You've bearly managed offloading the new package before you get a call on your collective cell phone (the one for shadowrunning jobs, not the one for drug pickups).

"Hello, this is Brother Witness. We heard you rescued Becka! We've set up a meeting spot to give you your pay. Meet us at 1 Dark St. in Ft. Lewis. There's a non-descript warehouse there, 'Sue Pishis Crates & Boxes'. We'll be there with your money."

(You all can decide how and who goes, but the description of the location doesn't change: )

The location is a nondescript, run-down warehouse amid numberless nondescript, run-down warehouses. The only exception being that the gate of this weary building has been left ajar. No security greets you as you drive up the driveway and park near the loading dock entrance. Peering through a musty window reveals only the dark shapes of crates.

Carver slides back his eye covers and slips as far into thermographic as possible. Everything isn't right about this particular event, but something is so particularly not-right that it's eery. He slides out his knives and preps for a stabbing.

Firefox eyes the meeting site warily before summoning a swarm of watchers.  "Go find where there are people hiding and then tell me"

the bears have shown their ability to out smart and out maneuver the team on every turn so far so Snow just walked into the warehouse.

St. V has a similar attitude as Snow, but not quite as bold.  Now with his full equipment, the troll uses his new understanding of dealing with drop bears to come up with a song to soothe any drop bears that may be itching to... get the drop on them...

"I stalk you, you stalk me,
   we're a happy family!
with a great bear hug and a kick from me to you,
   won't you say you'll slug me too."

Firefox's little spirits fly out into the warehouse. Somewhere in the darkness she hears a *HAUMLP!* (that's an onomatopoeia right there) and Firefox can tell one of the watchers has been destroyed. Still, one of the others returns shortly, "Nothing there! I looked under the drop bear, behind the drop bear, above the drop bear. Nothing!"

Snow and St. V walk on in, like the brave runners they are (albeit, accompanied by their own squad of tiny drop bears). Lights on the ground faintly glow, deepening and defining the shadows. Familiar, metallic voices can be heard;
"... the Drop Bear Inquisitors found nothing. That isn't to say that he was truly innocent."
"Of course, Elder Gyro, they never are. We can allow for no leaks of Elder Ophis's success. His surfing ninja pirate Commandos are too valuable for the world to know of them yet."
"Elder Fistyantilus, I believe we have company..."
"Ah, keen ears, Elder Angelone. Shadowrunners, enter please, tell us what news you bring."

(I assume Snow here will fill in the DBC on the details of the mission. A quick note here, the mission as written assumes Fortuna gets Becka. While it also assumes the characters will fail at negotiating the original job with Fortuna, or in crossing the border to get to his house, it does not say what happens if the PCs fail to deliver Becka, and Becka therefore survives. So congratulations on breaking the otherwise idiot-proof plot. Apologies for the narrative errors forthcoming.)


"The news of the MILD INCONVENIENCING of dear Becka is most upsetting. We do not blame you for your terrorist acts, however. People in your position do as they must, which is why we are certain you will assist us with this final job. We must settle debts, remind the loutish elves of their place in things. Eye for an eye, life for an INVOLUNTARY ROAD TRIP. We wish for you to assist us in killing Fortuna."
"And his family. Don't forget the family."
"And burn down his mansion."
"And kick his dog."
"The Inquisitors will get right on it. They just completed a two-day training segment on animal abuse and how best to commit it. We can..."
"Elder Ophis, your eagerness is pleasing, but this is not the time to discuss such measures. First Fortuna. Expect him to call you in the near future. You see we paid actors to impersonate you and ..."
"Actually homeless vagrants."
"Don't tell them that, Elder Ophis! It will only discourage them. There, there, shadowrunners. We hired the best acting school had to offer."
"For a bottle of wine a day!" There's some more barely concealed laughter.
"... actors to impersonate you and break into one of our own facilities to steal information indicating drop bears are a result of HMHVV."
A few of the elders snicker.
"An obvious falsehood, but we needed bait. Meanwhile, we're sure Fortuna's spies are reporting the successful run, reporting runners matching your description professionally executing it. He'll be wondering who hired you, but even moreso, he'll know your desperate mercenary hearts require you sell the information to as many buyers as will accept. He will be contacting you shortly. We simply need for you to arrange and attend the meet. Set it for the Space Needle during non-business hours. After Fortuna is dead, you will be reimbursed, 2,000¥ per person, plus whatever pay Fortuna brings. Brother PTHHHHT," the speakers of his obelisk hiss and crackle as the elder tries to call out the name, "please bring out the data chip."
While he speaks, another of the short monuments rolls out with a data chip on top.
"Thank you Brother PTHHHHT," again the name melts into a wash of static, giving no hint of its true enunciation. "There, simply set up and attend the meet and you get paid in full. Do you accept?"
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:52, Tue 18 Nov 2014.

Firefox praises her watcher for the bravery of searching under a drop-bear, then proceeds to follow her teammates.  Drop bears she could deal with.  Relatively speaking . . .

After listening to the discussion, bristling somewhat at the "loutish" adjective, Firefox asks some follow-up questions:

"The base reward is for taking care of Mr. F.  If you expect him to make the Great Drop, that'll be extra.  As well, how much do we get for burning down his mansion?"  There had been a few piles of rags that might have accidentally caught on their previous visit . . .

quote:

15:42, Today: Firefox rolled 3 successes using 6d6 with the Shadowrun system with a target of 4 with rolls of 5,2,4,4,1,2. Bargaining.

"Two thousand total I think is fair."
"But what if there are fireworks? I love fireworks."
"Very well. Two thousand if you burn it down, but five thousand if there are fireworks."
"I also love sparklers."
"Two thousand for fire, five thousand for fireworks, six thousand if there are sparklers."
"I aaaalso love watermelon!"

"No watermelon. I'm not hiring shadowrunners to get you watermelon. You can buy your own watermelon."
"Ohh... Okay."

Firefox considered repeating the question about the "great drop", but decided against it.  Getting down the spire of the needle and out was going to be challenging enough without an elf splattered all over the base drawing a lonestar crowd as the elevator made its slow decent.

Carver stares at one of the obelisks straight in the midsection. "For clarification, do you want the fireworks to be on him at the time, or are incendiaries nearby sufficient?"

"I hadn't even considered that! 1,000 extra if the fireworks are attached to him."

St. Velveteen checks his wallet and frowns.  "How 'bout we go for the full amount?  I blew most of my extra nuyen when I invested in my new masseuse.  Those hooves do feel good on the back though!"  Setting up a fierworks show on top of the needle would probably be tricky, but St. V was confident they had the skills needed to get the job done.  Besides, they already had a skilled pyrotechnic on their team.  Or maybe pyro-wreck-it was more accurate...

Carver mutters something about a "culturally significant hat" with firecrackers and sparklers while mounting the mortars somewhere else.

"Well then, it is settled! Brother PPTTTHHHT! give them the data chip.

Remember, for the full pay, you must arrange for Fortuna to meet you beneath the Space Needle, where you will convince him to wear fireworks before setting him on fire and the fireworks land in Salish-Sidhe and set his mansion on fire and also kicks his dog. We'll pay you for any of the goals you manage to achieve."

The smallest monolith delivers a little datachip to you.

"You should expect the call soon! Remember, he believes you have valuable data you're trying to hawk."

"Oh yes, I almost forgot your pay for rescuing Becka! Angelone, bring them their pay."

Another of the monoliths rolls forward, with stacks of credsticks and a little plastic packet. The credsticks add up to 6,000¥ for each of you. The bag contains a few hundred eucalyptus cough drops (+2 to any Body tests against chest colds, +1 vs. halitosis). You can divide them up however you like.

St. V claims a handful of the cough drops, pops one into his mouth, puts the rest securely in his pockets, then grabs his share of the cred sticks.  "Let's get goin' then, huh?"  On his way to the door he says, "I guess we'll need to get a hold of some fireworks then.  Firefox?  I think that's your department, isn't it?"  He figured their resident pyro would know where to get pretty burny things.  "I could prob'ly sew them into the lining of a wind jacket.  Then all we gotta do is get 'im to put it on, then fwooOOOSH!!!"

"I might be able to find a few lying around somewhere"

Though they do tend to get used pretty quickly after acquisition . . .

"Did anyone borrow one of those little hats from his place?"

"Good shadowrunners. Smart shadowrunners. Go, go forth my pretties. FLY!"

One imagines if an obelisk could gesture, this one would be. But it can't. So it isn't.

It waits for a moment to see if anyone flies.

"That means you should leave now."



The party makes it about forty feet outside of the warehouse when Snow's cell phone rings.

"I understand you have something you're trying to pawn off. Care to make a deal? I'm sure I could throw a few nuyen your way for your trouble."

"Also, my house is trashed and full of drop bears. Do you know anything about that?"

(It's Fortuna.)

"Overcome by my charm, I see. It's not unusual. I'll pay you $500 and all of the generic-brand robotussin you mongrels can drink. Meet me at the Space Needle in two hours. And make sure you have the right package this time!"

Fortuna hangs up.