Re: Chapter 01: The Lockman Ploy
A male Deksharr nearby says, "Actually, the Gynome has a point" he's referring to Lucky, "If you ask the Lockmans, they may be willing to offer a donation to improve their press. There will be news crews at this competition, you know."
(1 Gynomb is the name of the black cat race, usually from Planet Pirace)
Speaking of news, the Blissian news is playing:
"This is Hiyoo, bringing you the latest in Seralara; One of our top geologists, Ejuket Roger Xalitron, has discovered a new mineral on home-world! This is very exciting news as it shows promise for more discovery of our very planet!" she says with excitement. "Ejuket Xalitron?"
(2 Seralara is a city on Planet Bliss.)
(3 Ejuket is sort of like a professor on Bliss)
The camera moves to a male blissian with a proud smile. "Thank you, Hiyoo. Yes, for now the mineral does not have a name, but we have discovered some really nice qualities to it, not unlike the popular "Gammus" mineral. Here's what it looks like." he holds up a green rock that seems to glow and dim, pulsing with light almost like the light is a heartbeat. He continues on some random factoids about the mineral, but is very brief.
(4 Gammus is the common fuel used like gasoline for us Earthlings)
The Deksharr news is also playing, of course:
"...in his ship. He claims it was sabotage and suspects he knows who is was, but will not so much as say who until he is certain and has all the evidence. Captain Wilnum?" the camera goes to Cpt Wilnum, a strong, middle-aged Deksharr man who looks his part. "I do not tolerate such cowardice." he says in a very loud, stern tone. "I have poured my entire life savings into getting to the bottom of this. Saboteur, beware, for among the things I purchased with my savings is a massive bounty for you. Dead or alive. I hope you die of fear, you low-life." the reporter then asks, "You did, of course, make sure bounty-hunters won't simply bring you a dead body and throw fake evidence at you to make a quick buck, right?" the captain answers, "You're straight I made sure! All bounty hunters are expected to come to me with irrefutable evidence. If they bring a dead body and it isn't someone worthy of the death sentence, I will see to their rightful imprisonment and sentencing for murder." the reporter nods. "Thank you, Captain. Well you heard it here, folks. All you bounty hunters out there? The reward for finding, detaining and bringing the saboteur is ten THOUSAND credits. You heard me right. You could practically retire. But the captain did not sink that much money to be scammed, so you scammers can just forget it. For more information, go to www.sabotagebounty.net."
------------------------------
The competition has not started, but even now, it is being set up and prepared for. Party favors, materials, tables, chairs, you name it. It's all being organized, situated and set up for the upcoming event. Should Nash have shown up early, all he would find is a bunch of hired help doing the mentioned organizing. But at the head of this is Rocky. The very young teen son of Nick Lockman himself. The brown-haired human boy looks about as the workers busy themselves setting up.
"Aww... c'mon, Rocky... lemme take a load off your shoulders." a rather dark-furred looking red fox with off-white hair says. Whether he's Piressen or Tharian in origin is impossible to tell, but chances are good he's Piressen what with him serving Rocky and all.
"Naw. I wanna do this." Rocky replies. "Thanks for the sentiment, Brian. Tell ya what. Take care of security detail. I know you'll handle that better than me, hands down. And by the way... thanks for coming."
Brian nods, "Heh. I wouldn't miss this, Rocky. Fun as you are, I *gotta* see how this turns out."
Rocky chuckles and smirks. "Yeah. It'll be fun."
The two of them do some kind of secret handshake and Brian walks off. If Nash is there, he would go straight for Nash as though Nash was on the schedule of things to do for Brian. Of course, if Nash isn't there, this whole exchange between Rocky and Brian is pure flavor text for the enjoyment of the players.
------------------------------
Pros and cons time. The Lockman Empire is known to be competing with Pedro Sickler (the ruler of Planet Tavern), trying to compete with Tavern's sheer volume of casinos. The Lockman Empire is also more emphatic about protecting its assets (and thus, would be more protective of Jaqueline than the other big wigs of the universe, save maybe for the Tharian Empire). So while they serve as a nice insurance agency, Jaqueline will soon be on Tavern's radar as competition. Making deals with Tavern would be more lucrative, but they don't really protect their own and almost laugh at a fallen casino for not being able to protect itself.
The Lockman rep arrives at Jaqueline's conference room, having been shown in. He has a seat when he is invited to and looks at Jaq with a perfect poker face.
This message was last edited by the GM at 13:29, Sat 15 May 2010.