Broken Tusk

Broken Tusk
Part of Flight of the White Owl
Date 2082-09-11 GM Dejapes Location Tacoma and Snohimish, Seattle Status Threat Level: Medium
Factions Involved
ShadowHaven Daniel Watkins	Family First Caucus	Knight Errant
Frank Davis z Grasshopper Jiang-shi	Jeremiah T. Campbell Fire Spirit	Contracted Spider Rigger Gun Adept Multiple Guards

Summary

Four runners are hired to retrieve the remains of an ork, whose skull is being used as a macabre display piece for a politician advancing a supremacist agenda.

Background

Eric Watkins, better known as "Red Grin," was an ork ganger and a sergeant of the Bloody Screamers. An unscrupulous smuggler, his shining achievement was keeping his son clean of his criminal endeavors and paying the way to put that son through law school.

In 2077, the Bloody Screamers were almost wiped out by their rivals, the Troll Hunters. Word on the street is that the Troll Hunters were provided heavy weaponry by the Humanis policlub, which was a decisive factor in their victory. The human supremacist gang took grisly trophies.

In recent months, Eric's son - Daniel Watkins - discovers a disturbing image. James T. Campbell, a Seattle State Representative and member of the 'Family First' caucus (one of the legislative groups under the umbrella of Humanis) was giving a lecture resurrecting the pseudo-science of phrenology as applied to sixth world metatypes. On his desk was a distinctive ork 'replica' skull, which Daniel immediately recognized to have the distinctive broken tusk that his father had never repaired.

Seeking to lay his father to rest, Daniel Watkins travels to Seattle and hires a team of runners to retrieve the skull.

The Meet

The runners, after being contacted by their respective fixers, meet up at 'Anton's Diner,' an old Americana diner located in southern Tacoma. There, they meet with Daniel Watkins who explains the offered job and the proposed pay. z and Grasshopper agree almost immediately, even offering a discount for their services, once they find out who the target politician is. Frank Davis and Jiang-shi are similarly receptive once filled in about who Campbell represents.

Daniel explains that the skull is located in Campbell's summer residence, a lake-side manor located in Snohomish. He adds that Campbell has a private security contract with Knights Errant, likely paid for by taxpayers.

After accepting the job, the runners depart to a bar in Little Asia, Tacoma, in order to plan their next move.

The Plan

Digging through his knowledge of security procedures, Frank Davis gets a good estimate of what to expect from a KE security contract of that calibre. Meanwhile, Jiang-shi networks with anarcho-communist contact Lylah Wilder and learns that a she is familiar with a decker that stress-tessed the manor's security in the past, garnering more information on the expected opposition. z goes on a deep matrix dive into the manor's construction, and finds the original blueprints and floor plan. Grasshopper drives out to Snohomish personally and sets up an overnight watch with a flyspy drone, manipulating its icon so that it resembles a weather balloon on the matrix.

Grasshopper and z then do drive-by recon of the manor, with z scouting icons via the matrix. After assessing the on-site spider and host, z manages to get a mark on the spider's deck as well as run a detailed search on their mark styling, unearthing their handle and identity. With the creative input of Frank Davis, the team prepares a contingency plan for getting the spider out of the picture. They spoof a message from the spider's landlord, detailing a dire situation involving eviction, burst water pipes, and a ferret in mortal peril.

With that option in hand, the team settles down to review what know of the opposition and decide on the method of the heist. Ultimately, they decide for social infiltration. Grasshopper will maintain physical overwatch and security via his drones, z will support via the matrix, and Jiang-shi and Frank Davis will approach the manor under the guise of hired experts who are to maintain and manage the artifacts stored in the manor.

This guise is aided by a thoroughly researched matrix profile of James T. Campbell, producing a spoofed message that mimics his manner of speaking when it comes to dealing with employees.

The Run

Frank Davis and Jiang-shi make it past the front gate, bluffing their way past the guard with the assistance of the fake Campbell message. Their SINs are scanned, but the scanner fails to spot the fakes and the SIN identities match up to their cover stories.

Inside, the two face a detailed background search by the spider. Threatening and blustering her, Frank Davis instills a sense of urgency that convinces the hired spider to do a faster, more nominal matrix search. Observing what's happening, z puts together very haphazard professor profiles for both infiltrators that somehow passes muster.

Having survived the spider's background search, the two runners approach the desk to retrieve the skull. They run into a powerful focus of some kind, one that afflects Frank Davis with nausea. However, his composure keeps him from vomiting right then and there.

As they're packing away the artifacts, Frank Davis spots the personal tablet of Jeremiah Campbell. Having the Data Liberator quality, he has to take it. He attempts to bluff the remaining adept guard and get him to check on his co-worker. The guard is unmoved and remains in the room. Frank attempts to palm the tablet with Jiang-shi providing distraction, but the keen-eyed guard spots the runners' antics. Fortunately, the run is saved by more quick-talking bluster, and the guard eventually backs down.

As the runners depart, a magical alarm triggers. Grasshopper's driving gets them out the front gate and evades physical pursuit, while Jiang-shi's spirit entangles their astral pursuer, allowing the team to escape cleanly.

Aftermath

A visibly moved Daniel Watkins reclaims the last remains of his father, and flies back to the east coast to attend to a proper burial. The runners are paid in full - Daniel insists on attempting to pay them, regardless of their offers to do the job for near-free.

Via the anarcho-communists, the runners disseminate the information on Jeremiah Campbell's tablet. The information includes damning evidence of campaign fraud as well as questionable ties to the Seventh Seal, a religious cult formed after the SURGE comet that has been implicated in many violent plots against shifters and other exotic metatypes. The timing is ruinous to Campbell's signature legislation, a 'Right to Housing' bill that would have loosened restrictions preventing property owners from discriminating based on metatype.

Behind the Scenes

Both the image of Eric Watkins' skull as well as key information on how to get into contact with the Haven community was anonymously provided to Daniel Watkins by Sahalé, in a bid to heavily damage the 'Family First' caucus. The Salish smuggler is working a political long game.

Rewards

+ ¥ 16,000 Nuyen [8 RVP]
+ 10 CDP to represent juicy data liberated, for use in improving knowledge skills or developing contacts [5 RVP]
+ 2 CDP

Optional Contact: Professor Daniel Watkins (2/3) for 4 RVP or 8CDP.

Game Quotes

"I just blue myself." --Silas "Whuh oh and--dare I say it--spaghettiO's?" --CTT. "z spoofed a professor profile but it wasn't very good. 'Yuul B. Awright is a professor of 'artifactology." --GM. "Thankfully this does not trigger my sadism." --Jiang-Shi

Player After Action Reports (AARs)

Grasshopper

This was smoother than many of the jobs I get paid for and I can't say I was unhappy to be paid to screw over a slimy politician. Not sure what i'm going to do till the long haul wears off, really starting to hate this stuff but it beats going on a job half asleep. Need to add taste sensors to a drone, that waffle looked good.

Jiang Shi Must be hard to know that your kin was made into a foci, glad that we're able to steal back the skull and give it back to the boy...just I wonder if I have any family out there...it hurts to remember.