Charm City [IC] Options

[pbangarth]

Bongo raises a glass to Rose. "The history of our calling is peppered with people who changed paths when already well known. Only the lazy ones can't or don't find a way out if they get bored. If the bread gets stale, buy another loaf."

[sunnyside]

Angel replies somewhat hastily as Tubesnake finishes "But you already took out all the bugs! There isn't anything to stab up here. Well, I guess there is the ductwork sticking up."

There is a little pause (OOC: possibly with some intervention) and then she continues.

"Hey wait. So Brewster said something about how it's good for teams to stick together close enough to support each other. I'm not much use yet but you are, so we're kinda stuck here. But the next place isn't that far away. Could I fly out there with this? Just have a look around? You could piggyback and keep an eye on your drone without having to leave the comfort of your van."

--------------

Rose smiles and says "Speaking of grains I'm ignoring this bottle you paid so much for. Actually I'm not a huge fan of moonshine, or whatever they call it, but they know to set out all these things to mix with it. Hmmmm. Maybe some grenadine"

She pours some moonshine into a highball glass, followed by a nearly equal portion of grenadine, she stares at it for a moment.

" and....more grenadine? I guess I'm not much of a mixologist. And a little simple syrup and soda and I'll call it good. Well, at least I hope it's good."

She takes a drink. Pauses and gives something of a shrug. "At least I like grenadine. "

Then her eyes go a little wide. "Oh! And I'd better get through this quick. That was my comlink letting me know the break is almost over. I guess wow me now while I'm drinking so I'll want to hang out afterwards."

--------------------

(OOC: Thanee hasn't posted, but she has time to observe a little more as Mike isn't pushing her, so I'll let her do that.)

Looking around the room the girls aren't simply homogonous. Actually the age issue varies quite a bit as does how they comport themselves. Though much of it could be an act. While they're all meant to convince customers they're young, and maybe, ironically, naive or innocent the lone elf and pair of dwarves could be much older, and age is complicated with Orks, who at least physically mature faster.   The lone troll and a couple of the humans seem to have a certain confidence about them. Though pair of pigtailed humans in particular or either not so good at hiding their fear, or they're allowed to show it. Certainly it's attracting a type of attention from some of the guests.

The Orks and a single human that seem like they might be the pimps are by the fire escape and are watching the crowd but don't seem to be getting involved, though it appears they are occasionally doing things in AR.

Back on Selina's side of the room the crowd has filed by leaving her and Mike by the club bouncers and a couple middle aged humans in period suits, close enough to partially eavesdrop on with the somewhat quite music up here and her earbuds. Selina can't make out everything, but what she gathers from some snippets are that these are the managers one of them "Is creeped out by all this, we could turn this into VIP seating or another dance floor" the other feels "People can dance all over, they need a little mystery, a little feeling of bucking the system. Being around things they shouldn't. " the following points and counterpoints get lost in shouting over a poker match, though they seem to have started discussing if wageslaves are intimidated by older ork women.

[Koekepan]

<<Guess that depends on how much juice is in the batteries. Is it enough for a round trip plus overhead and a 20% safety margin? For that matter, why not try your electronic surveillance skills to figure out what it's like and where you're going first?>>

[pbangarth]

Bongo has to make a decision here. Stick with the plan or bugger off to have some fun with a pretty girl. "Well, I've been getting some messages, too. Looks like there is a lead for tracking down our lost soul. I don't know how much longer I can stay here. If I get called away before your set finishes, I'll leave the table and drinks for you and your band mates.

"But, I would like to see you again. Here's my contact link. If you want to see me again, that will find me. I'd love to do some music with you, where we can play off each other's strengths. Who knows, this could be the start of a beautiful friendship."

[Thanee]

Selina nods to Mike's explanations. Looking around, she comments:

"It is such a shame. They could do so much more with this place. This looks just like a cheap brothel, and while they try to make it fit to the 1920's style, it just isn't. The girls are way too young, too. Do you really want to attract that crowd? I mean, a little sexy is always appreciated, but it should also have style. And you do not get that, if the dancers do not want to be here. And they clearly look like they do not. It's just not, you know, attractive. Make it more exclusive, put more effort into the style, and this could be flourishing. Let's go back down, at least the club is pretty nice there. This here is just sad. No way I would spend my money up here. Sorry for dragging you here, as I said, I was mostly curious. Let's go somewhere, that is not so depressive."

Moving around a bit while she talks, Selina makes sure, that she is close enough to the two managers, that they can overhear her. She also has to talk a bit louder because of the music, of course. Who knows, maybe that will give the one who seems to be open to change some ideas.

[sunnyside]

Ruby seems to like what she's hearing from Bongo until he gets to the "friends" part. At that her surprise is actually enough that she shoots a little moonshine out he nose. She gives out a exaggerated cry and quickly sets down her glass and grabs one of the nearby cloth napkins to clean her face.

She seems to flush with embarrassment but soon it turns into laughing out loud.

"Ahhh. I haven't laughed like that in a while. I just wish it didn't take getting stung!" She chuckles a little more as she finishes cleaning up.

"well, I didn't expect to hear the word friend, but I'm interested in seeing you again, and we'll see how it goes. All the same I think maybe I'll keep the table to myself. But I ought to get going."

She starts to slowly get up and get her things together to head back to the stage.

------------------

An observer of expressions, Selina gets the feeling Mike might be feeling a little attacked and getting ready to be defensive, maybe at the use of "you" but eventually he notices the managers looking at and listening to his increasingly loud partner and seems to put two and two together. He gets back to cracking his smile as Selina finishes.

He turns his back to the managers and offers his arm to her. "Sure. we can get out of here and back to the dancing. Like I said not my scene either, but I wanted to satisfy your desires."

After they gets some distance he adds " I think the girls do enough with their act that they might manage to fool the managers into thinking that they actually want to be there instead of that just being a line for hypothetical cops. I'm always amazed at what people can believe when they'd really rather it was true. You might have just scratched up their nice palatable veneer there.

Anyway the band ought to be back by the time we get down to the dance floor. Or if you're curious about my place it's a nice uptown spot not far from here. It's got a great view you really ought to see."

----------------

Angel sends Tubesnake a digital pout and says "Phooey, I wanted to use the drone. I still don't exactly get how the matrix works with all this physical stuff very well. But I guess I can start making a file."

At that the team gets pinged that Angel is sharing an AR file. She starts uploading the relatively basic info and some pictures that her sprite had gotten for her.

Frank Torres lives in Tourmaline Estates.

Located at
https://maps.app.goo.gl/EiP6A6tmwmD39oR98
Over the St Ambrose Housing Aid Center it goes from E25th to E24th and Barclay to Calvert.

The architecture is quite different from the default uptown structure. Most uptown buildings have very distinct "base" dividing them from the downtown areas, and then continuing up vertically as a simple rectangle with the external elevators running up their sides. The top of the building might have something unique, but most just have the standard flat top roof or helipad.

The Tourmaline Estates start out somewhat like four separate structures over the four columns of north/south running rowhomes they cover. However the structures then angle towards each other, closing the hundred foot gap between them over twenty stories. The four buildings are entirely connected across five floors, hence why it's considered a single structure. Then they angle away from each other, centered over the rowhomes and heaviest columns, coming to a point.

The structure also angles similarly out over the streets around it, causing it to loom over its neighbors who aren't uptown structures themselves, like the Brentwood Public Housing Development just to the east.

This and the shiny glass walls does give it a gemlike look, hinted at in the name, and is advertised as providing rooms with a view.

Based on info Angel found, Frank Torres has an apartment on the 12th floor that should have a 14 foot wide by 10 foot high single pane angled window looking down on the backyards around Falls street. Approximately above https://maps.app.goo.gl/HBQhFujS5EDCqLMR7

The windows are tinted and each "row" has a different tint color, given names corresponding to Tourmaline, so his window should be tinted green for being in the Verdelite section.

[pbangarth]

Bongo puts a hand on one of Rose's as she is gathering her things. "Rose. The best relationships are built on friendship. Without that, a relationship is almost always doomed to end badly."

Wow. Out of young man's mouth? Maybe something from old Johnny Winnipeg's musings stuck.

[Koekepan]

<<I guess that might be a bit far away. Bring the flyer back and I'll plug it in. I can drive nearer that destination if the folks over here don't need more help. As far as that building is concerned, any of my crawlers could slither up the side if I needed them to. What did ya think, for Frank?>>

[sunnyside]

Rose stares at Bongo for a few long moments while he holds her hands. She cocks her head to the side a few strands of her black hair getting lose with a look something of puzzlement. Eventually she says.

"I honestly have no idea if that's a line, genuine, or something else, and what it would mean if it was either of those. Well, maybe if I wanted some normal guy that acted like a normal guy I shouldn't have joined someone named Bongo at their table." She pauses and then adds "Whether or not that's your actual name. "

She starts to turn away and then looks over her shoulder as she swishes up the stairs and says "We're supposed to get off at two, but the owners like screwing around with local ordinances for the flavor, and basically stay open until some neighbor calls the cops. It gets a little punchy at the end, and I think sometimes they turn up the volume and open the doors if the neighbors aren't calling in time. Sometimes it's fun, sometimes it fragging sucks, but you've got my number. "

Then she continues on her way, picking up the pace a little once she's out of eyesight.

--------------

Angel must be putting a lot of thought into their reply because a few seconds pass while they're thinking at hot VR speeds. Eventually they come back with << Well, a drone should be able to see through the tinted glass if it's close enough. I had to search on that, most sources think it should. But I think it might look like a creepy bug to anybody looking out their huge windows, and if you do the cable dangly thing like before it'd be swinging over that park. The matrix says parks are full of people. Kids and puppies and stuff. I kinda wanna see it.

Um. You should probably ask the other people though. Could you do it Mr. Snake? I'm not so sure about talking to them and maybe they're up to stuff where they don't want to be bothered. Uh. I'll see if I can find some more stuff for the file. You do the planning stuff. >>


A little while later everyone in the group gets pinged that another file has been added. It looks to be the floorplan for the floor, the type of apartment Frank has.

The floor is exceedingly banal. It seems built to maximize apartment space there's just one straight hallway running down the middle all the way from the external elevator on the north side to the external elevator on the south. These large elevators move on an external track, allowing them to move along the slope of the wall. At 1/3rd and 2/3rds of the distance there are pairs of internal only elevators.

For the apartments seem built around the windows. The rest of the "luxury" apartment is a matching fourteen feet wide, but is almost seventy five feet long. The door to the outside is on the north side of the apartment and should give a view down a long hallway. First there would be a closet to the left, and then a dining room/kitchen area with an open floorplan and an island/bar between them. Next, continuing down the hall, would be a series of doors on the left. First a bathroom, then the master bedroom with its own bathroom, then a second and third bedroom, and then finally at the end of the hall is a doorway to a twenty foot by fourteen foot living room, with the window taking up the entirety of one wall.

(In case it doesn't go without saying, these sorts of windows do not open. The are attached to the masonry seperating the apartments.

[Thanee]

Selina winks at Mike as his expression changes and he, obviously, figures out that she was not really talking to him. "You are a smart guy."

She also mentally discusses a little plan with Fiona, which might help to further nudge the managers into a direction from where they might actually do something to turn things around for the better. Getting them on the same page might certainly help, and one of them seems to have some plans, already, so why not give him a little help there.

"Well, you got me there. Definitely curious. How about one last dance and then you can show me that nice place of yours. You know, I am actually looking for an uptown apartment, and so far I havn't seen much. Right now, I only have something temporary down here, which is clearly not an ideal situation."

Then she checks her messages and replies to the others.

<< That Frank guy has a nice place, it seems. I will be heading over to the uptown soon, and may be able to swing by there at some point, to get an impression. Probably in the morning. Depending on how tight magical security is up there, Fiona could also take a look at it. >>

[Koekepan]

Paul sighs, finishes his drink, crushes the cup and Nutzkrunsh wrapper together, and tosses them into the disposal. <<Just get the drones into autopilot to get back, or do you need me handle that?>>

While Angel figures out the intricacies of drone management, he works out some thoughts on the whole Frank apartment situation.

<<Folks, what's the play on Frank? Who's going, who's getting greasy, and what backup do they need?>>

[sunnyside]

Angel replies pretty quickly <<I think I can do it myself! It's easier when you can just go straight mostly. My sprite friends say they're really good that this. But they keep going away too soon.>>

As she starts moving the drone at a little below it's normally slow pace back towards the van she seems to have kept poking around, and uploads a promotional picture. It shows one of the external elevators with pair of smiling knight errant guards in it and a third helping a well dressed old lady by carrying a three foot tall sculpture from a limo into the elevator.

------------

Mike's mood is obviously high as he makes his way briskly to the dance floor. Back in his table Bongo could see Mike and Selina head down the main spiral staircase as Rose finally kicks off the next set with the electro swing remix of "A Friend Like Me"

Mike is smiling as they are about to get into the swing of things. "You might want to seriously consider it. I know it looks like there are nice uptown places all over near here, but most of them are exclusive to their corporate family. More like little isolated arcologies that need shipments. A lot of folks in the Shadow city scene down here come from my building. I find the sloped views...artistically inspiring. You'll see."

And at that he reaches out for her hands for the dance. "Don't worry, I won't try any crazy spins near this crowd"

[pbangarth]

Bongo replies to Tubesnake's question. <<I figure some astral reconnaissance will happen first, and then we can decide whether physical intrusion is necessary. Selina is working some kind of angle with a guy on the dance floor. She's our astral expert so we need to wait for her to be available.>>

[Thanee]

"So far, I have only been 'window shopping' virtually. Havn't had any time to look at anything seriously, since I arrived. The harbor area looks pretty good, and that upper part of the... L-shaped area. Yeah, as I said, still pretty new to Baltimore. But the city does have its charms."

When the dance begins, she remarks: "Hey, nothing wrong with a little crazy, occasionally. Emphasis on a little."


In the meantime, Fiona has found a nice spot, where she can materialize in cover. She also conceals herself, just to be sure. Then she takes a quick peek, which is enough to lock onto her target, the manager that Selina pointed out to her, and she plants the idea into his mind, that it might actually be very beneficial to open the third floor up for dancing and such, and make it less of a hidden strip joint. Who knows, it's worth a try. Maybe it will actually help.

When she is done, she retreats back into the astral, making sure that noone is looking at her directly, and removes her astral signature from the area before slowly heading back out through the ward to reunite with Selina.

[ Spoiler ]

Infiltration 3 hits, Concealment, Influence 7 hits.

[sunnyside]

Fiona eventually opts to materialize underneath a poker table. With the men distracted by both the game and girls she figures they aren't going to look down there too often. That seems to work out for her as far as she can tell. At least she didn't get kicked.

What she can't tell is how well influence worked, but she put a lot of effort into it. Time will have to tell.

Without active magic security it's relatively easy to clear up the signature and she even manages to push through the ward on her first try.

----------------------

As Mike and Selina enjoy their dance steps on the floor, Angel 316 seems to be enjoying the little drone steps as it heads to the van. Or, as Tubesnake notes the drones cameras being angle all over, perhaps enjoying the crowds, scenery, or maybe the fight he can hear in the distance. No guns are fires of course.

By the time Mike is leading Selina outside Tubesnake has his drones back.

Since you haven't been sharing live feeds he wouldn't think much of the troll heading outside and a jet black luxury detailed Ares Humvee Civic pulling up to the curb. However he'd be much more likely to notice Selina coming out with a guy and leading her to the car. The AHC has an open node and advertises its taxi service.

Outside Mike looks a little on edge compared to the carefree fun a little bit ago. "I like that they keep magic and guns under wraps out here, but you hear that fighting in the distance? Maybe just some gangers letting off some steam and getting some scars where things don't get quite as serious. But not a safe place to hang out. I also feel out of place in this get up outside of the club. Imagine having a fashion faux pas in front of an assailant? "

He can't help but smirk at that and opens the door for her. An unnecessary gesture, as the car should have power doors.

The troll takes a break from scowling at anybody looking in their direction and shoots Selina a smirk. Based on the flush of his skin she suspects he might have taken her advice and indulged in the absinthe more than would be professional.

[pbangarth]

Seeing that Selina and her beau are heading outside, Bongo figures the recce in here is over. He follows at a discreet distance, giving a nod and a wink to Rose as he does so.

Outside, he passes Selina as she approaches the man's vehicle and nods to her as well. He carries on to Tubesnake's truck. Once there, he checks in. "I'm not sure what Selina is doing, but we have a name and a place. You want to head there and have one of your pets check it out? Or at least, be present should a plan emerge?"

[Koekepan]

""Sure thing, Boss. Here, move aside that roll of cable and take a seat.""

Tubesnake settles in the driver's seat and checks all the safety markers before engaging the motor and oozing out into traffic, warning lights flashing politely until well in the lane.

""I won't stop right at the door, but I'll get a bunch closer. What was going on in there, from what you could see?""

[sunnyside]

Tubesnake pulls out into traffic. Even taking it easy, after one right turn onto 24th and four minutes you're there. There's a fair volume of traffic flowing in this direction, many of them taxis.

Cruising by Falls street it's hard to get an exact bead on Franks window. Tubesnake and Bongo are sure they can see it, but they're all identical with just l little metal frame separating on window from the next, so you'd have to carefully count or tag it in AR.

Not show in the advertising photos, there are steel girders coming up from Falls street to support the center of the span looming over it and provide lighting for the downtown area. You could still drive down the street, but it'd be tight for the van without getting up on people's lawns.

And there are plenty of people, probably downtowners by the clothes, milling around down there.

In the matrix Angel 316 is bopping around excitedly chatting with the different team members.

"Bongo, you left your Rover behind right? Could I drive it if you gave me the access codes? Bring it around? Does it work like one of Mr. Snake's drones? "

That gets her thinking about Tubesnake's drones "Now that we're close do you think I could check things out? Though the last place had lots of spots to get away from everybody staring at me while crawling around. Here everybody could see me if I went up towards his window. " She started out excited, but sounds apprehensive by the end. "

[pbangarth]

Bongo's chuckle doesn't transmit through the Matrix, but he keeps the reply light anyway.

<Driving a vehicle through traffic takes a bit more experience and training, Angel. I'd be happy to help you out in that regard over the next few months. We don't need the Rover right now, but you being with us in the Matrix is good. I think we all still need to come up with a plan. We might have to wait till Selina is done her reconnaissance so we can have her skills available.>

Bongo's not too sure about Angel's worldliness, so he doesn't elaborate on the proclivities of Cat shamans.

[Koekepan]

Tubesnake again doesn't stop right in front of the building, but half a block away from the corner. He doesn't go ploughing lines through fancy people's lawns with his van's tyres, but still eases one set of wheels up on the edge of the road. Does this mean that some driveway is a bit occluded? Shouldn't bought a house right by the utility access, shouldja? He carefully parks right by a manhole cover and takes his time setting out traffic cones complete with those fancy AR tags that announce WORK ZONE and all that boilerplate stuff. Down these manholes are everything from Matrix fibre cable runs to storm drainage monitor units, so there are abundant reasons for him to be here. Moreover, he works at the leisurely pace of someone who works on institutional money, just taking his sweet time. It gives everyone else a chance to do whatever they need to do.

To Angel he responds: <<Not to harsh your vibe, ma'am, but I don't know if you know enough about these buildings to stealth it up as you'd want to. Maybe start poking on the virtual side, instead.>>

Bongo he addresses more casually in person. ""Hey, can you throw down the manhole key? It's the lever-looking gadget there - it's hanging on the hook just to the left of the metal lathe, behind the lubricant rack.""

[pbangarth]

Bongo finds the tool and tosses it to Tubesnake. In the process, he notes how many wonderful impromptu missile weapons there are in this van.

After that, he carefully remarks and commits to memory which window is Frank's. He adjusts his contact lenses to zoom in on the window and enhance the view. Who knows? Maybe he'll get lucky.

[ Spoiler ]

Perception test if needed: Perception 7 + vision enhancement lenses 3 + INT 5 = 15 dice: 4 [15d6t5=5, 3, 3, 4, 2, 5, 2, 3, 4, 4, 3, 5, 3, 4, 5]

[sunnyside]

Tubesnake pulls up alongside the Greenmount Recreation Center https://maps.app.goo.gl/ceohf6tUH7ueBdbV6 It's closed for the night and so there is plenty of street parking.

The broad side of the building has continually gotten new murals over the years. Currently it shows an Ork family, standing together with the father looking strong and dignified. The fashion they're painted with hints at the "authentic" garb of the Cascade Ork Tribe and inspirational phrases in Or'zet are painted further down the wall.

From Tubesnakes van the Tourmaline looms not far away, but one couldn't see Franks window form here.

Except for Bongo. With his Eidetic Sense Memory and Three Dimensional Memory he's able to hand tools to Tubesnake while traveling back in his mind to the building he'd only been able to look at for a few seconds. More than enough time for Bongo, and he revisits zooming in, though the reflective tinted window doesn't let him see inside, except to be pretty sure the lights are on. It also gives him a little time to look around at the downtown area from his peripheral vision. It's crowded down there, and generally not by people with much money by the looks of it. Plenty of people laying out in the park under Franks window.

Actually, while he didn't get the best angle, it almost looks like people might be setting up show, with little tables here and there to presumably sell goods, but the items are tilted over, like they're meant to be viewed from above.

He could also spot a manhole in the road. Tubesnake would block a lane there, and have some difficulty flooring it, but going through the details in his mind Bongo can see lots of people and trash in the road, and a lack of cars in the driveways, so it looks like there is rarely traffic there. Though coming back to reality, the spot you're parked at right now has the advantage of not having anyone nearby, and being pretty dark.

[pbangarth]

Bongo replies to Tubesnake, """Yeah, this is a good, quiet spot to work from. If you feel this one isn't ideal, there's a manhole cover right under his window we could set up over. Dark and quiet here, close there. Not much traffic to worry about, from the looks of things. Trash and stuff floating around undisturbed. Either way, I might take a walk over to the vendors there, and see what I can learn from them.

""" You OK here, or should we move? """

[Koekepan]

"""Naw, man, I'm fine here. See, I can send a flyer up, I can send a bullet up, or I can just point a camera up. We can get in close if we need to, or stay at arm's length if we don't. It's perfect. Better yet, who cares we're here? Nobody, that's who. If the rest of the team needs something special, we have time and space to lay it out. That there's a luxury."""

[pbangarth]

"OK. Sounds good to me. I'm going over to see what the merchants have laid out for the folks up above. Let me know if you need me."


Bongo wanders over to see what the vendors have displayed and looks over the merchandise. While he's there, he gets a closr look at the structure up above. Are there any entry points here from below? Are there maintenance hooks for ascending on the outside? That sort of thing.