Difference between revisions of "Reformation Hunt 20"

Reformation Hunt 20
	Part of The Reformation
Date	2081-02-22
GM	Darklordiablo
Location	Minneapolis, UCAS
Factions Involved
ShadowHaven ; Boom Poom ; Esper ; Yata	Evo ; Barbara Sykes ; TROG ; Valois

Latest revision as of 11:57, 3 November 2021

Summary

Three criminals wanted by Evo hunt down an employee associated with the SURGE project.

The Search

Knowing basic information about Sykes' identity and location from matrix searches, the team set out for Minneapolis. Rick Rampant connected Esper to a smuggler who was able to get them past checkpoints and all the way to the Twin Cities. Once there, they cavalierly decided to enter the building without much more legwork. Esper donned her identity as a KE detective, this time planning to turn in Boom Poom and Yata for their bounties. This got them inside the building, and with a little mind control, the bursar was convinced Esper was a friend of Sykes' and that she should take the team to see her. On the way, she transferred the bounty to Esper via credstick.

Around this time, another bounty hunter named TROG came crashing in to capture Sykes. The team knew they needed to act fast, so they sprang into action, gunning down the bursar and her two bodyguards. Esper found Sykes in her office and petrified her before she could react. The team then blew a hole in the tower and extracted to the street, 8 stories down, carrying Sykes as a statue. TROG caught up with them and leapt to the ground with a combination of physical magic and troll resilience, though Esper gave him an unsteady landing that dazed him for a minute.

Sneaking away from the Evo dragnet, the team managed to evade TROG. However, they were spotted by an Evo search vehicle, which began to chase after Yata at high speed. Esper created a barrier directly in front of its bumper, causing it to crash in spectacular fashion and kill everyone inside. The team got away safely and extracted via the smuggler's car.

The Kill

Back in Seattle, the team turned Sykes back to normal. They brought her to a secure location and interrogated her. She was completely unable to resist the compelling powers of a psychic interrogator, and the team soon learned that she had researched the role of orichalcum in the SURGE phenomenon. She was unaware of the bounty, though she knew some of the other researchers on the list. The team decided that they wanted her dead regardless of whether Valois was a bad guy or not. Esper turned her to stone again, and Boom Poom used a monofilament chainsaw to sever her head from her body cleanly.

Aftermath

The head was verified by Valois, and the team received the promised reward.

Rewards

35,000¥
2 CDP

Player After Action Reports (AARs)

Esper

I had previously feared returning to face the might of the Evo Corporation. I realized, however, that I have grown far more powerful than I knew. Doubtless those watching me will be prepared when I show my face to them, but a corporation is no monolithic entity. I realize that now; foolish as it seems, I used to think of it as a giant monster hunting me. I hope the others find some closure. I am only getting started.

Boom Poom

There's a lot of drek about how revenge makes you feel bad when it's done. I don't feel bad at all. Being able to strike back at one of the people responsible for my condition was empowering. With the right friends and the right amount of time, we'll be able to settle accounts; with EVO being a cinder.

That said, I'm not any closer in finding the man who turned me into this. Some call him a middle management financial desk jockey who'd sell his own son out for promises of a promotion. I called him Dad.

@@ Line 5: / Line 5: @@
 | image       =
 | caption     =
-| date        = [[hasDate::2081-02-21]]
+| date        = [[hasDate::2081-02-22]]
 | gm          = [[hasGM::Darklordiablo]]
-| place       = Seattle, UCAS; Yakut
+| place       = Minneapolis, UCAS
 | coordinates =
 | map_type    =
@@ Line 20: / Line 20: @@
 | result      =
 | combatants_header = Factions Involved
-| combatant1  = [[ShadowHaven]] <br> [[hasRunner::Purkinje]] <br> [[hasRunner::Tanuki]] <br>
+| combatant1  = [[ShadowHaven]] <br> [[hasRunner::Boom Poom]] <br> [[hasRunner::Esper]] <br> [[hasRunner::Yata]]
-| combatant2  = [[Valois' Bounty List|Briana Rasmussen]] <br> Tir Ghosts <br> The Black Paladin
+| combatant2  = [[Evo]] <br> [[Valois' Bounty List|Barbara Sykes]] <br> TROG  <br> [[Valois]]
 | commander1  =
 | commander2  =
@@ Line 33: / Line 33: @@
 | casualties2 =
 | notes       =
-| campaignbox =
+| campaignbox = }}
-}}
 ==Summary==
-Purkinje and Tanuki take on entry 23 of The [[Valois' Bounty List|Bounty List]], Briana Rasmussen of the Tir Ghosts.
+Three criminals wanted by Evo hunt down an employee associated with the SURGE project.
 ==The Search==
-Extensive searches of the matrix revealed almost nothing, which Purkinje expected. There was information on the target from before her time in the Ghosts, but it bore the signs of doctoring, and it was outdated by over 20 years. Purkinje's search did lead her to obscure technical documentation on a prototype stealth aircraft, which Tanuki explained had been specially designed to possess a virtually nonexistent signature. Its only external sensor was a single camera wired into the plane, and all its matrix communications were routed through a host so as not to be broadcast to a specific location and potentially intercepted. Purkinje found the host and analyzed it, finding it to be a high-security military host sculpted to resemble an aircraft hangar belonging to Tir Tairngire. Further searches into the target revealed she had been in an explosion of orichalcum in central Russia in 2061, but the medical report was too vague to be of further use.
+Knowing basic information about Sykes' identity and location from matrix searches, the team set out for Minneapolis. [[Rick Rampant]] connected Esper to a smuggler who was able to get them past checkpoints and all the way to the Twin Cities. Once there, they cavalierly decided to enter the building without much more legwork. Esper donned her identity as a KE detective, this time planning to turn in Boom Poom and Yata for their bounties. This got them inside the building, and with a little mind control, the bursar was convinced Esper was a friend of Sykes' and that she should take the team to see her. On the way, she transferred the bounty to Esper via credstick.
-With Tanuki driving aimlessly to deter possible traces, Purkinje cracked the host and entered. She found it possessing personnel files and orders along with a small squadron of aircraft. A couple IC were on a regular patrol, but Purkinje was far too stealthy for them to come close to spotting her. She copied the personnel file on Briana Rasmussen, finding her to be the commanding officer and pilot of aircraft #4. The aircraft itself was slaved to a rigger command console that was not in active use, for security purposes. Purkinje cracked the plane and began monitoring its communications, then placed a signal countermeasure script in the RCC to selectively prevent outgoing communications. A trace revealed it to be in eastern Yakut, where there was some confusion over whether the team would deploy to the UCAS.
+Around this time, another bounty hunter named TROG came crashing in to capture Sykes. The team knew they needed to act fast, so they sprang into action, gunning down the bursar and her two bodyguards. Esper found Sykes in her office and petrified her before she could react. The team then blew a hole in the tower and extracted to the street, 8 stories down, carrying Sykes as a statue. TROG caught up with them and leapt to the ground with a combination of physical magic and troll resilience, though Esper gave him an unsteady landing that dazed him for a minute.
-At this time, she noticed a second hacker enter and place a mark on the plane - a black helmet sticker. Purkinje threaded the effects of nonlethal biofeedback and instantly bricked the decker in a single cyberattack, doubtlessly knocking him unconscious from the shock. When she returned to the aircraft, she noticed the mark was still there for some reason; there was a second decker she had failed to spot. Before she could begin a search, the mark vanished. She intercepted a new radio signal going from the plane to an unknown device icon not too far away from the plane's physical location. She manipulated the Resonance to coax the plane into inviting Tanuki to claim three recognition keys, which he accepted before promptly jumping in. Becoming a multi-billion nuyen stealth aircraft, Tanuki disabled the radio transmitter, flew up to the edge of space, and opened his doors, ejecting the passengers except the pilot, who passed out due to decompression. The passengers' jet pack systems kicked in to save them, but not before they were well out of sight and unconscious. Tanuki then had the plane's GPS calculate a flight plan to Seattle, at which point he disabled it so it couldn't be tracked.
+Sneaking away from the Evo dragnet, the team managed to evade TROG. However, they were spotted by an Evo search vehicle, which began to chase after Yata at high speed. Esper created a barrier directly in front of its bumper, causing it to crash in spectacular fashion and kill everyone inside. The team got away safely and extracted via the smuggler's car.
+==The Kill==
-Meanwhile, Purkinje contacted the Ex-Firewatch, who were well loyal to the two of them. They agreed to provide a covert landing spot they could use to hide from the black-armor bounty hunters and any Tir military that might come after them, and Tanuki and Purkinje agreed to give them the aircraft as a token of good will, which was far more than they were expecting in payment. Tanuki executed his flight plan without being spotted crossing international borders or crashing into any airliners that might've been in the area and ended up pinging Firewatch, who directed him to a spot in the Bering Strait. Trusting their judgement, he dove down to land on an underwater, camouflaged platform that the aircraft was taken into.
+Back in Seattle, the team turned Sykes back to normal. They brought her to a secure location and interrogated her. She was completely unable to resist the compelling powers of a psychic interrogator, and the team soon learned that she had researched the role of orichalcum in the SURGE phenomenon. She was unaware of the bounty, though she knew some of the other researchers on the list. The team decided that they wanted her dead regardless of whether Valois was a bad guy or not. Esper turned her to stone again, and Boom Poom used a monofilament chainsaw to sever her head from her body cleanly.
-==The "Kill"==
-With Briana Rasmussen alive in stable condition, the two runners had a tough decision to make. Would they turn her in? They questioned her for more information, but she seemed unwilling to talk about much. She indicated the Ghosts had learned about the bounty hunters after a recent failed attempt, but they didn't know about why they were after her. Briana herself had an acute case of orichalcum poisoning, the symptoms of which were unknown to thaumaturgical medical science. Numerous biometric scans were taken of her, but little could be gleaned that was not already known aside from her having a high concentration of it in her bones, heart, and brain, which corresponded with high concentrations of blood. Purkinje called Deimos to read her mind, but magical attempts to look inside her met with explosive results that reflected the energy back at her.
+==Aftermath==
-Becoming frustrated, Purkinje thought back to the Shadowhaven guest node, where a mysterious user by the name of Madame had been in opposition to Valois. She asked her infobroker [[Betz]] to help get her in contact with Madame. Betz was surprised, explaining Madame was a tech industry figure from the 2060s who died in Crash 2.0. Putting the pieces together, Purkinje determined Madame had become an e-ghost, and she only appeared when Valois was offline due to their being old enemies. The only times Valois was offline, however, were for the few minutes he checked the validity of a bounty's head. Tanuki raised the idea of creating a head forgery. Purkinje asked [[Briar]] if he could help out with this, and he turned out to have exactly the perfect person for the job. Using the provided biometric scans and a sample of the metal-heavy blood, he created an excellent forgery. Tanuki waited in the host for Madame to appear while Purkinje took the head to Valois.
+The head was verified by Valois, and the team received the promised reward.
+==Rewards==
-The head passed Valois' inspection.
+*35,000¥
+*2 CDP
-==Aftermath==
+==Player After Action Reports (AARs)==
-Tanuki was able to establish contact with Madame, who sent the address of a mysterious host in the little time the two had to talk.
+===Esper===
+I had previously feared returning to face the might of the Evo Corporation. I realized, however, that I have grown far more powerful than I knew. Doubtless those watching me will be prepared when I show my face to them, but a corporation is no monolithic entity. I realize that now; foolish as it seems, I used to think of it as a giant monster hunting me. I hope the others find some closure. I am only getting started.
-Valois paid the bounty, and after the forger's fee was sent, Tanuki and Purkinje split the remainder.
-The Ex-Firewatch were very happy with their new aircraft.
+'''Boom Poom'''
-Briana Rasmussen was betrayed by the Ghosts, a fact that she expected being in black ops. Purkinje was able to prove it thanks to a new set of orders pulled from the plane's receiver. Rasmussen was ultimately grateful she was kept alive through the ordeal and agreed to join the Ex-Firewatch for the time being.
+There's a lot of drek about how revenge makes you feel bad when it's done. I don't feel bad at all. Being able to strike back at one of the people responsible for my condition was empowering. With the right friends and the right amount of time, we'll be able to settle accounts; with EVO being a cinder.
-==Rewards==
-*32,000¥ divided between the Forger (12,000¥), Purkinje (10,000¥) and Tanuki (10,000¥)
-*11 karma
-*+5 Ex-Firewatch Rep
-*2 CDP
-==Player After Action Reports (AARs)==
+That said, I'm not any closer in finding the man who turned me into this. Some call him a middle management financial desk jockey who'd sell his own son out for promises of a promotion. I called him Dad.
 [[Category:Runs]]