Silver Rush
| Silver Rush | ||||||||||
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| Part of The Burning Star of Redmond | ||||||||||
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| Factions Involved | ||||||||||
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ShadowHaven SpinGlobal | Followers of the Light | Ancients and Cutters | ||||||||
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Cold Hands Maestro Dr.Trauma Pell Sanjuro |
The Shining One Toxic Mages and Adepts Cultists Radioactive Harvesters | Gang Members | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | ||||||||||
| Partial | Vehicles and Injuries | |||||||||
Summary
Ancients hijack a secure SpinGlobal convoy, getting more than the expected. Weapons grade Plutonium. The plutonium follows a bloody trail, ending up in the hands of a toxic cult in the heart of Glow City. As they work to build a bomb to irradiate Seattle, runners intervene and manage to steal back the plutonium, narrowly escaping with their lives.
Background
Kyra Samaras needed plutonium for certain confidential science experiments she had in the works. Following corporate policy, she put in a requisition order for a sizable sample, 5 kilograms, and it was added to a secure convoy heading into Seattle. As it approached though, local members of the Ancients guess, correctly, that the SpinGlobal caravan had something valuable inside. Too correctly. Hijacking the convoy, they managed to steal it and move the cargo out before SpinGlobal could respond. As the gang members started to look through their assorted loot, they eventually realized that they had bitten off more than they planned.
Pu-239 is kind of a big deal.
Not sure how to proceed, the squad fortified in a safe house and called their superiors. This lead to quite a few frantic and hurried conversations among the upper echelons of the Seattle Ancients. Unfortunately for the squad in question, this also lead to the Cutters learning of this through their informants. The Cutters managed to reach the squad first.
Killing the Ancients and seizing the plutonium, they escaped the area in a hurry, taking an underground route to avoid detection. However, they never returned, sending no message and leaving their bosses concerned.
At this stage, both the Ancients and Cutters were out for blood. Both wanted revenge, and neither wanted the other to get their hands on Plutonium. The imminent gang war wouldn't end up accomplishing much though, as the package had been claimed by a third party, the Followers of the Light. Led by visions from the spirits they follow, members of the cult hunted down the Cutters and returned to use the plutonium in creation of a salted bomb, one that would spread radiation through wide parts of Seattle. It would expose thousands, potentially even millions, to the toxic environments that they revere, while keeping the city relatively intact.
While all of this chaos was happening, SpinGlobal, to put it mildly, was not pleased about what had happened. Kyra specifically, while actually not at fault in the slightest in her corp's eyes, felt incredibly guilty that she was indirectly responsible for plutonium being lost to unknown hands. Petitioning her bosses, and using her previous connections with the Haven as a justification, she receieved permission to hire a team of Shadowrunners to help in retrieval operations. While SpinGlobal would be doing their own work to try to recover the missing package, having a different approach working on it as well, was deemed to be a good enough idea. With this, Kyra hired a team of Shadowrunners, for her biggest job yet.
The Meet
The runners are directed to meet at the Daze, knowing the job is SpinGlobal related. Expecting some SpinRadical J, they are a bit confused when a convoy of armored SUV's arrives outside. Directed to get inside and not answering any questions, the runners reluctantly agree. Silently driven, armored guards in the other vans, they eventually approach a very official looking SpinGlobal building. Being told basically nothing about what's happening, they are a little nervous heading into the heart of corporate power. As they are lead inside the building, things don't really improve on that front, as they are politely escorted by an entire HTR team. Filed into a conference room, a shaken, but still friendly, Kyra greets the runners.
Giving them a quick rundown on the situation and stressing the need for them to accept, not just for their payment or for her, but for everyone in Seattle. Having plutonium in the open is a massive risk for innocents everywhere. Not entirely used to seeing this kind of concern from a corporate agent, they are a little confused, but ultimately accept the job, and the very lucrative payment promised on success. Kyra let them know that the plutonium was last seen with the Ancients, who had hijacked the delivery.
Part 1: Searching
As the team left the SpinGlobal complex, they started preliminary work. A few told trusted contacts that a crisis was happening, letting them know that things might end... poorly. They also found out about the brewing gang war, and headed over to the area. Heading near Echo Lake, skirmishes were breaking out all across Northern Redmond between the two gangs. Heading towards the heart of the conflict, where the safehouse presumably was after some digging, the team split in two. Cold Hands and Pell being elves, would head towards the Ancients safehouse, with Cold Hands sticking to the shadows and Pell trying a social approach to enter and gather info. Meanwhile, the other two, not being elves, decided to wait in the car.
Pell approaches Ancient's sentries and manages to make her way past by namedropping Babylon and being very elfy. She eventually manages to sneak her way inside the safehouse, and does a decent job at pretending to be an Ancient. She sees where the Ancient's squad died, bloody stains the only sign of what happened at this point. Cold Hands finds some bullet casings, which she performs psychometry on. In her vision, she sees the Cutters team that gunned down the Ancients, and puts together what happened to the Plutonium.
Meanwhile, the two in the car are minding their own business when a Toyota technical rolls up, filled with Cutters. Checking the pair, the Dr. Trauma and Maestro put on their best "not-elf" and "not-Ancient" impression, trying to look unimportant. They succeed eventually, and the heavily armed car moves on.
As the two elves snoop near the safehouse, a fire spirit materializes, looking very not-friendly. Deciding to leave, as nothing else seemed of great interest around, the two ran out of the area as fast as they could. Most of the random Ancients milling around didn't react immediately, their escape rather quick.
Regrouping with the rest of the team, the group managed to find pictures of the Cutter's in question, using Cold Hand's vision as a guide. This allowed Pell to summon a spirit to search for the missing group. After a while, the spirit managed to find one of them underground, dead. It was a lead, though perhaps a bad sign.
Heading over to the area, the team go in their vehicles and started driving over. It was around this time that the Ancients caught back up, several bikers closing in on the team. Cold Hands, on a bike as well, managed to draw their attention, leading the Ancients on a chase away from the others. Eventually she crashed. The sniper shooting her didn't help. After getting hit with various painful attacks, she collapsed unconscious. The team circled around to help though, and they managed to disable the enemy Ancients, not killing them, but definitely keeping them from following anymore.
The team heads into the underground, navigating dark tunnels in the 3rd layer. As they weave through rooms and hallways, they head in the direction the spirit guided them. Eventually, they spot a pack of feral ghouls, noticing them thankfully before they noticed the team. They decided to take a circuitous route to avoid the ghouls. They manage to succeed at this, and take a side passage to get to the other side. It also leads them to the Cutters, or part of them at least. It seemed like some of them had been savaged by the ghouls in the area, torn apart and eaten. No plutonium though.
Heading deeper, the team reached a room, barricaded, but the door broken open. Inside, they found the last member of the Cutter's squad. They were not killed by Ghouls.
In the quiet closet where the man had taken shelter from ghouls, others had found him. As best the team could tell, the man was ritually murdered, a knife still embedded in his chest. The plutonium was gone.
As the team tried to think of a way forward, Cold Hands knew what she had to do. Striding forward, she grasped the silver knife and let the visions flow through her.
Taking the role of the killer, she moved through the tunnels in search of the plutonium, driven by holy visions. When the times comes, she stabs the knife in with glee. Change is coming, and she is at the forefront. The vision expanded, decaying nuclear towers stand above a dead wasteland. She feels warm, powerful, driven. The source calls to her.
Needless to say, it was a powerful experience, espically for someone new to psychometry like Cold Hands was. Her composure broke, and she babbled to the team of the plans in motions, of the cult at work.They quickly put together that Cold Hands saw the rotting nuclear cooling towers of Glow City. The scope of the mission had expanded.
Sending a message to Kyra, they updated her on the situation, while at the same time preparing to enter the most inhospitable part of Redmond. Cold Hands perhaps had the toughest time ahead of her. She had just felt her first taste of toxic magic, and while unlikely to affect her alone, now, she needed to follow the trail to its source, to delve into the heart of the nuclear wastes. Would she come out the same?
Part 2: Into Glow City
As Kyra conferred with her superiors, she came back with good news for the team. She had secured them a ride! The team however was slightly worried they needed more firepower to assault a cultist compound, so they managed to get her to agree to sign on another member, Sanjuro. The weeb troll swordswoman was happy to join.
The ride, as it turned out, was a VTOL, with an HTR team inside. The pilot would take them into Glow City, close to the middle, and the HTR team would guard the plane. The runners would search the area and find where the plutonium was being held and return it.
Flying over, the team embarked into Glow City, geiger counters at the ready, the rotting hulls of the district looming around them. Glow City, while a terrible place, isn't abandoned, and as they began traveling away from the plane, people watched from a distance, curious about the runners invading in their midst.
The teams approaches a few of the locals, who eye them warily. Sanjuro, shows off the ritual knife they found to see if the people knew the group who used them. They didn't say much in response. Cold Hands, driven by her recent visions, rushes forward, babbling to the man about her visions, that's she's seeking the cleansing flame. Studying her for a moment, the man replied that he's heard if you open yourself to the Glow, you feel the way.
Cold Hands didn't even hesitate. Opening her third eye, she feels the mana around her, warped and changed, "toxic". She stops resisting, letting the toxic whispers connect. (I made her do an assensing roll without the BGC penalty which was cool and not ominous.)
Opening her mind, soul, and body, she was at first overwhelmed by the power and energy she tapped into, only for it to settle into a comfortable warmth, cradling her. A tugging, not physical, but somewhere in the soul, drew her, leading her towards the others. She followed, eyes distant, saying nothing.
The rest of the team is A-Bit-Concerned at this point.
Following Cold Hands, the team heads towards a spot in visual range of the cooling towers. Eventually, the cult compound comes into view. A rough encirclement of debris and barricades makes a circle around a central area, gaps in the outer circle allowing passage in and out. Warped, vaguely humanoid, figures are chained nearby, behavior more like guard dogs than people. Closer examination reveals them to be Harvesters, feral, full of claws and teeth (and radiation). A group of people in the center seemed to be working on a bomb strapped to the back of a truck, likely where the plutonium lay. All throughout, people milled, some simply just living there, others armed and watching. A group of people sat in a cage, a glowing source placed near them. Several seemed to be wasting away, where others seemed enthralled. Curiously, infected and non-infected seem to work together in harmony, at least from what can be seen.
The team split in two. Half staying in a sniper perch, ready to provide long range fire and support. Sanjuro and Cold Hands though, decided to go ahead, to infiltrate the compound and retrieve the bomb. Quietly disabling one of the Harvesters, the duo managed to sneak inside, hiding in the shadows of a small building. Creeping forward, they eventually reached a point where they couldn't feasibly sneak farther, not without a distraction. The rest of the team decided to start shooting around then.
Throughout this, Cold Hands mental state was rapidly deteriorating. Rather than hostile and terrible, the compound seemed almost... welcoming? Like family. When she moved forward, a cultist waved her over to cover next to her. The other woman could sense Cold Hand's affinity, and welcomed her, promising her safety from the people attacking them. Being taken in without question, accepted, well, it moved Cold Hands a bit. Also it put her in a bit of an awkward situation. Not wanting to murder her cultist buddy and also being increasingly swayed in various ways, she kept hunkered down, "waiting for the right moment to act" as well as composing her mental state.
A battle ensues between the snipers nest and the compound. The harvesters are released like attack dogs, and begin to race towards the intruders. Maestro's spirits fear some, driving them off. Gunfire is exchanged between the team and the cult, fighting off awakened off all types, as well as poorer, less trained members, who haphazardly fire their guns. The cult is seemingly led by a Very-Glowy man, humanoid, with light radiating from a hooded torso. The team can't seem to put him down, his wounds not stopping him. A nuclear spirit is summoned, creating reverence in the currently not-fighting members of the cult, including Cold Hands and her new friends. It's considerably less fun for the rest of the team.
It's around this time that a beacon of light, blinding and white, rises from one of the cooling towers into the sky. The sight seems to boost the morale of the defenders. Cold Hands can tell, this is different from the spirit before. Special.
The rest of the team, realizing this is like, bad, but not wanting to stick around decided to try to hurry things up. Sanjuro dashes out of her hidden area, slashing on her path towards the truck. She manages to lift the bomb out of the back, and starts running away, very quickly. Cold Hands manages to get herself together enough to run as well, her friend calling for her to come back. She's not a traitor, She tells herself.
As the team starts running off, the cults firing on them, the beam of light begins to glow closer, illuminating the surroundings. Cold Hands is the only on the team who can the figure within, protected from the worst of the radiance. A golden woman, burning with the light of the sun, the Shining One, come to protect her chosen. Predictably, this is bad. Hovering high in the air, unfairly out of sword reach in Sanjuro's opinion, the spirit starts to call on her power, winds starting to blow all around them. Flickering lights are threaded within, glowing paths and lines growing and spreading. The geigers counters begin to tick faster.
Hurrying their escape, Sanjuro starts using a borrowed jetpack to hopefully get the bomb out of whatever terrible thing is starting, taking leaping bounds, hoping to get the approaching VTOL in time. Maestro is carried by their spirits. The other three, well, they just have to move fast and hopefully not die.
As the effect continues, conditions worsen, a massive storm growing. Radioactive particles flying through the air, energy arcing, and the wind howling, the team can barely see in front of them as the storm starts to irradiate them, tearing their bodies apart on the molecular level. Cold Hands, while still affected, seems to have a slight bit of protection. Her connection with the Shining One, though tenous, offering protection as she's covered in her embrace. While she feels the urge to repent, to turn back, she resists and continues out with the team.
Some of the team gives up on getting to the VTOL and take shelter underground, hoping to wait out the storm. A handful manage to make it, notably Sanjuro and the bomb, nearly dying but ultimately escaping.
The plutonium had been saved, though the cult lives still.
Aftermath
Brought back to the SpinGlobal Headquarters, Kyra stands on the VTOL platform waiting for them to get escorted out. A different team of SpinGlobal seizes the plutonium without comment. Kyra quickly directs medical teams to take who arrived for radiation treatment, getting them cleaned and given drugs to help the damage. She is quite congratulatory on their success though, thanking them profusely for what they had done. Eventually, they also get in contact with the scattered members who didn't make it to the plane, and let them get medical treatment as well.
Rewards
Time Multiplier x2.11 - total RVP 65
70k Nuyen (35 RVP) or 140k in Gear Rewards taken from Nuyen Rewards
Gear Reward Options: A24 or lower, except for Foci
- Cyberware - Deltaware available.
- Drones
- Vehicles
- High or Luxury Lifestyles
- Jetpack
- Foci, A20 or Lower
15 Karma - 15 RVP
30 CDP - 14 RVP
1 Streed Cred - 1 RVP
+5 Rep with SpinGlobal
Optional Contact: Kyra Samaras as a 5/3 (7 RVP) - taken from other rewards
Optional Qualities, taken from other rewards:
For Any: Indomitable (Physical) - 8 RVP
For Cold Hands - Spirit Affinity (Nuclear) - 7 RVP
For Cold Hands - Home Ground (Glow City), Astral Acclimation - 10 RVP
For Sanjuro - Toughness - 9 RVP
Awakened may receive Deltaware augmentations for 15 RVP taken from other rewards.
Game Quotes
Player After Action Reports (AARs)
Pell
Muffled screeches of stress. Anyway, that was a pretty extreme excursion to Glow City. Bear keeps telling me to not stop running; and I'm inclined to say that I agree. I guess I need to get my affairs in order just in case I don't make it, in the future.