Help - Search - Members - Calendar
Full Version: Nothing's Free in the Free Zone (IC)
Dumpshock Forums > Discussion > Welcome to the Shadows
Pages: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34
DrZaius
Abandoned house, S. Flanders Ct, 11:16 PM, July 31st, 2075

Pulling his Ingram X out of the glove box, Grease nodded at Amy. "That does sound simpler. Are you sure it'll work? If so, I'd say go for it. If something doesn't work out, we can always go in after and clear 'em out the old fashioned way. I'd just prefer not to sleep someplace with Devil Rat guts lining the walls."
Jack VII
Abandoned house, S. Flanders Ct, 11:16 PM, July 31st, 2075

"Nothing's too good for my Henry..." Jack said, echoing Grease's earlier comment.
Chrome Head
Abandoned house, S. Flanders Ct, 11:16 PM, July 31st, 2075

Amy was glad to hear Grease and Jack say that it was a good idea. "All right, let's see how it goes."

Reaching out into the astral, the shaman finds her beast and commands it once again. "Ok I have another task for you. There are 3 devil rats inside this house here, and I want them gone. I know you can tell them what to do or even scare them away. Please just make sure that they won't come back any time soon. If you can't avoid hurting them to complete this service for me, that's fine too. Let me know how it went when it's done, go."
Lobo0705
Abandoned house, S. Flanders Ct, 11:16 PM, July 31st, 2075

At Amy's call, the spirit manifests, its fur a dark black with silver highlights. The gorilla-like creature moves past Jack and Grease through the front door, and inside the room with the devil rats.

Grease's drone records and broadcasts the images as the spirit seems to speak to the rats in short barking tones, and the rats leave the carcass on the floor, and scurry along behind the spirit out the back door and into the yard beyond. After a minute or two, Amy feels the spirit touch her mind, "It is done."

Chrome Head
Abandoned house, S. Flanders Ct, 11:18 PM, July 31st, 2075

"All right. Let's check out the inside." And Amy walks inside the house. "Welcome to Hotel Amy." She continues turning to the others and bowing jokingly.
Jack VII
Abandoned house, S. Flanders Ct, 11:18 PM, July 31st, 2075

"Nice work, kid." Jack replies, bringing up his SMG at a ready position as he enters the house. Slowly moving from room to room, he checks the area for any threats, the rest of the team following behind him. After clearing the house, the ork says, "Looks like Casa Amy is open for biz. We've got one clean bedroom, but that back bedroom still has whatever those rats were snacking on in it, so that's probably out for now. The lounge area has a decent bit of floor space."

"Grease, can you get some of the drones up to keep watch outside the house? Then we can have the person on watch setup in the dining room to cover the two main entrances to the house."
Lobo0705
Abandoned house, S. Flanders Ct, 11:18 PM, July 31st, 2075

Nodding, Grease sends a quick message to his Fly Spy, and takes the Microskimmer out of his pocket. Both drones then launch into the sky above the house, providing a bird's eye view of the area.

"Can you help me get Rhex and this rotodrone into the house there, buddy?" Grease picks up one end of Rhex, and waits for Jack to grab the other.

Jack obliges, and they move first Rhex, and then the rotodrone into the lounge area. Grease scratches his head, and says, "Ok, first things first, let's see if we can get this rotodrone back into shape."

Overkill, who has put his Crusader down on the couch, takes a knee and pulls out his deck, and says "A few moments, Mein Freund, I have to make sure alles in ordnung with my Proteus first" The decker hums to himself as he takes out his toolkit and starts to remove the case.

Jack VII
Abandoned house, S. Flanders Ct, 11:59 PM, July 31st, 2075

With Grease and Overkill breaking out the tools and repair kits, Jack decided to assess the rest of the house for security purposes. Slipping through the dining room to the kitchen, he unlatched the sliding glass door and moved onto the patio. The tiny backyard was mostly unkempt, the past occupants apparently not all that into yard work. Walking the short perimeter, the ork took note of a section of the plastiboard fencing that had been knocked free. Well, if the drek hits the fan, someone's probably going through this thing. He glanced at the sky but failed to spot Grease's Fly-Spy. The ork figured that bastard skimmer was probably in the front yard somewhere.

Not all that confident in the physical security set-up of their current location, Jack figured that anonymity and the unfamiliar were their biggest defensive assets at the moment. We should be safe here and, if not, we know they're definitely tracking us somehow, the ork thought. Hoping that Amy was making use of the front bedroom to rest up, the ork moved to the rear bedroom. The remains of the devil rats' snack lay on the floor. Not really a student of animal anatomy, Jack was pretty certain it had been a dog or cat, possibly the previous owner's pet. Skirting the remains, the ork moved into the master bathroom. While it was small, it did have an actual bathtub. Hoping his meeting wasn't going to take long, the ork checked his chronograph, closed the bathroom door, and leaned against the exterior window to get a good view of the backyard. Jack mentally composed a quick message to Overkill.

<<@Overkill [JustJack] Hey amigo, I'm in the back bathroom and about to make the jump to the club. I'm inviting MARKs on my biomonitor so you can keep track of me without distracting you too much. Wish me luck.>>

With that, the ork opened a window to the Matrix and mentally expanded it to fill most of his view. Leaving small AR windows of the feeds from Grease's drones open, Jack watched as the Matrix expanded before him.
Jack VII
THE MATRIX, 11:59 PM, July 31st, 2075

A glitchy morass of lights, gridlines, and icons stretched to the horizon. The persona icon coalesced as a basic and boring anthropomorphic figure; the small winged helmet and the wings on its feet the only touches of individuality in the iconography. Individuality might be stretching it a bit, the icon was the default for the Hermes Ikon commlink being using to access the Matrix. With little time to waste, the persona emitted a green nimbus of light that darted out, touching a Host icon in the distance. The persona icon flowed into the beam of light it was emitting and darted to the Club Ascension Host.
Lobo0705
THE MATRIX, 11:59 PM, July 31st, 2075

As Jack's persona moved along the path illuminated before him, he struggled to absorb the rapidly changing landscape around him. He was moving from the pitch black and desolate Warrens to the gleaming spires of the Hub, each host attempting to outshine the other as they tried to attract customers. The "traffic", if it could be called that, also increased, as more and more personas flitted about, zipping to and fro on their way to their destinations. Some glanced at the austerity of Jack's persona, as if to say "Why choose such a drab appearance when you could look like anything? But they soon hurried on.

After only a few seconds in real time, Jack bridged a the kilometers-long gulf between his meat body and Ascension. The host for the club hung in the sky directly over the physical building, and was in fact sculpted to look exactly like the earthbound structure. Patrons flew up to the entrance, and were greeted by hooded figures in white, who accepted the 20 nuyen.gif cover-charge. As Jack arrived at the front of the line, he mimicked the patrons in front of him, holding out his virtual hand to accept a piece of paper with a wax seal, the acceptance of which transferred the money from his account, and gave him a mark on the host.

Entering the ground floor, the place is packed, and he has to push his way through the crowd, some of whom are in the Hub at the club itself, while others are at their homes kilometers away. Regardless of where their meat bodies are, they present a very real obstacle, as their virtual forms are quite solid. Jack sees the staircase a few dozen yards ahead of him to the right, and tries to fly over to it, but is unable to get his feet off the ground. Frowning, he tries again, but he remains rooted firmly to the floor of the club. I wonder what's wrong? I'll have to ask Overkill when I get back.

Slowly but surely he is able to make his way to the staircase. While the ground floor is loud, the voices of a hundred or so patrons making a cacophonous sound, as he approaches the 2nd floor, the volume increases. Walking up the stairs, he climbs the spiral up through the 2nd floor, looking at the dance floor filled with wildly different shapes gyrating together. It was an assault on the senses, over here a beautiful elven woman with green hair danced with a human sized badger with purple fur, over there, a pink robot sat in the corner passionately kissing what looked to be a cyborg from a 20th century film. Shaking his head, he continued up to the third floor.

At the top of the stairs, he reached a door, opened it, and stepped through. When he closed it, it was as if the sound of the music was cut off with a knife. The sudden silence disoriented him, and he began to explore his surroundings. He had stepped out into a small foyer, with an angelic form, androgynous in nature, stood at attention, its wings folded behind it. As Jack moved closer, it beckoned to him, motioning for him to follow. They walked through what appeared to be a maze, with various rooms spread throughout, some open to those passing by for the exhibitionist crowd, others closed and locked. After a minute or so, the angel stopped at door, and caused a key to appear in its hand. Handing it to Jack, he motioned for him to open the door, and then moved away.

Looking around, Jack put the key in the door and turned it. As the door popped open, he saw that inside the small room was a man, dressed in an impeccably tailored suit and fedora - both black, with a blue carnation in the lapel of his suit. The race and features of the man are impossible to discover, as his face is completely blank, with no eyes, ears or nose, like a flesh-colored eggshell.

The room was sparsely furnished, a couch and a small low table being the only furnishings. The man was seated on the couch, but rose when Jack entered.

"Welcome, I'm glad you could make it. Won't you please sit down?"
Jack VII
THE MATRIX, 12:00 AM, August 1st, 2075

Noting the blue carnation described in the earlier text message, Jack examined the man more closely. Nodding, he took a seat on the couch and gave the man as much space as was allowed by the furnishings.

"Pardon me, I'm not a Matrix regular."


Jack sent a quick message to Overkill.

<<@Overkill [JustJack] I'm here. Meeting begun>>
Lobo0705
THE MATRIX, 12:00 AM, August 1st, 2075

The suited figure sits on the opposite side of the couch, and pauses for only a second before beginning to speak.

"Very well, in deference to the novelty of the situation for you, I'll get right to business then. As I said to you earlier, it appears that we have a common friend, and, for the moment, a common enemy. I don't have all of the details, but certainly it seems that Honeypot and you were both interested in something that Lynx is involved in, and Honeypot brought it to my door."

It was uncomfortable for Jack to listen to the stranger, the lack of features made all facial cues useless, and so it was difficult to gauge his mood. The stranger's voice itself sounded as if it were computer generated, the words coming out flat and monotone, further making an assessment of the speaker more difficult.

"Unfortunately, by the time I realized exactly what she was asking me to look into, Lynx and his crew had already compromised her 'link - they showed up at my door, and it was a narrow run thing that I avoided them. I believe we can help each other. Here is my proposal. I can provide information as to where a member or two of his crew is, and you provide the muscle necessary to remove them from the equation. Lynx doesn't like loose ends, and I prefer not to be on the run for the foreseeable future."

The stranger pauses, waiting for a response.
Jack VII
THE MATRIX, 12:00 AM, August 1st, 2075

Jack stared out the window of the bathroom and nodded his head. He was a little caught off guard when his persona did the same.

"That's the long and short of it. We're looking to take Lynx and his crew out. so your problems should be solved if we succeed." The ork's persona paused examining the decker's persona for a reaction. Quickly realizing that meat based perception was meaningless in the Matrix, he continued."Any help you can provide us to track down one or two of them would be a big help. We'd like to at least present Lynx with a bigger problem than you."

Jack had to remember that the stranger was just a friend of a friend and kept the team's plans to himself.
Lobo0705
THE MATRIX, 12:10 AM, August 1st, 2075

The other persona nodded. "Good. I believe we can cooperate with one another. I'm sending you a file now." Jack's commlink registers a new file arriving, the alert sounding in both the virtual and real world simultaneously, giving him a bit of double vision.

"Take a moment and view the footage."

Jack opens the file, a video feed. The footage is clearly shot from a camera inside someone's cybereyes, as occasionally the person filming blinks, obscuring the feed for a moment. The footage shows a large room, littered with stuffer wrappers, and other garbage. The paint is peeling from the walls, and what little light there is comes from a broken fixture in the ceiling. The occupants of the room are seven of the most run down individuals you have seen, five humans, an ork and a dwarf, who are sprawled on the floor or in the few chairs that are in the room. Each has their body locked in a rigid position by their RAS overrides as their mind is far away. Into the room comes someone familiar. A human, slightly above average height, with a round face and thick eyebrows, Jack recognizes him from the video of the murder of Officer Jackson. He throws one of the derelict human forms off of a chair, and sits down, pulls a BTL from a box in his pocket, and slots it, a smile playing across his lips. At the end of the video, a set of GPS coordinates show up, indicating where the footage was shot, and the time stamp shows this was taken last night at 10:00 PM. Jack pulls up the coordinates and shows them to be a house on S Dunkirk Street on the corner of E. Maplewood Place.

Jack looks at the stranger, and the figure says, "What you are looking at is footage of Stinger. Ex-UCAS military, he is muscle for hire and also does some Matrix work. He's not in my league, of course, but he is passable I suppose. Regardless, it seems he has acquired a nasty habit, and the one thing that I have heard about Lynx is that he can't abide addicts, which is why I suppose Stinger travels to this drekhole to score his BTLs, far away from the prying eyes of his boss. He may not be there tonight, but habits are hard to break, and so I assume he will be there again in the not too distant future."

Another alert, and another video file arrives on Jack's 'link. "I must warn you, this is not for the faint of heart. But it is relevant to our cause, I assure you."

He opens this one, and it appears to be taken from a drone flying over a forested area. It is hard to tell, precisely where, but as the drone starts to circle, Jack can see several bodies of water near one another. The camera zooms in, and near the water stand five figures in dark robes, one of which towers over the others. The robed figures stand in a semicircle around two pieces of wood bound together to form an "X" about 10 feet in height. Bound to the cross is a young hispanic woman, human or elven it is impossible to tell at this distance, and her long thick dark hair covers most of her face as she limply hangs there. One of the figures moves to the woman, picking up a large knife and a wooden bowl. He slashes her across the wrist, and lets the blood drip down into the bowl, quickly filling it. Each of the other figures steps up, throws back their hood, and is anointed with the blood of the woman before drinking deeply from the bowl. When the large figure, last in line throws back his hood and kneels down so that the human can reach his head, Jack instantly recognizes Truck. Rather than drink from the bowl, the troll stands and moves to the woman, and bites into her neck directly. She throws her head back, and fortunately for Jack there is no audio on the feed, so he is not forced to endure her screams. As the video zooms out, Jack notices that there are two other "X"s in the sand near the water, empty. Again, the video ends with a set of coordinates. A quick check shows it to be the eastern shore of Upper Derby Lake. Jack looks at the stranger in shock as he realizes the time stamp shows the footage is live.

"When my little birdies bring me information to view and sell, it is rarely pleasant, but I am fortunate that I do not have to see something like that too often. As you can see, this is going on right now. Today, tomorrow, and Sunday are a new moon period. You will notice that there were three crosses. I believe that if you were to go to that spot at midnight tomorrow, you would find him again, only the second cross would be full, with the third cross being used Sunday at midnight." The figure shakes his head.

"I'm not sure whether I find Truck or Lynx to be the more despicable of the group. Truck has his devotion to the dark gods, while Lynx worships the almighty nuyen. Both have committed atrocities that have earned them a special place in the hells. Unfortunately, I do not have any surveillance footage of the others. Although I will continue to listen peruse the Matrix in search of them. I wish I could help more."
Jack VII
THE MATRIX, 12:10 AM, August 1st, 2075

Jack took a few seconds to digest everything he had heard.

When he had gathered himself, his persona replied, "Amigo... I'll call you Amigo for now if that's okay with you. This is more than I expected and appreciate the assistance. I'll have to convince the rest of the crew about this, but the video footage should be helpful. One question, if I may... from what you've seen, is Stinger the extent of their Matrix support? Between a databomb that our decker told me about earlier and the trace of Honeypot's commlink, it seemed like they had more capability in that department. Again, I'm not that familiar with it."

Jack wished Overkill would have been able to be here, he probably would have understood much more about what the decker was saying.
Lobo0705
THE MATRIX, 12:10 AM, August 1st, 2075

The suited figure shakes his head. "Child's play. Setting a data bomb and tracing a commlink are well within Stinger's capabilities. But true mastery of the virtual world? This is beyond him."

The suited figure stands. "I will contact you when I have more information. Good luck."

Jack VII
THE MATRIX, 12:10 AM, August 1st, 2075

"Muchas Gracias, Amigo" Jack replied. His persona moved to shake hands, but the mysterious persona faded from the Matrix before the action could be completed. With nothing left to do, Jack rebooted his commlinkl, his fading persona leaving the virtual room empty save the furniture.

Closing the large AR window, Jack checked the video feeds from the drones to make sure nothing had slipped up that he might have missed. Making his way out of the bathroom and slipping past the carcass on the floor of the bedroom, the ork slipped into the dining room. Seeing Grease and Overkill still tinkering with the broken devices in front of him, Jack said, "Hey guys, I got leads. Good ones."

Always Overkill
Abandoned house, S. Flanders Ct, 12:10 AM, August 1st, 2075


Drave pulled his head up from his work and said, "Ja? What do you have, Mein Genosse?"
Jack VII
Abandoned house, S. Flanders Ct, 12:12 AM, August 1st, 2075

As the men continued tinkering with the devices, Jack authorized MARKS invitations for both Grease and Overkill on the files the mysterious decker had provided. Turning to the rigger, he said, "Alright Grease, so one of the calls Pat made when I asked him to look into the folks tailing Amy and Overkill was to a fairly paranoid decker. Pat never heard back from the guy, but I think I did. Someone who is most likely that hombre contacted me earlier tonight and set up a meet at a VR club. Considering how paranoid the guy seemed to be, I decided to limit who knew about the meet. We needed leads and I didn't want the guy to skip because he thought I might be chatty about it. I told Overkill because I wanted someone to know what was going down in case anything happened."

"I met with the guy for the last ten minutes or so. He claims he barely got away from Lynx's crew and is hoping that whatever job we're working on will get rid of his problem. He managed to track down two of our targets operating on a mostly independent basis. The first clip is of Stinger. He's apparently a bit of a decker, the contact I spoke to thinks he traced Honeypot's commlink and was probably responsible for the data bomb Overkill ran into earlier. On top of that, he's also a chiphead. Lynx apparently frowns on that, so Stinger slips away to feed his need. You'll notice this is the same guy who killed Officer Jackson at the Stuffer Shack."

"The next video is Truck, that ugly fraggin' troll I ran into earlier today. If you check the time stamp of the feed, you'll notice this just happened. You also might notice the woman looks a lot like the picture of Renata we have. I don't know drek about magic, but it looks like magic to me. We can ask Amy about it when she wakes up, I guess. The contact said that this ritual apparently coincides with the moon cycles or some drek, the point being that they are probably going to sacrifice someone each night for the next two days at this time. Which gives us a chance to take them down."

"Now, what we do with this information depends largely on whether we believe this guy is the real deal. It could just be an elaborate trap."
DrZaius
Abandoned house, S. Flanders Ct, 12:12 AM, August 1st, 2075

After reviewing the video, Grease is uncharacteristically quiet for some time.

"It definitely could be a trap. I'm not sure how I'd do it, but this seems close."

Setting down his tools, he rubs his hands clean of his namesake on a towel and starts to pace around the small room.

"Even if it IS a trap, I think we have to take the risk. We've had no luck so far tracking Lynx down, and I worry we're running out of time. It's only a matter of time before they find out where we're holed up and come visit us with some heavy ordinance."

He looks at Jack, then back at Overkill. His eyes wander over towards the door to the room where Amy is sleeping.

"I wish I didn't know she had kids... At any rate; we need to make a move here, and this is our best lead so far. If we just grab Stinger, that's one person we can definitively tie to one of these crimes. We can probably collect based on that alone, if we get him to talk. Frankly, if the outcome of this was that we sent Lynx a message saying, "Got what we needed from your buddy; his nasty habit cost him. No bad blood between us." I'd be fine with that."

His mouth turns down in distaste. "I'd love to take Lynx out, but if we can't get to him and we can still find out who is boss is, I'm ok letting him continue his murdering ways provided he isn't gunning for us."
Jack VII
Abandoned house, S. Flanders Ct, 12:14 AM, August 1st, 2075

"The contact pretty much said all the right things, but they could have caught him and tortured him to get there, so there's no telling. The one thing that makes me think it isn't a trap is that he gave us two options. Why would they split their options rather than have us focus on one?"

Jack scratched his chin momentarily. "Like you said though, it probably doesn't matter. These are our best leads at the moment. Here's what I was thinking... we drop a drone at the chip-shack that Stinger visits so we can get a head's up for when he's going to be there. For Truck, we pretty much have a fixed time and location where we know he's going to appear. That sounds like a great opportunity for an ambush to me. I am a little worried about all that possible mojo, though."

Jack frowned, "As far as Lynx, I have the feeling he's not really a 'let bygones be bygones' kind of guy unless he respects or fears you, like Argent. I'm not sure if taking out some of his crew is going to get him off of our back." If the ork was going to be honest with himself, he wanted to take Lynx down hard.

"You got anything, Overkill?"
Always Overkill
Abandoned house, S. Flanders Ct, 12:14 AM, August 1st, 2075


"I believe you are right on two counts, Jack." Drave replied, fearing he was sounding repetitive with his continued agreement with Jack's reasoning and assessments. "Giving us multiple options makes no sense if this were a trap, why split their resources defending two possible objectives? That also looked like some serious zauberhaft Truck was involved in, I don't think they would risk endangering whatever ritual they are doing just to lure us in."

He breathed heavily before continuing, "There is also no chance Lynx lets us walk if we take out a couple of his crew. He knows the word is out that he is looking for us, and he most likely couldn't take the hit to his reputation that letting us go would give him."

"Stinger looks like the easy play, he will be alone and likely unable to defend himself if the BTLs he is using have kicked in. Einen Hinterhalt legen Truck and those Magier looks complicated; and I am not sure it would be wise for us to even try and bring him in alive. We would need to hit with extreme precision to pull that off without suffering a tödlich counterattack."
Jack VII
Abandoned house, S. Flanders Ct, 12:15 AM, August 1st, 2075

Jack nodded at both men. "I agree that Stinger is probably the easy play, but we don't know when he's going to show up again. He was there last night... I guess it depends on his habit. We should make a plan we can execute on short notice to go bag him next time he uploads. If the other chipheads are slotted, they won't be putting up much of a fight, but I'd bet there are going to be a few guards there at the least."

Frowning, Jack concluded, "I think we're all in agreement that Truck is going to be a hard take down, but I think we have to do it. I know we're supposed to separate biz from personal, but this crew, whoever the frag they are, seem like they're up to some dirty drek and clearly have no problems with human sacrifice. On the plus side, we might be able to get Ramirez to make an allowance that would let us kill any of this crew if they were about to murder someone. Let's wait until Amy wakes up and see what she has to say after seeing the footage, she probably has a better idea about all of this."

Jack couldn't quite pin it down, but the human sacrifice file bothered him more than any other part of this run to date.
Chrome Head
Abandoned house, S. Flanders Ct, 12:20 AM, August 1st, 2075

"Beep beep.." The sound of the commlink alarm wakes Amy up with a start. Ah I feel much better now, the headache is gone.

Sitting up, she lifts up her shirt and looks at the bandaged wound, thinking she would finally put an end to this. Concentrating she begins the healing process by touching the wound with her hand, and keeps her concentration up until the skin and flesh is mostly hole again. Almost as good as new.

She walks out the door and into the larger room where she finds all three other runners. "What's with that look? What's going on?"

Abandoned house, S. Flanders Ct, 12:22 AM, August 1st, 2075

After Jack fills her in on the whole story and she has watched both videos on her 'link, she tries to answer their questions about the magic involved as best she can. "This ritual could well be blood magic, but I'm not an expert, especially regarding that kind of obscure, deranged, ritualistic crap. It could just be a bunch of grown men playing warlock for all I know, I just dunno, but I'd have a better idea if I were there to see the site for myself, probably even during the day there will be traces left of what goes on. I'll have to speak with a friend of mine about this, he was my mentor in the spiritual arts and is more knowledgeable than me. I bet he might even get as mad as we are with those fraggers if it's corrupted magic as I suspect."

"If we can remove Stinger and Truck separately before the whole crew can react, we'll be one step ahead of them, but that might require excellent timing."
Jack VII
Abandoned house, S. Flanders Ct, 12:22 AM, August 1st, 2075

Jack's stomach twisted a bit when Amy said 'blood magic' but he nodded when she finished. "I think we might be able to pull that off. Bagging Stinger is probably going to be pretty obvious, but I bet there are enough people out there who would have problems with what Truck and that cult or whatever were up to that it could be any number of people who took him out, assuming Lynx's crew finds out about it. !Demonio!, they might just assume the ritual went bad. Magic's pretty unpredictable, right?"
Chrome Head
Abandoned house, S. Flanders Ct, 12:22 AM, August 1st, 2075

"Oh yes, and especially when you try to do something so vile as they are doing. It's not natural and goes against everything I hold dear about what people call magic."
Always Overkill
Abandoned house, S. Flanders Ct, 12:22 AM, August 1st, 2075

Concentrating more on the ritual they had witnessed, Drave thought of the two empty crosses. "Given her proximity to them, what do you think the odds are that Mary Jane Kelly might end up on one of those tonight or tomorrow night? Regardless of whether we know the identity of the victim or not, we cannot just let them kill another innocent girl out there."
DrZaius
Abandoned house, S. Flanders Ct, 12:22 AM, August 1st, 2075

Frowning, Grease nods at Overkill. "As much as my cowardly side would like to start with Stinger, I agree; we can't let them kill another girl. This Truck character is serious trouble, and we need to stop him, no matter what. However," he looks at the team directly, "How? He's the size of a house. I laid into that cop today with RHex and he barely flinched. I can't even imagine trying the same thing with a troll three times his size. I think we're undergunned for what we're hoping to accomplish."
Jack VII
Abandoned house, S. Flanders Ct, 12:23 AM, August 1st, 2075

"Oh, he's going to be a tough cabrón to take down, no doubt about that..." Jack replied. "With that said, I'm not sure how many people, trolls or otherwise, would survive if we all focused our attacks on them. If Chapel can get us some more heavy-duty gear and Amy can whip up another powerful spirit, we might have a chance."

"Why don't we focus on the work we're doing for now and get some rest. I think we're going to need it if we try to take this group down tomorrow night."
Chrome Head
Abandoned house, S. Flanders Ct, 12:23 AM, August 1st, 2075

"I'm confident we can put Truck down if it's really 4 on 1. Five with a spirit. With confusion, illusion, and concealment on our side, he won't be able to react before it's too late. And I think you're right that we should go after him first, what he's doing is vile, magic or no."
Jack VII
Abandoned house, S. Flanders Ct, 12:23 AM, August 1st, 2075

Jack yawned. "It did look like he had a few friends there, so we need to account for them. But, it didn't look like they were wearing much armor, which is a plus. Truck would be the primary target, the head-honcho secondary, with the other members last."
Chrome Head
Abandoned house, S. Flanders Ct, 12:23 AM, August 1st, 2075

"All right, first thing tomorrow morning I'll go see my friend, he might be able to tell me what to expect after I show him the video. Until then, I really need to rest more. As you can see," she lifts up her shirt, "well I guess you can't really see that well, but the wound I had is almost entirely healed. I can take guard duty whenever you need me from now on, and my spirit is already keeping watch for astral threats under sun up."

<<@Hubert [Amy] Hey I'm gonna come by in the morning, there's something I gotta show you. Cya>>
Always Overkill
Abandoned house, S. Flanders Ct, 12:23 AM, August 1st, 2075

"Very well, Mein Liebling, I have some work I must finish before I can even think of sleeping. We can fine tune the rest of our plans tomorrow." Drave replied to Amy, looking at the splayed out Rotodrone in front of them. Then he turned to Jack, sending him a message in his AR display and saying "Here is a list of what I need from Chapel, make sure he knows we need it ASAP."
Jack VII
Abandoned house, S. Flanders Ct, 12:23 AM, August 1st, 2075

Jack opens his commlink's editor function and composed a quick list. When he was finished, he opened his text message application, typed a quick message to Chapel, and attached the list.

<<@Chapel [JustJack] We're getting close to seeing results, but we need some hardware. List attached, let us know what you can do. Thanks!>>

<<ATTACHED LISTt>>
1x Colt M23 w/ Internal Smartgun & Shock Pad
4x Spare Magazines for the M23
2x Ares SpinalTap FlashBang
5x Spare Magazines for an AK-97
1x Shock Pad
1x Gas Vent-2 System
40x Rounds of AR S&S (AR)
1x External Smartgun System
<<END TRANSMISSION>>


With the task completed, Jack resumed watch. Opening the video of the sacrifice, the ork began to formulate a plan for the following night.
Lobo0705
Abandoned house, S. Flanders Ct, 12:30 AM, August 1st, 2075


<<@Jack [Chapel] Glad to hear you guys are getting close, and transactions are always welcome. I've got everything here except the Colt, and that I can have by 8 or 9 this morning. By my calculation that will be 2818 nuyen.gif - where and when do you want to meet to pick up the stuff?>>
Jack VII
Abandoned house, S. Flanders Ct, 12:30 AM, August 1st, 2075

<<@Chapel [JustJack] Deal. Can you meet us at the Rusty Bar-rel around 2PM? We've got some tinkering and recon to take care of in the AM.>>
Lobo0705
Abandoned house, S. Flanders Ct, 12:30 AM, August 1st, 2075

<<@Jack [Chapel] No problem, we'll get a late afternoon drink, my treat. See you then.>>


Lobo0705
Abandoned house, S. Flanders Ct, 8:30 AM, August 1st, 2075

Amy awoke to the sound of the alarm chirping in her ear, gave a big yawn, and stretched. Feeling only minor pain from her chest, she sat up, shut off her alarm, and checked her commlink for a response to the message she sent last night.

<<@Amy [Hubert] You are always welcome here Amy, it has been too long since we've spoken. I'll have breakfast on the table for you when you arrive.>>


Amy got dressed and left the bedroom, gingerly stepping over the snoring forms of Grease and Overkill, and used the bathroom. Unsurprisingly, the house was without power, but as they were leaving in a few hours, there was no real harm. Retracing her steps, she went to the living room, where Jack stood watch by the front window. "Hey Jack, everything all clear?"

The room was littered with tools, circuit boards, and bits of scrap metal, and the object of Grease's and Overkill's work last night was sitting on the sofa. The chassis was still fairly badly smashed in on the bottom, but it appeared that the two tech-heads had restored it to some semblance of service.

Jack nodded, his eyes still on the street, with the video feed from Grease's drones up on his AR display. "No problems so far, this was a good call on the safe house. I checked in with Nic earlier, he and the kids are up and about. He's going to keep them there again today, but I'm thinking we should wrap this up soon, not sure how long he's going to want to keep the babysitting gig." Jack smiled, thinking about the troll keeping his normally surly nature under wraps in the face of the two little ones in his care. "Don't know about you, but I could use some food, there's nothing to eat here except for the carcass those Devil Rats were fighting over last night, and that just doesn't appeal to me."

Chrome Head
Abandoned house, S. Flanders Ct, 8:30 AM, August 1st, 2075

"You're right, Jack. I'll bring food for everyone on my way back here. I wish I could take the car, but that would leave you without one if anything happens, so I'll just call Tony instead. Thanks for keeping track of the kids, we'll need to figure something out for them as you say. That'll be my priority today."
Lobo0705
Abandoned house, S. Flanders Ct, 8:30 AM, August 1st, 2075

Amy makes a quick call on her 'link, and gets the receptionist at Mile High Limo. After a brief conversation, she is disappointed to learn that Turbine is not working. Oh well, I suppose he needs to sleep sometimes...


Walking around the block, she stops at a local store, and waits outside. The metal grate is down over the window, covered in gang tags, both spraypaint and virtual. Trying to put the evening's events behind her, she focused on seeing Hubert again.

In a few minutes, the car arrived, and a quick trip through the Warrens in the company of a large, but silent, Italian man behind the wheel saw Amy to her destination. After paying the driver the 20 nuyen.gif, she got out and smiled, back on familiar ground.

Hubert's house, E. Hamilton Place, 8:55 AM, August 1st, 2075

Amy walked down the dead-end street, enjoying seeing what the Warrens could be if people took care of it. Hubert had taken great pains to try and maintain the area, at his own expense. Generators were connected to each of the three houses on either side of his own, and his street was one of the few with consistent power routed to it. Each of the yards had their own garden, so fresh fruits and vegetables could be served on the dinner table. The houses on the street were all owned by Hubert, but he allowed those in need of shelter to stay at them, as long as they pitched in to maintain the gardens, the sidings and rooftops, and so the people of the Warrens looked upon his street like a small oasis.

Amy always loved viewing this street in the Astral, and she did so again as she walked toward the front steps. Unlike the rest of the Warrens, the astral here was peaceful. Absent were the harsher tones of despair and violence, the Astral shone with gentler blues and greens, and soothed her. Spirits, some powerful and some minor watchers, moved back and forth through the area, keeping guard and helping to maintain Hubert's little paradise. In the physical plane, Amy could see about a dozen people, all hard at work, but happy to help out.

She had barely reached the bottom step when the front door opened, and Hubert stepped out. "Amy!" the old ork shouted, "How wonderful to see you again." Amy stepped up and clasped the ork's hand, and he placed a quick kiss on her cheek in welcome. "Come in, come in." They walked through the door and into the kitchen, where the table was set, and sideboard was full of food. "Now, how do you want your omelette? I've got peppers, some cheese, onion, and some ham. You just let me know." Amy smiled and sat down, pouring some water into a glass. As Hubert turned on the stove, he said, "How are Kevin and Sam?"



Chrome Head
Hubert's house, E. Hamilton Place, 8:55 AM, August 1st, 2075

"Thanks so much for cooking for me, I really appreciate it."

"I'm not gonna lie, Hubert, things could be better right now, especially for the kids. As you know, I've started my very first shadowrun a few days ago and it's rough. Some cold-blooded killers want us dead already and we'll have to fight back. I knew what I was getting into and I'm ready for it, but I'm afraid for the kids' safety. I found a safehouse for our team, but I'd never bring Sam there so she's at old Nic's place for now. I think I've told you about him and Jack before, he's got a small shop called Nic's Knacks."

"Anyway, maybe I should have come to you sooner, but I didn't want to get you involved in anything, you've done so much for me already."


Having said a lot, she waited to see Hubert's reaction.
Lobo0705
Hubert's house, E. Hamilton Place, 8:55 AM, August 1st, 2075

Hubert puts down his spatula and turns towards Amy. "Now Amy, I appreciate you trying to spare me any trouble, but please, don't hesitate to ask if you think I can be of assistance." He touches her on the shoulder in fatherly concern.


"I may not have much in the way to offer, but what I have is yours. Tell me how I can help."


Chrome Head
Hubert's house, E. Hamilton Place, 8:58 AM, August 1st, 2075

"Well, there's two things. And you know I wouldn't ask if it wasn't important. I need some place safe for Sam, and I was hoping she could stay with you for a while, until I have secured a new home for both of us. You don't know her that well but you know she's a sweet girl. She's very active but if she puts her mind to something, she calms down for a while. She likes drawing for one thing. Anyway, there's also Kevin, the kid who has a gift with machines. I know he can handle himself but it'd be nice if there was a roof over his head for the time being. If I leave him to fare for himself he'll end up sleeping under a bridge somewhere. If you let him come here, you can make him do all the work you'd expect of anyone else, so it shouldn't be a burden. Maybe he can even help out with any electronics you got."

Amy paused. "Sorry, that's a lot to take in. Please don't feel like you have to agree to this. I'm just, well I'm just a bit desperate right now. See, the guys that are after us, we're also after them, and one of them seems to be up to no good. Up to really fragged up stuff. You need to look at this video and tell me what you think."

And Amy gives her 'link to the old ork. "Press anywhere to start the playback."
Lobo0705
Hubert's house, E. Hamilton Place, 9:03 AM, August 1st, 2075

Hubert accepts the commlink from Amy, and says, "I suppose you want me to watch this now? If so, you are going to have to make the omelets." Handing her the spatula, he reaches into his pocket and removes a pair of glasses, pulling the black frames on carefully. He has a seat, and presses play. He sighs heavily as he watches the video, and pauses it several times passing his hands over his eyes, and then continuing on through the film to the end.

After a moment, he says, "These are the men that you are chasing? If so, then I hope you catch them quickly." He puts the commlink down, purses his lips, and says, "I look forward to meeting your two little ones, I am sure that they are wonderful children. I will be happy to have them enjoy the safety of my home while you track down these killers."


Amy, adding a mixture of the ingredients to the eggs, pours the concoction into the skillet, and stirs while Hubert continues to speak. "As to what I think? I think you've got some very evil people there. Ritual is powerful, and human sacrifice is not something to be toyed with lightly. To plan three such sacrifices is to be driven by incredible lust for power or extreme foolishness. Either way, it is an abomination in the eyes of the magic that you and I practice."

Amy nods, manipulating the egg with the spatula so that it doesn't burn, carefully folding it over and then flipping the omelet. "I can't get a sense of the relative power of these individuals through a video, I'd have to observe them myself, so I can't tell you if they are charlatans or powerful magi, but that they are to be taken seriously either way there is no doubt."
Chrome Head
Hubert's house, E. Hamilton Place, 9:03 AM, August 1st, 2075

Amy brings the two plates with omelettes in them to the table with a look of concern on her face. "The only one we're really after is the big Troll who calls himself Truck. But all of those in the video probably need to be stopped. Do you have any idea what they may be after if they're not charlatans? Do you know what else people like that may be capable of? I've heard of blood magic before, is this what it is? Do we even have a chance against people like that?"
Lobo0705
Hubert's house, E. Hamilton Place, 9:04 AM, August 1st, 2075

Hubert accepts the plate from Amy, and puts it down in front of him. Then, frowning as if he has lost his appetite, he pushes it slightly away from him. He replays the video, fast forwarding through some parts, and pausing on others.

"As you know, I'm not a student of the rituals of the Magi, and I will say that the symbology on their robes is unfamiliar. Without looking at them through the astral, it is impossible to say for sure, but I do not believe this is blood magic. Blood magic involves the use of someone other person's body to take the drain for when you cast spells or summon spirits. While this ritual certainly involves blood-letting and sacrifice, it does not appear that they are casting spells or summoning anything."

He goes back and forth over the video again. "That being said, there are older and fouler things than blood magic out there. This could be something where they intend on releasing some power on the third night, with the final sacrifice. It is possible that who the sacrifices are matter, perhaps not." He sits back in his chair, and takes his glasses off. "I wish I had more information for you. Now I just have to try and find my appetite again. Tell me, do you have pictures of the kids on this?" He hands the commlink back to Amy, and forces himself to take a mouthful of omelet.


Chrome Head
Hubert's house, E. Hamilton Place, 9:04 AM, August 1st, 2075

"Sorry for troubling you with this before we even start eating. I'm not a good guest to you. I'm just really.. focused these days."

"Yes of course! Let me show you Sam. It's been a little over two years now that she's living with me. You'll see she's grown since then. I'll let you go through the album..."
And she hands back her commlink. "Kevin doesn't let me take a whole lot of pictures of him, but you'll find pictures of him in there as well."

And Amy started eating her own plate with appetite. They continue eating while he looks at a few pictures. When Amy's done she comes next to him and talks about the pictures. "See? Right there she drew that one herself... And that's her sixth birthday last year..."

When Hubert is done eating, Amy can't help but come back to her current worries. "You have a good idea of what I'm capable of, Hubert, you taught me most of it. What do you think I should look out for the most? You said you could see what it's about if you could look at it yourself, can you describe what should I look for specifically?"
Lobo0705
Hubert's house, E. Hamilton Place, 9:07 AM, August 1st, 2075

Hubert wipes his mouth with a napkin, and then starts clearing the table. "The first thing to do is get a look at the place in the Astral. See what effect the sacrifice has had on it. You should see a negative impact on the area just due to the one murder, but look to see if there is something more. See if the area is set on any ley lines, you remember I showed you how to look for those, I'm sure. Check the ground for any signs of the group setting up a magical lodge for their ritual."

He runs the water, clearing off the plates, and then washing each one, rinsing, and placing it to the side to dry. "All of this will have to be done in person, obviously, but you still have some time before the next stage of the ritual. Your biggest concern will be they might have someone or something watching the site during the day. If none of these things are present, no unusual activity in the Astral, no ley lines, no magical lodge set up, then I would say that the rituals are not magically motivated, but more religious or ceremonial in nature."

After finishing the dishes, he again stands near Amy and puts his hands on her shoulder. "As I said before, even should these men not be Awakened, I would treat them with extreme caution. Now come, I'm sure you have to get back to your friends and family, but in the meantime, let us walk outside a moment."

Hubert leads Amy out the back door, and the two of them walk around the yard, feeling the morning sun on their face. Amy isn't sure if it is just the presence of her old master, or an effect of one of the many foci he carried, but she began to fee a little more relaxed as the two of them walked and spoke of old times. It was nice, even for only a few minutes, to get away from the carnage that the last few days had brought to her and her friends.
Chrome Head
Hubert's house, E. Hamilton Place, 9:15 AM, August 1st, 2075

As they walk around, Amy shares her thoughts with Hubert. "This feels really nice. You know, shadowrunning is no easy job, and just walking around here with you helps me forget a little bit about what has happened and what is coming. I've felt the presence of my mentor spirit a lot in the past few days, as I've tasked myself with protecting a whole lot of people -- you can imagine. I'll need some time to take a step back and meditate about a lot of things when this first run will be over. A lot of blood will have been spilled, probably some innocent blood too, if there is such a thing."

"Well, now I have to go back to the present, and do my best. I'll bring Sam and Kevin right away, if that's okay with you. I promise I'll make it up to you one day. Thanks for your help and as always thanks for sharing your wisdom, my friend. We'll keep in touch, stay safe."


Once Amy is sitting in the back of the taxi, she messages the team. <<@Team [Amy] Found a place for the kids to stay where they won't be in the way for Nic. I'll go pick them up right now if there's nothing urgent.>>
DrZaius
Abandoned house, S. Flanders Ct, 9:16 AM, August 1st, 2075

A forest. Deer racing, just out of reach. A wolf chasing it, boxing it in. Helping. We're going to catch it! My teeth sinking into the deer's neck, stealing it's power. A bee, buzzing. buzzing. Buzzing.

Grease's commlink buzzes next to his face, until he makes a guttural "Grwah!" and slaps at it, making it stop. What an odd dream.. Amy's message blurs against his sightline across his AR display, until he blinks a few times and manages to read it. Groaning, feeling like he was run over with a dump truck Grease responds.

<<@Amy[Grease]: I'll go pick them up in the Taxi. Doesn't do any good to have you go to both places if we think someone is following you.>>

His body similar to gelatin, Grease slides out of bed like an amorphous blob. Eventually, he manages to stand up and get his keys, mumbling at the two other sleeping bodies in the room. "Grm. Kids. Be back."

Nic's Knacks, the Warrens, 9:30 AM, August 1st, 2075

Grease honks on the horn a few times, and eventually groans and decides to go in and get the kids. Both are up and about, but haven't packed anything. "Grab your drek, c'mon. Your mom wants you to move to a new place." His tone is different from the syrupy tone the children are used to; today it sounds more like he has a 4-pack a day habit. Eventually he manages to shepard the children into the cab, but only after his head starts pounding like a jackhammer. I am going to take a long vacation after this run..

"Breakfast! We want breakfast! We're hunnnngry!" One of the children yells from the back of the cab. Grease isn't sure what their names are; he probably should have paid more attention to what Amy was saying. He was slipping; he hadn't thought much about the physical needs of children when he volunteered to grab them.

"Ugh, fine, fine, we'll grab something. Hold on." The children cheer noisily as Grease floors it, throwing them around in the back of the cab.

Hubert's house, E. Hamilton Place, 9:46 AM, August 1st, 2075

Walking up to the door of Hubert's house, Grease drains the last of his soykaf, already starting to get cold. Cheap Stuffer Shack drek.. The children happily munch on their breakfast sandwiches, made of meat products even Stuffer Shack fully admits "Contains a legal amount of animal parts ®". Seeing Hubert smile as the children walk up, saying, "Hello Children. Your mother wanted me to look..." Grease tunes out the rests and walks back to his car without saying goodbye to the kids. "Thanks Mr. Grease!" They echo in chorus, but Grease is already peeling out, heading back to the safe house.

Abandoned house, S. Flanders Ct, 9:58 AM, August 1st, 2075

Grease comes back into the safe house looking like the walking dead. He's got a carrying case with 3 coffees in it, heating tabs unpulled. He sets it down on the table next to the drone he and Overkill were working on and addresses the team. "Alright, kids are dealt with. Let's figure out how we're going to survive the next 48 hours." Hearing a general groan from Overkill and Jack, Grease scoffs and starts tinkering on the drone more.
This is a "lo-fi" version of our main content. To view the full version with more information, formatting and images, please click here.
Dumpshock Forums © 2001-2012