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 - MiddayClips 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 - 2pmChang 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 - 3pmThe 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.
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 pmWhile 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...