Introduction:
"The Dying Game" is a real golden oldie. It rates as my second attempt at a shadowrun story. It's actually an encounter from shadowrunning gaming group ran as part of a conclusion to the Shadowrun FASA module "A Killing Glare." Most all of the actions and comments made by the characters in this short story were made by the people who played them. The orginal "Killing Glare" was modified by our somewhat by the Gamemaster to fit the campaign. Consequently, it is set in a city called Cordova in the California Free State. The team named the Screamers was moved to Cordova, The "Club Prenumbra" had a copy of it in Cordova as well. Not to mention a whole array of changes our GM made during the course of the adventure.
"The Dying Game" details the evens of the final firefight in "A Killing Glare." The runners were
originally hired by Slasher team owner Baby Joe to look into the background of his two star players,
Punch and Judy. The runners have succeed in digging through Punch and Judy's past and
discovered that they both use to be drek-hot shadowrunners by the names of Topcat and Starlight.
They both dropped out of the shadows a few years ago after a bad run-in with Aztechnology.
Aztech is currently launching a campaign to hunt down all of Topcat's and Starlight's former
shadowrunning team and terminating them. The runners payed a visit to Bubba, a cybered mage
who use to work with Topcat and Judy in the shadows. Bubba was later killed by aztech goons and
the runners were named suspects since they were the last to see Bubba alive. Just as the runners are
about to finish up their information gathering, they are also attacked by Aztech hitmen. In the
ambush, Punch and Judy appear and save the runners lives. The runners were very grateful and
offered to help Punch and Judy out incase they ever needed it. Now the runners have just dropped
off the information they gathered with Baby Joe and picked up their paychecks and the major
superbrawl game between the Slashers and Screamers is about to begin.
CHARACTERS:
Keys: A massive Troll who is an expert at electronics and electronic warfare. Also in tight connection with Knight Errant and a mean troll in combat. Professional to the core, he doesn't tolerate wannabes and can get past most any security system.
Wulf: A huge Street Samurai who is the unofficial team commander because of his deadly reflexes in combat and his quick thinking. Wulf was seriously injured in the Aztech ambush earlier in the campaign and was unable to appear in the concluding battle of the run.
Nightsky: A physical adept who has a talent for stealth and breaking into things. Extremly skilled in firearms and melee combat, he acts on instinct and emotion rather than learning complex military tatics.
Cem: Another physical adept who is a deadly shot with a sniper rifle and murder in close in combat
with various adept powers that allow him to disable a target without really hurting anyone. He
prefers using a sniper rifle and normally doesn't use any other type of firearm.
The Dying Game
"Yeah! Party at my doss!" Nightsky exclaimed with great relish as he dug through his small kitchen
refrigerator. He was amazingly active for someone who nearly took a grenade the night before.
Nightsky's doss was nothing special. A small apartment on the ground floor or a 3 story building.
His door faced out into the parking lot. The inside was a maze of furniture that had been bought
second hand and found on the street. Most of it looked ragged and decaying, but it gave the
apartment a comfortable atmosphere. His small kitchen merged with the den. There were four other
rooms. One without any windows and locked with a maglock held various sorts of gear. A
bedroom with a small bed was at the end of the hall. There was a bathroom that connected with the
bedroom, but it was best left alone. A final room remained mostly empty. Nightsky really didn't
live here full time and didn't really care how it looked.
Cem stood by a fairly new trid-screen that dominated the largest room in Nightsky's doss. His place
may look like a garbage dump, but Nightsky made sure it had the best entertainment system.
"Generous of you to through a party just after the biz is complete."
Nightsky shrugged as he pulled out a pint of extra chunky salsa from his frig and turned on the
microwave to heat some popcorn. "Hey, it's the Superbrawl, Cem. The biggest game of the year!"
Was the rely as he grabbed a bag of chips from the counter. "You got to cut loose every once in a
while. Besides, Wulf is still down and out for a while after that encounter last night."
"Correct."
"So the way I see it, we kind of owe this to ourselves."
Cem shrugs.
Outside there is a load rumbling. It sounds vaguely like the rolling thunder just before a storm hits.
The unmistakable sound of the massive powerplant of a Bison coming to a rest just outside in the
dark parking lot.
Nightsky tilts his head at the sound. "That sound like Keys' ride." He crinkles his nose,
remembering the horrible smell that the troll left in his bathroom last time he was here. "Better hide
the toliet paper."
Cem just shrugs again, not giving any opinion as he walked up to the door. Cem never was one for
words.
"It's okay, no problem." Nightsky juggled the salsa and chips in his hands as be made his way to
the microwave where the popcorn was heating. "What's a party without a troll anyway?"
A pounding came from the door. Like someone with with a baseball bat was demanding entry. In
fact, it was only the massive fist of a troll, asking if he could come inside.
"Want me to get the door?" Cem asked as Nightsky dragged the flaming hot bag of popcorn from
the mircowave.
"Yeah, sure."
Cem opened the door to what was a mountain of meat and muscle on the other side. Keys stood a
hair over two meters. A sinister, broken tooth grin was chiseled into his features as he looked down
on Cem and Nightsky. Keys' body was full of some of the most advanced wires available and he
showed his vicious ability with pride. Dispite appearances, though, he was not a cold-hearted person
and was actually quite socialable.
"Hoi chummers." The troll said with deep, hollow voice. His nose caught the scent of fresh soy-butter. "Where's the popcorn?"
Nightsky frowned, he had just made popcorn! He folded the bag closed and tossed it at Keys.
"Incoming, Keys, 12 o'clock."
Keys caught the bag in one oversized fist. His wires making his motion smooth and almost too fast
to be seen. "Game time."
"That's for sure!" Nightsky replied as he collected his assorted foods and plopped down on a worn-out recliner. He snatched up a remote and flipped the trid channels until he found the one for the
Superbrawl. "You made it just in time."
Cem slide quietly into the sofa. "Did you put any nuyen on this, Keys?"
"No." Keys replied as he swallowed a handful of buttered popcorn. "With all I've seen, I'd say this
is the most uncertain game in history."
Nighsky smirked and held up his drink in a toast. "Slashers RULE! The Screamers SUCK!" He
yelled joyously. "Now what do you mean by it's uncertain? Screamers got the best players in the
league; Punch and Judy."
"The two that we were hired to checkout."
"Yeah," Nightsky admitted, rubbing his chin in thought. "Yeah, you got a point. Guess we were all
smart not to put anything on this game. It would have been bad voodoo."
Keys settled into a reinforced chair and pulled a three liter bottle of "Jolt" from the inside pocket of
his coat. Nightsky turned up the volume on the trid so all of the screams and gunfire of the brawl
game could be heard as the Superbrawl show started. For the remainder of the hour, his attentions
would be focused on the game.
The Screamers haven't played a championship game since halfway back to forever. The sprawl has
really come ro life to cheer on their heroes. On the trid-screen, images of the brawl captured by
camera drones dance across the screen. Scenes from the Slashers switch to the Screamers so fast it's
hard to tell which team is which. Nightsky and Keys sat happily through the first half of the game.
Nightsky munching down his garden-style salsa with a spoon once he ate all of his chips. Keys
empyted the three liter bottle, making Nightsky worried that the troll would take a trip to his toliet
again. Cem showed little interest. He almost ignored the game, not really focusing on it.
At the start of the second quarter, the Slashers get called for a penalty.
"Yeah!" Nightsky agreed, a diehard Screamers fan from the beginning. "They did it! I saw the
Slashers do it."
"Doesn't look like the Slashers' are too happy about that call." Cem notes.
The camera drone zips around the scene of the penalty, providing a trid picture of players and
officals waving their arms and screaming at each other. The picture zooms in on the face of one of
the Slashers standing in the background. The camera provides a real nice close up of the Slashers'
face on the trid-screen, lighting up the darken and smut-covered features of the brawler.
Keys leans forward in his seat, focusing on the image. It looks familiar to him, but he can't seem to
place it. Then the camera switches it's angle on the Slasher and Key's becomes deathly sure of who
he sees. "It's Morgan! Kyle Morgan is at the brawl game."
Morgan, the same Aztech goon that ambushed the group last night. The same person who was
hunting down all of Topcat and Starlight's former running team. Here he was, right at the
superbrawl game. The biggest game of the entire season.
Nightsky's bowl of salsa slipped from his fingers and shattered on the floor. Spraying bits and
pieces of goo on the carpet. "Morgan's at the game?! He's impersonating a Slasher!"
Keys continues. "He's after Punch and Judy. That corporate is going to assassinate both of them on
national television."
"And he'll probably walk right away from it." Cem said as he rose to his full height. "It'll be
chalked up as a accident in the game and that will be the end of it."
"We can't let that happen fella's." Nightsky said, getting out of his seat. "We owe Punch and Judy
for saving our necks last night."
"We've got to help them. Let's go, now."
"Right, Cem." Key's said, turning for the door. "Let's move."
"Hold on a second." Nightsky dipped into a connecting room and returned a few moments later
with a large duffel bag and something in his hand. "This game is on national trid. Millions of
people across the way are watching this. We are shadows, and I for one don't want my face to be
splashed all over the trid." He holds up a handful of facemasks. "So we will wear these."
"Good idea." Keys opened to the door. "We'll take my Bison to the site. Pack-up what you need
and let's roll." He headed out the door. Nightsky, drawfed by the nine foot troll, scampered past
him. He was dragging a large duffel bag behind him.
Cem closed and locked the apartment's door as he left. "Keys, you still have my sniper rifle in the
back of your Bison?"
"Yes, you planning on going target shooting?"
"Of course." Cem replied, getting into the passenger's seat.
"We'd better hurry, we don't know how much time we have until Morgan flips out on Judy and
Punch." Nightsky said as he hopped into the Bison.
Keys hopped in the front seat of the big van and fired up its massive powerplant. The Bison shook
like an earthquake and roared out of the parking lot. Screaming tires through the street, Keys
brought the van onto the main highway. He was driving hell-bound for the Superbrawl site.
In the back of the Bison, Nightsky empties out an assortment of gear from his duffel bag and latches
himself into some heavy armor.
"I cannot they're going to kill Punch and Judy right in the middle of the game." Cem said. "We've
got to stop this."
"Better strap on the heavy armor, chuminski's. Brawlers are heavily armed." Nightsky commented
as he holstered a Manhunter and pulled an HK227 from his duffel bag.
"When we get there, we go in quiet. No one, absolutely no one, knows we are there until we want
them to." Keys said as he swerved the Bison down an off-ramp.
Nightsky continued to rummage through his bag as he removed ammunition for his weapons. "If
Morgan's parading as a Slasher at the game, it's a fair bet that he didn't come there alone. He
would have brought back up." He declared as he pulled a katana from his bag and attached the
seath to his armor. "Beware of all the Slashers. For all we know, they might be Aztech goons as
well. So if one of them so much as points a gun at you, geek'em."
"We are going to have to fight our way past the security to get into the game." Keys said as he
turned down the final street in direction of the brawl. On either side of the street were burnt and
crumbling buildings long past their prime. Drunken derelicts wondered aimlessly in the debris,
paying little attention to the Bison as it passed them. "We want to get in without them knowing it,
so will have to drop the guards at the post as quickly as possible. Let's keep the fatalities for the
ISSV down. It'll only buy us trouble if we waste a lot of them. Keep your targets on Morgan and
his group."
Nightsky pulled out a small, oddly-shaped handgun from his bag. "That will be no problem Keys.
This little narcojet pistol will drop the guards without really killing them."
"We'll park here." Keys said, pointing to an alley across the street. "We're only a few blocks from
the brawl. We'll attract a lot of attention if we try to drive right through security. So we'll hoof it
from here."
Keys pulled the Bison into a small alley about three blocks from the brawl zone. The matte black
color of the van blended with the dank and gray colors of the alley. The headlights switched off.
Keys walks through the back of the Bison and straps into his gear.
The side door of the van slides open, Nightsky jumps out first. His small frame decked out in
security armor with a dark-red cloak that dropped below his knees. The cloak was so large that it
nearly hide the HK227 Nightsky held in his hand. The weapon's sound suppressor was the only
thing that really made it visible. Across his back, the hilt of a katana could be seen with ease.
Keys stepped out and quickly crossed to the mouth of the alley. He was loaded for bear with heavy
armor, at least two handguns, and a rather mean looking assualt rifle. His armor made the troll look
massive and sinister. He towered over Cem and Nightsky, muscles flexed for action.
Nightsky switched the fire setting on his smg. "Everyone ready?"
Cem stepped out of the van and locked the door behind him. A large sniper rifle in his hands and an
armored jacket on his back. "Yes. All set."
"Headsets you two." Keys barked. Ordering Nightsky and Cem to put on their communication
headsets. Keys, himself, did not need one. His cybernetics would suffice.
Nightsky adjusted the set on his head. "Ready for a little party time?"
"We got to get past the guards first." Keys replied. "Let's roll."
"I'm with that, Keys."
The three of them paced out from the parked Bison and darted down the street. Each of them
making the most use of the shadows and objects in their path. Masking their approach to the brawl
zone. Most of the squatters in this area had been cleaned out the day before in preparation for the
Superbrawl. As the group closed to within the first guard post, they slowed to a stop.
Keys immediately surveyed the scene. He saw a guard post, nothing more than a small structure
about the size of a telecom booth. Probably just for the guards to report in at. He counted the
guards around the station.
"I count four." Keys said.
Nightsky scanned the guards over, unconsciously switching his perception to a thermograph.
"Looks like they got some nasty assault rifles." He pulled his narcojet pistol. "I got the one on the
left." He added, pointing his pistol.
Keys pulled a Ares Predator from its hip holster. He slide a Gel clip into it and attached a silencer.
"I have the two by the booth."
Nightsky didn't hear Keys. He was too busy aiming his shot. Concentrating until the last possible
second. He couldn't afford to miss. They had to get past this post quickly.
Another brief second, Nightsky fired. There was a slight sound as the narc's dart left the pistol. For
a second nothing happened, then the guard Nightsky was aiming at slumped to the ground.
Nightsky afforded a satisfying smirk.
The other guards, obviously confused turned and chattered amongst themselves. Then Keys
snapped off his Gel rounds. Another guard fell backwards into the guard post's wall and rolled to
the ground. The second round from Keys' Predator his a guard square in the head and he collapsed.
The final guard looked around, trying to figure out why his three companions were suddenly on the
ground. Nightsky switched his aim toward him. A cold gaze settled across Nightsky's eyes as he
held the narc steadily in his hands centered on his target.
The guard must have noticed them because Keys noticed that he seemed to be looking straight at
them, focusing his thoughts inwards. Almost as if he were about to cast a spell. Before the guard
could finish, though, Nightsky's narc pistol released another dart. The dart stuck right in the guards
neck and he went out like a light.
"When your good." Nightsky said, swinging his narcojet away. "Your good."
"Coast is as clear as it gets, but only for a short time." Keys said, moving the team along. "Let's
just move, now." Keys dashed into the zone.
Nightsky gripped his SMG and followed shortly behind. Not making a sound as he ran. Not even
the scuffing of his shoes against the pavement. His movements were utterly silent. As he entered the
zone, he pulled the facemask down.
Cem followed shortly behind the other two. "I'm going to try and snipe Morgan from the roof. I'd
appreciate it if someone would guard me."
"You'll never figure out where he is. We need to stay low and avoid the cameras." Keys replied.
"So what're you two going to do?"
"Even the odds for Punch and Judy, Cem." Nightsky said into his headset. "We've got to find them
because Morgan will surely come after them. So we have to keep both Punch and Judy covered."
"Any idea where they are?"
"Let's head for the Slasher's goal area. If Punch and Judy are as good as they should be, that's
where we'll find them." Nightsky answered.
"Sounds like a plan." Keys commented as he turned to Cem. "Cem, if you want, find a rooftop near
there. Me and Night need to stay ground level though."
"Ok." Cem replied, heading off in another direction as Nightsky and Keys made tracks for the
Slasher's goal area. "I'll get a bird's eye view. Maybe get a shot off or two."
"Yeah." Nightsky said, letting the words flow into his headset. "Let us know if you see anyone
sneaking up on us too." He turned to keys. "Let's makes tracks."
The troll gave a broken-toothed grin. "Making them. Keep things quiet, we don't want to be seen
by the officials."
"For sure."
Cem disappeared in the into another alley. Keys and Nightsky darted off in another direction. Both
of them keeping close to the buildings and debris. Each of them constantly keep an eye out for
camera drones because they wouldn't afford to be seen. After only a few minutes, Nightsky begins
to hear the sounds of faint gunfire ahead. Cem manages to locate a building near the Slasher's goal
zone and immediately climbs to the roof.
After sprinting up the stairs, Cem finds the roof offers a glorious view of the zone. He can see most
of the entire goal area. Cem also notices that most of the action is centered over the Slashers Goal
area. After a quick glance around the other rooftops, Cem dropped prone on top of the roof and
proceeded to set up his large Walther sniping rifle.
Nightsky notices that the gunfire is much louder the closer that he gets and begins to see stray bullet
bouncing off surrounding buildings. "Whatch your head, Keys. We don't want to catch any stay
rounds."
"What? Do you think I'm stupid?" Keys said, then grunted, "Don't answer that."
The battle sounds crept closer and closer. Suddenly, Nightsky rounds a corner and sees all sorts of
people firing off heavy weapons and pounding away at each other in an intersection a block away.
Camera drones zip and dart by everywhere, covering every possible angle. Nightsky squints his
eyes, and is able to make out Punch and Judy in the middle of the fray.
"Keys, I believe I've found them." Nightsky said.
