LogBrink-Jason-2

Game log for the 2014/10/05 session of Brink, as taken by Jason

Swan and Cipher discuss visiting the nears to obtain more supplies. Torch suggests that they should do something else - not a particular something else, but a general sort of "anything that isn't visiting the 'neers is better than visiting the 'neers."

Absinthe is talking to Cutter in the open market area in a weightless section of the station, called The Shell. Cutter wants her to help him get access to something. He wants someone to splice an item into a certain circuit in a certain place - maintenance hatch 7, green cable, ring 37, section 5. Swan might not want to work with Cutter, but he'll work with Absinthe, so Cutter's hiring Absinthe to front the deal. He'll offer Absinthe a box of oranges and Swan a working water filtration unit. The deal is entirely contingent - Absinthe doesn't get paid if Swan turns down the work. Cutter tosses her an orange as an appetizer, or perhaps a gesture of good faith.

Swan's hanging out near a docking area, where shuttles come and go, in Ring 23, docking bay C. He's got Chauncey and Torch standing by, and he's working with Chauncey to see what they can do with the electromagnets. Absinthe comes in and relates the offer. She explains about how a diddly bit needs to be planted in a spot. Swan immediately hands the Macguffin off to Chauncey for evaluation, and he says it's a surveillance device, which means they need Eyeball to take a look at it. Swan dispatches Torch to find Eyeball. Meanwhile, Swan asks Absinthe who set the job up, and she declines to name a name.

Torch goes to Eyeball's cabin and finds the door open. The sound system is thumping and when he shuts it off, he hears moaning and groaning. The situation turns out to be consensual, so Torch reminds her about closing doors and waits outside. Eyeball doesn't care what Torch thinks of her sex life, and Torch doesn't want to think about her sex life, so that conversation peters out.

Swan keeps pushing Absinthe to divulge the identify of the originator of this caper, and eventually she admits that Cutter hired her. He sighs but agrees to do it, and summons Abner to see what they might be messing with in the green cable of hatch 7. There's an old light manufacuting area there used by the woots. Ring 37's operational but about a quarter of it is without power. About that time, Eyeball and Torch return. The diddly bit is a data cable tap. Swan asks if they can piggbyack off the tap, which Eyeball can totally do, although she's not delighted that Absinthe just heard the conversation. She can make a wired tap out of gear on hand, or with some jingle they could get a wireless tap, or with some tools, she could decode this tap. Swan and Eyeball head out to the shell to get parts, with Torch following along like a puppy. Swan makes sure that Absinthe knows he doesn't want her telling Cutter that Swan knows who brokered the deal.

In the shell, Swan and party drop some jingle on parts and on getting a competent medic to fix up Swan's leg. They then head to The Waxing Gibbous, to see if Cipher can help them out.

Cipher's sitting at his table at Waxing Gibbous. He's willing to talk to Swan, and Swan explains that he needs Cutter questioned about why that particular green cable is worth tapping. Cipher signs on in exchange for a simple favor to be named later. Swan makes sure Cipher knows that Cutter cannot have any memory of being questioned about this.

When Eyeball comes back with the drinks, Cipher puts the whammy on her and gets his hooks in, making her tell him how she uses the diddly bit. Swan also gives Cipher some advice on how to find Cutter.

Cipher heads for the Shell. He finds someone floating 20 feet outside the core elevators, stranded, shouting for help. The other folks in the area seem more interested in laughing at him. Presumably they put him there. Cipher ignores the spectable and comes right up to Cutter, offering to exchange favors. Cipher asks for freedom of movement in ring 13 or 14 to search for signs of what went on there before the Gate collapsed. Cutter's open to the deal but won't personally provide the protection - he wants to pawn the work off on a minion named Cato.

Cipher goes looking for old memory cores. In the de-powered sections of 13, he goes looking for old memory cores, but finds that while there are spare parts, the data cores have been scavenged. It's a failed search but Cipher buys Cato a drink anyway, and they part amicably. Cipher messages Swan to come buy him a drink.

Absinthe goes to her room to eat her orange. Swan finds her there, forcing her to stash the fresh fruit. He wants her to come along on the op when his crew goes to install the widget. They discuss the location and risks.

Swan takes Torch to visit Cipher back at The Waxing Gibbous. Cipher thinks that when we open the maintenance hatch, the 'bots will come for us, as happened in a story Cato told him.

Cipher spends some quality time with Honey but doesn't try to do anything to her.

Swan gets Table to rig his pod up as a sort of escape system. We're all cabled to the pod, so if Swan sounds the bugout alarm, Table pulls out, and yanks everyone along. Eyeball slaves the hatch to the pod so that Table can close it from his pod and open the outer door for us.

Swan and crew take the pod to the docking section of ring 37 section 5. We bring the pod inside and repressurize, and immediately notice lots of rags and weird stick figures hanging from ceiling. This may bode ill. Torch knows that the Woots have a tempestuous relationship with the 'neers, and these rings often go without power when the 'neers are carrying on cranky. Even though we only just repressurized, Absinthe can see two people watching us, right now. One of them isn't in a vac suit, so either he just got in or he's OK in vacuum without one. She calls them out for the crew. Swan gets so distracted looking for weirdos that he steps on a stick figure. That may be collosal Woot heresy, but Swan manages to pick it up and stick the evidence in a pocket without anyone appearing to notice. Swan and Torch try to make friendly noises at the Woot nearest the airlock, but he just sidles away every time someone talks to him.

This section has power, but the lights are dim. The walls of the corridor are covered in Woot paintings, all stick figures and wavy lines. We get to the maintenance hatch without trouble, but a little kid turns up and tugs on Swan's leg just as we're about to open it. The kid tells us that inside the hatch, it's colorful, and it looks like a tangle of snakes. Torch convinces the kid to back up; the kid agrees to hide behind Swan's leg. Torch opens the hatch and it's just a mess of cables, which Chauncey and Eyeball start working on. As they do so, the kid pulls on Swan's pants leg, and asks why Swan broke the stick figure. Swan tries to claim he found it that way, but the kid knows that isn't true. The kid seems a lot more nervous now- he's on the verge of bugging out. Swan kneels down to him and asks the kid to help him make it right. The kid can help, but Swan has to come with him. Swan asks for ten minutes, which the kid will settle for. We hear the sound of a hatch opening and closing, and suddenly Absinthe is gone.

She was leaning against what she thought was a blocked hatch, but it opens and someone grabs her and pulls her through. She makes eye contact and sees a scrawny Woot guy with some sort of homemade mask. As she makes eye contact, he freezes up, and she hears someone else say something she can't understand. She tries to figure out what's going on, looks around, and is looking in the wrong direction when someone makes her drop her pistol with a sharp blow on the wrist. She puts er hands up in a way that just happens to get them near the end of her other weapon.

Torch and Swan realize what happened, and at a nod from the boss, Torch goes right through the bulkhead and scares the couple of nears who had grabbed Absinthe into letting her go. Once they're back in the corridor, Torch tries to win Absinthe's approval by reminding her of his, er, heroism, but just makes a butt of himself. Swan has to snap at him to get his head into the game.

The Woot kid tells us it's time now, and Swan goes with the Woots to see "the witch." The rest of the group go back to the pod. The whole crowd of Woots all follow Swan, so he's awful durn outnumbered. They take him through the unpowered section of the ring, forcing him to rely on suit lights. Nobody else has a light, but they don't seem bothered by that. He sees that they've worked around damage by making new corridors that run right through rooms, around piles of debris, around stuff dangling from the floor, whatever. It's a rat warren in there.

They lead him into a room, where he sees an old woman, sitting there, to all appearances waiting for him. As he walks in, his suit lights and indicators go out. The old woman's super gangly, possibly naked, sitting on a stool. Presumably this is the Witch of the Woots. "Come," she says, and becons him toward her. "Why have you come?" she asks, and he explains that he accidentally broke their stick figure. She asks what he offers to atone. She says he's taken a life and asks whether he has one to give. That's negative, Houston, but he asks what he can offer in its place. They discuss his purpose in coming here, about which his understanding may not be complete. Ultimately she seems to be asking for the life of the person who wanted the tap planted. It's a whole new quest!

About thirty seconds after he leaves the room, Swan's suit lights and indicators come back on. We leave as per plan, and Swan tells Absinthe to report to Cutter and close the deal. Swan then takes his people to Lefty's Bar and tries to drink himself back to normalcy.

Cipher goes to the Shell again to see Cutter again. The floater is still floating - Cipher calculates that at this point his best bet is to open a minor artery for some Newtonian propulsion. Cipher's still hanging around as Absinthe comes in and notifies Cutter that the work is done. Looking around, Cipher notices a guy hanging around, not far off, with no obvious business or function. He's just watching. As he makes his goodbyes, Cipher shakes hands with Cutter, warns him that the stranger is watching him, and plants a pupper string in his brain to make Cutter tell him the truth. Cutter seems to be super weirded out by the warning. Absinthe sees that whole interaction, and watches Cutter say something to Cato, who looks around and then rushes off somewhere. Absinthe vacates the premises before things get any weirder.

Absinthe drops off the crate of oranges at her place, then takes the water filtration system to Swan at Lefty's. She sees Cipher following her and jumps to the conclusion that he must be stalking her. She tries to figure out how to get him to go away, and her best idea is that since he seems to thrive on the chase, maybe turning and kissing him would get the job done. Cipher continues to follow her all the way to the bar.

Once everyone's at the bar, Swan and Ciper exchange sarcastic comments and Absinthe delivers the water filtration unit to Swan. Swan, for his part, tells Cipher he's willing to pay for more intel on Cutter. He also pays the gang's tab and shares the wealth a bit. He then takes Absinthe to the dance floor and tries to seduce her, successfully. Cipher and Torch both look a little sad as the two of them go off together. Cipher dulls the pain by making time with Eyeball, who doesn't like him but can't quite seem to get clear of him either. She challenges him to tell her something nobody else knows. He tells her he was a teacher before he came through the gate. She doesn't believe him but his refusal to back down seems to work for her.