Witch Hunt: OOC, Alphas have to stick together. Options

[yoippari]

Err, why would a rigger need HW skill? I have gunnery.

Ok, my background.

[ Spoiler ]

Tariq rarely uses his real name in public. Within the Sons of Apollo he goes by Joseph M'Kenzie, though when working he uses the name High Rise, a nick name given to him due to how he lives. He prefers to live in upscale high rises in at least A districts. He also tends to dress like an A district wage slave, part of fitting into the identity he says, but he seems to be at home in his suit and designer sunglasses.

When he was growing up his parents were "Professional Nerds" as they put it. They lived on Ares land, went to Ares matrix clubs, their lives were Ares. This doesn't mean they were as ignorant as the wage slaves they monitored. They knew about the subtle propaganda, the information control, and a few other things that they weren't supposed to.

When the crash in '65 happened the world was thrown into chaos. They had a couple of choices, stay at Ares and live for the company, or get out of the life and regain some of their freedom. The crash is the only thing that made this possible. Biometric readers, the Grid, RFID readers, just about anything that could have detected them was dead. That was fine for Tariqs parents, they were leaving a controlled life. All Tariq knew was that his life is being turned upside down. He was being dragged out of town and nothing was working.

About when they reached Sonomish he had had enough. That is where he got off. He's 16, and can handle himself. They might have wanted to leave but he didn't. So they left Alfred with him. They continued into the cascades and set up shop with the Cascade Orks. Currently they run a remote data backup site.

As news got out about the crash and people realized mages were behind it the awakened became the new group it was ok to hate. Now, 5 years later, that hate is still around in most people and everyone else just distrusts mages. Tariq sees mages as someone that need to be monitored, similar to what his parents did to people at desks he does to people in ritual lodges. When one is up to no good he figures out a way of stopping them, usually with well disguised drones. Until he joined the Sons of Apollo.

The Sons of Apollo approched Tariq after geeking a toxic mage they had their eye on. He was quick and with this one as subtle as a troll. They convinced him to join them as a Alpha, one of their front line against all the Winternights out there.

Common background:
Most of his time is split between the matrix and tinkering. His parents who run the backup server for the cascade orks are professionally trained deckers and have some of their own hacker/ork/ares security contacts.

He is also in good standing with a local junk yard who supplies him with parts, sometimes in return for fixing the odd drone or vehicle.

Within the Sons he gathers information. Jobs that he wasn't on directly he may have gathered the intel leading up to it.

[imperialus]

@Cakeman:

It's entiarly possible that Malleus and Orion might know each other from either the Yellow Brick Road or the club that Kasandra works at. Malleus is a bit of an alchoholic so he spends a lot of time in various clubs.

[Glyph]

Null doesn't have the first aid skill, but he does have a rating: 6 medkit.

He is unlikely to be a regular patron of The Yellow Brick Road unless he is meeting someone there- if you have seen him there at all, it will probably be sitting in a corner, looking uncomfortable and nursing a club soda.

However, he is very likely to have met both Malleus (the face) and Orion (likes to help out) at the public meetings or rallies, which he enjoys attending.

His contacts are:
Loogie: overweight troll blogger who tracks anti-awakened efforts and their detractors.
Mack Frosser: Fixer in CAS-style white suits, runs a junk shop, more fence than anything.

High Rise might be someone who knows Loogie (not as a contact, but just as someone sympathetic to the cause who is online a lot), and through him know a bit about Null. Null may also might have been briefed by him before a mission or two.

[2bit]

[Cakeman]

@Imperialus
More likely the club where Kassandra works, I got the impression it was more of a nightclub. Orion doesn't hang around pubs (yet), but let's say we know each other from some clubs downtown.

The Sons of Apollo must have some logo, Orion can wear a pin on his clothes wherever he goes as an identifier to other members and maybe someone gets curious and asks. They must definately have them at the rallies...

@Glyph
Null and Orion have met at rallies where they joined forces to hand out flyers and talk to people (or providing security..)

@2bit
The Alphas, as an organisation within the Sons, do they have any sort of meetings etc? Or is Alfred the spider in the web and all the Alphas are unaware of eachother until they've met on a run?

Let's see how this works with timezones and all. I'll try to check in on the IC thread in the morning before school and then in the evening, but if you all find that I... what's a good english expression? am a stopper? Hold you all back? Gah! You know what I mean, in that event just say so and I'll quietly drop out. Or get spectacularly shot :)

[yoippari]

also @2bit
Are we THE alphas for the Sons in seattle or are we a few of many? What is public opinion? Lonestar opinion? Are we as legit as "sanctioned" shadowrunners working for a corp or more like gangers with a mission?

[2bit]

[Cakeman]

[2bit]

IC has been posted.

[2bit]

The Yellow Brick Road

The Yellow Brick Road is a bar/lounge on the north side of Seattle (Downtown) District. It's a standalone one-story building on a street corner. The main entrance is on the corner. Parking is on the street. There is a tube station about two blocks away. A line of yellow-gold neon runs down each side of the building. The sidewalk in front of the main entrance looks like bricks of gold, and the walls on either side of the main entrance are luminous bars of gold. Above the entrance is a holo display of a spinning "YBR" logo. AROs displaying hours of operation, drink specials, and upcoming musical gigs are available near the door.
The interior decor is done up in a gold brick style, and has no relevence to the Wizard of Oz. It's all about the flash of gold, and lines that suggest speed. The patrons it attracts are typically single, middle class professionals.
You have done meets with Alfred at the YBR before. You know that the bar is owned by Sons of Apollo members and its employees are either members or people sympathetic to the cause.

[imperialus]

Starting Cash roll (high lifestyle):
4d6=14
14x500= :nuyen: 7000

Malleus leaves his Hammerli in the car but makes sure his Streetline is secured in his arm slide holster (this is assuming that he has brought the streetline to the YBR before without incident, if it'll land him in trouble he'll leave it behind too).

[2bit]

Judging from past experiences, that falls within the frame of "business casual".

[imperialus]

Perception test: (on crowd)
1d6=3, 1d6=4, 1d6=6, 1d6=6, 1d6=5, 1d6=2 (3 hits to notice anything unusal)

20 :nuyen: spent on 2 drinks total remaining 6980 :nuyen:

Edit: Only 500 :nuyen: will be available on Malleus' Sony at any given time. The rest is in a different account that can only be accessed through his Transys. Whenever Malleus has the chance he'll transfer money over to the Sony. The Transys also has his rating 6 SIN attached to it identifying him as an accountant working for a average sized personal accounting firm (Something like H&R block). It's also this SIN that has his apartment and car registered. The Sony has a rating 3 SIN attached that claims he is a data entry clerk for a small IT company.

[2bit]

Thanks for keeping track of your cash, imperialus.

@imperialus:

[ Spoiler ]

There's always something unusual going on at a bar this crowded. You notice:
- A cute young elf waitress watches you talk to Greta. You don't recognize her.
- A human man standing near the bathroom holds an ice pack on his crotch.
- Two men stagger out the door after you enter, singing what sounds like a corporate anthem. You don't know the song (or company).

[Cakeman]

Starting cash for Orion is 1500 :nuyen:
roll

He's wearing a longcoat over some regular clothes to the meeting - not a suit, but an ok shirt for his lifestyle. No gun as he feels safe and among friends, but he has his flash-pak in a pocket.

Btw: I assume I've walked past Greta into the back room as per imperialus post. I have no objection to people using orion a little or putting words in his mouth, it often makes for a better floww in the story if I don't have to micromanage him all the time :) This last paragraph was the edit.

This post has been edited by Cakeman: Mar 19 2007, 10:13 PM

[yoippari]

Starting cash for Tariq is 1700

Tariq is wearing his day-to-day style clothes (business casual, same as everyone else in his neighborhood). No weapons on him but Alfred and the dalmatian are in the van along with some of his other gear.

[2bit]

So you did go with the van? I need your final sheet, btw yoippari.

[imperialus]

For those of us in the meet room already, is Alfred there already or do we have time for small talk and introductions?

[yoippari]

I sent you a link to it a few days ago, that should stay current with whatever changes I make. I'll resend it if you don't have it anymore.

I went with the van.

[Glyph]

Null will be packing light for this meeting - just his armored vest and the hammerli in the hidden arm slide, loaded with regular ammo, with two spare clips (also regular ammo) on his person.

[2bit]

got the link, yoippari. weird, earlier when i checked it, the spreadsheet was there but the values were missing. it's ok now.

Alfred will be in the room when you enter. I'll post the next scene in the meeting room later today.

[yoippari]

Ya, I used it as a base for a blank sheet and it autosaved. When I went back to it I was able to revert to a previous version (aka "mass oops").

[2bit]

The Sons of Apollo pay their Alphas bounties for unregistered awakened metahumans. The bounty is based on these factors (subject to change, will edit as we go) which must be proven, either by the Alphas (video, records, etc.) or by the policlub at one of their facilities. Evidence provided by the Alphas is subject to review.

1- Condition - Dead: 2500 :nuyen: , alive 8000 :nuyen:
Tests can be run on the recently deceased to determine if they're magically active or not.

2- Demonstrated Powers - Adept: 500 Astral Seer: 500 Sorcerer: 750 Conjurer/Possesser: 1000
This is ranked according to threat level, as seen by the policlub. Drugs can be administered to a live patient that force the subject into astral perception, if they are capable of it. While in this state, certain flora that change color in the presence of astral entities reveal the subject's dual nature.

3 - Advancement - Initiate: 5000 Travelled to a Metaplane: 3000
Those who delve deeper into the madness of Magic are deemed more unstable and dangerous, especially those who have visited the homes of extraplanar entities. This information is usually gleaned through interrogation and seizure of subject's property, including verifiable personal records.

4 - Greater Threats - Blood Mage: 10,000/60,000 Toxic Shaman: 15,000/100,000 Insect Shaman: 20,000/200,000
The listed bounties are Dead/Alive and replace the normal bounty for awakened.

[Cakeman]

Running tests on them? Seems mighty dangerous to me, the corruption might spread... the only good mage is a dead mage :)

[imperialus]

[Malleus' World View]No, provided they are registered and licenced by the goverenment their threat can be minimized. Magic is a fact of life and mages can't help being born with their... abilities. Some may even prove useful in the service of humanity. Control, not extermination must be key to our dealings with the awakened. Of course, should they attempt to risist registration then they are a threat and should be dealt with in the same way as you would deal with a devil rat or other awakened threat.[/Maleus' world view]

Malleus is very much a realist. He has a difficult time hating all mages, after all his sister was one and he knows enough about magic to realize that now that it's out of the bag no one can simply shove it back in. His goal is primarally to ensure that mages abilities are used for the good of mankind as a whole, not the whims of the practitioners or worse yet their totoms. If mages suffer persecution or even if a few "innocent" ones get caught in the crossfire, too bad. That's the price for a better world.