Shadowrun Report – St. Valentine’s Day Monkey Burger Massacre and BBQ

[This session happened on September 14th.  We missed a week playing due to Labor Day activities, after missing a week because I wasn’t ready to run due to Real World Issues, so it was good to play again.]

Player Characters

The Fin – female human con artist and gambler from India, by way of Russia, posh and elegant
Sin – male human rigger, knows exactly the wrong thing to say and says it
Void – female human physical adept B&E specialist, a shadow that blends in easily
Killroy – male human street samurai, specializes in hand-to-hand combat (and apparently machineguns)
Murdoc – male elf kilt-wearing street mage, at home with the hobos

NPC’d Characters
Bookie – male elf alcoholic hacker, favors whiskey with a whiskey chaser
Prometheus – male human street samurai, handy with any firearm


Thursday-Friday, February 13-14, 2076
At Midnight, The Fin received a phone call from Svetlana, a fixer contact who specializes in shopping around wetwork opportunities and odd jobs.  [This was going to be an odd job.]  Svetlana had a rush job where the client was looking for “the Monkey Burger team.”  Svetlana vouched for the fixer brokering the job and claimed the job appeared to be real.  Was The Fin interested?  After thinking it over for a moment, The Fin said she was willing to accept the job.  Svetlana then asked The Fin to meet her at Olga’s Tea House in Tacoma as soon as possible.  The Fin said she would be there in an hour.

Forty-five minutes later, The Fin was at Olga’s, make-up and clothes fashionably perfect, hair in that “I just kicked someone out of my bed to be here” style [because she had].  Svetlana was sitting at a table in a back corner, her two bodyguards occupying the two tables in front of Svetlana’s table.  The crowd in Olga’s was giving them a wide berth.  The Fin was recognized by the bodyguards as she walked up and allowed to sit at Svetlana’s table without any hassle.

After the pleasantries of greeting each other, Svetlana got down to the point: the job was to destroy as many free-standing Monkey Burger operations as possible in the Seattle Metroplex in the next 36 hours…oh, 35 hours now.  The Fin was nonplussed for a moment and then asked Svetlana to repeat herself, not certain she had heard correctly.  Svetlana repeated what she had said and then provided some additional details:

• 8 of the 16 Monkey Burger locations had to be destroyed by 6:00 AM, Saturday, February 15, or there would be no pay.
• Each location destroyed paid 3000¥.
• There was a 10,000¥ bonus for destroying all 3 Flagship locations.
• There was a 26,000¥ bonus for destroying all 13 drive-through locations.
• “Destroyed” meant “it would cost more to fix it than tear it down and start over”.
• The deadline was 6:00 AM, Saturday morning.
• Payment would be made upon verification of destruction, but no later than Noon on the 15th.

And that was pretty much it.

The Fin immediately sent a “We’ve got a job – get to the office ASAP” group message to the team and then attempted to get more money out of the deal.  Svetlana was firm on the price for the job and The Fin recognized this, so she left to bring the job to the team.  [The Fin rolled 6 hits on Negotiation, but so did Svetlana, giving The Fin 0 net hits and no extra money.]

Friday, February 14, 2076
By 2:00 AM, everyone but Prometheus and Bookie were at the Pleiades Group offices in the Queen Anne Hill neighborhood.  After The Fin laid out the job, the group immediately started planning.  Pretty much the entire team agreed that they would have to hit all the locations at once and preferably when they were closed so no employees or customers would get killed.  This was a job for explosives!

Sin put his engineering skills to work and went over the plans of the Monkey Burger locations the team had acquired the last time they were paid to attack them.  [See the blog entries for the Monkey Business run.]  He located the perfect locations in both the Flagship and drive through locations to maximize destruction with the minimum amount of commercial grade explosives.  [He used Edge and rolled 10 hits on his Engineering roll, which I allowed to be used to reduce the quantity of explosives.]  The rest of the team then started calling their contacts, looking for 10 kg worth of explosives as soon as possible, with cost being no option.  [This meant they were willing to pay the 400% maximum extra dice on the availability roll.]

Killroy’s arms dealer contract, Leona Kinkou, came through first.  She was able to locate and deliver the first 10 kilo package by 7:00 AM [I rolled the necessary successes plus two more, with the extra hits each reducing the time by half].  She also lucked into another package after Killroy stated he needed more if she could get it.  The second package arrived at 10:00 AM [this time three extra successes], but she couldn’t get any more for a full day [zero extra successes], which Killroy accepted as it would replace the 10 kg he started with.  He then set to wiring up the 30 kilos of explosives as demolition charges [20 kg plus the 10 kg explosives he already had from a previous run that ended up not needing them].  The Flagship locations would take 4 kilos each, while the drive through locations would only need 2 kilos, allowing him to make packages for the three Flagships plus 9 of the 13 drive through locations.

At the same time, Void’s asked he fence, Sarah, if she had access to 10 kg of commercial grade explosives.  It was a long shot, but it couldn’t hurt to ask.  Sarah said she happened to know where to get ahold of 10 kg of commercial explosives, no questions asked, but it would take nearly 24 hours before she could get it – did Void still want it?  Void said yes and arranged delivery.  Meanwhile, The Fin was able to locate another 10 kg of explosives through her “acquisitions” contact, Aung San, who commented that there seemed to be a run on the explosives right now, so she could not secure and deliver the explosives until 2:00 AM Saturday morning.  After checking with Killroy that 2:00 AM would be soon enough, The Fin asked Aung to get the explosives and deliver them.

After contacting Sarah, Void spent some time checking out the Monkey Burger locations to see if security had been upgraded.  It had.  There were three times as many cameras in place and more security goons in place.  The windows now all appeared to be bulletproof and all the external doors and locks had been upgraded.  Not so high that Void couldn’t bypass them [the corporate work recently had challenged her with higher grade locks], but noticeably better.  Void reported this information back to the Group.

The team planned out the delivery route, planning to hit the Flagship locations first (as they closed at 9:00 pm), and then the drive through locations in Bellevue, Downtown, Tacoma, and finally Renton (all of which closed at Midnight).  After the Downtown drive through locations, the last 20 kg of explosives would be available and Killroy could make the last four demolition charges for Void to place.  To keep things as safe as possible, Murdoc would make Killroy and Void (the delivery team) invisible and Sin would remotely drive one of his rigged vehicles with the delivery team (and the explosives) inside.

Then the team went to their respective homes and rested until the run, except Bookie who spent some time to find appropriate music to record the explosions to.

~*~

At 8:00 PM, Void and Killroy loaded the demolition packages into Sin’s car. Sin then remotely drove them on the planned route, observing all speed limits and warning signs.

Against all odds, there were no major traffic accidents nor gang wars anywhere along the route.  Void and Killroy were able to bypass the improved security measures and plant all the charges with little difficulty, including stealing a shake machine and a crate of strawberry-banana shake mix at Murdoc’s request.  By 4:00 AM all the devices were in place and awaiting Killroy’s signal to detonate.  Sin placed several of his aerial drones around town to “just happen” to be in the right place to record the explosions across the city.

At 4:30 AM, Saturday, February 15th, every standalone Monkey Burger establishment in the Seattle Metroplex, all 16 of them, exploded, assuming foolproof disguises as piles of burning rubble.

It was not long after that that the first news stories about fires at fast food restaurants started appearing on the local news channels.  By 5:00 AM the news channels realized that ALL the Monkey Burger establishments in Seattle were destroyed and started reporting that fact.  By 6:00 AM, the national news started reporting on the unusual news story, speculating on what it meant and who might be responsible.

Watching the media frenzy slowly start up, the Pleiades Group sat in their office, eating pop corn and watching the music video Bookie had created with Sin’s video footage and the 1812 Overture.

At 7:00 AM, full payment for the job was deposited into the Pleiades Group’s bank account.  The Fin subtracted the expenses from the job [buying all those explosives] and split the remaining money with the entire team, putting the rounding amount into the Group kitty.

End of Session


[This one wrapped up pretty quick.  I wasn’t certain how the players would face this challenge and was ready for a one-by-one approach if necessary.  They wisely chose the explosives route, but even that would not have covered all the locations if Sin had not had that amazing roll and reduced the amount of explosives needed at each location.  I played a little fast and loose with the explosives amount needed, but it provided just the right amount of tension as the team scrambled to track down enough to do the job.  Killroy’s contact rolled well for the first two batches of explosives and all the other rolls made just the necessary number of hits to deliver in one day.]

[Next session, September 21, we are just doing character maintenance as no one has updated their characters in Hero Lab since we started, just keeping track of things on paper.  This will let me print out updated characters for everyone and make certain no one missed any Karma.  We may also play board games or watch Sneakers as most of the group hasn’t seen it.]

[After that, I’m running the next run (on September 28th) as I have an idea.  Due to my Day Job picking up, it’s taking me longer to prep for the run, so another week off is welcome.  Then the other GM needs to run a couple runs.  So expect the next real session report on October 5th.]

Shadowrun Report – Monkey Business – Session 4

[This session happened on April 6, 2015.  This session was after-effects and wrap-up of the Monkey Business run.  The report is late as I was ill this weekend and had a power outage due to a hail storm.  Fun times.]

Player Characters

The Fin – female human con artist and gambler from India, by way of Russia, posh and elegant
Killroy – male human street samurai, specializes in hand-to-hand combat (and apparently machineguns)
Void – female human physical adept B&E specialist, a shadow that blends in easily
Murdoc – male elf kilt-wearing street mage, at home with the hobos



NPC’d Characters

Sin – male human rigger, knows exactly the wrong thing to say and says it
Bookie – male elf alcoholic hacker, favors whiskey with a whiskey chaser
Prometheus – male human street samurai, handy with any firearm


Tuesday, December 10, 2075

KONG Eyewitness News

For two hours last night, from 6:00 until 8:00, a group of people brazenly attacked a local chain of restaurants across the Seattle Metroplex in a series of lightning raids, in some cases quite literally.  Monkey Burger! restaurants across the heart of the metroplex were attacked by an unknown number of assailants.  Eye witnesses claim several two-person teams of attackers either broke in during the dinner rush or attacked from the drive-through lane.  In either case, the attackers targeted cooking ranges and cold storage workstations, damaging them beyond repair 

Knight Errant is still investigating the bizarre series of attacks, which included weapons such as machine guns, high caliber rifles, chainsaws, drone-mounted katanas, and even lightning!  As of this time, no group has stepped forward to present believable claims for the rampage.  Knight Errant has assembled a series of images of the attackers, compiled from security footage, pictures taken by by-standers, and artist’s renderings from eye-witness accounts.

At least one group consisted of mages.  This group left a trail of rampage featured lightning bolts, invisible people, and what police are certain was the disguise of a vehicle through magical means.  These images show the two mage suspects police are looking for:

• [Picture of Murdoc in his Aryan yuppie disguise]
• [Picture of The Fin with just her physical make-up]

They were using these disguises:

• [Green Mohawk dude sitting at driving wheel]
• [Faceless business man in a bowler sitting in passenger seat]

Police believe these two used magical masks and therefore these might not be their true faces.  A Knight Errant Mage Hunter unit is investing the attack sites for magical signatures.

A second team, dubbed “Bonnie and Clyde” attacked with either a chainsaw or a heavily customized assault rifle.

• [Picture of a woman and a man from above at a backdoor. The woman has a chainsaw, the man an assault rifle.]
• [Picture of Killroy in disguise standing inside near a freezer, shooting Vera at something off camera.]

Knight Errant suspects these two to be proficient in burglary due to the ease with which they bypassed the door security.  If you see either of these two individuals or this weapon [several shots of "Vera" appear on screen], do not approach them as they are considered extremely dangerous.

Finally, Knight Errant is also looking for the person or persons who controlled the following drones [pictures of Sin’s dualist drones and “Susan”].  Little is known about them, but one of the drones was stopped by Monkey Burger! security [video of downed drone lying on the ground is shown] and Knight Errant is examining it for clues as to its owner.  The Lynx drone had an illegal machinegun modification and is of special interest to Knight Errant.

The burning down of one of the two Monkey Burger! locations in the University District is considered to be an unrelated event and that story can be followed HERE [hyperlink to “The People’s Glorious Revolution – Or Is It?”].

Knight Errant considers all of these individuals to be extremely dangerous.  If you have any information about them or see them, do not approach them – call Knight Errant’s CrimeStoppers tip line immediately and you could win a reward!

End of News Report


In addition to the above news report, all of the local stations were featuring coverage of the Monkey Burger! attacks and news teams were waiting at the remaining untouched locations, which were inside other businesses.  In many cases, these other businesses either closed early or insisted that the Monkey Burger! locations closed to avoid damage to property and people.  Knight Errant security drones and officers were also dispatched to many locations.  These factors combined with the low payout per location convinced the team to call it a night.

Bookie edited all the video footage the team had collected to that only the attacks appear and no one’s face or name is recorded.  He then gave the files to The Fin, who passed them on to Svetlana, the fixer.  By Noon, payment of 35,000¥ was deposited in The Fin’s account and the money dispersed to the team, earning each 5000¥ for the night’s work.

The Fin had the Bugatti cleaned and detailed before returning it to the dealership.  Sin bought Void and Killroy steak dinners for completing his portion of the run.  Void and Killroy also had their Supra cleaned and even filled up the tank before returning it to the location they stole it from.

Murdoc, deciding that his current false ID may be blown, went to Gino, his drug dealer, to get a news false SIN and mage’s license.  This takes 12 days of downtime before both are ready.  He now has ID that says he is Damarius Abiah, a 30-something human woman of Persian ancestry.  He plans on using physical mask to make himself look like the ID.  [Surely nothing could go wrong with this plan.]

Void purchased a dead average-looking Suzuki Mirage so she has personal transportation.  Later, The Fin professionally introduces Void to Svetlana as an asset.  Even later The Fin introduces Killroy to Svetlana, also as an asset.  [This opens up the possibility of Void or Killroy picking up Svetlana as a contact.]

Prometheus spent some downtime increasing his Long Arms and Sneaking Active Skills, adding Throwing Weapons (by practicing throwing grenades), and even increased his knowledge of Sperethiel beyond just the cuss words and insults.  He still speaks it in a monotone that makes elf ears droop.

During this downtime, a news story appears indicating that AIPE had to transfer corporate funds to its New Foods! division to cover repairs and lost income from the Monkey Burger! chain of restaurants so as to keep the New Foods! Division afloat.

End of Session

The other item of business that was settled was in what parts of Seattle do the characters live.  Sin and Bookie’s players were not available, so those still need to be determined, but here’s the rest:

• The Fin: Rosemont Beach in Bellevue
• Killroy: Kent in Renton
• Void: White Center in Downtown
• Murdoc: Milton in Tacoma
• Prometheus: East Renton Highlands in Renton

In addition, the locations of the following three places was narrowed down:

• Pleiades Group offices: Queen Anne Hill in Downtown
• The Ascended Lodge, to which Void is Pledged: International District in Downtown
• The Pacific Lodge, to which The Fin is looking to join: Bainbridge Island in Outremer

Session 1

Session 3, Part 2

Shadowrun Report – Monkey Business – Session 03, Part 2

[This session happened on March 30, 2015.  This is Part 2 of Session 3.]

Player Characters

The Fin – female human con artist and gambler from India, by way of Russia, posh and elegant
Sin – male human rigger, knows exactly the wrong thing to say and says it
Killroy – male human street samurai, specializes in hand-to-hand combat (and apparently submachineguns)
Void – female human physical adept B&E specialist, a shadow that blends in easily
Murdoc – male elf kilt-wearing street mage, at home with the hobos


NPC’d Characters

Bookie – male elf alcoholic hacker, favors whiskey with a whiskey chaser
Prometheus – male human street samurai, handy with any firearm


Teams:

Team 1: Void and Killroy
Team 2: The Fin and Murdoc
Team 3: Sin and Bookie



Monday, December 9, 2075

7:21PM, Kent (Tacoma)

Void and Killroy arrived at the Monkey Burger! location in the Tacoma part of Kent to find the increased number of security goons were here and deployed differently.  Instead of being all up at the front, the second golf cart was deployed so it could see the side door directly.  This meant Void and Killroy could not approach the door unobserved.  Needing a new way to enter the building, they contacted Sin and asked him to send one of the Fly-Spies with them to check out the roof.  Sin was a bit busy (his drones had just been in a fire fight and he was attempting to leave the vicinity undetected), but after a moment the Fly-Spy on Killroy’s shoulder activated and flew over the building.  The video showed the roof was flat with A/C and ventilation machinery on top, but also a skylight over the food-prep area.

Void and Killroy stealthed up to the back of the building (where they were least likely to be seen) and quickly got onto the roof.  [Void simply ran up the side of the wall and then assisted Killroy up.]  Staying in a crouch to avoid being seen, they moved to the front of the building where the skylight was located.  The skylight was translucent, but Killroy’s cybereyes had thermographic capabilities, so he was able to easily locate the hot cooking range below them.  A short burst from Vera and the range was no longer operational.

Void and Killroy moved to the back of the building to leave.  Void jumped down to the ground and started to move away, only to discover that the first golf cart had moved to cover the back of the building.  The lone security goon had spotted Void and started to call it in.  Sadly for him, he missed seeing Killroy, who fired two quick shots from his pistol, “Steve”, knocking the guard out with Stick-n-Shock ammunition.  While the other goons were busy calling over the radio for the first goon to report his location, Void and Killroy quickly left the area.

Elapsed Time: 7 minutes
Time to next location: 26 minutes


7:31PM, Greenwood
The Fin and Murdoc arrived in the Greenwood neighborhood and parked across the street from the Monkey Burger! so they could contact Prometheus.  In addition to more security goons at this location, a Knight Errant patrol car was parked in front of the restaurant.  Prometheus was nowhere to be seen.  The Fin called him and he responded he was now available as his previous client had just left the area, all he needed was a target.  The Fin identified the target as one of the cooking ranges inside the building, about three meters to the left of the side door.  Prometheus said he needed to move to make the shot and would call back shortly.

After a minute or so, two small explosions seemed to happen inside the restaurant as Prometheus fired twice into the cooking range with his Remington 950 loaded with APDS ammunition.  The Fin’s phone then rang.  It was Prometheus asking if The Fin needed anything else.  She sent him the last two addresses on her list, explaining that Murdoc was drained and needed to rest for an hour before being able to cast again.  Prometheus asked if the targets were the same and The Fin confirmed they were.  Prometheus then agreed to take care of them.  The Fin then took Murdoc to a nearby park (at his request) to allow him to recover from the drain he was suffering.

Elapsed Time: 8 minutes
Time to next location: 14 minutes


7:35PM, SEA-TAC Airport
Sin arrived at the Private Pilot’s entrance to SEA-TAC, where his passengers and their cargo disembarked.  They exchanged contact information with Sin and agreed to deposit his share of the money when they delivered the cargo and got paid.

Elapsed Time: 2 minutes
Time to next location: 8 minutes



7:45PM, SEA-TAC Neighborhood
Sin and Bookie arrived at the SEA-TAC area Monkey Burger!, where they found a full-on SWAT van parked in front and SWAT officers in evidence in addition to the extra security goons.  After looking over the scene, Sin backed his vehicle into a parking spot facing side of the Monkey Burger! opposite the side entrance.  Sin then asked Bookie if he thought he could hack the controls of a Knight Errant SWAT van.  Bookie said he was willing to find out.

[Start cinematic description mode]

The camera is focused on the Knight Errant symbol on the driver’s door of the SWAT van.  The camera pans up slightly and then focuses in on the door’s locking mechanism.  With a sudden “thunk”, the locks all engage at once.  A muffled voice from inside the SWAT van can just be heard to say “Did you hear something?”  The camera view shifts to the dashboard controls inside the van which suddenly light up.  The engine start sequence displays and the engine comes to life.

Then the sirens start blaring and all of the lights on the van start flashing.

CUT TO the back of Sin’s panel van.  The rear doors slowly open, exposing Susan machinegun barrel.

CUT TO looking from inside of the van, over Susan’s barrel as it adjusts its aim on the Monkey Burger!  On the right side of the shot the SWAT van can be seen peeling out in reverse, lights and sirens blaring.

CUT TO one of the security golf carts, facing towards the front of the restaurant.  The two security goons are looking at the SWAT van as it rapidly backs up.  Their expressions of confusion turn to horror as the van turns, aiming right at them and accelerating!

CUT BACK TO the shot over Susan’s barrel.  Police and security goons are just starting to chase after the SWAT van when Susan’s machine gun fires!  Everyone in view dives for cover as the machine gun rapidly chews a hole in the side of the restaurant.

CUT TO interior of the Monkey Burger! as the fryer units explode into sparks and parts, a short fountain of cooking oil shoots up from both fryers and then splatters on the destroyed machinery.

CUT BACK TO exterior shot of the back of Sin’s van.  Susan slowly withdraws and the doors silently swing shut.

CUT TO shot from above Sin’s van, looking back towards the restaurant.  The van exits the bottom of the scene while in the background chaos erupts at the Monkey Burger!.  There are the sounds of gunfire, screams, and the SWAT van can just be seen pursuing a golf cart full of security goons who are shooting at the SWAT van.

FADE TO BLACK

[End cinematic description mode]

Elapsed Time: 4 minutes
Team 3 done for the evening.


7:54PM, Fircrest
Void and Killroy arrived at the Fircrest Monkey Burger! to find not only the additional security goons, but four Knight Errant police cruisers spaced evenly around the restaurant.  Officers in body armor are standing at the drive through entries, checking vehicles.  There are several news drones circling the restaurant and small crowds stand across the two adjacent streets, waiting for something to happen.  [This location is on a corner, inside the parking lot of a retail strip center.]

Killroy decided to go a little Rube Goldberg due to the situation.  He had Void drive their car into the alley behind the strip center.  There he climbed up onto the roof and set one of his smart-linked machine pistols on the front ledge of the roof, pointing at an adjacent restaurant, minus its silencer.

He and Void then drove across the street to the side of the Monkey Burger! and parked in the gas station there with a clear view of the side wall of the Monkey Burger!, right were the cooking range was on the inside.  Killroy them loaded Vera with APDS ammunition, but kept Vera low so the crowd standing around would not see it.  He then triggered the machine pistol through the smart-link.

The sound of the machine pistol firing drew the attention and fire from all of the police officers and the security goons.  The combined fire quickly turned the front of the greeting card store into an excellent approximation of Swiss cheese.  The watching crowd cried out in excitement and immediately started taking pictures and video with their commlinks.

With everyone else in the area now looking at the greeting card store [or rather, the remains thereof], Killroy eased Vera out the car window and fired a silenced long burst at the Monkey Burger! wall, right where the cooking range was.  Seeing the shots blow through, Void quickly pulled out of the gas station parking just as nearby potential witnesses were realizing where the real action was.

Elapsed Time: 8 minutes
Team 1 done for the evening.


7:58PM, a park in Downtown
The Fin received a call from Prometheus.  Prometheus asked if he was allowed to shoot through someone to do the job.  Before answering, The Fin asked why.  The restaurant was in the University District of Downtown and the local fraternities, having heard of the Monkey Burger! attacks on the news had decided to protect their favorite eating location with a wall of fraternity brothers.  The location had nearly 200 people in fraternity shirts from most of the fraternities on the local campuses and according to Prometheus, “They keep standing in my way.”  The Fin explained, in small words, that Prometheus was not allowed to shoot through anyone to complete the job and that doing so would negate the pay for the job.  Prometheus acknowledged her instructions before hanging up.

[Prometheus had to move to a different location to make the shot, but did so.  This happened “off camera” as Prometheus was an NPC at this point, so no details.]

Elapsed Time: 10 minutes
Time to next location: 4 minutes


8:12PM, a park in Downtown
The Fin received another call from Prometheus while re was waiting for Murdoc to recover.  Prometheus reported there was an issue with the final location – it was on fire.  So were two golf carts.  Plus there was a mob of students yelling and chanting things like “Long live the Revolution!” and “Down with corporate excess!”.  As a result, Prometheus was not certain what to do.

After thinking on it a moment, The Fin ordered Prometheus to leave it alone – the job was done for the night.

Elapsed Time: 2 minutes
Team 2 done for the evening.


End of Session

[It was late when we got to this point, so we saved the wrap-up until the next session.]

Session 1

Session 3, Part 1

Session 4

Shadowrun Report – Monkey Business – Session 03, Part 1

[This session happened on March 30, 2015.  Due to the large amount of things covered, I’ve divided this session into two parts.]

Player Characters

The Fin – female human con artist and gambler from India, by way of Russia, posh and elegant
Sin – male human rigger, knows exactly the wrong thing to say and says it
Killroy – male human street samurai, specializes in hand-to-hand combat (and apparently assault rifles)
Void – female human physical adept B&E specialist, a shadow that blends in easily
Murdoc – male elf kilt-wearing street mage, at home with the hobos


NPC’d Characters

Bookie – male elf alcoholic hacker, favors whiskey with a whiskey chaser
Prometheus – male human street samurai, handy with any firearm


Teams:

Team 1: Void and Killroy
Team 2: The Fin and Murdoc
Team 3: Sin and Bookie


Monday, December 9, 2075 (Continued)

6:30PM, Issaquath
Having worked out a solid method of achieving their goals, Void and Killroy stuck with it.  They quietly stepped up to the Employees Entrance and Void picked the lock in a little less than 6 seconds.  Killroy stepped into the noisy kitchen area and fired the silenced Vera (his favorite assault rifle) at the cooking range, quickly destroying it.  As the Monkey Burger! employees were trying to figure out what was happening, Killroy and Void slipped away into the night.

Elapsed Time: 1 minute
Time to next location: 34 minutes

6:41PM, Central
Sin arrived back in Central, barely a half-hour after hitting both Monkey Burger! in the neighborhood.  Knight Errant presence is wide-spread and very noticeable.  Playing it cool, Sin drove to the Pratt Fine Arts Center on Grid Guide, letting the automated driving system handle everything.  Once there he pulled into the loading dock and called the number Kaylee had supplied.  After a terse conversation, four people exited the art center’s rear doors and piled into the back of Sin’s GMC Bulldog step-van demanding that he leave NOW.  As Sin calmly pulled out of the parking lot, he could see flashing lights go off inside the art center and in the near distance hear police sirens start up.  Sin realized that whatever his passengers had been doing to keep the alarms from going off had stopped and now was the time to get out of the area, pronto.  He stepped on the gas and, through some creative driving, was nowhere to be seen when the police surveillance drones converged on the art center.

Elapsed Time: 9 minute
Time to next location: 28 minutes

6:47PM, Aurora Village
With their Bugatti now disguised as an electric blue Lamborghini, The Fin and Murdoc went through one of the drive-through lines at their target, ordering a pair of Jungle Meals™.  Murdoc himself was physically masked as a businessman in a bowler with no face, while The Fin was wearing the earring that makes the wearer look like Mr. Green Mohawk from the previous run.  Once they were at the window, the cashier turned to get their payment for the food and paused when she saw no face on Murdoc.  Before she could do anything else, Murdoc stood up in the seat, held the window open, and fired a lightning bolt past her and through the two refrigerator/workstations behind her.  They both exploded, showering a hail of condiments and sides across the kitchen.  The Fin stomped on the gas and Team 2 took off.

Elapsed Time: 8 minutes
Time to next location: 11 minutes

7:05PM, Thomas
Void and Killroy arrived at their target in the Thomas neighborhood of Renton and noticed that there were additional Monkey Burger! security goons on site, along with a second golf cart for them to move around in.  Two of the new goons were stationed at the front of the drive through lanes, one per lane, and the other two in the additional golf cart, sitting in front of the building.  Luckily, the goons were scrutinizing the people in the vehicles in the drive through lanes to the exclusion of all else.  This allowed Void and Killroy to easily approach on foot at an angle where the building hid them from all of the security goons.  Repeating their tactics from Issaquath, they were in and out in less than 15 seconds, leaving startled employees and a destroyed cooking range in their wake.  Their next stop was picking up one of Sin’s locations across the border in the Tacoma part of Kent.

Elapsed Time: 1 minutes
Time to next location: 15 minutes

7:06PM, Northgate
The Fin and Murdoc arrived at the Northgate Monkey Burger! only to discover the elevated security.  As the new security goons were positioned to stop exactly what this team was planning on doing, they took some time to look the place over before approaching.  Not feeling they had much more in the way of options, they entered the drive through lane again, this time with their Bugatti disguised as a Madagascar Orange Aston Martin Vanquish Volante.  They ordered four banana shakes and then somewhat impatiently waited in line.

Murdoc noticed the security goon at the front of this line giving him the stink eye.  [Murdoc was wearing the same physical mask disguise to avoid having to cast the spell again and the goon noticed this.]  Murdoc casted mana bolt at the goon, but it took a second mana bolt to knock the goon out.  The driver in the car in front of them noticed the guard slump and started getting out of his car to see what happened, so Murdoc cast lightning bolt at a nearby tree to encourage the driver to instead leave immediately.  The driver was convinced and, covered in splintered tree, got back in his car and peeled out, temporarily drawing the attention of the other security goons.

The Fin drove her car up to the now cleared pick-up window.  All of the employees inside were down on the ground seeking cover.  Murdoc could see the four banana shakes sitting by the closed window and attempted to slide the window open.  Unfortunately he could not get a good grip on the smooth exterior of the window and it wouldn't open.  The cashier, however, had noticed his efforts and reached up from cover to slide the lock closed.  This frustrated Murdoc very much – he wanted those banana shakes!

Deciding that expediency was the order of the day, he cast lightning bolt on the part of the window away from the shakes, shattering all the glass, but drawing the attention of the security goons.  Standing in the passenger seat, he cast lightning bolt a second time, this time at the refrigerator/workstations in the kitchen area while grabbing one of the nearby banana shakes.  The security goons moved to flank the car The Fin and Murdoc were in, so The Fin decided to floor the gas and get out of there immediately.  The goons fired submachine guns at Murdoc, who was still standing in the passenger seat, trying to maintain his balance and avoid spilling the banana shake at the same time.  Through some form of miracle, the goons missed Murdoc, Murdoc was able to slide down into the seat, and the shake was not spilled.  In celebration, Murdoc quaffed the shake [which was similar to drinking the shake, but got more on him].

As the two of them drove away, Murdoc informed The Fin that he was very drained from all the magic he’d been casting and maintaining.  There was a very good chance that he might knock himself out at the next location, possibly before the objective was destroyed.  Not liking those prospects, The Fin called Prometheus to see if he was available yet.  Prometheus said he would be shortly – where did she need him.  The Fin gave him the address of the Monkey Burger! in Greenwood.  After a pause, Prometheus replied, “I’m already there.”

Prometheus was working an overwatch job where he provided sniper cover during a street-business meeting happening at the Monkey Burger! in Greenwood.  Prometheus asked The Fin to delay her arrival by five minutes so she would arrive after 7:30, which is when his current job would be over.  The Fin agreed.

Elapsed Time: 10 minutes
Time to next location: 10 minutes + a 5-minute delay

7:18PM, Riverton
Sin, Bookie, and the passengers arrived at the Riverton Monkey Burger!, where security now also included the extra golf cart with four additional security goons.  Sin moved to the back of the truck and prepped his two Duelists and “Susan” for the attack.  The passenger team’s Face, Paco, spoke up and said, “When you said you had to go knock over a Monkey Burger!, I thought it was an euphemism for buying a lot of food.  What are you doing interrupting the run for this?”  Sin’s response was, “This is what I was doing when you interrupted me for a pick up.”  This was hard to argue against.

Sin sent in the three drones from an obscured parking lot near the Monkey Burger! and commanded them to stealth up to the side entrance from the rear.  The Duelists got into position first, but one of them was seen by the security goon watching that drive through line.  The guards moved to flanking positions to attack what they thought was one drone, so Sin orders both Duelists to attack, pushing the fight to out in front of the restaurant.  This provided an excellent distraction, allowing Susan to get into position.  Susan then shot through the side wall, into the cooking range on the other side with “her” machine gun.  While that happened, the security goons downed one of the two Duelists and started working on the second one.  Sin wasted no time issuing a recall order and both drones sped back to the panel van, dodging gunfire.  Once both remaining drones were in the vehicle, Sin drove away, avoiding being seen entirely.

Elapsed Time: 3 minutes
Time to next location: 12 minutes

End of Part 1

[Color quote of the session: blue-nosed, tea-totaling The Fin talking to Murdoc, who is starting to feel the strain from all the magic he’s been casting:

“Isn’t there another drug you could take for that?”]


Session 1

Session 3, Part 2

Shadowrun Report – Monkey Business – Session 03 Delayed

Session 3 covered a ton of activity all over Seattle and is going to be broken into two parts to avoid a giant, single, wall of text.  Due to visiting In-laws, Date Night with my wife, and actual work at work, the first part is delayed.  It will post Tuesday, April 14, with Part 2 posting two days later.  That will give me enough time to write them up and perform QC on the text.  It was more fun than a barrel full of monkeys to run and was crowned “weirdest run I’ve ever played in” by Murdoc’s player.

Tangentially, I’ve also started writing some short fiction to flesh out the different districts in my Champions campaign.  That campaign is not slated to start until this summer, but I don’t have anything more specific than that as there are too many variables right now.  The short fiction will post as I have material written.  The first thing will be a Noir-ish detective piece introducing the Bricktown and Monastery Hill districts.  I have a rough outline and just need time to sit down and finish writing the story out.

Later!

Shadowrun Report – Monkey Business – Session 02

[This session happened on March 23, 2015.  The beginning of the run.  I’m switching to a timeline approach to keep things straight.  It started off easy in this session, but during Session 3 chaos took over.]

Player Characters

The Fin – female human con artist and gambler from India, by way of Russia, posh and elegant
Sin – male human rigger, knows exactly the wrong thing to say and says it
Killroy – male human street samurai, specializes in hand-to-hand combat (and apparently machineguns)
Void – female human physical adept B&E specialist, a shadow that blends in easily
Murdoc – male elf kilt-wearing street mage, at home with the hobos



NPC’d Characters

Bookie – male elf alcoholic hacker, favors whiskey with a whiskey chaser
Prometheus – male human street samurai, handy with any firearm

Teams:

Team 1: Void and Killroy
Team 2: The Fin and Murdoc
Team 3: Sin and Bookie


Monday, December 9, 2075, ~5:00PM

5:00PM
Teams 1 and 2 needed vehicles to do their parts of the run, so they went to get some.  True to their own forms, each team went about this in their own manner.  Team 1 took the straightforward path and boosted a parked Toyota Supra.  They considered it flashy enough to not be flagged in Bellevue as questionable by the police and not so flashy that it would be memorable in Renton.  The Fin on the other hand, would not stoop to using a used car for the run and so she went to an exotic car dealership and conned the salesman into allowing an unsupervised test-drive with a full tank of gas in a Bugati Ultra Sport convertible.  Posh indeed.

6:00PM, Various locations

All three teams hit their designated first target.

Team 1:
Void and Killroy parked in back of the flagship Monkey Burger! in Medina.  Stepping unnoticed through the drive-through line to the back door (a neat trick when carrying a 4-foot long chainsaw), Void picked the maglock in under 10 seconds.  [She attempted to roll for it at first and then realized she could buy the necessary successes in two rounds in an extended test.]  Once the door was open, Kilroy pushed through to the small cubby near the back door where the rear security guard (who had noticed them on the monitors) was just getting up from his chair.  A short burst of “stick-and-shock” ammo from his silenced assault rifle (named “Vera” of course), and the guard went down unconscious.

Checking to see if they’d been noticed, Void and Killroy were pleased to see that the noise from the extremely busy kitchen area had covered them.  Killroy stepped into the kitchen area and called out, “Everyone!  Step away from the stoves!”  This was barely noticed.  What got the attention of the employees was Void starting up the chainsaw and revving it several times.

With eyes as big as sauces the employees scrambled out of her way as she attacked one of the cooking ranges, sending sparks and partially-cooked burgers flying.  One she was satisfied the range was out of commission, she went after one of the refrigerator/worktable units [cold drawers under a work station for assembling burgers].  This time lettuce and tomatos were sprayed across the ceiling as she cut through it.

Just as the front security guard started to respond to the screaming from the kitchen area, Void and Killroy quickly exited through the back door and left the premises.

Elapsed Time: ~2 minutes
Time to next location: 14 minutes

Team 2:
The Fin and Murdoc, using physical mask, presented themselves at the back door of the flagship Monkey Burger! in Yarrow Point as health inspectors.  Due to the busy-ness of the kitchen, the manager was distracted enough to accept their story and pawned them off onto an assistant.  [The assistant was a youth whose voice was still breaking.  Me doing his voice nearly derailed the game due to laughter as none of the players had never heard me do that voice before.  Yes, I do voices for some of the NPCs.]  Under the guise of “inspecting the equipment” Murdoc used lightning bolt to completely wreck a refrigerator/worktable and one of the ranges, much to the dismay of the young assistant.

As the assistant went to go get the manager, Murdoc and The Fin slipped out the back door and drove away.

Elapsed Time: 9 minutes
Time to next location: 16 minutes

Team 3:
Rather than go in himself, Sin sent in one of his Ares Duelist drones, armed with dual katana blades, into the flagship Monkey Burger! in Central.  Marching in through the front doors, the duelist scattered the people standing in line and alerted the guard in the corner something was up.  The guard drew his pistol on the drone and ordered it to halt.  Sin responded by sending in Susan, his Steel Lynx combat drone.  Susan smashed through the front doors and brought her mounted machine gun to bear on the guard.  This got his full and undivided attention.  A short firefight ensued.

The guard scored a solid hit on Susan, but the drone’s machine gun hit him several times across his armored jacket and knocked him unconscious.  During this brief firefight, the duelist drone hacked away at the target equipment, which took much longer than desired, but was quick enough that both drones left the building before the guard in the rear security station could get his armored jacket on and into the kitchen.

Elapsed Time: 2 minutes
Time to next location: 5 minutes


[NOTE: all locations after this are T-shaped buildings with dual drive-through lanes, one on each side of the building.  There is no interior seating at these locations, although there is a walk-up window at the front, where the bar crosses the T.]

6:07PM, Central
Team 3 arrived at the other Monkey Burger! location in Central.  Not wanting to endanger his drones or anyone inside with another firefight [The Fin was insistent that no people get killed – only equipment], Sin instead drove Susan (now armed with APDS ammo) around to the side of the building and shot out the range on the other side, using a drone inside to time the attack so no one was in the line of fire.  He then drove Susan out of there before the lone guard in the golf cart up front could respond.

Elapsed Time: 3 minutes
Time to next location: 20 minutes

6:16PM, Newport
Void and Killroy arrived and decided to change tactics slightly.  As they only needed to take out a single cooking range [smaller location = lower ceiling on allowed damage], using the chainsaw was not necessary.  They walked up to the “Employees Only” door on the side of the building and Void quickly picked the lock.  Killroy stepped in and fired a short burst from Vera (now loaded with APDS ammo) into a cooking range, destroying it.  Killroy and Void then quickly walked away while the security guard was trying to determine what all the screaming was about.

Elapsed Time: 2 minutes
Time to next location: 12 minutes

6:23PM, in route
While on his way to his next target, Sin received a call from Kaylee, his mechanic contact – she needed to call in a favor for some friends.  Her friends were doing a run at a museum in Central and their ride was picked up by Knight Errant, who were unexpectedly presenting a heavy presence in the area.  Something about attacks on a couple fast food places in the area.  They needed someone to come pick them up immediately before Knight Errant noticed they were in the (very closed) museum and Sin owed Kaylee several favors.  Not in a position to argue, Sin agreed to go pick them up, telling Kaylee he’d be at the address in about 20 minutes, depending on how heavy the police presence was.

6:24PM, in route
Sin called The Fin and told her he was going to be delayed on getting his next locations in order to repay a favor to Kaylee.  The Fin was frustrated about this, but Kaylee had really come through for them during the previous run, so The Fin OK’d the change of plan.  She arranged for Team 1 to pick up Sin’s last two locations, Kent and Fircrest.  Void and Killroy were OK with this as their route was the shortest and they were already planning on picking up the Fircrest location anyway.

6:25PM, Bothell
Murdoc wanted to try something different, so when The Fin drove the Bugati [now disguised as a Lotus by way of a physical mask spell] into one of the drive-through lines, he turned himself invisible and got out of the car.  Murdoc then walked up to the Employees Only and attempted to use lightning bolt to fry the maglock.  Instead, he over did the power and WELDED the door shut.  [He critically glitched the roll.]

Luckily, no one inside immediately noticed.  When The Fin got to the front of the line, Murdoc stepped up, held the to-go window open, and then cast lightning bolt over the cashier’s shoulder at the two refrigerator/worktable units that he could see.  This fried the units and scared the be-geebuz out of the cashier.  Murdoc then fell back into the car, his head landing in The Fin’s lap.  The Fin stomped on the gas and got them out of there.

Elapsed Time: 4 minutes
Time to next location: 18 minutes

End of Session


[Color quote of the session:
The Fin: “You what!?”
Murdoc: “Well, I am high…”]

Session 1

Session 3, Part 1

Shadowrun Report – Monkey Business – Session 01

[This session happened on March 16, 2015.  Once again switching back to being GM.]

Player Characters

The Fin – female human con artist and gambler from India, by way of Russia, posh and elegant
Sin – male human rigger, knows exactly the wrong thing to say and says it
Void – female human physical adept B&E specialist, a shadow that blends in easily
Murdoc – male elf kilt-wearing street mage, at home with the hobos
Killroy – male human street samurai, specializes in hand-to-hand combat (and apparently machineguns)



NPC’d Characters

Prometheus – male human street samurai, handy with any firearm
Bookie – male elf alcoholic hacker, favors whiskey with a whiskey chaser



Monday, December 9, 2075, 1:00PM

The Fin received an early afternoon call from Svetlana Sabelanskya, her wetwork contact.  Svetlana had a peculiar job where the Johnson has specifically requested The Fin.  Svetlana was not entirely surprised the job was offered as she had heard rumors of someone with money asking around about The Fin and The Fin’s group.  Svetlana asked if The Fin would please meet her at The Frelika Tearoom at 2:00pm?  The Fin agreed.

The Fin and Svetlana met at the Frelika Tearoom.  After some small talk while their orders were taken and the tea delivered, Svetlana came to the point.  A Mr. Johnson had a job and had asked specifically for The Fin and her associates.  The job was to vandalize as many locations of the Monkey Burgers! fast food restaurants  between now and Noon on December 11th.  There were both a maximum and a minimum amount of damage that must be done, based on the size of the establishment.  The three flagship locations must sustain between 4250¥ and 8500¥ in damage.  The dual drive-through locations must sustain between 2800¥ and 5600¥ in damage.  The small shops built inside other business musts sustain between 550¥ and 1125¥ in damage.  Payment was based on a per location hit basis:

• Flagships pay out 3000 per location hit,
• Dual drive-through locations pay 2000, and
• Interior shops pay 500 per location.

The following conditions apply:

• No subcontracting
• Must present video showing the destruction happening for each location or no pay
• Must not be positively identified or arrested or no pay
• Must not go over the limit set for damages or no pay

Svetlana was very perplexed about the job and why it came through her, but there it was [and she wasn't going to turn down the handler's fee].  Would The Fin be accepting the job?  After some thought, The Fin accepted the job.

The Fin contacted the rest of the Pleiades Group and arranged an immediate meeting as the clock was ticking on the job.  Prometheus was busy, but promised to call once he was available.  Killroy never answered and The Fin left a voicemail.  Bookie was very drunk, so Sin had to go get him.  Void and Murdoc were available [and sober...when Void was anyways] and agreed to get there quickly.

Once Sin and the sobering Bookie arrived, The Fin laid out the job and a map of the Seattle Metroplex showing the locations of every Monkey Burger! establishment inside Seattle.  The group decided to concentrate on the stand-alone locations only, leaving the interior shops as supplemental or targets of opportunity.  Looking at the map, they divided the restaurants into three routes and broke up into teams, one team per route.  Each route started at one of the three flagship locations and then proceeded to a series of dual drive-through locations.

Route 1 started in Media and then went through Newport, Issaquath, and Thomas.  This route would be covered by Void and either Killroy or Prometheus, depending upon who became available first.  As Void had no weapons designed to damage commercial cooking stations, she borrowed a monofilament chainsaw from Sin, christening the team Team: Chainsaw.  [Sin actually had two chainsaws, he bought them as alternate weapons for his duelist drones, but had not installed them yet.]

Route 2 stated in Yarrow Point and then went through Bothell, Aurora Village, Northgate, Greenwood, and then two separate locations in the University District.  This route was being covered by The Fin and Murdoc and was christened Team: Restrain the Mage.  This route would be the most dangerous as it ended in Downtown, whereas the other two routes ended in lower security status parts of Seattle.

Route 3 started in Central, went to a second location in Central, and then went to Riverton, SEA-TAC, Kent, and Fircrest.  This route was assigned to Sin and Bookie and was dubbed Team: Gimp.  The Fircrest location on this route might be covered by Team: Chainsaw if time became critical.  Void and Sin discussed this a bit so hand-off would be smooth.

The Group started working their contacts to get values for the different pieces of equipment inside the restaurants so they could avoid doing too little or too much damage.  Void paid her hacker contact to track down restaurant blueprints and the prices on large panes of glass.  With all the data collected, The Fin made suggestions on what equipment would make for the quickest work, emphasizing the need for these to be quick in-and-out jobs.  Then the Group started applying disguises so they would not be recognized.  Sin assigned two of his Fly-Spies to the other teams so he could see if anyone else ran into trouble of any sort.

End of Session

[Killroy’s player was unable to attend due to work, so we wrapped this up after the planning stage was complete, which still made a fairly complete session.  I made notes of the various disguise and magic rolls made to obscure identities for use in later sessions.

The players all agreed they run sounded fun and weird and they were looking forward to the actual run starting.  I tried to not giggle too much, knowing what I had planned.  :D]


Session 2