Charles Plemons' Blog

Game summary for November 26, 2019, Into The Shadows campaign, Shadowrun 5th Edition, for Phoenix Gaming Club. Session included: Ballyhoo (Human Augmenter played by Andrew Renfrow), Chase (Troll Tank played by Kaliegh Averdick), Clutch (Human Transport Rigger played by Peyton Harmon), Hollywood (Human Combat Medic played by Chris Harmon), Octane (Elf Razor played by Casey Scruggs), and Thay (Elf Street Shaman played by Taylor Averdick). Game Master for this session was Charles Plemons.

The group gathered on the roof of the Space Needle with their Ares-provided nightwings and launched toward Brackhaven Investments.  They had been told a protest riot had broken out around the building, and they hoped that might provide some cover for their activities.  As they swooped in, Clutch put his nightwing on autopilot and jacked into the Matrix.  Ahead, he saw the fortress representing Brackhaven Investments and its patrol IC marching around.  He hacked on the fly and got a mark!  He was able to issue some commands to the anti-aircraft turret and get the team past it before jacking out of the Matrix.  On the roof the team found several infrared trip lines and some cameras.  Clutch jumped to the BI grid and marked the camera.  He was able to turn it off while Chase stepped over the trip line to swipe a maglock passkey.  She dropped it!  As she bent to pick it up, she tripped the alarm! 

The group swiped the card again and got access.  They charged down the stairs trying to get in before security could properly respond.  At the elevator, two Stoddard Security guards were surprised to see an armed party awaiting.  The team opened up with tasers and stick-n-shock rounds.  One of the guards popped off a single live round that hit Thay squarely in the chest, but it was absorbed by her armor.  The exchange of firepower only took seconds, and the guards were sprawled out unconscious. 

With the alarm tripped and security engaged, the team knew there was no need for stealth!  Now, it would require speed.  They reloaded as they stepped into the elevator. 

Game summary for November 19, 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), Dell (Human Technomancer played by Shane Bradley), 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 arrived in the park, and Dell sent up a drone to scout the area.  He noticed another drone and hacked it on the fly to determine it belonged to Ares.  They waited awhile, and three black vans pulled up.  Eight heavily armed Knight Errant employees jumped out to secure the area, and Karen King stepped out.  The team emerged from their van and handed her one of the commlinks.  A dwarf emerged from the van and verified authenticity.  They then handed her the other commlink, and it was also verified.  She handed them 235,000 nuyen worth of credsticks and a generic commlink.  The two parties departed the park, and the team got on Clutch’s Evo Waterking boat and went to Vancouver to lay low awhile.

The next morning, the Ares commlink rang, and Karen King offered to hire them for another run.  She gave some details but wanted to meet in person.  They rode back to Seattle and met her in an airport hangar.  She offered them a run to steal an insurance policy off a secure server inside Brackhaven Investments.  Karen indicated they had an entrance and exit strategy, would pay 80,000 nuyen, and would provide several pieces of loaner and permanent equipment supplies.  The team debated a minute and accepted.  Octane was immediately taken for cyberware implant surgery to receive some alphaware skillwires, and the rest of the team started building a shopping list. 

Game summary for November 12, 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), Dell (Human Technomancer played by Shane Bradley), 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 drove around for a while as Dell messed with the commlink taken from Dietrich.  He is able to get through the encryption and recover part of a file.  He then took it and combined it with the original file and make one long document.  The team was amazed because it seemed to be proof of Brackhaven’s nefarious dealings.  Dell realized he had probably alerted Overwatch in all his prodding around and shut off the device.  The group continued to drive erratically all over town. 

After a brief discussion, the team decided to sell the commlink(s) to Ares.  They had Dell find a number for her, and they called her.  Upon learning of two commlinks and some negotiation with Hollywood, she upped her price to 235,000 nuyen.  However, she demanded they have both commlinks with them at a meet.  The group told her they would have them in 4 hours. 

The team realized they had to get back into the zoo, so the scoped it out with a drone and realized contractors were coming in and out to do some damage estimations.  They tailed a van back to a warehouse.  Three of the four men left, but one stayed behind.  Ballyhoo cast Mask upon Octane to make him appear as a human who may work there, and he sneaked in and choked out the man, Joe Reynolds.  He left him bound with plastic restraints and gagged with his own underwear.  Posing as Joe, Octane drove the contractor van back to the zoo and walked up to the gate.  The guards were not paying much attention until the wave scanner alerted on Octane’s cyberware!  He was asked to go back through, and the machine must have glitched because it did not go off the second time.  Octane was allowed in, and he went to the locker and got the commlink.  He then walked right out the front door. 

Hollywood called Karen King back, and they agreed to meet in a park north of town in two hours.  While driving there, Hollywood noticed they were being tailed by men on motorcycles.  A little hacking and research later, and Dell was able to learn these were registered to Mitsuhama Computer Technologies.  Dell had earlier figured out the Japanese man to whom they spoke earlier worked for MCT! 

Clutch took off through traffic, and the cycles gunned it in pursuit.  However, Clutch displayed an amazing ability to weave in and out of traffic, and combined with his deployed thermal smoke, he was able to out maneuver and lose the bikers. 

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. 

Game summary for October 22, 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), and Hollywood (Human Combat Medic played by Chris Harmon). Game Master for this session was Charles Plemons.

As Hollywood hung up the commlink with Tauren, it began to ring.  They noted the number but did not answer.  Instead, they used one of Clutch’s burner commlinks and called.  After a brief exchange, the person on the other end claimed to be Agent Seth Dietrich.  He told them of the extreme danger they are in and that he is willing to buy the commlink back for 100,000 nuyen.  He said to meet him at the zoo in Fort Lewis at 15:00 by the basilisk exhibit and bring the commlink. 

The group debated for several minutes when the front door of Clutch’s place crashed in, and a heavily-cybered Italian man with gold-plated cyber arms came striding in smirking and saying, “Knock, knock!”  Two goons carrying SMGs came in with him.  The man rushed Ballyhoo, just narrowly missing him with a right hook driven with piston-like force by his robotic arms.  Ballyhoo countered with an acid stream spell that devastated the man with its burning power.  Meanwhile, the goons inside opened fire on Clutch while goons outside hurled Molotov cocktails at the windows.  Some of the bullets flattened against Clutch’s body armor, bruising him badly, but several rounds punched through and sprayed blood across the room.  Terribly injured, he scrabbled toward his van while firing his pistol at his assailants. 

Hollywood drew forth his Savalette Guardian pistol, flipped it to burst fire and opened up on their attackers.  The gold-armed man, injured by bullets and magic, fled back through the front door.  Hollywood pumped rounds into the goons, and Ballyhoo blasted a ragged hole right through one of them with a nasty spell.  Clutch opened fire with the van’s assault rifle, but his aim was compromised by his profuse injuries.  Hollywood and Ballyhoo dove into the van, and Clutch ran through his garage door and out onto the street.  One of the goons ran after and unloaded the rest of his magazine at them. 

The team sped off into the night, and Hollywood and Ballyhoo used magic and first aid to patch up Clutch the best they could.  Clutch did some Matrix searching and identified the cybered man as Caesar “Chrome” Ciarniello, a known Mafioso.  Hollywood called Fast Freddy and woke him up to ask more about Caesar.  They learned he is the son of Vince “Numbers” Ciarniello, Don of the Ciarniello crime family!  When Freddy learned they had just severely injured Caesar he yelled at Hollywood for calling him and hung up the link. 

The group speculated for a while about how they may have been compromised.  They came up with several theories but were uncertain of any single one.  They decided Clutch’s fake SIN may be compromised, so they parked his van in a parking lot, and they all shut off all their wireless gear.  They moved over to a soykaf shop to watch and see if anyone showed up at the van looking for them. 

Game summary for October 15, 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.

With little to do while waiting on Fast Freddy, the team decided to investigate the other commlink.  Clutch spent a few hours with it and discovered it contained a hidden operating system and files. He spent some time cracking the encryption and found several file fragments and the name of the owner, Seth Dietrich.  They reached out to a few of their contacts, met up with a couple, and did some research.  The discovered Seth is an FBI agent looking into the possible corruption of Governor Kenneth Brackhaven.  They also learned Agent Dietrich’s latest associates ended up dead in the Puget Sound.  They also learned of a possible connection between Brackhaven and the fires in the Ork Underground a few years back in something called Operation Daybreak. 

Clutch did some Matrix snooping and found an active commlink number in the contacts list and called it with a burner device.  The owner hung up.  So, he called it again from a second burner device and got hung up on again.  Then, Hollywood called the commlink from Dietrich’s link and was immediately yelled at by the owner.  After a few moments, Hollywood was able to communicate he was not Dietrich, and the conversation changed.  The person quickly became agitated and insistent the team get somewhere safe and lay low.  He wanted some time to make some calls and called back in about 45 minutes. 

The caller accidentally revealed his name to be Tauren, and he sounded desperate to buy Dietrich’s commlink.  He claimed it had some information about Brackhaven that people would kill for.  He offered to meet the team and buy the commlink, giving them some profit and taking this dangerous item off their hands. 

They did not yet negotiate a price but agreed to speak with him again at 6:45 in the morning and discuss a meeting.   

Game summary for October 1, 2019, Into The Shadows campaign, Shadowrun 5th Edition, for Phoenix Gaming Club. Session included: Ballyhoo (Human Augmenter played by Andrew Renfrow), Chase (Troll Tank played by Kaliegh Averdick), Clutch (Human Transport Rigger played by Peyton Harmon), Hollywood (Human Combat Medic played by Chris Harmon), Octane (Elf Razor played by Casey Scruggs), and Thay (Elf Street Shaman played by Taylor Averdick). Game Master for this session was Charles Plemons.

The team piled into Clutch’s van and sped off.  Hollywood, Thay, and Ballyhoo used a number of Heal spells to mend the various injuries suffered inside the Speakeasy bar.  They then parked down the street from the Novelty Hills Sleep and Eat and sent Thay and Chase into the establishment to rent a room.  Thay flirted with the manager on duty, a wiry dwarf named Lucas Kash.  She talked him down to a lower rate and giving them room 311.  Once in the room, Thay came out and tried her keycard in door 312 and knocked.  Lucas yelled up that she was at the wrong door, so she went back to 311.  Chase used his combat axe and tremendous strength and weight to crash through the wall into 312 wherein they found Oxycode already dead.  On the floor were two commlinks which they snatched up.  Searching the room, they discovered lots of drugs, and they took those too.  Thay then used a power outlet to start a fire in the room, and the group went downstairs and told Lucas they smelled smoke. 

The pair returned to the van, and the group drove off and contacted their Mr. Johnson.  Since they had a gunfight in the Speakeasy, they decided to meet at a Stuffer Shack several blocks away.  He paid them for the commlink and handed the other one back to them.  He suggested it might be valuable, but not to him. 

The group then decided to make some money on the stolen drugs, so they called Hollywood’s fixer, Fast Freddy.  He agreed to meet in a J-Mart parking lot.  They worked out a deal to give him 20% if he would move the product, and he accepted.  He said he would meet them back there the following night. 

Game summary for September 10, 2019, Into The Shadows campaign, Shadowrun 5th Edition, for Phoenix Gaming Club. Session included: Ballyhoo (Human Augmenter played by Andrew Renfrow), Chase (Troll Tank played by Kaliegh Averdick), Clutch (Human Transport Rigger played by Peyton Harmon), Hollywood (Human Combat Medic played by Chris Harmon), Octane (Elf Razor played by Casey Scruggs), and Thay (Elf Street Shaman played by Taylor Averdick). Game Master for this session was Charles Plemons.

The brawl escalated as more guns were drawn and things got deadly serious.  Hollywood put several rounds in a couple of ghouls while Thay hurled a knife.  Octane began slashing the ghouls’ ears, temporarily disorienting them.  Clutch shot dead two of the gang members, but suddenly his gun backfired and grievously injured him!

Chase took a number of hits and shrugged them off like the massive troll he is.  However, in an unfortunate moment using his gun as a club, he ended up shooting himself!  Ballyhoo tore into the ghouls with magically conjured acid, and not to be outdone, Thay blasted another dead with manabolt.  Clutch managed to dive out the door and get his remote-piloted van heading to the front. 

It was quick and messy, but the team defeated the ghouls and began heading for the exit and Clutch’s incoming van!