Robble robble!
| Robble robble! | ||||||||||
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| Part of The Metroplex Governor Race of '84 | ||||||||||
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| Factions Involved | ||||||||||
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ShadowHaven New Century Party | Angry Mob | Humanis Agitators | ||||||||
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Vesper Chameleon | Normal People | 2 Agitators | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | ||||||||||
| None | None | |||||||||
Summary
Agitators are spinning up an angry mob outside an NCP office, and somebody needs to disperse the crowd without a fuss.
Background
Republican political operators are pleased with their polling lead and don't want to see the last-minute surge in NCP popularity turn into a real threat to their dominance in the election. To that end, they've filtered instructions down to a couple of Humanis agitators to gin up a rowdy anti-technomancer protest outside one of the NCP offices that has been ground zero for their growing support. The NCP needs the problem gone, but don't want to be seen calling in the police or otherwise inciting violence - that's just going to play directly into Republican "law and order" narratives. So, deniable assets with a light touch are necessary.
The Meet
Chameleon and Vesper make contact with their Johnson, Hassan Bahreini, in a small political consulting host. He explains the small protest that has been stubbornly growing outside their offices and his suspicions that it is driven by political agents. He explains the need for peaceful dispersion of the crowd without anything turning violent, or worse, a full-blown riot breaking out and harming the volunteer staffers. They take the job.
The Plan
They decide that infiltrating the crowd should be a cinch for Chameleon and, once part of the mob, he should be able to identify the 'organizers' keeping this moving, and then they can best determine how to neutralize them.
The Run
Chameleon infiltrates the crowd and spends a few hours yelling slogans alongside the others, then starts helping distribute signs and water and zeroes in on the two organizers providing the materials and the drumbeat of inflammatory rhetoric, Lyle Peet and Pez De Spencer. Vesper, armed with their identities, spends some time searching out details on their personal lives and quickly discovers evidence of Lyle's orcish lover and Pez's past donations to the UCACLU - both grievous sins to type of people filling out this mob. After a short negotiation with Hassan to supply the currency for a small bribe, Chameleon and Vesper use the carrot of a small bribe and the stick of embarrassing blackmail to induce the two professional agitators to find something else to do. Without a clear leader to keep the protest going in the desired direction, the team waits a few hours for the mob's focus to begin to dissipate. Then, Vesper hops into a truckbed and puts on his best "racist demagogue" hat to declare to the crowd that a much better target for their vague hatred is located at a nearby apartment building where meta-loving journalists are working day-in and day-out to let those dirty metas into the country! Part of the mob agrees and follows him away from the site, and with the energy dissipating, the bulk of the rest of the crowd leaks away by the end of the day. Chameleon takes the stubborn lingerers out to Denny's at the end of the day and they ultimately agree that they have done a great job and their mission has been accomplished, with those NCP nerds suitably intimidated.
Aftermath
The next morning, with only a couple of lonely extremists outside the NCP office, Hassan thanks the team and provides their meager payment, along with a promise for a reference if they ever need one.
Rewards
5 RVP
2000 N (1RVP)
4 Karma (4RVP)
2 CDP (Base)
+1 NCP standing
Game Quotes
Player After Action Reports (AARs)
Vesper: "A thousand things wrong with this world, and these schlubs are out here protesting the one major political party that gives half of a Devil's Rat's ass about them. But then, who am I to judge too harshly: we're all susceptible to misinformation and the deep, subconscious tugging of bigotries. They're fortunate that Chameleon and I were on the scene and not some more impatient types in our line of work. The situation could have gotten bloody, and fast. Certainly Hassan should be happy that we had some delicate operators on hand."
Chameleon: Runs seem to come in a variety of flavors. It was nice to have a run that left a nice milky taste. Lady Luck was with me today. I ran into someone else with some social skills just as a political demonstration was teetering on going ugly. Vesper is a natural team player. He could probably have chilled the situation by himself but why take the risk? I feel like I'm on the verge of a magical breakthrough I should stay home tonight and get serious about peering into the astral plane.