IC: Way of the Yen, follow the money Options

[DireRadiant]

Orange Grove, Street

"No hoops. Running heavy metal into the mountains." the crimson streaked leather crinkled as the ork tilted his head to the Cascades to the east.

"Wednesday night tusker calling himself Chowder'll stop by with a tricked out truck, he'll be hauling the load. Couple of the boys'll be by with the deposit, case of calhots. Dunno who'll show for our friends, but figure a truckload, and they'll show here, and they'll know to ask for you. You scan the heavies, give us the word. Then you hand over a sample of the 'Hots for their ok. Once they scan it ok, hold the 'Hots till the heavies get moved to Chowder's rig. Once that's done you turn the 'Hots over, everyone rolls."

The ork grinned, "Road trip, rolling hot."

Leaning forward he whispered conspiratorially, "Thinking of letting slip to the 405 Hounds we rolling light, have a little fun on the way. Give the puppies a spanking."

"That leaves your end, I can offer 2000 liters diesel, delivered here, or 14 days where we watch erath Jerry while you are out working."

[DireRadiant]

Along the road in Razer

Chowder picked up the Remington and slid it into a saddle holster on the inside of the front door. He grinned and pointed to formerly concealed gun port. "Stick it there if you need it."

He let the truck drive itself while still on grid guide. He looked at Lancer, "Straightforward job, pick up some gear, haul it into the mountains."

He watched Lancer closely, "It'll be fine as long as you stay in the truck, don't let any of the Crimson Crush see you in here, and we avoid the Metroplex Guard, the Star, the 405 Hell Hounds, the forsaken Ancients, and don't break an axle."

"We start in Orange Grove."

[DireRadiant]

Pier 94

The interior of the pier is cluttered with worn aged boxes and crates, many of them obviously empty and stored for future use. Near the personnel entrance is a clearly identified area marked of by wide yellow and black stripes is kept clear of boxes and moving equipment. A folding table and a set of folding chairs fill the area. On top of the table are a set self cooling and heating drinks and some Crispy Cherritoes snacks. A relatively non descript middle aged man sits on one of the folding chairs greeting people who arrive. None of the boxes nearby are stacked more then a single box high, providing excellent visibility thourghout the pier top warehouse for at least 5 meters in any direction.

[Shard]

Along the road in Razer

Lancer nodded, trying not to show her disappointment. "I see, guess I'm too small-time for your muscle reputation, Chowder." She'd been interested in observing the particulars in how even a simple run like this would come to life, but supposed she'd have to watch remotely. She appreciated being invited along, especially for a little bit of 'yen, but she kinda wondered why he wanted her along at all.

"Want me keep an eye on things with my flyspy, in case of anything shady, yeah?"

[DireRadiant]

Along the road in Razer

Chowder chortled briefly, the ork tapped the tinted windows, "Just stay in the cab while you do your work, I'll keep my eyes on the road, you got the rest. I can probably get some of the crush to carry the drones for when we really get moving. Otherwise we really do need every extra set of eyes on the lookout for trouble, and the roads aren't in too good a shape, so I will be busy keeping us on at least two wheels."

"So what's your plan?" the ork inquired.

[Shard]

Along the road in Razer

"Well... I was thinkin you could toss my iBall onto Razer's roof at the meet. That way I can keep an eye on Razer here and keep our tail covered. I can start patrolling with the fly and look for any signs of an ambush or unwanted third parties snoopin around. I've got another VTOL drone, but I figured it might draw unwanted attention. Unless you want to launch it a few blocks from where we're gonna be. I could use that one to scout some good escape routes if somethin goes sour. Basically, I'll be the eyes in the back of your head whispering in your ear, ork-face. What are we pickin up, anyway? Drugs, guns, chips?"

Lancer pulled up Razer's node in her AR window again. When she'd taken a look earlier, she was mostly looking at performance readings and the like. Now she took a moment to look at what kind of sensors, programs, and nifty countermeasure systems were installed in the truck. If it had a camera suite, she supposed the iBall would be redundant.

[Zaranthan]

Orange Grove, Street

Jerry listened intently to the biker's pitch, then took another swallow while he considered it. Running to the hills with a bunch of urban cowboys and at least one total stranger was really flirting with disaster, but Jerry hadn't taken a nice, long ride in a while. Plus, with recent events, having some extra backup around for the next few weeks would take a lot off his mind. "Sounds like fun. It'll be good to have some real hez around here. The old ereth'cerri's gettin soft, and the neighbors have noticed." Jerry offered the standard Crimson Crush salute, then turned to head back inside.

[Psikerlord]

Pier 94

The exchange between the elf and fair skinned human girl is largely missed by Omen, although he raises his eyebrows when the elf demonstrates a form of mimicry. "I don't know if there are any others coming," he says, "but I'm sure Mr Johnson will be able to tell us."

The shaman shuffles over and takes a seat adjacent to the non-descript male, his bones creaking as much as the folding chairs. Plucking at a cheesy snack he cruches one down with relish. "I always liked cherritoes," he declares, giving the middle aged man a good natured wink. "My name is Omen, by the way," he continues, addressing the room generally. He waves a wrinkled hand in greeting. I guess we are waiting on others still, he thinks, looking at the numerous empty chairs.

As the others respond, Omen pierces the astral veil with his psychic senses, the lifeless warehouse fading against the swirling, radiant hues of the attendee's auras. Slowly turning his gaze left and right, the shaman studies their auras, sensing the eddies and flows of their life-spark. He tries to get a feel for whether any of those present are awakened, whether there are watchers or spirits nearby, and whether the Johnson is augmented or has any spells active...

[pbangarth]

Rocking Good Times

Mick the Slick smiled as he proudly laid the percussion set on the counter. He tapped a brilliant oyster shell cymbal and watched for a reaction as the tones swept through the store.

"Five piece conch and oyster shell set, authentic carrib pirate, all natural fish gut and skin. Coral sticks. Try it out. If you're interested, I have a little job."

Confident in the expected reaction, the pawn broker continued, "I need you to go look around the Bump N Grind, it's a place like mine, down the street. Come back after you've taken a good look around it, tell me everything you can about what's inside. I think there's something I'm interested in, but I need an independent look. That's you."

"So?"

Bongo imagines the delicate control needed to play such instruments without destroying them. He plays a few patterns very lightly, and marvels at the overtones. Almost like it's still in the sea.

"No problem, Mick. I'll head over there right now. You wanna tell me what you're looking for, or you want a 'virgin' view? You willing to pay this much for just a look, it must be something."

[DireRadiant]

Rocking Good Times

"Virgin? That's a good one. Yeah, that's what I want."

Bump N' Grind

It may have started as a specialist dance and party rental equipment and pawn shop, but nowadays it's obviously only a pawn shop with the iron bars and armored glass windows of all of it's kind.

[DireRadiant]

Pier 94

The man smiled at the start of introductions and introduced himself at his turn, "Johnson."

"I think this will be everyone. Between yourselves you should cover all the bases as it were. And you will need to cover all the bases."

"I've got what would be a simple smash and grab but I've discovered there's some additional complications that need the services you provide. I'm offering you each 2 k to pick it up and deliver it to me."

"The item is probably worth 6 figures, so a couple k might not seem much, but you need to know both what it is, and who to sell it to safely, which is where I come in and of course, there's always ways to pick up some side money on a job like this which I will be happy to help with after you're done."

"Maybe 30 minutes of your expertise for 2k sound like a good deal for all of you?"

[DireRadiant]

Along the road in Razer

At "Drugs, guns, chips?" Chowder grinned and said "Yes."

"Bring the VTOL, keep it at least a klick up and no one should be able to use it for target practice."

As if on cue a metallic whining ping flashed against the driver door and the vehicles pilot lit up an ARO in the interior of the cab as it started hunting the source. Chowder snorted and flipped the ARO down out of his way, "I'll have to chat with those people later about manners."

[Shard]

Along the road in Razer

"Okay, sur-whoa!" the girl brought her hands up to cover her head and ducked down by reflex. After a moment with no further shots, she calmed and straightened. Nevertheless, she scooted down a little bit against the seat. From there, she activated the VTOL drone and used AROs in the drone's interface to create tags for Razer, herself, and Chowder so they'd each show up as independent colored dots, just incase they got separated. She instructed the Pilot to ascend to 1km and stay within a 1km radius of the truck. She keeps it in her lap until they reach the limits of Orange Grove, then lowers the passenger window, launches it out, and quickly closes the window again.

[rathmun]

Pier 94

"2k for 30 minutes huh, Good deal or not depends entirely on how dangerous it is. I think we'll need to hear a little more about what sorts of things are in the way before we can say that. I am interested though."

With that Edward leans back in his chair and takes a swig out of a self heating coffee cup, before grimacing and muttering something about how the self heating unit fell down on the job.

[Psikerlord]

Pier 94

Omen nods at Edward's words.

"Two thousand sounds reasonable enough, but I'd like to know more, as you suggest. Who are we taking from, and what kind of resistance do you expect, Mr Johnson?"

As the shaman speaks, he pulls an old leather bag from his coat pocket and turns it inside-out above the table. A dozen small, white polished knuckle bones clatter out, cut and inscribed with spidery runes. With practiced ease, the old man scoops them up and casts them onto the tabletop, where they tumble and swirl for just a moment as if caught in a tiny whirlwind. Mentally imploring the spirits of insight and wisdom, Omen asks the otherworlders to whisper the Johnson's secrets to him, alerting him to any lies his potential employer might speak. When the rune-bones finish rolling, the old man studies them with a careful gaze, trying to find the truth in the chaos, and determine whether his fate is bound with the Johnson, Edward and Abigail.

[ Spoiler ]

Casts Anaylse Truth spell, force 3. Omen is the subject, Johnson is the target.
Casts Analyse Truth spell, Force 3 (10d6.hits(5)=4) .. but max 3 successes since force 3
Resist drain (force 3 = drain 1) (10d6.hits(5)=1) ... = he resists all the drain

So I'm hoping Omen's spell will allow him to detect any lies in subsequent conversation with Mr Johnson. Omen does not telegraph that he is actually casting a spell, and does not engage his shamanic mask. If the Johnson detects it, so be it... He sustains the spell by using his sustaining focus (walking cane).

[Meatbag]

Abigail isn't precisely the talkative sort, and that's probably because she's halfway into a VR trance. though still manages to nod her head at appropriate moments. She knows she's not much good with these things - in fact, the Johnson's general demeanor already has her unnerved a bit.

He's all but told us "it'll be easy".

Meanwhile, in The Matrix, the Technomancer busily clues in her favorite Data Sprite, little more than a hovering, shifting I Ching board with a central emoticon made of three yarrow stalks.

<<As soon as our employer breathes an outline, you are to begin filling it promptly, in accordance with the Commands and Subroutines.>>

Its stalk-brows raise, its mouth takes on a curve, and its trigrams rotate, casting clear affirmative.

[ Spoiler ]

10d6.hits(5) → [1,5,5,1,6,4,3,1,5,2] = (4)

Data Sprite searches on..Whatever it is.

[pbangarth]

Bump N' Grind

Bongo Slade strolls up to the barred door and presses the buzzer. He smiles and waves at the security camera. "Yeah, I was right, a little hair colour and coloured contacts should be enough here," he thinks. The door clicks and he enters.

A greasy young man behind the front counter asks dispiritedly, "Whatcha lookin' for?"

"Nothin' in particular, just checkin' for bargains." Bongo ambles towards the far back wall. "Well, maybe some drumsticks. Got any drumsticks?"

"Yah... first aisle from the back." An inside camera locks onto Bongo and follows him as he wanders around the shop.

The back wall has a few posters mounted, and racks of posters to flip through. "Wow, some old-tech here," Bongo muses.

He picks out an old Maria Mercurial poster and drops it off at the front desk. "Mind if I start a pile here?"

"Nah. Knock yerself out."

Bongo then begins his scan in earnest, from the back to the front, carefully ignoring stretches like tops of shelving units on which nothing is displayed. from the first aisle up he takes a good solid pair of thrasher rock drumsticks and, after the first area scan is done, places them with the poster up front.

In the third area scan, he finds a wiz ring with rock crystal stones inlaid in a circle. "Bet this will flash when I use those sticks!" He gets the attendant to open up the glass case and drop it off up front too. The rest of the third scan and most of the fourth take a long time as there are glass-covered drawers with small items of all sorts.

"You sure I can't help you with somethin'?" the employee asks.

"No, chummer, I got some cash yesterday and I wanna spend some of it on me before the girlfriend finds out. Know what I mean?"

"Yah!" the man chuckles. "Been there. Done that. Ate the box lunch."

"Cretin," Bongo thinks to himself.

The fifth scan is half done when Bongo finishes at the front of the store. "Whew. I was getting worried."

"So, what do I owe for these things?"

The employee adds up the item costs and declares, "Only 175 nuyen. Great deal on the ring, man. The boss got it for a steal."

"Glad I could take advantage. Credstick do?" Bongo hands a stick with 200 nuyen attached to one of his fake IDs and waits for the processing. Then he takes his purchase and heads out. He decides to take the items with him to Rocking Goods Times. Who knows, maybe Mick was interested in the ring.

Rockin Good Times

"Hoy, Mick. Ready to pick my brains?"

[ Spoiler ]

Three-Dimensional Memory Test ==> 17 dice
(Magic 5 + Perception 3+3 + visual enhancement from contact lenses 3 + active looking 3)

Walks down memory lane with Mick:
Area 1: 5 hits
Area 2: 10 hits
Area 3: 4 hits
Area 4: 4 hits
Area 5: 8 hits

[DireRadiant]

Pier 94

The Johnson smiled genially at the responses, and looked on with interest and the tossed bones while he answers, "You all have different talents, which are needed, and should be more then sufficient. I will give specifics later if you accept, but first you may want to share with each other and see if I got it right about covering the bases."

"So what does tossing them bones tell you?"

[DireRadiant]

Orange Grove/Razer

"You remember to stay inside." Chowder murmurred as he stepped out of the truck. Four orks in crimson stained riding leathers didn't react as they lounged against their parked custom bikes passing a bottle of FizzyGlo that would melt paint. The four were parked at one end of a street not quite into the intersection, effectively sealing this end of the street.

The street itself was typical of the run down area, except for a couple of distinct well kept store fronts. One of them even had an ARO sign blinking REPAIR SHOP in synch with the actual exterior light. It even had a painted parking spot.

[Shard]

Orange Grove/Razer

Lancer focuses her mind, switches an application, and finds herself looking down on the area from overhead. From her position, jumped into her VTOL drone, she surveys the nearby rooftops and alleyways for signs of anything out of the ordinary, especially focusing on the area behind Razer to lookout for any attempts to box them in on this street. She also takes a moment to scan for active nodes in the area.

[pbangarth]

Rocking Good Times

Bongo Slade is in the process of describing what he saw at Bump N' Grind to Mick the Slick. So far Mick has indicated little interest in the items described, including the ring Bongo bought. "You got hosed on the ring, chummer."

Bongo continues his description. "... and then the section on outdoor equipment was taken up mostly by an old canoe, done in the old traditional Canadian style with birch bark. Otherwise..."

"Wait," Mick interjects. "Tell me more about the canoe."

"It felt sturdy and had a nice, taught response when I tapped it. Not at all like I expected an old piece to feel like. It sorta had a life to it like a good, well-used drum, know what I mean?"

"Yeah, I know exactly. Forget the rest of the inventory. Tell me about the shop, particularly any security you noticed."

"There was a camera covering the entrance, and the front door was locked electronically, operated by the guy at the counter. Internally there was a camera that followed me around the shop. The inventory that was protected all looked to be locked by physical locks, like glass doors or security cables on larger items. I'm not sure about their matrix connection, but I think by the dangling cable from the cash register they keep disconnected from the matrix except when they need to connect, like for banking or something. I don't know about the cameras. There weren't any wires leading anywhere from them, so they could be wireless, or the cables are buried in the walls.

"There was also something funny about the placement of a couple of items. They were cheap trinkets, like you would find in a pawn shop, but there were three exactly alike, placed around the shop. I can't perceive astrally, but I would bet money that they were placed as ward items around the shop. Thing is, if they are centred for wards, and all the same force, I don't think they were placed correctly. If you were to come in the second window from the front door and turn right immediately, you would avoid the wards and get to the canoe. I don't know how you would deal with the cameras, though."

"You did fine, Bongo. The drum kit is packed in that box by the door. Enjoy."

"My pleasure. Mick. I hope we can do business like this again."

Bongo gathers up the box and heads home, dreams of new sounds dancing in his head. He messages Joe Coole, "Available for work."

Mick starts making a few calls of his own.

[DireRadiant]

VR Space over Orange Grove/Razer

In the physical overlay view it's a desert, wisp strains of threads loosely connecting a few isolated hotspots only visible because the contrast to the nothing around them. The "REPAIR SHOP" stands out even though it's a low grade icon. Sensor iconography denotes a few vehicles without active IDs as potential moving hazards. Off in the distance to the West a broad haze of signal corona hovers over the horizon, not directly accessible, but the native reality filter software just knows it's there. Several blocks to the North a large moving road hazard is indicated. Visual icon windows display a small slow moving truck. Overhead three sub orbital signal and vapor trails pulse with heavily encrypted chatter.

[Psikerlord]

Pier 94

Omen scratches his beard and squints at the rune-bones, muttering something in japanese under his breath.

"Not as much as I'd like," replies the shaman, "but for my part, I accept your job, Mr Johnson."

Returning his focus to Edward and Abigail, the old man gives an easy smile. "You're right about introductions. As I said, I'm Omen, and I'm a magician. Fully awakened. Wolf shaman to be precise. I'm good with spell casting, dealing with spirits, and astral security. Plus I'm old. Some say I am cute."

Huddling back into his longcoat, Omen tries to keep out the cold of the open warehouse. He consults the rune-bones after each person speaks, sifting the truth from the falsehoods.

[ Spoiler ]

So Omen will switch the Analyse Truth spell from person to person as they speak. I think I just rely on the original roll of 3 successes.

[Shard]

Being rather new to the drone recon scene, she takes a moment to simply 'exist' in full VR, taking in and noting her surroundings. She takes delight in the out of body experience, and looks at it all with a bit of wonderment, especially the sub orbs. Once familiarized, she zooms in on Chowder and sets his location to a quickmap and slides the tab to the side of her vision. Next, she overlays a 2d grid on the ground, 3 squares by 3 squares, each 300m across, with Razer in the center of the center square. If either the slow moving truck or the vehicles without IDs enter the grid, she'll examine them more closely and also set them to quickmap zooms, so she can switch between zoomed in areas quickly. In this manner, she'll keep literal 'tabs' on surrounding traffic while keeping an eye on Chowder and his conversation with the gangers.


[Is she able to listen in on Chowder in any way? Mental note: directional mic on the VTOL!]

[rathmun]

Pier 94

Leaning back and tossing the cold coffee into a nearby trashcan, Edward smirks a little. "Well now, apparently you're right about all the bases. He's astral security, I can handle the physical security, and she's matrix security presumably."

"Looking at what sort of people you brought together for this I take it you'll want this whole thing kept pretty quiet. It also tells me you expect we'll need all three, which intrigues me. Most places only have physical and matrix security since mages are expensive." Glance over at Omen "No offense of course." Returning his gaze to the Johnson "I'll accept the offer as well."