Lua's Log: On Fencing Goods

Fencing goods is the sort of thing we all have to do periodically and seems like it would be fairly lucrative side business, but I generally find that most goods are barely worth the effort unless you are really good at what you are doing.

You get some nice shiny weapon from some rent-a-star type that was guarding the door.  It runs for, say, 500¥ on the open market.  Not too shabby, you figure you can try to recoup around 125¥ from the right buyer.

The trouble is, now you have to find that bleeding "right buyer."  That's a few days of waiting around, generally, if you know what you are doing.  If you lack an aptitude for it, then you are looking at a couple of weeks of effort to get this item–which is really a dirt common item–off of their hands.

Meanwhile, you are taking a fairly serious risk while you ask around for these items, because you are trading in the item without a license.

Now you find a potential–and I do emphasize that word–buyer. You try to negotiate, but depending on how good of a negotiator they are and you are (and most runners are not very good), this could put you as low as 25—75¥.  A good friend might be willing to take it off your hands with no questions, but unless you have someone who needs exactly what you want on speed dial, you are probably going to be relegated to sifting through pawners to find who could use it.

Oh, and then when you are done, you are most likely going to split the proceeds with the other runners in your group.   Enjoy your soykaf with the proceeds.

This is why it is vitally important that, if you are going to make it in this world, you either get very good at getting rid of items–especially hot items–for a reasonable price or you make fast friends with someone who is.

Anything else is a good way to get yourself cheated or killed.

Lua's Log: Eagle Security

The run itself starts out as downright bizarre, and gets more so from there.

Long story less long: The run is basically just a standard military obstacle course. The kind used by militaries and corpsec groups the world over.  The twist is that there's a live-fire invasion going on during the simulation.

Evidently this is a black-flag operation (read as: shadowrunning) from some corporation somewhere that is attacking Eagle Security. Indeterminate whether these are leashed runners, a merc corps, or just a group that works together regularly, but regardless they were organized.  It is uncertain what they were after, but I think they either were hired by Eagle Security or they were not expecting a group of heavily armed shadowrunners to be in the middle of a run, because they clearly were not prepared for us.

We found the Eagle Security folks tied up in the observational layer, so I am guessing that the latter is what was going on.

Despite this, Eagle Security decided that our going above and beyond wasn't worth anything more to them, but we did get a nice bonus in the equipment collected. So there's that.

In more interesting news: We have a Technomancer in our group.  The "backup Decker," Kat, has the clear aura marks and her implants are fake: She's a Technomancer.   She's not talking about it, of course, but then, why would she? There are very few who are skilled enough with their astral perception to pick up on that sort of thing, and she's probably had a long career as a Decker with very few people knowing the truth.

Interesting, but not presently useful other than that it gives me more confidence in her decking ability.

Now it is time to fish around for a new run to see how these guys perform in a real death trap.

Lunacy: Eagle Security

(Set to publish in one month + rand(1,7) days).

Eagle Security recruiting runners to test what is claimed to be their training course (test a test, if you will).  Pay is reasonable and commiserate with market rates. Supposed to be "easy money."

Will advise with more information when known.  If this is posted without a followup, then assume that it is anything but easy.

Lua's Log: 13 November 2075, Training Day

(personal log)

I guess Mr. Johnsons have to start somewhere, right?

It was a pretty quiet night in the Babel. Couple regulars, loud music, bad whiskey. One troll who I assume is a data-slave is doing what he always does… sits at a table and talks into his commlink–or maybe to himself, I've never checked–for hours in what sounds like a very boring technical support call.

Then I see this young kid come in with some older chiphead. The chiphead whispers a few things to him and then goes off into braindance-land in the corner (he later wanders around as someone else and walks out). The poor girl looks just lost. She first approaches one of the regulars–a dwarf who is more interested in drinking than talking–and then walks up to me and just stands there, looking at me as if I am about to stab her.

I figure that I haven't had a run in a while and my earpiece picked up a bit about "shadowrunners" so I figured I was either about to be the victim of the most incompetent Shadowrider of all time, or that this was an aspiring Johnson who had a job for me and just didn't know how to say it. So I explained to her how this would work: She'd start by buying me a drink, then she'd explain to me whatever the death trap was that she was trying to hire me for. Then she'd make an offer that would be entirely too low, to which I'd counter, and we'd settle on a value she wasn't going to be particularly comfortable with.

She buys me the drink (I love newbies), explains the high level and says that she'll pay 1,000 nuyen. I was born at night, but it certainly wasn't last night. I don't think I've ever done a run for 1,000 nuyen since coming to Denver. That'd be… what? Walking some poor elderly wageslave across the street?

I get her up to a more respectable 3,000 of so-called "easy money," which turns out to be all that the employer is willing to really pay per-head, along with 20% of whatever the value is of fenced goods from the run. Before she can make a giant public spectacle out of us I grab us a back room so that her future recruiting efforts can have a little more privacy. She grabs the troll who was talking to himself–he goes by "The Goat"–and brings him back into the room, introduces herself as "Lift Ticket," and offers him 1,000 nuyen.

I'm beginning to see the game. Some sort of easy run, the employer can pay around 18—24k nuyen for 6 to 8 runners, and this girl–or probably her uncle–wants to pocket the difference. Not a bad gig if you can get people to go for so little money, which must mean that this is going to be either really easy or an absolute death trap. I remark that he can bargain her up to around 3,000 nuyen.

Lift is not hugely pleased with this turn of events. I get a little bit of a tip out of her to not spoil her game, and she goes back out to keep recruiting.

Eventually the crew is assembled. We've got two deckers (including The Goat), a rigger (Lift Ticket), 3 samurai, and myself. Oh yeah, and the chiphead. Not bad considering how low the offers were starting at.

Now it is on to see what this death trap is all about.