Scene 1: The Meeting

[Bobcloclimar]

The rain falls unerringly on the lonely streets, driving the more reputable citizens indoors and leaving only the seediest denizens hurrying through the concrete jungle on errands of dubious legality and ill tidings. The address provided by the generic "Johnson" avatar on the other end of the vidchat squats at the end of a block of cinder-brick construction, comfortably nestled between the identical, anonymous structures. The perfect place for a clandestine meeting with a corpo keen to keep their work off the books.

 

You step into the foyer and wait there with the other freelancers and the solitary, buzzing camera facing the entryway. This building, like the others nearby, has seen better days - the paint is peeling, the lights are flickering, and the furniture creaks ominously for those choosing to sit down. After some time, a door on the opposite wall slides open silently, and a huge man festooned with chrome waves you through. A long table dominates the adjoining room, a neatly-dressed corporate type with a severe expression sitting at the far end. As you all sit down, the slab of steely muscle nods to the other and closes the door, taking up position outside and leaving you alone with the suit.

 

"Aaron Vershin," the man introduces himself. "I'll get right to the point. Two days ago, my employer, Manticore Industries, lost an... asset. We would like to see this asset recovered, without any of the public embarrassment that might occur if we pursued more... legitimate channels." He frowns and looks each of you in the eye, emphasizing the need for discretion. "We possess in our fleet a special vehicle, the Free Rain, a vehicle which occasionally sees use for certain... assignments where we prefer to keep a low profile. Two days ago, it disappeared; whoever the thieves are, we suspect they intend to change its identification codes and move it out of the city as soon as possible. We need you to locate the vehicle and repatriate it to Manticore Industries. In compensation for this service, we are willing to provide each of you with $500. And our gratitude, of course."

 

Vershin finishes his pitch and drums his fingers on the table. "I imagine you have questions."

[Feirgon]

Wolf

"Do we have somewhere to look? You obviously believe the vehicle to still be in the city, so something must be informing that thought."

The question comes from female in her early twenties. She has red hair and carries a backpack filled to nearly it's max capacity. There is tone of arrogant annoyance in her voice, but to anyone carefully listening, it is only the facsimile of those emotions. If anything, she is attempting to hide her excitement while also giving the impression of a hardened individual to the prospective employer.

She crosses her arms and attempts to calmly wait for a response.

[Thot]

ARMAND

---

With his gang dead, or disbanded, Armand had little choices left to keep on living in the street. It meant leveraging what little assets he had manage to scrap to get this far, and being ready to risk his life. Or returning to his family to become a cook... NEVER ! he thought while shaking his head.

And so there was, trying to make ends meet without being screwed twice over by the Corpos and everyone else. Trying to be his own man.

He looked at the persons around him, and wondered what to do. He knew he wasn't the sharpest fish in the pond. His time with the Razors had obviously pointed that out. He wasn't dumb, he just wasn't really good at planning ahead, was all. And now here he was making the first steps in a new life on his own. Mistakes might be expected, but they also might be abused...

After a couple of breath, he leaned forward and asked something even more obvious to him.

"Hey, do we even know what we're lookin' for ? You got pictures or s'thing ?"

[cybersavant]

Corvath Edmuns sat and listened to Corp manager. He dusted something off the lapel of his black suit jacket, then looked the man in the eye. "So, where was it liberated from? Who knows the location and destination?"

[Sizniche]

Logan Malone

Logan listened to the brief, ankle of his left leg resting upon his right knee, his hands folded, index fingers pressed together and resting at his lips in thought. As a person with an affinity for 'vehicles', something about the description of the job struck him as... odd.

"Seein' as you're talkin' like someone allergic to the word 'car', I take it we're not just bein' asked to repo some exec's prized classic Impala or somethin', then? I think it'd help if we knew what we're tryin' to get back. After all, we'll find out eventually, won't we?"

His voice has a bit of an accented drawl, common to those contraband runners and nomads of the Outlands.

Edited April 14 by Sizniche (see edit history)

[Bobcloclimar]

Vershin gives a thin smile. "Good, you're not so desperate that you won't accept everything at face value. I like that." He pulls out a small courier pad, turns it on, and slides it across the table.

 

The pad's display shows a large, beaten box truck, not dissimilar to the many delivery vehicles roaming the grid transporting all matter of licit and illicit goods through the city's veins. Anyone viewing the pad will see the following:

Pad contents

The vehicle in question looks roughly like this:

There are no markers indicating it belongs to Manticore - instead, it looks more like it belongs to an independent contractor than a legitimate corp.

 

The courier pad is a personal device that's little more than an operating system, file storage and display mechanism. It's often used in one-way sneakernet data transfers due to the limited methods of being able to move data on or off the device. Anyone investigating the pad's contents will see there are a smattering of other files pertaining to the truck's registration information, original storage location, security footage of the theft, etc. - nothing that couldn't be found with an extensive dive through public records, but convenient to have in one place. These may be copied to your personal devices for later reference without using any Memory.

 

The registration information indicates the vehicle belongs to one Kenji Gasara.

 

Vershin continues, "The Rain normally stays in a public lot, where other vehicles of its ilk can be found. Hiding in plain sight, as it were. Why the thieves chose this vehicle specifically over all the others present at that time, we couldn't begin to say - perhaps it was simply random theft, since our... competitors would have no reason to deprive of us this particular asset.

The Rain does have the usual trackers one might expect for a vehicle of this type, so hiding it from us would require the services of one of those chop-shops with which I am sure you are all very familiar. The last signal we received indicated that it was moving somewhere in the vicinity of the marina. "

 

 

[RagallachMC]

Badge

Character Sheet

Badge 
S14 D14 C13 I14 W10 CH10
HP: 6/6
System Strain: 13/13
Armor: Ranged-16 Melee-14
Saves: P-14+, E-14+, M-15+, L-15+
Skills: Exert 0, Lead 0, Notice 1, Shoot 1, Stab 0

Attacks:

Heavy Pistol - Attack Bonus +3, 1d8+1 dmg, Trauma 1d6/x3

Knife - Attack Bonus +2, 1d4+1 dmg, Shock 2/AC15, Trauma 1d6/x3
Edges:

• On Target - Gain a Combat Skill as a Bonus Skill. Your basic attack bonus is equal to your character level, instead of the usual half level, rounded down.
• Veteran's Luck - Once per scene, as an Instant action, trigger this ability to gain one of two effects: an attack roll that just hit you is instead treated as a miss, or an attack roll that you just made that missed is instead treated as a hit. This ability can be applied to vehicle weapons used by the operator, but it cannot protect against environmental damage, vehicle crashes, falls, or other harm that doesn't involve attack rolls.

Foci:

• Alert - You are keenly aware of your surroundings and virtually impossible to take unaware. You have an instinctive alacrity of response that helps you act before less wary persons can think to move. Gain Notice as a bonus skill. You cannot be surprised, nor can others use the Execution Attack action on you. When your group rolls initiative, your vigilance allows them to roll twice and take the higher roll.

Gear & Equipment:

• Heavy Pistol
• 3 Magazines and 24 Cartridges
• Armored Clothing (AC 16/14, Damage Soak 5, +1 Trauma Target)
• Knife
• Smartphone, Basic
• Trauma Patch
• Middle Class Lifestyle, 1 month

Contacts:

  Friend- Tung '2 Train' Tran

• Known them for several jobs
• Street People, Gangs and Ciminal Types
• I got a problem person off their back
• They trust me to a rare degree
• We were hired on a job together
• They can help me find profitable operator jobs

 

Badge finishes copying the data to his personal pad and tosses the courier pad back on the table for anyone else to inspect. "Seems straight forward enough, Mr. Vershin. I've got what I need, but I'll let my...associates ask any more questions that they have.", his voice is quiet and respectful, and a bit gravelly. He tucks his pad back into it's holder and steps back, folding his arms and watching the others.

[Feirgon]

Wolf

Wolf takes the datapad and quickly transfers the entire contents to her personal device before returning it to the table. After quickly glancing a the available information she does a quick search on Kenji Gasara. As she waits for the search results, she looks up and addresses Vershin.

"I have enough here to go on."

 

[Thot]

ARMAND "Arm"

---

Since he obviously couldn't afford to look any less professional than the others round the table, Armand also took the pad, and copied its content to his own, even though he had already selected the information relevant to him. Footage. Marina. Kenji Gasara.

Did they all think they were so smart ? Yeah, let them live like him in Gannett...

"This Kenji. What he said ?" he asked, trying to sound calm. If it was the first thing he wanted to do, it was the first thing the Corp had done. Best go straight to the results.

Edited April 15 by Thot (see edit history)

[cybersavant]

Corvath Edmuns scanned over the info on the courier pad. "Seems pretty straight forward. Why contract us? What're you not telling?"

[Sizniche]

Logan Malone

 

Ah, cool, a cargo van. It disappointed him a bit that, even with everyone's payouts combined, the payout is barely the chop value of the van. Then again, given that everyone else had roots in this city, Logan recognized that he was probably the only one who would even consider pissing off Manticore by taking the van for themselves and skipping town, and at the end of the day, what could you expect from these skinflint corps?

Logan copies the data to his smartphone if he can, since it's the only device he has to hand. "I know a place where we can probably pick up a lead, if no one's got any other plans. A bar down by the marina."

He leans back in his seat. "When everyone's satisfied, we can all hop into my car to go where we need to go. We should all juuuuuuuuuuust about fit. It'll be between you four who gets to sit up front."

[Bobcloclimar]

On 4/16/2024 at 2:16 AM, cybersavant said:

Corvath Edmuns scanned over the info on the courier pad. "Seems pretty straight forward. Why contract us? What're you not telling?"

Vershin gives a broad grin with just a little too much teeth. "We prefer to resolve this outside of normal channels in case there are... complications. Surely you understand."

 

On 4/15/2024 at 1:24 PM, Thot said:

"This Kenji. What he said ?" he asked, trying to sound calm. If it was the first thing he wanted to do, it was the first thing the Corp had done. Best go straight to the results.

Vershin shakes his head. "Mr. Gasara? A stooge in our employ, a convenience in paperwork. I doubt he even knows he owns this vehicle, let alone that it has disappeared."

 

He takes another slow, measured look around the room. When no further questions are forthcoming, he stands and bids you farewell. "Good luck. Please leave the pad with my associate outside, and I hope to hear from you soon with... positive results." The door slides open, and the bodyguard motions you through. Once you have all exited the room, he rejoins Vershin in the briefing room and the door shuts, the lock clicking into place and leaving you all alone in the lobby.

 

OOC

Apologies for the delay in posting. In the interest of moving things forward, once you have decided on the next course of action we will proceed to the next scene; if questions come up that reasonably could have been asked during this session, I can answer them in the OOC thread.

 

Edited April 23 by Bobcloclimar (see edit history)

[cybersavant]

Corvath Edmuns looks at the assembled crew. "Off to the scene of the crime, then?"

Edited April 23 by cybersavant (see edit history)

[RagallachMC]

Badge

Character Sheet

Badge 
S14 D14 C13 I14 W10 CH10
HP: 6/6
System Strain: 13/13
Armor: Ranged-16 Melee-14
Saves: P-14+, E-14+, M-15+, L-15+
Skills: Exert 0, Lead 0, Notice 1, Shoot 1, Stab 0

Attacks:

Heavy Pistol - Attack Bonus +3, 1d8+1 dmg, Trauma 1d6/x3

Knife - Attack Bonus +2, 1d4+1 dmg, Shock 2/AC15, Trauma 1d6/x3
Edges:

• On Target - Gain a Combat Skill as a Bonus Skill. Your basic attack bonus is equal to your character level, instead of the usual half level, rounded down.
• Veteran's Luck - Once per scene, as an Instant action, trigger this ability to gain one of two effects: an attack roll that just hit you is instead treated as a miss, or an attack roll that you just made that missed is instead treated as a hit. This ability can be applied to vehicle weapons used by the operator, but it cannot protect against environmental damage, vehicle crashes, falls, or other harm that doesn't involve attack rolls.

Foci:

• Alert - You are keenly aware of your surroundings and virtually impossible to take unaware. You have an instinctive alacrity of response that helps you act before less wary persons can think to move. Gain Notice as a bonus skill. You cannot be surprised, nor can others use the Execution Attack action on you. When your group rolls initiative, your vigilance allows them to roll twice and take the higher roll.

Gear & Equipment:

• Heavy Pistol
• 3 Magazines and 24 Cartridges
• Armored Clothing (AC 16/14, Damage Soak 5, +1 Trauma Target)
• Knife
• Smartphone, Basic
• Trauma Patch
• Middle Class Lifestyle, 1 month

Contacts:

  Friend- Tung '2 Train' Tran

• Known them for several jobs
• Street People, Gangs and Ciminal Types
• I got a problem person off their back
• They trust me to a rare degree
• We were hired on a job together
• They can help me find profitable operator jobs

 

On 4/23/2024 at 4:35 AM, cybersavant said:

Corvath Edmuns looks at the assembled crew. "Off to the scene of the crime, then?"

 

"Doubt we'll find much, but it can't hurt.", says Badge as he picks the pad back off the table and starts for the door.

[Feirgon]

Wolf

As she walks out with the crew she looks over at the driver of the vehicle.

"Seeing as I'm about to get into your vehicle, we ought know each other first. The name's Wolf."

The young woman stares nonchalantly at the man with both hands in her jacket pockets.