The Lives and Times of David Austin
the 10,000 euro man

Now, we all love a good lifepath, don't we. But don't you get tired of reading the back of a record sheet and getting a couple of point-form notes like someone just shorthanded the results straight from the book? One of my players let me write his lifepath up for him from a series of die rolls he emailed me. First I'll show you what the results were, and below that, how I wrote it up... Enemy - Female - Romantic Rival - She hates you - murderous killing rage - an entire gov't agency Betrayed! Find Sensei Parents Killed in an accident Hospitalized -nothing- -nothing- Go to jail, go dirrectly to jail, do not pass go, do not collect $200 Learn a vice (jail lifepath) Love Affair With Problems Illness / Addiction (both)

16: While first breaking into the Surf Circuit in Hawaii, I hooked up with this rad surf-girl called Angelique. We seemed to be hitting it off pretty good, but there was uno problemo - her best friend Melissa Vasquez was anything but chill about me hogging her time. Things never did pick up that well between Angelique and I since Vasquez was so heavy-duty against us seein' each other, but the tension did break up their friendship, and that Melissa input is still steaming about it. The real problem with that is that she went and got herself some meatwear too, and works the bouncer circuit of the BAMA Meatracks... How'd I find out? One night a few months ago I was working interior security at the "American Dream" when Vasquez comes roaring in from her post at the door and went 404 on my ass! Good thing most of the crew that night were chummers of mine or it coulda got messy. Then I find out she's got friends in all the wrong places, got herself hooked up with the BAMAYaks or some such, and they owe her something large for who knows what. But shit piles up ya know... Probably woulda been able to get past Vasquez's problems with me and stuck with Angelique if Dylan hadn't gotten into the act. Ya see, Dylan Celain was a total Flat, a sideliner, in the scene, but we'd gotten pretty close since his family had more money than mine and he had a Mucho Muchacho Board and would loan me his other one on occasion, but he'd also seen me romancing a few other gals and he musta gotten ahold of Angelique's system somehow (and mine too, but I know how he got into mine) and uploaded all my hot emails with another few gals and some fantasy's about her to her FATHER'S system! Man... they always said it gets hot in Hawaii ... 17: So with all that flack flowing in I had to move my ass to another town, but I couldn't separate from the waves ya see... so I conned my folks into believing that this other school on the next island was a better place fer me "for advanced scientific studies" or some such. It cost them some extra euro, but the coolest part of the joint (and the part I hated the most at the time) was instead of Recreational Breaks, we all lined up in the school courtyard for freakin' martial arts training twice a day. It was a grueling work-out doin' those under the sun an' all, but I can still kick some ass better than Joe Average cuz of it. And Choombah, the surf out there was like something right outta the ten commandments! 18: But all good things come to an end, yah? Well, this one weren't none of my fault. My folks were coming over to see me for spring commencement of my last year in the private school when their native-operated boat, the "Crab Kahuna" was run under by a Petrochem UltraTanker coming to port. Neither survived the accident and suddenly I was stuck back on the main island, with no source of income to boot! So I grabbed my plank and made for the surf and set up camp on the beach... 19: But that wasn't to last long either. As the winter season rolled in the waves got fierce and the surf got killer. And Killer it was. In the heavy surf one evening a shark made it's way near to shore, and decided that some surfer making his way lazily to the next wave looked way too much like a big-ass fish. When that hose-beast chowed into me, I had no idea life could be so painful. They say that when they dragged me out, I was not just mauled... I had freakin' ribs missing! 20: The reconstruction process was long an' painful. Luckily covered by my folks' old employer since their insurance policy on me didn't expire until 2 years after their death. We be talking heaping hunks of new musculature, some neo-plastic ribs, the works. Then they offered me "the job". They'd augment me from here to kindom come, and I'd work for them in "wetwork". 21: So the reconstruction done, they started training me for their wetwork. I thought it was the romantic "Black Operations" crap and everything... but they really meant WETwork. Sure it was ops, but it was underwater. That's when we both discovered the other damage a shark can deal... Heard of Once Bitten? Well, I'd freak every time somethin' slimy brushed by me. The damn deeps were suddenly infested by sharp-toothed monsters in my mind at least... so that Ash-Canned the whole concept and they gave up on their investment. And dumped me in San Fran where the muscle grafts immediately rang me up a job as far from the ocean as possible - bouncing at the bars. 22: So then comes Sadona... She's this College Teacher at SFU, something like Psychology or whatever crap. So I had this scam running... never mind what it was, but it was starting to really rake in the cash. But then we have Sadona. Her daughter or something was one of my shakedowns, and next thing I know the freakin' cops are shaking *me* down! Through some friends I found out it was her and her friends in the police force, but only after I got my ass out of Jail - two years of hell... 23-24: But there are advantages to being the biggest boy in the block. I didn't run any scams there, but I did get easy street as an enforcer... and even that was hell. Prison ain't like they say in the movies and stories anymore, easy street is only a bit smoother than the regulation hell... The mover & shaker was Mr Julian Farrel. He still works outta the joint, but his people are here and there around Night City and the BAMA... He's some wig in the Mafia or such. 25: So I walk outta the joint in 2019, and slipped right back into my life and job working the bars and meatracks around the BAMA, and into Courtney's bed. She went by the ever-so-original handle of "Love". But Love ain't exactly the name for it... We still live together to this day, or at least I think she still comes home based on the changes in the laundry pile and the occasional leftovers in the fridge. When we screw up on our schedules and actually meet each other it's war on contact. The fighting is fierce enough that we can chase off boostergangs. Now don't take my word on this part, but I think she's working a job as a rent-a-cop these days. Either that or she mugged one and left his uniform in our bedroom. 26: This year has been extreme. Extremely nasty. Seems that Love passed something along to me. Or maybe I passed it along to her. Either way we're both on the antiserums for AIDS II and you never saw a four week battle like we had about this one... But "Knight", Keith Knight, a bartender at the Temple Of Doom passed me a few G's... Bitter little pills with a G on em that made everything feel better. Well, at least a little better.

Also check out Rethe's LifePath while yer here.