Today's Screamsheet with the newest news, freshly faxed on thermal dead tree to your Dataterm, and/or purely electronic bits and bytes mailed straight to your Agent! PAGE #03 WILL MAKE YOU GASP! (https://files.catbox.moe/fb7kk9.jpg)
2045/02/12, 0411AM. The sky above Night City was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel.
Some Hispanic guy calling himself El Viejo has spoken on the mailbox of your agent, rambling about a job that might be up your alley. If you are interested, show up this Sunday at 1900 in the bar 'El Abrevadero' in NW Heywood, and give the bartender the codeword 'Ken sent me'.
Your girlfriend Bomba Cereza has mentioned to you that her boss is looking for edgerunners to do a job for him, where people with a knack for tools such as yourself could be a plus. Roll call will be this Sunday at 1900 in the bar 'El Abrevadero' in NW Heywood where your GF will be on duty.
Your net friend Tick has been offered a job he can't take on, because the briefing meet-up conflicts with an important scheduled boxing match this Sunday evening. If you are interested, show up this Sunday at 1900 in the bar 'El Abrevadero' in NW Heywood, and give the bartender the codeword 'Ken sent me'.
One of your street contacts, bartender Bomba Cereza, has mentioned to you that her boss is looking for edgerunners to do a job for him, and is still lacking some serious huscle such as yourself. Roll call will be this Sunday at 1900 in the bar 'El Abrevadero' in NW Heywood where your contact will be on duty.
The bar owner and small-time fixer El Viejo, who has helped you to get several gigs, has left a message on your agent's mailbox about a more difficult kind of job than you are used to - if you have the cojones to take it. If you are a bad enough dude to take on the assignment, meet him this Sunday at 1900 in his bar 'El Abrevadero' in NW Heywood.
The area of Heywood is largely industrial, or used to be before the time of Red. Now the area is overpacked, with tents, crude shacks made of shipping palettes, soggy cardboard and any other fire hazard that might provide some shelter from the elements littering every available space that doesn't get immediately run over. A ratty sleeping bag with suspicious reddish brown stains and tire marks shows you an example of someone who hasn't chosen so wisely, and yet a haggard Hispanic old man is already in the process of reclaiming this space and putting his foam ground pad over the sleeping bag, using it as extra padding for his sore back.
'El Abrevadero' is located on the corner of a block of industrial park and consists of two housing containers weld together. A rusty water bucket decorated with semi-functional, flickering christmas lights is the only the things that advertises its function.
The 'bar' consists of a long stretch of bullet-proof glass facing the sidewalk, with narrow slits for money and goods and with stools anchored to the concrete in front of it. This early in the evening there is just a small crowd of local youths, spending their cash on smash and cheap booze. A few more sit on the edge of the roof facing the bar, their feet dangling and finding it funny to throw their empty cans and styrofoam cups at passers-by. Looking at your armor, they decide not to include you in this game, although that might change if you give it a couple more hours and higher BAC to loosen their inhibitions.
Occasionally you spot the dyed redhead of Bomba Cereza popping up behind the crowd, laughing awkwardly at her customers' drunken jokes or half-heartedly playing along with their boorish attempts to hit on her. The things you go through for tips...
You are already familiar with the place. Entry is in the left side, passcode is 1919.
One of the male youths huffs and puffs at Gwydion, in an obvious attempt to impress his input. He repeatedly flicks a balisong knife open, closed and open, staring into Gwydion's eyes.
"Ehh, corpo fucker, I'm drinkin' here! This our space! OURS! Capiche!?"
Bomba Cereza rolls her eyes, nods her head to the left of the building, and mouths something.
"One - nine - one - nine. Ignore kiddo, drunk."
El Viejo shrugs at Miyu. "I wish I knew myself. Maybe you can figure out things from the report, maybe you can track down the Lazarus copper who wrote it."
'C22X43' is police short-hand used in unimportant death certificates.
C: Death by foul play
22: Blunt trauma, weapon unknown
X4: Unknown perpetrator of category 4 (boosters and similar gangs)
3: Investigation closed due to insufficient evidence
After same dragging, shoving and shouting, the rent-a-cops manage to put manacles on the shirtless man and throw him into the back of their patrol car. You aren't sure how a kick into the ribs is of use after someone has already been secured, but the flatheels don't seem to be in the mood to provide a Q&A on proper police procedure to bothering bystanders right now.
After the coast is clear, you squeeze out of the compact in a show of shoving, dragging and limbs being in the wrong place not dissimilar to the show you have just witnessed. The FDA looks briefly up at you, then returns to some task at his computer that seems to be both demanding and important.
A few doors are at the ground floor, with iron grating stairs leading up to the remaining three floors. The numbering seems to be logical, your target should be at the second floor.
The door of #1234 with its electronic lock is adorned with a fairly new poster of Yoruba Yuuki, a bland Afro-Japanese pop singer. The window has received a personal touch in the form of white curtains with a hot pink stylized cherry blossom pattern print.
The bottom right corner of the poster isn't properly taped on. There is a strip of double-sided sticky tape on its back, holding a battered and unmarked blank keycard.
The FDA is only pretending to be concentrated and busy. He just wants not to be bothered by you, or anyone else if it can be helped.
A cookie-cutter saccharine Asian pop song, accompanied by what some sound engineer in Chiba imagines traditional African percussion to sound like, is played fairly loudly inside the motel room.
A female voice sings very off-key along the tune, accompanied by what is either some very heavy indoor rain, or a running shower head.
"That one was the corpse... two, three nights ago, I think. Friend of him, eh? Have taken some of his stuff in storage. Of course, there will be a nominal storage fee of..." He looks at Nanashi and squints. "30 bucks. On second thought, my mistake, 40 bucks. Not my decision, corporate policy." He coughs. "Cash only, please, our banking machine is having a hicc-up."
That guy is obviously grifting the payment into his own pocket, and the way he acquired the stuff and is distributing it now was probably not exactly by "corporate policy".
Miyu leans forward, forcing her enhanced frame around the others and grinning at the man. "That's a little price-y, isn't it? Surely corporate policy won't mind this time?"
Facedown roll: 27.[/roll]
The man turns pale as he looks at Miyu and her enhancements. A thick sweat drop forms on his forehead and falls on the desk with a loud splash.
"Seeing as the poor fellow is deceased... And that it is taking up space... Just take it. Here!"
He takes three cardboard boxes from a space under his desk, and squeezes them through the slit.
"Here! Take! Just go, please!"
To the winner go the spoils, or so they say.
- 9 sets of Generic chic clothes, worn and out of season by varying degrees, 6 of them obvious and smelly dirty laundry
- Power cord for the still fairly neat and pricey SegAtari MasterBlaster 30k Home Entertainment System (sans home entertainment system... given the source of your goods, you have a hunch where that one went)
- ~2,000 issues of faxed dime novels, on now fairly faded thermopaper. Prominently included are such tasteful and cerebrally stimulating series as "Graar the Horny Wolf-Man Barbarian", "Starship Traveller Proxima-3778", "The Texas Ranger Rides Again", "The Texas Ranger Rides Again: Reboot 2017 A.D.", "John Paul Belmont II X Engineering Professor John van Galtsing: Vampire Communist Hunters", "Hercules Conquers Canada", "Dracula and the Wolfman terrorize... Oklahoma!", and the now rare "The Texas Ranger Rides Out... IN SPAAACE"
- Police chip +3 (Chromebook 2 p.76)
- A black P.O.S. Hi-Power imprinted with a red "NylonSamurai Wakizashi XXL". It is followed up by the model name in Japanese - in mixed kanji and katakana, and going from left to right. Truly the American version of awful Engrish imprints.
- Keycard to bank lock box #A17-BF0-5A3-117-3B8, Fujiware Bank Tower, Night City
- A cheap wallet-style electronic notebook with a fake leather cover and a fake gold imprint "N O T E S", secured by a PIN code
ARZHANG ABDULOV
Aliases: Arzhang a.k.a. Arzan a.k.a. Azan a.k.a. Abdul a.k./6ghZokok)0}ß
Outstanding warrants/bounties:
[BLANK]
Former felonies:
Theft (17 counts)
Identity Theft (8 counts)
Perjury (3 counts)
Gambling (2 counts)
Copyright Infringement (1 count)
a%&/(uhudh[LOAD DISK B FOR DETAILS]
Former misdemeanours:
[L(8D DIS&7M T0ic07TI7U€]
Internal Notes (Hard Corps):
[BLANK]
The credchip vanishes with a speed rarely seen outside the Olympics. The FDA licks his lips and thinks a moment.
"There was this guy... Average height, brown hair, caucasian or maybe mixed, with a brown leather jacket and blue jeans. Don't know him, but when he shows up again, I'll give you a call."
The FDA is making stuff up to keep the eddies incoming
Reacting with surprising speed, Gwydion draws a massive pistol from its holts and lets fly with a single shot. The instant the bullet clears the barrel, he turns on his heels and runs, ducking down behind the nearest car before the suddenly aggressive FDA can draw a bead.
He wasn't sure who was more the fool - himself for getting too close to the line of fire, or the idiot thinking he could draw a gun on a whole team of folks and walk away. He'd be dead soon enough, and that would be the end of that.
https://beta.ditzie.com/98149/606a063c191da (https://beta.ditzie.com/98149/606a063c191da)
Stirwin is surprised, but makes a shot by reflex - a poor one. He quickly skedaddles.
https://beta.ditzie.com/98149/606a285b293f7
Wrench is obviously annoyed as he takes a shot himself, then runs to join everyone else behind the car.
https://beta.ditzie.com/98149/606a38a05e0cc
Nanshi's foot gets covered in blood and bits of innards as the FDA crumbles to the ground and the gun drops from his hand. Only the cheap sound chip playing the jingle whenever the cover is removed the first time is heard: "EasyFrag™ - for the easy frag. Now with JAW-some firepower!" [copyright-infriging excerpt from an old movie about sharks]
67eb in cash
Agent
1 set of Generic clothes, sweaty and now blood-covered
Lost/found bin with umbrellas full of holes, broken cheap plastic sunglasses, loose rusty keys, and, strangely enough, a single purple oven mitt in mint condition
You get on your way away from the motel, and towards the hot zone where the Fujiwara Bank Building is located. Much of the area has been reduced to rubble in the wake of the nuclear blast in '23. The area you are in is fortunately not very radioactive (the suitcase nuke only had a yield of 0.1 kilotons), but with much of the hot zone consisting of high rises built on landfill the shock wave still had devastating effect.
You find the building easily enough. In front of it camp out five black young men with their motor bikes, their arms tattooed with mystic symbols. They openly carry leather and loco shotguns. They share a plastic bottle filled with brown liquid and with what seems to be black sediment. Between them there is a another mystical symbol spraypainted on the plaza in front of the entry.
They stare over to Miyu and begin rambling in a foreign tongue.
The mystical symbols are related to voodoo.
They are veves of Shango, voodoo loa of storms, lightning and thunder. The liquid is likely rum mixed with gun powder. This seems to be a ritual wake that will last until sunrise.
These men are nomads of the Blood Nation, a nomad nation grown out of Caribbean drug cartels inhabiting Florida heavily into voodoo and hoodoo.
The Blood Nation is allied to the Voodoo Boys, mostly in the form of taking their courier and transportation contracts.
The men seem to be bored out of their minds.
They speak Haitian Creole among themselves, using crass language to talk about Miyu's physical attributes of interest to them.
You make out a few words in Haitian Creole that have made it into streetslang relating to female anatomy and women of loose morals.
"I don't speak Croissant either but I don't think they have a very high opinion of us for whatever reason."
They burst out laughing as the group opposite them eyes them unsurely. The guy at the center takes the lead and waves at Miyu.
"Heh, tifify! Wi, bebe! Want to join us for something to drink? Or a smoke?" He waves a small plastic satchel with some glittery pink powder in it. "Got some good stuff here straight outta Happyville. A gift for you bonfify!"
https://beta.ditzie.com/98149/6086fab5ea378
"Miyu, how amenable are you to distracting these guys while we snoop around inside?"
"Do you want to come out to broken limbs?"
"You make that sound like a bad thing."
Nanashi shrugged. "Fair enough. I say we avoid stepping into the circle. If this is a wake, far be it from me to intrude upon its space."
Gwydion examines the space. He's familiar with the life of a corporation, and with technology, and is sure something will come to him in a moment about where he could get into the building's systems. A cyberdeck isn't any good unless you know where to use it.
Rolls: http://minmaxforum.com/index.php?topic=19476.msg351292#msg351292 (http://minmaxforum.com/index.php?topic=19476.msg351292#msg351292)
Since he still needs power, or at least electronics, to talk to, Gwydion has a nose around to see if he can find something, anything, and get it going again to give him better information on the surrounding terrain.
http://minmaxforum.com/index.php?topic=19476.msg351458#msg351458 (http://minmaxforum.com/index.php?topic=19476.msg351458#msg351458)
Gwydion braces himself, backing up quietly and scanning the system before engaging. Maybe there's another option.
Pathfinder - 9
Cyberdeck loaded with 2x armor, 3x banhammer, 1x eraser, 1x worm. Armor and banhammer up and running.
There are times when push comes to shove, and every netrunner knows it. If Gwydion wants those files, he's going to have dive a little further. Otherwise they'll spend hours in meatspace, and probably suffer for it. Tapping a few keys on his deck, he calls out to others - "Black ICE guarding necessary data. Engaging." Then he dives in.
Activate Armor 1x, attack twice with Banhammers (http://minmaxforum.com/index.php?topic=19476.msg351659#msg351659)
Seeing the glitchiness of his opponent, Gwydion goes full out on offense, trying to batter the ICE into submission.
3x banhammer Rolls (http://minmaxforum.com/index.php?topic=19476.msg351669#msg351669)
The stinger drives into Gwydion's persona, giving him a numb feeling in his meat body. On the other hand, this provides the opening for Gwydion to hit back good, shutting down the ICE and making it de-rez.
Gwydion is now all alone on the floor, and soon enough finds a floor plan. The lock box in question is up on the 15th floor, and its exact position is marked on the map.
Gwydion's MOV lowered by 1 for 1 hour.
Downloading all of the data he can gain access to, Gwydion decides discretion is the better part of valour. With no need to press deeply into the net, he downloads all the data he's been able to gain access to to his cyberdeck, does the best he can to cover his traces, and jacks out. Doing anything else would probably draw the ire of the corporation, and that's not worth his time.
Turning the deck so that others can see the screen, he taps it to bring up the map. "15th floor. No idea what's en route."
Cloak (http://minmaxforum.com/index.php?topic=19476.msg351674#msg351674)
Calculating on his cyberdeck, Gwydion turns it towards the others so they can see the optimal route, as best as he can calculate. Hopefully it avoids any suspected defenses or locked doors.
Business to understand normal corporate layouts
Security Tech to avoid probable danger areas
http://minmaxforum.com/index.php?topic=19476.msg351707#msg351707 (http://minmaxforum.com/index.php?topic=19476.msg351707#msg351707) - Note the double failure on security tech :shakefist
You follow the plotted route as best as you can.
On the 12th floor, you round a corner, only to run into a group of people - a tanned tattoed blue-haired young attractive woman (clearly bio-sculpted for attractiveness) in skimpy clothes leading it, three huscles with an assortment of guns and melee weapons, and one guy with a baclava and some burglar tools on his belt.
"...we still need to figure out why the power suddenly went on, dear viewers. Djinni works knowing that Jazzy Belle would come? OH, LOOK! EDGERUNNERS INFILTRATING FUJIWARA BANK! Told you there would be something exciting on this stream! Let's tag along and find out what they'll be doing!"
There is a glimmer and a red dot in her left cybereye as she looks at you speaking those words. She jabs a microphone in the direction of Miyu and looks excited.
"Hi, this is the one and only Jazzy Belle! Tell us and our viewers your name and everything that is going on! What happened with with the power? And what are you looking for?"
Jazzy Belle is a middling rockergirl net video "personality" (Charismatic Impact +5) known to do weird or mildly illegal things while on livestream. Smile and wave, an audience is watching you live&direct from cyberspace!
Shooting her now might save you some trouble in the short term, but might summon a lot of attention and angry stans in the long run.
OTOH you could make a lot of reputation here if you are recorded doing the right thing. Or a lot of negative if you are spotted doing the wrong thing.
The huscles are streetpunks with cheap locos and POS guns, clearly more for show than for being pro. Those still can hurt, but when the going gets tough they might rather run than throw their lives away over a few eurobuck crumbs.
"I'll field that one, thank you."
Nanashi moves up and winks at the group.
"Tell the guys I'll be right behind you, just need to make sure of something."
"Wow, Jazzy Belle! Love your streams. The name's Nanakizu, but I don't expect you to have heard of me. I can tell you everything you want to know, though the truth is this isn't very exciting - these fine folks are just here trying to help me record my latest album. I thought using the decaying skeleton of a massive corporate building as a backdrop for a music video would make the lyrics that much more approachable to the viewers."
As Nanashi distracts Jazzy Belle and her camera, you press past. Nanashi follows you soon enough after, without the rockergirl in tow.
You reach the wing of the 15th floor where the vault is located - and it is protected by bars sealing it of. It has a biometric lock at its side.
There are some removeable panels in the ceiling, big enough for turrets or drones. You don't need to be Hudson Hawk to figure that the biometric lock is a "Fuck around and find out" affair.
Gwydion examines the obvious security mechanisms, trying to see if there's a way he can navigate around it. Or get someone else to disarm it while he stands safely away.
Rolls http://minmaxforum.com/index.php?topic=19476.msg352018#msg352018 (http://minmaxforum.com/index.php?topic=19476.msg352018#msg352018)
Wrench easily beats the lock, and the ceiling panels stay unmoving. You easily make your way through the wing to lock box #A17-BF0-5A3-117-3B8, which is much less well secured than the access to wing itself - Fujiwara seems to believe in chokepoint security architecture.
The lock box contains a number of things:
- A brown envelope with two generic memory cubes, one marked with "V1" and the other as "V2".
- 430eb in cash
- 0.4 troy ounces of gold in 1/10oz coins, all of them minted by Fujiwara Bank
- 31 troy ounces of silver in 1oz coins, minted by various African, Latin American, South Asian and Eastern European countries
- A creased business card for a Vladislav Bobic, Moss Power & Light corporation, Exec for Facility Management and Physical Security
Vladislav Bobic is indeed an exec for facility management and physical security for MPL. He was originally with Arasaka, then was recruited by MPL as a troubleshooter to deal with flaws in the security of Red Peak nuclear power plant.
You make your way out and back without trouble.
The longer video is of a security inspection of the Red Peak nuclear power plant. The production value is very raw. It extensively shows rusted gaps in the chain-wire fencing, understaffing of the security guards, cameras and sensors that are out of order, and other severe flaws in the site security.
The shorter video is of much better production value with retuned audio and video, but much less informative. According to it everything is fine and secure, with all the flaws edited out.
It also has some interesting credits:
SECURITY AUDIT performed by ARASAKA SECURITY, on behalf of MOSS POWER & LIGHT and ALL WORLD INSURANCE
Team Lead for ARASAKA SECURITY: Ikeda Hiroshi