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pbangarth
Bongo considers the roof hatch for a moment. It's in the west bedroom on the top floor, and happens to be the one Willie took. Willie is as interested as Bongo in the contents Tubesnake's pet revealed. Willie gives the ceiling light a tug, and the hatch opens!

Tubesnake's inventory checks out, but of course a duffle bag in the hidey hole is a magnet for Bongo's attention. He pulls it out, looking for anything else the nook might contain.

Bag on the bed, Bongo opens it.
sunnyside
It takes a bit of pulling to bring down the hatch. It wasn't locked, and the mechanism is actually quite loose. The issue was the paint over the whole thing. At first it sags, then the wooden corners of the panel burst through and soon the paint tears down all three sides to allow the door to open, dropping a small rain of dust and detritus on the bed.

The duffle bag has a set of boots with a quick hook latching system, an Urban Explorer jumpsuit, two more mags of regular ammo for the SMG, a big bag of Almond Joy candy bars, a rating 2 medkit, a grappling hook with 50 meters of rope, and a bike helmet.

In the pockets of the jumpsuit are a meta link comlink with its battery disconnected, a beat up certified credstick with 50 nuyen, a little bag with clip on tusks, and a latex mask with brunette wig.

The the mask and tusks would give you a female ork.

The gear all seems functional, though only the rope, candy, grenades, and medkit seem new.
Thanee
With the guys busy somewhere upstairs, Selina sets off to take a look at the house herself. Hopefully, she will find a room that is clean enough to be considered for staying here for a few days, or however long this job is going to be. They do not have a whole lot of details, yet.

She dreads a little even looking into what passes for a bathroom in here. But you never know, maybe it is not all that bad? One can hope.
Koekepan
Paul isn't one of those guys who whistle while they work. Instead, he clamps a jobsite radio the size of a beer crate to the roof of his van, and turns on a mix of cyberpsychedelia. It's a fitting commentary on the state of the world while the speakers intone:

I took a look inside myself and listed what I found
chrome steel, hydro lines and a tiny whining sound.


"Wish I knew who had the maglock key codes. Reckon I should start by reprogramming 'em all."

He checks the contents of his toolbelt, adjusts his suspenders, and starts going through the inventory of doors. "Hey folks, I'll set your door locks to whatever you like, or get you the fresh code. Or just leave 'em, I don't care. Just let me know either way."
pbangarth
Bongo pipes up out the window, "I have a maglock passkey, if that helps."

Then he figures he should keep that kind of info quiet. Oops.
pbangarth
Bongo confers with Willie. "This stuff all looks like an emergency get out of town kit."

Willie considers the female ork disguise. "Huh. Great way to be in-cog-neeto. Though I guess better than being in-car-serrated." He guffaws at the joke. Something he never would have come up with in the past.
sunnyside
The house is actually fairly clean, like there was actually a cleaning service that went through. Though most of the place is old and dated. The basement toilet is new though. Actually it's maybe the only new bit of furniture or decor that is new in the place aside from the white touch up paint job. Though the matlock are fairly modern. Everyone has user level access, allowing them to claim a room and set a personal code. As well as recieve alerts if anything happens to the lock.

Presumably Brewster or one of his associates have the security/admin passwords. You have no idea of any of the ratings.
Koekepan
Paul wanders through, and starts at the circuit panel. "Power's dropping for a bit, folks. Gotta clean up this wiring."

More quietly, he adds while working: "Doesn't look like they rewired or anything when they built overhead. Probably just waved a code handbook at it and signed off. Fraggin' typical." However, it doesn't take him long to replace a run of wire at a time with the help of a crawling drone with a wire dragging along in its wriggly jaws. Sure beats the old fishtape and pole.

"Y'all know there're roaches the size of carpentry pencils in these walls, right?"
pbangarth
Willie chimes in at that mention. "Hey. fry 'em up with a lot of salsa and they ain't half bad. " Better than some of the dumpster meals he had as a kid in Seattle.
Koekepan
"Yeah? Reckon it's protein either way. Still, I could send a drone through here with a bug bomb, clean 'em out. We'll probably have roaches again later in a week, though. Never keep them out of a place like this. Rats bug me more because of the diseases they carry."
pbangarth
Willie replies, "Never ate rats. Did kill them, though. Competition for my dumpster diet when I was a kid."
Thanee
Selina is pleased to see, that this is not nearly as bad as she had imagined. The place has seen better days overall, but that'a okay. Old buildings do have a certain charm, too.

sunnyside
(OOC: Since he mentioned messing with all the wiring I gave tubesnake one reroll with bonus on a perception test, where he did much much better. Presuming he's thorough, there isn't anything else odd inside walls or crawlspaces in the building. Also, just to be clear, I'm operating under the assumption that Selina hasn't been astrally observing. If the intent is that the "cat" does so automatically and it's been following her around or something, please write that out. )

In messing with the wiring Tubesnake notices a bulge inside the wall near the front door, putting tension on the screws holding down the copper leads providing power to the doors maglock. Whoever stuck the crude box in there probably just forced it without much care for the wiring. Judging by the screws going every which way, there weren't much for remodeling generally anyway.

There isn't any opening on the inside of the wall, but someone with sharp eyes and a close look on the wall from inside the house could pick out a slight oddity with how a part of the wall is aligned. Physically touching the spot would reveal it has some give. More like cardboard than lath and plaster.
Thanee
After a physical inspection of the place, at least some of it, Selina decides to take a look at the astral side of things and shifts her perception over to see how the building looks from this angle.
Koekepan
Tubesnake wraps up the work at the panel, and starts going around the house's maglocks, starting at the front door. Always look at the job first before sticking your tender fingers in, and he looks, then looks again, and then frowns. Slowly he shakes his head, giving a slow, low whistle. "Code spec, this ain't."

He thinks for a moment, and then goes back to his van to pick up a few more tools, including a stud finder, a signal monitor, a hand drill and some bits, and an endoscope. Back in the house he gently drills a couple of holes into the wall, just enough to get into the space around it, and get him a really good view of whatever is going on in there without disturbing it. Given that one of his earlier finds incorporated explosives, he's not taking chances on this one.

So he'll have to patch the wallboard up when he's done? That was always going to have to happen.
sunnyside
In the astral, the first thing noticed is what isn't there. Specifically, the building has no wards of any sort. Though this may help it blend in with its neighbors which don't have wards either.

Astrally the inside of the building is very calm. Though the background count (1) of the neighboring downtown houses sort of oozes in through the shared walls, but not enough to be a problem. There is some lingering of a domain of something in the larger rear bedroom on the second floor, but it's almost entirely gone.

Back in the physical world tubesnake pokes around outside the box. It seems a crudely done craft job. Someone made a wooden box about two feet long and about six inches wide by nailing together what might have been scrap plywood. Judging by the occasional bent nail they didn't do this sort of thing regularly. They then seem to have nailed the box to a stud on its side.

They made the hole larger than the box putting it in, and they patched it up, so looking close from the back Tubesnake can see they patch. They did it with cardboard instead of something like drywall. Looking from the front from inside the house you can manage to tell the difference from the cardboard section and the rest of the wall, despite being painted over.

pbangarth
Bongo had been rubbernecking as Tubesnake explored. "Man, there are all kinds of hidden treasures in this place. It's like we're in a game of Dungeons and Dragons v. 19.5. I wonder what's in the box. "
Koekepan
Tubesnake frowns at this set of revelations.

"I do too, but whatever it is I'm not too crazy 'bout it. Well, the wall's just a bad patch, let me slice it out. Then we can find out what kinda homemade claymore they got in there."

Putting the deed to his word, he pulls out a tube of glue and a chunk of dowel. He glues the dowel to the wall patch by way of a makeshift handle, then produces a utility knife and carefully slices around the outline of the cardboard patch, all the time holding it up by the dowel before lifting the cardboard away smoothly. He flips this into the corner as trash, then puts the knife away and produces a beefy pair of pliers to remove a few of the more easily accessible nails, while assessing whether this box is just standing by itself or might be wired to anything else.
sunnyside
Once the cardboard is removed Tubesnake and Bongo can see that the "front" of the wood box is open. Sitting inside is a Remington 990. Instead of the usual stock it has an oversized pistol grip. Something a very large metahuman could handle, but wouldn't be very ergonomic for Bongo or especially Tubesnake or whoever would fit into the clothes in the duffle bag upstairs.

Looks like anyone who knew about it could punch through the cardboard and yank it out if they were standing at the front door.
pbangarth
Looking over the shoulders of the other tow, Willie says, "Let me have a feel of that. See if it fits hands a little more substantial. " He gives the 990 a try for fit.

Substantial? Where did that come from? Ain't my vur-nakuler. Vurnakuler? What the frag!
Koekepan
Tubesnake doesn't get in Willie's way, but does mildly add when Willie grabs it: "Careful there, buddy. I bet it's loaded. Go have fun with it, but I gotta patch this mess up and maybe do another detailed review for other surprises. I kinda wonder if Brewster knew about all this, and if not, who put it here and when."
sunnyside
(OOC: In game terms the weapon has the metahuman customization (troll) mod. It is loaded with APDS, but there are no reloads in sight.)
Thanee
Selina assumes, that someone had put up their magical lodge in that bedroom. She was wondering about the same thing, but it would take her almost a week to get everything in place properly. Since they didn't even have a timetable, yet, there was little point in getting started with something like that.

So, after her curiosity has been satisfied for the time being, she heads off to see what the rest is doing. Here and there, she communicates with Fiona via their shared link, to keep on top of what is going on out front.

"Hey, guys! Found anything interesting? I still need to put my bike into the designated parking area, but not in a hurry. Seems like it is safe enough out front for now."
pbangarth
Bongo replies to Selina,"Yes, we found an escape hatch to the parking lot and some get out quick supplies. Also hidden here in this hidey hole a shotgun. Looks like previous residents were interested in having options."

Willie chimes in, "Yeah, and one of them musta been big, a troll I guess, 'cause this shotgun don't even fit my big hands."
Koekepan
Tubesnake grumbles while pulling bent nails and skew planks out of the wall: "Besides the abandoned emergency supplies? Just rot, vermin, damaged wiring and drek carpentry. Didja need a bug-out bag?"

More quietly he adds: "Dangit, it wasn't a bad idea but it was built by toddlers. Gotta do it right. Fix up these studs a bit, too."
pbangarth
Bongo chuckles at Tubesnake's muttering. "Brewster's going to have to pay you extra, Tubesnake, for fixing up his building."
Koekepan
"Awww, he doesn't have to. It's all good. Only difference is, if he pays, I do it to his plans. If he doesn't, I do what I like. So - didja say you wanted a bolt on the bedroom door? I could install a mirrored ceiling too, and a custom headboard for a bed with a mini-bar integrated behind panels. A music player, and custom hidden speakers in the walls and rails for velvet curtains for when you want to do some entertainin'."

Maybe Paul has Bongo all wrong. Still, a tradesman has to make his pitches where he finds them.
pbangarth
"Thanks, Tubesnake, but this place will be all business for me. And really, there would be very little privacy no matter how many curtains you put in. But a bolt on the door would be good."

Bongo looks around at present company. "It looks like Brewster has assembled a pretty large team. Any idea whether there is anyone else to come?"
Koekepan
Paul whistles quietly to himself while trekking back out to his van and starts pulling stock of algae-derived synthply panels. Cheaper than real wood by a wide margin, but every bit as strong. Slap paint on it, and nobody need ever know.

First job: cut some to match the fresh hole next to the front door, and craft a hidden cabinet that isn't a grade school attempt at an ashtray. Out comes the jobsite saw, and it whines high and loud as it cuts for a minute. Add a spring-loaded latch, a hidden hinge, and he heads back to the front door with his tools and an electro-setting glue tube.
Seth
There was a knock on the door. A small human looking girl stood there accompanied by a Transys Steed that apart from a nasty looking assault rifle bolted on it looked like it was being used to carry all the girls world possessions, which weren't many. The girl looked clean and quite pretty. Her long blue hair which looked 'natural' was well cared for. Probably the girl was a teenager. Hard to tell if she was actually that old. Her Urban Jumpsuit looked brand new and shiny as though it had just been bought. Perhaps worryingly she wasn't carrying any weapons, although maybe the Transys Steed made up for it.

"Hi" the girl said looking a little nervous "Brewster sent me. He said you needed a decker. Do you mind if I get off the street: it's scary here. Those Homeboyz were very helpful guiding me here, but I was a little worried. They were making all sorts of jokes which I didn't really get. At least I think they were jokes. I'm Angel 316 by the way. Nice to meet you"

Image and decription: https://www.rpol.net/gameinfo.php?gi=77757&...n&ci=378201

[ Spoiler ]
Koekepan
Paul peers around the doorjamb, impact driver in one hand, screw in the corner of his mouth. He's not much taller than her, but considerably broader. He gives her a brief once-over, eyes the Steed and nods affably. Around the screw he says: "Hiya. Welcome to the party, c'mon in, take a load off. I'm just fixing the place up. I'm Tubesnake, by the way. Ya want hot soycaf?"

He half-kicks, half-nudges the front door fully open and gives her and her wheelchair ample room to enter. Various bits and bobs including a toolbox sit around him, and he has one hand holding up a nice, neat, clean, square box into a cavity into the wall. His ballcap perches on the business end of a reciprocating saw in the end of the toolbox, but the rest is all flannel, jeans and boots.

And work gloves and goggles, because while safety might not come first it's a solid second.
pbangarth
Almost as if by magic, a knock comes at the door just after Bongo's question. He and Willie go to investigate, and Willie beams. "Angel! You're on the move. Come on in. Selina!" he shouts. "Come see. Angel is here with our gang."

"How ya doin'? You feelin' better after the escape?"
Seth
"Soycaf?" there was a look of displacement as Angel looked up the details on the Matrix "A non addictive and bitter beverage. Yes please I would like a 'hot soycaf' as long as the hot is within the limits of drinkability. I'm good to try anything not illegal and too fattening. " that last sounded as though she was copying something she'd heard. "'Take a load off'?" another moment of mild confusion followed by a "thank you Mr Tubesnake. I would like to sit down or lie down. Where would be suitable?"

A happy smile appeared on Angel's face as she saw Bongo "Mr Bongo! Yes thank you. I am very recovered. Although I am about to stop moving and 'take a load off'." Her Transys Steed moved over to the indicated place. "Mr Brewster didn't tell me very much about 'the job' other than to say 'it would be good for me', and 'you needed a Decker'."
Koekepan
Tubesnake quickly drives the screw into the box, fixing it to a stud, and then hustles over to his van. There he grabs a typical disposable cup, dispenses a dose and adds creamer before coming back, shutting the van on his way.

"Here ya go. Baltimore's functional fuel. Decker driver." While handing it over, he thinks a little, then dives into his tub of plastic fun, and pulls out one of the annelid crawlers. He flips the switch on it, and says: "Here ya go, you can play with this one, I just need it back when you're done."
Seth
Angel 316 took a careful sniff at the drink, and dipped the end of her finger in it, nearly spilling the drink as she took the finger out and shook it "Wow hot!". She looked quite pleased at not spilling it before licking the end of her finger and tried not to make a face. "Is there any mechanism for reducing the bitterness?" she asked curiously "I read that it's supposed to be 'as black as the Ace of Spades' but this looks quite pale in colour. "

"This is very pretty Mr Tubesnake" she put the drink down very carefully watching the liquid carefully so that she didn't cause a problem. She looked at it for a few moments obviously u before it began to move and walked onto her hand "Did you make it. It's lovely" Angel's voice was quite tired, she'd had a long day and done more walking than ... well ... forever

[ Spoiler ]







Koekepan
Tubesnake looks over his shoulder in between installing a hidden door on the new algaeply box. "Yeah, we can add sweetener, and the creamer makes it milder too - and pale. Check in that tool bucket and there's a tube of sugar next to the snack pail. Oh, the drone? Yeah, I make 'em. They help me inspect construction work. That model has a good set of sensors in its head so I can look for rot and vermin, plus the grippers."
Seth
"That's nice thank you. I'll see if I get used to it first" Angel 316 said and perched on the end of the couch, placing the drone back on a table where she could admire it "I am not very skilled at controlling drones" she commented.

"Do you mind if I explore the house's system. Brewster said it's not polite to do that kind of thing without asking. He was quite upset when I asked him was in the secret folder marked with a 'P', because I didn't understand it. He said when I grew up I would. I mean I didn't look at his secret accounts because he asked me not to. Is there anything I shouldn't look at here?" Angel was exploring the soycafe as she said this. Finally adding a little sugar from the tube
Thanee
Selina follows the commotion and nods towards the blue-haired girl. Pretty young, but if Brewster had selected her for the team, there would be a reason for it, obviously. And looks can deceive, as she very well knew.

"Hello and well met, Angel... three... sixteen? I'm Selina."

The blonde elf is fairly small, and like most elves quite attractive. She is dressed in a tight-fitting black bodysuit. And she definitely knows how to carry herself.

"Do those numbers stand for anything specific?" she asks.
Seth
"Hello Selina. That's right. Or just three one six. Or Angel. Mr Brewster said Angel three one six was too long for most people" Angel 316 greeted the mage

"Well there were three hundred and fifteen before me. According to the records I found. Only ten of us were successful experiment. The others suffered critical systems failure during our upbringing. So perhaps they weren't successful experiments after all. Two four one was my friend, but he failed four months ago. That's when I decided it was good idea to make sure the experiment ended, and hired Mr Brewster to extract me and shut down the facility. I think I'm the last Angel. I hope so. It's a little strange out here" Angel looked at the drink and took a sip. It was now cool enough and sweet enough

"Some things are nice. Some strange and some not nice. Are you a magician? I've not met a magician before"

Koekepan
Tubesnake chuckles while testing the spring-loaded door he's just installed on the box by the front door, and bringing out a can of white patchpaint.

"Feel free, if you can find one. Far as I know so far, there isn't one. If you c'n prove any different, let us all in on the secret. All I found was basic stuff; maglocks and the like. I was actually playing with the idea of making this place spider-ready, but I'm not sure how much cash we'd need to do that. I'd have to quote it up."
pbangarth
Bongo picked up on the girl's fatigue. "Hey, all. Some of us have found a place to call our own in this place. Newcomers still need to do so. I think some could use a bit of rest after travelling here, so how about we take a break for a few hours, find a free room, and just chill, take a nap, that sort of thing.

"I don't know if we are all that Brewster has pulled together, but I suspect once we are all here, he will start finding us work. How about we all meet at 5 pm and talk about supper?"
sunnyside
The group of gangers have been conspicuously trying to focus on their game, but they have been drifting over towards 711 as the day goes on and things get stranger. Apparently a full shop operating is kicking off at the place, and now there's the wheelchair.

The Ork gangers stand over by the bike, speaking in low enough voices they couldn't be heard, except for Fiona who is right there. The skinny one says.

"Kind of a basic bike. But I like this cat thing on it. Sort of like a bust-a-move but a lot better done. I like the lady too, maybe nice as a neighbor."


Another says "You saw her for a couple seconds. Same as most of the rest. But this is our turf, and we're supposed to be keeping an eye on the place. Maybe the cut is drek, but I still don't want to have to explain why a bunch of fragging chipheads ran off with their gear or cat drones or whatever. They keep eying this stuff."

The Skinny one replies "Well, tell them to move all their stuff out back, especially if they're going to have visible weapons and drek. You know those bitches over at Saint Francis Academy would make trouble if they wander over here. "

The other thinks a second and replies. "Look, I'm not in this to sound like a worried bitch myself to a bunch of smugglers or runners or whatever. They can deal with their own damn business, so long as their place isn't getting busted into. Just keep your eyes open so folks remember this is Homeboyz turf and in case anybody wants to do some biz. "
Seth
"A little rest would be nice" Angel 315 agreed "Walking was very hard. I need to practice more, but perhaps not so much at once. I think the Eigenvector calculation is quite complex. Biological systems are quite hard to model. So many semi-independant variables. Still while a little suboptimal, I think the current upgrade path for my organic components is working"

"I'm looking forward to being useful again. What kind of 'work' do you think Mr Brewster will offer? If it's anything like getting me out then it will be violent. I'm not very good with violent. But I'm sure there is more to work than just being violent"

Thanee
"So, I'm a drone now..." Fiona related the rest of the conversation to Selina, who suddenly starts to giggle for no apparent reason.

When the others look at her, she just shakes her head. "Sorry, guys! Fiona just told me what the gangers out front are talking about. Maybe I should go and move my bike, they seem a bit worried, if it is parked out there."

"Angel, they also mentioned your ride, and they seem not too thrilled about the visible weapon on it. So, better to move it somewhere out of sight."

The elf then heads to the front door.
pbangarth
Willie responds to Angel, "Don't worry kid. If you recall, I can handle the violent end of things. You can do the sneaky electro-hacking stuff if I recall. We got a pretty diverse group here, so it might be we get all kinds of work." Willie thinks he used the word 'diverse' correctly.

Bongo follows Selena outside. If greetings/clearing-things-up are required, that's his job.
Koekepan
Tubesnake hears this, and nods to himself. He goes to his tub of fun and hauls out one of the shankworms, hitting the power button to activate it while he does so. Then, while he tells it to stroll down to the van, he leans on the doorjamb to see how things go with Selena and Bongo.

After all, he does have a couple of other options tucked away in the van, but people don't need to worry about those yet.
pbangarth
When Bongo steps out of the house he sees the gaggle of gangers nearby. He walks over to them at an easy pace, as if he were an old acquaintance. "Good day, men. My name's Bongo Slade. Brewster said you would keep things under control around here. I see you are right on the job. Thanks. Is there anything we should be on the lookout for?"
Seth
"Oh I see" Angel said at the comment on the gun "Mr Brewster said I had to be careful and there's only me. I'll take it off we go out again. No problem at all"

"The Homeboyzs were kind of nice and kind of scary. I think they were teasing me."
she nodded seriously at the 'you can do the electro-hacking stuff' "I'll try. Which is a good room for me, or should I just sleep in the Steed. It's surprisingly comfortable in there"
sunnyside
The gangers are already fairly close to the door.

The slender one gives a smile, aimed more at Selena than Bongo, but the one who speaks seems to always wear a casual toothy scowl.

" I'm Angelo, this is Slim, and the guys watching our backs are Bogey and Bandit

Your associate pays because it's our turf and he's smart enough to understand that. We keep things under control because that's what we do. But we ain't your super or no small claims court.

Now I'm sure your tough and all even with your basic rides, but sometimes a chip head ain't scared of nothin if you leave your shit just sitting around
.
"
Thanee
"That's cool! It's good to know that we can expect you having things under control here."

"I just arrived, actually, and still needed to figure out where the parking is. But surely you can show me where to properly leave the bike, right?" Selina replies.

"Until then, my friend here has been keeping an eye on it."
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