Sound Check

Sound Check
Date 2081-03-01 GM Teksura Location Bellevue
Factions Involved
ShadowHaven Tanuki Leviathan Captain Boomerang Kani Rapture	Ares Macrotechnology Knight Errant
Teksura's original GM notes

History

8 months ago, Street Lethal came out and User:Teksura started work on this run. It took this long to put together because, quite frankly, Tek wasn't prepared to run a prime threat level run and didn't want to push through something he wasn't comfortable with running. Eventually, Tek figured out another way to go about it, and figured he could get away with running it as a High threat if the team only had to hit the thing in transport. One thing led to another and the more Tek worked on the run, the more he realized it was looking more like a semi-prime than anything else. So he had to do it as a Semi-prime anyway. "But at least that half-made note file is out of my "in progress" folder. So I got that going for me." - Tek

Summary

Ares is transporting an experimental sonic weapon- the Sound-Induced Disorientation Device -to their Seattle headquarters for additional testing and a demonstration to the higher ups. An unknown corp hires the team to hijack the shipment so his corp can figure out how it works and get their own version into production ASAP.

The Meet

• The team meets at a business in a shady area of Everett’s D zone, at a place known to operate as a neutral meet spot. Everyone is checked for guns and made to leave them, and warned about FAB in the room. Dual natured members of the team are escorted into another room to video-comm in for the meet.
• Mr. Johnson discusses his objective with the team, and shares what little he is willing to part with, but is somewhat open about having more details he is willing to share after they agree to the job. While he doesn't directly lie to the team, he doesn't tell them that after they call him to say they got it, he will make them sit on it for 24 hours before the exchange takes place to ensure they don't have any tail or tracker on them.
• The shipment will be transported along the freeway in an ET transport, and they should expect heavy resistance. It is important to not bring any heat down on the exchange after they get it.
• The team agrees to the job and is told all the intelligence the Johnson has to offer.

The Plan

• After some looking and a few contact calls, the team sets themselves up with a bolt hole that is near the freeway with access to the underground.
• They then do the crazy thing, and set charges on the underside of an overpass along the route with the intent to stop the transport.
• Both Kani and Leviathan went looking for someone they could essence drain to boost their abilities.

The Run

• The team scouts with a drone to see when to expect the transport, and positions themselves behind the last escort. They wait until the transport approaches the site of the explosives. and set off the charges just in front of the lead car, seriously injuring the officers as their vehicle goes over the edge. The truck deploys several drones as a countermeasure and begins trying to push through the blockage, ramming another vehicle to get around the hole.
• The team, mostly gets out and a firefight ensues, the drones drop dispassionately fast as the team is tagged with security tags and hit with trackers in Pepper Punch rounds.
• Tanuki manages to ram the other car over the edge after the officers leave it so he can pin the transport with a vehicle maneuver. Since Shadowrun has no idea how a PIT maneuver actually works, we jokingly renamed the mechanic to "Vehicular Grappling" and therefore Tanuki succeeded in a Vehicular Grappling test, pinning the transport against a wall so it couldn't manuver.
• Kani took some anti-theft shocks, but eventually the two infected pulled the doors off the back of the transport and took the goods.
• Tanuki then drove straight down the hole, bouncing off the 2 cars that had already fallen through, and escaping along the street.
• Now the real fun begins.
• As the team is making their escape, they start to become aware that they are being tracked when Kani spots the Wolfhound tailing them and shoots it out of the sky without warning. The team complains about firing weapons in an enclosed space without warning.
• Some radio signal scanners reveal a lot of tags are transmitting. Tanuki activates the Vehicle Tag Eraser, frying the Kanmushi that made it to the Tanukimobile, but not the Knight Errant P5.
• There is some more struggling to figure out what else it could be before the team remembered that sensor bullets are a thing, and Pepper Punch often is laced with security tags. They discuss removing those tags with a water spirit to wash off the orange dye and hopefully get rid of the tags, but ultimately the 3 members who were shot end up dumping their armor out the back of the van.
• Confirming they are still being tracked, the team is anxious, and discussing where they can go, and decide to head to the underground. The team figures the gun itself must have a tracker, and they need some way to block that signal.
• They call Amelie and Jean-Baptiste to ask about a nearby entrance that may not be so publicly known, and head for it, sure that the clock is ticking before HTP swoops down on them.
• They also call Rocket Raccoon about getting something that might help, ultimately the first thing the bandit can get hold of is a Directional Jammer, but it'll take some time.
• Once out of the Tanukimobile, they do a quick check for more trackers on the Tanukimobile itself, and spot the Knight Errant P5. Tanuki wrecks it with his anti-theft shocker and sends the Tanukimobile away.
• Some rolls are made in secret, and the team is unlucky enough to not find a path deeper into the underground, still barely maintaining a connection. KE deploys a flyspy to try and track the team underground because they're really not eager about engaging down there, but Kani once again spots the drone and shoots it. The team complains about firing weapons in an enclosed space without warning.
• With the looming danger of losing their suspects and the precious cargo, the HTR team makes the car to set up breaching charges on the street to blast their way through to the underground. A team appears in front and behind the runners, and they open fire.
• Kani easily wins initiative, and opens fire. The opfor complains about firing weapons in an enclosed space without warning.
• HTR tries to fire a flashbang at the team, and Boomerrang catches it and throws it back, which prompted HTR leadership to adjust tactics so that this doesn't happen again. HTR refrains from using further grenades.
• Rapture makes use of the SIDD to mess up half the HTR team while the rest of the team focuses on the HTR mage and the Shield Carrier on the other side. Everyone is very impressed by the performance of both Shield Carriers.
• The team makes generous use of Full Defense and Edge to dodge and soak the full auto attacks incoming, and eventually they take down the HTR team enough for them to attempt to escape.
• Kani pokes her head up from the hole and spots an Ares Dragon, 2 more Operators, and an Ares Matilda. She gets shot up and decides they need to go another way.
• HTR does not send in 2 guys to follow the runners who wiped the rest of the team, instead regrouping and calling for backup. A new team is deployed, but the runners manage to finally find depths far enough to block the tracker. They continue into the depths of the underground until they are good and lost to HTR, and wait until they can send someone to recover the Jammer from Rocket.
• Finally, the call is made to the Johnson, who puts them on the 24 hour delay.
• 24 hours later, the team makes their exchange and Mr. Johnson offers them a nice bonus to show his appreciation.

Rewards

• ¥75,000
• 30 Karma
• 2 CDP

Game Quotes

"Well. time for people to get naked." - Kani

"Because this is a prototype I'm not going to assume it is not seaworthy." - Boomerang on the gun they stole

""The people without shirts is Tanuki's fault."

Everyone: "Stop shooting things without warning us!" Kani: Sighs, puts away barret, pulls out unsilenced shotgun.

"Shirtless, sticky and full of rubble, just like Tanuki likes it." -Madman

"That's not how nakedness works, Tek!" -Leviathan

"We have Tanuki. Getting naked was the only option."-Maly

Tek: He's shooting the naked guy from behind. Maly: That's kindof a dick move...

thematics is going to be asking me some very pointed questions about why half the team is naked.

Player After Action Reports (AARs)

Kani

I want everyone to use this run as a learning experience. Select sound filters. Get them. Frag, get 9 of them. That way I will no longer have to hear about firing silenced weapons from inside vehicles in an effort to stop pursuit drones from pursuing. Same goes for inside tunnels in the Underground. Next time I hear a complaint, I WILL begin just firing shotguns without silencers, just to get my point across. Now that the public service announcement and accompanying warnings are out of the way, I will say that the plan went more or less smoothly, we got the thing without anyone getting killed, KE returned the favor and didn't try killing us, was a great fun shootout in the Underground. Only downside is, because we waited til we were sure pursuit was off, and the Johnson was going to make us wait a full day before the meet, we wound up returning the device in broad daylight, which is unhealthy for 3 of the team members.

Please file any further complaints with the complaint department. You'll find it somewhere in Redmond, and I check it once a month.

Boomerang

Boomerangs. They're silent. No one complains. As a note, Kani, I have already purchased sound filters for future runs and fixed them to the sound of your Barret and shotgun.

Run went well. The taking of the device was perfectly executed. Escaping down the hole by bounding off two cars... that was crazy, Tanuki, but you got the moves. I didn't fancy losing my armor, especially when we found out that the damn gun was being tracked anyway. Still, I gotta say, being able to claim I took on an Ares HTR team in my boxer briefs is a pretty good story. I don't regret taking this job, and even losing my armor is no big deal now that I have this much nicer stuff I could afford thanks to the bonus the Johnson gave us.