IC: Evolution, In Character - Epoch, Survival, Revolution Campaigns Options

[Kliko]

20:41:17 Thursday, December 01, 2061 - Parking place in front of the War Room, Martinez
The gruffy Orc checked his hair -or rather what was left of it- in the rear mirror view before exiting the Land Rover. The cold December air washed over him in sharp contrast the sultry atmosphere from the Thunderdome just 10 minutes ago. Grabbing his synth letter jacked from the rear seat, Kliko made his way to the War Room.

20:41:30 Thursday, December 01, 2061 - The War Room, Martinez
Asking the bartender for directions Kliko slips him a 10 nuyen corp note...Soykaf pls., no keep the change, that's allright. "how conspicious could you be by ordering a large soykaff in a joint like this?" he thought while making his way from the bar. The darkened lay-out of the warehouse loft wasn't much of an issue as Kliko scanned for (emergency) exits while cycling through the various visual enhancements he had done years before. Wouldn't be the first time damned exits were obstructed from the other side "better safe and sure"

20:42:03 Thursday, December 01, 2061 - The War Room, Martinez
Kliko starts making his way for the booth indicated by the doorman. "Nice, another big-ass Troll, better stay on Big Boy's good side..."

"Hye there, you must be mr. R? Kliko is my name, Jaxx sent me, something about keeping your sorry asses alive and kicking right?... Well, he sent you te right person for the job, could you make some room there Big Boy?" Nodding further down the booth, "Let's discuss bizz and I mean nuyen with that" taking another sip of the Soykaff

[Bastard]

20:42:10 Thursday, December 01, 2061 - The War Room, Martinez
Kliko joins Bubba, Knuckle Duster and the Relentless in the large booth, ready to discuss business.

"Well... looks like we got the whole party. Let me give you a quick run down.

"Being a runner myself, I know the first thing you want to know is the nuyen. 60 thousand, to split at the end of the mission. We got an additional couple grand up front, which is set aside for team funds, including travel, tips, bribes and paying Jaxx. That makes it 10 grand for each team member, including myself, RG and V, who you will meet.

"The actual job seams pretty simple. It's a datasteal on an isolated system, which probably doesn't even require a decker. Should just be log in, download, log out. Of course, the big money was offered because of two complications, one of course being that the job is time sensitive. Our contact needs the data by Tuesday at 10 pm. We have already scouted the surrounding area including an aerial recon.

"The other complication, I cannot divulge until you have accepted the job. This money not only buys your 'smashing' expertise, but your silence as well."

[SneakyJoeKDB]

"It be fair enoughs... lets get er done!"

[SneakyJoeKDB]

Suddenly Bubba, has a realization and he stands up with a beer in hand raised high in the air and shouts proudly, "Its dah Bastard in da skies birthday todays, we should sing it to hims... happy birthday to yous... happy birthday to yous... happy birthday dah Bastard in dah skie... happy birthdays to yous!"

Bubba finishes his song, sits back down and says, "Now where was we?"

[Bastard]

20:42:31 Thursday, December 01, 2061 - The War Room, Martinez
"Well, I see Bubba is in. What about you two?"

The Relentless waits for answer from Duster and Kliko, but instead gets a not so sober musical number from the troll. Who the hell is Bastard?, he thinks to himself, not wanting to anger the big lug. It's probably his cat, he decides.

[Kliko]

20:42:33 Thursday, December 01, 2061 - The War Room, Martinez

"Up his!" as Kliko raises his Soykaf styrofoam cup in an expresion of fake enthusiasm.

Before continueing in all seriousness: "Frag that, silence is my middle name and sure, I respect you have to make expenses, but so do me and my new friend here" indicating Bubba "have to make up for ours. Let's say we first subtract job-related expenses, medical - and replacement costs, you know the drill, up-front and afterwards before dividing the remainder between the crew of that say 60 plus 20k?" As Kliko assesses the Relentless, the latter being an educated guess with regards to the up-front fee. "Only getting here cost me, say a 100 (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nuyen.gif) in -now worthless- tickets. In the end I want to make sure we all benefit from looking after one another. My way if we blow this, it shows right on our credstick at the end"

"What ya say chummer, deal or no deal? This gig I fancy is only a short ride away, could make it before the next set come to think of it..."

[Bastard]

20:42:46 Thursday, December 01, 2061 - The War Room, Martinez
"Dear friend, I assure you that we are not cutting you out of the deal. We were offered 20 grand each, when the job was three of us, and now that we are cutting three more in on the deal...

"Well you see, we are taking quite a cut in pay. Some of that we got up front, in addition to a few grand for expenses, and you would not believe the cost of jet fuel these days. Which in turn brings us to the location being a bit more than a short ride.

"At completion of the mission, the contact will be paying us the final 45,000 (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nuyen.gif) , which should have been 15 to the each of us, originally. Now that their are six members, you three will receive 10 each, and the rest of us will take 5 each. Unfortunately, most of our up front money was spent on rearming after our last run in with an old friend."

[SneakyJoeKDB]

As Bubba listens to the negotiations, he twiddles his thumbs, rolls eyes in the air, stirs in his chair, fidgits some, taps fingers on the table, and finally blurts out... "okay alreadies, lets get er done... we gots a time line heres and we all gonna gets paid." Bubba looks at Kliko , "Replacement costs? you wont needs dat when you got Bubba here as da shield and dont worries Bubba wonts be needsin em either."

"And Mr. da relentless, I expects you being fair wichus... cause you really wouldnt wants to be unfairs." Bubba raises his eyebrows, pauses and then continues, "Nows, whatcha want me to dos?"

[Kliko]

20:42:51 Thursday, December 01, 2061 - The War Room, Martinez

Kliko nods toward the big-ass troll, "what he says. To be fair, your honesty is appreciated. I once had a fragger try and run off with some of the kit I supplied him with. In such cases reclamation is usually far more cheaper (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nuyen.gif) - wise compared to replacing the damned stuff if you know what I mean."

"It was a veiled threat, yet one Kliko had to make. Crew appeared legit-enough but best to reach an understanding beforehand"

"Now let's get down to business, we're under time-pressure here, so what's the second issue we're dealing with here?"

[Bastard]

20:43:20 Thursday, December 01, 2061 - The War Room, Martinez
"Sounds like you are all in. So here is the bad news."

The Relentless pauses as if trying to find the right words to say. Finally he breaks his silence, "Well, the second part..."

He is interrupted by a small gnome sliding into the booth with him. "Hey, so you guys gonna take the job or what?"

"Dammit RG! I am in the middle of the negotiations!"
"Did you tell them about the time frame?"
"Yes, shut up."
RG continues her inquisition, "Did you tell them about the money?"
"Yes, shut up!" Relentless is visibly agitated, his face turning red.
"Did you tell him about the dragon?"

THUD! RG finds herself on the floor after a good shove from her teammate. Relentless looks back at a bunch of wide eyes. So much for working it in delicately, Relentless thinks to himself. He regathers himself, and then before anyone can respond to the mention of "the dragon," he tries his best at damage control.

"The location is Mount Shasta. We scouted out the area, by land and air. While the main access road is heavily guarded, the trails are rarely watched. The raw mountain side has no physical security, besides its natural terrain and wildlife. There is still the chance of astral detection, but our mage said its not very likely. She didn't see that much activity on the mountain side, besides that of normal, and meta, wildlife.

"It is about an 8-10 hour climb to the top. For most of the hike, we should be able to blend it with regular hikers and outdoors men. I would say we should camp out about an hour out of the Lodge, so we can hit early in the morning and descend in daylight. The locals say even the well maintained trails are rough in the dark, especially this time of year."

"The job is still not that difficult. The data steal should be simple. It is a closed system, and should take just a few seconds to download. However, like my professional colleague has tried to point out, the owner of this said system is a dragon. A great dragon, actually. The great dragon Hestaby. And the location is her lair at Shasta Lodge."

[SneakyJoeKDB]

"Uh ohs... Bubba dont like dragons... they biggers den mes. Good tings I gots mad sneaking skills... Well I needs to get my gear readies when do we heads to da Shasta and where do we meets?"

[Kliko]

20:43:30 Thursday, December 01, 2061 - The War Room, Martinez

Kliko spills some of the Soykaf as the gnome mentions the Dragon. "I see... Guess they didn't tell you? Never, ever ever deal with a dragon?" Kliko turns to the gnome "Well, since we're now in this shit together we'll have to deal with it and show some fragging adaptability. We'll go along just fine little brother"

"Now as far as planning is concerned... 8-10 hours hike, or climb? up the mountain is fine. Though I'm not into camping outthere for the night. There's all kinds of dangerous and awakened wildlife on that mountain, so best minimize our time outthere. I don't know about you guys but at least I'm quite comfortable to make the descend at night. Getting up there as regular outdoorsmen sounds like a solid plan, though I would split the group in order to avoid suspicion.

We set up camp as any other hiker would, prep some food, get some rest and act as any responsible and nature-loving" Kliko nods in order to emphasize this point "hiker would. Then after nightfall we kit-up, do-what-we-do-best, and get the frag out of there. We could even setup some timed incendaries in order to destroy the camp and burn out any traces left."

Kliko sits back in order to assess everybody's opinion on the matter, taking one more sip from the styrofoam cup

[Jaruen]

Sitting quietly in the booth as the two new...teammates? one-time hired help?...whatever, arrive, Duster just chills, waiting to hear the spiel, and wondering where V and RG (alphabet soup, I swear) are hiding. As Bubba and Kliko make their introductions, and react to Aeron's trademark paranoia, Duster forms his first impressions. Dumb muscle, more or less. Well, maybe that isn't entirely fair, but still. We will have to see how these two work out.. Then, RG's entusiastic entrance and the bomb is dropped.

Hestaby. One of the Greats. What the frag did you agree to, Aeron? And boy are you going to need some help on this one. I wouldn't be surprised at a lot of empty seats after this job. Jaxx is going to have some explaining to do. Kusou! Mo, Jaxx wa tomo da ne. Hanashinai to ikenai, kono moto atou de. Duster's grin becomes a little fixed as he works through all the implications of this last piece of information.

With the same, slightly forced smile, Duster asks Aeron, "You're taking on the Shasta Lodge, and Hestaby, for 60 grand? You do know it is okay to say 'no' every once in a while, like when risk outweighs rewards by 100 to 1, right?" He takes a deep breath, and then continues, "That aside, what are extraction plans? I am sorry, but it sounds like the approach has been decently planned. But the hard part has always been getting out, and this one will be, or at least has the potential to be, the...diciest...exit we have ever undertaken. Remember, the Mount Shasta Lodge is an actual Lodge, as in one of the more powerful Shamanic Lodges on the West Coast, if not the continent. So, possible awakened creatures, probable Spirit attacks, and the potential for a Great Dragon physically following us." And, under his breath, yet rather bitterly, "for a measly 60k." "So, what will our exit look like?"

[Bastard]

20:44:29 Thursday, December 01, 2061 - The War Room, Martinez
"Well the plan isn't set in stone yet. We knew more runners would mean more ideas, but let me give you a quick outline of the plan we came up with. Afterward, you all can discuss your plans and we will try to agree on something," Aerun the Relentless says. His voice is smoother and he looks like a completely different person than the nervous guy talking about great dragons and bad deals just a few seconds ago.

"We had planned on heading up there tomorrow. We already have a cabin rented for the week which ends on Thursday morning, at the Cascade Cabins and Lodge in Shasta. There we have our camping and hiking gear already stashed. The cabin has two rooms, one with a king sized bed." Relentless looks at the ork, then the troll, and continues, "the
other has two twins, and the couch in the main room folds out into about a king.

"Next plan was to leave early in the morning, about 5 am. Hike up to one of the more remote campsites, get some food and rest. I believe we are going to be pretty tired at that point. A say we get some sleep, other people do it, so I think we would be that unsafe. Not only do we have a mage and an assload of guns, but I also go this," he pulls a small yellow and black book titled "Camping For Dummies" from the inside jacket pocket.

"Then, early in the morning, say 2 or 3 am, we gear up, and make the last mile or two up the mountain to the Lodge. My contact says that physical a moderate, but shouldn't be a problem for a small team. The magical security is provided by residence of the Lodge, who may or may not be trained in security.

"I can probably hack their security from outside, or pop the maglock to get us in. Then have you guys escort me and find the computer. I hack it. Download the file. Then we get out, and get out fast. Haul ass down the hill. Should be back before nightfall, and it will be a Saturday night, so you know we should be able to blend in pretty well.

"When, or if, we make it back, we contact Radek on the mat. Make the meet, make the exchange, finally relax.

I know it's not that simple, but I like to try and keep it simple."

[Kliko]

20:49:55 Thursday, December 01, 2061 - The War Room, Martinez

Kliko elates: "That's just fragging brilliant" before getting his voice down, this guy must be fragging joking me "I, mean camping for dummies?" raising an eyebrow "You do know something about camping in the mountains right?.... right?" Kliko turns to face Duster he doesn't like it at all, frag that, I don't like this at all, we'll have to deal with it, do the job and re-negotiate with the Johnson afterwards

"Ok, so let's think this one through backwards. Duster here has some solid points. Extraction? We have two things to extract and secure 1) the paydata, 2) our own sorry asses. Is there anyway to airlift us out of there? Remote but unmined air strips or access to a helicopter perhaps? Do we by any chance have a mapsoft available of the surrounding area? And do we by any chance know what the weather forecast for our window of opportunity is?

You see, If we're going to do some sneaky badass motherfraggin stuff like say, do a datasteal from a shamanic lodge in a Great Dragon's lair why do I make this sound like suicide? I preferably do it under cover of darkness. Running around geared-up in daylight is guaranteed to attract unwanted and unnecessary attention. Secondly on the subject of gear, we best leave the Panther Assault Cannon at home. There is no way we can get up that mountain unnoticed and unreported with anything bigger than a smg or shotgun... with retractable stocks that is. See, the ass-load of guns ain't gonna get us through this, solid planning and fraggin' adaptability will"

Kliko relaxes a little, this could be doable afterall "Sure we'll be fatigued somewhat by the time we get up at the camp site, but I'm confident we can make it through the night, after all Bubba here is no sissy, Duster is a professional and you? Well, yourself mr. Relentless Aerun, Relentless, whatever can always do drugs in order to keep yourselves up and running.

But first, let's start working on that mapsoft and extraction, you say you got some aerial recon material to work with? Alternatively I can prep a number of routes and trails based on an of-the-shelf mapsoft, but these tend to be outdated for such remote area's..."

[SneakyJoeKDB]

Bubba bored by the never ending conversing drifted into thought about the possibility of the dragon...

I dont like things that are bigger than me and especially when my bullets are ineffective if the crap hits the fan... I wonder if we can have a safe guard to deal with the dragon. What would be good in the arsenal? Hmmm... shotguns... not so much even with slugs... maybe a grenade or two.. not gonna do it. A bazooka... too difficult to aim... something with bigger bullets? How did they kill Duk? I know a PANTHER CANNON!

Bubba suddenly blurts out, "Any of use guys own a panther cannon?"

[Bastard]

20:55:19 Thursday, December 01, 2061 - The War Room, Martinez

"The problem with Shasta is, you can't fly over it without the proper paper work, which is very high security clearance. You know those dragons like their privacy, damn hermits. Not that there is anywhere to land a plane, and a chopper, well, that's just entirely too loud, and won't really play into the stealthy nature of our plans.

"As for the weather, its going to be cold and snowy. Our aerial recon consisted of flying around the mountain, checking the weather, and getting a birds eye view of the area. We have maps and all that, and loaded RG's BattleTachs with them."

[SneakyJoeKDB]

"Hmmm... couldnt wes parachute in on snow boards and skies?

[Kliko]

21:01:05 Thursday, December 01, 2061 - The War Room, Martinez

fragger, but at least the skiing is a good idea... and they have some battletac capability, hope at last

"No, I don't happen to have an assault cannon stashed away under my bed chummer, besides if we wake the dragon, we're screwed anyway." you and your bloodline all the way up for four generations and all the way down upto their descendants "We'll have to work with your mad stealth-skills instead. Making our way down skiing sounds like a plan though, it makes for far more faster progress. We better forget about extracting by air if the weather forecast is that bad. That being said, the same weather provides extra cover for our getaway, at least to me it seems the way to go"

Kliko takes a final gulp from his soykaff "I wasn't aware this crew is battletac compatible, but with the digital overlays that system provides we should be able to make good progress down the mountain, even in frag-ass weather conditions, let's get down and map our routes when we're done here Relentless.

Unless Duster here has any other insights on how to pull this one off? We can always re-negotiate with this Radek person afterwards, the 60k for running the Shasta Lodge does deem a little meager after all and we're all in this for the nuyen... right? Man's gotta make a living afterall"

[Bastard]

21:01:06 Thursday, December 01, 2061 - The War Room, Martinez

The Relentless listens in and comes to the realization that maybe faces are necessary for shadowrun teams. He did not realize his negotiations were so poor until it was said out loud by some new 'friends'.

[Jaruen]

Thinking on what has been said, Duster realizes that the one person they really need to help plan this is Vreia, and she is nowhere to be seen. So he chimes in on this fact.

"Hey, Relentless, where is V? We really need to include her in this planning session. I am somewhat savvy on the whole mage thing, but I follow a whole 'nother path, buddy. One thing I do know, however, is that no matter how 'mad' our sneaky skills are, if we don't throw some serious mojo-covering mojo...does that sound wrong to anybody else here? Anyways, that Lodge will have ways to track us through the strongest blizzard, over the deepest ocean, etc...unless V can eliminate all astral traces of us. And we need to ask her if she can do that. 'Cause if she can't, then I truly don't care how bad it drags our name through the mud, we should not do this. Our names will eventually recover, even if Jaxx blacklists us. If nothing else, I have my own contacts that can find us work to clear our reps. But nothing cleans up bones on the base of a mountain, omae-tachi. And nothing puts bones there faster than a Great One."

Jeremy shrugs, and then sighs. "Something else to think on. I did a run up there a year or so ago, nothing to directly affect Hestaby, but I did find out that in addition to the Lodge, the critters, and the eco-nuts that she can call on for help, the Highway Patrol is also very friendly with her. And as 'mad' as your driving skills are, RG, you just don't take on one of those hen-jin on the road. Not if you want to keep breathing."

He pauses, then concludes, "I know I sound very negative, and I am more than a little nervous about this, but I believe all these problems can be overcome with proper planning. And the time limit is harsh, but do-able. So, to lighten things up a little, let us put things in order, see if...no, how, we can overcome these problems, and get us our pocket change for this datasteal."

"First, approach. The day hike sounds a little weak, yet that may work for us, as nobody would expect such an inexperienced method. And it is ALWAYS easier to gain access than to make an escape. So, unless we come up with something better, stick with that. We hike up, we enjoy a little scenery, we head to the Lodge just before daybreak"

"Next, job. Simple simple, right? Aeron takes the data, Vreia covers our a-tracks, the rest of us wipe up finger- and boot-prints. I do want to make a point here. If possible, we should treat this mission as non-lethal. If Hestaby decides that the data itself is of relatively small value, she may want to keep quiet the fact that someone managed to do a break in on her in the first place, but if we leave bodies behind, then revenge will almost force her to use her staggering resources to locate us and reciprocate. I think I will have to insist, if you wish me along, we go stunners and tasers, not Cannons and APDS. I want to live for more than a week or two after this job.

"Finally, extraction. We should break this up to immediate extraction, i.e. get off the mountain, and long-range extraction, i.e. get back here. This is the area that we need to get all our details right, because this is the truly difficult part. I really like the idea of using the terrain and conditions to help us and hinder pursuit. Skis, sleds, whatever can get us down faster. I saw something once that fascinated me. They were like short skis. Like skis-meet-rollerblades. Like something that can fit in a hiking backpack, can be strapped on quickly, and can get us down fast. I have absolutely no idea how difficult they are to use, but then, I have never been skiing either, which makes me hesitant to use that method. If we have a day or two, we might want to go to a different slope to practice, even a little bit, skiing or sledding, or whatever. If we don't show skill, we find another way down.

"As for long-range evasion, I see two possibilities. Either one, we swap cars twice, either legit, i.e. we own or borrow the cars before-hand, or two, we GTA ourselves a different ride in or out. We can also either stay together, which makes us tougher to crack but more noticable, or we split up. If we split, disguises might be in order. Actually, split up or not, disguises might be in order. And we need a place to hide Mr. Fe-Fi-Fo-Fum here when we head out, something where he can lay down out of sight."

Duster thinks quiety for a couple of seconds, and then, just when you think he has run his course, he continues, "I just had another thought. Do we, any of us, have a way into the Tir? None of us are elves, so opposition will probably be focused away from the Northern border. If we can get in legit, though, we can try to catch a flight from the Tir, or continue on to Seattle and catch a flight from there. I have no idea if this would work, so what do you guys think?"

[Kliko]

21:04:49 Thursday, December 01, 2061 - The War Room, Martinez

"Swapping cars and splitting up for long-range evasion both sound ok with me. Best to put half the team up a road trip north to Seattle and the other half back towards the Bay area, both parties carrying a copy of the paydata. No doubt Jaxx can make the necessary arrangments, right Relentless? Jacking cars doesn't really strike me as inconspicuous, so best have borrowed cars prepped up in advance. Say we switch cars half-way and again in Redding? no way I'm gonna cross the Tir-borders, there's just no way...

To be honest, I don't know frag about mojo-slinging apart from Karl Kombat Mage, but covering tracks either mojo or physical wise sounds fine by me. The snowfall should at least do the trick for the latter-part.

I'm not sure about you all, but at least this chummer here has decent... less lethal capability. We should get ourselves some of that 'bear'-mace too, just in case we intrude and disturb some of the local wildlife on our way up. Duster here is right, we don't want to attract any unwanted attention from either eco-hippies/gypsies whatever or wildlife. If any guns are fired on day one, we're effectively screwed."

Kliko bends over the table and turns his voice down...

"With that in mind, if we want to do this in a hiker-guise then we've got tomorrow afternoon in order to practice our skiing-skills. We want to getup the mountain on Saturday in the course of the day, hit the lodge either Saturday-night or Sunday at daybreak and haul our asses back in the course of next week. That being said, don't worry about the ski's Duster. It's perfectly fine to get up there with ski's so there's no need to put them out of sight."

[Bastard]

21:05:29 Thursday, December 01, 2061 - The War Room, Martinez

"We already have a van, and its clean. Fake numbers and everything. That's where some of that upfront money went to. It is parked at our cabin in Shasta, so it looks like we are out there camping, hiking and hunting still. The ID on the van is the same as the room: Chuck Finley."

[SneakyJoeKDB]

As Duster gives his sermon, Bubba begins to listen then slowly fades away bored out of his mind but into thought. This Duster seems pretty wimpy, why is he even coming if he such a scared little girl? hmmm... everyone is so cautious, sure we have to deal with a dragon, but I know I can handle it. man I hope these guys hurry up I am ready to go... been ready to go! Sheesh, get in get out, dont be seen, its as simple as that...

Bubba finally blurts out... "times a wastin lets gos alreadies!" Bubba looks at Duster ...Ands quit beings a foo foo boy!" Bubba then stands up moves to the end of the table, looks at the Relentless and says, "wheres and whens do we meet tomorrows, Ill be theres?"

[Bastard]

21:06:01 Thursday, December 01, 2061 - The War Room, Martinez

"Uhh... slow down turbo," Relentless says cautiously to Bubba. "I think we should have a sure plan before we embark on this mission. I think that's why went and hired some more guys."