Session 7: Happy New Year!

From The Whereabouts

Shadowrun

Chapter 2

Chapter 1

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21

F.A.T.E. PCs

Moments Earlier...

Anastasia sat alone at the bar across the atrium after storming away from Manami Coltrane. She watched with mixed emotion as Eric and Manami continued their conversation. She hoped that Eric would have more luck than her in accomplishing their mission objectives -- but not too much luck. She diverted her attention for a moment to a table at the far end of the room where Dr. Yau was continuing to enjoy his evening. There was growing concern regarding the Chinese Shiawase employee Yau had been spending most of the evening with.

<Anastasia> I hope someone is keeping an eye on Yau...
<chase> i have been. they seem to be old acquaintances of his
<chase> it seems innocent now but i will continue to monitor

She turned her attention back to Eric and saw that Coltrane had gotten up from her seat and was heading upstairs. Looks like Eric didn't have any luck either. She smirked and turned to the bartender. "I'll have a martini please." He nodded, picked up a glass, and began preparing the drink. She turned back and watched Eric for a moment longer, expecting him to come over to the bar soon. Eric made his way to the stairs, and Ana began to feel sick when she realized what was happening.

<Dmitri> Target A has moved to 2F Guest Room 3
<Dmitri> Target B has moved to 2F Guest Room 5
<doc> Engaging A
<Eric_Black> Engaging B
Eric_Black AV feed disconnected

Why do I feel like this? Ana attempted to reason with herself. Eric's just doing his job. He's not even my real date. Perhaps she was just jealous of the brilliant and stunning Manami Coltrane. Perhaps not. Her life was obviously going fairly well; her wealth and status was one of the highest in the room and she got plenty of attention with her appearance alone. It was certainly satisfying to beat her in the dancing competition, but Manami's counter-punch was brutal to Ana, even if she and Eric were a fake couple.

"Actually, make that a double shot of vodka instead," she said to the barkeeper before realizing her martini was sitting there ready. But before the barkeeper could take it away, she grabbed it. "Actually I'll have both." He shrugged and prepared her second drink.

<CharlesEllison> Ana could you come to the 2nd floor conference room for a moment, it's urgent

She downed both drinks quickly and stood up. Probably just another stupid associate he wants to show me off to. He had been introducing her to many people throughout the evening, and his misrepresentation of their relationship was really starting to eat at her nerves. As much as she was trying to re-build the relationship with her father, she was liking him less and less. The relationship's initial animosity was tough to break through: Charles left her and her mother to fend for themselves, her mother always accused Charles of lying and cheating, and it seemed he sold part of his soul to attain the status of President. Though Charles only seemed to care about Ana when it suited his interests, her desire to reconnect with her father stemmed from equally selfish roots. Had he never become President, Ana would never have taken up the task. Ana would never admit it, but the two were not all that different in this respect.

She made her way to the second floor while the other agents were engaging their targets.

The Situation

In a small meeting room in his mountain chalet, CFS President Charles Ellison is staring down the barrel of Senator Yasuji Shimada's PSK-3 collapsible heavy pistol. Across from him is his daughter Anastasia Ellison, holding a Walther Palm Pistol and aiming it at the Senator. Two other F.A.T.E. agents, Doc and Eric, just entered the room at Ana's request amidst the tense standoff.

Notes

  • Eric Black and Manami Coltrane have taken novacoke recently and have +1 Charisma, +1 Reaction, +1 Perception, and High Pain Tolerance 1.
  • Dr. Kefeng Yau was last seen slightly intoxicated on the first floor with an employee of Shiawase that he has been spending most of the evening with.
  • Manami Coltrane and Michael Edison were both last seen in separate guest rooms on the 2nd floor.
  • Anastasia Ellison used Enhance Reaction Attribute and has +2 Reaction for the next 4 combat turns.
  • Anastasia Ellison is out of Edge.

Session Synopsis

Senator Yasuji Shimada summoned two toxic fire spirits in his attempt to assassinate President Charles Ellison. Fortunately for the President, F.A.T.E. was there to save him. Eric used Stunbolt to quickly subdue the Senator while Doc handcuffed him. Eric saw the spirits when he astrally perceived, and when the Senator did not disband them, Doc shot the Senator in the back of the head. Oni took out one of the spirits before having Fear cast on him. He jumped out of the window in a panic but Doc and Eric were able to finish off the second spirit. Shimada survived the gunshot wound and was taken into custody.

Downstairs a similar scene developed. Two toxic earth spirits were summoned by a different mage and caused massive panic to the guests. Corporate and Secret Service security scrambled to protect the guests and eventually the spirits dematerialized. There was a moment of calm as the security forces worked together to secure the area and round up the guests for interviews.

There were 5 mages detained on suspicion of aiding Senator Shimada in his assassination attempt, but all were eventually let go as there was no admissible evidence of wrong-doing.

During the chaos Dr. Yau disappeared. Eric found him in the men's restroom clearly drugged. Doc ran a tox screen that confirmed that he had been injected with Gamma-Scopolamine, a truth serum. F.A.T.E. suspects the incident had something to do with the Chinese Shiawase employee, Wong Yiu Ming, that he befriended throughout the night.

Senator Shimada was taken back to F.A.T.E. headquarters and put into a medically induced coma. Eric spent many hours mind probing the Senator and extracted a mother lode of information.

  • Manami Coltrane's dance partner, Yukawa Sato, is a trusted friend, a fellow toxic mage, and his accomplice in the assassination attempt.
  • Shimada knows one other toxic mage besides Sato: an unnamed mentor who also works for Shiawase.
  • The mana generators are of interest to this group of toxic mages.
  • The toxic mages at Shiawase are not exactly company sanctioned.
  • The attack of President Ellison was a desperate attempt at getting CFS protection from Shiawase.
  • The mana generator devices are built at the Drakes Bay Nuclear Facility
  • Shimada is interested in these devices because his unnamed toxic mage mentor told him to investigate them. The ability to manipulate mana fields is extremely relevant to their interests.
  • The Golden Gate Bridge event was the first major test of what a group of devices can do to a mana domain or mana line.
  • Shimada is aware of the existance of 5 devices - and he still has the one F.A.T.E. left in his garage. It is located at his San Francisco residence.
  • Dr. Hideki Tonogawa is one of the lead engineers of the mana devices.
  • He was introduced to toxic magic several years ago in Osaka, Japan, by this unnamed mentor.
  • He is not aware of any major corporate partnerships in the mana generator project.
  • Ikuro Honda is a Shiawase Vice President presiding over Dr. Tonogawa's research and development team. He reports directly to Ms. Coltrane.
  • Shimada knows of a low-level city planner in the CFS government that has ties to Shiawase and is possibly an informant for the company.
  • Shimada is aware of F.A.T.E.'s real purpose. It is not clear whether he has told anyone else about it.
  • Shimada found out about F.A.T.E. while investigating the events at his estate that screwed up his life. He hired a reputable hacker to retrieve some of the files. It is not known if the hacker had the ability to decrypt the files he was told to retrieve.
  • Shimada does not know the identities of the individual members of F.A.T.E.

Afterwards Shimada was turned over to the California Bureau of Investigations for processing.

Aftermath

January 2, 2073

Eric Black was just leaving the post office. It had been an extremely long and mentally exhausting couple of days. Spending hours in the mind of a psychotic toxic mage after a night of novacoke, sex, and saving the life of the President was enough for anyone. He looked physically and mentally exhausted, and couldn't wait to get back to the comforts of his own apartment.

"Hey!" a voice from across the street shouted. It was still early; there were few people on the streets and the sun was barely peeking over the horizon. "Hey you!" the call came again. Eric begrudgingly turned his head. The man was working behind a newsstand and looked excited when Eric turned to his attention. "Are you Vincent White?" the man asked excitedly. He pointed to one of the electronic posters below his stand.

Eric narrowed his eyes. He quickly crossed the street to get a closer look. He released some control on his augmented reality, allowing advertisements from the newsstand. He scrolled through a few covers and found Vincent White's name and face plastered on every major tabloid the newsstand had. There were all sorts of photos of him and Anastasia dancing on the ballroom floor. Using AR, he authorized the purchase of several of these tabloids (with the F.A.T.E. stipend) and electronically downloaded them. "Huh," he said aloud.

"Hey, thanks," the street vendor said. "So is it really you? The hero?"

"Nope," Eric said flatly as he turned away. He kept walking, ignoring the vendor's final few words about how similar their appearances were. He hadn't considered the effect of appearing as the date of the first daughter and how much trouble that could potentially be for him. He pondered the consequences of fame as he walked toward the sunrise.

Results

Status: Complete
Dates: December 31, 2072 - January 2, 2073
Quote of the night: "We've got to get Dr. Meow out of here right meow!" - Eric Black
Nuyen: (5,000¥ mission award * 1.5 holiday pay) = 7,500¥
Stipend: 4,990¥ remaining (10¥ spent on tabloids)
Karma Awarded: 7
Additional Awards:

  • Anastasia, Eric, and Doc receive +1 Street Cred for protecting President Ellison.
  • Eric receives an additional +1 Street Cred for extracting vital information from Senator Shimada.
  • Eric receives +3 Public Awareness for appearing as Ana's boyfriend in tabloid magazines across CFS
  • Anastasia receives +1 Public Awareness for appearing in tabloid magazines across CFS
  • Eric (as Vincent White) now has Shiawase CFS President Manami Coltrane as a contact - Connection 6, Loyalty 1
  • Doc (as a DocWagon Surgeon) now has MCT CFS President Michael Edison as a contact - Connection 6, Loyalty 1