Part 37: Tensions in the Night
Part 37 - Tensions in the Night
NEW MUSIC:

(We're once again in Director's Cut territory and as usual Everist's atmospheric tunes are worth giving a listen.)

It's almost like coming home again... an abusive one which you've cut ties to and stayed away from very much on purpose. Last time we spent an eventful evening at a local hotel looking for Green Winters. That didn't exactly end up being a dream vacation, and this visit is not promising to be much better.

If they rub it in any harder it's gonna leave a mark.









If there's one thing we've learned over the course of the last few days, it's that adventuring is a real overrated profession and largely died off for a reason.

[There is a long pause before he responds.]




It says a lot about this run that that not even Blitz himself can really understand why we agreed to it. But well, here we are. Despite today's objective being rather mundane, there's actually quite a bit going on under the hood in this mission.
But for the time being all we can do is to head on to the back door of the Landenberg Ring's office to get things underway.

Oh evening sir, sure is a nice and quiet evening for a casual stroll here in this er, feces-ridden alley.



Great, two minutes in and it seems like the Blitz Express has already started going off the rails. Is it too late to take a taxi instead?



Well not unless someone promises to make it really worth our while. Which is like, the literal opposite of this particular job.

[Blitz's voice crackles in over your commlink.]


By the way, this run comes with a decent chunk of alternate dialogue and much of it is pretty good so I'll cover the more worthwhile bits. Had we chosen to be more agreeable to Hasenkamp's request to come with:
quote:
Well, the more the merrier, I guess. Welcome aboard.
[He blinks.] Really? No arguments? Not even a veiled threat? I have to admit, I wasn't expecting this to go so smoothly.
If things go south, every shot that security takes at you is one that they won't be taking at me.
[He nods appreciatively.] Pragmatic. I like that. And I have to admit, Rosa, this is a pleasant surprise. You shadowrunners have a reputation, you know... amateurish, headstrong, unwilling to listen to reason--
[Blitz's voice crackles in over your commlink.]
What the hell is this? Grinder didn't say anything about his accountant tagging along!
...Case in point. Hello, Blitz.







Forget Lofwyr, if you're really concerned about your ongoing personal safety in Berlin then the person you should avoid first and foremost is this man right here.

[He glances at his wristwatch.]








(It dawned on me that I never linked the Matrix theme in this LP so I might as well do it now, but it remains unchanged from Dead Man's Switch.)

So this mission is a little different from the usual fare in that it's fully divided between meatspace and Matrix sections, with Hasenkamp and Rosa doing the legwork while Blitz sits on his ass at a cafe and handles the unusually high amount of hacking required for Team Miserable to make progress. This is primarily why I wanted Blitz to be level 5 and therefore have his Fairlight Excalibur before doing this run.

This area is riddled with the arcways that serve as area transitions in the Matrix, but they're purely for show and the only path Blitz can actually take is the northwest one which is blocked by IC.

Usually the only way to deal with IC is to blast through it, but in this run Blitz can also engage in some cyberdiplomacy.



[There is a brief pause, then the IC flashes twice.]


Even without any hacking experience it seems pretty clear that what you just did does not even remotely warrant that level of smugness.

The next area is quite sizeable and holds four rather conspicuous and ominous-sounding Auto Turret nodes which Blitz can't currently reach due to the uninteractable IC in front of them. Ah well, it's surely nothing to be concerned about.

Instead he'll focus on the ones in the center which are blocking the cyberway forward.


[A moment later, the Watcher IC flickers apologetically.]


So can you wait or are you in a rush, make up your mind man
[The program obediently moves aside.]



Moving on, the next area holds the control node for the noble alley door valiantly trying to stop us from committing the grave error of actually proceeding with this plan. There's also a path going further ahead, but it's blocked for the moment.

By a literal firewall no less. Well, they were designed to keep out unwanted nuisances after all.

With nothing else to see here, Blitz hacks the node without issue...

...and we switch back to our on-site members. The excitement in the air here is palpable.


Yeah, think we've started to figure out the secret of his ongoing survival, somehow managing to convince other people to take all his well-deserved bullets for him.



Alternatively:
quote:
I dunno... he's kind of growing on me.
Ha. Ha. Ha.
Hate to burst your bubble, but I'm not overly enthusiastic about either of you. So let's just get this over with, all right?




We'll cut the update a bit short here. Next time we'll get our grand heist started and find out whether our dysfunctional duo will end up strangling each other before reaching their goal, or if they'll manage to hold out for the sake of getting their hands on the one who brought them out here in the first place.