Undervalued Prisoner
| Undervalued Prisoner | |||||||||
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| Part of Pacific Grudge | |||||||||
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| Factions Involved | |||||||||
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ShadowHaven Bautista Hukbalahap | Renraku | ||||||||
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Spider Ace Swerve Europa | Base Camp Sigma Staff | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
| Three dead guards and one dead wagemage. | |||||||||
Summary
Four runners break into a Renraku sample processing laboratory at the edge of Glow City to free a mutaqua and pose a question.
Background
Bautista continues to poke his pirate nose into Japanacorp business, his focus on tracking the movement and activities on one Saito Akio, an ambitious Mitsuhama Computer Technologies executive recently arrived in Seattle and making waves. (For Saito Akio's prior appearance, see 'Until Dawn')
Interested in Akio's pet project in and around the island of Java, Bautista pursues an old contact - Ryoto Asahi, a Japanese exile and a survivor of Yomi Island. Ryoto Asahi is a troll, a product of the first wave of goblinization in '21, and also a mutaqua who has been on the run and hiding in the depths of the Seattle sprawl.
Through an informant, Bautista discovers that a mutaqua matching Asahi's description was recently captured by Renraku. (See 'Glow Guerillas.') He sends feelers out for runners to free the infected troll and ask him about Saito Akio's designs in Java.
The Meet
This being the day after the top of the ACHE exploded after a foiled ritual, the city is tense and on edge. Heightened KE patrols and checkpoints, along with horrendous traffic, complicate the runners' lives as they get to the meet.
They do make it to an Everett Warehouse, where they receive the sitrep and job offer via teleconference. After being informed of the situation and the proposed pay - whereupon the Johnson will compensate them for 1) the prisoner's release, and 2) the prisoner's answer to his query, the runners accept.
Soon after, the runners reconvene in an obscure burnout adept hangout in Redmond called the Flatliner.
The Plan
Only having a picture and name of the prisoner and knowing only the Renraku subsidiary that holds him, the runners start doing research in order to pinpoint the site where Ryoto Asahi is being kept. Spider searches the Matrix for clues while Swerve contacts Nameless for information. Their combined efforts lead the team to 'Base Camp Sigma,' one of the 'sample analysis' laboratories of BetterDawn LLC, a Renraku subsidiary.
Swerve also contacts Amelie and Jean-Baptiste, reaching Amelie, and arranges for a Redmond safehouse that can keep a mutaqua safe.
Meanwhile, Europa quite convincingly intimidates the dive bar's inhabitants into leaving the runner team well alone. Given the privacy to dive into the matrix, Spider finds and enters the Sigma camp's host, navigating some harsh noise penalties to hack her way inside. She confirms the prisoner's location, identifies the specific building he is in, and discovers a few tidbits about the base's security.
The runner team debate their options, eventually settling on Zigzag and Gertrude "Five-Star" Juarez to handle exfiltration. Swerve promises to pay Zigzag in either nuyen or bodies, while Europa leans into her rapport with Gertrude and offers to split the payday.
With transport and a safehouse arranged, the runners debate on the best time to strike. Ace and Spider make the case for moving out immediately, and the team loads into Ace's vehicle for the trip there.
The Run
Good fortune, smuggler route knowledge, and driving skill get the team to the vicinity of the base sooner than expected. Finding the area swept by radiation-laced winds, they have to move quickly or else they will eventually succumb to a hostile environment. They decide to scale the cliffs surrounding the base, either by climbing or by levitation spells, and arrive at a commanding position above the small base camp.
Europa attempts to chart out a quiet path through guards and observer drones, and spots an implacable obstacle - a heavily armored guard standing right in front of the door panel. She lines up a shot to negate the guard's armor and manages to kill him with a single bullet, however the heavily armored guard topples forward noisily and alerts the base's defenses.
A battle ensues where Ace and Europa pick off the base defenders from above, Spider duels the local security spider while bricking up drones and spiking the technician / rigger, and Swerve directs lightning at a defending spirit.
Ultimately, the runners defeat the defenders and then make use of plastic explosives to blow past a blast door. Within, they face a final set of guards led personally by BetterDawn Director Taketa Amida. A short while later, the runners emerge victorious in a building now riddled with bullets and grenade blasts, with Europa taking Director Taketa's katana as a trophy. Spider operates the containment vat to release the prisoner, while Swerve spent the time cleaning up astral signatures and levitating out bodies to pay Zigzag with.
The runners move swiftly enough - and are lucky enough - that they escape prior to the arrival of Renraku reinforcements.
Aftermath
Swerve poses Bautista's query to Ryoto Asahi and learns that MCT Executive Saito Akio visited Java to investigate and locate the first of the 'Four Coins of Luck,' thought missing ever since the disappearance of the Aztechnology team that stole it. She elects to pass this information on to Bautista and to her fixer Silas Vespasiano, who was also interested in the infected troll's answer.
The interest of both Silas Vespasiano and Knife suggest that the Black Lodge may also be getting involved in the hunt for one of the Coins of Luck.
Bautista seemed satisfied with the answer and paid the runners in full. After waiting out the heat in a safehouse, Ryoto Asahi returns to the tunnels beneath Glow City to continue organizing a resistance to Renraku's efforts there.
Rewards
1.16x reward (overtime): 18.5 RVP
- ¥ 24,000 or ¥ 48,000 in Cyberware or Weaponry Gear Credit (Avail Limit: 14 due to strong KE checkpoints mid-crisis) (12 RVP)
- 6 Karma (6 RVP)
- 3 CDP (0.5 RVP)
For Swerve: +1 Loyalty with Silas.
For Spider: +1 Loyalty with Knife or Silas Vespasio as an optional contact at 5/2.
For Europa: Sharpshooter as an optional quality at Chargen cost.
For Everyone:
- +3 Reputation with the Huk.
- Optional Contact: Bautista 4/2
Game Quotes
Player After Action Reports (AARs)
Ace
That was an op, stealthy, dedicated and fierce until it wasn't. Getting past a bunch of people who have to defeat you or avoid being dishonored is the worst thing. Normal guards will run when they hear the EX-EX, when they see they're outnumbered and they're going to be decimated. But not these guys, so desperate to stop us from getting the target and asking the question that they'd fight to the last, unyileding to get it done. That was our invasion of a radioactive zone to rescue an infected, a stealthy fight turned slog into a facility. Swerve wasn't happy about my step-daugher joke, but it's the logical conclusion of asking if I'm with her 'mom'. All's well that ends well, and levitating out of a facility, Ghoul in tow and asking the requisite question is well.