Invasive Species

Invasive Species
Part of La Famille Du Peintre
Date 2085-04-11 GM Sleevey Location The Factor's House; Tacoma, Seattle Status Threat Level: Medium
Factions Involved
ShadowHaven	Colvos and Wren Construction	Servants of the Green-Eyed Dreaming	Arboreal Ivy Spirit
Blackhawk Bunny Hop Sticks Vic Valentine	Assorted Construction Workers Angela Yyrus	Caravan and Wind Through the Reeds	Possessed Workers
Casualties and losses
			The Workers were freed and the Arboreal Spirit was slain and subjected to chemical weedkillers

Summary

"I made an entire run based on a plant species I really hate." -Sleevey

Background

After the death of one Creighton Terrell, a representative of a collector sends Douglas Carlson to negotiate the acquisitions of several items of value that belonged to Creighton. Another pair of eyes is seemingly also on the man's resting ground as well

The Meet

The meet is at an old saloon styled bar in Puyallup, dubbed 'the Ash Bucket'. The runners arrive in various states of bedragglement (and with BHop very nearly being taken out by Blawk's truck). Douglas Carlson gave the assembled runners a simple task, they wished to recover various items of value that belonged to one Creighton Terrell, a respected hermetic academic, before he passed. Their last known location was their laboratory at the 'Factor's House', a historical building that been purchased in 2064 for his research on the impact of historic sites on the ambient manasphere. Later it was renewed and rebuilt after it was deemed magically unimportant, owing largely to the multiple deconstructions and reconstructions the area had gone through over the years. The greater area had been privately purchased, with the outer buildings serving to magically isolate the interior from prying ambient mana that might disrupt his research. The items in question Carlson wished to uncover were Creighton's journal, lighter, and his skull. After some negotiating for better pay, they settle on 6k nuyen each per individual item recovered and the runners set off outside. After some small talk, Blackhawk's newly acquired truck arrives and the cowboy manages to lift and secure BHops prized scooter into the trunk of the truck. With that the runners set out to retrieve what they could.

The Plan

Heading towards the construction yard the runners decided to do some reconnaissance. Blackhawk and Sticks able to figure out a potent and large spirit resided near the center of the center, said center being walled off with massive and numerous vines. Sticks, during astral reconnaissance, also spots a second spirit lurking several meters above the site, seemingly keeping watch. Ever chatty, the mage decides to spark up some conversation with spirit and learns a few key details. First, the spirit was connected in some way to a nearby mage, either a bound spirit or an ally spirit. Second, the spirit was there to ensure whatever entity occupied the site remained within the site and would react with hostile force if the runners took actions that might enable the ivy to spread. Third, the spirit was named Wind Through the Reeds and its summoner was named Caravan. Lastly, he was able to set up a meeting between the summoner and the team, on the conditions that it was to be at a very specific location and that no violence was to occur, even bringing weapons would cause the mage to dip out.

Vic and Sticks working their charms talked to the construction workers inside employed by Colvos and Wren. The workers having noticed four of their own having gone missing and have grown concerned as a result, however their company was employing a green mage who was stated to have the capabilities to dispose of the spirit effectively, arriving in 48 hours. With this information in mind, the pair departed to head back towards the others. Meanwhile, in the matrix BHop tried her best to access matrix information but unfortunately ran into resistance via their local spider with a very... eccentric personality. After a failed question to identify the foreman who apparently was incredibly attractive, BHop left the matrix with little information gained.

The runners met back up and discussed what they have learned via their recon, deciding it be for the best they head in before the Green Mage arrived. Blackhawk decided to stealth in himself to the walled off areas of the site despite his condition, thinking some physical information would likely be for the best. Using his athletic and stealth capabilities, Blackhawk was able to sneak in with some assistance from BHop observing and tampering with the camera feeds, this time using her resonance to evade the spider's gaze. A house and greenhouse awaited inside, both of which being completely overrun with vines that seemed to emerge from the greenhouse. The building was completely overgrown, acquiring physical access would likely mean hacking through English ivy. One disturbing image however was the wandering body of one of the construction workers, the vines piercing and puppeteering their body. After a brief moment, the man noticed Blackhawk, repeatedly muttering phrases stating to join it as it extended its plant covered hand. Blackhawk quickly was able to punch the figure in the face, knocking them out, before managing to slip away over the walls to return and state what he had found.

Finally, the team met with Caravan, the mage. Sticks and Vic went, both without any intention of violence, and found a frail, grey haired youth sitting on a bench beneath the streetlamp. The mages assensed each other, with Stick learning that this mage appeared to be very very ill but had a separate astral signature, reminiscent of a health spell, on their aura. They traded information back and forth. Caravan wasn't only there to restrain the arboreal but was also there for the skull and apparently worked for an unknown 3rd party. The two of them realized that going after the skull would likely mean tussling not only with the arboreal ... but also with the mage. Pondering that, they went their separate ways, with 'Reedy' waving goodbye to the runners.

The Run

Realizing the plant was far more observant than they had thought, a plan was formed. Vic would blast rock music to distract the entity while Blackhawk and Sticks snuck inside the house to hopefully uncover some of the items in question. BHop would go in physically as well, although not further than the outer wall, in order to keep up her PAN amidst the noise. Hooking up speakers, near the wall Vic blasted aloud as best he could, giving the performance of a lifetime to a very angry plant and many exuberant construction workers. BHop evaded the spider and grabbed control of the cameras, giving the all clear. With Sticks on the astral and Blackhawk on the physical, they did the best they could snuck around the vines that covered the floors of the house. Unfortunately ... a perfect infiltration was not to be. The team tripped over a leaf and, all at once, the workers outside swiveled towards the source of the movement. BHop held reverance towards spirits, as a kami is not to be trifled with, and offered to speak with the spirit. Unfortunately, the conversation was not overly helpful. The english ivy muttered sentences composed of only a few words, asking the runners to become 'childing' for it and referring to the workers as 'soil'. When they attempted to bargain, the spirit asked them for more 'soil'. Deciding that bargaining with an unstable, inhuman plant creature was probably unwise, the team decided to stick with the original plan.

During the conversation, the team picked up a few valuable pieces of information. Despite conversing being able to have a conversation, the plants seemed entirely blind, at least on the physical plane. The vision of the workers was fixated on the point of disturbance. Using this, the team deployed another axis of distraction, Vic Valentine played his funky music with such gusto as to physically vibrate the leaves of the plants and BHop tossed down a speaker. Both of these allowed the astral and physical sneakers to sneak away.

Inside the outpost, an old building modeled after the historical trading post, they entered a back room and found desk with an old 19th century styled lighter resting atop it. digging through the desk, the pair were able to find the journal but not without Blackhawk accidentally alerting the spirit of their presence, which quickly refocused its attention on the newly discovered runners in an attempt to make soil of them. The runners did all they could to escape as astral and physical spines and vines did their best to barrage them. Blawk and BHop fired off shots into the plantified workforce and Sticks summoned ball lightning, powerful enough to scorch the plant severely ... but the magical backlash nearly killed him, scarring him with lightning patterns across his arm. Thankfully after using all they could, the runners managed to escape.

Aftermath

The runners decided the run was accomplished. Two out of three items wasn't bad. Blackhawk and Sticks staying behind to observe the Green Mage's arrival, watching a terrible battle commence between invasive plant and spirits of the douglas firs and sword ferns that naturally populate the area. Amidst the confusion, Caravan's astral form darted into the greenhouse and emerged carrying a strange skull. It was dual natured, bearing the potent signature of a powerful ritual. More interestingly, however, were the two emeralds that had been set into its eye sockets. Blackhawk got the signature of the skull before leaving himself.

The contents of the journal were odd. Primarily it consisted of incredibly dense notes on Botany and how the astral connected with plants and wildlife, even leading into the manasphere itself. Creighton had become obsessed, his hand growing tighter and more scattered with each day and his frustration growing and growing Halfway through, he changes his point of focus to dreams, citing some sort of breakthrough. That was the way to truly scratch a mark on the mana sphere. Naturally, the journal was unfinished, although a keen eye notes several entries, even long after his death.

Regardless, with the lighter and journal in hand, Carlson was appeased and the job was considered done.

Rewards

High (13 RVP)

• 12,000 nuyen (6 RVP)
• 7 Karma (7 Karma)
• 2 CDP (spend this on the BOTANY knowledge skill or PERISH)

OPTIONAL REWARDS

• Blackhawk may take high pain tolerance at chargen rates.

Game Quotes

*Bolt: "You know, there is one thing I do that cheers me up when I'm down." Blawk: "I am not using K-10." Bolt: "There's ANOTHER thing I do when I am down." Blawk: "I'm not doing Betameth." Bolt: "I have a job for you."

"Damn, my fixer got VITAS, hope he gets better."

"Blackhawk gets into a car crash and goes 'Oh fuck they creased my J's!!'"

"You know how I know you're full of shit? Our Overseer is a BABE, get the fuck out!"

"I hate Johnny Bravo, I hate Johnny Bravo, I hate Johnny Bravo, I HATE JOHNNY BRAVO."

Player After Action Reports (AARs)

Blackhawk: "That skull is gonna haunt my dreams... my chest... got it burns. I can move on... I can move past it. I need to. If this comes back to harm people I will be ready... I'll be... stronger. I have to be... god it hurts..."

Bunny Hop

It's sad, isn't it? It's not like the spirit knew that just wanting to live meant others had to die. You can't be mad at it for that, even if they had to put it down... Ah well, I hope those guys are satisfied with the goods, at least...