A Shadowrun Based on Bullshit by Rise Against
| A Shadowrun Based on Bullshit by Rise Against | |||||||||
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| Factions Involved | |||||||||
| Purkinje | x_X_Troll_U_4_Days_X_x | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
| ＡＥＳＴＨＥＴＩＣ the companion sprite disrupted, may they rest in peace | 1 heavily injured dissonant technomancer | ||||||||
Background
The election of Technocrat Potter to the office of Seattle Governor was an upset for the establishment and promised use of matrix polling and analysis to increase decision-making times and extend democracy to the people. Any backlash against the administration's reactionary policies was met with criticism on the basis the policies were supported by the public.
Purkinje felt something about this was off and was determined to access the resonance realms for the first time in order to find data that could be used to investigate the Governor's policies.
Meet
After communing with 01 on the Neo-Tokyo grid, Purkinje contacted her infobroker Ashabel to ask for where she could find a resonance rift. In exchange for a copy of Purkinje's file on Project Pyro's Seattle integration plan, Ashabel pointed to a rift tucked away in a scarcely-used host nested within the destination host for Horizon in Menlo Park. After getting her fixer to set her up with a bed in Deireadh An Tuarthell hospital, Purkinje headed off to the host.
Run
The host proved difficult to get into, with Purkinje spending nearly a full day trying to crack it with the help of a registered crack sprite before giving up and deciding it would be easier to scam the host's spider. This proved a much easier solution, as her experience in con artistry combined with her ability to thread Resonance Veil made it simple to pose as a new employee who hadn't been granted access to the host she wanted into.
Purkinje was sucked into the resonance rift once she entered the nested host. She woke up in a medieval fantasy tavern, suddenly feeling stronger, faster and more capable than she'd ever felt before. Her sprites were with her, and together they formed an adventuring party. A nearby mysterious old man in a hooded robe told her what she was looking for was to the west in an evil wizard's tower and that she could follow up on it in a shining, great library to the east.
The party set out west and set eyes upon a dissonant realm that appeared to be full of poison fruits and guarded by twisted abominations. They managed to sneak by the guardians and break their way into the dizzyingly tall tower, where a foul miasma of toxic hatred surrounded them. They began to search, Purkinje bolstered by a form that gave her even greater resilience in this land of death.
As soon as Purkinje found the file, the evil wizard of the tower appeared. His name was x_X_Troll_U_4_Days_X_x, and he embodied all the hate that had coalesced here. With a powerful cast of Dissonance Spike, he nearly brought Purkinje to her knees; just then, Purkinje's companion sprite leapt in the way and took the hit, being destroyed instantly. The fading the dissonant technomancer took from threading crippled him, and between Purkinje's hyperthreaded diffusions and buffed firewall, he was unable to mount a successful attack. Purkinje didn't learn much about him, but she quietly took note of his resonance signature before escaping with her crack sprite and the file she was after.
The trip to the great library was less eventful, but it was a welcome contrast to the chaos and despair of the dissonant realm. Purkinje had found the Archive, a place where all files that had been stored on the matrix were found. In exchange for providing a deep scan of the mural depicting the Night of Rage in the hospital, a sprite promised to help her search for the polling data she could cross-reference with the data from the Information Exchange Network she had pulled from the dissonant realm. It took her nine full hours, but eventually she found it.
In order to leave, Purkinje returned to the bed where she had woken up in the tavern. The old man was still there and congratulated her on completing her quest. He said something about how she'd be "recompiled" one day, but he vanished before she could ask what that meant.
Aftermath
Purkinje edited a highlight reel of the run that would excise identifying information while explaining that technomancers were not inherently evil, but special people who could do great things for the world locked in a never-ending battle with the powers of dissonance. She attached the polling data and Information Exchange Network files and leaked the full file on popular matrix message boards so it couldn't be traced back to her. The files had secret information hidden for technomancers, directing them to NCL.
Rewards
15 karma
AAR
Purkinje's Report
I finally made my way into the resonance realms, and it was more than I could have ever dreamed. It wasn't exactly like the Root or Façadebook I had theorized, but there was a land of dissonance that held all manner of toxic files shared on social media, and another where I felt such peace surrounded by the countless files that were there. The Archive.
My infobroker was nicer than I expected. She's always intimidated me, being so well-connected in the community and all. She pointed me to a resonance rift in a Horizon host that had been built on the architecture of old Facebook. Apparently time works differently there, so she advised me to get an IV. Briar was able to set me up with a hospital bed, and he wasn't too horny about it thankfully. The place was decrepit and understaffed. I can see those donations I made weren't nearly enough. Still though, it was a low-key place to keep my meat body while I was out.
The host Ashabel sent me to was an utter pain in the ass that I spent a whole day bashing my head against. That was my fault though, I should've played it smarter. It turns out spiders are not immune to my charms, and I fooled one into thinking I was an employee looking to get into the history host under the regional destination host. A little form to cover it up and bam, he was none the wiser.
Once I got in, everything changed. I was superhuman there. I was strong and fast, and I could cast magic spells. I had an intuitive understanding of so many things. I snuck past guards, picked locks - it was amazing! That dissonant realm was something else, though. I could feel the evil and hatred in the air assaulting my body with every racial slur and hateful shout. But when I fought that dissonant? I was so powerful! I... I lost ＡＥＳＴＨＥＴＩＣ, though. They jumped in the way of a big spike so I wouldn't get hurt. I know they're not dead, but... I kinda miss the smug little bastard. The Archive was totally different. Completely opposite. I felt like I could spend a lifetime there, but I had to get the file I was looking for and go.
I still don't know the implications of what I released to the public. I hope people get angry. Me, though? I just wanna go back to the resonance. I thought it would bring me peace, but this world feels more fake than ever. Gotta turn that hate outward though, find somewhere good to channel it.