... Bushy Tailed

... Bushy Tailed
Part of Against all odds - The OtherCon story
Date 2081-09-28 GM Chrisst111 Location Redmond Barrens, Seattle Status Threat Level: Medium
Factions Involved
ShadowHaven OtherCon	Evo
Aster Rougarou Palooka Beuford "Saint' Mcgill	EVO Security Troll

Summary

When OtherCon member and elephantine SURGE Tallyah goes missing, their friends fear that Evo has recaptured them for nefarious purposes.  OtherCon calls on the Haven to find out what’s happened to Tallyah and keep them safe from Evo’s grasp.  The Haven team (Aster, Palooka, Rougarou, Saint) wastes no time tracking the target to a flat in the Redmond Barrens, where they safely extract Tallyah before Evo can get to them.

Background

The OtherCon are the largest grouping of SURGE-afflicted metahumans in Seattle.  Many of their number come from Evo’s research and development division, from where they escaped after the incident at Evo Tower.  Evo is actively trying to return the escaped R&D assets, so OtherCon must constantly be on-guard.

The Meet

The Haven team receives commlink calls at 4am from Ms. Johnson, who asks that they meet her at a downtown soykaf shop as soon as possible.  Most of the party is able to arrive within minutes, but Saint is a half-hour away in the wilderness.  Finding the Johnson, a squirrel SURGEling, to be visibly anxious among the early morning wageslave clientele, the party decides to make contact while Saint is still on the road.

Before the meet begins, Aster suggests that the location is too insecure.  Johnson agrees and takes the party to a nearby hotel to hold a more discrete discussion.  On the way, the party notices someone following them, but they seem to move on after everyone goes inside the hotel.

In a hotel room, Johnson describes Tallyah, an elephantine SURGEling and aspected sorcerer who had previously escaped from Evo's clutches.  Tallyah has not been heard from for 5 days, worrying OtherCon that they may have been taken by Evo again.  Johnson is able to provide their picture, flat location in Redmond, and information on their ex-boyfriend Jasper (who has been out of town in Calfree).  OtherCon doesn't have much money to offer (10k for the entire job), but Aster is able to negotiate a 16k reward for safely returning Tallyah before Evo can capture and return them to R&D.  During the meet, Saint arrives, finds noone sneaking around the hotel entrance, and takes up a position watching the stairs.

Just as the deal is sealed, a fragmentation rocket fired from outside the hotel flies into the exterior wall and detonates, filling the room with shrapenel.  Palooka is barely able to sprint out the door in time, and Rougarou jumps on the Johnson to protect her.  In the aftermath, the party finds no signs of the attacker and a spent Aztechnology Striker one-shot launcher with a slight astral signature of panic.  Johnson is handed off to Alessa P to keep her safe while the runners complete the job.

The Plan

The runners get away from the meet location without drawing too much Knight Errant attention and gather at one of Saint's safehouses in Redmond to plan.  In order to find Tallyah, they choose two lines of investigation: (1) track down whoever attacked them at the meet and use them to gather more information on Tallyah, (2) investigate Tallyah's Barrens flat to find leads on any kidnapping or unusual activity. 

The Run

The first line of investigation comes up empty. The runners figure that an aztechnology striker must have either been used by a Corp asset, or sold reciently on the black market. If it was a black market deal, the runners stood a chance of tracking down the buyer. But Alessa P's black market contacts find out that Evo has been buying up all the Strikers brought into Seattle for the past month. Not wanting to knock on Evo's door and ask who used a Striker reciently, the runners decide to move on.

The most striking aspect of Tallyah's Redmond flat is the SURGEd troll out front with an assault rifle and obvious Evo gear. Saint's assensing shows the troll to be a serious problem, with deltaware cybereyes and the rest of his body replaced with mostly alpha and betaware. Additionally, Saint finds a micro-bomb installed in his brain, suggesting that this troll may be one of Evo's SURGEling experiements forced to work for the Corp. Not wanting to start a firefight, the runners hide the car and investigate the flat surreptiiously. Saint summons a plant spirit, who is ordered to go look for Tallyah inside the building. Finding a mana barrier at the building's edge, the spirit sneaks through it. Inside the building contains the expected civilians plus another mana barrier on the 3rd floor. This time, the barrier proves to be inpenetrable. Meanwhile, Aster investigates the adjoining Stuffer Shack, speaking with the Orc attendant. The Orc is able to recognize Tallyah, but says they have not been seen for about a week.

With Evo security outside, the runners figure there must be some worthwhile intelligence inside Tallyah's flat, so they decide to sneak in. A third-story window entry point is identified in a quiet alleyway, where Rougarou and Palooka climb in via gecko tape gloves carrying a rope. Before the others can join them, the Evo troll takes notice of everyone walking into the alley and begins to investigate. Saint attempts to alter the troll's memory, but the troll notices the spellcasting and knocks Saint out with full auto gel rounds. Aster fakes being a random unafiliated drunk in the alley, so the troll ignores him while tying up Saint and taking him away. Palooka is able to hide the rope before the troll sees the evidence of infiltration.

With Saint captured, the remaining runners decide they must investigate Tallyah's flat while they are still hidden before attempting any rescue of Saint. Aster climbs the rope to join the others, then investigates the rest of the 3rd floor. In the middle of the normal apartments is the center flat, which is covered in intricate magical runes. The front door is maglocked and appears to be undamaged. Aster quietly dismantles the maglock and bypasses the mechanism, quietly opening the door and nearly getting stabbed in the face by a katana.

The katana is weilded by Tallyah, who invites them in after finding they are not Evo. After Aster explains their mission, Tallyah states that it would be preferable to escape from their magical lodge rather than wait around until Evo sends a HTR team to dig them out. The party makes their way back to the empty apartment and climbs out the window (except for Tallyah, who simply jumps out and casts a spell to fall gently to the ground). On the way out, the troll notices Tallyah and starts shooting to prevent their escape. After being hit by gel rounds from Rougarou, SnS from Aster, and shock gloves from Palooka, the troll falls unconcious. Using a keycard from the troll's pocket, the runners rescue Saint and extract Tallyah safely. During the escape Rougarou finds a carbomb planted on his car and must call up Alessa P for a mechanic who can help remove it. Zoey Zip-Tie is happy to help, but Rougarou owes her one.

Aftermath

Tallyah is returned safely to the Johnson at The Daze, where they recover from the attack and plan how to hide from Evo.  The runners are paid.

Rewards

Aster, Palooka, Saint:

• 4,000 NuYen
• 8 Karma
• 2 CDP
• +1 Rep OtherCon

Rougarou:

• 4,000 NuYen
• 8 Karma
• Zoey Zip-Tie as a 2/1 contact, you owe her a chip
• +1 Rep OtherCon

Player After Action Reports (AARs)

Aster

This run could have gone better, but that wasn’t the fault of any of the Haven that’s for sure.  Johnson was obviously nervous and reckless at best, and actively naive at worst.  It was her indiscretion that got us tailed at the meet and nearly fragged via rocket.  If all of OtherCon are like her, I’m not sure I want to take another run from them.

That said, the rest of the run was mercifully straightforward.  Turns out we got to the “kidnapped” target fast enough that Evo hadn’t had the chance to actually kidnap them yet.  Chalk one up to acting decisively, I have to credit my teammates for that.  Granted, that decisiveness got Saint a facefull of gel rounds, but it all worked out in the end.