November 22nd, 2058 0011 hours (Seattle Metroplex, local time)
Sheila X looked at me with an eyebrow cocked up. It was the first time I had ever seen her look surprised. She held that look long enough that I felt I had a definite need to explain things.
"You heard right. I need to hire some shadowrunners. We have a ghoul problem in the barrens, and it needs a solution." the words came out easily. The truth is surprisingly easy to tell.
"Hooding? Not very much like you Tommy, you're usually all biz. Looking for anyone in particular? What are you paying? Are you fronting as the Johnson, are you going to wear another face, or do you need a cut out? What, and how much, are you offering? Remember Tommy, I take 20% off the top." Sheila X still had her eyebrow up. I had never been "Mr. Johnson" before, but I had worked for enough of them.
"I'll need a cut out, someone who doesn't know I'm behind it. I already had a swarm of ghouls burn down my apartment building, I don't need more heat." I said.
Sheila X let herself smile a little, "Understandable, a cut out is going to cost you extra Tommy. Are you ready to talk about the money?"
"I am." Sheila and I went over the numbers and the job I had in mind. It was a week long street war, so I was looking for a few specifics with regard to talent. Sheila's cut-out was a guy she had used before. That surprised the hell out of me, but shouldn't have. He was corp-slick, well spoken, and made his money by coming in at or below budget. It was just business after all, but I filed that away for future use.
I gave Sheila a week to get the team together. My budget was more than Sheila expected. I had done some work that hadn't gone through Sheila X, though I much preferred working on her jobs. They tended to be cleaner on the back end with fewer Johnsons trying to stiff you on the bill.
Angel agreed to work the job after she and I had a few words about it. She wanted a hefty favor from me after the fact, which I thought was more than fair as there was no guarantee that I was going to be alive that long. She accessed every camera she could find, floated a few micro-blimp drones with surveillance cams, and remotely accessed some devices she definitely didn't have user permissions for ...
{enough, Tommy, "She set up surveillance" would have been sufficient, remaining 5.1 Mps deleted ~ Angel}
Talented street samurai aren't cheap, and cheap street samurai generally aren't very talented. I opted for professionals, which cost me. I sat in on a meeting with Suzy B and Gitti and the cut out, playing my role as the shadowrunner. Edgy Ed didn't show. He hadn't responded to anyone's messages, but that wasn't unusual for him back then. Sheila X was set to make a very pretty payday on this job.
For those of you who may want to hire runners in the future, there is now a handy post on the Shadowland BBS that will give you some insights I didn't have access to at the time. Suzy B and Gitti both signed on. A trio of ork hard cases I had seen around, but never heard anything about signed on as well. For our story here, we'll call them John, Joe, and Jim. A troll who was new to the scene signed on as well. He went by the name "Crank" and was almost as large as Little Rickie.
The drone rigger I wanted wasn't available within my budget. Which really sucked. I was hoping to have his rotor-drones available for fire support as both of them slung light machineguns. He passed on what I could offer, and no fuss was made. Sheila had told me as much was going to happen so she handed him a credstick good for 500 nuyen, for his time, and my rep with Sheila as a Johnson was preserved. (Remember what happened to the last joker who tried to strong arm a runner in the Brick Yard?).
Magicians are hard to hire and expensive as hell. They are hard to hire because there simply aren't many of them in the shadows. They are expensive because even a modestly talented magician can bring a lot of ability to the team. Sheila and the cut-out Johnson still managed to hire a talented physad who went by the handle of "Adam the First" and a snot nosed wiz-kid (who was actually about three months older than me) who went by the handle "Creep". I had heard of Adam, and most of it was good. Creep was new to the shadows of Seattle, no one seemed to know where he came from, though I heard he worked at a Taco Haus in Lynnwood.
*****
Adam, Creep and I had been slipping around Redmond all week looking for ghouls. We found a LOT of them, scattered about the barrens. We watched them, with Angel floating drones to track their movements as much as possible. Four days of detection spells, drone fly overs, and speaking to the local street folk gave us a good indication of where the ghouls were gathering. Unfortunately, while we were looking for them, they were snatching people off the streets. They were getting bolder, kicking in doors and dragging whole families away. Chip heads disappeared nightly, dreaming away while they were hauled off to their new hell. Wednesday evening, the 27th of November, a gang called "The Redmond Rangers" vanished. We never even found their bodies.
Friday, November 29th, 2058 1900 hours
A week after my meeting with Sheila X, I was standing in a rubble choked lot in the Willows with the rest of the ground team. We had communication running through some slick tech Angel had set up, and everyone had spent the last hour going over the ammunition supplied for the run (If it puts things in perspective, I had allotted 1000 nuyen in ammo per runner).
"Stay together and keep the fire on point. If you get bit I'll kill you myself." Suzy B said. "I hope you'll do the same for me."
Gitti nodded. Jim, Joe, and John looked up, then at each other, then went back to loading out their assault rifles. Crank laughed, "You want I should shoot you now?"
"No way chummer. Make sure you save a round for yourself though." Suzy B smiled at the large troll.
Adam brought a heavy iron spear with him. It had a short haft, about a meter and a half long, with a large, broad, thick head. The thing had to mass at thirty kilos. It was also a potent weapon focus. In the astral plane it hummed with barely contained power, and it's aura seemed to flow into and combine with Adam's. It wasn't the first time I wished I had a weapon focus of my own, but it did affirm my desire for one. That Adam had it with him was oddly reassuring.
Creep brought an assault rifle. The little scrawny fragger had one that had to be a custom job. It had an honest-to-ghost wooden stock, and seemed to fit his frame like a glove. Creep didn't bring any foci, which had me wondering if he was going to survive the night. He was a bit off-putting, and smelled of fast food. As I glanced about in the astral, I noticed that his power was nothing to sneeze at. He had a solid talent, and a pack of elementals hanging about in astral space. I made note of that, switched the safety off on my slivergun and chambered a round.
I had foregone my usual armored trench coat for the evening. This wasn't a night for subtlety. My form fitting body armor kept me plenty warm in the November cold and didn't impede my movement. Black fatigues and my rescue rated combat boots, my slivergun, a heavy ballistic vest, and three full extra magazines of ammunition completed my load out.
Our commlinks had micro cams mounted above the mic boom to pick up our individual fields of vision. Angel was going to be recording and "blanking" our faces in real time. She would be able to watch from the matrix and feed us information. Adam, Creep and I were relying on audio instruction as we couldn't risk having an AR goggle overlay breaking line of sight.
The sun was down, and it was sleeting, as we walked away from the moving truck we had "acquired" for the job. My detection spells were buzzing away, informing me of dozens of ghouls within two-hundred meters. They were close, the night had fallen recently, and they would be prowling out soon. Each of the street samurai had slung their assault rifles, and were cradling sound suppressed sub-machine guns. We had crossed a block when Angel chimed in my ear, "I've got motion on the street, six ghouls heading south. They'll cross in front of you in about six seconds"
"Creep, you're with me. Adam and the rest close and put those six down quietly." I whispered.
Everyone nodded and started jogging up the block, the noise was slight but I knew that if I could hear them the ghouls likely could too. Creep and I moved to the other side of the street, opposite of where the ghouls would be coming from. As they came bounding into view I wove a spell around them. They saw the street samurai and Adam closing on them and opened their maws as if to howl... and no sound came out. My spell absorbed the sounds just long enough for the samurai to raise their weapons and open fire.
If you live in the barrens, you know that suppressed SMG fire is pretty quiet. You could mistake it for a number of things. In the oddly still quiet of the Willows, it was a brief melody of soft burping sounds. Six ghouls fell dead in the street, landing without a sound. Creep unslung his assault rifle, worked the action and said, "nicely done".
I nodded to the spooky little fragger and replied, "Six down, dozens more to go."
There were a handful of exit points for the building we were approaching. Jim, Joe and John planted motion sensitive claymore mines at four of those points, while Crank and Adam watched over them. Angel had two drones in the air over the building, streaming video, and spotted a ghoul on the roof. Creep floated up silently, his assault rifle shouldered. He fired and his weapon's suppressor did its job nicely. I didn't hear a sound at street level. Creep floated back down while Angel verified "roof is now clear".
I could smell ghoul, thanks to my detection spell, and knew they were close. Creep held up a hand, lay down on the sidewalk and slipped into the astral. I knew right then he was one crazy son of a slitch. He opened his eyes a moment later, "First room past that entrance, no ghouls, whole place is tainted though. Astral reeks of terror and pain."
"Sounds like prison," Adam added.
"Worse, actually," Creep replied.
"Are we go or no go?" Angel chirped.
"Go." I said.
*****
Gitti and Suzy B, took to the roof on the building across from the target structure. Once they signaled that they were in position, I waved the team in.
Adam moved in through the front entrance, the doors were splintered and scattered across the floor inside. He moved with a grace that simply isn't possible without magic, and made no sound at all on the old floor. A moment later he waved, and Jim, Joe and John crept in. Jim and Joe each took one side of the hallway, while John knelt at the base of the stairs and trained his assault rifle up toward the second floor. Creep slipped in, almost as quietly as Adam, and placed himself next to John, his own assault rifle trained up the steps. I crept in is as best I could, but my fatigue pants found a screw jutting out from the door frame and tore with soft ripping sound. Everyone froze.
Old dark blood stains splattered the walls and marred the floor. The walls down the first floor hallway, were marked with tears, holes, and more dark stains. It reminded me of my recently vacated building. Crank was on the steps when Angel chirped in my ear, "I've got thermographic signatures moving toward the stairs, I count eight, now nine, approaching."
John and Creep already had their rifles trained up the stairs. I moved behind them, brought up my slivergun and wove another spell to absorb sounds at the landing above us.
The ghouls must have known something was up. Maybe it was the mana coalescing or maybe they just smelled us. They appeared at the landing and came careening down the steps faster than I was expecting. John and Creep opened fire in eerie silence. My viper, normally very quiet anyway, made no sound as I added bursts of flechettes to the storm of metal that tore through the oncoming ghouls, splattering the stairs with gore, and blowing holes in the walls beyond.
It was over in a span of less than three seconds. Ghoul bodies tumbling down the stairs. John and Creep backed away from the blood, gore and corpses. I let the spell's mana dissipate, and heard the soft sounds of John and Creep sliding fresh magazines home.
Creep levitated the corpses outside and dumped them on the roof. An expendable focus, a thin wand of pine stained with ginseng oil, helped me sterilize the blood and gore on the steps and landing. It did nothing for the stink, as my spell was still alerting me to ghouls within twenty meters. Dozens of ghouls were above me, and even more lurked below.
We advanced down the hall, applying my silencing spell as Crank kicked in locked doors. In the first apartment on the right we found gnawed bones and a trio of ghouls. They died in silence, with their guts splattered over the remains of their victims. So it went, room to room, through the first floor. We were hunting the hunters, and they weren't ready for us. When we cleared the first floor I checked my chronometer and found that twenty minutes had passed since we entered. It was slow going, but caution was the operational word. Jim, Joe and John placed a pair of claymore mines at the top of the stairs leading down to the basement and sub-levels, then we moved on the second floor.
The second floor was much the same. We moved room to room, clearing each apartment in unnatural silence. Thirty minutes and twenty-seven ghouls later we moved to the third floor. Apartment by apartment, room by room we swept and cleared the floor in silence. There was no hesitation, nor moral ambiguity. We came, we saw, and we gunned them down. I saw things that night which I wish I could forget. Bodies of victims, old and young, in various states of being consumed by the ghouls. The whole building reeked or rotting flesh and death; and we were adding the stench of sweat and cordite to the mix.
2235 hours 15 seconds...
Angel's drones record the sound of the first claymore detonation. The gig was up. We were on the fourth floor and wrapped in silence. We didn't hear the claymore go off, neither did the ghouls around us or above us (sound didn't pass through the spell effect), but the building trembled a bit. The AR goggles the samurai were wearing flashed a message to the team. Joe looked at me and patted his ear. I let the silence spell unravel.
From below us, I heard a baleful howling set up and above us, on the top floor, dozens of ghouls screamed in response. "Creep, you're with me, the rest of you, first floor and execute plan two". The orks nodded in unison, Adam was already bounding down the stairs, and Crank stuck a stick of gum in his mouth and said "time to make noisy". His wide smile was oddly very comforting.
"They're coming," Creep whispered.
"Lets light them up."
Two fire elementals manifested at the landing above us.
"Kill them all" I said.
"Burn, baby, burn" Creep called out. The elemental he summoned looked like a demoness, horns and all. She blew him a kiss as she passed from sight. I heard ghouls screaming a tick later.
I headed down the stairs and noticed that Creep had a huge grin on his face. Like I said, he lived up to his alias.
I just made it to the first floor landing when I heard the barking of assault rifles. Creep stuck to the plan and made it to the door where Crank was covering the street with his weapon. It must have been clear because he wasn't firing. Adam was standing next to Joe, his spear held ready while Joe, Jim and John poured hot death down the hall.
"On first" I called out.
"Frags out!" called out Joe and Jim, the two orks each hurled small metal spheres to the end of the hall.
I bounded out the door as the grenades exploded. My team was right behind me. "Angel, sit rep" I called over the comm.
"I've got thermal sigs all over coming up from below, counting thirty, correction, fifty targets moving toward the exits."
"Reload." I called out. "Adam, you're on for Creep. Creep, astral coverage now."
Creep lay down in the middle of the street, and Adam took up a spot next to him. "Its going to be hell'uva mess" Joe said.
"No doubt," Jim replied.
"Wings after this?" John asked. Everyone looked at him. "What? I'm hungry."
Whatever reply was coming was cut short as another claymore detonation rang out in the night. The building shook as a cloud of dust rose up from the east alley. An answering blast came up from the west side and the front facade collapsed under the force of the shockwave. Crank pitched a grenade down the alley a tic later, I heard a ghoul scream in surprise then the grenade went off.
"I've got twenty plus coming out the back entrance. Claymore didn't discharge. You're about to have a lot of company." Angel said.
"Blasts must have knocked the motion sensors off line," Joe said.
"Fraggin cheap Aztlan gear, Joe. Told you we should stick to German or Israeli models." Jim called back.
I peeked into the astral and saw Creep and his spirits beating down a trio of ghoul sorcerers. The slimy little fragger had things well in hand, but I sent a bolt of mana into one of the ghouls anyway. No sense in taking chances. The ghoul's astral form dissipated, and I forced my astral sight closed with the usual effort. My head was starting hurt from all the spell casting, but my trigger finger worked fine. Ghouls came clambering over the rubble.
Gitti and Suzy B opened fire, spraying the rubble choked area and putting a handful of ghouls down with gaping wounds. Dozens more came dashing right over them, slavering in rage and unnatural hunger. Crank, Jim, Joe, and John opened fire as the ghouls tried to bound down the rubble. I looked at the wrecked building, shook out an expendable spell focus in the form of a magic dust, and let loose the best "powerball" spell I could muster without hurting myself. Brick exploded, beams shattered, and iron girders collapsed. The building came down in a cloud of choking dust, flames, and scattering debris.
Creep came back from his astral assignment and yelled "Got them!"
"Gitti, Suzy B, get down." I called over the mic.
"Suppression fire!" Joe called out. The three orks started spraying rounds into the dust cloud, Crank pitched another grenade.
I called out to my spirits and they manifested next to and behind me. A quick mental command and my air spirits brought up a wind that blew the dust cloud away, exposing a dozen ghouls who were trying to wade through the hail of bullets to get to us.
"I've got a group trying to leave the scene, back end of the rubble" Angel reported.
"Flashlight." I called back.
"detonation in seven.... six... five ... four... "
One of the blimp micro drones dropped quickly from the sky and vanished behind the rubble.
Gitti and Suzy B ran out and added their rifles to the rumble of automatic fire pouring into the ghouls
"two... one.."
Three kilos of compound twelve, strapped to the little drone, exploded on the far side of the collapsing building. The little drone was disintegrated and any ghoul within a dozen meters was blown to bits. Anything another dozen meters out was either dead or wishing it were.
The street samurai ceased fire and reloaded. It was strangely quiet for a moment.
"I've got no targets," Joe called out.
"Same" Crank replied.
My spell wasn't detecting any ghouls at all.
"Clear." I called out.
*****
We met the cut-out at the Brick Yard with Sheila. He handed out certified credsticks to each member on the team. Angel had been paid in advance, but we didn't share that information around. I got my dummy stick, the cut-out kept his money, and no one was the wiser. Sheila got her money and the op was called a success.
I stuck around at the Brick Yard for a while, and had a sirloin. I bought a round for Solomon, and put a hundred nuyen tip on for Sandy and even put a thirty nuyen tip on for Aria (who brought me a lemonade without asking, bless her).
I was digging into a slice of peanut butter pie (which is the next best thing to heaven on Earth chummer, believe me on this), when Sandy tapped me on the shoulder.
"She wants to see you," Sandy said with a smile.
I picked up my plate and started walking back to Sheila's booth. Hopefully there was paying work to be had, I really needed the money.
_______________________________________________
From the author: Thanks for checking out my fan fiction. These stories are derived from game play, and are fictionalized from memory. If you enjoy them please do share them with other Shadowrun fans. As I mention above, I do not own Shadowrun.
I do publish rpg materials for other role-playing games under open game licenses and you can find those on Drivethrurpg.com and on Kickstarter.
Thank you! I hope you enjoyed it!
Monday, February 12, 2018
Friday, February 9, 2018
Ghouls night out
November 20th, 2058
Approximately 2330 hours, local Seattle Metroplex time
I was in the shower when it started. I felt a tingling sensation as one of my detection spells sent me a warning. This particular spell was one I had woven a permanent mana loop for, making it permanently active. The spell detected the presence of ghouls out to about three hundred meters. When it alerted me this time, I sensed that the ghouls were getting closer. I didn't like that at all.
I climbed out of the shower started to towel off, but then realized that either the ghouls were running or they were in a vehicle because they were getting closer very quickly. I jumped into jogging pants, shrugged into an armored jacked, and broke into a cold sweat as I realized they were less than fifty meters away. I grabbed my Viper Sliver gun, thumbed the safety, and chambered a round.
My doss was a dingy third floor apartment. Two rooms, if you count the bathroom, with irregular power, dirty water I would purify with magic, and several neighboring apartments filled with small families and the odd chip-head. My spell was telling me there were several ghouls, a dozen or more from the feel of it, when I detected an odor I specifically associate with ghouls. The scent was alarming, as it was a little twist on the effect I had worked into the spell design. But it means that a ghouls is within twenty meters of me. I stuffed a second magazine for my pistol into a front mag loop on the vest, left my apartment and headed down to the second floor. As I made the landing I heard the front door shaking violently. The ghouls were coming.
The door shook, rattling and banging in its frame, as I called out into the astral plane for the spirits I had bound to service. I was badly outnumbered, but I wasn't alone! The old troll lady in apartment A poked her head out to see what was going on, saw me crouched on the stairs with a gun in my hand, and retreated behind her door. I heard it lock, then a tick later the ghouls tore the front doors to the little lobby off their hinges.
Most ghouls were once people. But the HMHVV affects their minds, and even if they do survive the transformation with their mental faculties intact, their new appetites often drive them insane. My air elemental was still manifesting at the bottom of the stairs when the first ghouls came charging through into the lobby. I started shooting, aiming for center mass, and blowing huge holes in the first two ghouls. The mob behind them came bounding in. Where a natural predator would be put off by one of the pack being gunned down, the ghouls just kept coming. Screaming only excites them, and helps them find you, so I was firing away, in plain view of anyone who cared to look and not saying a word. {Being invisible isn't much use against ghouls. Most, if not all, of them can see into the astral plane.} A handful of them charged past the stairs and started clawing and pounding at the doors on the first floor.
My elemental finished manifesting, and I sent it a quick mental command. It moved like the wind (I know its cheesy but its true), charging into the shattered doorway and erupting with lighting. It was to hold the door and kill any ghouls that tried to get through. I didn't know if the spirit could handle all those ghouls, but it was my best and only hope.
Two of the ghouls were trying to claw their way into apartment A. One was clawing through the door and the second was clawing through the wall just to the right of the door frame. I drew in my breath, held it for a tick, then let it out slowly as I sighted on the one clawing at the wall. The flechettes from my Viper took the ghoul in the back of the skull and blew a bloody pulped mess across the wall it was rending. The ghoul at the door didn't seem to notice. It met the same fate, falling onto the other ghoul's corpse.
I heard the sound of a door being hammered down, and screams, from apartment C. I jumped down in time to see a ghoul stride through the shattered door into the apartment. I sprinted down, and shot the monster in the back of it's right knee. It screamed in agony as it fell. I put a second round into it's brain pan. The ork lady in C was holding her baby, and looked terrified. "Get to the roof!" I screamed.
I check the hall. Apartment B had it's door open. I didn't hear any screaming from there, but that could have been due to the gun fire coming from apartment D. The ghoul at the door to D was blown back across the hall and fell in a heap. The hall was clear, but I couldn't account for all the ghouls I had seen. I dashed over to B's door, and saw a trio of ghouls devouring the chip-head who lived there. The poor dumb fragger was lost in his chip and never knew he was eaten alive. I put three rounds into the nearest one, splattering it's chest open across the corpse it was eating. The other two looked up in surprise just in time for each to get shot through the face. It was a ugly mess.
The sound of fighting stopped suddenly. The quiet stillness was alarming on an instinctive level, but was interrupted by a single booming shot from the hall. I darted out to find that the elf who lived in D had blown the ghouls head apart with a close blast from his shotgun. Not a smart thing to do, but immediately effective.
My spell told me ghouls were scattering in all directions outside. They were fleeing the area, which was a great relief to me. My spirit vanished back into astral space and then the only sound I heard was that of the ork lady and her baby, taking the stairs above me at a frenzied pace.
******
November 21st, 2058 0815 local Seattle Metroplex time
The sun does shine in Seattle, even under a gray sky you have illumination from our parent star. The daylight found a stack of dead ghouls, and one dead chip head, laying on the broken fragments of the sidewalk across the street from my building. A little levitation had moved them out of the building (I don't touch ghouls). Once they were piled up, I called out to my fire elemental. The spirit engulfed the corpses and burned them down to ash over the next two hours. The smell was terrible.
Lone Star doesn't have much of a presence in the Barrens. They completely ignored the incident, and no police contractors ever showed up to see what had happened. Just another day in Redmond I suppose.
I used a handy spell I know to sterilize the blood and gore the ghouls had left behind. Then I went back to my little apartment. I pulled my couch in front of the door behind me, and got back in my shower. I scrubbed myself clean and vowed, once again, to move to a place with hot running water.
I climbed into my form fitting body armor. Put on a pair of good jeans, pulled on a thick gray sweater, then pulled on the familiar weight of my armored trench coat. I pulled on my rescue rated combat boots, then reloaded my slivergun.
At noon I was in Renton buying two more magazines for my trusty pistol as well as three boxes of ammunition. I took a trip over to Fat Tony's for some linguine and the dark ambiance, ate, and was back in my dingy little apartment by four. I loaded my new magazines, and went down to the first floor. I knocked at apartment D and heard "Frag off!".
"Its the guy from the last night. You got a tick?" I made a point to sound as non-threatening as possible. The elf opened his door with his shotgun in hand. "I'm not here for any trouble chummer, I just wanted to let you know that I think they might come back."
The elf looked pale. Sweat was beading on his forehead, and his hands were trembling. "You the real thing, neh? You got 'de magic. I think I got 'de flu, can you help a neighbor out?"
I looked at him and nodded, "Sure thing chummer. You coming out or am I coming in?" He opened the door and backed away. I came in and shut the door behind me. I could smell vomit, and the doss had that stuffy sickly air to it. He sat down on his couch, resting his shotgun on its shock pad, the barrel pointing toward the ceiling. The place was surprisingly clean.
"Lights don't work" he said.
"Null sheen chummer," I lied. "I'm an elf too you know." I looked him over and felt a bit sick to my stomach. His eyes were turning pale, his gums were bleeding, and a few of his fingernails had fallen out. "I have a spell I want to use to see if its the flu, or just food poisoning. You chill with that?"
"Yeah, thanks" he said. He seemed to relax a bit.
I produced a thin wand from my trench coat pocket. It was a focus I used sometimes for spells dealing with health and wellness. I rested the tip of it on his knee, focused my will, and let the spell flow out and over the elf. I opened myself to view the astral, and watched as the spell brushed over and around his aura. I could see some disconcerting dark spots that seemed to be spreading throughout his body. I held the wand there, studying him, until I confirmed my suspicion.
"Oi, you've got the flu chummer. I can do something for that if you like, or you can go down and get that pill they sell at the Stuffer Shacks." I said.
"I don' feel like making the trip. What you got?" he asked.
"A spell chummer. It'll take a few minutes to work up, but I can get you up and feeling better in two shakes." I was casual.
"Chill chummer, yeah, I'll buy you a beer once I'm up and running. Sound good?" he asked.
"Chill! Yeah, let me get to work." I turned and pulled his little table over to the corner, and rolled up a rug he had on the bare floor. I took a piece of chalk from a box in my pocket and drew out a circle on the floor. I wrote out a phrase in Latin around the outer edge of the circle, then stepped back to admire my handiwork. It looked pretty good, if I say so myself. The whole process took about twenty minutes. "Okay chummer, sit down in the circle, but don't smear the chalk" I told him.
He rose up off the couch, took a pair of feeble steps, and sat down in the middle of the circle I drew. He didn't smear a bit of it. "Hows 'at?" he asked.
"Really chill chummer. I'm going to start the spell to fix you up. I'm going to walk the circle once speaking the spell, then I'll walk it a second time and chant it again, then on the third time around I need you to repeat it with me. So desu?" He nodded as he took my instruction. I walked around him, a low chant coming from my lips "Ohwa, tae goo siam." I chanted. My second circuit around him, I saw him shiver, and I intoned more deeply "Ohwa, tae goo siam." As I started my third time around I heard him repeat me "Ohwa, tae goo..." I was behind him, my viper in hand. He didn't get to the final part of my fake incantation as I blew his brains across the floor. He never knew what hit him. He never had to live through the rest of his transformation into a ghoul.
*****
The ghouls came back that night, but everyone was gone. I watched as twenty ghouls stormed into the empty apartment building, and heard them scream in frustration. I had bound a fire elemental to service weeks prior, and its term of service was about to end. I gave it a final order and watched.
The elemental manifested in the small lobby and erupted with fiery wrath. None of the ghouls were on the first floor, so the elemental had time to rage and burn. The building caught fire all across the first floor, with flames licking the brick exterior and devouring the interior of the structure. None of those ghouls ever left the building.
*****
Midnight found me in the Brick Yard, drinking a lemonade and deep in thought. Sandy brought me a plate of Solomon's famous boneless jerk chicken strips. She gave me a soft smile, "anything else?"
"Yeah, I need to speak to Sheila. Thanks Sandy." I said.
"I'll see if she will speak to you. She's been busy though." Sandy turned and walked away.
Thirty minutes, two lemonades, and an order of nachos later (hey, I was hungry), Sandy tapped me on the shoulder and nodded to the back. I paid my tab, with a nice tip on top for Sandy, and made my way to Sheila's booth.
"Tommy, what can I do for you?" Sheila asked. "Have a spell you want, or a focus you need?"
I looked at Sheila for a long minute, then shook my head. "No, I need to hire some shadowrunners"
*****
I'll tell the rest of this story later.
Right now, I think I am going to take a little trip to Bellevue for the best Tai food in Seattle.
You coming?
_______________________________________________________________________________
From the author: Thanks for checking out my fan fiction. These stories are derived from game play, and are fictionalized from memory. If you enjoy them please do share them with other Shadowrun fans. As I mention above, I do not own Shadowrun.
Thank you! I hope you enjoyed it!
Approximately 2330 hours, local Seattle Metroplex time
I was in the shower when it started. I felt a tingling sensation as one of my detection spells sent me a warning. This particular spell was one I had woven a permanent mana loop for, making it permanently active. The spell detected the presence of ghouls out to about three hundred meters. When it alerted me this time, I sensed that the ghouls were getting closer. I didn't like that at all.
I climbed out of the shower started to towel off, but then realized that either the ghouls were running or they were in a vehicle because they were getting closer very quickly. I jumped into jogging pants, shrugged into an armored jacked, and broke into a cold sweat as I realized they were less than fifty meters away. I grabbed my Viper Sliver gun, thumbed the safety, and chambered a round.
My doss was a dingy third floor apartment. Two rooms, if you count the bathroom, with irregular power, dirty water I would purify with magic, and several neighboring apartments filled with small families and the odd chip-head. My spell was telling me there were several ghouls, a dozen or more from the feel of it, when I detected an odor I specifically associate with ghouls. The scent was alarming, as it was a little twist on the effect I had worked into the spell design. But it means that a ghouls is within twenty meters of me. I stuffed a second magazine for my pistol into a front mag loop on the vest, left my apartment and headed down to the second floor. As I made the landing I heard the front door shaking violently. The ghouls were coming.
The door shook, rattling and banging in its frame, as I called out into the astral plane for the spirits I had bound to service. I was badly outnumbered, but I wasn't alone! The old troll lady in apartment A poked her head out to see what was going on, saw me crouched on the stairs with a gun in my hand, and retreated behind her door. I heard it lock, then a tick later the ghouls tore the front doors to the little lobby off their hinges.
Most ghouls were once people. But the HMHVV affects their minds, and even if they do survive the transformation with their mental faculties intact, their new appetites often drive them insane. My air elemental was still manifesting at the bottom of the stairs when the first ghouls came charging through into the lobby. I started shooting, aiming for center mass, and blowing huge holes in the first two ghouls. The mob behind them came bounding in. Where a natural predator would be put off by one of the pack being gunned down, the ghouls just kept coming. Screaming only excites them, and helps them find you, so I was firing away, in plain view of anyone who cared to look and not saying a word. {Being invisible isn't much use against ghouls. Most, if not all, of them can see into the astral plane.} A handful of them charged past the stairs and started clawing and pounding at the doors on the first floor.
My elemental finished manifesting, and I sent it a quick mental command. It moved like the wind (I know its cheesy but its true), charging into the shattered doorway and erupting with lighting. It was to hold the door and kill any ghouls that tried to get through. I didn't know if the spirit could handle all those ghouls, but it was my best and only hope.
Two of the ghouls were trying to claw their way into apartment A. One was clawing through the door and the second was clawing through the wall just to the right of the door frame. I drew in my breath, held it for a tick, then let it out slowly as I sighted on the one clawing at the wall. The flechettes from my Viper took the ghoul in the back of the skull and blew a bloody pulped mess across the wall it was rending. The ghoul at the door didn't seem to notice. It met the same fate, falling onto the other ghoul's corpse.
I heard the sound of a door being hammered down, and screams, from apartment C. I jumped down in time to see a ghoul stride through the shattered door into the apartment. I sprinted down, and shot the monster in the back of it's right knee. It screamed in agony as it fell. I put a second round into it's brain pan. The ork lady in C was holding her baby, and looked terrified. "Get to the roof!" I screamed.
I check the hall. Apartment B had it's door open. I didn't hear any screaming from there, but that could have been due to the gun fire coming from apartment D. The ghoul at the door to D was blown back across the hall and fell in a heap. The hall was clear, but I couldn't account for all the ghouls I had seen. I dashed over to B's door, and saw a trio of ghouls devouring the chip-head who lived there. The poor dumb fragger was lost in his chip and never knew he was eaten alive. I put three rounds into the nearest one, splattering it's chest open across the corpse it was eating. The other two looked up in surprise just in time for each to get shot through the face. It was a ugly mess.
The sound of fighting stopped suddenly. The quiet stillness was alarming on an instinctive level, but was interrupted by a single booming shot from the hall. I darted out to find that the elf who lived in D had blown the ghouls head apart with a close blast from his shotgun. Not a smart thing to do, but immediately effective.
My spell told me ghouls were scattering in all directions outside. They were fleeing the area, which was a great relief to me. My spirit vanished back into astral space and then the only sound I heard was that of the ork lady and her baby, taking the stairs above me at a frenzied pace.
******
November 21st, 2058 0815 local Seattle Metroplex time
The sun does shine in Seattle, even under a gray sky you have illumination from our parent star. The daylight found a stack of dead ghouls, and one dead chip head, laying on the broken fragments of the sidewalk across the street from my building. A little levitation had moved them out of the building (I don't touch ghouls). Once they were piled up, I called out to my fire elemental. The spirit engulfed the corpses and burned them down to ash over the next two hours. The smell was terrible.
Lone Star doesn't have much of a presence in the Barrens. They completely ignored the incident, and no police contractors ever showed up to see what had happened. Just another day in Redmond I suppose.
I used a handy spell I know to sterilize the blood and gore the ghouls had left behind. Then I went back to my little apartment. I pulled my couch in front of the door behind me, and got back in my shower. I scrubbed myself clean and vowed, once again, to move to a place with hot running water.
I climbed into my form fitting body armor. Put on a pair of good jeans, pulled on a thick gray sweater, then pulled on the familiar weight of my armored trench coat. I pulled on my rescue rated combat boots, then reloaded my slivergun.
At noon I was in Renton buying two more magazines for my trusty pistol as well as three boxes of ammunition. I took a trip over to Fat Tony's for some linguine and the dark ambiance, ate, and was back in my dingy little apartment by four. I loaded my new magazines, and went down to the first floor. I knocked at apartment D and heard "Frag off!".
"Its the guy from the last night. You got a tick?" I made a point to sound as non-threatening as possible. The elf opened his door with his shotgun in hand. "I'm not here for any trouble chummer, I just wanted to let you know that I think they might come back."
The elf looked pale. Sweat was beading on his forehead, and his hands were trembling. "You the real thing, neh? You got 'de magic. I think I got 'de flu, can you help a neighbor out?"
I looked at him and nodded, "Sure thing chummer. You coming out or am I coming in?" He opened the door and backed away. I came in and shut the door behind me. I could smell vomit, and the doss had that stuffy sickly air to it. He sat down on his couch, resting his shotgun on its shock pad, the barrel pointing toward the ceiling. The place was surprisingly clean.
"Lights don't work" he said.
"Null sheen chummer," I lied. "I'm an elf too you know." I looked him over and felt a bit sick to my stomach. His eyes were turning pale, his gums were bleeding, and a few of his fingernails had fallen out. "I have a spell I want to use to see if its the flu, or just food poisoning. You chill with that?"
"Yeah, thanks" he said. He seemed to relax a bit.
I produced a thin wand from my trench coat pocket. It was a focus I used sometimes for spells dealing with health and wellness. I rested the tip of it on his knee, focused my will, and let the spell flow out and over the elf. I opened myself to view the astral, and watched as the spell brushed over and around his aura. I could see some disconcerting dark spots that seemed to be spreading throughout his body. I held the wand there, studying him, until I confirmed my suspicion.
"Oi, you've got the flu chummer. I can do something for that if you like, or you can go down and get that pill they sell at the Stuffer Shacks." I said.
"I don' feel like making the trip. What you got?" he asked.
"A spell chummer. It'll take a few minutes to work up, but I can get you up and feeling better in two shakes." I was casual.
"Chill chummer, yeah, I'll buy you a beer once I'm up and running. Sound good?" he asked.
"Chill! Yeah, let me get to work." I turned and pulled his little table over to the corner, and rolled up a rug he had on the bare floor. I took a piece of chalk from a box in my pocket and drew out a circle on the floor. I wrote out a phrase in Latin around the outer edge of the circle, then stepped back to admire my handiwork. It looked pretty good, if I say so myself. The whole process took about twenty minutes. "Okay chummer, sit down in the circle, but don't smear the chalk" I told him.
He rose up off the couch, took a pair of feeble steps, and sat down in the middle of the circle I drew. He didn't smear a bit of it. "Hows 'at?" he asked.
"Really chill chummer. I'm going to start the spell to fix you up. I'm going to walk the circle once speaking the spell, then I'll walk it a second time and chant it again, then on the third time around I need you to repeat it with me. So desu?" He nodded as he took my instruction. I walked around him, a low chant coming from my lips "Ohwa, tae goo siam." I chanted. My second circuit around him, I saw him shiver, and I intoned more deeply "Ohwa, tae goo siam." As I started my third time around I heard him repeat me "Ohwa, tae goo..." I was behind him, my viper in hand. He didn't get to the final part of my fake incantation as I blew his brains across the floor. He never knew what hit him. He never had to live through the rest of his transformation into a ghoul.
*****
The ghouls came back that night, but everyone was gone. I watched as twenty ghouls stormed into the empty apartment building, and heard them scream in frustration. I had bound a fire elemental to service weeks prior, and its term of service was about to end. I gave it a final order and watched.
The elemental manifested in the small lobby and erupted with fiery wrath. None of the ghouls were on the first floor, so the elemental had time to rage and burn. The building caught fire all across the first floor, with flames licking the brick exterior and devouring the interior of the structure. None of those ghouls ever left the building.
*****
Midnight found me in the Brick Yard, drinking a lemonade and deep in thought. Sandy brought me a plate of Solomon's famous boneless jerk chicken strips. She gave me a soft smile, "anything else?"
"Yeah, I need to speak to Sheila. Thanks Sandy." I said.
"I'll see if she will speak to you. She's been busy though." Sandy turned and walked away.
Thirty minutes, two lemonades, and an order of nachos later (hey, I was hungry), Sandy tapped me on the shoulder and nodded to the back. I paid my tab, with a nice tip on top for Sandy, and made my way to Sheila's booth.
"Tommy, what can I do for you?" Sheila asked. "Have a spell you want, or a focus you need?"
I looked at Sheila for a long minute, then shook my head. "No, I need to hire some shadowrunners"
*****
I'll tell the rest of this story later.
Right now, I think I am going to take a little trip to Bellevue for the best Tai food in Seattle.
You coming?
_______________________________________________________________________________
From the author: Thanks for checking out my fan fiction. These stories are derived from game play, and are fictionalized from memory. If you enjoy them please do share them with other Shadowrun fans. As I mention above, I do not own Shadowrun.
Thank you! I hope you enjoyed it!
Wednesday, February 7, 2018
Blood in the Willows
November 12th, 2058 0400 hours (Seattle Local Time)
Edgy Ed, Gitti, Suzy B, and I were fighting for our lives. We were trying to break contact from a mob of ghouls as we tried to escape the Willows neighborhood in Redmond. A dozen ghouls lay bleeding on the plascrete, but another thirty or more were bounding in toward our position. I heard the staccato bursts of weapon fire from each of the street samurai, and feared it wouldn't be enough.
T-bone was already down fifteen meters away. The huge troll had been brought to the ground by a riot of ghouls who ripped his guts open and started eating him alive. Suzy B put a three round burst into the top of his brain pan, and put an end to his screams. (Sometimes, I still have nightmares where I hear him screaming for help).
Edgy Ed called out "reloading" as he swapped out a magazine on his AK-97. He took a step back as he slapped the mag home and the action cycled. Gitti, called out "me too" and took a step back as well. Ghouls were screaming, howling, and wading through the gunfire; getting closer with every second.
"I'm out" Suzy screamed. Her Ingram clattered on the pavement, scattering brass as dikote(tm) coated spurs snapped out from her forearms.
I was sweating bullets as I fended off a barrage of spells that were targeting our minds. I was tiring, and knew that if any of the mindfrag sorcery got through we would be eaten and killed, in that order. I dispersed a sickening miasma of tainted mana trying to foment a spell all about us, then stepped up next to Suzy B. I screamed out over the hammering sound of gunfire "TAKE MINE!" and handed her my Ares Viper sliver gun.
Suzy took the slender weapon without a moment's pause and began snapping off shots, one at a time, into the onrushing horde. We were back peddling into an alley, the other end of which was engulfed in flames as a pair of fire elementals were busy incinerating another mob of ghouls who were trying to get to us from behind. The spirits were having a hard time of it, as there were to many ghouls.
I was still trying to find the sorcerer when another spell came down on us. My defenses held but the force of the spell made me weak in the knees. I looked up, and saw the ghoul standing on the roof five stories up. There was no where to go get out of his line of sight.
Edgy Ed used to swear that I started smiling like an idiot as we backed into the alley. I don't remember if I did or didn't, but I remember the dark satisfaction of seeing my earth elemental manifest on the roof and engulf that scabby fragger. That certainly broke his line of sight!
One ghoul sorcerer down, uncounted dozens of ghouls to go.
"Running low," Ed called out.
"Same here" Gitti grimly shouted.
"Save one for yourself," Suzy B laughed.
"Frag that!" I yelled. "IGNIS MAGICAE!" I pointed my finger to a spot in space above and behind the oncoming ghouls. A white ball of fire manifested in the area for just a tick, then exploded in fiery brilliance. The spell flash cooked all the ghouls who were caught in its wake, leaving the two closest to us unscathed. Those outside the blast screamed in surprise as the brilliant light washed over all of us. Latin... for the win.
I turned to my companions, and screamed "We are LEAVING!"
Suzy B, shot one of the oncoming ghouls, blowing the top of the monster's head open and sending his brains spraying across the charred remains of the horde behind him. Ed and Gitti stitched fire up the torso of the other ghoul.
Behind me I heard the roar of rushing flames. I turned and saw that the back of the alley was immolated. Garbage was burning, the plascrete was bubbling, and ghouls were turning to run away. I had no interest in letting them escape, "Kill them" I commanded to the fire spirits.
The remaining ghouls were scattering but we were stranded on an island surrounded by molten, bubbling plascrete. I was wearing my rescue boots with the kevlar II lining and the ballistic toe caps, but stepping in molten plascrete would burn the hell out of my feet if I tried to run through it.
Suzy B emptied my Viper at the fleeing ghouls, downing a dozen or more. I sent out a mental call to the astral and felt the air spirit I had bound respond. A moment later I was carried up to the top of the building and landed on the roof near the spot I had last seen the ghoul sorcerer. I shouldn't have bothered. All that was left of it was a broken mess of smashed limbs and a puddle of blood and stinking fluids. I tasted bile in the back of my throat but fought down the urge to vomit.
*****
We left the kill zone before any curious police contractors showed up. Fortunately, none of us had been scratched or bitten, though Edgy Ed had been grazed by a bullet from T-Bone's smg that went wide as the big troll got dragged down. We were holed up in an old burned out library taking stock of our situation and counting to make certain we still had all of our fingers.
The job was a horrific bust. We had found a Tamanous operation, of that I was sure, but we weren't able to rescue any survivors. There simply weren't any. The ghouls had eaten the people they didn't turn. It was a horror show all the way around, but without the feeling of catharsis from triumphing at the end. People of all ages had been victimized and it made me feel sick.
I recovered my Viper from Suzy B. She offered to buy it from me, but I declined. That pistol and I had been through a lot. It had killed the fragger who took down Pepper. The gun was empty so I slapped in a fresh magazine, slipping the spent one into a pocket of my armor lined trench coat.
"What now?" Gitti asked.
It was an excellent question.
"Johnson going to pay us for this frag up? Because I burned a lot of ammo on this cluster of a job." Edgy Ed spat out. He was trembling, but that was normal. I suspect that whoever did the installation on his reflex wiring made a mistake or two, because he was always jittery and his hands switched when he was trying to be still.
"I wouldn't", Suzy B, always the pragmatist.
I thought about it, and didn't like our odds of getting paid. Mr. Johnson had hired us to check out a suspected Tamanous organ legging chop shop and rescue any survivors. We didn't find anyone living who wasn't infected, and it was all we could do to escape with our lives. T-Bone was dead, as was the fng (fraggin' new guy) we picked up as our rigger. When we started our unexpected run for our lives escape, we saw ghouls ripping him apart on the street next to his van.
"I don't see it happening, but its worth a shot." I said. "If he says 'No' we negotiate, and if that doesn't work we call it loss and never work for the fragger again."
"Maybe shove a gun in his nose to help him find his credstick." Ed was annoyed.
"Not if you want to work for Sheila again," I said. "We didn't pull off the rescue. Lets float it by the Johnson and see what's what."
Suzy B shrugged in a non-committal way, Gitti nodded, and Edgy Ed twitched and let out a "ugh" sound I took to be his consent.
*****
Sheila X wasn't taking any chances. We showed up to a meet in a clinic run by a former CAS navy doctor. We underwent an astral once over and were tested for HMHVV. We all came back clean (thankfully), then I destroyed the samples. Sheila X came into the examination room, Little Rickie in tow right behind her.
Rickie looked annoyed and I felt like I wanted to hide behind something solid, like a tank or a building. Sheila took a seat on a small stool in the corner. "Well, what happened?" She asked. No menace, no stress, no anything, it was just a bland question but it weighted the air in the room for a moment.
"A lot of ghouls, no survivors who hadn't been turned into ghouls, and a lot of dead people. T-Bone is dead, so is the rigger, and we made it out with a lot of noise. From the look of the place, I'd say Mr. Johnson was right about it being a Tamanous chop shop. It was like being a pig walking into a butcher shop." I kept the stress out of my voice. If I acted like I was getting uppity with Sheila I was pretty sure Rickie would beat me to death or so badly that I would wish I were dead. "We'll confirm with images, but I wouldn't eat before watching the footage."
Suzy B, reached up and pulled a chip from the jack behind her left eye and held it up for Sheila to see. "Mr. Johnson owes us our money, and we have data he may be interested in. We also killed about fifty ghouls so I think we've earned our pay. So ka?"
"Not for me to say," Sheila said smoothly. "If it were me, sure thing, but I've got to get him to the meet. Be in the Brick Yard, tomorrow night, at nine." With that Sheila got up and walked out the door. Little Rickie stooped down to follow her, and closed the door behind him.
*****
November 13th, 2000 Hours (The Brick Yard)
I was an hour early for the meet. Sandy brought my food over with a soft smile, "Let me know if you need anything." I thanked her and smiled back but she was already turning away. Its weird, but I missed the big tusky smiles she used to give "me". Funny how things change when you do. I ate my meal in silence, scratching the spot behind my right ear before downing half of my lemonade.
The rest of the "team" was seated around the Brick Yard. Suzy B and Gitti were a table away from a trio of ork hard cases. Edgy Ed was sitting alone at a booth near the men's room. With me at the bar we had fair coverage of the place. I had sent a text to Sheila, letting her know were already here, and had told the team to order food. Aria had taken Ed's order, poor bastard, and he was having some words about his order when she brought his plate over. She took it back and I smiled to myself. No telling what he was going to get after sending a plate back.
I was taking my time with my meal and talking with a troll at the bar. He was educating me on the urban brawl game that was playing on the trid, and I was asking real questions (as I never understood the game). Mr. Johnson walked in, alone, at 2050. I waved Sandy over, had her put the troll's order on my bill and paid for the team's meals. I put a fifty nuyen tip on top and set to work finishing my meal. My pocket secretary buzzed at 2100 hours.
It's not much of a walk from the bar to the back booth where Sheila X runs her biz. Mr. Johnson was seated and a chip reader was resting on the table in front of him. I sat down across from Sheila X, my face as impassive as I could make it. "Good evening. Mr. Johnson, its good to see you." I lay a chip case on the table in front of me. "I think you'll find we accomplished all that was possible." The Johnson was an elf, with gold hair and pale features. His eyes were a deep sea green. He was calm, with just a hint of a frown on his well formed features.
"Let's see then." Johnson said, and held his hand out.
I picked up the chip case and placed it in Johnson's palm. He opened it and fitted the chip to the reader. It cycled for a few minutes. "Clean chip. Good start." Johnson said. He spooled a cable out and plugged it into the chip reader. I suppose he didn't want the data floating around wireless. The other end of the cable he plugged into a slick AR goggle unit. Light played around his eyes as he watched. I looked over and saw Sheila X watching Mr. Johnson with calculating eyes.
The chip had precisely fourteen minutes and twenty-three seconds of footage on it. Having lived through the events recorded on that chip, I can tell you it seemed like hours when you were in the thick of it. When I looked back at Mr. Johnson his jaw was clenched but he didn't make a sound. The tips of his elven ears were flush, his breathing was deep and regular. It was gruesome footage, brutal, real-world violence, against the disfigured forms of the infected. The footage picked up everything in hi-res full color, the sound track made it sound like you were right there hearing through Suzy B's ears. It was terrible to watch.
Mr. Johnson was quiet for fifteen minutes. The light around the goggles faded out, and he pulled them off his head. "Unfortunate that there were no survivors. I call it a job well done though." He surprised me by producing six black credsticks and placing them on the table. He handed a seventh to SheilaX. I picked up the credsticks, read the displays, then passed them through a verification reader I brought along (Angel had turned me on to them after a Johnson tried to pay us with a counterfeit credstick once.) The sticks were clean and legit, so I pocketed them for the team. "Impressive work." Johnson said.
"Thanks." I replied. I slid out of the booth, nodded to Sheila, and added. "Nice doing business with you."
"I'm sure." Mr. Johnson replied. "Until next time."
At that moment, I thought his response was pretty damn strange.
*****
I divided the credsticks up between the surviving four of us. I split the fng's (I don't remember his name, sorry) credstick between us. T-Bone's credstick I held onto. I left the three of them at the Brick Yard, pulled an invisibility spell around me and took a long walk to the northeast of what was once Hartman Park. T-Bone had lived in old bank just a couple blocks from the tangled mess of the old park. His life partner/wife, was there when I showed up. I broke the news to her, lying when I said he died quickly and didn't suffer. I didn't want her to suffer any more than she already was. I gave his share to her, and left his AK-97 there (I had cleaned his blood off the weapon).
{I wondered how she got out of the plex ~ Angel}
*****
I spent the next few days prowling around in the Willows. I had Gitti and Suzy B come along to watch my back (best four thousand nuyen I spent that month). We found a few groups of ghouls, and put them down. It was bloody work, but someone had to do it. Lone Star certainly wasn't making any effort, and that first battle in the Willows didn't even make the scream sheets. Life in the barrens for you I suppose.
I'm not hungry. Lets go catch the urban brawl game tonight though. I've picked up a few things about the game lately. Maybe you can enlighten me further.
OH, and here's a tip for you: if you are going to shape change into another metatype, you're going to find that it takes getting used to. I always had some trouble with my ears when I was an elf. It didn't matter how I changed them, they kept brushing the side of my head and it always irritated me a bit, like a bug flying onto your face. I had a similar problem when I was an ork for a while, where I kept biting my own lip. So plan accordingly when you take on a new face.
___________________________________________________________
From the author: Thanks for checking out my fan fiction. These stories are derived from game play, and are fictionalized from memory. If you enjoy them please do share them with other Shadowrun fans. As I mention above, I do not own Shadowrun.
As of this writing I have a KickStarter campaign going on for my adventure module "Comet over Echo Rock" which is released under the Open Game License for another game mechanic (not Shadowrun, unfortunately, though if they ever do permit something like an open game license release I'll be all over that!). So please do take a moment to check that out and share it with others (it ends on Saturday, February 10th, 2018).
Thank you! I hope you enjoyed it!
Friday, February 2, 2018
I smell death and candy
October 29th, 2058
I was nineteen years old.
I was an elf, but I couldn't see in the dark and that was posing something of a problem for me. I didn't want to be known as an "elf-poser". I wanted to be regarded as a reliable professional, but with a new identity and no rep I had to earn that respect. Part of that was making my new identity as solid as possible.
I couldn't do anything about the electronic record. I just didn't have the money to have a carefully constructed, drum-tight identity crafted so I had to do with the record I could afford. Living under the social identification number of a person who had gone missing as a teen. Swallowed up by the sprawl, most likely. But being an elf isn't just pointy ears and the right build, you have to have the traits or people will notice. I should have thought things out more carefully and just been another human, but I wanted to be very different and so "elf" it was.
Of course, I wasn't really an elf. I was wearing a mask of sorts. The shape change spell was held in place by a particularly stout, self-sustaining, mana loop. It was permanent as far as spells go. But it didn't grant me more than the physical shape and traits. I had spent a week with a spell formula, going over it in every detail. I wove the spell carefully, the mana working in my eyes and the forefront of my brain. It makes me a bit nervous to think that magic is literally flowing through my brain, but there you are. I am, after all, a wizard. Once the spell was in place I snuffed out the candles in my little apartment (the power was out again) and looked in the mirror. I saw the amerindian elf I had become looking back at me. With a lot of effort, and more time that I care to admit, I wove the mana loop that would hold the spell firmly in place. After that, and ever since, I can see in the dark like any elf.
*****
October 30th, 2058
I was down at the tailor's shop when it opened. I wanted a suit of form-fitting armor for my new form, and I wanted it done right. Back then there was a place in Bellevue I liked to use where an ork named Russell would put his incredible talents to work to make you the best dressed version of you possible. I liked Russell even though I sometimes had no idea what he was talking about (I don't understand fashion).
Russell finished up the measurements, and was taking the notes on the options I wanted included. Some of them were of a "questionable" nature, but Russell didn't ask questions. Which is why I liked to use his services. {Tommy, he also did that blue gown for me when the Geo-Dynamics job went up in '59. Miss him. ~ Angel} So Russell was putting together the armored undergarment complete with the concealed Faraday pocket (thanks Angel!) and the thermal dampening. Russell was good and fast, so I was able to pick up my new armor later that day (at a good mark up). I felt a bit of relief having a layer of ballistic fiber between me and any stray bullets. I left Russell's place feeling a little more comfortable in my own skin (see what I did there?)
I was in Bellevue so I decided to treat myself at an all natural ice cream shop I knew. The place wasn't busy in October, and the ice cream was simply amazing. So for twenty nuyen I sat down with a sundae and was watching the chic people stroll by. It was raining (which should go without saying) so being indoors with a cold sweet treat suited me just fine. I was nearing the bottom of the dessert when my pocket secretary vibrated. I had a message from my favorite fixer.
Text: "Halloween party tomorrow night? Come see me, we'll talk"
She had my attention and you can't buy good ice cream with looks alone.
*****
I landed in a rubble choked lot about a block north of the Brick Yard. I let my invisibility spell slip away as I walked down in plain view of Little Rickie. He saw me coming immediately, hand on that cannon he called a pistol. As I approached, I felt his gaze fall heavily upon me and thought, not for the first time, that I just might piss myself. He waved his off hand toward the door, "Check the gun inside chummer. Don't pull any drek."
"Null sheen Rick", I said it out of reflex and immediately regretted it. Little Rickie's trigger finger poked me in the forehead hard enough to knock me back a step. Even with the spells I had running to enhance my reflexes, he was just far to fast for me to avoid. I gulped and was thankful he hadn't pulled his gun.
"Chummer, you don't know me", was all he said. He pointed toward the door.
I checked my pistol inside and made my way to the bar. Sandy was taking a trio of heavily laden plates over to a table occupied by three orks I saw down there pretty often. I sat down on a stool and was greeted by Aria's lovely voice.
"Hi ennas ow turim bucin?", Aria's voice came out with a lilting sing-song quality to it.
Unfortunately, I didn't speak of word of Sperethiel at the time. "Uh, what?" I said. "I don't speak it."
"vanima asinus", she said with a smile. "How can I help you?"
"Yeah, uh, can I get a bowl of Solomon's chili and some of those cornbread muffins? A big glass of ice water too, please." Aria looked at me for a moment like I was forgetting something, then she turned around and walked into the back.
Ten minutes later I had a bowl of potato soup and a pair of rolls. I had my ice water, and a tall glass of cold, dark beer. The food was great but I skipped the beer. I flagged down Sandy when Aria wasn't looking and ordered a triple rum for the cook with my compliments for the soup. I left Aria a modest tip, and decided I would need to learn a little Sperethiel in coming months.
When Aria came back around she smiled and said, "The lady in the back is asking about you." She gave a conspiratorial wink at me. I slid out off the bar stool and walked back to Sheila's usual booth.
Sheila was sitting with a pair of tall, beautiful women. One woman was a tall amerind-elf with stunning features, with emerald eyes. The second woman was a bald elf with skin of the deepest black I have ever seen and eyes like silver star light. I don't mean to romanticize it but they were both simply beautiful. I was nineteen and I stopped and stared for a moment. Sheila X came to my rescue with, "Ladies, the asset I spoke of. This is Mr. Gun"
{Tommy, weren't you going by the name "Joseph Silver" at this time ~ Angel}
{Angel, I'm not going to try to keep up with all the aliases. I'm just going to use "Tommy Gun" for all of these entries. Can you imagine if you had to recall all the user names you've ever used?~ T.}
I sat down next to Sheila X, "Ms. Johnson I presume" I was calmly professional, mimicking Sheila's mannerism after years of encounters.
"You presume to much Mr. Gun," the amerind-elf lady spoke with a soft voice that felt like it caressed my ears. There was an almost magical quality to her voice that alarmed and intrigued me at once. "I'm Samantha Goode, this is my business partner Desiree Blockley. We've got a problem and we want you to fix it."
"Tell me more. If I can help and we can agree on reasonable compensation then I'll work on your problem. What is it?"
*****
Blockley and Goode presented me with the easiest job of 2058. The local Humanis chapter-house had been discovered. Blockley and Goode wanted it burned down.
In the wee hours of October 31st, 2058, shortly after dawn rose on the Metroplex, an errant fire elemental, or two, manifested in the chapter-house. The resulting conflagration reduced the building to a pile of smoldering ashes and charred beams in a scant two hours. Four men ran out of the building as the fire started, one was actually wearing white robes. I watched for a few minutes as they milled about trying to call in help. But when I heard motorcycles approaching and recognized the motiff of the Halloweeners on several gangers closing in on the early morning inferno, I held my invisibility spell very firmly around me as I fled the scene.
I'm not ashamed. I ran away. The job was done and those pyromaniacal psychos were closing in. Let this be a lesson, don't fight crazy people if you don't have to. You'll live longer.
I met up with Ms. Goode in the Brick Yard shortly after noon. She paid the agreed upon amount for my little bit of thaumaturgic arson, then left. The scent of her perfume lingered in the air, leaving the aroma of lilacs and vanilla.
*****
I left the Brick Yard, paid a few bills, and headed into Renton for a Halloween festival I had heard about.
I paid ten nuyen for a little neon wrist band that told the booth vendors I was over twenty-one, picked up an organic caramel apple, and slipped into the crowd. There were vendors for dozens of different aspects for the holiday. There were Wican themed products to "celebrate Samhain" next to stands selling straw brooms. I watched a horror movie themed cosplay contest, caught most of a presentation from the Sisters of Ariadne, and ate a variety of festival foods. I laughed at a comedian telling jokes to passersby, "What's the difference between executives and shoes? Shoes have soles." I love that joke. I found a stage where there was a costume contest going for little children. Scores of parents were clapping and cheering on the little tykes as they walked out on stage. I saw little Red Samurai and Lone Star police contractor costumes, cartoon characters, and some things I couldn't identify. There was joy in the area, a pleasant ambiance to the whole event, and people were in good spirits.
I was watching an apple bobbing contest when a trio of orc paramedics rushed by carrying a stretcher. There was an older man secured to the stretcher, with one ork leading the way calling out, "excuse us, medical emergency" while the other two did the heavy lifting. I moved out of the way to let them by, and recognized the "paramedics" as they passed. I was impressed by the their work. They looked, for all the world, like real paramedics saving a life. They were calm, cool, and they got the guy out and loaded into an ambulance waiting at an emergency exit. I made a mental note about the incident, then found a booth with an artist sketching customers.
I spent two hours at the festival, spent a little money, and had a fantastic time. I was being a person, and it was nice.
*****
2200 hours
I was on my way home. My neighborhood wasn't exactly friendly, so I was traveling under my trusty invisibility spell. I wanted to be home before midnight as I had some things I wanted to do during the witching hour. I was a block away from my doss when I saw two boys, pre-teens from the look of them, running out of a burned out strip mall. They looked scared and my hand found my viper slivergun by reflex. They were already half a block away when I heard a scream for help from the ruin. The kids drew up and looked back but paused.
The screaming continued. It sounded like genuine terror and the voice sounded young. I ran across the street and opened by astral sight. For the record, walking around on the night of Halloween with your astral sight open as you run over to look into random screams of terror was stupid.
A girl came running out, screaming as she ran. Hers was the voice that brought me to investigate. Her aura was bright with fear, and vibrant with the glow of someone who had a budding magical talent. She was looking into the astral, saw me standing their wrapped in myriad spell energies, and yelled "Help!" Behind her a rotting corpse was coming out of the building after her.
The body had once been a man. A chip jack was scorched at it's temple, the body was bloated and stunk of rot. He'd been dead for only a few days. The girl sprinted after the other two kids, and I watched in amazement as the dead man came striding out. The body was possessed by a strange, dark spirit. I had never seen anything like this before, but I had heard rumors. The spirit saw me, and turned hungrily toward me.
I backpedaled, holstering my gun and raising my hands in a gesture of denial. "Avante! Avante spirit! You have no power here." I forced my will and power into a banishment and locked myself into a mystic battle against a spirit of unknown power. The spirit contemplated me for a moment, then pushed on through my efforts, gaining two strides toward me. I felt sweat break out on my brow as I felt my power struggle against the spirit. It was like swimming upstream. There was a solid power to the thing which brought a steady pressure against me and showed no sign of letting up. "Avante! Avante spirit! I rebuke you. Go from this place and never return!" The walking corpse faltered in place. I held it back but tasted blood on my lips as my nose started to bleed from the strain. I could see the spirit struggling against my power. It held onto the corpse, keeping it in the world, and I seemed to be tiring faster that it was.
Then the damn thing cheated. It opened the corpse's mouth and spoke, "Die mortal vessel! Die and be reborn! You will harbor the host of darkness. Your bones will be our home! Die mortal vessel, die!" I felt a surge of force from the spirit which pushed me back two full meters, and forced me against a charred wall. I had never heard of a spirit using any sort of evocation in a banishment contest but I was certainly on the receiving end of it. My vision blurred a bit and with a moment of real fear, I realized I was going to lose. I was going to die.
When you know, really know, that you're going to die, you have a whole list of ways you can react. Panic, anger, defiance, witless crying, a number of options are presented to you. I thought of Pepper and his family, buried in the church boneyard. I decided to go down fighting. "Avante Spirit!" I put every bit of my remaining strength into my banishment, took a deep breathe and bellowed out, "Avante unclean thing! Yea thou I walk in the valley of the shadow of death I shall fear no evil!" I swallowed as I tasted my own blood and took a step toward the corpse-spirit. "Avante shadow of the pit! You have no power here! I banish you from this place never to return!" My vision swam as I saw the dark form of the spirit slip away from the corpse, it clawed at the air for a moment screaming something I didn't understand. It hung there a moment, fading into the astral as it was forced into whatever meta-planar hellhole it came from, screaming the entire time. The corpse fell to the debris littered floor, and I collapsed a tick later.
I landed on my ass. Hard. I turned, rolled onto my side, and puked my guts up. Seems candy apples and popcorn don't go well with a banishment. Who knew?
I lay there for a few minutes. When I got up I found a satchel laying in a crudely drawn pentagram on the floor. Footsteps from the corpse began about a meter away. The satchel had a cellphone, a bag of chocolate candies, and a hard copy book titled "Eldritch secrets of the Babylonians" the copyright date read 1985. I took the book, and the chocolates, and stepped over the dead chiphead.
The place stunk. I sterilized every bit of my blood and vomit, and walked out of the charred ruin. The kids were still watching the building from half a block up. All three of them looking at me as I made the sidewalk. I looked over at them, the girl's aura bright with magical potential and all three of them radiating terror. I wove a spell of invisibility around myself, and watched as they ran off. I unwrapped one of the chocolate candies and popped into my mouth.
The chocolate helped cut the taste of blood, and dampen the stench of death.
*****
That was my first time tangling with a shedim. It certainly wasn't the last. I still have that book somewhere. It has a lot of bogus incantations, is full of flawed theory, was written before the awakening (which makes me wonder sometimes), but also contains a working ritual for binding "a spirit of the ebon depths". The ritual seems to work, but the book doesn't make any mention of creating a protective or containment circle. I'll never know how the ritual made it into that book, but it almost killed those children. You can buy digital copies of it online for ten nuyen.
Want a beer? Lets go.
I was nineteen years old.
I was an elf, but I couldn't see in the dark and that was posing something of a problem for me. I didn't want to be known as an "elf-poser". I wanted to be regarded as a reliable professional, but with a new identity and no rep I had to earn that respect. Part of that was making my new identity as solid as possible.
I couldn't do anything about the electronic record. I just didn't have the money to have a carefully constructed, drum-tight identity crafted so I had to do with the record I could afford. Living under the social identification number of a person who had gone missing as a teen. Swallowed up by the sprawl, most likely. But being an elf isn't just pointy ears and the right build, you have to have the traits or people will notice. I should have thought things out more carefully and just been another human, but I wanted to be very different and so "elf" it was.
Of course, I wasn't really an elf. I was wearing a mask of sorts. The shape change spell was held in place by a particularly stout, self-sustaining, mana loop. It was permanent as far as spells go. But it didn't grant me more than the physical shape and traits. I had spent a week with a spell formula, going over it in every detail. I wove the spell carefully, the mana working in my eyes and the forefront of my brain. It makes me a bit nervous to think that magic is literally flowing through my brain, but there you are. I am, after all, a wizard. Once the spell was in place I snuffed out the candles in my little apartment (the power was out again) and looked in the mirror. I saw the amerindian elf I had become looking back at me. With a lot of effort, and more time that I care to admit, I wove the mana loop that would hold the spell firmly in place. After that, and ever since, I can see in the dark like any elf.
*****
October 30th, 2058
I was down at the tailor's shop when it opened. I wanted a suit of form-fitting armor for my new form, and I wanted it done right. Back then there was a place in Bellevue I liked to use where an ork named Russell would put his incredible talents to work to make you the best dressed version of you possible. I liked Russell even though I sometimes had no idea what he was talking about (I don't understand fashion).
Russell finished up the measurements, and was taking the notes on the options I wanted included. Some of them were of a "questionable" nature, but Russell didn't ask questions. Which is why I liked to use his services. {Tommy, he also did that blue gown for me when the Geo-Dynamics job went up in '59. Miss him. ~ Angel} So Russell was putting together the armored undergarment complete with the concealed Faraday pocket (thanks Angel!) and the thermal dampening. Russell was good and fast, so I was able to pick up my new armor later that day (at a good mark up). I felt a bit of relief having a layer of ballistic fiber between me and any stray bullets. I left Russell's place feeling a little more comfortable in my own skin (see what I did there?)
I was in Bellevue so I decided to treat myself at an all natural ice cream shop I knew. The place wasn't busy in October, and the ice cream was simply amazing. So for twenty nuyen I sat down with a sundae and was watching the chic people stroll by. It was raining (which should go without saying) so being indoors with a cold sweet treat suited me just fine. I was nearing the bottom of the dessert when my pocket secretary vibrated. I had a message from my favorite fixer.
Text: "Halloween party tomorrow night? Come see me, we'll talk"
She had my attention and you can't buy good ice cream with looks alone.
*****
I landed in a rubble choked lot about a block north of the Brick Yard. I let my invisibility spell slip away as I walked down in plain view of Little Rickie. He saw me coming immediately, hand on that cannon he called a pistol. As I approached, I felt his gaze fall heavily upon me and thought, not for the first time, that I just might piss myself. He waved his off hand toward the door, "Check the gun inside chummer. Don't pull any drek."
"Null sheen Rick", I said it out of reflex and immediately regretted it. Little Rickie's trigger finger poked me in the forehead hard enough to knock me back a step. Even with the spells I had running to enhance my reflexes, he was just far to fast for me to avoid. I gulped and was thankful he hadn't pulled his gun.
"Chummer, you don't know me", was all he said. He pointed toward the door.
I checked my pistol inside and made my way to the bar. Sandy was taking a trio of heavily laden plates over to a table occupied by three orks I saw down there pretty often. I sat down on a stool and was greeted by Aria's lovely voice.
"Hi ennas ow turim bucin?", Aria's voice came out with a lilting sing-song quality to it.
Unfortunately, I didn't speak of word of Sperethiel at the time. "Uh, what?" I said. "I don't speak it."
"vanima asinus", she said with a smile. "How can I help you?"
"Yeah, uh, can I get a bowl of Solomon's chili and some of those cornbread muffins? A big glass of ice water too, please." Aria looked at me for a moment like I was forgetting something, then she turned around and walked into the back.
Ten minutes later I had a bowl of potato soup and a pair of rolls. I had my ice water, and a tall glass of cold, dark beer. The food was great but I skipped the beer. I flagged down Sandy when Aria wasn't looking and ordered a triple rum for the cook with my compliments for the soup. I left Aria a modest tip, and decided I would need to learn a little Sperethiel in coming months.
When Aria came back around she smiled and said, "The lady in the back is asking about you." She gave a conspiratorial wink at me. I slid out off the bar stool and walked back to Sheila's usual booth.
Sheila was sitting with a pair of tall, beautiful women. One woman was a tall amerind-elf with stunning features, with emerald eyes. The second woman was a bald elf with skin of the deepest black I have ever seen and eyes like silver star light. I don't mean to romanticize it but they were both simply beautiful. I was nineteen and I stopped and stared for a moment. Sheila X came to my rescue with, "Ladies, the asset I spoke of. This is Mr. Gun"
{Tommy, weren't you going by the name "Joseph Silver" at this time ~ Angel}
{Angel, I'm not going to try to keep up with all the aliases. I'm just going to use "Tommy Gun" for all of these entries. Can you imagine if you had to recall all the user names you've ever used?~ T.}
I sat down next to Sheila X, "Ms. Johnson I presume" I was calmly professional, mimicking Sheila's mannerism after years of encounters.
"You presume to much Mr. Gun," the amerind-elf lady spoke with a soft voice that felt like it caressed my ears. There was an almost magical quality to her voice that alarmed and intrigued me at once. "I'm Samantha Goode, this is my business partner Desiree Blockley. We've got a problem and we want you to fix it."
"Tell me more. If I can help and we can agree on reasonable compensation then I'll work on your problem. What is it?"
*****
Blockley and Goode presented me with the easiest job of 2058. The local Humanis chapter-house had been discovered. Blockley and Goode wanted it burned down.
In the wee hours of October 31st, 2058, shortly after dawn rose on the Metroplex, an errant fire elemental, or two, manifested in the chapter-house. The resulting conflagration reduced the building to a pile of smoldering ashes and charred beams in a scant two hours. Four men ran out of the building as the fire started, one was actually wearing white robes. I watched for a few minutes as they milled about trying to call in help. But when I heard motorcycles approaching and recognized the motiff of the Halloweeners on several gangers closing in on the early morning inferno, I held my invisibility spell very firmly around me as I fled the scene.
I'm not ashamed. I ran away. The job was done and those pyromaniacal psychos were closing in. Let this be a lesson, don't fight crazy people if you don't have to. You'll live longer.
I met up with Ms. Goode in the Brick Yard shortly after noon. She paid the agreed upon amount for my little bit of thaumaturgic arson, then left. The scent of her perfume lingered in the air, leaving the aroma of lilacs and vanilla.
*****
I left the Brick Yard, paid a few bills, and headed into Renton for a Halloween festival I had heard about.
I paid ten nuyen for a little neon wrist band that told the booth vendors I was over twenty-one, picked up an organic caramel apple, and slipped into the crowd. There were vendors for dozens of different aspects for the holiday. There were Wican themed products to "celebrate Samhain" next to stands selling straw brooms. I watched a horror movie themed cosplay contest, caught most of a presentation from the Sisters of Ariadne, and ate a variety of festival foods. I laughed at a comedian telling jokes to passersby, "What's the difference between executives and shoes? Shoes have soles." I love that joke. I found a stage where there was a costume contest going for little children. Scores of parents were clapping and cheering on the little tykes as they walked out on stage. I saw little Red Samurai and Lone Star police contractor costumes, cartoon characters, and some things I couldn't identify. There was joy in the area, a pleasant ambiance to the whole event, and people were in good spirits.
I was watching an apple bobbing contest when a trio of orc paramedics rushed by carrying a stretcher. There was an older man secured to the stretcher, with one ork leading the way calling out, "excuse us, medical emergency" while the other two did the heavy lifting. I moved out of the way to let them by, and recognized the "paramedics" as they passed. I was impressed by the their work. They looked, for all the world, like real paramedics saving a life. They were calm, cool, and they got the guy out and loaded into an ambulance waiting at an emergency exit. I made a mental note about the incident, then found a booth with an artist sketching customers.
I spent two hours at the festival, spent a little money, and had a fantastic time. I was being a person, and it was nice.
*****
2200 hours
I was on my way home. My neighborhood wasn't exactly friendly, so I was traveling under my trusty invisibility spell. I wanted to be home before midnight as I had some things I wanted to do during the witching hour. I was a block away from my doss when I saw two boys, pre-teens from the look of them, running out of a burned out strip mall. They looked scared and my hand found my viper slivergun by reflex. They were already half a block away when I heard a scream for help from the ruin. The kids drew up and looked back but paused.
The screaming continued. It sounded like genuine terror and the voice sounded young. I ran across the street and opened by astral sight. For the record, walking around on the night of Halloween with your astral sight open as you run over to look into random screams of terror was stupid.
A girl came running out, screaming as she ran. Hers was the voice that brought me to investigate. Her aura was bright with fear, and vibrant with the glow of someone who had a budding magical talent. She was looking into the astral, saw me standing their wrapped in myriad spell energies, and yelled "Help!" Behind her a rotting corpse was coming out of the building after her.
The body had once been a man. A chip jack was scorched at it's temple, the body was bloated and stunk of rot. He'd been dead for only a few days. The girl sprinted after the other two kids, and I watched in amazement as the dead man came striding out. The body was possessed by a strange, dark spirit. I had never seen anything like this before, but I had heard rumors. The spirit saw me, and turned hungrily toward me.
I backpedaled, holstering my gun and raising my hands in a gesture of denial. "Avante! Avante spirit! You have no power here." I forced my will and power into a banishment and locked myself into a mystic battle against a spirit of unknown power. The spirit contemplated me for a moment, then pushed on through my efforts, gaining two strides toward me. I felt sweat break out on my brow as I felt my power struggle against the spirit. It was like swimming upstream. There was a solid power to the thing which brought a steady pressure against me and showed no sign of letting up. "Avante! Avante spirit! I rebuke you. Go from this place and never return!" The walking corpse faltered in place. I held it back but tasted blood on my lips as my nose started to bleed from the strain. I could see the spirit struggling against my power. It held onto the corpse, keeping it in the world, and I seemed to be tiring faster that it was.
Then the damn thing cheated. It opened the corpse's mouth and spoke, "Die mortal vessel! Die and be reborn! You will harbor the host of darkness. Your bones will be our home! Die mortal vessel, die!" I felt a surge of force from the spirit which pushed me back two full meters, and forced me against a charred wall. I had never heard of a spirit using any sort of evocation in a banishment contest but I was certainly on the receiving end of it. My vision blurred a bit and with a moment of real fear, I realized I was going to lose. I was going to die.
When you know, really know, that you're going to die, you have a whole list of ways you can react. Panic, anger, defiance, witless crying, a number of options are presented to you. I thought of Pepper and his family, buried in the church boneyard. I decided to go down fighting. "Avante Spirit!" I put every bit of my remaining strength into my banishment, took a deep breathe and bellowed out, "Avante unclean thing! Yea thou I walk in the valley of the shadow of death I shall fear no evil!" I swallowed as I tasted my own blood and took a step toward the corpse-spirit. "Avante shadow of the pit! You have no power here! I banish you from this place never to return!" My vision swam as I saw the dark form of the spirit slip away from the corpse, it clawed at the air for a moment screaming something I didn't understand. It hung there a moment, fading into the astral as it was forced into whatever meta-planar hellhole it came from, screaming the entire time. The corpse fell to the debris littered floor, and I collapsed a tick later.
I landed on my ass. Hard. I turned, rolled onto my side, and puked my guts up. Seems candy apples and popcorn don't go well with a banishment. Who knew?
I lay there for a few minutes. When I got up I found a satchel laying in a crudely drawn pentagram on the floor. Footsteps from the corpse began about a meter away. The satchel had a cellphone, a bag of chocolate candies, and a hard copy book titled "Eldritch secrets of the Babylonians" the copyright date read 1985. I took the book, and the chocolates, and stepped over the dead chiphead.
The place stunk. I sterilized every bit of my blood and vomit, and walked out of the charred ruin. The kids were still watching the building from half a block up. All three of them looking at me as I made the sidewalk. I looked over at them, the girl's aura bright with magical potential and all three of them radiating terror. I wove a spell of invisibility around myself, and watched as they ran off. I unwrapped one of the chocolate candies and popped into my mouth.
The chocolate helped cut the taste of blood, and dampen the stench of death.
*****
That was my first time tangling with a shedim. It certainly wasn't the last. I still have that book somewhere. It has a lot of bogus incantations, is full of flawed theory, was written before the awakening (which makes me wonder sometimes), but also contains a working ritual for binding "a spirit of the ebon depths". The ritual seems to work, but the book doesn't make any mention of creating a protective or containment circle. I'll never know how the ritual made it into that book, but it almost killed those children. You can buy digital copies of it online for ten nuyen.
Want a beer? Lets go.
Monday, January 29, 2018
Milk Run
There is an old saying in the shadows. Well, actually, there are several. One you should never forget is "Milk money is still money".
October 12th, 2058
I was nineteen years old, but my tribal ID said I was twenty-two. I didn't look my age, in fact I looked closer to thirty. In the last few weeks I had experienced a lot of firsts: I didn't get carded walking into Dante's Inferno; I ran into some anti-tribal racism in a store I had formally enjoyed frequenting in Bellevue; and other shadowrunner professionals stopped treating me like a kid.
Funny thing about being dead, you have to make friends all over again. It can be really lonely, if you generally like people. It can also be really confusing when you run into people you used to know and they don't recognize you.
It was evening and I was in a StufferShack(tm). I had just picked up a chocolate bar (don't judge me, I was nineteen and still had a teenager metabolism), when I saw a familiar face walk in. Sandy walked in with her three little squealers in tow. They were all walking together, holding hands, and being well behaved kiddos. I smiled in spite of myself and reminded myself that I wasn't "me" anymore.
I was at the check out scanner when a pair norms walked in. They were your garden variety street toughs. Big, well muscled, and decked out in colors proclaiming themselves members of the "Knights of the Blood". The KotB were a gang of humanis sympathizers and I felt myself tense up inside a bit. I'll admit, I had a bad feeling when I saw them. Bigots are usually trouble when they flaunt their prejudice around.
"Oi! Watcher, Nick. We got us a tusker and her litter. Wut the world cummin' too when you can't get some chips wit' out runnin' inta tuskers?" The taller of the two thugs let it roll out his mouth like a funny joke.
Next to the dairy case I saw Sandy pulling out a pair of milk bags.
"Na' Mickie. That tusker ain't here. Show her the door son, this our store. Kick her and her pups to the curb!" The other one, "Nick" I guess, spouted.
I set my chocolate bar down on the scanner and it beeped loudly.
"Oi! Savage! Get moving too. This here is only for people!" 'Nick' again.
I turned to see Nick pull a knife and point it at me, while Mickie walked one aisle down and started toward the dairy case. Sandy hurried her kids an aisle over and was making her way away from the ganger. "Come on boys, just like mommy taught you" she said.
I felt a flush of anger and stepped in next to Nick and tapped him on the temple with my fingertip, "Rest now" I said. The spell hit him like a bat and he fell to the floor limply.
One of Sandy's sons started to cry.
"Nick!" Mickie yelled and came running back my way. Mickie rounded the aisle and was about three meters from me when I noticed that Sandy's son wasn't crying anymore.
Suddenly, I was standing in Pepper's shattered living room two years earlier. I remember my head jerked around and I saw Sandy holding one of the triplets in her arms as she led the other two out the door. Mickie hit me like I was a lucky number.
I caught Mickie's fist with the back of my favorite cranium. The spells I had running to make me healthier and tougher probably saved me from instant unconsciousness. I hit the floor hard, and rolled over to see Mickie picking up Nick's knife. Mickie had murder in his eyes, but I had magically enhanced speed and just the right tool for the occasion. Nick took one step toward me, and I shot him in the knee with my trusted Viper Slivergun(tm). At point blank range it blew Nick's leg off from about an inch above the knee.
I ran out of the StufferShack(tm) and saw Sandy hustling down to the bus stop. I wove a spell of invisibility around myself and walked down to the stop. I hung out there, invisible to everyone, until the bus arrived and Sandy and her boys got on. Lone Star was showing up at the StufferShack(tm) so it was definitely time for me to go. I made use of bipedal locomotion for the next hour, wrapped in a spell and working very hard not to walk into people.
*****
October 14th, 2058
I received a text on my new line. Sheila had a job lined up and I needed paying work.
I walked into the Brick Yard shortly after dark. I found my way to the bar, and took a seat. Sandy came over and took my order. She didn't smile at me the way she used to, not since I wasn't "me" anymore. The food was fantastic, as always, and when she came to check on me I told her to put an order for her on me, and asked her to take a rum to the cook. She did a double take, said "thank you" and walked off. I saw her look back at me when she reached the kitchen door. I made a mental note to watch out about old habits.
The job was an easy one. A street mage was looking for someone to teach him a snappy spell I happened to know. Sheila X tapped me and took her thirty percent. I made a nice bit of nuyen for a little unlicensed instruction, and everyone left happy.
Hey, its not always sneaking, stealing, and killing monsters, you know. Sometimes you just have a job to do.
I've got to get some shopping done today. Sandy's grandsons are being born any day now and I need to find a crib the little screamers can sleep in. You coming?
{Dedicated to David, Happy birthday Chummer}
October 12th, 2058
I was nineteen years old, but my tribal ID said I was twenty-two. I didn't look my age, in fact I looked closer to thirty. In the last few weeks I had experienced a lot of firsts: I didn't get carded walking into Dante's Inferno; I ran into some anti-tribal racism in a store I had formally enjoyed frequenting in Bellevue; and other shadowrunner professionals stopped treating me like a kid.
Funny thing about being dead, you have to make friends all over again. It can be really lonely, if you generally like people. It can also be really confusing when you run into people you used to know and they don't recognize you.
It was evening and I was in a StufferShack(tm). I had just picked up a chocolate bar (don't judge me, I was nineteen and still had a teenager metabolism), when I saw a familiar face walk in. Sandy walked in with her three little squealers in tow. They were all walking together, holding hands, and being well behaved kiddos. I smiled in spite of myself and reminded myself that I wasn't "me" anymore.
I was at the check out scanner when a pair norms walked in. They were your garden variety street toughs. Big, well muscled, and decked out in colors proclaiming themselves members of the "Knights of the Blood". The KotB were a gang of humanis sympathizers and I felt myself tense up inside a bit. I'll admit, I had a bad feeling when I saw them. Bigots are usually trouble when they flaunt their prejudice around.
"Oi! Watcher, Nick. We got us a tusker and her litter. Wut the world cummin' too when you can't get some chips wit' out runnin' inta tuskers?" The taller of the two thugs let it roll out his mouth like a funny joke.
Next to the dairy case I saw Sandy pulling out a pair of milk bags.
"Na' Mickie. That tusker ain't here. Show her the door son, this our store. Kick her and her pups to the curb!" The other one, "Nick" I guess, spouted.
I set my chocolate bar down on the scanner and it beeped loudly.
"Oi! Savage! Get moving too. This here is only for people!" 'Nick' again.
I turned to see Nick pull a knife and point it at me, while Mickie walked one aisle down and started toward the dairy case. Sandy hurried her kids an aisle over and was making her way away from the ganger. "Come on boys, just like mommy taught you" she said.
I felt a flush of anger and stepped in next to Nick and tapped him on the temple with my fingertip, "Rest now" I said. The spell hit him like a bat and he fell to the floor limply.
One of Sandy's sons started to cry.
"Nick!" Mickie yelled and came running back my way. Mickie rounded the aisle and was about three meters from me when I noticed that Sandy's son wasn't crying anymore.
Suddenly, I was standing in Pepper's shattered living room two years earlier. I remember my head jerked around and I saw Sandy holding one of the triplets in her arms as she led the other two out the door. Mickie hit me like I was a lucky number.
I caught Mickie's fist with the back of my favorite cranium. The spells I had running to make me healthier and tougher probably saved me from instant unconsciousness. I hit the floor hard, and rolled over to see Mickie picking up Nick's knife. Mickie had murder in his eyes, but I had magically enhanced speed and just the right tool for the occasion. Nick took one step toward me, and I shot him in the knee with my trusted Viper Slivergun(tm). At point blank range it blew Nick's leg off from about an inch above the knee.
I ran out of the StufferShack(tm) and saw Sandy hustling down to the bus stop. I wove a spell of invisibility around myself and walked down to the stop. I hung out there, invisible to everyone, until the bus arrived and Sandy and her boys got on. Lone Star was showing up at the StufferShack(tm) so it was definitely time for me to go. I made use of bipedal locomotion for the next hour, wrapped in a spell and working very hard not to walk into people.
*****
October 14th, 2058
I received a text on my new line. Sheila had a job lined up and I needed paying work.
I walked into the Brick Yard shortly after dark. I found my way to the bar, and took a seat. Sandy came over and took my order. She didn't smile at me the way she used to, not since I wasn't "me" anymore. The food was fantastic, as always, and when she came to check on me I told her to put an order for her on me, and asked her to take a rum to the cook. She did a double take, said "thank you" and walked off. I saw her look back at me when she reached the kitchen door. I made a mental note to watch out about old habits.
The job was an easy one. A street mage was looking for someone to teach him a snappy spell I happened to know. Sheila X tapped me and took her thirty percent. I made a nice bit of nuyen for a little unlicensed instruction, and everyone left happy.
Hey, its not always sneaking, stealing, and killing monsters, you know. Sometimes you just have a job to do.
I've got to get some shopping done today. Sandy's grandsons are being born any day now and I need to find a crib the little screamers can sleep in. You coming?
{Dedicated to David, Happy birthday Chummer}
Friday, January 19, 2018
In deepest shadow
September 7th, 2058
I was having lunch in a cafe in Bellevue. My brown shopping bag had two books I had picked up at a lore shop around the corner. I was enjoying my over priced coffee and sandwich when a woman sat down at my table, uninvited.
I looked up to see her unfolding a synth-leather bifold. A badge identified her as corporate police for my least favorite corp.
"Enjoy your last meal as a free man you piece of drek." she snarled. "I'm taking you in."
I was caught off guard. She was tall, brunette, and very pretty but the corp badge and her attitude turned my mood to barely constrained fury. "I don't know what you're talking about lady. I'm not a corporate citizen, I'm not on your corporate territory, and I don't know who you think I am but you've got the wrong guy."
I heard the hammer of a pistol cock under the table. "Don't drek with me. You're Tommy Gun, AKA Thomas Gunderson, AKA Tim Guthry, AKA Tony Cannonari, AKA I don't give a drek how many other aliases. I've got you dead bang, fragger. You move and I'll blow your guts across the floor." She snarled at me in an ugly way as she spoke. Whatever she had against me it seemed personal.
"I'm not the man you're looking for" I said sagely. The spell snaked out and wrapped around her mind. I felt her resistance snap and her facial expression changed suddenly to confused embarrassment. "It may be a good time for a bathroom break." I added.
"Excuse me, I think I need to use the ladies' room." She said as she rose from her seat, holstering her pistol as she did, and started walking toward the restrooms. I rose with her, keeping my eyes on her as she walked away. I followed for a bit, turning to keep her in sight as I made it to the door. I pushed my way through and outside, losing line of sight on her. I ducked into the crowd and started pacing away. I thought a tick, and wove an illusion around myself, taking on the appearance of a grey-haired ork.
I sat down at the transit stop and watched the corp cop come running out of the cafe. She cast her gaze around, desperately looking around the crowd, then turned and ran down to the corner away from me, looking both ways trying to find where I had gone. I got onto the bus, fed a $10 UCAS bill into the script slot, and sat down. I rode the bus for almost two hours, getting off at a random stop.
I didn't want to use the credstick tied to my fake ID in case it was being tracked, so I started walking. When I crossed back into Bellevue I got stopped by Lone Star for the crime of being ork. I thought I was going to get a Lone Star beat down, but they just ran my face through facial recognition, didn't find anything, and told me to be on my way. I walked into a restaurant, had to wait twenty minutes to get a table, then sat down and waited for someone to take my order. After ten minutes, I got up and made my way to the men's room. Being an old ork was running me headlong into some old style racism and I really didn't want to burn up all my time dealing with other people's prejudices. I ducked into a stall, let my spell dissolve, then focused on an image I constructed in my imagination. Once I had it firmly fixed in my head, I wove my illusion into the image of a a golden-haired elf. When I stepped from the stall, I caught my reflection in the mirror, focused to make a few minor cosmetic changes, then walked back out into the restaurant.
It turns out that when you are a good looking elf you don't usually have much trouble getting waited on. I spent a few minutes eating and drinking at a sedate pace, and periodically checking the astral for signs of arcane pursuit. There were two other magicians in the restaurant, they were sitting together and were seemingly on a date. Their auras were excited in a romantic and sensual way. I looked away, suddenly feeling like I was intruding. I sent a text out to Angel, asking for a meeting at the restaurant. It took her only twenty minutes to get there and I was ordering desert when she sat down. "Desert dear?" I asked.
"None yet, you ate dinner without me? Asshole." Angel sounded like an annoyed girlfriend. "Can I get a menu please?" The waitress blushed and trotted off to fetch a menu.
"I had an unpleasant encounter today. I would like to talk about it and get your opinion." I said.
The waitress strode up and handed Angel her menu, "Sweet tea, real lemon please. Can I get some organic boneless chicken wings with the honey bar-b-que on it, and I'll order something else when I find what I'm hungry for." Angel was playing up the pissy girlfriend angle pretty well. When the waitress was a few tables away, Angel only said "Not here, elsewhere when we leave.".
We ate and acted the part of a couple with some issues going on. I paid the tab and Angel stomped out of the restaurant ahead of me. We waited in uncomfortable silence until the car pulled up. Angel's car service was pricier than the one I used. The sedan that pulled in was well appointed and comfortable. There weren't any weird stains or smells in the interior, and it pulled away smoothly as she finished inputting our destination through her pocket secretary. We arrived at the Salish Orroro Hotel ten minutes later. We strode through the lobby and into the elevator banks beyond, hand in hand. In the elevator, Angel pushed me against the wall and kissed me on the mouth. It was an act, but it was a good one. I found it hard to concentrate, but we made it to the twentieth floor with a convincing act of two people off to use each other for their mutual satisfaction.
We made it to the room in a show of passionate kisses and some heavy petting. That all stopped once the door to the room closed behind us. I opened my astral sight and promptly shooed a pair of watcher spirits out of the room. Angel, held up a single finger, unfolded a small computer from her purse and spent about a minute clicking keys before she plugged a data cord into the jack at her temple. Five minutes later she spooled the data cable back into the unit, turned to face me and said, "We're clear".
I let the illusion slip away and stood facing Angel. "Thanks Chummer." It took all of about five minutes to tell the tale of my misadventure that afternoon. Angel took it all in and said "She made you by facial recognition?"
"That's what I'm thinking" I said. "She seemed pissed at me, or about me, like it was personal. I don't remember seeing her before, but I think she may have just recognized me herself."
Angel nodded, "Bad luck then Tommy. You sure you don't know her?"
I had thought about her all day and I was confident I didn't know her. "Never seen her before that I recall. Maybe she saw my face on an image file or something. Her corp masters would have no love for me."
Angel nodded thoughtfully and I took the next step, "Angel I need to hire you to run against their system. I need whatever they have on me gone. Can you pull it off for me chummer?"
Angel looked me in the eye and named her price. I thought I was going to die. People say deckers make the real money in the shadows, and they would be correct. The price Angel quoted to me was more than I had made in any given year, much less far more than what I could lay hands on. I didn't know what to say so I cleared my throat and tried to appear thoughtful. Angel didn't buy it. "Tommy, you've never had that much money, so why try the act?" Deckers also know things you wish no one knew.
"Sorry Angel, I just don't know what to say. I can't pay it." I was genuinely sorry and horribly embarrassed.
"As it happens, there is something you can do for me that I'll take in trade." Angel said. I listened to what she wanted, weighed my options, and agreed to her terms. {As if you had a choice chummer~Angel}
****
No, I won't tell you what she wanted or what I gave her. If you want to know, then I suggest you ask Angel.
{Don't ask~Angel}
****
I can't pretend to know what Angel encountered when she made her run against that corp. I can tell you that I had been the subject of an investigation that had been going on for about two years by the corp police. They had identified me from surveillance footage that had survived a few runs I had made against them, and eventually they identified me from my old school records. I was well and truly found out. I was apparently on a wanted list that circulated among the corp police. The rap sheet listed a litany of horrific acts I had never committed along with a longer list of things I had actually done. I was flagged a corp-cop killer which meant that if I ever got picked up by any law enforcement agency I was going to get extradited, and probably executed or "shot while attempting to escape".
Angel managed to remove my old records, wipe out my photo and replace it with a composite she put together, then she filed a report to their system indicating that I had been killed that morning when I ran out in front of a bus two blocks from where I had been spotted by one detective Olivia Raintree. Detective Raintree was being held in the corp infirmary "for observation" as she showed signs of being mentally manipulated by magical means. She was going to be enduring a psychiatric assessment for the next few months to determine if she was still fit for duty.
My death certificate hit the corp system from a bot that Angel had trigger it from Lone Star, and suddenly I was officially very dead. Nice work that.
{You are making it sound much less difficult than it was~Angel}
I slipped back into my apartment and gathered up things I couldn't leave laying around, as well as some things I couldn't replace. I held onto my digital library, grabbed up my real books, threw my magical gear into my rucksack, and wiped all the electronics I used in the place. My landlord had been an okay sort, and I liked my neighbors so I didn't burn down the building. I did sterilize every inch of the place before I walked out.
I spent the next four days in safe house I had set up for just such an emergency.
I spoke with Sheila face to face. I was very much in the business, but who I had been had to go. She was able to lay hands on a spell formula for a tricky shape-changing spell I needed. It cost me half of the money I had in the world but was worth it. It took me three weeks to master the spell's nuances.
I looked in the mirror one night, wondering when I would see my face again.
October 12th, 2058 0815 hours
I had drawn the circle the night before. It was complicated, meant for transformational magic and incorporated elements of spell craft for health and life magics. I had checked it over and couldn't find a problem with it, which was a relief but also made me wonder if I had missed anything. I laid out the components for the rituals I was about to utilize, grabbed my spell foci, and stepped, sky clad, into the circle.
The first incantations were uttered into an eerie stillness, the power growing quietly behind each word. Hundred year old powdered ginseng, mixed with powdered horn of a narwhale was cast into air above me, my magic and incantation activating the magic potential in each particle so that I was slowly showered with motes of light. From a stoppered bottle I poured out water from the blood falls over my head, shoulders and chest, and from a sealed jar I took slices of gold colored apple and ate each of them. I finished the incantation, pushed the full force of my magical might and sorcerous skill into it, and felt my body respond. I felt, better is as good a term as any, more solid. I held the spell in place, working mana into a self-perpetuating loop to hold the spell together, and with a final shove of my magic I felt the spell seal itself into place.
I took a half hour break before I began the next spell. Once more I stepped sky clad into my circle, made a few specific changes to it's design, then planted my palms to the floor and began the spell. It took several minutes as I poured magic into my body. Every muscle tightened and I struggled with the incantation at first. My materials came in one handy formulation, a salve I had made from essential earths from China, the fat of a bear, and ashes from a living phoenix. My joints felt the strain as mana flowed through me. I felt the spell reach it's climax and held it firm. I wove its mana loop together, quickening it to me permanently.
I collapsed from the strain of the casting, and lay there for most of an hour before I moved. I got up, ate a snack of peanut butter on soycakes then got busy reordering my circle for the last casting of my day. Sand from deserts of every continent were mixed with cinnamon oil in a glass bowl. Once more I stepped into my circle, still wearing only the sky above me, and began my intonations. I spread the gritty paste over every inch of my body then grabbed the small doll that had been laying at the center of the circle. Locks of my hair stuck out from it's head, and drops of my blood stained the area where the doll's heart would be. My breathe came harder as I was tiring quickly. My body started to hurt. It was a small thing at first, but it intensified to point where it was hard to continue. I was able to complete my spell, pushing my magical power to its limit then locking it into place by weaving another loop of mana.
I stepped out of the circle as a young amerindian man with short, close cropped black hair. My skin was a nice and healthy brown, and my eyes were a deep chestnut color. My features were such that I would pass as native to the Salish Sidhe territories. My elven ears gave some legitimacy to the narrow cant of my features. I stepped from my circle and put on the suit I had brought with me. It didn't fit well at all. It was tight in the arms and chest, and loose in the midriff. I resolved to get some clothing tailored to me when I could afford it.
The old strip mall I had used for my rituals burned as I strode away.
I made my way to the Brick Yard and walked around to the front. Little Rickie was there in his fully imposing glory. As I approached he put his hand on the cannon he called a pistol. "Watch'r chummer, I think you're in the wrong place." I was impressed I didn't piss myself. I definitely wanted to.
"Donut delivery for Sheila X. I'm here to pick up the glazed with sprinkles." It was a weird pass phrase to give but it was what I was instructed to say, Sheila had been very specific. Rickie nodded and pointed to the door, "No trouble or I'll have to chuck you out." It was a weird sensation, walking in and no one recognizing me.
I made my way to the bar and claimed a chair.
*****
Sheila kept my identity to herself. She was really great about that. For the purposes of our continuing conversations I'll still refer to myself as "Tommy 'the machine' Gun" which is what I am perhaps most notoriously known as. I went by a lot of different names over the years.
Those are stories for another time though.
I bet you're wondering if this is my real face. The one you see in front of you, right? We know each other pretty well. Well enough that I'm telling you my stories, but we don't know each other that well. Maybe in a few years, if you're still around, I'll see if I can find my real face. I know it's hidden under here somewhere.
***************
Dedicated to Josh, Happy Birthday Chummer
I was having lunch in a cafe in Bellevue. My brown shopping bag had two books I had picked up at a lore shop around the corner. I was enjoying my over priced coffee and sandwich when a woman sat down at my table, uninvited.
I looked up to see her unfolding a synth-leather bifold. A badge identified her as corporate police for my least favorite corp.
"Enjoy your last meal as a free man you piece of drek." she snarled. "I'm taking you in."
I was caught off guard. She was tall, brunette, and very pretty but the corp badge and her attitude turned my mood to barely constrained fury. "I don't know what you're talking about lady. I'm not a corporate citizen, I'm not on your corporate territory, and I don't know who you think I am but you've got the wrong guy."
I heard the hammer of a pistol cock under the table. "Don't drek with me. You're Tommy Gun, AKA Thomas Gunderson, AKA Tim Guthry, AKA Tony Cannonari, AKA I don't give a drek how many other aliases. I've got you dead bang, fragger. You move and I'll blow your guts across the floor." She snarled at me in an ugly way as she spoke. Whatever she had against me it seemed personal.
"I'm not the man you're looking for" I said sagely. The spell snaked out and wrapped around her mind. I felt her resistance snap and her facial expression changed suddenly to confused embarrassment. "It may be a good time for a bathroom break." I added.
"Excuse me, I think I need to use the ladies' room." She said as she rose from her seat, holstering her pistol as she did, and started walking toward the restrooms. I rose with her, keeping my eyes on her as she walked away. I followed for a bit, turning to keep her in sight as I made it to the door. I pushed my way through and outside, losing line of sight on her. I ducked into the crowd and started pacing away. I thought a tick, and wove an illusion around myself, taking on the appearance of a grey-haired ork.
I sat down at the transit stop and watched the corp cop come running out of the cafe. She cast her gaze around, desperately looking around the crowd, then turned and ran down to the corner away from me, looking both ways trying to find where I had gone. I got onto the bus, fed a $10 UCAS bill into the script slot, and sat down. I rode the bus for almost two hours, getting off at a random stop.
I didn't want to use the credstick tied to my fake ID in case it was being tracked, so I started walking. When I crossed back into Bellevue I got stopped by Lone Star for the crime of being ork. I thought I was going to get a Lone Star beat down, but they just ran my face through facial recognition, didn't find anything, and told me to be on my way. I walked into a restaurant, had to wait twenty minutes to get a table, then sat down and waited for someone to take my order. After ten minutes, I got up and made my way to the men's room. Being an old ork was running me headlong into some old style racism and I really didn't want to burn up all my time dealing with other people's prejudices. I ducked into a stall, let my spell dissolve, then focused on an image I constructed in my imagination. Once I had it firmly fixed in my head, I wove my illusion into the image of a a golden-haired elf. When I stepped from the stall, I caught my reflection in the mirror, focused to make a few minor cosmetic changes, then walked back out into the restaurant.
It turns out that when you are a good looking elf you don't usually have much trouble getting waited on. I spent a few minutes eating and drinking at a sedate pace, and periodically checking the astral for signs of arcane pursuit. There were two other magicians in the restaurant, they were sitting together and were seemingly on a date. Their auras were excited in a romantic and sensual way. I looked away, suddenly feeling like I was intruding. I sent a text out to Angel, asking for a meeting at the restaurant. It took her only twenty minutes to get there and I was ordering desert when she sat down. "Desert dear?" I asked.
"None yet, you ate dinner without me? Asshole." Angel sounded like an annoyed girlfriend. "Can I get a menu please?" The waitress blushed and trotted off to fetch a menu.
"I had an unpleasant encounter today. I would like to talk about it and get your opinion." I said.
The waitress strode up and handed Angel her menu, "Sweet tea, real lemon please. Can I get some organic boneless chicken wings with the honey bar-b-que on it, and I'll order something else when I find what I'm hungry for." Angel was playing up the pissy girlfriend angle pretty well. When the waitress was a few tables away, Angel only said "Not here, elsewhere when we leave.".
We ate and acted the part of a couple with some issues going on. I paid the tab and Angel stomped out of the restaurant ahead of me. We waited in uncomfortable silence until the car pulled up. Angel's car service was pricier than the one I used. The sedan that pulled in was well appointed and comfortable. There weren't any weird stains or smells in the interior, and it pulled away smoothly as she finished inputting our destination through her pocket secretary. We arrived at the Salish Orroro Hotel ten minutes later. We strode through the lobby and into the elevator banks beyond, hand in hand. In the elevator, Angel pushed me against the wall and kissed me on the mouth. It was an act, but it was a good one. I found it hard to concentrate, but we made it to the twentieth floor with a convincing act of two people off to use each other for their mutual satisfaction.
We made it to the room in a show of passionate kisses and some heavy petting. That all stopped once the door to the room closed behind us. I opened my astral sight and promptly shooed a pair of watcher spirits out of the room. Angel, held up a single finger, unfolded a small computer from her purse and spent about a minute clicking keys before she plugged a data cord into the jack at her temple. Five minutes later she spooled the data cable back into the unit, turned to face me and said, "We're clear".
I let the illusion slip away and stood facing Angel. "Thanks Chummer." It took all of about five minutes to tell the tale of my misadventure that afternoon. Angel took it all in and said "She made you by facial recognition?"
"That's what I'm thinking" I said. "She seemed pissed at me, or about me, like it was personal. I don't remember seeing her before, but I think she may have just recognized me herself."
Angel nodded, "Bad luck then Tommy. You sure you don't know her?"
I had thought about her all day and I was confident I didn't know her. "Never seen her before that I recall. Maybe she saw my face on an image file or something. Her corp masters would have no love for me."
Angel nodded thoughtfully and I took the next step, "Angel I need to hire you to run against their system. I need whatever they have on me gone. Can you pull it off for me chummer?"
Angel looked me in the eye and named her price. I thought I was going to die. People say deckers make the real money in the shadows, and they would be correct. The price Angel quoted to me was more than I had made in any given year, much less far more than what I could lay hands on. I didn't know what to say so I cleared my throat and tried to appear thoughtful. Angel didn't buy it. "Tommy, you've never had that much money, so why try the act?" Deckers also know things you wish no one knew.
"Sorry Angel, I just don't know what to say. I can't pay it." I was genuinely sorry and horribly embarrassed.
"As it happens, there is something you can do for me that I'll take in trade." Angel said. I listened to what she wanted, weighed my options, and agreed to her terms. {As if you had a choice chummer~Angel}
****
No, I won't tell you what she wanted or what I gave her. If you want to know, then I suggest you ask Angel.
{Don't ask~Angel}
****
I can't pretend to know what Angel encountered when she made her run against that corp. I can tell you that I had been the subject of an investigation that had been going on for about two years by the corp police. They had identified me from surveillance footage that had survived a few runs I had made against them, and eventually they identified me from my old school records. I was well and truly found out. I was apparently on a wanted list that circulated among the corp police. The rap sheet listed a litany of horrific acts I had never committed along with a longer list of things I had actually done. I was flagged a corp-cop killer which meant that if I ever got picked up by any law enforcement agency I was going to get extradited, and probably executed or "shot while attempting to escape".
Angel managed to remove my old records, wipe out my photo and replace it with a composite she put together, then she filed a report to their system indicating that I had been killed that morning when I ran out in front of a bus two blocks from where I had been spotted by one detective Olivia Raintree. Detective Raintree was being held in the corp infirmary "for observation" as she showed signs of being mentally manipulated by magical means. She was going to be enduring a psychiatric assessment for the next few months to determine if she was still fit for duty.
My death certificate hit the corp system from a bot that Angel had trigger it from Lone Star, and suddenly I was officially very dead. Nice work that.
{You are making it sound much less difficult than it was~Angel}
I slipped back into my apartment and gathered up things I couldn't leave laying around, as well as some things I couldn't replace. I held onto my digital library, grabbed up my real books, threw my magical gear into my rucksack, and wiped all the electronics I used in the place. My landlord had been an okay sort, and I liked my neighbors so I didn't burn down the building. I did sterilize every inch of the place before I walked out.
I spent the next four days in safe house I had set up for just such an emergency.
I spoke with Sheila face to face. I was very much in the business, but who I had been had to go. She was able to lay hands on a spell formula for a tricky shape-changing spell I needed. It cost me half of the money I had in the world but was worth it. It took me three weeks to master the spell's nuances.
I looked in the mirror one night, wondering when I would see my face again.
October 12th, 2058 0815 hours
I had drawn the circle the night before. It was complicated, meant for transformational magic and incorporated elements of spell craft for health and life magics. I had checked it over and couldn't find a problem with it, which was a relief but also made me wonder if I had missed anything. I laid out the components for the rituals I was about to utilize, grabbed my spell foci, and stepped, sky clad, into the circle.
The first incantations were uttered into an eerie stillness, the power growing quietly behind each word. Hundred year old powdered ginseng, mixed with powdered horn of a narwhale was cast into air above me, my magic and incantation activating the magic potential in each particle so that I was slowly showered with motes of light. From a stoppered bottle I poured out water from the blood falls over my head, shoulders and chest, and from a sealed jar I took slices of gold colored apple and ate each of them. I finished the incantation, pushed the full force of my magical might and sorcerous skill into it, and felt my body respond. I felt, better is as good a term as any, more solid. I held the spell in place, working mana into a self-perpetuating loop to hold the spell together, and with a final shove of my magic I felt the spell seal itself into place.
I took a half hour break before I began the next spell. Once more I stepped sky clad into my circle, made a few specific changes to it's design, then planted my palms to the floor and began the spell. It took several minutes as I poured magic into my body. Every muscle tightened and I struggled with the incantation at first. My materials came in one handy formulation, a salve I had made from essential earths from China, the fat of a bear, and ashes from a living phoenix. My joints felt the strain as mana flowed through me. I felt the spell reach it's climax and held it firm. I wove its mana loop together, quickening it to me permanently.
I collapsed from the strain of the casting, and lay there for most of an hour before I moved. I got up, ate a snack of peanut butter on soycakes then got busy reordering my circle for the last casting of my day. Sand from deserts of every continent were mixed with cinnamon oil in a glass bowl. Once more I stepped into my circle, still wearing only the sky above me, and began my intonations. I spread the gritty paste over every inch of my body then grabbed the small doll that had been laying at the center of the circle. Locks of my hair stuck out from it's head, and drops of my blood stained the area where the doll's heart would be. My breathe came harder as I was tiring quickly. My body started to hurt. It was a small thing at first, but it intensified to point where it was hard to continue. I was able to complete my spell, pushing my magical power to its limit then locking it into place by weaving another loop of mana.
I stepped out of the circle as a young amerindian man with short, close cropped black hair. My skin was a nice and healthy brown, and my eyes were a deep chestnut color. My features were such that I would pass as native to the Salish Sidhe territories. My elven ears gave some legitimacy to the narrow cant of my features. I stepped from my circle and put on the suit I had brought with me. It didn't fit well at all. It was tight in the arms and chest, and loose in the midriff. I resolved to get some clothing tailored to me when I could afford it.
The old strip mall I had used for my rituals burned as I strode away.
I made my way to the Brick Yard and walked around to the front. Little Rickie was there in his fully imposing glory. As I approached he put his hand on the cannon he called a pistol. "Watch'r chummer, I think you're in the wrong place." I was impressed I didn't piss myself. I definitely wanted to.
"Donut delivery for Sheila X. I'm here to pick up the glazed with sprinkles." It was a weird pass phrase to give but it was what I was instructed to say, Sheila had been very specific. Rickie nodded and pointed to the door, "No trouble or I'll have to chuck you out." It was a weird sensation, walking in and no one recognizing me.
I made my way to the bar and claimed a chair.
*****
Sheila kept my identity to herself. She was really great about that. For the purposes of our continuing conversations I'll still refer to myself as "Tommy 'the machine' Gun" which is what I am perhaps most notoriously known as. I went by a lot of different names over the years.
Those are stories for another time though.
I bet you're wondering if this is my real face. The one you see in front of you, right? We know each other pretty well. Well enough that I'm telling you my stories, but we don't know each other that well. Maybe in a few years, if you're still around, I'll see if I can find my real face. I know it's hidden under here somewhere.
***************
Dedicated to Josh, Happy Birthday Chummer
Thursday, January 18, 2018
Tommy's Story: Ghosts of Puget Sound
August 25th, 2058
I was nineteen years old.
My first astral quest had taught me a lot. My magical talent was stronger and I had learned the technique to "quicken" spells to make them permanent. But with a new life to start living I was in need of work to pay my modest bills. I sent a message to Sheila X to let her know I was available, then settled down for a long wait.
I spent the next nine days watching old twentieth century flat vid cartoons, doing some light exercise, meditating, and going a little stir crazy.
On the tenth day my phone rang.
"Tommy, can you swim?" Sheila's question struck me as oddly interesting.
"Like a fish," my answer was far more true that she could have expected.
"Great, lets talk soon." Sheila broke the call before I could respond.
I grabbed my go bag and headed for the door. I stopped just short of opening it, realizing I may need to take stock of what I was carrying.
Can I swim? Its an interesting question for a fixer to ask. Can I swim? I emptied and repacked my bag. It was a little heavier now and had some materials that I thought might, just might, come in handy.
I wrapped my invisibility spell around me and ducked out of my apartment. I just barely avoided bouncing into a woman who lived down the hall. She had a baby in one of those front carry things that makes it look like its growing out of the mom's chest. The baby gurgled and waved at me. I waved back, remembered I was invisible, and smiled at the little squealer. Poor kid was in for an interesting life.
************
I landed in the parking lot at the Brick Yard, let my invisibility spell slip away as I walked around to the front. It was 1900 hours, the sun was up and I could hear music pounding from inside. Little Rickie opened the door for me. I still felt that same attack of politeness that always came over me when I saw him.
"Hey Rick. Thanks Omae." I strode in and felt the pulse of the music hit me. I made my way to the bar, and managed to keep myself from dancing all the way there.
There was a band I liked at the Brick Yard that night, "Grey haired goddesses" they did covers of a lot of old songs from the twentieth. A five woman group of vicious elves, they were hammering out their tribute to "The Sky is a Poisonous Garden" by Concrete Blonde*. I was loving the vibe and for just a moment forgot I was there on business.
"Mr. Gun", Sandy's big tusky smile was infectious. "Hungry? Or just here to dance?"
I smiled easily with Sandy, "I'm always hungry beautiful. How are the kids?"
Sandy's eyes brightened a bit, "Always a handful!" she exclaimed. "I swear those three are going to be the death of me. Or, they'll work me so skinny I'll pass for an elf." She laughed at that.
I smiled, "Kids must be tough. You're more hard core than I'll ever be."
"I'm tough stuff", she nodded. "You have something in mind or shall I tell Solomon to just put something out for you?"
"Surprise me." I said. "And have him put something together for you and the kids, on me. Triple rum for him, and I could really go for some of that lemonade you guys keep so hush-hush."
"You are always so sweet. Thank you Mr. Gun" with that Sandy took my order back to Solomon. I slotted my credstick for the bill, put another 50 nuyen on as a tip (hey, diapers for three HAS to be expensive), and settled in to enjoy the music while I waited.
Solomon did his usual job of amazing my taste buds. I was finishing my meal when Sandy refilled my lemonade and nodded me to the back. I bit into the last morsel of my bourbon glazed chicken, took my ice cold lemonade and walked back toward Sheila's booth.
The curtain was open revealing Sheila X in her usual seat, and four other people sitting in the booth. I recognized one immediately but the other three were new faces to me. I squeezed in next to Sheila X, nodded to Angel, and kept my mouth shut.
"Angeline is acquainted." Sheila's flat emotionless tone was comfortably familiar to me. "Lance, Cole, Mel, this is Mr. Gun."
"This is 'Tommy Gun'?" the man direct across from me asked. I later learned he went by 'Mel'. "Come on Sheila, this kid?"
Ghost save me from ignorance. "You can call me 'Mr. Gun'." I said it flatly and as emotionless as I could muster. I was accustomed to people being surprised by my age, but it was still a stupid thing for professionals to worry about.
"Mel, zip it" Angel let a little attitude into her voice. "I've worked with him, he's frosty."
I looked to Angel and noticed that the other three were doing the same. It seemed that Angel was in charge, which was just fine to me.
"Tommy, Mr. Johnson put us on a job and I need you on the team." Angel was straight to the point. She had my attention. "There is an item in the Puget Sound. An item that has been down there for a few years. An item we're going to get but it would be far easier, far safer, if you were along."
"What can you tell me about the whats-it?" I asked.
"Nothing"
My eyes went up a bit. "What does this trip pay?"
She told me. I was not impressed. I thought about it for a long moment. Angel was top talent and we had worked well together in the past. I didn't like the figure she was throwing at me, but she was sending her people into the sound. She was right too, she definitely wanted me on this job. I negotiated another ten percent out of her for appearance sake in front of her team, and we set up a meeting time and contact protocols. {Thanks for this one Tommy~ Angel}
"I can lay hands on some scuba gear if you don't have any," Angel offered.
"No thanks. I'm good." I had that covered.
************
August 28th, 2058 2335 hours
We were heading north on Seaview Avenue and had just passed the Seattle Sailing Club's gated entrance. The signs said we were approaching Golden Gardens Park soon but we had other plans. Angel was driving, which scared me drekless {damnit Tommy!}. She pulled off Seaview by the most expedient method of hoping the curb, mowing down some bushes with the bumper, and {deleted*}.
{We safely disembarked the vehicle and commenced this successful run with style ~ Tommy if you make fun of my driving one more time I swear I'll subscribe you to every porn site on the matrix!}
... crossed the darkened highway, and climbed down to the water. I stripped down to my cold weather adapted form fitting armor then took a moment to stretch a bit.
Mel laughed at that. "Whatsa' matter 'Mr. Gun', afraid a mermaid going to shoot you?"
Idiot. "No, if a mermaid shows up the last thing I'm worried about is gunfire. Last thing you should worry about too." I was going into the water with three runners I didn't know. Angel had a small aqua drone, about the size of a dinner plate, that she was going to guide down with us. Mel, Lance, and Cole were pulling scuba tanks and spear guns out of the large duffle bags they had carried down. I had a surplus web belt with a few pouches attached, a knife (never go diving without a knife chummer), and kept my reinforced search and rescue boots on. I taped on a throat microphone (I had a guy I knew adapt it to work underwater the previous day), pulled my armor's hood on, and stepped into the water.
My three compatriots were just about ready to step into cold dark waters of Puget Sound when I called out into the astral for some help I had waiting. Two large water elementals manifested as towering water spouts. Three shadowrunners blinked back their surprise, while I dived under. So you know, Puget sound is cold at night. Even in August its a chilly, polluted, dark body of foreboding water. Think I'm being dramatic? You jump in the sound after sundown and we'll see if you come up again chummer.
I swam out, surfaced about fifty meters from the bank and saw the rest of the team submerge. I waited, about five meters down, until they caught up. They were navigating by gps apps built into their diving masks. A soft glow came from around the edges of their masks that each of them look like some sort of weird cyclopean seal.
If you're wondering how I could see so well close to midnight and fifteen meters underwater then you're paying attention. Good for you. Months prior I had devised a spell, with help from an elemental I had summoned, that let me see underwater. The spell was not quite what I expected. I could see fine underwater in any lighting condition, but I couldn't "see" the water itself. That particular flaw in the spell design made it look like things were floating in air. The spell was a detection or divination spell which tricked my eyes into relaying what it was detecting. Lighting isn't an issue with this spell at all. Honestly, it would be a great spell for lifeguards, if magicians took jobs as lifeguards. I had quickened a casting of it shortly after I mastered the technique. It was just too useful to not have it running. Down side though, I can't see rain or snow, which can be a pain in the ass. I also had a medical spell I had permanently enhanced myself with, which oxygenated my blood. That clever little enchantment makes me very resistant to airborne toxins and gases, and enables me to breath underwater. Which is just really cool.
I had a clear line of site, other than through the garbage floating in the water, for about fifty meters around me. Our target was a long two kilometer swim toward the middle of the Puget Sound. The little aqua drone swam ahead of us, I was on the far right side and trying to watch everywhere at once. My water elementals were above and below me, while my companions were to my left and slightly below me and spread out about ten meters.
Our target was a yacht that had vanished a couple of years ago. It had once belonged to a certain organized crime boss, who had suffered a sailing mishap which sank his vessel. Seems he and his crew never made it to shore. Whatever our target was, it was believed to be in the yacht, stuck in the mud at the bottom of the Sound.
We were approaching the gps coordinates Angel had dug up. Mel, Lance, and Cole were descending toward the wreck while I was watching out for things I hoped wouldn't show up. I was worried about mermaids or sea serpents in particular, but a wayward shark could be just as bad. I was focused on keeping my eyes out for critters which is why I didn't see the real threat right off.
Astral perception underwater is mostly useless. Open water is full of small organisms like shrimp and small fish. So you tend to see a cloud of living auras all around and it can be really hard to pick out individual auras in the crowd. Imagine being crammed into a full bus, and then being asked to find one particular person on the other end of it. I wasn't watching astral space for just those reasons, so I didn't see the spirits until they manifested. Where once there was a wreck caked with mud and littered with debris, now sat a wreck populated with seven restless spirits, ghosts in the common parlance, who seemed to take serious issue with the intrusion.
My fellow divers had the good sense to be scared. They each started swimming for the surface but they were coming up fast, way to fast really, so I reached out to the water elemental below me and had it slow their ascent. No sense in letting them get the bends. I then turned my attention to the spirits below me.
Ghosts are problematic to deal with. Very often there is some object that holds them to the world of the living. If you can identify that object, you can exercise control over the ghost, or put it to rest. Personally, I'm a fan of the later solution, but I didn't have the foggiest of ideas about what could be holding them here. I started my descent with my other water elemental in tow.
I felt the oppressive force of the ghosts' power when I came to within about ten meters of the wreck. That same force must have triggered a fear response in my comrades but, fortunately for me, my mystic defenses held. I swam over to the wreck and had seven angry ghosts staring at me.
"What are you looking at?" I said.
I "heard" all seven react at once in a jumble of curses and pleas for help. Ouch, it really was a multiple haunting and not just a spiritual imprint. Each was trying to communicate with me in one way or another. One seemed particularly hostile and floated to the edge of the wreck, pulled a ghostly looking pistol from his jacket and started pointing it at me. Nothing happened.
I swam around the wreck, careful not to touch it, and found a hole about two meters wide on the starboard side. The hull had been blown out, probably by a small explosive charge. A number of shrink wrapped boxes had spilled out of the wreck and littered the bottom of the sound. I opened my astral sight and took a long look at the wreck. It was a ghost ship, in the truest sense of the word. There was an astral presence to the yacht and to the ghosts trapped on it that was plainly visible on the astral. The ghosts and the ships seemed linked together in a way I had never seen before.
Angel's drone floated up in front of my face and a light blinked on and off. My ear piece carried Angel's voice to me. "Chummer what the hell is going on? What are you waiting on?"
"Angel, the yacht is haunted, it ran off the rest of the team and the ghosts are trying to scare me off too. I'm trying to find a way to get rid of them so the guys can board it, but it may take a while."
"How much time are we talking about?" Angel sounded worried. I don't like it when Angel sounds worried.
"I don't know. A minute, an hour, a month, no telling really. Let me look it over and I'll see what I can come up with." The drone floated away, skirting the bow of the yacht and began ascending. I completed my circuit of the yacht, finding only a disturbingly powerful astral presence from the boat itself, and a painful barrage of the astral echoes of drowning men.
Anytime I got close to the yacht all seven ghosts would appear close at hand. They were keeping me from boarding even though most of them were pleading for help. Ghosts don't often make sense in my experience. They didn't leave the wreck, but their presence was felt out to about ten meters from it. I needed more information so I dove down and picked up one of the shrink wrapped boxes, and started a slow swim to the surface.
**************
Mel, Lance, and Cole were treading water a dozen meters from where I surfaced. They swam over to me as I tore off the shrink wrap, and opened the box. "Chips?" I asked. The box was full of what looked like sim chips.
Cole spoke up, "Looks like it. Not what we're here for though."
"Yacht has a lot of boxes like this down there. Lot of ghosts too. Any information on what they were doing when they sank?" I asked.
No one spoke up.
"Okay then. I've got one idea and its not a great one. Head for shore and look for me to come up." I didn't wait for them, but dove back down toward the wreck.
Elementals are particular to their environments. I wouldn't, for example, order a fire elemental to manifest in the ocean or a water elemental to manifest in an active volcano. But in nature there are always instances where the elements meet. I dove down and called out to a third spirit I had bound weeks before, gave out a set of very specific commands to the water elementals, and swam to the bow of the wreck.
The ghosts manifested and faced me with faces full of menace and pitiable torment. I thought there was a good chance my plan wouldn't work but I had to try. At my command my earth elemental manifested in the mud the wreck rested upon, my water elementals (one fore and one aft) seized hold of the yacht and the three spirits began to lift the wreck. The ghosts went crazy for a moment, splitting up and heading to different ends of the yacht. I tried to land upon the deck, only to see all seven ghosts come at me with murderous intent. I swam back as quick as I could, and watched as the wreck rolled to the port side, the spirits struggling to lift and move the hulking wreck. Debris littering the deck slid off into the muck... one of the ghosts fell along with it as whatever tied him to the ship was left behind.
The wreck moved another meter to the east and again the ghosts menaced my spirits until I moved to land upon the deck. The wreck rolled again, to the starboard side this time, and more debris was shaken off to the bottom of the sound. Two more ghosts fell from the wreck, as did several shrink wrapped boxes and the detritus of years of submersion.
Meter after meter we continued this dance. The elementals were tireless, moving the hulking wreck little by little, with debris falling from the shattered hull and from the deck. Ghosts, tied to some physical object of significance, fell from the ghostly craft and were left behind. Angel's drone followed me along for while, then disappeared. I was too busy to worry about it.
***********
August 29th, 2058 0458 hours
The wreck broke the surface and I saw the night sky for the first time in hours. Only the gun waving ghost remained on deck, waving his pistol and trying to attack the spirits only to dart over to me as I threatened to set foot on the yacht. Twenty minutes later the wreck was beached and rolled over onto its port side, the exposed hole in its hull reaching for the light polluted sky. Dawn was not far off.
I climbed onto the wreck and down into the hull. The ghost was on me in an instance. I called up an air elemental I kept bound and had it hold the ghost and keep it from me while I searched. I found a corroded old heavy pistol that looked just like the one the ghost kept waving around. I gave it the astral once over and saw the strands of mana that were woven from it to the ghost my elemental was currently holding in a head lock.
The ghost wasn't hard to lay to rest. Holding his anchor I was able to break its hold on the ghost and release him. He faded slowly, then dark hands seemed to grab the ghostly spirit, its face changed to an expression of utter horror and it vanished with a scream. I felt a cold shiver run down my spine.
We only had a few moments before someone would spot the wreck and phone it in or a wandering harbor patrol drone spotted it. Cole, Lance, and Mel climbed over the yacht for about three minutes and came out carrying a small safe. They started hoofing it back over the highway to the getaway car and Angel. I followed after them, climbing into the vehicle behind Angel while the safe was loaded in.
Angel's Mr. Johnson was happy to have the safe and paid Angel while I ran astral overwatch on the meet. All sides were tense, but things went on without anyone doing anything terribly stupid. Angel dropped me off at the Brick Yard, with a new certified credstick in hand.
That wasn't the first time I had run into ghosts, nor was it the last. A few weeks after that run I went for a long swim in the sound, and managed to round up the objects holding those ghost to the world. I was able to put each to rest and was glad that they each seemed to go peacefully.
There is a great hot dog joint north of the marina. Lets go grab a beer and some dogs. The place looks out over the water and you can often see otters playing near the shore.
Citation: The Sky is a Poisonous Garden, Performed by Concrete Blonde; Album: Still In Hollywood
I was nineteen years old.
My first astral quest had taught me a lot. My magical talent was stronger and I had learned the technique to "quicken" spells to make them permanent. But with a new life to start living I was in need of work to pay my modest bills. I sent a message to Sheila X to let her know I was available, then settled down for a long wait.
I spent the next nine days watching old twentieth century flat vid cartoons, doing some light exercise, meditating, and going a little stir crazy.
On the tenth day my phone rang.
"Tommy, can you swim?" Sheila's question struck me as oddly interesting.
"Like a fish," my answer was far more true that she could have expected.
"Great, lets talk soon." Sheila broke the call before I could respond.
I grabbed my go bag and headed for the door. I stopped just short of opening it, realizing I may need to take stock of what I was carrying.
Can I swim? Its an interesting question for a fixer to ask. Can I swim? I emptied and repacked my bag. It was a little heavier now and had some materials that I thought might, just might, come in handy.
I wrapped my invisibility spell around me and ducked out of my apartment. I just barely avoided bouncing into a woman who lived down the hall. She had a baby in one of those front carry things that makes it look like its growing out of the mom's chest. The baby gurgled and waved at me. I waved back, remembered I was invisible, and smiled at the little squealer. Poor kid was in for an interesting life.
************
I landed in the parking lot at the Brick Yard, let my invisibility spell slip away as I walked around to the front. It was 1900 hours, the sun was up and I could hear music pounding from inside. Little Rickie opened the door for me. I still felt that same attack of politeness that always came over me when I saw him.
"Hey Rick. Thanks Omae." I strode in and felt the pulse of the music hit me. I made my way to the bar, and managed to keep myself from dancing all the way there.
There was a band I liked at the Brick Yard that night, "Grey haired goddesses" they did covers of a lot of old songs from the twentieth. A five woman group of vicious elves, they were hammering out their tribute to "The Sky is a Poisonous Garden" by Concrete Blonde*. I was loving the vibe and for just a moment forgot I was there on business.
"Mr. Gun", Sandy's big tusky smile was infectious. "Hungry? Or just here to dance?"
I smiled easily with Sandy, "I'm always hungry beautiful. How are the kids?"
Sandy's eyes brightened a bit, "Always a handful!" she exclaimed. "I swear those three are going to be the death of me. Or, they'll work me so skinny I'll pass for an elf." She laughed at that.
I smiled, "Kids must be tough. You're more hard core than I'll ever be."
"I'm tough stuff", she nodded. "You have something in mind or shall I tell Solomon to just put something out for you?"
"Surprise me." I said. "And have him put something together for you and the kids, on me. Triple rum for him, and I could really go for some of that lemonade you guys keep so hush-hush."
"You are always so sweet. Thank you Mr. Gun" with that Sandy took my order back to Solomon. I slotted my credstick for the bill, put another 50 nuyen on as a tip (hey, diapers for three HAS to be expensive), and settled in to enjoy the music while I waited.
Solomon did his usual job of amazing my taste buds. I was finishing my meal when Sandy refilled my lemonade and nodded me to the back. I bit into the last morsel of my bourbon glazed chicken, took my ice cold lemonade and walked back toward Sheila's booth.
The curtain was open revealing Sheila X in her usual seat, and four other people sitting in the booth. I recognized one immediately but the other three were new faces to me. I squeezed in next to Sheila X, nodded to Angel, and kept my mouth shut.
"Angeline is acquainted." Sheila's flat emotionless tone was comfortably familiar to me. "Lance, Cole, Mel, this is Mr. Gun."
"This is 'Tommy Gun'?" the man direct across from me asked. I later learned he went by 'Mel'. "Come on Sheila, this kid?"
Ghost save me from ignorance. "You can call me 'Mr. Gun'." I said it flatly and as emotionless as I could muster. I was accustomed to people being surprised by my age, but it was still a stupid thing for professionals to worry about.
"Mel, zip it" Angel let a little attitude into her voice. "I've worked with him, he's frosty."
I looked to Angel and noticed that the other three were doing the same. It seemed that Angel was in charge, which was just fine to me.
"Tommy, Mr. Johnson put us on a job and I need you on the team." Angel was straight to the point. She had my attention. "There is an item in the Puget Sound. An item that has been down there for a few years. An item we're going to get but it would be far easier, far safer, if you were along."
"What can you tell me about the whats-it?" I asked.
"Nothing"
My eyes went up a bit. "What does this trip pay?"
She told me. I was not impressed. I thought about it for a long moment. Angel was top talent and we had worked well together in the past. I didn't like the figure she was throwing at me, but she was sending her people into the sound. She was right too, she definitely wanted me on this job. I negotiated another ten percent out of her for appearance sake in front of her team, and we set up a meeting time and contact protocols. {Thanks for this one Tommy~ Angel}
"I can lay hands on some scuba gear if you don't have any," Angel offered.
"No thanks. I'm good." I had that covered.
************
August 28th, 2058 2335 hours
We were heading north on Seaview Avenue and had just passed the Seattle Sailing Club's gated entrance. The signs said we were approaching Golden Gardens Park soon but we had other plans. Angel was driving, which scared me drekless {damnit Tommy!}. She pulled off Seaview by the most expedient method of hoping the curb, mowing down some bushes with the bumper, and {deleted*}.
{We safely disembarked the vehicle and commenced this successful run with style ~ Tommy if you make fun of my driving one more time I swear I'll subscribe you to every porn site on the matrix!}
... crossed the darkened highway, and climbed down to the water. I stripped down to my cold weather adapted form fitting armor then took a moment to stretch a bit.
Mel laughed at that. "Whatsa' matter 'Mr. Gun', afraid a mermaid going to shoot you?"
Idiot. "No, if a mermaid shows up the last thing I'm worried about is gunfire. Last thing you should worry about too." I was going into the water with three runners I didn't know. Angel had a small aqua drone, about the size of a dinner plate, that she was going to guide down with us. Mel, Lance, and Cole were pulling scuba tanks and spear guns out of the large duffle bags they had carried down. I had a surplus web belt with a few pouches attached, a knife (never go diving without a knife chummer), and kept my reinforced search and rescue boots on. I taped on a throat microphone (I had a guy I knew adapt it to work underwater the previous day), pulled my armor's hood on, and stepped into the water.
My three compatriots were just about ready to step into cold dark waters of Puget Sound when I called out into the astral for some help I had waiting. Two large water elementals manifested as towering water spouts. Three shadowrunners blinked back their surprise, while I dived under. So you know, Puget sound is cold at night. Even in August its a chilly, polluted, dark body of foreboding water. Think I'm being dramatic? You jump in the sound after sundown and we'll see if you come up again chummer.
I swam out, surfaced about fifty meters from the bank and saw the rest of the team submerge. I waited, about five meters down, until they caught up. They were navigating by gps apps built into their diving masks. A soft glow came from around the edges of their masks that each of them look like some sort of weird cyclopean seal.
If you're wondering how I could see so well close to midnight and fifteen meters underwater then you're paying attention. Good for you. Months prior I had devised a spell, with help from an elemental I had summoned, that let me see underwater. The spell was not quite what I expected. I could see fine underwater in any lighting condition, but I couldn't "see" the water itself. That particular flaw in the spell design made it look like things were floating in air. The spell was a detection or divination spell which tricked my eyes into relaying what it was detecting. Lighting isn't an issue with this spell at all. Honestly, it would be a great spell for lifeguards, if magicians took jobs as lifeguards. I had quickened a casting of it shortly after I mastered the technique. It was just too useful to not have it running. Down side though, I can't see rain or snow, which can be a pain in the ass. I also had a medical spell I had permanently enhanced myself with, which oxygenated my blood. That clever little enchantment makes me very resistant to airborne toxins and gases, and enables me to breath underwater. Which is just really cool.
I had a clear line of site, other than through the garbage floating in the water, for about fifty meters around me. Our target was a long two kilometer swim toward the middle of the Puget Sound. The little aqua drone swam ahead of us, I was on the far right side and trying to watch everywhere at once. My water elementals were above and below me, while my companions were to my left and slightly below me and spread out about ten meters.
Our target was a yacht that had vanished a couple of years ago. It had once belonged to a certain organized crime boss, who had suffered a sailing mishap which sank his vessel. Seems he and his crew never made it to shore. Whatever our target was, it was believed to be in the yacht, stuck in the mud at the bottom of the Sound.
We were approaching the gps coordinates Angel had dug up. Mel, Lance, and Cole were descending toward the wreck while I was watching out for things I hoped wouldn't show up. I was worried about mermaids or sea serpents in particular, but a wayward shark could be just as bad. I was focused on keeping my eyes out for critters which is why I didn't see the real threat right off.
Astral perception underwater is mostly useless. Open water is full of small organisms like shrimp and small fish. So you tend to see a cloud of living auras all around and it can be really hard to pick out individual auras in the crowd. Imagine being crammed into a full bus, and then being asked to find one particular person on the other end of it. I wasn't watching astral space for just those reasons, so I didn't see the spirits until they manifested. Where once there was a wreck caked with mud and littered with debris, now sat a wreck populated with seven restless spirits, ghosts in the common parlance, who seemed to take serious issue with the intrusion.
My fellow divers had the good sense to be scared. They each started swimming for the surface but they were coming up fast, way to fast really, so I reached out to the water elemental below me and had it slow their ascent. No sense in letting them get the bends. I then turned my attention to the spirits below me.
Ghosts are problematic to deal with. Very often there is some object that holds them to the world of the living. If you can identify that object, you can exercise control over the ghost, or put it to rest. Personally, I'm a fan of the later solution, but I didn't have the foggiest of ideas about what could be holding them here. I started my descent with my other water elemental in tow.
I felt the oppressive force of the ghosts' power when I came to within about ten meters of the wreck. That same force must have triggered a fear response in my comrades but, fortunately for me, my mystic defenses held. I swam over to the wreck and had seven angry ghosts staring at me.
"What are you looking at?" I said.
I "heard" all seven react at once in a jumble of curses and pleas for help. Ouch, it really was a multiple haunting and not just a spiritual imprint. Each was trying to communicate with me in one way or another. One seemed particularly hostile and floated to the edge of the wreck, pulled a ghostly looking pistol from his jacket and started pointing it at me. Nothing happened.
I swam around the wreck, careful not to touch it, and found a hole about two meters wide on the starboard side. The hull had been blown out, probably by a small explosive charge. A number of shrink wrapped boxes had spilled out of the wreck and littered the bottom of the sound. I opened my astral sight and took a long look at the wreck. It was a ghost ship, in the truest sense of the word. There was an astral presence to the yacht and to the ghosts trapped on it that was plainly visible on the astral. The ghosts and the ships seemed linked together in a way I had never seen before.
Angel's drone floated up in front of my face and a light blinked on and off. My ear piece carried Angel's voice to me. "Chummer what the hell is going on? What are you waiting on?"
"Angel, the yacht is haunted, it ran off the rest of the team and the ghosts are trying to scare me off too. I'm trying to find a way to get rid of them so the guys can board it, but it may take a while."
"How much time are we talking about?" Angel sounded worried. I don't like it when Angel sounds worried.
"I don't know. A minute, an hour, a month, no telling really. Let me look it over and I'll see what I can come up with." The drone floated away, skirting the bow of the yacht and began ascending. I completed my circuit of the yacht, finding only a disturbingly powerful astral presence from the boat itself, and a painful barrage of the astral echoes of drowning men.
Anytime I got close to the yacht all seven ghosts would appear close at hand. They were keeping me from boarding even though most of them were pleading for help. Ghosts don't often make sense in my experience. They didn't leave the wreck, but their presence was felt out to about ten meters from it. I needed more information so I dove down and picked up one of the shrink wrapped boxes, and started a slow swim to the surface.
**************
Mel, Lance, and Cole were treading water a dozen meters from where I surfaced. They swam over to me as I tore off the shrink wrap, and opened the box. "Chips?" I asked. The box was full of what looked like sim chips.
Cole spoke up, "Looks like it. Not what we're here for though."
"Yacht has a lot of boxes like this down there. Lot of ghosts too. Any information on what they were doing when they sank?" I asked.
No one spoke up.
"Okay then. I've got one idea and its not a great one. Head for shore and look for me to come up." I didn't wait for them, but dove back down toward the wreck.
Elementals are particular to their environments. I wouldn't, for example, order a fire elemental to manifest in the ocean or a water elemental to manifest in an active volcano. But in nature there are always instances where the elements meet. I dove down and called out to a third spirit I had bound weeks before, gave out a set of very specific commands to the water elementals, and swam to the bow of the wreck.
The ghosts manifested and faced me with faces full of menace and pitiable torment. I thought there was a good chance my plan wouldn't work but I had to try. At my command my earth elemental manifested in the mud the wreck rested upon, my water elementals (one fore and one aft) seized hold of the yacht and the three spirits began to lift the wreck. The ghosts went crazy for a moment, splitting up and heading to different ends of the yacht. I tried to land upon the deck, only to see all seven ghosts come at me with murderous intent. I swam back as quick as I could, and watched as the wreck rolled to the port side, the spirits struggling to lift and move the hulking wreck. Debris littering the deck slid off into the muck... one of the ghosts fell along with it as whatever tied him to the ship was left behind.
The wreck moved another meter to the east and again the ghosts menaced my spirits until I moved to land upon the deck. The wreck rolled again, to the starboard side this time, and more debris was shaken off to the bottom of the sound. Two more ghosts fell from the wreck, as did several shrink wrapped boxes and the detritus of years of submersion.
Meter after meter we continued this dance. The elementals were tireless, moving the hulking wreck little by little, with debris falling from the shattered hull and from the deck. Ghosts, tied to some physical object of significance, fell from the ghostly craft and were left behind. Angel's drone followed me along for while, then disappeared. I was too busy to worry about it.
***********
August 29th, 2058 0458 hours
The wreck broke the surface and I saw the night sky for the first time in hours. Only the gun waving ghost remained on deck, waving his pistol and trying to attack the spirits only to dart over to me as I threatened to set foot on the yacht. Twenty minutes later the wreck was beached and rolled over onto its port side, the exposed hole in its hull reaching for the light polluted sky. Dawn was not far off.
I climbed onto the wreck and down into the hull. The ghost was on me in an instance. I called up an air elemental I kept bound and had it hold the ghost and keep it from me while I searched. I found a corroded old heavy pistol that looked just like the one the ghost kept waving around. I gave it the astral once over and saw the strands of mana that were woven from it to the ghost my elemental was currently holding in a head lock.
The ghost wasn't hard to lay to rest. Holding his anchor I was able to break its hold on the ghost and release him. He faded slowly, then dark hands seemed to grab the ghostly spirit, its face changed to an expression of utter horror and it vanished with a scream. I felt a cold shiver run down my spine.
We only had a few moments before someone would spot the wreck and phone it in or a wandering harbor patrol drone spotted it. Cole, Lance, and Mel climbed over the yacht for about three minutes and came out carrying a small safe. They started hoofing it back over the highway to the getaway car and Angel. I followed after them, climbing into the vehicle behind Angel while the safe was loaded in.
Angel's Mr. Johnson was happy to have the safe and paid Angel while I ran astral overwatch on the meet. All sides were tense, but things went on without anyone doing anything terribly stupid. Angel dropped me off at the Brick Yard, with a new certified credstick in hand.
That wasn't the first time I had run into ghosts, nor was it the last. A few weeks after that run I went for a long swim in the sound, and managed to round up the objects holding those ghost to the world. I was able to put each to rest and was glad that they each seemed to go peacefully.
There is a great hot dog joint north of the marina. Lets go grab a beer and some dogs. The place looks out over the water and you can often see otters playing near the shore.
Citation: The Sky is a Poisonous Garden, Performed by Concrete Blonde; Album: Still In Hollywood
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)