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>>30875607
Even for a troll, Dreadnought is huge. Standing at eight feet tall and nearly half as wide at the shoulders, he’s a monolith of muscle and steel. His already huge frame bulges with vat-grown muscle and titanium bone-modification. A series of metal plates, a gift from the Russian military, are visible along his chest from beneath his shirt. Despite his time in military service, his horns are still intact (a fact you know he would boast about, given half the chance).

“You needed to see me?” you ask.

“I still do.” Dreadnought’s accent is still very thick. “I would have gotten back to you last night, but things became very exciting after meeting Quetzal.” The troll gestures towards the Hispanic elf, who briefly focuses his eyes on you.

“Well, let’s hear it, then.” You insist.

“I heard from a man at Aces that your ex-military men have tried hiring Shadowrunners besides you.” Well, that’s hardly surprising. Sending one man into a job like this would be insane. “Also, they tried to recruit Fury.”

“Wait, Fury? Like, THAT Fury?” Fury was a go-ganger before she became a Shadowrunner. If you ask her, she still is a go-ganger. She started doing freelance work after her gang got slaughtered by a bunch of Knight-Errant, and you know her to be extremely vicious.

“The very same. Fortunately, I understand it that she turned them down.” Well, that’s certainly a relief. “After meeting with Quetzal, I canvassed the rest of Redmond. THAT, my friend, was when things became complicated.”

“Hey!” Harriet says indignantly, tugging at your sleeve. “Who are these two? I thought you were working alone.”

>>30875646
“I hired some extra help. Don’t worry about it.” You struggle to mask your irritation. “Harriet, meet Dreadnought and Quetzal.” Quetzal is still staring at nothing, and Dreadnought looks at you quizzically.

“Echo, the girl is…”

“I’m babysitting her for someone.” You cut him off. “I’m assuming canvassing Redmond took the rest of the night.”

“It did.” Dreadnought says irritably. “But not without cause. Our inquiries into the company you mentioned attracted unwanted attention. A number of your ex-military men tried to kill us.”

“My condolences.”

“None needed. The assault team’s commlinks pointed us toward a safehouse. They had stored records of communications with other teams, so it likely was not their only base of operations.”

“Did you manage to keep any of those records?” you ask.

“Unfortunately, I could not. An agent corrupted and erased them as soon as I tried to copy them.”

“A merc team hired by a corporation takes out anyone who goes asking about their hiring practices.” You ponder. “What the hell have I gotten myself involved in?”

“Whatever it is, you can count me in.” Dreadnought gives you a serious look. “Raiding the safehouse proved most profitable, enough for me to consider the cost of my services paid.”

“Mine as well.” Quetzal’s gaze suddenly focuses and turns towards you. “We are likely not the first the mercenaries have tried killing. All of this death serves no one.”

“I’m happy to hear that.” The thought of working with Dreadnought and Quetzal again is a great relief. Both have their vices and hang-ups, but you’d sooner work with them than hire strangers. “We’ve got a lot of ground to cover today, and I’d like to walk the beat myself. But, before I start, I have to pick up some extra gear at my apartment. Someone needs to stay behind and guard Harriet.”

>>30875666
> Dreadnought. If someone comes looking for Harriet, an eight-hundred-pound Troll spec-ops will be the last thing they expect.
>Quetzal. You know for a fact that he never fights alone.
>Both. No one will be able to get close.

>>30875666
>Quetzal. You know for a fact that he never fights alone.

>>30875687
>>Quetzal. You know for a fact that he never fights alone.
same as last time

>>30875687
>Quetzal. You know for a fact that he never fights alone.
Always good to have a mage on sentry duty since he can see threats that a sammy can't.

>>30875760
>>30875788
>>30875801
The voting period's supposed to go on for another four minutes, but the votes are in consensus and I doubt we're getting much more participation than this tonight.

>Writing.

>>30875666
“Dread, you come with me to the apartment.” You say, signaling to him. “Quetzal, stay here and keep an eye on Harriet.”

“Understood.” Dread nods. Quetzal turns his gaze briefly towards Harriet before nodding in concert. “We’ll leave immediately.”

“Wait a second!” Harriet complains. “Where are you going? I thought you were protecting me.”

“I AM protecting you.” You mentally grit your teeth. “Quetzal’s a mage. He’ll do a much better job of looking out for than I could.”

“Quetzal? He’s Aztec? You’re leaving me with a Blood Mage?” Harriet recoils, either in horror or disgust.

“I’m a nahualli, not a priest.” Quetzal corrects. “You’re not the first the make that mistake.” You imagine that you weren’t the first to make that mistake, either. From what you understand, refusal to deal with the Aztec priesthood is one of the reasons Quetzal is in the streets instead of a ritzy AzTech arcology.

“Just stay put and listen to Quetzal.” You command Harriet. “I won’t be gone more than an hour, and he knows how to reach me if anything happens. Quetzal, vacate immediately and call me if anyone wearing an Ares uniform comes around. Otherwise, don’t abandon location unless absolutely necessary.” Quetzal nods wordlessly and walks into the hotel, Harriet reluctantly in tow. Once they’re inside, you return your attention to Dreadnought. “We should hurry. I’ll give you the whole story on the way.”

(cont.)

>>30875945
You’re very thankful that Dreadnought skipped out on putting armor plating on his van. Armored vehicles may not attract much attention in the Barrens, but they stick out like a sore thumb basically anywhere else. On the drive to your apartment, you explain to Dreadnought the details of the run, from the info you got from Jabir to how it might relate to the intel you just received.

“Tricky business.” He mumbles to himself. “This is very tricky, Echo. This Harriet girl is supposed to be the drive the Johnson wants?”

“I have no idea.” you answer. “This run has been weird from the second it started. The Bellevue SIN database was way easier to break into than it should’ve been, the Johnson was willing to pay way more than I thought was reasonable, and I secured the package less than an hour after being given the assignment. Everything about this says set-up, but the only one who might be behind it is Ares.”

“We will have time to consider this later. Get your gear and we will return to the hotel.” Dreadnought parks the van a block away from your building. You pile out and scan the area before making for the entrance. You’re careful to avoid anyone on the way between the entrance and your apartment, and scan the place for bugs before dropping your guard. Once you’re sure of your privacy, you pull out the stash of gear from the back of the closet.

Inside the case is…

>A flying drone.
>A small group of crawling drones.

>>30875965
>>A flying drone.

>>30875965
>> crawlers....I always choose flyers but an going crawlers today

>>30875965
Flying drone

>>30876072
>>30876216
>Writing

>>30875965
X Flying drone

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>>30875965
Inside the small case is a small flying drone. The tiny flier had been outfitted with a magnified signal range, a truly-impressive firewall, an upgraded Pilot program, and a powerful sensor array. Nearly imperceptible in most situations, the drone could act both for reconnaissance as an eye-in-the-sky, and for Matrix support as a node to carry your signal into certain restricted areas. With the drone in-hand, you’ll be able to perform hacks at an on-site level of care from miles away.

In addition to the drone, you refill a magazine of SnS rounds for the Light Fire, stuff a pocket full of unmarked RFID tags in case you need to track something, and grab a small plasteel box full of all of the tools you might need to build or take apart electronic devices. In addition to the automated lock-pick already in your bag, you had everything you might need to get through a locked door.

Gearing up takes less time than you expected, and you might still have a bit of time before Dreadnought starts getting worried. With that in mind…

>You scan the data cluster Neurophage put together. The more you know about this run, the more exact you can be about how to proceed.
>Your friend Logan lives right next door, and you DID skip out on watching bad kung-fu trids with him the other night. If he knows you won’t be home for a few days, he can keep an eye on things and make sure no one untoward comes knocking.
>You meet up with Dreadnought early. The sooner you’re out of here, the less of a chance there is of someone seeing him, or you.

>>30876306
>>Your friend Logan lives right next door, and you DID skip out on watching bad kung-fu trids with him the other night. If he knows you won’t be home for a few days, he can keep an eye on things and make sure no one untoward comes knocking.

>>30876306
>Your friend Logan lives right next door, and you DID skip out on watching bad kung-fu trids with him the other night. If he knows you won’t be home for a few days, he can keep an eye on things and make sure no one untoward comes knocking.

It's good to give Logan a head up anyway.

>>30876306
>Your friend Logan lives right next door, and you DID skip out on watching bad kung-fu trids with him the other night. If he knows you won’t be home for a few days, he can keep an eye on things and make sure no one untoward comes knocking.
And tell him we'll pay for the pizza and drinks next time. That should put him in a better mood.

>>30876368
>>30876466
>>30876520
>Writing. Also, this is the first post tonight I'm actually writing, so this will take a minute.

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>>30876306
It’s been a few days since you last saw Logan, and if this job went on longer than it needed to, it would be good to know that someone was keeping an ear out for your apartment. As you recall, he was pretty annoyed that you bailed on him the day before last. With your bag slung over your shoulder, you walk next door to his apartment and give the door a good knock. You hear the shuffling of feet the sound of a (physical) lock opening, and the door swings open. His large frame easily fills the doorway, and both his obvious and synthetic cyberarms show readouts in AR.

“Morning, Logan.” You give a casual wave.

“Roland.” Logan gives his head a slight nod. “Good to see you back. You at work last night?” Logan is one of the few regular people you know who also knows about your choice of career. Despite being a security guard at a corporate office in Seattle City, you recall that when you first came clean to him, his response was “Okay. Should we order another pizza?” Since then, he’s had your back, and you consider him one of your only real friends.

“Yeah. This job’s a hassle, too.” You roll your eyes. “It’s probably going to be another few days before I’m back at home. Would you mind keeping an ear out in case anyone comes to my apartment?”

“Not a problem. I’ll call the cops the second I hear someone snooping around.” He gives a laugh. “Just kidding, man. I’ll make sure you’re in the clear before anyone shows up.”

“Thanks. Also, sorry about the other night. I got called out to work, and I know you don’t really get along with Summer. I’m paying for the beer next time, okay?”

“Water under the bridge, man.” Logan smiles and lightly bumps his fist against yours. “Be safe out there. And if you can’t, just don’t be stupid. You hear?”

(cont.)

>>30877002
Once you and Logan exchange departing pleasantries, you make your way out of the building and rush to Dreadnought’s van. He’s still circling the block, and he glances around nervously as you climb into the passenger seat.

“Relax, Dread.” You chide him. “I chose to live here specifically because it’s boring.”

“I was relaxing last night before you called me.” He says back. “I will have plenty of time to relax when I’m dead. Quetzal tells me your girl has an attitude problem.”

“You don’t say.” You say sarcastically. “So long as she doesn’t have a bullet problem, he’s going to have to deal with it. I know you guys are both paid for already, but I’ve got a ten-grand payday at the end of this and I need a vacation.”

“The pick-up is tonight, yes?”

“Ten PM at Pinewood Heights.”

“Then we have until then to find out what she and her employers are up to. We have time before we may need to relieve Quetzal. Was there something you wanted to check before we get back?”

>No. The sooner you get back to Leonardo’s, the sooner you can get Harriet off of Quetzal’s back.
>You want to take a look at the safehouse that Dreadnought and Quetzal turned over last night.
>You want to take a look at the spot where the corp-sec mercs tried to jump Dreadnought and Quetzal.

>>30877225
>You want to take a look at the safehouse that Dreadnought and Quetzal turned over last night

>>30877225
>You want to take a look at the spot where the corp-sec mercs tried to jump Dreadnought and Quetzal.

Rolled 1

We're deadlocked, so here's a die roll.
1.
>>30877323

2.
>>30877411

>>30877537
Safehouse wins.

>Writing

>>30877225
“I was hoping I could get a look at the place you and Quetzal flipped over last night. You came right to Leonardo’s from there, right?”

“I called you the second we left.” Dreadnought nods.

“Then they probably haven’t had time to send a clean-up crew. On the way, I have a little more research to do.” You connect a fiber optic cable to your hacking commlink and plug it into your datajack. Your commlink’s AR display immediately explodes into life, actions directed by your mental commands and optimized by your headware. You mentally navigate to the data cluster Neurophage assembled about Harriet. Despite what he said about its contents, it’s surprisingly large.

The data cluster is arranged into partitions, each one named after the sector from which its contained information originated. You won’t have time to root through the entirety of it on the way there, but you might be able to fully dive through one. Or, if you prefer, you can just give the entire cluster a quick once-over.

>Just give the cluster a once-over.
>Focus your attention on the Social Media partition.
>Focus your attention towards the Medical Records partition.
>Focus your attention towards the Police Reports partition.

>>30877678
>>Focus your attention towards the Medical Records partition.

>>30877678
>>Focus your attention towards the Medical Records partition.

>>30877771
>>30877842
>Writing

>>30877678
You open up the partition labelled “Medical Records.” You’ll have time to look over the rest of it later, and this relates to something that had bothered you from the moment you first saw Harriet.

As expected, the reports have been heavily redacted. References to specific incidents, dates and names have all been removed, and you’re pretty sure that cracking them will take more time than you have right now. Each file begins with a short list of identifying biometric data (which you assume belongs to Harriet), followed by a list notes by a doctor (whose name has been redacted. However, consistency of writing tells you that most of them were written by the same person).

>Report 1
>[DATE REDACTED]
>[DOCTOR’S NAME REDACTED]
>[PATIENT] was brought in at 1300 hours with severe wounds to the lower legs. Muscle damage, lacerations, and other complications suggest amputation as [PATIENT]’s best odds of survival.
>[REDACTED], confirmed as [PATIENT]’s legal guardian and medical surrogate, has given consent of the amputation procedure. [PATIENT]’s consent was not received, due to her having been sedated to avoid pain from injuries.
>[PATIENT]’s amputation procedure has been completed successfully with minimal damage to the patient. [REDACTED] has suggested immediate fitting for a cyberleg prosthesis. The 2052 Cyberware Surgery Consent laws require obtaining patient’s consent before cyberware surgery can be considered.
>[PATIENT] has given her consent for surgery.

(cont.)

>>30878101
>Report 2
>[DATE REDACTED]
>[DOCTOR’S NAME REDACTED]
>[PATIENT] begins week three of physical therapy following double cyberleg prosthesis. At the request of [PATIENT], approval of [REDACTED] and confirmation of insurance provider, military-grade cyberleg prostheses were used. Tests show that [PATIENT] experiences none of the usual pain, discomfort or disorientation usually exhibited by first-time patients.
>Scans of the implantation site of Direct Neural Interface show that [PATIENT] seems well-adapted to the prosthetics. [PATIENT] already walks, jogs and climbs stairs with nearly the proficiency she claims to have displayed pre-injury.
>[PATIENT] reports growing anxious for her release. While the matter of the payment for augmentation surgery has already been cleared with insurance provider, [PATIENT] cannot be approved for out-patient care without Doctor [REDACTED]’s approval.

>Report 3
>[DATE REDACTED]
>[DOCTOR’S NAME REDACTED]
>[REDACTED] has not been noted to have visited [PATIENT] since before her augmentation surgery. [PATIENT] appears to have no desire to see her legal guardian.
>When questioned on the matter, [PATIENT] does not appear to recognize [REDACTED]’s name or identity. Further questioning and scans show no signs of retro- or anterograde amnesia.
>Following an inquest by Knight Errant involving a criminal investigation, Doctor [REDACTED] has requested a DNA test to be performed on tissue samples taken from [PATIENT].
>[REDACTED]

There are other reports, but they have been redacted to near-uselessness.

(cont.)

>>30878341
Dreadnought’s van slows to a stop just as you finish reading the last report.

“Here we are.” He announces. “I parked a way’s away, just in case.”

“Roger.” You nod. A quick scan of the area shows no wireless hotspots you wouldn’t expect to be there. Dreadnought is on-edge when he emerges from the van, an impressively-large knife strapped to his thigh and a massive revolver dangling from his hip. After a quick walk past dilapidated buildings, and awe- and fear-struck gazes of gangers and a few calls from what you assume are either hookers or the desperate and destitute (in the Barrens, there isn’t a big difference), Dreadnought points you towards a graffiti-coated brownstone with more windows boarded-up or broken than properly intact and its door dangling precariously at the edge of its hinges.

“You can still see where I kicked in the door.” He smiles confidently.

>Send in the drone first.
>Scan the building for cameras.
>Have Dreadnought lead the charge.
>Other (write-in)

>>30878569
>Scan the building for cameras.

>>30878569
>Scan the building for cameras.

We can send in the drone after

>>30878569
>>Scan the building for cameras

>>30878569
“I’m gonna take a look around before we go in.” You fire up your Scan program, along with Sybil, and scan the building for anything that looks like a camera. While no cameras are immediately accessible through wireless access, the Central Home Nodes of every apartment are slaved to a single master node inside. While the security isn’t great, the spotty connection will likely cut you off at the drop of a hat if you try and hack it.

>Hack it anyway (DC 14)
>Send in the drone.
>Try accessing the node and talking to whoever’s connected to it.
>Other (write-in)

Also, breaking for dinner. Be back in about twenty minutes.

>>30878921
>>Try accessing the node and talking to whoever’s connected to it.

>>30878921
>Hack it anyway (DC 14)

>>30878921
>Hack it anyway (DC 14)

Back from food.

>>30879265
>>30879375

>Also, writing

>>30879532
Wait, almost forgot.

>Roll 1d20

Rolled 7

>>30879555
rolling for love

Rolled 15

>>30879555

>>30879555
We appear to have lost a player in the interim. I'd hate to call it early, but if we're down to two players, I think I'm just gonna close it up for the night.


Honestly, it's kind of what I expected to happen when I went to eat. As much as I envisioned SRH Quest as a warmup for a quest I really wanted to run, I also really intended on finishing this one before I started it. At the rate this is going, it might be a while before I really get to finish this. I'll still keep this going for a few more threads, and that might be long enough to finish the run, but that's starting to look like a long-shot. I'll archive this for archival purposes, but I can safely say that we're closed for the night.

>>30879944
You lost two, Null, I've been lurking for a while and rolled here: >>30879663 .

Shadowrun Hacker Quest will possibly return next Sunday at 18:00 EST. If it doesn't, than that means I've got something new (and potentially more exciting) in the works. Follow me on Twitter for schedule updates, news from within my brain, and be the first to know when the next thread goes live.

https://twitter.com/NullFearQuests

>>30879944
Sorry, didn't know you started up again.

>>30880115
If we've still got at least three players on-hand, I'll be happy to keep running tonight.

It'll take me a couple of minutes to get my momentum back, so please bear with me. Dear god, that archive is going to look awkward now.

>>30878921
Despite the spotty connection, Babylon tears through the master node’s firewall in seconds. If there’s anyone on-site managing it, they’re too stupid to figure out that you just did the Matrix equivalent of throwing a brick through the window. While the master node doesn’t have every apartment’s CHN slaved to it, it does include the security codes for all of them.

“Dread, do you remember the number of the apartment the mercs were using?” you ask.

“It was 4A.” he says back. You get into 4A’s CHN without much trouble, but it doesn’t look like any devices are connected to it, including cameras. However, a number of hallway security cameras give you a pretty good view of the area. Though you can’t see inside of any apartments, the lobby, stairwells and all of the hallways are completely empty.

“Dread, why do think a derelict apartment building in the middle of the Barrens has a network of security cameras on every floor and in every stairwell?”

“Because the people who are supposed to dismantle it have not come by yet.”

“It also means that we’re on borrowed time here. Let’s get this done.” You turn off the cameras in the lobby before letting Dreadnought take the lead through the front door of the building. From what you can see, the lobby is as empty as the cameras made it look. An old cage-style elevator is just ahead, and the door to the stairwell is ajar.

>Take the elevator.
>Take the stairs.
>Go outside and take the fire escape.

>>30880199
lurker anon signing in here to say that if youre continuing, im playing. been a lurker on the previous quests and itd be a shame for you to shut down!

>>30880504
take the elevator

if 'they' try and brick it on the way up I back Echo to get us out of it

>>30880504
>>Take the stairs.

>>30880521
Happy to have you here, lurker anon. I'm sure there are at least a couple of lurker just reading the thread for fun. Even if you're not voting, please feel free to discuss. Whether it be shadowrunning strategies, a kind of Jackpoint-like running commentary, a critique of the entire Shadowrun universe or just general discussion about the 2070's doesn't really matter. I know that there's SR General for that, but I'll be more than satisfied just to know that people are reading this.

>>30880504
Ill hop in too, i like reading

Take stairs

>>30880504
>Take the stairs.
Goddamnit null, dont you 404 on me

>>30880680
I've got homework to do for the next few hours before dinner. I'll be around too, Null.

>>30880680
been a while, mind reminding me how to do the green text so i can get involved with the choices?

>>30880504
>>Take the stairs.

>>30880762
Start a line of text with > and it will become green.

>For example

>>30880762
>Arrow

>>30880763
>>30880724
>>30880719
>>30880569

Stairs wins. SpecOps, it's gonna be another few hours before I 404. I know you were doing shit tonight, so feel free to call me a faggot to your heart's content for almost ending early tonight.

>Also, writing.

>>30880804

>Start a line of text with > and it will become green.

Top.

As a general point, im going to be starting a run at some point in the next month where i'm going to be rolling a B&E/interrogation specialist. I'm planning to make liberal use of gamma-scopolamine. problem is I can't find dart pistols in 3E. Anyone help with the ref?

>>30880680
Not who you're talking to, but if I"d been around, I would have been playing.

>>30880977
>I'm planning to make liberal use of gamma-scopolamine. problem is I can't find dart pistols in 3E. Anyone help with the ref?

Throw anything adept master?

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>>30880504
“How much do you feel like climbing stairs?” you ask Dreadnought.

“The elevator worked fine when Quetzal and I came here earlier.”

“That was at least three hours ago.” You point out. “The stairs are safer.” Dreadnought grunts, pulls his Super Warhawk from his hip and takes measured steps towards the stairs. He stands at the ready while you count down from three. When you hit zero, you fully pull open the door and Dread trains his pistol on the doorway. He slowly edges inside and does a sweep of the room.

“Clear.” He calls. The two of you slowly climb the stairs up to the fourth floor, clearing each landing, as well as the hallway beyond it, as you go. You disable each camera on the way up for just enough time for the two of you to pass. When you reach the fourth floor landing, you peer through the camera feed to look around. You can see that there’s a blind spot right in front of the door to the stairway, and you can hear a slight mechanical whirring beyond the door when you press your ear against it.

>Have Dreadnought shoot through the door.
>Go a floor down and send up the drone.
>Send out the digital feelers.

>>30881115
>Send out the digital feelers.

>>30880977
If a dart gun is anywhere, it'll probably be in Cannon Companion. If it isn't, then the only conventional dart gun I can think of comes in rifle sizes only.

>>30881115
>Have Dreadnought shoot through the door.

>>30881115

>Send out the digital feelers


>>30881170
>If a dart gun is anywhere, it'll probably be in Cannon Companion. If it isn't, then the only conventional dart gun I can think of comes in rifle sizes only.

i've flicked through Cannon Companion and no dice, can't get my hands on Man and Machine (sic) so that's my last hope for a handheld one!

>>30881169
>>30881308
Digital feelers win.

>Writing.

fast_stream, I'm pretty sure I found Man and Machine on 4shared if you're willing to go that route.

>>30881115
>>Send out the digital feelers.

>>30881396
I'm good with that tbh, if im using sourcebooks regularly in the campaign i imagine ill get them later on.

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>>30881115
You hold up a hand to halt Dreadnought.

“There’s through the door.” You say, barely above a whisper. “Just a second.” You know exactly where to Scan, and the hidden node beyond the door appears as a wire frame globe of light in your visual field. Sybil informs you of a number of details, including a running Pilot program, a fairly-powerful firewall, and a Targeting autosoft. Your breath catches in your throat and you immediately pale.

“What is it?” Dreadnought whispers harshly.

“There’s a big combat drone right through the door.” You say back. Dreadnought pulls back the hammer on his revolver, and you can tell from his sudden jitters that his wired reflexes are active.

>Let him blow the shit out of the thing.
>Hack it (DC 15)
>Approach from another angle.
>Other (Write-in)

>>30881502
>Let him blow the shit out of the thing.

>>30881502
>Hack it, but have Dread nearby incase more bad guise

>>30881467
Found the dart pistol you want. Man & Machine, page 116

>>30881603
>Hack it, but have Dread nearby incase more bad guise
This

>>30881660

Great work omae. I'll have to get my greasy hands on a copy and get my char finished!

I think I'm going head off now chummers, need to be in responsible places distressingly soon..m

>>30881603
>>30881723

>Roll 1d20

>>30881781
Happy to have you here. Peace be upon you, omae

Rolled 6

>>30881800

Rolled 17

>>30881800

>>30881926
>Writing

Rolled 12

Wait. Forgot something again. The IC gets a chance to detect you.

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>>30881502
“Hold up a second.” You whisper. “I’m going to try and hack the thing, so keep an eye out for any hostiles.” You have Babylon and your hacked copy of NeoNET’s Brainguard biofeedback filter at the ready. Before diving in, you give the drone a last sweep with Sybil just to be safe. Immediately afterwards, you’re glad that you did. Your first sweep missed it, but the node’s rigged with a data bomb. If you’d hacked it recklessly, the burst would’ve caused enough havoc to crash your commlink and alert whoever’s controlling the drone (if hacking the drone on the fly doesn’t alert the owner already).

You load up a Disarm program and switch off the data bomb. Once you’re aware of its presence, it’s laughably easy to get rid of it. Once that’s out of the way, you set Babylon to work. It takes a few seconds, but Babylon works its way through the drone’s firewall. Before Dreadnought gets a chance to ask how long you’re going to take, you assume control of the attack drone.

Beyond the door, you hear something crash.

“Shit!” a muffled voice shouts. Immediately, your signal quality begins to degrade, and the drone’s signal drops off the map entirely. You can hear pounding footsteps beyond the door.

(cont.)

just finished reading the archive this quest is pretty neat

>>30882207
Dreadnought puts a steel-toed boot against the door, just below the handle. The faux-wood splinters as the badly-rusted metal gives way, popping the door open with a loud crash. Once you step beyond the door, your signal drops down to nothing. By the time you notice, it’s already begun to return. You give it no mind and continue to pursue your quarry. By the time the footsteps stop and you round a corner with Dreadnought, you can already hear the harsh sound of metal against metal as the elevator descends. It’s already gone by the time you get to the gate.

“Lost him.” You scold yourself. “Son of a bitch. Who was that?”

“It may have been the same person who infiltrated your safehouse.” Dreadnought offers. “Regardless of who it was, they left the drone behind.” Indeed, the combat drone, a Steel Lynx equipped with an Ingram White Knight remains in the hallway. Right next to its feet is a commlink. As you approach, your signal begins to degrade again. When you pick up the commlink, you see that it’s projecting a disruptive signal, jamming every other wireless device in range.

“Whoever that was, they were a hacker.” You mumble. You switch off the commlink, scan it with the radio signal scanner, and stuff it into your pocket.

“They might not have been the only person in the building.” Dreadnought says. “What should we do?”

>Leave the building. This is getting too hot.
>Go into the apartment. They were probably alone.
>Other (Write in)

Rolled 6

>>30882453
>Go into the apartment. They were probably alone.

>>30882453
>Go into the apartment. They were probably alone.

>>30882453
>Use our newly hacked drone to get the hacker downstairs. Have Dreadnought go downstairs as well. Use the comlink to make it harder for the hacker to do anything to the drone.

>>30882453
We need to loot the drone after.

>>30882453
>Go into the apartment. They were probably alone.

>>30882490
>>30882524
>Writing

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>>30882453
“No. They were probably alone.” You say. “If they had a partner, they would’ve fled along with the hacker. We’ll clear the apartment anyway, but I’m not expecting anymore opposition.”

“If you are sure.” Dreadnought grunts. The two of you return to the hallway. Apartment 4A has its door wide open. Just looking through the doorway, you can see that the room has been rifled through. You draw out your pistol and wait for Dreadnought to take the lead. You do a methodical sweep of the room, making sure not to miss a corner. The inside of the apartment reeks with the acrid stench of gunpowder and the thick scent of blood. Though not visible from the doorway, there are no fewer than six corpses inside of the apartment. A couple of them are covered in bullet wounds, a couple have suffered from caved chest cavities and crushed skulls, and a few look as though they turned their guns unto themselves.

“Well, this is subtle.” You scoff.

“What?” Dreadnought asks, feigning indignation. “They outnumbered us. It was very unsportsmanlike.”

“Whatever. The place is clear. Guard the door. I want to take a look around.” You slowly cast your gaze along the floor. Bloodstained sheets of electronic paper are strewn across the floor, all made blank by the same Agent that Dreadnought encountered in the mercs’ commlink. You find the link in question sitting on a desk, still turned on. Really, this was the one thing you were looking for. Looting through the drawers and between the couch cushions yields a few certified credsticks containing minimal nuyen. The refrigerator contains a few six-packs of cheap beer, but sandwiched between two bottles is a piece of electronic paper with the wireless capabilities disabled. You pocket it.

“Did you find what you need?” Dreadnought asks impatiently.


>You did. Time to leave.
>You didn’t. Take another look around.

>>30883065
>You did. Time to leave.

>>30883065
>You did. Time to leave.

>>30883065
>You did. Time to leave.

>>30883193
>>30883216
>>30883376
>Writing

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>>30883065
“Yeah.” You nod. “Let’s go. The clean-up crew’s gonna be here soon, and I don’t want either of us to be here when it gets here.” You reset your pistol in the arm slide and take a look up and down the hallway before walking back out. “We’ll take the stairs again on the way down. We don’t know if the hacker left us a trap in the elevator.”

“I have no problem with that, Echo.” Dreadnought says. “However, I have a question. What is it that we do with the drone the hacker left behind?”

>Take it with you. A Steel Lynx with a fully-loaded Ingram White Knight isn’t something that falls into your lap every day.
>Leave it. Scavenged tech has gotten better hackers than you killed.
>Trap it. If the hacker comes back for his toy, he’s going to be surprised.

>>30883460
>Take it with you. A Steel Lynx with a fully-loaded Ingram White Knight isn’t something that falls into your lap every day.

Dont you dare leave that awesome cool thing behind Trace

>>30883460
A.

Because Dog Shaped Robot Buddy.

>>30883460
>Take it with you. A Steel Lynx with a fully-loaded Ingram White Knight isn’t something that falls into your lap every day.

>>30883460
I do believe Null is hinting something to us.
>Take it with you. A Steel Lynx with a fully-loaded Ingram White Knight isn’t something that falls into your lap every day.

>>30883516
>>30883553
>>30883563
>>30883564
Man. Everyone wants a robot dog.

>Writing

>>30883733
We want to aug our dog

>>30883763
Dogmentation ho!

>>30883460
“I think we’ll start by calling him Walter.” You say, running a hand over the assault drone’s smooth, polished surface. Whatever security vulnerability you used to get in, it wasn’t hard to re-exploit it. “We’ll change his security protocols, give him a once-over and bring him with us.”

“Walter?” Dreadnought asks incredulously. “Him? Echo, you cannot be serious. The drone can be tracked by anyone who knows its access ID, including the hacker who brought it in the first place.”

“Already thought of that.” You snicker, pulling the Fly-Spy out of your pocket. You press a small switch at its base, and a tiny chip pops out of a slot. You take it on the tip of your finger and slowly slide it into the drone’s back. “Spoof chip.” You explain. “So long as it’s active, Walter will randomly generate a new access ID every few minutes. It’ll take me about ten minutes to change his access ID permanently. I could do it on the way back to Leonardo’s if you want.”

“So long as you are certain.” Dreadnought sighs and shrugs. “Can we leave now? I am as nervous as you are about cleaners.”

“Yeah, let’s go.” You straighten up, putting a hand against the drone’s head. “Come on, Walter.” Immediately, a pair of red eye-like lights appears on the drone’s head. You hear a digitized sound resembling a dog panting. It seems the hacker bothered to put a virtual personality of a dog into the drone. The Steel Lynx sticks to your heels as you take the stairs back down to the first floor.

(cont.)

>>30883849
I never barked for this.

>>30883733
>Man. Everyone wants a robot dog.

Don't forget to sweep for RFIDs

>>30883898
For once, the sun is shining over Redmond when you get outside. You have to squint your eyes against the light, while a pair of implanted lenses slides out to cover Dreadnought’s cybereyes.

“So, is there anywhere else we should check out on the way back to Leonardo’s?” you ask.

“We have been away from Quetzal and the girl for long enough.” Dreadnought grumbles. “We should reconvene and decide how we will handle the afternoon’s work.”

“We can’t do much to investigate most of our leads until nightfall.” You shrug. “I can look around on the hacker’s commlink, but it might take a while to get anything useful.”

“Nonetheless, we should still relieve Quetzal of his post. We would not want the girl to slip away from him.” The two of you climb into the van and drive off towards the coffin hotel.

[THREAD 5.5 END]

>>30884147
Thanks for running, Null. Things are slow enough that while I like the idea of the quest, it's mostly just posturing and thinking. Getting our own robot dog was pretty fun.

>>30884112
Right. Knew I forgot something. Well, I'll just pretend like I remembered. Walter is untagged.

Shadowrun Hacker Quest will return next Sunday at about 18:00 EST. Follow me on Twitter for schedule updates, notes from my brain, and be first to know when the next thread goes live.

https://twitter.com/NullFearQuests

The thread's already been archived here:http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/30875607/

I'll be around for the next little hour or so for the usual postmortem, as well as to possibly give a few design notes.

Awesome quest, I'm trying to read more shadowrun in general

>>30884339

This is never a bad thing

>>30884452

Hmn. Would anyone be interested in a shadowrun socialization thread? Shadow bar in seattle type general?

So, the only two design notes that seem worth bringing up right now involve Dreadnought and the drone.

Dreadnought is based on a build for a Troll Sam PC I've been toying with for a little while. The idea of a man who deals assault cannon damage with his fists just tickled me when I first realized that that was what I was creating. Granted, this build is hardly optimal, but damn does it feel nice. So, when I translated this into Dreadnought's character for the quest, there was one quirk of his that I wanted to maintain from when I first came up with him: He never uses contractions. It's something I've had to check myself on throughout this thread, but I'm pretty sure that I've never had him use a contraction in speech. I feel that it gives his speech a rougher, less casual tone than if he did. Maybe that's not how it reads, but that's how I feel when I'm writing it.

As for the drone, this on really relates to the name. Now, people who know me in real life know that I don't like dogs all that much. I was bit by a neighbor's dog when I was a kid, and that kind of turned me off to the entire concept of dogs. However, when I was even younger than that, I actually had a dog. He was really my parent's dog, but he was alive for a few years after I was born. He was a golden retriever, and his name was Walter. While I chose the name Walter for this drone, any readers are free to imagine that Trace named the drone after their own first pet.

>>30884339
I would strongly recommend playing Shadowrun Returns if you haven't already. While the game itself isn't perfect, the writing in it is really fantastic and goes a long way to maintain the noir feel of the cyberpunk classics. If you back in the archives, I actually used a snippit of a line from the Dead Man's Switch campaign in the first thread.

>>30884582
I'd be down for that. I might not use this trip for it (its namesake was my first Shadowrun character, who also happened to be a grade-S capital A Asshole), but It's rare enough that I get to talk about Shadowrun (and whatever SR General is ongoing is in the processes of autosaging by the time I'm on) that in-character Shadowrun discussion would be really fun.

It might be fun, I could stick around for another hour or so perhaps.

Also, I played through the Shadowrun game a while back, the writing really got me into it. I'm hoping to try out the new expansion they made.

>>30884856

Do you remmeber the old Joes Bar threads?

I was thinking something like that - refluffed for shadowrun