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Guest Game 1 Circuits Edge Leads to Nowhere

Tricksters Note: The below post (and indeed all posts for Circuits Edge) was written by guest blogger Zenic Reverie.

Night 2: "I bumbled through the better part of the night. The leads I stumbled upon leave me even more stumped. To pass the time and get my juices flowing Ive taken up a regular seat at the baccarat tables. Strange that theres only a single gambling den in the whole Budayeen. Im not even sure how they stay in business with odds like these, but nothing left to do except buy everything I can."


Its difficult, at least for me, to stay interested in a game that doesnt give clear objectives. Ive circled the city at least twice looking for leads. Im just not sure what the game expects me to do. Take the holodisk I have. There are viewers in the adult store, and I can rent a video for my pleasure; however, theres no other way to interact with the viewer. No way to view the holodisk in my possession. Interaction with the environment is extremely limited; it instills a sense of hopelessness. Im sure at some point Ill find myself in the possession of a viewer, and will finally watch the video. Then Ill be really lost knowing this game.


I entered every establishment like a drunken fool name dropping everyone I could think of, "HEY! Do you know Mack Dixon?" "My good friend Mustafa, have you seen im?" Its a wonder anyone took me seriously, but what would normally seem strange in the real world is normal in this game. With zero regard to tipping off Mack Dixon that I was looking for him I stumbled into every dive, every brothel (he seems to frequent them), and every open store asking about him, Mustafa, and Kenji Carter. I got results, but currently all my leads dead end into further obstacles.


Mack Dixon seems well outside our reach unless I randomly run into him. I currently dont have a good way to convince the attendant that Im in desperate need of Mr. Dixons assistance in solving two murders he may or may not be involved in. In any case, I followed up on the lead that Mustafa sold off the items in his store to another pawn broker. A tip from AAA Loans suggested someone named Friendly took out a loan to make the large purchase. Arriving at the shop and asking about Mustafa prompted Friendly to take the ticket from my inventory, look up the item number, and inform me it was 20 kiam. Kiam is the local currency (in case I failed to mention it), and I have a total of 1100 at present.


The pawn ticket, plus 20 kiam, bought us an unlisted item: half a ring inscribed with "MAAL MOS." One possible lead down, and Im now even more confused. I bought an answering machine from friendly. My new answering machine allowed me to play out the answering chip. I cant believe the police couldnt tell me how much of a waste of time this would be tracking down. I mean... just look at the message: "M-C-D-I-X. Hell kill me if he finds me first!"


I ended up buying out the pawn shop because, why not? Nothing too relevant at this point, but Im sure itll become useful. The lens is for a holographic camera, allowing low light hologram creation. Mr. Lightning is a daddie that doubles my agility. I scooped all this up without actually spending anything since I spent the majority of my time at the gambling hall raking in cash at the baccarat tables.


The sure bet seems to be on winning as hitting an 8 or 9 puts me in a win unless the dealer gets the same. Ties dont count as a win or loss. I can choose to draw one card or stand, and about the only time I want to draw is if Im already losing. Ill take the tie if offered, but the majority of cards will lower my total value as it wraps from 0 - 9. Face cards are equal to 10. To get the total, add up the cards and look at the ones place. Odds have strangely fallen in my favor the majority of the time and I dont even have a gambler moddie (not sure if one exists).


I stopped by Lailas shop, high off my winnings at the gambling hall next door, and found shed opened up since the day before. I havent saved up enough to afford everything here yet, but I picked up Super Spy, Muscle Man, and Alpine Jack, which basically max all my stats. Im fairly sure The Outlaw is a gunslinger moddie, Rad Hacker is a computer hacker moddie, and Kung Fu Master is a bare handed moddie. This is all guesswork though, as there are no descriptions before I buy them. I also picked up English 101 (not sure how itll help, but its cheap), and Julius Caesar, which oddly enough turned out to initiate a hint on McDix.


Even with that additional information I have no use for it at the moment. My only hope is Ill stumble upon another clue that allows me to pick up the story soon; at this point my goal is to completely drain the gambling hall, and stock pile every item I can purchase from every store. My inventory and chips are limited to 10 each, so Ive been offloading all excess items in my apartment strewn about the floor. I havent really gone over moddies and daddies yet, but basically I can equip 1 moddie (personality modification) and 3 daddies (data skill chips). The only difference Ive seen between the two is moddies add some flavor text as the personality pops out during conversations and wandering around.

I really have no idea what any of this is good for yet, but I picked up the camera as having the most potential for usefulness. Im fairly sure Ill have to get everything eventually, but with the gambling hall as my only source of income Im starting to get picky. Ive had to reload twice after bankrupting myself. Still not bad considering how random/stacked gambling normally is.

Once again I have no idea where Im going, and Im now down to 2 leads to follow up on (the holodisk and Mack Dixon). I havent found any new leads for MAAL MOS or 1409, but Ill keep them in mind if I trip over something relevant. In the meantime its back to the tables and slowly becoming a hoarder. Wish me further luck for digging out this story as its all but evaporated in front of me.

Session Time: 2 hours 00 minutes
Total Time: 5 hours 00 minutes

Note Regarding Spoilers and Companion Assist Points: Ive written a set of rules regarding spoilers and companion assist points. Please read it here before making any comments that could be considered a spoiler in any way. The short of it is that no points will be given for hints or spoilers given in advance of Zenic requiring one. Please...try not to spoil any part of the game for him...unless he really obviously needs the help...or he specifically requests assistance. In this instance, hes not made any requests for assistance. Thanks!
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