Munk

[Shadowrun] Sprawl Stories (Accepting new players!)

Mr. Johnson smiled at the young mage, a gesture that only partially reached his eyes.

"I am sure you understand that I am neither able to confirm or deny any involvement with Aztechnology. For future reference, I would suggest that you practise slightly more discretion when asking questions like these. For all you know, it may be Aztechnology offering you this very job." His face regained some of its warmth.

"Anyway. I am glad to hear you are not complete strangers to the work of one another. I think that will work greatly in your favor." He fixed his eyes on Thovren. "Indeed, Koch-Huang largely specializes in drones. As you mention, these drones are often expensive and complex in design, which I believe most would argue is a major reason why Koch-Huang has yet to achieve a status beyond single-A. This also explains why few have heard of them. They are still up and coming, but no less important for that."

The man manipulated AR windows only visible to him, and the holographic projector that had previously placed virtual poker chips on the table began to whirr again. This time a trideo sequence manifested on the surface, of a four-legged drone smoothly dodging projectiles from several different locations and returning fire. The trid was slightly warped, clearly having been digitally converted into a three-dimensional hologram from single-POV footage.

"This is an early prototype of a Koch-Huang combat drone, codenamed Big Dog. I should not have to tell you that this footage was not obtained using strictly legal means. My employers, and, should you choose to accept this job offer, yours, are very interested in this drone." He nodded at the rigger sitting in front of him. "I am sure you understand why. To the rest of you, suffice to say that this might be the finest piece of work that has ever come from Koch-Huang. My employers would very much like the specifications for this particular drone, and, as I am sure you have figured out, the job of acquiring the blueprints will go to the six of you." Mr. Johnson got up and began to circle the table.

"Now, to ensure that the designs remain only in the hands of my employers, there are three parts to this mission:

"First of all, the blueprints will have to be secured and deleted from Koch-Huang servers. Should you choose to accept the job, this will be your main objective. It is not clear exactly where in the Koch-Huang building these files will be, but I would wager that they are not accessible from the outside. Of course, any backups will have to be deleted as well.

"Secondly: the man who designed Big Dog." The Johnson once again pressed an invisible AR button, and the holographic image changed to that of a dark-skinned human, perhaps in his late thirties. "This is Devon McIntosh, 37. He singlehandedly designed the combat drone, and it seems that only he would be able to recreate the blueprints, should they be stolen. My employers have already reached out to him in an attempt to persuade him to place his loyalties elsewhere. McIntosh declined, and unfortunately, this means that Koch-Huang are now aware of the interest in Mr. McIntosh and his work. McIntosh has been confined to living quarters within the K-H complex, and is likely to be under heavy surveillance, if not armed protection. If you are able to convince McIntosh to reconsider the offer given to him and successfully extract him, there would be a sizable reward in it for you. If he does not budge, he will have to be disposed of.

"Finally, there is the matter of the drone prototype itself." The holographic image changed again to a close-up of the drone. "As you may be aware, it is not uncommon for a corporation to destroy the prototype of a work-in-progress to ensure that it is not stolen and reverse-engineered. However, if this is not the case, the Big Dog prototype obviously poses an opportunity for Koch-Huang themselves to recreate most of the designs from the drone. Your mission includes ascertaining whether the prototype has been destroyed. If it has not, you will have to either bring the drone with you or destroy it yourselves."

Mr. Johnson stopped his pacing. "I am aware that this is not a so-called milk run, and your reward for a successful run—preferably completed within a month—will reflect this fact. I am authorized to offer what amounts to six thousand nuyen for each of you upon completion, as well as a total of ten thousand nuyen in advance for any purchases you may require for the job.

"Now, before you accept or decline this offer—in the latter case, I trust you will all agree with me that this meeting has never taken place—I am sure you will have questions. Of course, there are questions that I am not at liberty to answer, but I shall do the best I can within my limitations. Fire away."

[Shadowrun] Sprawl Stories (Accepting new players!)

Indeed it is. I'm at work at the moment, but it seems to be a slow day, so I can probably type up most of a post of my phone.

[Shadowrun] Sprawl Stories (Accepting new players!)

Morning guys! I'll check out the IC in a second.

Lord Pie: 1 nuyen is about the value of 1 real-life American dollar. I'm not completely sure how much the team will be offered to do the run, I need to check out some canon adventures for that, but you can be assured it'll be at least a couple thousand each. And that's just assuming the Face doesn't talk Mr. Johnson into paying more.

[Shadowrun] Sprawl Stories (Accepting new players!)

Done! We are now officially in the meeting phase of the run.

Obtw, don't feel like you have to write long posts. This ain't Advanced ^_^

[Shadowrun] Sprawl Stories (Accepting new players!)

When Red Five woke up to a message detailing a meet, she did three things in quick succession: First, she checked it for any unexpected surprises. Then she tried tracing it back to its origin to see if it had actually come from this Opti, and finally, while processing and eating the last piece of soy product in her tiny Redmond apartment, configuring an agent to discreetly check for any obvous exploits in Leverage's security system. The first two had given her little to none to go on; the message was squeaky clean, and it had been bounced through so many different devices that it was hopeless to find out if Opti was actually Opti. The care with which its way through the mesh network had been obscured spoke to the fact that whoever sent this message knew what they were doing. For some reason, Red found this reassuring. All the same, she'd make sure not to show up unarmed.

And now, as she was making her way down the specified alley, short heels breaking the smooth surfaces of the puddles below her, her agent happily chirped its conclusion: the club had an off-the-shelf security system, no in-house admin. No gaping security holes, but she'd probably be able to maintain a security account for the duration of the meet. She began slinging commands at the system, making sure not to skip any steps that would alert the system to a threat.

It took Red Five a second to realize that this was the entrance to Leverage, but the booming Matrix activity going on behind the unassuming concrete walls suggested that this was the place. She waved at the doorman. "Evenin', omae." He grunted, eyes wary. "I'm on the list. Red Five?" The ork's face went momentarily blank as he checked the AR guest list, then he nodded and opened the door while informing her of the location of the backroom. Red smiled at him and mentally waved a hundred nuyen from her commlink to his. Always tip the bouncer.

Tapping into the feeds from the club's security cameras, Red made her way through the undulating crowd. The bird's eye view of the club allowed her to avoid the densest clusters of people. Thus, she was at the small door in a relatively short amount of time. Quietly, she slipped open the door to the backroom poker game, noticing the last available chair. Of course this wasn't a solo job. She should have known.

"Last to the party, eh?" she muttered under her breath and took a seat. No cameras in here as far as she could tell. She had to make do with checking out the others form the corner of her eye.

◳

As the last shadowrunner took her place, the man with the mustache quietly cleared his throat. In the blink of an eye everyone else at the table was on their feet, taking with them the playing cards. They left the room without a word, disappearing into the dancing masses.

The man himself got up and spoke to the runners in careful English with a Spanish accent that to anyone with a particularly good ear for language seemed to have been rehearsed: "Please, everyone join me. Have a seat. You may call me Mr. Johnson. Can I get you a drink?"

The six shadowrunners sat at the round table, a drink of their choice (or, for the careful shadowrunner, no drink at all) in front of them. The Johnson, clad in a tasteful black shirt, sat back down at the table, placed a small, smooth disk in the center of the table. He tapped it once, and white noise filled the room.

"There," he said, "now we may talk."



"The six of you are here because in one way or another, your work in the shadows has gotten you noticed. In a good way, I should add," Mr. Johnson said, in turn addressing each shadowrunner:

"Thovren, rigger extraordinaire. People with more technical prowess than I have assured me that your custom drivers are excellent.

"Doom, or Doomstrider, am I correct? People with your aptitude for violence rarely live long. Whatever you are doing to stay alive, you are doing it very well.

"Red Five, or h4k/—yes, sorry, I am afraid we made the connection between your aliases a while ago—hacker. I have been informed that you are particularly skilled in hacking in the heat of the moment.

"Old Soul. Your work seems to differ quite a lot from that of your Awakened colleagues. I will be honest, what I have heard of your magic quite frankly gives me goosepimples, and I mean that as a very sincere compliment.

"Quicksilver, I have been told that it was you who killed the street samurai called Vortex. As sad as I am to see a hired sword of his caliber go, I am impressed, indeed, very impressed.

"And finally, Ze Lei-Ne. Perhaps the finest Face in the city at the moment. Certainly you are the most beautiful. Your resumé is most impressive. I should like to see you work one day.

"Now, if my information is correct, you have all been contacted by a fixer by the name of Opti. I do not know how much he has told you, but I trust he has informed you that I have a job for you. It should be quite the opportunity. First, tell me, how much do you know of each other? And more importantly: what do you know of a corporation called Koch-Huang Industries?"

[Shadowrun] Sprawl Stories (Accepting new players!)

Indeed, more excuses! I'll be done in like five minutes tho.

[Shadowrun] Sprawl Stories (Accepting new players!)

Red Five is sarcastic, but she's a team player at heart ♥

Sorry, I've been afk. My sister's laptop got hit by a pretty disruptive virus, so I'm helping her back up and format. I'm back at the keyboard now.

[Shadowrun] Sprawl Stories (Accepting new players!)

Eh, "Pedopuppeteer" is fine. I'm just very opposed to actual rape jokes.

Okay, Red Five's post is done. I'm gonna write a quick intro post for THE MEET, then submit.

[Shadowrun] Sprawl Stories (Accepting new players!)

Hey, yo, can we keep the rape jokes to a minimum? Thanks!

(still typing up the post, sorry)

[Shadowrun] Sprawl Stories (Accepting new players!)

Yup. That's something you better only attempt in a high-powered campaign. Otherwise you might just find yourself with a new hole in your body.