The five Shadowrunners made their way to the top of the building through either Richard's Levitation spell or their own climbing gear, scaling from a nearby roof in the industrial park.
They hashed out their plan while crouched in the dimly lit surroundings. It was a rather run-down set of buildings that the Humanis Policlub had claimed as their own for criminal dealings. Cruiser's bug drone spotted Maxine, bruised and bloody, on her knees, head slumped. There were three members of the racist organization standing guard while someone decided what to do with her. The idea was for many things to happen all at once: Trigger, Kablisk, and Wyrine would come crashing through the windows just as Cruiser's Rotodrone strafed from above and Richard would throw some spells at Maxine's captors to confuse the situation. Those with thermographic enhancements caught one of the Policlub members approaching Maxine and the team sprang into action. It all went down like clockwork, with Trigger and his Cavalier putting down one of the gangsters immediately, as he swung through the smashed window and let loose a bullet in one fluid motion. Next in was Kablisk and he tossed a flashbang grenade towards the center of the room. The explosive went wide of its mark and detonated right in the face of another aggressor, rendering the person unconscious from the shock of the burst. Wyrine followed behind shortly thereafter and put a round from his Ares Predator into another goon. There was an exchange of gunfire as pistols and rifles reported from both sides and the dust settled; all three foes were dispatched and Wyrine and Kablisk were left with some mild wounds. Kablisk carried Maxine in his arms and was levitated down to the ground floor by Richard. The others climbed down with their gear and grappling hooks. As Kablisk walked away from the violence in the building, he noticed a dark substance caking the hair around Maxine's ears. Wyrine gave it further examination and found that the Humanis Policlub had cut off the pointed tips of her Elvish ears and the blood had congealed in her messy hair. This discovery infuriated Cruiser, who already had a soft spot for Maxine and felt a sense of duty in protecting her, given that she had extended her hospitality to the team for the use of Punk Monkey's meeting space in their Shadowruns. Confirming that the entire team had extracted itself from the building, Cruiser let out a scream of rage and loosed a high explosive grenade into the room. Five additional Humanis Policlub members were approaching the door, coming from the first floor when they initially heard the ruckus. The combustion was powerful enough to vaporize the three prone bodies in the room and send body parts in all directions from the five members steeling themselves at the barricaded door. As the flames and smoke bellowed out of the windows, Richard levitated down from the roof in a mock-Jesus gesture. The six made it to Cruiser's GMC Bulldog and took off, speeding back to Punk Monkeys. Cruiser offered his own apartment for Maxine to recover from her injuries, but she insisted that she would be fine laying low in her office. Maxine expressed profuse gratitude to the team for rescuing her. She winced in pain as the bruises and swelling covering her face subsided a bit after Richard gently laid hands on her and provided a healing spell. She promised the team full use of the upstairs meeting room and a much more robust security presence from here on out. Confirming the Shadowrunners' suspicions, the local chapter of Humanis Policlub wanted to make use of Punk Monkeys to traffic drugs and engage in other illegal activities, but Maxine had refused. When they discovered her metahumanity, that only enraged them further to the point where they reveled in mutilating her ears. A number of club employees were waiting outside the building, anxiously awaiting the return of their charismatic boss. Together, they received her from the van and carefully led her into her office for some medical attention. Cruiser explained that the team would be out of Seattle for a little while, to complete a job. She nodded and promised to update them when they returned. With Maxine saved from a brutal fate, the group got in touch with Israel and Jeanette to secure the details for their transport to Denver and the courier work they would do en route. They were to receive a package from Bastion, who was expected to be at an art gallery in Cheyenne, Sioux Nation Territory. That package would then be delivered to a place in Denver, which would be detailed upon receipt of the cargo. The pickup was at a seldom-used rail yard near The Italiano in Renton. The team found a parking garage to keep Cruiser's Bulldog for the duration of the trip. They cautiously approached the innocuous line of six container cars and as they neared one of the middle cars, a hidden door popped out with a metallic sound and slid aside to reveal an entrance. The six Shadowrunners examined their surroundings to ensure no one was lying in wait to stage an ambush. Everything looked five by five and they proceeded to enter the train car. They were presented with an unexpected sight, given the industrial exterior. It looked as if one of the old rusty containers had been plunked down on top of a old-time passenger rail car. There were already a handful of occupants that comprised a motley crew. There was a cloaked, featureless masked, and wide brimmed hat wearing traveler on the left side. A platinum blonde-haired woman with a full-body white faux fur coat that reached the bridge of her nose kept to herself on the right side of the train. Lastly, a pair of troll youths that looked as if they had just escaped serious physical abuse carved out their own space in the middle of the aisle in the farthest part of the carriage. The team spread out between two booths, nearest the door, and maintained vigilance in observing their milieu. Most of the group opted for some shut eye, in order to recuperate and prepare for the ordeal in Cheyenne. Trigger stayed awake to ensure nothing violent befell the Shadowrunners. The train stopped a couple more times on its way to Cheyenne. First, a pair of pink mohawked dwarves embarked and found themselves a booth, disturbing no one. Then, a troll, one that was reminiscent of the river trolls of antiquity, stomped its way into the carriage. A rank smelled filled the cabin and the stink was practically a visible haze enshrouding the creature. The troll decided to park itself right next to the cloaked platinum blonde-haired woman. She didn't make eye contact with the troll and continued to gaze forward. The container door slid shut with the sound of a metallic lock engaging. Trigger immediately sensed trouble brewing and decided to head it off at the pass. He got up, making his way to the lavatory at the other end of the passenger car. The booth where the faux-fur outfitted woman and noxious troll were seated was square in the middle of the carriage. Trigger approached and made contact with the troll. "Is there a problem?" The ork inquired. The troll sneered at Trigger. Trigger tried again. "What's your problem?" The troll's response was another sneer and a giant globule of putrid phlegm ejected from its mouth, dripping down the seat opposite the creature. Trigger replied with a casual hmph and walked on. He monitored the pair as he entered the restroom. The rotten garbage smell was pungent enough to wake all but Richard. Now the Shadowrunners locked on to the source of the nasty stink and were met with a disgusting figure. Trigger's thermographic vision caught the woman arranging something within her outfit. She was readying a pair of items and it only took one guess as to what those would be. No more than ten seconds had passed and the troll leaned in to the woman's personal space to make a comment inaudible to the other passengers. A pair of lengthy blades flashed out of the fur, appearing from seemingly nowhere. In the span of a couple of seconds, she had punctured the creature no less than a dozen times with supernatural speed. The troll immediately died from its wounds, having been brutally stabbed in a variety of major organs and arteries. It collapsed in a heap in the middle of the aisle and quickly began soaking the carpet in a pool of viscous, dark blood. Trigger returned from the lavatory to examine the scene. The runners were shocked beyond belief at what they had just witnessed and their mouths were agape at the brutality that had just transpired. Trigger simply shrugged and took a wide step over the rancid carcass. All of the other passengers were clearly trying excruciatingly hard to avoid all eye contact with each other and the woman after that incident. No one spoke and no one moved for the duration of the trip until Cheyenne. The train pulled into the station at Cheyenne. The runners gathered their equipment and stepped outside, unsure of what this unexplored city would hold for them. They were on a platform, but it was removed from the cluster of other platforms attached to the station. There were passengers standing around, looking at digital timetables and doing any manner of other activities one does while waiting for public transportation. For some reason, no one looked at the team and no one even looked at the platform they were standing on. It was as if it was obscured from the casual observer somehow. The group didn't dwell on it too much and proceeded to walk off the platform into the dark train yard, as they assumed walking through the main station would attract far too much attention. They were told that the art gallery was located on Pershing Boulevard and Evans Avenue. Lacking transportation, they opted to remain as inconspicuous as possible while strolling down the street towards the agreed upon location. The team made it to a few blocks away from the intersection in question when they noticed a dark sedan that wasn't moving with the flow of traffic. It immediately put everyone on alert and they ducked into the nearest alleyway they could find. The car reacted to their sudden change in direction and sped off. The Shadowrunners continued to approach the intersection of Pershing and Evans, this time with extreme caution. They advanced on the art gallery, coming from the east in a more roundabout fashion. They were met with two cars, parked in a 'V' formation in front of the building. They were the same make and model as the one that was previously tailing them. One male leaned out the window of the car and yelled, "Are you Patrice?" Someone in the team immediately replied with 'no' and inquired about who that person was. It was the wrong answer and the cars revved their engines, barreling straight for the five. Three of the runners managed to leap out of the way in time, but Kablisk and Richard were clipped by the rapidly accelerating automobiles and were left on the pavement, writhing in pain. Trigger, Wyrine, and Cruiser took shots at the cars as they began to cross over each other to come around for another pass at the group. It was difficult to hit the drivers, as the tint of the front windshield prevented them from seeing exactly where they were seated in the vehicle. From the passenger window, professionally dressed individuals lacking distinguishing features leaned out and sprayed their SMGs in the direction of the Shadowrunners. It left the attackers in a prone position that Trigger and Wyrine took advantage of. One of the gun wielding interlopers was put down. Kablisk used his Machine Sprite to lock the brakes on the car. As the driver struggled to reset the electronics of the vehicle, Trigger put a bullet through the windshield and ended the life of that adversary. Richard had limped his way to the alley where the others had set up their defense. Trigger made an open dash for Kablisk and scooped him up in one motion, depositing him around the corner adjacent to the art gallery. The second car was driven into a building wall by the Machine Sprite, killing the driver. As the remaining passenger crawled out of the wreckage, Trigger was on top of her. Her dark skin was covered in blood and her braided hair was in shambles. Trigger asked for details on why they were attacked. They didn't fit the description of the people that were supposed to pick up the package and so they were to be neutralized. Trigger thanked her for her time and put a bullet in her head. She crumpled into a heap amidst the debris. Recovering from the fracas, the five entered the brightly lit, white-walled gallery and found an eccentric trollish-looking dwarf with round glasses, smoking a pipe at the reception desk. He was poring over a digital newspaper when he lowered it to examine the newcomers. "Are you Bastion?" Wyrine inquired. "I am, the package is around the corner," He said in a squeaky voice and poked a stubby thumb in that direction. The team wasn't sure what to expect, but what faced them definitely fell outside of the realm of all expectations they had. Zipped halfway up in a suit carrier bag, was an androgynous, emaciated, albino humanoid. It was lucid and blinked at the team. "Is there anything it needs?" They called out to Bastion. "Maybe just some water from time to time. The specimen won't complain. It's tongue has been removed." Bastion smiled a toothy grin. "Take it to the bookstore at this address - ask for Tanja." The Shadowrunners looked at each other, shrugged their shoulders and zipped up the suit carrier. Trigger carefully placed it over his shoulder and they headed back to the one car that hadn't been destroyed. They moved with haste, without trying to raise suspicions. The team made it all the way to the last light at the intersection in front of the train station when Cruiser's sensors picked up a police car approaching from the intersecting street on the right side. The car they were in had several bullet holes from the earlier combat. It would be a dead giveaway if the police car were to pass by them and take notice as they waited for the light to change. Wyrine wasted no time targeting the street light, hacking it with precision, and forcing it to change to green for them, surprising the opposing traffic into screeching to a halt. The team let out a collective sigh of relief and parked the car near where they had previously exited the train yard. They returned to the train and found the same occupants from before, minus the corpse of the putrid troll. There was a stain left in the aisle where the body had been left several hours ago.
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AuthorI'm Dobie, GM of this Shadowrun group. I've been playing Shadowrun since Second Edition, though I had a serious hiatus and have just recently picked up Fifth Edition to get back into the Shadowrun universe. Archives
September 2017
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