Time Heals All Wounds, part one

July 2, 2056 - July 8, 2056


Short and Sweet

The runners are hired to steal an object from the Atlantean Foundation in Baton Rouge and kill a scientist who works there. But when the runners approach the complex, they find themselves ... indisposed. Deciding to meet with the scientist, they not-so-subtly force him to arrange the theft of the object. Fleeing with the Orb, the runners return to the Dallas sprawl.


How It Went Down

Many little things happen during the downtime. Napalm is freed and cleared of all charges, then heads to Atlanta. Raven starts a dojo. Guttersnipe gets out of the hospital and is contacted by his fixer pal. Taking Roadkill to the initial meet, they find out that the Mister Johnson from The Rod To Aztlan wants them to break into the Atlantean Foundation's Baton Rouge Compound and steal an object there. The payment is top rate, one third offered now, the other two thirds on delivery. The gang accepts, then find out that there's an opportunity for a bonus. If one Dr. Gilliard dies during the theft, the Johnson will kick in a 100,000 nuyen bonus.

Much debate ensues over the wetwork.

Later, they meet a decker supplied by the fixer. The decker, Jonestown, digs up some info on the Foundation, Gilliard, the local area, the sphere they're to steal, a bit about Michael O'Shea. He transmits the info to the runners [Queensryche, Lynx, Roadkill, Guttersnipe, Hong Lang, and Dancing Flame] at Baton Rouge.

In Baton Rouge, the runners (minus Dancing Flame and Roadkill) decide to drive by the Atlantean Foundation to check out the area. They come over a curve to scope out the compound's defenses and layout when suddenly Lynx and Hong Lang feel nauseated. A feeling of nausea overcomes everyone there but Guttersnipe. They head to the hotel to change clothing.

The entire crew heads over to the road outside the Foundation, and once again, everyone feels ill except for Roadkill and Guttersnipe. Hong Lang realizes that it's everyone who has been here before that is getting ill. They wait about an hour or so observing the area when they decide to head back to the hotel to get Jonestown's information and decide what to do next.

Deciding to talk to Dr. Gilliard and find out why someone wants to have him killed, the runners set up a chance encounter with him and Lynx. Dr. Gilliard is an extremely dull elf. Remember that guy from the movie Sneakers Liz went on a blind date with? Worse. Despite Guttersnipe's interference with the date, and Roadkill's insistance that the group just kill him now and take the nuyen, Dr. Gilliard winds up taking Lynx home with him. Where she calls in the gang and explains that [1] someone wants the Doc dead, [2] that someone is the runners, and [3] if the Doc gets the Sphere out of the Atlantean Foundation, they'll assist him in getting away from the person who hired them. Weeping boy Gilliard reluctanly agrees. That night and next morning, a manifesting astral Hong Lang terrorizes Gilliard, almost getting him (the target) killed.

That afternoon, Jamestown phones with the name of the Mr. Johnson for this run, one Jonathon Brackhaven, a man with a mysterious past.

Roadkill rents a U-Rydum truck and takes it to a chop shop to get it painted white and get the GPS tracker removed. After he gets back, he and Lynx head out to pick a surveillance point to watch the loading dock. They find a place, and head back to the hotel.

The next day, Roadkill and Guttersnipe head out to the Foundation in the truck, Doc Gilliard having faked a shipping order that has the runner's truck transporting the Orb from Baton Rogue to Atlanta. Everyone else heads to the sniping/surveillance point. The Orb gets loaded up when things go bad.

For up at the point, a commando-type elf stumbles across the runner's observation point. After asking the runners what they were doing, Hong Lang panics and Flash-Paks the commando while Queensryche launches herself at the now-blinded elf. The elf goes down and shouts to his hidden commandoes to take the runners down. A blazing fire-fight later (where it's revealed that none of the runners have silencers), and the three commandoes are dead -- the four runners nearly so. The commando's faces burn off. The runners, well, run.

The Orb truck gets off without a hitch as the Atlantean Foundation's forces pursue the remotely rigged truck (which gets destroyed) and the two motorcycles (with the bleeding runners who were attacked by the commandoes. When Lynx's bike goes down, the AF mage blasts a fireblast spell at Hong Lang, nearly killing the two runners (who would have died several times over, if the Karma Pool monster hadn't come into play). The biking runners manage to get further down the road when Hong Lang's elemental manifests on top of the helicopter's pilot. Big crash.

After a frantic switching of vehicles later, the runners get back to the DFW sprawl and meet Mister Johnson. Mr. J has two rods and is puzzled that the Orb only has one hole. Examining the Orb, the Johnson gives the runners a new job: On August 3rd, at 10:13 am, a second Orb will be unearthed from 52 meters below the surface, outside of a small town south of San Antonio (Aztlan). Bring it to him, and he'll double the pay of this run.

The runners accept.

MediaBlitz!