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Tias
May 25, 2008

Pictured: the patron saint of internet political arguments (probably)

This avatar made possible by a gift from the Religionthread Posters Relief Fund
Even Rat Cut a Bottle



I am Andrew Gorman, but I'm about to give away that name and take a new one. I’ve been away from my home for far too long. Work isn’t a home either. I did good for myself, leading folks on nature trails, working higher-end corp security, and even put in time at the militia. Then the Crash came. SINless couldn’t get jobs, food and power when it got bad, and as an orc with enough carib blood to look down on, you came even further back in the queues.

The militia took to the hills, and wanted to hurt civilians too, so you flaked on them. The corp talked about giving you work, which could get you a Corp identity, but they *really* wanted a lot out of you, and the jobs involved firing on people who just wanted a living, too. At least you got a fake SIN with gun licenses, your service weapons, and a bit of decent chrome out of it. You look at your shining metal arm with its hidden blade and gyro-stabilizers with your artificial eyes smartlink routines. You couldn’t afford alphaware, and it even destroyed your inborn darksight. It can’t keep you on the bleeding edge, but it can perhaps earn you enough to do. Without regular psych evals, perhaps you might develop dissociative problems, or so you’ve read on the ‘net.

The Net is also where you’ve been poking for jobs. Fortunately you know other shadowrunners, and you have some contacts from your old life who can help you gauge quality. You’ve entered your nickname, and are stumped. As the old saying goes, these are dread times, and even a rat cut a bottle. You're the rat, and the bottle needs cut.

Currently you’re considering:

A) .. “Black Ghost”. You’re here to do a job, get out clean and be very dispassionate about it. After all, surviving means having some seriously dollar-soluble ethics.

B) .. “Hood Angel”. You have ethics, being human (Ork), and a (sorta) humanist with anti-state leanings, you want to earn some cred restoring balance to the SINless and other have nots.

C) .. “Chaos Child". The morality of your coming actions still escape you, and you do not desire to take a set position yet.


(Welcome! I need to write something else during my bachelor’s dissertation, or I’ll go insane. Updates about once a week, sometimes later. Here during character creation I probably won't wait more than a couple days, depending on participation. Subjects like insurrection, social and political positioning, and of course the batshit crazy street fantasy of Shadowrun, are primary themes.

You're playing a rather competent but poor orc weapon specialist, and this first vote largely determines what direction the first story arc takes you, so don't worry too much and go with what you like the most.

Art credit: "Sue the T Rex", Tweeters)

Tias fucked around with this message at 09:19 on Jul 19, 2022

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Lemniscate Blue
Apr 21, 2006

Here we go again.
B, Hood Angel

RandomUserString
Jul 1, 2022

by Jeffrey of YOSPOS
A) .. “Black Ghost”. You’re here to do a job, get out clean and be very dispassionate about it. After all, surviving means having some seriously dollar-soluble ethics.

Slaan
Mar 16, 2009



ASHERAH DEMANDS I FEAST, I VOTE FOR A FEAST OF FLESH
B) .. “Hood Angel”. You have ethics, being human (Ork), and a (sorta) humanist with anti-state leanings, you want to earn some cred restoring balance to the SINless and other have nots.

If we can make creds why not help the little guy

Azhais
Feb 5, 2007
Switchblade Switcharoo
C - Chaos Child, let's see where the wind takes us

Cassius Belli
May 22, 2010

horny is prohibited
Do you mind if we write our own riffs on what you've suggested, or would you rather play it neat?

AJ_Impy
Jun 17, 2007

SWORD OF SMATTAS. CAN YOU NOT HEAR A WORLD CRY OUT FOR JUSTICE? WHEN WILL YOU DELIVER IT?
Yam Slacker
B Hood Angel. Can't make the world better just by enriching ourselves or not caring.

Tias
May 25, 2008

Pictured: the patron saint of internet political arguments (probably)

This avatar made possible by a gift from the Religionthread Posters Relief Fund

Cassius Belli posted:

Do you mind if we write our own riffs on what you've suggested, or would you rather play it neat?

I'd like a vote on one of the results to determine your characters priorities, but if you agree on something alternative I'm open.

Cassius Belli
May 22, 2010

horny is prohibited

Tias posted:

I'd like a vote on one of the results to determine your characters priorities, but if you agree on something alternative I'm open.

Between the three:

Tias posted:

B) .. “Hood Angel”. You have ethics, being human (Ork), and a (sorta) humanist with anti-state leanings, you want to earn some cred restoring balance to the SINless and other have nots.

but if I get a chance to freeform at 4 AM, I'm going to mix in a little bit of this:

Tias posted:

C) .. “Chaos Child". The morality of your coming actions still escape you, and you do not desire to take a set position yet.

and spit out

Hood Child's End. Being scorned from several directions at once informs our worldview: we are Ork and brown and poor, and our past involves a lot of punching down while we still believed that They would save space for us at the table for being respectable and useful, one of "the good ones". The Crash didn't change what the corps or the militia wanted to do; they just made it bigger and more obvious, and that's where it cracked for us. We are beginning to realize that all the promises we were sold aren't even worth the paper they weren't printed on. We are furious with the people and the powers who made those empty promises; we're not completely sure who "They" are, exactly, but we want our due. We're growing up; we know that part, but we're unsure where it goes from here. Robin Hood is still a long ways away, though; we are beginning to realize that "we" are many and that other people walk in shoes just like ours, but the sense of who "we" are, as a plural, is still nebulous and forming.

We know we may die in this process. We're so numbed and traumatized by now that we're not sure how we feel about that, as long as it means something positive in the end.

Cassius Belli fucked around with this message at 13:46 on Jul 19, 2022

Tias
May 25, 2008

Pictured: the patron saint of internet political arguments (probably)

This avatar made possible by a gift from the Religionthread Posters Relief Fund
I'll wait a day for votes and comments, then we'll see. Your reasoning seems sound.

Dawgstar
Jul 15, 2017

B) .. “Hood Angel”. You have ethics, being human (Ork), and a (sorta) humanist with anti-state leanings, you want to earn some cred restoring balance to the SINless and other have nots.

It's really the only way I can cyberpunk.

Toughy
Nov 29, 2004

KAVODEL! KAVODEL!

C

The Wandering Mage
Jul 22, 2010
B, Hood Angel

ninjoatse.cx
Apr 9, 2005

Fun Shoe
C. Chaotic Money is always the correct alignment

Tias
May 25, 2008

Pictured: the patron saint of internet political arguments (probably)

This avatar made possible by a gift from the Religionthread Posters Relief Fund
What's in a name

Your head hurts, and you put on an electrode to type with your head while you pop up a soy lager. The heatwaves are getting worse lately, and considering the fuckery between magic zones and climate heating, you don't suppose that will change. Anyway, you're kind of a chaos child, and you'd like to be a hood angel as well! Captain Chaos is too well known, and you don't want to bite off someone known. You settle on "HC", figuring you can explain yourself later.

Lookin’ for bottles. [DiaryBuddy Excerpt A]

The freeware therapist I downloaded says I ought to explain even things I take for granted, and see if it works for me. So let’s talk about Denver. Only we locals call it that, it’s actually the Free Range Free Zone, and the real old folks say it’s the New Berlin. Something to do with the very old large-scale wars, I guess, I never paid much attention to history. It’s divided into four sectors, each controlled by its own country, and making its own laws. All this was set up with the Treaty.

The Treaty of Denver was the milestone document that ceded land from the United States and Canada to the Sovereign Tribal Council, officially establishing the Native American Nations, the Front Range Free Zone city of Denver, and the extraterritorial free city of Seattle. For the most part, the Treaty of Denver was terms of surrender and granted lands formerly under the jurisdiction of the United States and Canada to the Amerind tribes. It was signed on January 25, 2018. It is ten pages long (although the legalese and other amendments takes up 50 gigapulses of memory), so I’ll skip to the paragraph about Denver:

Denver Council HistoryNode posted:

To establish the Council of Denver as a body designated to oversee the implementation of this treaty and to govern the city of Denver, hereafter called the Front Range Free Zone, and to divide control of the Front Range Free Zone among the signatories who share interests in that area; specifically, Aztlan, the Pueblo Council, the Sioux Nation, the United States, and the Ute Nation.

That was before Ghostwalker returned, though. Uh, where to start.. He’s a Great Dragon, and hates the Aztlaners, I guess. He drove them all out, and let the Confederate American States have their sector. While the Council of Denver in principle rule the city by degree, Ghostwalker has been pretty clear, several times, that they operate at his mercy and can be removed in a flash if they act against his interests - but no one here really knows what they are.

I’m sitting in a leaky rear end apartment in the Aurora Warrens, down the UCAS sector. I get enough power and water to get by, and I fix the toilet now and again, but I have to pay a drekload of cash to the local Cutters not to invade it and throw me out. 1800 creds seemed like a doable rental back when I had steady work, but as it is, I can’t pay them next month. I think they know I have enough guns here to make them regret it, but playing the game means they also protect me as a side-effect.

The Anarchist Black Crescent has set up free Matrix boosters here in the warren, so I can scroll for jobs, and while the thought of going and shooting at someone to get by makes my heart sink, it’s got to be done.

I wrote Jitters, a guy who’s supposed to be a good fixer, but he hasn’t hit me back, and well he shouldn’t, as my name ain’t poo poo and I’m not in with his chummers. He holds court at the Splatter Bar, so I guess I’ll pop by there sometime. For now, it’s the local ShadowNET, a place known as the Denver Nexus… Let me just dump my notepad with the jobs that seem interesting:

quote:



(A) Syndicate club need muscle.
Can´t say who you working for, but if I say Russians then you say ‘say no more’. They own the Russian Standard club, and have had threats from two drekheads, both clearly wacked out of their heads to take them on - but who seem legit and pack heat. Discrete, violent samurai needed to head them off.

(B) Security experience needed! Danger pay.
FOAF is head of security for local Rad politician Louisa Carbonelli, who’s talking up squatter rights by the Meat Market (EditorNote: The collapsed mall here in the Aurora Warrens. It's actually just two blocks down from me). As we all know it’s crawling with ghouls extorting the homeless, and word is they may be trying something against the rally to scare off reformers, and so they need to beef up security.

(C) Extraction
I'm the Johnson reaching out directly as I'm in a hurry. My friend went in for this woo bulldrek corporate "realizing your inner matrix operator" seminar, and a short time after that, she disappeared. Her home was wrecked and it looks like a grab. Probable CorpSec involvement. I will pay serious cred to get her back alive!

(D) These jobs could actually be too heavy for my tastes. I could ask Etch, Jade or one of the militia for an easier job, they might well have one - but not necessarily with an equal payout.




(Time to WORK, omae. HC has worked corporate security, and definitely have the skillset, equipment and guts to engage with these jobs, though, as he suspects, they all involve danger. Asking his contacts (a Street Doc, a former CorpSec colleague, or his mutual aid militia group - will yield even more Hooding jobs, but with a lower paycheck.)

Tias fucked around with this message at 08:52 on Jul 20, 2022

Slaan
Mar 16, 2009



ASHERAH DEMANDS I FEAST, I VOTE FOR A FEAST OF FLESH
B

AJ_Impy
Jun 17, 2007

SWORD OF SMATTAS. CAN YOU NOT HEAR A WORLD CRY OUT FOR JUSTICE? WHEN WILL YOU DELIVER IT?
Yam Slacker
B

Ceramic Shot
Dec 21, 2006

The stars aren't in the right places.
B sounds interesting.

The Wandering Mage
Jul 22, 2010
B

No honour in 'A'. I want to support 'C' but I think it's a for sure death wish. 'B' is also definitely a death wish but at least it's for a good cause and there's a lot of potential in such a touchy political situation.

Cassius Belli
May 22, 2010

horny is prohibited

The Wandering Mage posted:

B

No honour in 'A'. I want to support 'C' but I think it's a for sure death wish. 'B' is also definitely a death wish but at least it's for a good cause and there's a lot of potential in such a touchy political situation.

I've got the same thoughts. "Johnson reaching out directly" tells me they're panicked enough to miss some important details and we're not prepared to handle that kind of situation on incomplete information.

The Wandering Mage
Jul 22, 2010
Quite right. I'm getting a serious "Will you accept this transfer from a Sudanese prince" vibe from that option too.

Tias
May 25, 2008

Pictured: the patron saint of internet political arguments (probably)

This avatar made possible by a gift from the Religionthread Posters Relief Fund
Ghouls. Great.

You ponder the orb, so to speak. The Aurora Mall collapsed along with the economy a long time ago, but the relative habitability of the building has made it one of the prime havens for the homeless. Unfortunately, it’s also north of E Mississippi ave, making it part of Ghoul Town. Your own part of the warrens has neighborhood gun teams and gangs protecting against the worst excesses of Ghoul Town.

Not that the ghouls themselves are the problem, really. It’s a combination of the Council refusing to clean up the rubble, put up any kind of sec measures, and the homeless being too easily victimized to protect themselves from a number of other criminal outfits that then set up shop. That folks drop corpses to be eaten by the ghouls when they need rid of them is really to be expected, right?

The Fixer replies while you’re busy doing some legwork, saying you’ll be on a good team with both hacker and magic support. This is more than you could rely on when protecting corporate properties to be honest, so you take heart. The fixer further explains that you will be paid 6000 nuyen for your participation. You can negotiate the claim if you think you’re particularly good at solving your objectives, the objectives being:

1) Allow Carbonelli to complete her speech and protect the rally to the point of no casualties.
2) Succesfully contain any attacks or sabotage attempts.
(With a bonus for identifying any group responsible).

You put on your best dickering face, and record yourself explaining that you have riot suppression options, experience in crowd control, plenty of your own guns -and- the know how to not gently caress up these things. You’ve negotiated your own Sec contracts so much it’s second nature, though the Fixer is probably adept at it as well. They drive a hard bargain, but yours is the bleeding edge, and you’re offered 8000 as a lynchpin of the defense. That’s serious cred! They will expect you to live up that rep, though.

Carbonelli

Louisa Carbonelli is a 32 year old Amerindian and Italian human woman, whose record (as far as your extremely luser-level matrix search skills can reveal) is on the up and up. She is is not only pro-ghoul and pro-squatter rights, but has put her body on the line in a number of actions where the police were present. Come to think of it, several of the actions described here were contained by your former colleagues! Based on your somewhat professional analysis, non-compliant rad group types will probably be present and may push back against both outside counterprotestors and any police corps arriving on scene.

SITREP

The Aurora Mall didn’t collapse physically as much as economically, and so is a pretty sturdy building. The ghouls have taken over and nicknamed it the ‘Meat Market’, organlegging and extorting the squatters as a protection for human flesh racket.

According to a city tech vlogger, it still taps power and water, but may have lost a lot of structural integrity depending on what the inhabitants have done with it. City ordnance says to keep out, citing some pretty gnarly violence, murder and robbery stats. A rumor, dismissed as ‘ghost stories’ from noted ghoul runner Hannibelle, says that the ghouls keep a large number of ‘ferals’ (ghouls who have lost human sentience and hunt and kill humans at will) in the cellar to eat people who displease them.

The major entries and exits seem barricaded, but in a way that could probably be opened from the inside.

The rally will be held two days from now, at morning where the ghouls are thought to be less willing to interfere, with light and clear weather for drone support. The rally takes two hours before being set to willingly disperse.

You will have two X rotary drones with multispectre cameras and bean bag shotguns, as well as flash-paks. These are autonomous but can be ordered by both you and your hacker. On that subject..

Your backup

You’ve received comm-codes and Nexus Profiles for your two compatriots. The hacker, “ICEbox”, has a decent performance score from Fixers, but has gotten a swathe of taunts for malicious treatment of wageslaves. The magical support, “MojoPez”, is a hermetic mage. Their Nexus page is brand new, however.

Next move, hotshot.

You have a little over 48 hours to prepare, prebrief meeting with the team and johnson included. Do you prioritize:

A) ..Contact squeeze. You didn’t deploy for the protests Carbonelli formerly participated in, but your former colleague Etch would likely have. He might also have the scoop on what’s going on at the Meat Market these days.

B) ..Trying for clues. Walking the beat always made more sense to you. You don’t have any civilian informants any longer (your one in Ghoul Town, ironically, got eaten there). This means probing squatter circles and asking your old militia.

C) ..Money talks. You could dock your initial pay of 800 nY and get better riot gear, maybe pay for a drone sweep or cop log of the mall area.

((one vote, all three things will be attempted, but in order of voted importance.))

The Wandering Mage
Jul 22, 2010
B

While the other two options are definitely good, nothing beats your own perceptions and instincts when it comes to taking the measure of a scene on the ground.

Toughy
Nov 29, 2004

KAVODEL! KAVODEL!

B->A->C

Slaan
Mar 16, 2009



ASHERAH DEMANDS I FEAST, I VOTE FOR A FEAST OF FLESH
A

AJ_Impy
Jun 17, 2007

SWORD OF SMATTAS. CAN YOU NOT HEAR A WORLD CRY OUT FOR JUSTICE? WHEN WILL YOU DELIVER IT?
Yam Slacker
B first.

Question Time
Sep 12, 2010



A

Cassius Belli
May 22, 2010

horny is prohibited

This is a good plan, I think with the addendum that maybe we should spend a little money with Etch to help keep the relationship favorable. At the least we can buy him a drink or two for his trouble. Maybe when we're paying for other information in (C) he can play middleman or somehow get his name attached, keep him in other people's good graces too.

Tias
May 25, 2008

Pictured: the patron saint of internet political arguments (probably)

This avatar made possible by a gift from the Religionthread Posters Relief Fund

Cassius Belli posted:

This is a good plan, I think with the addendum that maybe we should spend a little money with Etch to help keep the relationship favorable. At the least we can buy him a drink or two for his trouble. Maybe when we're paying for other information in (C) he can play middleman or somehow get his name attached, keep him in other people's good graces too.

Acid Etch is a SINer, and still employed with the Sec force, and so is not a Shadowrunner, meaning that it isn't in his best interest to get into a Johnsons good graces. However, your relationship with him isn't above standard levels of loyalty, so I'll try to include the sentiment that you'll reward him in order to possible increase the Loyalty score at a later time.

Tias
May 25, 2008

Pictured: the patron saint of internet political arguments (probably)

This avatar made possible by a gift from the Religionthread Posters Relief Fund
My legs, their work.

You loiter due east of Aurora hills, clad in your best non-descript ‘gray gear’. You have crossed the CAS-UCAS zone border, and while being in the Confederate States isn’t going to help your rapport with locals, their cops fortunately report to Zone Defense Force, the multinational security force keeping the peace for the Denver Council. At worst you’ll be deported back into the warrens, but you’d rather it didn’t happen before you get some work done.

Having your fake SIN reviewed at the heavily armed underpass checkpoint of route 225, you crouch at a decomposing concrete off-ramp onto E Alameda, where the large mall structure is located. You daren’t close further now, as you know a large ghoul operation is likely to have awakened members. You note that at least one of the ramps onto Alameda is still stable enough to bring in heavier vehicles. This is where our team and Carbonellis and her people ought to come in and out.

After a fashion, you get antsy. The longer you stay here, the worse an accident could happen to you. You spare a fond thought for Trig, your old CI, who was eventually stabbed on 225 and dumped here to be eaten by the ghouls.

Eventually, a squatter arrives, walking out onto the ramp with the wild, always-wary eye of a disspossesed person in the sixth world. They lack their left lower arm, and you know addicted or starving folks often sell parts to organleggers or ghouls to get by. You wave them down, and they freeze like a deer in headlights.

“Hey, chill. I want to help you.”

“..help?” Scared.

“Yeah. I just need to know what’s happening at the Meat Market, I’ll give you some creds to get by for your trouble.”

Their eyes darted around. Calculating, and quickly. “We have to go somewhere else.”. You nod. This was easier than anticipated.

At a squatter cafe on the fringes of ghoul town, Helga’s House of Soy, you get some intel. The ghouls have threatened folks not to go out the next couple of days, saying “cops will come”. Some people know of the protest, but don’t generally like the attention from Corporate America.

loving Etch

Acid Etch, actual name Brian, is your former colleague - so handled because he loves armoring just as much as you do, and you gotta admit the stippled patterns he gets on his blades are *chefs kiss* right.

Etch isn't your first choice, you'd rather listen to your old homechums in the militia, but they are completely incommunicado. That usually means an op, and you silently hope they're okay. Anyway, Etch kept the job and took a low-rent SIN as a corp citizen when the world matrix went belly-up. Now he acts a foot soldier for your former employer while the rich guys who bought it up make the actual decisions. You try not to bring it up, as you were never good friends. Still, he needs you and you need him. Sometimes.

quote:

[CommChum log 5.305]
~~Etch~~: sup
HC: Hows copping?
~~Etch~~: Well, I’m the cop and you’re the filth, right?
HC: You know what I mean. How u doing
~~Etch~~: Fine. Just trying to knock heads and get my bonuses. Have my eye on the new line of Dikoted knives.. With a muscle replacement I could throw those through armor using just my hands. Well, might need a cybereyes upgrade for wired reflex response, but that might be coming down the line too.
HC: Good, cool. Listen, I got a line on a rad-group protest in a couple of days.
HC: Didn’t we police a politician who stirred up squatter rights back when? Name of Louisa Carbonelli.
~~Etch~~: Might have. Might require something to jog my memory.
HC: Going rate is 100 nuyen, if I remember right
~~Etch~~: Aye. 200 since things heated up, but I’ll make it hundred fitty for you.
[subroutine WalletBuddy, depseccred-ssr:ShadowEscrowNode_04:Amount: 150 NuYenEquivalent. Transferring……done.]
~~Etch~~: Obliged. I think we did, and it did get hairy once, but since you’re paying, I’ll look it up once the boss goes to jerk off again.

[CommChum log 5.309]
~~Etch~~: Carbonelli, Louisa, Sitting Nightjar. Arrested a couple of times for failure to disperse, misdemeanor under the Violent Assembly acts. Not a big crimey in her own right, but suspected to know folks in Antifascist Action, Earth First! and similar red-black and eco terrorist outfits. We met her during two counter-protests that went south, the image recognizers are 99.6% sure. She was gassed along with some other knuckleheads, but we don’t know anything apart from that she sometimes arranges these “counter-protests” where we need to use force.
I tried to pull her medicals, but DocWagon says we can’t without a warrant. When searching, I was flagged, and it seems like the Zone Defense Force has taken an interest in the protest. They assigned it the AROs “Ghouls” and “Organized Gangs”, for what it’s worth. I can’t touch it from here.
HC: Thx, I’ll get back at you.

Shop shop

Lacking a proper weapons connect, you use your forged license as a sec contractor to walk into a gun store and get a couple of smoke grenades. You already have tear gasses, but if you need to get Louisa out stat, blinding some assholes would probably be a good way to cover your backs.

((Second part of the update later today.))

Tias fucked around with this message at 10:23 on Jul 25, 2022

Tias
May 25, 2008

Pictured: the patron saint of internet political arguments (probably)

This avatar made possible by a gift from the Religionthread Posters Relief Fund
What a briefing!

You sit in a trailer that, honestly, smells like drek. Louisa herself came by briefly, seemed decidedly unimpressed with your team, but gave you her burner commcode, access to her cybereye feed during the operation, and made nice. Johnson, a surly ork in a suit who seems like a real party drone, clears his throat. “I want you all to appreciate the problems this rally poses. We wouldn’t have done it if the potential benefits weren’t bigger. Anyone from Council hitmen to ghouls can mess this up. We have two exfiltration points, by ramp 3 (the stable one you eyeballed), and a helicopter on standby. Your job is to let her talk, and keep anyone, pro- or counterprotestor, from disturbing that or putting a hand on her. There will be four volunteer guards with stun gloves, but they aren’t security trained people.”

Icebox, a weedy-looking human punk in a faded “Hack the Planet” top and synthetic purple hair, pipes up. “How are we for ECM? Don’t want no yobby gatecrashers hacking the gear.”

Suit Man sighs, like the presence of the matrix operator annoys him. “We brought our own node for AR amplification and subtitles, it comes with ICE. The camera/security drones pack their own ECM/ECCM suites.”

Icebox nods, seemingly satisfied. They look at MojoPEZ, a mousy elf woman with short blonde hair and a clean enough Urban jumpsuit, expecting her to talk.

“Uh, I’ll keep the astral clean, is that it? I got spirits, and can detect problems.”

Icebox rolls his eyes. “A loving virgin. Can we hear from Hardcore over here?” he snorts and looks at you, while PEZ stares daggers at his back.

You shuffle uneasily, then say your piece. “This isn’t the playing field I’d prefer. Most problems have a clear field of fire against us, and even if we see problems coming” - you smile at MojoPEZ, wanting her to have your back - “We’ll need to react quickly. IceBox, can you rig drones?”.

IceBox sighs. “If I have ta. It robs me of the eagle eye view, save of course the one I’ll have in the drone, hurr hurr.”

You hate his laugh too. This is just going to be great.

Game Day

You’ve arrived in good order, and an appreciative crowd of a hundred people have already gathered. This is an okay size for the optics Carbonelli wants, and still not too large not to manage, at least if they don’t get attacked by something big. The weather is good, and the reassuring hum of friendly drones make you click into the feeds:

Houseless people are still huddled around the way, which makes you think they aren’t expecting trouble from their ghoul bullies. You take in Louisa herself, from your position to the side of the stage. She’s working them like a pro.

“...the unhoused are fragged over from every side: No health services or food, and even if the ZDF would come here, they’d just add to the abuse already suffered by gangs. There’s a reason only mutual aid networks, operating under the radar of state control, bring even a semblance of help to their community..”

Some people start getting fired up, and you look them over, applying some of the radical detection knowsoft you poached from your old employer. The frame picks up several patch and t-shirt logos flagged as terrorist: Antifascist Action, Animal Liberation Front, Ghoul Liberation Front and Allezforce Micro. Particularly the last one loves bombings, but mostly against corporations, and you’re not too worried. Kids will display those things without necessarily going native.

“I GOT SOMETHING” Mojo’s excited (maybe scared?) voice cuts across your feed.

“Steady. Walk me through it” You snarl.

“Two men push through the crowd, and they have hurt in their hearts.”

This is what passes for a threat assessment, apparently. You zoom in, and see two well-built guys shove other protestors aside, beelining exactly for Louisas stage.

Do you..

A) Intervene yourself? Deescelating close up will cause as little disruption as possible, and with the guards you can overpower them.

B) Ask IceBox to taze them from the air. Lesslethal, from the air, is possible another less disrupting option.

C) Slam in a clip of riot gel rounds into your SMG and gun them down. At this range, you could shoot the dick off a fly, so collateral isn’t an issue. May raise a stir.

D) Something else?

Tias fucked around with this message at 10:52 on Jul 26, 2022

Ceramic Shot
Dec 21, 2006

The stars aren't in the right places.
B is good here, I think. This feels possibly too obvious for the main threat, and we don't want to narrow our attention too much, which A and C would definitely do.

Enjoying the writing, by the way! Realizing local settings for SR seems hard.

The Wandering Mage
Jul 22, 2010

Ceramic Shot posted:

B is good here, I think. This feels possibly too obvious for the main threat, and we don't want to narrow our attention too much, which A and C would definitely do.

Enjoying the writing, by the way! Realizing local settings for SR seems hard.

Agreed on all fronts here!

Question Time
Sep 12, 2010



B + ask “what do you mean by hurt? Are they sad or angry?”

Can’t spare the time to hesitate, so taze em, but I’m curious.

AJ_Impy
Jun 17, 2007

SWORD OF SMATTAS. CAN YOU NOT HEAR A WORLD CRY OUT FOR JUSTICE? WHEN WILL YOU DELIVER IT?
Yam Slacker
B

Someone needs to feel the energy of the event and get wired up to current events.

Slaan
Mar 16, 2009



ASHERAH DEMANDS I FEAST, I VOTE FOR A FEAST OF FLESH
C GUN solves everything

Tias
May 25, 2008

Pictured: the patron saint of internet political arguments (probably)

This avatar made possible by a gift from the Religionthread Posters Relief Fund
”Taze the marked targets, double tap if you have to.”

“Hell yes omae! GET SOME YOU TWATS!”

The semi-automatic wireless tazers in the roto-drones are pretty slick tech, and Ice, either not understanding your command to use single shots or ignoring them, dumps a three-round burst from either drone directly onto the men. One, seeing the drone approach, rolls deftly aside, but the other is struck by multiple darts and goes down like a twitchy ton of bricks!

The crowd, unphazed by this relatively silent attack, isn’t disrupted too much, though one throws a beer can at a drone. This is within acceptable parameters, but there is one tango to go. Either these guys are clowns, or there will be more interruptions and you'd like this one out of the way.

In your earbud you hear MojoPez again. “They want to harm her, though they don’t hate her.”

Interesting. You need to control this, though, and quickly.

A) You order the guards to bum rush the men, shocking them down. With the initiative on your side, this ought to work, though it might rile up some folks.

B) You take responsibility for the stop yourself, addressing the crowd that these guys are attacking the speaker and the men not to come closer, placing yourself for an easy takedown if they don’t comply.

C) You ask for the drones to fire the final round in each of their magazines, then move in.

D) Something else?

Ceramic Shot
Dec 21, 2006

The stars aren't in the right places.
D. Don't blow our cover/position yet. Scan the crowd and surroundings again for anything taking advantage of the mild disruption.

"Ice, one's still mobile. Taze his rear end and get those eyes back in the sky, yeah? Got a bad feeling this is just the beginning. Everyone cast a wide net, ok?"

Ceramic Shot fucked around with this message at 13:55 on Jul 27, 2022

Question Time
Sep 12, 2010



A

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The Wandering Mage
Jul 22, 2010

Ceramic Shot posted:

D. Don't blow our cover/position yet. Scan the crowd and surroundings again for anything taking advantage of the mild disruption.


I agree with this but I think it's best to get in position for a quick takedown with the SMG rather than risking another dodge with the drones. Its possible guy #2 might back down now that he's been targeted.

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