JuJu
The file details out the address of the talismonger's shop and the boat that you will be meeting. Old Flame Dancing runs a shop that specializes in NAN artifacts and traditional talismans. She will be out of town for the next three days, with an assistant Joshua maintaining the shop during normal hours. Both of them are members of an order known as the Keepers of Life.

You are to collect an ivory case inlaid with gold and silver and deliver it to Pier 173 in Tacoma. The vessel will be prepped to leave as soon as you deliver the goods. Final payment will be received from the recipients at time of exchange.

As the runners pull up to Krum's apartment, it's just as he said it was. It's a dirty little neighborhood with hooligans all over the streets. It's a block of row homes that has one door per every 4 apartments. They are split up further inside. People are seend carrying laundry from the local laundromat, and flashing cards to get in the front locks of the apartments.

Krum fiddles around with the lock, and gets in. As he takes you inside, he walks up some steps and opens up his apartment door. The inside looks about the same if not worse then outside. Cheap furniture, tile floor, and dirt are the main features of the place. The apartment smells like cheap beer, stale food, and, for those of you who know the scent, deepweed. it is a 3 room apartment, a kitchen/living room, a bedroom, and a bathroom. (Think seinfeld's apartment.... but dirtier) It has 2 couched in it, a folding table and folding chairs near his kitchen, and a coffee table. He has one trid set, a coffee maker, a vacuum that looks like it's never been used, and a toaster.

He puts on some soycaff, grabs a beer for himself, offers a drink to everyone in, and he sits himself down on his favorite end of his favorite couch. "welcome to my humble abode." He then turns to Des, "Also before you leave, I was wondering if i could stash some gear in your car. Probably be easier to put it there then carrying it around, if you get what I'm saying, chum."

Des let's the Comet park itself, and follows silently into the building.

//Kestrel:- Visual scan of the west wall. Target 1 is in west apartment.
//Peregrine:- Omega Hint: Blind Fire pattern through west wall. North to South progression, 1 meter above floor.

"No, I don't get what you are saying."

JuJu ponders for a moment over the information, but he is broken out of his revery when a comet pulls up and his new associates step out. He follows the others into the apartment. After declining the beverage from Krum, he says, "Well this isn't going to be an easy delivery job as it first appeared to be. If you would all take your comlinks off of hidden mode so I transmit the particulars."

After transmitting the file from the Suit to everyone's comlink that comes out of hidden mode, "Now, we're going to need to do a bit of leg work in a short period of time. It may help, after you all peruse the details of the run, to say what talents of yours will be helpful in this endeavor. You may call me JuJu and I dabble in the arcane, but I do not work with spirits."

"My name is Kevin. I'm what most would call a hacker, though I call myself a 'Software Enthusiast'."

My name is Hunter, and I am Samurai.
I prefer blade combat, but I can shoot if necessary.

Des listens to the others.

//Kestrel:- Acquire Target 3, Designate JuJu
//Peregrine:- Omega Hint, Target Order Juju, Target 1, Target 2
//Kestrel:- Target 2, Designate Kevin
//Peregrine:- Omega Hint, Target Order Juju, Target 1, Kevin
//Kestrel:- Acquire Target 4, Designate Hunter
ugh... why do they like knives?
//Peregrine:- Omega Hint, Target Order Hunter, Juju, Target 1, Kevin

Curtly, "Rigger" as he takes a short step backing up nearer to the wall.

//Scan file
shouldn't let the knife thing affect me.
//Peregrine:- Omega Hint, Target Order Juju, Target 1, Hunter, Kevin

"Well, shouldn't it be obvious what I do? heh. But seriously, I was once trained to be a Paranormal Game Hunter so, you know, I fight and kill or capture anything, even paranormals. I don't use guns, bows are much nicer. I own an axe and shield too. So I'm ready to take on guys anywhere, anytime, any place. Otherwise, you're looking at the 'extra muscle'."

"And Des, what I meant, you dense "rigger" is to carry some of my gear, like my combat axe and shield. and I'd meet up with one of your cars, or your drones, or your comet, if that's all you got, so's I don't got to carry them on me all the time."

"Call me Wolfgar, I'm going to be your weapons specialist and major gun guy. Basically if it shoots from the hand, i can use it. If its mounted on a vehicle however, i might be able to do it but not to effectively. Also i'm an adept so i can back Ju Ju up on dealing with astral entities." Leaning over closer to Kevin, "Hey, Kevin was it, could you link into the image link on my shades and show me what we're doing, i dont have a comlink yet just some old micro-transciever from my Pop"

//Kestrel/@DES:Ping
//Peregrine/@DES:Ping

I'm dense?

Des scans the room, then answers, "In whose room are a group of criminals openly boasting of their crimes for any passing person to hear? This is not my room. I do not know any of you. There are no precautions against bugs and eavesdropping here. You want me to risk a 15,000 nuyen vehicle with your illegal gear, and most likely evidence of your past activity on a job against a possible 5 k payoff, without taking into account the likely costs we will incur."

"And since you are unaccustomed to using something other then your muscles, using them on me right now, right here, will be bad for everyone in this room."

"And I am not your chum."

"If you had a problem with the job or the team, why did you accept the run? Now, genius, you've been given the specifics of a SECRET operation that you are clearly trying to back out of. That puts all of us in a very awkward situation, doesn't it?"

"First of all, everything I own is LEGAL, I am a LICENSED paranormal game hunter. I am NOT A CRIMINAL. <cough> Dense <cough> and saying you're a "rigger" doesn't help us out with what you do. My uncle the mechanic calls himself a "rigger" shoot, anyone with a little saved up cred and trip under the knife can say they're a "rigger" I just want to know WHAT YOU RIG! I was trying to figure out a way that you could help, des, you don't like it, then be a man and say NO to my face. And THEN make yourself useful, chum!"

Stupid fragging team, playing dumb, acting cool, organizing us, pfft. I should send them all down to Atzlan, and make them survive for a week. Oh no, the walls have ears! Then buy some electronics if you're so damn worried. And he calls himself a "rigger." Fragging puny boys, always running from the man, never stood up for a fight once in his life I bet.

We're obviously looking at paranormal opposition with so much magic. I just wanna finish killing time with these damn "introductions" and go fragging start staking the damn place out. Before you know it, we'll have talked our way out of my next 2 months rent.

JuJu is getting worried that the situation is spiraling out of control. To be on the safe side he mentally activates power focus around his neck. Crap, I should have checked for spirits before I started talking. Sloppy is unforgiving in this business JuJu. Get your head on straight. But that will have to wait. If these two are going to rumble, I need to be ready. Although I have a bad feeling, that my head is in a crosshairs here.

"I think we need to all calm down. Krum, it is perfectly ok for Des to not want to carry around your gear in his car. It may not be illegal for you to have, but if he is stopped and you are not in the car, it will be illegal for him to have and 'this is my friend's stuff,' will not fly with the Star. Des, threatening people is not good for the health. I can appreciate your concerns about security, which we will have to remedy."

JuJu activates his white noise generator. "Now, I have just activated my white noise generator to deter eaves dropping. I didn't notice anyone around outside. Did any of you? And as soon as we all calm down, I will take a look in astral for any spirits. One more thing. We are all professionals and good at what we do, so let's try to be civil and stop with the insults."

At the humming sound of the white noise generator Des nods, then says "I had my drones track us here and did not notice anyone else following. If you all don't mind waiting before deciding what to do with my car I will take a few minutes to do a more complete scan."

About time someone took charge.

//Kestrel:- Ping Acknowledged
//Peregrine:- Ping Acknowledged

I hate axes, and swords, and knives, and daggers, and whatever other fancy names they have.

"Excuse me as I can no longer hear you in this room through my drone."

Des leans against the wall, letting it hold him up as his attention shifts elsewhere.

Partial echoes were making the conversation worse.

Krum pulls out some cigarettes and offers them around before lighting one up, and read a magazine pulled from under the couch.

Feeling the situation is a bit more relaxed, JuJu takes this opportunity to project his true self out of his body into the astral world. Sitting straight up with eyes unblinking, it seems he is almost in a trance. JuJu rises up out of his body and makes a quick circuit of the building. Want to be prudent but not gone to long, less they start ripping each others throats out.

JuJu
As soon as you press yourself into the astral plane, a calm sense of purpose overtakes you. This place is littered with half-realized dreams and the lingering, joyful anguish of addiction. You are beyond that though, streams of mana bend under your will, power pulsing out from you.

Quickly scanning the area, you do not see any spirits hanging around the apartment. Only the swirls of tight emotions and thoughts which linger in each of the people sharing the room with you are present, each a slightly different hue and cast.

Des
Sensor reports come back listing a catalog of possible weapons, though a clear read can not be discerned from target: Hunter.

//Kestrel:- Continue external scan
//Peregrine:- Ping Acknowledged
//Owl continue scan please

Des straightens, standing away from the wall. "Nothing outside actively tracking us, though I wouldn't pick up a passive sensor system. I've got Kestrel on continual lookout. I picked up signal traffic in here, but that's probably us."

Have to trust the people in the room anyway, risk isn't any greater.

Pausing briefly, he continues, "Depending how the rest of you feel, I'd like to either shut all our devices off, after reviewing the data, and rely on that.", pointing at the white noise generator, "Or have Kevin setup an encrypted AR chat for all of us."

Looking to Juju, "And of course there is the matter of Spirits That Walk Amongst Us."

If I remember right, I think I am going to have to steal a vehicle for each and everyone single one of them.

@#! ... Need to remind them to dump the unencrypted data file and clean up at some point too.

While all this is going on, Kevin is just watching everything going on in amusement.

I wonder who will throw the first punch, Des or Krum?

"I'm up for whatever you guys want to do, we can just talk here or go AR. We should probably decide soon though, time is ticking away."

"Between me and Ju Ju we can handle any spirits that stick their noses in here, however i cannot do the AR. So it seems we are going to have to keep this vocal and personal." Wolfgar's tone had turned cold and harder as if a new personality had taken over. "As soon as everyone has turned their things off we can begin." He continued as he took his shades off and pressed a recessed stud on the frame.

"Okay" says Hunter as he switches his comm link off, "I'm ready."

Kevin switches his commlink off without saying anything.

//Kestrel:- Active Scan, Station 300 meters, On Scan Anomaly, signal visual confirmation, West Window, Pause 10, active electronic affirmative confirmation to follow, repeat.
//Buzzard:- Watch Comet
//Owl 290 second reboot delay please.
// .... system rebooting

Des takes of his glasses, revealing very dark eyes that contrast with his bleached blond hair and pale skin, stuffing them into the exterior pocket of his retro faux sheepskin aviator jacket he smiles thinly.

"Kestrel will watch out from out of audio range, if there is anything untoward she will show up there.", Des waves his left hand at the window.

Widening his grin, "I've turned the rest of my head off too." Continuing with a more serious expression, "But every five minutes I will go active to double check the environment, sometimes Kestrel isn't the smartest bird. I will raise my left hand like this starting a few seconds before I go active and keep it raised while I run through my checklist, I will lower my hand when I am done and deactivated. It shouldn't take more then ten seconds or so each time."

"And finally I'd like to apologize for being the only one of us unprofessional enough to have brought their own car to the meet."

JuJu switches off his comlink.

JuJu glances over at Des. "Yes... I was only unprofessional enough to bring my scoot, but we can discuss transportation once all is ready." A little paranoia is good, but this guy takes it to a whole new level. "I am ready to proceed, when everyone else is."

"Chummer, some of us only have one mode of transportation. The trick to using it in this life is to first of all not be to attached to it. That way it doesnt hurt when you have to ditch it. Second it should be so common that it blends in. That scorpion out there is the only transport i have, but if i decide to use a bunch of bikers as cover then i'll blend in like its nothing. Also as i do the jobs i keep a little bit back so i can buy an old junker of a bike and start fixing it up so i do have something to use for fun. Now, is everyone ready to start talking buisiness?"

Krum turns off his glasses and commlink, and the coffeemaker for effect, then he sits down at his seat, and waits.

"Ready when you are chum."

"I'm Des. a pilot. I have a couple drones I rig, and I know my way around the Pacific Northwest.", holding his jacket open revealing his thin torso and the absence of obvious weapons, "Not much use in a fight, even against the software enthusiast. In a pinch I might be able to bag a deer at a hundred meters with a long gun, if it was standing still. Most vehicles I can move, and if it's got wings, I'll show you some real flying."

Introduction done, Des turns to Juju, "You've had the data chip longest, want to summarize?"

"We are to pick up an ivory case inlaid with gold and silver and deliver it to Pier 173 in Tacoma. The vessel we deliver the goods to will be ready to leave immediately upon receipt of the item, and we are to receive final payment from the people we deliver the item to.

The item currently is located at [insert address from file here], a talismonger's shop. The shop is run by a lady named Old Flame Dancing. He specializes in NAN artifacts and traditional talismans. Luckily she will be out of town for the next three days. Her assistant Joshua is running the shop. Both Old Flame Dancing and Joshua are members of an order known as the Keepers of Life.

The way I see it we have a couple of tasks ahead of us. We need to do some research into the item. If it's magical which it probably will be. We need to know enough of what it does just so we can handle it properly. We also need to case out the place astrally and through the matrix to understand the security. Lastly, someone needs to steal either one or two cars. We definitely need one stolen car, preferably a van as the exit vehicle from the heist. A second car is for a switch a ways off to transport the item. The question is do we want to transport in another stolen vehicle and risk the Star or do we want to transport in a legit vehicle and risk having to ditch it, if for some reason it is spotted with the stolen goods in it?"

I can stake out the place and astrally check its borders, but if its warded i wont be able to see past them. As for moving the item we might want to steal a van and a bike, we can stash the bike in the back of the van and when we want to split up we can send the bike off with the goods and then everyone can make their ways independantly to a chosen meeting place. Now the problems i see with this is that whomever takes the last leg has to be trusted by the entire group not to just take the final payment and run, and able to handle themselves in any situation that develops. Now depending on the type of bike we use we could send 2 or even 3 people to drop off the package, but that would be the absolute maximum.

"I can surf around the matrix, see what info is lying around. Given their business, though, I doubt there is going to be much."

Kevin said this while thinking about where the best places would be to find info on a talisman shop.

"If some one can help me out with bogus tags, I can ride my own Scorpion. Otherwise, I can ride a stolen one. A stolen one does have a lot of advantages I guess, like not worrying about keeping it in one piece.
I'm not much on heavy weapons or anything, so I think I'd be much more useful as a blocker or distraction on a bike than in the main rig. Like a rolling ambush detector.
For legwork, I've got a couple of spell slinging friends that are pretty well connected, maybe I can get some inside info on what Flame Dancing and The Keepers of Life have been at lately. Also, maybe I should do I drive by the dropoff site, and maybe scout out the best route between there and the pickup?"

"We have less then 48 hours to deliver. We'll need to set and keep a schedule. It's 60 miles as Crow flies from the pickup to delivery point. if you don't mind I organize this effort in several stages, each of which can have several options. There's the pickup, transport, delivery, and the getaway."

"Some other facts to consider. I know of Old Flame Dancing and the Keepers of The Flame. They are Sioux Traditionalists, sometimes opposed to the Tribal Council, noted for their work on Nature, and reputed to craft spells influencing Life."

Des raises his left hand.

//Kestrel/@DES:Ping
//Peregrine/@DES:Ping
//Kestrel:- Ping Acknowledged
//Peregrine:- Ping Acknowledged
//Owl 290 second reboot delay please.
// .... system rebooting


Des lowers his left hand.

"Pickup. We'll need to be ready to deal with the implications of breaking a ward. Old Flame Dancing could appear herself."

"Transport. I suggest we steal a van and ward it. I am not certain if we have time for warding more then one vehicle. The ward should help protect us from discovery by The Spirits That Walk Amongst Us if they are sent to look for the box. THe idea of a blocker is a good one, to distract or scout as we travel. Also, even though it's 60 miles, we will probably travel further to avoid certain areas. And it's good idea to physically scout the route, maps can be out of date."

"Delivery. We need to set up and scout this too, so there is no advantage given. Exchanges are in some ways trickier then our Pickup will be."

"Getaway. We need to be prepared, not only after Delivery, but at each stage to have an alternative plan. Even if it's something as simple as a car jacking. For most options until the Getaway, I prefer we stick together to provide as much support ot each other as possible"

"Any of you have the tools for the Pickup and arranging transportation?"

Ju Ju i would ask you to verify this but i believe all we need to ward is a box big enough to hide the case in. That way its sealed from prying eyes both astral and mundane.


Now i know no one likes the idea of splitting up, truthfully i can understand that but think. Consider a con mans shell game, you have one pea but three or four cups to hide the pea under. The trick for the person trying to spot the pea is to make sure the con man doenst palm it while trying to keep the cup with the pea under it in sight at all times.

Now what might be a good idea is to scout three or four ways to a meeting point from the pickup and figure times for each route. We each keep a time table and show up at the meeting spot on schedule. We then proceed to the delivery from the meeting point together.

Hunter, i can help with the tags, mainly because i'll be doing the same for my scorpion. I think that our magic number is going to be 3. 2 for blocking and decoys, and the third being the aforementioned van or another vehicle heavier than a motorcycle.

I'll be honest, i cant help aquire much, this mission is gonna be a break even thing for me if i'm lucky. Lets just try and keep things simple so that murphy's presence is as small as possible.

"Wolfgar, you are correct, however if we ward the entire van it will offer some protection to us from anything that manages to see the object through the ward.

For legwork, I can astrally project to check out the shop for magical defenses.

I should be present for the pickup, as I believe I can best handle any magical complications.

For transport if Wolfgar can perceive the astral, then he can also create a ward, so we could ward two vehicles in that case.

For the delivery. I think it would be best if I project and observe the delivery from the astral.

As far as 'acquiring' transportation, I'm afraid I will not be much help.

Now for our timeline. Let's assume two vehicles at this point. Both drivers should scout the routes out together and figure out which way we will go. I like the idea of Hunter being the scout/blocker and Des handling the van. Kevin, go ahead and surf the net, but it would be extremely useful if you feel up to hacking into the shops security system. Wolfgar, how about you take Krum with you when you check out the shop so he can watch your back, and I will project to help check out the astral difficulties we will face at the shop.

We should all meet again tomorrow, early in the afternoon, say 3 pm to discuss what we have found out, and make our final plans. Any preferences on where we meet up tomorrow?"

"When exactly is the package due and how long do we have until that point?"

Well to be honest Ju Ju, i dont know how to make a ward, my training never covered it, and nothing against Krum, but i cant exactly fit him on my bike. It would be a good idea to go ahead and grab the plates and a van tonight, but if we do that the star might have a description of the van out by tommorrow or the day after, so we're gonna have to hide it somewhere it wont be found and be ready to ditch it at a moments notice. Kevin, if you want to come with me and check their matrix security first hand you and i should be able to grab a van afterwards and keep things from going south, you up for it?

"First hand?"

Yeah, first hand. I mean, what if their security is only connected to the matrix via a panic button or some other hardline to a Star or Knight Errant secure server. It would be easier to hack her wireless LAN and disable the security there wouldnt it?

hmmph...

As the team plans Krum mostly listens, lighting up a cigarette here and there to pass the time. Krum shifts his sight into the astral, just to get more comfortable, and tries to relax in his own house. When mentioned about fitting on a bike, "I do have my own ride... I just didn't take it to the meet. So if you need me to cover your back, I can get there." Krum tries to understand what everyone is saying... but he is obviously more than a little confused. When there is a slight break in the conversation, he gets in his two nuyen.

"I can do the pickup if someone can get the door to unlock. I don't like stealing vehicles, but I may be able to do that too. I can do any ward. So just tell me what you need me to do."

"Alright, let me hit the matrix first to see what's going down, then we can head near the area and look inside."

Des glances at Juju, "If warding is a matter of skill and not entirely contingent on the Blessings of the Totems, then it's possible I may be of assistance, as I have had some training in the Wind Dance and Rain Dance, and I suspect some of the Steps of the Dance of Summoning may apply to wards, particularly the circles of protection. We can confer on this later."

More like curse of the Totems, and damned hard training to suffer through while being mocked for not being Chosen.

"Yes we can discuss it later if you so desire, Des. I believe I know everything I need to for my part in the preparation. Also, after we turn our comlinks back on I will supply everyone with my comlink number in case you need to get ahold of me. For example, you have acquired a suitable van and would like it warded. Warding is a draining process so I would prefer to have some time to rest after warding and before the pickup. Other than that I have nothing further and am anxious to begin preparations for my task this night."

Alright, and as soon as Kevin is through with his matrix search he and i can hit the road and take care of our parts.

"I will use Kestrel to run some surviellance and collect video of the pickup and delivery. We can use some of that as part of our planning."

"Unless one of you need me along, I think will go with Hunter here and eyeball some likely routes. Figure out some ambush and choke points we might use to shake opposition."

"We can share commcodes before we split up, does anyone have another place to meet or is this place going to work again?"

"Alright folks here is what I found out:

There's not a lot of information available online about the store security. It's basically just a list of store hours, special events etc. It appears that a state of the art maglock was placed on the outside door about 3 years ago.

Very little is known about Old Flame Dancing on the matrix. She runs a talismonger shop up in Everett and is purely legitimate--no SIN, no purchase. Shadow boards say to keep clear of her.

Former-Wildcat and retired Shadowrunner, Joshua specializes in paranormal threats (Insect spirits, corrupted mages etc.) He now lives "on the reservation" way out in Snohomish. He drives a beat up jeep and is known to be an active member of the Keepers of Life, which he joined after leaving the Wildcats.


The Keepers of Life are a Sioux-initiatory group with a strong prejudice against those who willingly end life. Most of the records about the group revolve strangely enough around a non-Sioux woman named Temple.

Several years ago there was an evangelist Unicorn Shaman (Temple) who was subjected to a lot of ridicule. She was apparently a member of the group and was forced to atone for some kind of life-debt. There was speculation that she was involved in some kind of massacre outside Fairlight Enterprises which resulted in the death of several dozen Lonestar officers. Interestingly, there was no evidence that she ever took a hostile action against the cops.

Given this, I think nonlethal stuff might be best. If we piss off the main group, at least we didn't kill anyone."

"Yeah, non-lethal sounds good, but why dont we try not seen at all to begin with." Wolfgar said as he stood up. "Alright folks lets get com codes traded and get on the road. Krum if its all right with you we'll meet back here in 12 hours and discuss what else we've found out." Pulling out a small notebook and pencil Wolfgar jotted down a number several times over and handed it around. Walking toward the door Wolfgar tapped the corner of his shades where the button to turn them on was, "Kevin, your with me."

Kevin simply follows behind Wolfgar with a quiet, "Roger that."

JuJu turns on his comlink, setting it to passive mode, and sends his number to all team members with a comlink. He then stands to leave. "Very good gentlemen. I will see you in 12 hours." JuJu turns and walks out to his scoot. 12 hours should be plenty of time.

After everyone leaves, he stores all their contact numbers on his commlink. Then, he decides to give a call to his "friend" Manny. After he sees the familiar face on the commlink, he says, "Hey chum, you got that? .... Great mind if I shoot through and maybe we can hang out for a bit?"

Stretching and popping, Hunter gets up and heads for the door. "OK, I'm ready to scout. Des, do you want to lead, follow, ride together or scout different routes and then get together? I like the last one, as I've got a couple other stops to make."