Part 7: Even More Ways to Move Up in the World
Part 07 - Even More Ways to Move Up in the World
NEW MUSIC:

(Sam Powell composed like three tracks which all sound like they were meant for a nightclub or something, but if memory serves this is the only one that can be heard in the game. Crank up the volume unnecessarily high if you want the Authentic Experience)

Time to party! And if you ask me, nothing says "party" like looking over some juicy character statistics! Woo! Wild!


Eiger is a sturdy Street Samurai specializing in shotguns and sniper rifles with solid grenade-tossing skills thrown in for good measure. While this focus on extremely short and long distances causes her to have a bit of a mid-range blind spot, someone who can both give and take hits reliably is otherwise a perfect fit for our team. Alongside ourselves she is definitely going to be doing the majority of the heavy lifting in combat situations.


Ah, the trusty ol' Benelli Raffaello. If it was good enough for Sam Watts it'll be good enough for us. The rest of her kit includes a couple of medkits, a frag grenade and a phosphorus grenade, everything a good soldier needs on the dance floor.

Her cyberware includes an arm replacement which neither costs Essence or shows up on her character model.

But enough gawking, let's see if the bouncer of this place is feeling cooperative.

[He looks up, gives you a cursory once-over, and sighs.]



I know which side I'd place my bets on in the feud between the Zapp and Benelli families, but hopefully it won't come to that. This guy seems alright.

[He keeps his nose in his comic book.]



Well he can't be that frank then can he

First things first, we head north to check the hotel elevator which to no great surprise won't let us pass that easily. Drone Control 3 does allow for rigging into the building's systems using the nearby panel and bringing the elevator down right away, but since that's not an option for us we'll have to look for some other method.

As we do our best to look around amidst the constant flashing of lights, one of the many partygoers invites us over.






Perhaps some drugs will grease the wheels of progress then. Let's go check out the bar.

It's pretty hard to miss, being right in the middle of the floor. As we approach we come upon some sort of a kerfuffle between the bartender and a nearby ork.






We got a real charmer over here, huh.

[Understanding slowly shows on the young woman's face. Her eyes go wide.]


[The woman sets her jaw, a look of disgust on her pallid face.]



We're not here to solve the personal problems of every lost soul, but just leaving the woman at the mercy of that asshole doesn't feel right.

There are a couple of ways to deal with Silke. The simple way is to buy her the cram she's yearning for from Kroner, though that isn't exactly what you'd call a long-term solution. So let's try to do some good here instead.


Why indeed? There's a whole bunch of reasons we can give - Intelligence 3, Charisma 3 and Biotech 1 all allow for different arguments. The Street etiquette can also be used, meaning it has now had twice as many potential uses as it did in the entirety of DMS. We'll go for the scientific approach.






[As strong as Silke's words are, her voice sounds unsure. From the way that she's fidgeting, you can tell that you've struck a nerve.]
Making someone see they have a problem of this nature isn't quite that easy, and we actually have to succeed at two of the above checks to hammer the point in. Let's harness the power of intelligence this time.





[She blinks, steals a glance back at Kroner, and shudders.]

Maybe you've just lacked the proper support. As it happens, we recently came across a place that might help with providing just that.



Fun fact: You can still offer her cram at this point, and then either take it back because it was "just a test" or have her take some because "one more hit won't hurt". You little sociopathic rascal, you.
Anyway, she seems to have a better idea of what exactly is going on in this place than we do. Maybe we can come to a mutually beneficial agreement.


[Her lips struggle upward into a facsimile of a smile.]






Sure seems like a running theme around here.

[She steals a glance over her shoulder at Kroner, a scowl on her face.]



Now that you mention it...




You've gotta be kidding, another sealed vault? Can't we all agree to just put our valuables in treasure chests or something, at least they let you check for mimics beforehand.


Well that was all good to know, but it doesn't get us much closer to actually getting up there.

As we turn around to have a chat with the sleazy bartender, we make a mental note not to pay for any drinks here.





Tempting... but this guy probably isn't worth alerting Winters to our presence by starting a massive gunfight down here.




In a game where AP gain is king, cram is what it snorts from on top of its royal scepter. With the tried and true combination of a hefty dose of amphetamine and an assault rifle, you'll clear an entire room long before you realize you weren't holding a water hose and those people weren't flowers in your beautiful garden.
But winners don't do drugs and nobody's winning more than us, so we only grab one as a souvenir for the girl from earlier.




It's all coming back to Frank it seems.



Before going to see this oft-mentioned Frank, we return to the party girl from earlier in order to make the narratively very difficult to justify decision of giving her some cram literal minutes after helping someone else get rid of the stuff. Such is the fate of those without names or portraits I guess.





Isn't it nice to help people have a good time?


[She raises a hand to her lips to stifle a high-pitched giggle.]



At the very least it's not looking like we'll have to head straight in the middle of a heated gang war, seeing as how they had the courtesy to settle things before we got here.


Please never say "giant bug" again, thanks much.




We leave her to her fun and head to look for Frank, eventually spotting him in the east corner of the bar. Loading a save here apparently broke the dancing animations though, so all the dancers are just kind of standing there looking awkward.


[His face screws up with a look of disgust.]

Doesn't sound like someone who's going to put up much of a fight. Should make things a little simpler once we find him.







Alright, we're going to have to do some persuading again. We have no less than five potential approaches here, one of which includes simply attacking him right here and now which leads to a firefight with all the various armed people in the room. I'm not sure if we're ready to deal with the most dangerous game of all though...

On the upside you get an achievement for it and it gives you an excuse to waste Kroner, so there's that.
The less bloodthirsty methods include straight bribery (costing you ¥200), using Corporate or Gang etiquettes, or going for another Intelligence 3 check which requires having talked to Silke earlier. While we do have Corporate picked, we're gonna go with that last one.




Almost too easy. But the reason we picked this method in particular was because with our Charisma of 5 (we picked Security as our second etiquette by the way) we can make a little addition here.


Makin' progress and getting paid for it, the best of both worlds.
Incidentally here's the less profitable but more entertaining Gang etiquette path:
quote:
I can see that you're running an operation here. I'll bet it's a pretty delicate one. It'd be a shame if something happened to it.
[He looks at you incredulously.] You threatenin' me? In my own club? That's a hell of a mistake, friend.
I'll second that bet. It'll go easier for you if you let us upstairs. We'll get out of your hair and become somebody else's problem.
Oh, and Frank? I *am* threatening you.

Just like he promised, the elevator's here now, and we can move on to somewhere that's hopefully a little quieter and easier on the eyes than this place.


And boy do we have choices. Will we find Winters? Or will we find a troll in his underpants breaking things? Are they in fact one and the same? Exciting!