The Unseen Servant forums

Shift

"That seems like a sound plan, Angus." it then turns to Clark "Yes, I think I shall need your help Clark. I do not have the appropriate identification to pay to get past the paywalls. Worse, it seems I have picked up some malware. I have isolated it in my meshwork interface and will need to purge it. It is not an issue, but it may take a little time to remove. "

Pete Jenkins sounds familiar, though there could be more than one person with that name in a place the size of Ward 3, Angus remembers a cheerful and diligent student with mediocre grades, who came to class always in person and several times stayed after to ask fairly searching questions. Grades did not reflect ability, Angus recalls thinking.

Pete's day job had been as ... an electronics technician?

Fantastic...There will be a paper trail showing where he was resident. At least when he enrolled. We can find his most recent bed by asking about from there - and that will allow us to enquire of his circumstances from there.

Damn - Que! <Fade Lights>

Louis opens his eyes, awaking from his neoneuralink-born trance. "One of the girls at Unixty has some connections with one of the 247 people. Very dangerous, very deep-web, you know. They run a lot of the gateways you'd use if you'd want to interface with a sexbot - no offense, Shift - or get somebody killed, or high, or what have you. My girl she says their orgies are the absolute fizz. They hook you up, pump you full of the occult, then link you up to everybody else. You float for two days and then come home feeling like you've just been hit by a truck. Major perk of netmagery is the sex." He grimaces.

"Ok, tell you what. I'm going to go check up on this Arthur Sullivan guy, comm you once I've got info."

Clark attempts to aid Shift, but doesn't fair much better than them. "Well, no info on the free net, I guess we'll have to pay up." He does just that, using the funds.

Information: [1d8] = 4

Clark learns:

Svinus Malcom, age 39
unidentified female in late 40s
Pete Jenkins in early 20s electronics technician
Kion Lommidge in mid 30s
? Morten Bach, age 35 avid folkshock listener and juggler
? Pheng Sokha, age 26 blunt force trauma to head and torso
-> one rambling comment on the story, about the "droid uprising taking control of the streets" signed by XK7-8JR (verified subscriber).
? Janice Evans, age 54, mother to three and grandmother to two, blunt force trauma
? Edward Amfokovy, age 19, had planned to enter Unixty for the spring semester

Spending 1C exempts you from rolling for this.

Let's not delve into apophenia ...

The articles are written by "staff of the Block" where "the Block" is a website that specializes in hot local news for a subscription price (1C annual). There's no specific pattern to the days of the week of the articles, but there's one each week for the past eight weeks. Svinus was the first to go, Edward the last.

It's Wednesday and so far this week there's been no death.

tibbius wrote: ↑Tue Jan 26, 2021 1:01 pm So far, I'm picturing you all talking back stage with Angus ducking around to manipulate the light board. Let me know when you want to shift scene to somewhere else, and what you plan to do there.

My vote is that we (after dismantling the lighting rig) head to an area with seating, alcohol and wi-fi.

Stevie Luiz finishes her speechifying and a round of banal questions from reporters including Jenny someone from the Block. There's a general bustling and milling around as people mingle after the event. The bar is busy. If you can find a booth, the Lizard Lounge has alcohol and wi-fi (which you've been using to gather information all this time).

What next?

Angus

I start dismantling the lighting rig, beer to one side. If possible, I'll persuade shift to help.

A great thing about being up a ladder in a room is that people standing underneath just forget you are there (unless you drop something)

There's not much of the rig that should be taken down. Lizard Lounge does live music several nights a week, and it's really just a matter of repositioning stuff back to pretty much where it was - the configuration for a politician giving a speech is a lot different than it is for a band playing a set. It takes a while.

Conversation in the room mostly is about Grinning Imp, a up-and-coming postelectric act with an android drummer and a troll lead singer - just having androids, trolls, and humans together on a stage doing a show is kind of a statement given that a lot of humans doubt androids can art. "Yeah, but with the drums, y'know, it's not really creative," someone says, which leads to a pretty heated argument and scuffle as a drunken human drummer answers the affront. Somebody in the fracas bumps the step ladder, giving Angus a momentary feeling of oh shit, but then Shift grabs it and keeps him from falling.

Some shrill woman who's a few shots too deep mentions the androids up at Crown and G, "if they can kill it in the streets, they can kill it on stage," and laughs wildly before belching.

While the rig is being accounted for, Clark attempts to intercept the lady from the Block, hoping to learn if there's someone specific responsible for the articles, or at least ask if there's any delay between learning the news and it's publishing.

What, nobody's gonna pick up on Jenny from the Block? ... ah, my humor's wasted here ...

The reporter from the Block is talking to Stevie, trying to get her to say something stupid as they both sip what looks and smells like sparkling mineral water in martini glasses - Jenny the reporter has an olive in hers, Stevie has a couple of lemon slices.

Clark edges over and pauses, not sure how to enter the two-way conversation.