The Little Black Book IC

[Odentin]

Seattle, 2078

Another day in Emerald City. Acid rain, police brutality, and corporate oppression. Another boring, average day. And another average message from your fixer.

Got a job for you. Team should be people you already know. Address will follow.

Sure enough, a second encrypted message follows even as you finish comprehending the first. The address leads you to a small, nondescript office building. The kind rented out to smaller corps that don't actually have their own meeting room on days when an in-person meeting is required over a simpler Matrix one. A young, obviously underpaid elf woman serves as receptionist, quirking an eyebrow at the strange characters wandering into her usually-mundane workplace. Obviously, though, she isn't being paid enough to care, and as long as no one bothers her, she goes back to whatever AR windows she has up in front of her.

Actually, this is the security guard, not the receptionist. The AR windows that dominate her attention are feeds from multiple security scanners around the complex, which is apparently much larger than you initially thought.

Her PAN doesn't show any chips or chrome, but she carries a heavy pistol (reporting that it is loaded with Stick 'n Shock rounds). Her PAN also holds a Submachine gun, which is currently in standby somewhere nearby.

1 Success: She is awakened, bored (though more on edge the more of the group arrives),
and generally healthy.
She has no cyberware, and is an adept.
Magic 4, Essence 6, no active effects.

I'll leave this here for a moment. Go ahead and introduce yourselves before we continue.

[Celticbear]

A man dressed in full body spandex and a beige trench-coat comes into the room.
Howdy! I heard mention of monetary compensation, and that's my most favorite kind of compensation out there. Followed closely by idiots trying to ambush me after a job. You aren't going to do that, are you? I'm Guize by the way.

[Taqukaq]

Tesla walks in with her suit and tie. Strangely, being a woman with long blond hair, she dressed in a well tailored suit. She obviously does not have her sniper rifle but she is wearing her black shock gloves. It is easy to forget that she is a martial artist. Her long hair is tied up and wrapped in a quick and efficient sock bun. A picture of professionalism. She remembers everyone, not really through her jobs but through theirs. Ah, the world of being a shaman in the shadowrun community. Tesla has had to remove several magical obstacles one way or another. They paid well and she was able to rely on them for some...errands she had to run. She spots Guize and walks towards him nodding towards him and the person he was talking to. Her words are shortly spoken.

I knew we would meet again... Faelon Din. Faelon for short.

Tesla shoots a glance towards the entrance to check for more arrivals.

[Eldest]

Smoke walks into the room, sparing a respectful nod towards the "secretary" before meandering over to the other two. Yo. Funny to see you again, I heard you got ventilated. She points to Guize. Guess rumor lies. Shocker, amirite?

[Celticbear]

Kinda hard to be shocked to death when the adversary is more insane than the shocker HEH HEH HEH I'm a shell of a man. says Guize as he reaches for a vile of vodka.

[Morcleon]

Cerise Belrose

Walking in beside Smoke, Cerise looks over the assembled runners. She was dressed in a snazzy suit and fancy cloak, perhaps more appropriate for a high-class party than for the dirty work she did. Her elegantly gloved hands brush a strand of dyed hair out of the way and she sets her motorcycle helmet down on a nearby table. "Ah, what a lovely little meeting place."

She smirks at Tesla, winking at her. "Did you now? And I'm Cerise. Nice to meet you."

[Taqukaq]

Tesla grins widely at Cerise. She holds out her gloved hand to shake, with a smirk looking at her gloves as well.

Thats what shamans do. We know things.

She glances over at the rest of the group and looks towards any sign of where we are supposed to meet.

[Celticbear]

KITTY! Oh I've missed that little hunk of metal and love forEVER. Oh man where have you been little drone? Out fightin crime like the best of us? Yes you have, yes you have! says Guize

[Triskavanski]

Myaid

Following up as the last member of this rag tag group of misfits, Myaid walks in though the door. Her eyes scanning room. It was a tad hard to put a figure on it, but there wasn't something quite right with her. Perhaps too much cyberware to give herself an appearance of an anthropomorphic creature of some sort. Her outfit was stereotypical steampunk, with a common ascetic of just gluing some gears on it. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFCuE5rHbPA) Most of the trinkets were pretty useless things, couple of gears an a vacuum tube for example

Of course people she's worked with have known one way or another, despite her efforts to be a real person. She takes a step back from Guize as he starts coming closer. The cat drone on her shoulders meows slightly at the pajama man. "Pad Ki Meow was in the shop, he need a little time to himself." she replies, slowly turning to the others, her ears swiveling about to pick up on the sounds of the room.


[roll0] Electronic warfare using my sensors.
Offactory, Sight, Sound and Radiowaves.

[Odentin]

Precisely as the time of the meeting arrives, an ARO appears before each runner, interrupting the conversation. The ARO guides the group past the elf woman and into an empty conference room. Once everyone is inside, the door slides shut softly and the lights dim. Above the group, a holoprojector set into the ceiling hums to life, and the image of an elderly troll appears in the seat at the head of the table.

"Greetings. I'm glad you all could make it. I do apologize for not being there in person, but at my age, travel is becoming increasingly difficult. Nonetheless, I have need of a team for a very delicate matter, and I was advised that I would a team that could handle it..." He looks over the group with a slightly incredulous look, "Unfortunately, I can only provide limited details prior to acceptance of the job. What I need is a team that is able to infiltrate a law enforcement facility and retrieve some delicate material from the evidence lockup.
Obviously, the utmost discretion is required, as the police must not be made aware of the intrusion, or the . . . loss of the evidence."

"So, will you accept the job?"

[Celticbear]

I have a particular set of skills. Skills that would make me a nightmare to those who side with the law. I will find those files,
and I will deliver them. says Guize. He then looks around and says, None of you have seen taken? Come on, it's a classic!
Ah whatever, we'll get the files.

[Triskavanski]

Myaid

The AI just stares at one in pajamas, slowly shaking her head. She's seen the movie sure, but her in depth analysis of movies has discovered that it was not the proper line to speak at the moment. She turns to the troll, as she recalls all the spy movies she's seen up to this point, before sending a matrix message to Smoke.

<<I believe the correct course of action is to request the details of payment before accepting. My research in the subject of proper contract language is inferior. I do not believe this is a proper time for me to fool him into anything else.>>

[Taqukaq]

Tesla sits there with her hands folded infront of her mouth as she mutters some magical incantations as a habit. No spell is cast, she glances at Guize and then speaks at the troll.

Will you be providing any resources for this run?

[Odentin]

"Compensation will be seventy-five thousand, if that's what you mean. With five of you, that would be fifteen thousand each, if split evenly."

[Taqukaq]

Tesla raises her eyebrow slightly hearing the number. Then she rubs her chin. She nods and fixes her tie, not really a habit.

First you had my curiosity, now you have my attention. I will agree to the job however, i feel like we are going to need to get a modest up front bonus so we will be able to properly prepare, get resources etc. You know how it goes.

[roll0]

[Eldest]

~Anybody actually good at negotiating? I'm decent.~ A small ARO chat group, private to the team, pops up in front of everyone. ~Try not to give away we're talking...~
I'm not sure. She continues out loud. 15k up front -it would be up front?- does imply there are complications.

[Triskavanski]

Myaid quirks her brow looking towards the others as they try to negotiate. She knows something isn't quite right, but she doesn't have a better way of putting into words anything herself, quickly dismissing the floating object in her matrix area.

[Odentin]

The Johnson gives Tesla a stern look, but softens somewhat when Smoke takes over,"Seventy-five thousand in an escrow account, as soon as the job is accepted, to be released once the job is complete. If you need assistance obtaining any hard-to-obtain materials, I am happy to lend you assistance with networking. The compensation is what it is, however."

[Triskavanski]

"Well then, I believe we should get going and get this job done here. I'll accept the job here." the robot says as it looks about the room to the other companions. "What is the one-Oh-one on this job you're needing?"

[Taqukaq]

Tesla nods at the trolls words.

Fair enough, im in, lets hear some details.

[Celticbear]

Wha- what? Oh, are we saying the "I'm in" speeches now? I zoned off after the money heads starting talking about cash. Wait did I say that out loud? Ah whatever, I'm in.

[Eldest]

Smoke nods, rolling her eyes at her spacey comrade. I can do it for 15k each.

[Morcleon]

Cerise Belrose

Giving an emphatic nod, Cerise smiles cheerily at the hologram. "Alright then! Looks like we're all in." Her smile drops and she takes on a more serious expression. "Now then, what's our target?"

[Celticbear]

Is it to much to hope for that it would be a calzone or other kind of hot-pocket because I am starving. groans Guize in a sarcastic tone.

[Odentin]

The troll nods, though a sadness becomes immediately evident in his eyes. As he speaks, a small ARO appears for each member of the team, showing a Zurich Obribtal escrow account, with a balance of 75,000¥.

"My name is Aristotle. I know it is unusual for a Johnson to give his name, but I am not typically a Johnson. In fact, I have been a fixer for many years, now. Recently, a friend of mine, a fellow fixer named Shepherd,
was killed. While I mourn his loss, there is a matter of some concern that needs to be handled before I can put him to rest.

"Shepherd was an old-school fixer. He was one of the first to experience goblinization, way back in twenty-twenty-one.
He had information on thousands of jobs over his career, and even more runners. Basically, his black book is a history of the Shadow community in the San Francisco area, and a directory for every runner in the area. I don't think I need to explain how disastrous it would be for that to fall into the hands of law enforcement, or the Court.

"He had the book on him when he was killed, so when his body was collected by Knight Errant, it was entered into evidence. Thankfully, Shepherd wasn't a moron. The book is encrypted, and does not connect to the Matrix. So KE doesn't have any idea of what they've got their hands on. Yet. And we need to keep it that way. Now, usually, I'd call in a local team, but I can not allow the local Shadow community to know about this. Hence Why I'm calling in a team from out of town.

"I have arranged for a sub-orbital flight to San Francisco for you, so there will be no expense on that front for you.
Are there any other questions you have for me, now?"

[Celticbear]

Huh. Take nice flight, infiltrate a most likely heavily armed law enforcement facility, breach an area most likely heavily guarded,
reclaim an index of badasses, get out, and enjoy another flight. I've had worse jobs, and this one seems strait forward. Even if strait forward leads to death, that's still a better strait forward to ninty nine percent of my jobs. Wait a minute, there's a catch, I just know there's a catch! exclaims Guize.

[Taqukaq]

Do you have Local references or sources of info we could check with to try and familiarize ourselves with the area when we get there? Maybe a contact there we could use incase we need building plans, layout, etc? We have contacts that can do that for Seattle but not so much SanFransisco.

Tesla still maintains her air of professionalism. Her tightly bound hair leaves not a single syrand out of place.

[Triskavanski]

"Can the plane take wheels? I'd rather not have to just walk everywhere." of course it wouldn't be too hard for her, as she was fast as a car already, but still. Bond always got his car whereever he went.

[Odentin]

Aristotle nods, "Limited freight is included, yes. So long as you aren't trying to bring an armored truck,
it shouldn't pose a problem."

[Triskavanski]

"Ah then that should be good then. Wouldn't want to have to go all about a new city on foot."

[Celticbear]

I reverb my concerns about the almost certain catch?

[Eldest]

We're going into a police lockup and sneakily extracting evidence and you're looking for it to be more complicated? Smoke sounds exasperated.

[Celticbear]

I'm not looking for more complications,
I'm asking about pre-existing ones. Would you want to know of the evidence locker was guarded by a crazy powerful physical adept, or would you want it to be your broken jaw to find out before your brain does.

[Morcleon]

Cerise Belrose

"He has a point." Cerise nods and looks to Aristotle with a raised eyebrow. "Anything special going on around the Knight Errant complex that we should know about? Special scanners, specific mages on hire, that sort of thing."

[Triskavanski]

"Oh! and What kind of henchmen they have. Saw this one trio with a person who could regenerate their head after it was decapitated.
He was a pain for the hero to fight as any wound inflicted would regenerate, even after being dumped in Hydrocloric acid! I wouldn't want to go up against something like that." the drone nods a bit.

[Celticbear]

"Oh! and What kind of henchmen they have. Saw this one trio with a person who could regenerate their head after it was decapitated.
He was a pain for the hero to fight as any wound inflicted would regenerate, even after being dumped in Hydrocloric acid! I wouldn't want to go up against something like that." the drone nods a bit.

Did you try dumping it in magma? That seemed to work on Terminator Two.

[Odentin]

"To my knowledge, there is nothing of the sort. However, legwork of that kind is typically part of what YOU are being paid for. I will grant you access to my network of contacts as necessary to assist you while you are here, of course."

[Taqukaq]

Tesla smiles.

Great, that answers my question.

[Celticbear]

Right then. Time for a vacation to San Francisco . We'll see the sites, visit a high class bar and grille, and then loot a heavily guarded evidence locker containing the equivalent of a dragon's internet history in the form of a little black book. Sounds like most of my vacations, except for the dragon's internet history part. Do you think they even use the matrix? declares Guize.

[Triskavanski]

"To my knowledge, there is nothing of the sort. However, legwork of that kind is typically part of what YOU are being paid for. I will grant you access to my network of contacts as necessary to assist you while you are here, of course."

Myaid holds up her finger, closing her eyes "Ah but the first step is always needed from the start." she responds. "If you don't know, then we'll take the next few steps."

[Odentin]

Aristotle smiles, and a compartment on the desk opens to reveal five tickets for a suborbital flight from Seattle to San Francisco in three days time, along with five datachips, "Your tickets are there, along with the burner SINs to go with them. Don't dawdle with them, they won't stand up to any real scrutiny."

An image appears in AR, displaying what appears to be an off-brand commlink with a biometric scanner attached to the back, "This is the book. It is being held in the central Knight Errant office complex. Please, be careful. Their HTR teams are stationed on site. Once you have the book, contact me and we will set up a drop. Good luck,
my friends."

With that, the hologram dissipates, and the lights in the room come back up. You now have three days in which to make any local preparations before your flight...

Let me know if you need to prepare anything. If not, also please let me know so we can move forward.

[Triskavanski]

Myaid drives her car to the airport once the big day has come to get it loaded onto the plane. What looked to be a typical Hyundai Shin-Hyung, black in color, but anyone who knew Myaid knew that it wasn't quite right there. Being a fan of spy movies she often had cars that were all rigged up and ready to do some pretty crazy things.

[Taqukaq]

Tesla pops open the door to the cab as she arrives at the airport. She has several bags with all of her clothes, and everything she needs. She went in and waited for everyone at the gate.

[Celticbear]

With a skip in his step, Guize walks into the airport with an empty tote bag.

[Eldest]

Smoke shows up with a beaten-up backpack slung over a shoulder and a tote bag of gear.

Compiling, spending edge, level 6 Crack sprite. [roll0] vs [roll1]
Registering, spending edge, same sprite. [roll2] vs [roll3]. Any sixes on my roll are rerolled.
Drain is equal to 2 x second roll and 2 x fourth roll.
[roll4] resisting first.
[roll5] resisting second.

[Morcleon]

Cerise Belrose

Riding in on her Suzuki Mirage, a stylish messenger bag slung over her shoulder, Cerise grins and comes to a halt. Watching her motorcycle being loaded up onto the plane, she waves over at her team. "Ah, everyone's already here. Great!"