Gone Fishin'

From Lexicanum

Searching for the smaller fish….

The runners decided to split up. Benny opted to stay in the hotel searching the virtual world for clues, whilst Randy & Teflon headed out to find a fence to sell the stolen loot from the Golden Palace.

Flashcat, Milo and Face researched the 3 leads. The Midas Touch is a four star restaurant & nightclub located in Deira. Westerners and non-muslims are welcome here. The Red Square is a nightclub run by a Russian known as Zahkar, located in Dubai Maritime City. The Ghazu Horse Racetrack, a renowned racing venue, and a place for the rich and influential to show off. The racetrack is conservative and intolerant of outsiders and rumour has it all types of business is conducted there, both legal & illegal.

Flashcat, Milo & Face decided to head to the racetrack first as there is a meeting scheduled for later that day. In an attempt to disguise themselves they went shopping. Milo opting for an Arab style outfit with a Hajib to obscure her orcish features. Face opted for a smart suit with a hat to hide his elven ears. Flashcat decided no outfit would hide the fact he was a dwarf so decided to play the part of a disabled person and acquired a wheelchair with a blanket that would disguise his stature. Face decided to hire a limousine with a driver to further aid their disguise. The limousine picked up the 3 runners and headed to the racetrack. Once there, face bought tickets and Milo pushed Flashcat in his wheelchair. On approaching the gate & security, Milo noticed that a group in front appeared to bribe security to allow them in with sidearms. Milo did the same handing the guard 1000 nY with the tickets and they were waved in. Once in the racetrack is was obvious that westerners were very definitely the minority here and both the Mudaween and Police were everywhere. Flashcat decided to summon a spirit to snoop astrally to avoid drawing unwanted attention to themselves. To ensure he wasn’t seen performing the summoning, Milo took him to the disabled toilet. The spirit was instructed to listen to conversations around the racetrack to see what could be discovered. After a short while the spirit reported to Flashcat that Global Sandstorm had a large presence here and a number of conversations were about how they could exploit Saeder Krupp. One name for Mr Brackhaus. The spirit also found a fixer doing business, but the fixer was ultra conservative and hated no Arabs and non Muslims. Deciding not to draw attention to themselves the 3 runners decided to leave. As they headed out Milo noticed a group of Madaween were shadowing them, however they did not follow the runners out of the race track.

The runners headed back to the Hotel in the Limousine. On arrival Face spoke to the concierge and booked a table at The Midas Touch for 7.30pm. A quick freshen up and change and the runners headed to The Midas Touch, still in their hired Limo. On arrival the Maitre D’ showed them to a nice table. Face struck up a conversation and asked whom might be good for information. The Maître D’ gave two names in exchange for the promise of a good tip. A Muslim dwarf fixer by the name of Al Tayyib and an Muslim Elf by the name of Baligh. The dwarf was in the club and the Maître D’ mad an introduction. Al Tayyib joined the runners and for a price of 15,000 nY and a future favour gave the runners the names of 8 AA Corps and the principles of each who were working against Saeder Krupp. Al Tayyib warned them against speaking to Baligh as he was un trustworthy. Al Tayyib also advised if the runners ever needed work in the Arab states he could help. A valuable contact was gained. The runners decided not to speak to Baligh and instead head to The Red Square. As they were leaving Milo noticed Baligh on his commlink whilst studying the runners intently.

The Limo dropped the runners at Red Square, where Flascat decided to ditch the wheelchair. Still with the spirit in tow, the runners headed into the club after checking weapons at the entrance. Once inside they found the club to be busy with lots of very attractive waitresses serving the patrons. Face spoke to one requesting to meet the owner, Zahkar. A large, albeit slightly drunk, bear of a Russian approached the table and introduced himself as Zahkar. Face explained what the were after. Zahkar said he can help for a non-negotiable fee of 3000nY, but first the runners would have to look at his wares. Zahkar led the runners out back through a very heavy security door to what can only be described as an arms warehouse. All 3 runners bought some gear. Once this business was concluded, Zahkar provided the runners with the names of 7 AA Corps and the principles of each who were working against Saeder Krupp, including Global Sandstorm.

The runners left the club, retrieving their arms, on the way out. As the headed back to their Limo, Milo noticed the man sitting behind the wheel was not their driver. On mentioning this to his companions, Flascat hit the man with a mana bolt, knocking the man senseless. As they headed towards the Limo, a car screeched to a halt up the road, and 4 figures stepped out to engage the runners. Their leaded appeared to be Awakened, and all were heavily armed and in flowing Arab dress. Flashcat sent his spirit to attack the awakened, then went promptly invisible, whilst Milo and face drew weapons and took cover. The ensuing fight was brutal and their opponents tough. The runners put down 3 of the goons after a fierce firefight. The awakened dispatched Flashcat’s spirit , through a grenade injuring both Milo and Face. The Awakened was about to move in when the sound of sirens approaching fast dissuaded him and he took off in his car. The Runners decided to do the same. They found their driver in the boot, tied up, but otherwise unharmed. With the offer of a large tip he promised to keep his mouth shut.

Back at the hotel face contacted Mr Brackhaus, who again came to the hotel in person to collect the information and pay the runners. Mr Brackhaus was pleased with the speed the mission was accomplished in and told the runners if the wanted to stay in Dubai a little longer he would have more work for them.

Teflon and Randy turned up having fenced the loot and making a princely 60,000 nY.

Wetwork

After a day or so relaxing in the hotel after their last Run, the runners are called by Hans Brackhaus with another job offer. Based on the information provided in your last run, we have a target we would like you to make an example out of: Native Lands Industries.

The task is simple, hunt down the CEO, Scott Graceson, extract him, take him back to his business and burn it, along with him to the ground. Wetwork

Face accepted the mission and got the runners searching for info. A combination of legwork and Benny Technomancer skills discovered that Mr Graceson was attending a Business Expo at the Dubai World Trade Centre. They runners also discovered Mr Graceson’s home address, the security there and details of the security at the Native Lands Industries head office site.

After a discussion the runners decided to take Mr Graceson at his house rather than at the heavily guarded Expo. The runners scoped out Mr Graceson’s residence and decided the best time to “extract” him was in the morning.

Arriving at Mr Graceson’s gated estate the runners gained entry by the simple measure of Flash Cat casting stun bolt on the security guard and opening the gate and letting themselves.

Face parked slightly up the street from Graceson’s house. Teflon got out and knocked on Graceson’s door. Once of the targets bodyguards opened the door and Teflon bluffed his way in with some story about a security breach at the expo. The body Guard did not really buy it and a firefight ensued, but the targets Bodyguards were swiftly dealt with and Graceson captured, but not before an alarm was raised by a nosey neighbour.

With the sounds of Sirens approaching, the runners beat a hasty retreat and headed towards Native Lands Industries site, but not before stopping at a shopping mall dumping the rental van, reporting it stolen and “borrowing” another vehicle.

As the runners reached the Native Lands Industries, a quick sweep of the perimeter showed a roving guard patrol and at least a couple of drones. In readiness of the assault Benny took control of the site security and gained control of the perimeter drones and directing the search lights in the wrong direction, whilst is a Sprite he had compiled took control of the Armed and Armoured Hachiman Drone…

Doin’ the Deed

Whilst Benny was busy hacking Native Lands security systems, Flash Cat decided to exit the car and make his way around the perimeter fence until he was behind the main building.

The others decided to try the direct approach and bluff their way in. However, Face’s bluff failed to convince the guard who managed to raise the alarm before Teflon could silence him with a double tap to the chest with a silenced weapon. With the alarm raised the runners knew haste was important.

Face drove their stolen vehicle into the Native Lands site and immediately encountered a roving patrol alerted by the alarm. Face accelerated hard into the two guards in front, taking one out while Teflon and Milo lept out the car to engage the guards coming up behind them. A fire fight ensued, and the guards were swiftly taken down, helped by the Hachiman Drone piloted by Benny’s sprite.

Meanwhile at the other end of the compound, Flash Cat turned himself invisible and levitated over the fence and onto the roof of the office building where he found roof access down. Outside, Benny directed the Hachiman Drone to the front of the building, and as the runners approached got the drone to open fire at the guards on the front desk who hastily took cover. Two grenades from the guards immobilised the drone and they beat a hasty retreat.

Timing their entry with Flash cat on the roof the runners entered the building (dragging Mr Graceson with them) and met on the 2^nd floor where Benny had identified the Native Lands servers were. Another firefight ensued with the remaining guards were swiftly dealt with. The runners then set about sabotaging the building and equipment outside while Benny hacked the main server and deleted / amended many important records.

The runners then made their escape as the sounds of sirens approached.

Once back at their hotel, face reported back to Mr Brackhaus on their mission success and the runners got their payment.

The Bassani Affair

A couple of days after the successful destruction of the native Lands Industries facility, the news feeds are awash with the incident, but the authorities have no suspects. However, a mysterious group, Red dawn, have claimed responsibility.

Burj Al Arab Hotel Face gets a call from Mr Brackhaus with another job. There is a local Israeli diplomat, Melchior Bassani, who is meeting with Ares representatives covertly. We know there have been two meetings so far and a third is scheduled for 18.00 tonight. We (Saedur Krupp) want you to disrupt this meeting and make Ares look incompetent so they fail to seal the deal and take this contract from us.

Mr Brackhaus informs the runners that Melchior Bassani is staying in the Burj Al Arab Hotel, but we have no idea where the next meeting is going to take place. Mr Brackhaus also stresses that no harm must come to Melchior Bassani and that his personal security is Mossad.

With Benny indisposed the runners with a combination of leg work and some hacking by Fat Cat discovered that it Mr Bassani was going to be collected from the Burj Al Arab Hotel and taken to an Ares yacht called the Persian Elegance.

The runners hatched a deceptively simple plan. They hired a speedboat from a local marina under another fake SIN. They headed into the bay in front of the Burj Al Arab Hotel, between the yacht and the hotel and waited, pretending to be holiday makers fishing.

When Melchior Bassani and his agents approached the Hotel Jetty to board a luxury speedboat sent to collect him, Fact Cat sabotaged the boat by summoning a water elemental and sinking it. Another speed boat was dispatched from the Persian Elegance, and the runners dealt with this by a combination of a lightening bolt from Flash cat to disable the motor and covering fire from Randy & Teflon to deal with the Ares crew whilst face got their own boat out of the vicinity.

Melchior Bassani and his bodyguards retreated back to the Hotel. Meeting disrupted and mission accomplished.

In a final twist, Flash Cat continued to implicate Red Dawn, taking the focus entirely away from Saeder Krupp.

The End Game

As the runners relax after embarrassing Ares, the news feeds are awash with speculation as to who “Red Dawn” are after they claimed the attack on the Ares meeting with the Israeli official was down to them.

However, one chilling bulleting came to light, a group claiming to be the real “Red Dawn” denying any involvement in the recent attacks and promising to make those responsible pay dearly.

A couple of days later Mr Brackhaus again contacts the runners with a final objective that has two parts.

After the runners agree to this last job, Mr Brackhaus says it appears Saeder Krupp has upset a fundamentalist group operating out of Dubai. This fanatical group of Lebanese Extremists have targeted Saeder Krupp, interfering with our local business and we don’t know why. Mr Brackhaus asks the runners to kidnap the leader and his deputy of this Lebanese Group (Yared & Saleeba) to find out what their beef is and try to resolve the issue. Mr Brackhaus gives the green light to use whatever force is required but to avoid collateral damage and under no circumstances draw further attention to Saeder Krupp.

The runners started digging up what they could find out about this Lebanese Group and Yared & Saleeba and where they might hang out. A combination of legwork and matrix searches discovered that the leaders liked to hang out at the Jewel of Arabia coffee shop, which is also an extremist hangout.

Teflon, donning his best disguise, with the help of the owner of another local coffer shop, managed to gain an intro to another extremist faction and gain access to the Jewel of Arabia. With the other runners setting up base in a house they rented nearby, Teflon met with the other extremist faction and managed to keep his cover and make fake promises, until he spotted Saleeba and a couple of goons leaving the Jewel. Making his excuses, Teflon left the Jewel to meet up with the other runners, while drones Benny had obtained and controlled by sprites tailed Saleeba to a warehouse in a business district on the outskirts of Dubai.

The runners mounted up and found the Warehouse, which had guards outside. The runners attempted to gain entry and neutralise the guards quietly, but one managed to raise an alarm before being taken down. Knowing their surprise was blown, the runners headed into the warehouse…….

The Last Dance

Despite the alarm being raised, the assault on the Warehouse was successful after a short but vicious firefight. Flash cat’s spells proved pivotal in stopping the troll Shaleeba escaping with the unconscious Yared.
With the sounds of sirens approaching, the runners hastily left the business district with their captives and turned them over to Mr Brackhaus. Shortly after, two bounties of 1,000,000 Newyen each were posted One for the safe return of Yared and Shaleeba and one for the heads of whoever grabbed them. SHots fired

Mr Brackhaus contacted Face with one last job. To arrange a meeting with a shadowy figure known as the Impartial Observer who operates on the Matrix based organisation, the Draconic Information Virtual Exchange (D I V E) for short. Brackhaus wants you to purchase information he believes the Impartial Observer has on both Aden &Hestaby. Brackhaus continues, once the deal is made, tell the Impartial Observer to use the protocols employed by D I V E member, Merlin to encrypt & encode the optical chips. Under no circumstances are you to access the information on the chip, or there will be severe consequences.

The runners agreed. Benny got to work finding out all he could on both D I V E and the Impartial Observer. Benny discovered that the Impartial Observer was interest in any information relating to the assassination of Elliot Eyes of Wyrm – a hook to attract his or her interest. Using their law enforcement contacts the runners were able to find out this information and Benny was able to entice the Impartial Observer for an information n exchange plus a substantial amount of newyen. Brackhaus agreed to the fee and Benny was able to set up a meeting with the Impartial Observer in a coffee shop in a public market. There was only one hiccup, the Impartial Observer would only agree to meet one person and if he or she thought there was anyone else present, the meet was off.

Face drew the short straw and headed to the market for the meeting. Surprisingly the information & money switch went off without a hitch.

Mr Brackhaus was very pleased, paid the runners their final fee and arranged for transport back to Seattle.

Aftermath

Once safely back in Seattle the runners discover that the Impartial Observer has gone missing. Rumours are circulating across the Matrix that he /she has been kidnapped. A grainy picture is circulating the Matrix of a person of interest in the disappearance ….. Face, sitting in the coffee shop

Also it appears Saeder Krupp has stabilised their presence in Dubai, but the runners have made some powerful enemies if their part in the process is ever revealed…….