"Fragile? It Must Be Italian!" Finale
| "Fragile? It Must Be Italian!" Finale | ||||||||||
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| Part of It's a Small Underworld After All | ||||||||||
Now Free, Now Angry | ||||||||||
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| Factions Involved | ||||||||||
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ShadowHaven Sons of Sauron Federated Boeing | Humanis Policlub | 10,000 Daggers | ||||||||
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Eidolon P23 Sizzles Tango Thunder |
Henry Dovetree II Henry Dovetree III | Damascus Steel Mercenary Unit | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | ||||||||||
| None | Henry Dovetree II, Henry Dovetree III | Damascus Steel Spider, Combat Mage, and Unit Commander | ||||||||
Summary
The team has been hired to avenge a Federated Boeing Executive whose family was brutally attacked. The Executive, Charles Diallo, survived, barely. His family did not. The rival executive who set up the failed assassination has fled to his powerful father’s estate in Atlanta, expecting a blood reprisal. To protect themselves the family has hired an elite unit from the 10,000 Daggers, Damascus Steel troops, to guard their estate.
Background
Charles “The Prince” Diallo (aka Mr. Johnson) of Federated Boeing has been brutally attacked. An escalating series of intra-corporate attacks culminated in his rival at Federated Boeing, Henry Dovetree III, hiring foreign mercenaries to down his private jet after takeoff from a private Federated Boeing airfield in Seattle. The jet, hit by a missile strike, crashed into an under construction condominium tower in the north end of the Seattle Metroplex. His wife and young daughter died in the crash, along with the pilots and flight staff, but Diallo clings, barely, to life.
Finally out of critical condition, Diallo has an overwhelming need for revenge for the killing of his whole family. If it becomes known that he's survived the mercenary attack, and his Henry Dovetree III is still alive, then waves of assassins will follow and there's little chance that he can survive. His life is on the line. And his need for revenge, after losing his family, is all-encompassing.
Rohit Patel, a former aide to Henry Dovetree III, is now working under Diallo, has been tasked with hiring the runners for the wetwork mission. His loyalty is questionable and if it appears that the team might fail the mission he might jump sides to the Dovetrees. He wants to survive at all costs, because he's human but also because he has a new fiancé that he loves and is afraid of losing.
Fleeing to Atlanta is Henry Dovetree III, the nemesis of the team's Mr. Johnson. He's a blue-blooded, silver-spoon raised executive at Federated Boeing. Everything was set on a path of escalating doom when he was passed over for a promotion he believed was a guarantee. A barely closeted Humanis member and turboracist, he was furious to be passed by for the promotion by an ork, especially one one who came from meager means and had been raised in the Underground. His aides (only Rohit Patel surviving) pulled an Archbishop-of-Canterbury plot, trying to embarrass Diallo at his daughter's birthday party in order to please their employer.
Instead the mission backfired and, fearing for his life, Henry Dovetree III fled. With his panic growing he overreacted dramatically and hired a mercenary team to assassinate Diallo. When the team went full-out and shot down Diallo's private plane, Dovetree further ensconced himself at his father's Atlanta compound fearing that, perhaps, Diallo had survived.
Henry Dovetree II, Aka Dovetree Senior, is the father of the nemesis of the team's Mr. Johnson. He is a powerful Humanis member, a prominent lobbyist for the Southern Conservative Party in the CAS, a senior member of Fed Boeing CAS, and a deep meddler in UCAS politics on behalf of the Archconservative Party. Unlike his son (who he is deeply ashamed of) he is cool, collected, and methodical. Furious at having been wrangled into his son's clusterfuck he is unable to throw his son out into the cold, his love for his foolish son being one of his primary character flaws (beyond the whole, you know, all the turboracism and bigotry parts.)
He assumes his wealth and power will insulate his son from consequences and everything will soon blow over. In the meantime he has been pouring vast amounts of nuyen into the Seattle Metroplex Governor's Race, both for the Archconservatives, and against all the other parties. He also figures to be one of a handful of kingmakers in the upcoming Humanis Policlub Election as a strong voice for the status quo.
Hez-Kukra, a Sons of Sauron leader in the Seattle Ork Underground, has connections with Diallo and Thunder and sees this situation as an opportunity to eliminate a powerful Humanis member down in Atlanta once he has been contacted. He is driven to destroy Humanis and will use people to achieve those ends. He is willing to provide contacts in Atlanta for the team of Sons of Sauron members in the one cell he is aware of in the city.
The Dovetree Compound is an armored and sprawling walled residence in the Neo-Antebellum style that is in vogue in CAS (and especially Atlanta) these days.
The site is private, though the enterprising runners were able to acquire blueprints that were submitted to the Atlanta municipal authorities years ago. Dovetree Senior is not by nature paranoid but his son's actions have caused him to dramatically increase his personal security. The Dovetree Compound has a detachment of elite 10,000 Daggers mercenaries, a Damascus Steel team, on site. The team includes a human spider, a human security mage, three FLR ork soldiers, and the team leader, a FLR elf soldier with years of combat experience. The Damascus Steel unit is living on-site to guard the mansion and outlying buildings and to patrol the acreage.
The Meet
Sizzles has been guarding Diallo in the hospital as he remains in critical condition for days, Godfather-style, enlisting Eidolon’s help in providing shift coverage. Eventually he awakes, commands his new aid to put a team together to enact revenge. The team assembles at the hospital and meets with the Federated Boeing agent, Rohit Patel, who lays out the problem.
The team twists his arm for more pay via Negotiation.
Sizzles is feeling personally committed to the mission and after going alone to speak with a barely-alive Diallo, he makes it his mission to kill the son in front of the father to make them suffer like Diallo has.
The Plan
The plan went through too many variations and phases to list here in its entirety, as the legwork went on for hours and hours over two sessions. But the final mission plan became this:
-Contact Hez-Kukra, a Sons of Sauron agent in Seattle to find allies in Atlanta. Hez sets them up with an Atlanta cell of the SoS, who are able to provide a safehouse and material support for the mission. The SoS is invested in the downfall of an infamously wicked Humanis family.
-Gain plans of the Dovetree Compound via the Atlanta SoS. They find a flood release tunnel that leads from the Dovetree Property, out under the walls, and into the municipality. They plan to disable the security at the entrance to the tunnel covertly, move through the tunnel, and come up from inside the building.
-Hurricane Regan is quickly approaching the gulf. The team decides to use the storm as cover, and have Sizzles attempt to spoof the Atlanta municipal alert system to convince the Dovetrees to evacuate the civilian employees from inside the building to make their wetwork less likely to involve collateral damage. They convince a (very irritated) hobgoblin member of the Atlanta SoS cell to impersonate an emergency municipal worker to go in person to try to add another layer of believability to the ruse.
-The Dovetree Compound is thoroughly scouted and the team goes over different approaches to deal with the security. They discover during their investigations that the Damascus Steel combat magician has a bound Force 10 Greater Form water spirit lying in an ambush in the waterway entrance to the Dovetree Compound grounds. Deciding they need to eliminate the binder, the team decides that Eidolon will move covertly through the walls, onto the grounds, to wallbang the magician in the temporary security office set up inside the Dovetree Mansion.
-The team prepares explosives to, potentially, blow their way into the lower levels of the Dovetree Mansion. There is discussion about potentially destroying the whole house, if the targets are the only ones left inside.
-Thunder plans to make Eidolon invisible, as well as summon spirits to aid their task. He plans to make the water spirit he’s summoned use its weather control power to locally intensify the storm at the Dovetree Compound to further incentivize an evacuation. Perhaps the principals will even evacuate, making it easier to attack them via a withdrawal.
-Kill the magician, sneak the team up into the compound through the water tunnel, fight their way through the mercenaries that remain, kill the principals, and then leave via the city's municipal food control tunnels. They prepare oxygen supplies as the journey through the waterways will require them to be largely submerged, and will empty out into the old Bellwood Quarry which is now a water reservoir for the city. There Eidolon has arranged for his contact Alligator Jack to be waiting with a boat to pluck them from the water and move them on to safety.
The Run
Things (mostly) go according to plan. At first. Such as these things go.
The plan succeeds in evacuating the civilians from inside the Dovetree Compound during the storm, also taking one of the mercenaries out of the battle equation as he drove the truck out. Eidolon was able to sneak a drone in on the Damascus Steel Unit Commander after he came out to talk to the SoS hobgoblin pretending to be an emergency worker with the city. Inside they got a live layout of the mansion.
Sizzles was able to identify the commlink of the combat mage, allowing Thunder to make Eidolon invisible and for Eidolon to successfully sneak close enough to the building to wallbang assassinate the magician and then the mercenary spider.
When the magician was killed, the Great Form Water Spirit lying in wait burst out into the air above the compound and joined Thunder’s water spirit in making environmental destruction…only it was much more effective. Using the Storm power, the whole compound began to be hammered by massive hail chunks and vicious winds. Eidolon had to make his way under cover of the house, but quickly moved inside when they discovered the Storm power was causing the house to slowly come down.
The team moved through the waterway tunnels, now flooded even more intensely from the combination of the hurrican, Thunder’s spirit, and the enraged free spirit. They made their way to the basement wall and Thunder hammered their way in with P23 and Tango’s support.
Sizzles turned all the defenses of the Compound against the mercenaries and the principals, flipping it’s white/black list. The mercenaries disabled the turrets and rushed the Dovetrees to the basement to shelter as the spirit’s Storm brought the mansion crumbling down. The team laid a vicious trap for the mercenaries and targets, and when they all came down the stairs Eidolon snuck up behind them with the team in wait at the bottom of the steps. Surprise round of combat, full auto suppressive fire with stick-and-shock flechette rounds and Eidolon taking headshots. The FLR ork mercenaries put up a valiant defense against a wave of unrelenting bullet hell but in the end only one remained standing. The Dovetrees and the elf commander were dead, the second ork mercenary unconscious. Thunder knocked the remaining prisoner out when he asked to take off his helmet, before he could tell them something, and then the team double checked the Dovetrees were dead. Paz, Tango, and Eidolon each took a ceremonial Damascus Steel combat knife off of the three mercenaries before leaving, which will definitely not be a problem later.
Sizzles, furious that Tango doubletapped them before he could resuscitate them for torture, sulked as Thunder arranged for the water spirit to use its final powers to rescue the two unconscious Damascus Steel orks from the building before it collapsed.
And then the team made their way through the waterways to safety!
Aftermath
The Sons of Sauron cell in Atlanta and Seattle are overjoyed at the mission's success. Charles Diallo is avenged and his life saved from further attacks. The Dovetrees are dead and Humanis has lost a powerful, and very rich, member.
Rewards
“Fragile? It Must Be Italian!” Finale
50 RVP (Extreme TL with Time Multiplier (30 x 1.666666666666667))
-40,000 nuyen (+10,000 nuyen Negotiation Bonus) (20 RVP)
OR
80,000 nuyen (+10,000 nuyen Negotiation Bonus) towards drones and aircraft and the following options at Gear Rates:
Paz and Eidolon may purchase Barrett Model 122 sniper rifles and two clips of Ex-Ex ammunition.
Thunder may purchase a Ork Rights Commission-stylized Sleeping Tiger/Synergist Longcoat
NOTE: Eidolon, P23, and Tango took Damascus Steel combat knives (Custom Look), one each, as trophies.
-24,000 in Lifestyle Modification (1 year Low Lifestyle Safehouse in Atlanta, courtesy of the Sons of Sauron) (6 RVP)
-20 Karma (20 RVP)
-8 CDP (4 RVP)
+20 Faction Reputation for Sons of Sauron (Faction page coming soon)
+20 Faction Reputation for Federated Boeing (Faction page coming soon)
-Optional Qualities at Chargen Rates:
For Everyone But Thunder: Solid Rep (Sons of Sauron)
Thunder: Legendary Rep (Sons of Sauron)
Thunder: Spirit Champion
Eidolon: Candle in the Darkness
Paz: Adrenaline Surge
Tango: Adrenaline Surge
Sizzles: Codeslinger (Player’s Choice)
-Optional Contact:
For Everyone: Hez-kukra may be taken with Loyalty up to 3.
For Thunder: Hez-kukra’s Loyalty may be increased to 4.
For Sizzles: Charles "The Prince" Diallo's Loyalty may be increased to 4.
https://shreloaded.net/wiki/Hez-kukra
https://shreloaded.net/wiki/Charles_%22The_Prince%22_Diallo
Game Quotes
Player After Action Reports (AARs)
Tango I never want to see lightning and thunder again. Holy shite I've never seen a great form spirit before. I hope that's the last one. Those mercs were tough SOBs but our team was tougher. I wonder what that ork was trying to say before Thunder punched his lights out ... oh well. This custom combat knife sure is a nice trophy.
Thunder Those bastards had it coming and deserved it!
Hanging out with the team was nice, though not so harmonious as usual because personal feelings were involved. Luckily all members found a truce and were able to slip back into their professionalism in order to not jeopardize the mission and the team's safety.
The operation was intense. Driven by fear for the great form water spirit guarding our entry point I got a little carried away but was very luck I didn't take any real harm when summoning a very forceful water spirit which might have ben able to take on the oppositions spirit if it wasn't controlled by the mage we planned to neutralize, or the mage managed to defend them self. That was a lot of weather for one day!
Sizzles Decker's log: jokers to left of me, clowns to the right.
I'm underslept. Keeping Charles alive was a long haul. I really feel for the man - as far as he's concerned, the whole world just ended. When that happened to me I flew to the other half of the world to try to get away from it, but he doesn't even have that option - he's stuck in with FB for the long haul, now. God, is he gonna keep on living at that house? No way, he's surely gonna move. Maybe he'll try to get lost in work. I should see if I can do something for him to help him while he's grieving.
I'm sorry I can't kill Dovetree a few more times. That little girl was such a sweetie. It'd be nice to forget her face. I've got enough ghosts as it is. Note to self: Ask Émeraude out ASAP. I need to cut this bitterness with some living.
C'mon, keep it together, Sizzles. What to remember from this one? I like Hez-kukra, we have the same energy. If I were a trog, I bet we could be friends. Eidolon is solid, he put in the work and blitzed some serious mercs. That's an honest-to-god street sam. Not much came through in the way of personality, but maybe that's what he thinks "professional" means - lots of these types do. Maybe I'll get a chance to get to know him better under less pressing circumstances. Thunder was the rock upon which I will build my church, as usual. I gotta find a gift for that guy. Peace is a wild card, best not to trust her too far. And Tango - don't forget that he deliberately fucked me over, personally. Find a way to repay that favor.
[The following is all noted in Sperethiel as it was easier for Paz]
"Was a clean job, all things considered. Unfortunately, I was remoting in for this job from Atlanta, which made the meet a little awkward on my part but the rest of the run a lot easier. With the team leaving late in the evening from Seattle, I had a lot of time to scout. And procure some things that will become relevant in the future, but otherwise? We only had two complications. A greatform spirit going free and saying 'ah, let's bring the building down,' and Sizzles letting his emotions get in the way of the job. My duty whenever I am hired on is to first and foremost make sure my team comes out alive. Sizzles wanting to stay in a collapsing building to torture the targets was contrary to that - thankfully Tango sped the process along significantly.
Truthfully, it wouldn't have been as clean as it was were it not for Eidolon and Sizzles making for a very scary combination when it came to dealing with the mage - and then Eidolon dealing with their spider. Impressive work all around. Kudos team."
I've never had such intense disagreements in a team before regarding completion, though it seemed the majority decided against Sizzles. I was not overly against his plan, but with the majority against him... I was concerned I might need to 'tranquilize' him during the op to prevent complications. Fortunately things aligned such that the OpFor spirit's going free and deciding 'more storm good!' was the biggest hurdle, with the marks being evacuated down through our intended entry route allowing me to follow up from behind while invisible. Tango simplified things by double-tapping one of the two marks, preventing Sizzles from resuscitating them only to torture them. Dispatching the targets, we had 2 surviving Damascus Steel mercenaries, who we knocked unconscious. Also took their signature knives as trophies... well some of us did. Souvenirs are often not wise, but pulling the wool over a well known mercenary group as OpFor in an operation felt like a good trophy to collect. Everyone did their jobs effectively once disagreements over methodology were settled. Sizzles definitely seems newer to the Haven's shadows and I hope he finds the peace one needs to effectively function in the shadows without burning out prematurely.