The Choices We Never Get

The Choices We Never Get
Part of The Crow of Seattle
Date 2084-01-15 GM Asmodeus Location Downtown & Auburn, Seattle Status Threat Level: Extreme
Factions Involved
ShadowHaven Black Lodge	Aztechnology	Draco Foundation
Katherine Tyler Swerve Dezeroth A'kyer	Woedica Kryptman	Intel Gatherer
Casualties and losses
None! Amazing!	Woedica's mind was read.	None

Summary

The gang sics Draco Foundation on Aztechnology, seemingly according to plan?

Background

Woedica Kryptman was discovered to be in possession of some Ordo Maximus secrets in a previous run. Someone's been taking notes!

The Meet

There are two meets. The first is by Harrison Yuvlicht in Regency MegaMedia's offices in Downtown. He explains to the runners who turn up voluntarily that he wants them to sabotage the job they're about to be offered since he believes it'll just dig up past events that should stay buried. He offers a hefty amount of money for them, but doesn't give explicit details, although he implies he was somewhat responsible for the run happening in the first place. After this meet, Kate does some Matrix Searching and discovers that Harrison had a daughter, Claire, who died in the Night of Rage riots and a wife, Jennifer Giovanni (later named Jennifer Yuvlicht) who worked on Wall Street as a journalist and later as Harrison's secretary once he became a news editor. Jennifer went missing two years after the return of Magic and the beginning of the Sixth World.

The meet for the job itself is by a Downtown lakeside path where a Blackjack spirit of F4 offers a Mindnet for secure communication. She elaborates that Aztechnology has information of a secret Ordo Maximus geneology project to eliminate infected weaknesses such as sunlight allergies - she wants them to never get such secrets and wants the team to get power players like Knight-Errant, Draco Foundation and anyone else the team can recruit to put pressure on Aztechnology since she doesn't expect the runners to break in and steal it themselves. The team agrees, figuring out that Aztechnology, the corporation with the Blood Panthers spec ops vampire squad, probably shouldn't be able to figure out ways to gene treat Infected weaknesses away.

Interestingly, Harrison offers a massive bonus if they gank a "woman with fiery orange eyes" and someone that shares a unique version of Swerve's 'condition,' when asked to elaborate he states that she'll know when the moment's right.

The Plan

The team does some snooping into Woedica's plans and intends on Mind Probing her remotely with a ritual and a spotter while she's visiting two libraries on a semi-daily basis.

The Run

The mind probe itself works thanks to elaborate preparation and some Ghoul help from Awares in Swerve's ritual, however she discovers that an elf gave the documents to Woedica for safekeeping, she offered them to the Black Lodge but Mr. Herenight refused them after a look, stating that he's seen enough and that she should hold onto the original documents; if he's right, someone will come for them and she should keep them safe at any cost. Woedica's infuriated at being bait, but the connections she's fostered are too important.

In addition, Swerve sees more information about the research data, such as project codenames (Terminus being one of them) and a sealed glass ampoule of blood as a sample of some kind of genetic proof of concept. Woedica realizes she's been Mind Probed and a conditional failsafe she cast into her very memories triggers to backlash at Swerve ineffectively due to the banshee using Flux to make her aura hard to lock onto. Woedica almost manages to cast a spell at Kate who functioned as a spotter, but Dez successfully manages to distract the library's other patrons into causing a riot that lets the sneaky street sam escape.

Aftermath

Draco Foundation is then contacted to rat on Woedica's little secret despite the temptation to expose the Black Lodge's seemingly complicit involvement in the plot. The team eventually decides against this and they do as the job initially entailed. The spirit thanks them for their help and states that the team's averted a horrible catastrophe, but the runners can't help but feel like they've been played somehow, or used as pawns in a bigger game.

Rewards

• Up to 20,000 Nuyen in Reagents, Refined Reagents, Onotari Arms Ballistae, Frag Rockets, HE Rockets, Anti-Vehicle Rockets, Incendiary Rockets, Lifestyle monthly purchases
• 15 Karma
• 12 CDP
• + 1 Black Lodge Reputation

Player After Action Reports (AARs)

Dezeroth A'kyer: Racism is, as always, a powerful tool of disruption, if a little morally repugnant. I hope our attempts to dissuade the Draco Foundation from being too unscrupulous in their investigations has born fruit...And that our attempts to pry into the mind of a powerful Blood Mage are not met with horrific consequences.