Darkness And Shadow

Held on 4th June at Stuarts
Game Date 4th June 2062

Back to New Orleans Campaign

Cast of Players

• Myst [ Richard ]
• Maclaine [ Ivo ]

Events by Maclaine

How did it all start? I’m wondering that sitting here in the hospital. I’m not a patient. I’m a visitor. I’m here because of something more important than existence. Why? I have no idea- that's just the way it is. It went like this.

TFI Pete’s. Busy. But I don’t come here too often on account of the Orcs. They’ve taken against me for some reason, and I don't want to start something I have to finish. I’m sitting across the table from Stepping Node, and he’s telling me all about how he spent his 50 Gs from the San Francisco run. We’re having a drink, Node’s happy, and I’m thinking about Myst, and wondering what to do about this strange psycho twist she’s developed ever since she lost her memory.

Next thing I know, there’s a guy headed toward us. A street sam by the look of his walk, making a beline straight for our table, carrying two glasses. He sets one down in front of me (single malt whisky, smells like) and says he’d like to buy me one and talk business. Since I'm kind of particular who I drink with, I give the glass the polite attention it deserves, and tell the guy so talk.

Hi’s name is ‘Razor Claw’ and he’s got a team of runners. He’s looking for business and someone told him I’m the character to come to. As luck would have it, someone was right. That’s what I do now, I’m a Fixer.

So I look around wondering how many other operatives Razor Claw has watching his back, and I see a Troll sitting alone looking like he’s not looking this way, so I think that's one. Apparently they’re all quite professional, been in the biz for a while, but don’t do any crazy stuff, no wetwork or anything like that (which is a pity cos I’m an expert on crazy stuff).

That's when trouble walks in through the swing-doors. Trouble is a monkey called Zion, plus two goons both armed and cybered. He walks up towards us and starts spouting some nonsense to me about showing my face in the neighbourhood. Zion is an ex-gun monkey who worked for Cheff back before he got whacked, and I guess that morning he was still upset that I shot him in the foot two weeks ago with some explosive ammunition; but then he and I never did quite hit it off. I listen politely playing with the whisky glass with one hand, while extending spurs under the table with the other. When he finished I told him there’s a spare table in the corner, and if he wanted to, he could take his two monkeys and they could get together and write Shakespeare. Now, I would have thought of something better but it was still quite early in the morning. Turns out Zion is not here to chat to me, but has designs on Mr Claw and his team. Thing is, since Chef has been out of the picture his monkey’s decided to take over the biz and now has this idea that any business conducted in town goes through him first. Now I don’t care about any of that, folks are free to think what they like. What I do take exception to is him interrupting my business meeting. So with the utmost courtesy I ask him to take his monkeys and dangle. I think this was my first mistake of the day.

He refused- or that's the impression I was able to get in between the death threats. Since he said this to me in front of a client, I asked him to give me one good reason why he should survive the next ten seconds. Again, he starts explaining to me all the things he could do to me (now its not that I get bored easily, I know, cos I can sit for hours checking the HK mechanism-housing for faults) its just that in this business your ability to suffer idiots tends to deteriorate with experience. Now if this was Myst, she’d have used some kind of ninja move that would leave the three of them squealing on the ground in foetal position but otherwise unharmed. I’m not Myst, I’m not Bruce Lee/Trinity lovechild re-incarnate, and this guy had been standing on my turf and ‘dissing’ me for the last twenty seconds. So I decided to cut his head off in mid sentence.

I don'’t move lightning-fast, but I’m on form. From nowhere the goon on the left is pointing a gun at me, reacting like a phys-ad. I block, and he puts one through the Jukebox. Then its my turn. I confuse him with some hand techniques and skewer Zion. Razor Claw jumps onto the table, pops spurs from each hand, and does a ninja death-dance. Goon hits the floor. Second goon pulls a handgun and levels it at my head. Then pitches forward with a shuriken in the back of his neck. I watch him hit the floor. Seems there were more of them than the troll. I pick up the single malt, raise my glass to Razor Claw and knock it back. He introduces me to the other team members who now emerge from amongst the onlookers.

Then Pete racks his shotgun from behind the bar, and points it at me. He tells me I’ve started too many fights in here and says to leave and not come back (why does everybody think I start fights?) So I grab Zion (still gurgling death threats) and we head outside.

FFWD to an abandoned warehouse, with Zion tied to a chair. Razor Claw doesn't like this part much. I take his business card, thank him for his assistance, and advise him to leave with his rep intact. Myst and I have been bushwhacked by these goons once already outside of round15, and I figured we could have a little Q&A session to make sure this didn't happen again. Myst arrives and stabilises the monkey while I call Vinnie, and ask him if he knows somebody who knows how to talk to people. Vinnie doesn't like this situation one bit, and says to call Don Ginelli. Apparently this Zion guy is a member of a bunch calling themselves the Japo Jamaican Consortium, an evil bunch of enigmatic operatives who claim responsibility for some of the city’s most nefarious deeds. I know this cos Myst is a founding member. Calling themselves the JJC, they have just forged an uneasy peace with the Ginelli family (that is, their JJC, not ours).

Unfortunately, Mike Morleine’'s secretary is now working for Don Ginelli. After cutting me off four times in a row, she finally puts me through to some kind of Mafia Assassin. We have a very short but confused conversation, and then I tell him I was dealing with the new secretary. He takes pity and gives me the Don’s private line, and finally I’m talking to Don Ginelli. Zion is screaming in the background because of Myst and this is not helping, so I throw her a roll of duct-tape. I explain my predicament to Mr. Ginelli. He tells me to hand Zion over to him, and that he’ll take care of it. This is what I was hoping to hear.

A car pulls up outside and Johnny Littlefinger walks in accompanied by Mr Ginelli’s heavies. Walks up to me and says we’ll take it from here, without so much as a ‘how are ya.’ Then instead of putting him in the boot, Zion gets untied and led to the car. This could spell trouble.

So I go home to feed my cat. Computer says I have two messages. One says Mr Ginelli wants to see me, tomorrow, at breakfast. The other is a telephone number, pulled off my Secure BBS. Looks like a client. I call ‘Node and he comes over to set up a secure connection. He gives me a nod and I put on the wrap-arounds.

I'’m in a corporate foyer. Higher resolution than anything I’ve ever seen before. I’m thinking, this server must be powerful. A door opens, and a businessman without a face steps through and says: ‘Greetings, I’m Mr. Johnson.’ Says he’s heard of me through various third channels, and requires my services to hire a team of runners. The mission requires them to liberate certain gear.

Myst meanwhile is on a quest to recover her tattoo. She is trawling through various parlours in the red-light district, trying to find someone who can identify her particular design. Ever since her brain’s been wiped, her tattoos have vanished, and she wants them back. Beats me why anyone would go to so much trouble over some gang colours, but then Myst moves in Mysterious ways.

Evening. I call Claw and set up a meet in an up-town cosmopolitan coffee place, the kind of place I would like to meet my fixer to discuss biz. Then Myst comes over and says she needs to talk. So we hit night time New-Orleans.

Turns out she and her sister (the ex-yakuza boss who ran off with a federal agent) had a talk back in Seattle. Looks like her old buddies are putting their hooks into her, and now she’s disappeared. Now Myst wants to go to San Francisco to look for her. I want to tell her I’m worried that Don Ginelli wants to have me whacked, but we notice someone following us.

I walk ahead like normal and lead our guy on a bit, while Myst disappears and comes up behind him. Turns out its Kyle Lefler. He's the drekker who put that thing in my head, but now when someone tries to mindcontrol me funny things happen so I don't mind. He used to run a hippy commune for magic users ‘misunderstood by society’ but unfortunately his community project ‘backfired’ when one of them turned out to be a bloodmage. Apparently his latest social work involves some messed up ex-wagemage who’s become a BTL junkie. Unfortunately she told him to go drekk himself (people, who can figure em?) and he needs Myst to make sure she doesn't OD. Personally, I can't think of anyone worse suited to social work but then judging character was never one of Lefler’s strong points. He’s one of those characters that see society in black and white: magical and mundanes.

As it happens, Lefler owes me a favour (something to do with rescuing hippies from bloodmages) and I decide to call it in. Fact is, I’m looking for somebody- an operative name of Stripe. She was an ex-runner who bought into Ares Macrotech, and turns up every-now-and then to steal our paydata, kill our clients, or render someone unconscious and leave them strapped with C-4. I remember the time she convinced me she’s defecting from the corp and needs an extraction. When I agreed to help, she took the opportunity to doublecross our team and make off with our mark. And when she isn’t doing that she’s saving my life. She disappeared a few months back after that mess in Baton Rouge when a X-applied facility she was infiltrating was attacked by something inconceivable, that looked like it crawled out of the Renraku arcology. Lefler tells me he can help, for a price. Myst goes off to tail some BTL dealer, while I go to find Vinnie Vincini.

Vinnie is at Round 15 talking to the Don’s new secretary. Asks me what I think of her. Apparently Detec Morleine wrote her such a sterling reference the Don could hardly refuse. So we sit down at a table, Vinnie waves over a bottle of the good stuff, and we start talking. I’ve never been good at subtlety, I hate politics, and I do not negotiate. Vinnie thinks subtlety is a kitchen appliance, so I ask him straight. Don Ginelli made peace with the JJC. Am I part of that package? Vinnie’s a wise-guy but he’s also a friend. He explained to me that when a mob boss vouches for somebody, they mean it. And then he started asking me various questions, mainly to do with Myst.

Six bottles of the good stuff later I wake up back at my apartment, with one mother of a hangover, and no idea how I got there. Its nine o’clock in the morning, thirty minutes before I’m due to meet Don Ginelli. I change from yesterdays clothes, leave the gun on the dresser, feed the cat, lock the door, jump on bike, and shoot off across town.

Myst, meanwhile, has been on the tail of a BTL lowlife the whole night. Finally, she follows him into Erin’s (Lefler’s charity case) apartment block. Waiting outside the apartment, she listens to the transaction going on inside. This mage (‘Erin’) wants to quit but the dealer won't let her. Myst waits till they go, then knocks on the door. Girl opens the door and says who the drekk are you. Myst then proceeds to do the worst social worker impression in history, starting with the fact that she’s working for Kyle Lefler, then inventing a story about herself being a former addict, and constantly saying ‘look I want to help you.’ She says she is called ‘Myst’ and she is a ‘shadowrunner,’ and the girl says yeah pull the other one. She is on the point of calling the police, when she notices the chip she was given is powerful enough to fry her brain. That is when the two dealers choose to reappear, noisily picking the lock and talking about how ‘she should be out cold by now.’

I park the Aurora outside of Ginelli’s villa, and say hello to the guys on the gate. They wonder about my appearance, but I tell them I tried to match drinks with Vinnie, and they nod sympathetically. I’m shown through to see the Don. Our meeting is cordial but icy, during which he informs he about the delicate political situation between the family and the JJC. The upshot is he can't afford screw-ups, and I promise to behave myself.

Across town the dealers walk in, and see the girl still conscious and lucid, asking what the drekk they are doing in her apartment. They come up with some story which she doesn't believe, and then asks them to leave. They refuse. And that's when they see Myst.

Three seconds later they are both lying on the floor in a foetal position, squealing, but still alive. Myst throws them out. She tells ‘Erin’ she knows some people who can offer her a job.

‘Some people’ turn out to be me.

One hour later, I’m uptown, sitting in a cosmopolitan cafe waiting for my team of runners. Myst is sitting at the bar as cover. Beside me sits Erin, dressed in a suit. She’s my new PA. Figure since she worked for the corps she might know something about this ‘negotiation.’

Razor Claw walks in, dead on time, followed by his team. I lay it out for them, tell them the price, and try not to look surprised at their reactions of amazement. Then I try to think back what it was like when 14Gs each for a run was big money. Wonder what would happen if they knew I’m making more than twice that just for selling it to them. They take the data chip, and the 10% up front. I tell them good luck, and then sit down to wait. Odd feeling.

At 2am the following night I get a phone call from Rrazor Claw. His team have picked up the goods and are sitting on them. What do they do now. I tell them Hangfire and call the Johnson. I give Claw a safehouse location and a time for the meet. Corporate assets arrive, exchange takes place, and I say to Claw meet me tomorrow for coffee.

Next day I'’m sitting in my uptown coffee place wearing my best Armante` executive with Erin beside me. All five members of the team walk in and sit down. I tell them the Johnson is pleased with their hard work and hand them a stack of certified, 60 Gs of the payment that had arrived on my account. Razor Claw says lets party and they move to leave. He asks who my associate is, and I look at Erin and tell them a street name I just invented. Seeing them walk out the door, I get this warm fuzzy feeling inside.

It lasts until I answer the phone. The Don wants to see me. Apparently this time I’ve gone too far. I get Myst to got to a bank and put together an escape package for me. A codeword and gene sample safety deposit box with 40 Gs certified in various denominations, plus a spare identity for travel. Then I get on the bike and go see Don Ginelli.

People at the gate are not quite so friendly. The Don is fuming. He says because of our past association I have a chance to leave town, and this is it. Outside, I jump on bike and take off. I use the helmet mike to dial Myst. Tell her to go to my place, pick up a HK227 battle variant, some APDU ammo, and the cat.

Detec Morleine is at home when his doorbell rings. He opens the door and sees Myst standing there with a bag full of guns in one hand, and a cat box in the other. I get a call from Vinnie. He says to go see him and we’ll sort this out. 30 Mins later we are in round15 and I tell Vinnie the whole story. He’s been making some enquiries, and it turns out Zion the monkey got snatched, and everyone thinks its me. Vinnie also says this is not like the Don, and that we should go see him, the three of us, face to face, and sort this out. Following our encounter I am sceptical. But hey, I’ve only been doing this wiseguy thing for a year.

We’re outside, getting into the car when a van pulls up. Its rear door opens. I’m in cover with the HK aimed towards it, wondering who is about to emerge into my sights. As usual, its not a who, but a what. A turret pops out. I hit the deck and start reloading with APDU. The vehicle I’m using for cover turns to sawdust. Rotary assault cannon. Myst is running the other way, she doesn't like drones. Vinnie is on the ground knocked senseless. I grab Vinnie and begin to head back inside when I hear servos behind me. Myst shouts Maclaine! and I hit the deck. That auto cannon had my name on it, and if Myst hadn’t done that I’d be fruit salad. I get this spooky vibe when I work with Myst, that says to me as long as we’re working together things will turn out good. Deep down I know that when I finally buy the big one, it will be on some run when Myst isn’t around because she had to do a favour for a friend, is out of town on holiday or something like that.

Back to me eating pavement. I drag Vinnie into what's left of the building’s facade and it turns out he lost an arm. Ask me to leave town, fine, if I need to I will. But if you hurt any of my friends, I will come looking for you. And whether its a dikoted claw in a crowded nightclub, or a sniper shell while you’re getting into the car, I will hunt you down and kill you because that's what I do.

Myst and I go to work. Myst jumps on the bike and goes to check out the warehouse I rented to Claw’s team. A hunch to do with the reason why everyone seems to think it was me who had Zion snatched. I jump on the Aurora and go look for Erin to ask her some questions about our meet with the team.

Myst pulls up outside the industrial district. Sits there, engine idling. Looks deserted. Throttles down, dismounts, and activates the polymers, vanishing. Nobody inside. Just a case of beer and a note from Razor Claw. Checking astral, Myst sees a shape crouched in the corner. Acts casual, and waits until the operative tries to sneak up on her. Only two people have ever succeed in sneaking up on Myst. One of them is Stripe, and the other caused her loss of memory. This operative is neither. Myst centers, and strikes. Pretty soon the operative finds he can't cope. Fighting him, Myst recognises a sequence of moves from the past. She is able to use this strange knowledge to make short work of her opponent. She pulls back the cloak to reveal the operative is a she.

Erin’'s apartment. Door is open. I move in, sweeping the angles with the HK. Erin is lying in the middle of the floor, not moving. I’m under attack by someone I can’t see. In my genius I forgot to check on ultrasound. Don't have time to pop spurs, have to block using unarmed combat, the few moves I managed to copy from watching Myst. I take a serious injury. My turn. Switch shades to ultrasound, pop spurs. I was blind, but now I see. I block the attack and retaliate causing fatal trauma. Go to IR and check Erin. Still warm and alive, just drugged. Operative is lying on the floor bleeding on the carpet. Pull back cloak to reveal- he is a she. One of Razor Claw’s bunch. Double-crossed by my own team. I remember not feeling very charitable at that point and deciding she can lie there and bleed. Another face in my catalogue. I stim-patch Erin and self, and we jump on the bike.

FFWD to abandoned warehouse, Myst's opponent tied to a chair. Also a member of Claw’s team. Standing around her are Erin, Myst, me and Kyle Lefler. Both the operatives used a style that I recognise from once before- fighting Stripe. And both were using her MO: Reuthenium polymers and Rattan sticks. Lefler goes into the operatives head and sees her memory has been wiped, replaced by someone else's- Ghostwalker project. The first time I met Stripe/Joan was when we worked together to capture this technology. I decided to ditch my shadowteam and work with her, but we had ideological differences and it didn’t work out. I realise now I was full of drekk. The last time I saw this technology was at Baton Rouge. But it gets weirder. Going deeper, Lefler sees a location, a business park somewhere outside town. We revive the operative to ask her some questions, but she can't tell us anything because she liquefies. Like something released juicers into her bloodstream. A technology from that mess at Renraku. Leading again back to Baton Rouge.

Sundown. Abandoned business park outside the city. Four of us on two bikes: Myst, me, Node, and Lefler. I’m looking at the building through the scope on my .50 cal 121. Deserted. No heat trace, no astral signatures, nothing. Looks like we’ll need back-up. I place a call to a contact number in Ares Macrotech called ‘Gray Knight.’ He’s the guy who sent Stripe into Baton Rouge. He says what we have is circumstantial, but he can put a team on stand-by. If we find anything, we signal.

Lefler makes us invisible and silent, with telepathic communication. I reload with APDU and we move in. Node is on stand-by to relay our signal out. Interior of building is deserted, but leads to an underground complex. A corridor, with an opaque sphere in the wall. Several meters across, it can only be seen on ultrasound. It doesn't detect us, until a chem sniffer emerges, and moves towards my gun. I take a round from a magazine and place it on the floor by the sphere. Step back. The whole thing opens up like a carapace, and a monster made of metal comes out, and sniffs the bullet. Wraps itself back inside the carapace. We go on. As we go deeper, the whole place turns out to be alive with drones. Big drones, small drones, medium drones, crawling drones, like an ant hive. I signal Node.

Soon we come to the first of several large chambers. They are full of pods containing people being re-programmed. We find Zion. We also find Razor Claw and half his team, but I don’t care cos I’m looking for something else. I follow the leads and pipes that lead to a central nexus. Wired into it is Stripe. A signal comes in over the comms. Ares strike team on site, arming seismic charges. Request you exfil. I tell them negative, mission critical item still on site. They say what mission critical item. I tell them there is one now, ok?

Lefler patches Node into his mind-link, and Node looks at the nexus and talks us through how to disconnect Stripe. We tell Ares send in your demolition teams, advise proceed with extreme caution, await signal. Ares signal that charges in place. We disconnect Stripe and I wrap her in my long-coat. Signal Ares. Myst, Lefler and I exfil while the drones around us go mental. We find our way blocked by one of the metal monsters, but I blow it to drekk with depleted uranium penetrators. An Ares strike team arrives to pull us out, just as the place begins to blow.

EPILOGUE: The four of us are on board a transport helicopter being taken to a secure Ares facility. A signal is sent to Stripe’s headware, but the chopper pilot blocks it. Setting down on the pad, Lefler and Myst are met to be debriefed and I follow Stripe as she’s gurnyed to the OR.

I’m sitting in a mental hospital outside of New Orleans. I hear Vinnie has a new cyber-arm. Turns out Don Ginelli was under some paranoid effect cast by the JJC freaks, and not himself. Now he’s pissed. I offered my services. Myst is going to San Francisco to watch out for her sister. Lefler’s back to social work, and they tell me Joan’s gonna make a full physical recovery. But as to her mental state, that's unknown. They tell me she’s more lucid when I’m around so I think I’ll sit here a while.

>>>>>>>>suggest you change this one to 'Price of liberty' and call the other one 'Two days in the valley' -Ivo

Karma Awards

Team Award

Surviving the run: 1
Objectives:
1. Objective: Tracking Rogue team 1
2. Objective: Rescuing Stripe 1
3. Objective: Discovering the true story 0
Total Team Award: 3
Non Participant Character Award: 2

Individual Awards

Character 1: Myst
Team Award: 3
Role Playing: 2
Guts/Bravery: 1
Smarts/Savvy: 0
Motivation: 1
Right Place/Right Time: 1
Surprise/Strategy: 0
Humour/Drama: 0
Bonus Awards: 0
Total: 8

Character 2: Maclaine
Team Award: 3
Role Playing: 2
Guts/Bravery: 1
Smarts/Savvy: 1
Motivation: 1
Right Place/Right Time: 0
Surprise/Strategy: 1
Humour/Drama: 0
Bonus Awards: 2
Total: 11