armour.
"Your armour, kid. You put it on wrong. If I were scouting your company before recommending whether or not my company should hire you, this would be bad."

[loopy]

Eoin

Eoin approaches one of the wageslaves, smiling and looking somewhat shy. "Uh... Hi there. I'm John, one of the new Matrix techs. I got sent by HR to start work, but I got turned about somewhere along the way, and I think i'm lost. Wheres the Tech office?"

Upon finding the information he needs, Eoin heads downstairs, buys a box of pastries from a shop downstairs then heads up to the IT Department. If anyone is inside, he greets them warmly. "Hello all, my names John, the new Assistant Matrix Admin. I'll guess we'll all be working together! Anyone want a pastry?"

He then looks around for the resident corp hacker. That one guy who always thinks he needs more network privaleges than he has clearance for. Of course, if there isn't anyone in the office, he sits down and gets to work.

[Lost Demiurge]

NIKOLAI

Sadly, you've never been much of a talker. Either that, or the guard is a little too stupid to catch the subtleties. Or a little of both... The three of them look at each other, shrug, and the one you were chastising says "Whatever, Mac. I gotta get back. See ya."

And the Lockdown guards start to leave.

EOIN

The wageslave that Eoin approaches points him to a blue door with a buzzer. He explains his situation to the weedy-looking man who answers the door.

"Ah, geeze. Of course, we don't get told anything about it. Frakkin' HR... Look, come in. What was your name again?"

They let him into a terminal room. Looks like a hardwired server in the corner, a few men and women with datajacks cabled into UUSB ports, and slumped over. A clear glass window along the back wall shows about 7 or 8 dedicated servers, all winky lights and expensive looking blades. The door into THAT room is solid black. No guards, though.

The man who let Eoin in introduces himself as Clive. He takes the pastries from him, and puts them off to one side, in a small cubby dominated by pizza boxes and Wang-Chung style cantonese soul food. "Alright. Lemme do a mail search. If no one bothered to tell us, then I'll have to surf the records, see where your docs ended up. Sweet Jesus-lite, what the hell were they thinking only giving you Green three? Still undergoing investigation? Well, no worries, I'll just have to ping Lockdown if that's so."

Clive seems nice and helpful. This is motivating him to try to sort out what he feels is a bureaucratic error.

[Krrth]

Borric

*taking a couple of pamphlets*

Thank you miss. What was your name again? You've been a big help and I'd like to know who to thank.



Borric will, at a free moment, send what he's learned to the others. Maybe they'll have an idea on how to use it better than he does.

[Thanatos 51-50]

Nikolai sighs audibly and lets the trio leave.
"Hey, if you end up shot, its your own fault." he says with a shrug. and watches them pass.
Wired Reflexes switch on (In case any of them see that as a threat).

[loopy]

Eoin

Eoin engages in some shop talk with Clive while he begins to check the memos, before 'accidentally' letting some information slip. "...So basically thats why I'm really liking Xact's new firewall software. But you probably won't find my docs on the records yet, I got fast-tracked, Tom Corner sai-- Oh crap." Eoin looks slightly guilty. "Forget I said anything."

Presuming Clive bites, Eoin explains, "Well, as long as you promise not to tell anyone, I'm sure the office rumormill is already flying." Eoin sighs. "I'm a friend of... Well, more accurately an employee of Thomas Corner, one of the Pharmadyne Execs. He has been seeding this corp with a bunch of people like me. Basically, I hear that Corner is quite the corporate raider. He signs on, the company looks good for a while, then all of a sudden, he takes off with the talent of the company, selling his stocks and letting the corp fall apart. Look him up if you need to, I sure did."

"Look, I don't like what he does any more than you do, but I needed the money, my wife and I are expecting our secondborn, and you know how expensive med-care is nowadays." Eoin looks regretful. "But if you let me do what I need to, and send me your information, I'll be sure to put you on the list of employees he pulls out. The pay is quite good for the talent."

"I'll let you think it over, but if you have any stock in this company... I suggest that you, and any of your friends in this corp, sell it now. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, you seem a decent guy."

Eoin starts working the rumor mill. Willing to use Edge.

[Lost Demiurge]

BORRIC

The ork smiles, and says "I'm Shinay- whoops, no, wait." She checks her commlink. "Sorry, I mean today I'm Rebecca Pearson." At your look of confusion, she shrugs. "It's pretty simple, yo. See, One 'a the duties of the church is charitable works. Like runnin' this here booth, bringin' folks to salvation. But a lot of people, they ain't got time for that. So folks who need a little more penance, they pay a basic rate an' another of the flock steps up to take their place. They meet with us and tell us what they're workin' off, and pay us, and once we know they're good people we help'em out. Today I'm Rebecca Pearson. Tomorrow I'm John Ford. An' I'm drawing pay for both days, an' helpin' them save their souls."
Reading the pamphlets a little more closely, Borric can see that each pre-paid penance plan comes with a money back guarantee. At any time, the purchaser can request his money back... The church will take a percentage fee, but it's not much, at least not on paper.


NIKOLAI

Sadly, the security guards leave without further comment. The coffee shop barista is now looking at you a little askance. This guy seemed to catch your attempted provocation, even if they didn't. His hand's under the counter... Likely near a "Panic Button", a silent alarm that would call Lone Star.

EOIN

Clive's eyes go wide as Eoin makes his "confession." He leans forward and starts peppering you with questions... You field them pretty well, but some of them get into details that you don't have a clue on, and have to fudge.

After a few minutes, he leans back and rubs his face. "Aw man. Aw, MAN! ****ing suits. Look, thanks for the info, but I need to at least tell my coworkers here. Dahlia's got two kids and no husband, she needs some warning. Jim here's got his own problems." He gestures to the plugged in personnel. "Sorry, but your clearance is gonna have to wait, y'know? This is... We gotta do some stuff."

He jacks in, and his eyes glaze over as he leans back.

Eoin's common sense is telling him that the longer he stays, the more they'll ask questions and start seeing holes in his story. The rumor is planted, might be a good time to leave.

[Lost Demiurge]

After Nikolai sits back down, he gets a text from Whyte:

"Turned your tips over to Detective Kale. He'll do this one by the book... I've asked him to keep me updated, and he'll do it so long as no procedure gets broken."

"Anyway, he's sent a RFD to Pharmadyne Security... They're subcontracted through some flyspeck corp called Lockdown. You know RFD's, right? Request for Disclosure. If it works they'll pull his file and send it through to us. Might take some time, depends on how long they stonewall."

"But anyway, now Pharmadyne knows we're looking at the guy."

[Thanatos 51-50]

Nikolai switches off his reflexes and gathers the various debris of his stay, and pays his bill as if nothing had just happened, smiles his best smile at the barista, and mounts his Mirage to leave.
Before kicking the bike into drive, he shoots another quick message to Whyte.

If theres any way this investigation can go loud, I'm all for it, buddy.
What's the status on that composite I sent?

He eventually finds himself driving back to his apartment, remembering he needs to deliver his old man's Christmas gift.

[Lost Demiurge]

Whyte texts back.

"Eh, doubt it'll go loud anytime soon on account of us. Kale will play this by the book, and he doesn't have near enough to start yelling about high-placed corporate suits. Hell, Pharmadyne doesn't even have to send over the file if they don't want to. We've got no reason to demand anything at this stage."

"As to the composite, it's running. Face recog without any kind of name takes a while. If you had a specific corp this'd be easier. As it is, I dunno when it'll stop. I set it to search our Seattle corporate photo database first, so we'll see. If she's not local expect it to take weeks."

[loopy]

Eoin

Eoin, his work done, decides to leave while he's ahead. He backtracks to the exit and leaves Pharmadyne.

He keys in his commlink and contacts. "Alright boys, girls and Nikolai, I've got the Pharmadyne waveslave in a tizzy, thinking Thomas Corner is about to bail the corp and leave them all to sink or swim. If I know anything about how big corps work, they don't look kindly on traitors, and they are more than happy to attack the scapegoat to get things back to status quo. Mr Corner might find himself scrutinised by the rest of the suits before the end of the day. I also may have enticed a mass-sell of Pharmadyne stock, so if anyone owns any shares, they may want to sell them before the price starts tanking."

Eoin heads back to his Mirage, and kicks it into gear. "I've had my Commlink on silent all morning, what did I miss? Nikolai, I got your wave about the chemical mix, how about you and I go on a date to the Chem plant tonight? I'll warn ya though, unless you shout for dinner and flowers you won't be getting anywhere with me."

"Have we considered sending all the relevant scandalous ****e to a one of the corp tabloids? That could stir some more ****. Alright, unless theres anything I've missed, I'll be heading back to my place. See you all there. Signing off."

Eoin then bounces the name Arthur O'Malley off to his brother. "Hey Alec, could you see what your boys know about this guy? He's got links to a job that I'm pulling.

[Thanatos 51-50]

"INikolai, I got your wave about the chemical mix, how about you and I go on a date to the Chem plant tonight? I'll warn ya though, unless you shout for dinner and flowers you won't be getting anywhere with me."

But I'm after yer Lucky Charms, Irish. Nikolai shoots back while moving through traffic.
Any idea where we can get the chems? And/or something DocWagon to truck it in? Answer, I'm looking at you for that last part.

[SuperMuldoon]

After they finish eating, Arkady hangs with Julie for a little while longer until he tells her he has to get to work and drops her off wherever she wants.

Arkady fires up his comm and sends a reply to Nik. I'll see if I can find something DocWagon for ya, give me a little bit.

He then sends a message to Dillon, his mechanic contact. Hey man, need some help. Need to acquire a docwagon vehicle...or at least modify my own van to pass for docwagon. Got anything?

Waiting for a response, Arkady decides to head over to the Champaign room to scope out the outside and surrounding area for any possible drone entry points and just basically do a quick case of the place. If it is getting close to 6, Arkady will call Sarah to set up their 'date'.

[Krrth]

Borric


*shaking his head*

That's gotta get confusing. I can understand the whole clan thing though.

*checking the time*

Hey, thanks for the info. You've given me a lot to think about, but if I don't get back to work I'm in a lot of trouble,

With a wave, Borric heads out. After he's back on the road, he Coms the others.

Right. This church is flakier than a dandruff spirit. Did you know they can pay others to do service for them?

At any rate, I'm forwarding all the info I've gotten so far.

[Lost Demiurge]

EOIN

"Sure thing, boyo. Lemme see..." A few minutes later, he gets back to Eoin. "Well, there's a bitch-queen named Rowena O'Malley, and some of her kin in charge of the mafiosos Downtown. None of the lads have heard tell of this Arthur fella, though."

ARKADY

Dillon shoots back "Docwagon? Whoa. Careful, they crack down HARD on folks who try to fake their vehicles. You won't find an actual Docwagon ambulance or whirlybird on the market for less than a couple of hundred K. Come to think of it, I don't think I could get you one, I don't have that kind of pull."

"Now, if you want some convincing fakes... That I might be able to do. I'd need your van, a day or so to work on it, and about two thousand for parts and labor. Mind you, that's just the physical bits. If you don't have the right transponder codes to show up as a Docwagon vehicle on Gridguide, no one important is gonna be fooled for long. And then you're in a world of hurt the first time a Lone Star Cruiser passes you, or another Docwagon vehicle goes by, or you enter into a facility that looks at your online registration. They've got programs that check, dude. And I'll tell you now, I got no clue where to find the right codes."

+++
The drive to the Champaign Room is uneventful. The place is located on top of an upscale Bellevue mall. The mall's parking garage seems to have its top floor dedicated for use of Champaign Club members or visitors... There are PRIVATE signs and AR barriers blocking off the entry ramp up to it. Arkady recalls seeing a reservations page on the Champaign Room site... Probably once you send in your cover charge and schedule a day, they send you the RFID code that lets you park without incident.

Viewed from across the street in another part of the mall, the Champaign Room doesn't seem like much. The part that he can see is grey plascrete, windowless, unmarked, and untouched by AR.

Arkady DOES notice that there are no turbines on the roof of the place. Odds are good that it's hooked up to the mall's ventilation system... Though, his experience is telling him that if the place is as secure as everything else indicates, the folks running it will have taken that into account as well.

If Arkady wants to get closer look, it looks like he'll have to either park the van somewhere, or pay the cover charge.

It's around 2 when Arkady gets there. He's got some time before 6.

[SuperMuldoon]

Arkady shoots a message to Nik - Gonna be rough getting anything DocWagon. Doesn't look like theres a reasonable way to do it that won't cost us our reward + extra. Arkady also shoots everyone a message about all the info he's acquired so far.

would it be terribly noticeable if I sent a drone up to check out the top of the club? Or would people be like "oh snap, DRONE! KILL IT!!!!"?

[Lost Demiurge]

would it be terribly noticeable if I sent a drone up to check out the top of the club? Or would people be like "oh snap, DRONE! KILL IT!!!!"?


This place doesn't have any big AR signs claiming it as corporate property. Odds are good they'd try to warn it away if they spotted it, or otherwise deal with it peacefully.

'Course, they'd have to spot it first. And if peaceful warnings didn't work, lord knows what they'd do.

[Lost Demiurge]

Borric, Eoin, and Nikolai rendezvous at Eoin's apartment. There's a bit of a wait... Eoin has to be there in order to buzz them in. Notes are compared, data is looked at, and the team catches each other up on the day.

[SuperMuldoon]

Arkady

Arkady swings the van around into as secluded a parking lot or alley or something similar that he can find. He gets out and makes sure nobody is watching, and presuming nobody is, he sends his Lockheed Optic-X drone up in the air to scope out the top of the club. If he's reasonably sure that his drone won't get noticed, he will take it in for a closer inspection of those vents. Also will take a look at some other roofs in the area, as to divert suspicion that I am focusing on looking soley on the Champaign Room.

If it makes more sense to do so, Arkady will get back in the van and lock the doors, and 'jump' into the drone to pilot it more effectively. If it makes more sense to just pilot it remotely, then thats what I'll do (I'm not fully sure of the benefits of jumping in compared to remote piloting) Also, I chose the Optic-X because the description said it had some stealth features, though I can't find them in the stat line...

[Lost Demiurge]

ARKADY

Arkady puts out the sleek, three-foot-long VTOL drone, closes the van and lies back, and *SHIFTS*, and takes the drone up. His legs are rotors, his arms wingflaps, and his eyes camera mounts. He slips up unnoticed, weaving a complex pattern in and out of the parking garage, dodging the cameras mounted throughout the place, keeping away from the constant stream of foot and vehicle traffic.

Up on the top floor of the parking garage, he finds his view pixelating badly. While it's still easy to navigate, fine detail on anything is damn near impossible. Someone's running high-grade signal spam.

There are two suited men standing at opposite ends of the parking garage, walking back and forth in synchronized motion. Something's odd about their heads. They’re bulkier than normal, like they’re wearing helmets, but they’ve got discrete antennae coming from them. They don’t appear to have seen the drone.

Moving through the parking garage pillars, Arkady notes that the lot is mostly empty. Then again, it’s only three in the afternoon…

Checking out the roof of the club, he sees that the air intakes have plastic grills on them. Odds are good that they lead through the club and into the mall proper, with vents along the way. The grills are bolted in.

There is one intake that’s slightly bigger than the others… It is blackened around the end, and the grille up here is slightly warped. Looks like it’s been exposed to heat.

It does make more sense to pilot the drone while "jumped in". This way, the drone uses YOUR reaction, instead of its own piddly number. It also uses your piloting skill of 4, rather than three. And finally, you get a bonus of +2 due to your control rig. So it's a significant dice increase for pretty much everything. And did I mention the three passes you get while jumped in, rather than the two a manually piloted drone gets? :)

Basically if you're only controlling one drone at a time, and you're in a reasonably safe location, there's no reason NOT to jump in.

And the Optic-X does have stealth features, but I figure they're more for flavor than effect. Stuff like radar resistance or noise baffles, which your dice pool already accounts for, or which won't come up against the average opponent.


BORRIC

Borric lies down next to Arkady, and makes his own *SHIFT* into the swirl of colors, feelings, and flow of astral space. He follows the black dot of the drone up through the garage… Almost losing it a few times. It’s hard to track technology this complex on a GOOD day.

Up in the top floor, he sees two men walking back and forth on either side of the garage. Both of these men have heavy black blocks of cyberware through their system… Their heads, in particular, are almost jet-black. They’ve got bulky technology protruding from their foreheads, and what look like antennae poking out from behind their ears. Their emotions are almost nonexistent, which is unusual.

The club is unwarded, and he easily passes through the wall. Inside, the astral is swirling with old lust, pleasure of all sorts, and a few traces of genuine admiration. There are about ten rooms… An antechamber with tech lining the next door through (Probably a security checkpoint), a main room with a stage, a room with a bar and an actual honest-to-god wood-burning fireplace, It’s dark at the minute, but little hearth proto-spirits wrestle with tiny fire elementals on the logs, competing for their nightly feeding. The bar is painted from one end to the other with goodwill and desire. No one is behind it at the minute… Too early in the day for the club to be open.

The room behind the bar is a posh office. A big human with a cyberarm is shooting the **** with an African-american elf. The elf is dressed nicely, the human is not. Old blood clings to the human like a screaming shadow.

A changing room lies behind the main room with the stage. Borric narrowly ducks back into the wall as a watcher spirit in the shape of a Christmas-style toymaking elf trundles through, glancing around and whistling. A few cautious peeks show the spirit wandering out into the main room, making a loose loop through the walls, then wandering back. Close one… Looks like it’s got a predictable pattern though, and it’s moving slow. Easy to avoid.

The other six rooms show up as fogs of purple lust in the astral. No need to guess what goes on here. The décor is different for each, but the fog makes it hard to pick out exact details. Maybe just as well…

There IS what seems to be a concealed exit in the hallway past the last “playroom”.

The place seems to have minimal technology. There are coin-sized black spots here and there high on the walls of the rooms, but it’s hard to tell what they are.

[loopy]

Eoin

While Eoin waits for the others, he cleans up the apartment, checks his social networking page, updates his blog (thought of the day: the world is a large and scary place, don't get lost out there. Find what makes you happy, your point of light, and hold on to it for dear life), tells the drone to prep some dinner, then calls Ami to enquire about the rave.

"Hey Amy, its Eoin from last night. How did Infinity treat you? Sorry I couldn't make it back like I promised, but if you still want to catch up, I've got a VIP table at novAstyle. Keep in touch, gorgeous girl."

[Krrth]

Borric

Borric is a bit confused....that doesn't look like someplace normal businessmen would hang out in. The whole place looks just a little twisted, between the Christmas elf, the men with the dark heads, and the like.
In any event, Borric took note of the Elf before heading towards the secret door,avoiding the watcher and trying to look for traps and alarms along the way.

[Thanatos 51-50]

Nikolai, having relayed his intel and finding himself with little else to do, shoots a quick text message to Lojak inquiring after the prices of the chemicals he would need in the bulk he estimates he needs.
While waiting for an answer, he very calmly field-strips and cleans his weapons, and waves the elf over.
"Any way we can make counterfeit ID badges?"

[Lost Demiurge]

EOIN

Ami squeals when Eoin calls her. He is informed that the rave was totally wiz, and she wishes he could've seen it. But he's gotta come in tonight, it's ladies night and she needs a date. He's it. No arguments!

BORRIC

Unfortunately the astral isn't a good way to detect traps and alarms... Borric passes through the door and down a service stairwell without being able to tell what mechanisms may guard it. The service stairwell ends up in a series of large rooms, full of crates and dust. A few doors lead out... Poking his head through one, Borric finds himself looking out at the mall.

[SuperMuldoon]

Arkady

Arkady brings the drone back to the van after making sure it isn't noticed and/or followed. Once back, he loads it into the van and gets a copy of its video feed to review later. Then he keeps a look out until Borric finishes his astral trip, and checks the time.

[Lost Demiurge]

Arkady

Arkady brings the drone back to the van after making sure it isn't noticed and/or followed. Once back, he loads it into the van and gets a copy of its video feed to review later. Then he keeps a look out until Borric finishes his astral trip, and checks the time.

It's getting on towards 4. If Arkady wants to prep and go out, he'll have to get moving now.

[Krrth]

Borric

Noting the locations of the black spots and the door he peeked through, Borric zips back to the van.

Right. Back door into the mall, at least one watcher spirit patrolling.

*pause*

Some very, very odd guards. Their heads appear black to astral sight. One elf Human that literally reeks of blood and death.

[SuperMuldoon]

Arkady

"Yeah, definitely something up with those guards. Massive head cyber it looks like...Back door into the mall eh? Might be a nice way to get inside. It also looks like there is a vent to a fireplace or something on the roof, might be able to get a drone in there somehow. Anyway, I've gotta meet up with Corner's ex-wife number 1 in two hours, so I'll drop you off back at Eoin's if you'd like, or anywhere else." Arkady starts the van and heads back to Eoin's or wherever Borric wants to get dropped off, assuming they are done at the club for now.

"Here, take a copy of the recording from my drone and check it out. Maybe with what you saw with your flythrough combined with this will tell us even more. Thanks for your help man." Arkady says to Borric before leaving to get changed into something a little nicer and wash up. He then calls Sarah and finds out where she wants to meet up.

[Lost Demiurge]

(Hey, Krrth? The elf didn't reek of blood and death, that was the human with the cyberarm next to him.)

ARKADY

Sarah seems relieved to hear from Arkady, and tells him that she'd be quite happy to have dinner with him at a place called Jack Walker's, down in Renton.

It turns out to be a bar with a semi-decent restaurant attached. The prices are a little high for average soyfood, but the booze is relatively good.

The conversation winds back and forth, but Arkady doesn't get much more than he already did from the initial flirt-and-question attempt. He DOES learn that Thomas mentioned that he might be extra-busy in the next week or so with work, and asked her if she'd like to have the kids early. Odd for him, but she's not arguing. Maybe he's feeling the Christmas spirit.

Arkady also notices that during the small talk, she's pretty scornful of metahumans in general. Changes the topic whenever an elf celebrity's name comes up, refers to orcs as "trogs", and generally doesn't like to talk about them. Come to think of it, looking around the restaraurant, everyone in here is human...

As the evening goes on, she makes it pretty clear (without saying as much) that she wouldn't mind a one-night stand.

[loopy]

Eoin

He continues his comm-versation with Ami. "Sure, lass, just send me your address and I'll be sure to come whisk you away to where ever the evenings festivities take us. What time were you thinking?"

[SuperMuldoon]

Arkady

Arkady agrees to the one-night stand (and makes sure to use whatever passes for protection in the grim future of shadowrun). He makes some excuses to go back to her place if possible, and if he gets a chance will snoop around her house a little bit.

[Lost Demiurge]

Morning, 0800

ARKADY

Wakens early, in a strange bedroom. Sarah's still asleep. He's got plenty of time to look around her somewhat cluttered apartment, but there's a LOT of junk around. He'll need to choose something to search for, otherwise he'll be here for hours sorting through the clutter.

EOIN

Wakens with Ami pressed to his side and snoring. Vials of various recreational substances lie around his room, and his pants are hanging from the ceiling fan.

BORRIC AND NIKOLAI

Waken in their respective dwellings. 16 hours to go before the deadline for the bonus is up.

[SuperMuldoon]

Arkady

Arkady searches through the clutter looking for a book of her contacts, trying to find the info she uses to get in touch with Thomas with. Also any other contacts that look familiar or might have some connection with Thomas.

[loopy]

Eoin

Eoin groans and rolls over, looking around the room bleary-eyed. He finds the kitchen and makes a couple mugs of coffee. Stumbling back to bed, he places one next to Ami, then kisses her on the forehead. "Hey lass, sorry to jet so early, but I've gotta go to work. Call me when you wake up, okay?"

He retrieves his pants and leaves, heading back to his apartment.

[Lost Demiurge]

Arkady spends a few minutes looking for a book before realizing "hey, this is the 21st century."

Boosting her commlink and poking around in it yields a phone number for Thomas Corner, along with a lot of pop-up bill reminders. A LOT of bills.

Some of them from "Great Books Inc.", a private investigation company local to Seattle.

He also finds a file directory named "SETTLEMENT AMMUNITION". It's full of pictures of Thomas in what looks to be a sleazy bar, talking with women of various metatypes. One or two shots show him leaving the bar with the woman he's chatting up.

[SuperMuldoon]

Arkady

Arkady copies the photos to his own commlink, as well as the phone number for Thomas Corner, and if possible the contact info for Great Books, Inc. Glancing at the bill pop-ups, he looks over at a sleeping Sarah and shakes his head slightly before heading over to get back into bed. Trying to fall asleep, his mind is running a mile a minute trying to figure out how to use this new information.

[Lost Demiurge]

Arkady swipes the useful files from Sarah's commlink with no trouble.

He's awakened about an hour later when Sarah gets up. She won't look him in the eye and barely says much, showering and dressing, going through the motions of eating some soyflakes, and checking her comm-mail. She ends the morning ritual by popping about four different pills. Finally she kicks him out, and heads to work.

[SuperMuldoon]

Arkady

Arkady awkwardly says good-bye to Sarah and heads back to Eoin's to hopefully meet up with the rest of the crew to share information and discuss any further plans for tonight. Arkady presents the pictures as well.

[Thanatos 51-50]

Nikolai

The gunner is pacing back and forth in Eoin's apartment somewhat impatient, and looks over the photos, memorizing them quickly before passing them around.
"I've pretty much done everything I can that doesn't involve framing the mark for murder or breaking into the processing plant." he admits.
"I don't have any plans, but will happily support any op you guys run."

[SuperMuldoon]

Arkady

Arkady sits, watching Nik pace back and forth. "Well, I'm going to see what I can find out about these pictures...somethign doesn't seem quite right with them...depending on what I find, I think we should get in touch with this Great Books Inc., the ones who I think supplied these photos to Sarah."

Arkady begins to scan the photos with whatever programs he has that seem appropriate, as well as surfing the 'trix looking for any information about photos with these traits. Also, seeing what he can find about Great Books Inc.

[loopy]

Eoin

The elf reclines on a couch, watching an action trid flick about shadowrunners. "Well, I'm out of ideas as far as making our Tommy uncomfortable goes... Unless we want to send everything we've got to a tabloid. They are always on the lookout for good dirt, anonymous tips or no."

[Krrth]

Borric

*sitting back in a recliner*

Something is seriously wrong with that church of his. Did you know you can pay others to do "Good Works" for you? And that when they do, they use your ID?

[Lost Demiurge]

After an hour's work, Arkady finds out a few things.

1. Great Books Inc. is listed as a Seattle based private investigation office that's been on the books since 2068. They've got 4 of 5 stars on the blograter, from customers. They advertise "Classical solutions, good pacing, memorable characters, and satisfying endings." There's a contact number on the page, that doesn't match the ones for Sarah's bills.

2. The pictures look funny because they're scans of non-digital photographs. These pictures were obtained from an old film-using camera.

At about this point, Nikolai gets a call from Whyte.

Nikolai
"Got a match on that looker you sent me. Don't have a name, but we've got a match on her face. Sending it through now."

The photo he sends was taken at a corporate retreat, during a publicly-viewable matrix seminar. She's sitting in the room with several other people, all wearing suits and 900 nuyen haircuts. She's not up at the big table, but she's not far from it either. The logo on the wall informs all and sundry that this seminar is brought to you by ARES.

[Thanatos 51-50]

Nikolai grins and nods.
"I'm pretty much stumped for ideas, too. Tabloids aren't generally reputable enough to cause any real damage to the guy's rep. Maybe some minimal grassroots, but not really enough to make much of a difference. It may even work to discredit what we've done due to people up the chain waving it off as sensationalist yellow dog media."

Then Whyte rings in. Nikolai takes the call in the other room
"Is that it?" Nik asks with an audible frown, "A picture of her at some suit-gathering held by ARES? Thanks. I think I can work with it. If you can narrow it down any without drawing attention, that'll be great. Just try to not pop any ARES flags."

He walks back towards the others.
"I got a hit on Johnson, if ya'all are interested, not a big one, though."

[SuperMuldoon]

Arkady

Arkady motions to Eoin. "I think we should give this Great Books Inc. a call, either on their regular number or this number I got from Sarah's bills. My hunch is she had them get some dirt on Thomas, which is where these pictures came from, but they might have more. I was thinking maybe you should do the talking though, as you've got the silver tongue."

He turns to Nik, "Well, that helps us understand why she might be after Thomas, if you could turn that into some more cash for us...that would be pretty great. Maybe we can collect on the job, and then blackmail her for more!" Arkady says with a wry grin, nuyen signs in his eyes.

[loopy]

Eoin

Eoin checks around the apartment until he finds one of his disposable comm units, and sets up a call with Great Books. "I've reached Great Books Investigation? Excellent. My name is Rhys McRae, Pharmadyne Human Resources. We are looking to do a bit of due diligence work on one of our employees, one Thomas Corner, before upgrading his company clearance. I contracted out some work to an independent, but they weren't particularly successful other than turning up some irregularities. Upon visiting an ex-wife, we did find some outstanding bills."

"Anyway... Whats your name? Yes, excellent. If you have any information on Mr Corner, tell me, and Pharmadyne will be sure to contract more due diligence work to you in the future. Okay, I'll have one of the temps swing by your office and pick up the data."

I'll change the text depending on how the conversation actually goes.

[Lost Demiurge]

NIKOLAI
Whyte texts him back. "Look, man. You gave me a face with minimal context, asked me to check "Corporate" resources. There's a LOT of coroporate. Hell, you got lucky we even got a match. I'll poke further but odds are I won't find much."

EOIN
Eoin calls Great Books Inc.

"Rand speaking. Uh huh. Uh HUH. Yeah. I see."

The female voice on the other end of the comm (no video) chats with him for a bit, before hardening.

"Yeah, you know what, you're full of it. You talk a good talk, but some facts contradict your story."

"Firstly, you're asking us to compromise an existing case. Which no private investigation company worth a damn would do, or their license and rep would be toast."

"Secondly, Thomas Corner is on the Pharmadyne board of directors. Upgraded clearance? Bah! By the time he got this far, he'd be checked six ways to sunday. You're looking for dirt. Which I don't mind, but you just lied to me about. That's not looking good for you."

"Thirdly, you're calling me from a Bellevue apartment complex. This one's neither owned nor operated by Pharmadyne. While remotely possible that a Pharmadyne employee might live here, it's outside of the realm of possibility that an HR employee would do business from their home. Too easy to hack. Like I just did."

"Let's cut the crap, shall we? Whoever you are, Sarah Harvey's asked you to get the negatives, and the rest of the photos. Probably given you a sob story about our cruelty, or how she's too broke to pay."

"Tell her that the price just went up. We agreed to work for pay, we agreed to her conditions, we did the work, and she hasn't paid. Galt knows we've tried to work with her, schedule payments, take collateral, but no, she has NOT been reasonable. So we're adding a 300 nuyen fee on top of the existing one for this ridiculous attempt at deception."

"Oh, and if you're one of her little Humanis friends, you might want to know you just got pwned by a dwarf."

She seems to be on the cusp of hanging up. It would take quick words to interrupt her at this point...

[Thanatos 51-50]

Nikolai shrugs.
"Pretty much all I have is a picture of her taken at a gathering of ARES suits. She wasn't at the big table, but she was kinda close. Not much, like I said, but hit is a hit." Nikolai informs.
He sits back on the couch and listens in on the part of Eoin's conversation he can hear.
He also chuckles a little bit.

Calling a PI firm with a story thats got more holes in it than a target on the range.
He was probably getting shot down something awful right about now.

[Lost Demiurge]

The moment passes, and Eoin's left listening to his commlink's dial tone.

With the team out of ideas, somebody puts in a call to Lojack, and the meet is set up for that night.

The Banshee is much as you left it, but the previous hard rock has been replaced with Celtic Jazz. The place is a little more filled, with a mix of hard-eyed men and women wearing long coats dominating. Your Johnson and Lojack share a corner, talking quietly. A fresh six-pack of Beernog is on the table... Slightly better quality stuff than the last beers he had ready for his friends. Still synthahol.

Lojack grins over as you arrive.

"Hoi." He says, simply.

The Johnson leans forward. She's wearing glasses, and the light reflects from them, as she looks the runners over.

"So. Please give me a report, and tell me what you've done to fulfill the mission."

[SuperMuldoon]

Arkady

Arkady sits down and nods to both the Johnson and Lojack. "Here," he says, presenting the photos, "evidence that Mr. Corner gets around, with many...different...women, who are most certainly not his wife." Arkady watches the Johnson's face to see what her reaction to the photos are...they aren't exactly as great as he wanted, but hopefully they will do the job.

Arkady looks to the rest of the team to present their parts.

[loopy]

Eoin

"We also planted rumors through the company that our boy is going to be fleeing Pharmadyne and leave it high and dry. Provided enough supporting evidence about his past that the wageslaves are probably going to be plenty worried about getting the boot. Corps don't like those who rock the boat, and having everyone running around screaming that he's going to slot the company won't put him in good light with the other execs."

[Lost Demiurge]

Ms Johnson looks over the pictures and nods at Eoin's statements. "That would seem to match up with what our watchers are reporting."

She looks back to Arkady. "This is good. If nothing else, it'll sow some doubt into his wife. So, how have you gotten these photos out to the general public, and where should I go to see writeups of the scandal?"

[SuperMuldoon]

Arkady

"The photos are *cough* posted on relevant *cough cough* websites to him and his *cough* family *cough* excuse me..." Arkady says, clutching his stomach and running outside.
This is so dumb, I feel like a kid who forgot to do his homework... Once outside, he heads behind his van and makes himself throw up Gotta make it believable at least... Once thats all taken care of, Arkady hops in his van and posts the pictures to corporate messageboards, the VCRS page, the Sigma Omega Delta page, any family Eyebook pages, and the FUNDIE page, while trying his best to do it quickly and safely. Once thats done, he hops out of his van and pretends to almost get sick again, 'dry heaving' but not puking and then heads back inside to rejoin the meeting and make an excuse for feeling sick. Now I really do feel sick...

[Thanatos 51-50]

Nikolai watches Arkady leave and makes a mental note to pop some medicine when he gets home.
He Doesn't want whatever the rigger has.

After that display, Nikolai turns back to Ms. Johnson.
"I passed evidence concerning a connection between our mark and the Mafia to a Detective in Lone Star that I have confirmation is clean." he says simply, stating it like he was reading the information off a notepad. "A clean detective ensures that the case won't get thrown out for the detective's own mafia connections, and that he'll bark up the Corp security tree, which will draw him a few wary gazes at least from the other directors. There's not enough yet for the detective to make the investigation go 'loud', so public awareness isn't as high as I'd hoped. Lone Star should be especially interested in making sure this case reaches whatever ends it reaches for reasons related to Jazz. They'll probably push pretty hard. This should make it even harder for the other directors to miss any signs Mr. Corner might show of vaulting off the sinking ship. Additionally, the clean cop once again ensures that the case won't be too rushed, resulting in Corner's premature incarceration."

After his short shcpiel, the gunner reaches over and grabs his first can of beernog, pops the top and takes a short sip.

[Lost Demiurge]

Ms. Johnson seems a bit surprised by Arkady's display, then rubs her forehead and sighs. She listens to Nikolai and nods. "Good, good. That would explain the RFD we saw in their message traffic. Well, that's three different vectors, all of them relatively subtle. I think-"

She looks over at Arkady as he stumbles back inside, and simply shakes her head. "Well. As I asked before, where do I go to see these photos?"

At the supplied sites, she heads out there and checks them, then chuckles a bit and pats Arkady's hand. "You're new at this, aren't you? Well, no matter. No need to splash yourself with something resembling vomit next time, I can't smell a thing in here with the odors as they are anyway."

Arkady
Sadly, she saw through your deception. Gain a point of infamy, for providing her a funny story that she'll be telling later.

"Better late then never, I suppose. And it works to our advantage that the picture release took place on a separate day anyway. So, without further ado-"

She holds up four credsticks, and clicks the ends open, revealing displays reading 1500 on each. She puts them in the center of the table, and leans back.

"Gentlemen, the first part of the operation is concluded. At this juncture, we will be retaining you for the second part. We will require a day or three to ensure that all is going forward... Until we recieve the word to move, we will pay you 100 nuyen a day to avoid any further business and leave your schedule open for our convenience. During this time, you will leave your commlinks open for Mr. Lojack's call, and be ready to move within minute's notice."

"Any questions?"

[Krrth]

Borric


*Shaking his head*

Not at the moment Ma'am. We might need some clarification when we find out what the next part is, but we'll have to see.

[SuperMuldoon]

Arkady

Embarassed that his last minute ruse was seen through, Arkady takes his credstick from the table. "If we are going to be ready at a moments notice, is there anything at all you can tell us about the nature of this 'second part'? It might help to know of any equipment that would be helpful, so we can prepare it in advance." Arkady says, taking a swig from his bottle of Beernog.

[Lost Demiurge]

Ms. Johnson rubs her chin, considers, then shakes her head. "No. I think not. Until the situation is stable, too many variables for me to recommend anything that might be useful. You'll have to work on the fly, sorry."

"I WOULD recommend keeping as much of your gear to hand as possible... But I'm sure that professionals like yourselves were expecting that already."

There's a slight smile on her face as she says that to Arkady, then it's gone.

"No other questions? Good. Expect a call from Mr. Lojack in a few days, if everything goes well."

She leaves, and a few minutes after she does, Lojack whoops, gets up, and starts laughing and slapping you on the back. OW! Even an old ork is still an ork...

"Damn, damn, you boys came through! Drinks on me... Well ceptin' Eoin, don't need no elfy-spew on the floor."

He sits back, grinnin', and folds his hands out as if he's clutching something large and valuable. "Tonight, one pleased Johnson. Tomorrow? Lojack, pimplord of high-profile jobs."

[SuperMuldoon]

Arkady

Arkady grins sheepishly as the Johnson flashes her slight smile, and then watches her leave. He turns back to the table and jumps a little bit at the outburst from Lojack, but then smiles at the old orc. Arkady takes his bottle of beernog and holds it up "A toast, to Pimp-master Lojack, the best damn fixer around!"

[Thanatos 51-50]

Nikolai grins wickedly behind his can of beernog.
"Lojack, old boy, you know I get my jobs done." he says off handidly, as though brushing te complimrnt aside.
Hr then snatches up a credstick and uploads the money. Because that's kind of important.

[Krrth]

Borric

*laughing*

Well, that was...interesting. I hope well do better next time, but perhaps we've hit a turning point.

*raising a glass in a toast*

To a well paid future!

[Lost Demiurge]

"Frakkin' yeah!" Lojack raises his own can, and the night winds on as people chat, drink, and eventually find their ways home.

[Lost Demiurge]

A day goes by. Christmas arrives, and just as you're getting settled in for another day passing by, your commlink chimes...

It is 1445, Saturday, Christmas afternoon, 2071.

It's Lojack, finally.

"Sup Omae... That business you agreed to? It's time. Meet me an' the lady at the All-Mart on 6th n' Main. Bring tools of the trade, but leave'em in yer vehicles. If'n you ain't got a vehicle, hitch a ride with the Answer."

[SuperMuldoon]

Arkady

"Alright boss, see you there." Arkady disconnects and finishes loading up the rest of the gear in the back of the van. He sweats despite the cold. "I got too many toys..." He says to himself with a chuckle, "not that that's a bad thing." He starts warming up the van and waits to see if anyone needs a ride, and will pick those up on his way to the meet.

[Krrth]

Borric

Alright then, I'll be there.

*Turning off his comlink he turns to the various family members around the room*

Gotta go folks. Duty calls. Try not to drink all the eggnog while I'm gone.

*heading out, he grabs his bike and proceeds to the meeting place.*

[Thanatos 51-50]

Nikolai nods and mutters a quick "I'll be there," into his comm before ringing up the babysitter he had hired to be on hold in just such an eventuality.
He paid her 20 nuyen up front, and promised more when he came back.
And specifically left very graphic, detailed notes about what was going to happen to the babysitter if Whyte's child were to be returned to his care harmed in the slightest.

As soon as hired help shows up, Nikolai slides a certified credstick the babysitter's way and drives off to meet with Lojack and Johnson.

[Lost Demiurge]

All-Mart, a megastore for the lower demographics. Right up Lojack's alley... Not so much the place you'd expect to see the Johnson. Maybe that's the point.

You wander into the store, passing under the immense AR and fiberoptic statue of the chain's fat mascot, the ALL-FATHER. His plumed-hatted, one-eyed head swivels to watch you go, and his jolly beard waggles as he promises VERILY GREAT BARGAINS! SOOTH!

You wander past a mechanized six-legged horse kiddy ride, past a curler-haired troll screaming at her husband, and into the aisles. Someone's thrown up in the electronics section, and three severely undermotivated employees in blue are standing around it playing guess the chunks.

Lojack's over in automative supplies, checking out some cheap rims. The store's easy-listening music and commercial patter AR is loudest and most intrusive here. Ms. Johnson's standing next to him, talking. She's dressed down, but anyone who's lived in Redmond for a while can tell she's slumming. Her clothes, though simpler, are far too nice and she's not at ease in this unfamiliar store.

It's hard to read her face, but she seems relieved that you've arrived. "Welcome. I'll get to the point." She hands out credsticks, that slot up for 150 nuyen apiece. "There's the pay we promised for retaining your services. Now..."

"The man that you investigated wishes to leave his current place of employment. We wish to aid him in relocating to new employment. We will pay you each six thousand nuyen to accomplish this task. Questions?"

[SuperMuldoon]

Arkady

Ah, good old All-Mart. You can get anything here, and it was cheap. He spotted Lojack and the Johnson in automotive supplies. Arkady new this section like the back of his hand, he practically grew up around stuff like this. "Hey Lojack, if you're looking for some new rims, forget those right there," Arkady says, indicating the ones Lojack was inspecting, "they tend to crack or deform if you hit one too many potholes, and the streets out here aren't too friendly. Now these over here, just a little bit more expensive but not only are they more durable...but they look a hell of a lot better!" Arkady says with a smile before turning his attention to the Johnson.

"So basically you want us to pick him up and then take him to his new place of employment, or do you want us to drive him around on a job search while he tries to find a new career?"

[Lost Demiurge]

The Johnson actually cracks a smile. Lojack laughs, and claps Arkady on the back. "You funny, dawg. Nah, nah, it's extraction. Get him clear of his corp security, make him vanish, drop him off ALIVE N' WELL where she says. You know how this goes..."

[SuperMuldoon]

Arkady

Arkady grins, "Well if that's what you want, you shoulda just said so!" :smallamused: "I'll assume the fact that you stressed 'alive and well' that there will be factors trying to prevent that from occuring. Anything you can tell us about the opposition?"

[Lost Demiurge]

Ms. Johnson speaks up. "Once you all confirm that you're agreeable to the task, yes."

[SuperMuldoon]

Arkady

"Well hey, the job sounds pretty good to me, but I can't speak for everyone else. I know you can't tell me where the pick up and drop off is until we all formally accept the job, but can you tell me what kind of distance we are looking at? And if we are going to have to cross any borders?" Arkady says, absentmindedly looking at the various automotive parts.

[Krrth]

Borric


*looking around the place with some distaste. It wasn't in the best part of town admittedly, but still....don't these people have some pride?

Shaking his head, Borric looks back at the others*

I don't have a problem with it. I would say it sounds like a simple extraction....but if it was simple, you wouldn't really need us.

*pause, then gives a meaningful look at the clerks.*

On the other hand, what's a little risk against ending up like those poor souls. I'm in.

[Thanatos 51-50]

"Collateral Damage?" Nikolai asked as he pretended to inspect a set of rims, as well, pocketing the 150 nuyen.

He nodded generously when he was sure Ms. Johnson was looking his direction, trying to subtly indicate that, yeah, he's up for the job.

[Lost Demiurge]

((Hello? Loopy? Are you still there?))

[Lost Demiurge]

((Alright, it's been 4 days. We'll assume that Eoin is there in the background somewhere until Lopy comes back.))

Eoin leans in and starts dickering price with the Johnson. Finally after a few minutes, she nods. "Very well. Seven thousand five hundred apiece. None up front, however. This is strictly nuyen on delivery."

"If you would like to make it an even ten thousand, we'd like you to grab his wife... Well, current wife, as well. This is likely to be a bit more difficult. She does not know that an extraction is coming."
She pulls out a commlink, and beams each of you a file.

"This is what we know about the security surrounding Mr. Corner. It includes a copy of his schedule for the next five days. It is subject to change at a moment's notice due to the demands of his corp, so as time progresses, it will become less accurate."

"His son and daughter are not a factor. They have already been secured."

"As far as collateral damage goes, we do not care. So long as Mr. Corner and his wife are untouched, do as you please."

"I should mention... Your previous actions were instrumental in getting Mr. Corner to seal the deal with us on agreeable terms. Do NOT mention these actions to him. If you do this, then you will not be paid."

"I do not want to know when, where, or how you extract Mr. Corner. I only care that you do it before New Year's eve, midnight. That gives you five and a half days, I suggest you take your time, discuss strategies, do a little research, and be prepared for the unexpected."

"The file contains his observed travel routines, his address, a few pictures of known bodyguards, and a brief analysis of his penthouse's security."

"Mr. Corner knows to expect an extraction within the next five days. He is most likely going to be cooperative. I advise against attempting to contact him directly, he may be monitored in ways we cannot detect."

"Once you have him, hold him until midnight on New Year's eve. At that point, one of you must contact the comm address within the file with the message "Auld Lang Syne, buddy." When that is done, you will recieve a call from Mr. Lojack shortly thereafter, with the coordinates to deliver Mr. Corner."

"Questions?"

[Krrth]

Borric

*lost in thought for a moment*


Actually, I do have one. Do you have similar information on his current wife? I have a few ideas, but we can always use more information.

[SuperMuldoon]

Arkady

Arkady nods at the Johnson. "So Corner knows someone is coming to collect him and we hope he will cooperate, but can we expect resistance from the rest of his group? For example, will his bodyguards hunt us down and try to cave our heads in?"

[Lost Demiurge]

The elf looks to Borric.

"The wife is a bit of a shut-in. We've got some details on her, but you should know she usually doesn't travel much. If you want to go for the bonus, you'll most likely have to contend with their penthouse apartment's security."

She nods at Arkady.

"Pharmadyne has supplied several private bodyguards to Corner, who WILL attempt to stop you. Also, their security subcontractor has a cessation and retrieval clause for just this kind of eventuality. They WILL be a factor."

[SuperMuldoon]

Arkady

"Alright, sounds just dandy. Kidnap him and his wife and hide them until new years. You guys good to go?" He says, looking at the group.

[Thanatos 51-50]

Nikolai nods and lets a grimly satisfied smile spread across his face.
"I'm good."

[Krrth]

Borric

*nodding*
As far as this part goes, yes. We need to do some planning.

[Lost Demiurge]

"Then we're done here." Says the elf. She wastes no time in heading toward the store exits.

Lojack rubs his chin. "Never seen no one do an extraction before. Not usually my crowd. You omaes got it?"

THE FILE

The file contains security and scheduling information on Thomas Corner. He's got five full-time bodyguards, and the file includes photos of each. Three humans, an ork, and a dwarf. No names. It also shows photos of the company limo he usually rides in. One of the bodyguards invariably drives.

His schedule is bare for Christmas, someone's marked it as "at home". The next day is busiest, most of it at the Pharmadyne Corporate offices... It's mostly various meetings with different people. The day after that, he's touring the chemical facility that Nikolai was staking out for a while, then it's back to the office until New Year's eve, which he's got marked off as "Party with the Simmons crowd."

His wife's schedule is bare, save for a Monday (Day before New Year's Eve) visit to a spa in the basement of the apartment complex, and the "Party with the Simmons crowd."

A brief outline of their apartment complex's security is included... It gets technical fast.

[SuperMuldoon]

Arkady

He watches the Johnson leave in a hurry. "Well, uh, bye then..."

Turning to Lojack, "Don't worry Lojack, we got the tools, we got the talent!"

[Krrth]

Borric

I think so, but then again, you know my motto: I'm going to live forever or die trying....

[SuperMuldoon]

Arkady

"Alright then, well lets do this. We should meet up, go over the information, and start drawing up a plan of attack. My apartment isn't the greatest, definitely not as nice as Eoin's, and it's not in the best neighborhood, but you guys are more then welcome to stay there while we plan."

[Lost Demiurge]

The group arrives at Arkady's sprawl with no trouble. It is 1600, December 25, 2071.

OOC

Okay gang, we've got issues. Loopy's vanished on us and Thanatos, you've turned into a sometimes-poster due to RL events. (Which is cool, but that puts us at 2.5 regulars)

I'm feeling the slowdown, and it's kind of demoralizing me. Anyone got any suggestions, or shall we say GG and move on at this point?

[Krrth]

Borric

Ok guys, we've got a lot of work and not too much time to get it finished. Ideas?



Well, as I see it we have a few options.
1)Continue as is.
2)Continue as is, but try to recruit at least one more person.
3)Call it a day.

Personally, I'd rather continue, so that probably means option 2. It's up to the majority however.

[SuperMuldoon]

Arkady

"Well, I would have really liked it if we could pick Thomas up at the Champaign Room, as we have already scouted that location. Unfortunately, his itinerary doesn't make it look like he will be going there. I say our best bet with him to infiltrate one of his destinations and be there waiting already when he gets there, and then sneak him out. I think it's too risky to try to get him in transit as his guards will be at their sharpest then. Maybe for the wife we can force her out away from her security using Thomas and then snatch her.

Another way is infiltrate the 'Simmons Crowd' party, as we can acquire both Mr. and Mrs. Corner at this event. However, this is ON New Years Eve, so it doesn't leave us with any time for another attempt if we fail."


I'm up for option 1 or 2. I really want to at least finish this out, and then when it's done we can decide to just end it and feel good about wrapping it up, or we can continue, maybe adding a person or two.

[Lost Demiurge]

Alright guys... There's no denying it, the energy is gone. I had a lot of hopes built on a game where no one would fade out, then Loopy goes and fades out. Naive of me, I know. But fact is, my drive on this is dead and I've got other fish to fry.

Sorry to leave you hanging. Got any questions about how this one was gonna go? (At least, barring the impact from your plans and actions?)

[SuperMuldoon]

Sorry LD :smallfrown: I was interested to see what was gonna happen to good ol' Thomas Corner & Co., and why the Johnson was doing what she was doing.

[Lost Demiurge]

Well, what happened to Thomas Corner was up to you.

See, basically, the Johnson was working for Knight-Errant, a subsidiary of Ares. They wanted Thomas Corner, because he knew a few secrets about Jazz. Well, not technically Jazz, but a predecessor formula developed in Japan by his previous company, nicknamed Hard Rock. Twice as effective, boosts a few additional physical stats, and about as non-addictive.

The kicker? It only works on orks. That's why it was never released to the market.

She contacted Corner a little while ago, and negotiated an extraction. Problem was, Tom was comfy where he was, and was asking an enormous price.

The Johnson had you running around smearing his name, to try and seal the deal at a cheaper price. She figured that if he was fighting off rumors, he'd be more willing to settle for a reasonable price. She was mostly right.

The snatch and grab on Corner wouldn't have likely been too hard. You had a chance at not finding him at his designated location when you went in for the grab... A little searching would have turned his limo up at the Champaign Room. Mind you, if you'd have tried a grab at the new year's party, he would have been at the party.

The problem would have come when you tried to deliver him. You'd arrive at the site to find the Johnson dead, and yakuza hunting you.

From there it would have taken some digging to figure out why the yakuza were here. Turns out they were hired by the guy who invented Hard Rock and Jazz. He's working for Mitsuhama now, and he was trying to get rid of Corner, because Corner knew a secret about him. See, he had gotten test subjects for his original research from Yomi. (The metahuman internment camp.) Many of them had died, and the matter had been quietly brushed over. That was why they'd hired a gaijin CEO to begin with... They were planning to frame him if it ever got uncovered. Unfortunately, he found out and got clear, with the blackmail info and the formula for hard rock.

Woulda been a fun trip. Ah well.

[SuperMuldoon]

Aww man, sounds awesome, so many layers to discover! I'm bummed we didn't get to get into the action stuff too, I wanted to do some shooting and chase scenes...I'll miss Arkady :smallfrown:

Well, if it counts for anything, it was fun while it lasted. If you ever run a game of anything again, let me know cause I want in! :smalltongue:

[Krrth]

*Sigh*

Ah well, at least this one had something of a close. Too many just disappear.

That's why I've stopped bothering to try and play Dark Heresy or the like.

It was fun though, and with any luck we'll do this again.

[Lost Demiurge]

Ah, thanks guys! I appreciate the kind words, and we'll see what the future holds...