Ok - Mary Kelly lives like 3 blocks away from the crime scene of Officer Newton - so we'll start with shopping, and then her apartment.

Given the description, I take it the noise rating is pretty high at this Casino, right?

It is 2 Noise outside, 3 inside.

I'm down for Grease's play. Checking out fish for a bit sounds good to me. If security comes over, we can head into the casino for a few and drop some nuyen on the slots.

Sorry for the disappearing act yesterday, guys. My muffler fell off my car going over some railroad tracks and things just got worse from there.

I should be able to post today, got to go do some work in the afternoon though.

Been there, I can empathize.

Ouch - hope today is better for you!

IC is up. Let me know if you want me to roll anything.

You know, it just occurred to me... unlikely as it may be, it would really suck if Argent were also hired to wack Mitchell and the other guys got to him first. This could be uncomfortable.

Yeah, that's why I'm watching him. Of course, the way it's phrased, he doesn't need to reveal that, and could just tell us what he saw and take out the competition.

I considered asking him if he was "on the job" that night, but decided against it. We'll see where the interview goes.

Ah Shadowrun, where if you aren't paranoid, you aren't doing it right

Well I imagine she is at work, how far away is the publishing company she works for?

About a 20 minute ride.

Truer words have never been spoken.

Probably one of Drave's mottos, and why Garrett "Drave" Dramen was KIA in Berlin on the 25th December, 2060.

We could also hit up that Diner Schaefer's across from the scene, where staff and patrons witnessed the shooting. I would prefer to have a bit of perspective when investigating the crime scene, so I would know better where to look for cams that might have something useful of the shooting. If not the shooting itself, perhaps the shooters approaching or fleeing the scene.

Yeah I agree with that. Although Amy wouldn't really come up with this plan herself. Might as well go for it while we're here, in case we can find something.

And about going to see her at the job, well I'd continue to just go to the nearest point of interest.

K, lets hit the Diner then.

Updated my post with a text to Grease. If that is too much text in the time allotted, just let me know and I'll modify it.

Its ok - you could have communicated the same idea with less words if you wanted to. No worries.

I updated it out of principle.

Charisma 6 + Negotiation 5 + Tailored Pheromones 1 = 13 dice, vs. Social limit of 7.

13d6.hits(5)=4 hits.

EDIT: As always, feel free to change with various GM related modifiers

Are there cameras inside and/or outside the diner?

There were no cameras that you saw outside or inside the diner itself. Your adept-enhanced eyes do pick out a camera on the apartment building across the street, however.

Next I will let Overkill tackle IC, since he seemed to have a plan when we came in. I will tell him about the camera either as we're waiting for the manager or afterwards if there's no time.

/shrug.

Unless Jack has a better idea, I'm paying this guy. We don't have a lot to work with here, and threatening him seems like it would end poorly for us

I don't know if a different approach would have worked better or not. I had thought of a different tack to take, but I think it would have run into problems if/when Argent realized we were going to probably be handing over image feeds from his cybereyes to the ZDF.

Still, 100 nuyen less is better than nothing. If you want to agree to the deal IC, just include that Jack fiddles with his commlink, slots a standard certified credstick, and hands the credstick over to you. Then pull off some sleight of hand to pass the credstick to Argent.

ETA: I am ecstatic about Overkill hacking more stuff. No lie.

Taking off for the afternoon. Go ahead and drag Overkill along as much as you need.
He will send an update to Jack and Grease on their progress soon

I don't think I will, because one important question is whether he tries to hack the building cameras.

Sorry, DrZ posted while I was writing this up. I'm just going to leave it here pending Argent's response to Grease.

Heh, sorry about that. Also, the total cost to meet with Argent is 1100 so far (275 each). You can have Grease pay you his 75 in your IC post, and get the other 550 from Overkill and Amy when you want.

For bookkeeping purposes, I'm just going to assume transactions are made rather than transferring money back and forth between characters. Thank you for clarifying that Grease is NOT paying for Argent's personal appearance fee on his own though, I initially had it that way.

P.S. Are you done with Argent now? Going to finish off my post now.

By the way something to consider should this group stick together after this adventure, having a "slush fund", so to speak, that each person pays into at the beginning of the run, and then expenses are deducted from that.

Not a big deal, it is just something my PnP group does to save on paperwork

Yeah, we probably should have done that, dropping half of the advance into a fund. Next time!

We also do that in my PnP group and it's great, not only for bookkeeping, but also for saving up for group lifestyles, expendables, some tools, and even a vehicle with a lot of improvements. I think we should do it after this and put either Overkill or Jack in charge of it. The way we have set it up is that the sludge fund is included as a member for purposes of splitting up payment, which is the equivalent of a fixed tax on income. I think it works well.

We can IC discuss it whenever we meet up next. I wonder if Ramirez will pay us as we complete objectives? If he would pay us as services are rendered, we can decide to create a fund with our earnings. Granted, I doubt he will but..

I nominate the character who has a moderate addiction to Novacoke NOT to be in charge of the slush fund.

But I like the idea in principal. There are always going to be run-related expenses; and it's tough as a first run when you're playing with such limited resources.

ETA: Btw, just wanted to comment again how great this is going. I think a large part of what makes pbp unbearable is infrequent posting. A guideline to post everyday really seems to be making things hum along at a great pace.

One key point, which we can discuss here before we start going back and forth in IC, is not only how much money we put in it, but also what counts as expenses the fund should pay for. Typically, anything that directly has to do with one's own job, one pays for. But that gets really fuzzy really fast from my experience. For instance, we want to buy more armor on our vehicle, is that Grease's problem, or do we all pitch in through the fund since it'll be useful to all of us? What about a rocket launcher that we need for a particular job, but only Jack can use it and he will be keeping it?

Just something to keep in mind.

Yeah, that enters into the whole "karma for credit" issue as well. As a mage, your expenses are pretty limited. If Overkill wants to upgrade his deck, it's going to cost him 4 stacks of high society. Not really feasible in-game. Riggers tend to have expensive habits as well (which I'm aware of and planning on). I think we could make an argument IC to pull from "petty cash"; "Hey, I need this rocket launcher for us to get through the door. Anyone mind if I pull from the group fund for it?" I agree it gets tricky, especially if Grease loses 4-5 vehicles on a run that goes sideways.

Well, given that none of you knew each other IC, it makes sense that you didn't immediately make one. Now that you know each other, it makes sense that you would create one.

For my PnP group, we have a decker, an Aspected Spellcaster, and a Private Investigator, so they don't have modified vehicles. The PI and the decker have their own cars, and the mage is like Amy, actually, a Squatter lifestyle in the Warrens (he's a fugitive from Aztech, but that's another story).

The fund gets used for specialized equipment, bribes, etc - not a whole lot of arguing in general.

@Grease,

I agree, I've tried to play in PbP where the posting is infrequent, and after a week it is hard to generate any impulse to actually want to post, because you aren't going to get an answer for three days. Thank you all again for not only posting once a day, but multiple times per day I've tried to make sure to reply to each, as it keeps the game going

Also, reviewing the video, it is as Argent describes. It starts in the line at QXTs, with Mitchell exiting the building and walking past him with a young blonde. He stands on the corner, and waits for a car, when a muzzle flash appears in the corner of Argent's vision. From his perspective, his eyes adjust for lighting as he catches Mitchell, and returns fire, the image zooming in across the street to focus on a black haired elf with short, spiky hair. Wearing a black button up shirt and black cargo pants, his Predator V fires again, hitting Mitchell in the head. Bullets from a burst from Argent spark around him, and he dives backward out of view. Argent's view crosses the street, but by the time he reaches the alley, Lynx is disappearing out the other side. Argent turns around and you can see Mitchell's body, and the video ends.

Does the blonde flinch at all? I'm basically asking if it looks like she knew it was coming or not; conveniently diving out of the way too quickly, standing to a particular side of him where she wouldn't be in the line of fire, etc. I'm not sure what I'd roll for this (judge intentions?) but I'm curious if it's something I can glean from the video.

I resemble that remark!


Also, who is Blackhawk? I assume Lynx? We have Lynx, Stinger, Gutter, Truck, and Falcon.

ALSO: I updated the map with the new information collected. If anyone sees anything that is wrong, please let me know.

I edited the post - Was thinking of something else - should have read Lynx not Blackhawk.

NP, just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing something. I'm trying to be as accurate as I can with the map.

RE: Slush Fund: I think once we complete the run, we probably should consider it. We can agree to certain expenses in advance (Hub travel costs, bribes/cover/charges up to a certain amount while following up leads, etc) and everything else we can vote on (yay commlinks!). If we end up with a Group Lifestyle and hideout, we can maintain any equipment we purchase there. If someone falls in love with a particular piece of gear, they can pay into the slush fund to own it. I don't imagine it would be that hard. Jack, with his odd head for numbers, would be willing to do it at no charge. He likes this kind of drek.

Yes, I will indeed be hacking that camera on the building, we can start off with that today.

Ok, so not sure where you want to go into VR - remember that your body goes limp, so if you do it in the diner either you have to put your head down on the table or have it flop back over the back of the booth.

You could go to the bathroom, and sit on the floor - if you sit on the toilet you will just fall off.

The street outside doesn't provide much opportunity either, it is a bunch of storefronts and of course the apartment complex across the street. You could make a stealth check and try and hide in a bush somewhere - or you could just do it A/R.

Either way, Noise Rating in this area is a 1, just let me know your deck ASDF and programs, and then what actions you want to take and we can take care of you hacking the camera

They really should make a set of clothes that keep you sitting upright while in AR- the market would be enormous!
-DrZ

I was thinking of a belt strap you could tie around your legs and the toilet seat for discrete VR decking.

ETA: I'm not sure what more we can do here. I think we might want to just give Sanders a call and see if we can set something up. Unlike two of the murders, we really have no clue why other than he was working smuggling interdiction. Here's a complete shot-in-the-dark, but Argent mentioned or his video showed that Mitchell seemed happy. Maybe he and Sanders were celebrating something he did at work, like a big contraband bust.

I would almost suggest attempting a border crossing to the CAS, but I think our gear would make that a bit prohibitive.

Grease is a cold blooded bastard. Obviously the chick whose boyfriend was just murdered is a suspect! Let's turn the screws on her!
-DrZ

ETA: You think? We've got a few restricted items, but not many. I've basically got my armor and a few drones, hardly something a border cop is going to care that much about. We could also hop on a shuttle to the CAS sector, try to knock out whatever leads are in that sector (including the ones we haven't looked into yet).

-DrZ

ETA2: It's pretty much just Emily Sanders in CAS, which is... odd. Probably worth checking out.

Looking at the border crossing document, it seems pretty tough. Plus, I believe they use a higher rating SIN scanner than what we are used to with the commuter flights since we're not crossing international borders when we use the Air Taxi (well, not on our own volition).

As far as I know, Sanders is our only lead in the CAS at the moment. Everything else is in the UCAS sector/Hub (the latter of which I think we have exhausted).

This is correct.