Beneath Our Feet Shadowrun 5e IC

[Sarven]

Dante's Inferno, a staple of Seattle's nightlife. On a night like this, the dazzling AR light show and decorations are visible from a block away. When you arrive, you receive an AR pass from an unknown commcode, upon flashing this pass, the orc bouncer at the door lets you past the line. With a couple of jealous looks from the people in line, you are able to enter the bar. After entering, a waitress approaches you, and says simply, "Please follow me to your table, the meeting will begin shortly." When you reach the table, sitting before you is dwarf in full combat gear. He greets you with a simple wave and returns to his commlink.

[Akisa]

An out of placed young teenager slowly and awkwardly approached the night club. Not just because of the leather armored jacket and combat boots the young teenager wore when compared to the night club casual club wear. But also due to the fact that she was much too young to be a patron at what appeared to be 16 years of age and thus stuck out more then her clothes would normally bring. She cautiously approached the night club and awkwardly played with her AR to pass the passcode to the bouncer before proceeding further. 'I wonder if this Johnson truly knows who I am' she thought as she nodded to the waitress.

Once she reached the table with the dwarf she let out a small "Nani" surprised by the full combat outfit inside the night club. "Oh I'm sorry pardon my outburst, I just was surprised to find myself be the one underdressed. But anyway mind if I still down ummm Mr Johnson" said the teenager said before bowing and then tugging her I'll fitted armored leather jacket. If she would get the ok the teenager would sit down at the table opposite of the dwarf.

[fibericon]

Combat boots, green cargo pants, grey t-shirt. Typical soldier look... except for the teru teru bozu on her belt and the multicolored hair. The heterochromia is certainly something, too. Not everyone can blend in, even if they want to.

At the table, she leans back in her seat, looking at the other two. "I'll go ahead and head this off at the pass - people call me Ice Cream because of the hair. I'm your door kicker, and I got lots of guns for lots of situations."

[Blindfolded Ape]

Emma's own attire was suddenly feeling very out of place. She had her combat armor on, sure, plus a few drams of reagents in her pocket next to her commlink, but she'd opted to put something on over the armor to look more like a club goer. As a result, her appearance was bulky and only slightly less convincing than a troll used car salesman insisting you didn't need to check the undercarriage. She took her seat, back to the wall and facing the main entrance.

"I hope you don't mind if I open by saying no free lunches, Mr. Johnson. If you're bringing me on for my abilities, they apply only to the extent of the mission, no surprise 'friend-who-needs-just-a-touch-up' incidents." She sat straight and very prim, eyes darting quickly over the rest of the group.

[Akisa]

The young teenager blinked for moment unsure as what to think of the new comer. 'Was this a group of people who don't know their past? It has to be otherwise wise how did she get the name Ice cream' thought the young teenager as slowly blinked at Ice Cream. However what came next was bit more perplexing for the young teenager as look of dumbfounding further set upon her. 'Kick in the door what did she mean by that? And what is that about guns' the young teenager thought as the look of confusement.

"Well my name... well I don't really have a name, at least yet. So for my skills I guess I know about guns as well" the young teenager replied with meek and embarrassed tone to her voice.

However once the second person came refer to someone as Mr Johnson whom the teenager presumed was meant for the Dwarf, the teenager started to breathe a sigh of relief. 'Perhaps I am in the right place' the teenager thought.

[Triskavanski]

Pulling up in a car of his own, out stepped a man known to some as Rodger Cormac. To others, he was known as Rayman. He was a man of many names, one that tended to be rather fashionably dressed for the meeting with the Johnson in fact.

Within his own vision he kept track of a number of lines of data running from the sensors built into the suit, Particularly the olfactory scanner he had built in to avoid the use of pheromones used against his, as well as his bug scanner in the cuff links of the suit. Rayman did have a slight bit of paranoia, but as with many things, there is a certain amount one should have to maintain a long and happy life, and Paranoia was one of them.


As he approached the table, he took a look at the others in the group, as he looked at each of the faces, and the clothing they were wearing. "I say, I've must have overdressed for the situation here. Or perhaps I've under dressed? This is after all Dante's Inferno, and I've seemed to have left my horns at home." he had a few choice insults to sling about at the table, But he got the awkward feeling that one of them might actually be the person they were suppose to meet. A situation that made him rather.. uncomfortable, as he began trying to run data searches on what he could view from them and their equipment.

[Jaelesh]

Aifur approaches the club and barely glances at the ork as he walks in, mildly out of fashion suit garnering weird looks from the crowd as he goes.

Entering the room with the Johnson and the others, he glances at his soon to be compatriots and introduces himself in his best kindly grandfather voice "Good evening, pleasure to make your acquaintance. I am known as Aifur," as he begins to slowly sit in the chair before him.

[Sarven]

The Dwarf looks up from his commlink, "Hoi, chummers, Have a seat." He places a commlink on the table, and its trid projector flickers to life, displaying an image of an advertisiement. "Everyone who has recived this adevrtisment is either missing or dead. It appears to be linked to some kind of VR or AR game. Your job is to find the people advertiseing the game, and infiltrate them, once you have infiltrated them, you will recive further instructions."

Spoiler: Image

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[fibericon]

"Gonna want the list of vics, or as many as you know at least. This image isn't a whole lot to go off."

Yume shrugs, then waives over a waitress and orders whiskey. After the woman leaves, she adds, "Maybe one of the techs can do something with it, but boots on the ground is what I'm about."

[Blindfolded Ape]

"I see. And were there any noted commonalities between what bodies did show up? Wounds, missing parts, astral signatures?" Emma leaned forward as she analyzed the ad, tilting her head a bit. "And what's the timeframe you want us on? Does getting a job there count as infiltrating?" It was a half-joking suggestion, though if people took to it she might have a chance with getting it to work. And hey, maybe even no one would get shot.

[Akisa]

The young teenager blinked for a moment as she tried to follow what was going on. “I wonder if…” said out loud before she paused for moment. “Do we know about what happens to people who get this advertisement, you know aside for going missing and dead? Does mess with their head for some reason, like did these people signs of losing their memories? Obviously not with this recording” the young teenager continued obviously hesitant to announce her current lack of memories.

[Triskavanski]

"Ah so you're our contact for this one, and I'm to be working with.." he takes a moment to look around at the rest of the people gathered. "...well some people gathered here today. There once used to be a game show on tv. Darnest thing ever, involved a lot of red balls and people getting wacked. There was another with a similar concept. Fascinating premise, where you where competing to be a ninja. Lots of kids would run on walls, and jump well, but the true victors were people who had the upper body strength of Olympic climbers. Perhaps this is a game of a similar nature, but offering to a particular client. Not those who compete in it, but those who spectate it. As the others said, we need a list of people who have been believed to killed by this. "

[Jaelesh]

"Hmm... Has there been any attempts to track the source of these advertisements or to find individual senders?" Aifur says as he tilts his head slightly, feeling slightly out of his depth at the moment, "Likewise, has there been any telling traces of damage done to the hardware of those who play, or perhaps viruses?"

[Sarven]

The Dwarf responds to your questions: "If you're interested in the deaths, I'll give you this: Most of the victims were killed by some kind of matrix biofeedback, but a few were found in alleyways, loaded with cyberware and killed by a cortex bomb. One was found shot to death in the office of a well known corporate executive. As for the comlinks themselves, the only thing of note is that all of them were modified for illegal hot sim. The victims seem to have little to no connection to each other, other than being good at matrix games. Usually, shooters that require good reflexes, but occasionally strategy games."

[Triskavanski]

"So, to put simply, an exorbitant amount of things completely uncommon between all the cases. You have people being killed in every which way except for one. Tell me, was any of them killed with any kind magic, or was it all technologically controlled? I mean though, who is dumb enough to get a bomb implanted in their brain? I shudder to find just such a man who would do it willingly, meaning of course the docs that loaded them up with cyberware are likely the same who put in the bomb in the first place."


He pauses for a moment and thinks. "Now of course, when I was growing up, I was always told if you were good at doing something, never do it for free. And I'm sure a man such as yourself would be inclined to believe the same. After all, making games safe does tend to run into a bit of a financial situation. "

[Blindfolded Ape]

"Biofeedback...hot sim makes it possible that it was from the game itself, or some other tech factor, but we'd need to have been present to verify..." Emma mutters to herself as her mind starts going into processing mode, diagnosing what could potentially be the issue. "What happened to the bodies? Is there..." She cut herself off. It was hard to remember what was and wasn't her paycheck sometimes. Especially if it meant not helping as much as she could. For right now, getting into the company was the important thing. Autopsy would only come out of her own pocket.

[fibericon]

Yume bites her tongue and sips her whiskey. If he's not willing to provide a list of victims, he's hiding something important. She quietly powers her commlink off. Drek like this is why she doesn't use cyberware in the first fraggin' place. Shame none of the others probably know military hand signs. Fingers crossed they had the better decker if people are getting smoked by one. And that Sadie didn't try to call her in the intervening period. Last thing she wants to do is piss of the cutie.

[Jaelesh]

Aifur steeples his fingers as he leans forward onto the table, considering the information given, "We need more to work on for this job. Names, locations and times of death, where they got the files, and so on. Without more information about the case, we will be going in blind." he says as he begins to think 'This seems awfully suspicious that he is being so vague about the case... Maybe I should force the issue...'

[Akisa]

The young teenager slowly nodded along wondering how did she even get into this predicament. "Is there any reason the names of these people were withheld? Could you at least provide the names of these missing people" the young teenager added, hoping and at the same time not hoping a name would point to her identity.

[Sarven]

The Dwarf pauses for a moment as if listening to something, he seems uncomfortable then speaks, sounding as if he is repeating after someone.: "Of, course. you will receive the victim list at the conclusion of this meeting. In terms of pay, my employer is willing to pay 20,000 nuyen for information on the identity of whomever is sending these advertisements, and an additional 10,000 if you can locate and apprehend them."

[fibericon]

Yume finishes her drink and flags the waitress down for a refill.

"Short of the list, I've heard everything I need to. We won't get it done in here. The rest of you good to go?"

[Triskavanski]

Raymond hummed a bit, as he adjusted in his seat. "Now that sounds to be a very tempting offer to find information for you. However the later part, not such a great bonus there. Twenty-Five thousand for the locating and apprehending of said individuals. After all, with five of us, two thousand each is hardly even enough to replenish supplies of ammunition that will likely be used in such a situation. " Raymond knew he was overshooting slightly, but that was the way negotiations worked. You never played your hand on the first go.

[Jaelesh]

Aifur leans back and begins to let his eyes unfocus as he begins to read the room, as well as the dwarf for any signs of magic, and while he is at it, to see what he can glean from the man's aura. 'Let us see, little man' he thinks to himself as he starts to delve into the astral.

Spoiler: Roll stuff

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4 successes on the assensing test.

[Sarven]

The Dwarf blinks, shudders, and after gathering himself, he replies "Very well, I'm willing to up the bonus to 20,000, but will go no higher." While the negotiations occur, the AR decorations in the room start warping and seem to shift. The Dwarf Looks around and says, "We are running out of time. Do we have a deal?"

[fibericon]

Yume is suddenly very glad that she thought to turn off her commlink. She reaches under the teru teru bozu on her hip and pulls out the knife, keeping it hidden under the table.

"Prior engagements? Don't let us keep you."

The left side of her mouth curls up into a toothy grin. It looked like the fat lady was going to sing.

Right...

about...

[Triskavanski]

"That sounds agreeable.. " Ray takes a moment to look around "Though something unusual seems about to be happening."

[Sarven]

"As you've agreed to the job, we need to leave. Now." The AR in the bar continues to change and warp glitching in and out of existence. The Dwarf gets up and makes to leave. As he does so, the decorations in the room cut out entirely. "Frag, it's too late. Watch out!" A number of roto-drones, burst through a window, their sights trained on you.