Click, Click, Boom. [Shadowrun 4]

[Lentrax]

Hey, hey, hey, Angelinos! Time is now eight-thirty five in the PM on this fine Friday night, and it's time to get your show on!

Jack out, jack in. Hell, jack off, if you gotta.

There's plenty going on in the scene tonight, but one of the biggest is going to be at the Fire Pit. Twenty Nuyen gets you in the door, and drinks are half price until the show starts. Three bands, starting with the Pink Mohawks, your opening show. Good luck, guys. This crowd wants a good show. After the opening set, we have crowd favorite Fudge Stripers.

And now to get you started, a blast of rock from the past. Trapt, hed(pe), Cornholers, and more coming right... now.


The atmosphere in the Fire Pit is lively tonight. The Fudge Stripers usually gather a decent crowd, and tonight is no exception. People from all walks of life are here: regular folk, squares, posers, go-gangers, Posers (gangbangers who undergo surgical alterations to look, move, and sound like celebrities), orcs, dwarves, elves. It seems like nearly every demographical group in the greater Los Angeles is represented here. At least with one person anyway.

The party seems to be in full swing though, and you all notice the usual assortment of 'party favors' making the rounds. Jazz, Cram, Novacoke, even some Zen.

As you arrive, a fight breaks out between a couple of poser gangs. The RatPack is in a full on brawl with some of the members of the ExPresidents. A lot of the others get outta the way, but the orcs all start to gather around watching the violence with grins, and more than a couple of bets are taken about the winners of the fight.

[Fast Jimmy]

Charles, Troll Melee Tank/Bass Player

Even in a crowd as varied as the Fire Pit, Charles stands out, his massive 10-foot-tall troll frame, wired and augmented out, head and shoulders above even the tallest orcs. While there are other trolls there as well, Charles carrying his particularly wicked, gigantic bass strapped to his back gives his already menacing appearance an even edgier feel.

Charles looks around the place as he hauls amps, speakers, synthesizers, instruments and other equipment in from the band's van. Being brand new to the band, he was actually very nervous, despite his bristling visage. His first gig! While he felt very confident in tryouts, his nerves were now more... twitchy... with the night of the show finally here.

Of course, you wouldn't know any of that by looking at the stoic tank. As he walks up to the club's security, raising eyebrows, he merely grunts and says:

"I'm with the band."

[dream]

Mammön

Just another night in the jungle, right?

Simone slid from the van and looked over the streets: shimmering, shiny sideways people of Lisp Angeles. This was the Real, not the walled vistas of AA. But she wanted to be here. Right now. She had to be here, 'cause there wasn't anywhere else to be.

She stepped across the curb and tilted her fuzzy-blonde mop at Ra'uq, the Orc security guard and his associate. Some groupie. Ra'uq grinned and nodded back,

<"Hittin' tonight?"> he snorted. His Or'zet was horrible, for an Orc. His eyes pawed her body.

"<Hittin'. Like a dragon's ****. Where's Bambi?>" Simone replied in Or'zet. Ra'uq shrugged and Simone pointed and winked as she pushed past the Santa's helpers out front.

Oh **** yeah, a fight. I needed that right now. Get rid of these jitters. Something physical. Maybe the new axe ---

Simone sighed and went over the set again in her head. This gig paid so she had to hit. Work the crowd and maybe make a friend or two. Friends with credentials. It was shoulder-to-shoulder. Simone ghosted past 'em all dancing a series of sidesteps she'd learned in the dark. She only got touched when she wanted it. Only touched when she meant it.

Bambi's working the crowd. As usual. With security like this .... she bumped the tall human guard and he grunted. He reached out for her thigh only to get that semi-synthetic hand slapped away.

"Get to work, Yono." He laughed the way devils in hell laugh and it tickled her skin.

Simone drifted through the shadows and multi-color illusion around the gang rumble making sure to stay clear. Ghostin'. She was only barely there. She went over the set again in her head and looked around for Mandy and Nova .....

Spoiler: Memory

Show

(8d6)[6][4][4][1][4][2][6][2](29)

[Kii]

Nova

Nova was sitting away from the majority of the crowd typing on an AR keyboard, having arrived there ahead of time, when the rest of the band started showing up.

Nova waves towards each member band when she notices their comms enter the room before pulling up her notes on the set for tonight in AR.

[Cool Trash]

A tall, magenta skinned Ork woman trailed behind the rest of the group, head held up high, microphone twirling in her left hand, right hand stuck in her jacket pocket, clenching. She didn't have pockets in her pants-form-fitting clothing rarely did, and that was case whether she was wearing armor or jeans, so this was something she was used to.

She wasn't quite used to running behind everyone, but it was a necessary evil in this scenario. Not that she could run in a place like this-even without the crowd, can't look concerned about anything. She'd had to stop in the parking lot to make sure her hair looked right, and her suit wasn't creasing, and to pop a psyche before the performance, though she'd been feeling pretty good today regardless. This didn't make the psyche a non-necessity, of course, but it did she didn't have to wander into whatever filth passed for a ladies room around here and speedball it with some Red M. In any case, she could feel her hand unclenching and steadying, and she pulled it out and strided a bit faster, up to face the rest of the group.

She catches up and leans over near the side of Nova's setup. She doesn't say anything, but gives her a quick upturned nod to respond to her waving.

[Meriss]

Mandy

Mandy watches carefully as Charles schleps the gear out of the back of her Bulldog. Some of her band mates were twice as hard core about their gear as she was about her van.

All in all, the newbie was working out pretty well. Not that she could really complain. She had only been with the band for a few months longer then he had. She had been on at least one "extra gig" and had found out exactly how the band lost their last drummer.

Mandy hops down from the rear step. {Tighten up Doc} she coms the van. The youth is rewarded by a series of hard clunks as the pilot program locks the van.

She smiles up at Ra'uq from underneath neon pink bangs. "He's cool Ra'uq. Just pretend he's one of us girls."

Once past the door she points at the stage. "Stack the gear by the stage. Try and stay straight till after our set, Kay sugar?"

She slides up next to Nova. "Heya boss lady. How's tricks?"

[dream]

Mammön

Simone appeared next to Mandy and leaned on the wall, watching the piano music play along her com screen,

"Nice crowd. Dying on-stage pays double, right?"

She goes over the set in her head. She looks over everyone's faces. Everyone that's here.

"Where's Prim?"

[Meriss]

Mandy

Mandy grins toothily at Simone before pointing wordlessly across the table at Primrose.

"Neh, I've seen worse. Down in the holler there was this place that was built on a swamp. Gators bigger 'en Charlie Boy."

[Marius]

Mars

Mars strolls casually backstage, just nooding at the bouncer as he passes. He's wearing a black urban jumpsuit adorned with green celtic runes that flash over it. "What's up chummers! Miss me?" He leaves both his guitar cases on the floor. Opens one of them and starts fiddling with his guitar. "This place looks even worse than before, whose idea was it to play here anyway? At least they're lively."

[Cool Trash]

Primrose turned to Mammon next, having heard her query as she approached. "Relax. You think I'd flake on you with an appointment in such a" she turns to face the crowd, a writhing mass of dark colors, violent movement and wailed ethnic and homophobic slurs "radiant place like this? Just had to take my medicine."
She held up a designer pill bottle , four doses of Psyche unconsumed in it, and shook it. "Want a hit? No side effects, and it helps grease up the creative process a ton. Better than any prescription, really."

[Kii]

Nova snaps back to reality and sits up straight at the mention of Psyche. "No side effects is a pretty foolish point of view for any drug. Just wait until that mentality gets you hooked on so many different substances that you can't afford it anymore and the cravings set in but you can't do anything about it anymore and..." Nova has to cut herself short to catch her breath in the middle of her rant. "Well you get the point." Nova slouches back and focuses back on her AR with that last sentence.

[dream]

Mammön

"Hey, Nova. I was wondering where you stand on recreational doping?"

She grinned and pocketed her comm,

"I need to go see an angel about a dog. Um ..... aren't we 'it' folks? Let's get paid, eh?"

Simone strides away searching the crowd for the Pit's manager ....

[Lentrax]

The brawl finally winds down. Nuyen changes hands. The participants limp off to nurse wounds. A Kennedy look alike flops down at the bar and grabs a beer, holding it against a cut on his head after taking a long pull from the bottle.

Not too long afterward, its time to start the show.

The lights dim, the crowd quiets down, and the first notes of hard, heavy music hit the air....


****

"Good set, everyone," Loque, the backstage manager says to you as you pull your gear offstage. "You'll get paid tonight. After we see how much damage the Stripers induce in the crowd...."

You head backstage to where you have a spot to check your instruments and put everything away to haul out yourselves.

The box was sitting amongst the drum storage containers. Just big enough to be easily taken for one of yours. Even decorated in the same motley assortment of bumper stickers and band logos. But it was what was inside that made it even more interesting. Because crammed inside the box, just under a layer of bloody packing peanuts, was the body of a man in a very (formerly) expensive business suit.

[Fast Jimmy]

Charles, Troll Melee Tank/Bass Player

Charles, in an abundance of caution, steps away from the box and moves to the door, bolting it shut and bracing himself against it, like a living door reinforcement. He then watches the others to see what they do with the body.

[Kii]

Nova stares at the box for a moment before going and poking it a few times in various places, before poking the body itself lightly.

If nothing comes of it she then proceeds to look over what's easily visible to see if there's a datajack or any indication of a commlink on the corpse.

[Marius]

Mars looks at the body with curiosity. He switches on his thermographic to see how recent is the stiff. "Seems like we're going to have a busy night." He stashes his guitar and opens his other guitar case that doesn't hold a guitar but his rifle and pistol. He checks them quickly, his fingers flying over them.

[Meriss]

Mandy

"Drek, drek, drek! This better be a slagging Striper prank."

She scopes about the drum kit making sure none of the skins were damaged.

[dream]

Simone wanders in and seeing the agitated looks, investigates the box,

"Okaaay. Guess people were really dying to get in here tonight. He looks like a cold hamburger in there."

She makes sure to record the scene visually, just in case, while trying to identify the stiff,

"I'm hoping no one touched anything .... anybody see anyone lurking around after the set?"

Spoiler: L.A. Business check to I.D.

Show

(7d6)[2][4][4][6][6][5][3](30)

[Kii]

Nova half-raises her hand "I... poked the box a bit, and the body..."

[Meriss]

Mandy

"Holy hot drek on a stick! Did you touch the actual body? Slag it! We need to get the frag out of Dodge, y'all!"

Mandy straightens up and runs her fingers through her neon pink hair. {Doc! Wake up! Search Mode!}

Outside the club Ra'uq and his buddies notice the GMC Bulldog start rumbling.

[Lentrax]

Your poking around yields a wallet falling out of a pocket. It opens to a couple of credit cards, some middling amounts of cash (1250 ¥) and a DocWagon card, all of which are made out to Dietrich Mannhauer.

none of you can recall anyone poking around during your set, because you were a bit busy at the time. But the evidence before you suggests that someone was in here. And that whoever it was plans for you to take the fall for Dietrich's murder.

[dream]

Frag. This is a set-up or something, Simone muses. She turns to the others,

"You guys can bail if you want. I need to get Ra'uq in here and cover our bases. He's our alibi that this went down during our set."

She triggers her cyber-comm,

"Ra'uq? You out there? I need you in back, ASAP!"

Simone walks for the entrance and waves Charles away from the door while yelling at everyone,

"AND STOP TOUCHING STUFF IN HERE! Let me out, Charles ...."

Before she exits the room, Simone looks around for cameras or any unusual tech.

Spoiler: Perception

Show

(8d6)[2][1][5][6][3][6][5][3](31)

[Fast Jimmy]

Charles, Troll Melee Tank/Bass Player

Charles, confused by this entire series of events, is conflicted. He wants to remain safe until they can figure out a plan, but he also is being given an order to obey.

Of course, being a quiet, introverted, mentally limited troll, he has one natural reaction to being confused and conflicted... he shuts down. Charles hunkers down even tighter, refusing to budge away from the door, obscuring the entire frame with his body.

[Kii]

"Well, I am wearing gloves." Nova mumbles before retreating into the darkest corner in the room and sitting down on the floor. She then proceeds to start trying to start running some searches in the matrix as to information on Manhauer.

[Meriss]

Mandy

"Lord, Simone! Yah done scared the po' boy."

Mandy walks over towards Charles keeping her hands open and non threatening.

"Charlie Boy. Charles. It's me Mandy. Yer friend, yer drummer. Listen to me. Look at me."

"I know yer scared. All of us is scared. Somebody did a bad, bad thing. And they's a tryin ta pin it on us. We ain't gonna let that happen."

"But, one way or t'other yer gonna have to move. Whether you do it or somebody makes you is yer choice. Choose right."

Spoiler: (PM to Nova)

Show

{See if you kin get a lock on his link. Iffin Slam ain't the low down double crosser I know he is, Charlie Boy's got a back door on his OS. But let's see how this goes.}

[Fast Jimmy]

Charles, Troll Melee Tank/Bass Player

Listening to Mandy's Southern drawl and calming word, Charles fond himself less on edge. After mulling it over for a second, he stops bracing against the door and moves out of the doorway.

He nods at Mandy and Simone. "I'm with the band."

[Marius]

"Now it's not the time to panic, we have to act and we have to act fast." Mars looks down and then at the body as if he could make it disappear if he wanted. "If someone wants to frame us, she probably already called Lone Star on us or will as soon as we leave. Can any of you get the security footage of the club?"

[Kii]

"Can Charles play bass? I can hack the node the cameras are feeding into." Nova says as she takes out her cable and simdeck. "But shouldn't there be an easier way to get it?"

[Meriss]

Mandy

"Yeah, we kin try asking whoever set us up ta jest give it to us."

Mandy rolls her eyes dramatically.

"Whatever, I'm buggin out y'all. Anyone who don't wanna have an unhappy convo' with the Star had better be out o' here soonish.

"Charlie Boy, I got a game fer ya! Grab all o' our gear and stack it by the van. Don't touch that box, She points at the dead man. "See, iffin you kin do it without any body stoppin ya and I'll buy you something. Now don't hurt no body mind you. And... Go!"

[Lentrax]

Before any of you can do anything, there's a knock at the door.

"Hey!" It's Loque. We just got a call, Lone Star is on the way here right now. Don't know what for, but we're getting everyone out of here! And that includes you, omae!"

A slight pause, "You hear me in there? Fraggin' cops, man!"