#29 The Girl is Back in Town

Hey all! We're returning to cirion's Antumbra Saga campaign where we play as 1nv4d3r, a fool-punching ork shadowrunner.

Previously, on Before the Shadow:

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

Mitsuhama hired him to investigate the Aztechnology corporation in San Francisco. While we were there, an assassin stole the data we wanted.

Our search led us to the devotees of Norton IX, the (disputed) absolute ruler of California. Norton became our ally and we uncovered the assassin - a troll extremist named Shavarus, who teamed up with the elves of Tir Tairngire to strike back against the city's oppressive ruler, Saito. We stopped him but spared his life so that he could reverse his original plan to destroy the city's water supply.

This module started with our shadowrunner on the run from unwanted publicity. Kali recruited him to gather allies and supplies and protect Northern California from an impending invasion by Tir Tairngire and their megacorp allies.

In our last mission, we travelled to San Francisco, and reunited with Hailey. We also met our contact from the previous module - only to have him violently gunned down! Our enemies framed us, making it seem that we were working against Saito, but we revealed the truth and won his clandestine support. With Kali's help we countered Tir's desperate attack on our corporate allies in the old Aztechnology building and won their gratitude.

So now we're home again, having met Kali and recruited Hailey. With her and Dorbi, we just have one last guy to go before our team is complete.

Uh oh.

In the main campaigns, getting an extra Action Point is the big hint that we're about the head into the endgame. cirion is giving us his own Big Hint.

It's kind of genius starting us off in the small room each time. We don't see what we've got until we open that door. What we do see is 2500 creds and 8 karma points - before the door opens.

Supplies! Finally!

Granted, it's barely anything. A few sacks, a modest medical station, a busted generator and a cupboard stocked with God knows what. But it's a start.

We check in on our big guy in front.

Fair enough. We already knew that we needed both people and supplies, and I deliberately tried focusing on the latter first.

And since Tomas' focus is on the people, it makes sense for him to sound a little gloomy.

...or a little mercenary. Hm. Well, we can afford it at least.

Imagine getting karma points for spending money.

The DJ's already set up shop, and the party is pumping.

There are certainly more people now, and they seem to be having a better time. Appropriate lighting, dancing, music - what's a war against oh-so-serious elven fascists if you can't have fun along the way?

We move on to 1nv4d3r's favourite Commander.

I think we call this dance 'the Tai Chi'. As for the question though...

...Seline doesn't pull any punches.

It's the same line we've been hearing since the start. We're doomed and at best, we might be able to delay doom for awhile.

Amelia is next in the line-up.

Interesting. So it's basically conventional smuggler supply chains, only hampered by the war - but I get the feeling our enemies don't know that she's the one supplying us.

I take a quick look at her wares and -

And so "more supplies" have real, in-game consequences. Nice.

With Amelia taken care of, we move on, though we might buy some upgraded armour after we make the rounds.

Hrafna, my dear.

Ouch.

This may be a familiar story to our fool-puncher. Dwarves and elves appeared in the Awakening - most of them being born that way, except for the few immortal elves who'd been in hiding all along. Orks and trolls appeared when Goblinization happened.

Many of them transformed basically overnight.

One ork to another, this feels like the best answer.

Speaking of small town vibe, the sequel to Antumbra is called the Caldecott Caper. It features an ork ally named Persi who has a variation of this portrait - and a full-on Southern accent. But maybe we'll get to it - and her - someday.

Fleshed out NPC bio better than some PC bios - 10/10.

And this is where I make a liar out of her because I don't use magic.

Off to Horatio's corner - which, I just realised... is next to the kitchen? That can't be good.

Kind of like Amelia's setup, only with Horatio being more passive about acquisition and getting corporate help too.

Interesting to see a chill, almost dispassionate take on 'believing in the cause'. We leave him for now - we can actually afford major cyberware surgery but I want to make the rounds before doing that.

Pragmatic - and very Dorbi.

Well, at least we're on the same page. We say farewell - or rather "I'm leaving" - and head off to talk to our favourite decker.

Or rather our favourite emperor, who stands between us and said decker.

I feel like I should have expected this response, and yet I did not.

eyyy.

Implications that our guy is watching porn on his device. Nice.

What seems like a random reference will become more and more important as the series goes along (like, say, Saito). For now though, the PU just happens to be one potential ally among many.

The People's University are the pacifist answer to the horrifically violent Metahuman People's Army and the moderate October 25 Alliance. The Alliance founded it in fact. All three groups end up playing a different part in the Calfree resistance movement over time.

This is also one reason we haven't spent money yet. In case stuff like this pops up.

Just one last question to ask.

This is why the crying-smiling emoji was made.

Hailey's the last person we need to talk to in person. And with that finished, we can move on to the console in the back.

Of course that's the first thing we do.

Did we rescue those suits for nothing?

So supplies but not people. Makes sense. Now make us a star again, damnit.

Imagine how this dialogue - all of it, including the 'millions of people' line - would look if we'd picked the porn option instead.

Turns out to be a good thing that we came to her before taking the plunge with the PU.

Her optimism actually worries me. No one else is being this cheerful about our chances.

Oh.

This was all a sales pitch.

Never change, Kali.

Ouch. We don't have either Etiquette or any Decking skill. Looks like we're paying Hailey.

Indeed.

Oh no. We're being punished for 1nv4d3r's name yet again.

Oh. That's not too bad. A favour for a favour, and those things will help us in the long run too. Probably.

Two more things to do before we pick a mission.

400 nuyen. Ouch.

With the karma we've earned, we get our Strength and Close Combat scores to 6 each and run back to the vendors.

Just under 7000 nuyen, not counting sellables. We upgrade to what should be the last armour we buy.

And finally - finally - at the end of module three, we get some cybersurgery, replacing two arms and our fool-puncher's eyes.

Go big or go home.

Essence is, essentially, like a humanity score. The more cyber you get, the more you lose. Lose too much and a character falls out of touch with their emotions and empathy, as well as their connection to the forces of magic.

It's mechanically a way to prevent magic users from cybering up like crazy.

Anyway we are suddenly so much better at punching fools that it's almost obscene. And it's time for us to go.