Digging out Roots
| Digging out Roots | ||||||||||
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| Part of A Scattering of Deadly Petals | ||||||||||
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| Factions Involved | ||||||||||
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ShadowHaven Ru Xiao Eighty-Eights Triad | Black Chrysanthemum | Relic Bunker | ||||||||
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Rurosha Voiceless Glamor Genji | Chop Shop Guards | Old Security Drones | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | ||||||||||
| One dead guard, the others injured or compelled to run | Drones scrapped | |||||||||
Summary
Runners are hired by Ru Xiao to discover where Black Chrysanthemum has been obtaining supplies of telesma, drugs, and weaponry. The runners unearth evidence that the Triad has a deal with certain Ghost Cartels.
Background
The Black Chrysanthemum is a powerful and brutal Triad that has been muscling its way into Seattle at the expense of the three Triads already established in the city. Increasingly, they have come into conflict with the Eighty-Eights Triad.
Ru Xiao is a recently-promoted White Paper Fang within the Eighty-Eights Triad. As the one heading up the Eighty-Eights matrix presence and financial ledgers, she also occasionally plays the role of spymaster.
Due to the Eighty-Eights Triad being more technologically savvy, the Black Chrysanthemum has shifted to some old-tech solutions to maintain operational security. In response, Ru Xiao hires a team of runners to collect this data directly.
The Meet
The four runners are asked to meet in the matrix, on the host of a small family restaurant in Little Asia called the 'Happy Tortoise.' (see Steamed Pork Substitute). There, they encounter the 'Jade Golem' persona of Ru Xiao, who makes a straightforward offer of twenty-thousand nuyen and dibs on loot in exchange for retrieving data related to Black Chrysanthemum's supply chain.
After the runners accept, Ru Xiao offers them two potential leads to follow. The first is a Tacoma apartment complex hollowed out and made into a data hub by the Black Chrysanthemum. The second is a Payullup chop shop where a Black Chrysanthemum enforcer is currently undergoing limb maintenance. She reveals that said enforcer, unknown to him, has had a tracking chip implanted into his femur during detainment in Hong Kong. Ru Xiao has obtained the ultrasound frequency used to activate the chip's wireless functions so that the device could yield its data dump.
The Plan
The team decides to meet up in the Daze in Redmond, as it was a convenient rendezvous point for Genji, who lacks transportation options. Glamor decides to attend via astral projection. After some discussion, the four decide to make use of the second lead and obtain the information from the enforcer's tracking chip.
Glamor engages in astral projection, piercing the astral ward and exploring the interior. She learns the layout of the place, and finds out that the enforcer - a heavily cybered-up troll - is under anasthesia. She has a close call with the ward upon exiting, but manages to leave.
The group decides to move out immediately to take advantage of the enforcer's unconscious state. They drive down from Redmond, avoiding a Halloweener ambush en route. Meanwhile, Glamor is coming from a different direction and - tipped off by her fixer - notices one of the traffic drones following her. The magician has an active bounty out on her head from Aztechnology, and she attempts to escape the drone by means of an invisibility spell. However, a particularly alert wageslave operator still manages to track her via non-visual sensors.
Fortunately for Glamor, the drone is forced to give up pursuit due to the high noise rating of Payullup. Unfortunately, Aztechnology now knows the model of her car.
Ultimately, the group rendezvous in meatspace outside of the Payullup chop shop.
The Run
The team opts to make use of one of the fire exits to make an unexpected ingress into the converted apartments. Genji overcomes the maglock device with ease, and they slip through a window. However, one of the guards overhears their entrance and the Black Chrysanthemum begin to arm themselves.
The runner team breaches and a battle ensues. Rurosha and Voiceless begin disabling or injuring guards with gunfire, while Glamor covers much of the apartment in a cuttingly cold ice storm. Genji engages the Triad's decker and dataspikes their persona, forcing the decker into a state of dump shock.
The runners emerge victorious and enter the operating room, where the troll remains unconscious. The contracted street doctor immediately surrenders. They convince her to help them and operate Glamor's ultrasound noise generation device in order to trigger the tracking chip. The street doctor agrees under the condition of the runners' silence and the promise that they'd knock her out with a spell, as to make it look like she didn't cooperate.
The tracking chip activates and Genji hacks the device, downloading a file dump of its coordinates and disabling an embedded data bomb while doing so. the coordinates point the team to a desolate area of Payallup, not far from Mt. Rainier.
They drive out into the ash flats, braving a desolate background count, ash buildup, and inhospitable conditions. After navigating the wastes, they find an old bunker buried in one of the ash-laden foothills. Genji hacks the maglock while Glamor projects into the bunker, shattering the astral ward but finding the interior barren and empty.
Voiceless and Rurosha make the breach and Genji enters to interface with an old computing system. As it boots, however, the bunker does a bioscan of the interior and finds several unregistered users. Multiple robots activate to deal with the intruders. The machines prove no match for the runners, however, and the team ultimately secures the paydata and loots the bunker for good measure. The remainder of the supply cache is detonated with HE grenades.
Aftermath
Ru Xiao obtains the information she desired concerning Black Chrysanthemum's supply chains, allowing her to plan further blows against the rival triad.
The runners are wired payment and make off with choice loot from the bunker.
Rewards
Rewards for 'Digging out Roots'
- ¥ 20,000 or ¥40,000 in gear credit in Weaponry, Foci, or Drugs, up to Avail 18.
- 6 bonus CDP as juicy data obtained from an old bunker, usable for learning skills or currying favor with contacts.
- 2 CDP
Optional Contact: Ru Xiao, aka 'Jade Golem' at 4/2.
Reputation Adjustments:
- +1 Rep with the Eighty-Eights
- -2 Rep with the Black Chrysanthemum
Player After Action Reports (AARs)
Genji
"First run as a Shadowrunner, won and done. It wasn't at all what I expected, and then again it was everything I should have expected. The team was solid and professional, and everything went off without a hitch. I'm starting to feel my way around in this new Matrix, and it is starting to feel good. I can only hope future runs go as well as this one did, and that I am teamed up with the same solid professional types as I witnessed today."
Rurosha
The job was simpler than I expected, although the troll's guards were dodgy as drek. It was unfortunate that one of the poor sods defenestrated themselves, but whatever.
Voiceless
That one wasn't so bad. I was a little worried about our decker, but Genji did a lot better than I gave them credit for. The rest of the team was solid, too, though I'll need to remember to look up that street doc. She seemed quite reasonable, and I'd hate for her to go out of business. As far as the run went... Not too difficult. Got the tracker from the troll without him ever knowing we were there, used it to find the super secret data center, which was just guarded by a few old drones... Glamor did well drawing fire and not getting herself killed, too, so that made things easier on the rest of us.