Shadowrun Missions - A Holy Piece of Wetwork (Prime Mission 002)

PM002

Writing: Robert Loper

Shadowrun Developer: Jason M. Hardy

Art & Map: David Dotson

Layout & Design: Matt Heerdt

Missions Logo: Jeff Laubenstein, Matt Heerdt

Art Director: Brent Evans

Shadowrun Missions Developer: Ray Rigel

© 2016 The Topps Company, Inc. All rights reserved. Shadowrun and Matrix are registered trademarks and/or trademarks of The Topps Company, Inc., in the United States and/or other countries. Catalyst Game Labs and the Catalyst Game Labs logo are trademarks of InMediaRes Productions, LLC.

A CRUSADE IN DARKNESS AND FIRE Fringe’s astral self stared at the remnant of the vortex. It was dark and unholy, in stark contrast to the magical lodge around it. Even years of logic and study could not hold the line against the pure evil that had invaded the library. “Oh, frag, Mako. What have you stepped in?” Fringe manifested in the translucent image of a priest a few meters from the table that held the open hardcopy Sanskrit-to-English dictionary. “This guy Shaun’s girlfriend was kidnapped,” the shaman replied. “A team shot her, then burst in and took her and a jade cup. A magical artifact, as we understand it.” The priest shook his head solemnly. “You’re in for some serious trouble. The remnants of this astral rift lead to the home metaplane of the shedim, unholy spirits of pure death.” “I have a spirit searching for Kellan Colt as we speak. But I may need some help down the line. My guys aren’t packing the ordnance I’d like them to have.” “God go with you in your quest,” the priest said as he blessed the shaman and his team, if only in a spiritual sense. “You have my commcode. We haven’t always seen eye to eye, but we stand on the same side when true evil rears its head.”

Fringe sat at his usual spot at the bar at Stewie’s, a brewpub in the University Village shopping center that actually brewed a few of its own beers. He’d just ordered the loaded soychips when the commlink buzzed. “It’s Mako. We need an assist with a background count.” The cute ork, Alex, set down a saucer of soychips, and Fringe flashed her the too-frequent grimace that said he’d have to leave for a while. Alex also knew the tip would more than cover any inconvenience caused by his absence.

To say the fight was going poorly would be like comparing Mako’s team with the thugs in Karl Kombatmage’s last production. Mako was already down. Jones had just caught the jade cup in one hand, holding Kellan Colt across the other shoulder, after Auslander vaporized one of his comrades with a Powerbolt. Jones pumped his legs for all they were worth as more shots bounced ineffectually off Auslander. “Where are those grenades now?” Jones shouted. He made it to the van just as Auslander threw out the most powerful Toxic Wave spell Jones had ever seen ...

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Fringe awoke from his vision with a start. He’d been in the shadows long enough to see some truly disturbing things, but this shook even him. He crossed himself as he took in the sights of the old church and the angel of guidance that hovered in front of the altar. “Auslander must be destroyed,” Fringe heard the angel say, “Or he will rain death upon the world.” Fringe whispered the words in the foreign inscription around the jade cup in his hands: A Water Snake passes from the Ring of Fire, A mage’s blood fuels the Harvest’s End, A hallowed grave for unhallowed guests, In the pure the unpure rests. A holy crusade began to take shape in his mind: one he knew would involve a sacrifice of blood. “Now to find some crusaders,” he intoned as he flipped on his commlink.

A CRUSADE IN DARKNESS AND FIRE

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INTRODUCTION PM-02: A Holy Piece of Wetwork is a Shadowrun Missions living campaign adventure. Full information on the Shadowrun Missions living campaign is available at shadowruntabletop.com/Missions and includes a guide to creating Missions characters and a regularly updated FAQ. All maps, player handouts, and other playing aids are found at the end of this document.

PREPARING THE ADVENTURE PM-02: A Holy Piece of Wetwork is intended for use with Shadowrun, Fifth Edition, and all character and rules information refers to the fifth edition of the Shadowrun rules.

Adventure Structure PM-02: A Holy Piece of Wetwork consists of several scenes. These scenes form the basis of the adventure, which should be completed in approximately four hours. If you are running short on time, you should streamline each and be a little more generous with clues, target numbers, and other requirements to aid in guiding the players through the adventure. Each scene outlines the most likely sequence of events, as well as how to handle unexpected twists and turns that inevitably crop up. Each one contains the following subsections, providing gamemasters with all the information necessary to run it. Scan This provides a quick synopsis of the scene’s action, allowing you to get a feel for the encounter at a glance. Tell It to Them Straight is written to be read aloud to the players, describing what their characters experience upon entering the scene. You should feel free to modify the narrative as much as desired to suit the group and the situation, since the characters may arrive at the scene by different means or under different circumstances than the text assumes. Behind the Scenes covers the bulk of the scene, describing what’s happening, what the non-player characters are doing, how they will react to the player characters’ actions, and so forth. It also covers the setting of the encounter, going over environmental conditions and other properties of the location as well as providing any descriptions of important items. Pushing the Envelope looks at ways to make the encounter more challenging for experienced or powerful characters and other ways you can add some extra spice to the scene. This subsection should usually only be used for home games, or games where time is not a factor. At most convention and Open Play events, gamemasters should omit this

INTRODUCTION

information. It adds to the scene but does not contain important information. Debugging offers solutions to potential problems that may crop up during the encounter. While it’s impossible to foresee everything that a group of player characters might do, this section tries to anticipate common problems and other suggestions for dealing with them.

RUNNING THE ADVENTURE Gamemastering is more of an art than a science, and every gamemaster does things a bit differently. Use your own style when it comes to preparing and running the adventure and do whatever you feel is best to provide the best Shadowrun game you can for your players. Shadowrun Missions adventures are designed to run in a standard four-hour convention time slot. Please keep this in mind when running the adventure. You should leave at least 15–20 minutes at the end of the time slot to complete any necessary paperwork and pass out the players’ Debriefing Logs. (Make sure that you have enough copies of the Debriefing Log for this adventure to give one copy to each player after running the adventure.) This section offers some guidelines you may find useful in preparing to run PM-02: A Holy Piece of Wetwork (or any Shadowrun Missions adventure).

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Step 1: Read The Adventure Carefully read the adventure from beginning to end. Get a feel for the overall plot and what happens in each scene. That way, if something different happens, you won’t be caught off guard and you can adapt things smoothly.

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Step 2: Take Notes Take notes for yourself while reading through the adventure that you can refer to later on. Possible things to note include: major plot points (so you can see them all at a glance), the names of various non-player characters, possible problems you notice, situations where you think a particular character can shine and other things you’ll want to keep in mind while running the adventure.

CAST OF SHADOWS MAP DEBRIEFING LOG

Step 3: Know The Characters Prior to the start of the adventure, examine the PCs’ record sheets and Debriefing Logs for your reference and have basic information about their important abilities handy so you can refer to it during play. Also go over the characters and keep their previous events listed on the Debriefing Logs in mind when determining non-player character actions in various scenes if such a dynamic has been included.

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Step 4: Don’t Panic! Gamemastering involves juggling a lot of different things. Sometimes you drop the ball and forget something or you just make a mistake. It happens, don’t worry about it. Nobody is perfect all of the time and everybody makes mistakes. Just pick up from there and move on. Your players will understand and forget about it once you get back into the action.

Step 5: Challenge the Players Gamemasters should challenge the players but should generally not overwhelm them. This is not to say that games cannot be deadly. If the characters die through their own actions and repercussions of those actions, then so be it. But the idea is to challenge the players and their characters, not to bury them. If the enemies and challenges are too light for the characters present, then increase them. On the other hand, if the characters are badly outmatched by the enemies, then tone them down. Make things difficult but not impossible.

GENERAL ADVENTURE RULES Shadowrun Missions adventures use the rules presented in Shadowrun, Fifth Edition (SR5). Standard rules such as success tests, limits, glitches, critical successes, and other common mechanics are described in SR5 and are not repeated in this adventure. Please keep in mind when preparing for the adventure, that the PCs will not necessarily compose a balanced party. It’s entirely possible that the party will be made up entirely of technomancers or back-to-nature shamans. If the characters run into a brick wall because of such complications, show flexibility and use your best judgment in how you lead them back to the plot.

Non-Player Characters Non-player characters (NPCs) are essential to any adventure. They are the allies, antagonists, and background characters in the adventure that interact with the player characters. NPCs in this adventure have already been created and can be found throughout the adventure. Minor NPCs are found in the individual scene that they appear in, and generally have a brief write up, noting only their important skills and the gear they are carrying. Major NPCs can be found in the Cast of Shadows at the end of the adventure. They have more detailed write ups and include most of the skills and the gear they have access to.

INTRODUCTION

The NPCs in this adventure should generally stand up to the average player character but may need some adjustment to suit a particular group of characters, especially a more experienced and powerful group. The scenes and NPC descriptions offer tips on adjusting the NPCs to suit the abilities of the characters in your group. To adjust the power level of an NPC, refer to Helps and Hindrances, p. 378, SR5). Take the player characters’ abilities into consideration when assessing the NPCs in this adventure and modify them accordingly.

Mission Difficulty Gamemasters are encouraged to use their own judgment and to adjust the difficulty of the encounter to take into account the abilities of the players. If the players have no magical support, replace magical defenses with mundane ones. If the players are weak on combat, reduce the number of enemies by one or two. Conversely, if they’re steamrolling the opposition, add one or two enemies to the fight. Missions should be difficult and something of a challenge but should not be insurmountable. A simple method for adjusting difficulty is to simply increase the dice pools and Professional Ratings of the enemies. A simple +1 or +2 to all combat and defense tests gives enemies a minor boost in power, while a +3 or 4 will make them truly formidable. Adding to their Professional Rating will give them a larger group Edge pool to draw from, and gamemasters are encourage to use this Edge when logical. Often a combat scene will tell you if it’s supposed to be challenging or is simply there to serve as filler or a minor obstacle that the players should steamroll through. When possible, use this as a guide to know when to tweak the enemies and encounters. If it doesn’t say, assume the scene should present a challenge to the power levels of the players.

A Note on Loot and Looting Gamemasters should be careful what they allow players access to, because they can and will try to steal everything not nailed down (and even then, they often have pry bars and claw hammers to deal with those nails). Shadowrun Missions operate under the assumption that two players who have run the same missions will have roughly the same amount of resources available to them (give or take some negotiation and a little bit of minor loot fenced), so when players are able to steal and fence a lot of gear or are able to get their hands on high-priced vehicles, cyberdecks, or foci, it can unbalance the game and make it unfair to players who didn’t have the opportunity to get those items. Gamemasters should avoid letting the players get into a position to do high-value looting whenever possible.

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BACKGROUND COUNTS Background counts impose a negative dice pool penalty equal to their rating for all tests that are linked to or utilize magic in any way (i.e., spellcasting, summoning, assensing, any test made while astrally projecting, and any active skill that benefits from active adept powers such as killing hands, critical strike, great leap, or improved skills, etc). Dualnatured creatures and spirits suffer this penalty to all actions. Aspected background counts grant a boost to any limit that utilizes magic in any way (see above) to any metahuman, spirit, or dual-natured creature that matches the aspected domain. This includes spellcasting Force limits, so spellcasters need to be careful as it can be hard to control the additional surge of mana. Any magically active being that does not match the aspected domain should treat this as a normal background count and suffer penalties. Background counts above 12 are called either a flux (for aspected domains) or a void (for magically dead zones), and are very dangerous. Any being that is magically or astrally active in any way (dual natured, astrally perceiving, casting a spell, has an active adept power, has an active focus, etc.) takes background count – 12 unresisted Stun Damage each turn that they are active and exposed to the flux or void.

Paperwork After running a Shadowrun Missions adventure, there are several important pieces of paperwork that need to be filled out. The first is to make certain to distribute a copy of the adventure’s Debriefing Log to each player. As the gamemaster, please make certain to fill this out and sign off on it for each character. In the interests of time, you may have each player fill out the sections, with appropriate values that you give them. Please consider the PCs’ actions in the scenario when providing Reputation modifiers, per those rules (p. 372, SR5). The second is to make sure that all players have updated their character’s Mission Calendar. PCs are allowed to go on one run per week. The calendar is used to track the character’s monthly lifestyle expenses, adventures, and their downtime exploits.

Mission Synopsis About four years ago, a Master Shedim plagued the town of Neah Bay (CMP 2010-04 Humanitarian Aid, which is found in Sprawl Wilds). The Master Shedim possessed the body of Dr. Auslander, who worked in the local hospital. Horizon hired a runner team to re-

MISSION SYNOPSIS

cover several thousand doses of antivirals intended to inoculate the population against a Hantavirus outbreak, but the runners found something more. In an extremely tough fight, the runner team killed Dr. Auslander’s body and disrupted the Master Shedim possessing him. Two years ago, Kellan Colt and Dr. Fiona Craig found the latest of many artifacts, a jade cup, at a dig on a tiny island in the South Pacific. They smuggled the artifact into Seattle and an unidentified runner team kidnapped Kellan and stole the cup (SRM 04-10 Romero and Juliette and Juliet). During the kidnapping, a bit of Kellan’s blood was spilled into the jade cup and a gateway opened to the metaplane of the shedim. The kidnappers delivered Kellan and the cup to Auslander, who double-crossed the kidnappers and nearly wiped them out. Kellan’s boyfriend, Shaun Davies, hired a runner team to recover Kellan and the artifact. The runners tracked Auslander to Cypress Lawn Memorial Park, a cemetery near Everett Beacon Mall (p. 84, Seattle 2072). Auslander nearly exterminated the runners, but they finally disrupted him and recovered Kellan and the jade cup. However, the cup still represents a potential link for Auslander to return to this world under the right conditions. A few weeks ago, Fringe had a vision of Auslander returning and raining death upon the world. He came into possession of the jade cup during SRM 06-06 Falling Angels, during which a shadowrunner team fought Auslander (whom the Ancients called “The Bishop” in that mission), Altar Boy, and a shedim-possessed Samantha (from SRM 5A-01 Chasin’ the Wind). After this encounter, Fringe put the word out that he was looking for a group of Prime Runners for an incredibly dangerous mission. His intent is for the runners to assault the home metaplane of the shedim and to destroy the master shedim Auslander once and for all. This quest has dual purposes: to destroy Auslander and to seal off the metaplanar link the jade cup represents. This mission begins with the runners meeting Fringe at Saint Mark’s Cathedral in Seattle (Scene 1: Once More Unto the Breach). Fringe tells them of his mad plan to send them to Auslander’s home metaplane to exterminate him once and for all. The cost of this plan is Fringe’s life, to be expended in a blood ritual designed to open a gateway to get them there and back. Once the plan is in motion, the runners are transported through the gateway and arrive—back in Saint Mark’s (Scene 2: Break on Through)—where they meet a Shadow Spirit impersonating Serenity and trying to convince them they’re back home, and possibly that the ritual failed and they have to go again. After they’ve dealt with the faux Serenity, the next step in their quest is to make it to Auslander’s home, which means making it past a possessed feathered serpent (Scene 3: Exit Thy House of Pain) and assaulting a shedim-guarded black castle (Scene 4: Assault on the

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Hidden Fortress). In these two scenes, Matrix-capable runners may find their skills grant unusual potency to the team as even the non-technological beings in this realm have “Matrix” presences and there is no GOD to converge on their activities. Finally comes the assault on Auslander himself (Scene 5: Into the Heart of Death). The increasing background count, slowly fading ritual, and the power of Auslander’s throne to siphon life energy from intruders within the throne room compounds the difficulty. Once the runners defeat Auslander, all that remains is for them to return home (Scene 6: Phone Home).

Scene 1:

ONCE MORE UNTO THE BREACH Scan This In this scene, the runners’ respective fixers contact them with a job from Fringe, a former shadowrunner and a powerful magician.

Tell It to Them Straight Saint Mark’s Cathedral is one of the oldest churches in the Seattle Metroplex. Although the exterior has seen better days, assuming it was finished at all, it’s still impressive in the sunset sky. However, the grand Byzantine-style interior strikes you as an unusual place to hold a meet. Candles are lit around the sanctuary and incense lingers in the air. In the floor’s center, in front of the altar, is the pattern of a labyrinth, inlaid in tiles upon the floor. Standing at the mouth of the tile labyrinth is the priest who must be the Johnson your fixer said you’d meet. The priest is a male elf in full vestments, with skin that glows almost as if his soul were trying to light the room. The jade chalice in his hands does give you pause, however. “Thank you for coming so quickly and for coming prepared.” The priest projects his voice to fill the space, with the practice of a preacher who is accustomed to this church. “Your fixers no doubt told you the quest at hand would be perilous.” “My street name is Fringe and I would like to hire you for a holy crusade. The quest must depart immediately, and it will be hazardous. I offer each questor 25,000 nuyen for completion, all in advance. If you would like to step out to the narthex (the lobby of the church, outside the sanctuary) to discuss your arrangements

or to ask around about me, I’ll give you a few minutes while I make the rest of my preparations. If, in a few minutes you decide to leave, I will give you 1,000 nuyen for listening to what might have seemed like the ravings of a madman.”

Read this after the runners have finished their negotiation and had a chance to consult their contacts: “As I’ve said, the quest is perilous. Some of you may recognize the chalice I’m holding as the jade cup which allowed the master shedim, Auslander, to open a gateway for his minions to enter Seattle a couple years ago and to enter Chicago more recently. Auslander was released from ancient imprisonment during an archaeological expedition in Neah Bay about four years ago, and his evil has grown stronger ever since. He came back after being disrupted to cause more death, and that’s just since his recent release. I have received divine warning that Auslander’s continued existence endangers the world, so the objective of this holy crusade is to destroy him. In order to do so, you must hunt him down on his home metaplane and kill him.” Fringe sets the cup down in the center of the tile labyrinth next to a scalpel. Then he sets down several credsticks at the entrance to the labyrinth. “Transporting you physically to another metaplane ordinarily would be impossible, but Auslander has provided the door in the form of the chalice. I will hack the mystical lock, if you will, and allow the door to swing both ways. The door will remain open until sunrise, so set a timer. At sunrise the door relocks forever, and that’s another reason for this quest: to destroy the metaplanar link represented by this cup. The reason I paid you in advance? Hacking the mystical lock requires a blood sacrifice, and that sacrifice will be me—I can ask no other. By sunrise, I will be dead and I hope Auslander will be destroyed as well. The chalice will be destroyed in this ritual, so there are no second chances. Does that sound mad enough for you?”

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When the runners are ready to begin: Fringe bows his head as if to pray. “Serenity, the time is near. I pray for your aid one last time.” The air in the sanctuary becomes noticeably warmer as a fire spirit appears, taking the form of a female angel with six fiery wings. She and Fringe have a brief but solemn conversation in a foreign language. “This is Serenity, one of the Seraphim,” Fringe says to you. “She’ll stand watch over the doorway until sunrise and rain down the fiery wrath of God upon any except you who attempt to enter or leave through the doorway.” Fringe begins walking the labyrinth. “Wait five minutes, then follow me. You may take anything you can carry. Your mind and the ritual will translate it as appropriate into the next world.” As he walks the labyrinth, he begins chanting in the same foreign language. As the five-minute mark approaches, he reaches the center and kneels in front of the chalice. He picks up the scalpel and carves a small cross into his forehead, chest, and each shoulder. As the first drop of blood hits the jade chalice, the air around the labyrinth begins to shimmer like a mirage. As you walk the labyrinth, the church fades away…

Behind the Scenes Fringe (see Cast of Shadows) contacted the runners’ respective fixers with the promise of a lucrative but hazardous job. He told their fixers to tell them to come prepared for action, so the runners should have access to their gear. The meet takes place at sunset and the run must be completed by sunrise. For outof-town runners, Fringe called in every last favor due him to make sure these Prime Runners arrived with whatever gear they own. Although runners aren’t able to take vehicles, they should be able to take any drones they have. If the runners ask why deckers or technomancers have been hired, Fringe responds that the metaplanes work differently from this world. He wants to hire the most diverse team he can find, and it’s possible some Matrix skills may find atypical uses on this quest (which is true, as they find in Scene 3: Exit Thy House of Pain). Fringe intends for the runners to assault the home metaplane of the shedim and assassinate the master shedim Auslander. (Runners may remember Auslander if they played either CMP 2010-04 Humanitarian Aid,

SRM 04-10 Romero and Juliette and Juliet, or SRM 06-06 Falling Angels.) He offers the runners 25,000 nuyen each, plus 1,000 nuyen per hit (max 5) on a Negotiation + Charisma [Social] Test. Normally the negotiation would be an Opposed Test, but Fringe dislikes haggling the price for what he regards as a just cause, so he has no problem paying them the maximum amount for what he knows to be a perilous mission. Runners will no doubt be shocked (or suspicious) at an offer to pay everything up front, so they should have the opportunity to ask their contacts about their Mr. Johnson. It is possible the runners may attempt to talk Fringe out of the ritual or that one of them requests to take his place, especially if one or more of them has Fringe as a contact. However, Fringe’s purpose is fixed on performing this ritual as he has described and he is not swayed easily; this is the one instance in which he might bring his full charisma to bear. A capable face may convince him to let one of the runners be the sacrifice instead (by succeeding on an Etiquette + Charisma [Social] (5) Test), but Fringe accepts no significant delay in the ritual and the ritual requires a sacrifice. In any case, the sacrifice must be willing to die for the ritual. Gamemasters should strongly emphasize this to the player of any runner seriously considering substituting as the sacrifice—the sacrificed person dies, period. The individual may not and cannot burn Edge to be Not Dead Yet (p. 57, SR5), as this would reflect an unwillingness to die. Saint Mark’s Cathedral has a Background Count of 3, aspected towards the Christian Theurgy tradition. During this scene, Fringe and Serenity (see Cast of Shadows) speak in New Testament era Greek. Should a runner know the language (or contemporary Greek with a Greek + Intuition [Mental] (2) Test), they understand the conversation, in which Fringe thanks Serenity for her frequent service and she agrees to stand watch over the “doorway” as her final service. As Fringe walks the labyrinth, he says a part of the Mass. Once the air around the labyrinth begins to shimmer, the labyrinth becomes a temporary Astral Rift (p. 28, Street Grimoire), except it transports people and things physically between this world and the shedim’s metaplane. For good or ill, the astral rift bypasses the Dweller on the Threshold. When the doorway closes at sunrise, Fringe vanishes with it, leaving behind only dust and a few spatters of blood. Once the runners enter, proceed to Scene 2: Break on Through.

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Pushing the Envelope If you have time for an additional run leading up to this, have Fringe hire the group to steal the jade cup. This should be a straightforward run against a secure storage facility owned by some middlemen who bought the cup from a runner team who recovered it from Chi-

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cago (an alternate but not game-changing sequence of events in the background of SRM 06-06 Falling Angels). If you prefer a little more roleplaying and have the time, you could treat this particular astral rift as not bypassing the Dweller on the Threshold. All bets are off with this rift. In this case, the runners would have to deal with the Dweller on the Threshold (p. 317, SR5). Beware however, this encounter requires a fair amount of additional prep time because you have to know enough of your runners’ secrets to bare them for all and make them all uncomfortable. The Dweller can take any form you care to use, especially those forms appropriate to counterpoint the runners’ negative qualities (examples include a bar or drug dealer for runners with Addiction, members of the target group for runners with Prejudiced, task challenges targeting runners with Incompetent, government or corporate officials for runners with SINner, or spirits of the appropriate type for runners with Spirit Bane). Runners who frequently abuse their summoned spirits should come under a special kind of microscope from the Dweller. Be tough but forgiving, though; the purpose of the Dweller is not to smack down metaplanar questors but to act as an impetus for self-examination.

Debugging By now every runner should have at least one fixer or talismonger contact. If, for some reason, a runner has

ASSENSING FRINGE’S AURA Assensing Fringe requires an Opposed Assensing + Intuition [Astral] Test with the number of net hits determining what the runner finds out. The table below assumes Fringe opposes the roll by buying 4 hits (Magic 10 + Initiate Grade 8) with Masking metamagic. Hits 0 - 4

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6 7 8

Information Gained Fringe is a mundane. He is generally healthy but has a strange emotional state, as if he sees the rest of his life laid out before him. Fringe is Awakened and has two foci and seven quickened spells active. He has no implants. He is also currently assensing. Fringe is an initiated magician of the Christian Theurgy tradition. Whether Fringe’s Essence and Magic are higher, lower, or equal to those of the viewer. Fringe is a Grade 8 Initiate and has Magic 10 and Essence 6.

no contacts appropriate for getting work, you can start by having another fixer recommend him/her (or call by mistake). If all else fails, Fringe does the legwork and calls the runner himself. It is possible the runners think Fringe is a madman, charlatan, or something worse, and refuse the job outright. If that happens, the runners hear the next day that St. Mark’s Cathedral was burned to its foundation before firefighters could put out the flames and Knight Errant is out to question the runners. Should the runners turn violent, their first hit on Fringe starts the ritual as his blood hits the jade cup (or Fringe starts the ritual on his first action), and he disappears

JACKPOINT SEARCH PROFILE

SAINT MARK’S CATHEDRAL 1551 10th Ave. E., Seattle, WA 98102 Saint Mark’s Cathedral is the cathedral of the Episcopal Diocese of Olympia, the region of the Episcopal Church governing the Seattle Metroplex. It once governed church activities in Western Washington, everything west of the Cascade Range, but that changed when much of that region became part of the NAN. Dedicated in 1931, it is one of the oldest churches still standing in the Metroplex (and the oldest remaining Episcopal Church building). The building stands atop a steep cliff overlooking Lakeview Boulevard East below via a wooded hillside known as the St. Mark’s Greenbelt. The bishop, the Very Reverend Malcolm Shelton, was elected to the diocese and consecrated as bishop in 2065.

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Be careful using the trails in the Greenbelt at night. They’ve long been overgrown with holly, ivy, and paranormal plants. Fraguar Word in the shadows is that Bishop Shelton is an old friend of Fringe, despite Fringe’s falling-out with the Episcopal Church when he SURGEd back in the ‘60s. For some reason, the bishop has given Fringe the run of the church for one night coming up soon in exchange for an unnamed favor. Engel

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This place has been under the financial axe several times in its history.The building was foreclosed not long after it was built, but a deal was struck that allowed the church to repay the mortgage and reclaim the grounds and building. The parish has been cycling in and out of default on its mortgage for close to a decade, following a hard recovery after the SURGE hit. The mortgage was paid off last week by an unnamed party. Sasha

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through the gateway as he makes a last-ditch effort to complete the quest himself. As with the job refusal, in this case the church burns down and KE starts looking for the runners.

Scene 2:

BREAK ON THROUGH Scan This In this scene, the runners get their first taste of the shedim’s home metaplane. They have to be careful here, because this scene is a mind-frag designed to send them back home before their quest really gets going.

Tell It to Them Straight As you walk the labyrinth, the church fades away… You wander through energy fields that look like a special effects designer’s BTL-trip for what feels like hours. Then the labyrinth fades back into view and you’re back at Saint Mark’s Cathedral. It’s like you just walked through a waterfall in the middle of a church and nothing happened, except now there is some light coming in from the other side of the church. There are probably only a few minutes before sunrise. You see a crumpled and bloodied pile of clerical vestments in front of the labyrinth. “The questors have completed their quest,” Serenity says from the back of the sanctuary.

Behind the Scenes In this scene, the runners have indeed crossed over to the metaplane of the shedim, but “Serenity” attempts to convince them that they’re back where they started. She attempts to distract them from their quest, or get them to reveal information, but in a pinch she tries to get them to dash back through the portal before it closes (recall from Scene 1: Once More Unto the Breach that the portal would only be open until sunrise). If the runners complain about having no time to resume their quest because the ritual is supposed to end at sunrise, “Serenity” suggests that perhaps one of them could volunteer as a sacrifice to extend the ritual until the next sunset. This “Serenity” is a Force 8 free spirit of fire who appears in a similar form using the Realistic Form power; runners must make a Perception + Intuition [Mental] (5) Test to see through the physical disguise. She’s also using Aura Masking to appear as a fire angel; a runner needs an Assensing + Intuition [Astral] (5) Test (corre-

HOME METAPLANE OF THE SHEDIM Not much is known about the home of the shedim, because no one has visited and returned to tell the tale. All that is known is this is a place of evil and death. During this mission, most scenes have a shedimaspected background count whose effect on the runners is mostly neutralized by the lingering effects of the ritual that brought them here. As time goes on (as the scenes progress), the ritual’s effects begin to fade, and the runners are subjected to the background count’s higher levels. Throughout this metaplane (except in Scene 5: Into the Heart of Death), the shedim benefit from an aspected background count of 3. (Note that the only benefit of an aspected background count is an increase in Magic-linked limits; there is no dice pool bonus.) Any shedim encountered here should be treated as manifested spirits who do not suffer from their Evanescence weakness. In this scene, the background count neither helps nor hinders the runners nor the shadow spirit, except that it penalizes Assensing Tests (p. 32, Street Grimoire).

USING THE MATRIX There is no larger Matrix in this metaplane, but that means there is no GOD or demigod here, so there is no risk of convergence. Hacking and other methods that appear normal to the runners can affect some security devices. Most locked doors appear as if they have maglocks, and there are watcher spirits which can be accessed in this metaplane as if they were wireless-enabled cameras. Since there is no larger Matrix, hackers must connect directly with any device they wish to hack, which may limit their range (see p. 231, SR5 for Noise related to distance to the target).

sponding to 2 net hits on the Assensing Table, assuming Serenity buys hits on the Opposing Test, p. 313, SR5) to see in the astral that this is anyone other than “Serenity.” Note also the –3 dice penalty to Assensing Tests from the background count (if the runners examine the background count in detail, the difference in aspect may provide a clue something is amiss). Finally, “Serenity” is attempting to Con the runners; a runner can see through the lies with a Con + Charisma [Social] (4) Test (to oppose the Con) or a Charisma + Intuition (4) Test (using Judge Intentions). The most likely scenario is that the best social character should get some screen time as the group realizes

SCENE 2: BREAK ON THROUGH

COVER A CRUSADE IN DARKNESS AND FIRE INTRODUCTION MISSION SYNOPSIS SCENE 1 SCENE 2 SCENE 3 SCENE 4 SCENE 5 SCENE 6 PICKING UP THE PIECES LEGWORK CAST OF SHADOWS MAP DEBRIEFING LOG

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what’s really going on. “Serenity” uses the Fear and Influence spirit powers as appropriate to keep the runners on their heels during this scene, subtly at first in order to reinforce the con, but when it looks like the runners are figuring things out, she uses those powers to their full disruptive effect. It is unlikely she makes any use of the Energy Drain power because it takes minutes and the target must be willing, unconscious, or under her Influence power. Once the runners escape or defeat “Serenity,” proceed to Scene 3: Exit Thy House of Pain.

“SERENITY” (NIGHTMARE/SHADOW SPIRIT) B

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Pushing the Envelope Don’t push the envelope too much here, because the challenge has only just begun. If you do want to ramp up the threat (and take more time), the pile of clerical vestments can rise as the Altar Boy (from SRM 06-03 Ancient Rumblings and SRM 06-06 Falling Angels), but this would push the scene towards an all-out combat. This encounter really should be more of a social scene, with the social characters deducing through the conversation that something is wrong. One could also run this scene as an examination by the Dweller on the Threshold (p. 317, SR5).

COVER

THE ALTAR BOY Use The Altar Boy only if you’re using the fully-loaded Pushing the Envelope. The Altar Boy is a young boy about fourteen years old. He is handsome, almost “pretty,” and here he wears the same clerical vestments Fringe wore in Scene 1: Once More Unto the Breach. He has a strange vibe about him that creeps most people out, as the runners may have found if they encountered him in SRM 06-03 Ancient Rumblings or SRM 06-06 Falling Angels. The Altar Boy is a mystic adept possessed by a Force 8 Shedim Master. B

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Initiative: 19 + 1D6 Condition Monitor (P/S): 11/13 Limits: Physical 10, Mental 12, Social 11 Armor: 20 (4 from Mystic Armor +16 from Immunity to Normal Weapons) Skills: Assensing 8, Astral Combat 8, Athletics skill group 8, Close Combat skill group 8, Counterspelling 8, Perception 8, Spellcasting 8, Stealth skill group 8 Qualities: Ambidextrous, Focused Concentration (6), Mystic Adept Power Points (6) Martial Art Styles: Kenjutsu (Iaijutsu, Multiple Opponent Combat, Multiple Opponent Defense (Friends in Melee)) Adept Powers: Combat Sense 1, Critical Strike (Blades), Danger Sense 2, Enhanced Accuracy (Blades), Improved Ability (Blades) 2, Improved Sense (Ultrasound Sensor), Mystic Armor 4, Plague Cloud, Wall Running Spells: Ball Lightning, Decrease Charisma, Decrease Strength, Foreboding, Improved Invisibility, Increase Reflexes, Levitate, Lightning Bolt, Physical Barrier, Swarm Powers: Astral Form, Astral Gateway, Aura Masking, Banishing Resistance, Compulsion, Deathly Aura, Energy Drain (Karma, Touch range, Physical damage), Fear, Immunity (Age, Pathogens, Toxins), Immunity to Normal Weapons, Possession (Dead or Abandoned Vessels), Regeneration, Sapience, Shadow Cloak, Spirit Pact Optional Powers: Accident, Search, Silence Weapons: Katana [Blade, Acc 8, Reach 1, DV 11P, AP –3] Unarmed strike [Unarmed, Acc 10, Reach —, DV 7S, AP —]

SCENE 2: BREAK ON THROUGH

A CRUSADE IN DARKNESS AND FIRE INTRODUCTION MISSION SYNOPSIS SCENE 1 SCENE 2 SCENE 3 SCENE 4 SCENE 5 SCENE 6 PICKING UP THE PIECES LEGWORK CAST OF SHADOWS MAP DEBRIEFING LOG

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COVER A CRUSADE IN DARKNESS AND FIRE INTRODUCTION MISSION SYNOPSIS SCENE 1 SCENE 2 SCENE 3 SCENE 4 SCENE 5 SCENE 6

Debugging If the runners have a hard time figuring out the con, have “Serenity” begin to say darker and darker things, encouraging them to give themselves up as blood sacrifices and, in general, doing very un-angelic things. This scene is not meant to kill the group but rather to soften the runners up with a nice mind-frag and perhaps to deny weak-willed teams altogether. If the runners use the gateway, they end up back in the real Saint Mark’s Cathedral at around midnight. They can still rejoin the quest and seeing both sides of the gateway might give them some helpful information. If the runners leave altogether, the quest fails and they count as having betrayed Fringe (see Picking up the Pieces). The runners hear the next day that St. Mark’s Cathedral was burned to its foundation before firefighters could put out the flames and Knight Errant is out to question the runners.

Scene 3:

EXIT THY HOUSE OF PAIN Scan This Once the runners overcome or escape the faux “Serenity,” they have to get out of the cathedral to proceed on their quest.

Tell It to Them Straight Now that you have overcome (or escaped) the angel of fire, the cathedral falls silent. You get a bad feeling about this, like the situation could change once you open the door to continue on your quest, but there is the labyrinth inlaid in the tile floor. A fiery but faint human-sized thing hovers intangibly in the shimmering air above the labyrinth. You hope this is the return gate to get you home at the end of your quest.

SCENE 3: EXIT THY HOUSE OF PAIN

PICKING UP THE PIECES LEGWORK CAST OF SHADOWS MAP DEBRIEFING LOG

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When the runners get to the narthex, read this: Through the main doors you see a stone pathway leading uphill to a castle so dark your eyes hardly want to look at it. As the cathedral doors open, you feel as though you’re walking through a mass grave as the stench of rotting corpses hits your nostrils and tugs at your soul. Flying above the path is what once might have been a dragon, but now its rotten scales and feathers barely stick to its bones.

Behind the Scenes Once the runners get out on the path, they must find some way around (or through) the pathway’s guardian, a feathered serpent whom a Force 6 shedim possessed. Fortunately for the runners, most of the dragon’s magical powers went away when it died and it’s “just” a possessed dragon. The dragon should stick around for one Combat Turn at most, and then it flies away to warn the fortress’s occupants (see Scene 4: Assault on the Hidden Fortress). This scene is the first where a hacker could shine. A successful Matrix Perception action indicates a persona corresponding to the feathered serpent; Matrix attributes are included in the stat block.

Pushing the Envelope It’s possible the runners decide to investigate the entire building. Where the basement would be is instead an Inquisition-era torture chamber with a dozen racks lining the walls. A number equal to the number of runners are empty; the rest contain humans and elves (in roughly equal numbers), chained and with dark fluids being fed to them intravenously. These people claim to be questors who came long ago, were captured, and are now being kept barely alive to suffer forever. If freed, the people are unable to contribute to the quest, barely know where they are, and don’t know how long they’ve been there. If questioned in detail, the “current events” they claim to remember from before their quest include the aftermath of the Awakening and the French church’s break from the Roman Catholic Church over the status of metahumans in the church (pp. 2223, Sixth World Almanac). They claim to have been sent on a quest from a priest called Father Johnson (they describe Fringe). If the runners make a Logic + Willpower (3) Test or a History (SURGE) + Logic [Mental] (1) Test, they remember Fringe’s glowing skin is a form of the Glamour ability that came about only after The Year of the Comet (2061).

COVER

SHEDIM-POSSESSED FEATHERED SERPENT Force 6 Shedim possessing a feathered serpent (p. 407, SR5). Matrix stats are included for the persona corresponding to this creature in this metaplane, and it shares a single condition monitor for physical, astral, and Matrix damage. B

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Initiative: 19 + 2D6 Condition Monitor (P/S): 17/11 Limits: Physical 33, Mental 8, Social 8 Armor: 18 (physical), 6 (mystic), both hardened Skills: Assensing 6, Astral Combat 6, Cracking skill group 3*, Electronics skill group 3*, Exotic Ranged Weapon 6, Perception 6, Unarmed Combat 6 (*these skills only apply in this metaplane) Powers: Astral Form, Deathly Aura, Elemental Attack (Fire), Energy Drain (Karma, Touch range, Physical damage), Enhanced Senses (Smell, Low-Light Vision, Thermographic Vision, Wide-Band Hearing), Fear, Hardened Armor (BOD), Hardened Mystic Armor (WIL), Immunity (Age, Pathogens, Toxins), Paralyzing Touch, Possession (Dead or Abandoned Vessels), Natural Weapon (Bite/Claws), Sapience Weapons: Elemental Attack (Fire) [Exotic Ranged Weapon, Acc 33, DV 12P (fire), AP –6, Range 6/12/18/24] Bite/Claws [Unarmed Combat, Acc 33, Reach 2, DV 35P, AP –4]

CURRENT BACKGROUND COUNT In this scene, an effective background count of 1 leaks through the protection of the ritual to hinder the runners. The full background count of 3 counts as a visibility penalty to Assensing Tests (p. 32, Street Grimoire). See Scene 2: Break on Through for continuing background count effects and how to use the Matrix.

SCENE 3: EXIT THY HOUSE OF PAIN

A CRUSADE IN DARKNESS AND FIRE INTRODUCTION MISSION SYNOPSIS SCENE 1 SCENE 2 SCENE 3 SCENE 4 SCENE 5 SCENE 6 PICKING UP THE PIECES LEGWORK CAST OF SHADOWS MAP DEBRIEFING LOG

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Actually, the people are Force 6 shedim. If the runners drag them along, they are worse than useless when they hit Scene 5: Into the Heart of Death: they turn on the runners at that point. If the runners send them “home” (through the gate in the lobby), Serenity kills them (as Fringe explained she would).

Debugging This scene really shouldn’t take long in a convention setting; the last two scenes likely will take at least half of a four-hour slot. The worst that can go wrong in this scene is the runners get bogged down and fight the shedim in the basement. If that happens, have some of the shedim make a break for the gate and let the runners see just enough through the shimmering that they know Serenity killed them.

Scene 4:

ASSAULT ON THE HIDDEN FORTRESS Scan This In this scene, the runners plan and execute their assault on Auslander’s fortress.

Tell It to Them Straight Now that the dragon is dealt with, all you have to do is assault an alerted fortress full of shedim. Wiz. As you look closer, you see gargoyles hanging on the walls, their heads swiveling back and forth. They give off the same sickly evil as the rest of the castle, but something seems oddly technological about them. Maybe the ritual that got you here is still doing its job. At least your mages aren’t feeling the same weakening they would expect in this environment.

As they enter the castle, read this: As the double doors part in front of you, a deeper blast of that lovely stench hits you, pulling stronger at your soul. Along with it are a number of dark and decaying knights, charging to engage you in combat.

As they enter the courtyard, read this: Dread crosses your soul as you round the corner. Here is a courtyard, open to the sky, with inky darkness falling like rain onto piles of skulls arranged in rows as if some demented gardener tended the place. The skull atop each pile stares at you. On the other side of the courtyard is another set of double doors, jet black, flanked by two motionless knights.

Behind the Scenes The cameras are actually Force 3 watcher spirits and the double doors are all maglocked (Rating 3). Here the background count increases to 4, but magically active runners only suffer half of it (see sidebar Home Metaplane of the Shedim in this section). Once the runners dispatch the knights, they have the opportunity to explore the castle if they wish. The rest of the castle (except the courtyard and throne room, but including all the upstairs) is basic living spaces (kitchen, barracks, and the like). There is currently no one in any of these rooms since they have all been mustered to defend Auslander, who knows (by now) a crusade has been launched against him. The background count is one higher in the courtyard, which matches the throne room. The skulls serve as cameras for Auslander and they are connected to the castle host. The two knights at the double doors do not move except when the runners approach within thirty meters of the door; if this means the runners wipe them out from range, so be it. The guarded double doors lead to the throne room. When the runners enter the throne room, proceed to Scene 5: Into the Heart of Death.

CURRENT BACKGROUND COUNT In this scene, an effective background count of 2 leaks through the protection of the ritual to hinder the runners. The full background count of 4 counts as a visibility penalty to Assensing Tests (p. 32, Street Grimoire). See Scene 2: Break on Through for continuing background count effects.

SCENE 4: ASSAULT ON THE HIDDEN FORTRESS

COVER A CRUSADE IN DARKNESS AND FIRE INTRODUCTION MISSION SYNOPSIS SCENE 1 SCENE 2 SCENE 3 SCENE 4 SCENE 5 SCENE 6 PICKING UP THE PIECES LEGWORK CAST OF SHADOWS MAP DEBRIEFING LOG

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CAMERAS/ WATCHER SPIRITS

USING THE MATRIX

Watchers, Force 3. They can also be hacked like technological cameras and they are tied to the host. B

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There is no larger Matrix in this metaplane, but that means there is no GOD or demigod here, so there is no risk of convergence. Hacking and other methods that appear normal to the runners can affect some security devices. Most locked doors appear as if they have maglocks, and there are watcher spirits which can be accessed in this metaplane as if they were wireless-enabled cameras. Since there is no larger Matrix, hackers must connect directly with any device they wish to hack, which may limit their range (see p. 231, SR5 for Noise related to distance to the target).

COVER A CRUSADE IN DARKNESS AND FIRE INTRODUCTION MISSION SYNOPSIS SCENE 1

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Installed IC: Acid, Black IC, Patrol, Tar Baby Slaved Devices: Physical security (cameras and keycard maglocks), Auslander’s throne Spiders: None Sculpting: A dark gothic castle, just like the physical domain. Security Procedure: Patrol IC runs at all times. Once alarmed, the Host launches IC in the following order: Tar Baby, Black IC, and Acid. If one of its IC gets bricked, it continues on with launching the next IC.

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INTO THE HEART OF DEATH

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In this scene, the runners have their climactic battle against Auslander.

SCENE 5

Tell It to Them Straight

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You turn the corner and find yourself staring at your target. Auslander sits on an elevated throne, wearing dark and decayed bishop’s vestments. Sickly black tendrils writhe along the walls of the throne room. The throne itself pulses with dark power as you reach the limits of the power of the ritual that brought you here. You feel as though your very soul wants to leave you in this place to finish dying. “So,” Auslander croaks, “the priest has brought you to the bishop. You will find me more powerful on my home ground, so your time has expired, as will you.”

PICKING UP THE PIECES LEGWORK CAST OF SHADOWS MAP

Behind the Scenes In the throne room, the background count is 5, aspected toward the shedim. (As before, the runners only suffer half the background count, round up.) This is Auslander’s home turf and the metaphysical stench of decay and death is so oppressive it begins to interfere with the protections Fringe’s ritual gave the runners at the start of the quest. In addition, the throne room slowly consumes living beings’ souls, converting their power to Auslander (see sidebar, The Throne Room and Living Souls). At the start of this combat, there are two shedim per runner. At the start of each Combat Turn, two more shedim

SCENE 5: INTO THE HEART OF DEATH

DEBRIEFING LOG

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COVER A CRUSADE IN DARKNESS AND FIRE INTRODUCTION MISSION SYNOPSIS SCENE 1 SCENE 2 SCENE 3 SCENE 4 SCENE 5 SCENE 6 enter the throne room. None of the shedim here suffer from Evanescence (since this is their home); treat them as if they were materialized spirits. They are all Force 6. Auslander is a Force 9 Master Shedim, treated as a physical being, and has the further advantage of his home background count. If he recognizes any of the runners (because they completed CMP 2010-04 Humanitarian Aid, SRM 04-10 Romero and Juliette, or SRM 06-06 Falling Angels), he concentrates his fire on those runners until they are dead, unless others pose a clear and serious danger to him. None of the shedim have the Immunity to Normal Weapons power, but they have (regular) armor equal to twice their Force against all attacks, even magical attacks. This is the first time anyone has made it this far on his home metaplane, so Auslander does not yet know about the healing powers the throne room presents him. During the first Combat Turn, Auslander does not overcast spells (though Force 9 should still pose a danger). After the start of the second Combat Turn, when Auslander discovers the throne room can heal him and regenerate his Edge, he takes the gloves off and overcasts as he feels appropriate. Note that he probably still wouldn’t want to overcast to Force 18 because the drain could kill him, and he knows that if he dies here, it’s permanent.

Auslander opens with the Noxious Breath power unless the runners are wearing breathing gear, in which case he opens with either a Force 9 Toxic Wave (if the runners present a cluster of targets) or a Force 9 Lightning Bolt (if the runners are sufficiently spread out). Once the second Combat Turn begins, Auslander recognizes both the full powers the throne room grants him and the danger the runners represent, so he begins to overcast a little. At some point (perhaps the start of the third Combat Turn), Auslander grows desperate to remove the runner threat and he goes all out.

PICKING UP THE PIECES LEGWORK CAST OF SHADOWS MAP

Pushing the Envelope This scene really should push the runners to (and perhaps beyond) their limits. Auslander is Force 9, with 9 Edge points, and not only his own Regeneration power but also the regeneration and Edge refreshment the throne room grants as the runners get weaker. He also has the background count that comes with his home ground, so the cards are all stacked in his favor. If this encounter really needs an increase in difficulty, increase the threshold for the Willpower + Edge Test by one each Combat Turn or double the damage for a failed Test. All the other shedim in the room could go as high as Force 8. Beware however, as every in-

SCENE 5: INTO THE HEART OF DEATH

DEBRIEFING LOG

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crease in Auslander’s Force could drastically increase the length of the fight as well as dramatically change its dynamics.

Debugging If the runners had serious trouble in previous scenes, feel free to lower the other shedim as low as Force 4 and/or even reduce Auslander to Force 8 (as he had in both CMP 2010-04 Humanitarian Aid and SRM 04-10 Romero and Juliette). If it looks like the runners might not pack any serious hardware, feel free to disregard the armor for the shedim.

THE THRONE ROOM AND LIVING SOULS In addition to the background count of 5 (the runners suffer only 3 of this), the throne room also acts as a sort of soul engine, consuming living beings’ souls and focusing their energy through the throne to serve its master. (Remember that the only benefit of an aspected background count is an increase in Magic-linked limits; there is no dice pool bonus.) Starting on the second Combat Turn after each living being enters the throne room and at the beginning of every subsequent Combat Turn, a living being must make a Willpower + Edge (3) Test; failure causes one box of damage (the runner chooses which Condition Monitor from which they want to take the damage, but it is unresisted); anyone who rolls no hits on this test takes damage as with failure and loses a point of Edge as if they had spent it. Treat this damage as Drain damage for all intents and purposes; it is magical damage and results from the room slowly eating the person’s soul. Each box of damage taken in this way heals Auslander of one box of either Physical or Stun damage (his choice); this effect can heal damage from magical sources, including drain. Each Edge point siphoned from a living being goes to Auslander, regenerating one of his own Edge points. A living being can prevent this effect only if he or she leaves the throne room. Should the runners think to attack the throne, it has a Matrix presence (see the host in Scene 4: Assault on the Hidden Fortress). It can be attacked physically, but counts as a barrier made of Heavy Structural Material (p. 197, SR5) (Structure 12, Armor 20) so it may be hard to destroy with most weapons. If the throne is destroyed or bricked, the draining stops.

COVER

AUSLANDER THE BISHOP Shedim Master, Force 9. When the runners encounter him, he has a Force 6 Deflection spell (6 hits) sustained through his Focused Concentration (so he gets +6 dice on defense rolls against ranged attacks). B

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INTRODUCTION MISSION SYNOPSIS SCENE 1 SCENE 2 SCENE 3 SCENE 4 SCENE 5 SCENE 6 PICKING UP THE PIECES

(FORCE 6, INITIALLY 2 PER RUNNER, SEE TEXT ABOVE)

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SCENE 5: INTO THE HEART OF DEATH

A CRUSADE IN DARKNESS AND FIRE

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Scene 6:

PHONE HOME Scan This The runners return home.

Tell It to Them Straight You run down the stone pathway from Auslander’s fortress with a mad hope that you’ll be able to get back home. You reach the church and struggle to slow yourselves down enough to walk the labyrinth with some semblance of composure. As before, the scene fades away. You find yourself back in the sanctuary at Saint Mark’s Cathedral. A fiery angel stares into your soul, assensing to determine whether you are who you appear to be. Once all of you arrive, Serenity’s blaze dims a bit. “The questors have completed their quest,” she says. “As have I. Farewell, questors.” Without another word, she vanishes, leaving you in an empty church as the light of sunrise beams through the stained glass windows.

Behind the Scenes Once the runners return to the physical world, they find no trace of Fringe other than a bit of dust and a little blood poured over molten shards of jade. If the runners were successful, Auslander is gone. If not, at least he has to find a new way out of his metaplane because the jade cup and its mystic link are destroyed. If the runners convinced Fringe to allow one of them to substitute as sacrifice, they find Fringe giving Last Rites to the runner. As the gamemaster explained in Scene 1: Once More Unto the Breach, the runner is dead and cannot burn Edge or be revived in any way. Remove the runner from the Missions campaign. If the runners assense the area, they find the astral rift is sealed. The shards of jade register as dead in the astral; they have no magic remaining in them. Remnants of Serenity’s magical signature remain in the sanctuary, slowly blending with the normal background count of the church.

Pushing the Envelope There is no need to Push the Envelope here. The runners have been through enough already.

Debugging There should be no need for a Debugging section for this scene, unless the runners so thoroughly fragged

up as to let Auslander or other shedim through the portal. Feel free to have another fight here if there’s time; Serenity (and Fringe, if one of the runners substituted as sacrifice) fight to the death to hold the line against the shedim (and the runners, if it really comes to that). In that case, it is likely that the cathedral burns to the ground (see Picking Up the Pieces for consequences).

PICKING UP THE PIECES

COVER A CRUSADE IN DARKNESS AND FIRE INTRODUCTION MISSION SYNOPSIS

Money

SCENE 1

25,000¥ each, plus 1,000¥ per hit (max 5), from Fringe for accepting the mission.

SCENE 2

Karma

SCENE 3

• 3 – Accepting the job • 6 – Destroying Auslander • 3 – Surviving the job The maximum adventure award for characters that play this adventure is 12. Awakened runners who successfully complete this mission may count it as a completed Metaplanar Quest ordeal (p. 140, Street Grimoire) if they undergo initiation immediately following this mission. This benefit may not be saved for later.

Gamemaster Reward When running this adventure, you may choose to count the Missions as “played” for your personal Shadowrun Missions character. You must choose to do this the first time your run this Mission only, and take the optional results to match those the team you played with earned. You may not choose to wait for a “better” attempt to choose your rewards. You’re on the honor system here, so please don’t skew the adventure to help the players gain extra rewards just so that you can get better results. You will earn a flat amount of Karma and nuyen, regardless of how well (or poorly) the players do, listed below. For other missions results and rewards that you track on the Debriefing Log (Objectives completed, reputation and contacts earned, etc), take the average results of the group at your table. So if four out of six players earned a point of Notoriety, you will earn one as well. If only two players out of five earn a +1 Loyalty with Nick, you would not get that +1 Loyalty.

SCENE 4 SCENE 5 SCENE 6 PICKING UP THE PIECES LEGWORK CAST OF SHADOWS MAP DEBRIEFING LOG

• Karma Earned: 12 • Nuyen Earned: 27,000¥

SCENE 6: PHONE HOME / PICKING UP THE PIECES

17

Reputation During the adventure, runners may perform actions that will add to their Street Cred, Notoriety, or Public Awareness (p. 372, SR5). Besides the scenario specific gains listed below, gamemasters should consider the characters actions throughout the game and award additional points as appropriate. If a player earns Public Awareness or Notoriety, don’t be afraid to give them extra points. • +3 Street Cred if the runners destroy Auslander. • +1 Notoriety if the runners fail in the mission. • +3 Notoriety if the runners betray Fringe. • +1 Public Awareness and +1 Notoriety if the team refuses the mission outright.

Contacts Successfully completing objectives or performing the actions listed below will earn characters specific Missions contacts at a Loyalty of 1, and they should be given the Contact Sheet included with this Mission. If they already have that contact, they gain a +1 Loyalty to that contact (up to a maximum of 4). Characters might interact with NPCs not specified by the Mission, and may earn these NPCs as contacts at Loyalty 1. They may also work with non-Missionspecific contacts that they have already earned or that they bought at character creation, and gain a +1 Loyalty to these contacts, with a maximum Loyalty of 4. Gamemasters should not grant these lightly, and players should have to work to earn these contacts by going the extra mile to impress the NPC, offering up favors, or paying them well above the standard rates for information or services. Other Contacts: If the runners successfully destroy Auslander, they improve the Loyalty of one talismonger or fixer contact by 2 (to a maximum Loyalty of 4); ideally, this should be the contact that got them this job. If the church burns down (after they refuse the mission or if they frag things up—see Pushing the Envelope in Scene 6: Phone Home), they lose 2 Loyalty (if this reduces Loyalty below 1, the contact is lost) from all law enforcement contacts (such as Tosh Athack in Seattle and Nick Ryder in Chicago), because they come under pressure to bring the runners in.

LEGWORK

LEGWORK When a PC gets in touch with a contact, make an unopposed Connection + Connection Test for the contact. The results of this test determine how many ranks of information the contact knows about the question. If the relevance of the subject is a specialty of the contact, they get +3 to this test. The player then makes an unopposed Charisma + Etiquette + Loyalty Test, the results of which determine how many ranks of information the contact is willing to divulge for free, up to the max ranks of information they know. If the contact knows more, they will require a payment of 500¥ – (Loyalty x 100¥), minimum 100¥, per rank of information they still know. If the PCs have worked all of their contacts and are still missing important information, they may request that a contact ask around. If they do so, have the Contact make an Extended (Connection + Connection (20 minutes)) Test. Additional information will be available at a cost of 1,000¥ – (Loyalty x 100¥), minimum 200¥. A Matrix Search action (p. 241, SR5) may also be utilized to gather information from the following charts, using the appropriate thresholds and search times.

Fringe

COVER A CRUSADE IN DARKNESS AND FIRE INTRODUCTION MISSION SYNOPSIS SCENE 1 SCENE 2 SCENE 3 SCENE 4 SCENE 5

Contacts to Ask: Arcane contacts, Fixers, Mr. Johnson, Shadowrunners Contacts Matrix Search 0 0

Information “A lot of people are out on the fringe of society. Try the Barrens.”



1

1

“I think I saw him on the trid a few times. Priest, right?”



2

3

“He’s been in the shadow scene for the last few years since the church wouldn’t use him.”



3

—

“Used to have a promising future in the church, until he SURGEd back in the ’60s. Got fired after that, but the church couldn’t find a good enough reason to defrock him.”



4

6

“His direction changed a year or two ago, after that zombie outbreak in Seattle. Most people went into hiding, but he went old-school and started exorcising zombies.”



5

—

“He hired a team of runners a while back to steal the jade cup that was at the center of the zombie outbreak. He’s done a lot of research in the Vatican and other church archives lately.”

SCENE 6 PICKING UP THE PIECES LEGWORK CAST OF SHADOWS MAP DEBRIEFING LOG

18

Auslander Contacts to Ask: Arcane contacts, Shadowrunners, Fixers

CAST OF SHADOWS

Contacts Matrix Search 0 0

Information “Australian for ‘beer,’ right?”

Fringe



1

1

“German for ‘outsider,’ right?”



2

3

“I think this guy was at the center of the zombie outbreak in Seattle.”



3

—

“There was a doctor by that name who worked in Neah Bay, up in Salish lands. Killed by some shadowrunners a while back.”



4

6

“He was possessed by a shedim and tried to infect Neah Bay with the hantavirus. A team of shadowrunners put a stop to it.”

COVER A CRUSADE IN DARKNESS AND FIRE

Contacts Matrix Search 0 0

Information “Isn’t that the Chinese version of the Holy Grail?”

Fringe is a former shadowrunner who operated mostly in New York and Seattle, with occasional side jobs around the world. He is a founding member and benefactor of the Conquistadors, a secret initiatory magical group in Seattle. He justifies his status as a shadowrunner, and his association with hardened criminals, by pointing out that Christ frequently associated with prostitutes and tax collectors. Fringe is an elf changeling and has a definite otherworldly quality; many people feel it as an angelic quality, almost as if his soul were trying to shine through his skin. While not actually cybered, his eyes are mirrored and are often mistaken for first-generation cybereyes. He is a magician of the Christian Theurgy tradition, but he does not (or cannot) bind spirits; when asked, he often says “One does not bind an angel of the Lord.” If he has a magical weakness, it is that he can only have one spirit on hand at a time (summoned on the fly), and he does not re-attempt failed summonings (he considers the failure a divine signal). Anyone who expects a Bible-thumper will be disappointed, since Fringe tends to be more quiet and thoughtful about his faith and believes deeds preach louder than any sermon. He does not believe killing is appropriate except as necessary to defend the lives of others. Against metahuman targets, he believes only nonlethal options are appropriate, but against otherworldly threats he pulls out all the stops.



1

1

“I heard someone talking about a jade cup in Chicago a few months ago.”



2

3

“That’s the thing that caused the zombie outbreak in Seattle.”

Connection: 4 (He has a “Who’s Who” of the NYC and Seattle shadows on speed-dial, and has met a few contacts in Chicago.)



3

—

“I heard it came from the South Pacific but it has an inscription in a language that doesn’t belong in the South Pacific.”



5

—

“He’s a spirit, so he could come back at any time. Apparently, there was a jade cup that made it a lot easier for him and his buddies to cross over to our world.”

The Jade Cup Contacts to Ask: Arcane contacts



4

6

“It went missing from its vault a couple years ago, sometime after the Artifact Rush in Seattle.”



5

—

“It’s apparently connected with some research into astral gateways by the Order of St. Sylvester.”

CAST OF SHADOWS

Quote: “One does not bind an angel of the Lord.” B

A

R

S

W

L

I

C

EDG

ESS

M

3(7)

3

3(7)

3

6(10)

5

5(9)

8(12)

5

6

10

Initiative: 20 + 3D6 Condition Monitor: 12/13 Limits: Physical 4(7), Mental 7(10), Social 10(14) Armor: 2 Active Skills: Arcana 6, Assensing 4 (Aura Reading +2), Athletics skill group 1, Banishing 9 (Shedim +2), Con 2, Counterspelling 8 (Combat Spells +2), Enchanting skill group 3, Influence skill group 1, Perception 1 (Visual +2), Pistols 1, Ritual Spellcasting 4, Spellcasting 10 (Combat Spells and Health Spells +2), Stealth skill group 1, Summoning 8 (Angels of Fire and Angels of Guidance +2)

INTRODUCTION MISSION SYNOPSIS SCENE 1 SCENE 2 SCENE 3 SCENE 4 SCENE 5 SCENE 6 PICKING UP THE PIECES LEGWORK CAST OF SHADOWS MAP DEBRIEFING LOG

19

Knowledge Skills: Magical theory 7, Military 1 (UCAS Air Force +2), New York City Area 1, Philosophy 1 (Taoism +2), Physics 10 (Quantum +2), Seattle Area 1, Security Design 3 (Magical +2), Theology 10 (Christian +2) Languages: English N, Greek 3 (New Testament +2), Hebrew 1, Japanese 1, Latin 1, Or’zet 1, Sanskrit 1, Sperethiel 1 Qualities: Magician (Christian Theurgy, drain stats Charisma + Willpower), Analytical Mind, College Education, Distinctive Style, Focused Concentration 6, Incompetent (Conjuring; only affects Binding), SINner (UCAS National SIN; Daniel Roberts), SURGE (Celerity), (Glamour) Initiate Grade: 8 Metamagics: Centering (praying in New Testament Greek), Cleansing, Exorcism, Extended Masking, Geomancy, Masking, Quickening, Shielding Quickened Spells (all at Force 9, 1 Karma, 4 hits): Combat Sense, Increase Body, Increase Charisma, Increase Intuition, Increase Reaction, Increase Reflexes, Increase Willpower Gear: Clerical vestments (armor 2, built-in micro-transceiver), Power focus (Force 4, silver Celtic cross pendant), Shielding focus* (Force 8, rosary; adds its Force to the magician’s initiate grade when he uses the shielding metamagic), Transys Avalon commlink (DR 6) *This is a unique magical item. Spells: Antidote, Combat Sense, Cure Disease, Detox, Heal, Hot Potato, Increase Body, Increase Charisma, Increase Intuition, Increase Reaction, Increase Reflexes, Increase Willpower, Levitate, Lightning Bolt, Oxygenate, Physical Barrier, Stabilize, Stunball, Stunbolt Rituals: Aspect Mana Line, Circle of Cleansing, Circle of Healing, Group Bond, Manifest Sha, Smudging Weapons: HK-227 [SMG, Acc 6(7), DV 5S (e), AP –5, SA/BF/FA, RC (1), 28(c), w/ Stick-n-Shock ammo, smartgun system, integral sound suppressor] Fichetti Security 600 [Light Pistol, Acc 6(7), DV 5S (e), AP –5, SA, RC (1), 30 (c), w/ Stick-n-Shock ammo, laser sight]

Serenity

COVER

Serenity is a Force 11 Spirit of Fire who manifests as a female seraph. She genuinely likes and respects Fringe because she sees a deep spirituality in him. Also, she knows he never attempts to bind spirits and generally treats them well when he summons them. Whenever Fringe summons a powerful fire spirit, Serenity is the one who appears. Quote: “The wrath of the Lord is upon you!” B

A

R

S

W

L

I

C

EDG

ESS

M

12

13

14

9

11

11

12

11

5

11

11

Initiative: 25 + 2D6 Astral Initiative: 22 + 3D6 Movement: 26/52 meters/turn (+5 meters per hit when Sprinting) Condition Monitor (P/S): 14/14 Limits: Physical 15, Mental 15, Social 15 Armor: 22 (from Immunity to Normal Weapons) Active Skills (all at 11): Assensing, Astral Combat, Exotic Ranged Weapon, Flight, Perception, Unarmed Combat Powers: Accident, Astral Form, Confusion, Elemental Attack, Energy Aura, Engulf, Materialization, Sapience Optional Powers: Fear, Guard, Search Weaknesses: Allergy (water, severe) Weapons: Elemental Attack (Fire) [Exotic Ranged Weapon, Acc 15, DV 22P Fire, AP –11, Range 11/22/33/44] Energy Aura [DV +11P Fire, AP –11; successful melee attack against her inflicts DV 22P Fire, AP –11, on the attacker] Engulf [DV 33P (including bonus from Energy Aura) Fire, AP –11]

A CRUSADE IN DARKNESS AND FIRE INTRODUCTION MISSION SYNOPSIS SCENE 1 SCENE 2 SCENE 3 SCENE 4 SCENE 5 SCENE 6 PICKING UP THE PIECES LEGWORK CAST OF SHADOWS MAP DEBRIEFING LOG

CAST OF SHADOWS

20

DEBRIEFING LOG PLAYER

DATE

CHARACTER

/

/

LOCATION

PERSONAL INFO

PM 02 A HOLY PIECE OF WETWORK The runners are hired by a priest to travel to the home metaplane of the master shedim Auslander and assassinate him. Is he completely insane, or is a metaplanar war brewing? Or is there even a difference?

SYNOPSIS

Accepted the mission Rejected the mission Destroyed Auslander Auslander survived Auslander escaped to Earth

MISSION RESULTS

Names

Character Improvement

TEAM MEMBERS

Karma Cost

ADVANCEMENT

Street Cred

+2 Loyalty to one talismonger or fixer contact (max Loyalty 4)

Notoriety

–2 Loyalty to all law-enforcement contacts (remove contacts if Loyalty hits zero)

New Career Total

Public Awareness

KARMA

REPUTATION

Metaplanar Quest ordeal for initiation. (This benefit vanishes if not immediately used and may not be saved for later.)

Previous Available Earned Spent Remaining Available

Previous Available

¥

Earned

¥

Spent

¥

Remaining

¥

NUYEN

GM’s Name

GM’s Signature

VALIDATION

CONTACTS/SPECIAL ITEMS GAINED OR LOST/NOTES

DEBRIEFING LOG . . . . . © 2014-16 The Topps Company, Inc. All rights reserved. Shadowrun is a registered trademark of The Topps Company, Inc., in the U.S. and other countries. Permission given to copy for personal use.