ROPER
                                 Safehouses in Seattle
                                          by LLWardIII

ANGLE

If you need a meeting room, safe-house, decking haven, or any 
other short-term real estate, Roper is your man. Roper owns or has 
access to apartments of every kind in every district in Seattle, 
as well as a few warehouses and at least one house.

All are available (for a fee, of course) on a per day basis; 
occasionally, one can negotiate an hourly fee instead. All rooms 
are guaranteed to be free from bugs and other surveillance, but 
under NO circumstances will Roper provide security.

Matrix access is available from almost every location, but a large 
deposit is requested for activation. This deposit is forfeit if 
the SAN number of the location is compromised.


STYLE

Roper is not cheap, but he is reliable. No one has ever reported a 
double-cross.

>>>[Rumor has it the runner team called the Advocate once tested 
his integrity by, after having some members rent a place, offering 
ten times as much cash to reveal their whereabouts. He 
refused.]<<<
-- Wordman (11:32:05/04-22-52)

The bug-free guarantee has never been found to be false.

A deposit is required for all rentals, in addition to the Matrix 
deposit if there is one and the per day rental fee. Damage to the 
location or is deducted from the deposit, and compromising the 
location results in a forfeit of the deposit. Deposits are usually 
about ten times the normal rental price of the real-estate for 
each day. (Thus to rent a medium middle class apartment (600Y per 
month normally) for 3 days, a deposit of 24,000Y is required 
(10*600Y*4days).)

Roper, of course, maintains a blind eye on any illegal activity 
carried out from or in the rented space. However, sloppy crimes 
usually result in higher fees next time, or perhaps no next time 
at all.

Roper is very quick to keep part of the deposit for very minor 
damage or problems. Additionally, Roper doesn't usually own a 
single location for more than six months. He has pseudonyms on 
about every apartment waiting list in Seattle.


CLIENTELE

Not being one to discriminate, Roper serves just about anyone who 
can pay, although he has been known to refuse service to groups 
based on bad rep. He also has refused service to a group composed 
entirely of Orks at least twice.

About 80% of Roper's leases are to corporates. Organized crime 
usually has its own locations, but has used Roper occasionally.


EMPLOYEES/RESOURCES

Roper employs a stable of deckers to keep his locations invisible. 
If a party requests Matrix access, Roper usually sends one of his 
own deckers (either up front or covertly) to maintain the security 
of the SAN. Upcoming deckers vie for a job with Roper, as it is a 
fairly easy job most of the time, allows time to train, and gives 
access to great equipment, including a microtronics shop and three 
Fairlight Excaliburs.


AREA OF OPERATION

As stated earlier, Roper owns locations all over Seattle, but he 
usually does business downtown. He is known to frequent the Gray 
Line and the Edge.


DESCRIPTION

Roper is short for a human and is not very imposing. He usually 
allows his clients to dictate the pace of a meeting, but he 
decides on the location. He will not hesitate to retain any or all 
of a deposit if he feels he has been slighted. He realizes that 
his real-estate is in high demand, and is unwilling to jeopardize 
his cartel by betraying clients. He sees to it that no one 
compromises him, but he never interferes with or intrudes on a 
client.

Roper is a semi-successful oil painter under the name Samantha 
Tarrow. He is also a Neo-Anarchist.