Land of Hope and Glory? - Shadowrun Narrative Game

[Insomniac]

London.  The Smoke.  Capital of His Majesty's empire...or what's left of it.  This sprawling metroplis still has pride in her proud history, since it's all most Brits have left to cling to.  Since the Green Party and Druidic Council claimed parliament decades ago, the shape of the empire has quite been the same.  The loss of Ireland, a series of nuclear meltdowns and the Black Tide has left the once-proud nation in a state of toxic disrepair.  Smog and acid rain threaten the city on a daily basis.  The government tried to erect a dome of steel and polymers over the city's core, only to have it destroyed in a terrorist attack, leaving a steel ribcage looming over the central city.

Society is split into several sections, with the wealthy and powerful in the cities center and growing increasingly destitute as you head to the fringes.  As you cross the Thames, the Westway slums predominate the outskirts, with the exception of  the "West End" and the "Villages" where the corporations dominate the landscape.  In the east looms the Lambeth Containment Zone and the ruins of the Angel Towers Arcology, where the starved and forgotten masses squat in whatever real estate they can find.  The government  has been in a steady state of decline since the death of the crown princes and the abdication of the throne by King Charles III, marking the end of the house of Windsor.  Much of the nation has been marked as either toxic or irradiated, and much has also been marked as Wild lands, where the Druids are using magic to restore pristine green areas, which always seem to end up hostile towards humanity.

Many in London's sprawling landscape have no idea the empire is struggling, as life carries on in London as it always has.  Unlike the bulk of the world, The UK has kept their hard currency, instead of switching fully over to wireless transfers of nuyen like every other advanced nation.  Those in her outskirts know perfectly well that the Druidic council has lost control of the country and work every day and exploiting the gaps in King George's once-mighty nation.

[Seer Fox]

Macaulay picked at his teeth idly, lying down on the hard wooden surface of the shack he was inhabiting. A lazy smile drifted pleasantly on his face as he waited for the others to arrive; normally he wasn’t the first one to turn up, some horrible misfortune must have befallen everyone.

“Bored.” He stated to no-one.

He stopped messing around with his teeth and rolled across the ground to the lone table in the room, grabbing it securely with one arm. With a quick pull, it fell onto him, making him smile even wider with the pressure it created. He reached even further along to grab a chair, and pulled that onto him to.

Lying there, he chuckled to himself. He might pretend to be dead or something when they come in. Or maybe not. Maybe he should lie down for a bit before suddenly throwing the table at them.

Macaulay practiced his ‘dead’ look, lolling his tongue out and rolling his eyes up. How childish. Shoving the furniture off of himself and into a disused, rusted old cooker, he went to lean on a wall instead.

“Gotta look respectable.” He chided himself with a smile, wishing he brought his shades with him today.

[Tau Worlock]

Muninn studied the abandoned building that was according to the matrix map the meeting point. Despite the run down appearance the walls and roof looked sturdy. Two of the windows had been border up and the outside door was swinging on it hinges ever so slightly.

With a slight moment with his hand he changed his eye to infrared. Looking over the building again Muninn found one warm body by the back wall. Somebody was there already. Reverting the eye back to normal vision he went and silently entered trough the door. A few paces on was another door, leading to the meeting place.

Stepping trough Muninn spotted the other immediately. The other was dressed well tough he could spot a small hole where the jacket should have another button.
Nodding at the stranger Muninn went and righted up the chair. He reached into his left pocket and pulled out a bag of nuts. Pushing the chair against the wall as he took a few almonds out and ate them. Just before he sat down he offered the bag to the other runner.

[Rictiovarus]

Blurb reread the little text file with the meeting point on it in his mind, seeing no correlation between it, and where he now was. A gust of wind blew through the the street, making Blurb shiver. He zipped up his jacket against the cold and proceeded on, walking around for half an hour now.

The note said to meet in an abandoned building, which was no big help. ALL the buildings were abandoned here. He sighed in frustration. This should not happen! He had earned a respectable reputation in Europort's seedy underground and the slightly less underground Groningen. And every time, directions had been clear and concise. This damned map felt more like a labyrinth than directions....

...wait a minute....

Blurb turned the map on it's end. Now the buildings matched. The big neon sign for some Saeder-Krupp product, the pileup of crashed cars, the burnedout cafe. It all seemed so obvious now! Blurb could hit himself on the head.

He hurried to the designated building, finding two people already inside.

"Hey, sorry I'm late, got a little lost back there."

[Seer Fox]

"Oh, don't ya be worrying 'bout that," Macaulay said with a comforting smile, "Can't be helped if using a map is beyond your ability, right?"

Noticing that he was being offered a nut, he reached towards the bag, taking a couple out and rolling them around in his mouth languidly.

'I wonder if I'm allergic...' He thought to himself, before spitting them into the air to see if he could hit the sink on the other side of the room.

[Tau Worlock]

Taking out the bag again he offered some to the new runner.

“Muninn. You are?” he said to the room in general nodding at both.

[Rictiovarus]

Blurb glared at the mean-spirited welcome he received from the first runner he saw. He looked unkempt, unprofessional. He had an expression of arrogant superiority. Blurb immediately disliked him. Those kind of people got their teammates killed.

The other was considerably more friendly, and looked more dependable. He introduced himself as Muninn, and offered him a nut. Blurb sat down with an audible clank from his armour.

"Thanks. I go by Blurb. Worked in the United Netherlands for over 10 years. Both sides. Where d'you both come from?"


EDIT: CLarity. Also, From the list of injuries I supposed you were scarred. No matter.

[Tau Worlock]

“Nowhere. What you do?” came the short reply as he gestured to one of the empty boxes, indicating that Blurb should take a seat.

the other hand was going trough several movements as holo-flicker danced form the wrist projector.


(What armour and scars? Did not know Muninn had any of either (ok there are a few scars but non are visible))

[Kentai]

Jade watched the conversation quietly, she had arrived at about the same point as the one who called himself Blurb. But she didn't like doors. They were too obvious. The window was more fun. She had managed to stay unnoticed and was wondering when exactly she should announce herdelf to the others.

She just sat in the slightly damp corner, checking her arm.

Blurb, Munnin and the tramp. She decided on anylising her team for a while longer before making any introductions. They wouldn't see her if she didn't want them to.

'I hate working with new people. They make things so... difficult.' She thought to herself as one of the toxic needles slid silently back into the protective metal casing that used to be her arm.

[Canis]

A faint tapping sounded from beyond the doorway as a trio of metallic legs rapped on the floorboards. Moments later a luminous eye timidly peeked around the doorframe and surveyed the room. Satisfied, the drone scurried through the debris and settled in the shadows.

Uneven footsteps announced the coming of the next runner, the floorboards creaking under his staggered movements. He steadied himself against the wall as his head throbbed with the lingering vengeance of hard liquor. The newcomer cringed and cursed in Russian as his robotic accomplice gave a shrill bleep. He took a few moments to glance around him before deciding if the room didn’t stop spinning he damn well wasn’t going to attempt navigating the mass of toppled furniture. 

Dimitri settled against the wall and closed his bloodshot eyes, though he kept careful watch on the others through his drone’s gaze.

[Insomniac]

From a far corner of the warehouse, you hear a devil rat scurry away, knocking crates aside as it moved.  Out of the shadows in the back corner of the warehouse a man emerges with two bodyguards.  He strolls over to where the majority of the team has gathered and scans the room.  In the dim lighting of the warehouse, you see a Caucasian ork in a charcoal grey suit.  He wears patent leather shoes, despite the dreary landscape he is meeting the runners in.

"Is this it?" he asks in a muddled Slavic accent.  He looks around the room, trying to see if someone more to his liking was present.  "I assume you are here for the job, yes?"

[Rictiovarus]

Confused by the arrival of the drunk Russian and his pet drone, Blurb was distracted enough to fail to notice the arrival of their purported employer.

Blurb turned to the ork and gave him a curt nod, awaiting the job description. And then the reward description, which was more interesting anyway.

[Kentai]

The new arrival pleased Jade. Finally something might happen. There again, she should probably make her presence known, lest the mission start without her. Shrugging she directed her thoughts into the matrix, more specifically towards the drone that had come in with the latest runner. The curious beast was well worth investigating. Though she risked being caught she went for it anyway, discretely exploring it's defences, analysing her chances of using it to her own ends. Though ever cautious, so as not to let it or it's master detect her presence.

Satisfied, she withdrew and studied the small array of other items in the room that she was able to infiltrate.

'Well.' She thought, 'might aswell not keep them hanging.'

She tapped into the sensory feed between the man and his robot and pondered for a second on what exactly to do. She did her best to avoid any security measures in place and then on top of the robot's view of the room imposed a badly drawn banana shooting across the room, barely visible, but enough for him to see.

Then the text, in bright green writing.

"I'm watching you."

It stayed for just a brief moment, then she vanished, covering her trail and returning to her half-invisible state.

[Seer Fox]

Cheerfully ignoring the nut-givers question and the other guys glare, he watched the little robot pet and its master walk in with some interest. He had an impulse to hug the cute little thing, but decided that it probably wouldn't do him any favours. Shrugging to himself he started to scrape plaster off the wall behind him with his fingernails, watching the client emerge from the other side of the building.

Before the man said anything more than a greeting, he moved to interrupt him.

"Question," Macaulay grinned, raising his hand up like one would in a classroom, "That cute little thing by the window who no-one noticed; she with us or can I kill her?"

Truth be told, he still might. It wasn't very respectable, creeping around fellow teammates like that. And Macaulay was all about respect.



Ciat,
Seer Fox

[Tau Worlock]

“Jade is with us.”
Flicking a nut in her direction he turned towards the man with the bodyguards. “Talk.”

[Seer Fox]

"Oh, know her do ya?" Macaulay asked, slinking over to the man and putting an arm around his shoulder, "Any chance you're an item, or is she fair game?"

[Rictiovarus]

"I thought she wasn't with us. Perhaps a hobo or something. Why go through all that trouble to hide from your teammates?"

[Kentai]

Her fun temporarily halted, Jade decided she might aswell make a reply.

"Trouble? It's no trouble at all. And who said anything about mates? I have a job to do here, and I don't want you lot getting in my way."

She staryed still, as always, still pondering on how the trampy one knew she was there whilst the robot and it's master stayed oblivious. Maybe he was actually asleep. And her name, no-one here should know how, how did Muninn know? Well, enough mysteries for now... She would get rid of them later. For now there was a mission briefing to collect.

She scanned the room for surveilance devices, noticing none that weren't linked to the new arrival and his bodyguard she talked.

"Well? What are we doing here then?"

[Seer Fox]

Macaulay hummed in amusement at the woman, but didn't bother saying anything else. Letting go of the other guys shoulder he flashed the chick a toothy grin before returning back to the wall, looking quite happy with himself.


Ciat,
Seer Fox

[Rictiovarus]

"We don't know yet, because you had to go and halfass your pointless sneaking around. Now shut up, sit down, and listen. You annoy me already."