Houston GM

The shadowrunners were an ork/troll group. Against stereotype, they specialized in stealth, subtlety, bluff, illusion, deception and misdirection. Cast of characters: Dent: ork, rat shaman No-Step: ork, snake shaman, healer Byte Force: ork, decker, chemist Eye Spy: ork, rigger, drones, paramedic Audacity Jane: ork, combat, stealth, security systems Happy Jack: troll, combat, disguise, negotiator Griffin (NPC): a street samurai; using the Jack the Ripper dreamchip Dreamchipper - Hooker, Line & Sinker This module was previously described by Drhoz (here). In order to find Griffin (and the Jack the Ripper dreamchip), the team searched through the information provided by the Lone Star records clerk.... Six joygirls and joyboys had been murdered in one small Redmond neighborhood. One the first night; two the second; three the third. Byte Force: "So he's either going to kill four or five tonight." Eye Spy: "Five?" Byte Force: "It might be a Fibonacci sequence." Eye Spy: "I have no idea what you just said." The murders had all taken place in the same small neighborhood in the Redmond Barrens. The victims had been primarily human, but also one ork and one dwarf. Dent: "No elves or trolls?" Happy Jack: "Other than the dwarf, it matches the racial and economic demographics of Redmond." (pause) "It seems that Griffin is just hitting targets of opportunity." Eye Spy: "So we finally found someone in Redmond who isn't racially biased ... a serial killer." The murder weapon was always cybernetic hand razors. First the throat was cut, then the bodies were swiftly dissected. Audacity Jane: "Messy." No-Step: "You don't approve." Audacity Jane: (shrugging) "I don't particularly care. I'm not the one cleaning up after him." Eye Spy: "We don't even know what Griffin looks like." Dent: "Yes we do. I used Mind Probe on Tee Hee, Cooperman and Val." No-Step: "That's wonderful. So what does he look like?" Dent: "Human, average sized or maybe a little smaller, brown hair, black cybereyes, normal looking otherwise." Audacity Jane: "That's reeeally helpful." Dent: "I'll recognize him when I see him." No-Step: "That doesn't help much if one of us sees him." This challenge was solved with concealed microcams which would feed pictures to Dent, allowing him to confirm Griffin's identity. There were, however, other problems to be solved. Audacity Jane: "There are a lot of other joygirls and joyboys in the area. We could put out bait for a week before we catch him." No-Step: "What if we warn them to stay off the street? Tell them it's too dangerous?" Happy Jack: "Many of them will need to eat or feed an addiction. They will be out anyway, hoping for the best." No-Step: "We could offer to protect them for free. Get them all in one place. That would make it safer." Happy Jack: "That's a good idea ... except they would be too suspicious of 'free' protection. I'll charge them 10 nuyen a trick for protection." Dent: "Jack's going to be a pimp." Happy Jack: "Yep. I'll blend right in." As one of the best hand-to-hand combatants, Jane was the obvious bait. No-Step would use his Physical Mask spell to conceal the amount of armor she was wearing. No-Step: "I can make her the best-looking joygirl in the neighborhood." Happy Jack: "Make her one of the ugliest. Griffin doesn't seem to care about looks, but potential customers will." No-Step: "Right." (suggestively to Jane) "What are you going to do with actual customers?" Dent: "Service with a smile!" Audacity Jane: "No. I'm going to give them the Sprawl Special." Dent: "As I said, service with a smile." Audacity Jane: (ignoring Dent) "That's where I knock them out, tie them up, rob them, then dump them in the alley behind me." (grinning evily Dent) "And after doing that, I will be smiling." Eye Spy: "Hey Dent, do you want to be her first customer?" Dent would wander the neighborhood invisibly, using the city sprit's Search power to look for Griffin. Eye Spy: "What if Griffin sees him?" Dent: "Nobody is going to see me." Byte Force: "Griffin is going after joygirls and joyboys. Dent looks homeless." Dent: "I do not look homeless." Happy Jack: "Well, you smell homeless ... and it will just take a quick wardrobe change to make you look that way too." Eye Spy and Byte Force would cruise the neighborhood, letting the real joyboys and joygirls know where Jack was providing protection. Eye Spy: "What should we do if we spot Griffin?" Audacity Jane: "Vehicular homicide." It was a dark and foggy night. Dent: "Why can't we get this kind of weather when we're pulling a B&E job?" Life as a working girl.... well dressed pedestrian: "Hate to bother you, but are you going my way?" Audacity Jane: "Honey, I may be a streetwalker, but I don't actually go for walks with people." (pause) "Are there any other services you're interested in?" Life as a pimp.... potential customer: (as Jack peered at him so the microcam could take a picture) "Why are you looking at me that way?" Happy Jack: "I memorize your face. If you damage joyboy, I know who to collect damages from." potential customer: "Collect damages? Like in court?" Happy Jack: "Like ripperdoc bill, lost wages." potential customer: (giggling nervously) "I don't carry that kind of money with me." Happy Jack: "That okay. You have headware. I just sell used headware." potential customer: (scoffing) "It would take a skilled surgeon and a clinic to remove my headware." Happy Jack: "Nah. I take your head to techie. He remove headware and clean it off. No damage to headware." potential customer: (aghast) "That would kill me!" Happy Jack: "Well ... don't damage joyboy ... unless you can afford damages." The team members patrolling the neighborhood had sent a number of joygirls/joyboys over to Happy Jack's block. They had also run across the cooling corpses of two girls who hadn't accepted the offer of protection. man with glowing cybereyes: "Nasty night. I hate this weather. Don't know why I put up with it." Audacity Jane: "Because you live here." (pause) "But I'm sure you didn't come out here just to talk about the weather." man with glowing cybereyes / Griffin: (popping out hand razors and slashing at Jane) "Die. Die, Tramp. Die!" Audacity Jane: (punching Griffin with her shock glove) "Not a tramp.... Not going to die." After Dent had arrived at the scene... Audacity Jane: (pointing at Griffin's glowing cybereyes) "You said his cybereyes were black. Do those look black to you?" Dent: (looking at the shiners appearing under Griffin's cybereyes) "Yes. Yes they do." After Griffin had been subdued and the dreamchip removed.... Eye Spy: "I'm not entirely certain, but I think Griffin's going to be permanently catatonic." Happy Jack: "This leaves us with an ethical dilemma." Audacity Jane: "What ethical dilemma? We sell him to the organ leggers." Happy Jack: "Alternatively, we could recruit more informants by delivering him to the joygirls and joyboys. I'm sure they want to celebrate his capture ... and every good party needs a piñata."

The shadowrunners were an ork/troll group. Against stereotype, they specialized in stealth, subtlety, bluff, illusion, deception and misdirection. Cast of characters: Dent: ork, rat shaman No-Step: ork, snake shaman, healer Byte Force: ork, decker, chemist Eye Spy: ork, rigger, drones, paramedic Audacity Jane: ork, combat, stealth, security systems Happy Jack: troll, combat, disguise, negotiator Dreamchipper - Interlude (information gathering) This module was previously described by Drhoz (here). Happy Jack: "I'm going to go talk to the Lone Star records clerk that Byte Force and I recruited." Byte Force: "Well ... he doesn't know that he's been recruited." No-Step: "How do you recruit someone without him noticing?" Happy Jack: "We bribed him." Byte Force: "... but he doesn't know that he's been bribed yet." No-Step: "Why is he going to do something for a bribe that he doesn't know about?" Happy Jack: "Because I'm going to use that bribe to blackmail him." Chester, the records clerk: (answering his apartment door) "How may I help you, patrolman." Happy Jack: (disguised as a Lone Star patrolman) "Are you the owner of a gold 2046 Ford Americar in the parking garage?" Chester: (alarmed) "Why? What happened to it?" Happy Jack: "There was a minor collision. Would you mind coming and looking at the damage?" They took the elevator to the parking garage. Chester: (looking at his car) "Where's the damage?" Happy Jack: (handing Chester a piece of paper) "Actually, I wanted you to look at this bank statement of yours." Chester: (barely glancing at it) "This isn't my bank." Happy Jack: "True ... but it's your daughter's account. It has your daughter's money in it. That money has been used to pay your daughter's medical bills. And since your daughter is too young to work, that looks rather suspicious." Chester: "Wait! What?" (slowly dawning realization) "Are you saying that I'm a dirty cop?" Happy Jack: "No. I'm saying that you're being framed." Chester: "Oh..." Happy Jack: "Because I'm the one who is framing you." Chester: "WHAT?!?" Happy Jack: "So you can either give me the information that I want, and continue to pay your daughter's bills, or you can explain to your superiors why you accepted my bribes for three months before mentioning anything to them." Chester pulled his gun and shot Jack. The armor jacket stopped the bullet. Happy Jack: (smacking the gun out of Chester's hand) "Attempted murder. That's very illegal. More illegal than bribery. Good thing we caught that on tape." Eye Spy: (over the radio link) "We didn't catch that on tape." Audacity Jane: (to Eye Spy) "Chester doesn't know that." Chester: "What do you want from me?" Happy Jack: (handing Chester a burner phone) "I want to know about every joygirl, joyboy, escort or other sex trade worker murdered since Saturday." Chester: "Why?" Happy Jack: "I've been hired to catch the person committing the murders." Chester: "You're blackmailing me into helping you stop a murderer? But that's something I don't mind doing." Happy Jack: "See. It's your lucky day. You're getting paid to do a good deed." The gunshot had attracted the attention of the building security. security guard: (running up with a drawn gun) "What's going on here?" Chester: "Uh ..." Happy Jack: "Chester dropped his gun and had an accidental discharge." Chester: "..." security guard: "..." Happy Jack: "I wrote him a citation for that." (pause) "Better be careful with your gun, or I'll be writing a second citation." security guard: "..." Later... Happy Jack: "That went perfectly." Dent: "Perfectly? You paid Chester for that information, and you probably could have gotten it for free." Happy Jack: "I didn't want to get it for free. I wanted him to take the nuyen." Dent: "WHAT?!?" Happy Jack: "This morning, it only looked like Chester was taking bribes. Now, he is knowingly taking bribes. That means we're making progress in our relationship."

The shadowrunners were an ork/troll group. Against stereotype, they specialized in stealth, subtlety, bluff, illusion, deception and misdirection. Cast of characters: Dent: ork, rat shaman No-Step: ork, snake shaman, healer Byte Force: ork, decker, chemist Eye Spy: ork, rigger, drones, paramedic Audacity Jane: ork, combat, stealth, security systems Happy Jack: troll, combat, disguise, negotiator Val (NPC): a rigger; using the Cleopatra dreamchip Dreamchipper - Party Crashing This module was previously described by Drhoz (here). The team had determined who was in possession of the dreamchips ... but finding them and recovering them was a more difficult task. One dreamchip had been recovered, but two more remained. Happy Jack: "Val has started dating Booker Pengrave, a junior executive at Hollywood Simsense Entertainment." No-Step: "And she'll continue dating him until she meets a senior executive." Happy Jack: "Are any of their senior executives trolls?" Byte Force: (checking the Matrix) "No." Happy Jack: "So ... that rules out Plan A." Happy Jack: "Pengrave is holding a big party at his penthouse tonight. Jane and I can go in there, scope out the place, then figure out the best way to break in later." Audacity Jane: "How are we getting in there?" Happy Jack: "We'll deliver a few cases of expensive wine. That should get us all the way to the bar. If we need to do more scouting, we can come back again a few hours later as part of the cleaning crew." Dent: "How much is all that expensive wine going to cost us?" Happy Jack: "Maybe 100 or 200 nuyen." Dent: "Per bottle?" Happy Jack: "No. For a few cases." Eye Spy: "Uh ... Jack ... that's not expensive wine." Happy Jack: "I know. We're going to dumpster dive for expensive wine bottles, fill them with cheaper wine, then reseal them." Byte Force: "The attendees might be too drunk to notice the difference." Astral recon at Pengrave's party was not an option. No-Step: "There are at least four security mages patrolling in astral space." Dent: "Either that, or they're peeping Toms watching the orgy upstairs." No-Step: (to Jack and Jane) "We can't even put any spells on you without risking making the mages suspicious." Happy Jack: "That's okay. We're disguising ourselves as menial labor. That doesn't require much effort." The wine delivery went without a hitch and provided useful information for a later break-in. At the end of the party, Jack and Jane would reenter the apartment disguised as part of the cleaning crew. Once the extra magickal security departed, Jane would climb up onto the roof with her gear. After everyone left (and Pengrave and Val went to bed) she would sneak back down, abduct Val, then rappel both of them down to the street. Of course, the plan hit a snag shortly after the duo inserted themselves in with the cleaning crew. Eye Spy: (over the radio link) "Val and Pengrave are leaving the building. They're getting in a limo." Audacity Jane: "That's perfect. Because we're kind of stuck here." Eye Spy managed to use her drone to tail the limo to the marina, while the rest of the team (except Jack and Jane) followed the limo at a discrete distance. Eye Spy: "If they leave in a boat, we'll have no way to follow them." Dent: "We'll just have to make sure they don't get on a boat." Pengrave and Val were well down the pier, heading to a boat, so Dent summoned a sea spirit, then sent it to use it's Fear power on Val, making her afraid of the water. As Val turned and ran back towards the team, Pengrave chased after her ... until Dent commanded the sea spirit to use its Confusion power on Pengrave. Pengrave immediately ran off the side of the pier and fell into the water. Eye Spy: "If only I had caught that on video." No-Step: (disguised as a marina security guard) "Are you okay ma'am?" Byte Force, concealed by No-Step's city spirit, snuck up behind Val and shot a narcojet dart at her ... but he missed her and hit No-Step. No-Step collapsed. As Val stared at No-Step in alarm, Byte Force shot another dart at her ... with much greater success. Byte Force: "At least I'm batting .500." Dent: "Remind me to always stand behind you when you're shooting."

The shadowrunners were an ork/troll group. Against stereotype, they specialized in stealth, subtlety, bluff, illusion, deception and misdirection. Cast of characters: Dent: ork, rat shaman No-Step: ork, snake shaman, healer Byte Force: ork, decker, chemist Eye Spy: ork, rigger, drones, paramedic Audacity Jane: ork, combat, stealth, security systems Jonathan Bridges / Happy Jack: troll, combat, disguise, negotiator "Face" Cooperman (NPC): a fixer; probably using the Genghis Khan dreamchip Dreamchipper - Kick the Khan This module was previously described by Drhoz (here). The team had determined who was in possession of the dreamchips ... but finding them and recovering them was a more difficult task. Since Jonathan Bridges and Cooperman were both fixers, it wouldn't seem too suspicious if Jonathan tried to meet Cooperman for a business deal. No-Step: "Were you able to arrange a meeting with Cooperman?" Jonathan Bridges: "According to the people I spoke with, Cooperman stopped returning calls a few weeks ago." No-Step: "So that's a dead end." Jonathan Bridges: "I wouldn't say that. Apparently he's quite the medieval history buff." No-Step: "He's using the chip, not selling it." Jonathan Bridges: "And he's the primary fixer for the Blood Rumblers go-gang." (pause) "I may not be able to reach Cooperman, but I bet we can find Genghis Khan's new horde." Byte Force: "Go-gangs are pretty mobile. How do we make a quiet run against a large, well-armed, moving target?" Eye Spy: "They have to sleep sometime." No-Step: "It's a large gang. They probably won't all sleep at the same time." Byte Force: "Why don't we 'accidentally' lose a few kegs of beer out of the van when we're near the Blood Rumblers. They'll take advantage of their 'good fortune', and we'll take advantage of their inebriation." (pause) "We can spike it to boost the alcohol content first, and put tracking devices on the kegs." No-Step: "Don't you think Cooperman will be too suspicious to fall for that?" Happy Jack: "I don't think Cooperman is running the show. The Genghis Khan chip is." The plan worked ... sort of ... Eye Spy: "Some of the gangers stopped to grab the kegs, but the rest of them are chasing me." Dent: "They're looking for more beer." Eye Spy: "I don't have any more!" Once again, the photoelectric paint job saved the day. Eye Spy broke line-of-sight, changed the paint scheme from a food service van to a Shiawase utility van, then put the van into a bootlegger turn so it was driving the opposite direction. Audacity Jane: "As soon as you get past them, break line-of-sight again, then change into Lone Star colors." Eye Spy: "Okay. Why?" Audacity Jane: "If they swing back around, I want to be able to shoot them without seeming out of character." The ruse worked, and the team was able to follow the tracking devices back to where The Blood Rumblers were. Unfortunately, the Blood Rumblers were having a meeting with a larger go-gang, the Red Rovers, and there wasn't enough booze to get them all completely drunk. Dent: (returning to his body after scouting Astrally) "They're forming an alliance. They're working out the details." Happy Jack: "Negotiations are a delicate thing. If something goes wrong, they could all pull out guns and start shooting." No-Step: "How do we get to Cooperman without turning this into a bloodbath?" Byte Force: "Can we spook them into running, then run them into a trap?" Happy Jack: "It would be easier to get them attacking us, then get them to chase us into a trap." Dent: "They have too much firepower for any of us to soak up, including you Jack." No-Step: "If they're shooting at my illusion, the amount of firepower doesn't matter." Happy Jack: "So they chase your bait down a dark alley. We create chaos, grab Cooperman, then split." Eye Spy: "Creating chaos ... that's playing to our strengths." No-Step: (decribing the illusion he intended to use) "Two little old ladies, wearing flannel nightgowns, riding on an underpowered motor scooter. The will both be swearing at the go-gang, and the one in back will be shooting at them wildly with an Uzi III." Eye Spy: "They won't chase that. They'll be falling over laughing." Audacity Jane: "If you really want to enrage the go-gangers, have your little old ladies shoot at their bikes." Byte Force: "We need to lubricate the pavement and get an 80 motorcycle pile-up." Dent: "We don't have anywhere near that much lubricant." Byte Force: "Water is a lubricant. Find a fire hydrant." The team had additional ideas of how to cause a massive accident. Byte Force: "Use flash-paks to blind them." Audacity Jane: "Use smoke grenades to blind them." Dent: "Use the city spirits' Accident power." Happy Jack: "Use a concussion grenade to knock the ones in front off their bikes." Dent: "Now that's just overkill." Audacity Jane: "I can narcojet Cooperman, but how are we going to get him out of the alley?" Happy Jack: "You rappel down into the alley, tie a rope around him, and I pull him up to us." Audacity Jane: "You expect me to drop down into the middle of an alley filled with angry go-gangers?" Happy Jack: "Drop a tear gas grenade first. That should clear you some elbow room." Audacity Jane: "You expect me to drop down into the middle of a cloud of tear gas?" Happy Jack: "Wear a gas mask ... or are you worried that it's going to mess up your hair?" Audacity Jane gave Happy Jack an icy stare. Eye Spy: "Jack, you are either the bravest man I have ever met, or you have a deathwish." Happy Jack: "Jane's not going to kill me. She may need me to pull her up out of the alley." Audacity Jane: "Do you expect me to forget what you said afterwards?" Happy Jack: "I'll figure out some other way to be completely indispensable by then." Audacity Jane: "Some of the go-gangers might be able to see through the smoke. Or they might start shooting randomly." Dent: "We'll have to get them fleeing mindlessly in fear." Audacity Jane: "Some people respond to fear by going full-auto." No-Step: "I'll use some watcher spirits to make sure they're doing 'flight' instead of 'fight'." Byte Force: "Nobody in their right mind is scared of watcher spirits." No-Step: "In the middle of a cloud of smoke, nobody can see that they're watchers. They're just disembodied voices." Audacity Jane: "What can they say that's going to terrify go-gangers?" Several minutes later, in the accident filled, smoke filled alley.... Watcher spirits: "OH MY GOD !! I smell gas! They're going to burn us alive! RUN !!" As the team was driving away... Dent: "Should I take Cooperman's chip out?" No-Step: "Wait until Eye Spy can monitor his vitals." Dent: "Should I hold off on doing Mind Probe?" No-Step: "Go ahead and do it. Tee Hee said these chips could do brain damage. I'd like a 'before' and 'after' picture." Later, Eye Spy, No-Step and Dent monitored Cooperman as they removed the Genghis Khan chip. Eye Spy: "He's flatlining!" Dent: (still maintaining the Mind Probe) "He's dead." No-Step: (casting Treat Deadly Wounds) "He's. Not. Dead. Yet." Eye Spy: "That was cool." Byte Force: "Except for the Monty Python quote." Dent: "Well, he is a snake shaman." Audacity Jane: (speed-dialing an organ legger) "We've got a fresh one for you ... oh ... wait ... false alarm. Sorry."

I wish this campaign was still running. But it's fun to dredge through the old memories (even if it's somewhat inaccurately) and entertain others with the shenanigans. Urlan really seems biased against Martelli Jr., not orks in general. It would be easier to argue that the author of the module was biased against orks. For example, in the background description for Martelli it says: "He grew up rough and mean. By his 18th birthday, he was spending weeks away from home, usually in the Ork underground." Obviously, as PCs we weren't reading that. But if you're trying to demonstrate how bad the antagonist is, you probably want to say something with more juice than "He hangs out in the same neighborhood where the PCs live." But when we handed the GM a solid premise for a follow-on adventure ("Make sure Martelli wins"), he was certainly willing to run with it. Ratting out Global would have been a simpler way of taking Urlan down a peg, but that course of action would have been as unpalatable to a few of the PCs as monogamy would be to Inkubus. SR may not have the concept of PsychLims, but a good role-player will certainly include a few ... just on general principles.

The shadowrunners were an ork/troll group. Against stereotype, they specialized in stealth, subtlety, bluff, illusion, deception and misdirection. Cast of characters: Dent: ork, rat shaman No-Step: ork, snake shaman, healer Byte Force: ork, decker, chemist Eye Spy: ork, rigger, drones, paramedic Audacity Jane: ork, combat, stealth, security systems Jonathan Bridges / Happy Jack: troll, combat, disguise, negotiator Urlan Manes (NPC): President/CEO of Global Technologies; hired the team to recover stolen goods Roxanne Wunter (NPC): Senior VP at Global; Urlan's liaison to the team Thomas Martelli Jr. (NPC): Senior VP at Global; Urlan's rival Tee Hee (NPC): a decker, a thief, and a former Global employee BTL chips: "better-than-life" chips; stick one in your datajack and get an illegal high; addictive; repeated use causes brain damage; the 2050 equivalent of hardcore drugs Dreamchipper - What do you do with a captured decker? This module was previously described by Drhoz (here). The team had been hired to recover several chips stolen from Global Technologies. Tee Hee (one of the thieves) had been captured by the team ... but he didn't have the data chips. Dent took the usual shortcut of using Mind Probe on Tee Hee, who turned out to be a treasure trove of information. Dent: "A fixer named Cooperman made the arrangements for the theft. But Thomas Martelli was the person who bribed Tee Hee and told him to follow Cooperman's instructions." Happy Jack: "How much was the bribe?" Dent: "A Fairlight Excalibur cyberdeck." Byte Force: "Most deckers would betray anyone for a Fairlight Excalibur." No-Step: "Does that mean we need to start worrying about your loyalty?" Byte Force: "I can't be bought that easily." Dent: "Because we already stole one for you." Dent: "Tee Hee calls these things Dreamchips. They're a skillchip that uses experimental BTL technology." Byte Force: "Why on earth would they do that?" Dent: "They're using it to bypass the normal limitations on a skillchip. The Dreamchip contains a false personality which overrides the user's normal personality. Somehow that allows the chip to transfer more skills to the user." No-Step: "And the false personality controls the user's actions?" Dent: "Yes. They're planning to sell these to the military. They could create instant soldiers, officers, spies and assassins." No-Step: "That's unethical. There ought to be a law against that." Dent: "There is. The use of BTL technology makes it illegal. They're counting on the military not caring." Happy Jack: "That's probably why they want to keep this job particularly quiet." Audacity Jane: "Do we get a bonus if we 'silence' the thieves?" When Tee Hee trashed the R&D files, he left an uncorrupted copy on Thomas Martelli's datastore. It was time for the decker to earn his dues. Byte Force: (to Dent) "Fish around in Tee Hee's brain for a map to Global's computer network." Dent: "They probably changed the security codes since he left." Byte Force: "That's true, but they probably didn't change the system architecture." Byte Force found everything he was looking for, and a lot more. Thomas Martelli had instigated the plot. He had contacted Booker Pengrave, an executive at Hollywood Simsense Entertainment, a rival simsense company. By stealing the Dreachip prototypes and R&D, Global's value would crash. HSE and Pengrave would be able to acquire Global cheaply. Then HSE could manufacture and sell the Dreamchips. For his role, Thomas Martelli would become an executive at HSE. Eye Spy: "I think Urlan made the understatement of the year when he called Junior 'an annoyance'." Dent: "When are you going to pass this information on to Roxanne?" Happy Jack: "For now, I'm not." Eye Spy: "Why not?" Happy Jack: "Urlan is paying us to recover the stolen merchandise, not for information related to the thieves. He was quite specific about that. I'm willing to sell him the information we've discovered, but he hasn't paid us for it yet." Byte Force: "I found some notes about the team that did the run on Global. They say that 'Val' the rigger is running 'Cleo'. They also say that 'Griffin' the street samurai is 'messed up with Jack the Ripper'." (pause) "What personalities are on those Dreamchips?" Dent used Mind Probe on Tee Hee again. Dent: "Jack the Ripper, Cleopatra and Genghis Khan." Eye Spy: "What kind of lunatic would think those personalities were a great idea?" Audacity Jane: "People who watch the history channel for fun." Dent: "Apparently the Jack-the-Ripper chip started out as a spy, but it turned out to be too homicidal ... so they turned it into an assassin." Byte Force: "I know that strategy of product design. It's not a bug. It's a feature." Dent: "The Genghis Khan chip is supposed to have all of the skills to be a great military leader." No-Step: "So it turns the user into a megalomaniac, then gives him the skills to carry those ambitions to fruition." Dent: "Without an army, that's not too dangerous." Audacity Jane: "And if he goes up to Fort Lewis and recruits an army...?" Eye Spy: "Oh @#$%! We're going to have to fight an entire army to get just one chip?" Audacity Jane: "No. At worst, that just means we'll need to get the chip out of a Fort Lewis morgue." Eye Spy: "The morgue?" Audacity Jane: "There's a long-standing tradition of snipers shooting military leaders." Dent: "The Cleopatra chip is designed for extended espionage assignments." Eye Spy: "And it's based entirely on powerful men's habit of doing all of their thinking below the waist." No-Step: "We should brainstorm who she might seduce. That might narrow down where we should investigate." Happy Jack: (ticking off on his fingers) "Governor Schultz, any general or admiral based in Seattle, any top executive at a Tier 1 or Tier 2 megacorp, any mafioso capo or yakuza oyabun..." (pause) "Have we narrowed our investigation down sufficiently?" No-Step: "..." Byte Force: "I discovered why Martelli and Urlan hate each other." (pause) "Martelli's father, Thomas Martelli, Sr., changed his will shortly after his son goblinized. Urlan became the new beneficiary." Eye Spy: "His father was such a racist that he disinherited his son? That sucks." No-Step: "Is Urlan a racist?" Happy Jack: "He and Roxanne clearly dislike Martelli, but I don't know whether that's racial bias or personal animosity." Dent: "Did either of them seem biased against you?" Happy Jack: "No, but some people have a bias against orks, but not trolls." (pause) "Urlan is clearly interested in keeping Martelli's inheritance for himself, regardless of racial bias." No-Step: "I'm not entirely certain we're working for the right side in all of this." Happy Jack: "I would say we're working for the wrong side. We don't help people oppress orks and trolls." (pause) "So how do we fulfill our agreement with Urlan, get paid, and still ensure that Martelli wins?" GM: (headdesk) There remained a small problem of what to do with Tee Hee. Jack and Jane solved the problem using a backboard, handcuffs, straps and a magemask. No-Step: "You two seem extremely competent at this. Is there something that you're not telling us?" Audacity Jane: "Why don't I tie you up the same way, then you can find out for yourself." Happy Jack also plugged Tee Hee into a simsense player. Happy Jack: "It's hard to plan an escape when you're immersed in an action VR." Dent: "Harder still if you plug him into porn." Happy Jack: "Given the number of sex scenes in the 'action' simsenses, there's not much difference." In order to give Tee Hee meals and bathroom breaks, Jack and Jane would turn off all the lights, then untie him (using their thermographic vision to watch him). Tee Hee: (sitting on the toilet in the dark) "It's no use. I can't go when somebody's watching me." Audacity Jane: "I'm tired of this drek. I'm just going to slit your throat and be done with it." Tee Hee had the predictable involuntary reaction to overwhelming fear. Audacity Jane: "It looks like you can go when somebody's watching you." Next ... Kick the Khan.

The shadowrunners were an ork/troll group. Against stereotype, they specialized in stealth, subtlety, bluff, illusion, deception and misdirection. Cast of characters: Dent: ork, rat shaman No-Step: ork, snake shaman, healer Byte Force: ork, decker, chemist Eye Spy: ork, rigger, drones, paramedic Audacity Jane: ork, combat, stealth, security systems Jonathan Bridges / Happy Jack: troll, combat, disguise, negotiator Mr. Johnson (NPC): the name given to anonymous employers of shadowrunners Dreamchipper - Upper Management This module was previously described by Drhoz (here and here). Ms. Johnson: "I am looking for some professionals to assist my employer in retrieving some stolen property. The job must be carried out by a low-profile group that can recover the goods with a minimum of attention. Are you whom I am looking for?" Jonathan Bridges: "The people I work with specialize in 'low-profile' and 'minimum of attention.' As long as the price is right, I'll make it happen." Ms. Johnson: "Excellent. This is not exactly the place for a business meeting. We will meet at The Banshee at exactly 1:00 a.m. Ask for Urlan." Jonathan Bridges: (muttering to himself as she walked away) "The Banshee isn't exactly a great place for a business meeting either." No-Step: "Ms. Johnson has a tail. He didn't look like a second bodyguard." Jonathan Bridges: "Let's tail the tail. I'd like to get acquainted with the opposition." Concealed by No-Step's city spirit, the pair easily tailed Ms. Johnson, her bodyguard, and their tail ... until Ms. Johnson boarded a private helicopter.... Jonathan Bridges: "She can afford a private helicopter, but she can't afford to meet anyplace nicer than a dive bar in the Barrens?" No-Step pulled out his binoculars, to get a better look at the helicopter. The tail pulled out a phone, presumably to report in. Happy Jack pulled out his collapsible naginata, to terminate the call before it happened. [shhkkkht] tail: (seeing a well-dressed troll holding a naginata) "Oh God! No!!" Jonathan Bridges: (slamming the blunt end of the haft into the tail) "At least you got my name right." Ms. Johnson's tail was just a street snitch who had been hired over the phone, for 100 nuyen, to see who she met with. Thanks to No-Step's binoculars (and the orkish ability to see in the dark), the team was able to determine that the helicopter belonged to Global Technologies, a small local skillsoft and simsense corporation. Eye Spy: "It's a small company named 'Global'. I think somebody's compensating for something." Important global employees (NPCs): Urlan Manes: president and CEO of Global Technologies; Native American; presumably the "Urlan" Jonathan was going to meet with Roxanne Wunter: VP of Global's skillsoft division; also the Ms. Johnson at the previous meeting Thomas Martelli / Junior: VP of Global's entertaniment division; an ork Byte Force: "Whatever they need us for, it's big. It involves the CEO and a senior VP." Happy Jack: "According to my contacts, their annual shareholders' meeting is Friday. It's shaping up to be a showdown between Urlan Manes and Thomas Martelli." No-Step: "So the snitch could have been hired for some intracorporate spying unrelated to the theft." Audacity Jane: "That doesn't help much if Martelli starts interfering with our investigation." Happy Jack: "A boardroom battle may explain the secrecy. They may be trying to hide the theft from the shareholders ... or from Martelli." No-Step: "Don't knock out the next snitch, Jack. Let's see if we can feed him misinformation instead." Roxanne clearly expected the team to arrive just before 1 a.m., giving them plenty of time to arrive first. The team decided to arrive first and do a proper reconnaissance. No-Step: "There's a front bar that's full of customers. There's a back bar that's currently empty. Then there's a private back room off of that back bar." Dent: "Kind of obvious where the meeting is." Audacity Jane and Dent stationed themselves in the front bar, posing as normal customers. Urlan and Roxanne arrived 20 minutes early, accompanied by two bodyguards. Since the bar lacked magickal protections, No-Step and a hearth spirit stood watch in the Astral. Jonathan arrived 3 minutes before 1 a.m. And was directed to the back bar, where Roxanne and the bodyguards waited. Jonathan Bridges: "Good to see you again, Ms. Wunter. Shall we step into the back room and speak with Mr. Manes?" Roxanne Wunter: "How do you know who we are?" Jonathan Bridges: "You're hiring a team of investigators. I asked them to demonstrate their competence." Roxanne Wunter: "..." Jonathan Bridges: "As you were leaving our previous meeting someone tailed you." Roxanne Wunter: "Who?" Jonathan Bridges: (showing her a picture of the unconscious tail) "Anyone you know?" Roxanne escorted Jonathan into the back room, which was appointed with a vinyl couch a card table, a few chairs, and a naked light bulb dangling from the ceiling. Jonathan Bridges: "Mr. Manes. I see you chose this spot for the ambiance." Urlan Manes: (turning on the white noise generator) "No ... for the amenities." Urlan Manes: "Last night, a member of my staff assisted several thieves in stealing three data chips from my company. Although security put up a spirited defense, all of the thieves managed to get away. I must have these chips back. The thieves are of little consequence. The stolen merchandise is vital." Jonathan Bridges: "I like clear priorities." Urlan Manes: "Time is of the essence. However, you must complete this job silently. Even a hint of your activities could be disastrous." Jonathan Bridges: "My team prefers quiet jobs. I'm sure the current possessor of your property will eventually notice that it's missing, however." Of course, the meeting was interrupted by someone who already knew about the "quiet" job. Audacity Jane: (over the radio link to Jonathan) "Heads up. There's a well-dressed ork headed your way, plus four bodyguards armed with sliverguns." Jonathan jumped up from his chair and braced himself against the door. Urlan Manes: "What are you doing?" Jonathan Bridges: "Are you expecting company? A well-dressed ork with an armed entourage?" Urlan and Roxanne: (looking at each other and rolling their eyes) "Junior." Jonathan Bridges: "Junior?" Urlan Manes: "Thomas Martelli, Jr. His late father founded Global's entertainment division. Junior is the VP of that division." [thud] Someone tried to slam open the door ... with a spectacular lack of success ... thanks to the troll braced against it. Jonathan Bridges: (opening the door) "Mr. Martelli. I'm Jonathan Bridges. It's a pleasure to meet you." (pause) "Would you mind having your bodyguards stay out here? Nobody else brought theirs into the meeting." Thomas Martelli, Jr.: "And what if they decide not to stay out here?" Jonathan Bridges: "If your bodyguards try to force their way into this room, my bodyguards might interpret that as a hostile act, which would be ... unfortunate." Thomas looked past Jonathan, but only saw Urlan and Roxanne. He then looked around the back bar, but only saw his four bodyguards, Urlan's bodyguard and Roxanne's bodyguard. Thomas Martelli, Jr.: (sneering) "What bodyguards. I don't see any bodyguards." Jonathan Bridges: "Good." Thomas Martelli, Jr.: "..." Jonathan stepped aside to let Thomas in. Thomas Martelli, Jr.: (entering the room) "Urlan, and the lovely Roxanne. It seems I was not notified of this impromptu company meeting." Urlan Manes: (smiling smugly) "I left a message. Perhaps if you check your voice mail?" Thomas Martelli, Jr.: (sarcastically) "Of course you did." (looking over at Jonathan) "Is this your investigator? How delightful." Jonathan Bridges: "I'm a fixer. I employ investigators. And other ... talented individuals." Thomas Martelli, Jr.: (giving a wheezing laugh) "You will, no doubt, prove as efficient and loyal as Urlan's pet, Tee Hee." Urlan turned red at that statement. Thomas Martelli, Jr.: (leaving the room) "If you need my assistance, well, you know where to find me." Urlan assured Jonathan that "Junior" was merely an annoyance, and unrelated to the investigation. Tee Hee, on the other hand, was Urlan's (former) star programmer. He had assisted the thieves in the heist, and had thoroughly wiped the R&D files for the experimental chips. He was also the naive and forgetful sort. Roxanne had gone to his apartment, only to discover that he'd been kicked out weeks before for forgetting to pay his rent. No-Step (ooc): I think this team is full of experts on figuring out where people end up when they can't afford their rent. Urlan Manes offered the right price, so the meeting concluded. Forewarned by the events at the previous location, they quickly noticed that someone was tailing Jonathan. Jonathan Bridges: (over the radio link) "Here's a perfect opportunity to spread some disinformation, but we only have a couple minutes to come up with a plan and implement it." No-Step: "No problem. It's never taken less than thirty minutes to come up with a plan before." Eye Spy: "We could disguise ourselves as Lone Star and arrest you." Dent: "What does that accomplish?" Eye Spy: "Um..." Byte Force: "They will think Jack's in jail, rather than investigating anything." Eye Spy: "Yeah. What he said." It took less than an hour to determine that Tee Hee was crashing at the apartment of a former Seattle University professor. Dent: "Sleep with your professors. Get good grades -and- free rent." No-Step: "It worked for you." Tee Hee was easily and quietly abducted from the apartment. Eye Spy: "That seemed too easy. Does anyone else think that was too easy?" Audacity Jane: "You're accustomed to performing extractions from corporate high security sites. Extractions from low security apartments are supposed to be easy by comparison." Byte Force: "That professor is going to be surprised to wake up and find Tee Hee gone." Dent: "If Tee Hee's as much of an airhead as Roxanne said, then he won't be surprised. Disappointed, but not surprised." Next ... What do you do with a captured decker early in the morning?

Best part of the whole adventure.

The shadowrunners were an ork/troll group. Against stereotype, they specialized in stealth, subtlety, bluff, illusion, deception and misdirection. Cast of characters: Dent: ork, rat shaman No-Step: ork, snake shaman, healer Byte Force: ork, decker, chemist Eye Spy: ork, rigger, drones, paramedic Audacity Jane: ork, combat, stealth, security systems Jonathan Bridges / Happy Jack: troll, combat, disguise, negotiator Mr. Johnson (NPC): the name given to anonymous employers of shadowrunners The Elementals (NPCs) Whispering Wind: female human singer Wildfire: male elf guitarist Coyote: male human bassist Bambi: male troll drummer Total Eclipse - The Video This module was previously described by Drhoz (here and here). A music corp. executive (and spider shaman) had hired the team to abduct a hot, new band ... The Elementals. Jonathan, Jane and No-Step delivered The Elementals to Mr. Johnson's penthouse. After paying them the remainder of what they were due, Mr. Johnson urged them to wait in the living room (accompanied by his bodyguard and another well-dressed individual) while he spoke with The Elementals privately in the study. Afterwards, Mr. Johnson and and The Elementals were all smiles ... and Mr. Johnson had another job for the team. Mr. Johnson, The Elementals and Lupus (the well-dressed individual) wanted to shoot a music trideo at a particular location ... about a one-day hike across the border into NAN territory. They didn't have permits to travel and film in NAN, so they wanted to hire the team to sneak them across the border, and escort them two and from the location. And they wanted to leave immediately, in order to do the filming the following night. Jonathan Bridges drove a hard bargain, and Mr. Johnson seemed quite willing to pay it, right up until they hit a sticking point... Mr. Johnson: "I simply can't pay you half up front. I don't have the certified credsticks with me." Jonathan Bridges: "Then you can pick up the certified credsticks en route to the NAN border. Alternatively, you can wire the money to a numbered account." Mr. Johnson: "I can't see why you're demanding half up front. I've already demonstrated that I'm willing and able to pay for your services." Jonathan Bridges: "Trust in the shadowrunning business is a very delicate thing. And in my past experience, Mr. Johnsons are most likely to refuse to pay half up front if they're planning to backstab us." Mr. Johnson: "Did I backstab you last time?" Jonathan Bridges: "No. And you also paid half up front last time." Mr. Johnson: "With the amount I'm paying for this job, I would think you would extend me a bit of trust." Jonathan Bridges: "Quite the opposite. If a client offers us 10 million nuyen, but refuses to pay any up front, I would assume that his generosity was due to the fact that he intended to kill us, rather than paying us." Mr. Johnson decided he would get the team's credsticks on the drive to the border. Audacity Jane: (when the team was back in the van) "Johnson's still going to try to kill us." Happy Jack: "Of course he is. He only caved on paying us half in order to make us less suspicious." Audacity Jane: "And because he thinks he can get his credsticks back after killing us." Eye Spy: "Why did we agree to this job?" Happy Jack: "So we can collect half the pay ... and keep our word." Eye Spy: "Great. We know he's going to kill us, and we're still working for him ... for half pay." No-Step: "The Elementals are all wearing spell locks. Some kind of manipulation spell." Dent: "Control Thoughts." Happy Jack: "It seems likely." Dent: "Is Mr. Johnson controlling Lupus?" No-Step: "Not that directly. But Lupus is a wolf shapeshifter." Audacity Jane: "And apparently he likes to advertise that fact." Dent: "Breaking spell locks isn't that hard, but shapeshifters have regeneration. They're almost impossible to kill." Audacity Jane: "Thanks for the warning. Leave him to me." Dent: "You don't understand. He can ignore wounds. Even lethal ones. He will heal in seconds." Audacity Jane: "I have a clip of silver bullets." Dent: (long pause) "That ... that would do it." Mr. Johnson found other things to object to. Like Eye Spy and Byte Force remaining with the van in Seattle territory. Mr. Johnson: "I'm paying you to escort us to the film location. I'm not going to pay for two of you to sit in the van and wait for us to return." Happy Jack: "The rigger will watching for patrols with her drones. She does better when she's not blindly stumbling face-first into trees. The decker will be snooping around the NAN Border Security networks. He needs a cell signal to connect to the matrix. What do you expect them to accomplish by hiking through a forest?" After the rest of the team had hiked into the forest... Byte Force: (to Eye Spy) "Let's move the van to a new hiding spot." Eye Spy: "Why?" Byte Force: "Mr. Johnson knows where we're parked. If he's really serious about killing us off, he'll arrange for someone to kill us at the same time as he tries to kill the rest of the team." Eye Spy: "I'm glad I have you around. I just thought he was going to kill the rest of the team, then come back and finish us off himself." The hikers encountered a NAN border patrol, but a forest spirit's Concealment power was enough to keep them from being discovered. The real excitement happened when they arrived at the location for the trideo ... a clearing containing a number of large stone slabs in an apparently random pattern. Mr. Johnson: "Why are we stopping?" Audacity Jane: "There's a banshee and a pack of ghouls in the clearing." Mr. Johnson: (smiling nastily) "Well, that's the kind of problem you were hired to take care of. Hurry up and clear the area. Time is money." No-Step: (quietly) "He's a real sweetheart." Dent: (to Jane) "Silver bullets work on banshees." Audacity Jane: "I'm going to need to save some for later." Dent: "You're a crack shot. How many times do you expect to have to shoot it?" Audacity Jane killed the banshee. Happy Jack killed most of the ghouls. The ones that fled were hunted down by Dent's and No-Step's spirits. Happy Jack: (looking at the carnage in the clearing) "I hope The Elementals aren't squeamish." The clearing was cleared of corpses. Lights and cameras were set up to catch the performance from every angle. No-Step: (over the radio link) "He's setting up the music video in a Place of Power for 'artistic integrity'? This has the potential for major Ritual Magick." Audacity Jane: "You know what happens when you disrupt this kind of ritual." Dent: "No, we don't." Audacity Jane: "Well ... you'll find out soon." After the preparations were made, Dent, Jane and No-Step faded back into the forest, while Jack remained in the clearing. Right before No-Step headed into the forest, he augmented Happy Jack's willpower (using the Snake totem's affinity for health spells). No-Step: "Try not to let Mr. Johnson control what little mind you have." Mr. Johnson: "Why did your friends go into the forest?" Happy Jack: "They're keeping a perimeter, just in case another NAN patrol shows up, or stray ghouls return." Mr. Johnson: "Why aren't you with them?" Happy Jack: "Just in case something makes it past the perimeter." Mr. Johnson: "What was that health spell your friend cast on you?" Happy Jack: "Health spell? That makes sense." Mr. Johnson: "What makes sense?" Happy Jack: "A health spell. I'm always the first one shot." Mr. Johnson: "Why are you the first one shot?" Happy Jack: "It must be anti-troll bigotry." (Mr. Johnson apparently didn't notice that Happy Jack was carrying a mini-grenade launcher ... which was the real reason he was consistently the first one shot.) The Elementals' performance looked visually spectacular ... particularly to the shamans assencing the astral plane. No-Step: (over the radio link) "The Elementals' song ... it's a magickal ritual!" Audacity Jane: "Cut the suspense. What is it doing?" No-Step: "It's a spiritual healing ritual. I think it's capable of healing an injured or dying spirit." Audacity Jane: "What kind of spirit is he healing?" No-Step: "I can't tell that yet." Audacity Jane: "I'm not that interested in finding out. I'm dropping Johnson in 3, 2, 1." Mr. Johnson sprouted a couple narcojet darts. Happy Jack fired a neuro-stun grenade into the middle of The Elementals. The elf street samurai and Lupus lept to their defense ... rather ineffectively. And then the sprit manifested. A hideous, deformed, three meter tall spider-like THING. Dent: "Ahhh, bite me." No-Step: "I'm sure he will." hideous spider-like thing: "I. Will. FEEEED." Happy Jack: "It looks like you've already had a double-helping of ugly." And serendipity smiled on the team. Powerful spirits are essentially immune to ranged weapons. Melee weapons can harm them, but the damage isn't based on the wielder's physical strength, but rather their strength of will. No-Step, feeling paranoid about Mr. Johnson using Control Thoughts on Happy Jack, had enhanced Jack's mediocre willpower. Followed by more serendipity. Audacity Jane: I might as well shoot it. I've got nothing else. GM: Which ammo are you using? Audacity Jane: It's still silver bullets. I didn't have a chance to swap it out after Lupus. GM: (headdesk) Dent: It's vulnerable to silver too? Once the spell locks were removed, The Elementals returned to their normal selves. Whispering Wind: (furious) "I can't believe that you kidnapped us, mind controlled us and nearly got us killed by that THING!!" Happy Jack: "We only abducted you. That fellow" (pointing at Mr. Johnson) "mind controlled you and tried to feed you to a spider monster. As you may remember, he lied to us about those parts of his plan." Whispering Wind: "Why would you do that kind of thing?!?" Happy Jack: "Abduct you? We were paid to. Rather well." Coyote: "What happens next?" No-Step: "Well, we were hired to sneak all of you into NAN territory, and then sneak you out again. Unless you want to stay here, we're perfectly willing to escort you back home." Whispering Wind: "Provided you get paid, right?" Happy Jack: (pointing at Mr. Johnson) "He's the one who promised to pay us. It seems likely that he intends to stiff us..." Dent: "Particularly since he already tried to kill us." Happy Jack: "But that just means he gets to talk to our collections department later." (pause) "So your trip home is being covered by him." During the drive back into Seattle... Byte Force: (handing a set of chips to Bambi) "I finished cleaning these up. They're yours." Bambi: "What are they?" Byte Force: "90% of a music video for your song, 'Healing the Spirit'." Bambi: "90%?" Byte Force: "I edited out some of the parts at the end, like you collapsing and the giant spider materializing. They didn't seem to fit the general theme of the song." Wildfire: "What happens to Mr. Johnson now?" Happy Jack: "He tried to stiff us, and he tried to kill us. So we're going to collect as much money as we can from him, and then he's going to disappear." Wildfire: "What if he decides to return?" Audacity Jane: "We're not going to tell him to disappear. We're going to make him disappear." After returning the band to their studio. Eye Spy: "I'm worried about selling Johnson to the organ-leggers. He could escape, or bribe them into letting him go." Audacity Jane: "Good point. Give him a frontal lobotomy before we deliver him." Eye Spy: "Me?!? I've never done one of those before. I don't even know how." Audacity Jane: "Relax. If you completely screw up, you'll end up with a cooling corpse ... which is a reasonable second-best alternative." No-Step: "That's a really horrible thing to do to someone." Audacity Jane: "Yes it is ... but do you care?" No-Step: (stopping to think about it) "You know, in this case I don't. Carry on."

The shadowrunners were an ork/troll group. Against stereotype, they specialized in stealth, subtlety, bluff, illusion, deception and misdirection. Dent: ork, rat shaman No-Step: ork, snake shaman, healer Byte Force: ork, decker, chemist Eye Spy: ork, rigger, drones, paramedic Audacity Jane: ork, combat, stealth, security systems Jonathan Bridges / Happy Jack: troll, combat, disguise, negotiator Mr. Johnson (NPC): the name given to anonymous employers of shadowrunners Total Eclipse - Contract (Re)Negotiation This module was previously described by Drhoz (here and here). Mr. Johnson wanted to meet Jonathan at a strip club called the Pink Pitbull. No-Step: "Judging by the name, its clearly a high class establishment." Dent: "It probably has back rooms for very, very private 'dances'." Eye Spy: "Just imagine all the things you could catch from the joygirls." Dent: "Or the joyboys. Which clientele does it service?" Jonathan Bridges: "I don't particularly care. It's just as easy to throw a couple bills at boys or girls. And I don't need any of the services they provide." No-Step: (scoffing) "You're getting serviced somewhere else?" Jonathan Bridges: "Virtual Vicky. She doesn't spread STDs." Audacity Jane: "You can still pick up other kinds of viruses from that stuff." Byte Force: "I check them out first to make sure they're clean." Eye Spy: "I'll bet you check them out. Verrrry thoroughly." Byte Force: "I walked right into that one, didn't I?" The afternoon "crowd" at the Pink Pitbull consisted of a Japanese businessman, an elf street samurai (presumably a bodyguard) and Mr. Johnson ... a native American businessman ... who was magickally awakened. Dent: "He's probably a shaman." No-Step: "Don't let yourself be blinded by stereotypes. Not all awakened Native Americans are shamans. Some are hermetics." Happy Jack: "And corps prefer to hire hermetics over shamans. Something about that rules-driven mindset." No-Step: "Speaking of being blinded by stereotypes...." Magickal pedigree aside, Mr. Johnson worked for an entertainment corp who needed a group of wayward musicians returned to the company fold. Mr. Johnson: "They are a band called The Elementals. They are cutting their first audiochip with my company, but artistic tempers flared at some of the company's suggestions. They stormed out of the recording studio, taking the only copy of their album with them." Due to the imminent release of the album, the band and the album needed to be retrieved quietly ... and very, very quickly. Mr. Johnson: "I would like you to gently persuade the band members to meet with me at my condo no later than midnight tonight. I believe we can work something out, bury the hatchet, if I just have the chance to talk privately." Jonathan Bridges: "How 'gently' do they need to be 'persuaded'? You have a very narrow time frame, so there's a limit to the subtle pressure we can apply." Mr. Johnson: "I believe I can provide something to help you in this task." Mr. Johnson handed Jonathan a package containing six narcojet pistols. Jonathan Bridges: "I understand your meaning perfectly. However, I insist that our payment is contingent upon the band and album being delivered in good condition, not on the outcome of the negotiations. It has been my experience that being drugged and abducted typically generates more bad feelings than mere 'artistic differences' do." Mr. Johnson also provided pictures of the band members, and the location of their space they were using for a studio ... which happened to be in a very public and well-patrolled area. He also stressed that it was important that the team not be seen with The Elementals near their studio. Eye Spy: "Are we going to tail The Elementals home from their studio and grab them?" Byte Force: "That will only work if they all travel and live together. What if they go four different ways?" Dent: "Maybe we can grab all of them and the album at the studio." Eye Spy: "The studio is in a heavily patrolled neighborhood." Happy Jack: "That means they'll feel safe and secure." The recording studio was in a small commercial buildings. One of the other tenants was a small bank. Audacity Jane: "If the bank employees are properly paranoid, any commotion could lead to a silent alarm." Dent: "So what. I'll use a Silence spell. We could set off grenades without anyone hearing a thing." Byte Force: "Their equipment is fairly valuable. They probably keep the door locked." Happy Jack: "I'll talk them into letting me in. I'll pretend that I work for a club that wants to book them." No-Step: "You don't look like a nightclub manager." Happy Jack: "I'm a troll. I look like every nightclub bouncer." No-Step: "Why would a bouncer be inviting them to play at a club?" Happy Jack: "Let me worry about that. Byte Force, can you find a hot club that they haven't been booked at yet?" Byte Force: (after searching for a couple minutes) "They haven't been booked at the Psychedelic Miracle yet." Happy Jack: (giving Byte Force a withering stare) "Did you choose that just to annoy me?" Happy Jack started looking through the clothes he had stashed in the van for loud, garish clubware. Audacity Jane: "Just wear something colorful." Happy Jack: "I'm trying for something between colorful and 'makes your eyes bleed'." No-Step performed astral reconnaisance. No-Step: "All four of them are there, but it looks like they're getting ready to leave." Happy Jack: "Time for me to go stall them. Jane and Dent, let me know when you're ready to be let in." Dent: "Try not to look intimidating. They might refuse to let you in." Happy Jack: "Nah. Their drummer is a troll. I'm no more intimidating than him." The Elementals (NPCs) Whispering Wind: female human singer Wildfire: male elf guitarist Coyote: male human bassist Bambi: male troll drummer Bambi: (answering the studio door) "What do you want?" Happy Jack: "Duuuuude! Man! I am so glad to see you. My manager has been trying to reach you for weeks." Bambi: "Who are you?" Happy Jack: "I'm Sunflower, the bouncer at The Psychadelic Miracle." Bambi: "Your name is Sunflower?" Sunflower / Happy Jack: "Uh huh." Bambi: "And I thought my name was bad." After stepping inside the recording studio. Wildfire: "I don't think we're the kind of band you guys normally book." Sunflower / Happy Jack: "But you're HOT! You're hotter than hot. You're like thermonuclear heat wave hot." Whispering Wind: "We're kind of busy right now with getting our album out." Sunflower / Happy Jack: "Will you at least stop by and talk to my manager? Please, please, please, please, PLEEEEEEEEEEASE." (pause to inhale) "Or at least call him. Calling him would be good too." Whispering Wind: (laughing) "Okay, okay. We'll find the time to call him." Sunflower / Happy Jack: "Oh thank you, thank you, thank you." Dent and Jane were in the hall, listening to the conversation over the radio link. Audacity Jane: (whispering to Dent) "It's a good thing their studio is sound-proofed, or they would hear you giggling through the door." Jack opened the door as if to leave, and Dent (concealed by a hearth spirit) cast Silence into the room. Jane followed it up with a spray of narcojet darts. As soon as everyone was down, Dent dropped the Silence spell. No-Step: "Did anyone figure out how we get them out of here?" Audacity Jane: "We stuff them into boxes. You cast Mask spells on Jack and me, so we look like we're band members. We take the boxes out to the van." Happy Jack: "Yeah. Disguise me like Bambi, obviously, and disguise Jane ... like Coyote." Audacity Jane: "You want him to disguise me as a man?" Happy Jack: "Does Whispering Wind look like the type who does her own heavy lifting?" A pair of local Lone Star patrolmen stopped Jack and Jane to see why they were hauling boxes to a van. Lone Star patrolman: "I need you to identify yourselves and explain what you're taking from this building." Happy Jack (disguised as Bambi): "We own this recording studio. One of our vendors sent us the wrong stuff. We're shipping it back and they're replacing it." Lone Star patrolman: "Is there anyone who can verify your story?" Happy Jack / Bambi: "We share this building with a bank. The bank guards should recognize us. They see us every day." Eye Spy (ooc): I think the bank guards were intended to be a complication, not an alibi. Dent read The Elementals' minds to find out where the master recording was. Dent: "I found the recording, but I also found something really weird." No-Step: "Weird how?" Dent: "They never worked for an entertainment corporation. No entertainment corporation has made a serious effort to recruit them. They've never seen Mr. Johnson before." Audacity Jane: (shrugging) "So Mr. Johnson lied. That happens all the time." No-Step: "Wait. Dent has a point. Why didn't Mr. Johnson try to recruit them before hiring us?" Happy Jack: "It's a good thing that we captured them so quickly. It gives us all evening to investigate our employer." People don't like it when shadowrunners ask questions ... and nosy shadowrunners sometimes get shot. But with the right disguise, people expect questions ... and the bullets end up aimed at the wrong target. Detective Williams / Happy Jack: (to the bartender) "You've been working here since you opened, right?" Pink Pitbull bartender: "Yeah." Detective Williams / Happy Jack: (showing a picture of Jonathan Bridges) "This troll came in earlier and met with someone. Did you see them?" Pink Pitbull bartender: "I'm not sure. It's kind of dark in here, and lots of people come and go." Detective Williams / Happy Jack: "Listen, drekhead, either you can answer my questions, or I'll call a couple uniformed officers to join me in here and we'll ask questions of every single sleazy customer of yours who comes through the door. And if we don't get answers today, we'll come back tomorrow, and the next day." (pause) "It may affect your business some, but that's hardly my concern." Pink Pitbull bartender: "Okay! I'll answer your questions. Yes, I saw the meet go down. I never saw the troll before today, but he met with one of our regulars. An Amerind. A shaman, I think. He was dressed better than normal for the meeting. He was wearing a suit." Detective Williams / Happy Jack: "How does he normally dress?" Pink Pitbull bartender: "Beaded leather buckskins. An old-fashioned hat with feathers stuck in it, and a spider on it." Detective Williams / Happy Jack: "There's a spider design on the hat?" Pink Pitbull bartender: "No! There's a real, live, fragging tarantula on his hat. All. The. Time." (pause) "But not today." Detective Williams / Happy Jack: "Does he have a name?" Pink Pitbull bartender: "I'm sure he's got a name, but nobody around here knows it. Nobody wants to talk to him. He's a big tipper, but he freaks all the girls out." Detective Williams / Happy Jack: "They're scared of the spider." Pink Pitbull bartender: "And they're more scared of him." Back in the van. No-Step: "If he's a spider shaman, those are seriously nasty business. That kind of totem makes a shaman go crazy." Byte Force: "He's supposedly having us deliver the band to his apartment. I can't tell if it's really his home, but it's a distinct possibility." Audacity Jane: "He doesn't trust us enough to tell the truth about the job ... but he trusts us enough to let us know where he hangs out ... and maybe even where he lives?" No-Step: "Maybe he thinks we'd refuse the job if we knew what it really entailed." Audacity Jane: "And maybe he plans to kill us when the job is over." No-Step: "Those aren't mutually exclusive." Audacity Jane: "I know." Happy Jack: (shrugging) "I distinctly remember agreeing to keep this job quiet and secret. We can carry out the agreement to the letter, then screw up whatever he plans next. We just can't tell anyone about it."

There was one problem with that. We knew Lone Star had video footage of the Junkyard incident. (They had released some of it to the media.) They suspected we had video footage. (Happy Jack strongly implied to Captain Grissim that it existed ... and the drones had recorded video footage.) It was pretty obvious from the video footage that Geyswain wasn't there. Captain Grissim probably wouldn't have bought a line of BS about Geyswain's involvement. We didn't really care if Lone Star wanted to claim Geyswain was involved, but they may have been reluctant to make such a claim, just in case we decided to embarrass them by proving that to be a lie. And there really wasn't a trusting relationship between the team and Lone Star. Except the team had been paid a few hundred thousand nuyen (by Bloodwing's employer) for the artifact ... with the explicit understanding that Bloodwing was going to be the delivery boy. Of course, if Lone Star had captured him and dumped the body in a toxic waste pit, we would have just shrugged our shoulders. Or to a private collector, where there's less paperwork. That was the gist of Happy Jack's sales pitch to the Tir Tairngire prince. I can sell this thing to a private collector for a lot more than 50,000 nuyen. Happy Jack didn't mention any magickal properties or magickal value of the artifact. The Tir prince probably thought he was getting a bargain ... until he realized the thing had been disenchanted ... and he'd actually paid closer to market price for the thing. Yep. It did. We kept our involvement quiet, but enough people in the right places knew enough pieces of the puzzle.

The shadowrunners were an ork/troll group. Against stereotype, they specialized in stealth, subtlety, bluff, illusion, deception and misdirection. Dent: ork, rat shaman No-Step: ork, snake shaman, healer Byte Force: ork, decker, chemist Eye Spy: ork, rigger, drones, paramedic Audacity Jane: ork, combat, stealth, security systems Happy Jack: troll, combat, disguise, negotiator Bloodwing (NPC): an elvish assassin who was trying to retrieve the Bottled Demon Captain Grissim (NPC): Lone Star officer in charge of the task force to capture Bloodwing Bottled Demon (my least favorite module of all time) This module was previously described by Drhoz (here). After defeating the dragon and capturing Bloodwing, the team celebrated their success. Byte Force: "This turned out to be a very good night. We captured Bloodwing..." Eye Spy: (interrupting) "We didn't die." Audacity Jane: "We killed a dragon." Eye Spy: "We didn't die." No-Step: "We stopped untold evil from being unleashed in Seattle." Happy Jack: "We got stiffed by Arleesh." Everyone turned to look at Happy Jack. Happy Jack: "Don't tell me that I'm the only one who noticed." The team captured Bloodwing, but he had credentials indicating that he was an associate ambassador of Tir Tairngire ... and therefore had diplomatic immunity. On the bright side, he seemed very interested in acquiring the artifact. Bloodwing: "The idol is stolen property of Tir Tairngire. I demand that you return it." Happy Jack: "Was that why you went into Geyswain's building? To retrieve it?" Bloodwing: "Yes. It is our property, and he had no right to it." (pause) "Are you really willing to anger the government of Tir Tairngire for it?" Happy Jack: "Let's be realistic here. I make a living selling stolen property to people ... and generally not the original owners." Bloodwing: (angrily) "I'll give you 50,000 nuyen for it. Non-negotiable." Happy Jack: "Non-negotiable? Bloodwing: (nodding) "Non-negotiable." Happy Jack: "In that case, no deal." Bloodwing: "What? How do you expect to sell a unique item like that on the black market?" Happy Jack: "Any number of private collectors would be willing to pay for it. It's a unique item that dates back to the Fourth Age. Tir Tairngire clearly considers it to be extremely valuable. It was valuable enough that you tried to steal it from a dragon. And Tir Tairngire's enemies would pay extra just to deprive them of it." Bloodwing called his employer, who apparently was willing to negotiate a much higher payment. Perhaps Arleesh didn't stiff the team after all. Dent: "That's hilarious. The Tir prince doesn't realize that it's powerless now." No-Step: "Well, he's not able to assence it over a vidphone, and Bloodwing can't assence it for him." Happy Jack: "And I certainly didn't feel the need to tell either of them." [rant]Here's another issue that I have with the module. Everyone believes that the idol is an extremely powerful focus, with some rather unique properties. Bloodwing (and his employer) don't realize that the thing no longer works. Despite this, they are supposedly only willing to pay 50,000 nuyen (non-negotiable) for a focus that could easily be sold for over a million nuyen ... even if it had no unique properties. In fact, the weakest focus of this type would be worth 100,000 nuyen. (The entire theme of the module revolves around how tempting this much power is.) Suddenly, at the end of the module, Bloodwing's employer decides that while he's willing to send an assassin to kill people in order to get this idol, he's not willing to pay any more than 50,000 nuyen for it.[/rant] Of course, Captain Grissim still wanted to capture Bloodwing ... and the team. Happy Jack: (calling Grissim while using a voice mask) "Captain Grissim, I'm calling to save your career." Captain Grissim: "My career doesn't need saving. But I would be willing to clear your names of the mess in the Junkyard in exchange for solid information about Bloodwing." Happy Jack: "We don't need our names cleared. But I'm willing to give you some solid information in exchange for your acknowledgement that we have done you a favor." Captain Grissim: "And you'll want to be paid with a favor of your choosing in the future? I don't think so." Happy Jack: "You aren't under any obligation to provide any favor ... unless you feel that it's sufficiently innocuous ... or somehow to your benefit." Captain Grissim: "Okay. What information do you have on Bloodwing?" Happy Jack: "I just sent you a link to two high-resolution pictures. One shows Bloodwing next to his credentials. the other is a picture of just the credentials. He's an associate Tir Tairngere ambassador. He has diplomatic immunity. Feel free to send them a picture of the credentials to verify their authenticity." Captain Grissim: (grimly) "My boss wants to pin the fiasco in the Junkyard on somebody. If Bloodwing is immune, he would be happy to pin it on you." Happy Jack: "Good luck with that. My client was meeting with an Tir Tairngere associate ambassador when Lone Star crashed in, guns blazing. Your men were most likely struck by ricochets from the Lone Star heavy machine gun on the APC. Your boss doesn't want the publicity. Especially when he can't pin anything on us beyond trespassing." Captain Grissim: "You've given me nothing with this information." Happy Jack: "Really? What kind of diplomatic incident would occur if Lone Star shot one of Tir Tairngere's associate ambassadors to Seattle? What level officer do you think Lone Star would sacrifice in order to keep their Seattle contract? Do you think they could pin this on anyone lower than the task force leader?" Captain Grissim: "..." Happy Jack: "I may be the bearer of bad news, but I saved your career ... Captain." Captain Grissim: "My boss isn't going to just drop the investigation. Not without a favorable resolution of some kind." Happy Jack: "I can provide a partial resolution. Bloodwing's two associates died inside Geyswain's building. You should be able to find their bodies there." Captain Grissim: "That's hardly a success." Happy Jack: "If you want a feather in your task force's hat, take full credit for taking down Geyswain after he murdered hundreds of people. Nobody else is going to take credit for putting him down."

That was brilliant. The shadowrunners were an ork/troll group. Against stereotype, they specialized in stealth, subtlety, bluff, illusion, deception and misdirection. Dent: ork, rat shaman No-Step: ork, snake shaman, healer Byte Force: ork, decker, chemist Eye Spy: ork, rigger, drones, paramedic Audacity Jane: ork, combat, stealth, security systems Jonathan Bridges / Happy Jack: troll, combat, disguise, negotiator Trixy (NPC): an elderly dog shaman; she was also one of the first magick users in Seattle Bottled Demon (my least favorite module of all time) - Dealing with a Dragon This module was previously described by Drhoz (here). The team had disposed of a dangerous idol by leaving it with Geyswain, a dragon, so he could destroy it. The following day, Trixy left word that someone wanted the team for a job. The team arranged for Ms. Johnson to pick Jonathan Bridges up in a limousine. Jonathan Bridges: (climbing into the limo and closing the door) "Ms. Johnson I presume?" Ms. Johnson: "I think it's time someone taught you and your team the difference between dragons." Jonathan raised an eyebrow. Ms. Johnson: "My name is Arleesh. I am great feathered serpent of ancient and honorable lineage. Until yesterday, you had in your possession an artifact of great power, a vessel of corruption. The dog shaman with whom you spoke was correct in saying that only a dragon has the wisdom to destroy the vessel, but unfortunately, her knowledge of dragons is as limited as yours." Jonathan Bridges: "That's understandable. The true experts on dragons are more interested in keeping their own secrets, rather than sharing them with the world at large." Arleesh/Ms. Johnson: "Geyswain is a lesser dragon. Instead of destroying the relic, he is attempting to learn the secrets of the idol and to harness its power. That must not happen." Jonathan Bridges: "The last two people who tried to use the artifact died within days. I ought to take out a life insurance policy on him." Arleesh/Ms. Johnson: "As this is partly your fault, you must assist me in stopping Geyswain. If he should tap the secrets of that object, it could cause an irrevocable shift in the natural order. I intend to attack him in his lair, and your team must accompany me." Jonathan Bridges: "What are you offering in return?" Arleesh/Ms. Johnson: "You are partly to blame for this situation. Are you refusing to take responsibility for your actions?" Jonathan Bridges: (ticking off on his fingers) "My team didn't unearth the artifact. We didn't bring the artifact to Seattle. We didn't use the artifact. We didn't fall under its influence. We advised Geyswain that it was corrupt and ought to be destroyed. We didn't force or encourage Geyswain to misuse the artifact. And unlike Trixy, we didn't pretend to know more about the artifact, or dragons, than we actually do." (staring hard at Arleesh) "You're not blaming us because we're responsible. You're blaming us because you want to coerce us into helping you." Arleesh/Ms. Johnson: "..." Jonathan Bridges: "If you'd like our help, try paying us instead." Arleesh/Ms. Johnson: "What do you think the other great dragons will do when they learn of your refusal to assist me." Jonathan Bridges: "You already know the answer to that question. If you thought the other great dragons cared about what was going on, you would have called them for assistance, instead of trying to lean on a troll fixer." Arleesh/Ms. Johnson: "They aren't close enough to help." Jonathan Bridges: "At least six of them have sufficient resources to hire fleets of shadowrunners to help you. If they can't bother to wire some money into a numbered account to help you, they're certainly not going to waste their precious time tracking us down." Arleesh/Ms. Johnson: "..." [rant]This is another problem with the module. Instead of using a carrot & stick approach to get the shadowrunners to attack Geyswain, the module tries to just use the stick. As Drhoz's GM (Muskratboi) correctly determined, offering to pay the PCs is a lot more effective than trying to coerce them with guilt or vague threats of dire consequences. Arleesh had money. Great dragons are supposed to be geniuses. Offering money was the smart move.[/rant] Jonathan Bridges: "Tell me what part of the mission you need my team's help with, and then come up with an appropriate amount to entice them do it. Alternatively, figure out what you can afford to pay them, then downsize the task to where that amount will cover it." Arleesh/Ms. Johnson: "I need your team to accompany me into Geyswain's lair, help me stop Geyswain, and recover the artifact from him." Jonathan Bridges: "You're a great feathered serpent. I'm reasonably certain you're capable of doing all of that without our assistance. Which piece of that do you want my team to handle? The matrix? Electronic security? The guards? Killing Geyswain?" Arleesh/Ms. Johnson: "All of it. I need to conserve my strength to destroy the artifact." Jonathan Bridges: "How much do you know about Geyswain?" Arleesh/Ms. Johnson: "He's a young lesser western dragon." Jonathan Bridges: "What about his personality? Is he arrogant? Overconfident? Reckless?" Arleesh/Ms. Johnson: "All of that. He's incapable of admitting when he's made a mistake. He'll never even admit it to himself." Jonathan Bridges: "Perfect. Does he need to be in physical contact with the artifact to use it?" Arleesh/Ms. Johnson: "Yes. He won't voluntarily relinquish it for any reason." Jonathan Bridges: "Then My team will get him to leave the building, then take him down." Arleesh/Ms. Johnson: "Why is he going to want to leave the building?" Jonathan Bridges: "My team is going to be outside of the building, and Geyswain will come out to kill them." Audacity Jane had a plan, but it required multiple snipers. Audacity Jane: "We need a second sniper. With long range weapons, we could engage him where he's too far away to reach us, but too close to fly out of range." Happy Jack: "I can be the second sniper." Dent: "How are you going to snipe? You just use melee weapons and heavy weapons." Happy Jack: "I mounted a scope on my assault cannon." The team spent most of the afternoon and evening putting noisemakers into place. During this time, the team noticed disturbing developments: The computer network for Geyswain's building was no longer accessible, due to physical damage to the CPU. Growing numbers of spirits were swarming around the building (in astral space). Instead of patrolling or performing some other task, the were attacking each other savagely. None of the employees left the building at the end of the day. Thermal imaging did not spot any warm bodies moving around in the building. At 1 a.m., Arleesh arrived to meet the team. Instead, she found Byte Force and Eye Spy. Arleesh: "Where is the rest of the team?" Byte Force: (pulling up a map on a vidscreen) "They're concealed in this area, just over a klick from the building." Arleesh: "So what happens next?" Byte Force: "We torch the top of his building. He comes out for revenge. We convince him that he's invincible." (draws another circle on the map) "Once he's in this kill box, we show him that he's not invincible." Arleesh: "You convince him that he's invincible?" Byte Force: "Most of the shots fired are going to be blanks, so he'll think most people can't hit him. And the first few rounds that hit him will be wax bullets. So he'll think he's bulletproof." Arleesh: "And if he flees?" Byte Force: "The shooters will wing him." Arleesh: "How is winging him supposed to help?" Byte Force: "I got the distinct impression that they mean to 'wing him' by blowing one of his wings off." Arleesh: "What if he decides to fly away from the killbox, instead of into it?" Eye Spy: "Then it's my job to wing him." Geyswain's building was in Bellevue, but it was less than a kilometer from the Redmond Barrens. What happens in the Barrens tends not to attract much Lone Star scrutiny. Eye Spy's drone set fire to the top of Geyswain's building, then the team tensely waited for the dragon to emerge. No-Step: "You're a lot more likely to attract Geyswain's attention than Jane is." Happy Jack: "Yep." No-Step: "Why did you choose me to be the one to conceal you? Dent is a lot more likely to be able to compensate for your lack of stealth." Happy Jack: "You're a self-sacrificing martyr. Dent tends to object to being flame-bait." Geyswain emerged from the flaming tower (invisibly) and began flying towards the noisemakers (and Jack/Jane), bellowing his rage. No-Step: (over the radio) "I think he's sustaining some other spells on himself, too." Dent: "@#$%! I think you're right. With the wrong spells, he could make it to us unscathed." Happy Jack: "I hope he is. If he's wasting concentration on sustaining spells, then he's going to suck at close combat." No-Step: "You're remarkably blasé about fighting an invisible opponent." Happy Jack: "He shows up nicely to thermographic sight." GM: (headdesk) Geyswain developed a terminal case of high-velocity lead poisoning. Arleesh resumed her true (feathered serpent) form, flew over to Geyswain's corpse and retrieved the artifact. After disenchanting the artifact, she flew away, dropping the disempowered artifact onto the roof of Eye Spy's van as she flew over it. Byte Force retrieved the idol (without touching it) so No-Step and Trixy could confirm that it was no longer dangerous. As Arleesh flew away, a small swarm of Lone Star helicopters flew into the area. Happy Jack: "Let's keep popping off noisemakers. Give them something to look at while we hike out of here." No-Step: "We've already pulled this trick on them. They're going to figure out that it's a diversion." Happy Jack: "Yes, but this time the diversion is scattered across a square kilometer. And if we're lucky, they'll assume we're distracting them from Geyswain's corpse, or his building." At the van, which was still parked several blocks from Geyswain's building, Eye Spy spotted Bloodwing, battered and bleeding, staggering away from Geyswain's building. Eye Spy: "It looks like he lost a fight with a dragon." Byte Force: "We should capture him." Eye Spy: "How? Our combat monsters aren't here. Our mages aren't here. My combat drones aren't here. I have an assault cannon, but that's not particularly good for capturing people." (pause) "And he's a lot tougher than us, just in case you forgot." Byte Force: "We just need to be smarter than him." (thinking) "Do you think Bloodwing would like to carjack an ambulance?" Eye Spy: "Which ambulance?" Byte Force: "Change our paint scheme to DocWagon colors. And put on a DocWagon jacket and hat." Eye Spy: "You want him to carjack us?" Byte Force: "I want him to get very close to the vehicle. What's the anti-theft device loaded with currently?" Eye Spy: "Neuro-Stun ..." (bursts out laughing) "Okay. Let's go get carjacked."

The shadowrunners were an ork/troll group. Against stereotype, they specialized in stealth, subtlety, bluff, illusion, deception and misdirection. Dent: ork, rat shaman No-Step: ork, snake shaman, healer Byte Force: ork, decker, chemist Eye Spy: ork, rigger, drones, paramedic Audacity Jane: ork, combat, stealth, security systems Happy Jack: troll, combat, disguise, negotiator Topal (NPC): a raven shaman, and the team's deceased employer Caw Caw (NPC): a raven shaman, and Topal's friend Trixy (NPC): an elderly dog shaman; she was also one of the first magick users in Seattle Bottled Demon (my least favorite module of all time) This module was previously described by Drhoz (here). The team's client, Topal had survived an ambush, but had then died due to the cursed idol he was carrying. As Caw Caw and his friends were mourning Topal's passing, an interesting news story came on the trideo. News announcer: (with a grainy image of Topal, Happy Jack and No-Step behind him) "Bloodwing, the notorious assassin, was last seen in the company of these individuals. Be advised, these individuals are armed and extremely dangerous. They have already clashed with Lone Star forces, leaving several officers injured. Consider these individuals to be Class A felons. If you spot any or all of them, do not attempt to aprehend them, but contact your local Lone Star precinct immediately." Dent: "Look. You made the morning news." Happy Jack: "Hmm. That's a minor inconvenience." Eye Spy: "You just got your face shown across the city as a Class A felon. If that's your idea of a minor inconvenience, I would hate to see your idea of a major catastrophe." Happy Jack: "They got one low-quality picture of our two masters of disguise. I'll look completely different than that a few minutes from now." Caw Caw: "What's in the briefcase?" Happy Jack: "According to Topal, that's the magick thing that was killing him. Apparently it also killed the previous owner too. Topal was trying to get rid of it when he collapsed." Happy Jack pushed the briefcase over towards Caw Caw. Happy Jack: "... but it's all yours now." For some reason, Caw Caw and his friends didn't want to keep it. After conferring among themselves, the friends came to a decision ... Caw Caw: "There's a dog shaman named Trixy who has been asking about an object like this. Perhaps she knows what to do with it." Happy Jack: "That's a great idea. You should take it to her." Caw Caw: (turning pale) "Ah ... well ... what if we paid you to take it to her?" The team easily found Trixy. After briefly examining the idol, she decided that she needed a couple hours to meditate about it. Audacity Jane: "So, what are we going to do ... besides avoiding anyone who can finger us to Lone star?" Happy Jack: "How do you feel about borrowing a couple phones from Humanis Policlub members?" Audacity Jane: "It's called stealing, not borrowing. There's a difference." Happy Jack: "It's called borrowing. I want you to return the phones when I'm done." Eye Spy: "Why do you care if they get their phones back?" Happy Jack: "I intend to make a couple calls to Lone Star. I expect them to track the phones down. Then Lone Star can spend a few hours grilling those racists about where to find me." No-Step: "If we're lucky, they'll resist arrest." Eye Spy: "Or get caught with contraband." Audacity Jane: "That last one can be arranged." The officer in charge of the investigation was Captain Grissim. With a little computer wizardry, Byte Force was able to get his direct number. Captain Grissim: "Hello." Happy Jack: (using a voice mask) "Hello. I know the location of two of the Class A felons from the morning news. Can you spare a couple moments of your time?" Captain Grissim: "You have my undivided attention. May I ask your name, son?" Happy Jack: "Yes you may." (pausing, then deliberately continuing without giving his name) "Is there a reward or bounty for the capture of Bloodwing?" Captain Grissim: "Son, that elf is bad news. You need to leave him to trained professionals. We sent several dozen highly trained officers after him this morning and all we got was several injured officers." Happy Jack: "Well, Bloodwing sent several bullets after me this morning, and all I got was a small bruise on my back. Perhaps I'm the sort of trained professional who can deliver him to you." Captain Grissim: (grimly) "Who did you say you were?" Happy Jack: "I was one of the fat man's bodyguards." Captain Grissim: "You were one of his bodyguards...?" Happy Jack: "It was a temporary assignment. I earned my pay as a meatshield. The job is over now." Captain Grissim: "If you hurt my men...." Happy Jack: "The only things we shot were firecrackers, smoke grenades, flash grenades and a couple narcojet darts. Bloodwing was definitely shooting real bullets at my client. He may have done the same to your men." Captain Grissim: "And what was your client's relationship with Bloodwing?" Happy Jack: "Apparently, he was Bloodwing's target. My client was meeting someone. Bloodwing showed up instead." Captain Grissim: "Is there any way to verify your story?" Happy Jack: "If you're willing to pay for Bloodwing's company, I'd be happy to deliver him. You can interrogate him about it." Captain Grissim: "What makes you think you can catch him?" Happy Jack: "My former client is no longer paying for our protection ... So, now we have bait." Captain Grissim: "..." Discussing what to do with the idol: No-Step: "What do we do if Trixy doesn't take the idol off of our hands?" Audacity Jane: "We could use it for high-end wetwork." Eye Spy: "I thought that thing was too dangerous to use." Audacity Jane: "Yes. So we take a contract against a powerful mage or shaman. We charge extra to make it look like it wasn't murder. Then Happy Jack sells the idol to the mage. A few days later, it kills the mage and we collect our pay." Trixy probably wouldn't have approved of that plan. Trixy: "The object you carry is dangerous. I am not sure of exactly what it is, but I see signs of malevolent intelligence and all-consuming darkness. It is a tool of corruption. All who come in contact with it are threatened." Dent: "You handled it ..." Trixy: "I didn't try to access its power. That would have destroyed me. Even with my casual contact, it tried to influence me. Even gazing upon it can be enough for it to exert subtle influence." Eye Spy: "So don't let Dent look at it." Trixy: "As far as I can tell, there are several ways to destroy the idol, but the only true, certain way is to take it to a dragon. There are others who know the ways of its destruction, but might be tempted by its power, and may, in fact, already be. Only a dragon is wise enough and understands enough to simply destroy it." Dent: "Never deal with a dragon, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup." Trixy: "This is not a deal, but a request of a service from the dragon. Do not think you can trade the idol, because this is not the case. I am truly sorry you have come to possess such a terrible artifact, but it is your fate. Deliver it to a dragon and you may yet come out whole and safe." According to Trixy, Haesslich was out of town on business. Therefore, she recommended taking the idol to Geyswain. Eye Spy: (as the team drove away from Trixy's) "I don't get it. We have to pay to get rid of this thing that we don't want?" Happy Jack: "We're not paying a damn thing. I'll try to talk Geyswain and Haesslich into destroying it out of enlightened self-interest. But if no dragon wants to destroy it for free, I'm happy to sell it to our enemies." Any trip to visit a dragon comes with a vast number of paranoid precautions. Fortunately, most of them weren't necessary. Geyswain: (to Happy Jack) "What is it that you want to discuss with me?" Happy Jack: "Trixy, the dog shaman, believes the relic in this briefcase is a malevolent tool of corruption. She believes that you are knowledgeable enough and wise enough to recognize the danger that it poses. Furthermore, she believes that you are sufficiently skilled and powerful to destroy it." Geyswain used a telekinetic spell to pick up the idol, so he could examine it more closely. Geyswain: "Destroying this would require an arduous ritual on my part. What are you prepared to offer in exchange?" Happy Jack: "Trixy did not offer to give you anything. Perhaps eliminating a relic as dangerous as this is in your self-interest?" Geyswain: "If you wish for me to destroy this, then you will owe me a favor in return." Happy Jack: "I have no desire to owe you a favor. I could ask Trixy whether she is interested in owing you a favor. She might instruct me to approach Haesslich instead." Geyswain: "And you have no interest in whether this relic is destroyed?" Happy Jack: "If I advertised that I was in possession of a magickal item that was so powerful and dangerous that Trixy recommended that it be destroyed, I would have no shortage of buyers offering me a fortune for it." Geyswain: (narrowing his eyes and hissing) "You are short-sighted and foolish, Troll. I will destroy this, but I will not forget you." Happy Jack: (bowing) "Then I shall avoid crossing paths with you in the future." [rant]This is another big problem with this module. What kind of amoral shadowrunner is going voluntarily owe a favor to a dragon, just to get rid of something this dangerous? Most shadowrunners will commit murder to solve small problems. They're not going to be opposed to dumping a dangerous item just to get rid of a large problem.[/rant]

The shadowrunners were an ork/troll group. Against stereotype, they specialized in stealth, subtlety, bluff, illusion, deception and misdirection. Dent: ork, rat shaman No-Step: ork, snake shaman, healer Byte Force: ork, decker, chemist Eye Spy: ork, rigger, drones, paramedic Audacity Jane: ork, combat, stealth, security systems Jonathan Bridges / Happy Jack: troll, combat, disguise, negotiator Topal (NPC): a raven shaman, and the team's temporary employer Bottled Demon (my least favorite module of all time) This module was previously described by Drhoz (here). The team had been hired to protect Topal at a meeting taking place at Black's Junk Yard. The team prepared the meeting site by seeding it with radio-activated noisemakers. If necessary, they could distract threats by creating simulated gunfire in nearly any part of the junkyard. Dent and Jane stayed behind (hidden) to keep an eye on the place. Eye Spy also parked two of her drones (lighter-than-air drones in station-keeping mode) over the junkyard. Then the rest of the team headed back to town. Topal met them promptly at 3am ... driving up in his runabout. Eye Spy: "That's his idea of a 'suitable' vehicle for a trip into the Barrens? Jack, I think you outweigh his car. You definitely have more armor." Happy Jack: (to Topal) "Unless your car is bulletproof, you're riding with us." Topal: "But..." Happy Jack: "And if you're not sure whether your runabout is bulletproof, we'll be happy to test that right now." Topal decided he would ride in the team's van, instead of having his runabout turned into swiss cheese. Eye Spy's van had photoelectric paint, so the color/design could be quickly changed to a wide variety of preprogrammed schemes. Eye Spy always tried to use paint schemes that would be left alone. Eye Spy: (accelerating) "We've got a dozen go-gangers chasing us." Byte Force: (to Eye Spy) "What paint scheme are you using?" Eye Spy: "HAZMAT !! What kind of idiot goes after HazMat?" Byte Force: "So we're being attacked by illiterate go-gangers..." Happy Jack: (with his grenade launcher at the rear gunport) "Stupid ... soon to be blind and stupid." Jack airburst a flash grenade in front of the go-gangers, then followed it up with a thermal smoke grenade. To add insult to injury, No-Step commanded his city spirit to use its Accident power on the go-gangers. Surprisingly, three of the go-gangers were lucky enough to be able to avoid crashing and continue the pursuit. Eye Spy, not to be outdone, triggered the van's thermal smoke generator and lubricant sprayer, then threw the van into a 90 degree bootlegger skid. go-gangers: [WHAM, WHAM, WHAM] (into the armored side of the van) Eye Spy: "You boys aren't the only ones who know how to cause an accident." No-Step: "We know that you can cause accidents. You do that with your normal driving." Eye Spy hid the van a few blocks from the junkyard. She and Byte Force stayed in the van, while Topal led Jack and No-Step to a secret tunnel leading under the fence. Happy Jack: (stopping Topal from going through the tunnel first) "You don't go first. One bodyguard goes first. One bodyguard goes last. You stay in the middle." Topal: "Who goes first and who goes last?" Happy Jack: "If things are going well, you follow me. If shooting starts, you follow him." (pointing at No-Step) The tunnel was almost too small for Happy Jack (and Topal) to fit through. Happy Jack: (to No-Step) "New plan. If things go sideways, we choose another exit." No-Step: "Any preference?" Happy Jack: "This place is surrounded by a fence. If I'm in a hurry, I'll make an exit." The meeting with the elves was to take place in a large clear space in the middle of the junkyard. Elf #1: (speaking loud enough to be heard) "Are you ready, Raven-man? I am here for the trade." Topal: (quietly and clearly frightened) "This is wrong. All wrong. Take this." (trying to hand the briefcase to Jack) Happy Jack: (interposing himself between Topal and the elf) "What is 'all wrong'?" Topal: "Stay here with the briefcase. I'll go talk to him." Happy Jack: (placing his massive hand on Topal's chest) "No. You tell me what is wrong. You stay here. I go talk to the elf." Topal: "He's not the one I made the deal with." Elf #1: (suspiciously) "What's going on over there, Raven-man?" Happy Jack: (to Elf #1) "You're not the one my client here made the deal with." Elf #1: "You deal with me, Raven-man. I have the oath price. Where is your part of the bargain?" Happy Jack: (to Topal) "Do you actually care who you close the deal with? I'm flexible if you are." [rant]This is one of my big problems with this module. Topal hired bodyguards. His bodyguards for the evening cost far more than his personal vehicle. And when things looked like they were about to go really wrong, Topal wanted to walk into the killzone alone ... and he wanted his bodyguards to stay back where it was safer.[/rant] And this was the point when everything went sideways. Eye Spy: (over the radio link) "It's a setup. Lone Star is here. Go, go, go!" Everything went sideways ... for everyone ... especially the GM. According to the module, the PCs and the elves are both supposed to assume that the other betrayed them, and a three-way fight is supposed to break out between PCs, elves and Lone Star ... with plenty of opportunities for Topal to take a stray shot and die. Things going sideways (for all parties): Byte Force triggered the noisemakers around Lone Star, and the ones behind the elves. Everybody was surprised. The elves were surprised by the arrival of Lone Star. The PCs and elves were surprised that Lone Star managed to sneak some light helicopters overhead without being heard in advance. The helicopters were surprised to discover that some stealth drones were parked even higher overhead. And Lone Star and the elves were suprised to find themselves outflanked. (Mostly outflanked by noisemakers, but that was still pretty surprising.) Everyone assumed that they were in a trap. Jack reacted to the warning by grabbing Topal to his chest, shielding him from the elves ... and any other stray shots. Jane reacted to the warning by shooting Elf #2 and Elf #3 (the mages) with narcojet rounds. Elf #1 fired a SMG burst into Jack's armored back, but it was too small of a caliber to leave much impression. Elf #2's Power Bolt left even less of an impression on Jack's back. Further fire from the elves was prevented when Eye Spy's drone dropped a flash grenade and a thermal smoke grenade between the elves and Topal/Jack/No-Step. Everyone dove for cover ... mostly to avoid being attacked by noisemakers or unseen opponents. Lone Star and the elves started returning fire ... mostly at the noisemakers. With everyone distracted by the chaos, the team ignored the other combatants, headed for the quietest corner of the junkyard and slipped out. And finally ... despite having avoided all overt threats, Topal slipped into a delerium as the team drove away. No-Step knocked himself out (literally) trying to heal/cure whatever was wrong with Topal. Since he was unsuccessful, it was up to Eye Spy, the team paramedic, to try to save his life. Eye Spy: "Other than basic life support, I don't know what to try. I don't know what's wrong with him." Byte Force: "Does he have any medical conditions that could be causing this?" Eye Spy: "How am I supposed to know that?" Byte Force: "You're not. Dent, does he have any medical conditions that could be causing this?" Dent: "I'm not a healer. How am I supposed to know that?" Byte Force: "You're a mind reader. Remember?" Dent cast Mind Probe on Topal. Dent: "There's some kind of idol in the briefcase. Topal thinks it's killing him. That's why he was trying to get rid of it ... by selling it." (long pause) "WOW !! It's a really powerful focus." Audacity Jane: "Sounds more like a trap to me." Dent: "I wonder if it's possible to uncurse it?" Eye Spy: "It's more likely that you'd end up like Topal." Dent: "But it's a really powerful focus." Audacity Jane: (skeptically) "Really? How powerful?" Dent: "I don't know." Happy Jack: "Did Topal use it? If so, how much did it amplify his magick?" Dent: "He tried a simple conjuration ... which failed ... so he doesn't know exactly how powerful it is." Audacity Jane: (rolling her eyes) "Is there anyone here who can explain the concept of 'It's a trap' better than I can?" In the meantime Topal was fading fast. Happy Jack: "Does he have a DocWagon account? KrashKart account? Any other kind of insurance?" Dent: "No." Happy Jack: "Any friends who would be willing to pay for his medical care?" Topal had a friend named Caw Caw, another raven shaman. Happy Jack: "I'll call Caw Caw using Topal's phone. If he's willing to answer the phone at 4:30 a.m., we'll know they're good friends." Caw Caw insisted that the team bring Topal to him, so Caw Caw (and his friends) could save Topal. By the time the team got there, Eye Spy was basically performing CPR on a lifeless body. Byte Force: "It's going to be hard to collect the second half of our pay from Topal." Dent: "Nope. Super-easy. I went through his pockets for loose change."

Yes. It's amazing what a game turns into when you have a great GM and a team of great roleplayers. Definitely a flexible GM. He didn't even blink when the ubersaur got two-shotted. ---------------------- The shadowrunners were an ork/troll group. Against stereotype, they specialized in stealth, subtlety, bluff, illusion, deception and misdirection. Dent: ork, rat shaman No-Step: ork, snake shaman, healer Byte Force: ork, decker, chemist Eye Spy: ork, rigger, drones, paramedic Audacity Jane: ork, combat, stealth, security systems Jonathan Bridges / Happy Jack: troll, combat, disguise, negotiator Topal (NPC): a raven shaman, and the team's temporary employer Bottled Demon (my least favorite module of all time) This module was previously described by Drhoz (here). While out maintaining ties with fixers and potential employers, Jonathan was approached by an obese, unhealthy looking man with a metal briefcase handcuffed to his wrist. Topal: "Thank the stars! We must talk at once! You can't know what I've had to do to find you!" Jonathan Bridges: "Most people call a fixer, then pay some money. The fixer puts them in touch with me." The Penguin: "Let us retire to a restaurant and enjoy our midday repast. Time is of the essence, and there's business to discuss." Jonathan Bridges: "Your offer of lunch is appreciated, but if this is time-critical, we can skip lunch and discuss business first." They sat down in the restaurant to discuss business, while Topal crunched jawbreakrs non-stop... Topal: "I require the services of several bodyguards to accompany me to a business meeting tomorrow morning. I have sought you out because of your reputation." Jonathan Bridges: "It must be an unusual bodyguard job, if you were directed to us." Topal: "The location must, of course, remain a secret, but I can tell you it will take no more than three hours of your time, start to finish." Jonathan Bridges: "We specialize in secrecy. That's probably why you were referred to us." The two negotiated a price for the services, with half paid immediately, and the other half paid upon completion. Topal: "I knew I could count on you. Meet me here at 3am. Don't be late. Bring your own transportation. I will be travelling in a separate vehicle." Jonathan Bridges: "If you have a suitable vehicle, we'll just put one or two guards with you. The rest will be in my team's vehicle. If your vehicle isn't suitable, you'll ride with them." Topal: "Yes. Yes. My vehicle is perfectly suitable." Topal stood up to leave. Jonathan Bridges: "Aren't you forgetting something?" Topal: "What's that? I paid you half up front already." Jonathan Bridges: "What's the location of the meeting? My team needs to check it out in advance." Topal: "Its. A. Secret." Jonathan handed the credsticks back to Topal. Topal: "What's this?" Jonathan Bridges: "I'm returning your advance. We're refusing the job. My team isn't going to allow you to get killed by walking into an ambush. If you want to get killed that way, hire someone less competent." Topal: "I can't have you scaring off the people I'm meeting with." Jonathan Bridges: "Several members of the team specialize in being unseen. Furthermore, anyone who works in the shadows expects that sort of precaution." Topal argued, but Jonathan absolutely refused to budge on the issue. Eventually, Topal caved. Topal: (clearly unhappy) "The meeting is at Black's Junk Yard, in the Puyallup Barrens." Eye Spy: (eavesdropping over Jack's radio link) "Tough neighborhood. We'll have to dress 'appropriately'." The team spent the evening scouting the junkyard, which turned out to be a security nightmare (even with Eye Spy's drones providing overwatch). Audacity Jane: "Too many ways in. Too many places to hide. No clear lines of sight. If I wanted to pick off a heavily guarded target, I'd tell him to meet me here." Byte Force: "So how would you guard him?" Audacity Jane: "Anyone want to volunteer to be a body double for Topal?" No-Step: "That probably won't work. Topal is awakened; probably a shaman. His business probably involves magick. They may not be able to see through a Physical Mask spell, but if they have the ability to assence the astral, they have a good chance of recognizing the spell." Happy Jack: "And Topal is a really difficult client. He'll probably refuse to have a body double." (long pause, followed by an evil grin) "I have an idea, but it will only work if they have someone assence him." No-Step: "You're going to use a physical disguise?" Happy Jack: "Nope." (pause) "Dent and No-Step, I need a professional opinion. If we were after a target, and you spotted him, but then realized that there was a Mask spell on him, what would you tell us?" Dent: "It's a trick; a distraction. That's not the real target." No-Step: "Yes" (pause, dawning realization) "Damn you ... you're ..." Audacity Jane: (interrupting) "You're a sick man, Jack. You want to use Topal as his own body double." Happy Jack: "If you really want to lie to someone, tell them the truth in a completely unconvincing manner. They'll be sure they've caught you in a lie ... and they'll believe anything except the truth." Bodyguarding a difficult client in the middle of an ambush. What could possibly go wrong...?

Quotes from Owlcon #5 Adventure! (Pulp Fiction) The Deadly Danger of Dinosaur Island Where did a Hollywood producer get a dinosaur? Why did someone try to kill him for the secret? It's up to the Aeon Society to uncover the truth and set things right. Cast of characters: "Cactus" Carolina Vasquez: cowgirl and trick shooter Lavonne White, "The Silent Spectre": female homage to The Shadow The "Unbreakable" Dr. Samuel Glass: Doc Savage homage with a mechanical hand Kent Woolsley, star of the silver screen: action star and ladies' man Cicero de Valentine (NPC): legendary Hollywood producer Cicero de Valentine is hosting one of his legendary parties. He gets the crowd's attention, and unveils a large dinosaur (an Allosaur) in a cage. Cicero de Valentine: "We are going to make this magnificent beast into a movie star." Carolina Vasquez: "Does he memorize his lines or use cue cards?" The dinosaur bursts out of the cage. Carolina Vasquez: (excited) "I ain't never seen a critter like this before, and I shore ain't never ridden one!" As Carolina and Dr. Glass engage the dinosaur, The Silent Spectre dives under a tablecloth in order to change into her costume. Silent Spectre: I quietly curse the need for a secret identity. The dinosaur looks confused. Carolina Vasquez: (to the dinosaur) "Honey, It's only goin' to get weirder from here." Dr. Glass' exploding fire extinguisher impairs the dinosaur, but fails to freeze it in place. Dr. Samuel Glass: "Obviously I need a bigger bomb ... or a bigger stick." Carolina lassoed the dinosaur's muzzle. GM: Your plan goes awry when the dinosaur lifts his head, leaving you swinging from the end of the rope. Carolina Vasquez (ooc): Actually, that's still well within my plan. The trio gets the dinosaur back into his cage, but the perceptive Dr. Glass notices flashes coming from Valentine's office during the chaos ... and a man in a black leather trench coat and hat fleeing the scene. Kent Woolsley: (arriving late to the party) "I seem to have missed the party. What happened?" Dr. Samuel Glass: "Sabotage, murder, an escaped villain ..." Kent Woolsley: "So it's Tuesday?" Kent and Dr. Glass enter Valentine's office, and find Valentine slumped against the wall, bleeding out from multiple bullet wounds. Kent Woolsley: "Valentine, old chap, this is not a good look on you." The German villain failed to get what he was after, a scrap of paper with the coordinates to Dinosaur Island on it. The Aeon Society members hire a seaplane to take them out to the coordinates on the paper. To no-one's surprise, they find an uncharted tropical island at the coordinates. Minutes after making this discovery, the plane is riddled by bullets. The plane is being chased by members of the German Expeditionary Force, who are riding enormous pterodactyls and firing machine guns. Carolina Vasquez: (eyes lighting up) "I want to ride one of those!" One engine is struck by bullets and bursts into flame. Pilot: "This flight is about to get rough!" The Silent Spectre: "Take this plane down and land it." Pilot: "Land it where?" The Silent Spectre: "See the big blue parking lot below us?" While The Silent Spectre, Carolina and Dr. Glass take their toll on the pursuing Germans, Kent gathers the packs and parachutes in preparation for a rapid evacuation. Kent Woolsley: (handing a parachute to the pilot) "Here you go." Pilot: (pulling the parachute on) "Thanks!" (bails out of the plane, leaving the Aeon Society members behind) Kent Woolsley raids the wet bar, bails out of the plane, and lands on the last pterodactyl, right behind the German soldier. Immediately afterwards, Carolina lands on the pterodactyl right in front of Kent, kicking the German off in the process. Carolina Vasquez: "Kent, you saved me a seat." Kent Woolsley: (handing her a beer bottle) "And a drink." Carolina guides the pterodactyl to a landing on the beach. Carolina Vasquez: (shooting the pterodactyl in the back of the head) "Whoa." There is a German Expeditionary Force camp on the island, complete with an electrified fence, guard towers, barracks, docks, submarine and a dinosaur stable. Dr. Samuel Glass: (looking through binoculars) "I don't see where the leader's office is." Carolina Vasquez: "They're German. Doesn't the Commandant's office always have flowers outside?" The plan is simple: Dr. Glass and Kent will dress up in German uniforms. They will bluff their way into the camp. Kent will steal documents from the Commandant's office. Dr. Glass will sabotage the generator. Carolina and Silent Spectre will stampede a herd of dinosaurs into the camp. The team will escape by submarine. Step two could cause some problems. Dr. Glass speaks German, but he's not particularly good at subterfuge. Dr. Samuel Glass: "Do you know any German, Kent?" Kent Woolsley: "I know a few lines of German. I learned them phonetically for a movie role. I'll be fine." Dr. Glass and Kent, looking battered and bloody, approach the camp gate. Dr. Samuel Glass: (yelling to the soldiers at the gate) "A plane crashed. We were attacked by the survivors. We are all that are left." The German soldiers stare suspiciously at Dr. Glass. Kent Woolsley: (emphatically) "Jah. It vas terrible. It vas terrible. Herr Doktor! Where is Herr Doktor?" German soldiers: (nodding) "Jah, jah. Herr Doktor." The pair are led to the doctor's office for treatment. The two are left alone with the doctor. Then Kent knocks the doctor out, and the two are alone. It's time for a costume change... Dr. Samuel Glass: "I have a clipboard and a lab coat. I know how to play this role!" The plan goes well. The generator explodes. Seconds later, the herd of dinosaurs stampedes into camp. Dr. Samuel Glass: (excited) "How many times does a scientist get to cut loose and watch a social experiment unfold." Dr. Glass wades into battle with a group of German soldiers. Dr. Samuel Glass: "Sometimes you need to break a few heads for science." Kent Woolsley: "I thought that was 'eggs'." Dr. Samuel Glass: "Well ... they're called eggheads." Dr. Samuel Glass: (grabbing a soldier's rifle and punching the soldier in the face) "This is what I call a 'weapon upgrade'." While Dr. Glass confronts some soldiers, Kent squares off with the Commandant. But the Commandant has a surprise up his sleeve... Commandant: "Americans. I should have known. You won't get away with this." (yells loudly) "Release the Ubersaur!" A massive Tyrannosaur bursts from the dinosaur barn. It is covered in armor plates. It has an anti-tank gun mounted on its back. Five soldiers man the anti-tank gun, while a sixth guides the Ubersaur. Kent Woolsley: "Ubersaur? Couldn't you come up with an original name? This could be a movie someday." The Ubersaur's anti-tank gun fires, striking the dinosaur Carolina is riding and killing it instantly. Carolina slides off the dinosaur and shoots the soldier holding its reins. He slumps to the side, causing the Ubersaur to start turning around in circles. The Silent Spectre: (looking around the camp) "I can't possibly add to this chaos. I'm going to secure our escape route." (she heads toward the submarine) Carolina Vasquez: (cheerfully) "I can definitely add to this chaos." As the Ubersaur turns so its back is towards Carolina, she fires a bullet at one of the anti-tank rounds in the ammo hopper, striking it in the primer. GM: There is a massive explosion. The Ubersaur collapses, torn nearly in two. Pieces of metal rain down all over camp ... And the Germans have discovered a design flaw in their Ubersaur. The Commandant twists his cane ... and pulls out a sword. Kent responds by pulling out his umbrella. They fence.... Kent: I stab him in the monocle with my umbrella.

Quotes from Owlcon #4 Savage Worlds - Fallout Metroplex Presidential Detail Normally I tolerate the GM's backstory. Other times I suffer through it. On very rare occasions, I enjoy hearing about it. This is the first time the backstory has been funny enough to share. When the nuclear war began, the Chinese launched three nuclear warheads at the Dallas region: A 20 megaton nuke at Dallas to destroy the city and its inhabitants. A neutron bomb at Fort Worth to kill the population and the cattle. A bunker-buster at the super-conducting super-collider in Waco. That was what they intended to fire. There was a mix-up with the serial numbers on the nuclear warheads, so they ended up launching: An EMP burst at Dallas, which knocked out the technology, but left the population intact. A bunker-buster at Fort Worth, which shook up the cows a little bit, but had no other effect. A neutron bomb at Waco, which killed the population, but left the super-collider intact. The President of the tri-state region is going to visit Dallas tomorrow. The Texas Rangers will be out in force to protect him, and the President has complete confidence in them. But the Texas Rangers have started hearing unsubstantiated rumors that someone is going to assassinate the president ... because that's what you do to presidents in Dallas. The Texas Rangers can't investigate, because an official investigation would lend credibility to the rumors. But they can hire someone unofficial to investigate the rumors ... because unofficial people are just crackpots with weird theories. The cast of characters: J: the bloodthirsty heavy weapons expert; carries a full-automatic Jimmy: the overweight, balding techie; relies heavily on "liquid courage" Hector: the spy; a cross between "the most interesting man in the world" and "the truth is out there" Rodger: the brawn; believes robots are trying to take over everything Jimmy decides to ingratiate himself with one of the local techies ... by repairing a broken logic board for him. techie: "That's great! I can sell this now! Is there anything I can do to help you?" Jimmy: "Yes. Actually there is something you can help me with." techie: (dejected) "Oh." Little Tokyo seems to be the haven for the weirdos in town. It caters to the tech crowd ... but not the big, bulky, beautiful, chrome-and-steel American tech. This is small, sleek, weird, "Japanese" tech. It also has a lunch counter specializing in "foreign" food. Just down the counter, five people crowd around a small "Japanese" tech box. J and Rodger are able to overhear part of their conversation. Little Tokyo Patron #1: "... and next we kill the president ..." Rodger bursts into action, tackling Little Tokyo Patron #1. J turns on his Pipboy's audio recorder, then pulls his automatic and covers the four friends. As everyone stares at those two, Hector slides over the counter to "get away from the violence". Staying out of sight, he reaches over the counter, slips the box out of Patron #2's hands and replaces it with a menu. Rodger: (ready to pummel Patron #1) "How are you going to kill the President?" Little Tokyo Patron #1: "I put the nuclear bomb in the briefcase." Hector glances at the box and sees a the "Kill the President" computer game. The game is at the point where the nuclear bomb can be put in the briefcase. Hector: (to himself as he tucks the tech box into his coat) "Well, it sounded like a confession to me." As J starts shooting Patron #1's four friends, Hector grabs his binto box and strolls out of Little Tokyo. The people in the tech area of Little Tokyo seem completely unconcerned with the violence occurring at the lunch counter. Jimmy is over there, making friends with Kenny, a teenaged techie who is showing him the energy cell charger that he built. Jimmy: "Be careful. That will blow your face off." Kenny: "I know. That's how I got thrown out of my last apartment." Later, the team takes a walk (through wide open places) in order to talk privately. J: "We did it. We stopped the assassins. We killed four of them." Rodger: "And the fifth is in jail." Hector: "Did you find the nuclear bomb?" J and Rodger: "No." Hector: "Then we're not done yet. There also may be a second group of assassins." Rodger: "What makes you think there's a second group?" Hector: (shows them the tech box) "It looks like those five may have been playing a game." Rodger: "Are you saying that we killed a bunch of innocent people?" Hector: "That's certainly possible." J: "We got a confession. I recorded it." Hector: "Yes, which is why I'm not worried about it." Jimmy: (freaking out) "The one in jail, he's going to tell the Rangers that it was just a game." Hector: "He's going to have a hard time proving it without this box." It appears that The Church of 565 Kilocycles doesn't like the President. Someone in City Hall doesn't like him either. The Church of 565 Kilocycles keep their radios tuned to 565 kHz. Acolytes perpetually meditate while listening for the voice of God through the static. Hector: (to Jimmy) "Could you build a transmitter that broadcasts on 565 kilocycles?" Jimmy: "Yes. Why?" Hector: "I want to send them a 'message from God.' Tell them to go out into the wasteland and wait for the sign. That should narrow down the number of people we need to watch tomorrow." Jimmy: "I'll need to visit the church to figure out how to do it convincingly. Do you want to come with me?" Hector: "No. I want to snoop around City Hall before it closes." Jimmy: (looking over at Rodger and J, and cringing slightly) "Um ... ah ... I'll take Rodger with me." Hector: (completely undisturbed) "Perfect. I'll take J with me." As Jimmy subtly pumps the Priest on how God reveals himself through the static, Rodger begins to have a dawning realization. Rodger: (interrupting) "Wait, are you telling me that God is a robot?" Priest of 565 kHz: (rolling his eyes to the heavens) "Fine. If that's what it takes to reach you. Yes. Sure. God is a robot." Rodger is stunned by this revelation. As the Priest and Jimmy continue their conversation, he looks at the bible at the front of the church. On the cover it says, "The New Revised Lolcat Bible." Inside he finds a reference to the robot Roomba. Rodger: "I knew it! God is a robot." Thanks to the helpful priest, Jimmy learns enough (maybe) to fabricate a convincing transmission. Rodger: (to Jimmy, after they leave the church) "If God's a robot, then me and him aren't on the same side." Meanwhile, on the way to City Hall... Hector: (to J) "I need you to wait inside the lobby. While you're standing there, I need you to try to peer in the back and glare, then check your Pipboy, then peer in the back and glare. Keep that up until I send a message to your Pipboy, or until they close City Hall." J: "Why do you want me to do that?" Hector: "If there is an assassin in City Hall, they're going to be worried about you. I'm going to slip into the back and see who reacts to their presence." With J aggressively stationed in the lobby, Hector slips into the back and takes a seat at an unoccupied terminal. Hector: (typing in the City Hall chat room) "Isn't the guy in the lobby the one who killed the assassins? What is he doing here?" Following the clues, it appears that the mayor is involved in the assassination plot. It also appears that he's tied in with The Church of 565 Kilocycles. Fortunately, the ruse to get the Church out of town appears to be working. Most pack up and leave Dallas around midnight. The few remaining appear to be having a crisis of faith. Hector: "I think the church members are patsies. I can't be the only person who figured out how easy it would be to manipulate them." But there may be more of the plot to uncover. And how much should the Texas Rangers be told? Hector: "... and we should tell them that The Church of 565 Kilocycles may be involved, but we've tricked most of them into leaving town." Jimmy: "Do you really want to tell them that? One of the Texas Rangers may be tied in with the assassins." Hector: "True, but there's not much they can do about that. What are they going to do? Broadcast that the previous voice of God was lying?" There appears to be a sniper's nest in the library. Rodger will hide near the sniper's nest, ready to attack the sniper (or patsy) when he shows up. J will wait in the park across the street to watch for other gunmen. GM: (to J) You can keep a watch for gunmen from there (gives a knowing look at J), because you know what a crazed gunman looks like. There's also a Texas Ranger standing in the park near J. GM: (to J) Do you want to point out the library window to the Ranger? Every bullet going in the window is a good thing. Rodger: Not for me!

Quotes from Owlcon #3 D&D 5th Edition Blagarm's Basement 150 years ago a clan of dwarves sailed to the continent of Avenrock. 120 years ago, one of the dwarves returned, carrying a dagger capable of cutting through anything. 50 years ago, humans established the colony of Rioc Alair on Avenrock. Today, the adventurers have been hired to travel to Avenrock and find out what happened to the lost clan of dwarves. The trail may be a little cold. Cast of characters: Brelk: dwarven paladin, a noble Mari: dwarven fighter Alek: human wizard Mikara: wood elf ranger, surprisingly crude and uncultured Gallidan: wood elf monk Lisara: half elf bard Alverten: halfling rogue Hemrick (NPC): dwarven merchant Of course, the adventure starts in a tavern. Lisara: (picking up her lute) "I play better when I'm drunk." Alek: "You think you play better when you're drunk. There's a difference. It may be subtle. It may be lost on you, but there is a difference." A group of dwarven merchants at the bar is having a loud debate ... which is easily overheard. dwarven merchant: "We need to find someone capable enough or foolhardy enough to undertake this task." Alek: (a couple minutes later, to Hemrick, the youngest of the dwarven merchants) "What kind of capabilities do you seek?" Hemrick: "What?" Alek: "You're looking for someone capable enough or foolhardy enough to undertake a task. Hopefully we fit the former description more than the latter." Hemrick: "Just a minute." (he walks back over to his companions at the bar) "Some of you need to learn how to lower your voices." As Hemrick is talking, Mikara stretches, clearly displaying her bushy underarms. GM: Hemrick is starting to get a little turned on by that. Mikara: Not the reaction I was going for. Mari: (to Hemrick) "Why didn't you send anyone to look for them before now?" Hemrick: "We've been sending parties of adventurers for the last 40 years. We haven't heard back from any of them." Allverten: "At least your expectations will be at the right level." As the party's ship arrives at Avenrock, the first visible landmark is the 500' tall lighthouse adjacent to Rioc Alair. Gallidan: "I need to see what I can perceive about the lighthouse." Lisara: "Someone was compensating for something." Brelk was impressed by the honesty of the first gate guard he met. Brelk: "I never thought I'd meet a human who wouldn't take a bribe. I find it rather refreshing." Alek: "You may not have. Perhaps you met one who wouldn't take a bribe that small." Discussing ale kegs... Allverten: "I'm surprised dwarves would use kegs like that. Wood is rather impermanent." Brelk: "We use special wood. It's made of stone." Mikara "borrowed" a dinghy from the port, in order to scout the coastline. GM: As you took the dingy, nobody gave you a second look. Mikara: They don't know it's not mine. GM: You're an elf. They can guess. Mikara: (grumpily) I'm being racially profiled. Lisara woke up to discover a thief breaking into her room, so she cast Charm Person on him. Lisara: And this is why I always sleep in the nude. GM: The spell lasts one hour. Lisara: That gives me plenty of time to ask all of my questions and leave him tied up. GM: As soon as you try to tie him up, the spell will end. Lisara: Not the way I do it. The trail eventually (and unsurprisingly) led to Blagarm's basement, where the climactic battle occurred. Brelk was struck by a couple crossbow bolts. Lisara: "I see you know how to be penetrated." Mikara took aim at the assassin with her longbow, even though Gallidan and Mari were directly on the other side. Alek: "If you shoot from there, you'll be using the dwarf and monk as a backstop." Brelk: "That's what I'm there for." Alek: "It's the other dwarf." Brelk: "I know. I'm volunteering her." Needing no additional context: Brelk: "Being noble is the ultimate skill for opening doors. Being a paladin is the ultimate power for establishing credibility." GM: I regularly GM for 11 people aged 9 to 37. This can't possibly get as chaotic. Lisara: So, what you're telling us is that we're not trying hard enough.

Quotes from Owlcon #2 Manapunk Cast of characters (I didn't get most of the PCs' names, so I'm going to use class names instead): Bard: she can sing loud enough to make your head explode Shieldbearer: nobody gets past this immovable barrier ... unless they can hurdle a 4' dwarf Swashbuckler: the standard charming swashbuckler ... dual-wielding spiked clubs Gunslinger: a subclass of the mage, this sniper does shoot magic bullets ... with all that implies Cultist: a psychic capable of instantly recruiting his own cult of personality Inquisitor: you can try to stonewall him, but even stone walls reveal their secrets to him Cleric: someone has to sacrifice themselves and fall on the cleric GM: (handing out the cultist's character sheet) I know I'm going to regret this. The city of Brigandis lost communication with the village of Winwood three days ago. A team of adventurers is being assembled to investigate. Head of the Adventurer's Guild: "Adventurers have special skills that make them uniquely suited for situations like these." Inquisitor: "Like expendability." Arriving at the central square in Winwood, the adventurers discover a wedding, except the wedding party, the attendees, and the rest of the occupants of the village have all been petrified. Cultist: "Isn't it bad form to get stoned at a wedding?" Inquisitor: "Well, the bride was on board, so it's probably okay." The magical signature indicates that a possessor demon is responsible. Cleric: "This type of demon gains power through the bad deals he makes with people." Cultist: "Kind of like a payday lender." The cleric follows a trace of magical power to the bank, where a group of bone imps ambushes the party. Cultist: (recruiting the bone imps into his insta-cult) "I believe in you. You believe in me. Follow me. Help me help you believe in you." Cultist (ooc): (to the GM) You knew you were going to regret this when you gave me the character. (Seriously, the character specializes in recruiting cannon-fodder. All the villagers were petrified. The only cannon fodder that was left was the archvillain's. Of course the cultist was going to recruit them.) The Cultist and the possessor demon ended up in a psychic struggle over the bone imps, so it was safest just to send them home. Cultist: (to the bone imps) "Recognize your independence. You don't need to be pawns. You don't need to follow the orders of the possessor demon. Return to your homes instead of following his orders." (Yes, the Cultist's choice of words was intentionally ironic.) Gunslinger: "You know your self-empowerment speeches are going to give the imps the ability to become greater demons." Cultist: "Only if a greater demon doesn't squish them for impertinence first." The demon's power is tied to his demonic contract. If all of the elements of the contract are fulfilled, there will be nothing we can do to thwart him. But if the contract is broken before the elements were fulfilled ... well ... that would be bad for the demon. Maybe the demon shouldn't have written the contract on a clay tablet. Maybe the demon should have stayed further away from the Gunslinger ... like on another continent. Inquisitor: (using object reading on on a piece of the shattered clay tablet) "The groom's great-grandfather entered the deal with the demon. He received a large chunk of gold. In return, he had to repay the equivalent of 550,000 gold pieces." Swashbuckler: "Why did the demon go after the great-grandson?" Inquisitor: "The great-grandfather put in a clause that the contract wouldn't come due for three generations. He's already dead." Cleric: "What a dick."

Quotes from Owlcon #1 Serenity RPG Miranda is going to be recolonized, but first the wreckage of the Alliance and Reaver fleets needs to be removed from the space lanes. Hundreds of independent salvagers have shown up for a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to salvage these wrecks. It's the space equivalent of a wild west land grab. What could possibly go wrong? Best without explanation: GM: You tend not to find much intelligence in a library. GM: Just so you know, the name of our regular game group is The TPK Roleplayers. Cast of characters: Oddo: captain Carina: first mate Marcelyn: pilot Raakel: mechanic Bertram: hacker Wayfarer: the PCs' ship The Wayfarer arrives at the staging area a day before the "salvage grab" is scheduled to begin. Space station flight control: "Newly arrived vessel, please state your ship's name." Marcelyn: "Wayfarer." Space station flight control: "Please verify that your crew has no communicable diseases." Marcelyn: "Uh ... verified." Bertram: (muttering) "Not unless you count the computer viruses and worms I intend to distribute to the other crews." Oddo: "Remember loose lips, something, something." Marcelyn: "What's that about tacos?" In order to make salvage operations fair, all of the independent salvagers will start the same distance from the cloud and cannot head toward the cloud until the designated moment. While waiting, we see one ship in the distance try to sneak in early ... and get promptly blown to bits by a missile from an Alliance cruiser. Bertram: "I guess we're not getting much salvage off that." Marcelyn: "Somebody on the cruiser didn't get their coffee this morning." The crew locates the Drake, a Seraphim class cruiser, apparently in remarkably good condition and showing no signs of having been turned into a reaver vessel. GM: The air is breathable, but smells of methane. Bertram: "Don't light 'em up unless you really want to light 'em up." Oddo and Marcelyn board the Drake (through the airlock) and proceed to engineering. Carina and Betram proceed to the Drake's bridge. Marcelyn remains on the bridge of the Wayfarer. And then Marcelyn hears footsteps outside the bridge, in the direction of the airlock. Marcelyn: (over the commlinks) "Did any of you come back to the ship?" everyone else: "No." "Negative." "Nope." "No." Marcelyn: "Shiiiiiit." The Drake isn't a reaver vessel. It's a reaver habitat.... Bertram: "They're reavers. They're not right in the head." Things look desperate, until Raakel manages to open the Drake's hold ... rapidly depressurising the ship. Of course, since the Wayfarer is connected to the Drake by an airlock (which has been reopened by the reavers), the Wayfarer is also rapidly depressurizing. The boarding party is wearing pressure suits, and all of them are near chairs which they manage to buckle themselves into. Marcelyn on the other hand, has moved away from her pilot's seat ... and she isn't wearing a pressure suit. She barely manages to grab a handhold at the corner leading to the Wayfarer's airlock, but it seems unlikely that she can hold on for long. So Bertram hacks into the Wayfarer's controls and shuts the airlock. Marcelyn: (cursing in Chinese) "Who thought that was a brilliant idea?" Bertram: (over the comm) "Well, you still have air to cuss, so it seems to have worked out just fine." As the atmosphere blasts out of the Drake's hold... GM: Is anyone doing anything else? Bertram: (waves goodbye to the reavers) Oddo: "And that's why I told everyone to stay in their pressure suits." GM: (to Raakel) It's going to be difficult for you to reach the controls to close the hold without getting sucked out yourself. Bertram: "If you wait until there's no air left in the ship, it becomes much easier." Carina: "Technically the air is being blown out of the ship, not sucked out of the ship." Bertram: (suggestively) "Suck ... blow ... it's all the same to me." The ship finishes depressurizing... Raakel: "I can repressurize the Drake now." Bertram: "Feel free to give it five minutes ... just in case any of the reavers managed to strap themselves in." Bertram: (to the GM) Does the pew pew still work? GM: Yes. Do you know how to use heavy weapons? Bertram: I'm thinking that a warning shot would be sufficient for most problems. Marcelyn moves over from the Wayfarer's helm to the Drake's helm. Marcelyn: (excitedly, looking at all the Drake's switches, monitors and controls) "This is awesome! I don't know what any of them do!" In addition to its own firepower, the Seraphim carries six one-man fighters. Oddo: "I think we're going to need a bigger crew." For a number of reasons (particularly to conceal the fact that they had acquired an extremely valuable prize) the crew decides to grab a second, far less valuable, piece of salvage. Bertram: "The next ship we grab, let's empty the atmo first."

The shadowrunners were an ork/troll group. Against stereotype, they specialized in stealth, subtlety, bluff, illusion, deception and misdirection. Dent: ork, rat shaman No-Step: ork, snake shaman, healer Byte Force: ork, decker, chemist Eye Spy: ork, rigger, drones, paramedic Audacity Jane: ork, combat, stealth, security systems Happy Jack: troll, combat, disguise, negotiator Goldi (NPC): the local Director of Tourism ... and secretly the Baron's Chief of Intelligence The Adventures of Baron Munchmaussen - A Trip to the Local Library This was the same adventure previously described by Drhoz (here and here). The team had been hired to steal a rare book from Baron Munchmaussen. Discussing infiltration plans: Byte Force's ability to spoof security cameras was critical to the plan. However, in order to do it effectively, he would need to coordinate with the team members infiltrating the castle. Byte Force: "I don't think Jack can bluff his way through the tram's security. There are only two trolls in the castle, the Baron and one guard. Neither of them has come down to the village since we arrived." Audacity Jane: "We really need Jack's headware up there, so we can have secure communication with you." Dent: "How do you expect to sneak his lard butt around a castle?" Audacity Jane: "That's easy. You're the one who uses magick. I intend to tell you to figure out a way." Happy Jack: "Even if I'm sneaking into the castle using stealth, I would still like to disguise myself as the Baron, just in case I'm spotted inside." No-Step: "I'm sure everyone in the castle knows the Baron well. Your disguise won't fool them for long." Happy Jack: "It should make them hesitate for a few seconds ... and I've seen what Jane can do to someone in just a few seconds." The plan was fairly simple: Dent would make himself invisible, then ride to the castle on top of the cable car. Once there, Dent would hide in one of the unused towers until night came. No-Step would cover for Dent's absence by putting in several appearances as Dent during the afternoon. Since Goldi was the only person capable of detecting Dent's invisibility or No-Step's illusion, Jack would divert her if it seemed likely that she would encounter either one. After dark, Dent would secure a rope to the tower crenelation, then lower a rope down the cliff face below. Using the rope and climbing gear, Jane and Jack would scale the cliff face and the castle wall. Byte Force would use the security cameras in the castle and main keep to track the movements of the guards. Byte Force would also selectively use video looping to prevent the cameras from seeing Dent, Jack and Jane. The infiltration trio would use the grapple gun to scale the outside of the keep, then enter through the window of the library. If someone was encountered, the infiltration team would use tasers, silenced SMGs, magick and melee to quietly deal with them. The team would exfiltrate by using the rope down the side of the cliff. The rope would be destroyed behind them, concealing the method of entry/egress. If the castle became alerted to the presence of the infiltrators, No-Step and Eye Spy would use illusions and missile fire to distract the castle guards. Happy Jack seemed to enjoy diverting Goldi. Happy Jack: (approaching Goldi as she left her office) "Goldi! Could you help settle a bet I have with one of my friends." Goldi: (cautiously) "Maybe." Happy Jack: "Was the hamburger invented in Hamburg?" Goldi: "No." Happy Jack: "Are you sure?" Goldi: "Yes." Happy Jack: "DAMMIT ... um ... I mean, thanks for the information." Goldi: "Is that all?" Happy Jack: "Yes." (pause) "Hey! If you're leaving work, come have a beer or two with me." Goldi: (turning slightly green) "Actually, I have an important call that I have to make right now." Goldi quickly retreated back into her office. Later that night, while Jack and Jane were waiting for Dent to lower the rope... Happy Jack: (checking his watch) "It's time for me to convince Goldi we're not worth watching tonight." Audacity Jane: "How do you plan to do that?" Happy Jack dialed Goldi's number. Goldi: "Hallo." Happy Jack: (slurring his words slightly) "Hi Goldi. Do you know the waitress at the bierhall? The brunette with the two braids?" Goldi: (sighing) "I know her. Why?" Happy Jack: "Do you know if she has a fetish for trolls?" Goldi: (icily) "Probably not." Happy Jack: "Oh." (long pause) "My friend has a question. Does she have a fetish for orks?" Goldi: [click] Happy Jack: "Hello? Hello?" Audacity Jane: "You have such a way with women." Happy Jack: "It's a gift." Things went according to plan until the team found the book in the library. Audacity Jane: "This isn't the right book. It's a fake. It doesn't have the engraved cover." Happy Jack: "He put the fake where thieves would expect to find it. The real one must be secured somewhere else." Dent: "I know the fastest way to find the real one." Happy Jack: "And that is...." Dent: "The Baron's bedroom is just down the hall. I bet he knows where it is." The Baron was a light sleeper ... until he was tasered, koshed and tranqued. He slept more soundly after that. Dent: "The book is on his bedside table." Audacity Jane: "That was easier to retrieve than I expected." Dent's Mind Probe turned up some other interesting information. Dent: "He didn't get a good look at us when we entered the room, but he thinks we're assassins sent to kill him." Audacity Jane: "Then he'll be pleasantly surprised when he wakes up tomorrow morning." Dent: "The maglock key around his neck is his secret escape route. There's a helicopter in a room upstairs. He can open the roof, raise a platform, and fly it out of here. We could use the helicopter to fly all the way back to Berlin!" Audacity Jane: "Great plan ... except half of our team is still down in the valley ... including the pilot." Happy Jack: "What kind of helicopter is it?" Dent: "A high-end luxury one. Why?" Happy Jack: "If it has a good enough autopilot, the helicopter can fly itself out of here. If it does that, everyone is going to assume that we, and the book, are on board." No-Step and Eye Spy returned to Byte Force's room in order to facilitate secure communication between the two halves of the team. Happy Jack: "Eye Spy, the Baron has a Hughes Airstar. If Byte Force gives you a route, can you you tell us how to program the autopilot to follow it?" Eye Spy: "Of course." Byte Force: "I don't have a route, though." Happy Jack: "Find a route from the roof of the Keep to the middle of the Rhine-Ruhr toxic zone. I want the flight to buzz Graf Eisenstein's castle on the way there." Byte Force: "Okay. Why?" Happy Jack: "Munchmaussen has been shooting down Eisenstein's drones every week. Graf Eisenstein might want to return the favor with Munchmaussen's helicopter. I'm also fairly certain Munchmaussen won't be given permission to examine the wreckage." Byte Force: "That's easy enough." Happy Jack: "And have the route avoid passing over Munchmaussen valley. The Baron's SAM systems may be automated, and I don't want flaming wreckage to land on my head." Byte Force: "I'll have it in one minute." Happy Jack: "Eye Spy, we'll need the autopilot to be set on a timed delay. I want to be down in the valley before it goes tearing out of here." Eye Spy: "Ooookay." Happy Jack: "No-Step, I need you to cast and maintain an illusion covering the northwest side of the Keep's roof." No-Step: "An illusion of what?" Happy Jack: "An illusion of the roof. That's where the helicopter is going to be." The Baron (presumably) woke the next morning to find the book missing, a metal briefcase in its place, the perpetrators gone, and his helicopter long gone. Dent: "After what we did to him, he's going to wake up with the mother of all headaches." Eye Spy: "Maybe the briefcase was full of Exedrin."

The shadowrunners were an ork/troll group. Against stereotype, they specialized in stealth, subtlety, bluff, illusion, deception and misdirection. Dent: ork, rat shaman No-Step: ork, snake shaman, healer Byte Force: ork, decker, chemist Eye Spy: ork, rigger, drones, paramedic Audacity Jane: ork, combat, stealth, security systems Happy Jack: troll, combat, disguise, negotiator Goldi (NPC): the local Director of Tourism ... and secretly Baron Munchmaussen's Chief of Intelligence The Adventures of Baron Munchmaussen - Learning the Lay of the Land This was the same adventure previously described by Drhoz (here and here). The team had been hired to steal a rare book from Baron Munchmaussen. Upon arriving at the village, the train was met by the local Director of Tourism. She immediately started pumping the team for information. Happy Jack (expecting more use of the Analyze Truth spell) defused the questions in his normal manner ... he gave answers that were true, but contained no useful information. Goldi: "What do you do for a living?" Happy Jack: "I'm a negotiator. I ensure my clients get the best possible prices for their goods and services while paying the lowest possible prices to their suppliers." Goldi: "I didn't realize that there were people who did that." Happy Jack: "Of course there are. Do you know the hard part about hiring a negotiator?" Goldi: "What?" Happy Jack: "You have to negotiate his salary without the benefit of his expertise." Jack also asked lots of questions. Happy Jack: (seeing the castle for the first time) "The castle looks like a Disney castle." Goldi: (drily) "I suppose it does." Happy Jack: "Did the Baron build it to look like a Disney castle?" Jack and Goldi chatted non-stop until she dropped them off at their hostel. Byte Force: (quietly, before they entered the hostel) "You're being very friendly with the local [air quotes] tour guide. You even got her phone number." Happy Jack: "I'm not being friendly. I'm being 'that guy.' The ignorant tourist who's completely in love with the sound of his own voice. By the time our trip is over, I want her to dread seeing me or hearing from me." Dent: "Just act like you normally do. I feel that way about you already." Byte Force rigged the camera in the hostel room so it showed a video loop of the team taking a nap. With that cover in place, the team unpacked the gear that Ms. Johnson sent. Obviously, they had some critiques. Happy Jack: "For snowsuits we have a choice of dark blue, dark green and dark brown. Is she completely unfamiliar with the concept of camouflage?" Byte Force: "Those colors blend in very well at night." Audacity Jane: "Not against snow." Eye Spy: "Six pairs of low-light goggles. Useless. Is there anyone here that can't already see in the dark?" Byte Force: "There's no crypto-circuit or scrambling on the micro-transceivers. If we use these, we'll be broadcasting everything we say to the local security." No-Step: "You're sure they're monitoring every radio channel?" Byte Force: "They have spy cams in every room, so I'm going to assume they are." Eye Spy: "No vehicles. No drones. Lovely. There's absolutely nothing for me to do on this mission." Happy Jack: (handing Eye Spy the missile launcher) "You use heavy weapons. You're 'Plan C'." Eye Spy: "Normally the weapons are mounted on vehicles." Dent: "I can steal a car and a roll of duct tape." The team's first stroll through the village was interrupted by an explosion overhead ... as a SAM fired from the castle blew up a drone. Villager: (explaining the noise) "Every week, Graf Eisenstein sends a spy drone, and Graf Munchmaussen always shoots it down. Our Baron is paranoid about the skies." Eye Spy: "And apparently they can both afford to blow up a few thousand nuyen each week, just to make a point." Planning in a heavily monitored environment became its own challenge. Audacity Jane: "When and how are we going to do our planning? We're going to be watched anyplace we go in town." Byte Force: "We could use the snowshoes and go for a hike in the woods. I saw no evidence that the woods are monitored." No-Step: (staring at Byte Force) "Did you actually suggest that we go outside and take a walk? In nature?" Byte Force: "Yes ... but only out of desperation." Securing communications posed an even bigger problem. Happy Jack: "I keep telling you, I shouldn't be the only person with an internal commlink. If just one other person had one, we could have a secure line of communication." Byte Force: "I should be able to wire a micro-transceiver to my cyberdeck. That will allow me to run it through an encryption program. That way the two of us can talk to each other securely." Dent: "No-Step and I can use watcher spirits to send messages to each other." No-Step: "We'll have to be careful about that. If a spirit shows up at the wrong time, we'll blow each other's cover." Happy Jack: "We can pass some messages using code words." Dent: "Aren't you the one who claims those are only used by amateurs?" Happy Jack: "That's because they use code words that sound like code words. Real code words sound innocuous." Happy Jack: "If we absolutely need to send a message in the open, Eye Spy, Byte Force, Jane and I can use these linguasofts. They may eventually figure out what we've said, but it will buy us some time." Audacity Jane: "These linguasofts make us speak in code?" Happy Jack: "No. They allow us to speak Tagalog ... and on this side of the world, that might as well be in code." Happy Jack planned to seduce one of the ork servants working for the Baron, then drug her, allowing Dent to Mind Probe her for details about the castle. Dent remained skeptical of the plan. Dent: "What makes you think you can seduce anyone? Last time I looked, you were really ugly." No-Step: "You're forgetting something. Jack was also really ugly the first time you looked. He's very consistent that way." Happy Jack: "I have two secret weapons. First, the Baron keeps detailed files on each of his employees. Not only do they tell me which servants are security risks, but they also describe their personal weaknesses." Dent: "So you can find someone who's easy. Big deal. There's a difference between 'easy' and 'blind'." Happy Jack: "And I also got some new bioware last month ... cultured tailored pheremones." Dent's Mind Probe, combined with the castle's security camera footage, provided an excellent map of the castle's interior. Unfortunately, Goldi realized that Happy Jack had spent the night with a castle servant ... which made the Baron's spy very suspicious. Happy Jack, noticing Goldi's interest in him, decided to defuse her interest in him. Happy Jack: "Goldi! I'm on my way to the bierhall. Come have a drink with me!" Goldi, being a skilled operative, joined Jack and dropped subtle hints that she might have information about the castle. Happy Jack chose to deflect her subtlety with complete and unmitigated obtuseness. Goldi: "The castle isn't open to visitors, but I go there once a week to meet with some of the bureaucrats." Happy Jack: "Is there a dragon in the castle?" Goldi: "A dragon? Why would there be a dragon in the castle?" Happy Jack: "Well, if the Baron lived in a castle -and- rode a dragon, that would make him the most AWESOME troll ever." Goldi: "..." Happy Jack: "Do they sell dragons around here?" After the trip to the bierhall had ended... Audacity Jane: "You just spent all afternoon drinking and BSing with a spy. Do you think you actually accomplished anything?" Happy Jack: "I think I achieved my goal, and kept Goldi from achieving hers." Audacity Jane: "Her goal was to get you to say something incriminating." Happy Jack: "Not quite. Her goal was to get me drunk enough that I would slip up and say something incriminating." Audacity Jane: "You have the same full-spectrum immunization that I do. You can't get drunk." Happy Jack: "I may have neglected to mention that to her." Audacity Jane: "What were you trying to accomplish?" Happy Jack: "I was trying to convince her to keep up with me, beer for beer." Audacity Jane: "She couldn't be that stupid." Happy Jack: "Not quite. She started out having one beer to every four of mine, then one for every three." Audacity Jane: "How long did that last?" Happy Jack: "Until she passed out. She's going to have one hell of a hangover tomorrow."

The shadowrunners were an ork/troll group. Against stereotype, they specialized in stealth, subtlety, bluff, illusion, deception and misdirection. Dent: ork, rat shaman No-Step: ork, snake shaman, healer Byte Force: ork, decker, chemist Eye Spy: ork, rigger, drones, paramedic Audacity Jane: ork, combat, stealth, security systems Happy Jack / Jonathan Bridges: troll, combat, disguise, negotiator Mr. Johnson: the name used by/for anonymous individuals hiring shadowrunners The Adventures of Baron Munchmaussen - Getting There is Half the Fun This was the same adventure previously described by Drhoz (here and here). Unlike Drhoz's team, this team of shadowrunners was not hired by a dragon. (At least not directly. With dragons you never know.) Instead, they were hired by a normal Ms. Johnson in Seattle, and flown to Germany on a sub-orbital. From there, they took a train to the village of Schloss Munchmaussen. They were to break into the medieval castle overlooking the village, home to Baron Munchmaussen, an elderly troll. Once inside, they were to steal a rare book and leave a metal briefcase in its place. Eye Spy: "Wait ... his name is actually Baron Munchausen?" Dent: "He's a hypochondriac." No-Step: "All the stories about him are greatly exaggerated." Ms. Johnson made the travel arrangements ... and the arrangements for equipment to be provided upon the team's arrival. Byte Force: "I'm taking my cyberdeck with me. I'm not trusting Mr. Johnson to give me a decent deck with useful software." Eye Spy: "Isn't customs going to confiscate your cyberdeck? It's illegal." Byte Force: "A legal cyberdeck has matrix identifiers. An illegal cyberdeck doesn't. My cyberdeck is a custom job. I can change it from a legal deck to an illegal deck by flipping a switch." Eye Spy: "What if they look at the programs?" Byte Force: "They're not going to recognize anything. I wrote them myself." Dent: "Byte Force doesn't believe in documenting his software." Byte Force: "It's called 'code' for a reason." Byte Force did some recon through the Matrix prior to the trip. Byte Force: "Baron Munchaussen is a paranoid, not a hypochondriac. The castle is covered in security cameras. There are cameras in all of the hotel rooms. It looks like there are even cameras in all of the private houses." No-Step: "The walls have ears." Dent: "The toilets and showers have eyes." Byte Force: "Jack, I found the personnel files for the castle. You might want to look at the Director of Tourism first." Happy Jack: "Is he an ork or troll?" Byte Force: "No. She's the Baron's chief of intelligence. She's also a mage." Audacity Jane: (laughing) "I think I like the Baron. He thinks like me." Byte Force: "I can't quite figure out the castle interior from the camera angles. I could really use some humint." Happy Jack: "I'll see what I can do. Send me the personnel files for any female orks and trolls on the Baron's staff." Dent: "The females? Are No-Step and you going in drag?" Happy Jack: "No. I'm planning on seducing one of the servants, then you can read her mind." Dent: "..." Happy Jack: "And I would really prefer to seduce one of the women." Security on flights is a bit different in the Awakened World of 2051. Cyberware can't be confiscated for the duration of the flight. Therefore, passengers with dangerous forms of cyberware are required to wear cyberware restraint cuffs - CRCs. (This assumes that security detects and properly identifies the cyberware.) If the dangerous cyberwear is activated, the cuff applies a taser charge to the wearer. (Nastier versions contain an explosive charge instead.) Eye Spy's player is the most pessimistic gamer I've ever met. She's perpetually convinced that a total party kill is going to happen in the near future. Eye Spy: (while waiting for the flight) "Something terrible is going to happen on this flight, and we're all going to die. The flight is going to crash, or we'll be shot down by a missile, or something. I'm not sure what yet. But just watch." Happy Jack: "For once, I think you're right to be concerned." Eye Spy: "You're actually agreeing with me?" Happy Jack: "Not completely, but we're going into a situation where we lack the ability to respond to a crisis. You can't fly a semi-balistic vehicle. You don't have your drones with you. We don't have weapons. For part of the flight, magick won't work. Accessing the Matrix won't accomplish much. Jane is good at unarmed combat, but she's wearing CRCs." Audacity Jane: "And part of the flight will be zero-G. It's extremely difficult to fight in that environment unless you have training and experience. I don't." Eye Spy: "Oh @#$%! This time, we really are all going to die." Hijack - We Should have Seen This Coming (Actually ... We Did) The hijack started when someone set off a smoke bomb, filling the entire cabin with smoke. Happy Jack grabbed a fire extinguisher, using his spare hand to brace against the ceiling of the cabin (preventing problems with zero-G). Happy Jack: "I don't see any fire." Audacity Jane: "But there are three of them ... headed this way." Happy Jack: (cheerfully) "I have a fire extinguisher." Byte Force: "Are you using that as a rocket?" Happy Jack: "No. I'm using it as a club." Dent: "They have cyberspurs. How come their CRCs aren't shocking them?" Happy Jack: "I would complain that they're cheating somehow, but we cheat all the time." The hijackers appeared to be as inexperienced at zero-G combat as the team was. That gave Happy Jack (fully braced) a tremendous advantage. His long arms and "club" gave him an additional reach advantage. Eye Spy: (watching Jack smack the three hijackers around) "Sometimes I forget that you're almost as dangerous as Jane." In the zero-G environment, Jack was able to smack the hijackers flying into the cabin wall for even more damage. Dent (ooc): I'm having flashbacks to Champions. Happy Jack (ooc): Nah. For Champions I'd need at least six more dice. After the flight, the polizei wanted to interview Happy Jack, due to his pivotal role in thwarting the hijacking. The polizei seemed suspicious of Happy Jack. To complicate matters, Jack got the distinct impression that a polizei mage was using an Analyze Truth spell during the interview. Polizist: "You must be very brave." Happy Jack: "Not really. Just looking out for myself. If they crashed the sub-orbital, we would all die." Polizist: "How did you manage to defeat three hijackers all by yourself?" Happy Jack: "I'm a troll." Polizist: (long pause) "You were unarmed, against three armed men. Jah?" Happy Jack: (shrugging) "I had a fire extinguisher." Polizist: "What made you decide to pick up a fire extinguisher?" Happy Jack: "The cabin was full of smoke." Polizist: "How could you tell the hijackers apart from the other passengers?" Happy Jack: "They were heading for the cockpit, and they had cyberspurs out." Polizist: "How could you see that, when the cabin was full of smoke?" Happy Jack: "I'm a troll. I have thermographic vision." The polizei eventually decided that they weren't going to catch Jack in a lie (and the flight attendent insisted he was a hero), so they let him go catch the train with the rest of the team. Each time the train crossed from one petty German kingdom to the next, the passengers had to deal with customs officials and security forces. Finally, in one of the kingdoms, the "security forces" were indistinguishable from organized crime extortionists. They were even shooting their guns in order to intimidate the passengers into paying. Audacity Jane: "Amateurs." Happy Jack: "Leave the amateurs alone. I would rather pay a reasonable bribe to some amateurs, rather than prove to everyone that we're not." Unfortunately, one of the bandits decided that he wanted Byte Force's cyberdeck. Bandit #1: (in a Bavarian-German dialect) "Give me that." Happy Jack: "You want what? Oh! You want money. Geld. Geld? Jah, jah?" Jack stood up, pulled out the team's biggest, heaviest carry-on down from the rack and shoved it into Bandit #1's arms, nearly causing him to drop his gun. No-Step's watcher spirit: (suddenly appearing behind the bandits) "DROP YOUR WEAPONS. I KILL YOU." The bandits spun around. One fired a burst (harmlessly) through the watcher spirit. Happy Jack pulled the hardest carry-on off the rack and smashed it down on Bandit #1's head. Simultaneously, Audacity Jane stood up behind Bandit #2, pulled Bandit #2's sidearm from its holster, then used it to shoot Bandit #2 and Bandit #3 in the head. Audacity Jane: "This car's clear." Dent: "You should have let me cast a Silence spell. The gunfire will attract the ones in the rest of the train." Audacity Jane: "These amateurs keep shooting their own guns in order to intimidate people. As long as I space my shots out, they aren't going to realize that I'm shooting their guns instead." A second group of armed men showed up and started attacking the group extorting the passengers. Audacity Jane: (as the team ducked down to avoid being struck by stray rounds) "This is very convenient." Eye Spy: "What part of this do you find convenient?" Happy Jack: "We no longer have to explain how these three men ended up dead."

Sadly, that campaign ended more than a decade ago. Many of the players no longer live within 1,000 miles (and they didn't all move the same direction either). Thanks for the compliment. Planning the missions took far longer than actually doing the missions. Someone on the forum has a .sig quote about Shadowrun being __ hours of planning followed by __ minutes of combat. That was very true for our group. Unless we were ambushed, we spent hours planning what we were doing. We planned everything. We planned before going into meetings, including diversions and escape routes. Jonathan/Jack typically went into meetings with fixers and clients alone ... in order to free up the rest of the team to provide overwatch. Even though it was never mentioned in the rules (that I recall), there was a piece of flavor text (I think it was in the 2nd Edition rulebook) that strongly implied that the target of a Mind Probe could feel the Mind Probe happening. That became a house rule for us. Knocking someone unconscious, however, kept them from feeling the Mind Probe. Therefore, we typically knocked them out first. If the mage/shaman scores two additional successes, you still get the same information ... and the victim didn't know we had the information.