Shadowrun: Death of a Salaryman

Created
Status
Ongoing
Watchers
104
Recent readers
0
Threadmarks
44
A shadowrun quest in a heavily modified setting, where a young employee of a Japanese megacorporation is caught up in a web of shadows.
Threadmarks Informational Voting
Reader mode
Sixth World
  • Threadmarks
    • BiopunkOtrera

    BiopunkOtrera

    Traitor to her Class
    Councillor
    Pronouns
    She/Her
    In 2012 AD, magic returned, and the old world broke under the pressure of the new. . .

    The Story So Far:
    The year is 2052. It has been 40 years since the return of magic. Humanity has become collective, a metahumanity of dozens of different species as the races of legend walk the earth once more.

    China and America, India and Brazil have broken into numerous successor states and petty kingdoms, Europe has fallen apart, then recombined again in the clutches of dragons and megacorporations. Of the old major powers, only Japan is still united, battered but unbroken by the return of magic. Its enemies call it a new empire. Its patriots say it is the last great liberal democracy. Through economic development assistance and external investment, it seeks to rebuild a world order that makes sense.

    You are Shiratori Fuji, an employee of the Shiawase Group, Japan's largest corporation, and one of the ten most powerful in the world. A recent graduate of the nation's top university, you have been recruited into the corporation's prestigious internal security department, but are finding your new life as a salaryman quite hard. Hopefully though, better things are ahead. . .

    Rules
    1    : This is a modified version of shadowrun, much of the backstory is different, as is the technology in some aspects. What is said in the quest is cannon in the quest.

    2: This is a quest that is often about solving mysteries. In a mystery, important details will be marked in boldface so that you can know to pay attention.

    3: There is likely to be some amount of mature themes in this, including but not limited to sex, bloody violence and the like. So be careful. There maybe, but probably won't also be some references to transphobia.
     
    Last edited:
  • Threadmarks
    • Part 1: Company Man
  • Threadmarks
    • ​


    You look in the bathroom's mirror and take a deep breath.

    You're a handsome guy. Dark hair cut in a short but not too short in that QB-House style that shows that you're a serious young man who doesn't waste his time on expensive haircuts. Cyber-eyes, Shiawase provided and Shiawase made, with the company name and logo around the iris. The most expensive, alpha-grade models, this year's release.

    A serious look. A neat suit. A handsome face. A gleaming cybernetic jack on your wrist.

    You are a good looking
    [ ] Human
    [ ] Elf
    [ ] Cat Person

    You look at yourself, and you think. "I'm handsome." You look at yourself and you feel an absolute disconnection from the person in front of you.

    The door of the bathroom bangs open, you try not to jump. "The fuck are you doing in here Shiratori? Throwing your guts up?" You wince as Goto-san crashes into the room. "We don't have time for you to take a break! Your malingering is costing the company money!" He grabs you and hauls you back out into the main internal security office. The Internal Security Office isn't, actually, the security office, which is a windowless bunker deep in the building's sub-basement from which the campus's security command could be kept up even in the event of an orbital kinetic strike. This is it's a hell of down-low desks and cubicles where the massive amounts of paperwork that is generated by the company's security operations are filed. The place is really a mess, closely spaced and overly busy. It's the furthest thing from the glittering corridors, delicate geomancy, and corporate art you were promised by the recruitment posters. The only good part is the view, a large window on one side offers a spectacular view out over Osaka. It's already starting to get dark, and the city glows with snaking traffic and glowing neon. Thousands of tall towers rise into the evening sky, lit up with corporate logos and holographic boards on which the latest idols dance, news reports, and advertisements play.

    "Stop fucking dreaming!" Goto slaps you across the back of the head for attention. "Where the fuck are the security audit schedules eh?" Goto glares at you.

    "I have them right here Mr. Goto." You try to shrug him off and push a stack of AR documents across from him.

    He looks through them punches you in the shoulder. "Wake up you fucking idiot kid! These aren't filled out right! A knowbot has to read them, not a bunch of Tokyo-University graduates. Didn't you read the style guide at all? This is all useless." He makes a gesture and mass deletes the documents off the system, erasing the work of hours in an instant.

    "I'm sorry Sir." You bite down on asking what you did wrong. Goto is not the kind of guy who you ask stuff like that. He expects you to figure it out for yourself.

    "Yeah, I'll bet you are. I want these on my desk by the time I get in here tomorrow morning."

    It took you all day to do them the first time. It's going to take you all night to do it again. Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck. It's already after seven. You were in the bathroom because you planned to actually go home finally. You slump down at your desk dispiritedly and bring the system up again, and your notes. You'd better check the style guide again, and even though Goto deleted them you should be able to salvage at least some of your notes. You blink your eyes and take a deep breath, then begin to work.

    There's a click sound and you look up to find a cup of coffee and a package of steamed buns put down next to your computer. On the other end of it is your friend Daichi. You knew him at university, Daichi is always slightly overweight and nervous seeming, but a good computer guy, when not doing salaryman work, his specialty is hardware security, gadgets and the like. You are

    [ ] A Decker: Good at hacking through the matrix
    [ ] A Rigger: Good at vehicles and drones
    [ ] No particular skillset, but you can shoot really well, and you always won karate and kendo matches

    You wanted to train to be a mage once. To try to awaken your essence. There's a problem with that though. Some problem with your essence. You have the sinking feeling you know exactly what it is too.

    "Thanks, bro."

    "It's no problem." Daichi smiles at you. "I got to work late as well. Goto-san wasn't happy with the work I did on the Seattle Report."

    "Geeze. He's a hardass." You take a swig of the coffee and taste the bite of a stim in it. You can get through this. You will get through this. This sucks, it's meant to suck. You are the new guy, and you are being forged into what the company needs. You are walking the path.

    You sit down to the reports and begin to get to work. Re-reading the style guide and accessing certain older reports you're able to figure out what you did wrong and start to reverse engineer your copies into the correct format. If you can keep this up you should be done in about half the time that you used before.

    As you've finished the last report, your comm begins to bleep loudly. You blink, then hit the pickup icon in the air in front of you. It's only after you do that you recognize the name on it. It's Ichibangase-san, the head of the office. Goto is just your senior, Ichibangase though, he's your boss.

    "Mr. Ichibangase." You say.

    "Shiratori." He says, voice clean and avuncular. He doesn't sound a bit tired despite the fact it's almost midnight. "You and Ito are still in the office?"

    "Yes sir, we stayed late to finish up some reports."

    "Ah, that Goto, he always works the newbies so hard." Ichibangase laughs. "Listen, a rush job has come up. I need you two to draw sidearms and head over to the archive across town. I'm sending you the address now."

    "Yes Sir." Sidearms. Shit. "What's the problem?"

    "There's been a break-in. I'd send someone from the main security office, but the duty group here is working another alert. The site is secure but you should be armed anyway. Assess the site and put together a report for me. I need to know three things: who the Runners were, what they took, and how they got through our security. A car is waiting for you in the motor pool."

    "Runners?" You say, then realize how stupid that sounded.

    "Yes. Shadow Runners."

    "Right away Sir. Goodbye." The call disconnects and you look over at Daichi. "Hey bro. Did you hear that?"

    "Yeah. Holy shit. This could be our big break." Daichi grins and walks over to the weapons box at one side of the room and pulls out a pair of pistols and some magazines. You take several, check the pistol itself is loaded with gel rounds, and fasten the holster to your belt under the long tail of your black suit jacket. Daichi does the same and you both head down to the garage, where you find a company car, a dark Toyota, waiting for you. Soon you're motoring across Osaka on autopilot, staring out at the nights beyond.

    "You ever visit Osaka before the company?"

    "A few trips in highschool and one in college. I'd like to explore if we ever get a day off."

    "I hear from some of the older guys that Ichibangase knows all the best nightspots." Daichi smiles. "He's supposed to be a really good boss."

    "Still lets Goto do what he wants though."

    "Eh, Goto's okay. You want a perfectionist in security. It gets you used to working under stress. Making good decisions even in a dangerous situation."

    "Wow. Someone's been reading the training and cadre manual." You look over at him, feeling the need to be contrarian. "Sometimes it's okay to just think your superiors are assholes you know Daichi."

    "Maybe. Are you unhappy with it though?"

    You lean back. That's kind of a dangerous question. "Nah. I'm fine. Just looking forward to when we're not the youngest."

    "Amen to that." Daichi laughs as you pull up to the archive. The archive is a relatively old late 20th-century skyscraper a distance from the city's core. The old building serves as an offsite backup for various low-security files. Relatively low security. The area around it is filled with flashing lights, black and white Osaka police department vehicles and their blue and grey Shiawase counterparts. The archive front doors and security screen have been caved in, most likely by a vehicle ramming into the building. A large pool of blood and a chalk outline mark the entrance area.

    What will you do first?
    [ ] Find out who's in charge among the police and security people
    [ ] Head to the building security office
    [ ] inspect the shattered doors of the building
    [ ] Send Daichi to talk to the police while you look around the area
     
  • Threadmarks
    • [x] Human
    [x] A Decker: Good at hacking through the matrix
    [x] Find out who's in charge among the police and security people

    This looks great. I'm eager to see more.
     
    Last edited:
    [X] Elf
    [X] A Decker: Good at hacking through the matrix
    [X] Send Daichi to talk to the police while you look around the area

    Lets go...
     
    [X] Elf
    [X] A Decker: Good at hacking through the matrix
    [X] Send Daichi to talk to the police while you look around the area

    Cats just aren't as compelling as hellhound, anyway.
     
    [X] Human
    [X] A Rigger: Good at vehicles and drones
    [X] Send Daichi to talk to the police while you look around the area

    Rigger just for something different than previous quest.

    Do I want catgirl? Of course I do! But I want it after transitioning. Nicer to read that way.
     
    [X] Elf
    [X] No particular skillset, but you can shoot really well, and you always won karate and kendo matches
    [X] Send Daichi to talk to the police while you look around the area
     
    [X] Elf
    [X] A Rigger: Good at vehicles and drones
    [X] Send Daichi to talk to the police while you look around the area

    FBH said:
    Wizard-eyes, Shiawase provided and Shiawase made, with the company name and logo around the iris. The most expensive, alpha-grade models, this year's release.

    A serious look. A neat suit. A handsome face. A gleaming wizardnetic jack on your wrist.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...

    I forgot that I had a cyber-to-wizard extension until this.
     
    [X] Elf
    [X] A Decker: Good at hacking through the matrix
    [X] Find out who's in charge among the police and security people
     
    [X] Elf
    [X] A Rigger: Good at vehicles and drones
    [X] Send Daichi to talk to the police while you look around the area
     
    [x] Human
    [x] A Decker: Good at hacking through the matrix
    [x] Find out who's in charge among the police and security people
     
    [X] Elf
    [X] No particular skillset, but you can shoot really well, and you always won karate and kendo matches
    [X] Send Daichi to talk to the police while you look around the area
     
    Oh man i am just in final phases of preparing my own Shadowrun quest now its gone be overshadowed pun intended.
    [X] Elf
    [X] No particular skillset, but you can shoot really well, and you always won karate and kendo matches(phyisical adept)
    In shadowrun there are two types of people who objectively are better then you elfs and adepts. I dont mind ether class options but i want ether this or decker and since decker is in the lead well.
    [X] Find out who's in charge among the police and security people
     
    [X] Elf
    [X] A Decker: Good at hacking through the matrix
    [X] Send Daichi to talk to the police while you look around the area
     
    [X] Elf
    [X] A Decker: Good at hacking through the matrix
    [X] Head to the building security office
     
    [X] Elf
    [X] No particular skillset, but you can shoot really well, and you always won karate and kendo matches

    If I can't be a mage, I'll be a meathead!


    [X] Head to the building security office

    Might be cameras we can check there?
     
    [X] Elf
    [X] A Rigger: Good at vehicles and drones
    [X] Send Daichi to talk to the police while you look around the area
     
    Reader mode
    You must login or register to reply here.
    Back
    Top