Pulse: Discovery
| Pulse: Discovery | ||||||||||
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| Factions Involved | ||||||||||
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ShadowHaven None None | Ares | None | ||||||||
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Winter Spider Barracuda Mortis |
Ares Corp Sec Ares Scientists | None | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | ||||||||||
| None | 82 individuals with a mix of scientists and security personnel | None | ||||||||
Summary
The team is hired by a J using the alias "Nobody" who is in complete, non-functional withdrawal to acquire one dose of a recently rediscovered stimulant "Pulse" from the time of the Cold War as well as destroy any evidence of its existence and all personnel with any information about the drug. The team breaks into the facility and finds a hidden lab where they acquire Pulse, after which they planted Plastique Explosives on a particle accelerator in the lab and over a large pocket of toxic gasses that detonated the entire facility.
Background
The Meet
The team arrives at an abandoned warehouse on the Tacoma dock. Inside they discover their J suffering from withdrawal at a level none of them had seen prior. He is completely unresponsive to all stimuli but left a datachip with the relevant information for the job including the runners pay and that they may negotiate for more after he is able to function. The datachip had some extremely redacted documents from the CIA in reference to an experimental stimulant called "Pulse" created during the Cold War. As well it contained the location of three Ares facilities that were all likely to house the documentation about the manufacture of Pulse and that were also likely to have produced at least one dose of it. His instructions to them were to recover the stimulant, destroy any related information, and kill all personnel who may have read the documents.
The Plan
The team decides to relocate to a position away from their J before Spider goes on a host search of the 3 Ares facilities identifying them as Ares North, Ares Chemical, and Ares Research. Upon viewing the hosts Spider decided that Ares Chemical was the most likely candidate and dove into the host. They were able to find several somewhat related documents but required additional assistance from Barracuda who impersonated a higher-up within the facility after Spider had found their personnel files and comm directory to request someone with proper clearance accessed the file, during the period that the file was accessed Spider was able to duplicate it and the others before putting an R10 Data Bomb on that file. Before leaving however they were overcome with a bit of curiosity and found some extra documents about Ares adding experimental chemicals to the water, one of which was making certain individuals in Redmond who drank the water more susceptible to suggestion. They sent that info to News Van Dan and Carley Reeves to see who would break the story first. Afterwards the team examined the retrieved files and confirmed that the Ares Chemical facility near Mount Reiner was the correct site. Barracuda called Goalmaster to inquire if they had any additional information on how to get into the site as it had been placed overnight on top of an abandoned Old U.S. CIA facility. Goalmaster requested the Hockey Stick of Radiation, a Hockey Stick that would mutate them and give them unmatched strength in exchange for the info. The team was able to find it, the hockey stick in question being a slightly off-green color, in return Goalmaster gave them a map of the CIA facility as they had salvaged it before and that became the teams entry and demolitions plan.
The Run
The team arrived at the site to find it was a pop-up research facility, constructed extremely hastily and efficiently with all the buildings in 100 meters of it being leveled, astroturf being laid out, and an electrified monowire fence being erected around the facility. Spider was able to quickly disable both the alarm and electrification of the fence for Barracuda to cut their way through, before stepping inside Winter and Spider both noticed that hidden just barely beneath the surface of the astroturf was a Pressure Mesh, which Spider was able to datatap into and disable. 50 meters out from the building Winter assenssed the place noticing 2 circling Watcher Spirits and a Charged Ward around the place, giving them time to deactivate their sustained spells to avoid detection. Just on the other side of the ward below the astroturf was a collapsed ceiling that would allow them to drop into the CIA facility and approach Ares Chemical from below. Once down they took a brief moment to look around before seeing the flashlights of a sec team searching for them. The team was able to setup a crossfire ambush for the security team, however all but one of them were aware and didn't fall for the ambush. Taking advantage of the one who did however both Barracuda and Mortis engaged them in melee while Winter cast Ice Spears and Spider took exceptionally accurate shots into the melee. Mortis was knocked down in the fight but was able to knock down the Sec Team Lead in return. From that position the team was able to quickly mop them up, in an attempt to interrogate the Sec Team Lead he simply stated that if he rats the scientists would do things worse than anything the runners were capable of, at which point Barracuda finished them. Upon attempting to interrogate another member of the team however they noticed the beeping of Cranial Bomb before running away as it detonated killing the the individual and their other surviving teammate.
Following the encounter the team was closely investigating the walls of the hallway they were in when Winter spotted an exceptionally well hidden panel containing a myriad of personal identification tools connected to a hidden door. Spider was able to hack the device and grant them access to a decontamination room and past that the main facility. Inside was a cavernous room with a Particle Accelerator around the outer wall and a several story tall device in the middle that all lead down to a single syringe filled with an oily blue substance. As the scientists were so focused on ensuring the test went off flawlessly they didn't notice or didn't care about the team descending into the room and accessing the ancient computer connected to the fairly new equipment. There Spider learned that there J has been alive since the late 1940's and was "recruited" into Project: Pulse as parts of his brain that have been classically depicted as non-special were exceptionally developed, namely the Pituitary Gland and Hind Brain, Spider also found a file containing photos of 9 other individuals recruited around the same time as their J who were all marked as Gamma Subjects and files depicting how both Alpha and Beta subjects were failures in opposing ways.
With the information confirmed as well as the syringe being Pulse the team planted Plastique with a 10 minute timer on the Particle Accelerator in a hidden spot as it would destroy the entire room and the toxic gas in the chamber beneath would take out the whole facility. Following this the team waited for nearly 3 minutes as the accelerator finished its work and pushed its product into the large device over the syringe before mixing it with a number of chemicals and depositing it in the syringe, completing the formula. At that point the team grabbed the syringe and though the science team did attempt to resist they were not nearly enough to stop a team of trained runners as they made their way to a freight elevator and to a hidden entrance in a strip mall coffee shop elsewhere in Puyallup. As they recalled their escape vehicle Spider spotted and bricked a Dragonfly drone attempting to tail them and as they drove away the facility went up, spewing flames and debris hundreds of meters into the sky.
The team made their way back to the docks and injected Pulse into their J who gained a feint blue shimmer for a few seconds before exhaling deeply and loosening all of their muscles. A brief discussion was had as Noctis was curious why the J simply didn't let himself die as he would be back in his current state in only a few days per his own admission. He showed the team a sheet of paper similar to the one Spider had seen in the cavern that had the 9 other "Gamma" subjects with one of them marked over with a Red X. The team then showed him the proof that they had completely eradicated the facility and through some brief negotiation upped the teams pay from 12k to 20k. He then offered them his commcode before walking past them and hopping onto his bike to leave.
Aftermath
A recently built Ares Chemical site was destroyed leaving an exceptionally large crater near Mount Reiner. News Van Dan and Carley Reeves have broken the news that Ares is testing experimental chemicals on unwitting civilians. Nobody has earned a few more days to continue his quest and potentially enlist the further aid of Shadowrunners for assistance.
Rewards
- 20k Nuyen
- 3 Karma
- Nobody as a 2/2 Contact
- Shoot First, Don't Ask @ Chargen Price for everyone
- Perceptive Rank 1 for Winter @ Chargen Price
Game Quotes
Player After Action Reports (AARs)
[Barracuda]
That was suspicious as hell, and I get the feeling I ain't seen the last of that drugged-up stoic guy. But hey, he paid well and that was fun as frag - can't always say you get to blow up a corporate laboratory by cooking off decades worth of built up industrial fumes, can ya? Doesn't hurt that we had that Spider chick breezing through the 'trix, either; didn't see her get slowed down by a damn thing in there.