Cyberpunk Red - Session Two - "Eye-Spy"

A roleplay session in the world of Cyberpunk Red

This session was written up by our Gamesmaster Matt and formatted for my blog by me.

Previous 'Gigs'

Story Arc One

(0) Spydar's Web, (1) Big Trouble in Little China.

The Players

Our players were all started at Rank 4

Garreth as Avery Hicks, Exec

and his Crew Member 'Jasmine'

Phil as 'Holliday' Nomad

Martyn as 'Klink', Medtech

Gamesmaster

Matt as everyone else.

Scene introductions and 'speaking to the players' bits are written in Blue to distinguish them from the roleplayed parts of the scenes.

Session Two: "Eye Spy"

Screamsheets

Sometimes the previous sessions activities make the Night City News or even point to possible future jobs...

Handouts - Avery Hicks

GM's Note - Avery's player had several tasks he wished to perform between sessions, Klink meanwhile busied himself extracting and repairing the outfits acquired cyberware. Holliday was, of course, healing...again...

Anya Metalik - Exec P.A.
Budget Arms

Jasmine

You have thanked Jasmine profusely for her work at the Little China precinct. Clearly you didn’t really need her help on this occasion but you efforts to reward her for her time were nevertheless accepted most graciously.

Anya

You have spent some more time with Anya and learned a little about the 'Acquisitions' department. On paper their main interest is in buying up small businesses to help with essentially monopolising the arms industry. For example, this could include purchasing small independent gun shops and replacing them with Budget Arms ones.

Behind the scenes, acquisitions are responsible for acquiring resources for the corporation. In the case of your first gig on their behalf, you retrieved information but this could also extend to dealing in materials or technology and designs.

Finnby Kennedy

The logistics officer was very grateful when most of the missing weapons were recovered.

He had followed your advice and made sure that his name hadn’t been attached to anything in relation to the ambush and missing shipment so in theory he is completely clear, however he is also very aware that you know exactly what happened and could make his life difficult if you were so inclined. He has made it clear he knows he owes you a favour.

Kam Hopper - Solo
Federated Arms

Kam Hopper

The Federated Arms agent was surprised by your offer to make amends after the firefight but accepted an offer to meet. She was very guarded in her answers to your questions but you did get a vague feel for Tripp Muldoon’s character. It seems he is very driven and ambitious and fiercely loyal to Federated Arms. Kam was interested in your angle and why you gave a shit about such a minor order. You got the impression that she was deflecting a bit from your questions out of wariness. She hasn’t ruled out talking to you again in future.

Nico

Nico was appreciative of the heads up but hasn’t told you what he plans to do with the few guns he has from the shipment. You are aware that he probably needs to weigh up making a loss on the deal with Braydn Ross. He does tell you that he might have a lead on the gun you were asking about and will be in touch when he knows more about it.

Silencers

You have been able to source silencers for your Heavy Pistols and SMG, you do after all work in an arms company. The silencers aren’t Budget Arms brand and had to be brought in via the gunsmith on site. You owe him 400eb.

The Van

You do indeed now have a van, however it is branded and registered to Federated Arms which makes it’s use limited for the time being.

Armoured Delivery Van - Formerly belonged to Federated Arms

Introduction

The week since the incident with the missing Budget Arms shipment has been pleasantly free of any further complications, threats or blackmail attempts. The edgerunners had gone their own ways, had chance to rest up and find some easy work to keep them ticking over.

A Surprise Visitor

Kado Haruka - Exec
Kiroshi Optics

Klink had been working from his clinic in the Glen for some time. Several months ago he had been employed to perform emergency surgery at the behest of a surprise walk in. The client, an official by the name of Kado Haruka, was impressed with Klink’s work and implied that he would keep him in mind for future work. Klink hadn’t taken this promise especially seriously and so was surprised when Mr Haruka walked into his waiting room.

“Mr Von Klinkerhoffen,” He said “it’s good to see you again.”

“Oh, Hello…” said Klink uncomfortably. “I have a job for you. It pays well but requires some leg work.” Said Haruka. Klink gestured vaguely at his clinic “Sure, I’m sure I have some spare legs around here somewhere.”

“Quite.” Said Haruka, ignoring Klink’s rambling. “An operative testing a new product has gone missing. The test product is a form of optic implant. It’s more discreet than most and could lead to some real improvements in technology. It’s crucial to us that it gets recovered.”

 

“Oh, right ok?” said the medtech “When did he go missing? Did anything happen to him or something?”

Haruka took out his agent and sent a picture and an address to Klink. “Chan Jun-fan. He disappeared without a trace. He hasn’t turned up for work, he hasn’t answered our calls. We have an address for him in Watson but other than that, no leads.” He looked pointedly for a second. “Personally, I think he got a better offer and defected with our product. It might be worth you taking some back up, you never know what you might be running into.”

Eurodollars

“Right and the pay?”

“I am prepared to pay you 1000eb and that extends to any back up you take. They will get the same offer.”

“A thousand each or to share?” said Klink suspiciously. “A thousand each, you have my word.” Said Haruka “We have an accord?”

“Yeah ok I’ll look into it.”

“Excellent” said Haruka, turning to leave. “I will see you soon.”

“Brilliant…” said Klink, watching him leave “…Twat.”

Favours Returned

Holliday's Nomad Vehicle and Home

Another job out in the field but at least one that paid well he mused. He subconsciously rubbed his chest, remembering the painful impact of a bullet the previous week. “Back up it is.” He said, dialling the number for the nomad Holliday.

“Haven’t heard from you in a spell” Holliday drawled as he picked up. “Hey man, I’ve been offered a job,” began Klink “I need to find some missing guy for some other guy Mr… Harada? Hisaka? Something like that, whatever. He’s legit, I did some work for him before. He said it might get rough so I thought you might help. Anyway, the pay’s good, thousand bucks each for us. What do you say?”

“Job sounds alright, just find the guy for a thousand bucks?”

“He’s after some new cybertech or something. He said I might need to extract it.” Said Klink “I’ve seen your handy-work first hand. Thanks by the way.” 

Holliday took a breath, reflecting on his relationship with the goofy medtech. “Ok, I’m in.”

Budget Arms - The Glen

“Great, swing by Budget Arms in about half an hour.” Klink put down the phone. He grabbed his med bag and locked up the clinic marching across the street and into the lobby of the towering Budget Arms building.

The building security viewed the medtech with uncertainty and suspicion, but though he seemed out of place, he didn’t appear to pose a significant threat. They didn’t stop him but were definitely keeping an eye on him. Klink remained blissfully unaware and carried on straight up to the main desk.

He slammed a grubby and slightly bloodstained carryall on the reception desk startling the man on reception. He looked up in mild disgust “What can I do for you?”

“Ah the guy errr… Hicks! Mr Hicks, I’m here to see Avery Hicks.” Said Klink. Perturbed, the receptionist dialled through to Avery’s office. “Mr Hicks, we have a gentlemen in reception who wishes to see you.”

“What sort of gentlemen?” Inquired Avery. “He appears to be some sort of medtech.” was the reply “Scruffy, wild eyed, slightly bloodstained?” Queried Avery “Yes that sounds right. You do know him then?” “Yes” confirmed Avery. “I’ll be down in a moment.”

Avery's 'Go' Bag - Contents Varies

Grabbing a go-bag he now habitually kept in his office, Avery went down to meet with Klink in the lobby. The medtech was sprawled out on one of the chairs in reception under the subtle eye of the security guards. “Hello Klink, to what do I owe this pleasure?”

“There’s a guy I did some snippy snippy stitchy stitchy for a ways back. He’s given me a gig to find a missing employee.” Said Klink animatedly. “Something to do with some cyberware or something.”

“Ok, are we getting paid for this?” asked Avery. “Yeah, jobs worth a grand a piece. Holliday is coming to pick me up. You in?”

Despite the scatter brained description of the job, Avery couldn’t ignore the reward. Budget Arms certainly weren't paying him enough to maintain his lifestyle, that was for sure. “Ok, I’m in.” He said. While Klink walked out to the front of the building, Avery addressed reception. “It seems I’m required for an on-site visit. I will be out for the rest of the day. Please direct anyone to my messages if they ask.”

Holliday's Kombi - Interior

Stopping to direct the security not to bother Klink in future, Avery followed him out into the street where Holliday stood perched on the running boards of his car. Klink threw his bag into the back and jumped into the front passenger seat with a cry of “Shotgun!” Avery slid into the back. “So, what are the actual details then?” He said.

Klink cast the address to Holliday’s dash. “Turns out this guy was testing new cyberware, some sort of new discreet cybereye or something.” Said Klink. “The impression I get is that the tech is more important than the missing guy…maybe anyway.”

“Do we have any clues as to why he’s gone missing?” Asked Holliday. “No, he disappeared without a trace. My guy said he might have defected to a rival with the tech though.”

Avery gave Holliday a pointed look and started taking the silencers off his weapons. “What about the address? Is it in gang territory?” He said. Holliday checked the address. “Watson is mostly Tyger Claws territory. That and Maelstrom but they’re further north. It could be them but I guess we’ll see when we get there.” Avery gave Holliday another look and promptly replaced the silencers on his weapons.

Chan’s Apartment

The Watson Urban Zone

The Watson urban zone was a developing district being used to house the homeless from the war. The large habitation blocks were little more than self-contained upright shanty towns. Amongst the hundreds of apartments housed within a block there were often markets and food courts. Watson was full of bodegas, boutiques and junk shops full of Asian flair. Its daytime energy however didn’t hide the black market dealings and shady back alley ripperdocs that operate in the district at night.

It was the sort of place someone could get anything, if they knew who to talk to and where to find them.

There was a large Asian community in Watson centred in a neighbourhood known as Kabuki. This was where the address for the missing Chan Jun-fan was situated. The apartment block seemed decent enough, in a thriving part of the community near Kabuki market overlooking the main highway linking Watson to Little Europe and the Marina. The apartment itself is was the 2nd floor.

The Tyger Claws Gang

Holliday parked up and looked over the building for gang signs. “This is Tyger Claws territory but this isn’t one of their joints.” He said “I guess it’s not important enough.”

The three of them climbed the stairs to the second floor. The block was lived in but not the mess of the combat zone blocks they had seen recently. Chan’s apartment was at the front of the block overlooking the street. Avery knocked on the door politely and waited. “No answer, it was worth a try though. Break it down or can either of you pick a lock?”

“I can give it a try.” Said Klink. Holliday stood in front of him to hide him from view while he improvised a torsion wrench and a pick out of some of the medical tools in his bag and carefully inserted them into the locks. Though it was usually people that he worked on, the deft steady hands and calm focus made short work of the lock and with the right pressure and careful manipulation of the pins, he felt the lock smoothly turn, and click open.

“Excellent” Said Avery. He turned the handle and opened the door, standing aside for Holliday to take the lead. The nomad shrugged, raising his shotgun and strode into the room.

Chan Jun-fan's Apartment?

The apartment was a studio design with a bed in one corner and some wardrobes and shelving. There was a small kitchenette area beyond a few chairs around a tv screen which had been left on and off to one side, a closed off room that was presumably a bathroom.

“Let’s look around, I guess.” Said Avery. He walked over to the bedroom area and started looking through the open closet. Holliday swept the rest of the apartment carefully checking for nooks and crannies where a body could be hidden.

Klink immediately investigated the kitchenette, helping himself to milk out of the fridge. “All the food is in date.” He said. He leant against the counter sweeping empty noodle cartons out of the way. “Kung Ching Express? Must be good shit, there’s a lot of these cartons.”

“The apartment is clear.” Said Holliday, walking back in from the bathroom. “No bodies, no sign of a struggle, nothing.”

“I’ve found something.” Said Avery. “There’s ID here for Chan Jun-fan for Kiroshi Optics but also the same photo for Lee Kong-sang working for Raven Microcybernetics.”

He looked at Klink. “Who did your client work for?”

“I never asked.” Said Klink. “Never came up, I just did the job in front of me. He identified the guy as Chan though so it must have been Kiroshi.” He gestured at the noodle cartons. “Short of knocking on the door at Raven, this is our only lead. It’s like a block away, I say we check it out.”

As the three of them left the apartment, Avery said “I’m going to ask the neighbours if they’ve seen anything. You two look err… unsettling? Head downstairs and I’ll meet you by the car.”  

Further Enquiries...

As the others made their way back to the car, the Exec knocked on the door of the next apartment. An old lady opened the door carefully, keeping it on the latch. “Hello?”

“Hi ma’am, my name is Avery, I’m looking for a missing colleague from work.” He nodded in the direction of Chan’s apartment. “Mr Chan?”

“Oh” She said “I haven’t seen him for a few days. I just assumed we were like ships passing in the night. He goes to work before I go out. He keeps himself to himself most of the time. He’s a good neighbour. I hope nothing happened to him.”

“Thank you” said Avery “I’m sure everything will be fine. Thanks for your time.” Turning, he decided to try the opposite apartment. The door was answered by a large man. “Alright?”

“Good afternoon sir.” Began Avery “I’m looking for a missing work colleague. Mr Chan from across the hall.”

“I don’t have much to do with him.” Said the man. “We don’t really have anything in common so I wouldn’t even notice if he’d been gone a month to be honest.”

“Ok, thanks for your time.” Said Avery turning to leave. “Hang on! Sometimes he takes phone calls up on the roof. No idea why, guess he must find it a bit more private up there because the signal is fine as far as I can tell.”

“Ah, thank you sir.” Said Avery, setting out for the roof. The block only had four floors and the roof appeared to be a sort of common area. He could see a chair and a makeshift table set up on one side facing back towards the city centre. He had a quick look around but couldn’t find any evidence of Chan being up there. It did leave him thinking that perhaps the man on the second floor had been on to something about privacy though.

Back in the car, they drove the short trip to the bodega. It was walking distance, but Holliday insisted that they needed a fast getaway “just in case”. Despite this apparent caution, he left his shotgun in his bag.

Kung Ching Express

The bodega was a small room off the main street. There were a few lines of shelves with a fairly limited selection but a wide variety of items. They could see laundry detergent, groceries, hand tools and assorted bric-a-brac. At the back of room, there was a counter where a cashier stood checking his agent.

There were a couple of other customers in the bodega. A nervous jumpy looking guy who appeared to be on the edge of a panic attack was frantically trying to choose something off one of the shelves. At the other end of the shop, a youth fidgeted, talking to himself.

Holliday couldn’t help thinking that the fidgeting youth had the sort of nervous energy that he had seen on guys working themselves up for a raid. He decided to keep a close eye on him.

Avery approached the counter. “Good evening, my name is Hicks, I’m investigating a missing person.”

“A missing person?” was the somewhat incredulous reply “Yes, this man,” Avery showed the cashier the photo. “Chan Jun-fan, he’s a colleague of mine but he’s been missing for a couple of days.”

Nephrite - Rockerboy
Anarchist, Hedonist, and Nihilist

“Look I’m sorry, I’m just trying to keep the business going. My names Johnny Wong, my Dad was murdered here the other night.” He gestures around at the bodega. “This is his shop. I don’t know anything about any missing people and if I’m honest I don’t have the energy to care.”

“I’m sorry to hear about that.” Said Avery, feigning sincerity. “What happened?”

“Didn’t catch it in the screamsheets? Nephrite?” Said Johnny. “She’s some fucking Rockerboy anarchist, hedonist, and nihilist bitch. None of those things should overlap but somehow they do for her.” He scowled bitterly. “She just rocked up here out of the blue with her fucking cultist lackeys and shot Dad to death in cold blood.”

“I take it that someone with such a high profile must have the police all over them now then?” Said Avery. “Are you having a laugh?” Said Johnny “This is Night City! The feds are just another gang and a fucking useless one at that. It was hours before they got here and Nephrite? She has a hoard of followers who can hide her.”

“I’m sorry” Said Avery. He looked around the shop, spotting a camera. “I know this might seem a bit callous, but did the CCTV catch the attack?”

“To be honest, I haven’t looked and I hope you understand, I don’t want to see that.” Said Johnny.

“Yes, I understand but I need to find this missing person. Would you mind If I watched the footage back please?” Pushed Avery. Johnny sighed. “Ok, fine, but like I said, you’re on your own. I don’t need to see that.” He pointed to a door behind him. “The desk is right there. Just go in and play it back.”

“Thank you” Said Avery. 

The back room was a small office with a safe, some filing cabinets and a terminal set up at a desk. Avery sat down and searched through the playback for the time of the murder.

The silent footage from the back corner of the shop showed Jon Wong, Johnny’s father working at the counter with a customer. Five figures entered with their backs to the camera, spreading out through the shop. Those at the sides set about smashing shelves and knocking items onto the floor. Wong appeared to be shouting at them to stop and leave. The central figure, a tall attractive woman with flamboyantly dyed hair stopped in the central aisle speaking, then, as one, all of the intruders raised their guns together and emptied them into the cashier until he slumped out of sight. The woman cheered and spoke for a while and then the group left.

The customer that Wong had been serving was caught in the crossfire and killed. It was Chan.

Avery walked back out into the shop. ”Thank you.” He said to Johnny “If you feel like you need some home protection, give me a call.” He handed over a business card. Johnny took it looking vaguely disgusted. “My condolences for you loss.” Said Avery walking away.

One of Nephrite's Cultist Followers

“What did you find?” Asked Holliday. “Our man was caught in the crossfire when this place was hit. He’s dead.” Said Avery. “Well shit. The body was likely taken to the medical centre. We could try there.” Said Klink.

“Ok” said Avery, “let’s go.” He noticed Holliday hesitate. “Is something wrong?”

“It’s that kid. Guys actions seems suspect.” Said the nomad.

Klink leaned over the counter to Johnny. “You recognise these guys in here?” Johnny looked up. “Fucking Shakin Steven’s over there? Yeah he’s semi regular. Never seen the kid before.”

GM's Note - The discussion about the other customers went very dark when Klink’s player started talking about grenades…

“Give me a sec.” Said Holliday. He strolled over to the youth. “What’s up choom? You look like you’re about to stare down a pack of desert raiders.” The youth backed up wide eyed. He puffed his chest out, for a second seeming like he’d rise to the challenge and then bolted out of the shop as fast as he could. 

'Gypsy' - Underground Braindance Dealer

Sighing, Holliday nodded to the others and they walked out into the street. As they left the bodega they noticed a woman leaning against the wall of the next shop over. She nodded at them in greeting.

“You don’t look like you’re from around here. You slum tourists? Come to see where a guy got flatlined?” She said. “No, we’re just looking for a missing person.” Said Avery “Hey, you looked interested in what went down here. For the right price, you can see it yourself. Live it even.” She said.

“I’ve already seen what happened.”

“Ah, not like this.” She said “I know a guy, deals in braindances. Not the tame shit they try to brainwash guys in cryo at the prison either. Real experiences. You get to feel everything. The hype, the buzz, the sensation of pulling the trigger yourself.” 

She smiled. “Just so happens that this store actually features in a dance on the market. Some crazy bitch hit this place wanting to send the right message to her fans. Some bullshit about how life is worthless and fleeting and you should just do whatever you want. Best way of doing that apparently is to slammit on in some shitty little bodega. Why knew”

Braindance

“Well, we’ll keep it in mind. Thank you.” Said Avery. “Here’s the address.” She said, handing him a card. “Ask for Clarion and tell him Gypsy sent you. I want my cut you know.” 

The Edgerunners returned to the car and set off for the hospital. “Interesting” Said Avery, pulling up a search on his agent. “There’s a bounty for this Nephrite. Maybe we can look into it another time?”

“What’s the reward?” Said Holliday. Privately he could relate to losing family members and the thought of enacting some measure of revenge appealed to him. “NCPD have said 1800eb dead or alive. Hmm, the braindance must have got to the den somehow. That’s a lead we can follow when we get round to it.” Said Avery.

The Hospital

Watson used to be the North Oak military city that had become a promising development following the 4th Corporate War, though Militech still had a facility in the norther part of the district. The medical centre was built to be the crown jewel of the Japanese medical corporations and much of what was now Kabuki was built around it. 

GM's Note - There was some social commentary here out of character about the morality of charging people for parking at hospitals.

Trauma Team International

Parking up, Holliday noticed some Trauma team officers milling around the area ready to move as soon as they got a call. He pointed them out to the others. ”We don’t want to upset anyone here then. Those guys are as much military as medical.”

Inside the reception, it was clear that the hospital was very busy. The famous Night City body lotto, that drew numbers based on the number of people killed in the day might trivialise the scale of the daily body count but it certainly didn’t reduce it.

Spotting the reception desk, Avery straightened his tie and walked up. Before he had time to speak, the reception nurse looked up and said “Name please.” Seemingly quite exasperated. “Good evening, my name is Avery Hicks.” He said “A colleague from work was caught up in a shooting and killed. I’m here to identify the body.”

The nurse looked irritable. “Sir, if you wanted to identify a body you should have made an appointment. These things need arranging at our end. Do you have any idea how many bodies come through here all day every day and all night?”

Mika - Medical Centre Secretary

“I’m very sorry, but this is important for the health insurance.” Said Avery piling on the charm. “I can see that you’re incredibly busy and I’m sure that all frontline medical staff are putting in a heroic effort, but please, could you look into it for me?” The nurse relented slightly. “Ok, I’ll look. What’s the name?”

“Chan Jun-fan.” Said Avery. She typed into the terminal. “I’m sorry we don’t have anyone by that name.”

“Oh I’m sorry, maybe I got the name wrong.” Said Avery feigning looking at his agent. “Ah, I think they sent me the wrong name. Could you try Lee Kong-sang?”

“No, we don’t have him either.” Said the nurse. “Look,” Said Klink, butting in suddenly “The body has a malfunctioning penis implant that could explode at any moment!” Avery hurriedly pushed the medtech away. “Forgive my companion, despite appearances, he is a very skilled medical professional, I assure you.” The nurse looked surprised and slightly incredulous. 

“What he is saying is close to the truth however. The man we are looking for has experimental cyberware installed that can release dangerously toxic chemicals if it degrades. We need to recover it quickly if you don’t want a biohazard incident here at the hospital.”

The nurse looked horrified. Her hand rested on the alarm call. “I should call for help.” She said.

“Please.” Said Avery “Give us access to the morgue and we will sort this off the books. Nobody needs to know we were here or that a biohazard made it's way to the morgue on your watch.”

“I could get into a lot of trouble for letting you go down there without an appointment.” She said. “I won’t tell anyone if you won’t.” Said Avery. She nodded at the elevator. “Go.” 

“Thank you.” Said Avery gesturing for the others to follow.

The Morgue

The Med Centre Morgue

It was quiet down in the morgue. The air felt heavy, perhaps with the weight of the building above or maybe the solemnity of the morgue’s purpose. There was a long corridor with a few rooms off on either side where bodies would be displayed for identification. Beyond that, were rooms of cryotanks where bodies were stored long term.

The edge runners came to a reception desk as soon as they exited the elevator. A guard sat at the desk and he started in surprise as the three men entered. “You got an appointment?” he said. “We have been given permission to come down here.” Said Avery with confidence.

“I didn’t think so, we have no appointments booked for today. You shouldn’t be down here without an appointment. Leave before I call it in.” Deciding to try the same ruse as before Avery pressed him. “There is a body with experimental cyberware here that could cause a biohazard. It is imperative that we remove it immediately.” The man gibbered in reply “Look you don’t have an appointment, you shouldn’t be here! You can’t be here!”

'Over to Holliday..."

“Listen sir, I am not the sort of person you should be arguing with. I am working with the authority of a major corporation. I could make life very difficult for you.” Said Avery deciding to change tact. “It’s not you I’m afraid of here mate.” Replied the officer.

It occurred to Avery that the man hadn’t in fact called for assistance and he seemed nervous as if he was hiding something.

He exchanged a look with Holliday who immediately grabbed the man and choked him unconscious. “What do you think that was about?” Said the nomad.

“He definitely seemed to be hiding something.” Said Avery. “Let's find out what...”

Deciding to employ stealth, the three of them crept further into the morgue. Ahead, Avery’s enhanced hearing could pick up the faint sounds of conversation. “There are people up ahead.” He said “I can’t understand what they’re saying, it sounds Russian or something.”

Sneaking closer they reached the cryotanks. 

The Med Centre - Empty Cryotanks

Ahead the morgue began to open up into a wider hall. It appeared that there was a gang removing select bodies from the cryotanks and taking them through a makeshift tunnel out into a sewer outlet. Their clothing could be described as sporty leisurewear, mostly tracksuits and many were tattooed.

They were handling the bodies with absolutely no regard for them, almost as if they see them as things rather than people. A large brutish looking man periodically walked in and out of the morgue checking cryotanks against a list on his agent.

GM's Note - This planning session went on for a while and was frankly hilarious as some of the plans were batshit.

Retreating slightly they huddled to plan a strategy. “We need to divide them up reduce their numbers.” Said Klink. “Agreed,” said Avery, “If we wait until they’ve taken some of the bodies out so there’s less of them in here, we can maybe eliminate half before the others come back.”

Holliday's Combat Axe

“Maybe we can wheel Holliday in on a gurney, pretend he’s another stiff for them to take?”

“I do not like this plan.” Said Holliday. “It will be fine.” Said Klink. “Lie on your axe and when we get close, you can spring into action and take some heads!” Holliday looked unconvinced. “Ok, I guess but if this goes wrong I’m going to be stuck right in the middle of this mess.”

“Ok, it’s settled then. We will be behind you as backup anyway. Let’s do it.”

Avery lent Klink his silenced SMG and then, finding a gurney, they arranged Holliday with his weapons close to hand and started pushing him into the morgue. Klink pushed the gurney while Avery walked holding a datasheet. As they approached, there were to gangers carrying a body from the left and two almost to the sever exit on the right.

“We have another one for you.” Said Klink as they came into view. “Sexual implant malfunction, he’s all messed up down there but the rest is good.”

The Scavengers Gang

One of the Scavs near the exit stopped. The appearance of these unknown hospital workers must have been surprising but the confident way in which Klink had implied they were complicit seemed to have fooled her. 

“John Doe?” She said in heavily accented streetslang.

“Aren’t they all?” Said Avery silently cursing Klink’s unpredictable nature.

“Wheel him over here.” Said the Scav. She watched as slowly, the Medtech wheeled the “body” closer.

Just as the gurney rolled into range, Holliday sprang into action hacking at the first scav with his axe and kicking her in the chest, breaking her armourjack. 

Simultaneously, Avery drew his pistols and shot at the two Scavs to the left seriously wounding them. Klink hefted his borrowed SMG and fired at the remainder.

Aimed Shot - Heavy Pistol

The two Avery had shot at returned fire but keeping his cool, the Exec shot them both dead and took their position to pick up a fallen shotgun. 

The large brutish looking man from earlier ran in from the sewer spraying fire at Klink from an assault rifle without hitting him. The Medtech returned fire but dodging automatic fire threw his aim off.

As more people joined the fight, the close range firefight started getting more deadly. In the centre of it, Holliday ducked and weaved, exchanging blows with the two Scavs he was engaged with. He dodged another wild swing and fought back slicing into the snarling ganger with his axe. 

The second Scav seemed more lithe and athletic. He recognised that she seemed to use an aikido stance. With lightning strikes, she knocked the axe out of his hand sending it flying over his shoulder. Setting his shoulders, he grimly continued the fight.

Klink's SMG

More gangers started firing back at Avery who took cover behind the cryotanks. Taking careful aim, he landed a shot into the assault rifle armed Scav’s head, knocking him back. As the Scav retreated, clutching his head, a giant of a man strode in front of him, raising an SMG and firing on full auto at Klink, shredding his bulletproof shield and landing a hit on his chest. Through the pain, the Medtech raised his own gun and emptied it at the wounded Scav, taking him down.

To draw fire away from the exposed Klink, Avery fired a slug at the giant with the SMG before ducking back into cover to avoid the enraged return fire. Klink dropped Avery’s SMG and drew his own heavier one killing the now grievously wounded giant with it.

The brawl between Holliday and the two Scavs became a dance of death. Dimly he felt a pistol round hit his side but the adrenaline pushed him through it. He was a dervish of fists and elbows and knees. He felt bones crack under his blows as he bludgeoned the first Scav and her head into the wall. She dropped and stopped moving. 

Holliday - Severely Wounded but Stabilised

He turned to focus on the last one. Around him, bullets whistled through the air but he ignored them. He flew back into the brawl, the blows that hit him were getting weaker as the Scav started to run out of energy. 

Though he was hurt, he knew that she was hurt more. Finally, she made a mistake and he sidestepped her attack before tripping her and stamping down hard on her neck. He looked around in the quiet and down at his many wounds before collapsing onto the floor.

“Treat him!” Shouted Avery at a shell shocked Klink. He rushed out to look into the sewer outlet. The Scavs had a large car parked up. Thinking on his feet and wanting to cover up as much as he could, the Exec dragged the already loaded bodies out of the vehicle except for the missing Mr Chan. Going back into the morgue he caught up with Klink. “Is he ok?”

“He’s pretty badly hurt but he’ll live. Thanks for asking about me by the way.”

"At least they'll think he was a hero I suppose..."

“Sorry, there’s not much time. Start dragging the Scav’s bodies outside and load them in their van, grab any gear we can salvage. I need to set the scene to keep the heat of us.” 

While Klink started moving the dead Scavs, Avery used one of the scavs handguns to neatly put a bullet in the security guard they had knocked out earlier. He then emptied another scavs weapon into one of their recently defeated number and placed a gun in the security guards hand. Finally he placed the weapon used to kill the guard in the bullet-ridden corpse's own hand.

 “Hopefully, they will think this chump heroically fought off some Scav raiders and we will be off the hook.” He thought to himself. Regrouping with the others, he helped finish loading up and slid into the driving seat. “Holliday, you want me to take you to your car or straight to the clinic?”

“Car.” Grunted the Nomad. “I’ll go with him, make sure he doesn’t bleed out on the drive back.” Said Klink. “I’ll call Haruka too and tell him the jobs done.”

"To the Victor the Spoils..."

Avery drove back round to the carpark, where the wounded nomad limped as inconspicuously as he could back to his rig. Klink went with him and as a convoy, they drove back to the Glen. Avery then dumped the van somewhere where it was certain to be found, containing just enough gear to tie it to the event at the hospital.

Dialling through to Haruka, Klink said “The jobs done.”

“Were there any complications?” Asked Haruka. “Yeah actually, he got caught up in a shootout by accident and then Scavs tried to steal his body from the morgue. We got pretty badly shot up thanks for asking.” Said Klink sarcastically. “I’m sorry to hear that.” Said Haruka, not appearing concerned at all.

“When are you going to pick him up and do you want me to remove the cyberware.” Asked Klink. “I’m unconcerned about the body, If you can remove the eye, I’ll send someone to pick it up tomorrow.” Said Haruka. “The job was retrieval, not surgery so the removal will cost you another 200 eddies.” replied Klink. Haruka agreed.

“Great.” Said Klink coldly. “Don’t call again.” He hung up. Nursing his bruised chest, he leant back in his seat and watched the city pass by as they drove home.

To Be Continued in "Raven"

GM's Round-up

The players had breezed through combat up to this point and I gave them something a bit more challenging to up the sense of jeopardy. I may have slightly overdone it but they won out in the end and took a tidy haul home with them as a bonus.

It amused me greatly that Klink was the contact point for the gig in this session as he is not a people person at all. Telling an Exec client basically to fuck off would have annoyed Avery no end.

Overall, I think we have started to get the hang of the system and the players seem to be enjoying the campaign so far. There was some brilliant role play this week and I have to give them kudos for the Trojan horse plan at the end. Inspiring stuff.

Acknowledgement's

I've used pictures of real people to represent some of the characters and art for others so in no particular order Avery Hicks is Tom Ellis, Jasmine is Dichen Lachman, 'Holliday' is Wes Chatham, 'Klink' is Mackenzie Crook, Anya Metalik is Gillian Anderson, Kam Hopper is Lucy Liu, Kado Haruka is Ken Watanabe, 'Nephrite' is Jennifer Batten, 'Gypsy' is Juliette Lewis and Mika is Sarah Rafferty.