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gangbustersPay: 10,000 nuyen per runner
There are at least four ways for the runners to get involved in the major rearrangement of Denver’s gang landscape (see p. 89) that culminates on September 20; the gamemaster is free to develop other ways to get them involved.
• The runners are hired by Big Joe Lovato of the Chavez family to investigate the killing of Rex Paquette and Apollo, the leaders of the Godz go-gang, who were Chavez family asso- ciates. While they are looking into it (the Godz leaders were wiped out by the Zombies), they are interfered with by associ- ates by Emilio Chavez, the black sheep of the Chavez family. • The runners are hired by Emilio Chavez, the black sheep
of the Chavez family, to investigate the deaths of Apollo and Rex Paquette, the leaders of the Godz go-gang, who helped the Chavez family distribute BTLs. During their investigation, which ultimately uncovers the fact that the Godz leaders were butchered by the third-tier Zombies thrill gang), they are accosted by thugs working for Don Miguel Chavez.
• The runners are hired by Katsuo Sawaruma of the Denver Yakuza to kidnap Tenebrous, a technomancer and a lieuten- ant in the Aurora Angels go-gang. The Yaks plan on selling her to MCT and making a tidy profit, of which the runners will get a small piece. Moral objections to this job are not hard to come by, especially if the runner team includes a technomancer. Although the Yakuza won’t take the time to explain why they want her kidnapped, a little legwork should turn up the truth, giving the runners the option to pass. If they don’t, and and if they go through with this, the Fronts and the NPC runners that Dean Costello has hired should show up in significant force to drive them off, with Matrix support from Puck himself; or, if you prefer, the outcome of events can be altered slightly by Tenebrous winding up in Yakuza custody, rather than forcing an auto- matic failure on the PCs.
• The runners are hired by a Mr. Johnson who contacts them through the Matrix. He is Casquilho family hacker, playboy, and con man Dean Costello. The job is to rendezvous with the Fronts gang and travel with them to a specified time and place in the Aurora Warrens, where Tenebrous of the Aurora Angels will be under attack by the Yakuza. They are to help the Fronts bail her out to receive her payment. This will be the first step towards merging the Fronts and the Angels into an organization in which Puck has his hooks, big time, due to his developing relationship with Tenebrous and her growing influence in the now-merged gangs.
fuel on a fire
Pay: 12,000 nuyen per runner
As an alternate way for the runners to get to Denver, they are hired (perhaps by a pockmarked elf going by the name of Quinn or Quentin Harlech) to move a shipment of military-grade weapons and vehicles (including an Edgecrusher Prototype Combat Bike) from anywhere out of town into Denver. The bike is being moved to the hands of the violent and crazy Zombies thrill gang. There are no twists or double crosses here, although encounters with Denver’s Zone Defense Force on the way into the city should be the campaign there. Who the musician or celebrity is can be tailored
to the campaign and the story (numerous suggestions can be found
in Attitude and other Shadowrun products), along with where
they can be found and the level of security around them. The most important thing is that they are represented by Evan Perry, the face of Ceol Productions, and in reality the dragon Perianwyr, a former assassin for Aztechnology and now a music industry magnate.
Once the runners have the musician secured, they are paid to travel to Denver and bring the target to an abandoned park in the Aurora Warrens. As soon as the runners have the “package” in position, one of Ghostwalker’s talons informs Perianwyr where he can come to negotiate for the release of his artist. The runners are not informed of this, and unless they have done their legwork thoroughly, they should be quite surprised when a pissed off, ebon-scaled Western dragon suddenly crests the horizon, heading right toward them. Before things can end badly for the runners, the ZDF trap closes on Perianwyr, and he is taken into custody. The runners were used, but are well compensated for it. Their travel out of Denver, however, will be complicated by the coming events, which is just as well; there are plenty of opportunities for work in the Front Range Free Zone in the coming months.
While the timeline can be altered, by default this adventure is meant to take place in the last days of August and ends in early September. Perianwyr’s stats can be found on p. 143, The Clutch of Dragons.
Welcome to the front range free zone
Pay: 10,000 nuyen per runner and/or 500 nuyen per day If the above entry point doesn’t work for your group, the runners could also be hired to escort or smuggle Sunshine or Axis Mundi into Denver during the weeks before the Siege begins in earnest. Axis Mundi is seeking to investigate the effects of Zebulon’s return on Ghostwalker’s spirit population, while Sunshine is trying to be the first to piece together the overall puzzle of what’s happening. For their own reasons, neither would prefer to enter Denver via legal means. The JackPointers could even pay the runners a per diem to act as gophers and bodyguards, and to generally help with their investigations.
Playing With Matches Pay: 100,000 nuyen per team
The runners are hired by an orkish drake using the nom-de- business of Drake (whom they may falsely conclude to be one of Ghostwalker’s Talons and who uses the same stats) for a bit of arson- for-hire. The target is Perianwyr’s famous Weekday Eclipse club in downtown Denver. There is a tight timeframe, as the club is going to play host to a benefit concert for Perianwyr’s release in a few days, and their employer doesn’t wantbang funds to be raised to support that particular cause. The runners must find a way to get past the club’s not-inconsiderable security before the concert happens, and torch the place. Drake would prefer minimal civilian casualties, and such casualties will be deducted from the runners’ bottom line.
This run is actually being funded by Harlequin as a way to frame Ghostwalker and begin to ruin his reputation, a fact that will be hidden from the runners at all costs. Harlequin will operate through a series of blinds and intermediaries to conceal his involvement, for now. This adventure is meant to take place after Baiting the Trap and during the first week of September.
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in defense of the nexus Pay: 12,500 nuyen per runner
Mere hours after the leak of the Dragon’s Lair data leaks, Ghostwalker moves to shut down the Nexus. The runners are hired by the Nexus to help them relocate valuable people and equipment, to hold off the Zone Defense Force until they can evacuate everyone, and/or to protect the technomancers there from harm at Ghostwalker’s hands. The Nexus can be a powerful ally, but the runners must act fast, as Ghostwalker’s forces are already closing in. Matters will be complicated by the fact that some Nexus staff have chosen to remain loyal to Ghostwalker.
This adventure overlaps the last one and may give magical and muscle-oriented characters an opportunity for action while the Matrix members of the team are capitalizing on the data leak. gridlock
Pay: 150,000 nuyen for the team
The runners can be hired by Puck and the Matrix component of the Jester’s Army—a motley croup of feral AIs, technomancers, mercenary hackers, and e-ghosts—to physically break into GridGuide servers and transmission towers to spread a nanovirus that will spread throughout the system’s infrastructure and bring GridGuide to its knees.
Alternatively, in the aftermath of these events, the runners can be hired by the ZDF leader Javier Hototo as additional detectives and bounty hunters to find those responsible for the GridGuide attacks. The players get the rare opportunity to work alongside the powerful free and bound spirits that the Zone Defense Force operates. In the end, the spirits will be unable to get their hands on any purely Matrix-based entities, and the runners will not be able to find Puck, the real mastermind behind these attacks.
denver under siege Pay: 10,000 nuyen per runner
As Denver is locked down first by the closing of the airports and then is severed from the global Matrix, demand for shadowrunners skyrockets. Runners can find as much work as a gamemaster can imagine moving important people and things in and out of the locked down FRFZ by whatever route possible, or shuffling corporate and syndicate VIPs from sector to sector. They can participate in the attack on SpiriTech or the defense against it. But the impetus for adventure during these events needn’t be limited to work-for-hire or shadowruns per se.
Runners trapped in Denver just trying to survive will need to endure flash mobs, an increasingly paranoid and desperate Zone Defense Force, random spirit attacks, tightening sector borders, and the blizzard of the century, all while pursuing self-motivated freelance crime opportunities or helping the people of Denver weather the storm.
golden navigator
Pay: 40,000 nuyen per runner
Legendary shadowrunner Jane “Frosty” Foster and former Tír Tairngire Prince and renowned author Ehran the Scribe need the runners help to get into a locked down Denver and find Harlequin. The tenor of the request and the payment offered depend on any previous dealings with these elves the runners may have had. But Frosty and Ehran are desperate and running out of time; their own tense and challenging. When the runners drop off the milspec toys
into the worst possible hands, Awakened characters should have a chance to notice several powerful spirits aiding the Zombies gang as they are tooling up for war.
remember the Alamos Pay: 20,000 nuyen per runner
This adventure seed takes place in the wake of the October 7th bombing of Wonderland. The runners are hired by Roger Soaring-Owl to investigate the killing of the Sioux sector’s council appointee. Their legwork eventually leads them to a hardened Alamos 20,000 cell hiding in the vast wilderness of the abandoned Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge. The runners should encounter some hostile paracritters during their search for the terrorists.
When they find the Alamos 20k cell that has taken credit for the attack, they discover that while they’re armed to the teeth and paranoid enough to be stiff opposition for the runners, they don’t seem to have the brains to have coordinated the attack. If the runners leave any alive to confirm their culpability, results are somewhat muddled and contradictory. If simply asked, the terror- ists take credit for the attack, while spitting vile racist epithets at any metahuman members of the team. If the truth of their state- ments is analyzed magically or technologically, they’re found to be valid; none of the culprits, however, have any knowledge or memory of the details or specifics of the attack. This is a situation where they don’t know something is missing—their memories have been magically removed.
Additionally, if any of the PCs is an initiate with the psychometry or sensing metamagics, they notice that there is a lingering taint on the aura of the terrorists indicating that they have recently been influenced by a powerful toxic spirit. However, the trail ends there, and there are no further clues. The players may report their findings to Soaring-Owl, with additional karma and nuyen awards for having determined the toxic connection.
The players have no way of learning this yet, but Gwynplaine, the toxic spirit of man that Harlequin lost control of when the Watergate Rift closed, was the one responsible for this attack. Even the growing Jester’s Army is largely unaware of this, as Gwynplaine has already begun subverting the populist revolt Harlequin intended for Denver in favor of sewing as much chaos and destruction as possible.
information Wants to Be free Pay: Highly variable
When the valuable data on the Dragon’s Lair leaks onto the public Matrix, it’s damage-control time for Ghostwalker’s intelligence network, and a frantic feeding frenzy for everyone else. The ZDF and Ghostwalker’s Talons are looking to hire talented hackers and technomancers to scrub every trace of the leaked data from the Matrix, while every megacorp and syndicate with a presence in Denver wants to get a look at Ghostwalker’s secrets. The PCs can work for one or multiple sides, and they can even try to get paid by Ghostwalker to destroy the data (perhaps while keeping a copy for themselves). It is up to the gamemaster to determine just what valuable secrets the leaked data contains.
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resources have failed them in the face of the total chaos that has assailed Denver. They want to reach Harlequin before he can exac- erbate possibly the worst mistake of an inconceivably long lifespan, but everything is against them, including a city torn apart by riots, hostile spirits, completely locked down borders, and an apocalyptic supernatural blizzard. Plus the fact that Harlequin is at the head of an army of gangbangers, technomancers, and mercenaries who have been instructed to not let him be found.
For optimal dramatic payload, the runners should deliver Ehran and Frosty to Harlequin just as he is at the height of his tremendously destructive duel with Ghostwalker. There, at the apex of the maelstrom, the runners will be able to glean some fraction of the message Ehran and Frosty are there to deliver. The situation is out of Harlequin’s control, and Aztechnology has taken advantage of the chaos to move on the city of Denver en masse. Worse, the spirits Maelstrom and Oblivion have been feeding to fullness on the chaos and suffering Harlequin has created, along with the Jester Spirit. Worse yet, the UCAS government has the genetic material of everyone who was present at the Watergate rift, and sinister intentions for it: nothing would please President Colloton more than seeing Ghostwalker and Harlequin wipe each other out in a permanent spectacle that could turn the world’s ephemeral populace against dragons and elves for good. The runners will only hear scraps of this, yet they will see Harlequin’s face change as he realizes the damage his vendetta could have caused, and what terrible damage he has already wrought.
Harlequin eventually leaves under his own power—barely, after the physical damage Ghostwalker has inflicted—and the runners, Ehran, and Frosty must escape to safety in the center of a dwindling storm as Aztechnology invades a weakened Denver.
frostY
Jane “Frosty” Foster is an accomplished magician in her mid-forties, though she looks to be twenty years younger. She has long, curly, platinum blonde hair. Her eyes are a clear blue, and she has a stunning smile. At first glance, she may appear human, since she has rounded ears and lacks the typical almond-shaped eyes of elves, but she is taller and thinner than most human women. She has a very slight limp, which is only pronounced when she is deeply fatigued.
Frosty has a casual attitude and a very pragmatic outlook on life. She is very loyal and basically honest, despite her career as a shadowrunner. She has a well-developed sense of humor and enjoys a good joke. She doesn’t like surprises, however, and tends to lash out at unpleasant Jane grew up in an orphanage, unaware of her parentage, contacts, and resources of her own.
After twenty years in the shadows, she’s obtained connected through her mentor to some very powerful individuals. On occa- sion, she has even met dragons—indeed, she was bequeathed a ring from Dunkelzahn in his will, a power focus that she never removes. These contacts have allowed her occasional access to some of the most secretive circles at large in the Sixth World (and she even occasionally shares her opinions and theories with her associates on JackPoint).
Being taught by one of the most powerful metahuman magi- cians and metamagical techniques that aren’t common knowledge (or even believed possible) in the magical community of 2072. Jane uses an arcane language and symbols during her rituals that
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are not recognizable to any magicians who observe her. Her magical talents are also unique—or at least not known beyond a handful of other people, such as her mentor.
female elf
B A R S C I L W M Edg Ess
4 5 4 3 8 4 6 8 15 4 6
Condition Monitor Boxes (P/S): 10/12 Armor (B/I): 8/6
Skills: Arcana 4, Astral Combat 4, Athletics skill group 3, Close Combat (Swords) 2 (+2), Conjuring skill group 6, Dodge 3, Pistols 4, First Aid 2, Influence skill group 5, Electronics skill group 2, Perception 4, Pilot Aircraft 3, Pilot Ground Craft 4, Sorcery skill group 6, Survival 2
Knowledge Skills: Magic History 4, Magic Organizations 4, Magic Theory 4, Street Rumors 3, Tír Tairngire Culture 3, Travel Gear 3 Languages: English N, French 3, German 3, Japanese 4, Mandarin 3, Spanish 3, Sperethiel 6
Qualities: Magician (Path of the Wheel), Focused Concentration 2 Initiate Level: 11
Metamagics: Geomancy, masking, extended masking, shielding, Wheel 1, Sacrifice, Sacrifice 2, Flexible Signature
Wheel 1: Understanding. Jane adds her Initiate Grade to Social tests requiring empathy.
Sacrifice 2: This technique allows the use of sacrifice on oneself or a willing victim without creating a background count.
Spells: Armor, Chaotic World, Control Emotions, Death Touch, Detect Enemy, Detect Lies, Fashion, Fireball, Heal, Healthy Glow, Influence, Manabolt, Oxygenate, Stunbolt
Gear: Armor jacket, commlink [Device Rating 4, w/custom OS that displays only in Old Sperethiel], contact lenses [Rating 2, w/ smartlink, vision enhancement 2], dragon ring (Force 6 power focus), 3 fake SINs (Rating 6), ivory earring (Force 5 sustaining focus), medkit (Rating 6)
Weapons:
Ares Predator IV [Heavy Pistol, DV 5P, AP –5, SA, RC —, 15 (c), w/ smartlink, 5 clips APDS ammo]
Monofilament sword [Blade, Reach 1, DV 5P, AP –1, Force 3 weapon focus]
HArlequin
Male elf
B A R S C I L W M Edg Ess Init IP
4 (9) 7(10) 6 (9) 4 (9) 8 (12) 7 (10) 5 (9) 6 (9) 30 7 6 13 1
Condition Monitor Boxes (P/S): 10/11 Armor (B/I): 14/12
Active Skills: Astral Combat 6, Arcana (Ally Spirit Formula) 6 (+2), Archery 5, Artisan (Steel Guitar) 6 (+2), Assensing (Astral Signatures) 6 (+2), Blades (Swords) 7 (+2), Climbing 3, Conjuring skill group 6, Counterspelling (Combat Spells) 6 (+2), Dodge (Ranged) 6 (+2), Electronics skill group 3, Enchanting 6, Escape Artist 5, First Aid 5, Forgery 5, Gymnastics (Tumbling) 6 (+2), Influence skill group 6, Instruction
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Notes: Harlequin’s magical tradition superficially resembles that of a hermetic mage and shares the same spirits and associations, although in truth it is far older, more personal, and more esoteric. An argument could be made that he is the only living practitio- ner of his tradition. In any case, he resists drain with Intuition + Willpower. The initiate grade and Magic attribute given here do not necessarily represent the upper limits of Harlequin’s magi-