Great Artists Steal
| Great Artists Steal | |||||||||
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| Factions Involved | |||||||||
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ShadowHaven Nuyen Press Brady Franco | Aoi Bungaku | ||||||||
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Delphi Fennec Signal | g01bez and 0-MUS | ||||||||
Summary
Good artists copy, great artists steal, and successful artists hire shadowrunners to keep the other artists away from their manuscripts.
Background
The players: Aoi Bungaku, an A-level corp that fell on hard times and was purchased by a subdivision of Shiawase's publishing division. With an emphasis on translated imports of East Asian light novels, manga/manhwa, animation, games, trods, and even simsense, and a distribution partner for various western licenses and merchandise, Aoi Bungaku has been a powerful player in the game even since before its Shiawase takeover. Lately, some of their releases, along with releases from other, smaller competing publishers and distributors, have looked disturbingly like pre-release manuscripts belonging to-
Nuyen Press, an up-and-coming publishing house focused on bringing western-made light and web novel fiction to the masses. Its owner and founder, Brady Franco, has been tearing his hair out due to all of his competitors beating him to market. It's cutting into the bottom line, and in an industry with margins as razor thin as publishing (even considering how cheap it is to produce and distribute on the Matrix), it will drive them into bankruptcy by the end of the year.
In a fit of inspiration, Brady suddenly suspects sabotage, and after consulting with various security firms and finding they're outside of his budget, allows his assistant to call her boyfriend, who knows a runner, who slinks his request for data theft protection into the shadows.
The Meet
Delphi, Fennec, and Signal answer the call in a small Boba Tea shop somewhere in Renton, near to the freeway. The Johnson is visibly nervous and obviously inexperienced, though is supported by his apathetic assistant. Nonetheless, his helpless earnestness convinces the runners that his price is right, after a little negotiation, and the team have him provide marks to his host and keys to his office.
The Plan
The crew scout the meat and find its defenses lacking - and then, after scouting the Matrix, update their findings to extremely lacking. Fennec aptly calls it "a screen door on a submarine." Any competent hacker could get in and out of the host with minimal effort spent, or any competent runner the physical space, at that. Some research online confirms Johnsons statements from earlier, that manuscripts have been leaked online on some paydata forums. Using a manifest of employees to contact provided by the Johnson, the team, suspecting a social angle to the leak, search the host's access logs for abnormal employee activity, and the Matrix for any potential leads on their star author in particular, Waverly Bell - it was only after she was signed several months ago that these leaks seemed to have begun. They find, however, no unusual employee access records, and nothing but earnestness from Waverly Bell, who even refused an offer from Aoi Bungaku to be poached after signing on with Nuyen Press (this after Fennec bravely marathoned her entire corpus of work in just under half an hour - even by the team's admission, that much light novel drek in one speedy session was above and beyond the call of duty).
Hearts overflowing at her earnestness, the team agree that this looks more like an outside job, and redouble their search of the host and premises. On a more thorough examination, the host reveals access logs with scrambled meta-data apparently missed by their infiltrator. A MAC address that the crew are able to link back to a known decker named g01bez is among the data, and a quick matrix search reveals he is known for sudden bursts of power and brutally painful Data Spikes. Due to the almost preternatural bursts of strength, some speculate that he is a technomancer. He works with a driver, as well, though little is known about her save that the two are close.
After placing stealth tag sensors all over the second floor office space, Delphi takes another hard look around the perimeter of the building, and finds a deftly hidden stealth tag on the dumpster outside the rear entrance. Signal takes the initiative in placing marks on the device, and with a little guidance from Delphi, manages to sleaze enough marks unnoticed to trace its PAN to the North of Renton, in a parking garage just outside a small shopping center. As the sun sets, they resolve to take the initiatve and steal any relevant evidence from g01bez's device, rather than waiting for their opfor to strike first.
The Run
Remaining hidden and infiltrating g01bez's PAN, Signal finds themselves in a dank medieval dungeon, dark with shadow. A large and menacing throne rises above them. The room is square shaped, and leads to a grid-like labyrinth of rooms before Signal finally happens across a laboratory, with a shelf labeled "Potions of Knowledge." Among them is an acidic green vial that they are able to identify as likely holding sensitive data, although also as being protected by a relatively powerful data bomb and encryption.
After taking some time to successfully disarm the data bomb, Signal is ambushed by g01bez and 0-MUS, who apparently had spotted them at some point prior. Primed to brick their comm, two swift strikes to their persona left their deck sparking and overheating while Fennec and Delphi sprang to their defense. Thanks to the marks gained by Signal, plus some sneaky maneuvering by Fennec and some smart application of programs by Delphi, the crew are able to best not only g01bez, but his serpent-like helper, and ghost-like assistant as well. Fennec's sharp Matrix eyes are able to discern the serpent as a Sprite, and his ghost-like assistant as a Technomancer's persona, although she shares none of this information save to call the dragon "sus."
Aftermath
Nauseated and clearly outmatched, g01bez and 0-MUS agree to parlay with the runners, and agree to most of their demands. They will allow the runners to escape with the log file detailing g01bez and 0-MUS's interactions with a contact named "Blue J" (likely a reference to Aoi Bungaku's blue theming, a theory confirmed with some Matrix digging after the fact), as well as the exact method of their infiltration, utilizing a jackpoint among one of the host's slaved lock devices. Although g01bez was asked to sign off on the file as a seal of authenticity, he refuses, citing his reputation, and that while he'll respect a defeat in an honorable duel, betrayal would ruin his and his partner's reputation.
After revealing herself, Fennec discovers that the ghostly presence assisting g01bez happens to be a fan of her streams, and resolves to cultivate a healthy parasocial relationship that will have no hard-hitting consequences for either party in the future. Signal, likewise, takes g01bez aside and invites him to join Warden's forum for deckers and hackers, which he thanks them for. The crew leaves, shuts down, and calls the mission a success.
The Johnson accepts the data with loud and enthusiastic thanks, as well as Delphi's generous offer to find him a good lawyer and provide Matrix security tips free of charge on top of a job well done.
(This run leads into Genre Savvy.)
Rewards
Difficulty: Medium (12 RVP)
6k Nuyen (3 RVP)
4k Nuyen (Negotiation Bonus)
7 Karma (7 RVP)
4 CDP (2 RVP)
2 CDP Base
Optional:
Delphi: Instinctive Hack (2 RVP)
g01bez and 0-MUS (2/1) (2 RVP)
Brady Franco (3/3) (5 RVP)
Signed Limited Edition Print Run of "Reality Got More Real! I'm an AI But I Got Isekai'd Into a Fantasy World Without RPG Mechanics!?: Vols. 1-10 Omnibus Edition" by Waverly Bell (0 RVP)
Game Quotes
Player After Action Reports (AARs)
Fennec - Wahahahaha! What a good one this was. I got a free signed book from an author I like, I got to meet another techno, I didn't have to kill anybody with an AK! Today was a good day. Now, what the heck was the deal with that sussy decker with an arm in her suitcase? Also, Naga lady seemed nice but kinda quiet?
Signal - Never done protection work before! Normally I'm asked to do the exact opposite, heh. Also got another taste of why I don't usually get into fights on the Matrix, that g01bez guy nearly bricked my deck. At least he seemed pretty chill after we beat him and his friend. Job well done, though, those two I was with were both kinda weird but really good at this, so pretty much perfect team mates.