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A group of shadowrunners meets up at the [[Blue Flame]], an entry-level Shadowrunner bar off Rt. 67 where {{srw|Tacoma}}, {{srw|Puyallup}}, and {{srw|Auburn}} meet. The team has had enough recent success to make them bubble up to the top of this particular cesspool, but they still come here out of tradition. | A group of shadowrunners meets up at the [[Blue Flame]], an entry-level Shadowrunner bar off Rt. 67 where {{srw|Tacoma}}, {{srw|Puyallup}}, and {{srw|Auburn}} meet. The team has had enough recent success to make them bubble up to the top of this particular cesspool, but they still come here out of tradition. | ||
{{Imagebox|bobsie-twin-a-p.png; bobsie-twin-b-p.png}} | {{Imagebox|bobsie-twin-a-p.png; bobsie-twin-b-p.png}} | ||
Shiranui, the only one among them known to bear a real SIN and hold down a real job, is late arriving. Once she arrives, the proprietor, | Shiranui, the only one among them known to bear a real SIN and hold down a real job, is late arriving. Once she arrives, the proprietor, [[Chinaman|The Chinaman]] offers them free drinks as congraulations for their last success. They're probably watered down, unless there's something he wants from the group or he's trying to keep them around. He soon tells them that the [[Bobsie Twins]] are looking for them. Rook and Tak both have heard of them as low-tier bruisers, but don't really know much about them — at least, not beyond the fact that they're not twins at all. | ||
The Twins appear soon after, with a job offer. Shiranui and Zosimos pick up on some discomfort with Shiranui's presence at the table, though they're not sure if it's because she's the groups token metahuman, token female, or both. The team and the Twins banter back and forth a bit, evetually reaching a point where they can't or won't give any details, and get surly when the team presses them. | The Twins appear soon after, with a job offer. Shiranui and Zosimos pick up on some discomfort with Shiranui's presence at the table, though they're not sure if it's because she's the groups token metahuman, token female, or both. The team and the Twins banter back and forth a bit, evetually reaching a point where they can't or won't give any details, and get surly when the team presses them. | ||
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Once the team agrees, he provides them with a dossier on Jessie, including his travel arangements (under the name Ben Johnson). | Once the team agrees, he provides them with a dossier on Jessie, including his travel arangements (under the name Ben Johnson). | ||
{{Box|Jesse John Dossier|color=cyan|float=clear}} | {{Box|Jesse John Dossier|color=cyan|float=clear}} | ||
==Session 2 - 2023/09/07== | ==Session 2 - 2023/09/07== | ||
{{Scene | {{Scene | ||
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Due to his true identity as a retired UCAS solider, Special Agent Drummond and Agent Cooper are able to keep Rook free of any charges by the Salish Shidhe Council. | Due to his true identity as a retired UCAS solider, Special Agent Drummond and Agent Cooper are able to keep Rook free of any charges by the Salish Shidhe Council. | ||
They do the same for Shiranui (as HARIKU Yukira), but they don't an easy out to absolve her of all consequences with the UCAS. As | They do the same for Shiranui (as HARIKU Yukira), but they don't an easy out to absolve her of all consequences with the UCAS. As an {{srw|Australia and New Zealand_Allied_Confederation|ANZAC}} citizen, she is officially deported and barred from return to the UCAS. Cooper takes responsibility for escorting her to the airport, but once they're out of sight cuts her free. | ||
Zosimos spends a week recovering in the radiation ward in one of the SCIRE's many hospitals. | Zosimos spends a week recovering in the radiation ward in one of the SCIRE's many hospitals. | ||
Latest revision as of 09:24, 30 May 2025
Peacekeeper
| Staring | Rook, Shiranui, Tak, Zosimos |
| With | Della Cooper, Clive Drummond, MOCHIBOSHI Rio |
| And | Bob, Sammy, Liz |
| Introducing | Bobsie Twins |
| Previous Episode | S01E05 – Medical Coverage Exceeded |
| Next Episode | S01E07 – Incompatible Atmospheric Conditions |
Outside the SCIRE and months before the Shutdown begins, another group of shadowrunners embarks on a mission to prevent a political firestorm from raging across North America. Over five days, they will travel through as three cities and meddle in the affairs of four different Native American Nations.
Session 1 - 2023/08/24
Two For The Show
| Who | Rook, Shiranui, Tak, Zosimos, Bobsie Twins |
| When | Wednesday, October 22, 2059 (Day -57) |
| Where | Blue Flame Tavern, Tacoma, Seattle Metroplex |
A group of shadowrunners meets up at the Blue Flame Tavern, an entry-level Shadowrunner bar off Rt. 67 where Tacoma, Puyallup, and Auburn meet. The team has had enough recent success to make them bubble up to the top of this particular cesspool, but they still come here out of tradition.
Shiranui, the only one among them known to bear a real SIN and hold down a real job, is late arriving. Once she arrives, the proprietor, The Chinaman offers them free drinks as congraulations for their last success. They're probably watered down, unless there's something he wants from the group or he's trying to keep them around. He soon tells them that the Bobsie Twins are looking for them. Rook and Tak both have heard of them as low-tier bruisers, but don't really know much about them — at least, not beyond the fact that they're not twins at all.
The Twins appear soon after, with a job offer. Shiranui and Zosimos pick up on some discomfort with Shiranui's presence at the table, though they're not sure if it's because she's the groups token metahuman, token female, or both. The team and the Twins banter back and forth a bit, evetually reaching a point where they can't or won't give any details, and get surly when the team presses them.
Figuring there's no harm in listening to the pich, they all mount up and head downtown. Zosimos rides with Tak, Rook and Shiranui have a car and bike respectively, while the twins are also motorcyclists.
Puttin' On The Ritz
The Bobsie Twins escort the team into the lobby restaurant at the New Ritz, where they take up positions behind the Johnson. The table is set for four, so Rook elects to stand in a similar position behind Tak. The Johnson is slightly perturbed when Shiranui takes a seat — perhaps it was a deliberate slight — but gives Rook a respectful nod at his professionalism.
They quickly get down to the meet. Mr. Johnson wants them to find and capture an operative named Jessie John — shaman, assassin, agent provacatuer, and batshit insane. He offers the team 115,000¥ to stop his attempt to destablize the region (which would be bad for Mr. Johnson's sponsor), with an extra 15,000¥ if they can take him alive. The Johnson explains they can't use internal resources, for fear of a potential mole. His suit and watch make Tak think he might be working for Aztechnology.
Once the team agrees, he provides them with a dossier on Jessie, including his travel arangements (under the name Ben Johnson).
The dossier includes:
- A photograph of Jesse John, a rail-thin man with cold eyes and sleek black hair pulled back into a severe ponytail. He wears mostly leather, with rattlesnake boots. His accessories are all silver: toecaps on his boots, his belt buckle, a plain band around his right wrist, and small fine-linked chain that ties back his ponytail.
- A document describing Jesse's background. He's an Amerindian raised on Hecate Strait in the Queen Charlotte Islands, before Tsimshian seceded from the NAN. He was a troubled youth, rebelling against his native teachings and his upbringing. He killed his first man at age 14, for no reason anybody could determine. He ran away from home to Seattle, where he demonstrated outspoken vehemence against the tribal lifestyle, despite his upbringing.
- A copy of a Salish-Shidhe Council travel pass application bearing the current date and the name of "Ben Johnson". The destination on the application is Las Vegas.
- A copy of a Salish-Shidhe Council border-station log. The log shows that "Ben Johnson" crossed the board alone in a Mitsubishi Nightsky several hours ago.
- A copy of a Ute Nation travel pass application, with the same credentials and references to the SSC documentation.
Session 2 - 2023/09/07
Legwork
While Rook makes arrangements for fake travel documentation (transit passes and whatnot), Zosimos reaches out to Sadaqa to get his hands on some mage cuffs and a mage mask. Only the cuffs are available on short notice, so he uses the remaining time to put together some additional alchemical preparations.
Meanwhile, Shiranui does some matrix research:
- She finds six different entries for a "Ben Johnson" staying in Las Vegas; five hotels (one on the Strip, four off) and a private home rental.
- There are three tradeshows and conferences with Aztechnology ties taking place over the next few days:
- An aviation industry tradeshow with Aztechnology subsidiaries Dassault & Hawker-Siddley both in attendance, among others.
- A film festival, sponsored and catered by Natural Vat Technologies, an Aztechnology subsidiary.
- A law enforcement convention. Aztechnology has an interesting in buying Atlantic Security.
- Jesse John doesn't have a public manifesto, but she finds indications that he split from the mainline Humanis Policlub over "policy differences."
On The Border
With valid paperwork, fake or otherise, crossing the border is generally an automated process. However, the lights remain red and the barriers stay down. An officer comes outside to appologizes to Rook for the inconvenience and instruct Tak to park nearby and come inside. They're escorted to an interview room and left there.
Rook and Shiranui stop just on the edge of comfortable matrix range, about 100 m (330 ft). Shiranui hacks into the border post's host, quickly realizing that there are two — one for each side of the border. On the Salish host, she finds the cameras for the detention room and gets a count of the Salish forces on site: two border patrol officers, a team of four Rangers, and a their Dodge Goliath armored transport. In the UCAS host, she finds a memo from the UCAS FBI to all Seattle border stations to keep an eye out for a hispanic male driving a Tata Hotspur. It includes instructions to detain the driver if possible and contact the Seattle Field Office for further instructions.
Session 3 - 2023/09/21
On The Border (Cont...)
Realizing things will go very bad if the UCAS FBI shows up, Rook sneaks back to the border, long rifle in hand. He post up where he has a clear line of sight to the building but still plenty of foliage to hide in. Shiranui remains in the car, on the edge of comfortable matrix range and proceeds to hack the SSC Ranger's ride. She uses it as a battering ram to smash a hole in the detention room's exterior wall while Rook starts popping tires on the other vehicles in the lot.
Zosimos needs some assistance from the much larger and stronger Tak to climb over the rubble, but they effect an escape. The SSC border officers retreat to safety, while one of the Rangers attempts to climb the rubble behind the runners, almost catching Tak before getting kicked away and then dropped by Rook with gel rounds.
As they run to Tak's remotely started vehicle, the UCAS border patrol troopers open fire on them. They fail to land any hits before Tak and Zosimos are inside — the Hotspur is effectively immune to small arms fire. Meanwhile, Rook's gunplay drops a second Ranger and keeps the other two pinned inside the building. Shiranui data spikes the Ranger's ride into cybernetic oblivion, and the group escapes.
Session 4 - 2023/10/05
Thunder Road
Deciding that a speed run is the best plan, considering how far they are behind Jessie and the possibility of UCAS FBI pursuit, they elect to drive straight through the night. Modern matrix convenience allows one driver to monitor both vehicles while the others sleep.
A few hours outside of Las Vegas, the group is attacked by a go-gang consisting of a handful of motorcyclists and a stripped-down Hyundai Shin-Hyung. Tak and Rook manage to keep their vehicles intact, while Shiranui and Zosimos beat them back with dataspikes and napalm walls.
Session 5 - 2023/10/12
Strangers In A Strange Land
The team splits into two groups to investigate the possible locations of "Ben Johnson". Rook and Zosimos, attired in fresh Las Vegas threads, take about five hours to run down the private home and the on-strip location, but come up dry. Tak and Shiranui take nearly six to research one of the off-strip hotels, but there's evidence to believe Jesse is staying at a shithole called The Kokomo.
While they're heading back to regroup where they left the vehicles, they're beckoned into the alley by somebody claiming that Jesse has moved on, but they have a message for his friends.
Of course, it's too good to be true. They head into the alley only to be ambushed by a hit squad. Based on their gear (mostly Izom Armaments products), Rook believes they're working for Renraku. The team manages to keep them at bay long enough for Tak to summon the Hotspur and get them away, though Zosimos did go down and had to be bodily loaded into the back by Shiranui.
To add insult to injury, Rook's car was trapped inside a police cordon before he was able to get back to it. The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police identified it under his real identity, but he was able to talk his way out of any issues... but wouldn't be able to pick it up until the next morning.
Session 6 - 2023/10/19
Off The Florida Keys
The team makes a late night stop at Kong-Walmart to find temporary replacements for the gear locked up in Rook's trunk. They obviously can't replace a supressed sniper rifle and a combat shotgun, but they're able to acquire suitable hunting weapons for Rook and Zosimos.
Shiranui accesses the Kokomo's host, discovering that Ben Johnson (Jesse's alias) has two rooms registered, #12 and #13. Door access logs lead her to believe that Room 12 is currently occupied but Room 13 is empty.
All are healthy, mundane, and relaxed but anticipatory. They have the vibe of people cooling their heels, waiting for something.
- Bowlcut Bob — Essence 1.92, most of it muscles with some glandular work.
- Sammy the Sammy — Essence 1.5, all muscles and a full cyberarm.
- Leader Liz — Essence 4, all in the head and upper torso.
Zosimos sends a mid-force spirit in to check out the rooms and confirm the sitation. It finds three people in Room 12, but Room 13 to be empty. It also identifies something very distasteful in Room 13 and refuses to elaborate when asked more.
The spirit relayed a conversation the three occupants were having. Sammy talked about "him" hetting flaky and changing his mind for no reason. Bob's response was something about all tribal spell worms being crazy. He elaborated, saying that he was on guard duty last night when he heard Jesse having an argument and busted in, only to find Jesse alone. Sammy goes on to say something about soembody named Aurora, but Liz shuts him up quick, defending her rightousness.
The team sneaks up on the door, but one of them is spotted. Tak and Shiranui start with guns, while Zosimos ignites a bed and tries to smother one of them with it. When Liz tries to make a break for it, Rook puts a few gel rounds in to her, trying to slow her down. She responds by jumping the balcony to get her closer to her car faster. Shiranui follows her over the edge, superhero punching her into unconciousness.
They find some sort of technological device in Liz' backpack. It is smashed into uselessness, but appears to be a sound generater of some sort, with a modulator circuit that genreates very specific harmonics. Many of the circuit boards bear Renraku markings.
Jesse Provo-Under 10127 N 11th St Provo, Ute 2059/10/26
In the room, they find an envelope with a note wrapped around a datachip.
- The chip includes a compiled matrix utility, and an encrypted datafile, and a commcode. The encryption is so weak, Shiranui nearly breaks it on accident.
- The commcode is labelled
PCC Financial Subnet Watchdog Monitor Alpha. - The encrypted file is the sourcecode for the compiled utility. Shiranui claims it is very elegant, but very specific — it will probably only work on one access node, probably the commcode on the chip. More interesting is a bit of code that embeds a message into the compiled utility:
Wildcat MILCOMP SSF1284 Military Authorized Use Only.
- The commcode is labelled
Into The Fire
| Who | Shiranuyi, Ram |
| When | Friday, October 24, 2059 (Day -55) |
| Where | PCC Financial Subnet Watchdog Monitor Alpha |
Shiranui heads to PuebloNet, the Pueblo Corporate Council's national grid to access the host identified on the datachip they got from Jesse's lackeys. It's a subtly different experience than she's used to. Everything is cripser, more elegant with dataflows processing timeslices at a much higher rate than Seattle's grid does.
The host itself is a massive black edifice, looking like a high tech castle with high towers, crenelated battlements, humming with power. As soon as she activates the utility from the datachip, everything changes. It appears as a black-and-red pennant — some sort of special mark — flying from her samurai icon's banner pole. The same pennants drop from the walls of the castle and it turns a pristene glowing white, with trumpets blaring a fanfare and a drawbridge descending towards her.
As soon as she enters the host, she encounters another icon — a troll-sized black-furred humanoid with glowing red eyes, carrying a katana with a matching red laser edge. He's also bearing the same special matrix authorization recognition key she is, his taking the form of a tag on a dog collar. Calling himself Ram, he taunts Shiranui, inviting her to come "play" with him.
They go back and forth for a bit, exchanging tricks and ploys, but failing to deal any substantial damage to each other's icons. He breaks away from her, clearing her marks on him and moving to a different host. Without any effort on her part, she's able to identify where he went and reacqure a mark on him. She gives chase.
Once she finds him, he deliberate sets the new host on alert. Two PCC spiders log into the host and engage the two hackers. Apparently having done what he was here for, Ram soon logs out. Unwilling to tangle with two spiders, Shiranuri escapes as well.
Session 7 - 2023/10/26
Rearview Mirror
| Who | Rook, Shiranui, Tak, Zosimos, Della Cooper, Clive Drummond |
| When | Friday, October 24, 2059 (Day -55) |
| Where | Las Vegas, Ute Nation |
While they're fueling vehicles and bodies for the five-hour drive to Provo, the UCAS FBI rolls up on the team with Las Vegas Metropolitan Police in support. Realizing they must still be following the Hotspur and hoping the others haven't been made, Tak attempts to escape. From the gas station bathroom and the back of Rook's car, Shiranui and Zosimos create distractions. His escape is greatly eased by the arrival of a Renraku corporate strike team. Looking for the team, they are instead forced to engage with the FBI.
Once the smoke clears (and Zosimos disguises himself as a golden retriever, figuring he was on the border crossing video), Rook talks to the FBI supervisor, Special Agent Clive Drummond, while flying his legitimate SIN. He initially tries to pass his presence at a second armed incident in as many days as bad luck, but the agent doesn't buy it. He's forced to reveal that he's a shadowrunner running down a Humanis Policlub sponsored madman. In turn, he learns that the Johnson the team believed was in the employ of Aztechnology is actually a highly placed shotcaller in the Humanis — they've been in the dark since the beginning.
In exchange for letting Rook and the rest of the team go free, and the FBI off their backs, he demands that Rook keep him in the loop going forward.
Session 8 - 2023/11/02
Sign of the Beast
Driving Northbound on I-15 after the encounter with the FBI, Zosimos notices an ultralight aircraft trailing the group while the others more easily identify a group of bikers riding two-up heading towards them — another go-gang, the Beasts. They appear to have some understanding of what they're up against, at least the vehicles, focusing on Rook's Comet instead of the tougher Hotspur. Still, the rudimentary tactics of a dozen gangers aren't able to stand up to the hacking, weapons fire, and magic of a quartet of shadowrunners.
Desolation Row
On reaching Provo, the team immedaitely picks up on the differences between a true NAN city and the more cosmopoliatan, tourist-focused Las Vegas — starting with the fact that they're the only non-Amerinds in sight. Zos swiftly uses Makeover to look more like a local for himself and Rook. They decide Tak is good enough to pass without too much notice, but realize there's nothing they can do for an Oni like Shiranui.
Zosimoz and Rook take to the streets, trying to dig up information on the city in general and "Provo-Under" specifically. Meanwhile, Shiranui and Tak head out to find a junkyard and get replacement body panels[1] for Rook's car. They won't work with the car's chameleon coating, but it won't look like it was shot up.
About an hour and a half later, they've identified "Provo-Under" as a network of tunnels under the city. They were storm drains and other similar utilities, but better civil engineering practices in modern times resulted in them being closed off. Much like Seattle's Ork Underground, the original tunnels still exist and have a tribe of orks and trolls living in them.
Shiranui does some matrix digging on events taking place over the next few days. The only thing that fits Jesse's political medling is a speech on Sunday, October 26, 2059 by a woman named Maureen Westlake, a vocal opponent of the BTL trade.
Session 9 - 2023/11/09
Fascination Street
The group heads to address from the note, 10127 N 11th St, sans Shiranui. Apparently, whatever they'd had for lunch disagreed with her and she ran off with Rook's car to seek treatment.
The location in Provo's warehouse district is labelled "Jones Chain & Wire". While much of the neighborhood is actively in use, this particular building is old and dilapidated. Zosimos sends a spirit to survey the inside, while Tak sends his drones around the outside.
Inside, the spirit detects a wiff of Jesse's astral spoor, but it's old and fading. It also detects a person in the warehouse, too. Outside, Rook checks the door and finds a conventional padlock to be the only thing securing it — a quick whack with his combat knife is enough to knock the lock off and get them inside.
Rook spots an young ork squatter, and tells him they're here for Jesse. He claims that he doesn't know anything about anybody named Jesse. With a small bribe, Rook convinces the ork to lead them to somebody in charge, somebody who might know more.
Crossroad
Joe guides the team to the warehouse office, where an 2020's era print server is bolted to a section of flooring — something that would take the strength like an ork or troll to move. He slides it out of the way and leads the runners down into the tunnels: Provo-Under.
After a few twists and turns, he leads them to an underground greehouse. There are nearly three dozen orks and trolls gathered around a fire (though it looks like they'd have natural illumination via light pipes during the day). The leader, Mary Hawkmoon asks why the three runners — all human, none Native American — are here. They explain the situation. At the mention of Jesse, one of the orks slips away from the crowd. Only Zosimos notices, but he doesn't believe he can do anything at the moment without disturbing the negotiation, so he sends his spirit to follow.
Tak's smooth talking seems to work out. The Underground's resisdents are eventually willing to talk about a young, nont-quite fringe group calling themselves the Barrelhouse Boys, and their leader, Crunch. They're generally considered ruffians, but not believed to be an active threat to the community. Joey knows who they are and where they hang out, and offers to lead the group to them for questioning.
Smugglers' Rules
As they traverse the tunnels under the city, Zosimos notices a laser tripwire crossing the tunnel ahead of them. Unfortunately, he doesn't realize it soon enough to warn their guide. Joey trips it, triggering a grenade. He rushes up to help the young ork, while Rook and Tak (now aware of the danger) carefully but quickly advance on the Barrelhouse Boy's hideout.
They dispatch two sentry guns before they're even engaged, then storm the hideout. Zachary, the member Zosimos saw during the meeting escapes in the fracas, but the others quickly cave. They claim that Crunch, their leader, is staying at The Carlisle, Room 12. They can't say what he's up to, because he would not tell them.
Zosimos sends a spirit back to inform the Underground tribe what has happened. His quick responses are enough to save Joey's life and ingratiate them with the tribe. The Barrelhouse Boys are not so lucky — they're banished from the tribe and from Provo-Under.
Heartbreak Hotel
The team heads to The Carlisle, a garden-style apartment complex consisting of two buildings with exposed balcony entrances. They go up to the fourth floor and easily enter Unit 12 — the security is a joke, even with Shiranui still MIA.
The room is as they expected from a low-rent apartment, but the walls are covered with posters and photos from screamsheets. They all feature simsense and trideo action stars. There's a focus on anti-heroes like "The Sniper", the main character in "The Sniper", a trid series that involves a lot of people getting shot in the head.
The vast majorities of the earlier entries are nothing of importance, mainly self-aggrandizing lies and the ramblings of a somewhat bent mind. The last five entries are more interesting:
Tuesday, October 14, 2059 — He came to see me, the officer, and he explained just how important my part of the plan would be. Vital, he said. Crucial. Still doesn't say what the assignment is, but he says it's important. Frag the Boys, they're nothing. I'm in the Sioux army now.
Saturday, October 18, 2059 — I still don't know his name, but he let slip that he's a Major in the Sioux Special Forces. Says I'm not to tell anyone or else the Wildcats will kill me. Asked me if I'm a good rifle shot.
Sunday, October 19, 2059 — He missed our meeting today. Didn't say why, just didn't show. Busy elsewhere? Or dead? If he's dead, I'll avenge him, it's my duty.
Tuesday, October 21, 2059 — He's back. it's something about another assignment. Brought me a briefcase. I can't say what was in it, but it's wizzer. Big surprise for anybody I don't like. Asked me what I knew about Maureen Westlake. It's going to be soon.
Friday, October 24, 2059 — Two days. It's in two days. He still won't tell me what it is, but says that when it's over, the Sioux BTL traffic is mine. He smiles when he says that, and I smile too. When it's done, maybe I'll give him a big surprise. Then I'll be a Major in the Wildcats.
They toss the room and find a large collection of militaria. The clothes in the closet (all troll-sized) look like wannabe uniforms, secondhand military surplus with fake unit patches from Sioux units, stapled into place (one is even a printout). They also find a commlink without any security in place and realize the room has been rearranged.
They find a large bloodstain under the bed's new location. Zosimos' astral senses tell him that somebody was killed here, and recently. They figure based on the volume of blood, it could only be a troll. They figure he's being setup for something.
Session 10 - 2023/11/16
Holding Pattern
Rook and Tak ask around, trying to figure out what happened to Crunch. Signs point to him being killed in his home, but moving a dead troll would take somebody of similarly prodigious strength. They're unable to find any information, but they're uncertain if it's because nobody knows or knobody wants to talk to them.
Further matrix digging on Maureen Westlake identifies her firebrand speaches as hotbutton issues in the area. There have been threats against her life in the past. To reduce risk, they plan three sites in the neighborhood, and only activate the selected one about 30 minutes before her speeches begin. Shiranui manages to secure the location of all three possible sites.
The team sets up Tak's drones to surveil two of the three sites, hoping his rotodrones will blend in with the news services' drones. Zosimos, in eagle form, will keep an eye on the third.
Straight Shooter
Realizing security precautions won't allow them to get large weapons into the area, Zosimos is tasked with delivering hardware to the team. In addition to his recon role, they'll set up a duffle with weapons on a nearby (but not too nearby) roof for him to snatch and deliver.
The best defense against a sniper being another sniper, Rook is the first to spot the shooter, Aurora. He sees her across the street, setting up on a higher roof using Crunch's corpse as both cover and concealment. She arranges herself so that it looks somewhat like he's firing, while she's actually aiming the weapon from under his arm and hiding behind him.
Tak attempts to engage her with one of his drones, but his concussion grenade goes astray with a predictable reaction from the police. Zosimos flies into action, delivering Rook's rifle. By some miracle, the sniper's first shot misses, allowing Rook to harry her with shots and prevent her from making her kill.
In a disgusting feat of magical manipulation, animates Crunch's corpse to throw her off the edge of the building. She survives the impact, but the confusion allows Shiranui to move in and knock her out. The team grabs her and makes an escape.
She proves fairly resistant to direct interrogation, but her equipment is less resistant. They find out that she has a flight from Salt Lake City into SeaTac later this morning. With nothing else forthcoming, they drop her at a police station along with information pointing the police towards Crunch's apartment.
Rook follows through on his promise to SA Drummond, reporting on what happened. In exchange, he's informed that "Denny Sam", a man matching Jessie John's description, flew into Seattle on a red-eye flight. Realizing they're closing in him, they decide they have to rush back to Seattle. Unfortunately, international flight is risky with the quality of SINs Zosimos and Tak have, they use magic to transform the two runners into dogs and have the brought along as cargo while Shiranui and Rook fly under their registered SINs. They have to leave a lot of equipment behind, but decide it's better than letting their payday have too much time.
In flight, Shiranui does some research and a bit of hacking. She discovers Denny Sam has a 3 day Reservation at Council Island Inn on Mercer Island, the Salish Shidhe Council's diplomatic enclave in Seattle.
Session 11 - 2023/11/30
Quarantine Blues
"Daniel J. Horgan" and "HARIKU Yukira" land in Seattle, only to discover that one of their precious dogs failed his post flight medical examination and will have to remain in quarantine on a 24-hour hold until blood work comes back clean and he can be cleared. Their other dog is just fine, though.
Realizing Zosimos can't sustain Shapechange forever, and they can't wait that long anyway, they leave Tak to his own devices and head downtown to start planning.
My Hometown
Shiranui does some Matrix work, finding that the Salish-Sidhe council holds meetings in Bellingham, their capital. They talked about doing meetings at other places in Council, meeting is on Council Island. Metroplex Guard and Salish rangers are also involved. It is not a closed session, visitor passes available. Various tribes have all sorts of issues being brought up, UCAS even has someone there about cargo through port of Seattle.
Shiranui does some Matrix work, and finds Denny Sam's reservation at the Council Island Hotel. The reservation is confirmed and paid for, with cancellation protection so it will remain held if he never checks in. Rook determines that all security checkpoints from I-90 onto Mercer Island would check for a valid reason to be there, and the hotel reservation must be Jesse's.
Hysteria
| Who | Rook, Shiranui, Tak, Zosimos, Della Cooper |
| When | Monday, October 27, 2059 (Day -52) |
| Where | Grand Council Lodge, Mercer Island, Seattle Metroplex |
They decide to bypass border security entirely, and use Zosimos' alchemical preparations to transform themselves into Eagles and fly onto the island carrying thier gear (sans weapons) in duffle bags. It proves to be sufficiently unorthodox that they arrive unnoticed.
They gain access to Grand Council Lodge — a combination of government building and cultural museum — by joining a tour group. There's a minor hicough with Rook gettting pulled out of the security line for questioning, but he manages to talk his way through it. Inside, there are Council Island Police and Salish-Shidhe Council Rangers all around. Despite the hour, basicly start-of-business, there are quite a few guests present, including what must be a field trip: about two dozen tweens and early teens in Renraku student uniforms.
While following thier tour guide, Zosimos is able to pick up recent traces of Jesse's presence. They join a different group heading where they need to go - towards conference rooms, offices, and a viewing gallery above the council chamber.
As they're attempting to ignore the droning of the guide talking about "how real Council business" gets done in those conference rooms and offices, they realize that one of the people in thier tour group is Agent Cooper — she's wearing an excellent disguise, including a wig and contacts, but Shiranui sees right through it.
At the same time, Zosimos identifies one of the chaparones of the field trip as a magician under a Physical Mask spell who is packing far too many augmentations to be a simple school teacher. His suspicions are further aroused when she breaks away from her tour group and starts skulking away. Not really having a better cover for himself, he uses Control Actions on one of the Council Island tour guides to escort him as he persues the suspected Renraku agent.
From above the Council Chamber, Rook and Shiranui hear rising voices. Meanwhile, the Renraku children start acting up, one of them even going so far as to knock another down and start stomping on her classmate.
Zosimos tells the group he found a spirit in the southwest corner of the building and it's one of Jesse's — a sludge spirit, a toxic spirit of water. The others move to aid him, but Agent Cooper breaks her cover to intercept them. She tells Shiranui that she doesn't know what "those Humanis fucks" did to her, but suggests she should just walk away and Cooper will us her FBI resources to "get [her] help". When Shiranui claims she's there to stop Jesse, Cooper is confused. Rook is able to convince her that they're not with the Humanis, it was a bit of a frame job, and they want to take him down.
Session 12 - 2023/12/07
Hysteria (Cont...)
| Who | Rook, Shiranui, Tak, Zosimos, Della Cooper, MOCHIBOSHI Rio |
| When | Monday, October 27, 2059 (Day -52) |
| Where | Grand Council Lodge, Mercer Island, Seattle Metroplex |
Convinced of the team's true loyalties, or at least convinced they have no loyalty to Humanis or Jesse, Agent Cooper flashes her badge at Council Island Security, saying that Rook and Shiranui are with him. She also orders one of them to hand his SMG to Rook.
Zosimos finds a new ally in the Renraku field ops magician, Rio Mochiboshi. Together, they're able to banish Jesse's toxic water spirit. Jesse responds by doing the same to his Ifrit, then twisting it into a radiation spirit, a toxic fire spirit. It uses it's radioactive powers to take out Zosimos in a single blow.
With knife and bullet, Shiranui and Rook are able to take down Jesse. Rook removes and disables the tonal generator; Operative Mochiboshi demands it Rio to demands it in exchange for getting Zosimos the treatment he'll need to survive. Rook agrees to the exchange.
Meanwhile, Shiranui and Cooper decide Jesse's fate. Della is quite clear in intending to execute him on the spot, and Shiranui doesn't do anything to stop it.
Episode Wrap Up
Due to his true identity as a retired UCAS solider, Special Agent Drummond and Agent Cooper are able to keep Rook free of any charges by the Salish Shidhe Council.
They do the same for Shiranui (as HARIKU Yukira), but they don't an easy out to absolve her of all consequences with the UCAS. As an ANZAC citizen, she is officially deported and barred from return to the UCAS. Cooper takes responsibility for escorting her to the airport, but once they're out of sight cuts her free.
Zosimos spends a week recovering in the radiation ward in one of the SCIRE's many hospitals.
Tak, sans clothes, eventually does make it out of SeaTac.