Heart of the Deal

Heart of the Deal
Part of It's a Small Underworld After All
Date 2084-02-15 GM Keeper M Location Cheyenne, Sioux Nation Status Threat Level: Deadly
Factions Involved
ShadowHaven Whiteclay Mob Nathan Nootau Hotah Mahkah Zonta Tahcawin	Sioux National Police	Council of Elders	Downtown Cheyenne Mansion Security
Ez-Azael Heart of the Tempest Nu11st@ck	Chaska Akecheta Hanska Akecheta	Chaska Akecheta	9 Spirits Security Officers Head Security Spider IC Wards Security Drones
Casualties and losses
None	Very Dead	Very Dead	Head Security Spider Dead, 2 Spirits Disrupted, Damage to the Neighbouring Infrastructure
This was played out in a thread in the PBP channel on the Discord server.

Summary

A hostile environment, a missing - kidnapped - young woman, a Roaring Rampage of Rescue and Revenge. Cheyenne is a challenging sprawl to work, yet Ez-Azael, Nullstack and Tempest are back with the shield, not on it!

Background

Nathan Nootau, a Sioux Nation SINner working for DeckTech, Inc., a local B-grade corporation, reaches out to ShadowHaven in utter desperation. His younger half-sister Evie was supposed to arrive in Cheyenne a week prior, but they never saw each other at the airport. The case stinks: first, he's held up at the airport for "random security checks" even though he's waiting for Evie's airplane to land, then dubbed a hysterical half-blood (Sioux father, "Anglo" mother) and the Sioux National Police doesn't start looking for her. Finally, he's being told his "pinkskin" half-sibling wanted to run away and, as she's of age now, it's her decision. The Sioux Nation is not a nice place for Non-Sioux (a UCAS SINner) to be and he suspects foul play. That's why he hires the runners.

The Meet

The team flies from Seattle to Butte with smuggler help to meet with Mr Johnson. The situation is explained, Nullstack noticing the lapel pin of DeckTech, Inc. worn. Depending on what's desired, teammates will be paid money or cyberdeck upgrades on an individual basis. He covers lodgings at the Dancing Maid in the No Boundaries Neighbourhood of Cheyenne and burner SINs.

The Plan

The Dancing Maid is where legwork happens. Already en route there, Nullstack collects information on Evie through robust Matrix searches. She's apparently come into contact with a fellow Miracle Shooter enthusiast going by TallestWarrior65. He hacks their accounts in the game for worrisome information: TallestWarrior65 is Hanska Akecheta, a serving Sioux National Police officer and the grandson of Chaska Akecheta, a decorated combat shaman veteran of the force, currently a Council of Elders member. Hanska is infatuated with Evie and it appears he's taken the infatuation way too hard. Meanwhile, Tempest and Ez network with Zonta Tahcawin, learning about the area, the bigwig nature of the Akechetas and realise they will need help. That's why Ez then arranges a meeting with Hotah Mahkah, a Whiteclay mob fixer, to rent one of their GMC Armadillo vans for the getaway.

The Run

More legwork is done. Nullstack flies a flyspy drone around the vicinity, gathering information on the physical and Matrix security of the mansion in downtown Cheyenne where the Akechetas live. Tempest handles the astral scouting. The hacker also hacks in the host to discover the likely hidden basement, avoiding the security and finding out the safety system of the turret concealed in a bush by the covered garden greenlights Chaska, Hanska and Evie (undergoing cosmetic changes to look Sioux). It's hacked not to shoot Tempest and Ez, who soon drive over there with the hacker when the sun goes down. He's never caught, but the head spider's brain is fried with biofeedback, leading to the host in disarray. Things quickly get hectic when the casters arrive at the scene: they vault the fence, pass the turret and stand their ground against bound spirits. Nullstack's hacking confuses the turret bush to engage the nearest rotodrone. Tempest rushes into the hidden basement, disrupting a plant spirit guarding the sedated Evie with a single F16 Lightning Bolt, resisting all attacks of the other three spirits. At the same time, Ez bravely engages the guardian spirit - not in combat, but negotiating with them that they will take their leave with Evie without harm to anyone or anything else. This doesn't come true as we find out later, though of no fault of his own. The spirit agrees in condition they be freed from the binding - preferably by being banished, but as an honourable warrior, they also consent to Ez channelling a water spirit to disrupt them. The mysad agrees and disrupts the guardian spirit in a single Elemental Attack.

When making their escape, more dramatic events occur. The fire, air and beast spirits alert Chaska to intruders even before the disruptions do. He notifies security and his grandson before spending passes to cast F3 Increase Reflexes and F3 Combat Sense to prepare for the confrontation. Hanska heeds his grandfather's warning and grabs weapons, heading to the covered garden. He sees Tempest with Evie, only to end up fried with another F16 Lightning Bolt. His biomonitor reports he's in overflow to DocWagon, both men having super-platinum contracts. This leads to Chaska abandoning any resistance, because he tries to heal him. Ez, driven by compassion demanded by his faith, proves himself an unexpected good Samaritan when he risks himself to cast F1 Heal with reagents to increase the limit and successfully saves Hanska from death. That's when Chaska decides he won't want to issue a bounty after the oni SURGEling, but the decision has no bearing as Tempest immediately claims him, Hanska, the master suite side of the mansion, the turret bush, the fence, the chunk of the road south of it and the foyer of the museum on the other side of it with an F16 Ball Lightning.

Aftermath

The runners, Evie and the Armadillo are protected through the Spell Shaping metamagic, allowing for the frantic escape from the crime scene, racing for the border to change from the van into a GMC Banshee from a Whiteclay smuggler, Wapasha Mato, get paid and escape with the siblings - Nathan knows Cheyenne isn't safe, so he immediately chooses Evie over his career prospects and agrees to remote work from Seattle. The flight is successful, although a great deal of powerful combat magic was slung, finishing in the high-profile multiple homicide and the Sioux National Police on the lookout for the powerful magical assailants of connected, renowned people the general public has no idea kidnapped anyone matching the signatures available. The perspective is different in the shadows of Cheyenne: they are no fans of the police, frequently not too keen on the politicians, while Charlie Whiteclay had his family help so much because of the whole "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" situation. This is responsible for both Street Cred and Notoriety awarded. As typical for Shadowrun, two sides to the same coin.

Rewards

20 RVP x 1.5 = 30 RVP total (gear rates on upgrading decks if desired):

• Hotah Mahkah - 6/1, chip owed (-6 RVP) <= can spend RVP or CDP for Loyalty 2 out of the box due to the impression left on the shadows of Cheyenne
• According to initiation cooldowns, initiation discounts
• 3 Street Cred <= Ez, Nullstack, Tempest
• 2 CDP
• -15 faction rep with the Sioux National Police
• -15 faction rep with the Council of Elders
• +2 faction rep with the Whiteclay mob
• Wanted (25000¥, Sioux National Police) <= Ez, Tempest
• Records on File (Sioux National Police) <= Ez, Tempest
• 2 Notoriety <= Tempest (very powerful spell signatures responsible for attacking, killing and all the damage on the news)
• 1 Notoriety <= Ez (spell sigs, spirit stuff, though nothing connected to the killing, in fact, a Heal signature on Hanska's corpse)
• 0 Notoriety <= Nullstack (they know that the two had hacker support, but never caught as much as a glimpse of him)

Optionals:

• Nathan Nootau - 5/3 (-7 RVP)
• Zonta Tahcawin - 4/1 (-4 RVP) <= can spend RVP or CDP for Loyalty 2 out of the box due to the impression left on the shadows of Cheyenne
• Wapasha Mato - 5/1 (-5 RVP) <= can spend RVP or CDP for Loyalty 2 out of the box due to the impression left on the shadows of Cheyenne
• Ez: Holy Text, Closer, Spirit Champion can be purchased in any combination desired
• Nullstack: Ninja Vanish, Profiler can be purchased in any combination desired
• Tempest: Reckless Spell Master, Spirit Hunter, Mage Hunter can be purchased in any combination desired

Game Quotes

"Go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice'. Matthew 9:13." - Ez-Azael

Player After Action Reports (AARs)

Nu11st@ck

"Love it when a run comes together. Expanded my network, got a new deck, reunited a separated family, all in all a good day. I must say I feel pretty bad about that spider though, definitely over did it a bit and they paid the price for just doing their job, hell that could have been me back in the day. And fragging Tempest...What a damned hothead. I hate blood magic as much as the next, but this is their home, their land and they seem cool with the practice. But more than that it's reckless. You just don't go around killing important people like that without good reason. Way too much heat from a job like that, and now poor Ez is paying the price for it."

Heart of the Tempest

"Mercy? For those fuckers? Brought us some heat, but it needed to be done. My only regret is that I lack the training in Loki's arts to cloak the echoes of the power I wield. Still, despite Ez trying to fucking heal that kidnapper and attempted rapist, we got out free. And then Ez thought to give me advice on laying low, heh.

Ez-Azael

"No good deed goes unpunished, I suppose... Maybe it was me being high on Psyche and Novacoke at once that made me think healing that dumbass was a good idea; maybe it was the Mercy of God coming upon me in that moment that wanted Mercy instead of Sacrifice. What matters is that Tempest vaporized an Council Elder of the Sioux nation and his grandkid, and we BARELY got away with it. Null held steady on his end with the Matrix and I can safely say the ethereal beings that are Spirits may be more favorable to me. That, and Tempest is better suited for loud-jobs. But hey, we did get the job done and I feel like we ultimately did the right thing."