Rolling in the Deep

Rolling in the Deep
Part of Adversaries
Date 2081-08-29 GM Ghostlin Location Redmond BTL den Status Threat Level: High
Factions Involved
ShadowHaven The Trinity	D@t@sp1ke
Harebuck KBC Rambozo Rasputin Vip3r

Summary

The runners were hired to kill a terrible dissonant technomancer who was running a BTL den, and had caused great trouble for The Trinity.

They killed him, obtained a list of clients who had bought his BTLs, rescued the BTL users present, arranged treatment for them, and destroyed all of his BTL recordings, some of which were quite horrible.

Background

The Trinity consists of Sharptusk (sometimes called Sharptooth), who was a Neo-Haven runner, his girlfriend Missy, and his boyfriend Taka. The three of them had been betrayed by a fellow Neo-Haven runner. But he didn't initially know by whom. Someone had turned in Missy and Taka to their former employers, likely to collect the related bounties. Missy, who had formerly worked for KE, was in a Knight Errant jail cell. Taka, who had formerly worked for Renraku was being held by the corporation.

Sharptusk hired a team of runners to rescue Missy from a downtown KE precinct (see report). Rasputin was part of this team.

Then, Sharptusk and Missy hired a team of runners to rescue Taka from the high security Renraku prison (see report.) Vip3r was part of this team.

Now the three of them had learned who was responsible for Missy and Taka being imprisoned. Their enemy was D@t@sp1k3, a dissonant technomancer who made his living running a BTL den in Redmond. The Trinity wanted to leave town and start a new life together, but they couldn't walk away without seeing D@t@sp1k3 destroyed first.

The Meet

Harebuck and Vip3r knew each other. They rode together to the meet. Rambozo gave KBC a ride. She was impressed to meet a man who she realized was a meme, like her, but for different reasons. Still, he was clearly committed to his branding and had quite a reputation and fan base. Rasputin drove to the Daze separately.

At the meet, which was in the backroom at the Daze, Sharptusk explained the situation. He provided the address of the BTL den. The Trinity would join the runners when it was time to attack. Most important to them was that D@t@sp1k3 die. They also hoped the runners could destroy his data files.

Harebuck led the conversation with them. They were not sure if D@t@sp1k3 would be on-site at the den physically. He would be in the matrix for sure.

The Plan

Vip3r and KBC reached out to contacts for more information, and then did some matrix searching. Vip3r called her contact David Yang from the Eighty-Eights Triad who connected her to their Halloweeners turf lead. He verified that the place was in Halloweener territory and operated by providing the Halloweeners with a cut of the profits in exchange for their help with security. Likewise, he noted that the Eighty-Eights would not be sorry to see the place gone. Vip3r cleverly negotiated another payment for the team from the gang. When KBC called her contact Miss Moon, she was able to get a layout of the building, and the information that a sewer/underground approach was at least possible, if they wanted to explore it. With a deep Tier 6 search on D@t@sp1k3, they learned how despicable many of his BTLs were. All the BTLs were outrageous extreme experiences, but that included some absolutely vile stuff, from snuff films to the experience of conducting brutal crimes against helpless victims.

The team quickly agreed that this collection of BTLs needed to be nuked from orbit, but KBC noted that one piece of data could be saved and would be quite valuable for blackmail. The list of who had bought each BTL experience.

Vip3r also called her friend Moth who she knew had hospital contacts to treat rescued victims of personafixes and BTLs, to arrange for treatment for anyone they were able to rescue. The two doctors, Dr. Isabel Wirth and Dr. Cliff Morrow, were willing to come to the site and help the BTL users, but only after the site was absolutely secured and safe.

Meanwhile, Harebuck bought an upgraded gun from Handy Andy, and was able to get it delivered before the *planned* time for the run (which was about 20 hours out.)

There was some time before the planned strike with The Trinity. Harebuck needed to rest, since he is nocturnal. He went home to sleep. Vip3r and KBC were still working on their deep data dive. Rambozo and Rasputin decided to do some physical surveillance for additional information - particularly the interior layout and number of guards present.

The Run

When Rambozo and Rasputin arrived on site, it became clear that Rasputin was virtually undetectable under his RPC cloak, and Rambozo was not at all stealthy and instantly recognizable with quite the street reputation. But this made for a good distraction. Rambozo could see the gangers on the street in the area were staying out of his way. He knocked on the door to the BTL den, and they let him come in, while Rasputin slipped in stealthily behind him. The two began to walk around. They could see three guards in the initial room, and a rickety staircase up to a sealed off room up on what would be the second floor of the warehouse. A manager's station designed to overlook the factory floor. But the windows were all taped over. This seemed likely to be where the boss was, if he was on site.

KBC noted to them over DNI that a BTL operator would have to acquire the footage of the extreme experiences they were selling. Rambozo was known for extreme violent experiences, and had an established fan base. Wouldn't the boss (their target) want to make a deal with him for him to let them record a BTL of his experiences? It might be an easy way to verify if the boss was physically on-site and any unique security in his office room, if it worked.

Rambozo decided to try it, providing a further distraction as Rasputin moved to explore the other rooms stealthily. The ploy worked. Rambozo would have to give all his weapons to the waiting troll to hold, but the boss was willing to meet him to discuss his business proposition if he was unarmed. Once inside his office, he captured footage of D@t@sp1k3's actual appearance, which the matrix team were able to quickly cross-reference to a fake SIN for Ozymandius Shelley, giving some more insight into their target's mindset and style.

At this point, Rambozo realized that he could probably do a lot of harm to the target they were trying to kill despite being unarmed, and the strike began far earlier than planned. He grappled the unsuspecting technomancer before the guard present in the office could react, and threw D@t@sp1k3 through the window of the second story office to the warehouse floor below. Then he yelled 'Pouncing Dragon', and jumped out the new hole in the window, and landed with a martial arts strike to the bewildered troll holding his weapons.

Vip3r woke Harebuck. Rasputin came running back to the main room. KBC protected Rambozo and Rasputin with 'I am the firewall'. Rambozo began to fight the troll, while Rasputin attacked the two other guards. Harebuck rallied the group with his leadership and direction so they could move more quickly, outpacing their opponents. D@t@sp1k3 survived the fall and tried to run for the exit. Rambozo shot their target unconscious. Recognizing that there might still be matrix-side threats, Vip3r jumped into the matrix to discover three powerful sprites ready to attack. KBC followed her in.

In the matrix, they could see that the sprites were each horrific. One looked like a monster from a slasher horror movie, all kinds of protruding knives. One looked like a corrupted blob of filthy oozing ink. One looked like a distorted human figure, grotesquely bound and contorted. Here, Vip3r looked like a naga modeled after an African bush viper, with iridescent black-purple scales. She split into two serpents (mirror image). KBC looked like a statuesque woman made entirely from brick. She attacked first, swinging the holstered brick on her hip in the direction of two of the sprites. The brick forked and smacked strong blows against slasher and ink. The three sprites attacked them. One caught KBC in a corrupted data storm, but her signal scrub helped cancel the additional noise. Vip3r launched purple lightning and venom at ink, and it exploded. KBC sent another strong forking brick attack against slasher and contorted, further damaging them both. The two remaining sprites were able to attack again. But then Vip3r was able to finish slasher, who exploded in a rain of purple and knives. KBC landed a final decisive brick in the face to contorted. They realized the others were still fighting, and returned to the meat to help.

Meanwhile, Rambozo and Rasputin had killed the initial three attackers, and were facing three more that had come in a second wave from another room. The two men were impressive tanks, shrugging off the majority of attacks, though they were outnumbered. They were also careful to avoid using explosives that might harm the BTL users who were on this floor of the building in the rooms that additional guards were coming out of. Three more attackers were dispatched by their guns. At this point, a third wave ran in and took a hard look at the carnage. Rambozo intimidated them to run.

Around this time, The Trinity arrived. The runners had triggered the strike many hours before the appointed time, but - since the Trinity had been nearby scouting in anticipation of the strike - they realized it was on, and came in through the back, taking out some guards on that side of the building.

The Trinity could see that their enemy was down.

Rambozo and Rasputin began the process of clearing the building - guiding the addled BTL users to a central point, ready for treatment - and making sure there were no remaining attackers or traps to worry about before calling in the doctors.

Vip3r and KBC returned to the matrix to address the BTL den data. Working together, they were able to find the list of BTL purchasers and what they had purchased, which they saved for blackmailing purposes, and then destroyed every other file, removing every trace of the vile content.

Once the doctors and the BTL users were safely off-site, Rambozo, Rasputin, and The Trinity enjoyed a party like atmosphere as they poured gasoline over everything and burned the horrible place to the ground.

Aftermath

The Trinity were able to relocate to Montreal. It is revealed that the failed runs trying to get Takahashi and Missy out of their corps were a method to control Sharptusk so he couldn't leave Neo-Haven, and as a method for D@t@sp1k3 to gain more money on those runner's deaths. The Trinity execute D@t@sp1k3.

The BTL users received treatment, and have their best chance at a better life.

The runners used the blackmail data to get additional nuyen.

Mary Claire refuses to do anymore business with Neo-Haven.

Rewards

10,000 nuyen (6,000 from the Trinity, 2,000 from the Eighty-Eights, and 2,000 from the blackmail for the BTLs)
11 karma
2 CDP

Runners have the option to instead take The Trinity as a 4/2 contact, and take only 6 karma for the job

Game Quotes

KBC: "Is it clown night at the punk club?" - Meeting Rambozo for the first time Rambozo shrugs. They walk out to his car. His clown car. KBC: "Are you a meme?!!?" He texts her "Remember to visit www.RambozoWorld.fun for all the Ramby antics ;p"

"Do you want him dead or tortured dead?" - KBC to the Trinity at the meet "What? No. No torture." - The Johnsons "Awwww" - Rambozo

KBC: "You're just gonna touch my deck? We hardly know each other..." Vip3r: "It's not like that! I have a girlfriend!"

Ghostlin (GM): "Let's not kid ourselves, you guys aren't the heroes." Harebuck: "I'm a hero!" Viper: "You're a himbo." Harebuck: "Yeah..."

Rasputin, setting out with Rambozo to do some stealthy sneaking: "Do you have an RPC?" Rambozo: "A WHAT? WHAT IS THIS THING?"

KBC: "Isn't this a place that would need to buy sensational experiences, to sell to BTL users? Like that would want to be able to market the lived experience of someone known for outrageous experience? Someone well known? With a fan base?" Rasputin: "The clown is the weapon."

Rasputin: "The information we got was that D@t@sp1k3 is an English major." (After learning his fake SIN name was Ozymandius Shelley.)

Player After Action Reports (AARs)

KBC

KBC here! This was my third run. What a wild ride. It was a delight to team up with Vip3r in the matrix. We are a good team! And she is a hustler first class, getting a pay out from the Triad, too. And now I have met Rambozo! I am sure the only reason I had not already heard of him was that I spent my entire life on another continent, in Euskal Herria. He is more famous than I will ever be. And clearly up for the right kind of mayhem. He and Rasputin are both impressive combatants. And if I had a job that needed stealth, I'd definitely call Rasputin! Harebuck is a good face and leader. I mean you have to look up to him with that rack, right? I feel like I helped in several ways on this run. Some good (or possibly the best kind of bad) ideas. And we even got some fantastic blackmail material out of it! There is no armor or ATM machine quite as good as blackmail. It's the guilt that just keeps on giving.

Vip3r

KBC, you flatter me. You're damn good with a deck yourself, and I was glad to have your backup against those sprites. It was also a delight to finally get to work with Harebuck... even if he did sleep through half the run.
So! Uh, this run was both a lot of good and a whole lot of bad. I'm pretty surprised I was able to successfully negotiate some extra pay out of my contacts in the Eighty-Eights, and I'm glad we were able to take this operation out along with the scumbag who ran it. However... this is the kind of thing that sticks with you. KBC and the others won't know, because they can't feel it, but being in a host with dissonant beings feels bad and wrong. It's like hate and evil made manifest on the Matrix. I think I'm going to need a few days to decompress from this.
Anyway. Even with the lengths we went to for them, I couldn't let the Trinity lose all the money they've saved to get out of Seattle. I know what it's like to start over, and I wish I'd had the support that they do. Buck and I gave them our earnings from the run, because they needed it more than we did.