|
|
System Crash - Harbingers of WinterRunners:Fingers, Barger, Mouse, Iceface, Uruk-hai, Running Wolf, The Louse Special Guest Appearance: Harlequin
Scotch Mist
Lounging around at home, keeping a low profile after the events at the Doc Wagon AGM, Iceface received a call from Dominic - a Fixer. Dominic was calling for a meet - at the unusual location of the Plaza Business Centre that evening. Iceface made some calls to assemble a team - Running Wolf, Barger, Mouse, Fingers and Uruk-hai all agreed to the meet. Unable to reach Mr Albion or Viking, Iceface eventually called The Louse, he arranged to meet them at the Plaza at 9.30. On arrival at the Business
centre they were met by Dominic and ushered up to one of the
video-conference suites. There he left them and Mr Johnson appeared on he
screen. The Johnson, a Brit, said he needed some
out-of-town Runners to provide some security for a mission in
Scotland, he was offering 150,000 nuyen each, 10,000 up front just to come
to Scotland for a face-to-face in 3 days time.
The
Runners spent the next couple of days sorting out flights, visas and the
various permits they'd need for a visit to the UK and on the third day
found themselves debarking at a rainy Edinburgh Airport. Mr Johnson had
sent someone to meet them and they were driven through the streets to a
grand old granite house. Ushered into the house by an aged orc servant,
they met Mr Johnson in a suitably grandiose oak-panelled room. After
handing each of the runners a "wee dram" Mr Johnson told them he
represented the New Druidic Movement. The druids wished to hold a ritual
at the new moon at a specific stone circle on the Isle of
Fara in the Orkneys. Unfortunately the stone circle was occupied by
a circle of Wild Druids who would not allow access. The runners were
to secure the site - without bloodshed - and provide security for one
night while the ritual was undertaken. The Runners agreed and Mr
Johnson advised them the Magnus, the leader of the Druids involved would
meet them at the harbour in Peterhead in three days time and to make their
preparations.
Iceface, accompanied
by Louse and Uruk-Hai, went off to make contact with Duncan - the
Fixer he'd used last time in the UK - to see about procuring some
hardware. Mouse began trawling the matrix to find what info she could
about the isle of Fara. The others decided to do some sightseeing
combined with outfitting the various items they thought they'd
require. A couple of days later, having taken a fair chunk out of
their 10k advance, but now suitably tooled up, the Runners made their way
to the harbour in Peterhead.
The looked a motley crew as they
stood at the harbour, Louse in his usual colourful outfit, Uruk-hai
resplendent in motorcycle boots, leather jacket and kilt, Barger in a fine
tweed suit, flat cap and plus-fours, the others arrayed in their
normal Seattle street-wear - so it wasn't exactly hard for
their contact Magnus to find them.
Magnus, briefly introduced them
to the five druids accompanying him and to McTavish, the captain of the
fishing boat that would take them to Fara. And with little ceremony, they
set off. Magnus explained that for the first part of the journey they
would be passing the Scottish Fringe Toxic Zone and the trip should
take around 13 hours. After a brief altercation with a Toxic Sea Serpent
along the way - which Uruk-hai managed to punch-out, they arrived off the
isle of Fara in the small hours of the next day
Wolves of Fara
As the Runners
clambered into the small outboard Magnus;s men dropped into the water
they warily regarded the island. Everything in Mous'es researches had said the athe
island was mostly treeless, but in the early dawn light it now seemed that Fara
was heavily forested - obviously the work of the Wild Druids.
Arriving on the beach, they
swiftly beagn dragginthe boat up inot the tree line and began to camoflage it
with brushwood. Uruk-hai, standing guard, suddenly came over with the feeling he was
being watch, which was confirmed when something moved in the undergrowth, Running
Wolf immediately switched to wolf form and sniffed the air, confirming it had
been a deer. A few minuutes later however, from deeper in the forest
a crashing sound was followied by a familiar howl - wolves!
Running wolf immediately loped in to the forest, emitting
a howl of her own, followed swiftly by Uruk-hai and Icefrace, and at
a more lesiurely pace by the others. After a few minutes, she came
upon the pack, feasting on the buck that Uruk-hai had startled. They were
led by a hulking pack-leader, which immedeately moved to confront the
interloper. With heUruk-haiight Running Wolf could see the lead wolf was a shapechanger
like her. Presuming that he too could see her dual-nature, she gave up pretense
of subservience and the two shapechangers joined in a ferocious, snarling battle.
Being at heart
a man rather than a true wolf, the Wild Druid proved no match for
Running Wolf's battle prowess, and by the time the others arrived, Running Wolf
was standing howling triumphantly over the body of a naked man. Barger rushed
forwed to check on the druid, to find him badly wounded, but still
alive, carefully he hoisted him onto his shoulder, and they moved on.
Moving
deeper into the forest heading towards the settlement on the south-east
cost, the Runners came across another druid, this one accompanied by a
bear! Anothe brief combat ensued and the second of their thirteen targets
was swiftly subdued.
About
ten minutes later, following a game trail, they ran into a group of
druids performing some kind of ritual round an old tree stump. After a
brief combat, the Runners successfully managed to secure
all five of the druids with only minor injuries. Running wolf,
scouting ahead reported back that they were near the south-eastern edge of
the forest and the settlement - and stone circle was just
ahead!
Storm Of BloodWhile Mouse guarded the unconscious
and trussed up druids captured already, Running Wolf led the rest of the
party towards the settlement near the stone circle which, to her astral
senses, throbbed with arcane power. Suddenly Running Wolf stopped as she
spotted an astral barrier surrounding the site. While the others took
cover on the edge of the forest she began circling the settlement
confirming the barrier completely surrounded the settlement. Returning to
the others she reported back via Fingers. Swiftly a plan was hatched –
Fingers, Running Wolf and Barger would assault the barrier while Uruk-hai
and Iceface launched an assault. As they prepared their plans, druids
began moving about in the village – three of them making their way into
the circle. Uruk-hai made his way to the shoreline, and easing himself
into the water began swimming round to the old stone jetty, taking care
not to breach the astral barrier at the edge of the shore. Iceface took up
a position where he could get a clear shot into the druids near the
longhouse. As the mages began their assault on the barrier Iceface and
Uruk-hai opened up wit gel rounds.
The druids near the longhouse went down swiftly but the ones in the
circle, bolstered by the mana surging their managed to summon some nature
spirits and cast a lightning bolt at Uruk-hai badly wounding the orc,
before a manaball from Barger took them out. Barger managed to stabilise
the wounded druids wile Fingers healed the badly wounded
Uruk-hai. Once the site was secured, a call was
put into Magnus back on the trawler and in short order the fishing boat
was mooring up at the jetty. As Magnus’s associates began unloading the
crates of ritual gear from the trawler, Magnus congratulated the Runners
on securing the site. He also told them that he would set up secure wards
around the site to protect the ritual and had summoned storm spirits to
ensure no-one could get in by air and requested that they return to secure
the cove they had landed in. As the Runners made their way back across the
island the rain began lashing down as the storm spirits summoned by Magnus
began their work. By the time they reached the cove and
began setting up some defensive positions the storm was howling in full
force, and the Runners were cold wet and thoroughly cheesed off. Round
about 1 AM, Running Wolf was scouting astrally when she assensed two
clusters of auras moving towards the island, obviously on boats, being
tossed on the storm-lashed waves. Farther out to sea she could sense more
auras, presumably on a larger ship! Reporting back to Fingers, the Runners
prepared their ambush. As the two boats moved towards the cove, Iceface
and Uruk-hai opened fire, swiftly followed up with magical support from
Fingers and Barger, those on the boats had no chance – one of the boats
swerved and crashed into the rocks, exploding in a fireball, the other
sank swiftly riddled with bullets. As the one-sided slaughter raged,
Fingers, Barger, Running Wolf and even Uruk-hai felt a wrenching sensation
as a huge mana-spike occurred on the other side of the
island. The rest of the night passed
relatively peacefully - although the storm did not abate until dawn. As
the sky paled in the east, Uruk-hai went to investigate one of the bodies
that had been washed ashore. He was surprised to discover that the corpse
was dressed in form-fitting black, military-grade, reactive armour – which
did not sit well with the image of supporters of the Wild Druids. Further investigation revealed not
only a set of dog-tags with a serial number and blood group, but a winged
dagger tattoo - which Iceface identified as being related to the UK
special forces. The sinking feeling the Runners were beginning to feel at
this revelation was only exacerbated when, as the sun began to rise and
the rain slacken, the sleek grey form of a Royal Navy frigate was revealed
standing offshore. Somewhat desperately the Runners began
heading at speed back through the forest towards the settlement – only to
find that the trawler was gone and no sign of life! Barger investigating
the stone circle discovered the bodies of the Wild Druids they’d captured,
each one lashed to a stone, dead with their chest cracked open lungs
spayed to either side they had obviously been sacrificed in some awful
blood-ritual! A few minutes later as the last of the storm abated an assault
helicopter from the frigate arrived on the scene, after an abortive
attempt at escaping into the forest; the Runners, with the exception of
Barger, gave in to the inevitable and surrendered. Barger shape-changed
into an osprey and flew off, heading for the larger island to the
south. A transport helicopter
arrived next and began disgorging more of the black-clad troops who
swiftly took the Runners into custody. Once secured, a group of men clad
in what appeared to be white anti-radiation gear moved into the circle. As
the Runners were cuffed and herded onto the transport chopper they could
hear the ominous clicking of Geiger counters!
Border ReiversAfter being transhipped to
the waiting frigate, the Runners were debarked at Rosyth naval base and
held in secure custody there. Barger, following along in bird form perched
on a telegraph pole nearby and observed. Much to their surprise, they
were well-treated - mainly because everyone decided to co-operate fully
with the authorities and spilled their guts regarding "Sir Johnson",
Magnus and what they knew of the events on Fara (which was not
much).
After being held for a few days they were
ushered into a large meeting room, when who should breeze in but their old
friend Harlequin! Harlequin listened to their tale of woe, and
after some checking of the story advised that he had cut a deal with
the authorities for them. "Sir Johnson" turned out to be Sir John
Llewellen-Stuart and genuinely was a well-connected big-wig in the New
Druidic movement. As such the authorities could do little against him
-they had no real evidence save the testimony of the Runners, which
wouldn't exactly stand up in court. However the authorities believed
that whatever had happened on Fara involved at least one nuclear
warhead stolen from Kazakhstan - and judging by the Runner's
testimony as to the amount of gear Magnus had unloaded for the ritual,
possibly more than one!
As such, given the gravity of the situation
the Lord Protector was willing to use "deniable assets" to find out what
Llewellan-Stuart was up to. The Runners readily volunteered to be
"assets" and in short order found themselves with their
equipment being boarded on chopper with Harlequin waving goodbye. Barger
took to the air and followed. The chopper dropped them off outside
Galshiels in the Borders. Llewellen-Stuart's home, Langshaw
house, was just north of the
town.
Once the navy chopper had departed, Barger
rejoined his friends, and being stark naked, waited while the group headed
off into the town to buy him some clothes. Returning with the now clothed,
and somewhat less conspicuous troll, the Runners took rooms in the
Kingsknowes Hotel and began planning their assault on Langshaw House.
Mouse managed to get some basic information on the layout of the estate
from the matrix, but was unable to find access to any node there, so it
was decided that next morning they would buy walking gear and set out
disguised as a walking party to check out the estate. So, next morning
after a visit to the local shops, the oddest looking party of hill-walkers
seen in the Borders in many a year headed out, Barger clad in tweed
plus-fours and jacket, Uruk-hai in his kilt-and-doc-martens
ensemble, Lose in an outfit in which nothing quite matched
and Mouse and Finger, trying to look like they belonged with another
group!
It didn't take long to get to Langshaw
House. The estate wall was around six feet high, and wouldn't prove too
much of a problem, but shinnying up it revealed a secondary fence
bristling with motion and infra-red sensors. A quick astral survey by
Barger identified that the house was warded, although the wards only
covered the lower two floors. The Runner's decided to check out the main
entrance, but quickly discovered the massive wrought-iron gates were
covered by cameras. They spent the afternoon in the field across
the road watching, but no-one entered or left the estate, so they returned
to the hotel.
Returning that night around 3 AM, Barger
shapechanged into an owl and flew in to check out the situation - all
seemed quiet, so one-by one the Runners clambered up the stone wall and
leaped athletically in a swan-dive to attempt to foil the motion sensors.
Somehow their tactic must have worked, as Barger could see no sign of
alarm in the house. The shapechanged troll waited patiently on his branch
while the rest of the group crawled across the immaculately manicured lawn
to join him.
Arriving at the edge of the driveway, Mouse
surveyed the cameras on the front of the house and quickly identified that
one was misaligned and there was a dead-spot near one of the lower
windows. If the camera could be shifted round slightly further it would be
possible to get there. A quick consultation with Barger followed and the
troll once again shape-shifted into an owl and flew over to budge the
camera then kept a close eye out for trouble as the others ghosted over
towards the wall below.
Fingers and Barger quickly identified that
the windows were alarmed, so Uruk-hai got out his grapple-gun and fired it
up at the roof. Climbing up he moved silently across the roof-top to a
skylight. It wasn't alarmed and he managed to get his combat knife under
the ancient latch and swing the skylight open. Signalling for
the others to join him, they ghosted up the cable one by
one with not a sound. Uruk-hai dropped silently into the hallway
below the skylight. All was clear and one-by-one, the others followed him
silently.
There were four doorways off the hallway,
and from one was the sound of snoring. Moving over quietly they opened the
door to discover a lavishly appointed bedroom, and fast asleep on
the bed was Llewellen-Stuart! After a whispered discussion about whether
to hit him with a narco-jet dart or to use a stunball, they
decided on the magical solution. Fingers cast the spell as quietly as she
could. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief and Fingers stepped into the
room. Everyone froze in horror as an alarm sounded and every light in the
house came on - unfortunately Fingers had tripped an infra-red beam sensor
she'd failed to spot just inside the room
A Frosty ReceptionFingers froze as steel shutters slammed down
across the windows and the doorway. While Louse went to guard the top of
the spiral staircase and Uruk-hai headed for one of the front bedrooms to
see what was going on outside, the others out in the corridor immediately
began searching for a way to release Fingers. Hearing faint sounds
of movement from below, Louse warned the others – in response Running Wolf
shifted form. Uruk-hai popped-off a couple of rounds out the
bedroom window at two armed figures crossing the driveway, dropping them.
Iceface discovered a security camera behind a mirror in the hall, but no
way of releasing the steel shutter was found. Uruk-hai, returning to the
hallway began smashing the floorboards with his bare fists to expose the
underside; he and Iceface began levering the shutter upwards - creating
enough room for Fingers to slide under dragging Sir John with her.
As she dragged the unconscious baronet out, his body started to
convulse and with a shudder lay unnaturally still. While Fingers
checked the body, Uruk-hai headed for the skylight they’d entered from, to
get a better view of what was happening
outside. Running Wolf decided to charge down the
staircase, running into a hail of lead as she did, and collapsed in a
blood-spattered heap at the foot of the staircase. Iceface, hearing the
shots dashed over with his cybered reflexes, kicking Louse out of the way,
unfortunately Louse overbalanced and tumbled down the stairway collapsing
in a heap on top of Running Wolf! As Iceface followed the fire-fight
continued. Out on the roof, Uruk-hai spotted someone loading
containers into a the back of a Land Rover. As the bad-guy headed back
indoors, presumably for another load, he used his grapple-gun to dropped
silently to the ground waiting. As the gunfire from indoors suddenly
stopped, he waited silently until as the guy appeared carrying another
container, fired a three round burst into his head at point-blank range.
As his target dropped, he heard someone inside the hallway call out in a
language he couldn’t understand, however he recognised the voice as
belonging to Magnus. Suddenly the air around him felt unnaturally cold as
a huge frost-spirit manifested in the form of a blue-skinned frost giant
wielding a greataxe. As the spirit swung his axe, Uruk-hai could feel the
biting cold penetrating through him – dropping his gun, he launched an
all-out attack on the spirit, ignoring the freezing cold that wracked his
body. Up above the others, having disposed of the
Winternight goons, and Fingers having healed them, could see the huge
spirit manifested though the window at the end of the hall. Iceface
and Running Wolf began running down the stairs, Louse fired off a
three-round burst, smashing through the window, which Fingers followed up
with a Manaball spell ,
which caused the frost spirit to stagger. The spirit reacted with another
attack on Uruk-hai who collapsed broken and bleeding to the ground.
Running Wolf, speeding down the staircase spotted Magnus ducking down a
stairway to the cellar, and bounding towards the druid, leaped at his
throat teeth flashing. As the Winternight druid collapsed in a
bloody heap; the spirit outside, released from it’s bonds, vanished!
Fingers rushed down to the back courtyard and
cast Treat on Uruk-hai.
Meanwhile the others started a search of the castle. The containers being
loaded into the Land Rover turned out to be cases of Ymir and Sutr. In the
basement they found a makeshift lab, a Geiger counter and thirteen
makeshift cradles. They also recovered a map on which fifteen locations
around the globe, ranging from the western seaboard of the UCAS to the
mountains of the Crimea by way of .
|
Friends: Harlequin Foes:
Winternight World
events: The Novatech IPO grows ever closer. |