Game #7 - WarCrimes must die!

WarCrimes must die!

Still with nowhere to work from safely, with the help of some infiltration by Spike, the Operators took over a Maelstrom RipperDoc as a base to work from.

They needed cash too, so Orphan and Medusa finally pulled off the Bank Job they’ve been planning for some time, with a little help from one-person celebrity distraction squad, GoGo.

With Eddies in their pocket and refreshed thanks to the gear stolen from Maelstrom they plotted their revenge.

A motley crew of allies were recruited for the fight with Maelstrom. Blackbeard’s Boys, who already had beef with them were eager to act as a distraction. Then The Faceless agreed to do the same, for a price, which most of the Operators have yet to ask about.

Most unlikely of all, The Inquisition told The Operators how to disrupt Maelstrom's comms when the time was right so WarCrimes couldn't call for aid. A targeted strike on the Social Platform Free.me was carried out, again with the help of one of its stars, the ever so distracting GoGo.

WarCrimes' ace card, his SpeedWare, ended up being his downfall. A raid on a Militech compound allowed them to use its tracking ID and the Operators waited until he was back within their reach to strike.

Now the Cybar is reclaimed and Adam back in charge but needs to be rebuilt, better than ever!

Even with all this going on, our more Corporate players had dealings with Carlos DeVega and found he was responsible for the awful fate of Emma Pendleton: she is now a mental slave in one of DeVega's drones-for-hire. Though they have never met her, some of the Operators have sworn bloody revenge for this.

Game 6 - Hit them where it hurts

Hit them where it hurts

Still reeling from being driven out of the Cybar, the Operators had recovered Adam from Maelstrom but were yet to find a new place to call home and are working out of a shack in Nomad territory.

Maelstrom have issued a ‘pogrom’ against Adam and the Cybar regulars meaning lots of their usual contacts and suppliers had been avoiding them.

This also means Maelstrom are in conflict with Scars Alice and her Nomad group meaning they are overextended.

Madusa had been investigating Maelstrom even prior to the recent clash and had a couple of options to hit them where it hurts.

Linears and Events of note

• Grab the Guns
• Low on cash and armaments the Operators raided a Maelstrom safe house, retrieving a much needed quantity of cash and guns.
• They also picked up a video message in a courier package meant for WarCrimes. Here Carlos DeVega offers Project Waterfall Assassin drones to WarCrimes for hire.
  
  
  
  
• Whats your best price?
• Anton, who'd previously been notable by his absence since the loss of the Cybar, appeared on the scene with ZeroDay.
• ZeroDay has come to call in the favour the Operators owe the Cybermancers from Game #5 for helping them recue Adam.
• Anton had some information on a Maelstrom Ripperdoc location that could be raided or perhaps somewhere WarCrimes was right now and could perhaps be taken down if they hurried.
• Opting to take a shot at the Maelstrom BossMan unfortunately the Operators were spotted and he escaped.
• Quid Pro Quo
• Having reluctantly given the Operators time to take a shot at WarCrimes, ZeroDay accompanied the Operators on a hacking raid against a Server Farm recently acquired by Architec. Due to a byzantine contractual dispute it is currently much less guarded than usual.
• Things got difficult and several Operators were captured by Corporate Police but most got away with the data.

Game 5 - Welcome to the Night Market

The Night Market

The Operators returned to the Cybar to conduct business as per usual little aware Maelstrom was about to steamroller them, claim the Cybar and surrounding territory capturing bar operator Adam in the process.

With the violent Boostergang looking to hunt them down, Ripperdoc Florence Nightingale led the Operators to the Night Market and under the Pax of Bogdan Mu where they would be temporarily safe and able to regroup.

Linears and Events of note

• Where the fuck is Alice?
• Matriarch of the Nomad pack whose territory the Cybar rests in, Scars Alice, has been unseen for days prompting worry that something was amiss. Scars reached out to Netrunner Chef informing him that she thinks Maelstrom are planning something big, perhaps a hit on her.
• School run
• Derek Wiseman, the Arasaka researcher working on Project Waterfall, who the Operators previously extracted was a 'hot potato' that needed moving on. At the request of Scars Alice several Operators escorted him to meet with The Sheriff, Enforcer for Bogdan Mu for a handover.
• En-route the Operators were accosted by several members of The Inquisition who would like a copy of 'At One With Body And Soul' which they believe one of the Operators stole, returned. The Operators claimed ignorance of this.
• Faceless Friends pt. 1
• Several Faceless entered the Cybar and Face of the Faceless demanded to know where the Operators acquired the Militech hardware they auctioned off in Game #3. As leverage they have footage of the raid on the Corporate Police where the Operators are clearly visible and Rusty killed 'well-liked' Maelstrom lieutenant 'Stacks Wylde' which they threatened to release by the end of the day.
• MaxTac don’t have jurisdiction here
• MaxTac don't bother with violence outside of 'nice' areas and recently a Cyberpsycho has been attacking people and retreating to a camp in the area near the Cybar. Anton arrived with an old fashioned kill bounty issued against the troublesome neighbour but the Operators found that more was going on than expected.
• Fuck You Pay Me!
• Back in Game #2, the Operators killed most of a Militech squad that unexpectedly arrived near the Cybar. Not sure what to do with the bodies they offloaded them to some people who dumped them on Blackbeard's Boys territory. The resultant heat has made Blackbeard unhappy. The Bosun came along demanding extra cash to make things right and a compromise was reached.
• Contested Ground
• On paper a good old fashioned paying job. With some kind of Corporate deal going down between SovOil and PlantPower, Anton offered the Operators big Eddies to intercept the document transfer and hand it over. Unfortunately a third party had also paid Maelstrom to do the same thing: there was chaos. It was at this point it was realised that Maelstrom were also in the midst of raiding the Cybar, grabbing Adam and depriving the Operators of their home base.

Events then shifted to the Night Market where the Operators were somewhat out of their comfort zone and dealing with new, bigger players.

• Welcome to the Jungle
• The operators were led to the Night Market by Florence Knightingale and allowed access on her boon. The Sheriff explained the rules and they began to work out what to do next.
• Faceless Friends pt. 2
• Several Faceless arrived and Face of the Faceless demanded again to know more about the missile auction and where the goods were acquired. Rebuffed by the Operators they set off to leak the incriminating videos.
• Meet the Cybermancer
• Renowned Cybermancer ZeroDay met with the Operator Netrunners and offered them information if they agreed to do a job for her.
• Nobody expects the fucking Inquisition
• Clarence Ruston the Noodle bar guy had a job for the Operators: a simple warehouse smash and grab, low risk, what could possibly go wrong.
• Only trouble was, the clients were The Inquisition. Who don't like the Operators. Luckily enough it passed off without violence.
• Hostile takeover
• ZeroDay came good with her offer of information, having dug out where Maelstrom were keeping Adam.
• A raid was planned and the Operators retrieved their friend who was being tortured to find out the locations of his assets and other information he's built up as a fixer over the years.

Game 4 - Waterfall

Waterfall

The Operators again returned to the Cybar to work deals and make some Eddies.

While there had been a big showdown with Maelstrom at the end of Game #3 after the Militech hardware auction didn't go WarCrimes' way everybody was back on their feet and ready for action.

Linears and Events of note

• Shady dealings
• Anton arranged a meeting between Orphan and the info broker Shades who might know more about how to get at Deutsche Allgemeine Distributed.
• Guilt trip
• A Nomad, Mary Goodheart, arrived at the Cybar asking if the operators knew of anybody that could investigate the bombing of their encampment. She had quite distressing pictures of the devastation.
• The Operators weren't very forthcoming and Goodheart began speaking to a group of Faceless that were also present.
• After Goodheart left with the Faceless the Operators came to the conclusion this might be related to the missile launch caused by them in the Militech raid in Game #2.
• Lost property
• A devotee of The Inquisition arrived at the Cybar asking for the return of a copy of their Holy Book 'At One with Body and Soul' which they believe the Operators have taken. The Operators denied any knowledge.
• Assault on Precinct 2077
• Adam tasked the players with extracting one of Scars Alice's Corporate informants, Derek Wiseman from Corporate Police custody. He is valuable to her and has access to information related to Project Waterfall.
• There was an intense gunfight with the deadlock being broken by Rusty and Spectrum engaging the guards with their new Cyber-enhanced strength, hand-to-hand. Carnage ensued.
• Along with Derek, a Maelstrom lieutenant, 'Stacks Wylde' was in the cells and he ended up dead.
• Once extracted, Derek explained that the information he was trying to exfiltrate was contained in the data banks of a new, terrifying, generation of bodyguard Drones he'd been working on at Arasaka. This is Project Waterfall. More Drones have been produced than are on the books and these are being siphoned off for sale on the black market. He provided the Operators with a means to track the Drones and hopefully recover the evidence.
• Plausible deniability
• Anton offered up another simple paying job doing a courier run for Petrochem.
• The Operators smartly avoided the opposing team sent to intercept the document case and delivered in double-quick time.
• Drones
• Unfortunately the Project Waterfall Assassin drones Derek spoke of tracked activity in the area to the Cybar and they arrived looking for him. Terrible things of Titanium, Composite and wielding monofilament blades. Perhaps they tracked the Operators on the Petrochem job, as normally Adam's Null Field keeps automated things away.
• Chaos ensued with many Operators seriously injured. Some played dead and some fled.

Game 3 - The best deal

The best deal

A large number of operators gathered at the Cybar, hoping to find out what was happening in the area.

This led to an auction and a gun deal, with a side order of personal deals going on.

Linears and Events of note

• Having stolen Militech missiles in Game #2 the hopeful operators arranged an auction of sorts.
• Bids came in from several fronts.
• Regular Fixer Anton
• Maelstrom bossman WarCrimes
• The Alchemist, a broker vouched for by Dodge
• Much to WarCrimes disgust the Operators sold to The Alchemist and he left threating consquences
• A fucking cheque???!!!
• Scars Alice has had a Bearer Bond worth significant figure in her possession but the issuing bank, Deutsche Allgemeine Distributed, won't convert it for somebody of her low creditworthiness. Seeing Henry Harcourt amongst the Operators she offered him a cut to go and 'cash the cheque'.
• Harcourt gather an escort of Operators and travelled to the nearest branch, in the midst of Maelstrom territory.
• A tense standoff occurred, given earlier events, but the Operators paid the toll and completed the transaction without drama.
• Millie’s millions
• When the Militech Patrol was wiped out in Game #2, one member 'Millie', swapped sides and joined the Operators.
• Millie had been looking for an out of her Corporate contract for some time and had a stash in the City she'd like to retrieve. She recruited a few Operators to go along.
• While there the Operators encountered The Inquisition for the first time: an evangelising  quasi-religious group opposed to CyberWare in all its forms.
• Unexpectedly the Operators killed the unarmed Inquisition members and took a copy of their Holy Book 'At One With Body And Soul'.
• Arms deal
• Adam recruited several Operators to do his regular arms supply run from his supplier Jimmy Five Fingers.
• It transpired the kit was hot and a group of Militech Enforcers were looking for him.
• The Operators discovered the Enforcers were morally flexible and for a small price got away without another round of confrontation with the Corporation.
• Missile Money
• The Operators travelled to deliver the Militech hardware to The Alchemist, as agreed.
• Fulfilling on earlier his threats, WarCrimes sent a mob of Maelstrom to intercept the hardware.
• A huge gunfight ensued and sadly the Operators were overwhelmed, with Maelstrom dragging away the spoils.
• This is the stuff blood feuds are made from in the Dark Future.

Game 2 - Life on the Edge

A Life on the Edge

Having earned a good reputation by helping out the Aldecaldos and freeing Komand, Anton arrived at the Cybar with a gift from the Nomads and a promise of work for the operators, especially the Netrunners.

Linears and Events of note

• Anton brokered a job from an investigative journalist was trying to dig up information on dodgy practices in the lucrative implants market
• There was a break-in and heist at Samson Components, where they harvested a load of data and took it back for handover.
• The Faceless
• A group of the Faceless appeared in the Cybar, looking for recruits.The Operators were highly sceptical but under the pax things passed off peacefully and while things were tense the Faceless seemed genuinely unthreatening, if unnnerving.
• Restock the Doc
• Florence Knightingale recruited several Operators to head to her usual supplier, one of Blackbeard's Boys and collect supplies, which passed off without incident.
• Squaddies ahoy
• With the Cybar operating a Null Field that disrupts communications and navigation it is extremely unlikely for anybody to find it unless shown the way. Nonetheless a large company of Militech Enforcers out on a training mission stumbled into it.
• Things were tense from the off, Militech should not know about the Cybar or have its existence noted anywhere.
• Not unexpectedly the Operators turned on the the Militech Enforcers.
• One Militech Enforcer, 'Millie', swapped sides.
• In the aftermath, unsure what to do with the bodies, the Operators paid some fisherman to get rid of them at sea.
• Smash and grab
• 'Millie' explained that she had been wanting to get out of a punitive Militech Contract for some time and that if the Operators helped her expunge her record then she'd lead them to a poorly guarded installation where choice military hardware was available for the taking. Access to Militech systems would also mean they could wipe the existence of the Cybar from the records.
• With the deal done a raid was planned on a Militech compound and on arrival there were a number of XK missiles sat for the taking, a real payday.
• The Operator Netrunners managed to bypass the anti-tamper on some of the XKs but one attempt failed and the missile was launched. What the pre-programmed strike co-ordinates are was not know but is certain to cause heat to somebody.

Game 1 - Welcome to the Cybar

Welcome to the Dark Future

Our story started at an Aldecaldos (Nomad family) gathering. There was talk that Matt Reacher one of the lead Scouts for the clan had made a discovery and time was of the essence to make the most of it.

What he'd found was a local Biotechnica site that had a damaged transport vehicle with a large collection of cyber limbs loaded waiting for shipping. These could get enough money to see the Nomads through the next few months. 

They put out a call for a Netrunner to break through the ICE and any security on the vehicle.

This was answered by Nolan P Cooper. He wanted access to Biotechnica for his own reasons and was willing to use the Nomads for security while he did. He had long been researching consciousness upload and had realised breaching one of their local research facilities would give him enough data access to make an attempt at digital immortality but it would mean leading the Nomads on a merry dance setting up the necessary data links.

Cooper's disruption of the first nodes’ data flow, flagged the interest of Biotechnica's area command program (Komand) which was looking for a trip in the opposite direction.

The Komand Program was a person who had their consciousness transferred to the net but then was reprogrammed to become the controller for Biotechnica security in the local area. Komand's reprogramming has been slipping and they have been trying to break out for a long time.

Only one transfer was possible in the time available and the operators were faced with a tricky decision.