Mongolian Ghost Trains

Mongolian Ghost Trains
Date 2085-07-27 GM Asmodeus Location Urga, Mongolia Status Threat Level: Extreme
Factions Involved
ShadowHaven Asahiro Kunitoshi	Aztechnology	Scream of Tokhtamysh
Katherine Tyler Lumina Eidolon	Corpsec	Turkestan Raiders
Casualties and losses
Kate narrowly escaped an assassination attempt by Aztechnology	6	1

Summary

The team recovers a shard of the legendary Sohayamaru from a ghost train.

Background

Asahiro Kunitoshi seeks to reforge Sohayamaru, a blade from Japan's past with the mythical power to traverse the realm of spirits and man both. Lumina has a connection to the vice-president and seeks to clarify her sudden absence.

The Meet

Asahiro's in one of Sophocles' new Shinto temples, elaborating that he's discovered a new shard's location. Unfortunately, it's already been sold to Evo by its current holder and the team has to intercept it before it gets to Russian territory. At the moment, the owner is some form of Awakened in Mongolia and Asahiro arranges the flights, leaving other expenses to the runners. The team has few other questions and agree to depart.

The Plan

Getting Mongolian linguasofts and learning on their own, Kate and Eidolon get to work on getting the lay of the land. Learning of how ork-friendly Mongolia is, their strong Buddhist and Muslim influences and the generally positive culture, both runners are impressed. Lumina prepares to actually intercept the owners of the artifact fragment while Kate performs some legwork for the team. Eidolon, of all people, has to do facing by going around the markets and asking if anyone's seen the fragments. Kate helps as a genuine blade aficionado and arcane artifact researcher. The team discovers that the fragment was brought to Urga once by the Scream of Tokhtamysh, a roving bandit group that somehow seized control of a spectral train travelling along the ley lines of the old Trans-Siberian Railway and its Mongolian expansion. The team finds further information about this from a centaur mercenary band in Mongolia, who offer to aid in exchange for them recovering a blood sample from the Scream's leader. Or his head, if he's dead. The team agrees -- although Kate also finds that there's a dragon line going across Mongolia and that Lung's advised his people not to use it for some reason. Dragons appear to be watching central Asia very diligently. As a result, Kate's leery of going south while Lumina doesn't want to go north and face off Evo due to her lingering bounty as one of their pet projects.

The Run

Actually finding the train becomes easier with the centaur PMC's aid. Eidolon sends his FLy-Spy drone in the air to get a good view of one of the leyline crossroads and spots the train, also finding that they're already being pursued by a third party. The team arrange to intercept it and plan to jump onto the chasing vehicles, then using them as a springboard to get on the moving train itself since they can't utilize vehicles of their own right now. Unfortunately, the plan fails quickly after initiation. The APCs throw Kate and Eidolon off and surprisingly turn around to target Kate specifically. Kate soon realizes this is an Aztechnology hit squad that leaked the information about the Scream of Tokhtamysh to lure her into an ambush, getting VTOL air support to attack her.

Lumina is the only one who manages to get on the train and has to sneak past the Scream's bandit members as well as a manifestation of the train's spirit. She manages to triumph against the spirit and almost gets out cleanly, having to assassinate one of the bandits once they hear her moving about. Unclear who the leader is, she grabs a blood sample, the artifact fragment and gets taken by surprise by the shifting interior of the train, falling out at rapid speeds. The impact and inertia thrashes her around on the ley line, but she maintains connection with Kate's tac-net and manages to arrange a rendezvous.

Aftermath

Aztechnology puts out an open bounty on all three runners, although only Kate and Eidolon's outfits have clear mugshots for bounty hunters to look for. As a result, Kate commandeers one of Aztechnology's APCs as a getaway vehicle, hacking it to turn trackers off and driving to Urga. They approach with as much stealth as possible and manage to reach Shiawase's compound in the corporate section of the city, depositing the shard. Satisfied with the result, Asahiro arranges their flight back into Seattle.

Lumina finally gets to elaborate on what happened with the Umezawa clan, expecting a reprimand, but Asahiro reassures her that she did the right thing. Being one to despise yakuza connections, Asahiro finds this more than agreeable and offers her a place as a true retainer rather than just a criminal contact. Her bond to the futuristic daimyo grows, her concerns alleviated as Sohayamaru becomes a slight bit more complete.

Rewards

• 30,000 Nuyen (15 RVP)
• 5 Karma (5 RVP)
• 12 CDP (5 RVP)

For Lumina:

• May increase Asahiro's Loyalty to 5
• Optional Gear: Shiawase Imperial Kami Services' custom armored hakama with "Shiawase no Onna-Musha" carefully embroidered in Japanese to the back of the robe in gold thread. Comes with custom katana and wakizashi combo forged of the formulae of dead youkai as well as the traditional weapon of warrior women: a naginata.

For Kate:

• -12 Aztechnology Reputation
• Asahiro gives her 1 Chip.

For Eidolon:

• Asahiro gives him 1 Chip.

All three runners get 1 local Notoriety in Mongolia since the Centaur PMC received the blood of a random Tatar, not their chief. They talk mad shit about all three runners and tell them not to trust anyone looking like them again.

Game Quotes

"Which are you more afraid of, Lumina: Evo or Lung?"

Player After Action Reports (AARs)

Katherine Tyler - Another piece of the demon slaying sword. I admit more than anything that I am very curious to see what it will become. And I can think of very few people who should have such power, but Asahiro is near the top of that list. While I don't quite share his...zealous view of spirits, I believe he has the best interests of humanity at heart. And I can get behind that.

As for Aztechnology, well, I owe them one. I hope they lost more than my bounty was worth today. I'll make it up to them. I'm sure I'll find my way South of the border in the future again.