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

The Game Room
321

As the grenade explodes, Geothe can feel the concussive force of the blast even from where he’s standing. The flare compensators in his contact lenses did their job to suppress the flash, but Goethe’s mind’s eye is all he really would have needed to comprehend what the cyborg just did. Transfixed by the scene, as he sees the cyborg flung into the wall by the blast and the dragon writhing in pain back into his vaporous form, two single-word exclamatory thoughts simultaneously fire into his head: Shit! and Ouch!. Those are followed closely by Good riddance! as the wyrm says his peace and departs. Goethe is about to shout a suitable epithet toward the departing creature when he is startled out his reverie by the screech of Nightshade’s brakes and the barely perceptible squeaks of the bats.

Not them again…

Goethe readies himself for another battle just as the telepathic message worms its way into his head.

Stay out of my goddamned head! Goethe responds, knowing that it’s no doubt futile since the link is likely only a one-way type. When the vampire transforms and speaks, Sinthia edges out Geothe on a response, but Goethe can’t help but put his own two cents in, as he’s wont to do. As he speaks, he slowly makes his way around to get a clearer shot at the man, his AK raised and smartlink reticule aiming for the elf’s head.

“You wanna speak? Fine, but you use your vocal chords only. You pull anymore of that telepathy shit and it’ll be the last thought you ever share with anyone. Understood?”

Not waiting for the man to even nod a response, Goethe continues.

"So yeah we won’t kill you first, assuming you don’t try anything funny. Of course, I make no promises about what we’ll do with you after you speak. After all, you come here offering truce only after we’ve proven ourselves to not be as easily defeated as you thought, and now you are scared that you could actually lose after all your posturing and bravado. You started this war, and now you want to end it. But regardless of whether we accept anything you have to offer, it’s going to cost you…big time.

“See, one thing that might have missed your notice is that Nail and I have no skin in your little corporate games.You were the power behind the throne of a corp that wanted us dead the minute we took its assignment. You can’t be so stupid as to not realize that routinely killing those in your employ is a fast way to make enemies. And then you guys have the balls–well maybe not you specifically, since I don’t believe your type can actually reproduce in the same way the rest of metahumanity does, instead choosing to spread your filth like a cancer–but anyway, you had the balls to call us the traitors. And after we took Synthcorp down, you guys couldn’t just leave well enough alone. All Nail, Kirk, and I wanted was out. You should have accepted that you and your pet corp fucked up and left it at that. But no. You came for us. I don’t care you took out some guys a UO. They’re a corp. Their very existence means they accept that that kind of shit can happen. But you crossed the line when you killed Kirk.”

When Goethe mentions Kirk, Nail detects a slight wavering in Goethe’s voice. Nail is probably the only one who notices having run with Goethe long enough to know when Goethe is suppressing his emotions, something the Ork has trained himself to do since his youth.

“The shadows lost a a great runner, and I lost one of the few people that I’d considered a friend. All because you just couldn’t let things end where they were. And now you come here, after we’ve done damage to you, even defeating the control over the dragon you had, asking for a truce? What do you have to offer me? I don’t need or want your blood money. I do very well as it is, and UO compensated me nicely for taking Synthcorp down, even with the fact that your organization left me little choice anyway. I’m certainly not going to work for you. Because even if I needed the money, there’s a code to the streets that you clearly don’t understand. So really, why should I even consider dealing with you, someone who gets his rocks off–since he clearly can’t do so any other way–by preying on those he considers beneath him? You turned this personal, and unlike most people you’re probably use to dealing with, I’ve got nothing to lose. Why shouldn’t I just take you and your entire emo organization down? The world will certainly be better for it, and I won’t have to look over my shoulder anymore. You may be able to convince UO to deal with you, though, I’m not giving you good odds at that, but as for me, you really don’t have anything I need.”

322

A few minutes ago, Nail had just finished firing a few shots into the back of the dragon. Little good that did. He looks down at his gun as if to say C’mon. Work with me here. But he has little time for dialogue with inanimate objects. He turns back to the action to find 4509 in the dragon’s clutches!

Nail knows he only has one shot at this. Maybe if he gets a good shot right at the dragon’s joint, it will let him go. But, the dragon is moving too much. He can’t get a good bead on him, and he has no time for a miss. Miss in one direction and the shot will amount to what all his other shots did, nothing more than a minor annoyance. Miss the other way and he hits 4509. Time slows down under the effects of the adrenaline. What only could have been five seconds feels like at least fifteen.

Which is what makes the following turn of events even more hard to watch. Nail sees 4509 reach for a high-powered grenade. “Stop! You’ll kill yourself, you crazy hunk of metal” Nail yells. But it’s too late. The explosion goes off with a gigantic bang, sending both killers, metal and reptilian, flying backward. Nail simply stands stunned, the spectacle leaving him in a rare moment of paralysis.

But there is no rest for the wicked, and even less for runners. Immediately after the vampires make their emo entrance, and Goethe steps out to address them…

323

Back in the present, the camera turns back to Nail, so to speak. It’s unclear when exactly he started smoking a cig, but he now puts it out and steps a few paces forward. He keeps his gun drawn but lowers it a tad.

“I’ll summarize in case your attention waned during my partner’s monologue,” he says to the elf vampire. “First, if you wanted to negotiate, a hello and a firm handshake would have been just fine. Dragons are so twelfth-century, don’t you think?”

More importantly, as Goethe said, you have nothing to offer us. The only thing we want is for you to crawl back to whatever Hot Topic you came from and leave us the hell alone. So, you better give my partner one reason why he shouldn’t blow your god-damned head off."

324

Does that thing really think he can bullshit its way out of this? Nightshade wonders to herself. Or is this just a distraction? Realizing her compatriots have cleaner shots on the speaker, she focuses her attention on the swirling bats and on the tunnel entrance. IF anything unexpected or troubling happens, she’s prepared to transmit warnings and unleash hails of lead.

As she’s about to speak up, Goethe’s simple speech brings a slight smile to her lips. These guys don’t need me to tell them not to trust these guys. Good crew–I’ll just watch their backs for a bit.

325

To anyone who can hear her, Sinthia reiterates, “We should listen to him. Please.”

She pauses, sighs, and says to…herself? Anyone that will listen, probably.

“Trust…me. We must talk to him(it??). It’s what I…we are supposed to do. We have to.”

Sinthia will watch very closely to see what her allies do. She will immediately choose to respond if any act of aggression is taken toward this creature.

326

What is her deal? Nail thinks anxiously. And what the hell does she mean,’supposed to’?

He lowers his gun a bit further, but keeps it drawn. “Oh, we’re all ears. Isn’t that right 4509?”

Despite his hostile sarcasm, Nail will not attack unless attacked first.

327

"I said I’d listen to him, didn’t I? He just better make sure I like what I hear or I reserve the right to make him remain silent by cranial disintegration. They started this war and now that it’s gotten too tough for them they want to end it. It ends under our terms, not theirs.

"Because at the end of the day, we’re dealing with vampires building a cyberghoul army with the further goal of refining that technology to create cybervampires. Yeah, that’s just what this world needs. You obviously haven’t had much experience with vatjobs or you’d understand. Take their complete disregard for humanity, add a metric shit ton of Human-Metahuman Vampiric Virus, stir in a heaping helping magical ability and what you’ll have is a virtually unstoppable army that gives two shits about everything but their own sense of superiority. Is that what you want? Because if it is, I’ll have no compunction about killing you as well.

“And don’t forget, they had a dragon working for them. Dragons aren’t known for willingly working for anyone. There’s a reason for the saying “Never make a deal with a dragon.” Because while a dragon will almost always keep up his end of the bargain, the price they tend to extract is high indeed.”

“So as I said, he’d better have a good story. And I better be fucking enrapt while he’s telling it–and I don’t mean by any magical means–because my trigger finger is really goddamn itchy right now.”

328

The elf vampire shrugs. “If I fall, another will take my place. Kill me if it will satisfy you, but doing so will cement your fate.”

He waits a moment to see if Nail will take up the offer. Seeing nobody actively attacking him, he continues. “We can heal your cyborg with our magic, if you’ll let us. His cybernetics will make it quite difficult for the Raven shaman to heal him, but we have more…aggressive…methods.”

The vampire has offered to heal 4509. He will respect a consensus vote from the conscious players on whether to allow him to do so.

After making his offer, the vampire turns to Sinthia. “You have a choice to make, girl. Abandon the false god Raven, and join us to mold and shape the future. Your friends will be spared, and if the pathetic Universal Omnitech abandons its claim on Synthcorp, we will stop our war against them. If you refuse, you and your friends will be crushed like insects. If you accept this generous offer, then approach and be embraced by The Dark.”

329

After the vampire finishes, Goethe gives no one anytime to respond. He doesn’t even acknowledge anyone else in the party as he opens a full burst into the head of the vampire.

Then he quickly levels his weapon on Sinthia:

“Don’t move or say anything. I won’t kill you if you hear me out, but if you try anything, I’ve already got a reticule on your head as well. Make your choice…now! You are either with us or with them. If you choose them, I will let you go just this once. The next time we meet you will know what it’s like to be skull-fucked by lead just as your friend here does. So what will it be?”

330

I ask that everyone please refrain from posting for a few hours until I can resolve the round of surprise combat initiated by Goethe. Thanks for your patience.

331

Only if you promise it’ll really be just a few hours. Things are starting to get juicy!

332

I will be resolving this combat similarly to when Donovan murdered 'Arry. The participants are a bit more prepared for treachery in this situation though, so they have a chance to avoid being taken by surprise. In order to resolve Goethe’s actions, I will roll an amount of dice equal to Goethe’s initiative score in an opposed test with every other character. Each character will roll a dice pool equal to the two highest values from among their Perception, Intuition, and Reaction. Everyone who Goethe beats in this test will not be allowed to participate in this first round of surprise combat. Anyone who ties or beats Goethe’s roll will be able to participate normally.

Goethe, true to his word, lets the vampire speak. Up until he hears the vampire offer to infect Sinthia with vampirism. The bastard actually thinks Goethe will just let him turn another one of Goethe’s crew, right in front of him!

As he raises his rifle, he sees with satisfaction that the vampire has no clue what’s coming. Sinthia gasps involuntarily, but can’t react fast enough to stop him. Rescigno and Butcher, not having any reflex augmentation at all, are completely taken by surprise.

Nightshade sees the subtle clues in Goethe’s body language, motions and glances that betray even the most hardened warrior’s intentions. Will she intervene somehow?

A danger-sense raises the hair on the back of Nail’s neck, and he somehow knows what Goethe is about to do. He must also decide whether to try to stop Goethe from shooting the hapless, wicked servant of The Dark.

Nightshade and Nail have equaled or tied Goethe’s roll. Initiative will be decided normally. If any character acting in this round decides they absolutely must act first, they may spend a point of Edge to do so. If they do, initiative priority will go to characters who spent Edge. If multiple characters spend Edge to act first this round, initiative will be decided normally among them, followed by characters who did not spend Edge.

The vampire will not roll defense dice for this attack.

333

Sinthia begins to shake. She is obviously under tremendous stress and is no longer able to contain herself.

A scream comes from Sinthia…a sound that is not only uncharacteristic for her, but is no sound that any sentient creature usually makes. It is one word.

“No!!!”

No one reacts, even the agent of the Dark. Sinthia raises her hands and begins to move them around in a swirling pattern.

“I said, ‘No.’ No to you. No to the Dark. And no to anything that expects me to join your side. Raven, if you truly wish me to join the Dark and become one of these things, then I ask you to prove it to us right now. But I do not believe that is you and I believe this Dark is trying to sway me to them.”

She looks over to the agent of the Dark.

“And for your part, you will pay. You now have but a moment for Raven to appear and save you…or you will die. Raven, reveal yourself or I will kill this thing…now.”

Sinthia waits, but if nothing happens, she will:

Use one point of Edge to cast Lightning Bolt at the Dark agent.

334

Sinthia’s comments and actions will be resolved after Goethe’s surprise attack. Unfortunately, Sinthia was taken by surprise, and will not act. Nightshade and Nail are the only characters who rolled high enough to notice what Goethe was about to do. Only they (and Goethe) can act for the moment.

Once Goethe’s surprise attack is resolved, Sinthia will get a chance to say her piece and make her attack.

To further clarify, initiative has NOT been rolled yet between Goethe, Sinthia, and Nail. Goethe’s initiative rating was used as a baseline for other characters to test whether they are quick enough to react to him, but the actual initiative order has not been determined yet. Any of those three characters (Goethe, Nightshade, Nail) may spend Edge to get an advantage on the initiative roll.

335

Is he really … Nightshade’s shock lasts only a fraction of a second. That bastard’s trying to split the team. Goethe will take care of him–but how will the others react? Or Sinthia? If she was thinking about taking that offer, she’s the biggest threat in the room.

Nightshade settles her virtual crosshairs on the mage, waiting for her response to Goethe’s actions. If she shows signs of reacting hostilely to Goethe’s preemptive strike, she’ll unleash a short burst; otherwise, she’ll rapidly shift back to covering the bats as well as she can & watching for another to transform.

336

Nail has partnered with Goethe long enough to have a sixth sense of what he is about to do. Damn orc-blood of his. Talks a good game, and then blammo. He almost feels sorry for the nameless vamp.

But that’s not why he’s against seeing this vamp mowed down mid-speech.

“Cool your jets, Goethe. Let her make her choice in peace. It’s the only way we’ll know if we can really trust her.”

And besides, there’s no need to be so rude.

On second thought, Nail will use edge for this. If Goethe still comes out ahead and fires anyway, Nail will mentally face-palm a bit and then simply brace himself for whatever chaos happens next.

337

Goethe won’t be using edge here, which means Nail goes first, and since Nightshade isn’t looking to stop Goethe…

Goethe lines up his shot and is about to pull the trigger when Nail tells him to cool it. If it were anyone else trying to check his action, the world would have one less vamp. But Goethe’s been on enough runs with Nail that he trusts his judgement without question. Goethe decides to hold his action, wating to see how Sinthia plays this. He quirks an eyebrow at Nail and gives him a look which wordlessly says to his friend:

“You better know what you’re doing!”

338

I will be resolving Sinthia’s actions tonight, assuming I get a few minutes to spare at work. Thanks for your patience!

339

Thanks. Sorry for going out of order.

340

Goethe raises his rifle, but Nail intervenes before he can fire.

“Cool your jets, Goethe. Let her make her choice in peace. It’s the only way we’ll know if we can really trust her.”

The ork relaxes his grip on the rifle, and casts a look to the adept that says wordlessly,* you better know what you’re doing.*

Truth is, he doesn’t. But he does know that Sinthia’s a wild card. Nobody had a better view of her inner turmoil than Nail did in the back of that sedan. Now was the time to see just where her soul-searching led her.

“Raven, if you truly wish me to join the Dark and become one of these things, then I ask you to prove it to us right now!” Sinthia cries.

There is only silence, of course. Even if the great Conspirator did expect her to accept the vampire’s offer, He would not simply come when called, like a tail-wagging dog to its master. The audacity Sinthia shows in so blatantly attempting to summon Raven is the greatest mistake of her life…

Immediately she is overcome with a sense of emptiness and void. She is alone. The part of her soul which contained the personal link to her deity is withered and strangled like an unwanted infant. She nearly collapses in despair as she senses Raven abandoning her, but the misery gives way to anger as she sees the vampire smirking before her.

She can not contain her fury at the creature. She had already proven her might against The Dark, overcoming every enemy they threw at her. But pure might was not enough. She suddenly understands how the insidious, psychological manipulation finally brought her down. Where The Dark could not defeat her, they caused her to defeat herself. Her bond with Raven is severed, and the vampire standing before her is part of the force that manipulated her into defeating herself.

Sinthia lowers her head. The vampire mistakes the gesture for surrender, and tries to push his victory home.

“You feel it, don’t you? The Dark embraces you like a lover. It is comfort in the certainty of the future. You will be part of it, girl. Come with me.”

When Sinthia raises her head, the vampire elf staggers backward in surprise at her expression. “No!” he shouts, as he is consumed with raging power arcing to him from the former champion of Raven.

Guess the gig’s up, Goethe realizes. He fires at the vampire a split second after Sinthia’s attack begins, with shots from Nightshade also converging on the agent of The Dark. The combined attack utterly destroys the vampire, leaving but a charred corpse to sink to the asphalt.

The bats, seeing the fury of the attack on their ally, wisely scatter and fly away in different directions.

Rescigno shouts over the sudden silence. “Help me get 4509 in the car! Butcher, get to work on his motorcycle. Hack the security on it and drive it back to Synthcorp, now!” Rescigno runs toward 4509, who is still unconscious and terribly wounded. Nail rushes toward him and helps to lift the cyborg, who is lighter than expected; a sign of high quality materials. They stuff the cyborg into the front seat, where Butcher had been sitting.

“Let’s go, kids! Wrap it up here, and we’ll meet back at Synthcorp,” Rescigno says.