Chapter 4: Meeting the Locals
Peruse dealership listings, and look for cheap construction supply/home improvement stores nearby. Take an inventory of how much paint would be needed to get a new coat on the bar, what we need to do to fix the bar itself, and how much it would take to get a business/liquor license. If I find any spare time in all of that, practice my knife work a bit. I'm a bit rusty.
Dave looks at the listings of the nearby Car Dealership and they are indeed reasonable prices in the low to mid-thousands range for a variety of Sedans, SUVS and Pick-up Trucks. Also, a few blocks away from the Pub is a local Hardware store,
Zwelli's Hardware. The Pub looks like it would need a couple hundred bucks to be spent just on paint to make sure everything could look fresh, and that's just the exterior. Inside, the bar doesn't need repairing, so much as it could use an upgrade; it would be a nice bar to eat at if it was still the 1930's. As it turns out with a quick search, getting a business license here would be a few hundred dollars, which is quite reasonable, while the price of a liquor license is absolutely insane. The
cheapest Dave can find goes for
$350,000.All this business leaves Dave no time to play around with his knives. Perhaps he should get one of his homies to deal with this time of thing so he can get some personal stabby-time.
[If you're curious, look up the current status of Liquor/Alcohol Licenses in New Mexico. It's nuts.]
Apply to the place for a job.
May as well do some scouting through doing what I know.
Freedom heads down to
Castle Cabs, seeing that if he needs to occupy his time, it might as well be getting money and scouting out the city simultaneously. He enters the building, applying for a job as a Taxi Driver. The pay is at $40 a day, 5 days a week, plus whatever tips he gets. The company provides the Taxi and Gas, but any damage to the Taxi will have to be paid out of Freedom's pocket.
He passes the inspection and is led out to the garage, and given Taxi #482. His boss, Micheal Anglers, tells him to get as many customers as possible. He has a quota to fill after all.
"Do you want to be rich? Do you want people to look up to you, people to fear you. We can give you real power, if you follow us."
Recruit!
"He's right! Before I rolled with these fellas, I was nothin' but some asshole who made a living delivering pizzas to other assholes, but now I've learned how to make money, kick ass, and earn power, and if you roll with us then so can you!"
Back up Tom's claims. Help him recruit us some new footsoldiers using the power of PEER PRESSURE!
"Yup. So who wants to shoot some shit up?"
Recruit!
Marshall works his remaining audience with Trent and Eloni backing him up. [Recruitment: 6+1] The crowd is swayed by the voices of promise and agree to check out how the Syndicate functions. Some of them appear to have various skills, and one even mentions to Marshall that one of his friend's was a Military marksman, but after being dishonorably discharged for attacking an officer, was dishonorably discharged and turned to crime to pay his bills, now serving time in the Penn.
Have the sales rep ask about the gym.
Whittle down the loawyers to the 2 most attractive blondes and 2 most attractive redheads.
Cut the adoption list down to young women who's parents are deceased and then cut it further keeping only those who have a criminal record.
Arrange my meeting with the law company about the job and the adoption interview for after the job interview.
The salesman speaks with his Boss before coming back. "He says you can have your gym, but you'll be the one paying for it."
Preston narrows his list down to four women, and a concise set of girls meeting his requirements. He will be ready with his plan quite soon.
He heads downtown for his interview at Ibrahim Brothers. After some talk with both the brothers, they express their willingness to hire Preston if he can put in 60 Hours a week.
As he exits the office with the consideration on his way to the Adoption Office, the Lawyer spots a scuffle occurring in an alleyway not too far away. Two hoodlums are attacking a suited businessman, one of them pinning him to the wall, the other holding a section of lead pipe. "Get the fuck away from me!" screams the businessman, though neither of his captors seem to have the intent to let him walk away.
"Y-Y-Yeah, you t-t-the guys? I got money b-b-back at my p-place, got l-lots of it..... Y-you ain't C-C-Cops are you?!?"
Try to convince them I have money and for them to give me a card or phone number or something.
"Do we fucking look like cops man?" Mason responds, with the offer of payment, and asks for a card or phone number, something to contact them with. The gangsters speak to each other in Spanish for a bit. "Yeah, no. If you wanna' get something, why not just buy it? We can hook you up."
Total Funds: $3000
Gang Skills:
Territory:
None
Headquarters: Irish Pub
Damage: N/A
Base Assets: Office
Misc.: Pool Table
Electronics:
Weapons:
Storage: Basement, Garage
Vehicles:
Bosses: 8
Dragons: 0
Knights: 0
Footsoldiers: 0
Notable Footsoldiers: 0
Peasants:
Eloni Montera (Spinal_Taper)
Inventory: .32 Revolver, Miscellaneous Consumables
Skills: 4 Firearms, 1 Intimidation, 1 Survival
Health: Fine
Dave Green (Doomblade187)
Inventory: Combat Knife, Toolbox, Old Cellphone, Scrap Metal
Skills: 4 Vehicle Mechanic, 1 First Aid, 3 Knives, 1 Brawling
Health: Fine
Aaron Bradley (Greenstarfanatic)
Inventory: $128, Boxing Gloves, Deck of Cards, 6 Lockpicks, Laptop, Switchblade, Lighter, Unopened Bag of Cheetos, Cell Phone
Skills: 5 Melee, 1 Persuasion, 1 Lockpicking, 1 Conning, 1 Hacking, 1 Surveillance
Health: Fine
Mason Johnstone (anailater)
Inventory: Suit, Pistol, 1 Box of Matches, Bike Chain, Bottle of Pain Killers
Skills: 4 Lockpicking, 1 Charisma, 1 Science, 3 Brawling, 1 Pistol, 1 Running
Health: Fine
Trent McGrath (Gravehaunter92)
Inventory: 2 Switchblades, Spray Paint Can, 5 Lockpicks, Trash Bag, Bandanna, Pistol
Skills: 4 Blades, 1 Stealth, 2 Graffiti
Health: Fine
Blake Jessop (ScriptWolf)
Inventory: 2 Fragmentation Grenades, 1 Medkit
Skills: 4 Explosives, 1 Electronics, 1 Combat Medic, 1 Sharpening
Health: Fine
Thomas Marshall (Playergamer)
Inventory: $1070, Swiss Army Knife, Cellphone, Pistol, Small Safe, 3 Ski Masks
Skills: 4 Persuasion, 1 Bluff, 1 Bribe
Health: Fine
Thomas Freedom (Persus13)
Inventory: Driver's License, Taxi License, Taxi Key, Wallet ($6), Cell Phone, Pocket Knife, Crucifix Necklace, Pistol
Skills: 4 Driving, 1 Firearms, 1 Negotiation
Side Hustle: Taxi Driver - $40 per Day, 6 Days a week.
Health: Fine
Preston Duellos (Patrick Hunt)
Inventory: Expensive Suit, Expensive Shoes, Rolex, Laptop, Phone, Wallet ($4,800; Credit Cards)
Skills: 4 Law, 1 Persuasion, 1 Business
Rent: Manor - $1,100 (Due: 29 Turns)
Health: Fine
Finally done. Whew.
I'm thinking of actually running a second Syndicate RTD simultaneously. It would relieve the Waitlist for one thing, which takes a very long time to go through. I honestly think I could manage running another, and it would give me something productive to do whenever I run into GM's Block updating this game. It wouldn't be as in-depth, with not as much of an open-world aspect, but still a full-fledged game. It would focus more on specific assignments: Assassinations, Smuggling, Kidnappings, Robberies. Players would function as a sort of Syndicate Special Forces. Also, as they would coexist in time and setting, the Syndicate and its spin-off game would both effect one another.