It was Venom's turn. He'd given his online contact a call-and-response to use as a confirmation, so he used it.

"Oranges and Lemons..." [The 'expected'- by those who didn't know the password- would usually be '...say the bells of St Clemens".
The actual response he's expecting is "...Nonesuch."]

”Nonesuch.” she replies. ”Glad I’m not the only one worried about unwanted attention. Hop in so we can talk?”

Sending the little ZipCar on its way, Venom gets in.

"So... you got me here. Talk to me."

And then, he just listens.

"So, it's like this..." she says taking a long haul off a coral pink nicotine vaporizer.

Tell it to them straight
"The Circle has been set up.” she says, the words of her sentence formed around a long slow exhalation of strawberry scented vapor. "More accurately, I guess I'm being set up. The last Circle project I led was a casino. Strictly Matrix based and staying away from the games the Yaks run. I didn't run Go, Pai Gow, Saigon 5-card... hell, I wanted to stay so far away from the competition that I didn't even run traditional games. I gave my clientele 21 Duel and 777 dice. No other spot in the LTG running those tables."

"So anyway, we're up and running, making tidy bank and our host crashes." she continues keeping a watchful eye on the parking garage outside the Jackrabbit window. "We naturally suspect a hack and some of the computer-savvy guys in the Circle dig into it.  Listen, I'm no decker, so all I know is that when they were digging around in our crashed host, they let something loose and it went out after the Black Mums. Since the attack came from my casino host, the Mums naturally blame us...Not us... Me. Now I'm running around with a price on my head and every Yak razorboy in the east 'plex is looking to carve up my smexy brown ass."

"Somewhere in our host, or maybe in the Mums' host, there has to be a clue about who set me up. I'm hoping you can help a girl out.

Well, this just opens up a bunch of questions:


Before he asks anyone else, just 'remembering' some stuff first-
-"They let something loose and it went after the Black Mums"- does that sound more like loose IC or some sort of AI?

-What would be typically-fair price to set? My initial instinct is that 'removing a price on your head can't be less profitable than the price on your head' as a standard, otherwise why not turn the 'target' in?

-Would there, typically, be any sort of working record that would fill the role of "checking the tapes" for the net incident she's describing?

-Is there anything so far that suggests anyone BESIDES the Mums? An inside job or something?
-Is it me or does her demeanor seem pretty laid back for someone in her position? Especially an amateur?

All great questions. You have great RP ideas and I can tell you are in tune with how Venom would think and react to this situation. Let’s play this out IC.
This message was last edited by the GM at 05:08, Wed 09 Feb 2022.

Fair!

"Gi' me an idea- how much bounty're we talking?" (He could explain why he wanted to know, but he first he wants to see what her reactions are like.)

She gives you a sidelong glance. ”Thinking about selling me out?” she asks. This one is street savvy in a way you wouldn’t expect from the college kids in The Circle. ”Anyway, I can’t say exactly. Seems enough to attract young upstart razors, but not the pros. If it was more than a few thousand, I’d be dead already.”

Venom takes that in.

"Just seeing what the price-range for this is gonna be.

I'm gonna have to talk to your netboys, look at your records, see what kind of genie got uncorked, do the do with that, maybe do some light diplomatic work with the Chrysanthemums, who might be a bit mardy about the whole thing.

Got an offer for me?"

That said, he was probably going to cut her a preferred-customer discount (for the repeat work and prompt payment), but he wanted to hear numbers from her, first.

She purses her lips for a long moment, wrestling over wether or not she should come clean. Finally, she says with a long sigh ”Because of the heat, I’m out of The Circle.  That means my resources are a bit limited. I can do 5K. There is more cred trapped in encrypted data in my crashed casino host. I can come up a bit in my end, make it 8K all in if you can help bring the host back up.” she takes a reflective pull in her vape then adds, ”A chat with The Circle deckers might be possible. Let me see if I can work that angle. I’ve got no ins with the yakuza, so if you can bring them to the table, that’s great, but I’m no help.”

”I can provide my casino host LTG, access to the back end programming and passcodes to get into the CPU if you can recover it.” she adds helpfully.  ”I’m sure that will get you going on tracing the source of the attack in the Black Chrysanthemum host.”

 When were you going to tell me that, I wonder? Venom thinks, but says nothing.



" 'Right, then." Venom answers, in a well-go-ahead-then manner.

[Assuming he gets the access and passcodes, he moves on.]
"So. I'll be having a word with your lads, next. They may have a different story- that happens, sometimes. What d'you think theirs'll be?"

[OOC: I'm having Venom view this as the equivalent of a wreck-dive- you want to know what they know is down there, so any surprises are genuine surprises instead of a massive cockup. The Wireheading is making him want to go into the Matrix, now, but he's biting back on the impulse. Also, this will be awkward and embarassing for the Circle, but at least that means that's going around and not just to Venom. ;) ]

She passes a chip across the car. "LTG, passcodes, all access pass." she says. "The Circle code slingers that went into my host were Ferriz and ToxSix. They usually hang out in the Burnt Node club online or at Electric Blue here in Westbrae on nights when they want to party. I'll send them a text and let them know you are looking for them."

In response to your question, she adds, "I'm not sure what they saw. Or think they saw. They did say 'something got loose' exactly like I told you. Does that mean anything to you?"

"Might."

[OOC: I have no idea if Venom knows anything that this sounds like. I'm sort of unsure if it's anything I've heard of in-game. I do know that it's not good form to admit you've got nothing, and giving away stuff for free if you know. So "might" is what he's going with.]

"The money sounds about right- let's make it three-K up front, eight-K more once I get it settled. Got a secure contact? I'm not doing this twice."

Venom can have any theory you like here… it’s all conjecture that just adds to the character anyway, so whatever you want to come up with is fine. Better than fine, it’s great!

She slides a stick of unregistered cred over to you. ”We can avoid the games next time or meet online at Burnt Node. You have my number, I have yours, we can just send a time and we’ll know where to go.  We’ll need a fall back plan if we can’t make it?  Oh, and if you send anything other than a time to meet, I’ll assume we’re burned?”

She was enjoying the subterfuge thing a bit too much, like an exercise boxer who hadn't gone full-contact.

"I doon't think the double-bluff will be necessary, this time, unless you insist. We've done the Handshake."

He felt for the doorhandle, his signal that if she was done, so was he.

She seems a bit deflated by your rebuff. Perhaps she was enjoying the cloak and dagger routine, of course, it could be due diligence since all manner of yak cutters are out for her blood.

“Fair enough,” she replies. ”But I will assume you’re burned if you send me anything other than a time for a meet. I have a strong desire to not get killed before you help me sort this out.”

Feel free to fast forward to let me know if there is any legwork you want to tackle… either online or offline.

Next move is to hit up the two Circle netboys- preferably separately- and see if their stories line up with eachothers' and hers.

Before we do that, a quick "light background check" of the two of them, same as the first time, see if there's anything special I should know about them before getting closer.

Venom is doing all this 'analog' because he's pretty sure that the two of them would be able to posture and bluff their way through an online meeting if he did that first.

Citation Needed 11:11, Today: Mr. Johnson, on behalf of Venom, rolled 4 using 2d6+1.  Citation Needed. Fail

Take 1XP or Adapt and Overcome?

Scanning Shadowlands, the Round Square and a few other likely decker forums reveals little. Ferris and ToxSix seem relatively green in the shadowgame;  no surprise since The Circle is largely emerging talent.



Leads to chase down:

Hitting Burnt Node to seek them out or find people who know them?

Going clubbing at Electric Blue in hopes of finding a lead on one of them?

Something else?

Take the 1 XP. (Reason: It probably just seems like 'successfully finding nothing' rather than 'failing to find something' given how low-rep the Circle is.)

Going clubbing sounds like it would be hilarious, given the circumstances (Venom is starting to look more like himself, he's pushing thirty going to a college club, and he's probably intending to throw these guys off their game in the first place.) Let's do that!

1XP ... PocSec updated

Electric Blue occupies three floors of a former office building, gutted and taken over by free-spirited non-conformist neo-anarchists. The club boasts three distinctive vibes rooted in three distinctive sounds.

You enter into the throbbing bass and relentless tempo of frenetic electro-rave coming from a trio of DJs manning the stage. The few college kids of Berkley move as one on the dance floor while silver haired go-go dancers occupy cages suspended from the ceiling.

Up a steep set of stairs, you find a small army of black clad party goers. The teens and twenty-somethings writhing to the electronic industrial wall of sound emanating from twelve foot tall speakers that form the edges of the sleek, dark dance cavern.

The final floor is densely packed with soft red velvet couches and heavy draperies to accompany the lounge trance vibes. You could easily lose yourself in the warm embrace of the lush surroundings.

Venom takes a look around, see if either of the Netboys are there.

How would Venom know them? Is he asking around? If he is, how does he approach the subject among the club goers?

[Even an extremely shallow scan for information should've come across a Student Directory with photos of various undergrads (essentially a Faces Book). Leaving alone student media like blogs and such.

Then, playing both extremes, he looks either for two guys being local-celebrities or trying too hard to be inconspicuous. (If they were actually being inconspicuous, they'd be somewhere else.]

It's hard to know exactly if you have a bead on the right people. Unfortunately none of the prospective criminal master hackers are openly bragging about their crimes on social media and none were voted most likely to successfully participate in an organized crime ring in the People's U yearbook.

After a long while, your wall flower routine bears meager fruit. There is a group of celebrants gathering, not quite ten, a mix of college kids from Berkley and unless you miss your guess, one of your prospective deckers is in the mix.  They are gathered in the VIP area on the first floor of the club, awash in the throbbing rave. A pair of wiry razor boys stand guard at the velvet ropes.  This party is by invite only.

Is there a way to catch his eye from there? No matter.

Venom removes the headkerchief, letting the chrome and hair go free, and removed his filter-mask, letting his scars go visible. This was the rare fun part.

Walking up to the razor boys at the ropes, Venom puts on an all's right with the world attitude completely at odds with his appearance. Not a bit of menace or growl to him, just all bonhomie and professional respect for the doormen. While looking like more than they're paid for, hopefully.

"Ey up, lads. How's it?" He started, laying the Sheffield on thick, "Not here to start nothin', on the job m'self. " (Hands up, slightly- not fully- it was just a gesture, not a 'search me') "Got a message here for a Mister [Guy's name], 'ere, can either go in and give it, or wait for 'im 'ere, whichever suits ya.

[My general plan here: If they make him wait, he's just gonna casually hang out by their ropes looking like himself and scaring off the nice ladies. Again, not actively threatening a thing. This should get him somewhere.

If they ask who sent him (or similar), "Miss Pranee" will do.

If they ask for a message to pass on, Venom used his Japanese chip to come up with "Kiku O Kiku". (It's easy, catchy, sounds like a song lyric, and means "Listen to the Chrysanthemums". Which should get his attention if nothing else does.)]
This message was last edited by the player at 02:13, Mon 21 Feb 2022.