That gives me time to catch up!

I should be back to normal hours by the 15th.

Its been crazy.

I am off tomorrow, so I hope between now and then I get some stuff done! My kid's last day of school (3rd grade) is tomorrow, so he has been up and down emotionally, so no promises.

Here is the legwork to be done. Do you want one roll per contact for all questions, or roll for each question on each contact?

Legwork

[1] What do you know about "The Students of Justice"?
[2] Who is the delivery service working in the enclave, made up of ex-go-gangers?
[3] Do you know any criminals or criminal organizations working in the enclave area?
[4] Do you know who is investing in the enclave area?
[5] Do you know anyone matching Daisy's description? Can you put out feelers?

Contacts

• Bradshaw - Private Investigator - Level 2
• Lt. Booker - Lone Star Police Detective - Level 1
• "Jaxx" - Fixer - Level 1
• "Badger" - Bounty Hunter - Level 1
• Melinda Christel, Esq. - Contract Attorney - Level 0 (Provided by Bradshaw, looked over the Polidemos - Petsonal Contract.)

I'd like to see a roll per contact, but not for each question.

No point combinatorially expanding the roll count.

Legwork

[1] What do you know about "The Students of Justice"?
[2] Who is the delivery service working in the enclave, made up of ex-go-gangers?
[3] Do you know any criminals or criminal organizations working in the enclave area?
[4] Do you know who is investing in the enclave area?
[5] Do you know anyone matching Daisy's description? Can you put out feelers?

Contacts

• Bradshaw - Private Investigator - Level 2
  [6d6=5, 5, 1, 1, 6, 6] Orokos - Legwork (Bradshaw)
  [2d6=4, 5] Orokos - Exploding Sixes
  Result: [11 - 10 - 5 - 5 - 1 - 1]
  
  
• Lt. Booker - Lone Star Police Detective - Level 1
  Not much expected on questions 3-5 (since he should have already done so)
  [6d6=3, 6, 4, 4, 1, 5] Orokos - Legwork (Lt Booker)
  [1d6=6] Orokos - Exploding Sixes
  Result: [12 - 5 - 4 - 4 - 3 - 1]
  
  
• "Jaxx" - Fixer - Level 1
  [6d6=5, 5, 6, 5, 5, 6] Orokos - Legwork (Jaxx)
  [2d6=5, 4] Orokos - Exploding Sixes
  Result: [11 - 10 - 5 - 5 - 5 - 5]
  
  
• "Badger" - Bounty Hunter - Level 1
  [6d6=4, 6, 5, 1, 1, 4] Orokos - Legwork (Badger)
  [1d6=6] Orokos - Exploding Sixes
  Result: [12 - 5 - 4 - 4 - 1 - 1]
  
  
• Melinda Christel, Esq. - Contract Attorney - Level 0 (Provided by Bradshaw, looked over the Polidemos - Petsonal Contract.)
  Not expecting much, but doesn't hurt to ask... she may have info on some of the questions
  [6d6=5, 2, 1, 4, 4, 6] Orokos - Legwork (Melinda)
  [1d6=6] Orokos - Exploding Sixes
  Result: [12 - 5 - 4 - 4 - 2 - 1]

EDIT: Added Exploding Sixes rolls in case needed, and combined the total result.

I think Orokos might be broken. All my 1d6 rolls landed on 6.

I'll amalgamate the answers to some extent.

1) The only person with any hard data on the Students of Justice is Booker. He regards them as a cut-rate, half-assed group of wannabe terrorists who'll be a real threat the moment that they figure out something for which they're willing to kill. Until then they're a semi-disorganised gang of property criminals and he'd have them all put away tomorrow if he thought for a minute that the prosecuting authorities would actually cooperate instead of pandering to political whims.

2) The delivery service is actually legit, as far as anybody can tell. Jaxx still has an eye on them in case he ever needs anything done and is flat out of options, but they genuinely turned over a new leaf. Jaxx's leading theory is that they figured out that they could make enough money as specialised couriers to keep their rides well-maintained, so it was the easier option. Bradshaw observes that they do maintain a low-key racing team as sponsors on the side, but nothing world-class, and still legit.

3) Sure. Lots. This question is way too open-ended. Everyone wants a slice of the enclave, because it's in such a geopolitically and logistically significant area.

4) New hot investment is mostly coming from large japanese concerns that work hand-in-glove with the imperial japanese government. The paranoia on the street is that they want to pull another CalFree landgrab and turn Seattle into the latest japanese colony, but as of today this is a little far-fetched. The politics gets a little murky, but Christel can deliver an educated take: UCAS, working primarily through Ares Macrotech, is making sure that Seattle would be hard to grab, and tough to hold. The hidden powers here are the tribes whose lands surround the enclave, and while they don't like palefaces much, they don't want Japan's spoon in the pot either. The elves of the Tir are also dead, murderously set against Japan because of their own vicious history, so there's nothing fixed about this situation. She describes it as "volatile".

5) Badger knows of an escort by that name, isn't surprised to hear that people are looking for her, but drops the nugget that he knows who has been moving in on the area, cleaning up all sorts of shadowy businesses including escorts: PoliDemos.

Aww, shit. Them again.

Back from Jamaica!

Whew... 17 12-hr shifts in 19 days down... got three days off, then back at it.

Hope your trip to Jamaica was better than my trip to vacation coverage time.

BTW... I am going to GenCon August 3-6, family vacation 8-10. So I will be gone then, too. I am pretty excited, though I didnt join any SR games.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Time for some more legwork...

Asking my contacts about PoliDemos. I am pretty sure I asked them before, but maybe since then they also became curious and have found something new.

Contacts

• Bradshaw - Private Investigator - Level 2
  [6d6=5, 4, 3, 1, 6, 3]
  Orokos - PoliDemos???
  
  
• Badger - Bounty Hunter - Level 1
  [6d6=2, 5, 6, 4, 2, 4]
  Orokos - PoliDemos???
  
  
• Jaxx - Fixer - Level 1
  [6d6=1, 2, 3, 3, 5, 3]
  Orokos - PoliDemos???
  
  
• Lt. Booker - LS Detective - Level 1
  [6d6=1, 2, 5, 1, 2, 3]
  Orokos - PoliDemos???
  
  
• Melinda - Contract Attorney - Level 0
  [6d6=1, 3, 5, 1, 6, 3]
  Orokos - PoliDemos???

Bradshaw says that PoliDemos is basically a cross between a neighbourhood association and a vigilante group. They're angry and pushy, but they also at least nominally have the interests of the community ... well, in their heads somewhere.

Badger has little to say about them. He knows that they exist and has taken a couple of gigs from them, but other than that they pay on time he doesn't know much.

Jaxx has nothing new to contribute. They don't really float in the same bowl.

Booker knows very little too. He's heard the name, as far as he's concerned they're a small-time policlub.

Melinda's only contribution is that apparently they've endorsed the occasional candidate in an election, which isn't unusual for a policlub.

"""Badger, how do I get in contact with Daisy?"""
[6d6=1, 5, 6, 5, 5, 1]
Orokos - Contact Daisy

I cant remember the story.

We were hired by PetPersonal to find the dragonettes they lost, which PoliDemos had stolen, then tried to return???

Slightly different, Bastard. In the middle of a three day sheep herding clinic. Will catch up in a couple of days.

He hasn't the slightest clue. He didn't do anything with her, she wasn't on any of his hitlists. His best guess is that many of the people pushed out by whatever PoliDemos is doing might be trying to set up shop north and east of the Green Lake/Shoreline area, so perhaps Bothell?

Petsonal claims to not have lost anything.

We were hired by PoliDemos ostensibly to see if Petsonal was cheating them. In reality, Polidemos wanted to pin an 'escaped dangerous animal' rap on Petsonal, using the little creatures we took from their hapless agents.

The woman who showed up in the parking lot was PoliDemos and pissed off that we interfered with their setup. She was even more pissed off when Blue and his spirit smashed the crap out of her vehicle. After ineffectively trying to shoot Blue, she went into the Petsonal building (Why????), where she was met by their hellhounds. Who knows what happened to her there, but it can't be good. Hmmm. Unless she was a 'double agent'? If that, then our intrepid runners might have some paydata Petsonal might find valuable.

PoliDemos might not know Karmakaze, but they certainly know Blue, and probably have a serious hate on for him. This will probably affect their behaviour should the two of them go poking around PoliDemos' properties/files/connections/etc.

I was all backwards. Thanks for the refresh.

Hey, Koekepan. I have Blue's skill at Ancient Greek set according to the rules at half the write of the speak rating (2/1). But nobody speaks Ancient Greek. Would it be reasonable to you to switch the two ratings to 1/2 for this language?

Do we have a description of Daisy? And do we know this guys name?

Questioning the Carpenter
Orokos
[6d6=4, 4, 6, 1, 4, 4]

Blue: yeah, I'll let you switch read/write on Ancient Greek.

Carpenter's name: Xavier Svensson
Description of Daisy: you have a last known description, because undercover cops change their appearance like underwear. She's about 5'4", blonde, shoulder length curls, slim but curvaceous, human.

Thanks.

So, what exactly is Nordic coffee?

Coffee. But marketed to people who apparently think that the scandinavian population of early Seattle makes it somehow cooler and more authentic to ... something-or-other ... because ... vikings?

It sells coffee. And other crap. To people with more nuyen than brains.

Have fun with that, Karmakaze!! Naive Blue will be out to lunch.

I will try to catch up tomorrow.

Trying to finish up a project at work right now before I take off for GenCon. I will be gone from 2-5 Aug, and then on family vacation 6-10 Aug.

Wow. GENCON. It's been years.

Back from my travels... catching up on posts.

Not much to catch up on. Sorry you all waited on me.

...

That was my first Gen Con. I met some friends there, one had gone to a few over 15 years ago. I had a blast. Wish there were more days so I could get more games in.

I always enjoyed Gen Con. Haven't been in over 20 years, though.

Welcome back. We are sooo close to the suspected/hoped-for end of the Mitsuhama hate-on for Blue. I would like to find out if M. will actually cut their losses and forget about him. I think Karmakaze might have some intel on that once the 7 days are up.

Is PoliDemos tied to M?




My friend of over 35 years used to do D&D tournaments and qualified for a free tickets every year 15-20 years ago. He hadn't been since. Some other friends of ours were talking about going, so we all decided to meet in Indy (we all live in different states). Of course two guys cancelled, but my friend, his friend, and I all met up there. This was my first time, and I had a blast. I am already planning on going again next year.

So far, there has been no identified link between PoliDemos and Mitsuhama.

They also came up in Blue's life in different contexts; Mitsuhama wanted to buy out his old employers, and (tried to) shanghai all the workers in the same stroke.

PoliDemos was a (presumably dishonest) employer in his first run, now apparently with more fingers in local street politics, approximately congruent with their purported mission statement.

It's not impossible that they're somehow linked, but no visible link has been forthcoming.

I require a GM bump.

I may have forgot or missed information to drive the story forward.

OK, to recap:

You're trying to answer some questions for your LoneStar contact, related to how/why a bunch of businesses dropped their data links back to LoneStar. This is kind of bound up in the question of Daisy, the undercover Star, going missing.

In the bigger picture this matters because LoneStar is supposedly the policing contractor for the whole Seattle enclave (give or take big corp areas and no-go barrens zones), and if something is undermining them, it looks like bad news, not just for the business, but also potentially for law and order in Seattle. Who would do this? Theoretically, the megas might, if they want to make a play for the enclave. For example, if Mitsuhama is playing as a catspaw for the Imperial Japanese State, they might be inclined to push to weaken the fabric of Seattle while on the other hand, it might be Knight Errant fueling the system. On yet another side, if it really is PoliDemos doing so, then who's behind them? Are they really a grassroots organisation? A homeowners' association gone metastatic? Why, aside from a powerplay, would they even want to push any security contractor out? They certainly seem to favour, and even enforce a rather strict level of compliance, judging by the fearful reaction of the barista, and the rather gangland vibe that they gave the old woodworker.

Then there's the question of the apparent squeeze play that they had been running on Petsonal Petsonalities. Presumably, if that's their kind of game, and it wasn't just one operator gone rogue for some reason, they're actually a pretty ugly crew. If so, why would a bunch of affluent suburbanites give them the time of day, let alone join in?

The fact that they have this kind of attitude, as demonstrated by people's responses to them, strongly suggests that if they did anything with Daisy, it was not gentle. On the other hand, Daisy may be a red herring. It wouldn't be impossible for LoneStar to fabricate a damsel-in-distress narrative to try to motivate people. On the third hand, if they wrapped her in foil and tossed her into a woodchipper, maybe her DocWagon band never had a chance to signal?

Right now, the hingepin for all these questions is PoliDemos. You could do more street research on them, or you could take it in a different direction and plan a more direct action, aimed at finding out what's really up. If you want to just roll up your sleeves and go in guns blazing, you need to identify a target location and do it, perhaps in the hopes of finding Daisy. On the other hand, if you'd rather understand the organisation, maybe what you need is to find out what they are doing, or telling recruits, or putting in their publications, or - well, anything along those lines, really.

Let me know if you need more of a bump.

Sorry, Koekepan, I've lost track of the time of day. I just posted assuming daytime, but I don't know how much daylight is left currently. I'll try to keep better track.

Honest.

By now, near noon.

Oh, God. Hours and hours till blessed dusk.

Hmm. Does Blue have any idea when the '7 days' he heard about from his first protector will officially end?

They should be pretty much done by now, but he has no idea whether the hour is relevant.

On my way tonight on the red-eye to Dublin. Staying near Belfast. Probably will have WIFI. Then a few days later staying in Belfast. Same likelihood. Day after I arrive, I will meet the sire of my border collie bitch. He is competing with his handler in the 2023 World Sheepdog Trials. Woohoo!

I will try to get Blue acting IC in the next few of days.

Does Blue know Billy's physical address? He's a contact, and has done work for Blue in the past, but ...?

Yup, Billy lives on the fringes between Seatac and Federal Way. Not a bad zone, if you don't mind proximity to the Puyallup region and all that. Like many shadowy people he's pretty paranoid, but Blue's known him for a while now.

Not waiting on me, right?

Usually we are.

Waiting on Blue. Apparently Billy being well-and-truly unavailable is confusing him?

Oh good. It's not me!

Once Billy sees Karma she is going to wave him over, direct him to the car, and place herself between him and the building, since she is wearing armor.

Yeah, no, that's not the direction he's running. He's running from Karmakaze as hard as he can. And Blue.

Apparently, this is Blue channeling a gang boss saying: "Tony, Tony, I'm not angry. I'm just very disappointed in you."

Yeah, well, one can give Blue a little leeway here. He's been hunted for a week, including by thugs who seemed to magically find him. He wonders how that happened. Not!

But he still needs Billy's skills. So somehow he has to find a line to walk that serves him. Will he trust Billy fully ever again? Stay tuned.

Not waiting on me are you?

Karma is kind of in overwatch mode right now until Blue solves the issue with Billy, or needs assistance.

I had actually been waiting on you, but I'll move on with that in mind.

Still on overwatch... Blue can respond, Karma is just eavesdropping.

Karma can give a roll related to interrogation, given that she's eavesdropping. See if she picks up anything between the lines.

It finally struck me to ask how they kept finding Blue. Duh.