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>>31455102
Within minutes, Dreadnought texts you back stating that he and Harriet will meet you in the hotel bar. You make sure to shove any suspicious elements of your luggage (barring the Light Fire, which stays in your sleeve) into the closet and ride the elevator down to the ground floor.

Dreadnought sticks out in the bar like an eight-foot Russian commando with metal grafted onto his skin. You and Quetzal take a seat a corner booth across from Dreadnought and Harriet and order a drink to keep the waiter distracted.

“So, we are here.” Dread says. “Now what?”

>Start with discussing the sniper who just tried to kill you.
>Start with seeing how recovering the data on the mercs’ commlink is going.
>Start by going over what you learned about Rockwell and the mercs
>Other (Write-in)

(Also, I'm an idiot. Forgot intro. Sorry about that.)

Archive: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive.html?tags=Shadowrun%20Hacker%20Quest
Twitter: https://twitter.com/NullFearQuests
Rules: http://pastebin.com/q2kecYa0
Character Sheet (For 4E): http://pastebin.com/cnrFSPT8

(It’s over 75 degrees where I live today, I’m not yet readjusted to warm weather, I live on the second floor and I haven’t put in my air conditioner yet. I can’t think of a better time to quest than when it’s just warm enough to be annoying.)

Seattle, 2073. Handbasket still in motion.

You are Echo_TRACER, a nova-hot hacker with a dangerous mind and one the fastest ‘links in the Seattle Metro. Life is hard in the 2070’s, and even an elite like yourself has to pay the rent. Hopefully, your latest job will make up for the current deficiency in your cred account. Last time, you defused a situation involving a rival shadowrunner, reestablished contact with your fixer, and decided that the best place to hide yourself and your team is a building crawling with cops who aren’t looking for you.

>>31455141
>>Start with discussing the sniper who just tried to kill you.
>
Gotta start somewhere>>31455361
>(It’s over 75 degrees where I live today, I’m not yet readjusted to warm weather, I live on the second floor and I haven’t put in my air conditioner yet. I can’t think of a better time to quest than when it’s just warm enough to be annoying.)
Take those black sheets off your window and crack them, you fucker

>>31455141
>Start with seeing how recovering the data on the mercs’ commlink is going.

>>31455395
The window where the air conditioner goes is already open, one of the other two has a broken air conditioner in it and the other is stuck. What do you want from me?

Rolled 2

Okay. Gonna roll this.

>>31455395
1. The Sniper.

>>31455406
2. The merclink.

>Also, writing.

>>31455141
“Let’s start by seeing how much data I can get off the mercs’ commlink.” You take the commlink from the merc apartment and the electronic paper from the fridge out of your pocket. According to your civilian link, the recovery is as done as it’s going to get. As you’d feared, a good amount of the corrupted data was put into backup, and much of it is beyond recovery. What’s still intact, though, is a timetable of their operations stretching back almost six months. It includes the hiring and termination of a number of shadowrunner crews, as well as plans to buy up property throughout Seattle for the purposes of maintaining a front-line. According to their timetable, every Declan mercenary unit involved in the current operation is expected to dissolve tonight at midnight.

“Well?” Dreadnought raises an eyebrow at your worried look.

“According to their itinerary, Declan’s been putting mercenaries and shadowrunners on this job for six months. What’s more, all of that ends tonight.”

“What does that mean?” Quetzal asks.

“Among other things, it means that Declan’s been trying recover Harriet for a long time.” You look at Harriet, who gives you a stern glare. You ignore it and look at the electronic paper. From the looks of things, it’s a dossier on an operative the mercs were tracking. The file lists him as #37. According to an attached map, 37 has been involved with covert information warfare and assassinations all over the globe, all of which came to a sudden stop four years ago. “And I have no idea what this is about.”

“This is all well and good, but what can we confirm from this?” Dreadnought asks.

>Focus more on the timeframe. Harriet is keeping an extremely important secret.
>Focus more on the “hiring policy.” Rockwell doesn’t plan on letting you leave Pinewood Heights alive.
>Focus on this unknown operative. Their operations might be a clue as to why Declan is being so sneaky.
>Other (Write-in)

>>31455991
>>Focus more on the timeframe. Harriet is keeping an extremely important secret.
>

>>31455991
>>Focus more on the timeframe. Harriet is keeping an extremely important secret.
I don't have much preference. Might as well go with the option that won't tie.

>>31455991
>>Focus more on the timeframe. Harriet is keeping an extremely important secret.

>>31456049
>>31456104
>>31456196
>Writing.

>>31455991
“Harriet, you have to level with me.” You look Harriet in the eye. “Declan’s been trying to retrieve you for the last six months. Six months is long enough to establish a front-line in Bellevue, but given that Declan didn’t do that, I’m going to assume that Ares didn’t have you for six months. Investment firms don’t launch six-month operations and kill over a dozen shadowrunners to retrieve one civilian. What aren’t you telling me?”

“You don’t know?” Harriet asks, honestly astonished. “The people recovering me were supposed to know. Are you trying to tell me you weren’t hired by Ares?” Harriet’s expression goes from astonishment to indignation. “Who are you? Who hired you?”

“Wait. Hold on. Ares?” You put a palm to your head and take a deep breath. What is going on here? “You’re expecting us to give you to Ares? Not Declan?”

“Declan?” Harriet gasps. “They were the ones who hired you? You can’t! If you give me back to them, they’ll kill me.”

“I do not understand.” Dreadnought says. “Why would they go through so much trouble to retrieve someone they plan on killing? Company secrets, perhaps?”

“What secrets would an investment firm have?” You roll your eyes.

“Investment?!” Harriet huffs. “You have no idea what you’re doing, do you? This is ridiculous. How much is Declan paying you to give me to them?”

>Be modest. You don’t want her money.
>Be honest. Ten grand, and you’ve already got three.
>Be greedy. You’re getting twelve grand, and you weren’t given any advance. (DC 15)

>>31456510
>>Be modest. You don’t want her money.

I might be channeling my ranger here

>>31456510
>Be honest. Ten grand, and you’ve already got three.

Always said it is the best policy...for the most part. If anything we are going to get a payday at the end of this.

Rolled 1

>>31456554
1. The path of humility

>>31456715
2. The path of honesty

>Writing

>>31456510
>>Be honest. Ten grand, and you’ve already got three.

>>31456510
>Be honest. Ten grand, and you’ve already got three.

This payday is sending us on vacation.

While we're being honest, maybe mention the fact that they're going to kill us? That three grand is all we're seeing.

>>31456782
>>31456809
Both of these votes went in within a minute of me starting writing. I'd be remiss to just ignore them, so I'll leave it up to you folks.

>Refuse payment from Harriet?
>Y
>N

Five minute countdown.

>>31456510
>Be honest. Ten grand, and you’ve already got three.

>>31456887
N

>>31456887
>Y

>>31456887
N

>>31456887
Be honest about how much we are being paid.

Refuse all attempted to be bribed.

>>31456887
Well, we shouldn't take her money just yet, but we should be honest with how much we're being paid.

>>31456953
This guy... what this guy said

>>31456922
>>31456953
>>31456983
These folk don't want to be bribed (or at least, don't want to be bribed yet)

>>31456921
>>31456939
These folk don't see a problem with it.

>Writing

>>31456510
“Declan’s representative agreed to pay me ten thousand for delivering you. She gave me three grand up front along with a two-grand expense account, which I’ve already dipped into.”

“I’ll match her.” Harriet declares. “Seven grand for helping to save my life. No tricks. No strings attached.”

“Not happening. I don’t want your money.” Inside, your brain is calling you an idiot a thousand times over. Inside, Summer is calling you an idiot a million times over. “Don’t give me that look. I’m not giving you to Declan. They’re planning on killing me just for knowing that you exist. Let’s focus on what’s important. Ares was hiring shadowrunners to move you somewhere. That’s what the case was for, right?”

“That’s right.” Harriet seems even more wary of you now that you’ve refused to let her bribe you. “The case was going to be loaded onto a ship, and I was to be delivered to Hong Kong.”

“I can think of few other towns better for disappearing.” Dreadnought nods.

“Okay. I’m guessing that the ship going out to Hong Kong is leaving tonight.” You say.

“That’s correct.” Harriet nods and crosses her arms. “I was meant to be woken up once we had set sail. I hadn’t expected to still be in Seattle when I woke.”

“Okay, so we can still get you out of here alive. I’ve got a few other questions, but only one other big one.”

>Why is Declan so keen on killing you?
>If Declan’s not an investment firm, what are they?
>What have you been doing for the last six months?
>Other (Write-in)

Going to eat dinner. Be back in 20-25 minutes. Please feel free to discuss amongst yourselves while I fill my stomach.

>>31457262
>If Declan's not an investment firm, what are they?

Man, why are we not asking all these questions? They're all important. It's silly to make us choose.

>>31457262
>If Declan’s not an investment firm, what are they? Why are they so keen on killing you?

make it like this

>>31457262
>>Why is Declan so keen on killing you?
>>If Declan’s not an investment firm, what are they?

Is there anything stopping sniper-girl from heading right back to Jibril and compromising every safehouse we get from Jibril?

>>31457375
>>31457429
>>31457514
While there actually was a reason why you would only get one question, I'd rather not stonewall you on this one. So I won't.

>Writing.

>>31457527
This will get an answer to that, and I promise that it's not a trap.

(PS: Fucking captcha.)

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>>31457262
“If Declan’s not an investment firm, then what are they? Why are they trying to kill you?” You can tell that you’re trying Harriet’s patience pretty hard just by asking, but the more you know, the better you’ll be able to do your job. Harriet closes her eyes and mutters to herself angrily before looking back at you.

“Declan Futures is an organization of corporate spies who use the status of an investment firm to gather proprietary information from AAA megacorporations and threaten to sell it to their competitors.” You’re speechless. Your mouth hangs open in shock. It takes a few tries before you can speak again.

“But, the corporate court-”

“Will not intervene.” Harriet finishes for you. “As for why they’re trying to kill me, it’s because I have information that proves why they won’t intervene. That’s why I need to leave the city. Wuxing might own half of Hong Kong, but there are lot more people in the other half. You can imagine why I didn’t want to tell you.”

“Then Declan hasn’t been killing every shadowrunner who gets close to this case just because they want to keep the job hush.”

“I’m glad you understand why I’m not answering anymore questions.” Harriet folds her arms and frowns. “Why I know what I know is irrelevant to your job. Just get me on the boat to Hong Kong and be done with it.”

>Why can't you just release the information? Declan can't kill you for knowing their secret if everyone knows their secret.
>I'd love to, but there's a military-trained sniper and a retires SEAL who'll probably try and kill us before you reach international waters.
>... You want to look at Harriet's legs. (DC 18)

>>31458354
>>... You want to look at Harriet's legs. (DC 18)
>Use an edge.

Fuck it. How many edges do we have? Nevermind, I don't care.

>>31458354
>I'd love to, but there's a military-trained sniper and a retires SEAL who'll probably try and kill us before you reach international waters.

>>31458354
>>I'd love to, but there's a military-trained sniper and a retires SEAL who'll probably try and kill us before you reach international waters.
>
This is the only course of action that makes any sense. Pressing the issue is probably going to piss her off (not that she can do anything about it, really. And Trace so far has been relatively reluctant to have sex with his own girlfriend. Why... even?

>>31458490
Harriet has military-grade cyberlegs, remember? That's why the third option is a thing.

>>31458490
When's the last time you've gotten laid while protecting someone who's being hunted by corporate mercenaries? I know what you're going to say, but that didn't count because they were the ones actually being hunted.

also how are we supposed to be done with it when Declan plans to kill us? Harriet is a super-bitch.

Also, because this is the first vote after I've come back from eating, I'm extending the vote by five minutes to give whatever players have left a chance to trickle back in.

>>31458490
>>31458486
>Writing

>>31458354
“I’d live to just ‘be done with it,’ Harriet,” you give an extra bit of angry emphasis to her name, “but given that there’s a very well-trained sniper with hacker support and a retired special forces operative who will probably try to kill me while I get you on the boat, I think we should focus on how to keep ourselves alive.”

“Your SEAL won’t be happy that we’ve slipped his net.” Quetzal pauses as your drinks are set in front of you. Once the barkeep has left, he resumes. “He will likely redouble his efforts to keep you under scrutiny.”

“He was at Leonardo’s when I got there. He knew I would be there.” Without a secure safehouse, fleeing into Redmond would make sense, as would keeping yourself confined to Touristville, but Leonardo’s was hardly the only coffin hotel in Touristville. “He’s been studying me.”

“As, I believe, will your mysterious sniper.” Dreadnought says, taking a long drink. “Her escape was standard. Smoke out and run. Guerilla fighters and insurgents used that tactic all the time in the Taiga. She is a professional.”

“Even if she wasn’t, her equipment looked pretty damn professional.” You grumble. “High-grade rifle, camera drones for spotting, smoke grenades to cover her escape. She probably could’ve gotten airlifted out of there if she wanted.”

“How do you think we should deal with her?” Quetzal asks.

>You shouldn’t. Think up a way to distract her instead.
>Play her and Declan against each other. She’ll have a hard time killing you while Jason’s shooting at her.
>If she’s studying you, than you can try and study her, too. Give Jabir a call and show him her picture.
>Other (write-in)

>>31459129
>I'd live to...

As ironic as this typo is, it still bothers me that I missed it.

>>31459129
>If she’s studying you, than you can try and study her, too. Give Jabir a call and show him her picture.

>>31459129
>>Play her and Declan against each other. She’ll have a hard time killing you while Jason’s shooting at her.

It's like distracting her, only twice as good!

>>31459129
>>Play her and Declan against each other. She’ll have a hard time killing you while Jason’s shooting at her.
>
Awww yeah

>>31459225
>>31459284
>Writing

>>31459129
“I’ve got the access ID of Sniper Girl’s commlink, and I know Rockwell will send her goons to take back Harriet the second she realizes that I’ve jumped ship. If we play this right, we can get them to try and take each other out.”

“Do you really think that will work?” Harriet asks skeptically.

“We know Sniper Girl worked for Declan on this job. That means she isn’t supposed to be alive. She’ll be a hard target to ignore if she’s on the warpath.”

“None of this changes the fact that Declan will try and kill you even after Harriet escapes.” Dreadnought says.

“When that time comes, I’ll do what I do best: I’ll vanish.” You shrug. “I’ve got the most boring face in Seattle, Dread. A little Matrix work and it’ll be like I was never born.”

“And the money?” Quetzal asks.

“I’ll make up the difference, somehow.” You shake your head and look at Harriet. “When does your boat leave?”

“Ten-thirty, tonight.”

“That leaves half an hour between when I’m supposed to meet Rockwell and when you need to be gone. It’ll be close.”

“It will take us time to get to the marina.” Dreadnought says. “We have, at most, six hours to prepare.”

“Then we should break for now, and regroup here when we’re ready to go.” The four of you finish your drinks somberly and separate. As per arrangements, Harriet has been reassigned to your room, while Quetzal’s still with Dreadnought. Harriet’s taking another shower, leaving you alone in the room. Staring at the ceiling, you feel your heart hammering. There’s something you need to do, and you know it.

>Call Neurophage
>Call Logan.
>Call Summer.
>… You want to look at Harriet’s legs. (DC 20)

>>31459759
>Call Neurophage

>>31459759
>>… You want to look at Harriet’s legs. (DC 20)

Also would Ares pay us for this job?

>>31459759
>>… You want to look at Harriet’s legs. (DC 20)
>Use edge.

We aren't making this roll without it. Probably.

I like how the DC increased.

>>31459886
>>31460017
>Writing

>DC increased.

Shit, did it? My bad. What was the last one? 18? Okay. It's 18. Sorry.

>>31460064
(Umm... this is me. I was in another thread in the voting period. Sorry for the confusion)

>>31459759
Something’s been bothering you from the beginning, and Harriet’s little revelation only makes it bother you more. Her legs are military-grade cyber-prosthetics. They’re the kind with fairly advanced on-board computers and have room for all manner of digital storage. You’re still not entirely satisfied with the explanation Harriet gave you earlier. She doesn’t have a hidden commlink, but she also said she has “proof” of why the corporate court won’t intervene into Declan’s actions.

You creep along the floor towards the bathroom, hoping the rush of water will hide your footsteps. You plant yourself right next to the door, right on the other side of the wall from where you think the shower would be, and have Babylon target the nodes in Harriet’s legs.

>Roll 1d20

Rolled 3

>>31460243
Goooo.

Put me down for an edge vote when you inevitably ask for it.

Rolled 14

>>31460243
This will not end well.

I'd like to think it's just players who wanted to abstain from this course of action refusing to vote, but it's possible we've dropped to one player.

Or not. Okay, at least two players, or at least two not abstaining from rolling

Rolled 16

>>31460243

>>31460282
>>31460401
>>31460570
The rolls are in.

>Spend Edge to improve roll? (Current Edge pool: 1)
>Y
>N

>>31460612
Y

Fuck security blankets, we don't want to mess this up.

Rolled 7

>>31460612
Y

>>31460686
>>31460775
>Writing

>>31460243
>Edge spent: Hit (0 Edge remaining)
The firewall surround Harriet’s legs is more severe than any you’ve encountered before. Every fraction of a second, a new detection attempt initiates. AR windows pop up and close around you at the speed of thought, each one a security trap likely set to trigger a bleeding-edge software bomb to nuke your commlink into oblivion. Even once you’re in, the security’s script cycling is so fast you need to task your Agent with continuously telling the IC that everything’s legit. Besides the bios and translation software necessarily to make her legs work, as well as a simple AR interface, there’s only one file within either of Harriet’s cyberlegs. The copy protection is sufficiently strong that you won’t have time to crack it and steal it, but you can at least read it before erasing your tracks and escaping.

What you find is a report regarding budgets assigned to departments within Declan Futures as well as an itinerary for Declan’s field agents. Though the names of the agents and budget totals are all redacted, the signatures on the human resources itineraries and budget requests follow a few trends; namely, the trend that you can recognize them. You watch the news enough to know the names of a few major players.

You’d never mistake the names of representatives in the Corporate Court and Zurich-Orbital.

“Holy shit.” You breathe. Immediately, you erase your signature from Harriet’s legs and sever the connection. You have just enough time to lie back down on the bed before the shower shuts off. You breathe as steadily and rhythmically as you can, trying to get your heart-rate back under control. It suddenly makes sense to you that the corporate court wouldn’t intervene into Declan’s activities. The court is what’s been giving them orders in the first place.

“What have I gotten myself into?” you whisper to yourself.

[THREAD 8 END]

That's all for tonight, chummers. Shadowrun Hacker Quest will return next Sunday at 18:00 EST. Be sure to follow me on Twitter for schedule updates and be the first to know when the next thread goes live!

https://twitter.com/NullFearQuests

As usual, I'll be around for the next hour or so for the postmortem and will archive the thread shortly.

Also, if it seems unlikely to anyone that the ruling body of the Big Ten would create a spy organization for the express purpose of holding a sword of Damocles over their own members, please remember that this is a setting where a dragon was elected president and there are people who don't try and kill Harlequin on-sight.

>>31461256
I have to admit, that level of backstabbing by the CC reps against their own AAA former masters was unexpected. Though not unbelievable.

>>31461469
The CC is ever so slightly less open to change than United States congress. When I first started playing Shadowrun, it took a while for me to really get how the setup worked. Once I realized that Zurich-Orbital was basically the only thing giving the CC the power to stop an outright corporate war a la Syndicate, something at least resembling a lower-level leash probably had to exist somewhere. I'm sure some people would disagree, but the corporate court equivalent of SCIFs hiding in major metropolitan areas is just something I endorse for Shadowrun.