Awareness +1, Craft +1 PocSec updated

Things are progressing nicely with Ope and there doesn't seem to be any serious damage (well... no more serious than the very serious gunshot wounds... when dealing with these guys, it's a sliding scale). Having dug a 9mm hollow point out of the orc's guts, you're about to close up when the power in your clinic kicks off.

Rolling brownout. Pretty standard in the Orkland D-zone, but realllly bad timing.

Ope is crashing and you're in need of a bit of a boost, just for a second, to keep him breathing until the emergency generator kicks in.

When you are in a pinch, you have access to (choose one):

Skillwires 1 - hold +1 to relevant skill, chips are interchangeable, essence 3

ReadiMed^TM System - cyberlimb or cyberhand that includes an autoinjector, biomonitor, shock trodes and medical supplies, hold +1 for First Aid, essence 3

"Ugh. Building backup power failed AGAIN. Russian biobed takes a minute to reboot."

Thankfully, his RediMed system was there for him. It wasnt like all his client's walked into his chop shop.

Thr portable biomonitor observed sudden crashing and he administered some andelene to stabilize before he had to use the impromptu heart shock system.

By the time the monitors were back up, Ope's signs were stabilizing.

"Ok. Let me kick in some synth blood and an IV and I'll make sure the leg's not too fragged."

I'm probably going to want to do some character futzing at the end of this lol.

No problem. No decisions made in Prelude are permanent.

As soon as Ope is stabilized and free of extraneous metal, you are able to turn your attention to Juice’s shoulder. The wound itself isn’t all that bad, but the bullet grazed the neural connections on his boosted reflexes. It’s cheap tech to begin with and now it’s gonna be glitched unless you can get some gear that is a bit newer than your current ‘vintage’ set up.

You got a problem bigger than you can solve on your own.

You’ve got friends you can call, do you call in a favour to do what’s right? Or take on a debt?

Do you go it alone and see if you can figure it out for yourself?

Or just do what you can to patch him up, his ‘ware is his own damn problem.

Smiley sighed. He liked to think he was a nice guy. He'd done more than one repair for free, particularly if it was life effecting. This was not, really, but it would frag up this ganger's life if it didn't get it fixed. If this was some runner, he'd have to charge. No question. But this was a Razor.. brought to him by Clay.


"Shoulder's fine, but this third rate Shuzen boost-tech just got fragged in the hoop.
Safe move is to patch and you can bring him to little Chiba or something."



That was a joke. As if they had 50,000 nuyen to pay some black clinic for black market nervous system stripping nanites, and as if any of them ever took the "safe" option.


"If you got the time, I can hit up a choom at the Squat mall and get a boost calibrator and some spares, but I'm going to owe them for that kind of favor.
You cool with that giri, Clay?


So ka. A nod. Of course it was. Smiley knew his friend. But Smiley still had to ask.

He sent an URGENT comm to Slapdash.

Thankfully, ancient, obscure and cheap tech was Slapdash's specialty. You could buy the best stuff at the Crime Mall. But you could find the cheapest stuff at the Squat mall, if you knew what to look for, and if not, well, he had the 20 year old autofacs to print a limited edition run on any parts you needed.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:22, Wed 16 Feb 2022.

Added Debts and Favors

Slapdash's courier arrives with enough adrenaline simulator to boost a barghest along with a handful of surplus Ares nanites that were meant for Apollo maintenance back before the Crash.  They work slow and the neural connections made by the little spacebots are a bit shaky, but no worse than Juice's original boosted 'flexes.  Probably better.

With both bikers sedated and resting, you've earned yourself a cold one... Describe a relaxing evening... I won't promise that I won't interrupt!

Smiley tried to stay in when possible, get studying, but he had to basically rip through a ton of technical manuals to install that boost, so he needed to turn his brain down for a while. Besides, maintenance had said they were futzing with the generator tonight to make it more reliable after his earlier complaint. Smiley would believe it when he saw it, but it meant he wasn't going to have power for the next few hours.

He could hit up the stage at the Squat mall... but if he showed up at the mall tonight, there was a good chance Slapdash might pull him into something for that favor and he just wasn't in the mood. He checked the local message boards and saw who was playing. Ack Ack and the noise machines. Nah...

"Frak it, I need a break" he thought.  He cleaned up with a cold shower, threw on the cheap suit he kept strictly to go to the bar, and threw his long coat on over that to maintain his street cred for the walk.

The buildings around the Yakuza zone were their "walls". Prospects and associates inhabited the places, which catered to the worst sort of vice you could imagine. They only realy existed to be defense in depth for the Yakuza and keep the constant drek the barrens puked up out of the corp zones. He got some nasty looks till he removed his jacket showing the suit.

Bar 3 was on the edge of Yakuza territory, built around a large club used who sometimes wanted to slum the barrens without having their organs sold on the black market. Not his kinda scene, but it created a little pocket of the barrens around the big clubs and hotels that the Yakuza kept clear.

One of these was Bar 3. Run by a goblinized Yak who'd been forced into retirement, the place was an absolute gem: a quiet, old school jazz bar with an honest-to-dukhelzahn acoustic piano. There was a small bull pen for casual discussions by the bar. Smiley threw on his cheap suit to match the dress code, and threw on a street lined coat so he wouldn't lose any street cred making his way up.

The doorman in an armored long coat nodded at him and took his coat and doctor's bag once he got through the mercifully short line. He'd been around long enough to recognize him. Smiley did a fair amount of work up here. Old school synth-glass and font that looked as out of place in the barrens as they did in the neon yakuza clubs two blocks down.

He stepped into a time machine. Wood and brass interiors, old school ceiling fans, and acoustic jazz. It was all synthetic, of course, right down to the booze. Real wood and brass was way too expensive, but in the low lighting, with good music, and a real beer from the microbrewery or the best synthetic whiskey Smiley had ever tasted, well, it seemed to Smiley the closest he could come to 'class' in the barrens.

The clientele helped. It was a weird venn diagram of "middle class-ish" (as much as you got in the Sixth World) "Lives in the Barrens" (or close enough) and "Likes Jazz/synthetic whiskey" and "meta-human or very meta-human friendly". It was just far enough off the strip that the slumming corpos didn't come here. They wouldn't have liked it anyway: there were real bars like this with real whiskey back in whatever arcology they lived in. No, this was a spot for all the weird professionals that kept the district's bizarre underground economy going.. a few weirdo yakuza who wanted some time away from their organization, and of course, runners.

He hit up the bar, noting the rule "The Oni is always right" carved in italic font on the bar. He payed his respects to The Great Bartender Oni, and letting him know he was here in case there was a medical emergency.  "Business in the district, sir?" They weren't really friends yet, but that was just how Oni was. "No, just a long day." Oni nodded, and poured him a simulated 30 year old Yamazai. His first drink was free, the usual rule when a doctor came in. Oni noticed something that he needed to interject in that Smiley couldn't even make out, and gave a brief bow "Excuse me sir. Enjoy your drink Duty calls." In seconds he was in a dark corner of the bar giving a warning to someone for something.

Smiley made his way over to one of the dimly lit booths and enjoyed his first drink of the night. As he relaxed and took in the music, noting that the live band would be starting in about half an hour. He hated the open talking bar: he usually had no idea what anyone was talking about. There was also the dance floor, but he only knew how to slam dance: a lot of them clearly worked in the clubs though, so they sure were fun to watch. So, Smiley just relaxed.

Icy water is all you've got in the D-zone. You're just thankful to have running water at all, even if it does still smell ever so slightly of East Bay sewage, despite the recent hostage taking over at the Shiawase water treatment plant.

Yakuza presence this side of San Francisco Bay is an anomaly, and Bar 3 is probably the only open and enduring presence. Its a throw back to bygone days in more ways than one. Before Independence, before the Empire came, before the Diet's 'peacekeeping' force, Berkley and Albany were a cosmopolitan melting pot of many ethnic communities and metatypes.  When the Empire came and established the human cultural zone in San Fran, many Japanese packed up and moved west. The few that remained stayed in Westbrae.

There are not so subtle reminders of the underworld presence throughout the 'plex. In the streets around Bar 3 you'll find the stylized five headed hydras of the Five Families sometimes painted over with the black and silver petals of the Black Chrysanthemums.  The Five Families have a firm hold here, but are challenged at every turn by the much larger Black Mums. It's an uneasy peace the Five Families maintain with the communities of the east shore, but the common enemy they share in the Imperial supported Black Chrysanthemums helps keep things from boiling over.

Usually...

Tonight a pair of orcs seem to have had a few too many and take exception to being cut off by their Japanese hosts. A shouting match is escalating over by the bar, and this could turn real ugly real fast...

How does Smiley handle this kind of racial tension? Is he a mediator or does he keep his own council and stay out of it?

Smiley stood up. GBO was busy dealing with some other mess with a high profile client, or he'd have dealt with this himself.

Smiley didn't didn't work here of course, but it someone got hurt, he'd probably be the one cleaning up the mess. And he would vastly prefer this not result in violence. The last thing he needed was for the yak guards to use it as an excuse to harass more metas or screw up what was probably the only decent bar within the entire district.

His voice slipped back into the one he used when arguing in the squat mall, dropping about a quarter of an active and sounding a bit gruffer than he usually did. It wasn't really designed to be intimidating, but between the voice and the scars around his mouth, he'd mark that he wasn't some accountant from some weird grey market business in the Yak zone.

They didn't look like locals from the area.

Smiley made his way over and whistled very loudly from behind to get their attention. It was not something he would ever normally do, but hey, he'd rather they harass him than the staff. They also might view him as a sympathetic ear.. or they might take a swing because he had a (cheap) suit on: he needed some more info.


"Hoi, chummers?  This ain't no place to get dragged or raise hell. I know a couple good joints for that. What's got your fangs up?

These two are too far gone to jazz with some suit wearing tusker.

One is winding up to take a swing at you...

choose one:
You've taken more than a few hits, and always got back up. One more ain't gonna make no difference: ‘ARD BASTARD: take +1 to gut checks.

This fella just bit off more 'en he can chew. STREETFIGHTER: the first time you attack an enemy with a nonlethal weapon (fists, feet, batons, etc), you are boosted.

This drunk isn't the biggest or the toughest you've ever stood toe-to-toe with. FEARLESS: take +1 to stay frosty in the face of fear.

Smiley was an orc. An orc who grew up in the barrens.
An orc who had an early career as a bouncer and junior gang member.
An orc who was very used to dealing with unruly patients, and knew the familiar sign of jazz. An orc who was very tired of this shit, and just wanted a drink.

Streetfighter

Smiley stepped forward and dropped his heavy combat boot on the man's knee with his full 200+ pound weight as the inebriated man began his his swing. The orc fell to the ground, clutching his knee, and Smiley ropped that foot to the floor and delivered a stepping kick to the orc's jaw.

Nothing that wouldn't heal in a month or two, maybe less with good treatment.
Smiley was not a killer, but he was certainly no pacifist. He wouldn't have survived that way in the barrens.

He adjusted his balance and stood so he was facing the other guy.

I don't see a doc wagon bracelet, jazz-breath. You leave now with your friend, this is just a bad night. I'll even give you a sprint for his knee.

You try that drek again, what do you think the Yaukza are going to do when they see two broken trogs on the street who caused trouble in a bar that pays protection?

Smiley wasn't the only chop shop in the barrens, but it was probably one of the only ones that didn't take fresh unlicensed bodies.

In point of fact, if he had to hurt this guy, he'd probably use binder strips, call in a favour, and have the razors take care of them in a non-lethal manner. What a pointless waste of a favour. A trog's gotta have principles though.

Rock and Roll 17:46, Today: Mr. Johnson, on behalf of Smiley, rolled 10 using 2d6+1.  Rock and Roll. boosted Strong Success

Your boot scores a hit and the orc falls like a sack of hammers. His friend wobbles in his feet…

Make them sweat
17:51, Today: Mr. Johnson, on behalf of Smiley, rolled 4 using 2d6+1.  Make them sweat. Fail Take 1XP

…but he is too far gone to scan what you are trying to say.  ”You gotta beef, hunh?” he says, words slurred, ”Got a beef?”  Yak cutters or not, this guy is about to start throwing hands.

Combat continues!

1. It’s one-on-one with the first orc out of the fight…
2. This guy is pretty out of it,
3. but probably won’t go down easy…

Smiley [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ]
Orc [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ]

"Looks like its' time to make myself some business. "

Smiley went for a counter. Jazz would make this guy quicker and tougher, but his friend wasn't a great fighter, so he broadcast his intentions on the net like a frakking viral advert.

He waited for the first punch from the Ork, and then countered... with his portable defibrillator.

No guns or knives were allowed in the club. But he'd had his doctor's bag.

It was a Doc Wagon special, fallen off the back of a Valyerkie AV or maybe a shot medic, standard issue for Docwagon medics. They probably rarely used it: they had the security specialists as well as a minigun to deal with threats, but Docwagon had designed the thing anyway. And then, naturally, some had fallen off the back of AV's or been dropped by combat medics.

Smiley hadn't asked if it was taken off a dead medic or just dropped: he'd just jumped at the chance to get a top-of-the-line piece of gear like that.

One of the options in the equipment list is a special weapon. The "Tazer" seems to be range touch, so I thought that made sense. Is that ok? If not I will reword.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:17, Sun 20 Feb 2022.

Special weapon makes perfect sense.

Is it built into the DocWagon bag?

Which is it?
Taser (range close, dmg 4 stun, shock, slow)
Stun Baton (range touch, dmg 2 stun, shock, ignores armor)

Lets go with tazer.
I'll get something else for close fighting.
Sure, have it be built into the bag, like it fires out a couple prongs.


This message was last edited by the player at 07:44, Sun 20 Feb 2022.

OK, it's a one shot James Bond type of gizmo built into the DocWagon gear bag for self defence. It clips in an out so you can carry it around without the bag. PocSec updated

Tiny high voltage needles trailing mircofiliment wires fly toward the intoxicated orc...

Rock and Roll 11:20, Today: Mr. Johnson, on behalf of Smiley, rolled 9 using 2d6+1 ((5,3)). Weak success

...hitting him full in the shoulder and upper arm, enough to slow him down, but not enough to drop him to the floor. He catches you with a glancing blow to the head from a fist the size of a cheap car stereo.

Threat move: deal damage

or...

Rock and Roll 11:20, Today: Mr. Johnson, on behalf of Smiley, rolled 9 using 2d6+1 ((5,3)). Edge Bump Strong success

...hitting him full in the chest, the orc drops to his knees convulsing as the high voltage 'trodes deliver a powerful jolt.

I'll take the shot if it's non-lethal. It would probably be better if I had a little damage from this guy.

The shot clipped Smiley's head. It wasn't the first time that Smiley had taken a shot to the face though (not even the first 20, if he wasn't an ork, he'd probably have to worry about CTE at some point). Smiley had won a lot of fights (and lost a few) and he'd taken some serious hits in the past.

The worst he'd ever been on was a fight when some pretty little thing in an outfit that concealed nothing had turned the guy he was working on into soup with a mono whip. He'd never seen one before: they were ruinously expensive and very uncommon in the barrens. She hadn't really been aiming for him, but monowhips were imprecise weapons as far as collateral damage. He lost an arm and was in no condition to stop the woman.

The replacement arm had taken a while to pay off, but it had paid for itself many times over, and that was the one that grabbed the wrist of that car streo sized hand and began to squeeze.

Cyberarms were interesting. On trids they'd show someone punch and knock a dude back 50 feet. Bulldrek. Most of the force from a punch came from body torque and use of leverage, and that was the body, not the arm. You had to reinforce the shoulder like crazy for something like that. Now, grip strength was another thing entirely. Every bit of grip strength came from the myomers and hydraulics in the limb, and was not bound by human limitations, just the limiters on the arm.

Cyberarms were also bulkier than they had to be. modern hydraulics and myomeres were pretty small. You could fit in extra batteries and armour, but there was still plenty of extra space for portable tools. Smiley had a biomonitor readout... and another shock system.

Having your wrists crushed with electricity poured into it was not a pleasant experience. Ideally, it would get through the chemical haze of the jazz. As the ork lost motor control, Smiley spun his below down and pulled the man to the ground where he'd be less of a threat, then broke the hold.

<blue> Stay down, jazz breath. You have a heart attack, I'll treat you, but the bill's going to be ugly. I got enough deadbeats in my debtors' book. <blue>

Smiley [/] [/] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ]
Orc [/] [/] [/] [/] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ]

You roll with the punch and go for his wrist...

Rock and roll 20:22, Today: Mr. Johnson, on behalf of Smiley, rolled 6 using 2d6+1 ((2,3)). Fail Take 1XP

...and he stumbles in his drug addled stupor, slips your grip, catches you with a wild punch and sneers "Dat all you got?"

or...

Rock and roll 20:22, Today: Mr. Johnson, on behalf of Smiley, rolled 6 using 2d6+1 ((2,3)). Edge Bump Weak success

...and, unable to slip your grip, he falls to his knees.  Lashing out, he catches you with a wild punch and sneers as he fades into unconsciousness "Dat ... all you ... got?"

 Lets keep playin!

Now, his own fangs up, Smiley turned to look at the man.

Not even close.

The doctor went to sleep, and the teenage ork ganger/bouncer took over.

Then he kneed the ork in the groin, grabbed the man's head in his cyber arm, and began to smash his head into the dura-chrome bar stool while the joules continued to pour into the man from his cyberarm's shock system.

I...*wham*.... just *wham*....wanted *wham*.... an old....*wham* fashioned *WHAM*

Meanwhile, his arm began beeping, warning that repeated defibrillation charges could cause cardiac arrhythmia or even arrest. Smiley didn't have the time to disable the safety alarms, no doubt meant for those lucky doctors who didn't use the taze function of their shockheart more than the defibrillate option.

For this next one, I'll spend the edge if it's within 1 autoamtically. If it's 2 I'll think about it. 3 or 4, nah.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:57, Mon 21 Feb 2022.

You can spend one edge now on an Edge Boost to ensure success...

Sounds good!

Rock and Roll 21:31, Today: Mr. Johnson, on behalf of Smiley, rolled 4 using 2d6+1 ((1,2)). boosted Weak success

Flailing, the orc catches you on the side of the head, but it isn't enough to prevent your barrage of heavy blows.  You're left standing over him breathing heavily as his eyes roll back into his head, the fight draining from him...

Smiley [/] [/] [/] [/] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ]
Orc [/] [/] [/] [/] [/] [/] [/] [ ]

Fight ends. Take 1XP.

He had some new bruises he was going to start feeling very soon.

He sighed deeply as the fight or flight reflex left him, and he took several ragged deep breaths to wash the combat-lust from his mind.

Then he stopped that damned beeping on his arm. The next priority was to ensure that the two orcs were breathing and not choking on their own tounges or in any other way going to just die. He put them in the recovery position (on their side), and, not seeing that they were going to instantly die, he went to the next priority. He lightly cleaned the chair and his hands with antiseptic after he noticed a bit of blood from where he'd smashed the orc's head into the chrome chair. Thankfully, dura chrome was pretty damned hard.

Finally, He turned towards the rapidly approaching security and of course, Great Bartender Onizuka himself, and gave an apologetic bow as he rushed up. It wasn't... perfect, but he'd put in some effort at not looking like a completely streotypical westerner making a bow.

"I am deeply sorry, Onizuka, for any distress to your patrons. I believe they are on a combat drug: jazz. They are unconscious but should recover in time.

He really, REALLY didn't want to get kicked out of this bar. Particularly right now, because he could really use another drink after taking two swipes.

GBO had a reputation for being unfailingly polite, but also very set in his ways that no trouble comes into the bar. Sometimes he'd 86'ed customers who simply did not fit in with the place or brought too much trouble. The atmosphere was the thing that made the place unique, and Smiley could understand perfectly his reasoning.

Behind his mask, you wouldn't know he was a metahuman. He was a little bulky for a typical breeder, but the secure tech armored suit and weird Japanese face mask made his features impreceviable. He stroked his chin with a gloved hand for a moment as he considered and gave a look to the staff to confirm what had happened.
This message was lightly edited by the player at 04:47, Wed 23 Feb 2022.

Prelude ends. Take 1XP. PocSec should be up to date.

Looking to set up a solo thread for you while we wait for a good opportunity for you to join the Oakland Crew.

Dammit, I'm a doctor not a...

...Water Treatment Technician: The MPA are taking another run at the Shiawase water treatment plant in East Bay and are looking for a doc to help them figure out how to fix the water problems.

...Road Pirate: The Razor Wires are helping out an Orkland clinic and plan to hijack a road trian to get medical supplies. They need your technical knowledge and will cut you in on the take.

...Combat Bike Mechanic: In the annual Battle of the Free State, the San Fran Knights are facing off against the California Rangers.  Plenty of work for freelance medics to keep the teams patched up during the match.

Choose one.

"...Water Treatment Technician: The MPA are taking another run at the Shiawase water treatment plant in East Bay and are looking for a doc to help them figure out how to fix the water problems."

This sounds like something that could help a lot of people.

Got it... one orc's terrorist is another orc's freedom fighter!