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Forgotten, but not Gone

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Black

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« on: <10-14-12/0541:12> »
The Team:
- Professor, a former drug addict spirit master with a dark burdan
- Chang, mysterious Chinese Wujin, partner of Meng Poh, powerful Triad Sorcerious
- Zero, Japanese Infiltration expert and lover of fine food
- Doridori, japanese elvan street racer
- Tex, chinese gun-fu cowgirl orc and ex-Lone Star detective
- Shadowhawk, devoted older brother, hacker and chaos mind mage.  A very busy fellow
- Walker, former Ares executive, former shadowrunner, now Fixer with a vengeful purpose.

Previously...

Two weeks after the Dream Chipper run, the team had been mostly kicking back.

Things had not been quiet in the Emerald City.

Lone Star had continued their crackdown of the Redmond Barrens, with a near martial law presence on the street. Random road blocks in and out of the barrens, numerious raids on suspected gang locations, large patrols through the former 'Z-Zone'.

While security had increased in the Barrens, and throughout the city, other darker clouds had gathered.  News reports spoke of a sudden upswing in suicides of all types.  Group Suicide Pacts, jumpers, murder-suicides or worse, these events were now daily nightly occurances.  Coupled with a steady downturn in the local economy, unrest accross the border with the Salish-Sidhe drops only one step from outright war with each other... well things were not looking good...

Only Ares seemed to be a strong force in this troubled landscape.  With their local profits growing (even if it was for small pistols and single bullets...), their Weapon World chain was surging in sales, their contract with the Metroplex Guard going strong, and Mel Cosi, their local Division Executive appearing nightly in both that role and the acting Chair of the United Corporate Council, Ares could not be stronger...

For the team, things were changing.  Walker, the team's founder had announced his semi retirement from running the shadows for a more permenant role as a Fixer.  His soon left town to pursue 'a deal with some Russians involve a few weapons I misplaced..."...

Shadowhawk also became busy, his younger sister getting early admission to the University of Seattle for an undergrad degree in Matrix Science.  The 'Hawk soon became distracted making sure his sister was settled on campus... memories of a different student still fresh in his mind...

With Shadowhawk busy, Professor was minding the shop when a call came in on Walker's old commlink.

"Yo, is Walker there!" yelled an angry voice

"Walker is not here, but pe.."

"Dammit!  Tells Walker its his fault dammit!  It aint fair, it was Walker!"

The caller hanged up.

Professor soon found out that the caller was Joseph Massino, a mafia capo that Walker had sold some Foci to last month.  The Foci belonged to a Crow Shaman Detective working for the Department of Paranormal Investigations.

Professor quickly gathered the available team, Zero, Doridori, and Tex.  Chang attended in the Astral, apparently his beloved had forbidden him from leaving their hidden Triad home.

Scene 2 : A Mobster Repents his Sins

The team tracked down Massino, only to find that he and four of his soldiers had committed mutual suicide only hours earlier.  Massino had been hanging out at a small private club and known mafia haunt. When Chang attempted to enter the club astrally, he spotted a number of astrally present crows... watcher spirits of Detective Crow...

Outside, in the real world, the rain pounded down on the beat cops who were providing a cordon to the site.  As they nursed their hot soycafes Tex approached and bluffed her way past them.  They gave warning that only detectives authorised directly by their captain could come in, but they gave way after a small... tip.

It was bad, real bad.  Bloody and brutal.  By all appearance, the five mean had ripped themselves apart only using their hands.  They had castgated themselves, ripping their own backs into bloody strips before removing their own eyes and tearing out their own throats.

A close examination showed that all the wounds had been self inflicted.  No weapons, not even knives had been used.  There were plenty of weapons around, only none had been used.

A close examination showed bloody words written into the floor:
"omnes enim peccaverunt et egent gloriam Dei"
Each dead mafia soldier wore a gold cross.  They had been catholics.

The room smelt like damp, burnt flesh, but there were no signs of fire.

A small warded black case lay open by Massino's body.  Whatever had been inside was gone now.

Tex found a black feather clutched in Massino's hand.

Tex left before any other Lone Star dectectives could arrive.

Scene 3 : Unexpected Warnings

Meanwhile, the Professor got a call on one of Shadowhawk's disposable comlinks, the one normally used to get calls from Frakker.

"Ahhhh... the College Professor with a side business.  You know who this is, eh?"

The Professor recognised the voice as Detective Claudio.  His guard was up immediately.

"Now, listen carefully.  You have no time, so you must do what I say.  You are being watched.  The net, it has not closed, but it will soon.  We must meet, but somewhere safe, somewhere you have not done business before.  You understand?"

The Professor understood and suggested Zero's apartment in Downtown Seattle.  It was one of the nicer places, with a real doorman and everything.  Most the team would not be seen dead there.

The Professor gave the call to the team and quickly left through the hidden exit of the building.  A quick recon of the neighbourhood identified two plain clothed Lone Star detectives watching the headquarters.  Not good, not good at all.

Scene 4:  A Job... of sorts

The Team met at Zero's upperclass apartment in the city.  Not close enough to the bay to see water, but nice enough that some of the team felt out-of-place.  Zero was watching a trid on the latest in sashimi while he prepared some salmon rolls for his guests.

Dectective Claudio soon arrived, looking even more haggered them usual.  A quick wiff suggested he may not have showered recently, and his eyes suggested sleep was well overdue.

He spoke quickly, explaining that he had ideas what had occured the night the team rescued Frakker and that he was glad the orc fixer was okay.

He explained that Captain Snart, normally a rigid by the book detective who was now more of a paper pusher then street cop, had changed into a hands on authoritive leader of men, one who had formed a new circle of magic users within the DPI.  He had become distant, secretive, cruel even.  A man driven, but driven to do what.

This is what Claudio needed the team for.  He needed to know what was going on, what had happened to Snart and what has happening to the DPI and the Lone Star itself.  The mysterious cliche, the secret meetings, the band of brothers of the shadows.  What was their agenda?  What did it mean to Seattle and the normal joes and janes out on the street?

Detective Claudio had been bringing down paranormal threats in Seattle for the last twenty years, usually side by side with Snart and the team.  But this was different.  Some how the DPI was no longer the shield which protected the citizens of Seattle, now is it was...  something else far more sinister.

Detective Claudio had discovered that Lone Star was rounding up people who had suspected ties to the Hands of Five, the terrorist outfit with links to the Humanis Policlub.  This 'arrests' were completely off the books and Claudio wanted to to know the why,where and what.  He handed the team a paper list of potential suspects/victims and asked them to investigate.  In return, he would owe them a favour and try to keep them off Lone Stars radar.  Claudio also gave them his badge, a personal power foci which all DPI detectives wore.

Finally he warned them that Snart had ordered that they be watched.  Why, he didn't know, but that Lone Star would be looking for them and it was best they were discrete as possible until this issue was resolved.

After Detective Claudio left, Tex called Rex about the suicides of Capo Massino and his crew.  Rex was surprised with Tex's interest and explained that it looked like it would be ruled a suicide.  Each mafia goon at shot himself in the head..

And Tex ended the call.  The goons had not shot themselves in the head, far from it.  Either Rex had seen the a cover-up report or he had lied for a reason.  Eitherway, Rex may have been compromised.  His and Tex's friendship was far from a secret.

The team moved out of Zero's appartment, concerned that the call to Rex may have drawn attention.  Besides, they had some humanis thugs to save....

And that's where we ended it for the night!
Perception molds reality
Change perception and reality will follow
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Black

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« Reply #1 on: <11-17-12/2148:05> »
Recap from our game last Friday Night:

The Team:
- Professor, a former drug addict spirit master with a dark burden
- Zero, Japanese Infiltration expert and lover of fine food
- Tex, Chinese gun-fu cowgirl orc and ex-Lone Star detective
- Shadowhawk, devoted older brother, hacker and chaos mind mage.  A very busy fellow
- Clips, a mysterious Elvin weapon specialist.

Scene 1 - On the run, but gathering forces

The Professor, Zero and Tex were on the run, sure that Lone Star was around every corner.  The text file from Detective Claudio had arrived.  With it they had a list of possible targets for the DPI kidnap squad.  If they could get to a potential target first... well they work out the next step then.

"Frag" the Professor swore.  Shadowhawk was due back with his sister... half an hour ago.  Which, with the rather clockwork timing of the genius elf, would mean that the 'Hawk was kicking back in the main office with his sister.

The Professor gave Shadowhawk a call and filled him in on the potential sh*tstorm about to hit the fan.  Aware that he might be under astral and technical surveillance, Shadowhawk left the office of the SHPD agency via his secret tunnel exit.  No doubt Lone Star would soon be aware of the hidden exit, if they were really watching and that determined, but for now, it would get the elf technowizard out of the building with his kid sister safely.

Soon, many blocks away from the office, Shadowhawk mind controlled an innocent salaryman to take his sister home and treat her like the honoured guest she was.  The false memories and mind control would work for now and the randomness of the move should slow all but the most skilled pursuer.  He then waited at a street corner until the team picked him up in their 'acquired' van.

Scene 2 - Choosing Targets

In the back of the van, Zero scanned the list of names.  One name stood out.  Mitch Cerlew.  A former University of Seattle med student, Mitch had been brilliant, but dangerously erratic.  The University had expelled Mitch, despite his wealthy family's protest, when Mitch's extra curriculum experiments had been discovered.  Mitch had spent his free time working with stray animals and homeless sinless to perfect his ability to install cyberware.  His experiments had been less than successful and would have caused a scandal if the University and the Cerlew family hadn't covered it up.  Lone Star was aware, but without any legal (aka paying) victims, it hadn't rated more than a fine.  Not even a criminal record.

Still, Mitch had not gone far since.  He was now working out the back of Greasy Ben's, a redneck BBQ bar out in Renton.  A street doc for the legally challenged augmentations.  Giving Humanis thugs a cybered edge in their never ending battle for human rights.

Mitch was a mid-level Humanis member according to the limited data Detective Claudio had provided.  A skilled operator, but not a leader.  Chances were that he may have avoided the secret DPI round-up of Humanis members.  It was worth a shot.

Scene 3 - BBQ time with the good ol' boys

The team pulled up to the gravel car park out the front of the Greasy Ben's.  The carpark was full of pick up trucks and motorcycles.  The actual 'restaurant' looked crowded and the old style southern rock blared out of its lit interior.  The warm, juicy smell of roasting soypork drifted across the car park.

It was a cold, damp night. The team huddled in the heated interior of the van and debated their course of action.  With only one human, the Japanese Zero, they couldn't just walk into the place.  As elves and orcs, they would attract all sorts of the wrong attention.

Shadowhawk drew upon his magic and masked Zero, Clips and the Professor.  They illusion was weak, but it would hold for now and provide the team enough cover to make their move. Both Clips and the Professor now appeared to be rednecks in flannel and denim.  Zero was still Japanese, but appeared rougher, tougher, like a dock worker.

The three runners made their way into the bar.  The Professor slipped the tired waitress some nuyen and then the bouncer and suddenly they had a trouble in the crowded restaurant.  Noisy, humid, and stinking of fatty pork.

Sitting at the table, they soon ordered some synthribs and soy-beer.  The ribs.. were soft and greasy, true to the name of the place, the beer was thick and congealed and the glasses looked like they had been washed with pig fat.  Good quality place.

Professor ate the food, Clips played with the food with her combat knife, and Zero tried not to wrench from the smell of the food.

After a while of checking the place out, the Professor made his way to the bar and made conversation eventually he was talking to Bruce, aka Greasy Ben's.  The Professor tried to convince Bruce that his Japanese friend was wounded by orcs and needed medical attention.  Bruce was not convinced and mentioned that there would be hell to pay if Zero was not hurt.

Thinking quickly, Shadowhawk commed Clips.

"Stab Zero, he needs to be injured and it needs to look bad."

Clips turned to Zero and whispered "Brace yourself"

With that, Clips stabbed Zero in the stomach under the table.  Twisting and removing the knife ensured that it would look serious, mostly because it was.  She cleaned the knife on Zero's pants and quickly sheaved it.

To his credit, Zero did brace himself and managed not to scream in pain and surprise from the sudden brutal attack from his teammate.  He even kept his paranoia in check... for now.

Bruce and his boys were surprised to see how wounded the Japanese street samurai was.  Picking him up, they quickly moved him through a door behind the bar, through the kitchen area and into a small concrete and steel backroom.

Dropping Zero onto a steel table, the introduced the wiry Mitch.  Mitch dressed like a tough guy, but his thin frame did not match his various tattoos.

"So Bruce, we doing work for the Yakuza now?"

"Nah, these boys got into a rumble with some tuskers and the Jap got stabbed.  See what you can do?"

Bruce took 2,000 nuyen from Professor with promise of more payment later.

Mitch ripped Zero's shirt apart and found the form-fitting body armour.

"You boys have got some good equipment"

"Need to win your cleaning trogs of the street" Professor replied in his toughest roughest voice.

Mitch unstrapped the armour and began pouring soy-Scotch over the bloody wound in order to disinfect the region.

Meanwhile, Clips and Professor nodded at each other and moved into position.

Outside, Tex left the van and circled the side of the building.  One of the patrons was using the facilities of the alley wall and Tex easily avoided the him.

Finding the back of the building, Tex ran up the side of the wall and through a second story window into an office.

Tex left the office and went down the stairs towards the backroom.  When one of the thugs/employees came the opposite direction, Tex lept to the roof of the stair case and avoided the Humanis thug.  Soon Tex was at the door outside the 'operating theatre'.

Professor tapped his comlink twice, sending the signal.

Clips stabbed one of the guards with her combat knife, while Professor stunned the other.  Tex burst into the room, using his high explosive rounds he blew Bruce's head off.  Zero grabbed Mitch with his gloves and shocked him into unconsciousness.

Outside, Shadowhawk dropped his concentration on maintaining the masking spells.  Suddenly more aware, he realised that several large black vans had arrived.  Summoning a small fire elemental (which was initially very reluctant), he sent it to destroy the vehicles in the car park.

Tex switched out her high explosive rounds for stick 'n shock.  Covering the corridor outside the surgery, she quickly took out the thug in the office.

Peering into the restaurant, Tex noticed ten heavily armoured swat team members and a lead detective who looked vaguely like Sparks, only older and male.  Perhaps an older brother?

Summoning his spirit of Man, the Professor sent her out the back of the building to look for trouble.  She soon reported that two men were guarding the back way out.

Tex whipped out a neuro-stun grenade and threw it into the restaurant unobserved.  The grenade went off, mostly affecting the unprotected patrons of the bar.  Tex was not displeased.

Working together, Clips and Tex set up an explosive trap on the door into the surgery and than quickly made their way to the loading dock of the building.

Professor, Clips, Tex and Zero (burdened with Mitch) made their way into the gravel backyard.  They just needed to get through a chain link fence and down an alley way to get to the next main street where Shadowhawk could pick them up.

The Professor sent his spirit of man to deal with the two concealed swat team members.  She easily overwhelmed them with her powers, accidentally killing one.  Meanwhile, Tex spotted and engaged a sniper on the roof top.  Despite the distance, and heavy rain, Clips and Tex managed to drive the sniper back.  Moving quickly Tex cut the chain link fence with her monofilmement handsaw.  Zero moved through, with Clips covering.  They sprinted down the alley way.

Meanwhile, the Professor attempted to block the loading dock with a physical barrier.  However, the spell went bad and the Professor feel unconscious from the stun.

Seeing the mage fall, Tex ran back and picked up the professor just as the booby-trap went off.  Soon Tex was sprinting through the chain link fence with the Professor on her back as swat team members began firing at her. Thinking quickly, Clips picked up a flash bang from one of the fallen swat members in the alley way and through it into the loading dock.  The resulting explosion gave Tex and the team enough time to make it to the street and into the waiting Van.

Tex soon took the wheel with Zero providing navigation support.  Shadowhawk made his way into the back of the van and began working on the Professor.  He soon used a Stim patch to wake the Professor up, despite the Professor being a recovered drug addict.

Tex soon spotted that the van was being followed.  Tex and Zero tried to loose the pursuer, but it was no good.  Shadowhawk summoned his fire elemental again and sent it at the pursuing vehicle.

*KA-BOOOOM*

The fire elemental hit the fuel tank and the pursuing vehicle soon exploded, flipped and landed in a closed shop window.

Scene 4 - Aftermath and an Ending


Now free of pursuit, the team soon dumped the car and picked up a new one.  The Professor suggested that the warded safety of his study at the University might protect them from being tracked by ritual magic means.  The team concured and they headed for the University.

The University was quiet, very quiet.  The heavy rain and growing mist made the greco-roman architecture seem intimidating and grim.

The Professor's office was cold and he soon lift the fireplace while Tex set Mitch up on a chair, restrained.

"So cold, so cold" The professor muttered to himself.

Shadowhawk tried to summon a watcher spirit to act as a guard, but it refused to come.  Eventually he forced it, but it seemed weak, unsure, frightened.  It whimpered and complained that it should not be here.

Shadowhawk, a genius, was quick to realise that it was a trap.  But as he moved to take action, it was too late.  An overwhelming force crushed his free will.  Despite his resistance, he was soon trapped inside his own body.

The Professor turned and faced to frozen runners.  His eyes had vanished, now replaced with an empty void that sucked you into its darkness.  His flesh began to crackle as if he was burning from the inside out.  The shadows in the room, flicker due to the flames in the fireplace took a life of their own, crackling and cavorting around the room.  The pitiful watcher spirit vanished in a burst of black flames, its high pitch whine of pain sending a shiver up Shadowhawks back.

"I am Despair"  The Professor spoke and yet didn't speak.  His voice was over layed with something ancient and feminine.

"I know you all so well.  You are too dangerous to be let loose in my city.  You will complete five tasks for me and I will free you all from my shadow.
" Its voice was like a thousand small fish hooks sinking into their mind.  It was agony just to be near this... thing.

"If you refuse, I will destroy all that you love and it will be your fault. "

The Professor spoke to Shadowhawk 'Your sister will die at your hands'

'The Tacoma Orc Underground will be buried, your people living corpses' It starred at Tex.

"You will turn against your corporation and they will know of your betrayal"  Zero this time

"All that you fight for will turn to ash"  Clips weathered the feeling of her mind being probed with a icy cold blade.

"The first task is simple.  You will collect a box from the Captain Snart's home.  You will avoid all detection, he must not know what you have done.  You will deliver the item to where the sun crosses the moon by midnight tomorrow"

"I will take this vessel for now.  He will be my voice"

The Professor left the room and soon the runners felt the dark presence lift.  For now...
« Last Edit: <11-17-12/2150:20> by Black »
Perception molds reality
Change perception and reality will follow
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Black

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« Reply #2 on: <12-25-12/2139:24> »
Previously on Shadowrun 2050...

The Team:
- Professor, a former drug addict spirit master with a dark burden
- Zero, Japanese Infiltration expert and lover of fine food
- Tex, Chinese gun-fu cowgirl orc and ex-Lone Star detective
- Shadowhawk, devoted older brother, hacker and chaos mind mage.  A very busy fellow
- Clips, a mysterious Elvin martial art expert.
- Chang, a Chinese Wujen mystic detective for the Jade Emperor... who has lost his memory and a sense of who he truly is...

Scene 1 - The Professor's Study, University of Seattle, 1 am


the study was quiet.  The fire crackled quietly in the fireplace.  Eventually the dark presence left the runners and they felt in control of their own bodies again.

Shadowhawk reacted first.  Standing up, he turned to the other runners, "I've got to go.  I'll be in touch".  With that, the genius elf mage left the team to their own devices.

Zero, Tex and Clips were at loss to what they should do.  On one hand, they had the captured Humanis Street Doc, Mitch, and their job for Detective Claudio.  The cult forming within the Department of Paranormal Investigation (DPI) was up to something for sure.  Captain Snart, his close mage detective friends and even his dangerously psychotic son, Sgt Snart Junior were secretly arresting/kidnapping Humanis Policlub members and taking them... where?  For what purpose?  And why did the runners feel they were running out of time?

And now this.  Their team mate, the wise and powerful Professor, had been possessed by a power dark spirit calling itself Despair.  This creature, an entity which embodied poisonous guilt and the blackness of the human soul, was forcing them to complete a Shadowrun.  Even forces of nature it seemed had embraced the modern ways of the 2050s.

With the Professor lost, Shadowhawk had left the team and now they were leadership, trapped between a rock and hard, hard place.

The team decided to call in Chang, the Wujen mystic detective.  He had been kept 'safe' by his beloved, a powerful Wujen of the Black Dragon Triad.  But with his friends and allies threatened, a forgotten spark flared in his soul and he came.  His honour could accept nothing less.

Chang soon arrived and noticed, late as it was, how quiet the University truly was.  No students, fine.  No security patrols... more concerning.  It felt like a trap, but if what he had been told was true, the trap had already closed.

Chang could feel the taint as soon as he entered the study.  It was... cold...  He felt a growing worry form in the pit of his stomach. It felt so familiar... but he couldn't place why.

With the support of Tex, Clips and Zero, Chang meditated and assenssed the mystic taint in the room.  Chang's mystic perceptions, aided by techniques taught to him by the Jade Emperor himself, were unmatched.  There were layers of mystic trace energies in the room.  But by using a silver lined mirror, and some incense sticks burning, Chang was able to pierce the obvious and see what lay beneath.

At first there was the obvious lingering presence of the Professor, as this was his study.  Perhaps some traces of his students, easy to ignore... focus on the darkness... embrace the shadows and savour the almost physical nature of the pain it brought...

A dark presence, from a realm far from the real, a realm of darkness.  Something that feed of guilt and despair, but also radiated the same.  A blight on the real, a creature that should not exist.... but it was more than just an anthromorphic personification... there was... yes, Chang could feel a familiar force.... a human side to this creature...  Chang gasped aloud!  The creature was dual-natured, both a force of nature made real and a human spirit bound... not bound, it was human down to the very core of its essence... and that human spirit?   Sparks, aka Julia Snart, their former Shadow running team mate.

How?  This defied all possibilities!  Ghosts, uneasy spirits existed, this was true.  But this was a merged creature, something akin to a force of nature, bound with a human spirit.  It could not, should not be possible... yet Chang could not deny what he sensed.

Chang briefly explained to the others, but it was clear they would never truly understand.  Perhaps the Professor, and Shadowhawk... but those options were not available.  Who could they trust, who was powerful enough to aid them now?  If this creature continued to roam the streets of Seattle, it could make the city its domain and it would truly be hell on earth...

Zero, Tex, Clips and Chang debated their course of action.  There were choices, decisions and actions they could take, but none of them pleasant or easy.  Mitch was deemed a distraction for now.  Yes, Snart and his circle of corrupted awakened cops were hunting Mitch and his friends... And Snart knew everything about them thanks to mind raping their fixer, Frakker.  So a powerful Lone Star official, a powerful mage leading a group of powerful mages, was hunting them and the Humanis... but for now that seemed to be a lower priority. 

Chang summoned his honourable Ancestor and asked him to... tend to Mitch.  Keep him healthy but unconscious, at least for now.  The Ancestor bowed and obeyed his master.

The next issue was the 'job' Despair had given them.  The Professor's life was at stake, but so was everything they held dear... except for Chang, who having not faced the power of Despair held it in far less regard.  The team debated hotly what they should do.  Should they steal the item from Cpt Snart and deliver it to Despair?  Would not giving something that the creature wanted, perhaps something which would make it more powerful, a foolish move?  But could they refuse and risk it all?  There were five tasks It wanted completed, could they string it along, for now, until they could kill it?  But they could kill it, by killing its host or driving it out of the body.  Risking... but Chang reminded the team that the creature could easily come back, perhaps in a lunar cycle or two, and they would never know until it struck and took its revenge.  Clips concurred, that they could not strike the creature until they had a more permanent solution.  The debate raged through the early hours of the morning.

Chang eventually suggested that bring in Detective Claudio.  As a member of the Department of Paranormal Investigations, Claudio had experienced in hunting down powerful mystic creatures.

When the team called Claudio, they were surprised by his reaction.  The normally calm detective sounded like he was near panic.

"It’s my fault; I shouldn't have neglected her over all these years.  She was always there for me, but all I could see was my work.  Now we are both going to die if we stay in the city.  I have to leave, I have to go.  I can't stay".

Claudio released the call.  The team quickly went into action.  Claudio had been targeted by the same malaise as many other unfortunates in the 'plex.

Scene 2 - Detective Claudio's home, Renton, 4am
The team rushed through the city streets, avoiding the numerous Lone Star patrols.  The city streets, wet with the constant drizzly, were almost empty.  Detective Claudio lived in a brownstone terrace apartment in sleepy Renton.

Tex began slowing down his vehicle.  The street was quiet, except for Claudio himself.  The ruffled, scruffy detective looked worse than usual.  He was dragging his wife out of the apartment, though she was dressed in her sleeping clothes and appeared terrified.  She screamed and resisted, and yet the short detective appeared to ignore her concerns as they fought on the stone steps leading to the apartment.  The light from their doorway was the only visible light, the street lights appearing to not be working.  Otherwise, the street, with his line of townhouses and parked cars appeared quiet... ahhh... a black van parked diagonally from the apartment, windows darkened.  In such a mundane suburban setting it appeared out of place.  Tex sensed trouble was brewing.

Tex bought the car up sharp on the curb in front of Claudio's home and the team quickly approached their obviously disturbed ally.  Ignoring them, he seemed on the verge of panic.  It was not good.  Chang assenssed his crazed ally and saw the detective's aura was tainted by think, oily tendrils.  Even as he watched, the black, slithering taint wormed its way closer and closer to the centre of Claudio's very being.  If not for Claudio's normally iron will, the detective would have already done something tragic.

Chang grabbed Claudio's arm and forced his will upon the mage.  Inch by inch, Chang began to force the darkness from Claudio.

The black van door slid open, and three figured emerged.  The first was Sgt Snart Junior, his black trench coat flaring out behind him like dark wings.  With him were two DPI officers in full head-to-toes swat armour.  The thick armour was blackened and the DPI and Lone Star logos removed, but the armour was unmistakable.  Each one carried a sparking stun tonfa.

Tex stood facing the oncoming police officers.  Zero and Clips began drawing their weapons.

Snart Jnr acted first, moving inhumanly fast.  A blue ball of energy formed in his hand and he threw it at Claudio.

Zero, Clips and Tex acted fast and made their moves.  Zero dodged away from the door step, seeking cover of the parked cars.  His SMG blazed as he fired at Snart Jnr, but the Elvan detective was fast, very fast and easily dodged the bullets.

Clips flipped through the air and landed in front of the two SWAT.  Drawing her knife, she engaged in a deadly dual with both the officers.  Two her surprise, they were both abnormally fast and skilled and soon the knife and tonfa's sparked as the blocked and struck at lighting speeds.  One of the SWAT, using their numbers, managed to land a blow with the tonfa and Clips struggled to deal with the currents running through her body.  Gritting her teeth, she fought through the shock and kept the SWAT at bay for the crucial few micro-seconds Tex needed

Tex drew both her favoured automatics, Doc Holliday and Billy the Kid.  Running quickly, she leapt to the top of a car and then flipped over the brawling combatants.  Firing downwards, Tex's hit both SWAT with stick 'n shock.  Taking advantage of the distraction, Clips moved her knife to her left hand and slammed one of the SWAT with a blazing upper cut filled with arcane energy.  The SWAT took the blow solid and was lifted off his feet.  He fell to the ground limp.

On the steps, the glowing ball of blue energy exploded light a grenade and Chang felt a chill to his bones.  Ignoring the cold energy, he focused on freeing Claudio.  Detective Claudio's wife broke free of her husband and fled into the house, slamming the door behind her.

Tex, having assisted Clips, turned to the ongoing dual between Zero and Snart Jnr.  The boy was fast and he had already hit Zero with a bolt of fire, setting the Japanese techno-ninja on fire.  Additionally, a large humanoid lanky creature covered in shredded white wrappings, some type of mummy-like spirit, had appeared and was also throwing arcane energy at Zero.

Tex fired and only just clipped Snart Jnr.  The kid ignored the stick n shock rounds.  Tex quickly changed magazines.  This was going to take something more permanent.

Dodging the constant gunfire from Zero and now Tex was become difficult for Snart Jnr.  When Tex fired two rounds of explosive ammo, Snart gasped in surprise as they hit dead centre and ended his life.

Captain Snart's other child, his last remaining child, his son... bleed his last on a damp street in the burbs of Renton.

The last SWAT was soon taken down and Chang finally managed to free Claudio from the influence of Despair.

Detective Claudio was shocked.  While he was concerned with what was happening with Cpt Snart and the other DPI detectives, this was too far!  Snart snr was his friend, and he had already lost his daughter.  Now the same shadow runners, shadow runners Claudio had trusted, had been responsible for the death of his only other child.

Tex tried to explain to Claudio that they might be able to frame as gang violence, revenge for the recent Lone Star crack down in the barrens...  But Detective Claudio was too overwhelmed to even consider a frame up.

"Just go, go now.  Those officers will have bio monitors, and when you killed Stevie Snart, it would have triggered an immediate response.  You two minutes, at the most, to get out of here.  So just go!"

Tex new that the team needed a diversion, or the closing dragnet would snare them all.  Jumping into the black unmarked lone star police van, she hammered the pedal to the metal and drove like a madwoman to the nearby Redmond barrens.  Tex's driving and knowledge of the Lone Star procedure worked well and she was able to dump the vehicle in the worst part of town.


Scene 3 - Finding Spiritual Enlightenment - 6am

The team picked up Tex and they made their way to Tacoma.  They briefly considered going to Chang's Triad allies, but despite becoming a cop killer, Tex was not willing to seek the aid of known criminals.

Instead they went to ground with the Tacoma Orcs.

While Clips, Chang and Zero rested from the recent combat, Tex spent some time with Papa Brogan.  The aging orc listened to Tex's tail of shadowy spirits and corrupted police officers.

Papa Brogan nodded sagely, but made no comment.  When he was younger, he and his childhood love had tried to curer the ills of metahumanity... years later she had been involved in kidnapping and horrible genetic experiments on sinless orcs.  Papa Brogan had seen the corrupting nature of the world first hand.

"Child, I sense your anger and your anxiety.  You face many challenges, many dangers and there is no clear path you can travel safety.  But for the moment, you must find balance in yourself.  Sit, mediate, sip some Pinole"

Tex sat herself in the musty old book store and tried to calm herself.  She sipped the hot corn drink, feeling the warm flow through her body.  Papa Brogan chanted slightly as we walked around the room.  He closed the shop up, and stoked the fire.  Soon Tex was sweating from the heat; Brogan's strange chanting swirling through her mind.  Part of Tex wanted to stand up, leave Brogan's home and escape the increasing heat and dizziness that were taking over her.  But she remained strong.  Brogan had been trying to teach her mediation techniques for some time.

When Tex finally opened her eyes, she was in an old earthy smelling conical tent made out of leather and held up with wooden poles.  Brogan was nowhere to be seen.  Tex crawled out of the tent and into the sunshine and fresh mountain air.  She was in an open field surrounding by thick trees on three sides and a running stream.  Brogan was cooking a meal of corn and oats over an open fire.

The next five weeks passed quickly.  Brogan taught Tex basic survival skills, how to fish, how to pitch the tent, while continuously telling her tales of the Cascade Crows, of the great spirits of the sky, the earth and the forest.  Of balance and being free of material wants and concerns.  During one stormy night, when the tent threatened to fall from the strong winds, Brogan told Tex of darker stories, of Skadegamutc, Cipelahq, Kanaima, Atlantow, and Matanto.  Of spirits which drive men into bloody murderous rages, of creatures which fed on the darker nature of humankind, of spirits which pretended to be lost loved ones, but were really parasites that fed on the life force of their conduit to the living world.

Brogan taught Tex a story, which she memorised word for word.  It was almost a chant, a rhythmic flow of words in a tongue that the Chinese orc did not recognise.  The story was a simple one, of a young brave whose village was preyed upon by a witch spirit that forced them to fight for her pleasure.  The brave faced the element and was eventually rewarded by the great eagle spirit.  The eagle spirit clawed its mark into the brave's chest and dropped him back in his village.  The evil spirit could not stand the sight of the Eagle's mark and the brave made similar marks on all the members of his village and eventually the evil witch fled.

Brogan next taught Tex the various tools required to make the mark, an eagle's claw, a sweet corn paste, a flint knife blessed by a wise man, a fire made from Pacific Yew, and fresh winter snow to cool the wound. 

As the weeks past, Tex began to feel time was growing short.  The sky darkened earlier, the storms came more frequently.  On the last day, an Eagle flew overhead, its cry shaking the mountains.  Brogan nodded sagely and instructed Tex to mediate in the open field.  Soon a cold blizzard swept across the mountain.  The blizzard swept Brogan and his tent from sight and soon Tex was completely along.  The cold wind sunk its claws into her very being, but she held strong and began to chant the story of the eagle-marked brave.  Soon darkness took her...

Tex woke with a start and fell to the floor of the old musty book store.  She was shivering with cold; her sweat formed a layer of ice on her body.  Papa Brogan appeared an old city orc once again.  He wrapped a towel around the young orc warrior.  Even as Tex recovered from her ordeal, she could feel a greater connection to the awakened world than ever before.

Scene 4 - Planning and Preparation - 1pm

Once Tex re-joined the team, they began planning their next move.  The team had until midnight, 11 hours, to break into Captain Snart's apartment, steal the mysterious box and deliver it to... someone.

The team quickly realised that the riddle for the delivery location was the Eclipse Nightclub, downtown Seattle.  An underground night club with a reputation for the morbid and freaky, the Eclipse was one place anyone could fit in, no matter what they looked like.

Snart was living on the twelve floor of a twenty-floor apartment building.  Security was tight, with deliveries being left at the front counter with the security guards.  While the entire building was not warded, Snart's floor was.  There was a back door facing an alleyway, with a marlock scanner.  The ward was the main issue, it would be challenging to move through the ward without triggering the alarm... or the runners could find some other way to cover the real intent of their mission.  On the silver lining side, Snart would be busy organising the funeral of his other child today and was unlikely to be home.  Or at least the team hoped!


Perception molds reality
Change perception and reality will follow
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Black

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« Reply #3 on: <01-22-13/0455:30> »
The Team:
- Professor, a former drug addict spirit master now the meat puppet for a spiritual manifestation of Despair and Anguish
- Chang, a Chinese Wujen mystic detective for the Jade Emperor... who has lost his memory and a sense of who he truly is... and has just begun to find that past always returns to haunt the present
- Clips, a mysterious Elvin martial art expert from the Tir
- Zero, Japanese Infiltration expert and lover of fine food
- Tex, Chinese gun-fu cowgirl orc and ex-Lone Star detective
- Shadowhawk, devoted older brother, hacker and chaos mind mage.  A very busy fellow.

Scene One - Tacoma Orc Underground 6am... while Tex journeyed in the spiritual realms

Clips was cleaning her weapons while Chang pondered the mysterious absence of the Jade Emperor.  The Orc underground suited neither the elf nor the Chinese human wujen.  Orcs were naturally prejudiced against the 'arrogant' 'soft' elves, and a rumour had spread since Chang's last visit that the Chinese mage looked down on 'tuskers'.  Completely untrue, but rumours thrived even more with each denial.  Chang's far away look hardly helped as he ignored the simple breakfast of rat stew the orcs provided. And then, when he insisted on his spiritual servant to make him tea...  the sooner the wujen and his elf poser bodyguard left, the happy the orcs would be.

Zero was sleepy, he had been stabbed, shot, and burnt. In order to get fresh air and out of the tusker den, he had volunteered to scout Capt Snart's apartment building. Chang quietly remarked that he felt safer already without Zero around...

Papa Brogan approached the remaining two runners.
"Young Tex will be meditating for quiet sometime.  When she awakens, she will need certain ingredients for a ritual.  The spirits of the city have spoken to me and I know what she will need.  Will you assist your friend in gathering these materials?" the old orc asked softly.

The two runners quickly agreed.

They needed:
Silver Nitrate
the ash of Weston Hemlock
Blessed pure water
A Manticore Needle

Chang approached a talismonger he knew and quickly acquired the expensive ask of Weston Hemlock and a bottle of water from the local Stuffer Shack.  Clips tracked down an old colleague who was able to slip her the silver nitrate over a morning soy cafe.

The Manticore Needle proved more challenging.  Manticore proved to be a protected species and as such, the trading in products such as their poisoned needles was highly illegal.  It was possible that the two runners could eventually track down a willing buyer... but not in the time they had.

However, there was a Manticore den at the Fort Lewis Zoological Gardens. Perhaps they could acquire a needle from there...


Scene Two - Fort Lewis Zoological Gardens 10am


Excerpt from the Yoshida Guide to Seattle
The Fort Lewis Zoological Gardens are a showcase for Seattle's commitment to rescuing endangered animals and plant species in the Pacific Northwest.  It is easy to see why this zoo is often singled out as one of the best. Because exhibits minimise the gulf between man and animal, a walk through the zoo is as close as one can get to seeing the animals in their natural element. Without doubt, the most interesting exhibits are those of the paranormal animals in the north end. Many people are not aware that the zoo earns much of its money by breeding animals for sale to other nations, including the Salish Sidhe Council on the acres of forest land to the east and south of the zoo.

Keeping a low profile, Chang and Clips found the Manticore exhibit at the Zoo.  The largish enclosure was protected by a strong tall plexiglass fence.  The visitors could look down on the slightly wooded grassy habituate.  A large female Manticore was protectively surrounded by four skittish males.

Eventually Chang and Clips decided to try and locate a stray needle in the grass of the enclosure. The two perceptive runners quickly spotted a concealed needle and using Chang's levitate spell, they were quickly able to recover the last ingredient without issue.  Chang carefully pocketed the poisonous needle in his coat.

Deciding that one needle might not be enough, the two runners tried to locate a second needle.  Clips spotted a needle very close to the large female manticore, concealed in the thick long grass.  Clips pointed out the second needle and Chang used levitate a second time... only to grab the female manticore by her tail!!!  Clips had not noticed that the large needle was still attached!

Chang pulled on the needle, inadvertently dragging the female manticore towards a watery moat which surrounded the enclosure.  The female manticore screamed and clawed at the ground, to no avail.  Her four large male mates lept around her, unsure what was attacking their leader.

The scene drew a large crowd of visitors and soon the Chang and Clips were surrounding by people cheering and filming the scene.  Realising that this much attention was bad news while they were wanted for killing a hero cop, Chang dropped the spell... but it was too late.

The crowd went silent and as one turned to the two runners.  The morning air grew chill and a gloom fell upon the runners.  The crowd parted and there stood the Professor.  His head rested at a odd angle and his tongue flickered in and out of his mouth like a live snake.

In an eery voice which was both the Professor and something else, something female and hideously evil, it spoke
"Zhong Kiu, I have found you at last.  You thought to hide from me and strike at me when I was unaware and vulnerable?  Not this time!  This time you are the weak one and you will not defeat me or my sisters again!  No, you must me removed from the game board, you are too dangerous a foe, even weak as you are, to allow you to go free..."

With a wave of her hand, a black oily pool formed around Chang's feet and began to drag him down.  Clips began to pull him free from the sinking puddle of dark magics and for a moment she had the advantage.

Not to be thwarted, Despair/Professor tried to dominate Clips mind like it had the night before.  But this time she had the protection of Chang.  Like Detective Claudio early that night, Chang was able to free Clips from Despair's influence.

Free of Despair's influence, Clips drew her weapon and began firing stick n shock rounds.  The first round hit and Despair/Professor shuddered for a moment.

"You are only hurting your friend's mortal body elf
!" it hissed.

With a wave of its hand, it blocked the second round and threw back a bolt of black energy.  Clips almost fell to her knees as the dark energy drained the life out of her.  Never had she felt so cold and helpless.  Gritting her teeth, she continued to attack.

Chang struggled against the spell that held him and cried out to the Jade Emperor for aid.  An inner voice in his mind reminded him that everything belong to the way and to follow the path of least resistance.

Accepting his fate, Chang focused on finding a weakness in Despair.  Assessing the Professor, he found that their was little left of his friend.  It was as if the Professor's very spirit had been removed, sent somewhere else.  Chang somehow recognised this as a technique used by powerful spirits to remove resistance.  The Professor still existed but was contained, trapped somewhere else.

Chang further focused on Despair itself and discovered much.  Despair was a broken being, a failed merge... perhaps a failed ally spirit.  Whoever had summoned this spirit had attempted to imprint an image... an image of their daughter, Chang's fellow runner... Sparks.  But the image was just that, someones memory of sparks, their ideal version of their perfect daughter.  To power the spell, they had drawn upon an entity which embodied metahuman's nature, in this case their anguish, guilt and despair.  This entity had no doubt been drawn to the summoner's own grief and used that grief to bring itself into the world...

But whatever ritual had been used, corrupted as it was, the ritual had failed.  It was incomplete.  This creature was not whole.  It was neither an ally spirit nor a creature in it own fullness.  Whatever they were facing was weak, hungry... and most likely seeking to heal itself via a more powerful ritual.

As Chang realised this, he was consumed by the dark magic... and was gone from this world.

Clips paused for a second, close to defeat by the powerful spirit, hemmed in by its pathetic slaves.

The creature looked at her like she was food.

"He is gone to where he belongs.  No mortal has ever succumbed to despair like he has.  He should not have left my realm, he should not have escaped his fate."

"You, tell your fellow warriors, no more games.  They have until midnight to complete the first task or face my wraith. "

With that, the Professor was gone.

The crowd returned to normal, moaning about mistakes they had made, things that they felt vaguely guilty about.  It was a very subdued crowd, but they appear unaware of what had just occurred.

Clips thought very carefully.  Chang was gone and she wasn't going to go off and rescue him.  She just met him less than twelve hours ago.  No, her mission was still the same.  The remaining items were in the car, she just needed a needle...  the needle Chang took with him. Grrrr....

Ok, new plan.  Bluffing her way into the research area of the zoo, Clips pretended to be a PHD student from the University of Seattle.  She soon met the 'Manticore' expert, Dr Csjarret.  Bluffing her way through a conversation about a theory on the nature of the poisonous needles, Dr Csjarret accompanied Clips into the Manticore enclosure.  Clips noted that the handlers were all military, part of the fact that the Zoo was owned and managed by the Metroplex Guard.

The enclosure proved to challenging for Clips to get a needle.  The female manticor was extremely skittish, perhaps due to a previous incident...

Instead, back in the office, Clips was able to view a needle and distract Dr Csjarret long enough to remove the needle unnoticed.  Making her apologises, Clips quickly left the zoo and headed back to Tacoma and the hidden Orc underground.  Perhaps Tex would have finished her meditation and be able to tell them what these supplies were for... Clips only hoped it was worth considering they had lost Chang as a result...

Scene 3 - The City of Suicides - When????

Chang woke up on the hard stone streets in a dark, dark city.  The city was quiet, as if there was no one living here.  The sky above was a boiling cauldron of storm clouds... and soon a black, heavy rain began to fall.  The rain burned Chang's very soul.  A strong wind whipped at his very being.  He tried to find shelter in a nearby building, but the doors were solid and could not be opened.  No windows, no doors, no shelter.  Chang made his way through the dark city, a cold stone labyrinth without end.

On occasion Chang stumbled upon another resident.  Always alone, naked and shivering, lost in their own guilt... almost shadowy in form... as if they rain and winds were washing away their very being, sending them slowly into oblivion.

Now and then, a dark shadow would move through the clouds above, darkening this already gloomy world.  In those moments, the city's residence would scream and moan louder, sensing the presence of their jail keepers.

As Chang's surface memories began to wash away... he finally named the place.... "The City of Suicides"... the Fourteenth Hell... and ...
« Last Edit: <02-06-13/2307:30> by Black »
Perception molds reality
Change perception and reality will follow
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Black

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« Reply #4 on: <02-06-13/2309:03> »
Quick Recap from our last game:

The Team:
- Professor, a former drug addict spirit master now the meat puppet for a spiritual manifestation of Despair and Anguish
- Chang, a Chinese Wujen mystic detective for the Jade Emperor... who has lost his memory and a sense of who he truly is... and has just begun to find that past always returns to haunt the present
- Clips, a mysterious Elvin martial art expert from the Tir
- Zero, Japanese Infiltration expert and lover of fine food
- Tex, Chinese gun-fu cowgirl orc and ex-Lone Star detective
- Shadowhawk, devoted older brother, hacker and chaos mind mage.

Scene One - Tacoma Orc Underground - Midday

Clips was not happy about returning to the Tacoma Orc Underground.  As someone raised in the Tir, with its wide open spaces and lush green forests...  the Tacoma aroma was most unpleasant.. and then she had to walk through dank, dark sewers, stepping over the rainbow streams of chemical waste dumped into the drainage system by the local corp factories... and finally, into the drying, but still stale and dusty tunnels of the Underground itself and then into the buried shopping mall filled with unwashed orcs.  The smell of the open cooking fires and roasting pork alone!  It made her feel more than nauseous.

Tex had just finished her trance and was drinking ice-cold water.  She was dehydrated from her travels in the metaplanes, but she mentally felt better than ever before.

Zero had also, reluctantly, also returned to the Orc Underground after scouting Capt Snart's home.

As the team convened, Clips explained what had happened at the zoo earlier that morning... and how Despair had removed Chang from play.  With both Chang and the Professor out of play, and Shadowhawk 'missing', they had lost all three powerful mages in under twelve hours.

Tex was finally able to make contact with Shadowhawk, and after much discussion, convinced him to come back the Seattle.  Turned out that Shadowhawk had left the city to parts unknown.

While the team waited for Shadowhawk to catch a quick shuttle back from 'somewhere', Tex began to tattoo the herself, and Zero with the Mark of the Eagle.  If Tex's vision quest could be relied upon, this mark would give them an edge against Despair.  Clips went last, she was still pretty hurt from her encounter with the Shadow Spirit at the Zoo.

Eventually Shadowhawk arrived.  While it was tempting to deal with the Spirit head on, the team realised that its attack, its non-lethal attack at that, on Chang may represent an opportunity.  Could it actually fear the mystic detective?

Shadowhawk quizzed Clips for sometime and came to realise that Despair had opened up an astral gateway... most likely to her home plane of existence. But how to recover Chang, who even now may have been killed in whatever nightmare realm Despair called home?

They needed the aid of a powerful mage or spirit who could open an astral gateway...  Shadowhawk tried to contact Jane-in-the-box for Big D aid, but was advised they needed to find someone local.  Chang was in a relationship with the powerful local head of the Black Lotus Triad, but Shadowhawk was reluctant to request the aid of the Triads.  Something about Meng Poh... wasn't quiet right.

The team eventually approached Papa Brogan for aid.  The old orc was reluctant, the magic involved was far beyond his abilities.  But with the aid of the Spirit of Seattle... perhaps it could work.

Papa Brogan consulted the powerful Spirit of Seattle and it was willing to aid the Shadowrunners.. in return for an unspecified favour.  Shadowhawk accepted this condition on behalf of the team.

Papa Brogan explained that this would be powerful magic, more powerful then he had ever used before. For the safety of the Orc Underground, Papa Brogan lead the runners deep into the lower levels of the Tacoma sewers.

The sewers were made of old stone bricks, seemly only held together by a build up of green mold. It was dark, pitch black except for the flickering torchlight. Damp, musty, slippery, slimy.  Never quiet.  Always a dripping noise somewhere, and the constant skittering... of something always just out of sight.

Papa Brogan arrived at an old stone cistern.  Rainbow, toxic sludge-like water flowed slowly down the stone wall from somewhere far above. A knee high pool of chemical waster laiden water filled the bottom of the cistern.  Papa Brogan instructed the team to stand in the centre of the pool. The acidic smell of the water burnt the throats of the runners.  Shadowhawk made himself a small circle on a dry slab within the cistern. He couldn't trace Chang... but the manticore needle that Clips had recovered from the Zoo might be enough to trace its sister needle in Chang's pocket.  It was a weak link, but it was the only hope they had.  Papa Brogan would open the gateway, but it was up to Shadowhawk to ensure they weren't lost in the metaplanes.

Papa Brogan finished inscribing symbols on the walls with chalk.  To Clips and Zero, the symbols looks suspiciously like Seattle landmarks.  The Space Needle, the Renraku Acrology, the shape of the bay... hmmm.. okay, magic was symbolic, this was going to be okaaaaaayyyy...

Green and purple arcane energy began to whip around the team.  The symbols of the walls glowed and then energy began to radiate from the cracks in the stone walls.  The water rose around the runners, like a water spout.  Intermixing with the green and purple arcane energies, the water purified and formed a tunnel upwards.  The heroes felt themselves being pulled upwards...

It felt like they were being stretched upwards, almost being pulled apart at a metaphysical level... and then they were travelling.  No sense of movement, just the feeling that everything around them was changing. The arcane energy surrounding them was blindingly bright and made the runners fill ill to even look at it. Zero, the mundane member of the team felt his cyberware Itch inside him.

Shadowhawk focuses on the thread.  It was thin and weak, but any mistake could be the end of them or worst. Even just a flicker of lose of concentration and they would be lost.

And then they arrived.  Just like that the journey ended, so suddenly that it took the runners a moment to realise that it was over.

They were in a small clearing in a lightly wooded pine forest.  The air was crisp and it appear to be night, though the sky was just a gloomy darkness.  The world seemed... hazy, as if not quiet real.

Just for a second, the forest flickered and Tex could see a dark city sitting behind the illusion of the forest.

"Hurry you young fools!" grunted Papa Brogan.  He was still in an arcane circle. "I can not hold this gateway open for long.  Seattle is a long way away and the spirit of the city is distant."

Shadowhawk could still see the trail, a small glowing thread which the team followed to the top of a nearby hill.

Below the heroes, at the base of the hill, was a two level country manor.  For Zero, the architecture reminded him of Japan... or maybe Chinese?

The Manor seemed quiet, with a few lanterns lit around the building but no other activity.  Zero activated his Chameleon Suit, and was surprised when it turned into a ninja-like costume.  Blending into the shadows completely, Zero scouted the manor and even entered a room on the upper floor.  The activity inside suggested that a large family was being put to bed.  It was warm and inviting inside.  Whispers inside suggested that the 'Master' of the house was in his study down stairs.

Shadowhawk astrally perceived the home and was surprised to see how heavily warded the home was.

Tex approached the house alone and was able to insist on gaining entrance to see the master.  She claimed she had been sent by the Emperor himself and forced her way past the servant.  The servant seemed strangely familiar.

Scene Two - Magistrate Zhong Kiu's Country Manor, Somewhere not in our Reality.

Kiu was resting in his study.  The scroll he was reading was a fascinating treatise on Confucius edicts and the symbolic nature of family when defining the roles of the Empire.  He was surprised to be receiving guest so late at night.  Zhong had long served the Emperor as a Magistrate in charge of affairs relating to Ghosts.  But after much sacrifice, many harsh decisions, the lose of almost all he held dear and the constant political intrigue, among both the living and the dead, Zhang had finally begged is retirement from the Emperor and had retired far, far from the capital.

So a visitor claiming to come from the capital?  Not pleasant news at all.

Tex was surprised to see that the Master of the House was none other than Chang.  Still dressed in his ruffled trench coat, a bizarre look in this obvious ancient Chinese setting.  Yet neither Chang nor his servant remarked on Chang's bizarre look or Tex's even more modern look. Orc tusks, monofilment chainsaw slung over her shoulder, modern clothing, none of it was remarked upon.

Tex managed to bluff her way with Chang, or Zhong as he now called himself.  It was obvious that Chang was no longer the man he was, his memories replaced by someone else's... or perhaps just returned?

Zhong's wife entered the room with his youngest son.  The son wanted to wish his father good night.  Tex thought, 'a son, a loving wife, retired, living in the country far from any worries... what sort of hell was this?"

The team located outside of the manor had just about lost their patience.  This whole thing was taking too long. They needed to just grab Chang and get back to Seattle and work out how to kill Despair.  Clips saw that a large crowd of agitated peasants were heading towards the manor.  That's it, times up.

Shadowhawk tried to summon a spirit, but found that they would not respond to his call.

Shadowhawk, Zero and Clips forced their way into the manor easily. It was only Tex's intervention that preventing a fight between Zhong and the intruders.  By the time they had calmed Zhong, the peasants had arrived.

They were not angry or dangerous as feared, but were instead scared and in desperate need of help.  Magistrate Zhong's reputation for fighting ghosts and demons was well known, and the local village was being attacked by a maundering monster.

Tex, Shadowhawk and the team tried to convince Zhong to travel with them to fight a ghost, but his loyalty was to the common folk first.  Zhong decided to travel to the nearby village first and deal with the creature there.  Taking his sword, he was stopped briefly by his son.
"Father, please do not go.  I am scared if you leave us..."  The boy seemed frightened and sad.
"Fear not Chang.  Our home is safe from all evil.  You and your brothers and sisters will be safe here. Papa will not be gone long.  Now be a good boy and go to bed.  I will see you in the morning".

Turning away from the boy, Zhong left his home.

Scene 3 - Battle of ZhiZhi Village - Somewhere not in our Reality

The village was burning.  They could all smell the smoke before they could see the village.  The flames licked the night sky as Zhong, the Runners and the villagers entered the ruins of the town.  The destruction was ongoing, a large, humanoid creature made from stone was prowling the town centre, tearing apart the remains of those it had killed.  It seemed to be waiting.

Tex, not one to be wait, quickly drew her trusted sidearm, Dr Holiday, and using explosive rounds, fired at the creature's heart.  The explosive rounds tore chunks of its stone carapace and soon exploded deep in its chest.

With a great rumble, the creature slowly collapsed.

The villagers cheered!!!!  They had been saved by the Ghost Hunter from the Capital.

Zhong quickly put them to work to help the wounded and put out the fires.  Impressed by his replacement, he complimented her on her skills and her strange weapons.

Zhong was eager to return home.  Something about this attack bothered him and he wanted to make sure his family was okay.  But the strangers insisted that they knew what was responsible and that if he came with them right now, they could defeat the real threat.

The runners took Zhong back to the gateway to Seattle.  Zhong began to suspect he was being betrayed.  His years in the Emperor's court had made him suspicious enough, but country life had mellowed his normal paranoia.  Shadowhawk attempted to dominate Zhong's mind, but the Chinese Wujen easily resisted.  We would not leave his family and this world so easily!  Tex ran at Zhong/Chang and grappled him into the portal!!!!

Scene 4 - A sewer deep under Tacoma - 2pm

Chang felt horrible.  He memories, what he had anyway, returned to him like a flood.  But he didn't loose the memories of Zhong.  It was like he had lived two parral lives.  In one foul swoop, his 'friends' had stolen Zhong's family away from him, forever.  Chang could not help but feel angry, lost, confused, his mind a swirl of emotions.  Chang was happy to be alive, but Zhong was furious!  The young wujen felt his head would explode with what was contained inside.

The runners made their way back to the Tacoma Orc Underground and bid Papa Brogan farewell.  The old orc seemed ancient, as if they journey had cost him too much.  He quietly reminded them that they now owed Seattle a great favour and the spirit of the city would one day come calling.

Scene 5 - A safe house in Chinatown - 3pm


The team briefly bunked down in Chang's old detective agency while they sorted out their next move.  They only had 9 hours left to get the item Despair wanted or they would need to face down her 'punishment'.  They tracked down Detective Claudio, but their ally appeared to be located at the Bellevue Correctional Facility, aka The Brickyard.



Quote
Bellevue Correctional Facility,
May Valley Road SE / Carl Kaech, Warden/ LTG#9206(75-7846)

Known locally as “The Brickyard,” this prison is run by Lone Star Security
Services (correctional division). It specializes in “enhanced rehabilitation techniques,”
which essentially means it’s one big experimental facility for Lone Star
to tinker with new ways of making convicted criminals into model citizens by
any means necessary, up to and including the latest in brainwashing and personality
rewriting. The parole board is jointly made up of Lone Star personnel
and metroplex-appointed members, and must certify all prisoner releases.
Their workload is made easier by the fact that the facility’s few “success stories”
don’t last long.
> Glitch


How to rescue him?  And what was Lone Star and Captain Snart up to at the Brickyard?

Scene 6 - Confrontation with Meng Poh - 4 pm

While the team prepared, members of the Black Lotus triad came for Chang.  Chang knew them as his brothers and was expecting their arrival.  Meng Poh would be furious at him for disobeying her instructions to stay safe in their home. Tex went with him to keep him safe.  She had gone through to much to lose him again.

In a city dominated by the Yakuza and the Mafia, the triads were a small presence, more of an embassy then an actual criminal force.  The Triads were allied with the Yakuza and supplied the Yaks with cheap BTLs from Hong Kong.  In return, the Yaks allowed their presence and even protected them somewhat from the Soulpa Rings and the Mafia.

The Black Lotus was the smallest triad in Seattle, with only slightly more than a dozen full members.  But each and every member was awakened.  What they lacked in quantity, they had in quality.

Chang arrived at Meng Poh's home.  At first she was furious and Chang wilted under her rage.  What she said made little sense to Tex.  Something about a promise Meng Poh had made to Chang, to give him a chance to break his cycle.  That every time he followed his duty, it ended in horrible loss.  That he was cursed to suffer again and again in his service to the Jade Emperor.  That they had both chosen to escape their past, break free of the bonds of duty and start a new life, finally free.  Yet, Chang continued to return to his old ways, as if duty was written into his very fabric of existence.

Eventually Chang and Tex convinced the furious Meng Poh to allow Chang to fight Despair.  Meng Poh warned Chang that once he may have been a threat to Despair, but now, now he was just a.. mortal.

Tex and Chang left the Triad's secret location and returned to the team...

Perception molds reality
Change perception and reality will follow
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Black

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« Reply #5 on: <02-06-13/2311:33> »
Scene 7 - Recruitment - 6pm

Shadowhawk had a plan.  He figured that if they could defeat Despair here, they could follow her back to her home dimension and kill her permanently.  It was a highly risky plan.  It was unclear how they would get to Despairs home metaplane or even if they could defeat her.  But Shadowhawk was not one to let doubt stop him.  He was the elf with a plan.


Shadowhawk worked with the Fixer, Frakker, to organise for a recruitment round of shadowrunners.  They needed teams of shadowrunners and quick.  Frakker went all out, drawing upon his many contacts.  Something about a chance to get even with the fragger who took his eye...

Shadowhawk needed three teams.

Job One - Rescue Detective Claudio from the Brickyard, standard extraction
Job Two - Drive out a spirit possessing the Professor, mystic wetworks
Job Three - Break into Snart's home and steal the artifact, straight forward B&E

Shadowhawk and Frakker organised for the meet to occur at a Karaoke Bar.  Secured rooms for meets, and Shadowhawk could meet with the prospects via the Screens in the rooms.

Scene 7a - Rollerboys



Team composition:

Black Ravan - Street Sam with razor spurs
Zula - Elf Street Shaman/witch with cybereyes
Darmascus - Arabic Gun-Fu adept


This team seemed professional, when Shadowhawk discussed the spirit job, they pulled back.  Instead Shadowhawk gave them the Extraction Job.  They complained about the short notice, particularly as Shadowhawk wanted the job down by 11pm.  The rate was going to be steep and they made no promises on successes.  Shadowhawk offered half up front and a bonus if they got it down by 11pm and before midnight.

They took the job at 35,000 nuyen each, for a total of 105,000 nuyen.  Shadowhawk transferred 50,000 nuyen up front. Shadowhawk also promised logistic and matrix support.

Scene 7b - The Night Dragons - 7pm

Team composition:

Cobra - ex-military, merc
Feral - Physical Adept Orc with a chainsaw fetish
Fury - Combat Mage with mystic weapons

This team seemed more willing to for the spirit wet works and even appeared open to the suggestion of a journey into the metaplanes to finish Despair.  They requested that Shadowhawk get the spirit to a church in downtown Seattle.  They holy aura of the church might be enough to weaken the spirit and make the kill.

The team seemed confident, perhaps eager.

Shadowhawk promised them 36,000 nuyen each, for a total of 112,00 half up front (56,000) and double that if they took the second job.  Cobra took the first job, promised to 'try' not to kill the host (the Professor) and said they could negotiate the fee for the second job afterwards

Scene7c - The Ghost Walkers - 8pm

Team Composition:
The Octagon - Troll enforcer
Gunship - Rigger
Doc - Adept , infiltration
Baby Beat - Dwarf Hacker
Ripper - Mage

This team seemed less then impressive.  They even claimed credit for some of the job that Shadowhawk and the team had completed.  Less than happy, Shadowhawk negotiated them down to 12,000 each, for a total 60,000, paid on completion.  He then assigned them to Black Raven as support.  Black Raven confirmed that there would be no penalties if the support team were killed in action.  Shadowhawk stated a pretence that they weren't, but confirmed that if it happened, he wouldn't lose any sleep over it.

With the three teams hired, it was time for Runners to go into action.  They had an artifact to steal, a Spirit to kill and a friend to rescue.
Perception molds reality
Change perception and reality will follow
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Black

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« Reply #6 on: <02-10-13/0239:33> »
The Team:
- Professor, a former drug addict spirit master now the meat puppet for a spiritual manifestation of Despair and Anguish
- Chang, a Chinese Wujen mystic detective for the Jade Emperor... who has lost his memory and a sense of who he truly is... and has just begun to find that past always returns to haunt the present
- Clips, a mysterious Elvin martial art expert from the Tir
- Zero, Japanese Infiltration expert and lover of fine food
- Tex, Chinese gun-fu cowgirl orc and ex-Lone Star detective
- Shadowhawk, devoted older brother, hacker and chaos mind mage.
- Hammer, a hardened Orc mercenary

Scene One - Preparation and Planning - 9pm

Shadowhawk was contacted by Black Raven.  Apparently Frakker had organised them a prison transport... well, something that might pass as a prison transport late a night during a heavy storm, which would be good enough tonight.

But they needed someone to perform a simple hack on the Brick Yard and spoof a transfer order.  Nothing fancy, just enough to get them in the prison.

Shadowhawk called Jane-In-The-Box.  It turned out she was oversight for a different mission for Big D that night and had limited availability.  She promised to do what she could, by gave the caution that is would be a hack job and wouldn't hold up to close scrutiny.

Shadowhawk confirmed with Black Raven that the prison would have the approved transfer orders in their system.

Scene Two - Break and Enter - 10pm

The team arrived outside Snart apartment.  They waited in the car across the street from the entrance of the building.  The two security guards sat at their desk just inside entrance to the foyer of the building.  Heavy rain poured down, a dull roar from inside the car.

This should be a cake walk.

Shadowhawk sent his spirit of man into the building.  It manifested and quickly took control of the weak-minded security guards.

Shadowhawk, Zero, Clips and Chang entered the building.  Shadowhawk questioned the guards and used there details to hack the security system.  Upgrading his access to Administrator, Shadowhawk took control of the building.  Using his mind magics, Shadowhawk wiped the memory of the first guard and replaced the memory of the second guard.  The second guard would only remember tasering his buddy.  Shadowhawk then tasers both guards and left them in a staff bathroom in the back office area.  Shadowhawk then masked his physical appearance, looking like one of the guards.

Zero grabbed a security card of one of the guards and swiped the elevator.  Soon an elevator arrived and the team, minus Shadowhawk, headed to Snart's floor.

Shadowhawk located a third guard, who was patrolling the building.  Using his admin access, he end dated the guard’s user role in the system.  The guard was now a non-entity in the system.

The team arrived at the lobby area of Snart's floor.  Beside some bland decorations, two actually living plants and a large, solid, steel door, the hallway seemed uninteresting.

Shadowhawk wiped the security camera footage just as a couple entered the building.  An older, well-dressed lady and her much younger 'gentleman' friend.  At first Shadowhawk thought the second guy was a bodyguard... but when assessed him and only found plastic surgery... well the young man was no fighter.

Shadowhawk bluffed some lip service, but he was not the smoothest talking in the team and the older lady became suspicious.  Shadowhawk quickly took control of their minds and implanted new memories.  Something about the young guy robbing the older lady.  He then sent them on their way.

Chang assensed Snart's apartment and found the ward intact.  There was no way they were getting into the apartment without Snart being aware.  Security records showed the powerful mage was not home at least.  Eying the door, Zero decided on a creating a secondary entrance.  He pulled out his monofilament chainsaw in preparation.

Shadowhawk took control of the emergency protocols and shut down power to the building.  The emergency red flashing lights came on and a friendly message began to broadcast through the building
"Dear Residents, there has been a security breach.  Please remain in the safety of your apartments while Niche Security and Lone Star resolve the incident.  Thank you"

With the power shut off, the third guard reacted.  Shadowhawk tried to placate him, by with no luck.  Instead Shadowhawk hacked his comlink and prevented him from calling out.  However, with an apartment building full of residents, help would be coming soon.

Setting up the full shutdown, Shadowhawk left the building, walked through the rain to the car and waited.  It was now up to the team inside to finish the job.

Zero began cutting the wall next to the apartment door.  After about a minute, he had created a breach into the apartment.  Working together, Zero and Clips pushed the large chunk of wall into the apartment.  Plaster dust filled the narrow corridor that the hole opened into.

Zero could see flickering light up ahead.  Candle light...

The hallway reeked on spices and incense.  Someone was burning herbs and such.

Zero activated his chameleon suit and crept up the hallway towards the light.  While it was likely that anyone who has here would have heard him cutting through the wall, there was no need to make himself an easy target...

The large living room was well-furnished with a refined taste.  The use of glass, metal and wood suggested that a wealthy man lived here alone.  Nothing soft about the apartment to suggest a woman's touch.

The centre of the room had been cleared of furnishings.  Instead a circle of candles surrounded a naked body of a young male elf.  The man's chest had been ripped open by what would appear to be explosive rounds....  It was Snart Jnr.  Zero had been involved in the shootout where Tex had killed the 'hero cop' just 24 hours earlier.  And here he was again.  Zero was more than a little concerned.  Outside of the circle of candles, sat porcelain canopic jars.  Hmm... it was likely that Snart Jnrs organs were being kept preserved in these jars.

Clips entered the apartment while Chang waited outside. Together Clips and Zero tossed the apartment, keeping their distance from the corpse.  Clips found a large leather trunk.  The lock was archaic, but Zero was able to quickly pick the lock.  This trigger a fiery explosion and Zero fell backwards.  He avoided most of the flames but he still caught on fire.  Ignoring the burning ninja, Clips searched the now open trunk and found a small wooden case, just over a foot long and covered in Chinese ruins.  This must be the item. Clips took the case and tucked under her left arm.

The team had spent sometime in the apartment and it was now time to leave.  Zero managed to put himself out, muttering in Japanese about how this was the second time he had been put on fire in less than 24 hours and both times his team mates had let him burn...

Zero and Clips hustled out of the apartment. Clips almost sneezed when a black bird feather brushed by her face. As Zero and Clips exited the apartment via the hole in the wall, Chang's eyes widened as he saw a large murder of crows appearing down the corridor behind them...

Zero reached the fire stairs and cut a hole around the locked door with his monofilament chainsaw. Clips covered him and turned back to see what was keeping Chang.

The heaving, living mass of black birds, the constant movement of wings and feathers, claws and beaks and yellow eyes, moved quickly towards the hole in the wall and Chang.

Chang drew upon his mystic powers, summoning all his energies and unleashed a massive lightning bolt.  The whole building rocked with the power of the lightning bolt unleashed in such close quarters.  Clips was almost blinded by the flash and the noise as thunder echoed in the elevator foyer.  The strong scent of ozone prickled at her noise and the airs of her arms stood up.  Behind her, Zero's still active chameleon suit crackled and sparked briefly from the electrical charge in the air.

The spirit used its own energies to shrug off the attack and began to envelop the staggered Chang.  Bright red blood poured from the mage's ears and noise and mouth, the power of the spell having torn at his body's very integrity. Clips looked on in horror and the mass of black birds began to engulf the mage.  Chang's face seemed dazed and confused by the flurry of movement surrounding him.

And then Zero unleashed a storm of gunfire on the spirit.  His Ingram submachine gun roared full-auto and his rounds tore into the spirit.  Birds began to fall to the carpeted floor in bloody, torn heaps.  Clips added her own gunfire, using stick 'n shock rounds.  Likewise, Chang continued to resist, throwing chi bolts of energy into the creature.

And then it was over.  The hallway was empty, no blood or feathers remained.  The creature had been driven off, for now.

Outside on the street, Lone Star vehicles were arriving.  Shadowhawk leaned back into his seat and let the inside team know.

Damn!  Zero, Clips and Chang reversed direction and began running up the stairs.  The already tired Chang closed his eyes and leaped into the air.  By maintained his concentration, he could carry himself up the stairs with his mystic energies.

The team reached the top of the staircase and Zero managed to unlock the door to the roof.  The rain was still pouring down, but Clips notices that the roof was lit up from above.  The team quickly realised that Lone Star had dispatched a patrol Yellow jacket helicopter.  Their escape plan was going to hell.

Holding Snart's wooden case close in her left arm and drawing her heavy handgun in the other, Clips ran out on to the roof.  She was fast, and she bolted across the roof top.  The Yellowjackert swung around to track her movement.  Time seemed to slow for Clips, with each step her foot splashed through puddles as she quickly approached the edge of the roof.  Twenty floors above the Seattle streets and Clips leapt of the roof. Below her, the city was lit up with yellow lights.  Rain drops flicked by her as she torpedoed through the air, more than ninety metres about the asphalt and concrete ground. Tucking herself into a ball, she hit the roof top of a neighbouring building.  She hit hard, just clipping the edge of the building and rolling forward.

After rolling almost a dozen meters, Clips found her feet in one smooth motion and continued running forward.

On the roof top of Snart's building, Zero put down his Sniper Rifle case.  The case automatically opened up and his Sniper Rifle began assembling.  Chang stood in the pouring rain, the wind of the roof top ripping at his trench coat.  With his trench coat flaring out like wings, his face wet and bloody, his eyes wild, he yelled at Zero. "What are you doing?  Help her!  They're going to kill her!"

Zero ignored the distractions and checked his Sniper Rifle.  The scope seemed aligned, or at least, close enough for now.  Taking aim at the helicopter, Zero targeted the spotlight and took careful aim...

Clips sprinted forward and spotted a skylight.  She needed cover from this pursuing Lone Star helicopter.  Running forward, she fired an explosive round into the glass.  As the skylight shattered, Clips leapt into the darkness below...

... and Zero took the shot.  The spotlight was hit and the Clip's roof top was plunged into darkness again.

Clips fell forward into the building.  It turned out to be some sort of closed shopping complex and she was falling into the wide open space in the centre.  Fortunately, a large Mitsihama Banner hanged from the roof.  Letting go of the hand gun, Clips pulled out her knife and stabbed into the banner.  She almost bounced of the plastic-like material before sliding down a further three meters before her knife gripped the banner. Her right shoulder ached from the strain of the impact and holding her entire body weight.  The knife slipped slightly, ominously.  Below her, Lone Star officers began entering the ground floor.  Someone turned on the lights and Clips was lit up.

Seeing the Lone Star officers swarming the Mall, Shadowhawk summoned an air elemental in the form of a small white dragon and sent it to provide concealment for Clips.

High above the Lone Star officers, a thin white mist surrounded Clips.  It would be enough to hide her from any trigger-happy law enforcement officers.

Feeling that she could not maintain the position for long, Clips placed both her feet on the banner by her shoulder.  Tensing up life a human spring, she pushed outwards and backwards and flipped through the air, summersaulting towards a nearby tier in the shopping centre.  The Banner and the position did not provide her much leverage for her leap and her left shoulder hit a plastisteel safety rail badly... and then she rolled onto the ground of the eighth floor of the mall.

Meanwhile, outside in the rain, Zero and Chang watched as the Lone Star helicopter pulled back and away.  Chang grabbed Zero and leapt of the roof.  Using his Wujen magic, Chang glided the two runners across the city streets and towards the roof of the shopping mall.  However, the Lone Star helicopter had a sniper who was using thermo graphic sights and the runners stood out bright as day.  As Zero and Chang approached the Mall's roof, a bullet whizzed past Zero's head.  The two runners landed lightly on the roof and Zero quickly set up of Sniper Rifle again.  Looking through his sight on the rifle, Zero saw that the Lone Star sniper was taking careful aim at him.  For a moment, time seemed to slow as both Zero and the Lone Star sniper peered at each other through their weapons sights.

*BANG*

Zero fired first and his bullet when through the sights of the Lone Star officer's weapon and his head exploded in a fountain of blood.

The Lone Star helicopter retreated into the night.

Below, Clips knew that she needed to move fast.  She was wet and tired, but it would not be long before Lone Star got men to her floor, or deployed drones or spirits.  Looking around her, she saw a typical shopping mall, with all the shops closed.  No help there.

Looking at the shattered sky light, Clips did a quick calculation in her head.  There was a support pillar nearby.  Yes, it would be tricky, but she could do it.

Taking a few steps back, sheathing her knife and strengthen her grip on the wooden case, Clips leapt into action again.  Running forward, she lept up onto the guard rail and then sprang towards the pillar.  She then bounced of the pillar and up and through the skylight and onto the roof behind Chang and Zero.

The Lone Star officers below did not see Clips incredible gymnastic manoeuvre.  Shadowhawk's spirit had concealed her from their sight.

With the team together and no Lone Star helicopter nearby, Chang gathered them together and used his arcane energy to take them to the ground below, several blocks over.  Shadowhawk was waiting and the team piled into the car.

Scene 3 - the Church

The team was wet and tired.  Shadowhawk drove as Zero performed some basic first aid on Chang.  He was looking better, but only just.

The 'church' was a large, stone edifice.  Towering above the runners, lightning backlit the gargoyles on the roof.  Someone had left the front door open.

The team arrived at the church and met with Cobra, Feral and Fury.  The team took up positions around the church, attempting to conceal themselves.  It turned out that the church had a security roof and that Feral had already 'dealt' with the guards.  Shadowhawk based himself here, gently moving one of the headless bodies out of the way and wiping the blood of the keypad.

Shadowhawk tried to contact the other two teams, but there were no responses.

Chang placed the wooden case on the altar and prepared to open it from a distance with his magic...
Perception molds reality
Change perception and reality will follow
SR1+SR2+SR3++SR4+hb+++B?UB+IE+W+sa+m-gmM--P

Black

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« Reply #7 on: <04-01-13/0214:21> »
The Team:
- Professor, a former drug addict spirit master now the meat puppet for a spiritual manifestation of Despair,
- Chang, a Chinese Wujen mystic detective for the Jade Emperor... who is struggling to deal with the memories of a past life,
- Clips, a mysterious honourable Elvin martial art expert from the Tir
- Zero, Japanese Infiltration expert, sniper and lover of fine food
- Tex, Chinese gun-fu cowgirl orc and ex-Lone Star detective wanted for the murder of a 'hero cop',
- Shadowhawk, hacker and manipulative mind mage.

Scene 1 - the Church - less than thirty minutes to midnight....

The team settled into position for their ambush.  Zero turned his cloaking on and found a sniping position on a grotesque overhanging to main foyer.  Clips, Chang, Tex, Cobra, Fury and Feral all found themselves in alcoves surrounding the main alter.  Shadowhawk watched, as best he could, using security cameras, from the security room off the main building.  He still hadn't heard from the teams as the prison, though the news feeds that he monitored mentioned no major events out in Bellevue.  The cameras outside the church showed little.  It was midnight in Seattle and a major storm was drenching the streets.

Chang used his mystic powers to open the lid of the box.  Despair had warned them not to do this, but Chang easily broke the mystic bonds holding the lid in place.  His magic was weaker here, in a building with strong Christian faith energies, but for the Wujen, these spells were not taxing.  He then levitated an object slowly out of the small box.  It was just under a foot long, slim and coated in a silver glaze.  Strange glowing green and purple symbols lined the silvery rod.

Chang perceived the object in the astral and saw the dark energy radiating from the object.  Hmm...  Chang recognised the object as a spirit formula, but without careful study, he couldn't be sure what type of spirit.  The dark emotional energy of the object seemed to suggest Despair though.

"The spirit formula must have a physical representation appropriate to the summoner's tradition. Copies of the formula may be made, but since a formula can be used to astrally track the spirit or used as a sympathetic link to the spirit for ritual magic, copies do not come without risk.
On the other hand, if every copy of a spirit’s formula is destroyed, the spirit is disrupted and cannot return until a new formula is created. If the spirit ever goes free, its formula does not change."

Clips could not understand the strange archaic runes on the silver rod... but the shape seemed familiar.  Could the object be a human humerus bone?  Clips controlled a shudder at the thought.  Whatever this Cpt Snart of Lone Star was up to, it was nothing good.

*Boom*

The church doors swung open.  In strode Frakker, dressed in a fine white suit.  Even Shadowhawk started at his entrance.  Rain and wind whipped at the entrance of the church, but Frakker seemed unaffected.  He took of his wide-brimmed hat and flicked onto a pew.  His footsteps echoed through the quiet church as he stomped down the aisle.

"Hey Shadowhawk!  No greetings for ya buddy, Frakker?"

Shadowhawk desperately tried to call Frakker, but his comlink was turned off.  What the hell was the tusker doing?  He was ruining the operation.  Frag!

"He guys, Zero, Clips, Chang, Tex.  Let me tell you a little sumthin' sumthin' about ya buddy 'Hawk!"

"Ha! He ain't no hawk, that's for sure.  More like a spider, weavin' a web and fragging you all up.  Suckin' ya dry and filling you back up with his poisonous lies!"

"He has betrayed every one of ya!  Why ya think Walker quiet?  To get away from his influence!  He controls ya all!  Chang, when we first met, you had your own agency, now your just some errand boy for the fragger!"

"Zero, how often does he pay ya?  Keeps the cred for himself and dolls it out when he wants ta.  Keeps ya all on a tight leash, and ya don't even know who is working for!  Walker had an idea, and my new partners have a few guesses, but in the end, ya never trust an elf!"

"Clips, get out while ya still can.  Ya new at this, ya got your whole future ahead of ya, don't have your rep in the shadows stained by this fragger.  His feed other runners to the Star before, and tonight he sent two whole teams to their deaths just to act as a distraction.  Do you really think he intends them to 'rescue' the cop?  And why tonight, while your planning this ambush?  He just wants to keep Snart and his men busy. Hell, he even told these guys to kill the Professor.  Bet he told you chummers differently."

"Tex, you don't think he will sell you and your buddies in Tacoma out when it suits him? His cold chummer, damn cold.  I though you, Walker and him were saving ma life back when that Snart fragger had me.  But I was wrong.  He gave me a cheap second hand eye and arm, and used the chance to put a fragging bomb in my HEAD!!!"

Frakker was screaming at this point, his rage visibly shaking him. 

"My buddy, the guy that saved my life, stuck a bomb in my head so that he could kill me if I ever acted out of line!  How many times has he taken control of our minds and made us forget what he has done to us? Hey, how many times have you all risked your life for that fragger while he sits somewhere safe?  And ya never question why?  How often does he pay ya? Not often, and ya never question why? 'cause his in ya head! That’s why!"

"Where are you now Shadowhawk?  Hiding, while ya chummers risk their lives again?  Come out Shadowhawk, come out and face me! Prove you’re not a coward!"

Shadowhawk wasn't moving.  He was furious that Frakker had decided now was the best time to make a scene though.  What was that tusker thinking?  and how did he find out about the cortex bomb? 

"Have your way chummers!"

Feral leap from his alcove and swung he handheld monofilament chainsaw in a downward arc at Clips.  With barely any time to react, Clips managed to block the chainsaw.  Sparks exploded as the blades met, lighting the dark church up.  Clips was faster and started to use her twin knives to cut and slice the crazed orc.  Feral blocked a number of her attacks with his think metal gauntlets, and the ones that she did land could not easily pierce his think dermal-plated skin.  The near naked orc berserker laughed in her face, his foul breath almost a weapon in itself.

Fury, the amazonian elvan warrior mage, also leapt out of alcove, this time at Tex. She was wielding twin glowing pink swords and she was fast and agile.  Tex avoided her blows and fired her twin hand cannons point blank at the attacking elf.  Fury back flipped to avoid most the shots, but an explosive round caught her shoulder, throwing off her acrobatics.  Fortunately, her armour took most the blow. With speed and agility surprising Tex, Fury landed lightly on her toes and sprung forward, her glowing blade slicing a thin line across Tex's chest, just below her throat.

Chang stepped backwards into his alcove and pressed himself into the shadows.  His memories of his other life were threatening to overwhelm him again and some of the words of Frakker had rung to close to the truth. Was this yet another distraction by Despair, was Shadowhawk the true enemy or was there more at play here?

Cobra took cover and looked for Zero.  The professional mercenary quickly located the tell-tell signature of someone wearing chameleon coating.  It wasn't easy, not in the darkness of church, but with his enhanced vision he picked up the supressed heat signature of the sniper.  Now Frakker had said he only wanted the elf mage and maybe his orc bodyguard dead and the rest left mostly unharmed.  Cobra could keep his target alive, but he made no promised for Fury and Feral.

As Cobra took aim, Zero aimed back.  The Mercenary was too well concealed and Zero's explosive rounds shattered stone only.  Cobra focused as stone splintered bounced of his heavy armour.
 
*phut*

The capsule round hit and Zero felt himself start to pass out from the instant flood of neurostun circulating through his body.

Frakker yelled at Zero, "Buddy, it doesn't have to be like this.  Just put down your gun and walk away.  You don't have any chips in this game, chummer."

Zero refused to be distracted.  The Japanese sniper leapt the six meters to the ground and took aim again at Cobra.  But now that he was hurt, he was having trouble focusing.  Cobra took aim again and hit Zero with a second dose.  It was enough, and the Sniper collapsed to the cold stone tiles of the church floor.

Shadowhawk watched it all happening from the security room.  He had suspected that the second team may be in Frakker's pay as soon as the tusker had entered the church. But they had acted before he could warn his team.  He tried to distract the rival team by flooding their coms with static, but they had switched to an encrypted channel sometime ago.

The stupid tusker was right about one thing though.  The cortex bomb was there to keep the orc in line.  Clearly this was not the case anymore.  Shadowhawk triggered the bomb.

Nothing.  Not really surprised, Frakker was just bright enough to have disarmed his bomb before confronting Shadowhawk, or at least his new partners were.

Cobra felt a small buzz from his comlink and knew that Frakker had been right about setting up the trap.  Hopefully it would be enough to take out the troublesome elf.

Shadowhawk summoned a weak fire elemental and his entourage of dragon spirits.  He called on his dragon spirits to take control of Frakker and the rival team's minds.  The dragons swooped into the church and circled above the conflict.  Soon Frakker, Feral and Fury were under their control.  As Fury paused mid-swing, her eyes glazing over, Tex stepped forward and pressed her gun to the elf's head and fired.

*Bang*

Fury's skull splattered the altar with blood and gore.

Clips leapt passed the frozen Feral, spun in mid-air and came down on Cobra.  Cobra used his gun to block the first knife, but the second blade hammered home, pinning the mercenary against the stone church wall.

Behind her, Tex fired at Frakker and knocked the orc to the ground, blood seeping from a serious chest wound.

Shadowhawk felt dizzy and realised that there was gas being released in the security room.  Donning his gas mask, the elf fled the room to the safety of the church.

Clips and Hawk disarmed Cobra and interrogated the mercenary.  Hawk indicated that Clips should finish Feral.  Clips was reluctant.  It was one thing to kill in combat, another to murder a helpless enemy.

"If you don't, Tex will", explained Hawk.

Clips placed her knife to the orc's throat.  For a moment she thought she could see some glimmer of understanding in the warrior's eyes, and then she slit his throat.

Cobra told them what he knew, which wasn't much.  Frakker had approached them immediately after the meeting and told them what he knew about Shadowhawk.  Cobra wasn't much for personal grudges, but the Orc was willing to pay them three times what Hawk offered, and the job seemed better than the losing deal against the Spirit.  Explaining that 'a job is just a job', Shadowhawk reluctantly let the mercenary leave, as Clips instance.

Chang quietly sat next to the forgotten Zero and began to heal him, while 'Hawk used his fire elemental to start to destroy Despair's spirit formula.

And then the Professor was there...
Perception molds reality
Change perception and reality will follow
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Black

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« Reply #8 on: <04-16-13/2337:06> »
The Team: - Professor, a University Professor and  former drug addict spirit master; now the meat puppet for a spiritual manifestation of Despair,
- Chang, a Chinese Wujen mystic detective for the Jade Emperor... who is struggling to deal with the memories of a past life,
- Clips, a mysterious honourable Elvin martial art expert from the Tir
- Zero, Japanese Infiltration expert, sniper and lover of fine food
- Tex, Chinese gun-fu cowgirl orc and ex-Lone Star detective wanted for the murder of a 'hero cop',
- Shadowhawk, hacker and chaos mage.


Scene 1 - the Church - Midnight....

The storm raged above the dark church, thunder and wind rocked the steeple while rain pelted agains the stained glass windows.

Chang finished healing Zero while Shadowhawk walked over and stood above the frozen and wounded Fracker.  What had driven this tusker fool to betray them?

With a flash of light from nearby lightning, and the Professor was there.

The church, already only lit by the ligthning outside and the fire elemental on the altar, suddenly seemed even darker, as if the shadows were deeper, almost living.  The warm summer night suddenly seemed cold, and Shadowhawk could seem his breath.

"I am so disapointed.  You had five tasks and you didn't even complete one correctly.  I would be furious, but lucky for you, I've already been busy tonight. Stopped by an old ladies home in the barrens.  A grandmother she was, responsible for a litter of orc grandsons.  Lovely eyes, excellent quality... unlike what you got Frakker there for his injuries.  But the pressure of looking after her grandsons got to be too much tonight.  Her passing will, no doubt, impact her grandsons.  Afterall, if it wasn't for them, there grandmother would have lived.  If only she had never met you...  Anyway, lets wrap this up quickly, I want to stop by a diner for some soyjacks.  I wonder what will happen to the owner.. Rosie wasn't it?"[/i]  Professor/Despair sneered.

"Poor Frakker.  You know your betrayal drove him to take these actions?  That he couldn't trust that you hadn't used him and then played with his mind?  That maybe you set him up to be tortured by Snart just so you could impant the bomb in his head? That maybe his younger brother would be your next target?  What a shame, do you feel bad at all?" Despair asked Shadowhawk.

"No"  Shadowhawk aimed his gun at Frakker's head and fired.

*BANG*

The bullet bounced of the side of Frakker's skull.

"No!" Screamed Clips.  "What are you doing?  His already defeated!"  Clips kicked out at Shadowhawk, but while he failed to block the blow, he easily rolled with the impact.

"Hahahahahhahha!" roared Professor/Despair.  "Even your allies see you for what you are!  I burned for you, I burnt because of you and now you shall buurrrrnnnnnn!!!!!!"   Screamed Despair/Sparks!

The Professor raised his hand and a stream of flames shot out towards Shadowhawk.  In an instant, Shadowhawk was consumed in a firey inferno, his flesh incinerating.  Clips, standing next to Shadowhawk had no time to react.  Shadowhawks corpious amounts of explosive ammo and grenades cooked and a secondary explosion of fire and shrapnel ripped out from where the runner had been standing.  The thousands of shards of heated metal shrapnel ripped through Clips, shredding her body into small bloody bits.

KABOOOM!!!!

Zero and Chang near the entrance of the church vainly attempted to shield their eyes from the sudden explosion.  Tex, standing near the burning artifact on the alter was better protected.   The stained glass windows of the church blew out from the explosive force of the inferno and then the cold wet wind of the storm was sucked into the church.  When the runners recovered, all that remained of Shadowhawk, Clips and Frakker was a crater, the explosion having driven the floor to collapse into the catacombs below the church.

Facing away from Chang and Zero, the possessed Professor was back lit by the burning crater.  Slowly the Professor turned his head the look at the two runners, a large grin spread accross his face. 

Chang threw a powerful lightning bolt at the Professor.  Even as the bright bolt of electriciy arced towards the Professor, he raised his hands lazily and caught the bolt, throwing it nonchantly to the side.  Zero roared "Tenno Heika Banzai!!!!!" and unleashed full auto streams of stick 'n shock rounds. 

However, the holy ground was weakening the shadow spirit possessing the Professor.  Even as it blocked Chang's spells and shrugged off the bullets, it was weakening.  Positioned behind the spirit, Tex fired her explosive rounds at the creature which had killed her friend.  Tex had been close to Shadowhawk, and even while the Professor was a team mate, it was clearly a case of kill or be killed now.

An explosive round blew a chunk out of the Professor's shoulder, causing him to stumble.  In that moment, Zero's stick 'n shock rounds struck home, showering the Professor in sparking pellets.  The electrical charged ripped through his body, briefly stopping his heart.  Panicing, Despair ripped free of the dieing mortal frame of the Professor.

The remaining runners watched as a giagantic shadowy skelital form rose above the Professor's fallen body. 

"AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!" [/i] it screached!

Chang and Zero continued to fire at the creature, Chang attempting to make his ligtning bolts brighter, hoping against hope that the light would drive the creature back into its nether realms.  Tex fired several explosive rounds into the spirit, to no effect.  Looking at her surroundings, Tex realised that the creature was placed directly under the steeple of the church.  Fireing carefully, Tex started to blow chunks out of the structural integrity of the church itself. 

*BANG**BANG**BANG**BANG**BANG*

The supports around the steeple shattered from the explosive attack and with a slow inevidablity, the steeple collapsed inwards, down upon Despair!!!

As the church's steeple collapsed down onto the shadow spirit, Tex ducked behind the altar.  Zero and Chang also ducked backwards as a wave of stone shards and dust swept through the church.  The ground beneath them rocked as 20 tons of stone hit the church floor and caused the whole building to start to collapse inwards.

Peering through the dust, Chang confirmed that the creature had been destroyed, disrupted back to its home realm.

The team sounded off through the coms.  Tex, Chang, Zero...  Shadowhawk was gone, so was Clips.  The Professor, freed from possession, his body was now buried under tons of rubble.

As the church collapsed, Tex quickly grabbed the corrupted artifact and ran up a church wall and through a broken and shattered stain glass window.

Zero and Chang stood up and walked through the front door.  Checking their shades, they walked down the front path of the church towards the street.  Behind them the burning, collapsing church continued to fall to ruin.




Scene 2 - Chang's home/old office in Chinatown- Sometime later....

The three remaining runners were laying low on Chang's apartment.  While Despair was gone... for now, Cpt Snart and Lonestar remained a problem.

While Zero fumed over the lack of real food in Chang's apartment and Tex took stock of their pryhic victory, Chang studied the artifact.  A Spirit Formula for Despair, it provided a link to Despair and any other Formula.  Chang journied astral, confirming that Despair had been banished to the far reaches of the metaplanes.... but there was at least one other formula nearby.... in the Brickworks, the prison that the Department of Paranormal Affairs had taken as their own.

Chang realised that the artifact could greatly increase his power and if used correctly provide some control of Despair when she returned... but the taint was strong and it could allow Cpt Snart and his men to track them.  Peering into the Astral one last time, Chang viewed its creation...

...Frakker would have screamed in pain, if he could, as Snart, Crow and Hightower took his arm.  Snart looked manical, claiming that this would save his daughter's soul.  Crow appeared pleased, as if Snart was doing exactly what needed to be done...

Chang broke free.  What ever evil was used to create this foul artifact, it was clear that Snart's partner, the indian crow shaman, had some role in influencing events.  What this meant, Chang had no time to consider.  Snart would be coming soon for the artifact, loudly stolen from his home this very night.  Chang, Zero and Tex travelled to the lava fields in Pulluyap and permantly disposed of the artefact.  They turned their backs and head to the car as the silver-plated bone spirit formula sunk into the bubbling lava.

Scene 3 – Afterwards at the Church

Lone Star vehicles circled the ruined church.  A virtual sea of yellow and blue armoured uniformed officers ringed the location… but none entered the ground.

“You will let our men conduct the investigation!  This will not stand!” Screamed the weary Cpt Snart.  He seemed pale, barely standing, drained.  But his anger was keeping him standing.  He knew these bastards had stolen the artefact from his home and used it to summon his daughter’s spirit.  Then, after consigner her physical life to flames, they had repeated the ritual and burnt her spirit as well. She was gone, really gone this time.  And the evidence he needed to track those murderous bastards rested inside the ruins of a church.  A church which was suddenly under extraterritoriality!

“Snart, buddy, you know who I am.  Your boss reports to me in the United Corporate Council.  And when I tell you that we now own this property and you can forget getting access, you better believe me.”

For a brief instant Snart felt his arcane energies coil within him.  It would be so easy to strike down this upstart corporate suit.  But then, Detective Crow put his hand on his shoulder and he felt calm again. “Boss man, there are other ways…”

As Snart was led away, Mel Cosi flicked some dust of his jacket.  Snart worked for him, in more ways than one, whether he knew it or not.  But perhaps that game was ending its usefulness.  It was good to have the local Lone Star stooges under his control, and when it all happened, they could take the fall.  But Snart, his usefulness was almost over.

“Sir!” One of the KE special operatives approached Mel, “we found a survivor.”  Mel carefully walked over to the crater as his men winched out the survivor.

The ravaged form of a large one eyed orc slowly rose from the darkness.  Mel motioned for the winch to stop as he reached eye level with the still conscious orc.

“Well buddy, is this the wrong time to tell you ‘I told you so’.  Don’t worry, will put you right again, but this time, this time you listen to me”.

Scene 4 – Somewhere under Seattle… - The Professor?


The vagrant struggled as he stumbled through the sewers.  He felt movement around him, but there was nothing he could do.  ‘They’ were in the astral, watching, waiting, waiting, waiting.  He moved forward, stumbling into the muck again.  He could barely remember who he was, and it felt like he hadn’t eaten in weeks.  The residual magic which had kept him alive was slowly leaving him… he had never felt so hungry for something in his life.  The ache ate him from the inside.  Struggling to his feet, he slipped again.
 
But someone caught him.  A large hand, an older orc  with a pair of bent wire framed and a ratty old cardigan.  “Don’t worry sonny, Papa Brogan has you.  You owe the City of Seattle your life, young man, and you can’t be weaselling out of your debts that easily.  Come with me and we’ll get you some warm soup, some new clothes and a bit of rest.  Oh yes sirey, you need your rest for what comes next…”

The old orc continued to talk as he walked the Professor to safety…

The End?
Perception molds reality
Change perception and reality will follow
SR1+SR2+SR3++SR4+hb+++B?UB+IE+W+sa+m-gmM--P