Carver sniffles before picking himself up. "Can I have some tea first or are we about to die in a moment?"

St. Velveteen slowly rubs his eyes as he sits up.  Then he jolts wide-eyed, stares straight ahead, then quickly checks the holster where he normally keeps his pistol.  He lets out a huge sigh of relief when he finds the space to be empty.  Sure, maybe his weapon was missing, but at least there wasn't a frighteningly fuzzy marsupial lurking in its place.  He would be having nightmares for weeks about that one.

Eventually the troll gets to his feet and enters the board room as well, scanning it with his thermo vision.  "Speak about what?" he asks as he searches for hidden guards.  Next he tries to tip over the board table to get a look underneath, remembering well what happened the last time he sat down somewhere without checking.

15:05, Tue 29 July 2014: St. Velveteen rolled 6 successes using 13d6 with the Shadowrun system with a target of 4 ((3,(6+3)9,3,2,(6+2)8,1,4,2,5,(6+1)7,1,3,4)).

Taking the voice as a cue that she could finally take off the silly hood, Firefox promptly did so.  She considered incinerating it, but decided this might not be the best tie to tip her hand in the event her captors weren't already aware that she was magically active.

For amusement, she astrally scans the room and summons a gaggle of watchers to pop through walls and let her know who or what they see on the other side.  For kicks, she has them check out under the floor and above the ceiling too.

Snow opened his eyes...

well Snow tried to open his eyes, the best he got to were little slits to see though.

standing up he rubbed his face with his hands before shuffling towards the sound of the voice.

snow was not a morning person.

Twist wakes up with you. "Hey guys, it's me, Twist, or whatever my name was! Boy, this is the best adventure ever."

<darth vader>"You will not die today."</darth vader>
<lord humungus>"What if he has a pre-existing medical condition?"</lord humungus>
<darth vader>"Well, we can't really help that, can we? That's between him and his medical provider."</darth vader>
<lord humungus>"You said he wouldn't die today. But MAYBE he will. What if he does? Then you'll look like a liar and he might hold you responsible."</lord humungus>
<darth vader>"Alright, alright. You will not die today, barring pre-existing medical conditions, for which we hold no liability."</darth vader>
<liberty prime>"What about unforeseen accidents? Like what if he's hit by a bus on the way home? That would be awful."</liberty prime>
<darth vader>"You will not die today ... barring pre-existing medical conditions or other unforeseen accidents. There, everyone happy now? Can we move on?</darth vader>
<that robot from the day the earth stood still>"What about the great drop?"</that robot from the day the earth stood still>
<darth vader>"Ugh, fine! You may or may not die today. Who's to tell, really? There, everyone happy? Yes? Everyone? Goodness, you lot."</darth vader>

He clears his throat.

"We understand you are responsible for the recent bearnapping of the UCAS Idolize star, Becka. Don't feel you need to confirm or deny this. We already know everything we desire about that particular scene, having read the adventure booklet ourselves, and we are not interested in punishing you. Rather, we wish to hire you. As you should be well aware by now, the elf who hired you harbors nothing but cynicism and hate in his little, black, IE-sellout heart. Cynicism and hate."
"And bad puns," one of the other monoliths speaks.
"Yes, Elder Fistandnautilus. Terrible puns."
A third monolith speaks up, "he says mean things about our brethren, calling them 'fuzzy balls of lethargy'."
"Fuzzy rodents," says another.
"Drop kick friends," says a fifth.
"That one is actually kind of funny."

The first finally reasserts itself, "enough, elders. Not in front of company." They all mumble out sounds of agreement, and the monolith continues.

"We, of course, are the hallowed Drop Bear Council, charged with a most inspired goal in the aid of the Drop Bear cause, and in helping metahumanity everywhere. This bearnapping comes as special insult. We understand, however, that you were misinformed in the matter, and therefore bear you no ill-will. Rather, we wish for you to retrieve Becka. We have gathered much information on Fortuna's current location, we simply are not able to send our own troops, as he has made special defenses against us. We need a third party, preferably one who knows him and the target. For your service, you will be paid 20,000¥ a piece for successfully completing this task.

"While you are there, we also wish for you to gather as much information as possible on him, but your presence must be completely surreptitious. Should he discover you visited his home, you may be in mortal danger. We will part with 10,000¥ for the group in exchange for whatever information you can gather on Fortuna from his home. More if your information is particularly tasty. I know your time feels they must bargain to feel they get a good deal, so you may commence now."
"Excuse me brothers, I must visit the little pups' room."
"Of course, Elder Oracle." One of the monuments backs up a little with the buzz of an electric motor, and scoots towards one of the walls. The wall slides open, revealing a hidden door and light beyond, and the obelisk scoots out.

St. V: Checking the area, you spot dozens of concealed drop bears, watching you with a hungry look. And you know for every bear you spot, there are hundreds more behind the walls.

Firefox: The watchers return pretty quickly to report you're on the 14th floor of an office building in a suburban office park.

"If you want us to run a counter-extraction, there won't be a lot of opportunity to explain our intentions to Becka if we can find her. Do you think you all could hire on a Dr. Birwin to assist the evac? His knowledge could be invaluable in guaranteeing Becka's safety."

"we didn't nab Becka"

"we nabbed some hollow chocolate bear or some drek like that."

Snow still wasn't thinking straight.

Firefox drops to the floor, stunned.  Her world-view had suddenly turned upside down.

She'd sent out watchers and they'd returned with a surprising coherent, useful response.  Something here was clearly wrong . . .

"Dr. Birwin is a friend of drop bears everywhere."
"He stuck his finger up my bum!!"
"A friend of every drop bear excepting elder Jayjoker over there. Of course you can use his services."
"Wear sturdy pants!" says Elder Jayjoker.

Snow mentions the chocolate bear thing.

"I don't know what you're talking about, but that job sounds delicious."
"The Great Drop!!" shouts another.
"Now, now Elder Oracle. No one said anything about the Great Drop."
"No, Elder Oracle did. Just there. I heard him," says a third.
"They rejected the drop! I mean job! You said, if they don't take the job, they'll have to prove their loyalty by the Great Drop!"
"Great Drop! Great Drop!" the rest of the group starts shouting in their mechanical voices. The far wall begins to slide open and a blast of cold wind whips through the room, pulling at your hair and clothes. You can see the edge of a parking lot, and beyond that some tall trees; oak, you'd guess. Then another office park. Quite nice, really.
"Gentlebears! That's if they REJECT the job. We can't ask a loyalty test for them not doing a job that doesn't exist to be done!" The walls slide back shut with a hiss.
"Yes we can! We all agreed, they'd accept and complete the job to rescue Becka from Fortuna, or they'd have to prove their loyalty by doing the Great Drop! We all heard it." The wall slides back open and again the wind blasts at you.
A fourth obelisk chimes, in "let's get them to do both! That'll be awesome!"
"Hey guys, I'm going to do the Great Drop. Hey guys, watch me," one obelisk wheels away from the table and whizzes towards the gap on tiny electric wheels. The monolith zips out, quickly falling out of sight. "WHEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeee" You hear the distant crash of something crushing a car.

The first monolith addresses you over the whooshing wind. It sounds kind of like "WHOOFOFFFHFHHSSSHSHHHHSHHHHWHOOOOOOOOFFFFF!!!!" (The wind I mean, not the monolith. The monolith sounds more like: "I'm sorry, I guess we're having a a bit of an epistemological disagreement here, but the group has spoken. You'll need to rescue Becka from Fortuna's home. It would be really swell if you could rescue the uhh ... hollow chocolate bear too. I'm really quite sorry about all of the confusion here.")


Firefox: I trust that things are back to normal now? Yes, those pesky watchers, always giving correct information only when it's about to be revealed to you anyway. :P
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:20, Thu 31 July 2014.

"I'm confused"

(and Snow will shoot anyone who says "Boys have a penis, girls have a vagina")

Firefox resisted the urge to peer over the edge to see whether the monolith had survived lest she be mistaken as volunteering to follow after him/her/it.

"Umm, yes.  While the great drop would undoubtedly be exciting, we're a little under-equipped to tackle that today.  Thus I think we'd be happy to accept your job offer . . ."

She looked around to ensure none of her teammates preferred the "take a flying leap out the side of the building" option.

"Some information about Fortuna would be helpful.  Say starting with an address and perhaps some information about his unfortunate defenses?"

Saint Velveteen groans at the mention of Dr. Birwin.  The guy might be a friend of the drop bears, but he was no friend of the trolls.  Or at least not this troll.  St. V felt he had been touched inappropriately by the man and still hadn't gotten over the emotional scarring it had caused to his ego.  Well, at least he wasn't as bad off as Elder Jayjoker...

V whistles as the monolith topples over the edge.  "That was one brave obelisk..." he mutters as he stares out the hole in the wall, awestruck.  He shakes his head, bringing his focus back on the situation.

"Since it seems we are taking the job one way or another, is there something we can tell Becka that will let her know you sent us?  I don't want her peeling my skull back and eating my brains just because she thinks we are the bad guys.  We probably didn't make such a great impression the first time around."  Saint Velveteen crosses arms and leans against the overturned boardroom table.  "And where's my guns?"

"An honorable choice. Brother Witness! Bring in the data chip."

The door opens again, and a smaller obelisk, perhaps half the size of the others, scoots in and stops next to the runners, a datachip carefully rested on its top. (I assume Firefox slots it.)

It includes the GPS coordinates for Fortuna's estate in Sidhe-Salish, and a volume of photos of the house from above, from outside the windows peering in, from the outdoor light by the front door, through the mail slot, from the ventilation fan in the bathroom ceiling, from the top shelf of the closet in the home office while Fortuna is at his computer chair, composing a response on 4chan about trollols, a pair of pale, clammy columns you figure must be feet shot from under the bed, from inside of the lampshade as Fortuna sleeps, etc.

The estate itself seems fairly modest; one level. It looks something like this, but with more garden gnomes: http://mhrus.com/wp-content/up...2013/09/DSC_0695.jpg

The chip also includes visas for travel, and passports. You notice the passport pictures don't QUITE look like you, in that all the pictures are koalas wearing hats or fake beards.

"I'm afraid Becka is more of a performer and less of a talker. She's always had to do things her own way. I'm sure you understand. Some sort of protective hat may be in order."

"You may yet redeem your naked, earth-bound souls. You will not be able to contact us until the job is complete, but remember, we are always watching, no matter where you go. Always. Brother Witness, bring them out." With that, the monolith named Witness rotates slowly, and leads the way towards the sliding door, which opens as he approaches.

Carver is very careful to project how certainly he is moving towards the sliding door in lieu of the gaping hole. When FF is done with the chip he will slot it himself to get a HUD view of the information and arrange it to his pleasing.
"Seeing as how you are all forming some sort of super-secret post-koala-studio initiative or somesuch, do you happen to have any labs where I could get some 'protective headgear'? It seems like some other shadowy faction has bought out all the protective headgear in this edition city." Privately, Carver is more looking forward to having solid earth under his feet. Never a fan of high rises, especially ones filled with bloodthirsty murderous beings, or drop bears for that matter.

Firefox scanned the chip on her PDA, cringing slightly at the image of Fortuna's legs, glad the camera hadn't been angled higher.  After downloading, she passed the chip to the doctor.

"This doesn't actually give any background on Mr. F.  Who is he?  What were the defenses you were worried about.  Surely if you can get a shot from under the mans bed, you could narcoject him full of whatever you wanted?

Also, is there a preferred outcome for Mr. F at the conclusion of this?"

She positioned herself closer to the smaller exit, but made no move to follow the mini-monolith

One of the monoliths will bring out a tray with helmets. Each helmet has slots cut in it for your fuzzy ears to stick out. They're a little tight, but they should help keep your head intact during a mild impact (+1 impact armor, +2 when landing on your head).

"Fortuna is an immortal elf; like the last guest at a party who refuses to leave, he just hangs around forever, talking about the last time he got high and raiding the fridge.

"We can't just ... ourselves? You want our people to retrieve her? But then why would we have any need to hire adventurers?" The monolith pauses, perplexed for a moment. "No, you need to do it."

"If you find Mr. F, you can be as mean with him as you'd like. Yes, you heard me ... call him bad names, insult his mother ... be as rough as your dark shadowrunner heart can manage!"

"I'll be sure to tell him that he's so ugly that I thought he was his mother," St. V suggests as he heads for the door.  He wants to get out of this place before they decide that making their group do the drop is a good idea after all.  He grabs a helmet and sticks it on his head as he reaches the doorway.  "We still don't have our guns," the troll points out. "And do you have a better set of wheels we could borrow?  I don't know if our ride even has enough juice left to drive itself to the scrapyard."

Snow was still confused, they didn't kidnap Becka.  Or did they?

to many questions, not enough answers and his brain still felt like it was stuffed with cotton.

without a word he grabbed one of the helmets and headed for the door.

Firefox grabbed a helmet as well.  She knew someone who might enjoy it, even if she wasn't sure she could bring herself to wear it.

"Umm, in the event Mr. F has more than one, how will we know if we've got the right bear?"

"Your vehicle was brought here from the warehouse we captured you in. You should find it downstairs in the parking lot."

Firefox asks her question and the room goes silent (except for the monstrous rushing wind from the open wall). You hear one monolith buzz to the other "oh my god." "Typical elf; all bears look alike to her."

The lead monolith shushes them. "There's a picture of her in the data chip. You should be able to hold them side by side and be sure."

"Just remember to kidnap her from the hotel first, otherwise this messes up the whole plot. We'll call ahead so they'll be expecting you."

The group of you files out into the hallway. The outside hall is well lit by fluorescent lights, and has cheap office carpeting. Periodically you pass motivational posters with phrases like: "altitude - because the higher you climb, the more hemorrhaging you cause to your target". You can peer into cubes, all stuffed with thick foliage, and see drop bears and metahumans (mostly metahumans, really) in button-down shirts and slacks, working at terminals. You pass by one drop bear apparently cruising EBuy, with a stack of your guns and equipment laid out on the desk next to you.

Eventually the monolith leading you stops at an elevator and explains which way to turn to reach the main entrance.

Carver gestures back at the Ebuy-guy "And how do we get our equipment back?"

St. V was so busy soaking in the motivational gold of the posters that he almost didn't notice that they had passed by their weapons.  Luckily Carver was there to bring it to his attention.  "We get it like this," he says in response to the question.  St. Velveteen walks over to the bear who seemed to be trying to pawn their things off to the highest bidder and towers over him (or her!) with an intimidating lean.  Then, in a barely audible whisper, he bends down and says to the drop bear, "my fists have lots of altitude."  The troll then slams a fist down for emphasis and proceeds to grab his things off of the desk without asking for permission.

Carver politely follows St. V and points to the monitor: "It looks like someone is trying to snipe that floor lamp you bid on a second ago. Good luck." then grabs his things and follows the troll.

The bear drops in surprise, then shrinks from St. V's well, everything. It's pretty easy to reclaim all your stuffs.

The hallway ends at an elevator bank, and the obelisk you were following stops there. You hit the down button (I assume) and head down to the lobby. The lobby itself is a rather plain tiled hallway. A bulletin board beside the door lists a few businesses that rent space here.

Outside is a nice parking lot with a few trees. You soon found that whosit's truck was brought here, so you have easy transit home. Unfortunately, it also appears someone dropped a giant rock or something on it, because the entire front of the roof and windshield is crushed in. There's no sign of what caused the damage. Standing next to the vehicle is an older man in a grey security uniform holding a newspaper under his arm, peering at the damage. He then peers at you.

"Is this your car? You should probably move it so it doesn't get towed."

(I'm going to consider this scene closed. It was pretty short, but 1 karma all around. You would have scored more for completing the Great Drop, but maybe later.)