Shadowrun Play-By-Post Community

TIME STAMP wrote: //Location: Downtown Puyallup/Seattle Metroplex/UCAS
//Time: <1153:30/2075-01-18> Combat OVER
//Weather: <Heavy Overcast, Light Snow, 1C, Wind N 8kph, feels like -6C>
//Air Quality: <Monthly Average: Moderate (Yellow), Precipitation pH 2.6>

STANDING IN A SCONE FACTORY PARKING LOT AS PEOPLE START MILLING AROUND WONDERING WHAT ALL THE FUSS WAS ABOUT
When all is said and done...

Generally:
People are cautiously starting to pay attention the goings on in the parking lot. No one has yet raised an alarm or is there any indication the "law" is on the way. But attention is bad...

Shrike:
The quick check of the trailer interior reveals no signs of life. There are at least three dead elves inside, all dressed in the same style commando garb. One has his head nearly ripped off, or rather the throat was bit almost all the way through.

The doors to the other trailer are locked, but when the borg smashed through it jarred the other trailer enough to mis-align the doors. It is full of bodies.

Shrike is still hidden under the trailer when he sees five warriors exit out of the building where he saw his other teammates head in earlier. They move quickly and efficiently towards the factory building, disappearing from Shrike's view.

Stygge:
Stygge is close enough to see Shrike maneuver amongst the trailers. She also can see the five warriors exit the office building. If Shrike maybe wanted to keep the borg body as a souvenir, it could be flopped up onto the Stygge's "borrowed" rig. Not pretty, but it would probably work. Not on the freeway, but for a while at least!

Wraith, Death Otter:
Oh, those stairs. There is evidence of a rough and hurried retreat. Items like comm links and accessories, junk food wrappers, and crappy little toys litter the hallway. Soon they find a hatch with a long, steep ladder that exits into the factory building. The emerge on one of the upper levels in large room. It's full of sleeping rolls, each with a dead body. Inspection shows what Death Otter recognizes with no small sense of horror: these people all look like they died from a deadly software attack. No trodes or cyberdecks or comm links are visible anywhere.

A folding table is tipped over in the middle of the room, with an office swivel chair resting ignobly against a body.

As they look around the room, Wraith's eye catches movement below: the commandos are in the building. They seem to have picked up a trail and are heading towards the loading docks.

Oh, one more thing: both Wraith and Death Otter seem to have comms again.

Bushwack:
Bushwack watches a pair of scrawny kids run off towards a mysterious stair way and a group of dandelion eating commandos head up the elevator shaft. Who should he follow?

Arthur:
Arthur is spooked by the apparent interest in the site and speeds off without anyone the wiser. But he does have a face for the runners at the scene.

Sandman:
The spirit returns shortly, claiming to have thoroughly searched the building and found no signs of the target person. From his concealed vantage, Sandman can see the elf commandos exit the office building and enter the factory.

General, again:
Someone got some intel wrong. Funky stuff was going on here.

---

What the frag are you going to do now?

Muppet Man wrote: ↑Tue Jan 25, 2022 12:46 am
Generally:
People are cautiously starting to pay attention the goings on in the parking lot. No one has yet raised an alarm or is there any indication the "law" is on the way. But attention is bad...

Sandman:
The spirit returns shortly, claiming to have thoroughly searched the building and found no signs of the target person. From his concealed vantage, Sandman can see the elf commandos exit the office building and enter the factory.

General, again:
Someone got some intel wrong. Funky stuff was going on here.

This is WAY out of my comfort zone. I have NO idea what I should do, or more like what I NEED to do. If we don't succeed in doing what our employer wants, then they won't pay us, and I won't be able to pay my debt to the Vory.

"Things are getting... interesting. My Spirit couldn't find the target on site. I can re-summon one and try again, but people are noticing something is up. Doesn't seem that the authorities are on their way, but it won't be too long until someone calls someone in a position of power and calls them. Some Elf... 'Commandoes' just left the office building for the factory. @Shrike What do you want for me to do? I will also need the comm contacts for the rest of the 'team' in order to communicate with them if something should happen to you."

Stygge just hangs back and takes in the last bit of madness happening before her while the trucker takes her advice and bails. The last thing she wants is to walk out into the open and get her brain pierced by an unknown shooter. However, the commandoes heading for the factory could be an inconvenience for those runners still inside, so she sends a message to Wraith, Bushwack, and Mulpa:

Beep beep, mothertruckers! You got five commandoes entering the building and five minutes before I leave without you! The last part is a joke - obviously the rigger would give them six minutes.

Stygge rolls the truck slowly towards Shrike and the mechanical mess he left behind. "You still need this bad boy?" she asks him, slapping the dashboard a couple of times. She manoeuvres the truck into position and helps get everything loaded that needs to be while trying to find out what the frag was going down while she was acquiring a new ride.

Stygge wrote: ↑Thu Jan 27, 2022 10:59 am Stygge rolls the truck slowly towards Shrike and the mechanical mess he left behind. "You still need this bad boy?" she asks him, slapping the dashboard a couple of times. She maneuvers the truck into position and helps get everything loaded that needs to be while trying to find out what the frag was going down while she was acquiring a new ride.

"@Shrike, is that your ride out? I am outside the compound and can make my way out of here easily enough... but don't we need to get that person? If you need, I can cloak someone in Improved Invisibility from out here while still remaining hidden here, so they can look around more for the target."

Location: Puyallup, Seattle Metroplex
Condition: Ok, on edge, irritated
SIN Broadcasting: <hidden mode, teammates have authorization to see her>

GM wrote:Oh, those stairs. There is evidence of a rough and hurried retreat. Items like comm links and accessories, junk food wrappers, and crappy little toys litter the hallway. Soon they find a hatch with a long, steep ladder that exits into the factory building. The emerge on one of the upper levels in large room. It's full of sleeping rolls, each with a dead body. Inspection shows what Death Otter recognizes with no small sense of horror: these people all look like they died from a deadly software attack. No trodes or cyberdecks or comm links are visible anywhere.

Wraith feels her heart sinking as they move up the stairs, the various scattered items - toys in particular - leaving her feeling cold. The discovery at the end of the journey draws her up short, that cold feeling turning to a deep chill. "<Chikushou>," the foxelf whispers, ears folding back as she takes in the bodies, but does not touch anything.

"Do you recognize any of them?" The question is directed to Death Otter, of course, looking to her with furrowed brows. At that point she notices a return of her comms, immediately sending a message to Shrike.

>>Wraith here, we were in a shielded area. Found Mulpa, he is down but not out. Made a new acquaintance - Death Otter. Name ring any bells? Bushwack should be bringing Mulpa out. <Shi kawauso> and I found... I am not sure what exactly. Some sort of makeshift barracks, or holding area. Plenty of bodies, no signs of life. Will be exfiltrating shortly.<<

"We should go, unless you have some reason for us to delay," Wrath then speaks up once more, to DO. "With how loud things went, I expect some sort of authority to be en route."

TIME STAMP wrote: //Location: Downtown Puyallup/Seattle Metroplex/UCAS
//Time: <1200:00/2075-01-18> Combat OVER
//Weather: <Heavy Overcast, Light Snow, 1C, Wind N 8kph, feels like -6C>
//Air Quality: <Monthly Average: Moderate (Yellow), Precipitation pH 2.6>

SAFE HOUSE
The team exits the scene, horror and confusion tagging along for the ride. A shadowrun going sideways in nothing special. One going THIS sideways during recon is a bit noteworthy.

All that being said, technically their mission is not blown. Just more complicated than it first appeared. Options abound.

Contact the employer?

Say frag all and run away from something clearly insane and huge with many players?

Do some legwork and find out more?

Be more creative than some middle aged guy with rulebook and a keyboard?

So many options.

Facts and other takeaways:
The team is now in possession of a neutralized full conversion cyborg. It's probably worth a lot of money to the right people. And the wrong people are probably trying to find it and kill everyone.

There were many bodies on the scene, some children, some adults. Many of them appear to have been technomancers, but it's impossible to say if they all were. The holding cells and basement level were exceptionally well shielded from any sort of wireless or even wired network.

Tir commandos were involved. A squad of 10 infiltrated the two buildings, five of them were killed by the borg. At least two were torn apart and "eaten" by the cyberpsycho. The commandos were well equipped and professional. They are the ones that triggered the big ol' bomb plus EMP device. One may have had a crush on Bushwack. Some people like having a troll slap their ass.

The target building was empty. Whoever was there made a discreet exit. The only evidence of a mage on the "bad guy" team was the illusionary wall on the mystery secret stair to the abattoir. According to Sandman's timeline, it was the elves that broke his warding, indicating that the mage was inside before hand.

Many things are clumsy about the whole operation. Loose ends and odd choices. Leaving Death Otter with all her gear is weird. The uber intense Matrix security is weird given the lame physical security. Cyberpsycho in a box is weird. Is it a pattern or just laziness?

DOWNTIME BEGINS...NOW!
You have either 12 hours if you choose to still accomplish the mission, or a TBD time if you want to do more legwork and stuff. Discuss in chat and let me know for next post.

---

What the frag are you going to do now?

*Assuming Sandman is given everybody's Comm codes*

""What are the plans? Are we coming back, or are we cutting our losses and dropping it. I don't know who you have made deals with, but I have some... friends... that told me to put up a Ward on the front door a few hours ago and to find Shrike and Mulpa. If we are leaving and coming back later, I would have use of a few hours to prepare a few things that would help us.

Location: Puyallup, Seattle Metroplex
Condition: Intact
SIN Broadcasting: <hidden mode, teammates have authorization to see him>


Shrike links Sandman into the team so he can talk to the others as he quickly checks the bodies in the trailer to ensure they weren't the extraction target. Frak, what the hell went on in this place? And where are the others?

Wraith wrote: ↑Mon Jan 31, 2022 6:48 pm >>Wraith here, we were in a shielded area. Found Mulpa, he is down but not out. Made a new acquaintance - Death Otter. Name ring any bells? Bushwack should be bringing Mulpa out. <Shi kawauso> and I found... I am not sure what exactly. Some sort of makeshift barracks, or holding area. Plenty of bodies, no signs of life. Will be exfiltrating shortly.<<

Finally

"Plenty of bodies out here as well. Some kind of crazed cyborg butchered some Elf commandos or something. And we have a trailer full of corpses. As messed up as it is, I'm having to check them to ensure our target isn't among them. Cyborg is down and various people who were acting weird suddenly seemed to have no idea what was going on. Or at least that was the impression Stygge and I got before we knocked them out.
Backup has been sent. This is Sandman, a mage of somekind. A sniper was active a few moments ago, but they seem to have gone quiet. You coming out? As for Death jobber, no, not heard the name before. They any use?" Shrike explains the last few minutes, anxious to be out of there before the Star turned up.

Sandman wrote: ↑Fri Jan 28, 2022 2:20 am "@Shrike, is that your ride out? I am outside the compound and can make my way out of here easily enough... but don't we need to get that person? If you need, I can cloak someone in Improved Invisibility from out here while still remaining hidden here, so they can look around more for the target."

"Doesn't look like our target is here. Maintain a watch, whilst we extract. Hopefully she will turn up for work later and immediately turn around. Still need to intercept her

Stygge wrote: ↑Thu Jan 27, 2022 10:59 am Stygge rolls the truck slowly towards Shrike and the mechanical mess he left behind. "You still need this bad boy?" she asks him, slapping the dashboard a couple of times. She manoeuvres the truck into position and helps get everything loaded that needs to be while trying to find out what the frag was going down while she was acquiring a new ride.

Shrike signals Stygge in and points to the corpse of the Cyborg.

"Found this lunatic ripping apart some kind of commando in there." He points to the nearest trailer, "let's get this back in there and take it with us. I don't know what is going on, but I suspect our employers would like to know." With Stygge's help to get the body into the trailer, he then helps

Sandman wrote: ↑Wed Feb 02, 2022 7:22 pm ""What are the plans? Are we coming back, or are we cutting our losses and dropping it. I don't know who you have made deals with, but I have some... friends... that told me to put up a Ward on the front door a few hours ago and to find Shrike and Mulpa. If we are leaving and coming back later, I would have use of a few hours to prepare a few things that would help us.

Shrike responds, keying in the rest of the team.
"Stick around, keep an eye out, whilst we do some more legwork, unless somebody else wants to volunteer to keep watch. Figure out her route in and therefore pick her up at a different location. the original plan is kaput so improvisation is needed. now lets get out of here before the Star arrive."

"I don't like the idea of even being over here when their contracted security company comes around... they MAY have someone who would see right through my Invisibility. I will instead

Summon Force 3 Spirit of Man (Its Optional Power SHOULD not be needed... but because it gets one... it will be Fear)

• Summon (7 Dice)
  Resist (3 Dice)
  Drain (12 Dice vs. 2x2=4)
  Results: Fail (Almost a Critical Glitch), No Net Drain... Lets try it again!!!
  Summon (7 Dice)
  Resist (3 Dice)
  Drain (12 Dice vs. ??)
  Results: Force 3 Spirit of Man that owes 4 Services, no net Drain.
  • Service... Remote Service from down the street (Directly away from the Factory from Sandman's Location) and
    Type: P
    Action: Complex
    Range: Special
    Duration: Special
    Seek, and ye shall find, but it goes a lot faster with this power. To find a target, the critter makes a Magic + Intuition (7 Dice)(5, 10 minutes) Extended Test. Lots of things can make this harder; apply the appropriate modifiers from the Search Modifiers Table.
    The critter must have seen the thing it’s searching for at some time before the search begins. Spirits may search for anything for which their summoner can provide them a mental image (The visual image Sandman was shown). Critters who can enter astral space may use this power there and do not have to materialize while searching, even if the target is in the physical world.
    
    SEARCH MODIFIERS TABLE

    • Target is more than a kilometer away +kilometers
      Target is a nonliving object or place +5

    SITUATION DICE POOL MODIFIERS

    • Target hidden by Concealment power –concealer’s Magic
      Target hidden behind mana barrier –barrier Force
    
    *Sigh*... that would have been a PERFECT one to try to Bind... but Remote Service to Search for the Target will take all the Services *Sniff, Sniff*

up another Spirit of Man and have it watch search for the guy. I will then go home and create a Watcher and make up a few Preparations to help us for if we come back here tonight. If the Watcher is destroyed by someone, they would have seen me, so this is safer. If we have enough time, I may also create a Homunculus to help out as well. How long until we plan on coming back, assuming the Spirits I summon do not find him earlier, @Shrike I will have the Watcher here in about 20 minutes, and it can look out here for the Target in addition to the Searching Spirit of Man."

Assuming we have enough time, once he gets

10 minutes normally, but Sandman will take an additional 5 minutes to not take the most direct route home

, Sandman will first Cast the Ritual Spell

Force 4 Watcher

• Reagent Cost 4, but spending 2x4=8 more to reduce the Drain by 2
  Ritual Casting: 12 Dice
  Resist: 8 Dice
  Drain: 12 Dice vs. 2-2=0... minimum 2
  Result: Force 4 Watcher with 2 Net Successes, No Net Drain, 12 Reagents Spent. Lasts 8 Hours.

It will head back to the same building where Sandman was watching from and will mundanely Look (4 dice for Perception, buying 1 Success) while using its

Type: P
Action: Complex
Range: Special
Duration: Special
Seek, and ye shall find, but it goes a lot faster with this power. To find a target, the critter makes a Magic + Intuition (6 Dice)(5, 10 minutes) Extended Test. Lots of things can make this harder; apply the appropriate modifiers from the Search Modifiers Table.
The critter must have seen the thing it’s searching for at some time before the search begins (It is shown the picture of the Target). Spirits may search for anything for which their summoner can provide them a mental image. Critters who can enter astral space may use this power there and do not have to materialize while searching, even if the target is in the physical world.

SEARCH MODIFIERS TABLE

• Target is more than a kilometer away +kilometers
  Target is a nonliving object or place +5

SITUATION DICE POOL MODIFIERS

• Target hidden by Concealment power –concealer’s Magic
  Target hidden behind mana barrier –barrier Force

when he gets

Travel Time (15 minutes) + Ritual Time (4 Minutes) =19 Minutes.

. Once that is done, He will start by making some

First Preparation... Draught of Healing Force 4 (Takes 4 Minutes... total time so far 23 minutes) using a Command Trigger (Must say Salut! before drinking)

• Alchemy: 14 Dice
  Resist: 4 Dice
  Drain: 12 Dice vs. 2
  Result: Force 4 Potency 3 Draught of Healing (Lasts 6 hours before losing any Potency), No Net Drain)

Second Preparation... Draught of Healing Force 4 (Takes 4 Minutes... total time so far 27 minutes) using a Command Trigger (Must say Salut! before drinking)

• Alchemy: 14 Dice
  Resist: 4 Dice
  Drain: 12 Dice vs. 2
  Result: Force 4 Potency 4 Draught of Healing (Lasts 8 hours before losing any Potency), No Net Drain)

Third Preparation... Draught of Improved Invisibility Force 3 (Takes 3 minutes... total time so far is 30 minutes) using a Command Trigger (Must say Cheers)

• Alchemy: 14 Dice
  Resist: 3 Dice
  Drain: 12 Dice vs. 4
  Result: Force 3 Potency 1 Draught of Improved Invisibility (Lasts 2 hours before losing any Potency), No Net Drain.

Fourth Preparation... Draught of Improved Invisibility Force 3 (Takes 3 minutes... total time so far is 33 minutes) using a Command Trigger (Must say Cheers)

• Alchemy: 14 Dice
  Resist: 3 Dice
  Drain: 12 Dice vs. 4
  Result: Force 3 Potency 3 Draught of Improved Invisibility (Lasts 6 hours before losing any Potency), No Net Drain.

Fifth Preparation... Draught of Reflexes Force 4 (Takes 4 minutes... total time so far is 37 minutes)
Alchemy: 14 Dice

Resist: 3 Dice

Drain: 12d6 vs. 6

Result: Force 4 Potency 3 Draught of Reflexes (Lasts 6 fours before losing any Potency), 1 Net Drain.[/list]

before hooking himself up to his

Rating 6, Hooked up and left unattended so 12 dice to Assist the Nap

• Medicine:

taking a quick power

Takes 1 Hr... so time so far is 1h37m
Medkit Assist is 6 Dice, Average Conditions is -1 Die, Wound Penalty is 1 Die... so +4 Dice to Body+Willpower of 10 Dice

Result: Fully Healed

Ignore last roll... I am not sure where it came from...