Welcome Back with a Kaboom

Welcome Back with a Kaboom
Part of Emerald City Clash
Date 2087-08-05 GM TidanShock Location Puyallup, Seattle Status Threat Level: Deadly
Factions Involved
ShadowHaven	Yakuza
Drifter Miut Wayfarer Grackle	Wakaishu Foot Soldiers
Casualties and losses
None	9 dead, 1 captured

Summary

Amidst the chaos of the Seattle gang wars, a Horned Bear transport was ambushed by the  Yakuza, who made off with several crates of military hardware. The mercenary company hired four shadowrunners, Wayfarer, Drifter, Miut, and Grackle, to retrieve their stolen gear from a hideout the gangsters were using in Puyallup. Going loud, the runners carved through the Yakuza guarding the stashed weaponry, managing to retrieve the crates and take one of the higher ranking gangsters as a prisoner before slipping away.

Background

As the conflict between the Cutters and the Ancients turned the Streets of Seattle into a warzone, the death and chaos saw ever escalating scenes of violence radiating outwards as opportunists and the desperate sought to claim any advantage they could amongst the carnage. That means for the fighters of this world war writ small, nothing that can be used goes to waste, even if that means wasting its last owner to use it. Like in the last days of the Balkanizing nation-states of the 5th world, a gun in the Emerald city can trade hands a dozen times before the day’s over- a Lone Star officer’s shotgun becomes a gangster’s street sweeper becomes a PMC’s breach gun.

And on August 8th of 2087, a small group of shadowrunners would become a fine example of this aggressive reallocation.

A Horned Bear APC carrying supplies through the embattled Seattle streets was intercepted by a force belonging to the Yakuza, who made use of two RPGs they had recently taken after a skirmish with the Ancients to disable the transport. In the ensuing firefight, two Horned Bear PMCs were killed, and three crates of military weapons and hardware were pilfered by the gangsters for their own use in the spreading conflict. Ashen Hand, eager to avenge his dead and get back what was stolen, hired a small band of Shadowrunners to ensure that the crates would change hands one more time before the day was done.

The Meet

Miut, Grackle, Wayfarer, and Drifter were each dealing with the steady backslide of their city into the gurgler in their own messy ways when they received word of a job securing valuable cargo from the Yakuza. Their Fixers pointed them to a meeting place out on the edges of Auburn at the head of a camping trail. At the spot they found Ashen Hand already waiting, not one to let an intermediate handle his business. The grizzled merc told the crew what the situation was and that he had managed to track the stolen shipment back to a Yakuza hideout in Puyallup, saying his goal was to get the goods back, but that if the crew got a little vengeance for his dead men all the better. Making his offer, most accepted. None were the haggling type.

Miut, however, pointed out that the Yakuza goons likely still had the explosives they had used to take down the APC. In the face of such risk, she demanded that Ashen Hand sweeten the deal, asking that a token she owed him be forgiven to sweeten the deal. The metal-armed Merc agreed.

The Plan

Deal set, the crew split off to prepare for the task ahead. Miut and Grackle gathered in the gnome’s sad little apartment to perform their own opposite brands of recon. Miut scoured the matrix for everything she could find on the location and what forces might be present, while Grackle performed a ritual to conjure up a spirit to scout the hideout on the astral and assist in the run later. Miut determined that the local Yakuza was caught up in their own problems, and with a few phone calls to the right people ensured that any backup would be delayed. Meanwhile, Grackle’s spirit found that the building was hidden beneath a ward that prevented assensing from without, and was guarded by two water spirits circling the perimeter.

Scouting out of the way, the group decided there was no point in subtlety, and that it was better to strike hard, fast, first, and if possible last. After a quick casting of Improved invisibility on both, Wayfarer and Drifter would breach a hole in the back of the building, entering alongside Grackle’s summoned spirit and taking out anyone who got between them and the supplies. Meanwhile, Grackle and Miut would take up overwatch on a rooftop nearby, providing cover with direct target spells and an oversized sniper rifle.

The Run

The plan opened with the two Oni using their enhanced strength to smash through the back wall of the Bar the Yakuza were using as a hideout, ending up directly in the office the gangster’s street bosses were occupying. As a brawl broke out between invisible adepts and cyber-enhanced Yakuza, Grackle’s spirit engaged the two water spirits in astral combat, keeping them locked up.

Wakaishu foot soldiers quickly began to flood into the room as the sound of fighting spread, and though Wayfarer and Drifter held their own the advantage of strength and invisibility only worked so well in a hail of automatic gunfire. Meanwhile, on the astral, Grackle’s spirit had managed to destroy one of its two adversaries, but gravely wounded itself it pulled back to safety. Free to focus its attention on the material conflict, the water spirit became corporeal as its master joined the fray in the back office.

Wayfarer and Drifter held their own despite being outnumbered, but as the gore and detritus of battle began to reveal their invisible forms, they pulled back to cover as the spell dropped. The yakuza began to follow after seeking to press the advantage, only to be met with sniper fire from Miut’s Terracotta. Spotting one of the Yakuza in the advancing force bringing their pilfered RPG into the fight, Grackle reached into the mind of a goon and implanted an order to shoot the rocket his companion was aiming. As the command took hold, a well aimed bullet detonated the explosive in the middle of the Yakuza’s remaining forces. Attacked by invisible demons, seeing anyone who broke cover get their head popped by sniper fire, and watching half their force turned into chunky salsa in an instant, the remaining gangsters retreated.

Aftermath

Wayfarer and Drifter located the crates stacked up in the bar’s kitchen, bringing the heavy boxes outside as Miut and Grackle brought the van the group had been given for transport around. As the group was packing up they noticed that one of the higher ranking Yakiza that Wayfarer and Drifter had initially encountered was not dead, but unconscious. After a quick discussion, they bound and gagged the gangster and threw him into the van too, making a quick getaway just before reinforcements arrived. Back at the trail head that had marked their initial meeting place, the runners met with Ashen Hand, giving him the hardware they had stolen back and their captive (for an extra finder’s fee, of course). Job done and payment received, most of the gang bled away into the night, back into their own individual holes.

Though Grackle did manage to convince Ashen Hand to get celebratory tacos at Taco Temple after, subjecting him to a no doubt very awkward dinner date.

Rewards

• Deadly: 18 RVP

• 24k nuyen in gear rates for weapons, ammunition, and weapon accessories. Remainder can be taken as liquid nuyen. (6 RVP)

+3k nuyen (Negotiations/extra rewards)

• 8 Karma (8 RVP)

• 8 CDP (4 RVP)

+2 base CDP

OPTIONAL REWARDS

• Ashen Hand at loyalty 2 (C5/L2) (6 RVP)

• Can raise Ashen Hands loyalty by 1 at discount prices (For those that already possess him.)

• A chip is paid back to Ashen Hand.

Game Quotes

"Your turn." - Miut to Grackle, after watching Drifter and Wayfarer be knocked unconscious.

"Drifter drifted to sleep." - When the stun patches keeping Drifter up wore off.

"This is when he gets a taste for it." - After Grackle killed 7 people.

Player After Action Reports (AARs)

Wayfarer - "A mission complete and no casualties amongst my allies; I could ask for little more. I am also pleased to have seen both Miut and Drifter in the field once more, and to have met this newer one - Grackle. Perhaps our paths cross again in the future."

Grackle - "Gosh, good to be back in the saddle again! Did you see how those guy's just went FLYING all over the place when that RPG went up?! I don't think I've EVER killed that many people at once before, wowie! But really, I was just happy I got to meet some new friends along the way, and reconnect with some old ones, too. Hope next time the rest of you can join me and Ashen Hand for the after party! We had a blast! Get it? BLAST?!"