A Thousand Legs Tippy Tap In Unison

A Thousand Legs Tippy Tap In Unison
Date 2083-08-19 GM Asmodeus Location Redmond Status Threat Level: High
Factions Involved
ShadowHaven	Centipede Spirit
Scrappenny 8133D3R Dr. Lollipop	Neighborhood Community
Casualties and losses
None	One Area Jammer

Summary

Team goes investigating a weird occurrence for Von Neumann in a Redmond neighborhood and find an oddly friendly centipede.

Meet

Von Neumann meets through a drone. The offer is relatively simple: there's a local weirdness in Redmond, out in the Barrens where the buildings are in exceptionally good condition, the gangs don't interfere and the locals are suspicious of strangers. Von Neumann needs to know what's so weird about it.

Legwork

Some research verifies that this used to belong to one of the older megacorporations that was then merged into Renraku later down the line. While Renraku technically owns the buildings, they never really bothered to develop them. Some drone scouting with Scrappenny and Lollipop reveals the place to be in quite some static zones, not to mention each of the neighborhood's buildings having jammers near the rooftops, making drone scouting difficult at best of times. They do spot normal looking people, however.

Run

The run starts when physical infiltration is introduced. The team tries to first show up normally and just talk things out, investigating some suspicious-looking shipping containers giving off negative celsius readings. One of the locals intercepts them and asks them to join the barbecue. Flip flops, sandals, beige shorts and polo shirts, it looks almost idyllic, even the children are playing outside witout much supervision, something that isn't normal for the Barrens. The team considers exploring one of the two laundromats since they have less floors to go through; doing so at night is easier. Drone scouting begins once the jammer is disabled and the team finds a functioning swimming pool in the basement as well as locker rooms. Disturbingly, there's a burrowed out hole in the far wall, as if someone dug an escape tunnel. Going in to investigate with a small drone, Lollipop detects some motion rapidly approaching her and tries to fly away as fast as possible. A centipede, colossal in size, follows her on the ceiling and grabs the Fly-Spy. Lollipop jacks out and leaves the drone to its fate.

Rather than trying to mess with a centipede in its home turf, especially after Matrix Searches imply it may be a centipede spirit, they try to coerce some of the locals to talk about it. After some strongarming, they manage to get some information; all of the locals have an agreement going on with the centipede. It doesn't turn anyone into more of its kind and in return people that cause trouble for the locals are protected by it. It eats dead people, they eat dead centipedes, for example turning them into barbeque sausages. While the team is suspicious, the locals look clear of mental manipulation and the place -is- nicer than other parts of the Barrens. The centipede was strong and the danger wasn't as massive, so the team makes the executive decision to let sleeping dogs lie.

Aftermath

Von Neumann is informed of the situation. It understands why the team chose to retreat and will compensate them for scouting, even if the place isn't de-infested.

Rewards

• For 8133D3R: 20,000 Nuyen (10 RVP)
• For Scrappenny & Dr. Lollipop: 10,000 Nuyen & Mundane Ascension Rewards (10 RVP)
• 3 Karma (3 RVP)
• 2 CDP

Player After Action Reports (AARs)

Dr. Lollipop

Very interesting, some of these nasty bug spirits can even be quite useful. I wonder if with proper control you can do some good with them. On the other hand, the danger they pose is gigantic. I hope we made the right decision by letting this one live.

Scrappenny I HATE DEALING WITH BUGS WHY IS THERE ALWAYS BUGS EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!