[eighth circuit]

Grind

The elf host looks at you and rolls his eyes. "Down, 9th level." He points toward the stairs and says no more.

[spoiler]You're lucky Kitten spoke for you, and that you didn't glitch![/spoiler]

[vinnmun]

Grind nods to the elf and heads down the stairs to the 9th level, the thumping hurting his brain a bit as he enters and heads over to the table Frost & Kitten, "Ladies.." He hops up onto a chair. "Sooo...those warehouses were unfortunately locked. I hoping by chance something was open. Something to start I guess if we got nothing." He gestures a nod to Frost, "The name's Grind, I can assume"

@Data: Cross reference Dong Wei-Lei with Lantau Island Development Board & Hong Kong Corporate Ethics Committe

[spoiler]10d6.hits(5)=2, 10d6.hits(5)=3, 10d6.hits(5)=3, 10d6.hits(5)=5, 10d6.hits(5)=5, 10d6.hits(5)=2, 10d6.hits(5)=5, 10d6.hits(5)=4, 10d6.hits(5)=1, 10d6.hits(5)=3 32hits[/spoiler]

[All4BigGuns]

After several minutes of back-and-forth with the host, Frostmane is forced to hide relief as the 'cat girl' enters. At the girl's question, she gives a short nod of affirmation and goes ahead and follows her--keeping an eye on the woman in case some sort of problem--or treachery--should arise. Once everyone is present, she leans forward and says quietly, but in a tone the other two can hear, "Well, shall we get down to business?"

[vinnmun]

"Let's..." Grind hangs back relatively relax.

[Mirikon]

Kitten's face wrinkled slightly as she saw Grind approach. He really chose to come here dressed like that? She'd be hearing about this for weeks from the doorman! As the others talk about business, Kitten turns her attention back to Frostmane. "Yes, starting with the pay. Fixer said the opening bid was 1K. We both know that was a lowball number, so let's cut to the real scan. Otherwise, no one will be making any money, yeah?"

[All4BigGuns]

Leaning back in the booth, Frostmane says, "I did say per day, and even at one thousand, that can accumulate rather quickly to quite the sizable sum."

[Mirikon]

Kitten smirked. "Only if it takes us forever to find the guy, yeah? And by that point it goes from 'missing person' to 'find the body'. So why don't we say two thousand a day. Nice and simple, yeah? Gives us incentive to not have this drag out too long, and still get paid decently."

[spoiler]I dislike rolling social skills against other PCs, so I won't unless asked. But Kitten does have 16 dice to Negotiate tests.[/spoiler]

[All4BigGuns]

Frostmane shakes her head, "That's more than the man I talked to authorized. All right, can't blame me for trying, but he did authorize 1500. I'm sure you can guess why I was trying to get you guys to take 1000." She gives a bit of a grin.

[vinnmun]

Grind nods, "Well shall we get down to business than? I don't mind the extra cash, but my life is more valuable than any nuyen i can get right now."

[thecommabandit]

Menzo skulks up to the club, seeing the bouncer and the high-class entryway. Shit. As if to make sure, he looks down at what he's wearing, making sure he looks as grubby and scruffy as he thinks he does. Yep. Trying not to catch the eyes of the bouncer, he walks into the alleyway just shy of the club, and begins reaching into the astral to create a spirit.

Talk me past this bouncer so I can get inside.

[spoiler]
Summoning test, Force 1 spirit of Man (Summoning 3 + Magic 4): 7d6.hits(5)=2
Drain resist: (Willpower 2 + Logic 2): 4d6.hits(5)=1
[/spoiler]

[Mirikon]

Kitten grinned, and said, "Fifteen per day each. Sounds fine. And yes, let's get down to business. You were contracted to find Fong, yes? What did Renraku say about what his job was? That'll go a long way to figuring out why someone wants him so badly."

[All4BigGuns]

Frostmane looks to Kitten and says, "I sent you all the information that I have, but there is an internal investigation going on. I am reasonably certain that the results should be relayed to me. However, with how long an internal investigation may take, perhaps any...less savory contacts you may have might be able to come up with something more quickly."

[Mirikon]

Kitten sighed. "Well, I can tell you that the 289 triads are the ones who grabbed him. Unwilling extraction from a lovely little place in the red light district. What we don't know is why. The 289s called in some of their heavyweights on this, so either they want him for something important, or they're sending him to someone with serious juice. Either way, knowing why they want him will give us an idea of where to start looking. If he's the Matrix Security VP, then there's a lot of things that could be happening here."

[eighth circuit]

Menzo

A pudgy, disheveled spirit materializes beside you. He's got scraggly hair and looks a bit like the guy who played The Penguin in that old 2D Batman movie. Don't worry, I got this. Watch, and learn.

The spirit bumbles over to the host and says, "Hey buddy, what say you move over and let us cool cats slide by?"

The elf looks extremely unamused. He stares down the spirit, then shouts, "SECURITY!"

[spoiler]Spirit to resist summoning:
1d6.hits(5)=0 No hits, but still 2S drain, so you take 1S damage. Next time, it's ok if you just roll for the spirit. In fact, you can roll all your spirits' tests, so long as you're in good standing with them. No edge unless I say so, though, or to prevent disruption.

In this case I'll allow edge, since this is probably about as much action as this guy gets. Influence:2d6.hitsopen(5,6)=0 Ouch! Critical glitch. Next time summon a better spirit!
[/spoiler]

[eighth circuit]

Grind

Your data sprite turns up several news articles about Fong's involvement with the Corporate Ethics Committee and the Lantau Island Development Board.

The Hong Kong Corporate Ethics Committee is an inter-corporate group that recommends corporate ethics standards and researches ethics violations for Hong Kong's Executive Council. At least that's its "mission." In reality, it figures out ways for megacorps to weasel out of ethics complaints, while making business harder for corps without any clout--all while presenting a sanctimonious front. Fong was recently named vice-chairman. He's got a reputation as a reasonable and fair-minded man of the highest moral standards, and has even been known to consider criticisms of Xiao-Renraku. He's a deal-maker who's always got a good statement for the press.

The Lantau Island Development Board is in charge of responsible development of Lantau Island, balancing development interests with environmental protection. That is, it is the knife with which Hong Kong's megacorps divide the remaining bits of wilderness on Lantau. Again, all the articles about Fong are positive, and he's even made statements favorable to some environmental groups. Xiao-Renraku has been particularly effective in acquiring and developing Lantau property, though there is little official speculation that Fong's presence on this ostensibly independent board has anything to do with that.