What Lies Beneath

What Lies Beneath
Date 2082-04-02 GM Mursey Location Ork Underground, Seattle Status Threat Level: Medium
Factions Involved
ShadowHaven Yamada Shinji	Insect Spirits	Denizens in the Dark
Black Samurai La Rapide Stargazer Rougarou
Casualties and losses
none	Insect Shaman, 2 Fly Spirits.	Juvenile Naga

Summary

The team attempt to locate and rescue seven Renraku employees lost in newly opened tunnels in the Orc Underground.

Background

On April 1st 2082, seven Renraku construction workers on the night shift open up a sealed tunnel on the instructions of their boss. They don't return at the end of their shift. Their boss, scared of the consequences of another mess under his watch, contracts some runners to help him out. Warboss asks Black Samurai to report back about the possibility of putting the tunnels to good use on the Skraacha's behalf.

The Meet

The meet takes place at the famous Rhino resteraunt in downtown Seattle, directly above the most famous entrance to the Orc Underground. Yamada Shinji, a site manager for Renraku Construction, contracts the team to undertake a reconnaissance and rescue of newly opened tunnels in the Ork Underground. Seven members of his construction team have vanished, and they overtime they are accruing in going to affect his bonus. He offers the runners a total of 32 thousand nuyen out of the project's safety budget if they find his missing citizens and find out what happened to them.

Shinji makes no secret of the source of the money, a futile attempt to extort the runners into accepting his offer without negotiations. But the runners succeed in negotiating for more pay regardless.

The Plan

The plan is simple. Venture down into the tunnels. Find the construction workers. Return to the surface. Black Samurai decides this is too easy, and adds "murdering the Johnson" to his to-do list for the run.

The Run

The runners venture deep beneath the surface, gradually loosing wireless connection due to noise, and encountering strange acoustic tricks that leave some members of the group somewhat unsettled. They follow a trail of RFID tags marking the route of the missing workers, though the trail becomes progressively harder to follow as wireless signals rapidly fade. They avoid several potentially dangerous encounters, and rescue one worker from being consumed boa style by a juvenile Naga which they brutally murder.

Not long after, while the tunnel's eerie acoustics become progressively more disconcerting, they encounter an orc living in a converted cable car surrounded by various fencible goods. Due in part to some of the members being high on betameth and in greater part due to the death screams of the naga, Anything Andy isn't inclined to talk much, let alone introduce himself, and the runners soon continue on their way.

Not long after, they encounter the lair of an insect shaman and activate one of his magical wards, alerting him to their presence. The runners are hit by a powerball the moment they enter his inner sanctum, and his bug spirits -newly summoned into the meat-bodies of two construction workers- attack. After a brief struggle, all three are killed and the remaining workers rescued from their cocoons.

The survivors are returned to the surface by the team.

Aftermath

Only Stargazer and Rougarou return to meet with the Johnson. Both Black Samurai and La Rapide use the excuse of needing to clean themselves up to avoid meeting Shinji. The Johnson tries to wrangle out of paying Black Samurai and La Rapide, since he has no proof they are even still alive. He rapidly reverses this decision when Stargazer summons an air spirit to threaten him. This greatly irritates the local Skraacha and the resteraunt staff when the majority of customers flee screaming. Stargazer and Rougarou manage to make it out of the Underground via a back-tunnel, but are followed the whole way by the Skraacha.

Meanwhile, Shinji rises from the table and leaves for the short journey to his portacabin office in an empty lot just across the street. He is, however, pulled into an alleyway and murdered by Black Samurai. Amazingly, despite murdering someone in the middle of downtown, in broad daylight, no-one seems to notice. Aided, perhaps, by the attention-stealing crowd of screaming people still fleeing down the street in the opposite direction.

Meanwhile, La Rapide (having followed Black Samurai) watches, impressed.

Rewards

• 9k Nuyen, 7 Karma.
• -2 Skraacha rep for Stargazer and Rougarou.
• Because he is not identified as the killer, Black Samurai does not lose rep with Renraku and instead cashes in a chip with Warboss for helping clean up the Underground.

Game Quotes

Amusing quote from game.

Player After Action Reports (AARs)

Stargazer

Well, Renraku and bug spirits all in the same day. It's not my ideal, but the job paid enough to help me relocate later that same day. The Johnson was the kind of person that I've dealt with my entire life, more concerned with the bottom line than the people who work for them. However the team seemed professional... though I am unsure how I feel about working alongside a Banshee. Black Samurai was unique, very skilled, but once he took his booster he was almost like an excitable child. However they stopped me from being attacked by the bugs when I was too slow to react, so I suppose I owe this team my life. Luckily we don't keep track of things like this.

Black Samurai

After changing into street clothes and storing my gear bag, I stuck to the alleyways near the Big Rhino. Our J was more upset about having to pay his men than seeing them die. My anger boiled quietly, but I wasn't surprised. Renraku breeds hateful, evil men.

A woman walking by my hiding spot gagged, and I couldn't tell if it was liquor, the dumpster, or me. Probably me. Despite wiping off the bug guts and excrement, I knew I must reek. "Shit, I hope it's the dumpster. Please let it be the garbage and not me..."

And I laid in wait behind the peeling green dumpster overloaded with rotting scraps from the Big Rhino. I'd alternate between pretending to have a smoke and checking my commlink until my ruse was interrupted by screaming from the restaurant screeching into my cyber ears. Letting out a quiet "fuck", I turned down the audio enhancement and surveyed the scene. Orks, trolls, and a few obvious cultural tourists poured out of the restaurant. Scanning their faces, I couldn't find Stargazer or Rougarou among them. I didn't have an emotional attachment to either of them, but that might mean I wasn't getting paid.

Truth be told, though, there was only one payment I was interested in.

Just as my brain flashed neon warning lights for sitting still too long, Shinji finally jogged out of the building before doubling over to huff and puff. I encouraged him silently: "turn right, you fat fuck." He caught his wind and headed to the right, half jogging down the street towards a Renraku construction site. I slipped in behind him, blending in with the crowd running from the restaurant. The construction site was getting closer, but a narrow, dark alleyway presented an opportunity. I slid my body between his and the alley, and put my left arm around his shoulder and covered his mouth before he could make a sound. I spun him to the right and into the abandoned narrow lane.

With one quick slice, I left him to gurgle on the broken concrete and gravel before disappearing to double-back towards my car. One down...how many to go?