Marvelous Beasts and Where to Find Them

Marvelous Beasts and Where to Find Them
Part of Big Game Hunter
Date 2081-05-31 GM DocMcGuffins Location Seattle
Factions Involved
ShadowHaven	Knight-Errant Security Services
Units involved
Click Esper Phantom Drifter Sinister Spider Wild Bull	High-threat response team

Summary

A hunter hires a team of shadowrunners to retrieve rare books containing information about paracritters.

Background

Big game hunter Erican Polarstar has hunted all manner of quarry in his day, but his interests have turned to rarer beasts as of late. He found out about a series of five physical books written by magical scholars (as they are often wont to write on parchment) detailing such beasts of interest, but they were locked away in a museum vault, not for sale by law or bribe.

The Meet

For whatever reason, Polarstar had the team meet him in his high-society hunting lodge, which checked their SINs at the door with a scanner that was more powerful than usual; most of the team had no problem with this, though Esper implanted a suggestion into the mind of the SIN scanner operator that Phantom Drifter didn't need to be scanned. Each team member was also required to bring a weapon used for hunting, which was of fairly little issue aside from Spider, whose firearm was an SMG. Ultimately, she convinced the people at the door that she hunted technocritters with her cyberdeck.

Once everyone was settled in, Polarstar explained his desire to obtain the books from the magical history museum along with basic information about where they were kept. He offered the team some money, and they accepted.

The Plan

Spider began by breaking into the museum's host, finding it of unusually powerful specifications. She attempted to access information about the books, but the host was too good at recognizing her illegal activity, so she decided not to risk convergence. She did rearrange several I/O functions, such as switching the security alarm with an exhibit in a rarely-visited part of the museum.

Frustrated, the team regrouped. They decided to buy some plastic explosives to deal with the vault instead of picking its locks and hacking its security software, which they were able to find relatively quickly. The plan turned into a smash-and-grab; they called in Pitty 'Grease Lightning' McShane to act as a getaway driver once the books were in hand. Spider and Esper would attempt to get the team as close to the vault as possible without raising alarms, and the muscle would put down any security staff who tried to stop them on their way in and out. Esper made some disguises to help the team enter covertly.

The Run

On the day of the heist, insertion went off without a hitch. Sinister planted a data tap on the scanner so that Spider could hack the feed not to point out weapons or restricted equipment while Esper distracted the operator with a phony story about being a detective looking into an awakened smuggling ring.

Inside, the team snuck their way into the restricted areas while no one was looking. From there, they proceeded to a freight elevator, where they overrode the controls and got access to the basement that contained the vault. As they stepped out, a guard at a desk noticed them; Wild Bull rushed forward and knocked him out cold with a shock glove. The team ran into two more guards on the way to the vault, though they managed to get the drop on these, and Esper convinced them to leave the area with mind control.

The explosive charge was put in place, and the door was blown off its hinges safely. Inside, the team found the vault was filled with rows of identical, locked boxes, and they had no idea which ones contained the books. To make matters worse, the boxes seemed to shift via some sort of mechanical rotation mechanism so that they never stayed in the same place for long. Sinister and Wild Bull got to breaking into every box they could see while the rest of the team secured the area.

The "grab" part of smash-and-grab was taking longer than expected, and the team could team that high-threat response had already arrived and locked down surface access. A stun mine by the elevator went off, and a security officer was found unconscious; the team jammed the elevator so it wouldn't move again, leaving only the stairs. Spider began looking up the sewer tunnel system beneath this part of the city, as they had a spare explosive charge just in case; from there, she set the charge such that the hole should give access to the sewer. Wild Bull and Sinister discovered the books around this time, and the team had Pitty link up with them at a new rendezvous point in an alley with a manhole cover they could get to on foot with relative speed.

Having bypassed HTR's blockade, they filed into Pitty's car and trailer, and he took off. The HTR riggers caught wind of the escape due to Pitty's complete lack of subtlety, and a chase ensued. The team opened fire on the pursuing cop cars, and ultimately, Pitty was able to break away and lose them in the barrens.

Aftermath

The shadowrunners made away with the books in good condition and were able to return them to the client, who was satisfied with their performance.

Rewards

• 20,000¥
• 2 Karma
• Contact: Erican Polarstar

Player After Action Reports (AARs)

Esper

It is unfortunate we needed to act so hastily. Nonetheless, I tried my best to conceal our intentions until they could not be concealed any longer. This paid off, I feel; had we alerted the authorities sooner, we would have been further stymied by the security system inside the vault and may not have escaped so easily. Regardless, we escaped with the books uninjured. I cannot complain.

Sinister

That lockbox shuffling system caught me off guard. Didn't think I would ever see one of those complex monsters outside of some half-rate security zine. Better than a transponder-embedded key, I suppose. Perhaps I should become familiar with explosives and explosive entry methods. Worked well here. Nah, wouldn't be worth the effort, and I have more fun/important things to focus on in my spare time.