Episode 1: Shameless Tramples Burn Notice
The Players
Kyle Vaduva: Burned spy.
Sam Fisher: Retired CIA black operative, assassin, cleaner, you-name-it.
Dr. Gordon Freeman: Former professor at UNLV, former assistant coroner in Las Vegas and disgraced cyber researcher from our Romanian Campaign.
Fijay: (in case she shows up)
Catherine (Cat) Fisher: Sam’s 15 yo daughter.
Nip Lacey: 12 yo girl with neon blue hair, has amnesia. Woke up in Philadelphia Combat Zone 4 years ago with no memory of her past. Was brought to Atlantic City by a kindly hooker mentor. Was adopted by Tyne Lacey 2 years ago.
Allison Cole: 13 yo kleptomaniac sex pot. Lives with father.
Oliver Texeria: 15 yo quiet gay kid, close friend or lover of Rayne Snow.
Alexander (Alex) Jackson: 14 yo Runner and spotter for Jimmi Stevens. Lives with mom who works long hours.
Geoffrey Stark: 14 yo fixer specializing in braindance drugs; he also supplies hallucinogenic substances to high school kids; he has found a braindance addict to play the role of his father.
Dan Smith: 15 yo unreliable prowler; lives with grandmother but often on the street, stays at or hangs out at the Lacey house. Wants to get rich.
The NPCs
Sharin Vaduva: Kyle’s mom.
Vali Vaduva: Kyle’s dad, former antique dealer and furniture maker. Currently has Alzheimer’s.
Tyne Lacey: Sharin’s sister, a widow, also foster and adoptive mom of several kid PCs and NPCs, she lives next door to Sharin in a big house.
Crystal Snow: 18 yo, lives in Pleasantville with her boyfriend Jimmi Stevens. Crystal is a waitress at Pistol Pete’s Saloon on Black Horse Pike in Pleasantville.
Jimmi Stevens: Crystal’s boyfriend and professional car thief.
Storm Snow: 15 yo boy, junior in upcoming year of high school, lives at Tyne’s house. He makes extra money by writing essays for college kids through the Net. He is a member of chess club and astronomy club.
Rayne Snow: 14 yo boy, sophomore in upcoming year of high school, lives at Tyne’s house. He’s gay, rather intense Goth, artistically inclined. He is a member of theater club and glee club.
Gayle Snow: 12 yo girl, will be in 8th grade upcoming year, lives at Tyne’s house. She is curious about everything, always wants to tag along.
Zephyr Snow: 11 yo boy, in 7th grade upcoming year, lives at Tyne’s house. He pretty much keeps to himself, likes to torture small animals. Nicknamed “Zeff”. It’s a bad idea to tease him about his name.
Nathan: CIA’s Deputy Director of Clandestine Operations. Based at Langley VA.
Art Mulligan: US Marshall, chief of the US Marshall Office in Atlantic City.
Raylan Gibbons: US Marshall, general all-around US Marshall.
Sheriff Bennett: The corrupt local sheriff of Cumberland County.
Boyd Crowler: local fixer in the Pleasantville/Northfield area.
Bo Crowler: Boyd’s dad, a “godfather” type in the local criminal element of the Pleasantville/Northfield area.
Prologue (by GM fiat and description)
Monday, July 8, 2041:
Kyle and Fijay were sent to Caracas, Venezuela to purchase a bronze, supposed-antiquity statuette from Darius, a Greek art dealer. All very ho-hum and routine. Kyle was there to authenticate the item, transfer the payment, and get the statuette. Fijay was there as Kyle’s driver and “just in case something goes wrong” backup.
When they checked into their hotel at 8 pm, Kyle noticed a guy leaving the elevator who seemed familiar. He’d already left via the side door before Kyle remembered who he was. The man had taught hand-to-hand killing techniques during Kyle’s training at the Farm. His nickname was “Crackler” for the way he cracked necks and spines.
***
Tuesday, July 9, 2041:
The next morning as they checked out of the hotel en route to their meeting with Darius, Kyle and Fijay overheard a low-voiced discussion in Spanish not far from the desk. One was a plain-clothes detective who was sure it was murder, time of death 8 pm last night. The other was a top hotel management guy arguing there was no wounds on the body, therefore any reason to alarm the hotel patrons or tell the media the death is suspicious.
Kyle and Fijay left the hotel and headed for the meeting with Darius — destination a private mansion on a hillside with a magnificent view of the valley. Darius greeted them effusively and escorted Kyle upstairs with one goon. Fijay was left downstairs with 3 other goons.
Darius showed Kyle the statuette. Kyle saw it was indeed what it was supposed to be. Kyle then opened his laptop and tried to transfer the money — but was unable to log into his CIA-based account. Darius frowned. Kyle said, “Just some sort of computer glitch,” and called his handler. The handler said, “Sorry, dude. We got a burn notice on you. Nothing I can do,” and hung up. The goon pulled a gun and leveled it at Kyle. But he was too close. Kyle grabbed his arm, dislocated his wrist, took the gun and aimed at Darius.
Long story shortened: Kyle and Fijay took Darius hostage and got out of the house, then Fijay “drove like heck” to the airport and a waiting private plane. On the plane, Kyle went to the cockpit and “persuaded” the pilot to go to a destination of Kyle’s choice, while Fijay sat in the passenger section.
Fijay called her handler, who said, “There’s a burn notice gone out on Kyle. You were with him — so we can’t use you again unless that’s cleared up somehow. Look, you’ve done good work for us, I wish you well. Good luck.”
A steward came from the back of the plane and entered the cockpit rather silently, and did not re-emerge. Feeling nervous about this disappearing steward, Fijay went to the cockpit and found Kyle slumped on the floor, unconscious, and the steward in the copilot seat, pointing a gun at her.
The “steward” assured her no harm was intended. They were taking Kyle to his folks’ house in Atlantic City. Once they landed, Fijay could go anywhere she wished. He handcuffed her to a seat in the passenger section, went through her luggage and confiscated her weapons and CIA identity, then tossed her a wallet with her US identity card and 600 euros, and said, “Should be enough for a one-way ticket back to Europe.”
When they landed at the Atlantic City International Airport, an ambulance was waiting, along with Dr. Freeman, a colleague from Kyle’s recent past. He and a medic took Kyle (still unconscious) into the ambulance, while Fijay, who decided to stick around and see if she can help clear Kyle’s name, drove Dr. Freeman’s car following the ambulance to Kyle’s parents’ house. Kyle was taken upstairs on the gurney; the medic and ambulance left.
Meanwhile, Kyle’s buddy Sam Fisher had retired months ago and bought a house in Atlantic City — and made certain ‘modifications’ to said house for his extensive collection of guns, his “muscle cars” and other assorted goodies. Earlier today, Sam had gotten a call that Kyle was being brought to his folks’ house in Atlantic City. So Sam went to the specified address, only to see that his daughter, Catherine (nicknamed “Cat”) was there playing a video game along with seven other teenagers on a very expensive game console with six “slots”.
The very expensive game console belongs to Johnny Appleton, who had invented a video game and wanted some friends to play-test it. So he called his pal Storm Snow, who lives next door to Kyle’s mom, Sharin Vaduva. Storm knows “everybody”.
Sharin’s sister Tyne Lacey is a widow. She and her late husband worked for DMS and retired here. She has a big house filled with “the Shameless kids” and a few more. The Snow family used to live on the other side of Tyne — but their dad was arrested some months back on an insurance scam, and is currently serving 4 to 8 at the local hoosegow (wherever that is). Their mom has been in the wind for seven years, whereabouts unknown. So the Snow kids needed a home, and Tyne took them in.
Two years earlier, Tyne had adopted Nip, now a 12-year old girl, with blue hair, an invisible pet ferret, and a passion for the Net. Storm’s younger brothers Rayne and Zephyr (Zeff for short) and sister, Gayle, also live with Tyne. The oldest sister Crystal lives in Pleasantville with her boyfriend, Jimmi Stevens. Crystal works at the Pistol Pete Saloon, also in Pleasantville.
But I digress …
Tyne had refused to host the video-game ‘party’ — new carpet was being installed that day. So Sharin agreed to take them. There at one end of the living room, playing the video game hooked up to Sharin’s wide-screen plasma, are Nip, a gay friend of Rayne’s named Oliver, a good-looking girl named Allison, and boys Dan, Alex, and Geoffrey. Johnny Appleton is supervising and taking notes about how to improve the game. Storm is watching over Johnny’s shoulder.
The Shameless action begins …
Tuesday, July 9, 2041:
Before Kyle is brought to the house, Dan pulls a wedgie on Alex’s underpants, and Alex clocks Dan on the chin. Sharin breaks up the fight immediately, stating the house rules: “No fighting.” She insists that Dan apologize to Alex, and that Alex apologize to Dan. They do so.
At this point, Sam Fisher comments on the high noise level, Alex makes a “smart-alec” remark, and Sam threatens to “pop his head like a pimple”. Alex retaliates by calling Sam a pedophile.
Kyle is brought into the house, by a medic, Dr. Freeman and Fijay. Cat feels uncomfortable, and goes outside to the back porch.
Geoffrey Stark follows her. Geoffrey has surreptitiously been checking out the house and its furnishings, and now glances around looking for security cameras and the like. Even though he is reasonably subtle about this, Cat realizes he is checking out her surroundings as well as checking her out.
Sam notices his daughter is no longer in the living room. He goes looking for her, and finds her on the porch, talking with Geoffrey. He introduces himself and, in a rather challenging way, asks Geoffrey who he is. Geoffrey keeps his cool, and gives Sam a business card that he does math tutoring. He’s also a student at the Atlantic City High School. Cat politely implies that “Daddy can buzz off,” she’s fine with Geoffrey.
Sam leaves the porch, and calls Raylan Gibbons, a US Marshall with whom he’s on good terms, and asks him to check out the name “Geoffrey Stark, phone number such-and-such.” Raylan agrees to see what he can find out.
Alex and Dan sneak up the stairs to see what is going on. At the top of the stairs is a short, jagged hallway and four doors, two closed, two open. They see Kyle being put onto a bed in the second bedroom, while Sharin stands just inside the doorway. Soon thereafter, Sharin turns and sees them. Alex pretends he’s looking for the bathroom — Sharin points to the open doorway behind him. He goes inside, shuts the door and takes a whizz. She remarks rather pointedly to Dan, “There’s another bathroom downstairs, next to the kitchen.” He dutifully returns downstairs, and Alex soon follows him.
Once Kyle is in the bed, the medic leaves with the gurney. Dr. Freeman removes the I.V. and assesses Kyle. He tells Sharin that Kyle should wake up within an hour or so. He and Sharin go back downstairs. Gayle drops by, and Sharin sends her upstairs to watch Kyle and say when he wakes up.
At 4:00 pm, Kyle wakes up, still dizzy and disoriented. Gayle shouts, “He’s awake!” and scoots down the stairs. Sharin goes upstairs and greets Kyle, then brings him downstairs into the teen-filled chaos of a living room.
Cat senses something familiar about Kyle and asks her dad, Sam Fisher, who this person is. He tells Cat she had seen him a year ago in Asuncion, Paraguay (see previous adventure, C.I.A. Blues, Episode 4). He also introduces her to Kyle.
Alex sneaks upstairs again, only to be confronted by a rather pretty, 25 year old Latino woman coming out of the master bedroom. (This woman is the “day nurse” for Kyle’s father.) She asks what he is doing here. He pretends to use the bathroom again, and then goes back downstairs.
Meanwhile, Kyle has been talking with some of the teenagers, and Allison takes this opportunity to pick his pocket. Kyle “allows” her to take his zapper wallet, and she gets zapped.
Storm told the teenagers about a tournament at Perilous Paintball the next morning. It’s four teams pitted against one another, winning team gets tickets to an upcoming Blood Bowl game (one ticket each), plus the person who captures the prize at the center gets a money prize. Nip finds out the address and time of the tournament, and tells everyone — or so she thinks. Either Cat was distracted when Nip was giving out the information, or Nip didn’t realize she hadn’t told Cat the details. Whatever, Cat didn’t hear the where and when, and so she doesn’t go.
Kyle and Sam go to the upstairs bedroom to have a private talk. Sam hears a noise and flings open the door. Kyle’s father is standing there. “Kyle?” There is a quasi-happy reunion, before Dad gives some rather strange answers, thinking that he and Kyle can “go to his shop” the next day. Dad has Alzheimer’s, and his shop days are over.
Raylan calls Sam; reports there are no police priors on the name “Geoffrey Stark”. Does the kid have a street name? Sam asks Cat if Geoffrey has a nickname. She says she doesn’t know of one. Sam tells Raylan he doesn’t know, but describes Geoffrey. Raylan says that could fit a lot of people.
Meanwhile, Alex looks in the driveway outside, and notices Sam’s car. It’s a customized Max Interceptor, easily worth 100K euro, which would fetch about 10K on the market. He asks Nip to get the schematics of the car for him. Nip negotiates to get paid for the information: 15 euros, which is the price of admission to the tournament (also covering rental of a paintball gun, helmet and overalls). Nip goes on the Net and gets the schematics, gives them to Alex and gets paid.
Alex calls Jimmi Stevens and reports that he’s seen a customized Max Interceptor, should he steal it? Jimmi remarks that’s a really unusual car. He’d better see about lining up a buyer first. He will make inquiries.
For most of this time, Nip has been happily playing the video game, and doing Really Well. At some point, apparently in response to something either Alex or Allison has said, Nip turns to Dr. Freeman and asks, “What is bestiality?” Dr. Freeman tells her to Google it.
On the other side of the room, Kyle has been talking with Sam and Dr. Freeman. Dr. Freeman wonders aloud if Kyle needs a place to live. Kyle agrees that maybe he does, and Dr. Freeman tells him about Merle Hagglar, owner of the Golden Dreams pawn shop on the Black Horse Pike in Pleasantville. Merle was complaining just the other day that he’s got a drug dealing squatter on his houseboat that he’d love to get rid of, and wondering out loud about finding someone who could do the deed. Kyle decides that he and Sam will go talk with Merle the next morning.
Sam asks Kyle, Fijay, Dr. Freeman, and Geoffrey back to his house for a drink. They accept. Cat drives Sam’s car. She starts out driving carefully until Kyle comments that he thought that Sam would have taught his daughter a little offensive driving. The teenager smiles, punches the accelerator and roars towards the intersection. She then pulls a bootlegger reverse just before the cross street and tries to leave Dr. Freeman and Fijay, who is following them, in the dust. Fijay drives Dr. Freeman’s car — and easily manages to stay with. Geoffrey takes note of Sam’s license plate number.
Earlier that day, Sam sent a drop-box message to Nathan, his buddy at the CIA and former handler, asking about Kyle’s burn notice. Nathan calls him back this evening. “Since it’s you, I’ll tell you what I know. It was the usual. Notice to all personnel who had contact with Kyle. Short and to the point. ‘Advise all personnel: Burn notice on Kyle Vaduva, effective 9 July 2041. Cause: classified level Omega clearance, codename Zanzibar.’ I don’t know diddly about any operation Zanzibar. And of course, I can’t go poking around in Omega matters without special clearance to do so.”
Raylan calls Sam, reports that the phone number is registered to Tony Stark of Richmond Ave in Atlantic City, a few blocks east of the Ventnor Borough line. There is no record of Tony having a son. Sam asks Raylan to ask Tony if he has a son. Raylan agrees to go.
Geoffrey checks out Sam Fisher’s house just as he did Sharin’s. Cat again notices, and this time warns him to stop. Sam asks if anyone would like to play some pool. Cat plays Kyle and her father and beats them both. Everyone has a fine time, until it’s time to figure out where people are sleeping. Cat glares at Fijay — both at the idea of her spending the night at Sam’s house, and when she realizes Fijay is more interested in Kyle than in Sam. Kyle spends the night in Sam’s spare bedroom, and Fijay spends the night on Dr. Freeman’s couch at his apartment in Pleasantville.
That night, Alex goes to a local teen dancing hangout. He meets Julie, of ordinarily ordinary appearance. He flirts with her and she flirts back, but nothing more happens between them. Alex goes home.
***
Wednesday, July 10, 2041:
Sam buys a phone for Kyle and another for Geoffrey. The young man’s phone does not have long distance. Kyle asks his Mom if she can find his birth certificate. She says she will look for it (and later, she finds it).
Kyle and Sam visit Merle Hagglar at the Golden Dreams pawn shop. Merle explains about Cinnamon, this drug dealer who is living on Merle’s houseboat without his permission. Kyle and Merle strike a deal, that Kyle will be Merle’s tenant, at 600 euro per month — but first, last and security will be free if Kyle can remove Cinnamon from the houseboat. The only catch: Don’t kill Cinnamon, who has connections in DMS and the Pleasantville police department. Merle has had Cinnamon arrested in the past, and he just kept coming back. If Cinnamon were to disappear, the finger of suspicion would point straight at him. Kyle and Merle sign a tenant agreement.
Kyle and Sam go to the houseboat, having armed themselves with some pistols. A moderately large goon, Salt, greets them. Kyle says they want to talk to Cinnamon. Salt says, “Stay here, I’ll get him.” Kyle says no, we’ll go to where he is. Another goon named Pepper — smaller but more agile — comes forward and says, “You stay here, I’ll go get him.” Kyle again says no, we’ll go see him. Kyle and Sam step forward.
Salt goes for his pistols (large .50 calibers), as does Pepper (an ordinary gun). But Sam is faster. In a blur, he pulls out his big guns and goes blam-blam with one, blam-blam with the other. Two exploded goons’ heads later, there’s a lot of blood and gore on Kyle’s new residence.
As Kyle and Sam cross the gangplank onto the boat, they both see a blur and hear a splash. Cinnamon has exited the premises. Problem solved (at least for now <GM cackle>).
Raylan goes to Tony Stark’s house and knocks, identifying himself as a US Marshall. Geoffrey is there. He unhooks Tony from the braindance machine, and sends him to answer the door. Raylan says they got a call from a neighbor that the neighbor was concerned. Is Tony all right? Tony keeps his cool and says yes, he’s fine. Raylan asks about Tony’s wife? Tony looks a little confused for a moment, but says she’s dead. Raylan then asks about Tony’s daughter Ellen? Tony denies having a daughter. Raylan then asks how is Tony’s son? Tony again keeps his cool and says that Geoff is fine. The question about Geoffrey reminds Tony of his braindance machine, and he goes back inside the house, letting the door swing shut. Raylan leaves and reports back to Sam that Tony does indeed seem to have a son named Geoff.
Meanwhile, four of the kids head for Perilous Paintball. On the way here, Allison successfully picks a stranger’s pocket. The tournament starts at 10:00 am. Nip asks the manager a bunch of questions.
Perilous Paintball occupies a full city block. The inside play area is about 80 yards long by 60 yards wide. At the center is a platform on stilts, 20 feet by 30 feet, with two circular staircases, one at each end. The platform itself is crenelated. Scattered across the area are 16 plywood “Sherman tanks” and 13 plywood “trees” with 6-foot diameter trunks.
The ‘Pretty Unicorns’ team (our PCs) takes the northwest corner. Clockwise, we have Team Zebra in the northeast corner, Team Yellow in the southeast, and Team Xiffle in the southwest.
Team Xiffle charges ferociously towards the center, taking cover at the tanks and trees along the way. However, they are targeted by both the Pretty Unicorns and Team Yellow. By the time they reach the western staircase, they each have two splatters (three and that team member is out of the game). Team Zebra is more cautious, taking cover at the tank closest to the eastern staircase, figuring they can pick off all the Yellow team who try for the staircase. That strategy doesn’t work, as two of the Yellows make it up to the platform.
Meanwhile, the Pretty Unicorns had split into two factions, who independently chose the same route to the staircase. Allison chose a stealthy approach, zigging and staying low. Nip, Oliver and Alex went more forthrightly towards their goal, taking opportunity shots at the Xiffles. Then Oliver stayed behind giving cover fire, while Alex advanced more slowly, as Nip and Allison made a dash for the staircase.
They arrived at the same time as the Xifflers, but had the advantage of fewer splatters. Three Xifflers were already down when Nip and Allison launched themselves up the staircase, dodging splatter as they went. Alex and Oliver finished off the last Xiffler as Allison and Nip reached the top platform.
However, two of the Yellows had also reached the platform, and now charged at the Pretty Unicorns, pistols a’splatterin’. Nip fought them off as Allison dove on the “prize” — a snow globe in the center of the platform. As she seized it, a bell rang, signaling the end of the tournament. The Pretty Unicorns had won! Blood Bowl tickets for this Saturday’s game against the Los Angeles Demons were handed out, along with 10 euros for the snow-globe seizer.
Sam has invited Nathan, Kyle, Raylan, Dr. Freeman and Boyd to his house on Friday night for a barbecue.
Episode 2: Rumble at the Dance
AKA Where’s the Dough?
If anything can go wrong … but heck, this is Cyberpunk. Always expect the unexpected.
Dramatis Personae
The Client du Jour:
Barry Gelder, money launderer with a big problem
The Grownups:
Kyle Vaduva, burned spy
Sam Fisher, retired CIA black operative
Dr. Gordon Freeman, combat doctor and entrepreneur
Boyd Crowler, local fixer
Mary Drucker, gal with a big gun
Nathan, CIA’s Deputy Director of Clandestine Ops
Raylan Gibbons, US Marshall
The Kids:
Alex Johnson, runner for car-thieving operation
Allison Cole, kleptomaniac and nascent sex-pot
Cat Fisher, Sam’s daughter
Dan Smith, prowler
Geoffrey Stark, fixer and braindance pusher
Nip Lacey, budding netrunner
Gayle Snow, 12 yo girl-next-door at Lacey house
The Action
Friday, July 12, 2041:
Allison Cole begins her day by finding a park and a kid with a shiny toy. Said shiny toy vroom-vrooms about on batteries and radio-controlled directions from the kid. But the kid’s attention wanders along with everyone else’s—luckily for Allison who picks up the little car, sticks it inside a pocket, goes home and adds it to her (hidden) collection of goodies.
Soon thereafter, Cat Fisher calls her friends Nip Lacey and Allison to organize a shopping spree, and Gayle Snow asks to tag along. Having just received their allowances (some larger than others), the four girls happily splurge on new attire for the dance they plan to attend that night. Cat generously assists the poorer members of the group in purchasing these items.
Brimming with packages, the four return to the Fisher house and display their prizes to Sam Fisher, Cat’s dad. Sam dutifully admires their new purchases, being careful to stay out of arm’s reach of Allison, who has displayed a possibly unhealthy interest in this older man.
Nip goes up to Sam, holds out an envelope, and says, “Please don’t pop my head like a zit!” Confused, Sam takes the envelope and opens it. Inside is a ticket to the upcoming Blood Bowl game: Jersey Devils versus Los Angeles Hellions. He looks at the ticket, then hands it to Cat, who seizes it and does a little glee dance. Sam assures Nip that he likes her and has no plans to pop her head like a zit (a threat he had made to Alex in the previous episode).
The girls go off to Cat’s room and prepare to go dancing that evening. They leave at 4 pm to have dinner out.
Kyle learns that his mom, Sharin Vaduva, and Raylan Gibbons have expedited the process of getting an Atlantic City ID for him. It will be available on Monday.
Nathan shows up for Sam’s barbeque a little after 4 pm, and hands Sam a copy of Kyle’s burn notice. Raylan Gibbons appears about 4:30, saying he couldn’t get free earlier, and Boyd Crowler appears around that time as well.
When Kyle arrives with Dr. Freeman, Nathan goes over and says he was sorry to see that Kyle was burned. Kyle asks Nathan for a job reference. Nathan shakes his head and says, “Sorry, no can do.” Dr. Freeman asks when the food will be ready, so Sam slaps some steaks on the grill, and hands out drinks. Sam, Nathan, Dr. Freeman and Boyd queue up for a few games of billiards. Boyd wins hands down.
The girls arrive at the BeBop Club around 5:30 pm. This teenager hangout on Atlantic Ave features pool hall action during the day and dancing at night. The boys arrive later when there’s a line. Alex gets in immediately, but Geoffrey and Dan are turned away.
Geoff, thinking quickly, realizes he knows the night manager, and drops the name to the front bouncer. Geoff is let in, but told to “get a pass” from the guy, which he does.
Dan scouts the back of the building, looking for another way in, but the ground floor has only a door, which is locked, and no windows. Dan returns to the front and tries a bribe of 10 euros, and is admitted.
Various guys ask Cat, Allison and Nip to dance. Cat asks her partner if he has a younger friend there (he does), and gets him to ask Gayle to dance. Cat dances with many different boys that evening.
Nip finds a kindred spirit in Terri, who plays both chess and 3 video games. She starts recruiting a “geek squad” among the people she meets.
Allison finds that one of her partners is getting touchy-feely, and uses the opportunity to pick his pocket. She successfully filches his wallet and removes the cash—but then is observed returning the wallet by one of the club’s bouncers. The bouncer seizes Allison’s wrist, directs her to return the money, says that stealing is unwelcome here, and escorts her forcefully outside.
Alex finds a pretty but shy wallflower to dance with.
Geoffrey makes the rounds, looking for people he knows and finding several. He arranges two braindance appointments for Sunday.
Dan explores the place and finds that the men’s room has a smallish window on the side of the building. It’s just barely big enough for him to squeeze through, but he’s confident he can do that.
On her way back to the bus, Allison meets Rudi, a punter on the football team. She notices he’s wearing an extravagant watch on his wrist and expensive clothes. They have a long talk in the park, and he then escorts her home. Some kissing ensues on the front porch. Rudi gets Allison’s phone number.
Meanwhile, back at the Fisher house, Sam gets a phone call from Barry Gelder. Barry says that Boyd gave him Sam’s number and thinks Sam might be able to help him with a problem he’s having. Sam invites him to come over. When Barry arrives, Sam escorts him into his office, where he turns on his white-noise generator.
Barry explains his situation. He is a money launderer based in Pleasantville, and 98 thousand euros have disappeared from one of his bank accounts. Barry owes much of this money to Rupert Aldrick, a smuggler in Abescon who specializes in transporting car parts and other one-foot-square-ish sized items via Aldrick Trucking. Rupert is pressing for payment and is “not a nice guy”, so Barry is hiding with various friends. Sam sends a text to Kyle to come to his office, but the white noise generator blocks the transmission, and Sam doesn’t realize this. Barry tells Sam the following events:
Barry deposited the money on Monday, July 1st at his main bank—Idea Bank in Pleasantville—then moved it by EBT on July 2nd to TDBank in Ocean City. On July 8th (the following Monday), Barry went to TDBank to move it again. He then discovered it had vanished from that account on July 3rd, also by EBT apparently initiated from his own computer, to the Royal Bank of the Caymans. He asked the TDBank manager, Pedro Gonzales, to investigate. The next day on Tuesday, July 9th, Pedro told Barry, “Everything looks legit about the transfer. I don’t know what to tell you.”
Sam negotiates that he will help Barry for the sum of 2,000 euro, half cash in advance, plus “a whole bunch” of favors. He gives Barry 3 hours to come up with the cash.
Meanwhile, back at the BeBop Club, the High School quarterback accosts Dan, wondering what “you fru-fru guys” are doing here. Several traded insults later, the quarterback draws back his fist to hit Dan, and the rumble is ON. The quarterback (declares stun damage and) hits Dan, but only inflicts minor damage (one point gets through).
Alex comes to Dan’s defense and uses his martial arts skills to grapple the quarterback, then tosses him to the floor, injuring his leg (for 6 points of impact). The quarterback passes out from the pain (or maybe just the shock). Three other football players behind Dan throw punches at him, but only one connects (for another point of stun damage). Seeing Alex sack the QB has incensed some nearby fans, who surround him with the intent of pummeling him into putty. However, Alex manages to dance past their blows. Seeing the QB on the floor, Dan tries to jab an elbow into his face, but (rolls a 1 and) misses.
Things are not looking good for our guys, but then a klaxon sounds, and the bouncers break up the fight. They escort Dan and Alex out the front door, and the football players-and-fans out the back door.
Barry returns to Sam’s with the cash, and Sam asks Barry some more questions. Sam learns that the Idea Bank manager in Pleasantville is Diedrick von Westrig, whom Barry has known for 15 years. Diedrick became the Idea Bank manager 9 years ago, and persuaded Barry to choose Idea as his main bank 8 years ago. Barry knows little about Pedro. The Ocean City branch of TDBank is merely one of several banks Barry uses for moving money around. The EBT in question, from TDBank to the Caymans, was annotated with a memo of “Athenia TransWorld”.
Barry has several local competitors: Tom Durgin, Dick Valoris, Mustafa Al Gazir, and Jane Callum.
Soon after Barry leaves, Sam’s dog Cerberus perks up his ears and walks over to the window. Sam follows and looks out, as do Sam’s guests. Lying on Sam’s front lawn are six guys, prone, not moving. Sam flicks on the outside lights, only to have Nathan say that’s not a good idea.
Sam turns the lights off again and looks at Nathan. “Did you bring a hit squad?” Nathan shrugs and mumbles something about visiting a house where a known burned spy was expected and “anything could happen” and something else about precautions.
Meanwhile, a black van pulls up outside the house. Two guys get out and carry the very limp (and “head-shot” dead) bodies into the van, then drive away. Nathan shrugs again and says, “All taken care of.” Kyle remarks, “It was justified.”
After Sam’s other guests have left, Sam brings Kyle and Boyd downstairs into the innermost sanctum. Boyd duly admires Sam’s extensive gun collection. Kyle goes over the information Sam collected from Barry, and comes up with a “to do” list. This includes:
1. Barry to check his computer for viruses and malware.
2. Barry to go to bank and get detailed activity log report for his account, balances inquired, both from ATMs and any internal inquiries from bank.
3. Learn whatever can be found about this “Athenia TransWorld” notation.
Boyd leaves. Kyle spends the night in the guest bedroom.
***
Saturday, July 13, 2041:
Cat makes breakfast for Sam, and then takes a tray of breakfast to Kyle. She perches on the end of his bed while he eats.
Alex teaches Dan judo for 6 hours in Alex’s living room.
Allison and her (foster) dad practice karate, then spend the afternoon at the Steel Pier.
Nip spends 5 hours doing info research for the chip she wants to sell.
Cat spends the morning doing Net research on “Athenia TransWorld” [she rolls really well] and learns of four companies with that name. Everything else looks irrelevant and/or unimportant.
1. Travel agency in Athens, Greece.
2. Sound recording studio in Seattle, Washington.
3. Charter air service in Cyprus.
4. PR company in Athens, Georgia.
Mary Druker calls Cat at noon. “So … you were at a dance last night where a fight broke out with the high school football team?” Cat admits this is true. Mary asks, “So, are you all right? Nothing we should worry about?” Cat says all is okay. Mary asks, “So we’re all set for Lunch next Wednesday?” Cat says yes, then checks her calendar and makes sure she writes down ‘Lunch with Mary’ for noon.
After the phone call, Cat stares at her phone. Yup, provided by the US Marshall Service. Yup, must have a GPS chip embedded in it somewhere. Cat makes a note-to-self: ‘Forgetting’ to take her phone with her had better be a rare occurrence.
Episode 3: The Cat-Nip Caper
The daring duo invade several data-fortresses on the Net to unearth the truth about ‘Athenia TransWorld’. And where there’s cat-nip, can a Puddy-Tat be far behind?
Background
On Saturday Night, Alex, Cat (with Nip’s ticket her father gave her), Allison and Oliver along with Dr. Freeman head to Pleasantville to see the local Blood Bowl team, the Jersey Devils, play the Los Angeles Demons. The Demons are introduced as their coach comes out and starts to “summon” the team. One by one the starting Demons appear from floor “traps” around the area until four of the five are “summoned”. Then the coach starts to “summon” from the crowd of LA fans, and the “ringer” starts having his skin change, horns grow from his head etc. and this makes the LA Demons complete. Not to be out done, the Jersey Devils “raise up” Satan’s court from the pits of hell (located under the area floor) and the Jersey Devils appear. The crowd goes wild. This is followed by an hour and a half of bloody violence that combines the savagery of “Jugger” from the film, Blood of Heroes, with modern cybernetics and its implanted weapons. The Devils eke out a 3-2 victory and bring their season record to 1-1.
During Episode 2, Rumble at the Dance, the PCs learned about Barry Gelder’s problem: Ninety-eight thousand euros were transferred out of his account at TD Bank in Ocean City to an account at the Royal Bank of the Caymans. The memo on the transaction read “Athenia TransWorld.” Cat researched and found four companies with that name: a travel agency in Athens, Greece; a sound-recording studio in Seattle, Washington; an air charter service in Cyprus, and a (large) PR agency in Athens, Georgia.
Dramatis Personae
The Client du Jour:
Barry Gelder, money launderer with a big problem
The Grownups:
Sam Fisher, retired CIA black operative.
Fijay, driver extraordinaire.
Boyd Crowler, local fixer in Pleasantville.
The Kids:
Cat Fisher, Sam’s daughter.
Nip Lacey, budding netrunner.
Fred, ferret and imaginary friend of Nip’s.
The Action
Sunday, July 14, 2041:
Cat Fisher, Nip Lacey and Sam Fisher get together to plan an ‘info heist’ on the four Athenia TransWorld companies. First, Cat and Nip get Net maps for the cities and street maps of the areas around the four companies.
Their plans are to search the companies’ financial records, phone logs and client lists for (1) the Cayman Islands bank account number, (2) the two bank routing numbers in Ocean City and Pleasantville, (3) any phone calls to or from New Jersey, and (4) the names of Barry’s four competitors, the two bank managers, and the smuggler Barry owes the money to.
Cat also asks Daddy (Sam) to underwrite upgrading the old programs she gave to Nip. The subject of Nip’s equipment comes up. Sam learns that her equipment is really marginal: a cheap, used, beginner’s deck. He asks how much it would cost to get better equipment. Nip pipes up that she’s always wanted an EBM PNI 724π, costing a mere 10,000 euros plus 200 euros for the “changing color” option. Sam blinks, but says okay. The total for equipment and upgrades comes to something over 12,000 euros.
Sam points out to Nip, “You owe me, big time,” and Nip agrees. She is hopping up and down with eager gratitude.
Next comes the issue of where to enter the Net. Sam calls his buddy Boyd Crowler, a local fixer, who suggests a couple of places in Pleasantville. Cat looks online at the various places, and they choose a laundromat on a street just off New Road (Route 9). Sam calls Fijay and asks if she would drive them there. She agrees.
***
Monday, July 15, 2041, 3:00 am:
Cat disguises herself and Nip. Sam also disguises himself. Fijay drives them to the alley behind the laundromat, arriving around 3:00 am. Looking around, they’re quite sure there are no cameras, and Nip also checks for remotes with her shiny new deck, finding none. Cat borrows lock-picking tools from Sam, and “the family that burgles together” gets through the rather flimsy lock on the back door. Fijay drives off, agreeing to stay close enough to dash in and get them within five minutes.
The team finds itself in a utility area with mops, buckets, and other cleaning supplies. They go inside the laundromat, and discover yes, there is a front office, and indeed, two phone lines. The front office has a smallish window into the main area of the laundromat, which also has a large window onto the main street. Cat taps into the two phone lines. She and Nip jack into the Net, while Sam keeps watch.
Cat’s avatar is a golden woman with streaming silver hair who skates through the NET leaving small sparkles in her wake. Nip’s avatar is a raccoon-like woman with that ‘burglar’s mask’ across the eyes. As the pair walk to New York City, Cat notices a ferret bounding about at Nip’s feet. Nip notices too, and greets her (imaginary?) friend Fred effusively.
Cat and Nip jump through LDLs for Bogota, Dakar, Rome, and finally Athens — where the local time is 10 am. They easily find the travel agency, which is shaped like the goddess Athena holding a sword aloft. Not far away (about 25 squares) is a large datafortress with solid marble columns surrounding it.
Our daring duo turn on Invisible and Clairvoyance. Cat now sees two humanoid avatars with glowing blue eyes lurking about the large datafortress, while a grey robotic dog, also with glowing blue eyes, watches the two. Soon, the two humanoids move off. (GM note: that datafortress is a bank; the two humanoids were “casing the joint”; the dog was a Guard Dog.)
The travel agency’s datafortress is small in size. Nip uses Wizard Book on the code gate, getting through easily. Inside is one CPU, 4 Data Cubes, and controllers for 2 terminals, a printer, a video camera and an alarm. The Clairvoyance program in the corner does not see Nip, but she sees it, as well as the Watchdog, Bloodhound, and two Shadows. Cat also comes inside and is not detected. She also sees the programs.
Cube 1 holds an Employee database and Interoffice files including emails and phone logs. The phone logs contain calls from all over the world, including some from New Jersey, though not the numbers matching any of Barry’s competitors or the two bank managers or the smuggler. They copy the phone logs. Cube 2 has a photorealistic VR conference room.
Cube 3 contains a Clients database, Financial Transactions, and Business Records about tours the company sells. This cube is locked, but Nip’s Wizard Book prevails again. The finances file includes some transactions with Swiss bank accounts, but nothing on the Caymans or TD Bank or Idea Bank. They copy the Swiss bank account information.
Cube 4, also locked, contains Agreements, Correspondence, and a grey ops file labeled Bribes. Once unlocked and read, this last file contains information about bribes paid to local officials. (GM note: Coincidence! I had not read Eurosource Plus on Greece as the highway into the EU via bribery galore, but how convenient for our duo.) They copy the Bribes file.
Leaving Athens, the two walk across the Mediterranean to Cyprus and find the air charter service fairly easily. After all, this one is not in the middle of town. This datafortress is also online (it’s now only a little after 10 am), and also appears like the goddess, but flying. This time, two Watchdogs are outside, patrolling near the code gate.
Meanwhile, back in Pleasantville, a drunkard staggers along the street and stops in front of the laundromat. Sam readies a pistol, just in case. But it turns out the drunkard merely opens his fly and pisses on the building, paying no attention to what might or might not be inside.
Cat and Nip position themselves out of sight of one Watchdog, and zap the other with Killers. Taken by surprise, the Watchdog is down before it can alert its owners and run its trace. They then zap the other Watchdog with the same result. Nip unleashes her Wizard Book on the code gate, and again gets inside.
The Ninja with its glowing sword does not see Nip, but she sees it — along with one CPU, 4 Data Cubes, controllers for a video camera and alarm, a printer and a terminal — plus an Aardvark and a PitBull. And … there’s something “doglike” hidden in Cube 4, which says it contains Travel Destinations and Special Operations.
Cat comes inside as well, and the Ninja doesn’t see her either. (GM Note: I rolled a lot of 1’s in this episode; this may have been one of them.) Cat’s Clairvoyance also notices the “doglike” program on the Special Ops file in Cube 4.
First, the duo attack and kill the Pit Bull, then the Ninja, and then the “doglike” thing on the Special Ops file in Cube 4 (which was a Crybaby; now it’s just gobbledegook code). Nip also zaps the Aardvark, “just for practice”.
Next, Nip opens the locked Data Cube 3, with Interoffice Email and Phone Logs, plus a Clients database. Nothing matches their search criteria. She then unlocks Cube 4, and they copy the Special Ops, formerly Crybaby file even though it is “corrupted”.
Nip then attempts to unlock Cube 2, which holds Financial Transactions, Business Correspondence, and Competitor Information, but fails. No screeching alarms go off, so she tries again, and succeeds. The financial file does include transactions with the Royal Bank of the Caymans, but not that particular account number, and no transactions with TD Bank in Ocean City or Idea Bank in Pleasantville. The competitor information turns out to be Espionage on Competitors, which they also copy.
Cube 1 contains an Employee Database, which they leave alone. They decide the wiser course of action is to jack out now just in case the unlock-failure had tripped any kind of silent alarm. After all, this time they killed four programs inside the fortress! It will be obvious that the place was hacked.
Returning to the laundromat in Pleasantville, Cat and Nip are pumped up and excited. They decide to go ahead and investigate the other two companies now, rather than waiting for morning. They again enter the Net and walk to New York City, then jump through LDLs to Bogota, Panama City, Mexico City, and then to Seattle, Washington, arriving about half an hour after midnight, local time.
The sound recording studio is in the “garment district” filled with old large buildings that once were warehouses and textile factories. For whatever reason, the datafortress is there, online. (Someone must be up late, practicing his or her music.) Cat and Nip find it easily, as the fortress is shaped like Athena playing a tuba.
No Watchdogs or other programs appear to be guarding the outside. Nip’s Wizard Book easily cracks the code gate, and she’s in. The SeeYa doesn’t see her, but she sees it, along with one CPU, 4 Data Cubes, controllers for two terminals, a video camera and three microphones, a printer and a holo-projector. As for programs, neither she nor the Guard Dog see each other, but she does see a Watchdog, an Aardvark, a Manticore, and another “dog-like” thing on Data Cube 3.
Cat comes inside as well. She and the Guard Dog also don’t see each other. The pair decide to attack the Watchdog. Nip zaps it in one blow. This activates the Guard Dog, but Cat is faster. Unfortunately, her Killer samurai stumbles and misses (rolled a 1, then a 4). The Guard Dog opens its mouth to howl its alert and run its Trace, but instead transforms into a lightning storm of blue fizzles before dissipating into thin air (rolled a 1, then a 10).
The pair makes short work of the remaining Manticore and Aardvark, but chooses to ignore the “dog-like” thing on Cube 3, which reads Research on Competitors. (GM note: yes, another Crybaby.) In fact, they choose not to open Cube 3 at all.
Now, Nip opens Cube 1 and reads the Interoffice Emails, Phone Logs and Memos. Nothing matches the search criteria. This cube also contains a file of Sound Effects. Cube 2 holds a VR sound recording studio of fractal quality where musicians can practice making sound recordings before doing it live with a real crew of recording specialists.
Cube 4 is the only locked one, containing a Client Database, a Schedule of Music Sessions, a slew of Music Recordings, and Financial Transactions, none of which include banks in the Cayman Islands or TD Bank in Ocean City or Idea Bank.
Nip wants to copy the music recordings, but Cat says no. They leave without copying any of the files.
One more LDL hop takes them to Atlanta, Georgia, and they walk to Athens, which is very close by (roughly 60 miles on the street map). Here, they already know the PR agency is a large company, so they are not surprised to find a larger datafortress along the main drag of this city grid. Even though it’s now 3:45 am local time, yes, the shape of Athena on a pedestal is right there. However, there is little to no “Net foot traffic” wandering by at this hour of the morning.
Once again, the pair quickly zaps the Watchdogs patrolling outside of the fortress, taking them down before they can react. This code gate is tougher, and Nip fails her first attempt. However, no alarms seem to be tripped. (GM note: possibly an error on my part; this was my first experience with a Net adventure on either side of the aisle.) So Cat tries with her Wizard Book, and succeeds.
The pair enters the fortress — and are not seen by the Clairvoyance. This fortress contains 2 CPUs and 8 Data Cubes, along with two pairs of door-and-alarm controllers, 2 terminals, a printer, and a holo-display. The programs include two Aardvarks, a Killer, a Dragon, and a PitBull, plus a Watchdog (that’s really a Wolf), and another Samurai-appearing Killer (that’s really a Chameleon).
The pair again attack the programs. Nip targets the Pit Bull, while Cat takes on the Watchdog/Wolf. The PitBull gets a chance to alert its people and run its Trace, but both fail. The pair again decimates the other programs in the fortress. (GM note: the ones they can see, anyway.)
Nip now starts opening and unlocking Data Cubes. The pair has high hopes that this company employs the culprit they’re looking for. Not only is it larger than the other three, it’s closest in physical location to the Caymans.
They start with Cube 8, the Interoffice Phone Logs. It’s not locked, but nothing matches the search criteria. Next, they open Cube 4, the Contacts Database. Also unlocked, it too contains nothing matching the search criteria.
Next, they unlock Cube 2, which has Business Correspondence and Financial Transactions. The company does have transactions with the Royal Bank of the Caymans, although not that particular account, and no transactions with Idea Bank or TD Bank in Ocean City (although there are many transactions with several local TD Banks). They copy both the Business Correspondence and Financial Transaction files.
Next, they search Cube 1’s Interoffice file of Emails. Nothing matches the search criteria. They then unlock Cube 5’s Clients Database, again nothing matches the search criteria.
Nip’s attempt to unlock Cube 3 fails — but no programs are left to set off any alarms. Rather than try again on Cube 3, she moves to Cube 7, where they had earlier detected a hidden “detection/alarm” program. Nip succeeds in unlocking the cube, and nothing happens. Instead of reading the file marked Political Affiliations and Blackmail, she tries to copy it.
Big oops! A Siamese cat immediately entwines itself around her ankles, yeowing loudly as only these cats can. Fred the ferret pounces on the cat, and appears to slow it a little.
Of course, Nip doesn’t know what this “Puddy Tat” program does, and decides she’d better jack out immediately. No Dogs have survived to run a Trace, but the yeowing probably would have alerted NetWatch. In any event, Nip does succeed in purging the Puddy Tat from her shiny new Deck.
Cat is relieved when the cat disappears, even though this leaves her alone in the fortress. She quickly goes back to Cube 3, which she unlocks, and copies the Business Agreements. She then unlocks Cube 6, which holds 3 MUs of Advertising Campaigns, which she copies, and then jacks out.
Back in Pleasantville
The team disconnects the phone taps and calls Fijay, who arrives within minutes. In the car an excited Nip and Cat congratulate each other on an “Awesome” run. Then Nip blurts out, “Wow! My first successful NET run!”
Sam spins around in his seat and glares at his daughter, who had “sold him” on the fact that Nip, despite her young years, was an experienced Net Runner. Cat is aware of his “stare”, but ignores it as she continues to celebrate with her friend, Nip. No, she will not meet Daddy’s disapproving look over the fact that this was Nip’s first real NET run, because she is thinking, “It’s mine too!”
They return to Sam’s house and analyze the files they copied in more depth. They have copies of:
Travel agency, Athens, Greece: Phone Logs, Financial Transactions, Bribes.
Charter air service, Cyprus: Espionage on Competitors, “Special Operations” corrupted gobbledegook.
PR agency, Athens, Georgia: Business Correspondence, Financial Transactions, Business Agreements, 3 Advertising Campaigns.
On the down side: This research was a dead end. Nothing matched the search criteria. Apparently, none of these four companies have any connection to Barry’s competitors, the two bank managers, the smuggler Barry owes money to, the account in the Caymans or the two banks in Ocean City and Pleasantville.
On the plus side: Several of the files they copied have resale value. In particular, the Greek bribery information and PR advertising campaigns should fetch a reasonably pretty penny. The file of espionage on charter air competitors might also have some useful stuff, as well as the Swiss bank account information in the Greek travel agency and the financial transactions from the PR agency.
Sam will contact Boyd to sell the bribery information and advertising campaigns.
New Program:
Puddy Tat
Detection/Alarm
Options: Endurance, Invisibility, “SlowDown”
STR 4, MU 5, Cost 680 eb
Puddy Tat is like Crybaby. It is placed in a MU where it appears to be a datafile. SeeYa or SmartEye can reveal the Puddy Tat (at -2 to see it), as will an attempt to read the file. If the NetRunner attempts to copy the file, the Puddy Tat activates. A Siamese cat entwines itself around the NetRunner’s ankles, reducing movement by 1 square per turn. The cat also yeows loudly, adding STR 4 to any Trace program. It cannot be dumped from the Deck unless the NetRunner succeeds in a roll of INT + Interface versus CPU’s INT + 1d10. The icon is a large Siamese cat that continually entwines itself around the NetRunner’s ankles, yeowing loudly.
Episode 4: What Would Michael Westen Do?
Kyle strolls into TD Bank with a fake identity and cranks up the heat on the suspect. Geoff tells a fake story to motivate Sam. Alex chooses the wiser course. Cat again volunteers to help, paints her face and saves some bacon.
Dramatis Personae
The Client du Jour:
Barry Gelder, money launderer with a big problem: 98 thousand euros was transferred out of his TD Bank account to the Cayman Islands. The smuggler to whom he owes this money wants it now.
The Grownups:
Kyle Vaduva: Burned spy.
Sam Fisher: Retired CIA black operative, assassin, cleaner, you-name-it.
Dr. Gordon Freeman: Former professor at UNLV, former assistant coroner in Las Vegas and disgraced cyber researcher from our Romanian Campaign.
Fijay: Expert driver and former Euro-something agent, tainted by Kyle’s burn notice.
Boyd Crowler: local fixer based in Pleasantville.
Jonathan Riaker: Local drug dealer moving up in the world, Geoffrey’s new connection for braindance chips.
Mary Drucker: “Big Sister” for Cat Fisher.
Pedro Gonzales: Bank manager at TD Bank in Ocean City; suspect in the transfer of Barry’s money.
Raylan Gibbons: US Marshall, general all-around US Marshall.
The Kids:
Alex Jackson: 14 yo Runner and spotter for Jimmi Stevens. Lives with mom who works long hours.
Allison Cole: 13 yo kleptomaniac sex pot. Lives with father.
Cat Fisher: Sam’s 15 yo daughter.
Dan Smith: 15 yo unreliable prowler; lives with grandmother but often on the street, stays at or hangs out at the Lacey house. Wants to get rich.
Geoffrey Stark: 14 yo fixer specializing in braindance chips; he has found a braindance addict to play the role of his father.
Nip Lacey: 12 yo girl with neon blue hair, has amnesia. Was adopted by Tyne Lacey 2 years ago.
Johnny Appleton: Rich 16 yo kid who lives in Brigantine and is a computer geek; makes video games; his father works for DMS.
Jimmi Stevens: Crystal’s boyfriend and professional car thief.
Storm Snow: 15 yo boy, junior in upcoming year of high school, lives at Tyne’s house.
The Action
Sunday, July 14, 2041:
Barry Gelder calls Kyle and tells him he was “temporarily embarrassed” with low funds last week. His daughter is getting married, and not only had all that money been taken from his account, but he had just paid advances for the caterer, flowers, wedding gown, and the venue for the reception. But he now has another 8,000 euros he can make available to Kyle, especially if they can restore his funds. Kyle assures him that he doesn’t need the additional money right away, but it would be welcome if they can indeed get Barry’s money back. (GM Note: Okay, another newbie GM issue. I’m trying to avoid a “Monty Haul” campaign and wound up being a cheapskate!)
Monday, July 15, 2041:
The Atlantic City Breeze reports that suspected drug dealer Cinnamon was found dead last night in Pleasantville. Two shots to the right temple. (GM Note: If the PCs had thought to ask the right people, they would have learned who was responsible for having Cinnamon shot. But in any event, this means that Kyle can now go live on his boat.)
Kyle gets his Atlantic City ID. He applies for a gun permit and armor permit in Pleasantville. US Marshall Raylan Gibbons vouches for him, so the paperwork is fast-tracked and he is allowed both the light armor permit and a Class E gun permit (handguns up to 4d6+3 and shotguns). Kyle also gets paint and cleaning supplies for his boat. He calls Fijay, who agrees to sublet the other bedroom for 300 euros a month. Fijay comes over and starts cleaning and painting. Kyle also submits a resume to do substitute teaching at the High School. (GM Note: Despite using some ingenuity with his references, that’s NOT going to happen.) Kyle also applies for and gets a business license in Pleasantville, for doing a retail business off his houseboat.
Jonathan Riaker (a local drug dealer who is moving up in the world) contacts Geoffrey Stark and says he’s got “a little problem. Little problem for me, bigger problem for you.” It seems Jon was late in getting to pick up his current supply of various drugs, and saw a couple of kids stealing his two bags of braindance chips, half of which were intended as Geoff’s next two-week supply. Jon describes the pair (14 year-old twins, black hair with green tips, Mohawk style, muscle shirts, mirror shades). Geoff recognizes them. Jon says that if Geoff can retrieve the chips, he can keep both bags.
Geoff comes to Sam Fisher’s house and knocks on the door. Sam answers. Geoff says, “Don’t send U.S. Marshals to my door.” He explains that his dad is a braindance addict, and easily upset. Sam’s daughter Cat overhears, and is mortified. “You sent a US Marshall to Geoff’s house? Oh great! Now I will never get a date!” Sam explains he was just looking after his daughter’s best interests, wanting to keep her safe. It doesn’t seem to help.
Geoff then asks for Sam’s assistance. He tells Sam that a couple of kids stole a bunch of braindance chips from his dad. Would Sam help retrieve them? (GM Note: Can you say “extra bonus ingenuity IP point” for Geoff?) Sam agrees to do so. Geoff gives Sam the twins’ address in Linwood, where they live with a 15 year-old brother who is a bully.
Meanwhile, Jimmi Stevens (car thief) gives Alex Jackson the names of three cars he wants found: BMW Z10, BMW Daimler, and the Lamborghini Dreamer. Alex starts wandering around the Atlantic City streets looking for them.
Kyle Vaduva comes over to Sam’s house for a planning session on Barry Gelder’s problem. Cat reports on her and Nip’s Netrunning research. (No apparent connection between the four “Athenia TransWorld” companies and the transfer of Barry’s funds to the Caymans.) They start discussing what to do. Cat has an idea: Kyle can pretend to be a bank examiner from the Caymans, go to TD Bank and scare Pedro Gonzales, the bank manager there, then tap his phone and see who he calls. (GM Note: Another “extra bonus” ingenuity IP for Cat.)
Kyle and Sam agree this is a great idea. Cat and Nip spend several hours doing library research to get information to help Kyle do a plausible impersonation of a Cayman Islands bank examiner.
Sam calls Boyd Crowler (local fixer with fingers in many pies). They meet in a dive on Route 9 in Northfield. Sam offers Boyd the info from the Greek travel agency on corrupt public officials taking bribes and transactions with Swiss bank accounts, the Cyprus air charter service’s espionage on competitors, and the Georgian PR Agency’s advertising campaigns. Boyd says he can ask a few people, and will get back to Sam.
Meanwhile, Alex doesn’t find any of these cars on the street. He figures he might be able to find some at the casino parking lots. He and Dan Smith decide to stroll through some of these parking lots. They observe that each floor has four cameras, one at each corner. A couple of other teenagers greet them as they walk through. They do find a BMW Daimler with European plates, and report its location to Jimmi.
Nip Lacey spends the evening making a photo-realistic avatar for Sam to use in the Net. It’s a cartoon-style guy with a big chin, big shoulders, wearing a Hawaiian shirt and carrying an ever-refilling glass of scotch. (GM Note: This is how Nip sees Sam. Her world looks like cartoon people in a cartoon landscape. That’s how she sees the Net too — except the Net also has glowing lines of connections everywhere.)
Meanwhile, back at the Fisher house, they make a plan for investigating the Linwood twins, and recruit Dr. Freeman to help them. Cat asks Dr. Freeman if he has sedatives, and he agrees to bring some. Cat paints her face with line-contour-changing makeup, while Sam also disguises his face. (GM Note: Like that’s going to help. How many 6 foot 10 inch tall thuggish guys are there in this neck of the woods?)
The four go to the street in Linwood where the twins live. Dr. Freeman takes Sam’s pickup truck and drives up and down Route 9. The twins’ house is about 5 houses away from Route 9. The team arrives around midnight. The street is pretty quiet, except for some music coming from the target house.
Cat sneaks up to the front window and looks in. There’s a party of sorts going on in the living room. The twins are dancing with a couple of girls. The older brother calls someone named Barbara, and invites her over. Cat sneaks around to the back where there’s a window to the master bedroom. Being the middle of August, windows are open. There’s an older guy, roughly 40, lying on the bed, apparently trying to sleep but tossing and turning. He ends up facing the window.
Cat comes back to the front of the house, cuts the screen on the corner bedroom #3, and sneaks inside. This must be the older boy’s room, just one twin-sized bed. She searches, and does not find any braindance chips. She slips down the short hallway to the door to the master bedroom and goes inside.
Cat knock-out punches (with Sambo) the man, then gives him a dose of sedative (with a “Bones McCoy” supplied by Dr. Freeman). She then searches that bedroom. No braindance chips. She checks the last bedroom #2, also in the front, which has twin-sized bunk beds, again finding no braindance chips. She slips back outside.
Meanwhile, Kyle and Sam have gone around to the patio at the rear of the house, and are looking in the sliding glass door to the dining room. Cat finds them there. The next step has to be going inside where the partiers can see them. Kyle points out that he’s wearing a suit and tie and his undisguised face. “You didn’t tell me we were going on a black op,” he tells Sam. “If they see my face, I’ll have to kill them.”
Cat is horrified. “Give me a minute,” she says, and returns to the front. She knocks on the front door. The brother opens it. Ka-pow! She knocks him out too, leaps over his prone body, and draws two pistols which she points at the diagonal corners. “On the floor, Muther Fuckers!” she yells with the craziest expression she can muster. The girls curl up into balls, while the twins drop to the floor. She shoots up all five teenagers with the sleepy-juice.
With all possible witnesses now sedated, Cat beckons Kyle and Sam into the house. Downstairs, they find most of the braindance chips, still in the two bags. They also find 150 euros in various pockets and loose change. They call Dr. Freeman to come back with the truck, and all four head back to Sam’s house.
Sam calls Geoff, tells him, “We got your stuff.” Geoff comes to the house and collects the chips. Cat gives him the 150 euros. Geoff thanks the team and returns home a happy brain-dance fixer.
That night, Jimmi checks out the Daimler in the casino parking lot. It is indeed what he is looking for. He steals it and takes it to a garage in Pleasantville, where it is stripped of alarms and given a new VIN number.
***
Tuesday, July 16, 2041:
Alex makes an appointment to visit Johnny Appleton in Brigantine at 2 pm. He asks Johnny if it’s okay to bring a friend, Dan. Johnny remembers Dan and says sure.
Kyle forges a Cayman Islands ID. He uses that ID to rent a car at the airport, giving a cash deposit. Sam teaches some Cayman Islands culture to Kyle so he will appear to be authentic. Cat gives Kyle one of Sam’s CIA bugs to use at Pedro Gonzales’ office at TD Bank.
Alex and Dan walk to Brigantine, arriving at 12:30 in the afternoon. They are stopped at the guard post at the end of the bridge. The guard asks who they are there to see. “Johnny Appleton.” The guard consults his clipboard. “Ah yes, but your appointment is for two o’clock. I’ll have to call and check.” He does, and Johnny says it’s okay that they’re early.
The guard lets them in to Brigantine (a closed, gated community) and gives them directions to Johnny’s house. Alex and Dan take the long way around, and they do see a Lamborghini Dreamer. Alex memorizes the address, and they go to Johnny’s house, where they playtest Johnny’s newest game for the rest of the afternoon.
Cat and Nip jack into the Net and prepare to eavesdrop on outgoing phone calls from the bank. At 3:30 pm, Kyle goes inside to the manager’s office and introduces himself to Pedro as a bank examiner from the Cayman Island Monetary Authority. They are concerned about “irregularities” including this specific transfer of funds — naming the transfer from Barry’s account.
Pedro turns white, and glances down at one of four framed photographs on his desk. Kyle gets the feeling he’s not so much afraid of Kyle as of something else. Pedro says that yes, Mr. Gelder was upset that the money was removed fraudulently, but Pedro looked into it and everything seemed to be legitimate. Kyle says he’ll need a copy of the original transfer paper.
Pedro goes to a file cabinet and leafs through folders. Kyle looks at the photos on the desk — they are obviously family photos of Pedro, his wife, and four daughters. The one Pedro glanced at contains his wife and an 8 year-old girl. Kyle stealthily places the bug on the photo before Pedro takes a piece of paper from the files and turns to the copier machine. Kyle soon has the photocopy in hand, thanks Pedro and leaves the office.
Back on the Net, Cat and Nip succeed in listening to Pedro’s call. A woman answers, and it’s soon clear that Pedro has called his wife. “Is Sanchia okay? The other girls too? And you?” Yes, they are all busy inside the house doing sewing projects and baking cookies. Why is Pedro asking? Is everything okay? “Yes and no. I’ll tell you when I get home for dinner.”
Kyle removes his disguise. He and Sam go to the Gonzales house at six o’clock. They immediately notice a new aluminum fence around the property, and a cyberized pit bull inside in the yard. They go up to the front door and knock.
Kyle gives another fake name and says he was hired by the Cayman Islands examiner. They have reason to believe that someone blackmailed Pedro into transferring the funds. They want to catch the blackmailer and hope that Pedro will help them. If so, there would be no need to pursue the matter of Pedro’s actions further. Pedro asks to see their IDs, but Kyle says they often handle bad guys, and Pedro is persuaded to believe them.
Pedro explains that someone kidnapped Sanchia, his 8 year old daughter, as she was walking back from a neighborhood park. The kidnapper called his cell phone, and told him to follow the instructions left in an envelope on his front step. He did so, and the people returned his daughter. But he’s been in a state of anxiety ever since. He doesn’t know who did it, he can’t ask the cops for help, and he’s afraid it could happen again. He pleads with Sam and Kyle to help him.
Pedro describes the call, saying the man said, “that punheteiro (jerkoff) would pay for dissing him. Said he would teach that escroto (literally ‘scrotum’) a lesson.” Pedro adds that it sounded like Brazilian Portuguese. The daughter was kept blindfolded, and is still pretty upset. No other harm was done to her.
Pedro admits that he made up the name “Athenia TransWorld” for the memo on the money transfer. “I had to put something there.” (GM Note: If you Google pretty much anything, you’ll find something of substance.)
Sam offers to be the family’s bodyguard while they resolve this issue, and says he will return at 4:30 am. Kyle asks if Pedro still has the note of instructions. Pedro gives it to Kyle.
Sam and Kyle leave. Sam gives the note of instructions to Dr. Freeman, asking for a forensics examination. Sam calls Barry, asks if he has run afoul of anyone who speaks Brazilian Portuguese. Barry immediately thinks of Silas Mipposa, a pimp whom Barry refused to do business with about a month back. Barry has standards. Silas is scum of the earth: He specializes in teenage hookers for the S&M trade. He keeps his girls in line by keeping them addicted to drugs.
Sam invites Geoff over for dinner. Cat cooks the meal, but doesn’t have the wine the recipe calls for. She uses wine vinegar instead, having heard somewhere this is a plausible substitute. (Oops, can you say Beef Vinaigrette?)
During dinner, Sam asks Geoff to find out what “the street” knows about Silas Mipposa and see if he can locate him. Geoff agrees. After dinner, Kyle drives Geoff home.
Meanwhile, Johnny Appleton’s dad comes home, and his chauffeur drives Alex and Dan home. Alex calls Jimmi and tells him about the Lamborghini. Jimmi thanks him, but says that Brigantine is too tough a nut to crack. But he does come by Alex’s house and pays him 735 euros for his cut of the BMW Daimler heist. Alex gives 100 euros to Dan.
***
Wednesday, July 17, 2041:
Sam gets up at 4 am, and is at the Gonzales house by 4:30. The family rises at 7:00, and Pedro is off to the bank by 8:15 am.
Alex teaches judo to Geoffrey and Dan.
Dr. Freeman tells Sam the instruction note was clean. No forensic trace evidence.
Cat strips the frame of her motorcycle(s) during the morning. Then dolls herself up and has lunch with Mary Druker. Mary is a US Marshall who volunteers in the Big Sister program, and has been paired with Cat. (GM Note: at least, that’s their story and they’re sticking to it.) Mary asks how Cat is doing, and they chat about Cat’s life.
Geoff dresses for the street and goes to talk with Jon. Jon wants Geoff to sell some hallucinogens to high school kids. Geoff suggests performance enhancers for athletes instead. Geoff also asks Jon if he knows anything about Silas Mipposa and where to find him. Jon does. There are three Mipposa brothers: Silas the pimp, Cosma the extortionist, and Pavlo the drug manufacturer. Geoff asks if Pavlo is a source of drugs for Jon, and Jon says he doesn’t know where his suppliers get their stuff. He also doesn’t care. Nobody likes the Mipposa brothers. They are nasty dudes, and live somewhere in Abescon.
Nip has finished her info chip, and goes to the cyber cafe to sell it. Nip believes the chip is worth 1700 euros, but the cheapskate info broker is there, and offers her a mere 150 euros. Nip leaves. (GM Note: Oops, Me newbie GM! I thought I was multiplying by 10, not 100. I also rolled that this guy was a complete cheapskate. Other brokers do come by this cafe from time to time. Nip would do better next time.)
***
Thursday, July 18, 2041:
Geoff gets a lead on Pavlo Mipposa. Geoff goes to Sam’s house and finds Cat, gives her the information, then goes home by bus, using a different bus stop. Cat drives over to Ocean City and gives the information to Sam, then drives back.
Boyd calls Sam and offers him 12,400 euros for the Episode 3: The Cat-Nip Caper information. (This is a 400 euro net profit for Sam, who agrees to the sale.)
Nip calls Cat and gets invited to dinner. While cooking dinner, Cat manages to break a Pyrex dish, using it on the stovetop instead of the oven. (GM Note: Wow, two cooking-roll botches tonight!) Nip asks Cat about appropriate prices for info chips, and asks Cat if she can see about selling this one for her. Cat agrees to try, and calls Geoff. Geoff says he will look into it.
***
Friday, July 19, 2041:
In the morning, Nip starts researching for her next info chip. That afternoon, she goes paintballing with Alex and Storm.
Geoff goes to Kyle’s houseboat and chats him up, looking around. Kyle cautions him.
Geoff then checks out where some Raves will be that night and invites Cat to go to one. That afternoon, he learns the approximate locations of all three Mipposa brothers. (GM Note: not actual street addresses, but “the house on XYZ street with those awful green shutters” type information.) That night, he goes to the Rave to meet Cat and also to “press the flesh” for his fixer braindance business.
Rudi, the football punter, calls Allison and takes her out to the same Rave. Afterwards, he takes her home.
Episode 5: Teamwork? We don’t need no stinkin’ teamwork!
AKA Murphy’s Law Creates a Comedy of Errors
Self-interest rules as the theme of the day. Geoff and Dr. Freeman share their opinions. Cat plays with some bugs.
Background
When 98 thousand euros are transferred out of money-launderer Barry Gelder’s bank account, he seeks help from Sam Fisher, retired CIA black operative, and Kyle Vaduva, burned spy. The job is to find out who stole Barry’s money, and to restore it if possible. Sam and Kyle learn that Silas Mipposa is the likely culprit. He’s a pimp who specializes in the S&M trade using teenaged drug-addicted hookers. Silas has two brothers: Cosma the extortionist and Pavlo the illicit-drug manufacturer. Geoffrey Stark, a teenaged fixer who specializes in braindance chips, finds out where the three live.
Dramatis Personae
The client du jour:
Barry Gelder, money launderer with a big problem.
The grownups:
Kyle Vaduva: Burned spy.
Sam Fisher: Retired CIA black operative, assassin and cleaner.
Dr. Gordon Freeman: Emergency field surgeon, former professor and assistant coroner, disgraced cyber researcher.
Fijay: Expert driver and former Euro-something agent, tainted by Kyle’s burn notice.
Pedro Gonzales: Bank manager at TD Bank in Ocean City; suspect in the transfer of Barry’s money.
The kids:
Alex Jackson: 14 yo Runner and spotter for Jimmi Stevens.
Allison Cole: 13 yo kleptomaniac sex pot.
Cat Fisher: Sam’s 15 yo daughter.
Geoffrey Stark: 14 yo fixer specializing in braindance chips.
Nip Lacey: 12 yo girl with neon blue hair, has amnesia.
Jimmi Stevens: Crystal Snow’s boyfriend and professional car thief.
Rayne Snow: 14 yo boy, sophomore in upcoming year of high school.
Rudi: Punter on the football team.
Storm Snow: 15 yo boy, junior in upcoming year of high school.
The Action
Saturday, July 20, 2041
Kyle calls a meeting at Sam’s house, and announces he has to go out of town on a family emergency. The team must get along without him for a few days. Also present at this meeting are Dr. Freeman, Fijay, Geoff, and Sam’s daughter Cat.
Sam and Dr. Freeman decide to kidnap the Mipposa brothers and torture them to find out where their money is and steal it. Their plan: Plant bugs in the brothers’ houses, and rent a “safe house” nearby so they can capture the transmissions and figure out a good time and place to grab the brothers.
A conversation ensues about the nature of the perpetrators. When told that Silas Mipposa kidnapped Pedro Gonzales’ 8 year old daughter (probably with Cosma’s help) to force Pedro to steal Barry’s money, Geoff wonders aloud what the girl or Pedro had done to bring this event on themselves. He challenges the team’s altruistic motives, saying that “Altruism is really just a guilty conscience.” Geoff believes in enlightened self-interest, and makes it clear he is fundamentally a free-lance independent agent.
Nip calls a meeting of ‘the kids’ at Tyne Lacey’s house. She tells Alex and Allison and Cat that she wants to organize a paint-ball team, the Pretty Pink Unicorns (Nip and friends have already competed as the Pretty Unicorns, see Episode One). Cat says her father Sam has agreed to be the team coach, and will teach them things like stealth and tactics as well as helping them practice their pistol skills. Alex refuses to join, saying he won’t have anything to do with ‘that pedophile’. Allison moves back two steps when he says this. Cat had warned Alex never to say anything like that about her father again in her presence, but she seems unwilling to push the issue in Tyne’s house. Cat merely ‘dismisses’ Alex since the rest of the meeting is about a Team he does NOT want to join.
Allison says it sounds like fun, and agrees to join the team — though she is busy on another project, namely getting into Rudy’s home and casing the joint. He seems to be rich, and she plans to rob his parent’s blind. Storm and Rayne Snow also agree to join the team. Cat then brings up the possibility of the ‘Team’ doing a little ‘subcontract’ Edgerunner work to ‘help’ people in need and make a little money. Allison, Storm and Rayne think that sounds like fun. Geoff makes it clear he is in it for the money. He again scoffs at any attempt to turn this into an ‘altruistic endeavor’. Life is tough and everybody is in it for themselves as far as he is concerned. It becomes clear to Cat that Geoff is not the type of person she is looking for to be in this little group. Well, at least he knows where all the cool parties and raves are!
Cat does hire Geoff to do surveillance on the Mipposa brothers’ neighborhood: 250 euros now, and 250 euros on completion. Silas and Cosma live a few houses apart on the same block in a seedy neighborhood in Abescon. Pavlo lives a few blocks away. Geoff agrees to do the surveillance, but she tells him to wait until he is given the go-ahead by Sam.
Nip then goes upstairs. She and Gayle Snow are grounded for staying out past dusk the previous night.
Cat does some research and finds a small house to rent diagonally across the street from Silas. It has a garage, and is also fairly close to Cosma’s house.
The adults also need someone to steal a van and bring it into the garage where they will remove any license plate it might have and paint it in different colors. Cat informs her father that Alex refuses to do any work for him. Sam asks Dr. Freeman to hire Alex. Dr. Freeman agrees, and arranges with Geoff to bring Alex to a meeting at his office tomorrow morning.
***
Sunday, July 21, 2041:
Cat spends the morning working on her motorcycle “parts kit”. Sam pays a month’s worth of rental on the safe house, using cash. He gets two sets of keys and gives one to Cat.
Cat puts on a “street trash” disguise, takes her knives, and goes to the safe house.
Dr. Freeman opens his office this morning, and Geoff brings Alex to a meeting there. Dr. Freeman offers Alex 500 euros if he will steal a van and deliver it to the safe house that night. Alex agrees to do this.
Allison goes shopping and buys a sexy outfit of clothes.
Alex wanders around Northfield, looking in various parking lots for a van. He finds a delivery van behind a florist shop in a strip of stores along Route 9. A camera on the building is pointed at the area where the van is parked. Alex hides his face with his hoodie, picks the lock, and starts the engine. An alarm goes off, but he finds and disables it.
(GM Note: The camera was not connected to anything: like a beware-of-the-dog sign with no dog. While the store was open, the owner didn’t hear the alarm go off.)
Alex drives the van to the safe house and parks it in the driveway. It’s too tall to go into the garage. Cat sees him arrive, and (in disguise) comes out. She tells him the van is too tall. He retorts that “Nobody said what kind of van to get. I did the job I was hired to do,” and adds, with attitude, “I will be collecting my money.” He turns to leave.
Cat finally snaps. She hits him with a Sambo knock-out punch as he turns to go, but Alex isn’t knocked out. Cat is faster than him, and strikes again — but Alex dodges her blow and tries to run. Cat is faster and he realizes he can’t outrun this “crazy lady”. He pulls out his gun (a small pistol), but Cat disarms him and grabs the pistol. Alex runs again. By now Cat masters her anger and lets him go. Besides, Alex has done well against her and she is impressed. She is also angry, confused and hurt.
Dismayed by these events and her own actions, Cat locks up the house, then drives the van to a scummier street and leaves it with door open and engine running. She then returns home and gives Sam the gun. She tells Sam that Alex delivered the wrong size van.
Alex calls Dr. Freeman, says he delivered the van but there was a “psycho chick” there that attacked him and took his gun. Will he get paid? Dr. Freeman says yes. Can he get his gun back? Dr. Freeman says probably not. After all, being an Edgerunner is dangerous work, and this “psycho chick” is on the Team! Alex responds by asking, “Aren’t Teams supposed to work together?” The old Edgerunner/doctor laughs and tells him that is an “urban myth”. Many Edgerunners are damaged people with deep psychological problems. But Alex can use his new funds to buy another gun — and get an armored bandana for the back of his head while he’s at it.
Dr. Freeman calls Sam to report that Alex did what he was told to do, “steal a van.” Sam tells Dr. Freeman it was the wrong size, it wouldn’t fit into the garage. Dr. Freeman says Sam didn’t tell him what kind of van Alex should get. Sam points out that Dr. Freeman was there when they made the plans for the van to go in the garage so they could repaint it. Dr. Freeman says, “I don’t listen, I’m the Doctor.”
Dr. Freeman tells Sam that Alex wants his gun back. Sam takes the ammo and magazine out of the gun, then puts the gun in a box with a note: “Kids shouldn’t play with guns.” He gives the box to Dr. Freeman to give to Alex, along with the 500 euros because yes, he did the job he was told to do.
Sam calls Fijay and asks her to come over. When she arrives, Cat has a meltdown and says, “I can’t do this, you should get someone competent to do this.” When she spies Fijay in the room, she adds, “…and now you bring your girlfriends over without asking me.” Then she flees to her bedroom in tears. Sam follows and asks her what’s wrong. She continues her meltdown of “I can’t do anything right,” and other nonsensical hormonal ravings.
Sam does his awkward best to comfort Cat, then returns to his living room and asks Fijay if she can steal a van. “Of course,” she replies. “What sort of van do you need?” Sam describes the ideal van for their purposes, and asks her to deliver it to the safe house tomorrow night at midnight. Make sure she’s not followed, and pick up Dr. Freeman on the way. Also, she should leave the house keys inside. Fijay agrees, and leaves.
***
Monday, July 22, 2041:
Geoff calls Cat, who tells him she doesn’t feel well, sniffle sniffle. Sam comes into her room and asks, “Did you beat up Alex yesterday?” She looks both surprised and guilty, then says (lies), “No!” Sam grins and puts 200 euros on her dresser and leaves. Cat then spends the day working up a semi-permanent disguise. When done, she goes to the safe house and waits.
Geoff goes to Alex’s house. They go to the Northfield-Pleasantville border, where Geoff knows of a gun-kiosk-vending place. They buy Alex a gun. Geoff also observes to Alex that the Sam and Dr. Freeman team seem rather bumbling. Perhaps instead of helping them, it might be more lucrative to sell information to the Mipposa brothers that there’s going to be an attempt on their lives. Alex does not rise to the bait. Geoff drops the subject.
Allison looks for a busy street with lots of foot traffic and alleyways where she can evade pursuit. The only truly busy streets with lots of foot traffic are in the Casino district, the 4-block Shopping district, and the Boardwalk. None of these have any alleyways.
Alex goes to Ocean City and wanders about, looking for cars on Jimmi’s list. He finds a BMW Z10 at the Wonderland Amusement Pier on the Boardwalk. He calls Jimmi, who says he’ll come look.
Allison goes to a place where Alex told her he put his secret stash of money (in the sewer). But she finds no money there. Alex was lying. Allison goes home to wash up.
Dr. Freeman picks up Alex at 6 pm and takes him to Sam’s house for a meeting. Geoff catches the trolley and heads there too. Sam offers Dr. Freeman a drink which he accepts. Sam offers Alex some soda. Alex asks if he can have some real liquor too. Dr. Freeman explains why Alex shouldn’t drink: “You might need all your wits about you on this job. It’s okay for me to drink because I’m only the emergency surgeon.”
Geoff arrives. Sam and Dr. Freeman regale Geoff and Alex about their experiences with Edgerunner teams. Neither man gives people’s names. Geoff and Alex think the pair are just trying to make themselves seem important.
Sam offers to pay Alex for some work tonight if Alex can prove he’s good at stealth. Sam also tells Alex he would be happy to train him at various skills. Alex asks if he can teach him to drive mechs. Sam says a friend of his can, and he’ll call this friend once Alex is old enough to have a driver’s license and actually has one. Alex displays his stealth skills by sneaking across Sam’s lawn. Sam calls Fijay and says she doesn’t need to pick up Dr. Freeman after all.
Rudi calls Allison and asks her out on a date. She agrees. They go to the Wax Museum on the Boardwalk, where Rudi tells her about the various exhibits. She thinks, “Wow, he’s actually interested in my mind as well as my body.” They spend the evening making out.
After sunset at the safe house, Cat gets tired of waiting, and goes stealthily across the street to scope out Silas’s house. She finds and evades two cameras — one covering the front entrance and the other the back. She climbs up a chimney on the side of the building, finds an open bedroom window on the second floor, and in she goes.
This bedroom is empty. Cat plants a bug, and peeks out the door. The doorway to the bedroom across the hall is ajar, and a bored looking goon is sitting and watching a monitor on a desk. She waits for an hour, but he doesn’t move. Can Cat sneak past him? She thinks she can — tries it — and succeeds.
Downstairs is empty. Cat plants several bugs, then sneaks back upstairs. The goon is still there. Around 10 o’clock, cars drive up — one of them a Lamborghini Dreamer decked out as a pimpmobile — and people arrive at the house. Cat hears the voices of two women and several men coming inside. The upstairs goon goes to the head of the staircase and calls down, “Everything okay?” He’s told yes, and goes back to his post. Cat decides there’s no chance of getting at the computer. She jumps out the window, landing easily on her feet.
Cat then goes to Cosma’s house, where she finds no cameras. Peering through the windows, the garage holds both a large black van and a smaller luxury sedan. A pair of goons are playing cards in the dining room, a man is sleeping in the master bedroom, and the front two bedrooms each have a sleeping goon.
Cat goes around to the back of the house and checks the bathroom window, which is not locked. She raises it and sneaks inside. The man in the master bedroom, probably Cosma, is snoring. She tiptoes over to his phone and plants a bug there, then heads for the hallway. On the way, though, she notices a painting hanging on a wall in the walk-in closet, and thinks that’s odd. Investigating, she discovers a safe behind the painting. She tries to pick the lock, but fails. (GM Note: It was a Really Tough Lock, difficulty 30.)
At that point, she decides to leave and goes back out through the bathroom window. Upon returning to the safe house, Sam greets her with “Hi, hon,” in front of Dr. Freeman. Cat angrily says, “Don’t call me hon.” And stomps off.
At midnight, Fijay arrives with a stolen van.
***
Tuesday, July 23, 2041:
Geoff is finally given the go-ahead to do surveillance on the neighborhood in Abescon. He puts on his street persona disguise and wanders around. He finds little to no activity at the Silas and Cosma houses. However, at Pavlo’s house, a bunch of kids are playing stickball in the street. The Pavlo yard contains a couple of kid’s bicycles and a large plastic beach ball. Around noontime, a woman opens the Pavlo front door and calls two boys to come inside for lunch. They look to be about 9 and 11 years old.
By noontime, several conversations are overheard at the safe house. In particular, Silas talks with Cosma saying they need to transfer some money again. Silas calls his bank, revealing the “transfer authorization” codes and questions for transferring money out of his account there. Also, Silas and Cosma plan to have dinner together tonight at Tommaso’s Trattoria in Pleasantville. Using the codes, Barry finds out that Silas’s account contains 50 thousand euros, but he does not yet transfer the money.
Jimmi calls Alex and tells him he got the BMW. Jimmi gives Alex another 630 euros.
Geoff comes back to Sam’s house and tells him the results of his surveillance. Sam notices that Geoff’s tattoos, while excellent work, are not real. (GM Note: The tattoos are on “cyber skin sleeves” that Geoff can put on and take off.)
Later in the afternoon, Cat returns to Sam’s house and removes her disguise. Sam asks Cat what it would take to blow the safe at Cosma’s house. She thinks a half-block of C-6 in a shaped charge should do nicely. Sam builds a charge to bust the safe’s door.