Slurping Spinals
| Slurping Spinals | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Slurping Spinals | ||||||||||||
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| Factions Involved | ||||||||||||
| ShadowHaven | Northwestern University Technological Institute Secret Bugspirit Research Center | NU Campus Police | Evanston Police | Wannabe MC Gang | ||||||||
| Ellen, Bonded Spirit, Hybridized Bug-Spirit | ||||||||||||
|
Ashford Blue Jay Heron Ryuuji |
Janitor Guards Researchers | 2 | 6 | 4 | ||||||||
| 3 | ||||||||||||
| Casualties and losses | ||||||||||||
| 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||||||
| 3 | ||||||||||||
Summary
After Ashford was told by a strange man with a briefcase and hat that he should try to drink spinal-cord fluid from a hybridized bug spirit, Ashford gathered a couple of chummers from ShadowHaven to persue this goal. The main obstacle was getting access to a proper spirit, since Whichita was under lock-down and no other places were known. Research revealed rumors that Ellen Ripley (presumably died during the Chicago Infestation) who used to be a successful researcher at Northwestern University was rumored to be alive and kept imprisoned because she had information that was not allowed to reach the public. The group of Runners followed this lead, found her, extracted her and hoped to get information about the whereabouts of a hybridized bug spirit in return. Instead, Ellen got sick and the egg of botfly spirit which had been supressed by medications for 30 years developed and possessed her as soon as she was taken off her medication. She begged the runners to kill her, before she would "turn". Instead, they used the situation and let the spirit possess her and extracted the desired fluid. Ashford drank the fluid and got sick. "Nothing that a few shots of antibiotics wouldn't heal" - yea, right!
Background
During a previous run, Ashford was told by a man with a briefcase and hat to drink spinal fluid from a hybridized bug spirit. He took a liking in the idea and gathered a team of runners willing to help him. Some joined because of curiosity, some because the thought the footage would be valuable, others because they wanted to make sure that Ashford wouldn't cause a new infestation of bug spirits.
The target: Ellen Ripley was a successful researcher and a fighter against bug spirits during the Chicago infestation 30 years earlier. At the end of the wars on bug spirits, she had an encounter with a botfly spirit who put put an egg inside her body. Not knowing what to do with her, Northwestern University put her in a cell and gave her medicine to supress the development of the egg and kept her locked in a cell. 30 years passed during which nobody wanted to take a decision on her faith.
The Meet
Ashford, Blue Jay, Heron, and Ryuuji were contacted by their fixers and offered to do the security during the grand opening of Cherry's Shakes in Seattle. During opening, an incident with four wannabe motorcycle gangers who came to offer Cherry a protection racket took place. Unfortunate for the gangers, the runners from ShadowHaven were there to subdue and scare them away. Later that day, a drunk driver ran over one of the motorcycles the bikers had left behind when they fled, and blamed her husband for the accident. As things got loud, the runners used the excuse that the accident hadn't really taken place on the property of Cherry's shakes and a called a contact at Knight Errant who was happy to get his hands dirty. The Knight Errants showed up right on time before the woman could finish beating the living daylight out of her husband. The Knight Errants took the opportunity to exercise some punching bag on the woman in the paddy wagon before the drove off.
After a days of successful work, the runners were having a late dinner as a the man that had put the idea to drink spinal fluid from a hybridized bug-spirit appeard and told him that he should hurry to complete the task and implied that Ashford would otherwise die. The other runners offered their support.
Using contacts, the team found three potential places to find a bug spirit: Whichita, Area 51, or Chicago. They decided that the best bet was to go to Envanston, Chicago, to find the presumably dead Ellen Ripley, extract her from imprisonment and get information about how to get the spinal fluid they were looking for in return for her liberation. The team also used contact to get a transportation plane to get to Chicago with all their gear and car.
The Plan
While scooping out the Technological Institute (Tech) at Northwestern University (NU), the runners seized the opportunity to get into the elevator and go down to the secret basement as the janitor made a mistake, not following security procedures and used his own key card to give them access to the the basement. Thus, the runners found themselves in front of the sealed cell of Ellen without really having a plan. They decided to find proof that she wasn't "infected" before extracting her. After 30 years of people abusing, poking and probing her, she was not amused by the idea of answering tons of questions that the runners she had just met kept asking, nor letting them assens her aura. Even as she explained to the runners that she was not going to trust anyone who just stomped into the research facility, obviously without permission, only Ryuuji was willing to introduce himself while the others treated here with the same disrespect she had initially greeted them. Blue Jay was in the get-away car and only present with a fly spy and encouraged the team to show sum trust.
After Ellen realized that Ryuuji was a man of honor, she opened up and they negotiated a deal: Ashford would astrally project and fly through Ellens body to test if she was dual natured. In exchange, Ryuuji gave his word that the team would do their best to extract her from the research center if she passed the test. Ellen who would do anything to regain her freedom promised to help them get the desired fluid.
Because the bug-spirit egg inside her had been supressed with medication before it could begin to posses Ellen, Ashford could fly right through her and she passed the test. She lied to the runners and told them that there were only meta-human prisoners on her floor and that the second basement would be the high security area where (according to Ellen's lie *) bug spirits were kept.
Ashford made Ellen invisible and they made their was to the second basement (which turned out to not contain spirits*).
- ) added on 13 June, 2085. The run was played that there were no more bug spirits in the second basement (at least not the parts the runners went through), there were office desks. I just add this a precautionary not to make sure the run-report doesn't unintentionally cause any major changes to Shadowhaven lore. So, maybe there are bug spirits at NU, maybe not. That's not my call. That's thematics or possybly any GM playing their own micro cosmos).
The Run
Getting out of the elevator at the second basement, the runners were greeted by two guards. The runners explained that they were there to check the security of spirits in the lab and the guards requested ID's. The runners were basically stuck because they didn't have any accreditation to be in the facilities. Ellen realized this and used her invisibility to get behind the guards and in position to geek the mage with a surgical knife she had picked up on the way. Ashford did not agree with the amount of violence and tried to warn the guards. Too late, the floor was already wet before anyone realized that she was so cold-hearted. Also, the second guard didn't stand a chance, as Ashford unintentionally provided the perfect distraction by yelling warnings at the guard who focused his attention on Ashford and tried to understand what was going on. The last thing the guard could do before Ellen got the best out of him was to set off the alarm.
The team decided well, and went for the emergency exit to get away instead of taking the elevator. Only one police car showed up at that side of the building. Getting ready to soot, the coppers were surprised by Blue Jay how parked her car between the coppers and the runners who quickly got into the car. Determined to pursue and subdue the criminals, the cops got into their car again but it wouldn't start because a spirit used the accident power on the driver who dropped the key between the seats.
Blue Jay seized the moment and the runners were gone.
Evanston was shut down, but the runners used their skills in navigation to find a way out of the urbanized town without using roads. By the thinnest of margins, they avoided being detected by a helicopter which flew right over their car.
Off to the airport and fly back to Seattle. In Seattle, Ellen needed a few days to research contacts and facilities in the matrix in order to find a bug spirit to keep her part of the bargain. However, she felt worse and worse since she no longer took her supressing medication. The Yakuza guards called Ryuuji and reported that something was wrong. At the same time, Blue Jay received a message from Ellen on his Kommlink: "Kill Me."
Ellen who had realized the truth which she had learned to deny over the past 30 years didn't want the bug inside of her was begging to be killed as the runners showed up. Agreeing, Ashford handed her an injection of Reaper and claimed that it would kill her. As she passed out, the runners wanted to seize the opportunity to extract the spinal fluid from the hybridized bug spirit Ellen was becoming. That's when a call came in. The runners coverage had blown. A government SWAT Team was ready to "go in" to contain Ellen and prevent spread at all costs. Because of the risks that something could go wrong, the government negotiator made an offer through a contact the runners would trust: "Give up peacefully and you will be pardoned. The risk is to high that something goes wrong and the spirit gets loose if we fight each other."
The runners agreed and had 10 minutes before the secure transport would arrive to take Ellen with them. They decided to extract the fluid quickly and then Ashford was very alone with the decision, to drink or not to drink. He chugged it.
Aftermath
The government kept its word and pardoned the runners with the condition that they would have to spend a month in quarantine After drinking the fluid, Ashford got sick. The medical staff diagnosed him with a disease he had contracted from Ellen. A disease one might expect from someone who had been abused by guards and university staff for 30 years. Luckily, the disease was detected early and could be successfully treated with antibiotics.
As the runners got out of quarantine, the mysterious man with a hat and briefcase (who isn't strictly speaking an alien from outer space, but sure makes that impression) picked them up with Blue Jays car, drove them to Cherry's Shakes where he had booked a room to celebrate with pancakes and friends. Before celebrations began he thanked Ashford for being a good sport and great job providing data for his research project. Handed the runners a briefcase, went out to the parking lot, got into his very futuristic looking DeLorean and took of at what seemed like rocket-speed.
Rewards
Thank you for playing “Slurping Spinals”!
In the briefcase The Man With The Hat left with you, you found some rewards and a note which reminds you to remember to update any chips you owe any contacts from this and previous runs if you haven’t already.
Run-Rewards: Threat Level: High; Duration: 12 hours; RVP: 32
KARMA (15 RVP): 15 straight Karma (15 RVP)
CASH (15 RVP): The Man With The Hat turned in two motorcycles at the body shop in exchange for some credit. Please feel free to purchase vehicle or equipment for your vehicle at CharGen rates: 15 RVP (4000 Nuyen per RVP) OR take it as cash (2000 Nuyen per RVP) or split it between the two
CDP (2 RVP): 8 CDP (4 from RVP 4 from base CDP reward at double rate because of 12 hour run)
Optional Qualities at CharGen rates: All: Common Sense and.. Blue Jay: Magic Resistance (one level) because he was hanging out with two mages and gained experience and was a willing subject for them to try things out while all were bored in quarantine. Ashford: Resistance to Pathogens because his immune system went through an interesting exercise and grew stronger from consuming spinal fluids from a person who had had plenty of nasty exposure for the past 35 years. Ryuuji: Trustworthy - This man might not have a baby-face but he keeps his promises. There is something about his manners that makes everyone understand this. Heron: Calike - she might not see every thing while everything might not hear her Heron: Or, instead of Catlike: Lucky - she probably saved the crew from mayhem (powerful spirit which would have assisted in an end-fight before Ashford could have injected Reaper into the willing subject Ellen who was no longer able to tell her bound spirit of men to back-off, larger and better guards, better equipped surveillance helicopter…) by not going overboard on the threat-level.
If you choose any optional qualities, you can choose to pay them by lowering the RVP of karma or cash-rewards, or a combination of both.
Special consequence for Ashford: Dinking the spinal fluid from a hybridized bug-spirit has no mechanical effect in this case. Ashford's aura just looks slightly greener now. The Man With The Briefcase is very interested in this research, thanks Ashford in particular. Asmo offers to handle a future initiation.
Ascensions are encouraged
And a big THANK YOU! goes out to Villiers who assisted a low level GM (me) as a more senior GM throughout the second half of the run. For this, Villiers gains 10 GMP + 4 additional GMP which I deduct from “my” GM rewards for this run.
Last but not least, a big THANK YOU! to Asmo for clarifying very specific and tricky questions about bug spirits that came up during the run.
Game Quotes
Player After Action Reports (AARs)
Heron: This whole event was a disaster against my methods - however, I am glad we learned what we did. There are suppressive agents in play. Now we just need to make sure they don't get compromised.
Ashford - "Greatly enlightening, and I feel fine after the meds. I've got to work with him again sometime, he understands that advancement is the key to everything, regardless of the cost."