The pale elf takes a sudden gasp of air and lurches up from the slouched posture from which she’d been observing the group, her arm jerking subtly as she self-consciously straightens her suit.
“I’ll follow the group’s decision,” she states in her sharp, largely emotionless voice. “But I want to make it clear that I’m not a gun store- some people expect riggers to bring their own robot army to every job, and depending on me for heavy fire support will get us all killed and me probably pissed before my presumably horrible death.”
She shrugs dismissively at the thought, managing to keep her spasmodic jerks to a minimum as she continues “So let’s get this straight-I’m the gal you want half a mile away with binoculars, a tube of toothpaste, and a sniper rifle. I’m happy and even willing to do surveillance and B&E for us, but if we ever screw up so badly that you all expect me to bring the fight to our enemies, I think everyone will end up disappointed. Except for our enemies, of course.”
Donovan, to the group:
"Alright chums, you heard the man. Why don’t we quit wasting time lazing around and get to work, yeah? Hell, I’ll even give you all a head start, free of charge, since it’ll probably take you stinkin’ runners a week’s time to get anywhere.
"We know that Chaggo sold Synthcorp secrets to another man who goes by the name ‘Fortnight.’ He’s some computer hacker guy that works with a group called ‘Two Weeks Truce.’ They’re our first stop. We find them, we find Chaggo and Arry.
“I’ll be accompanying you to make sure you all don’t make a botch of this. Gods only know how I’ll manage to keep that inevitability from comin’ 'round. And like the man said, I’m the boss. Luckily for you all, I’m pretty hands off, so you won’t much notice the leash. My only order is that you all need to bathe while you can, 'cause one of you stinks something real.”
I think what you’re smelling my zombie companion is your own fear. Welcome to the real world, chummer. We don’t work nine-to-five, we don’t get coffee and lunch breaks, we don’t lick the boots of our superiors, and we don’t take orders. You may be in a position that could in the loosest possible interpretation of the word indicate you as the boss, but we do things our way as a group. We each have our own skills and personalities, but at the end, we make decisions as a group. Because if a runner team can’t get along, they’ll die. There’s no corp security to pull your ass out of the fire here. I’ll say upfront I’m not all that thrilled at having some corporate drone looking over my shoulder all the time. If it were up to me, I’d dump you with McManus and leave him to entertain you while we do this job. However, I also realize that having a guy who knows the ins and outs of corporate culture on a run is never a bad thing, and I know you’re determined to accompany us regardless of how we feel about it.
But get one thing straight: we are a team. All of us. We do things our way, not your way, not my way, and certainly not Nail’s way. If you can grok that, we’ll all get along just fine, at least until this job is done.
That being said, we should probably start combing the matrix looking into this “Two Weeks Truce” group. It’s human nature to leave hints about your likes, dislikes, and regular hangouts even when trying to keep your identity a secret. We should be able to figure out a regular hangout of at least one of the group. From that, we can probably track down how to get to Fortnight.
“I have a source(a *very *reliable one, too) that may provide some guidance as well, but he will only meet with me privately. If I am to contact him, I would need to do so from a private room somewhere. I think it would be wise to do so at some point.”
The Synthcorp man stands abruptly. “Are we done here? Very good. You have plenty of time to cast your spells somewhere else, mage, but no more in this building. Arry won’t be killed long as Chaggo thinks he can make a quick credit from him.”
The man nods to Donovan. “Donny. Show our guests out.” His voice lowers ominously. “And don’t come back empty handed. Careers are made like this. Or unmade.”
Having agreed to the deal, the party has left the Synthcorp building.
The street outside is in ill repair. Synthcorp hasn’t bothered to maintain the roadways leading to the building beyond a barely-functional minimum. Huge skyscraping arcologies soar above the group, connected to each other by an intricate series of narrow latticework pieces at varying heights and angles. From where the group stands at street level, the effect makes it seem like you’re trapped in a tremendous spiderweb stretching from horizon to horizon. You can see the sky only in patches, where smaller arcology peaks don’t quite meet up with the surrounding buildings.
Needless to say, most people who live on the street level don’t look up often.
As Seneth steps out into the street, a force almost magnetic compels him to glance to his left, where he sees a dark alley. The towers cast a shadow over the area thick enough that it seems the alley has come alive with malevolence, warning anyone who would approach that they are unwelcome there. Except Seneth.
The group (except Seneth) may spend some time here deciding strategy for how to approach the situation with Fortnight and Two Weeks Truce. Donovan has an address provided by Synthcorp, which corresponds to a run-down early 21st century building on east Madison st.
Uh…Seneth. Everything okay? Yes? No? Anyone? Uhh, so you do what it is you need to do. We’ll strategize here until you get back.
To the rest of the group:
Mages are weird. I don’t know if I’ve stated that opinion before, but yeah, for the record, mages are weird.
Anyway, I think we should scout out this building Donovan has the address for. We need to be careful, though, since they probably have some active defenses and sensors, so we don’t want to get seen. And we’ll need at least one of us watching the astral, because they probably are monitoring that as well. The last thing we want to do is alert these guys, 'cause at best we’ll spook them and at worst they’ll alert our targets and fight to protect them. And if our targets know we’re coming for them, they might just get hasty and kill Arry.
Kirk wrinkles her brow a bit at the question, scowling as if in deep thought. “It’s an alias, bugger and bollocks if I know what his real name is. He’s a bit of a tadpole, you would have to be pretty obsessively mired in the eccentricities of matrix culture to have even heard of the lunk.”
She cranes her head back for a long moment, growing still before she gives a sharp nod and continues “He leads some hacker group named Two Weeks Truce. They call themselves corporate espionage specialists, but they’re really just crappy disembodied Johnsons- they put thieves and buyers together and call it a sundae.”
She trails off long enough for most sane individuals to assume she was finished, before quickly adding “At least, that’s his reputation- TWT hasn’t accomplished anything big enough for me to hear about them, so we’re going mostly on hype here, and that could easily be self-made.”
Even better. This guy’s apparently a poser. It doesn’t mean we should be any less careful, but at least if things go tits up, we aren’t likely going to find ourselves in a shitstorm.
To which Nail replies in a low but audible voice to nobody in particular, “It’s hard to follow my way, seeing as I don’t really have one.” Nail gets up and practices some simple martial arts while listening to Goethe finish his monologue.
“Yup.”
After Goethe suggests scouting out the address Donovan provided, Nail asks, “Donovan, what’s the down-low on this address?”
Donovan to Nail:
"Can’t say I have anything exciting. Just a building on the corner of Madison and 19th in the middle of a slum. Tough neighborhood, but not too dangerous. It hasn’t changed much since when I grew up nearby. It’s the only possible direct lead we have that might point to Two Weeks Truce.
"If you all are done twiddlin’ your thumbs, maybe we can go check it out. We’ll have access to a company car if we need. It ain’t much, but it runs fine. I suggest we don’t just drive up and knock on the door, you know?
I can take my Mirage on a spin past the place and turn on the thermo enhancment in my glasses to get an idea of how many people are there while you guys wait a couple blocks away. I shouldn’t draw too much attention if I just drive by and keep going, assuming these guys aren’t expecting us. If anyone notices me, I’ll be going at a decent enough clip to indicate I got somewhere else to be. I’ll also have my microsensor scanner active. I should be able to pick up any signals of interest.
I have not had tea since before you were born, my child.
However, I did contact my source successfully and was able to confirm a few things, which is good.
One, my source has heard identical information as to what that Corps slave told us. Arry is being held against his will and it really is a rescue mission. We are not unknowingly becoming kidnappers.
Two, these kidnappers are scum and killing them will not be a problem; we almost definitely will not end up with a bounty on our heads by killing them.
Having spoken to my source, whom I trust completely, I feel much more confident that we are doing the right thing by taking this “quest” on. I will focus all my efforts and abilities on making sure that we rescue this man and kill those responsible for taking him in the first place. I am a very advanced mage and have powers beyond what you may have seen before.
I also have wisdom beyond what you have seen before so if you choose for me to lead this adventure, I will do so. However, I leave it to the rest of you to decide if you want me to lead at this time. If not, I will serve as power and counsel to you as needed.
I assume Senneth has been filled in on the discussions during his absence. If not, ignore this post.
I agree about the knocking, but why don’t we just go up, enter, and take what we came for?
Very good, child. After you are done, I would like to try those glasses out. I have heard of such things as these, but never tried them. May put them on and try the thermo enhancement briefly?
Are the party members in agreement that Goethe will scout the building while the other characters wait? Are any other party members doing anything while Geothe is gone? The round trip will take him about 25 minutes.
Goethe rides away from the group, looking quite conspicuous on his flashy Suzuki Mirage motorcycle. The towering buildings of Seattle “corps town” fall further behind him as he rides into Old Seattle, where buildings stand mostly as they were over a hundred years ago.
East Madison is covered in multiple layers of graffiti over every surface. Goethe recognizes many of the tags, belonging to ork knucklehead gangs, wannabe Shadowrunners, and some even marking the territory of low-level organized crime syndicates.
Goethe can’t help but avoid scrutiny as he rides past 19th and glances at the address Donny gave him. He’s aware of many suspicious stares from the punkers and gangers gathered around, no doubt concerned that a cyborg riding a flashy motorcycle is cruising through their turf. Goethe can afford only a casual, quick glance at the building as he rides by without drawing even more scrutiny. A sturdy wall used to hold a printed welcome sign for the building in previous times, now has the word “Zion” spray painted prominently on top of the graffiti layers.
Goethe’s quick surveillance reveals the following
-At least 6 heat signatures corresponding to human figures in or around the building
-The building is partially collapsed, but has a usable estimated area of 6,000 square feet
-Radio signals indicating many small electronic devices being operated, and at least two operator/drone uplinks.
-A troll outside, leaning against a wall of the building with an assault rifle conspicuously displayed, in coversation with a similarly armed human. Goethe’s audio enhancements could not pick up their conversation.
Goethe rolled a perception test, with positive modifiers for his gear, and negative modifiers for level of distraction and haste. He succeeded his roll, but with only moderate results.
“So needless to say, this isn’t going to be a walk in the park. So how do we want to handle this? Seneth, do you detect anything on the Astral plane from the location?”