Last night we returned to the Shadowrun game after a week layoff because I lost my voice. I had yet to decide what to do about the incident where the players over planned and then wantonly slaughtered some innocents to get their hands on a Knight Errant security vehicle so that they could pull her over in an official vehicle on the way to their first gig. The players had all read my blog by now and they were all expecting trouble. I decided to give it to them – there were a number of different ways I could handle this but in the end I decided to throw a “Troll Incident” response team at them inclusive of some of the better members of the force, a rigger in an MCT-Nissan Roto drone and a couple of special forces guys.
The players initially started by attempting to dismantle the assisted equipment in the car they had captured from the last game that was set up for Dwarves. Only problem being that none of them were overly mechanically minded or prepared with tools. I decided to make it a threshold two task with a 15 minute time frame to make it drivable with no negatives to the pool. They got only two successes and so they were to take the full 15 minutes or otherwise suffer a -2 to their pool in driving it. I had also decided that there was (a very generous may I add) 10 minute response time for Knight Errant to arrive and deal with the situation.
So it came to pass that the group heard sirens and decided to buy as much time as they could by sending their decker/samurai LJ forward to attempt to con them into believing that the action was elsewhere as he was dressed in a stolen Knight Errant outfit. He went forward and noted that there was (from the sound of it) more than one responder and they seemed to be laying down a net for the group. In fact he did so well he even heard the incoming drone and noted a turret on it as it flew over him. He had a short conversation with the cop in the lead car (Lieutenant Bakes) and warned the group as he decided the better part of valor was caution and continued to walk.
The group had no other option and they leaped into the two vehicles – the troll physical adept (Bulk) taking their van and the face (Big Mal) and the weapons specialist (Smokey) got in the cop car – Smokey actually got in the boot!
These responders were serious contenders. They were not your average Knight Errant Security personnel but elite responders. The group were going to have a rough time of it, but this would be expected in a situation where it was reported a rampaging Troll was on the scene and an assassin killing people from a rooftop taking out civilians. Not to mention the two reported Knight Errant officers killed by people impersonating Knight Errant officers. In fact, I probably should have thrown a full on tactical response team into the mix, it may have been very interesting.
Let us skim through the results;
- LJ got noticed by two special ops operatives behind the main melee. They had been tipped off by Officer Bakes that LJ was wearing the stolen uniform of a dead Knight Errant officer (see this post if you are confused). They saw LJ attempt to hide and got out to confront him. LJ attempted to resist but was beaten senseless as the two closed on him.
- Officer Bakes arrived just as Big Mal was trying to get the vehicle going under stress (his dice rolls were going poorly). Smokey took a couple of pot shots from the boot and so Officer Bakes opened up with full auto from an assault rifle and had Smokey pinned and injured in the back of the boot by the time that Bulk finished him off.
- Bulk leaped in the van as the drone arrived and warned them to give up. Seeing them not give up had the drone open up with full auto on the van and do some serious damage. Bulk was about to use the machine gun on the drone when Smokey took it out with a sniper rifle, causing a beautiful explosion as Officer Bakes opened up on him. Bulk turned the machine gun on Bakes and managed to bring him down after a couple of phases.
- The group then went to assist LJ and found him being bundled into the back of a security van. Big Mal and Smokey pulled up across the road and drew weapons. Bulk barreled past them in the van and ran them down. One of the two just took a glancing blow and rolled past the front of the van while the second took some serious damage as he went under the van. He managed to take a shot as Bulk put it in reverse to finish the job but Big Mal got in the final shot. The other special ops guy managed to get out of view and hide. He fought with Bulk as he rammed the van, managing to loose a full auto round into Bulk, who kept standing, and then took him down with a burst, exceeding Bulk’s condition monitor by one. He then got in the van trying to get away. The others thought he had managed it when the guy rolled a critical glitch trying to take a corner at speed. A tire ripped from the rim and he plowed into the corner of the building on the street. He was dealt with in short order after that.
The group thought they were doing poorly all night – but in fact they did very well against a tough group. These were not thugs with badges, these were getting to be among the best of the force that were not pure special ops only. I was really impressed with this. The group also realised that perhaps when they are attempting to take on a run that requires a kidnap that causing a commotion that brings attention city wide to their antics may not be the best way to go. Next week though we will see what happens. They are nearly out of edge and three of the group are in fact pretty badly damaged! It will be an interesting night next time!