Gnashing and Hissing Sounds

Gnashing and Hissing Sounds
Date 2085-03-04 GM Orion Location Horizon Zoomazium Status Threat Level: Medium
Factions Involved
ShadowHaven Gator Bayou Bill Justice Alexander-James Brodrick Johnson III	Horizon
Sticks Crunch Oberon Neznayka	Gus Other Zoomazium Employeers
Casualties and losses
	Gus Lost His Job

Summary

Horizon experiences the first skirmish in the battle for Liberation.

Background

Bayou Bill was unfortunately killed in battle during Kill Bill, however he left behind his trusted companion, Gator. Always a man to plan ahead, he set aside a war plan to be enacted in two years, cutting away at Horizon's rule. This war would be carried out, rain or shine, swamp or sprawl, dead or alive.

Now it is time. 100 gators need rescuing from the cruel Horizon Zoomazium. They will become the foot soldiers in Gator's army.

Let the Gator War ... begin!

The Meet

The various runers are gathered to an undisclosed location in Snohomish. After the typical banter, the runners enter and are greeted by the one and only Gator. He, in the stumbling way of a large aquatic reptile, he flops over to the table next to him and turns on a commlink, which plays an automated message from the late Bayou Bill.

The post-mortem gator wrangler informs them that 100 gators are in the Horizon Zoomazium and he wants them liberated. Gator, being an alligator, makes no mention of payment and somehow, somehow, the runners agree to the job anyway.

The Plan

The runners call a number of contacts, including the honorable Alexander-James Brodrick Johnson III being talked into converting his Most Urban Brawl arena beneath Seattle into a Gator themed locale, a 1-1 recreation of the Louisiana swamp. Chloe Green and Jaelisha are both brought onto the project as consultants after Brodie J brings up the radical idea of 'Gator-Tubes', access points where the gators can swim to various locations in Seattle and wander freely. This idea is scaled back slightly, limited only to bodies of water. Willis is contacted to provide Dragonjapes moving vans and, later Creer as well provides vans. Finally, gator himself is brought onto the team to provide gator traffic direction.

The team moves in to do some scouting, first with Oberon spotting out cameras, guard rotations and watcher spirits and then the rest of the team performing a social infiltration. Neznayka and Sticks find a Horned Bear enclosure, supposedly from Russia and strike up a conversation with Gus, its handler. Crunch does an inventory of the other creatures finding shadowhounds, snakes, bandits, a pegasus, a greater wolverine, snakes and agropelters, many in subpar or cruel containment. Nez and Sticks convince Gus to part with his keycard, in the name of freeing the creatures for a good cause, under the stipulation that no one gets hurt.

Neznayka calls up Chloe Green to establish a long-term home for the creatures once they're out and assembles a doctor disguise, blending in with the ones that do animal testing on sight. With that, the team moves into position. Time for freedom!

The Run

Oberon, Sticks and Crunch move in one group, with Oberon looping cameras. Neznayka goes ahead in disguise and creates a distraction in the snake exhibit, convincing the guards to move slowly and carefully to prevent snake attacks. The rest of the team systematically free the creatures, one by one, many of them bonding with several of the creatures on the way.

With the party all joined together to reach the gator exhibit, they spot Gator, asleep in the midst of them. The team calms the beast with a mix of mundane and magical means and use gator to lead a gator line all the way to the vans. With the creatures acquired and the gators all stuffed into the vans like sardines, the team drives off.

Aftermath

The creatures are deposited at Neznayka's homestead to await TerraFirst! pickup while the gators are sent to the Brodie J Swamp Experience.

Gator gathers 100 soldiers in his gator army, ready to wage war against horizon. Through the gator-tubes, he now has easy access to most bodies of water in the sprawl. Dear God.

Rewards

5 Karma (5 RVP) 28k worth of animals at gear reward prices (7 RVP) (Can convert the remainder into nuyen at 1/2 rate) 2 CDP Recipe for Bayou Bill's "Good Ol' Fashioned, Down Home" NoPaint Moonshine Optional Contact: Gator (C1/L1) (1 RVP or 2 CDP)

Oberon: May buy Animal Empathy at chargen rates

Nez: +1 Chip on Jaelisha

Game Quotes

Bayou Bill LIVES

Player After Action Reports (AARs)

Neznayka: Liberation! Although I am not so sure about this Broderick James person, I am glad so many of these creatures can be placed into their natural habitat, instead of these awful cages they were stuffed into. I enjoyed working with the new people, Sticks and Crunch and it is always good to see Oberon again. We did a good thing. I hope.

Crunch: I honestly wasn't expecting Brodie J to just... Turn a whole most urban brawl arena into a gator paradise, they seem happy now. Neznayka seems nice, as does Oberon. I think we did the right thing.