A No-Rough-Stuff-Type Deal
| A No-Rough-Stuff-Type Deal | |||||||||
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| Factions Involved | |||||||||
| ShadowHaven | Knight Errant | ||||||||
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Cyrrel Rooster Shy | Patrol Officer | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
| Patrol Officer x2 | |||||||||
Summary
In which the runners are hired to plan and execute a kidnapping/ransom - shenanigans ensue.
Background
Mr. Johnson is a used car dealer who's got himself into a bit of trouble with some lone sharks, and has come up with a plan to get the money he needs - have some criminals kidnap his wife Jean so that she can be ransomed back to his wealthy father-in-law, hopefully without anyone getting hurt in the process. He plans to promise the runners half of the ransom money, but to actually get a good deal more cash from his father-in-law in order to cover his debts. Using some connections with the shady types who work at his dealership, he has reached out to the Haven in order to contract some "professionals" for the job.
The Meet
The runners are contacted individually by their fixers and told to meet at a bar called Brother Anatole in Snohomish. En-route, Rooster gets into a race on the 405 with a go-ganger, while Cyrrel arrives early and gets into a fight with a drunk redneck which ends up de-escalated by Shy. Before things can erupt into violence, Mr. Johnson arrives and ushers everyone over to a booth to explain the job. He tells the team that he doesn't want anyone to get hurt, and they proceed to intimidate the clearly-out-of-his-depth Johnson into increasing their share of the take; Cyrrel also manages to intuit that he is closer to the target than he admits. In addition to the money, Mr. J offers the team a car with which to execute the job (since they all ride motorcycles), as well as the promise of other vehicles if they are successful.
The Plan
Rooster calls up his fixer Maria Gennaro, who is able to arrange for a safehouse (a small dilapidated cottage) near Shadow Lake in Snohomish for them to bring Jean to. With that taken care of, they head to Mountlake Terrace to scope out the neighborhood. Cyrrel manages to draw some attention from a passing night-jogger, due to being a squirrel person, and while he makes a scene Shy sneaks off to the their target's home to scope out the place, finding the standard home security measures - through the window, she sees the Jean eating dinner with her family (including Mr. Johnson, along with an attentive-looking dog), informing the team of what she finds. Once they're finished, they head to their safehouse and acquire supplies before making their plans.
The Run
After acquiring some narcojet (and sleeping pill-laced meat for the dog), the team roll up and do their best to make a stealthy approach. They see the Jean, along with her dog, watching a trid and are briefly foiled by the shadowrunner's worst enemy - a locked door - before finding a small open window that Cyrrel is able to climb up to and squeeze through. Making his way downstairs, he encounters the dog and feeds it the sleeping meat before opening the window for the others. Unfortunately he is heard by the Jean in the process, and she very nearly manages to call the police before Shy narcojets her (with Cyrrel monowhipping her commlink in half).
Rooster turns the now-unconscious Jean invisible and the team start to move her outside to their car, when a chance encounter with the same jogger from the previous night (who trips over the invisible Rooster) leads to a scuffle where he's nearly bitten by Cyrrel, forcing them to pile into the car and speed away from the scene of the crime as fast as possible. Cyrrel spots a quad-copter drone from one of the witnesses perusing them, so Rooster shoots it down as they make their escape. Since the vehicle doesn't have spoof chips or morphing plates, they decide to drive to the safehouse and quickly move Jean inside before Rooster drives it away to dispose of it in Redmond.
Unfortunately, the team were less-than-stealthy, and Mr. Johnson gets cold feet when he sees the commlink videos posted online of the incident - when Rooster calls him with a burner commlink telling him that they have Jean at a safehouse, he sends an anonymous tip to KE to have them check it out. A patrol car with a pair of pawns arrives, and while Shy answers the door and Cyrrel does some betakami as a treat before sneaking out the window in time to see one of them heading around back. As Shy is about to be made, Cyrrel bites and poisons the cop at the back door (who is then filled with stick-and-shock by Rooster) before dashing around to the front and monowhipping the lower leg off of the one questioning Shy (as well as slicing up their patrol car for good measure).
With things now well and truly FUBAR, the runners grab Jean and make for the nearby woods. Contemplating their options and considering just bailing, Rooster has an idea: he finds some nearby abandoned railroad tracks and contacts Corf using a spirit marker he was given, and the vehicle spirit soon arrives to make new friends. Agreeing to pay the helpful lil' minecart some karma in exchange for a quick exfil, the runners hoof it to Puyallup where they lay low in Rooster's safehouse and make contact with Mr. Johnson. He is shocked that they evaded KE, but arranges for a handoff at a parking garage in Puyallup City.
Unfortunately for the runners, Mr. Johnson is not alone when he arrives - his father-in-law has come with him, meeting Rooster on the roof of the parking garage (Shy is on the roof of an adjacent building with her sniper rifle, while Cyrrel is back at the backup safehouse guarding Jean). Rooster demands the promised payment in exchange for releasing Jean to a bus station, but her father insists on seeing her to verify she's okay, so Rooster gets Cyrrel to send over an AR photo. He remains reluctant to hand over the money however, so Shy encourages him by pointing her laser sights at his chest. Mr. Johnson attempts to de-escalate things, handing Rooster the promised 60,000, however Rooster is perturbed to see that it's in UCAS$ and demands the full amount in nuyen, threatening to sell Jean to organleggers otherwise. After that sort of intimidation Mr. J quickly produces more cash from a bag, and the team realize his scheme; they debate attempting to steal all the money, however after Shy notices the DocWagon bracelet on the father-in-law's wrist they decide to cut their losses and leave with their share of the cash.
Aftermath
Cyrrel takes Jean to a bus station and sends her home, telling her that she should tell her husband to hire better kidnappers next time. Rooster's fixer calls him angry about the burned safehouse, and everyone pays 10% of their reward to cover the costs. The two KE officers who were assaulted survived their injuries, and the family dog (who was briefly kidnapped by the team along with Jean before being left in Snohomish) eventually makes its way home after a few weeks. Happy ending for all (except for Mr. Johnson, who is in a whole lot of trouble with his family and the lone sharks...)
Rewards
- 20,000 nuyen (in UCAS$)
- 2 karma
- 2 CDP
- Optional Contact: Corf (1/1 Helpful Lil' Minecart) for 1 RVP or 2 CDP
Game Quotes
Player After Action Reports (AARs)
Shy
Well... Where i could begin with ? Everything was fucked up, i wonder how i'm not back into jail after such a mess...But at least we get a really good pay. Long story now, daylight kidnapping ? Bad idea, we were sure to get seen at some point during the trick. So we get seen and driving away in Ford Americar is a pain in the ass. We did get a good safehouse tho, but K-E knock on door the next morning. Hopefully the full on beta-meth and Kami squirrel just kick their ass. But we were still in a dire situation, no safehouse, no car to transport the target and K-E at our back. Hopefully Rooster called for this...Spirit friend of his, Corf. Guess it has saved us from prison and all. We did go from Snohomish to Puyallup and we did manage to get the deal done. Guess i'm a bit rusty and all, or this is the kind of norm thing around here. At least it was fun and that give me some good kick of adrenalin like the good old time
Cyrrel
What a joke. This guy comes in wanting a kidnapping, takes all of two seconds to figure the lady he wants kidnapped is his sweetheart. This kinda loser... if he bumped his head too hard he'd be a WIMP. Anyway, team was kinda lopsided for the job, too. Probably another indication that the J didn't know what he was doing. Still, heading into the fancy part of town to make fun of people is always fun.
Anyway, job goes about as you'd expect. Drek with a side of roasted tomatoes. Blegh. We get the girl, get her to a safe house and call the J. A day later, the fuzz shows up. Made quick work of them and their car. Things looked like they might be belly up, though, till somebody called a sentient mine cart. Thing got us out of town right quick. When we called the J again, we set some terms to give his girl back. Lucky for those 'tater brains I wasn't at that part of the meet. Woulda been a bigger payday, but at least two more bodies. As it was I hung out with the wife. Can't say she was too unpleasant, though apparently she doesn't like betameth. Whatever. Put her on a bus and told her to watch out for her hubby.
Got paid, had a laugh. All worth while.