Salted Wounds [IC], a Deep Black Sea game Options

[SquirrelDude]

Sharkboy spoke up "Sharkman was already taken, and he was willing to let me take up his mask as Sharkman Jr.or Sharkman the second. Something about 'this not being my first gimmick.'(Spanish)

"We need to know if you're working because it adds a 3rd known group that could be tailing our ride and making our lives complicated, thinking we have something or someone belongs to them."

[Gilga]

Anna laughed "You are playful! Was that Spanish? Do you always keep the mask?" she seemed to be enjoying herself and not overly concerned.

[Jack_Spade]

Eliza's head nodded: "Precisely.
But as far as new leads go, we are out of luck right now. The forum was updated. Two of the chip heads were shot while they resisted arrest. The rest got away - just as the HTR helicopter arrived. I'm sorry, but for the moment it will be best if we leave the city. Help yourself to some snacks from the fridge while I talk to the boss."

[SquirrelDude]

Sharkboy just leaned in, resting his elbows on his knees. "I promised you answers about myself, but they will have to wait until after you answer the question. Are you two working right now, Ms. Black?"

[Gilga]

Anna said, "I went out of my way not to whack them myself..." She handled Sharkboy a card "Anna Black - Arcane Bodyguard" it was black with a silver envelope and had her link number in it. "I told you already that I was not working right now. No third faction is going to tail you... The way you fire the bow, I am kind of sad for anyone that would tail you. I don't have professional contacts in this city, I mainly study, go to the gym and party... "

[SquirrelDude]

Sharkboy took the card and put it slid it into one of his jacket pockets. "Thank you for not making us pull teeth to get the answer." He paused. "Metaphorically, of course.

"As promised, here are answers to the questions about myself.

"First. I'd recommend against using someone's ability to hit a cheap security drone as a measure of their skill. In another situation, that'd be target practice.
"Second. You're correct about the mask. It doesn't come off."
"Third. If we get in another fight, 'stay away, don't invade my home.'
"As for how I knew you two were out there, it's just a shark thing." He shrugged and pointed at his own neck "These gills ain't some fancy chrome either."

"As much as I would just love to tell you more about yourself, I'd like to first hear from your ward what she's been doing in VR when she gets back out."

[ Spoiler ]

It's less quality of archery, it's the effectiveness of static-shaft stick'n'shocker arrows. 12s(e) -5AP base damage is no joke.

[Jack_Spade]

Meanwhile in a small flat in Munich:

Nova's commlink chimed, indicating a call from Dr. Novotny, with the little "Urgent!" icon flashing.
The call went to voice message before anyone could pick up:
<<Nova, an old acquaintance just called me with a very time sensitive request: He needs a local trouble shooter to help protect a girl. There is already a team working on it, but they got into trouble and have to lay low right now. You are to meet up with them and prevent them from getting into any more trouble.
He is offering a generous 10k for the job - provided you can get to it right now.>>

In the van

Eliza chimed in: <<I just got a message from our boss: He wants to meet our unexpected lookalike and is currently shopping for extra protection.>>

[Thanee]

Natalya looked up and focused her concentration on the little icon in her field of vision. The text message scrolled through.

Urgent, eh? Guess it was too urgent to include any kind of information or anything...

<<Hey Doc! Thanks for the offer. I'm free right now, so I could start immediately. But can I get any more information before I accept? Like, you know, how long will this whole thing be? How big should I be packing? Will I be working for you, or for your acquaintance? In the latter case, am I to talk to him or her prior to taking the mission on? Will this be essentially the same job the other team is on? Is the compensation offered on par with that? 10k sounds nice, but you know how expensive those upgrades are... Maybe there is some room for negotiations. It's urgent after all. Also, how much up front and how much after? And after what exactly? Obviously, when I accept, I will need some contact information at least. So, anything else you can tell me here?>>

[Jack_Spade]

The doc replied immediately:
<<I have no idea about the what, why and how long, but my contact - he calls himself Hr. Nacl - wants to meet you and the other team. Premuably there you'll have a chance to negotiate your salary and get the necessary details.
I've attached the GPS coordinates for the meeting. It's in the Perlacher Forrest close to the Bavaria Filmstadt. Can you make it there within the next hour?>>

[Thanee]

<<Alright, then. I will be there. Thank you!>>

Natalya immediately checked her options to get to the location of the meeting in time. I really need to get me a bike or a car, she thought.

In the end, she chooses some automated cab service to bring her to a place close to the GPS coordinates. For the rest of the way, her feet will have to do.

She disassembles her Enfield and puts it into a sleek aluminium attaché together with some additional armor pieces. Her Guardian is in the hidden holster, as usual. Some extra ammo goes into the other hidden storage, along with her more portable medkit and some supplies.

A quick glance into the mirror... Ready for business. (she really looks like a businesswoman going to work) ...and she is good to go.

[Jack_Spade]

The coordinates led Nova to a small clearing. Though trees blocked the view, the sounds of the Bavaria Film Studios could still be heard. Snow crunched beneath her feet and her breath turned to steam in the cold forest air.
A single offroad vehicle with a lone occupant awaited her at the meeting point.

Despite the cold, the window was rolled down and she could see the man inside: A tall man with broad shoulders, a grey, neatly trimmed bear. His face put him somewhere in his late 40ies early 50ies. Attractive features in a silver fox kind of way, that must work pretty well on girls with daddy issues. He looked up from whatever he had been doing and said in her general direction:
"Come on in. It will take a few minutes more for the others to arrive." While he said that, he opened the passenger door.

[Thanee]

"Herr Nacl, nehme ich an?" Her eastern-european accent was clearly noticable in her german. "Ich bin Nova. Aber das wissen Sie ja bereits."

The blonde woman gingerly walked around the car, then hopped inside. "Danke! Ist ganz schön kalt da draußen."

[ Spoiler ]

Translations:
- Mister Nacl, I suppose?
- I am Nova. But you know that already.
- Thank you! It's quite cold out there.

[Jack_Spade]

Nacl waited for Nova to close the door and rolled up the windows. Immediately all noise from the outside was cut off - as well as all communications to the outside.

[Volker]

bnc stirred after a couple of seconds, her expression worried yet somehow distant. She blinks, then focusses on the group, inhaling softly.

"You want answers. You can have them. But first things first."

Then she slaps Anna straight across the face. Not hard-hard, not meant to break her jaw or injure her, but definitely more than symbolic. Real anger lies in the slap, and in her gaze, too. "Don't you ever again cast a spell at me against my will, or I'll shoot you dead to break the spell. You hear me? And if I tell you to do something because I noticed something you didn't, do fucking as you're told and not the damn opposite. A person's dead and we'll have to leave the country because you couldn't just keep your fragging head low! If you're dumb, it's okay, but leave the thinking to me!"

[SquirrelDude]

Well this is certainly a rather hostile employee-employer relationship. Nice that she's blaming Ms Black for the mage's death and not me, though.

[Gilga]

Anna rolled her eyes with a form of annoyance, but not anger and replied calmly "You are welcome, Petra" she sighed and said "Now get it together... and act like a professional. First, you are physically harmless and once you are grappled by a person like that it is all over. Second, I busted you out of a potentially deadly situation without any use of violence. So calm down, it was not all that bad, even if you were visible for like 2 seconds.

Third, you need to skip town because you asked me to help Sharkboy right after he killed a person in the most public place ever. Then you asked me to accompany you to this car... These two decisions are the main reason we need to hide. If you want another reason, maybe firing automatic fire on the security door justifies hiding. Yet another reason how about an army of cybered up BTL junkies looking to rip you to pieces... So in short, grow up and stop blaming me for your poor life choices."

[Jack_Spade]

Eliza chimed in from the screen:
"Please keep the violence among yourself to a minimum. The boss wants to meet you all and introduce you to another teammember as he considers the stakes have been raised now.
We are nearly there. Please keep weapons out of sight."

[Luckace]

Wraith blinked as he closed his third eye after the spell and opened his physical ones, returning to this chaotic world. Having put his foci back on felt good.


That Nacl wanted to meet the newcomers was a good sign, meant he felt truely personally involved. That he was looking for extern help was... about to be seen. Supply and demand. Shopping for more means he ain't pleased with what we got. On the other hand... more guns on our side is hardly a bad thing. But there were more pressing concerns right now.

He watched bnc's outburst with a mixture of amusement and annoyance Well, someone hasn't changed a lot..., but he soon got impatient and raised his voice in a non-aggressive, yet imposing way:

"Enough! A man is dead, shame. But as he was a mage from a hostile group, that was absolutely necessary and most likely saved our asses on the long run."

I'm worrying more about the innocents swallowed by the crowd...

"When we'll meet the boss, I'd like us to act as one group, not a bunch of misfits that are still fighting over who botched what. Now... Is everyone in for that?"

As soon as he had time, he browsed local newsfeeds for information on the apparent terrorist attack and any casualties.

[ Spoiler ]

Leadership: 10d6t5 6

[Volker]

[ Spoiler ]

Guess there's no point in resisting a whopping 6 hits (social limit?) with a single die... Whoosh.
May I ask you to use lightblue for thoughts in future? It's damn difficult to read dark blue on dark grey. Thanks!

"I do, that's why I only slapped you when I had time to educate you, girl. When I whisper "spell defense" and shove you gently outside, guess what: There's a magical threat I do not want to get aware of us. This includes not going fucking astral and tossing no mojo around. We could have gotten out of there unseen, but first you draw the mage's attention to us, and if that wouldn't be enough, you start flinging around spells to alarm those crazed-out chipseys, too! Only thing you did right was giving me the power to get out of there either silently or swiftly - and you fucked both when you turned the whole thing into a witch kettle and then kept me from frigging moving. You didn't bust me out of a deadly situation, but tossed me in it. And I'm neither defenseless nor unarmed.
That said, don't you ever fucking go on a solo again when you have no clue what the frag's going on and don't even consider forcing any spell on me ever fucking again, and the thing is done. I've got more important matters in front of me than holding a grudge.

And you-" bnc turns to Eliza "you wait until you asked. Your boss is not my boss and if I do have a team it's a barbie mage who's got less understanding of magic than a carless rigger. Literally, think about it.
Don't act like a savior. So far the only thing you performed is sending a tasteless comic-book villain after me to murder random innocent people just to make it a tad more difficult to vanish without anyone bothering. Afford appreciated but don't fucking tell me what to do. Got it?"

When Wraith cuts bnc off, she glares at him for a moment. Is that the same milky-bar kid I teamed up with? Apparently he didn't waste his time either.
She swallows down her anger and actually feels a hint of shame which she hides well behind a frozen expression.

"I will meet this man, whoever he may be, but don't mistake me for a team member."
bnc's trembling slightly, her eyes darting around between the four people restlessly. Her jaw is clenched tightly and her voice is just slightly unsteady.

[Gilga]

Anna listened intently, but then replied "I tried to protect you, Sweetie. Of course, I would not force magic- or anything else on you."

She had much to say, but bnc did not seem like she would listen to logic, or emotion for that manner. "I am not sure that it was such a bad idea to assense the mage, made him less likely to do anything stupid that he saw that I too could play that game. As with the chipheads, one of them was alarmed but the rest just zoomed in on her. She is in deep trouble and is upset, there is no need to push harder."

She turned to Wraith and said "Look Wraith." she paused and then continued "First it is a bit creepy that you decided not to drop us where Petra asked you, and instead take us to your employer. My friend is in actual danger from this miss-classification, and I am not sure that a shadow job now is the best and brightest of ideas right now - but I don't mind hearing the man."

[SquirrelDude]

"Petra is in a heavily armored vehicle with a bed, at least one mage she trusts to make decisions, matrix over-watch from the woman you observed had 'pretty eyes', and me. Seems like a safe and, importantly, mobile place for her to spend time as she deals with this case of mistaken identity. Now unless you and Petra have any more questions about my mask, I'm going to listen to some music. Try to keep your voices down as you two figure out who exactly should get the most blame for you getting out of there alive."

[Gilga]

Anna gave the Shark, a nod of agreement. Seriously, she thought that bnc would be safer at home with her toys... but there was no fun in that direction and the young decker did not seem to appreciate her opinion anyhow. These were exciting people, and a chance to live again after a month of tedious work seemed nice. "Useless to argue, as we both agreed to meet the man. How much does this gig pays off?, and what is that boss of you like? "

[Jack_Spade]

"You'll find out now, we are there." Eliza's visage vanished and was replaced by projection of the outside - a dense, snowy wooded area.
Next to an offroad capable SUV the tall form of Nacl stood - next to an imposing woman. The van came to a stop and opened on it's own accord the side door, exposing the passengers to a pretty cold breeze of frozen forrest air.

The man smiled at them in a way that touched something in bnc - like a sweet song she had heard a long time ago and nearly completely forgotten. There was something familiar about the man, although she was sure that she had never seen or met him before.

The man's deep and rich baritone fitted him well: "I am very sorry for the circumstances of this impromptu meeting. I'd just like to have a little talk with you Mrs. Black and "Petra" here. If you don't like what I have to say, Eliza will take you to a location of your choosing and this will be the end of it."

He turned to the two other runners: "By the way, this is the latest addition to the team: Nova. She comes with the highest recommendations as bodyguard and troubleshooter. Considering the death of one of the mages your opposition sports, I think it prudent to increase your available firepower somewhat to fend of retribution attempts."

[Luckace]

Wraith closed his lined coat against the unexpected cold breeze. This guy sure loves frozen nature... Nacl's soft tone had surprised him. He had expected their boss making a scene about the commotion at the BMW Museum and and was thrown off by the non-rebuking way in which he introduced their new teammate. Careful, though. Good manners don't make him a good guy. Might just be good at hiding his motives.

He greeted Nacl and the newest member with a nod and raised hand and stepped out of the van so everyone could talk properly: What Nova saw was a slim, rather small man in his mid-twenties, his upper face still smeared with black paint, his hair apparently dyed with a cheap, blonde insta-coloring spray. He appeared to be friendly, but not very talkative, and only briefly introduced himself to Nova "Wraith, arcane scout." before he stepped so the others could leave the van aside and deeply inhaled the refreshing, cold air. Finally not running to or from something. Thank you, Lord, for this moment of recuperation.

[Gilga]

Before getting off the car, Anna took a quick look at the astral around them, and if she found no obvious threats, assessed the people in the SUV.

[ Spoiler ]

Assensing: 12d6t5 3 (surrounding)
Assensing(Aura): 2#14d6t5 4 5

Her first thought was that German runners were very polite. Her second thought was that mr. Nacl was listening to their conversation. Why would everyone call her Mrs Black... She kept silent and allowed bnc to lead, a bit uncertain how - she should behave. What was going on - and why would a random Jhonson want to hire them with no recommendations or anything. She was missing something. Bnc knew more, for certain - to the very least she understood the culture. Anna knew bnc well enough that there was something more to bnc's behavior... but she had no idea what it was or if bnc even wanted her to try and dig deeper. That skinny-girl was *difficult*.

So Anna decided that it is better to keep quiet and watch everyone carefully. She waited to see how the conversation would evolve. To keep polite, she nodded at the man, indicating that he had her attention.

[ Spoiler ]

Perception:
Perception (visual): 15d6t5 5
5 hits for visual/auditory - 4 for anything else