[Written/GMed by William Ashe]
Short and Sweet
Mafia hires the runners to bodyguard a courier over to New Orleans, after which the runners decide to take a vacation. While partying, the runners happen upon a box that the Voodoo Queen, Aztechnology, Tir na nÒg, and the Voodoo King want. Everyone runs around getting shot at until the runners turn the box over to the nÒggies.
How It Went Down
The Mafia wasn't too happy with the running group after they
decided to side with the Yak on the previous run. Our Heroes found
themselves unemployable for almost four weeks. During that time,
20Questions introduced Napalm to the group, Guttersnipe (seventeen
years old) is picked up by Child Welfare, and 20Questions disappears.
The other members of the group are invited to a meeting with a
mafia boss to discuss the mafia's displeasure with the runners. They
demand payment of a run: guard a courier on a trip to New Orleans.
They travel to Galveston and then by boat to New Orleans, defending
the courier from a sea attack. After dropping him off, Our Heroes
decide to take a vacation.
What really happened:
They explore the French Quarter, and that evening get very drunk.
Lynx meets an elf from Tir na nÒg, Micheal Shea. Queensryche talks to
the Voodoun King of New Orleans for a few minutes. Napalm spots the
current Marie Laveau, Voodoo Queen of New Orleans. Bishop and Napalm
stagger off to the hotel, drunk while the ladies and Hong Lang stay
at the bar.
Hong Lang meets Bu'trey Allia's father, a Lone Star cop. They have
a heart-to-heart talk.
Napalm is pickpocketed and chases after the wrong person. Bishop,
on his heels, follows Napalm - who is following an elf - into a
parking lot. The elf is attacked by a vampire, then the elf takes out
a box, opens it, and slams it onto the vampire's back, killing both
of them, leaving a box in the middle of the lot. Like an idiot,
Napalm takes the box back to the hotel.
The women join the many dancers in the streets. It's a magical
dance that allows the dancers glimpse the astral world. During the
dance, Papa Legba approaches Queensryche and asks something in
French. She answers, not understanding the question. That night,
Queensryche is told by Papa Legba in a dream to "give back what is
not yours". She and another runner have a dream that the box belongs to
the Tir na nÒg guys and that someone stole it to give to Aztechnology.
Next morning, the runners want to get the hell outta New Orleans.
Cyberzombies attack the runners in the hotel as they are ready to
leave, demanding the box. Just then, the cyberzombies are attacked by
a Tir group. Bishop chunks the box in the hallway between the two
parties as the runners escape through a hole in the wall. Lynx
surveys the elf force, sees Shea and realizes that the Tir group is
losing. She grabs the box and bails out. The runners catch a bus
driven by a demented driver and wind up in the swamp.
Marooned in the swamp, Napalm calls the Tir na nÒg consulate in
Baton Rouge, and tells them that the runners have the box and the
nÒggies better come get it. The bus is pushed by zombies to the
mansion of Marie Laveau where the runners are meet with open arms and
spend the night.
In the morning, the runners are leaving via boat to the airport
when the Tir na nÒg force shows up. The box is handed over, Shea
starts to cry - the box has been damaged, it's worthless. Just then,
two of the cyberzombies show up to fight over the box. Shea throws
the box at one of the 'zombs, box and 'zomb explode. Our Heroes don't
stick around. They make it back to the airport and, on the 3rd, catch
a flight to Houston, to catch the train to Dallas/Fort Worth.
What the characters remember:
Everything started to happen when Napalm and Bishop found a dead
elf in an alleyway, clutching a carved box that they were unable to
open. That was the night that Queensryche was possessed/had that
prophetic dream and Lynx met Michael Shea of the Atlantean
Foundation. Napalm and Bishop took the box back to the hotel room,
not realizing that several other people were looking for the
artifact. The next day, a team of cybered up shadowrunners ambushed
the group in the hotel they were staying in. At the same time,
another group of people came around and fought with the ambushers.
Both sides wanted the box. Initially, Bishop threw the box into the
hallway, but as they were escaping, Lynx dashed to a corner, grabbed
the box, and took off.
Then came the bus ride to the swamp, a call to the Tir na nÒg
consulate in Baton Rouge, and the zombie push to Marie Laveau's
plantation. After spending the night there, the rain let up and a
helicopter from the Atlantean Foundation arrived. Michael Shea and a
few people from that second group at the hotel came out of the
helicopter. After examining the object, he thanked the team. They
went with him out to the Foundations's Baton Rouge compound, where he
led them on a tour of the place.
"We believe the wooden box you've come across is quite old. We
believe that these objects are from the lost civilization of
Atlantis." He showed them several items in the Baton Rouge chapter of
the AF. "Each of these items were dated using the latest techniques
available. They range from 5200 to 6500 years old. We have reason to
believe that the artifact you've been carrying is at least six
thousand years old." In gratitude to the runners in securing the
artifact for the Foundation, the Foundation put them up for a week's
stay - as guests of the Foundation - in Baton Rouge. They spent the
remainder of the week in Baton Rouge and in New Orleans, then on the
12th, they flew from New Orleans to catch the bullet train from
Houston to Dallas.
