Sealab 2085

Sealab 2085
Date 2085-11-11 GM Sarcarian Location The Island of Dr. Moore Status Threat Level: Extreme
Factions Involved
ShadowHaven	Major Corp
Samael Hunter Geodesic Lingchi Swerve White Thistle	Character1 Character2

Summary

The team breaks into the Island of Dr. Moore, managing a silent infiltration until they run into one of Ashford's dual natured creations. From there it is a running gunfight and slog between the team and Dr. Moore's local security forces who are equally cybered up to the runners. Despite a few near misses, the team manages to break Swerve and Thistle out and making the inch-by-bloody-inch march to the exit under heavy fire.

Background

During The Island of Dr. Moore, Ashford turned on the team, fried one of the runners, and imprisoned Swerve and Thistle. Fiendest put out a call for runners to go rescue them and for each of their own reasons, some personal and some out of professional courtesy, the team responded.

The Meet

The team meets Fiendest out in the Redmond Barrens where she explains the background of the situation and that the goal is to get Swerve and Thistle out; while they would love to bring down Moore or Ashford themselves, the reality of tackling a prepared security force entrenched inside a literal castle is unlikely. The prior run having occurred within the last 24 hours means that the runners are on something of a timetable - the sooner they go, the less time the security has to entrench and the less time to torture the prisoners.

They agree, acknowledging this will be a low paying job, but a rescue run isn't the one that anyone does for the money.

The Plan

• Infil via the grotto
• Sneak to the cells until we can't
• Rescue the prisoners
• Marching firefight / shieldwalk on our way out

The Run

The team heads to the other side of the world by way of transport from Fiendest, preparing themselves and their gear as much as possible. On the island itself while all this occurs, Thistle and Swerve deal with the issues of Dr. Moore - Swerve opting to be a bit more polite and reasonable while Thistle is... well... Thistle. This turns into Moore wanting Swerve to give him the gift of vampirism while tossing Thistle into the arena to fight the other creatures and creations. During this, Thistle gets hit with a number of doses of "Science juice" causing them to undergo SURGE effects.

Once they arrive, Samael arranges a nearby houseboat rental in order to give them a safe operating base, while various contact phone calls are made to arrange other possible routes of entry. Geodesic runs the Host and has a hard time of it but is, ultimately, sucessful. Based on that intelligence, the team is able to get a better idea of the opfor, the nature of the alarms and security, and the presence of the genetically modified sharks in the waters outside the islands. The cost of getting this information is a huge amount of matrix damage left over on Geodesic which heavily impacts her ability to engage in the remainder of the Run. Lingchi likewise takes care of some magical scouting, revealing the powerful ward over the facility and the rather specifically Hermetic based Background Counts.

As the run begins, Samael swims into the grotto, narrowly avoiding the shark due to some magic from Lingchi and disables the alarms that would have otherwise detected the boat. Geodesic pilots it in, and under invisibility and concealment from Sojourner and Lingchi, the team makes their advance. They manage to avoid the magesight system as well as guard patrols until they come across one of Ashford's dual natured creatures. Samael and Hunter take the lead in the firefight and earn more than their fair share of bruises for it.

During the first engagement, two guards are heavily injured and fall back, allowing the team to recover Thistle. An unfortunate Man-Scorpion is also killed during this time. The team progresses while Lingchi and Samael sort out the Sunbeam alchemical prep that's been attached to Thistle's leg.

There is a second engagement outside Swere's cell which remains a pitched one, as the runners spend bullets, edge, and health to hold their ground. An incredibly powerful spell from Lingchi manages to finish off the two guards there and the team rescues Swerve from similar confines - and a similar sunbeam ankle monitor.

While this has been going on, the security forces have entrenched themselves at the dock exit in the grotto, correctly noting that such is really the only feasible exit. The team concocts a plan which is the best chance of success. An air spirit from Lingchi delivers a payload of C4 which manages to kill some of the guards, break the lodge, and ruin some of their ramparts and defenses. As the team begins a shield walk maneuver with Hunter and Samael in the lead, they are set upon by a man-panther, a manther if you will, which ends up exploding. Samael eats his first grenade for the day.

What follows is an inch-by-bloody-inch walk down the hallway and Sam and Hunter take the brunt of the fire and thrown grenades. Hunter drops into overflow at least once and Samael almost does likewise after a sniper round punches through his armor. The magical team works miracles between summoning a giant fuckoff fire spirit and magical healing which keeps the two samurai-slash-bullet-sponges alive long enough to get out.

As the fire spirit engulfs one of the security forces, Swerve's Mob Mind catches the last two, and with a free and clear exit, the team makes a hasty escape.

Aftermath

• Thistle has been science juiced into SURGE mutations.
• Dr. Moore and Ashford remain alive. [Everyone Disliked That]
• Dr. Moore has Swerve, Thistle, and Lingchi's aura
• While there was no Cleaner Cleaner deployed at the site to cover Hunter and Sam's blood, picking it out from the exploded bits of Manther is probably a difficult thing

Rewards

For the Rescuers:

• 20,000 nuyen
• 20 karma
• 40 CDP
• 1 street cred

For the Rescuees:

• 20 karma
• 60 CDP

For Geo: Optional Quality: Impenetrable Logic @ chargen rates

For Hunter: Optional Quality: Tough as Nails @ chargen rates

For Lingchi: Optional Quality: Gifted Healer @ chargen rates

For Sam: Optional Quality: Strive for Perfection @ chargen rates

For Swerve: Optional Quality: Closer @ chargen rates

For Thistle: Weird Science Mutations (SURGE II) @ chargen rates

Game Quotes

"I was four boxes from quitting eternally" - Bug

Player After Action Reports (AARs)

Samael - Madness. Madness and stupidity. That island is a telling example what comes of insulation and lack of any good common sense when it comes to the study of anything, let alone the arcane. Still - despite my uncertainty at breaking into a situation where the security forces all but knew we were coming, and rescuing people like Thistle... well, we made it. Bloody near thing, too - Hunter is worth his weight in gold for walking into oncoming fire in a shield walk with me on little more than my say-so. It was a level of trust and bravery I was not expecting. The whole team performed wonderfully, and thankfully my worries about Thistle or Swerve demanding immediate vengeance were not justified. Definitely going in to Dr. Mortimer's for some additional upgrades; that rifle round that broke armor was... unfortunate. Let's do try and avoid that again in the future.