Anarchists Log - Feb. 27, 2018
In the recent troubles, there has been a clear enemy. They raided the AburEz, and they beat Magpie into submission (for stealing from them, but still). It seems they are gaining confidence, and becoming bolder. Inspection of the commlink taken off the mirror-eyed ganger in the last encounter reveals they are purchasing weapons from an unknown source.
The Security Team has determined it's time to deal with them. But how to find them? How to wipe them out or subdue them?
Further inspection of the pictures, videos, and contacts on the commlink gives the team contact information for their "good friend" Glacier - the only Vandal to make it out of the Magpie encounter alive.
Melon, with that kind of information, tracks down Glacier's location, and Tiku, with that information, is able to use Clairvoyance to get a look inside. He's holed up in a safehouse, with three other people - a friend he chats with, a silent Vandal with a fancy gun, and an apparently-drugged-out ganger passed out in the corner.
The team prepares and heads out in Tiku's truck, parking a couple blocks away, where they can observe. Curtains and poor angles prevent any visual scouting, but Melon is able to get some camera views, and a look at the security system, revealing a shock plate, but only a view of the front room on the first floor. However, he's noticed, and the gangers are preparing.
Juton heads around back, Kix and Tiku go to the front. Juton calls Glacier, and starts chanting in Or'zet - Glacier panics and throws his weapon out the window, as Juton runs up to and through a second-story window. Tiku's air spirit knocks ominously on the front door.
Once combat breaks loose, Melon notices a new device on the network - a combat drone. He immediately attempts to take control, but the ganger passed out in the corner turns out to be a security spider, currently in control of the drone, and perched on top of a hill with a mounted machine gun in its Matrix node.
Kix picks up Glacier's discarded weapon, and blows the hinges off the front door, letting the air spirit through to engulf Mr. Shiny Gun. A well-placed lighting bolt knocks him to his knees.
Juton, meanwhile, has found Thrasher upstairs. Finally seeing the massive Troll that Glacier was talking about, he wildly fires his pistol as the Troll charges - right through the front window, and to the street.
Glacier takes this chance to escape out the back, running for his life. He will be The Boy Who Lived
Meanwhile in VR, Melon has lobbed a couple biofeedback grenades into his foe's face and charged up the hill when the machine gun malfunctioned. His opponent, however, manifests a virtual machete, and cuts down Melon. In a last-ditch effort before going unconscious, Melon takes one last strike - and flat-out kills the enemy decker.
This leaves the Drone running on AI - and Kix in its sights. She had gone to the basement checking for additional enemies, but more importantly for loot. Instead, she found some full-auto machine gun fire, and took cover behind the boiler - a mistake, as the bullets pierced through and the steam added to her pain.
Desperate, she dove for the drone, attempting to shut it down - missing the first time. Relying on her reflexes, she scrambled back and cut off power, just as it was turning its sights on her one more time.
The Security Team managed to take one prisoner - Mr. Shiny Gun. Juton and Tiku took him to Magpie's old hideout, atop that broken and abandoned building. Juton held him over the edge, while Tiku asked for information - they got the name Squid, and they got the location of a Crimson Vandals hangout, and left the poor man to fend for himself on top of a building with no clear way down.
Kix and Melon, having dropped off their compatriots, took a rest and tended to the loot and their wounds. Esma made dinner and small talk with Melon until the rest of the team arrived, eating their fill and relaxing after a difficult day. Oddly, they find that the meal has healed those who were wounded - and after much running around, Tiku finds that Esma's whisk, inherited from her Grandmother, has magical properties. This will be explored more.
The recent behavior of the Vandals has the team worried - they seem more aggressive, and more armed. There has to be something going on, and the team means to find out - they get in touch with their various contacts, and they agree.
Something has to be done.
GM Notes: This was supposed to be less than half of what I had planned when the team went after Glacier. It was supposed to be this, and then going after the leader of the gang - now known as Squid. Due to the nature of Anarchy, though, the players introduced complications. Very cool.
I did a better job of letting the players carry the story, and it resulted in a very fun game, unlike most anything I've played before. I set up pins, and the players knock them down... with the rest of the bowling alley.
Esma didn't work out exactly as I planned, but her unknowingly being in possession of an enchanted item is interesting, and provides more room for exploration.
