Breaking the Ice

Breaking the Ice
Date 2081-10-22 GM Sarcarian Location Puyallup Status Threat Level: Low
Factions Involved
ShadowHaven Laesa Syndicate	The Daisy Eaters
King Beef Nogitsune Roadkill Zephyr	Street Gangers
Casualties and losses
	7xGangers

Summary

In which the runners are asked to retrieve a bottle of alamestra from some thieves who stole it.

Background

Argent, an up-and-coming member of the Laesa Syndicate, has arranged for a bottle of alamestra (a rare and valuable elven liquor which must be kept cold lest it evaporate) to be smuggled into Seattle from Tir Tairngire (along with a regular shipment of various illicit goods) as a surprise for his bosses. Unfortunately, the truck carrying it was attacked by street gangers and the portable refrigeration unit containing the bottle was taken along with the rest of the loot. Argent needs to fix the problem and fast, but he doesn’t have the pull to get Laesa thugs to handle it, and he doesn’t trust the Ancients not to take the alamestra for themselves, so he turns to the Haven for assistance in his time of need.

The Meet

The runners are asked to meet at the Daisy Chain in Tarislar as soon as possible. Roadkill is shopping at the Crime Mall and heads on over, while Zephyr drives all the way from Bellevue. King Beef initially plans to take the bus, but Nogitsune saves him from that grim fate when he offers a ride to anyone who needs it (thankfully his vehicle can accommodate the huge minotaur). Everyone manages to arrive within an hour and a half (driving to the south edge of the sprawl during rush hour is a fun time), with Roadkill arriving ahead of the others as he was already in the district. He manages to sneak his ceramic pistol past the club’s MAD scanners and points them out to the rest of the group – King Beef and Zephyr are both magic and have little use for guns, but Nogitsune decides to try to bring in his briefcase sniper rifle and has it confiscated by the bouncers, to be returned to him when he leaves.

Argent pings everyone when they arrive and highlights himself in AR, sitting in a reserved booth near the back; the team realizes they don’t have a proper face, so Nogitsune takes point with the negotiations. Argent explains his problem and the time-sensitive nature of the matter without disclosing the contents of his package, simply stating that the container is about the size of a breadbox and that it must be retrieved while it is still cold (they have about 4.5 hours), offering them 6000 nuyen each if they can do so. Nogitsune pushes for more cash and manages to squeeze an extra 2000 out of the elf, along with an offer to stay in touch in the event of future work (i.e. the opportunity to purchase him as a contact), as long as they bring back whatever other stolen goods they find from the shipment for him to fence. The team accept the job, and Argent gives them the last known coordinates of the truck (where the driver pushed his panic button) along with a commlink number to reach him at once they have the package.

The Plan

Leaving the club, the team (minus Roadkill, who takes his own van) hop into Nogitsune’s vehicle and head to the coordinates they were given – an old smugglers route along the back roads near the sprawl’s southern boarder – in order to investigate and look for signs of their quarry. Finding a burnt out truck with a dead driver, the team takes a cautious approach - Zephyr summons a spirit of man and shows it the photograph of the container they’re looking for, commanding it to use its search power to try to locate it, while Nogitsune and Roadkill approach the truck stealthily. King Beef has no such illusions of subtlety however and follows behind without a care in the world. The spirit informs Zephyr that it has found something that looks like it could connect to their container, so he projects over to investigate and sees the part of the refrigeration unit that was powered by the truck (the container with the alamastra detached from it). Roadkill recognizes the setup from his days in DocWagon and deduces that it could be used for transporting cultured bioware – or metahuman organs.

Puzzling over the discovery, the team manage to make their surprise checks and notice the nearby quartet of gangers behind cover pointing guns at them – all except King Beef, who stares off in the other direction. Getting the jump on the gangers, Zephyr has his spirit use the accident power on them (all but one fail to resist) while Roadkill unleashes supressing fire while Nogitsune flanks and unloads his flashette shotgun rounds, taking one of them down right away and hurting the rest pretty badly. The gangers try to shoot the kitsune, but two of their AKs jam – the third manages a lucky shot, wounding Nogitsune and causing Shark to fill him with the urge for ultraviolence (he manages to resist going into a frenzy, but only just). King Beef remains oblivious to the fighting for the turn, so Roadkill takes down a second ganger, and after managing to no-sell a fire punch from Nogitsune the one who shot him sees that his luck is rapidly running out and surrenders, begging mercy for himself and his friends.

The team decides to spare the gangers, so Roadkill patches them up with his medic skills while Nogitsune interrogates them. He learns that they didn’t attack the truck, they were simply laying in wait for whoever owned it to come and investigate so they could rob them; they’re pretty sure a larger, meaner gang called the Daisy Eaters (who evidently have a prejudice against elves and a reputation for organlegging) did the hit, since that’s who’s territory they’re in, and point the team towards some nearby abandoned warehouses where the gang is likely keeping their ill-gotten gains. Thanking them for their cooperation, Nogitsune manages to negotiate some additional assistance – have the gangers check out the warehouse a few hours after they leave and clean up whatever mess they leave behind, in exchange for being able to take whatever’s leftover. They agree to the terms.

The Run

Driving towards the warehouses, the team does a bit of recon and finds a larger one with the windows boarded up that’s had all the cover approaching it removed to provide clear line of sight to its surroundings; the team sees a rat get shot, just to confirm that they have decent aim and weaponry. Zephyr has a water spirit investigate, finding a pair of metahumans patrolling the perimeter along with a watcher spirit – a complication, as not one but two members of the team are Astral Beacon! Nogitsune finds a sniper’s perch nearby while Zephyr elects to stay in the van and project, having his spirit use its movement power on King Beef so that he can quickly cover the ~200m distance to the warehouse.

As one of the guards rounds the corner, Nogitsune blasts him with his sniper rifle and knocks him over while the minotaur huffs kamikaze and begins charging. With King Beef is drawing any incoming fire, Roadkill begins sprinting towards the warehouse as fast as his non-magical, non-chrome legs can carry him. Zephyr has an earth spirit attack the watcher to keep it from spotting the approaching mysad who’s lighting up the astral, but it manages to dodge both the spirit’s attack and Zephyr’s manabolt. As Nogitsune finishes off the guard with a double tap, King Beef decides that doors are for losers and bursts through the metal loading door like the Kool-Aid man.

Having a minotaur burst through the wall tends to draw attention, and King Beef is shortly thereafter lit up with automatic weapons fire from the trio of AK-wielding gangers inside the warehouse; he manages to soak the damage, just in time to get hit with a lightning bolt to the chest. 1 soak box away from passing out, he no-sells a shot to the face from the final heavy pistol-wielding ganger, who he subsequently beets into a bloody pulp. Zephyr has his spirt enter the warehouse and use the accident power on the gangers while Roadkill sees the second perimeter guard about to flee from the sniper that killed his buddy – he decides to let him go, if only so that there’s a survivor to tell the story. Nogitsune manages to spy the lightning bolt throwing mage through the 10ft hole in the wall and geek him, as per protocol.

Inside the warehouse, King Beef is nearly shot by another round of assault rifle fire – however he has an accident thanks to the spirt the clip falls out of his AK, and the minotaur proceeds to supplex him death. However this proves to be too much for the champ, and at the start of the next turn is knocked out by drain. The remaining four gangers can’t quite believe their luck – until the earth spirit melts one of them with acid, causing the rest to flee in a blind panic. One heads out the new hole in the main door and is promptly sniped, while the other is cleverer and makes for the rear exit. However, Zephyr’s water spirit gives Roadkill its movement power now that King Beef is down for the count, and the now-speedy sam catches up with the fleeing ganger in time to put him down (one survivor is enough).

Aftermath

Searching the warehouse, the team manage to locate the portable refrigeration unit, secured with a biometric lock (which the gangers unsuccessfully attempted to pry open with a crowbar). Electing not to try to open what they believe likely contains some sort of bioware tissue or cultured organ, they gather up all the valuable cargo they can fit into their vehicles (including a half-full crate of Tir brandywine – the gangers were getting drunk off of it, and the team sees no harm in taking a bottle each as a memento).

After patching themselves up and reviving King Beef, they call Argent and arrange a handoff at Midas’ Palace. He meets them out back of the club with a pair of bodyguards that unload the goods into a van and provides them with silver credsticks containing their payment. Satisfied that they were smart enough to mind their own business and not ask what’s in the package, he elects to open it for them and show them the rare bottle of booze and the certificate of authenticity, as well as hold up his offer to form an ongoing working relationship with them if they so wish.

Rewards

8000 nuyen

3 karma

2 CDP

+3 Laesa Syndicate reputation

One bottle of fancy elf wine (because who doesn’t love a souvenir of a job well-done?)

Optional Contact: Argent (C1/L3 Fixer)

Game Quotes

King Beef: “I know no fear, I’m on kami.”