#23 Empire of Dirt

Last time, on Before the Shadow:

We're playing as 1nv4d3r, a fool-punching ork shadowrunner.

In the previous two modules, 1nv4d3r saved the people and holdings of Antumbra, a Seattle nightclub run by music artist and producer Kali on behalf of megacorp Mitsuhama.

He was later hired by Mitsuhama to investigate the Aztechnology corporation in San Francisco. This led him to the devotees of Emperor Norton IX, a strange man who claimed rulership over California and would later become an ally and friend. Among these devotees was a metahuman terrorist troll named Shavarus, who had secretly teamed up with the elves of Tir Tairngire to strike back against the city's oppressive rulers by destroying its water supply. After he fled to execute said plan, we stopped him but spared him so that he could reverse his plot and secure the water.

In the start of this module, our hero got overwhelmed by the publicity and tried to escape it. Instead, he ran into Norton. Sponsored by Kali, we're meant to gather allies and supplies to protect Northern California from an impending invasion by Tir Tairngire and their megacorp allies.

In our last update, we proceeded to Interstate Five to secure our supplies which were being hjiacked by gangers. We were sponsored by a cheerful troll rigger named Rick, and met a fiery dwarf mage named Dorbi, who defected when she learned that her hapless boss had teamed up with the 'Native Californians' - a band of human supremacists. Our group laid its ganger opposition flat and spared the leader in exchange for his praises across the land. Or something like that.

Also, we just casually shoved a van because our guy is basically The Hulk of California now.

So as befits a band of racists, our enemies are hiding in a junkyard.

A stinking junkyard full of scrap and century-old trash. Yep, sounds about right.

I actually had to replay all the combat from the first part, since for whatever reason my autosave decided that we'd lost Dorbi. Unacceptable.

Once a junkyard, always a junkyard apparently -- piles of garbage, scattered dumpsters, abandoned bins. The rotted carcasses of various vehicles make a maze for us. The "maze" is probably the best way for the NCs to corral unwanted visitors into a trap I guess.

We send Dorbi ahead, with the help of a Haste spell and, well.

THERE WILL BE DEATH AND DESTRUCTION

Between Dorbi and Lazarus, the guy in front is already dead and everyone else is on fire. 1nv4d3r runs out, fists up, and the three survivors just all collapse in burning, bloody heaps.

Pretending that didn't just happen, we pick our way further into the maze.

Here we go again.

We immediately retreat. With strategic use of cover, we punch, blast and gnaw through them without taking a scratch.

Then suddenly, conversation randomly fires. I hope this is what I think it is

Excellent.

One of the stand-out features in Cirion's later campaigns - that don't exist in the official ones, even Dragonfall - is random companion dialogues. Similar to the old elevator dialogues in Mass Effect, only more immersive and less awkward.

...a little less awkward. If anything though, they help not just characterise your team better but show how each person gets along with the other.

I suppose if this were Zer0es I'd be saying 'just kiss already' or something like that.

Alright, that opinion is legit.

This also serves as a neat little in-universe comparison of magic types in Shadowrun. The age-old mage vs shaman debate.

I decided to change my mind, backtrack and go the other direction, only to run into more racist bastards.

It takes some more running around and cover manipulation, but once again we make it out unscathed. The junkyard is just getting cleaner and cleaner.

Now that we're out of baddies, our path is blocked by a tarp-covered crate.

Uh. Me brain not big enough.

Looks like we have to start digging through garbage to find our solution. Literally. But not knowing what our solution is, let's put that on hold for now.

...this is new.

A shamanistic spirit has manifested out of the toxic essence of the junkyard. I bet its portrait is downright horrifying.

...I hate being right.

I also hate not having Etiquette: Karen right now, because that looks really entertaining.

We ask for passage mundanely.

...I haven't even started looking yet and I regret everything. Digging through a dystopian futuristic junkyard? For the most disgusting things we can find?

Can't I just have another racist-killing session?

The first pile yields nothing but the second -

We find nothing down below, so we make the full loop over to the dumpster to the right and -

Honestly not as bad as the tissues but still bad.

Right now kinda wishing we could dump all this junk in that barrel but that's not an option.

Look what we found!

I guess if we had high enough Intelligence we could've taken a shot at fixing the lifter and moving the crate the old fashioned way.

Then we discover the real prize.

Norton and Dorbi stare on in fascinated, dismayed silence as we extract the most disgusting thing of all from beneath two innocent-seeming wooden pallets.

Take it you grotesque mockery of life

What value is HP when our hands may never be clean again?

Ow.

Take your "items" and choke on them, you monster.

The screen goes dark as the toxic spirit presumably destroys the crates.

The way is clear. We're greeted by a rusty van sprayed with anti-elven graffiti. Well, we're definitely going the right way.

We find ourselves facing what could best be described as a junk arena. A wide open space, with piles of junk and dumpsters as makeshift cover spots. Perfect place for an ambush.

...but there was no ambush. How about here --

And then the Dragonfall end boss music starts playing.

Okay then.

...oh.

Oh no. Oh no, this is bad.

I mean, it would be a lot worse if Tir wasn't dealing with this idiot as their go-between, but it's still pretty bad.

There's a distinct click sound, and the noise of a Matrix connection terminating as Claude turns to face our group. Also, the Dragonfall boss music gives way to the basic combat music from before.

The first thing Claude does? Run away. He doesn't even try to fight us.

I can only hope these guys are just supposed to soften us up before his grand ambush. Our main ork takes a few hits, but digging around we find something special.

Meanwhile, Claude's goons try ambushing us from behind but Dorbi is still Dorbi.

Halfway through this, the fight turns messy. We'e knocked out two out of four of our attackers but then our pet toxic spirit (yes, a generic one this time) breaks out of Norton's control.

Just when it seems like the spirit is going to take down 1nv4d3r or Dorbi, it vanishes, leaving us to finish off the final hapless Native Californian mook.

And then Rick returns!

Yep. We hate him already. He's our new Shavarus, down to the racism.

So maybe now's a good time to talk about -

Well, I guess she's our responsibility now.

So regarding that little meltdown we had earlier -

Right.

I suspect that being fair rather than splurging is the right choice here. They need water but so do we.

Yeah, that sounds perfect.

So let's talk for a bit about that little breakdown we had earlier.

Claude was communicating with Hans Brackhaus. The music, as mentioned, was changed to the Dragonfall end boss theme to highlight the importance of this.

I'm not going to spoil the ending of Dragonfall here but simply put - Hans generally appears as a "representative" of Saeder-Krupp: the biggest megacorporation in the Shadowrun world, run from Germany by Lofwyr, a Great Dragon. Thing is, the ending of Dragonfall and endgame of the original Shadowrun Returns drop serious hints that Hans isn't just an emissary but a poorly disguised Lofwyr himself, poking around in mortal affairs.

Lofwyr is a member of the Council of Princes - the oligarchy that rules Tir Tairngire. Not only is he taking personal interest in the invasion but he already has agents in California. Even if the Native Californians aren't the most reliable or competent of people, he's outfitted and coordinated with them since before we even got here.

Lofwyr himself is bad news. How bad?

Know the Shadowrun motto: Conserve ammo, shoot straight, and never, ever make a deal with a dragon?

LOFWYR IS THE DRAGON.

I'm not even exaggerating, his wheeling, dealing and betrayals are what inspired that part of the motto in the first place.

He is powerful, duplicitous and extremely proud -- and he takes conflicts personally.

So we're up against a Great Dragon, huzzah. One who runs a megacorp and sponsors a whole nation.

Ah well. We'll worry about that when we get to it.

Farewell for now! We return to base next time.