mikeward2534

Beautiful heroine in secret Id is on the beach eating a snack. A guy walks up to her (actually Foxbat in his civvies) and says: "Hey there, wanna go out with me? I'm gonna... take over the world someday."
 
(much laughter at the table, while the heroine looks at this guy with unbelieving look.) She can finally only say, "Noooooo."

In a home grown Fantasy game, we were a very unbalanced party of 5 magic users and one fighter played by my firend who was hired as my guy's bodyguard.
After convincing the fighter to touch a rune covered monolith and him transforming into a caribou I fired a force spell off which broke his hip so the monk (yeah, monks were magical) could catch him.  Note that the transformation ripped all his clothes off.  So, after dispelling the transformation and mostly healing up his broken hip my friend says "Wait, I wake naked, surrounded by mages, and my butt hurts?"  Our DM sprayed half the table with the soda he was drinking.
 
In a DnD game our party encounters a pitch-black portal which the elf wizard wants to go through.  My axe wielding monk (spent the feat) thinks this is a bad idea and convinces her to stick her staff through first.
DM tells her to make a magic save which she does successfully, only losing about 90% of her HP as her staff disintegrates.  Turning to the monk she asks "Other than that, what's the worst that could happen?"

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
Universal Brotherhood ("UB"): a charitable fringe religious organization; secretly controlled by insect spirits
The Octagon: the UB's large, iconic chapterhouse in Seattle
 
Universal Brotherhood - What's worse than a real attack?
 
Eye Spy: "I wish we could just drop a bomb on the Octagon and be done with it."
Happy Jack: "Figuratively speaking, I'd like to do just that."
Audacity Jane: "I'm on board ... except for that figurative part."
 
Happy Jack: "The UB has to be expecting another attack. And Lone Star has to be expecting another attack on the UB too. Let's show them what they expect."
No-Step: "Make them overreact to a perceived threat? What does that get us?"
Audacity Jane: "A Lone Star SWAT team running headfirst into a pack of flesh form insect spirits...."
 
Byte Force: "Jane, do you think you could get onto the Octagon's roof and get something into their ventilation system intake?"
Audacity Jane: "Probably. What did you have in mind?"
Byte Force: "Mercaptans."
Eye Spy: "That sounds too large and aquatic to fit in a ventilation system."
Byte Force: "It's a gas. In low doses its non-toxic."
Audacity Jane: "You want to use a much larger dose."
Byte Force: "No. I'm going to use it to make them think there's a dangerous amount of a different gas in the building ... natural gas."
 
Happy Jack: "Jane, when you're putting the mercaptans in the vents, can you drop some noisemakers down in there too?"
Audacity Jane: "Sure."
Byte Force: "That's not going to start a fire. Mercaptans, by themselves, aren't flammable."
Happy Jack: "I'm not trying to start a fire. But when Lone Star and the fire department arrive on the scene, I want them to be convinced that somebody's shooting inside."
No-Step: "They're not going to go charging into an active shooter situation."
Happy Jack: "If they think there's an active shooter on site, they're not going to leave until they do a room-to-room sweep of the building. If there's a gas leak, the fire department's not going to leave until there's a room-to-room sweep of the building."
Dent: "You want them to find the hive."
Eye Spy: "Knowing our luck, they'll have enough clout to keep them from entering the building."
Happy Jack: "They may be able to hide the hive, but they won't be able to hide the cover-up."
 
Byte Force: "I'm going to monitor Lone Star and the fire department. If the UB manages to keep them out of their hive, they're going to have to pull some major strings."
Dent: "Thank you for telling us what we already know, Captain Obvious."
Byte Force: "And if we know who the UB has their hooks in, those may be their human form insect spirits."
Audacity Jane: "You're so sweet. You're getting me a hit list for my birthday."
 
When it was time to start the "incident" at the Octagon, Byte Force triggered a couple bursts of autofire and a few shotgun blasts, then followed it up by releasing one of the canisters of mercaptans.
 
Dent: "That was kind of pathetic for gunfire. Didn't Jane put a lot of noisemakers in the vents?"
Byte Force: "I'm saving most of them for later."
Audacity Jane: "What are you expecting later?"
Happy Jack: "A bigger audience."
 
Byte Force: "I have a cell phone line set up. It's going to track back to the Octagon."
Lone Star operator: "Lone Star emergency line. Please state the nature of your emergency."
Happy Jack: "Hello?" (muffled gunfire could be heard sporadically in the background) "Can you send some police?"
Lone Star operator: "What is your name and location?"
Happy Jack: "I'm Toby." (a young girl could be heard in the background) "I'm in the Octagon."
Lone Star operator: "What's happening, Toby?"
Happy Jack / Toby: "There's a bunch of shooting and people yelling." (pause) "And I heard some people scream, but that's stopped now."
Lone Star operator: "There's a report of a gas leak at the Octagon. Do you smell gas?"
Toby: "It smells funny, but not like somebody farted."
Lone Star operator: "..."
 
Happy Jack had "Toby" stay on the line for a dozen minutes or so until the cell phone's "battery died".
 
No-Step: "Is there any reason you dropped so many specific details?"
Happy Jack: "Lone Star is going to want to find Toby and his little sister. If they can't find him, they're going to want to search the room with the black and gold doors ... that's the Inner Chamber where the queens live."
Eye Spy: "How do you know that?"
Happy Jack: "In the background material that the investigative reporters put together. The one reporter described the doors when he raided the Octagon with some Shadowrunners."
Eye Spy: "You actually read the background material [the GM] gave us?"
 
The UB personnel were trying to keep Lone Star from entering the Octagon....
 
Eye Spy: "They're saying that the attackers already fled the building."
Byte Force triggered the noisemakers to fire a several more shotgun blasts and a few SMG bursts.
Eye Spy: "They now look like they just swallowed a shoe."
 
Later, the UB tried a new tactic. The team heard some additional gunshots (that they hadn't caused) followed by...
 
Eye Spy: "They're saying that the security guards killed all of the attackers ... and ... Drek! They're bringing out some dead bodies. Where did they get those?"
Audacity Jane: "That's brilliantly ruthless. They must have killed some of their own members to get the corpses."
Happy Jack: "That plays into our hands."
Dent: "How?"
Happy Jack: "Instead of appearing to be the sympathetic victims of outside persecution, they now look like they're killing themselves with internal strife."
Byte Force: "Let's see if we can inspire a repeat performance." (triggered more noisemaker shotgun blasts)
 
Finally, Galen Walker, a human form insect spirit and the nominal leader of the UB, put in an appearance....
 
No-Step: "He's staying next to the building, inside the magickal ward."
Dent: "He's worried about us sending more spirits to kill him."
Audacity Jane: "He's got the right idea, but he's worried about the wrong thing...."
Jane fired her sniper rifle, and Byte Force simultaneously triggered the remaining noisemakers. Therefore, the sounds of gunfire erupted from the Octagon almost at the same moment that Galen Walker's head blew open.
No-Step: "Congratulations Jane. I think that's going to be the most played video segment on national news this evening."
 
Byte Force: "I managed to unscramble the Lone Star transmissions. In one of the transmissions, the Lone Star chief is telling the SWAT captain on the scene that the crisis has been completely resolved ... several minutes before Jane turned Galen's brain into a fine red mist."
Happy Jack: "Let's sell both the encrypted and decrypted versions of that transmission to Ares Global Entertainment. After that, we can anonymously send them to the other networks and let them know that Ares already has them."
No-Step: "I'm sure you have some terribly clever reason for doing that, but would you care to explain it to the rest of us?"
Happy Jack: "Ares owns Knight Errant. Knight Errant competes with Lone Star for municipal police contracts. Therefore, Ares will pay good money to make Lone Star look incompetent."
Dent: "Why aren't we selling it to the rest of them?"
Happy Jack: "It's not worth as much. But by telling them Ares already has it, that means they'll broadcast quickly in order to scoop them."
Dent: "Can't we prove that Lone Star is being controlled by the UB?"
Happy Jack: "Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity."
Dent: "What?"
Happy Jack: "The radio transmission only proves the chief royally fragged up. It doesn't prove that he was influenced by the UB."
Eye Spy: "So he gets away with it."
Happy Jack: "Not exactly. His 'incompetence' could cost Lone Star hundreds of millions of nuyen. They won't be forgiving about that."
Eye Spy: "But he still gets away without people knowing what really happened."
Happy Jack: "It's the best way to guarantee he gets creamed. If he's accused of being corrupted by the UB, he can always defend himself by saying he made a mistake. If he's accused of incompetence, what's he going to do? Excuse his decision by claiming he was corrupt?"
 
Anonymous tip to the media: The attackers killed by the Universal Brotherhood security guards all appear to be Universal Brotherhood members. [attachment: Universal Brotherhood Seattle membership list] This violence bears a striking resemblance to the fighting between the Universal Brotherhood chapterhouses in Gilroy, CFS and San Martin, CFS, in which the San Martin chapterhouse was completely destroyed.
 
No-Step: "Did anyone actually prove that the violence in CFS was due to a conflict between the chapterhouses? I thought the dead reporters just speculated that was what happened."
Happy Jack: "You're worried about proof? I intend to make the UB waste resources keeping some hungry young reporters from digging through the evidence."
No-Step: "Don't you think the UB will just kill them too?"
Happy Jack: "If a bunch of hungry young reporters start dying while investigating the same story, that's going to look like a cover-up. The media loves to report on those."
 
Eye Spy: "Won't the UB eventually track these anonymous tips back to us?"
Byte Force: "I've been leaving some indications that Detective Bambra is the source. They won't even begin looking for us until they kill him."
Audacity Jane: "Aww ... you're actually making me start to like the scapegoat."

Shadowrun 2070A : Goth Rockers
The Shadowrun campaign in which Ripper associates with a geriatric misogynist elf, an Orc Santa, Shirley Temple, and a fox, continues (the other campaign in which he associates with rather more professional individuals missed a session) The scene opens in the graveyard where we wasted so much time last session. The GM has helpfully added a large encarmine fish to the map.

Dr. Rubicante: Th-that's a giant fish.
Ripper K: very *eats it*
Dr. Rubicante: That is literally a red herring, isn't it.
Ripper K: yup - lets make lutefisk
Dr. Rubicante: At least it's good for your heart.
GM: Yes. that is literally a Red Herring.
Dr. Rubicante: IS IT THE GRAVEYARD BOSSFIGHT
GM: YES. YOU FIGHT A GIANT VAMPIRE FISH AT THE END OF THE ADVENTURE
Dr. Rubicante: THIS IS THE SIXTH WEIRDEST THING I'VE DONE (Your mother is number one.)

So around to the home of one of the surviving members of JetBlack's band - one Marli. She lives as a recluse in an impressively gothic mansion.

Dr. Rubicante: I like this place. You don't really get architecture like this anymore.
Shirley Temple: If she has a butler called igor I vote we leave
Dr. Rubicante: Probably best we don't eat anything she offers.

It also has impressive Astral security, which doesn't help our case when we politely ask if we can come in and talk to her.

Intercom: ...Uh huh.. and I'm going to assume that the Watcher spirit you just sent to test my wards was a courtesy? Tell me exactly what you want, or Drek off.

Dr. Rubicante: Maybe we can leave Ryleigh there to guard the cars. He can be our eye in the sky too. What do you say, Fox?
Ryleigh: Do I look like I want to go in there? You'll probably get eaten by some paracritter. Have fun!
Dr. Rubicante: Y'all know that does look like it'd house a paracritter or two.

Inside, the house is just as haunted looking as on the outside. Ancient looking fireplaces, furniture that seems to be from the 18th century, cobwebs in the corners.. either this place was specifically modelled to look like this by someone with an amazing attention to detail, or this might just be the real damn thing. When we enter, we're greeted by a holographic projection. It's Marli, looking just as she did in her publicity photos 20 years ago. Ripper completely assumes this is the Real Marli and doesn't even realise it's a projection.

Dr. Rubicante bows his head graciously and enters the sitting room, giving it a look around. He traces a finger over a wooden armrest to see if it was dusty before taking a seat. He didn't want to get his suit dusty, after all.

Dr. Rubicante: Is there a rocking chair by a fireplace?
Ripper K: *whispers to the Doc* She's looking fabulous, isn't she?
Dr. Rubicante: Absolutely beautiful, despite her age.

Externalised Misogynist that he is, the Doc assumed Ripper was talking about the house.

Ripper explains how the team were hired to recover the disc, and our client claimed it was stolen, but given who had it, and what happened afterward, we're beginning to think we were lied to.

Marli: Shame what happened to K-Spot, really... We've been able to cure most cancers for years now, but.. he was just one of the unlucky ones.
Dr. Rubicante: K-Spot?
Ripper K: *winces sympathetically* I'm sorry to hear that. But I'm afraid that his son got into even worse trouble. Which is why we came to you - we need to know just how much trouble we're in for getting involved.
Marli: So Little Kerwin tried to sell it off on the black market? Why didn't he come to me? I would have helped him..
Ripper K: If we'd gotten to him sooner, ma'am, I'd have told him as much.
Marli: ...you mean..

Ripper K nods sadly, Marla sits, dejected, and stares at the floor for a few moments, seeming to collect herself. "The disk. you still have it?"

Ripper K: *nods* but we have to warn you - a dozen people have died over this already. Hundreds of thousands of nuyen changed hands. And the assassins didn't even try to negotiate first - they just came in shooting. But since it looks like JetBlack meant the disc to get to his old friends...
Marli: Can you play it for me, just for old time's sake?
Ripper K: That shouldn't be a problem, should it?
Marli: *smiles* Not from your commlink. Please. My studio is this way.

And then we get led to the basement.

Dr. Rubicante: La vie en rose, Inception style

Her studio is small, but exceptionally well equipped. The soundproof room has a production quality editing suite and a few comfortable chairs.

Dr. Rubicante: Anyone know how to use this stuff?
Shirley Temple: I can tell you how much it costs, sweetie, and what an input roughly looks like but that's about it

Marli: Oh my.. You don't have the encryption keys, do you..? a shame.. well.. let me see what I can do about it.
Ripper K: (holy sh*t! is there a paranoia skill i should be checking right now?)
GM: I know. Perhaps that should give you an idea of how much she knows about the disc?

Dozens of knobs and sliders across the editing board begin to move of their own accord. The low quality audio becomes clearer, though not perfectly so. you sense that she is a master at this. You can really feel the emotion in the music now. it's some truly beautiful Rock. Ripper K listens to the music and almost purrs

Dr. Rubicante: You know, I wasn't too keen on this band back in the 50s, but it's growing on me 20 years later.

Ripper K is hoping like hell Fox will give us warning if Marli's summoned a killteam

Marli: Ah yes.. I remember these sessions. Carrion Studios, right? These were not long before he died... I used to have the full recording myself, but it got lost in the second crash.. I always regretted not having backups.
Dr. Rubicante: You're telling me. I lost my third Harry Potter blog in that crash.

Marli: I assume you're Shadowrunners, then?
Dr. Rubicante: We were simply at the right place in the wrong time.
Ripper K: Given the amount of nuyen the other parties were throwing around, i'm starting to think we were the discount special. Oh right, that reminds me? Do you have any idea why the music was on an old format like this? It was sheer fluke the eldster here had some old tech that would run it.
Marli: It really depends on your.. employer. As for the disc, JetBlack always had a love for the little-used formats. Provided a little extra security. Do you know who hired you?
Dr. Rubicante: Can't say we do. We were told that he was a some sentimental sap and that's all we know. A lotta blood spilled over a little sentimentality, if'n you ask me.
Ripper K: The middleman did want to know who the thief was - but if there was no thief I don't know how to read that. Either the middleman had been lied to as well, or he was a very convincing liar himself, and was giving himself plausible deniabilty if Kerwin 'vanished' So you can see why we're concerned - this was supposed to be a straight-forward, low-risk recovery job
Marli: Hrm. I'm not sure how much danger you're in. And I'm not sure whether you'll be out of it even if you just give me the disk, or give it to your employer.
Ripper K: That's what we were afraid of. And if we don't get paid, we can't even afford to flee town.
Marli: Look.. I think I might.. might, mind you - Know someone who can help with this. If you leave me a number I can get in touch with you and you can lay low for a day or two, I'll see what I can do. I believe those recordings should be available to the world. JetBlack's been dead for twenty years, after all.. I don't think he'll mind much anymore.
Dr. Rubicante: The world could use some more good music. I'm tired of Dwarfstep and Orc rap.

OoC shenanigans while the players assemble for the second half of the session. Ripper films the elf showering, and sells footage to internet preverts.

Shirley Temple: but but.....we are internet perves
Ripper K: that'll be 20 bucks then
Shirley Temple: no comprenday americano
Ripper K: 50 nuyen then. Inflation.

Updating a player on events so far.

Ripper K: We went to see Marli, she eventually let us in, doesn't know how much trouble we're in, and claims she doesn't have decryption on the disc. We pretended we didn't either and that it was sheer fluke the geriatric elf has a disc reader so the club doesn't get any backlash
Dr. Rubicante: My attic is a trove of mysteries and sexual confusion.

Ripper K: It's certainly starting to look like we have to take the disc to the client. Anybody suggest how we can do that without another killteam shooting us all in the head? Somewhere nice and public, I suggest - with no long lines of sight mages or snipers can use and plenty of escape routes for us.
Dr. Rubicante: Mask! Mask everyday!
Ryleigh: How about a café vis-a-vis a Knight Errant HQ?
Ripper K: nice - unless, of course, the client just tells the cops we were involved in the explosion at the junkyard. Of course, we could always tape the hand-off, and incriminate him back... but frankly, i think our reputation is going to be f**ked anyway.

We get a call on the disposable phone. The voice on the line is deep. male. and Obviously Processed.

Voice: Good Evening. I have heard from a friend that you have an item that I may be interested in. I also am aware that you are currently under contract to give this item to someone else. Before you do that, I would like to provide a counter-offer. I am quite certain that I can provide a better offer for the item in question, and indeed, ensure your safety for returning it, if you will just agree to hear me out.

Ryleigh sends an text message to be displayed on the other's commlinks.

Ryleigh: If he takes care of the previous client, he can be our new client.
Ripper K: This sounds like a highly desirable offer, Mr Johnson - Naturally, given the incidental expences that the item has already incurred, such a counter offer will need to be commensurate, although the security bonus you mentioned will be taken into account.
Voice: I am willing to offer you Twenty-Four thousand Nuyen for the item. Plus our assurance that this matter will not impact future employment opportunities, and a guarantee of safety from repercussions of this particular deal.
I am aware that the item is indeed worth much, much more than that to the right buyers, but the price of safety in the 6th world is.. high.
Ripper K: A very generous offer, Mr Johnson - do you have a preferred locale for the hand-off? Or shall we arrange a suitably secure area ourselves?

Ryleigh sends another text message.

Ryleigh: It kind of sounds too good to be true...
Dr. Rubicante: Ask him for more. I need to repaint the porch or the home-owners committee will be on my ass.
Ripper K: *on text* nods - we may have to ensure a MAD policy, with back-up blackmail. *out loud* Shush, Dealer, the grown-ups are talking
Voice: We do indeed have a drop location. You will be met by another team who will handle the exchange, and provide protection if required. The address is as follows...
Ripper K: .... feeling of Doom rising...
Dr. Rubicante: I'm going to spend some gold to upgrade my security to "Luxury".

The new Mr Johnson wants to meet at the JetBlack memorial

Dr. Rubicante: Odin's glorious beard- that place again!
Ripper K: Welp... at least the gravestones will make for good cover. That custodian is going to be pissed though
Dr. Rubicante: I'm going to buy grenades. Lots of grenades.

Dr. Rubicante: Rigby? Grenades. No, no, I haven't gone senile yet. I want to know if you can get me flashbangs, smoke bombs or concussive grenades. I swear I'm not going to go on a warpath today.
GM: 'You need how many grenades? *tonight?

We meet at the cemetery in the small hours before dawn, with due caution. The other team, of some five people, is already there.

Ripper K: Evening. I sincerely hope you're the people I'm supposed to meet, because I don't want another night like the last one.
Other Team's Apparent Leader: Evening. My name's Risa. Apologies for the location. My employer thought it was appropriate, given the circumstances. Do you have the recording?
Ripper K: *nods* And we'll be glad to get it off our hands. This was NOT a satisfying job.
Dr. Rubicante: A whole lot of running around, dead ends and bullets fired. Not my idea of a good time. We'd very much like for this job to end.
Risa: Good. It needs to go back where it belongs. You see, I represent JetBlack’s interests. Those recordings were given to a friend of his before he died—he never meant for them to be available to the public.
Ripper K: Actually, that's the best news I've heard in days

Risa: If you’ve made any copies, you’ll destroy them. If they ever see the light of day, we’ll know where they came from, and believe me, you do not want the people I represent as your enemies. I apologise for the thinly veiled threat, but my employer wishes to make perfectly sure you are aware of the terms.

Ripper K reaches into his jacket for the disc.

Ripper K: Incidentally... I don't suppose you know why that other team turned up and just started killing people? Seems like a good way for the disc to be accidentally destroyed. In fact, it damn near was.
Dr. Rubicante: Didn't you say... that you represent Jet Black's interests? ...Is your employer Jet Black?

One of the NPCs fails a rather important composure check.

JetBlack: ..H..how? how could you possibly have..

Ripper K jaw drops when he recognises the voice. Other than his skin looking a lot paler, he hasn't changed at all in the last 20 years.

Ryleigh: Someone has skills other than entertainment, it would appear.
GM: Also, f**k you for making me make that composure check.
Shirley Temple: the entire situation screamed "NOT DEAD"
Dr. Rubicante: We're both fans of vocal processing, aren't we, Mr. Black? *taps his own flaming hologram skullmask for emphasis.* The way you spoke on the phone however... the cadence of your voice reminded me of the passion in your song.Well, that, and c'mon, we're meeting in your 'grave'. And the threats?
Ripper K: Ve- Dealer, please, shut up! We're very sorry we caused you all this trouble, sir. We honestly believed we were recovering stolen property.
Dr. Rubicante: Ripper, I very rarely get excited. We're in the presence of a celebrity. Allow me to have my moment of delight.

GM: Blip. Blip. Blipblipblip. The drone sensors light up.
Ryleigh: we have company?
Dr. Rubicante: Ah... of course.
Ryleigh: Contacts at 6 o'clock.
Dr. Rubicante: Mr. Black, it was lovely to meet you, but perhaps we should get to that escape you promised.

Dr. Rubicante practically cackles as he rotates his shoulders, his voice shuddering excitedly.

Dr. Rubicante: Oooh, a bad run! I agree with my large friend here... you lot should run. We'll cover your escape so you can pay us some other day.

But JetBlack and his team instead take up firing positions of their own. Ryleigh gets to work using his drones and Matrix skills to ID, tag, and confuse the hostiles.

Ripper K: flood their HUDs with 'win a free iPhone' ads

Ripper insists we shoot to wound.

Ripper K: Until they start shooting back in earnest, anyway.

Ryleigh sends everyone a updated map with enemy locations, as well as telling them 'pineapple' is the code word for the flashbang grenades his drones will be dropping.

Dr. Rubicante: Mmm. Pineapples. I could go for a piña colada after this, if only those still existed.

Hogfather is suddenly feeling really dumb, having climbed onto the church roof for overwatch over the meet ... and not having brought a rifle. Still, he's a very good shot with a sidearm.

Hogfather: Ah, F**k it. BANG
GM: Aiming for the obvious mage, as is standard practice.
Ripper K: *snickers* and we can thank the Fox for highlighting the mage with a big glowy arrow on the TacNet

Now we find out why Risa and JetBlack didn't leave. And why JetBlack still looks so young. They run past us at superhuman speed, towards the still-unsuspecting hostiles.

Dr. Rubicante: Ahh!! What's he doing there!? XD
GM: These two move BLISTERINGLY fast. faster than you can even see Auged.
Dr. Rubicante: THEY'RE VAMPIRES.
GM: NO SH*T
Ryleigh: aren't vampires supposed to sparkle?
Ripper K: f**k, I was f**king right about this graveyard!
Dr. Rubicante: TOO MUCH DARK SHADOWS, AHHHH.
Shirley Temple: the advantage of the virus, bloodly long lived
GM: Risa has her manhunter at the shaman's temple before he can even blink. POW
Ryleigh OoC: let's rename the campaign '50 shades of JetBlack'

Ripper is calling the number given to us by the original Johnson, just in case. After all, if he's with the other team, shooting him now will solve a lot of problems.

GM: though it IS ringing. are you sure you want to have a conversation in combat?
Ripper K: wasn't going to - was just going to let it ring
GM: "Do you have my disc?" "Oh yeah BANG BANG Sorry, Just kind of in the middle of somthing.. we've taken a better offer!"

Ripper's desire to reduce fatalities proves increasingly unachievable, especially after the Doc starts spell-slinging.

Dr. Rubicante: My bad. Magic is hard to control!
Ripper K: *wince* Well, our intentions were good. See you in hell.
Dr. Rubicante: If there's one thing I regret, it's not shacking up with Lofwyr.

The carnage continues as JetBlack's team makes short work of the hostiles.

Ripper K: *whispers to Vell and Shirley* Well, I'm glad we decided NOT to atack these guys...
Dr. Rubicante: No kidding.

Ryleigh: I could go for a slice of pineapple right about now!
Dr. Rubicante:* closes his eyes.*
Ripper K: I hope it doesn't set the vampires on fire or something

Dr. Rubicante: Rigger on Rigger action!

GM: "Fuck this shit!"
The enemy decker withdraws from combat. smart cookie. knows when he's outnumbered. and outmatched.
Dr. Rubicante: XD Shoot the running guy! HE HAS EXPENSIVE GEAR!!

GM: Err.. I mean.. Just the Street Samurai is left.
Shirley Temple: big slab of beef of very little brains?
Ripper K: I'm tempted to just go punch him out *bounces up and down* let me, go on, let me
Dr. Rubicante: Knock his block off, buddy.

Ripper K gets and starts strolling forward, visibly cracking my knuckles and peeling off his shirt

Dr. Rubicante: Ohhh!
GM: ...You were wearing a SHIRT?
Ripper K: it was a chilly night
Dr. Rubicante: XD For the express purpose of stripping?
Ripper K: *nipples go sproing* yup

Dr. Rubicante turns to face the back of the running rigger and points a finger at him.

Dr. Rubicante: Now we don't want anyone blabbing about Mr. Jet, do we? Stupefy!

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 / Gomi No ShuShu: 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
Universal Brotherhood ("UB"): a charitable fringe religious organization; secretly controlled by insect sprits
 
Universal Brotherhood - The Saga Continues
 
For their next attack, the team chose the Universal Brotherhood chapterhouse in Auburn, which was controlled by termite spirits.
 
Audacity Jane: "When we attack the Auburn chapterhouse, let's break into one of the top floors."
Eye Spy: "Why? Isn't the hive in the basement?"
Audacity Jane: "We can take the elevator straight to the basement ... and nobody will expect us to break into the third or fourth floor when everything important is in the basement."
No-Step: "There's a difference between 'nobody will expect it' and 'it's a good idea'."
 
Byte Force: "I don't want to use cell phone jammers for this attack. If UB security is smart, they'll be listening for those by now and use them to trigger alarms."
Audacity Jane: "That's going to put us on a really tight timetable. Lone Star has a much better response rate in Auburn than Redmond."
Byte Force: "Don't worry about that. I have another way to slow them down."
Eye Spy: "Any time one of you says 'don't worry about that,' you make the rest of us worry more."
Byte Force: "Lone Star is going to get bombarded with several 'officer down' and 'officer needs assistance' calls at the same time you enter the chapterhouse. I think those will take priority over any calls from the UB."
 
Audacity Jane: "I can override the elevator controls, so nobody can use it but us. But that won't stop the UB guards from coming down the stairs behind us."
Happy Jack: "That's easy. We can use a paint grenade to slow down the reinforcements."
Audacity Jane: "How is a paint grenade going to do that?"
Byte Force: "I've taken the paint out of several of them and replaced it with lubricant."
Dent: "Won't that make them get downstairs even faster?"
 
As the team battled the flesh form and true form termite spirits in the basement...
 
Dent: "This building can't be worth very much ... it's infested with termites."
 
After killing the queen, Jack put a few flesh forms into body bags and dragged them into the elevator. No-Step, on the other hand, hid a few noisemakers around the basement.
 
Dent: "Is that your idea of helping?"
No-Step: "If we fire these off after we take the elevator back to the third floor, the remaining guards will be too busy storming the basement to look for us there."
 
After the raid, the Universal Brotherhood was forced to perform more spin control. The team, on the other hand was perfectly willing to provide anonymous tips to investigative reporters.
 
Anonymous tip: The Universal Brotherhood blamed the first attack on a homeless, mentally disturbed troll. They're blaming the second attack on a hate group. However, the Universal Brotherhood's security guards at both chapterhouses were taken out by narcojet darts and neurostun gas. That seems rather sophisticated for a homeless troll, and it seems like a soft touch for a hate group.
 
Anonymous tip: Have you checked out the ammo that the Universal Brotherhood security guards use? Their machine pistols are loaded with armor piercing discarding sabot rounds. How does a non-profit charity group get the legal clearance to use those?
 
In order to get the megacorps in on the action, it was time to start selling flesh forms to the megacorps "procurement specialists."
 
Happy Jack: "No-Step, you get to adopt a new identity and sell the flesh forms to the corps."
No-Step: "Why am I getting this job?"
Happy Jack: "Most of the megacorps who deal in biotech are Japanese owned. Those guys are notoriously biased against metahumans. You can disguise yourself as an overweight human. I'm three meters tall. I can only disguise myself as another troll."
 
No-Step adopted the alternate identity of Gomi No ShuShu, human, American-born, of Japanese descent.
 
Gomi No ShuShu: (to a prospective client) "I understand you're generally in the market for biological samples. Would you be in the market for samples of a previously unknown paranormal animal?"
Yamametsu procurement specialist: "First, you would need to persuade me that you had discovered a paranormal species that we're not already in possession of."
Gomi No ShuShu: (showing the buyer a picture of the flesh form insect spirit) "This is what my associates killed. We believe that it's a paranormal species, rather than genetic engineered. However, I suspect you would be interested in it either way."
Yamametsu procurement specialist: "Does it have anything that would make it commercially valuable?"
Gomi No ShuShu: "Security applications. It was being used to guard the sensitive areas in a building."
Yamametsu procurement specialist: "What size sample did your people get?"
Gomi No ShuShu: "Two nearly-complete bodies. And they've been kept refrigerated."
Yamametsu procurement specialist: "Nearly complete?"
Gomi No ShuShu: "There's a few bullet holes in each."
 
Yamametsu procurement specialist: "I can't authorize a very large payment, since this could still turn out to be worthless."
Gomi No ShuShu: "My associates said they would accept a modest payment for these preliminary samples."
Yamametsu procurement specialist: "Preliminary samples...?"
Gomi No ShuShu: "They're confident that you'll want to purchase a live sample later, and they intend to charge a much higher price for that."
Yamametsu procurement specialist: "They have a live sample?"
Gomi No ShuShu: "They know where to get one."
 
Afterwards...
 
Happy Jack: "Good work No-Step. Now you just need to sell some to MCT, Renraku and Shiawase." (long pause) "And you also need to sell the mostly-human flesh forms to Saeder Krupp."
No-Step: "Nobody is going to think that the mostly-human ones are paranormal animals."
Happy Jack: "Of course not. That's why you're selling them as examples of a new form of bioware."
Dent: "That's risky. Ripping off Saeder Krupp is a good way to get on Lofwyr's bad side."
Happy Jack: "Lofwyr's been around at least since the 4th Age. I'm going to bet he knows exactly what a flesh form is. This is my way of sending him a message."
Dent: "If he ever sees it."
Happy Jack: "Lofwyr's the micromanager from hell. He'll find out about it."
 
Unsurprisingly, a couple weeks after Saeder Krupp bought the specimens (for 5,000 nuyen apiece), No-Step / Gomi No ShuShu received a voice mail from a Saeder Krupp fixer. Byte Force set up an untraceable call.
 
Han Brackhaus of Saeder Krupp: "I am willing to pay 10,000 nuyen to learn where you acquired the specimens you sold us."
Gomi No ShuShu: "Let me discuss your offer with my associate."
No-Step put Brackhaus on hold and had a quick discussion with Happy Jack.
Gomi No ShuShu: "My associate tells me that if all you want is the location of those three specimens, he will provide it for free ... and he will refund 10,000 nuyen of the 15,000 nuyen deposit you paid me."
Hans Brackhaus: "That's a ... surprising offer."
Gomi No ShuShu: "However, if you want to know every location where he personally  encountered 'specimens' like that, he will keep the deposit and require an additional 35,000 nuyen. If you want you want his list of suspected locations, it will cost 250,000."
Hans Brackhaus: "Why would I consider paying that much for suspected locations?"
Gomi No ShuShu: "Based on his sampling, he says that he's 95% confident that over 50% of them have specimens at that location."
Hans Brackhaus: "That's still a large amount of money for 'suspected' locations."
Gomi No ShuShu: "It's a large number of suspected locations."
Hans Brackhaus: (long pause) "How large?"
Gomi No ShuShu: "A three digit number."
Hans Brackhaus: "I ... I'll need to get back in touch."

In the last game I was in, a powerful villain throws a blast at our brick hero, who manages to take it without being injured or stunned.
 
Villain: How did you survive? That could have destroyed a building!
Hero replies: Well, I'm not just any ordinary building...

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
Danial Simpson (NPC): a pudgy, middle-aged junior exec at Renraku; was given his position by his father-in-law
Victoria Delling (NPC): Danial Simpson's mistress; went missing after receiving a unique necklace called Blood
Detective Bambra (NPC): a private investigator hired by Danial Simpson's wife to find evidence of Danial Simpson's affair
Universal Brotherhood ("UB"): a charitable fringe religious organization; secretly controlled by insect spirits

HMHVV: Human Meta-Human Vampiric Virus
 

Missing Blood, part 9 - Aftermath
 
The raid on the Universal Brotherhood's Redmond chapterhouse was successful. The team had recovered the missing necklace, Blood. They had found the missing girl, Victoria Delling, and had put her out of her (insect possessed) misery. And the Redmond chapterhouse was being investigated for a HMHVV outbreak ... which would be a seriously nasty thing ... except when compared to their actual activities.
 
Byte Force: (posting to a Humanis Policlub forum under the handle 'VampireHater') "You won't believe what those bleeding-heart metahuman-loving slags at the Universal Brotherhood are doing. They're helping HMHVV infected monsters like loup-garou, dour and nosferatu by hiding them in their chapterhouses. Not only are those idiots going to get themselves killed, they're going to get a bunch of decent humans sucked dry because they think those monsters have 'rights'. Anything that believes that people are food has rights. The right to DIE!!!!!"
Eye Spy: (reading what Byte Force had posted) "If Humanis tries to tangle with the UB, they're going to get slaughtered."
Audacity Jane: "Awww ... you're breaking my heart."
 
Then there was Judy, the human form fly spirit captured in the raid.
 
Dent: "I don't want to read that thing's mind. It could drive me insane."
Happy Jack: "I thought shamans could take control of spirits. You could just compel her to tell us what we want to know."
Dent: "In order to take control a spirit, I have to wrest control away from the summoner."
Happy Jack: "The summoner ... you mean that thing I killed in the basement last night? I don't think it will be putting up much of a struggle."
Dent: "Um ... this could be easier than I originally thought."
 
The afternoon after the raid, No-Step disguised himself as Detective Bambra in order to update Mrs. Simpson on his investigation into her husband's affair. In order to cover for the flaws in his disguise, he made himself look bruised and swolen.
 
Mrs. Simpson: "What happened to you?"
No-Step / Detective Bambra: "Your husband's mistress ... some of her friends objected to my investigation."
Mrs. Simpson: "Do you have evidence that I can use this time?"
No-Step / Detective Bambra: "Absolutely. I used the bug you planted to pull a message off your husband's answering machine."
No-Step showed Mrs. Simpson the vidphone message Victoria Delling had left for Danial thanking him for the necklace ... while wearing the very distinctive necklace, Blood.
No-Step / Detective Bambra: "I think I was able to erase the message before your husband saw it. He'll be completely surprised when you show it to him."
Mrs. Simpson: "I'm going to play it for him right after he gives me that whore's necklace."
No-Step / Detective Bambra: "About that ..." (handing her a box) "... I was able to get to the necklace before he was."
Mrs. Simpson: "Thank you sooo much. I think I'm going to give him divorce papers as an anniversary present." (eyes flashing with anger) "I want to see how he tries to weasel out of all of this."
 
Jonathan Bridges, on the other hand, had to apologize to Danial for failing to recover the necklace.
 
Danial Simpson: "Did you get it?"
Jonathan Bridges: "I'm afraid our investigation hit a dead end. I believe we found Ms. Delling's body, but we would need a DNA test to confirm that."
Danial Simpson: "She's ... she's dead?"
Jonathan Bridges: "Someone tried to dispose of her body by feeding it to the ghouls. That's why I'm not 100% certain that it was her."
Danial Simpson: "And there was no sign of the necklace?"
Jonathan Bridges: "It's a rough neighborhood. If anyone knew she had it, they may have killed her for it."
Danial looked aghast.
Jonathan Bridges: "We snooped around at the local fences, but any competent fence would be smart enough to just try to sell the stones, which are far harder to trace."
 
No-Step: (after Jonathan/Jack had returned from talking to Danial) "Do you have any idea what you've just done?!?"
Happy Jack: "Yep."
No-Step: "He's going to think his wife murdered Victoria!"
Happy Jack: "I certainly hope he's smart enough to reach that conclusion. I practically drew him a map."
No-Step: "He's probably going to murder her!"
Happy Jack: "And if he does, he's no longer going to be a junior exec at Renraku. He'll be a convict ... and safely out of the reach of the UB."
No-Step: "You're setting him up in order to ... save him?"
Happy Jack: "Nah. I'm setting him up in order to frag with the UB."
 
Hours later the leader of the UB, Galen Walker, gave a press conference in front of the Octagon, the largest  UB chapterhouse in Seattle. Byte Force slipped a list of questions onto a couple reporters' PDAs. Dent used his Influence spell to ensure they would ask the questions at the press conference.
 
Galen Walker: "... According to what we have learned from the Lone Star officers who investigated the tragedy at our Redmond chapterhouse, the attacker was a homeless troll, probably suffering from some form of mental illness. Contrary to initial reports, there is no indication this troll suffered from HMHVV. He was the chapterhouse's soup kitchen, receiving dinner when the attack began. Despite yesterday's tragedy, the Universal Brotherhood remains dedicated to helping the poor."
reporter #1: "Was this incident in any way related to the murder of Madame Ulishia four days ago?"
Galen Walker: "Who?"
reporter #1: "She was a member of the Redmond chapterhouse who was murdered in her home. Are you saying that there's no connection?"
Galen Walker: "Not that I'm aware of."
reporter #2: "Is there any connection to the murder of Christine Simpson? She was murdered just over an hour ago at the Glass Onion."
Galen Walker: "I'm afraid that this is the first that I've heard of this. She was a member?"
reporter #2: "No. Her husband was a brand new member of the Octogon chapterhouse. He's the one who murdered her in front of a crowd of witnesses."
Galen Walker: "I'm not sure why you believe that there's a connection between these unrelated...."
reporter #1: "What about the attempted murder of Patrick Bambra at his office four days ago? The five men who tried to kill him were all members of the Universal Brotherhood."
Galen Walker: "I'm not sure where you're getting this information...."
reporter #1: "Do you need to confirm that they were Universal Brotherhood members? I have their names."
reporter #2: "Is this level of violence normal for the Universal Brotherhood?"
And that's when Dent and No-Step's swarm of watchers came in for the attack. As a spirit-possessed human form, Galen Walker could see them coming. He made the extremely sensible decision to flee for the safety of the chapterhouse's magickal ward.
Audacity Jane: "Do you want me to pop him?"
Happy Jack: "Hold your fire. Right now, it looks like he ran away from some tough questions. If you kill him, it will look like he ran away from an attack."
No-Step: "He did run away from an attack."
Happy Jack: "An attack that none of the reporters or cameras could see. Let him be the one to try to sell that excuse to the media."

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
Universal Brotherhood ("UB"): a charitable fringe religious organization

Judy (NPC): a human form insect spirit; almost impossible to distinguish from a normal human, even when assenced astrally, and therefore extremely dangerous

HMHVV: Human Meta-Human Vampiric Virus; different strains cause people to become vampires, banshees, wendigo, etc.
 
 
Missing Blood, part 8 - Cover This Up
 
The team had destroyed/neutralized the fly spirits in the UB Redmond chapterhouse and drugged unconscious all the normal humans. This gave them several minutes of free reign to do whatever they wanted (including Byte Force pilfering from the UB accounts).
 
Dent: "I'm going to kill the spirit possessing Judy."
Audacity Jane: "Wait ... there's no hive mind left for it to connect with, right?"
Dent: "Yeah. So?"
Audacity Jane: "So we have a prisoner to interrogate."
Dent: "I don't think you can torture a bug."
Eye Spy: "Cats do it all the time."
 
As Jane started raiding the vault for the Blood necklace, Jack pulled out several body bags and stuffed the flesh form fly corpses into them.
 
No-Step: "That's revolting. Why would you want to take those?"
Happy Jack: "We're going to sell them to megacorps."
No-Step: "That's your idea of making a profit from this?"
Happy Jack: "It's also my idea of creating something that's too big to cover up."
 
In the fly "queen's" room, the team found three cocoons with humans in the middle of mutating into flesh form fly spirits. After No-Step killed the possessing spirits, Happy Jack eviscerated the mutated bodies, then dragged the bodies up the stairs, through the lobby and onto the sidewalk.
 
Dent: "Doesn't the UB control Lone Star? As soon as the cops show up, they'll just cover this up."
Happy Jack: (grinning) "Then we'll just have to make sure that they're the last ones called."
 
Byte Force: "I have the voice masks queued up and the cell phones we stole from the building. Are we ready to make some calls?"
Happy Jack: "Yep. Make me sound like a little old lady."
DocWagon operator: "Thank you for calling DocWagon. May I have your account number."
little old lady Happy Jack: "Hello? I'm calling about one of your employees..."
DocWagon operator: "Are you making a complaint? If so, I'll need your account number."
little old lady Happy Jack: "No ... there's a man lying on the sidewalk. I think he's wearing a DocWagon uniform."
DocWagon operator: (alarmed) "Is someone attacking a DocWagon employee?"
little old lady Happy Jack: "No ... there was a gunshot ... so I waited a minute before looking out the window..."
 
After the call...
 
Dent: "You 'waited a minute before looking out the window'?"
Happy Jack: "Nobody in Redmond looks out the window immediately after a gunshot. Not unless they're looking to get hit by the subsequent gunshots."
 
Happy Jack and Byte Force followed up with a call to the CDC (pretending to be a DocWagon paramedic) reporting a suspected new strain of HMHVV infection, and then called Shiawase Environmental hazmat cleanup (pretending to be a CDC physician).
 
Happy Jack: "Let's get several blocks down the street and get some telephoto pictures of the bodies and the ensuing chaos."
Eye Spy: "I can get better pictures from above."
Happy Jack: "I don't want them to realize you were above them. I want them to think we're a nosy bystander."
 
Eye Spy: "It looks like all of the party guests have arrived."
Byte Force: "I have the little old lady voice queued again. Ready for the next round of phone calls?"
MegaMedia operator: "MegaMedia News. How may I help you?"
little old lady Happy Jack: "Hello? Why aren't you showing the men in spacesuits on the news?"
MegaMedia operator: "The men in space suits? I don't ..."
little old lady Happy Jack: "I can see a bunch of men in space suits in the street a block from my apartment" (pause) "and there's a DocWagon ambulance ... and a Shiawase truck...."
MegaMedia operator: "What are the men in space suits doing?"
little old lady Happy Jack: "I can't tell." (pause) "The space suits have letters on them ... C ... D ... C."
MegaMedia operator: "CDC ... Wait! What?!?"
little old lady Happy Jack: "I thought NASA owned all of the space ships ... no ... wait ... they sold them to Ares."
 
Later....
 
No-Step: "Aren't you handing the UB its cover-up on a silver platter? They can just claim there was a biohazard scare."
Happy Jack: "Do you want to visit a building where there was a biohazard scare?"

A: "I have the cooking skill. I want to make jelly beans."
B: "Ummm... okay. Do you have the ingredients?"
A: "What are jellybeans made of?"
C: "I thought I read somewhere gelatin was originally made from bone somehow. That's what jellybeans
     really are, right?"
B: "Okay, let's go with that. Do you have any bone?"
A: "No... but we just killed those elves."
B: "YOU'RE GOING TO HARVEST BONES FROM THE DEAD ELVES... TO MAKE JELLYBEANS?!"
A: "Yeah. So?"
C: "These are going to be the evilest jellybeans."
A: "So, should they be black then?"
C: "Yes, as black as your little heart."

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
Universal Brotherhood ("UB"): a charitable fringe religious organization
Judy (NPC): a human form insect spirit; almost impossible to distinguish from a normal human, even when assenced astrally, and therefore extremely dangerous
 
Missing Blood, part 7 - Orkin Man
 
The Universal Brotherhood was secretly being controlled by insect spirits. The team had decided to start by taking out the UB's Redmond chapterhouse.
 
The assault:
 
Unfortunately, Judy hadn't been eliminated before the assault. Therefore, she was a primary target during the assault, second only to the queen.
 
Happy Jack: "I'm going to go in the front door before walking around to the soup kitchen."
Audacity Jane: "Why? So you can run the risk of blowing your cover?"
Judy: (as Happy Jack walked in) "Is there something I can help you with?"
homeless Happy Jack: "Uh ... somebody said there was food here..." (looking around) "um ... sorry ... I guess they were wrong..."
Judy: "You're in the right place. Just the wrong door. If you go out the door and follow the wall along that way, you'll see the entrance to the soup kitchen."
Happy Jack: (subvocalizing over the radio link as he walked around the building) "The front half of the building is one large room. The elevator is accessed from that room, and both fire stairwells, and the stairs to the basement. Judy is sitting at the information desk. There are two guards, and about four other people."
Audacity Jane: "I'm impressed. You actually got some useful recon out of that."
Dent: "I'm less impressed. He mostly learned that the alarm is going to go off when you're halfway through clearing the ground floor."
 
Jack and Jane went into the soup kitchen and picked a spot at an empty table. Jane stayed back at the table while Jack went to where they were serving the food. As the only troll in the place, he drew a lot of attention ... particularly from the security guards.
 
homeless Happy Jack: (speaking a little too loudly) "Scuse me. Do you have bigger bowls than these?"
Jane used her silenced narcojet pistol to drop the two guards.
homeless Happy Jack: "Hey! They just fell down."
Jane used her narcojet pistol to drop the two UB volunteers who were serving food.
homeless Happy Jack: "Hey! You just fell down too."
In the confusion, Jane dropped everyone else in the room.
Audacity Jane: (to Jack) "Thanks for helping."
Happy Jack: "You're welcome."
Audacity Jane: "I was being sarcastic."
Happy Jack: "I was being a distraction."
Audacity Jane: "You didn't do anything except make inane comments ... loudly."
Happy Jack: "Which managed to distract them."
 
Jack and Jane worked their way through the building to the front room.
 
Happy Jack: (holding out his hand to Jane) "When I open the door, roll these into the middle of the room."
Audacity Jane: "What are these?"
Happy Jack: "NeuroStun grenades."
Audacity Jane: "Why do they have Nerps labels on them?"
Happy Jack: "What do you do when a grenade rolls into the middle of the room?"
Audacity Jane: "Dive for cover or throw it back."
Happy Jack: "And what do you do when a can of Nerps rolls into the middle of the room?"
Audacity Jane: (long pause) "From now on, I'm gonna dive for cover or throw it back."
 
Several things happened almost simultaneously: Byte Force severed the building's commline and started jamming cellular frequencies; Dent and No-Step unleashed their swarm of watcher spirits against the building's magickal ward; and Jane rolled the gas grenades into the front room.
 
As Jack and Jane waited in the hall for the NeuroStun gas to disperse, Jack pulled two small Spyder drones out of his backpack.
No-Step: (over the radio link) "The first spirits have reacted to our attack. They're fly spirits."
Audacity Jane: "That's appropriate."
Eye Spy: "Appropriate?"
Audacity Jane: "Your drones will be covering the lobby while we're in the basement." (pause) "So we'll be using your Spyders to catch some flies."
 
Jack entered the fly "queen's" chamber and assumed a wide-legged combat stance. Jane dropped to the floor and fired bursts from her silenced submachine gun between his legs, killing several flesh-form fly spirits.
 
Happy Jack: "Be very, very careful when you pull stunts like that."
Audacity Jane: "Seriously? You're not that well endowed."

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
Madame Ulishia (NPC): a fortune teller; had been possessed by an insect spirit and slain by ant spirits
Universal Brotherhood ("UB"): a charitable fringe religious organization
 
Missing Blood, part 6 - The Best Laid Plans
 
The Universal Brotherhood was secretly being controlled by insect spirits. The team had decided to start by taking out the UB's Redmond chapterhouse.
 
Planning the assault:
 
Byte Force: "The UB doesn't have any security systems that connect to the Matrix ... or any other security systems for that matter. I can run a simultaneous assault against their system in order to get at their money, but that's about the extent of it."
Dent: "That's an extremely valuable contribution."
Byte Force: "It might also be a deadly one. If one of their members is connected in the banking business, they could tie that money to us."
Happy Jack: "That's what money laundering is for. We may give up most of the money, but it becomes nearly impossible to track the money to us."
No-Step: "If they have a person inside the bank, they could find the money launderer as easily as they could find us. I'm sure they'd be willing to torture information out of him."
Happy Jack: "That's why I intend to launder the money through the Yakuza. If the UB wants to tangle with the Yaks in order to get to us, I'm willing to let them start a war."
 
Audacity Jane: (to Dent and No-Step) "Are you sending in spirits like you did when we went after Euphoria?"
Dent: "We can't send in city spirits. It's a hearth spirit domain."
No-Step: "I don't want to summon a hearth spirit in there. We'd get something worse than that abomination you summoned at Madame Ulishia's."
Dent: "And there's a ward around the building, which would keep watcher spirits out."
Happy Jack: "Does it keep them out forever, or do they have to break through it?"
Dent: "They have to break through it ... which is going to alert whomever put it up."
Audacity Jane: "That's fine. If they're busy defending the ward against your spirits, then they're not protecting the targets inside from me."
 
Happy Jack: "I think we need to brainstorm different tricks and tactics to use against them."
Audacity Jane: "We do that for every job."
Happy Jack: "Yes ... but this time is different. According to the investigative reporters, there are over 400 chapterhouses. That means we'll be hitting the UB more than once."
Byte Force: "You think they'll learn our habits."
Dent: "Wait ... Is this all we're going to do from now on? We could spend years fighting them without wiping them out."
Happy Jack: "Consider that incentive to brainstorm some alternate ways to bring them down."
Dent: "..."
 
Byte Force: "I combed through the UB's membership roles for the Redmond chapterhouse. I think they have about 16 security guards per shift. Ex-gang members and ex-street samurai wannabes. No serious muscle."
No-Step: "What about human form insect spirits?"
Byte Force: "That's the good news. Other than Madame Ulishia, they only have one other human form in this chapterhouse. Her name is Judy. She works at the information desk in front."
Audacity Jane: "I think Judy is about to become the victim of random street violence."
Happy Jack: "Or become a casualty of a fatal workplace accident."
 
Audacity Jane: "So are we sneaking in through one of the upper floors?"
Happy Jack: "I'd rather go in through the soup kitchen."
Audacity Jane: "Any excuse for you to play dress up."
Happy Jack: "The homeless carry a lot of crap around with them. That means we can sneak a lot of gear in while looking just like everyone else."
Dent: "But you only get to pull that trick once. After that they'll install security scanners and put more security in the soup kitchens."
Happy Jack: "Yep. Even a basic scanner will set them back 15,000 nuyen. Multiply it by 400 chapterhouses. That's a nice little hit to their cash flow."
No-Step: "That's not much compared to how much nuyen they're pulling in."
Happy Jack: "A few million nuyen here, a few million there ... pretty soon it starts adding up to some real money."

Tanfoglio isn't an English-Language first company, is it? Because if they deliberately named their gun the "Witness Hunter"...

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
Danial Simpson (NPC): a pudgy, middle-aged junior exec at Renraku
Victoria Delling (NPC): the missing girl with the missing gift
Madame Ulishia (NPC): a fortune teller that Victoria had regularly visited
 
Missing Blood, part 4 - Miss Fortune Teller
 
Danial Simpson had hired the team to find a missing necklace (called "Blood"). The necklace was in the possession of his missing mistress (Victoria Delling). Madame Ulishia had sent the team chasing a red herring, even though she clearly knew more about Victoria's disappearance. Since it was the middle of the night, the team decided to confront her immediately.
 
No-Step: "I think we're rushing into this. We don't have any idea what kind of defensive preparations she could have."
Happy Jack: "Assume she's a shaman. What kind of defenses would she have?"
No-Step: "She'll have a hearth spirit. Maybe a weak watcher."
Dent: "Maybe an ally spirit."
Happy Jack: "And if she's a hermetic mage?"
Dent: "She'll have one or more elemental spirits instead of a hearth spirit. The rest will be the same."
Happy Jack: "Gee. It took you a whole 10 seconds to figure out her magickal defenses."
 
The team planned to do a careful recon before entering ... but as they approached the door they heard a cry of pain and breaking glass from inside.
 
Audacity Jane: (quietly over the radio link) "The front door is ajar. The latch is broken." (pause) "Frag. Do we go in blind?"
Happy Jack: "No."
Happy Jack casually strolled in front of the big picture window in the front of Madame Ulishia's shop/home and looked in.
Dent: "The blinds are closed, Genius."
Happy Jack: "And I have thermographic vision."
 
Happy Jack: "Two people down on the floor. A third is crouched over one of them."
Audacity Jane: "The two on the floor ... alive?"
Happy Jack: "They're warm ... so either alive or recently alive."
 
No-Step's watcher spirit started making a racket in the back room.
Happy Jack: "Number three just charged into the back. The other two didn't twitch."
Jane eased open the front door, stepped inside, and came face-to-face with a fourth person ... who was coming out of the other back room.
Audacity Jane: "Oops?"
 
The people in Madame Ulishia's had large, weird teeth ... and they preferred unarmed combat over using weapons.
 
Audacity Jane: (retreating back into the street) "What are they? Some type of vampire? Physical adepts?"
Dent: "Oh **** me! They're possessed by ant spirits!"
Happy Jack: (smacking one with the haft of his naginata) "Didn't anyone tell you ... don't bring an ant to a troll fight."
 
Dent and No-Step's city spirits killed the ant spirits. Unlike the ant-possessed humans they had encountered previously (here and here), these could pass for humans with weird cyberware/bioware.
 
Dent summoned a hearth spirit inside Madame Ulishia's, which immediately caused some consternation.
Eye Spy: "What the **** is that?"
No-Step: "Your spirit looks like The Fly decided to dress up like Carnac the Great."
Dent: "I think my conjuration is bugged."
 
The hearth spirit was somewhat recalcitrant, but eventually helped Dent by locating a clue (a handwritten journal).
Dent: "Whoever wrote this journal talks about her queen and her host's body. I think it was written by an insect spirit possessing someone's body."
Byte Force: "What was Madame Ulishia doing with an ant spirit's journal?"
Dent: (astrally inspecting Madame Ulishia's corpse) "I think she was possessed by spirit. Not an ant spirit, but something similar."
No-Step: "That's impossible. I saw her astral form earlier. She was a normal human."
Audacity Jane: (examining the corpse) "And I don't see any insect-like mutations."
Dent: "Some spirits can mask their auras and look human. Maybe Ulishia was one of those?"
 
This revelation started driving the normally paranoid shadowrunners to new heights of paranoia.
 
Dent: "We don't have any way to detect someone like Ulishia."
No-Step: "They could replace someone we know, and we might not be able to tell."
Eye Spy: "Maybe they already have!"
Dent: "Maybe we can invent a spell to detect them?"
Happy Jack: "Use brute force."
Audacity Jane: "You mean, 'Kill them all and let the gods sort them out'?"
Happy Jack: "Not exactly." (pause) "Normal people can't be attacked from the astral, and mages and shamans can only be attacked from the astral when they're astrally assencing or projecting, right?"
Dent: "That's the only way they can be directly attacked. There are still ways to indirectly attack them."
Happy Jack: "Okay. And spirits are always present on the astral, even when they're physically manifesting, right? They can't avoid being in the astral?"
No-Step: "That's correct."
Happy Jack: "So you can attack a normal person astrally. If they're really a normal person, there's no effect. If they fall over dead, you know that they're actually possessed by something."
Dent and No-Step thought this over.
Happy Jack: "And if you warn a mage or shaman about what you're about to do, and then they fall over dead, then you know they were either possessed by something, or they're too dumb to live."
 
The team had also taken custody of three catatonic ex-hosts of ant spirits.
 
Audacity Jane: "I don't think these guys are worth much. Organ-leggers don't have a market for mutated parts."
Happy Jack: "Let's keep them alive for a little while anyway."
Dent: "That's dangerous. The other ant spirits may be able to track these bodies down."
Happy Jack: "Really? That could be helpful."
Dent: "How is that helpful?"
Happy Jack: "We can stow them in a safehouse and use them as bait."
Eye Spy: "We could put tracking devices on them."
Audacity Jane: "I could rig booby traps."
No-Step: "I think 'safehouse' may be a bit of a misnomer under these circumstances."

Norv: Do we have schematics?
 
Khymeric: Hold on! I'll get the etch a sketch!
 
-----------------------------------------------------------------
 
 

While playing D&D
DM: The elf warrior just got critically b-slapped by the halfling thief for dissing his abilities

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
Danial Simpson (NPC): a pudgy, middle-aged junior exec at Renraku; employing the team for this job
Victoria Delling (NPC): the missing girl with the missing gift
Detective Bambra (NPC): a private investigator
Madame Ulishia (NPC): a fortune teller who fingered Detective Bambra as Victoria's stalker
 
Missing Blood, part 3 - Getting a Clue
 
The team had collected a load of evidence from Detective Bambra's office: audio chips, video chips, five unconscious gang members ... even their gear was providing clues.
 
Audacity Jane: "These gang kids are using APDS ammo. How are they getting their hands on that? I can barely get my hands on it."
Happy Jack: "We don't have that hard of a time getting it."
Audacity Jane: "Well, no ... but that's because you had Ares pay us in crates of it. I'm fairly certain that these kids aren't getting it the same way."
 
Dent: (after doing a Mind Probe) "These gang members all belong to the Universal Brotherhood. One of the leaders in the local chapterhouse sent them to kill the private investigator."
Happy Jack: "What? The Universal Brotherhood is that group that runs the soup kitchens. Why would they send out a hit squad? Did he poison their soup?"
Dent: "They were told that he was causing trouble for the Universal Brotherhood."
Audacity Jane: "That still doesn't make much sense. Charitable organizations don't resort to violence, even when they should."
Byte Force: "It's hard to get donations if you have a reputation for violence."
Audacity Jane: "Really? I've always found that a reputation for violence makes fundraising easier."
No-Step: "Charities don't function like protection rackets."
Audacity Jane: "That's why protection rackets raise more money than charities."
 
The discussion digressed onto various shadowrunners methods of "raising money for charities."
 
Dent: "I've noticed something weird about these gang members. On a subconscious level, they're the happiest and most self-confident people I've ever Mind Probed. They're surprisingly well adjusted, given their background."
No-Step: "Do you even know anyone who is happy, confident and well adjusted?"
Eye Spy: "Jack is happy."
Happy Jack: "I'm probably not well-adjusted, though."
Audacity Jane: "I'm well-adjusted."
Everyone turned and stared at Jane.
Eye Spy: "Yeah ... riiiiiight."
Audacity Jane: "I'm not all wishy-washy or angst-ridden. I'm perfectly happy with who I am and what I do."
No-Step: "That's because you're amoral and remorseless. That's not the same as being 'well-adjusted'."
 
Byte Force: "The old troll with the cats and the fortune teller both made a comment about Victoria. They said she was becoming more self-confident. Maybe there's some connection between her growing self-confidence and the gang members' self-confidence."
Dent: (after doing another Mind Probe) "They're more self-confident because of what they're learning from the Universal Brotherhood ... but it sounds like a bunch of hippy, flaky gibberish to me."
Byte Force: "You might be able to produce that kind of effect with subtle doses of pharmaceuticals."
Happy Jack: "Brainwashing techniques could do it."
Eye Spy: "What about magick?"
No-Step: "It could do it, but we would be able to see the magickal signature in their auras."
Happy Jack: (laughing) "That's life in 2051. We found six people who are happy and confident, so we're absolutely convinced that it's a sinister plot."
 
Private Detective Bambra's audio chips (which he dictated his notes on) provided some very different information.
 
Byte Force: "Bambra was hired by Danial Simpson's wife. She suspected that he was having an affair."
No-Step: "Even if we recover the necklace, she's probably going to keep digging."
Byte Force: "She may not need to keep digging. Bambra had her plant a bug on Danial's phone."
 
Bambra had used the tap on Danial's phone to download a vidphone message that Victoria had left for Danial. It seemed likely that Danial had never seen this message.
 
Victoria's recorded message: "I'll be gone for a day or two. I just wanted you to know that I'm all right. I also ... wanted to thank you again so much for the necklace."
Dent: "He is so busted."
 
Victoria's recorded message: "... Madame Ulishia has told me that this is something I shouldn't pass up. She said to me, 'Victoria Delling, this is your moment. Seize it!' So I'm going to."
No-Step: "I believe the fortune teller had a little more information than she let on."
Audacity Jane: (to Happy Jack) "It looks like your detective disguise didn't get the cooperation that you expected it to."
Happy Jack: "I warned that woman about withholding information from me."
No-Step: "You told her you'd arrest her. But you're not really with Lone Star. You can't carry out that threat."
Happy Jack: "Of course I can. It's just called an abduction instead of an arrest when I carry it out."

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
Danial Simpson (NPC): a pudgy, middle-aged junior exec at Renraku; employing the team for this job
Victoria Delling (NPC): the missing girl with the missing gift
Detective Bambra (NPC): a private investigator
 
Missing Blood, part 2 - Gang Banging
 
Danial Simpson had hired the team to find a missing necklace (called "Blood"). The necklace was in the possession of his missing mistress (Victoria Delling). The missing woman had been stalked by a private investigator (Detective Bambra) ... who possibly could be found ... and whose office they had definitely found.
 
Astral recon showed that his office was unoccupied, so Dent and Jane went to break in.
 
Happy Jack: "Let's keep an eye on those gang members. They seem very suspicious to me."
GM: (rolling dice) They seem unusually cheerful and self-confident for gang members, but they're not otherwise suspicious.
Byte Force: "Gang members are common in the Barrens. It would be more suspicious if this area was gang free."
Happy Jack: "Gangs are common in the Barrens, but those three are sitting in a Eurocar Westwind. That's a very pricey ride for poor Barrens kids."
Eye Spy: "It could be stolen."
Happy Jack: "Then why aren't they joyriding it or stripping it? That's normal behavior for gang members."
 
Detective Bambra's office was full of useful clues.
 
Audacity Jane: (over the radio link) "The PI wasn't stalking Victoria. He was stalking Simpson. He has a bunch of audio chips for each case, and one set is labeled 'The Simpson Affair'."
Byte Force: "Can you make a copy of them?"
Dent: "We don't have the time or equipment to make copies. Do you want us to just take them?"
Byte Force: "If we take them, he'll know we're onto him."
Happy Jack: "Clean out all of the chips for every case and his electronic equipment. That way he can't be sure which case is involved, or if it was just simple theft."
Dent: "And it gives us more stuff to fence."
 
Happy Jack: "Heads up. The gang members just got out of their car and are heading into the same building you're in."
Dent: "See if you can figure out where they're going."
Aided by a hearth spirit's Concealment, Denta and Jane hid in the office. After a couple minutes, the gang members burst in with drawn machine pistols.
gang member #1: (crashing in through the door) "The Iceman cometh, dudes!"
The gang members looked around in confusion at the apparently empty office.
gang member #2: "Where did Bambra's muscle go?"
There was a loud racket from down the hall as Happy Jack charged up the stairwell.
gang member #3: "Oh drek! They're behind us!"
As the gang members turned to charge back into the hall, Jane and Dent opened fire into their backs with narcojet pistols.
 
Audacity Jane: (as Jack charged into the office) "What are you doing up here?"
Happy Jack: (gesturing at the unconscious gang members) "I came to help you with these guys."
Dent: (snickering) "Help do what with them?"
Happy Jack: "Help carry them down to the van, apparently."
 
Eye Spy: (watching everything get packed into the van) "With all the junk you're..."
No-Step: (interrupting) "Evidence, not junk."
Eye Spy: "...evidence you're loading, there won't be enough room for all of you."
No-Step: "Don't worry. There's one more piece of evidence. It definitely won't fit in the van. And it will solve our little space issue."
Eye Spy: "I have no idea what you're talking about."
Dent: "That made no sense."
No-Step: (gesturing at the Eurocar Westwind) "That's the piece of evidence I'm referring to."
Audacity Jane: "And like the gang members, we can sell it for parts when we're done with it."

Black Crusade : The Ace of Discordia
In which the PCs, in Lord-Captain Daniels' ship the Obsidian Resolve, are heading towards the Fringe War. The war in question is complicated by the three-dimensional nature of interplanetary warfare, the use of warp routes to bypass the enemy, and fact that it's a three-way meatgrinder between human separatists, Orks, and an Imperium that won't commit sufficient forces to the front because it's a useful excuse to divert massive amounts of troops to the secret Jericho Reach front on the far side of the Galaxy. Naturally, Dark Eldar raiders and Chaos cultists can't help dipping their wick in either. In the case of the PCs, they want to start bringing Imperial regiments back to Sinophia, on furlough, AND start smuggling materiel to the separatists. But I do get them to come up with a few regiments from the Only War 40K RPG system first.

GM: The reason I want you to make a regiment or two is because I want you to be emotionally invested in what happens next.

Eniek's Player: This regiment you want us to make – is it going to be on our side?
GM: I'm not saying. *evil grin*
Eniek's Player: F**k! Now it can't be too OP.
Digna's Player: Yes, I remember my reaction when you said the Millennial Warden Space Marines were operating in the area – because I remember how good I'd made them
GM: You can be quite certain you'll be running into Millennial Wardens in this campaign too.
Digna's Player: F*******k.

They will be encountering the 1st Temisian Mechanised Infantry, a regiment Weldun created for the Deathwatch RPG game.

Digna's Player: We do not want to run up against these guys. “What's that coming over the hill? It looks like a land raider....... f**k, run!”

The others look like they'll be amusing as allies or antagonists too - they include the Tallarn 288th Rapid Recon – a buggy mounted scout unit; the 8th Longshot Artillery – very long-range precision artillery unit with forward observers with tracked bomb drones; a Guerrilla warfare regiment who like nothing better than sneaking in close for assassinations; a troop of Feral World skirmishers; and specialist Electrovox troopers who tap enemy comms, cut of lines of command, and pick off the units they just isolated. They already had the regiment they'd made for the Only War game they're already playing in - a unit of suspiciously well-equipped Dragoons riding giant alien cats that are faster than Dark Eldar jetbikes. Their habit of keeping the cats in barracks does not endear them to the other regiments.

Most amusing of all, a unit of Ogryn Drop Troops. Not very many of them, but mostly because of their tendency to wander off after a battle.

Digna: The biggest problem is trying to round them all up again afterwards XD
GM: That and the claustrophobia. Trying to get them onto the planes in the first place - Ogryns don't like confined spaces. 'It's dark in dere!'
Eniek: They don't much like falling through the sky much either XD

The nearest staging planet for the war is Cauldron, in an unusual system with two pair of Double Worlds - large rocky worlds with huge moons, and all four with biospheres. All of them are almost uninhabitably hot, however, thanks to their proximity to their red giant sun, and only one is verdant - Cauldron itself. Cauldron has additional problems - repeated attempts to settle the world over the millennia have been foiled by the effect the planet has on higher technology.

Digna: Wait, the planet is anathema to technology and they're using it as a staging post for the Fringe War? What complete IDIOT... wait..... what BRILLIANT cultist set that up?

What reason will Digna give her superiors for leaving Sinophia and heading the front?

GM: Tell them you heard reports the Sinophian tech-priests were planning to fit the governor with volitor circuits?

Eniek: Will we shortly be acquired a number of people that won't be missed. But fret not - I won't be taking them from the crew
Digna: How very considerate. And we will be shipping wounded soldiers around soon enough.
GM: 'I'm sorry Major, this patient just died - I'll have him taken down to the morgue.' 'What's that screaming?' 'Air released from the corpse - happens all the time'
Daniels: 'And that one?' 'Vox-ghost'

Maintaining morale on the Obsidian Resolve.

GM: And the Melodium plays 'Everything Is Awesome' on perpetual loop?

The Sinophia nobility are invited to contribute to the war effort, and more to the point, open trade with the war economy. Their response is to deliver thousands of Sinophian Highland sheep to the spaceport. This raises all sorts of problems for the cultists, who are really not planning on shipping livestock.

GM: Live Sheep Exports.

GM: No, LIVE Sheep, not LOVE sheep.
Digna: I dunno, you hear things about soldiers...

Eniek: I can see it now. 'Sir, the Gellar Field has weakened!''Where?' 'In the vicinity of the main cargo hold' ' .... great.'
GM: And the deranged daemon-possessed sheep go berserk, attacking the crew and biting through chain-halberds...

Eniek: The Imperium is surprising liberal about some things.
GM: Unless you're screwing xenos. So as long as they're not ALIEN sheep...

Rather than try and keep the sheep alive, they instead just opt to open the airlocks.

GM: Freeze-dried mutton.

Skerrit reads the cards and gets a puzzling glimpse of the future - apparently the Imperial forces on Cauldron are near to crumbling, the PCs most important weapon will be money, their plot will be complicated by aliens, and, apparently, 'The Lord Of Blood Will Do Your Bidding'.

And of course the Imperial authorities, such as the Navy ships patrolling the Cauldron system, will react badly to rogue psykers like Skerrit. He hides, while the others give the naval officers a tour of the ship.

Skerrit: I'm in a different part of the ship.
Daniels: And this is the lavatory... which is currently occupied.

Sheep slaughtering traditions.

Daniels: We had to point the ship towards Mecca as we did it.
Digna: Mars.
Eniek: Mecca, Mars, Terra...
GM: It's all the same direction from this far out

It's not safe to keep the Obsidian Resolve in a low orbit - the giant moon makes orbits unstable. Of course, given Digna is from the Lathes, three forge worlds orbiting each other, she's not much concerned.

Digna: Ah, a normal system, gravitationally.

What isn't normal is being shot down as their lander is overflying a large expanse of supposedly unoccupied jungle. At least the missile didn't actually explode, but it still cripples their vehicle. The lander goes down hard, in what turns out to be deep swamp, but only the pilot and Skerrit are casualties.

GM: You shouldn't be able to see the back of your own knee.
Skerrit: I'm glad I'm in too much shock to feel this.
Daniels: There's going to be nothing left of him after all the patching up you have to do.
Digna: Skeleton next.
Eniek: He's going to be my first test subject for fleshgrafting.
Daniels: Willing, too.
Eniek: On the other hand, if you're NOT willing I get a bonus to the rolls.

Skerrit: How are you going to replace my skeleton?
Digna: We freeze each section, liquify the bones, and replace them with metal.
Skerrit: 😧

Digna OoC: If I can get a grav-plate from the Lathe Worlds and Stasis Field with a timer from Belacane, i can make a doomsday weapon. Up, down, up, down, up, down.
GM: An what will you call it - Mjölnir?
Digna OoC: Yup.

Digna: Our pilot is becoming one with the local ecosystem.

Digna: This is what happens when we don't sacrifice to the Lord of Fate before a mission.

Digna tests the depths of the swamp while Eniek prepares a raft - Cauldron's gravity is too high for either of them to just hover the others to shore.

GM: Something pulls hard on your mechadendrite.
Digna: Apparently I can go fishing with this.

A few shots scare off the giant armour-plated salamanders, and the wreck sinks into the morass with appropriate blooping noises.

Digna: Well, you've lost a lander, Daniels.
Daniels: And a pilot.
Digna: You've lost a lander. Pilots are easier to come by than Aquila Landers.

They now face a march of at least one hundred miles to the Imperial base on Cauldron, with no idea of what is lurking between them and safety. This should be fun... for me at least.

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 / Investigator Davis: 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 / Detective Williams: troll, combat, disguise, negotiator
Noggin (NPC): a fixer with contacts at Renraku
Danial Simpson (NPC): a pudgy, middle-aged junior exec at Renraku
Victoria Delling (NPC): the missing girl with the missing gift
 
Missing Blood - Part 1
 
Noggin: "There's a junior exec at Renraku who needs a personal job done. I checked him out for you. He's clean as an elven baby's bottom. He's never dealt with runners before, and I'm sure he never thought he'd need their resources."
Jonathan Bridges: "If he's that clean, how did he become a corporate exec?"
Noggin: "Nepotism."
 
Noggin: "He wants this quiet. Real quiet. He wouldn't give me the specifics. Just that he gave a present to a girl, and now the girl is missing and he needs the present back."
Jonathan Bridges: "Is this the kind of 'quiet' where the job is done with a minimum of fuss? ... Or the kind where we 'silence' the girl and everyone she may have told about the exec's indiscretion?"
 
Jonathan Bridges met with Danial Simpson in the Renraku Arcology parking garage.
 
Danial Simpson had given Victoria Delling, his mistress, a unique necklace. His wife found the receipt and demanded an explanation. Danial panicked and said it was an anniversary present. Danial needed the team to find the necklace and return it in three days, so he could give it to his wife.
 
And the nepotism played a part in Simpson's predicament. His father-in-law had given him his job.
 
Danial Simpson: "I'm offering you 6,000 nuyen for the return of the necklace. I'm prepared to pay 2,000 nuyen now, and the remainder when we meet Friday evening."
Jonathan Bridges: "6,000 nuyen total? My suit costs more than that."
Danial Simpson: "Um ... ah ... I realize you may be accustomed to receiving more than that, but this should be a simple job."
Jonathan Bridges: "If Ms. Delling is still in the Seattle area and still in possession of the necklace, it will be a reasonably simple job." (pause) "If she's fled to another country, we could spend more than that on travel fees." (pause) "And based on what you've told me, it sounds even more likely that she has dumped the necklace. If she has a copy of the receipt, then she might sell it to a legitimate dealer ... and they would store something of that value in a vault."
Danial Simpson: "Well, you could keep anything else you stole from the vault...."
Jonathan Bridges: "If I want to break into vaults and keep the contents as pay, I can do that easily enough without bothering to find the vault your necklace is in."
 
Jonathan Bridges: "If Victoria doesn't have a receipt, then people most willing to touch a unique item like this would be organized crime ... the mafia, yakuza, maybe a Seoulpa gang."
Danial Simpson: "Um ... well ... I can't offer you more than that. My wife is now suspicious of me, and she's paying attention to my finances. She's going to notice if I pay much more money than that."
 
The matter of pay was resolved when Danial agreed to become a contact and feed Jonathan any useful information he heard.
 
Victoria had stopped taking Danial's calls. A quick astral recon of her apartment in the Barrens showed that she had cleared out of there as well.
 
Happy Jack: "I'm going to disguise myself as a Detective Williams from Lone Star when I interview her friends and neighbors."
Audacity Jane: "And pretend you're officially investigating a theft? I doubt they'll rat her out."
Happy Jack: (grinning) "I'm more subtle than that. I believe she was a witness to a crime. I'm trying to find her and interview her." (pause) "And hopefully I can find her before the murderer does...."
 
According to the landlord, a friend of Victoria's had called to say she needed to move out suddenly, due to a death in the family. A moving van showed up the next day and collected all of her belongings.
 
The landlord was able to direct "Detective Williams" to Mr. Denton, a neighbor Victoria was friends with. Mr. Denton was a troll with 18 cats.
 
Mr. Denton: "Feel free to push them out of the way and take a seat. They don't mind."
Detective Williams: (looking at the cat hair covering every surface in the apartment) "No thanks. I'd rather not turn my jacket into a fur coat."
 
According to Mr. Denton, Victoria left her cat with him, saying she'd be gone for two days. It had now been four days, she hadn't returned, and the movers hadn't collected her cat. Therefore, he was convinced that something terrible had happened to her.
 
But he was able to provide some leads to other people.
 
Mr. Denton: "She was into tarot cards. She went to a Madame Ulishia regularly. I think the whole thing is silly, of course, but then I live with dozens of cats to keep me sane."
Eye Spy (ooc): Living with dozens of cats is a sign of sanity?
 
Mr. Denton: "There was something else she mentioned when I first met her. A policlub she had just joined."
Detective Williams: "I'll go out on a limb and guess that it wasn't Humanis Policlub."
 
Mr. Denton didn't like policlubs in general, so they never discussed it again. And he couldn't remember which policlub. But he did know that she was employed by the policlub.
 
No-Step: (coming back from astral recon) "He likes to talk to his cats."
Eye Spy: "Being nuts will do that."
No-Step: "It may be nuts, but it's useful. People don't bother lying to their cats." (pause) "He's genuinely concerned about her. More importantly, he didn't pick up the phone and try to warn Victoria about us."
 
Astral recon at the fortune teller's did not go as smoothly.
 
No-Step: "Crap! She's a practioner. And she assenced me while I was in there."
Dent: "She's not going to believe you're Lone Star, Jack."
Happy Jack / Detective Williams: "Yes she will. No-Step, disguise yourself like you're from Lone Star's paranormal investigatons division. You're going to be Investigator Davis, assisting me in my investigation."
Dent: "We won't be able to spy on her afterwards."
Eye Spy: "You can't. I can. I'll have a drone use a laser mike. You magick types tend to forget about tech solutions ... and I bet she will as well."
 
Madame Ulishia was a harder nut to crack than the landlord or Mr. Denton.
 
Madame Ulishia: "I never give out confidential about the people who come to me ... unless its very important." (long pause) "How important is it to you."
Happy Jack realized she was looking for a bribe.
Detective Williams: "It's important enough to get you thrown in jail for obstruction of justice if I even think you're withholding information." (pause) "And if you're unfamiliar with the special precautions taken when we incarcerate someone who is magickally active, I'm sure Investigator Davis would be happy to fill you in."
 
Madame Ulishia: "I read in the cards that someone was following Victoria. She confirmed it. Then last week, Detective Bambra, a private investigator, came in and starting asking questions about her. I suspected that he was the one following her, so I told him nothing."
Detective Williams: "Did you bother to call us about this suspicious individual who was stalking your client?"
Madame Ulishia: "You?"
Detective Williams: "Us. Lone Star."
Madame Ulishia: "Um ... no."
 
Madame Ulishia didn't know anything about the policlub that Victoria belonged to, or anything about her employer.
 
No-Step: (after they left Madame Ulishia's) "What were you going to do if she had called Lone Star about that Detective Bambra."
Happy Jack: "Is she eavesdropping astrally?"
No-Step: (astrally assencing the area) "No."
Happy Jack: "I was going to come back later, tell her that there was no record of her ever making that call, and accuse her of interfering with our investigation. Use that accusation to rattle more information out of her."
No-Step: "But what if she actually had called? Wouldn't she know you were lying?"
Happy Jack: "Do you think Lone Star's call center always properly logs each call?"
Eye Spy: "I don't think there's a call center on the planet that does that."

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
Young Elven Technologists (YET): An elven policlub that tried to refute common stereotypes about elves.
Lancelot Windtree (NPC): An elven mage who tried to embody every stereotype of elves ... particularly the negative ones.
 
Are They Framed YET
This module was previously described by Drhoz (here).
 
The team had been hired to do a run against the Young Elven Technologists to frame them for a crime nearly identical to the ones they had been getting away with. In order to perfect the frame, the decking had to be done from inside YET's building.
 
Planning the mission....
 
Happy Jack: "This mission has the best chance of succeeding if we can get in and out without them even knowing we were there."
Audacity Jane: "So we wait until tomorrow night."
Byte Force: "No. We should do it this morning, between 5am and 7am. I don't know any deckers that get up that early." (pause) "Though I do know a few who stay up that late."
 
Dent: (to Byte Force) "I keep telling you, you need to become a combat decker. Learn some infiltration skills."
Byte Force: "Why would I waste my time learning those?"
Dent: "For jobs like these. We have to sneak you inside YET's building so you can do the run from there."
Byte Force: "I found it more useful to invent this little device." (holds up his 'device') "You can sneak into their building, plug it into a dataport, and it will look like that's where my cyberdeck is located."
Audacity Jane: "What is it?"
Byte Force: "It's a complex invention known as 'an antenna'."
 
Audacity Jane: "I can get us in through the back door."
Happy Jack: "Don't go in there. Use the front door instead."
Audacity Jane: "Why?"
Happy Jack: "The back door is in the kitchen. You'll run into anyone who has the munchies."
Dent: "Not everyone eats like you do, Jack."
Happy Jack: "Okay. I'll revise that. You'll run into one of the troll street samurai who has the munchies."
Audacity Jane: "I'll get us in through the front door."
 
Dent and No-Step did thorough astral reconnaisance of YET's building.
 
No-Step: "... and we weren't able to learn the layout of Ehran's suite, because the walls are magickally warded, so we can't get in."
Eye Spy: "If you can't get in, how can you be sure that it's Ehran's suite?"
Dent: "It's the only room in the living areas that they bothered to put a ward around."
 
Eye Spy's drones were able to contribute to the scouting, since a massive skylight allowed her to see into the indoor gardens that filled one third of the building.
 
Dent: "I thought YET was trying to refute elven stereotypes."
 
Dent and Jane had no difficulty getting into YET's building, sneaking through the indoor garden, slipping upstairs, and getting into Ehran's quarters.
 
Dent: (whispered over the radio link) "This is like taking candy from a baby."
Byte Force: "Obviously you've never tried to take candy from a baby. They may not put up a fight, but they make a big fuss."
 
Byte Force's run through YET's system went smoothly, which was suprising, given that it was created and populated by a group of deckers. After finding the backdoor passcode to Dassurn, Byte Force began his run into Dassurn's system ... while still plugged in to the dataport in Ehran's suite.
 
Even on a smooth run, things can get complicated in a hurry.
 
Eye Spy: "A group of people just pulled up on motorcycles outside the building. There's ten of them."
Audacity Jane: "Are they coming into the building?"
Eye Spy: "They're parking and getting off their motorcycles. They're moderately armed ... submachine guns." (long pause) "Make that heavily armed. One has a rocket launcher!"
 
Audacity Jane: "Is Byte Force still doing his run?"
Eye Spy: "Yes."
Audacity Jane: "Drek. He probably doesn't even know he needs to hurry." (pause) "Jack, as soon as Byte Force is done with the run, we may need a diversion to get out of here."
Happy Jack: "Okay."
[bOOOOM]
The building shook. Plaster cracked and dust fell from the walls and ceiling.
Audacity Jane: "That's too soon!"
Dent: "We're not ready to go yet!"
Happy Jack: "That wasn't me."
Eye Spy: "The guy with the rocket launcher blew a hole in the front of the building." (pause) "And they just ran in through the hole."
 
Happy Jack had been sitting in an alley across the street, disguised as a homeless troll. Listening to the shooting and shouting coming from YET's building, he picked up an important detail.
 
Happy Jack: "They're the Association Para-Noblis. Those elf posers who kill real elves for not being elven enough."
No-Step: "I was hoping we had ruined them."
Happy Jack: "Well ... there are only ten of them left."
 
Deep inside Dassurn's network, Byte Force triggered Mr. Johnson's program, which immediately began draining all of Dassurn's liquid assets. After watching a moment in awe, Byte Force raced over to a nearby Trace and Report security program.
Byte Force: (slapping the Trace and Report program with his avatar's tail) "Wakey, wakey!"
 
Byte Force: (jacking out of the matrix) "Mission accomplished. Grab my antenna and sneak back out. Don't forget to lock Ehran's door behind you."
Audacity Jane: "We'd love to do just that, but the exit is blocked. Most of the elves and trolls are covering the garden from the balcony. The rest are covering the stairs. We would have to pass through a raging gun battle."
No-Step: "Can you use smoke or invisibility to get past them?"
Dent: "YET has two elven mages. They'll be able to assence us."
 
And one of the elven mages was making his presence known....
 
Lancelot Windtree: (yelling at the troll street samurai) "Why are you staying up here? Go down and shoot them."
troll street samurai: "That's a stupid tactic."
Lancelot Windtree: "You're too stupid for tactics. That's why we hired you."
Audacity Jane: (quietly to Dent) "I forsee a 'friendly fire' episode in that elf's future."
 
The exit may have been blocked, but there were other options....
 
Audacity Jane: "I have detcord. I'll just make a new exit."
Happy Jack: "Don't. If you make an exit, they will know you were inside. I'll make the exit from out here."
No-Step: "They will still know we were here if you blow a hole in the building."
Happy Jack: "The APN posers already blew one hole in the building. Who is going to assume that somebody else made the second hole?"
 
Jack blew a hole into the room across the hall from Ehran's. After Dent and Jane climbed down out of the hole and ran for cover, Dent couldn't stop giggling.
 
Audacity Jane: "I think he's suffering from hysteria."
No-Step: "I'll slap him out of it."
Audacity Jane: "We can take turns."
Eye Spy: "What about the APN? Are we just going to leave them?"
Dent: (still giggling) "I already took care of them."
Everyone stared at Dent.
Dent: "Before I left the building, I gave one final order to the hearth spirit. I told him to wait one minute, then use his Accident power on them."
Eye Spy: "I hope its a really serious accident."
[bOOOM]
No-Step: "I'm guessing it was ... because I've never seen a 'minor' accident involving a rocket launcher."

I've been a little torn about whether to go into the rest of that series of adventures, because I don't want to give any spoilers if you end up un-retiring the characters.

And the other Shadowrun 2070 game, where an alternate version of Ripper and an entirely different team of runners are still slogging through the mysterious music disc adventure, and trying to find out just how trouble they're in, and is there any other way we can make a profit on this job?

Ryleigh: 'For Enlightenment, Seek out Absent Friends...' Absent Friends... like dead people... something buried in a cemetary instead of a body?
Dr. Rubicante: Maybe we have to trap a ghost.
Shirley Temple: Ghosts are just free anscestor spirits
Ryleigh: I'm no ghosthunter.
Dr. Rubicante: Not my expertise anyway.
Ripper K: McCartney is actually dead - it's obvious

Dr. Rubicante: The only musical knowledge I have are of smash hits from the early 2000s and Harry Potter movie OSTs.

At least searching the web helps, even if Ares Macrotech bought out Google years ago.

Dr. Rubicante: I'm going to walk around while Aresearching "Jet Black and the Shadows". I'm somewhat thrilled that in 50 years, 'googling' is still as effective as ever.

It occurs to Ripper that this whole mystery may be a scheme whereby the vanished JetBlack can be tracked down by his former bandmates. The misogynistic elf in the party suggests we question the woman who won the auction, and that Ripper impersonated at the disastrous hand-off.

Dr. Rubicante: If all else fails, rut what we need out of her. Women love being overpowered by men with big dicks. Excepting lesbians, of course.
Ryleigh: That's what I call a stereotype.
Dr. Rubicante: Have you ever been with a woman?
Ryleigh: No.
Dr. Rubicante: That is exactly how my wife was.
Ripper K: That's why she divorced you then?
Dr. Rubicante: She's dead.
Ripper K: huh. You must have been cuckolded by somebody REALLY hung then.

Who was that woman, anyway? One of JetBlack's former coworkers?

GM: Corp decker. Ties to music collectors and industry. Looks like she was just the highest bidder. You'll be nice enough to return the hundreds of thousands of nuyen she paid for the disc since you had access to Loomis' commlink, and thus the other end of that transaction, won't you?
Ripper K: hundreds of THOUSANDS????
Ryleigh: Jacking Nuyen only seems advisable if it can't be traced back to our wallets.
Ripper K: We could freaking retire
Dr. Rubicante: Not me... a drop in the bucket.
Ripper K: Ok, does anybody alive actually know we were there?
Dr. Rubicante: Dooooes anyone have a proxy wallet we can use?
GM: Be nice, I'd like to not have the runners find a way to retire before the end of the first adventure
Ripper K: Um... she did get a glimpse of my face...
Ryleigh: You know.. I'd think she'd be suspicous if she wakes up to find a misfit group working together and guesses at our occupation.
Ripper K: and with that much at stake she could probably hire her own team to hunt me down...
Dr. Rubicante: I could use some good karma.
Ripper K: maybe there's a finder's fee for keeping her alive?
Ryleigh: if Ripper wasn't our Face... I'd suggest him playing dead while someone interrogates her.
Shirley Temple: Ransoming corp citizens in most corporate zones is an immediate death sentence
Dr. Rubicante: There had better be. Not only did you 'save' her, we're returning her cash... We can always donate it all to charity.
Ripper K: snerk
Ryleigh: All we do need is money laundry. Using a 'charity' isn't a bad idea...
Dr. Rubicante: Donating the money gives us karma, right? 8D
Shirley Temple: "...we see you used the corporate black ops fund to donate to a.........aging and retired big dicked porno stars fund......care to explain?"
Dr. Rubicante: "We're trying to cure gingers."
Ryleigh: Let's buy a carwash....
GM: Returning it would get you more, since, y'know, not ruining a woman's life
Dr. Rubicante: Well, let's not ruin the poor woman's life, I guess.
Shirley Temple: hmm, default on our current johnson for a finders fee from the elf lady. hard choices
Ryleigh: Since she's seen Ripper's face and we don't want her after him... maybe we should convince her he's dead and someone pretends he found her unconscious
Shirley Temple: the doorman saw the orca.
Dr. Rubicante: The doorman's still alive, right? I forget. People exploded.
GM: yes, the doorman saw EVERYONE.
Dr. Rubicante: Did he like my outfit?
GM: *sigh*

Ripper K: I suppose I could go wait for her to wake up, and catch her as she tries to flee town ahead of the corp assassins

Perhaps we should go question JetBlack's surviving bandmates, including one Marli? But the graveyard first - it's the appropriate time of night, and an opportunity to needle Rubicante.

Ripper K: Seems like a good idea - Marli must be nearly your age by now, Vell - eldsters need their sleep. And when we go by the graveyard we can visit all your friends.

Ripper K: This is a very badly laid out cemetery
Dr. Rubicante: Pretty though.
Ripper K: Unless the earthquakes shuffled all the headstones around?
Dr. Rubicante: Pretty spooky.
Ripper K: Good thing we don't live in San Francisco, or we'd have to drive out to Colma
Ryleigh: JB supposedly was someone famous... so the memorial stone should be fancy and easily visible.
Dr. Rubicante: Those aren't headstones. Those are each a single, flesh-eating animal.

Ripper K examines the nearest headstone.

Ripper K: 'Not Dead, Merely Sleeping' You're not fooling anybody, lady
Ryleigh: "Here lies Johnny Yeast. Pardon me for not rising."
Hogfather: "Here lies Lester Moore. Four slugs from a 44, no Les, no more."


Ripper: Wow, it needed a six-foot plot? I suddenly feel inadequate

Dr. Rubicante: "Here lies Verne Anchors, who died as he was born; crying and covered in his mother's blood."

GM: It's just a cemetary, dude.
Ripper K: *starts ticking off his fingers * vampires, ghosts, ghouls -
Dr. Rubicante: WHAR
Ripper K: behind you!
Shirley Temple: Shush cetacean beefcake, you'll bring us bad luck
GM: BRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAINS naw, i'm kidding.
Shirley Temple: No brains here, just a bunch of frat members partying in a graveyard on a drunken dare
Hogfather: So, they really keep dead bodies here? Isn't that... just an invitation for grave robbers?

The JetBlack Memorial reads, “The stars shine brightest onthe blackest of nights.” It is also covered with flowers, mementos, and notes from admirers, even twenty-two years later. Considerable time is wasted searching the memorial for clues.

Shirley Temple: You, Spirit, check underneath and report back the content
Hogfather: Much better than digging it up
GM: Watcher Spirit comes back seconds later. "Lots of Dirt, Miss!" *poof*
Ripper K: hmm
Dr. Rubicante: "Klaatu... verata... nikto."
Ripper K: Anybody know what the Dwarvish for Friend is?

Eventually the GM admits the entire graveyard scene was a waste of time, and distraction.

Hogfather: OF COURSE! The graveyard was a giant aquarium, it all makes sense now.

D&D continues, with a trip back to town to find out more about the political angles of the situation, before we head off to meet a druid for info on the land surrounding King Gurnt's stronghold. These sessions tend to be shorter than the others, mostly because they come at the end of particularly exhausting six-day weeks, including overtime. I must be insane.

Urlon: We really need a Wand of Cure Light Wounds
Kavorog: 'Cleric in a Can'

We do stop by that dragon's lair for a chat - befriending it now might pay off later.

GM: You're an elf – you can live long enough to ride the dragon into battle one day. And you're a gnome, you might live long enough... to grow up.

Directions to certain dubious businesses in town.

Lamech: Just across the road from the Teamster's Union. And that new bridge.

Urlon: We think they've been kidnapped by the goblin king.
Dwarf: What, David Bowie?

Lamech: I hear the other dragonborn got exiled for something he did to a kobold.
Ryck: Why would he get kicked out of town for that?
Lamech: It's more what he DID with the kobold.
Urlon: We should have made Kavorog tell us why he got kicked out of town.
Lamech: Eh - If we sit around telling everybody everything we've done we'll be here all week.

GM: You have a name for your adventuring company yet?
Lamech: 'The Bastards of Carnage'

A warning sign at the deserted village where the druid hangs out – beware of plant monsters, and zombies.

All: …....
Lamech: Well, at least somebody hung around long enough to actually put up the sign.

We are indeed attacked by plant monsters - how to respond?

GM: You could put it in a pot and teach it to dance

GM: That would be the unluckiest monster in the game. 'We're being attacked by a giant marijuana golem' 'Cool man'

Lamech uses Shatter on the twig creature hordes.

Lamech: Matchsticks

GM: Say it with flowers – give her a triffid.

But since the explosion will have roused anything in the village, we flee to the nearest building to take advantage of the narrow access. And discover the zombies are in the buildings.

Lamech: I thought the undead were supposed to be outside the building trying to get in!

After the ensuing carnage and bastardry, the druid turns up in the doorway - unwise given we're still buzzing with adrenaline.

Lamech: He's lucky he didn't get shot in the face, frankly.

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
Sandii (NPC): a fixer who put the team in touch with Mr. Johnson
Mr. Johnson (NPC): the ubiquitous alias used by/for people hiring shadowrunners
Young Elven Technologists (YET): An elven policlub that tried to refute common stereotypes about elves.
Lancelot Windtree (NPC): An elven mage who tried to embody every stereotype of elves ... particularly the negative ones.
 
YET Another Party
This module was previously described by Drhoz (here).
 
According to Sandii, Mr. Johnson wanted to meet at a Young Elven Technologists party. One drawback of being an ork/troll team ... it's hard to pass for elves.
 
A little research led to the discovery that YET's party was intended to allow them to meet and recruit elven deckers. Due to recent threats, however, they had hired additional, heavily-armed security.
 
Byte Force: (laughing) "You won't believe who YET hired for security." (pause) "Troll street samurai."
 
Astral reconnaissance showed one elven mage at the party. He didn't appear to be magickal security, since he was doing nothing to actually make the building more secure. On the other hand, he didn't appear to be a guest, because he looked like he would rather be anywhere else....
 
Lancelot Windtree: (to street samurai Jack) "Get out of my way, you oaf!"
street samurai Jack: (looking confused) "No .... I troll. You elf."
Lancelot Windtree: "I said oaf, not elf."
street samurai Jack: (looking more confused) "What is elf-not-elf?"
 
Surprisingly, Mr. Johnson was able to recognize Happy Jack, despite his disguise.
 
Mr. Johnson: (quietly to street samurai Jack) "Hello. I'm Mr. Johnson."
street samuria Jack: (quietly) "Let's go somewhere more private."
Jack grabbed Mr. Johnson by the shoulder and walked him out the back door.
street samuria Jack: (loudly) "I think you had too much to drink. You need to go outside and sober up."
 
Outside....
 
Mr. Johnson: "The Young Elven Technologists have committed a number of atrocities that have gone unpunished. It is up to you to correct this."
street samurai Jack: "Are you asking us to punish them proportional to their crimes, or are you asking us to commit atrocities on them that are greater than the ones they've committed on others?"
Mr. Johnson: (sounding genuinely curious) "Does the latter bother you?"
street samurai Jack: "Balanced justice is a very tricky and subjective thing. Excess is far easier to manage." (long pause) "And since we intend to go unpunished for whatever activities we commit on your behalf, we'd prefer to avoid having you hire a team to 'correct' that later."
 
YET did computer programming for other companies, and had used that privileged position to install backdoors into a number of computer systems. It then used those backdoors to siphon funds from its ex-clients.
 
Audacity Jane (ooc): That's his idea of an atrocity?
 
Mr. Johnson had a very specific idea of how to get justice.
Hack into YET's network and steal the backdoors.
Leave a copy of the backdoor passcodes, and another document, in the suite of Ehran the Scribe ... located inside YET's building.
Use another copy of the backdoor passcodes to enter the system of Dassurn Securities, one of YET's clients.
Unleash a piece of software inside Dassurn's network.
 
The kicker ... the run had to be completed by the following night, because that would leave YET no time to fix things before Dassurn audited its books the following morning.
 
The bigger kicker ... all of the hacking had to be done from inside YET's building.
 
Mr. Johnson: "All paths must lead directly to the Young Elven Technologists' doorstep ... especially if things go sour."
street samurai Jack: "If you want paths leading to their door, we'll make a point to blaze a few."
 
Since the party was being held in the same building where the run would occur, Jack decided to return and do some scouting. That plan was revised when the team noticed a disturbance by the front door.
 
elf who looked exactly like Mr. Johnson: "But I tell you, I am Lee Corbin!"
Happy Jack: (over the radio link as he walked away) "It looks like Mr. Johnson pulled one of our tricks. He came looking like someone else."
No-Step: "I assensed him. His aura was mundane, and there were no spells on him. Did he do that with makeup?"
Happy Jack: "It would be extremely difficult. Maybe impossible. He was a very distinctive looking elf."
Dent: "I think we just got hired by an initiate. They can mask their auras. But why would an initiate that powerful need us for a run?"
Byte Force: "He needs a decker." (pause) "Some problems can't be solved by magic."
Dent: "They can if you use enough of it."
 
The envelope that the team was going to leave in Ehran's suite was of particular interest.
 
Byte Force: "The last time we left an envelope behind, it was a page of Ehran's book in the lap of a dead elf-poser. This can't be a coincidence."
No-Step: "Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times is enemy action."
 
The envelope was sealed with wax.
 
No-Step: "This is an old-school way to know if someone was reading your mail. If the wax seal is broken, you know that someone read the mail."
Eye Spy: "So we can't look at it without someone noticing?"
No-Step: "There's an old school ways to bypass it. Use an extremely thin, heated wire to separate the wax from the paper. When you're done, reheat the back of the wax seal until it starts to melt and stick it back on the paper. Monomolecular wire should be perfect."
Byte Force: "I didn't realize monomolecular wire was 'old school'."
 
No-Step: "Wear gloves when you handle the letter."
Audacity Jane: "Fingerprints."
No-Step: "That too. But mostly because contact poison is another 'old school' technique."
 
Byte Force: "There's no poison on the page in the envelope, but I've seen it before." (pause) "It's from that book we stole from the troll Baron in Germany."
Audacity Jane: "We left a metal attache case there."
Dent: "Three times. That's enemy action."
Happy Jack: "@#$%! We didn't try to conceal our appearance for that German mission. And we were under heavy surveillance.  Someone could tie all these jobs to us."
Eye Spy: "Great. Mr. Johnson is going to get us killed." (pause) "I suppose there's a bright side. We have a repeat customer."

So one of my players creates a new superhero called Doctor Enigma, with a long and storied history and an archenemy called The Black Scarab. On his character sheet, it says "Hunted by the Black Scarab." This means pretty much, the guy is bound to show up every so often and make the hero's life completely miserable.
 The relationship between the characters was meant to be adversarial but cordial, in a sort of "I really do apologize for throwing you into that pit of snakes."
 "And I am sorry for crushing your leg with that log," etc.
 Also integral to the story is the fact that Doctor Enigma and the Black Scarab were in love with the same woman, and Esmerelda chose Doctor Enigma. Doctor Enigma didn't age. Esmerelda did.
 So he's young and handsome, and she's elderly and on her deathbed. Not so great.
 But wait. There's more. So the heroes encounter The Black Scarab, and he tells Doctor Enigma that he's dying. The player flips out. He's like "how?"
 The villain says "The ring makes me immortal. It doesn't make me immune to neurological disorders or, unfortunately, Lou Gerihg's disease. So I am looking for a successor."
 They talk for a bit, exchange cordialities, and the villain leaves. An occult plot happens, during which time the Black Scarab is not present.
 So Doctor Enigma gets back to his mansion to discover this heap of ash in his easy chair, along with this note.
 "Dear Doctor Enigma,'
       I must apologize for the unfortunate state in which you find me, but if you are reading this, I am dead. There could truly only be one worthy successor for the power of the Black Scarab, and so I have given it's power to our Esmerelda. I am certain that this gift will be looked upon in the manner in which it was intended.
 Farewell, old enemy,

 The Black Scarab."
 Player: THAT (Censored)! Not only did he restore my wife to health, which I have been unable to do, not only did he turn my own wife against me, and make me incapable of harming my greatest enemy in any way, but now he's DEAD, and I can't do anything about it! And on top of it, the son of a (consored) died in my favorite easy chair!
  So now she's young and attractive, but irredeemably evil! Ooops. Fortunately, the players ALL love this twist, regardless of how mean it is. (And it is pretty mean.)