The Barons of the Barrens

The Barons of the Barrens
Date 2085-09-02 GM Sarcarian Location Puyallup City, Knight Errant Precinct 13 Status Threat Level: High
Factions Involved
ShadowHaven Gearheads	Knight Errant
Buck Chance John Galt Saint Veles	KE Goons KE Rigger KE Spiders
Casualties and losses
	Pride, mostly, as they are deftly outmaneuvered by shadowrunners. Minus two prisoners too.

Summary

The gang stage a prison break, spoons and saucy wallposters not required.

Background

On a crisp Seattle evening, Buck, over eight feet of leathery, minotaur wall, prepares to unwind after a day of tending to his blown-out Barrens homestead by preparing a home-cooked meal. In his classic barrens-chic tank top, torn jeans, and loaded firearm accessories at the hip, he is absolutely no Martha Stuart.

Nonetheless, he is well acquainted with having guests in his home.

As Buck glances into the reflection of his knife, he spies Cairn, present, silent, and waiting. When finally noticed, before he has even turned his back, Cairn has words, and an offer. "A compact is sought," he says. "An employer wishes to speak. A ganger who has requested assistance in breaking his own out of Knight Errant custody."

Buck, politely, asks if he can eat first, and Cairn, obviously, says of course. Buck offers him a steak, and he hums in contemplation before getting it well done.

Outside of Buck's barely renovated gas station, Chance strolls up, half-drunk, with a roughed up motorcycle dragged along in one hand, and a six-pack in the other. He screams Buck's name, and the minotaur, evidently used to things like this, lets him inside without much fanfare. Though he isn't so put off by the giant snake mashing his snout against overdone steak that he doesn't still want to drink, Buck has to explain to him that he's about to be on a job. Not tonight. Chance, around that time, receives a call himself, this time from Clint Wilder, who tells him there's a ganger who wants his boys out of prison down in Fife. Chance, by stroke of chance or good fortune, tells Buck that he might be on the exact same gig.

In stark contrast to the nervous energy that usually comes with a new gig, John Galt lies half-dead and wishing he could finish the job. His suit, which had been new and beautiful this morning, has already been marred by cigarettes and beer stains and an ocean of rippling wrinkles from being slept in. Everyone always thinks magic is so great, at least until the Drain hangover kicks in, and the stick-like, average-Joe looking man that he is is not physically cut out to handle it well.

That said, it pays the bills. Despite coming off another run just that morning, he receives his own fixer call, who informs him that he has a job, and that he shouldn't complain about being in high demand. Plus, the gig is last minute, and they've got no one else available - a Gearhead down in Fife wants to hit the pawns and win back some material, and they'll need proven mettle to make sure it goes off the way it's meant to. He reluctantly agrees, and rolls painfully out of bed and onto the floor.

Saint talks with Alex. Alex tells her she's got a gig busting up the cops in Fife in Tacoma. This is the kinda job she enjoys.

Veles is in maintenance mode and is currently discussing such issues with one of the WCM's many techs, who tells her progress on her various blackouts and lapses in memory is an ongoing process. Commander WCM (Get the name again later) comes in, and Veles perks up to attention. There's a guy asking for help, he's got some bail jumpers in custody that need to be busted out. Veles is asked to assist on the gig with a minimum of casualties (no return fire). After a little pushback from Veles, she reveals she does owe the J a little bit of a favor, and the PO is being a little bit of a dick about it, so she's got some pressure on her. The boys are in simsense prison, which is an additional layer of security your run of the mill team won't be able to handle.

The Meet

Veles touches down in Fife in a fucking VTOL what the fuck oh my god that's NOT discreet.

Pull up into the garage, half a dozen people working or so.

J brings out coffee and it is AMAZING and FUCKED UP, John is doing even worse than earlier today.

Some boys were racing, and a KE spike strip got tangled up in their tires. Pre-planned ambush down their route. They're on the way to being transferred to county jail, we need to get 'em before that. Puyallup City police station. Impound lot is a couple of blocks away.

These boys were in trouble before, parole officer was on them, so this was a pre-meditated sort of thing on the Knights' part. John Galt negotiates, leveraging the danger of the situation.

Veles asks for a wholesale supplier of food. Like spam.

Negotiating happens, vehicle upgrades are on the table. Team negotiates an up front cost of 5000 UCAS dollars for scouting gear.

The Plan

Job settled, the team set about discussing their legwork. John, upon realizing THE Saint is here, leans over and whispers to her asking if she would tell him to die. Struck with surprise and confused, Saint asks him why in the world he would want that. That if he wants to die she can help, but he doesn't need her permission. He, Buck, and Chance each explain their entrepreneurship with the Die T-shirt (Chance dragging it out of the smuggling compartment out of the truck), and Saint, more bewildered than anything, isn't entirely sure how to react. Buck says this shirt is for her, she should wear it ironically, and she turns away and tells him to die, the smallest smile twitching at her lips.

Veles, however, reveals that she is an infiltrator, doesn't use Matrix comms, and won't be killing cops on this job. Saint asks her if she has cop friends, and Veles says nothing. After the team asks for clarification, she says it's not their business, and Saint fires back with the fact that it absolutely IS their business if someone who's buddy buddy with cops is on the job where they're explicitly hitting cops. She leaves, the situation unresolved, and Saint mumbles that if they end up on an APB for this she's going to be upset. Chance reassures her - he's been fucking with cops in the Puyallup district for months now. If worse comes to worst, he can cover their escape.

They do ask Saint to make sure she doesn't kill people, and she says the best she can offer is that she won't as long as it's not needed.

John uses a spirit to scout the location, a spirit of man that looks like Jason Mamoa, normal and cool.

Chance sets about on the Matrix and swaps his persona for a street-wise sasquatch criminal's. Persona is an 8-bit dumb little sasquatch junior.

Information gathered: KE Precinct 13, just on the border of Tacoma and Puyallup City. Syndie territory so a lot of cops here are probably on the take. Chance pulls up some reports from the news, KSAF corruption reports, etc. Security initiative 10 years ago to up the security. Cops frequently turn off devices to counter interconnectivity with the new host infrastructure, but is otherwise very submissive and hackable. Lots of keycard checkpoints. Palm scanners. Prisoners are frequently nanotech'd these days.

100 year old building. Fifth world construction. Concrete walls, plastcrete facade. Has the normal bollards, shutters, etc. Cameras everywhere. Anti shock systems. Prisoner holding is real secure in terms of acces scontrol. Big doors. Keycards everywhere, palm scanner for prisoners. to get through in the prison area. Different host per precinct watching all the time. The cops hate it and turn their stuff off when theirs crimes but they are largely heads up. All controlled through a rating 6 host.

KE Data Host is R6 A6/S7/DP8/FW 9

Meanwhile, Veles posts up to watch the station within view of the precinct. She's got some long range cameras, hopping from Gotham rooftop to Gotham rooftop, noting which windows are open and which aren't, where the sightlines are, if she can get guard rotations, etc. She ascends plasteel facades and rooftops with very little difficulty.

Monowire fence pop out. Gear is mostly like, ballistic masks. Building is like six stories tall, prisoner processing is at the ground level. Upper levels are primarily staff offices.

John Galt calls a contact who knows some cops, who only demands some kind of payment to the downtrodden in return for the information. Most police in Seattle are kind of done with the corruption of the thirteenth precinct.

Veles lifts her radio up to her mouth, speaking quietly with her periscope just barely peeking above the lip of the rooftop. Her voice is scratchy, coming from the radio's speaker: "Saint can arrange a loud distraction, I can solo ghost the interior. Don't start shooting, make it look like hooligans so they're more aggressive and less likely to call back-up, more likely to handle it themselves. That'll make them chase you personally and draw them out. Also lowers concerns internally, kids spraying graffiti on cars is an annoyance more than a life threat."

Saint is going to be the one to create a loud distraction. Getting spray cans, being a nuisance in the impound lot. Veles is going to solo ghost the precinct with a breach charge getaway plan if things go hot.

The squad, minus Veles, go to meet a John's dirty cop contact Chad Brent. Sort of a scummy runner bar a distance away from the precinct. John Galt really gussies him up, listens to his stories, pays him extra money to have never seen them before.

The team convene to discuss someone who might fake being a perp to get inside the precinct in addition to Veles, to assist her, and create their opening with the distracted cop. John Galt considers doing it, but emphasizes that he doesn't yet know how to mask. Chance questions what masking is, and Buck helpfully explains that it's the magical equivalent of those moments on the Matrix where you don't want to rub your dick all over everything. Chance, unimpressed, thanks him for the explanation.

Chance scouts the impound lot on the Matrix.

R5 Host. Rcc R4 Firewall 6. A dozen drones patrolling the perimeter and interior. Couple watchmen, security goons, not a great sensor suite. Goggles, respirators. Image displays for the drones Decent spider. 7 Firewall on the host. Drones on RCC not on host. Fence is boarded up and surrounded by a concrete barrier.

The Run

Chance, inside the host now, evades the spider, finds the barnacle stuck to the target vehicle's windshield, and using the codes established at the time of arrest, has the means to fully release it whenever is needed.

John Galt casts a trid phantasm, and an invisibility spell to cover their asses while they cut through the fence. He DOES get spotted, however, clever alteration of his trid phantasm to mimic a punk kid getting spotted and dashing away saves the operation. With the hole safely cut, Buck uses Traceless Walk to magically sneak through the hole in the fence, while Saint gymnastics her way through as well.

They find the car and Buck squeezes inside, ready to drive his little clown car with Saint in the passenger's seat. Chance releases the barnacle, lowers the bollards, and crashes nearly a dozen drones as the runners peel out of the impound lot. Knight Errant dispatches a pursuit, and Veles, ready to shine, takes her chance.

As cars blare sirens and peel out of the station, Veles sneaks up to the fire escape and begins to climb, dispatching a drone of her own to keep an eye on the area ahead. The door has been left open as Chad Brent has promised it would be, the man himself on a smoke break. Veles leaves a newspaper to wedge the door open behind her and speeds through to check the corners. Cameras and whatever staff are left inside are helpless as her specialized hardware lets her tread tracelessly through the corridors of the prisoners.

Chance, with Buck and Saint relatively secure in their getaway, dives into the host for the second half of his gig. With Squatchie out and on the prowl, he sleazes in and narrowly ducks detection by the various spiders and IC on patrol. True to his bigfoot ancestry, he is blurry and evasive. He loops the cameras to assist Veles in her ghost attempt.

As Veles is about to turn a corner, her sensors pick up footsteps, and she retreats back to press herself against the corner's wall. Using a parascope, she peers around the corner and confirms the guard's passage before advancing into the cell block proper, where their VIP inmates are spotted. They're typical Puyallup hicks, covered in soot and ash and proud of it. Veles opens the cell block, and all the prisoners file out, not just the two they're after, though those are the only two that are able to follow her back out the way she came. As Veles melts into the concrete and thermal smoke, the sensor net, despite the roll of its life, loses track, and sees only thin air.

Aftermath

With the two secured and the building escaped, Pitty, VERY pleased, invites the crew out for celebratory drinks, and all but Veles accept. She bluntly tells him she'll expect her food to be delivered soon, and takes her leave.

Rewards

REWARDS for "The Barons of the Barrens":

• 10,000 nuyen (5 RVP)
• 5 Karma (5 RVP)
• 10 CDP (4 RVP + 2 base)
• Optional Gear Reward: Vehicles/Vehicle Modifications
• Optional Contact: Pitty "Grease Lightning" McShane (C5/L1 Mechanic) for 5 RVP or 10 CDP
• Optional Contact: The Dukes (C3/L3 Drug Runners) for 5 RVP or 10 CDP

• For John:
  • Optional Contact: Chad Brent (C2/L2 Dirty Cop) for 3 RVP or 6 CDP

• For Veles:
  • A stolen truckload of Spam for the WCM's food stashes and charity efforts.

Game Quotes

Client: "You guys are hardcore shadowrunners. You do this kind of thing all the time, right?" Chance: "I smoke Betameth all the time, that doesn't make it reasonable or affordable." John Galt: "Jesus Christ, Chance."

[He leans in very close to Saint's ear and does a stage whisper.] "Can you tell me to die?" -John Galt, to Saint

Player After Action Reports (AARs)

"Not gonna lie, was sweating my nuts off on this one. Got to meet THE SAINT, got to make a new drinking buddy, AND got to screw over some pawns to free some Seattle good ole boys. Fuck yea, great night. And the junkyard had a preem fuckin' phoenix I can tune right the fuck back up. Today is fucking preem shit. - John Galt

Buck: "Y'know, any day I get to pull one over on the Pawns is a good day. Particularly if it means I get to bust out a couple of drekhead go-ganger hicks from lockup. Hell of a fun time with this squad, I hope I get to run with 'em again."

Chance "I gtta quit doin' Pawn jobs. I gotta quit doin' Pawn jobs. I gotta quit doin' Pawn jobs. Holy drek I just back cracked a pawn host and threw open the doors for a buncha puyallup crusties to run amok. I think I may be elite now... also I think I can wedge another module slot in this hunka drek if I just......"

Saint

"Y'know, I'm starting to think saying 'die' ain't really getting my point across."