Game summary for October 29, 2019, Into The Shadows campaign, Shadowrun 5th Edition, for Phoenix Gaming Club. Session included: Ballyhoo (Human Augmenter played by Andrew Renfrow), Clutch (Human Transport Rigger played by Peyton Harmon), Hollywood (Human Combat Medic played by Chris Harmon), and Octane (Elf Razor played by Casey Scruggs). Game Master for this session was Charles Plemons.
The team watched their van for a short time and no one showed up looking for them. They climbed into Clutch’s other vehicle and found a place to lie low and sleep a bit. When they got up, they decided to meet with Agent Dietrich and hear him. They went to the Fort Lewis zoo and realized it had good security staffed by the UCAS military. Hollywood and Ballyhoo donned civilian clothes, and Ballyhoo used a Mask spell on himself. The two went in unarmed and locked the commlink up in a locker at the zoo and took the key with them.
The group met up with Seth Dietrich near the basilisk exhibit, but something was wrong. He seemed scared and was acting strange. Talking with him, he claimed to be someone named Jake Armitage, even though they had seen photos of Agent Dietrich. He asked them what year it was and acted as if he thought it was 2050. Seth/Jake continued to act strangely when suddenly a bullet tore through his throat, killing him! The bullet also shattered the glass of the basilisk exhibit, and the creatures broke free!
Ballyhoo began searching the man’s body while Hollywood tried to make it look like he was performing first aid and then signaling that the patient didn’t make it. Meanwhile, the basilisks tore into a zoo patron and began eating him. Ballyhoo and Hollywood took another commlink and numerous credsticks off the body before trying to get back to the lockers; however, an MP told them to evacuate the zoo. They filed out with the mob and met up with Clutch and Octane.
The group checked the credsticks and discovered 100,000 nuyen! The commlink was locked, and they decided not to mess with it without someone better skilled in the Matrix present. They decided to call Tauren from one of the commlinks they had previously used to call him. When they turned it on, they found a vidmail from a woman named Karen King from Ares Macrotechnology, Seattle office. She offered 225,000 nuyen for the commlink! The group then called Tauren and ended up speaking with Eliza Bloom, a representative of Project Freedom. She offered 80,000 nuyen for the commlink. While talking to her, the commlink rang again, and an Asian man offered 200,000 nuyen for the commlink. Minutes later, the commlink rang again, and chrome-eyed shadowrunner calling himself Zane offered 400,000 nuyen on behalf of his undisclosed employer.
Unsure what to do, the group turned off the commlink and began to discuss their options and future.
I reconvene with the group around 4am at a Soybucks. They inform me that Clutch’s fake SIN is most likely compromised, as the son of a local mobster and some cronies broke into his residence and shot up the place, and him.
Before Clutch’s place got hit, he was able to locate photos of Dietrich and arranged a meeting time and place (2pm at the Fort Lewis zoo) to hand over the commlink in exchange for 100K nuyen.
As the zoo is run by the military, we know that security is top notch and very unlikely for weapons to be carried in. We decide to get a locker before meeting up with Dietrich and will hand off the key, if everything seems on the up and up. We then get some rest.
When we get back together, we are dressed inconspicuously and prepare for going to the zoo. Ballyhoo casts mask on himself to make others think he looks like someone else, as the mob family might be looking for him, since he badly hurt the son.
Once we get to the zoo, I hang back with Clutch, since I don’t have a license for my wired reflexes. Ballyhoo and Hollywood go in and drop off the commlink. They meet up with Dietrich, realizing that we saw him earlier in the night, when he was thrown out of the Speakeasy.
When asked if he is Dietrich, he says his name is Jake Armitage and grabs Hollywood. He is nervous and seems confused, demanding to know who they are and what year it is, claiming he last remembers 2050.
Before they are able to make sense of anything, Armitage is shot through the neck and killed. The bullet shatters the glass of the basilisk enclosure. One of them exits the enclosure and seems to entrance a visitor.
Ballyhoo quickly pats down Armitage’s corpse. Hollywood attempts to hide Ballyhoo’s true intentions by pretending to give first aid.
Clutch immediately begins scanning the zoo security’s comms and hears reports of a containment breach and possible shots fired.
The second basilisk escapes and attacks the entranced visitor.
Ballyhoo and Hollywood start running with the rest of the crowd. Clutch fires up the van and drives to a nearby location.
Ballyhoo and Hollywood try to retrieve the commlink from the locker, but security forces them to keep moving. They soon make their way to the van, and we head out.
Ballyhoo was able to retrieve another commlink and multiple certified credsticks. We check the credsticks and see that they total 100K nuyen, but decide to not use them until we know more information about who they are associated with. We also decide to hold onto the commlink to see if it matches the commlink used to call us earlier.
Ballyhoo told us that he saw the aura of Armitage and that it looked like he may have multiple personalities. We theorize that he really was Dietrich but may have been brainwashed into thinking he is someone else.
We decide to talk to Gorgeous George once things cool off to see why he threw out Dietrich/Armitage.
We theorize that we were setup to make it look like we killed Dietrich and expect to see reports in the news soon.
Clutch starts researching Jake Armitage but isn’t able to find anything. Hollywood also starts scouring the matrix and finds records of a shadowrunner from the 2050s named Jake Armitage, which matches the story we were told. He was known as a dog shaman and helped take down a big corporation.
We power on one of the burner commlinks and see a vidmail from an Ares corporate bigwig. She offers 250K nuyen for Dietrich’s commlink.
After checking the message, we get a call from a dwarf that ran against Brackhaven and is a part of Project Freedom. She offers that Torin is part of their group and that Dietrich was assisting them.
While finishing up the conversation with her, another call comes in. The caller offers 200K nuyen to have the the information publicized, forcing Brackhaven taken out of office.
Immediately another call comes in. He identifies himself as Zane and another shadowrunner representing someone offering 400K nuyen.