Circus Wars
| Circus Wars | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of Circus of Crime Part of All The World's a Stage | |||||||||
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| Factions Involved | |||||||||
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ShadowHaven Circus of Crime | Crimson Crush | ||||||||
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Grackle Maneater Lich Me | Charles 'Fugly' Girard, Bill 'Buzz' Sawyer | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
| Charles 'Fugly' Girard, Bill 'Buzz' Sawyer | |||||||||
Summary
A man calls upon four runners to sabotage an enemy circus.
Background
Max Malini and his Circus of Wonder is in competition with the Redmond Amateur Theatrical Society for the use of the Goldhammer Circus. Its presence has been interfering in his ability to make a profit, and he wants that to end. That weekend the circus is expected to make another performance, and in an attempt to ensure it doesn't happen he sends out a request for runners to vandalize the costumes and props required for said performance.
The Meet
Arriving early, the Lich and "Me" meet Mr. Malini a distance away from the Goldhammer Circus entrance, setting aside formalities and discussing the matters of the run as well as payment. Handing over a grenade as well as a liter of gasoline, he shows the two an overhead map of the circus with a circle to mark where the primary objective is: a smaller tent slightly northwest of the main tent, where at night they store costumes and props. On the map is also guards, roughly nine in total, though he states he doesn't know quite their patrol patterns or if that is all of them.
Soon enough, the remaining two runners show up: Grackle and Maneater. Catching the two up to speed, they begin to step away from Max as they draw up a plan. Every so often the plan would be corrected as the team performs bits of reconnaissance, and later once more after the circus closes up for the night. After the plan is formulated (but before the circus closes), "Me" purchases spraycans in order to graffiti along the sides of some carts.
The Plan
Waiting until the cover of late, late night, "Me" will run distraction for the two guards which patrol, bringing them aside where an invisible tiger (Maneater) and a shapechanged Grackle will assist her in dispatching the two. While they do that, the Lich will levitate over the fence and set the tent for destruction. After the guards are taken care of, they would then move to the animal cages where they will release them out into the wilds, causing the not-patrolling guards in the main tent to have to make their way over to try and corral the circus animals. At roughly the same time, the Lich will cause the grenade to detonate while on the other side of the fence, ensuring that not all personnel can assist in either case. Additionally in that time frame, "Me" will graffiti the sides of carts, implicating the organization [KIND] as being the perpetrators of this event.
From there, the runners will escape and call Max to get paid for their services.
The Run
Roughly 3:30 AM, an hour after the Goldhammer Circus closes down, "Me" walks up to the southwest gate, proclaiming that she must have left an important item behind, and asks if the two guards will let her collect it. Buying into it, they agree, though state they'll follow to help her to do. While they begin to follow her, Grackle casts Invisibility on Maneater and Shapechange on himself, where they then sneak into the circus and begin to stalk the two guards. Once in an area where they will be discovered too late, Maneater begins to rip into one guard who only barely manages to survive the first attack, though with a Manabolt he is left dead on the ground. "Me", taking the other off guard, injects him with a paralyzing poison, which begins to make its way through his system... though not before Maneater and Grackle end his life as well.
During the midst of all this, the Lich rather easily levitates over the fence and heads inside the unprotected tent, soaking it with gasoline and prepping for detonation. With the combat almost as soon as it began, "Me" scrawls slogans implicating KIND onto carts and fences, and Maneater and Grackle make their way to the animal cages. Letting loose the caged creatures, the guards slacking off inside the main tent notice the noise and begin making their way over to investigate. Behind them, an explosion goes off as the Lich makes his escape, and with their attention divided they are incapable of identifying what happened or who caused it... though given the graffiti, it would appear to be the work of the animal rights activists.
Aftermath
Successful in their escape, the runners call Max who gives them their payment and his thanks, offering himself as a potential contact if any of them would care to take it.
Rewards
Medium TL - 13 RVP
10,000 Nuyen - (5 RVP)
8 Karma - (8 RVP)
2 CDP - (Base)
Optional All - Max Malini C3L1 (-3 RVP) Optional Lich - Bilingual at Chargen (-5 RVP)
Game Quotes
Player After Action Reports (AARs)
Lich - "An easy task."
Grackle - "I don't think I've ever had a good experience with a circus. Money is money and all, but gosh... the smells and sounds still make me a little nauseous. Actually, that might be some of the trash I ate when I was a rat..."
Me - "I really should invest in faster paralysing toxins... It would've got me caught if it wasn't for the invisible 12 feet tall tiger that mauled the guy to death!"