It always feels like mass casualties with gun shot wounds should come in late at night. Isn’t that a strange thing to think about as the Wires bring in a couple of riders, all shot up, in the mid morning on a rare bright winter day?

Who are these guys? Are you tight with them or just the guy they know to come to when they get shot up?

In the Prelude, we'll play through a short scene that offers some decisions that flesh out the character (attributes, moves, gear, contacts).  We'll also play though combat mechanics so you understand how the 'black box' works.  You'll win the fight, just try to act surprised...

Also, don't worry about the choices you make in Prelude. At the end of the scene if there is something you don't like, we'll just change it before calling character construction complete.

Technically, Smiley lived and worked out of an old commercial building: the loading dock, actually. It was the last remaining building on the block that hadn't been taken over by squatters and gangers. The people working the offices weren't all exactly doing legal shit, but it was all stuff that had to happen to keep the barren's economy running. Smiley had no idea why, but the practical effect was that people left his place alone, and somehow by the miracle of miracles, it had power and water.

Smiley wasn't totally 100% awake, and he felt a lack of his morning soykaf and simubeef burrito, but he was used to working in FAR worse conditions than this, and had started as just "the ork with the oversized medkit" as a gangly teenager. Compared to patching someone in the middle of a firefight, working early was easy.

Of course, he'd expected at least a little more than 2 minutes' notice from a cell phone before the car pulled into the building's old loading dock that he'd converted into his hospital. The place had a bunch of little storage cages that were just perfect to make sterile environments, and he had enough room for the oversized but workable antique gear he ran.

He just finished washing his hands and pulling on his face mask when he heard the horn and opened the warehouse door and activated the little hydraulic ramp so they could wheel up the patients. He stepped out into the light, rubbing his eyes as they adjusted to the run, and looked down at what awaited him below in the parking lot, his brain already ready to start triage.

"Morning! What we got for my chop-shop, chummers?"

A burly older looking orc sporting a bushy beard dismounts his Scorpion as several others offload a pair of casualties. "Rough mornin' Doc." growls Clay, his Razor Wires cut bearing the word 'Prez' "Ran into the Ronin out on the CTTR. Guess they were kill ridin' and we got caught up with them. Juice and Ope got torn up. Lucky for us some trog popped out of a passing RV and lit them all up with his AK. Fragger geeked half o' them with a grenade, you believe that? The hell is this town comin' to?"

A pair of riders are brought up onto the loading dock. Shot up a bit, blood splatter on their riding leather, but you've seen worse.

"They're leakin' bad enough doc. Mind givin' us a hand stichin' 'em back up?" Clay asks, chomping a freshly lit cigar. "Standard rates apply."

You can take Clay as your second contact if you want... no worries if you want something different.

He chutted.

"It's nul Sheen, lets get 'em out on the Body Boards.

I'll hold the head, you take the legs."


Smiley was already pushing down two empty BodyBoards(TM), lovingly refurbished by Slapdash after structural defect. Amazing what reinforcing the hell out of something with steel and carbon fiber could do.

He took a look at breathing, amount of blood, level of consciousness, all the basic first aid drek to figure out who and what needed to be done, right down to talking. He also had a mediscan in his hands, but that was mostly for show right now: it would come in handy when he was checking just exactly where those pesky bullets had gone.

Did you patch any of them? Are they on anything, including and especially combat drugs?

Clay had known Smiley long enough to know why he was asking. Smiley had lost patients before because his med scanners couldn't detect some weird new street drug, or because a patient already had an adrenal booster and protocol demanded a shot of adrenaline to boost heart rate.

As they made their way up the ramp (carefully) Smiley made his determination on who to treat first....

”Nah, we’re all clean today Doc.” Clay replies. ”Slap patch on Ope. Weren’t sure if his leg got hit bad or not. Didn’t want him to bleed out while we guessed.”

Of the two, Ope sure looks worse. He’s hit in the belly and in the leg, could be a bad bleed from the leg hit but it passed right through and the patch is holding it together for now. Who knows what’s going on in that gut wound. Juice has a bullet planted deep in his shoulder. Not bleeding badly, but he’s not gonna like having that slug pulled out of his meat.

Open Ope up and dig into belly wound to make sure there is no internal bleeding?

See if that shot in the leg hit a major blood vessel?

Go for the quick win and look at Juice’s shoulder?

Something else?

The principles of triage were simple: life saving interventions first. Ope needed to not die. He hadn't been trauma patched, so his chances were pretty solid.

Ope got plugged onto one of those huge oversized 2nd generation hospital units, got him an O2 mask and some vitals going.
It also immobilized him so he wouldn't squirm. Finest tech out of Kiev circa 2045.

The mark 1 eyeball and good sense was something most computers could't replicate, but it was nice to know if his patient was crashing so he could bring in the big guns. Once the machine started turning out vitals, he could look at the wound.

"If that patch is holding, it's probably not arterial, and it can wait." Thought Smiley as he masked and started hacking up Ope's clothing and checked the 4 quadrants and looked for blood, making sure to check the back.

Sewage smell would mean his bowels were exposed to air. Black blood meant liver. He could probably figure organ damage from the exact eound position, but bullets bounced funny sometimes...

Gut first, but with mininum basic stuff to prevent him crashing.

Awareness +1, Craft +1 PocSec updated

Things are progressing nicely with Ope and there doesn't seem to be any serious damage (well... no more serious than the very serious gunshot wounds... when dealing with these guys, it's a sliding scale). Having dug a 9mm hollow point out of the orc's guts, you're about to close up when the power in your clinic kicks off.

Rolling brownout. Pretty standard in the Orkland D-zone, but realllly bad timing.

Ope is crashing and you're in need of a bit of a boost, just for a second, to keep him breathing until the emergency generator kicks in.

When you are in a pinch, you have access to (choose one):

Skillwires 1 - hold +1 to relevant skill, chips are interchangeable, essence 3

ReadiMed^TM System - cyberlimb or cyberhand that includes an autoinjector, biomonitor, shock trodes and medical supplies, hold +1 for First Aid, essence 3

"Ugh. Building backup power failed AGAIN. Russian biobed takes a minute to reboot."

Thankfully, his RediMed system was there for him. It wasnt like all his client's walked into his chop shop.

Thr portable biomonitor observed sudden crashing and he administered some andelene to stabilize before he had to use the impromptu heart shock system.

By the time the monitors were back up, Ope's signs were stabilizing.

"Ok. Let me kick in some synth blood and an IV and I'll make sure the leg's not too fragged."

I'm probably going to want to do some character futzing at the end of this lol.

No problem. No decisions made in Prelude are permanent.

As soon as Ope is stabilized and free of extraneous metal, you are able to turn your attention to Juice’s shoulder. The wound itself isn’t all that bad, but the bullet grazed the neural connections on his boosted reflexes. It’s cheap tech to begin with and now it’s gonna be glitched unless you can get some gear that is a bit newer than your current ‘vintage’ set up.

You got a problem bigger than you can solve on your own.

You’ve got friends you can call, do you call in a favour to do what’s right? Or take on a debt?

Do you go it alone and see if you can figure it out for yourself?

Or just do what you can to patch him up, his ‘ware is his own damn problem.

Smiley sighed. He liked to think he was a nice guy. He'd done more than one repair for free, particularly if it was life effecting. This was not, really, but it would frag up this ganger's life if it didn't get it fixed. If this was some runner, he'd have to charge. No question. But this was a Razor.. brought to him by Clay.


"Shoulder's fine, but this third rate Shuzen boost-tech just got fragged in the hoop.
Safe move is to patch and you can bring him to little Chiba or something."



That was a joke. As if they had 50,000 nuyen to pay some black clinic for black market nervous system stripping nanites, and as if any of them ever took the "safe" option.


"If you got the time, I can hit up a choom at the Squat mall and get a boost calibrator and some spares, but I'm going to owe them for that kind of favor.
You cool with that giri, Clay?


So ka. A nod. Of course it was. Smiley knew his friend. But Smiley still had to ask.

He sent an URGENT comm to Slapdash.

Thankfully, ancient, obscure and cheap tech was Slapdash's specialty. You could buy the best stuff at the Crime Mall. But you could find the cheapest stuff at the Squat mall, if you knew what to look for, and if not, well, he had the 20 year old autofacs to print a limited edition run on any parts you needed.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:22, Wed 16 Feb 2022.

Added Debts and Favors

Slapdash's courier arrives with enough adrenaline simulator to boost a barghest along with a handful of surplus Ares nanites that were meant for Apollo maintenance back before the Crash.  They work slow and the neural connections made by the little spacebots are a bit shaky, but no worse than Juice's original boosted 'flexes.  Probably better.

With both bikers sedated and resting, you've earned yourself a cold one... Describe a relaxing evening... I won't promise that I won't interrupt!

Smiley tried to stay in when possible, get studying, but he had to basically rip through a ton of technical manuals to install that boost, so he needed to turn his brain down for a while. Besides, maintenance had said they were futzing with the generator tonight to make it more reliable after his earlier complaint. Smiley would believe it when he saw it, but it meant he wasn't going to have power for the next few hours.

He could hit up the stage at the Squat mall... but if he showed up at the mall tonight, there was a good chance Slapdash might pull him into something for that favor and he just wasn't in the mood. He checked the local message boards and saw who was playing. Ack Ack and the noise machines. Nah...

"Frak it, I need a break" he thought.  He cleaned up with a cold shower, threw on the cheap suit he kept strictly to go to the bar, and threw his long coat on over that to maintain his street cred for the walk.

The buildings around the Yakuza zone were their "walls". Prospects and associates inhabited the places, which catered to the worst sort of vice you could imagine. They only realy existed to be defense in depth for the Yakuza and keep the constant drek the barrens puked up out of the corp zones. He got some nasty looks till he removed his jacket showing the suit.

Bar 3 was on the edge of Yakuza territory, built around a large club used who sometimes wanted to slum the barrens without having their organs sold on the black market. Not his kinda scene, but it created a little pocket of the barrens around the big clubs and hotels that the Yakuza kept clear.

One of these was Bar 3. Run by a goblinized Yak who'd been forced into retirement, the place was an absolute gem: a quiet, old school jazz bar with an honest-to-dukhelzahn acoustic piano. There was a small bull pen for casual discussions by the bar. Smiley threw on his cheap suit to match the dress code, and threw on a street lined coat so he wouldn't lose any street cred making his way up.

The doorman in an armored long coat nodded at him and took his coat and doctor's bag once he got through the mercifully short line. He'd been around long enough to recognize him. Smiley did a fair amount of work up here. Old school synth-glass and font that looked as out of place in the barrens as they did in the neon yakuza clubs two blocks down.

He stepped into a time machine. Wood and brass interiors, old school ceiling fans, and acoustic jazz. It was all synthetic, of course, right down to the booze. Real wood and brass was way too expensive, but in the low lighting, with good music, and a real beer from the microbrewery or the best synthetic whiskey Smiley had ever tasted, well, it seemed to Smiley the closest he could come to 'class' in the barrens.

The clientele helped. It was a weird venn diagram of "middle class-ish" (as much as you got in the Sixth World) "Lives in the Barrens" (or close enough) and "Likes Jazz/synthetic whiskey" and "meta-human or very meta-human friendly". It was just far enough off the strip that the slumming corpos didn't come here. They wouldn't have liked it anyway: there were real bars like this with real whiskey back in whatever arcology they lived in. No, this was a spot for all the weird professionals that kept the district's bizarre underground economy going.. a few weirdo yakuza who wanted some time away from their organization, and of course, runners.

He hit up the bar, noting the rule "The Oni is always right" carved in italic font on the bar. He payed his respects to The Great Bartender Oni, and letting him know he was here in case there was a medical emergency.  "Business in the district, sir?" They weren't really friends yet, but that was just how Oni was. "No, just a long day." Oni nodded, and poured him a simulated 30 year old Yamazai. His first drink was free, the usual rule when a doctor came in. Oni noticed something that he needed to interject in that Smiley couldn't even make out, and gave a brief bow "Excuse me sir. Enjoy your drink Duty calls." In seconds he was in a dark corner of the bar giving a warning to someone for something.

Smiley made his way over to one of the dimly lit booths and enjoyed his first drink of the night. As he relaxed and took in the music, noting that the live band would be starting in about half an hour. He hated the open talking bar: he usually had no idea what anyone was talking about. There was also the dance floor, but he only knew how to slam dance: a lot of them clearly worked in the clubs though, so they sure were fun to watch. So, Smiley just relaxed.

Icy water is all you've got in the D-zone. You're just thankful to have running water at all, even if it does still smell ever so slightly of East Bay sewage, despite the recent hostage taking over at the Shiawase water treatment plant.

Yakuza presence this side of San Francisco Bay is an anomaly, and Bar 3 is probably the only open and enduring presence. Its a throw back to bygone days in more ways than one. Before Independence, before the Empire came, before the Diet's 'peacekeeping' force, Berkley and Albany were a cosmopolitan melting pot of many ethnic communities and metatypes.  When the Empire came and established the human cultural zone in San Fran, many Japanese packed up and moved west. The few that remained stayed in Westbrae.

There are not so subtle reminders of the underworld presence throughout the 'plex. In the streets around Bar 3 you'll find the stylized five headed hydras of the Five Families sometimes painted over with the black and silver petals of the Black Chrysanthemums.  The Five Families have a firm hold here, but are challenged at every turn by the much larger Black Mums. It's an uneasy peace the Five Families maintain with the communities of the east shore, but the common enemy they share in the Imperial supported Black Chrysanthemums helps keep things from boiling over.

Usually...

Tonight a pair of orcs seem to have had a few too many and take exception to being cut off by their Japanese hosts. A shouting match is escalating over by the bar, and this could turn real ugly real fast...

How does Smiley handle this kind of racial tension? Is he a mediator or does he keep his own council and stay out of it?

Smiley stood up. GBO was busy dealing with some other mess with a high profile client, or he'd have dealt with this himself.

Smiley didn't didn't work here of course, but it someone got hurt, he'd probably be the one cleaning up the mess. And he would vastly prefer this not result in violence. The last thing he needed was for the yak guards to use it as an excuse to harass more metas or screw up what was probably the only decent bar within the entire district.

His voice slipped back into the one he used when arguing in the squat mall, dropping about a quarter of an active and sounding a bit gruffer than he usually did. It wasn't really designed to be intimidating, but between the voice and the scars around his mouth, he'd mark that he wasn't some accountant from some weird grey market business in the Yak zone.

They didn't look like locals from the area.

Smiley made his way over and whistled very loudly from behind to get their attention. It was not something he would ever normally do, but hey, he'd rather they harass him than the staff. They also might view him as a sympathetic ear.. or they might take a swing because he had a (cheap) suit on: he needed some more info.


"Hoi, chummers?  This ain't no place to get dragged or raise hell. I know a couple good joints for that. What's got your fangs up?

These two are too far gone to jazz with some suit wearing tusker.

One is winding up to take a swing at you...

choose one:
You've taken more than a few hits, and always got back up. One more ain't gonna make no difference: ‘ARD BASTARD: take +1 to gut checks.

This fella just bit off more 'en he can chew. STREETFIGHTER: the first time you attack an enemy with a nonlethal weapon (fists, feet, batons, etc), you are boosted.

This drunk isn't the biggest or the toughest you've ever stood toe-to-toe with. FEARLESS: take +1 to stay frosty in the face of fear.

Smiley was an orc. An orc who grew up in the barrens.
An orc who had an early career as a bouncer and junior gang member.
An orc who was very used to dealing with unruly patients, and knew the familiar sign of jazz. An orc who was very tired of this shit, and just wanted a drink.

Streetfighter

Smiley stepped forward and dropped his heavy combat boot on the man's knee with his full 200+ pound weight as the inebriated man began his his swing. The orc fell to the ground, clutching his knee, and Smiley ropped that foot to the floor and delivered a stepping kick to the orc's jaw.

Nothing that wouldn't heal in a month or two, maybe less with good treatment.
Smiley was not a killer, but he was certainly no pacifist. He wouldn't have survived that way in the barrens.

He adjusted his balance and stood so he was facing the other guy.

I don't see a doc wagon bracelet, jazz-breath. You leave now with your friend, this is just a bad night. I'll even give you a sprint for his knee.

You try that drek again, what do you think the Yaukza are going to do when they see two broken trogs on the street who caused trouble in a bar that pays protection?

Smiley wasn't the only chop shop in the barrens, but it was probably one of the only ones that didn't take fresh unlicensed bodies.

In point of fact, if he had to hurt this guy, he'd probably use binder strips, call in a favour, and have the razors take care of them in a non-lethal manner. What a pointless waste of a favour. A trog's gotta have principles though.

Rock and Roll 17:46, Today: Mr. Johnson, on behalf of Smiley, rolled 10 using 2d6+1.  Rock and Roll. boosted Strong Success

Your boot scores a hit and the orc falls like a sack of hammers. His friend wobbles in his feet…

Make them sweat
17:51, Today: Mr. Johnson, on behalf of Smiley, rolled 4 using 2d6+1.  Make them sweat. Fail Take 1XP

…but he is too far gone to scan what you are trying to say.  ”You gotta beef, hunh?” he says, words slurred, ”Got a beef?”  Yak cutters or not, this guy is about to start throwing hands.

Combat continues!

1. It’s one-on-one with the first orc out of the fight…
2. This guy is pretty out of it,
3. but probably won’t go down easy…

Smiley [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ]
Orc [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ]

"Looks like its' time to make myself some business. "

Smiley went for a counter. Jazz would make this guy quicker and tougher, but his friend wasn't a great fighter, so he broadcast his intentions on the net like a frakking viral advert.

He waited for the first punch from the Ork, and then countered... with his portable defibrillator.

No guns or knives were allowed in the club. But he'd had his doctor's bag.

It was a Doc Wagon special, fallen off the back of a Valyerkie AV or maybe a shot medic, standard issue for Docwagon medics. They probably rarely used it: they had the security specialists as well as a minigun to deal with threats, but Docwagon had designed the thing anyway. And then, naturally, some had fallen off the back of AV's or been dropped by combat medics.

Smiley hadn't asked if it was taken off a dead medic or just dropped: he'd just jumped at the chance to get a top-of-the-line piece of gear like that.

One of the options in the equipment list is a special weapon. The "Tazer" seems to be range touch, so I thought that made sense. Is that ok? If not I will reword.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:17, Sun 20 Feb 2022.

Special weapon makes perfect sense.

Is it built into the DocWagon bag?

Which is it?
Taser (range close, dmg 4 stun, shock, slow)
Stun Baton (range touch, dmg 2 stun, shock, ignores armor)

Lets go with tazer.
I'll get something else for close fighting.
Sure, have it be built into the bag, like it fires out a couple prongs.


This message was last edited by the player at 07:44, Sun 20 Feb 2022.

OK, it's a one shot James Bond type of gizmo built into the DocWagon gear bag for self defence. It clips in an out so you can carry it around without the bag. PocSec updated

Tiny high voltage needles trailing mircofiliment wires fly toward the intoxicated orc...

Rock and Roll 11:20, Today: Mr. Johnson, on behalf of Smiley, rolled 9 using 2d6+1 ((5,3)). Weak success

...hitting him full in the shoulder and upper arm, enough to slow him down, but not enough to drop him to the floor. He catches you with a glancing blow to the head from a fist the size of a cheap car stereo.

Threat move: deal damage

or...

Rock and Roll 11:20, Today: Mr. Johnson, on behalf of Smiley, rolled 9 using 2d6+1 ((5,3)). Edge Bump Strong success

...hitting him full in the chest, the orc drops to his knees convulsing as the high voltage 'trodes deliver a powerful jolt.

I'll take the shot if it's non-lethal. It would probably be better if I had a little damage from this guy.

The shot clipped Smiley's head. It wasn't the first time that Smiley had taken a shot to the face though (not even the first 20, if he wasn't an ork, he'd probably have to worry about CTE at some point). Smiley had won a lot of fights (and lost a few) and he'd taken some serious hits in the past.

The worst he'd ever been on was a fight when some pretty little thing in an outfit that concealed nothing had turned the guy he was working on into soup with a mono whip. He'd never seen one before: they were ruinously expensive and very uncommon in the barrens. She hadn't really been aiming for him, but monowhips were imprecise weapons as far as collateral damage. He lost an arm and was in no condition to stop the woman.

The replacement arm had taken a while to pay off, but it had paid for itself many times over, and that was the one that grabbed the wrist of that car streo sized hand and began to squeeze.

Cyberarms were interesting. On trids they'd show someone punch and knock a dude back 50 feet. Bulldrek. Most of the force from a punch came from body torque and use of leverage, and that was the body, not the arm. You had to reinforce the shoulder like crazy for something like that. Now, grip strength was another thing entirely. Every bit of grip strength came from the myomers and hydraulics in the limb, and was not bound by human limitations, just the limiters on the arm.

Cyberarms were also bulkier than they had to be. modern hydraulics and myomeres were pretty small. You could fit in extra batteries and armour, but there was still plenty of extra space for portable tools. Smiley had a biomonitor readout... and another shock system.

Having your wrists crushed with electricity poured into it was not a pleasant experience. Ideally, it would get through the chemical haze of the jazz. As the ork lost motor control, Smiley spun his below down and pulled the man to the ground where he'd be less of a threat, then broke the hold.

<blue> Stay down, jazz breath. You have a heart attack, I'll treat you, but the bill's going to be ugly. I got enough deadbeats in my debtors' book. <blue>

Smiley [/] [/] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ]
Orc [/] [/] [/] [/] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ]

You roll with the punch and go for his wrist...

Rock and roll 20:22, Today: Mr. Johnson, on behalf of Smiley, rolled 6 using 2d6+1 ((2,3)). Fail Take 1XP

...and he stumbles in his drug addled stupor, slips your grip, catches you with a wild punch and sneers "Dat all you got?"

or...

Rock and roll 20:22, Today: Mr. Johnson, on behalf of Smiley, rolled 6 using 2d6+1 ((2,3)). Edge Bump Weak success

...and, unable to slip your grip, he falls to his knees.  Lashing out, he catches you with a wild punch and sneers as he fades into unconsciousness "Dat ... all you ... got?"

 Lets keep playin!

Now, his own fangs up, Smiley turned to look at the man.

Not even close.

The doctor went to sleep, and the teenage ork ganger/bouncer took over.

Then he kneed the ork in the groin, grabbed the man's head in his cyber arm, and began to smash his head into the dura-chrome bar stool while the joules continued to pour into the man from his cyberarm's shock system.

I...*wham*.... just *wham*....wanted *wham*.... an old....*wham* fashioned *WHAM*

Meanwhile, his arm began beeping, warning that repeated defibrillation charges could cause cardiac arrhythmia or even arrest. Smiley didn't have the time to disable the safety alarms, no doubt meant for those lucky doctors who didn't use the taze function of their shockheart more than the defibrillate option.

For this next one, I'll spend the edge if it's within 1 autoamtically. If it's 2 I'll think about it. 3 or 4, nah.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:57, Mon 21 Feb 2022.

You can spend one edge now on an Edge Boost to ensure success...

Sounds good!

Rock and Roll 21:31, Today: Mr. Johnson, on behalf of Smiley, rolled 4 using 2d6+1 ((1,2)). boosted Weak success

Flailing, the orc catches you on the side of the head, but it isn't enough to prevent your barrage of heavy blows.  You're left standing over him breathing heavily as his eyes roll back into his head, the fight draining from him...

Smiley [/] [/] [/] [/] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ]
Orc [/] [/] [/] [/] [/] [/] [/] [ ]

Fight ends. Take 1XP.

He had some new bruises he was going to start feeling very soon.

He sighed deeply as the fight or flight reflex left him, and he took several ragged deep breaths to wash the combat-lust from his mind.

Then he stopped that damned beeping on his arm. The next priority was to ensure that the two orcs were breathing and not choking on their own tounges or in any other way going to just die. He put them in the recovery position (on their side), and, not seeing that they were going to instantly die, he went to the next priority. He lightly cleaned the chair and his hands with antiseptic after he noticed a bit of blood from where he'd smashed the orc's head into the chrome chair. Thankfully, dura chrome was pretty damned hard.

Finally, He turned towards the rapidly approaching security and of course, Great Bartender Onizuka himself, and gave an apologetic bow as he rushed up. It wasn't... perfect, but he'd put in some effort at not looking like a completely streotypical westerner making a bow.

"I am deeply sorry, Onizuka, for any distress to your patrons. I believe they are on a combat drug: jazz. They are unconscious but should recover in time.

He really, REALLY didn't want to get kicked out of this bar. Particularly right now, because he could really use another drink after taking two swipes.

GBO had a reputation for being unfailingly polite, but also very set in his ways that no trouble comes into the bar. Sometimes he'd 86'ed customers who simply did not fit in with the place or brought too much trouble. The atmosphere was the thing that made the place unique, and Smiley could understand perfectly his reasoning.

Behind his mask, you wouldn't know he was a metahuman. He was a little bulky for a typical breeder, but the secure tech armored suit and weird Japanese face mask made his features impreceviable. He stroked his chin with a gloved hand for a moment as he considered and gave a look to the staff to confirm what had happened.
This message was lightly edited by the player at 04:47, Wed 23 Feb 2022.

Prelude ends. Take 1XP. PocSec should be up to date.

Looking to set up a solo thread for you while we wait for a good opportunity for you to join the Oakland Crew.

Dammit, I'm a doctor not a...

...Water Treatment Technician: The MPA are taking another run at the Shiawase water treatment plant in East Bay and are looking for a doc to help them figure out how to fix the water problems.

...Road Pirate: The Razor Wires are helping out an Orkland clinic and plan to hijack a road trian to get medical supplies. They need your technical knowledge and will cut you in on the take.

...Combat Bike Mechanic: In the annual Battle of the Free State, the San Fran Knights are facing off against the California Rangers.  Plenty of work for freelance medics to keep the teams patched up during the match.

Choose one.

"...Water Treatment Technician: The MPA are taking another run at the Shiawase water treatment plant in East Bay and are looking for a doc to help them figure out how to fix the water problems."

This sounds like something that could help a lot of people.

Got it... one orc's terrorist is another orc's freedom fighter!

It always feels like mass casualties should come in late at night,..

...but these aren't shot up bikers, these are sick kids. Half a dozen of 'em. Orcs and trolls with dirty faces doubled over with pain and nausea. Folks around Merrit Lake just know where to bring the sick on a mid morning on an remarkable cloudy day.

The good news, these kids just need antibiotics and fluids.

The bad news, this was entirely preventable. These kids are puking their guts out simply because they can't get clean water.

Smiley grabbed one of his secure burners and made a phone call to a number he didn't like using, but whatever response he could get from the MPA was going to be more than from any government or corporate answer to a Sinless wannabe doc calling about a bunch of sick trogs.

"Righteous? Yeah, this is Smiley. Yeah, the Doc from the Barrens. No, I ain't got donations fr you, when the frag have I had the nu- never mind. Listen, I got another half dozen trog n troll kids from Meritt sick.

Yeah, they'll be fine, it's Giardia and Cholera-12. Antibiotics and a ton of fluids. But for every kid they bring in there are probably 20 untreated. If you've got something else wrong with you this'll kill people.

Yeah, I said Meritt, Shiawase site fed. Same as the last time, and the time before that. That treatment plant was second rate when itw as build, and that was in the damned 30's!"

Another "they'll see what they could do". Smiley hung up and prepared another order of crappy third rate antibiotics and salene. Useless for most purposes, but good at treating the water out of that useless purification system. Maybe he could hit up one of the few charitable centers that sometimes bankrolled him?

It was about 20 minutes later he got another call back.. from the MPA.

They had a full team ready to act for once. They just needed a plan of action. The MPA was great at wrecking things or stealing data, but how did they magically fix 50 year old badly maintained critical infrastructure when they didn't have the money?

Smiley said he'd get back to him and thought about it.

Getting purifiers to all the people in the Barrens was a joke, for reasons that didn't need to be mentioned. Similarly, trying legal action or media attention was a joke as well: no one cared about sinless orcs in the barrens. Shaming Shiawese into it was another thing that wasn't going to happen either.

They could try and arrange a nasty pathogen killer from a back alley source, but the cure might be way, WAY worse than the disease. Plus if any major corp got the idea someone was futzing around with bioweapons in the barrens, they'd get squashed flatter than krill patties.

Nah, the best bet, stupidly, was probably to upgrade the Shiwaese plant without anyone knowing. Right now the place spent most of it's money on security, doing the bare minimum to maintain the city contract. Upgrading the 50 year old hardware with 15 year old hardware without anyone knowing might be the best fix.

First though, they'd need the plans to the place and a water sample near the source.

[9 blank lines suppressed]

The sane way is to get as much info on the plant as possible. We do some recon,

"Can't talk details on this phone." the deep baritone on the other end says cautiously. "I'll send one of the youngsters by to set up a time and place to talk."

>> FF evening, Merrit Lake

Over the past month, the old Laney College campus has begun the mutation from egalitarian homestead to militant forward operating base. A couple of the larger buildings that seem to have mostly survived the quake with a few slapdash repairs remain community living centres but splatters of paint declaring "Remember Joanna Wilde" and "MPA 4ever" have cropped up with increasing frequency.

After the December Knight Errant lockdowns and searches, the number of residents wearing yellow safety vests emblazoned “Community Patrol” has doubled. The urban detritus of the D-zone has a developed into a well camouflaged improvised fences and barriers to form an efficient obstacle belt that would impede the incursion of any organized security forces. A suspicious glint of metal from a nearby rooftop reveals what might be an observation post, or perhaps a sniper.

On the way into the campus, you're approached by one of the numerous community patrols. An orc male and a human woman, both wearing yellow vests that make a poor attempt at concealing submachine guns.

"Haven't seen you around," says the human woman, scanning your vest. "Someone call for a doc?"

"Sort of, chummer.

If something comes up I try to always be ready to help, but I'm supposed to be talking about the spread of parasites and diseases. You know, consulting for political action.

The name's Smiley"

Smiley was a bit less guarded than most about giving details out, but he didn't need to drop other people's street names yet on some random recruit in the MPA, so he didn't ask for Twisted or Righteous.

Either this was someone who knew why he was here, or he had to find someone else.

"Awright, gimme a minute to check on that." she says tapping something into her wrist comp.  After a few moments or awkward silence, then waves you past the patrol. "Alumni office in old student centre. They're waiting for you."

It's just a short walk through the old campus, now a scattered collection of shipping containers converted into homes and businesses or broken down delivery vans running shops out of their back doors. Its a bustling little community, dominated by orcs and trolls, many of whom harbor no specific political motivations, just caught in the wrong place at the wrong time and sick of drinking poison.

Approaching the student centre, you repeat the security shakedown with another patrol that secures the main entrance to the building before you are allowed to enter.

Smiley chatted amicably with most of them as he walked in, asking about life in general and offering to take any messages back, or maybe answer some basic medical questions while security did it's thing.

These were people he respected. He should get down here more: it looked like they could use extra doctors.

Of course, he has stretched pretty thin already.

The troll called Righteous meets you just inside the student centre. Much like the campus, the Merrit Lake squatters have filled every open space with makeshift homes or stalls to sell whatever they have that others might find useful. Inside the trapped air and substandard HVAC mean the air carries all manner of smells, heavy, damp and smokey with people living and cooking in close proximity.

"Good to see you again Doc. How long has it been? Two years? Three?" rumbles the trolls deep voice. "Sacramento seems so long ago. This here ain't much, but it's home." he added with a nod to the people living on the campus, "If you gotta live on the fringes of the civilized world it's nice to have a roof over yer head."

Smiley shook the huge horned hand of one of his goods friends.. he'd practically been a mentor to him.

Righteous was one of the more stable people he knew, certainly for a troll. They got along pretty good, though Smiley was a bit swifter with his fists on account of being raised in the barrens. Righteous was less prone to initiate violence.. though when he did, he had what was referred to as a "big ole frag off shotgun" and an axe.

Sacramento had been Smiley's first time out of the greater Seattle area, and it had taught him not to take contracts out of the greater Seattle area. They'd been well paid at least.

"Feels longer. I was really still a kid then. You taught me a lot."

You grew up quick, or you died, in the barrens. Sacramento had convinced him to be very discerning with his contracts as a 'runner though.

"'Ain't much, but it's home.' Yeah, I feel that. Much the same at the chop shop.
I'm not exactly living large, but only one building on the block has utilities.

Seems like a lot more people here now. I should maybe do some more rounds once in a while up here if you got this many people."

Of course, it wasn't like the Barrens squat scene was overflowing with street docs. At least not the kind that would be treating squatters other than removing their organs for a loan shark.

"Hey chummer, we're all still learning," Righteous says amicably, leading you into the Alumni office. "Protests and civil disobedience have their place, and I look back on Sacramento with fond memories, but those tactics have run their course."

Inside the office you find a couple of orcs sitting on well worn couches. In the centre of the room a human man sits bound to a broken office chair. He is dirty, gagged and blindfolded. A cursory glance shows signs of violence, but nothing that will leave permanent harm. Just superficial injuries, maybe he had to be subdued to get him here.

"Which, brings us to today." the troll says with a sense of finality.

Smiley chutted, and quickly looked the man over and make sure the man wasn't going to die on him.

He didn't AGREE with such tactics, but if this guy worked for Shiawese and was responsible for the poisoning of countless people, his objections were more out of principle than and sympathy for the man.

"So, who is this, and what have we learned from them?"
This message was last edited by the player at 02:59, Tue 01 Mar 2022.

"This here is Mr Saint Clair." the troll replies without malice, firm and businesslike. "Saint Clair here used to work at the plant. Had something of a falling out with Shiawase and was kind enough to help some of our young recruits find their way out back in December." he pauses giving you a knowing glance "Kind enough to help them get out before the corp cops stormed the place. So we're going easy on 'im."

"Anyway, we were just about to start chatting when they called up to say you were here." He rests a giant hand on Saint Clair's shoulder, causing the man to flinch. "No hard feelings cummer, just need to know some things about the plant is all."

Smiley smiled, showing off his scars. In good lighting, one could usually see that he was good natured, but this place did not have good lighting.

"This will be very simple then. See, the plant's malfunctioning in a way that's making a LOT of people in the barrens gettin wrecked. Children and the elderly, mostly. Since most victims are sinless, it's cheaper for the corp to ignore it and continue to get paid.

So, we're going to either find a simple fix for the problem ourselves, or, if that isn't feasible, we'll have to force them to upgrade by disabling the pumps permenently. I really don't want to do that though, since a lot of people won't have treated water in the mean time.

We either need schematics, or access, to give us a good idea of the approach. So ka, chummer?"

St Clair grunts behind the gag before righteous pulls it away so he can speak. "If you will allow me to correct a misconception?" he says sheepishly, hastily. He is scared. Quite understandable given the circumstances. "The problem is not a malfunction, everything is working exactly as designed. Simply put, the affluent Shiawase managers don't care to make the changes necessary to redirect the effluent streams away from the intakes." he says with a hint of a smirk.

"Apologies for the witticism and poor word play. I'm a bit... nervous of course. Back when the intakes were upgraded in '57 the modelling suggested this problem would occur. The draw from the bay is powerful enough to pull polluted water into the intakes." he continues. "There are purifiers and desalination equipment installed downstream in the water lines and pumping stations that feed Westbrae, Berkeley, Orinida; but the set-up for Oakland is insufficient. Shiawase has inherited the problem but sees no profit in fixing it. I hold no love for Shiawase, and will tell you whatever I can to help you gain access to the plant, but you might explore other less well guarded options."

Smiley nodded. What he said made sense.

That tracks. If you got any ideas on the best way to hit that place to make sure there's less noise and fewer people getting hurt, I'm all ears.


I'm sure St. Clair has a good memory of the plant, but it would be good to have a visual reminder.

Righteous, did Grumthuk get the plans from the Matrix so our friend can give specific suggestions?

Grumthuk was a particularly bookish woman who used (exclusively) overmuscled orc barbarians as her avatars, who exclusively spoke a lot like Neil the Ork Barbarian. "Me mighty Ork CRUSH ICE!!" Most orc members of the MPA either found this hilarious, or obnoxious.. but all of them would have put up with a lot more from a hacker as credible as her.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:52, Fri 04 Mar 2022.

"Nah, she's been too busy playing with her online friends." Righteous replies showing frustration. "Kid is nova hot on that deck, but not a believer in the cause. I'll flash her another message and see if she can put it on the to do list. Until then, maybe we scout out the plant, the pump site or the Oakland desalination station from the ground?"
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:09, Sat 05 Mar 2022.

Smiley offered a shrug and a nod.
He hated going into a run blind: he wouldn't run at all if he could get away with it, but this was too important.
And the water treatment plant wasn't exactly on Shiawese's high list of priorities. They were maybe concerned about people stealing from the site, but that was about it. A recon trip wasn't likely to draw a huge amount of heat on their heads.

"If I might offer a suggestion?" St. Clair asks sheepishly.

Righteous nods replying, "Spill it."

"Yes, well... while I believe you might find the desalination stations relatively unguarded, the East Bay plant itself has stepped up security since the events of last month." he offers. "But, if you wish to get a closer look at either, the work yard near the East Bay plant itself has a number of company vehicles and a small storage facility where you might find some maintenance coveralls."

"Hmm.. not the worst idea. I know that they hire plenty of orcs and trolls for that kind of stuff."

It was a paying gig.. until you got injured, got too old, or developed something nasty from a toxicity exposure. He'd treated a few retired workers from the plant. The retirement and medical plans weren't exactly first-rate for grunt employees.

"Shouldn't be too tough too get in and steal what we need to gain access to the desalination stations or the main pumps." Righteous agreed. "You got any details about shift changes or security on the way in that might help?"

St Clair explains that the night maintenance crews are the least supervised, but need the most stringent security checks to gain access after hours. Conversely, it might be easier to slip in among the larger day shift crowds, but then it's far more likely someone will notice you if you get up to something suspicious.

"I think we can pull that off. Grimthak could run coms. Not sure if Twisted will pass a close inspection, but I guess scars don't disqualify you from a job lifting stuff. She's more than capable of that."

Twisted was a truly terrifying woman who had earned her scars against a toxic shaman. A physical adept and follower of bear, she was not good at social interactions and looked the part.

Smiley shuddered as he realized he and Righteous were going to have to be the faces. That was kind of terrifying.

"Grim is running down the tech specs as we speak. Might take her a bit, but maybe she'll join in later." Righteous replies. "Pretty sure I can get Twisted to join. Only question is, do we go on the day shift or on the night shift?"

"Day shift, of course, if we're going to go in by day. Might make it easy, right?

Everyone knows all the crazy shadow stuff that happens at night.

Unless Twisted has a sunlight allergy?"

Weird allergenic reactions were something he treated occasionally. Some didn't even fit the usual pattern: pity the poor fool that had a plastics allergy in the barrens though, they usually didn't last long.

"Haha, you know how I like the direct approach." Righteous replies. "We'll be ready to roll first thing in the morning. Wouldn' want to be late for work."

You have some time for legwork... anything you want to do before you meet Righteous and Twisted in the morning?

How are you planning on approaching the maintenance facility? Scam? Stealth? Direct assault?

Smiley is going to do research before hand. He has a reliable internet connection, so he's going to try and get an understanding of the company before he goes down by going through their publicly available documents.



Once Smiley had done a bit of research, he came back with a plan.

"St. Claire. Why don't I run this scenario by you and you see how plausible it sounds if you were working there. I don't speak Corpo but our hacker can.

The facility gets a comm from head office. There's no truth to the rumor that the maint shed is leaking Polychlorinated biphenyls. Dioxins. Nasty shit. Common problem with ancient industrial electronics.

But, just in case, maybe the guards should avoid the place in the future cause the health of their employees yadda yadda corporate bulldrek. Include the basic symptoms of dioxin exposure, including cloracne. I got a couple good pics.

Independent inspection teams may show up to ensure that the shed is Dioxin free and that the equiptment matches the logs and correct any discrepancies in the logs.

Remember that theft of of OFFICIAL Smiley used a lot of emphasis company property is prohibited. Hacker removes the equipment from the logs.

So we walk up there in medical waste disposal suits, a pick up and some big ass steel drums and boxes. Guards won't want to have nothing to do with us if we're disposing of toxic waste, right?

Plan B is violence, of course. Since we're basically acting as runners, we'll go in with the biggest guns we can. Even if they suspect it's BS, I'm not sure corp security is going to want to touch this one for a couple grand in 40 year old equipment.

Does that track, chummer?
This message was last edited by the player at 17:23, Thu 10 Mar 2022.

Citation Needed 21:05, Today: Mr. Johnson, on behalf of Smiley, rolled 8 using 2d6+1 ((1,6)). WEAK SUCCESS

Choose:

(1) You provide a useful detail but I follow up with a complication
or
(2) I tell you something, you figure out how to use the information

In reply to Mr. Johnson (msg # 57):

#2 sounds fun!

The plant is run by Shiawase Envirotech

"I must admit that I don't have the expertise to know if your cover story will stand up to scrutiny." St Clair replies. "As a layman standing guard at the security gates, I would defer to company policy. Unless Shiawase has changed standard procedures, a Code Brown response should include containment, evacuation and clean up by an contracted agency that specializes in hazardous materials."

"Great, that'll be us. I'll throw in the wording on the Code Brown and we can get Grimthak mark us as the "hazardous materials" company. Maybe put a crappy sign on the van.

I think I got some disinfectant sprayers I use to clean up the surgical beds as well w can bring out, should help sell it.

Those medical waste disposal suits look enough like Hazmats anyway, and I don't think they will want to get too close to the contaminated site. "

“All you need is a few moments of confusion,” St Clair offers helpfully.

”As good a plan as any,” Righteous says. ”Once we have the maintenance outfits from the company, we check on the purifiers and see if they are a softer target than the main plant.”

Other preparations to take care of?
Fast-forward to the next day?
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:57, Sun 13 Mar 2022.

After a quick message to Grimthwak to make sure that she knew what they were up to, Smiley got together with the rest of the crew and a few volenteers to get a decent looking vehicle and set it up so that it looked like it fit the part, as well as find some hazard materails.

The cheap disposable medical waste suits and outdated gasmasks Smiley had were also acquired.

By the end of it, the vehicle looked semi-legitimate, which was probably good enough for a very fly by night disposal service.

Loaded question: Where did you score the van?

MPA black market "for the cause". That could be a favor or some nuyen?

You're relying on the MPA to come through in the clutch...

Go Shopping 19:04, Today: Mr. Johnson, on behalf of Smiley, rolled 3 using 2d6 ((1,2)). FAIL Take 1XP

Option 1: Everybody can relax, I found the car...

...and they come up big. The driver, an orc named Monroe, shows up riding a longhaul trip and driving a Bulldog that looks a little rough around the edges, but it should pass a quick inspection.

Option 2: ...Needs some suspension work and shocks. Brakes, brake pads, lining, steering box, transmission, rear-end.

...and they come up empty. The driver, an orc named Monroe, shows up blissed out and driving a Tsarina that looks like it was salvaged from the '54 firestorm, this pile won't fool anyone.

Option 1 comes with a complication later...
Option 2 you need to deal with now...

"Ah drek.

Nice try, chummeres, but that ain't going to fool anyone, even with a night of work. At least from your mechanics. Ah well, time to call in a favour..."

Smiley dialed up the Razors. As bikers, they hit corporate convoys and civilian vehicles pretty regularly. Chances are they'd have a stolen truck they could swap the plates on, or parts and mechnics to do a quick patch job that would fool cursory inspection.

<orange> I'll chose the hard fail, and then burn my favor with the Razors for a truck, mention it's a "good deed" job too, though if Smiley is involved, they probably know that. <orange>

One of the gang, a halfer named Sack shows up two hours late but driving a van that looks like a thousand others in the 'plex. This won't rouse an ounce of suspicion.

Your crew consists of Sack the dwarf driver, the orc adept Twisted and the troll called Righteous. With some effort, you might be able to rouse the blissed out orc Monroe, but it remains to be seen whether he is any help or just a continued liability. Your call, is Monroe in or out?

Eventually, you are all decked out in cheap disposable HAZMAT suits and carrying gas masks. To anyone trained in chemical emergency response, you probably look pretty bush league, but you're hopeful that the guards at the maintenance yard gate likely won't know any better.

Somewhere out in the electrons, there is supposed to be a decker called Grimthak, but you haven't heard from her since she sent a message saying she was going after the technical specs for the pumps and treatment plants. You're left wondering, when you phone for tech support will someone pick up?

Welp, at the end of the day, either she'd ride comms or the mission would have to go loud.. and if she didn't, there would be retributions.

Smiley wasn't a violent person by nature, and tracking down the hacker wouldn't be worth it.

But, Grimthwak would be an instant PNG among any trog community, and any fixers he dealt with would know that she'd frakked them up and couldn't be trusted.

Not that he thought this would happen. Grimthwak wasn't dedicated to the cause, but she'd was a runner, which meant she knew that abandoning an op was not going to be well regarded and would have serious consequences.

And Smiley couldn't help but glare at Monroe as he said that.

Smiley sighed as he dealt with Monroe </blue> "I'm tempted to bring him along and then nitro him if the drek hits the fan, but but nah, he's blitzed.

We don't need the extra hassle, and we got an extra driver anyway thanks to the Razors... thanks Sack!<blue>

On this side of the ‘plex, the morning commute just isn’t a thing. Traffic is light as the D-zone sleeps away the morning and only the few low earning wage slaves plod off to straight jobs. It’s a quick drive even though you stay in the sprawl, avoiding the go gangs on the CTTR.

Sack pulls off into the East Bay Water Treatment Maintenance Yard where you find a short line up of cars idling at the gate. It looks like the guards are doing a cursory ID check.

One last chance to get on the same page…

He put up coms and pinged Grimthak with this little speech to understand what the heck was going on.


"Ok. Final check.

Grimthak should have hacked the hell out of their systems ahead of time, dropped that decom memo and triggered a brown alert or whatever.

Since we're supposed to be fly by night, and their orders say to leave us the hell alone, they should let us in. The stuff we're stealing is basically junk, and there shouldn't be too much in the spare shack. But they are corporate assholes, so who knows.

Me or Test do the talking. Not sure if you know the score Sack, so if you are some kinda social genius, cool, but

Not that I gotta worry about Twisted saying much.

Hey, Twisted, your gas mask is crooked. There ya go. Yeah, these are expired, they won't protect against shit. Only use is to infiltrate a dump like this or a rave.

Anyway, we got those med waste suits on, so we look just like a disposal crew. I even brought along my geiger counter and some electrical shit that goes beep beep beep from my medical lab. That thing? 30 year old polish ekg reader, busted to shit. Just makes beep beep noises.

I got a legit geiger counter of course. You'd be surprised how many people come in with radiation poisoning. Or maybe not, you know what kinda shit gets dumped in the barrens. Or how much old medical gear is literally hot.

Anyone asks, you say it's proprietary tech. They ask you to sign an NDA, I'll review and you sign it. Remember your name's on your ID's. Not like it's worth the paper it's printed on.

Grim's in our coms. You hear the code "Derp mode" we go hot, loud, and this turns into a smash and grab. This isn't exactly a vital spot, so security should be second-rate. Try and avoid killing any workers, though I can't imagine many would be willing to run in front of shadowrunners for what they are being paid.

Sack stays in the car.

So ka, chummers? We good? Any questions"

Personally, Smiley didn't want to kill any company security either, but he wouldn't ask for miracles. It wasn't like the cops would think twice about gunning them down if they had the chance.
This message was lightly edited by the player at 20:37, Sat 26 Mar 2022.

You get a few nods of assent and the hastily assembled gang runs through a few hamfisted checks on their equipment.

Lumbering forward in the slow traffic, your PocSec chirps to life as the online matrix crew checks in.

"Grim here, just give me a sec. Need to work something out on this end." her voice sounds different, not effecting the ridiculous stereotypical orcish speech you have heard her use in the past. Maybe there is more to this decker than she lets on...

"Ok. You got a few minutes before they are going to start checking ID's."

He turned to the driver.

Matrix issues. Grimthak isn't using her usual voice right now, so shit must be serious. We'll give her a few minutes. I don't want to go hot if they detected her hours ago or anything. Everyone keep an eye out the window in case we got spotted.

He ran a final check on his equiptment, and made sure the tazer/defib unit on his cyberarm was fully charged.. and even made sure he had some of the Nitro on hand for in case this run went REALLY sideways.

As the van pushes closer to the checkpoint, you notice the guard has begun turning cars away.  Once you reach the gate, the security guard leans out of his booth and calls over to Half "Can't let anyone in. They got some kind of chemical spill or something in the maintenance yard. Until they get a team down here to clean up the mess, guess you'll have to go around to the main entrance."

Smiley opened the window leaning out showing he was dressed in a hazmat suit, his voice muffled by the crappy gas mask.

"Yeah, that's us.

Got here as fast as we could. BUDGET-QWiK disposal. We got the open contract minutes ago.

He hit his arms diagnostic button, which made beeping noises.

Drek, they got you this close? Eh, don't worry about it, none of my business.

Memo probably hasn't hit yet since we just got the bid accepted. We can wait.

 I'm gunna close the window though. It makes decontamination easier if we don't gotta do the inside.

Stay Frosty 20:59, Today: Mr. Johnson, on behalf of Smiley, rolled 9 using 2d6 ((3,6)). WEAK SUCCESS

"Um... yeah..." the guard stammers uncomfortably, clearly wondering how much poison he is unwittingly absorbing and if it's worth the modest salary Shiawase is paying him. "Well, umm, we got new procedures to follow since the buy out, so I gotta call in to check with the main office."

Behind him you see a second guard picking up the phone...

Usually weak success comes with some options?
You know what? Frak it, use an edge.


Smiley sounded very calm, but he tapped a "GUARD CALLING FROM FRONT GATE, GO LOUD?" message as he closed the window.

Hey, up to you.  I'll just be inside with the gas masks on full.

Every minute we're sitting here we're billing your corp and none of this runs.
It's your nuyen.


Either the guard's call would be intercepted by their hacker, or they'd say screw it, or this was going to go loud.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:40, Tue 29 Mar 2022.

In reply to Smiley (msg # 76):

The call is the complication, but your Matrix crew seems to have it in hand, save your edge ;)

Null persp... stay chill... we got the call... flashes back on your phone in reply.

"This stuff serious?" the guard asks in a concerned voice.

Smiley took a dead pan tone and chose his words very carefully.

Legally, I can't discuss it, as per my contract.
But... the more hazardous the job, the better our pay.
I am very happy with my pay, today, sir.

Smiley spoke with a lot of volume to be heard by the guard, as he was now speaking to him from a van with the windows rolled up through a gas mask.

And the fact that he was speaking to the guard from inside a van with the windows rolled up also spoke with a lot of volume.

"Uh... that sounds serious." says guard one uncertainly.

"They say to close the windows." calls out the guard on the phone covering the receiver mic. "We don't get paid enough for this drek."

"What!?" calls back guard one closing the window. "They say this is legit?"

After a few moments of what appear to be heated conversation inside the closed up shack, the arm blocking the access road raises up and the guard waves your van through.

Smiley nodded and tapped back to Grimthak a smiley emjoji, and drove into the compound.

After they were in, they made their way to the target. Once well inside, and with the windows still up, he texted.


"Thanks. We're in. Now we just gotta get this stuff and leave. If stuff's going to go loud, give us as much warning as you can."

Then he addressed his team.

Ok. Nul sheen so far. We just gotta get this stuff and get out. Remember to keep your gear on, but there shouldn't be anyone at the target location.

Your small crew gathers up maintenance uniforms and toolboxes loading them into the van. In the haste to evacuate the maintenance yard, the workers even left behind a company tablet. Although you can’t access it now, you might be able to gain some more info from St Clair if his logins are still active. Even if they aren’t, the tablet will make a useful prop if you are questioned during a run into one of the transfer stations.

Naturally, Smiley dumped it in the hazardous containers barrels along with everything else they needed.

"Hey, if you aren't driving, make sure you move aruond a bit and look like your doing.. cleaning chemical stuff. I got some EZ Clean to spray around too. Just make sure we don't leave anything of ours behind.

You could buy that stuff from any Stuffer Shack or ChemCo on the planet.

Also, let's take a few things that aren't important, that might be contaminated throw them off the track that might be "contaminated." And if they do figure it out they'll think we're just stealing junk to sell.

The key was not to take too little time.

If they just ran out five minutes after getting everything, then the guards would immediately know something was up. There was still a good chance they'd figure out they'd been had, but it took longer than the job, it didn't matter.

All clear in this end. comes a text from your tech support team as you carefully collect useful gear for the next phase of your plan…

Oh, drek comes a second message moments later, Might have spoke too soon. Give us a sec

"Heads on a swivel! Our hacker might have just been made.

We may have to do this loud and dumb.

He started hauling the stuff they needed quickly and made sure his tazer was ready to go.
The unfortunate thing was that if this turned into a car chase, his hardline stance against guns was going to make him near useless.
This message was lightly edited by the player at 03:08, Tue 05 Apr 2022.

Dealing with a call to the guard hut. she says I'm gonna go get the external cameras up on my end to give you some overwatch. My partner has the call and will let you know how it goes.

Smiley sent a single acknowledged, and continued to load gear, keeping an eye out for potential problems.

About to get the cams up, I can patch them into your PocSec... hang on... after a few minutes, pictures of the plant begin scrolling by in a slideshow as you are fed stills from each of the cams in rapid succession.

The main entry gate where the guards seem to be enjoying a morning coffee...

The rear parking lot, overlooking the bay where the parking lot looks scorched and burnt, perhaps by a recent fire...

The vehicle maintenance bay, workers changing tires on a company truck...

Another vehicle bay, workers scrambling with activity, loading equipment into a nearby emergency response vehicle...

The west storage compound, no one doing anything here...

Back to the main gate...

He could ignore the fire burned parking lot: that sort of drek happened all the time with a bad parking job spilled fuel or some company vehicle just failing.

What's going on with the vehicle bay? That seems.. really weird.

I'm assuming it's not us, lol,if so, disregard.

He finished loading what they needed. If this was someone else's run, he didn't want to fuck with it. If it wasn't, he was way too professional to charge into that mess without knowing what was going on.

Once the job was done, he'd get out unless there was some truly staggering reason to stay.

Yeah, it does, gimme a sec. she replied. Looks like some kinda fire crew maybe. They're getting into the trucks now.

Did St Clair say anything about on site emergency response? Not that you recall, but he did say there had been some changes since Shiawase had taken over...

There was a little burst of statics as a new voice got on the channel.

<<<This is the Splinter>>> it said, the voice was mechanical devoid and recognizable traces of accent or tone to indicate if the speaker was was male or female.

<<<Please note Shiawase emergency response team was launched to the site... I am running interception... with luck I'll buy guys more time. I will let you know how much time you have.>>>

Looks like the response team is confused. Anna says over the comm. Bunch of guys standing around on phones now, but no telling how long this is gonna stick

"We're on a timer! They are trying to deploy assets. Getting matrix cover but it's not going to last, all aboard!"

Thankfully, they'd had a fair chunk of time to load up what they needed, plus a little more to throw off the trail and make them assume that they were just looting valuable items, not not specific stuff.

Hopefully, they had what they needed, because this was not really worth getting into a fire fight over if they could avoid it.

He commed "10-4, we're just leaving now"

Grimthak watched the video feed with a hard knot twisting in her guts out in the meat world. The team is still gearing up, but things are moving a bit more slowly. Looks like one of them, supervisor maybe, is heading off in a company car. Gonna guess he is coming your way...

Sack has the van running and ready to roll. Righteous and Twisted are onboard and the gear you need to break into one of the pumping stations is all loaded up.

You give the place one last once over...

Check the Situation:
12:32, Today: Mr. Johnson, on behalf of Smiley, rolled 8 using 2d6+1 ((4,3)). WEAK SUCCESS

Option 1: you are away smooth as glass.
All done here. Plenty of time; if you roll out now you will avoid the suit.

Option 2: fill in the blank and tell me something useful you found, then I give you a complication.
Wait a sec, is that a ______?

No complications, but if anything went wrong security was going to go crazy on the actual run.

Since his hacker had been telling him time was officially up, Smiley didn't see any reason to hang around. He decided to quit while he was ahead before any of them were seriously identified.

"Let's roll. Got no desire to complicate the legwork... the real challenge is going to be the next part."
This message was last edited by the player at 18:52, Wed 28 Dec 2022.

Scene ends, take +1XP

FF several hours later, South Shore Alameda Island.

You can barely hear the clink of cold bottles of hurlg over the trog rap blaring from nearby speakers. Righteous wraps his arm around your shoulders roughly declaring ”Doc plans runs like a regular Jake fragging Armitage,” before enjoying another long pull on his bottle.

The rest of the crew is feeling no pain either, enjoying round after round of post run drinks. The success of the East Bay run and anticipation of another outing to hijack one of the Oakland pumping stations has Righteous and Twisted in a celebratory mood.  A half dozen home brew hurlg and a gathering of locals have made the rest of the night a wash. Good news is that the halfer wheelman decided to stick around for few (imagine that) and decided to sign on for another gig.

Across the room, St. Clair sits alone, nursing a beer without much interest. Still held hostage, but no worse for wear. That isn’t saying much since when you last saw him he was tied to a chair under interrogation.  Still, you gotta consider, for a corp suit held hostage in the Orkland dregs, things are going about as well as could be expected for the Shiawase sariman.

"It's so nice when it doesn't turn into a fragging drekstorm. Here's to part 2!"

Smiley enjoyed a few celebratory beers with the crew before sitting next to St. Clair.

"Hey. How's the accommodations compare to the Nikko?" He mentioned a top tier corporate hotel that he probably wouldn't have been allowed to walk into even if he could afford it.

He was genuinely interested in what the guy was going to do after this was over.

”You know, I’ve never been.” St Clair replies taking a pull on his bottle of home brewed ale. ”When they brought me in from Atlanta they put me up at the Hilton in Presidio while waiting on an apartment in the Orinada enclave. To be honest, the beer wasn’t any better.”

”I was happy to hear that the job came off without the need for violence.  Those folks are good people. Participating in the evils of their corporation without really understanding the role they play. Victims in their own right. You are a conscientious man Doctor.”

”Tell me, how does a man of medicine end up in this kind of work?”

Smiley sighed "Don't make any sense to go crazy on people just cause you gotta." He absolutely knew what St. Clair was talking about.

He took a swig of beer.

You got it backwards, chummer.
I stepped into the shadows so I could BECOME a streetdoc.

Grew up on the streets in the barrens before I got into the whole medicine thing. I was just a wannabe ganger when a full-member one of us took one to the jugular. Grabbed and held the tubes with my runty little fingers. Earned a lot of respect, and felt a hell of a lot more respect for myself, too. That was rare for me back then.

Just sort of became an obsession after that. Only you can't be a doc without books and meds and training. So, I did some shady things for some people. Once I got good enough, I opened a clinic.. and then I suddenly needed even more cash, since a lot of my clients can't pay.


A simplified version of his life story, but not that inaccurate.
This message was lightly edited by the player at 19:55, Sat 31 Dec 2022.

”Unsurprisingly I hadn’t considered that possibility.” St Clair replies thoughtfully. ”In many ways to feel like the events of the past few weeks have been an awakening for me. I was so wrapped up in the daily grind that it kept me sleepwalking through life. I’d like to think that most people are better than they seem. Like your younger self, they just need to be shown a path to being better.”

Looking around the room at Orkland’s youth, he adds, ”Has your… umm… technical support come up with anything? I would be willing to have a look if you think it might help.”

After cleaning up the inventory logs and covering up your theft, Grimthak (aka AnnaLog) pulled some blueprints and maintenance records. You have documents for the Merrit pumping station and, for comparison, the Orinida station further up the line.

Smiley shrugged and tried not to laugh. A better path? He'd was barely a teenager when that shit went down. He hadn't of been thinking of any moral philosophy at the time. He still barely did. It had felt more natural to him, sure.

Drek, I don't know if it was a path I saw to being better at the time.
Just a scared hungry kid being told he'd done good for once in his life.

One thing's for sure though: no one will get a chance to walk down any path if they flatline at 10.

He sighed and realized he should get back to work.

Good question. I've been giving them some time to work. Lets see what they've uncovered. Smiley started downloading the PDA info to show St. Clair.

St Clair seems to stare off into space as he reads over the documents being projected onto his retinas while your copy scrolls across the screen of your PocSec.

With St Clair’s help you are boosted.

11:01, Today: Mr. Johnson, on behalf of Smiley, rolled 4 using 2d6+1 ((1,2)). boosted Weak success

“Here is something interesting,” St Clair says. ”What do you make of it?”

Provide a useful detail that will aid in your next run, I’ll provide a complication.

PS: you have an Advance coming to you. Check into the XP and Nuyen thread and take a level-up.

In reply to Mr. Johnson (msg # 101):

Smiley blinked. He had some experience with older electronics, but not really architectural engineering. What the heck was he suppsoed to be seeing here? There was the the purifying station, there was the huge plant... the water storage... power plants... and then there was trunk lines running between the same for the control rooms inside the plant. That all made sense. All except..

There's no bathrooms.

He scratched his head and thought about it a bit more and went over the plans. Ok. There were SOME bathrooms and break rooms, but most of them were marked closed or disabled. Pretty much everyone seemed to work the security booth, the maintenance bay or the lab by the tank farm where they tested the waters.

I don't get it. This is a huge facility. Even with a skeleton crew, they have like maybe a 10th of the people they should. 

There was one other area with a lot of people, and that was the weird patchwork of ancient servers they were running.

It's all run by drones, isn't it?

For an advance, how about Mobile Surgery?
This message was last edited by the player at 06:59, Wed 04 Jan 2023.

”This is not a recent development,” St Clair says as he checks the specs on the two pumping stations. ”Shiawase capital investment has no doubt increased the drone efficiency, but over time the upfront costs will be balanced by labour savings. In the end it’s all about profits. Fewer people on site should make it easier for you to go about your business without interference but avoiding detection entirely will be pretty tough. Hopefully your ruse pays off.”

He takes another drink, emptying his bottle. ”The specs don’t have much about the desalination and filtration systems. The purchase orders and invoices your hacker found show the systems are provided by a third party supplier. Unless you go to the Orinida site first and get some details on their set up, you will be going in blind at the Merrit station.”

Complication: there is more valuable information out there, but you have to go and get it.

PS: PocSec updated.

Smiley thought about it some more.


"Without riggers, they need either an expert system, manual control or an AI.
No way it's an AI.No way it's manual control, there's not enough people there for that, and off site controls would be even more expensive and unreliable.<blue>

You used off line controls for drek where it was expensive to put humans. Human life was cheap in the barrens. They could literally have hired hundreds of people in the barrens with minimal complications.

<blue> If they got an expert system, that means there's a place in there where everything runs, controlled by some bored exec who pissed a lot of people off and a lot of techies maintaining the servers. Only place it would make sense to do that is that oversized tank farm: that's where the offices and facilities are.

We might be able to convince the drones to do the work for us: expert systems aren't going to give a frak what we tell them to do if we plug in the right firmware. So maybe they can do the updates for us.

Of course, we got no clue what the frak we need the servers to do, so I guess we gotta hit Orinida.


It made sense in his head. He'd run it by the crew and see what he could find, legwork wise. On one hand, he hated these incrimental runs, since messing up one step tended to cause clusterfraks later. On the other, if they pulled it of, they might actually make a difference.



Smiley was no hacker, but

>> FF next day:

”You wanna run that by me again?” Righteous asks through hangover haze.  ”Slowly.”

The day hadn’t started until late morning was turning into early afternoon. Only St Clair and the halfer were up early.  The dwarf had kindly spent the morning tinkering on a beat up GMC Bulldog that had recently come into your possession. That had left you and St Clair to plot out a few more details on the Orinida job, details you were now going over with Righteous and Twisted for a second time.

”I got it straight, chummer, I just don’t know how I feel about what I’m hearing.” Righteous said after a long time considering the idea. ”Gotta think that the heat will be a bit more intense in the enclaves, but I hear ya, getting a look at the control centres and set up in a plant that ain’t spewing out poison will make work at the Merrit job a lot easier.”

He looks at Twisted, who simply nods her agreement. ”I guess we’re in boss man, what’s the play?”

You got the makings of a team. Righteous and Twisted provide the muscle. The MPA war chest will keep Sack in (until the nuyen or the beer runs out). St Clair can provide intel or be dragged along as a ‘consultant’

What else you think you need?

Got any legwork to do before the job?

Question is, how do we want to play this one? The sort of straight in and out stuff we did in that supply yard isn't going to cut it. Their security is going to be much tighter.

All we need to do is get a good look at the place though. I can't think of a really good reason for a third-party medical van to drive up there.

Drek, that only worked for a few minutes, and their security was hot garbage.

Wouldn't mind some feedback from you St. Clair on the best approach.

We could maybe try talking our way in, but I can't think of a good angle. Corporate Enclaves are a lot tighter in terms of security. We could maybe try hacking as temps, but lets face it, none of our mugs other than St. Clair's pass as corpo, and his mug probably sets off a million fucking alarm bells. I'm thinking maybe we could hack the system and become janitors or I could be a temp first aid guy, but that seems a little iffy. We'd be splitting the team, which would be a real mess if shit started.

I'd say the simplest way would be to sneak in our hacker for an onsight hack but we don't have that kind of hacker. No idea if they'd be cool with that and from what I see, probably not. That leaves us going in and taking some close up shots of the schematics and looking at the engineering logs. Maybe putting in a tap on some off line systems so they can be hacked indirectly. Drones to take some photos would be damned nifty.

If we take the first approach, I'm thinking we hack some credentials and two or three of us walk in as temps, get the lay of the land, while the others who won't pass as wage slaves stay back. That option seems dangerous: we get spotted and there's only two of us inside a corp enclave, and we are not getting out easily.

If we take the second, we need some infil gear and basic recon. We can visit the crime mall for that. Are any of us any good at overriding doors?

”Couple of trogs and a tusker trying to con their way around with some hacked credentials? Prolly wouldn’t last a second before the corps sniff us out.” Righteous replied, kicking his massive feet up onto a makeshift table made of broken concrete blocks and an old car hood. ”I say sneaking in is the best bet.”

”You are right, or course Mr Righteous,” St Clair replied smoothly, betraying a hint of that Atlanta accent. ”The level of scrutiny would be much higher for … well, for folks like you I’m afraid.  The thing about the enclaves, if you’ll permit me to provide my opinion being most familiar with those parts of the metroplex, is that once you get inside, there is an assumption of security. The military and corporate services put a lot of effort into keeping undesirables out, but not a lot of attention is really paid to things going on inside the walls unless an alarm is raised. I’m not saying it will be a cake walk, but the hard part will be getting into Orinida.”  He reaches into his pocket, producing a glossy gold plastic disk. ”While my credentials at Shiawase are almost certainly useless, my personal accounts and access to the Orinida enclave should remain unaffected. Perhaps your technical support could help me verify, but this badge should get us past the security perimeter checkpoints without incident.”

”Sounds like we’re going behind enemy lines again.” Righteous growled, snapping the cap off a warm hurlg leftover from last night’s party.

Crime mall is always open, time to go shopping for surveillance gear and break-in tools?