The Caravan

The Caravan
Date 2079-03-01 GM FloobyBadoop Location The Redmond Barrens
Belligerents
Vory, Shadowrunners	The Red Hot Nukes
Units involved
Two Vor, Four Shadowrunners	More Than Six Gangers
Casualties and losses
None	Six

Background

It had been a slow work week for the runners, and rent was just around the corner. They were relieved when their fixers called. Apparently, the Vory had an open job (as in, they made knowledge of it public in Shadows, and that anyone could apply) that they needed extra guards for a shipment crossing the Barrens. The would-be runners were told to meet with a man named Artur at NE Novelty Hill Rd., outside of Touristville.

Meet

The runners took their respective vehicles over to the meeting location. Sure enough, they found an Ares Roadmaster. Standing there was a well-dressed bald man, a peacoat over his business clothing, standing in stark contrast to the two thugs by the truck. The first was a human with a buzzcut, sporting black shades, and wearing a wifebeater with blue jeans. He was tall, with thick muscles, and the cold didn't seem to bother him. The other was an orc with a white tanktop, and designer track pants.

Once the team had all arrived, and got themselves situated, the bald man approached the team, and introduced himself and his associates, Igor and Vasily. He had a distinctive Eastern European accent, and smiled a lot. He felt comfortable talking about this business in the open, as they were in the barrens now, but the team wanted to speak more privately. Artur acquiesced, and turned on a subvocal mic, asking the team if he could be invited to their commlinks to talk. They agreed, and Artur gave them the details; they were to escort the shipment up Novelty Hill Rd. This would be the first leg of the journey, and would take about half an hour. Assuming nothing went wrong, this would be the end of their job, and they would be paid. If something did go wrong, they would have to complete the second leg of the journey, towards Salish-Sidhe territory, which would take another half hour, but less if they pushed it. The pay would be five thousand nuyen per person, an inflexible number. The team thought this was good pay for a simple escort job, and agreed. Artur gave them his commlink number, asked them report if anything went wrong, and bid them farewell before walking off toward Tourstville.

Run

Before leaving, they ensured the Roadmaster wasn't being tracked by RFIDs. Seeing only everything that ought to be there, they got into the car with the two Vor. The human, Igor, was driving the Roadmaster manually, while Vasily would be manning the Roadmaster's rear-mounted machine gun, currently covered by a tarp.

The team spoke with and got to know each other in the truck. Lucky Lee asked everyone what their specialities were, and began making alchemical preparations accordingly. The others were keeping a sharp look-out, particularly Marion, who was looking out the roof of the truck, and Paz, who kept watch from inside. Once they got deeper into the Barrens, Vasily took the tarp off the machine gun, and manned it.

The first part of the journey was quiet. They passed by the typical areas of the barrens, places full barely functional residences and squat-holes. As they got deeper, the streets became less populated, until they reached an area not even the squatters bothered with. The streets were flanked by old buildings, worn brown, chipped and crumbling with age. They looked sad; what were once luxury condos, trendy storefronts, and high-rise tech company offices were now abandoned, frozen in their dilapidated glory.

Since the the runners were paying such sharp attention, they noticed the blockade on the road up ahead. Two buildings had been collapsed over the road, using explosives. The air smelled of sulphur, and the buildings were filled with bullet holes. Since there was no road going left, and the alleyways could only fit two metahumans across, the only road was right. Boomstick recalled his tactical knowledge from his days on the other side of the law, and recognised this as an obvious way to funnel traffic into a chokepoint. Lucky Lee remembered at this point that this was around the territory of the Red Hot Nukes, an all-dwarf gang obsessed with explosives.

It was likely meant to be an ambush. Lucky Lee assensed the wreckage, though he was muddied down by the weight of the Barren's astral space, and the aura around it had little emotion tied to it, save for the mud that was the Barren's misery, suggesting the wreck had happened a while ago. Meanwhile, Boomstick drew a magical symbol into the pavement, to summon an Earth elemental, which appeared as a mass of humanoid-shaped asphalt, wielding a hammer. Boomstick told it to be begin clearing the wreckage, and Paz helped along. Meanwhile, Marion stood guard.

While assensing the area again, Lucky Lee saw distinct shapes of metahumans, which he did not perceive before through the muddied astral space. He communicated this through DNI, and the team sprang into action.

Some of the runners had already taken drugs, and Lucky Lee used his alchemical preparations on them as well. Marion, already furious from the kamikaze, was enraged at how slow the world seemed, while everyone around him could scarcely keep up with his movements. One blink, and he'd dashed behind a corner.

The team got the jump on the gangers, instead of the other way around, fighting them around the streets and inside the buildings. The dwarves used automatic weapons, and hand-made explosives, but the team suffered only minor injuries. The same couldn't be said for the dwarves. The ones that weren't knocked out by gel rounds were perforated by bullets, or engulfed by an ice spirit formed from polluted barrens water. Vasily manned the turret, and did his part peppering them with machine gun fire.

Aftermath

The team packed the unconscious gangers into the Roadmaster for the Vory to deal with. The journey continued without further interruption, and ended when they reached a non-descript building with an attached garage, guarded by fierce-looking Vory. Igor dropped the runners off. The team called Artur, who said that Igor and Vasily told him about how things went. The runners explained, and Artur seemed fine with it, considering what the reprisal might be for the gang that decided to fuck with the Vory. Artur gave the runners the codes to escrow accounts. The players immediately transferred the money to their accounts, which cleared without a problem. Since they had no ride, Marion looked for a car to steal, but found none. So, the runners walked their way through the barrens together. Thankfully, they made it back without interruption, and the vehicles were exactly as they left them. From here, they parted.

Rewards

Five thousand nuyen and 4 karma each.

Player Characters

Marion

Paz

Boomstick

Lucky Lee