Copycat Client

Copycat Client
Date 2082-06-07 GM Archtmag Location Redmond Status Threat Level: Medium
Factions Involved
ShadowHaven	The 162's
Wychking Magnum Black Samurai Grasshopper
Casualties and losses
The Team's Clothes	Ghouls, both armed and unarmed

Summary

Runners receive a job to wipe out some ghouls. They technically succeed.

Background

A clash between the 162's and the Cutters ended up with the friend of a man called Dave, captured. Not wanting to see his friend get eaten or worse, but also not particularly eager to run into a nest of ghouls, hatched a somewhat cunning plan. Dave, as one of his duties, sells "acquired" car parts to car dealers and mechanics in Seattle, and one of them in particular is a rather notable character. Jorgy Peterson, expert salesman and businessman, was gifted with a revelation, a call to the service of his God. Seeing the recent news about religious vigilantes killing vampires in at local nightclub, he knew that he had to do his part, and he had started ranting about it to all the people he worked with. With a few well placed comments, Dave was able to set his mind on a target, leading to Jorgy reaching into the shadows to assemble a team of ghoul hunters.

The Meet

The team met in a relatively empty parking lot in Tacoma, the J exiting out of a fancy car to greet them all. Genuinely happy to see them and not particularly experienced in contracting a shadowrun, yet at the time both sleazy and religious, the team had a mixed, but somewhat negative, reaction. The information that the team received was sparse. Beyond a general location in Redmond and the promise that ghouls were kidnapping people, they weren't given much else. Some members of the team expressed discomfort with the idea of just killing ghouls without greater context, but they still moved ahead, promising to deal with the situation as it developed.

The Plan

The team headed over to Redmond, to the vague area they were pointed to by the J. As they got there, realizing that collectively they knew nothing about the area or the gangs in it, Wychking called over her roommate Adeptus for information. After several poorly made requests for karma, Adeptus eventually caves and tells the team about the gangs in the area, and points them towards a nearby building controlled by the 162's. After a brief scout around reveals nothing of major interest, Black Samurai takes the initiative by walking up and knocking on the door.

The Run

After a few moments, an opening on the door reveals two cybereyes staring at Black Samurai. Politely requesting to talk, he accepts being restrained and separated from the team. Lead inside the building, he sits at a table and begins talking with a few ghouls. Trying to fish for information, while at the same time negotiating for an easier outcome, Black Samurai's request that the 162's stop kidnapping people wasn't met with unanimous agreement. After a bit of back and forth, an offer to let the Cutter they have in containment go surprises the team, as they had no idea there was a gang conflict related to this. Worried that they were just contracted to be enforcers in a gang war, they tried negotiating a bit more, but their efforts ultimately were unsuccessful. Black Samurai tried to make it clear how much he didn't want to kill the ghouls by breaking his cyber-thumb, popping out of his restraints, and showing them his free hands. His guards didn't appreciated the diplomatic gesture. Eventually, Black Samurai was lead out, and the team didn't have a conclusion that they felt would get them paid.

Deciding to just kill the ghouls, the team readied up and destroyed the door, shooting their way past the initial guards and turrets. A heavily armored van popped out of a loading bay, and begin to open fire with a machine gun, only to be quickly disabled by Black Samurai, the rigger within send to near-death. The team continued to fight their way through the warehouse, ghoul blood spraying everywhere, the team narrowly avoiding infection. As they moved through, they began to notice some non-combatants in the area. Still ghouls, but clearly unarmed and cowering. These people were spared, barring an unfortunate few who were the target of Grasshopper's indiscriminating drones.

The team surrounded the main room of the warehouse, people on each door, ready to breach. Synchronizing with Backstreet Boy's lyrics, the team burst in. All except Wychking, who's door was barred, the giant bouncing off instead. Inside, Black Samurai and Magnum engaged an infected troll, carefully avoiding the ghoul's claws, eventually downing him in a protracted fight. Wychking's summoned spirit and Grasshopper's drones managed to deal with the rest of the enemies, causing the remaining 162's to surrender.

As combat wound down, and the team checked out the rest of the building, they found a difficult situation. In a room isolated from the fighting, a group of ghouls, one's not affiliated with the 162's, had been hiding from the fighting. Expecting the runners to kill them, they cowered at the walls, frozen in fear. After repeated prompting by the runner team, a braver ghoul spoke up, beginning to communicate with the team and providing greater context to their situation.

The increase in infected hunters around the city have been driving infected communities to desperation. Pressure and violence have been growing everywhere, ghouls being targeted whether their meals are ethical sourced or not. Seeking protection, some had hidden under the wing of the 162's, the gang providing security to others of their kind. This group of ghouls was one like that. With no where else to go, they started doing low level work for the 162's, organizing supplies, moving things, and menial work in general. While not the best situation, they were safe and protected, until the runners unprotected them.

Knowing that their J would want the team to exterminate all the ghouls, combatant or not, the team was faced with an ethical dilemma. With several members strongly opposed to harming the remaining ghouls, 162's or not, they tried to find a way to deal with their prisoners. After talking with their fixers for a bit, they were referred to Nameless, the leader of a ghoul community near Glow City. Nameless, while worried that he was near capacity, promised that he would provide for the ghouls. It likely didn't hurt that a rigger and decker were in the group of prisoners.

Nameless addressed the frightened ghouls over the grainy commlink connection. He promised them safety, a better life, and a place they could belong among their own kind. His kind and persuasive words soon convinced the ghouls, and they were bussed over in waves to a contact point near Glow City. With the team taking the non-infected captives out of a cell in the basement, the job reached a conclusion.

Aftermath

As the team met back up with Jorgy, he was quite pleased with the runner's performance. A message by Grasshopper had disguised the context of the ghoul transports. Thinking they had been disposed of elsewhere, Jorgy paid well and proclaimed that he was happy to work with any of them again in the future. The team was... less pleased with him.

Rewards

20k Nuyen or 40k in vehicles and included modifications- (10 RVP)

3 Karma (3 RVP)

2 CDP

For Grasshopper, ability to buy dealer connections at Chargen price - Flavored as Jorgy

Optional Contact: Jorgy Peterson 3/2 (4 RVP)

Optional Contact: Nameless 5/1 (5 RVP)

Game Quotes

(whispering over microtransceiver) Backstreet's back... all kick in the door ALRIGHT! Witchking bounces off their door, which happens to be barred from the other side.

Player After Action Reports (AARs)

Wychking: I can't believe I had to summon a näkki into this mess. He was surprisingly forthcoming, all things considered, but man, if I have to start dealing with headaches again... I almost started getting used to not having around-the-clock migraines. Magic takes a toll on you, it really does -- but who was this Nameless guy, anyway? He seemed to just take a bunch of random ghouls to live with him for... basically nothing? What the hell. Who is that guy.

Black Samurai

Okay. Apparently there's this terrible band from like eighty years ago called the Backstreet Boys, and Magnum got us all doing this thing where we sing their songs before we bust into doors. It's amazing. Like--I get that we could've been shot and killed but--as a counterpoint, that shit was hilarious. Not half as funny, though, as friggin Wychking just bouncing off the door because they didn't check to see if it was locked before they slammed into it.

My god. If you were there we probably looked like psychopaths because I'm stabbing someone while laughing. That definitely looked like I was losing my mind.

I'll be honest, I appreciated them lightening the mood...who manages to sweep THEMSELVES off their feet, anyway?

Grasshopper

This was an... intresting one. Payed well but I must say my drone pilot may need tuning. Future caution taking jobs dealing with the infected in the future, payed or not rounding up mostly innocent folk doesn't hit well with me though that Faceless fellow might have shipped them off somewhere safe