Freezing Shadows, Book 6 Prologue

Prologue: Trade Chat

(Shadowmen In-Game OOC Forum, Seattle Section)

Reminder: This forum is for Out of Character (OOC) discussion only. Please direct in-character discussions (including business dealings and the like) to the appropriate in-world forums.

GreenGirl, Yolo, Scholar, DoReMi, RedFox, Rerun, ThirsT, SliceNDice, GrimDarkKawaii, NoNoNo, YesYesYes, FoldingChair, Squeaker, Anonymous2, Anonymous5, Anonymous8, KittyKat, HurtMeMommy, HardReset, DaddyIssues, Inquisitor, BattleSister, Wolfgirl, Spirit, Chill, and HoldMyBeer are in the chat.

Spirit: Word from the Vancouver server is that the Mixsanto bloodbath in the boardrooms is cooling down. Whatever started it, seems like enough executives have been ‘retired’ to end it.

Inquisitor: Well, that’s something, at least. Those actions were starting to spill over into other corps and servers. There was worry about either a wider corp war, or a full-on schism inside Mixsanto.

Wolfgirl: That’s fun, and all, but there’s some big news about the new Makino Kawa movie. The Matrix is screaming about some scandal from the test audiences!

DoReMi: Scandal is right. Kid-friendly movie has some rated-X scenes in them! Full simsense, so you go in on the star’s perspective, and experience EVERYTHING. Including the scene where she gets railed by a Doberman.

HoldMyBeer: What, like, actually doing it with a dog? Not simulated?

DoReMi: Actually doing it. Fully knotted and leaking at the end.

BattleSister: I have a hard time believing that was supposed to be in the kid movie. Or that the talent actually performed such a thing. Makino and her group, Shadow Genesis, aren’t known for that kind of thing.

Yolo: Come on, it is obvious that someone made some ‘additions’ to the trid before it went live. There was a run there, somewhere.

Rerun: Huh, checking into it, that movie, Crystal Magical Girl Mariko, was in final production at the Creative Horizons building over at Silver Lake. At the same time some hackers raided the external servers while runners busted down the gate with a van. Scuttlebutt said that the team ripped off the ‘slush fund’ that they used for reshoots and stuff. Nothing about altering the movie, but the timeline matches up.

ThirsT: You know, that’s the same facility that supposedly had the only copies of Secret of the Crimson Rose that has been popping up on pirate sites. Gotta thank whoever leaked that trid. The ahem acting? Makes me want to find an Elven nobleman of my own, because DAMN!

GrimDarkKawaii: Isn’t Chill an elven nobleman? Think I heard something about that in the KarmaDesu interview.

Chill: Technically, I’m an escaped or exiled noble, since a pesky revolution made staying in Ola Serin unhealthy.

GreenGirl: But you are a nobleman. Does your team know?

Chill: Oh, yes. And there’s been some times they wanted to be the ‘damsel’ who was either rescued by the dashing nobleman, or captured by the wicked fiend, trapped in his dungeon.

ThirsT: Unf. I know you said there wasn’t room on your team unless we were bringing something new to the party, but what about a regular booty call? NPC dick is good, but…

RedFox: Living up to your name, huh?

ThirsT: Like you haven’t gotten some loving in game!

RedFox: I’m a lesbian. In-game loving is fine, but I have plenty of options in real life.

ThirsT: Well, great for you. For others of us, it is a fucking problem.

DaddyIssues: Mmm. Mysterious Seattle Man running a gigolo service. I’d pay money for that.

Chill: Sorry, not interested in going manwhore. Already got a team of lovely ladies who give me all I can handle and more.

YesYesYes: Going back to the Mariko movie, if that was the real goal of the Silver Lake job, what is all the rest of what happened, then?

Scholar: Distraction. Multiple layers of distraction. The matrix gang attack distracted from the live team going in through the gate. The slush fund distracted from what must have been a deeper hit on the servers.

RedFox: If they did that much, then maybe the trid appearing on the pirate sites was part of it, too? Obvious datasteal to cover for the alteration?

BattleSister: Why go through that much effort?

Anonymous2: Because if part of the job was for things to not get discovered until after the trid went live, then having several obvious goals distracted from the true goal.

Yolo: That’s pretty clever.

Anonymous2: Some of the more advanced jobs in the Beta required planning like that. Usually when dealing with the megas, you either need to make sure you don’t get spotted, make sure you’re not recorded, or find somewhere to shift the blame.

Chill: Don’t forget the people doing that job went non-lethal, so there was less reason to dig deep into what was done until it was too late. Unconscious guards don’t get death benefits paid out to their kin, which means the corp has less reason to make things personal.

GreenGirl: True. Good thing to keep in mind for the future. Especially since the Stick-n-Shock ammo that goes nonlethal is also great for blasting spirits.

Chill: Pro move is to carry at least three weapons on a job, preferably four. Melee (and maybe backup melee), Deadly Ammo, Stun/Special Ammo. Loaded in day one with two pistols, one loaded with ExEx, one with SnS, a Weapon Focus katana, and several lighter blades. But I’m a combat mage with a melee focus, so having a bunch of backup blades just makes sense for someone like me. Most of you could get by with just a one or two melee weapons, and you don’t need a Weapon Focus unless you’re Awakened. And remember that melee includes things like Hardliner Gloves, which are just gloves designed to hit like brass knuckles.

GrimDarkKawaii: That’s a Beta player for ya. I’m going to remember that next reroll. But definitely going to grab some of those gloves. Had a run go a bit south, and barely got out of it. Hitting them with my fists did not go as well as I would have liked. Fortunately, my team saved my butt.

Anonymous8: And that is why you get a team. They can do what you can’t.

FlickerKat has entered the chat.

FlickerKat: Hey all! Just transferred over from Detroit.

Anonymous2: Flicker! Haven’t seen you since the Beta. Where you been?

FlickerKat: Graduated school, so went back home from NYC to Detroit, but moving to Seattle for work, IRL, so hitched a ride with a team coming back from a gig there.

Anonymous2: Awesome. What you running now?

FlickerKat: Demolitions expert and mage, Naga race.

Anonymous2: You’re a snake now?

FlickerKat: Took some getting used to, yeah. So, who were you in the Beta?

Anonymous2: On the New York server, my biggest character was a Troll Sammy named Juggernaut.

FlickerKat: JUGGY! Oh, drop me a DM, we gotta catch up!