Better Living Through Chemistry

Better Living Through Chemistry
Date 2085-06-22 GM Sarcarian Location Frankfurt, AGS Status Threat Level: Deadly
Factions Involved
ShadowHaven	AG Chemie	Rival Runners
Bunny Hop Caliban Lingchi Red Rain Docteur Vega	AG Chemie Security Guard AG Chemie Security Spider Dr. Wolfgang Ostermann	Kaleidoscope Venus

Summary

In which the runners are hired by Zeta-ImpChem to extract a bio-technician from AG Chemie, and are stymied in their efforts by rival runners.

Background

Dr. Wolfgang Ostermann is a prominent bio-chemist working with AG Chemie in Frankfurt who is responsible for the creation of a number of Fun(TM) (read: incredibly hazardous to living organisms and the environment in general) chemicals. Saeder-Krupp is very interested in acquiring his services, and their rivals Zeta-Imperial Chemical would very much like to prevent that from happening - not wishing to get into a bidding war with SK (either for Dr. Ostermann or shadowrunner services), they decide to hire some out-of-town talent to acquire the good(?) doctor. Meanwhile, a duo of runners collecting paydata from Zeta-ImpChem set their sights on Ostermann, putting themselves into a headlong conflict with the team.

The Meet

The runners (minus Bunny Hop, who is sub-contracted in after the fact) are contacted by their fixers and asked to meet with Herr Keller at E-Wasted, the Matrix bar on the ShadowHaven host. Their J is light on details, but offers 30,000 nuyen each in exchange for their services extracting an individual with a cranial bomb from ET grounds in the AGS, promising more information upon their acceptance and arrival at the Swiss-German boarder where they intend to remove the compliance device. The group attempt to negotiate for access to bio-ware services, convincing Herr Keller to speak to his employers about the prospect, though he mentions that they will likely require DNA samples for such a service. After accepting the job, he provides them with contact information and a location to meet him at in-person.

The team meets up with Red Rain and her VTOL in Redmond, and there's some awkwardness once they meet one-another in person and realize that there's a ghoul and a boarderline-dissonant techno in the group. Once they're introduced, everyone settles in for a long flight across the Atlantic to northern Switzerland. The flight across the ocean is relatively uneventful, with the team spending their time watching movies and practicing their German, and in time they arrive at the site indicated by their employer. Herr Keller waits for them at a pre-fabricated clinic with a small staff of guards and medical professionals, where he tells them of their target (see Background). After filling them in on the particulars, their employer leaves the team to their own devices, telling them to contact him when they are en-route with the target.

The Plan

Red Rain, having spent some time in the SOX, networks through the Ghost Rats (a group of t-bird smugglers) for use of some of their facilities, paying the smuggling network for knowledge of their routes across the boarder into Germany and the use of their facilities in Frankfurt; armed with this intel (and the signature masking on her vehicle), she's able to navigate the team's way past boarder security and into the 'plex undetected under cover of night. In exchange for some extra cash the Ghost Rats rent the team a truck with which they make their way to the Ludwigshafen district, which is dominated by AG Chemie and where the laboratory that Dr. Ostermann works at is located.

Renting a room at a local coffin motel, they get to work on recon and information gathering. While Lingchi and her ally Sojourner oversee the rest of the group's prone bodies, Red Rain jumps into a flyspy drone to start scouting out the AG Chemie complex while Caliban and Vega probe at their Matrix infrastructure. The rigger is able to locate a gap in the sensors in the kilometers-long security perimeter of the massive series of chemical plants, while the technomancers manage to work together to make their way past the main data processing host's formidable firewall.

Once inside, Red Rain wrappers her drone to be part of the security cordon and begins mapping the place out while carefully avoids attracting attention from the personal supervising the lookout drones; in the host (which is unsurprisingly of a rather industrial flavor) Caliban and Vega hide amongst the digital smokestacks while seeking information on their security measures. While there, Caliban spots both the Foundation portal and an unfamiliar-but-colourful resonance signature, and is in turn spotted by a hidden sprite placed there by the green team - a pair of rival runners, the technomancer Kaleidoscope and the mage Venus - to harvest paydata; the sprite, wary of the borderline-dissonant techno's activities, is able to surreptitiously mark and trace her location.

With the information from Herr Keller, the pair are able to locate the terminal from which the information on their target's cranial bomb can be called up from the archives - however doing so requires a two-factor authentication fob from senior security coordinators with AG Chemie's Matrix subsidiary, Müller-Schlüter Infotech. The pair debate whether they should attempt to get one of these fobs or perform a Foundation dive into the archives, deciding to leave the host to continue their discussion. Meanwhile, in meatspace, Red Rain's drone spots an ambulance from BuMoNA (the Bund für Mobilen Notfall-Arzteinsatz, or Mobile Medical Emergency Service) passing through the extra-territorial boarder into the complex.

Back at the coffin motel, Lingchi has Sojourner take a peak at the local astral space - the ally spirit, not exceptionally eager to go out into the slightly-toxic background mana of the district, reluctantly agrees. Outside, she sees a number of local wild spirits going about their business, as well as a bound fire spirit of a power level equal to her observing the perimeter of the AG Chemie complex before turning its attention to their direction and making a fly-over of the motel. Deciding to fly up and talk to them, Sojourner engages in a brief conversation with the spirit (who calls itself Wings-of-Flame), attempting to deduce what it's doing - Wings-of-Flame only replies that it is scouting the area at the behest of its summoner, and warns Sojourner against crossing them before taking its leave. Now aware that they're being watched, the spirit's diligent searching is able to uncover a fly-spy modded to resemble a peppered moth which is watching their motel room door.

Making the others aware of the situation, the Matrix people return from their scouting while Red Rain finds a small squatter enclave located in the shadows of the AG Chemie complex and parks her drone there in off-line mode for the time being, having it come back online in a few hours. They ponder nuking the device off the Matrix, but decide not to let whoever is watching them know they're on to them (and risk provoking escalation); instead, cover of invisibility spells, Lingchi has Sojourner move the nerds to another room out of the drone's line of sight.

After some discussion on the best method to obtain the de-activation codes for their target's cranial bomb (and on how to get inside in general), the skeleton of a plan is formulated: Vega will arrange for her superiors at Proteus to arrange a join research project between their companies which will necessitate her physical presence on-site, which will allow her to get close enough to Dr. Ostermann to poison him and spoof his biomonitor into thinking he's having a cardiac infraction. Meanwhile, Red Rain will disguise her VTOL as the sort used by BuMoNA, and the team will intercept the ensuing call for medical assistance (ironically, they have inadvertently stumbled into using the same plan the green team). Since both of these will take a few days, they have a bit of time to obtain the codes.

The Foundation Run

The two technos debate stealing authentication from MSI, but in the end after some vigorous debate Vega convinces Caliban to enter the Foundation instead - Caliban however insists on calling in a third specialist to accompany them, and gets ahold of Bunny Hop. Bhop, who agreed to help the decaying dissonant techno after a discussion between the two, accepts the job, traveling to Frankfurt on a fresh R6 SIN (which thankfully goes un-burnt at customs) in order to access the local grid (though she stays at a hotel room near the airport, far from the other criminals). The third techono manages to convince the other two to wait while she searches for information on the Foundation's paradigm - after an extended search, she is able to meet up with a member of the Shockwave Riders in a local Matrix bar who tells her that a few of his chummers put an anchor in the AG Chemie host about a month ago and sold the information off to the Helix. After paying for the paydata, she returns to her team with knowledge of the Foundation's theme and the identity of the nodes.

Together, the three technos make their way past the host's firewall and slip past its IC to the Foundation portal, each of them managing to mark it in turn and enter the Matrix dreamscape. Inside they find themselves in a steampunk industrial city (the setting of the Dishonored series), attending a high-society party: Bunny Hop is a young socialite, Caliban is a wealthy but sickly dowager, and Vega is a renowned physician. Identifying eachother via their various mannerisms and idiosyncrasies, the team manage to gracefully extricate themselves from the party on the excuse of seeing to Caliban's poor health, getting into a small boat and sailing down the canal (data trails) towards the Academy of Science (archive node). En-route, they witness the ravages of the plague tearing its way through the city and avoid allowing the currents to carry them towards the Flooded District (null node).

While making their way past the security control node to the archive, Caliban spots a familiar colourful resonance signature floating like an oil slick on the water, but no trail leading to the archive (this is Kaleidoscope's signature, who was recently in the security control node). Disembarking from the canal, Vega is able to use her medical knowledge to talk her way inside the Academy of Science and blend with the Foundation denizens there. After accessing the archive, they find the files on Dr. Ostermann's security contingencies (in the form of a study by someone of the same name on the effects of "humors imbalance") and notice that it has been recently accessed by one Nicolaus Köhler. Copying the contents for themselves, they place the book back and head back to the canals, intending to make their way to the docks (portal node).

At the docks, the trio have some trouble blending in with the crowd of whalers and longshoreman - instead, they proclaim they're there to gather samples of the docks rats for dissection and plague research, earning them a wide berth from the Foundation denizens. Making it to a whaling ship about to leave the harbor, they stop to place a few anchors before leaving - Bunny Hop and Caliban manage to do so, however Vega triggers Variance with her attempt, prompting the arrival of the Magic Ninja Gank Squad. Not wasting any time, the three beat feat and quickly exit the Foundation, though not before Vega takes a throwing knife in the back and suffers some mild brain damage.

The Run

Once the hackers come out of their VR coma, they find that several hours have passed - and that they're still being watched by the drone outside. Lingchi concocts a scheme to use trid phantasms cast by Sojourner to make it appear to the drone that the group leaving so that it will follow the illusion and give them a window to escape without being followed themselves; this plan appears to work, though the invisible group end up followed by Wings-of-Flame without their astral overwatch. When the runners begin investigating the name Nicolaus Köhler (who turns out to be an employee of Müller-Schlüter Infotech, and whose 2FA fob the green team stole to access Dr. Ostermann's security codes), they become fully convinced that this is a team of rival runners targeting the same corp and likely after the same target, and so decide to reach out to them in order to parley; since they spotted out Caliban earlier, the techno receives a mostly-non-threatening message inviting them to meet at Heidelberg Castle the next day in order to discuss the situation. The group decide to accept the offer, if only because they're already made and it's a chance to bait their competition into exposing themselves in turn.

At the appointed hour, Lingchi and Vega head to the castle with Caliban and Red Rain observing via drone. While they enjoy the scenic view of Frankfurt, a holo-conferance drone which is frustratingly-difficult to spot out on the Matrix appears and gestures for them to follow it up to one of the stone parapets without any other tourists around. A colourful hologram of Kaleidoscope's Matrix persona is projected and a masked voice comes through the speaker, with the techno openly admitting to being a runner and voicing her suspicion that the out-of-town "tourists" taking so many precautions against being followed are likewise criminals targeting AG Chemie. While Vega prevaricates and attempts to conceal the true purpose of their job, Caliban sends Kaleidoscope a message asking outright if they're targeting Dr. Ostermann - when they admit that they are, hoping to be able to extraordinary rendition the man to the Hague to face justice in exchange for his GreenWar bounty, Caliban convinces them that he will only be re-extracted before he can face trial and instead to work together and detonate his cranial bomb on a hijacked DeMiKo trideo feed (which, as it's broadcast life from Pomorya, will be unable to be stopped by AG Chemie in time). Kaleidoscope is doubtful of the dissonant's intentions and still intends to proceed with their plan, but files it away as a backup option in case the team is able to get to Ostermann first.

After a few days of additional diligent preparation (and recuperating from the Foundation dive), the team are ready for go-time. Vega boards a Proteus helicopter with Sojourner as her astral bodyguard while Lingchi and Caliban board Red Rain's now-disguised VTOL dressed as BuMoNa AMRP paramedics. Lacking sufficient knowledge of German to face their way through things, Red Rain asks Alexandria to help with the infiltration by spoofing the authentication codes between BuMoNa and AG Chemie's insurance provider, which will grant them quick access through the security cordon and providing translation services for when they inevitably need to deal with either corp.

Vega is able to enter the AG Chemie complex, landing inside of a bio-dome where she is escorted by security personal to meet with Dr. Ostermann at the General Genetics Worldwide laboratory. Ostermann proves cordial enough with a fellow scientist, showing Vega the enzymes he's been working on engineering which he hopes will be able to assist with the construction of novel long polymer chains. Vega is able to provide some erudite biochemistry advice to help with a problem he's been having, and is able to talk Ostermann into access his terminal in order to bring up some research notes. Spoofing the camera feed, Vega sticks the old man from behind with a needle of venom while hacking his bio-monitor feed to simulate the signs of a heart attack for his biomonitor, which will triggers an automatic call for medical assistance. However runs into some difficulty in doing so, necessitating Caliban jumping in remotely to provide her with assistance; given that time is of the essence and they only have one shot at this, Caliban tells Vega how to call on the Dissonance for power, slowing her perception of time (via calibration giving her an extra initiative pass) and giving her the extra split-second needed to properly spoof the signal without being caught. However she comes away with a taint of dissonance infecting her persona...

While Vega recovers from her brief disorientation and renders first aid to Ostermann, Red Rain intercepts the call for medical aid to BuMoNa and has Alexandra tell them that they're en-route to the patient's location. Unfortunately, Alexandria's Real World Naïveté hits hard and she botches the use of a local colloquialism in the exchange with the dispatcher; the AI's overly-loquacious attempt to explain herself allows another first responder shuttle (the green team) to take the call, so Red Rain races for their goal anyway. Thanks to the modifications to the VTOL and the spoofed codes, she's able to get past the AG Chemie security cordon and onto the bio-dome's helipad before the green team can signal for the doctor to be brought to their roadmaster.

Having stabilized Ostermann, Vega works with the on-site staff to get the doctor onto a stretcher and bring him out to the helipad for "BuMoNa" to pick him up. Outside, Lingchi and Caliban disembark in the guise of nurses and argue with the security chief about why there's a second ambulance en-route to pick up the same patient; they're able to convince him that they simply arrived quicker and that time is of the essence for Ostermann. With no way to extract Ostermann without a protracted fight, Kaleidoscope takes Caliban up on her offer and pilots a drone into position to broadcast to the hacked feed; without the team's knowledge, Caliban triggers the doctor's cranial bomb to explode as he's being prepped to load into the VTOL. Chaos immediately ensues, and with their target dead Red Rain has Caliban and Lingchi get in the VTOL and flies off, while Vega is ushered into the Proteus helicopter and similarly quickly escorted away. AG Chemie is left with a very dead scientist and told to take it up with BuMoNa and Proteus' legal team.

Aftermath

Red Rain flies very quickly away from Frankfurt towards the SOX, where she hopes that AG Chemie won't follow. Caliban is able to convince Lingchi and Red Rain that the green team were responsible for popping the doc's head, though Vega is suspicious and privately calls her out. Herr Keller, naturally, is not the most understanding about this, however he admits that these things happen and doesn't slander their reputations in the shadows over it. Thankfully with the paydata they were able to skim from the Foundation the job being sold off to the Helix the job is still a partial success (in that they're at least not walking away empty-handed).

Rewards

(1.5x duration modifier)

18,000 nuyen (GreenWar bounty + paydata) (9 RVP)

6 karma (6 RVP)

22 CDP (10 RVP)

+2 GreenWar reputation

-2 Zeta-ImpChem reputation

For Bhop:

8000 nuyen (for the impromptu Foundation dive)

6 karma (for helping a fellow techno kill a man with a cranial bomb)

8 CDP

For Caliban:

Submersion discount

Optional Quality: Daredevil @ chargen price

For Vega:

Submersion discount

+2 Proteus reputation (for recovering GGW research data)

Optional Quality: Alibi @ chargen price

Taint of Dissonance (Free :) )

Narrative Consequences:

-Doctor Ostermann's death is broadcast via a live DeMeKo feed, along with information on his and his company's ecologically devastating endeavors

- GreenWar takes credit for his death, Zeta-ImpChem is denied his services, and AG Chemie's stock takes a significant hit due to the ensuing investigations.

-Caliban takes Vega to visit The Beach That Makes You Evil. Vega Gazes Into The Abyss; The Abyss Gazes Also.

Player After Action Reports (AARs)

VALUE ERROR - PLEASE REBOOT

<A stream of undecipherable noise and scrap code must be filtered through before the message can be read in earnest>

-and h-he made th-those same w-weapons that melted sk-skin and lungs and ch-choked and br-breath and he f-fed that place so utterly and s-so completely that th-they should be thankful he d-didn't suffer f-first. I am n-not broken for m-making sure he f-faces justice. I am right. The v-vile should d-die, all b-butchers and monsters sh-should die.

...

Y-You did s-something to the d-doctor, didn't y-you? You're avoiding th-the subject. You t-took her into that pl-place and y-you warned her b-but how could a w-warning ever b-be enough? You're contagious, spr-spreading that pl-place that l-lives beneath your skin. V-Vile toxin. Monster. No b-better th-than Ostermann.