A Shadowrun Based on The Paper Chase's We Will Make You One of Us
| A Shadowrun Based on The Paper Chase's We Will Make You One of Us | ||||||||
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| Part of Dance Around The Fire That We Once Believed - The Ex-Firewatch Story | ||||||||
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| Factions Involved | ||||||||
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ShadowHaven Ex-Firewatch Bai Hu "Dandy" Dale Hardin James Krug Queen Usagi |
Ares Macrotechnology Knight Errant |
Lone Star Independent Bounty Hunters | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | ||||||||
| None | None | None | ||||||
Background
Mr Roy Bell, a Mr Johnson working for Ares Internal Affairs, has defected from his megacorporate employer and disappeared in the Seattle area. His last known transmission before destroying his commlink recorded a terror-stricken message referencing a mysterious 'Project Pyro' dealing with extra-dimensional beings. The Runners were hired to find and extract Mr Bell.
Meet
The meeting was hosted at one of the Vory syndicate's properties in Redmond. The runners were shown to a room containing a number of ex-Firewatch operators who quickly filled them in on the information that Roy Bell had last been seen roughly a week ago and was likely hiding somewhere in the Seattle area. The runners were informed that Mr Bell was wanted by Ares and Knight Errant, and that they would need to find him before his former employers did. The target's SIN had apparently been burned in order to elude authorities, but biometric data serving as identification was forwarded to the runners. In exchange for successful extraction of the target, the ex-Firewatch team leader initially offered the runners an 8,500 nuyen reward each; this figure was then upgraded to 8,750 after a persuasive counter-offer by Usagi citing the risk and time-sensitive nature of the job.
An agreement was reached and the runners were given the last known location of Mr Bell, as well as the code phrase "Tornado warning blue" in order to establish their identities as a friendly party affiliated with the ex-Firewatch team.
Run
After finishing negotiations and securing the initial information provided by their employers, the runners made their way to The Old Komodo Dragon, a small restaurant/bar frequented largely by some of the shadier inhabitants of Redmond, and the last known location of the target. The bar featured a security system that included a pair of auto-turrets, and was owned and ran by a cheerful male Ork. During transit to the bar, Queen made the discovery through a brief matrix search that an open bounty had been placed on Roy Bell by Ares Macrotechnology, though this information was kept to herself.
Upon arrival at the bar, Bai Hu encountered a pair of Yellow Lotus Triad enforcers; an organisation the Hong Kong native had a violent history with. Violence was averted however due to the team being preoccupied with more pressing matters. Shortly after their arrival, a number of bounty hunters entered the tavern; Usagi quickly recognised that these were competitors hunting for Bell and intercepted the newcomers in order to distract them. The rest of the team extracted information from the Ork bartender about Bell that indicated he had been heading to the local SINless camps in the Barrens, and provided the bartender with a credstick bribe in exchange for keeping quiet should anyone else come asking.
On their way out of the bar, the runners narrowly averted an encounter with Knight Errant security officers hunting for Bell. As they left, Queen was able to hack the bar's matrix host and listen in on the confrontation with the owner; the Ork proprietor proved remarkably stubborn and refused to give them any information, leading to his arrest.
The SINless camp wasn't far, and the runners arrived to find that a large number of Knight Errant riot officers had established a cordon around the area and were methodically searching each tent and person in the community in order to find Bell. James realised that KE's activities violated basic legal rights of the camp's inhabitants, and suggested that the process could be slowed by contacting a sympathetic lawyer capable of filing an injunction with the District Court, which he was able to do through his connections with the Ork Rights commission.
Later, after the group determined that some of the Redmond locals had recent grievances with Knight Errant, Usagi contacted one such local shop-owner. Masquerading as a Lone Star customer service operator who convinced her of the benefits of switching to an alternative security provider, Usagi was able to cause a large number of Lone Star officers to arrive on the scene, resulting in friction between the two security services as they infringed on each others' jurisdiction. Queen inflamed the situation further by hacking a number of handheld firearms belonging to KE officers and causing them to discharge, as if due to negligence. A verbal confrontation between LS and KE officers ensued, which was captured and broadcast on social media.
The resulting public relations scandal caused KE to pull out a large amount of their manpower, freeing up the runners to enter the camps and search for Bell. After finding him, and supplying him with the code phrase, they extracted him out from under the noses of the remaining KE officers without ever alerting the authorities.
Aftermath
Roy Bell was successfully extracted safe and sound into the custody of the former Firewatch team, without Ares ever finding him or the runners engaging in any violence. Knight Errant was engulfed in an embarrassing PR scandal in which one of their officers was shown to be visibly dressed down over social media videos by Lone Star security.
Rewards
8,750 nuyen, 6 Karma, +1 Ex-Firewatch