#3 Not the Destroyer We're Looking For

The story so far: we're a fool-punching shadowrunner, we have a gunslinging troll as backup, we conned our way backstage in a gigantic nightclub/recording studio/office building. Our employer's given us a package of building-eating nanites to plant upstairs, while keeping those contents a secret so he doesn't have to pay us more.

So basically, typical shadowrun.

Immediately upon arriving we're given one karma (experience) point - and a comm-link to the left buzzes.

Not only is he a cheap, sour man but he's a creep too. The narration even calls him oily!

Let's get straight to the point.

Knowing this guy he's hiring a shadowrunner to kill his shadowrunner. Funny enough, there's a mission in -

SEEMED PRETTY DAMN CLEAR TO ME.

So he finally decides to be honest.

And the honest truth is that Kali was working with a Japanese megacorporation. Had none of this happened, she probably would've happily paid Mitsuhama what she owed them and produced her music in peace. But this guy's employers want to exploit this magical site, even if it means ruining Kali and her business.

Best known for its work with computers and robotics, Mitsuhama has deep ties to the yakuza. What we don't know is whether Kali herself is shady or if she's just gone to the people who would fund her operations, but Johnson witholding information then threatening to kill us didn't help his case.

I'm not sure I want any role in this.

Pretending that our troll friend wasn't just standing there awkwardly during the conversation, we search a desk on the right for a key.

We pass through the door in the south, into a board room...

...and into an ambush.

Turm immediately transmutes the first guard's chest into a crimson mist.

MOMMA SAID KNOCK YOU OUT

The battle that follows is straightforward. Our guy beats the second guard down...

...then flees for his life while the other one chases him with a machete.

(It's really hard to get well-timed screenshots in combat).

At the end, we've lost no health overall. Healing magic in the baseline game only heals the last damage taken - and that heals automatically at the end of combat anyway - so medkits are very valuable for their flexibility.

Passing through some kind of computer room, we get advance warning of danger.

We take position next to the door...

I skip a turn and... nothing happens. Apparently the guys beyond are waiting for us, not vice versa.

I instead position him in front of the door, ready to open it -- and a security guard barrels past him and shoots Turm. Whoops.

Barely a scratch but still annoying. Her ork buddy takes cover behind a desk, with a shotgun.

Our lead punches shotgun guy twice, and Turm quickly takes her revenge.

Then she runs over and hits shotgun guy over the head with a piece of rebar. We're in an even bigger conference room now, complete with screens and everything.

He collapses to his knees and expires, while his hapless ally approaches from the south-west.

Overzealous Turm almost blasts 1nv4d3r. Backup shows up, way too late.

Turm takes out the two closer to her, while the third runs off for cover, admonishing us to give up. Spoiler: we don't.

Turm takes some damage along the way but she has most of her health.

Past the conference room, we pass through a corridor with a flashing light and come to what could only be Kali's office. After all, it prominently features - well, Kali.

DON'T JUDGE MY TASTE IN MUSIC

I don't like or trust our employer. We don't know Kali but we do know him, and he's scum. He probably works for a worse megacorp than Mitsuhama.

Trid is three dimensional television, basically. KALI JUST OFFERED US A CHANCE TO MAKE A MUSIC VIDEO (TRIDEO) DEMO AS PAYMENT.

Who is this strange, magnanimous, rainbow-coloured woman?

Turm has different opinions.

When an RPG questgiver says their reward is better than cash, it usually is. If not for the character, for the audience.

This "name" has literally one letter in it

The game is mocking 1nv4d3r. This is surely punishment for my 1337ness.

From the fury of the deckers deliver us, oh Dog. Ramen.

Well, we just betrayed our employer to do the right thing - and for a chance to break into the music business.

We find a pair of Advanced Medkits in the room behind Kali's. Our cover story wouldn't have held up at all. I use one of my weaker ones to patch up Turm, then head for the basement.

I believe this is what Joseph Campbell called 'the belly of the whale'.

Our magical underground adventure continues next time.