Gospel of Dismay

Gospel of Dismay
Part of Suffer the Children, and Sins of the Mother
Date 2081-04-05 GM Ghostlin Location Redmond Barrens, Seattle
Factions Involved
ShadowHaven Charon Gh0st Itztli Tobias

Summary

Looking after missing children, team finds an evil cult and the kids. Most are murdered on the street, remainder are gassed in their own hideout. Surviving children are returned to their homes, cultists to Knight-Errant.

Background

Mother Komodo, a lawyer representing metahuman rights has noticed several metahuman children going missing. Having exhausted other options, she turns to hiring shadowrunners to investigate and find exactly where they are.

The Meet

Komodo meets the group in an office building. While the receptionist is at first cold and dismissive with runners that aren't dressed in some fashionable clothing, Charon's arrival convinces her to play nice with the remainder of the party. Working with a psychologist, Komodo shares all the details involved as soon as the runners agree to the job. They do so unanimously and Komodo offers information about the missing children. This kind of disappearing act might've gone on for a good while, but now she's managed to notice it at the very least. No-one faults her, since this isn't exactly her expertise. Itztli and Gh0st get to checking the information. Gh0st does a preliminary search in the Matrix based on the given info and discovers three potential locations that might be involved: a small region of the Barrens where once thriving businesses have become desolate, containing an abandoned pizza house, a hardware store and a diner.

The Plan

The place is close, so the goal is to stake out each one, sweep them one after the other until they find either culprits or children. After that, it's time to gather information and rescue whoever they can, hightailing it back once they're positive the situation is in the green.

The Run

It doesn't take long to get to the three locations since it's in the same corner of Seattle. Itztli manages not two, but three spirits to keep track of their surroundings while Charon and Tobias sneak closer to the pizza building for a closer look. Gh0st decides to jack into the Matrix from the safety of a van to scout once Tobias discovers a floor hatch indoors and an alarm system attached beneath it. Turns out his cyber arm having an X-Ray sensor inside of it is really damn useful for looking before leaping! Charon doesn't intend on triggering the alarm by barging in and so the two sneak back out. Meanwhile, given that this has already shown signs of being a potential threat, Tobias drops by his place nearby to gear up and prepare for combat. Given that he runs in through Ivy, out middle and through our connector like a speed demon it only takes fifteen minutes. Charon sets herself up in a nearby alleyway, out of sight.

While Tobias is on his way back with all of his gear, Gh0st is in the Matrix and encounters a disturbing, inky persona. Corrupted file? Data ghost? Another technomancer? It's disturbing enough that he gives it a good, long look and jacks out to calm down. Another dose of drugs, another try. This time, he's prepared and prepares a brutal data spike trap for the other presence, nailing it perfectly in a 1-2 punch. Taking out the bodyguard and then the inky menace itself. Whatever it was, it's not going to help anyone else tonight. While he's there, Gh0st also helps the entire party by accessing their commlinks and aiding their upcoming fight. This is about when Itztli notices some peculiar astral presences and prepares accordingly.

Back into reality. The group decides to wait for whoever's downstairs to step outside into the open for easy shooting. A bunch of robed, discreet-looking individuals come out and are ambushed immediately as they step out of the building. Caught by surprise, they're sitting ducks for rocket-legged cyberfreaks like Tobi, distractive pop-ups caused by Gh0st's Matrix shenanigans and Charon's sharp teeth sinking into tender, inviting necks. Itztli isn't without her moments to shine, either, spotting a powerful spirit which she graciously liberates from its bondage and leaves the robed freaks without supernatural assistance. Incredibly powerful attacks from Tobias find their mark, aided by Gh0st's supportive actions and the targets are dispatched within a few seconds, only one being intentionally left alive to be Charon's snack. For a while, she contemplates breaking his legs and arms so he can't run away, but the possibility of his body going into shock prompts her to stash the creep into the group's car's trunk.

Sure enough, the basement of the pizza diner has the kids in it. This is when Gh0st reveals what he's learned in the Matrix. Having found more than a few interesting files, the group they just murdered were child kidnappers that branded their victims with various ritualistic symbols and sold them to megacorporations for horrific purposes. Their combined suffering would be the cost of summoning some kind of demon -- a thought none of the runners took kindly to. The hatch opened and the entire basement floor was filled with Pepper Punch; some of the runners objected to the idea of gassing a bunch of kidnapped children, but Charon and Tobias both pointed out that it's better they play it safe so they just have one rough evening, not a lifetime of torture. The plan works without a hitch and the group discovers bunch of unconscious kidnappers along with equally conkered out children.

Aftermath

The group contacts Komodo who shows up with a vehicle capable of transporting all of the victims safely. In that same vein, the unconscious kidnappers are transported right to Knight-Errant's doorstep. They're not going to be happy when they wake up. Charon took her little prize home for a satisfying, sadistic meal while passing up on the prize money. Mission successful with no casualties.

Rewards

• + 8000 nuyen
• + 9 karma
• Mother Komodo as a contact (2/2)
• Felipe Chandler as a contact (1/2)
• + 2 CDP

NOTE: Taking both contacts reduces the amount of karma gained to 4; only one will reduce karma gained to 7. Charon invoked Work For The People and gained 13 Karma instead of the other rewards.

Game Quotes

"I don't care if the kids die, but we get paid more if they survive so let's just gas them instead." --Charon

"Are we good with pepper punching the kids?" --Itztli

"Yes, we are tear gassing children, but it's more efficent in the long run." --Tobias

"Tear gassing children is more morally correct than mauling someones legs so they can't run" --Gh0st

Player After Action Reports (AARs)

This really wasn't a typical run. Most of the time you end up barging on someone else's territory, smashing their teeth in and taking what you want. It's not good or evil, it's just a bunch of people stepping on each other's toes. For once, it was unusually black and white. This bleeding heart of a lawyer decided that the kids out there hadn't been looked after enough and worked hard for their sake. I could tell, her eyes had dark bags under them and all that. I let the fancier folk do their searching and thinking as soon as we agreed on the job, since I had nothing useful to do. Dad always said that an important lesson for a CEO is to delegate jobs he doesn't understand to those that do.

The run itself was simple as all hell. Me and this one other guy checked one of the three possible locations, found an obvious hideout and prepared an ambush. Dumb fuckers never even knew what hit 'em. I can't believe I sometimes have to work with people that naive, though -- the spirit wrangler started complaining about throwing some pepper spray down the hatch into the basement because the kids would get exposed to it, too. Come on, who the fuck cares, we're here to get them alive, not unharmed. Kids these days can have much worse fates than this, it was outright merciful. Anyway, the job went off without a hitch; after we cleared the street and gassed the basement, the cleanup was straightforward. Gotta admit, the decker guy was unexpectedly helpful. Didn't expect a fucking nerd to be that useful, but he gave me a leg up on those wannabe Thulsa Doom cultists. In the midst of it all, I kept feeling like I was being watched by something. I've continued to feel that for a long time, but I still haven't figured it out. Guess it's got to do with magic.

Anyway, long story short, I got to play hero with these kids and I even found myself a free snack. Nobody's gonna miss the guy, so I guess I've gotta do a Patric Bateman and cover the living room with some newspapers. Blood is hard to scrub off the floor.

​ ​ ​ ​ ​​ ​ ​​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​​ ​ ​​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​​ ​ ​​ ​ --Charon

The johnson wants to meet in Bellevue. Fast HTR, lots of cybersecurity and too many people you don't want to punch. Also a lot of nuyen, so it's worth the drek, usually. The building itself had no visible security beyond the ordinary. But behind the Johnson was an imposing figure. If I had to get out he could easily stand in front of the door blocking all exits. While his teammembers negotiated with the johnson. She looked weak and worn down. Maybe she needs the kids for replacement organs? Or some weird magical thing to restore her health? Unimportant. Recording the conversation via his cyberhand to concentrate on this later, I was busy devising the optimal escape strategy if the conversation went to hell.

The run was quick and easy. Magic and matrix support did their job. They dug up some locations where the targets could be hiding. First location was an immediate hit. Initial recon revealed a booby trap to alert people whenever the door is opened. And both the magic and matrix support confirmed it, these are our guys. A short run to gather my equipment/armor and it is time to execute them. The enemy is unaware of our presence and is likely to leave the premises. Most efficient course of action is to wait and ambush the targets when they leave. RIP AND TEAR Everyone is on the ground, most of them dead. The rest are holed up in the basement with the children. The most logical route is to gass the basement. Some complaints are heard from sympathetic idiots. Luckily reason wins out and everything goes to plan. We find the merchandise and deliver it. Low pay for low effort, back to the grind.

​ ​ ​ ​ ​​ ​ ​​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​​ ​ ​​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​​ ​ ​​ ​ --Tobias

I'm glad I could help those Children and frag up those suckers who sold them of as corporate slaves only for a dark spirit to feed on their misery. I'm glad Mother Komodo noticed that all those Kids went missing I don't know what would have happend if that spirit got any stronger. About my other party members i have not much good to say except that they get work done ... however they may achive it even if it's attacking children with teargas. I'm just glad we could overhelm our foes if they'd gotten their gasmasks on quick enough they could have used the children as shields and then we would have the short straw but something like that probably never occured them. like I said it's good it worked out well and it certainly helped that Atlaua my Water spirit could land a heavy hit on a much stronger Fire Spirit and that I could free the airspirit from his services.

---Itztli

The job went really smoothly on all fronts from beginning to end the really don't make cultists like they used to. really pays to have good scouts, even if they want to gas children with pepper punch but who am I to judge results. --Gh0st