The Sword and the Stoned

The Sword and the Stoned
Date 2082-06-16 GM CutierThanThou Location Downtown, Seattle Status Threat Level: Medium
Factions Involved
ShadowHaven	Renraku
Suzanna Diu Cricket Wires Sanjuro
Casualties and losses
None	Some poor executive, probably.

Summary

Hassan "The Man" Rockwell wakes up in Fraternity Sigma's rec room, hungover and with no memory of the night before, and holding some stolen Renraku goods he absolutely shouldn't have. This is a less than ideal situation to be in, and so he contacts a group of runners to help clean up after his mistake.

The Meet

The runners meet a nervous Hassan "The Big Man" Rockwell outside of Seattle University, and (after some convincing that they aren't Renraku spies sent to kill him), he takes them to the Fraternity Sigma inner sanctum (after getting Wires with an epic "sigma nuts" joke, anyway). There, he finally shows them the previous night's spoils, confirming the runners' worst suspicions: in a drunken haze, he's stolen a Renraku Red Samurai katana.

The Plan

After taking some time to freak an appropriate measure of out, the runners discuss their options: whether to do as Hassan "The Rock" Rockwell suggests and try to return the sword without anyone noticing, whether to return it contrite, whether to abandon him to his fate, or even if they should claim the bounty on his head for themselves.

Eventually (after Cricket turned off the katana's RFID tracker, and Sanjuro knocked Hassan "Hass The Man" Rockwell out with a swift blow to the head), they decided to take him to one of Wires' safehouses, then find a suitably gormless low-level executive to hand the sword off to. To do so, they would download a copy of the employee manifest, and find a low-level technician that Wires could impersonate.

The Run

While Suzanna transported Hassan "Big Rocky Man" Rockwell to the safehouse, the others headed to the university library to do some research on local Renraku staff. Having found an appropriately guileless rube to take the fall for the whole thing, they met back up in a cafe near a Renraku office building, where Cricket infiltrated the building's security, copied a list of employees from the central host, and then decided to dig deeper into the hidden sub-server. She started to find some juicier information on Renraku, but unfortunately, alerted the host's defenses, and had to jack out before G.O.D. could be alerted too.

Despite obtaining the employee manifest, at something of a dead end from there, the runners decided to just sneak into the parking garage and dump the sword in the fanciest car they could find. They succeeded, with Sanjuro and Wires sneaking up to it while Cricket hacked the locks, and, before leaving, they alerted the building's occupants to a potential threat inside.

Aftermath

The runners met back up with Hassan "The Big Man, Hass The Rock" Rockwell, as he prepared to flee the country, and accompanied him back to his dorm to retrieve their payment. There, they were met by several members of Fraternity Sigma, who revealed the whole thing had been a prank (albeit one using a real Red Samurai katana, for which someone was "probably going to still die, honestly"). Relieved, their hapless client gave the runners their payment, before parting with a final "hobgobblin' deez nuts" zinger, for which Cricket destroyed his expensive commlink.

Rewards

• 26,000 nuyen (13 RVP)
• 2 CDP

Game Quotes

"Roll for egg."

Wires

"Is this a shadowrun? Glorified couriers? Add that to being paid as well as wetwork. Man, I could get used to this. Feel a little bad that Cricket brainblasted herself to get info we really didn't need, that's on me for not coming up with a more concrete plan ahead of time. Hope that paydata is worth something to someone. Also confused why everyone hates Renraku so much. They didn't bother me in Poland, and I seem to lack the vendetta that the rest of my team had against them."

Suzanna Diu

"All's well that ends well, I always say! What's college without a little regrettable fun?

Some of the other runners were a bit... intense, but they got the job done. I wasn't quite sure what Cricket got up to in cyberspace, but I was sorry to see her all shaken up!

I think Mister Rockwell will think twice before pulling another prank like this. And somebody at Renraku is going to have a long week ahead of them dealing with the fallout. I was glad I was able to help lend a little insider perspective from my time with Horizon. Despite their different branding, megacorps are all pretty much the same.

All in all, a good chance to stretch my legs and put food on the table. Speaking of which, I've got a dinner date to get to!"

Sanjuro

“Okay so I’ve never seen a red samurai katana before. I mean I’ve looked at pictures and stuff but oh boy. That was like … a lot. I didn’t really have to fight anyone that wasn’t the J and that one was an accident but I mean that’s good! People don’t always have to get hit by a sword. Wow, some people play some REALLY stupid pranks, huh.”