A Shadowrun RP (Game Thread)

[Asclepion]

[h1/]SHADOWRUN[/HEADING]​

A cool breeze flowed across the shadowrunners. It picked up into a wind that came over the ocean. It was a cloudy sky, but patches of sunlight shone down and reflected the light blue water. Ocean waves broke against the shore. The beach led into a tropical jungle, thick with foliage. Out from the beach was a shallow reef, a lagoon of clear water between a chain of islands.

Many of the runners had vivid memories of being in a battle, of tracking down a man with a bounty for the Yakuza, finding him at a hotel and fighting their way out against an army of homeless, landing at a Native American casino until their aircraft could be fixed, and the extraction waiting in a limousine. They had been attacked at the casino by a second army of vagrants and children, and a drone gunship, led by a cyborg woman who cut security apart with a pair of black blades. The Shamans had fought back, and the man escaped outside. When the runners had reached the Yakuza limousine, a gas grenade had knocked them out.

Others were newcomers, pulled from their daily activities, knocked out and waking up on the beach.

There was no sign of the battle. There was no Yakuza. There was no man. There was only the sand and rocks, water and coral. There was the sound of wind in palm trees, and waves. But for a few of the runners, they could identify the subtlest clues that this was a Simsense environment, and that their real bodies were somewhere else entirely...

 

[Terratina.]

Ziggy woke to find... Sand? He groaned as he realised that his clothing was now completely soaked and even a stray starfish had attached itself to his head. He groaned again. Ziggy had spent ages perfecting that hair every morning only for it to be ruined with seawater. He sighed and peeled the starfish off his face. But then he made use of the situation and flicked his hair around in a matter seen in many hair adverts. He had spent ages perfecting that as well. Ziggy stretched. Did the casino have a secret little beach all to itself? ...Nah. He threw the starfish out to the horizon and tried to think on previous events.

They... had been gassed, right? Well, that left two possibilities. Either this was a little surprise do in celebration of a 'run well run. But, something was off. He was Ziggy, the great elf behind the Stardust club, but the Yakuza wouldn't throw all this just for him. The other one was a bit scary to say the least. They had been captured and someone had decided to stick them in for a little VR session. Shivers went up his spine. What were they doing with his body? Nothing... icky? He then shook some of the water off, like a canine companion would and then preceded to walk back and forth, mumbling to himself.

"If it's that... We need a guy on the outside to go inside and get us outside before they fry us inside. Oh! And the dude need to be safe inside and outside as well!" He started and then drooped in defeat, "But they can see inside and fry us outside if anything iffy goes in inside..." Seeing a swarm of mosquito, he flailed his arms around manically, "Buzz-z-z-z!"

 

[EmperorZuma]

The sound of the waves crashing against the beach roused the Mechanist from his slumber. He looked around to see that he obviously wasn't in Kansas anymore. "What the...?" Jacob trailed off as he took a stand, taking a moment to get his balance on the slick sand. It was then that he could feel it, the irritation from the sand that had gotten into his shoes, the wind that seemed to be missing the slight smell of salt. He was in a simulation.

However, if he wasn't himself, then why was he in his default avatar? He always had a separate avatar that hid his appearance when not in meatspace, one he was frankly quite proud of, yet he looked like he did in real life here. A trap, this has to be a trap, but when did I set it off? What was I doing before now? I...can't remember, was I already asleep? Jacob was puzzled as he sat back down in the sand, crossing his legs and closing his eyes.

"Focus, stay calm, deep breaths, connect...." Jacob repeated those lines to himself as he recalled Guru's teachings. Whenever in doubt, find your place in the Matrix. But...something was wrong, whenever Jacob thought he was getting close to connecting, a distraction, from without or within, he couldn't tell, pulled him farther away. He muttered his mantra to himself again to try and focus, but everything seemed...fuzzy.

"Damn it." Jacob flicked himself in the head as he stood back up. "This place...maybe if I just...argh!" Jacob took another breath to calm his growing frustration, or cloaked panic. Deciding to survey his surroundings before trying to connect again, he neared the waterfront to get a better look along the beach.

 

[Anti-American Eagle]

Andrew woke up after a hellish dream, was it a dream, it didn't matter, his mind was telling him he had slipped into VR... against his will.

Andrew felt around for a few moments before opening his eyes, he pushed himself off the ground and stood up. He looked at his arms and noticed he wasn't appearing as his avatar, his clothes would have been different. He took a long second and realized he couldn't break out at will, not a good sign. At least he was on an island, too bad the damned pod people were probably using him as a puppet, or a processor. What the fuck was going on these days?

While looking around he saw the crazy elf running around buzzing for some reason, and another guy yelling about something and wandering towards the water.

Andrew sat down in the sand and focused. He'd need some form of anonymity here, actually it was probably better he wasn't using his avatar yet, it actually afforded himself some more anonymity a little longer. Perhaps being ethereal could help him here, no they may not have programmed outside of the environment, he could run into a wall of black ice, or fall into nothingness. Flight could always help though, perhaps he could change his form a little while he's at it. He could always use a damned chair too.

Andrew began compiling objects around himself, a coffee table, a wooden chair, a large umbrella and a pitcher of lemonade began to take form. Over the course of a minute he had a place to sit, something to put his feet up on, some shade, and something to drink. He set up the umbrella, sat down in the chair, put his feet up on the coffee table, grabbed a glass of lemonade, and got to work on modifying his form. It would take a while without access to the majority of his faculties, so he figured he should try and enjoy himself while he waited.

 

[Asclepion]

Jacob walked along the shore, looking out at the ocean, while white crests of water washed over the sand. The island seemed uninhabited. A lush jungle, sand, and reefs, but no other people. As he renewed his connection, he heard a voice. It was male, seeming to come from far off. It said:

"It's beautiful, isn't it?"

The Mechanist turned, and suddenly saw something out in the water. He looked closer. Yes, definitely there was something. He could make out a dark human shape, a man. There was someone there. It was an elf, dressed in an impeccable suit. A tailored suit like his may have cost a small fortune, but he was standing in the shallow ocean and letting the water soak his legs, and splash up to his waist.

He stood facing the shore, speaking out to the runners.
"Like a place that you would find buried treasure. One of our otaku constructed these islands. What fantasies echoed through his thoughts, crafted into the world around us? Mermaids and pirate ships? Adventure? Magnificent!"

He lowers his hand into the surf and submerges it, while waves continue to rise over his arm and legs. Then he put his head back and sang:

"Needles and pins,
Needles and pins,
Sew me a sail
To catch me the wind.

Sew me a sail
Strong as the gale,
Carpenter, bring out your
Hammers and nails.

Hammers and nails,
Hammers and nails,
Build me a boat
To go chasing the whales.

Chasing the whales,
Sailing the blue
Find me a captain
And sign me a crew.

Captain and crew,
Captain and crew,
Take me, oh take me
To anywhere new."

 

[Mr.Ivebeenframed]

It was beautiful here. The rolling waves, the calm tropical winds, and the feeling of utter freedom which was the complete feeling he had prior. The bullets, shrapnel, screaming, shooting, and the chasing were no longer there which frightened Blue. He looked around seeing other runners with the same look of confusion. Blue got up, clutching his magnum. Questions blew through his mind like the cool breeze. To Blue, this definitely was a virtual reality carved by the computer but why were they here?

Blue walked down the shore for a few moments before he saw an elf in the water. He seemed ethereal, and out of place. Then he sang a song that filled his ears despite being meters away from him.

"What the hell are we doing here?!" Blue asked the figure.

 

[RandomMan01]

Billy's eyes snapped open. He sat up and began to look around. It was beautiful. The beach, the waves, he had never been anywhere like this before. Unfortunately, Billy wasn't really focusing on the beauty. He was more curious about how he got there. Looking around, he noticed a few other people. Some were staying put, others were walking around. One in particular-an elf-was flailing his arms everywhere. Who were these people?

Billy took a deep breath and tried to concentrate. He reached down and picked up his hat. He patted some sand out of it, then put it back on. For a moment, he debated whether or not to get up, then decided against it. As the water lapped around his hips, he began trying to figure out what happened. Patting his coat, he realized he still had his Uzi and knife. He then reached inside his vest as he realized he had just turned the Uzi's safety off. He turned the safety back on, moved his way up the sand, away from the water, then just laid back down, trying to figure out why he was there.

"Am I dead?" he asked. He brought his knife to his arm, and lightly pressed down until it began to hurt. Putting the knife down, he sprawled out on the shore "Well, I still alive, that's for sure," He concluded, "But, why am I here then?"

 

[Asclepion]

"What the hell are we doing here?!"

"We are going to talk," the elf replied, "and you will receive an assignment. Please, allow me to answer. You are currently in a white room attached to medical gear, but consciously you are experiencing something that I hope is more... pleasant.

"To introduce myself, I am a representative of the Great Otaku Division, the G.O.D. And I wanted to express our gratitude to you for hunting down the man named Tobias Dawson. Thank you. And also, our sincerest apologies that you will not be delivering him as your contract with the Yakuza stated. He is in our possession now. We will give him... another chance. A new lease on life."

"Tobias is of great value to us. His datajack is malfunctioning, which means he can't be controlled, but he's getting a scrambled signal anyway. We needed him to track down the signal that was controlling him, as well as the soldiers that have attacked you."

 

[hiei82]

"What the hell are we doing here?!"

At the sound, Julia's eyes snapped open. Feeling that something was wrong, and realizing she was still armed, she rolled over and pushed herself into a low crouching position. A moment later, she reached to her side and grabbed both her pistol and her knife; readying for anything.

What she saw however made less sense. Around her were a number of people - some asleep and others awake - all in varying states of confusion. One seemed to have made his peace and was drinking lemonade toward the back of the beach. Strangely, there weren't any uniformed guards or obvious weapons trailed against her or any of the others. She glanced around, looking for any sign of obvious danger.

As Julia tried to recall the events that brought her here, she found only a dull throbbing pain in her head. Her training told her it was the tell-tale sign of being drugged. She resolved to kill whoever managed to drug her, shortly after finding out how they did it and why.

Slowly, Julia moved away from the group of people, such that she could see all of them - she wasn't going to take any chances. She then waited; waited on whoever had been asked the question that awoke her to answer. Then she'd decide how to kill them; she was thinking "gut like a fish" given the location.

 

[Anti-American Eagle]

Andrew pulled his mind back into focus, he needed to focus, that song...
He needed to make the form change a background task, it would unfortunately take longer though.
That song... this place... he said Otaku hadn't he?
Andrew placed his glass on the sand and got up, he began to walk towards the man.
He stopped near where the other man was standing, the one he couldn't recognize, and looked at the man in the water.

Someone spoke up "What the hell are we doing here?!"

"We are going to talk," the elf replied, "and you will receive an assignment. Please, allow me to answer. You are currently in a white room attached to medical gear, but consciously you are experiencing something that I hope is more... pleasant."

He wants us to do a job for him? After THIS?

"To introduce myself, I am a representative of the Great Otaku Division, the G.O.D. And I wanted to express our gratitude to you for hunting down the man named Tobias Dawson. Thank you. And also, our sincerest apologies that you will not be delivering him as your contract with the Yakuza stated. He is in our possession now. We will give him... another chance. A new lease on life."

Otaku? Wanted Tobias? To give him another chance?

"Tobias is of great value to us. His datajack is malfunctioning, which means he can't be controlled, but he's getting a scrambled signal anyway. We needed him to track down the signal that was controlling him, as well as the soldiers that have attacked you."

I was starting to get the feeling that he had been mindjacked.

"Who are these people, this hivemind?

 

[Terratina.]

Ziggy was walking towards the singing elf. He had always liked sea shanties. His keen elven ears eavesdropped on the conversation. Seems other people wanted Tobias nearly as much as Ziggy wanted him. As he listened in on the other elf's words, he stopped about a couple of inches away from him and grabbed a stick. With this stick, he began to draw a series of emotions - the ones that used Asian characters - and coarse lines linking them. All lines pointed towards the

X_X

emoticon. Afterwards the rainbow wonder stood up and admired his work. But then decided that the whole situation was more like a game of beach volleyball. The question of whether or not it was nude volleyball was a question that could only be answered by Ziggy himself.

He stretched and said in singsong voice, "Tobiaaaaas... What is it that draw me to you? What it is that draws others to you? Je ne sais quoi... Je ne sais quoi." He turned to the G.O.D. representative and cracked a cheesey grin, "We're still gettin' the creds for this, eh, chummer?" He quickly fanned himself, "This 'run has gotten pretty hot. I don't think I'll survive without something to cool me down..." Ziggy then took on the role of a rejected lover, "Take him if you must, but please! Don't let bullets tear us apart!" Surely a little drama couldn't hurt? After that charade, he stared into the suited elf's eyes, wondering how the otaku representative would react and if he would answer the questions hidden in his little show.

 

[RandomMan01]

Billy stands up, making sure to keep his hat on his head. As, he gets up, he picks up his knife. If any of these guys tried something, he'd kill them with hesitation.

By this point, he starts to notice new figure waking up on the beach, but pays them no mind.

He walks towards the man, stopping at the waters edge "Why am I here then? I don't remember getting any sort of contract with the Yakuza" He stops, thinks for a moment, then adds, "And where exactly is "here"?

 

[Asclepion]

"We're still gettin' the creds for this, eh, chummer?"

"We will reimburse you his bounty, yes."

"This 'run has gotten pretty hot. I don't think I'll survive without something to cool me down... Take him if you must, but please! Don't let bullets tear us apart!"

"Why am I here then? I don't remember getting any sort of contract with the Yakuza... And where exactly is "here"?

"Here is a simulation, a secure data stream. A place where the Great Otaku Division can talk entirely on it's own terms. Watch closely."

The elf held out his hand. There was a brief shimmer of code, and a pina colada materialized in his open palm. He let go of it, but there was another information glimmer and it did not fall; the drink levitated in midair until he gently set his fingers against it and pushed it towards Ziggy. It floated across the beach.

"Who are these people, this hivemind?"

"The signal comes from a rogue military AI called "Asclepion". The AI has developed technology to control human and metahuman minds and is quickly building an army using the dregs of society. Invisible people, so to speak. The eventual goal is to subjugate the world."

"The G.O.D. know of this and have set themselves against it. And the G.O.D. wants you all to undertake a mission for us."

 

[EmperorZuma]

"The G.O.D. know of this and have set themselves against it. And the G.O.D. wants you all to undertake a mission for us."

Jacob was a bit perplexed at everything he just saw transpire, first an ethereal, than a weird song, now he's suddenly working for "G.O.D". He could have spent the next ten minutes ranting about how totally vain that sounded, but decided against it. "Wait, why am I getting the feeling I'm on a totally different frequency? It seems like you went out of your way to get me in here with these guys."

 

[RandomMan01]

"Here is a simulation, a secure data stream. A place where the Great Otaku Division can talk entirely on it's own terms."

So...I'm in a Simsense? Huh, I've never been here before

You may not understand all that we discuss, but I assure you, the enemy knows of you. You are a shadowrunner, and it learned of you through the shadows. It knows of your skill, it knows of the successful missions you've done. It was moving to take you, wipe away all traces of your former self, morph you into slave and soldier."

Billy scoffs, Any part of my former self was wiped away when I was a kid. Guess I don't have much of a choice though

He smirks "Alright then. Since I'm getting paid and everything, why not. You can count me in on whatever this is"

 

[Anti-American Eagle]

"Fortunate... Wipe away-Former-Self... Slave-Soldier... Rogue-AI-Asclepion... Technology-Control-Mind... Subjugate the World."
"The G.O.D. know of this and have set themselves against it. And the G.O.D. wants you all to undertake a mission for us."

They're targeting us because we're invisible... no one would notice the disappearance

"You can count me in as well."

 

[Asclepion]

"The only way to destroy the AI is to destroy it's physical hardware, which we tracked using the man. The only problem now, the signal is coming from the Chicago Containment Zone. As you are aware, the city of Chicago has been under seige by Spirits from the Astral Plane, taking the form of insects. Many areas are overrun and large segments of the population are living in a warzone. A quarantine is maintained by UCAS military, so that no one can go in or out.

"We have determined that the easiest way through the military blockade is to stow away on board a UCAS supply dropship. Because people are still living in the containment zone, UCAS airdrops supplies every few days.

"This is our proposition: The G.O.D. wants to hire you to airdrop into Chicago and destroy the AI's hardware. We will offer three million nuyen, plus 100,000 up front that you would have recieved."

 

[Terratina.]

Ziggy listened yo this guy. He had apparently saved his life, but the escape route had wrapped around the group of 'runners and now Ziggy was about to choke. Since when was an AI dumb enough to bring a guy like Ziggy into an army. But then again, AI tended to lack common sense. He listened some more. It seemed it was either the dull uniform of the 'invisible army' or a dull supply crate. But three million nuyen... That was a lot. However, he couldn't see how a Face could reason with Insect Spirits. He quickly looked around. Hell... From the looks of it, there weren't any Shamans or anything of the sort. Ziggy didn't like it. Details were needed. He paced about giving off a thoughtful, but light-hearted air. "From the freezer into the frying pan, into the fire, into hell... You aren't as nice as you seem, Mr. Suit. You save us, only to use us, then you will probably discard us. Not nice at all. Either Bug City or bust, eh?"

 

[Anti-American Eagle]

"Destroy-Physical Hardware... Chicago Containment Zone... Quarantine... Stow Away-UCAS Supply Dropship-Airdrop... 3,100,000 Nuyen."

"I have a two questions. What will happen to the people it controls when we destroy it? And how do we escape Chicago once we're done?"

 

[MortifiedPenguin]

Sonya rolled over onto her back. Turned out being hit by a car and being gassed brought on one hell of a hangover. Bringing her hand over he eyes to shield them from the glaring sun she wondered where she was. All she remembered before waking up here was pandemonium; A fight between an endless army of homeless geared up with tech and who knows what and the few unfortunate shadow runners, including herself, her had earned their ire.

Brushing the sand of her clothes as she stood, it appeared they had somehow arrived at an archipelago in the middle of the ocean. Was this some sort of VR program designed to keep them trapped? Oddly her armaments were still with her. She doubted their effectiveness if this was a VR, but it didn't help to be cautious. She pulled out her pistol from it;s holster and approached the group. Most of them were the runner she was with, but there was a couple of outsiders.

"This is our proposition: The G.O.D. wants to hire you to air drop into Chicago and destroy the AI's hardware. We will offer three million nuyen, plus 100,000 up front that you would have received."

"Bug city and we get rich? No thanks I'd rather not have to fall into that hell and have the Yaks on my back." She scoffed.