Episode 31: The Hot War Explodes

 

Wednesday, June 8, 2025:

The group’s two-week vacation was over, and Rose returned from Seattle with Bea by airship. They had bought coach seats (often referred to as ‘ballast’), but found that they had been upgraded to 1st class (by Cleo). Cleo met them at the Night City airport with her AV-3 and took them to their building in West San Morro. The trip back was a little tense as Bea still harbored a little hostility towards Cleo for her arrogant attitude during the Chamberlain, SD mission, but despite that it was a fairly amicable reunion. Cleo also brought a trunk full of weapons that she had collected over the years. She gave the group an M60 machine gun, a Barrett Lite 20 ET, a RPG-A with 4 extra HEAT rounds, and a Ronin Assault rifle. Doctor Freeman and Grimjaw (Ken) were in Sacramento working out some medical license difficulties. Jimmy MacDonald, who had been hit by a forklift in a warehouse during the last mission, was back with the group.

The Morrison Square Neighborhood Association (the local organized crime syndicate that controls the neighborhood) had invited the group to come to their nightclub on the fourth floor of the Association building to see a hot west coast touring band that was performing that night. The real reason (which the team was informed of) was that a small delegation of the Iron Sights booster gang was coming to discuss and defuse the rising violence between the Association and the gang. It was suggested that the group come discreetly armed and armored. Cleo said she would be there later as she was trying to finish the programming of the new building security system.

So, Rose, Bea, Ser, Jimmy and Jose went to the club. As the group watched from the dance floor, three of the older (and terminally ill boosters) approached Morgan, the President of the Association, to begin the negotiations. The group’s phones all rang a once. It was Cleo telling them that a pack of boosters was coming across the next-door building’s roof towards the group’s HQ, and more were sweeping into the neighborhood. The line was then jammed. At the first mass phone ring, Bea started heading for the stairway down. The rest followed when the call ended but as they made the top of the stairs multiple explosions from the club blew them down to the first landing with some minor impact damage (except for Bea, who was now far enough away to avoid any damage). The dying boosters had acted as suicide bombers to try to wipe out the Association’s leadership.

The group fled down the stairs ahead of the panicking crowd and ran straight into 4 Iron Sights members coming up the stairs. Down below on the first floor they heard the .50 caliber MG that defends the lobby open up. A brief firefight and melee ensued as they dispatched the boosters, but not before Jimmy took a wicked looking bladed axe to the chest that drove him into Mortal 0. Jose hoisted him over his shoulder and they ran through the lobby past a pile of dead boosters that had been led by a full Borg, who was now so much scrap. The group ran outside and headed across the square and the additional half a block to their building.

A few noticed that the outside guards had been head shot so they zigzagged a little, but all ran full out, so they spread themselves out according to their MA. The front of their building was shrouded in smoke with a dozen boosters’ bodies littering the area in front of the door. Cleo had rigged explosives in the door alcove. The armored door was locked and their key cards failed to open it initially but after a few seconds the door unlocked. Quazz, the ‘Igor’ style AI (or so they think) in the building computer, recognized them and let them in. Four of the boosters outside were not dead and started to get up, but were mowed down by the group. The building is a two story “L-shaped” structure with a two-story lobby. A long corridor on each floor heads back along the length of the building to the end where the corridor turns left with another set of stairs down (on the second floor) and goes to a two story garage area that opens onto an alley. Inside, screams were heard from the second floor, and a firefight was underway on the first floor.

The first two to enter, Rose and Bea, went to the second floor and stealthily glanced thru the double door’s armored window where they saw one of their tenants, Neil, crucified on the wall being tortured with some wolvers by two boosters. They slipped in to sneak up on the occupied metal men. Rose moved towards the boosters and Bea had her entry card at ready to get into their armored apartment. Well, the Eclipse Borg down the hall noticed them and shouted a warning but Rose still dispatched the two boosters with her mono katana and pistol, while Bea got the door open. The Borg charged with two more boosters (those two having linear frames). The girls got in their apartment and Rose jammed her door jack to secure the entrance. Yes, many in the group had thought Rose was being over paranoid when she equipped the door with the device, but it proved to be what saved their lives. That gave those two time to get out a Barrett .50 caliber sniper rifle, an M60 MG, put on a little more armor, and set up behind a couch as the three outside battered the door down.

Downstairs, Ser entered the building and ran right through the downstairs lobby door into the first floor corridor without looking. Well, there were a number of boosters at the other end of that corridor. Ser won imitative and ran back out, but instead of moving to the side of the door and taking cover, he ran straight out of the lobby catching a three round burst from an assault rifle. He then ran up the street straight into the line of fire of an enemy sniper and was hit by a Barrett Lite 20. While it didn’t kill him, he wisely dropped to the ground well into mortal. Ser was eventually able to get back to the building but he expired in the hall.

The last two (Jose & Jimmy) arrived at the building entrance and Jose entered the building after Ser had run back out. Jose checked out the lobby for enemies, then went back outside and brought Jimmy inside. In the lobby, they waited until they caught an assault rifle blast from the first floor corridor door. They took cover behind the old security desk in the corner and a stalemate ensued downstairs.

Meanwhile the Borg with his two booster allies broke in the door and was met by a hail of gunfire. The Borg went down with a shot off leg. A second headshot from the Barrett 50 incapacitated it. Bea kept up suppression fire in the doorway until she was down to one burst, then she ceased firing and called for more ammo. One of the boosters stepped in the doorway and was cut down by the last burst. The leaderless gangers retreated at that point as they had taken heavy casualties from other NPC fights in the building also. The group then secured the building and hunkered down. During the night they noticed a group of Iron Sights in the alley and a couple were trying to hot wire the exterior garage door opener. Actually, the “opener” was a dummy. The door has to be manually opened from the inside. A couple of grenades were rolled out the garage door, which the team opened a bit, and drove off or killed the door attackers. Bea with the M60 and others with some assault rifles drove the other attackers out of the alley.

Carlos and his family (longstanding NPC tenants) had killed two boosters and kept the rest out of their apartment. Neil, a carpenter who had helped the party repair most of the building when he wasn’t high was crucified and killed upstairs. His live in girlfriend, Janet, who worked as a stripper at the Clam Shack, was devastated by his death. Cleo was critically wounded but had managed to hold off the attack on the building’s nerve center. As it turned out, the two new tenants that had recently moved in were in the pay of the attackers. They tried to open one of the outside doors, and take the command center but were killed by booby traps (outside door) and shot down (command center). The Borg had all his limbs removed, and some inquiries led to his ransom for 100,000 eb paid by the Borg himself. As it turns out he was a freelancer, but it is obvious that Militech is responsible for this atrocity.

The Iron Sights had made alliances with two other booster gangs to swell their numbers for this assault. Some of the apartment buildings in the neighborhood were overrun and their occupants slaughtered. The enormity of the blood bath forced the city’s hand and by morning the Morrison Square area was under NCPD control as SWAT, MAX-TAC, and regular units moved in. Cleo called Trauma Team. They took her and Jimmy to the hospital to recover. It was too late for Ser though and he was dead (10).

That is where the evening ended. It is the morning of June 9th, and the Trauma Team ambulance has just lifted off. The group is left to repair the damage to their building. The police presence has given the neighborhood a brief respite, but how long the city will maintain such a force in this tax-poor Combat Zone area is to be seen. For the group, the Hot War has begun!

 

 

 

Episode 32: Family Comes to Visit

 

Thursday, June 9, 2025:

As the Trauma Team ambulance lifts off; a couple of NCPD detectives backed by a SWAT team come to the building to check out the place. After all, there are a dozen bodies scattered about the front door. Rose attempts to stop them by demanding a search warrant, to which the detective merely declares the building a crime scene and enters. The team had gathered up the weapons and no illegal weaponry was in evidence. Eyebrows were raised as the police noticed about 100 plastic cased 7.62 casings from the M60 littering one of the upstairs bedrooms. The detectives asked what happened, and the group simply responded that boosters attacked and they defended themselves. It quickly becomes apparent that the police’s sympathies run with neighborhood and they ignore all obvious signs of illegal weapons fire. They gather up the dead boosters and return to their work checking up on the neighborhood. The Association Building is locked up tight and their enforcers (or what’s left of them) remain inside.

The team begins cleaning up and repairing the damaged roof. The attackers that had come over the rooftops had blown a hole in it over Takashi’s room to kill him first (that pesky Life path again). Fortunately (for him) he had just returned to Japan. We had a new (old) player join us and he and the late Ser rolled up a set of fraternal Afro/Laotian twins (male and female). [Why? Who knows?] We decided they would be Rose’s cousins on her father’s side, who sent them with a note to Rose asking her to help them get on their feet. Both new characters are solos. Lulu and Louie Lam arrive on the MagLev and call Rose for directions. After some initial confusion, they take the subway to San Morro and catch a cab to the group’s HQ. Rose agrees to try and help them and they get a room there (recently vacated by the two spy/traitors who were killed the night before in the attack). The rest of the day is spent cleaning up and making more repairs. The door from Takashi’s bedroom is moved temporarily to Bea, Rose and Jose’s room.

***

Friday, June 10, 2025:

The team goes to San Morro to buy some replacement security doors and more building materials. Just over the bridge spanning San Morro Creek, their cab is stopped by Militech Security Police. Their IDs are checked, and their identities are noted. They are then released. The Militech personnel are polite and business like, but it is obvious that this “traffic stop” is not random. They buy all the rest of the repair material they need. Unfortunately, the company will not transport it there due to the Association’s ‘ban’ on any deliveries not made by their transportation company. Rose calls the Association and gets a waiver (the Association being a little busy at present to make the delivery). They also make a trip to the New Harbor Mall where they do a little shopping, Rose buys food for her cousins and they order a Laotian ‘Scholar’ chip. Repairs continue under the umbrella of police ‘protection’.

On a visit to the Morrison Square Neighborhood Association building Rose and Bea discover that armored booths have replaced the outside guards, and that ‘criminal’ group is still very much in business. As they leave, Alison Meadows, a NET 54 reporter interviews them. Both criticize the police response time.  While listening to the reporter’s ‘wrap-up’ on the story, they find out this the general feeling of the neighborhood (and of that reporter). By nightfall, all the security doors are repaired and power is restored to the neighborhood, which continues to be quiet under the watchful eye of the police.

At the Mall, Bea spent a big wad of cash on some real food and supplies for a “barbeque”. That night the Team and all the NPCs still alive in the building have a ‘cookout’ in the garage to celebrate their “survival”. The attack may have killed two of their number (a PC and an NPC), but the fight has bonded them all. Bea’s cookout becomes an affirmation of this.

***

 

Saturday, June 11, 2025:

The team is starting to get a routine with morning workouts in the dojo/gym. At about 11am they decide to go to the hospital and check up on Cleo and Jimmy. When the Combat Cab arrives, however, Cleo and Jimmy get out, but both are still in serious condition. Many in the group head out to the New Harbor Mall again to pick up their Laotian chip. On the return, they notice the police have pulled out, and there is a tarp covering the entrance alcove of their building. They approach cautiously and find that behind it, Cleo is resetting the C-6 charges in a slightly different location.

The group spends the rest of the day fixing the bullet-scarred walls. The day is quiet, and the lack of police presence doesn’t change that.

***

 

Sunday, June 12, 2025:

Repairs continue, and the building starts to take on a semblance of normality. Several people ask Cleo to see the camera recordings of the attack, but she tells them that the system wasn’t programmed to do that. It is a good idea and she will work on it. Some express the belief that she is hiding something, but they don’t say that to her face.

When night comes, some of them are getting a little house bound, and Lulu says she would like to go dancing. Bea recommends the Clam Shack down at the square. Now the Clam Shack is a dive of a strip club, but no one tells Lulu this, so Lulu, Bea and Jose head there. Lulu, who was raised up until a year ago in the Laotian countryside, is shocked by the place, which was part of Bea’s motivation in suggesting going there. The liquor flows and cash goes for a lap dance or two. A great time is had by all. On the return home they are most of the way across the square and approaching the corner to their street, when a man coming the other way on the sidewalk has his head blown off by a sniper, which splatters blood and gray matter all over the three. They run home. The Iron Sights have resumed their fight now that the police are gone.

***

 

Monday, June 13, 2025:

Morning workouts in the Dojo and weight room are followed by continued work on the building. A representative of the Association comes to visit with a data chip. On it are pictures of all known members of the Iron Sights in the area (about 80), and an amount ranging from 300 to 10,000eb under each picture. The name of the file is ‘Head Bounties’. Carl, the rep from the Association, says that the title is quite literal, and leaves. Rose comments something to the effect, “Well, I guess head shots are out.”

 

Cleo promises to get hard copies for people and then goes into the computer to finish the programming of the security system (in particular a digital image cache system for the cameras).

Later in the morning, Lulu sneaks out and goes to the Clam Shack to audition as a stripper. Well, her skill is only a Dance 1, and while her result on her roll isn’t too bad, she just doesn’t have the skill for the job. The boss asks if she would like some less “strenuous” work upstairs. She declines and inquires if they have an amateur night. Well, yes, indeed, and there is a contest tonight. She says she will be there. That night she slips away again to go to the contest. Actually, she does rather well and earns 40eb. When Lulu asks if she can come back next Monday, she is told she must wait two weeks unless she would like to go into the manager’s office and ‘talk’ about what she could do to get him to change his mind. One Hum Job later she is given a waiver and told she can come back next Monday. She then returns home.

Later that night, Rose, Bea and Jose decide to reconnoiter to the west, which is the direction where the Iron Sights have their HQ. They don’t know the exact location. In fact, even though they have lived here for months, they have never been more than 1 block from Morrison Square itself, unless it’s been down one of the two streets that lead to freeway entrance ramp, or San Morro proper. For that matter, they never even bothered to ask the Association for any information (or intelligence) on the Iron Sights. Jose doesn’t have anything that could counteract an observer’s IR or Thermo sight. Rose and Bea tell him that that could be dangerous for him, but he goes anyway. They slip out the garage a little after midnight and stealth down the alley to the street on the square and head west. Well, it slips their minds that the Association maintains well trained and equipped sniper teams, and Jose gets seen by one with a .50 caliber Barrett ET sniper rifle. I ruled that the shooter could not see enough of him to call a headshot, so the bullet hit the torso. Fifty-seven (I believe) points of damage hit. After taking off for Skinweave, AP effects and BTM, eighteen points got thru. He failed his stun save and went down. The other two saw a team of Association enforcers bubble out of their building and head their way. They slipped silently away and back to their building to call the Association. They felt (quite correctly) that just stepping out of the shadows in front of the oncoming men would be a bad idea. The neighborhood is in a “shoot first and ask questions later” mood.

The enforcers wanted a prisoner so they took the now awake (but still feigning unconsciousness) Jose away. Back at the team’s HQ they quickly called the Association to tell them that there had been a slight ‘misunderstanding’. The Association security apologized, and suggested that they might want to tell them next time when they go out like that, so ‘misunderstandings’ like that don’t happen again. The Association’s Med Tech patched Jose up and took him home. Cleo pulled a Speed Heal and a Nano Heal out of her supplies and shot him up. That is where the evening ended. What will happen next? Damned if I know?

 

 

 

Episode 33 – The Siege of Morrison Square

When we started the Fourth Corporate War scenarios, the Killer Bees (then known as the ‘B Team’) had settled in a combat zone neighborhood just west of the San Morro area. An organized crime group known as the Morrison Square Neighborhood Association controlled it. The group decided to take the road of least resistance (a good move), and cooperated with this criminal gang. The Association was happy to have a ‘friendly’ Edgerunner team in the neighborhood, and didn’t push the Bees on any issues. The payoffs to the Association kept trouble from the team’s door, but, of course, it could not last. Militech needs this area as a buffer against Arasaka, but cannot move overtly because of political considerations. Hence, they approached the Iron Sights, who don’t like the Association and supported them with 20 mercenaries (6 two-man sniper teams, 4 combat Borgs, 2 covert ops, and 2 electronic warfare specialists (also netrunners). The initial attack cost them both covert ops, and half of the sniper teams and Borgs. The plan is now to turn the area into a miniature Sarajevo. Snipers have set up in the tall buildings around the area (they move often with usually one team active at any time. Every couple of days the Iron Sights launch an attack on a random apartment building to slaughter as many residents as possible and drive them rest out. This, it is hoped, will eventually bring down the Association.

The local city councilor, Saul Morris, is in league with Militech and is preventing NCPD from intervening. This is counter to the previous councilor’s policy of neutrality. The previous office holder is now Senator Thomas Royal deChartier (Roy), Bea’s original starting character back from the Security Solutions Campaign. The Senator is in Paris negotiating a commercial ‘understanding’ between Norcal and the EU. His director of communications, George Clark, is in league with the new councilor, Saul Morris, a secret ally of Militech. Roy is fooled for a little bit, but eventually learns the truth. Roy is supposed to visit his father at the family chateau in France after the conference, but he sends Clark and his assistant up ahead to his father’s chateau (where a fatal automobile accident awaits them on the way), and grabs the shuttle to the Johnson Space Platform for a quick return to Night City. George insists that another one of his (traitorous assistants) accompany Roy. This is agreed to and then the assistant is quietly killed. At the Johnson Space Platform, Roy learns that his father has been assassinated, and, had he gone to the chateau, he would have been killed to. The assassin was killed in the attack and turns out to be one of the Euro Solo ‘Angels’ from the Crystal Palace.

“The king is dead, long live the king!” But which king is the question. Senator “Roy” deChartier returns immediately to France to pick up the reins of his father’s (now his) empire. His arrival in France is greeted by the news that his mother has been murdered in Detroit, and his girlfriend, Shelly, has survived an assassination attempt in Night City. The Night City attack killed a good friend of the couple. Also, Roy finds out he has a younger half-sister, who is just about to turn fifteen. They are united in their mutual desire for revenge. Roy puts an enormous effort out to find the people responsible for these killings, and promises an ‘example’ WILL BE MADE! For the present, Roy’s attention is drawn elsewhere, so the Siege of Morrison Square continues.

 

Tuesday, June 14, 2025:

After the misunderstanding that left Jose critically wounded (in Mortal but since he does not die it would premature to call it a mortal wound), the Iron Sights attack 4 small apartment buildings in the SW corner of the Morrison Square area. There is much slaughter and the Associations forces are out of position due to the previous ‘incident’. Things are not going well.

The next morning an armored truck arrives at the group’s HQ and is quickly brought into the garage. A group of nomads in the pay of Cleo have brought a few items to help with the siege. In the truck is the rest of the materials to finish the shooting range downstairs, which will allow weapons up to 7.62 (ball) and 5.56 (AP) to be fired down there. Also in the truck is 2 suits of US military Assault Armor, 3 suits of Metal Gear, 2 suits of US Army fatigues (w/inserts) for Louie and Lulu, who are hired officially by the group, one thousand rounds of 5.56 DP ammo for the assault rifles, 24 scatter grenades, two 55 gallon drums of CHOO2 for the generator, 12 Armor repair drinks for Skinweave etc., 4x RPG-A (HEAT) rounds, and 4x RPG-A (HE) rounds. Christmas has come early! Actually, Cleo is ready to leave and preparing her exit. She does feel a little guilty about leaving in a lurch so she has spent some of her hard earned (stolen) swag to give the team a fighting chance to survive.

More importantly, the truck contains the medical equipment stolen from Conover (and some more supplies she has bought). Cleo has cut a deal with the Association (which she runs by the team for their approval). Doctor Bob, a med tech from the Association, will come and stay at the group’s HQ to use this equipment for the benefit of the neighborhood in this crisis. Doctor Bob will also serve as the team’s doctor until Doctor Freeman returns. Calls to Doctor Freeman and Ken’s phones are going right to voice mail so the group is worried. Carl, the Association enforcer, now acting as liaison, comes over and briefs the group on all the information that the Association has on the Iron Sights and their allies.

The rest of the day is spent setting up the surgical center, the patient wards, and most of the rest of the range downstairs. Doctor Bob works on Jose, but it is touch and go for the time being. Bea goes on the Scholar Home Learning system and learns Laotian 1. I guess she didn’t like all the talking behind her back!

***

 

Wednesday, June 15, 2025:

In the early AM, Carl comes by and lays out the Association’s plan for dealing with incursions. The group’s role is to take part in the communication grid, and have a team ready to react to incursions in their area. This is acceptable to all.

Bea and Rose call a Combat Cab, which arrives just after 9 am. They walk out their front door to the cab and a Barrett-Arasaka Light 20 round hits Rose. Bea gets her back inside and Rose joins Louie in the new hospital. During the rest of the day, the range downstairs is finished, and Bea learns Laotian 2.

***

 

Thursday, June 16, 2025:

Louie and Lulu Lam decide to go into town so they call Combat Cab and tell them to drive into the alley by their garage door. Well, Combat Cab looks at the alley (and its ambush possibilities) and parks at the end of it and beeps their horn. Louie and Lulu walk to the end of the alley. Walk? No, they never learn. Louie is shot in the leg and both run back up the alley. (OK, Louie limps back.) The Combat Cab speeds off and is taken out by a LATGM a few blocks away (unknown to the group, at first). Well, the back door is closed and it is not possible to open it from the outside. The twins panic and run around the alley. Well, the sniper can’t see that end of the alley from his vantage point but they don’t know it. Lulu doesn’t wait for someone to get to the door from the inside, and she runs back out into the street and down the sidewalk. The second leg shot brings her down and the sniper waits for the rescue attempt. This sniper is positioned so the Association snipers cannot hit him, but they do locate the building he is in. Too bad it is too far away for them to do anything about it at present. Louie runs to his sister’s rescue and the sniper has a field day shooting them up. Lucky for the two he has a WA2000 that fire 7.62 rounds instead of a .50 caliber or Light 20. The shooter doesn’t try to kill them immediately but just bring them down to draw more people out. Bea kept calling for Louie to come to the door, where she had a scatter grenade for him, but he ignored the call and got his sister to safety after a number of further wounds. An enraged Bea grabs Louie and beats his head against the wall while showing him the scatter grenade and berating him for not using one. Well, didn’t do much damage but it did knock Louie out, so the lesson wasn’t very valuable. Lulu took great exception to this, but Bea intimidated Lulu into silence (as in the skill), and I think more may come of this later. Well, two more for the group infirmary.

Building patrols and minor repairs kept the remainder of the group busy that day. Also, RPG attacks starting hitting the neighborhood. These attacks are random shots from around ground level and are for fear purposes for the most part. Because of the height of the surrounding buildings, the group’s HQ cannot be targeted. Bea uses the Scholar to learn the skill Pilot: Gyro 1.

As a side note, we have a few extra rules regarding the Scholar Home Learning System (Chrome 2). You may NOT learn Expert Skills, since they generally require lots of practice and represent a lot of knowledge that can’t be impressed on the brain that way. The number of skill levels that can be learned in this manner is equal to your unmodified INT stat. Someone with an INT 9 could learn, 4 skills at level 2 and 1 skill at level 1 for example. Once you have earned enough IPs to advance one of these skills beyond that level normally, that ‘slot’ is now open for more Scholar skills.

***

 

Friday, June 17, 2025:

This was a very quiet day in the building broken only by the occasional sniper and rocket fire outside. The wounded continued to heal, and more wounded from the neighborhood arrive to be treated. The association sends one or two of its enforcers to help keep an eye on the ‘wounded’ and help the group with the buildings defense. Bea learns Pilot: Gyro 2.

Now this group (with the exception of Doctor Freeman, who is not there) has never taken much interest in the news. This is unfortunate since the whole world is going to hell around them and they don’t know it. Militech and Arasaka are in the middle of one of their rounds of massive worldwide fighting. This is one of the reasons that the Siege of Morrison Square isn’t getting a lot of press coverage. Also, on this day, Cleo’s AV explodes over Del Coronado Bay in the afternoon. Some body parts are recovered, and residue of homemade plastique (very untraceable) is discovered. Nikki (the late Cleo) sheds a tear as her quarter of a million-euro AV goes up in a fury explosion. It is, however, time to disappear. Her latest Las Vegas job may have gone off without a hitch as far as the police are concerned, but she knows that no one pulls a job in Vegas off like that without attracting the Mob’s attention (for their cut). Her former lover, Jesus Menendez, is head of the Hispanic faction of that ruling Mob council and will certainly recognize her MO since he helped her on her previous job there. As a matter of fact, the current heist was originally ‘cased’ by Jesus. If the Organitskaya figures it out (and she knows they aren’t stupid), or Jesus tells them, then she better start to run NOW! (When Jesus learned of the heist he figured it out and told his childhood friend and leader of the Las Vegas mob, Dimitri, that Nikki (or Alexis/Cleo) was probably alive and responsible for the robbery. Oh well, more problems for her when I play her next.)

That night the Iron Sights attack a building a few blocks away on the corner of 153rd and Kramer. A score of civilians are killed, and many are wounded. The group’s infirmary gets more patients.

***

 

Saturday, June 18, 2025:

The Siege grinds on. The group finally starts wearing combat fatigues and those with the military Combat Armor and Metal Gear practice getting in and out of their gear in case of attack. Another Combat Cab is destroyed, but the drive and solo are NOT killed. Combat Cab temporarily suspends service to the Morrison Square area. Jose calls Cleo, but the call goes right to voice mail. Louie gets on Scholar system and learns the skill SMG 1.

***

 

Sunday, June 19, 2025:

It is another maddeningly quiet day with the occasional sniper and rocket exchange. People in the building patrol and practice drills in anticipation of an expected attack. Louie uses the Scholar and gets SMG 2.

***

 

Monday, June 20, 2025:

The morning brings four suits and a six-man SWAT team to the front door. The suits enter and the SWAT team remains at the door (holding it open). Two of the suits are detectives, one who identifies himself as Sergeant Simmons. They are here with a court order for the doctor to produce Cleo Skye’s medical records. ‘Doctor Bob’ just happens to have them (how about that). At this point, Rose asks the other detective, who was the one who came to ‘inspect’ the building after the initial attack (Episode 32), why the police are not doing anything about the fighting here. The officer informs her (unofficially) that they have been forbidden to intervene. They thank him for that heads up and the police start to leave. Now here is where it was almost a disaster. Louie decides to walk out of the second floor corridor to the landing in the lobby with an assault rifle slung over his shoulder. Bea catches him as he does so, but a SWAT team member sees the illegal weaponry and notifies his team and the detectives. The party remains cool as the detective enters the lobby and has the SWAT team leave. The detective does not want a simple writ service to devolve into a firefight. The group immediately assumes that this is part of an attempt to remove their leader. Rose calls Takashi in Japan and has him run an information trace on Sergeant Simmons of the NCPD. Takashi says he will get back to them with any results.

Louie decides to learn the skill: Cooking 1 on the Scholar. Lulu makes a 30-minute call home to Laos (wait till she gets that bill!). Louie calls his Dad and talks for a more reasonable amount of time.

Takashi calls back and says that Sergeant Simmons is with NCPD Homicide in the Major Case Squad. He is trying to find out what cases he is working on.

Late that night, another 4 small apartment buildings are overrun by the Iron Sights as they increase their body count in the neighborhood.

***

 

Tuesday, June 21, 2025:

It’s another slow day in the siege. Louie continues to learn on the Scholar and now has Cooking 2. Now if he could only afford real food. Takashi calls again and informs the group that Cleo’s AV exploded over Del Coronado Bay last Friday and the police were attempting to identify body parts that were recovered from the wreckage. Yes, Cleo had left her ‘medical records’ with Doctor Bob that would identify the arm and foot that were found as hers. They were cloned parts, as the ‘record’ states, but the police want to get their ID done so the death certificate is issued. After all, Cleo was known to have lots of enemies (or so she said). The group’s reaction ranged from, “OMG, what do we do now?” to “Ding! Dong! The wicked bitch is dead!” It is nice to be loved.

Well, it was bound to happen. Lulu and Jose hook up for a little extra-curricular ‘good times’. The slamming of the bed against the wall alerts many of the party to this new development, but no one really cares. Hell, most think they are all going to die here anyway.

There is some good news. Combat Cab has restored service to the area. A single cab (with an anti-missile system) will run from the San Morro NCART station to Morrison Square, but there is a 100eb surcharge (one way) for the service. Well, good news for the well-heeled I guess.

***

 

Wednesday, June 22, 2025:

Wednesday starts with a bang! A (remote controlled) car crashes into the neighborhood AutoMat and explodes. This destroys the only public source of food and most small, cheap goods for the neighborhood. The group’s security cameras are able to get most of the attack recorded. Rose and Bea call the reporter from NET 54 who interviewed them the previous week. The reporter, Alison Meadows, is extremely frustrated by her failed attempts to get her stories on the siege on the air, and feels that this footage would be helpful. Unfortunately, there is no way to download the data to her. The building’s computer is NOT on the NET, and no one has any kind of data transfer device. They think about attempting to physically take the data chip to NET 54, but thoughts of assassination haunt them.

Over the course of the day, everyone except Louie and Lulu get a call from the law firm of Dewey, Cheatham & Screwe and they are all informed that Cleo’s death certificate has been issued and they are ready to process her will. It seems she has made Jose her primary beneficiary and the others are named as secondary beneficiaries to her estate. They are to come to their office next Wednesday and her meager estate will be parceled up then. What a surprise!

Bea decides to use the Scholar and she learns the skill: Motorcycle 1.

***

 

Thursday, June 23, 2025:

By this time, most of the party’s wounds are healed and the neural side effects of the speed heal have gone so the team begins planning a counter strike on the Iron Sights. Bea finishes her training and gets the skill: Motorcycle 2. That night Bea and Rose are in the command center mulling over ideas on how to start hunting the Iron Sights at night, when they see on one of the monitors the sewer cover in the alley south of their garage door move and boosters start to come out. The boosters quickly blow the side door to the Morrison Hotel and rush in. Of course, the alarm is sounded (quietly), and the group gets into its armor.

Now, I was sure the group would realize that the Iron Sights know that the alley is under the group’s observation. After all, they did drive a group of them out of it one the first night of this conflict. This attack was against the hotel, but one of the Borgs along with four of the gang’s veteran fighters were waiting just inside the now blown open side door for the group’s counter attack. And attack they did. Louie, followed by Jose rushed down the alley in the military Assault Armor. The sounds of the party’s advance triggered the tossing of several grenades by the gangers. At this point the party’s order got confused and Lulu, although a solo in metal gear, changed her mind about going next, which just left a hole in the line heading down the alley. Well, Louie rounded the corner and stepped into the line of fire of the Borg’s Barrett-Arasaka Light 20 ET. The blast blew him back out the door and into Jose’s arms. Jose could not see the weapon, but he heard the report and saw the massive muzzle flash. Jose wisely just dragged the unconscious Louie back to the HQ back door. Bea tossed her two fragmentation grenades into the hotel door by angling them off a wall (a nice move, BTW). The doctor was able to stabilize Louie, but he still hasn’t started any healing yet, except for the speed heals he was given.

At this point no one wanted to charge the hotel door, and the team pondered what to do. They soon learned that the main street was filling with smoke. The Iron Sights were retreating up the street, and had aborted their attack on the hotel. The appearance of multiple sets of military Combat Armor spooked the boosters and their Borg ally. The Association had its first real victory in days thanks to the party. A few hours later a person from the hotel appeared at the back alley door with a package. Unfortunately, Lulu decided to answer the door brandishing an assault rifle, so the man panicked and dropped the freshly baked pastries in the grim of the alley. Oh well, it’s the thought that counts.

Well, that ended the evening. Plans are afoot to bring the war to the Iron Sights. Arasaka and Militech are sitting by the sidelines and watching their proxies fight (even if the people don’t realize they are being used as proxies). The situation is more critical that the group realizes as the two corporations weight their options as they consider how to intervene and not break the fragile truce they have in Night City.

 

 

 

 

Episode 34 – The Battle Comes to a Sudden End

This week the Siege of Morrison Square rumbled on, and, by now, many of the Association’s wounded enforcers are healed and the intelligence that has been gathered will enable them to take the fight to the Iron Sights. Unbeknownst to them, Arasaka has decided on a final solution to this problem, and ponders how to implement it without taking too much heat for it themselves.

Friday, June 24, 2025:

The Association and the neighborhood are overjoyed by the party’s actions in driving off the attack on the hotel. After a couple of speed heals Doctor Bob gets Louie on the road to recovery, and his sister, Lulu, nurses him. Carl comes over and asks if the group will help wire the sewers with sensors to stop the Iron Sights getting close to any of their buildings. It will take all day and half of the night. The group agrees to this and those who are not on guard duty or patrol help seed the sensors. Since the sewers here are not very well maintained, this turns out to be a messy and smelly job.

In the afternoon, Will Cheatham, the late Cleo’s lawyer calls and says he is sending to them his client’s last purchase before her ‘accident’. It is an Armadillo motor home with some custom features. It is being driven by three nomads, who are available to help them defend their building for the next couple of weeks or until the ‘siege’ is over. The player who has Takashi wanted to try new character he had created, so I let him bring in “Horse”, a nomad solo of simple tastes and skills. “I’m good at killin’ stuff.”

Rounding out the three delivery people is ‘Screech’, a nomad Panzer Boy, and a new character of a player who used to be with our group, but whose work keeps him from attending any more. He had a vacation day so he came for a one shot. The third was ‘Boom Boom’ a female heavy weapons specialist NPC. That afternoon they came screaming into the neighborhood with weapons blazing trying to get to the group’s headquarters. The Armadillo screeched to a halt inside the garage with the cry for medical help, and the smoking remains of the vehicle turret on top. ‘Boom Boom’ was mortally wounded and expired in the garage, but was revived in the infirmary. The group was naturally suspicious of the newly arrived people, but after some quasi-friendly interrogation, slowly came to trust them a little. Introductions were made and Screech became fascinated by Quazz, the resident AI (Quazz is not really an AI, but an intelligent program to be precise that is based on the “Igor” program).

***

 

Saturday, June 25, 2025:

In the morning, Carl comes by and asks if the group can lay an ambush near the next suspected Iron Sight’s target building. They have been studying the boosters’ attacks and think the next should come in the coming two days. Also, there are two buildings that are extremely vulnerable and can be approached mostly unseen from the Association building. The Association has only enough manpower to protect one of those buildings. They ask the Bees to protect the other. The group agrees.

After much studying and planning the group realizes that this building is most vulnerable from an alley that runs up to the back of that structure from the street away from the Association Building. There is a church tower a couple of blocks away that overlooks that approach. They decide to send Rose as a lone sniper to the church tower, while the rest of the group moves north to a building opposite the alley so Bea could set up her M60D machine gun to cover the alley and its approaches. At this point timing became critical.

The bell tower of the church was an excellent sniper position. So much so that the boosters had a team up there already (a decision of mine from days before the party planned their attack). Rose broke in, which alerted the church staff (this is the Second Church of Satan mind you), and they tipped off the in place sniper team before taking up defensive positions. Rose got into the tower and set a claymore to cover the stairs to her rear. What a great idea! I had thought of it too, and Rose tripped an enemy claymore heading farther up the stairs. She continued to try to get at them, but the other team just kept dropping grenades on her. Rose was forced to retire in a Mortal Wound State. I decided that the group’s plan was good and they needed a break, so the rest of the team crossed the street unnoticed, as the snipers were busy dealing with Rose. The timing of the two group’s movements supported this.

The enemy did approach, but not from the direction anticipated. Still the group’s position was good. The Iron Sights came down the alley next to the group’s position. Bea was set up with the M60 on the first floor with Horse and Screech protecting her. Jose was on the second floor right above them. The group had to be quiet as the boosters went by and crossed the street single file and headed down the target alley in that formation. When Bea had nine targets in sight in a defilade position she opened up. They achieved a surprise round and won initiative for the round after that. The nine boosters in the alley were down (six killed, three wounded and sneaking away thru the buildings). The remaining members of the group mowed down three other boosters that Bea couldn’t target. Two more boosters were actually just outside the group’s building position and hadn’t been spotted yet. After those two opening rounds of fire, these boosters crept away. Since the team knew the enemy sniper’s position, the group was able to set up out of his line of sight. A call to the Association brought smoke (scatter) screens that enabled the group to safely get back to their buildings.

***

 

Sunday, June 26, 2025:

In the morning Bea comes to take her turn at the security console and there is loud rock music blasting from the room. There she finds Jimmy at the computer and Screech teaching Quazz’s avatar to dance. It seems Screech has given Quazz a liking for loud music and other very uncomputer-like things. Some in the party expressed to each other that Quazz was showing intelligence and initiative beyond the “supposed” Int. 3 of his programming. At this point I am now thinking that my non-committal response to these comments was taken the wrong way. No, I hadn’t made mistakes in playing the little AI. There is a lot more to Quazz than is advertised. Whether this turns out to be good or bad for the group will be up their reactions.

Later that morning a HATGM hits the Association causing heavy damage. Just after noon, Rose gets a call, but as she is in Mortal and her phone is shut off she doesn’t get it. A few minutes after that, Bea’s phone starts to ring. It is a message from the White Lion (Night City fixer, see main rule book) asking them to come to a room at the Ashcroft Hotel that night at 9:10 pm to discuss a job offer. Bea keeps that to herself but invites Jose along. She and Jose have known each other a long time. Bea realizes this is a job being offered to the Killer Bees, but she is ‘technically’ not a member of the team anymore and decides to take this misdirected offer as a personal side job with Jose. The mission is to call an artillery strike on the Iron Sights HQ. The job pays 25,000eb (1/4 down), and must be done Tuesday night at 9:18 pm. She is given a reservation for two at the Baltic Hotel, which is north of Morrison Square, and a suitcase that contains an artillery computer of Militech design. While she is not familiar with the specifics of this model, she has the knowledge to operate it. They decide to stay at the Ashcroft until the mission and not risk a return trip to Morrison Square.

***

 

Monday, June 27, 2025:

In the morning, a sniper fires from the church tower (Second Church of Satan again) and a LATGM and a RPG-A open up from the Association Building. The weapons fire 3 rounds each and pound the tower. Finally, an Iron Sights HATGM fires on the LATGM and destroys it. Immediately another LATGM and 3 RPG-As fires on the HATGM position. The rocket exchange goes on for a few minutes until the HATGM is destroyed and the Association building is badly damaged.

The rest of the day is quiet except for the occasional sniper fire in the neighborhood.

***

 

Tuesday, June 28, 2025:

Down in Morrison Square it is just another day in the siege. People stay indoors and only travel outside when absolutely necessary. The Association has set up lanes to move safely between buildings and provides smoke screens when safe lanes are not possible. Food and other supplies are getting low.

Downtown Bea and Jose spend money assembling a make-up/disguise kit. They also get a few changes of clothes, trash bags, and nano cleaners for the coming job. That evening the now disguised two (good roll for Bea, not so much for Jose) take a cab to the Baltic Hotel and go to their room on one of the upper floors. They line up the shot and call the strike. After the targeting data is transmitted they short out the computer (as ordered) and leave it there. As they cross the lobby, they see their cab waiting for them. At that moment an explosion rips thru the neighborhood followed a fraction of a second later by a “roar” which shatters all the glass in the lobby. The two manage to keep their feet, but the cab speeds away. Bea runs out of the lobby screaming (along with other guests) and Jose follows. At the group’s HQ, which is much closer to ground zero, all external roof cameras are knocked out, and everyone is thrown to the ground.

Bea and Jose are buffeted by debris as they run from the building. They head around the block to the north and then east to the park on the other side of the block from the hotel. It is there they see a column of smoke rising from the location that was once the Iron Sights fortified factory headquarters complex. Bea realizes that she has just called down not an artillery strike, but an ortillery (orbital artillery) strike. This is the first one of the war. The enormity of this is not lost on her and suddenly 25,000eb doesn’t seem like a lot of money. The two grab a cab and head to the New Harbor Mall where they go to the rest rooms to get out of their disguises. Well, panic had blinded them as the restrooms are wired for surveillance and the two are detained as possible shoplifters. Now there was a little discussion regarding how disguised the two were (Bea did say, “(I) am getting rid of my disguise.”). The two were questioned and searched for stolen items (they have none), but the guards were not looking for two “terrorists” who had just launched an orbital artillery strike against a major American city. The two were released (for now), but this report may make its way into the right (wrong) hands and there will be some explaining to do.

***

 

Wednesday, June 29, 2025:

The group has their meeting with Dewey, Cheatham and Screwe to settle Cleo’s will. Property is divided there. The group gets the name and control of the bank accounts of the now incorporated Killer Bees: Rose (20%), Dr. Freeman (20%), Ken (10%), Jose (10%), Bea (20%), Jimmy (10%), Takashi (10%). Jose gets the Ford-Mazda Luxus 14 and the remainder of the estate (9,700eb). Bea gets the motorcycle. Rose gets a case with a custom WA2000 sniper rifle in it. This weapon breaks down into three parts, has all the ‘bells and whistles’, and the case is shielded from most weapons screening technologies. The group is handed a key whose markings they recognize as from a locker in the storage facility they use in San Morro (right across the hall). The group is informed that the Armadillo motor home was purchased by Cleo just before her death and is now property of the group. All vehicles come with checks to register them. Jose decides to get a Scholar Drive chip so he can use his new toy. Jose and Bea dispose of all the evidence they have about the orbital strike.

The group goes to the new storage locker and looks at what is inside. There is a LATGM with 6 rounds (2 are spytech), a Stinger Missile launcher with 6 missiles (2 are spytech), 5x Fabrica de Armes M-2012 assault rifles chambered for 7.62 with kits for collapsible stocks, Cleo’s old Cyberdeck with a hook up to be plugged into the HQ computer, a crate (24) of fragmentation grenades, a 10 man tent, and a short wave advanced communications suitcase.

Meanwhile, back at the former Iron Sights HQ (now a hole in the ground) the area is swarming with Norcal National Guard, US Military, LawDiv personnel, and NCPD. Arasaka, Militech and certain city officials stonewall the investigation, which proceeds slowly.

***

 

Thursday, June 30, 2025:

A completely quiet day! The neighborhood holds its breath as it waits for the Militech counterstrike that never comes. Of course, the large military presence in the area could have had something to do with it. Still, the citizens of Morrison Square maintain a quiet vigil that day. Jose uses the Scholar and harness to get the skill: Drive 1.

That morning in the infirmary, Rose had an Eclipse borg “de-cloak” next to her bed. This was the same borg she had seen at the Arasaka building in an earlier episode, and had seen at the Bodukkan Center for the Performing Arts when she went to see the Nakagowa Kabuki Troupe with her now husband, Archie (in Episode 10). Quietly, in Japanese, the borg inquired about her training and how far she had gotten. He displayed an in depth knowledge of the Ninja arts. This is, of course, Kagekaze, the Ninja master from the Stormfront book. Since Rose is the child of a female ninja and an American army officer, I had decided to include this in the story. Unknown to Rose, the failure of the old master’s favorite child for which he committed seppuku was her mother’s relationship with her father and Rose’s subsequent birth. Rose’s mother was betrothed to a member of a cadet branch of the Arasaka clan, and her elopement with a black American military officer was a disgrace that could only be atoned for with blood. Kagekaze has been watching her closely in hopes that Rose will become a truly great ninja and has now decided to intervene and complete her training. Rose is still not aware of all of this (and neither is the player), but she accepts his offer of training. (It is really less of an offer, and more of a statement of what is going to happen next.)

***

 

Friday, July 1, 2025:

By this time Bea and Jose are positively terrified about their complicity in the orbital strike, as the talking heads on the news are howling for ‘justice’. That morning they decide it is time to take a vacation so they tell everyone they are driving to Las Vegas for a holiday, and then start off instead for Saint Louis and Bea’s mother’s house.

Word is out that the battle is over. People are out and about, cleaning up the neighborhood. At noon, Combat Cab restores regular service. By 3 pm San Morro Livery resumes service to the neighborhood. A package arrives for Bea but she is not there to receive it so the group holds it for her unopened. It contains the rest of her (18,750-eb) fee for the Orbital Strike job. Morgan calls for a meeting that night of the Association Council survivors, and sends word that Rose should attend. Rose is offered a seat on the Council. She accepts and gets to keep half of the 100eb membership fee from people in their building, and the fees of her ‘team’ are waived if she wishes. The first order of business is to throw a party on Saturday night to celebrate their victory. Second is that the city is having a service to commemorate the dead of the past two weeks at the beach across from the hole in the ground that was the Iron Sights HQ on Monday, July 4th. Good behavior will be the order of that day.

Kagekaze continues Rose’s training.

***

 

Saturday, July 2, 2025:

A huge neighborhood ‘block party’ occurs in the square with music, food and good times. No, the other shoe doesn’t drop. A good time is had by all. The group is considered heroes by their neighbors.

Screech continues to expand Quazz’s musical horizons and introduces the curious little AI to “a whole new way of looking at things.”

Kagekaze continues Rose’s training.

***

 

Sunday, July 3, 2025:

It was a pretty relaxed day except for a visit by a group of detectives (and a SWAT team in case the party didn’t feel like talking nice). The detectives asked where they all were on a certain date in June, and if they recognized any of the 24 mug shots they showed them. Well, everyone could account for their whereabouts on the day in question, and the only face a few of them recognized was that of Jesus Menendez, the Hispanic crime lord of Las Vegas (who had ratted the party out to Militech in an earlier episode during the Ocean War). While the group has no concrete evidence of Jesus doing them dirty, it is now pretty clear to the group that he did. All who know him identify him (in hopes that this will bring him trouble).

Kagekaze continues Rose’s training.

***

 

Monday, July 4, 2025:

A few go to the city rally on the beach, and it is crawling with cops. Rose has a pass to the VIP section down front and takes the few with her to get a close up view of the festivities. Screech sits in the van and plays loud rock and roll until ordered to shut it down by the police (he puts on headphones). Councilman Saul Morris opens the rally with a speech, followed by the chief of police, the Mayor, and several prominent corporate heads in attendance. The whole thing is rather a bore except at the end when Senator DeChartier is asked to make a few remarks. He decries the violence and death of the past few weeks and empathizes with the crowd as both his mother and father have been killed recently in the spiraling violence. He ends with the words, “and I think I can speak not only for myself but for my friend and your councilman, Saul Morris, when I say that we will find those people responsible for letting these tragedies occur. And I promise you justice will be swift and righteous!”

(BLAM, Councilman Morris’ head explodes)

As most of the dignitaries dive for cover, the Senator turns away slowly (and contemptuously) and starts for his seat as his security surrounds him and hustles him away.

Later on the news they see that the late Councilman Morris’ family was killed in a tragic accident on their way to the hospital later that day.

That evening Bea and Jose arrive in Saint Louis at Bea’s mom’s house. The woman is little annoyed by this sudden ‘dropping by’. While they are watching a report on the Night City orbital strike her mother remarks, “Well, it seems like it’s getting pretty dangerous in Night City, so what have you been up to?”

Bea just gestures at the screen and replies. “That.”

Mother is stunned. She had always wanted Bea to make something of herself, but being the world’s most wanted terrorist was not what she had in mind. The old lady keeps her cool and wonders how much the authorities know. Just how much does she love her daughter?

***

 

Tuesday, July 5, 2025:

Rose gets a phone call in the morning. It is Arasaka. They have a job for the group. It seems a number of Petrochem tanker trucks (4) filled with valuable AV gas (and a couple with CHOO) have been hijacked on Interstate 80 just over the Utah state line in Elko County, Nevada. They want the group to go, find the hijackers and the missing fuel. They have an Arasaka corporate and his small team there already but need more ‘boots on the ground’. The pay runs from 50,000eb up to 250,000eb depending on their level of success. There is a guaranteed minimum of 50,000 eb nonetheless. Rose accepts the job for the team and says they will depart in two days. She calls Bea, and Bea and Jose say they will meet them there.

Thus ends another week in the Fourth Corporate War. Next stop Elko County, Nevada, the most lawless county in America, so they say. But you never can be too sure about what you hear, can you?

 

 

GM Notes:

I thought it would be interesting to let me show you a sample of the handout about the mission arc that will cover the next couple of episodes. The following is paste from the word document that each player got at the start of Episode 35. It represents a digest of the intelligence briefing the Killer Bees got from Arasaka for this mission.

 

*******************

 

Nevada Mission Briefing

Over the past eight weeks Petrochem has had 6 fuel trucks hijacked on Interstate 80 just over the Utah state line in Elko County, Nevada. Four of these trucks contained invaluable AV gas. Two of the trucks contained CHOO2. This mission is three fold. First, you are to discover the identity of ringleader(s) of these hijackers (and, the identities of any local officials are supporting them), second, find the location of this gang’s base of operations, and third, recover the missing trucks for the Arasaka Corporation. You will be working under a small corporate team in the area who are already on this, as part of the other assets we are sending to secure these valuable resources. Information is sketchy and time is short.

Elko County is one of the largest and most lawless in the United States. A mixed battalion of Nevada National Guard troops defends Elko, the county seat. The Nevada State Police and the Elko County sheriff have barracks there, but they are hard put to keep Interstate 80 safe. There are several small towns along that main highway with small populations that fluctuate dramatically in response to raiders that plague the area. The largest of these towns are Battle Mountain, Wells, and West Wendover. West Wendover is a small town right over the Utah state line from Wendover, Utah. While it does not have a full time police force (Utah police DO respond from Wendover), the other towns mentioned do. Some of the other smaller towns have a part time force but information on the area changes rapidly so no accurate report is available.

Transportation will be the team’s responsibility, but refueling of a reasonable number of your vehicles will be provided at Arasaka facilities along the way as part of your (non-cash) compensation for this mission. A Net drop box will be provided to you to communicate with us, and you will receive instructions by this method, when our assets already in place in Nevada do not instruct you. As the situation there is quite fluid this mission could be cancelled at any time. Instructions in the Drop Box and your communications to that box will be time coded to avoid problems. Payment shall be as follows:

1) Discovery of the identity of the hijackers and their leaders who are responsible with sufficient proof (not in a legal sense mind you, just convince Arasaka and don’t be wrong). This pays 100,000eb. If the mission is cancelled before you reach this level of success, you will still receive 50,000eb. An advance of 25,000eb of the previous totals will be made when the mission is accepted.

2) The location of the hijackers’ HQ is worth another 40,000eb. NavStar coordinates are necessary for this.

3) Recovery of any of the tankers AND their full contents will be paid accordingly: 25,000eb for each AV gas tanker (100,000eb total) and 5,000eb for each CHOO2 tanker.

4) The total compensation for this mission could be as high as 250,000eb, but no less than 50,000eb.

All expenses (except for the previously mentioned CHOO2 fuel) will be the responsibility of the team.

 

Intelligence Report

Elko county supervisors, the judge, and the sheriff are elected positions. Only the towns Elko, Battle Mountain, and Wells have polling places so only these towns’ interests are really represented (and a sheriff substation exists in both Battle Mountain and Wells). The surrounding countryside is lightly populated, and the population is very anti-social. Nomads are very common in this region, and there are reportedly some of their “gathering” areas here. A local alliance between various nomad groups and the local Native American population makes the gathering of intelligence very difficult in this regard.
Local Forces:

Nevada National Guard:
– 1 MP Company
– 1 Mechanized Infantry Company
– 1 Transportation Company
– 1 Support Company

Nevada State Police:
About 30 troopers in one barracks in Elko, the county seat.

Elko County Sheriff’s Department:
They have about 60 deputies. One half is located at the county seat. The other are evenly divided between Battle Mountain and Wells.

Elko Police Department:
The force has 32 officers in the department.

Battle Mountain Police Department:
This is a small force due to the presence of the sheriff’s substation. There are only 14 officers in this department.

Wells Police Department:
The Wells Police Department is slightly larger with approximately 22 full time police.

General Notes: All these departments are extremely well armed, equipped, and experienced due to the problems with raiders.

 

Other Groups of Interest
True Church of Jesus Christ and Later Day Saints: This off shoot of the Mormon Church was chased out of Utah, due to their stubborn and sometimes violent insistence of maintaining the old traditions of polygamy. They are throughout the county but have their largest concentration in Elko (the town) where they are a sizable minority.

The Visigoths: The Nevada chapter of this old national motorcycle club (gang) has centered their activities in the town of Wells (which is perhaps why the sheriff maintains a substation there).

The American Sons of Freedom: This is an extreme right wing survivalist group (listed by the US government, but NOT by the State of Nevada, as a “terrorist organization”). They have, in the past, committed attacks on corporate holdings, but they have been “quiet” the past 2 years.

 

Parts of Elko County, NV

 The Arasaka Advance Team
The leader of the Arasaka advance team is Hiro Kanada, a midlevel corporate. His team consists of Lucy Tanaka, a solo; Jack “the Tank” Simmonds, a solo; and Larry “Static” Winkler, a netrunner. (Hiro Kanada’s phone number is provided.) They are staying at the Red Lion Casino in Elko.

 

Expected Opposition
Besides the hijackers, we have learned that several corporations have sent teams to recover the fuel. Militech has a very small office in Elko, which has had an increase in communications of late. Petrochem has dispatched a second team after their first team was lost to parties unknown.

 

 

 

Episode 35 – Getting There is Half the Fun

The Killer Bees spend the two days getting ready in both Night City and St. Louis. They buy equipment and get ready for the trip to Elko County, NV. During this time the group is informed by its Arasaka handler, Mark Kitagawa, that they may purchase Arasaka equipment with a 40% discount. The team loads up. The Killer Bees also buy a covered trailer for the armadillo and, at Kagekaze’s suggestion; they empty the storage rooms in San Morro of all their equipment. Both groups plan to leave so they arrive in the City of Elko on July 9th to meet up with Hiro Kanada at the Red Roof Casino there.

 

 

Wednesday, July 6, 2025:

Bea and Jose leave for Elko County with a Conover convoy heading west. They have an uneventful first day. The Night City group continues its preparations to leave. Kagekaze continues Rose’s training and introduces her to some of the deeper mysteries of Ninjitzu. As Rose leaves her last lesson before the trip, Kagekazi calls her by the name only her late grandfather used for her. When she realizes this she turns around but the borg is gone. Rose is beginning to suspect that she has been lied to about the circumstances of her beloved grandfather’s death.

***

 

Thursday, July 7, 2025:

The Night City group leaves for Elko County and makes it to the California and Nevada state line uneventfully. Bea and Jose’s trip also continues to be fairly uneventful.

***

 

Friday, July 8, 2025:

On the last day of travel, Bea and Jose are approaching Wells, Nevada when they go by 20 members of the Visigoths motorcycle club on their bikes. The bikers have long guns in cases slung on their bikes and take off
after the two. Jose floors it and they try to outrun the gang to Wells. Well, they speed by a big sign saying; “Welcome to Wells, NV”, and two motorcycle cops along with a Wells’ police interceptor take off after the ‘speeders’ from behind that sign. Meanwhile, the bikers have slowed to the speed limit and continue coming. Jose pulls over and half of the bikers stop 100 meters to their rear to ‘check their bikes”’. The other half rides by smiling and stops 100 meters ahead of them to do the same. Jose complains that the gang was chasing them, but the officer (deputy chief, Baylor) says the radar gun caught them going the speed limit (true). This conversation takes a different turn when Jose is asked for his license and registration. Well, he has a registration but no license. In their panic to leave Night City due to the orbital strike, he forgot to get one. He is asked to wait in his car.

Well, every cop in the area soon arrives with a few more Wells police officers, a pair of deputy sheriffs and a couple of state troopers showing up. The car is searched and the police find a small arsenal. Thank (insert your favorite deity or politically correct platitude here) that they are in Nevada with the weaponry that was in that trunk, and although there is nothing illegal, the police are not happy with all the gear they have. As more police arrive, the bikers depart back down the road from where they came. The fines come to 3550eb, which calls for the posting of that amount in bail. Jose has the cash card from the ‘late’ Cleo’s old lawyer, Will Cheatham, so he uses that to avoid jail. Bea keeps trying to call the others but has no signal here. Since neither have a valid driver’s license, the police tow the car to Wells, and allow no equipment to be removed, just a few closely checked personal items. When this ‘shake down’ is over the Deputy Chief offers to call the two a cab. They reply that they will walk.

“Funny thing about that,” says Deputy Chief Baylor. “Walking on the interstate is against the law, and if you do that, those state troopers over there will arrest you.”

The troopers nod.

“And if you walk beyond the fence there that is private property,” Baylor continued, “then that Deputy here will have to arrest you for trespassing.”

The deputy smiled.

“So,” Deputy Chief Baylor continued, “Would you like me to call you a cab?”

Bea bristles a bit and says yes. The twenty-euro cab ride into Wells is steep but not too bad. They try the other group again, but the others are out of cell range. They go to the Sharon Motel and book a room for the night.

The other team is approaching the City of Elko when they spot a two engine aircraft making what seems to be a bombing run on them. They bring up the 40mm Auto GL in the Armadillo’s turret to engage, but Rose cannot see any weapons mounted on the aircraft, or any external weapon systems. The bomb bay doors (if any) are also closed. She holds her fire and refrains from shooting down the Elko Air Museum’s prize World War II vintage B-25 Mitchell medium bomber. They pull into Elko and as they approach the Red Roof Casino they call Hiro Kanada, who is supposed to be there. Hiro is at the Super 8 in Wells now, and warns them that a large Petrochem team in now at the Red Roof. He asks if they have checked their Net drop box for information lately (no), because that change was set to them there. Petrochem guards (in full combat kit) pick up on them, but our team leaves town for Wells.

Rose calls Bea but she is out of cell range. When Bea tries calling back, Rose is out of cell range. Finally as Rose is getting off the Interstate in Wells she connects with an angry and frustrated Bea. Rose picks up Jose and Bea and they go to meet Hiro Kanada at the Super 8 Motel. Hiro has the first and second floors on a corner near the pool rented for the group and him. The edgerunners are on the first floor centered on the corner suite, and the Arasaka team has the suite and rooms right above that. They get a licensed driver (Louie Lam) and head down to the impound yard to pick up their Ford-Mazda Luxus 14.

They get to the impound yard which is behind (and owned by the same people who own) the main truck stop off the interstate. They go and find that the president of the Visigoths owns the place. The towing fee is 250eb, which Bea pays by throwing it at them. Receipts are exchanged and the car is again theirs. All of their gear is there, and nothing has been touched. Scamming speeders is one thing, but stealing from obviously well connected and equipped edgerunners is not good for business (or your life expectancy).

There are introductions as the two teams meet. Rose recognizes ‘Lucy Tanaka’ as a member of her Ninja clan who is obviously under cover. Over the next day Rose gives her a signal that they need to meet and “talk”.

***

 

Saturday, July 9, 2025:

Hiro Kanada has not been impressed with the team so far. Losing their transport even temporarily has not done his opinion of the Killer Bees any good. Things are stressful that morning. They arrange for Takashi, who is running from Japan, and Larry “Static” Winkler to meet tomorrow on line and start working the Net end of the mission. The Doctor and Ken go to the Four Way Casino and Hotel nearby early in the evening to check out the scene. The place is fairly crowded with gambling, live music, diner and dancing. There are obviously a number of professional working girls there. The only people who catch their eye are a pair of obnoxious high rollers with more money than good taste, who are awash in hookers and booze.

Bea and Louie decide to go down there later. Bea cruises around and finally picks up a hulking young cowboy named Clyde. They have a wonderful evening. Louie heads back but is stopped by the Wells police. They ask him for identification and he produces his Laotian driver’s license. The two cops pour over the license in amazement like a pair kids who have discovered a two-headed frog (it is very colorful and different). They thank Louie and send him on his way with his documentation.

***

 

Sunday, July 10, 2025:

Takashi meets “Static” in the Net and the Arasaka runner asks him to accompany him to a Net meeting on a board outside of Las Vegas. When they get there “Static” tells Takashi to back him up (now he asks), and goes to talk to an icon of a pigeon sitting on a stool. They exchange identity passwords and then the “Stool Pigeon” kills “Static” dead with some kind of homemade black ICE. Another runner (“Static’s” real back up) has his program fizzle against the “Stool Pigeon’s” defenses. The rogue runner then kills him too. Takashi (along with most of the other runners present) jacks out. Takashi calls Rose in Wells and tells her to check on “Static”. She goes upstairs and notices a bullet hole in the window. She kicks the door in and dives for cover. Inside, “Static” is dead at his cyberdeck and “The Tank” has had his head blown off while sitting down in a chair. The police are called and the investigation takes a good part of the day.

Before the police arrive, Rose notices a piece of paper on the netrunner’s desk that has three notes written on it, which she removes. The first is “snake reservation”, the second is “netrunner r aldecado”, and the last is “auction?” The nomads say that there is a nomad-gathering place called the “Snake Reservation”, which is an Indian reservation that is allied with the Snake Nation. They also say that “Aldecado” is the name of one of the other Nomad nations. It is decided that that nomads and Bea will take the armadillo to the Snake Reservation, and Rose and the others will check out the sniper position. The shot looks like it was made from about 3 kilometers away. There are only a handful of people in our Cyberpunk universe that can regularly make a shot like that.

Rose and her part of the team check out where they believe the sniper shot from. It was a magnificent shot. Behind the hill where the shot came from they see a building complex sited amongst open fields of fire and mine warnings and barbed wire. Looking with optical range enhancement they deduce this is an important base for the Visigoths. They notice there was only one building that looked like it could fit a tanker truck in it, but probably did not contain one. The Visigoths clearly see them on the hill, but make no other action except a friendly (?) wave. Rose begins to feel that maybe this site was picked so they would go after the Visigoths. They return to the motel.

That night the rest of the team stays close to home in case of further attacks. Hiro calls for reinforcements, which are sent, but there are no net runners available yet for this project. One will be sent when one is available.

 

 

 

Episode 36 – So Close They Could Almost Taste It

 

Sunday, July 10, 2025:

Snake Reservation (that afternoon)
The three nomads (Horse, Screech & Boom-Boom) plus Bea take the armadillo to the Snake Reservation. When they get there they find it is last day of the Reservation’s Summer Jamboree. This is a semi-formal gathering of the nomad nations dedicated to friendly competition in sports, music, and other cultural endeavors. Most of all, Jamboree is a great excuse for a party. Finals of motocross and last four matches of nomad ‘lacrosse’ are being held. Dance competition and Deejay finals are being held together. There are art and craft shows, and behind the scenes sometimes deals are made. All three nomads with the Killer Bees are Snake Nation. No one from Screech’s family or clan is in attendance. Horse and Boom-Boom are from the same clan, but different families. Boom-Boom’s family is here so the group is given welcome since her family knows Horse. They greet the family elder, Jacob, and Screech learns that the Snake Nation still has a competition Deejay slot open. He gets his gear and enters the contest. Most of the contests are being privately Net cast to other nomad locations, and a few huge video screens have been placed around the Jamboree area so people can follow all the competitions.

Screech has the sound system roar to life with his music, and wows the crowd even on such short notice. Bea and many others see the avatar of a green mohawked hair Quazz dancing on Screech’s pod cast screen. The crowd roars its approval as if it is part of the act. Well, in fact it is! Screech gets 3^rd place. A woman named Rissa Aldecado (netrunner r aldecado?) is in dance competition and she wins it.

Horse and Boom-Boom go back to her family’s encampment for the after celebration. Boom-Boom seems to want to re-kindle the old romance, but Horse is oblivious. One of her old flames (and Horse’s former rival) picks up on this and hits on Boom-Boom. Horse remains a determined ‘friend’ so she gets tired of waiting and goes off with the old flame. Bea and Screech go to the Aldecado encampment for their after feast. Normally, the nations remain in their own encampments during this time, but Screech’s 3^rd place finish gets him (and Bea) right into the Aldecado party. Screech makes his move to get close to Rissa and finds that he is most welcome. She liked his performance. They hook up for the night. After a fun night of partying, Bea settles for Mr. Right Now.

***

 

Monday, July 11, 2025:

Wells, NV
Hiro Kanada calls on group to send a team to scout up and down the road to find out any useful intelligence. Rose says yes, but says she must wait until the other team checks in. The two start to duel for dominance. Louie and Jose are sent to the Wells Municipal Airport to meet a private plane coming in. It has four Arasaka guards to help with security. While they are waiting they heard the report of a .50 caliber weapon and dive for cover. No one else in the area seems to be bothered by it so the get off the ground. In the next 15 to 20 minutes there are seven other shots. They do not ask anyone about it. The guards arrive and come back to the motel where everyone is introduced.

(GM Note: The shots were coming from behind a large hanger at the Wells Municipal Airport where the Elko Air Museum has its repair and restoration facility. They were test firing the eight .50 caliber machine guns on their newly restored P-47 Thunderbolt. Ammunition being expensive they were just firing single rounds for the test.)

Snake Reservation
This group gets a very late start due to the very early morning end to the festivities of the previous night. Everybody (but Horse) found some warmth and comfort. The group may have found the contact they were looking for. Bea and the other party nomads hang out that day mostly with Boom-Boom’s family. Bea soaks up some nomad culture. Screech finally asks the family elder if he can help him with information regarding who or what Rissa Aldecado really is. The kith total of 14 was not impressive, so any information would have to wait for now.

***

 

Tuesday, July 12, 2025:

The Road Trip
Ken, Dr. Freeman, Jose and Lulu take the Arasaka Kumo with the M60 in the pintle mount with the mission to scout out towns along road. They start going west on Interstate 80. The first town they enter is Welcome. This is a small town with a gas/repair, a diner, a general store/post office, a town hall and a dozen houses. When traveling through the town they see what is obviously another edgerunner team talking with a Welcome Police Sergeant (Warren Jefferson). The sergeant is one of the high rollers that the Doctor and Ken saw at the casino their first night in Wells. They take note and continue on through. They stay off Interstate 80 and take Star Valley Road. Three miles before that road rejoins Interstate 80 they see vultures about 2 miles south of Deeth at west end of road. Two hundred meters off road are shallow graves that have been freshly dug up. In the graves are two executed drivers and two dead guards in Petrochem uniforms. They take a NavStar fix and note location. They drive up to the gate at Deeth and a sign says, “Stay the Fuck Out!” They do and head off to Interstate 80. Deeth is just a ranch with four to six houses in a 10-acre area. They head down the road to Elko and check Elbunz, where Ken buys some jam from the locals, and Osino which is just four to six houses in a 10-acre area.

As they group approaches Elko, the county seat, the see smoke off to the left of the highway. There are police and emergency vehicles there tending to a burning truck. Looking around the area they spy on the south side of the road a military A-20 Panzer on patrol, and a Humvee with a 50 caliber MG manned by a National Guard MP. The north side of the road has a prepared position on a rise that contained two emplaced weapons (another .50 and a 20mm cannon,) two APCs, and a couple of squads of MPs. The group dismounts their M60 before they reach any of the troops and pulls into the Elko truck stop for lunch at the diner there.

At the diner they run into the four members of Croft Associates: Aldin (Pritchard), Nigel (Jock), Rachel (Moira) and their leader, Sandra (Erika). This is the edgerunner group they worked with during the Chamberlain, SD mission. Croft Associates is a known ‘Militech’ team. The two groups see each other at about the same time and are surprised. Rachel looks at the Killer Bees and says, “My, this is awkward.”

The two teams sit down, and have lunch together, and only occasionally poking for a little information. They do exchange a few contact numbers. Croft Associates leaves first and a surveillance van that was made earlier leaves following them. The Killer Bees decid to depart quickly after that.

They quickly checked the town of Moleen, which had a gas station/auto repair with four to six houses in a 10-acre area, and the town of Vivian, which has a brothel also with four to six houses in a 10-acre area.

Carlin was the next town looked at and it had a small casino with a VERY rough biker bar out back. The Casino is sort of safe, but bar is not. Of course, they all went to the biker bar out back. The low turnout on an early Tuesday afternoon added to a very high intimidation factor by Grimjaw (Ken) kept any trouble at bay. This town also has four to six houses in a 10-acre area.

Tyrol was a small town with four to six houses in a 10-acre area. Dunfey is the same size with a gas station/convenience store. They stopped for the night in Battle Mountain, which is a town of 2,800 with some business, and schools. There is a sheriff substation that also houses a small office for Nevada State Police. They had a quiet evening in a local bar.

Snake Reservation
That morning the group prepared to leave the reservation. Bea was a bit peeved at Screech’s inability or unwillingness to find out much about Rissa, but the Kith roll (from yesterday) finally brought the confirmation that she is a netrunner. The group returns to Wells and makes it report.

Wells, NV
Louie Lam spends the day walking around Wells and getting to know the streets and businesses in the town. That afternoon, Rose (dressed nicely) goes to Visigoths ‘public’ clubhouse and asks to see boss. She wants to talk about “mutually profitable business”. They don’t take her seriously.

***

 

Wednesday, July 13, 2025:

The Road Trip
Dr. Freeman and Ken’s group heads to check out the town of Jenkins that morning, but finds the entire town was wiped out a day or two before. The rotting carnage is almost too much to bear. They next head south to the town of Beowawe which is no more than a gas/convenience store and a few houses. They stop and get directions to Harney. Harney is a collection of ruined buildings with only one really capable of being used. The home shows signs of recent squatters but is otherwise empty. The group returns to Wells by evening.

Snake Reservation
Rose (in business suit) returns with group to the Snake Reservation with the other nomads, Bea and Louie to talk to Rissa. The Killer Bee’s delegation is allowed entrance to the Aldecaldo camp, but it is clear that the nomads are ready for any trouble. Trouble is nowhere to be found because the Bees are coming in with the straight honest approach. They meet Rissa in her large tent. Rissa seems still quite taken with Screech so, after some pleasant introductions, Rose asks her about the late Arasaka netrunner, Larry Winkler, and anything about an “auction”? She says she was working with a netrunner but didn’t know his real name, only his handle. The nomad does, however, have lots of valuable information, but she needs the five thousand euro that this netrunner promised her for it. They have enough cash on them to cover it and Larry Winkler’s net handle. Rissa gives them the information. She knows a fixer in Trade Town (an outland trade market in the back country), Skull that is brokering places at an ‘auction’ of the missing fuel. She is also available for hire as a netrunner. Her fee is usually 5000eb a job, but since they are Arasaka it will be 10,000eb with half in advance. They appreciate her honesty and the fact she has the connections to get them right in to Trade Town. So the Killer Bees pony up the additional 5000eb for an advance, and they are all off to Trade Town.

A man called Captain Henderson runs Trade Town. It is an outland/outlaw market in the hinterlands of northeast Nevada. Rose and Bea go with Rissa to meet Skull and negotiate. They learn they have five days to come up with 10,000eb to have a chance to buy a seat at the ‘auction’ where the fuel will be sold. They tell Skull they will come up with the money and buy the seat.

Meanwhile, out in the market, Horse, Louie and Screech are walking about looking at the wares for sale, as Boom-Boom watches the truck. A desperate young woman comes up and pleads for Horse to help her get out of here, and tells him she has been kidnapped. Two ‘slave catchers’ come up. They try to seize their escaped ‘slave’ and wrest her painfully from Horse. Horse responds by punching one of the slavers and knocking him right out. The second fires a shotgun at Horse but misses him and hits multiple targets behind the nomad. Screech dives for cover, and Louie opens fire hitting a random merchant and then the last slaver. The group runs with the escaped slave back to the truck.

They hide the ‘slave’ in the truck just before Rissa, Rose and Bea come back to the vehicle. The others hurry the successful negotiating team in. They have just been cleared to leave the Trade Town when the slavers come running up to the gate screaming for someone to stop them. Screech hits the gas. Boom-Boom sees the two heavy guns guarding the gate turn to fire so she takes out the 20mm cannon with the 40mm Auto GL, but the 50 caliber opens up. The shots tear into the rear and roof of the vehicle destroying the electronics bay in the motor home. Boom-Boom then silences the 50 caliber MG. A road mine almost gets them but they go cross-country.

As Screech makes a violent right turn to avoid a mine, the young girl rolls out from her hiding place. Bea screams, “Who the hell is that????”

Next, they take an airburst hit by an 82mm mortar, which tears a hole in the roof and scatters some shrapnel around. Screech starts to maneuver to avoid the artillery. A pursuing light aircraft brings them under strafing fire, but is taken out with a superb shot by Boom-Boom. The last of the pursuit is a group of bikers and ATVs that are scattered or destroyed by the turret weapon.

The girl’s name is Sheila and she is from Wells, Nevada. She wants to go home. Well, Louie had spent the previous day getting to know the town by walking around so he knew right where she lived, when told the address. Her mother burst into tears when her daughter was returned to her. As they watch this touching reunion scene, two burly members of the Visigoths come out of the house. It turns out that Sheila is the niece of one of these bikers. That biker is Frank Belanger, the warlord of this chapter of the Visigoths, and he is very grateful.

Meanwhile, Croft Associates have arrived in Wells and are staying at the Motel 6. The teams decide to have dinner together. Rose wants to tell Croft Associates about the dead Petrochem people they found so they will be away from Wells as they figure out how to get a seat at the auction now. Hiro agrees, but only after they (Arasaka) get to turn the information over to the police and Petrochem. The dinner is pleasant as both sides refrain from talking business. Later on a group of Visigoths come to the group’s hotel to thank them ‘officially’ for rescuing Sheila.

Well, the Killer Bees may have suffered a small setback. After all they still have people Skull hasn’t met and they did not identify themselves as Arasaka. (Skull wouldn’t have cared one way or the other.) They have, however, made a powerful ally in the Visigoths. As any person (or player) knows, it is allies and friends that can keep you alive! At any rate, events have been set in motion.

 

 

 

 

Episode 37: The Wrath of the Visigoths

 

Thursday, July 14, 2025:

Early in the morning ‘Lucy Tanaka’ comes to Rose with some inconsequential communications from Hiro Kanada. Lucy apologizes for not talking to her sooner but she wanted to wait until Hiro requested she talk to Rose privately. Lucy tells Rose that her mission is unrelated to this present situation. She is on a deep cover assignment. Rose expresses her relief that ‘she’ is not Lucy’s ‘assignment’. They chat for a bit and then Rose tells Lucy about Kagekaze and his calling her by her grandfather’s pet name for her. Lucy is a little taken aback, and questions Rose as to how much she knows about what happened (which is nothing). Finally, Lucy tells Rose see deserves to know the truth. The reason Grandfather committed seppuku was her mother’s relationship and Rose’s subsequent birth. Rose’s mother was betrothed to a member of a cadet branch of the Arasaka clan, and her elopement with a back American military officer was a disgrace that could only be atoned for with his or his daughter’s (and Rose’s) death. He chose to die himself. Arasaka did not let him die completely and put him in his full conversion borg. Rose’s human perception roll gave her the idea that Lucy did not approve of what had happened to the old man. Both did agree that Kagekaze was merely the spirit of the old master and that the man was dead. Rose left that meeting with the idea (correctly) that perhaps she now has a friend and ally in Lucy.

The morning meeting is held. Hiro’s attitude towards the group is changing for the better as the Killer Bees start to deliver on this mission. The first 5000eb in cash reimbursements is made, and the request for 10,000eb payment is made to Arasaka for Rissa’s services with Hiro Kanada’s recommendation for approval. The corporate then goes to Elko to turn in the location of the Petrochem bodies. Louie and Lulu Lam go with him.

Doctor Freeman, Ken, and Jose take part of the group, and head east to check the remaining towns east of Wells near Interstate 80. Moor is just an interstate exit with four to six houses in a 10-acre area. Oasis has a gas station/convenience store. A Post office and diner are also there along with five to eight houses in a 12-acre area. In Silver Zone the group sees a figure slip out of one of the ruined houses. Ken thinks it is just a coyote, but they check. It is just a mother coyote trying to lead them away from her young. They do not realize the value of the young and leave them undisturbed. This village has four to six houses in a 10-acre area that are ruined and abandoned in a poor state.

At Cliffside they notice that the ‘town’ is occupied. There are three related families living in the ruins of what was some small industrial complex. The live in the old offices and housing built into the cliff side. They appear to be very xenophobic. They decide not to bother them, as there is no way to hide that many fuel trucks in this area. The finally arrive in West Wendover. The group sees a Utah police car (Wendover Police) in West Wendover, NV. They notice a number of military personnel there also. They learn there is a government air base in Wendover. This group returns to Wells by evening.

Meanwhile, Rose, Horse, Boom Boom, Screech, and Bea, who are waiting to leave for the Snake Reservation, finally receive the go ahead from Hiro and Rose calls Croft Associates and tells them about the dead Petrochem people and the location. Her explanation of why she is giving them this info is lame on the surface but the delivery is good so Croft accepts the information. As this part of the team starts to leave there is an explosion for the parking lot of the Motel 6 and Casino (where Croft Associates is staying). It seems that someone put a bomb under the Militech team’s vehicle. A chemical detector revealed the bomb just before it went off; so most everyone wasn’t seriously hurt except for Rachel who had to be sent to the town’s medical center. Rose tries to talk with Sandra (Erika), but the Croft leader isn’t in a talking mood, since it sure looks like the Killer Bees just may have tried to kill them!

At the Snake Reservation, Rissa arranges for the armadillo to be repaired for material cost only. She explains that word of the group’s rescue of Sheila from the Raffin Shiv has made a good impression on the nomads here, so there is no shortage of volunteers to help repair their vehicle. They spend the night at the Reservation.

Wells
Events in the area have now taken on a life of their own thanks to the Killer Bees rescue of Sheila. These actions are mostly unknown to the group so they are written in another font.
(Visigoth president Hargrove’s calls a war council of the Visigoths to destroy Trade Town and it is carried unanimously)

***

 

Friday, July 15, 2025:

Wells
(Hargrove talks with local chief of police. Then he and fifty bikers go to county seat with ten other ‘concerned’ citizens. There they meet with the sheriff of Elko County.)

One town out to the west was not checked out and that was Tulasco. Hiro, who still in Elko, wants this last town to be checked. So Doctor Freeman, Ken and Jose take Jose’s car and goes to do that. As they approach the spot where the town should be on their map, they drive thru the right edge of a round, irrigated field. The road then goes north with lush, forested lowland on the left, and a higher, scrub landscape on the right. Tulasco appears to be just a railroad crossing with no houses. The group remembers seeing a dirt road a few hundred meters back going off down into the forested lowlands. They decide to take it. The road goes into the woods and to the town of Tulasco. It is village of seven houses close together along Trout Creek near the rail crossing. They cross a bridge and on the right there is a rundown house with an old cowhand sitting on the porch with a large rifle. While he is not overtly hostile, he appears to be an old curmudgeon. They continue down the road and see four old abandoned houses in various states of disrepair before they come to another bridge that re-crosses Trout Creek. Across the bridge on the left there is dilapidated but still occupied house with a four-wheel drive vehicle in the yard. On the right is a rundown but still working farm. The group saw two figures loading something in the back of a pickup truck from one of the farm’s out buildings located a good distance from the road. They slowed down and used some enhanced vision to look at what had been loaded and they looked like farm crates. The group continued out of the verdant Trout Creek area and followed the track, which they hoped would lead back to the road. Unfortunately, the road up the hill was not passable to a two-wheel drive car and they had to stop. The group got out and walked up the hill to find themselves at the round irrigated field they had driven by earlier. On the way back to the car the pickup truck (with four wheel drive) passed them with the larger of the two men they had seen previously at the wheel. The driver slowed a bit to check them out but continued up the road, across the field, and to the road back to Welcome. The party got in the car, turned around and headed back through Tulasco. There was no one in sight at the farmhouse. Jose thought the outbuilding would be worth checking out, but was over ruled by Ken, so they returned to Wells. As they return on the interstate they see fifty of the Visigoths escorting seven other vehicles west towards Elko.

That afternoon the sound of a score of motorcycles is heard pulling up to the Super 8. The Arasaka guard signals an alert as gunfire erupts in the street. A group of Raffin Shiv from Trade Town has hunted them down to take revenge on the group’s actions of a couple of days ago. (Captain Henderson of Trade Town didn’t sponsor this strike, but friends of the people the party killed initiated this action. Yes even ‘bad guys’ have friends that care sometimes.) Just about all the windows in the team’s rooms facing the street are blown out, and the guard outside is cut down, but not before he takes a few with him. Jose is in one of the street side rooms and starts returning fire along with the remaining guard. Ken works his way from one of the side rooms to the large corner room with his 14.5 mm assault rifle and begins cutting down the advancing Raffin Shiv. A grenade launched from one of the raider’s M-79 launchers blasts the second floor corner room, which was the Arasaka team’s command post. It destroyed the communications gear, and wounds the remaining guard. The Bees gets long range supporting fire from the (hidden) roof mounted .50 caliber MG on the Visigoth’s clubhouse roof. The police and patrolling Visigoths react quickly and join the battle. Jose is wounded. Another grenade lands in the group’s corner suite where they have stacked all their spare weapons and equipment. The explosion lightly wounds Ken, but destroys their LATGM. Fortunately, the explosion doesn’t detonate any ammunition, which the party has well packed in transportation cases. The damage to the rooms is mostly cosmetic although it looks bad initially. The remaining raiders are hunted down except for two who escape. (One flees the area, but the other goes back to report what has happened. Captain Henderson, who now realizes that confrontation with the Visigoths is inevitable, executes him.)

Snake Reservation
The nomad repair crews finish fixing the armadillo, and Rissa completes her ‘information search’ on Captain Henderson. It seems the Captain was a member of a disgraced US military unit. After the Second South-Am War, he stayed with his Colonel and they (with others of the unit) moved to the Sam Morro area of Night City and formed an organized crime group that flourished there for a number of years. Henderson became the number two man in the operation, but it (and he) was driven out of the neighborhood by a group later called Security Solutions. (One of our earlier Cyberpunk Campaigns) That was six years ago, and now Henderson is running his own operation. Later that afternoon, this part of the party returns to Wells to the Super 8 where they see people repairing the windows and other battle damage. Hiro and his group also return and the Arasaka corporate learns his communications suite has been destroyed. He is (obviously) distraught, but the nomad netrunner has brought her own uplink and communications gear for her Cyberdeck and computer. She offers her services as communication’s specialist (as well as her current duty as netrunner) at no extra charge. Hiro gratefully accepts her offer and she is briefed on the group’s communications codes and protocols. Rissa turns down a room in the motel and bunks with Screech in the now repaired armadillo.

***

 

Saturday, July 16, 2025:

Rose tries to contact Croft Associates, but the number goes right to voice mail. Repairs continue on the motel HQ, and the wounded recover.

That evening the roar of motorcycles alerts the group to the return of the Visigoths with fifty other bikers from the Dakotas’ chapter. The party begins to suspect something big is brewing with the club as the new arrivals also have vehicles loaded with supplies. This group heads to the fortified complex north of the town that the group had discovered when checking out the sniper’s position from a few days ago.

Later that night as everyone is ‘hanging out’ Rose notices Lucy take a glass that Rissa was drinking from and carefully takes it. Rose correctly deduces that Lucy is trying to secure a DNA sample and perhaps some fingerprints.

***

 

Sunday, July 17, 2025:

The morning’s calm is broken by the sound of fifty bikers leave going west in the morning from both chapters. Representatives from the nomads arrive in Wells. They stop at the Super 8 to pick up Rissa. Several members of the Visigoths show up and the situation gets tense between the two groups unit until Rissa boldly walks up to the Visigoth leader and identifies herself with a term that none of the party understands. The Visigoths seem to understand and they leave. Rissa says see has something to do and will be back later. She rides off with the nomads deeper into the town of Wells.

Later in afternoon two hundred members of the California chapter of the Visigoths arrive with the national president and the bikes that left this morning are with them. A total of two hundred and fifty grim faced bikers with vehicle support rides through town and heads to the bunker. Right behind them the National Guard arrives (one platoon of MPs, one platoon of mechanized infantry, two A-20 panzers, a battery (4) of light 105mm guns, and a group of trucks). The MPs take up positions in the town to support the now fully mobilized Wells Police Department. They rest head out to the Wells Municipal Airport and set up defensive positions. A number of National Guard supply trucks drive into the repair hanger of the Elko Air Museum. They see a small single engine plane land and is taken into the repair hanger. A little while later the B-25 Mitchell lands there too, and is also quickly brought into the large hanger.

The nomads that arrived that morning leave in the evening, and drop Rissa off at the Super 8. She says they all need to talk. It seems the kidnapping of Frank Belanger’s niece, Sheila, has been the last in a long line of provocations that the Visigoth’s (and many of the people of this area) can no longer ignore. Henderson’s denial of targeting the club’s family members (which is true, this was done against his wishes and the kidnapers did not know who they had snatched) is rejected. The local powers at be (Visigoths, police and National Guard) have decided to end the problem of Trade Town and the Raffin Shiv raiders once and for all. On this coming Tuesday, 650 Visigoths (more are coming tomorrow), 300 nomads (100 dog soldiers plus 200 volunteers), and 50 others (mostly Elko Air Museum employees and off duty National Guard troops), are going to wipe Trade Town off the map. The National Guard will be having a ‘live fire’ exercise on Tuesday with their heavy artillery, but will otherwise not be involved except in a defensive capacity. The local Wells police, county sheriffs, and State police will be keeping Wells secure during the absence of the Visigoths. Captain Henderson is expecting some response, but not something of this magnitude. The nomads have been picking off his scouts that are trying to get info on any build up, and the Visigoths have been picking up the captain’s known allies. Rissa has learned from her contacts that the fuel tanker trailers are not in Trade Town but are hidden is an unknown location near. She suggests that the group spread themselves out in the hills overlooking Trade Town to the west. The attack will come from the east and Henderson, who is no fool, will probably flee west on foot and head into the mountains to where the tanker trailers are since they would represent his last remaining major asset. The group approves of this plan. Hiro and his team (who are now very under strength) will wait in Wells for the results. Hiro informs them he also has a couple of ‘irons in the fire’ on the matter of the fuel recovery, but does not elaborate.

***

 

Monday, July 18, 2025:

That morning 100 bikers leave in morning representing all clubs there and head east on Interstate 80. The Killer Bees headed southwest into the backcountry in the newly repaired Armadillo. They find the location to hide the truck guarded by Boom Boom and Screech. They hide the truck and settle in for the night. Tomorrow will be an early day.

(GM Note: Croft Associates meanwhile has tracked clues back to Tulasco and investigates the farm that the group did not check out. One of the Tulasco brothers lives in that house across the street from that farm. That brother is Officer William (Willie) Tulasco a corrupt part time cop and nephew of Welcome’s chief of police Tim “Tiny” Butler (he is huge) and cousin of Lt. John Butler. The chief is old and is losing his mind, and the Lt. has become a drug addict. Herman Tulasco, a psychotic killer lives at the old family farm and is Willie’s brother. Herman has been processing some of the bodies of his victims for meat, mixing it with other types of meat, and selling this ‘ground chuck’ to the diner in Welcome. He and the police ‘gang’, which is led by Sergeant Warren Jefferson (see Episode 36), have murdered the SovOil Team that the party saw talking to Sergeant Jefferson. The Croft team examined the out building that the Killer Bees did not and found a charnel house in the basement. In the barn was a group of signs that these ‘police’ used to get the fuel trucks off the main road and on to Star Valley Road where they would seize the trucks, and turn them over to Captain Henderson’s people for a hefty payment. Willie Tulasco was the second of the two high rollers that Doctor Freeman and Ken saw at the Casino on Saturday, July 9th. Willie was too far away when the group saw him loading the truck with the ‘farm products’ in the crates (processed SovOil agents for the diner), and had stepped out of sight when the group used their enhanced vision to examine the crates. No one on the team had expressed any interest in the workers loading the truck anyway. There is also evidence there (that only a detailed forensic search will reveal) that a few of the missing Petrochem drivers and guards were processed though there. They report their findings to Militech, who immediately notify local authorities.)

Later that afternoon, the 100 bikers return to Wells along with 200 more Visigoths from the Kansas City, St. Louis and Illinois chapters.

***

 

Tuesday, July 19, 2025:

The Visigoths leave Wells early in the morning and head west on the Interstate to Welcome and Tulasco. There they wipe out the Tulasco brothers, the police, the diner, and a list of enemies that has accumulated over time. Basically, the town is sacked!

By dawn the Killer Bees positioned themselves in an arc in the hills above Trade Town. Nothing really happens until late morning. As they look off to the north they could see a dust cloud in the distance on the west side of the range (the group had their observers on the east slope with small back up team on the west slope). They watch as about 500 Raffin Shiv on bikes, dune buggies and other homemade vehicle leave the town, go out the end of the valley and head north to meet the oncoming Visigoths. While they cannot see the battle, they can hear it. Off in the distance where the gap in the range sat they can see a small single engine aircraft sweeping back and forth across the battlefield.

(GM Note: This is the P-47 Thunderbolt mentioned in Episode 36 on Monday, July 11th. It has been loaded with ammunition and rocket pods by the National Guard. When the two sides lined up like ancient armies across the field of battle, the P-47 swooped down and tore up the packed ranks of the Raffin Shiv.)

As they looked down on Trade Town, an explosion erupted in the town and destroyed the aging 75mm sky sweeper that defended the Town from air assault. It was a 105 mm artillery round. A precision bombard followed that took out all the anti-aircraft defenses. Two hundred more Raffin Shiv left the town to hunt down the heavy guns.

 

(GM Note: These men would find the guns, but unfortunately for them, the guns were defended by four A-20 panzers: the two that had moved to Wells and two that had just come from Elko the night before. The mechanized infantry platoon defending the guns gave long-range support fire. The retreating Raffin Shiv remnants ran straight into a dog soldier ambush.)

 

With the heavy AA of the town neutralized, another large explosion hit the town. High up in the air they see the B-25 Mitchell bomber dropping (laser guided) bombs on the remaining strong points. From the Trade Town’s airstrip, three single engine aircraft retrofitted with weapons climbed into the air one after another. As the last rose up, another craft swept in behind it and starting firing machine guns. When it closed with the make shift fighter a 20 mm cannon rang out and disintegrated the Raffin Shiv aircraft. They watched as the Elko Air Museum’s ME-109 hunted down the second aircraft. The third aircraft went after the B-25, which blew the homemade plane out of the air quickly and easily. The B-25 was now fully outfitted with its defensive machine guns. The aircraft left and a couple of hours later the remnants of the Raffin Shiv force poured into the valley and back into the town. Following quickly behind was the Visigoths and nomads who drew up at one end of the valley and waited. The artillery commenced a concentrated bombardment and the B-25 returned and carpet bombed one side of the town’s defenses. The motorized horde then swept in on the town.

At this point the group notice a group of people coming out of a cleft in the rocks outside of the town. It is Captain Henderson with his bodyguards. They try to track them, but lose him before he crosses the spine of the mountains. They are able to figure out which pass he is heading for and alert the backup team to watch that pass. They are able to pick up Henderson’s trail. They follow him south between the twin spines of the mountains for a couple of miles. The Captain and his party then turn west just south of Soldier’s Peak. The quarry then enters John Day Canyon and follows it to a hidden cave off a dirt road that went out of the foothills on the west side of the mountains. Rose slips up to the entrance, and looks inside. The IR resistant covering over the entrance hides a large cavern that goes off to the left. There is one guard near the entrance and ten more inside watching (kind of) him. Rose returns to the group.

The Killer Bees then work out their plan of attack. Most of the group successfully sneaks up to the entrance. They silence the guard and rain grenades on the other ten. The group moves in and goes left. They can see it opes up into a larger cave (artificially enlarged) where 6 tanker trailers are parked. The battle that follows consists of the group and opponents maneuvering for shots that will not stray into a tanker if they miss, or getting close enough for martial arts attacks. As the last of the defenders go down, little red lights light up on the tankers attached to what are obviously explosives. Captain Henderson appears with the dead man’s switch. Letting the button up would detonate the charges destroying the trucks, him, the Killer Bees and everything else in the cave. Just shooting him is not an option because of that. He wants to negotiate. Rose threatens him with the wrath of the Arasaka Corporation, but Henderson is not intimidated or impressed. However, a signal jammer puts his plan out of action and he is captured.

Rissa goes outside to set up her satellite link and contact Hiro. There is a message in the Arasaka drop box for them. It is a communication from Hiro saying their services had been terminated (time coded for two hours ago), and their payment would only be 50,000eb for the job (the minimum). Hiro reports that he has the location of the tankers and has a Team on the way (ETA 2 hours). Rissa runs a check of message and it proves to be genuine. As the Killer Bees wonder what to do next, Rissa suggests an option. She will pay them 1,000,000eb just to walk away. She backs up her offer with a 100,000eb deposit in the group’s secret off shore bank account.

The team agrees, and she calls her people, who happen to be just standing by. (How about that?) A band of Aldecaldo and Snake Nation nomads show up with truck tractors and another tanker trailer to haul away the fuel. They leave one mostly empty (CHOO) trailer rigged with explosives near the cavern entrance to seal the cave. Rissa had one more request. She wants to take Captain Henderson with her and the nomads, which is quickly agreed to. Henderson immediately tries to buy his freedom, but Rissa just whispered something in his ear. The man goes white with fear as a bag is thrown over his head and he is dragged away pleading for his freedom. Rose wonders to herself what would frighten a man like this, who had just laughed off a threat from Arasaka. As Rissa was about to leave, she hands Rose a signed, ‘paid in full’ receipt for the remaining 5000eb of her ‘fee’ that Arasaka owed her. She says, “Hey, maybe they will reimburse you for it.” Also, she gives them the keys to her motorcycle that is with the Armadillo being guarded by the rest of the team, and tells them to keep it.

Rose asks if there is any way she could be able to contact the netrunner should they want to talk to her again. The nomad gives her a funny look, and then smiles and hands Rose a card. It simply says Raggedy Ann with a picture of the doll above and a net box number below. Rose rolls a d10 for a reputation roll, but rolls a ten and has no idea who it is. This seems to amuse Rissa, who then leaves with the nomads.

The Killer Bees hike back over the mountain and make it to their camp to spend the night there.

***

 

Wednesday, July 20, 2025:

The Killer Bees head east to the north-south highway (Route 93), and take that into Wells. They are stopped at a roadblock made up of Visigoths and local police half way there, but are recognized and passed through cheerfully. The learn that Trade Town has been wiped out and the victory is total with only light casualties for their side. Rose expresses her desire to shove the fact that they had found the fuel and ‘sold’ it for 1,000,000eb after they were (in her mind) unjustly fired to save Arasaka from having to pay them. She is sure that this is what Hiro meant when he told them that, “He had other irons in the fire.”

Bea thinks and says it might not be a good idea, and they should find out first what happened and why. So when they arrive in town, they go to see Hiro, who appears happy to see them. When they ask him why they were fired, he seems surprised. Hiro checks with his superiors and, no, they had not been fired. A check of the drop box shows the message is coded correctly, but still, he never sent it. Then he asks where Rissa is. They tell him she left with her family since the job was over, and they turn in the paid receipts for her services for reimbursement. Hiro starts to look very nervous. He received a communication in the early morning that another team was on their way to Wells and that Rissa was to be ‘held’ there until they arrived. Everybody is starting to get a little worried at this point.

A few hours later an Arasaka Av-8 and an AV-9 land across from the hotel. Out steps Haruko Kanawa, Arachne Jones, Kagekaze, Lasky and Cheng. They are most of Arasaka’s top covert operations team, and they look like they are ready for trouble. When informed of what had happened, they order a check of the communications and quietly question the party about the netrunner. They don’t seem particularly interested in the fuel and ask almost nothing about it. When it is apparent that Rissa is long gone, Haruko becomes visibly disturbed. She gives the party a private number and says if they ever see her again, they should call her immediately and not tell the nomad anything about it. As they leave, Hiro says he has a receipt for Rissa’s services that the Killer Bees turned in for reimbursement. That stops the Arasaka operative in her tracks and her elite team’s eyes look at her nervously. Without turning around, she ponders a minute, and quietly says, “Pay it”. The Arasaka first team then leaves.

A while later, a delegation of the Visigoths show up to invite the Killer Bees to the bunker north of the city where they are having a victory celebration that night. The group goes. But Hiro and his people decline. It is a wild party. The Visigoths have a couple of the local members watch out for the Bees, and there is no trouble. They run into Croft Associates, who are also invited. Erika and her people are no longer too upset about the car being blown up or rather they know the Killer Bees didn’t do it. It seems it was the Visigoths who did. The gang knew that Croft was working for Militech, and the Killer Bees were working for their rival, Arasaka. In a (misguided) attempt to be helpful and pay the group back for rescuing Sheila the Visigoths blew up the car, and tried to kill them. When Croft Associates uncovered the Tulasco connection and Herman’s murderous actions, the Visigoths ‘apologized’ (after a fashion). It seems Croft Associates had picked up a ‘local guide’, who had the same information as Rissa, but not the ability to get into Trade Town. The guide suggested that during the attack they cover the land northwest of the town to stop Captain Henderson from escaping. As Erika and Rose look at where they each were positioned, it occurs to them that between the two groups they had the whole west escape area covered. After the fight, their ‘local guide’ left too.

(Tex had the Petrochem team, along with Jason Westmoreland, who was following them, covering the southeast escape routes from Trade Town on the day of the attack, and would have had to kill the whole Petrochem team (with Jason’s help) if Henderson’s hide out was in that direction.)

Rose shows Erika the card that Rissa gave her, and Erika recognizes the name. It is one of the Europe’s most wanted net terrorists, and a member of the Fireman, a world class edgerunner team (the first group we ran 18 years ago when we started to play Cyberpunk. There is more on this at the end of this post). The Killer Bees do not mention that they found the fuel. All have a wild and wonderful time. The gangers give the two teams no trouble, as they are ‘heroes’ and battle comrades now.

***

 

Thursday, July 21, 2025:

The team is approved for the 50,000eb payout and ordered home to Night City. As they are leaving Wells, they see a nomad fuel tanker finish topping off the fuel tanks of the Elko County Sheriff’s substation and move up to (the Visigoth’s) truck stop to deliver fuel to them. Bea surmises (correctly) that the nomads are sharing some of their windfall with other powers in the county.

(GM Note: The truck will also give some AV gas to the Elko Air Museum and CHOO to the Welcome Police Department.)

The team reach the California/Nevada border and are stopped by Arasaka. Their (former) employer explains that lone Arasaka assets have been attacked on Norcal highways in the past few days. They can go the rest of the way to Night City tomorrow in an Arasaka convoy, if they like. This offer is accepted. While they are still in Nevada, the Killer Bees replace the LATGM launcher they lost in Wells.

***

 

Friday, July 22, 2025:

The large convoy has an uneventful trip to Night City. The three nomads find the situation not quite to their liking so they visit friends on the outskirts of Night City. The rest of the team pick up an armored escort, which delivers them to the police checkpoint at the Hazard interchange for a safe trip through the west San Morro streets.

***

 

 

What was really happening in this mission?
The mission that was given to the party by Arasaka had no other complications that the mega corp didn’t tell the party about. The major complication occurred due to the political situation in Night City. As explained earlier in this thread, Senator Thomas Royal deChartier’s mother and father had been murdered recently, and now he has discovered why. Twelve people of money and power from around the world have banded together to help each other eliminate one generally untouchable enemy of each of those individuals. These twelve call their group: the Bright Circle. The Senator (or Roy to his friends) has discovered this, and he is on that list along with his father, who was the seventh person to be killed by this group. Roy has also learned the names of two others on this death list: William Joseph (Billy Joe) Brentwood, the former head of Petrochem’s Night City office and now executive vice president at the main office in Dallas, and David Windham, head of the Night City Biotechnica office. Both these men are Roy’s friends and political allies. These three have decided to work together and strike back. So far they have identified five of the Bright Circle. One was Councilman Saul Morris, who is now dead. Another is Captain Henderson of Trade Town. Roy has hired the edgerunner team, the Fireman to capture or kill Henderson.

In the Fireman’s investigation of Captain Henderson they learned that he was behind the fuel truck hijackings and was trying to sell the fuel. They also knew that many corporations were sending teams to look for it. The Fireman decided to try to infiltrate any team that looked like it had a chance to find the fuel. Tex easily was able to get hired by Petrochem with the help of Billy Joe Brentwood. These fuel trucks were the responsibility of a corporate rival of Billy Joe so the failure to get the trucks back would work well for him. Since the Killer Bees never really had any contact with this team (except for being seen by a few of the guards in Elko on the day of their arrival), they never got to see or recognize him. Chaos, who underwent cosmetic surgery, was able to get hired by Croft Associates as a ‘local guide’. The Doc tried to contact the SovOil team, but the dirty cops from Welcome killed that team before he could infiltrate them. Anne (Raggedy Anne) with a new face targeted the Arasaka team. Anne, whose real name is Doctor Mariska Benes (Rissa was a name her parents called her when she was young before they were murdered by EBM corporate assassins) contacted her nomad family for help. As a child she had fallen in with old man Aldecaldo, who helped raise her after her parents were murdered. Although she left the nomad life, she is still immensely loyal to her family and helps them often. The Aldecaldos said they would help her, but they wanted the fuel. This was fine by her. In order to get on the Arasaka team she had to eliminate “Static” their netrunner. It was easy to attract him as he was looking for information that she advertised she had. Anne sent him to the meet in the Las Vegas net where she killed him and his back up using her “Stool Pigeon” icon. Jason took out “Tank” at the same time so no one would be able to help “Static”. With all the clues laid, the Killer Bees came to her. Once the team trusted her Rissa tried to use them to get close to Captain Henderson. Hiro gave her the communications protocols and she gleaned more information from the wreckage of the destroyed communications equipment at the Super 8. Forging the “your fired” message was child’s play.

Now had Horse not punched out the slavers and rescued Sheila, the mission would have taken a completely different course. It is difficult to speculate what might have happened, but Hiro would have attended the auction and may or may not have won the bid. There would have been six bidders for the fuel so only a one in six chance that Arasaka would be successful. Then there would be the matter of actually retrieving the fuel if the action was successful. This would have been no concern of the Killer Bees as their part of the mission would be over. Since they only partially completed requirement #1 of the mission (see post #60 for details), their compensation still would have been only 50,000eb. Although, since they had done a pretty fair job, I probably would have had Arasaka ‘split the difference’ and give them 75,000eb. Still, the group would have had a few more days in the area and so would probably spend more time working on the ‘how’ of the hijackings and not on the ‘who’ was responsible. The exposure of the Tulasco connection would probably have allowed them to solve enough of the puzzle to get the 100,000eb payout. That is unless they reported it to the Welcome Police department instead of Hiro, the state police, or sheriff’s departments. If they just informed Hiro he would have contacted the sheriff and Arasaka, who would have dealt with this. Certainly they would probably never know Captain Henderson’s fate. Ah, yes, Henderson’s fate. What Rissa/Anne whispered in his ear was, “And now you are on your way to see Roy, and you can explain why is father and mother had to die.” The captain did not die well, but it did take a while.

Why did Haruko Kanawa rush to the area with her team? As mentioned earlier, the Fireman did the Land of the Free Adventure. This was done when the group had been together for quite some time. Anne got a hold of a small experimental braindance recorder, and recorded her part of the mission. This included some embarrassing and potentially indictable moments with Haruko Kanawa and her boss, Seiji Okano. Anne sold it to DMS, which made a serial out of it. It made her and the other Fireman rather wealthy as she shared some of the profits with the whole team. Haruko hates not only that netrunner, but also the whole team of the Fireman.

Tex had the Petrochem team (along with Jason Westmoreland, who was following them) covering the southeast escape routes from Trade Town on the day of the attack, and would have had to kill the whole Petrochem team (with Jason’s help) if Henderson’s hide out was in that direction.

As it stands, Hiro is taking the heat for this failure. The group is not at fault in the corporation’s eyes. Hiro had been shall we say, ‘a bit creative’ in assigning credit for the successes the two Arasaka teams had made. Besides, Arasaka has other plans for the Killer Bees. These plans will put them at the Eye of the Storm in Night City. Where else should a team be in the Fourth Corporate War?