Hanson's Quandary
| Hanson's Quandary | |||||||||
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Oathbane Katherine Tyler 五代ロータス (Godai rōtasu) | Feral Grendals | ||||||||
Summary
Several Runners were hired independently by Doctor Hanson to provide an escort while she made her rounds checking the water purification equipment in the LA Underground.
Background
The LA Underground has been likened to Paris itself in terms of it's catacombs. Unfortunately, this means that it goes on forever and attracts all sorts of nasty, and infected, monsters. Doc Hanson wanted a little extra security on this job. She was given a budget to get some help, and that's where the Runners came in.
The Meet
The meet was conducted over the Matrix. Alternatively, there was the option to go to a rented office building and do a holo-conference. The J, Doc Hanson, seemed your typical multiple-PHD having individual. She laid out her request, and since it seemed very straightforward the Runners were willing to accept.
There was a bit of hesitation from Oathbane, owing to the fact that the LA Underground is teeming with infected, but took the job anyways. She had Godai, Kate, and her drones to stand between her and possible danger anyways.
When the Runners accepted, Doc stated that she had plane tickets ready and even a shipping container available for gear. Kate and Godai didn't have too much gear, but Oathbane made up for it bringing her drones and vehicle.
When the team met the J in person, they did receive a bit of a shock. Doc Hanson suffered from severe mutations. She less resembled a human, and more resembled a monster. When pressed for information, she hesitated, but Oathbane's understanding words prompted her to reveal that she suffered at the hands of a toxic cult before being rescued. They had been using her as a ritual focus, corrupting her with mutagenic magic. Doc Hanson regrets this, and struggles, but ultimately takes it in stride to continue some personal research and fulfil her duties in the Underground.
The Plan
The plan was pretty simple. The real discussions were about staying stealthy, moving quickly, and getting the job done before getting overwhelmed. All they had to do was get to two sub-stations and let Doc check the equipment and perform maintenance. There was talk about whether or not to use the rail system or just walk down the tunnels. But Godai wanted to do some scouting first.
The Run
Doc's mutations seemed useful, but affected her strength and coordination. She had a harder time getting around the tunnels. So, the team looked for ways to move around without the requirement of stealth.
Godai did some forward scouting before the group set off. He noticed some unnaturally dark tunnels. In fact, most were this way. Oathbane's infected knowledge proved useful here, as she stated that grendels have an ability to create unnatural darkness around them. Kate had fought grendels before, but only in already complete darkness. Turns out that might have been easier.
Looking for a way to move around, Oathbane hacked into a rail system underground and queued up a rail car for the group. They could use it to get to the second sub-station. After waiting a bit for their turn, the rail car pulled up, they got on, and quickly made their way down to the sub-station. On the way they noticed many tunnels were dark, as if there were more than just a few grandels here. But upon arriving at the sub-station, all appeared normal. As they disembarked Kate and Godai began scouting. They slowly checked out the station, checking doors, and oddly finding one chained shut from the outside. Kate made the prudent decision to leave that alone for now. To help, Oathbane lent Kate her flyspy and began Matrix searching for the control consoles. Finding them, she directed Kate and Godai in their direction.
To get there they had to move through a small living area. Kate began clearing it, finding abandoned beds, furniture, and a strange box. Oathbane spotted iconography associated with smugglers on it, but couldn't figure out more. It was locked with a combination. Kate put it in her backpack. At the next to last room, she found the generators. Unfortunately, this is where the grendels were Huddled up for warmth. Kate, Godai, and Oathbane decided to secure this room shut and attempt to sneak around it to the control room. In that room, Kate found some doors barred shut and to her it seemed pretty secure. She signaled to the others to move in and get their job done. Oathbane and Godai moved forward, Oathbane's drone quietly moved as well. Doc, however, moved with all the grace of a rhinoceros. As she scraped along, the Runners began hearing movement coming from the room with the generators.
Urging the Doc to get to work, Kate, Godai, and the drone took up positions to beat up some grendels. Kate pulled her sword, Godai readied and arrow. As Doc worked, the noises got louder. Kate, fearing that they will alert the others, cut open the restraints so they could kill the grendels. The drone immediately flooded the room, and Kate, with fire. But it did the trick and kept them at bay. However, from the barred doors in the control room, they heard more noises. Turns out there were way more grendels.
As Kate moved to intercept these, the drone continued firing at the others. Godai bounced back and forth. Then... darkness. As the grendels engaged their powers, things went sideways. Luckily Kate, Godai, and Oathbane all had at least some way to fight them. Even with the added difficulty, the mix of barbed arrows, Kate's claymore, and Oathbane's oddly skillful shooting, both her drone and herself, the team managed to get the grendels under control and finish them off. The mix of fire and bullets from Oathbane's through-the-wall shooting filled the small hallway with lead and fire and allowed Godai and Kate to pick theirs off with precision. Kate was careful not to swing too wildly and coat the place in HMHVV Strain II.
After cleaning and some firefighting, the damage and threat was under control. Doc managed to get her stuff done, and the team was ready to move out. Doc realized that this is an issue, and promised to bring a report up to her superiors about this. She decided to leave the other sub-station until a proper solution could be found about the maintenance. Oathbane gave Doc an earful about the value of having drones to do this work. Doc agreed.
Aftermath
When they got back to Doc's lab, she offered to open the package Kate had. In it was a pristine Renraku designed nanohive. Turns out it was stolen gear on a smuggling route. Kate immediately realized this was something she could pay Jane back with for the Hand of Glory she gave her. Doc could use it as well, but Kate had made up her mind. After talking about the tunnels a bit more, Doc gave the Runners credsticks, bid them farewell and began assembling her report for the water management company so she could get this problem solved properly. She gave the Runners her contact info and offered her services if they need medical advice, gear, or research.
Rewards
20,000 Nuyen as 'conveniently missing parts of LA's city council budget' (10 RVP)
6 Karma for helping Hanson in distress when the team could've said 'frag that' (6 RVP)
2 CDP for learning things
Optional Contact: Dr. Hanson, 4/1 SURGEd Apprentice Nanocyberneticist
Optional Gear: Hermetically sealed delivery case containing an untouched Betaware R3 Soft Nanohive, made by Renraku (45,000 Nuyen, may use 12 RVP to acquire).
Kate will decide whether to use the Nanohive to pay off her chip to Jane Dior, give it to Hanson to further her study of nanotechnology or implant it into herself.
Game Quotes
Player After Action Reports (AARs)
Katherine Tyler
Why do I find myself fighting in the Underground? I hate it. I hate, hate, hate it. But it is my specialty, and it pays well, so I can't avoid it. I'm glad Doc is getting the maintenance issues sorted out. The grendels make it tough, but with proper security they can get it sorted.