You meet the team, they meet a new Johnson and get a brief intro to Gabe at the Ballpit.
Come join us for a premiere party on Sept. 19th, 2019 - 8 to 11pm at Wonderville (21+) on Broadway in Brooklyn. More details on their website: https://www.wonderville.nyc/events/fun-city-premiere-party
--
Support the show at http://patreon.com/funcityventures
--
@funcityventures is the show
@bijanstephen is TK
@randwiches is Viv
@nguersh is Luxe
and @shodell is Lash
@taylordotbiz is the bad boys and
@mikerugnetta is everything else
--
Recorded at Fortunate Horse in Greenpoint BK
Produced, edited and sound designed by Mike Rugnetta
Our music is by Sam Tyndall - http://cuneiform.xyz
Our art is by Tess Stone - http://notdrunkenough.com/
This transcript was exported on Oct 28, 2019 - view latest version here.
|
Molly Templeton:In the early 21st century, magic reawakened on earth, and alongside it a newhuman race with orks, elves, trolls, dwarves, and others. Humanity becamemetahumanity. As technology proliferated and greatly advanced in the awakenedworld, global mega corporations seized ever more power becoming defacto stateswith their own laws, courts, and armed forces. The corporations attempt tocontrol all aspects of modern life. This has led to a vast and complex criminalunderground, which works for and against corporate interests. The independentcareer criminals who do what others can't or won't are called shadowrunners. Theyear is 2101. Welcome to Fun City.
Mike Rugnetta:Our game begins in New York City, Midtown, on the East Side of Manhattan, oractually just off the East Side of Manhattan, in the East River. Floating there is asmall and stationary houseboat. It's rectangular and mostly wood constructionwith a small deck at its front framed by large open windows. A few chairs sit onit's flat roof. The bulk of its space is a single open room about the size of anexecutive washroom in one of the mega corporation high rises that crowd the cityskyline. The houseboat is painted sea blue, decorated with expertly illustratedcurling ocean waves. It's plastered with seashells collected over decades frombeaches far and wide. The houseboat stands out amongst its neighbors, otherfloating structures of more or less the same size and purpose, but not so wellmade up. The houseboat's owner stands on the roof, and her three roommates, herfriends and longtime coworkers are also home. They've all been living togethernow for a few months, and things are starting to get tense. WE'll meet thehouseboats owner first.
Jenn de la Vega:Standing on the deck of the houseboat Mirage stands Viv Lakewood. Well, Vivian Lakewood. She goes by Viv for short. She is a 145 year old elf. She is theawakened magician of the group. She is tall. She wears rose gold rimmed glasses, got long silver hair, and, most iconically, she wears a rippling ultramarine bluecaftan that seems like it's always blowing in the wind even if there is no wind.
Mike Rugnetta:Viv lives, this is her house. This is also her, correct me if I'm wrong, this is herlike, place of worship too right?
Jenn de la Vega:Yes.
Mike Rugnetta:This is her, could you talk a little bit about her lodge really quickly?
Jenn de la Vega:Viv's lodge used to take up the entirety of the houseboat, but with extra tenets, she has crushed it into an upstairs sort of small attic that she only has room to rollinto after she gets off the ladder, and it's her chaotic lodge where she can performrituals, train more in the ways of magic, learn new spells, and meditate, get readyfor shadowruns.
Mike Rugnetta:It's basically a magic crawlspace, sounds like.
Jenn de la Vega:Yes. Magic crawlspace lined with seashells and things that she has found over herhundred year journey up and down the rivers of New York.
Mike Rugnetta:So, not exactly thrilled about the number of people in the house?
Jenn de la Vega:No.
Mike Rugnetta:Fans of the people maybe?
Jenn de la Vega:All of her roommates are dear to her heart, and they work really well together, but, it's starting to show that she is getting a little annoyed.
Shannon Odell:Over in the corner of the boat, we see a gigantic ork, 6'5", shaved head, but withthe roots died silver. And, she's kicking a soccer ball against a wall that looks likeit is not going to take many more kicks before crumbling down. She is kickingreally, really hard. She is huge. She is a gymnast. She has got gigantic legs. Sheis visibly annoying everyone in the house, though she does not notice this one bit. You can tell she is young. She is wearing a black armored varsity jacket. She isabout 20 years old. A young shadowrunner. This is Lash Goodbog. She is thegroup technomancer, meaning she is the magician of the Matrix. She can controltechnology intuitively using her mind. Lash is actually excited to be living withViv and all her friends on the houseboat. She recently lost her own apartment andall of her money because she bet a young teenager that she could beat him to thebus stop, and he won. This isn't the first time she has lost all her money in a bet.
Nick Guercio:What she lost literally everything?
Shannon Odell:Yeah, she bet everything. She put everything on the table.
Nick Guercio:What? Is she stupid?
Shannon Odell:She's just-
Mike Rugnetta:Is she brash?
Shannon Odell:She is brash. She has-
Nick Guercio:Lash, brash. Lash is brash.
Shannon Odell:She is brash. She's got, you know, one of her qualities is she has guts. She is just, she is all out there 100%.
Nick Guercio:Was it all on one, or was this just the last bet that like, she had bet all of her moneybeforehand already?
Shannon Odell:No, no.
Nick Guercio:She just rode it all out.
Shannon Odell:She just was like, no, if we are doing this kid, let's bet everything. You know, forher she's like, well, I got friends. They can let me live with them.
Nick Guercio:And it's also amazing to imagine the teenager being like, "I'll only do it if you betliterally everything."
Shannon Odell:Yeah.She's like, "Okay."
Bijan Stephen:I want it all.
Nick Guercio:It's like, imagine being in a bar bet, and the person is like, "How much you got?" And you're like, "I don't know, 20 bucks?" And they're like, "No, how much yougot?"
Shannon Odell:She bet her home.
Nick Guercio:Every penny you own.
Jenn de la Vega:Amazing.
Bijan Stephen:Sorry, just on the other end of the bet, what did she get from the teenager? Like, ifshe had won?
Shannon Odell:I think she probably, not much.
Bijan Stephen:How much do teenagers have in this world?
Shannon Odell:I know. Who knows? He probably had a watch she liked or something.
Bijan Stephen:Okay all right.
Nick Guercio:If we pan over from Viv outside on that houseboat on the deck, we will see arelatively young man in a very, very nice suit, perfectly tailored, rolling a goldencoin across his fingers. If you were to, you know, walk around the deck a bit andapproach him from the side, you would see that he is a very attractive man withperfect bone structure. He has full pouting lips, cheekbones that could cut a tincan in half.
Nick Guercio:Yeah, yeah. The Cut Co. Check implants.
Mike Rugnetta:He looks like a Chad. Is that what it is?
Molly Templeton:Oh no.
Bijan Stephen:Oh no.
Nick Guercio:I don't know what a Chad is. What's a Chad?
Bijan Stephen:No, you nailed it. Yeah.
Nick Guercio:Luxeis a human in his mid thirties. He's got sandy brown hair, and if you movearound to see his face. You'll see it's a very attractive one, as many faces are inthe shadowrunning universe. A face is someone with a lot of charisma. An expertat conning and impersonating people, at getting what they want, a talker. Whatyou also would see on his face is that he is annoyed right now. Viv's houseboat isfilled with what LuxeScythe would mostly consider trash. Seashells, clumps ofsand that she says, "She knows", what does that mean? Luxe owns a very, verynice condo in Manhattan on the 199th floor, and, it is currently being renovated. So, he, along with the other shadowrunners in the team are here with Viv. Heappreciates it, but he spends every minute he can out here on the deck.
The whole scene looks a little bit like a photo shoot for a men's fashion magazine on the bayou.
Mike Rugnetta:I just want to be clear that the water is like, just remarkably dirty.
Nick Guercio:Dirty water. It's a houseboat.
Mike Rugnetta:There's just like garbage floating all around in the East River.
Nick Guercio:You don't know why GQ would go out here to shoot, but it looks like they have-
Mike Rugnetta:The smog is also really thick and low today, and it's just, yeah.
Nick Guercio:With Luxe on the-
Mike Rugnetta:You look great though.
Nick Guercio:He checks his commlink again to see if there's any update on his condo, and, justlike, two and a half minutes ago, there is not.
Mike Rugnetta:As you flick through the messages on your commlink, which a commlink is just acatchall device, it's like an iPhone, a computer, something that you listen tomusic on. It's also your wallet and all of your personal identification. So, yeah. As you check the messages, you actually do get a new one from a contractorthat's working on your apartment. It's just a picture of the two walls that they hadto take down today, because they realized that they put them up wrong. And, so, it's going to be at least another month or two. They were like big and importantwalls.
Nick Guercio:Yeah.
Mike Rugnetta:Yeah. It's unclear how they made this mistake but...
Nick Guercio:It's not the first time. They've put these two walls up three times, and sent me thisexact same picture.
Mike Rugnetta:I think that's the deepest cut New York joke that we've made yet. [inaudible]
Taylor Moore:[crosstalk] contractors.
Nick Guercio:No, man, contractors bad everywhere you know it.
Bijan Stephen:So, laying out on the roof of the houseboat is TK. He's sort of sunning himself, andslowly turning the pages of this book. The book is about human behavior, and ifyou look closely, it's specifically a book about trying to understand other people, and why they do the things they do. TK is a battle decker, which means that he is good at the internet, although not magical, and he's really good at fighting, butmostly punching. He's a human, he's wearing black. Well, he would be wearingblack fatigues if he was wearing any clothes right now other than hischaracteristic Speedo, which he wears when he's sunning himself.
Nick Guercio:He's sunning himself on the roof.
Mike Rugnetta:Crispy. All right okay.
Nick Guercio:Awooga.
Mike Rugnetta:Awooga wooga.
Bijan Stephen:If the group were a boy band, or I guess an indie band in Brooklyn circa 2007, hewould be the fourth member. The sort of mysterious bassist type person whodoesn't really talk in interviews, but you know there's just a deep well ofemotions, and possibly sadness there. In his case, it's mostly the sadness, becauseyou can tell if you look closely, he was a former boxer. Probably welterweight Ithink he would say. But, that was a while ago, and so he's looking more normal. The one notable thing that is sort of out of the ordinary about him is his cyberarm, and it's his right arm. And, it's just very metallic. So, he's sitting thereturning the pages. TK came to live on the boat because his previous roommatedecided to renovate his apartment.
Mike Rugnetta:So you and Luxe were roommates? Or, I guess continue to be roommates, just in adifferent house?
Bijan Stephen:Exactly.
Nick Guercio:Yeah, TK didn't pay rent though.
Bijan Stephen:I think TK was just promising him cuts of jobs that he would do, and you know, Ithink, I feel like Luxe was very generous to let TK stay.
Nick Guercio:Yeah, but I also got that condo kind of as a favor from a media mogul, and there's awhole wing that you could kind of have to yourself that we don't really need tointeract too much.
Bijan Stephen:We were good roommates.
Nick Guercio:Yeah. Well you're very quiet.
Bijan Stephen:Very quiet.
Nick Guercio:And, Luxe appreciates that.
Shannon Odell:No one ever asks me to move in.
Nick Guercio:Are you kidding me?
Bijan Stephen:Duh, duh, duh, duh.
Jenn de la Vega:Yeah. Lash just showed up actually. She was running. She was out of breath.
Nick Guercio:Luxe and TK really only saw each other on movie night. We have a really greatmovie thing.
Bijan Stephen:Yeah.
Nick Guercio:TK makes the popcorn.
Bijan Stephen:Exactly.
Nick Guercio:I don't know what that seasoning you use is. What is that?
Bijan Stephen:It's [nuyi].
Nick Guercio:Is it nuyi? I don't know where you get that.
Bijan Stephen:Nuyi, lemon.
Nick Guercio:It's so good.
Bijan Stephen:It's a little lemon juice, and just a pinch of salt and pepper.
Nick Guercio:Oh, it's so good.
Mike Rugnetta:And there is another person sitting at the table who is not me. Hi, I'm MikeRugnetta, I'm the universe, and that person is Taylor Moore. Taylor what is it thatyou do here?
Taylor Moore:I'm Taylor Moore, and I play all the bad boys.
Mike Rugnetta:Taylor voices and rolls dice for mostly the antagonists, but I think sometimes you will be a good boy.
Taylor Moore:Sometimes I have moral gray areas.
Mike Rugnetta:Don't we all? As you guys have been living together for the past couple months, and probably a little while before that, the fixer for your group has been Luxe. So, in the Shadowrun universe, the fixer is sort of like the main point of contactfor clients, which are called Johnsons, who want to hire shadowrunners forvarious deeds. And the fixer is also like usually the groups advocate in thoseinteractions.
So, Luxe, you have been doing that job, and while you are sitting on the deck of the Mirage, contemplating the gross, murky, garbage laden water, and breathing the air that isthick with smog, you get a message from a number that's not in your contacts. It'ssort of vague, and it says this, "Find you from Ricky. He recommends you nice. Big job needs doing. I pay good. Come to my house, I make you lunch. Wechitchat." At the end of the message is an address that's in Mainland New Jersey. And, that last part to you is pretty surprising, because normally a Johnson wantsto meet like somewhere secret, somewhere off the beaten path, because, youknow, they're hiring criminals to do illegal things. To have someone want you tomeet them at their house is pretty unusual.
Nick Guercio:Excellent. Luxe takes note, then he turns to Viv and he says, "Viv, I think we got a good job. Let's have a house meeting."
Jenn de la Vega:Oh, I shall join you in one moment. Viv inhales very sharply and exhales veryslowly, and, as she exhales, the water around the boat starts to ripple outward. And, she relaxes a little bit then smiles to herself, and turns around to followLuxe.
Nick Guercio:Hey guys, house meeting.
Shannon Odell:Lash says, "Whoa, house meeting!" Does one final kick to the soccer ball andkicks it straight out the window far into the water.
Nick Guercio:TK can you hear us?
Bijan Stephen:TK calls out from the roof, "Yeah!" And, sort of jumps down and asks, "Do youwant me to put on some clothes or is a Speedo cool?"
Mike Rugnetta:The houseboat rocks a little bit too as he jumps from the roof to the deck.
Nick Guercio:TK we've told you this before. The Speedo is fine.
Bijan Stephen:Okay.
Nick Guercio:Okay.
Bijan Stephen:I was reading my book, I just want to try and make everyone feel comfortable.
Nick Guercio:I know. At a certain point we feel like you are drawing attention to it though.
Bijan Stephen:I look good.
Nick Guercio:You do.
Mike Rugnetta:As you guys are all piling into the room together, you're so close everyone cansmell Luxe's cologne. You're close enough to feel each other's breath when youtalk. You can smell Lash's feet. It's not like you are crammed into a closettogether, but it's close quarters.
Nick Guercio:Luxe goes to move a crab shell and two napkin holders off the desk so he can kindof sit and lean there, and then he looks at Viv, and she sort of looks a little putoff, so he puts the crab shell and the napkin holders back where they were, andcontinues the conversation.
Okay, I think we got a job. There's a guy in New Jersey who wants to actually meet with us andmake lunch for us.
Jenn de la Vega:Oh, for the love of Neptune.
Nick Guercio:Yeah. It sounds like it might be some pretty good money guys.
Jenn de la Vega:I would love it if it was enough money for all of you to perhaps consider otherlodging.
Nick Guercio:Yeah Viv, we understand this isn't the best situation, but, we really appreciate youletting us be here.
Jenn de la Vega:I like you all, and I like working with you, but, for the love of Neptune, will youplease stop kicking my house?
Shannon Odell:Oh, oh, you're talking to me?
Jenn de la Vega:"Yes."
Shannon Odell:Oh, you didn't like that.
Jenn de la Vega:No.
Shannon Odell:Oh, you don't like me kicking the ball against the-
Jenn de la Vega:I like you. I like you very much. I would like for you to not ruin my house.
Shannon Odell:Oh, got it. Got it Viv. It will not happen again. Okay, softballs against the wallthough?
Nick Guercio:Those are harder than soccer balls.
Shannon Odell:Yeah, and they bounce so far back it's so cool. You want to see this? Watch if Ithrow this softball at that wall, how far back it bounces.
Jenn de la Vega:You can see that Viv is pursing her lips and the condensation from everybody'ssweat in the room starts to jiggle on the windows like electricity.
Bijan Stephen:TK is like, "Whoa guys, this seems like a conflict."
Nick Guercio:TK that was very good. You're making a lot of progress. I feel like we could alltake a step back, get rid of all your balls for now Lash.
Shannon Odell:[inaudible]
Nick Guercio:Put them away. All right put they're balls away. Let's do this job. This might beenough for us to get, you know, some alternate lodgings. You know, just by itself. I say we go see what this Johnson has to say.
Bijan Stephen:Did he say what was for lunch?
Nick Guercio:I could ask him. Would you like me to ask him now?
Bijan Stephen:We could ask him when we get there.
Shannon Odell:Where are we meeting this dude?
Nick Guercio:He is in New Jersey.
Shannon Odell:Awesome.
Bijan Stephen:Fancy.
Nick Guercio:I feel like we could have said, "We were meeting him in the foulest smelliest stinkhole at the bottom of the ocean." And you would say, "Awesome."
Shannon Odell:Hell yeah, now you're speaking my language.
Nick Guercio:All right. Okay. Do you guys need to do anything before we go and speak to thisguy?
Jenn de la Vega:I'd like to speak to this man at once.
Bijan Stephen:I guess I'll put on some clothes.
Nick Guercio:All right. I really have to get out of this house.
Mike Rugnetta:So, Viv putters all of you to the nearby pier in two trips, because her inflatabledingey isn't big enough to take all four of you at once. Your car is parked in anearby gravel lot. It's like crowded with abandoned moving fans, and decayinghelicopters, and the remains of some crashed drones. There are like a bunch ofrandom piles of wood scrap and other pieces of like, trash and empty shippingcontainers in there. There are remarkably few actual cars in the lot, but in onedistant corner there is a large shape cloaked in a black waterproof cover that TKapproaches and removes. If you would like to describe what your car looks like?
Bijan Stephen:I would very much like that. So, I grab the tarp and pul dramatically, making itlook sort of like a toreador enraging a bull, and what's under the tarp is just, it's aBentley named Henley, which is on the license plate. And, it is just matte black. Like, the darkest tints on the windows that you can find. Matte black paint, blackrims, black tires. TK really enjoys late 20th century aviation history, and so, he'stried to get Henley the Bentley to look as much like an SR-71 Blackbird as hepossibly can. He just loves that. He just loves that airplane because it looks very, it's angular. It's matte. It goes fast, and is incredibly finicky, and he thinks peopleare like that too.
Mike Rugnetta:So why not also his vehicle?
Bijan Stephen:Yes.
Mike Rugnetta:Sure got it.
Bijan Stephen:He's really trying. I open the door of Henley the Bentley and beckon everyone in.
Mike Rugnetta:All right, you guys get in Henley.
Bijan Stephen:So it's a gull wing door. It opens up.
Nick Guercio:Of fucking course it does. I know that I've said before that I think that this is, it's like it's the coolest thing that I have ever heard of. But, also, man what a doucheycar. It's funny about that Venn diagram.
Bijan Stephen:Don't think about it too hard.
Nick Guercio:I got to. I am though because now I want one. I mean what is it, you know, aBentley costs a quarter of a million dollars at least?
Bijan Stephen:In the Shadowrun universe, actually, they're pretty affordable.
Mike Rugnetta:Affordable yeah.
Nick Guercio:All right.
Bijan Stephen:Because, you can also buy like airplanes.
Nick Guercio:So the marketplace just sort of changed a lot?
Bijan Stephen:Well, because the creators of the game decided that everything should be on ascale.
Nick Guercio:Right.
Mike Rugnetta:Okay. So you get in Henley, and Luxe is able to transfer the coordinates in NewJersey that he got from the Johnson to it's onboard navigation computer. It'selectric motor quietly whirs to life and starts to bring you across thereconstructed Manhattan cityscape. Almost a hundred years ago in 2005, a seriesof apocalyptic floods and earthquakes completely leveled most of New York Cityand large portions of the tri-state area. While the outer boroughs weren't so lucky, over decades a consortium of corporations including, NYPD Incorporated, teamed up to completely rebuild Manhattan. They erected a magnificentsuperstructure overtop the knee high debris of the old city, which was alsosunken under rising sea levels. The formidable buildings that weren't demolishedby the disaster were airlifted. Though some say more than a few were magicallylevitated to New Jersey, in order to make room for the super structure. Onceconstruction was finished, some of those buildings were brought back, and somejust stayed. Mainland, New Jersey, as it is now called, became a kind of defactohome for some of the super rich as townhouses, museums, mansions and statebuildings were moved there, and never returned.
New Jersey and the surrounding area is now a strange hodgepodge of tightly packed upper classresidences. An ultra modern condo building, next to a dramatic cathedral, nearfeet from an old Colonial Dutch townhouse. It is here that the team arrives at thedestination input into Henley. It appears as though the address they have beengiven is one for an old, giant, stone building. Henley pulls up right out front, andthey emerge.
Nick Guercio:This is a bank.
Shannon Odell:Wow, we meeting some money?
Nick Guercio:This is a little confusing.
Bijan Stephen:Do any of you have bank accounts?
Jenn de la Vega:I thought we would meet somewhere a little more discreet.
Mike Rugnetta:Taylor, they're on your turf now, so, feel free to take it away.
Taylor Moore:But, as you approach the building, you see that while it might have once been abank, some other use has come along for this old, and yet somehow still grandbuilding. It's had many uses in its lifetime. As you approach, there are two roundsof razor wire chained link fence, and the doors are open. Almost as if they areexpecting you. And, as you get closer, you see that this is a great, beautiful, bigstone building with Capital City Savings carved in Latinate above the great fourdoor entrance.
Nick Guercio:And we walk in.
Taylor Moore:As you open the door, you see one single grand space. And yes, you can tell fromthe marble inlay floors, the ancient marble countertops, the giant windows, butthe somehow institutional like other elements that this was at one time a GrandCity Bank. But, also after that, a Rite Aid. There are still like, open glass doorcoolers on the left, there is what looks like an old magazine rack to the right. But, those are the only artifacts, the only details that say that after this was a bank, itwas a Rite Aid, because, after it was a Rite Aid it was something else, and after itwas that thing it became the home of the man you see before you. In this grandspace, just off to the left, you see a beautiful and well appointed kitchen set. There is a gorgeous stainless steel stove, big beautiful countertops. This seems like a rich person's kitchen has been airlifted inside a cathedral church.
And, standing at this countertop is a sort of rather unassuming man. Seems like maybe mid 40seven. He's got center parted long, a lion's mane of salt and pepper hair. He has got a simple gray tee shirt on. Seems to be wearing a pair of faded NEO Levijeans with a sort of a small unassuming, but still a little flashy necklace on, andhe is making a croque-madame sandwich on the tabletop. He looks up, he seesyou coming and says, "Ah, you're here. I'm so glad you're here. Come on in, come on in. Close the door."
Nick Guercio:Hey, did this used to be a Rite Aid?
Taylor Moore:And before that the bank. Come in, come in. Close the door.
Nick Guercio:Oh, wow.
Jenn de la Vega:Pleased to meet you.
Nick Guercio:Oh, yeah. Hey. You got a job for us?
Taylor Moore:We'll talk job in a second. Right now you want sandwich?
Nick Guercio:Yeah.
Jenn de la Vega:[inaudible].
Taylor Moore:And you? It's called a missus egg.
Nick Guercio:A croque-madame? Yeah.
Shannon Odell:A crock madame?
Nick Guercio:Croque.
Shannon Odell:Croque.
Taylor Moore:That's a yes from you I think. You?
Nick Guercio:Sure.
Taylor Moore:Yes.
Jenn de la Vega:Excuse me? This is not soy?
Taylor Moore:Does it smell like soy? As he says it, you realize, that is a real chicken egg, and, asyour brain puts together that this man has spent maybe 500 New Yen on a singleegg, you begin to take in the further details of the space. In this entire cathedrallike old 20th century bank is now, it seems to be, the single living and workingspace for this person. Farther in the space, in the middle of the giant bank, thereis one beautiful, ornate, walnut wood desk, potentially centuries old. Beyond that, you see a large flat screen TV, and you see like, shelves that are full of like, VRhelmets, goggles, trids, triodes, electrodes, cameras, every sort of like, gamingsystem.
Beyond that hangs Albert Bierstadt's original oil painting Entering the Yosemite Valley, one ofthe great works of the Hudson Valley School of 19th century realism. This hitsyou in a wave, and all of this says to you money.
Jenn de la Vega:This hits Viv very hard because she loves money, she loves old things, but eventhough she lives in a very humble houseboat, she likes the finer things in life.
Nick Guercio:What do you do?
Taylor Moore:Well, you put down- you put the- God damn it, you motherfuckers, that, fuck you. It's very hard to flip between the V.O. description and this ridiculous accent thatI'm doing. Well, you put the egg on the, I guess it's just a grilled cheese with anegg on it.
Nick Guercio:I meant what do you do to get this place? To get the painting, and how do you makemoney?
Taylor Moore:Come, come. And he motions and there are, sure enough, four stools on the otherside of this beautiful kitchen island. Sit, sit, let me tell you something my friend, and I say this with no malice. I am just, this is a tip from me to you. Whensomeone lives inside the bank, and has eggs, do not ask where the money comesfrom my friend.
Nick Guercio:Okay.
Taylor Moore:Because, let me tell you something. Anybody with this much money, we don't getit in nice ways, you know what I mean?
Nick Guercio:All right, I hear that yeah. I've never seen an egg before. This is a, you know, amazing for me.
Taylor Moore:Here, here.
Nick Guercio:Yeah.
Taylor Moore:And, sure enough, he dishes them out, and there is four beautiful croque-madames.
Shannon Odell:Lash eats it in two bites.
Nick Guercio:Oh my god.
Shannon Odell:Incredible.
Jenn de la Vega:Viv is staring at this sandwich because she hadn't seen an egg in over a hundredyears.
Nick Guercio:Is this what food is supposed to taste like?
Shannon Odell:I'll take another one.
Bijan Stephen:TK gives Lash half of his.
Shannon Odell:Oh, thank you.
Taylor Moore:I know, I know, you're probably used to working for people you meet in clubs, andsewers, and under bridges. You know, I tried to be better than that. Well, why notlive the nice way? Yes, yes?
Nick Guercio:Yeah, I'm all for it yeah.
Jenn de la Vega:Agreed.
Shannon Odell:Yeah.
Nick Guercio:We're trying to get off of a crappy houseboat made out of garbage.
Jenn de la Vega:Excuse me.
Nick Guercio:I'm sorry Viv.
Taylor Moore:That is very ironic.
Jenn de la Vega:It is my grotto.
Taylor Moore:No, no. Just that you are living on a boat. I did not know this.
Nick Guercio:Yes. It's actually really nice. It's better than you imagine. And, what's the job?
Taylor Moore:Ah, so, okay. Well, you want to get down to business I understand. So, I have aproblem. Someone took something of mine, and I simply need to get it back. Youunderstand. This is something you have seen before?
Nick Guercio:Yes.
Shannon Odell:Oh yeah.
Bijan Stephen:Oh yeah.
Taylor Moore:Now, normally I have people I call to do this sort of thing for me, you understand?
Nick Guercio:Yes.
Taylor Moore:Yes, and for this, I need people that are not normally associated with me.
Shannon Odell:What sort of thing we talking about?
Taylor Moore:It's a boat.
Shannon Odell:A boat?
Taylor Moore:Yeah.
Shannon Odell:Oh.
Bijan Stephen:We love boats.
Nick Guercio:Good news.
Bijan Stephen:This, this is great news.
Nick Guercio:Oh wow, okay, great.
Bijan Stephen:So, someone took my boat and I would like you to get my boat back for me.
Shannon Odell:Well, this should be pretty easy. I mean, how can you hide a boat?
Taylor Moore:Magic.
Nick Guercio:Oh right.
Shannon Odell:Oh right, right, right.
Bijan Stephen:Oh.
Jenn de la Vega:How large is this boat?
Taylor Moore:Think about the size of this bank long. It's a bank long. I don't know feet.
Nick Guercio:Okay. You could just use meters, we know those.
Taylor Moore:I know meters.
Nick Guercio:Okay, just say it in meters.
Taylor Moore:But I don't know meters vis-a-vis this boat.
Nick Guercio:Okay. You meant to say you don't know how long the boat is.
Shannon Odell:That's okay.
Taylor Moore:Correct. I mean, ballpark-
Nick Guercio:I see.
Shannon Odell:We can work in bank lengths.
Bijan Stephen:Yeah. We know how long the bank is yeah.
Taylor Moore:Yeah.
Shannon Odell:I'm about an 18th of a bank tall.
Nick Guercio:Do you have any, could you describe the boat for us please?
Taylor Moore:It's a big black boat.
Nick Guercio:Okay. All right. Do you have any people that you would suspect? I mean anyleads?
Taylor Moore:Oh, I know where the boat is.
Nick Guercio:Oh, wow, this is much easier than I thought it was going to be.
Taylor Moore:This boat, it lives in a scrapyard. Bad man has my boat, I'd like my boat back. Ihire you. Go get boat. Go to bad man yard. Bring boat back. I'll tell you where.
Jenn de la Vega:Who has your boat?
Taylor Moore:This is great question. Do you know this man Jast?
Nick Guercio:J-A-S-T?
Taylor Moore:I believe this is how you say yes.
Nick Guercio:No, we don't know him.
Taylor Moore:Oh he's a bad man. Kind of a dirty mean guy. You don't want to meet him. Iwouldn't meet him unless someone was paying me as much as I'm paying you, yes?
Jenn de la Vega:Do you guys have beef, you and Jast?
Taylor Moore:I'd never beef with this man. Beef very expensive. This is the idiomatic expression, I tell from look on your face. I don't understand.
Nick Guercio:It means do you guys have a history of violence or-
Taylor Moore:Do we have history of violence, no.
Nick Guercio:Between each other?
Taylor Moore:I have nothing, he has my boat.
Nick Guercio:Oh. Okay. So he just did this out of nowhere.
Taylor Moore:I'm not saying out of nowhere. I mean, there is a complicated backstory we allhave.
Nick Guercio:Okay. That's wise.
Taylor Moore:Shut up. I'm giving you gold.
Jenn de la Vega:Wow.
Nick Guercio:Okay then, I think the only things we need to know is where the boat is, and do youhave the keys for the boat?
Taylor Moore:Location of boat, what's called Goat's Bay?
Jenn de la Vega:Ah.
Taylor Moore:Goat head bay.
Jenn de la Vega:Sheepshead bay?
Taylor Moore:Yes. Yes. She understands what I am saying. Sheepshead Bay. This Jast man hasbig gross place down in Sheepshead Bay.
Nick Guercio:What's gross about him?
Taylor Moore:I no like. Look, you know, I don't want to say, but you, you look like you do magicthings?
Jenn de la Vega:Mm-hmm (affirmative). Indeed.
Taylor Moore:So does this man, but he's not as nice looking as you are.
Jenn de la Vega:Oh.
Taylor Moore:Actually that makes me think about the thing I was thinking of. He's up tosomething in this, his gross ship house. I don't understand but, trash goes in, money comes out. I would like maybe to know what's going on. Not part of maindeal, but if you do find out whatever he's doing down there, maybe I throw in abonus for you.
Shannon Odell:A bonus? I like the sound of that.
Jenn de la Vega:I think we are amenable to that.
Taylor Moore:Yeah. Amenable to bonus, surprise surprise. One thing all shadowrunners have incommon, amenable to bonus.
Jenn de la Vega:Excuse me, is there anything of value on your boat?
Taylor Moore:Extremely yes.
Jenn de la Vega:And, what is it, or where would it be on the boat?
Taylor Moore:That is, you do not need to know this. You do not need to know what is on the boatthat I want so much.
Nick Guercio:Right, but if we get this boat back for you, and we have possession of it, we'll beable to search the boat, so we'd be able to find it anyway right.
Taylor Moore:Don't search my boat.
Nick Guercio:Okay. Well, what parts of your boat are we allowed to go on to get it back to you?
Taylor Moore:Cockpit. Bridge. What do you call it on the boat. Again I don't know boats.
Nick Guercio:Bridge yes.
Jenn de la Vega:The bridge.
Taylor Moore:Yeah, go on the bridge. Whatever you want?
Nick Guercio:Okay. But don't go below deck?
Taylor Moore:You can go below.
Nick Guercio:Okay.
Taylor Moore:You can do whatever you want.
Nick Guercio:Okay.
Taylor Moore:Don't look for what I want on my boat.
Nick Guercio:Okay.
Taylor Moore:Don't look for it. I see you're... No, you laugh. You get it, you understand what todo. If I say bring a briefcase back to me, you don't say, well, what's in thebriefcase, we want what's in the briefcase. I'd know. Only pay you for I get theboat, everything normal with it.
Nick Guercio:Okay. How much are you willing to give us upfront?
Taylor Moore:What's half of...
Mike Rugnetta:I think nothing.
Taylor Moore:Nothing, oh yeah, yeah.
Mike Rugnetta:Nothing.
Taylor Moore:Nothing no.
Mike Rugnetta:No.
Taylor Moore:Oh let me... I give you nothing up front.
Nick Guercio:Oh. We got some eggs.
Bijan Stephen:We did get some eggs.
Shannon Odell:It's delicious.
Taylor Moore:Now, listen to me. I this was an easy job, I would have just hired Postmates orsomething.
Nick Guercio:Right.
Taylor Moore:I could go on the Matrix and find anybody want to drive a boat. The people whotook my boat are not nice. They are not supposed to have the boat. They don'twant anyone to have the boat.
Shannon Odell:You sound distressed buddy. You need your boat back, and we're going to do thatfor you. We got to get this guy his boat. I can just see the pain in his eyes. Hewants his boat back, and this egg is just sitting in my stomach in a way that soyhas never sat in my stomach.
Nick Guercio:I know, I really feel really good.
Shannon Odell:Yeah. It's like I've never eaten in my life before.
Bijan Stephen:TK Dms Lash a link to gains about protein and bodybuilding.
Nick Guercio:Okay. Well, you know, I guess we'll go get your boat for you.
Taylor Moore:Well, there's a... We can't drive the boat. No, you can't hack the boat. There's nosteering wheel on the boat. You need the rigger.
Jenn de la Vega:Oh.
Taylor Moore:And you, according to my research, no have a rigger.
Nick Guercio:No.
Shannon Odell:No.
Jenn de la Vega:We could find one.
Shannon Odell:Yeah. I mean, you're pretty well connected, we could find a rigger.
Nick Guercio:I mean, I could find a rigger.
Taylor Moore:I have great news.
Nick Guercio:Okay.
Taylor Moore:I have found rigger.
Nick Guercio:Oh wow. Okay.
Shannon Odell:Wow, wow, what's this.
Nick Guercio:This guys giving me egg, he's giving his riggers out. I mean, when do we startpaying you sir?
Taylor Moore:We labor immediately.
Nick Guercio:Right. All right yeah.
Taylor Moore:So, I have rigger. Wonderful person owes me huge favor.
Nick Guercio:Okay.
Taylor Moore:You understand?
Nick Guercio:Yeah.
Jenn de la Vega:Yeah.
Taylor Moore:You, quite one, you understand?
Bijan Stephen:TK nods.
Taylor Moore:Quite one understands. I have rigger owes me huge favor. Normally nobody wantsto owe me huge favor. I have eggs, painting, live in bank, but this person, I likevery much. Owe me a big favor. I give you rigger for free.
Nick Guercio:Is he crazy, or weird, or gross, is he going to touch us? What's the catch?
Taylor Moore:I don't work with crazy.
Nick Guercio:Okay.
Taylor Moore:Understand? Look at me in my eyes.
Nick Guercio:We've only been looking at you in the eyes sir. Okay?
Taylor Moore:I say for effect. To show you I mean I'm serious what I mean now. I don't workwith crazy. Weird I need, weird, I kind of love. Crazy, no can do. You understandthis no can do?
Nick Guercio:Yes.
Taylor Moore:It means I will not do it.
Bijan Stephen:Technically can not do it.
Taylor Moore:Okay. Called Gabriel. Right now he DJ at club called... Hector!
Mike Rugnetta:[Ball Pit]!
Taylor Moore:He DJ at club called Ball Pit. You know this Ball Pit?
Nick Guercio:I think I've heard of it yeah.
Taylor Moore:Ball Pit?
Jenn de la Vega:IS it in Chelsea?
Taylor Moore:Is it in Chelsea? Hector, is in Chelsea?
Mike Rugnetta:It's in Chelsea!
Taylor Moore:Ball Pit in Chelsea. You know.
Jenn de la Vega:I figured.
Taylor Moore:He DJ at Ball Pit. You go to him. Look him in eye, say, "We're here to talk aboutOdessa."
Nick Guercio:Todessa?
Taylor Moore:Odessa.
Nick Guercio:Odessa.
Taylor Moore:We're here to talk about Odessa.
Nick Guercio:Okay.
Taylor Moore:So, you say to me now and make sure you have right.
Nick Guercio:We're here to talk about Odessa.
Taylor Moore:Bongo.
Nick Guercio:All right. Superb. We're going to say we're here to talk about Odessa to Gabrielwho I think sounds capable, and, we'll get your boat back sir. Was there anythingelse we should know for our safety?
Taylor Moore:For your safety? Yes. I would not want to get caught by this man in his home, yousee? You understand?
Nick Guercio:Yes. Be discreet.
Taylor Moore:Yes.
Nick Guercio:Okay. We can do that.
Taylor Moore:One more thing. I need this done fast. Three days?
Nick Guercio:Yeah.
Bijan Stephen:Bongo.
Nick Guercio:Bongo.
Taylor Moore:Bongo. Now, I have had to send you coordinates of where I want boat delivered. Yes?
Nick Guercio:Sounds good, bongo baby. Thanks Hector.
Taylor Moore:No, don't...
Nick Guercio:Don't talk to...
Taylor Moore:Don't talk to Hector.
Nick Guercio:I'm sorry.
Taylor Moore:I don't come into your house, eat your real eggs, talk to your Hector.
Mike Rugnetta:Boss, I heard them say something. Should I, do you want me to respond or...
Taylor Moore:No it's fine.
Mike Rugnetta:Okay.
Taylor Moore:You're good.
Mike Rugnetta:Okay.
Nick Guercio:All right then. We'll see ourselves out. You wouldn't happen to have anymore eggsor anything like that, or anything else that we could take on the road?
Taylor Moore:This is all eggs today.
Nick Guercio:Okay.
Taylor Moore:I'll let you hold egg.
Nick Guercio:Okay.
Taylor Moore:Let you hold a raw egg.
Nick Guercio:That would be cool.
Taylor Moore:There you go.
Nick Guercio:Wow. This is, it's colder than I thought it would be.
Taylor Moore:Was in fridge.
Shannon Odell:How heavy is it? Four pounds?
Nick Guercio:Here no, feel it.
Shannon Odell:Oh. This is not four pounds.
Taylor Moore:You ever buy paint? White paint? Called eggshell?
Jenn de la Vega:Oh.
Shannon Odell:Sure.
Taylor Moore:This is what that based on.
Nick Guercio:Oh. I get it now.
Jenn de la Vega:Oh. The color.
Nick Guercio:That is how the color works.
Taylor Moore:They get idea for paint from egg.
Nick Guercio:Ah.
Jenn de la Vega:That is a genius idea.
Nick Guercio:And the finish is similar. God, I thought it was talking about that shell in the seaand the-
Jenn de la Vega:Okay. We should be going.
Nick Guercio:Let's go.
Shannon Odell:Okay. I'm going to hand this back to you.
Taylor Moore:Quite, quiet man, you no touch egg? Touch egg!
Bijan Stephen:TK reaches for the egg with his non-cyber arm and just pokes it and then looks atMr. Johnson.
Jenn de la Vega:Viv just turns around and heads for the door.
Shannon Odell:All right. I'm going to hand you your egg back sir.
Taylor Moore:Thank you.
Nick Guercio:Okay. We will see you in three days.
Taylor Moore:You better.
Mike Rugnetta:As you guys leave Johnson's bank, turned Rite Aid, turned house, you receive amessage with a set of coordinates in it. The first coordinate is for a very particularlocation in the south of the Brooklyn Archipelago, around where Sheepshead Bayused to be. It is labeled Jast, J-A-S-T, Reclamation, and you also receive anotherpin that is sort of midway up Manhattan all the way on the West side, and a time. It says 2:30 AM in two days. So, it seems to be indicating that you are to meetwith the boat at this second pin, 2:30 in the morning, on the West Side ofManhattan. Is that clear?
Jenn de la Vega:Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Nick Guercio:Yes.
Mike Rugnetta:[crosstalk] Great. The other location that you have is the location of the Ball Pit inChelsea, where there is a person who owed your Johnson a favor, and you havebeen told that he will happily repay that favor by rigging for you.
Nick Guercio:Guys, we have to work with someone who we've never worked with before. Howdo you guys feel about that? I remember when that one time we had to work withRicky. You remember Ricky?
Jenn de la Vega:Oh him.
Nick Guercio:Yeah. And that didn't go well. I'm not really too excited about it. I guess we cankeep him at arms length and kind of make sure he doesn't double cross us oranything.
Shannon Odell:I don't know. I have a good feeling about this whole situation.
Nick Guercio:Okay. Lash is in, so I guess, you know, if you guys are confident let's just go gethim.
Shannon Odell:I mean, I love that man.
Nick Guercio:Okay. Well let's go. Let's go meet this guy. I mean, if he's you know, a guy at theBall Pit. I mean he can't be too bad right?
Jenn de la Vega:I mean, if it means more eggs in the future...
Mike Rugnetta:When Manhattan was rebuilt by the corporations throughout the mid 21st century, they went to great lengths to stake their turf. Evo, the largest bioware/bioengineering firm on two planets, Earth and Mars, built an archology, agargantuan enclose city within a city, stretching a dozen square blocks, andthrough the clouds. Others like Horizon, the media conglomerate, andAztechnology, known for their consumer goods, bankrolled wholeneighborhoods, or bought whole zip codes of real estate in single transactions. It's relaxed a bit since then. It's less one to one corp to neighborhood, but, it canstill be volatile. It's possible to move into a Renraku building, and move out of aShiawase one. Residents call this zip shift, and corps do what they have to inorder to protect their investments.
Each neighborhood has a few security checkpoints around it's border that mostly stop cars, andthey operate mostly after business hours, unless there's been some emergency orcatastrophe. But, if you're driving around past dark, expect to explain yourbusiness in the Saeder-Krupp enclave, and have the credentials to prove it, or elseyou'll answer to the NYPD incorporated officers paid handsomely to protect theircorporate client's corporate border.
So, you guys get in Henley the Bentley, which drives you automatically to Chelsea in Manhattan. It is a nice sunny day. You get to the location that has been specified by Johnson, the Ball Pit. The front of it is like a pretty unassuming store front. There are nowindows or anything, there's just a brick façade with like a big heavy latchedsteel door that's kind of looks like what you see on an industrial freezer. There'sno bouncer, and the door is decorated with a bunch of like, tightly packed paintsplotches. Many different bright colors that kind of look like balloons, likesomeone stuffed a closet full of balloons.
Bijan Stephen:TK hops on the Matrix to check it out, to see if there is a Matrix presence.
Mike Rugnetta:Yeah there is. It has a host on the Matrix, and just to be clear, a host is a locationon the matrix that's like a 3D rendered virtual place that you can visit. Every hostmay or may not have an actual physical location. So, like, your favorite brick andmortar bookstore may have a virtual host that like, a VR patron can visit. It mayalso exist only in VR with no actual physical location. Both of those things arehosts. So the Ball Pit does have both a brick and mortar location and a host in theMatrix. The door is already open, but you are staring into an actual hallway fullof balloons.
Bijan Stephen:So, I tell everyone else to hop on the Matrix and take a look. Are you guys seeingballoons too?
Shannon Odell:Yeah.
Nick Guercio:Yeah.
Jenn de la Vega:Viv puts on her trodes.
Nick Guercio:Everybody waits while grandma suites up.
Jenn de la Vega:From the billows of her caftan, Viv pulls out a few broken pieces of starfish thatare held jankily together by kelp, and she slaps it on her head.
Mike Rugnetta:And Viv, upon doing this, the trodes connect to her brain meats and she istransported to VR and is seeing what TK has described.
Jenn de la Vega:Yes.
Mike Rugnetta:A hallway tightly packed full of balloons.
Jenn de la Vega:Viv leans forward and squints. Balloons?
Bijan Stephen:Yeah. They used to sell them at places. You used to buy them in New York beforeyou had parties.
Jenn de la Vega:Oh.
Bijan Stephen:Every time. Every single party had balloons. That's what they looked like.
Jenn de la Vega:I'm not familiar.
Nick Guercio:Yeah. I think you had to blow them up to make a wish at a birthday. You got aballoon for age or your years you were born. I think I don't, yeah.
Bijan Stephen:It's something like that. I remember that from history that I know.
Jenn de la Vega:I mean, what are they?
Nick Guercio:Well, what do you think they are? Well look at them.
Mike Rugnetta:You guys live in Manhattan in 2101. You're not aliens.
Nick Guercio:You don't know that.
Taylor Moore:Didn't tell you don't know what an egg is, and then all of a sudden. It's like Elf.[crosstalk]
Bijan Stephen:No one has ever celebrated since...
Taylor Moore:There's been no celebrations ever.
Bijan Stephen:Since 2099. Celebrations have been outlawed.
Nick Guercio:Manhattan got destroyed in a big earthquake and flood and everybody was like, youknow what...
Bijan Stephen:Fuck balloons.
Nick Guercio:We're not...
Bijan Stephen:President Malia Obama. No more balloons. We got to save our helium.
Nick Guercio:Actually that's probably the thing that would make it so that there was... yeah. [Bekila] yeah. Bell Labs in New Jersey has the entire world's supply of helium.
Taylor Moore:Yeah, so they can make all the weird metals. But yeah, maybe they haven't had alot of floating balloons. It's all just mundane ground balloons.
Mike Rugnetta:Are you guys going to go inside the club?
Bijan Stephen:Yeah. Let's go inside.
Nick Guercio:Yeah. So we go.
Bijan Stephen:We go inside the club.
Mike Rugnetta:Are you physically going to go inside the club? You're not just going to ... Because, if you are in VR you're just kind of standing on the sidewalk not doinganything.
Bijan Stephen:Well.
Shannon Odell:Yeah.
Bijan Stephen:Let's just go in.
Nick Guercio:Yeah.
Shannon Odell:I punch the balloons out of the way.
Mike Rugnetta:In VR?
Shannon Odell:In VR.
Nick Guercio:I hop out of VR, and I walk towards-
Mike Rugnetta:They jostle. So, when you open the front door, you hear medium loud electromusic issuing from the end of, like a short passageway. There's a walkway withhandrails suspended in the center of like an oblong prismatic space, and dotted allaround it are like these thousands of very tiny pin pricks of LED light.
Nick Guercio:So, I go first.
Mike Rugnetta:So, the Main space of the Ball Pit is gigantic. It's maybe like, 60, 70 feet tall, andlike, 100 or more feet in either direction horizontally. So it's huge, and it's verydifferent from any club that you have ever seen before. Instead of booths andtables sort of like, ringing a dance floor, or like ringing the outside of the space, you know, or like, a big DJ booth on one far end and a dance floor in front ofthat, there's actually no furniture installed on the ground of the club. There arehowever tight groupings of spherical pods that are suspended from the ceiling onreally thick suspension wire.
Jenn de la Vega:Viv is dawdling behind because she still has her trodes on as she's squinting andleaning forward as her feet slap on the ground. Should we ask anybody if there'sa Gabriel around?
Shannon Odell:Yeah. Gabriel is supposed to be Djing right?
Nick Guercio:Yeah. I think so.
Bijan Stephen:Did we get his like comm or whatever?
Mike Rugnetta:You have no contact information for Gabriel, you just know that he is here. Andwhat you can see is that there are a bunch of these pods raised and lowered. Some are like sort of near the ground. Some are up towards the ceiling. Some arein like, sort of like small groups together. Some of the ones that you can see arelike lit from the inside. You can see arrangements of couches and chairs, and likea few of the larger ones have like small dance floors in them. Everything ispainted matte black, with the exception of all of these pods that have like, videoscreens around the outside of them. They're all pulsing a kind of like, dull, calming blue, like sort of in time with the music that's playing. It's pretty empty. You know. It is 11:00 in the morning. But, you can see some people who areinside some of these pods.
There's maybe like 20 or 30 people here, and as you enter in, you know, one of the pods lowersfrom the ceiling, touches the floor, and three Elvin women who are definitely alittle tipsy stumble out and start walking towards the exit, and they wave to abartender that's at a bar that's sort of in the center of the wall that's to your lefthand side. So there's a human bartender hanging out over there just like, lookingat his commlink.
Nick Guercio:How big are each of these pods?
Mike Rugnetta:The bigger ones could fit maybe ten people, and the smaller ones are like a twoperson.
Nick Guercio:I'm going to go speak to the bartender guys, and see if I can figure out where the DJbooth is. Does anybody want anything to drink?
Jenn de la Vega:No. I'll just keep looking around.
Nick Guercio:Okay.
Bijan Stephen:I'll take a drink.
Nick Guercio:All right. What are you drinking?
Bijan Stephen:Whatever you're drinking.
Nick Guercio:All right. Lash?
Shannon Odell:I'd love a Gatorade.
Nick Guercio:And we'll try to get a Gatorade from a bar. Lash, we'll try that again for youbecause that always works.
Shannon Odell:I'm telling you this is a common drink.
Nick Guercio:I know you think it's a common drink. I'm telling you at clubs they do not have it. Iwill ask for you though again.
Shannon Odell:Thank you. That's all I'm asking.
Nick Guercio:All right. Okay. I walk up to the bar that these three Elvin women have just walkedtowards.
Mike Rugnetta:Do you want to be the bartender?
Taylor Moore:Yes.
Shannon Odell:Hector.
Nick Guercio:God this guy is everywhere. Hey, how's it going man?
Taylor Moore:Well, it's all right on this bright weekday morning. How could I help you sir?
Nick Guercio:Can I get two Sarsaparillas and, you wouldn't happen to have Gatorade would you?
Taylor Moore:This your first time at the Ball Pit?
Nick Guercio:No it's not actually I've been here before. Yeah.
Taylor Moore:Oh. Well. The rules here are the same as they were the last time you were at it.
Nick Guercio:Oh, right.
Taylor Moore:We got two drinks. We got juice boxes and of course milk. Yes.
Nick Guercio:Yeah. I forgot that they do have good juice box, juice box, milk, juice box. I'll takethree juice boxes please.
Taylor Moore:Sure you don't want the milk? Gabriel is Djing tonight.
Nick Guercio:I know. I've heard. Where is he? I'm actually a friend of Gabriel's where is he?
Taylor Moore:Oh, he's already in the DJ sphere.
Nick Guercio:Oh, yeah. Where is that?
Taylor Moore:Over in pod bay alpha.
Nick Guercio:Pod bay alpha?
Taylor Moore:In the place it normally is. You've been here before.
Nick Guercio:Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I just wanted to double check that he wasn't... You knowGabriel, he'll get into just about any honeypot he can find you know, so...
Taylor Moore:But always in the same place.
Nick Guercio:But always in the same place. Yeah. That's a good observation. You've been here awhile. I don't think I've ever seen you here.
Taylor Moore:Every day, ten years.
Nick Guercio:All right, every day for ten years. Can't miss you, but I did.
Taylor Moore:Back when it was called Spike.
Nick Guercio:Oh wow.
Taylor Moore:Different owners.
Nick Guercio:All right. Were there just floating spikes that people were partying in?
Taylor Moore:Oh, you never came to the Spike?
Nick Guercio:No I didn't. What was it.
Taylor Moore:Oh, well looks like it is your first time for something.
Nick Guercio:I guess. I don't know. I didn't go, so I didn't have a first time.
Taylor Moore:He just got off [crosstalk] same deal but with spikes.
Nick Guercio:All right. Okay cool. Well I'm just going to head over. I'll just take those juiceboxes [crosstalk].
Taylor Moore:You don't want your milk?
Nick Guercio:Nope. Didn't order the milk at all. Got three juice boxes please.
Taylor Moore:Bad news, we're out of the juice boxes, so, apologize for that.
Nick Guercio:Okay. So you got three big glasses of milk for me? God this is so uncomfortable.
Taylor Moore:All right.
Shannon Odell:Jesus.
Taylor Moore:So you will take the milk than?
Nick Guercio:Yes. I'll take the milk.
Taylor Moore:All right. He turns around and there's like a wall installation behind him of like, at first it just looked like part of the decoration of the thing, but you see now thatthere seem to be like almost breast like organic things behind the bar on the wall. He goes up to one and he puts a glass under it and he says, "Hey there Gabriel. We got three thirsty babies down here." And then, sure enough the thingsproduce milk.
Nick Guercio:Can you keep those milks back there.
Taylor Moore:Well, I already poured them, so you're going to have to pay for them.
Nick Guercio:Right. I'm going to pay for them, but you keep them there, and we will get them onour way out, if you don't mind.
Taylor Moore:The kind of things that are in this milk, I don't think you can take outside unless...
Nick Guercio:Oh, this is fun milk?
Taylor Moore:That's the only kind of milk we got.
Nick Guercio:Oh, well actually, give me that milk. I will try some.
Taylor Moore:You'll try three?
Nick Guercio:Yup. Okay, well here's your New Yen sir, and I will be on my way. Thank you so much. What was your name again?
Taylor Moore:Chester.
Nick Guercio:Thank you so much Chester. I really appreciate it. I'll be seeing you around. Youknow.
Taylor Moore:I hope so.
Nick Guercio:Yep. Absolutely. And, so, I walk back to the group and I say, "You know, I got twoextra milks here"
Mike Rugnetta:They definitely smell astringent.
Nick Guercio:Right. It doesn't taste like what you're thinking milk tastes like. It did come out ofwhere you think milk comes from. But, does anybody want this? TK you wantthis?
Bijan Stephen:TK grabs a glass and drinks it, like, without breaking eye contact.
Nick Guercio:Tk is so cool. Lash? No Gatorade.
Bijan Stephen:Straight down.
Shannon Odell:Lash sees TK doing that and does exactly what he does.
Mike Rugnetta:You are both drunk now.
Shannon Odell:Where did you say the milk... I'm sorry.
Bijan Stephen:[crosstalk] Right, sorry, what does that do to our stats? Just can we get a quick explanation?
Mike Rugnetta:So, I would say in this situation, you would get a +2 to all your charisma rolls, and maybe a +1 to all your strength rolls, but a -2 to everything else.
Bijan Stephen:I'm going to forget that. I love that.
Nick Guercio:Damn. Listen I found out where Gabriel is. He is up in the DJ ball in the alpha bayof the balls.
Shannon Odell:Of the what?
Bijan Stephen:The ball bay? He's in the alpha?
Nick Guercio:Guys. I shouldn't have given you a damn milk.
Taylor Moore:Into the Alpha ball bay.
Nick Guercio:Everything I said was completely normal.
Bijan Stephen:We're in the alpha ball.
Nick Guercio:The bay. The alpha bay of the balls.
Bijan Stephen:The balls.
Shannon Odell:All right.
Nick Guercio:The floating balls. This is the Ball Pit guys. That's what they call them. They callthem balls.
Bijan Stephen:Let's go to the balls.
Nick Guercio:Don't embarrass me here. I actually do know people that come here. Not at 11:00 AM, but I do know people that come here.
Mike Rugnetta:In the rear of the club, you do see one of the spheres is kind of like a half sphere, and from where you are standing, on the ground, there is a man, with his eyesclosed, completely motionless, set into it like it's some sort of throne. And, yeah. I mean, this is the direction that Chester gestured in, and this is the only sphere inthe room that looks this way. So, it seems likely that this is Gabriel. The onlyproblem is that he is about 40 feet off the ground, and there's nothing else aroundhim.
Bijan Stephen:I get on the Matrix, and attempt to contact Gabriel.
Mike Rugnetta:He actually is not, it's called running silent, and he is not running silent.
Bijan Stephen:Right.
Mike Rugnetta:So, he has a little icon that you can see of him. It's like a little curled up lizard iswhat his mark looks like, inside of a hexagon. And, yeah, it's like open forcommunication if you want to just send him like a commlink message.
Bijan Stephen:Yeah. I get out of VR, I look at Luxe, and I'm like, "What was that phrase again?"
Nick Guercio:Oh, we're here to work with Odessa.
Bijan Stephen:We're here to talk about Odessa.
Nick Guercio:We're here to talk about Odessa. Yeah.
Bijan Stephen:Yeah. So, I don't respond and I go back into AR, and I send the message, we'rehere to talk about Odessa, can you meet us down?
Mike Rugnetta:You see a little typing icon pop up, and then go away.
Nick Guercio:Oh, like he was going to say something, but doesn't?
Mike Rugnetta:And then the typing icon pops up again and it stays there for like 15 seconds.
Bijan Stephen:I go into VR and I take a closer look, and I get ready to throw some marks on him.
Mike Rugnetta:So, in VR, the bar is completely full. There are hundreds of people here. Thespace is like two or three times larger, and there are five to ten times as manypods that are in these different arrangements, just kind of floating around, like, sort of bubbles in soda. And, Gabriel's pod is actually much bigger than all theother ones, unlike in the physical version of the club where it's a little bit smaller. But, you can still see in your overlay, your AR overlay that doesn't go awaywhen you go into VR that like, he's still typing. And, he seems like he's trying tocraft a message. The typing bar goes away again, and then you just get onemessage that's just a little skull emoji, and then followed by a frowny face emoji. And, then the music stops, and everyone in the VR version of the club looksaround at one another and like, stops dancing, and Gabriel's pod starts to lower.
Bijan Stephen:Seems dramatic.
Mike Rugnetta:From the outside, you guys see Gabriel's pod start to lower.
Bijan Stephen:I hop out of VR and just look at them and say, "It's done."
Mike Rugnetta:You are now leaving Fun City. Thank you for listening. If you want to support theshow or get weird and fun behind the scenes tape and other episode extras pleasehead to patreon.com/funcityventures where you can transfer us some of your hardearned New Yen, and keep this ship afloat. We have been working on Fun Cityfor almost a year, and we're so excited to share it with you that we couldn't notthrow a party. So, if you find yourself in the Brooklyn Archipelago please join uson September 19th, 2019 at our favorite new neighborhood bar/arcade/concertvenue Wonderville on Broadway. We'll be there from 8:00 until 11:00 PM atleast, throwing back soy brews and playing Killer Queen. More details in theshow notes.
Bijan Stephen:I'm Bijan Stephen and I am TK. You can find me online @bijanstephen on Twitterwhich is B-I-J-A-N S-T-E-P-H-E-N, or on Instagram, and you should just googlethat.
Jenn de la Vega:I'm Jenn de la Vega. I am Viv. You can find me online at randwiches. That's theword sandwiches but, just replace the S with an R.
Nick Guercio:This is Nick Guercio. I play Luxe Scythe. You can find me on Twitter @nguersh, and Instagram @nguercio, G-U-E-R-C-I-O.
Shannon Odell:This is Shannon Odell. I play Lash Goodbog. You can find me on Instagram andTwitter @shodell, S-H-O-D-E-L-L.
Taylor Moore:This is Taylor Moore, and I play all the bad boys. I'm @taylordotbiz.
Mike Rugnetta:My name is Mike Rugnetta. I am your GM. You can find me on Twitter andInstagram @mikerugnetta. You can find the show on Twitter @funcityventures. Fun City was recorded in Greenpoint, Brooklyn at Fortunate Horse. It wasproduced, edited, and sound designed by me, Mike Rugnetta. Our music is bySam Tyndall. The show's art is by Tess Stone. And, the voice of Artemis is MollyTempleton. A double extra thanks to everyone who heard rough cuts of the showand gave us notes and advice along the way, with special shout outs to DavisCox, Patrick Davison, Crystal [Dunivan], Drew Hendrickson, Tim [Mochie], Jason Oberholtzer, George Ruiz, Kyle Schansinger, Molly Templeton, DougWilson, and probably at least a few other people I'm forgetting. So, in addition tothank you also, I'm sorry.
TC1006889611 (Completed 10/27/19) Transcript by Rev.com | Page of |