After verifying the commcodes, and before leaving, Des answers Hunter, "Seperately we cover more ground, and I'll record for feedback, highlights for everyone to see."

"Be safe out there everyone."

Wolfgar reaches into the sadlebags on his bike and pulls out a pair of helmets for him and Kevin. Tossing one to Kevin he throws his leg over the monster machine and gets settled. "Get on, we'll go check out the shop and then appropriate a van." He says before closing the clamshell helmet.

JuJu speeds off. On the ride home he contemplates how exactly he wants to go about his task. In no time he has arrived at his apartment. After parking and setting the security on his scoot, he walks up to his place and into his study.

Simple is always good.

JuJu sits down amongst his collection of bones, scrolls, and other artifacts that he has so meticulously gathered over the years. He closes his eyes and concentrates. His body tingles with power. It feels like his body is stretching, like something is being pulled away. In a moment the feeling passes and JuJu stands up. Rather his consciousness stands up and inspects his body.

Ahhh.... Sweet freedom. Now to the task at hand.

The world blurs as JuJu moves, at speeds the flesh can only dream of, to the shop of Old Flame Dancing.

Let's see what 'ole Manny's got in stock...

Krum decides to go out for a ride for about 10 minutes to cool his head. He puts on his jacket and pockets his commlink before heading out the door. As he rides he tries to process some information in his head. Thinking of things to get ask Manny about.

Keeper's of light, Old Flame Dancing, and a Joshua? Joshua... Doesn't sound sioux.... Hahaha, Old Flame Dancing....

As Krum chuckles to himself he pictures an old man stumbling around a bonfire shaking shakers and pouring dust into the flames. He pulls over by a small pizza place on the streets and alarms his bike as he takes a quick look around for anything suspicious before heading on in. As he gets in, he orders 3 plain slices, and grabs a soda and swipes his 'stick.

Later, he drives on over to Manny's store, knocks first, and then checks the door...

After a couple of hours riding around in the Seattle rain, Hunter is glad he got lucky and found Hutch at the Blue Door. While the place is a dive and has some of the worst bar food anywhere, it had the huge advantage of not having a line to get in. Also, even if some one did recognize him, they'd never pass it along, because no one wanted to admit they were hanging out at The Blue Door.

The lighting is bad at the best of times, and tonight isn't the best. It's made to be dark or "romantic", but the lights above booths holding people who'd rather not be seen together have a habit of going out, and by the end of the night, it takes an orc to be able to see anything.
Hutch is in the fourth booth down the left side, facing the door and eating a bowl of "Famous Fried Rice". Clearly, he's in need of a payday, as even Devil Rats have been known to pass up the questionable contents of The Blue Door's Famous Fried Rice. Happily, Hunter is in a position to do just that. After spending a couple of minutes leaning against the bar, and looking for anyone watching Hutch, Hunter janders over to Hutch's table.
As Hunter sits down, Hyung, known as the Chinaman throughout Payalup even though he's Korean, sets down a plastic liter sized mug of the local swill (Hamms) and says "I know, on your tab" as Hunter opens his mouth. Then he walks away, mumbling about how much he hates orcs, bald headed black skinned ones the worst, and doesn't look back.
"Hoi Chummer, I need some dirt, and it looks like you could use a payday." Hunter says, nodding to the rice.
"Hoi yourself. I happen to like the rice, but I wouldn't turn down some work. What have you got?"
"I'm on a run, so this is strictly confidential, at least for a couple of weeks. I need to know a few things, and I'm willing to pay.
In short, I need to know what you know about The Keepers, Old Flame, and Joshua, as well as just anything shaking in the magical underground. And I've got 100 for each answer."

Juju
Making your way through the blur and fog of astral space you move ever further north. The feeling of the space around you shifts and ripples as your form passes from city to suburban slums to country and farmland. Passing algae farms and sewage treatment plants, you arrive in front of the shop.

From outside the shop, you can see the glowing form of a ward enshrouding the building.

Wolfgar/Kevin
The drive is fairly quiet as you pass out of the city noise into what could be described as a pastoral landscape if large corporate logos weren't pressed on every farmhouse and vat of algae. Past that you begin to enter the definitively Sioux areas.

Four wheel drive trucks with shotgun racks and off-road jeeps occasionally pass you on the way to Old Flame Dancing's shop. A cursory drive by from the street shows that the store is a small timber cabin removed from the road with a ten car parking lot. Astral space shows a hard glowing wall surrounding the building. Beyond the cabin, several barns which look to be over a century old with minimal retrofitting are spread back against the encroaching forest.

Judging by the layout of windows and the front door, you figure the store is most likely a large open room with separated office. In the window next to the door a small sign hangs stating "Closed" in Sioux, English and Japanese.

Krum
Trying the door, you find it locked.

"I'm coming, I'm coming. Hold the $@%& on!"

With the door swinging open Manny hefts a shotgun into the intervening space. His bloodshot eyes are completely out of focus but his senses seem to come to him and he lowers the gun.

"Drip, get in here. Damn Halloweeners are everywhere."

Inside the small store, knick-knacks line the shelves and a materialized water spirit glares menacingly.

"Are you out already? I don't have any of the deep, but there are a few other things I can offer."

Hunter
"Well I can't say that I remember answers being less than 200¥, but we can work that out later.

"The Keepers hold life as the most sacred gift the Great Spirit gave man. They focus on protecting that gift and dealing with people callous enough to make themselves known on a large scale. It's said that Old Flame Dancing and the oldest members of the group have learned how to stop death itself or at least how to stop time from taking them.

"Old Flame Dancing is one of the eldest members of the group, at least if looks can tell. She's pushing 80 and has a bad temper for people who do not give the proper respect to life, the land and her position. She's a conservative traditionalist who really believes in the geritocracy of the tribe.

"Joshua Walks-With-Ghosts changed his name after the crash. Something is said to have passed between him and some spirits in the mountains down near Crater Lake. He's not talking and neither is the spirit world. There's not much to know about him, paranormal investigator focussing on spirit threats. Bugs, Shedim, if there's been a "conspiracy of control" behind it, he knows how to deal with them.

"As for what's shaking, it's a beautiful day in the neighborhood. I hear there's been some abnormal traffic in awakened narcotics. You looking for anything specific here?"

Looking at the building Wolfgar mutters, "Frag, the place is warded. Maybe Ju Ju will have some luck at spoofing it. Kevin, what does the places system tell you, or is it even able to be reached?"

Kevin turns to Wolfgar and says:

"When I tried surfing through the matrix, all I could find was the minimal stuff like store hours. I'm going to look more into it, but my guess is that they don't connect their computers to the matrix, if they even use computers for much."

Come on you knew a ward was inevitable. OK... Let's see what we have here.

JuJu makes a circuit around the shop looking for any spirits, not really expecting any outside of the ward. but I bet there are some big ones inside.

JuJu's whispy form hovers across the ground towards the ward. He stops a little short of the boundary and begins an in depth study of the glowing ward.

"I understand they have hardly any matrix area, but what about electronic security, surely they must have a central node in the building for it at least." Wolfgar replied to Kevin.

Kevin to Wolfgar:

"I'm checking it out as we speak."

Krum shuffles in as quickly as possible watching his back and his bike one last time. Fragging Halloweeners He gives almost an inaudible hiss as he glares back at the water spirit. Then he turns his attention back to Manny.

"I got a tiny bit left, but I've had a rough week. Was hoping for something to take the edge off. I guess I don't mind experimenting again, it's been a while for some of the hard stuff for me, but a good trip never hurts, and I NEED this release from some of the crap I've been going through, chum let me tell you!"

Krum looks over Manny's current supply of drugs, and examines closely anything of interest to him, asking him a few questions about some of the stuff. "What's this do? How much? etc." Krum will purchase something if it fits his "tastes."

"Ever heard of the Keeper's of the Light? Man, an amerind buddy of mine kept nagging me about Initiation into Keeper's of Light... blah blah blah. Even introduced me to Old Flame Dancing and Joshua. Why the hell would I wanna do that!? They seem kinda out there to me.... You know anything about those guys?"

JuJu
You let out a quiet whistle as the magnitude of the ward hits you. Staring at the cord that ties this ward to the hand behind its creation, you feel the rope begin to fray and separate into several loose strands.

Krum
The massive spirit steps forward with a look to his summoner.

"Drip, stop taunting the help!" you hear shouted across the shop as you move into the back to peruse the inventory. In the top drawer you find a collection of poppers, aerosol delivery systems that you bite and breathe in their narcotic cocktail. Additionally, there are several pills and vials of liquid. The concoction that draws most of your attention is a black tar-like substance that seems to sway and undulate in response to your hand getting close.

Manny identifies the poppers as a smooth ride to happy town, the pills will bring you up, down and sideways.

"That black stuff, that's a fun trip. It takes you straight out man, the pure essence of Deepweed."

When you shift gears, Manny stops talking.

"Krum-you're a horrible liar. Why are you trying to lie to me? Are you with them? The halloweeners turned you didn't they? Is that it? Are you here to kill me because those punks couldn't?"

Krum looks at manny with a dumb look on his face. Doh! "Sorry Manny, No, I'm not with no halloweeners, man. If I was trying to kill you don't you think I'd have brought some weapons? Man, you'd already be dead. Now, if you still want my business, I'd love some of that black "essence" stuff."

After paying Manny, "So, uh.... do I like smoke it? or drink it? or what!?"

After another second, "Listen, I'm sorry for lying to you, I guess it's just a natural instinct from my work. Now, I have a job, and it seems I'm going to have to get close to some of these "Keepers of Light" and so I was wondering if you knew anything about them."

After the long search JuJu reluctantly floats back into his real body. "Not the best of results, but not terrible either." A giant yawn reminds JuJu of his physical needs. JuJu ambles to his bedroom and set's his alarm for 1 hour before he is to meet back with the team. With that done he goes to sleep.

Kevin mutters to himself, "Let me see what this network is for... better safe than sorry."

After a bit of scanning...

"Bleh, traffic sensor."

"Nope" Hunter says, smiling. "But, if you've got any of those Awakened Narcotics to sample, I'd be interested. Anyway. What's this about stopping death? I've never heard of anything like that before. Did they make a new spell, or a deal with the devil, or what?"

"You have got to be kidding me." Wolfgar muttered at kevins declaration. As he turned the bike back to the south he asked "You're sure they dont have any outside links right?"

Krum:
"You chew it."

Manny puts everything back into the drawers and cabinets where the narcotics belong. He meticulously turns each one so that it is facing at the same exact angle. After he's done, he stands back up and looks at you.

"I don't know anything about the Keepers. And that'll be 500 ¥."

Hunter:
"I'm not dealing, but you might want to keep clear of them. I hear the Bigios are adding a little something to their sales to get a better kick."

After finishing the rice, Hyung swallows the last of his beer. He looks at the glass significantly and then looks to you.

"No one knows what the Keepers are doing. Rumor has it that they've stretched the Chain of Being to keep themselves alive."

Kevin mutters to Wolfgar, "I didn't find anything, but if you want I could try a second pass around."

"Please do," Wolfgar said, "No one in this day and age goes completely magical, it leaves themselves open to mundane methods of entry."

"500! how many doses am I getting!? 500!???? man, this had better be worth it. 500!? I could get an ounce of the deep for that! maybe ounce and a half! Drek, come on, that's gonna break me literally, can't you give a poor troll a break today? Come on Manny hook me up!"

Krum
"That vial is three doses. Take it or leave it. Besides, you said you're working...surely they gave you an advance, right?"

Kevin
Continuing to scan the area, you don't find any more nodes. The area seems unnaturally devoid of life in the augmented world.

I knew I was forgetting SUMTHIN! "Uh... yea Manny... yea... here." Krum swipes his credstick through Manny's to transfer the funds as he starts to walk out. "Well, a pleasure as always, eh?" Krum gives the water spirit an "Eat Drek" grin, before peeking through the slide then opening the door.

Krum leaves the shop and rides on over to the dropoff point. He hides and locks his bike in an alley about 3 blocks away, and foots it on over to the mark. He walks trying to look as bummish as possible. After finding a comfortable place to sit down that he could still observe the dropoff point. As his view shifts to the astral, he'll sit there attempting to keep the place under surveillance for a few minutes and think about possible routes in and out, and possible spots for ambushes.

Later, Krum will take the drive out to the country to go visit the shop. He'll take a drive up to the shop, and then check to see if it's open for business, parking his bike on the street in front of the shop. He looks for lights, signs, and security as he walks up to the door.

Kevin mutters to himself :

"Weird... I don't sense any other nodes. That's very odd."

Beginning to get frustrated Hunter says, "OK, I'll bite. What is the Chain of Being , how does one stretch it, and if that is done how does it keep some one alive?"

Hunter:
Sensing your frustration, he continues.

"Alright, the Chain of Being wraps around every living thing, from you and me, down to the algae growing in vats, all the way up to the dragons themselves. It's what gives us our lifespan and connects that life together. By stretching the chain, they can greatly increase their own longevity. There is speculation that some of the Tir Nobles are from a previous age, and will never die accept through violence or disease, right? That's what the Keepers are said to have...immortality to age.

"I don't know how to stretch it, I'm not even sure if they have done it. That's just the rumor on the street about them."

Wolfgar mutters as he starts to accelerate back towards the city, "Thats not just odd, its downright not good. Lets get some extra transportation and then wait to meet up with the rest of the group."

"Wow. Alright bro. I'd say all that was worth an even thousand. And you can go somewhere and buy some better food, Hunter said. The certified credstick mated up with the commlink, 1000 was transfered and the stick back in the pocket.
"I've still got riding to do, so I'm out of here. Thanks."

With that, Hunter heads back out into the rain to scout out the drop off point.

Wolfgar/Kevin:
The two of you work your way back south, taking the 405 split and head southeast into Redmond. The cityscape slowly gives way to the urban decay and over the course of three miles you go from a lower middle class neighborhood into the Barrens. Experience tells you that the worst is yet to come, as the moral fiber descends with the quality of life.

Sticking to the main streets, to avoid getting trapped in back alleys, you eventually find a junked stepvan. You note its position and keep looking in case. Twenty minutes later, you find a newer model Bulldog that doesn't seem to be occuppied either.

Krum
The dropoff point is in a seedier section of the docks. The roads are wide enough for semis to drive single file with oversize loads. It shouldn't be too much of a problem for trained drivers to fit a pair of motorcycles flanking a car or van. This section is laid out in a grid pattern with the occasional flickering light over warehouse doors. Most are covered in the grime and soot that builds up on stationary surfaces since the dawn of the Industrial Age.

A small cargo ship, designed with speed in mind rather than large amounts of cargo is one of the few signs of life at this hour. You've got a hunch that these docks probably do most of their business between midnight and dawn.

Back to Everett, you pull into the small parking lot and clearly see the closed sign in the window. The only obvious sign of security is the maglock on the door.

Hunter
The dock is quiet. With the surrounding area filled with one way streets, you are fairly certain that anyone using autonav could get in and out without a problem, but trying to get out of here without knowing the area could get fairly tricky unless you were willing to break the law a few times.

Driving down the main road, you find yourself pressed between mostly empty docks, and the backs of warehouses. The small cargo ship pulled into your number, reminds you of flatvid Coast Guard vessels. Trying not to linger, you put your eyes back on the road and have to swerve to avoid a pothole the size of Texas (before the Aztlan invasion...). A few of the sailors on board, point and chuckle at your near miss. Their laughter still ringing out, you turn the corner to put some distance between you and the pothole.

When Krum sees the closed sign and only one maglock. He looks for any sign for hours of operation. Also, he switches to astral perception to look for any magical security as well. Then, if all seems clear, he will attempt to look inside to see if he can see anyone or anything in the building, without getting too close to it.

Knowing from how his sister oozes over the bulldogs Wolfgar pulls his motorcycle up behind this one and nudges kevin. "Hey matrix man, time to work your magic, get us into this van if you would please. Without the alarm going off if you can."

Krum
A shimmering wall of energy blocks your view of the astral when you look at the building. Longing for the enhanced color and clarity that comes with a hit of deepweed you remember your stash back home and the vial in your pocket--for what you paid it had better be the good stuff.

The energy keeps you from looking beyond at the contents of the building.

Kevin:
Scanning the area, you quickly localize the signal you want to find in the static and maze of ghost signals and half-failing networks. The van has a hardened firewall with active defenses. Probing along the edges, you form a quick attack to drive through the wall and get access to the computer.

The firewall stiffens and holds strong against the first attack.

Krum humphs to himself a little depressed about how dull this place is. His hand instinctively reaches into his pocket, grabbing the newly purchased stuff, and looking at it closer. This is boring, we just need smash small house? Find big box? run away!? KRUM WANT FIGHT! Krum considers going to go pick a bar fight to raise his adrenaline for a second, but decides to keep it mellow. He attempts to resist the temptation of the newly purchased Deep Extract, but fails and slowly opens its container. He tries to grab and chew on some, slowly trying to experience it's full glory.

Resisting the urge to turn back and give a little lesson to the dockworkers, Hunter rides off into the rain.
Another rainy night comes back to him. An alley, one dead, two wounded, Hunter with sword bare. His masters voice comes from the shadows behind him. Fight for Honor. Fight for your employers honor. Even fight for money. Never fight for pride. You can see that there is no honor in it.

Calling up a map on his comm link, Hunter starts working out the most direct non-free way route from here to the pickup point.

Kevin
The wall holds steady against your third attack and then lashes out as a horde of tiny spiders crawl across the distance. Any single spider would be no larger than a child's fingernail, but the crawling mass swells out and crashes down upon you.

Krum
The substance sticks to your skin with a burning sensation. You put it into your mouth and slowly chew on it. The burning intensifies as every cell in your body screams out in pain. Before you can even spit the ichor out of your mouth, it has coated your teeth and gums.

You raise up your hand to claw the tar out of you, but are terrified to see your own spirit tear out of your body leaving nothing more than limp lifeless flesh. With a step you collapse as you shift your weight forward and one astral leg tears free of its flesh-ridden counterpart. Spasms of pain wrack your body as each muscle dies and an astral one is born. The agony continues without end until finally your astral form rips away from your once beating heart.

Staring down at your lifeless corpse, you realize that it's all over. You're dead. There is no trumpet call, no huge battle against the monsters of the Sixth world, just an overdose and a flatline.

In the space between when your heart finishes its last beat and begins a new one, the world stands still. Weightless without the worries of the living, you find an odd peace.

With the next beat of your heart, you feel the intense pain in reverse as each muscle is reborn in fire and takes on weight. Paranoia racks your mind with the sound of rushing blood, color blurring across your vision and the taste of tar mixed with dirt and grassin your mouth.

Krum breathes extra heavy for a long long while still face planted in the dirt. His mind attempting grasp and reorganize his thoughts into cohesion. Finally he manages to move some of his upper body, he rolls over staring up into the night sky. What the Frag was THAT!? His head pounding at trying to make sense of it all, he slaps himself a couple times to make sure he's real.

Ok, I'm going to bed.. frag this shit. Krum climbs back onto his bike, revving it and making sure nothing is wrong with it. Deep extract no hurt bike me thinksHe rides back up to his lit tle poor apartment, and he goes in, smokes some actual deep in a small bowl. And relaxes with a cup of soycaff in his hand and a cigarette inbetween his fingers.

Kevin opens his eyes, and turns towards Wolfgar.

"Couldn't get in after trying this long, the system launched a counter-attack, so I'll go back in after a few minutes to try again."

Starting up the motorcycle once again Wolfgar muttered, "Frag it, we'll try the other one. You rest up for a few till we get there." With that Wolfgar pulled the bike out from behind the van and proceeded back to the first one he had spotted.

Kevin:
There is a mild sense of hesitation as you reimmerse yourself in the sensations of VR. The run down van has a a derelict node which you prod once and then overrun.

Forcing your way past the firewall, you find yourself standing in the middle of the van itself. A control panel extends around you in an organic interface obviously designed with virtual ergonomics in mind.

"I got it," Kevin mutters to his partner.

"Alright," Wolfgar half whispered back, "Shut off the alarm and then we'll load my bike in the back and get on the road."

"One, Two, Three" Kevin mutters to himself as he looks over the console.

"Piece of cake, the alarm's off and the doors are open." He says to Wolfgar as he adjusts to the controls.

"Alright then, off the bike, we need to get the bike in the back of the van then get the frag out of here."

After kevin climbed off the back of the bike Wolfgar climbed off himself and opened the back doors of the van and lifted the bike into the van. After the bike was in Wolfgar walked around and looked at the controls before climbing in.

After offering Wolfgar the controls, Kevin begins to check his software to make sure he is running the proper programs.

Taking the controls Wolfgar drove the van off and toward the I-5 keeping everything just inside the legal limit and following all traffic laws. He took the van down to Pullyallup looking for a similar van to the one he was driving.

Wolfgar
Tracking along the edge of the Z-Zone, you spot a few possibilities with license plates that could be swiped. You pull the van off to one side and wait for the oppurtune moment.

Circling back to the first match Wolfgar eases the van up behind it and stops. "Alright Kevin," wolfgar said to his partner for the night. "Time for you to work your magic one more time, tell me whether or not this van has any security. If it does, see if you can disable it, if it doesnt just let me know and i'll just go swap the plates."

"Basic systems as far as I can see, nothing special..." Kevin says to Wolfgar as he finishes his scan, trailing off towards the end.

"Alright make sure any alarms are off, and i'll go swap the plates" Pulling his knife from its sheath, Wolfgar goes and removes the plates from the van he and kevin are in first and then awaits confirmation from kevin that he can do the same from the other van.