As the call for the coming Blackout came over the intercom, Kindu quickly left the restaurant with a parting smile to Shurami. Taking her advice in hand, he made his way over to the hotel she mentioned and got a good room. Always good to have a good bed for his beauty sleep.
As the call for the coming Blackout came over the intercom, Kindu quickly left the restaurant with a parting smile to Shurami. Taking her advice in hand, he made his way over to the hotel she mentioned and got a good room. Always good to have a good bed for his beauty sleep.
Shurami's suggested hotel is a nice one - even though the blackout arrives as you walk in the doors, the hotel employs a shobad elevator worker, who manually hauls you up the elevator to the rented penthouse. From the top floor of the hotel, you get a nice view of the city - at night, the blackout provides a beautiful view of the full range of stars, and when you wake in the morning, you can see past the city walls to the grey plains of sand stretching into the horizon.
Zhor blinks a few times, looking at the gnome with surprise.
"What's a shredder?" he says eventually.
The gnome laughs disbelievingly. "That's the trick, innit - no one knoooows!! Come out of the dark and drag you right into it." He laughs crazily. "The Consortium will tell you 'oh, it's a flaw of a robust infrastructure, gotta conserve energy, upgrades coming soon' - rot, all of it! Fact is, you turn on a light - the shredders can see you. And when someone finds you, they gotta scrape yer DNA off the wall to figure out it was you once." The gnome crouches and smears around the campfire some more with his hands, then starts to wipe the soot on his face. "Aspis just can't catch the things either, that's why the lights all go out. Can't catch 'em, and even all their money can't keep 'em safe when the shredders want the dark." The gnome throws a double handful of soot in the air at Zhor's face, cackling. "Only way to stay safe is stay as dark as a shredder!!" he says - by the time Zhor opens his eyes, the gnome has taken off down the street, laughing insanely.
----------------------------------------------
The next morning, you all receive a message from Shurami with a set of coordinates and a brief description.
We’ve received word from one of our corporate partners that they’re finding their brand uniquely disgraced here in Prosperity. I assume you all are at least nominally familiar with AbadarCorp - their corporate offices here on planet have been receiving complaints from local adherents that a vesk in the vestments of a AbadarCorp representative has been selling ‘insurance’ door to door - with suspicious accidents happening to those who don’t pay the insurance rates. While it sounds like an open-and-shut case of extortion by a fraudulent or corrupt member of the church, AbadarCorp investigations into the matter have been unable to catch the suspect, so they’re requested assistance from the PeaceMakers to see what information they can turn up.
Scrambles will meet you at the location and can assist with anything you mention near him - the blessing and the curse of hiring skittermanders.
Best of luck, and here’s to a good shoot!
-Shurami
---------------------------------------------------------------
Shurami’s coordinates take you to the worker’s camps on the edge of town - prefab buildings of plastic and concrete, uniformly drab where they’re not already broken or busted. Scrambles is outside of a convenience store with a small pile of empty nutrient paste tubes and crushed cans of EnerJuice, while a frazzled-looking witchwyrd stands at the doorway, watching the skittermander reassembling his camera drone with caution.
"Mornin." Glitch greets Scrambles. "So what's the plan. Taking up residence and wait for the culprit to knock at our door?" ha asks wondering what Scrambles wants to film here.
Nilan arrives and surveys the scene
Well, do we let our "Star" kick in the door? Or something maybe a lil more subtle?
"Scrambles, isn't it?" Caloo says, extending a hand to shake. "If you ever need help with that," he gestures at the partially assembled camera drone, "I know a simple bit of magic that fixes minor damage. It saves a little time. I can move charges around from one thing to another, as well. I have to be careful not to overload an item with that, though, or something might go boom!"
Mental note: that guy knows a shortcut to disabling battery powered devices.
Mental note: that guy knows a shortcut to disabling battery powered devices.
Mental note: that guy knows a shortcut to disabling battery powered devices.
Zhor looks at the message blearily and blinks a few times.
"PeaceMakers? Is that us" he asks.
He looks around at the others.
"I suppose we might as well head out there," he says, shrugging. He begins putting on his gear.
"Say... any of you cats know how much this job actually pays? I'm not complaining, but usually I knows that before I takes the job."
The witchwyrd sees the crew gathering around Scrambles familiarly and gestures angrily at them. "Are you with this guy?? He came in my store, drank 3 cups of cova, and started eating all my snacks, right off the shelves! Who's going to clean up after him, that's what I wanna know!"
"I gave 'im 200 creds for 50 worth of stock, tell that pain in the ass to use one of those four arms to pick up a Kuthon-kissing broom," the skittermander says as he tightens some bolts on the cambot. He simultaneously uses one of his hands to shake with Caloo before addressing the ones with questions. "Best bet at this point is some gumshoe investigation work - don't need our headliner for that, it never plays well on tv anyhow, we'll mock up some revelatory moments once we know what he's gotta realize." He gives one final wrench and his tools start to vanish into his vest. He perches on top of the cam-bot. "I'll record for posterity - Where to?" he asks cheerfully.
"What do you pay, for cleaning up after him? Looks like you got 150creds that you can use to subcontract this activity." Glitch replies.
Meanwhile Kitty starts collecting the stuff.
You got a map, or at least some rough outline of the size of Prosperity and the kind of neighborhood we're in? If this is suburban one story houses over a square mile, we might as well walk around and look out for him. If we're talking 100.000 people scrammed into three blocks of skyscrapers, we might need different tactics.
"Let's exchange comm ids and swarm out in the area. Whoever spots a vesk in abadar corp vestment, calls the others in. And on the way we can ask at the hot dog stand, cofee to go bar or whatever if someone has heard something more specific." Glitch suggests.
Nilan says Well. If we need to do some talkin' I guess we should get started. he saunters off.
Nilan will attempt to secure the efforts of some local miscreants (thieves, pickpockets and the like) and ask them about our Abadarcorp charlatan. He'll spread a few credits around if he has to, or buy some drinks.
After trading comm IDs with Glitch, Jink, Blask, Nilan, and Zhor, Caloo does as Glitch suggested. He picks a direction at random and knocks on the front door of a prefab to begin canvassing for information on the nefarious insurance salesman.
Glitch decides for a direction and leaves too. Together with Kitty he tries to spot someone matching the description, or someone complaining about that scam.
Blask exchanges comm ids with everyone, and heads off with Jink in whatever direction he chooses. He keeps an eye out for another Vesk Lodge by as an AbadarCorp official.
"Let's exchange comm ids and swarm out in the area. Whoever spots a vesk in abadar corp vestment, calls the others in. And on the way we can ask at the hot dog stand, cofee to go bar or whatever if someone has heard something more specific." Glitch suggests.
"Yeah, okay. Abadar's the one with the key, right? I'll head this way and circle around north."
Jink waits until everyone else has headed off, and then heads off to search in a direction nobody else has gone.
Glitch walks on and turns into one of the side alleys, where he will be alone with his newly gained shadow. He sends his coordinates to the others, with a short message Gained a shadow. Will nail it down. Backup would be appreciated.
Kitty stays at the wall around the corner in the shadows.
Once the teenager is between Glitch and kitty, Glitch turns around. "Down on your knees and hands up, and you may live!"
The drone will shoot the follower in the back. To make clear that this is no empty threat.
Unfortunately sleeping through his alarm, Kindu enjoyed a leisurely breakfast before checking his messages and noticing that Shurumi had a case for the newly-formed group. Quickly putting on his armor and grabbing his gear, he rushed out to the coordinates just in time to see one of the ysoki having their drone fire upon someone. "Halt! In the name of the Peacemakers, I demand to know what is happening!"
"We have a human child tailing us. Anyone else got similar?" Jink asks under his breath over the comms
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Glitch gets startled as Kindo hops off his Infinite Improbability Drive powered vehicle to appear just at this hidden alley in this very moment of great danger. Maybe he is more a hero and less an actor than I thought the Ysoki ponders.
The teen screams as the laser shot bites into his shoulder, but he grips his arm as he faces Kindu, face outraged and defiant. ”What’s goin’ on here? This little fink shot me with some laser magic, dinnt ‘e?”
"That little s++~ was tailing me, and now he is using his comm unit. Probably calling for his gang." Glitch points out the obvious. "I don't know who he is working for, but he's going nowhere before I know."
"My offer for you to live if you drop to your knees and put your hands up is still standing. I wonder how long you can stand not to accept it."
Kitty keeps shooting.
Caloo sends a text to everyone in response to Glitch's message: I've learned that the culprit goes by the name "Padre" and he pays a lot of local kids to keep him informed. On my way! With that, he makes his way toward Glitch's coordinates.
Zhor blinks blearily as he looks at the message. He looks around for a moment, catching a glimpse of the child who is tailing him.
{Yes this is Zhor,} he replies. {A little kid is following me too, looks like a street urchin. I'll see if I can grab him.}
At the next intersection, Zhor looks around before turning right. Once around the corner, he presses his back against the wall of the nearby building waiting for the child to come around the corner. When the kid does he reaches out to grab him.
"Hey kid! C'mere!" he shouts. He pulls the kid close.
"Why're you following me? Who sent you?"
"That little s+&! was tailing me, and now he is using his comm unit. Probably calling for his gang." Glitch points out the obvious. "I don't know who he is working for, but he's going nowhere before I know."
"My offer for you to live if you drop to your knees and put your hands up is still standing. I wonder how long you can stand not to accept it."
Kitty keeps shooting.
"Lissen to this rat, here I am just walkin' down my own str-"
*ZAP*
"Owwwowow, right, fine!" The kid drops to his knees and puts his hands on his head. He looks at Kindu. "Tell this psycho scav to lay off frying me and I'll tell you what I got!"
"Hey kid! C'mere!" he shouts. He pulls the kid close.
"Why're you following me? Who sent you?"
Zhor pulls the kid close, but the urchin twists hard, leaving Zhor with a handful of torn stationwear before he can react. The kid takes off down the alley at a sprint, yelling "Choke on exhaust, scalebrain!" as he rounds the corner full tilt, taking off in the opposite direction.
"Blask, we were being followed by a kid, he has taken off. We need to catch him." Jink says as he starts running
"Alright, let's just calm down here," Kindu said, looking from one to the other before sticking on the ysoki. "I would ask you kindly to refrain from further attacks against someone that has already surrendered. As for you, son, why don't you tell us why you were following this man, and we'll see how much trouble you'll be in. If you give your full cooperation, I promise that I'll see to it that you have leniency."
Glitch quickly scrolls through the conversation going on over the comms before he starts the interrogation. "I can see, that everyone new in this nice district gets a shadow. You've heard our honored peacemaker officer. Start telling - why are you following me, what is your task here and who are you working for. And while you're at it you can tell where to find that someone."
"And none of that, I don't know, or I can't tell nonsense." Glitch demands.
With Kindu here, Scrambles will arrive soon for sure and the others hopefully won't take too long, so Glitch is not overly worried about who might or might not come as backup for the boy. But he check's nonetheless for exits from this alley.
Nilan makes his way to these "snitches".
Say, you know a guy. I know a guy. Guy dresses fancy like Abadarcorp....
Nilan tries to get them to give him a location.
Blask looks around, absentmindedly when Jink brings him back to reality.
What, some little punk is following us?
He looks to where Jink is exclaiming, to see a figure briefly turn a corner. Blask runs off in his armor, trying to catch up to the teenage punk.
Seens we are on the right track at least
"Alright, let's just calm down here," Kindu said, looking from one to the other before sticking on the ysoki. "I would ask you kindly to refrain from further attacks against someone that has already surrendered. As for you, son, why don't you tell us why you were following this man, and we'll see how much trouble you'll be in. If you give your full cooperation, I promise that I'll see to it that you have leniency."
"Calm down, 'e says, like 'e's the one with a bloody gaping blasterrash on his arse," grumbles the kid. He looks between the lashunta and the ysoki, clearly sulking. "It's easy, right - I get creds to keep an eye on anyone walkin’ around who might cause trouble. Me and me mates didn’t know you or yours, so we’re keepin’ an eye on, when this whisker-twitching nutjob decides to turn me into plasma slag.” The kid spits. ”Padre takes our messages, leaves the unmarked creds in a dropbox for us to grab - easy as breakin’ glass.” He gives you an enterprising glare for a moment before turning of his comms. "Tell ya which box for a tenner and some hush-hush on who you lost a tenner to."
Blask catches a glimpse of an object being tossed in a pile of junk. It appears like he telegraphs the exact moment of detonation, and yells over to Jink as the junk explodes into the street. Blask plants his left foot, and leaps into the air over the flying debris.
Jink, watch out, Frag Grenade!
Glitch looks at Kindu, if he is willing to pay the kid for such information, or if he should put his finger in the blaster-rash wound again.
"Damn," Zhor curses as the urchin sprints away.
He signals the others on his comm unit.
{I had one, but he slipped through my fingers. Where are you guys? Should we get back together?}
Glitch resends his coordinates to Zhor. I still got mine.
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Caloo comes rolling around a corner, into the scene with Glitch (and Kitty), Kindu, and the street urchin. Seeing the kid, Caloo rushes up to him. He speaks quickly in his excitement: "Oh! Good! You must be one of the local kids that Padre pays, is that right? I've heard some people like that he's throwing money around in the neighborhood, but then the ones who have lost their homes and livelihoods can't really share that sentiment, can they? Anyway, can you help us get in touch with Padre?"
Kindu was gave it some thought and was about to reply when the strange rolling nose appeared once more. He really needed to get his compatriot's names down... And figure out what, exactly, the nose was. "Indeed, son," he said, giving out the smile that won Teen Star Weekly's Most Stunning Smile award five years running. "I think I can even spare an extra five credits if you could lead us to this 'Padre' personally." To show that he meant business, he pulled out an empty credstick, hooked it up to Kiph, and transferred the offered credits.
"Bastard!" Jink shouts after the kid
@Kindu, Caloo, Glitch:
The kid looks at you appraisingly for a second before shaking his head. "Ain't like that, right - we don't go to 'im, don't know where he's come from. Ain't seen 'im in person since he came by two months ago. The box though, I can show you that right well enough. Credsticks get there somehow, gotta be some way he gets 'em there."
Assuming there's no other questions for him, he'll take you to a quieter corner of town. The 'box' turns out to be a streetlamp with the panel pried loose - the kid checks, but no credsticks are in there at the moment. He presses a few buttons on his comms. "Look, I said you lot came in asking questions and we was followin' you - sent 'im another just now sayin' that you lot had spread some creds around but no one talked. That'll perk 'is ears right up - should be that someone'll come by to give us ours. You can check the message if you like, nuffin funny about it." He proffers his comm unit, and it's just like he says.
@Blask, Jink:
Blask leaps over the exploding pile of debris, and Jink ducks and dodges through the falling junk like it was nothing. The kid, thrown off balance by his own explosion, stumbles and falls over as Blask nearly lands on him. "ZK's chains, yer fast," the urchin says in awe from the ground at the two of them, practically forgetting that he's caught. "Look, yer mates got mine - I tell ya where they're goin' and you let me be?"
Blask picks the kid up by the shirt and holds him in the air.
Why would I let you go when I could let Jink here use you as a test dummy?
Zhor meets up with Glitch and the others. His lazy eye looks the kid over.
"So, what did I miss?"
Nodding his head, Kindu handed over the credstick. "Very well, son, just be careful. Not every person you may follow will be as understanding as we are." A sudden thought occured and he looked at the young man carefully. "Tell me, would you be willing to sell information to us on occasion?"
Getting shot in the back counts as understanding in Prosperity? And I thought I'm one of the bad guys Glitch thinks.
Turning to the vesk he tells "We made great progress. May I introduce you? Zhor, Streetlamp - Streetlamp, Zhor."
Blask picks the kid up by the shirt and holds him in the air.
Why would I let you go when I could let Jink here use you as a test dummy?
"I can tell you about his enforcer!" the kid practically yells. "None of the others believe me, but I saw it - when Padre was going around kissin' hands and shakin' babies, this thing was flyin' over watchin the whole time, like a gross-lookin flesh balloon! And the thing was armed I ain't talkin street weapons, these were like merc-grade stuff!"
Nodding his head, Kindu handed over the credstick. "Very well, son, just be careful. Not every person you may follow will be as understanding as we are." A sudden thought occured and he looked at the young man carefully. "Tell me, would you be willing to sell information to us on occasion?"
The kid looks over the motley crew behind Kindu. "Yeah, alright - but I ain't talkin' to any of these ugly mugs, just you or the plush doll back there."
"Kid, quit breakin' the fourth wall, we're shooting here!" yells Scrambles from his perch on the cambot. He skitters down and approaches Kindu, grumbling about [smaller]"ruining a great damn shot" as he goes. He sizes the kid up. "We could set 'im up as a contractor, per useful tidbit contract, encrypted comms - plus that gives us a potential 'father figure' or 'streetwise redemption' arc for the shoot. Whattaya think, boss?"
"Hmm, I doubt that the father figure arc would work well, he might be too old for that. Redemption, though, that's always a good seller. I remember back in River Of Blade I helped that android assassin find redemption after she accidently killed her love. We'll have to take it slowly, though. Do it too quickly and the audience won't believe it..." He had to shake his head to get himself back in the game. Or show, rather. "Anyway, we'll put that in the future box. Whattaya say, kid, wanna make some extra creds?"
Blask looks to Jink, and then stares at the kid, trying to gauge if he is being truthful or just trying to prevent from being a test dummy.
Blask thinks about whatever could be the “flesh balloon with merc grade weapons”.