CooksAssistant

CooksAssistant
Date 2085-09-19 GM LHOG Location Seattle (Various) Status Threat Level: Medium
Factions Involved
ShadowHaven	LL Farms
St. George Dango Lady Argentum Gumshoe

Summary

"My milk hasn't been delivered, and I have two days to bake this cake beforehand, or the managers will fire me! Help!"

A desperate baker has a must-meet-or-else deadline to bake a cake, but the suppliers of his magic milk are refusing to give the goods. Can a team of shadowrunners pilfer an Awakened heifer from his suppliers in time to meet his deadline when a mage and his spirits guard the farm, plus some corporate muscle? Yes, they can! It turns out not to be quite the milk run they expected, but the baker gets his cow, and the runners get their prizes. None of the runners were worse for the wear, other than Gumshoe, who beat himself up with spell drain.

Background

An Aztechnology subsidiary, TBD, runs a milk farm on the outskirts of Seattle. They experimented with magic on cows and engineered an awakened cow that produced magical milk there. The milk has unique properties for baking and doubles as reagents. A Seattle Orc baker has been basing his booming business on that milk, but now the farm is withholding it -- and the baker has a deadline with perhaps deadly consequences for him if missed. The bake decides to hire the runners to steal a cow from the farm and bring it to the baker's shop so he can meet the deadline and have a future supply of the special milk.

The Meet

The J asks the runners to meet him at his bakery.

They all arrive, but the baker is nowhere to be seen, so they make some small talk. They hear crashing sounds in the back and, just as they're about to investigate, out comes the baker, dirty apron and all. He fills them in on his plight and they get him to answer several questions. Gumshoe also manages to assense him without being noticed, finding out that the baker is mundane with some basic ware.

The baker J explains the situation, telling them his magic milk supplier is LL Farms, a subsidiary of Aztechnology. The J says they are refusing to sell him more milk, and he'll be ruined if he doesn't have a constant supply, especially with a looming critical deadline.

As it turns out, he knows where the farm is and has even been out there.

After that, they do some basic legwork. The decker Dango does a matrix search after being buffed by Gumshoe via Analyze Device and finds out another team tried to hit the place recently. Dango finds they posted some comments about it on ShadowHaven, and that they ran from a large spirit. They decide it's too risky to have GumShoe attempt to assense the farm in advance.

The runners even get the J to drive his truck by the farm, as he does periodically. They wire him up with spy gear before he does though, and the runners get a nice view of the place. Gumshoe also gets some of the milk as a sample, in case one of the others is capable of rituals. He wants to learn ritual spellcasting, but hasn't yet.

The Plan

The plan is to get Biggie's Gopher, then drive out to the back of the farm. They have the layout, thanks to Dango and some info from the J. They'll do some recon once there, visual and astral. Lady A will separate from the team and cause a distraction at the front of the farm, ripping through the fence and distracting the guards for as long as possible.

Dango will wait in the truck, providing matrix cover, disabling the fences, and taking care of any drones they have.

Gumshoe and St. George will go over the barbed wire fence. Gumshoe stays as far back as he can while having line of sight to the front of the barn. If there is a spirit guarding the bar, then Gumshoe will neutralize it (or attempt to). Then George will sneak to the barn while Gumshoe keeps a lookout, open the barn, and lead a cow out. Gumshoe can then levitate the cow to the fence and over it. Lady A rejoins the team and they speed off, the OPFOR none the wiser. If they have to go loud Lady A will attack from the front, while St George does so from the back, until Gumshoe has the cow over the fence. Gumshoe will provide spell defense, and try to help neutralize any spirits/mages.

The Run

The run goes according to plan until it doesn't. Lady A start the distraction as a crazy lady destroying their fence and waving a sword about, the bemused guards trying to talk her down. Gumshoe takes out the two Watchers at the barns, and George opens the lock on the barn. This is where things go a bit off the rails.

Turns out the mage has put a ward inside the barn. Even if someone could make it through the ward, they couldn't lead the cow out through it. St. George uses his weapon to destroy the ward, signaling to the mage there is a break-in at the barn, and we officially start the go-loud portion of our run.

Gumshoe and George team up to destroy the F6 Air Spirit, and the goons arrive to fire at George. Dango takes control of the drone and ensures it is not shooting at us, managing to get three marks in one shot, not once but twice, to save our bacon. Lady A attacks the mage in their admin building, breaking his arm and causing him to be out of the fight from fear and pain -- but not before he summons another air spirit to send after George. Gumshoe wings it with another Stunball, doing more damage to himself with drain, and George charges it like the wrath of god itself. George makes quick work of the elemental, of course. Dango decides the AK74 on the drone is drek but the drone is nice, so he ensures it has no tracking and brings it with him.

Gumshoe finally gets the levitating cow over the fence and into the Gopher, with George bringing up the rear. Lady A falls back and joins them, they they leave.

Back at the bakery the team gives the cow to the baker and receives their rewards.

Aftermath

The J gains an awakened cow—temporarily. Afterward, the cow is taken to live with Himiko Ryudai because the J can't keep her in that store.

The cook could bake his cake in time for the banquet he was catering to.

Rewards for "Cook's Assistant" (Medium, 12 RVP)

Base

6000 Nuyen (3 RVP) 6 Karma (6 RVP) 8 CDP (3 RVP + Base)

Optional rewards

• Up to 8,000 Nuyen in Reagents (2 RVP)

For Dango

• A looted MCT-Nissan Roto-Drone with mods up to 8000 nuyen value (2 RVP)

For Lady Argentum

• Contact "Himiko Ryudai", Connection 3 / Loyalty 1 (3 RVP) - to keep in touch with her cow friend's new owner!
• Animal Empathy at Chargen Rates (3 RVP)

Game Quotes

"It's a cow, how hard could it be" - GumShoe

Player After Action Reports (AARs)

GumShoe

<<It's good. We helped a harried baker stick it to the Corps. That's a good day in my book. Wasn't as much of a milk run as you might think though. Mostly 'cause of me. I'm a drekking mage! You'd think I'd remember the phrase 'Geek the Mage', but no..I got to go killing an air spirit. Sure enough, mage pops another one out as soon as he can.

Still, almost went bad before that. We're all set, at end of planning, as we realize..we don't have a vehicle between us that can transport the car. I called Biggie and sweet talked him into loaning us his Gopher, in return for some sweet chees for Biggie Bun and taking him on the next run I call him about. Then we went to do the deed.

Glad we had the muscle we did. The Lady provided a crazy distraction, shearing the fence with her sword and making the Corpses need new pants, plus breaking the mages arm in the bargain. Basically, the Lady and the knight made short work of the opposition, and our decker kept their roto drone off our backs.

Though he said it only had a AK74 in it..still a bullet it a bullet when you don't have much armor. Once our knight got the door lock off I popped the ward and we went loud. He got the cow out of the barn (still disbelieving I'm saying that), and I levitated it over the back fence. Then we got the heck out of dodge and got the baker his cow.>>

St._George

"We stole a cow! For a first job, this was kind of strange but I am glad we were able to help that baker. I feel a little bad for the air spirits, but they tried to hit me first."

Dango

"It's always nice to go back to doing what Deckers do best; bullying Riggers >:D And I got a another roto friend! What should I name it?"