Location: Emerald City Investigations office, Downtown Tacoma (Seattle Metroplex).
You find yourselves sitting in the new conference room of the new ECI office. The solid fauxwood table and the stylish office chairs are all new, all part of West's Life's vision for a new and "improved" ECI. In the corner of the room there is an out of place ceiling tile with some capped off wiring dangling down- the electricians still have work to do, but the place is coming together. One wall is dominated by floor to ceiling windows that offer a stunning panoramic view of the waterfront. Unfortunately, the weather is s~&+. It's been a rainy spring, and it seems the forecast calls for more of the same.
ECI was bought out by West Life about four months ago. One thing you can say about West Life is that they don't waste time. They have already restructured the management of ECI and moved your offices into the their own building. Your new location is on the 11th floor of the West Life building in downtown Tacoma, a building that houses their own offices and rents floors to other corps.
As you sit at the table, your new boss strides into the room. Her name is Jessica Baron. She's a tall attractive woman in her mid thirties. Her skin is pale, her hair long and dark. She has a great pair legs that she like to flaunt, and an equally spectacular ass. Too bad she hasn't bothered to put forth the nuyen to upgrade her rather mundane t+*%. At any rate, her body and personality are well suited to management and PR work.
She strides into the room, a big smile spreads across her narrow face.
"Good afternoon gentlemen. You'll be happy to know that I've finally got a case for you folks that doesn't involve insurance fraud."
"I'm sure you've heard of the simsense starlet, Julia Avalon. In fact, you probably get hard just hearing the name. That last flick she was in was pretty steamy, as I recall. Er ah from the reviews I heard of course. Well guess what? She is now one of our clients, and in a few minutes you are going to be meeting with her. If you need to go the washroom to "take care of any business" I suggest you go now."
"Oh, by the way, Ms. Avalon is putting forth a considerable deal of money towards this investigation. That is why I'm putting all four of you on this case. I want her to receive the best service we can provide. Simsense stars have more money than they know what to do with, and if we can get a few more of them sending business our way, it certainly wouldn't be a bad thing."
She then whispers
"Remember we bill her based on the time we log on the case, so don't forget when you fill out your time logs to include travel times and all the other things that slow down an investigation. Be thorough with your logs, and if you "happen" to get stuck in a few traffic jams, or certain parts of the investigation require a "bit more time than anticipated", don't worry about it, just log it all. Essentially, we want to maximize our profits, but still make sure she feels like she's getting her money's worth."
"Good luck gents, I'll be expecting regular progress reports."
"I'll wait to see what this is about, but I'm not sure working for some spoiled Diva is a step up from Insurance fraud." As I adjust my tie and make sure everything is in place. My beard is fine I had just trimmed it that morning. Not that I really like having a beard but I look like a kid without it, an advantage when working as a decoy in vice not so much otherwise. Let me think what do I know about Avalon, hmm not much beyond what the Ice Queen mentioned, then the simies are'nt really my thing I prefer music.
Some background on Hoss:
You've only ever heard of him referred to as Hoss... but he's not a "loud mouth Texan" style at all... in fact, he's quiet and moody at the best of times. You're guessing he's in his late 40s, early 50s with a bit of a paunch. He tends to wear the duster and fedora that seems so common of the street types now a days, especially in ECI. This is the first time you've worked with him at all and you're not really sure why this old man was brought into things... he doesn't seem particularly tough or to bring anything special to the table... but there's something about him. Maybe it's the commanding note in his voice when he does speak that makes people listen to what he says, or maybe it's the way that the management seems a little uneasy around him. He's never acted threatening at all, but it's obvious that those who's worked with him before are a little on edge around him. The only thing not calm and collected about him is that he does have a twitch periodically that seems to bother him. Whatever his past is, nobody has seemed inclined to bring it up with him yet.
Hoss just sits patentently in the room awaiting the lady to arrive. He doesn't show much emotion one way or another during Jessica's initial talk.
Dressed in his usual dark clothes and tie, he sits without figiting. Under his arm you can see his Colt Manhunter that he never seems to be without. His hat is off and sitting on the table beside him, showing his balding head. Also, his sunglasses are removed and for those who choose to look at him long enough, notice that his eyes are taking in everything in the room... not in a nervous way, but in a way that shows he knows what he's doing. Yes, there is something strangly dangerous about this old man... all might not be as it seems.
Once everyone has posted a quick intro to their character (ala Enoch and Hoss so far) I will continue with the intro.
Also try to have a look at the stuff about Augmented Reality and PANs in the 4E book. It's one of the big changes from 3E, and I'd like to know what setting each character normally plans to run their PAN on. I'll probably be posting some Augmented Reality spoiler tags for characters running active PANs. Not that you will really get a lot of extra useful info, but your view of the world will be a little different than a ludite who keeps his PAN in hidden mode or (gods forbid off).
Already stimulated by the presence of his always hot boss, Graul's eyes go wide and he at first seems almost apoplectic at the mention of the Super Hot tri-vee starlet. As Jessica finishes he manages to stammer "Ju-Ju-Julia Avalon!! Here! In person! And I get to meet her!"
While normally not this excitable, Graul's teammates are reminded that, despite the fact that he is a hulking brute of a Troll with 3 years Shadowrunning experience and 2 years paying his dues as a PI, he is really still just a 17yr old kid underneath it all. Once in a while, such as now, that becomes more obvious.
At Jessica's raised eyebrow and obvious unimpressededness (if that wasn't a word before it Is now!;-)he realizes he is acting like some idiot teenage fan instead of a seasoned professional and takes a few deep breathes to calm himself down. After a few seconds he wuffs "ok Boss..I'm good. I won't embarrass you, promise." And he glances at some of his older and much more seasoned colleagues trying to ape their calm indifference.
As he has been a...ahem..collector of ALL of Miss Avalon's works though, in his head he is still thinking "Julia Avalon! OMG! Julia Avalon! OMG!"
Well Houston/Rick still hasn't posted, but I'll start moving forward and let him jump in as soon as he can.
Jessica Baron leaves to attend to some other business. A couple of minutes pass and Kathy Winters (an ECI secretary- not super hot, but good a her job) ushers Julia Avalon into the conference room. A second secretary, Isabel Liu (pretty hot and too new to be sure how good she is) brings in a tray with bottled waters and glasses, which she sets down on the table. Both the secretaries leave, and Julia Avalon and another man remain in the room. The guy who is with her looks to be her agent. His manner of dress screams, “Look at me! I’m a big shot Hollywood agent. I wear designer labels, and my hair cut cost $500, but I still look like a f~@*ing dick head.” He has a small, sleek commlink jacked directly into the side of his forehead, which has been shaved to accommodate the device. It seems that he’s involved in some kind of heated conversation with someone because he’s talking pretty loud for a guy who likely has the latest subdermal microphones. He doesn’t seem to notice any of you.
Julia is much more subdued. She is wearing a conservative but stylish designer outfit that hides her multimillion nuyen body, and she wears a shawl and big sunglasses to conceal her face. She enters the room more timidly than you might expect from a big shot simsense starlet, and she cautiously takes her seat. Her manager moves into the corner and continues his rather obtrusive conversation. You can’t help but notice that both of them exude the latest in charisma enhancing pheremone bioware.
“Hi my name’s Ms. Julia Avalon. You can call me Ms. Avalon. I’m sure you’ve probably heard of me. Don’t worry, I’m not much like the sim roles I’ve tended to be typecast into the last couple of years. I’m actually much more reserved, well most of the time. Anyhow, Ms. Baron assured me that you fellows would be able to help me.”
“I’m concerned about my brother. His name is Billy Jeremy. It’s not his real last name, but then again Avalon isn’t my real last name. Well it is now, but it’s not the one I was born with. You may have heard of him, but maybe not. He’s also been involved in the simsense industry, but more in the “adult” simsense industry. He was doing a lot of films in the mid to late 60s. Unfortunately, the industry being what it is, he got into California Hots and then BTL chips. His career went downhill as his addiction got worse, and a while back he was arrested for possession of BTLs. He did a little bit of time in prison, and I payed for him to go into a rehab clinic after he got out. He got out of rehab just a few months ago, and I loaned him some money to help him get back on his feet. I’ve been pretty worried about him since he got out. I don’t want him to relapse, so I’ve been trying to stay in regular contact with him. We’ve been talking everyday. Well we had been, until a few days ago. Now I can’t get a hold of him at all and he hasn’t responded to any of my calls or e-mails. I’d thought about going to the police, but I’m worried that if he’s gotten himself into some kind of trouble again they’ll arrest him, and he’ll be back in court or jail. I’m also worried about the media finding out about all this. I’ve tried to keep my connections to my brother secret. In fact, I should make it clear to you right now that discretion is very important to me. I’ve already spoken to Ms. Baron about this. I don’t want to see a bunch of stories plastered on the net about my BTL addict, pornstar brother. She assured me that the people she assigned to the job would be discrete and keep this confidential. Anyhow, I want you to see if you can find him for me.
You find it a little tough to focus on the details of her story, as her agent is yaking in the corner through the entire thing. He still hasn't showed any sign of acknowledging any of you.
Questorc I apologize if this seems quite similar to an adventure I once ran with Enoch. It's loosely based on it, but quite different.
The table rises slightly in Graul's corner (he Is a Big Boy after all ;-) as he tries to keep his eyeballs in their sockets and the drool from running down his face. 'What's the matter with me!' he scorns himself 'Quit acting like an idiot!'
"Um, Ms. Julia..I..I..mean Ms Avalon. I just want you to know that I" He stops for a second and looks around the room "I..I mean We, We will do everything we can to help you. Had your brother said anything recently, or acted differently, or done anything at all that might give any clue as to where he might have gone or what he may be doing? Also, did he have any enemies that you knew of?"
Graul sits back and seems pretty proud of himself that he was able to act and sound so professional in the face of one of his idols. The table still hasn't gone down yet though...
She looks at you, and you can see quite clearly that she looks a little frightened or intimidated by you. She obviously isn't used to dealing with trogs, and she probably really isn't used to having one take the lead in a conversation.
She stammers, "Uh well, he was always pretty private about his personal life, and I'm not the type to pry. I realize the irony of that statement, so don't bother commenting. I couldn't really tell you if he had any enemies. I mean he was involved with making porn sims and using BTL chips, so it's not like he kept the best company in the world, but I can't give you any real details. I have his address. However, I'm not from Seattle, and I figured I'd leave it to you guys to do that sort of leg work. I'm worried that maybe he got back on the beetles and is now locked in his apartment, tripped out on one. Lord knows I've read enough stories in the news about people jacking into BTLs and then getting so caught up in their trip that they died in their homes of dehydration. Then there's the people you hear about who jack a bad chip and fry their brains.
I'm just praying to god that something like that hasn't happened to him."
All the while her agent continues to yak on his commlink. Julia looks back over her shoulder at him and shoots him a nasty glare.
He holds up one finger as if to say "just another minute or two," but he doesn't stop talking or lower his voice.
I clear my throat and give Ms. Avalon a reassuring smile "Ms. Avalon we will need a list of known contacts if you have one, as well as any other aliases that your brother was known by. Do you have a recent pic you could com us? Any information you have no mater how trivial could help." - thank the powers this isn't a babysitting job - "In the interest in keeping this as discrete as possible do you have a drop that we could contact you through if we have additional questions as the case develops?"
*comes in looking a bit "rough"*
"sorry for being late. i had to..." *mumbles somethng unintelligible*
*looks around the room, taking everything in through slightly rheumatic eyes*
She turns her gaze from the troll towards the dwarf.
"Well I don't really have a list of contacts. I mean I live in LA and he lives here, and well you know, like I said, I don't intrude in his life too much, except at times like this."
"I'm forwarding you a few recent pics of him and his address. Oh yeah, I can also send you the name of the rehab clinic he was in, and there's a link to a secure e-mail address for me, and a commlink number you can reach me at."
All this info is forwarded from Julia's comm to Enoch's. He can open any of the files and view them through his AR contact lenses. They scan clean for viruses (or at least ones that your comm would be able to detect).
I clear my throat and give Ms. Avalon a reassuring smile "Ms. Avalon we will need a list of known contacts if you have one, as well as any other aliases that your brother was known by. Do you have a recent pic you could com us? Any information you have no mater how trivial could help." - thank the powers this isn't a babysitting job - "In the interest in keeping this as discrete as possible do you have a drop that we could contact you through if we have additional questions as the case develops?"
backround on rick:
he started out his career as an idealistic "shield" for LoneStar, thought he was going to wipe corruption and crime from the face of the earth. he was quite gung-ho, and took his responsibilites as a barrier between the citizens and the scum VERY seriously. after time, and some promotions (finally making homicide detective), he started seeing the corruption in the force, and the way certain persons were let through the cracks (usually the wealthy, famous and influential). he found comfort in the bottom of a bottle of rye on many a night, and he finally snapped when a wildly popular sim star was able to buy himself out of a murder rap for torturing and killing a prostitute. rick resigned from the force, tracked down the sim star, and beat him to within an inch of his life.
quitting his job and spiraling into the bottle cost him his marriage, but he still loves his ex wife, and rarely notices other women.
he trudges through routine cases (insurance fraud, peeping tom work for disgruntled spouses) relying on his experience and talent, his heart just isn't in it...
most times, rick is sloppy, and still finds himself wondering how closing time came so fast and how his cred got so low.
however, a spark of the crusader still shines in his heart, and when a job that presents the opportunity to protect the innocent and bring a sense of justice to the world arises, he focuses all of his energy and talent into the case, the bottle forgotten, and his pain suppressed...
Cool intro Rick. Thanks for getting that up there. It looks like you and Enoch will have a few things in common- both being ex Lone Star and all.
It should be interesting being on a case that revolves around simsense types. Have fun with that.
Hoss sits there taking much of it... his colleagues as much as the job. He quietly assesses each person in the room. He looks at each in turn noting how they handle this situation. The agent immediately gets under his skin so Hoss contacts Leo Getz quietly on his commlink and requests Leo to do what he can to disrupt the call going on, as well as gather whatever call history he can from the Agent… you can never be too careful…
Hoss thinks to himself while looking everyone over… Rick seems like many I’ve seen over the years… too much got to them and they hit rock bottom. Still, there’s a gut feel that in a pinch, Rick will do that right thing. Of course, my gut’s been wrong before and I’ve paid that price (again and again). Enoch seems pretty professional. I can relate to him. Hopefully he’s as cool and calm when the heat is on. Graul… well, at least he’s trying. Still, always need a mage. Lets just hope he keeps enough blood in his head to work his mojo. That leaves Julia. I’m not surprised she’s very different than in the sims… but I wonder if this is the real her, or if she even knows. I’ve run the shadows way to long to trust a Johnson. <twitch> I guess I should start thinking of her as a client. You can’t go back…
If you have questions for Ms. Avalon try to get them out in the next day or so. If I don't see much being asked of her, I'll send her on her way and you guys can start deciding how you want to begin the investigation, and then we'll get going.
Hoss you see a quick text message pop up in your field of vision. It's from Leo, "I'm on it"
A moment later you see the agent tapping his commlink.
"Bob? Bob? Bob... F#&*, I lost the call."
He looks around the room, obviously annoyed. He then looks in your general direction and shouts out.
"What's wrong with your reception in this place?"
You're not sure if he's actually expecting an answer.
Hoss messages back to Leo "Thanks partner. Now start seeing what you can dig up on the brother... what company he worked for, what corps really own it, etc"
Hoss ignores the agent and says to the client:
"Excuse me Ma'am, but did your brother ever tell you about what he wanted to do when he was clean? Travel? A change in line of work?"
She looks towards Hoss. Her eyes are still concealed by her big sunglasses and her face is still hidden somewhat by her shawl, which has made it difficult to read her other than by the tone of her voice.
She seems to sense that her agent was irking you, "Don't mind Justin, he's always been an ass, but he's a good agent."
"Well Billy and I talked quite a bit while he was in rehab. In fact, it was good bonding experience for us. I hadn't felt real close to him since we were kids. He used to sometimes talk about what he might do when he finished. He's always been a dreamer, and I think he's always been trying to achieve the things I've achieved. He was still obsessed with the Sim industry, and he's forever wanted to become a respectable sim star. I think he's seen porns as a way to get his foot in the door, but he just never got a break after that. I've called in some favours here and there over the years, and I've got him auditions with reputable studios, but he's never been able to get his s##& together. He's either cracked during the audition or he's late or missed it entirely. There was always something. After a while, I stopped doing him favours because it was starting to hurt my own career.
He was still wanting to get into some "real sims" when he got out. He kept telling me that if I got him one more audition he would make me proud. I wanted to help, but I kind of brushed him off with the old, "I'll see what I can do" sort of lines. These days I'm more famous than I used to be, and the media watches me a lot closer. I was worried that if I pulled in more favours for him that the media would get wind of it, and suddenly there would be also sorts of rumours flying around regarding my relationship with Billy. I think he was disappointed about my response, but he kept his chin up and said that he could manage it without my help. I think he understood."
Enoch you quickly scan the stuff that Julia sends you
The pic is pretty decent, Billy is a fairly looking handsome caucasian man, probably in his late twenties or early thirties. The picture is a pretty tight closeup of his face. The kind a actor might send out to studios.
You scan the address and do a quick search on the Net via your commlink. The address is a place in the Newcastle neighbourhood of Bellevue. Newcastle is a pretty rough neighbourhood- it's in the southeast corner of Bellevue and borders the Redmond Barrens. Considering his rich sister loaned him a whack of cash, he picked a pretty crappy neighbourhood to live in.
The rehab clinic is called the "Lake Washington Retreat", it's also located in Bellevue, but in Medina on the east bank of Lake Washington, which is a much nicer part of the district.
Hoss- Getz forwards you a bit of info on Billy- In a matter of minutes he's compiled a list of all the sims Billy has been in (at least under that name). They are pretty much all porn sims. There are some 97 titles, all done between 2063-2068. Everything done after 2064 was produced by Hollywood Simsense Entertainment (HSE). Despite, the name HSE is a local company.
Leo forwards you a text
"If I get a chance to flash up more dirt I'll send it your way. This scan was all easily available, I didn't need any hacking skills to flash any of this up."
After quickly looking over the info I forward it to Hoss and do a quick scan for info on Newcastle. " Thank-you Ms. Avalon, your last conversation with your brother did it seem any different than previous ones? Was he more excited or anxious? Was there anything different?" After addressing Avalon I acknowledge Rick with a nod of the head. I quite like him in spite of his problems the fates know his path was one I came all to close to taking myself with a few more years on the force,
"The last few times I talked to my brother I kind of got the feeling that maybe something was wrong, but he denied it and wouldn't tell me anything."
Justin comes forward and taps Ms. Avalon on the shoulder.
"Julia, we need to get moving we have to be back at the airport soon."
Julia nods. "Sorry guys, I hope that was enough info to get you started. I need to fly back to LA in a few minutes. If you have other questions you can forward them to e-mail address I gave you."
She then rises to her feet, "Thank you for your help. I really appreciate this."
As she says her goodbyes, Hoss immediately gets up a little slowly (his age is showing) and shakes her hand. "Don't worry Ma'am, we'll track him down."
Hoss then flashes the info he had gotten from Leo over to the others who have commlinks. After she leaves, Hoss sits back down and looks to Enoch. So far Enoch has seemed to do well taking the lead, and Hoss is more than happy to let him continue to do so, at least until he proves he can't. Hoss thinks to himself "lets see what this young buck has in the way of planning".
Hoss to Enoch: "So, what's the plan?"
Graul, after taking the first tentative lead, sits back and admires the professionalism of his colleagues 'Man these guys know how to get down to business quick, good choice coming to ECI, I can learn a lot from them'
As he spends a few minutes with Julia the initial thrill starts to wear off and more blood rushes back to his head
'So sounds like little bro didn't quite get all the lucky breaks big sis did...I can relate to That' he thinks, briefly and painfully, recalling his own sister who had gone on with her musical career while here he was stuck in this grotesque musical-less...'Alright already, enough of the sob story kid, focus. So little bro gets some bad breaks and makes some bad choices, now he's gone missing and big sis feels guilty and wants us to find him. Ok. I know I can help with this. Time to contact some of the old 'hood again..'
As their time with Ms. Avalon wraps up and she gets up to leave Graul sees ole Hoss rise like a gentleman and tries to quickly follow suit. But by the time he manages to get his huge self of out 'These Tiny F%$@in' Chairs!' she's gone. 'Oh sure, when it comes to dodging bullets I'm like a cat but my one chance to impress a 1st class dame like Ms. Avalon I move like a Rhino...F%#K!' He ruefully squeezes himself back into his chair 'I Gotta remember to talk to Jessica about getting some proper Troll sized chairs for F&^k's Sake!' and waits for his more experienced colleagues to take the lead again.
Meanwhile he goes over all the info com'ed to him
Since it is a potential missing persons - for all we know he is simply avoiding his sister - though my gut tells me he's not.
My suggestion is that we start with both Billy's apartment and, the Newcastle rehab place he spent time at. Let's find out if he had any regular visitors, though those places tend to protect their client's and it may be difficult getting any info from them.
His apartment will probably be easier to access. I'd recommend that we split into two teams for the preliminary info gather. Graul and one of us hit the apartment, and see if there is any info astral or real that can be gathered, and the other two attempt to get some info from Newcastle.
Then we can get back together and see which will seem to give us the better leads, and go from there. Let's see if we can get Leo to get us any info on Newcastle other than what they put out there. - but I'm open to other ideas.
I sit back thinking - Baron wants us to milk this but if the kid is in danger we wont have a lot of time, if he's okay we'll have time to pad the bill later.
Excellent suggestion. i would like a crack at his apartment, if you don't mind, i think you'd be better suited to dealing with the rehab administrators, i'm not exactly what you'd call "presentable", and, frankly, i think they'd try to admit me instead of work with me...
You can easily find out that Lone Star has given the Newcastle neighborhood a C rating. That means it's primarily a residential neighborhood, but it is considered quite dangerous. Responses to calls in this area would normally consist of 6-8 fully armoured officers in an armoured citymaster along with two patrol vehicles, a combat mage, and possibly drone support. It's C rating primarily comes from it's proximity to the Redmond barrens, and it seems that much of crime and poverty that infects that district have seeped into this neighborhood.
If you are going into that area, you may want to rethink sending only two of you.
Okay with that info a change in plans - looks like we should stick together given the problems in the neighborhood. I'd say hit the apartment first. Then Newcastle, not that I think we'll get much there, just being thorough.
Just to be clear Enoch- Newcastle is the name of the Bellevue neighborhood that Billy lives in and the Lake Washington Retreat is the name of the rehab clinic. It sounded like you had that a bit mixed up, but I'm not sure.
Anyhow, from the looks of Billy's address it seems that he lives in an apartment building. The apartment number is #306.
You can take the ECI van, as it is the only ECI vehicle that has a seat big enough for a troll, which is a massive bucket seat in the back of the van (where normally there might be a bench seat or storage space). The driver's seat is sized for a human, so Ric or Hoss will have to drive. Of course the autopilot can take care of most of that anyhow. The van is pretty new, ECI has given it a few upgrades- chameleon paint, a morphing license plate, and runflat tires.
Any other gear you want to requisition before you go?
I agree with Enoch. Lets check out the apartment first. Maybe Leo can dig more up on the clinic in the mean time, but who knows how long a fresh trail will last at the apartment.
I know this is the first time I've worked with all of you so I might as well bring this up. I've had a long career in the shadows, which shoudl say quite a bit right there to those who have been there. If it hits the fan, I'm the one you want on your side. In my experience though, I'm either On or Off when it comes to fighting though, so once I'm engaged, don't expect anyone but us to be walking away...
<From the tone of Hoss' voice, you get the feeling he's not trying to brag on his skills, but warn you that when the gloves come off he plays for keeps...>
<Hoss pauses to think for a second, as if deciding if he should say more... you see a slight twitch, and then he continues>
I don't like to talk about the past, but I like even less to be surprised by my team or be tripping over each other, so here's a small flash on me...
<Hoss makes sure the room is secure and confirms with Leo (who he trusts) that he's the only one listening in>
I used to work for the corps in the past... MANY years ago... long before the crash. I did a lot of work for them and was part of a special team with special "enhancements". Lets just say there was a falling out and I went into the shadows for many years. I may be old and had my gear implanted 15 years ago, but my gear may not be as behind the SOTA curve as many expect. Anyway, I'm somewhat well rounded but know a lot about the corps and security and am rather reknown with my manhunter. If we mix it up and you want anyone to walk out of it but us, you'd better let me know before we start because I intent to finish it before most anyone knows what's going on.
<He stops and then looks at you expectantly>
Enoch takes a moment to digest this. - Hoss since we're working together for the first time I appreciate that and only fair I tell you about me. I worked vice, I have seen both the best and worst in people but I still generally take the positive view. I was good at my job, but I was an investigator not tactical or special weapons.
I know my limitations, I'm good with people, notice things and can put the pieces together. I try to avoid having it hit the fan but if it does I can handle myself and wont crack under pressure but I'm no F@#4g robocop. At the end of the day if we're still standing I'm happy. If there is someone we need alive I'll let you know, but bottom line the team is more important than the info.
Now I'm assuming we are all competent at what we do, and if it hits the fan we are more important than they are.
> Thanks I was mixing them up player error not character it was a rough week <
A quick data search reveals some basic info on the Lake Washington Retreat. It is a luxury rehab clinic that specializes in dealing with clients that have BTL addictions. It is very expensive and exclusive. They pride themselves on providing the best care money can buy for their clients, as well as a high degree of security, privacy and confidentiality. They advertise using Aztechnology for all their security needs.
If there is anything important you wanted to say or do before leaving the office and you didn't get to post it, you can backtrack a little.
Moving on...
You depart the West Life building in the ECI van at 3:30 pm, Friday, April 15th, 2070. Hoss is in the driver's seat. It is still raining as you depart Tacoma and head for Bellevue. The drive takes about 45 minutes, and it is highway driving most of the way. You pull of the I 90, and descend into the Newcastle neighborhood. It is indeed a residential slum. Gang graffiti is everywhere including on your AR, and the people brave enough to wander the streets look like they aren't living the ritzy life the district is famous for. The population is pretty much all human, and a fair amount of the graffiti contains anti meta-human content.
sitting-Finally!-comfortably in an ECI chair for once, Graul announces to the team his intention to scout ahead astrally to the apartment and see what there is to be seen. He makes sure he is comfortable and secure in the seat, closes his eyes, and begins his meditations to send his astral self soaring...
Sorry Graul, I guess you didn't catch my note on the discussion thread, where I mentioned that your character would not be able to use astral projection (too much of a spoiler). In return you've been granted 2 bonus spells to add to your list. You can still use astral perception.
sitting-Finally!-comfortably in an ECI chair for once, Graul announces to the team his intention to scout ahead astrally to the apartment and see what there is to be seen. He makes sure he is comfortable and secure in the seat, closes his eyes, and begins his meditations to send his astral self soaring...
You find yourselves approaching Billy's building. You see that it is a run down, 15 story structure made of stained concrete. There is a parking lot in front of the building. Many of the parking spaces are empty, and the ones that are occupied tend to have vehicles that look like they are barely in condition to leave the lot. There is an awning in front of the building that is supported by concrete pillars. You can see a few street teens hanging out near the entrance. Beyond that things look pretty quiet.
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(bit of a backtrack, sorry, i was at work..)
"Hoss, i won't get in your way if the need to let loose arises, i'll watch your six, null perspiration..."
"I worked homicide for Lone Star, and had a good record of closing cases. I also have no qualms about 'leaning' on someone to get the info i need out of them. I know i've seen better days, and i don't look like much, but never doubt that I will pull my weight"
(back to the present)
I look around to see if anyone is taking any "special" notice of us. Particularly the local toughs...
The street teens under the building's awning watch very closely as the van slows down when you approach the building. What would you guys like to do?
i make sure my pistol is loose in its holster, just in case.
"well, what's the plan of approach? seems quiet enough..."
I think Enoch just posted on the other thread by accident, and Houston try to remember to use your alias.
Anyhow- Enoch, the street punks are pretty young (early teens). You can't see them very clearly from the road. They are hanging out in the shadows of the awning and you are some distance away. You would need to get a better look at them before you could possibly ID them.
I say we just head in like we "own the place" and see what they do...
yup posted to wrong thread- to recap
Enoch tried to see if they had any recognizable gang affiliation.
Makes sense to me, easier to avoid trouble if you act like you belong there and you're not worth the risk.