Cutthroat Showbiz
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ShadowHaven Finnigan Family | Ancients | ||||||||
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Colcannon Ren Throwback Runner4 |
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Summary
Runners get hired by a member of the Finnigan Family to whack an Ancients BLT producer muscling in on her business. They do so, with lots of grenades and bloodshed.
Background
Nix, a BTL producer working for the Ancients, has paid a dirty cop to leak intel about other BTL producers and dealers to him. Unfortunately, a number of those people are under the employ of one Robyn Hayes, a member of the Finnigan Family who really doesn't enjoy having her money fucked with. Still, rolling up with a crew herself would likely spark a hot gang war with the Ancients, and that's more trouble than it's worth, so she reaches out to the ShadowHaven for assistance.
The Meet
The runners are instructed to meet at a laundromat/dry cleaners and to give the attendant present a code phrase. They do so, and are lead to a vice den hidden beneath the establishment. Their Johnson, Mrs. Hayes, meets them in her office and is rather upfront about the issue she's having with a rival BTL dealer, and offers to pay them to make sure that the man is dead and his studios are thoroughly trashed so someone else can't just pick up the pieces. She shares freely what intel she's been able to gather so far. She's been able to track him down to an apartment building in Tarislar, but she doesn't know which units specifically belong to Nix, and a buddy in the Merlyns has noticed that the local spirits are oddly protective of Nix's holdings despite him not being a mage. The runners agree to the job, and Mrs. Hayes offers a little extra if they can also manage to figure out how Nix found out about her BTL industry contacts.
Mrs. Hayes even pays the runners half up front, because "it's not like I'm asking you to steal some shit you can sell to someone else, it's not like you can un-murder the motherfucker if I decide to fuck you". In her experience, fair treatment, honesty, and a little bit of advice from her own time running usually manages to buy a tiny bit of loyalty.
The Plan
Throwback hits the Matrix to see what he can find out about their target, and manages to find photos of him on social media and finds out that black BTLs are a major part of Nix's business. Researching the apartment building reminds the team that Tarislar is one of the few parts of the Puyallup Barrens with a notable KE presence. The team decides approaching quietly might be for the best, and heads to Tarislar to scope the building out. Throwback hits the building's host and finds a set of five units (3 on the fifth floor, 2 on the fourth) all leased by the same person, who is paying well above market rates and only via credstick for them. Checking security cameras near the units all but confirms that these belong to Nix, as there's a gaggle of Ancients hanging out in the hallway keeping a lookout and at least one chiphead wandering in to get a fix. Further investigation reveals a half dozen MCT gun turrets in the fifth floor rooms, and a lookout hanging out on an adjacent building's roof. The team decides that getting to the apartment's roof and working their way through the target's holdings is the best plan of action, but that means dealing with the lookout first.
The Run
Ren climbs his way up onto the adjacent building's roof and silently executes the lookout, leaving an origami lotus on the body. While he waits, a disembodied voice surprises Ren, asking to be given a good reason not to tell the Ancients what's just happened. The voice belongs to a local wild spirit, Ashwalker, who's being paid with karma by Nix to keep an eye on things. Ren is confused by the spirit's requests of memory and experience to buy him off, but when Colcannon catches up and sees the shifter talking to "nothing" she realizes what's happening and starts puffing on deepweed. Now able to see the astral, she sees a spirit that resembles an elven Pompeii victim, an ashen figure with burning light peeking out through cracks in its form. She agrees to pay 4 karma in exchange for the spirit fragging off for an hour, and so it does.
Throwback launches a grappling hook to the apartment building's roof, the team scurries across, and everyone heads inside. A bloody and rather lopsided fight ensues, despite the Ancient's superior numbers the runners tear through the dozen or so of them in the building with frightening ease, all while Throwback's sprite is handling the turrets for the team. One bloodied ganger is allowed to escape after fleeing Ren, but Throwback kills another surrendering Ancient when he finds them actively recording a snuff scene with a victim strapped into a chair. All equipment on the fifth floor is either shotgunned or grenaded, and the team uses a hole blasted into the floor of one room to get to the fourth floor. A chiphead customer was killed in the blast, but the team wastes no time shedding tears for the stranger and continues clearing out the target's units. They find Nix hiding in the bedroom of the unit they blasted a hole into, still trying to get dressed after being found in bed with a lover, and the other unit contains a recording studio for pornographic BTLs. The lover is allowed to leave, but Nix is interrogated by the runners, being told he'll be allowed to leave if he spills how he's been able to find and target rival BTL operations. He names one Officer Ramirez, a dirty cop he's been bribing to give him a list of the dealers and BTL dens he's been told to ignore. Satisfied with the answer, the runners immediately break their promise by hacking his cybereyes and then murdering the hell out of Nix. Ren makes sure to leave another origami lotus.
Realizing they just made a lot of noise in a populated area, the team books it for Throwback's car and flee the scene before Knight Errant or more Ancients can arrive. They find a rather acidic lake to wash some of the gore off of themselves, Throwback calls Jane Dior to let her know he has intel on a dirty cop, and the team calls Mrs. Hayes to let her know that Nix has been handled. Rather pleased with the results, she allows Throwback to send a drone over to pick of their remaining payment and promises to keep the runners in mind if she or her "cousins" ever need anything else done.
Aftermath
Unfortunately for Jane Dior, Officer Ramirez goes missing before he can be reprimanded for his misdeeds. His body is somewhere deep in the Puget Sound, sporting a brand new pair of concrete shoes.
Between the witnesses allowed to escape, calling cards left behind, residents peeking through peep holes, and other evidence left behind in the flood of violence the runners unleashed on the apartment building, both the Ancients and Knight Errant have at least some ideas about who's responsible and both the cops and crims are investigating further.
While Nix was far from the Ancient's only source of BTLs, the intel he possessed allowed him to project far outside of the gang's typical borders and they're no longer a threat to her Downtown operations. The gang has no proof that the mafia ordered the hit on Nix, and so a war in the streets is avoided.
Rewards
16,000¥ (8 RVP)
3 Karma (3 RVP)
2 Bonus CDP (1 RVP)
+5 Finnigan Family Rep
-30 Ancients Rep
+1 Public Awareness
Throwback - Chip on Jane Dior
Optional:
Throwback - Team Player (5 RVP)
Whoever - Robyn "Delira" Hayes - 4/2 Finnegan Fixer (5 RVP) and/or Ashwalker - 3/1 Wild Fire Spirit (3 RVP)
Colcannon - Can buy Ashwalker at up to 3/3 instead (1 RVP per increased Loyalty) and 1 chip on Ashwalker
Game Quotes
Player After Action Reports (AARs)
Throwback "I might be getting a little big for these kinds of jobs. The pay is alright I suppose and the risk low but I really need to step up my game a little."