So, I don't want to give a long detailed history of the whole game (because I just do not have the time) but I need some help, basically some perspective. Its about one year before Lockdown and this is the current situation.
A few jobs ago we were hired by a drug dealer to recover a data packet. However, when our hacker was recovering it she noticed that it was related to the Mr. Johnson contact of another one of the runners in the group. Specifically, a sly Mr. Johnson in the employ of Ares who recently "promoted" the runner's father to one of their secure facilities.
So, we were a little apprehensive to hand over the Intel, as it could ruffle feathers and potentially put Doom's old man in peril if Anderson found out it was us. Especially since we're pretty sure that Anderson used to be with the Seraphim, so he's no slouch. Anyway... I didn't want to fail the mission and piss off the drug cartel and so I suggested placing a data bomb that would only be triggered when the user attempted to copy or transfer the data. That way, we could finish the job but there wouldn't be any evidence if he tried to transmit the data to anyone else via the matrix.
Well, we didn't hear from Mr. Jay for a while and then something bad just happened.
Our Decker is a member of the White Wiccan Coven in Boston and her Den Mother (or whatever the hell they call themselves) called her in on a job. A personal job. See, apparently her kid (a guy we've met before) is hooked on this drug (Tempo, I think its called?). She wanted Usagi (our decker) to "Find out who is behind the Acadia Club" and "Burn it to the ground!" She felt pressured and basically, accepted without even talking about risk or payment.
So, she calls over Brysen (my character) to her dorm on MIT&T and we're talking it through, she explains it all, and I realize that expenses have been high and so we need to call in for an early payment so that we can have some money to blow on drugs. See, as it turns out the Arcadia club is a big underground drug den (mostly for the awakened). And since Brysen specializes in dealing the awakened he knows that if we go in there with hostile intent, the assessing awakened who are reveling in their drug induced states will catch us giving off negative "vibes." So, basically we needed to go in and party and be casual and apart of it while we tried to get to the bottom of thing.
This was mistake number 2. Again. My fault.
So, we all get in "costume" and head over to the club, our job is to find a dealer called "Scuz" who is one of the most notorious runners in Boston (a bad dude who is known for getting folks hooked on something he can exclusively provide). Two of us weasel our way into the back with a con, but when we get back there and find Scuz he is with Mr Jay. Fortunately, Mr. Jay doesn't recognize us instantly, he doesn't know Blink and he doesn't recognize Brysen because he's in jester garb and used Melanin Control to change his skin from its typical shade of royal blue to a dull gray.
I try to get Scuz to stay with us, because we're being taken in the back room for a talk, but he splits on the word of Mr. Jay (who is obviously his employer), and this is where it gets fucked. So, we head in to discus matters and in the back room is a 30ft long purple dragon. Neither of our characters recognize him, but you would all know him as Damon.
So, Brysen loses his composure for a moment and his skin turns back to normal. So, Jay recognizes him. I'm able to "face" my way out of immediate danger and we all sit down for a "talk."
It becomes immediately obvious that Mr Jay is aware we planted the data bomb, because Usagi forgot to cover her tracks. So now we've cost him, the data he wanted and a cyberdeck or something. So we're both smiling at one another and talking calmly and casually, but the tension is in the air and shit is bad. Soon he works out that Longears is probably here with us and so "politely" departs to go look for her, leaving us with Damon and his "slave girls."
I can't think of a way to keep him here, so he leaves. I'm still sweating bricks. So, from our talks it seems Damon is initially doing all of this for a lark. So, I come up with a rather savvy con on the spot, where in I wager Damon in a game of chance which seems rigged in his favor, but is actually impossible for him to win (I won't write it up now). But I pitched it well enough that Damon found it interesting and entertaining. If I lost I was going to hand over some data we had recovered earlier which would help him secure more power in Boston, if I won he would remove his association with this organization.
Now, if he played the game properly there was no way for him to actually win... but when I rolled my con and he rolled his resistance, he got something like 16 hits which was like, impossible basically. While my measly dicepool of 9 did no where near as well. The threshold he had to beat was like 3-4.
So, he pointed out what I had done, plucked the correct answer out of thin air and then smugly gave me a lecture about how there are all these fairy tails about bold young heroes outwitting dragons, but that was before wikipedia existed.
So, now Scuz is god knows where. Jay is out going after our decker/rabbit witch and I'm sitting face to face with a dragon with a head the size of a horse while we smile at one another and I shit bricks.
I'm pretty sure I can politely excuse myself and he won't kill me, I'm unarmed and although Brysen is a karate master I am not sure he can best a dragon on his own. So combat is out of the question. And the job we have been hired to do seems really stacked against us.
I've managed to learn from Damon that he plans to realign Boston's leyline grid to something more in suiting with what he wants. Which is why he is running the club. Its essentially a giant ritual. Which, in and of itself seems problematic. I can't make a deal with him (for obvious reasons). Rule 1 of Shadowrunning and all... plus I just tried to con him and failed miserably. So he knows I'm not even valuable to him in that regard.
I have no idea how we are going to "burn" this drug racket to the ground with a Dragon at the top. M current plan is to just leave and then seek out and unite the mages and adepts that follow Dragonslayer so we can sit down and discuss strategy and the history of their greatest practitioners. We might be able to find a way of blocking Damon's expansion into the city, even if we're not strong enough to actually stop it.
Personally, Brysen would much rather take the advance and return it to Usagai's senpai and just distance ourselves from the job as much as possible. Only the other players have made it clear that they do not want to do this as an option. Primarily because Usagai could risk being outed from her coven.
But essentially, I don't know what to do from here and that is where you guys come in. Advice, feedback, opinions. I know this has been a lot to read and the politics are all over the shop, but we're still "starting runners" and I'm not sure we have the power to overthrow a drug racket, let alone one run by a dragon.
