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Your contacts have asked to meet with you at the Velvet Lounge. A local seedy, off-strip gentlemen's club. You either pay your way past the bouncer or are able to talk your way past him. You enter to see some girls who have seen better days, many of which you are certain have been undergone the knife at least once. There is a girl on stage, and several on the laps of other customers. At least one topless girl comes and offers you a drink. There are plenty of empty seats around the place as its still too early to be busy.
I take a seat where ever i can get a good vantage point of the room and the door. I order a double crown on the rocks.
Gh0st takes a seat in one of the plush booths, and turns his attention to the show. It's a little tame for his taste, so he decides to spice it up a little while he waits.
Neko had decided to be thorough in his preparations. He knew that the rep from MetaErgonomics was into strip clubs and he'd been systematically visiting as many as he could to scope out the best one to schedule the meet at. After checking out a lot of the newer, glitzier 'modern' clubs, he couldn't tell if the Velvet Lounge was an homage to the vice dens of the last century or genuinely seedy in its own right. Either way, it certainly beat that bunraku joint he'd been in last...
He cast an eye over the women at work and silently laments the lack of orkish gals. He'd found damn few clubs with a mix of metatypes, it seemed that most clubs were all-or-nothing when it came to trog dancers. He'd talked to the girls and heard that it hadn't always been like that but those humanis a&~&&+*s had a lot of friends and by pressuring the club managers they'd found one more way to make life hard for greenskins.
Ah well, enough worrying about all that drek. Neko accepts a drink, subscribes to the club's AR, and settles in to enjoy the show while he gets a feel for this place.
The tall gaunt troll in the long duster slouches his way into the den of sin. He shakes his head at the girl, denying the drink and not seeing his contact, takes a seat near the wall where he can see the whole room. He keeps an eye on the place, his movements slow but determined.
Liam look at the crowd with distaste, the drinks were suposed to be good, that is why he came in addition to the meeting.
Finding a relativly quiete place, he will sit down and order a shot of whiskey with a beer chases.
As Cowboy entered and removed his Stetson, he couldn't help but smile. He'd been here a few times before while looking for his sister and it had been some of the few relaxing times he'd been convinced to partake. Looking around he saw few faces he recognized, with the exception of Evans. A mutual contact had hooked them up and Evans had been able to determine that Pene hadn't been jailed or arrested. That had narrowed his search and he owed the man for that.
He spoke a word of thanks to the waitress and took a beer before grabbing a seat in the back corner so the he could keep an eye on both the door and the performance onstage.
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Those of you who accept the drink, find a note scribbled on the napkin the drink was sitting on. Please note that the drink is an older whiskey, though none of you can quite place the brand. The note simply reads "Come to the back private rooms. Daisy will point the way."
Those of you who did not notice the girls are putting a little more passion in their performance. Some of you of particular interest will notice a fit tattooed blonde, with a dark and light hair color blended in to a 1950's hairdo doing a strip tease to an oldie: No Doubt's "Bathwater"
Oh, that went down nicely. Not a single malt but a respectable blend, Neko wasn't particularly familiar with American liquors and the advent of nanotech 'distilleries' made it almost not worth trying to keep up. The snobs hated it, but nowadays there was no way to tell whether the 30 year reserve had come from a cask or from a nanoforge.
Neko asks after Daisy and wanders over to the back room. Time to see what this was all about...
I tip the waitress 10 Nuyen and let her lead the way.
Hmmm... good old script... must be sensitive if Big Joe is avoiding using the PAN. I pocket the napkin and finish the drink.
After seeing a few other people go in the back, assuming they must be other runners here for the same job, Gh0st pulls his attention away from the show and finally notices the note on the napkin. He finds the girl named Daisy and follows her directions to the back room.
Gh0st examines the aura of Daisy as he follows her to the room.
Feliks enters the club, irritated at the door price of a dive like this. Looking around, and not seeing Church, he will head to a corner near the back door where he can enjoy the sights and watch for the old man to arrive. Feliks will carefully keep his PAN unsubscribed. When offered the whiskey he accepts it politely and is very pleasantly surprised at the quality.
After a few minutes he notices the note on the napkin. With a polite inquiry he finds Daisy and, with a subtle motion to assure himself his pistol is still in its concealed holster under his duster, follows her to the back room. When she leave he slips her a 10 Nuyen tip.
Upon seeing the group assembled, he nods politely to them, and breaks into a broad smile for Neko.
"Dances with seashells knows of my taste for non soybased whiskey. I'll have to thank her for this.
Liam follows Daisy into the backroom, as he walks behind her, drink in hand, he considers readying a spell through his foci, but decides against it, in case the club has magical security.
As usual, a courier met him at a cof-faux shop with a letter that was all in trinary code. Returning home, Tinker DLL had easily translated this letter into a list of holosim names, a character name and a seemingly random number. From this, Peter than watched and waited for the spoken word from that character that matched the number provided. Then taking the same number Peter would count the letters for the words found starting at the beginning of that word again if the number exceeded the word's count until he had determined the letter of the word. Taking these letters and rearranging them based on the alphabetical order of the word they came from, Peter was able to get the name an off-Strip club named Velvet Lounge. This cypher had been a joint invention of his and Widow's, and one of the reasons his relationship with Widow had grown so well.
Then Peter used one of his favorite hacking tricks. Instead of breaking into Velvet Lounge's node to add himself to their VIP list and risk failure, he simply spoofed the source of an instant message to the bouncer at the door. It simply looked like the doorman was getting an "Oh, I forgot to add Simon Simpell to the list" message with a sent-from name of Velvet Lounge Administrator. No big deal. It had amazed Peter how often no one questioned this at all.
And true to form, Peter flashed the large troll a winning smile (the fact the bouncer currently on duty was a woman didn't hurt), gave his name, and in he went. She may have blinked at the cute silvery drone in the shape of a slim fairy with darkish monofilament for hair perched on Peter's shoulder, but the boy looked like Petey Pansy, so it wasn't really too out of character. It is Vegas after all. And who knew what convention this one had just come from. Dressed in a cream leather jacket, leather pants and an electric blue shirt, belt and shoes, Peter looked quite similar to the character. His tinted goggles perched as if forgotten on his forehead.
Once inside, Peter was shown to one of the few VIP tables close to the stage. He thanked the topless young(-ish) woman with a wink who gave him a generous smile and swiftly returned with a glass of brown liquid in ice. Genuinely surprised by this rather unexpected gesture, Peter unassumingly accepts and after picking up the glass sees a written scribble on the napkin. Widow had warned him she may have to contact him through some mundane means as to where he would be able to safely access the node, so Peter wasn't too worried. He could feel Tinker DLL in his head though, and she seemed to be suspicious enough for both of them. They had a short conversation (milliseconds) and Peter tried to reassure her. Boy, she could get grumpy. Who would have guessed an AI could get grumpy?
Peter could see the fit two-toned hair dancer on the stage looking at him while she undulated, and "Simon" transferred her a few nuyen. The name Daisy was on the AR in front of the stage. Peter lifted his glass in her direction and pushed the napkin forward once she noticed, she gave a small nod and finished her tour. Peter did notice a couple of other people were interested in Daisy as well. Tinker DLL indicated that probability was high this was a run being put together and Daisy was the method of entry to the meet. Again her protective suspicions came through to him in the PAN which he soothed, and she acquiesced but he could feel her sending out some pulses into the Matrix. he rolled his digital eyes knowing she was already trying to set up some kind of emergency exit if necessary.
Once Daisy finally came around to him, he noticed she was taller than him and her features suggested they may not have started out looking the way they did now. Not that Peter even cared. Whatever remained of his memories, he did know that he had been surrounded by every type of metahuman, and Peter knew rather than remembered race was not a determining factor in cruelty or affection. Daisy smiled and gestured him towards a hallway leading to the back. He picked up his drink and moved in that direction. He felt a light smack on his rump and Daisy said, "I loved Pansy."
Peter gave a giggle and replied, "One of these days, I am going to have look that one up." Daisy laughed as if Peter had made a joke, but he kept smiling anyway and followed her down the hall.
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One of the dancer's speaks up at the end. I am familiar with the book and will give you a better description than the large lover here if you accept the job.
"Hmmm, you have my interest, but is that 5000 to split or each? and the information you have, does that include anything about who has the book and what kind of defences we might expect?"
A book, neh? That is a new one. I must admit, I am interested.
Hmmm... Does the "lover of lost books" know where this particular book resides? And did he indicate anything about the environment or current holder of the book might be? I would hate to go into something like this without the correct shirt and tie on is all I am asking.
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Big Joe says, Aye, That'd be 5 large to each of you
The stripper on Joe's knee says See that be the kicker boys. The book is a one of a kind type of thing. It was stolen by the investors former business partner. And right now he happens to be in one of those penthouses on the strip. So the job would require you to get in and get the book all quiet like and to deal with any obstacles along the way
Hmph. Yeah, that was Coyote. Whiskey and women... what were the odds of getting any business done with him in a place like this? Neko heads over to hear the troll's offer and considers it. He remembered the last book Coyote had hired him to recover and all the preparations that had gone into breaking into the archive... but this was probably different. 5k was decent pay for a few nights' work, as long as nothing too ridiculous was involved. There might need to be some additional negotiations for expenses and whatnot...
"Feliks! ::chuckle:: They must expect things to get messy if they're hiring both of us on. How's it going?"
"Yeah, I'm interested. Let's hear some details about this penthouse and we'll see if that price is in the right area."
"'In and out' is the name of my game, and 5000 nuyen sounds like my favorite team."
Rocky slumps into the back room in time to hear the offer. He shrugs and smiles, "5000? Yeah, that works. I'm in. WHat's the job?"
5000 to retrieve a book from a penthouse on the strip. This must be one heck of a book. I will agree, provided that there is room for negotiation if the investor's risk assessment does not concur with our risk assessment.
"5000Y each? To steal a book?" The concept is puzzling to Peter. How could any book be worth that much? Unless there was a catch somewhere...Tinker DLL has already begun running a search string which begins to turn up several books which might qualify if they're rare enough. I guess if someone wants them that bad, someone else might be willing to try just as hard to keep it.
Peter considers all the things he could do with 5000Y. He shrugs, and says, "If the run looks good and clean, I am up for it."
Liam frowns and shakes his head.
"You are all in? Well, I can't let you take all the "fun", so count me in as well.
So, who has this book, and what is it that makes it so valuable? Or is that "need to know" only?"
Taking a sip from his drink he thinks for a moment.
"A penthouse is bound to have decent security, and if a book is worth paying this much to steal it, then it's worth paying a deal to make sure it is safe as well. time for details yeah?"
Steel nodded. "I'm in. However, I definitely would like to hear the details on this book and the place it's being kept. The in and out of it isn't any problem, but it's the knowing what to expect that's helpful.
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The stripper looks at you, winks, and says I am sure you all need to know the information I got. The book is a leather bound handwritten journal that has lots of occult gibber jabber. As far as the pad. I'd expect more security than your normal joe renting a pent house. Especially one with former ties to a major corporation. So security systems, dorns, armed guards, maybe even magical defenses. That clear the air, shugga?
I lean towards Joe, Sounds interesting chummer. Somehow I feel like a worm on a hook though Joe. I want the work, though, and you have always been good to me. You sure there isn't a little extra scratch in the kitty jar for operational expenses should the security run thick?
"Oh that's just wiz..." Liam mutters to himself.
"Just to make sure, it's the book, nothing else? We're not expected to do any "wetwork" right? Because I don't do that chummer.
'Sides from that one bit, I'm still game."
Feliks lets out an amused chuckle and grins at the big troll.
I definitely do have enough bullets to bring trouble. Hopefully trouble can be avoided.
He laughs again at his own words.
Neko considers the offer in light of what the dancer added and voices his concern, "That price is nothing to sneer at, but usually someone putting together a job like this brings more to the table. An inside man, keycodes, surveillance... that sort of thing. If you're counting on us to do the legwork for you, you're going to have to kick in for operational expenses- bribes, specialized hardware, and the like all cost money up front. Another share 'ought to do it... what do you say?"
"So...a B&E in combination with a Snatch and Grab...and the possibility of some combat as well.
Do we have a plan?
And what can everybody bring to table to help pull this off?"
The troll humphs deep in his chest. "Name's Rocky. I can whisper to the spirits for aid in our infiltration, and I know a song to tell us what life lurks beyond the walls. And I can keep you alive when your body has been torn asunder. I walk with Bear; we will walk with you."
Liam looks somewhat surprised at the both eloquent and mystical sounding presentation.
Before replying he manages to collect himself somewhat.
"I see...you are what they call a Shaman then? I guess you and me...share a bond of sorts then."
Looking up at the troll, Liam has no problem seeing him as a "bear", and the image of a wolf walking by its side comes naturally.
"I walk with the wolf myself. I know a few magical tricks, like how to mask a man’s face to eyes as well as tech, render him invisible, and to create a barrier to seal of an area.
...and I'm not too bad with a gun or fist."
I mostly just shoot things, but I can be fair sneaky if the sitch calls for it.
Gh0st turns to Liam. "It sounds like you and me have some of the same skill set. I do illusions too, but I stay invisible the old-fashioned way too. Plus, I bet my lightning bolt is bigger than yours."
The ork speaks up, his voice featuring a prominent Japanese accent, "Interesting team we have here. Someone had good connections to put together a group like this, I wonder if it is overkill or if someone's not telling us what we need to know..."
He dismisses that path of inquiry with a vague gesture in the air,"No matter. My name is Neko, I race in the combat biking leagues. I have a few other tricks too." Neko focuses for a moment and the Mask settles over his features. For just a moment his pupils are slitted, his ears a bit pointier, and his face subtly more angular and feral- and a model of the Luxor appears on the table complete with a focused beam of light pointing toward the ceiling and illuminating the room like a tiny flashlight.
After introductions are complete, Neko starts brainstorming and probing for more information. "So, what is known about this book thief? Is there a reason you came to us and not Knight Errant for stolen property? Does anyone else know that this book was stolen? Could we make a plausible approach based on an offer to buy the book or a threat of extortion to spread word of its theft?"
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The stripper who was on Big Joe's lap speaks up. I was a former business partner of his. An ork of disreputable noteriety. I imagine the knight errant wasn't contacted because it wasn't either of theirs to begin with. Whoever works or was hired by the client knows. And no, the owner will not sell and an attempt of extortion will likely result in extreme violence.
Are any of you gifted in the realm of the Matrix? Perhaps a search for any additional security contracts in the Luxor, in which rooms orks are staying that match the description this lovely 'lady' will no doubt give us, the security protocols for the hotel itself, the hiring processes for the housekeeping staff, and anything else we can find out. Information is life.
"The Matrix? Why I might know a trick or two that could acquire that information," Peter says with an easy smile and a wink. The little fairy drone on his shoulder puts a small metallic hand to its face and a noise like tittering is heard. "Are we doing our planning here, or moving to a more 'private' location?"
Peter leans back in his seat, sets his drink down, and begins to twitch his fingers in the air. Mentally he summons the Data Sprite he calls Georgie Porgie despite it resembling a large sunflower and whispers his last task request to the Matrix being. A data stream of acquiesence is pushed to his mind, and Georgie Porgie speeds off to find out whatever it can about the security and hiring procedure for the old and venerable Luxor casino.
Georgie Porgie returns after a few passes of the Matrix and provides the information to Peter. Knowing he doesn't have the time to re-register Goergie, Peter regretfully bids his sunflower goodbye, a digital tear leaking from his living persona's eye.
Peter blinks rapidly a few times and sits back up.
"So this is what I was able to gather..."