Gumurr-Djararrk Yawirriny'

Gumurr-Djararrk Yawirriny'
Date 2086-05-18 GM Sleevey Location Australia Status Threat Level: Semi-Prime
Factions Involved
ShadowHaven Aboriginal Tribesman, namely Wagan Biryanu Draco Foundation	The Vermillion Auction and the Assorted Auctiongoers	The Threats of the Outback	Argulu	The Mimi, those Guardians of the Opal Caverns, and the creatures trapped within
Ardent Samael Veles Ty Vallynn Chance	Rosanna and Atticus Sobolevi + The Auction Security Team, Doctor Rosilyn Hernadez and the Illuminates of the New Dawn, Envoys of Boiuna, Tanamyre Corporate Represenatives, SK Liaison, Undercover AISE Agents, Young Elven Technologists, Melbourne Millionaires, Aboriginal Overseers	Bikie Gangs, Aboriginal Tribesmen, Wild Spirits, Mana Storms and Storm Wraiths, Hostiile Wildlife, The Ned Kelly Gang	Anthony Ngiyari, A Blood Shade taking the form of Wagan Biryanu's father, Argulu himself	Mimi and The Assorted Free Spirits Aiding Them, Shadow Spirits of Id, Veles, Dark Metaplanar Entities including but not limited to: Toxic Spirits, A Toxic Adept, Vrygoth, Big Juggs, Designation 時 Bezaisen/Ikari Pair, A Number of Shedim including a Master Shedim, Other Assorted Shadow Spirits
Casualties and losses
10 points of Edge were burned in total	A number of the Melbourne Millionaires and their security team were injured and killed due to an accident power	Many Bikies were killed in combat and the Ned Kelly gang was defeated, although Ned himself was not disrupted.	Ngiyari and the Blood Shade were both disrupted.	One Mimi was killed and many of the above spirits were disrupted

Summary

A team of runners are sent into the outback to recover an incredibly powerful magical relic. They are given little information and no field support, leaving them alone to face the horrors of The Land Down Under. Along the way, Veles crashes out, Ardent punches a teenager in the head, Sam gets addicted to every drug under the sun, Veles crashes out, Chance discovers his love of Big Juggs and Ty becomes a tasty snack for a big rock snake.

Background

Within the shadows, a number of plots are hatched. The Vermillion Auction moves towards Australia for one of their most extravagent auctions yet, within one of the most dangerous locations on one of the most dangerous continents. They put out the call and a number of high profile guests ready themselves to attend. However, Rosanna Sobolevi, one of the auctions leaders, is searching for something else. A mysterious relic from a time long ago. She is guided by Anthony Ngiyari ... or at least something bearing that name.

Meanwhile, the Draco Foundation's seers are looking for the same relic. With some seer scrying and background legwork, they uncover that the relic is on the Australian Continent. Believing that the relic is in the possession of the Auction themselves, they put out a call for shadowrunners.

Meanwhile, deep below the ground, within the opal caverns, a presence stirs. Escape is close at hand.

The Meet

The runners are called to the eye of the needle restuarant where the encounter Sybaris standing above an impromptu war table, covered in maps of Australia and complete with a dagger sticking out of the center. She informs the team of the situation: initial scrying and legwork revealed the existence of the staff section on the continent and its vague location. Additional research showed the auctions presence. The foundations magical expert, Adowa "Moria" Webster confirms this. They'll have a week to land in Canberra, get to the auction site and get the staff. Despite the pay offered being rather low in the face of the associated risk, the team agrees. They get an image of the staff, a box for it, and a plane to catch. After that, they are on their own.

Initial Legwork

Before the plane ride over, Chance hands out the team homemade t-shirts, emblazoned with the word "cunt".

The team fills out their initial legwork (primarily through knowledge skills, contacts, and matrix searchs) over the first day. They learn the general gist of things:

Australia is a hostile place, battered by manastorms. These manastorms generally leave the coastal cities alone, although Sydney is locked in a perpetual manastorm. Canberra, the city the team arrives in, is the seat of Government for the nation. The outback is dangerous, with few braving it save for the bikies and the aboriginal tribesmen. Several years ago, a spirit that named itself "Jukurra-Jukurra" appeared and declared that anyone bearing a "relic of true Australia" would be able to find their way back to its heart. One of these relics was in Seattle but went missing recently. Two are on the continent, the Tjukurpa Tapestry (which seems to be in Aboriginal possession) and Ned Kelly's sash, which is in a museum. SK presence in the nation is notable. A man named Anthony Ngiyari is notable for being a somewhat controversial figure, claiming to share the secrets of the Aboriginal Peoples. Other general factoids regarding travel, gang activity, animal life, etc.

The team manages to find a guide, one Ly Minh Di, who agrees to take them to an aboriginal trading post in New South Wales. During their initial meeting with him, Ty catches a glimpse of an astral form that appears to be a spirit of man. It looks like an old man, dressed in a fine suit, with long, braided locks. The form winks at him before vanishing. Ty informs the team that it's probably nothing.

After arriving at the camp, Ardent arranges for a meeting with the tribal elder. He, alongside a young shaman at his side, is initially dismissive of the group. However, Ardent and Samael make a convincing case. They use the truth and plead for the usage of the tapestry so that they might accomplish their goal and potentially clean the sacred site of the interlopers. The tribal elder agrees ... but with a few conditions. The first is that collateral be exchanged in the form of one of Ty's foci. The second is that the young shaman (Wagan Biryanu) will take the tapestry instead of one of them. The third is that the party locate the shaman that sold out the sacred site and bring him to justice. This last task is a cause of concern, as Ardent refuses to kill (unless the authority of the state is involved) but the team assures the elder that they will capture the target alive and bring him back.

Wagan, now draped in the tapestry, joins the group and apologizes for the stern behavior of his mentor. With the tapestry in hand and their newest guide acquired, the party returns to Canberra.

The Journey Begins

After resting, gathering supplies and properly planning their route to Kata Tjuta, the team sets off. Spotting a distant caravan, the team confirms its a group of SK operatives and members of the Melbourne Millionaires Society. Ty sends an enormous spirit to use the accident power upon them to catastrophic effect.

Unfortunately, the travel is slow-going. The area is mostly wetlands and a number of the roads are submerged. Maps aren't up to date, either, leading to moments of frustration where a seemingly functional route turns out to be impassable. It's turning one such moment that the team looks around and realizes Wagan Biryanu, who moments ago stood at the edge of a nearby pond, is not with them. Something bubbles up from the bottom of the lake. Chance spots the kid through the sensors, thrashing at the lakebed, but not the thing grappling with him. Seeing no other option, Sam dives in and fires a blight round into the invisible creatures mouth. The annoyed animal swims off and they are able to rescue their mage from the bunyip.

Their travel through the rainforest isn't much smoother. Improvised explosive traps are disarmed by Veles and bikie gangers wage guerilla warfarew through the trees. Eventually, however, they make it through to the mountain crossing, where they are greeted to a set of corporate issue FBA impaled on a spike. A warning from the aboriginals.

Ty and the shaman break off to look for a crossing point while the rest of the team guards the vehicle. They notice they're being watched by a group of aboriginal warriors, who Ardent is able to pacify with honeyed words. They also notice a looming manastorm on the horizon, coming from the rainforest. The bikie gangers, fleeing the manastorm, decide to make a push for the team and their supplies. The resulting gunfight is short and sweet, with Australial ganger grit failing to measure up against the teams firepower. Despite the vehicle being damaged by an explosive, it's not too bad. Ty and co return, having found the crossing point, and everyone hunkers down while the manastorm washes over them. It isn't pleasant but with the magical protection of the tapestry, they make it out okay.

The Outback

After pushing over the mountains, the team enters the outback proper. A land of red sand and heat, where the very rocks are alive within the Dreamtime. The air is thick with magic and the sand is thick beneath their tires. Onwards and forwards, they press on.

They did, however, need a safe place to rest and recuperate for a day or so. Their guide recommends an oasis he has heard stories of and the team decides to brave it. Water was a commodity, after all. The detour isn't noticeable in terms of ETA time, either. So it is that they arrive at crocodile oasis where they're jumpscared by a crochetey old water spirit. The powerful spirit demands tribute from all that have dared to drink from his oasis. Tribute ... in the form of a story. So, each of the runners tells one. Of assassins and hunts and beer from space. They feel their luck return to them as they spend the night, drinking and telling stories beneath the stars.

They continue their journey. They have a brief skirmish with the Ned Kelly gang, a group of gentleman outlaws who try to avail themselves to the teams valuables but find themselves woefully outgunned. Instead of slaughtering them, however, the team opts for asking them to provide covering fire for their escape ... should it come to that.

A day later, the team has gotten much closer to the auction site itself. They can feel the mana grow stronger, see the swirling mists on the horizon. A great and terrible mana storm has been taking form around Kata Tjuta. They also spot another convoy, which Veles detaches from the main group to investigate. She's ready for a fight but the woman she sees on that caravan gives even the cyborg pause. The leader of the Illuminates of the New Dawn and UCAS presidential candidate, Doctor Rosilyn Hernadez herself. Veles both doesn't see the woman as being worthy of death or worthy of the trouble and disengages but stays long enough to notice them use a leyline to travel through the manastorm.

Meanwhile, the rest of the team hurtles into the clutches of the manastorm. The Big One awaits.

It is not an easy thing to describe, being in the midst of that storm. Magical acid buffeted the car, ripping and melting it, although their keen driving allowed them to avoid plowing into the worst of it. Their scanners went haywire, alarms blaring and lights flashing as the storm seems to rage against space itself. Worst of all, the storm took from them. Sapped away at their strength ... but also at something more important. More primal. Their very memories dissipated away in the mist. Despite the valiant counterspelling of Ty and the magical shielding of the tapestry, each of them lost precious moments. Memories of triumph. Of companionship. Of wariness. Of regret. Of human-meat foot-soup.

But they made it through.

Kata Tjuta

The team is a few days ahead of schedule. They spot a wired network connecting a few cameras on the outskirts of the area and have Chance hack it but he's intimidated by the passive defenses. After deciding that the coast is mostly clear, the team moves in while pretending to be a group of Melbourne millionaires. They meet members of an initial security team who introduce them to Rosanna Sobolevi, the woman running the show. She's accompanied by an older aboriginal man wearing a suit and is in the middle of an argument with Doctor Hernadez. Nevertheless, she quickly pivots into being a gracious host for the new arrivals and shows them to their living quarters.

Rewards

160,000 Nuyen or Gear rewards in augmentations, electronics equipment and software, vehicles, foci, magical goodies or lifestyle. Avail limit of 24. (80 RVP)

101 karma (101 RVP)

60 CDP (29 RVP)

Optional Contacts:

Sybaris at 9/1

Adowa "Moria" Webster at 4/4

All may take a mundane ascension or an ordeal.

Awakened/Emerged characters may take deltaware at the usual RVP cost.

May take the funny 4th world knowledge skills and the mutator quality if they WANT to. If they already have it, they can buy an extra rank in the funny skills.

For Ty: Toughness, Ty loses an arm and must take the Asthma, Insomnia and Spirit Bane: Earth as a result of burning edge. Drained for one point of Karma by Big Juggs.

For Sam: Adrenaline Surge and/or Guts for Sam.

For Veles: Can upgrade her Rank quality. Master Brawler

For Chance: May take the custom contact "Big Juggs" at 2/4. Juryrigger. Big Juggs as additional gear rewards, taken out of the other stuff. Drained for one point of Karma by Big Juggs.

For Ardent: Daredevil or Focused Concentration (up to 4)

Narrative Consequences: Wagan Biryanu has proven himself to his tribe. He now bears the Tjkurpa tapestry as a sign of his travels. In time, he will be a great leader of his people. The Blood Mage, Argulu, has been released from his prison within the opal caverns. Despite the disruption of his ally spirit (and the blood shade he made for shits and giggles), that is a minor setback in comparison to his freedom. The Mimi, over the next several days, rebind the Corrupted Guardian to its prison and restore the prisons as they were, continuing to drain the stories of the occupants in order to keep the rifts and secrets buried. Nevertheless, a great amount of critters escape into the wilds of Australia, including a high force Stabber. The Ned Kelly gang continue to cause problems for the inhabitants of the outback. The Vermillion Auction goes on as normal. A selection of AISE agents originally there to bust them is too diminshed to perform their sting. However, Rosanna Sobolevi is unable to acquire the secrets of the Opal Caverns or the shard. Her brother, Atticus, convinces her to cut her losses and leave the continent. The Melbourne Millionaires take a substantial hit to their revenue stream. The Shard of the Sevenfold Staff, the neck-piece, is now safetly in Draco Foundation custody, watched over by the Dragon Sybaris. A number of the runners important memories were wiped in the manastorm known as The Big One. They are able to roll resistance rolls again in 8 months or when confronted with evidence of their lost memories.

Game Quotes

"I've followed Delphi on less." -Benny "You need to stop that." -Sleevey

"Brain piss" -Asmo @ cyborg nutrients

"Chance is ace, he doesn't usually go for backshots" - JR @ shooting retreating bikies

"if the Meta-Roos get out sniper rifles you might have a problem...

Player After Action Reports (AARs)

"I've seen things you would never believe. Shuttle crashes, nanite powered star scanners, 8 trolls playing snockems for 40 minutes without bloodshed. I have never seen anything like the drek I just saw in the land down under. This doesn't even make sense. I gotta... I gotta rethink some things." -Chance

"I cannot point to any one place where something went wrong - ultimately, the job was a success, my frustrations with Veles's strangeness notwithstanding. But I fear... I fear this is only the tip of the iceberg. The artefact we recovered does not look to be an entire item, and so I am forced to wonder what, precisely, the Draco Foundation is doing. In my desire for professionalism, what have we handed them? And why do I feel so strangely sad, so distantly off-put, as our wings turn towards home? What am I missing?" - Samael