Beating Heart

Beating Heart
Date 2079-02-13 GM SCKoNi Location Congo Tribal Lands Result LOGOS team neutralized, Lauren Whyte returned to the UCAS along with surviving college students. The operation is hailed as major diplomatic victory for the UCAS
Factions Involved
LOGOS	CIA	The Hurricane West Crosswind T-Bone
Commanders and leaders
	Unidentified CIA Agent	LOGOS
Units involved
5 Veteran Mercenaries 1 Mytics Adept 1 Sword Adept 1 Pistol Adept 2 Wild Spirits
Casualties and losses
Entire team	None	None

Background

Extremist eco-terrorist group LOGOS have found evidence of a magical artefact containing an ancient, powerful spirit named the Golden Butterfly, a bone dagger with a hilt in the shape of a butterfly curling its wings around the base, located somewhere in the Congo Tribal Lands. Meanwhile, by sheer coincidence, parazoologist Lauren Whyte stumbled upon some old ruins in a mana-rich zone of the Congo.

LOGOS learns of this, and a team is sent to find and interrogate her. Once she goes missing, the UCAS government is contacted to find her. Due to political tensions with the Congo, a shadowrun is planned to get her back to the country.

Meet

The runners head over to Damian's, a traditional-style American diner in Downtown. Hurricane is recognised by the waitress and makes her day by signing a picture for her little brother who is a big PABL fan. As the rest of the party trickle in, they are invited into the employee area to meet with their Johnson.

He is waiting for them in a walk-in freezer, calmly smoking a cigarette and wearing a very classic trenchcoat and fedora combo. The run is pitched to them, with quite a lot of information given by the Johnson. It is yet unclear who he represents, though the runners suspect Ares. Once a price is decided, the runners depart to make preparations for their journey into the Congo.

Run

Having been issued temporary Fake SINs by the Johnson, the runners hitch a ride on a large transport plane to a secluded landing strip deep in the Congo, their SINs allowing them to remain hidden alongside a group of aid workers transporting relief supplies of food and medicine. Upon landing, the plane is immediately searched at gunpoint by a Lieutenant of the local warlord, a notoriously violent individual called Masud Al'Kwassi, who controls this area of the former Salonga National Park. The runners make a poor show of blending in, with their heavy cyberware and weapons outing them as something other than relief workers, and are shaken down by soldiers. Hurricane attempts to defuse the situation, but some poor execution on his part results in the Lieutenant callously shooting a young man through the throat to interrupt Hurricane. The runners pay an exorbitant bribe to the Lieutenant to ensure the aid workers' well-being.

With the initial introductions done, the runners are greeted by a contact from their Johnson who provides a vehicle for Crosswind, a highly modified Jeep Trailblazer. Piling in, they waste little time in starting the long journey to the parazoological camp.

After a gruelling ride through the jungle, the runners arrive near the base and attempt a stealthy approach. They see through Crosswind's drones that the camp has been occupied by mercenaries, among them two individuals that appear to be magical specialists. Through one of the drones, they overhear a conversation between a pistol specialist and one merc that leads them to suspect the mercenaries will soon begin executing hostages to make the parazoologist talk. Judging that time is of the essence, and especially with T-Bone pushing for an immediate attack to avoid civilian casualties, the team moves into position to strike.

Their initial stealth is quickly lost, and a fast, bloody gunfight ensues. T-Bone is knocked out temporarily, almost joined by West who had taken the front line of the attack. Hurricane flanked to the side, before being intercepted by a sword adept. The two fought tooth and nail, though it was cut short when T-Bone shot the adept in the back while she was distracted with Hurricane. The boxer tried to save her, but she swallowed a cyanide pill rather than take his help. The mystic adept leading the LOGOS team came out shortly after the strike began, quickly summoning two Wild Spirits he had previously convinced to aid his cause. Crosswind thundered onto the scene soon after and using precise drone-assisted targeting managed to damage the Earth spirit, allowing T-Bone to take it out. West cleaned up most of the mercs, bashing one in the face with the butt of his shotgun and knocking them out. With the destruction of the Earth spirit and the rest of the LOGOS team, the Mist Spirit fled the scene rather than be banished.

The team found Lauren Whyte in a hut, heavily wounded and delirious from days of torture at the hands of LOGOS. Hurricane patched her up, but not before overhearing her mumbling about a golden butterfly. Using the trucks still at the campsite, the runners escort the remaining students along with Lauren back to the airport.

There, they are met by the Lieutenant again, and with him... their Johnson, now wearing casual shorts, Hawaiian shirt, and sunglasses. They are informed that only Lauren has passage out of the country, which is confirmed by their Johnson. He tells them in no small words to "do their job", but Hurricane and T-Bone are having none of it. With tensions mounting, T-Bone sacrifices a large part of his run reward to get the students out of the country.

Aftermath

Lauren Whyte is dropped off along with the Johnson at a small UCAS military airfield near New York City. The runners are paid and make their way back to Seattle. A few days later, there is a news report about a heroic UCAS operation, betwenn the CIA and local Congo forces to rescue the parazoologist and the students. A mock press conference is held, and the runners are not mentioned at any point.

Rewards

Player Characters

West

14k Nuyen 5 Karma

Hurricane

4k Nuyen 10 Karma

T-Bone

4k Nuyen 10 Karma Owes Fixer Favor

Crosswind

14k Nuyen 5 Karma