Incorrect Owners
| Incorrect Owners | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Factions Involved | |||||||||
| ShadowHaven | Major Corp | ||||||||
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Ryan Danes 4NG3L Elaine Fluster |
Character1 Character2 | ||||||||
Summary
Johnson has a missing package and wishes to hire a group of runners to find out who stole it, and possibly retrieve it. Runners discover a mercenary company and follow a trail of bodies before brawling with a scouting party and a powerful decker in order to locate the hideout of the organization. After entering the location and spotting a massive threat in the basement, leaving the rest of the job to a specifically hired runner team to
Background
The Meet
The run was in a park near Devil's Lake, Redmond, a somewhat decently-kept location compared to the surrounding area. As the arrived arrived near dusk, the park was rather sparsely populated, with a single, intact bench showing the only person who definitely looked completely out of place in the slummier neighborhood, a finely dressed woman who appeared to have bathed within the last week. Of course, trying to find other runners first, of course this was a rather easy task considering the line of work didn't always scream 'subtly.' After some short formalities between the runners, the group moved to meet up with Mrs. Johnson, who had decided to get tea in the meantime.
As they met, the runners, (and M3chan1c's stand-in drone) got odd looks from the Johnson, a rather pale woman who appeared to possess some magic power according to an assensing from Elaine. She remained rather silent as the runners introduced themselves, simply giving them a knowing look and passing them a datachip their way without any elaboration. Looking closer, M3chan1c pointed out towards the cause of the silence out of Mrs. Johnson, a series of old burn scars right over the throat, likely in an area that would have rendered her mute. Dismissing the previous remarks that the J's silence may have been out of rudeness, the runners got to checking out the datachip.
According to the datachip, Johnson wanted the runners to retrieve a re-enforced, scan shielded briefcase, possibly able of taking series of hits from explosives (like grenades). The primary objective was to find out who stole the package, likely an individual who knew about the delivery beforehand and who would be carrying out the delivery. An additional 2k nuyen reward was offered if the runners could return the suitcase intact to Johnson. A series of pictures were also attached, showing the last locations that the package and its courier were pinged on their route, ending at a refueling station between Touristville and Avondale, looking further into the image, the group some bodies of some rather rough looking individuals, sporting certain tells of some sort of military experience about themselves due to the scars and tattoos they sported. In the marks on their skin M3chan1c recognized a symbol on one of their necks, a roughed-up bunch of 8 arrows, the tag of a new gang in the area he'd heard rumors about. Digging in on their armaments, M3chan1c and Elaine spotted some rather familiar firearms they had been toting, previous-generation military hardware, already out of date, but still familiar to anyone who kept up on firearms or military history. 4NG3L looked about the scene, recognizing a gang hit when she saw one, thanks to her own experience in similar matters. Among the bodies seen in the image, there also appeared to be a couple downed attackers from the unknown gang, with the courier, dressed in civilian clothing, crucified with an excess of nails nearby. Scanning through the image 4NG3L managed to recognize a tattoo on another one of the bodies, a white-hydra, one that she had come across during some of her operations with the Yakuza. As the other runners got to work scanning over the information available, Fluster stood up, greasing some palms with the Johnson, managing to work out a better reward, as well as an additional pre-paid bonus of two-thousand nuyen! Looking over the metadata, 4NG3L pointed out that the pictures seemed to have been taken mere minutes before the job posting went out. Accepting the job, the runners made way back to the car, spotting a stealth cloak flashing as a Barret 122 was made visible for a brief moment, seeming to trail after Johnson. Giving yet another close look, M3chan1c, Elaine, and Fluster also noticed that Mrs. Johnson appeared to have a similar hydra tattoo to the courier corpse in the picture.
The Plan
According to a matrix search, early reports seemed to indicate that the symbol belonged to a gang operating out of Avondale, apparently one which had not endeared itself to the local biker gangs operating through the area. As 4NG3L continued to do a deep-dive on the matter, the group stepped over to a local burger joint M3chan1c heard about online, being a bit daring, he decided to try their 'meat' burger, unfortunately, it appeared the reviews had lied to him as he nearly vomited on the second bite, whirling around the parking lot, he sent the rest of the bitten burger sailing through the drive-thru window before speeding off, quietly accepting Fluster's offer of their fries as he stewed in his rigger cocoon.
On their way to the recharging station, M3chan1c managed to spot another crucifixion, matching the previous one spotted in the crime scene photo. At this time, 4NG3L's matrix search popped off, as she returned to meatspace, she showed what she had found, finally a name to the mysterious attackers, a mercenary group called C.H.A.O.S, Criminal Heavy Assault Ordinance Service. Among the list of their various deeds, including military caravan raids, assassinations, dips into the realms of forbidden magic and possession. Looking over the body, the group identified heavy use of machine guns, and similar markings to the CHAOS specialists, but with far inferior weapons and armor. Sending out a drone net and scanning himself, M3chan1c spotted a group starting to approach the bodies, all bearing markings and equipment showing them as more members of the Service, seeming to be on the way to collect their fallen comrades.
The Run
As the CHAOS agents crossed the threshold of the alleyway, 4NG3L immediately got to work, throwing out a quick hack off of pure instinct, dataspiking the enemy's rifles into submission, instantly bricking them as they came into the light. Just as the scouts started to shout in an unknown language towards the party, the pair of cyberdogs they had brought with them immediately fell to a twin shot from M3chan1c's sniper drone, blowing the hounds into bits and giving Elaine a wide open shot at one of the scouts, skewering them through the shoulder, staggering the soldier as they struggled with their disabled weapon. Sprinting past their stunned allies, a previously hidden scout sprinted up to Elaine, firing off a slug towards the runner from point blank, the blow stunning the runner a bit, just in time for another soldier to run around a corner, firing off a spray of rounds towards 4NG3L, some of the rounds pounding into her armor, staggering her as well.
Calling out over the DNI, Fluster did their best to inspire Elaine, encouraging her to push herself further in repaying the favor to the soldier who had shot her. As another shot rocketed out from M3chan1c's barret, the flanking soldier exploded into viscera, collapsing into a heap. Spurred on by Fluster's leadership, Elaine leapt over her cover, pouncing onto the shotgunner, starting to savage them with her claws, an assault the soldier barely managed to survive as they shoved their attacker off. One of the weapon-bricked soldiers sprinted up, throwing their weapon aside and drawing their melee-backup, slashing across Elaine's form, her armor soaking most of the damage as she turned to face the new attacker, leaving the shotgunner unguarded to fire off again at the feline above them from point-blank range. Thankfully, a quick movement from Elaine was enough to direct the thicker armor of her jacket to take the brunt of the impact. As M3chan1c and Elaine pulled ahead, a synchronized attack saw the remaining two soldiers fall under their attacks, ending the enemy threat as a whole.
With the combat finished, Elaine stumbled towards the van, with M3chan1c already popping his medkit open to stop the bleeding, with 4NG3L following quickly behind. After M3chan1c finished with his work, Fluster stepped over to finish the matter with some healing spells. Stepping over towards the bodies, the runners, lead by 4NG3L, started to shake down the trooper bodies for information, struggling, and ultimately not finding much else other than a pair of dogtags in that foreign language the party couldn't understand. A quick Matrix search of the written language, according to the results, it appeared to be in turkish. As Elaine lamented the loss of her arrow, the deckers in the party collectively stood, realizing they had a way to spot them through the matrix, running down the alley, the runners found the arrow, abandoned and surrounded by blood, Doing his best attempt at bullshit tracking, M3chan1c followed his instincts, leading the party onward in pursuit of the fleeing hostile, eventually leading their pursuit to stop at a different parking garage a few miles away.
Starting to scan over the matrix in the area, 4NG3L found a series of smartgun attachments in the area, while M3chan1c found a host, disconnected from the public host of the city. Quickly getting to work bricking the smartgun systems, 4NG3L immediately disabled one of the goon's guns, though, immediately, a sudden dataspike from an un-spotted decker was sent ripping through her persona, the biofeedback immediately causing her to start coughing up blood as the runners realized they were under attack.
M3chan1c immediately went on the offensive, spotting the sneaky decker in an instant and closing in on them, 4NG3L continued to weather further dataspiking while she did her best to escape the relentless assault and run back into the meatspace. While M3chan1c got to work, gathering marks on their deck, which surprisingly was rather expensive for this sort of group, a Shiawase Cyber-4 seeing a proper opportunity to disable the decker while unseen on the matrix, as well as possibly net a far bigger payday than the runners had been going for in the first place, he got to work finessing the punk. Of course, this took time, time which the decker used to land another attack on 4NG3L, the runner letting out vile screams over the DNI as the biofeedback rocked their body while they struggled to disconnect from the matrix. Elaine sprinted from the Roadmaster, approaching the garage door of the parking structure which contained the enemy combatants, immediately firing a shock arrow into the locking mechanism, disabling the maglocked door to prevent them from having the chance to escape. Fluster sprinted over to the trailer 4NG3L was inside of, quickly using her powers to begin healing the heavily-wounded decker, working together with the Valkyrie module to overcome the heavy biofeedback, giving her a chance to finally stand back up to join the fight.
As Elaine approached the garage door, ready to rip and tear, her smartgun attachment fizzled out, a signal that the decker had discovered them, though, this didn't stop the runner, crouching down, she quickly tore the metal door apart, ripping a wide hole in the entryway, spotting a strange shimmer in the air in the garage below, their magical awareness telling them this was a curse ritual. Stepping into the ritual, the berserk suddenly felt all of their rage increase, their desire to punch, claw, and destroy rising into a violent inferno, and of course, this was perfectly agreeable to the enraged runner. Soon after 4NG3L stepped out of the trailer, running to join Elaine at the entryway with her gun drawn, ready for the assault as a wave of uncontrollable rage washed over her. Sprinting to the elevator, the pair noticed it had been destroyed, with the cable cut and the mode of transportation ruined for the purposes of the runners, turning to the ramp, they realized they would have to take the long way. Finally having the marks and the time prepared, M3chan1c's persona finally revealed itself, giving a soft wave towards the amateur, politely asking them to 'keep his new property safe for him' before their device forcibly shut off, forcefully dumpshocking the decker, alerting the runners to his position as he belted out colorful strings of curses, screams, and whimpers as a mixture of dumpshock and utter rage overcame the now useless, and heavily injured decker.
Aftermath
Moving to check out the underground, the group ran into a massive threat, al-chemically enhanced mercenaries with better equipment than previously expected, shortly after reporting this to the Johnson over the phone, the runners were informed that a better-prepared runner team from the Haven would be sent in to wipe out the resistance in the garage. Getting their base reward wired back to them, the runners returned home to lick their wounds.
Rewards
10k nuyen
2 karma
2 cdp
Game Quotes
Player After Action Reports (AARs)
M3chan1c: "Real damn shame about that deck, don't know how the hell these backwater mercs got a hold of a cyber-4, but at the same time, I'd rather walk away with my friends at the end of the day than chase down a wild payday like that on a whim.
Fluster: "Fuck that was rough... was going fine when it started! then there was Fire, and megadecks, had to heal a LOT of people after that..."
4NG3L: Clusterfuck doesn't even describe this. But, any run you walk away from, right?