FOCUS: Oooh! Shiny! [Low Class Jewelry Dealer]

Oooh! Shiny! is as mobile as it is a brick and mortar (well, steel and glass) establishment, with a modest storefront as well as a team of salespeople with briefcases roaming the streets and hocking their wares, with bodyguards out of sight but very near should things go south. Of course, only an idiot would expect them to be hauling tens of thousands of nuyen worth of merchandise without security, so they're kinda doing everybody the service of thinning the herd. The store itself is in the seediest of scraper buildings, with half a story dedicated to sprawling display cases filled with pretties that are mostly pieces if shit. But the owner is actually honest about it. The crap is priced like crap and the good stuff is priced high and kept in cases with much, much better security glass. Despite the location, the store is inviting, with classical music playing throughout, comfy velvet chairs to rest in after plogging (apparently not a real word) through the exhaustive layout, and no overbearing security presence. Which, of course, is far from the case. A decker and rigger are always present in a protected back room, ready to hack the PANs or send micro drones against any aggressors. Unlike the aggressive tactics of Oooh! Shiny!'s street vendors, the sales people at the actual store use a softer approach. And while their tactics are still deeply manipulative, they sell with a smile and tactics so good that they just brush the edge of what would normally perceive as mystical in nature. Perhaps their main draw is their willingness to finance, an option that many take without knowing that management is more than happy to hire a team of runners to collect if the buyer falls behind. Even implants are considered collateral, so you really, really don't want to fall behind.

Recommended NPCs: Owner, Manager, Jewelry Buyer, Gem Buyer, Metals Buyer, Sales Associate x 2, Street Sales Associate x 4, Bodyguard x 6-8, Security Rigger, Security Decker, Security Guard x 3

RUN #1

Somebody done fucked up. A buyer snagged a good deal on a lot of sparklies on credit, thinking he could then undercut the store itself by hawking the wares in the same territory as Oooh! Shiny! Itself. He has since developed the smarts to start selling in a different area, but the damage has been done and not only does the owner want the jewelry back, he wants the interest taken out of the buyers ass, as well as arms, legs and head because he's actually a former runner equipped with a rather valuable move by wire system, albeit a malfunctioning one. He's brought in the runners to protect him from an onslaught of decking, drones and repurposed bodyguards until he can get to a semi ballistic that will carry him far away from the shitshow he started. In what will probably be a running battle the runners need to get the buyer from his apartment, across town, and safely to the security checkpoint at the airport, while not getting wasted by the full forces of Oooh! Shiny!’s bodyguard team. They pay is good, way better than expected, but it's all in gems and jewelry that the runners damn well better be careful when they sell them unless they want a group of uglies coming after them.

Recommended NPCs: Unscrupulous Buyer, Street Samurai Bodyguard, Street Mage Bodyguard, Security Rigger, Security Decker, Bodyguard x 3.

RUN #2

This time a sales associate done fucked up. She severely undervalued a ring she sold to the tune of 100,000¥. Hoping to keep things nonviolent, she's hoping they customer is willing to give the ring back for the original price, 50¥, plus another 3k. Payment to the runners will come out of her own pocket because it's worth it to avoid the wrath of the owner, who may do more than simply fire her. The customer is actually a decent person, living in a nice middle-class scraper with her new fiancée - to whom she has already given the ring after proposing a few hours earlier. The runners will have to figure out a way to convince the customer, and possibly the fiancée, to give the ring back, though they may show an unusual amount of resistance once they add two and two and realize the true value of the item. But that's the runners' problem. I guess they have to find them, too, but that's what deckers are for.

Recommended NPCs: Sales Associate, Customer, Customer's Fiancé

RUN #3

A prepaid purchase of raw gems turns out to be absolute shit and the seller appears to have vanished. The owner recognizes the style and quality of the gems and hires the runners to work with the gem importer to find out the seller's next action. The importer is more than happy to work with the runners, and the runners find that the seller appears to be preparing to screw over a competing store with another recent purchase of shit gems, (The importer, by the way, creates no illusion that his gems are any good. It's his customer's fault if any misrepresentation during the resale occurs.) The seller bragged that he intends to sell to Pretty Things, in the same manner as he did to Oooh! Shiny!. The when the owner of Oooh! Shiny! finds out about this (a competitor) assuming the runners report it to him) he actually wants the deal to go through before the runners 'convince' the seller to refund the owner for the shit gems before the runners complete their mission by literally feeding a lawfully purchased sample of the shit gems to the unscrupulous seller. He has hired a bodyguard, but not a very good one. So, basically, the runners need to discover the seller's next customer, let the sale go through, buy a bunch on the shit gems back from Pretty Things, track down the seller again if they've lost track of him, get the money from the sale and feed him some gems. Hey, they may even be able to make some additional scratch if the owner of Pretty Things wants some payback, too.

Recommended NPCs: Unscrupulous Seller, Importer, Bodyguard, Store Owner, Store Manager, Security x 2

RUN #4

The owner needs some added security during a tense negotiation with the mob. At a neutral location in a large dining hall of a luxury restaurant, The Iron Duck, (fancy dress required) and all weapons must be checked at the entrance to the dining hall. The hall itself is decked out with beautiful columns, fancy statues and paintings, fine silverware, and expensive furniture, with a weapons check (complete with body scans) at either entrance, the owner, the mobster, the runners and a shit load of bodyguards and mafia soldiers all file into the room at the same time. Immediately the runners, if they're on the ball, sense tension between several of the bodyguards on both sides. The negotiations go well, meals are served (well, to the owner and mobster) and the conversation is light and friendly. Meanwhile, knuckles crack, jaws are clenched, teeth grind and everybody but the PCs seem to be gearing up for a fight. As the mobster and owner stand and walk towards each other to shake hands the mutual gesture is suddenly interrupted by bodyguards on both sides shouting, nearly simultaneously, "Desert War 2079, motherfucker!". As it turns out, half the bodyguards on either side were, just by coincidence, in opposing mercenary groups and while the rest of the bodyguards stand momentarily bewildered, all hell breaks loose as the scene degrades into an all-out brawl. While the remaining bodyguards and, hopefully, the runners, attempt to do their actual fucking job of protecting their respective charges, it's hard not to get sucked into the absolutely monkey shit situation of shattering pottery, meticulously crafted chairs being smashed over heads and everything down to shrimp forks being used as weapons. So, keep the owner safe, runners, or that last half of your payment is forfeit. Have fun!

Recommended NPCs: Mafia Buyer, Mafia Soldiers x 7, Bodyguard x 7, Restaurant Security x 4, Restaurant Owner, Restaurant Manager

RUN #5

The owner has learned that a former associate who once ran off with one of his shipments has found a buyer and is preparing to sell. The owner has a plant in the gang that intends to purchase them and has decided to do the deal inside a moving Airstream Preserve motor home as it travels an unpredictable path through city streets and highways, sticking to heavy traffic and higher-class areas, making simply jumping the vehicle a near impossibility. The runners are hired to get the gems while the vehicle is in motion, as the point of departure is populated by an indomitable force of gang members. Well, I guess the runners could simply kill or take out around 30 gang members, but it would be a hell of a blood bath and might dent their rep. So, between rigging and decking and creativity, the runners have to get the goods, a problem made more difficult by the 3 riggers on motorcycles using crossroads and drones to keep an eye on the situation with such skill the runners may not even notice they're there. While unarmed, the vehicle has heavy armor cleverly built into the inside of the vehicle, belaying its appearance as a recreational vehicle. And those inside consist of a small mix of upper echelon gang members, including their leader, and a bodyguard presence for the seller. If the vehicle manages to complete its hour long romp around the city it will return to its heavily armed place of origin and the goods will be under the guard of dozens upon dozens of gang members in their armed compound. So, probably wanna get it done before that. Oh, and as for the planted gang member, about five minutes after the vehicle begins moving, his triple tapped body is dumped. Apparently, he wasn't all that great at his job.

Recommended NPCs: Seller, Gang Member Plant, Gang Leader, Gang Member x 6, Gang Member Shaman, Gang Member Physad, Gang Member Rigger, Gang Member Motorcycle Rigger x 3