"I mostly play urban brawl in VR, love how real it feels. I haven't actually played retro. Is it pre crush tech?" she asks. She does not complain about the storm drains, just says half to herself "We're lucky its summer.".

"It's forty years old - damn right it's pre-crash."
Gruff didn't comment any more on games, but kept up a steady pace until the group reached a maintenance door, that Gruff opened with an old fashioned key.

Beyond lay a short stretch of moldy smelling hallway, before another door delivered them to the backroom of what clearly was a gift shop.

A few steps more brought them out to the cramped shop itself, where a bored looking dwarf teenager hung out behind a counter, not paying terribly much attention to what was going on in the back of the tiny shop.

A nod to Gruff was all he managed.

"Alright, we are at the Bazar. Give me your list if you want to buy something, so we can hit the right stalls. Otherwise follow me to the northern tunnels."

Rachel lists the items she is looking for and Gruff points her into the right direction to get them. The mentioning of an ork-sized armor jacket gets her a bit of a questioning glance.

She makes an effort to get this done quickly. Most merchants are quite welcoming. To be fair, she is bringing them money, so why wouldn't they be. And they are used to "tourists" around here. Still, some racial bias can be felt. At one stall, where she is buying some climbing gear, they are happily selling her the ultra-thin microwire, but are very reluctant to mention how they cut into the soft flesh of her hands, if she does not wear proper gloves. After some back and forth, and a bit more money thrown their way, she also gets the matching gloves, though.



When they are back in the tunnels, the witch puts on the way too large jacket, which she had simply been carrying until now, and uses her magic to change it into a full body suit, that fits her figure a whole lot better, thanks to the extra material, due to the larger size. She also works the Securetech items into the outfit, so they fit and don't look overly out of place. Still not something, she should wear in public, but much better.

AM mainly looks around at the bazar to soak the atmosphere. Her initial intention is to help Rachel but she seems to not need anything. So she just wait for them to finish enjoying the atmosphere. Once they are in the tunnel she armors up, the PPP kit, forearm guards, helmet, she is ready for battle. When Trouble joins them she smiles for the very first time feeling relieved to have them around.

Mato stays back in the bazar and keeps watch. He is conscious of the fact that Rachel and AM's beauty - such an asset on the surface - could be a liability here. He keeps his cyberears tuned for any untoward comments about the 'smoothies'.

Mato hasn't spent a lot of time in the Underground but makes a mental note to return when the job is done, maybe make some Contacts for the future.

Mato's vigilance payed off: Only three stalls in, a group of what could only be described as "punks" started to follow at mid distance. Five young orks at around 14 to 16 years, some basic cyberware and the distinct look of juicers. All carried handguns in very visible holsters, but also longer melee weapons - one had a collapsible staff on his hip, the other carried two swords on his back - topped by the third with two stun batons. The fourth actually carried a full blown AK assault rifle over his shoulder.

Gruff didn't seem to notice them, as they always kept just out of his line of sight at the front of the group.

Mato leaves his duffle bags with AM. "Watch my back," he says under his breath as he goes to intercept the teenagers before they get into any trouble.

He's not wearing armor, and it seems like it would be prudent to do so when confronting punks carrying firearms, but at least this way his cyberarms arms are clearly visible.

"Cerri," he says to get their attention. It means 'battle siblings' in Or'zet but is used as slang to refer to chummers, especially gang members.

He dials up his infrasonic generators, boosting an underlayer to his normal voice The frequency is just at the edge of metahuman hearing, causing feelings of anxiety and fear.

"YIio'lah," he says very firmly and clearly, telling them to walk away. "Ghaw'pu, e'vi vilo'pu," he adds, telling them that the subjects of their interest are wolves, not sheep.

Charisma 5 + Intimidation 4 + Specialization 2 + Infrasonic Generator 4: 15d6t5 5 hits

The apparent leader - the ork with the AK - looked taken aback. Apparently they overestimated their ability to stay hidden. Now confronted with Mato, they became quite nervous - for a moment, violence lay in the air, but then they seemed to remember that they were at the Bazar and it's relatively strong security. With a grim look and an outstretched middle finger the group went into retreat. They likely would be back, but with any luck, the team would have moved on.

Mato is satisfied with the outcome. Indeed, he had this exact scenario in mind when getting the infrasonic generator in the first place. He dials it down, turns, and goes to retrieve his duffle bags from AM.

"We should keep moving," he says under his breath. He signs the same to Tamarind and Rachel, then heads toward Gruff.

Gruff nodded and indicated the team to follow him. Quickly they left the more populated parts of the bazar and found themselves in a series of narrow tunnels - apparently former service tunnels for a never finished undertaking. Gruff kept looking over his shoulder, not quite nervous but hyper alert.

For being in the middle of Downtown, it was remakably silent. Only the occasional drip of water and a distant susurrus of traffic overhead came down to this level.

Finally, Gruff broke the silence: "Alright, here comes the tricky bit. We are crossing the Ghoul Pit. Stay close together, and for all that's holy, don't make any noise. They should be sleeping at this time of day, but there certainly isn't going enough meat around these days and the customers down there are pretty peckish."

Moving up a ladder, the team found themselves at a series of cat walks that led over what should have at one time become a subway station. Now it looked like a homeless camp - homeless with sharp teeth, blind eyes and a hunger for metahuman flesh.

Nothing stirred below. Yet.

Before they continued up the ladder, Rachel offered: "I have a Stealth preparation, if anyone thinks it would be useful. It will make you silent for a few minutes, similar to an Invisibility spell just for sound. Things you hit or move will make sound, though. So, you still need to be careful."

Hearing about the ghouls, Mato takes a moment to don the Wild Hunt armor.

He nods to Rachel to acknowledge the offer, but reasons that it won't have much of an effect on his essence-less system. Mato is pretty sneaky, although carrying a bag of weapons does complicate matters somewhat. It's a bit awkward but in the end it works.

Agility 10 + Sneaking 5 + Specialization 2: 17d6t5 5 hits

Tamarind is fairly used to avoiding attention. Generally speaking she's pretty confident in quietly getting into or out of a position, or keeping her head down and out of sight while working her drones. But moving quietly past a nest of ghouls? That tests her confidence.

She looks around the group. Two elves, both with magic. Mato, with his high tech augmentations. And her, with a bag full of drones and guns. "I might regret this when we need to sneak past something later, but I think I'd like to use your preparation, Rachel. I'm reasonably good at staying quiet, but this isn't a reasonable situation."

By the time they leave the bazaar, AM is fully suited, PPP system strapped in, forearm guards snug, helmet sealed. About as covered as if she were about to wrestle a bear.

AM movements are silent, deliberate. Years of habit keep her steps light, and the natural grace and agility of her new body makes her difficult to hear. When Raven offer a magical assist, AM gives the woman a brief nod — the kind that says I’m fine, I don’t need the magical assist.

But when she catches the flicker of uncertainty in Tamarind’s stance, she shifts course. “Just follow my steps. I’ll shorten them a bit,” she says quietly, her voice calm and unassuming. If Tamarid is interested (regardless of magical aid) Then AM angles her stride just enough for Tamarind to comfortably mirror, already adjusting her pace.

Rachel quickly rummages through her bag and pulls out a small bottle (a ginger shot) that is marked with an occult symbol and five dots around it. She hands it to Tamarind.

"Hopefully, you like ginger. And don't worry, I have another one of those prepared, in case we need it. And, if time permits, I can also make more, though not quite as potent as this one, probably. This seems like a situation, where we really should not take our chances."

The witch herself is surprisingly agile, more than usual for sure, and she had quite some practice sneaking around in her teens. But it is also apparent, that the situation makes her a bit nervous.

Tamarind drinks the ginger shot with pleasure, then goes to thank Rachel, only to realize that she can't. Not that she is the most chatty anyway, but not being able to talk is a bit disturbing. So she signs her thanks in Sioux sign language instead, followed by telling AM "Take point, I'll follow."

She does best to focus on AM and follow her moves, and not to think of what waits below. The focus helps her slow her moves and not over-correct. I'm doing OK, I think, but for sure I was too focused on ghouls to just relax and do this properly on my own.

The team climbed up the ladders and carefully stepped out on the cat walk.

The old, rusted metal hummed, close to screeching. But the team stepped lightly and avoided collectively the one damaged part that quite surely would have dislodged a part of the structure. Even their guide had trouble to stay as sneaky as the SIS crew.

Just as all had left at the other side, a single loose bolt dropped down, hitting a sleeping ghoul on the remains of it's rotting nose.

It's howling awoke the ones around and only a second later, the whole place turned into a bubbling witches cauldron of agitated undead.

By that time, the group was already out of sight, so no pursuit ensuied.

"That was pretty close. For the way back I'll probably have to take the long way around." Gruff admitted

"Though at least you can be sure no-no will be following you that way. From here it's only 500m down the tunnels. You'll get out in the old monorail station below the Arcology. Cameras are out of order at the left side, so keep to that if you want to get inside unnoticed. Good luck from there on.

Any other questions?"

When they make it into the tunnels and it becomes clear that they are not being followed, Rachel breathes a sigh of relief.

"Well, that was not scary at all!" A nervous chuckle is all the humor she can muster at the moment.

When Gruff offers to answer any further questions they might have, she says: "I guess, that depends. Have you been past that monorail station? Any information about what lies ahead there could prove useful. Below the Arcology means below the reactors? Or are those even further down underground?"

Gruff replied:

"The monorail station is in the first sublevel together with the car parks. Way above the generators. From there you can enter like any regular visitor through the escalators and lifts into the mall. Or you take one of the entrances through the loading bays near the car park. That gets you to the freight elevators. The whole thing is so mind boggling huge, there are dozens of ways to get from anywhere to anywhere else."

It was exciting... I could feel Iktomi's pleasure. Part of me was wondering what happens if they hear us. AM says feeling alive and refreshed as if some real or imagined danger was just what the good doctor subscribed.

Tamarind was glad to be past the ghouls, but had a sinking feeling that this would be only the most obvious of the dangers they would need to avoid. She was going to ask Gruff about the best way to go back if they came out this way, but making noise was still impossible. She thought about just letting it drop, but it was possible that exfil through the Underground would make sense, so she messaged the team. <<Care to ask him for suggestions on getting out, if we happen to return this way? Rachel's preparation is still doing its job so I can't ask directly.>>

"Let's follow their path and see if we can pick up any clues along the way. I'm not sure I see good value in spending the time to chart out a new route. Diego got into trouble, yes, but we're trying to find that trouble ourselves, not avoid it."

Mato nods to their guide.

"Gruff, obliged."

I agree, lets just follow them. Its more fun that way, kind of like treasure hunt with an actual treasure at the end... and the potential of emotional trauma but lets focus on the treasure otherwise it'll be a sad story. She says

Tamarind silently sighs, realizing that while should could ask, she should have asked for some indication of how long this would last. They have sign language and so on, but it still feels odd.

Mentally thanking military training, she again uses Sioux sign language to indicate "Scouting." Then she sends Auntie 1 up the path ahead, to the limits of her connection range for now

Following the map the team researched is easy enough. Moving through the abandoned mono rail station brings the team out to the parking garage - a massive sprawling underground facility that seems to be used only sparsely.

40 years ago, car ownership was significantly higher still, even though public transit was very much established in Seattle. Nowadays, with even less buying power for the average Sarari Man, personal transports have become rarer still so that most parking facilities are no massively over dimensioned.

<<Parking Garage Archology - Sublevel 1 - BGC 0 - Noise 1 (Spam)>>

The whole place has surveillance, but as far as AM and Tamarind can make out, mainly along the thoroughfares. Walking across the empty parking spots would keep the team mostly out of view.

The destination according to their map had to be Delivery Bay 39/3, halfway across the whole structure. This late in the day, the place is abandoned. A single wireless camera secures the bay and the locked shutter, beyond which the freight elevator lies, that the team needs.

A quick matrix check reveals the camera and the door to be slaved to the transport security host (A5 S4 D6 F7 | R4) that secures both this level and the landing pads on the roof.

Sending one drone out ahead in a cavernous parking garage didn't exactly provide great coverage, but at the very least it let Tamarind keep scanning for any additional cameras or other hazards lurking in the dimly lit out reaches of the structure. She could have sent out more, but she wanted to conserve battery power as she didn't know when she'd be in a place to actively recharge, and the passive charging from matrix activity would take hours to refill a depleted battery.

They hadn't gone too far through the garage when she suddenly noticed the sound of her footsteps. She cleared her throat, and could hear herself! Then she carefully said "Thank you, Raven, for the magic. I'm very glad we did not have to deal with such a nest of ghouls. But I have to say, it is a disturbing experience. Also, I was thinking that there are likely situations where being able to plant such a preparation on someone, where they didn't have to drink something, could be useful. To keep someone from giving an alarm, for example. Or just as a form of persuasion, tell them that you'll make it permanent unless they do as you say or give you information."

When they approached the elevator she estimated the camera's field of view, and tried to keep her drone outside of it. She looked to AM and said "I definitely have more confidence in you taking this on."

Rachel smiles. "Pretty sure noone here wanted to deal with those. Glad it worked as intended."

"Also, you do not actually have to drink it. As soon as you touch the liquid, the spell begins to work. There are other ways to do this, some preparations, I can just activate as long as I am close enough. The item that carries the charge needs to be on the person, of course. The liquid is just a little easier to work with. Less straining. I went to the limit of my abilities with those, since I figured, if we need them, we will need them to work well. Some of them caused me quite a headache."

Alchemical spells only last for a few minutes... They are limited in how much mana can be attached. All theory ofcourse, Raven can give you the practical details, but there is no safe way to release you before the spell is done. Raven's preparations are so forceful trying to meddle with them risks physical injury" AM says, drawing on her extensive theoretical knowledge about magic and the arcane, but mainly to keep Tamarind from feeling uncomfortable.

Tamarind watches in the matrix as AM deals with the camera and lock. Not that there is much to see, even with knowing what to look for. AM's avatar is smooth and quick, making the whole process look like a rehearsed dance routine of continuous movement.

Once they get confirmation that the camera is looped, Tamarind sends her Flying Eye ahead to do a last close-up check for tricks, traps, or issues, while moving up carefully herself. While they know that their quarry didn't find any problems here, that is no guarantee that they didn't prepare any tricks of their own to secure their trail.

<<Warehouse Lvl -1, Noise 1, BGC 1>>

With just a small click, the lock opened, revealing a typical warehouse - apparently one for a sporting goods store. Boxes on high storage shelves dominated the place. It didn't take long for the team to find the elevator they were looking for.

Only two little problems: There was a drone moving through the corridors - shelving and retrieving boxes in a somewhat inscrutable way. The other one were two people - a dwarf and a male human hanging around the elevator and sharing a cigarette - apparently aware of the camera dead zone that Diego & Co. had also used when they had gone this way.

Neither of the two parties had noticed the group yet.

For the mages among the team, the mana around felt somewhat greasy and beige. Boredom, despair and exhaustion tainted the surroundings somewhat. The slight smell of urine indicated that toilet breaks apparently weren't a regular thing normally in this fast paced working environment.

<<I could send Flying Eyes to taser them, maybe some help from the mages too for a quiet take down? Else do we have the ability to invisibly pass them? I certainly don't have a clue on how to fast talk them, but if the rest of you think you can pull it off I'm happy to hang back and watch how you convince them that we are supposed to be here.>>

Tamarind keeps Aunty One low, behind shelves from the two, but uses it to make a quick sweep to ensure that nobody else is lurking among the shelves.

<< We could just wait until they are done with their little break. >> Rachel suggests.

Rachel had just spoken that thought, when they noticed that the drone had started to head in their direction - it would get a clear line of sight in about 30 seconds if it kept heading in this direction.

Seeing the drone AM casts an invisibility spell on herself, she can easily sustain two spells so she asks Tamarind to recieve the second. "Raven, can you do the other two spells?"

<I'll gladly be made invisible!>

She never pesters the magicians to do magic on her, but it is always nice to share in the privilege of magic -- and to feel for a bit like she is in one of the stories that her grandmother used to share with her.

<< Of course! >>

Rachel immediately casts the two spells on Mato and herself. Will be useful either way.



<< Will this be enough to fool the drone, though? Some of them have sensors that can sense us in different ways. >>

It takes a flicker of a moment for AM to cast on Tamarind, and for Raven to finish her castings, Trouble chimes in with their concealment power.
>>We'll find out soon enough AM texts, feeling the excitement. The odd things about illusions is that she can pierce her own but not Raven's so Mato and Raven appear to really be invisible but she sees herself and Tamarind.

The trick worked and the team made their way slowly out of the drones course. Only moments later it delivered a large box to the loading bay.

Now, with a slightly better angle, Mato and his enhanced hearing could make out the discussion of the two men on their smoke break:

"...I tell you, it was them. Should have gotten an autograph."
"A what? With what? Ain't no paper around here except for your blunts and I doubt anyone would sign them. And anyway you'd smoke them sooner or later."
"You are always so negative - chill man. We probably should check the box before it's loaded up. Drony has been acting funny the last two days. Hope nothing got out from the upper floors again."

Mato isn't strictly opposed to being the target of a spell, although it does feel against-type. He knows a powerful magician - or their spirits - could pound him into paste, but perhaps a piece of him is still defiant and would prefer to get by without it.

He opens his mouth to suggest maybe hacking the drone instead, but *blink* it's too late. His mind goes to, of all things, a literary reference. "Wells, not Ellison," he murmurs with a certain note of wonder as he studies his missing arms and hands. Although, as an ork, Ellison might be applicable too.

Eavesdropping on the men, he relays what he hears to the others via comms to avoid speaking out loud. <<Guess sign language isn't going to work here, neh?>>

Sneaking ahead, Mato tries to get close enough to the large box for his radar sensors to get a sense of what's inside.

Mato could easily see through the plastic of the box - it was filled with a wide assortment of balls - baseballs, basketballs, footballs and soccerballs. All were equipped with RFID chips to better track them.

Mato retreats away from the box back toward where (he thinks) the team is.

<<Sporting equipment in the box>> he reports. <<Different types of balls, with RFID tags.>>

He looks to see if the two guys are done with their smoke break.

Mato's hunch showed itself to be correct.
Both workers headed towards the box, now placed directly in the loading bay. While they were busy double checking the inventory, the drone went merrily on its way again, preparing the next box. This time the team could see it pulling sports clothing from larger boxes.

In any case, the way to the elevators was free.
And at this level,they didn't even require a key to call or open.

Tamarind sends out a second Auntie, helping to keep an eye on all of the moving pieces while she sent the first one to go get a more zoomed in view on the elevator. <<The elevator door opening will probably be noticeable, especially if goes 'ding' or something but even without that they are apt to notice. Rachel, Amy Maka, any chance you could magic up some distraction? Nudge a box off a shelf, illusionary sound of someone knocking at a door, that sort of thing?>>

She could also probably do something with a drone, but it would likely mean abandoning the drone. Hopefully magic would be a cheaper option.

<< Not sure about the 'ding', but I can put an illusion right in front of the door, that it appears closed, even when it opens. >> Rachel suggests.

<<An illusion sounds good>> Mato comms, <<but let's not overthink things.>>

<<If we try to account for every tiny possibility, we'll twist ourselves into knots. At some point, the remedy is worse than the malady.>>

<<These are stockboys on a smoke break, not a trained security squad. I doubt an errant 'ding' will register with them. And even if they see the doors open and shut, so what? They won't see us.>>

<<Advancing>> Mato says as he starts sneaking his way toward the elevator.

Raven will still cast the illusion, layering it just in front of the elevator, showing the door closed exactly as it is now.

The illusion works - none of the workers nor the drone show that they noticed anything happening. The freight elevator arrives and - to the relieve of everybody - doesn't even *ding* on arrival.

The next few steps of the journey follows Diego's crew steps precisely - walking for about a kilometer in Subbasement 4.

It was a somewhat surreal experience, to walk in a place that still looked absolutely high tech but at the same time was decades out of style. The largely abandoned place was now only occupied by a bunch of small security drones, patrolling corridors and the adjacent rooms.

The silence down here meant, you could hear them and their rotors coming from far away. Still, it took skill to move swiftly and avoid them at the same time.

It is not certain, how she does it, but somehow Rachel manages to vanish completely. Ok, technically, she is still there.

AM (still invisible) does her best to keep quiet.

Mato's cybernetics keep his movements smooth and largely silent. He has little difficulty in avoiding detection.

Along the way Mato keeps his enhanced senses open for traces of Diego's team. Seasoned professionals wouldn't be tripped up by a relatively vacant subbasement like this, but still he looks for anything suspicious.