Knights of Knitting

Knights of Knitting
Date 2085-11-14 GM Elayne Location Everett, Seattle Status Threat Level: High
Factions Involved
ShadowHaven Auntie Amelia	Ciarniello Family
Dango Doctor Q JuJu Nib	Elite Combat Adept Elite Attack Decker Experienced Vehicle Guard KE HTR Caster

Summary

The team heads to the meet with Auntie Amelia, and ends up getting beat at the negotiations. Auntie Amelia does offer an additional bonus if the team manages to arrange for The Nonna's fingers to get broken. The team heads to a hotel to do some matrix searching and astral scouting of the club where the knitting circle meets during the day. The team socializes inside the club for awhile while they dig up some information about The Nonna. From there, they return to the hotel to do some more research. The team decides that they need to do some more research into the Nonna's other living spaces.

Eventually, the team decides that sending in Doctor Q disguised as a Yakuza to perform an enthralling performance while Nib sneaks in and swaps the knitting needles would be their best approach. Unfortunately, Doctor Q is identified as the famous yaoi mangaka that he is. This apartment block has a surprisingly thriving yaoi fandom, which leads him to allowed in readily. Doctor Q interviews The Nonna about her knitting before she requests that he do a live drawing session for her grandchildren. He blows their minds out metaphorically, and Nib completes the swap. She is only held back from smashing The Nonna's fingers by the knowledge that violence will break Doctor Q's spell.

Background

Auntie Amelia's rival, The Nonna, recently beat her presentation at the Seattle Knitting Fair. She's called in the runners to steal The Nonna's prized knitting needles, so she can have them disenchanted and turned into a focus for her to use.

The Meet

This Thursday evening, we find ourselves zooming in on Doctor Q who is praying at his altar to the muses. As he engages in his worship, Adowa gives him a call and requests that he helps out a family friend. She sends him the address for a retirement home in Snohomish. We find Dango playing video games when Dial-Up interjects with a job offer to get involved in a magic conflict. Nib is on the way to their publicist Kurukuru for dinner. Once she arrives, Kurukuru mentions the job. Nib deflects and tries to hide under the Kotatsu, but Kurukuru tells her she'll need to leave in an hour to make the meet. Juju is suffering after blowing a bunch of reagents the night before, and gets a call from Granny Tusk, who says that their friend needs some help getting revenge.

Auntie Amelia tells the team about the grievous wrong that has been committed against her. She tells the team about The Nonna's knitting circle's meeting place, and that she's a retired adept. Doctor Q leads the teams negotiation, but Auntie Amelia remains steadfast, but offers that if the team breaks The Nonna's hands, then they'll be able to get the team access to Foci.

The Plan

Dango rents an Americar for the team using their R6 Fake SIN, and the team heads over to the local shake shack to make their plans. The team settles in to start a matrix search on the knitting club membership. They find that Nonna is a Dumas scale 6 adept, who has 3 hanger-ons who are Dumas scale 5 Sorcerer. On the way to a hotel where the astral scouts can lie their bodies down to rest, Dango recognizes Nib as the world famous mangaka. The team decides to send JuJu and Nib over to the knitting circle's club to check out the situation. Once they arrive, they find that there is a F6 spirit patrolling along the street and that there is a F6 Door ward and mana barrier on the door.

The team assembles their disguises, and they begin their trip to investigate the club. The guards twig onto Nib's disguise, but let them through since they're not doing anything illegal yet. Once the team is inside, JuJu strikes up a chat with one of the ladies on the dance floor, and Dango starts tracking down the matrix security. When Dango spots the decker's deck, she shuts down her deck and panics slightly as she informs the team that the establishment's decker probably has a Shiawase Cyber-5 deck. Juju checks out the men's room to identify a set of vents in the Men's room that something small could fit into. From there, the team heads over to the bar to join Doctor Q in chatting up the bartender. It eventually culminates in Doctor Q making their way into the backroom where they spot some more vents.

The team heads back to their hotel where Dango starts performing some matrix searches to dig up more information about The Nonna. They're able to find that The Nonna lives in a Ciarniello controlled apartment block. The team does some research into her knitting where they discover that she specializes in the darker side of knitting with themes of death and suffering. The team discusses having Doctor Q ask for an interview with her and start an enthralling performance. Meanwhile, a team member would sneak in and swap the needles, then the team will pretend that things are okay while they exfiltrate.

The Run

Doctor Q is able to get Nonna interested in an interview, and they schedule it for the Tuesday 5 days after the meet. When the day arrives, Doctor Q heads on in, but the door guard tenses up as they notice something is wrong with the Doctor, but when Doctor Q reveals his identity to him, the guard asks for an autograph on a copy of his yaoi before waving him in. The guard lingering in the hallway also recognizes him and requests an autograph. Somehow, due to the thriving yaoi fandom in this mafia apartment complex, Nonna recognizes Doctor Q as the renowned yaoi artist that her grandchildren love. The two talk for awhile, and while Doctor Q is increasingly concerned about this bloodthirsty knitter it doesn't seem like she is going to harm him. As the interview wraps up, The Nonna requests a live drawing for her and her grandchildren.

What follows is the single most breathtaking session of live drawing that these mafia soldiers are likely to ever see in their life. Grown men weep tears for they are now cursed with the knowledge that their life was building up to this moment, and that nothing will quite match this transcendental performance. Amidst this, Nib, under the protection of a Faceless, walks into the building and slips the knitting needles out of The Nonna's slack fingers and places the fake needles into their resting place. She catches a glimpse of the work that Doctor Q is creating and leaves with a bit of inspiration to bring into their own work.

Aftermath

The Nonna calls up Doctor Q a few days after the drawing session and asks whether he noticed someone coming into the apartment. Doctor Q successfully convinces her that he too was entranced by his work.

Auntie Amelia relishes the fact that she has her rival's knitting needles, and has them enchanted as a Qi Focus for Improved Ability(Artisan).

Rewards

Rewards for Knights of Knitting (16 RVP, High)

• 20k Nuyen (10 RVP)
• 6 Karma (6 RVP)
• 2 CDP (Base)

Optional:

• Foci of up to availability 18 at Gear Rates Unfortunately, the team didn't complete the secondary objective of breaking The Nonna's fingers for Auntie Amelia.
• Auntie Amelia (C4L1) (4 RVP or 8 CDP)
• For JuJu: +1 Loyalty with Granny Tusk after Auntie Amelia puts in a good word during Book Club (1 RVP)
• For Doctor Q: Aptitude(Artisan) for their incredible work. They have moved a group of mafia toughs to tears with their performance. (14 RVP)
• For Doctor Q: Practice, Practice, Practice (Artisan) They have shattered their limit with such a magnum opus. (2 RVP)
• For Dango: Brilliant Heuristics for displaying exceptional skill with matrix searches (5 RVP)
• For Nib: Inspired for bearing witness to Doctor Q's great work. (4 RVP)

Game Quotes

Amusing quote from game.

Player After Action Reports (AARs)

Nib

Drawing drawing drawing... I loved working with the team. I'm not usually good working with people, so I'm happy I got along with people this time. Perhaps I'll get to do it again in the future. Though, I need a better blurred face.