Once Paul has carefully dismantled the drone and accounted for all the tags that he can find, he does one more precautiounary scan and contacts Angel:

<<Hi, ma'am. I've done my checks on the drone parts and I'd like to stash 'em in the safehouse. Can you think of any reason why not? Any problems in there identified?>>

The effects of the drugs spare the team the usual challenges of having to handle goodbyes or making excuses to leave.

Having already met up with the people outside in roughly that area, nobody is right around to bother Willie or pay him a particular amount of attention. Though folks are hanging around the promenade in general. Some to stare down at the wreckage fifty two stories down. Some seem to just not have anywhere else they want to be.

Inside the room, it looks like it had been tossed pretty well. The only things that might be of value are either nasty clothing, which it sounds like they might periodically get for free, and things like the fridge that are bolted down. There's some broken pipes, implying they had access to better drugs than Lana came up with. Bongo does manage to spot a couple hidey holes in the walls, but they've been emptied out.

The photos weren't framed, but had just been printed and stuck to the wall, apparently with gum. They'd all been torn down. One of the hidey holes had been behind one of them, judging by the gum marks. They don't seem to precisely have clues. Mostly just group shots of the deceased engaging in various silly poses with other folks. Bongo doesn't recognize any of them, but he's only just gotten to this floor. He'd know them if he saw any of them in the future, though. He might even be able to tell the places, though that's made much harder by the identical apartments and floor layouts in the building. But there tends to always be some damage or something on a wall. He might be able to spot some of their gear if he saw it out and about. Their cheap commlinks, synth leather jackets, AR shades, and switchblades aren't that individualized. Still, there are thousands of different brands of those sorts of things, so those precise makes and models might stick out.

------------------

There's a long pause before Angel replies, a pause that's substantially longer in the matrix where she is. Eventually Paul gets back <<I can't think of anything, but that's the kind of question I'd ask you. Actually, if you took it apart, I'm not even sure how to interface with it. Do you have to melt metal to connect a power supply and some sort of interface?>>

(OOC: As the GM, if I knew of anything else in particular I'd have mentioned it like I did the tags. I guess unless I thought it was the sort of thing Paul wouldn't be knowledgeable about, like maybe some magical something. But I think he has the skillset for mundane stuff.)

<<Ha, no, I meant inside the safehouse, but I gotcha. Guess we're good to go, then.>>

Paul grabs a dolly and starts to strap up the parts so that he can push the whole thing into the house without a lot of drama. This will not take too long, so after that will be maintenance time; completing the repair on his softbodies, mostly.

(OOC: Getting the drone bits through the door won't be a problem. The thing is sized to fit through a standard door, even without the cowling off, and the Boyz are used to machinery getting hauled around. Besides knowing to leave the team alone. I don't think there's any damage on the soft bodies, so it would just be a quick polish. So the question is about whether Paul wants to try and get Angel or someone into the digital system from the drone, if he wants to link back up with the team, or if he wants to look into the building Angel traced the drones controller to. Which they could get back to poking around digitally to try and get a more specific lock, if the people are still there. )

---Paul had wanted Angel to check the safehouse, but a secondary goal would have been to have her check out the building from which control came. That reconnaissance could be valuable.---

Before the other two get too active, Willie says, "Stay still for a minute. Lemme see if there's any info in footprints or sumpin'"



Bongo nods and stays still. He doesn't think there will be any useful tracks left after the scavengers, but hey.

Once Willie is done, Bongo checks the walls, tapping carefully to see if he can find any undiscovered hidey holes.

After bumping around to move the drone into the safehouse, eventually Angel signals (despite being in the same room) << You're better at all this real world stuff. Would you be willing to go to the building? They might not be there anymore, but Lenny said one of them was moving like he was in full VR, so they would have had to be lying down, so. It seems like they might have at least needed to have a room or something. I've just been trying to hack things are random in the building in the hope of being able to stop a familiar access code or something.>>

She flips an ARO with the address again. It's a building next to the Curtis Bay Industrial Area. Not all that far from the cemetery Paul was recently mucking about in.

------------------------

(OOC: I think the player gets to roll as long as long as they're deliberately making the roll. I also tend to let them roll if it's going to be immediately obvious that they did or did not see something in time. The only time I roll for them is when I don't want to give away that there's something there requiring a perception test. As for tracks, there obviously hasn't been any mopping. But they didn't wind up bleeding all over from whatever took them out. You're fifty stories and a few blocks from any appreciable amounts of mud or anything to track. There must have been people walking all over the place to have looted it, but I'm thinking there probably isn't anything to really see. But what that does tell him is that there wasn't any oddity like a monster dripping purple slime or anything. Bongo is pretty sure he's located all the potential spots for hiding something, including at least poking his head into the ductwork. )

Once they manage to get inside the room, Selina takes a look at the astral there. She also asks Fiona to come over and have a look. The spirit is better at interpreting any astral signs, considering it is her natural habitat. And, at least, the taint is a little lower here. Still, it manages to distract Selina enough to look at it all wrong. Luckily, Fiona does know how to do this properly.

(OOC: I'm going to use Fiona's check for something else first if that's OK. As Fiona starts approaching the building, she manages to catch the edge of something flitting around the background count. It's not the bat that she'd seen before. But she's reasonably sure it's the same sort of spirit and the same creator, it's this is a new one at only force three. Presumably, it's on Monifa's side, but with everything going on it might have very aggressive orders. But the pair wouldn't think Lisa, the awakened who had been with the team in the apartment shootout, is the summoner.

It's got a whole building to cover, so Fiona might well be able to sneak by. But that's a decision. )

Fiona finds that the spirit seems to be focusing its effort around the 100th floor, the entrances, and the outside of the building. In that order. With distinctly less where she wants to go, especially if she comes in low. She makes a few slip ups as she tries to maneuver just under the infrastructure, but still manages to reach the team without incident. (OOC: Also ruling that background count blocks vision even if your aspect matches the swirls of mana).

With Selina and Fiona having spent some time swimming through the background count of the building. The midsection here does seem to have as low a background count as anywhere in the building, though nobody has explored the central maintenance tower.

The room is especially lower. The effects of a magical murder would have faded by now, and it seems nothing magical has happened here recently. Nor has there been a lot of activity at all, even mundane, recently, at least nothing disruptive to the astral. If mana didn't shift and swirl, there wouldn't be any background count in this room at all. Even then, if perhaps the neighbors were further away or suffered less, there could have been an open pocket here.

Bongo shakes his head. "I haven't found anything. Either of you get something?"

Willie mirrors the head shake. "Nope. Nuthin' but a bunch of scuff marks in the dust."

Selina shakes her head. "Any magic that has been used here has faded by now. It's been a while."

"We should probably ask around some more."

Paul doesn't respond to Angel until after he's shuttled things inside and buttoned it all up. <<Wait, which building now? I'm at the safehouse, just put the drone bits inside. Where did you want me to go?>>

Seeing as the three of them at least might be staying in this room a while, Bongo codes the maglock from the inside and lets the others know the code.

"So, ask around? Wander the walkway a bit and ask folks about flowers? Or maybe any trouble that happened here on 52? We could play up the angle that the folks down here think drek falls down from 100."

Bongo feels the lessened effect of the background count in this room. A place as good as any to use as a base.

"Seeing as this might be a base of operations for us, I'll code the maglock from inside here so we don't need to keep breaking in." He proceeds to do so.

"So, if we ask around, should we play up the local feeling that drek falls down from the 100? It might grease the wheels some."

(OOC: Hey, I can actually get in!)

Angel takes it that Paul wants more information. So she decides to send some info to the whole group. <<Here everyone, I'm suggesting Paul might want to check out the building we traced the drone operators to. We haven't got an exact pin on them. >>

https://maps.app.goo.gl/7Th5JjAkQP5qzBky6

<<It's a building built up and partially covering the old Linde Welding Gas & Equipment. >> She shares a picture of what is perhaps technically an "uptown" building over the old construction. But instead of the fancier structures of artistic glass the teams has been in so far when they went "uptown" the structure is a callback to brutalist architecture with walls of rough ferrocrete. That would have been relatively cheap to build in the first place, and judging by the weather streaking, things have only gotten worse since.

She also hastily throws a pin on the map about where the drone had been picked up.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/i7jJPm9JvsFyAoA26


While the group is chatting, Lenny is finally moving around. An alert on his comlink had gone off after not detecting movement for too long, reminding him to move or risk getting a thrombosis. He was taking in the damage and the long fall of the drones. Things that Bongo remembers far better. However what catches his eye is are the cameras on the central tower. He starts getting some hacking ideas, despite the potential risks. But then notices the hardwired cables going from the cameras to the central tower. He takes a picture of the camera, centering the cable connecting it to the maintenance tower, with the cam integrated in his bike helmet and shoots it to the team. <<I might have a job for you too Paul.>>

Then, worrying that the camera was perhaps looking back at him, he ducks back inside the sheets Bello had put up.

Bongo finds he can't simply set the maglock from the inside to work for them. It can be locked or unlocked from the inside, and there is an interface, but it indicates that they should proceed to the requisition terminals on the first floor for registration, room allocation, and unique codes for the door. Poking around the interface, registration appears to involve letting the terminal take a photo and record fingerprints. It gives the number of the room, 52E2, to specifically request it. While the maglock is slightly armored on the outside. It's just plastic on the inside and looks like it'd be easy enough for someone with some hardware skill to get into it.

Bongo calls up the team's hot-shot tech/Matrix guy. <<Hey, Lenny. Any chance you can program a maglock and make the building think the room it locks is assigned? We have a good pied à terre here on floor 52. If you can do that kind of thing, one of us can go get you and bring you down here. >>

<< Thank you, Angel. That looks like a great lead to learn more about the attackers. Maybe Paul can do some careful surveillance? But we have to expect them having quite a few resources at their disposal. We are still looking for any leads about the flower thing here and how it connects to all of this. >>

Turning to Bongo, Selina replies: "Yeah, might be worth a shot. If we play up our independency a bit, maybe they are less inclined to just take us for some of Monifa's goons and thus be a bit more forthcoming."

Lenny replies <<sure>> without any idea what "pied à terre" meant. He was worried it was some Shadowrunner slang a newbie like him didn't know, or possibly some Or'zet he wouldn't be able to translate. He was greatly relieved but also a little disappointed to find out that it was just lame old French. He'd have been somewhat less relieved to find out the pied à terre in question was a site of slaughter for unknown reasons and roughly known means.

He also hoped he was right about being able to mess with the system. He felt pretty confident that even this much public housing wasn't going to be worth paying for any black IC.

(OOC: For expedience, I'm assuming someone goes and gets him. There might be some stares from newcomers arriving by elevator, but once you duck into a room they'll figure you got assigned and chill for a while. Though some of the clothing even the looters didn't want to take might be useful in making Lenny look like he isn't worth robbing. )

Once safely inside Lenny will mess with the inside of the maglock so he can jack in. This gives him direct access to the appropriate system. In a few moments he says. "Ok, I'm in. The system logs everyone's face that's registered. Do you want me to use some photos of you? "

Bongo is a bit concerned about leaving images of himself lying around. Not a good idea for those in this line of work. But if it makes this run go more smoothly. "Yeah, go ahead. But make sure you can delete the images once we are done here."

Willie grunts in the affirmative. "Don't want folks here gettin' too familiar with my good looks."

Lenny turns his helmet and cameras at Bongo and Willie. "I don't think you have to worry about them stealing your image for advertisements in those outfits. I should be able to delete you out of the system and open up the room later. Anyway you're all set up here now. So what's the plan? "

Bongo searches his memory for more clues. "Abeje told us that some cloth flowers were found on 49 as well as here on 52. We could check out that floor. Why don't we see if Lana knows anybody down on 49? Maybe introduce us so we don't garner as much suspicion."

He considers an out of the box idea. He contacts Billy-Bob McGillicuddy, a conspiracy theorist he met in one of Willie's seedy drinking holes. Struck up a conversation and struck a chord with Billy-Bob. Not too many people listen for more than a minute or two to Billy-Bob but Bongo bought him a beer and had a good internal chuckle. <<Bongo Slade here: Hey Billy-Bob. You have a handle on things on the fringe. You ever hear of a spirit that leaves flowers behind? Working on a case. If you give a useful lead, I can send some nuyen your way.>>

Bongo gets little help from the out-there-guy. He wanders back to where Lana is hanging out with the stoners. "Hey, Lana," he says to her conversationally off to the side. "You have any contact with people on 49? We'd like to take a look down there, too."

Willie stays with Selina. "This tower must be a little rough on your magic, too. I know Bongo is losing a bit of his because of what he calls the taste of this place."

Whatever the group in the room have been taking, it seems to have a bit more of an effect than being stoned. At the moment, they all appear to be trying to have a dance party, but none of them, other than Lana, appear to still have the physical coordination to stand. So they're moving around while seated or on the floor as if they were dancing to the ambient techno-like groove. It looks a little ridiculous, but they seem to be having a good time.

Lana seems to be more with it, though she's having a little difficulty getting words out, so it appears she didn't completely avoid having any.

She says, "This was a lot of fun and worked right? I don't know anybody on 49, but, like, if you can spring for another bag, I bet it could work again! Just help me get up and down the elevator OK?"

When Willie approaches her, Selina nods. "You are not wrong. This kind of unclean astral is causing me quite a headache. At least it's not quite as bad here compared to above."

To Lana's offer, she says: "It did work once, didn't it?"

Bongo produces his credstick. "Same price for another batch of incentives?" he asks of Lana.

Lana thinks about asking for more money for more time, but she figures she can just take her cut out of the product which, at the moment, is what she wants since she feels like she shorted herself on the first batch, so she says "Ok." and holds out her credstick for another 50 nuyen. She then adds, "We'll have to go back up for a sec while I get more, then we can ride down to 49. "

As the group gets into the elevator to ride up, Bongo is scanning the world around him as he always does. The Orc in the distance doesn't seem even slightly out of place, a young orc with long hair in a Shiawase hoodie.

But he sticks out in Bongo's specialized memory as being in one of the pictures with the deceased.

(OOC: You weren't explicitly looking, and I figured finding the people in pictures would require having a hacker get into the photo registration system on the first floor. But Bongo does have the special ability and perception boosts up the wazoo. Seemed a little unfair to let it slide. With two characters you could split up and let Selena take point on 49 with Willie. Maybe taking Lenny with Bongo if he's worried about being solo. Though in principle, he's not in a hostile situation. )

Bongo sets up his credstick to pass Lana another 150 nuyen, as he did before. Might as well have Lana as an eager helper.

"Uh, you guys go on up to get more ... incentive for floor 49. I see someone I would like to talk to here in the walkway. Young guy with long hair and wearing a Shiawase hoodie. I think I noticed him in one of the images. Maybe you could pick me up on the way back down."

He sees the others off, and gives a nod to Willie who looks a little concerned about feeble, fragile Bongo going it alone. Once the elevator door closes, he saunters over to the young man. "I got a cigarette to trade for a light. Can you help a man out?"

(Up to Thanee where Selina or Fiona go. There might be some risk if Fiona goes out of the apartment as the spirit could pop in anytime, though it seems to be on a pattern watching for outside approaches. In principle Fiona could fly around through walls. This doesn't seem like the kinda place where there would be serious magical threats just sitting around somewhere, but that sort of movement does entail repeatedly popping blind into rooms.)

Bongo arrived unnoticed next to the group or Orks talking to each other. There are enough people just moving around or hanging out on the promenade that he doesn't stick out to much.

As he starts talking, he can see surprise on their faces. His perception and etiquette take stock of the situation. These floors are small enough that folks seem to vaguely know each other, and he's an outsider, even if he does now have access to a room. He's also a human among Orks. At least this floor seems more mixed than the top ones. And finally it's odd for anyone to offer anything.

However, as Lana said, people are eager for an excuse to take something. The three Orks look him over skeptically but soon they are conferring with each other, and the one Bongo recognizes fiddles in his hoodie pockets to produce a glass pipe and a lighter, apparently not normally for cigarettes.

"Alright, let's see those nicosticks chummer." Though he holds the lighter back, "I'll do the lighting, yeah? "

"No problem," Bongo replies. He holds out a pack of cigarettes, offering one to each of the orks, and then takes one out for himself, holding it ready to be lit.

The Orks eye Bongo warily. Or, more specifically, he notes, they're warily eyeing everyone else around, as if worried Bongo was just a distraction.

Finding that he does actually have cigarettes and nobody else seems to be moving in they take the offerings and waste not time getting theirs and Bongo's lit.

The familiar Ork eyes him a little and then smiles as if he's figured something out. He takes the cigarette out of his mouth and waggles it at Bongo. "By any chance are you new here? Maybe figure you a need a few big tough friends?"

His friends seem to like the sound of that and stand up a little straighter after hearing it.

Hmmm, Bongo thinks. Are they looking for a job or preparing for a shakedown?

"Buddy can always use some more friends. Me? My team and I are looking for information. The folks up on 100 are stymied by what's going these days and hired us to figure out what they can't. I'm pulling on a thread that might lead to something, might not.

"A while back some weird shit happened around here. Dead people with flowers stuck in them. You know anything about that?"

He turns Missile Mastery and Power Throw back on. For now, he surrenders Improved ability (artisan), Enthralling Performance, and Three Dimensional Memory to the background count.



(OOC: question for GM:)

(OOC: I was thinking of how to handle that, but that's a solid roll, so I think I'll let him get some extra info he'd probably be looking for. Actually Bongo is sort of explicitly asking for it at the beginning there.

I think you're feeling like that was a "roll for initiative" sort of response, but Bongo could pick up on the subtleties that it was a bit more of a "Ah, it's weird to share, but he's trying to share to make friends because he's new and this place is scary maybe if we play nice we'll get other stuff out of him."

So you could chose to not have Bongo say what you wrote there and work the first tack, or just stick with the direct approach....maybe throwing in a little extra exposition explaining his clothing. Though Bongo has plenty of gear to flash that's pricier if he wanted to. In terms of what to roll on the direct path, just think of the tack Bongo wants to go down. I.e. is he trying to intimidate them into talking, convince them of some reason they should care what happens on 100, or letting the nuyen do the talking. I guess he might also be able to work some angle if the one Ork is looking for vengeance for his friend or worried whoever did that might come for him someday. The "I'm a newbie" path would be more circuitous, like Bongo mentions something about his new digs, maybe mentioning some "rumors" he's heard, to try and get the one Ork talking.

As for Nimble fingers, I think clearly it would work for trying to draw a weapon without anybody seeing, and other knife related slight of hand. But I'm guessing you're asking about drawing with a free action. They're trying to differentiate it from quick draw in that it's for things like clips not weapons. Throwing knives do seem to be a grey area between ammo and weapons. My inclination is to allow a single throwing knife.)

Bongo sees the thought bubbles above their heads. Better keep the banter going. It doesn't look like they are going to jump him, for now.

"Yeah, you're right. I shouldn't jump right into the task at hand.

"We are new here in Baltimore, and planning to stay a while. We take jobs as a team, but sometimes one of us feels like branching out on a side hustle. For me, a few strong young men who can handle themselves when things get heavy, and look like it too, are a definite asset. Worth some nuyen. When my friends and I are done this job, I might have a thing that requires the kind of look you three have. Think about it."

Bongo actually does have something in mind: that bit about putting on a show to get in good with Vex.

"Meantime, I came to you three, and you in particular," he looks at the one who was in the photo. " because there's an image that shows you near a deceased person who had that kind of flower stuck in them. If that was someone you know, my finding out what did it could answer a question or two of yours."

The group seems a little surprised by Bongo's speech.

Then the biggest of the Orks, a dark skinned fellow with even taller hair, snorted and said, "Das big talk coming from a breeder inna freebie hoodie!"

But the Ork Bongo was speaking with held up his hand . " So that fucking freaky flower thing has something to do with what's going on a hundred? That did seem like a hell of a lotta effort for this neighborhood."

He then paused and stared at Bongo a moment. "Though lots of people claim to be working for Monifa for some clout. Are you just a nobody hoping some rumors you heard around here will get you an audience upstairs? Don't fuck with me like that. But if you want in on that freaky tale and can convince us there's some cash in it for us, you've got a crew."

He looks around to make sure there isn't anybody else too close. "Showing some nuyen might be convincing on both counts."

He was eagerly getting going there, thoughts of opportunities prodding his mouth along faster than his mind was keeping up. After a little pause, he blanches just a little and adds. "Though we're not your cannon fodder if you start messing with folks outa your league."

The group seems a little surprised by Bongo's speech.

Then the biggest of the Orks, a dark skinned fellow with even taller hair, snorted and said, "Das big talk coming from a breeder inna freebie hoodie!"

But the Ork Bongo was speaking with held up his hand . " So that fucking freaky flower thing has something to do with what's going on a hundred? That did seem like a hell of a lotta effort for this neighborhood."

He then paused and stared at Bongo a moment. "Though lots of people claim to be working for Monifa for some clout. Are you just a nobody hoping some rumors you heard around here will get you an audience upstairs? Don't fuck with me like that. But if you want in on that freaky tale and can convince us there's some cash in it for us, you've got a crew."

He looks around to make sure there isn't anybody else too close. "Showing some nuyen might be convincing on both counts."

He was eagerly getting going there, thoughts of opportunities prodding his mouth along faster than his mind was keeping up. After a little pause, he blanches just a little and adds. "Though we're not your cannon fodder if you start messing with folks outa your league."

Bongo replies with a wink to the big ork, and varies his tone of voice slowly from his to that of the big guy and back using his Voice Control Power.



And as he speaks, he uses the Power to raise the source of his voice above and then to behind the crew, and then back to him.

"Neither I nor my team need cannon fodder. I am the eyes and ears of my team, and I want eyes and ears everywhere I can have them. We've already been upstairs and pulled their hoops out of some fire when a swarm of drones attacked them. Some of the bits and pieces fell down this way. You probably saw some of that.

"I'll give each of you 50 nuyen to sign on, give me names and contact info, and tell me what you know about those weird flowers. They might have something to do with whoever has been attacking Monifa, or not. But I wanna know for sure, so we don't go off on some dead end.

"Deal?"

The Orks first look around, trying to spot speakers or drones.

The Ork from the Photo said, "Ok, that's whiz. You got some fancy tech or you some kinda wizworm is disguise up in this creepy place? I guess whatever you say the fifty nuyen will go a long way towards getting help."

The other two are a little reluctant, and the big Ork says "Hey. If we wanted to be gang bangers we'd be up on the hundredth now ourselves."

The third Ork says, "Or it's somehow a scam to get what little we've got."

The Ork from the photo replies. "Hey. This was all a little freaky. I can be the point of contact. If it gets too spooky you can jet. But maybe it's better if the creeps who geeked my friends get got instead of whatever is going on. If we don't get ripped off I'll buy you guys some stuff with your shares."


He takes out one of the old used commlinks, with a credstick adapter, if Bongo would prefer to use that. His basic details down his name as Cameron. No last name listed, and there doesn't seem to be a SIN either. Of course it's really easy to set up a fake ID this limited, more like a login for some game. Though, for all Bongo knows, that's all this guy has. But a comcode is all the matrix really cares about, so it'll work.

(OOC: Assuming Bongo hands over some funds)

Cameron says, "Ok, well, I can take you to the room where it happened. It was really weird thing. Nobody heard any gunshots or anything. But weirder was that the place didn't seem looted or turned over."

The Orks first look around, trying to spot speakers or drones.

The Ork from the Photo said, "Ok, that's whiz. You got some fancy tech or you some kinda wizworm is disguise up in this creepy place? I guess whatever you say the fifty nuyen will go a long way towards getting help."

The other two are a little reluctant, and the big Ork says "Hey. If we wanted to be gang bangers we'd be up on the hundredth now ourselves."

The third Ork says, "Or it's somehow a scam to get what little we've got."

The Ork from the photo replies. "Hey. This was all a little freaky. I can be the point of contact. If it gets too spooky you can jet. But maybe it's better if the creeps who geeked my friends get got instead of whatever is going on. If we don't get ripped off I'll buy you guys some stuff with your shares."


He takes out one of the old used commlinks, with a credstick adapter, if Bongo would prefer to use that. His basic details down his name as Cameron. No last name listed, and there doesn't seem to be a SIN either. Of course it's really easy to set up a fake ID this limited, more like a login for some game. Though, for all Bongo knows, that's all this guy has. But a comcode is all the matrix really cares about, so it'll work.

(OOC: Assuming Bongo hands over some funds)

Cameron says, "Ok, well, I can take you to the room where it happened. It was really weird thing. Nobody heard any gunshots or anything. But weirder was that the place didn't seem looted or turned over."

"Well, I'll transfer the 150 to you, then, Cameron, and the three of you can work it out later." Bongo does so. He looks at the other two. "I value life over profit. I wouldn't throw anyone's life away for some nuyen. Doesn't mean there wouldn't be some risk sometime, but, what point is there to a life without risk, right?" He grins.

To Cameron he says, "Sure, show me where it happened and tell me everything you can about what happened. The more we know, the more likely we are to figuring out who did ... whatever it was. So the ones who died were your friends. Sorry to hear that."

Cameron looks pleased at having an amount on his comlink/credstick. the other Orks seem more apprehensive. But they follow as he leads the way towards the room that the Orks had been found in..

He spoke as they walked the relatively short distance back to the apartment Bongo had been in. "It was really strange. Far as I know they just geeked everybody there, and then just left the door open. You do drek like that to make a message. But I dunno who to. The hundredth floor maybe, if they know of the flower crew? "

As he gets to the door he notes the lock. " Huh. I guess somebody finally moved in. "

Selina had agreed to accompany Lana, while she was getting the goods. Fiona keeps close for the time being, always wary about potential threats in the astral, and also not looking to disturbing those that were only here to protect the place. She is well aware, that she might be seen as an intruder to such entities, as they havn't been introduced, so she keeps her senses keen and a hiding place nearby.

"Alright, Lana. Let's go get your stuff."

With Willie also heading upstairs, they should be well enough protected, in case there is any trouble on the way.

As Selina heads up to the 98th for Lana to resupply she is able to look at the 100th floor through the open center of the building, except where the maintenance tower going up the middle blocks her view. To looks like Bello or someone like him has been busy as blankets, sheets, or printed bits of art cover up any damage to the walls. Bodies and blood seem to have been cleaned up to at least a basic extent. A few gangers are standing around chatting, but it looks pretty quiet on the floors that saw combat, and nobody seems inclined to visit as theirs is the only elevator heading up that far.


So there isn't anyone around as the group gets off the elevator to wait for Lana, who isn't gone long.

Soon the group arrives on 49. Again, it has a lower background count of 1. People seem especially chill here. Lana heads out to talk to people with the same line about looking for new digs and implying she has something to share.

Selina doesn't have to step in as quickly enough Lana is leading the group to a corner of the floor. One of the spaces that was supposed to have a business, clinic, school or some other function that was supposed to make these towers essentially low rent arcologies.

There's no business, just a space with a variety of metahumans lying on beanbags or blankets. The drugs are shared in small amounts with a circle Lana sits down at.

She leans over to Willie and Selina to whusper "I figured all the floors would make up their drama, turf battles, hustles for money. As far as I can tell on this floor they kinda just lay around.. Well,maybe just in this corner. Hopefully they gossip at least. I'm not quite sure how to strike up a convo with the weirdos. It's like they're already on drugs, but I don't think they are, they just...are lying down. . "

Looking around, Selina doesn't spot any elves, but the rest of meta humanity is present. Still mostly Orks. Some of whom look pregnant.

(Presumably Fiona is still trying to be sneaky, at least in the open elevator area where the spirit sometimes patrols. In rooms on floors seems safer at least away from the windows. )

Selina listens to what Lana has to say, musing... "That is interesting. Maybe there is something that influences their behavior?"

Having said that, she asks Fiona, who is far better at interpreting auras, even with the annoyance of the background count hitting her harder, to take a look at the people. Maybe there is some lingering magical influence? Flowers, ... there certainly is some line of thinking where this all fits into one big picture.



Other than that, the ally spirit sticks to nearby rooms to not show her astral presence too obviously.

Willie is content to allow Selina to do the talking. Bongo does that when the two of them work. But just on a lark, Willie removes a radiation film patch from its protective packaging and checks to see if it shows anything like that happening here. Radiation sickness could cause lethargy, he remembers.

He doesn't remember where he learned that, though. That happens a lot since his cerebral upgrade.

(OOC: I noticed a typo in my last post for Bongo. The last quote should have been Huh. I guess somebody finally moved in. " As in he can't get into the room where the men died because Bongo had Lenny key the door to the team. He appears to have expected to find the door unlocked.)

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Both Willie and Fiona find the environment relatively clean in terms of radiation and astral pollutants. There's still a sort of depressed miasma to all these people lying around the room that isn't helpful with the background count, if anything the drugs are lightening things, temporarily.

Lana whispers to Selina, "Up to you how you want to play it. The baggie should get the mood up here a little. But there are enough people I don't know if I'll be able to get a dance party going, or if that's especially welcome. Though I guess you could plop down next to anybody to talk. I don't know how things are on this floor, but they don't seem overly stabby."

In a way none can see the code, Bongo enters the passcode and opens the door. He chuckles at Cameron's observation. "Yeah, we did. So, tell me everything you can about what you found and saw. Please point out the locations in the room if you can."

His move gets a crooked smile out of Cameron, but he doesn't comment on it.

He follows Bongo into the apartment and looks around.

"Everybody in the apartment got geeked. So I wasn't around. Well, I guess the killers didn't get got. You know what I mean. Though nobody spotted anyone leaving. But I mean it isn't like this is a corpo office with a guard desk. Prolly they just dressed like you are now, didn't make a whole lot of noise, and then just strolled out all casual like.

Anyway we figured they got done that way to leave a message because that's just a weird thing to do and whoever did it didn't loot the place or anything. They just left with the door open. You do that and sooner or later. Well, sooner, somebody is going to poke their nose in hopes of nabbing something. I don't remember who found them, but they decided to yell about it. So there was a swarm of people coming in to grab everything that wasn't nasty and catch a gander of the bodies."

He paused to look at the hidey hole in the wall and pointed at it. "Maybe I'm a little sore they didn't tell me about their hidey hole, but I guess fair enough, somebody else go that. All I got was a few things off their bodies, 'cause people were afraid of touching 'em. I ended up hauling 'em outside for pickup."

He seems to be racking his brain for useful information, "Uh. They didn't have guns. So maybe there could have been a fight without much noise. They did some small time shakedown stuff. But like with knives and a hammer they filed down to make it scary. Wait, no, they still had those on them. So I guess they got taken down fast enough they didn't arm up?"

Cameron seems to be enjoying this, mentally imagining himself as in a cop drama. " They were in the back room too. So not jumped at their front door. Unless the bodies were moved to all be near each other in the back room. Which they coulda been because there really wasn't much blood. Maybe coulda been poisoned, and someone jimmied the door?

Uhhhh I didn't try tugging on the flowers. I figure it was like fake store stuff an, like, the wire the fake flowers come on was jammed into their eyeballs. "

"Hmmm. What did you get from the bodies?" Bongo sees a look starting on Cameron's face and jumps in. "No, no. I don't care you took stuff. Wasn't gonna do them any good anyway. I'm just looking for clues, no matter how small. "

The fact the flowers were artificial and stuck in the eyes means whoever did this had to carry material in. That kind of thing doesn't go astral.

Cameron eyes Bongo for a few seconds, and looks to his friends. But then he says, "I got my comlink, a big knife, a little knife, dime bag, a lighter, and some trodes. They've been real useful to me. Sentimental value. So if you want 'em it'll cost extra"

He frowns a little and continue.

"That was just off of one body. They got popular once I got in there and nothing bad or gross happened to me."

(OOC: Judging by their surprise at Bongo throwing his voice, they aren't very used to magic. Judging by the area they probably aren't very knowledgeable about real flowers either. His knowledge of fake flowers at least extends to the cheap ones on wire, but he said he didn't actually mess with them. Just what he thought. )