Lady Tonight - Investigative Reporter

[Inquisitor D]

"And that's it for now, my friends. Gentle wind, sweet waves and may luck be your Lady Tonight."

While a lot of what would be 'covert' action in other states is handled pretty openly in the Caribbean League, there's a hefty noise to signal ratio that makes it hard to tell what's important. You can't even search for "Shadowrun descends into firefight" without getting a feed full of clips that don't tell you jack. They're all blurry shots from every eyewitness with a commlink, focused on half a dozen different runs from just the last twenty four hours. That's where Lady Tonight comes in. The amateur trid show breaks down runs from across the League, taking these viral clips, adding a few more for context and using them to paint a picture of exactly what happened.

Lady Tonight's main speciality is the political angle. She's hardly the only one on the Carrib Grid doing run commentary: these clips are public and consumed pretty quickly. MeFeed reactors can tell you interesting stats about local runners, their specialities, history and add in a few jokes or anecdotes at their expense. But Tonight is more like a professional newscaster. She's pretty good at working out the context of a run - what the job was, who ended up paying for it. and what the consequences are going to be. She's largely using guess work, lacking the budget for a proper investigation team, but she's got the knowledge about key movers and shakers in League politics to guess pretty accurately. If you want a starting point for understanding the shadow scene in the Caribbean, you could do worse than watch Lady Tonight

• Okay, okay, but who is she? You don't just 'decide' to start blowing the whistle in the nation where police protection is a joke. Most runs in the League are done on spec: a team hits a valuable target then tries to talk a Johnson into paying for the goods. That's why they go flashy - it's basically an ad campaign. But Tonight focuses on the more 'mainland' stuff: runs commissioned by the corps and island governors, big raids and big scores. Some of that's the kinda data folks would much rather stay dark. Who's she with? What's her backup?
• Cindy Kit
   
• I can throw out some options - she could be Frater Verda trying to push discontent with Martinez. Or maybe she's a corp plant trying to stir things up in Borinquen by whistleblowing on La Presidenta's allies. There's a lot of allegations thrown her way, and most of them could fit. But I'm not seeing real proof that she's affiliated with anyone. The show's a solo act. She does interviews sometimes, but they're more 'confrontational', not your standard corporate puff piece. She comes off like an independent journalist, and that's winning her some fans.
• Groucho Marxist

Tonight's recently gotten some buzz for behind the camera reasons. One of her livestreams was interrupted by heavy gunfire and the wall behind her giving way. While the broadcaster's okay, she's seemingly had to change location pretty fast. She's now operating from a run down looking spot, that she claims is somewhere in Miami. No word on who was gunning for her, or if they're going to take a second shot. There's a few active betting pools on the CaribNet, if you're looking to gamble.

• Okay. This is a guess. But I think I know her story.
• I was in Havana a few months to see Max Okanto. He's an old pirate captain that's mostly settled down with a spot in the Legislature as representative for Laguay: sitting on his money, broking deals between the younger captains, that kinda thing. Was hoping to get a line on some naval support from him. Right as I was walking up to his door, a young lady was storming out, yelling at him while he laughed about it.
• And looking at the image of her in the file, I'm pretty sure his angry visitor was Lady Tonight.
• Okanto grinned when I asked him about her. Turns out she's his daughter, child of a marriage that didn't work out. Mom ran to Miami with nothing back during a dark period - raid on Aztlan territory had blown up in Okanto's face and he had the Batistas gunning for him too. "More than that woman could handle. Not like the little one." Apparently, the daughter's grown into some kind of technical expert, and came back to study Matrix Design in the University of Havana. He seems fond of her; Okanto's the type to enjoy an argument, and he showed me a few pictures of the young girl, her pa and a cannon.
• If Tonight's Okanto's kid, you've got a bunch of answers right there. She's grown up around League politics, and probably shares some of her mother's scepticism about how the League works, if she's arguing with her old man. She's got the skill to put the show together and most of the data Tonight uses is public. Okanto probably would like to use a media personality to his advantage, but they don't seem to be getting along well enough for that. This lines up pretty well
• Picador
   
• Except if she is independent, this doesn't answer how she's still around. No random tech nerd without backup is surviving an hit that's bringing heavy duty machine gun fire. Maybe she's playing a long game for her dad? Okanto could easily afford a protection team for his babygirl.
• Abracadavre
   
• Assuming he actually cares about her. Not sure I'd make that bet. Old sharks like that don't get that way by being sentimental.
• Plus, I actually pitched my team to pull bodyguard duties for her, back when I was meeting with Max. Didn't know about the Tonight thing then. I just thought it might be an in for us - some light bodyguard work in return for setting us up with the naval contacts I wanted. And he got defensive fast. Most of the time, Max likes to bargain, see if he can get a better deal. He did not want to talk about us providing his daughter our protection. There's something there the old man doesn't feel like sharing.
• Picador

Edited April 17 by Inquisitor D (see edit history)

[Inquisitor D]

Party Role: Backup - Tonight's one true specialization is perception - using her camera, she's an expert on searching the area and her Matrix Search skills are similarly on point. Among Shadowrunners, her biggest strength is her versatility - she can't hack as well as a dedicated Decker, but she's no slouch in Cybercombat - taking out IC, bricking devices or using Sprites to get more esoteric goals down. In meatspace, she doesn't have the wide array of tools or direct control a true Rigger has, but she's got a well armored security drone with a big gun on it - it should be enough to provide backup in a firefight. And while she's no conwoman, she's pretty good at more straightforward negotiations. Where the team has a specialist, Tonight can help them shine. Where they don't, or need multiple, she's able to step up.

Priorities: B (Attributes) B (Skills) C (Technomancer) D (Metatype) D (Resources)

 

Attributes

Body	2
Agility	2
Reaction	3
Strength	1
Charisma	5
Intuition	6
Logic	5
Willpower	5

Special Attributes

Edge	2/7
Resonance	6/6

Condition Track	9Phys/11Stun
Initiative, Physical	9+1d6
Initiative, Matrix	11+3/4d6
Dodge	9
Armor	12

 

Skills

Compiling	6	12
Computer	6	11
Electronic Warfare	6	11
Software	6	11
Cybercombat	6	11
Gunnery	4	9
Pilot - Aerospace	4	9
Registering	4	10
Performance	2	7
Perception	1	7

Skill Groups

Influence (Etiquette, Leadership, Negotiation)

5

Knowledge Skills

English	Language	N
Spanish	Language	5	11
Creole	Language	5	11
Forensics	Professional	6	11
Gaming	Interest	4	10
News	Professional	6	11
Politics*	Professional	6	11

*Speciality - Caribbean League

Qualities

Positive	Points	Negative	Points
Profiler	3	Sinner: National (Caribbean League)	-5
Analytical Mind	5	Brittle (Sleaze)	-5
Candle in the Darkness	5	Distinctive Style	-5
Fame: National (Caribbean League)	8	Day Job: Reporter (20 hours)	-10
One with the Matrix II	8	Pacifist I	-10
Resonance Stream: Mechanist	20	Code of Honour (Seek the Truth)	-15

Living Persona

Attribute	Rating
Device Rating	6
Attack	5
Sleaze	5
Data Processing	5
Firewall	5
Noise Reduction	5
Sharing	5

Complex Forms

Primed Charge

Resonance Spike

Resonance Veil

LOTO

 

 

 

Gear

Press Pass	50	(Carrib League)
Executive Suite	2000
Lifestyle: Low	2000	One Month
Pro Cam (Rating 8)	15300
- Sensor Array (Rating 8)		Vision Magnification
		Radio Signal Scanner
		Camera (Rating 6), VE - 3, Thermal, Image Link
		O-D Mic (Rating 6), AE - 3, Spacial Rec, Sound Link
		O-D Mic (Rating 6), Select Sound Filter (Rating 3)
		Directional Microphone (Rating 6)
		Olfactory Scanner
		MAD Scanner

Drones

CU^3 Professional	6000
(Camera 3, O-d Mic)	-
F-B Bumblebee	24,000
(Camera 3, Flare Comp, O-d Mic)	250
Speed Upgrade - 4	6,400
Acceleration Upgrade - 2	1,600
Explosive Rounds - 50	400

 

 

 

 

Contacts

Name	Type	Connection	Loyalty
Alison Ingram	Mechanic	3	4
Max Okanto (Family)	Politican	6	1
Mavis Subota	Pirate	2	3
Myzeri	Hacker	2	1

 

Edited April 17 by Inquisitor D (see edit history)

[saithor]

@Inquisitor D Sheet still seems pretty unfinished, do you think you'll have it ready by the 20th?

[Inquisitor D]

Oh sure. TBH I was worrying that my concept, both character and lore wise, was kinda redundant... but I finished my sheet, I can finish transcribing it.

[Inquisitor D]

I think that should be it for gear and stats. I'd like to expand my 'background' section on Tonight, but I'm not sure where best to go with it - the faux article format kinda hemmed me in. If you've got questions, I'm happy to add more detail, answer questions and the like. Otherwise... I guess I'll do a proper write up for the contacts, explain who they are and stuff, then try to think what else I can expand on smoothly.