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