Neon Rust — IC

[Fialova]

Ryoko resists, with all her might, the urge to roll her eyes as Kindred lists off his reasoning for preferring NowBurger and its deals. It is clear who grew up in these parts and who is just here out of desperation, she thinks, recalling Elodie's distaste for her employer's favorite chain. Can't say I'm looking to return to NowBurger anytime soon myself, but looks like we'll be going there again if he has anything to say about it. She sighs, turning to Li Fei at her suggestion.

"Dark and quiet is ideal, let's do the Rowdy Peach then. As much as I'd love some Pho, we are not getting any solitude there." She listens again as Kindred gives his philosophy of megacorps, half-amused at his assessment of their doc. "Fuck Robodyne," she adds, at his mention of her former employer. And the rest of them too, for good measure. Not that I can expect him to share the sentiment.

[Namelessjake]

At Li Fei's suggestion, you head for the Rowdy Peach, pulling up in your new taxi a short while later. All that greets you outside is a neon sign, the graffitied over and blacked out windows blocking off the cocktail bar's interior from the bustle of the street.

Heading inside you find the bar relatively quiet but far from devoid of customers. The bar is dark and filled with cigarette smoke, lit only by a series of neon lights by the bar itself, which pulse and scan across the room, temporarily bathing it in vibrant pinks and blues before dimming only to pulse once more, with greens and yellows.

"Table for five?" The hostess asks, not waiting for an answer before guiding through the room and over to a vacant circular booth. "Here are the food and drink menus, I'll be back in a couple of minutes to take your order," she says with a smile, handing out the thin plastic menus as you file into the faux-leather seats.

Drinks Menu

Cocktails

Tequila Old Fashioned $20
Caldera Mezcal 92, Bitters, Agave Nectar.

Prometheus Special $25
Water Topped With Flaming Orinov Star Vodka.

Mojito $18
White Rum, Mint, Lime, Sugar Syrup.

The Red Zone $16
Red Wine, Arcadian Brandy, Cherry Soda.

Whiskey Sour $20
Veridon Rye, Lemon, Sugar Syrup, Bitters, Wonderfoam

The Overdrive $18
Orinov Star Vodka, Rocket Racer Energy Drink, Lime.

Other Drinks

Galaxy Brew Hazy IPA $12
Hazy Dry Hopped IPA, Fruity Citrus Flavours.

Chrome Heart Pale Ale $12
Full-bodied Balanced Pale Ale.

Pilster 12 $6
Easy Drinking Lite-Pilsner.

NuCola $6
Carbonated Classic Cola.

Rocket Racer $8
Carbonated Energy Drink.

Aqua $10
Real Prometheus Water.

Food Menu

Food

Chargrilled Kebabs $15
Flame grilled "Meat"^TM Served With Potato Style Fries.

BBQ Tofu Sliders $14
BBQ Flavoured Tofu Served On Bread With Potato Style Fries.

Mushroom Arancini $12
Crispy rice balls stuffed with mushrooms.

Fresh Crab Rangoons $14
Four Freshly Stuffed Crab Rangoons

Yakisoba Stirfry $16
Stir Fried Noodles and Vegetables.

[ratwizard]

Li Fei cracks a laugh at Kindred's response, her opinion of the man softening somewhat. "I run a cyber chop shop, old man. Of course it was Robodyne." Her eyebrows raise at Ryoko's comment. Seems like she's got a bone to pick. Maybe she can help get me access to clone some of their engineering?

Once they arrive at the Rowdy Peach, Li Fei slides into a booth and ignores the menus. She knows what they have — it's what they had last week. As she waits for the others, she nods at Ryoko. "What's your deal with Robodyne? They burn you on a contract or something?" she asks, keeping her voice low but conversational.

[Scratcherclaw]

Reiji squints through the neon haze of the restaurant, grimacing at the smell before sliding into the sticky pleather seat. His gaze meets the menu, the print only legible when the dancing lights cast a certain way. Potato style fries? At least they're honest, but what the fuck does that even mean? He traces through the meager selection, trying to find the least suspicious option. I guess in this part of town, most of it's gonna be a little suspicious. But I never thought you'd have to go to uptown for a fucking real potato.

"Burned a lot more than just her," Reiji says at Li Fei's question without even looking up from the menu. "But I'll let her do the honors."

[Fialova]

"Let's just say they've fucked over a large portion of my family, including myself," Ryoko says to Li Fei, as she slips into the booth after her and Reiji. "Not to mention firing me recently, which is why I'm now living and working here instead of at the Arabashi HQ." Finally in her seat, she glances over the menus and her eyes are immediately drawn to the Yakisoba. Wouldn't have expected to find this in a place like, well, this.

"Anything I should avoid?" she asks Li Fei, knowing the woman is familiar with the menu. "I have an idea of what to get, but I imagine you have some insider info on what is good and what's shit."

OOC for everyone

Arabashi is one of several Robodyne subsidiaries

[ratwizard]

"Yeah, don't get the crab rangoon unless you want to spend the rest of the evening back there," Li Fei answers, hiking a thumb toward a narrow corridor labeled RESTROOMS. "Everything else is a safe bet. So Arabashi, huh?" She whistlers through her teeth. "I think I heard about that. That new exec really put you guys through a wood chipper, huh?"

Her face tightens into a sour frown. "Sorry to hear and all. Of course, that makes you a pretty valuable ally right now. I bet you know all sorts of shit about their wares."

[Eintei]

Elodie places her jacket on the seat with extreme precision, then sits down on it. This time the smell doesn't make her nauseous at least - seeing men get shot in front of her eyes probably hardened her stomach. None of the things on the menu look appetizing, but she's not sure if she'll get another chance to eat today. Guess I have no choice. Anything that includes the word Style or has a trademark after the term Meat is out of the question though. Following Li Fei's advice as well that leaves her with only two options, so she reluctantly settles on the Arancini. Those are probably easiest to share with Kindred if needed.

She listens to Ryoko and feels a familiar rush of anger towards the megacorp on the woman's behalf. So she was also forced to come here after being screwed over by a corp. It feels strangely reassuring to know she's not the only one at this table. "Indeed, miss Ryoko, I'm sorry to hear that - it's an unpleasant position to find yourself in. And while it could be useful to draw from your knowledge about them in the future, I assume they made you sign an NDA?" Though who knows what that's worth here in Hawthorne.

[BartNL]

This peach sure is less rowdy than implied. Hell, they even serve Promwater here. Kindred thinks, shaking his head as he scans over the menu for something palatable.
"Both "Meat"^TM and potato style fries, we're in for a real treat tonight. Oh, and it's been a while since I've had a rocket racer. We always had those at the office, shame the local stores all stopped carrying them, right miss Lind."

"Company born and bred and then cast out? That's harsh." Kindred says in an earnest tone, Ryoko's story remembering him of his younger days.

[Namelessjake]

"Okaaay," the waitress says with a smile as she returns to your table. "Do we know what we're having yet?" She asks, getting ready to take your order.

[Scratcherclaw]

"Uhh, yeah," Reiji starts as the waitress returns, not wanting an endless cycle of "we still need a few" while Ryoko shares her tale. Damn, that's always awkward. They're always like "take your time" but you know they don't mean it. "Could I do a NuCola and the Yakisoba Stirfry?" Kinda surprised they even have vegetables in a place that doesn't even have potatoes, but whatever.

 

[BartNL]

"The kebabs and an overdrive for me miss."

[ratwizard]

Li Fei turns her attention to the waitress, eager to get their orders in so she can continue to pick Ryoko's brain.

"Yeah, a Red Zone and the sliders." The irony has yet to wear off of her favorite drink being named after a terrorist plot her parents were seemingly implicated in. I'll drink to both their spirit and their failure, she justifies to herself. At least their daughter's made rent today.

[Namelessjake]

"Preem choices," the waitress says taking down the first of the orders. "And for you gals?" She asks looking to Ryoko and Elodie.

[Fialova]

"Yeah, a proper dynamist nutjob," Ryoko responds to Li Fei, the setting and their recent success making her feel a little more comfortable talking about herself with her new coworkers. "Anyone not in the cult got axed, or at least those who had not learned to fake it. Brought in a whole bunch of outsiders, last I heard. Still got a buddy on the inside who sends info now and then." She listens and nods as the three of them offer their condolences. It's just a job, but I guess it's true. Being born and raised into it makes it feel that much worse, I guess.

"The yakisoba and a glass of your Galaxy Brew for me, thanks," she says, interrupting her own line of thought to respond to the waitress. Once she has left with their orders, she turns back to Li Fei.

"Know a good amount, seeing as I'm pretty decked out in 'em myself. Enforcers get the good stuff, and that tool of a CEO was too focused on cutting non-cultists to think about the repercussions of sending us on our way with the goods still intact. I imagine they'll come around looking to recoup their losses at some point, but fuck 'em. Should get a heads up before that happens from my buddy, and if not I'll just cut 'em down. Taught a lot of them what they know, they shouldn't be hard to dispose of." 

Turning back to Elodie, she adds, "we all signed NDAs constantly there, but with the change in staff I imagine their records are in shambles for now. And if not, then, again: fuck 'em. You want a peek, doc?" she asks, turning back to Li Fei with the final words. "Sure, works for me. You keep me tuned up, you can have your way with studying, or reverse engineering, or whatever it is you're looking for."

[ratwizard]

Damn, didn't even need to sign a contract with her. She must really hate Robodyne if she's willing to let me tinker.

"Shit yeah, I want a peek. If all it takes is a timely tune-up and free installs on new chrome, I can't say no to that," Li Fei admits, giving a smug nod. "It goes for all of you. If you need a patch, whether cyber or organic, call Red Devil. Nobody in Hawthorne does what I do. At least, not like me."

She frowns, something that Ryoko said seeming to finally click. "Hold on. You really think they'd send some of these fuckers at you? If they had their shit together, that is."

[Eintei]

Fair point, Elodie thinks, and then turns towards the waitress. "For me the Mushroom Arancini and the Aqua, please," she says, keeping her voice flat and her face straight.

[Namelessjake]

"Nova! Got it, I'll be right back," the waitress says once Elodie and Ryoko have given their orders. She returns a few minutes later with your drinks on a tray, placing them down on the table. "The food won't be long, enjoy," she adds before heading back towards the bar.

[Scratcherclaw]

"If they do, well... it's not like you're flying solo anymore," Reiji says to his cousin as she mentions other enforcers being sent to collect. "We're in this together, so we've got your back, cuz." He shrugs. "Seems like half those execs are dumbasses anyway. Getting their trucks stolen, firing their kill squads. Fucking business geniuses."

[Fialova]

Ryoko shrugs. "Probably, but not like I'm the only person they'd be trying to collect from. They canned a ton of people, and many of them left with a lot more difficulty than me. Plus, like I said, a friend on the inside. If they do come my way, I doubt it would be for a good while." Turning to Reiji, she offers him a soft smile.

"Nice to know I still got family I can turn to, even slumming it here in Hawthorne," she says, before glancing back towards Li Fei. "No offense." I imagine he doesn't really speak for the rest of them, though. Doubt the others are as eager to catch a bullet for a stranger.

[ratwizard]

"Hawthorne's a shithole," Li Fei agrees with a shrug. "But it's home. Lot of chrome to be sold, serviced, or stolen around here, too. It keeps me in business."

Well, almost.

[Scratcherclaw]

Reiji takes a sip from his NuCola, giving the sort of shrug that says you're not wrong. "Eh, it's got its charm. Where else in the city can you get a $19.99 Meat Lovers Special VR Porn and Pizza combo?" He cracks a smirk, almost wondering how successful that promotion is. I mean, I guess it makes sense. Who doesn't get hungry after a good lay?

"But yeah, it's home. Can't say I miss those glittery towers anymore, though my folks keep trying to get me to visit. Love 'em, but too much of a hassle with the security checkpoints these days." He pauses for a moment, captivated by the bubbles from his drink. Is it... supposed to be fizzing this much? How corrosive is this stuff? He shrugs to himself, taking another swig before turning back to Ryoko. 

"You'll come to love the freedom here, cuz. Trust me."

[Namelessjake]

The food soon follows your drinks, arriving a few minutes after placing your orders. While far from impressive, lacking most of the real fresh ingredients one would find in the dishes served at the top restaurants in the glittering corpo towers of the plaza or even on the Ring, the Rowdy Peach serves up a perfectly serviceable meal - decidedly above average even, when compared to most Hawthorne eateries.

You're halfway through your meal and drinks when your phones buzz with a message from your fixer, De Smet.

Text to All

"Asher is pleased with your work. Not bad for a first time crew. I'll be in touch with further work, if you're interested."

Job Complete

Everyone gains $3000 each from the $15k given to Li Fei by Asher's associate.

Everyone gains 3 experience points and levels up to level 2!

[BartNL]

Mechanics

Transfer 1 Magazine and 8 Cartridges (Heavy pistol) to Elodie

[ratwizard]

Li Fei chomps down her dinner, paying little attention to the others until her belly's full. When her phone buzzes, she glances at the notification, squinting to read it in the poor lighting.

"Herk's not so bad," she admits. "If he's serious about more work, I'm in." She looks up from her phone.

"And you should be too. We did well out there tonight. Three grand — and a big bag of drugs — is proof of that. But here's the thing: if we're going to be pissing off more gangs and corpos looking for an easy payout, we gotta invest. I'm talking chrome, firepower, our ride... And we all need some body armor. I don't want to be digging a bullet out of anyone, okay? Doctor's orders."

She takes a long, noisy slurp from her Red Zone, eyeing each of you. "Of course, if this was just a one night stand, then tell me now and don't leave me dreaming."

[Scratcherclaw]

Reiji dives into his yakisoba, slurping the noodles with little care for what present company might think of the sight or sounds. Fuck, that hits the spot. Not bad for this side of town. Not bad at all.

Wiping his mouth with his paper napkin, still slightly curled from being bound around his silverware, he takes a look at his phone. "Nice. Pleased might mean, you know... she's not missing anything important." He cracks a weak smirk, still somewhat anxious over their newfound contraband but relieved that it hasn't come back to bite them yet.

"I'm definitely in. Streaming's good money, but I sometimes wanna do more than sitting in a chair, saying dumb shit to make gullible people give me money." He pauses, staring blankly ahead as his face contorts in confusion. "Why the fuck do people give me money for that?" He shakes his head. "Whatever, still gonna be a side gig. And'll help supplement those investments, yeah? Definitely wanna work on our ride. Could even get a van or something and keep the taxi for subtle stuff, you get me?"

[Fialova]

Ryoko takes a long draw of her Galaxy Brew, before eagerly beginning her meal. Better than the shit you get from the corner store, that's for sure. And a hell of a lot better than a fucking NowNow Burger. "Maybe," she responds to Reiji's optimistic assessment of her future. I can't say the freedom is bad, but not exactly thrilled to be doing odd jobs for mid tier execs for a measly $3000. And pissing off a local gang, as shit as their aim was, isn't exactly nothing.

Glancing at the text when it comes in, she quickly closes her compad back and returns to her food, mostly uninterested in the opinion of their now-former employer. Of course she's pleased, we did what she asked. She's not some big shot who can expect more. She looks up from her half-finished meal towards Li Fei after her proposition, pondering the idea while she slurps her noodles. "Because they're bored, and they think you'll actually like them if they send it," she quickly responds to her cousin, at his mention of the streaming revenue. You never went through one of those phases, huh? she muses, glancing at the man she has only barely begun to know. Guess some people have more interesting teenage years. Or stricter parents.

Turning back to Li Fei once she's finished the rest of her meal, she takes another, smaller sip of her now-dwindling Galaxy Brew, wincing at the combined flavor of the drink and the aftertaste of the yakisoba. Not a great combo, maybe a different drink next time. "Yeah, I'm in. You're all competent, and not annoying. Seems like a good fit."

Level Up!

LEVEL 2!!
Roll for new HP: [2d6]=11

Improve Save Scores: Phys 15, Eva 13, Ment 15, Luck 15 -> Phys 14, Eva 12, Ment 14, Luck 14

Improve Attack Bonus: +1 => +2

Gain Skill Points: +3, spend 2 to upgrade to Shoot-1, spend 1 to gain Notice-0

Gain New Focus: gain Drone Pilot-1, gaining associate skills and items/gear/drone

[Eintei]

There's a pang of envy at Reiji's mention of how much his fans still pay them, which she tries to get rid of by stabbing one of her mushroom balls with slightly more force than she would normally. "Sometimes it's boredom. But in my experience it was also often loneliness. People are willing to pay a lot to feel some sort of connection, even if it's just for a bit," Elodie says, remembering how attached some of her old fans were to her. They'd often tell her that it was because her music made them feel less alone - even the simple poppy ones that were about nothing at all.

She pokes at her food and endlessly stirs her drink with a straw, only occasionally taking a sip or bite. It's not as bad as I feared, but I don't think I'd come here again. "Of course, mister Palmer has the final say about these things. But I would like to keep working together for now. This mission went well, and you all clearly have skills mister Palmer and I lack between the two of us."

[Namelessjake]

Resolved to continue working together, you finish up at the Rowdy Peach before paying your bills and making your way home for the night.

You spend the next few days, decompressing as you return to something resembling normalcy, running errands and working on side projects while you wait to hear of more work from your Fixer. It isn't long though before you hear from De Smet once more, however he is not the only one. While your guns blazing high octane chase through the streets of Hawthorne barely moved the needle on the daily crime statistics, getting only the briefest of mentions on the local district news channels, some within the district were clearly paying attention as three other fixers also end up reaching out to you with offers of work - with none of them explaining how they got your contact details.

All three are recognisable names to those in the know, and quickly learned about by those not, with even the most cursory of inquiries.

An old face in the district, Rosanna Sarkozy is a member of Death's Hand, naturally with known ties to the cult's militant wing, the Bloody Horde. She is known to offer up contracts to operators that are willing to serve the doomsday cult's ends.

Arron Lyons is another legendary Hawthorne based fixer. He is known for having a stable of favoured operators, who get his best jobs, but as the go-to fixer for most non-corp non-gang prospective clients in Hawthorne he usually has plenty of work to offer round.

Similarly to De Smet, the last of the fixers to reach out, is newer on the scene and somewhat mysterious, with not too much being said about them on the street so far. Known as Faces, they have a reputation for partaking in high end cosmetic body modding, never being seen wearing the same face, or body for that matter, more than once.

Once you have finished up your personal errands, the five of your arrange to meet up at Kindred's PI office to discuss your options.

Text From Herkus De Smet

"As promised, I have another contract from Miss Asher to offer you. Three years ago Ultramax corporate “labour recruiters” snatched a KCAI researcher and Ultramax has been holding them against their will ever since. Miss Asher has decided the time is right to bring her back safely into KCAI hands. Another team already attempted this job a couple of weeks ago, but unfortunately botched it. With your recent success, Miss Asher has asked specifically for your team to reattempt the extraction. The payout is $40,000. Let me know if you're interested and we can meet to discuss the details further."

Text From Arron Lyons

"Hey, heard there's a new crew on the block.

Got an easy gig some newcomers like you should be able to handle. Client's one Eliza Gilroy, runs a commie block over on 14th, you might've seen her posters around town anti-ambrosia, pro-water or something. Anyway, she's after some data on some government servers. Should be a simple in and out data heist - pay's only 10k but there'll be more where that came from if you guys are the real deal. Reliability is king in this biz. Shout if you're in. -Lyons"

Text From Rosanna Sarkozy

"If you are friends of the Hand, I have work that might interest you - hastening the end of this world so that the new world can rise from the ashes. In Northlake there is a killer, driven mad by their implants, cyberpyschosis. It is said they take keep trophies from their victims. My client is willing to be $20,000 for the retrieval of one of these trophies from the beast's lair. I trust I will hear from you."

Text From Faces

"Son of a high level corpo exec was recently kidnapped by the Horde to be traded back for blackmail material. The courier with the blackmail material apparently never showed. Got a police sergeant who wants to know where the material went, what happened to it and why. $20k.

Preem?

Faces

---

Downtime

Please specific any downtime activities you wish to have gotten up to and how long this would have taken. Barring any complaints, the longest period of downtime will be the time between missions.

During this time, if you wish, you are also free to spend money buying things that would be readily accessible to you.

Rowdy Peach Transactions

Li Fei: -$30 New total $2,995
Ryoko: -$28 New total $2,972
Reiji: -$22 New total $2,988
Kindred: -$33 New total $3,007
Elodie: -$22 New total $3,095

[Namelessjake]

OOC

Just as an FYI, the jobs you don't pick won't disappear immediately, they will remain on offer for a period of time before they are taken by another team of operators or the window of opportunity has passed. So you don't necessarily have to rule three of them completely out.

[Scratcherclaw]

After the long first day, Reiji returns to his apartment, planting face first onto his bed as his body catches up with him. What a day. He feels the gentle buzz of his phone and fishes it out of his pocket, seeing a text from his pal Iberico.

"sup amigo, got a set of wheels if you're interested. customer dropped off this piece of crap RV, real stripped down, barebones shit. said he needed it fixed so he could get away for awhile. problem is, ain't heard shit for a week so I guess whatever he was running from caught up with him. need it out of my garage though so swing by when you get a chance and take it off my hands, yeah?"

The racer raises an eyebrow, his eyes rereading the text over and over. An RV? Guess I've heard of some operators getting vans all fixed up and stuff. Could add some bunks, armor plating... Gonna be a fucking project though. He quickly shoots a text back.

"how barebones we talking? guess I'll drop by tomorrow and see. btw, need to use your shop for a couple days too"

He then sends another text, this time to his friend Niall. "?" A few minutes later, there's a knock at his door.

The next morning, he hops into the stolen cab and makes for DriveByte, making a pitstop at Hawthorne Outfitters to pick up clothes with a bit more protection. He pulls into the autobody shop alongside the promised RV, squinting as he looks at the peeling paint and barren fixtures. Okay, barebones as in... literally just seats. Guess it's a blank slate though.

He spends the next couple of days alongside Iberico at the shop, fixing up the dents and dings and structural damage the cab had taken during the car chase. He finds himself smirking as he covers up the residual carbon, scraped off a ganger's motorcycle. With the help of Iberico's tools and a banger playlist, Reiji eventually sends the cab back to his apartment's garage looking better than it had when they'd found it. Giving Iberico a wave, he starts up the RV and follows the AI-driven cab home.

Reiji spends the next couple days doing his usual routine: streaming for his fans, taking part in a couple street races, and hooking up with various Hawthorne hotties. Hopping in his cab, he picks up whoever else needs a ride and makes for Kindred's office.

"So, what're we thinking? Could be smart to get in good with Lyons. Dude's a fucking legend. But that 40k from Asher's sounding pretty sick," he says, looking at his new friends' faces, curious what they think. "Not that I want us to end up as her personal attack dogs or whatever."

Downtime

Purchasing Armored Clothing and spending 2 days repairing 6 of the cab's HP. Otherwise, he'd just pick up his motorcycle and the RV, and then vibe until he got the text to meet up

[BartNL]

Kindred thorougly enjoys his "Meat"^TM kebabs with potato style fries, accompanied by the rocket racer cocktail. I should come back another time, and inquire about their rocket racer supplier. Maybe they can hook the office up with rocket again.

"Welcome to my humble office." Kindred says as Elodie leads his guest inside through a maze of folders and boxes, some labelled with case numbers other's with "property of the Hawthorne public school board -sponsored by Electric Vixens Club".
"Lyons?" Kindred shakes his head in dismissal. "$10k split? Not worth it. We can't afford to start lowering our rates when we just started building rep. And I can't afford to spend my time on small fry jobs, anyway. I've got a business to run kid." Kindred replies, dismissive of the excitable streamstar.

Downtime

Kindred wants to gather intel on the job offers.

OOC

Regarding the Northlake cyberpyschosis killer, are there any open bounties for the killer open besides the 20k trophy retrieval?

[ratwizard]

With three grand burning a hole in her pocket, Li Fei takes her own advice and visits UrbFashion by Matteo, a clothing boutique in central Hawthorne dedicated to protective wear for VIPs and low-rent operators alike.

She picks up a soft, diamond-pleated vest with light metal plating inside, one that can be worn under her usual, blue paramedic coat. Might stop a bullet or two, she hopes.

Not stopping there, she hits up the dark spaces on New Sev's infranet, locating a street supplier of cyberdeck programs. After confirming the tapes are the real deal, she forks over half of her earnings, before returning to Red Devil Repair and locking up for the better part of a week. During that time, she works on developing her own code, one to finally give her a leg up on those pesty Demons next time.

Accepting a ride from Reiji, she arrives at the PI's office, hardly giving the cluttered space a second thought — knowing her digs aren't much better.

"Ten large will pay the bills, but that's it. However, I've got some new code to drop on those fuckers. Could be an easy job, if you can get me in the right place. Might be smart to top off our tech and chrome before we go bite off a contract like Asher's."

Downtime

Gain $3,000

Spend $1,000 on Armored Clothing
Spend $1,500 on three programs -- Avatar, Camera, Machine

Spend 6 days coding Stun

[Namelessjake]

Kindred

Make an Int/Administer check.

[BartNL]

Mechanics

Int/administer to gather more intel
[2d6]=8

[Namelessjake]

Kindred

As the job offers come in, you spend some time researching what you can given the limited details provided by the fixers. The jobs offered by De Smet and Faces are too vague to provide even a starting off point for research, but you are able to find some extra information on the other two jobs.

The "commie block", mentioned by Lyons, is actually an entity known to you - Evergreen Commons - an urban commune that took over an abandoned city block a few years ago. It has steadily grown in number over the years, now with at least a couple of hundred residents, who work together to meet the community's needs.

As for the cyberpyscho in Northlake, you are able to find several news reports that seem narrow the area down somewhat to somewhere in the Western half of the district, referring to the killer as the Northlake Butcher. While the job offered by Rosanna Sarkozy doesn't require killing the cyberpyscho, bounties on such criminals are common - usually offered by the local police departments who are ill equipped to deal with the threat.

While info on this seems unusually sparse, with Northlake officials tending to downplay the threat, you do find a bounty listed on the Northlake PD public net, offering $40,000. Though whether or not the five of you would be capable of such a feat is open to debate.

[Eintei]

As soon as the working day is over, Elodie fulfills her promise to herself and rents a small private room at the least run-down karaoke place she knows. She sings until her throat hurts, but she does feel better after that, and her head is clear enough that she can do some reflecting on today's case. As two cars drive by her at almost twice the speed limit, she wonders if they shouldn't have a better place to go to after a chase like today's than a parking lot.

So she puts that plan into practice the next day. Between running office errands and writing up a report of the Asher case, of which everyone gets a digital copy, she starts asking around Hawthorne for a safe house. An old fan ends up offering her house in case of emergency, in exchange for an autograph and a karaoke session together. On her way back from the safe house to the office she makes a detour and buys a new, thicker coat - the bullet scrape on her face is healed, but it's instilled some fear in her and she wants better protection. I wonder if I could get it modified. That's not mister Palmer's or my specialty, but maybe one of the others can help.

She returns to the office to get it ready for when the rest drops by to discuss their next job, but she doesn't get as far as she'd like to. She's barely made a dent in the maze of files and considering Kindred isn't particularly interested in the process of tidying up she doubt she'll get it done anytime soon. "Apologies for the mess," she tells everyone when they enter, and she leads them to a small table near the one window the office has. She puts an assortment of drinks on the table, bought especially for this occasion - factory-made water, some synthetic juices and even Rocket Racer Energy drink, much to Kindred's excitement. He seemed to believe her when she told him that their corner store had suddenly gotten in a one-time shipment. Sometimes I can't tell if he's really this oblivious or if he just pretends to be.

She listens to the rest discuss their next mission as she starts rearranging the files on one of the shelves near the table. "Sir, while I understand your concerns, I do think it might be worth looking into the Lyons or Faces offer. Those seem to deal with some sensitive information, and you and I both know how far good sensitive information can get you," she points out.

Downtime

Found a safe house in Hawthorne (Safe Haven)

Spent $500 on a Reinforced Longcoat

[Fialova]

With little that needs doing, and no real friends in the area to her name, Ryoko spends most of the next several days exploring the neighborhood and helping her mom around the house. In so doing, she stumbles upon a disposed set of drone chassis that she brings home and, with some spare parts from around town and from Li Fei and Reiji, she assembles a few drones for her own amusement, and hopefully for future use on missions.

When the time comes, she makes her way to Kindred's firm on foot, much the same way she attended their first meeting. She frowns at the sight of the mess within, which, though not surprising, is quite off-putting to her. Given his taste in food, I can't say I'm surprised. After listening to the offers she nods to the others, saying, "I agree, Asher's is too risky for us in our current state. Lyons would be my first choice. Lower pay, but the promise of regular work from a more well-known fixer should benefit us in the long run. If not, I say Faces. No interest in getting involved with the cultists." Not leaving Dynamist-controlled Arabashi just to get caught up in another group of loons.

[BartNL]

Kindred grabs a stack of files from his desk, knocking over some empty bottles of rocket razer and bricht blue flavour soda's.
"Take a look." Kindred says, not bothered by the bottles rolling over the floor. "That cyberpyscho is worth a 40k bounty on top of getting the trophy. There're probably good reasons why nobody has managed cashing out said bounty. I've also got more intel on Lyons job, or rather on the employer. That commie block is a rapidly growing commune of over one hundred souls. Why I don't have any qualms on hacking the gov, I'd rather avoid working for groups. " Kindred scrapes his throat, after showing the fruits of his labour. "My preference is Faces. Decent money, low profile, and no cyberpyscho killer."

[ratwizard]

"Faces, then," Li Fei decides on a whim. "Working for a cop's not my cup of tea, but twenty grand is twenty grand."

She turns toward Elodie. "You're the closest thing to a diplomat we have. And you definitely don't want me talking to these fixers. Can you make contact for us?"

[Scratcherclaw]

"A real cop's better than a corpo cop," Reiji considers with a shrug as the others make their opinions know. "But I could deal with that. Better than dealing with some wacko cultist. Faces it is then." Hope we can still get an in with Lyons after this though...

[Fialova]

"Ouch, cuz," Ryoko responds to Reiji, offering him a slight smile. "But yeah, anything is better than dealing with cultists, trust me on that," Ryoko adds, glad to be settling on one of the safer jobs. No fucking way I was doing that Hand job.

[Eintei]

Elodie nods at Li Fei and sends a text to Faces, saying that they'll take the mission and where and when they can meet up. Thank goodness we won't be chasing the cyberpsychotic murderer. I am not ready for that.

"I've contacted Faces," she says, and then she fishes a piece of paper out of her pocket. She folds it open and lays it in the middle of the table. "Before I forget - I've arranged a safe house for us. It's the home of an old fan of mine. Could you please either memorize this address or note it down somewhere you are sure no one can find it?"

[Namelessjake]

It only takes a few minutes for Elodie to receive a reply from the mysterious fixer, along with attached location data.

"Client wants to meet you first. 1 hour."

---

An hour later you pull into an old multistory concrete parking structure, making your way up to the roof where you find a sleek black limo waiting. A tall slender feminine figure, with an extravagant green and pink neon updo and wearing a stylish leather jacket, leans against the limo - Faces, you assume. They are flanked by two chromed up bodyguards who stand at a attention, vigilantly watching as you approach with iron in hand.

"Nice to meet you - hopefully this is the start of a highly profitable relationship for all," Faces says, standing up as you exit your vehicle and offering you a hand. Their muscle remains motionless but eyes you closely.

"Client should be here in a minute, I'll let him do the explaining," the fixer adds, before, as if on cue, a marked police car emerges from the ramp. "Good timing - we'll have to get to know each other another time," Faces quips as the car pulls up and a middle aged man in a NSPD windbreaker steps out, his badge, identifying him as a Sgt. Hess, hangs from a chain around his neck, resting on an armoured vest.

"This them?" Hess asks Faces as he joins the group, who nods in reply.

"I don't know how much you know already so I'll start from the beginning. You probably are all familiar with Logan Cybernetics? Hawthorne's largest Robodyne subsidiary. Any way - their CEO, Andreas Ulrich has a reputation for holding a lot of dirt on his employees and rivals. I guess the Bloody Horde got wind of this, and wanted it for themselves, kidnapping his son Erik and holding him for ransom," Hess explains.

"The hand off was meant to be a couple days ago, but something went wrong and the case containing the blackmail never arrived. Ulrich has a security team out searching for it, in a location a couple of hours East, out of the City in the Badlands, so it seems they think it ended up out there somehow. It's a little out of my jurisdiction so I need you to get out there and find it before Ulrich's team do," the police sergeant continues.

"Any questions? Now's the time," Faces chimes in.

[ratwizard]

So this is Faces. Pretty much what I'd expect. Whatever, branding is everything.

Robodyne, huh? Li Fei thinks, raising her eyebrows, casting an errant glance toward Ryoko. Wonder how Miss Corposec Fallout over there's gonna take this one.

She listens to the police sergeant, crossing her arms. "Hold on, what do you mean 'something went wrong'? Ulrich's handler with the ransom money just takes off with it before making the drop? And why do they think it's out in the Badlands? Got some sort of tracker on it?"

[Scratcherclaw]

"Likewise," Reiji says to Faces, flashing them a smile as his eyes linger over the limo. Damn, swanky ride. If this operator thing doesn't work, maybe I can get a gig driving one of those. Bet they make a killing. He gaze darts over to the police cruiser as it pulls up, almost surprised this sergeant is operating on a semi-official capacity.

He listens to the cop give the details, wincing at the mention of Robodyne. Cuz is gonna love this one, I'm sure... Least it's not her division. He crosses his arms, raising his eyebrow at some of the explanation as it continues. "And where's the PD fit in? Can't imagine you guys are facilitating a blackmail exchange, so do you guys just want it out of both their hands?"

[Namelessjake]

"I don't know those details, I'm not with Robodyne. They're keeping things pretty close to their chest," Hess says to Li Fei. "And there was no ransom money, just the case. I imagine if it had a tracker on it, they'd have found it by now."

"We don't fit in at all - not really - like I said, out of my jurisdiction," the police sergeant says, turning to Reiji. "But, Death's Hand riling everyone up have us stretched pretty thin in Hawthorne at the moment, and it doesn't help things when the Horde are blackmailing half the force and most of the politicians."

"If you get the case back to me first, I plan to install a tracker of my own on it, then give it back to Ulrich so the trade can be made. I'm hoping it'll lead me right to wherever the Horde keep all that dirt they hold over people's heads. Getting rid of main their main source of income and power could do some real good in the district," he explains.

[Scratcherclaw]

"Gotcha, so just a means to taking down the Horde a peg. Not bad," Reiji says with a nod to the sergeant, a subtle, impressed smirk across his face. Pretty slick plan. Like something out of one of those detective shows. The actiony ones, not the mystery ones. "Sounds like we should get on the road soon then, if it's a couple hours out."

[ratwizard]

"Yeah, alright, so sniff around Ulrich's squad out there, find this case before they do, get it back to you. Sounds simple enough," Li Fei says with a shrug. Besides, those accelerationist cultists are fucking creeps. That one who came by the shop last week with the cyberlungs and self-removed ribs? That was gross. Like, even for me.

"So, any idea what this case actually looks like?"

[Namelessjake]

"Yeah gotta take opportunities when they present themselves in this town." Hess says to Reiji.

"I'll send you the location," Faces adds at the racer's mention of the drive, pulling out their phone.

"Not entirely sure, but I doubt its all physical files. It's probably actually a laptop with a rugged case exterior for protection, that'd be my guess."

[Fialova]

Mechanics

Int/Admin to see what Ryoko knows about Logan Cybernetics/their CEO: [2d6+1]=8+1=9