Dawn of the Artefacts - Dusk

From Lexicanum

Are Your Shots UpTo Date?

The Runners were contacted by Smiley to advise them that Ms Johnson was looking for a team to provide security for her on an overseas visit. If they were interested to head for the 77 Club in Renton at 17:00 and he squirted them an access code to broadcast that would allow access to the club. Polo and Sirius did some quick matrix research discovering that the 77 Club was the very definition of classy and exclusive and most of the party went shopping for some appropriate gear – with the notable exception of Jaxx!

They got into the exclusive surrounding s of the club easily, through the concierge did seen a trifle dubious about Jaxx. Eve more so when then he had to be discretely relieved of his weaponry.

Ms Johnson turned out to a Shadowrunner who introduced herself as Jane. She told them that her principal, a collector of antiquities had one of his treasures stolen and she had been hired to retrieve it. She believed an elf called Samiel was involved somehow and had tracked him to Lagos in Africa. Jane told them she normally worked alone, but for this mission she needed additional security as Lagos was not a safe place for a single female.

After agreeing a price, she advised them to make sure their shots were up to date as Lagos was not the healthiest of climates and the local healthcare was virtually nonexistent. She offered them the contact details for her Street Doc whom she knew had the relevant vaccines in stock. Polo, LT and Jaxx took her up on her offer while Spirit and Kitsune preferred to use their own contacts. After their visits to the doctors, getting their shots and picking up medkits loaded for West Africa’s particular nasties. They then headed off to buy mosquito nets, bug repellent water purification tablets and all the other gear the medics had recommended. Kitsune also bought a linguasoft for  one of the local languages which he gave to Jaxx. After which they got some shut-eye and heading for Seattle Sea -Tac early next morning.

Once they cleared security, Jane met them and escorted them to a private jet on the tarmac, explaining that it had been supplied by her principal. As they settled in for the long flight she explained they would be landing at Accra whether they would pick up a local connection to Lagos. The flight was uneventful, if long. Kitsune tried to work out who the owner of the jet might be – but there were no clues he could find. During the flight they learned the missing artefact was a kind of astrolabe.

Landing in Accra, and had paid the relevant local “taxes” they were escorted through the airport to their onward connection to Lagos. Their flight to Lagos was on a rust-bucket of an ancient propeller driven plane that looked as airworthy as a brick! Though the flight was somewhat turbulent and occasionally the starboard engine belched black smoke they eventually arrived at Lagos airport where airport security – a gang of mirror-shaded thugs in combat fatigues carrying AK-97s and machetes managed to extort 100 Nuyen each "airport tax"  from Jaxx 

Welcome to Lagos

After “passing” airport security, Jane led them across the street to a small booth where she changed some nuyen in to the local currency (naira) after which they got a cab to their hotel – the Porto Novo. The “Luxury Hotel” had precious little to do with luxury – except in comparison with the slums they had driven through to get here -  but it had plentiful security. The rooms were relatively  comfortable, if basic. Polo was particularly impressed by the pest control in each room – a large lizard that slept between the twin beds and snapped up the occasional cockroach that scuttled up from between the floorboards. After settling in they decided the first order of business was to tool-up and after making some enquiries headed out to the Dudu Dudu Oja to get some ordinance.
 
Their destination turned out to be the biggest arms market  any of them had veer seen, where terrorists shopped side-by-side with government black-ops teams. You could buy AK-97’s by the container-load, used tanks, mil-spec drones and just about anything you could ever want to start a minor bush war! Suitably tooled-up they headed back to the hotel to get some shut-eye. Needless to say the Porto Novo’s definition of luxury didn’t stretch to air-conditioning and they spent a hot and uncomfortable night under their mosquito nets. LT and Kitsune had particularly bad nights and were pretty much still exhausted by breakfast.
 
At breakfast Jane suggested she would stay secure in the hotel and check her sources back in the UCAS while the others went out and scoured the local hotels for any sign of Samriel. LT and Polo headed off to Lagos Island – where the better hotels were clustered around the business district, while Kitsune and Sirius began trawling the port district of Apapa. They spent the next couple of days hitting the streets, enduring the oppressive heat, traffic-jammed roads and incessant bustle of the crowded city. At they end of the two day,s they had noting positive on Samriel and everyone, Jane included was getting frustrated with the lack of progress. Jane’s contacts had found some kind of link between Samriel and the Atleantean Foundation – which might explain his interest in antiquities. Sirius meanwhile had picked up a lead on someone called  Kayin – a dealer who was apparently the go-to guy for anything to do with antiquities in Lagos.
 
Next morning they set out to  find Kayin – eventually locating his shop in the  Leventis Store market. Kayin told them he hadn’t seen Samriel, but he may be able to point them in the right direction if the Runners undertook a simple task for him. Readily they agreed and Kayin went on to explain that a client of his was seeking to recover an iron mask which had been located in the Sulurele district of town. He went on to explain that the district had been abandoned years ago after a VITAS outbreak followed by rioting and fires swept though the area. The city had never reclaimed the ruins and the area had a very bad reputation. Undeterred, the Runners agreed and set off immediately – not even stopping for lunch, much to Polo’s dismay.
 
The Sulurele, district was a ruin of burned out houses and twisted rubble at the heart of the city – piles of garbage surrounded the area as if it needed further demarcation from the rest of the bustling city. As they clambered over the twisted ruins of buildings, they could hear rats  - or something worse – skittering in the rubble. It took them over an hour to get to the GPS coordinates that Kayin had supplied. The late afternoon sun was starting to slide downwards in the sky, when suddenly a pack of ghouls erupted from the rubble and attacked them!
 
The Runners managed to beat off the ghouls when they noticed more, heading across the rubble towards them. This pack seemed to have a leader  and as they watched, two toxic spirits manifested next to him as he urged the ghouls forward.
 

The Iron Mask

As the latest pack of ghouls swarmed in the Runners met them with a hail of lead, dropping several before they got near. Some of the ghouls made it through, but the Runners managed to avoid any serious damage from them. Seeing his pack falling in droves the shaman decided to intervene instructing bound toxic beast spirits  to use their powers of Fear and Confusion to wreak havoc with the Runners, while simultaneously he launched a manabolt at Kitsune, badly injuring him. As the battle raged, Polo was worst affected, succumbing first to one spirit’s Confusion power and then the other’s Fear causing the young  orc to flee the scene and take refuge in a nearby ruined building.  LT also succumbed to the confusion power but managed to hold his own firing three round bursts   dispatching more of the ghouls, as did Kitsune ignoring his wounds.

Sirius retaliated, casting an ignite spell at the shaman as he capered wildly and ordered his spirits into combat to aid his surviving ghouls. One of the sprits’ closed on LT using it’s corrosive spit power, while the other attacked Sirius. The flow battle swung to an d fro for a while until Kitsune and LT finally managed to take the spirits down with a fusillade of shots. However the shaman just had time to summon another, more powerful acid spirit. It was his last throw of the dice as Sirius’ ignite spell finally took effect and he burst into flames.  As the shaman rolled about on the ground trying to extinguish the flames, Sirius cast a stunball, taking out the last of the ghouls!

Polo had her own troubles meanwhile, as she discovered the building she was hiding in was one of the ghoul pack’s nests and it wasn’t long before she found herself embroiled in combat. Her friends’ last remaining opponent was the acid spirit. Unfortunately the spirit targeted Kitsune and engulfed him! LT called out a warning, but was wary of taking a shot lest she hit her already badly injured friend. Sirius immediately began an attempt to banish the sprit pitting her will against its. The banishing was successful, and th4e spirit vanished to the Astral. It was too late for Kitsune whose acid scarred body fell to the ground. After confirmed his friend’s demise, LT strode across to where the shaman was still scrabbling about trying to beat out the flames. After putting a single bullet into the shaman, LT retrieved the mask that had cost them dearly.

With no sign of Polo he hoisted up Kitsune’s body and he and Sirius made their weary way back to the inhabited part of the city to arrange a funeral.

Polo meanwhile, having acquired a deep hatred of ghouls, headed off deeper into the ruins - hunting!

A Royal Complication

Next morning Sirius and LT headed down to the restaurant where they met up with Jan and Jaxx and brought them up to speed. Sometime during breakfast, a blood-spattered and ragged looking Polo wandered in. Jane, unlike most Johnsons, seemed genuinely saddened by Kitsune’s passing but said she’s pass the word out they were looking for some extra help. Polo headed up to her room to take a shower after which she said she needed to replenish her ammo stocks. LT and Sirius headed off to arrange a suitable send-off for Kitsune, brokering a deal with one of the local shamans – the nearest they could get to a Shinto priest!
 
Throughout the day, Polo, LT and Sirius all started developing hacking coughs and vegan running a slight fever, Polo and LT decided to tough it out, but the more cautions Sirius headed to the nearby Apapa Medical Centre to get some antibiotics. It was lucky she did, as the doctors took one look at her and herded her off into isolation. They quizzed her about  where she had been, and discovering she had been in  Surulere, asked who had accompanied her.
 
While Jane interviewed replacements for Kitsune, Polo, Sirius  and Jaxx headed off to the funeral – which was a riotous affair,  thanks to all the hired mourners, free food and music  provided from the generous fee LT had paid the shaman. Towards the end of the affair, Jaxx was just heading to a nearby alleyway with one of the more pliable young ladies attending the funeral, when a couple of ambulances pulled-up and after brief explanations, took Polo and LT off to hospital.
Despite some initial misunderstandings about Polo’s lack of insurance, the care at the clinic was top-notch and fortunately the immunisations they had gotten before arriving in Africa had helped protect them, and a couple of days later they were all released from isolation.
 
Jane had hired a ex-spetsnaz with the handle Arclight, and gathering them together told them that she had given the iron mask to Kayin, who in return had told her that a local Yoruba warlord, Oni Adegoke, was planning  an auction of antiquities, that was probably the reason Samriel was in town. He advised that there was a pre-auction display of the artefacts being held in the town of Ife . Jane sent Jaxx out to the airport to arrange for their pilot to take them down there in the morning.
 
The display was being held in what was clearly a heavily guarded palace. They were assigned a guest suite by a red-robed functionary, and that evening headed off to the show! Samriel was there accompanied by a red-headed female elf, as were several other interested parties examining what was on display.  There was no sign of the astrolabe, but Jane and Samriel’s attention, along with many of the other interested parties, was quickly  focused on what looked like a copy of the Pire Reis map.
 
After the display was over, they returned to their suite and Jane put in a call, after which she informed the team their focus had changed and they were now charged with obtaining the map. They were discussing how they might go about it, when they were interrupted by guards bursting in. One of the red-robes informed them there had been a theft and the palace was being searched. Concerned that it was the map that had been stolen Sirius asked the red-robe, but it seemed that a small bronze statuette had been the item taken. Not in itself hugely valuable but of great importance to their host.  After the guards left, Jane quickly hatched a plan, suggesting that if they retrieved the statuette it might give them an invite to the closed auction to be held later in the week.

To Catch a Thief

The Runners launched in to a an investigation of the theft immediately, though they were somewhat hampered by the Red Robe’s refusal to let theme anywhere near the scene of the crime. They tossed about various ideas and questioned some of the guards and a couple of the Red Robes eventually working out that someone, impersonating a guard had basically walked into the old mosque and made off with the statue. They also discovered that there was tension between the Yoruba and the Igbo and the locals  were suggesting the thief must be an Igbo. After kicking round a few ideas and Sirius finding what he could on the Matrix, Jane eventually suggested that the statute must have been stolen to order and perhaps Kayin, back in Lagos might know something. Jaxx was keen to get started and suggested they drive back to Lagos that night. However after the Polo pointed out that arriving at three o’clock in the morning at Kayin’s shop was unlikely to be productive, he reluctantly agreed they would fly back in the morning.

Once back in Lagos they headed for Kayin’s shop, who after a small donation gave them the name of Hippo a local fixer. They met with Hippo that evening at a local eatery who after some cunning negotiations by Sirius agreed to sell out the name of the thief – Silence - for a bargain basement price. Silence was to be found at The Dancing Ork,  a brothel in the Agege district, realising that the district was not the most salubrious and they were likely to stand out like a dwarves at a Troll Brotherhood meeting, they decided that offence was the best form of defence, and headed back to the hotel to tool-up.

Armoured up and bristling with weapons, they headed into the Agege district. The show of force managed to dissuade the local gangs or militia from taking them on and they made it to The Dancing Ork without incident, whereupon Jaxx managed to intimidate the bouncers into letting them in.

 Inside, it was crowded, Jaxx pushed his way to the bar and asked the barkeep where Silence was/. The barkeep called across the room to a man who looked startled and then bolted out of a side door. Polo followed, ducking and weaving through the crowd. Jaxx attempted to barge his way through, eventually clearing a path for himself and Arclight by firing a three-round burst into the ceiling. Sirius ducked out the front door and headed round the alley, just in time to see Silence clambering up the wall of a building and haul himself up onto the roof. Polo emerged and threw herself up a nearby wall,  scrambling up to the flat roof. 

As Silence bounded, seeming effortlessly across the rooftops of nearby buildings Arclight and Sirius hauled themselves up onto the roof of a nearby building. Sirius cast a stunbolt spell just as Silence was leaping across the gaps between buildings and the thief dropped to the ground.

Racing through the alleyway, they found Silence crumpled on the ground with a very obviously broken leg. A heal spell from Arclight allowed them to start interrogatin him. Unfortunately they were too late, as Silence told them that he had stolen the statue on behalf of an Igbo elder named Uzochi -  and handed it over at his compound that morning.

After  delivering Silence to Jane at the hotel  for safekeeping, they headed off to the northern part of Agege to scope out the Igbo compound.

Igbo Assault

Round about 3.00Am the Runners made their way through the maze of housed surrounding Uzochi’s compound. While LT and Arclight kept an eye on the font of the building, the others made their way round to the rear of the property. Two bored looking guards lounged near the rear gate and there were a couple of men in the watchtower above them. Polo and an invisible Sirius cautiously got themselves into position (coordinated by frequent time updates from Jaxx) until he finally gave the word to go!

Sirius took out one of the two men on the watchtower with a stunball while Jaxx took the guard on the right with a double-tap from his sound-suppressed assault rifle. Polo was somewhat disgusted with herself when it took a second round from her to take-out her man. A further shot from Jaxx took out the remaining guard in the watchtower. The guards disposed of silently, Polo dashed across the street and hauled herself athletically up on to the wall – the compound beyond was silent and she dropped down inside. Jaxx and Sirius had some difficulty getting over the wall but eventually managed to clamber over. 

Polo had made her way over to where a pickup truck with a heavy machine-gun mounted in the rear was parked near one of the outbuildings and clambered in to check it out. While Sirius headed for the outbuildings across the compound. Jaxx made a be-line for the nearest door and listened at it – hearing the clamour of four voices and a TV blaring out coverage of a soccer game between Nigeria and Cameroon. Arclight, also invisible, climbed over the wall nearer the main house. He narrowly avoided startling three goats penned nearby, but found himself standing in a vegetable patch!

Jaxx carefully edged open the door and then opened fire, taking out two of the men quickly with three-round bursts. Polo meanwhile, manhandled the pickup round to give her a better field of fire an took up position in the rear, training the machine gun on the building across the way.  Arclight joined Sirius across the compound, but the two doors into the building they were next were both locked. LT went over the wall, bet he managed to land right in the middle of the goats which started bleating. Jaxx, took out the last two men in the ready-room though one did manage to get off a shot - wounding him slightly before he went down in a hail of bullets.

Polo and LT started making their way to the main house when they came under fire. Switching to thermographic, they could see three hear sources in the windows. While Arclight kept their heads down by blasting away with his shotgun, one of these was taken out by a stunbolt from Sirius while the other two were taken out by fire from LT and Polo.

Jaxx, moved though and cleared the rest of the guardhouse taking a couple of minor hits from guards in the barracks.

The guards taken-out, they entered the main house and found Uzochi, hiding with his family, in one of the bedrooms. The Igbo elder was more than willing to hand over the statue when asked nicely by the heavily armed foreigners.

Going For a Song

Dressed up to the nines and carrying only minimal hardware, the auction on Victoria Island seemed like a different planet from the foetid slums and dead-zones the Runners had got used to during their stay in the main city of Lagos. A string quartet played as they swanned about in air-conditioned comfort, while elegantly clad waiters handed out flutes of expensive champagne. Unfortunately the bidding didn’t go so well for Frosty, the price on the map quickly exceeding her budget for the item – eventually selling for a cool 2.5 million nuyen! The buyer was a tall, dreadlocked man in Nubian robes. As she watched the buyer head off to collect this purchase, Frosty tersely told the Runners to get down to the garage and get the map.

Most of the Runners started pounding down the down to the basement by stairs, while LT decided to take the elevator. Arriving in the basement garage they spotted at least two other teams taking up position, as well as numerous heavily armed and armoured security guards. AS they were taking up positions and warily eyeing up the opposition, a call came through on the comm from Frosty – the buyer was heading from the main lobby, not the garage!

The Runners dashed up the nearest stairs, Polo took up a position near the front door while Arclight, Sirius and LT headed out into he busy street. Looking round they could see no sign of the target, but LT did spot one of the opposing teams emerging form the garage in a black SUV heading into the traffic. They also spotted a chopper, in Aztechnology, livery taking off from the roof and heading towards. Eko Bridge. Deducing they must have missed the target Polo and Arclight started legging it through the crowded pavements – following the chopper as best they could. Sirius meanwhile, somehow managed to convince a local to part with his scooter for a fistful of nuyen and as LT swung onto the back began weaving through the traffic following the SUV. The occupants of the SUV, 4 orks now tooled up with heavier weapons, headed for the shore where they got into a boat and sped off across to the mainland. Sirius and LT then headed back towards Eko Bridge. As they raced through the streets , dodging through the traffic, Frosty brought them up to speed on their target. His name was Medjay, one of the Knights of Rage, who were the elite troops of the Great Dragon Celedwy and a formidable opponent. She told them that she had arranged for Innocent to get the plane fired up and ready, and she and Jaxx would meet them at the airport, where she guessed Medjay was heading.

The Runners followed in a frantic chase through the mostly-stalled traffic as they struggled to catch up , always seeming to be one step behind their opponents. Crossing the bridge, the sound of gunfire nearby drew them to a road intersection where a gang of Area Boys stood near an overturned okada, and fired into the darkness of Surulere across the road. Flying over the blacked-out area they could see a chopper sweeping a searchlight across the ruins. Presuming that Medjay had fled an ambush into the ghoul-infested zone, Polo and LT followed into the rubble-strewn darkness. Arclight quickly commed Jaxx, and asked him to extrapolate the quickest route through Surulere to the airport. Stopping a passing okada, he told the driver to head for the point Medjay was most likely to emerge from the toxic zone. Jaxx passed the intel on to Sirius who swung her moped round and sped off. LT and Polo had a fun time trying to track Medjay, through the rubble-strewn ruins, and dodge the ghoul packs – fortunately they could follow the chopper, which hopefully gave them some indication of where their quarry was. There were a couple of close encounters with some ghouls that Polo managed to avoid, and eventually they emerged onto road – straight into a fire-fight!

The ork fire-team and the Area boys were firing indiscriminately at each other across the intersection, but there was no sign of Medjay. Deciding to avoid conflict, LT and Polo began to cautiously make their way round the fire-fight – each taking different route. LT managed to meet up with Sirius and swung up on the back of the moped. Polo meanwhile, was spotted by one of the Area Boys who was just about to open up on her with an AK97 at close range when a stray shot took him out – lucky!

They headed down the expressway for another couple of km, before they spotted the Aztechnology chopper by the side of the Expressway, near the slums of Oshodi-Isolo. Polo, LT and Sirius continued heading up the Expressway but Arclight, spotting suit-clad figures moving through the streets, paid off his okada and headed into the slums. He followed the Aztechnology security team just as they managed to corner Medjay in an abandoned shack, and quickly commed the others. Casting improved invisibility he moved forwards slowly, waiting for the rest of the team to get into position.

Polo was first to arrive, but managed to get herself shot while she tried to flank one of the Aztechnology guys. LT managed to sneak up behind one and took him out, while Arclight took out another with Turn to Goo and Sirius another with a stunball. One by one the Aztechnology team was taken out without anyone else taking any injuries.  Polo meanwhile, though badly wounded, managed to sneak up on the shack and firing through a window managed to take-out Medjay. Recovering the map they headed post-haste for the airport and the first leg of the trip back to Seattle.