FIVE 2

@Fats> ==== SESSION 2 START ====
11:40 <@Fats> Two weeks pass since your run-in with the faceless vigilante. Things in the city aren't looking up: violence is steadily on the rise, and new bodies found in the straights in the morning don't even raise eyebrows anymore. The runner community is gloomy for the losses it's suffering, and the mood sips throughout the underworld. This time around our heroes meet in Artyom district, the background hum of factory machinery overlaid with pulsing beats o
11:40 <@Fats> f neo-industrial playing in The Skhron. The cocktails served on the no-nonsense bare concrete tables come with chemical formulas for names and smell accordingly.
11:40 <@Fats> Dagda's commlink receives a commcall; the video feed is off.
11:40 <Dagda> - Sav. Dagda picks the call up, video off.
11:42 — Kit_Remoni ponders on the situation and whom to contact to start fixing the world around him... sensibly. Or maybe just leave again for a while, after all this was never home
11:43 <@Fats> - Yo man. Skinny Bear gave me the number, told me you could be interested in some clean delivery work, if a bit dangerous, - you struggle to remember any Skinny Bears you might know and settle on that being perhaps some runner's handle or something.
11:44 <Dagda> - Perhaps. And I'm speaking to...?
11:45 — Nebokhod looked up from the coctail menu.
11:45 <Nebokhod> - Trouble?
11:46 <@Fats> - Just call me Johnson, - the man on the other side answers, and you notice he has a very much pronounced lisp, - Let's perhaps meet at the Evo Islands, the noodle shop behind the build A of the uni campus? Bring your team and we'll talk work.
11:49 <Dagda> - Works for me. Got a time?
11:50 <@Fats> - We're in a bit of a hurry here, so let's say in an hour?
11:50 <Dagda> - I hear you. Out.
11:51 — Dagda hangs up on the call. Well, anyone know Skinny Bear, or any bears for that matter?
11:52 <@Fats> * anyone with runner scene knowledge?
11:52 <Kit_Remoni> - You know me, I'm a concrete jungle kind of guy. Sound like someone amerindian or, what is more appropreate here, Aleut?
11:52 <Kit_Remoni> * Russian IT underground
11:53 <Nebokhod> - Or some wannabe with pretentions of grandeur.
11:53 <@Fats> * Hm, okay, roll it, Kit_Remoni
11:53 <Kit_Remoni> - Not to insult anyone, but Skinny Bear does not exactly ring of 'Grandeur' to me
11:53 <Kit_Remoni> 8#sd
11:53 <ur_dnd_bot> Kit_Remoni: (pool 8) 2 hits
11:54 <Nebokhod> - Exactly,
11:54 <@Fats> * nah, you don't know anyone or anything with the name.
11:55 <Dagda> - Silly name for someone on this longitude. So we've a job offer. Courier work. Says it's clean
11:56 <Kit_Remoni> * who's got wheels?
11:56 <Nebokhod> - That's what she said.
11:56 <Nebokhod> * goblo's char.
11:57 <Kit_Remoni> - Job would be good, after this strange dude we've been off for a while. Where to?
11:59 <Dagda> - Evo, university. Here
11:59 — Dagda sends the adress tag to Kit
11:59 <@Fats> * Che, your rigger, is there with you, but he's unusually silent and withdrawn: must be a fit of Red Mumps.
12:01 <Kit_Remoni> * how long is the drive?
12:02 <Nebokhod> - Kit, can you talk to the cameras there, see if they are amenable?
12:02 <Kit_Remoni> - On it.
12:02 <@Fats> Che drives you to the place: you rush through the sopkas of the evening Downtown, bustling as ever with rucorp activity, ad ARrows flashing in your face, and over the cable bridges across the bay to the skyscrapers of the Evo islands. It's just short of an hour drive when the rigger comes to a stop near the address supplied.
12:03 — Nebokhod looks around the place in astral.
12:04 <Kit_Remoni> * looking around for cameras as last time. Thread scanner 11#sd faderesist 12#sd
12:04 <ur_dnd_bot> Kit_Remoni: (pool 11) 6 hits; (pool 12) 6 hits
12:04 <Kit_Remoni> * nice
12:05 <Kit_Remoni> 12#sd scan for cameras
12:05 <ur_dnd_bot> Kit_Remoni: (pool 12) 5 hits
12:05 <@Fats> En route, your technomancer cracks the cameras around the site: they're tougher than usual at the heart of a megacorp proper, but still nothing too impressive. What the cams show mostly resembles a 24/7 party: a wide plaza filled with all metatypes and metavariants lies under soft multi-coloured glow of drone-mounted lamps. The mood, as Nebokhod can attest, is festive, and the noodle shop is no exception: drones and students mingle freely, enjoyin
12:05 <@Fats> g their time and themselves.
12:06 <@Fats> Looking at that piece of corporate proper, you'd never think you're in a nation on the brink of economic collapse, in a city locked in a syndicate war.
12:06 <Kit_Remoni> * they're dronesexual?! HERESY!
12:06 <@Fats> * corporate drones, not actual electronic drones, duh
12:07 <Kit_Remoni> - Good times are had here. Nice place for a meet, too. Or for a grab from Evo guys, but I don't exactly remember them having a beef with us.
12:07 <Nebokhod> * inb4 as you stepped through the doot you were teleported to chicago.
12:07 <Kit_Remoni> - Nebokhod, you've been in the military, right? You know all the sniper shots choice things and so on?
12:07 <Kit_Remoni> *spots
12:07 <@Fats> You'd think there's about half a thousand people on the plaza and around it, moving to and fro; half a hundred drones of all sorts hover above or buzz about their business.
12:08 <Kit_Remoni> * I assume 'behind' the noodle shop is away from cameras?
12:09 <Nebokhod> - Well, military doesn't mean novahot UGB terrorbot, you know.
12:09 <Nebokhod> * 11#sd combat tactics
12:09 <ur_dnd_bot> Nebokhod: (pool 11) 2 hits
12:11 Jamespsx → Jelena
12:11 <@Fats> Nebokhod, the places for snipers are obvious: university buildings line two sides of the plaza, and a bit in the distance, high-rise Evo corporate buildings, their surface perfect shining glass, provide a variety of firing spots.
12:11 <Kit_Remoni> - One thing I wonder - how the fuck we'll know him in this kind of crowd?
12:12 <@Fats> Kit_Remoni, nope, this is a megacorporate urban property, cameras are frequent enough to cover most of the plaza
12:12 — Nebokhod shows Kit the spots he noticed.
12:13 <Kit_Remoni> * how much time we have left for recon?
12:13 — Kit_Remoni sends microdrone to the closest spots shown by Nebokhod
12:14 <@Fats> You can't really spot anyone at the possible sniper lookouts noticed, but could be it's just your vision. As you glance up, a pair of oni walk by, chatting about the intricacies of node sculpting for sasquatch users.
12:15 <Kit_Remoni> - Jelena, I feel like you're the best to mingle with this kind of crowd. I guess checking for the plainclothes security guys is something you can do, yes?
12:16 <@Fats> I'd say about five minutes, Kit. The microdrone's having trouble maneuvering around so many other drones at an area so windy, so the video feed shakes violently in your field of vision as it goes. Still it soldiers through, and soon hovers centimeters above the nearest campus building's roof. No one here, far as you can tell.
12:17 <Jelena> * reading, give me a moment. Wish someone would have PM'd or pinged me :O
12:18 <Kit_Remoni> * sorry
12:20 <Nebokhod> - Hm, while you are indulging your paranoia, I'll go and check out the noodle shop.
12:21 — Nebokhod proceeds to the said shop and peruses the menu.
12:22 <Jelena> * Fats, what would I be rolling to smoosy around and identify any plain clothed guards? :O
12:23 <@Fats> The noodle shop is on the fancier side, Nebokhod; still it's very much an accessible fast food joint. As Lucas sits behind the shared table, the menu floats up in AR; it includes noodles with all sorts of synthetic flavouring, two sorts with natural flavours (significantly more expensive), and nothing else.
12:23 <Nebokhod> * do they offer to go and how much are the natural ones?
12:23 <@Fats> * Hm. Let's go with perception, Jelena
12:24 <Nebokhod> * 11#sd security tactics to notice if something of this nature in the shop.
12:24 <ur_dnd_bot> Nebokhod: (pool 11) 4 hits
12:25 <@Fats> Nebokhod, they do not; sharing the meal with the other eaters at the common table is a large part of the local custom. Natural flavouring is 20 nuyen (nuyen, Evo scrip and rubles are all accepted)
12:25 <Jelena> 6#sd
12:25 <ur_dnd_bot> Jelena: (pool 6) 1 hit
12:26 <@Fats> Jelena, you are sure some of the people in the crowd must be corpsec agents, but you can't really spot which ones - too many people together at once.
12:26 <Nebokhod> * do i have time enough for meal?
12:26 <@Fats> Sure you do.
12:26 <Jelena> - "Too many folks to really identify any particular ones. There are more than we'd like, let us just say."
12:27 — Nebokhod orders himself some fancy noodles.
12:27 <@Fats> And you can't notice any obvious security measures in the shop, other than the cameras overlooking the scene from just below the ceiling. The corp must be feeling at ease at the heart of its power.
12:28 <Kit_Remoni> = "At least if our opponent is not Evo, he'll have the same issues with them as we will"
12:28 <@Fats> The cook makes a show of prepping them; when they're ready, he tosses the bowl into the air, where a drone intercepts it and places it squarely before Lucas.
12:29 — Nebokhod digs in.
12:29 <Nebokhod> *with gusto
12:29 — Kit_Remoni will go on to accompany Nebokhod, while sending command to the drone to check the other building. (second one if I get it right).
12:29 <@Fats> * how experienced are you with noodles, Nebokhod?
12:30 <Kit_Remoni> - Dagda, coming or staying?
12:30 <Nebokhod> * depends on how long I've been in Vladivostok, i guess.
12:31 <@Fats> The dwarf plops on the stool near Nebokhod; the AR menu in his field of vision is very much the same. As he walks, his drone struggles to another roof; clear there for all he can see, again.
12:31 <@Fats> Nebokhod, for all your limited experience with the dish, these are by far the best noodles you've ever tasted.
12:32 <Nebokhod> - You know, these are damn fine noodles, Kit.
12:33 — Jelena wanders over to investigate, not the people, but the noodles. It's been a damn long time since she had some good noodles worth the nuyen.
12:33 <Kit_Remoni> - We should get out to the nice places more often
12:33 — Nebokhod makes a note of this place and it's location in his commlink.
12:34 <Nebokhod> * inb4 check-ins
12:34 — Kit_Remoni orders whatever Nebokhod is having. Drone does a circle around the shop to check if anyone is waiting yet
12:36 <@Fats> As the runners make their orders, a man in a casual Zoe suit takes the place near them. Once he gets his bowl, he casts a sidelong glance at the runners and says quietly enough to be heard by the runners but not the other patrons over the noise of the crowd and the shop: "So, you are the ones Dagda's running with, right?"
12:36 <Kit_Remoni> * casual Zoe
12:37 <Nebokhod> - And who're you might be? The infamous Thin Bear?
12:37 <@Fats> Kit_Remoni, Jelena, the local cuisine is up to the challenge of satisfying any kind of a noodle gourmet.
12:37 <Kit_Remoni> * btw, where the drek is dagda?
12:37 <@Fats> * I presume he's with you, PLC must be distracted
12:39 <@Fats> - Oh no, - the man turns to you, revealing a multi-faceted eye that's covering the half of his Japanese face that was concealed from you; his mouth is eternally torn in a kind of a painful smile as a mandiblade sticks from under his cheek, - I am your Johnson for today. And don't be scared, I am a metahuman just as much as you; just had a very unfortunate SURGE.
12:40 <Nebokhod> * 7#sd assensing
12:40 <@Fats> Well, that explains the lisp, at the very least, you figure.
12:40 <ur_dnd_bot> Nebokhod: (pool 7) 2 hits
12:40 <@Fats> Nebokhod, you're reasonably sure that his aura is indeed that of a non-awakened metahuman, not a bug spirit.
12:41 — Kit_Remoni immediately fumbles chopsticks somewhere. Then turns around to check if anyone looking similarly is in the vicinity.
12:42 <Jelena> - "I would apologise, but such things are not anyones fault. Thank you for suggesting this location - these noodles are... quite good."
12:42 <Nebokhod> - You have a gift for undertsatemant, mon ami.
12:42 <@Fats> <Kit_Remoni> * casual Zoe | Yeah, it's very sharp and stylish, but purposefully casual. The line's designed for the new-age megacorps like Horizon or Yakuza, as well as New Style Yakuza and others preferring casual but still willing to show off their wealth.
12:42 <Kit_Remoni> - Luke?!
12:42 <Nebokhod> - Yes?
12:43 <@Fats> - You haven't seen half of it, mon sher, - the man answers. Lucas is pretty sure what's under his suit is not a bog-standard human body, either
12:44 <Kit_Remoni> - I hope your calmness means we're not overrun. *breathes, considers whether to return to eating*
12:44 <Nebokhod> - Not really sure if I want to. But enough of the banter. Let's talk business.
12:46 <@Fats> - You're welcome, - he answers to Jelena; one would say "smiling warmly" if his insectile grimace could be called a smile, - Yes, let's talk business. And the business is simple. I need you to travel to Khabarovsk today, take a train back to Vladivostok there. Meet a man of mine on that train; take a bag off his hands. Deliver this bag back to me, regardless of circumstances, no questions asked and seals unbroken. I'm paying five thousand each; se
12:46 <@Fats> ven if there's violence.
12:48 <Nebokhod> * time for some face magic if we have one.
12:49 <Jelena> - "Any known hired guns protecting this man? Or train security worth noting?" She smiles back, all too aware that this mans life can't be as easy as others.
12:49 <@Fats> - Ah yes, we are worried there will be violence, - he adds, - which is why you'll be going there by train today - we have men at the railway terminal that'll get you on board without a scan.
12:50 <Kit_Remoni> - Is violence from any specific parties expected? Like 'this is stolen from that megacorp, or this is nuclear fission material which will light up on every single scanner in the vicinity'?
12:50 <@Fats> - Train security is scarce nowadays, maybe a dozen armed men; of course that's much less of an issue now that every train on Transsib is convoyed by an armoured train.
12:52 <@Fats> - Which part of "no questions asked and no seals broken on the bag" don't you understand? I won't tell you where it comes from or what's inside; the people after it are likely to be the local criminals. I am sure we lost them before Khabarovsk, though.
12:54 <@Fats> * waiting for your replies
12:54 <Kit_Remoni> - That's exactly what I'm asking about. Question was not the contents, but who wants it. 'kay, is the stuff fragile or likely to blow up in our face?
12:54 <Kit_Remoni> - Again, just to know whether or not paradropping it from the plane is one of the options
12:54 <@Fats> - Neither. Non-metallic, too.
12:55 <@Fats> - I-I'm not sure where the plane comes into the equation, though, unless you own one. Otherwise, only trains will be involved.
12:56 <Kit_Remoni> - Well, for one, you sound like everyone expects it to be on that train. Trying something else is one of the ways to skip opposition and violence alltogether
12:57 <Jelena> - "Do we return the bag back to here, or another location for your convinience?"
12:58 <Nebokhod> * do not forget to ask for raise.
12:58 <@Fats> - Oh, it's up to you how exactly you get it here, as long as the coppers aren't sticking their noses into it, and it's safe and sound, - the man lisps to Kit.
12:59 <@Fats> The Asian sends Jelena an address at the waterfront in the Khasan Coast district: "Here's where the bag needs to go, no later than tomorrow evening. You will be expected there"
13:03 <@Fats> * I'm waiting for your actions. If you want to negotiate on the price, feel free to roll Charisma+Negotiation
13:03 <Kit_Remoni> * yeah, I'm thinking about that. Anyone has something better than 4 edgedice?
13:03 <Jelena> - "A very time concerned job. And yet it isn't worth eight thousand each if violence is unavoidable?" Jelena makes a point to look to Kit and give a small shrug.
13:04 <Kit_Remoni> - I agree. Also police is after it too. And in fact lack of attention and violence - which requires more efforts - will be met with *less* money. I'd say 8 each regardless of ways we choose to get your stuff
13:04 <Jelena> 17#sd Charisma(7)+Negotiation(10)
13:04 <ur_dnd_bot> Jelena: (pool 17) 2 hits
13:04 <@Fats> * great rolls runners
13:04 <Jelena> * r u 'avin a giggle m8
13:04 <Kit_Remoni> * edgereroll it. And I'd like to help
13:04 <Kit_Remoni> * remind me helpother mech?
13:05 <Jelena> * I forget how Edge works - is it a reroll, plus your maximum Edge?
13:05 <@Fats> - Violence is not unavoidable and not even, I want to believe, likely. But posssible, posssible. The cops are not in on our little operation, either; they won't be looking for you specifically.
13:05 <Nebokhod> * roll the dice that didn't hit.
13:05 <@Fats> * nah, it's either roll+edge and use rule of six; or reroll the dice that did not come up as hits (15 dice in your case)
13:06 <Jelena> * Cool, I'll reroll dice that didn't come up then
13:06 <Jelena> 15#sd MOMA NEEDS NEW SHOES
13:06 <ur_dnd_bot> Jelena: (pool 15) 5 hits
13:06 <@Fats> * Kit_Remoni, you roll the same test; each hit you make is added as a dice pool bonus to the primary actor
13:06 <Kit_Remoni> * 4#sdx
13:06 <ur_dnd_bot> Kit_Remoni: (pool 4, exploding) critical glitch!
13:06 <Kit_Remoni> * fuck
13:06 <@Fats> * mmmmmonsterroll
13:07 <Kit_Remoni> * Spend edge to negate, or it is inevitable now?
13:07 <Kit_Remoni> * is it
13:07 <@Fats> * edge can only be used once on a roll if I remember
13:08 <Kit_Remoni> * then I brace for meta-anger and ingame fuckery
13:08 <Kit_Remoni> * =(
13:08 <@Fats> As you haggle over the details of the payment, the man seems to cave easily to your advances, Jelena; but Kit's comments, perhaps for his translator being imperfect, are out-of-place and frankly often rude, so you're back at 6 each for a silent run and 8 for violence.
13:09 <Kit_Remoni> = Oops.
13:10 <Jelena> * can I etiquette for us to depart without further insulting/etc, and get to our payday? :P
13:11 <@Fats> * That's included in your spectacular 7 successes
13:11 <Nebokhod> * get us away with this treachery:)
13:12 — Jelena bows as she is the last to leave to scene, muttering at a low volume "They did not mean YOU were the drekhead, I hope you understand. It was just an offhand joke, rude, but such is humor for some." She curtsies and attempts to quickly returns to the rest of the team.
13:14 <@Fats> The man returns the bow with a nod, apparently hardly perturbed by verbal abuse, sends an ARrow with details as to where the runners might meet his people on the train terminal ("truck gate 19"), and returns to his noodles.
13:15 <Kit_Remoni> - At least we had a good meal, right?
13:15 <@Fats> The drone that delivered the runners' bowls now hurries between the kitchen and their places to get the dirty bowls washed
13:16 <Jelena> - "Heh, yes indeed."
13:16 <Kit_Remoni> * pays for the stuff and returns to the van
13:16 <Nebokhod> - Kit, run a search on this man, see if he is what he says he is.
13:17 <@Fats> * I cowardly suggest we wrap up about here, I'm not really feeling to well and we're short at least two players
13:17 <Kit_Remoni> * OK
13:17 <Nebokhod> *ok.
13:17 <Jelena> * Sure, gm'ing when you're feeling rough is never a fun expeirence
13:18 <Kit_Remoni> * what, you've never GMed with fever? :)
13:18 <Kit_Remoni> * it makes your descriptions incredibly vivid and trippy
13:18 <@Fats> * GMing itself gives me fever :ь
13:19 <@Fats> * anyway, get 2 karma, think what you'll be taking on the train with you, blast me with feedback
13:19 <@Fats> ==== SESSION 2 END ====