They Cry For Vengeance

They Cry For Vengeance
Date 2082-06-14 GM Asmodeus Location Nyamkopon, Asamando Status Threat Level: High
Factions Involved
ShadowHaven Black Lodge Silas Vespasiano	Garry Foreman
Babylon Relay Spider Swerve Zenith	Blood Spirit Corpse Cadavers Necro Spirits
Casualties and losses
	Blood Spirit, Corpse Cadavers, Necro Spirits

Summary

In which the runners are sent to Asamando in order to find information on a rogue member of the Black Lodge.

Background

Garry Foreman (first seen during the events of Nod Ya Head) is a member of the Black Lodge who has been dabbling in blood magic and other dark paths to power for some time. Following the events of What Happened to Mary Jane?, he gained the enmity of a pair of ShadowHaven runners, who attempted to kill him during Aching & Festering - they failed, being manipulated into destroying a Tamanous organ farm instead. Since then, Foreman has been quietly disavowed by the rest of the Lodge, who view him as too unstable and dangerous to continue associating with; though marked for death, Foreman is still too connected and with too many contingencies in play to openly make a move against at this point, so the Lodge has decided to hire a team to go to his laboratory in Asamando to gather more info.

The Meet

The runners are invited to meet with Silas Vespasiano late at night in an underground compound on an island in Outremer. Silas explains the job in vague terms, tantalizing Babylon and Zenith with promises of vengeance, while Spider and Swerve remain confused about the big picture. Frank Davis was originally the 5th member of the team, however after Silas explains that the work will require utter secrecy and that the data recovered can not be revealed to anyone else under any circumstances, Frank expresses a degree of hesitation to take the job - he is allowed to leave without issue, and Zenith calls up Relay, who he has worked with several times before, to take Frank's place. Relay is subsequently able to arrive from his Downtown hideout via boat in about an hour and gets filled in on the job.

Silas tells the runners that they will be smuggled into Asamando via cargo plane, but will be on their own from there - they will need to infiltrate an under-construction arcology where Foreman rented laboratory space and recover as much of his research as they can. Pushing for proper payment and support, Silas tells the runners that the Lodge cannot give them direct aid, however he promises sufficient cash inducement for the runners who aren't already personally invested in the mission, as well as access to rare rewards as well (namely a personal blimp, which interests Relay). After accepting the job, the runners are given 12 hours to prep and told to meet at the airport.

The Plan

Getting their various equipment together and setting their affairs in order, the team converge at SeaTac and are smuggled aboard a cargo plane inside of a shipping container. Spending the next 16 hours passing the time in their own fashions (Zenith watches local trids to use his adept superpowers to learn Akan, while Relay studies a local mapsoft to figure out travel routes and a place for them to stay and Swerve eagerly looks through tourist information about a nation catering to the needs of the Infected), they touch down in Nyamkopon. Their first challenge is to disembark while the plane is still moving - Babylon levitates herself and Relay out as the door opens and Swerve does the same with Spider, while Zenith insists on attempting to jump and ends up eating some asphalt for his efforts, though he survives thanks to adept bulldrek. Splashing some c-squared on the blood left behind, the team hoof it to the fence where Relay and Spider proceed to cut and hack their way through it; the runners flee into the city and make their way to a brothel catering to the non-Infected to hold out above it for a while, with Swerve splitting off to go enjoy the local amenities with her Rating 6 Asamando SIN.

Since not much business happens in Nyamkopon while the sun is up, the runners take the time to plan their next move. Relay and Spider acquire maps of the under-construction arcology and plan our their route there, proposing that Swerve go ahead and scout out, since the banshee is the most inconspicuous one of the bunch. She does so, while the rest of the runners hang out in their lodgings and distract themselves from the nation of monsters they find themselves in. A few hours later, Swerve drops from comms, having encountered some mysterious corpse cadavers on the way to Foreman's lab before getting knocked out with neurostun gas. The team springs into action, getting a cabbie to take them to the arcology and paying them several thousand nuyen extra to drop them off outside the construction area, sneaking inside before suiting up in their chem-sealed armor (to protect against HMHVV, naturally) and preparing for trouble.

The Run

Inside, the runners notice a camera watching them - Spider goes to disable it, but it turns off before she can do so. Moving along prepared for an ambush, the team encounter the same corpse cadavers that Swerve ran into earlier; thankfully their chemical seal protects them, and between Relay's radar sensor and Zenith's motion sense they manage to locate a hidden door and blow it open with a HE grenade. Meanwhile, Swerve wakes up inside a mana barrier, attempting to sleaze out of it but getting zapped for her efforts; instead she conjures her bound spirits to start whacking at it, however a young girl enters and demands that she stop - confused, she complies, taking stock of her circumstances and noting that her commlink and armor are missing.

Making their way into the laboratory proper, the rest of the team encounter a veritable slaughterhouse, with bodies strewn about and more corpse cadavers scattered throughout. Dealing with the hostile ones and leaving the others be, they come across a room laden with more dismembered corpses as well as the palpable taint of blood magic. Spider hacks her way into the host and starts dealing with the security there, following along with her EAARS, and the team make their way towards Swerve's position while shooting, hacking and magic-ing their way through the obstacles in their way; en-route, they locate an office and collect some physical files to bring back, in addition to those Spider manages to pull off of the host.

Finally reaching the area where Swerve is held captive, Babylon smashes the mana barrier open before getting hit with hemorrhage, nearly bleeding out on the spot; Zenith's sharp eyes manage to spot the hiding blood spirit, as well as take note of it's form (that of the young woman that Foreman killed) before Relay's sniper drone deletes it from existence. While Babylon recovers from losing a whole bunch of blood, Spider finds a computer terminal to jack into and Relay goes with Swerve to find her commlink - Zenith meanwhile notices a tank containing several familiar-looking bodies and proceeds to punch a hole in the glass. Pointing it out to Babylon, the mage readies a fireball to incinerate them (as well as most of the lab in the process), giving the others just enough time to gather what physical evidence they can carry while Spider pulls the rest of the data off the terminal; once that's finished, the lab is incinerated and the bodies reduced to ash as the runners beat a quick retreat.

Aftermath

Having gone a lot louder than they were instructed to, the runners find a nearby place to lay low for a few hours while calling their J - Silas is not happy about the law enforcement response that will be drawn to all the noise, but begrudgingly sends the team coordinates for their extraction in order to get his hands on the data in their possession. One cargo flight later and they're back in Seattle and paid in full for their work in exchange for Foreman's research.

Rewards

• 28,000 Nuyen
• 6 Karma
• 1 Street Cred
• 4 CDP
• May buy Renegade Works Mothership at half price
• Optional Contact: Silas Vespasiano, 5/1 Black Lodge Fixer

Game Quotes

Amusing quote from game.

Player After Action Reports (AARs)

Babylon

It would seem that Foreman has managed to shit where he eats, so to speak, and gotten himself burned - good, now he's little more than a rabid dog that we can hunt down. Still, I could not have expected what we encountered in Asamando... to think that he would clone that poor girl, only to sacrifice her over and over... he will suffer for this. Destroying that lab was the first step, but I know there will be more; he slipped away before when we had the chance because that snake Herenight tipped him off. Trusting those fraggers to backstab eachother got me burned hard, and I won't make that mistake again.

Relay

As far as tourist destinations go, I'll be honest...this ranked below some of the others I've seen. I am--if I'm being honest--not a huge fan of straddling the line between livestock and living; that's difficult here. Babylon and Zenith have shown some emotional...I don't know if I'd call it depth or weakness here, but the truth is probably a combination of the two. Swerve doesn't trust any of us, and I don't blame 'em. We didn't offer much in response. I'm not sure what to think about vamps, if we're being truthful. Everyone deserves to have a fair shake at life, but when your fair shake requires demolishing the lives of others...that's problematic.

I say this knowing full well that my way of life has negatively impacted more than it has positively impacted. I understand the irony. I've been telling myself that there's some sort of nuance between the situations, but I'm not sure there is. At least Swerve doesn't have a choice for living. I do. But, the moment they came back with more essence and the magic nerds commented on it...I don't know. I'm still processing how to coexist.

Research is in tow, but we're taking it from a nightmare to give it to others I trust as far as I can throw them for the promise of help on a bigger fish. We shall see, I suppose.

Zenith

I thought that if I ever said that I'd found the worst place on Earth I'd be talking about some corporate HQ or a blacksite where I'd be tortured for info. But I can say pretty confidently that out of all the places I've been on this planet, and that's more than most over the course of my career, Asamando is the worst place I've ever seen. I ain't exactly one to throw shade about the "needing to kill to live" thing, but treating non-Infected like livestock makes me think that maybe that's all we look like to the bloodsuckers.

Foreman's lab here is something that I'd like to say couldn't exist in the UCAS, but I ain't that naïve. Didn't like anything we saw down there, and if we'd had more time, would have liked to burn everything in there to the ground, not just the copies of that poor girl that he was making. I had to let Relay in on what the fragger did, but not who he is or who he worked for. This Silas fragger needs to die too. He ain't a bloodsucker but he's working with them, and I don't need to be smart to know that this drek ain't the worst thing that these fraggers have their hands in.

Didn't get Foreman this time, but the next time I find that pale fragger I'm going make sure that no matter how much he regenerates, he's screaming and dying permanent-like.

Swerve

It's funny sometimes how things can change. Growing up I'd heard of Asamando before. Who hadn't? The rumors were terrifying! Monsters, walking around freely, people treated as lesser, as cattle, a nightmare land. I can't say I ever learned much about it, but well, the stories on the trids were news enough.

Then, I got infected. I still knew drek about it, but the... feel, for us? It changed. Monstrous, yes. Something we'd never see, almost certainly. But despite all that... it held hope. A chance for something better than the shitty life we all lived, where we could just be. I know that we were likely imagining something fake, just a victim of our own desires, but, it still held meaning. And that's how it stayed, well, until this job.

I was excited I'll admit. I wanted to visit Asamando. I knew the job was dangerous and suspicious, but, I just wanted a chance to see it. The entry in was rough. Zenith wanting to use me as a skateboard was hurtful, but I guess that's what I get. The blatant secrets everyone was keeping from me also was frustrating. At least they weren't setting me up to die, like I half expected.

Asamando off the job, well... it lived up to my dreams in a lot of ways. Being able to be outside and just be, to not have that fear of someone finding out what I am, it was so liberating. I've had this weight on me since I changed, this fear always in the forefront of my mind. I still do. But... for a moment... I could breathe. Seeing people so similar to me just living their lives was beautiful. I only had one night in this world before the job happened, and I treasured it.

Treasured it too much, probably. I drained part of someone, and it was easy. I didn't care at all about the ugly system that let me do that, caught up in the moment around me. I... I'm still not sure still that I truly do. I should care though. I need to. I failed here. I can tell myself that if I didn't take the essence, someone else would have, which is true. I can say that compared to what I've done in the past, it's nothing that new, but.... I can't lie to myself and say she deserved it, that it's not important. I have to care.

The team knew, and Babylon reacted predictably. I probably deserve it. At least they didn't leave me to die.

They could have. I fucked up the mission. It was my job to scout, and I let myself get captured. I walked willingly into the trap, too stupid to trust my intuition. I escaped, but without the rest of the team coming in, well... it would have been bad. We managed to get out alright in the end, but the others still wouldn't tell me the truth, even after they destroyed all the evidence. I got nothing. Frustrating, but I suppose they see me as complicit by association. Maybe I am.

Asamando as it turned out was true to both the dreams of my past. Terrible. Wonderful. Maybe I should say I hated it, but... I guess I am a monster aren't I?