[Mercy Merchant]

But he put his hand there.  All I did was turn around.   

[adamu]

@CoF - hey, wouldn't one good way to change the composition of our team be to bring Dire's character in now???...!

[Jack_Spade]

Probably,
but do you have a good IP reason how we should go about it?

[adamu]

Beats me - I think that falls to Dire and Aria to come up with, since none of us knows Karasu-san.

I assume they have some sort of entrance scenario dreamed up, and that it (like everything else we're doing here) is completely imaginary, so easy to adjust to bringing the new player on board...

Just thinking out loud...

[Aria]

I had intended Dire to join us as a replacement for Iris, hired to fulfill her obligations as she is not able to...for the sake of my sanity I was going to say that Dire's character knows at least one of you from the past, possibly Robyn...what do you think Dire?

[DireRadiant]

@COF Anyone would be crazy to join a group of hard core magical bio terrorists in the deep dark Below.

I've sort of followed the IC, I guess the key item, if we use Iris absence as the hook, is if Iris has information the she would give someone to enable them to join or intersect with the team (what is today's countersign?). That's assuming you guys even need another player. The thread seems to be smoking along quite nicely.

Yukika would know anyone who plays gambling games. Maybe there is a nice casino in the underground mall.

[adamu]

Yeah, we're doing nicely enough.

Doesn't mean another player that is awesome wouldn't be great to have - that's my view.

[DireRadiant]

Well, you don't need a priestess for the wedding. I can swap one of Yukika Karasu contacts into Torrent so that is one item in common with Robyn.

[Aria]

Torrent is a freebie!

Would prefer it if you knew one of the others by sight at least...this group can be unkind to new joiners, purely from an IC PoV and entirely justified, so it would be easier...

But your call on that one! Isn't Al a gambler?!?

[adamu]

Yeah, guilty.

Was going to say something, but then realized he wouldn't be caught dead in some sterile Underplex Mall casino.

Now, if Karasu-san is also known to frequent shady waterfront dives of the lowest repute, it is altogether possible that she met Al, and that he found her card sharping skills to surpass even his own (much to his chagrin).

[DireRadiant]

Karasu-san doesn't care where the game is as long as she can go home and shower afterwards. A connection through a common fixer is fine, connection through Al and gambling games is fine. Iris is reasonable intersection through whatever we come up with.  What I am wondering about is the setup. There's nothing Yukika Karasu would add to the team that they don't already have. Given the circumstances there should be some good reason to add a person.

Iris has bailed, does the team have any good reason or obligation to accept a replacement sent to them? Do you still need a vocalist for the band? Hardly fit into the awesome cover that you built and is probably blown.

Al sees Yukika Karusa  and remembers that she can do something to help the team out? What is it that she can help with?

Yukika making an entrance is not a problem, the real challenge is the situation where the team would involve her in their current tasks, what is that reason?

[pistolgrip]

I would suggest that someone in the party owes her a favor, and when she comes to collect (perhaps noticing us by happenstance, such as from Robyn's matrix activity), we first ask her to help us finish the job before any of us can help her with her little problem, whatever it may be.

Also, Jackhammer is often involved in underground fights, so if Yukika is a gambler, she may well have bet on (or against) him at some point. Just an option, should you choose to explore it.

[DireRadiant]

Proposal: Yukika Karasu is Below seeking Iris regarding repayment of a debt and encounters the team. Iris contacted Yukika and told her to meet Iris for the debt repayment. If it is not generally known that Iris and some team are associates, it may be that Iris informed her whom to look for. Yukika is a known person to Al and vice versa. Yukika will know who Jackhammer is but not necessarily vice versa. Everyone has Torrent as a common contact. For those that may know who Yukika is, she is a Professional Gambler and Shinto Priestess with Yakuza clients. Less well known she works as a Security Consultant and other "Odd Jobs".

So the encounter scene can be when the team is in a more public area and Yukika can identify herself to Al and Jackhammer with the intent of finding Iris.

How does that sound?

[Aria]

Excellent! Will try to move the group to a suitable point tomorrow (unless one of you gets there first)

And because I'm feeling nice, you can get to a market exit near Embankment, not in the market proper but public enough for Dire to meet you all, and still in Below just about...

[Jack_Spade]

Well, our next destination is getting back to our entry point without touching the market. Waiting there for our group would seem the most logical thing - especially since I'd expect our opponents to do likewise.