The Lucky Penny - IC thread

[Wizard of the Coat]

"So much for a boys night out..." Nathan sighs as Kerouac leaves for Ambir. He did NOT want Lexi along. "Blue sky personel use a varienty of weapons, but I think the Mark IV Whistler is one of their more common handguns. Packs a decent punch, but not the best piece of kit available, yet unless we have a good reason to wear heavier gear we'd quickly be spotted by security checkpoints." Nathan tells Dan. "Listen though, whilst you and Lexi spend some private time on the black market I'm off to get some more info. I'll meet you in that bar for a drink after we're done."

Nathan leaves the ship almost immediately afterwards...he'd been wanting a spare moment to contact his superiors...all he needed was the hyperwave encoder he was carrying and an uplink.

[Paladin5]

OOC:

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Awareness (+2) against Dan's bluff: (4d3)[2][3][3][1](9) -> Great (+3)

Military (+2) check on Blue Sky: (4d3)[3][2][2][3](10) -> Superb (+4)

[happyturtle]

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@Mark: 1. Dan's bluff beats your Awareness.

2. You can't touch Blue Sky systems from the hyperweb, but you can find the information from other sources, such as We Made It's intelligence service.

3. Through your hyperlink with the ship, you can monitor some of Ambir's work on the autodoc. She's upgrading the computer circuits in the 'doc with Puppeteer technology. It's beautiful, but at the same time, it makes a jarring contrast with the rest of the ship and makes the human circuits looks old and ugly.

[happyturtle]

"When they said you was high classed,
Well, that was just a lie.
When they said you was high classed--

Lexi sees Kerouac enter the clinic. "What's up K?"

He tells her about the plan, and Lexi immediately agrees. "Good thinking. We need to top up on supplies anyway. We were originally going to be planetside for another week, so me and Dan haven't done any of our shopping. We'll leave the cargo hold empty though. Might give us a bit of extra speed, and we can use the space as a shooting range while we're in hyperspace."

She stands up and wipes her hands on the legs of her jumpsuit. "Besides," she adds with a rueful smile in Ambir's direction, "I don't think my assistance is necessary here."

Lexi collects wish lists from everyone, then catches up with Dan. "This will be fun," she says with a grin. "We can actually afford everything we need for once."

ooc:

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1. If there's anything really unusual you want Dan and Lexi to look for, post it in the ooc thread. If it's reasonable for them to procure it within a few hours, then you'll get it. If you don't mind them knowing what you have, that is. Might be harder if you want to try and do your own acquisitions. Along with the weapons and any requested items, she'll be getting refills for the autodoc and autokitchen, hair dye (her current style is a bit conspicuous), and recreational drugs. I'm sure she also has a long list from Kerouac of parts and tools he needs to make his baby happy. (Probably a list he's been compiling for quite some time.)

2. Ambir will be working on the autodoc till morning. She takes several food breaks (herbivores have to eat more often than omnivores) and before her first break, adds a program on Puppeteer diet to the autokitchen. Mark will no doubt check up on it, and will find out that it's a commercially available piece of software used by passenger liners who need to be prepared to feed passengers of any species. It is perfectly safe.

3. Ambir is happy to converse with anyone who stops by. Despite using her mouths as hands, she can talk while she works. It seems her voice is produced primarily with her very long vocal cords rather than requiring lips and tongue to shape.

[Paladin5]

Mark wanders off to speak with Ambir while the others are away.

[Thanatos 51-50]

Dan cahnges his "unlawful excursion" gear into "unlawful shopping" gear (in other words, he puts on a light jacket and stows his more complicated lockpicks) before meeting Lexi at the gangplank.
"Glad you could join us, you got everyone's Christmas list?" Dan asks in a teasing tone as Lexi arrives.
He takes a moment to scan everyone's list and mntally adds up the stars it would take.
Yup, they had enough, and this little excursion was not only perfect for casing Ambir's residence, but also looking into that assault rifle he had always wanted.
"Now, to be honest, babe, I've been slacking a bit and not really looking too hard for the market here planetside, but it shouldn't be too hard." he explains as he tucks everyone's wishlists in a jacket pocket.
He looks thughtful for a few moments.
"Lets try... hmm.... This way!" he says, heading off in a seemingly random direction. If he follows the right path from here, he can "accidently" go by Ambir's house.

[happyturtle]

Lexi is happy to follow Dan's lead, happy to be in the crowds of the city, happy to have money to spend, and happy to be on the verge of an adventure. All her reservations about Ambir had vanished. Mark was clearly his normal self, or whatever passed for "normal" with him, and the contract they'd signed was more than fair. Anyone looking at her can tell she's bubbling over in excitement and delight, her eyes shining. Forget hang-gliding. This is the kind of rush I've been looking for.

"Shouldn't take us long," Lexi says. "The guy who bought our cargo knows a guy, and Simon knows another." Simon was one of her two companions from the night before. "Sucks being on a tight deadline--that'll cost us stars--but since we're not buying cargo, we've got the stars going spare." Of course she knows Dan does not agree with her cavalier attitude towards money. For her, it was easy come easy go, but Dan found it painful to overpay by even a tenth star. "So what happened to your original plans for the evening?"

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I've given Lexi some ranks in Contacting. Combined with Dan's social skills, and his teamwork bonus, they are actually pretty good at this sort of thing when they work together.

[Thanatos 51-50]

Dan grinned and waited for a bit before answering Lexi's question, dodging though the crowd with a liquid ease and grace.
"Truth be told, I never was going to a bar." he explain's as he ducks between a couple albinos.
Being small was a mobility advatnage, as he had learned through his early life. You could dodge and weave and avoid being hit alot easier. And that was just as he was doing - by pure relflex.
He also had an annoying habit of disapperaing for a few seconds whenever he started to leave Lexi behind, only to re-appear when she caught up or got utterly confused.
Cities were an organisim, a single, grand cell. And it was their innate workings which Dan exploited so expertly.

A foriegn body was usually rejected by its host cell the moment it was noticed, but, in society, there were so many holes in the cell's systems. IT just didn't detect foreign bodies anywhere near well.
Somewhere in the route, Dan had accessed a public computer, or bribed a passerby, or somehow obtained information telling where "That one Pupetteer lived".
Soon thereafter, they were at her doorstep and Dan stopped.
"It was an excuse to check this palce out, doll. I'm going to look for any holes in her security real quick. For her own saftey. Be right back."

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Awareness - (4d3)[1][1][1][1](4) Freerunning - (4d3)[2][1][3][2](8) UrbanStalking - (4d3)[2][1][3][3](9)
Awareness is to spot security holes, Free-running is to get to normally inaccesable areas. Urban Stealth is to be sneaky about it.
Er... total results -
awareness: -4+1 = -3
Free-running strikes even: +1
Stealth +1+1=2

[happyturtle]

Ambir's house is in a posh part of the city, in a residential district where the crowds are thin. It is a low, stand-alone structure with wide corridors separating it from the larger human houses in the area. It has a single door and no windows. You don't see any security at all.

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Let's see if Lexi does: Awareness (4d3)[2][1][1][3](7) +0

Edit: Okay, that leaves her at a -1, while you were at a -3, so the two of you suck at recon. But she at least notices one thing.

Lexi speaks to you in your earpiece. "Dan, are you nuts? There are cameras everywhere!" With that warning, you look around (sneakily, since you made that roll) and realize that she's right. The security cameras are thicker here than anywhere else in the city.

[Paladin5]

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Dan (-1) -> Awareness (+2): (4d3)[3][3][1][1](8) -> Fair (+1)
Lexi (+1) -> Awareness (+2): (4d3)[3][2][1][3](9) -> Superb (+4)
Nathan -> Awareness (+2): (4d3)[3][3][3][3](12) -> Legendary (+6)

[Paladin5]

Mark's voice suddenly chimes in through Dan's earpiece,"As I stated ... before ... Mr. Freeboot, your present course of ... action is ill-advised .... .... especially considering the state of ... security around the .... dwelling. I suggest ... you desist and ... return to your other ... business."

[happyturtle]

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Mark, did you send that only to Dan, or to Dan and Lexi both?

[Paladin5]

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Just to Dan.

[Thanatos 51-50]

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Don't know how you want to rule this, turtle, but Dan's Stealth (+2) beat Mark's Awareness(+1)!

[happyturtle]

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Mark does not know where you are, but he knows where Lexi is, and can probably guess you aren't far off.

[Thanatos 51-50]

"Ill-advised my action may be. For a fact, I'm aware that it is utterly fruitless. Ambir's place is secure. I wanted to make sure someone with less scruples than I wouldn't take the oppertunity to steal General Products technologies. I promised to you all that I wouldn't test the lock, and so I won't."
Dan evenly replied through his earpiece before re-appearing.
"Alright, Lex, our friend is safe. Lets see about those vegetables!"
With that, Dan immiedatly begins activly searching for the Black Market.

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I assume Dan's Fence skill will work. Fence - (4d3)[2][3][3][3](11)
Total results: +1 Fence, +3 Roll = +4 result!

[happyturtle]

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Let's see if Lexi can provide any help.

Contacting - (4d3)[3][1][1][1](6) +2

[happyturtle]

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Let's see if Lexi can provide any help.

Contacting - (4d3)[1][2][1][3](7) +2

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Okay that was bad... Let's invoke Lexi's 'Lucky' aspect to reroll:

Contacting - (4d3)[1][2][1][3](7)

Total +1 to add to Dan's roll making it +5

[happyturtle]

Working together, Dan and Lexi charm or bribe or bluff enough people to finally reach a weapons dealer. The dealer doesn't have 5 of the Whistler in his own stock, but he makes some calls and manages to round some up. He also offers Dan a selection of assault rifles to choose from.

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Going to roll on Lexi's telepathy here:

Telepathy - (4d3)[3][2][3][3](11) 1 + 3 = Superb

Dan, are you buying live ammunition, or just mercy bullets? You can get both, but I just need to know what the party's going to be carrying.

Before they leave, Lexi gets a hunch that maybe the dealer has something else available. Something he might not want to show just anyone.

"Someone told me you might know where we could get some mining equipment," Lexi says, laying a hand on his arm.

"Not really my line of business."

"Of course not, of course not. It's just that I know a Belter who'd pay good money to get his hands on a Slaver disintegrator."

It doesn't come cheap, but Dan and Lexi manage to convince him to part with the disintegrator. This is indeed a mining instrument, quite capable of digging through tough rock. It does this by destroying the molecular bonds and vaporizing the item it's aimed at. If aimed at a human, it would flay them alive, depositing their atoms in a fine mist all over the area. If you used it long enough, you could completely vaporize someone. This, to put it mildly, is pretty heavy weaponry, and it seems completely out of character for Lexi to want it.

[Thanatos 51-50]

Dan haggles for a long time with the dealer over the price of the Whistlers, eventually coming to an agreement only because Dan couldn't, in fact, take his business elsewhere.

Then, came the Assault Rifles.
There was a small collection, and Dan slowly, methodically went over the pros and cons of every weapon before eventually deciding on one.

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The following is Dan's priority list of features (in order):
Versatility - the weapon must be able to fire underwater, in a vacum, and in any number of improbable situation.
Reliability - the less the weapon jams, the better
Common Caliber - Bullets must be easy to find.
Collapseable stock - For flavour reasons
Magazine Capacity - as much as possible
Recoil - as little as possible
Customization - as much as possible. This is Dan's lowest priority, but over-and-under rails would definatly spark his interest. He'd be willing to spend a few extra stars on a reflex sight or tactical scope and flashlight.

While hes there, Dan looks over everyone's wishlist and stimulates the underworld economy a bit by favoring purchase of such items here.
If a widget is in good conditon, and costs the same (or less) than a legally acquired widget, he'll make the deal here rather than legally acquire a widget.
Its a personal thing.

The thief, however, refuses to assist the captain in her drug deals.

Dan pays attention to Lexi's purchase of the disintegrator., as soon as they are out of earhost, with goods they can carry in hand, he turns to Lexi.
"What did you want the laser for? Thats... pretty intense stuff."

[happyturtle]

"We're going to be in a basement, right?" Lexi says. "Maybe we need to dig ourselves out. Good god, I wouldn't use this on a person!" She stuffs it out of sight in her rucksack, and shows not the slightest interest in Dan's shiny new assault rifle.

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Yes, you can have all of that. Good roll + plenty of money means that the dealer guy can track down what you want even if he doesn't have it himself.

Lexi tries to get her own drugs:
Contacting - (4d3)[1][3][1][2](7)
Contacting 2 - 1 = +1 Which is good enough for a flirtateous woman in the bad part of town to get hold of drugs.

(And for all you kids playing along at home... just say no to drugs, as well as to black market weaponry and exotic mining tools! )

[Thanatos 51-50]

"well, if you had to, would you?" Dan asks as he crates the illegally-acquired goods back to the ship (don't want to get caught with 'im, no siree!) before going out for a last round of shopping for the items there really is no black market trade for.

[happyturtle]

"No. No way," Lexi says, then thinks it over some more. "Well, I don't know, if one of you guys was in trouble... No, I still couldn't. Not with this thing. That's just... gruesome. If I absolutely had to kill someone, kill or be killed type situation, let it be with a regular gun. But I'd rather stick to the mercy bullets and not kill anyone."

[Thanatos 51-50]

"Good. I want you to carry it when we go on-mission, then. We'll have to figure out a way to disguise it and bring it in, but I don't want anyone else in the crew to know unless we need to use it.
Especially Nathan.
I don't doubt Nathan would use it on any of us at a moment's notice. And the only way three people can keep a secret is if two are dead.
That gear is way intense, Lex."
He stops Lexi in the street to explaion this and looks really, really serious about the whole ordeal.
"You know I have... moral issues, but that... thats too much. It makes my stomach queasy just thinking about it."

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I, on the other hand, would love to see the flavor any one of us would write if we use it to kill a person! I'm twisted, with morals, Dan is both without twisted-ness and morals.

[happyturtle]

Lexi feels as if she's been punched in the gut. "What?! No, Nathan would never-- how could you even think such a thing?"

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Telepathy to see if Dan really believes what he said about Nathan.

telepathy - (4d3)[2][3][1][3](9)= +2 (That's good enough. So does he?)

Good god, please let this be Dan's idea of a sick joke...

[Paladin5]

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Invoking "More Machine Than Man" aspect.

Awareness (DC -2): (4d3)[2][1][1][2](6) -> Poor
Awareness (DC -1): (4d3)[2][1][2][2](7) -> Average

[happyturtle]

@ Mark: Lexi keeps disappearing from cameras for stretches of time, as the network of cameras is poorly maintained and frequently vandalized in the seedier part of town. However, you have a general idea of her movements, with occasional glimpses of her here and there. (It helps that she's practically got a bulls eye as her hair dye scheme.) Dan is completely invisible to you until you catch sight of him walking near Lexi and guiding a hovercart with a couple of crates of goods back towards the spaceport.

Their transactions are completely off the grid--cash only--and therefore non-existent as far as the computer is concerned.

[happyturtle]

No, he doesn't completely believe that... but he's not joking either.

Lexi feels sick. "I don't like secrets. I trust Nathan." And I trust Dan. And Dan's serious about this.

She shoves her rucksack into Dan. "Take it. Destroy it, sell it, hide it, I don't care." She glares down at him. "I hate keeping secrets. But I'll do it. If you want me to carry it on Blue Sky, I'll do that too. But don't ask me to believe that Nathan would turn on us. Don't you dare."

[Thanatos 51-50]

"Perhaps I mis-spoke." Dan says, mulling over his words more carefully this time.
"The Slaver is dangerous. I... couldn't trust myself to not use it, and I definatly can't trust Nathan to not use it. After us, you're the only one guns even moderatly mix with."
He sighs, as he tries to figure a way to sling the rucksack, before giving up completely and handing it back off to Lexi.
"We'll keep it, sure, wouldn't want to waste the stars." He began to explain, "You know I trust Nathan's got my back, and I got his. Same goes with anyone aboard the Penny. I guess the fact that hes our resident Mercenary gets me on edge. Merc's Creedo is "where to money goes", right? I ran in a gang on Terra, I'll protect my gang before I go for a big score.".

With a sudden smile, Dan flashes his msot charming grin. "What? Flatlanders are aloud to be paranoid, too. Lets get this stuff to the Penny, so we can get drunk enough to forget this conversation!"

[happyturtle]

"Yeah, okay," Lexi says, still clearly miserable. She takes a couple of steps, then impulsively turns around and pulls Dan into a hug. "I hate this," she says, her voice muffled by Dan's shoulder. "I wish I hadn't bought it."