IC New Beginnings DAWN Options

[pbangarth]

Torley shakes his head. "Nah, I just got the one."

[Crossbow]

Lil Homie looks at O'Conner like he just offered him a brand new car, then swallows and says that the market they will be dropping into will have someone selling them. He is correct too, but they are ridiculously expensive, 20,000 naira (1000 nuyen) for a Meta Link running Vector Xim.

Once you are on ground in the market (and already dropped 100 naira for a bribe), you realize that parking yourself on a rooftop over an intersection might be difficult. The shanties that look stable are used for walkways and the rest barely qualify as buildings, with cloth or canvas "roofs".

[Necrogigas]

O'Connor did not like this part of the slums one bit. In the palace, his magic felt supressed, here it felt like it was infected. He'd only felt like this before in the more horrific sections of Redmond, the places where even he treaded carefully.

O'Connor grumbled about the price of a cheap commlink, but ended up buying one. He put the the commcodes of the team in and handed it to the kid, "Don't lose it, I'm not buying you a second one." He sent Lil' Homie's commcode to Torley and Starlet, <Here's Lil' Homie's code. Send us pics of the target if you can. Keep the kid in the loop on the target's position so he can tail him and guide me to intercept if the target takes a different path.>

He also handed Lil' Homie his pistol, "This is for emergencies only, as a last resort. If you get in a bad spot, run if you can. It goes double for not losing my gun. To be clear, the commlink's yours to keep, but the pistol is just a loaner."

After a quick tutorial on how to check and send texts and calls, he sent Lil' Homie on his way to watch the brothel. Meanwhile he tried to figure out a usable vantage point.

[ Spoiler ]

Perception 3 + Visual 2 + Intuition 3 - CM 1 = Pool 7
Perception: 7d6t5 3

[pbangarth]

Torley responds. <Got it.>

[Necrogigas]

Torley responds. <Je l'ai>

O'Connor raised an eyebrow, *Is that french? Really hope that's an affirmative. One day Torley's hate-hate relationship with technology is gonna bite us in the hoop.*

[Crossbow]

Lil Homie will accept the items and the instructions reverently, and with a nod scampers off to the brothel ahead of the rest of you.

O'Conner figures that he could hunker down under a blanket or something else at the same intersection, the sightlines are still good and he can take to the roof if he needs to by sitting close to a ladder or stairwell.

[farothel]

Sammy steps one step behind Torley, while concentrating on keeping her own spell up (Torley's is in the sustaining focus). The magic here feels tainted somehow, a bit like in the worst parts of East LA. Well, she would have simply have to deal with it if needed, although she hoped it wouldn't.

[pbangarth]

The farmer's land had seen better days. Long ago. Now he scrabbled a living out of the depleted soil. Years of labour had bent his back and calloused his hands, but his will to survive was unbroken. Somewhere deep inside he knew his troubles were not his fault, and not really his wife's fault, but she had taken the brunt of his venting frustration for years. Silently and dutifully, as a wife should. He stepped up to the swinging doors of the bar, his bowed and bruised wife one step behind. Time now for a hard drink or two to ease the unending struggle.

He pushed his way in.

Torley bends his motions and demeanor to portray the struggling farmer: bent body but head held high. A survivor. Just ... but a survivor. He scans the bar, clearly appearing to look for a place for him and his woman to sit, but Torley also seeks a first impression of the patrons.

[Crossbow]

No one takes much a look at the man, most are interested in their own troubles or their own pleasures.

The metahuman quotient in the room is high, more than half are orcs and there is a rather scrawny specimen of the troll metatype acting as bouncer. There are women sitting in chairs lining the wall near a stairwell, the patrons don't seem very picky, they just grab the one closest to the stairs. As the girls come down they just take an open seat. Some don't even seem aware they are missing turns, the drugged gaze of their face showing they are not really present.

There is a cheap trid showing a soccer match that is garnering the most attention. Some are armed, but most look they can barely afford a drink, let alone a weapon.k

The bartender is a very healthy looking ork, who is pouring liquids from jars and pots. Apparently, no liquor distributors make it this far into the slums.

[pbangarth]

The farmer (Torley) indicates an open table to his wife (Sammy) and then walks over to the bar. He studies the various vessels of drink, trying to assess which is least likely to kill the two of them.

[ Spoiler ]

Alcohol interst knowledge test: INT 5 + Alcohol 2 = 7 dice: 0 hits

Fuck! Well, at least it wasn't a glitch. Have fun, Crossbow.

He picks what seems to be the least damaging and buys 2 ... glasses? Beakers? Cups?

[farothel]

Sammy follows Torley and sits down, making sure she sits with her back to a wall if possible. She too looks very rough and prematurely aged from the long hours and days toiling in the soil trying to eke out a meager harvest, before having gone to the big city. As soon as she sits, she opens up her sight to the astral, looking around to see if she could identify their mark like that. An adept who managed to steal an artifact had to be quite high in magic and therefore would stand out. And she would also try to see the general treat level around in the way of magically active, spirits and the like.

[ Spoiler ]

assensing: assensing: 6d6t5 3

[Crossbow]

Starlet doesn't find anyone awakened in the bar, which was a little surprising until she thought about it a second. The apprentice at the palace had said they could find no trace of him and that was a stronger suppression field than this. If he uses magic to hide, he must be very good at it. Good enough to beat a common assensing scan, at least.

Torley holds up two fingers and gets two cups of a murky, unidentifiable liquid. "She for sale?" The bartender asks in Igbo, nodding to Starlet.

[pbangarth]

Torley shakes his head. "No."

He heads back to the table and sits beside Sammy to get as good a view of the room as possible. The farmer absentmindedly passes a drink to his wife. He looks at her and says quietly,"Any luck on the astral?"

He takes a drink from his cup.

[farothel]

"Nobody," Sammy whispers back, "but our target is good at hiding. But at least no extra awakened trouble makers."
She then takes a sip of her drink, not trusting it enough to gulp it down. She knows quite a lot about wine, but not about whatever pig swill this is.

[Crossbow]

The drinks are fine, some kind of fermented fruit juice is cutting the harshness of a distilled liquor. Nothing to write home about, but it will get you drunk is a pleasant way.

The soccer game has reached a final break and several men go out a back door, apparently to relieve themselves while others collect more drinks, all the while chattering loudly about different aspects of the match.

[pbangarth]

"Let's keep a watch then, to see if someone stands out... status or wealth, maybe. Clothes, the way they walk, the way others approach them, that sort of thing."

Torley takes another small sip of the drink. Look like you belong, but don't get drunk.

[Crossbow]

O'Conner

Nothing has really happened since you settled in, you got a couple of nervous calls from Lil Homie, who doesn't really seem interested in talking to anyone but you, 'alerting' you to different things he is observing on the outside of the bar. He has just let you know about the group that came out the backdoor to pee.

Then you see a group men coming through the market. They are well armed, and asking questions at every booth. Two of them break off from their squad and start down your street. You can see that the uniforms have a similarity to the guards you saw at the palace, but not as ceremonial.

[Necrogigas]

O'Connor texted the group chat, <Our competition just hit the market. Royal guard's asking around the booths. Got two headed my way.>

[pbangarth]

Torley reacted to the message from O'Connor. He asks Sammy, "Drek's about to hit the fan when the royal guards come in here. Waddaya say we preempt them by asking for Silence at the bar and offering him some advance warning, from prospetive buyers?"

[farothel]

"Could work," Sammy said, "at the very least he owes us one and would probably agree to a second meeting. And we should be able to identify the dude."

[pbangarth]

Torley takes a deep breath. "Alright."

He stands and walks to the bar. Torley focuses his Voice Control to project a deep and resonant voice right into the ear of the bartender. "Look at me. I am the farmer you just served. I need to talk to the one called Silence. NOW." The last word is louder. "Danger comes now. I can help."

[Crossbow]

The bartender is quite surprised at the change of tone "What are you talking about? What danger? Who is this Silence?" He is lying, obviously, Torley's Kinesics pick that up easily, the thing the face almost missed was the subtle hand movement that is picked up by an ork by the back door. That ork casually rises looking like he is going to take a pee, adjusting himself and whatnot. Only problem with that is that guy just came in from the game intermission pee session.

[farothel]

As Torley goes to the bar, Sammy keeps an eye out for potential trouble. She wouldn't be able to do her routine to stave off drain, but she could still cast some spells without people knowing. And as she hadn't seen any magically active people, those few who were probably couldn't see in the astral, making it easier for her.

[pbangarth]

Torley smiles at the bartender. "Thank you for your help."

He turns and heads toward the fellow by the back door, giving a slight nod and tilt of the head to Sammy as he starts out. Smiling again, hands out to the sides as non-threateningly as possible. Again projecting his voice when in range, he tells the ork, "No problem here. My friends and I want to help the person called Silence out of some trouble coming down the road. They want to hurt Silence. We want to .." Damn! What is the word for negotiate? " make a deal."

[Crossbow]

Torley doesn't reach the second sentence in his speech before the ork is bolting out the door.