Pests for Progeny

Pests for Progeny
Date 2083-11-29 GM Aurora Location Toys4Tots Charity, Everett, Seattle Status Threat Level: High
Factions Involved
ShadowHaven UCAS FBI	Ares Macrotechnology Mosquito Spirits & the Insect Shaman
Blackhawk Dezeroth A'kyer Jane Excalibur Sinning Jenny	Mosquito1 Mosquito2 Mosquito3 Mosquito4 Mosquito5 Mosquito6 Mosquito7 Insect Shaman
Casualties and losses
None	Seven Mosquito Spirits

Summary

Cassandra Withers hires Blackhawk, Dezeroth A'kyer, Jane Excalibur and Sinning Jenny to deal with some pests. Pests of the enemy mine kind. Toys4Tots isn't actually a charity, but a front used as hunting grounds by Ares military men invested with mosquito spirits by an insect shaman in Everett!

Background

Hard to beat around the bush: Cassandra Withers is a mantis in our midst. The silver lining: mantis spirits eat other bugs. Due to this, she wants the insect shaman she learnt about captured and the spirits dealt with. Being something of a bigwig in the UCAS FBI, she can offer some scratch. Spoiler: she will need it.

The Meet

First, the runners meet at a dilapidated garage somewhere in Downtown Seattle. Then, Men in Black, professionally generic, arrive in a few armoured SUVs parking in a half-circle - tinted windows, blindfolds for the PCs, all the clandestine operative stuff. They eventually reach a basement with a basement in a basement, take the lift yet down and meet Mrs Johnson. She explains the objectives: bugs killed, the shaman brought to her alive. The team asks a couple no-nonsense questions and agrees to take the job. This is when negotiations start and we learn just why three vs one is unsporting, especially with Dezeroth's magic and Jane's fast talk. Equipped with a clip of Blight capsule rounds and KE-V each on the house, they shake on it and head out to do legwork before Mrs Johnson changes her mind.

The Plan

The legwork phase proves highly useful. Through knowledge skills, knowsofts, contacting Granny Tusk and teamworked Matrix searches, the team gathers information on Toys4Tots, a charity which cropped up in Everett, ostensibly there to the poor, especially children. Located in a former high class hotel somewhere in Everett, now rundown, its volunteers are all Ares Macrotechnology marines operating on four floors. As Blackhawk is dual-natured, the plan for him to enter from the fourth floor where there are no mana barriers while the others approach differently, everyone in DNI communication protected by Jane Excalibur, is hatched.

The Run

The gentlemen drive over there together, Jane Excalibur takes an overwatch position with the building in her sights to case it out, while Sinning Jenny disguises herself to approach per pedes from the front. The cyberadept and the alchemist use their natural stealthiness, the gunslinger adept scales the building to reach the roof and breach a window there, whereas the face plays the bait as a SINless squatter seeking shelter. The other three successful in their sneaking in, she's taken by a lieutenant invested with a mosquito spirit deeper in. There, he casts a Foreboding spell as a debuff and attempts to drain her essence, but the team had prepared for it: the signal given as contact is broken, Blackhawk, Dezeroth and Jane Excalibur make a dynamic entry, the bug not quite realising what hit him. The fight with a total of seven mosquito spirits (F6), their shaman and a nasty laser turret breaks out. The runners' preparation pays off: one by one, the spirits lose their Immunity to Normal Weapons power to Blight capsule rounds. Nodachi, shotgun and alchemical preparations like Punch put up a serious fight while the shaman eventually goes down cleanly to SnS. While there are injuries to that laser on the team's side, the mosquitoes are successfully dispatched, with their metahuman master knocked unconscious and ziptied (everything recorded as well). Before any law enforcement can arrive, the runners make their escape.

Aftermath

Cassandra seems a little surprised about the success the same day. After all, in her own words, the four were "The best she could get today". The shaman and evidence of what was going on in Toys4Tots given up to her, money can change hands, together with contact information for some gear acquisition specialists through her FBI channels. The runners exchange their work commlink numbers, sharing a moving exchange where Blackhawk expresses surprise the other three didn't react with hostility to discovering his status as a vampire, only to be met with assurances the shadows are split into allies and enemies, him being squarely in the former camp.

Rewards

• 20000¥ - 10 RVP
• 6000¥ - for getting 9 net hits over Cassandra on Negotiation
• 6 karma - 6 RVP
• 2 CDP

Optionals:

• Can buy up to 20000¥ worth of armour/ware at half price up to 19 availability
• Cassandra Withers (Connection 8 FBI Mantis) at Loyalty 1 for -8 RVP
• Sinning Jenny can do some side work for the FBI and trade up to 5 RVP for Ascension Rewards

Pick one:

• Shoot First, Don't Ask for -2 karma and/or Common Sense for -3 karma
• Perfect Time for -5 karma
• Brilliant Heuristics for -5 karma

Game Quotes

"You get a piece of the desk!" - Aurora

Player After Action Reports (AARs)

• Blackhawk: "Well... can't say the work was too hard. Working for the haven is gonna be... interesting. I am thankful that even despite my condition some folk actually see it worthwhile to actually take a bulltet for me. Maybe one day I will get to repay the favor."

• Sinning Jenny:

She said we were "The best she could get today."

Yes, first proper run instead of solo drek jobs, impressionable rookie. Say what you will. I've never seen infected or bug spirits before. But all of them - Blackhawk, Dezeroth and Jane - were more than professionals. They were teammates. None threw their weight or flexed their experience. We worked in tandem, playing off of each other's strengths, minimizing weaknesses. Was the idea of playing bait for the bugs stupid? Yes, sure, hands down. I'm not known for smart life choices.

When that... no, lieutenant no more, it wasn't metahuman anymore... just touched me and tried... I don't know, some magic. It felt like Ella must have felt when she did that. Life seeping away.

But it worked. They could have just recorded, but they didn't. All three busted the door and turned the seven spirits into fine red mist. They weren't fearful of the laser turret or the insect shaman. They just saved the day.

Corporate propaganda claims an overwhelming lion's share of runners destroy everything they touch. I bet shooting that magician dead would have been easier. But they didn't. Perhaps I was so lucky to be on a team with them. Perhaps a lot of much worse awaits me. Doesn't matter. Today matters. They do. I'm that experience, three numbers and the splinter from the desk that laser pulverized instead of turning me into paste richer.

• Dezeroth A'kyer: "My, that Cassandra was an unpleasant figure. I'm quite glad that Sinning Jenny was able to fleece her for every cent she was worth, and I don't just say that because it afforded me two new fancy spells and a beautiful new outfit. Blackhawk was some form of infected, I presume. It's unfortunate that they need to eat the essence of people, but that's becoming increasingly less of a problem as our technology advances. In the mean time, how does one decide that an infected doesn't deserve to live just because their life is somewhat burdensome? Society was built to handle those burdens--If it fails to do so, then that society deserves to fail. Ms. Jane seemed especially competent, and I'm glad for having her there. While Jenny and I opened up alternate options and Blackhawk presented an alternate threat to dilute the fire aimed at her, Jane was quite capable of eliminating threats--Both real and virtual. As usual, the teams brought together by this community are exceptional."