Shadowrun #5.
---In Which the GM is Impressed.
In our last session, Adonis managed to slip inside the facility, impersonating a Wage Mage. The deception almost worked - until Max Reinhardt, the local corporate security chief, realised he was being deceived. Allowing Adonis to leave, Reinhardt hatches a plan to snare the entire team when they make their entry. Using his cybernetics, AresPredator catches snippets of a conversation indicating that they've been blown, and the team decides to move the timetable up a bit.
At the last moment, they learn that Reinhardt has in-fact left the building, and won't be back for another 20 minutes. Never one to pass up a good opportunity, Adonis quickly re-sculpts his appearrance to match Reinhardt, and drops down the ventilation shaft.
Scorch waits in place in his van, biding his time. He's the first one to notice a speeding van come tearing past. Coincidentally not too dissimilar to the one parked outside the Motel where they'd met Kitsuribami. Count Zero realises the plan immediately - figuring that they're being used as a distraction run by another team of runners, and that they might've just accidentally blown the run.
"If our employers are dead, we don't get paid!"
The team continues with the plan. Interfering at this stage risks not getting paid. Count Zero compiles a sprite which infects a security camera facing the access hatch for the vent with a nasty case of Gremlins. l
(GM Note: It locked it on a single frozen image. But it never came up. )
Hollywood readies her firearm - at least, she holds it in her hand, accidentally pointing it at the entire party in turn while she readies herself. AresPredator hides behind cover. Eventually, she follows Count Zero to a nearby Cafe to observe proceedings. With both of them gone, Adonis exits the ventilation shaft. Wraith drops down, then makes himself invisible to follow beind.
(GM Ruling: Incidentally, it was ruled that spells being sustained are ended when the person sustaining them passes a ward. Even if the actual spell's effect - such as another person remaining invisible, remains outside)
AresPredator drops to the bottom of the shaft and waits for things to go south as Adonis in disguise enters the building. Wraith follows him invisible. Guards are fooled by the Reinhardt disguise, Adonis' purloined security key allowing him easy access all the way to the desk and the guard.
The Guard, of course, is a little bit nonplussed about the re-appearrance of Reinhardt when he wasn't expected. Informed that it's a test, he decides that proceedures must take precedence over common sense and asks to see "Reinhardt's" security card. Adonis Zaps him with a Tazer. Wraith zaps him again when it's clear the first shock just wasn't enough.
(GM Note: Well, it seemed logical to include nonconductivity in their armour....)
Adonis strips him of his keycard and radio, before stuffing the unconscious guard under the table.
(GM note: I half expected Wraith to cast invisibility on the Body....)
The first purloined keycard won't allow him into the secure storage room, but the second one works. Adonis grabs three sealed wafer holders, assuming they have something valuable inside them. Leaving with the units, they pass another Guard, who fails to spot the deception. Despite "Reinhardt" carrying three supposedly secure items. Wraith and Adonis take a moment to try gain access to targets of opportunity, but the Maglocks won't open for any keycard they have.
(GM Note: The Guard they passed found the body)
The Guard calls in a warning. Adonis immediately answers, impersonating Reinhardt, calling for a full alert. Alarms go off and guards mill around, while Adonis and Wraith make their escape Meanwhile, Reinhardt himself cuts into the comm wondering what the hell is going on.
Only to be answered by 'himself'.
Outside, the Prime Runner's van pulls up outside, its contents quickly exiting the vehicle. Count Zero quickly spots her Matrix watermark on Jake204 - he's inside the van. The other team begin to move towards the second building in the complex. Hollywood recongnises Kitsuribami amongst them.... clearly far more a Razorgirl than they'd been led to believe.
(GM Note: It's only around this point, as the team starts wondering how the other team realised the run was going ahead early, that I realised I hadn't actually thought of that part.... I came up with a rapid answer)
Inside, Adonis is busy sowing amusing confusion between himself and Reinhardt, but it's quickly clear his cover's blown. He's up and out of the ventilation shaft, quickly followed by Wraith, then AresPredator.
On the roof, Adonis is spotted. Wraith spots the real Reinhardt running towards the building. Reinhardt, guided by his com, realises that Wraith is there. Initiative is rolled as Wraith levels his AK-97
Initiative is Rolled. Guards Arrive in next turn. 2 Minutes until Knight Errant.
6 Shots full auto from Wraith.
It Wings Reinhardt, shaving some hair.
Reinhardt ducks out of the line of fire, putting he building's wall between himself and Wraith.
Scorch pulls up beside Adonis.
Adonis Drops his magazine, planning to drop a magazine. Flip a mag in as a free action. He runs to the van
AresPredator runs for the van.
Wraith makes a break for the van.
Reinhardt fires at the van with his slivergun.... but it does no more than cosmetic damage. Nothing unusual. Not even a -1 on attributes.
Scorch floors it.
Adonis takes a pot-shot from inside the van.
Hollywood and Count Zero enjoy their coffee while the entire shop films the ongoing Shadowrun.
AresPredator Takes a shot at Reinhardt. with a silenced pistol, and injures him.
Wraith uses his final initiative pass to knock Reinhardt down with another fully automatic burst. Reinhardt staggers to his feet, stunned but unhurt. His armour holds.
(GM Note: I'm trying to play Reinhardt as an intelligent antagonist.... hence the whole 'taking cover' and waiting for guards to show rather than standing in the way of bullets.)
Meanwhile, the Prime runners are going south in a very big way.. Count Zero notices that the Jake204 has 'stopped' moving. As the van speeds away, they discuss bailing the other team out...
Wraith: "Let's just fucking fence this shit."
Adonis: "If they were straight with us from the start?"
Count Zero: "Fuck that shit. It's not worth loosing our necks."
Adonis: "Not getting paid is bad. Getting killed is worse."
Count Zero and Hollywood take a cab back to the shop once the shooting has stopped.
As the team returns to the shop, they notice that the front door has been kicked in. Carefully sweeping the building, they discover that the Wage Mage has been freed, but nothing's been stolen. Count Zero pulls the CCTV and notes a suspiciously familiar van outside. Still, they realise their hideaway has been compromised, so leave.
(GM Note. Totally not an asspull. Completely and utterly not made up on the spot. The other team figured out the angle with the Wage Mage the same way Reinhardt did, tracked him down through a contact, then kicked in the door and found out what was happening. They've been on the back foot ever since Count Zero spotted the program they'd created to monitor the PC's.)
They spend the night at home.
The next day, AresPredator and Wraith scope out the Motel where the handover was supposed to happen. Aside from a family in a green,dishevelled Ford Americar station wagon, nobody shows up. Count Zero checks Shadowpoint, Finding Jake204 and Arbalest noted down as dead and missed, with Kitsuribami and one other team member missing and unheard from. Adonis breaks in to the Motel office, checking off a list of names of guests. 'Griswold Family', 'Mr. Johnson', 'Mr. Smith', 'Ms Kitsuribami'..... each time the name appears, it has a different contact number. On a hunch, he tries ringing them.
It dawns on them that they may not be getting paid for this run.
Markas, their fixer calls. Adonis quickly realises that's pretty angry at how things went - but probably not at them. He calls them in for a meeting at his club. Adonis wears his Amazon Web Services hat. He orders Virgin cocktail. AresPredator is staying sober. Driver Scorch is drinking.
Saeder Krupp have been in contact. They have Kitsuribami. They'll trade her for the wafers. The offer Markas makes is simple. 40,000 Ny for the wafers, and to make the handover in person. Suffice to say, Adonis is somewhat disturbed at the potential for meeting Saeder-Krupp in person. He demands 100k, straight up. Markas offers 80, and they agree.
He returns to the team with the deal. They are about as enthusiastic as could be expected.
Wraith takes a call on his comm while the group is talking through their plan for getting in touch with Saeder-Krupp and and making the exchange without getting horribly, horribly killed. They have a phone number to call, all they need is a location.
Count Zero suggests they go to the Barrens, with hired Gangers as redshirts since SK while be bringing the best. Matrix connectivity is poor, and it'd keep Saeder Krupp away from physical support. Puyallup is suggested.
Scorch points out the obvious flaw.: "They just throw money at the problem."
The team get some of the money upfront - enough to plan - but not even a grain of sand compared to what a corporation could bring. Even so, doing this right without getting dead means this is going to be Expensive.
Wraith returns to inform them that Reinhardt contacted him, offered him 50k to betray the group, which he earned a Karma point for declining, then lets them know that SK have no intention of giving up Kitsuribami.
---
GM's final comment. Thus ends the first full mission I've ever run. More or less. Thanks to all involved for making it fun.
Also, I must say. Really, truly, epicly done. I was surprised Wraith didn't try make the unconscious guard invisible, but most of the major angles were thought of and considered and dealt with. And the other team learned a valuable lesson - unfortunately, they're a bit too dead or captured to enjoy the benefit. Oh well.
And yes, Reinhardt is hard as nails, and then some.
Finally, Cash and Karma awards:
Adonis: 7
Count Zero: 7
Wraith: 7
Hollywood: 6
Scorch: 6
AresPredator53: 6
Cash, to be split as the team sees fit: 40,000 NY.
----------------
________________________________
--m(^0^)m-- Wot, no sig?
---In Which the GM is Impressed.
In our last session, Adonis managed to slip inside the facility, impersonating a Wage Mage. The deception almost worked - until Max Reinhardt, the local corporate security chief, realised he was being deceived. Allowing Adonis to leave, Reinhardt hatches a plan to snare the entire team when they make their entry. Using his cybernetics, AresPredator catches snippets of a conversation indicating that they've been blown, and the team decides to move the timetable up a bit.
At the last moment, they learn that Reinhardt has in-fact left the building, and won't be back for another 20 minutes. Never one to pass up a good opportunity, Adonis quickly re-sculpts his appearrance to match Reinhardt, and drops down the ventilation shaft.
Scorch waits in place in his van, biding his time. He's the first one to notice a speeding van come tearing past. Coincidentally not too dissimilar to the one parked outside the Motel where they'd met Kitsuribami. Count Zero realises the plan immediately - figuring that they're being used as a distraction run by another team of runners, and that they might've just accidentally blown the run.
"If our employers are dead, we don't get paid!"
The team continues with the plan. Interfering at this stage risks not getting paid. Count Zero compiles a sprite which infects a security camera facing the access hatch for the vent with a nasty case of Gremlins. l
(GM Note: It locked it on a single frozen image. But it never came up. )
Hollywood readies her firearm - at least, she holds it in her hand, accidentally pointing it at the entire party in turn while she readies herself. AresPredator hides behind cover. Eventually, she follows Count Zero to a nearby Cafe to observe proceedings. With both of them gone, Adonis exits the ventilation shaft. Wraith drops down, then makes himself invisible to follow beind.
(GM Ruling: Incidentally, it was ruled that spells being sustained are ended when the person sustaining them passes a ward. Even if the actual spell's effect - such as another person remaining invisible, remains outside)
AresPredator drops to the bottom of the shaft and waits for things to go south as Adonis in disguise enters the building. Wraith follows him invisible. Guards are fooled by the Reinhardt disguise, Adonis' purloined security key allowing him easy access all the way to the desk and the guard.
The Guard, of course, is a little bit nonplussed about the re-appearrance of Reinhardt when he wasn't expected. Informed that it's a test, he decides that proceedures must take precedence over common sense and asks to see "Reinhardt's" security card. Adonis Zaps him with a Tazer. Wraith zaps him again when it's clear the first shock just wasn't enough.
(GM Note: Well, it seemed logical to include nonconductivity in their armour....)
Adonis strips him of his keycard and radio, before stuffing the unconscious guard under the table.
(GM note: I half expected Wraith to cast invisibility on the Body....)
The first purloined keycard won't allow him into the secure storage room, but the second one works. Adonis grabs three sealed wafer holders, assuming they have something valuable inside them. Leaving with the units, they pass another Guard, who fails to spot the deception. Despite "Reinhardt" carrying three supposedly secure items. Wraith and Adonis take a moment to try gain access to targets of opportunity, but the Maglocks won't open for any keycard they have.
(GM Note: The Guard they passed found the body)
The Guard calls in a warning. Adonis immediately answers, impersonating Reinhardt, calling for a full alert. Alarms go off and guards mill around, while Adonis and Wraith make their escape Meanwhile, Reinhardt himself cuts into the comm wondering what the hell is going on.
Only to be answered by 'himself'.
Outside, the Prime Runner's van pulls up outside, its contents quickly exiting the vehicle. Count Zero quickly spots her Matrix watermark on Jake204 - he's inside the van. The other team begin to move towards the second building in the complex. Hollywood recongnises Kitsuribami amongst them.... clearly far more a Razorgirl than they'd been led to believe.
(GM Note: It's only around this point, as the team starts wondering how the other team realised the run was going ahead early, that I realised I hadn't actually thought of that part.... I came up with a rapid answer)
Inside, Adonis is busy sowing amusing confusion between himself and Reinhardt, but it's quickly clear his cover's blown. He's up and out of the ventilation shaft, quickly followed by Wraith, then AresPredator.
On the roof, Adonis is spotted. Wraith spots the real Reinhardt running towards the building. Reinhardt, guided by his com, realises that Wraith is there. Initiative is rolled as Wraith levels his AK-97
Initiative is Rolled. Guards Arrive in next turn. 2 Minutes until Knight Errant.
6 Shots full auto from Wraith.
It Wings Reinhardt, shaving some hair.
Reinhardt ducks out of the line of fire, putting he building's wall between himself and Wraith.
Scorch pulls up beside Adonis.
Adonis Drops his magazine, planning to drop a magazine. Flip a mag in as a free action. He runs to the van
AresPredator runs for the van.
Wraith makes a break for the van.
Reinhardt fires at the van with his slivergun.... but it does no more than cosmetic damage. Nothing unusual. Not even a -1 on attributes.
Scorch floors it.
Adonis takes a pot-shot from inside the van.
Hollywood and Count Zero enjoy their coffee while the entire shop films the ongoing Shadowrun.
AresPredator Takes a shot at Reinhardt. with a silenced pistol, and injures him.
Wraith uses his final initiative pass to knock Reinhardt down with another fully automatic burst. Reinhardt staggers to his feet, stunned but unhurt. His armour holds.
(GM Note: I'm trying to play Reinhardt as an intelligent antagonist.... hence the whole 'taking cover' and waiting for guards to show rather than standing in the way of bullets.)
Meanwhile, the Prime runners are going south in a very big way.. Count Zero notices that the Jake204 has 'stopped' moving. As the van speeds away, they discuss bailing the other team out...
Wraith: "Let's just fucking fence this shit."
Adonis: "If they were straight with us from the start?"
Count Zero: "Fuck that shit. It's not worth loosing our necks."
Adonis: "Not getting paid is bad. Getting killed is worse."
Count Zero and Hollywood take a cab back to the shop once the shooting has stopped.
As the team returns to the shop, they notice that the front door has been kicked in. Carefully sweeping the building, they discover that the Wage Mage has been freed, but nothing's been stolen. Count Zero pulls the CCTV and notes a suspiciously familiar van outside. Still, they realise their hideaway has been compromised, so leave.
(GM Note. Totally not an asspull. Completely and utterly not made up on the spot. The other team figured out the angle with the Wage Mage the same way Reinhardt did, tracked him down through a contact, then kicked in the door and found out what was happening. They've been on the back foot ever since Count Zero spotted the program they'd created to monitor the PC's.)
They spend the night at home.
The next day, AresPredator and Wraith scope out the Motel where the handover was supposed to happen. Aside from a family in a green,dishevelled Ford Americar station wagon, nobody shows up. Count Zero checks Shadowpoint, Finding Jake204 and Arbalest noted down as dead and missed, with Kitsuribami and one other team member missing and unheard from. Adonis breaks in to the Motel office, checking off a list of names of guests. 'Griswold Family', 'Mr. Johnson', 'Mr. Smith', 'Ms Kitsuribami'..... each time the name appears, it has a different contact number. On a hunch, he tries ringing them.
It dawns on them that they may not be getting paid for this run.
Markas, their fixer calls. Adonis quickly realises that's pretty angry at how things went - but probably not at them. He calls them in for a meeting at his club. Adonis wears his Amazon Web Services hat. He orders Virgin cocktail. AresPredator is staying sober. Driver Scorch is drinking.
Saeder Krupp have been in contact. They have Kitsuribami. They'll trade her for the wafers. The offer Markas makes is simple. 40,000 Ny for the wafers, and to make the handover in person. Suffice to say, Adonis is somewhat disturbed at the potential for meeting Saeder-Krupp in person. He demands 100k, straight up. Markas offers 80, and they agree.
He returns to the team with the deal. They are about as enthusiastic as could be expected.
Wraith takes a call on his comm while the group is talking through their plan for getting in touch with Saeder-Krupp and and making the exchange without getting horribly, horribly killed. They have a phone number to call, all they need is a location.
Count Zero suggests they go to the Barrens, with hired Gangers as redshirts since SK while be bringing the best. Matrix connectivity is poor, and it'd keep Saeder Krupp away from physical support. Puyallup is suggested.
Scorch points out the obvious flaw.: "They just throw money at the problem."
The team get some of the money upfront - enough to plan - but not even a grain of sand compared to what a corporation could bring. Even so, doing this right without getting dead means this is going to be Expensive.
Wraith returns to inform them that Reinhardt contacted him, offered him 50k to betray the group, which he earned a Karma point for declining, then lets them know that SK have no intention of giving up Kitsuribami.
---
GM's final comment. Thus ends the first full mission I've ever run. More or less. Thanks to all involved for making it fun.
Also, I must say. Really, truly, epicly done. I was surprised Wraith didn't try make the unconscious guard invisible, but most of the major angles were thought of and considered and dealt with. And the other team learned a valuable lesson - unfortunately, they're a bit too dead or captured to enjoy the benefit. Oh well.
And yes, Reinhardt is hard as nails, and then some.
Finally, Cash and Karma awards:
Adonis: 7
Count Zero: 7
Wraith: 7
Hollywood: 6
Scorch: 6
AresPredator53: 6
Cash, to be split as the team sees fit: 40,000 NY.
----------------
________________________________
--m(^0^)m-- Wot, no sig?