(IC) - Part 1 - The Call

[Abschalten]

It is on an especially overcast, drizzling hell of a night that this scene begins. The neon glare of the Seattle Metroplex skyline illuminates the toxic cloud cover, making the very sky itself glow with a sickly, rippling luminescence. Though in in the very heart of Downtown the fall of nighttime does very little to hamper the multi-hued radiance within -- created by fascinating holographics, the reflections of glassy skyscrapers, and the emerald Augmented Reality overlay -- the further away one gets, the deeper and darker the shadows become. Yes, this is Seattle chummer.

Welcome home.

The lot of you exist in varying states of affluence -- though for some that may not say much. But you all make a living in those little cracks in society that most people ignore. It is on one of those nights when the action's been dead a while and you're thinking about rent, food, or even a pack of smokes, when you all get messages, commcalls, or emails from Nessa, a low-level fixer. Nessa is an ork who also happens to be a social adept. Despite the stigma surrounding her race, she's unsurpassed as a negotiater and dealer, and it's her ability to glad-handle people that's gained her a foothold into the shadows. The message changes between versions, but the gist is the same:

"I have a job that I need a few of you darlings to check out. A Johnson wants you at 10:00pm tonight at a posh little restaurant called the White Tiger. It's on Lakemore Avenue. Wear your good clothes and look sharp. I'm getting some helping hands together since it might be necessary, so don't freak out when you see some others meeting there also. Meet up in the parking lot and go in as a group. Then ask the maitre'd to be seated with Johnson."

It's currently 8:45pm. Do you know where your meat body is?

[Draven]

Sitting at a local strip club I notice a message on my Comm. Well, well looks like I have some creds to fill this account finally. Sending Nessa an aknowledgement and a 50 creds to her I also transfer 10 creds to the stripper's account. Chugging the beer I've been nursing for a 1/2 hour I get up and walk out casually.

Hopping into my well tinted sub compact (fine quality I can assure you) spirit I take inventory of my 'tools' located under my special made back seat. Marking "White Tiger" on my GPS locator I take a second to glance around and sit back and take a breath. "Finally some pay dirt." I think to myself.

Finally ready, I head off to White Tiger and wait in the back most part of the parking lot, to the side. I think I want to check things out a bit first. Finding a mostly empty parking lot I pull in. Covering my body with a Blanket so that I may appear to be sleeping I relax and project my consciousness into the astral plane. I'd like to summon some one to watch over my body also.

Summon Spirit of Air @ force 3 (magic + summoning + foci (saving power focus for drain test)) = 9 dice
[dice=6][dice=6][dice=6][dice=6][dice=6][dice=6][dice=6][dice=6][dice=6]
1 hit
Drain (will power + magic + power focus (2))=11
[dice=6][dice=6][dice=6][dice=6][dice=6][dice=6][dice=6][dice=6][dice=6][dice=6][dice=6]
2 hits

Spirits roll (3 dice?)
[dice=6][dice=6][dice=6]
1 hit - 2P drain & 0 net hits

0 drain, Spirit not summoned.[rand=61825052456035697106190387969606354347606315676973826839595313245]

[scawire]

Ghost Mage gets out of the river he was taking his nightly bath in and walks up to his Van and steps into the back and notices his comm link has a message for him. After veiwing the message Ghost gets excited that he finaly has a job and maybe he wil be able to get a place to stay and some real food for a change.

Ghost gets changed and puts on his urban explorer jumpsuit and the cleanest cloths he can find and drives over to the White Tiger.

"man I hope they let me in I'm not the best dressed but atleast I got my bath done so I shouldn't smell."Ghost thinks to himself on the way over.

Ghost takes a drive around the block to see if anything pops out at him then pulls into the parking lot, and waits for the rest of the group to show up.

"I don't think the doorman will let me take my pistol inside, atleast if thing go bad I always have my spells."Ghost thinks as he lights the smoke he bumed of his friend Klin Smith earlier today.

"Oh I guess I could throw on my armor spell"
Ghost sits in the back of the van and cast armor at force 3 onto his sustaining focus
Spellcasting=5 Magic =4+2 power foci=6 total= 11
[dice=6][dice=6][dice=6][dice=6][dice=6][dice=6][dice=6][dice=6][dice=6][dice=6][dice=6]

Drain =4 will and logic=8
[dice=6][dice=6][dice=6][dice=6][dice=6][dice=6][dice=6][dice=6]
(OOC 6 hits on cast but only 3 get put into the sustaining focus.)
(OOC 4 hits on drain)
"Well that didn't take long I still have some left to my smoke"

Ghost thinks as he takes another drag of his smoke and rolls down the window to air out his van AKA his house.[rand=83076788409892525772415122108108482200740861220238736400346383415]

[tinraven]

Josh sensed the arrival of the message before his comm began vibrating. He was sitting in Pike's Place Market at a cafe. Josh pulled up the message in AR in front of him. Josh was still enjoying the fish and chips he had ordered.

"About bloody time, I've been in town for days and the creds runn'ng low."Josh said to himself between sips of beer. He checked the time at the bottom of the AR display. He had enough time to find White Tiger. Josh finished up the rest of his chips and gulped the last of his beer. He transfered the credits to the cafe and a tip for the waitress.

When he got to the street the drizzle was becoming a downpour. Josh rubbed his round, shaved head and dawned his kangol cap. Josh pulled up the collar on his lined coat before walking the two blocks to his Comet. Josh pulled out and drove to the White Tiger.

Josh passed by the parking lot and saw a sub compact and van parked. "My fellows seem to have beaten me to the rendezvous," thought Josh. Scratching his goatee Josh drove around the block. He parked a block down and across the street from the White Tiger. Josh checks his suit and adjusts his tie before exiting the car. He decides to leave his weapons in the car. Josh walks over to the parking lot seeing one body in the sub compact covered by a blanket and a human smoking in the van. Josh approaches the van from behind walking along the passenger side he taps on the window saying, "Hello chummer, beastly weather this."

[scawire]

" Ya no doubt, I just dryed off after my swim and now I'm going to get wet again."Ghost says to the dwarf that he can barly see the top of his head unless he look down. Ghost take the last drag of his smoke and flicks out the other side of the van from where the Dwarf is standing.
" I got to meet someone inside in a bit, but what bring you out in this weather?" Ghost begins to tie his long hair back into a poiny tail.

[tinraven]

"I'm here in answer to a call I got about a job for a champ named Johnson." Josh steps back a little so that the human in the van can see Josh's face. Josh touched the bill of his cap and makes his introduction, "The names Joshua. It is a pleasure to make you acquaintance. Did you happen to receive the same message about work from a certain lady ork?"

[wpk]

"Sweet Jesus fuck."
Gray couldn't quite place where he was. There was an overpowering stench of perfume in the air. Maybe not perfume. Something.
"There any oranges around here?" He managed to get out before realizing how dry his throat was and collapsing back onto the mattress.
"No and for God's sake get up already this is the 5th time I've woken you up. I gotta get to work."
This time he had both of his arms supporting him and he wasn't falling down again. Vision was starting to return and Gray could make out the outline of a very thin, very angry woman on the other side of the room.
"Alice, hon, mind making me some coffee. I feel like I been strained through someone's bowels."
"My name is Alison you fucking prick!"
"That's what I said. Alison." maybe it was a huge faux pas but Gray was sure he could at least get some coffee and a shower to see him back on the road.

Struggling into his pants he notices a pack of luckies and a half bottle of gin under the bed. A fine substitute.
"Forget the coffee baby, mind if I use your shower real quick?"
"It better be fucking quick." the girl who called herself Alison sighed as she went on preening in front of a standing mirror.

Gray felt refreshed as he opened the door of whatever apartment building he was in on whatever side of town it was.
"Fucking jackpot baby." the car was parked right out front.
Jumping into the driver's side he remembers he was waiting for word on something from that Nessa.

"Lucky I'm already wearing a suit. Now I just have to get myself back on balance. One belt of gin every traffic light. One smoke whenever-the-fuck my mouth is empty. I'll be a human again in no time."

[mithran]

David finishes dressing for his planned night on the town then checks his messages. Damn, I'll have to call the guys and tell them I'm not coming. Hmm... better dress up a bit more, too.

After a few quick calls, and a change of clothes, David dons his lined coat and heads out to his bike. Then he heads for the White Tiger, and, despite the use of several shortcuts, arrives later than most of the others.

He parks his bike down the street from the restaurant and walks the rest of the way. Once there, he notes the little group out front and walks over. "Hoi, nice evening, isn't it?"

[scawire]

"good to meet you Joshua, I'm called Ghost Mage or just Ghost. Ya I'm here to met Mr Johnson too. Well that makes two just waiting on 3 more I believe." Ghost mentions as he look in his ash tray for a smoke and finds a half burn one. "So from my name you can tell magic is my skill so what kind of skills do you have that Johnson wants you."
Ghost lights up the smoke and takes a drag
"I hope he pays well of enouph that I'll be able to buy smokes and get a place to stay I can only live in my van by the river for so long" Ghost thinks to himself as he blows a smoke ring out the window above Joshua's head.

"Oh hi there I'm Ghost Mage and this is Joshua we take it you got a call for a meeting tonight too." Ghost says to the Human that just walked up to the Van.
Ghost rolls up his windows steps out of his van and locks his doors and greets the dwarf and human with a hand shake.

[mithran]

David flashs a smile "Yep, name's David. I take it you fellows are other prospective employees." David returns Ghost's handshake "Know how many more are joining us?"

[Draven]

Looking around he sees the other auras approaching. Well it would appear I am being rude... let me finish this up.

Manifesting in human form beside the human and dwarf around the van, I say:
Hello gents. Please excuse my rudeness. I assume we are here for the same reason. I'll be right with you. I would like to take a quick tour of the area, be back in a flash.
Nodding to all who are around, my hazy image dissipates back into the astral plane.
I think to myself frustrated from the failed summon, "Well, maybe I don't need a spirit. I think I can trust these folks. I'll be gone for just a moment anyway. Lets take a tour of the building."

Moving my astral body around the building's perimeter looking for any signs of magical activity. Then, moving through the walls of the place to quickly observe the auras of the patrons - looking for awakened individuals. As I stroll from room to room I make a mental note of the layout and body counts of each room.
Upon surveying the building I return to my physical body.

Opening my eyes, I look around and see some more people arriving. Taking off my firearms and sliding them under the seat and in the glove box. I straighten my dress shirt, slicking back the little hair I have and brushing off my nice suit I get out of the car and lock it down.

As I approach the group I offer a greeting.
Hello there, sorry about the delay. Pleasure to meet all of you, I’m sure. I imagine we are not all here for the scenery, a mutual ork if I was to guess? I was just taking a look-see at the meeting grounds. Nice to have a fellow awakened around as well.
Knodding to ghost.
Oh, names John - just call me Draven.

All this is followed by a formal half bow.

Draven will appear to you:
6’-0” tall, around 176 lbs. Well groomed hair, cut very short. A soft Reddish orange alternating to blue nano tat glows from my wrist and around the back and sides of my neck. You notice some rings on my fingers and a necklace hidden by my shirt - visible in astral as glowing whiter than my aura. My hands show scars from various sources - burns, cuts, bites. A regular tattoo can be seen on the sides of my head under my hair if you look closely. Not the most expensive business suit but not the least either. Nice dress shoes – hard toe.


(OOC: Ab, If I need to roll a perception test let me know what I need to roll. I'd like to know if anyone is magically active or if their are any spirits in the vicinity, including the maitre'd.)

[scawire]

Ghost nods back at Draven.
"Good to meet you Draven I'm called Ghost Mage or just Ghost. So it looks like we have quite a group of people here always good to see."Ghost takes the last drag of his smoke and puts it on the ground.

Ghost stands 5'4" with blue eyes, Long brown hair, with his temple sporting a Data Jack. His clothes are not the best of the group but they are clean. He has green pants and a blue colared shirt but not very fancy just a low grade shirt. On his one ring per hand one with a blue stone and one with a white stone around his neck is a necklace with a cross with a 6 pointed star under it. Draven could see that the rings and necklace have a glow to them on astral space (they don't seem to have a huge glow but you can tell there is some nmagic in them).

"I'm not sure how many of use are showing up but I guess we wait until just before the meet then all head in. Unless anyone knows how many of use there is too be here tonight."Ghost metions to the group of humans and one dwarf.
"Man I hope they let me in I'm not in any form of top notch clothes, Oh well no biggy, if they want my skills the johnson will let them know to let me in."Ghost thinks to himself knowing that the street life doesn't come with the best clothes or food.

[Draven]

I nod in acknowledgement with a smile.

So what you guys into? Slug thrower, drone runner, code breaker, prostitute beater?

Taking a lighter out and relighting a half downed smoke that I took from my ashtray, I motion to the unspoken dwarf and human. The nanotat begins to swirl with brilliant colors and takes a different form similar to an ocean swirling from a wave ... shifting into the head of a eastern dragon breathing fire up my neck. Pulling up the "White Tiger" in AR I take a glance at whats on the menu, maybe I could have a meal to go. Wow, this place is expensive... maybe not. I think to myself.

[scawire]

"well you know I'm a spell chucker but I also do a bit of hacking when I got the time I still need a sim modulator for my comm link but I'll be getting one shortly. I'm mainly into the magic though." Ghost states as he rotates the blue gemed ring on his hand remembering it now houses his armor spell in it.
Ghost checks the time on his comm link to see how much time he has left until the meet is too take place. "Not long now before I know if I'll be able to rent a deceint place to crash at night. Atleast the 2 weeks in town wasn't that bad, and now I should be able to get some deceint food too since I'm almost out of money. " Ghost thinks as he looks at each person in the parking lot.

[wpk]

Gray pulls up a little ways down the street from the White Tiger, finds his lined coat balled up in the back. Combat axe under the driver's side seat. Anything worth doing is worth doing right.

Making his way over to the place on foot, Gray notices a group waiting out front.

"Either they changed the format here, or you lads are out to make some nuyen tonight." he says before draining the last of the stolen gin.