"ZZ Top?" "No! I said Isotopes!"

"ZZ Top?" "No! I said Isotopes!"
Date	2083-10-DD08"2083-10-DD08" contains an extrinsic dash or other characters that are invalid for a date interpretation.
GM	Zerre
Location	{{{place}}}
Status	Threat Level: Extreme
Factions Involved
Casualties and losses

Summary

After losing a shipment of radioactive isotope in a magic-heavy hijacking, Johnson hires a group of runners get her goods back, sending the group through investigation, intrigue, and into the heart of a raging volcano to get the goods back home.

Background

The Meet

The run was held in a parking garage, Johnson was a woman in a UCAS combat jacket, flanked by unmarked N-51 soldiers backing her up as the party drove up. She got right to the point, explaining that her organization was in the middle of purchasing a quantity of radioactive materials needed for their activities, before a rival group hijacked the transport, taking their goods for themselves. Discussing the situation, as well as the importance of not breaking the container keeping the radiation at bay, the group went for negotiation to try and haggle for higher pay, though, unfortunately, it seemed that her price was rather firm, locking the group into a hefty nuyen reward with a single offer of a specified item brought about at a discount below market value for each party member. Stepping forward, she passed a datachip towards the party for any further information they might have needed before stepping back with her security into her vehicle.

The Plan

Slotting in the chip given to the party, they were able to see the attack go off, spotting an olive-drab green reinforced GMC bulldog Step-van fleeing the scene afterwards towards the Barrens. Looking deeper into the situation, it appeared that the driver they could spot in the camera system was rather heavily geared up, combined with the psuedo-military paintjob, the group seemed to think this could possibly be a paramilitary group responsible for the robbery. Looking over the modifications of the vehicle, it appeared that it was missing spoof chips, a morphing license plate, and chameleon coating, so it seemed less like something a runner or a specialized hit squad would use, more like the sort of equipment a UCAS vehicle would be running, which, upon later explanation, was sensible, as the van that drove off happened to be the van belonging to Johnson. Between Pell and Tempest, their knowledge of the area gave off a few locations that would possibly have sourced the sorts of mods this vehicle had installed, specifically, a few involved with the local gangs. Working off of their shared knowledge, Nu11 and M3chan1c were able to narrow the possible locations down to a highly-reputable area of Mafia mechanics in the Barrens. Taking the situation down further, M3chan1c dug into his own knowledge of the Mafia's presence in the area and told the others of a very recent attack on one of the gang's garages earlier that day, while not certain if it was related, it was definitely a great place to investigate after checking the site of Johnson's robbery. Hopping into their vehicles, the runners made their way for Snohomish to see if there was anything left behind.

As they arrived on the scene, there didn't seem to be much left in meatspace, Pell and Tempest immediately got to work investigating the astral in the area, trying to find any traces of magical aura in the area, spotting the telltale signs of toxic magic being performed in the area. As the Deckers of the party looked over the area, Pell shared the iconography of a few cameras she spotted nearby, sending it to her allies before getting back to her astral sensing. Stepping over to a nearby light post with an access point for the road-network's host, Corpse-maker got to work with his auto-picker, quickly busting open the network box and letting the matrix-jockeys go at it. Though, due to the lack of extra ports, it was decided Nu11 would head in, after a quick series of searches, it seemed that someone had already come in and wiped the camera feeds, another dead lead. Just before the group left, Pell decided to summon a nearby spirit of man, figuring it would be a good idea to see if they might have seen anything. After some creative speaking and a couple odd bendings of the truth, Pell was able to confirm the situation and just what happened during the attack. Apparently, a radiation beam shot out of nowhere, blasting into the van transporting the radioactive materials and instantly melting the driver and passenger, before a group of six individuals wearing full body armor with few markings stepped into the van and drove off to the south. According to the wall spirit, it apparently seemed that only one of the hijackers was magically inclined, with the other members of the group seeming stunned that they were capable of such a thing. On further prodding, it appeared that the shot came from above towards the barrens, either from an overpass nearby, or a rooftop in the nearby square. Scanning over the area, it appeared that the mage's aura had been scrubbed prior to the group's escape, additionally, while investigating physically, there didn't seem to be any remains of the ambush team, clear signs of professionals at work. Stepping into their vehicles, the group decided to follow M3chan1c's lead about the recently hit Mafia garage.

Arriving on the scene, the group was treated to the sight of a mafia cleanup, with the gangers seeming to be tending to the property in the aftermath of what seemed to be a shootout. Stepping up to the leader that M3chan1c pointed out to the party, Tempest got to work negotiating, doing her best to convince the capo to tell him about the situation, after some social struggles, the runner ended up forking over a couple thousand Nuyen to get him to squawk about the van. Apparently, it was previously arranged that the van would stop by in the garage for a refitting and a re-spray to cover their tracks, though, apparently, during the interaction, the thieves shot one of the Mafia's men, starting a fight as they fled the scene, calling in the Yakuza as backup to keep the garage staff at bay. Apparently, the hijackers were part of an eco-terrorism group called Green Therapy according to the Capo, who immediately kicked the runner back to her allies in the van before returning to his business. Pell got to work calling one of her contacts, Chloe Green, about the situation, as the deckers got to work running matrix searches for the organization. Before Null was done with their moderate search, M3chan1c pulled off the fastest T6 Matrix Search in the west, managing to dig out a list of members, prominent leaders, and meeting locations in 7 hits (Good god the net hits.) the group was composed of 6 individuals, the chief of the group, an orc named mad dog, Michelle, a human magician, Terran, a troll, Warren, a decker, and Gordon and Steel, a pair of Ex-UCAS soldiers. According to recent reports, the organization had a safehouse in the volcanic district of Puyallup, specifically in Hell's Kitchen.

As the group passed by the terrorist base, Nu11 managed to overhear a conversation between Mad Dog and Michelle, apparently complaining that the package was missing, apparently taken by some sort of individual. As the group pulled up, ready for combat, they decided to wait before they struck, hoping to catch more out of the conversation before they went for the guns, opting to take at least one of them alive to find out where the product had been taken to. As the group would go towards the fight, the plan was to take the mage, Michelle, out of the picture first, sending M3chan1c's van into the gate of their safehouse to keep them from escaping the enclosed space as the rest of the party got to work with nonlethals.

The Run

Poking over the wall, Tempest fired off a powerful stunbolt to start the fight, slinging it straight towards Michelle, immediately knocking the mage off her feet and leaving the party open for their battle plan. Pell stepped into the gateway, raising her weapon and blasting off a shot towards Mad Dog, the gel-round they fired immediately knocking the leader out, giving him a bloody nose as they collapsed to the ground. Following up, M3chan1c drove up, blocking the gateway as his mounted minigun hosed down one of the remaining terrorists, leaving them barely standing under the hail of Gel Rounds, leading to the wounded soldier throwing a pathetic shot towards Pell, who gracefully danced to the side, dodging the shot just before impact. Null fired off a flash grenade, dazing the soldiers as they desperately tried to return fire, the previously wounded one collapsing as a pair of his comrades fired off towards Pell, earning them both a pair of misses against the graceful gunner. Retaliating, M3chan1c's AI drone flew over the wall, bathing one of the struggling holdouts in gel-rounds, sending them hurtling across one of the nearby cars. Once again, Another flash bang soared over the wall thanks to Corpse Maker's drones, eliciting even more panic from the standing soldiers. Seeing that the group already had enough enemies taken alive, Tempest decided to end things with a bang, firing off a lightning bolt to instantly fry one of the fleeing soldiers to a crisp, as Pell followed off with another shot to the final target, sending them spiraling into the dirt with an impressively shot gel round, cracking the poor punk's skull with what was supposed to be a non-lethal round.

Taking their hostages inside the motel, the group got to to work on their investigation. Pell called out to the others, realizing that the mage in this group wasn't exactly a toxic one, meaning they still had one individual from the attack unaccounted for. As Nu11 got to work cracking their commlinks, he quickly found information about the job, these terrorists were hired to deliver the stolen isotope to a man named Chernobog. According to their messages, Chernobog was meant to swing by the motel to pick up the package and deliver payment rather recently, as a comm code was left wide open, the decker took full advantage of it, tracing the commlink back to a cave within the volcano. As the group gathered up to head off to the next location, M3chan1c called one of his contacts, Frank Grover, in order to report the unconscious and tied up terrorists, turning them in in exchange for some good reputation with Knight-Errant.

As the group made their way off towards the cave, amidst the heavy heat, the group's geiger counters started to tick off, getting rather intense near the entrance of the cave. Putting two and two together, Pell realized just what Chernobog's plan was, creating a nuclear spirit factory due to the interaction between the radioactive material and the active volcano. Realizing they didn't want to waste any time, the group hopped out and made their way for the cave, sneaking carefully inside. Stepping into the main threshold, the group spotted a massive fire spirit held within a ward with the isotope, flanked by a pair of smaller nuclear spirits, with no sign of Chernobog, with the area being violently bathed in radiation, realizing the situation called for immediate action, the party prepared to fight, with Pell tripping over a spare rock and alerting the enemies to the group's presence.

Scanning the area within the astral, Pell found the missing supervillain, Chernobog, lurking around the fire spirit's ward. Raising her rifle, she fired off in his direction, blowing out the chest of the nuclear spirit standing in the way of her shot, immediately causing it to vaporize before her. Pulling up his Lynx, M3chan1c fired off a shot towards the remaining nuclear spirit, blasting off a large chunk of its form, the beast barely standing as it bled radioactive waste and howled at the paty. Looking back into the room, a powerful blast of radiation shot out from beside the ward, a shot from the resident toxic mage, while most of the runners were able to jump out of the way, Tempest unfortunately was caught in the blast, taking some exposure but resisting their body's urge to vomit as they began to suffer radiation's effects. Nu11 sent one of their drones forwards, firing off a blast at the remaining nuclear spirit, taking off more of their ethereal form as the beast charged for Pell. Upon reaching Pell, the spirit lunged forward in attack, thankfully being skillfully dodged by Pell as she hit the dirt just in time to avoid getting roasted. Quickly retaliating, Tempest fired off a mana bolt in response, dispelling the spirit before it had a chance to retaliate. As M3chan1c's drone flew forward, firing out blindly towards the source of the earlier radiation blast, managing to nail the hiding mage with a few shots. Leaping forward, the Mage dropped his invisibility spell, screaming madly "If I'm going down, You're coming with me!" as he fired off a powerful radiation beam, Pell, missing his shot as he collapsed on the ground, dead from magical drain, just in time for the fire spirit, previously trapped within the mage's ward, to step out and incinerate the cursed mage, before demanding the party take their cursed material and leave, an action which the runners rather frantically completed, scooting out of the cave before they pissed off the very large and angry being made of fire. As the runners left, the spirit gave off a gracious thanks before turning to purge its home of the taint Chernobog brought in.

Aftermath

Returning back to the parking garage, the runners, practically glowing. As the group explained the situation, Johnson seemed rather concerned about Chernobog's plans, as well as the loss of some of their isotope. After a few half-hearted attempts at haggling, Johnson suggested that she would get in contact with them again for future jobs as she passed off the payment for the run.

Rewards

Game Quotes

Amusing quote from game.

Player After Action Reports (AARs)

Nu11st@ck: "Toxic mages, toxic spirits, captured free fire spirits.. Too much magic. I like a good spell as much as the next but cant these guys just leave nature alone. Last thing we need is that dam volcano erupting again."