Greenhorns in Seattle, The Out of Character Thread Options

[Dusty Ghost]

Right, amended my post to match that. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[imperialus]

Just so everyone knows I'm going to be leaving for the long weekend coming up here. It's Canada Day in these parts so I'm going camping. Should be back to normal on Tuesday though. I'm still not sure where you guys want to go next. I see a couple options.

A) Go deal with the band
B) Crack Edwards skull
C) Try and get a meet with Usaka.

Dealing with the band is the only one that won't move the plot forward. They don't know anything that you haven't already figured out. They're just a bit of a loose end at this point, it's up to you if you want to tie them off now or leave them for Icelady to deal with. If you're feeling mercenary, then technically speaking you aren't getting paid to deal with them.

[Mickle5125]

Imperialus, I just sent off the reply. lemme know if you don't get it.

[Nigel]

Player-wise, I'd prefer to deal with the band. Character-wise, it's not more money so Loki wouldn't care. He's pretty much in this for the Nuyen and prestige. That's just me (and him), though.

[JoelHalpern]

Seems like th band is not useful.
If Icelady thinks they need a talking to, we can do so. But even Mack can tell they are just being used.

So we have to go for Edward. (No way I can see us getting a meeting with a high level Yak, much less getting anything out of it without a LOT more groundwork.)
However, we are going to have to have more information about Edward. We are not going to be able to take him at work at all.
We might be able to take him at home, but the risks are quite high. (Even winning a firefight with Lonestar, we lose since they will start looking for us.) I don't think we collectively have the sneakiness for it. (Sweeps can probably get in to his house. But it will take more than that to do anything.

In this version of shadowrun, can Sybercat figure out if Edward drives to work?
If so, could she remotely take her time, hack his car overnight,
then get in to his comlink while he is driving.
Then detour the car to meet us somewhere, while preventing the comlink from calling?
Do we know what sort of skills Edward has? (The preceding would be a disaster if he were a programmer of some type himself.)

Just trying to think through possibilities.

Joel / Mack

[Mickle5125]

honestly, if she asks Padre to help with the band, he'll do it. If not, however it's not money in his hand, so he won't do it. Padre's all about earning money to help his church.

Therefore, he'll follow the money. of the other two choices, however, he'd choose the Yaks.

oh yeah, Imperialus, did padre remember anything with the gossip roll about the Yaks (4 hits)?

ALSO! Question! Imperialus, do you mind if I have my ganger contact be a member of the Dogs of War?

I gotta lot of data on a gang called "The Dogs of War". They're a mixed racial paramilitary based group that holds down a 6 block area in the barrens.

The D>O>W( their tag, usually in safety yellow) were co-opted out of several smaller gangs and formed into a somewhat functional force by retired mercenaries returning home to the mean streets that gave them their start. The present leader ship is composed of an eight person Board of Command, with a Chief Commander over them who is chosen by a vote of confidence. Present CC is Captain Angus"Beef" Hart, a no-nonsense ,mostly Cyber veteran of more conflicts than the rest of the Board put together. As things are heating up in the barrens, his skills are really helping the D>O>W gain ground and respect among the neighboring gangs. The recent defeat (and annihilation) of the Humanis backed "Thor's Hammers" has given a discipline and sense of pride to the gang.

The gang,which resembles a Civil Air Patrol unit more than your typical streeters, is also better equipped due to the Mercenary contacts. All active members carry side arms and patrols are well armed with at least one LMG . They are light on magic, as anyone with Talent is quickly grabbed up by the merc companies that recruit out of the gang. However, they have been fostering relationships with various shadowrunner teams, offering favors and sometimes housing, weapons and other toys in return for assistance in filling the magic stuff.

The attack on the "Thors Hammers" was a retaliatory strike after the Hammers broke a non-aggression pact by attacking a D>O>W patrol. Within an hour of the ambush, the Dogs rolled over the Hammers with everything they had. Drones pounded the known hangouts in force,while teams infiltrated and systematically assassinated the leaders of the rival gang. In the ensuing chaos, the main troops rolled in led by two ancient M1A2 Abrams tanks. The tanks had been refitted with Twin Firelinked Panther cannons as the main guns and flame projectors. In under 90 minutes the Hammers ceased to exist. As word spread, the other gangs who had turf close to the D>O>W quickly sent word that they were firm allies of the Dogs and would be more than happy to help in anyway needed.

The gang operates out of an old Elementary school on the 120th ave. The school, originally the George W. Bush Memorial Elementary School, now is known as GBM1 to the gang or by the locals as 'The Pound". Part community center part fortress, it is the heart and hope of the residents who live there. The area is still barrens, but is showing sighs of lifting itself out of the decay that surrounds it .

[Dusty Ghost]

Sweeps has got the investigation bug now. He would still like to go meet the band. We could have done this from the start and haven't managed it.
It doesn't need to be a long meeting, Sweeps just wants to hear their take on this:

1) Cause Icelady probably needs us to
2) I wanna hear how they think they fit into all of this.
3) It will give us a good leaving point for Imperialus to take his break, then we get to the more complicated stuff when he is back.

Then go meet the Yakuza if we can. Edward is good, but he would only have certain info.

Joel have a read of what our arms dealer contact said to us: This Usaka sounds like the best person to contact. Padré and I could try and get our arms dealer to set it up. I think it's better to talk to the source of the trouble rather than the tool used (meaning Edward).

Then if still needed or we get no where with the Yaks, we go an crack Edward around the head a bit.

I'll leave it to you guys to decide. Sweeps will go whereever you guys do. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[JoelHalpern]

At some point we will probably want to talk with Usaka.
But ...
From teh way the situation is described, it is not at all clear that Usaka will know anything about it.
If we get to the point where we know what is happening, but need some help, then we can probably bargain with him.
The notes indicated that the different groups tend to operate separately, and that Usaka has been losing ground to Kat. And that Kat is very good at what she does.
Also, meeting with Usaka may get us painted with his colors. We don't know enough to know if that will help us, but I tend to doubt it.

It is certainly possible that Edward does not know much. And it is going to take a lot of work to talk with him.
But compared with meeting a Yak boss, the risks are low.
For one thing, if we grab Edward, we can take our time asking him questions.
In contrast, we will only get one meeting with Usaka, and if we ask the wrong things, or even just don't ask the right things, we will not get what we need, and we won't be able to go back to that well. Meeting high level folks is not something I would want to do as a fishing trip.

As for the band, if folks want to go visit them, it probably can't hurt. Anyone who is watching for interested parties has probably already spotted us. (Simple surveillance on Icelady would do that.)

Joel / Mack

[Dusty Ghost]

Well ok,

as said before, Sweeps will go where ever.

But I think Imperialus was hinting that we may want to talk to the Yaks at some point.

[JoelHalpern]

..
But I think Imperialus was hinting that we may want to talk to the Yaks at some point.
...

I agree that sooner or later we are going to have to talk to some Yaks.
The question is when, and which ones.
I await comments from the rest of the players.
Joel

[Mickle5125]

from the looks of it, Edward is Yak. So talking to Edward would get us to the Yaks just as easily.

The question we have to ask ourselves is: Do we want our meeting with the Yaks to be violent, or potentially peaceful? Because, from the way Imp described it, Edward's going to be a kidnapping/running firefight type meeting.

[JoelHalpern]

from the looks of it, Edward is Yak. So talking to Edward would get us to the Yaks just as easily.

The question we have to ask ourselves is: Do we want our meeting with the Yaks to be violent, or potentially peaceful? Because, from the way Imp described it, Edward's going to be a kidnapping/running firefight type meeting.

The assumption I am making is that while Edward is connected, he is not a top Yak figure. As such, if we can figure out a way to grab him we should be able to question him.
If either he is better connected than I have gathered, or if there is no effective way to grab him, then we need a different plan.

Joel / Mack

[JoelHalpern]

I was reading back over the posts, trying to figure out what we know.
I am pretty sure I had missed some things you folks had noticed.

I am not sure I understand what it means for Edward to have sold his family, including his brother, to the Yaks. I can understand how he can sell himself. And I suppose that to some degree that can include his wife and kids. But even in the 2070 setup, the Yaks would not normally think that gave them any rights on anyone else. Now, they may not care about rights, but to the degree Edward's agreement with the Yaks is relevant, I don't understand it.

If I get the picture, the Yaks have grabbed DA, and staged his death to increase his value (and probably to throw off folks looking for him.) I am not sure I understand that tactic either. If they can force him to cooperate (which they clearly have, as he performed for them) then he could have sent a note that said "called away unexpectedly. I'll get back to you." Much less effort than getting a dead body and paying an ME to do a sloppy job.

It looks like, in spite of my confusion, we will end up needing to get DA away from the Yaks. If so, there are several implications:
1) Icelady better come up with a plan for how to keep him free.
2) Once we have a plan, it might be possible to use our Yak contacts, since they may like something that weakens Kat.
2') I wonder just how much Edwards MCT connections have been helping Kat.
3) We have to figure out where DA is being kept. Kat sure isn't going to tell us. Other Oyabun are unlikely to know.
4) Grabbing and question Edward may help us sort out some of these things. There are two questions for that:
4a) Will Edward have any way to figure out where DA is being held? He might. He might have been able to insist that they prove to him that DA is alive on a regular basis.
4b) It may be that Edward can actually be of assistance to us. But that is going to require a snatch that does not hurt him too much, and if at all possible is not even noticeable. (i.e. if neither MCT nor the Yaks know he has been snatched for a while, that opens options.) But even exploring that path requires a heck of a lot more information.

Joel, who has been thinking too much probably, and I am sure missed several obvious alternatives.

[Dusty Ghost]

Nice theory Joel! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Going straight for Edward seems risky to me.

Right, we have not got all the information, so it's speculation at the moment.

Before we go to the Yaks or Edward, we need to make sure we have all the information we can.

The Band, despite seeming like a wast of time, may still have some information that would help us out in a meet with either the Yaks or Edward. And it's less likely we end up in a fight with them.

Usaka, I'm sorry to say is chum in the water. Decent man, straight forward and much more liberal than the other two which is why he'll deal with a trog like me.

Usaka sounds like the next safest place to go.

Then we decide if we need to hit Edward

So I say this order now

Let's just put it to a vote:

I say:
1)Band
2)Usaka (Yak)
3)We decide on Edward

[JoelHalpern]

...
Let's just put it to a vote:

I say:
1)Band
2)Usaka (Yak)
3)We decide on Edward

Well, I have no problem with going to the Band first.
(The GMs phrasing suggested that wouldn't help, but we ought to at least be able to do our client the favor of getting them to back off. And maybe we will pick up something new.)

Then we can discuss which following step works, and what it will help us do.
If we decide to get a meet with Usaka, I would like to know what we are going to ask / tell him.

Joel

[Mickle5125]

If we go for Usaka, I want to know as much about the politics and background of the situation involving him and Kat. I want to have a nice, juicy favor to offer him in exchange for whatever information or help we can get from him. That way, it's less likely that we're going to end up going splat when we talk to him.

[Dusty Ghost]

If we go for Usaka, I want to know as much about the politics and background of the situation involving him and Kat. I want to have a nice, juicy favor to offer him in exchange for whatever information or help we can get from him. That way, it's less likely that we're going to end up going splat when we talk to him.

Indeed! Cautious we must be! (Yoda talk). I'll get Sweeps to ask his arms dealer to set up a meet if you like, and ask him to fill us in on how he thinks we should behave. Padre could possibly ask too. While we are waiting for him to get back to us, we can see the Band as a kind of pre-meet entertainment. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Is that agreed?

[Mickle5125]

we do this, and most, if not all, of your karma should be spent on the social interactions

[Dusty Ghost]

Nigel, Seraph what do you guys want to do?

[Nigel]

I already posted that I'd go along with whatever the rest of the team decided. Loki doesn't have any Yak contacts at all, so he can't help setting up any sort of meet, but Padre can do that anyhow.

[JoelHalpern]

If we go for Usaka, I want to know as much about the politics and background of the situation involving him and Kat. I want to have a nice, juicy favor to offer him in exchange for whatever information or help we can get from him. That way, it's less likely that we're going to end up going splat when we talk to him.

I agree with this, and want to emphasis that we need to know what we are after before we use of the favor of a meeting.

Joel

[Dusty Ghost]

Imperialus? Suppose this conversation happens over the team comlink. What would Sybercat offer on this?

[Mickle5125]

we do this, and most, if not all, of your karma should be spent on the social interactions

oops... that should be Edge, not Karma... that'll teach me to send messages w/o proofreading them right after I wake up.

and. as to the meeting... we don't only need to know how to act... we need to know what he wants or needs. Rumor says that he's getting pretty screwed in the Yak Politics arena by Kat, so perhaps he'd be willing to do something for us if we can do something about Kat (like screw up her plans by taking Dark Angel away from her).

We might also want to get advice from anyone at all that might know something... like Tinman. Anyone want to be the one to ask him for info?

[imperialus]

Hey, all. I'm back. Sunburnt, tired and I probably donated half my blood to the horseflies but I'm back.

It's almost midnight here though and I just spent 7 hours in the car so I'll do the next post tomorrow when I get the chance.

[imperialus]

Ok...

Just so I know we're all on the same page.

I'll start things off with the band. It won't take long to deal with them unless it turns into a firefight.

I'll probably do a pair of rapid fire posts later tonight, one finishing up the meet with Icelady, the other getting you to the Partyzone to meet with the band.