Inquiries on the Sevenfold Staff

Inquiries on the Sevenfold Staff
Date 2086-08-10 GM Sarcarian Location Seattle Status Threat Level: Medium to High
Factions Involved
ShadowHaven	Major Corp
Samael Chance Alkali	Character1 Character2

Background

As part of prior set of runs, the Shadowhaven became aware of the Draco Foundation's quest to find the Shards of the Sevenfold staff. Samael, Chance, and Alkali decide to do some digging and find out just what the Foundation is up to....

The Plan

• Reverse Cyrano Adowa "Moria" Webster as a weak link in Draco in order to get more information

The Run

• Samael calls Alias to acquire a new Fake SIN for the long con.
• Alkali calls Gamma Grey to acquire a fake aura to help mask Sam's "romance".
• Chance does a variety of matrix searches and finds the following info:

• Draco Foundation (focusing on artifacts):

The Draco Foundation is known to have custody of several powerful artifacts - some were left to them by Dunkelzhan’s Will, some produced by the DIMR as research proof of concepts, some given to them over the years by wealthy patrons or shadowrunners who felt they were worthy custodians for powerful magic, and some acquired during the Artifact Rush of the early 2070s in order to study them or keep them out of the hands of rival organizations such as the Illuminates of the New Dawn, the Order of the Temple, the Aleph Society and the Atlantean Foundation. Known items in the custody of the Foundation or their agents include:

• The First Key of Power
• The Sexton of Worlds
• The Dragonheart

The Foundation is also known to be actively seeking several artifacts, including:

• Excalibur
• Mel’thelem Loci
• The Shards of the Sevenfold Staff

• On Moira Webster:

Adowa Webster is a 36 year old registered magician employed by the Dunkelzhan Institute of Magical Research. Comes from a humble background, having won the DIMR’s Magical Innovation Competition at 18 and used the resulting scholarship to pay for her subsequent education. She is a graduate of MIT&T, holding a Th.D in Thaumaturgical Studies. Known use the alias “Moria” on the Matrix, popular in arcano-archaeology circles and RPG forums. Travels frequently, but seems to work out of the Seattle offices.

• On the “Sevenfold Staff”:

An artifact of unknown providence, split into seven pieces. Made of an unknown silvery material which does not tarnish or rust. Properties, origin and location of the pieces are subject to speculation with little in the way of concrete intel, to the point that active disinformation efforts to flood the arcano-archaeology scene with ‘noise’ can be inferred. Further information seems to be actively obfuscated or deleted from the Matrix.

• The Long Con:
  • Matrix Net hits: Intel 4
  • Scouting The Target: Intel 11
  • Psyche Eval: Intel 16
  • Acquires a book and knowsoft on Arcano-Archeology

The Con

• Meeting Moira:
  • Sam sets up in the local Soybucks with book in hand and Alkali having masked his aura to not reveal the CHA prep or his extensive cyberware.
  • Under the guise of "Giles Corey, MIT&T researcher", Sam chats her up and the two compare notes on theories of Excalibur, ending the conversation with an offer of him buying her dinner

• Back at Samael's apartment, Peck realizes that the team has been made by the presence of a mark on Sam's commlink and the presence of a matrix persona. Chance realizes this is likely an AI on behalf of Draco Counter-Intel and they've been made already.
  • Alkali boosts Peck's deck with an Analyze Device and Peck goes to work, learning more about the persona hiding in a drone inside Sam's apartment.
  • Peck realizes the AI is not Draco, but is likely an interested third party.

The three fold scouting

• Sam: Seducing Moira Webster
  • Once again astral doppleganger'd by Alkali, the date with Webster goes well and Sam gets a data tap on Moira's terminal for Peck to dig into her deck.
  • Debrief notes from prior Staff runs, stolen data on the Atlantean Foundation, theories on where other shards are located, reference of a file on the Draco mainframe for staff research
  • Confirms its part of a larger whole, metallurgical studies inconclusive. Research sent to Lake Louise, confirming the staff's current location.
  • Prior Runners: Bodysnatcher, technomancer, Antimage, field recon / scouts, physically capable thaumaturge.
• Alkali: Metaplanar trip to the Infinite Library
  • The Dweller on the Threshold calls Alki out for being reluctant to trust his friends.
• Peck: Running the old NeoNet Grid
  • Peck gets in touch with some contacts and gets himself a Cyber 5

Game Quotes

Amusing quote from game.