CY_BORG: VIP Abduction

[Animalmother]

I'll take the Glitch

[Stormbringer]

I'll take the Glitch

Cool. In which case, we'll forget that d12 roll and just say you're unaffected by the G0-dust.

Is there anything I can do with my RCD if I get out of the taxi and go examine the rider to try and ascertain who they were and if there is any other pertinent information that we should probably know about them?

You're thinking in absolutely the right line here.

Unfortunately you do not have an (illegal) Bio/ID Scanner (price 250¤), so you cannot find out who this person is, and they have no physical ID upon them, as Volley just discovered; only a flask of booze!

+ + +

Doze lifts up the bike from the ground, takes a photograph of it with the camera in her RCD-compatible Visionvisor, writes out some basic information: 'AGCS Cyberbike For Sale' (etc.) and uploads it to a Net site catering for private sales, along with a city-map reference to the present location. An AI pricing assistant suggests it is worth 12k¤. Now to wait for a taker...

+ + +

Volley: What will you do with the pocket-flask of booze you found on the biker?

Sen: You do not have a knife or other ship tool with which to harvest bones. Doze has a monosword, but will he let you use it for that purpose? And is it really designed for that purpose?

Doze: What will you do while you wait for a buyer to come to this accident-site?

[Sly Boots]

(playing Doze as a she btw )

[Stormbringer]

Noted; Doze is now a she/her.

[Animalmother]

Volley will check the flask to see if its antique. If not he'll drink all the booze and toss it away.

[Stormbringer]

Volley: test Toughness please! TWICE! There's more than just alcohol in that flask...

[Sly Boots]

Doze isn't really sure what to do while waiting for the mark- I mean, customer to arrive, so I guess she'll just tinker with Boris in case anything can be upgraded.

[Animalmother]

Volley: test Toughness please! TWICE! There's more than just alcohol in that flask...

12 & 11 (2 D20's isn't it?)

[Wrathbone]

Sen will drag the biker somewhere out of sight, like behind a dumpster or pile of trash, to avoid any potential questions the inbound buyer may have.

[Stormbringer]

Volley: test Toughness please! TWICE! There's more than just alcohol in that flask...

12 & 11 (2 D20's isn't it?)

That's right! Well, you past first the first test, which means you didn't become intoxicated with the alcohol. But the second...well, that biker added a little something extra to that drink: a dose of Sunset Chalk! For the next nine minutes Volley enters a state of euphoric non-violent bliss.

Sen will drag the biker somewhere out of sight, like behind a dumpster or pile of trash, to avoid any potential questions the inbound buyer may have.

A most excellent idea indeed.

+ + +

Sen — realising that he is ill-equipped for bone extraction in the middle of the street — picks up the mangled corpse of the biker and drags them off the street, toward the nearest dumpster, near the rear-entrance to the food court. As he does so, he notices a peculiar smell coming from within the dumpster. Far worse than trash. Even worse than rancid food waste.

Meanwhile, Doze gets a ping on his Cyberbike ad. A potential buyer is on route. Their Net handle is @talsequin8d-7. He'll be there in a few minutes, he says.

[Wrathbone]

Against my better judgement (or rather because Sen lacks almost any critical faculties), I’ll open the dumpster to investigate the smell.

[Animalmother]

Volley's mind returns to an ancient holo he once watched as a kid. So ancient it had originally been a flat 2D "movie". The details were lost in a haze but he remembered a young girl surrounded by little people singing about a golden road. It had brought a few moments of joy to an otherwise decrepid childhood.

The rest of the group are baffled to see Volley skipping merrily up and down the road, stooping every few moments to apparently shake someone's hand, someone small. The wide grin on his dead face is ghastly to behold.

[Sly Boots]

Doze shakes her head. "Gotta drop these meatbags soon," she thinks.

Is there some kind of internet-equivalent she can use to search the buyer's ID to see if there are any hits to be concerned about?

[Stormbringer]

Doze can't find out any information about the user on the Net. They have no online footprint.

+ + +

Dropping the biker's broken body by side of the dumpster, Sen lifts the lid to see what is the source of that awful smell, only to find it is stuffed full of disembowelled corpses! Their organs all removed!

Then he remembers: inside the so-called 'food court' — Hyper Mall #1994: Where All Your Dreams Come True (which actually sells more than food, but that's all the punks had on their mind this morning) — there's a medical clinic called Ol' Trusty Joe's; this bin must be where he dumps his waste material. He might be willing to pay for a fresh corpse?

As he is wondering this, a flying surveillance drone comes buzzing overhead. It hovers over the dumpster. It looks heavily modified and is covered in stickers; looks like the work of some wannabe hacker. BHFJ4OT17X (the serial number) is stamped on the side. An all-too-human voice blurts out from its integrated speakers. This drone must be being piloted remotely, rather than AI-controlled.

Drone: "Hey! Going for a dumpster-dive I see? Not a lot here is there? You interested in some quality waste? I can sell you a geo-tag. Only 250¤! Whaddya say?"

A bank transfer icon flashes up on Sen's RCD.

[Wrathbone]

I swipe at the drone with my assault rifle to try and shoo it.

Is Ol' Trusty Joe's within easy corpse-dragging distance?

Also... any bones in the dumpster?