Common Places

Where Magic & Technology Meet
Grid 3258

Common Places
"Where you off to? Hop on in, I'll get you there in half an hour."
- Eli, Taxi Driver

Seattle:

The Black Dagger

After

Okeefenokee

Weeping Robot

The Frosty Scorpion

The Glass Girl

The Hollow Dollar

Smoking Cat

The Tainted Nuyen

The Pit

The Black Dagger

Type	Night Club
Location	Downtown Seattle
Owner	???
Bias	none

The Black Dagger is a Night Club, with a 100 nuyen charge just to get in the door, still there is always a line to get in. The owner of the Club hasn't been seen, somebody knows who he/she is but isn't willing to talk. The Club itself is designed as a highly rustic club. Only the surfaces, places people sit or place their drinks, are finished, everything else is rough wood. The Booths themselves are designed so that little can be overheard, and there are white noise generators spread across the entire building to prevent snoops. Astral barriers line different areas, adding an additional level of security. Two troll bouncers guard each of the place's three enterances, and anywhere from two to five bouncers are wandering the joint, looking like regular patrons. The bartenders freely give tidbits of information, mostly whos currently offering work, who to avoid that night, as well as who is seeking company.

A dark Elf called Suthorn can usually be found at a small table in a corner of the club, away from the dance floor, in the shadows. The Bartenders all agree he's the one to see for information, but he dislikes company, so be ready with a fat credstik or a very good excuse.

After

Type	Private Club
Location	Several blocks from UW
Owner
Bias	none

After is a private club, expensive but not too pricey, with a reputation for being snobbishly liberal. It�s located several blocks from the UW. The place that looks like a bomb hit it� the dining nooks are faux craters nestled among artfully heaped rubble, and the chairs and tables all have a half-melted-but-functional look. Arcing wires and burning gas jets from �severed cables� and �broken gas pipes� provide the lighting and a scent of ozone, as do occasional staged fires in the rubble.

Okeefenokee

Type	Resteraunt
Location	Bellevue
Owner
Bias	none

A Bellevue restaurant inspired by the mobile �islands� of the Okeefenokee swamp, this place captures the swamp look, but not the smell. Okeefenokee was once a very large indoor ice rink, but it�s been turned into a giant fish pond with floating islands moving around its surface, guided by large magnets below the bottom of the pond. Each island has at least one tree growing on it, providing a living screen to both astral and visual spies as well as a place to hang the lanterns; the islands move around in a slow, chaotic simulation of convection when they are not docking to pick up or release passengers or food, so eavesdropping is very difficult. Okeefenokee is quite expensive, and serves an international variety of cuisine (though the Cajun food there is excellent). The menus are in waterproof electronic slates that communicate with a central computer via short-haul wireless. The waiters provide breadsticks for the diners and fish food for the koi swimming around in the pond.

Weeping Robot

Type	Cyber Cafe
Location	Tacoma
Owner
Bias	none

Weeping Robot is a true cybercafe, it boasts a large number of solid connection to the matrix, as well as some highly secure connections for those who require not to be found. People come and for a small fee, enjoy a matrix connection and some coffee physically, or enter from the matrix and have some virtual coffee as they chat amongst themselves. This is one of the well known datahavens in the Matrix. It has loaner decks (MPCPs of 10 or less) which have had their tracers removed, and have rather small memories, most runners know however these decks actually have a huge memory, both active and storage, but a small partitioning program allows the user to access only a small portion of the memory, using the rest to make a record of the activities, including the user's senses during his visit. The Weeping Robot Mainframe is actually a highly secure data node for the Matrix Underground. Over fifteen thousand terrapulses of data are transfered weekly to and from these systems. Any decker who has been around has a membership to this place.

The Frosty Scorpion

Type
Location
Owner
Bias

Blank

The Glass Girl

Type
Location
Owner
Bias

Blank

The Hollow Dollar

Type
Location
Owner
Bias

Blank

Smoking Cat

Type	Resteraunt/Dance Club
Location
Owner	Gerahue (ex-runner)
Bias

The Smoking cat is a dancehall on the first floor and a middle to low quality resteraunt.

The Tainted Nuyen

Type
Location
Owner
Bias

Blank

The Pit by Adam Jury (fro@lis.ab.ca)

Type	Dance Club and Bar-Restaurant
Location	142nd Street East & 212th Ave East (Puyallup)
Owner	Ernest Straub
Bias	none

    The Pit is a place of both ill repute and great fame in Puyallup. Parents dread thier child's first visit to the club, whil the kids eagerly pack the place the day they turn 18.

    What is so special about the club, deep in the urban hell that is Puyallup? For starters, it's massive. An old supermarket and lot, bought cheaply during a rough time in the early 2040's. Over 2 city blocks long have been converted. The result, a 2 level club, hot music, hot dancers... and something you won't find anywhere else in the sprawl.

    The owner of The Pit has endeavored to keep it as legitimate as possible. Although it is on the fringes of both Mafia and Yakuza territory, neight owns it or has control. It does provide a good neutral meeting ground for both syndicates, who seem to have an odd amount of respect for the owner. The last big push was by the Yakuza, who attempted to buy it out in late 2054. Both have apparently given up though, and Ernest seems intent on keeping the club under his control.

    The Pit's main claim to fame is it's sanctioned fighting pit, in which 2 or more combantants go head to head to see who's the real man (or woman).

Security, Staff, and Layout
    Security at the club is extremely tight. Due to the nature of the fighting and the presense of alchohol nobody under the age of 18 is allowed in. And the bouncers check each and every one of you at the door. Great effort is made so that few spectators can get in with a weapon, and cyber-restraints are availible and are often used by the guards. The less damage a person can do, the less likely he's going to try and do any. Sneaking in? Don't even try it. Everyone entering the club gets a tag around his or her wrist, and if you're found without one, you're out the closest door. The exit doors always have someone nearby, so pulling the old trick of going in the out door isn't an option. Maybe the 5 nuyen cover charge is worth it.

    The security is everywhere here, and not always easy to spot. Sure, the 3 big guys near the door are guards, but so could that funny guy with the cane sipping coffee upstairs. No bright yellow shirts with the bar's logo here, they dress to fit in. And they are certainly capable of putting some hurt on you.

    Despite the outward appearance of being somewhat rundown, the inside of The Pit is well maintained and clean. The top floor, which overlooks the actual fighting pit, is a medium class restaurant. The food here is extremely good, and probbably deserving of a better restaurant. As one critic said, "sometimes its hard to enjoy food when you're watching some guy downstairs lose his." The best seats are right on the edge and give a clear view of the pit through a 3 cm thick glass pane.

    For those not furtunate to have a bird's eye view of the action, 152 trid screens are placed around the entire club. These screems pipe the live video feed of 8 cameras in the pit, right to your seat. Even upstairs, the tables all have vid-screens built in, so you can chomp on a steak and watch some poor elf get his hoop kicked. Right above the actual pit, 8 giant screens, like those in a sports arena, provide the biggest and best view of the action.

    The bottom floor of The Pit, underneath the overhanging second floor is where all the unofficial action takes place. This is where the drinks fly, the gangers play pool, and the bouncers keep a watchful eye over it all. If you're looking to score something this is the place to do it.

    Smoking, in both the lower and upper areas is not allowed. The owner feels it is harmful to the fighters, and he's probbably right. This is probbably the patron's biggest beef with the club.

    The food and drink down hereis also good, but in a different style. Burgers and fries, with a beer, but still tasty. Its not soy either, chummer, real meat, real prices. ITs common for more format gang meets t be held here, since its a little bit fancier than most places.

    The pit itself is about 8 x 10 meters across and 4.5 meters deep. The walls are re-enforced chainlink, designed to give under the weight of a fighter, but nt too much. Before the fight, it is checked carefully for nicks and pen ends, and often replaced. Then the fighters enter the pit. The lights dim the cameras turn on, spotlights and trid-screens flicker on and then they fight. Most last under ten minutes, and the duelist who gets off on the right foot usually wins.

    The area around The Pit is fairly desolate. Nothing very special, the odd stuffer shack, but The Pit, despite everything around it, is a bright spot in the sprawl.