High Moon Showdown

High Moon Showdown
Date 2083-12-6 GM Keeper M Location Devil's Lake, Redmond Status Threat Level: Deadly
Factions Involved
ShadowHaven Draco Foundation	Fear the Dark	Devil's Lake Sludge Spirits
Blackhawk Cyberfang 五代ロータス (Godai rōtasu) Waldgeist	Bloodletter	F6Sludge, F7Sludge1, F7Sludge2, F7Sludge3, F8Sludge, F9Sludge
Casualties and losses
None (Injuries Only)	Bloodletter (†)

Summary

Fear the Dark ruined Blackhawk's life. They forced him to do things which had taken everything from him. When a fearsome enforcer of the infected organisation shows up on the run from Tír Na nÓg in Seattle, the gunslinger reaches out to ShadowHaven, recruiting Cyberfang, 五代ロータス (Godai rōtasu) and Waldgeist to claim Bloodletter's bounty from the Draco Foundation.

Background

Baltana Bloodwood is a harvester mystic adept and a fanatically-devoted enforcer for Fear the Dark. In her home Tír Na nÓg, she's just been slapped with a criminal SIN for a number of assassinations for the terrorist organisation, but evaded pursuit and crossed the pond, travelling through the UCAS. She's now in Seattle, preying on the Plastic Jungles SINless squatters - the Draco Foundation will pay for her dead or alive, with the body as proof if need be. Blackhawk hates Fear the Dark for very good reasons and latches onto the bounty. For him, splitting 8000¥ among four is more than worth bringing one of the infected supremacists to street justice.

The Meet

Blackhawk invites Cyberfang, Godai and Waldgeist to a little venture of French W Ranch, the meta-only Snohomish farm (!) having started a kind of makeshift watering hole for workers about a week ago. The troll barman Bobby is scared of the three infected and their eerily silent ASPD buddy, but serves perfectly average drinks and snacks. The discussion of Bloodletter and her powers is had.

The Plan

Things progress very fast when Cyberfang, backed up by Waldgeist, picks up the harvester scent. The team decides to play to their strengths, come to the purported lair in Devil's Lake, Redmond, under the cover of night, emphasising stealth and trying to mitigate the dual-natured character of Blackhawk and Waldgeist (Cyberfang burnt out after loup-garou infection, Godai is an adept firmly entrenched in meatspace).

The Run

The team headed by Cyberfang tracking ploughs through Redmond, uncaring of local gang warfare (frankly, the gangers feel the fear of the Almighty and don't try anything stupid with them). They stop when they can spot the eerie landscape of Devil's Lake, beginning to sneak next. They evade a troop of six sludge spirits this way. (The sludges rolled horribly, the PCs extremely well, with post-edging involved to be extra sure.) Blackhawk builds a makeshift raft from driftwood by the pond, the others swim through, discovering pipes with bubbles of air escaping them beneath the waters. This is how they learn the squat where Bloodletter lairs has at least one secret level underground. The minor toxic background count is overridden by one aspected towards psionics (the assassin's F7 lodge). It looks abandoned, but looks can be deceiving. With the dual-natured characters of the team having some trouble entering, Cyberfang and Godai spearhead dynamic entry. A trapdoor is found, leading 40 m down into an escape tunnel. Unbeknownst to the PCs, when stealthy pushing through the barrier failed, Bloodletter's F7 Detect Enemies picked up on people coming to cash in her bounty, prompting her to use Improved Invisibility (resisted by none), gather her things and descend underground. Rather than run away, she sets an ambush, thinking she can feast well tonight. This is her doom, ultimately, because a fight getting your blood pumping breaks out, with spells, arrows, silver ammunition, a weapon focus and the force of nature flying. The harvester succeeds on getting the entire team with a nasty Frigid spell, a Desert Strike sniper round with APDS at Waldgeist (protected by Cyberfang, who tanks the entire attack) and an unpleasant Foreboding debuff, but her uncanny reflexes still fail in the face of the four's teamwork. Blackhawk and Cyberfang turn her into harvester paste, all the runners emerging injured, but victorious.

Aftermath

Taking a roundabout route with the assassin's head (thankfully, Dublin has biometric samples she's identified by) evades sludge spirits again. The satisfaction of being the unsung heroes of the Plastic Jungles SINless squatters starts immediately. The Draco Foundation pays the bounty on the 7th, with Waldgeist forfeiting her share in order to meet a trainer to further hone her stealth.

Rewards

• 2 CDP
• Out of RVP 20:
  • 2000¥ (8000¥ / 4 = 2000¥) is 1 RVP, Waldgeist can use it for Spinne, a Stealth sensei discount (4/2) for 5-1 RVP, and buy Sensei (Stealth) on him for 5 more RVP
  • Catlike can be bought for 7 RVP
  • The rest is karma
• Initiation run for Blackhawk, Godai and Waldgeist
• Ascension run for Cyberfang

Game Quotes

"For the next run, I will have pool floaties!" - Blackhawk

Player After Action Reports (AARs)

Blackhawk: "Finally... got a slight hint of payback towards those bastards. Creepy bitch too. It is also... liberating. In its own way to see other infected who actually are like me. Guess this world is bigger than I thought."

Cyberfang: "Soul eaters. It is uncomfortable to be near them, but I must tolerate it for the sake of our laws. Our edict in the shadows, it compels me to abstain. The evil we slew was a greater evil than the ones beside me at the peak of the battle. I will dwell on this and ruminate on my choices. Has this brought honor to my name? No. It has merely prevented it from becoming further stained. For now, this shall suffice. The pain - I felt the Beast grow unshackled in the heat of it all. Perhaps the presence of monstrosities liberates it as well? I must contemplate. And meditate."

Waldgeist: "It looks like I'm running into more and more scary infected. Luckily I had a team with me this time, the Manabariere gave me quite a bit of trouble. It's time to work on the magic defense - what do you say father shark?"