Caught in the Middle

Caught in the Middle is the first chapter of the Shadowrun campaign Infancy of the Wireless World.

An alley near Commonwealth Ave. in Boston's Back Bay district.

Primary Characters

• Dexter Tag
• Eric Black
• Melvin Richter
• Rayn
• Vincent Black

Prelude

A Mr. Johnson hired out Melvin Richter's skilled shadowrunning team to intercept a shipment from an incoming cargo ship. The contents were not disclosed. The markings on the container read Helsinki Kuljettava. The ship was identified as the Iron Lady, an inbound vessel from the Norwegian port of Oslo. The container's dimensions were approximately 6 ft. x 4 ft. x 4 ft.

Melvin's shadowrunning team consisted of:

• Melvin Richter - Face
• Rayn - Technomancer
• Ahab - Street Samuari
• Traven - Rigger
• Adam Orion - Gunslinger Adept

Rayn hacked the seaport schedules and brought the ship to dock in an abandoned and unsecured docking port. Melvin found the crane and used it to load the target crate onto Traven's van. The Mafia caught wind of the operation and crahsed the party. Traven, Adam, and Ahab took off in the van and were led on a chase through the Seaport streets. The team, outmatched by the Mafia, dropped the cargo in an effort to escape. The Mafia continued to pursue. The chase ended when Traven failed to make a jump from one dock to another. The van, and its occupants, plunged into the inner Boston Harbor. Melvin and Rayn escaped.

Melvin was determined to complete this mission, and needed to hire a new team to finish the job.

Session 1

August 25, 2007

Melvin hired two new shadowrunners, brothers by the name of Eric and Vincent Black. Melvin came up with an elaborate plan to attempt to confuse the Mafia. He arranged a meeting with a Mafia entourage and was able to bribe one of the Mafia bodyguards into giving up the location of the next Mafia hit going down. He reported the hit to his Lone Star contact, Randal Arland. He then crafted a video of the incident, framing a mob boss named Rafael for divulging the hit's location. He dropped the tape off at a Mafia house. Randal reported that no hit had taken place at the indicated time and place -- which meant the information he received was false, or the hit was called off after the Mafia reviewed the tape.

The team met with Chisel, the leader of the Spikes Gang in the Seaport district. They used a territory feud between the Spikes and the Mafia to their advantage by paying the Spikes to cover them as they drove a truck into their territory. The team then broke into a Mafia warehouse and stole the target crate along with a shipping truck.

Karma Awarded: 5

Session 2

August 31, 2007

A pursuit ensued, with two Mafia vehicles chasing the truck into the Spikes Gang territory as planned. The chase ended when the truck took a sharp turn onto a side street. The remaining Mafia vehicle collided with the truck, but as it did so, Vincent leaped from the bed of the truck through the windshield of the vehicle, killing the driver. The group then drove the truck and the Mafia sedan to Max's garage, one of Melvin's contacts in South Boston.

Vincent's thermographic vision indicated that the contents of the container they had stolen was emitting a strong heat signature. The group speculates that the contents may, in fact, be living.

Karma Awarded: 5

Session 3

September 7, 2007

Curiosity got the better of the group, so they decided to open the box. Vincent Black busted the maglock faceplate off and Melvin proceeded to rewire the lock with amazing success. The contents revealed four trays, each containing a naked Russian (two male, two female). The bodies were strapped into the tray and connected to a life support system. They were bald, All of the labels were in Russian. The life support systems, strangely, were not wireless.

The group pulled out the fourth tray, its contents a female Russian named Aleksandra Morózov. After the tray came out, the life support monitor alarm lights began flashing and the oxygen and heart rate stats indicated that she was waking. She began screaming quite loudly. Eric Black was watching TV, and the signal began flickering. Shortly after, the matrix signal went out completely.