IC: The Alicia Marks Affair Options

[snowRaven]

Chip raises an eyebrow at Angel's comment, but doesn't say anything.

[TinkerGnome]

0119 hours, March 16, 2063

Touristville encompasses much of the west-middle of Redmond and represents the only "safe" part of the area. While deeper into the Barrens, it is a true urban wasteland, Touristville is somewhat more restrained. Here, corpers out for a night of excitement mingle with gangers, and don't always end up regretting it.

Much of the area's draw are the many nightclubs and bars studding the area, most of which feature a varied clientel. This is a good part of town for Shadowrunners to meet with Johnsons, as well as for corpers to find an illicit thrill. The bars and clubs will serve anyone with cash and provide just about anything someone is willing to pay for.

The Cave is just such a dive. Outside, it's not very imposing. The plascreet and fiberboard walls have been painted a matted black, though the acid rain of the city has made it run pale in places. Gang graffitti tags the building in numerous places, with two gangs more prominent than others. The crowd outside the club at this time of night is noticably lighter than it would be on a Friday night, though there are still a few folks standing around. Most of them look like gangers or junkies, and the wise avoid them on the way in. They don't look ready to accost a group of people, though loners may not get off so lucky.

Inside the club, the blaring lights and sound of a Troll thrash metal band makes seeing or even thinking difficult. A troll splatter stands by the door, though he doesn't seem to be doing much active weapon screening. A couple of poleaxes and rifles sticking out of a bin behind him seem to indicate the level of weaponry he's looking out for.

Inside the club, there are about twenty five people, including the bartender and the band. A few of them appear to live uptown, but most are street types.

[Sphynx]

Billy hangs out outside of the club, scouting the streets. He stays light-hearted when dealing with any gangers, laughing at insults and taunts with a very good-natured attitude. Since Alicia may very well have been travelling alone, he tries to see which colors seem most likely to have given her some harrassment.

[TinkerGnome]

The gangers pay the group little heed as it arrives, but when Billy breaks off from the rest, they perk up. When their efforts at enciting something don't to do much, they loose interest.

The group which tried with the more vigor is composed mostly of human youths wearing black synthleather with red trim and a golden skull on a black armband.

[Sphynx]

Billy continues to walk the streets, paying particular attention to anyone/anyplace that seems interested in lone-stragglers, while trying to remember what gang is represented by the golden skull on a black armband.

[TinkerGnome]

After a bit of thinking, Billy seems to remember something about the golden skull. The gang is called, imaginatively enough, the Golden Skulls. They're small-time hoods, mostly. They do muggings and BTL dealing in the Touristville area. Rumor has it that there might be a Yak connection, but if there is, it's small enough that the Skulls aren't showing any wealth from it.

[Glyph]

Rent casually mingles with the patrons and soaks up the ambiance. He nurses a few beers for awhile and gets a good feel for the place before doing any mingling. He wanders around, making casual conversation. He keeps his initial questions vague, mentioning "some chica named 'Tricia' or something, friend of mine who's a janitor uptown says she's a looker, likes slumming in places like this sometimes, real wild chick" - followed by a general description.

He becomes more animated if he gets any recollections from anybody, acting like any other red-blooded male who's been given a tip on a 'hottie'. If he does ferret out an accout of how Ms. Marks left the place, he will conceal his triumph by looking thoughtful, then saying "Nah, that doesn't quite sound like the chick I'm lookin' for. Dang." If he doesn't get a recollection, he will shrug and change the subject to something else, and talk a while before wandering off. Patience is a virtue for Rent, and he's got all night.

[Sphynx]

Billy will begin a more investigative search by watching where the Golden Skulls go and come to and from. Try to locate their 'base of operation' as it were. Once (if) located, he'll head back to Club and talk to the others.

[TinkerGnome]

Finding the Skulls' appareant headquarters doesn't take long. The apparant leader has staked out a table at one of the area's few outdoor cafes and a few of his boys occupy more tables than they should.

Rent's efforts prove frustrating. Most of the people in the club could care less about helping a troll find a human woman. After it seems like he will get nowhere, he stumbles into some luck. An ork in a nice suit seated near the stage and watching the act get read perks up as the woman is described to him.

"Sounds like Johnny's slitch. Ain't seen the neither of them around in a week, which pisses me off since I was expectin' him to play on Saturday. If you see that drekhead, let him know he owes me the advance for that last gig and a rescheduling fee."

[Sphynx]

Billy heads back to the Club to locate the others. At the club he'll grab an empty table near the middle of the club and order a drink while flirting with any skirt that passes.

[TinkerGnome]

The women in the club at this hour are of generally two types, taken and hardened. Billy has decidedly little luck with either type.

[TinkerGnome]

After a bit more asking around, Rent figures out that Johnny crashes somewhere down in Glow City. He gets a best guess at an address, but the group decides it's a little too dangerous to try going down there at night. Instead, the group reunites the next morning to discuss what they have found.

[snowRaven]

Chip

Yawning and leaning back in his chair, Chip looks over the group.

"I tried locating Miss Marks' phone, but it has been disconnected. Everything points toward it being stolen; I'm guessing by someone with asian connections. But I'll come to my theories. No strange calls seems to have been made by Miss Marks herself, so nothing to go on there.

"Her uncle's mafia connetions seem fairly extensive, but I haven't found anything specifjc that's useful for us at the moment," he says and leans forward, rubbing his eyes. He places a chip on the table "Everything interesting is on this chip here, if anyone wants to have a look. Before I share my theories, I want to hear what the rest of you found out."

[Glyph]

Rent steeples his fingers under his chin thoughtfully. "Well, there's that lead we picked up about her boyfriend - apparently she likes slumming - but I had also planned to check out the Caf'n'Pastry place to see if I could scrounge up any more information, first. Right now, it's looking more like random foul play than anything to do with her work or her relatives in organized crime, but it's still too soon to tell. But hell, I guess it would probably be better for us to all head to Glow City now, when we're all together, and take care of our individual legwork afterwards."

He glances around at the others. "Any of the rest of you find out anything interesting?"

[Sphynx]

"Well, best I could find is what the street looked like.", Billy responds, "If she got picked up on the street, the Golden Skulls; a local gang; seem to be our best bet for investigation. They're the only ones who would pose a threat here in this area, and guaranteed that if they did't do the deed themselves, they'd have seen it done. I've ID'd their base of Ops, and maybe we should recon their area, try to get a 'feel' for their atmosphere."

[Fu-Man Chu]

[snowRaven]

Chip

"Glow City sounds good to me. Personally I think the evidence hints at a yakuza or triad connection, but it's too early to say, and not really my area of expertise."

[Fu-Man Chu]

Syl

"That's an interesting idea that's crossed my mind also, but it's down there on my list as I'm having a hard time trying to imagine why the Yaks'd get involved with our target - after all, she's not immediate family to Carlos Marks and her pop looks pretty clean. I agree though, it's too early to say." Looking over towards their one silent member, "Thoughts on hitting Glow City Vince?"

[Fu-Man Chu]

Syl

"Well, let's get moving on this before it gets too late," Syl says as she gets her gear ready.

[Glyph]

Rent nods and stands up.

"Yeah. After we hit Glow City, we can try some other leads it it doesn't pan out. So far, though, he's the only eyewitness we've got. Billy, I might help you if you're going to recon the Skulls later - I can be "street" enough when I have to be, and it's always good to have backup in that part of town."

[snowRaven]

Chip

"Glow City it is." Chip stands and takes out his hardliner gloves, thinking he is the very essence of 'street' as he puts them on and cracks his knuckles.

[TinkerGnome]

Before long, the group sets out for Glow City, one of the very worst parts of the Barrens. Going off the information that Rent was able to gather, it doesn't take the team long to locate the abandoned tenement where one Mr. Johnny Crimson is supposed to live. The place is burned out and the windows boarded up. The doors hang loosly on their hinges, held tight by gravity and their own weight.

[Glyph]

Rent stares intently at one of the doors for a minute before walking up to it, lighter on his feet than you'd expect a big bruiser like him to be. He carefully pries the door open, then slips in, silently motioning the others to follow him. His hands remain free as he enters the building, as he (over?) confidently believes that he can quick-draw his pistol in plenty of time if he has to.

[TinkerGnome]

Using every bit of skill he possesses, Rent opens the door with a soft squeek. It's pretty clear that it would be a lot louder if he hadn't put so much work into it. Inside the hallway is darkened and the floor strewn with debris. The small landing just inside the entrance gives way immediately to a flight of stairs going up and a flight going down.

Aside from the dripping of water, there don't appear to be any sounds.

[snowRaven]

Chip takes out his lowlight goggles and slips them on before following Rent's lead as carefully as he can. With one hand he adjusts his goggles, keeping the other on the sawed-off shotgun in his coatpocket, just in case.

He does his best to maintain a calm exterior but his heart is beating fast, not yet accustomed to the worry and anticipation of sneaking in somewhere, not knowing what you'll find or who will be waiting for you.

He takes care scanning the area, taking a few deep breaths to center himself.