yeah sure, why not. anyone else? if so, im leaving now and ill chill outside for 5 min til these other two are out. if your coming with, cool. if not, well meet you there.
with that i stand up, walk out of the room. i throw a nod and pass the keycard to the bartender, walk up and retrieve my roomsweeper from the door troll and wait outside next to a lamppost, firing up a cigar.
as i wait, i ensure that my roomsweeper is loaded with flechette rounds and pat my pocket where the regular ammo is kept. i lean down and pull out my warhawk, check the rounds in it, patt my other pocket were i have the two speed load clips in, and stick it down the front of my pants and cooly keep my hand near it.
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The troll steps out of the bar a moment after the rest of you, nodding in agreement to walk together. It is safer staying in a group and the other bar is close enough. The heavy security of this place, coupled with the fact that his bike is made for a troll and goblinoids are looked after near the Big Rhino means that his bike should be safe until he gets back for it.
The walk is a mostly uneventful one, downtown is bustling at this time of the evening with crowds of tourists packing the streets while most of the locals weave through a maze of interconnected moving sidewalks and bridges above the street.
There are a few packs of thrill seekers and some obvious corp kids slumming and out trying to cause trouble, but none of them are foolish enough to confront a group of armed and clearly professional runners. Even a handful of Halloweeners who are out harassing the tourists don't do more then make a few mocking calls from an alley across the street.
Arriving at Leon's, you could have easily missed it if you didn't know you were looking for it. The front of the bar has a small window, but is otherwise just a flat stone face, set between two larger structures; a warehouse on one side and what looks like a 'soy to you' grocery delivery station.
Inside, Leon's seems set out of a different time and with it apparently being made out of real wood rather then something synth, it really might be. Lights hang from the ceiling with dark green glass shades to give a dim illumination, stools line the bar and booths line the wall. There are a handful of regulars here, most are nursing what looks to be real alcohol, though a few have synthahol. They flash suspicious looks towards the group, though when they see Rick they turn their eyes back to their drinks. The tender behind the bar however seems at least to give Rick a friendly smile. "Hey, chum. The usual?" He nods briefly towards the others. "Friends of yours?"
Tarlane:
The bar has a mostly human crowd, but that is more from the style (it isn't the "new and shiny" and Sinatra plays as often as not). There are some meta-human regulars, ones that have a taste for crooners, Bogart and good (real) whiskey.
Jax, I sure hope they are...
Say, can you set us up with a bottle of good bourbon (my usual will do), set ups and the back room on the left? My friends and I were looking for a quiet evening, away from prying eyes and ears. Thank you, my friend...
just a beer for me, thanks. ill be the first one to admit that i have no tongue for that fancy hard liquor stuff.
i do a glance around the bar, spotting bouncers, security measures and back exits.
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Rick
Jax nods his head and tosses a key, turning in the lock style, to Rick. "Sure thing, chummer. One usual, one beer, anything else?" He grins a bit at skullcrusha, though his joking is friendly. "If you are soft on the hard stuff, are you going to be able to handle a real beer, or you need some of that synth-drek?"
With the rest of the regulars looking back to their drinks the bar seems fairly quiet except for murmered conversations and music several decades out of style being pumped through a crackly speaker system. Each booth seems to have a working jukebox that can change the house music, though while the style screams out of date you do see AROs that indicate you can wirelessly alter the ambiance as well.
Looking around the bar, there is a single fire exit in the back, complete with a faded neon sign proclaiming it matching up with the comm overlaid directions that indicate its presence. Sitting beside it are two simple bathroom doors, and then a row of three doors without any indicators on them.
Its to one of these that Rick leads you, it opens easily with the key, and inside you can see a simple wooden table surrounded by chairs. The house speaker system doesn't carry into this room, and silence pervades. Giving the room a bit more thorough of an investigation shows a sticker besides the door, advertising that a subdivision of Knight Errant Security inspected this room and found it to be secure.
"I'll have a glass of... You know what, surprise me."
When he enters the safe room, Thomas takes off his glasses and looks around the room before sitting down in one of the chairs.
smiling back at the bartender, wow! real alcohol! thatll be a super treat. havent had some of that in about a month.
i take my beer once its poured and head into the room, glancing around, and chuckling at seeing the knight errant sign.
as i sit down i pull out my warkhawk and holster it in my boot holster, then put my hands on the table, folded infront of me.
well, friends, i suppose a round of introduction is in order...lets start with the one over there who suggested this bar
"I'm Thomas. Thomas Chance. I'm a mage. You know, turn invisible, influence the weak-willed, all that good stuff."
names skullcrusha. been retired for the past 10 years since the crash. was a big player before then, but certain unfortunate circumstances are forcing me to come out of retirement. i bring to the table a love of shotguns, grenades, and professional landscape and interior/exterior redesign to unwilling occupants. i am good to watch your back and will not hesitate to do a deed once signed on...
also, wanted to let you know that what you first saw of me in front of the johnson and how i acted to him, just a face i do for all johnsons. plus, the little drek rubbed me the wrong way acting all 'elite' and 'better than thou'.
with that i sit down, take a swig of the brew, and nod at the next one in line...
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As you all are settling in and sharing your introductions there is a tap at the door and a moment later Jax enters with everyones drinks, passing them around. He places a shot of what looks to be whiskey in front of Chance and from the smell of it, it seems to be the real thing and pretty potent.
With that done the man gives a tip of his head and a smile to Rick. "If you won't be needing anything else, I'll make sure you all have some privacy back here. Give me a call if anything else is up."
Thomas
Looking around the room in astral space you don't detect anything that would indicate any lingering spell effects or the like that could indicate someone snooping on you, but the walls are warded against intrusion. The ward is fairly powerful, though not overwhelmingly so. A decent mage could get through, but it would take a lot of effort to do so.
Spider Walked with the others but said little, his mind busy elsewhere with forms flying about hunting info and taking care of other deals. He does order a bourbon, and fallow the rest to the room. After skull crusher talks he speaks up
" Neonspider, is my handle, but spider works as well. I am a hacker, I retrieve data. Specializing in system exploits.I Make a little cred here and there on data steals, but won't turn a bigger payday down. I really do not care what they want us to steal. Data is data and Nyen is nyen, We do the job give the Johnson his data , get paid and scoot.
with that she sits back in his chair and drinks his bourbon
"Good stuff here, have to remember this place"
so we have neon the hacker, thomas chance the mage, winston the... well, since he hasnt put forth any info as to what he can do, ill pigeon hole him for interferience. and rounding out the group is the human there, who has yet to make in introduction, although good job in finding this place. i like it. its quiet, easy to get to, kind of hidden in plain sight.
so, gents, we have been asked by the lil snotling johnson to sneak into a pharmaceutical building and research site to grab the data called "project isis". me, i believe that having an orgasm of information going into a building is alot better than having none at all, so i suggest we look into all aspects, what project isis is? who is wanting to weal and deal MetaRX into selling? what is the layout of the land? security? anything magical with the place? so lets put our heads together and do some info gathering. once we have everythiing we want, then well come up with a game plan.
I'm Rick Roe, ex-Lone Star and current freelance private detective. Used to work Homicide, so I tend to notice the details. I'm handy with my sidearm, and, though I may not look it, not many will get the drop on me. I'll watch everyone's six so they can do their thing (nods to Spider and Chance) and back up the muscle (smiles at Skullcrusha).
AHHHH the great oracle speaks!!! i cry out in a loud voice, pointing at winston, but throwing an exaggerated wink his way while chuckling.
but, he has a valid point. if we learn too much, we may have to crush some skulls to drive the goons off our back. but well talk more on that later...
so, planning time. heres what i suggest:
1. we send 2 guys out to recon the area, perhaps the great oracle and thom
2. neon, if you will, hit the matrix and dig up some surface info on 'project isis' and metarx.
3. someone hang here with neon and guard him while he does his search.
4. ....anyone else hungry? i feel like i could eat an all a troll can eat buffet.
I'll watch over Neon, I know all of the regulars and will notice someone who's out of place. I spend quite a bit of my waking life here these days, after all...
I sip my whiskey, a distant look in my eyes, as if wondering if that fact disturbs me or not...
alright, neon and rick will chill out here and surf the trix. thomas and winston, take a drive past the company, check out the security of the joint, layout, buildings near by, use your imagination. take some pics of the building and streets around it too for further use later.
me, im gonna go get some chow so that when we meet up, we can eat and talk planning.
"Alright. Just give me about five, ten minutes, I'll take a look at the place astrally first." Thomas takes one last drink before he slumps back in his chair, his spirit heading out to the target.
"Right, good plan, Iam not sure on hitting them first however. But I am not really the blow em up skill set now am I?'
With that spider keys ups a small swarm of spider of many colors and sends them scattering thought the matrix looking for info on "project isis" the company, employee list, garbage pick up, who they order stuff from anything and every thing he can find
he sips at his drink and keys up a few more tabs, checking his mail, massages and bringing up a menu from a pizza joint close by
Looking up at the group though the maze of ARO's and windows he asks "Pizza anyone?"
GM
I would like to hit data havens as well do I make another roll or just add 3 more to that one? or can I not do that right now.
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Winston
The Ragers are your most likely threat just because they run a protection racket with most of the warehouses around the MetaRx facility. You are not likely to have to deal too much with any of the bigger syndicates unless your actions somehow interfere with one of the vice parlors around the warehouse.
Thomas
Spider
Most interesting is project Isis however, the companies page shows nothing about it however there seems to be a strong buzz among runner forums about it at the moment. A lot of word is out on the street that this is going to be the 'next big thing' as if rumors of it are somewhat common, but no one seems to know well just what it is.
After a few seconds, Thomas wakes back up. "Never mind, forgot this room was warded. So, will one of you please open the door again in about five minutes?" With that, he gets up, opens the door, sits back down and slumps over again.
Spider looks up around the glow of windows "Sure pizza is on the way, hummm , Well there is not much info on the company it's self. It's lables a "medical think tank" .Delivery and disposal seems to be done through a small chemical company called 'BCC',I say it is a shell company of some type. Nothing else jumps out. project Isis does have a buzz on the street however, but I got little info on it now. If you give me a day or so to run the havens I may be able to dig up more into, but on short that's all I got"
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Thomas
The warehouse is pretty much exactly what you would expect, a large building with big roll up doors in the front and a small entrance on the side. Scouting the outside of the building you catch a small group of orcs with a troll leaning against the side in an alley, though they look more like gangers then some sort of security.
The top of the building has a skylight that runs most of the length of the center from one side to the other, poking up to form a triangle from the roof.
The structure itself does have warding over it, though it seems somewhat minimal as if it could be easily defeated. The defenses seem to be almost translucent, but are just enough to stop you from seeing inside.
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Thomas
A set of catwalks run over the room above you, patrolled lazily by a security guard. The skylight that runs the length of the building stretches above them.
At the far end of this main storage room there are two sets of double doors and a single door lining a wall which only rises half as high as the warehouse itself. It seems that the area above what must be office space is used for further storage.
Pushing your senses forward into the office area, the left area seems to be several rows of cubicles, though they are larger then standard cubes and have lab equipment on the tables. One of these cubes has a man simply sitting in it as if he were sleeping. There is a small 'emergency exit' door on one of these walls, but since you didn't see it from the outside it is likely blocked.
Moving further to the right you pass two bathrooms and enter a mid-sized computer room, its walls packed with storage servers and several desks spread around within. Just above that is a narrow room with just a door in it. There are strange jets on the walls and ceiling, and with this being a medical facility it is very possibly a decontamination chamber outside of a clean room.
What you would expect to be the clean room itself beyond the door there is further warded however, from just a casual glimpse it is obvious that this ward is a bit more powerful then the one around the building itself.
GM:
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Thomas
Neither of the guards are magical, but both have some cyberware. The one walking the catwalks has a fairly limited amount while the one in the cubicles is pretty cybered up.
The warding around the clean room is actually fairly potent, probably in the 4-6 rating range.
Exiting the building is as easy as it was to enter, with a push you are through the outer warding and able to return to your body(assuming you don't have further explorations planned.)
Spider
Apparently it was founded about a year ago as a think tank to create new designer drugs with an influx of anonymous cred, you aren't sure of where it initiated but it was funneled through Brackhaven Investments.
BCC also happens to be a subsidiary of Brackhaven, its a smaller chemical division which mostly deals with the transportation and disposal of hazardous chemicals.
It seems that since word on the street has hit about this Isis drug being on the eve of coming to market there are a handful of corporations looking to acquire them(and thats just the ones which are public about it) but so far they have spurned all offers.
Thomas suddenly sits up and adjusts his glasses. "So, anything happen while I was out?"
*A Short While Later...*
"So, here's what I found out. Overall, it's just an average warehouse. A few gangers standing outside, a main entrance with a rolling gate and a side entrance, and any wizard worth his spells could get through the wards. Inside, there's storage in the front and offices in the back. There's a guard patrolling the catwalks above the storage, but there's only two guards total and they're nothing special, just a few augmentations. Now the clean room, that's a completely different story. Room's warded so hard you'd have to be in the second circle just to have a shot of getting through. Trust me, if they're paying enough to get a ward that strong put up, they're not going to be skimping on other types of security. So, any questions?"
dang..must be something big in it. alright, lets give neon till noon tomorrow to gather up any and all info on the 'trix that he can get on what the street has to say about isis. mmmm, this is some good pizza, who made this?
looking at the layout of the building, seems kind of simple layout. guards up top, giving good fire to anyone busting in from ground floor. doesnt look like any noticable entrances from either the roof or from the underground. hmmmm...hey neon, could you perhaps find some information as to the response time it would take a patrol car to get to the place? any history of reports regarding this warehouse?
and theres a couple gangers standing around outside. hmmm...we may be able to use them to create a diversion if need be, perhaps something like they throw rocks at the building to make the guards look at them while we slip in the back. ill keep that in the back of my mind...
a heavy duty ward huh? a second circle? ok, my limit on you magic user dudes is kinda limited, so please enlighten me as to the severity of this ward. and put it in non-magic terms. we talking like a 20ft thick wall here?
oh yeah? was there any buildings near by?
Hmmm, it's amazing how peaceful you look when you're projecting. Belies the boom you can bring down when needs be, I think...
It seems too easy for the amount of buzz on the street, people don't get that excited over something small. I think we may be getting underpaid for this, and it will probably be much more difficult than that Johnson led on.
Can we find out who HE'S working for?
good idea rick. it never hurts to know who this johnson works for. but we should tread carefully, dont want them knowing that we know.
ok, i need to hit the little boys room
tarlane
btw, what time of day is it?
hmmmm...ok. you ready to go winston? you, me and thomas should be enough to ward off all but the dumbest gangers out there. we should be able to go once thomas comes back from his out of body experience
Thomas stands up and takes a look around the room. "Alright. Does anyone here have a car?"
sorry bud. just got me a fast bike. going to take that out.