Azzo proposes that the team hacker leach the code into the manager's comlink and then insure it activates during staff meetings or something of the like. As an alternative, he suggests simply leaking company secrets from the manager's comlink to a competitor.
Azzo is the spotter, tracks the courier physically and be one of the team who gets in close to the subject. (Base palming dp = 8 )
Semper Fi. This one hits too close to home for Azzo in several areas. First, he is resistant to wet-work in this case, despite what the man did. His resistance to wet work is quiet at first, growing in passion as needed to convince his teammates to find another solution.
Azzo prefers some direct solution with James, Marine to Marine, though will acquiesce to shadowing James for several days to determine if he believes James will reasoned with. He understands that there must be a reckoning, he is just very sensitive about what that might be.

Miko would be very motivated to do this. She would offer to replace one of the workers (using Physical Mask) to lure him into a trap.



The techy stuff isn't Miko's forte, so she would leave that part to the more tech-savvy team-members. She could be a distraction, while the switch is being made.



He took that "Trigger Happy Landlord" quality literally, huh?

Another run, where Miko's motivation would be high. However, she always prefers nonviolent solutions, so killing the guy should be a last resort in her opinion (but still better than doing nothing). "Convincing" him, by whatever means necessary, that it would be a good idea to leave town, is more to her liking. She could summon spirits to haunt him at night (who needs sleep, anyways), and at the same time maybe work on bringing his conscience back to the surface. She would also try to figure out, why he suddenly became so trigger happy.

Bye
Thanee

Charles's disposition is a cheerful follow through on very nearly any job he's given. There doesn't seem to be any immediate conflict, regardless of the nature of the job. The things most likely to make Charles reconsider the job all revolve around cost-benefit. If the job is costing more in terms of resources or hazards than it's worth, then the question comes up. If the job suddenly isn't paying what it's supposed for whatever reason (target fake, Johnson stiffing them, etc), that also raises red flags with Charles.



Charles is unfailingly polite, almost creepily so. He shares items from his life that are relevant to the job or questions that come up, including some significant prior connection with Jared, but doesn't offer up or force anyone to listen to details.

As a quick question to Bishop, does the manager have a sim module connected to his commlink? If he does, Charles would actually second leeching a modified version (much more overt) of the code into his commlink with a trigger for the middle of some important meeting.

If he doesn't, the cleanest option would seem to be the other option, using Miko to lure him in to a compromising situation, get information off his commlink, and then liberally send it to competitors with time-date stamps that match it to deposits into his accounts.



Charles would offer up to help Azzo up close, looking to a combination of Miko and Kimi to run both physical and Matrix interference. It would probably need to be something direct, if he's even vaguely professional, so perhaps Kimi could shut down his bike with some sort of faux Grid Guide glitch, then have Miko approach, and then have a quick, dramatic argument with Charles like some jealous boyfriend while Azzo did the actual swap.



Charles's first suggestion is simply killing the man in his sleep, but he would acquiesce without resistance if the rest of the group wasn't comfortable with that. He would try to be respectful of Azzo's urge to approach it mano-e-mano at first, but assuming that didn't work, Mel's contact seems like another clean option, perhaps simply using evidence taken from James's own commlink about ammo expenditures or smart link targetting with time/date stamps and the lack of an alibi? This assumes, of course, that he's in an area where anyone cares.

Kimi would assist in the attempts that were focused around exposing him in such a way that it would be unlikely he would be hired again. She would have offered to pose as a temp to get access to their network and provide what help the team needed to get the digital proof that he was tampering with employees under him.


She would have offered to hack and create diversions (misrouted cars or malfunctioning lights to get the courier to stop) or tampering with his routes (send them to a predetermined location to make the swap) to arrange the swap. She would take care to keep herself ignorant to the contents of either drive.


She would have no problem killing him if he actually killed one of the tenants or seriously injured any of them or shot children. She would be largely indifferent to how he was killed - in his asleep or a face to face - she would leave the exact mechanism to the group to decide. If not, then she would be fine with running him out town and would try to work the angle to see the injured parties getting some sort of compensation from him but not to the point of threatening the run or anyone's paycheck.

Run 1 -- The Skeeze:
Hired to target a low-level MCT manager, who is believed to be changing the personafixes in his workers to be more compliant to sexual advances. Gather proof that he is doing it or get him fired.

As the team works, there is no evidence of personafix editing by the manager. Hacking into his commlink shows several appointments with an MCT confidence coach. His assignment for between sessions is to work on being more expressive and persuasive. There are several communications with different employees, suggesting that they are being reviewed for a promotion. All of the employees are single females, and there have been several "after business hours" booked with them.

Follow up actions?

Run 2 -- The InfoDump:
A courier is transporting an encrypted drive through Seattle. Switch the drives with one you were given by the Johnson without him realizing that he is being targeted.

The team isolates the car which the courier is driving and through some clever hacking, is able to engineer a car accident. While Charles, holds his neck and complains of whiplash, Azzo is able to swap the devices. The rest of the team is on lookout and doesn't notice anything astray.

Follow up actions, or turn over the device without question?

Run 3 -- The Hitter:
James Townshend is a former UCAS marine and current tenement slumlord. Last month, he went on a bender and started shooting folks who were late on rent. All the tenants want him gone and have pooled enough money to hire a group to get him gone by any means necessary. Kill him, run him out of town, whatever.

Azzo approaches Townshend and has a discussion about the shootings. The landlord had the stench of a long-term alcoholic and was already 12 beers in when the conversation started. He doesn't remember any of the shootings. He passed out each night and woke up the next morning with a gun in his hand. Townshend thought about going to the VA hospital, but he's sure all they'd do is lock him away from his kids.

Checking in on the tenants, all of them are SINless. The apartment building slipped over the edge from a decent part of town to Shitsville. Knight Errant doesn't care unless there's a risk of the mess hitting legitimate citizens.

Follow up actions?

Still the same as before... replace one of the women (using Physical Mask), as they are going to the "interview", and collect proof of his scheme.

EDIT: Checking on that MCT coach, as suggested by Buddha72|Kimi, also sounds like a good idea.



The latter.



Sounds like he is as much a victim as everyone else there.
Check astral space in his place, looking for clues what happens (maybe some kind of spirit possessing him?).
Watch him closely at night. Maybe remove the bullets from his gun (or at least replace them with non-lethal ammo).

Bye
Thanee

Run 1 - The Skeeze
In addition to the bait and switch to get proof, Kimi would want to investigate this MCT coach that might be prompting the behavior.

Run 2 - The InfoDump
Hand it over and collect the paycheck.

Run 3 - The Hitter
She would be ok with checking to see if something else is at play but he may just be a sick animal and should be culled from the herd. She would see if she can find any footage of his sleep shooting of past due renters to see if it provides any further clues.

Run 1- mel would do a back round on the mct coach and have magical support scan him to see if he is being possessed to act this way.

Run 2- dont scan the Info just hand it over.

Run 3 - mel would case the apartment complex so.e night to see If anything fishy about the area. Second he would again have him scanned for possession and by a street doc for any malfunctioning cyber ware he might have. Being Azzo and mark had a good kick off killing isnt a option so finding the problem and fixing it.

Trusting in the capabilities of Kimi, Azzo agrees that there is more here than face value. Given the mark's way with women, the involvement of the confidence coach is definitely a possibility. Perhaps Mel is onto something and the girls are being possessed or charmed. Perhaps the mark is the target of a spurred lover (perhaps the coach). In any case, the fallback parameters of the job are to get him fired. Azzo likes the idea of sending in a masked Miko once Kimi sets up a cloned, monitored comlink. Failing that, he suggests the team may need to move forward inventing a reason to get him fired and move on. It might just be a jealous college or the former/current lover of one of the manager's "conquests".

Having personally checked everyone's disguises, checked for tails once the team leaves the switch, Azzo agrees with the consensus. Set up a meet with the Johnson. Azzo will find a sniper perch and watch over the exchange.

Azzo to resist his own addiction (barely): Body(6) + Willpower(3) + Mild Addiction(-2) [1,3,4,1,5,2,4] = 1 hit

Azzo starts out, his hand around a beer, raising it to his lips before he stops himself. His self-discipline nearly failed and that fuels his anger. He moves to a more aggressive stance with Townshend, knocking the current beer of each of them to the ground, before slamming his hands to the table. A speech something along the lines of, "Marine! What the hell are you doing? Trying to lose your kids?!..."

He wants to believe that something more nefarious than a alcohol induced homicidal blackout is at the core of it, but resolves himself that sometimes the worst scenario is reality. The willingness of the team to respect his comradery with this man he just met yields a sense of loyalty to the team that begins to be apparent in small ways: Offering to play a game of cards with Mel during downtime. Spends time with Miko, asking her to speak in Japanese. After a short time, he begins to reply to her in the same. He is still tentative of Kimi; her analysis, while potentially valid, is a reality that flies not only against Semper Fi, but also leaves several kids as orphans.

Run 1 -- The Skeeze:
Hired to target a low-level MCT manager, who is believed to be changing the personafixes in his workers to be more compliant to sexual advances. Gather proof that he is doing it or get him fired.

As the team works, there is no evidence of personafix editing by the manager. Hacking into his commlink shows several appointments with an MCT confidence coach. His assignment for between sessions is to work on being more expressive and persuasive. There are several communications with different employees, suggesting that they are being reviewed for a promotion. All of the employees are single females, and there have been several "after business hours" booked with them.

Investigating the Confidence Coach, the team finds that he is using implanted suggestions and hypnosis to help the manager feel more confidence. Many of the techniques that he is teaching the manager are the same ones used by pickup artists. Checking out people who would have a reason to target the mark, you find that the manager is also up for a promotion. Another manager is in the running against him for the same position, and recently broke up with one of the women that your mark slept with.

With Miko masked, she is able to replace one of the employees for a dinner date. During dinner, very little happens, but the shaman is able to pick up on specific word choices, double entendres that are used. It becomes clear that for the woman to be considered for the promotion, she would have to sleep with him, though the manager never says it directly.

Run 2 -- The InfoDump:
A courier is transporting an encrypted drive through Seattle. Switch the drives with one you were given by the Johnson without him realizing that he is being targeted.

The team isolates the car which the courier is driving and through some clever hacking, is able to engineer a car accident. While Charles, holds his neck and complains of whiplash, Azzo is able to swap the devices. The rest of the team is on lookout and doesn't notice anything astray.

The device is handed over.

Run 3 -- The Hitter:
James Townshend is a former UCAS marine and current tenement slumlord. Last month, he went on a bender and started shooting folks who were late on rent. All the tenants want him gone and have pooled enough money to hire a group to get him gone by any means necessary. Kill him, run him out of town, whatever.

Azzo approaches Townshend and has a discussion about the shootings. The landlord had the stench of a long-term alcoholic and was already 12 beers in when the conversation started. He doesn't remember any of the shootings. He passed out each night and woke up the next morning with a gun in his hand. Townshend thought about going to the VA hospital, but he's sure all they'd do is lock him away from his kids.

Checking in on the tenants, all of them are SINless. The apartment building slipped over the edge from a decent part of town to Shitsville. Knight Errant doesn't care unless there's a risk of the mess hitting legitimate citizens.

Investigating, there doesn't seem to be any magical tampering or influence on Townshend's actions. The footage is rough and silent, clearly a cheap camera.Townshend is moving in sharp, controlled movements as if clearing a block for urban warfare. He gestures several times to guide a squad, but there is no one else around him. The landlord kicks in a door, shouting, and then the camera catches several muzzle flashes. He moves back to his apartment in a retreating action.

We understand the score and to get paid he's gotta go down. At this point, framing his for something (like negotiating to jump to another corp) seems a viable option, if Miko is unsuccessful.

PTSD. Azzo recognizes the symptoms from out processing briefings. He makes an out of character, personal appeal to Kimi to assist getting him into treatment someplace else. That fulfills the contract and Azzo's personal sense of honor.

So, the manager is learning how to pick up girls at work, and (ab)using his position for it.

Another manager is jealous and has hired us.

Looks like there is no reason not to get him fired...

Miko will open up to his subtle advances during the dinner and try to tease him into saying openly what he is looking for. If he goes for it, she will accept and make sure they get good evidence against him (recordings of their conversations), but she will not actually follow through with it, just far enough to get what they need.



Since this seems to be important for Azzo, Miko will keep her own opinion in the background and leave the decision about what to do to him.

Bye
Thanee

I think you meant Kimi.

Bye
Thanee

Updated Character BIO

Added gear

375 is his pocket.

That looks wrong...



I disabled the smilies in your post, so the ( 8 ) is not shown as (.

Bye
Thanee

@thanee hank you for the heads up I didn't even realize. Fixed and updated.

The 4 (1) for Agility is due to Armor encumbrance penalties.

Ahhh... Chummer... I see. He has marked all of his armor pieces as worn, I guess.

But doesn't encumbrance also lower Reaction?

Bye
Thanee

It should lower Reaction, but Chummer doesn't catch that. Chummer will also let some augmentation combos go through which are incompatible. It works as a great point calculator, but can't always be trusted to catch everything.

Yeah sorry about that. I made sure no cyber ware and bio ware compatible though. Mel's essence is something to be desired so magical healing will be hard.

the vest he will wear during leg work and meet and greets and the full body armor during the actual runs.

A "1" agility though... whew, that hurts.

That would have if I was wearing both suits of armor cause my body is only 3 lol not playing the sponge troll this time lol.

Yea. Team is four humans and an ork. Quite a bit different from the last game.

True that. I was thinking a orc or troll but more 9f the same wouldn't feel right.

Run 1 - The Skeeze
With no real proof gathered for the set up Kimi would go with the other plan suggested and frame him for leaking company secrets or conspiring with a competitor.

Run 3 - The Hitter
At this point it seems the landlord is sick and is as responsible as he can be for his actions. Kimi will agree to Azzo's request to get him treatment somewhere else. She will ask Azzo if he is going to take responsibility for Townsend to make sure he stays in treatment and if not, then try to arrange to have him committed in such way that he can voluntarily leave the program until he is better.

Azzo has no problem with tough love for a brother Marine. Commit him to a tough program, move him to another city if required. When it comes down to brass tacks, getting Townsend help in a way that he keeps his kids (long term) is actually a best case scenario; a short term hardship is far better than the kids becoming orphans or Azzo turning his back on a down and out Marine. A relative who can look after the kids for the short term is a best case solution for them.

Charles would be more looking for the sure fire option of getting him fired, i.e., leaking company secrets. Not that Miko's idea isn't great, but it requires whoever the evidence goes to to care about a little double entendre and hinted suggestions. Leaking company evidence is, objective, more likely to get him fired in a permanent way.



Charles would be willing to go with that route if it seemed important to Azzo. Runner's should care what about their team members, right? Nothing short of helpful, and he's happily willing to help subdue Townsend if necessary to get the process started.

No reason to not do both, right?

Bye
Thanee

Assuming Miko getting caught is a minimal risk, then no, no reason not to do both.

@All
In the interest of character development and building a sense of esprit de corps, something obviously important to Azzo, and something I would like to ingrain into character creation to provide a bond with the other team members, I'd like to add some historic team building things into his interactions with each team member. Azzo started off brash and very rough around the edges: Very low charisma, but with Etiquette R1.

@Thanee
Azzo has recently begun to be fascinated by other languages. Something {adept ability linguistics} draws him to spend some downtime with Miko. He is fairly fluent in Italian (his grandmother required they speak it at her house) and captivated by Japanese. He would be curious, though strangely somewhat shy, about his curiosity. I was thinking a trip to a Japanese tea garden and perhaps another outing (as team mates) would make some good bonding back story.

@Fenris
Following forward from my dialog with Thanee, Charles fluency in French would make a good segway toward commadre. Charles' enthusiastic support for a solution with Townsend along lines that Azzo seeks will cause Azzo to cement a degree of that in that a non-marine would take up the cause openly. This could lead to some off-time bonding between the two following the last run.

{Battery is dying. Will add more for the other characters later.}

Miko, being fairly new in Seattle (or America in general), only being around for a few months, would be interested in learning some more about the city, getting shown around, stuff like that.

Giving Azzo some lessions in Japanese would certainly be doable, though Miko is not a trained instructor, and her english isn't perfect either (it's pretty good, though, R3).

Bye
Thanee

@Satyr
With Mel being more of a physical asset (being a street sam), he and Azzo would have some common operational ground. Mel's police background vs. Azzo's criminal background leaves little common background, but their addictions might be a common ground.

Buddha72
If Kimi speaks fluent Algonkian, that might be an in for them. He is more than a little paranoid about the matrix and especially Black IC. One thing she would be able to learn is that there was some issue during his tour where his squad was hot SIM'd and it went bad; he changes the subject quickly though.

With a Seattle Area Knowledge skill R3, Azzo should be able to serve as a reasonable guide.

As he as the Adept Linguistics Power, she will be amazed at how good a teacher she is!!

Kimi does speak it fluently and would be happy to teach anyone willing to learn.

@ redjack, mel has a mild addiction too booze so they might share a drink now and than. Being a crminal now himself mel would be ok knowing a friend with a shadowrunner with a past, might find mel might have arrested some of azzos friends if they were in seattle though.

Drinking partners at least.

IC post is up. Please give a post describing what you are doing when the call comes in and let me know if you are taking any actions before the meet.

Where is Falcone's ranch?

Edit: Errr... yea.. Where is the Top Side?

Is Top Side a place where we have met him before? if so, where and what kind of place is it?

Top side: Street Knowledge: Seattle(3) + Intuition(5) + School of Hard Knocks(1) [3,4,1,2,3,5,1,5,3] = 2 hits

Buddha -- You have not met Falcone at the Top Side before.

Redjack -- Azzo will recognize it as a restaurant in the Snohomish area.

Anyone on the team own a car? Azzo has a leased one with his lifestyle, but keeps that separate from work.

Miko has a car (two actually, as her lifestyle also includes a leased car).

Bye
Thanee

Kimi uses a motorcycle for working so if you're gear light she can pick you up. Out of curiosity where does the option or choice come in to lease a vehicle with a lifestyle?

From Runner's Companion:



Bye
Thanee

Where is her doss? Downtown perhaps?

Yep, Downtown.

Bye
Thanee

@Satyr

Collins Pub. Is this [ 5th Ave & Olive ] correct? Downtown Neighborhood, Downtown District, Seattle?

Miko's place will be near Kobe Terrace Park (Map). That seems rather fitting.

Bye
Thanee