Session 1: The Missing Scientist

From The Whereabouts

Shadowrun

Chapter 2

Chapter 1

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F.A.T.E. PCs

Briefing

Dr. Hideki Tonogawa was visiting San Francisco to attend the Gaeatronics Nuclear Power Seminar. The night before the seminar began, he was kidnapped from his hotel room. Shiawase is accusing Gaeatronics of corporate espionage, but Gaeatronics denies any foul play. They have agreed to hire a neutral third party, F.A.T.E., to investigate, with a significant reward for recovering Dr. Tonogawa. No doubt, Shiawase is also performing their own investigation. Don't expect too much cooperation -- no doubt Shiawase would prefer to solve this one themselves, and keep the reward money.

In this mission FATE will be operating in official capacity. It's not too often that FATE contracts itself out as a private investigation service, but the circumstances in this case are unique. The Drakes Nuclear Power Station has been of interest to Dr. Yau for some time; and Dr. Yau feels that if the group can beat Shiawase to recovering Dr. Tonogawa, it could be beneficial in the future. The nuyen was also lucrative, so Director Redman elected to take the job.

Major Players & Locations

  • Drakes Nuclear Power Station is a new facility located near Drakes Bay approximately 50 miles north of San Francisco along the California coast. Owned by Shiawase Atomics, this power station is expected to propel Shiawase into a power market that has been dominated by Gaeatronics for some time.
  • Dr. Hideki Tonogawa is a nuclear scientist at Shiawase Atomics' Drakes Nuclear Power Station. He studied at UC Berkeley and was a student of Dr. Kefeng Yau.
  • Shiawase Atomics is a division of the Shiawase Corporation.
  • Gaeatronics has a significant market share for power in the California Free State.
  • Gaeatronics Nuclear Power Seminar is a yearly seminar hosted by Gaeatronics in San Francisco where nuclear scientists from many major corporations gather to collaborate and share their latest research (non-proprietary of course).

Notes

  • FATE provides a 3,000¥ team stipend per month - money to be used for whatever you'd like - buying leads from contacts, investing in Ares stock, or purchasing your next novacoke fix, whatever the group can agree on. Spend wisely.
  • There is a 4,000¥ bonus per character if Tonogawa is returned alive.

Session Synopsis

Doc, Eric, and Anastasia started by investigating the scene of the kidnapping: Room 2714 at the San Francisco Radisson. It appeared from the evidence that a shadowrunning team abducted Dr. Tonogawa in his sleep. They found his commlink, which the shadowrunning team clumsily forgot. Security footage indicated at least 2 assailants entered from the roof and a female Japanese woman entered from the hallway posing as a housekeeper. There was also evidence a decker was involved, as some security footage was (sloppily) tampered with.

Next the group went to the Gaeatronics Nuclear Research Seminar, where they took statements from representatives of both Gaeatronics and Shiawase Atomics. They also interviewed co-workers of Dr. Tonogawa. They discovered that all of the researchers have implated RFID tags. Dmitri hacked Tonogawa's commlink and obtained the RFID frequency.

Doc met with his Yakuza bartender contact, Migumi, who shared valuable information. She heard that the shadowrunning team had approached the Yakuza to work out a deal: the Yakuza would help shake down Shiawase for ransom money for Dr. Tonogawa, in return taking a cut of the money. They met a night before the extraction of Dr. Tonogawa and came to an agreement.

Dmitri and Hector narrowed their scan of the city to Japantown, where they found some nodes who had scanned the doctor's ID. The group made a calculated guess that Dr. Tonogawa was still at this location and assembled a strike team. Eric, using astral projection, did the initial reconnaissance work while Doc and Ana were in position to strike. He didn't find Tonogawa, however the shadowrunning team had cut out his implanted RFID tag and brought it with them as proof that they had obtained the Shiawase researcher.

The group swiftly gunned and stunned the shadowrunning team after they left their Yakuza meeting, forced them to turn over Dr. Tonogawa, and took them all back to headquarters.

Results

Status: Complete
Dates: November 23-24, 2072
Quote of the night:

Anastasia: Where is Hector anyway?
Doc: He's a dwarf, he's gotta be around here somewhere.

Nuyen: 1,000¥ mission award + 4,000¥ for retrieving Tonogawa alive = 5,000¥
Stipend: 3,000¥ remaining
Karma Awarded: 7
Additional Awards:

  • Doc, Eric, and Dmitri receive +1 Street Cred for their investigative work.
  • Dr. Hideki Tonogawa is now a group contact - Connection 3, Loyalty 2, and owes the group a Favor of rating 5