Part 8: We Get Ditched
Chokes McGee posted:
This is gonna get wacky before the end, I just know it.
Oh I think it'll get wacky sooner than you think.
: "Whoo! I'm bomb-free! "
"Can you please wait until you're out of my operating room to dance?"
: "Nope!"
: "Alright, now that I'm no longer in danger of exploding all over you guys..."
"Pffheheh"
: "Apparently the dicks who put the bomb in my head are located on the docks, I'd like to have a few words with them."
: "Oh come ON"
: "Who the hell does Maplethorpe share his building with?!"
: "Alright Jake, seriously, I can't do this any more. I've killed more people in this one night than I've killed in my entire career before now. I can't even feel my right hand anymore."
"...pffh"
: "Wait, what are you saying?"
: "I'm saying..."
: "You're leaving NOW?!"
: "Fine, I don't even NEED Hamfist. I only brought him along because I had money to burn."
: "At least I'm still here, boss."
: "Thanks, uh... I'll be honest, I forgot your name."
: "It's Anders."
: "Pretty sure it was Rob."
: "There seem to be a ton of guys around this building."
: "Huh, I wonder what that's about."
"Oh, ooh..."
: "...Maybe we should leave, boss."
: "What?"
: "Alright, let's find this Matrix Systems place."
"Why would an IT firm be on the docks?"
: "I have no idea, but I'm assuming we're in the right place."
: "...To be fair, I don't think we can use the presence of enemies as an indicator of progress anymore."
: "Well, here we... are I guess."
"...So I'm noticing an IT firm has two computers for four desks."
: "But they had the money to shell out for a skull bomb. Thanks guys."
: "Well let's see if they have any e-loot."
So now that we have our datajack fixed and the bomb out of our head, we can use our Cyberdeck (which we stole from Glutman ) to enter the matrix ourselves. This is good because somewhere along the line, I maxed out our computer skill, making us twice the decker Hamfist was.
Yeah, we don't need him. We don't need anybody.
The Matrix Systems... system is really simple. Just walk forward, melt the IC, and grab the data. Systems get more advanced later on, this is sort of a softball.
That's... about all there is too it. Let's see what we got!
An e-mail, and...
More money! Let's see what that e-mail says.
: "That sounds like the opposite of protecting the data. "
So according to this, some dick named Raitsov uploaded an anti-AI program, and Glutman was supposed to help us get it to Pushkin. After they uploaded the stuff to us, Drake's goons cleaned out Matrix Systems and then shot up Jake, according to that e-mail we found on Glutman's PC. That means Raitsov is no doubt fish food, but this Pushkin guy is someone to look out for.
The fact that they destroyed any copy of the Anti-AI stuff is interesting too, that means Drake's goons weren't able to get a copy, which means they can't reverse engineer it! We just need to find out what this was designed to target. We're not really getting paid for this anymore, but if Drake doesn't want us to succeed, I'm willing to go through the effort just to make his day shittier.
: "Three... Four..."
"What's up?"
: "Just a thought, I woke up with a memo in my pocket that said "Warehouse No. 5. So if there's a fifth warehouse..."
: "Number 5, just like you said."
: "You know, if we're searching for it, I guess that makes it a WHERE house! "
: "What the hell, Rob."
: "Nope. I'm not dealing with these puns."
: "Are you saying all the good things I did have been pundone? "
: "Yeah well I didn't need him either."
"You're on thin ice, mister."
: "You really don't want me to go down that road."
: "...huh."
"Someone you know?"
: "You could... say that..."
: "I'm sorry we ever broke up, Jake. Come closer... don't leave me!"
"Careful Jake, I've seen people go down this path before. Remember rule number one."
: "Rule number one?"
"Don't stick your dick in crazy."
: "Does that... apply to your gender?"
"Sometimes the D is metaphorical."
Seriously people, the message is important regardless of what gender you are or who you're attracted to, it's NEVER worth it.
It's never worth it IT'S NEVER WORTH IT
So uh, Octopus. Octopus has 90 hitpoints and fairly high defence. That 5 up there was a crit. It's not really a DIFFICULT fight, just a slog.
However considering our two heavy hitters ditched us, and it's just us and the low-HP mage, Kitsune can be in trouble here. Fortunately, we can tell her to cast a spell.
There's about a full second after we pick "Cast Spell" where the runner will just stand there while you both get shot, making ordering runners to cast spells REALLY shitty to do mid-combat.
Kitsune has a lot of powerful magic, but unfortunately Powerball and Summon Spirit are sort of lame for how much MP you use. I tend to have Kitsune top up the party when we need health, or use invincibility on extreme occasions.
And now Kitsune is fully healed! Back to shooting...
Eventually it finally dies. So what do we get?
Some ink which we can't pick up... because it's ink.
And two thousand bucks!
: "I always found seafood pretty rich"
"Stop."
: "No, really. I don't like seafood."
The door to our right is locked, but this one here is open.
: "Whatever is in here can't be any more ridiculous than an octopus pretending to be my abusive ex. I STILL have no idea where she dumped all my stuff."
: "Dude! A sumo ring!"
"I don't... think that's a sumo ring."
: "No, check it. So like, when I say go, you try to push me ou--"
"Jake, I'm a fox shape shifter. I'm from Japan. I know what sumo wrestling is."
: "Really? You're Japanese?"
"My name is KITSUNE, you never caught that?"
: "Hey you saw what happened to me, I don't even know what country I'M from."
: "Ohhhh this is going to get weird isn't it."
"Oh hey Dog! So this is where you're hanging out!"
: "WHAT'S HAPPENING"
: "Uh, hey, I'm Jake."
: "I know who you are, Jake. I was the one who guided Kitsune to your aid."
"You're welcome."
: "I have also guided you here. Your essence has been polluted with cyberware, but I can help you regain your powers. For now I have given you back your ability to heal wounds."
: "Man, I don't know what the fuck."
: "Prove to be that you are truly a friend to the Dog, and I shall grant you my guidance. Destroy the Rat shaman and then return. You will find the entrance to his lair where souls are at rest."
So in order to commune with Dog, you need three items. an item of Man, of Creature, and of Earth. Those are respectively the Magic Fetish, the Dog Collar, and the Magic Leaves that Kitsune gave us. Once we take out Dog's enemy, we can give him more random garbage and give him more spells. If we don't have all three of those, Dog will just tell you to get the fuck out and come back when you're serious.
And also you can't GET the leaves before wiping out the Rust Stilettos, because
: "Go now! Do not return until you have vanquished your enemy."
: "Uhh, okay."
: "...This street makes me extremely uncomfortable for some reason."
"It... might be best not to think about it too much."
: "So what do you know about shamanism?"
"Well my magic comes from a different source, but you're basically communing with the spirits of the earth, rather than some mages who rip the energy from spirits they forced to be boun--"
: "No, I mean like how do I shoot lightning out of my hands and shit."
"Oh god."
"Wait, what are we doing here again?"
: "Hoochi... Hooc... Dog said something about cyberware, and Maplethorpe said something about cyberware, so I figure that's a hint on what to do next."
: "I said cyberware POLLUTED your essence. It's BAD."
: "Wait, you can just TALK to me now?"
: "I always could, who do you think told you not to shoot that man in the caryards?"
: "And you never thought to just TELL me what happened?!"
: "I felt you needed to make your own progress."
: "...Magic spirits are dicks."
"Hey!"
: "Well not you, you're nice."
"Damn right."
The Skill Software here gives us access to the Leadership ability, this makes it so any Shadowrunners we hire will stay with us longer the more we level up the skill. We have enough karma to just max it out immediately.
: "Yay! I'm polluted!"
So in Tabletop Shadowrun terms, each person has a set amount of Essence. More cyberware = less human, so each piece of cyberware you have, the worse off you are spellcasting. Apparently you can fairly safely get a datajack, but anything more starts hitting the essence hard.
In this case, Dog is apparently pretty lenient, because we can put all the shit we want into our body and it doesn't effect spellcasting at all. Essence was a big deal in the Genesis version, but maybe that's because Dog is better than Gator.
: "Alright, I have a plan."
" 'You will find the entrance to his lair where souls are at rest.' seems to imply a grave yard."
: "I know one other place where souls rest!"
BATTLE NINE: TROLL DECKER
So first off, run to the left. You don't want to be anywhere NEAR the center of this area.
Troll Decker will come in and rip your shit apart, but after a while, he'll run to the right. Normally he'd still be able to hit you, but since we're over here, he runs out of range.
This gives us prime healing time. He'll generally repeat this pattern, so just heal up whenever he runs off.
"You good fighter. We like good fight. Here's 7000 nuyen. Money better if fight again."
FINAL BATTLE: REPLICATING MAGE
Replicating mage... replicates. You can tell which one's a clone because the shotgun usually one-shots them.
He has a lot of health, but he's hampered by the fact that he can only damage us if he lands a crit.[/b]
No seriously, with the mesh jacket, most of his attacks can't damage us.
I didn't heal a single time that battle. Honestly most of the damage I took was because I put down the controller to talk to Grace, and didn't care enough to pause. Replicating Mage sucks ass.
"You good fighter. We like good fight. Here's 8000 nuyen. Money better if fight again."
: "Sure, let's see who's next."
"No more fighters left. You is one tough dude!"
: "But you said money better if fight again ."
"I feel like this might not be where the Rat shaman hangs out."
: "Do I get a championship belt for beating the Rat shaman?"
"You get the power of spirit magic."
: "...Alright fine, there's no one left to shoot here anyway."
Next time we'll track down the elusive Rat shaman! Unless something more interesting comes along.
Also I want to get "Sometimes The D Is Metaphorical" put on my gravestone.