Investigating the Black Hole Zone

GM: Pelmen Players: Page, Slinger, Synopsis: Page and Slinger start to investigate the reasons behind the Black Hole Restricted Zone Date: 6. Februar 2070 Page finishes up with his calls thoughtfully. Goddamn shadowrunners. You'd think they'd be relaxing, not working over the weekend. He gives a little sigh. Yep, that leaves… he picks up the phone and dials Slinger. "Hey. You started learning that spell I asked? No? Good. My place. We're going to take a look at this Wells Fargo thing. Looking only, can't get ahold of any other heavy hitters." Yeah, Slinger hasn't started on the spell yet. He will, though. It's on his list. First he needs an astral quest. When the phone call comes in, though, he answers it. "What Wells Fargo thing?" the elf asks, totally oblivious to the news reports, from the sound of it. Slinger chuckles. "I'll scan up on it while the car drives over there. Your place?" "Yeah," Page says. "Quick basic rundown, some kinda astral warp releasing shadow creatures into the vicinity - it's close to the Lunar Nocturne. I want to get out there, have a look around - /maybe/ run a couple tests if it looks safe to do so." After Page hangs up, he considers. He's already called up Lapida about this… well, he could make a couple more calls real quick. He dials up Mr. Schmidt, his NASA director friend, to see if he might have any relevant research papers or whatnot. And he calls up Lt. Stirling, his UCAS Army contact, to see if he's heard anything about the CAS Army mobilizing a magical unit in the area. They do talk to each other - occasionally. And sometimes they find out what's going on anyway. Slinger catches up on the stored videos that have been posted regarding it, while his car drives toward Page's place. It should take all that long. On his way, the elf lights up a cancer stick, then places a call to a contact of his at the Draco Foundation. One of the researchers there. If anyone knows anything about this, it'll be Draco. You paged Slinger with 'Dr. Harrold is not informed about the matter, but he has heard some people at DIMR where working overtime currently.'. Slinger pages: Can he put me in touch with them? Slinger would like to take a field trip, and potentially offer our services. A brief conversation with Dr. Harrold yields that while he is not directly involved — it would have surprised Slinger if he were — there are people involved. And of course, predictably, Slinger asks to be put in contact with them. His services might be useful, after all; Slinger has been a field agent with Draco for a while, on and off, through the Watchers. He should not be unknown to them. You paged Page with 'The NASA has some interesting images of a satelite that shows how the fog poofs into the place. An act that shows a lot lof lightning playing around the center. The UCAS Army is fully invovled but your Lt. only knows there was a damn heavy transport traffic to Denver in the early stages. What happens now is under a /very/ tight lid.'. Page pages: Don't suppose he can pass me a 'temporary privileges' thing in the name of magical research to drop in and poke my nose in as far as they'll let me? ;) Page pages: UCAS 'Consultant' or something. When Slinger gets there, Page is going over an image on his monitor, an intrigued look on his face. "Oh, hey, Slinger," he says, giving the other mage's aura a once-over out of habit. "Take a look at this." He turns the monitor to face him. "Satellite photography of the area. This is /definitely/ not a purely magical phenomena if NASA can see it from orbit." He leans back in his seat. "And Stirling says the army's got a tight lid on the entire area. We're probably not going to be able to get too close - but I'd like to take a look, maybe see if we can talk to some people out there. He said he'd get back to me on that point, see if he can get us some 'consultant' type credentials." «Auto-Judge[]» Page (#1269) has the Contact Lt. Colonel Stirling with the following information: -----> Contact for Page (#1269) <------ Contact Name: Lt. Colonel Stirling Level: 1 Type: ucas army GM Note: Lt. Col Taylor Stirling is a SpecOps soldier in the UCAS Army. These runners saved him from an op gone bad in Denver and helped him to bring down the real criminals - some politicians who were trying to set him up. He's the son of a Senator Tamal from Ontario - the difference in names is due to Stirling remarrying and taking on his wife's name as he was getting tired of people trying to use him to get at his father. «Auto-Judge[]» Page (#1269) has the Contact Nelson Hammerly with the following information: -----> Contact for Page (#1269) <------ Contact Name: Nelson Hammerly Level: 1 Type: corp exec GM Note: Nelson's the guy he spent the night with when he was first in town. 'Oh, isn't that just the cutest widdle kitty kat? Yes, he is!' Despite the baby talk, Nelson is a good person to know. He's nice to cats, and he works as a Corporate Accountant for Yamatetsu. And everyone knows how cats just love to sit in your lap and watch while you do work, right? You paged Slinger with 'The Doc tries to get you the contact with the DIMR types.'. Slinger pages: All right. So is he hanging up and calling me back, or putting me on hold, or what? You paged Slinger with 'He hangs up and says he will call back.'. Slinger slips into the place, on his phone, with his pocket secretary out and displaying various bits of text and images, while he does some research. He's still talking on the phone, and of course has a cigarette burning. Lots going in the little sphere of elf. He closes his pocket secretary while he waits on hold, then peers toward the screen. And blinks. "Well… uh… they'd be able to see it, right? I mean, all that tells us is that it's not an illusion." Then, he holds up a finger. "All right. Let me know — go ahead and give them this number, let them know I'm available. But we'll need the proper credentials. In fact, could use another set of them, anyway, if you know what I mean," the elf adds, with a grin. Page looks at Slinger sourly. "You really need some kind of throw-away credentials," he points out. "Something that nobody's ever going to /actually/ use a SIN checker on, but just a name to throw out there. It doesn't matter now, though." He closes the screen's window. "Even if he doesn't manage the credentials, let's head out there and take a look." You paged Page with 'It's a chief matter. You can only get invited by the big boss Faloon, says your Lieutentant.'. Page pauses at a text message on his phone. And whistles softly. "Hey, you got any contacts with Faloon, or in his area?" he asks Slinger. "Apparently /he's/ running the show." "Would rather do a little more recon. Figure out what the hell we do and don't know. First, how long has this been goin' on? And who's this Bannon character? KE really wants to talk to him, apparently. How're we gonna get past KE, anyway?" He pauses. "Wait… hang on a sec. Did I see something about the /army/?" Page says amusedly, "You mean like I just mentioned Stirling hearing about? Yeah, probably." At the mention of Bannon, he scratches his chin thoughtfully. "What, you want to hunt him down and ask?" He shakes his head. "I doubt he knows much more about it, honestly. He might have the original runners target, that might explain something… but we could probably find that through the fixer network, couldn't we?" Slinger nods. "They seem to think he did this. Maybe summoned something too big for him, would be my guess, but I don't know." The elf lights up a new cigarette, crushes out his old one. "Fixer network might give us some leads there, along with this guy, Scazzlephutt or whatever." Slinger adds a smirk. "Yeah, okay. You mentioned the army. Thing is, Treaty of Denver. What the frag is the UCAS army doing in here? That's against the treaty, big time." Page shakes his head. "Not the UCAS - the CAS. It's their sector. And yeah, we all know the treaty of Denver, so it's probably not the 'official' army, just a 'loan' of 'equipment' or something. It's just big enough that even Stirling heard about it." He ponders. "Go ahead and see if some fixer of yours know what their target was, but let's not waste time trying to hunt him down. Everybody else is already doing that, by the sound of it." «OOC» Slinger says, "Slinger'll check in with Rumble, and Dwayne Miller regarding this "Okay. So hang on. If it's CAS territory, why's KE all over it? CAS is Lone Star territory, isn't it?" the elf asks, furrowing his brow in confusion. "I've got a contact in Lone Star, potentially. And another guy in the UCAS military, but…" «ADMIN» Pelmen says, "Downtown is UCAS?" «OOC» Page says, "It varies, from what I can tell." «ADMIN» Pelmen says, "The part in question is UCAS accrding to Vulcans map." «OOC» Page says, "Okay, I was trying to figure out from the grid map. So maybe Page is (gasp) … wrong. :D" Slinger shakes his head, pulls up a map on his pocket secretary. "No, it's close to the border, but it's in UCAS," he finally says. "The border's a mess there, though." He drags on his cigarette, then places a quick call to Dwayne Miller, a pretty well-connected fixer. "Isn't it CAS?" Page says. They check a map. Huh. It is indeed UCAS, though apparently right on the border. "Well that explains some of my confusion, then," he says. And then eyes Slinger. "Shut up." Slinger smirks. "I didn't say anything," he says firmly. "No, but you were about to," Page replies. You paged Slinger with 'Dwayne picks up, "Dwane Miller speaking."'. The other end of the phone is answered, apparently. "Hey. Thanks for answerin', man. I kinda need some intel, if you have anything. Don't mind payin' a little if it's good. What do you know about a character named Bannon, and the whole mess at the Wells Fargo downtown?" Page adds, "And the original group's /target/." Slinger mutes the phone real fast. "Why do you keep saying that? It makes no sense!" Page says patiently, "Bannon was /friends/ with a group of runners that went out and did /something/, probably causing all this. Disturbed an experiment, maybe. /They're/ who we should care about. Bannon's small fry." Slinger comes back on the phone and adds, "And… maybe some info about Bannon's friends. Something about what they were up to, what they were after when all this went down." You paged Slinger with 'Dwayne replies, "Uhhh, dunno. Was not involved but the Bannon guy is some second class runner. He had some promise, but his career was cut short through that shit at Wells Fargo. You inquiring on that fuckup? I tell you something, there is a damn shitload of people from /all/ the sectors stationed around that place currently. And I bet you will find one or the other suprise from the govies there. Bannons team was not bad, but it was neither really good. They had obviously some retrieval mission there."'. Slinger nods thoughtfully. "Yeah. You call it a fuckup. So you know somethin' about what went down, from the sound of it. C'mon, let me into the loop, man. Things like that are bad for business, after all, so it's in everybody's interest that somebody gets to the bottom of it. And the govies obviously don't got a clue." You paged Slinger with 'Dwayne adds, "But most of that is rumors, I heads by third and fourth hand. So go figure."'. In the meantime, Page does a couple idle searches on news channels and Shadowland to keep abreast of developing points. "I gotta get me an agent sometime," he mutters. You paged Slinger with 'Dwayne laughs, "All I know is that Spyderwick was not pleased. It seems he is really after something in there. Do you think it is accidential that he still tries to lure guys in there? Ignore the nice talk of his advertisings and you see he needs something in there."'. You paged Page with 'What kind of searches?'. Page pages: Idle browse of newsfeeds. Not even a real 'decker' search, really. Slinger nods, thoughtfully. Spyderwick. There's that name again. "He wants somethin', huh?" He considers that for a moment, glances over to Page. "Might be, given a meeting, we could find out what. Just not sure what kind of enemy I'd be making in the process." Page pages: Just something to do to waste a couple minutes while Slinger's on the phone. Unless something HUGE just hit the media, I doubt I'd find it Page rolls his eyes. "If you're that worried," he says with a bit of an amused look, "then let me do the talking." You paged Page with 'Well you will realize there is a strange ammount of death announcements form guys that seems to have been KE cops.'. You paged Slinger with 'Dwayne chuckles, "You are worried abour enemies? Since when?"'. From afar, Slinger laughs. "Since I gotta sleep sometime, that's when," the elf jokes back. "But yeah, you think you could get us a meeting, some contact info for this guy, somethin'? Sounds like he might be a key." Slinger laughs. "Since when? Since I gotta sleep sometime, that's when," the elf jokes back. "But yeah, you think you could get us a meeting, some contact info for this guy, somethin'? Sounds like he might be a key." Page frowns vaguely at some of his search results. Obituaries. Hunh. Who would've thought. He rubs at the side of his cheek, but doesn't make further comment to Slinger while he's still on the phone. You paged Slinger with 'Dwayne replies, "I'll not get involved with him. I heard he was a lot in Saleen's Coffee shop."'. Slinger smiles. "That's enough. Can probably take it from there," Slinger says calmly. "Thanks, man." He thinks about it, then uses his pocket secretary to wire Dwayne a little cred for the info. «Auto-Judge[]» Slinger (#69) spends 1000 nuyen for "Tip for Dwayne Miller for some info.". Slinger hangs up the phone. "Saleen's Coffee Shop is where the guy hangs out. Apparently, he's looking for something more than just getting rid of the fog. Something in that building. Might be the guy who hired the original team, maybe. Might be you could get the info out of him, even if he doesn't want to talk, if you know what I mean." «OOC» Page says, "Where's that?" «ADMIN» Pelmen says, "Off-grid coffee." «ADMIN» Pelmen says, "I just invented it." «OOC» Page says, "What sector? :D" «OOC» Page says, "If it's Azzies, I'm gonna have issues. ;)" «OOC» Page says, "Warrens, less so." «ADMIN» Pelmen says, "UCAS close to the CAS border." «OOC» Page okays. Page looks up the address. UCAS. He grumbles momentarily, but he hates leaving the CAS sector for any reason. "Alright, let's head over there and have a chat." He glances at Slinger. "To start with. You can hit him with Analyze Truth, Mindlink me in, and we'll save the big guns for if shit goes down. Fair enough?" «Plot» Page says, "Right. And we drive over there. And hit up the place with astral recon real quick on the outside. Anything tricky up? Spirits, watchers, powerful astral people?" «Plot» Pelmen says, "Figures the place is a magical hangout. All kinds of mages. Most of them shamans. About everyone in that place is awakened." «Plot» Page says, "Great, we'll fit right in! And won't be able to swing a magical cat around without hitting people. Which means no casting spells on people, Slinger. :)" After Page takes a quick look around, his eyebrow twitches vaguely. In a good-but-kind-of-bad way. He tells Ourrez to wait in the car for now. "Alright," he says, and looks over to Slinger. "Shall we?" «OOC» Slinger says, "Sorry about delay. Fixing bug in regcode." «Plot» Slinger says, "So, no Analyze Truth or Mind Probe?" «OOC» Page patpats Slinger. «OOC» Page says, "No Stunbolt, either." "Yeah. You say this place is a mojo-hangout, right? That means… no way we can use spells on this guy." He grins. "Though I probably could penetrate his masking, see his aura, at least." Nonetheless, the young mage does at least light himself up a smoke, and start heading in that direction, letting the vehicle drive itself. Gives the Pilot something to complain about." «Plot» Page says, "Page adds to Slinger on the way about the KE obituaries getting a little long in the tooth for 'undisclosed reasons'." «Plot» Slinger says, "Were those obituaries of KE people, or just the listing of dead people in general?" «OOC» Page says, "Dead people in general, but there's been a lot of KE cop names in there." «OOC» Page says, "More than usual." «Plot» Slinger says, "Well, duh. They've sent people into there, the news reports said, and not many have come out." Once they arrive, Page hops on out and heads for the shop. He's got decent clothes on, but nothing spectacular, and hardly anything magically active save a couple of tattoos. Legal, too. He walks up to the coffieista and orders himself a latte. Slinger, on the other hand, is loaded for bear, relying on his Masking to protect him for the most part. The young mage has most of his gear on him. Mages, after all, generally aren't going to snitch on other mages just for possession. The ladie at the counter is definitely some kind of Hougan it seems. And she offers you the coffee you ask without too much ado. She looks at the men with a grin, "New faces. What brings you here?", she asks the new arrivals. Slinger looks like a normal young mage, nice and inoffensive, and uninitiated. Harmless. The young elf takes a drag on his burning cigarette, letting Page do the talking. "Making new friends," Page says to her smoothly with a charming little smile. "And hopefully drumming up some business. My card…" He sets a business card on the table. He's gone and got new ones since Slinger last saw - these are very, very plain white, with a bare smattering of elegant script. 'Page. High Arcana, Master Enchanter. Ordo Ex Fratera Celestis.' And that's it. Presumably anyone who wants to get ahold of him would already know how. The hougan lady chuckles, "Page, yess?", she asks, "I'm sorry. But I am not really a customer of hermetica. But I'll hang your card to the blackboard.", she says with another grin. "I just fear my customers as well prefer less connections with hermetics." Page chuckles softly. "Oh, hermetica isn't my primary business. I primarily make foci, and I can craft them for any tradition - hermetic, shaman, adepts. Voodun." He quirks his mouth in a grin. "Lately I've been having quite good traffic with tattoos, as well. Even had some pure mundanes getting them." He shrugs his shoulders, warming his hands a bit on the coffee cup he's holding, and changes topics. "Say, you heard about that mana warp in the Free Trade Zone?" Slinger's eyes survey the interior of the place, casually. But he has not even a description to go on. So unless the guy is wearing a nametag or has a neon sign over his head, Slinger isn't going to spot him by appearances alone. Instead, he pollutes the air around him with rich, Native American tobacco smoke. The woman rolls her eyes, "How could I have missed that? It is the talk of half the magic comunity. And the other half considers it the biggest hoax around. So, what about it?", she asks. "Seems real enough," Page says with a nod. "I heard that KE's lost a lot of people, showing up in the obits if you know where." He pauses, then lowers his voice slightly, talking in a more subtle tone. "Friend of mine said Spyderwick might know more, and that I could find him here." The woman nods. "Yes, check out that small guy over there. That's the Spyder. Take care that you do not stick in his web…", she replies with a grin. Slinger immediately follows where the woman is looking. Caught in his web, hmm? If anyone can avoid getting caught in a web, it will be Page. Of that, Slinger has every confidence. Page smiles to her pleasantly. "Thanks for the warning. Here." He slides a bead across the counter to her. "If you're curious about my work. Call it a gift." And then he looks over at the guy she's indicating. «Auto-Judge[]» Page (#1269) uses 1 of item 2: Expendable Health Focus F8 (Blue Crystal Bead) from Expendable Manipulation Foci (#294). «OOC» Page says, "Oh, btw, Pelmen, if you're wondering. That was 12,000 I just handed her, street value. With luck, maybe I can get her as a contact. O:)"" The man sitting in that corner looks totally bland. Black hair, amerindian type, with nothing to distinguish him from any opther amerinnd. Some kind of leather dress. But nothing too fancy. «ADMIN» Pelmen says, "If you want, shure." Amerinds. Mmm. Slinger likes those types. Like the young guy at the smoke shop where he gets his cancer sticks from. He drags hard on his nicotine-stick, holding it to his side while he approaches with Page, standing in the proper place as a bodyguard-type. Needless to say, he has full Shielding on Page and himself. And is Filtering against any background count. «OOC» Page says, "Does Spyder look busy?" The man seems busy. Well, if nursing a glass is a busy thing. His one arm busy holding a beautifull amerind girl. Page takes a moment to breathe in the aroma from the coffee and then take a sip. "Good coffee, too," he adds to her with a light grin. "I like this place." And then he saunters on over towards Spyder. "Hey, there. Spyder, right?" he asks. Assuming affirmative, he continues. "Got a moment? A friend of mine referred me." Spyderwick nods, and offers with a nonchalant gesture to a free corner of the table. Slinger stands at the booth next to Page, looking every bit the bodyguard. While having spells active on himself can be Masked, spells such as Analyze Truth are harder to conceal. So Slinger doesn't try them at the moment. Not until he is certain he can get away with it. Instead, the young blond mage takes another drag from his cigarette and tries to look dangerous. He fails. Page has himself a seat, relaxing and settling in comfortably. He glances, curious, over the chicka Spyder's acquired for himself. "Heard you might know some interesting things about the mana warp downtown," he says after a moment. "Thought maybe we could share some info." Spyderwick shrugs, "Oh? How do you think I know something about the manawarp?", he asks curious. "It is known I have some interest now, but what makes you tink I know about the warp itself?" Page smiles slightly. "Data points immediately around a phenomenon often point towards indicators. For example - a lot of KE police have died recently in the vicinity. The UCAS is bringing in its own 'retired'" the mage says, with full air quotes from his fingers, "military personnel in to deal with it, and the zone is still expanding. This means it's well beyond their capabilities - and if it continues, all of Denver will eventually be engulfed in the warp." He leans back and lets Spyder digest that for a moment before continuing. "We're looking into the original causes. Figure something there will give us some clues as to what's going on inside." Spyderwick shrugs again, "Yes, I guess that was about the reasons those Errant cops yesterday had been here for too. What makes you two think you are better than the Errant?", he says with a smile. Slinger shrugs, with a friendly smile, as he leans against the side of the booth. He has a lot of ideas, actually, how to respond to that. But Page is more eloquent, even if Slinger is cuter. Right now, he's watching Page work. Learning, absorbing. Page quirks his mouth into a slight grin. "My card," he replies, and hands Spyder a copy of the heavily abbreviated business card. "I'm the leader of the Ordo ex Fratera Celestis. We've been to the bottom of the ocean, the wastes of Siberia, and worse, all looking after magical knowledge. About the only place I haven't been is Chicago." He pauses, leaning back. "And if we don't do something about this, Denver might start to resemble it. So you can understand our motivation in the matter." Spyderwick nods with a slight grin, "Well, yes, Mr. Page. I have heard about you. And Mr. Slinger." May I ask the gentleman to take a seat too?" "Why the frag," pipes up Slinger, "does everybody try to put a 'Mister' in front of it?" the elf complains, shifting his weight. He does settle down, though, and he's just grumbling, good-naturedly. "I could see if it was a last name. But it's a handle. You know, just one name. Gods above." He stretches out as best he can without intruding on the fixer's personal space, but at least does quit his grumbling to listen attentively. "Usually I hear it from Johnsons," Page comments, watching Sypder quite casually, waiting for him to go on. Spyderwick chuckles at Slingers outbreak. "Well, I was offering Mr. Bannon and his group a considerable reward to get a special focus lying in one of the containers in that tower. There was nothing too hard about it, other than the relatively tight security in that tower. Mr. Bannon and his crew seemed to be the right people, so I hired them. What happened to have that warp appear is a mystery to me as well as anyone else." Slinger narrows his eyes. Special focus. Special magical stuff plus Shadowrunners plus intrusion. Result, Mana Warp. "Does anybody else see a possible connection here?" Slinger asks, drolly, as he folds his arms over his chest. "Ah." Definitely new info. "What kind of focus?" Page inquires. After all, if there's one thing that Page knows - it's foci. Spyderwick shrugs, "It was a kind of chain. The kind you wear around the neck, made from ancient amber. Quite old, but to my knowledge only a power focus, nothing too fancy. My customer was not pleased that this thing is still in there. And yes, I want to get it to get that shard on my rep out." Just a power focus. Slinger resists the urge to touch the one around his neck, which is a reasonably intense focus in its own right. The elf drags on his cigarette, then crushes it out in the ashtray on the table and lights another one, smoothly, while he watches Spyderwick's aura. «OOC» Slinger says, "Lemme know if you need an assensing check." «ADMIN» Spyderwick says, "Please do." «ADMIN» Spyderwick says, "After you check to break his masking." «Auto-Judge[]» Slinger (#69) rolls 13 (magic rating) for "Slinger's check to break through Spyderwick's Masking. TN is his Magic rating.": 1 2 3 3 3 3 4 5 5 5 5 5 5 «Auto-Judge[]» Slinger (#69) rolls 13 (magic rating) for "Slinger's check to break through Spyderwick's Masking. TN is his Magic rating. KP 1/38.": 1 1 2 2 2 3 3 4 4 10 10 11 16 «OOC» Slinger says, "Stand there. I need a number of successes equal to every point his initiate grade is above mine (e.g. above 11)." «ADMIN» Spyderwick says, "Fuck…that was an incredible roll…" «OOC» Slinger says, "That should get through anybody with at least init grade 10." «OOC» Slinger says, "With up to Grade 10, I mean." «ADMIN» Spyderwick says, "Yes, you see through his aura." «Auto-Judge[]» Slinger (#69) rolls Centering + 3 (centering focus) vs TN 2 for "Centering against any background count.": 3 4 4 4 5 5 5 8 11 = 9 Successes «Auto-Judge[]» Slinger (#69) rolls Intelligence vs TN 4 for "Assensing Spyderwick.": 1 2 3 3 3 4 5 5 10 13 = 5 Successes «Auto-Judge[]» Slinger (#69) rolls Aura Reading vs TN 4 for "Complementary.": 1 3 5 5 = 2 Successes «Plot» Slinger says, "Effectively 6 successes." «Plot» Slinger says, "Enough to know all about him." "And Bannon got out?" Page wonders. "Interesting. Did he just call in sick that day?" Amber. There's likely some kind of significance. He considers. "So you still need someone to get in and retrieve it, then?" You paged Slinger with 'Okay…that is an interesting aura. The guy is a very strong willed person, a mover and shaker. He seems to connect to Spider in a way. You can see a strange laticework of dark veins running through all of his aura, almost undiscernible to all but the most observant observers, such as you. His aura speaks of shrewd mind but it seems talking to you about all this is not even make him break a sweat. He is quite obviously a manipulator.'. You paged Slinger with 'Level 8 initiate'. Spyderwick shrugs, "Well, I am not interested in the details, but Mr. Bannon is a Rigger." Page looks over at Slinger for a moment, assessing his take on the situation, then looks back at Spyderwick. "So tell me more about this focus. How old is it?" he asks. "Do you have a picture, a location? Any of their initial recon?" Spyderwick looks at Page, "Listen, chummer. I am acting as a fixer and at times as a J for some people here in this town. Assuming you gave me a job, how much would you like it if I gave sensible information about a run you ordered with me to other parties?", he asks with a grin. "I never had a problem to tell you I hired Mr. Bannon and his gang, but you ask more than I am willing to reveal." Page smirks a bit. "Well if you want us to do the job for you… we're going to need more information about it before we sign on." He adds after a moment, "And besides - all those guys are dead, or in hiding. Somehow I don't think they're gonna mind." «OOC» Slinger says, "Back." Slinger visibly lifts a brow at what he sees. The guy has an impressive initiate grade, that much is immediately obvious. Sufficient to make it so the young elf has to severely concentrate to break through the guy's Masking. This isn't your usual guy who just sits in the shadows pulling strings. No, this guy has spent some time in the field. Spyderwick tilts his head at Page. "Yeah, the runners are dead orhiding, but my customer is far from dead and I really do not want to mess with my customers. It's bad for biz … and bad for staying alife." «Time» The current IC time is: Sat Feb 6 15:44:01 2070 Page spreads his arms in a shrug. "I don't see how bringing on some fresh blood would upset them. Unless they'd rather just forget the entire thing. I can understand that." He glances over to Slinger and shrugs noncommittaly. «BBoard» New message (news2/1) from Kassandra (#9777) on The Daily Buzz: The Daily Buzz for February 6 2070. «Time» The current IC time is: Sat Feb 6 15:52:01 2070 Spyderwick shrugs, "My customer has no more interest in the matter. He does not want to be connected to this drastic failure in any way. And actually I am more interested in soem of the stuff that is in there than that chain. Well, I can give you an image if you want, I guess. The same Bannon and his group got. But that is not really helpfull I guess. Unless you have means I would not think were possible. If you give me a save maildrop, I'll have it sent to you later today." «Plot» Page gives Spyder a temp maildrop he's got set up for such things. «Game» Backup to offline storage commencing. Game may freeze for a bit… «OOC» Slinger says, "Back again." «OOC» Slinger is cooking in between poses. Everything seems to involve a delay. But that'll give us time to hear back from the DIMR, which is something Slinger is waiting for. That might give us some leads — and more importantly, corporate backing. At least, indirectly. The youth crushes out his cigarette in the ashtray, then reaches up to gather up both of his butts. No sense leaving behind DNA evidence for anyone. «Time» The current IC time is: Sat Feb 6 16:00:00 2070 «Watchfor» Pith (#2175) just disconnected from the game. «Plot» Page will pass Spyder along 1000 as a 'thank you' and if he hears anything interesting to pass it our way. «Stats System» Page (#1269) just gave you 1000 nuyen for "Spyder - Magical fixer, if he hears more about the warp.". «ADMIN» Spyderwick says, "Okay. One question to Slinger, under which name would they call him back from the DF?" Name set. «OOC» Page is pretty sure that's the Greg Smith ID. «Time» The current IC time is: Sat Feb 6 16:08:02 2070 «ADMIN» Pelmen says, "Well, tell me what you do after leaving Spyderwick alone." «Time» The current IC time is: Sat Feb 6 16:16:01 2070 «OOC» Slinger nods. They'd use either the Greg Smith ID, or just Slinger. «OOC» Page says, "Well, if somebody's hiding out, they're gonna be in the Warrens! I say we head over to the Saints and ask around there to see if they know anything." Slinger heads out of the place with Page after a little more conversation and shoulder-rubbing, and then makes his way to the SUV. "What now?" the elf asks. "Right now, I'm waiting to hear back from the DIMR. I figure that's the next step." The elf climbs into the SUV, then says, "Hang on a sec. You think the Matrix connections are broken? I think it'd be interesting to get some footage from inside there, assuming the cops haven't already done that." He nods to Page's suggestion, then, and heads toward the Warrens, to look up Gabriel. "I… thought they were. Wouldn't hurt to check, I suppose." Then his phone rings. "Oh, hey! … yeah… yeah, it's still good. Sure, meet up with us at the Angel's Delight." «OOC» Page says, "Molly's online. :)" «ADMIN» Pelmen says, "Meaning?" Molly pages: Page wanted me to let you know to summon me. Molly has arrived. Teleported. «OOC» Page ICly called her up earlier to see if she was interested in this, but she was AFK. "Now she is here. Hopefully should be letting you know to summon." «OOC» Page says, "Yay!" «OOC» Molly waves! «ADMIN» Pelmen says, "Okay, to have Molly in, I'd say we continue at the Angel's Delight then, where Slingers phone will ring once he enters the place. I'll leave you all to pose the meet." «Time» The current IC time is: Sat Feb 6 16:24:01 2070 MAIL: You have a new message from Effek. Page hops on out of the SUV, Ourrez following him - the Angels know Ourrez. He's housebroken. And so the mage heads in, glancing around to catch a glimpse of Molly and wave. «OOC» Page quotes. "You look trustworthy! Would you like to join our merry band?" Slinger is out of the SUV just after Page, after carefully scoping the area. He also makes sure to keep the SUV between him and the rooftops, at least for a good portion of his trip to the front door. This is friendly territory, but it's good to keep one's tradecraft in practice. He steps inside the relative warmth of the place, with its smoke-laden interior, and reaches for his own pack to add to the ambiance. "We meetin' her here?" he asks. «OOC» Molly says, "Hehe just let me know when to pose in." «ADMIN» Pelmen says, "Well, now might be an idea." After a few moments, the door to the Angel's Delight opens and Molly steps inside. She has her cloak wrapped around her to ward off the cold, she casts her gaze around the room before spotting Page. She nods her head to accept she has spotted him and she begins to walk in his direction. «Time» The current IC time is: Sat Feb 6 16:32:01 2070 Slinger drops down into a booth, waving to some of the gangers he recognizes. Slinger is reasonably well known down here, having done a lot of work for and with the Saints, and could probably get free drinks if he asked for them. But it's a small enough expense that it's better to just pay for them, stay square. "Yo," he calls. "Gabe around?" At that moment Slinger phone will ring. «Time» The current IC time is: Sat Feb 6 16:40:01 2070 Slinger picks it up, glances at it, then answers it. Either with a 'Yo', or a 'This is Slinger', depending on what the Caller ID says. «Plot» Pelmen says, "The caller ID is an unknown number" Page catches Molly up on the details. (Dossier on Wells Fargo: «OOC» Page swats his paster. :) Page catches Molly up on the details. (http://denver.wikidot.com/black-hole-safety-zone) "We got a little more info from the fixer that brokered the initial run," he says, "but that's more or less run cold. We're looking for Bannon at this point." «OOC» Slinger says, "Then a 'yo'." You paged Slinger with 'This is Robert Asthon. I am working for the DIMR. I was told, Mr. Smith, that you wanted a word with us.", a slightly squeaky voice says.'. Nodding her head Molly says, "I've been hearing about that. I didn't know what good I could do on it. I'm not exactly the mana flinging sort of person." She lifts her brows and she says, "However, if there's spirits around I am pretty good at kicking them in the head." «Time» The current IC time is: Sat Feb 6 16:48:01 2070 "Indeed," Slinger says with a friendly smile, and his voice shifts to the most professional tone he can manage. "I'm sure you're aware of my credentials," Slinger says smoothly. "An associate of mine and I are looking into the situation with the Wells Fargo building, which I am sure you are looking into as well. We're offering our services, potentially. Field agents, as it were." Page grins at Molly. "Glad to see you're enjoying the focus." And then he grows more serious. "So you got any street contacts that could help us track this guy down? He's a rigger, and probably lost some drones, so … I dunno, chop shops, that kinda thing? And he's on the run from KE - so people good at hiding things, I'd guess." Darting her shoulders into a shrug, Molly says, "I might know a few people." She scratches her chin and she says, "This a job for you, or am I going to be looking at someone elses expense?" «Game» Backup to offline storage commencing. Game may freeze for a bit… «BBoard» New message (news2/1) from Kassandra (#9777) on The Daily Buzz: The Daily Buzz for February 6 2070. You paged Slinger with 'Well, you are one of the members of the so called Watchers, yes?'. «Time» The current IC time is: Sat Feb 6 16:56:00 2070 Page grins charmingly at Molly. "This is a job to make sure Denver doesn't fall into a giant astral warp that's growing daily, possibly followed by the rest of the world." His grin is almost sardonic as he adds, "It'll give you warm fuzzies. Just ask Slinger." Slinger scowls slightly, though he tries not to let it show in the tone of his voice. The way this guy said it does not bode well. "I am," Slinger replies. "Though not one of the most senior members." His tone is slightly cautious, but still professional and polite. «OOC» Page says, "Slinger can level buildings. And Slinger has a /boss/. ;)" Slinger nods to the mention of warm fuzzies. "Lots of 'em," he says, covering the phone. Rolling her eyes a little Molly says, "I get enough warm fuzzies." She laughs and says, "However, yeah I'll help you." She slides her hand into her jacket pocket and she says, "Give me a picture of the guy we're supposed to be tracking, I'll see who can find him for us." You paged Slinger with 'Well, okay…as I understand it my department was about to activate you people anyway.", the voice says. "We found a reference in one of the 4th world references left by the dragon. I speaks of a city of darkness…reigned by an powerfull demon. That ring a bell?", the man on the other side asks.'. «OOC» Page says, "Don't suppose I found a picture of Bannon off SL or anything, Pelmen?" Slinger slowly relaxes. Not intended to be an insult, just that the guy is a bit brusque. "City of darkness, ruled by a powerful demon," he repeats. "Well, this could be some of that, I suppose. If we've got this going on, and it keeps growing, pretty soon we could be living in one." «Time» The current IC time is: Sat Feb 6 17:04:00 2070 «OOC» Page doesn't think we have a pic of the guy yet. You paged Slinger with 'The man on the other side nods, "It is growing, even if very slowly. The area closed up is mostly due to the minons. These things are evil. Almost immune to magic, resistant like a troll and strong as one of those as well. And it seems if the texts are right, that everyone that dies in there joins their ranks."'. «OOC» Molly nods. «OOC» Molly says, "Well I suppose I could go with a description of the guy." Page nods to Molly authoritiatively. "We don't have one," he replies. "We have his name and a breif description. Bannon, rigger. Hiding. Possibly injured." Nodding her head once to Page, she says, "Alright then, I'll see what I can manage." She pulls her poc-sec from her pocket and she says, "Let me make a few calls." She pulls a cable from the poc-sec and plugs it into the datajack situated at the base of her skull. Slinger listens carefully to the man's words. "Right," Slinger says quietly. "Has anybody considered, say, nuking the building from orbit? If they're immune to magic and physical attacks…" He considers. "How immune are we talking? Numbers-wise? I've got some power, but not an infinite amount." He glances to the others, to see if they are listening. "Maybe a rigger." «OOC» Molly says, "Going to contact my Info broker Data First to see if he knows where we can find this Bannon guy." «Time» The current IC time is: Sat Feb 6 17:12:02 2070 You paged Slinger with 'The special properties of this Mana warp are not known to you it seems…Ot absorbs all kinds of waveform energy and uses it to grow. If you nuke it you basically darken all of Denver, and maybe even parts of the surrounding country as well. And pretty immune. I suggest to avoid them at all cost. We have had no mages of you caliber at our disposal, but it was pretty disturbing with what ease the spells from KE's mages where simply ignored.'. «OOC» Molly says, "OK?" "Right. So any idea how to deal with this, if the first one of the minion-thingies we run into can nuke us without much more than a thought? I'm just thinking about how we're going to do this. What level of equipment can you supply? At the very least, we'll need some IDs that will pass muster, get us past the blockade KE has set up, get us in there to deal with it. I know you can arrange that much, at least." «Time» The current IC time is: Sat Feb 6 17:20:01 2070 You paged Slinger with 'YOu have a lady going by the name of Medaron in your group, I think. Or she was at least at some time. I suggest you contact her. She is acting as liason to the council.'. Slinger pages: I'm not sure I know that one, OOCly. Slinger nods, making a mental note of that name. This is going to be tricky. "All right," Slinger says quietly. "What other resources and information do you have for us? Any idea how to seal this up, or are we going to have to wing it?" To (Pelmen, Johnny), Slinger pages: Slinger's next call would be to Johnny, just FYI. To (Pelmen, Slinger), Johnny pages: Yo. You paged Slinger with 'We are still trying to find out what happened in the 4th world. It seems the problem was solved in some way then, but we are only now starting to investigate the matter. I can be months before we can really find the needed information.'. "Right. We don't have months," Slinger points out. "Gonna want some major kudos out of this if we pull it off," the elf says firmly. "If you find anything more, can you let me know? I'll take care of notifying Mr. Wulfson." Or whatever name they know Johnny by. "Oh, and how can I contact you?" Slinger asks, making sure to make a note of this information. «Time» The current IC time is: Sat Feb 6 17:28:01 2070 From afar, to (Johnny, Pelmen): Slinger smiles. Slinger'll call you in a moment. You paged Slinger with 'Well, call back on this number, I'll have your call redirected to wherever I might be at that time. And you are probably worrying too much. It just expands by a centimeter per two hours currently. With the current energy input, that is…maybe it is good this happened in winter.'. "Assuming nothing changes," Slinger says into the phone. "Assuming it doesn't get warmer. Assuming a helluva lot of things. I don't think we want to wait months on this." He makes a note of the number the man gives him. "All right. Thanks for your assistance." That done, he hangs up and calls Johnny. To the others present, he asks, "You think we can get somewhere more private? I don't want anybody listening in." From afar, to (Slinger, Pelmen): Johnny is hopping in the shower. To (Johnny, Pelmen), Slinger pages: Perfect timing. Slinger just posed calling you. «OOC» Slinger is on hold, waiting for Johnny's player to get out of the shower. Others can pose, etc. From afar, to (Slinger, Pelmen): Johnny nods. Well, I need like 5 minutes. Then I can spend a few minutes getting what you need, but I've got to head out to dinner. Alternately: Pelmen can play Johnny. To (Slinger, Pelmen), Johnny pages: She's got his sheet and contacts. Page peers at Slinger. "It's the AD, omae - just grab a room from the back." Then he settles back to relax for a minute while Molly talks to her Info Broker. Slinger nods and stands up while he hangs up the phone; he'll call Johnny once we're somewhere private. Instead, he approaches one of the gangers. "Think I can snag one of the private rooms in the back?" the elf asks, with that grin of his as he slips the guy some credits. Enough to compensate Gabe for the use of the room, of course, plus a little. «Auto-Judge[]» Slinger (#69) spends 500 nuyen for "Use of a room at the Angel's Delight for planning and plotting.". «Time» The current IC time is: Sat Feb 6 17:36:01 2070 Using her datajack to speak over the wire, Molly carries on a silent conversation with Data First. The poc-sec translating her thoughts into voice as she converses with the broker. She keeps her attention focused on the world around her, watching Page for a lead as to where they're supposed to be going for privacy. You paged Molly with 'Sorry for the wait. Data First only knows he is/was a second class runner, rigger. He took the help of one of the fixers in town and was not seen since. Dived for deep cover after some runner was too publicly announcing he was after him.'. Molly pages: Knowing he's injured I am going to see if Eric Haus, my shadow doc, would know of anyone that needed medical attention fitting the description. «Time» The current IC time is: Sat Feb 6 17:44:01 2070 You paged Molly with 'He has not heard about the guy.'. Page follows along with Slinger, of course - it's a dark little room in the back, and who KNOWS what was in the syringes that line the corners. But it's private, and that's what matters. Right? Right. Even so, the hermetic mage doesn't look that happy, eying the floor before stepping around. Slinger proceeds on backward into one of the small meeting rooms. It's hardly posh, but it does have the basic amenities. Gabe found out he could make decent money providing discreet places for Shadowrunners to meet, after all. Slinger drops into a seat at the table, then waits for the others to take their places. Then, he dials Johnny. To (Johnny, Pelmen), Slinger pages: Lemme know when you're free. Molly pages: Alright, last check, Mr. Fixit, seeing if he might know where the guy is located. From afar, to (Slinger, Pelmen): Johnny is back, but I really don't have lng, so lets see if we can abstract what you need? Following behind Page, Molly steps into the room, her datajack triggering commands in the poc-sec, making several different calls. Her expression is a frown as the information is conveyed from her to her contacts and replies are given. To (Johnny, Pelmen), Slinger pages: Slinger tells Johnny that he just spoke with Robert Asthon of the DIMR. Apparemtny, the DIMR was about to activate the Watchers anyway to deal with the Wells Fargo situation. Apparently, this is a breach that a dragon in the fourth world wrote about — might well be Dunkie, but I don't know. Evil creatures, and somebody needs to go in and stop it. And we're the best they have. We need resources, people, tactical support, just about anything we can get. But nothing that will add energy — it feeds on energy. You paged Molly with 'Mr. Fixit has a vague idea, but he is shure it will take a bit to make more soldig information out of it. He asks how urgent this is.'. Molly pages: Need it ASAP. To (Slinger, Pelmen), Johnny pages: clarify energy, contact Kassandra, annie and Ally on magical matters. What logistical support will you require? You paged Molly with 'He will try to contact you as soon as he has the wanted information, but he at once says that hurrying this will make it expensive.'. Page settles into a seat… well, while the other two are busy on their phones, he's going to hop on the matrix again. Hey, new news story. He reads through it, considering as he absorbs the new information. Molly pages: That's okay, as long as he can keep it quiet. «Time» The current IC time is: Sat Feb 6 17:52:01 2070 Settling a conversation, Molly unplugs the datajack and allows the cable to retract into the poc-sec. She looks then to Page and she says, "I have someone that has an idea where he might be found. He's going to look into it for me and keep it as quiet as he can. He says for the rushed information it's going to be expensive." To (Johnny, Pelmen), Slinger pages: Honestly? A rigger with a minigun would be my first damned choice. These things are going to be tough in there. To the extent that I'm not sure my magic is sufficient. Energy — apparently it's anything like heat, light, anything like that. Setting off a nuke, for example, would /immediately/ make it engulf the city. Something about a demon coming through. Frankly, man, I'm scared shitless. «Game» Backup to offline storage commencing. Game may freeze for a bit… Page comments, "They always say that… how expensive are we talking?" To (Slinger, Pelmen), Johnny pages: Rigger is a bad choice then, as they operate on powered drones. Contact *These contacts*. Arrange to cut off all power to that city block. Find out if this is a physical threat or metaphyical. If physical, find out the energy wave signature it feeds on, then supply a cancelling wave. Molly pages: How much? To (Pelmen, Johnny), Slinger pages: Gotcha. *Slinger makes lots of notes* Who's Medaron? To (Slinger, Pelmen), Johnny pages: Meaderon? Spereithel word, means 'death'. To (Slinger, Pelmen), Johnny pages: Learn you some elvish, boy. To (Johnny, Pelmen), Slinger pages: I know what the word means. I speak it. I mean, who in the Watchers calls themselves that? To (Slinger, Pelmen), Johnny pages: If you don't have that data already, I'm not at liberty to discuss it. Perhaps one of the women I've listed may be more forthcoming. You paged Molly with 'About 5K'. To (Slinger, Pelmen), Johnny pages: But you do know the name. To (Slinger, Pelmen), Johnny pages: It came up in a terrorist wanted poster not long back. To (Johnny, Pelmen), Slinger pages: I was thinking either Kass or Lil, or maybe Aladriel, but I'm not sure. Maybe even Annie. Janie? To (Johnny, Pelmen), Slinger pages: You and I are the only damned men in the group. To (Slinger, Pelmen), Johnny pages: I know. *dryly* To (Slinger, Pelmen), Johnny pages: Anyway. Contact the top three: Annie, Kassandra and Ally. To (Slinger, Pelmen), Johnny pages: Find out… To (Slinger, Pelmen), Johnny pages: Find out what is currently feeding this thing. To (Johnny, Pelmen), Slinger pages: Right. Any other logical support I can get from you? «Time» The current IC time is: Sat Feb 6 18:00:00 2070 To (Slinger, Pelmen), Johnny pages: Clearly, it has a food source already "Nothing I can't handle," says Molly with a shrug. She lifts her brows and she says, "We'll track this guy down and resolve the problem." She looks around the room to find herself a proper seat. To (Slinger, Pelmen), Johnny pages: Maybe some sort of energy research project. To (Slinger, Pelmen), Johnny pages: Maybe a broken transformer buzzing at the right freq. To (Slinger, Pelmen), Johnny pages: But something has it where it is. To (Slinger, Pelmen), Johnny pages: And not moving across the city. To (Slinger, Pelmen), Johnny pages: To say, a power relay station. To (Johnny, Pelmen), Slinger pages: Right. Sounds like a good thing. I'll get in touch with them. On the other hand, we cut off its food, it could spread. From afar, to (Slinger, Pelmen): Johnny nods. It could. But then you will know an important datum. To (Slinger, Pelmen), Johnny pages: That it thinks. To (Kassandra, Annie, Pelmen), Slinger pages: Any of you folks around? To (Slinger, Pelmen), Johnny pages: In a limited fashion. It has needs. Needs that you can then control. To (Slinger, Pelmen), Johnny pages: If it moves for power where there is none, it may then move for MORE power when it is present. To (Slinger, Pelmen), Johnny pages: Think about dynamos on a truck, leading it out to the middle of nowhere. From afar, to (Slinger, Annie, Pelmen): Kassandra is here. To (Johnny, Pelmen), Slinger pages: Right. Fair enough. But I got no control over the power grid, yet. That's why I need Medaron. She's our liason to the powers that be, apparently. To (Slinger, Pelmen), Johnny pages: Hurm. I know Kass has direct onctact with the UCAS power grids. Slinger talks to Johnny. Well, actually, he does a lot of listening. Johnny is talking at high speed, and Slinger is trying to get it all down as fast as he can. Given all of that, it'll take him a while. "Think you'll be available later?" he ends up asking. From afar, to (Johnny, Pelmen): Slinger nods. I was thinking Silk has influence, given the situation with the Warrens. She'll be my next call, I think. You going to be available later? To (Slinger, Pelmen), Johnny pages: In 2-3 hours, maybe. Page nods vaguely. Then something about Molly's tone gets his attention. "You know we just want to talk to the guy, right?" To (Johnny, Pelmen), Slinger pages: Right. This is enough to get me started. From afar, to (Slinger, Pelmen): Johnny nods. Get the ball rolling. Get me more data. To (Kassandra, Pelmen), Slinger pages: Slinger would be giving you a call about now. Staffplot stuff. From afar, to (Slinger, Pelmen): Kassandra listens You paged (Slinger, Johnny) with 'I want to comment that I am past 2 AM here.'. To (Johnny, Pelmen), Slinger pages: Ah! When are you headed to sleep? Brows lift a little and Molly says, "You just asked if I could help find him. What you do with him is your biz." She leans against the wall, it being the most sanitary looking thing to be comfortable on. She twitches her lips and she says, "I figure you have a handle on what needs to be done. I'm just here to help however you think will be best." You paged (Slinger, Johnny) with 'Soon.'. To (Pelmen, Johnny), Slinger pages: Can we do any planning/discussion on our own? To (Kassandra, Pelmen), Slinger pages: Slinger would be giving you a call in a few minutes. You paged (Slinger, Johnny) with 'Shure, gimme a script of stuff that would concern me.'. To (Pelmen, Johnny), Slinger pages: All righty. :) You paged (Slinger, Johnny) with 'But it seems you'd publsiht he log anyway.'. To (Pelmen, Johnny), Slinger pages: Right. Other thing I need is permission to use Wyld to bring people into the room, etc. «Time» The current IC time is: Sat Feb 6 18:08:01 2070 You paged (Slinger, Johnny) with 'You could continue anywhere…'. «Auto-Judge[]» Molly (#4181) spends 5000 nuyen. You paged (Slinger, Johnny) with 'But if you want to do it here, shure.'. «OOC» Slinger says, "How about we relocate to a plot room?" «IC» Slinger (#69) is whisked back onto the grid. Slinger has left. "Ok, just making sure," says Page. To (Pelmen, Molly, Page, Kassandra), Slinger pages: PR2 is where we are, I think. «OOC» Page peers after Slinger. Plot Room #2(#934RJ$) This is a simple room for roleplaying. To change this desc, type: +setdesc <new description> (+lhelp is available here) Contents: Slinger [Player] Obvious exits (Current location: @tel #934): Out <O> To (Slinger, Page, Pelmen), Molly pages: I'm going to bow out, I don't run with Kassandra. Page has arrived. To (Molly, Page, Pelmen), Slinger pages: Ah. I see. To (Slinger, Page, Pelmen), Molly pages: I'm going to head to bed, goodnight all. Teleported. Plot Room #2(#934RJ$) This is a simple room for roleplaying. To change this desc, type: +setdesc <new description> (+lhelp is available here) Contents: Page [Player] Slinger [Player] Obvious exits (Current location: @tel #934): Out <O> To (Slinger, Kassandra, Pelmen), Annie pages: Sort of here. :) «OOC» Page says, "well, then." Idle message from Annie: AFK, working for a living. Living and a workin'. You paged (Slinger, Johnny, Kassandra, Annie) with 'Okay, whatever you guys do in matters of planning, add it to the log and give me a mail with wiki placement. I'll try to see if it needs some GM postprocessing and add my parts where neccessary. But I really over did my time anyway. I'll try to resolve some last issues I might be needed for here, then I'll be off.'. Kassandra has arrived. «OOC» Slinger says, "Right. We can still continue some pieces of this." «OOC» Slinger brings people here rather than paging so it can get into the log. «Time» The current IC time is: Sat Feb 6 18:16:01 2070 From afar, to (Johnny, Slinger, Pelmen, Annie): Kassandra will see what is going on, my part may be limited So. Slinger gets off the phone with Johnny, and instead dials Silk. She's on his list of who he's supposed to call, after all. Silk, for her part, is head-deep in a number of texts and writing furiously. She eyes the phone as if it were some sort of vile creature as it rings, hesitating between letting it go to voice mail and answering. She snags it after several rings, "Silk." The only sound in the background is the rapid-fire rapping of a pen on the desk. "Silk? Slinger. Sorry to bug you, but our mutual associate told me to call. There's a situation that I suspect you can help with. I'm not sure how secure this line is, so I'm avoiding saying too much. But it has to do who watches the Watchers." "I'm listening." Silk stops drumming on the desk, a faint frown marring her features. «Time» The current IC time is: Sat Feb 6 18:24:01 2070 "Line should be pretty secure," Slinger says. "The Wells Fargo building. Doing some looking into it. Contacted the DIMR. Apparently, we need magical heavy hitters to go in — and we need somebody with contacts to first, get power shut off to the area, and second, to get us past any red tape with the government types. Robert Asthon with the DIMR said I needed to find Medaron. Which I'm assuming is you," he says quietly. "If not, then someone you know." To (Slinger, Pelmen, Kassandra), Annie pages: What was this plot? The WF building one? Idle message from Annie: AFK, working for a living. Living and a workin'. You paged (Slinger, Johnny, Kassandra, Annie) with 'Yes'. From afar, to (Annie, Pelmen, Kassandra): Slinger nods. Ayup. Slinger'll be calling you soonish for planning and info. To (Slinger, Pelmen, Kassandra), Annie pages: Oh, okay :) "No, it is not I. That honour belongs to an eldery woman that you may be familiar with." Silk hmms at the information and says, "I may know someone who can deal with the power situation, I suppose, although .." She trails off with a faint sigh and then says, "And what red tape with government types does the DIMR need help with? I imagine they are far more connected in that realm than most." "The gentleman wasn't specific," Slinger remarks. "It was when I suggested he could provide us with credentials to get us past the barricades. He suggested I contact a member of our group, Medaron. Elderly… right. I think we're talking about the same person. "Still, I know you have contacts with those who supply the power — to wit, the situation in the Warrens this winter. If you could make sure all power supply to that building, to that area, is shut off, I think that would slow the expansion of the darkness. The DIMR is of the opinion that this is something very, very bad. That there's a demon in there building power, that this is some kind of dimensional rift. Put another way, that this is what we were originally founded to deal with." «Time» The current IC time is: Sat Feb 6 18:32:01 2070 Page quirks up an eyebrow at that comment from Slinger, looking up from his pocket secretary. Then he pulls up his calendar schedule, frowning thoughtfully. "I see." Silk doesn't comment on the likelyhood of what the 'demon' might be or whether they exist. "I can make some calls, but I cannot promise anything. It isn't like turning a switch on and off. I'll make some calls and expend some more of my political capital and see what I can do." Slinger nods. "I wouldn't ask if it weren't important," Slinger says apologetically. "This comes from Johnny, as his suggestion." He is careful to use the primarily alias of the mutual acquaintance. "Let me know what I can do to make it up to you?" "I imagine it was his suggestion. I'll have a talk with him." The stresses Silk puts on the word talk indicates that it won't be pleasant. "I'll see what I can do. Try not to be eaten by whatever is in there." Slinger smiles thinly. "The DIMR seems to think that this thing will grow to engulf all of Denver eventually. And it feeds on energy. That, and people. I'm going to try hard not to get munched on." He considers. "Could actually use some Elemental Materials, too, sometime when you aren't busy. I have a feeling I'm going to need a lot more of them than I have." «Time» The current IC time is: Sat Feb 6 18:40:00 2070 «Watchfor» Pith (#2175) just connected to the game. "All of Denver, eh? That will be entertaining I imagine, and give the other sectors a reason to invade the UCAS sector. Wonderful." Silk spins the pen around and then says, "Alright, I'll see what I can do. As far as the summoning materials, send a message with what you need and we'll see how long it takes. A lot of people are whistling things up right now, so dunno if we can get them and put them in use before you go in, but hope springs eternal." "If anyone can do it, you can," Slinger says, his voice full of confidence, and gratitude. "Thank you. Seriously. I'll toss you that message, and get on the phone with our elderly friend. Sorry to interrupt." "No problem. Stay safe." Silk's line goes dead as she prepares to make calls. You paged (Slinger, Johnny, Kassandra, Annie) with 'Okay, I guess I'll leave you all to your misery now. Time to watch me from the insides.'. Page looks over at Slinger. "Seriously? Freaking demons?" From afar, to (Slinger, Johnny, Annie, Pelmen): Kassandra waves «Time» The current IC time is: Sat Feb 6 18:48:01 2070 "That's what the man said," Slinger says quietly. "That's assuming you believe in the prophesies of a dead dragon," he adds, as he prepares to place another call. "I'm still piecing things together." "So how exactly do we fight a demon?" Page asks, still sounding skeptical. "I don't exactly have a cruicifix handy." Annie and Smoke Slinger gave Annie a call not to long before, and asked to be called back — or for her to meet him down at the Angel's Delight and ask for Slinger. Annie heads to the Angels Delight, preferring to get out of the (Safe)house for a few hours at least. Once there she inquires after Slinger and waits to be directed on where to go. Apparently they've got a private room in the back. When you reach there, Page and Slinger are waiting. Page is messing about on his pocket secretary, frowning at the latest news on the headlines. "Oh, hey there," he comments to Annie abstractly when she arrives. "How is?" Annie offers the two people in the back room a pleasant nod in way of greeting, "Not bad personally.", she grins wryly and gestures toward the pocsec in Pages hand, "It's been a rough week in the Denver Plex though." A predictable cloud of smoke hangs in the air, to which Slinger is adding at a rapid rate. There's already one crumpled pack on the table, and another one is open with a few cancer sticks hanging out of it. As the door opens, the young mage startles — then relaxes with a warm grin when he sees who enters. "Medaron, I presume? Or rather, I hope?" Slinger asks. He glances between Page and Annie. "I'm not sure — have you two met?" Page looks over Annie. Glances over her aura for a moment. "We've met," he replies to Slinger. "But not under that name. Interesting - but irrelevant. I'm afraid your week is about to get much worse." He passes Annie his pocsec. (http://denver.wikidot.com/black-hole-safety-zone) Annie looks over the pocsec and nods, "I've been working officially with the team on site.", she hands the pocsec back to Page before continuing, "Jeremy Falloon got me on the team as his official liaison and advisor. It's definitely just as bad as the news is making it out to be." "Excellent," Page says. "Then you're the person we need to be talking to. Speaking of - do you know any more about the trigger event? The necklace the runners were attempting to retrieve?" Annie shakes her head, "I've been doing a bit of research, trying to find out more. But thus far I've come up blank. The supply manifests for the storage rooms we estimate to be the epicenter of the effect have been less than helpful.", she shrugs, "I've been mainly concentrating on figuring out the ways to starve it and try to prevent it's increase, but short of erecting a massive opaque tent around the building to cut off light…that angle hasn't gone far." "Holy crap," Slinger says, giving a soft chuckle. "Here I am thinking I was bringing you in on this, when frankly, it should be the other way around — with you deciding whether or not you could use our help," he admits. "I talked to Robert Asthon with the DIMR, and he suggested we contact you to help us get inside. He also told me a lot of information that I'm sure you already know. About the demon, his minions, all that sort of thing," Slinger says, waving a hand dismissively. Page taps a finger alongside his jawline thoughtfully. "Perhaps a good plan for retaining, cutting off its power supply. Probably necessary to destroy it. But will never solve the problem completely. You need people to go in and destroy it. Powerful mages." He clicks his tongue, looking off absently. "I should've started that project weeks ago. Oh, well, shows what I get for procrastinating." Annie nods, "The entity has a foothold now. I had the team set up a crane and lift outside the building. My thought has been to use demolitions to blow a hole in the side of the building and insert a team directly on the epicenters floor. That way they would not have to traverse several floors and use the elevator or stair well.", she shrugs, "Minimizing their time inside seems prudent." She looks over at Slinger and grins wryly, "I've been trying to find something to occupy my mind. But I believe I can get anyone I need to inside and with the blessings of the UCAS government. They are willing to try anything at this point." "How much time do you think we have?" Page asks from the side, fussing with his calendar and calculating. Slinger nods slowly. "Epicenter. So… the stuff about the demon. You did already know that, right? That this is a powerful demon trying to cross over, at least according to the writings of a dead dragon. And that apparently, those who are sent inside and fall… become minions of that demon, virtually invincible. That's according to what the DIMR has found so far." He reaches for another cigarette. "I can probably fly up there, but not having to would be good. Except, of course, with the crane, the creature inside knows we're coming." Annie shakes her head, "I suspected something along those lines, but no confirmation or hard details until now.", she pauses and adds, "I would love to see what data you have collected though." At this moment, Page's pocsec rings. He taps the screen to answer, glancing at the caller ID. "Ah, Smoke! Good to hear from you. You received my message, yes?" Indeed, he left a message, breifly, that said 'call me, might have a job.' "The data," Slinger admits, "is mostly hearsay. He said that the texts from the fourth world left by the dragon — and I'm assuming he's referring to Dunk. It speaks of a city of darkness, ruled by a powerful demon. The area is growing, slowly. The area closed up is mostly due to the minions, he said." The elf concentrates. "The things are pure evil. Almost immune to magic, resistant like a troll and as strong as one. And according to the texts, everyone who dies in there join their ranks." Slinger takes a drag of nicotine. "Apparently, it absorbs all kinds of waveform energy and uses it to grow. He suggested avoiding the creatures at all cost. Apparently, in the fourth world, they found a solution — but they think it'll be months before they can locate the information." Smoke can be seen on the screen with shamanic alchemy equipment strewn about behind him. He is looking into his pocsec curiously, a cigarette hanging from his mouth. "Yes, I figured I would call. That first tattoo was really nice by the way." "You're welcome!" Slinger calls, with an impish grin. He appears to be a Sioux halfbreed with light coppery tan skin tones. His hair is buzzcut at a quarter inch in length, it appears well groomed and even. His eyes are set beneath dark brows, green to brown to green in color. His nose is just a little flared and fits with his wide Sioux cheek bones. The man's mouth has medium sized lips that have a natural upturn at the corners, giving a hint of a smile. When he smiles his teeth are well taken care of and straight. His ears lay flat against the side of his head and have piercing holes. A few small scars from growing up a little rough accent his jaw line and chin, but do not detract from his looks. His chin is strong and just slightly squared. "Excellent. Glad you like it. About the one I'm currently working on. I may have to pause for a couple of days on it." Page considers. "We're working on saving the world. Or at least the city. Would you like to come along?" "Page what sort of work were you talking about?" Smoke puts his mouth right up to the screen like perhaps he doesn't know how to work the device all that well. He hears Page's voice and says, "Oh yeah, I would like to lend a hand. Where do I meet you?" Annie sighs and offers a slow nod, "For a species that isn't supposed to be able to exist here yet, they sure seem to get around.", she shakes her head again as if clearing a bad memory, "Like I said, I can get us the clearances to get inside. If you have a plan beyond that, I would love to hear it." Slinger lets out a breath. "That's the trouble. Without more information, and a helluva lot more firepower, I'd end up becoming one of those minions. This is a guy who represents some of the most powerful mages in the world, and he sounded scared. He said they didn't have a mage of my caliber at their disposal, but they were disturbed how easily KE's mages' spell simply… bounced off." On the phone, Page says, "We're at the Angel's Delight. Just ask for Slinger, they'll direct you to the back room we're in. See you in a few, I hope." Smoke nods into the screen. "Okay I will be there in a short while." His thumb and fingers keep pressing the buttons on the phone. "Turn off damn you…oh it is the red button. Right." He is obviously talking to himself. "Okay I will be there." He says a little too loud. Then the screen winks out. The native packs his gear and then makes sure the alchemy equipment he is borrowing is all situated. He takes his pocsec and leaves a text for his lady Jayanti that the tattoo artist called and that he'll be home whenever. He slips through the Queen of Cups making sure not to disturb the raccoon shaman and once in the street he heads for the Pool Hall on his bike. Page hangs up the phone and then comments to Slinger, "Information largely irrelevant. Firepower much more of a concern. /How much time do we have?/" he asks again. "Hours? Days? Weeks? If it's weeks, I have options. Expendable combat foci, my Manipulation focus, Ourrez's Ritual of Change. If it's days, I may be able to get one of these done with enough orichalcum. If it's /hours/," he points out, "we're /screwed./ No time for information. Have to go with available assets. I can call on some of the more powerful mages on Denver, but no idea if they will be available." "According to the guy from the DIMR, it's growing at the rate of a centimeter every two hours. That means twelve centimeters a day. Or just under a meter a week. According to that, we have all the time in the world. But that's assuming it doesn't accelerate — which if it's being driven by sunlight, it would, because, you know, area gets bigger the bigger it gets. And also, he mentioned cold weather being a good thing." "Heat energy. Understandable. Also assumes demon incapable of bootstrapping existing energy sources. Electricity. Power. Radio waves." Page starts doing some calculations on his pocket secretary. "Definitely need to cut power to the building. Matrix lines, also." He pauses for consideration, then looks over at Annie. "Blimp. A large blimp. No need to build a scaffold to hide the area from the sun. A large blimp will block out a great deal of the direct solar energy. That will help - somewhat. It may buy us the time we need." He runs his calculations again. "Your contact at the DIMR is incorrect. The safety zone has grown by a full block in two weeks. We can only assume that the power of the creature inside is following area, squared law. This means that in two weeks it will have grown to a size of four blocks - and be sixteen times as strong." He looks between the other two in the room seriously. "Action is a necessity. I would estimate in days. Not weeks. The sooner - the better." Annie nods, "Clouds are good. Cold is good. Any sort of energy feeds the effect, even heat and radio waves are absorbed.", she pauses a moment before adding, "And if that assault team are now mindless minions…well, it will be some nasty fighting inside. Those men were real pros, and the mages will be formidable." The bike ride is extremely cold and Smoke stops at one point to get more layers of clothing on. He finds a nice scarf in the motorcycle tote bag and then roars off again. When he reaches the pool hall he pulls up right outside, revs the engine once to clear the pipes and then shuts the chopper off. He looks around carefully as he rubs the numb off his cheeks and forhead. He lights a cigarette and then heads into the building. Asking about Slinger gets Smoke a look, perhaps sizing you up, but he is led toward the back hallway, and there is a knock at the door. Slinger calls out a 'come in', though he does eye the door carefully. He relaxes when he recognizes the one entering. The Saint also enters, bringing fizzycokes and whatever else people might want. Slinger did pay a little extra for the room. "Yeah. Of course, its power could go up with volume, more than area. But that would imply it could be starved." Smoke moves into the room and pushes his sunglasses up onto the top of his head. He smiles at those gathered about. He recognizes Slinger and Page and looks over at Annie for a moment giving her a slight nod. The native looks a little nervous but hides it fairly well with taking another quick drag on his cigarette. The smoke get blown straight upward and he moves further into the room without saying a word. Page catches Smoke up with where they're at at the moment. (http://denver.wikidot.com/black-hole-safety-zone). "Don't suppose you know much to add at the moment?" he wonders. Smoke listens as Page catches him up. He takes a seat and talks quietly, "I am aware of this situation somewhhat. I left my body and went out for a little astral recon. I got very close and was able to discern the lightnings within the warped darkness. From my close perspective I could feel that the warp itself was amplifying the shadow magic. Being alone, I played things safe and moved away before the wagemages detected me. I made a post on Shadowland to warn people about the lightning within the darkness. That is all I really know. I am here to help though." He sinks back into the chair a bit. "Help as much as I am able." Page nods slightly. "Well, we'll have to go with what we know. Let's set a timeframe. Two, three days? Will see. Consult with KE forces, see current growth rate." He shakes his had. "All we can do for now is done." Meeting So Page has - without asking permission or authorization or anything like that - sent out a 'cattle call' on Shadowland for mages, adepts, shamans, and all other types that want to Save The World. On contacting him, he lets them know that the meet will be in the Warrens, and to Load for Bear. Slinger is in on it early, and has already camped out in the room at the Angel's Delight. The nice, quiet back room, away from the music and the noise. The elf has junk food and fizzycoke and a full carton of smokes, along with an ashtray. That, plus a trix connection, is the main thing he needs right now. He's poking, prodding, and reading up on any developments he can find. Dalton has little to load, since he is low on funding and all that stuff, but saving the world only comes once or twice in a lifetime, and he just can't avoid the call. He grabs what little things he has and heads to the AD where he was told to meet the rest of the group. Smoke sits in the Angel's Delight partaking of tobacco and listening to the mages that seem to have more information on this subject that he has. Janie is a little low on trust lately, especially with blanket statements like that, but she's been getting just a bit stircrazy in her fallback apartment, and the Fargo situation has been nagging at her like a phantom itch. So when someone puts out a call to come and do something about it - especially if the assembly location is the Angels' Delight - she definitely shows up. Guns loaded, focus primed, Athena in overwatch, the works. Charles is barely back in town, and looking for work… reading the post, he realizes that a lot of folks may show up loaded for the wrong type of bear… and while he has nothing to his name but the clothes on his back at the moment, he's tough enough and knows enough about bears, bobcats, and other magical what-have-it he figures the worst that can happen is they turn him away. So he signs out of the matrix-term he was reading on, and hoofs it around the corner to the meeting place, his pet perched on his shoulder. Page brings everyone up to speed on the situation involving the recent raids of the thing, and the suspected powerful demon inside. "We currently have two options as I see it," Page says, bringing up a picture of the building on a portable trid display he's brought along. "Without knowing where the demon is and unable to do recon, the standard approach would be to hit the top of the building and work our way down, floor by floor." "Alternately," Page says, tapping a button to magnify the base, "we can enter at the ground floor and go in the direction of most resistance. I'm betting we'll find the Demon faster that way." "We'd also risk gettin' pincered between forces ahead /and/ at our back," Janie points out. "We'd have t'move fast an'keep movin'." "Draco gave us some clues. Or rather, the DIMR. They're the ones who think it's a demon, and they think, in a few months, they'll have found enough for a solution to this. The trouble is, I don't think anybody wants to let this stew for a couple of months. I think if we just let it sit, it's going to get worse. Already, things have started coming out and attacking people. The wall's holding them, but for how long?" Charles Jackson says after looking over the visuals, "Landing on the top and going down would certainly be more safe, rather not have them suddenly climb up behind me from the basement. If this is as bad as all this says… waiting might be worst thing we could do, there I agree. Only other option be to keep reinforcing the walls, but that's something we can not exactly help with openly, can we?" Janie nods. "Besides, th'only evidence we have that th'wall is actually /effective/ is that th'demon hasn't sent any attacks out past it since it went up. What if that's just th'impression it wants t'give so th'Knights get complacent while it builds up f'r its next attack? Dalton remains quiet, watching and listening to the others speak, he has nothing to offer at the moment, demons are a bit out of his normal realm of things. "Converting people into shadow might take time - but any way you slice it, the zone is still growing." Page brings up another diagram charging the growth. "At an exponential rate. It feeds on energy - sunlight, heat, electricity. Even the phantom power on 'Trix lines. As it grows larger, it has more to draw on, and the more powerful the demon will become." "That's what I'd do if I were an evil demon," Slinger admits. "I'm not, but if I were, false sense of security is an important asset. That, or just leaving things alone while you build your power for one big strike." Slinger thinks for a few moments more. "Mojo types are great, but I'd also prefer somebody with some more mundane things. Big-ass troll with a PAC, for example, would make me happy. "An ally is working on getting us access to the zone, and another is working on getting power cut off, which should help." Smoke takes a long drink of his coffee and listens intently. He tilts his head and brings his attention to focus on each of the people as they speak. He packs another pack of cigs against his thigh and then opens them. "I am here to offer what aid I can. You say it feeds on electricity?" Charles Jackson nods a bit, saying, "Definately cut cables… make that area like Warrens, no lights try to get in, no power. Too bad can't change weather, overcast day would be nice too." Dalton nods "If someone here is a master of spirits, a large storm spirit could generate cloud cover with its storm power." Janie holds up one hand. "I c'n probably arrange f'r that," she offers. "O'course, th'moment I do that th'Knights' mages'll start screamin' f'r backup." "Spirit would be your department," Slinger remarks to Smoke and Janie, including them both in his comment. "It feeds on any kind of energy, really," he says, then grins and offers a wave to Silk. "Welcome to the party," he says to the woman. He's in a chair, rocked back a little, while he considers. "We have somebody who can probably get us access to the area, get KE to let us in just fine." He doesn't say the name just yet. "Still waiting on calls back on that, I think." Page shakes his head. "We have support from the KE through Medaron. She's working with KE and the Draco Foundation to provide resources there. So we'll have a clear path at least." Smoke nods, "When I went in astrally to do recon those wagemages were pretty damned perceptive, trying to keep independent folks from figuring things out. I can do some spirit work, maybe not as good as Janie but I will help." He raises his eyebrows and nods to everyone. Silk nods soberly to Slinger, taking a place along a wall. She is dressed in 'working clothing', reinforced leather and sturdy cloth in black and blue, a watch cap pulled down over her hair, which is bound and out of the way. She watches quietly, getting caught up on what is going on. Dalton frowns slightly "Is it hard to cast spells inside this cloud? Cause I'm a lousy shot if we need to kill things that way." Page taps the computer again, bringing up a list of items he doesn't have answers to onscreen. "I know how to purify areas. I don't know if that will do anything, but it's one of the first things I'm set to try. We also don't know if these things will /feed/ on Magic. My guess is they may be able to - up to a point - at which they'll overload and be destroyed. I'm hoping the Demon doesn't share that characteristic - if he does, that's why we have /physical/ muscle as well." A known quantity, Calavera doesn't take long getting to the point. She holds up a print out of Page's SL post. Stopping at a human chick in leathers, she holds up the print out. "Have you seen this man?" She asks in perfect T-1000 intonation. When the girl points back to where page is… Calavera makes her way back. Charles Jackson lifts his oversized mitt at the mention of physical muscle, asking, "Any chance ya' might have somethin' to give me a bit better punch? Or… well… I kickbox, actually," of Page. "One thing we do have," Slinger says with a smile, and an inclination of his head to Silk, "is the best fixer in Denver. If it's /possible/ to acquire it in the time we have, there's no one better." He mentions this to Charles. Smoke shakes his head a little, "Wish lightning worked, that was the angle I was thinking of using. I even bought some expendable foci for that extra bit of juice." He taps out a cigarette and lights it with his old zippo, blowing the smoke back away from the gathered people. He looks over at Silk and smirks. Charles Jackson nods to Slinger, "A pair o' those boots gangers 'round here wear, saw someone with them on outside… like brass knuckles fer' my feet, would be appreciated. Would not think it is very expensive, but been in Thailand for the last year… sense of cost is all out of whack still." + Steel Toed Boots «Plot» Charles Jackson is referring to +info gear custom weapons steeltoes, they're avail 2/24h, SI 0.75, 120=y= base price. These aren't exactly hard to get, just something I never picked up yet. *laughs* «Plot» Charles Jackson er's, /24h, not 24d or something ridonkulous. «Plot» Page says, "Get yerself some Enchanted Steel Toe boots, whynot? :) F1 Magical Weapon Foci shouldn't be hard to obtain." Dalton remains quiet for now, not sure what he can add to the conversation. Silk bobs her head at Slinger's praise, asking quietly, "If they are masking themselves with the cloud and presumably darkness, something that creates light might be worthwhile? Maybe a chemical reaction like flares instead of flashlights?" She glances to Charles Jackson and says, "Shouldn't be a problem. That sort of thing is fairly common in the Warrens with several of the gangs. If nothing else, we can pull a pair off someone around here in your size." Calavera approaches Page directly, coming to a stop near him. "You are poster." She says, slapping the printout of his post down. "YOu seek talent. Bueno. Seek to save world. Bueno. I seek money. You give me money, I save world. All is bueno." Slinger shakes his head. "They feed on energy," the elf explains. "So the more energy we put in, the faster it grows. Any energy we put in we want to be weapons that'll do damage out of proportion to their energy." He eyes Calavera, then Page, and his lips curl up in amusement. But he watches to see how Page handles this. Page promptly reaches into a pocket and slaps down a certified credstick on the table for Calavera. The digits read fifty thousand nuyen. "You live through this, you get another one," he says flatly. + Baron's Willpower «Auto-Judge[kn]» Baron (#3002) rolls Willpower vs TN 6 for "Ohh no, can I resist asking for money, temptation": 1 3 4 4 4 5 = 0 Successes «Auto-Judge[kn]» Baron (#3002) rolls 2 (Rest of Daltons willpower) vs TN 6 for "Still resisting temptation": 2 5 = 0 Successes Calavera picks up the credstick, looking at the readout. She picks up the readout of the post, then moves back, around Kassandra, to sit next to Baron. It's probably a bad choice, but it's the only available seat. "Beuno." Slinger blinks, then tilts his head. "Whoa," he says firmly. "On the other hand, I think it should be said that Page gets your share of whatever we get out of this," he adds swiftly. "There are reputed to be some majorly valuable items inside there!" He adds this for the benefit of the others around the table. "That was not the deal." Says Calavera, swiveling her head to look at Slinger. "Do you have… a problem?" Dalton stares at the credstick for a moment, then Page, then licks his lips, he starts to open his mouth, then looks to Slinger, and to Calavera, hrm, valuable loot? Silk raises an eyebrow at the money exchange and the commentary on artifacts. "I see. Back to the energy thing. Last I recall my physics, kinetic energy is still an energy source. The beings inside are vulnerable to one form and not the other? Have we considered a more devistating approach?" "Hey! I got an idea," replies Page. "How about we see who's /standing/ after all this and then argue about money, eh?" He looks around the table deliberately. "I personally do not /care/ what's inside that building. I am not waiting to see how much something is worth before I shoot it." Page adds, "For all I know, we're going to have to destroy the entire building to kill it. Which will make the arguement moot." Slinger smiles, though there's a coldness in the smile. "I have a problem with someone trying to take advantage of the situation. There's a tradeoff. The rest of us are doing this to try to do some good, and taking a gamble that there'll be payout. You come in here and demand cash before you'll help out, that's fine, but in my view you become a hired gun, with no real ownership. That makes sense to me." Calavera swivels her head back to Page. "Beuno." Slinger and his logic simply get ignored. Charles Jackson looks back… eyebrows raising as he looks at Slinger and then over at Calavera… then focussing on Silk, asking, "Hrm… thinking knock the whole place down on their heads might be worth planning out at least, as a… well, fall-down measure?" Charles Jackson pauses… then re-phrases, "Or would that be fall-back?" Smoke smiles, "Even if i end up flat on my back but still breathing I think I'll be happy." He takes another drag on his cigarette and watches the Calavera person. "Damn well maybe it'll just be spirit work. I can do that. We doing this today or at night?" "Last resort," Janie replies. "Especially since if it gets /that/ bad we'll likely still be inside when it comes down." Calavera removes a datapad from one thigh-pocket on her BDU pants. "Mr. Lapida. Please state the desired objective of the mission at hand.""Given the way that Knight Errant customarily handles things like this, they'll probably try to overload the area with a nuclear or conventional option. A few blocks destroyed is worth it if they can eliminate the threat." Silk shrugs and glances to Calavera, quieting as she begins recording. Slinger eyes Calavera, but surrenders to Page's arguments. They make a certain amount of sense. The elf lights a cancer stick and leans back. "Nighttime insertion makes more sense. If it feeds on energy, there's a good chance it might be weaker at night. But no guarantees." "Soon, in any case." Page checks the time. "I'm going to take a single hour. I've got a spell I need to learn. Try to get some plans knocked out, who's taking point and all that. I'm more strategic, not tactical." And with that, the mage picks up his pocket secretary holding the spell formula and goes off to a quiet corner of the room. Dalton still watches Calevera and the credstick, his expression hard to read, he finally manages to look elsewhere after a moment, thoughts and ideas rolling through his mind. Calavera has, as a note, slid the credstick in to a pocket. When Page ignores her question to move off to learn his spell, she settles back, her hands, one meat, one cyber, coming to rest over the pad. Without an objective, all planning is moot. To Calavera, Slinger explains, "The objective is simple. Get rid of whatever's making that place a hellhole. Make it safe, solve the problem. Whatever that takes. We don't know a hundred percent what that will involve yet, and unfortunately, the only real intel is available by going inside. Charles Jackson shrugs, and stretches out on the ground to one side of the room as things seem to be in a holding pattern. Unless someone magics him up that pair of boots he asked for, he's got nothing to do but wait since he's primarilly magical muscle, not spell-slinging. "Owl likes night work better than day." Smoke grins. He takes a long drink of his coffee and relaxes. This many people in one room makes him just slightly edgy. There are a few faces he's never seen before. "My name is Smoke." He says in a friendly manner trying to be polite. "I think it is a good thing when so many of us can get together to work on a common problem." Calavera turns her head to Slinger. Most people would simply turn their eyes to glance. But glance is an all together unseemly gesture for Calavera; it implies some level of spontaneity, of being unplanned. She turns her full features to Slinger. "Get him." A pause. "That is your plan, ray?" Silk stays quiet, listening and watching the others and their reactions to the problem and the planning. The elf doesn't seem inclined to interject anything else at the moment, letting others bicker or do whatever needs to be done. "Go in, find out th'exact details o'what's causin' this, stop it if we can, get out alive," Janie summarizes. Slinger nods to Janie's comment. "Right. We go in, we get information… and either deal with it, or get out and come back later with what we need. It's called improvising, and I'd rather we didn't have to. But unless you have a source of information that I don't… that's the current plan, basically. We're waiting on more info from some people, but we may not have that luxury." Dalton still remains quiet, he has no useful knowledge, no particular skillset that sets him apart, so he mainly just waits and listens to see how this is going to go down, and briefly hopes he makes it out of this alive. Calavera pauses a moment, thinking that over. She reaches down in to her forearm, opening a slide port. From there, she removes a small chip, then puts it in her pocket. It is clearly not helping. Keen eyes may notice its labeled in Spanish, but those who speak Spanish would be able to see 'interpersonal humor v1.2'. "Reconnisance. Bueno." "What is the hume warp level in there? Is there any? I never tested it personally when I did my recon?" Smoke asks. He is smoking and flipping through notes in his pocsec. "Mana flows can be tricky." "We can assume it's pretty high," Slinger says to Smoke. "All right… Silk, you think you might be able to help Charles get his boots? I'll cover the cost — shouldn't be too much. Even if they do need to be troll-sized," he adds, with an apologetic grin. Dalton has a thought, and decides to share it "If this thing feeds on magic too, should we avoid using spirits inside the zone? Will it simply eat anything we conjure?" "It shouldn't be a problem. Let me see if I can get ahold of a pair before we want to leave." Silk pulls out a pocket secretary and flips through some files before making a few calls. "By the way," Slinger says, "For those who don't know me, I'm Slinger. Anybody else, oughtta intro yourself. Maybe a little of what you do. Me, I sling mojo." He gestures to the next person, while he reaches for another cigarette. Glances over to Page. "How're you gonna learn the spell that fast?" he wonders with a grin. "We got maybe six hours before we go in. You know something I don't?" To Dalton, Slinger adds, "Dunno. Might be the case. We don't have any information. We /do/ know that anybody who succumbs to it tends to become one of the minions that attacks people. So the same might be true for spirits. We may have to exercise caution, especially inside there." Charles sits up at the mention of boots… well, leans up enough to salute a bit by way of thanks, before pulling himself into an indian-legged posture with both feet up on his thighs as he settles into a meditative posture. "Charles… or Jackson… but not Michael," he says, waving to the room and adding, "I'll carry stuff if needed, block doors, take bullets, that sort of thing. Doubt my little pig-stickers will do much good, but I'll have plenty of them if it comes to that," as a full half-dozen knives are suddenly in his hands, fanned like a poker hand before being put away as suddenly. Charles Jackson also chimes in, "Slinger, I had my place ransacked while I was gone… all I have is a cellphone, we got a way to stay in touch in there? Or is shouting the best bet to avoid electronics? Dalton glances around and shrugs "I guess we can try a watcher and see how that goes, as far as names go I go by Nightmare." Slinger considers that. "I've got some spare comms. Crypto is probably a good choice. The radios will put out some EMF, yeah, but I think it's probably worth it for being able to talk without the thing or things hearing us. "Smoke." The native says again. "I call up spirits and use magic as well. I can fight out of body too, sometimes I prefer it but I'm not so sure in this case. The mention of a demon makes me a bit nervous. I do work better at night." He smiles at the others. Calavera is quiet now, working on her datapad. She draws a line, but the pad flashes red. She draws another, red as well. Another, and it comes up red. She turns the datapad off. "What method of ingress will we be utilizing and what level of stealth will it require?" "I think we're looking at rooftop insertion?" Slinger asks, mentioning that so others can make their own suggestions. "Would be nice if somebody had a chopper. Just got a message — KE's supposed to give us full cooperation, so I think if we ask for insertion we can get it. But it may be tricky to get back out again. Might have to rappel down. Calavera raises an eyebrow. "Rooftop insertion and you -hope- someone has a helicopter? Helicopters are…" She eyes Slinger for a moment, then simply shuts up. He's not paying the bills. Looking up from her call, the elven girl in blue and black remarks, "Silk. I fix problems." She considers the datapad a moment and remarks, "As an aside, if this 'demon' or spectral creatures absort energy, going in astrally may result in your discorporation. It might even be painful." Silk shrugs and goes back to making arrangements, glancing to Slinger's assessment and insertion considerations. She says, "I can probably find a helicopter." Charles Jackson says, "Rappel I can do, did a bunch of rock climbing in Thailand so I have my gloves at least still. If the line's strong enough, can carry two or three others on my back as I go down, too." Calavera then answers… "Calavera. Skullz to gringos." A pause. "Demolitions, combat, destruction." A pause. "Former Jaguar Guard, Aztlan 4th Division." "Page," remarks the enchanter in the corner. "I /cause/ problems. This is my first shot at fixing them for a change. And it would be easier to learn if I didn't have people badgering me about how I find my own time." He glances over at Slinger meaningfully, then goes back to his pocket secretary. "Janet," Janie replies. " 'Guns' t'my associates. Pistoleerin', spellwork, spirit summonin' or banishin'." Now. While I can probably get a plane or a helo for insertion .. and I am not even thinking about extraction because that presumes survival and knowing where we are to get out with … is there a reason you want to go in from the roof? If I were an Evil Bad Guy, I'd want the most secure place in the structure away from windows and the like." Silk waves the datapad vaguly, "Just saying." Calavera comments simply. "All underground ingresses appear to be blocked. This would cooborate Silks logic." Charles Jackson says the obvious counter, "Can't exactly have extra reinforcements above the roof, but can have them below the ground?" A latecomer to this gathering enters the back room. He doesn't seem to be flustered or embarrassed at showing up after time; instead the ork's eyes, hidden behind round pink-lensed glasses, scan the room, pause on Slinger for a second with the barest change of facial expression in acknowledgement, and then continue to check out the rest. Slinger smirks. "There are other ways than helicopters. At least three people in this room can levitate, and can lift others. A helicopter would be faster, but hardly a necessity." To Silk, Slinger smiles. "Either way, we have to get in somehow. I was thinking roof as the simplest. Less ground to cover while vulnerable. But I could be wrong." Slinger shoots a smile to the arriving ork, and gestures invitingly to one of the chairs near him — and Smoke. "Heya. Think you can bring him up to speed?" he asks Smoke. "Several hundred meters off th'ground isn't a good place t'suddenly discover that whatever's in th'Fargo Buildin' messes with active spells," Janie points out to Slinger. "I'll take my chances with th'heli if possible." Dalton remains quiet and listens, he frowns slightly at the idea that a spell might fail and drop them to thier deaths, not a good way to start a job. Calavera brings up the Wells fargo building on her datapad. She rotates it in whatever Google-earth style Three Dee representation is available on the trix. "Helicopter hovers here." She points to the 10th floor… "Gunner breaks windows. Team makes entrance via open windows. If ingress is impossible, 100 feet is survivable drop." Slinger eyes the photo of the building. "On second thought… rooftop isn't going to work, not like that. Though we could rappel down, go in through windows or something." Calavera slides the pad in to the center of the table, for others to look. Page idly comments from the side, "Missiles make holes in roofs." Calavera glances to Page. "Missiles destroy structural integrity and start fires. In a building with no services, this creates more problems than desired." Silk glances up at the mention of missiles, offering, "And they generate energy, which we've determined that the things absorb. Also scrubs any chance of a stealth entry." Calavera then pauses. "Do you have missiles?" Saxon slides silently into the chair, still saying not a thing, but giving the impression of having both his ears and his eyes open, assessing the situation. Smoke looks at Slinger and nods and looks over at the young ork Saxon. "Okay things are bad, big shadow demon that eats energy. Denver is in trouble and we are going to stop it. What do you do?" He takes a bit drag on his cigarette and nods, "This is going to be interesting thats for certain." Calavera seems really interested, for Calavera, in the possibility of missiles. not for the job at hand, but because she likes ordinence. Slinger nods thoughtfully. "Honestly? All things considered, I like Skullz's plan," he mentions. "Given we can't really secure the roof, hitting the building midway down is probably good. I can cut a hole in a window, assuming nothing attacks me while I do it. Saxon speaks for the first time when Smoke addresses him. "Call me Saxon," he says in a voice that's strangely soft and smooth for an ork, even a young one. "And I take care of things. Temporarily or permanently, as required." He folds his engraved copper hands on his lap in front of him. "Though this sounds a little outre even for me." Smoke adds, "You know, save the world kinda stuff. It builds up the good karma. And taking care of things this nasty in a permanent manner is probably what we need to do. These folks are the magical badasses. Magical badasses this is Saxon." He says as his way of introducing the ork. Calavera eyes Slinger levelly. "Never make an inital breach in a door when a wall will do. People fortify doors. Trap doors. Walls, they do not." Slinger nods. "Good point. I can cut through windows stealtily, though. Walls, not so much." "All right. Let me put out some feelers, see if we can get a chopper. Maybe you can do the same, Silk?" Charles Jackson waves to the Ork, saying, "Hi, Saxon! I'm no mojo-guy, I just try to dodge and punch things, mostly. Or skewer problems if punching doesn't work," to the Ork. Slinger smiles and amends, to Calavera, "I meant that I don't usually think of that, since I can't, is what I meant. But it's a good idea." "Assumin' that th'fog doesn't eat spirits alive when they touch it, keepin' ye covered while ye cut through th'window won't be a problem," Janie offers. Shrugging, Silk returns to her phone and secretary, looking to see what is availible on short notice. "I'm all for saving the world," Saxon drawls, "since I don't have any other place to live right now other than in it. Do any of you magical badasses know what made this big-bad show up here and now? Understanding an enemy's motivation is always pretty useful, I find." He gives Charles a thin, toothy smile. "That's about my speed, as well. I have the magical sensitivity and power of a doped-up concrete block." Calavera nods. "On a building of this nature, windows become walls." She says, pointing to the exterior glazed glass. "Impact resistant insulating thermaplast. Usually bullet resistant to medium caliber weaponry as a general rule. A round will crack. Multiple rounds will shatter. Creates orderly squares of plastic that will not harm people below… unduly." Dalton continues to be a wallflower, pretty aint he. Charles Jackson stretches back out, flumping back with a heavy 'thud' as only a few hundred kilo's of troll can. Smoke nods in agreement with Janie about the spirits. He looks at Saxon, "Well I am sure we could use your help. The more the merrier on this one I think." He taps fingers on the table for a moment, "A rigger might have toys to transport us, sometimes they use helicopters. Does anybody know one?" Calavera says in spanish, "No." Lucky for those of you who don't speak spanish, Spanish for No is No. Slinger mutes his phone. "All right. There's a security mage who'd be willing to share his experiences with us. Can meet up anywhere, or could just put them on speakerphone. Or they'd even come here, but that might be… problematic," the young mage admits. "Thoughts?" Calavera turns her attention to page. "HE is paying bills. What does he wish?" Silk hangs up again, tucking the machine away and hmms softly. She toys with the hem of her jacket and listens to the others again, letting the conversation flow without input for the time being. "Speakerphone sounds good t'me," Janie comments. "We may be workin' together this time around, but I'd still prefer th'Knights not t'have a witness description o'me on file." Page comments tersely, "Everybody else, finish up any shadow business you have here. Slinger, go ahead for the interview. Night falls in five hours. Rendevous at the site. Insertion there." He pauses, and then looks up. "And as a note? I might pay the bills, but /Slinger's/ got the most experience with saving the world in here. He's in charge for the mission." Then he fixes his eyes on Slinger. "So act like it." And just like that, goes back to his datapad studying. "I kinda agree with that," Slinger nods. He glances over at Page, scowls a little. "Fine. We start with speakerphone. I want people to have a chance to ask questions — we all need to understand the situation going on. If we need to meet with him for some reason, then we do that, but otherwise, we keep a certain separation." The youth lights up his cigarette, then unmutes the phone. "Put him on, if you would, please. Thanks." One of Saxon's eyebrows rises just ever so slightly, then falls again. He remains silent, awaiting the speakerphone's contribution to the debate. Calavera accepts that, turning to Slinger. She's got no problem with chain of command, so long as the chain is understood. Page shrugs, and keeps studying. He doesn't seem too perturbed by Slinger's changes. "Lieutenant Roger Dowdson of the 3rd Magical division of Knight Errant special forces speaking. I hear you have questions you want to ask me?", a firm baritone voice says a few seconds later. Calavera picks up her pad and starts sketching out egress plans. Really, so far, it consists of three words. Ejecutar muy vasta. Charles Jackson can follow those egress plans, quite handilly! Smoke looks around at the others, "So what level of warp are we looking at?" He asks, speaking up. Slinger smiles. "Thanks you for talking to us, Lieutenant. I understand you've been close to the situation?" He's trying to sound professional and friendly. Cops don't like talking to runners, in general. "We're looking for any intel we can find." He nods, acknowledging Smoke's question. "Anything from what kind of Hume scale is going on in there, background-wise, to anything you can tell us from a magical perspective." Janie leans back in her seat and waits for the KE mage to answer before asking her own questions. Dalton listens quietly in a corner of the room, trying to stay out of the way of the others, and hoping the mage does explain the spirit situation The man obviously has to think for a while before he answers. "Well, the easy part is the hume scale. We agreed it to be around 8. It seems to be stable around that rating, if a mana warp can be called a stable thing. Aside from that during the missions I entered the place during rescue missions for the crazy people that needed to examine this thing first hand, I had the impression that it was draining my power real quick. I have been in there on the pysical and the effect was not as strong, but … well I felt real weak after those few missions. Magically speaking. I know of one of our mundane men that dropped dead in there for no apparent reason. Well, he was one of our most cybered agents. And after that investigation showed that the zone temporarily drained a persons … essence. No long term effect, well unless you loose all of your essence. One more thing … all the bodies of people that died in there disappeared." Calavera quirks an eyebrow. "Rating… hume 8? This is larger than the warp of Tula." Silk says nothing. She shakes her head, however, and crosses her arms. "So was the essence loss similar to when you stay out of body too long? I can usually handle about six hours or so until Iam tapped out for a while. And you are saying this happens going in physical in your skin?" Smoke asks, his eyebrows knitting together in a frown. Saxon's eyebrow inches up again. Further, this time. "Wait," Slinger finally says. "I think the phone garbled that. Did you say, /eight/? As in, between seven and nine?" the elf asks carefully. He lets out a low whistle. "I've never even /heard/ of one that large. This is…" He glances around to the others. "That is roughly like… well, that would be like the entire astral realm was filled with nothing but molasses. Very, very, evil molasses." Slinger nods slowly. "How fast does it drain essence, do you think?" he asks carefully. "I mean, how long would it take to kill a completely healthy person, fully? I'm looking for a guess." He drags hard on his cigarette. This is not going to work out well for him." The elf takes a deep breath and lets it out. His Filtering may not be all that effective, not at that level. Page comments absently from his corner, "See if anyone's tried Cleansing it." The eyebrow of Calavera comes back down now. She looks around the table. Then back to Slinger. "Fortified, access controlled structure. Hume 8 mana warp. Presumibly something or someone causing said warp in a building with no known or admitted to research facilities. The building has been in enemy hands for over a month." She shakes her head then and stands up, one hand fishing the credstick from her pocket. "chance of successful outcome without my death approaches critical levels. I suggest leveling the building." The man replies, "No sir, this was no garbling its definitely an eight. ECHO INDIA GAMMA HOTEL TANGO, sir. If you ask me it drains a persons essence about the same way as entering the astral space does a mage. I guess it draws on magic first though, as all mages I have seen enter there so far where only temporarily drained in magic and not essense." Dalton throws out a question from his corner of the room "How does it affect conjured spirits?" "Levelling the building just will make it spread," Slinger tells Calavera. "We're talking an honest-to-god rift here." He considers, tapping his chin. Can't stay in there for long. This'll have to happen fast. Slinger repeats Dalton's question for the speakerphone, in case it missed it, then adds, "Also, someone wondered if anyone has tried Cleansing it at all?" "How do we know it will make it spread? Is there some data that is missing here?" Silk inquires from her seat. She seems far less than happy with the news they've been given so far. "Given that the place not only drains magic, life energy, AND electrical energy, this seems a bit much for what you've assembled." Slinger nods. "That's based on what the DIMR told me. I'm going with what they said. The suggestion was nuking the building, but they said that would make it expand to encompass all of Denver." Slinger exhales a slow breath, thinking, as he rubs at his eyes. He's been working on this for a while. "They mentioned some ancient texts, writings from a dragon — they weren't specific which dragon, but I think we can guess. If we had time, I'd suggest we take a field trip." The man replies matter of factly, "We tried cleansing, yes. So far all we could see that it minimally reduced the areas rate of growth. I have only one thing that is strange. I once encountered a zone in there that was lighted and seemingly not contaminated. I was however not able to find it again. I thought there was a person present then. But that was only once and as I said. I never ever encountered that phenomenon." Calavera shakes her head as she places the credstick on the table. "I regretfully cannot be a part of this mission. Chance of success is too low. If DIMR and Knight Errant are involved, let them handle the issue. This look like hiring runners to be canaries. Stupid, idealistic runners to test mine gass." She shrugs then, reaching down for her datapad. "Can only spend money, if you live." "Huh," Slinger says, thoughtfully. "Lighted, not contaminated. Like the eye of the storm," Slinger says, thoughtfully. "What can you tell us about spirits?" the elf asks next, repeating that part of the question, Dalton's query. "What happens to conjured spirits sent in?" Slinger shoots a glance to Calavera. "And thus, the issue with those who are in it only for money. Unreliable." He makes a shooing motion with his hand. "If you aren't capable of it, then I understand." The elf has work to do. "Sorry about that," he says into the phone. "One of our people is getting cold feet. Anything else you can think of, anything at all, Lieutenant?" "Those who are in it for ideal… are blind to reality." With that, she turns for the door, not looking back. Ticking things off, Silk remarks, "So. No lights. Bullet-proof. Rating 8 Warp. Spirits won't enter. Cannot blow the place up or otherwise affect it or the …" She trails off as Slinger remarks about cold feet, glancing to Calavera and then to the boy mage. She sighs. "I wonder if it is a spirit thing and if banishing might work, like banishing driving back the darkness." Smoke says aloud, musing as he tamps out his cigarette. "Nothing that you probably have not already heard about. I'd advice to stay away from those denizens, but I guess that is no real secret to you, sir.", comes the reply. Banishing is a thought. Slinger relays that as a question to the Lieutenant. He tilts his head. "All right. That's the second time I've heard that. Stay away from the Denizens — don't they attack as soon as you enter? I mean, how does one go about staying away from them?" The man replies, "No one has been in there since the denizens are around. We have been experienceing, though, that they are relatively singlemindedly and very short sighted it seems." "That's the first piece of good news I've had yet," Slinger agrees. "All right. I think that's our questions for now. Is there a number where I can reach you if we have more?" he asks. Watching Calavera head out, Silk glances sourly at Slinger who is distracted by the call. She looks less than amused about the situation in general, or perhaps of the 'shooing' of the mercenary. She stays quiet, however, waiting till the call is over before airing any grievances. "I'll be in on duty for the next 12 hours. around the zone.", comes the reply, "So central command can connect you. I'd assume you'll be in contact with them." Janie pinches the bridge of her nose as she watches the interplay between Slinger and Calavera, then suppresses a sigh and tries to focus on the problem at hand and possible solutions. Unfortunately, very few seem to present themselves… Dalton shakes his head "I hate to be a downer, but if we cant cleanse the area around us, I'm going to be totally useles, no way I can get a spell off with a rating eight, and my marksmanship is shoddy. We need to see if cleansing works, if not, well, I'd just be another target for them." "Right. Thanks for your help," says Slinger, in a friendly manner. Then, he hangs up the phone and shoots a look to Silk and Janie. "I know, I could have probably handled that better. But the rest of us are here to do something good, to accomplish something, to find some way to beat this. Instead, she was interested only in her own greed. I don't think we need that. We don't need somebody who we can't trust to watch our backs if we don't insert the proper coinage into the parking meter on a regular basis." He exhales, then leans back. "But go ahead and say it, anyway. I'm open to advice." "It's nice to be able to afford altruism," comments Saxon quietly, steepling his copper-colored fingers in front of him. The ork is still deep in thought about the whole affair and seems torn between the desire to act for the good of the city and the desire to preserve his hide. Slinger nods to Dalton. "That's possible. But I think we still have an opportunity. We're not dead yet. There's a way to solve this, and I think we can do it. We're runners. We think outside the box. We /live/ outside the box," he says firmly. "That's what we bring to the table. I'm going to drop a line to the DIMR. I may want to postpone going in… while I don't like her attitude, she has a point. We need an ace up our sleeve." Rising, Silk shakes her head. "This isn't a matter of right or wrong. This is a matter of being a good leader and not treating the people working with you like shit." She gestures to the others in the room. "Everyone is here for their own reason, and acting as if they don't meet your moral code makes them wrong or evil or damaged is just short-sighted." The elven fixer brushes her coat absently and turns to head out as well. "As the ork said, altruism is nice, if you can afford it. Not everyone can. And even fewer care to be degraded when you are on the phone with a client. Everyone needs help, Slinger, and everyone has a price they work for. Even you." With that, she moves to leave. "Don't leave." Smoke says. "We need you. I have that intuition thing going again. I borrow it from women." He smirks and lights another smoke. Slinger sighs. "You're right. I should have handled that better. My apologies. Does somebody else want to take over? Because I'm not the most charismatic person. I'm used to getting things done. Maybe you can take over — I'll cheerfully follow your directions," Slinger says to Silk. "I just see a threat to all of us. To everybody here, to the whole damned city. I'm willing to do what it takes, and if it means that I'm a liability, then I'll take a step back and let somebody else run things." "We're /all/ aware o'th'threat, Slinger," Janie replies. "We wouldn't be here otherwise. But we're also all wonderin' what precisely we /can/ do about it — from what we know, even just goin' /in/ there is especially lethal t'every single one o'us." Saxon shakes his head firmly. "I'm no more a born leader than you, and I don't know this burg half well enough yet. But." He inclines his head Slinger's way. "This is one fragging huge mountain we have to climb, here. Lethal is hardly a strong enough word. We need a damn good plan if we're to stand an earthly." Dalton nods "I'm all for playing the hero, but I'm not an idiot, I know my limitations, and as it stands, I'd be basicly useless inside this place. What you need is a team of adepts with high powered weapon foci, cut their way through obstacles." Slinger nods to Janie. "Yeah, I know. I'm scared drekless of it, myself. But I can't just sit back and let the world go to hell if there's a chance I can do something." He steeples his fingers. "I'm not ready to admit defeat yet." He nods agreement to Saxon's words. "'Zactly." He nods to Dalton's words thoughtfully. "But it was one of the adepts who just decided to leave. Weapon foci might help. Might not." He purses his lips thoughtfully, then glances to Page. "Thoughts?" "Our main problem's that we don't know enough," Janie points out. "Do we have any information on what caused this in th'first place? What was goin' on that created th'rift or summoned whatever it was?" Silk pauses at the doorway and shakes her head. "I don't do no-win scenarios. A month and KE and the DIMR haven't managed to figure anything out or do anything about it? That /reeks/ of some inside politics and/or incompetance. That tells me that, much like Calavera remarked, we are stepping into a buzzsaw with minimal planning or plans, even something as simple as getting in and out." "You have strong ideals. But you need more than that for something of this level." She shrugs again. "I'm not quite sure why there is a rush to run madly in, but after look at this I cannot see any reason to get involved." "Already asked that," says Saxon to Janie, laconically. "I assume the lack of answers means nobody knows." "What we /have/," Page says, snapping off the pocsec and standing again, brushing off his pants, "is here. And we either clear this mess out now - ourselves - with what we've got. Or that /thing/ will take over all of Denver. Then quite possibly the world." He casts a measured look about the people here. "At the very least, this will be Chicago, all over again. That's why I called you all here. That's why I'm throwing down. You know how risk averse I am. I'm here because the alternatives are too horrible." He looks to Janie. "It's a powerful. We know that much. Growing stronger by the minute. We'll find out /exactly/ how strong it is when we confront it. But if you all are going to yammer on with your /petty/ arguments about is calling who what, then we can all pack up and see if we can get tickets for the space stations, because /that'll be the only safe place around./" Page pauses, looking around. "We've got all the intel we're /going/ to get before going in. And every second we delay makes this worse. Are we going or do you guys want to mewl some more like lost kittens?" "Page was researching that," Slinger tells Janie. "It looks like some runner team went in. There's an individual who may know more, but we've had no luck finding him. A rigger named Bannon. So far, we've tracked down every lead we can find to lead to the guy, all dead ends. The trouble is, half the city's looking for him." He nods to Silk. "That is your choice and I respect it," Slinger says simply. Silk, he knows better than to simply be in it for the money. "We could use your help, but if you don't wish to give more, I understand. You've already done a great deal." Whatever response Slinger was going to get from Silk is cut short as Page speaks. She stares at the man for several long moments, perhaps considering a response to that, or several. "And that decides it. Thank you for your time." The elf turns and heads out. Slinger stares at Page for a few long moments, then lets out a slow breath. No, there's going to be no going back after what he said. People are going to either stay or leave, as things dictate. The elf swallows in the silence that follows, then says, "I'm going to try my contact at the DIMR. See if we have /anything/." He glances at the Matrix discussions on his pocket secretary first, though. "Huh. Really interesting post here by Geist," he comments. Smoke looks at the floor and sighs, pursing his lips. He takes another drag and blows the smoke at the floor. "Well it does sound dangerous and my girlfriend will probably kill me, but I think I want to see how the banishing works. That place just seems to pull at my sense of curiousity." He glances up as Silk leaves, shaking his head a little. He looks at the others through the tops of his eyes to see what is going on. Page glances at the trix post. "Yeah. Everyone wants to take it slow and safe and ask shit-tons of questions while the thing grows stronger." He shakes his head. "Everyone has things that could make them stronger. Questions they can ask. More time they can take. And every second, that thing grows stronger. That's why we're going in like this. All the answers are on the inside. We won't get them from here." He takes a breath. "Is there anyone else who thinks their personal skin is worth saving over the orld's? Becuase /that's/ what I called you all here for." Pelmen pages: Robert Asthon picks up, "Ashton, DIMR, magical research." Slinger seems to get an answer to his phone call. "This's Greg Smith. Any new developments? I… well, we're getting ready to go in there. Is there anything more we've found from the writings? Anything that we can do to help?" Slinger clears his throat. "Page, it's not expanding /that/ fast. We're gathering information — and what we have so far says that if we can get something to increase our odds, I think that's worth doing. We can't postpone indefinitely, but we might not be able to go in tonight. If it's our only option, then let's do it. But… read through Geist's post on the trix. I'll send you a link." Dalton pulls out a pocsec, and starts reviewing the matrix postings about this situation Page says deliberately, "None of the answers to his questions will tell us the key concern. /Are we strong enough?/ Nothing will tell us that except actually attempting this." Janie sighs and rises. "Just f'r future reference, Page," she says in a deceptively calm voice. "Suggestin' that everyone who won't unquestioningly follow on y'r heels into a gung-ho charge o'th'Light Brigade is a sissy coward as a motivatin' tactic? Only works in /really/ bad action movies. In th'real world, not so much." She looks at Slinger, waiting for his phone call to finish and perhaps yield something useful that could convince her this clusterfrag actually has a chance of doing something productive. Pelmen pages: Ashton replies, "Well, this sounds like I do not really need to explain about the negative sides the place has, you seem quite more eager to gather information, now. Well, we only have found one thing that /might/ be helpfull. It seems the demon has an oponent that is locked up with it, kinda light to it's darknes, but unable to leave the zone of darkness the demon casts. We are still trying to find out more, but we have evidence that the situation then was solved by exploiting that." Slinger licks his lips. Now we're getting somewhere! "All right. This being of light… anything you can tell us, /anything/ would be useful. Because I think… someone has encountered it. That's the key." A little late, but at least arrived, Molly shows up at the meeting. She adjusts her jacket around her and she looks about the people gathered. She nods her head to Dalton and Page as she moves to take a spot near the edge of the group. Smoke looks a little sullen but seeing Molly enter brightens his mood a little. He takes another drag and then blows the smoke up at the ceiling. "Well like I said I am in, quite a few times I have just gone into puzzles trying to figure them out from the inside. Now was there some information that this was being caused by some sort of a demon? Demons can be banished." Pelmen pages: Ashton groans, "Mr. Smith. We are trying to decipher an anchient language here. A language that seems to be build very much around concepts of magic we have no idea about as of today. This is not like translating from russian to english. And you can be assured that there is more guess work in our results so far, than real fact. I'd not expect to trust every bit of our translation. There was a 'magic beacon' mentioned that is somehow related to the entire mess, but we only know some words and have no idea what that means. Maybe you can fill up our gaps?" Saxon looks at Smoke with a degree of hope in his expression. As if spurred by him, the ork pulls out a pack of smokes and lights one up for himself, the little white tube sitting in his mouth right alongside his jutting lower canine. "Are we talking a flesh and blood demon, or just a spirit that represents itself as a demon," asks Molly as she moves towards Smoke. She holds up her index and middle finger to him saying, "Mind if I have one?" Slinger swiftly shakes his head. "I wasn't meaning to imply, sir, that you weren't doing your best. I know it's complex. I was just asking if there was some way we could help. A magic beacon?" he asks, glancing around the table to see if anyone else can think of what that might be. "That might be what got set off when this all went down. Maybe… something that called the demon from another realm? And its adversary." He thinks for a moment. "We really need to know where this originated. And I know just the erson who might be able to penetrate all that." Page looks at Janie for a few moments. "Fine," he says. "You leaving too? I'd rather not have anyone go in half-committed." He then looks around the group. "Same for the rest of you. If you're not in this 100%, I don't want you watching my back. And some of us may very well die. That's the point I've been trying to get across. And that's the level of motivation you should already have had when you stepped through the door to go on an attempt to save the world." Into the phone, Slinger adds, "One of the mages who went in reported finding a place where there was no fog. Where there was lighting, and a man in there. But he couldn't find it again, he said. That must be the being of light that the texts mentioned." Smoke taps out one of the strange hebrew brand cigarettes and passes it and his lighter to her. "Good to see you. This looks better for adepts than for us spook pushers." He looks over at Saxon and grins at him as well. Slinger gives Molly a friendly greeting, then glances to Page. "Page? You aren't helping the situation. Everybody's here for a reason, as Silk pointed out. We all know the risks. We're all a little edgy about it." He considers. "Maybe you could talk to Mr. Asthon — you know more mojo-theory than I do." Dalton nods to Molly, and waits to hear what new information is coming to light. Taking the cigarette Molly lights it and takes a draw, she coughs lightly at it. She nods her head and passes back the lighter saying, "If its flesh and blood I can deal with it. I have enough firepower to give it at least a headache. If its a spirit, well I am down to pistol whipping it and insulting its mother." "As opposed t'goin' in half-cocked?" Janie replies calmly as she heads for the door. "I answered y'r call because ye /sounded/ like ye actually had a halfway decent plan. I'll know better next time." A look back at Slinger. "A word o'advice? Goin' in stupid's worse than not goin' in at all." Slinger looks up to Janie. "I'm trying to form a plan," he states firmly. "Was hoping for some help with that. Instead, all we have is criticism that we don't have a plan. I'm sorry you feel that way, and I do appreciate your help so far." "Just got two major pieces of information that might well be helpful. I could use somebody to call the KE mage back and maybe find out what he knows. I have some other contacts who might be able to research some of what Geist suggested in his post. Anybody willing to make some phonecalls?" He's looking at Janie as he asks the question, but it applies to everyone. "/Ye/ are tryin' t'come up with a plan," Janie agrees, then cocks her head at Page. "He, on th'other hand, seems t'insist there's no time t'do anythin' resemblin' somethin' intelligent plannin'. If that's what ye want, best o'luck an'let me know how it works out f'r ye. He doesn't want t'go in with anyone not 100 committed… I don't want t'go in with anyone whose idea o'a coherent strategy is 'Charge!'." "I wish Stumpy was in communication, now he's one for taking a chunk out of a spirit," says Molly. She looks over and listens to Janie for a moment before looking back to Smoke asking, "So when are they going to start planning and quit bickering?" "I agree with Guns on this, for the record. I want information," Slinger says. Then goes back to his phone conversation." Page just eyes the ceiling for a few moments, then turns and goes back to studying his spell design. Smoke grins and looks at Molly, "We are planning, it is just a tad bit complicated. We learned that spirits won't go near the place. The magic is going to slowly be drained from us mages. If people fall they might turn into shadow creatures. And there is supposed to be some kind of demon, but also maybe something of the light in there too. We talked to a KE rep and he said the hume warp level was eight. That is plum fricken off the chart. And I am still going." Dalton makes his way over to Slinger "I guess I can call" he pulls out a cellphone "Whats the guys number?" Slinger nods to Smoke. "To clarify," he says, while he waits for the DIMR executive. "The being of light is the demon's opponent. Apparently, both of them are in there. And the last time this happened, the opponent, the being of Light, was the key to defeating him, according to the ancient texts." He passes over the number to Dalton, along with the Lieutenant's name. "Can I get my lighter back?" Smoke asks Molly quietly, "It is sorta my good luck charm." Dalton steps back from Slinger, dialing the phone number and waiting for the other end "I need to speak with Lt. (name) please." Saxon pushes his pink glasses up his nose while little curls of smoke drift up in front of his eyes. "If the being of Light is in there," he points out, "how are we meant to get in there as well and recruit it without the demon chowing down on us like so many sticks of pepperoni?" "How biblical," says Molly as she takes a puff off the cigarette. She passes back the lighter as she says, "Sorry thought I had already." She shrugs her shoulders and she says, "So we hit the dark one until surrender or candy comes out. The light one is on our side, that works." "That's the part I'm not sure about," Slinger says quietly. His second line beeps, though, while he waits to hear from Robert. He glances at the Caller ID. Unknown Caller. "Joy," Slinger says. "Hold on a moment," he says to Anston, then flips to the second line. "Yo," the elf says swiftly. "Just got a few. Whozzis?" To Dalton, Slinger also suggests, "Ask him about a beacon. See if that rings any bells." "Geist. Listen closely. I've been in phone calls all morning. Silk called, gave me a scan on whats going down currently." Says the grizzeled voice on the other end of the line. "I just got off the phone with Ehran. You're going about this wrong. First, divert and stop Mafen from entering the event horizon. He's currently tunneling in. Second. Ehran, while he's not the most… direct man in the universe.. says that you need to look away from the darkness, but rather, to the light. To find the light, Seek a child of the astral. Got that?" Slinger swiftly listens. "Drek," he says firmly, into the phone. "I know what he means about the light. But a child of the astral… that's the part I don't get. You think he could be a tiny bit clearer about that point?" he asks. "Also… you been able to find any intel on where this originated in the building? That might give us a clue." Slinger covers the phone. "Anybody know how to reach Mafen? He's tunnelling in — and apparently, according to Ehran the Scribe — you know, head of he DIMR — that's a really bad idea. We need to stop him." Pelmen pages: Ashton finally returns, "Sorry some internal matter that needed to be looked at. And, if I could tell you more about that beacon, I would. Sorry, Mr. Smith, if I find out more I will contact you if that is possible." You paged Pelmen with 'To Anston: Slinger asks him, "What would you think of if I mentioned a 'child of the astral', sir?"'. The other end of the phone "You've got what I've got at the moment, Kid. You know how these fucken point ear wizards are. All full of fortune cookie bullshit that makes sense only in hindsight." Smoke takes the lighter back and tucks it into the inner breast pocket of his coat. He looks over at the people on the phone. He starts typing notes into his pocsec. "Who is Mafen?" "Some cyberzombie," says Molly with a shrug. She lifts her brows and taps her ash on the floor saying, "I saw him once, but I really had nothing to say to him. He was sitting in my bar eating pancakes. I figured he was a whackjob but what are you going to do to a living tinker toy?" "He's a runner. Sort of. No, what he is is a robot with a brain," the elf smirks. "Total badass. And I got no contact info for him." He lets out a growl of frustration. "Damn. Okay. Starting to get some info." Into the phone, he asks, "Geist — you think you can call Jackson Daw, see if he knows anything? The Colonel might have some info he can share. And he'll tell you more quickly than me, the pansy." Pelmen pages: Ashton replies, "Child of the Astral. Mr. Smith… are you a mage? It's most probably a reference to a spirit of sorts." You paged Pelmen with 'Slinger laughs. "I am a mage. What I'm not is a soothsayer. All spirits are children of the astral, some could argue. Just wondering if it had any… more specific meaning."'. "Right," Slinger says. "Put in a good word for us in the trenches, will you, when you speak to her." He nods and switches back to his call with Anston. "Sorry about that, sir." Pelmen pages: Ashton sighs, "None that I know of, except that it is certainly no reference to the usual kind of spirits. Maybe a free spirit?" Long distance to Pelmen: Slinger snaps his fingers. "Yeah, that's a good thought." "Right," Slinger says. "Put in a good word for us in the trenches, will you, when you speak to her." He nods and switches back to his call with Anston. "Sorry about that, sir." Dalton waits on the phone to see if he can get ahold of this Lt. guy. Dalton speaks into his phone "Hello sir, I'm with the fellow who spoke to you earlier, we are intersted to know more about this area of light and the person you saw there." Smoke looks over at Slinger, "Hey you mentioned ancient texts? Any names in these texts? Maybe spirit names?" He feels very filled with questions. The cherry glow on his cigarette shines brightly. Slinger takes a slow breath, then lights up a cigarette of his own. He needs one. "A free spirit, then. That makes some sense. A child — one who is on their own, and growing. That makes some sense," He draws hard on his cigarette. "Please, if you find anything else, sir, let us know. We're going to be going in there before long, and any information could save our lives." Saxon remains outwardly placid as these urgent negotiations and communications take place via the ether. He's in no real place to contribute to them and so he doesn't interfere. Dalton speaks into the phone "Alright, so you encountered a moving figure, where did you find it exactly?" Into the phone, Slinger swiftly asks, "Hey… are there any names in the texts? Like, say, spirit names? Names have power… and that might give us a clue." Dalton covers the phone "Any other questions besides the spirit you want me to ask?" he looks around at the others a moment. "Ok, one second, asking for any further questions." Pelmen pages: Ashtons waits for a second, then replies, "Well, there is tons of names in that epic thing, which one are you looking for?", he asks. "Names of the demon," Slinger says into the phone. "Names of the creature of light." Slinger asks Dalton, "What'd he say?" Dalton covers the phone "He said he encountered the being moving around the central area somewhere, no exact location, and the guy was moving around." Smoke looks at Dalton, "I was just fishing for spirit names, can't banish the big ones without a good solid name. I've made that mistake before." He glances over at Molly and mouths, 'Lady Scarlet' and nods.