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[Kedly]

Ready to head to alpha

[Twinwolf]

Ready to proceed.

[DoctorMcTaalik]

Ready to go. Or, ready as I will be.

[adwarf]

To Alpha Site.

[Ozarck]

Request public transportation are from the Sons, and walk along with whichever group I'm assigned to, casually. Don't gawk, don't stare, just mind my own business and get where we're going.

[Kriellya]

Alright. Hand out directions and let's be on the way.

Get directions to Alpha, head out to Alpha in staggered groups.

[piecewise]

Ryan, happy with his ragtag assortment of pockets, pipes up.

"Yes, they scratch our back we scratch theirs kind of thing? They get us easy targets off the streets, and we help 'eliminate' their rivals by doing the same? Once they grow in power, they'll owe us and can continue to deliver for us in exchange for help keeping down rivals. Assuming they're the 'romantic', more ancient style of gang or mafia we're allied to."

probably should have put TALK here.

Also.

TO ALPHA SITE

"Nothing like that so far, but it is a valid tactic."

Alright. Hand out directions and let's be on the way.

Get directions to Alpha, head out to Alpha in staggered groups.

You leave the warehouse in two groups, two or three of you with each Son. When you head out the door you almost expect to come onto an enormous cityscape, a valley within mountainous skyscrapers, all lit with neon stars. But all there is here is a tight concrete corridor leading out to a larger thoroughfare lined haphazardly with what look like offices. The square concrete tube is lit by lines of LED lights, which glow harshly white. They illuminate signs above the doors; it appears, judging from what you can see, to be an industrial area. These are the offices of bricklayers, welders, plumbers, electricians, and the like. This tunnel of dull business and heavy bolted doors leads past several intersections before coming out onto a subterranean train yard. Heavy duty electrical trams carry materials and the occasional group of workers through at high speed, off towards some other section of the stack. You board one of them, taking an inconspicuous place next to a stack of steel beams or collection of cinder blocks or shipping containers, and ride the tram for about a half hour. It travels mostly through almost pitch black tunnels, but occasionally stops on an unimaginably large elevator that encompasses the entire length of the tram. You travel what must be a hundred or more stories up before the Son guiding you eventually signals you to get off.

Alpha is in a much more populous and lively section of the city. What the Son Calls a "strip", a thin canyon of open space about 15 stories tall and coated in storefronts, apartments and offices. The walls are an impenetrable jumble of neon lights, signs, banners, open storefront windows and metal catwalks, which crisscross back and forth at seemingly random intervals and give the impression that the strip was constructed haphazardly over a long period of time, not planned and built all at once.  Alpha, as they call it, is an unassuming restaurant about 7 stories up. You have no idea the kind of food they're selling, other then the fact that it seems to mostly include fried noodles and thinly sliced portions of what appears to be the meat of a giant eel. You assume that it is the meat of a giant eel, because tanks of the thanks line the walls like aquarium exhibits. The patrons take a quick glace at you as you pass through the front and into the back. Passed the kitchen is a warehouse area just as large as Beta, though with much less stuff in it.

[Kedly]

"Now that we are in Alpha, any info/plans on where to start? Or is the rest up to us at this point?" Talk

[Ozarck]

How crowded is the strip? How do the people look? I'm thinking in terms of niceness/newness of clothing, variety, noticeable groupings or identifiers, ethnicity, and attitude: generally happy (you mentioned lively), energetic, careworn, hardfaced, suspicious, downtrodden, introspective, etc.

Ask
"What kinds of areas are gamma and delta in? Beta is in what seems like a surprisingly quiet office area and this area is pretty noisy, but not the urban slum filled with alleys of homeless starvation I was expecting. Should I expect that more on even lower stacks? Are there areas like Space Calcutta, where we could literally scoop up armfuls of dying poor like some Twisted Sisters of Mercy?"

((goal added: start an evil charity called the Twisted Sisters of Charity for the purpose of feeding and comforting the starving, abandoned dying, and shipping them off to horrible, horrible experimentation.))

[Egan_BW]

I'm the muscle, not the brains. Which is to say my brains are the muscle, but still.

[piecewise]

"Now that we are in Alpha, any info/plans on where to start? Or is the rest up to us at this point?" Talk

Both the Sons shrug at the same time.

"We could give you a total inventory of all assets and goods."

"But it's all very varied, since we weren't sure what you wanted to do."

"If you told us how you intend to carry out your actions, we could provide information."

"Or we could suggest how to proceed if you are unsure."

"Or we could give generalized information, if that would help."

"We've been instructed to allow you the freedom to conduct this operation via your own methods."

How crowded is the strip? How do the people look? I'm thinking in terms of niceness/newness of clothing, variety, noticeable groupings or identifiers, ethnicity, and attitude: generally happy (you mentioned lively), energetic, careworn, hardfaced, suspicious, downtrodden, introspective, etc.

Ask
"What kinds of areas are gamma and delta in? Beta is in what seems like a surprisingly quiet office area and this area is pretty noisy, but not the urban slum filled with alleys of homeless starvation I was expecting. Should I expect that more on even lower stacks? Are there areas like Space Calcutta, where we could literally scoop up armfuls of dying poor like some Twisted Sisters of Mercy?"

((goal added: start an evil charity called the Twisted Sisters of Charity for the purpose of feeding and comforting the starving, abandoned dying, and shipping them off to horrible, horrible experimentation.))

Very crowded; hard to tell how many are just patrons of the densely packed shops and how many are residents milling around, but there must be several thousand people packed into this area alone. The smell of cooking food, sweat and incense is strong enough to make your eyes water and the noise is something otherworldly; so many voices coming from so many different places and vertical levels makes you feel vaguely seasick. The people appear, well, not rich or even middle class, but their clothing is well maintained and they look clean enough. They're clearly not destitute, but they also appear to have probably made their clothing themselves. Serfs, peasants? The effective upper-lower class? Thats what you would guess. Theres no real majority in terms of ethnicity that you can see; there are all manner of people with different skin tones, facial features, styles of dress and mannerisms; with people coming here from who knows how many disparate planets, it's no wonder there's no uniform group. As per their attitude, they seem mostly just busy and apathetic of your existence. They don't appear overly angry or happy, just sort of absorbed in their own actions, running their shops or hurrying about or sitting at tables and talking with their friends in dialects you can't decipher.

"Gamma is in quite a poor area. It's in a derelict building."

"Delta is probably the most high class structure, up nearer to the top of the stack."

"A large, personal storage unit."

"Lower areas of the stack will inevitably become poorer and more lawless."

"The depths of these stacks aren't even patrolled, there is no law down there."

"Except for occasional hunting parties looking for a high value criminal. Or heavily guarded maintenance crews."

"The ground level is heavily rumored to contain all manner of horrible things. The truth of it is something unknown even to us."

[Gentlefish]

"So... You've never been to the ground level?" Ryan nods thoughtfully. 'If this were any other mission, I'd propose we check it out."

"On a side note, how -does- everyone feel about helping some gangs in exchange for bodies? We take rival gang members and once the gangs are powerful enough, they'll owe us bodies?" He pauses a second. "Of course, we'd need to find a gang that isn't lawless, internally, and holds themselves to an honor system."

[Twinwolf]

"Hm. Hey, Sons, any suggestions?" Speak to the Sons.

[Egan_BW]

"How armed are people here? Would you expect criminals to have gauss or laser weapons? How about police?"
Speak

[Ozarck]

"We could give you a total inventory of all assets and goods."

"If you told us how you intend to carry out your actions, we could provide information."

"Or we could suggest how to proceed if you are unsure."

"Or we could give generalized information, if that would help."

"We've been instructed to allow you the freedom to conduct this operation via your own methods."

say to the sons:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

"I would be interested in that asset list, I think. Have we the resources to develop several organizations lower in the stacks, which could pass numerous people through daily? I'm thinking of temporary work agencies, shelters, food banks, and the like. it'd be a good way to increase traffic so as to lose more people daily.

As for how we intend to carry out our plans, I think we are still divided, though not without some solid ideas. and some shaky ones. Let us consult a little, now that we have seen a bit of the situation here before making suggestions. I am sure we will appreciate advice as we go, especially concerning potential dangers, pitfalls, and circumstances regarding actions we intend to pursue. We're going to be here a while, so there's no rush, I think. It's a tall order, our associate has given us.

Oh, have you got something like a civic defender's longcoat, and maybe an advanced emergency kit, or at least a regular one?"

Spoiler: To the team (click to show/hide)

 "We have several ideas as to how to proceed, guys, and I think they each have some merit. We could cause gang warfare, though I suggest that doesn't happen in this level of the stack, nor directly nearby any of our assets. I also think this is a very risky path to take, Ryan. Gangs we aid can turn on us, and more unrest isn't necessarily good for our health. We could increase our presence in the drug and gun running business, and gather manpower from the shady end of the stacks to both operate that business and to collect prospective ... clients.

We could create various business fronts, perhaps something like a day labor shop - something which changes faces frequently, and skim some people out of the applicants. We could create false lotteries, hand out some prizes and select lucky "winners" for off-world excitement. the trick there is to not draw the wrong kind of interest.

We could create or infiltrate hospitals, hospices, orphanages, asylums, halfway houses, and prisons and 'lose' inmates in transfer. We can create charities and skim there. We could create abortion clinics and take the living fetuses, if we want to be just the worst. The worst. Of course, not all mothers survive that procedure, so we could take some there as well. Lower down, we could simply snatch people from dark places, though we'd need more manpower to do that in the numbers we need."

Dester pauses for a moment, scowling.

"I suggest that the bulk of our activities, at least for now, take place a bit lower in the stacks, where poverty is more rampant. But not so low that we are in danger of being killed or our shoes every time we turn around."

Inspect the headquarters, making note of office areas, medical supplies, and any stasis pods or other people shipping devices.