Steamed Pork Substitute

Steamed Pork Substitute
Date 2082-08-27 GM Dejapes Location Tacoma Status Threat Level: Milk Run
Factions Involved
ShadowHaven The Happy Tortoise	Wannabe Gangers
Drew Fujiko Gremlin Tombstone Wires	Bo 'Wrecker' Jūn
Casualties and losses
	The entire gang was captured and restrained.

Summary

Five runners were contacted on a gloomy Friday morning by their respective fixers. They were offered a simple but modestly-paying job to defend a waterfront restaurant from a new gang and its racketeering operation.

Background

Of the three major Triad groups in Seattle, the Octagons are the most under siege. The death of an influential boss splinters Octagon territory in a particular neighborhood of 'Little Asia,' a working-class immigrant area of the Tacoma waterfront. The power void has invited a number of upstart gangs, looking to carve out a name for themselves by claiming the contested streets.

Some of the local businesses resent the chaotic situation, especially after having enjoyed relative stability under the Octagons for so long. One such restaurant hires a team of runners to send a message.

The Meet

The meeting took place in the Matrix, on the host of the Johnson's restaurant - the Happy Tortoise. The five runners, with their wide variety of matrix personas, find a special entrance opening for them once they approach the virtual version of the restaurant. There, in a virtual office (interrupted briefly by personas of the Johnson's grandchildren), they meet with their potential employer and are briefed on the situation.

The Johnson is Ma Yáng, a matronly old woman and proprietor of the Happy Tortoise. She describes a situation where a group of young 'toughs' have been extorting local businesses for protection money. Complicating the matter is the fact that they seem to enjoy employ some sort of surveillance, and come on days when the restaurant has no security measures in place. She offers to pay the runners eight thousand nuyen each to dissuade the gangers.

The Plan

The runners meet up in meatspace at a Tacoma bar in order to plan. Before they do so, Tombstone does some physical scouting of the area around the restaurant. He locates a nearby multi-story parking garage with old cameras that have many blind spots, and plans to use that building to watch over the outside of the restaurant during the run. Based on the image link from Tombstone's cyber eyes, Fujiko and Drew deduce that the gang members are either operating out of a nearby set of old apartment buildings, or a line of aged warehouses not far from the restaurant. Wires uses his knowledge of the are to narrow the possibilities down to the waterfront warehouses.

Meanwhile, Gremlin proposes a plan wherein the team spends an inconspicuous evening eating dinner at the Happy Tortoise. Tombstone will watch from his position outside. When the gangers drop by to extort money, Tombstone will observe their path and the group will follow them. Gremlin also calls a certain 'Cousin Liu,' who Ma Yáng had previously borrowed bouncers from. She learns that he strongly suspects the gang is watching the restaurant premises, and to keep an eye out for either listening devices or a snitch among the kitchen staff.

After Gremlin paints herself convincingly in the colors of a 'normal' nocturne and Wires takes on the guise of a tired wageslave, the group puts their plan in motion.

The Run

The team enjoys the warmth and dryness of a sheltered outside table as a storm breaks out over greater Seattle. Except for Tombstone who watches from the parking lot like a gargoyle in the rain. As the team eats, dragging out their meal to loiter, Drew and Fujiko notice that one of the 'dragon-turtle' decorations watching over the restaurant entrance is newer than the others, and further they spot the glint of a lens in its open mouth.

Tombstone watches as two gangers approach the service entrance, knock loudly, and extort money out of Ma Yáng's eldest grandson. He relays the information to the group and moves to follow quietly on his electric bike.

Forewarned of the location of the hidden camera, the group manages to leave their table unnoticed and follow Tombstone's pings. Eventually, the team find themselves outside of an old Tacoma warehouse.

Gremlin and Drew ascend the rain-slick building to the ledges of second-story windows, Gremlin using parkour tricks off of a nearby fire escape and Drew making use of built-in, telescoping limbs. They see the gang within, consisting of half a dozen members, a tough-looking boss behind a warehouse office desk, and a second in command in the office with him. The other members of the team set up near a service door, preparing to breach.

In a feat of strength, Tombstone knocks the old metal door inwards, crumpling it in the process. The door hits one of the gang members solidly, knocking him out on the spot. The team enter and breach, all of them opening fire with stick-and-shock rounds. Solid shots and good positioning allow them to take out all of the gang members in short order, with the only return fire being a single SMG burst from the second in command before he is knocked out by a sniper shot.

Aftermath

Thereafter, the team gets to work restraining all of them, with Wires taking the time to rough them up properly. The team searches the ledgers, finding evidence (paydata) that the gangers received knowhow, intel, and funding from an outside source. This paydata was worth 1 RVP, expanding the reward from 8k to 10k nuyen.

Ma Yáng is more than enthusiastic to pay the runners after a job well done. She makes use of their tips concerning the hidden camera and the leak in the kitchen to make her restaurant more secure. The five will always have a reserved table at the Happy Tortoise.

Wires elects to turn the bound gangers over to the Octagons, the most unpleasant option for the would-be tough guys. The Octagons will remember him for helping to head off an encroachment of their territory.

Rewards

For Fujiko and Tombstone:
5 RVP in 10k Nuyen
2 CDP

For Drew and Gremlin:
3 RVP in 6k Nuyen
Shoot First, Don't Ask (2 RVP)
2 CDP

For Wires:
3 RVP in 6k Nuyen
Solid Rep: The Octagon [Triad] (2 RVP)
2 CDP

Game Quotes

Amusing quote from game.

Player After Action Reports (AARs)

Drew - If being in Knights Errant has taught me anything, it's that your basic run-of-the-mill gangers are a nuyen a dozen, and you really don't want to piss off someone who's aiming a sniper rifle point blank at your face. Unfortunately for these drekheads, they had to learn that the hard way. I may not be any closer to finding Darius Biermann, but I might have found my new favorite restaurant.