Sublimation
| Sublimation | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of Emerald City Clash | ||||||||||
 | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
| Factions Involved | ||||||||||
|
ShadowHaven NP Maria Gonzales | Cutters | Frank Martin | ||||||||
|
Khranitel Roadkill Claw | Touchy Tony and the Golden Boys | |||||||||
| Claw was retired on this run, to become one of Frank Martin's disciples. | ||||||||||
Summary
The team is hired by a desperate do-gooder, Maria Gonzales, to secure her little makeshift medical tent supplies, so it can operate effectively. This source of electricity and running water is the painstakingly obfuscated war bunker of local ghoul swordsman, Frank Martin. They locate Frank, and negotiate with him, securing the space for Ms. Gonzales' use by proving themselves wise. Frank disappears into the sprawl, though Claw finds him and pledges herself to his mentorship. "I can speak. I can train you," he says, "but it is up to you if you learn."
Background
Frank Martin is a master swordsman, living in self imposed exile in the Redmond Barrens, after becoming a ghoul. He is secretive and disciplined, hiding away in a old forgotten pre-crash bunker in the ground. With the gang war ongoing (see Emerald City Clash), more normal folks are needing medical attention than ever.
As a result, a local nurse from the hospital in Toursitville, one Maria Gonzales, has set up shop in an old abandoned Stuffer Shack in the area, using it as a triage location for the needy folks nearby. She needs electricity and running water to continue helping people heal, and calls in the runners to locate it. She's heard rumors and seen signs of Frank's bunker, though she doesn't know who it belongs to.
The Meet
The gang meets outside the now boarded up Stuffer Shack in the barrens. Claw and Khranitel are immediately staring each other down, with the heightened astral paranoia that only a drake can muster. Roadkill is on the end of a bender, and somehow still the voice of reason.
Ms. Gonzales brings the team in: she is an ork, dressed plainly in work clothes, and taking care of some half dozen patients in this makeshift setup. She opens up the 'negotiations' with the big disclaimer: she has no money. And no amount of cajoling will change that. The runners agree to help regardless, and set out to look into the block of street where she's seen active electronics, and to possibly find a local scavenger who might know something, a teenager named Benji.
The Plan
Roadkill scans the block in question with a drone, finding a group of six suit-wearing ne'er-do-wells (Cutters) hanging out and fighting, along with a young man climbing atop a broken down street light. This is Benji, a Native American teenager with scrappy clothes and a belt of scavenging tools -- he's stripping wire from old electronics. It's good money!
The plan is to go into the area and see what sticks out, meeting up with Benji first to see if he has a lay of the land.
The Run
Benji is extremely skittish, and properly so, as the runners approach drenched in magic and sporting cyberware. He is eventually convinced to talk, caught in his poor attempts at lying, and ultimately reveals the entrance to this hidden area: a bunker with a vault door, hidden behind a giant piece of rotting wood. When the runners let him leave, he is all too excited to scurry off before 'he' gets back!
Frank Martin walks onto the scene. The team, having heard him coming from very far away, hides quite adeptly, even employing spirit concealment. Frank is an older ghoul, with scavenged clothes that don't fit, a gnarled face, cataracts over his eyes, and a wooden dummy sword at his waist. He detects the runners (save Roadkill) quickly, even with the assistance of magic. He is skeptical, and ornery, but not overtly hostile. He speaks about the danger of the recent times, disrespects gangers, and assumes the worst of the runners. But he's not without reason, and with good, impassioned argument, the team convinces him to at least discuss the idea of lending aid to Ms. Gonzales.
The problem, he says, is that there are gangers all about, and once they know there's an extremely useful safehouse here, they'll want it bad. Khranitel offers to stay by the area to protect it, which Frank is willing to agree to, if the runners prove themselves to him. "Deal with those Cutters up the street," he demands, and make sure they (and their ilk) don't come back. He doesn't say, but it is later revealed that part of the test is encouraging the use of nonviolent options, since murder is only met with revenge in an infinite cycle.
The team moves over to Touchy Tony and his boys. Despite their social grace not being overly adept, the team has the meat and magic to wipe these guys out easily, and its mostly a matter of making them realize that before things come to blows. Roadkill leads the negotiation, with assistance from Khrani's Knight. It's fairly short, and strangely honest, and the Cutters move on, rather than 'finding out'.
Aftermath
Happy with their performance, Frank says their bargain is fulfilled, and he will work with Gonzales to proved amenities to her patients. The team heads back to the boarded up Stuffer Shack.
Inside, Gozales is setting a little elven girl's leg, and so she delays their meeting a few minutes. When they do meet, she's astonished at the runner's effectiveness, and heaps effusive praise on them. To top it off, Khranitel employs healing magic to jump-start the recovery process of the little girl with a broken leg. She's off to get ice cream, even.
Rather than simply allow Gonzales access to his bunker, Frank simply turns it over to her, after showing her how to operate everything. Khranitel moves in, to protect the patients and work with Maria to heal them even more effectively.
Afterwards, Claw Searches down Frank, finding him in some hidden back alley. He nearly pops the spirit, but recognizes the strange wailing man before he does. They meet up. Claw throws her sword down, kneeling and asking Frank to teach her. She does not want to live a life only of violence. After hearing that, specifically, he is more than happy to take her under his wing. She agrees, taking up with him and abandoning her life as a Shadowrunner.
Rewards
Sublimation -- Medium (12 RVP)
- 10 Karma
- 4 CDP + 2 base CDP
- Khranitel now has the Old Bunker, a Low or Medium style with Hard to Find, Extra Secure, and any other reasonable modifiers she wants (she can take this for RVP at gear rates, and can buy extra months if she wants)
- Claw is retired, becoming Frank's newest student
Game Quotes
Player After Action Reports (AARs)
Khranitel - "I'm sorry to say that I felt as if I was holding a chained beast back from the hands of toddlers during most of this run... Roadkill was pretty cool though."