Big Time in the Jungle

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Big Time in the Jungle
Date2081-07-12
GMSedatedAlice
LocationNew Orleans
Status Threat Level: High
Factions Involved
ShadowHaven The Voodoo Posse
Tupelo
Crypt3ch
Sweetwater Kate
Shepard
Casualties and losses
Two dead Posse members, a contract with an AresSpace employee


Summary

The runners were initially hired to extract a CAS marine and smuggle him back to Seattle. Turns out it was his brother that needed extracting, but the team adapted their plans without much issue. They got the brother out, while avoiding a magical murder hole or doing anything illegal on an incredibly well secured military base.

Background

Jackson Lee “Flukie” Florent and his family have a history with the Finnigan family, and Flukie is apparently friends with or somewhat close to the Johnson, David Harsmen. So when Flukie approached Harsmen about being extracted from the CAS without appearing to go AWOL (Flukie is was a CAS marine) with a fixed budget of 80,000 nuyen, Harsmen agreed and put a call out to the Shadowhaven for runners. Ultimately it turns out Flukie wanted his brother extracted, rather than himself but was afraid Harsmen might not have helped him had he been honest. It seems he had somehow become part of the Voodoo Posse, a gang of assassins for hire. Given the Voodoo Posse’s modus operandi he may not even have joined willingly. Anyone magical who witnesses one of their assassinations is given the choice, join or die, everyone else is just killed. As such Flukie didn’t have much luck reasoning with his brother about his new associates, and when Flukie confronted some of the gang they threatened his sister and his mother. Flukie also learned they were trying to get his little sister to do some work for them.

The Meet

The meet was a simple enough Matrix affair. The Johnson, David Harsmen, works for the Finnigan Family but is generally based out of the CAS so he gave the runners a matrix location to talk things over. It was western themed bar, that as the runners would come to find out was based off an actual bar that Harsmen seems to frequent in New Orleans. The runners for the Job were Tupelo, a wheel-chair bound face with a penchant for shotguns, Crypt3ch, an FLR decker street sam who thinks he’s a technomancer, Sweetwater Kate, rigger and smuggler extraordinaire, and Shepard, a MysAd face with a really big revolver. The pay for the job was fixed upon the job offer, 80,000 nuyen. The runners agreed and set off to New Orleans.

The Plan

After both the Matrix meet and meeting with Harsmen in person at a bar very much like the place in the Matrix the runners believed it was their job to extract one Jackson Lee “Flukie” Florent from the CAS and smuggle him back to Seattle. They learned he was part of the CAS Marines stationed at the Navy Space and Naval Warfare Systems Commands near New Orleans, and after quickly scoping out the security they quickly determined that doing anything on the actual military base would be stupid. So they resolved to get a body and fake Flukie’s death while he was off base on R&R. Harsmen communicated to the team that Flukie didn’t want to appear to have gone AWOL which would mean his mother wouldn’t get his pension. So after taking up residence in a safehouse provided by Harsmen the team contacted a street doc who the Harsmen and the Finnigan’s knew they could do under the table dealings with to get a body. The plan was simple, snatch up Flukie, dress the corpse they got in a uniform and burn the thing beyond recognition and most testing so the disappearance would be believable. However, before the team executed their plan they decided to have a chat with Flukie, and this turned out to be wise.

The Run

Before doing anything the team actually had to get to the CAS which was made rather trivial through the skills of Sweetwater Kate and Tupelo’s legendary rep with Lonestar. They made excellent time to the border and Lonestar didn’t look twice at the group after running Tupelo’s ID. That said, before the team actually carried out their plan they arranged a meeting with Flukie at their temporary safehouse. Chatting with him first turned out to be a very good idea by the team. Turns out he didn’t need extraction at all and had lied to Harsmen, with good reason, about who needed extracting. In reality Flukie wanted his brother Beauregard, willingly or unwillingly, extracted to Seattle. He had fallen in with a somewhat notorious gang, The Voodoo Posse, in New Orleans. Crypt3ch had actually mentioned to the team a few times that the job seemed too neat and easy, so wasn’t phased by this turn of events. Neither was the rest of the team really, they were still getting paid and extracting a ganger seemed easier than trying to fool military medical examiners. They still acquired the corpse however, along with several jars of flammable embalming fluid. Then the team did some digging on the Voodoo Posse, well mostly Crypt3ch who was able to figure out a likely headquarters and dive into their host with relative ease. A spirit Shepard summoned and a drone from Kate confirmed Beau’s presence going to and from the Voodoo Posse’s HQ. This surveillance along with Crypt3ch’s host dive convinced the runners that going into the HQ was probably not wise, it was well manned and the gang has a magical bent. The main house actually possessed a tunnel that connected to a base under the Mississippi River dubbed “The Island”. The team opted not to go into the magical murder hole. However, this gang is known to be assassins for hire and the same host dive turned up their active contracts. Importantly their was a job meet that evening where Beau would be taking the lead, and more importantly be away from the HQ in a more barren part of town. That was all the team needed. They suited up and quickly headed to the meet location. The meet was between the Voodoo Posse and an Ares wageslave who was looking to take out his boss for an easy promotion. The team easily dispatched the Voodoo Posse guards while knocking both the Ares wageslave and Beau unconscious. They then dragged their replacement corpse into the pile with the other Voodoo Posse bodies, dumped the embalming fluid all over them and lit them on fire. Making it very difficult for the Voodoo Posse to ever verify the identities of the corpses through mundane or magical means, especially because the gang doesn’t have access to detailed medical records (ie dental) on their members. The team then snatched up the wageslave and Beau. Crypt3ch hacked the wageslave’s commlink to make it look like the hit was targeting him for paydata and then they dumped him in an alleyway. They slapped some magecuffs on Beau and hauled him back to their safehouse. He wasn’t particularly or happy about any of it once he woke up but a threat from Shepard and a talk from Flukie got him to settle down and go along with everything well enough. As before Sweetwater Kate’s excellent driving and Tupelo’s legendary rep with Lone Star got them out of the CAS with no issues.

Aftermath

It turns out a big part of why Beau settled down after talking with his brother is that Flukie agreed to put in for retirement and move himself, along with the rest of the family (sister and mother) up to Seattle. Also Flukie realized that since the job had gone south and they believed he was dead, there was no way of safely going back to New Orleans without being seen as a rat. So the runners got him safely back to Seattle and all it cost was the lives of some worthless gangers, a random corpse, some embalming fluid, and 80,000 nuyen from his brother. All’s well that ends well.

Rewards

All players:

  • 20,000 nuyen
  • 7 Karma
  • +2 CDP
  • +1 Faction rep with the Finnigan Family

Game Quotes

Player After Action Reports (AARs)

Sweetwater Kate

Never thought I'd have to drive through Dallas again. Can't control where work takes me that tight, though. Took everything I had to swallow my anger at the Star at those border checkpoints. I'd have rather dodged them. At least we got the kid out of that bad business.