The Sprawl Recap: The Black Science Woman Job

So with character creation completed and the world established, I ran the first mission for my very short The Sprawl campaign: The Black Science Woman Job. The job was simple: extract an illegal cyberware doctor from a black clinic run by the local crime family. Getting there was the hard part.

The Black Science Woman Job

Their employer introduces himself as Vadim Zhou. The clean-cut businessman explains they are to ‘rescue’ his sister Alice Zhou from local criminals. The chrome headed man cocks his head as another patron of the Pizza Shack drifts closer than he likes. Once out of earshot he explains that his sister is being held at a black clinic within the Kaleidoscope. The augmented reality system within this ruined arcology has been corrupted and navigating the maze is virtually impossible without the right codes. He explains the setup and details on her ‘employers’; the Smiths. In addition to drugs and illegal cyberware, the crime family also runs a successful garbage removal racket.

Oracle made the Get the Job move, getting a soft success. They took useful information, giving them 1 intel. This does mean someone paid attention to the meeting however.

The Smiths (and their rivals the Smithes) came from tossing the question of the local crime family’s name to the players. I didn’t quite like how it played out. I think in the future I’d ask such a question the session before (and more along the lines of what is the local criminal organization like?).

The Pizza Shack’s slogan is ‘guaranteed not dog’.

Though the team never worked it out, Vadim’s real reason for wanting Alice back was that her family’s living situation depended on her fulfilling her contract to Genewear. If she doesn’t do her job, they lose their benefits and status. Of course she didn’t really care about that.

The Mission Directives included: Accept the Mission, Locate Zhou's Clinic, Extract Zhou, End the Mission (2 Experience). My goal was to ensure an advance by the end of the second session so we could fully explore the system.

Smoke and Oracle stake 2 cred while Demon throws down 3 cred, advancing the Legwork Clock.

The Kaleidoscope is a warren, built beneath a geodesic dome and now open to the air. Sixty floors of identical rooms and halls hide all sorts of illegal activity. Demon says he’ll talk to his contact Mitch who lives there. He also dispatches one of his drones, Big Bear, to surveil the structure. Smoke heads out on foot while Oracle considers another tactic.

Demon uses his contact for the session. He gets a soft success to Hit the Streets. Mitch needs something and it draws attention.

Demon picks up Mitch at the 5 and 50. Inside the warm confines of Mama Bear, the Demon asks the jittery man how he can reach the black clinic at the Kaleidoscope. Mitch says he knows a way but he needs something first: one of the XR-12 modules. The bleeding edge VR devices were said to be better than reality. Unfortunately the government forced Viridian Dynamics to cancel the series and they were supposed to be destroyed. Rumor says that they were buried in the central park landfill. Demon reluctantly agrees to find one, grumbling that at least Mitch is off the meth.

All the while someone or something is watching...

Demon switches his focus to Big Bear. The sleet and ice from what the new channel is called Frostpocalypse was piling up. The drone’s sensors still picked up a few places where the upper surface of the Kaleidoscope rose a suspicious few millimeters. Hidden landing pads, he suspected.

Demon Assess and get a soft success, allowing him to ask “What do I notice despite an effort to conceal it?”

On the ground, Smoke stalks through the icy halls. The light sleet freezes as it hits the metal surface. She struggles keep her footing as she prowls the maze. Adding to her difficulties is a complete lack of identifying marks to distinguish one level or section from another. She decides not to connect to the local VR system, her systems alerting her to the presence of multiple viruses. Down one hall she finds the chilled remains of a former resident, his cybereye cracked and defective. She presses on.

Smoke rolls Assess and gets a soft success. she asks Who or what is my biggest threat in this situation?

A half hour later she finds three locals warming themselves by a barrel fire. She engages them in conversation. They all know the clinic is around here somewhere but not how to get there. A child shares a rumor that they pay good money for harvested organs. A man, warmed more by the tropical island he sees in virtual reality, confirms the rumor. He sold his kidney to them not long ago. But you need the route plotted for you in VR.

Demon contacts the others, interrupting Oracle as she stalks a shady figure near the Kaleidoscope. He relays that he has found a way to the clinic but that he needs to get something to pay for it first. Oracle decides his plan is better than her idea of wounding a stranger and tracking him to the clinic.

Demon arranges to pick the others up and moves into the next intersection. A hover truck nearly crushes Big Mama as a light unexpectedly turns green. Demon dives out its way, honking his horn in protest.

Something takes its first of many shots at Demon. He Acts Under Pressure and gets a hard hit.

He picks up the others and takes them to the dump. Amid the massive piles of debris that now cover the former city park, they spot a disturbed patch that looks promising.

Smoke helps unsuccessfully but Demon still makes the Assess roll. He asks What do I notice despite an effort to conceal it?

Demon stays in Big Mama while the women start digging near a wrecked car lying on its side. Oracle knocks free some broken electronics with Viridian markings.

Then the ground gives way, sucking Smoke into a hidden cave.

Making my hard move.

Oracle quickly ties a rope between herself and Big Mama then jumps into the pit. As she crashes to the cave floor, a dozen yellow eyes glow in the darkness. The feral dogs make hungry growls as they close in.

Oracle Acts Under Pressure and gets a soft success, alerting the dogs.

Smoke grabs onto the line. Demon kicks Big Mama into reverse. Oracle fires wildly as they are yanked up out of the pit. The indiscriminate gunshots collapse the lair, crushing the dogs and any remaining XR-12s. The rumbles echoes through the neighborhood.

Smoke succeeds in helping Demon Act Under Pressure. He gets a full success and gets them out of there. Oracle Mixes It Up and fails. I exchange harm. Thanks to her cybernetics and custom weapons she deals 5 harm as a gang! So the gang of dogs is dead. With her armor they can’t hurt her back so the consequence is the collapse. Also I advance the Legwork clock.

The team looks around for another likely dig spot. After much searching they find another disturbed patch of earth. As the women dig, uncovering chips of shattered electronics, an automated dump trunk enters the park. Slowly it moves closer and closer. Smoke quickly gathers pieces, looking for a module that is intact enough.

Eventually the truck hovers above them. As it begins unloading, Oracle fires at the door mechanism, jamming it and giving Smoke enough time to grab a mostly intact module.

Oracle Acts Under Pressure to break dump truck mechanism and succeeds. So no trash ends up dumped on them.

Onto the Action section.

The next day, Demon loads the VR code from Mitch into Little Bear. The tiny drone zips through the corridors and stairwells which appear as a thick jungle to its sensors. Oracle and Smoke follow behind discretely as it winds along an intricate path. Ultimately they find themselves near a metal door less than 30 meters away from where they started.

The drone spots two men toting shotguns heading to the door. Smoke and Little Bear slip in before they manage to finish their patrol.

Smoke uses Covert Entry and gets a soft success which she uses to bypass the guards.

The room they enter is quiet and dimly lit. Pop music wafts in the air from elsewhere in the clinic. Three doors lead out from the room. Little Bear uses its thermal scanners to penetrate the thin walls and scour the other rooms. The heat signatures identify the room on the right as some sort of recovery room while a group of men seem to be playing a game in the room directly across from the entrance. The drone also notices some active electronics, like a security station in that room. The left room is empty but the music sounds stronger from there.

Demon Assesses with help from Smoke. They get a hard success and ask What potential complication do I need to be wary of? The answer is the four guards in the back room. What is my best way in/way out/way past? is the next question, which is the front door.

With only one way out, Smoke decides to disable the door to the guards, sealing them in. She quietly shorts out the locking mechanism and then slips into the left side room.

Smoke Acts Under Pressure and gets a hard hit.

This room turns out to be a surgery. Another door leads further back into the clinic. Smoke spies Zhou inside, distracted by her music. She radio’s Oracle to come in.

The mercenary turns the corner with her machete already descending in an arc into the faces of the guards out front. Their blood decorates the exterior before they can react.

Oracle Mixes it up and gets a hard success. They die quickly.

The killer moves inside and draws a syringe of tranquilizers. She passes Smoke and stabs the woman but not before she gives a short choked scream.

Oracle Acts Under Pressure and gets a soft success.

The two women pull Zhou out of the clinic as the remaining guards bang uselessly on the sealed door.

I advance the Action Clock appropriately.

Smoke drags the unconscious doctor along while Oracle covers their retreat. After a few minutes however they realize that they’ve become completely lost. Just as they hit a dead-end, four men armed with needlers turn the far corner.

I use a custom move here:

Toxic Landmarks: when navigating the Kaleidoscope, roll +Mind. On a hit pick one. On a 7-9 pick another as well.

• You attract unwanted attention.
• Take -1 forward from the frustrating maze.
• Your optics/neural interface has been compromised. VR bleeds into reality.

They fail the roll.

Smoke pulls Zhou to a nearby side passage while Oracle engages the attackers. Dozens of plastic slivers strike her, turning her armor into a pin cushion. One strikes and disables Little Bear, which Smoke snatches up on her way out.

Oracle continues firing, her powerful handguns picking out her assailants and turning them into chunky salsa. As the smoke clears, she realizes that she is alone. Her friend is nowhere to be seen.

Oracle Mixes It Up and gets a soft success. She takes harm and raises some noise. The Action Clock advances again. She takes (3-harm +0 for same size gang -2 for armor) 1 harm and marks her directive (since she got hurt). She makes harm move rolling at -2 (1 minus 3 for dermal plating and flechette rounds). She gets a soft success again so I chose that she loses track of the others. Her foes take (5-harm +0 same size gang -1 armor) enough damage to kill them.

Smoke calls Demon to get her out of this maze. He eventually triangulates her position and after a frustrating half hour picks her and Zhou up.

He got a soft success and took the -1forward.

Oracle meanwhile works her way to the edge of the arcology. As daylight breaks down on her, three men with shotguns surround her.

“Give me your weapons,” she tells them.

They laugh.

Moments later, she picks her way over their bloody remains, shotgun scoring covering her battered armor.

Oracle rolls to Play Hardball. She fails and we exchange harm. This time the shotguns and a smaller gang mean she takes no damage. She also fails the harm move so there are no consequences. The other guys die.

Later on the team deliver Alice Zhou to her brother at the Pizza Shack. He pays as promised and they leave feeling like they accomplished something.

Meanwhile a traffic cam monitors their movements.

Oracle rolls Getting Paid and with the +3 from unfilled Footwork segments, she gets a hard success. They are paid in full, the meet is not an ambush, and they earn an extra experience. So that is 6 experience base plus 1 more for Oracle for getting hurt. Of course Shinja (who control the smiths) advances its corporate clock and another threat gets closer to taking on Demon.