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

[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.

[Cakeman]

Orion's world view is straight from the Sons propaganda leafleets - magic is corrupting, it destroys anyone it touches and so forth. He hasn't given it much thought actually, just been listening to what is said at the rallies. Ok so they don't say "shoot them!" but the sentiment is there, it's not that hard to extrapolate what the speakers are really thinking. But who knows? This might change if he was actually to speak to a mage :)

[yoippari]

High Rise's view on mages is that they are people like everyone else, but they are people who are born with the ability to summon a tank or can enslave others with a thought. There must be a serious temptation to do that as several mages have shown over the years, so they must be monitored. Registration lets the government do that, all the others are under the jurisdiction of whoever happens to be passing by. What's the saying, "In God We Trust, In Everyone Else We Monitor."

If a mage avoids registration, that is "probable cause." If they avoid registration and never use their abilities, bonus points for the effort, but they should have registered. Registered or not if they use magic to the detriment of society.. Goodbye mage.

[Cakeman]

@2bit:
Regarding last IC post (I don't know how to link directly to a single post..) when Alfred shows us the security cam footage - is it as he says, Malcolm, who handed it to Alfred or did he really say it was the manager, Jessie Reynolds? Cause if it was M.Jackson I'm curious about how he managed to get hold of this tape... thought it was Reynolds the manager who had contacted Alfred after Jackson came to him. This could also be me misunderstanding things :)

[2bit]

The footage was from a camera that Jackson set up and recorded himself. I'll edit Alfred's dialog to make that clear.

[Glyph]

Null's views on magic would also be almost straight out of their propoganda. Their power comes from hostile extradimensional forces, so they are, at best, unkowing collaborators who slowly (and inevitably) get corrupted by their powers. They can be "cured" by using drugs or cyberware to sever their link to their unholy power, but only if it is done before it turns them completely evil.

In a way, he views "normal" mages the same way that they would view insect shamans - as thralls of extradimensional beings with an utterly alien mindset who are hostile towards metahumanity. Also, as a former addict, he sees magic as another form of addiction, one that, like his, leads to inevitable moral and mental decay.

[2bit]

[2bit]

[imperialus]

ahh ok, edited my post to reflect that.

Previous funds=6980 :nuyen: +1000 :nuyen: pay- 100 :nuyen: Drinks = 7880 :nuyen:

[Cakeman]

Aww, a suit from a local vending machine won't cut it? :) What will the price be, just so I can deduct it? Otherwise I see us going into slight legwork phase until the breakfast monday morning.