Gumurr-Djararrk Yawirriny'

Gumurr-Djararrk Yawirriny'
Date 2086-05-18 GM Sleevey Location Australia Status Threat Level: Semi-Prime
Factions Involved
ShadowHaven Aboriginal Tribesman, namely Wagan Biryanu Draco Foundation	The Vermillion Auction and the Assorted Auctiongoers	The Threats of the Outback	Argulu	The Mimi, those Guardians of the Opal Caverns, and the creatures trapped within
Ardent Samael Veles Ty Vallynn Chance	Rosanna and Atticus Sobolevi + The Auction Security Team, Doctor Rosilyn Hernadez and the Illuminates of the New Dawn, Envoys of Boiuna, Tanamyre Corporate Represenatives, SK Liaison, Undercover AISE Agents, Young Elven Technologists, Melbourne Millionaires, Aboriginal Overseers	Bikie Gangs, Aboriginal Tribesmen, Wild Spirits, Mana Storms and Storm Wraiths, Hostiile Wildlife, The Ned Kelly Gang	Anthony Ngiyari, A Blood Shade taking the form of Wagan Biryanu's father, Argulu himself	Mimi and The Assorted Free Spirits Aiding Them, Shadow Spirits of Id, Veles, Dark Metaplanar Entities including but not limited to: Toxic Spirits, A Toxic Adept, Vrygoth, Big Juggs, Designation 時 Bezaisen/Ikari Pair, A Number of Shedim including a Master Shedim, Other Assorted Shadow Spirits
Casualties and losses
10 points of Edge were burned in total	A number of the Melbourne Millionaires and their security team were injured and killed due to an accident power	Many Bikies were killed in combat and the Ned Kelly gang was defeated, although Ned himself was not disrupted.	Ngiyari and the Blood Shade were both disrupted.	One Mimi was killed and many of the above spirits were disrupted

Summary

A team of runners are sent into the outback to recover an incredibly powerful magical relic. They are given little information and no field support, leaving them alone to face the horrors of The Land Down Under. Along the way, Veles crashes out, Ardent punches a teenager in the head, Sam gets addicted to every drug under the sun, Veles crashes out, Chance discovers his love of Big Juggs and Ty becomes a tasty snack for a big rock snake.

Background

Within the shadows, a number of plots are hatched. The Vermillion Auction moves towards Australia for one of their most extravagent auctions yet, within one of the most dangerous locations on one of the most dangerous continents. They put out the call and a number of high profile guests ready themselves to attend. However, Rosanna Sobolevi, one of the auctions leaders, is searching for something else. A mysterious relic from a time long ago. She is guided by Anthony Ngiyari ... or at least something bearing that name.

Meanwhile, the Draco Foundation's seers are looking for the same relic. With some seer scrying and background legwork, they uncover that the relic is on the Australian Continent. Believing that the relic is in the possession of the Auction themselves, they put out a call for shadowrunners.

Meanwhile, deep below the ground, within the opal caverns, a presence stirs. Escape is close at hand.

The Meet

The runners are called to the eye of the needle restuarant where the encounter Sybaris standing above an impromptu war table, covered in maps of Australia and complete with a dagger sticking out of the center. She informs the team of the situation: initial scrying and legwork revealed the existence of the staff section on the continent and its vague location. Additional research showed the auctions presence. The foundations magical expert, Adowa "Moria" Webster confirms this. They'll have a week to land in Canberra, get to the auction site and get the staff. Despite the pay offered being rather low in the face of the associated risk, the team agrees. They get an image of the staff, a box for it, and a plane to catch. After that, they are on their own.

Initial Legwork

Before the plane ride over, Chance hands out the team homemade t-shirts, emblazoned with the word "cunt".

The team fills out their initial legwork (primarily through knowledge skills, contacts, and matrix searchs) over the first day. They learn the general gist of things:

Australia is a hostile place, battered by manastorms. These manastorms generally leave the coastal cities alone, although Sydney is locked in a perpetual manastorm. Canberra, the city the team arrives in, is the seat of Government for the nation. The outback is dangerous, with few braving it save for the bikies and the aboriginal tribesmen. Several years ago, a spirit that named itself "Jukurra-Jukurra" appeared and declared that anyone bearing a "relic of true Australia" would be able to find their way back to its heart. One of these relics was in Seattle but went missing recently. Two are on the continent, the Tjukurpa Tapestry (which seems to be in Aboriginal possession) and Ned Kelly's sash, which is in a museum. SK presence in the nation is notable. A man named Anthony Ngiyari is notable for being a somewhat controversial figure, claiming to share the secrets of the Aboriginal Peoples. Other general factoids regarding travel, gang activity, animal life, etc.

The team manages to find a guide, one Ly Minh Di, who agrees to take them to an aboriginal trading post in New South Wales. During their initial meeting with him, Ty catches a glimpse of an astral form that appears to be a spirit of man. It looks like an old man, dressed in a fine suit, with long, braided locks. The form winks at him before vanishing. Ty informs the team that it's probably nothing.

After arriving at the camp, Ardent arranges for a meeting with the tribal elder. He, alongside a young shaman at his side, is initially dismissive of the group. However, Ardent and Samael make a convincing case. They use the truth and plead for the usage of the tapestry so that they might accomplish their goal and potentially clean the sacred site of the interlopers. The tribal elder agrees ... but with a few conditions. The first is that collateral be exchanged in the form of one of Ty's foci. The second is that the young shaman (Wagan Biryanu) will take the tapestry instead of one of them. The third is that the party locate the shaman that sold out the sacred site and bring him to justice. This last task is a cause of concern, as Ardent refuses to kill (unless the authority of the state is involved) but the team assures the elder that they will capture the target alive and bring him back.

Wagan, now draped in the tapestry, joins the group and apologizes for the stern behavior of his mentor. With the tapestry in hand and their newest guide acquired, the party returns to Canberra.

The Journey Begins

After resting, gathering supplies and properly planning their route to Kata Tjuta, the team sets off. Spotting a distant caravan, the team confirms its a group of SK operatives and members of the Melbourne Millionaires Society. Ty sends an enormous spirit to use the accident power upon them to catastrophic effect.

Unfortunately, the travel is slow-going. The area is mostly wetlands and a number of the roads are submerged. Maps aren't up to date, either, leading to moments of frustration where a seemingly functional route turns out to be impassable. It's turning one such moment that the team looks around and realizes Wagan Biryanu, who moments ago stood at the edge of a nearby pond, is not with them. Something bubbles up from the bottom of the lake. Chance spots the kid through the sensors, thrashing at the lakebed, but not the thing grappling with him. Seeing no other option, Sam dives in and fires a blight round into the invisible creatures mouth. The annoyed animal swims off and they are able to rescue their mage from the bunyip.

Their travel through the rainforest isn't much smoother. Improvised explosive traps are disarmed by Veles and bikie gangers wage guerilla warfare through the trees. Eventually, however, they make it through to the mountain crossing, where they are greeted to a set of corporate issue FBA impaled on a spike. A warning from the aboriginals.

Ty and the shaman break off to look for a crossing point while the rest of the team guards the vehicle. They notice they're being watched by a group of aboriginal warriors, who Ardent is able to pacify with honeyed words. They also notice a looming manastorm on the horizon, coming from the rainforest. The bikie gangers, fleeing the manastorm, decide to make a push for the team and their supplies. The resulting gunfight is short and sweet, with Australial ganger grit failing to measure up against the teams firepower. Despite the vehicle being damaged by an explosive, it's not too bad. Ty and co return, having found the crossing point, and everyone hunkers down while the manastorm washes over them. It isn't pleasant (and the magical compulsions have Argent cold clock Wagan Biryanu with his cyberarm) but with the magical protection of the tapestry, they make it out okay.

The Outback

After pushing over the mountains, the team enters the outback proper. A land of red sand and heat, where the very rocks are alive within the Dreamtime. The air is thick with magic and the sand is thick beneath their tires. Onwards and forwards, they press on.

They did, however, need a safe place to rest and recuperate for a day or so. Their guide recommends an oasis he has heard stories of and the team decides to brave it. Water was a commodity, after all. The detour isn't noticeable in terms of ETA time, either. So it is that they arrive at crocodile oasis where they're jumpscared by a crochetey old water spirit. The powerful spirit demands tribute from all that have dared to drink from his oasis. Tribute ... in the form of a story. So, each of the runners tells one. Of assassins and hunts and beer from space. They feel their luck return to them as they spend the night, drinking and telling stories beneath the stars.

They continue their journey. They have a brief skirmish with the Ned Kelly gang, a group of gentleman outlaws who try to avail themselves to the teams valuables but find themselves woefully outgunned. Instead of slaughtering them, however, the team opts for asking them to provide covering fire for their escape ... should it come to that.

A day later, the team has gotten much closer to the auction site itself. They can feel the mana grow stronger, see the swirling mists on the horizon. A great and terrible mana storm has been taking form around Kata Tjuta. They also spot another convoy, which Veles detaches from the main group to investigate. She's ready for a fight but the woman she sees on that caravan gives even the cyborg pause. The leader of the Illuminates of the New Dawn and UCAS presidential candidate, Doctor Rosilyn Hernadez herself. Veles both doesn't see the woman as being worthy of death or worthy of the trouble and disengages but stays long enough to notice them use a leyline to travel through the manastorm.

Meanwhile, the rest of the team hurtles into the clutches of the manastorm. The Big One awaits.

It is not an easy thing to describe, being in the midst of that storm. Magical acid buffeted the car, ripping and melting it, although their keen driving allowed them to avoid plowing into the worst of it. Their scanners went haywire, alarms blaring and lights flashing as the storm seems to rage against space itself. Worst of all, the storm took from them. Sapped away at their strength ... but also at something more important. More primal. Their very memories dissipated away in the mist. Despite the valiant counterspelling of Ty and the magical shielding of the tapestry, each of them lost precious moments. Memories of triumph. Of companionship. Of wariness. Of regret. Of human-meat foot-soup.

But they made it through.

Kata Tjuta

The team is a few days ahead of schedule. They spot a wired network connecting a few cameras on the outskirts of the area and have Chance hack it but he's intimidated by the passive defenses. Ty talks to a local spirit, a wawaleg sister, and exchanges karma with it. After deciding that the coast is mostly clear, the team moves in while pretending to be a group of Melbourne millionaires. They meet members of an initial security team who introduce them to Rosanna Sobolevi, the woman running the show. She's accompanied by an older aboriginal man wearing a suit and is in the middle of an argument with Doctor Hernadez. Nevertheless, she quickly pivots into being a gracious host for the new arrivals and shows them to their living quarters within the actual rock structure. It seems as if the inside of the great rock is privy to some sort of strange architecture. Ty notes down its age and potential ties to the 4th world but says nothing.

It seems as if the auction is using a wired host connected to a central vault. With a combination of social stealth, delicate palming, direct hacking and drone piloting, the team gain access to the inside of the vault. They find a number of beautiful artistic works and a box similar to the one they were given to contain the staff. An empty box. The staff is not here. The auction came here to find the relic just the same as they did. Ty tries to shadow the aboriginal man who was with Rosanna but is spotted. Instead of a violent response, the mage asks the fox to meet with him later to discuss things and that perhaps a meeting with Rosanna would be in his best interest. The team, not interested in giving up their cover, declines. Putting together the information they've gathered so far, they decide that it's worth investigating the tunnels below the auction sight.

They send an initial scouting party into the tunnels. Eventually they come to a collection of cells and find the corpse of a scientist from an SK research team in the tunnels on the Australian Bight, so many miles away. They did through his commlink and find his maddened ramblings. It seems as if they were captured by the guardians of the place and imprisoned in the cells, where they died from thirst over an abnormally long period of time. Still grappling with this revelation, the team hears a distant whistling. They gather for a fight and find a powerful snake-like earth spirit and something else. A stick-like figure steps out of the wall itself, it appears like a metahuman but strange and elongated and it wears a painted mask. A Mimi, one of the guardians of this place ... and a terrifying threat. There is a brief scuffle in which Veles' shell is utterly destroyed and Ty burns a point of edge and takes a pile of physical drain in order to take out the Mimi. He takes the mask as a trophy but the team is far too battered to continue.

They're able to recover the CCU and return to the team, although the encounter the aboriginal man again on the way back. He introduces himself as Ngiyari and offers to help them navigate the tunnels below, which he describes as a prison, in exchange for freeing one of the prisoners. The team agrees to this and reconvenes with Chance and Argent in order to properly gear up and fix the CCU. Once everyone is ready to go, it's time to go dungeon delving.

The Caverns Beneath

The team (now consisting of Argent, Samael, Veles, Chance, Ty, Wagan Biryanu and Ngiyari) pushes past the initial guard outpost with the help of Ngiyari's distraction. They delve deeper and deeper into the earth, the background count rising as they go. Veins of opal crystals spiral across the walls and strange mana barrier contraptions imprison astral horrors. There's a brief combat encounter with a few shedim and a maddened blood adept but the team is unbothered. They delve ever deeper, encountering a number of other horrific creatures imprisoned here. Eventually, Ngiyari stops before a cell that contains an emaciated old aboriginal man with a ragged, floor length beard. He unravels the ward and carries the man over his shoulder. The team is somewhat hesitant to allow him to free a prisoner of this place, given that all the other prisoners are terrible eldritch abominations, and they may well have to kidnap Ngiyari at some point in the near future ... but ultimately they decide to kick the can down the road and get their hands on the relic first.

More tunnels finally give way to a sort of central chamber, a large circular room. A number of 'cells' are built into the walls and an enormous dais or pillar pushes out of the center of the room. Eldritch runes from this pillar spill outwards, connecting the various cells and descending into the rock itself. Occasionally, the pillar shakes slightly, as if something is inside. Another Mimi sits, cross-legged, on top of the pillar, apparently focusing on the magical energies. Other spirits patrol back and forth, keeping careful watch upon the prisoners. Ngiyari sets down the old man at the entrance of the room and then the group starts to creep across.

Initially, all seems to be going well ... until Ngiyari breaks off from the group and creeps over to the central dais. He slices his hand open and begins to let his blood flow into the ruins, corrupting them. Veles, seeing what she believes to be a blood mage, promptly shoots the man in the head. All hell breaks loose.

Ngiyari's head explodes. Despite this injury, he apparently is still alive as the runes begin to come apart and the central dais shakes. The team readies their weapons as they push across the room and Chance spots a few matrix icons, apparently drones from a previous corporate expedition that have been imprisoned. He grabs some marks on a juggernaut anthrodrone that seems to be moving with alarming sentience. One by one, the mana barriers on the prison cells break down. The spirits animate to pursue both the team and the escaping creatures. Under the combined fire of the team, Ngiyari's corpse is put down for the good. The team hopes the recorded evidence is good enough for the aboriginal elders to uphold the promise they made. They have more pressing concerns to worry about. The anthrodrone joins the party and scoops up Chance and Argent and the team makes a fighting retreat out of the central chamber. Just as they crest the final hill, the central pillar cracks like an eggshell and an enormous claw pushes it away. Ty recognizes it as some sort of artificial lifeform from the world before that has had its pattern written over by something terrible. The mimi and the spirits rush to contain it and the team slips away into the tunnels beyond, guided by Ty's intution that moving towards the next largest magical presence will bring them to the staff.

The Final Stretch

All of the creatures imprisoned with the opal caverns have seemingly been let loose. They find a hideous centipede man, bloodied after a fight with a spirit. Despite his horrific appearance, he seems willing to help the team get out of the tunnels. Enemy of my enemy and all that. The team pushes on, past a weeping crystal creatures and runs into a pair of earth spirits. Their fight is brief but bloody, as one of them crushes Ty with an engulf. It would have been lethal if he had not shifted form in the nick of time. He survives with only a missing arm and a crushed ribcage (and a burned point of edge). There is not time for rest, however. The chamber with the staff awaits.

The shard of the sevenfold staff lies within a chamber where a rift to Id has yawned wide open. Countless shadow spirits climb up from the wretched cityscape below and pour through. Two mimis and a number of spirits do battle with the rift and its inhibitants while the staff levitates upon an altar on the far side. It is a pitched battle with high force spells being thrown back and forth and more spirits swarming out of the rift every second.

Samael creeps around the edge of the room, being battered by the guardian spirits and their mental attacks. Argent hides with the drones while giving tactical advice and Chance pilots the flamethrower anthrodrone to lay down the heat on the hoard. He even spots a matrix signal across the rift, some sort of metaplanar traveler's distress call in Japanese. Ty, worried about the staggering bgc and the risk of physical drain, relies mostly on pinpoint laser fire to support the team.

And Veles breaks apart. She starts muttering in Ukrainian and charges forward into the hellish abyss. She kicks the centipede man into the abyss, despite his attempts to help and drops spirit after spirit in her cold fury. Samael creeps around, drifting closer and closer to the relic. He leaps across the gap, it's almost within reach. Chance extends the anthrodrones hand to the metaplanar traveler and pulls him out of the abyss but the wall climbing centipede scrambles out after him, eager for revenge against Veles. The mimi spells warp the battefield with the raw mana.

And then Samael fires off his grappling hook and grabs the relic. After so long, it's finally in hand. The only thing left to do was get out alive. Easier said than done ... but done nevertheless. The team is battered and bruised, some of them barely alive ... but they are able to escape with the relic. They avoid a few more terrors, such as a blood shade and a stabber and eventually ... they find themselves miles and miles away. Through the magic of the opal caverns alchera, they have stepped out into the caves overlooking the Great Australian Bight. The ocean waves lap against the cliffside and the sun rises over the land of red sand. It is over. The mission is complete.

Aftermath

The draco foundation graciously provide air evacuation. Wagan Biryanu returns to his tribe with the tapestry and the MCT metaplanar traveler dissapears into the sands. The team makes sure not to part with relic until a larger number is quoted by the draco foundation affiliate. Luckily enough, the operating budget was graciously extended. Despite the conflict happening beneath their feet, the auction goes off without a hitch.

Even after their great journey, even after all the hardships faced ... the day still passes like any other. Whether bikie or mimi, shadowrunner or tribesmen, vrygoth or blood mage, the sun rises and falls all the same. We all share the same earth with the same hours in the day. History wraps and flows around all of us.

My dear children ...

Gumurr-Djararrk Yawirriny'

Rewards

160,000 Nuyen or Gear rewards in augmentations, electronics equipment and software, vehicles, foci, magical goodies or lifestyle. Avail limit of 24. (80 RVP)

101 karma (101 RVP)

60 CDP (29 RVP)

Optional Contacts:

Sybaris at 9/1

Adowa "Moria" Webster at 4/4

All may take a mundane ascension or an ordeal.

Awakened/Emerged characters may take deltaware at the usual RVP cost.

May take the funny 4th world knowledge skills and the mutator quality if they WANT to. If they already have it, they can buy an extra rank in the funny skills.

For Ty: Toughness, Ty loses an arm and must take the Asthma, Insomnia and Spirit Bane: Earth as a result of burning edge. Drained for one point of Karma by Big Juggs.

For Sam: Adrenaline Surge and/or Guts for Sam.

For Veles: Can upgrade her Rank quality. Master Brawler

For Chance: May take the custom contact "Big Juggs" at 2/4. Juryrigger. Big Juggs as additional gear rewards, taken out of the other stuff. Drained for one point of Karma by Big Juggs.

For Ardent: Daredevil or Focused Concentration (up to 4)

Narrative Consequences: Wagan Biryanu has proven himself to his tribe. He now bears the Tjkurpa tapestry as a sign of his travels. In time, he will be a great leader of his people. The Blood Mage, Argulu, has been released from his prison within the opal caverns. Despite the disruption of his ally spirit (and the blood shade he made for shits and giggles), that is a minor setback in comparison to his freedom. The Mimi, over the next several days, rebind the Corrupted Guardian to its prison and restore the prisons as they were, continuing to drain the stories of the occupants in order to keep the rifts and secrets buried. Nevertheless, a great amount of critters escape into the wilds of Australia, including a high force Stabber. The Ned Kelly gang continue to cause problems for the inhabitants of the outback. The Vermillion Auction goes on as normal. A selection of AISE agents originally there to bust them is too diminshed to perform their sting. However, Rosanna Sobolevi is unable to acquire the secrets of the Opal Caverns or the shard. Her brother, Atticus, convinces her to cut her losses and leave the continent. The Melbourne Millionaires take a substantial hit to their revenue stream. The Shard of the Sevenfold Staff, the neck-piece, is now safetly in Draco Foundation custody, watched over by the Dragon Sybaris. A number of the runners important memories were wiped in the manastorm known as The Big One. They are able to roll resistance rolls again in 8 months or when confronted with evidence of their lost memories.

Game Quotes

"I've followed Delphi on less." -Benny "You need to stop that." -Sleevey

"Brain piss" -Asmo @ cyborg nutrients

"Chance is ace, he doesn't usually go for backshots" - JR @ shooting retreating bikies

"if the Meta-Roos get out sniper rifles you might have a problem...

Player After Action Reports (AARs)

"I've seen things you would never believe. Shuttle crashes, nanite powered star scanners, 8 trolls playing snockems for 40 minutes without bloodshed. I have never seen anything like the drek I just saw in the land down under. This doesn't even make sense. I gotta... I gotta rethink some things." -Chance

"I cannot point to any one place where something went wrong - ultimately, the job was a success, my frustrations with Veles's strangeness notwithstanding. But I fear... I fear this is only the tip of the iceberg. The artefact we recovered does not look to be an entire item, and so I am forced to wonder what, precisely, the Draco Foundation is doing. In my desire for professionalism, what have we handed them? And why do I feel so strangely sad, so distantly off-put, as our wings turn towards home? What am I missing?" - Samael

"Everything went swimmingly until we entered those caves. As soon as our team members descended into the prison-caverns, we found ourselves completely out of our league. We could have taken a different approach, but instead we inadvertently disrupted something much bigger than us, possibly permanently. I can only plead ignorance in defense of my actions, and hope that the consequences never return to haunt me." - Ardent