Straight from Ryo's PM to me. As an outline, it is fairly complete. I filled in the specifics as needed, such as the security recordings from the botched run on the Atlantean Foundation, and the journal/log that you downloaded from Ace's head.
And so I cast back the curtain.
Everything starts with Uncle Sam, or rather, Frank Muntz (a fake SIN). He is originally a Russian hit man and enforcer for the Vory called Rozhki. He got out of the syndicates to go freelance as a shadowrunner when he came to North America, but he still does jobs for the Vory from time to time, and they still consider him as one of their own, just given a little extra room to roam. Every Friday at precisely 3:05 PM, he sends a coded message to a Vory contact he calls 'Mom.' These messages are always phrased as a question. Many of them are innocuous with no meaning, simply sent to indicate that he is still on task and loyal to the Vory. Messages related to the receipt or delivery of gifts are related to missions, targets, bounties or supplies. Messages related to visits indicate a desire to meet a Vory representative directly.
'Mom' is his Vory contact, a Russian woman named Roza Pajari. She is essentially a Vory Johnson, acting as a middleman between the Vory and their free agents.
'Dad' is the Vory. Specifically, the Red Vory in the Russian Republic to which Rozhki has ties. The number in his phone calls a small diner in Denver that acts as a front for the Vory.
'Gift Shop' is a local Vory contact named Markovic. Any physical items that need to be transferred between Rozhki and Mom go through the Gift Shop, from details on hits, to weapons and gear, to captured prisoners or severed heads in bags. He's located in Denver.
Rozhki has a North American shadowrunner team consisting of himself, a mage who called himself Small Shadow (Ohanzee), a medic and decker named Doc Hack (Crumpled Man), and a driver and physical adept named B13 (Chino).
Two months ago, in early December, Rozhki came in contact with a Johnson who claimed to know him through his Vory contacts. This Johnson wanted Rozhki and his crew to steal a certain artifact that was believed to be in some ancient ruins in the mountains of Colorado. This Johnson never revealed who he was, or who his employers were, but he offered Rozhki and his team ten million nuyen to safely return the obelisk to him. Rozhki readily agreed, and took this info to his team.
The team then began doing legwork, and Ohanzee contacted Long Shadow and his fixer, Styles, to discuss this artifact and the job surrounding it. This eventually led him to Gloria Winters, an academic who studied magic in Aspen and was part of the archaeological teams that were exploring some Fourth World ruins that had been found in the area. Ohanzee used his charms to seduce her and hit her up for information, and began seeing her romantically in order to get access to her research and notes. In late January, he was able to gather enough info from her to determine that the ruin the Johnson asked them about had in fact been found, and where it was located. He then started ignoring her, and the team focused on infiltrating the research site.
The ruin itself dates back to the Fourth World, specifically a magic cult that revered and worshiped spirits. (If you have any knowledge of Earthdawn, feel free to sprinkle that in at will. I was planning to improvise any specifics on the ruin that came up.) The artifact itself is the Blank Slate, an obelisk with a prominent blank tablet face made out of dual natured metal and used for a kind of reverse spirit inhabitation ritual. The cult that built the ruin believed that spirits were simply metahumans without bodies, and they wanted to become spirits themselves. The Blank Slate would capture the mind of whoever was exposed to it, and could then transfer this mind to a new form. Specifically, it would copy the mind of a metahuman, and then transfer it into a spirit, thereby allowing a metahuman to essentially inhabit and become a free spirit. Their bodies were left behind, empty and mindless.
The research site itself was being studied by the Atlantean Foundation, and this is who the group robbed. More specifically, a small group within the Atlantean Foundation which is well aware of the cult from the Fourth World and is essentially a modern day version of the same. they report back to their bosses in the main foundation, but have their own ulterior motives of obtaining the artifact and using it to create Free Spirits. The Lakota speaking fake Knight Errant team were members of this cult.
So, how do The Masked Woman, APB and Ace fit into this? They are actually a completely separate team.
On this end, it all starts with APB. Her name is Mireille Smith, former UCAS citizen living in Seattle, and an unregistered Technomancer. She had a Criminal SIN, due mostly to a single incident three years ago where she attempted to hack into Seattle University.
The official record says she was paroled for good behavior after two years and required to broadcast a criminal SIN at all times, as well as strictly forbidden from hacking or compiling sprites. Unofficially, she was recruited by Ares as a deniable asset, and participated in their technomancer research programs in exchange for a shortened sentence. Ares had taken an interest in the actions of the Atlantean Foundation late last year after getting reports that they were behaving oddly on certain expeditions in the PCC, and threatening Ares interests there. APB was sent to Colorado to investigate some research they were doing, and discovered the actions of the cult. She was almost caught and had to lay low in Aspen for several weeks.
Ares then sent Ace in to recover her, since Ace is actually a Corporate citizen by the name of James Case, and a secret agent of Ares. He began looking for her in late December, but doesn't find her until late January.
And so, we come to The Masked Woman. She actually works indirectly for Mr. Johnson, the one that hired Rozhki. Mr. Johnson belongs to the Black Lodge, and they want the Blank Slate for their own nefarious schemes. The masterminds of the plan to steal the Blank Slate had heard of APB's infiltration of the site, and knew that Ares was sniffing around and would be sending in reinforcements. Their spies figured out that the Ares agent in the area was Ace, and The Masked Woman was sent to interfere with him, if not outright kill him. However, The Masked Woman was somewhat disgruntled with the way her coven was being used by the Black Lodge, and is a fairly reformed vampire herself. She obviously still kills people, but as you could probably guess from the way she locked her face behind a mask, she is ashamed of what she is and wants to change.
Upon meeting Ace, and stalking him for awhile, The Masked Woman ends up warming up to him and betrays her coven, switching sides. She helps Ace find APB, and upon learning the truth about the cult and the Blank Slate, the three decide to attack the research facility and take it for Ares.
And this is where the clusterfuck occurs. Red team and Blue team try to steal the blank slate at the same time, end up stepping all over each other's toes, and setting off alarms all around. Blue Team manages to capture Red Team, as well as take the crate, and bails in B13's van. This is why Red Team was completely unarmed when they woke up in the van. Rozhki suspects that Red Team was a betrayal attempt on the Johnson's part, and angrily sends his messages. He ends up burning that bridge in the process, thinking the Johnson has no intention to pay.
So there are three main prongs of enemies here. The Fourth World cult is after the group, wanting to take the Blank Slate. The Black Lodge is after Blue Team for reneging on the job, and after The Masked Woman specifically for being a turn coat. Ares is after the group for capturing Ace and killing APB, and I'm sure you can work a misunderstanding in there so that they end up thinking Ace is a traitor. All around, a lot of people are after them, and things are in dire straits.
And to top it all off Crumpled Man accidentally triggered the Blank Slate, which stole the minds of all 7 of them. Whether or not that can be undone, or if there ends up being a bunch of Free Spirits that want their bodies back as an additional snafu, is up in the air.
So, this brings up the last question: If the Blank Slate stole their minds, what minds do they have now? This is actually tied to another question: What makes the Crumpled Man special?
The Crumpled Man is a headcase. He has CFD, and prior to this run, was quite the psychopath. He acquired the disease in December and has intentionally infected people he comes across, including all of his allies, and even Red Team after capturing them. Then he accidentally triggered the Blank Slate, and all their minds were erased. However, they all still had the CFD nanites in their brains, so instead of becoming lifeless vessels, they all rebooted, sans identities or memories. So everyone in the group actually has a small number of nanites in their brains, while The Crumpled Man is totally overrun with them.
