Pat:
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"Let's start with this: does anyone have any contacts that are deckers, or know of any fairly reliable deckers that you have run with before? I know some people, but none of them are even remotely local."
"Okay, so now that we know a bit about each other, let's look at our problem and try to decide the best way to handle it. I believe that GB is correct: we're definitely going to need to pick up a decker. While we don't necessarily need someone to go with us, we will need someone to walk us through taking the data out of the mainframe; unless someone here has that skill set?" John gives a look around the group before continuing: "Okay, so as I see it here are the things we'll need to accomplish: 1) supplies. We're going to need burner commlinks, explosives, transportation, and an escape route. 2) We need a plan to make the place detonate. 3) we need to make sure the facility is deserted when we do our run. I'm not really intersted in killing a janitor who is just working a 9 to 5 and then going home to the wife and kids. 4) We need to know exactly where the lab is. Did I leave anything out?" John looked around the group to see if anyone had anything to add.
"Is that a Magic the Gathering reference Pat?" John asked when the older man introduced himself.
"Fortunately Mr. Johnson gave us some seed money. What are all of you called, by the way? You may all me Continuum."
"As you have seen, I'm a pretty good social engineer and I can hold my own at infiltration, although I am hardly a stealth specialist. I am not all that good when it comes to killing, because to me a 'run in which the target never knew you were there is the best kind of run. I...also can't do AR, so I can't handle the matrix side if things." Once everyone has introduced themselves, John says "So, does anyone have contacts or the knowledge that would allow us to buy or make explosives? I know a couple of general fixers, but I don't know any specialists in this field."
"Well, someone had the idea to rent some space here, so let's go ahead and do that." With that, John lead the others into the office and rented a storage space large enough for them to stand in comfortably.
"So, who's safehouse is here?"
"Okay, no worries." says John as he exits the vehicle. Once the others joined him on the sidewalk, he said "So, that was interesting."
"That's the plan. You're welcome, by the way. NeoNet was trying to start arresting people, but we took care of that situation." Continuum watches the man in the rear view mirror as he speaks, trying to gauge his reaction.
"Calm down friend. you just hired us, remember? There were some complications at the meet, but everyone is uninjured. We just need to have you give authorization to your vehicle to remove our destination and appearance from your vehicle's logs." John sets is expression with nice smile, with just a hint of concern, like your best friend might have if you were carsick.
"Computer, append the last order: once we exit the vehicle at our current destination, remove all evidence of our passage from the vehicle as well." John then shakes the man more vigorously and says "Authorize your damn vehicle!"
still good not to have a Johnson know where anyone might run to.
"Computer, once we disembark at our destination, remove this leg from the record of the trip and show that you travelled directly from our previous location to the location designated as home." Anticipating the computer's request, John then shakes the Johnson awake and says "We need you to authorize your vehicle."
"computer, is this vehicle equipped with gridguide?"
John says "I'll go and get the car, unless we have a rigger." John waits for a moment before picking up the keys and heading out.
"Let's talk about this once we're...well, not here. Any of you have a vehicle?"
"Agreed."
Continuum shakes their hands and says "Remember that corporations don't have rights to order you around in UCAS territory." He then moves to return to the group and says "That went better than I thought."
You're capped on Force equal to double your magic rating.
Adjusting his tie, John left the back room after getting the contact number then approached the Corp Agents and said "Excuse me, who is the commander among you men?" Once he identified himself, John said "You do realize that you have no authority here, correct? You are, unless I am mistaken, Corp Agents for NeoNet. I know this may confuse you here, but you are, in fact, not on NeoNet territory. This is, in fact, UCAS territory. In short, you have no authority here." John then smiled a disarming smile and said "Now, if I were you, before you start an international incident, I would take a look around, realize what you are doing, and then leave."
"There's probably a back door here, likely through the kitchen. You should see if it's clear. One of you give me your contact info, so I can memorize it." John said quietly while listening to the crowd outside.
"I'm going to go speak to them, you guys be ready to move him" John jerks his thumb at the Johnson "Out the back. Assuming they don't have that covered yet. Also, one of you give me your contact info."
Quick Spellcasting Rundown: Step 1: Pick your spell - Improved Invisibility Step 2: Pick the Target(s) - Improved Invisibility is a single target spell Step 3: Set force - This determines how powerful the spell is (higher is better), but also how hard it is to resist. Step 4: Cast the Spell - Make a Spellcasting + Magic [F] test, and include any applicable modifiers (sustained spells, injury, mentor spirits, anything else) Step 5: Determine Effect - the number of hits you get sets the threshold for anyone who tries to detect the target. Improved Invisibility also works on technology, so things like drones and cameras will not pick up an invisible person. Step 6: Resist Drain - the Drain on Improved Invisibility is Force -1. Any force that isn't accounted for deals damage to the caster (i.e. if after your drain test you still haven't reduced the drain to 0, you take the remaining drain in damage). If the net hits of the spell were higher than your magic rating, the drain is physical; otherwise, it's stun damage. The spell's duration is sustained, so it stays until you drop it. You also get a -1 penalty to spellcasting tests for each sustained spells (making it harder to cast spells) that aren't sustained by a focus.
Mark eased the door closed and said "Corp Agents outside. Right now, we're just a bunch of people in a room. No need to panic, and we probably shouldn't go and start shooting anyone." "As much fun as it might be." "Anyone here a decker or full mage?"
John moved to the door and opened it slightly to see if he could hear what was going on.
"That's not a great sign." turning towards Johnson, John asked "Do you have an protection on sight? You should probably have them escort you out of here. If not, you should probably get out of here regardless." Looking at the others, John asked "Are any of you armed?"
"Then we have a deal, and much to do." says John before popping outside and returning with to-go boxes. He boxes up one of the calzones, nods to Mr. Johnson, and then says to the others "we should get started."
Decently paranoid. Most shadowrunner teams that work together for a while will end up getting a base imo, but it's also usually not the only base they have.
John gives Mark a 'one moment' gesture and then says once their Johnson has regained his composure "So we have our mission, now we need to discuss compensation. Destroying a lab means that we will need explosives, which means that we'll need to spend more with our trusted contacts to acquire said explosives. Copying data of that magnitude and import means that we'll need to secure a hardened data container to keep said data safe. There will, of course, be other costs we'll incur along the way. Allow me to suggest a counter offer: 25,000 nuyen for the destruction of the lab, and 35,000 nuyen for the data. It'll make splitting the money easier and insure that we all" as he gestures he includes the Johnson "equally share the expected costs."
"Clever." mutters John to himself. "Are you alright sir?"
"I just wanted to make sure you weren't going to get rid of your commlink after the meeting. Good to know." "Okay, so to repeat the job: you want us to locate and enter this lab, secure the data, then destroy the lab. We have three days to complete the job, and there are no issues in regards to casualties. Have I missed anything?"
"I see. You mentioned data, but I would imagine that there is quite a bit of data in a hidden lab. Is there a specific project or subject that we should be looking for, or should we collect everything?" Continuum pops another piece of the Calzone into his mouth. "Also, you did not answer my question regarding the means to contact you once we have completed our business."
Getting all the specifics of the job first, then going to negotiate. Doing it the other way can get messy.
"See, I knew you could do it." says John in a completely non-mocking way. He then picks up one of the credsticks and pockets it. "Is there a timelimit on this data extraction and lab destruction? Also, how will we contact you when we have completed the assignment?" John pours himself a drink and takes one of the calzones and begins picking at the crust as he talks.
"Now, now, chummers, we've all got things we're not good at. He's being rather brave to come and jump off the deep end like this. We can't all be me, after all." says John with a self-depricating laugh.
"Not at all. You are simply out of your depth." John pauses as the food is delivered, smiles at the waitress, then waits until she leaves before continuing: "Sorry about that. As I was saying, you seem like you're outside your comfort zone. Take a deep breath, relax, and after a moment eating what I am sure is something delicious, start again slowly. You've got this."
Stepping inside, John walked up to the bartender at one end of the bar. As he walked, he drew the eyes of most people in the place, even if they didn't approach him. While he was exceptionally good-looking, that wasn't the root of what made him so attractive. In John's experience, it was typically that people saw the best thing they wanted to see in him. For some, it was a friend, for others, a f@#$ buddy; others still saw him as that 'cool' boss that buys everyone drinks after a hard day at work. Crossing to the bar, the woman working that end of the bar met him there. After a moment's conversation, and her handing him a napkin that she had written something on, John turned and made his way towards the private rooms. Looking down at the napkin, John chuckled. Old though he was, he still found it funny how quickly he always seemed to get the girl's digits.
John had been reading a physical book when the call came in, only having the trideo on for background noise (also to disabuse anyone of the notion that his apartment was empty). When his commlink chirped, he glanced at the message, managing to read it right as the cheap piece of Chinese made crap had shorted out. Again. In frustration, he threw the damn thing against the wall and heard it make a satisfying crash and it split into it's constituent parts. Well he thought to himself, at least I should end up with enough nuyen to replace that POS. he smiled to himself as he realized that there were only a handful of people who would actually get that reference. After all, they now called it Drek. John saw that the streets were just as disgusting as they ever were, but at least people here lived in relative freedom, instead of the Tir. Turning, John made his way to the Tube station to catch a ride to the closest stop. The Tube came, he got on, the Tube moved some, and he got off at his stop. A short walk later and he stood in front of the doors to Jimmy's Grotto.
Ya, he was the DM for several of my games, and a good one to boot, which kinda sucks.
Continuum beggars off the meal, but thanks Tom's mom for the offer. |