Pickup and Delivery

Pickup and Delivery
Date 2082-06-27 GM Archtmag Location Snohomish, Seattle Status Threat Level: Medium
Factions Involved
ShadowHaven	Nature	Unknown
Tahki Glamor Bayou Bill Winter	A Piasma and her Cubs	Elven Agents
Casualties and losses
	All incapacitated	5 dead

Summary

The runners get tasked with capturing some Piasma cubs. They succeeded, but things were... strange.

Background

A piasma and her cubs wandered into the edge of Snohomish from the forests outside of town. The mother, naturally aggressive anyway and also wanting to protect her cubs, went on a small rampage, breaking a shed and barreling through several buildings before disappearing, somewhere. While no one was hurt thankfully, the location of the paracritters was unknown, and parties began to converge on the area to hunt them down.

The runner's fixers were contacted by an elven man, the instructions vague, but hinting towards the capture of a paracritter. Told to meet in Bellevue at noon, food would be provided.

The Meet

The runners were called to a unassuming door in Bellevue, in an out of the way alley away from the busier centers of the district. Made of a synthetic wood substitute, the front of the building windowless, there was little indication as to what the interior was like. A quiet and calm area, Bayou Bill kicked the door down, after Glamor hesitated for a moment because of a ward.

Violently busting in, they entered the antechamber inside, noticeably nicer in wealth and design from the exterior. The man that had sent out the call for them waited inside, shocked at Bill's entrance. The alligator roaming in just freaked him out more. When the man shakingly told Bill that his alligator had to stay outside, Bill tried to argue that it was trained and a service animal. While really, really, not wanting to let it inside, the man left the runners for a moment to enter another room. After about a minute, the man returned, chastened slightly, and allowing the alligator to enter.

Following the man as he led them down a hallway, the runners were lead to a room with a large table adorned with food, with two women already seated. Both wearing suits, one, a human, elegantly ate at a plate of food, white gloves untouched. The other, an elf, smiled at the team as they entered, gesturing at empty seats and inviting them to sit and eat. As they began to make small talk, gloved woman silent throughout, the team began to get odd vibes from this. The elven woman, not touching the food, while cheery and polite, had a strange demeanor, speaking in measured and exact words, weaving in subtle and outwardly positive insults, and clearly giving the feel that she was holding back greater knowledge, a cryptic cast to near everything said.

As the team's paranoia rose, Glamor tried to assense the J. From it, she learned that supposedly they were a magic 4 magician, though she wasn't sure that her attempt was blocked. As she looked at the food, that she wasn't eating for many reasons, she noticed that some of the spices were awakened. Winter, who'd been stuffing her face with free food, had also noticed a strange sensation when eating, something that enhanced it, but tickled a 6th sense of sorts. Alarmed, Glamor tried to ask about the origin of the spice, without betraying her concern. Not bothered at all by the question, the J gestured to the elf who led them in, who then described the food for them. Apparently the spice was from an awakened plant that was harvested in the nearby Tir. With not much else to go on, Glamor accepted that for the moment, though watching over time to see if anything odd happened to Glamor.

Getting to business after a bit, the J told the team that she wanted the bear's cubs captured and brought to her, or left a drop off point in the forests outside of Snohomish. Additionally, she said that bears such as that tend to accumulate a hoard of sorts, taking things along with them. She implied that there would be something of value hidden away with the bear, and she offered a bonus if the runners retrieved it. When asked about the mother, she said she would be happy to have that as well, but she had not expected capturing it to be within their level of power, and didn't want to cause them to strain themselves.

Negotiating for pay a bit, Bayou Bill talked about wanting something that would help him deal with pain, and also mentioned something about a pa-inye ed-it-tor. After considering it for a moment, the J offered to give him something to dull his pain as a reward for the job, and Bill agreed. Later, he inquired, to make more sure about things, asking "if they could get him a pain editor?". The J replied by saying "they could get him a pain editor". Accepting that, Bill was in for the job.

The Investigation

Fresh off their odd meeting, Glamor uses a spirit to track the bear, hoping to find a clue as to its location. Letting the Loa go off on it's task, it eventually returns, with news. Somehow, the Bear had wandered into the underground tunnels beneath Snohomish. While the bear was likely to wander further as they headed over, it was a good clue to know. They also tried to find out as much as they could about this bear. While none of theme were experts in paracritters, together they managed to piece together a decent picture. The bear and her cubs were all a type of paracritter known as Piasmas. In effect, they were like normal brown bears, only more aggressive, more armored, larger, and with magical powers over fear. A little bit of a problem.

The team headed over to the part of Snohomish where the bear was last sighted, at the vague boundary between the outer agricultural sections and the start of the city. The bear had smashed through a shed, then barreled straight through two buildings before running off in a rage, the cubs close by. While no one was hurt, the houses were heavily damaged, in danger of collapsing. As the team approached this site, they saw that KE had created a small perimeter, keeping the multitude of gawkers from approaching too closely.

The team, being gawkers themselves, were consigned to looking from a distance. After a bit of looking, a truck pulled up near them at their position further away from the perimeter. A human man stepped out, heading over to the team. Eyes focused on the non-human runners, his body language was clearly angry. Accusing the team members of making a spectacle of good people's tragedy, he was rather insistent that the team left. When the team tried to say they only had good intentions, his racism flared, especially towards Winter. Winter, not liking his insinuations about being a terrible person, scared the man, getting him to leave and head back to his Human Nation friends, giving them, a moment at least, of peace.

Deciding to move out to find the tunnel they used, and hopefully be gone before the man returns with his friends, the team prepares to head out. Before they leave though, several runners notice something odd. In the crowd of humans watching, a disguised ork stands among them, watching the area. Glamor tries to approach to make contact, only for the man to start walking away. A commlink message is brushed off with a token response, and the Ork leaves. Not sure what to make of this, they decide to focus on finding the tunnel.

None of them particularly knowledgable in Snohomish Underground entrances, they decide to call an expert. Kenny.

Kenny, always happy to help and show of his skills, roared over on his Wageslave. While initially confused that they wanted to actually enter the underground in Snohomish, after clarification he started leading them towards an entrance. After following for a few minutes, he stops, thinks for a moment, and turns around. Turns out he needed to go the other way. He was still highly confident that he knew where he was going. The team however... was less so. As whispering grew that maybe they should stop following as the minute ticked by, eventually Kenny lead them to a grated tunnel with a proud expression on his face, only for it to morph to confusion as the he saw the grate torn open. Satisfied that they had found the entrance, the team, plus Kenny, headed into the tunnels.

Into the Tunnels

The tunnels were dark, but it was no issue for the team, whether by natural or technological means, they could all see. Kenny raced ahead, happy for a bit of adventure, ready to fight a giant bear to a standstill. Hurrying after him, yelling at him some to slow down, the team followed. Things were quiet for a bit, the biggest potential hazard tripping over a rock, but Winter and Glamor's sharp eyes avoided potential disaster. A microwire loaded with a contact prep had been laid across the tunnel. Glamor, somehow, managed to get Kenny to stop, narrowly avoiding the trap. After examining it for a bit, Glamor disarmed the trap, determining that it had been loaded with a prep of the Knockout spell. While the wire would do a heft amount of damage, overall, this trap wasn't meant to kill, for large creatures at least. The team failed to notice the sensors attached to the trap though, warning when it had been trigger or disarmed, so as they continued through the tunnel, disarming many of the traps, they were sending signals of their progress the entire time.

As they head further in, they find another sign of someone else's presence. A pile of raw, but fresh, meat sits innocuously in the tunnel. Bayou Bill's alligator immediately goes to eat it, falling unconscious almost as soon as it begins to tear in. Kenny, slowly processing the situation, decides to pick it up. That proves to be a poor decision, and the narcojet laced within sends him to sleep. Down an alligator and a Kenny in the dark tunnel, they decide to break out a stim patches and hope they last long enough to finish the run. As Kenny blearily rises again, he thinks about a different way to eat the meat, maybe cooking it with his flamesaw first. The team eventually manages to make him shelve his great ideas for later though, and get him to continue with them deeper inward.

After a bit, the runners notice a figure at the edge of their vision. Slowly and warily approaching, they see an elven woman, distressed and fearful. Not having much other than a satchel, she seems to be a squatter. Terrified, she had seen the Piasma and her cubs, and wanted to get out, get away from the giant monster. While her appearance seemed a bit odd to some, the team eventually figured she was telling the truth and let their guard down. After calming the woman a bit, they manage to convince the elf to lead them in the direction they last saw the Piasma. Slowly, nervous and afraid, she starts to direct them, staying near the back of the party, hoping it will provide relative safety.

Following her directions, some of the runners begin to hear something in the distance. The sounds of a prey animal. The sounds of a... goat?

Moving towards the goat noises in a bit of confusion, they enter a larger room, filled with old rusting machinery. In the center, another pile of drugged meat sits, with a speaker nestled close by, playing the noises. As they contemplate this, they hear something large moving towards the room from another tunnel. Winter, using biosonar, notices something strange though. There are other people in the room. Perhaps the people leaving out all the traps.

There isn't much time to contemplate that though, as the Piasma strides into the room, approaching the meat, sniffing out potential danger. Bayou Bill, not a fan of plans or communication, decided this was the moment to engage. Yelling out a challenge, he shot a flashbang out of his grenade launcher, hitting much of the team as well as the bear and her cubs. It didn't seem to affect the Piasmas much, but it stunned some of his allies. Shaking this off, the rest of the team surged into action, trying to disable the bear and her cubs. Tahki managed to definitively solve the problem by casting a high power Opium Den, sending the bears to a calm bliss, and coincidently doing the same to all of the hidden bear hunters.

With all of the opposition vibe'd out. The team used the narcojet laced meat to spread the drug on all of the bears and the hunters, disabling them in a longer term way. Leaving the hunters behind, the team dragged the piasmas out, using spirits to help with the heavy loads. Kenny flexed his muscles and showed off his strength by carrying one, mainly on his own. With the job basically done, they headed back to where they came from, this time with a few drugged out bears and a elven squatter.

As they exited the tunnel, the bright light blinding them for a few moments, things seemed as they left it before. Aside from five elves pointing assault rifles at them. Wearing subtle armored jackets and relatively concealable weapons, there wasn't any immediate clue as to who they represented. Somewhat shocked that this was happening, the team stood there for a moment, as one of the elves shouted at them to give them the woman. Processing that for a moment, not entirely sure what they were talking about, they noticed that their elven tag along, previously so scared and fragile, now calmly stared at the commandos, hands mildly raised in the air. As the elves repeated the command, eyes trained on threats. Bayou Bill decided to engage. Again.

Aftermath

As fighting broke out, a swift and brutal engagement happened, leaving the enemy forces dead, and the runners with mild injuries. The mysterious elf stood by, doing nothing. As the fighting wrapped up, the elven woman approached the team, congratulating them on mopping up the opposition, and asking for a ride to the J. Finding her creepy and not wanting her near them, they told her no. She received this mildly, though with a bit of disdain. She bemoaned the low quality of service, but still commented that they exceeded expectations on that front, and simply started walking away. Not knowing how to respond to that, the team started heading back to the J, dropping off the bears in the forest pickup point, only to realize that they hadn't found the hidden stash that the bear had, they they were supposed to extract in addition.

Deciding to move onward regardless, the team returned to the J for payment. The J seemed mixed about their results and performance, but said they technically completed the objectives, giving them full payment. Confused, considering they thought they didn't find the hidden thing in the tunnel, they went along with it anyway. Bill, thinking he had negotiated for a pain editor, found that the J's interpretation of his request was a bit different. Presented with a crate, he opened it up, unsure of what he had been given. Inside, he found many doses of NoPaint, to "dull his pain", as promised. Tahki, enchanted by the woman's cryptic, yet precise commentary, and the chaotic nature hidden within, wanted to learn the J's name, hoping to establish a greater relationship with her. The J, mirroring the question back to Tahki, asked for her name. Tahki, giving the woman her runner name, received this comment in response. "If your name is Tahki, you may call me Sarah."

The runners, mostly discomfited and confused by the odd events of the job, and the strange nature and vibe of the J, left in a hurry, though 'Sarah' gave them a final comment, promising meeting again in the future.

Rewards

For everyone but Bayou Bill:

16k Nuyen (32k in foci or reagents) (8 RVP)

4 Karma (4 RVP)

2 CDP

Bayou Bill:

14k Nuyen (28k in foci or reagents) (7 RVP)

4k Nuyen of NoPaint (1 RVP) (266 Doses)

4 Karma (4 RVP)

2 CDP

Game Quotes

Amusing quote from game.

Player After Action Reports (AARs)

Tahki

"I met a gator! Oh, and Bayou Bill. I wanted to pet the gator, but was a little to wary of the sharp teeth... Well, maybe next time. Had a bit of fun with the Piesta, but even more fun with the elven hit team that seemed to want the poor, wandering underground explorer we managed to pick up. And Sarah was a crazy, chaotic, mixed up kinda lass; definitely my kinda girl. I hope me and Chaos run into her again."

Bayou Bill

"That we're real interestin'. Some big bear creature and a creepy fraggin' lady. I felt real bad I didn't get to wrassle it but so it goes. I beat up some snooty elf strike team fellas though. I wish I had got me some actual bioware and not all that NoPaint but hey, Gator loves the stuff.