Shadowrun

Shadowrun General => Fan fiction => Topic started by: Archivist on <12-17-10/1507:29>

Title: Ghost Cartels - Bender's Journal (spoilers!)
Post by: Archivist on <12-17-10/1507:29>
This will, of course, contain spoilers for Ghost Cartels.  Don't ruin it for yourself if you are planning to play!

A couple of months ago, I started running Ghost Cartels for our group to give our Earthdawn GM a break.  All of us are new to SR4a and a couple are new to Shadowrun entirely.  It's been a blast (literally on occassion) despite a few bumps as we learn the rules.  It began with me and 3 players but we have been fortunate to add another along the way, and everyone has meshed well.  We're all having a good time in-game and around the table.

One of the players has been emailing a journal of what happens each session which has been entertaining and very useful for reference.  With his permission, I'll begin posting them here.  I would like to add notes from the GM side too.  Where we ran into snags, happenings around the table, questions that came up with my reading of Ghost Cartels, and so on.

I would also like to include some information that was shared with players between sessions to give the complete picture.  However, some of this info is snippets like runner chat from Ghost Cartels itself.  Is that allowed here?

Prior to the game, the players were sent a quick survey to feel out what style of campaign interested them and to gather brief character concept information.  Character creation went well, and I left it open to the players to make refinements/changes as we go.  No one gets penalized for honest mistakes :)  For the first night, I ran Food Fight (of course!!  I've ruined that Stuffer Shack in every edition.)  Bender, the troll bounty hunter, had a 2/2 fixer contact, so this became Dae from GC and the impetus to gather the characters for their first job together.

The starting characters are:
Bender - male troll bounty hunter
Lynx - female elf Cat shaman
Gripper - male human technomancer
I will add some of their character background in future posts.

An Evening at the Stuffer Shack

March 22, 2071

            Dae helped the Troll when he needed it most. Now it was time to pay her back. Tickler’s was quiet, the wage slaves wouldn’t be checking out for another hour yet. He waved to the bartender as he passed by his usual seat and headed to the VIP room for his ‘private show’” The Korean dancer turned fixer was waiting for him and she wasn’t alone. Some scrawny kid in a lousy Hawaiian shirt and a dark haired elf that could give Dae a run for her money in the looks department. He had done some odd jobs for Dae, the most recent on a beastie that had crawled up from the docks nearby, a job most suited to his particular talents. Until now they had all been solo affairs, looks like this one was different.

            Whether on two legs or four, Bender was built to track and fetch and that’s what his job was all about. All we had to do was find momma bear and baby bear, a girl named Brandeen and her baby Cody. Dae’s Johnson wanted the extra bodies which was fine as long as the nuyen transfers.
Tracking was easy since The Gripper did all the work. His avatar was Dunkelzahn, only small, cute and wearing a matching Hawaiian shirt. Uncle Dunk tracked her to a motel at the edge of the city; except for a small travel bag her room was empty. We spot the car belonging to Brandeen’s friend at the neighboring Stuffer Shack and find a place to park Large Marge, a GMC bulldog and a gift from a friend. Once inside Lynx our elf friend watches the door while Gripper goes round the far side and Bender heads back toward the slushy machine. This late at night there were only a few shoppers and Gripper got eyes on our payday at about the same time an explosion shatters the front windows. From the parking lot Lynx spots people approaching in Ragers colors. Their voice carries over the crackling flames erupting from Brandeen’s car.

            “You jerk! You were supposed to blow it after she got back in. Now we have to go in after her.” It was a human leading the gang, and it looked like they wanted her too, just not in the same condition. “We’ve got company,” Lynx warned the others as our guests stepped into the store. Lynx, closest, struck first knocking the surprised ork on his ass. Bender pulled out his axe and rushed the guy with the AK while Gripper stayed with the girl, the kid and some shmoe whining about his car. (parked next to Brandeen’s) He wanted to leave but there were armed gang members and a troll in the way.

            The human was a tough customer; he would have to be if he traveled with orks. He gave as good as he got, landing two blows before Bender throttled him with his shock gloves. His job done he looked up to find Lynx standing over the other two unconscious bodies. Hum, Bender thought, working with a team might not be so bad.

            We went back to check on the girl and the others started chatting her up about who she was running from, who was after her, why she ran, blah blah blah. Bender shook his head, the job was to collect a package, not chat with it. There were better ways of getting that type of info. Grabbing an Atomic Slushy Bender strolled to the front of the store, grabbed the human, dragged him outside and locked him to a post. He then started his own brand of questioning. After a few minutes the others put the kid and girl in Large Marge and then offered to help. Bender had his name (Stoob) and the name of his lieutenant (Crush) but that’s about all. I guess ugly can only get you so far. He acted tough but knew he was in trouble. Lynx turned to Bender and asked, “Do you kill people?”  Bender shrugged, “Sure.” After that Stoob was very cooperative, confirming that Brandeen was Crush’s girlfriend and had found out the Cody wasn’t his kid. Bender just sat on the curb sucking his slushy through a straw and watched Lynx work the guy over.

            With nothing more to tell and sirens in the distance Bender got up. “Are you done with the questions?” Lynx nodded, “yep.” 

            “OK,” bzzaaaap! He pulled his shock glove away from Stoob’s head as the others stared at him. “What? I needed by cuffs back. I didn’t kill him, did I?” He then returned to his post battle slushy.  “Shlerrrrp!”

            “What about the cameras?” Lynx asked as we climbed into Marge. “No problem,” said Gripper, “we owned them as soon as we pulled into the parking lot.” Lynx nodded as she called Dae and linked us in. “Do you have them?” Dae asked. “We may, we just have one question, is the Johnson Caine or Carlos?” Carlos was a name Brandeen had given them.

            Ballsy move, though Bender. I guess they wanted to know if we were taking her to her guardian angel or the devil himself. Dae seemed to be considering her response, several seconds ticked by before she replied. “The Johnson is Carlos Rodriguez, Cody’s father.

            Looks like everyone was happy. Even Lone Star must have been happy finding no dead bodies on the scene. It didn’t even make the news. We made the drop, got our nuyen and went our separate ways.
Title: Re: Ghost Cartels - Bender's Journal (spoilers!)
Post by: Archivist on <12-17-10/1609:58>
This is the survey sent to the players to gather their input and get them thinking about their character concepts.  We had been playing Earthdawn prior to this, and two of the players had no previous knowledge of Shadowrun.

[attachment deleted by admin]
Title: Re: Ghost Cartels - Bender's Journal (spoilers!)
Post by: Archivist on <12-17-10/1614:32>
Bender's background is attached.  It's his journal, so he gets to go first.   :D


[attachment deleted by admin]
Title: Re: Ghost Cartels - Bender's Journal (spoilers!)
Post by: Archivist on <12-23-10/1658:23>
Beginning Ghost Cartels itself with First Taste

First Nations Surveillance
March 27, 2071

Dae calls us in to the back room of Ticklers. She has a job for Bender and his friends. She reaches into a dark corner and provides access to surveillance photos of two Amerindians and several safe houses down near the docks. The job is to find and follow two First Nations members, Alec Littletree and Xa Firebird. Dae, or rather her Johnson wants to know where do they get their money, who are their contacts, what are their assets. Easy. She also tells us to not interact with them. Hum, subtle, we can do subtle.

The next day we cruise the Redmond Barrens and the Verge looking for Alec Littletree. On the outskirts we got stares, further in the locals tossed the occasional brick at the side of Large Marge, our GMS Bulldog and our favorite mode of transportation. One street kid was brave enough not run off after hurling his chunk of asphalt as us. He still sticks around after we hop out so Bender offers him a beer in exchange for info on Littletree. He gives us a bit of run around so we send him on his way. He’s a few yards away before Bender notices his stiletto missing from its boot sheath. “Hey kid!” he shouts while reaching behind his back with both hands, “Bring my knife back before his friends get angry!” the kids turns and watches the troll pull out two twin fighting knives. The kid runs off in the direction of one of the few intact buildings. He sips into the doorway and points us out to two First Nation members guarding the entrance. Bender replaces the knives and adjusts his coat. “Damn. I liked that knife.”

We stroll over to the guards and Lynx tells them our cover story for finding Littletree. They don’t tell us where he is but tell us the places he usually hangs out. Nothing we didn’t know already. Bender transfers a nuyen thank you and Niles, oh excuse me, The Gripper buys a BTL. A technomancer in to BTLs, huh, who knew.

On our way back, the hood-rats scatter from Large Marge now decorated with gang symbols and several words inappropriate for prime time. Lynx restores Marge with a wave of her hand as disgruntled groans erupt from the street kids hiding nearby. Having hit a dead end we head out of The Verge only to hit a dead end. A burned out car blocks our path and four Nations members demand a toll. Bender decides to end the conversation with his shotgun.

Lynx amps up her reflexes with a spell as Bender dashes toward the car they are using for cover. The leader is prepared and ducks behind the car but his shirt snags on the mirror. Bender easily introduces him to a full load of flechette. As he steps around the car to take out his partner he takes three pistol rounds to the chest “How embarrassing,” is all he can think as he drops to the ground. Lynx summons a trash monster to finish the job and then tells it to grab one of the two remaining gang members. The other runs. Gripper pulls out his pistol and takes aim, his target falls to the ground clutching where Gripper shot him in the ankle. Since we only want to talk to one of them Lynx sends a bolt of energy at her maimed target. His screams magnify and then cease.

Lynx heals Bender and nearly kills herself in the process. The trash beastie drops the survivor next to the van to be probed… er, mind probed that is. We don’t find much be we find enough to narrow our search. He also tells us Littletree is dealing a new drug called Tempo, some hot new drug on the streets that lets normals see astraly. We stop on a bridge and Bender “lets the captive go”. He then calls his Street Doc contact to help Lynx and convinces him to bring more armor for Bender.

Title: Re: Ghost Cartels - Bender's Journal (spoilers!)
Post by: Archivist on <12-23-10/1914:33>
Beginning Ghost Cartels itself with First Taste

First Nations Surveillance
March 27, 2071


GM notes
Our first full session went well with lots of roleplaying between characters as they started their surveillance of the First Nations dealers.  It got quite funny with Tommy (the gutter punk kid) running dialogue.  We pause to double-check the rules often but it's fine. 

The ganger "toll booth" is a little trite I admit, but I wanted to toss in some combat at the end of the night AND they were not in fact being subtle in going straight to a first nations safehouse and asking questons!  They got chided by Dae for this later.  I got my first taste from the GM side of how horrible spirits are for gangers to deal with - a sign of things to come.  Bender learned that this is not DnD and that standing in the open is a bad idea.  Street punks with guns are deadly.   ;)
Title: Re: Ghost Cartels - Bender's Journal (spoilers!)
Post by: Archivist on <12-28-10/0907:09>
First Taste Continues

We all take a day off to rest and finally catch up to Littletree in a club taking a cred stick and handing over a briefcase full of Tempo to a heavily cybered human Rager lieutenant named Caine. Following them outside, Bender catches sight of a Japanese human dressed in black in an apartment window across the street packing up surveillance equipment. “Hey, ninjas are watching our target,” he tells the others. Lynx and Gripper circle the building while Bender enters the lobby. Lynx finds four Yakuza behind the apartment building next to an idling Mercury Comet. Bender is delayed as a little old lady exits the elevator with her tiny dog. From their hiding spots, Gripper and Bender hear the Yakuza threaten Lynx to stay away from the First Nations. Tempo sales are cutting into their BTL business and if we get in the way we’ll share their fate. As they leave Bender waves to a surprised Yakuza with his shotgun from the rear entrance. We get away without a fight.

            The following day we catch Xa Firebird selling Tempo in the University district. For a guy rolling in dough, he doesn’t look too happy. We trail him to a First Nations safe house. Lynx peeks in astrally and finds a dozen gang members inside and a room alive with an awakened glow. Probably the Tempo stockpile. We take turns watching all night and the next morning we follow him to Harrigan’s Motel where he meets his girlfriend. We keep watch and when they go their separate ways we decide to follow the girl.

We trail her under Lynx’s concealment spell. Lynx does something with her magic to cause her to crash and Gripper blocks all local video while Bender goes to retrieve the girl from her car. When he walks up to the door she is on her comm calling her office. She identifies herself as Officer Mathews, a Lone Star detective (oops). Bender opens her door and asks “Are you ok?”, and then zaps her in the neck with a stun baton. He drags her unconscious body to the van to be mind probed by Lynx and then drops her back in her car before the cops arrive.

            It turns out that Xa Firebird is actually John Longfeather, also a Lone Star detective trying to find the source of Tempo. We find him and watch as he follows the First Nation’s leader, Blood of the Buffalo, to the Everett docks. The First Nation’s Shaman, Walks with Spirits is also there. Firebird climbs a building across from the dockside warehouse where the First Nations convoy parked. We climb to the roof of a neighboring building in time to see Firebird cast a zipline across the street and slide over the heads of the gate guards. Gripper pulls up the information on the warehouse and finds that it’s a Kond-Orchid warehouse – a AA corp based in Amazonia.  Blood of the Buffalo meets with a Troll with one horn missing. A little more research IDs him as Kaz Yakamura, a lieutenant for the Kumon’go Seoulpa ring.  The meet goes off without a hitch and Firebird gets back out with no one else the wiser.

            We meet with Dae and give her the details. The two guys are dealing Tempo and have ties to the Kumon’go who is possibly their supplier. First Nations has at least one stockpile at their safe house and, oh yeah, the Yakuza doesn’t like them. We back it up with surveillance video. We tell her everything except for Xa Firebirds’ alter ego. No reason to go looking for trouble. We all get our cut and Bender travels the short distance to the bar to start spending his nuyen and catching up on current events.

            A couple items catch his eye. Gang violence, a death by fire, and some tempo news gathered by Gripper’s sprite, Uncle Dunk. There was also a story about a museum break in and a missing item from the Ramses II exhibit. For some reason Bender feels that this is something he should check up on. Before everyone leaves, Lynx walks over. The team wants to contact Carla Mathews. Tell her we what we know and that her secret is safe. She sounds like a good friend to have. He agrees but before they leave Lynx tells them she’ll be unavailable for a while for… personal reasons.

A few days later, he’s at the museum reading about the missing item from the Ramses II display. It is a large amulet made of clay with hieroglyphics on both sides.  Studies have shown a metal plate within, but only non-invasive studies had been used so far to try to peek at it. There are some more writings on the surface but they do not appear to be Egyptian. Suddenly Bender feels disoriented, he staggers against one wall with a crash. He gets himself together and quickly leaves telling those he passes he is ills. Waves of feelings - heady success, friendship, betrayal and pain are swirl in his head.  The only vaguely clear thought.... The Heliopic Brotherhood of Ra.  Whatever the frag that means...

Carla Matthews of Lone Star gives us a call. She thanks us again for not blowing their cover, and hopes we can continue to help and do the right thing.  If we find any more intel about tempo and it’s source, she is willing to arrange payment.  The footage from the meet at the KondOrchid shipping facility is useful but not admissible because a) it was obtained illegally and b) KondOrchid is a AA-corp with extra-territoriality.  Also, tempo itself is so new it is not yet illegal.  It falls in a hazy pharmaceutical category with other awakened herbs that are controlled but legal for medicinal or shamanic use.

As a sign of good faith, she forwards a Lone Star Intelligence report from their weekly meeting.

“Also, don’t fragging mind probe me again or SWAT teams will make your life very short.”

Title: Re: Ghost Cartels - Bender's Journal (spoilers!)
Post by: Archivist on <12-29-10/0848:24>
First Taste Continues

GM Notes
A strong session - no combat but there was tension and a lot of roleplay between the characters.  They spent a good bit of time discussing what tempo might be, who is their Johnson, etc.  The look on their faces was fun when they realized they were tangled up with two syndicates, a AA corp, multiple gangs, and Lone Star already!   :)  Surprisingly, they did not research KondOrchid.  They were far more interested in the gangs, Yakuza and Seoulpa Rings that could make their lives difficult in Seattle.  They debated selling info to the Yakuza surveillance team but stayed loyal to their employer in the end.  Bender is staying in touch with Carla Matthews (via emails to me between games) and building her up to become a contact.  In return for not blowing Firebird's cover, I had Carla send the team the Lone Star report provided in Ghost Cartels that details what they know of tempo so far and the syndicates involved.  She is hoping to pull them in as a source of information long-term.

I also sent them the first of a series of newsheets.  Between game news articles to give a feel that there is more going on in the world than just their immediate run.  I used some teasers and info from Ghost Cartels so I don't know if I am allowed to attach theWord doc here.  I also added some general news that can tie in later to Artifacts and/or homegrown runs.

On the rules front, we are getting a decent handle on combat.  I've forgotten some modifiers in the thick of combat but it evens out since it affects both the players and the npcs.  I am pretty clueless on the Matrix and at this point relying on the technomancer player who is new to SR completely.  We're rolling dice and winging it as needed. 
Title: Re: Ghost Cartels - Bender's Journal (spoilers!)
Post by: Archivist on <12-30-10/1425:40>
This session, our fourth player joined us.
Static is a male human hermetic mage.

Bodysnatchers
Dae calls and says she has something bigger than usual but she knows we can handle it. Eyeing Gripper and Bender in their matching Hawaiian shirts she makes a point of mentioning we'll be needing "Proper Attire".  Decked out in tuxes the crew meets at 77.  The exclusive club is filled with corporate middle managers and syndicate players. The encrypted chip Dae gave us gets us in the door and a personal introduction to a slender troll with polished horns, one of which is broken. His name is Kaz Yakamura and he has a job for us. He would also like us to take a runner named Static along for the ride and then tells us that Jana Shields, a news hack, was found dead in her apartment. She was grabbed by Docwagon but Lone Star is interested in her as well. Kaz would like it very much if she disappeared before either party began any sort of autopsy along with any records they may have begun to compile. Anything else we are able to dig up on her recent activities would be appreciated but not mandatory. When our job is done the body gets delivered to organ-leggers in the Verge.

A little digging turns out that she was researching Tempo and where it came from. She was also a possible user and if it had anything to do with her death it would be very damaging to sales.

We locate the Docwagon facility she was taken to and we find out the Star will try to grab her within 24 hours. Who needs a plan anyway? The location is down on the docks with one ground/sea fast response team in-house. No problem. Gripper sets off a client tag alarm 15 miles off the coast. And in under two minutes a boat can be heard zipping away as we roll into the parking lot and back up to the door. Lynx summons a Spirit of Man in the guise of a doctor and we all pile out of the van.

At the door, all hell starts to break loose as a Beast Spirit materializes and attacks Lynx's spirit. Static marches in a starts talking up the receptionist. She can't believe this person seems unaware of the strange commotion just outside the door. Things really begin to get pooched when Bender strolls into the lobby and sets off the metal and chem sensors. The sensors trigger the alarms, emergency lights, perimeter defenses and the automated roof turrets. Oops. Lynx moves to the stairwell, but his keycard snaps as he tries to swipe it. No problem, we still have Gripper. Lynx's sprit finishes off the building's beast spirit and enters the building and begins beating up the receptionist, roaming doctors and patients on the first floor. Outside gripper is cut off from the entrance by a spray of narcojet from the roof. Taking cover behind Large Marge Gripper misjudges the range on the perimeter cannons and narcojet capsules begin to splatter the sides of the van. Inside, the cute Dunkelzhan dragon on Bender's AR display suddenly folds its wings and begins to snore. Looks like we'll have to do this the hard way.

Bender steps up to the door and Axe's it to open. At the bottom of the stairwell, Lynx sends his spirit to the rooftop sentry cannons and then amps up Bender's reaction as he rushes in to deal with the pesky camera/narcojet cannons mounted in the basement morgue. Thankfully, they're still indicated on the floor plan Gripper gave them before his unscheduled nap. A quick search of the morgue proper finds the ME cowering in a back room and our "Merchandise" on display at a nearby table. Seems we got here just as the good doctor was about to get to work.  Static and Lynx grab the files and personal effects while Bender throws the naked girl over his shoulder.  Time to leave.  Bender grabs Static and bounds back up the stairs followed by Lynx. We then grab the snoozing Gripper and toss him into Marge next to the dead girl and speed away before the Docwagon team has a chance to return.  Quick?  Yes.  Subtle?  Not so much. Oh well, maybe next time.

Several blocks, and incriminating photos later we pull over to examine the info we grabbed. Looks like we got everything we need but we decide to follow up on her personal notes. Opening the bench seat, Bender removes several beer packs from the ice and tosses the girl inside. We wait an hour for Gripper to wake up and check Docwagon security only to find it locked up tighter than a mosquito's ass stretched over a rain barrel.

We decide to pay the mom a visit at about 3 am with a delivery of flowers and, one mind probe later, get some details about Jana Shields' contact Sinn, a low level tempo pusher. Finding Sinn we convince him to share his info with us and find that Shields was investigating the serial murders connected to tempo and was talking to someone named Fatima about tempo sales.  The job done we travel to the Verge to drop off the merchandise. The organ-leggers turn out to be a pack of ghouls dressed in matching revolvers and not much else. The deed done we contact Kaz and arrange to drop off the data followed quickly by a stop at the local carwash to rid Marge of any remaining narco slime. 
Title: Re: Ghost Cartels - Bender's Journal (spoilers!)
Post by: Archivist on <01-03-11/1031:37>
Bodysnatchers - GM Notes

The team is now working directly for the Komun’go Seoulpa Ring.  They’re eager for bigger jobs / better pay, but also anxious about the higher profile of being connected to a syndicate and tempo.

This was our most complex encounter yet.  Thankfully GC provides good information on the DocWagon facility defenses, personnel and a map!  Otherwise I really would have been in the dark on what challenges to build in.  This run gave a wide variety of ways to approach it which the team discussed at length – assault, stealth, schmoozing etc.  Their final plan to distract the response team, hack the system, and schmooze the receptionist started off well…  Then Lynx critically glitched with the maglock passkey, while her summoned spirit triggers an attack by the spirit on patrol.  Things quickly got out of hand, but they got in and out quickly.

Open issues:
Exposure – the team was seen by witnesses.  Need to work out long-term ramifications.  In the short-term, I’ve decided they will be OK.  If DocWagon was stonewalling Lone Star with something as mundane as an autopsy, I figure they will want to do internal follow-up to this incident rather than sharing their private security information anytime soon.  (and I don’t want the campaign to turn into the characters being hunted this early)

Spirits – they are crazy powerful.  And the shaman is specialized far more toward summoning than anything else.  Need to learn about countering spirits without every enemy group suddenly having magicians of their own.
Title: Re: Ghost Cartels - Bender's Journal (spoilers!)
Post by: Archivist on <01-04-11/1328:33>
Static's player had to miss this session.  Because we now have a second magician in the group, Lynx's player wanted to try a Street Samurai, so welcome Kage.

Dirty Pretty Money:  An offer you can’t refuse
We show up for a “private show” with Dae in the backroom of Ticklers. “Who’s the Johnson this time?” we ask. “I am”, she says. “Static couldn’t be here so Kage will be filling in for him.” Indicating the short lithe Japanese man dressed in black. Two large black bags are close at hand. “Static and Kage have worked together before.”

“Sounds good, since our friend Lynx seems to have disappeared. So, what’s the job?”

The job seems simple enough. Dig up some dirt the Kumon’go can use to put a hedge fund manager in their pocket. Get it done under 24 hours and there’s a nice bonus for everyone. She gives us some details we can use to get started and we leave. We quickly learn that Evan Goldman is a hard worker, a family man and, worst of all, honest.

Gripper fixes that little problem by hacking his work accounts and siphoning money away from his clients and putting it in a private account with Evan’s name on it. No problem, easy peasy . We’re back at Ticklers before closing time and collecting our due. Dae thanks us and asks us to arrange a meeting the next day with the manager out in The Verge. Piece of cake.

 In the morning we follow him as he goes to work. We notice Kage has a third black bag with him, it must be a special occasion. Gripper calls Evan pretending to be one of his clients and arranges a meeting at the local Pancake House before he gets to work. Gripper then sends a message to Evan’s office requesting a sick day. Evan goes inside the Pancake House followed by Bender who orders a large decaf and, when no one is looking, tosses a smoke grenade into the kitchen. Someone yells fire and everyone starts running toward the door. Bender says, “here, let me help you,” and then stuns the manager with his shock gloves and drags him into the van.

Dae meets us at The Verge dressed in a business suit and makes her offer – launder money for the Komun’go - which includes a down payment in the form of a black credstick. We then escort him back to his car and follow him home. Kage activates his urban camouflage and sneaks into the housing area. Gripper monitors the manager’s comm but hears nothing. Kage monitors the audio inside the house and picks up the tail end of a conversation. The nervous manager is using someone else’s comm unit. “… thank you. Lone Star said they were too busy. I’ll meet you there.”

Kage gets back to the van (Large Marge) just as Evan is pulling out of his garage. We follow him while Gripper hacks the car’s navigation system. We find out he’s heading for the FBI offices downtown. (oh crap) Gripper senses someone else in there with him as they take control of the car and steer it off the nearest exit. Panicked, the manager calls the FBI and tells them he is being hijacked. “Don’t worry,” they say, “help is on the way.” (Oh crap)

We follow him off the ramp while we devise a plan. A couple of blocks ahead we see his car pull into a parking garage. Gripper hears the manager reports to the FBI that he is pulling into the Northpoint parking garage and they have guns. We see two men in dark suits and assault rifles inside guarding the ramp to the 2nd floor. There is only one way in or out for a vehicle. We need to eliminate the opposition and either convince the manager that it would be in his best interests to modify the story he tells the FBI or remove his ability to tell them anything before they arrive.  So in we go.

Bender rolls down his window and readies his shotgun while Kage opens the sliding door on the right side of the van. Kage fires at the first guard knocking him out. The other guard launches a grenade at Large Marge but it only scuffs her paint. He then opens fire on Bender who shrugs off the damage with the help of his armor. Bender then swings Marge around and shouts “Say hello to my little friend!” as the runs the guard over. Gripper is in the middle of his own combat against the mysterious hacker whose avatar is unmistakably Yakuza. Asian dragons and Japanese symbols swirl around the shiny chrome covered warrior avatar as Gripper’s cute Dunkelzahn dragon avatar attacks with a swarm of beautiful butterflies attempting to kill him with love and eventually forcing the hacker to log off.

Two flights up, we find three black Mercury Comets. The manager is being dragged from his BMW toward one of the cars by three men. There are also three guards and one man shouting orders. Seven Yakuza. Crap. As if things couldn’t get worse, we hear a helicopter approach ordering everyone to remain where they are. The FBI has arrived. Crap again.

Maybe we can tell them we’re just good Samaritans, helping some random man being abducted by well armed Yakuza gangsters, with weapons we happen to have, some of which are illegal… yeah, that could work. Crap, crap, crap. Oh well, time to go to work.   

Title: Re: Ghost Cartels - Bender's Journal (spoilers!)
Post by: Archivist on <01-06-11/0855:31>
Everyone made it this session, so we decided Static was in the van having been picked up on the way to the Verge last session.

Battle of Northpoint Garage

Kage hops out of Marge while she is moving, passes her and takes position behind some parked cars as gunfire tries to follow him. Bender parks Marge behind the closest Mercury Comet and tosses a flashpack into the middle of the Yaks. The blond Yakuza giving orders fires his pistol at Bender, misses, then switches hands and fires a spike from the wrist of his cyber arm taking a bite out of Bender’s shoulder. Gripper tries hacking the FBI helicopter but finds it occupied by a rigger.  Evan is pushed into the back of the middle Comet by three guards. The closest yakuza draws a sword and tries to skewer Bender scuffing his jacket as Static peeks out the front window and slings a spell that stuns half the yaks, kills one and injures Evan. Blondie shrugs off the effects of the blast and Kage’s fingertip whip attack. Kage finishes off the two remaining Yakuza, one with a shot from his automatic and the other, sword still in hand, is diced by his monofilament whip. Turning to face blondie, Kage watches him sprint toward the stairwell, leap onto the opening, pivot, and drop two stories toward the ground.  Two floors above the FBI drops troops on the roof. Time to leave.

Bender grabs two Ares assault rifles as Kage tosses Evan unceremoniously into Marge. We turn around and head back out leaving Kage behind to take care of any survivors. Down on the first floor Bender grabs two more Ares assault rifles as Gripper shuts down Evan’s comm and Static takes care of the splash damage he did to Evan. Kage meets us at the entrance and we zip away as the FBI copter deposits a sniper on the neighboring rooftop.

We make sure we aren’t being tailed before we drop Evan off at his house. We convince him he really wants to cooperate this time and set him loose. He is promptly picked up by the Feds and whisked away. Dae is a little surprised by the resistance we came up against and forked over a 5k¥ bonus for keeping Evan alive, on the team, and making sure he doesn’t expose the Kumon’go. Time for a little R & R.

Some wish to spend their free time differently than others and Bender gets a call from Niles (The Gripper) asking if he can help make off with a “Frogger” machine from a place called Nerdvana. Turns out to be some old game you can play for free on the Matrix, the fact you put metal tokens into it must make it special. Whatever.
Title: Re: Ghost Cartels - Bender's Journal (spoilers!)
Post by: Archivist on <01-07-11/1315:12>
GM Notes - Dirty Pretty Money

Two very different sessions. 

The first had lots of great story and roleplaying going on.  They spent a lot of time investigating/legwork and planning ideas for blackmailing and kidnapping Goldman which was a lot of fun.  A good session for the technomancer to have a lot to do - which was a rough spot in that I had to wing it for Matrix systems and targets for the banking.  It played out well but it certainly wasn't RAW.  I really need a better understanding of this aspect of the game, and it has been tough for the player to get into the thick of the rules too.  At the garage, we learned about ramming people (ugly), frag grenades vs vehicles (useless), and a technomancer vs hacker fight for the car (complicated).  It ended with a nice cliff-hanger of recognizing some of the Yaks from the surveillance team and the FBI on approach.

The second session was consumed entirely by the firefight which in-game lasted about 20 seconds.  Note that we play 7pm-11pm on a weeknight - we started a bit late and had more rules and charts checking.  With Kage now in the group, we all see what 3 IPs and an monofilament whip can do.  I was nervous that Chikao would kill a PC, but honestly they dropped his team so fast it made more sense for him to cut and run.  They got out so quickly that I couldn't even get the FBI in place in time.  So, that connection may build with future events but they are not on the Most Wanted yet.

I also need to double check NPCs listings in Ghost Cartels.  Chikao's stats were a mess, missing skills, and also not clear if his gear and ware was included on the stat lines.  I would prefer a summary line for example that says Pistols X and includes his skill, smartlink, cyberware, etc totally.  Very time consuming bouncing from the rulebook, to Arsenal, to Augmentation to look up each thing and write a notation.
Title: Re: Ghost Cartels - Bender's Journal (spoilers!)
Post by: Archivist on <01-11-11/1255:57>
Flipside
Tempo will make you feel like a whole other person:

About a week later Bender puts down his pamphlet “All you ever wanted to know about bonelacing” to answer his comm. It’s Dae, there’s work is available.

Dae seems nervous, the “in over her head” kind of nervous. She says she has a snatch and grab job. The target is an elf named Smalls who deals Tempo in some local clubs and our anonymous Johnson wants to know where he’s getting his supply. Just to make things interesting the Kumon’go is after him too and the Johnson wants him first. We’ve developed a reputation for being quick, that’s why they called us. The pay is 6,000¥, half up front so we’d better not screw this up.

We decide to drop in on the Daisy Chain, an elf club Smalls like to go to. We’re not surprised we don’t get eyes on him when we get there since he’s known for his fashionably late arrivals. Bender tries to blend in to the people at the bar while the others try to find Tempo users in the club. Bender, tired of waiting for service, borrows his neighbor’s drink and pays for his replacement. As he does this he notices a couple at the bar slapping Tempo patches and, with a subtle shake of his gargantuan head, motions the others over.

The couple, tripping over each other’s auras, each feel a tap on their opposite shoulders. They spin away from each other and are faced with an unexpected surprise. The girl is faced with the vibrant kinetic energy of Static while her boyfriend stares into the deep dark void of Kage. Static starts pulling details about Smalls from the enraptured girl as her beau crumples to the floor in the fetal position, chanting something about a soulless monster while rocking back and forth.

Soon after, Smalls enters wearing fashionable streetwear. Static makes his introductions and he and Smalls go to the men’s room to finalize their deal followed by Kage and Bender. Bender staggers into the men’s room and tries to grab Smalls who ducks under his arm toward the door where Kage hits him with a tranq patch. Smalls staggers back and Bender tells him, “I’ll catch you,” as he activates his shock gloves. Bzzzzzt.

Static turns Smalls invisible and we exit the bathroom. Four Kumon’go heavies enter the club as we leave. We give the Johnson a call from the van. The scrambled voice asks us to find Smalls’ supplier while they listen in. Kage asks us to hold him still while he asks him some questions. The first question is, “pick a number between 1 and 10.” It takes a minute but, confused, Smalls says 7. In half a second the 7th finger on his hand is missing. When he stops screaming, Kage explains the rules. If we don’t like the answer to our questions we will continue playing the numbers game. We ask about his supplier and Smalls tries to play it tough. “Pick a number from 1 to 9,” Kage tells him. “What? Zero, I pick zero!” Smalls shouts, so, Kage picks for him. Ziiippp. After that Smalls is very talkative naming  Jose Villamoura from the Amazonia consulate as his supplier. He tells us the stuff comes in diplomatic pouches. The Johnson wants Jose brought in and will match our fee for Smalls. Before we head out Gripper asks Kage, “Are you going to keep the fingers as trophies?” Kage looks at him funny, “No,” he says, “that would be sick.”

We pull up to Villamoura’s apartment building and mark his fourth floor window. Outside we spot two Mercury Comets and inside we find two Yakuza guarding the stairs. After a whip and an axe and a brief dry cleaning bill calculation we head up in the elevator. The guard outside of Jose’s door looks toward the sound of the opening elevator. He doesn’t see the invisible Static step out into the hall and fire the mana bolt that ends his life.

We hear screaming inside and find Jose held by down by four Yakuza while a fifth does nasty things to him with a knife. It looks like they’ve been busy here for a while. “Is Blondie here?” asks Kage. “Nope,” says Bender. “OK, let’s start killing people.” As we move into the room Jose beats us to the punch as he suddenly wrenches free and tosses one of his captors through a wall. Another whip and axe attack leaves three Yaks and a very wild looking Jose in the room. One yak fires at Bender while the other jumps out on to the fire escape. Gripper fires at him from street level but the shell casing jams in the cylinder. The yak imbedded in the wall rips himself free as Static fires a mana bolt at the guy fleeing out the window.

Jose bounds past everyone, crosses the hall, bursts through the door of the neighboring apartment and disappears inside. Kage follows and finds Jose smashing a Tempo lab built into the kitchen area. Extending the monofilament whip from his finger Kage wraps the lethal cord around Jose only to watch it drop harmlessly off him. A spirit?  Jose turns up all the burners, tosses the rest of the stuff into the fire and then collapses.

Across the hall Bender backs out of the apartment as he tosses a grenade into the room causing Static, still invisible, to leap out onto the balcony after the escaping Yakuza. Kage hands Bender the unconscious Jose and enters the room filled with smoke from Bender’s grenade to take care of the remaining Yaks. On the way out Bender grabs two more Ares assault rifles and the keys to one of the Comets. Static and Gripper finish off the fire escape guy and we call the Johnson who tells us to bring Jose to a cemetery. There we find Kaz, Chulsoon Greywolf, a distinguished Latino gentleman, a Latino woman in an expensive corporate dress and a freshly dug grave.  The woman, our Mr. Johnson, begins to question him. Jose seems completely unaware of his recent actions and claims to have no knowledge of Tempo other than using it occasionally. They toss him in the grave and tell us to finish him. We have questions of our own we’d like to ask Jose, but as we discuss a plan to keep him alive the gentleman pulls out a gold plated pistol and shoots Jose in the head. The woman, Mrs. Sacristan, gives us a 4k¥ bonus and tells us that our part in this is done.

Between games, Bender has been staying in touch with Det Matthews, using one of his fake SIN aliases...
//SendFile: Incoming –To: Det. Mathews :: Lone Star// ::Encrypted::

If you’re interested in Tempo you might want to check out the fire in Rentonville last night.
The guy cross the hall was cooking it but he’s not part of the usual downline. That must have pissed someone off cuz no one’s gonna find him unless they bring a couple of shovels. He’s small change but he was what you might call a middle man for somebody you don’t want to deal with.

There is a secret group mixed in with all this. I can’t tell you their name but it rhymes with Ya-schmooze-a of the Kenran-kai flavor. Some of their former members are decorating Mr. Amazonia’s apartment, or so I’ve heard.

I might need a favor sometime soon. Remember your ol’ pal Digger.

Hugs & kisses

// EndTransmission//
Title: Re: Ghost Cartels - Bender's Journal (spoilers!)
Post by: Archivist on <01-17-11/0851:41>
The Lynx/Kage player wasn't to thrilled with just being a heartless killing machine, so welcome back Lynx!

The Trouble with Tempo
The current tempo supply is running dry, prices are climbing, and crime escalates as dealers and users scrabble for what's left.  A furious troll pops up on your comm. AR - it's Kaz.  The Ragers hit a First Nations shipment that was on its way to the Cascade Ork tribe and are selling it to make good on some promises where they were coming up short.  Find Caine and bring him in.

   It's early and Ticklers is nearly empty as we head to the back room for a "private show". Both Kaz and Dae are waiting and neither one looks happy. First, Kaz explains that while Sacristan is in town he would like anonymous operators to help watch his back and offers 200Y each per day. But right now he needs our talents for another job. The Ragers want to replace the First Nations as the Kumon'go's distributor of Tempo and he needs someone to help put them in their place.

   The Ragers' safe houses are down near the docks a short hop from Benders lair. Lynx sends out a sprit who hops from place to place until it finds Caine. After passing several Rager patrols on the lookout for First Nations, the new and improved Large Marge settles into an alley a block or two away. Lynx goes limp as she astrally explores the building, finding Caine entertaining on the top floor. Static floats up to get a birds-eye view of the roof but finds no way in. Lynx sends a watcher spirit to watch the motorcycles parked behind the house where the Ragers are selling Tempo out the back door.

   Under Lynx's concealment we park in front of the safe house while Gripper blocks the transmissions from an outer patrol. When three Ragers leave in a pickup, it's time to go to work. "We'll be right behind you," the others say to Bender, "where it's safe." Lynx sends his trash spirit to go fetch Caine.  Bender, quickened by Lynx's reflex spell, can hear Caine's female guest screaming as he charges out of the van toward the two guards at the front door. He nearly cuts the first guard in half with is axe as Static blasts the other with a lightning bolt. The guard moves inside and dives over the couch while taking a shot a Bender he score a hit as another ganger hits him with an automatic. Two more Ragers come down the stairs, one has a chain, the other fires his pistol at Bender.  The shot, like the others, is mostly absorbed by his armor and troll skin. Lynx's Garbage spirit lumbers down the stairs behind the two gang members carrying Caine and dragging a Rager doing his best to free his leader.

   The Rager with the chain swings at Bender who knocks it away with his axe while Lynx mentally commands the others in the room to lower their weapons. Bender tries to do some kind of fancy underhanded swing that the chain swinger blocks. He looks pleased with himself until the disembodied voice of Static (invisible) summons a ball of energy that pulps nearly everyone and knocks Caine senseless. The chain wielder drops his weapon and after promising not to tell anyone what really happened, runs away. Behind the house an engine starts followed by squealing rubber. A chipper spirit announces to Lynx that a bike has been moved. Bender locks some heavy duty manacles on Caine while Static makes sure he doesn't die on the return trip. We bring him back to Kaz's apartment in Renton where we receive our 4kY plus a 1kY bonus. Kaz takes Caine into the bathroom where he works him over for over an hour. He leaves carrying Caine's head.

   He tells us that he is going to a meeting with Grey-Wolf, the head of the Kumon'go. Dae will be the companion of Caesar at a high stakes poker game tonight and Kaz would like us to escort her. Bender goes into the bathroom. Two minutes later there is a flush and he returns carrying his manacles. After picking up some fresh cloths we follow Dae to a casino. A lot of corporate execs are in attendance including Tojo Shotozumi and members of Federated Boeing. Bender raids the buffet and Lynx and Static watch outside the sealed room while Gripper stays inside with Dae. Near the end of the game, Kaz calls from his apartment. The meeting was a trap. Grey-Wolf wasn't there, just a bunch of yaks and ninjas.
   
   When we meet Kaz at his apartment we can see he's pretty messed up. Lynx catches sight of a Tempo patch under his stimpatch while Static heals some of his more serious wounds. Kaz is pissed off and wants blood. 10k a piece if we can bring back the blond Yakuza who ambushed him. Dead is ok, alive would be better. This is turning out to be a busy day.

///Message to Det. Mathews:///

Close your file on the Rager Lieutenant by the name of Caine. I have it on good authority that he will not be attending his next birthday party.
I tell you because there are people out there that are very good at making other people disappear. Ya' ever try putting a puzzle together only to find that all the pieces aren't there? Yeah, it's something like that.

XoXo -Digger  
Title: Re: Ghost Cartels - Bender's Journal (spoilers!)
Post by: Archivist on <01-21-11/1428:20>
GM NOTES Flipside  A very well-rounded session.  Lots of roleplay tracking down Smalls and then Vilamoura with a nice combat at the end.  The wrap-up at the cemetery raised some eyebrows in a "just who the hell are these guys?" kind of a way  :)  Going straight into combat with Vilamoura would be extremely nasty, but my take on how the scenario was written was that he was not intended for straight up combat.  V's stated objective is to first destroy the lab and come back to being himself wondering what on earth is happening.  It's a reveal that there is more going on than meets the eye (and indeed the players spent a good bit of time discussing what had happened and possible reasons why).

GM NOTES The Trouble with Tempo  A very direct mission.  They spent a good bit of time scouting the place out and planning multiple entry points, but in the end lured away a few guards and kicked in the front door.  Tried and true...  Two magicians in the party made short work of the Ragers, and they had no chance against Lynx's spririt.  But hey, sometimes things go in your favor.  And I know future encounters will put them up against magical opponents...
Title: Re: Ghost Cartels - Bender's Journal (spoilers!)
Post by: Archivist on <01-21-11/1437:29>
Tokyo Fireworks

The job, find the assassins who ambushed Kaz. The payday, 10k a piece.  How could we say no?

Gripper digs into the Comet’s history and finds that it frequents at the Westin in downtown.  Static cruises around the hotel in the Comet, chauffeured by Gripper’s dragon sprite Uncle Dunk while the rest stake out the hotel in Marge. Two Yak Comets pull up under the awning, the valets hop out as seven slightly battered Yakuza get in and drive away. “I’ve got  ‘em,” Static tells us over the comm. “Is Blondie with them?” asks Lynx. “Yes, yes he is,” Static confirms.

Marge begins following from several cars back as Static slides in behind the van.  Our prey merge onto the 5 heading north and as they pass the stadium the pair of black cars suddenly pull away, putting several cars between us and them. Lynx mentions that it would be bad if they get to some place fortified. Bender acknowledges by stepping on the gas (generator?) and closing the distance as Gripper asks if they spotted us. His question is answered by Blondie who sticks his head out a window and fires at Bender. The shots bounce off Marge and Lynx pays him back by malfunctioning their Comet. It swerves to the right catching a guardrail and spins around until it slams into the wall pointed in our direction. The car following swerves around the smashed Comet and slides to a halt. Backing toward us it bounces off a morning commuter.

Two blood covered Yaks from the nearest car, sight their Ares rifles along the car roof and open fire clipping Bender while a third fires at Marge’s tires and hits with the second shot as Bender pulls to a stop. Luckily the runflats do their job. Our stolen Comet pulls up behind Marge and Static jumps out sending a lightning bolt into the farthest Comet shorting it out. Blondie is out and running a moment later. He leaps atop Marge and fires his spike implant at Static. Static falls down.

Lynx sends her Spirit of Man after the remaining Yaks which is followed shortly by the sound of automatic fire from inside the first car. A Yak from the second car sprints past Marge and around Benders poor excuse for a clothesline. He steps over Static’s body and into our Comet followed by Blondie. Bender can’t believe it, “The bastards are stealing the car that we stole from them.” Lynx opens the back doors and Mob Mind’s both Yaks, locking them in place. Bender hops out, grabs the driver and tosses him out of the car (and into traffic) then clamps manacles onto Blondie and drags him and Static back to the van where Lynx can try to revive Static. “No… trauma…. Patches…” he mutters before we drive away from the backup quickly forming on the highway. Traffic can be murder in Seattle.

We go to Kaz’s meeting place only to find that it is an entrance to the Ork Underground and we’re expected. Our guide leads us past underground storefronts and new excavations until we reach a spot deep in The Underground. Along the way, a recovered Static sends occasional jolts into Blondie. When we reach Kaz and drop Blondie at his feet he thanks us, pays us and then tells Blondie, “It’s time you and me had a little chat.” We spend the next three days following Kaz around as he puts in appearances at safe houses and gambling dens making sure that everyone knows that he’s alive and everything is business as usual.  Later he asks us if we would like to go to a SuperSonics game. A little down time sounds good, plus we’ve got box seats.

Bender is a little miffed that he had to leave most of his toys in the van but made up for it by getting a giant foam finger and a beer hat. When we get to the box seats we find it already occupied by Chulsoon Greywolf and six of his standover men. They stand with their chins out, begging for a fight even though they’re disarmed like us. They probably had a ‘caster and one fellow was twitching from full-on tweaked-out body work, but then again they didn’t bring a troll. This should be a fun game.
Static starts surveying the room starting with the buffet as Kaz sits down next to Greywolf and chats about game stats and trades. The mood is tense. Finally Kaz pulls a folio from his jacket pocket and hands it to Greywolf. Inside was a neatly trimmed piece of synthskin emblazoned with a dragon nanotattoo still performing its malevolent shifting dance. “You sold me out,” Kaz stats. Greywwolf casually closes the folio and hands it back. “I did what was best for the Kumon’go, you would have done the same. Tempo is too hot and it is brining too much heat on the Ring. It is better to negotiate peace with the Yakuza.” Kaz visibly fights to rein in his anger, “You wish to bend to the Yakuza when Tempo will make us their master.” Kaz gets up to leave and motions for us to follow. “Slower is better, Kaz, for everyone.” Kaz ignores the comment instead telling him, “I will not speak of your betrayal to the Kumon’go.” He then leaves the box as we follow.

“I’ll need you for one more day,” he tells us and asks us to meet him at 77 where we are reintroduced to the two people from the cemetery, Sacristan and the Latin gentleman. Kaz and his guests slip into a booth and activate a noise barrier. A half hour and a couple of credsticks later they leave and Kaz calls us over. He outlines his play to seal the Tempo deal making the Kumon’go the exclusive source of tempo in the region. All it will take is a little wetwork on our part. It’s a big hit, high profile, multiple targets and he wants it pinned on someone else. “If you take the job I’m willing to pay you a quarter of a million nuyen.” “Each!?” Static blurts. “Uh, no. But I will give you 20% up front.” After some discussion over the job and the ramifications of our newfound closeness with Kaz we decide to take the job.

Kaz wants to make a statement. He provides the C4, we make sure we use it to send our friends from the weekly private poker game to separate zip codes. He wants evidence to point to the Gianelli family. The evidence’s name is Harry Bartucci, a hitman for the family. The next game is in five days.  After a bit of negotiating that brings our payday up to 300,000 we get to work.

Lynx and Static dig into the basement using spirits under the protection of concealment while Bender and Gripper shadow Harry.  The night of the game we set the explosives while Static sits in the van (just to be safe). Lynx collects Harry with her puppet master spell and marches him up to the casino where he meets Bender.  “Nighty Night,” Bzzzzt! Gripper enters the casino monitoring system and watches for our guests while we move off to a safe distance with a view. As soon as everyone arrives we press the button.

Within minutes Lone Star sirens interrupts the screaming and panic but the first on the scene is a pack of feds from across the street. The news feeds light up with live footage and wild conjecture about the culprits and cause.  Kaz calls us with his thanks and a meeting place to finalize the funds transfer. He plans to let the mob and yakuza battle each other for a couple of days before claiming responsibility for the hit. He promises he will not expose us, but we’ve been seen together quite a bit recently. He tells us as part of the deal he’s made arrangements with Sacristan who will fund our departure until the things settle down.  Or we can choose to handle our own affairs.

Kaz is bringing a lot of heat in his direction and it might be in our best interest for ‘Our own affairs’ to involve Kaz disappearing before his little announcement and leaving the crime world to sort things out for themselves.  Almost against our better judgment we take Kaz’s deal and in 48 hours we find ourselves on a LEO transport.

Destination, Hong Kong.
Title: Re: Ghost Cartels - Bender's Journal (spoilers!)
Post by: Archivist on <01-28-11/1256:43>
Retributive First Strike, Part 1

Strangers in a strange land, a working holiday

Sacristan loads us up on a private Kondorchid suborbital bound for Hong Kong. A bookworm looking dwarf named Jorge was working in VR for most of the trip while Sacristan talked with Henry Uribe privately on their link. We landed on the airport island and transferred to a couple of air taxis that flew past the huge shipping compound toward the colorful lights of the city. We landed on the roof of the Peninsula Hotel and ushered into the hotel by polite and professional hotel security. Once inside Sacristan told us that our company would be required at a morning meeting and to not cause undue attention for the duration of our stay. We would receive 300¥ a day for our trouble. We were also welcome to join them for dinner. Despite being treated like window dressing by Henry Uribe dinner was uneventful and everyone went their separate way afterwards.

Static and Lynx turned in early while Gripper decided to head out to the local bars and ended up in a club ordering his usual fruity drinks. Jorge, the dwarf from the suborbital entered the club in the company of a couple of young ladies. Spotting Gripper he invited him up to a VIP area overlooking the rest of the club and provided a spectacular view of the city. This is when Jorge offered Gripper his choice from Jorge’s own personal pharmacy. The dwarf was carrying a small sample of all the most common street drugs, which he shared with his lady friends and Gripper. He told gripper that he was Seattle’s preeminent chemist, responsible for refining and perfecting his organization’s most popular products. He was very interested in finding out how Tempo was refined. Jorge isn’t on the guest list for the morning meeting and is making the most of his time away from the scrutiny of his handlers. At 4 am he is still partying and wishes Gripper goodnight. Gripper notices someone following Jorge out the door but relaxes when he sees it is one of the guards from the flight from Seattle dressed in street clothes and looking rather bored. I guess Jorge isn’t quite as free as he thinks he is.

           As Gripper ambles into the hotel he notices Bender asleep in the bar. The staff, unable to move him set up a partition in front of the table he was using for a cot. Gripper poked him until he woke up and they both headed up the elevator to their suite. They passed Static who was just waking up and getting ready for the day. Bender hardly noticed that the hotel had placed suitably sized furniture in his room before stumbling into bed. After Static explored the breakfast buffet and the single ladies in attendance he joined the rest of the crew as they head out to the meeting. Limos take them to high speed hydrofoils that ferry them across the harbor where they get into more limos. Their meeting is in a typical office building in the financial district. Gripper notices that Bender doesn’t look as bulky as usual. “Did you lose weight?” he asks. Bender responds by opening his coat to reveal several empty holsters , equipment straps and no armor jacket.

From our talk on the ride to the meeting, we discovered that Hong Kong was experiencing a similar introduction to Tempo as was Seattle. The players were a little different but it looked like the same game. The biggest competition was from the Smoke Circle, Triads who were dealing Red Orchid, an awakened drug. Next in line were the 10,000 Lions whose main product was BTLs. The people we were meeting were the main Tempo distributors, a smaller faction of the Triads called the Black Chrysanthemums, every bit the underdogs that the Komun'go were. Since this was a friendly business meeting everyone was only lightly armed. We stood opposite the standover men belonging to the business partners, Bender doing his best to intimidate them with mean looks and morning breath. The spokes person or Sin Fung for the Black Chrysanthemums, Huk, was already there. Huk had a long ugly scar that traveled down one cheek and across his nose and ending near his ear. Mr. Uribe began the introductions in Cantonese. A performance Gripper recognizes as the benefit of a skillsoft. After the conversation switched to English and confirmed the comparison to Seattle’s Tempo similarities but on a much larger scale. The next shipment will involve a 40 Million ¥ Tempo supply at a lower price than ever. They planned to flood the market and under sell dealers of all other recreational drugs. The only hitch is the arrival of a shipment of Red Orchid due in the next few weeks. The problem is that any overt hit on the transport would ignite a gang war. After the meeting adjourns we are herded back to the limos. We have the day to ourselves but we are asked to visit Sacristan at 6 pm.

            At 5 of 6 we arrive on the 88th floor and enter a penthouse suite that is an extravagant mess. The entire suite is decked out in the most expensive everything you could ever imagine, often at the expense of good taste. The windows open onto the city and in the distance the walled city of Kowloon where the poorest of the poor lived. The nearest couch held several stacks of gear and the sofa opposite sagged under the weight of very large metallic object. The trido in the center of the room had been extended to fill most of the sitting area with a 3d floor plan of a long narrow building. Gripper walked into the middle of the display and started stomping across the coffee table shouting, “look at me, I’m Godzilla.”

Sacristan introduced her presence with a polite cough and told us that she needed some of our unique skills with a problem they had. It looks like this was going to be a working vacation. Satristan needed the incoming shipment of Red Orchid to ‘disappear’. The schematic was not a building but a cargo ship and Sacristan wanted us to hit it en route. The floor plan zoomed out until it showed what looked like a real time aerial view of the ship and neighboring commercial traffic. She told us she would provide the equipment and training and all we had to do was to attach the Limpet Mine sitting on the sofa to the ship and push the button. She would even arrange transportation there and back. For the next couple of days we spend our days traveling with Mr. Uribe on official and unofficial Kondorchid business and our nights training in the hotel pool. The official meetings have to do with Kondorchid’s shipping company and their interests in Caracas, Bogotá and Amazonia. Their unofficial meetings deal with financial feedback and distribution of Tempo.

When the cargo ship is about two days from port we met at the docks. Bender made a great first impression with the crew of the smuggling boat by dressing in a skull and crossbones bandana and a novelty eye patch but everyone became friendly on their day and half journey to their destination. As we got closer a tropical storm began to brew. The captain called us into his cabin just as the downpour started. “So you’re gonna blow it up.” We weren’t sure how much of the plan the captain knew but the presence of the limpet mine made it an easy guess. “Our mutual employers wish to keep the ship and its cargo from its rightful owner, it seems a waste to sink her. If you could clear the decks I could make her disappear. A ship like that would be worth a half a million not counting the cargo. I’ll let you think about it. I’ll call you when we’re close.”

After another hour the captain returned. “The storm will help us get to about 500 meters from the ship without being spotted. It took a little time to find her though, seems she’s off course and heading more east than northeast by about 100 miles. Any thought to my proposition?”  We agreed to his plan and negotiated our split while suiting up and prepping the equipment. As the group put the sea sleds into the water Static went to the bow just this side of naked and morphed into a giant squid and collapsed into the water. Gripper asked one more time if the captain couldn’t get just a few hundred meters closer so he could stay behind and offer wireless and emotional support from the nice dry cabin.

Fifty feet from the ship we saw movement in the water, more than a half dozen sleek eight foot long sharks swimming in the shadow of the ship’s wake. The sharks spotted us as well and began circling. Gripper used the opportunity to disrupted ship communication and tapped into the surveillance system. The cameras showed no one moving aboard, the cargo hold was dark. Hacking the transmission log only showed a weather check from the day before. That’s when the fun began. Static managed to kill a couple sharks as did Lynx, who was just as graceful in the water as on land. Gripper didn’t fare so well and received a deep bite to the midsection. He also noticed a still occupied sneaker in the mouth of the shark that had bit him. Lynx and Bender put their backs to Gripper to protect him. With blood in the water the sharks started to attack anything that moved including each other. Bender it seemed couldn’t land a solid blow on the swift killers but Static and Lynx were able to finish them off each with a single blow.

Static morphed back to human form and levitated everyone to the deck one by one. He then healed Gripper as Bender and Lynx watched for an attack from the crew. None came. Lynx opened her astral senses and could feel recent death but nothing else. Moving slowly to the bridge and up a staircase revealed a bloody smear and handprint on the outside of the door, out of the camera’s view. The bloody evidence was protected from the elements by a metal alcove that served as the entrance to the bridge. Bender stepped back and knelt to examine the area. He hadn’t tried to track anything for a while but now would be a good time to try. The handprint was human but the footprints were not. “It was a troll.” He told the others. Bender turned and looked at the others, they were staring at him. He was about to say something when they all looked down at his feet. Looking down he saw blood on his boots. The troll prints were his. Me Bender, mighty tracker (idiot). Not only did he step in it, literally, he had destroyed anything that might have helped them. [glitch]

Something here had chewed the crew fed them to the sharks. The question was who or what did it and was it still here.
Title: Re: Ghost Cartels - Bender's Journal (spoilers!)
Post by: Archivist on <02-17-11/0831:40>
South Seas Cruise

Bender grabs the handle and opens the door to the bridge. Blood is smeared on the back wall and console and the captain’s seat is crushed on one side. The autopilot is active, the destination a small island in the Philippine archipelago. Gripper tells us that it was set a few hours after their last radio check. He checks the shipping manifest and doesn’t see anything unusual, and no mention of Red Orchid. The roster lists nine crew and the captain. Something is here and we have two options, go looking for it or have it come to us. The easiest and most likely spot something could be hiding is in the cargo hold. If nothing is there it would be a nice place to set a trap. Bender and Static venture back out into the rain as Lynx and Gripper stay in the nice dry bridge.

Static does his little vanishing trick on the way to the bow. Bender notices shell casings from AK-97s as well as those from some small arms. He spots bits of human flesh and blood but nothing that triggers his critter senses. We signal Gripper that we’re in position and Bender opens a link to his cyber eyes for those interested. A moment later Gripper flips on the work lights in the hold as the cargo doors squeal open on rusty hinges. Ah, how I love the element of surprise.

A Chinese sailor walking between the wooden, metal and plastic crates looks up at work lights as the storm rains down into the hold. He begins shouting in Chinese as he turns towards a door in the stern, two bullet holes clearly present on his back. Gripper translates over the comm, “Someone is aboard! Get to the bridge!” Gripper sends out a mental command and distant metallic sounds can be heard around the ship as locks click into place. From the bow, a Chinese sailor with half his face blown off runs toward Bender. The troll aims his Ares assault rifle at the forehead to finish the job. The shot misses and Bender switches to his axe knocking away a fierce blow from the crazed sailor. A crackling sound is the only warning as Static fires a mana bolt at the sailor who takes it full in the chest, the creature shrivels before his eyes. A quick follow up blast leaves the sailor dead and smoking at Benders feet.

Pounding can be heard from the cargo hold as the sailor tries to enter the ship from below. Above, a door swings open onto the deck underneath the bridge and a crewman races up the stairs and pounds on the bridge door. It leers through the window at Gripper who screams in fear as he scampers under the console to hide while his dragon runs around in terrified circles. Lynx readies her Astral Sense and unlocks the door. Gripper locks it. Lynx unlocks it again and Gripper locks it. Lynx unlocks and pulls the door open causing Gripper to shriek. Standing before her is an awakened being, astrally overlaying the crewman is an amorphous jellyfish who notices Lynx right back. Lynx hits it in the face with her magical fist of doom, cracking its skull. Static wounds the crewman in the hold with a well aimed mana bolt as Bender feels a presence in the stern telling him to jump overboard. He turns and looks at the railing judging how far he’d have to jump before thinking, “Uh, how about No.”

The crewman in the hold glares at Static and begins climbing the ladder out of the hold as three of his crewmates step onto the deck to join the party. One climbs the stairs to the bridge catching Lynx off guard with its sinister gaze causing her to recoil and back up toward Gripper still cowering on the floor.

At the bow, Bender feels a sudden chill as two of the crew run past him. One stops and slashes at the air in front of it. Static cries out and a flash of light sends the attacker to the ground. The other sailor turns and stares at Bender who turns and runs in terror from the crazed looking 5’5” unarmed sailor. Static opens his comm., “They can see me! And don’t let them touch you, I feel like I’m slowing down.”  The gloom is pushed back as Static summons a fire elemental, the rain sizzling as it hit its flickering form.

On the bridge, Lynx is in full defensive mode, fighting her fear and batting away blows from the crewman swinging wildly at her, unable to strike back. Coming to his senses, Gripper lashes his safety tether around the base of the captain’s chair and lies back on the floor. He looks at Lynx as she fends off her attacker and says, “good luck.” As he enters full VR, he can hear Lynx’s saying, “Wait! I need you.” Gripper takes control of the helm and issues his command, “tip the boat,” which turns the boat away from the wind causing it to slip sideways down the back side of a swell. The next wave crashes into the side of the freighter, flooding the deck and cascading into the hold. The crewman climbing the ladder is caught full in the face as he reaches the top and is thrown back into the hold and crushed by a loose crate. The crewman that attacked Static is carried over the side as Bender and Static grab a railing, alerted only moments ago by Gripper’s warning. The remaining crewman on the bow takes advantage of the Static’s lowered defenses and strikes him in the back - paralyzing him. On the bridge, Lynx casually places one foot on to the wall to compensate for the tilting surface as her opponent falls backward.

Bender lets go of the railing and looks up. His mad dash has taken him all the way to the stern. There, in the shadow of the lifeboat is a deeper shadow, a dark smokey cloud unaffected by the rain. Suspended inside the cloud is the shape of a man.  The shape turns toward Bender and exhales a billowing dark cloud that passes over him. Even holding his breath the cloud burns his eyes and throat and causes his stomach to roil. “Damn, and I thought I had bad breath.” Bender’s Ares is at the ready even before the cloud dissipates. “I’ve been wanting to try this.” Foomp! The grenade launcher sends its payload at the cloud as he follows up with a burst from the rifle. The grenade goes a bit wide but peppers the target with shrapnel about the same time as the bullets do. All of them bounce off. “Ah Crap! I really need to magi-fy my axe.”

Frozen in place Static hears the gunfire and explosions from aft and conjures a mana bolt to deal with his attacker then sends the fire elemental to give Bender a hand. The elemental attacks the cloud but it dodges the blow and sends another breath of cold vapor at Bender.  “Oh SH…” Bender takes the cloud full in the face and stumbles backward. He feels his insides start to revolt as he falls to the deck and passes out.

Noticing that Gripper isn’t moving, Lynx’s opponent moves to attack but realizes the live prey might be the most dangerous. It turns back toward Lynx only to walk right into the captain’s chair. Feeling the effects of the fear fading, Lynx decides it time for a little payback. Her victim looks shocked as it stares at her arm protruding from its chest just before it slumps to the floor. Lynx takes the time to send a kick at Gripper’s prone body before running from the bridge to assist Bender. Static levitates into the air and provides covering fire, his mana bolt narrowly missing the target. The cloud creature closes with Lynx but she is ready as it sends its putrid breath weapon toward her. The two engage in unarmed combat and after a half dozen blows neither one can cause any damage. Suddenly the lifeboat crane swings around clocking the creature in the back of the head sending it to one knee. Static hits with a bolt that distracts it enough for Lynx to land a strike that opens it up for a spinning chop that separates its head from its shoulders. For a moment the only noise is the sound of the rain on the deck and Bender retching. Then the lifeboat cranes start to do a happy little dance.

After Bender recovers enough to move, everyone searches the rest of the ship but nothing else is found. After finding a shower onboard Bender joins everyone in the ship’s galley. “Just so you know, I wasn’t running away.  I was just advancing in a different direction.” He grabs a seat next to Gripper who has an icepack on his lap for some reason. After discussing the notion of double crossing our Johnson, we decided on a solution that everyone could live with. We radio Captain Teng and while he is roping up on one side of the ship we toss the newly ventilated crates of Red Orchid off the other side. Teng gets the freighter, no one gets the RO, everyone’s happy. Teng’s mate and a skeleton crew man the freighter and Teng ferries us back to the mainland. He tells us he can offer us 100,000Y for the ship. “Each?!” asks Gripper. “No, not each.” Teng also offers us his comm address in case we should ever need his services. As he goes back on deck the rest of us discuss the possibility of making Bender a bit faster. When we arrive at the Hong Kong dock there is a delivery addressed to Teng waiting. Gripper grins mischievously explaining that it is a barrel of rum for the good captain.

We find out pretty quickly that the move to drop the price of Tempo has been underway for a couple of days and already the competitors are taking a huge hit and Tempo is finding its way into mainstream usage. Henry would still like to keep us on retainer for a few more days. He has to attend to some KondOrchid business in Macao, and while he is away he would like us to watch Jorge for him. Well, no rest for the wicked. Besides, how tough could it be to watch a drugged dwarf?
Title: Re: Ghost Cartels - Bender's Journal (spoilers!)
Post by: Archivist on <02-22-11/1110:14>
Ghoul of my Dreams

Sacristan was always quick with payment for a job well done. Bender decides to take his payment in trade and asks about some cyberware he has his eye on.  He disappears shortly thereafter leaving behind a half eaten box of donuts and a note saying he’ll be back in a couple of days.

We were still on retainer to watch Jorge.  When he wasn’t partying in city he was at the Black Chrysanthemum stronghold in the middle of the walled city of Kowloon. What had been four apartment buildings was now a single compound. The alleyways between the boarded up buildings were now guarded gates where the Tempo dealers plied their trade.

Huk was there but it was Jorge who was in charge of the drug lab. The usually laidback dwarf barked orders and scolded careless chemists. Near the end of the week he came out of the lab with an unusual gleam in his eye. “I have a job you might be interested in. I’m stuck here for a couple of days but I’ve heard some interesting rumors. The area inside the wall has its share of ghouls. Well it seems that they’ve been feeding on Tempo users and have developed a second hand craving.” I’m sure he wanted to say addicted but it was still too soon to admit that the new drug de jour had that quality.  Jorge went on to tell us how Tempo tainted ghouls had started showing up at the gates frightening off the other Tempo shoppers. He wanted to do some research and he wanted us to go fetch a ghoul.

We took the job mostly to have something to do. The only problem besides transportation was that ghouls usually ran in packs. This might turn out to be a very interesting day. Bender was just finishing his last day of rehab and told the crew he was ready to leave even though all the nurses were begging him to stay. This comment was followed shortly by a slap and a flurry of angry Mandarin that Gripper refused to translate. We agreed on a price for a ghoul that was still kicking and one that was erm… slightly used. Jorge arranged for a ride to and from the wall but everything else was going to be on foot. Gripper winced. We told Jorge not to die on us while we were out. “Don’t worry,” he said, Sacristan would never let me hear the end of it if I did.” 

Bender stood by the waiting car and Static gave the troll a once over. “Looks like the surgery didn’t work, you’re still ugly.” Quicker than anyone could blink Bender snapped his arm out sending Static’s fedora flying. Gripper stepped up next to Bender and they both watched Static chase his hat as it tumbled down the street. “Wired Reflexes?” Bender grinned, “Even better. Move by wire.”

We stopped in front of an apartment building in the middle of a neighborhood that made the Redmond Barrens seem like a nice vacation spot. The building itself looked like it was about to fall in on itself but this is where Jorge said we’d find our prize, and about 50 of his friends. It wasn’t a perfect situation.  The place reeked and one stairwell was only slightly more passable that the other. The elevators… well, they had certainly seen better days.

We were twenty-five floors up when Lynx motioned for us to stop. We strained to hear movement over Gripper’s wheezing. We could here scraping and footsteps on the floor above and approaching from the far stairwell. Lynx asked Static to hand her a torch so that she could check the elevator shafts. Static looked puzzled for a moment and then reached into his bag as he made the connection. “Over here they’re called flashlights my friend.” Lynx snatched the flashlight and swung back to smack him with it but was interrupted by the groan of the metal stairway door.  Our hosts had arrived.

We quickly moved from the hallway to the abandoned elevator bay. From here we only had to guard the two ends of the short hallway and had a quick escape down the elevator shaft if we needed it. Good plan. Several ghouls followed us and took positions at either end of the hallway but stopped and waited. A ghoul stepped forward, this one wearing body armor. “What… do you want?” it rasped. Lynx decided to use diplomacy. She explained that for a long time ghouls have been supplied bodies and all we were asking for was one in return. It seemed to be considering this when Gripper decided to mention that we have planted explosives and if he didn’t comply we would blow up the building. “Must talk…” it said and then turned and walked toward the far stairs. While our ghoul guards looked on, Gripper searched for the closest active matrix link in this dead zone. He found one, a simple terminal on the floor above with a satellite link. The only files were communiqués between Kevin Lam and someone named Nightcrawler connected to the Tamanous group, an organization for and run by ghouls and based in good ‘ol Seattle.  Gripper was telling us about his find when we all heard the creak of cables from the four long dead elevator bays. Company was coming. Crappy plan. Oh well, So much for diplomacy.

Bender fired a blast of flechette rounds from his shotgun at the lightly armored creatures nearest to him killing one instantly. Behind him he caught sight of Lynx beheading a ghoul with a spin kick. She fended off the other two ghouls with perfectly timed blocks as Static sent a stunball toward the remaining ghouls on Bender’s side of the hall. It worked, we had a clear route to the stairs and we had our choice of volunteers. That’s about when the elevator doors opened, all four of them.  Each held a ghoul. Static dodged away from the claws of the ghoul hanging from the greasy black cable as Bender smacks away the slashing ghoul perched on the opposite side. Lynx slides away from her attacker but Gripper is slashed across the thigh before he can move away. “You see!” he shouts, “That’s why I stay in the van!”

The ghoul leader reappears firing his pistol, Static falls back as the rounds impact his chest. “Hoover Dam!” he groaned as shards of cracked ceramic plates fall from his armored coat. Ghouls begin to swarm into the passages at either end of the hall followed by a hellhound on a chain link leash. The beast opens its maw and spews a jet of flame a Bender. The troll twists away and the fireball washes over Static who was using Bender for cover.

Gripper could sense someone accessing the terminal on the floor above as he draws his pistol, the ghoul hanging in the elevator shaft slides lower on the cable dodging the first shot; the second atomizes the gripping hand sending the screaming fiend into the dark basement.  Bender clears the space in front of him with a wide shotgun blast and then dials down to a narrow spread using his smartlink. The next shot goes right down the gullet of the hound. “Bad dog.”

Using the opening Bender made Static, still smoking, turns the corner and fires a stunball down the corridor at the backs of Lynx’s attackers. Bender follows up with a grenade that drops the four wounded ghouls. Trying to protect Gripper, Lynx takes the impact from each of the successive blasts. “Don’t stunball the technomancer,” she shouts as she turns and punches the closest elevator ghoul. It thumps against the far wall before slipping down into the murky darkness. Static tries to heal some of his damage while Bender puts the weeping hound handler out of his misery. The wide blast also takes a chunk out of the ghoul leader knocking him back into the stairwell. Bender tosses frag grenade that bounces in after him then he pulls Static to the opposite stairwell as the screaming, snarling ghouls approach from the far stairwell and elevator shafts. Time to go. The grenade detonates in the stairwell as Lynx puts the finishing touches on the last remaining ghoul. She spins him around with an openhanded strike that slams him into the wall where it falls to the floor unconscious. Static summons a fire elemental to cover our retreat and Lynx takes the lead as Bender slings his Mossberg, picks up Gripper and the Ghoul in each hand and follows Static into the stairwell and down to the street.

            On the ride back we examine Grippers leg wound. Static looks thoughtful, “Hmm a technomancer ghoul… that would be interesting, assuming his higher brain functions don’t rot away… and that no one claims the bounty.” Bender perks up, “There’s a bounty?” Lynx shakes her head, “Stop looking at Gripper like that!  He hasn’t necessarily turned yet.” Static looks at the others, “So should we tie up Gripper… just to be safe? If I magically healed him would he be okay?” Static examines one of Gripper’s hands, "You guys notice his fingernails growing at an alarming rate?" Gripper yanks back his hand, “just heal me, OK? If I do turn into a ghoul, UncleDunk will to. It will be cool to see him out there, nibbling at "bits" of your icons.”

Back at the stronghold Jorge gets right to work, strapping the ghoul onto a table and connecting it to all sorts of monitors. While Jorge experiments on the creature Lynx watches to make sure it doesn’t do anything unexpected but she doesn’t stay long. Bender leaves after he runs out of popcorn. 
Title: Re: Ghost Cartels - Bender's Journal (spoilers!)
Post by: Horsemen on <11-18-11/2341:11>
Did the campaign go on hiatus?
Title: Re: Ghost Cartels - Bender's Journal (spoilers!)
Post by: Lynx on <09-18-13/1245:17>
The group fragmented, one guy had a kid, one had family problems, still one of my favorite groups ever, really good guys and we had a lot of fun and laughs as well.
Title: Re: Ghost Cartels - Bender's Journal (spoilers!)
Post by: Bender on <09-21-13/2112:13>
Those were the days. Great times. I had to move out of state but I'm not in Witness Relocation if anyone asks.
I'm not sure how many runs we had after we dealt with the ghouls but it was great catching up on old times.
Title: Re: Ghost Cartels - Bender's Journal (spoilers!)
Post by: Gripper on <10-07-13/0051:11>
Man I miss this group. Fantastic players and GM. Wiz.

If I recall, we got up to the Kowloon Massacre (which was one of my favorite engagements from the set) and a bit else. I remember figuring out the sprite rules at some point after the last Journal entry, then creating a petting zoo of cute, adorable, deadly creatures (a bunny fault sprite named "Bugs" and a monkey machine sprite named "The Captain"). Then Bender had to move away and it just didn't feel right continuing without him.

Great times indeed. I know at some point my son is going to ask me why I call the van "Marge".