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The Shadows of a Worm (Worm X Shadowrun 3ed)

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Lore Check pt. 4
  • Informational
    • War in Europe, Awakened Nations, and the last wave of divorces

    GUESS WHO'S BACK CHUMMERS!

    Ten Towers have been away for a bit mainly because biz has been rather good recently a lot of people needing a fixer to get them what they need so it's a good year for the Fixer as they say.

    Also managed to get a team of newbie runners fairly well set up with their first job right quick so I have time.

    Euro Wars aka Russia Wakes up and that crazy religious war
    Was involved in this one won't say much professionalism and all that but Fraging religious crazies are a pain in the ass to deal with especially when your the man who helps cut their throats of their military leaders and also being one of the first boots on the ground in Greece against Otto's.

    There was also one other operation against the Bear but I say anything about that well......

    Anyway, enough of my fragging Waffling back to the topic the Russian were in a mess they had experienced their fair share of upsets by the recent derk as well as in 2030 losing the Siberian Wilderness to an awakened force that took ground all the way to the western Siberian Lowland (tip: you run there be careful chummers saw a guy sent out into the wilderness there naked with an unloaded pistol after he wronged the locals). This all kicked off the Belarus and Ukraine attempting to secede to next year due to the Chaos kicked up by the crash.

    This point the Bear was desperate for resources and a desperate need to keep control somewhere to they attempted keyword attempted to care of the rebels. The damn snowballed from there with the Russians striking into eastern Europe running over the Poles and smashing into the Germans and other eastern European nations. It looked to get a lot bloodier as well from were the other nation of Europe were sat and we were gearing up for another 1914 but then something happened.

    On 23rd January 2033 Swedish airspace monitoring picked up what seemed to be British Nightwraith Stealthed Fighter-Bombers moving rapidly over Nothern Europe, they hit vital targets such as strategic command post, divisional HQs, supply dumps only three of the craft were shot down but the wreckage was probably melted down for weapons against the damned Otto's. As this happened notable VIPs on both sides were hit crippling the political sector as well as stopping Bremen from sending supplies out for 96 hours. This isn't counting the cyber assault which caused even more chaos. This whole incident got called the Nightwraith Incident and no one is really sure who exactly was responsible. This led to both side seeking peace.]

    However, then the bloody Second Ottoman Jihad Kicked off setting off phase 2 of the Euro was. Basically, while we were beating each other to death in eastern Europe they were using it to get ready then while everyone was taking a breath the Alliance of Allah called a Jihad against the Western threat (read smoking husk of Eastern Europe, shattered America and rusty Western Europe).

    They were beaten back by the Israelis through the use of their nuclear arsenal and mage corps. This made them turn to Europe and Russia, they took most of the Balkans and Northern Africa as well as the Middle East almost overwhelming Europe and Russia's tech advantage with numbers. Eventually, the crazy bastard leading them was assassinated during a rally in Istanbul (or is it Constantinople). From there they fell into bitter bickering and bloodshed giving us the upper hand to smash the Ottos and liberating the region.

    However, the damage was done the bitter blood shed, ethnic and religious cleansing as well as reprisals scared both Eastern Europe for years. Hell I was called in to deal with this more than once during my time with the peacekeeping force.

    Awakened Nations
    While Europe and North America were busy kicking each other in the fragging nuts we see a few awakened nations like Yakut in Siberia which kicked off the whole Euro Wars. As to what an Awakened nation is it refers to a nation run by an Awakened Race or Sapient species.

    Let start with the obvious one which comes to everyone's mind Amazonia in 2034 three great dragons led an insurrection with both Awakened beings and metahumans in the Amazon and in a short bloody clash against Brazilia forces they managed to both wipe the floor and take over the former nation of Brazil declaring the nation of Amazonia. The whole place is one big eco reserve and the three great dragons have declared themselves eco saviours though considering they have Sirrug as one of there founders. These guys also really seem to hate Aztlan and Aztecolgy more than most not that I blame them but I get the feeling it will all come to a head in a few years and the Azzies will come out smelling like roses. (they always do *spits*)

    Then we have the two elven nations first on Christmas Day 2034 Tir an nOg also know as Ireland founded by Seamus O'Kenndy who is on both the Republicans and Unionist hit list personally I can't blame them the man and his family are pricks and their little secret police force the Tir Republican Corps who really like to think they are special forces but they have about as much skill as a wet paper bag.

    But enough of my personnel bias the next one was founded in 2029 from the Salish-Shide territory which is where some elves moved to the area of Mount Rainer and started to carve out their own territory no one really cared at their time they just shrugged their shoulders.

    However thanks to the example of the Seamus in Ireland in 2035 the elves in the Mount Rainer Territory succeeded from the NAN announcing the formation of Tir Tairngire also know as the Land of Promise and anyone who has been there can tell you it really isn't. As you can guess the Salish were rather fragging miffed about the whole star of affairs and send troops to invade to show their displeasure. The Tir sent them packing and then the Tir formed a quasi-feudalistic society with a Council of Princes, with a derk head by the name of Lugh Surehand as high prince. They also violated the cardinal rule of never deal with a dragon and tough Lofwyr onto the council, then once it was all to their liking the closed their borders and set up an elf paradise where they could step on all other metahumans and call it sunshine and roses.

    You also got the ghoul state in Asamando also know as the ghoul nations a nation was founded by Thema Laula who lead a band HMHVV infected into the Black Volta region of Africa left bare by VITAS. Surprisingly not a bad place to live if you're infected from what I heard just don't ask where their food comes from. Also, don't go there if you don't want to get infected seriously place is dangerous.

    The Last Wave

    After all, the hell its a wonder that North America and Europe still existed as functional units but we see the last few nations secede were Tsimshian nation and Califonia.

    Tsimshian's defection from NAN was the straw that broke the camels back and caused Howling Voyore to say frag it and leave his leadership positions in NAN after years of guiding it or trying to in the Sovereign Tribal Council since he seemed to be disgusted with what the whole thing had become and he hasn't be heard from since.

    Meanwhile, UCAS finally got sick with California making demands and succession threats so the then President Mc Alister finally called their fragging bluff and gave them the boot withdrawing all UCAS support and forces. Tir smelling blood like the sharks they are mounted a surprise attack on Northern California and got as far Redding and stopped set up camps and told the local non-elves to get the frag out in thirty days or else.

    Locals said, "screw you arseholes!" and started a guerilla resistance and managed to force them back to Yreka and this led the whole area between Yerka and Redding to become a DMZ. While this was going on the Azzies came in and took a bite out of the new state taking San Diego and some of the area around.

    Then in a move that would make the old World War 2 leaders to spin in their grave the governor appealed to Japan for help. This lead to an Imperial Japanese Marine task force and fleet setting up and grabbing San Francisco in the name of "Protecting Japanese lives and corporate assert," as you can guess this ended in fragging tears for everyone, however California or now CalFree the dazed little state had its independence for what good it did them.

    Anyway Chummers that's it for now catch you next time.
     
  • Informational
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    Background: Sister Mary Clarence
  • Sidestory
    • Sister Mary Clarence:
    June 21, 2052
    Bahia Ascension west of Punta Allen

    Staff Sargent Lola "Harpy" Harrison looked at the surfacing mini-sub and watched as it negotiated the shallow waters of the bay as she stood watch in the wood line. On one side of her, her combat buddy corporal Mellissa "Banshee" O'Shaughnessy waited as Lieutenant Michael Childers waited down at the shallow beach for their newcomer. Childers, who's callsign was Minotaur, waited with their wounded and dead companions for the one new team member. While she watched, the sub went to its shallowest draft so as to get as close to the beach as possible. It was only once it stopped that a person climbed out of the sub and seemed to report to the Lieutenant. The sailor piloting the sub also came out and helped unload the newcomers' gear and their extra supplies before both the seriously injured orc that lay on the beach as well as the dead troll were loaded into the sub. "I wonder what the new kid is made of?" Banshee subvocalized next to her. Harpy's reaction was a grunt as she continued to keep overwatch and the sub reversed itself back out of the shallow channel that it had landed in.
    **

    The march back into the Sian Ka'an jungle was done in silence, the two portions of the team meeting at a pre-arranged spot before continuing to the local guerilla encampment. It wasn't until they were inside the perimeter and around the command map table that anyone said a word that wasn't required. "Alright nugget," Minotaur said calmly. "Here's the deal, you are, unfortunately, the odd man out. Command didn't find out until after you were dispatched that we had also lost our medic. I was only able to inform them of that during the check-in when they told us when and where to expect you."

    "That's alright sir," the newcomer replied softly, "I'm cross-trained as a medic as well, can't spell the damage better, but standard medical attempts, that I can do."

    The Lieutenant nodded, "All good then," he answered. "Problem is we usually work in pairs. One person to work, watch or sleep while the other does one of the other two. Command cannot get us another body for at least three weeks, and we have a lot of missions, a couple of which you were sent here specifically for." The newcomer nodded at that, so Minotaur continued. "What I'm going to do is pair you with one of our locals so that he can watch your back and help you with what you have to do. How is your Spanish?"

    "Mostly passable," he answered in Spanish. "The problem is that it is all school taught, so I'm either going to sound like some yankee school kid or else like some Spaniard aristo."

    Minotaur nodded, "Sounds passable at least, though we won't let you loose into any of the local villages until Miguel gets you sounding like a local. The Azzies keep informants around and they get a whiff of a gringo around these parts its going to be another layer of hell on top of this war."

    "Aye sir," the nugget replied causing Minotaur to shake his head.

    "Another thing," the officer said, "There is no rank out here, my handle is Minotaur, the elf is Banshee, the troll is Harpy, and the dwarf is Kappa. Everyone is responsible for everything and because of that we all survive, at least until you find a bullet or mine the hard way."

    The kid nodded at that, "And what will I be called?" he asked, his eyes alight with curiosity.

    "Until we have a feel for you," Banshee said, "Be sure that you can relax in the name of Nugget."
    **

    Harpy and indeed even Minotaur were both being impressed by Nugget. The replacement had been sent due to his skill with high explosives as well as his ability to make his own out of practically nothing. Some of his other skills were somehow telling of a rougher life growing up. "Sweet Christ Nugget," Kappa had said one night as the team were roasting a small jungle pig for dinner, something the Nugget was overseeing. "If you weren't a dude, I would ask you to marry me, where the hell did you learn to do all this drek?"

    "Grew up in the swamp north of the Gulf Coast Metroplex," he answered as he checked the rotating porker. "Mom had a working hobby farm and we did a lot of our own butchering. Was damn good at chemistry during school and always loved to watch things blow up. Made my first shaped charge ANFO slurry when I was eight to blow out a particularly problematic pine stump and never stopped blowing drek up since then. Besides, making some of this stuff isn't much different than running my grandpa's still."

    The rest of them chuckled at that. The nugget had brought both a sniper rifle and a shotgun to work with, the street howitzer bearing an underslung grenade launcher that the kid seemed to be damned accurate with. "How are we doing for supplies for the next op Nugget?" Minotaur asked as they watched the pig spin on its spit.

    "Two more days of work to have enough demo to do the job right," he answered while eyeballing the cracklin skin of the pig. "Four days travel, one night to set the charges, and then when the next set of transports come through on that track, half a klick of trail, train and troops will cease to exist."

    "Good," Minotaur said as Nugget tossed Harpy a set of gloves so that the pair of them could pull the pig off of the fire and carry it to the trestle table that the nugget had also built. "We have two weeks until the next load of troops and supplies are due to move through the area so there is plenty of time to work with. Now, since the pig seems to be done, let's eat."
    **

    The road train's locomotive was the only thing to have survived the series of explosions that ripped the roadbed and its load to pieces, and even with the locomotive itself mostly intact, the crew itself had not survived. One hundred charges, shaped, placed and then detonated all as one had ripped the ground from beneath its tires while sending a mixture of seventy-six-millimeter cannonballs and twelve-millimeter shot screaming through the cars of the train. Its momentum had then sent the carriages careening into the jungle, leaving the supplies mostly intact for the guerrillas to steal. Harpy had whistled appreciatively at the carnage that the nugget had created with little more that jungle foliage, animal manure, and time. The supplies would enable the entirety of the Yucatan rebels at the expense of the Aztlan government, but the cost would be that now they would have to move.

    It had been expected, even as they had set out to the site of this destruction, and they had packed or destroyed everything in their camp before allowing the locals to fade back into the indigenous population to hide. What the five of them could not pack out, the locals had taken to hide, and what the locals could not hide, they destroyed. It was typical of a guerilla fight and being on the drek end of the supply chain. Now they couldn't even use Bahia Ascension or Espiritu to resupply as they were moving to the northern side of the peninsula where the Azzie naval patrols were thicker. Maybe a stealth bomber could make it through for an air drop, but she wasn't going to bet on it. No, they were on their own, supplying themselves off the corpses of their enemies. It was times like this that she counted the time until her tour was up.
    **

    "Contact right-front!" the nugget called out even as Minotaur's head exploded and machine gun fire stitched across the column. Cries went up as people were hit by the gunfire almost covering the thump from the nugget's grenade launcher as he sent a forty-millimeter anti-personnel round down range and into a treetop. Harpy grunted as rounds penetrated her leg armor causing her to drop to the ground and roll behind a tree trunk that was down next to the path. The machinegun continued to stitch its fire back and forth over the ambush zone causing more people to scream out as they were wounded. The only silent people were the dead and surprisingly the nugget as he was only three meters away behind his own tree.

    The gunshot wounds in her legs burned even as they pumped her blood out onto the forest floor. Gotta plug these leaks before I do anything else or else I'm gonna bleed out, she thought, pulling out her own medkit and applying the bandages to her wounds. Looking up at the cough of the nugget's grenade launcher she watched the greenhorn howl and then charge the enemy's position under the grenade's cover. Damn Nugget gonna get himself killed, she thought as she applied her attention back to finishing up her wounds before pulling her AK up into position. The enemy machinegun went silent with the crack of a third grenade, and then a half-dozen shotgun blasts seemed to finish matters even as Banshee hobbled over to her. "Sitrep?" the troll asked the elf.

    "Kappa is DRT," she said without preamble, "and most of the column is wounded if not dead."

    "Frag," Harpy cursed as Nugget swept back across the ambush zone checking bodies and tending to the wounded. "An we have no way a contactin higher for help or pullin out. Nugget, you find anyting useful on them Azzies."

    "They have a seven-ton over here and a few other items we can make use of it we take it," he answered. "That said, we need to skedaddle, if what I heard them say over the radio was right we have about thirty until this area is crawling with Leopard Guard."

    "Dis day just keep gettin better an better," Harpy groused. "Everybody git in de truck, if they can't walk, someone carry dem, We're skinnin outa here."

    "Roger that Harpy," the nugget said before he started chivvying the locals up and getting them moving. Banshee just nodded and headed off to do the same.
    **
     
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  • Sidestory
    • Nice and well written, but I don't really care about Sister Mary Clarence's background. Perhaps if we saw more of her interacting with Taylor and established her emotionally I might, but as it is this feels like a chapter from an unrelated story that you posted here by mistake.
     
    Lore Check: Backgrounds
  • Informational
    • Meant to post this when the above came out at @Rajvik_wolfboy request however with chaos at work it slipped my mind until no. Sorry Wolfboy.


    Aztlan/Yucatan War or How to piss in the Azzie's coffee and win

    Hoi chummers got asked by a good chummer of mine to prep a blurb about the Azzies vs Yucatan war. By this point ol Ten Towers was getting on in years but I did use a few of my contacts to set up some runs for the rebels and their backers when it was going down and also dropped in a few small-time merc units as trainers heck I dropped in myself to run a few courses's for the local's anyone who sticks it to the Big A and the Azzies is ok in my book.

    But anyway onto the story the Yucatan Rebellion/war/uprising depending on who you ask and which corp stations propaganda you listen to did not just jump out of the ground overnight. It's just the latest in a long-running conflict that has been on a slow cook for a while. Check your history chummers recommend you look at the uprising in the early 1990s in the state of Chiapas about 200km away from the main conflict zone due to the government ignoring the complaints of the locals both the traditionals and the mestizos tribals. Go figure they were not fragging happy about being ignored.

    So you get the tale as old as time tensions break and renewed violence and the 20th​ flips to the 21st​ century along with your garden variety protests you get riots and demonstrations and the off low-level sabotage which progressed in the early 21st​ into a wave of assassinations. I'm talking three-state governor's of Chiapas, Campeche and Quintana Roo all got geeked while the governor of the Distrito Federal escaped by the skin of his teeth though there is strong evidence to suggest that the Distrito Federal Governors assignation attempt was done by the Medellin Drug Cartel and the whole incident got chucked at the Messoanmerind Rebels. As you can guess it lead to a government clampdown were around two dozen rebel leaders were captured or shot while 'resisting' arrest (believe they were and I have a bridge to sell you.) But all this did was shove tensions below the surface from the early uprisings causing them to simmer and various freedom organisations to pop underground.

    As you can guess chummers this is asking for fragging trouble and this all burst over everyone in 2010 with a renewed intensity that researching into it reminded me in some ways of my service against Otto during the Euro Wars. This time it was centred around the Campeche and Yucatan with some follow-on violence in Chiapas and even Tabasco.

    This was different from the last round of combat previously in the one in 2001 it was poorly organised with local government offices being taken over by civi's with little more than machetes and archaic small arm. Derk the local governor's I mentioned previously were done in by some random wage slave with a gun and no support they just went and did it just average joes with a big grudge. What made the 2010 uprising different was it was better organised though the frontline troops were still just civi militia's, they were well organised with a central command along with improved logistics and armament. Though the average 'solider' still had an archaic hunting rifle they had 'Especial' units armed with modern weapons talking stuff you see with modern militaries. They forgot one important fact native does not mean primitive not when with enough money and contacts you can get mil-spec gear.

    Second times the Charm the Mexican government tried to do the same again clamp down on the locals but the fraggers found it a hard task because hey you can scoop up random militiamen a dime a dozen but the leaders managed to keep ahead of the Mexican government's jackboots. Then in 2010, we saw another wave of assassinations which paralyzed the government though out south-eastern Mexico from Acapulco and Cancun. Unlike last time these were a lot more sophisticated and better organised than some random wage slave with a holdout which led to two dozen government officials dying. The government needed to prove they weren't a useful as a sack of devil rat derk so they scoped some random sod off the street and put on a Kangaroo court and got geeked by a firing squad. All this lead to the governing coalition(Catholics and leftist) suffering scandal after scandal along with the beating the economy took followed by VITAS the whole country fell into anarchy until Aztlan formed under the aegis of Aztechnology and began to recover from the disasters of 2010 -2011.

    However, the Rebels in the Yucatan did not see the benefits promised by their new corporate sorry I mean new national overlords which saw Rebellion bubbling just beneath the surface. You saw the occasional outbursts of violence in 2035, 2045 and the bloody massacre in Campeche 2051 were they killed hundreds of unarmed protesters by Aztechnology. Which sparked the second civil war though it remains low intensity for some tone. The rebels seem to get aid from all over in a variety of forms what I've seen you've got money, kit and people flowing in from CAS, NAN, Amazonia, Caribbean Leauge, Tir Tairngire amd various corps who want to stick it to the Azzies seem to be providing the lion share of the goods flowing to them though others seem to be sending kit their way as well as corps who have an Axe to grind with the Azzies which is most of them.

    Heck knew a merc unit that was operating in that area in the 2047s a battalion-sized formation the sixty-first ranger battalion who they had their contract forcibly transferred from Aztlan to Aztechnology through some loophole so they could do Anti-insurgency op. The did well despite the problems the big A and the Azzies caused they performed well-avoiding civi casualties. This went on up until 2051 when their CO an old friend who refused to take part in the Campeche Massacre.

    The bastards accused the Rangers of a contract breach and multiple other incidents and the Azzies attempted to bring the rangers in for this bullderk which lead to several vicious battles as the rangers revisited until they were overwhelmed by superior numbers. Though several rangers' units on patrol tried to rescue the prisoners they failed, and we all know what happens to the poor bastards the Azzie's take prisoner damn blood mages and priest. Around thirty-eight rangers escaped and half their support staff thanks to the locals the Azzies put a bounty on them luckily no one was stupid enough to collect.

    The rebels are fighting the Azzies and their Corp masters the same way the Viet Kong thought the ol' USA a war of ambush, of movement all unconventional war the kind of war the Azzie bastards, struggle to adapt to. The worse sort of fighting no frontline, no rear area to recover, can't admit your affiliation or you get killed or captured. It's the worst sort of war and the Azzies jumped right into the middle of this derk show.

    It continued back and forth like this the Azzies and the rebels each fighting hard and showing each other no mercy, it a good market for both Mercs, Pirates and Runners giving us all a steady Nuyen and favours as well as contacts. Now though on 17th January 2056, we saw the whole damn thing escalate into a full-blown war due to the Azzie and their Corper overlord's heavy-handed tactics as well as the rebel's actions and I get the feeling even if the Azzies win this is going to be a brutal ongoing cycle.
     
  • Informational
    • Really not a fan of the panacea conversation it comes out of nowhere and Taylor shouldn't know fuck all about her let alone have any reason to let her be the one random person she tries to help as apposed to the myriad of other people with mental issues.
     
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    I think I'm really going to enjoy this one. The PRT probably has no idea what it's in for, given that Taylor apparently spent seven years as basically a black ops commando against a number of mega-corporations with likely better security than anyone on Bet. Admittedly, I don't know how Thinkers and dimensional shenanigans are going to compare, but I also suspect that Owl was one of the better ones, and magic is even more bullshit...

    It's going to amuse me so much to see every darn gang (and yes, I'm including the PRT and Protectorate in that) mysteriously losing their best people (to Taylor's team, obviously).

    Rajvik_wolfboy said:
    what happened at the Gan-N-Go this morning?
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    Unless they sell neural nets, I think you meant gas.
    Rajvik_wolfboy said:
    but reality would eventually teach the young Case-Eighteen woman. Hopefully without too much bloodshed she thought.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    Hah!
    In order, I doubt it, very much wrong, and probably the other way around. :D
    Rajvik_wolfboy said:
    Still, walking up to ask them about this "Wolfgar was not going to be easy.
    Click to expand...
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    Needs a closing quote after Wolfgar.

    Edit:
    emberwing said:
    Really not a fan of the panacea conversation it comes out of nowhere and Taylor shouldn't know fuck all about her let alone have any reason to let her be the one random person she tries to help as apposed to the myriad of other people with mental issues.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    I'd argue against you on that one.
    Tattles apparently figured out all sorts of stuff on her with one glance (and worse), so while she's cheating like a fiend there's got to be some sign of her stress. Given that Panacea is a medic (which is a thankless and very hard job that results in a lot of suicides), who likely has been through worse than most (being a miracle cure only makes the whining worse if you can't save someone [especially in the cases where it's only because she won't heal them because of not blowing her cover as a biokinetic or being able to fix brains], plus she gets all the cape fight victims and the fun cases), I'd imagine anyone in her situation would not be doing well. Only the fact that BB is a shithole and the fact that her parents seem to have some degree of influence (and authority over the beaten-down healer) with people seems to have prevented anyone from noticing.

    A lot of descriptions of her have her looking like she hasn't slept in weeks, and she (might be fanon) smokes and drinks a lot of coffee. This would also be noticeable by smell (at minimum on her clothing, and possibly by stains on it too) and possibly physical effects, plus she may well have them on her during the meeting. This sort of thing is also a sign of stress.

    Then add in the part where Panacea was used to check for presence of a parahuman power, which itself implies that she can see brains even if she can't seem to change them, AND that she has a diagnostic power which would not be needed if her power was only "healing" -- it at least shows that she has to do everything manually, or may be, rather than it being automatic "heal the target." This implies that she's more like a doctor with far too many cases than just someone with a healing touch.

    Lastly, on top of any sort of abilities that Taylor may have used (but that weren't specifically mentioned, because this is third person and she wouldn't announce, "I'm scanning everyone here for deceit!" or similar, when in a room with people who aren't necessarily on her side), she has been working as a PMC for three-quarters of a decade and would have the training to figure out this sort of thing much like how Tattletale did it. And she's older and more mature anyway, without the indoctrination of "Oh, that's normal/fine" she'd have if she actually grew up there. She probably has a new perspective, looked at everything (with apparently literal) new eyes, and realized that PanPan is about to snap.

    Also note that Panacea is not just some random person. Again, miracle healer, high profile, in a vocation that causes high stress. And I imagine Taylor did research on the local important figures, and Panacea was probably one of the first people (if not the first) that she came across who was that bad off and was that way not through her own fault.

    Plus, she's to this Taylor how canon Taylor was to Lisa: someone in their personal shoes who they'd want to help.
     
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    Chapter 7
  • Threadmarks
    • **Taylor 2057**
    Walking into the diner that next morning, I felt a little sheepish. The sisters had told me about Wolfgar, their former teammate from the Confederate American States Marines, and some of the things that they had gotten up to in the Yucatan. Apparently all three had been discharged at about the same time, and while she and Mary Elizabeth had taken their vows with father church, Wolfgar had gone mercenary to a degree and made quite a bit of money doing so. So much in fact that he was the shelter's largest contributor.

    "And I just had to question his morals about a teenage girl," I half muttered to myself as I looked around the diner. I didn't have to look around for long to find him and Sarah, sitting in a corner booth watching the door. I had been able to see her through the window as I walked in, it was a quick scan for other trouble. Turning, I walked over to them and spoke. "My apologies for yesterday," I said as I sat down at the booth." I have developed a hint of paranoia since I arrived."

    "Don't worry about it," he said, his voice low and not quite gravelly but with a hint of a southern drawl. "Not trusting someone you only met for a half hour or so while in a holding cell is good thinking. I'm almost surprised you're not…" He trailed off as I let the end of a piece of rebar slide out of my jacket sleeve. "Never mind, you are paranoid enough for this job." Sarah smiled at that and we all shut up as the waitress came over to get our order. "I can recommend anything with meat or eggs," my potential employer said as I glanced at the menu considering what to order for breakfast. "They get the real stuff here because of the tourists."

    I nodded at that and considered the menu a little more carefully. The last time I had eaten real eggs or meat instead of one of the soy-based substitutes was several weeks ago, but at the same time there was no point in being greedy. "Just the base plate over easy please," I told the waitress when she returned a moment later.

    "Not a problem sweety," the waitress replied, turning to Sarah and Wolfgar. "And for you two?"

    "My usual please, Gloria." Wolfgar replied smiling at the waitress who nodded before jotting something down on her pad.

    "Blueberry pancakes, hashbrowns with onions and ham, and a side of patty sausages please," Sarah answered, getting a nod and the jotting of notes as well.

    "They will be out shortly," the waitress said before bouncing off to put in the order.

    Once she left, I turned the most of my attention to Wolfgar. "So," I said calmly, "You have work, I need work, what's the job?"

    Wolfgar smiled, "Training for the moment," he answered. "I can't send a newbie out into this cutthroat world without giving them at least the basics. Also, you're going to be working with a team, so you are going to have to get to know them as well as, you know, your magic."

    "Magic?" I asked, "Since when do I have magic?"

    "Probably since puberty," he answered. "But then again you could be a late bloomer. Something about your unfinished appearance tells me that while you might not be the hottest thing in the world now, but give it ten years or so, maybe as little as five and the male part of the species will be looking at you and drooling."

    I blinked at him and then blinked again before finally shaking my head. "I'll take your word for it," I ended up replying. "So how am I going to learn and how am I going to earn some money?"

    He grinned, "Learning is going to be a bit tortuous," he answered. "And I'll pay you a base stipend to survive on until you're out earning money. Consider it what it is, training pay, I'll earn it back later as sunk costs." I nodded and waited a moment as the waitress put a big glass of orange juice in front of the man and a cup of coffee in front of Sarah. "You didn't order a drink," he said before the waitress left causing her to stop and whip out her pad again.

    "Water is fine, thank you," I answered. He nodded slightly as the waitress smiled while jotting it down.

    "First lesson is one we can do while we're here," he said once the waitress had left, "look around the room, how many people are packing weapons and why are the ones that aren't unarmed?" I started to crane my neck around, he coughed to catch my attention, so I turned back to him. "Be discreet about it," he murmured as the waitress returned.

    I let my eyes wander around until I noticed the mirror behind him as well as another high above the diner bar. The one behind Wolfgar allowed me to look at the second and through that one at the entire room, so I studied them. By the time that the food arrived I had seen four blatant pistols, mostly in shoulder holsters, though two had been on the police officer's hips as they swung through to cage a cup of coffee and some breakfast sandwiches. (I didn't count those.) Three more of the patrons seemed to have either weighted gloves,had a chain of some kind across their chest, or had a knife on their hip. Two elves at the other end of the booths were wearing some kind of trinkets around their necks that looked like a cross between a pass card and a biker jacket patch of some kind that I took for a magic item and then there was the poor businessman in the middle of it all who seemed completely unarmed and nursing a hangover before going to worc.

    "So what do you see?" Wolfgar asked once I had finished eating and we were nursing our drinks.

    "Well," I started finally finishing organizing everything mentally. "Starting at the far end, the two elves with mohawks are probably magical, and at a guess have at least one talisman hanging around their necks." I sighed, "or, they could just be poseurs, going for the look while not having a lick of magic."

    "Good call," he murmured as he checked and handed a credstick to Gloria, waving off the change. "Call it one and one. Next up?"

    "The two orc bikers and their troll friend all have chains," I answered. "The troll looks like he might have weighted gloves, but they all three have knives in their boots, and one of the orcs has another on his hip. The businessman I don't know about, but having watched them this short time I would say one of the two other humans, maybe even both, are his bodyguards. They've only had coffee, but he ate a full meal. Conversely the two of them had pistols in shoulder holsters and considering the two Lonestar officers didn't give them any grief over the guns, I would say they have the permits and are known actors."

    "Good catch," Wolfgar said with a smile. "What about the dwarf with the cyber-arm?"

    "Wolverine style claws in the cyber," I answered, "it's his off hand and he also has a pistol in a shoulder holster. You have one in a pancake holster behind your back as well as a knife in your boot."

    Sarah sighed and handed the man a piece of script, "You know you just cost me five nuyen right?"

    I shrugged in response, "The hell that I went through at school," I snorted, "hell the school I went to, you had to be able to spot who had what as far as weapons went or else you might end up broken and bloody at the end of the day."

    "Alright then," Wolfgar said as he pocketed the script. "We're done here, let's go meet the rest of the team and get you checked out and prepared for your next lesson." I nodded and slid out of the booth at the same time as he did. "Do you have anything left at the shelter?" he asked.

    "Nothing that's actually mine," I answered. "Everything that I had was loaned to me by Sister Mary Clarence and Sister Elizabeth."

    He nodded at that, "Alright then, new itinerary, Sarah, I want you to take her to the Mall and get her some proper clothes and the basics." Saying this he pulled a wad of cash out of his pocket and handed it to her. "You know what to get, and finish getting your own while you're at it."

    "Yes boss," Sarah replied, taking the cash. "Come on Taylor, my scooter is around the corner."

    "She'll bring you to our group's home afterwards," Wolfgar said, with a nod before getting into a fairly average looking car. The grumble that the engine gave off said that it was not stock. "I'll see you there." he finished before the man eased the car out into traffic and I turned to see Sarah waiting behind me.

    "Let's go," she said, tossing me an open face helmet, "We'll be really early, but that means we can get first grab of whatever is there." I nodded and followed her around the corner where she climbed onto a little scooter and fired it up. Buckling the helmet, I climbed on behind her and wrapped my arms around her waist. "Hold tight," she commented before jumping us out into the morning traffic and turning us toward what I would later learn was Puyallup.
    **

    **2011**

    "So what was this Sarah like?" Dad asked as we climbed back into the truck from gathering our take-out order.

    "Quirky for one thing," I answered. "Always had to be the smartest and most informed person in the room. Her mouth got her in trouble on a regular basis with that. Even to the point that she almost ended up with a "Glasgow Grin" quite a few times."

    "She didn't learn easily did she?" Dad asked, frowning and causing me to snort.

    "She really couldn't help it," I commented smiling while I remembered. "She had this compulsion that she always had to prove herself, we all did to one degree or another really. But hers, as I said, was that she had to be the smartest and most informed. Consequences of being a decker I suppose, always had to be on the bleeding edge of the information war. Couldn't beat her in coding though, or making electronics for that matter."
    **

    **2057**

    First, Sarah took me to what she called the "Crime Mall" a black and grey marketplace that was apparently the mainstay of the shadow community in Puyallup. To picture it, imagine your typical three-story mall and its parking garage. Now, surround it with the run-down detritus of better than twenty-five years of neglect, corruption, gangs and poverty. In short, Puyallup, with the exception that it wasn't a port, reminded me of home and showed me what could have happened had someone abandoned a mall in the middle of the docks.

    Arriving, Sarah locked down her scooter and armed the anti-theft system before leading me inside and to the second level where we walked into what at one point might have been a jewelry store. Walking into the atrium of the mall, I gawked as we passed storefront after storefront selling various things, even a rough bar that had been set up in what had probably been intended to be the food court along with some food carts that were starting to do a brisk business. Entering the store, I found myself standing behind an orc while the dwarf shopkeeper inspected a pistol in minute detail. "Alright Joe," the dwarf said, locking the slide back and laying it on a cloth that lay on top of the glass counter. "I'll give you five for it."

    "You're probably going to charge some poor slot full price though," the orc argued. "You can afford to give me six for it."

    The dwarf snorted, "Yeah Joe," he continued in a deadpan tone, "I'm going to charge some poor slot full price for it. Not, I'll note because it's connected to anything they have done, but because it is connected to the half dozen armed hold ups that you have done over the last six-months. The poor bastard that picks this gun out is going to be looking at possibly toting the rap for your actions since you got it, on top of whatever they do with it. Knowing that I'll be lucky to be able to ask five-fifty for it, more like five-twenty-five. "

    "Fine," the orc growled after a minute. "But I want it on a certified credstick in nuyen, not in fragging corp-script." At that the dwarf nodded before he pulled out what looked like some kind of credit card reader and let the orc slot it in. After a minute the machine dinged and the orc nodded before turning around to leave.

    "Nice doing business with you Joe," the dwarf called out to the retreating orc while pulling an unlit cigar stub from beneath the counter and biting down on it. "I'll see you next time." The orc flipped the dwarf a one fingered salute over his shoulder as he walked out of the store and with that the dwarf turned to us. "Fox," he said, shaking his head. "I swear, Wolfgar is definitely getting his money out of that damn scooter of yours. This his newbie?"

    "Yeah Lucky," Sarah said, pushing me forward by the shoulder. "We need a set of your special underwear and the usual startup gear minus the weapons. Boss has to find out what she's comfortable with first, you know."

    Lucky the dwarf let out a low whistle at that but nodded. "Completely green huh?" he asked, and Sarah nodded. "Well I'll just drop the security gate and then we'll go in the back and get her fitted."

    "Why do I get the feeling I should be asking for an adult?" I asked, receiving a chuckle from both Sarah and Lucky.

    "Don't let the height fool ya kid," Lucky answered with a smile. "I am an adult. I'm also a professional and if you don't survive because of me doing a shoddy job that means that I lose business. Which means that I'm going to give you the best form fitting body armor that I can make."

    I blinked at that, What the hell have I gotten myself into here?

    **
     
  • Threadmarks
    • OstermanA said:
    They're in 4E too. Form fitting suit has decent protection and doesn't count toward encumbrance. There's lots of reason to wear it and no reasons not to, regardless of stats or role, so it became known as Shadowrunners' Underwear.
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    Ah. I probably missed it in Chummer. Granted I usually play pink mohawk characters whos main contributions is being interference and a wrecking ball. Mack the Troll was myfirst runner, and i dream to play as him again.
     
    Rajvik_wolfboy said:
    "So what was this Sarah like?"
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    Rajvik_wolfboy said:
    "She really couldn't help it," I commented smiling while I remembered. "She had this compulsion that she always had to prove herself, we all did to one degree or another really. But hers, as I said, was that she had to be the smartest and most informed. Consequences of being a decker I suppose, always had to be on the bleeding edge of the information war. Couldn't beat her in coding though, or making electronics for that matter."
    Click to expand...
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    I have the strangest feeling that at some point soon she'll ask a random blonde in a craft shop, "Do I know you from somewhere?"
    And then, the next day, everyone is going to wake up, look at the pile of rubble that the city has become, and wonder what sort of significant event they missed.

    I don't believe they look remotely similar... probably... but there's a heck of a spiritual resemblance!
     
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    Thank you for the new chapter, I will always be happy to see a new Shadowrun story, sad that there are so few good ones to find.
     
    Chapter 8
  • Threadmarks
    • (A/N-Sorry about the delay in a chapter, this fic is unfortunately not first on my work on list. it's second, but only because Akane is so much fun to write instead of getting through the setup for Taylor here. That said here is a shortish chapter like thing of wordz)

    **2057**
    Sarah and I spent until almost noon poking through the crime mall and picking up various things for both of us, including various armored clothes for me. Finally though we finished and I changed into one of the four sets of clothing before packing the other stuff into a rucksack that I had been carrying around before we climbed on her scooter and left. "You don't want to be eating anything from those food vendors," she told me in a low voice as she led me out. "We'll get something to eat back at base." The only thing I could do at this point was nod and climb on the back of the scooter. Buckling the spare helmet I held on tight as she started it and drove us away.

    She took me north on the 161 from the Crime Mall, through Tacoma and Downtown before cutting across lake Washington on the 520. Bellevue passed by us and then we were in Redmond, Seattle as a city was beautiful from afar, but horrible up close, and once you got past Touristville, Redmond was just as much proof of that as anywhere else. Economic disaster, past rioting, and abandonment made this area of the city as much a scar on its heart as Puyallup was. In fact, it seemed that the only real difference between the two was that Puyallup had their farmland destroyed by the eruption of Mount Rainier. On the other hand, Redmond had 'Glow City,' a partially melted down nuclear power station, so they were probably equal in their ruin all told.

    Sarah took us off the 520 and onto the Woodinville-Duval Road and continued to head east, before turning onto some other local road, which led to an apartment building on the corner next to the Snoqualmie River. The apartment building was easily four or five stories tall, and square with apparently a hollow center as there was the driveway led through the south side of the building's first floor. "The boss owns the whole building," Sarah said as we entered the tunnel through the building's wall. "We provide security to the neighborhood and in return they provide food that has been grown in small plot farms similar to the one we have here."

    I was about to ask what she was talking about when the tunnel emptied out into the courtyard and the driveway turned sharply to the left, avoiding the garden that had been set up in the majority of the courtyard. Looking upwards I could see a fine netting draped across the roofline, along with a pair of large rollers. "We also have tarps to keep the worst of the acid rain off the crops," Sarah commented as she noted where I was looking. "You can't see it but there is a winch on the north roof that on command, will pull on the line, which in turn pulls out the tarps from their rollers on the east and west sides of the courtyard."

    "From the outside it doesn't look like all that much," I commented as we pulled into the west wing of the first floor. The ceiling was higher than I had expected. Should have expected it, I mentally chastised myself. The building codes have had plenty of time to take Trolls into account. And this floor of the wing had been turned into a parking garage. Two panel vans, a HUMVEE looking truck, Wolf's sedan, and four large motorcycles filled the slots but leaving plenty of room for others. When Sarah stopped the scooter to back it into one of the slots, I also could see a vehicle lift on the southern end of the room, occupied by a sports car of some type.

    "Not looking like much is intentional," Sarah replied as I climbed off and she backed the scooter into the parking spot. If it looked like there was half the stuff that is here, then three quarters of the gangs in the district would be attacking us to try and take it." I nodded because that made sense, especially since the gangs in this world seemed to be particularly vicious.

    "That makes sense," I replied as she finished parking the scooter and collected her things. "Where do we go from here?" I asked.

    "This way," she answered and led me through a door and up a stairwell. "The west wall areas are equipment. First floor is the garage, second floor is the armory, and third is the dojo. The east side is classrooms on the first and second floors, and housing on the third."

    "Classrooms?" I asked curiously.

    "While there is a local public-school system," Sarah answered. "The boss seems to think that the local teachers are, well, not the best nor particularly motivated. Because of this he started a charter school for the surrounding community. It's a dozen classrooms in a secure building and the parents all know him in one aspect or another."

    "No gangs in the building," I asked surprised. Winslow had been filled with sympathizers and prospects for one gang or another and I had never seen a school that didn't at least have some hidden gang members."

    "If there are gang members, they keep a low profile," Sarah answered. "So much so that the only way they could be gang members would be to leave it all outside and keep a low profile. Does your experience with Gang members suggest that this is a likely thing?"

    "No," I answered, deep in thought. "They tend to be hot headed and impetuous."

    Sarah nodded in agreement, "Yeah they have a definite problem with thinking ahead," she said calmly and with a smile. "South side the first floor is storage, mostly for the gardens, while the second floor is the main kitchen and dining area, and the third floor is the showers while the north side is library, offices and sanctum respectively."

    "What is the Sanctum?" I asked as we reached the second floor and left the stairwell for a central hallway across the north side of the building. On our left were conference rooms with wide windows looking out onto the neighborhood and Wolfgar's office at the opposite end of the hallway from where we entered. On our right with an even more open view of the courtyard was an open area of cubicles with what looked like keyboards without any monitors.

    "The Sanctum is basically the group medicine lodge," Sarah answered quickly. "I don't know the particulars as I am neither a mage nor a shaman, but Wolfgar has set up a group amongst the teams that work here that handles their own initiations helping each other get stronger in their magic as time goes by."

    I could only nod as she led me into a common room with a trideo unit in a corner and a pair of large, comfy looking leather couches. "Wait here," she said going back to her painted-on smile. "I'm going to go and get the others." With that she trotted off to the nearest three rooms on the outside wall and knocked on the doors. A few moments later four other people were following her into the lounge.
    **

    "Itroductions I think," Sarah said, as I looked at the group she had brought into the lounge area as she stepped over and pulled me tight to her in a one-armed side-hug. "Guys, this is Taylor," she continued telling the group who I was. "Boss says she's gonna be our next and last teammate." I waved shyly as I looked them over. Two trolls, an orc and an elf making Sarah and myself the only humans on the team. "Taylor, on the left there you have Brandon and Alicia," the two trolls waved half-heartedly. "Brandon is our big muscle and heavy weapons guy, while Alicia is our magic heal-bot." The smaller of the two trolls shot Sarah the bird to which the blonde replied, "You wish sweetheart. Next we have Jean Paul, he's our speedster, what used to be called a razor boy or gillette"

    — Et qu'est-ce que cette petite fille apporte à la table Sarah ? the tall thin boy said. I didn't understand the language he used, but the attitude he said it with made it clear he thought he was superior to me.

    "Stop with that damn stuck up Quebecois drek JP," Alicia snapped at the elf. "No one here but you speaks that drek."

    The elf shot the troll a look and then shrugged, "I was simply asking what the new girl brings to our team Alicia," he said calmly. "No need to get your horns twisted." Alicia snorted at that and Sarah continued on with the introductions.

    "Finally," Sarah said, almost ignoring the byplay between the elf and the troll, "We have Rhonda. Rhonda is our rigger where I'm the team decker. You need a bomb dropped on it, or a heavy weapon that Brandon isn't toting to shoot something, Rhonda is your girl." The orc looked up from the persona-comp in her hands and nodded at me. "Rhonda doesn't say much, but she's good at what she does, even when that is getting us from point A to point B.

    "Anything else?" Rhonda asked quietly

    "Yes," Wolfgar said from the doorway off to my right. He had come in from the offices like Sarah and I had, "Time for team training at the range, we'll see what kind of firearms you're more comfortable with." We all nodded at that and followed him as he led the way back through the offices and to the armory where everyone but me checked out a gun of some variety. Wolfgar checked out a half-dozen and spread them and the required ammo out amongst the rest of the team before leading us down and out a side door to a simple range. "Time to see how well you can learn to shoot." He said as everyone started laying out the guns on the various tables ahead of the shooting lanes.
    **
     
  • Threadmarks
    • Oh, right, this is here too. Really ought to remember that. Also, nice story.
     
    Short update, but an update is an update. It's always better than nothing! :D

    I'm guessing this is a bit of setup for the first time she ends up going on a run? Then again, I can't imagine they would do that with someone who basically just woke up, but they also don't know that she has no clue whatsoever about this world, and there are probably a ton of unspoken misunderstandings that both sides have right now. Unless of course this Sarah is a lot like the other Sarah...

    I can't remember if I've asked, but if they are the same person, is she going to seek out said past-version to go "help" once she's back home? A battle of the Smug (and really strange insights that make no sense) would be quite amusing. Also, is the passage back one-way, or will she be able to (semi-) freely travel? Maintenance of her gear would be a problem (since even if it's not Tinkertech, it still probably needs some repair occasionally, and back home they only have Tinkers who could fix it), but on the other hand, allowing travel would cause a great deal of issues, arguably more than the portal to Aleph... and that got banned.
     
    So basically her current team is sorta the Undersiders' alternate reality selves? I mean it seem brutally evident at this point, Sarah is Tattletale that has already been stated but otherwise it feel like all the other characters are either also a version of a Worm character or a fusion of two Worms chars, I mean Brandon & Alicia are Grue & Imp / Panacea, JP is Regent / Jack Slash, Rhonda is Bakuda / Squealer and finally Wolfgar is Coil / Miss Militia, I think anyway.

    Brandon didn't have enough interaction but the similarity to Alicia whom obviously is Imp by way of Panacea would make it likely that he is supposed to be at least Grue, maybe cross with someone else but currently unknown. JP obviously is Regent being Quebecker and having the exact same name, but he seem to be more of an asshole and the whole razor thing make me think he might be supposed to be fused with Jack Slash, Rhonda being the rigger and the mention of either bomb or vehicles made me think Bakuda / Squealer, as for Wolfgar with the fact he is the boss, he find them missions, so he's obviously Coil, but the more hands on approach and all make me think he isn't a villain like Coil so likely Coil by way of Miss Militia, which would be the match better match for the whole Ex-Soldier type character.
     
    There is no travel back and forth.
    Minor spoiler, she is going to "convince" Leet to make her a caseless ammo machine in that caliber, (in my mind the AP3 is a .45 caliber handgun and most parts will cross with a Colt 1911 or the H&K USP) everything else is effectively static save maybe the smart glasses.

    Oh @Lydia Hood so close, yet so far. The next update will clarify some things, and probably raise more questions.
    The one thing I will say outright is that Wolfgar is not Coil in any way shape form or fashion. His. Character is one I played for over four RL years and through quite a bit of what preceded Taylor's arrival.
     
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