SILVER FOX

Not wanting to appear too eager and not wanting to miss the introductions, you make your way to the front entrance of Matchsticks jst before 7pm. The Private Club is in the substreet level of an office building near the Needle. Access is through a door that leads down into a comfortably furnished bar.

There are no problems with St John, the doorman. He recognises you on sight and lets you in through the doors and then turns back to his Doormans job. He even greets you by name. You find that a nice touch but also just a little bit too familiar in the world of shadows you exist in where familiarity really does breed contempt. You shrug it off with a shiver ad continue on further into the Private Cub.

You head towards the bar and ask for ''Steward" and are directed by the bartender through a door and down another flight of stairs at the far end of the club. The stairs lead to a short corridor, with a white dor a the far end.

Staring down at the busy nightclub fromt he roof across the street, a lady dressed nearly entirely in black, except for a white collar, read from a book. Any passersby that would, even could, see her would only wonder what in the hells was someone reading on a roof for, stare at her, and walk away going on with their lives. "Why do you stand far off ? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?" she read from her book as she snapped it shut, tucking it away in an inner coat pocket looking down at the people, steadying herself, and checking the message, and the time, with the nightclub they were at "Matchsticks at 7p. this is it."

Bounding off the roof,

agility 5 + gymnastics 4 + great leap 2= 6 hits = 12 meters = 39 feet
average street width in US from roof to roof is twenty feet

this dark figure soared through the air without even a concern, her long cloak billowed out behind her like the dark wings of a fallen angel as she landed on the roof above the club, looking over to the alley and its fire escape she lept from the roof,

gymnastics 4 + parkour 5 = 4 hits

Landing quietly down on the ground standing quietly and walking down onto the street as she straightened herself out, making her way through the maze of doorways and people, even the doorman addressing her as 'Matron Gaven' , not throwing her off, many people knew her as a priest, although next to no one knew she was a runner as well, doing a mental checklist to make sure all of her assorted tools of her particular trade were there, being inside closed building always made her nervous, hence why all her sermons were held outside in a local park, but opening the white door never the less to continue this part of the run.

swiftly and Silently, Norm makes his way from the shadows of an alleyway his magically enhanced footsteps make little or no sound as he approaches the Matchsticks nightclub. This is it, brace yourself, no turning back now, find your center.

he moves through the crowd past the doorman who takes a look at you and then steps aside and says "welcome Ghost or should I call you Norm or Serrin"

you continue past him without even blinking plausible deniability serrin... Plausible deniability

Norm weaves his way through the crowd and heads to the bar and asks for the one called Steward. (English Skill rating 6) The bar keeper directs him to a door leading to some stairs. norm takes them two at a time and finds himself in front of a white door.

[b]So, the run begins!

You open the white door into a private lounge. Scanning the room, there are six lounge chairs arranged in a semi-circle. They all sit on a large but plush rug. They face a large whiteboard plugged into a Commlink. Standing either side of the room are two rather large ork mercs with 'don't mess with me' looks on their faces.

More interesting than them is a tall, athletic woman with midnight black hair cropped short who stands next to the whiteboard. She wears loose fitiing white pants and a shirt you notice is the exact colour of her deep blue eyes. She beckons you towards the lounge chairs.

Through a corner doorway enters a large troll wearing of all things a tuxedo. He walks well, without the ambling gait of his kind. He bends down and asks each of you for your choice of refeshment. He seems to note your choices without the aid of a pencil and paper. He then leaves and brings back your refreshments exactly as you have ordered them. It is just on 7pm and while you sit and case each other out, she appears to be waiting for others to arrive.

(PLEASE NOTE THAT AS THE RUN HAS BEGUN THE LADY WILL WAIT UNTIL 10 MINUTES PAST 7 AND THEN SHE WILL BEGIN. REGARDLESS OF WHEN YOU ENTER THE RUN BY YOUR POSTS, YOU WILL HAVE ARRIVED FOR THIS PART OF THE RUN ON TIME. I HAVE MADE THIS DECISION BASED ON THE FACT THAT AS OF THIS POST, THERE ARE TWO RUNNERS IN THE ROOM. THEY NEED THREE MORE TO BE SUCCEEFUL. I HOPE THAT THREE MORE RUNNERS WILL ARRIVE. IF THEY DON'T THEN I WILL BALANCE THE TEAM WITH THREE NPC'S WHICH IS NOT IDEAL.)

... 7:10pm, Matchstick's Private Room, Seattle, Washington, USA ...

As she speaks she is very business-like and speaks with a cultured upbringing, testament to her well tailored facade. She is of Asian descent.

"You have come here of your own volition and this expresses your interest in this proposed run. It is essentially a datasteal. You are to locate and remove a valuable file currently in the data banks of one of Seattles megacorps. You are to infiltrate the facilities and remove a file. I am unable to reveal to you the name of the corporation until you accept the job. Once you do accept the job you will then enter a relationship where dis-loyalty may well end your life. The normal discreet approach of a Shadowrunning team will apply, even after the job is over. Like any gentleman or gentlewoman, as a Shadowrunner your discreetness is your reputation. Lose your reputation and of course the inevitable happens. Your employment opportunities will be as dry as a desert creek" she says with a raised eyebrow as though to emphasise the poignant point.

"The terms offered is 50 000 each in total. 35 000 on completion of the mission. My employer wishes to maintain absolute secrecy and so if the file is extracted without notice you will be paid a bonus of 15 000 each for this act of discretion," she ends with a reassuring smile.

Whatever anyone says, this one knows her stuff.

"How say you?" she says and awaits your response.

Sitting down as she waited for the others to join the meeting, all the better, for she assumed she was on her own. Reading from the red book she had in her coat as she let the lady explain her situation, knowing full well what was expected. This was not the matrons first run, although it had been quite sometime since she had been on an adventure, her flock had a tendency to demand her attentions. but she immeditaly raised an eyebrow when she heard the payment of 50k, "This is either a really big company, or a really stupid employer, but either way, this is going to be fun." she thought silently to herself as she put her book away in her coat, uncrossed her legs and stood up. "Those who know my name will put their trust in me." as she extended her hand in acceptance of the offer, taking a look around at the other runners she was going to be working with, placing her faith in whatever higher being would be watching over them this night, "My name is Matron Sarah Gaven, although, I would like to know the specifics, such as if there is some sort of timetable, the drop off, any possible assistance, etc."

Norm opens door an immediately sizes up the situation (I guess I'm the second to arrive) seeing the mercs and the two woman Norm assumes it is the right place. Norm takes a seat and listens intently to the Johnson woman.

When she finishes Norm speaks in an heavy elven accent "You may call me Norm, your terms are acceptable and I also would like to inquire about specifics but I shall wait until everyone here accepts your terms to know who I will be working with"

this shall be one of my greatest challenges Norm thinks.

Long Shot was a little put out to have his commlink buzz him with meet for a run. Especially since he didn't know who had sent it. He figured he'd need to start work, but he also felt that it would be best to let them know from the start that he didn't jump to anyone's tune anymore. He was his own man now, and it was going to stay that way!

He sat in his sedan outside the club until the meet time. Then a few minutes more just to make sure he'd be late. As he approached the door, he and the guard made each other about the same time. However, the guard had the upper hand...

"Welcome Long Shot, your late."

Long Shot just shrugged at the guard and kept on walking. How'd he know my name? I need to be a bit more discreet maybe. Trying not to let it bother him to much. He walked up to the white door and pushed it open slowly. No need to make people jump.

He marked the two guards, but the pretty lady in the middle of the room was the one who worried him most for some reason. She had obviously just finished speaking. He waits patiently until the oddly dressed guy, "Norm" finishes excepting the gig.

"I won't insult you further by asking you to repeat anything. I'll just get the details from the others later. Please continue." Okay, I made my point, no need to be rude.

After seeing that the final party has arrives Norm thinks Interesting its not every day that a Ms Johnson is in the midst of things and wants to tag along in meetings Norm thinks.

"Ms....Steward or Johnson? is it? are we to consider you and your uh...(looks at Mercs) staff as secondary assets in this operation?"

"I mean since insist on attending our meetings (gestures at other members) to, what I assume, make sure everything runs smoothly: then can we count on some external support other then ourselves on your end?"

(tell me if there are any relevant social checks needed)

"My humblest apologies I shall press the matter no further" Norm says

and then thinks Yup, definitely a Ms. Johnson

Then looks around and waits for any of the others to input.

Long Shot shoots a glance at the others. "She mentioned a sizable compensation. Can I be brought up to speed on that?"

I wonder if Striker can help him find some body to deal with the computer system.

<< Begin Encoded Message >>
To: Striker
From: Long Shot

Hey man, how are the stripes treating you these days? I am starting a new line of work as an independent, and I was wondering if you knew any people looking for work? Somebody who's good with computer systems would be a real asset on this one pal. I'll kick in a "finder's fee" for you if you have anybody.

<< End Encoded Message >>

A frown slowly crawls over Sarah's face as she reviews all the options, "Let’s break their bonds apart, and cast their cords from us. From the layout we have two methods of entry, the front door, meaning go in undercover and steadily weed through their defences, or the more abrupt and," ironicly "less risky route would be a straight break in, fast, stealthy, and precise." Letting the choices sink in as she thinks about recovery. brushing a few wrinkles out of her outfit as she stood straighter, addressing everyone. "The former way of recovery is better, our hacker on standbye to address any security alarms, and another member of our team taking instructions on the physical connection, than its just getting out quietly thats the hardpart, and if we want to add a little bit of extra fun, we could leave a data trail against another rival company, pinning this little escapade on them. I vote that we break in from above, we get our hacker inside, one of us connects him, then we get out, and if all else fails, we get the file and blow the place to the here-after."

Composing herself as she gently rolled her shoulders, the ceilings were already starting to wear in on her, she needed the open sky, not a stuffy little backroom, but this run at least promised to be interesting, addressing her new 'employer.' " Thank you for the honesty thus far, we won't be needing 'external support', the smaller the team the better, as for exactly where are we delivering this file, and are we on a sort of schedule, or can we take this at our own pace?"

Sloane made his way through the club, getting a few funny looks because of his attire as he was fully geared up, including 'Jessica'... He discussed with the security staff and they gave a reluctant nod, letting him through, though, as he found out the meeting had already started, he hurried himself a little, knocking on the door of the meeting room before walking in "Sorry I'm late, heard there was a job going on here? Thought maybe I could offer my services..." He glanced around to the other people here, not recognising any of them, which could be a good or could be bad, sure it meant there was very little chance of him being recognised, but it also meant that there wasn't that familiarity of running with regulars, and that worried Sloane a little... He stood by the door, waiting until told to do otherwise, be it sit or leave...

Long Shot read Strikers message. Damn, he was always so careful. I wonder who tipped him off. We'll have to deal with that later.

Long Shot takes in "Sloane" at a glance, his eyebrow raises slightly at the obvious bulge under his coat. When he hears Mrs. Johnson refer to the other lady in the room as "Priest," his attention snaps back to them. I just thought she had a funny way of talking...

"I agree that the first proposed plan of action is the quietest. You did say you wanted this done quietly? Blowing a place up, even after setting a false data trail isn't going to be quiet, and what happens if they discover that the trail was false before they reach the end? Then they'll be doubly mad. I say we try to fake security clearance. We'll need to do some in-depth inel on their security system either way. But you can be sure we'll need uniforms, keycodes, probably keycards, and maybe even bioscans. If we do a B&E, we'll have to move much faster to avoid security, and that leads to more mistakes. Unless someone here happens to have a team of Delta Force level hackers in their pocket?"

Opens comm-link to take a look at the rough overlay. (I assume its posted on my goggles or is it on the wrist? anyway can I get a description of what I'm seeing?)

Lets see what we are dealing with here Norm thinks.

"If it comes to two roads along the great journey, why not use both?" Bowing her head in prayer and in thought as a new plan came to fruition. Turning towards the uppity male, "You seem to have a point, but your idea has the risks of if we get caught, we will not only have to rescue our fallen squadmate, but also complete the mission, which will probably blow our cover, so why not use both ideas? We send one person, plus or minus a few guards of our own, in as a potential customer, or executive, whatever happens to fit the intel we happen to gather, and another group as B & E team, if one gets caught, both teams are effectivly a diversion for each other. Besides, the 'blow them to the here-after' is only a LAST resort. But we shouldn't waste time, we need to agree on some sort of plan, at least try to gather intel before we agree on something, Okay?" saying that last little bit as less of a question, but more of a 'let's get our asses in gear' manner, considering she had started to motion towards the door. Opening an active comm screen to everyone, with a map of the local area, making a point in a nearby alley, half way between there target and Matchsticks, tagging along her contact information. "Our first goal is to secure a hacker, regardless of whatever plan we use, we will need someone that can navigate their system without even trying, but our first meeting point will be here, its quiet, out of the way, and it has a straight view of our target, what i can do is scope out the building, see where our available entry points will be. I'd say we meet in two hours at this point, regardless of what we do, we need to get underway quickly, someone will surely catch wind of this sooner or later, Let us not let the candle burn further than the night lasts."

Sloane blinekd as he was addressed and gave a small nod "Uh, yeah, I guess so..." and then sat down "But for the record, I prefer Wolfshade while geared up..." He sighed and then remained quiet, listening in to the details that were being given, checking out the provided map, not really one for research, he was just a point and go kinda guy, the team pointed and he went... That's how he liked it, though he was no stranger to taking charge if the situation got... Desperate...