Skiptracing

Skiptracing
Date 2085-08-01 GM Sarcarian Location Arcology Commercial and Housing Enclave Status Threat Level: Medium
Factions Involved
ShadowHaven Bellerophon	Machinists	404s	Heartbreakers
Awesome Possum Geodesic Peregrine Poe	Dwarf Ganger Human Ganger	Human Ganger Ork Ganger	Human Ganger Troll Ganger

Summary

In which the runners venture into the ACHE in order to recover a bounty target.

Background

Cecelia Cross is Up To Something, and few people know what - one of those people, an otaku-turned-technomancer named Juan Miller who was one of the victims of Crash 2.0 that awoke after the events of Dethroning the Dissonant (see: Miracle?! Angel marked by Cross for more info). Evidently not liking what he learned of Cross' work, Miller became aware that he had developed a taint of dissonance and subsequently stole some valuable research data before fleeing. Cecelia hired the bounty hunter Bellerophon to recover Miller alive, who tracked him to the ACHE and decided that he'd much rather not enter the arcology. Instead, he's chosen to hire a team of freelancers to perform the recovery work for him.

The Meet

The runners are contacted by their fixers and told to meet with their prospective employer aboard an airship moored to a docking post in Downtown - Awesome Possum is offered some extra cash by Ace Powers in exchange for recording some simsense footage for the SH Trideo Network, which she accepts. Everyone is able to get there without too much issue (Poe wisely takes a smuggler route to avoid the higher rating SIN scanners, while the others are lucky enough to avoid any problems with the pawns), and take a moment to whistle impressively at the airship before boarding it.

The bounty hunter greets them amicably and offers refreshments (not even blinking at Geo's odd request), then explains what he needs of them - to go into the ACHE and recover a target alive. He freely admits that their target is a technomancer, which complicates the nature of the job, and AP attempts to negotiate for more money, but he stands firm on his price of 10k per head (showing them a detailed breakdown of his fee structure which, he insists, is industry standard and includes hazard pay for both circumstance and nature of the target). The team, with some reticence, accept the job.

Bellerophon tells the group that their target likely allowed himself to be picked up by the police (who routinely round up SINless individuals in Downtown to chuck into the ACHE, out of sight and out of mind); he suspects that he both gave a fake name and tampered with the system in order to erase records of his incarceration, but leaves it up to the team's Matrix support to determine. Providing the team with an AR photo of their mark, he wishes them luck in their work and goes to see to other business while maintaining surveillance on the ACHE to ensure he doesn't leave.

The Plan

The group head to a nearby Taco Temple to plan (and get lunch). Brainstorming, they discuss their collective knowledge of the ACHE, which isn't much (given that they're all youngins and barely remember the Shutdown) - a bit of Matrix searching fills in the blanks, and the group wrack their brains for any information which might help them. Peregrine, a veteran of the ganger community, and Poe, a walking knowledge-bot, share what they know and between them are able to recall the names of a few outside gangs and syndicates with a presence in the arcology, as well as some ACHE-specific gangs that were mentioned by colleagues who have been inside. The two most likely groups they come up with for their target to have sought shelter with are the 404s, a techie gang on the upper floors, and the Heartbreakers, a hoodie gang that tires to help the inhabitants out.

They briefly consider getting arrested by KE for not flying any SINs in Downtown, but quickly put this notion aside - several of them have real SINs that would be flagged, and it would keep them from bringing in weapons, plus complicate escape prospects. Instead, they start devising alternate means of ingress/egress: while the tunnels used to help evacuate people during the Shutdown have long been filled-in, several smuggling groups have routes in and out of the arcology in order to funnel contraband in and condemned prisoners who can afford their services out.

Putting their heads together, they realize none of them actually have any contacts within these groups, so Peregrine uses I Know A Guy to recall the name of a Skraacha member who he's had a run-in with before - calling Ghaz, he and AP negotiate with the ork sheriff and determine that he can indeed get them inside one of the gang's passages in the OU that cuts into the arcology's superstructure. His price of 8k nuyen is a bit rich for their blood however, so Peregrine convinces him to cut the cost in half (since the driver still needs to be paid) if he owes him a favor. Reaching an amicable agreement, they head to the basement of the Big Rhino to meet with their transportation (Kenneth "Flamesaw" Murphy).

The Run

Driving in Kenny's car through the OU tunnels, the group admire the troll's chainsaw hand before discussing their course of action. They quickly rule out the prospect of going downward into the basement levels (knowing that the reactors down there have been purchased by Shiawase andthat it's unlikely either they or their target will be able to navigate the security measures), but realize this means they'll have to climb up through the superstructure to the hab blocks. Kenny helpfully provides rope for this purpose, earning their gratitude. The troll wishes them luck and tells them he'll wait down in the tunnel for them to arrive with their passenger.

Making their way through the Skraacha tunnel and past a door marked DANGER: HIGH VOLTAGE into a power switching station below the ACHE, the group creep past both cameras and several Shiawase sensors (helpfully highlighted by Geodesic, who after a bit of trouble uses her techno-powers to shut them off). Once inside the outer walls of the structure, Peregrine takes the lead in climbing before lowering a rope for the others; AP (who has SURGE adaptations for climbing) and Poe (who is generally physically fit enough for the task) have little trouble with the climbing, but Geodesic (who is a skinny nerd) requires a bit of assistance. At one point the techno gets stuck, so Poe stands by to catch her while AP carefully ties the end of the rope around her waist and Peragrine hoists her up with his cyber-enhanced strength. This process is repeated several times until, with the power of teamwork, the team manage to reach the 10th floor and find a passage inside.

Now inside hab-block 10J, the runners take a moment to soak in the atmosphere of the sprawling housing complex - in short, the vibes are bad. What was once a futuristic wonderland has decayed into a brutalist concrete nightmare, with once SOTA systems now 30 years out of date and a wired infrastructure damaged by the Shutdown replaced by a dated AR network right out of the early 2070s. Despite this, the local network is vast and complex enough to prove daunting for Geodesic, who feels that it's "more correct" than most grids she interacts with (this is not a good sign). While Geo scours the Matrix for signs of Miller or the 404's presence (the group assume he has sought shelter with fellow techies), Poe uses his Detect Life spell and extends his psychic senses hundreds of meters out, taking a few moments to adjust to the huge numbers of people packed into close quarters with one-another. Working together, they manage to determine that their target is very likely at least 50 floors up, and not wanting to do any more climbing they decide to look for an alternate route instead.

Since they don't have ACHE SINs and thus no RFID tags to activate the elevators or records to be recognized in the facial recognition systems, the runners are relegated to making their way around the gang-controlled areas with spotty camera coverage away from the main thoroughfares where the Metroplex Guard security officers hold more sway. As it happens, where they came in is controlled by a small gang called the Machinests, who they quickly run into as they attempt to navigate the maze of passageways between apartments. Despite hacking a vending machine to acquire some of the plastic clothing worn by most of the residents, a goggles-wearing dwarf with a 'M' on his jacket manages to clock them as non-residents based on some poorly-conceiled weapons and their general unfamiliarity with the layout - the ganger demands a toll from them for passing through their turf in the form of weapons and ammo, but AP and Peregrine work together to intimidate/convince him to come back with more friends and get their due when they return to exit the way they came.

After passing through the utility passageways and service tunnels on their way to one of the elevators the Machinests have maintained with it's RFID scanner and cameras disabled, the team to ride it up to the 60th floor where they managed to spot some of the 404s error message AR graffiti. While seeking them out, Geodesic notices that some of the physical graffiti on the walls seems to be moving, and that their AR counterparts are being broadcast by nanites in the paint; she's especially freaked out to find a message hidden within the code reading "THE WHITE EYE LIVES!", and a discussion on some of the technological horrors that ensued in the spot where they're standing some 25 years ago ensues. Having deduced from Miller's blue cybereyes that he likely has a past related to this place, they speculate his motives for returning are more than to just hide.

Poe uses his clairvoyant senses to locate a pair of techie-gangers with LED-tats flashing the 404s emblem, and the team make their way towards them - using information gathered from the ex-psion's detection magic, they plan to have AP bargain for information on their target. The gangers, who have been on the losing end of a turf war with the Heartbreakers ever since their leader vanished (see: ACHEy Breaky Bones for more) and almost entirely pushed out of the upper levels of the hab blocks, prove to be rather open to any useful pieces of intel that might give them an advantage over their rivals. Poe manages to locate a drug stash house as well as a rival gang that seems to be gearing up to take violent action, and AP - after flashing their photo of their target and intuiting that the ganger recognizes him - successfully negotiates a trade of information. When the ganger texts his boss to find out more, Geodesic snoops on his feed and they learn that Miller came to the 404s two days ago asking about functioning jackpoints into the old wired network; evidently he traded them some unspecified useful intel on the network, and once they told him of an access port on a floor they lost to the their rivals he went to seek shelter with them on floor 101.

Not keen on the prospect of doing violence towards fellow hooders, Peregrine encourages the team to come up with a non-violent solution to things - they settle on a ruse where they'll pose as an extraction team sent to bring Miller to a group of hackers who can help him get a new identity and escape his enemies, with the plan being for Poe to incept the thought into his head using mind magic to get him to go along with it. Geodesic requests to speak to Miller about why he came to the ACHE and who he's running from, and the group agree to indulge her once they've got him out of the arcology and back to the underground tunnels. After purchasing RFID tags that will allow them to use the 404s hacked elevators (thankfully the techies accept cryptocurrency as payment), the runners make their way up to floor 101 to speak to the Heartbreakers.

Arriving in an old hydroponics bay that the gang has repurposed for their own use, the runners are quickly intercepted by a pair of the gangers who ask to know their business. AP is able to sell the lie that they're here on behalf of friends who sent them to extract Miller, convincing them to bring them to their target. Poe uses Control Thoughts the moment he has eyes on Miller (who they find plugged into the jackpoint), making him think of them as allies who he got word to before he came inside, though his casting is sensed by one of the gangers who (suspecting something is up but knowing it could also just be a spirit wandering around) is heard to subvocalize for someone named Bobby to come down and check things out. Anticipating that an Awakened person will soon arrive and notice they've ensorcilled Miller, the team work all their fast-talking muscles to exit as quickly as possible, averting conflict and making it to the elevators in time. After releasing Miller from the mind magic, they immediately tranq patch him into unconsciousness and make a beeline for the exit.

Aftermath

After paying their toll to the Machinists and being allowed to leave the way they came, the runners (with a great deal of effort) manage to lower the unconscious Miller down through the superstructure by tying him to the street sam as he descends and having a posession spirit-endowed Poe ready to catch him if he falls. Thankfully they don't have any incidents, and are able to make it back through the power switching station to (relative) safety. Having witnessed a taint of dissonance in Miller's living persona and engaged in a brief private conversation with him before he was rendered unconscious, Geo is even more adamant about speaking to him before they hand him over to Bellerophon. She admits that he shares the same "condition" with her, tacitly revealing that she's a techno to them, and they acquiesce to her request.

Awakening Miller but having Peragrine keep him restrained while Geo jams signals to keep him from accessing the Matrix, the rest of the team allow the technos to chat. Under Geo's questioning and overly-intense gaze, he admits (in a scatterbrained and somewhat schizophrenic fashion) that he was running from Cross Applied Technologies, that a woman he refers to as "an angel" who initially saved him and many others from a terrible fate worse than death was conducting shady experiments on them. He says he came to the ACHE to find "the source" of it, and begs them not to take him back, saying he'll be "put back into the PAB". His rambling manner of speaking and clearly unbalanced mind combined with Geo's warning that he has the mark of the Dissonance on him worries the rest of the group greatly. Geo wants to free him, which Peregrine sympathizes with, however Poe insists on completing the job, saying that they do not have the means to help Miller or ensure that he won't pose a threat to himself or others.

Things come to a head when Geo - knowing she can't physically resist - drops her signal jamming and messages Miller to call someone and tell them what's happening. Miller gets a message out and is able to disable one of Peregrine's cyberarms via skinlink'd data spike, slipping free of the street sam's grasp and nearly managing to escape into the OU before Poe takes him down with a burst of stick-and-shock from his machine pistol. Realizing that Geo enabled this, Peregrine rounds on her but AP interposes herself between them and deescalates things. Poe, livid that the team was put in danger, promises to let others in the network know of this; Geo simply declares him "a threat", but takes no further action. Breaking the tension, Kenny starts talking about the upcoming music festival as he gives the team a lift to Tacoma, where they drop Miller off at a Faraday-caged storage unit and receive their promised payment from Bellerophon.

Rewards

10,000 nuyen (5 RVP)

3 karma (3 RVP)

6 CDP (2 RVP)

Optional Contact: Bellerophon (C4/L2 Bounty Hunter) for 5 RVP or 10 CDP

Optional Contact: Ghaz (C2/L2 Skraacha Sheriff) for 3 RVP or 6 CDP (Peregrine must take with 1 chip owed)

Optional Contact: Kenneth "Flamesaw" Murphy (C2/L2 Skraacha Tough Guy) for 3 RVP or 6 CDP

For Awesome Possum:

May exchange 2 RVP of CDP or karma for nuyen

+1 public awareness (for selling simrig footage to Ace Powers)

For Geodesic:

+1 notoriety (for endangering the team in the heat of the moment)

Narrative Consequences:

-Juan Miller (and the data he stole) is returned to Cecelia Cross' custody. The experiments continue.

-Thanks to Geodesic's interference, Miller managed to send a message to an unknown third party.

Game Quotes

"I think I will kill John Shiawase. I will kill all 5 John Shiawases." -Geodesic

Player After Action Reports (AARs)

Geodesic - "Drek. DREK! It's not safe. This city. I'm powerless to fight. Against monsters like that magician. If it were me on the chopping block. I would be doomed. And Oliver... he'd be... No. I can't just. Panic. The target. He said something about Cross Applied Technologies. I need. To figure out. What he was running from. What they're doing. I'm... judging by his descriptions. A potential target... I hate this cursed connection. This broken Resonance. This... vulnerability. I need to find. A solution. One way or another.

...The source. He said he was looking. For the source. I can only wonder. If there was a method to his madness, after all."

Poe - "Lessons learned. Third job in as many months that someone has tried snatch defeat out of the jaws of victory . It is like half this network forgets the consequences of failure the minute they feel personally involved in the job. I finally snapped and said enough, took things a bit far, not as far as the intrusive thoughts suggested. Proof that is why we have rules of engagement. I wish anyone had the sense to ask if I was open to kidnapping the target again *after* the paychecks cleared and we were clean. This was a cheap payday to have to flex criminal principles. That said, The Seattle Public Arcology is interesting. The experience was worth it for the information that I gleaned while on the job alone. The new spells are working well. Could make an excellent spot to lay low in a pinch. I'm going to pass some info on to the David Cartel they may appreciate. Arcology-prison behavior and cult behavior is very similar...

Peregrine - "Fragging-- why did they decide having cyberarms feel pain was a good idea? Ugh, at least there's no permanent damage. Going through the ACHE was interesting enough though, even if it leaves a bad taste in my mouth fucking over hooders like that. That's what you used to do, Hunter. You know how hard it can be to help folks. And you handed a guy over to Cross, someone who's clearly got issues. Best I can hope for is that Cross is actually trying to help like Bellerophon said they are. Either way, I need to let Alessa know to keep an eye out for any breakout jobs. Geo said they were looking into this drek, anyways. Why are you still helping that idiot, anyways, Hunter? This isn't smart, this is how runners get geeked. Guess I haven't outgrown my conscience."