Hedge Your Bets

Hedge Your Bets
Part of Rad Wars 2084
Date 2084-11-26 GM Asmodeus Location Western SOX Status Threat Level: Deadly
Factions Involved
ShadowHaven MET-2000 Charon	Isotopes
Triage Knack Delphi Ellis	Cultists Nuclear Spirits

Summary

The team secures an irradiated parageological mineral so Kalanyr can't get it.

Background

Charon keeps track as much as she can of Seattle's dragons' movements. She found something rather concerning: Kalanyr sent many of his shell company's assets near the SOX, which she almost certainly suspects to be Isotopes, his toxic cultists that worship him as a god. Now she needs to figure out what, why and how. Thankfully, after some further inquiries the likely target becomes clear: a fragment of True Fire at the fringes of the mana void SOX's nuclear reactor left behind, likely irradiated through constant exposure to gamma rays. Given Kalanyr paid runners handsomely to extract corium before, this wouldn't be out of his wheelhouse.

The Meet

The meet occurs in Charon's penthouse in Bellevue. The runners are openly described their workload: to go into the SOX with smugglers pre-paid for the convenience and get the artifact tagged so Renraku can extract it with a standby team. Alternative custodians are possible if the team asks Charon about them beforehand. She outright dismisses the Draco Foundation and Astral Preservation Society, but finds the Atlantean Foundation interesting. Unfortunately, none of their assets are willing to enter the SOX so the artifact must then be hauled outside for the Foundation to take it. The team agrees -- and for a pretty sum, too.

The Plan

Knowing flights, smuggling and such are arranged, Delphi works some contacts and with Wuxing's manager Fan Yang she gets access to a prefab company that is willing to construct a heavily radiation-shielded container for a very expensive rush order, nearly twenty thousand nuyen to do it in twelve hours. The seer agrees and has it delivered to their arrival coordinates in Luxemburg.

The Run

Once they arrive in Europe, the team uses a decommissioned moon rover that never saw actual use, comparable to a Dodge Goliath, to drive near the border. Corrupt MET2K troops offer to let them through, although Delphi notices their corruption to likely be due to the soldiers being invested bee spirits. She decides not to pick fights and has Ellis, their designated driver, go through. Information about local tribals and foveae is given.

At first, they aim to contact the Lambert Tribe, one known to wander the western fringes. The radio tower they usually use is utterly broken as they scout it out and notice a few shambling blown-up corpses around. Upon closer inspection they're found to be possessed by shedim; not an unusual sight for bodies that aren't buried properly. One buried in the sand by the sand that a rocket explosion kicked up almost bites Triage, but Ellis rapidly climbs out of the car and puts two bolts in the zombie's head. Delphi and Triage successfully take care of the two shedim in the area and with some rope from Knack get the radio tower upright and functional again.

Meeting Jacques du Lambert is an experience. The man appears to be a distorted type of Awakened, a known aberration among some of the Awakened community but a rare occurrence either way. He holds a musket that appears to be built out of fetishes and foci alike, likely permitting him to shoot it as means of casting fireballs and the like. He advises the team that the foveae aren't the only problem: some Flayed have ran towards the Lambert territory from the north-east and he can confirm Isotopes once they're described to him. He accepts bribes and offers a guide to go along with the team. So, they set off!

They're almost ambushed by Radiation Beams and AV rockets as they extract the True Fire, only for them to drive straight into a firing line of the Flayed and a Nuclear Spirit. Desperate to escape from the encroaching foveae as well, Delphi astrally projects to fight the nuclear spirit while Triage manages to barely eke out a summon (due to the glyph Grand Duke Zaleos carved into him in a previous run) and aid divert the Flayed from realizing where they are in the storm the nuclear spirit creates. Losing the Isotopes, the nuclear spirit and the Flayed gives them a window for Ellis to barely drive them out and extract thanks to the Bee spirits.

Aftermath

The Atlantean Foundation shoves the True Fire in a deep vault and throws away the key. Kalanyr's coping and seething due to not getting a funny radiation artifact. The runners all get paid and Charon gets to fist pump over a trivial fucking over of a dragon. Everyone's happy. Maybe. Delphi engages in a week-long paranoid searching tirade to find more information about the mysterious Jacques du Lambert, finding literally nothing that Crash 2.0 hadn't erased. She'll have to go to France and pore over physical copies to find anything more.

Rewards

• 30,000 Nuyen (15 RVP)
• Can use double that for gear such as: Alphaware augmentations, Rigger Command Consoles, MCT Kenchiku-Kikais
• 2 Karma (2 RVP)
• 2 CDP
• +1 Black Lodge Reputation
• Knack can take a F7 Spellcasting focus created by Crescent-Slash. This may possibly be used by the Black Lodge to track Knack's movements if it ever becomes necessary.
• Kalanyr huffs copium over not getting the Invisible Fire
• May spend RVP or CDP to buy Silas Vespasiano, 5/1 Political Socialite Fixer

Game Quotes

Amusing quote from game.

Player After Action Reports (AARs)

Triage: I hate the Sox. With that out of the way, how the run went. We had to delve into an irradiated wasteland and retrieve an irradiated magical artifact, which was super fun. We could of just dropped a tag and let others deal with it, but for some reason the fact that a dragon was interested was a reason to spend more time with it. You know, totally reasonable thinking for anyone that wants to survive. Delphi was a fragging creep. "Oh I had to check to make sure you weren't an insect spirit" do you assense everyone then? Mind your own damn business, I don't need people knowing what my astral looks like. Knack was nice, helped me pull of summoning the kami to help deal with the radiation yokai. Elis was as proffesional as last time we met, and just as terrifying with a crossbow. Thankfully, we managed to pull out without anyone getting cancer or VITAS (which was a possibility then! We drove straight into a biohazard warning area!). At least the pay was very good, managed to make rent and payments to Alias.

Knack: Guh... I feel icky after coming back from that place. Reminded me why I'm not a combat mage, too, I could barely do anything against the spirits we went up against. Triage and Delphi had some kind of beef... I didn't really get involved. Mostly, I'm just glad I didn't have to go outside a lot. This ring that I've picked up is pretty cool, too...