420BPM THROUGH THE SKULL

420BPM THROUGH THE SKULL
Part of Amhrain na Preachan
Date 2085-03-04 GM Fangblade_ Location Seattle Status Threat Level: Deadly
Factions Involved
ShadowHaven Zeta Key	Vory
Blackhawk Red Ribbon Shredder Sandalphon Ghostwire Dealer	Character1 Character2

Summary

The team get caught up in a death game and somehow come out without scars. They face pain and consequence for their actions, but ultimately they come across the path of a god and are unscathed. Red Ribbon finds a friend in the crowd, Blackhawk meets a worthy apponent, and Shredder Shreds what she Shreds Shrest.

Background

The Vory have made a deal with a one Jon Constance, who through his incompetence, lost a shipment of drugs he was supposed to push. With the need for money growing, and the looming threat of death ever present, they call on runners to save them.

The Meet

The team meet the J at the Helldiver, a bar in Puyallup. With the J on the frits, the team dig into what's going on. Turns out, the J had made a deal with the Vory syndicate to have medical supplies delivered to the clinic he works at, and in return he would repay the vory after the supplies had been sold. The only caveat; the supplies never made it to him and the Vory still expected him to cough up the 100 large for the supplies. So, the runners have a call to make to the Vory syndicate to figure out how to erase a 100K debt.

The Plan

The plan is straightforward. Legwork into figuring out how to deal with this guy. Matrix searches and area knowledge provide info that Deadhead primarily hangs out at his Underground bar called the Stairway to Heaven which he uses as a party club and a place for people to "party to death". It also seems like he plays some pretty nefarious game called "Shotgun Roulette" In which you play Russian roulette with a fully loaded shotgun. The team, with this info, plan to drop into the top of the Stairway to Heaven and make their way down so as to not alert suspicion to themselves.

The Run

The team hit the streets and Red Ribbon leaves her car in the Ork Underground. The runners are dropped off up top so that Ribbon can act as an escape vehicle should things go south. Once inside, the runner team get drinks and start to search for the Vory menace, Yurij Petrov aka Deadhead. Shredder feels the urge and grind downstairs, from the Preamble to the Spine, down to the Skull sections of the Bar. Clearing it with the bouncers, Shredder starts to shred her way through the spin. Making her way to the bottom, she's greeted by a crowd going WILD for her, as the partygoers feel like she is the queen of the party. Red Ribbon and Blackhawk use this as an excuse to gain extra info.

Ribbon spots a familiar face in the crowd, turns out to be Jeannie Stilray, someone whos picture she saw on the net during a matrix dive the day prior. The crowd ebbs and flows to the harsh beats of the underground music, but both Jeannie and Red see eachother, like sharks waiting to pounce. Jeannie tells Ribbon to kill the Vory man and talk to her later, suggesting they surprisingly have a lot to talk about. It seems like neither Jeannie or Ribbon expected to meet eachother here, but through the picture received the other day, aspects of the Stairway to Heaven could be seen in the background.

After a short party and drinking, they find their way deeper insdide where they meet the Vory leader Deadhead and his associates. Asking the Vory man how to get rid of the J's debt, he starts to ramble like he's cyberpsychotic, claiming to be a god and saying that if they win his little game, he'll give them anything they want in the entire world, even control of Saedar-krupp. Wanting to help the J, the team agrees to at least hear him out.

Deadhead is hosting their pal that they found named Dealer, as well as some of his other associates to play a round or two of Shotgun Roulette. The rules are simple:

1. You get a tattoo for playing (Which turns out to be a Stilray Logo). This marks you for death until you survive or die in a round, then the effect wears off.
2. You play till you die. No exceptions. You either win or you don't leave the room.
3. Each round the assistant loads the shotguns with a number of blanks and live shells.
4. Each player takes turns shooting themselves or the other person.
5. Shooting yourself with a blank makes you shoot again.
6. Shooting the opponent with a blank makes them shoot twice.

The game starts with Blackhawk fighting against a low tier Vory grunt and winning, taking turns blasting eachother until only a winner is left. Each click of the empty trigger, and each deafening burst of the shotgun after shots brings an incredible tense anxiety to the room. Though blackhawk is victorious the first round, the team decides to go for the kill and ask Deadhead to erase the debt if he lets them play again. Deadhead agrees, but brings in his special weapon, Dealer. Dealer, an infected Ghoul, brings out her personal shotgun and a bag of goodies: Explosive rounds, woodpulp rounds, APDS, handloads, drugs, patches etc. She states that the two of them, Blackhawk and her, are going to play to the death.

The game starts tensely, but this time the runners have tricks up their sleeves. Red Ribbon uses her Ewar to see what shots are loaded which, but it helps not as during the first run of shots both Dealer and Blackhawk are hit with woodpulp rounds, disabling his regeneration. The rounds continue with both explosive rounds and APDS rounds, until the assistant loads a magazine full of live rounds. Blackhawk goes down, and Shredder takes the place of Blackhawk to continue, but only after using a savior medkit on blackhawk.

Once back in the game, Red Ribbon uses a MAD Scanner to realize there's a live shell in the chamber and informs Shredder, who aims and fires at Dealer, knocking them down for the count. Turning to Deadhead for their prize, he agrees to ignore the debt from the J, thanking the runners for playing his twisted little game. And twisted it is, as Ribbon realizes that this guy is manufacturing scenarios to force people to gamble their lives away. Wanting to kill them now, the team refrains given how dangerous the situation is and decideds to leave. Deadhead gets up, aparently not having died, and offers Blackhawk her shotgun for winning. Keeping the souvenir, the team leaves.

On the way out in the tunnels, the team is ambushed by more Vory who open fire, and the team responds by destroying their nuts. With that, they run away, clearly not able to put up an extended fight. The team manages to escape and return to the J who had been bagged by the vory, left shot up in an alleyway. With no reward, the team looks down on him and offers to stay until his nurse buddy arrives. Eventually, Ghostwire) arrives to save the J, and the runners head home vowing to one day kill Deadhead.

Aftermath

The team make it out feeling accomplished yet bittersweet. The J was saved and his debt erased, but the Vory have proven to be eratic and bad at keeping their promises. The team vow to black bag the vory leader, and Ribbon has a chat with Ms. Stilray.

Game Quotes

Amusing quote from game.

Player After Action Reports (AARs)

Blackhawk: "Got another weapon and another target. Thankfully I was there otherwise the others likely would not have lasted all that long. Hopefully some form of justice can be delivered... some day."

Red Ribbon

Scum. Fragging scum. These are the kind of people that make me see Saint's side of things. This Deadhead slitch is a dead man walking. What a sick fragging game... and the man doesn't even play by his own rules.