A Nest of Vipers

A Nest of Vipers
Date 2082-05-16 GM Sarcarian Location Downtown, Tacoma Status Threat Level: High
Factions Involved
ShadowHaven	Mitsuhama Computer Technologies
Absolute Zero Black Samurai Shine Vip3r Zenith	Kakei Steve Petrovski Security Goons
Casualties and losses
Vip3r became addicted to Novacoke.
This run took place over multiple sessions.

Summary

Vip3r gathers a team to kill Steven Shimada, but the mission takes a different turn when things don't quite go to plan.

Background

In Family, Duty, Honor, Vip3r received a call from Steve in which he addressed her by her birth name and revealed personal information about her birth family that even she wasn't aware of. She independently discovered his ties to MCT, and Shine convinced her to have him killed for the information he holds on her. Then, in Cultivation Crisis, she learned that he also signed off on the contract that put her adoptive parents, Ken and Laura Tanaka, under lifelong MCT control. Furthermore, he had been withholding a letter from her mother that would've shown her much sooner that she hadn't been abandoned during her time in lockup. This further convinced her that Steve posed a threat to her, and added to her determination to kill him. Originally, she intended to do so with the backing of the Eighty-Eights Triad after earning a place as a member, but after abandoning that particular goal in Entering The Gates,

Hard Drives and Divination

In the same locked drawer where the letter was being kept, Vip3r also found a pair of hard drives. One held the forged documents that Huan-Shi Bai requested, but Vip3r has been putting off investigating the other one until now. She's expecting information on the Tanakas' case, and she finds it.

Steve has been handling a lot of the above-board acquisition for one of MCT's newest, most bleeding-edge projects, to which Ken and Laura Tanaka have been assigned as staff. The files she reads through refer to as a "perpetual testing initiative." Many of the assets for this project have been pulled from NeoNET, and there are many mentions of a "Subject T-355." She also finds a memo about the "erratic and unpredictable schedule" that work on this project demands, as well as logs on the progress of constructing a new facility--which seems to be moving forward at a worryingly fast pace.

Vip3r realizes that she may not have much time to set her plan into motion, but the level of involvement between Steve and the Tanakas has her concerned. Worrying that the two goals may be at odds with each other, she reaches out to Delphi, based on her reputation as a seer, for some kind of guidance. The PI invites her to meet at her office to discuss the decision she's been agonizing over, and suggests that Vip3r also buy a dose of oneiro if she would like to glimpse the future herself.

At Delphi's office, Vip3r tells her that she has plans to extract two people who are important to her, and she worries that working against Steve--who is involved with them, and who Vip3r believes is posing a danger to not only them and herself, but to the Haven as a whole--may compromise that effort. More specifically, she asks if her attempt will hurt more than it helps.

Delphi assenses her, and performs the ritual of augury and sortilege with a deck of tarot cards.

The Magician, upright - good start. It means that you're full of potential, that you have everything you need to manifest your will right at your fingertips, and the time is now to make the most of your abilities. I'd say that's a good omen at least; it's not an assurance of success, but it means victory is within your grasp.

The Lovers, upright - interesting... typically it means connections, meaningful relationships... but I think with this context it means that you're going to have to make a choice - it'll probably be difficult, something meaningful to you, a sort of test of your values. It's a sort of 'follow your heart' thing, but don't be afraid to look at things from all angles and take a third option if it presents itself.

Justice, inverted. - The system is rigged, with a blind judge and crooked lawyers... it indicates consequences, but that they might not be fair, for you or anyone else involved. I think that what it all means together is that you've got to really evaluate whatever choice you're going to have to make - be sure that you have all the information, and aren't holding onto anything that might sway you to make an unjust decision.

Vip3r returns home, and contacts Betz to ask her for whatever information she's able to find on Steve and on the Tanakas. Specifically, she wants to know whether Steve has any enemies or ongoing conflicts that might motivate someone else to kill him, so that she and her team can set up a false trail leading away from themselves, as well as information on the Tanakas' schedules and the degree of their involvement with him, in case killing him might compromise their trust in Vip3r. Betz leaves to consult her network, promising to return later with her findings, and Vip3r lights up the oneiro for a glimpse of what awaits her in the future.

In her vision, she sees her adoptive parents, somewhere dark and windowless and seemingly underground. Data flows by on rows of computer terminals too quickly to comprehend, and her father's haggard-looking face reflects in one of the screens while her mother sullenly shuffles through papers at another desk elsewhere. It comes with the feeling of hopelessness and confinement that reminds Vip3r of the MCT black site she was held in. It shifts to a feeling of warmth and safety, and memories of life at home. For a moment, there's a sensation of two outcomes at once, until the dream fades and Vip3r returns to consciousness.

After getting some sleep, she contacts Delphi again for help interpreting the dream. She tells her that it's good that she's seen a positive outcome, even if it wasn't the only one, and reminds her to have faith in herself and in the people she plans to call on for help. "These things have a way of working out," she says, and wishes Vip3r luck.

The Meet

With that, Vip3r contacts the other runners and invites them to meet at her Bellevue condo. Since Zero is her roommate, and Zenith and Shine live in the unit downstairs, it's a convenient meeting place.

She sends them each of them her file on Steve, and the group begins to discuss a plan. Since Steve is a SINner with a powerful criminal organization behind him, Vip3r wants to make it as difficult as possible to trace the heat back to them. Her best idea is to make the attack look like it could've been carried out by a rival syndicate--probably the Vory or one of the Triads that competes with the Eighty-Eights. They consider hitting him at a Loveland mahjong parlor he's reported to visit, but his appearances there are sporadic enough that the idea is quickly abandoned. After some discussion, here's what they decide:

The Plan

• Brick his car while he's on his way out of his Downtown office
• Pull up next to him in a borrowed GMC Universe with the branding of a company that doesn't exist, and offer him a ride. Once he's inside, Vip3r will interrogate him and kill him.
• Prior to doing any of this: enter his apartment (which is in a AA zone in Downtown) with a fabricated maintenance request, and leave a nest of devil rats there to appear as the likely cause of death.

To set things in motion, Vip3r visits the Bronze Towers Apartments where Steve lives, and poses as IT repair to gain access to its host. It has a nested host for utility and tenant information, and there is a portal to the Foundation in its floor. Upon entering the nested host, Vip3r almost immediately notices that there's a sinister presence inside with her, slithering through the host's sculpted pipes. She tries to blend in herself as she searches for the information on Steve's apartment, and feels it looming over her for what feels like an agonizingly long time as it almost spots her, then it eventually turns around and leaves. Drawing a connection to what she's read about a threat only ever referred to as Them, Vip3r is eager to do what she came here to do and get the frag out of this host. She discovers that Steve lives in apartment 2712, and that there's already maintenance scheduled on his malfunctioning wine fridge. It's an easy enough task to edit the file to bump that maintenance up to the following day when Steve will be in his office, and after she finishes that, she leaves the host.

The next morning, the news about the DA's Light the Shadows initiative surfaces. The runners all watch in horror from their homes--especially Vip3r and Black Samurai, who were involved in the event that sparked the announcement--and realize that they're going to have to take a much different approach if they're going to pull this off. They reconvene at Vip3r's condo again and discuss what they'll be doing differently.

The Plan (Version 2.0)

Shine reminds Vip3r of the discussion in which she resolved to kill Steve, and reiterates that the point she wanted to reinforce was that Vip3r needed to figure out what kind of information Steve held over her. Vip3r's real objective shouldn't be a vengeance quest, but a mission to keep her information safe. If he had records on her that MCT did not, then Vip3r would have to erase them before killing Steve in order to prevent MCT from acquiring more information on her and putting her in further danger. Having Steve killed would need to be a secondary objective, and Vip3r would need to determine what information he was storing at his home and his legal office before taking any violent action.

The old "pose as a repair crew" trick is as good a method of entry as any, so Vip3r figures she might as well stick to it. She, Shine, and Black Samurai know enough Japanese to convincingly pose as a Renraku repair crew. The new plan becomes:

• Enter Steve's apartment, find whatever records he's keeping (which are likely offline), and determine what kind of action to take.
• Since this entry will at least appear to be legit, he probably won't suspect anyone to break into his office after hours.
• Lure him to a mahjong parlor in Loveland that he frequents. Kidnap him, and make it look like a hit from another syndicate.
• Take him, blindfolded, to an Eighty-Eights safehouse in Puyallup, to squeeze the last of his knowledge out of him.
• Finally kill him while he can't fight back.

Rewards

20 karma

40 CDP

-40 MCT reputation (for killing 4 Petrovski Security personnel)

MCT knows what each of the runners' astral or resonance signatures look like

1 skill point in "The Power of Love" and "The Power of Friendship"

Optional: 1 Montreal Devil Rat to keep as a pet

Optional Contact: Dr. Isabel Wirth (C4/L2 ER Doctor) for 5 RVP or 10 CDP

For Black Sam: Optional Contact: Jacqueline Grant (C1/L3 Bartender) for 3 RVP or 6 CDP

For Vip3r: May buy off Records on File (MCT) at chargen price and remove "Kill Steven Shimada" from Driven

Game Quotes

"GUYS PLEASE! MY UNCONSCIOUS MOTHER IS IN THE BACK OF THAT VAN" - Vip3r, to Zenith and Shine.