Cr4ck1ng Th3 My5t3ry

Cr4ck1ng Th3 My5t3ry
Date 2081-08-18 GM Korean BBQ Location Matrix Status Threat Level: Low
Factions Involved
ShadowHaven M4rqu15 M4cr0	Murder
Vip3r Doris Flyboy	General Tsu Chung
Casualties and losses
	Maitre D'

Summary

M4rqu15 M4cr0 invites Vip3r, Doris, and Flyboy to a fancy party on his host with the intent to hire them for a data heist, but one of the party goers is mysteriously murdered with the use of lethal biofeedback. The host is locked down until the team can help determine who committed the murder.

The Meet

The three runners receive invites from the mysterious M4rqu15 M4cr0 to a high class cocktail party on a secure matrix host. Doris, entirely unfamiliar with high class functions and relatively new to the matrix, shows up far too early and is left by herself to awkwardly consume far too many sim drinks at the bar. Vip3r and Flyboy are appropriately fashionably late and meet her at the bar, though the team doesn't do much mixing with the rest of the party and wait for their employer to eventually reveal themselves. They do, however, make note of the various outlandish attendants, including several flag officers from various countries, snobbish debutantes, and an obnoxiously dressed club owner.

After about thirty minutes, M4rqu15 M4cr0 descends from the ballroom staircase to formally welcome everyone. He invites the three runners to his study, where he begins to request that they locate and eliminate any data that his competition may have that implicates him as an emerged individual. Before they can discuss pay, the lights go out and the door to the study is locked. Vip3r brute forces her way through the door and the team runs out just in time to hear a piercing scream. The lights come back on and the host is locked down before any more personas can disconnect.

The Murder Scene

Vip3r leads the way towards the scream with Doris and Flyboy following close behind. The team arrives in sitting room with a man in a foreign general's uniform dead on the floor, attended by an elf woman and another man in a CAS general's uniform. The two witnesses claim that they saw nothing and the body had suddenly appeared after the lights came back on. Doris goes through her forensics checklist and notes that the personal has three stab wounds: a small incision in the gut and side, and a larger incision in the back, indicating that the man had likely been ambushed. There are no signs of a struggle, though it appears as if the persona had been moved there after being killed. Vip3r notes that the persona is link locked and dead from biofeedback based on the attached biomonitor.

The Investigation

Vip3r hacks the victim's device and traces him to Iran, though the device is registered to General Tsu Chung, a retired Taiwanese flag officer who had fought in the Chinese Nationalist War. Doris posits that this could possibly be a revenge killing for acts committed during the war or possibly an assassination to disrupt the Marquis' business, as Tsu Chung had some business records on his device related to the Marquis. The team decides to pull up the guest registry for the party and are directed to the Maitre D', who handles the invites for all of the Marquis' parties.

Game Quotes

After crushing five drinks in ten minutes of awkward waiting: "Why is everyone judging me? I'm not drunk. None of this is even real!" - Doris "Hey! First of all, the matrix is real!" - Vip3r "They're judging you because you would have done the same thing at a real party." - Flyboy

M4rqu15 M4cr0 arrives to welcome everyone to the party. "Wow, I hope that's not a real fur collar!" - Doris "Doris, we're in the matrix." - Vip3r

"They're all judgmental rich people! I don't want to say I feel like a fish out of water, but I'm like a fish out of water here! Get it? Hehe." - Doris A judgmental rich person who was about to engage in conversation with the group walks away. "See? I was right! They just don't appreciate low humor!" - Doris

"We say you did it, then they throw down their glass and we hit them with the evidence." - Flyboy "And the data spike!" - Doris "No! No data spike." - Vip3r

"You would think that a bartender of all people would have better pickup lines!" - Doris "Listen, I only started here two weeks ago!" - Bartender

"We knew it was you, General... Tsu... Chung? This isn't what I was expecting... Flyboy tell them!" - Doris "Tell them what?" - Flyboy "You faked your own death in order to murder the maitre d'!" - Vip3r

"He's still alive... Right?" - Doris "I would do nothing so barbaric! There is, of course, a delicate balance between do not be rude and do not fuck with me." - M4qu15 M4cr0