The Bear and the Nightingale

The Bear and the Nightingale
Date 2085-07-24 GM Sarcarian Location Kodiak, Athabaska Status Threat Level: High
Factions Involved
ShadowHaven	White Vory	TerraFirst!
Fennec Neznayka Saint	Aleksandr Dmitriev Fyador Vanya the Horned Bear	Jacob 'JJ' Jones Oscar the Ork
Casualties and losses
	Aleksander (knocked out), Dmitriev (shot with a shotgun, stabilized), Fyador (bamboozled), Vanya (stolen)

Summary

In which Neznayka and Saint take a road trip to Alaska and rescue a bear.

Background

Neznayka used to work for the White Vory in Athabaska, until she was rescued by TerraFirst! Now, years later, she's back on the Vory's radar following the events of Rapunzel, Rapunzel, Let Down Your Bear when she was rescued from them by fellow runners. Since Chloe Green saved her from their captivity she's been keeping an eye out for the people responsible, and as serendipity would have it a fellow TerraFirst! member from Anchorage named JJ (who is seeking her aid with an upcoming operation) recently sent her some photos of Dmitriev, one of the White Vory bojevik involved in the above-mentioned incident. Since JJ is seeking Chloe's help acquiring a very illegal and expensive high-calibre rifle with some some ex-ex rounds, Chloe decides to call Nez to tell her about the lead and ask for her aid smuggling the illicit cargo up to Athabaska.

The Meet

Nez and Saint are hanging out at the former's homestead in Snohomish when she receives a call from Chloe Green, who tells her she's got a lead on Dmitriev, one of her father's associates, evidently meeting with some fellow Vory up in Athabaska on Kodiak Island. Chloe asks her to smuggle a very illegal sniper rifle up to Anchorage, where her colleague JJ (who was part of the team that initially rescued Nez from the Vory years ago, and to whom she was indentured for a year before transitioning to work with Chloe) will fill her in on the Dmitriev situation. Nez, after some trepidation at the idea of having to deal with that particular TerraFirst! cell again (given that they were responsible for blowing her up during her initial extraction from the Vory), agrees, planning to bring along Saint as well as several of her animal companions (including Mishka the horned bear) for the trip and leave mutual acquaintance Oberon in charge of watching the rest until they return. Since the Vladivostock-Seattle navel smuggling route is Vory-controlled, this means a road trip through the NAN.

The Road Trip

After conferring with Chloe on the details as well as a failed attempt to upgrade their fake SINs, Nez receives the address in Auburn to pick up her illicit cargo and a location in southern Puyallup where she can meet with some Dog Soldiers who will guide them across the Metroplex boarder into the SSC. From there, they can head north of Vancouver through the mountains and meet with some First Nations gangers at an old disused ranger station who will take them through the Tsimshian protectorate and into Athabaska, where they'll have a long drive northwest to Anchorage.

The trip itself is relatively uneventful - Nez talks to Saint about her past in Athabaska and her time with TerraFirst! before coming to Seattle, confiding an anxiety over meeting with the Anchorage cell again; Saint promises that she'll protect her from being taken advantage by them, and the two enjoy some private time together with the menagerie on the road north. With Saint driving and Nez navigating, they're able to avoid getting lost in the mountain passes or driving off any steep embankments; in time, they're able to meet with the First Nations and make it past the sensor arrays at the Athabaska boarder. From there, they trade off shifts at the wheel as they make their way to their destination.

The Reunion

Arriving in Anchorage, the let Chloe Green know they've made it there safely and arrange a meeting with her contact "JJ" at the Bear Paw Bar & Grill. Nez, not keen on being recognized, uses synthskin masks to disguise herself and Saint as out-of-town tourists - unbeknownst to either of them, Saint provides her with the same mask she used on the job to rescue Nez. Once they're both made to look like different people, Nez has her rat swarm case the place, sneaking in through vents and the rear door to record the layout with their camara collars. Once she's satisfied there aren't a large group of TerraFirst! members waiting for them inside (instead there's simply a familiar-looking human and a single ork bodyguard), the pair enter the bar for their meeting.

"JJ" proves to be affable enough, though his presence puts Nez on edge - especially when her "service dog" hellhound indicates to her that he's an Aware (however he doesn't need to read her aura to recognize the dryad's distinctive glamor). Nez plays it cool during the ensuing conversation while Saint acts as her "bodyguard" and shares a plate of nachos with JJ's ork friend. JJ himself does his old acquaintance the courtesy of pretending not to recognize her, though he drops a few probing questions and some mispronounced Russian words just to see if she slips up and reveals herself. Nez tells him she has his package, and in exchange she's interested in what he knows about the Vory presence in Kodiak. JJ explains that he had a "nature photographer" taking pictures of a Yakashima operation off the coast who captured the image of Dmitriev meeting with a pair of Vory footsoldiers, and that from what he can tell they're part of an animal smuggling ring in the region controlled by someone named Fyador. Nez recognizes the name as the same one used by her erstwhile father's old boss, though she conceals her surprise as she formulates a plan. JJ also lets them know that most of Kodiak Island is owned by Ares, who operate both a spaceport and navel facility there as well as their Joint Venture Command Center for arctic operations, though the city of Kodiak as well as a section of national parkland remain open to visitors.

The Run

After a handoff with JJ (during which they utterly fail to hide the fact that there's an enormous bear in the back of the van as they remove the sniper rifle from its smuggling compartment), the pair make their way to the ferry to Kodiak Island, bribing a worker at the Anchorage port 300 nuyen with the excuse that the extra ton of weight they're carrying is actually a large shipment of pet food. They run into a bit more trouble on the island end however when Saint's SIN is flagged by the scanner and she's escorted off to meet with a coast guard official in private. Saint proves to be a far less adept liar than her dryad associate, and her story of being a simple vacationer doesn't stand up to scrutiny, resulting in her being grilled over the lack of passport stamps on her SIN. Luckily, they prove very amenable to bribery, outright soliciting one in exchange for making this whole problem go away - unluckily, Saint is lacking in liquid cash with which to bribe them and, not wanting her new SIN burned, she ends up offering her motorcycle instead with the promise that she'll return with money.

According to JJ, Fyador runs his operation out of a dive bar called the Feral Dog just outside of town, which is frequented by Ares navy types as well as the local criminal underbelly. Lacking anywhere else to take Mishka and the other critters, they simply park the van nearby and leave the bear's favorite tunes playing on the radio. Upon entering and getting drinks (during which time they're invited by a pair of Ares goons to watch the hockey game), Nez spots the Vory tattoo on the bartender's neck and her rats capture a video of a pair of men speaking in low tones with them in Russian before being invited into a back room. Deducing that the fighting pit is likely located in the basement and requires a password to enter, the pair of elves schmooze their new associates; they discover that the Ares guys ("Bob" and "Frank") have heard rumors of things such as fights with bears taking place here, though they're unable to recall the Russian idiom that serves as a password into the smoky back room. Thankfully Nez is able to discern the phrase, and after concocting a story about Saint being there to wrestle a bear, they provide the pass phrase and the entry fee to the bartender in exchange for access to the basement.

Downstairs, a horned bear fights a trio of cybered-up dogs in a fighting pit - Nez, upon seeing the bear, notices a white patch near one eye and recalls a similar feature on one of Mishka's missing cubs. She manages to keep her composure, not mentioning it to Saint for the moment, and the two confidently make their way towards the boss' office (which is easy to spot as there's a pair of goons guarding the door). As they approach, one of the goons - a large troll with an iron band around one of their tusks - approaches and asks to know their business. Nez, introducing herself as Anastasia, explains that she has a professional fighter here who commands an above-market rate, so she needs to speak to the boss. The troll - Aleksandr - assesses Saint (or "Paint", as "Anastasia" introduces her, "because she paints the ring with blood") and is doubtful that she "commands an above-market rate", challenging her to show her stuff in the ring; he proceeds to give the street sam a good deal of trouble, but Saint manages to draw first blood with a decisive uppercut, impressing the surprisingly-good-natured mook enough to share a drink with her afterword before taking her to meet with Fyador.

Unfortunately, neither Nez nor Saint recalled that Saint's synthskin mask is the same she wore to the job where she rescued Nez from the White Vory - and as luck would have it Dmitriev, the man she rescued Nez from, is in the room with Fyador when they enter. Dmitriev immediately exposes the two disguised elves, angrily demanding Fyador let him exact his vengeance on them. Fyador, in no mood for games, tells Dmitriev to shut up and demands that "Anastasia" and "Paint" explain themselves. Nez, realizing the jig is up and noticing that Fyador seems to hold Dmitriev in contempt, asks if he's going to listen to "the yapping of one of Pyotr's dogs", managing to get a laugh out of the man. She admits that she's Pytor's daughter and, playing off of Fyador's dislike of his former underling, suggests that he was responsible for Fyador ending up demoted to this backwater smuggling route posting and that he might get his revenge by allowing her to kill the man for him. Fyador is skeptical, but as Nez starts to win him over with her negotiation skills Dmitriev - outraged that Fyador is giving her the time of day - shatters a glass and demands to be allowed to turn Nez in for her bounty. Fyador weighs the options and, won over by the dryad's persuasive skills and the prospect of vengeance against his old underling, allows Nez a few minutes alone with Dmitriev to interrogate him for information on Pytor.

After a bit of Vory interrogation techniques, Dmitriev reveals that Pytor is going by the name Pavel Abramov and is working with someone named Vlad in Seattle, giving her her first solid lead on her father - she thanks Dmitriev by shooting him in the chest with his own shotgun as payback for doing the same to her months before. Fyador is more upset about the stain on his rug, and Aleksandr proceeds to render first aid. Fyador takes Nez's contact information, and leaves her with a stern "don't fuck me on this Zhizn", leaving the "or else" left unsaid.

Once that nasty business is dealt with, Nez and Saint share a drink at the bar and talk about what just happened. Saint sees Nez's gaze keeps drifting back to the caged horned bear with the shock collar on it, and asks if she's thinking about Mishka. Nez admits that she is, and that she's quite sure that the bear is related to her beloved companion. Saint says they should break her out, but Nez says that Fyador could be a useful ally within the White Vory and she is reluctant to burn that; Saint encourages the dryad not to work with people like him, and offers to rescue the bear on her own so that Nez isn't implicated. She rejects this proposal, and says that they'll rescue the bear together.

The Bear Rescue

Deciding they'll need Matrix support in order to disable the collar and facilitate their escape, Nez tells Saint that she knows a "decker" and contacts Fennec, who immediately agrees to the side-quest and even offers to do the work pro-bono. The techno calls Ara Yeou and asks if she knows any smugglers who can take her there - since Kodiak is on a major smuggling route, Yeou is able to find someone going that way and hook Fennec up with a cheep ride to Athabaska. Having never been to Alaska before, she agrees to travel to meet with her to share drinks and catch up after the job. With her lift secured, the hacker packs a bag and takes a boat up to Vancouver before hopping in a sea plane and flying north.

Once she's connected to the Athabaskan national grid, Fennec projects an AR avatar to talk with Nez and Saint (who spend the night camping with the critters in the small section of national parkland left on the island). Saint, having previously been pranked by the Matrix fox, is immediately incised, but Nez manages to make peace between the feuding runners. Filling Fennec in on the situation, they ask her to scout out the Feral Dog's host and see if she can find out how the animals are being moved in and out secretly.

Scouring the grid for evidence of the Vory operations and hacking into the bar's modest host, the techno manages to stay hidden from the patrol IC as she locates, decrypts and makes a copy of the bar's financials, knowing the books are likely cooked and there may be actionable evidence there- however the gang decide against letting law enforcement do their job for them, deciding to pass it along after in order to hopefully break up the animal trafficking ring. Fennec instead remains in the host and subverts the camera network, mapping out the employee-only areas and discovering the entrance to a tunnel which leads north of the city. She's able to hack a junction box and start tracing the icons which are connected to it via wired cables, but ends up spotted by the Vory decker while she's doing so. A brief cybercombat ensues in which Fennce's firewall deflects the incoming data spikes while the host stubbornly fights her efforts to locate the last icon in the chain of lights down the tunnel and run a trace on its location; after an inordinate amount of effort, she manages to both fend off the decker and determine that the tunnel's exit is located somewhere in the national parkland northwest of Kodiak before rezzing out.

While Nez searches the park for the tunnel exit (which she with her critter helpers' aid, located behind a false rock face and opened via a pneumatic-powered hatch), she contacts JJ and asks if he can lend her a boat that can transport a pair of bears past the coast guard; since she helped them out by smuggling the rifle to them, he agrees to send Oscar and a suitable craft in exchange for a five thousand nuyen donation to the cause. Meanwhile, Saint reluctantly promises Fennec a favor if she can get her bike back from "Jim" - Fennec prepares to have to remotely hack the craft and pilot it out of the Ares company man's gated community, but when Saint reveals that it's merely collateral for a promised bribe the Matrix fox elects to simply pay the bribe herself to avoid having to do any more hacking before the job.

The next night, Nez and Saint return to the Feral Dog so that "Paint" can fight the bear as promised; Fyador agrees, eager to collect a percentage of the bets made on such a fight. Vanya - who has been cybernetically augmented and given an orientation goad as well as combat stimulants - puts up a good fight, with Saint pulling her punches until Fennec is able to disable both the shock collar and orientation goad. On cue, Nez leaps into the pit and plays a recording of Mishka's growls, using her bear pheromones and Disney princess powers to calm the beast; the resulting 14 hit animal handling roll is enough for Vanya to not only recognize her, but allow her to mount the bear and ride him to freedom.

While Nez rides Vanya towards the tunnel and Fennec deals with the Vory decker (who comes back for round 2 and ends up immediately de-rezzed after a critically-glitched resistance test against the fox's data spike), Saint body blocks the Vory goons attempting to stop the rampaging bear with their tranq guns. Fennec releases the caged dogs in order to cause chaos (and save the captive animals), while Saint engages in a 1v1 brawl with Aleksandr - the troll puts up a good fight, but the street sam manages to put him on his ass, though she leaves him alive as a worthy opponent. One of the goons with a dart gun manages to get a shot off at Vanya, so Nez takes the narcojet dart for the bear so that he's able to escape; Saint catches the dryad as she passes out and falls off the bear's back, carrying her after him as they make their escape through the tunnel.

Aftermath

Thanks to TerraFirst!'s boat and Oscar the Ork's skillful watercraft piloting, the gang are able to smuggle Miskha and Vanya off the island. Having reunited the horned bears and found her a solid lead on her father, Nez is content with the results of the job. Saint thanks Fennec for her aid and both elves offer a favor in the future. Having successfully completed her side quest, Fennec leaves them to meet with Yeou and catch up, while Nez and Saint take their bears and begin the trip back to the metroplex.

Rewards

(1.5x duration modifier)

For Nez and Saint: 8 karma (8 RVP) 18 CDP (8 RVP) Ascension rewards (5 RVP) +2 TerraFirst! reputation -5 White Vory reputation Nez's bounty with the White Vory increases by 20k - Dmitriev swears vengeance, Fyador plots revenge. Saint makes a friend in Oscar the TerraFirst! Ork and a friendly enemy in Aleksandr the White Vory Troll.

For Fennec (sub-contracting rewards): 5 karma 10 CDP Drinks with a fellow fox Favors from Nez and Saint

Narrative Consequences: -The White Vory's operations in Kodiak are partially compromised after footage and info on their animal fighting/trafficking ring is leaked to Ares and the Athabaskan government. A pack of fighting ring dogs are also released into the nearby wildlife refuge. -TerraFirst! receives the material aid they need to move against a Yakashima industrial fish farm. -Nez gets a lead on the location of her father Pytor (aka. "Pavel Abramov") and his associates. -Vanya the Horned Bear is rescued and returned to his mother Mishka (happy ending!)

Game Quotes

Vory Fighting Ring Mook: "And what are we calling your friend here?" Saint: Intense thinking. " ... Paint. You know, because I like ... Paint the floor of the ring. With blood."

Player After Action Reports (AARs)

Saint

This what you felt watching me circle the drain, Nez? I ain't losing sleep over some syndie trash, but I haven't stopped thinking about that fire in your eyes either. I know how hot it burns, what you gotta burn away to keep warm. If this is your choice, Nez, I'll burn with you, down to smoke and ash.

But this ain't the way you told me live. If you're still cold at the end, I'll keep you warm instead.