IC New Beginnings DAWN Options

[farothel]

"They do, but we don't have to," Sammy said, "while a lot of families have that name, they are not used in public, so it doesn't matter. One first name and a family name is sufficient. As for a family name, there used to be a drug lord named Escobar about a century ago. Why don't we use that as last name. A family trying to get back into the drug business. First names you can pick yourself, just so long as we know. But it's maybe better if I go with Maria, as that's my real name and I might react to it if someone else took it."

[SleepIncarnate]

<If we are going with names we might actually react to, intentionally or not, perhaps I should be Elena?> Snow raises an eyebrow inquisitively at this. <So we will be the Escobars, with Raphael, Maria, Elena, and others?>

[Thvor]

Sam thought about it. "I know a guy back home who probably knows a good family name for us to use, rather than just choosing at random. Hell, we could probably use his family name, given some of the stories he's told me." He pulled out his 'link and sent a note to Dom, explaining what they were looking for. "Not sure how soon he'll get back, given the time difference."

Edit: Removed the bit about trying to speak Yoruba with a Hispanic accent, since Sam's not changing.

[Crossbow]

You actually get a pretty quick response from Dom, "You sure you want to kick a hornet's nest like that? Try to keep the bloodshed to a minimum and I will try to cover for you if you use the name Chavez."

"I am not trying to remember a half dozen names, it is Raphael, Elena and, thanks for the heads-up Starlet, I am Julia. You other three are who you are, hired guns, mouthpieces and" Jane grinned, "Ah...Special service providers? Be who you are to the best of your abilities, we are just clients who don't speak local. Okay?"


Clem looks particularly relieved as the ruse is explained, she is not one to pretend, and especially not one to speak. She put her gear away after taking what she needed and went to the door, "Okay, make it look good, Torley in front with our guide, you four in a close pack and me following. We are the help, so when you talk to the Face or me, act snotty, or just glare. We should know in about 10 seconds if this is going to work, so lock in your part now." She goes to Torley and takes his cane, handing it to O'Conner, then hands him one of the spare AKs, "You are security, try to be seen as intimidating, or just seen, period."


When the group files out they get to the lobby without seeing anyone. At the desk, Homie says to the person on the desk, "We need a car for all." He looks to Jane who passes him a few coins for the payment.

[farothel]

Sammy brought all her weapons, which is to say not many. She had an Ares predator, but it seemed like half of the world had, so that wouldn't be much of a problem. She also had a taser, again, it could be concealed nicely. But she also brought her sword. It could Always be explained as someone with more money than sense, although she knew how to use it.
""Okay, I'm good to go," she said, "where to?"

[farothel]

Sammy brought all her weapons, which is to say not many. She had an Ares predator, but it seemed like half of the world had, so that wouldn't be much of a problem. She also had a taser, again, it could be concealed nicely. But she also brought her sword. It could Always be explained as someone with more money than sense, although she knew how to use it. She also had a backpack with a couple of changes of clothes and some other items that could be useful, but that was it.
""Okay, I'm good to go," she said, "where to?"

[Thvor]

Sam wasn't sure how he'd been turned into the hired muscle, but he was willing to go along with it. At least it gave him a reason to have the Roomsweeper as well as his Self Defender. He knew he'd be useless with the AK, though he'd seen enough goons that he was able to give off a professional air while holding it. Reality's at least 90% perception, and I control that, he tried to reassure himself, though he found himself having a hard time believing it fully.

[Necrogigas]

O'Connor holsters his pistol on the forearm slide, and his machine pistol on his hip. He holds up his M23 rifle, "The higher up the syndicate ladder, the less weapons most carry since that's what goons are for. To stand out, I want to go with my full loadout. Want to project that I still get my own hands dirty. Lead from the front and all that." He looked namely to Clem and Snow for input on his idea since both were connected to organized crime.

[Crossbow]

Clem gives him a head shake, disagreeing. “Not when you have bodyguards it doesn’t, let Torley carry that beast instead of the AK. He will be close enough that you can snatch it off him if you need it.”
----------------------------
The exit from the hotel goes off without a hitch, the runners walk out looking the part and Lil Homie get a van and driver as he is instructed by Jane. Feigning casuality, but searching the area while doing so, you spot a look out that has already dismissed your group and another that is kind of strange.

He is a white dude, for one, which wouldn’t stand out much if he was in the hotel compound, but he is in the street outside. The other is that he is seemed to be more interested in Torley than anyone, who is still trying to get comfortable carrying a longarm and missed it. (He accidently dropped the magazine out of in the elevator.)
As you pull away, most of you notice the lookout becomes a tail

[farothel]

"Interesting," Sammy said, "probably from that guy we met at the other side of the bay. I think we best be careful if he is the tail for an ambush a bit further. If you want, I'll try to summon a spirit to crash his car? I'm not sure how good I will be at this moment, but I can give it a shot."

[Necrogigas]

O'Connor gave an extremely sullen look when overruled on carrying his own rifle, but acquiesced nonetheless. His mood soured even further at Torley's mishandling of his weapon in the elevator. He quickly gave the face a quick technical rundown that hopefully would help him pretend to act like he knew how to use the rifle.

[ Spoiler ]

Firearm Design Knowledge Test
Firearm Design 3 + Specialization Automatics 2 + Intelligence 3 = Pool 8
Firearms Knowledge: 8d6t5 3

O'Connor chuckled as the team debated on how to handle the tail, "We just make friends wherever we go."

[Crossbow]

Jane, who is sharing the middle couch with Starlet, eyes the driver and leans close to whisper in the orc's ear "Nah, leave him be, we lost the local guy, no reason to attract attention again just yet." She snuggles the mage a bit too, for the sake of the act.

[SleepIncarnate]

<Perhaps a simple false command to his vehicle if it is on the network? Telling it to shift into reverse or take a left turn. Glitches happen all the time, after all.>

[Crossbow]

<You are welcome to try, but I doubt that jalopy is rigged, and there ain't no GridGuide in Africa.>

[Crossbow]

Somebody once said that the The Dúdú Dúdú Ôjà weapons market is an astonishing place, it continues to be so at night, even more so when you consider the types of metahumanity that aren't really keen on sunlight. More than once as your group moves through you see, or brush past individuals give you gooseflesh, or just full on feelings of illness. That is not even counting a few well dressed ghouls that appear to be accepted in the community, though like you they are well guarded.

The market is not known for an outlet of high fashion, there is no House of Lagos strutting the runways, but some fairly decent clothes can be found in armored varieties, for a price.

[farothel]

Keeping part of her concentration on the disguise spells, Sammy nevertheless looked around as if checking out the various wares, but mostly the surroundings. She moved behind the group as appropriate for her station.

[Necrogigas]

O'Connor decided to take Jane's directive about being the center of attention to heart. He gravitated towards a number of armored suits that to varying degrees straddled the line between showy and outright gaudy.

[farothel]

"I would take something else," Sammy softly said as O'Connor took something, "if you wear that, some people are going to shoot you just to get rid of the suit. Take the one next to it."

[Crossbow]

You are doing an excellent job of seeing and being seen in the market, you note that there is an Area Boy presence here, but you are not hassled at all, even though Lil Homie is able to confirm that the three of you are definitely still on their list.

The South African security dude that followed you from the hotel is still hanging around, but not obtrusively so. Torley, once he is told about the tail, will recognize the gentleman that helped him to his seat.

[Necrogigas]

Following Starlet's advice to a point, O'Connor passed on the truly gaudy and tasteless suits. He did however buy two extremely loud suits. One a white three piece suit with a pink shirt, and the other a bright green zoot suit with a purple shirt. He wore the zoot suit out of the market, saving the far more stainable white three piece for later.

He turned to Jane, "We ready to head out to this auction?"

[farothel]

Sammy followed and if she looked a bit distant, it wasn't completely an act, as she had to keep up the spells.

[Crossbow]

Leaving the market you make it to the airport without incident, once inside Starlet drops the disguises so that Jane can negotiate your extra passenger, who will be staying with the plane.

The trip to Ife takes a few hours by air. Innocent Dobiri proves to be an excellent pilot, as you see when he skillfully evades anti-air fire from a “group of drunk idiots” below. Once in Ife, you accompany Jane to the palace, a stunning Islamic-style fortress.

[ The palace and grounds are a Rating 3 domain aspected towards Ifá. This means that any magically active runners who don’t follow Ifá will be at a disadvantage (per the rules on p. 118, Street Magic, any magic user who does not follow Ifá will suffer a magic reduction of 3 and adepts will lose 3 power points, chosen by the player). ]

Tropical vines, heavy with fragrant flowers, cling to the two-story wall that surrounds the palace. Jane speaks to a uniformed guard at the gate, and after a minute, another group of guards arrives to escort you into the palace. While you’re walking through the broad, manicured gardens, you see a helicopter landing on a helipad; it has Aztechnology markings.

At the main entrance everyone is scanned with MAD wands and cyberware detectors. All weapons and active foci kept to this point are confiscated for the duration of the stay

You’re shown into a luxury suite, where your red-robed guide informs you that there will be a viewing of the items in two hours followed by a formal dinner with the Oni. Until then, he tells you, you’re welcome to rest in the suite. You can also go anywhere in the guest wing of the palace, and he’d be happy to give you a tour.

[farothel]

Sammy declined the tour. After dropping the illusions, she had kept her foci off, so she still had them, even if her magic would be next to useless while here. She decided to do some meditating and playing around with her magic in the privacy of her room to find ways around the special power she felt in this palace. She wasn't sure if she would be able to, but now she felt quite useless.

[Necrogigas]

O'Connor wasn't a fan of the palace. The area felt weird and oppressive, and he chaffed under it's restrictions. Then to add to his vulnerability, he was stripped of his weapons.

Once they were sequestered in their suite, he turned to Starlet, "What's going on here? It doesn't feel as awful as some places in Redmond, but my Talent is still being restrained here. I feel sluggish, like I'm walking through syrup." He then throw a flurry of punches and kicks to demonstrate. While he was slower than normal, only those with enhanced perception of some form would truly notice the difference. To the naked eye, he was still an inhumanly fast blur.

[SleepIncarnate]

Snow's first thought to the mention of a formal dinner was to think of what to wear. Once they got to the suite, she would look through her bags to find something to make the right impression.

At O'connor's comments, she idly shook her head. "I am not sure I can properly understand your situation there, but the comparison to a barrens is fitting. The Matrix here is more like in a barrens, which leaves me feeling a bit... frustrated." She continues rifling through her bag, looking for something just right. "Perhaps we shall have to rely more on our charms and hope it does not come to a situation where our more typical skills are needed?"