Pressing the Attack

Pressing the Attack
Date 2081-11-24 GM Sarcarian Location Loveland, Seattle Metroplex Status Threat Level: Medium
Factions Involved
ShadowHaven Ancients Laesa Syndicate	Kenran-kai	Gianelli Family
0-K Bane Myranti VanArsdale Sp4rks	Yakuza Mooks	Mafia Mooks

Summary

In which the runners defend the Ancients from a retaliatory attack by the Kenran-kai before taking the fight to the Gianelli’s.

Background

A few hours before the start of the run, a team from ShadowHaven were hired by the Kenran-kai to attack a mafia-run casino disguised as Ancients (see: Don of a New Era)); during the course of the job, an Ancients-connected fixer became aware of the situation and has had his associates move in to seize a couple of blocks of turf from the mob and the yakuza, intending to of undertake a coordinated campaign against both syndicates and cut out a small slice of elven territory from Puyallup City into Loveland.

The Meet

Argent has the team meet with him at the formerly-mafia casino on the outskirts of Puyallup City; everyone arrives to find a run-down building which has been recently trashed and covered in fresh Ancients tags. Inside, a quartet of elves are drinking and conversing in Sprerethiel (Ch3f is able to pick out a few snippets of the talk before they switch to English upon noticing the runners arrival, but doesn’t get more than that the three biker-looking elves are arguing with the one in the suit about what “the point of going to all this effort” is). Lacking a proper face, the team take turns asking their own questions about the gig as their prospective employer explains what he needs from them.

The team learns that Argent wants them to hit a mafia-run property in Loveland, securing the premises without inordinate casualties or alerting backup, for which he will pay them 10k nuyen per head. He is also willing to pay them an extra 4k each if they are willing to stay at the casino and help to fend off the yakuza, who are coming to take possession of the place. After concerns are raised about getting in the middle of a syndicate war and spilling the blood of different factions, Argent explains he intends to take as many people alive as possible, using them as hostages and ransoming them back to their respective factions (or to their rival factions, if he can swing it) in order to keep the heat of his own organization.

Everyone is a little bit hesitant to stick their noses into a coming fight for an extra 4 grand, and the team does their best to push for more cash; unfortunately they barely have any charisma between them and are negotiating against an elf, so even edge isn’t enough to get them more money. However, Argent compromises and smooths things over by telling them that he will likely have more work soon with this endeavor, and that he is willing to remain in contact with them and keep their names on his list. The runners are amenable to the prospect of a useful contact and potential future work, and accept the job.

The Plan

No plan chummer, we’re getting right to the action! The Ancients tell Argent that they see a pair of vans approaching, so everyone kits up in their gear, takes their drugs and prepares for a fight; the Ancients take the front side of the building, while the runners handle the rear.

The Run

Taking up their positions at the rear of the building, the team see half a dozen yaks pull up in a black van and launch their attack. Bane opens things up with a manabolt at the lead yak, followed up by an ice grenade from 0-K which scatters them and makes them dive for cover. One of the yaks, wired up and high on jazz, bursts into the building and takes a shot at the first person he sees – which happens to be Argent, with his back turned – so Ch3f heroically takes the bullet for their employer, soaking a good amount of the damage from the yaks machine pistol.

Sp4rks opens up on the scattered yakuza with fully automatic fire, splitting his shots between a pair of them while 0-K focuses his magic on another pair, earning himself some return fire as they attempt to follow protocol and geek the mage. Bane engages the leader in a sword duel, landing a solid hit before dodging a counter-attack and taking a shot from behind. Meanwhile, Ch3f dives for cover and quickly drops into VR as things go to the next round, tagging out the icons of those who are behind cover while spamming them with DDOS attacks to distract them while his allies take them down.

The yaks start out strong and manage to inflict a bit of damage on everyone with their TMPs, but the wound modifiers quickly pile up and within a few seconds they are dropping like flies. 0-K takes out a pair with his cold magic while Bane drops his opponent with his sword and Sp4rks picks off the injured. The Ancients manage to hold their own while the runners mop up the stragglers, taking out everyone as non-lethally as they can before restraining the prone yaks, and Ch3f administers prompt medical attention to those who were sent into physical overflow as well as the team and their injured allies.

After taking out the yakuza, the team rest up and recuperate for an hour or so while the Ancients secure the premise and Argent administers lael to his new captives; noticing him pouring the drugged wine down the yaks throats, Ch3f manages to identify the memory-wiping substance and, after having ingratiated himself to Argent by literally taking a bullet for him, successfully persuades him to make the drug available to himself and his allies at a discount in exchange for their help. While they rest, he is also able to pick up a bit more conversation in elf-talk and deduce their employer’s intent to have the Ancients use the casino as a base of operations from which they can quickly ride into Loveland to provide reinforcements to Laesa operations there if needed in exchange for a cut of their profits, getting them both a bit of expanded territory and closer operational ties out of the arrangement.

Once they’ve healed up a bit, the team head to Loveland to deal with their main target – a mob-controlled bar called Silver Linings, popular with the Awakened crowd (though it is very much a dive compared to hangouts like the Alabaster Maiden, popular mostly with Merlyn’s wannabees and apprentice/aspected types who wish that they were full magicians. After scoping the place out and determining there is a) host, b) a spirit of man “standing guard” on the astral outside, and c) two ingress/egress points which they can block off, the team devise a plan to knock out everyone inside (first planning to use neurostun gas, then switching to DMSO/narcojet in paint grenades to reduce the chance of accidently killing someone by accident). 0-K preps by taking jazz and manages to get himself addicted.

Ch3f and Sp4rks tag-team the host, managing to mark the maglock on the rear door as well as tag out all the commlinks (presumably belonging to mafia associates) slaved to it so they can differentiate them from the regular customers. Once they’re ready, Bane readies his action to take out the spirit while 0-K tosses the paint grenades inside the front door (managing to avoid scattering thanks to edge) before slamming it shut and freezing it over. Ch3f locks the rear door while Sp4rks squelches communications and Bane decapitates the spirit to send it back where it came from. As the paint grenades go off the surprised occupants of the bar fail to find cover from the drug-filled contents; the Mafiosi first take it to be a particularly bad prank, but seconds later are knocked unconscious. A few bystanders stop to gawk at the suddenly-paint-filled windows, but Bane stands menacingly outside and gets them to frag off while the rest of the team restrains their captives and cleans their exposed skin enough that they’re not in danger of ODing or dying of hypoxia, administering medical aid as needed to keep them alive.

Aftermath

Calling up Argent, the team sit on the Mafiosi hostages and hope that no reinforcements show up; thankfully the deckers managed to stop the panic buttons from being hit and calls for help from going out, so no more mob goons arrive before the elves do. Argent is a little peeved about the bar being covered in drug-laced paint, but considers it a small price to pay for not having shed the blood of rival syndicate members during this little endeavor; he now also has a dozen prisoners to interrogate for useful information before securing their release in a way that best keeps their respective factions out of his hair while he consolidates the Laesa’s position in the neighborhood. Happy with the team’s performance, he pays them the agreed-upon amount (after a vain attempt by the team to push for more cash – though the deckers do earn permission to cannibalize the opfor decks for spare parts) and makes his contact information available to them should they want it.

Rewards

• 14,000 nuyen
• 5 karma
• 2 CDP
• +1 Ancients rep
• +1 Laesa rep
• Optional Contact: Argent (C1/L3 Fixer) for 3 RVP or 6 CDP
• Optional Gear Rewards: Laes/Lael as well as Electronics Parts @ 2:1 RVP value

Game Quotes

0-K: "Before I cast my cold spell at the enemy, I’d like to shout ‘Freeze!’ as I shoot them the finger-guns gesture." [cue collective chuckling/groaning from the rest of the table]

Player After Action Reports (AARs)

Sp4rks

Well here i was, just finishing my payday-powered Bio-Ramen bowl (man has their prices risen again?), when i got a call from my fixer for a job freshly posted on the Haven app. Checking it out it turns out it's Argent, the guy Delphi talked about just hours prior. I immediately understand the job, he got rid of the current occupants and want us to help him push his luck further. I apply, pay the soup and before i knew it, i got notified that the johnson selected me. Not loosing time, i get on my bike and floor back where i just came from. I have to note, the Bird drones of GOD were not here, i'm not sure if i should be saddened.

On site, i nodded at the Ancients members around the casino and waited for the team before engaging further. I hoped to see some familiar faces, but heh, it is what it is. About ten minutes later Ch3f arrived, seeing the deck at his waist i strike up some small talk about decking waiting for our next pal. Turning up minutes later is a guy in sport apparel getting out of a bus, as it turns out it's Bane, we'll learn later that he know his way around melee fighting. Finally 0-K, frost slinger extraordinaire turns up and we get inside to talk with the j.

we're kinda uncomfortable to begin with, no one really has the confidence to start the conversation, but seeing the guy in a suit sniffing a line of novacoke i relaxed, really i was among reasonnable people. it's a change of pace from the uptight japanacorp of earlier. I consider sniffing a line too, but judged against it given last time i mixed novacoke and jazz together i had heart palpitations for hours. I start talking and we quickly understand the run, get to a bar further inside the territory of two different factions fighting each other, and make the current occupants vacate the place. Without deaths, to not force the rivals to roll down on them. Seems cool, i then go forward and ask the difficult question. What's the pay. 10 000 nuyen he tells us, i think it was clear i expected some more on my face, so he quickly added some 4000 on the deal if we helped then get rid of the old casino owners strike team.

It was not really easy, a black van stopped right behind the building while another did so in front. We accept the deal and proceed to get in position behind to gun them down. They were no amateurs, but they also were no runners, we managed to get them all alive and took only minor damage in the process, which Ch3f really patched up nice. He also took a bullet (literally) for the j and patched up one of his men, he is a good guy, and the Johnson look like he'll remember that. He gives us a sweet deal on laes, and electronic parts as thanks i really can't complain, he seems like a fair guy.

We then get on the road towards the bar he wants us to take over for him and start establishing a plan. On the road i get the public emergency services evacuation plan of the building, indicating there are only two doors, one for the public and another one for the staff. the staff's back door was electronic, so i and Ch3f got our marks on it to start hacking the host, while we establish a plan of gazing the whole bar using Neurostun. Someone mentioned Neurostun could be lethal to allergic people tho, so the team used narcojet mixed with some good old DMSO. We give the signal and O-K sends the grenades in, freezing the front door in the same movement, while Ch3f locked the back door from the matrix. For my part, i was content just squelching the messages for help one or two of the mooks tried to send out.

We heard some horror cries, people were amassed at the doors trying to break them, but the noise quickly stopped. Once it did, we got in, called the Johnson and started putting restraints on the gang members. I tried negotiating a somewhat better pay, but the Johnson stonewalled me so hard my social protocols crashed on the spot. We exchanged numbers tho, so that's worth something !

Ch3f

So this was my first real run aside from some milk runs where I just hang around in a car and opened a few doors for people. I seriously had no idea how quickly things would turn real on a job until these YAKs showed up with a DEATH SQUAD of sorts to get rid of the Johnson. TBH I hope my inexperience didn't show to my team mates as the action swirled around me so fast I felt like I was moving in slow motion that was until I saw one of the YAKs level his machine pistol at our Mr. J. Then my instincts took over and I did the only thing I knew to do in that situation, be a meat shield. only managed to take a few holes that my armored jacket didn't stop, but the look on the J's face when it happened was priceless. Almost as priceless when I asked them in Sperithel to take some of that Laes off their hands (you never know when that shit will come in handy).

Afterward we head to the job, and it seems simple enough, vacate a hardly populated bar, no wet-work. This was the time I let my runmates do all the heavy lifting by letting decide how to best approach this kind of situation, and rather than show my inexperience, just opt to assist the clearly veteran decker SP4rks in locking down a door, while he squelched any communications in or out of the place.

Overall was some easy money, made a few friends, a new contact, and even managed to dismantle a shitty deck for spare parts for my workshop.