SDMB Shadowrun campaign Chapter 3 - Prey To The Dark: Players only!

The Game Room
201

Gothe can pick up some chocolate and Graham crackers if you’d like…

Goethe inwardly rejoices as he sees the fragmented remains of the mage fall to the ground. His enjoyment is short lived as he sees the colony of bats start ascending the tower.

Over the commlink to 4509, but so the whole group hears:

“Cyborg. There are dozens of bats headed your direction up the tower. Some or all might be illusory, but that means there’s likely another mage around. Be careful. I’m going to see what I can do about the two mooks down here.”

Goethe starts surveying the scene. He looks for a way where he might be able to stealthily flank one of the thugs. He ponders leaving his bike running and parked where it is currently to help provide noise cover and distraction, but realizes that it’s just as likely someone will make off with it. Instead, assuming he finds a route, he will turn off his bike and dash into the nearest alley making his way stealthily around to get the jump on his mark.

If he can’t find a good route to take, he will try a more direct approach, taking cover as he makes his way closer one of the thugs, being careful not to get himself caught between them.

202

4509 doesn’t need to be told twice and he immediately makes for the door of the office, slipping the rifle into its bag as he goes. He’ll pop his pistols and make for the elevator. If he spots where his little buddy may have gone on the way, though…

203

Nail hears the guards unleash bullet hell on the illusions. A little over-kill for your average security guard, he thinks to himself.

When the guards get below Nail, he drops down suddenly. While falling, he will perform what could be described as some sort of Judo. While falling, but before hitting the ground, he will grab a guard’s head. Then, while in mid-fall, he will use the gravity-assisted leverage to throw the grabbed guard ass over teakettle into the other guards. For the leverage to work, he will have to land in a crouch or roll of some kind. After that, he will melee normally.

Of course, it goes without saying that before launching his next vicious attack, he will say to the guards: “Looks like I got the drop on you.”

And, as for Sinthia’s incoming toasty goodness, Nail will leap out of the way when he hears Sinthia begin her spell. Nail will think at some point, It’s nice of mages to always announce their attacks before firing them.

As for potential edge usage, Nail will use Edge if he is caught in the business end of a rifle with his pants down, or if it makes the difference between him being roasted alive by Sinthia and maybe having a chance at dodging. The player is not quite sure how that will, errr, play out.

204

Nightshade closes one eye to preserve her night vision against the blinding flash she senses is about to illuminate the stairwell. Hope the smart remarks are effective against magical fire.

Nightshade will hold her action until Sinthia’s fireball has gone off; then, she’ll rush up the stairs to disable any guards who are still not completely well-done. In the close confines, she’ll expect to be using her blades rather than her firearm.

205

Surprise Round:

Nail leaps from his hidden position above the three armed guards. The man glances up at the last second, and raises his hands defensively. Nail smashes into him, locking his hands around the man’s head. The man crashes to the ground, suffering 3 stun damage but there isn’t enough leverage to toss him into another guard. The man Nail struck must spend a complex action next initiative pass to get to his feet.

To determine whether Nail could perform the maneuver described, I set a threshold for what I believed the difficulty of such an action would be. If Nail had gotten three successes with his attack dice pool, he would have succeeded in entangling two of the guards.

Combat round 1, initiative pass 1:

Nightshade paces herself, waiting for just the right moment to strike…

Nail surges forward toward a standing guard, his fist swinging in a wide arc to smash into the man’s face. He staggers backward from the impact, but remains standing. He turns his weapon toward the adept, and prepares to fire…

Before the man can pull the trigger, Nail senses Sinthia charging her spell. It’s nice of mages to always announce their attacks before firing them. He leaps aside, toward the only direction of safety - down the stairway. He feels the heat of a mighty explosion behind him, which pushes him forward in midair. He soars past Nightshade in flight, and slams into the wall of the stairway, falling in a heap on the metal floor on the landing below the battle. That’s gonna bruise…

Nail has used 1 edge, for his defense roll against Sinthia’s fireball.

Nail has suffered 2 stun damage as a result of Sinthia’s blast. It could have been much worse, had he not leaped away just in time. Nail’s actions this combat round were free-leap to cover, complex-melee attack. He will have to spend a simple action getting back up to the fight next initiative pass.

The moment is right. Nightshade leaps up the stairs and finds a single guard still standing. Sinthia’s spell has knocked everyone else off their feet, including the mage herself. Sinthia isn’t moving. Nightshade cuts the standing guard down with her implanted blade.

The two living guards don’t bother trying to stand. They turn their weapons on Nightshade and fire. These men are stone cold professionals. Although dazed by the blast, they still have their wits.

Nightshade is not an easy target to hit, as she predicts their angle of fire and moves accordingly. There’s just too much volume of fire, though. One of the bullets strikes her shoulder, drawing blood through her urban camouflage suit.

I’ve had worse. She risks a glance at Sinthia, who is breathing, but unconscious. So has she, from the looks of it.

Sinthia has 1 used Edge from casting Fireball. She has taken 5 stun damage, and 6 physical damage as a result of the blast and casting drain. She has been hurt pretty badly, but is not in danger of death just yet.

Tables are turned now, kids. Goethe stalks the two men who had previously been chasing him.* Can’t run, or expose yourself to fight me, because of my chum in the tower. He’s long gone by now, but no way you could know that.* One of the men is hiding behind the very dumpster that previously broke Goethe’s fall. The other is behind a vehicle, further back down the alley. He can engage one of the thugs at a time, as long as they don’t realize the sniper’s gone.

Goethe won’t admit it out loud, but the ork’s blood boils in his body, the same as any other of his kind. He can’t help it. He refuses to call it bloodlust, but it’s thrilling and terrifying all the same.

He could just walk away, leave the thugs to rot. But could he? How can he know who’s the best, if he doesn’t fight? Now’s the moment of truth. Can Goethe overcome his natural orkish desire to fight, or will he convince himself and rationalize that challenging these thugs is the right thing to do?

4509 receives Goethe’s transmission. “Cyborg. There are dozens of bats headed your direction up the tower. Some or all might be illusory, but that means there’s likely another mage around. Be careful.”

The cyborg doesn’t have to be told twice. He swiftly packs his gun and heads for the door. His dual-pistols spin into his hands from their cybernetic holsters as he shoves aside the chair holding the door closed. As he storms through the door, his sonar receiver picks up the sound of bats, closing in on his previous vantage point.

He’ll be long gone before they get there.

Or will he? 4509 has reached the elevator, but it’s in transit. Apparently, the building is being evacuated after hearing the gunshots, and the panicked screams of his hostage. Should have killed him. Rescigno’s lack of response means either he can’t read the cyborg at the moment, or doesn’t have a convincing retort.

This particular elevator is a long, long ride. The bats will arrive before it returns. His mind races as he considers his options. He can check the elevator the guests use, as they certainly wouldn’t ride up and down in the same elevator as the workers. He can try to find an emergency exit. He can try to hide, or even fight.

The only thing he can’t do is take the service elevator down…

206

*You guys forfeited your right to live the minute you decided to work for those who crossed my team and I. Killing’s bad for business, but when survival’s at stake, business be damned!

It’s my turn to bring you a present if I can pull it off old friend. If not, well, at least this city will be a bit cleaner.

Poor suckers. They don’t know what’s about to hit them…*

Goethe decides to take out the thug at the dumpster first. There’s less room for that one to run in general, and, the thug is no doubt aware that his position is more exposed to the sniper than his compatriot’s, making him less apt to provide resistance. Sneaking through the area to avoid notice using a point of edge, Goethe will move up on the man’s position from behind him. As he does so, he pulls a few wire ties out of his pocket an clutches them in his left hand.

He will get as close to the mark as possible. If he can get the complete jump on the guy, he will grab him with his left arm around the throat in a headlock putting enough pressure on the cartoid artery to not render the man unconscious as of yet, but clearly enough where with little extra squeeze he can knock the man out. As he does so he will press the AK into his back and say (using physical intimidation):

“You’ve got three choices: don’t fight back, die of a broken neck, or die of lead poisoning. Nod your head if you choose door number one. Move any other muscle if you choose otherwise.”

Assuming the guy nods his head, Goethe will guide him out towards his partner in the alley, using the guy as a shield.

If he can’t get all the way to the guy before being made, Goethe will fire a narrow full burst at the man as soon as the guy begins to turn around to face him or attempts to run away.

I will give instructions for the second guy once the results with the first guy have been determined.

207

Goethe will also make sure that if he’s able to grab thug #1 as a hostage, that the thug drops his weapon and keeps his hands in the air at all times.

208

After thinking Oof, that’s gonna bruise,, Nail gets up and remarks, “Mmm, toasty,” as he feels the warmth from the explosion rubbed off on his clothes. For the moment, he runs back to where the guards were standing. He will engage the guards in melee. If he has to, as in if the other guard fires at him despite Nail melee-ing his compatriot, he will use the guard he’s in melee with as a human shield.

209

The cyborg does an about-face, turning away from the elevator and leveling both pistols at the office door. “Come and get me you cocksuckers.”

210

While unconcious, Sinthia mutters, “It…was worth it.”

211

How much damage has Nightshade taken?

Somehow I knew I’d end up carrying the mage out of here. At least I’m not lugging a body instead. Hope it stays that way.

“Nice shooting. Not nice enough.”

I believe that Nail will get to move in before Nightshade does, because of her delay to let Sinthia cast her spell. Assuming he disables or neutralizes a guard, she will pounce on the other and try to finish him with her blade. If not, she will release her SMG (which is still slung on its strap) and try to extend her other blade while she pounces on both guards. In this case, she will also expend a point of Edge to try to make those attacks effective.

212

Not sure how I missed posting that. Nightshade suffered 2 damage in the last initiative pass.

Nail is behind you, having been knocked backward as he leaped from Sinthia’s explosion. He will not be able to reach the landing and take a complex action (melee) next round, since he must spend a simple action to stand up and get back in the fight.

Nightshade (just like everyone else) will get a free action, plus either a) two simple actions or b) one complex action during her initiative pass. She can’t melee both guards, but if she has a quick-draw holster (which makes “ready weapon” a free action) or if she has a weapon already ready to shoot, she will be able to fire twice, since “shoot weapon” is a simple action.

213

Ah. Well, in that case–since everyone’s clear of melee range … and Nightshade does in fact have her SMG in hand (post 181) …

Biting back the pain of the bullet wound, Nightshade unleashes a burst of SMG fire at each prone guard. Despite the sound suppressor, the shots echo throughout the stairwell. No point in stealth after the barrage they unleashed at the illusions anyway.

214

After the armed guards fire their weapons (mostly ineffectually) at Nightshade, she raises her own SMG and squeezes off two narrow bursts. The guards don’t have a chance, and the bullets tear them to shreds. (Due to being knocked down, they do not get to roll REA dice to avoid the gunfire damage). At this range, in these conditions, she could have killed them with a pattern of smiley-faces over their hearts, if she wanted.

Nail leaps to his feet and dashes back up the stairs, pistol drawn. When he arrives, there’s nobody left to finish off.* You’ve got to admire her handiwork.* Then, he notices she’s bleeding from her left shoulder.

“…worth it…” Sinthia mutters from the corner of the landing. She’s bruised and bleeding from the impact of the concussive force of the fireball. Her hair and skin are singed in a few places, but the actual fire damage seems minimal. She’ll heal.

Neither Nail or Nightshade relishes the idea of carrying Sinthia up the stairwell. Luckily, her eyes flutter open after a few seconds. She glances around and sees bodies all around her. She opens her mouth to speak, and blood pours out. Nightshade is alarmed, until she realizes the mage had just bitten her own tongue in the blast.

What did she say? Die in fire, or something like that. Nightshade can’t help but notice the irony of Sinthia hurting herself by shouting a threat.

The armed guards have been dispatched, and Sinthia is awake again. She’ll be a pretty poor fighting partner for awhile, but at least she can walk under her own power…

Goethe stalks toward the guard hiding behind the dumpster, staying out of the man’s sight. He probably reckons I took the chance to get out of here. This is the part Goethe loves: turning the tables.

The ork is patient, quiet, and relentless. These men think they’re the predators. They think they know him, because they read a dossier file, or watched videos of him in action at Synthcorp. They think they have Goethe on the run, fighting for his life. They have no idea they’re the real prey being hunted.

Goethe is now only a few feet from the goon, hidden in a crouch on the other side of the dumpster. He can hear the man breathing.

Amateur…

“Copy, we’re advancing on the ork,” the man says into his comlink.

Sure, chummer. Sniper’s gone, huh. You’re free to go after that mean ork now. Come get him.

The man is in motion, and takes two steps down the alleyway in a sprint, completely oblivious to the ork next to him. With one motion Goethe locks the man’s arm and spins him around into the dumpster with a loud clang, as the man’s body strikes the metal. The man doesn’t even have time to fall before Goethe’s arm is around his neck, squeezing pressure on his carotid. His other hand holds the gun to the man’s head.

From somewhere ahead of him, the second man shouts, “Drop the weapon!” Goethe ignores him.

Goethe says to his prisoner, “You’ve got three choices: don’t fight back, die of a broken neck, or die of lead poisoning. Nod your head if you choose door number one. Move any other muscle if you choose otherwise.”

Goethe can feel the man flexing his neck muscles, trying to nod through the choke hold as he drops his pistol and puts his hands up.

Goethe has taken the first guard by surprise, and the ork has him at his mercy. The second guard has a gun drawn, but does not have an angle of fire on Goethe and his prisoner behind the dumpster.

As 4509 spins, he hears the sound of glass shattering in the office. The cyborg turns to the office door, and levels both of his pistols at the doorway.

“Come and get me you cocksuckers,” 4509 challenges.

He’s greeted by silence. 4509 isn’t fooled. Two figures are in the office. Their footsteps vibrate the floors and walls, giving the cyborg more than he needs to sense their presence through his sonar hardware. They don’t show up on his infrared sensor, though.

Definitely vampires. There’s no longer any doubt.

There is suddenly a voice in 4509’s head. It’s calm and eloquent, and non-threatening. 4509 resents the magical intrusion passionately, but this particular spell does not allow for two-way communication.

"We admire you, cyborg. The Dark has led us to you as adversaries, in order to show us that we can be more than we are. Better. The bridge between magic and technology has been nearly completed, and you are the final piece; the herald of a new era, champion and paradigm of metahumanity.

We are not enemies. In a moment, I will walk through the door. I’ll be at your mercy, but I ask you not to destroy me. We and you have spent our existence becoming something better, and together we shall finally succeed."

With that final comment, the vampire’s spell ends, and the voice in 4509’s head goes silent. A moment later, a dark cloaked mage appears in the doorway, and walks toward 4509 with his hands raised.

Nice try. 4509 easily spots the illusion, as it fails to vibrate the floor with its footsteps. The cyborg is a little disappointed that it’s not the real thing, but grudgingly he must admit that it would have been mightily stupid of the vampire to actually appear in front of him in the flesh, under these circumstances.

The two in the office will surely be able to hear if 4509 chooses to shout to them.

215

4509’s words indicate that he’s bought the illusion: “All right, buddy. Tell me what the fuck you want.” But he’s cycling one of his machine pistols away and slowly reaching for a high explosive grenade…

216

Nail enjoys the moment of calm to partake in a cancer-stick.

“So, where to next?” he says to the group.

217

Nightshade replies to Nail. “Up. Up and out, fast. This place is will be a beehive full of angry bees, or something worse, in minutes. I just hope Goethe and 4509 are distracting enough of their security to give us a chance.”

She offers a hand to Sinthia to assist her to her feet. “I hope you’re right. Are you OK enough to head on upstairs? We can’t afford to stay still; if another set of guards turns up, we’ll have to evade and try to find an elevator or another set of stairs somewhere. Odds turn way against us in that case.”

Once everyone is moving, she activates her commlink. “We’ve iced some opposition and are moving again to the rear exit. When you’re able, some intel on what we’re walking into would be appreciated.”

218

Sinthia’s tongue hurts more than anything else, oddly enough. It’s odd how the minor wounds will hurt you more than the major ones, at least immediately. She dabs the blood off with her sleeve and says:

“I’b fine, danks. And I daid, ‘Die in fire!’ and id 'ooks like 'ome of 'dem did so id was a 'ood dreat to make.”

She looks to Nightshade.

“Danks, dear. I can walk…or fly on my own 'or now.”

219

Goethe says to his prisoner:

“Start walking. We’re going to have a little chat with your ally. You’ll be my shield, naturally, in case he tries getting clever. For your sake, I hope you’ve never pissed him off. Now, I’m going to have to train my gun on him, but understand, I still can crush your windpipe in a split second, and I don’t think there’s anyone around who can perform emergency tracheotomies if you catch my drift. Play it cool, and we can all come out of this alive.”

Goethe prods and guides his hostage into the alley, gun still at his back and enough pressure on the windpipe that the guy can breathe, but not comfortably. Right before he turns the corner to the alley, he says:

“Remember, you try anything, and you’re dead.”

Walking into the alley, his gun is now trained on the other guy; his old friend the smartlink targeting reticule showing up in his contacts as if it was literally painted on him. The hostage is positioned in such a way that the only way the second guy can shoot Goethe is if he tries to go through the hostage. Using physical intimidation, Goethe speaks to the second guy, while activating the sound amplification on his earbuds to listen if the guy starts talking over a commlink:

"Greetings. The name’s Goethe. You have two choices: drop your weapon and surrender, or die. If I so much as think you are going to call for backup on your commlink, or even so much as twitch, they’ll need a power washer to clean up your brain stains on the concrete. Your bosses tried to double-cross the wrong Ork. As a businessman, I’ve always kept my word, and I’ve generally tried to avoid killing people. But your bosses were planning on killing me the moment my team and I agreed to work for them. Because the job they gave us involved finding out some dirty secrets of theirs. Ones they didn’t want getting out. So runners do their jobs as agreed, and then get slaughtered to the man. That’s no way to run a business, and your bosses day of reckoning is coming. I’ve got nothing to lose, because I’m as good as dead already anyway. So really, give me an excuse to kill you. It’ll make my life easier. Besides, what do you think they’ll do to you when they discover you’ve failed to take out my team? Even if you kill me, the rest will escape, so your life is likely forfeit anyway. That’s how these guys operate. But with me, I can keep you alive. Even hidden. You’ll have a chance to spend the money these guys have paid you. Oh, and interesting factoid: when my team took down Synthcorp, we got paid roughly 5 times to take them down as they paid us for the job we were doing with them. Your bosses are cheap and dishonest, even by the diminished standards we runners have.

“So what’s it going to be? It’s your call.”

While this conversation goes on, Goethe will be aiming at the other guys head. True to his word, if the guy tries anything funny, Goethe will open a full round burst into the man’s head. If his hostage tries anything, he will crush his windpipe.

Never piss off an Ork.

220

After Goethe says his piece, the man tilts his head quizzically, making absolutely no motion to lower his gun.

“You think this is about Synthcorp? You think you can bribe us?” He steps forward threateningly, pistol leveled in Goethe’s direction.

“Back off!” Goethe warns.

“You think you’re bad? You’re not even the scariest thing I’ve seen tonight, punk,” the man says, and opens fire. Two bullets tear through his own ally, striking Goethe’s armor. Goethe responds in kind, blowing the armed man’s head off with a clean burst from his AK.

For a moment, all Goethe can do is stand in wonder and confusion. What the hell just happened?

There’s no time for reflection, though. It’s time to make a decision. Goethe hasn’t heard from Nightshade’s crew for awhile. She told him to make a distraction if things got bad, and Goethe can’t imagine how they could be any worse.

Just then, he hears Nightshade on the comlink. “We’ve iced some opposition and are moving again to the rear exit. When you’re able, some intel on what we’re walking into would be appreciated.”

Goethe looks around the alley, and with a sudden creepy feeling, realizes he is alone. The area is deserted.

4509 knows the vampires in the office can see him. Otherwise how would they have known he was covering the door? They must be using magic to look through the wall. Knowing such, he turns his right side away from the office as he attempts to stow a machine pistol and draw a grenade in his right hand.

“All right, buddy. Tell me what the fuck you want,” he says to the illusion.

“We want what you want,” the mirage mage says. “The next stage of evolution. To create the perfect man. To transcend our bodies. We are to magic, what you are to technology. We, like you, thought we had reached the plateau, that there was no further barrier to push, and that we stood at the peak of history and destiny. But we, and you, were wrong. Let us show you how much more you can be…”

The figures in the office have not moved recently, or 4509’s sonar would have detected it. There’s no indication that they are aware of 4509 holding the grenade.

Nightshade and Nail help Sinthia to her feet. Everyone can feel the urgency to move. With help from her allies, Sinthia heads up the flights of stairs to the first level. The finally reach the ground floor, and Nightshade cautiously opens the door. The other side is dark. Nail and Sinthia might have a harder time than Nightshade, who’s eyes are already adjusting.

The room on the other side of the door is a laboratory. Nightshade recognizes cyberware in various stages of assembly. As she leads the others into the room, she nearly trips over a body, as she gasps in surprise. When she shoves the body aside with her foot, she sees a cyber-replacement lower arm on the body, which has nearly been severed from the flesh upper arm. The face of what used to be a man is covered with blood, and chunks of flesh are next to it. It seems the person tried to chew through their own arm, before dying of blood loss.

Nightshade hopes the others can’t see the gore. She wishes she didn’t see it, herself. What the hell happened in this place?

A low voice growls from a corner. “You don’t belong here,” the voice says. It sounds like it could have been a man, once, but now is just a beast. Nightshade turns toward the voice, and sees a crouched body shambling toward her. She can spot three other figures in the shadows around the one who spoke.

As Nightshade looks closer, she can see the creature for what it is. A ghoul*. She feels a moment of pity for the abomination. It’s a failure, doomed to exist at the whim of its creator, spending eternity in a helpless, mentally crippled form until someone someone finally takes pity enough to kill them.

*Ghouls are created when a vampire infects a mundane (non-Awakened) person with the magical virus which causes vampirism in mages and Adepts. Ghouls are dim witted and slow moving, their bodies locked permanently in a decomposing state. They are evidence of particularly cruel vampires, who use ghoul infection as a form of torture.