Running Out of Time

Running Out of Time
Date 2085-02-28 GM Dawnfire Location Seattle Status Threat Level: High
Factions Involved
ShadowHaven	Yellow Lotus Triad	Wuxing
Rurosha Sticks Norville Craddock Runner4	Character1 Character2
Actually took place on the Forbidden Day of February 29th, 2085, but the wiki doesn't like that. Stryker was picked for this run but had to back out during the meet because of IRL stuff so retconning out his presence.

Summary

The metaplane of Kadath is briefly intersecting with the material plane, creating a displacement alchera in a cave system used as a smuggling route by Norville Craddock. He wants the site secured so he can harvest reagents from it and study the strange happenings inside, but Wuxing predicted the event and has paid the Yellow Lotus Triad to take over the spot as soon as the alchera appeared. Craddock hires runners to solve this issue, who chop up both the Triad goons guarding the place and the spirits inhabiting it.

Background

Enterprising talislegger/Elder mage Norville Craddock's smuggling route has been turned into a displacement alchera containing a small portion of Kadath, or at least something resembling it. Normally he'd be all for this, but one of his smuggler's (one Jimmy Tricks) was caught within the cave as the change occurred and is lost and disoriented within. Also Wuxing's geomancers and diviners predicted the alchera's appearance and paid Yellow Lotus Triad goons to rush in and attempt to claim the spot before anyone else could. Triad talisleggers attempted to harvest reagents and magical secrets from the alchera, but end up being swarmed by wild Guidance spirits attracted to the site.

The Meet

It's an odd day in Seattle, no one is quite sure what the date is, maybe February 28th, maybe the 29th (impossible!), maybe March 1st. Regardless of that, Sticks and Rurosha get told by their respective fixers that there's a job available for them if they're interested, all they have to do is head to Syberspace's host and meet their Johnson in the virtual club. Sticks has to buy some trodes first, lacking any source of sound link and realizing that trodes are cheaper than earbuds, but joins the meet in AR. Rurosha attends in VR.

The runners meet their Johnson, or rather his persona. A shadowy, angelic figure with a broken halo and a great many eyes. He explains the background info to them, gives a starting offer, and says that he'd be personally grateful if they found his missing employee Jimmy Tricks but it's not the top priority here. The job seems straightforward, defeat the Triad forces guarding Craddock's cave and clear out any threats inside, and hold the site until his agents could move in and start to fortify it. Craddock hired his own decker to jam the Triad's communications, so if everything went right the team should be able to avoid reinforcements.

The runners agreed to the gig, and their Johnson gave them the location of the cave.

The Plan

Rurosha and Sticks don't spend too much time planning, urged onward by Craddock's suspicion that the alchera would disappear by morning. Rurosha gives Sticks a lift into Puyallup, park at the nearest least terrible spot, and start hiking through Hell's Kitchen to try to get to reach their target. Following some trails found online that are meant for rich tourists wanting to enjoy the splendor and terror of lava flows relatively safely, the crew gets to a burnt out copse and prepares to attack...

The Run

Sticks buffs himself up and summons a spirit, Rurosha drugs up, and the two try to sneak up to the cave. A spirit lurking on the astral spots Sticks' spirit and the ambush is ruined, but Rurosha and Sticks are able to handle the squad of Triad goons even with a crit glitch by Sticks' spirit attracting some large, horrific Guidance spirit from within the cave.

The runners enter the cave, and see that the terrain quickly morphs from natural to some old, black, cobbled road with walls of chiseled black stone. The air smells ancient like a tomb, and the Background is thick with Elder God-aspected mana. They find a massive door deeper down, nearly two dozen meters tall, just barely cracked open. Rurosha's radar sensors pierce through it, and she picks up other massive buildings behind it, up also the prone bodies of several metahumans. Peeking her head through the door, she sees that several workers in the triad's employ were literally scared to death by terrible visions granted by wild Guidance spirits Engulfing them. She also seems a near-catatonic Jimmy Tricks being lead deeper into the cave by a gaggle of spirits.

The runners are warned not to trespass within the city of Kadath or they'd face the fate of the other thieves, but Rurosha and Sticks ignore the warning and demand they be given Jimmy. Rurosha rushes into combat, with Sticks summoning another spirit to act as interference. Several of the terrible spirits gang up on the adept, attempting to draw her into their nightmares, but she handily fights them off. Jimmy seems to be physically fine, except for being a bit dehydrated and having scratched odd runes into his arm, the same odd runes that are carved into the massive onyx blocks that make up the ruins of the Kadath-alchera. Jimmy mutters something about a "great blind idiot", but the runners pay it little mind. Once he's returned to the surface, Jimmy snaps too and is confused but mostly okay.

Aftermath

Once notified of the runner's success, Craddock arrives with a crew of talisleggers to attempt to strip mine as much of the alchera of reagents and lore as possible before anyone else tries to muscle in. He chews out Jimmy for losing a shipment somewhere in the cave, Sticks tries to defend the dazed dwarf, and the crew gets their nuyen and an offer of a ride back to Rurosha's car. Sticks offers to lend a hand checking out the ruins and an exchange of knowledge, and Craddock has some respect for the runner's enterprising spirit.

The black markets of the Sixth World are suddenly awash with Elder God-tradition reagents, which is sure to please all sorts of weirdo cultists. Craddock has acquired some lore on Azathoth, the Blind Idiot God, from the metaplanar ruins within the alchera, although it remains to be seen how that might be useful to him.

Game Quotes

Amusing quote from game.