Fictive Fantasies

Cyberpunk Red. January 2024 IRL, 1/20/2045 IG

PART ONE (1/20/2045)

Glitch, Smith, and Adams were on a rooftop in the Vintner Court Collective neighborhood, joining an impromptu party to watch the sparkler fountain on the mech legs for the self-destructed Growler 88. Grace caught up to them and invited them to a meet with a client. They followed him to the Copperplate to meet with Sgt. Ebbik with Triptarch Security.

The Client

Ebbik explained seven young women have gone missing, probably related to the Symphony Hall in the University District, where the Philharmonic Vampyrs base their fine arts performances and raves. The most recent disappearance was Lucy Rhinemeyer on the night of the 18th. Her father, Dashell Rhinemeyer, was an exec for Rocklin Augmentics. Since Triptarch Security (contracted to provide law enforcement for the university and several other areas of the University District) was busy with other current events, Dashell Rhinemeyer worked through Sgt. Ebbik to offer a bounty for action on recovering his daughter. Ebbik brought the deal to Grace, who connected him to these edgerunners. The offer was 500 EB to take the job, 1,500 for demonstrable contribution to recovering Lucy dead or alive, and bonuses based on her condition and their involvement.

The edgerunners took the job and the file on the seven missing women. They had 48 hours to get results, before Rhinemeyer opened up the contract to additional edgerunners. Ebbik excused himself, and the edgerunners paged through the file and discussed next moves.

Expanding the Context

Glitch met with Beez and got kitted out in goth style so he could blend in as he scouted the Symphony Hall, which was the site for “Ruby Swell: A Night Opera” at the Symphony Hall later that night. 

Adams and Smith went to Hong’s Noodle Shop in the University District, a neutral location where even feuding gangers agreed to forego violence. Smith flirted with a pack of goths headed to the Symphony Hall later, and got into their group. They adjusted his style to fit in better using spares and materials on hand.

Adams spotted another edgerunner doing surveillance and rumor gathering, and confronted him. Crusher was very rude, telling him to go away, but Adams would not be denied or dismissed. He insisted Crusher tell him what he knew about the girls, and drew a knife on the bigger edgerunner. Crusher tossed him over the counter and resumed his own business, but Adams insisted. Irritated, Crusher went outside, and the two edgerunners discharged shotguns at each other at close range to minimal effect. Crusher got frustrated enough to toss a flash grenade and withdraw, probably ending his welcome at Hong’s Noodle Shop due to breaking the no violence taboo onsite. Law enforcement closed in, so the edgerunners retreated.

Smith went to the Symphony Hall with the college goths, and Adams went to Beez to get his own gothy glow-up for the party.

Night City Symphony Hall

Meanwhile, Glitch was already in the Symphony Hall. He asked around and found Allen, the Vampyr boyfriend of the second woman who went missing. Allen was glad to talk about his missing girlfriend, as he feared no one was still looking for her. He didn’t know much, but suggested that the leader of the Philharmonic Vampyrs, Renfeld, could be more informative. Allen went to talk to him, to set up a meeting.

Adams mingled with the crowd, and worked his way up near the stage for the concert phase of the night’s entertainment. Smith got through the rudimentary defenses of the Architecture system housing the Symphony Hall data and defenses, and patched into the security system after downloading floorplans. He shared that information through his Agent with the Agents of the other edgerunners. 

Glitch met with Renfeld, impatient with the theatrics and affectations of the Philharmonic Vampyrs. He didn’t get much information from him, so he demanded to meet with the Master, who was apparently the one in charge of the gang. He intimidated Renfeld subtly, and the lieutenant withdrew. 

A Van of Bozos

Smith spotted a van of Bozos gangsters in the alley behind the Symphony Hall. In the briefing from Sgt. Ebbik, one of the possibly relevant current events in the University District was a gang war between the Inquisitors and the Bozos. Last night, the Bozos main base, the House of Mirrors, was leveled. The Inquisitors claimed credit, but the Bozos blamed the Philharmonic Vampyres for some reason. Heavily armed, they seemed to be here to disrupt the concert in retaliation.

Smith subtly notified internal security for the Symphony Hall, and the Vampyr gangsters armed up and prepared to take on the van. Meanwhile Glitch checked it out from an upstairs window to confirm Smith’s report, then sidled outside and circled around to approach the van from the side. Before he could take action, the Vampyrs came out with machine guns blazing. The Bozo van peeled out of the alley and was hit by a wider picket guard with a grenade launcher; reinforced, the van survived the hit, and wobbled on its way to speed out of danger.

PART TWO

Meet With the Master

The concert started up on time and unfazed by the clash outside. The edgerunners mingled in the audience as the deafening music isolated them. Glitch noticed a laser pointer dot on his chest, and looked up to see Renfeld training it on him to get his attention. Glitch made his way out of the crowd to confront the lieutenant, who explained the Master would see him now. Glitch followed Renfeld into the elevator, which went two levels below the basement. Glitch strode into the dramatic gothic vault throne room, through holographic mist and bats. The Master agreed to share information with Glitch and his team, as the situation had gotten out of hand.

The Master explained Lord Ruthven’s role as founder of the Philharmonic Vampyres, trying for mystery and beauty in the wake of the nuke that wrecked Arasaka over 20 years ago. Ruthven lost sight of the beauty of the Vampyres and their aesthetics, as he got more and more cybers to compensate for age and its toll on his body. He was now over 80, and his role at the University was relegated to advisor for the Psych department as he was no longer effective in teaching courses. Ruthven increasingly became a predator of the night. The Master believes he is behind the recent disappearances (as well as the attack on the House of Mirrors for some reason).

Disdainful of the Master and his Vampyres, Glitch clarified he was not interested in helping the Vampyres, he was involved to retrieve the missing women. The Master agreed; he needed edgerunners to stop Ruthven, as that task was beyond the capacity of the Vampyres. The Master was investigating which of Ruthven’s 16 safehouses was his current base, and he got a notification during the meeting. He passed the address for the Union Chapel Bar.

To the Union Chapel Bar

Glitch left, picking up Smith and Adams on his way out. They returned to their quarters in South Night City so Glitch could get the rest of his weapons, and Adams collected his EMP bomb. They got an armored taxi to take them to a popular hotspot somewhat near the Union Chapel Bar, which was closed and in a bad enough area that taxis would not go there at night. On the way, Smith downloaded what information he could on the bar and its surrounding area.

The edgerunners crossed the 10 blocks to the area of the bar, and Smith and Adams waited under cover while Glitch stealthed closer to look for a good way in. He was startled by a homeless man who fired off a shotgun, triggering some random shooting from other unfortunates in nearby buildings. Glitch suppressed his drunken attacker, who asked if he was with the Vampyres, or if he was a monk. Puzzled, Glitch left the subdued man, and circled around to the bar. 

Most of the bar was shuttered and locked, but there was an access point on the roof where a shell from one of the corp skirmishes blew a hole that never got patched. Glitch called the others to catch up, and the three of them descended into the back room of the bar undetected.

Monks in Extremis

Four dead Inquisitor gangers were carelessly stacked in the cold of the back room. They had been swiftly killed by a highly cybered attacker, no more than a couple days ago. Peering into the closed bar’s interior, the edgerunners saw a pacing monk in a red robe (recognizable as the Fifth Seal, a leader with the Inquisitors) and four terrified and exhausted Inquisitors who were quietly chanting to themselves. Smith found that the bar didn’t have an Architecture to hack, no electronic security at all. 

The edgerunners burst out of cover and combined fire on the Fifth Seal, killing him. Glitch intimidated the others, and they fled into the night. The edgerunners looked around, and discovered stairs down to a basement vault. They descended to find real cold mist (rather than holographic like the Master used) and they came to a reinforced metal door with a sort of improvised medical bay beyond. There were four corpses hanging on hooks on the wall that likely matched descriptions of some of the missing women. 

Glitch opened the door to go in, and spotted gleaming red cyber-eyes in the dark. He fired at them, and a grenade came back at the edgerunners; Adams quickly pulled the door shut, protecting them from the blast. As they thrust the door open again to go after Lord Ruthven, they saw him pluck a woman from the now-wrecked medical bed, and the extremely fast cyberpsycho retreated into the darkness. As the edgerunners piled into the room to give chase, they heard the “thunk” of a lever pulled down somewhere in the darkness ahead…

PART THREE

The Bio Lab

With one sputtering flare lighting the floor as mist began creeping back in, the edgerunners split up. Smith approached the bodies hung on the wall, and saw that skilled bodysculpting had given them nearly identical faces (though the rest of the body was still under construction). They had been killed over a couple weeks. The injuries seemed to be from abuse, rather than failed medical procedures.

Glitch and Adams stealthed down the misted hall. Glitch waved fog away to see bloody footprints of a fast runner with a long stride, going this way. He saw a smear on one of the doorways, and opened it to find a sealed lab that wasn’t misty. Taking precautions, they hissed at Smith to catch up, and the three of them entered.

One of four biobed tubes was filling, a smear of blood on the front, the damaged woman from the chair out front inside. Two of the other tubes had a woman in them, and one tube was empty. The whole system was modular, plucked from some emergency medical zone by a military conflict and placed here. Smith entered the Architecture confined to the unit, downloading medical records. Apparently Dr. Salvee had been working here intensively, including on the current day. (He must provide the medical expertise that Ruthven lacked.)

Glitch spotted a hole in the roof where the cabling went through, and saw a bloody handprint; there was enough space for their quarry to retreat that way.

Adams cross-referenced the medical information with the file on the missing women, and found that they did match–but they didn’t match Lucy, their main target. According to the logs, Lucy was in the “rejuvenation chamber.”

The Rejuvenation Chamber

Continuing down the hall, they found an airlock murder hall. Propping it open with some equipment, they cautiously proceeded, with Smith defeating the locks on both doors. Throwing flares into the darkness, they lit up Ruthven, who loomed at his most terrifying in the mist.

Glitch lit him up with the assault rifle, knocking him back, and the other two edgerunners combined fire to finish him off before his speed got him out of the way. Closing in, they fired some more, and then taped his limbs in place to prevent any surprises. Looking around the room, they found one of the sealed cells had a woman with the same face as the others.

They relocated to the bio lab, dragging Ruthven along. To make sure no one else would have any surprise recoveries for him, or recycle his warmware for a new host, they put him in a bio bed and set it to “crispy.” The last of the victims seemed terrified and groggy as the gel started pouring into her chamber, but they showed her they were not there to hurt her. She got to watch Ruthven get toasted, which seemed to punctuate the end of a nightmarish sentence for her.

They heard some scuffing in the hall, but when they looked, there was no one to be seen.

All’s Well

As soon as the bio bed confirmed the life signs that they had rescued Lucy, the edgerunners contacted Grace and told him where to come for a pickup. Adams waited for them upstairs, escorting them down through the building to the horror show below.

Smith investigated other doors in the same hall, finding that one by the exit led to a lab where a doctor had been held under duress to work on Ruthven’s medical project. There was a projector bed there, and Ruthven had worked with the doctor to build the perfect composite image for the sculpting reference for his victims. The doctor had a camera setup (no recording) and apparently saw their progress through the compound, fleeing when he saw Ruthven was defeated.

With the missing persons accounted for, Triptarch Security would handle the mop-up and report writing. The edgerunners were never there, according to the official story. They piled into Grace’s van and retreated to the Copperplate, where Mr. Rhinemeyer was waiting for them. He paid them their 1,500 EB and gave them another 1,500 EB as a bonus for getting her back alive. She could be biosculpted back to her baseline, and life could go on.

The triumphant edgerunners toasted their success with a few drinks, and the night seemed a little safer.

1/16/2024 IRL. 1/16/2045 IG.

• Augustin Adams, Tech (Jerod)
• Malloc Smith, Netrunner (Joe)
• Glitch Tanaka, Solo (Keith)

The Meet

Glitch invited Adams and Smith to meet him at Fader Dojo at the edge of the Vintner Court Collective, a gang-infested neighborhood of mostly stacked cargo containers in South Night City. The three of them were back in Night City after working for Valkyr Corp in paramilitary actions mostly in North Africa after the last few years, a gig that got them most of their cybers and a fair percentage of their scars. Valkyr was knocked apart by rivals, so they were unemployed, and they gravitated back to Valkyr’s old headquarters in Night City because that’s where their few civilian contacts still lived.

One of those civilian contacts was Glitch’s old mentor Cordite, who ran the Fader Dojo. As they arrived, Cordite welcomed them back to the city and waxed philosophical. His pupil Essedra was handling the mop and cleaning the place up, and she was itching to try out her training against veteran old guard, but none of the edgerunners were interested in a scrap; Cordite considered their judgement wise. He had agreed to train Essedra on the condition she did not use what he taught her to kill people, and of course his teachings included general wisdom and discipline and life skills, broadening the scope of his prohibition. The tongue-in-cheek wisdom ran thick until the last visitor arrived.

Grace

A local fixer, Grace, arrived. He had been instrumental in cleaning up after Glitch in his impulsive youth before Valkyr, and now he was the fixer for Adams, getting him work with local gangs. Grace welcomed them back to Night City and had business to discuss, so they relocated to the Copperplate (a local bar) and turned on some cheap counter-eavesdropping devices so they could talk business.

Grace wanted to provide his services as a fixer, but before they could work together, he explained two rules. One, don’t kill needlessly. Two, if you get a job from him, do your best to do the job and don’t screw the client. The netrunners found those terms generally agreeable, so Grace offered them a small “audition job” to try working together.

Broken Toy

Grace explained that Ziggurat Corp was building the Dunweather Falls Arcology in Vintner Court, and it would eventually be a massive edifice housing thousands of residents of South Night City if it was ever finished. Legal trouble, permits, funding bottlenecks, and other issues ground construction to a halt after finishing a tiny fraction of the project; one six-storey tower that was the ops center for the site.

This tower had its own security staff and corp residents that lived there full-time. “Thunderdrone” rapid response fliers could deploy all over the site, and buzzed around to keep an eye on things. For additional security, Ziggurat brought in a refurbished military walker drone, a Barker 88 that had been wiped by an EMP in a battle. The firmware was a bit dodgy still, and a recent software patch messed with its systems. About 5% of the time, the Barker’s targeting system identified bats as incoming missiles, and fired off a stream of overpressured armor-piercing jacketed rounds to intercept the threat. Considering the site was surrounded by stacked cargo containers where people lived, the rounds went right through multiple containers and whatever was inside. So far, 8 deaths and 22 injuries.

Ms. Ran lost a granddaughter. Even before that, she complained to the site manager, Denbra, who threatened her with violence if she didn’t back off. She went to Rapfeld, the public contact for Triptarch Security, the law enforcement for the neighborhood; he had been bought off and he did nothing. She complained to the exec in charge of the arcology project, Ms. Sellica, and couldn’t get a meeting. She presented a petition with 8,600 signatures to the city council rep, and got nowhere. So, in desperation, she approached a local fixer, Grace. He put together this job.

The Plan

In broad strokes, the plan Grace devised was to smuggle the edgerunners past security in a false compartment in a delivery truck driven by Danville, a regular driver for Ziggurat. He would drive up the ramp to the roof of the Oversight Tower, and then he would use an exoframe to load the truck. This would take him about an hour, after which he would drive back out, as usual.

The edgerunners would have maintenance uniforms, cases to conceal their armor and weapons and gear, and very basic badge passes. They also got climbing harnesses and knockout spray (just in case).

They were to break into the top of the elevator shaft, rappel down to the carriage, and come up to the second floor from maintenance in the sub-level. From there, they would pass the guard and get to the freight elevator that accessed the empty vehicle bay on the ground level.

The access points for the Architecture network were physically armored and underground, difficult for netrunners to reach. However, one was barely accessible in the corner of the vehicle bay, so if Smith laid on the ground, he should be able to squeeze into its local signal. He was to dive to the bottom level of the Architecture to where the control node for the Barker 88 was housed, and implant a subtle virus that would cause it to have a weapons malfunction that would detonate it, in a way that looked like an accident, a few days later.

Undetected, the edgerunners would then return to the roof and get back into the truck so Danville could drive them out. If it all went wrong, they could signal Grace, and he would drive a remote-controlled dump truck through the fencing in the northeast corner and they could hope for the best, shooting their way out.

For future work, they could plan their own missions, but for the first one he scouted it and put together a plan and equipment for them. The rewards were thin, as it was crowd-funded by frustrated poor residents of Vintner Court; 1,500 Eurobucks each, about a month’s living expenses. They took the job.

Mission Prep

Smith purchased some software for his netrunning deck, and labored over crafting a custom virus to force an “accident” with the Barker’s ammo pods. Adams reviewed the specs for the elevator shaft and security systems he would run into in the Control Tower. He also cobbled together a makeshift emp burster bomb, just in case they had to deal with drone combat. Glitch bought a bag of restraints (zip ties, head bags, and the like).

Glitch also scouted the arcology site with his tactical expertise, dressed as a homeless man and observing from multiple vantage points. He spotted an alternative exit, saw the somewhat random path of the Barker was influenced by more exposed power nodes (it liked to bask) and saw it was erratic in its movements. The local security were loath to be around it, so it must have shot at them at some point in the past too. The uniforms had subsystem transmitters to identify as friendlies, so impersonating them took more than putting on the gear; there must be some password and code too.

Infiltration

The edgerunners piled into the truck’s hidden compartment, and got through the bored and sleepy security easily enough. As Danville strapped into the exosuit and started loading the truck, Adams expertly dismantled the security and machinery at the top of the elevator shaft, and the edgerunners slid down their climbing gear to the elevator carriage. Once inside, they adjusted their jumpsuits to look unremarkable, stowing the climbing gear in a case.

Adams and Smith were overqualified to handle any tech questions that might rise for maintenance workers, and they prepped Glitch to reply with some filtration task specifics. Maintenance was always servicing the ventilation!

A somewhat bored guard challenged them, and they said they were headed down to change out filtration. They got past him, and accessed the elevator to the vehicle bay below. The doors slid shut, then they had to bypass the security. Smith took a crack at it, hardly paying attention as the task was beneath him; the system set to amber, and one more misstep would trigger a security response. The next attempt succeeded, and the elevator chugged down to the empty bay.

Into the Architecture

The bay was dim and quiet. Glitch set up in a defensive position, and Adams moved some crates to provide some concealment to Smith, who lay on the floor and dove into the Architecture. Smith easily beat the black ICE defensive programming and passwords, and he reached the bottom of the Architecture and downloaded some maintenance schedules and shift rosters. Moving back up, he took a branch in the Architecture and defeated the “demon” programs running the alarms and drones, reaching the bottom to the control node for the Barker. Smith planted the virus and resurfaced in under a minute.

Exfiltration

The edgerunners returned to the freight elevator and bypassed security again, rising up to the second level. The guard was chatting with another worker; they were surprised the maintenance crew did their work so fast. A quick retort, something about internal and external ventilation, covered the brief awkwardness, and the edgerunners wasted no time getting back in the elevator and heading down.

Putting on the climbing gear took a nervous minute, as the carriage could go up or down if summoned. They managed, and had a laborious climb; there were some awkward pauses and slips, but they made it to the top, working around the carriage being called to move from floor to floor as they tried to outpace it with their climbing.

They crawled out of the roof access, and Adams reassembled it like they were never there. They had time to spare, piling into the truck’s secret compartment and catching their breath as Danville finished loading the truck.

The truck drove down the spiral ramp, past the guards, and away. The edgerunners were ghosts who were never there, and the mission went smoothly, a complete success!