Part 5: Auspicious Beginnings HD Remastered

Part 05 - Auspicious Beginnings HD Remastered





In the previous episode of Shadowrun Returns, in a shocking development we found a living man in a body locker.





I told John to wake me up at six in the morning. Is it six yet? It doesn't feel like six yet.

This is, of course, the legendary dragonslayer, the savior of the Matrix, the 1996 SNES game protagonist and the world record holder in the category of "Most slayings of the exact same vampire in a single day", Jake Armitage.

Sorry. Didn't expect you to be so... alive.

Yeah, Dresden thinks he's pretty funny. You're not the first person he's pulled this one on.

[He chuckles.] Well, so much for a good night's sleep. On the plus side, I notice you haven't killed me yet, so... that's good. If you aren't after me, then what's your story?

I'm looking into the death of Sam Watts. The coroner seems to think you can help me out.

Sam, eh? Glad somebody cares. We used to drink together every now and then, over at Union. Decent enough guy. Always in trouble over something or other though...

Pretty rich coming from the guy for who had half the city trying to murder him from bushes and apartment windows while carrying a time bomb in his head.

[Jake yells towards the other side of the room.]

John! Is this lady cool?

Yeah, she's on the level. Working for Sam, believe it or not... some sort of dead man's switch. I thought you could help her out. *Maybe* even stop moping around the shop all day...

Thanks for volunteering me.

[He pauses. Might be sizing you up, but it's hard to tell behind those shades.]

Alright then. The name's Jake. And you are...?

Call me Amazon.



[He winces.]

Damn. Maybe I need some soykaf after all. John, could you grab me a cup?

Soykaf is a cheap coffee substitute made out of soy, the real thing being noticeably more rare and expensive.

Get your own damn cup! My hands are dirty anyway. Now what's wrong with this intestine...

[You hear a loud *squelching* sound as Dresden continues his work.]

Thanks John, you're a real pal. Anyway, there's a big fat corp bounty on my head. Like I said, my last job didn't exactly go according to plan. Out in the alley, a few Halloweeners got the jump on us. Damn gangers thought they could turn a quick profit off of my head.

[Jake smiles, and you get the impression that didn't work out so well for the gangers.]

I can't decide whether "Halloweeners" is the best or the worst fake gang name I've ever heard.

Sam stumbled off during the fight, though, and that's the last I saw of him. Until he turned up here, dead on arrival. Reminds me of my last stay in this place.

You've done this before?



Yeah, Jake here's a regular. Should've started a rewards card, Jake - a few more visits and you'd get a free night's stay.

[Jake laughs.] I'll hold you to that, John. Anyway, they found Sam's body less than a block away from the Union, missing liver and all.

Tell you what. You look like you can handle yourself in a fight. I could use some backup to settle the score with those Halloweeners out there. Their leader, John Paul, has got the whole gang searching the Barrens for me. I need to get rid of that asshole. In return, I'll take you to the place Sam was murdered. It's not safe to hit these streets alone at night, trust me.

We don't "handle ourselves in a fight" Jake, we delegate that job to machines. Or would, if we had any. Why are we always so poorly prepared for these jobs?

[Jake eyes you up and down]

...And maybe I'll throw in some decent supplies while we're at it. What d'ya say?

We could take him up on his offer right away here, but I know for a fact that Jake stole tens of thousands of nuyen during his grand adventure while we have ¥300‎ and even that's only because we looted our friend's corpse earlier. So let's see if we can coax a little something out of him.

I don't work for free. I fight, I get paid. In nuyen, not tours.

Guess I'd say the same, in your shoes. Fine. There's a credstick with 1,000 nuyen with your name on it. Help me dust those gangers and it's yours.

Make it ¥1,500.

Hard bargainer. Alright, ¥1,500 it is, but you'd better be worth it...

Don't worry about me.

Oh yeah, our skills in combat are the stuff of legend, just ask Renraku. We have two points in Biotech and we're not afraid to use them! Woe betide anyone who tries to come between us and our Basic Medkits.

Jake will actually pay you the ¥1,000 even if you don't ask for it because he's just a cool guy like that, but this'll net us an extra 500 which is not bad at this stage of the game.

Great. I've been hiding out here ever since that run-in with those Halloweeners. Whiny bunch of gangers, but this stretch of the Barrens is their turf. Hell, I'm surprised you even made it to this morgue in one piece without packing some heat.

[He yells over his shoulder.] Very funny Jake. You can sleep in the dumpster tomorrow.

So, you need a weapon?

We're given a choice between a pistol, a shotgun, an SMG, a rifle or a melee weapon. Of course we're equally terrible with them all and we'll just end up selling what we get, so we'll go with the most valuable choice.

I like to keep my distance. Got a rifle?

You don't like library windows do you? Never mind. Here's a rifle you can borrow.



You may recall that this is the same weapon Sangoma used in the flashback. AK-97s cost ¥750 in stores, so it's a nice freebie. On the opposite end, if you're a sucker and ask for a melee weapon you get a ¥10 baseball bat.

So, ready for an evening out on the town?

If you're buying...



Let's roll.




Mm-mm, you can just smell the cancer.







Ahhh, it's good to finally be out of that morgue. Hello beautiful streets of Sea... hm?



That's weird, think my graphics settings got reseted for some reason. Should be fixed now.

Wonder what happened to that sign up there.

My stash is just around the corner, in the alley.

Jake is now in our group, so let's take a look at him.





Now here's the thing about the SNES game Jake starred in - It didn't really give a damn about actual Shadowrun rules. While technically the SNES Jake could've been considered a Decker/Shaman -hybrid, by the end of the game he was a master at everything, including hurling spells at impunity despite being cybered up to the gills.

Interestingly enough, here Jake has zero skill in either shamanism or decking despite having a Datajack. Apparently this is explained in the Shadowrun Returns Anthology novel (which is part of the game's Deluxe edition/DLC); He lost his datajack in a run that got messy, and Dog which was his shaman spirit skipped town because he got tired of Armitage's reliance on technology.

All in all he's obviously far weaker in Returns than in his own game for balance reasons, but he does retain very impressive base stats which handily beat ours across the board.






Equipment-wise he comes with a few low-level Mage spells and a solid mid-range pistol. It's no Enfield AS-7, but it'll do.





The locals seem pretty talkative. This must be the Barrens chat I've heard so much about.


On our way to the stash, we stop to exchange words with a drugged-up shaman in a nearby alleyway, knowing that they always have the coolest stories.



Unfortunately he's too messed up to be of much help, but he does mention being freaked out by some kinda spirit which he saw across the street from the Seamstresses Union. I dunno how big spirits are on surgeries, but crazy ramblings tend to be relevant surprisingly often in RPGs so we make a mental note of it and move on.



Here we go. I was hoping the billboard was advertising literal skeletons, but apparently it's just a rock club of some kind. Bummer.

We dig Jake's safe out of the pile of garbage and open it up.



Jake's stash is interesting in that what it contains depends largely on where you've allocated your Karma. From what I can tell it'll always have at least a Medkit and a frag grenade and it'll never have a weapon from the categories Jake offered you earlier, but beyond that the contents can vary a fair amount.

Our skill in Biotech nets us an additional Medkit, but more importantly...







We finally get our first drone which we promptly name Murphy as per a random thread suggestion. Drones come in two categories, attack drones and support drones, and their class can vary from C to S with higher class drones being stronger than lower class ones. While the Doberman isn't exactly a battlefield terror, coming in with 40 HP and a medium-range 10 DMG shot, it does allow Amazon to contribute properly in fights.

It's also possible to get a cyberdeck from the stash which is needed for jacking into the Matrix, but it seems we'll have to get ours elsewhere.



Too impatient to wait until they can see Murphy in action, two enthusiastic men volunteer for a field test.



Maybe a little too enthusiastic. Hands off!



Oh come on, even street punks carry hand grenades now? Unlike the last time we got nailed by one, there's nothing we could've done here due to the enemy getting the first move. Murphy taking a big hit could be especially unfortunate as drones can't be healed by magic or Medkits, instead requiring separate repair kits.

As you can see, the AI also doesn't really care about friendly fire. Bet those two aren't friends anymore though, not that it matters what with their imminent deaths and all.



Jake motherfucking Armitage doesn't even give him the chance to regret his actions.



All drones go into weapon slots, and remain passive until activated which allows one to take direct control of them. All active drones reduce the character's available AP per turn by 1.



Dobermans make for excellent guard dogs and will not hesitate to gun down anyone threatening their master.

Yeah, these losers go down in a single turn so I didn't even bother giving them the honor of having proper combat music. At the end of each battle all characters will heal their latest instance of damage as if a healing spell had been cast on them, and luckily this does affect drones as well.



So I shouldn't invest in real estate around here?

Only by the hour. Hey, you've seen where I stay the night. Anyway, now that you've got some gear... let's go deal with those Halloweeners.

More like Halloweeners am I right?

Wait


En route, sensing the aura of not just one but two video game protagonists, a scared-looking fellow approaches to offer a small sidequest.



Might as well, seeing as it's just down the street and all potential extra nuyen and Karma is welcome.



Sure enough, we find a couple of ruffians harassing people over at the market.



Eh? Who the hell are you?

Again, we're given a few different options here. We could trick him if we had the Gang etiquette, intimidate him and take his money instead if we had 4 Strength, or we could be complete idiots and pay him the ¥300 he's trying to extort which'll just cause him to come back the next day anyway.

Bet your mom's real proud of you right now.

Like I ain't never heard that before. I don't see a badge, so why don't you mind your own?

Business. Dusting you is going to get me paid.

I knew you were just lookin' to cause static. Dash, ice this lady!

Oh no, not the legendary Dash!



Ahahaha are you kidding me



I feel legitimately insulted that I had to waste a bullet on this guy, and this game has infinite ammo.

You might notice some glowy circles on the ground there. Those are Ley Lines, they come in three size variants and standing on one powers up spellcasters, Mages in particular.



The head thug has a more respectable 30 HP, but on his own all he manages is a couple of weak shotgun blasts before Murphy brings him down.



The grateful woman offers us ¥48 and we also get 1 Karma. A pretty pathetic reward, but it was a pretty pathetic job so whatever.



We also bump into a woman named Sarah who warns us that the gangers we're looking for, including John Paul, are making trouble nearby which pretty much just confirms that we're on the right path.

And indeed, right around the next corner...



This is one of the two that got away. If I hadn't missed my shot, these idiots would have given up and moved on by now.

Wait a minute... you're rolling with Jake? Bad idea, chummer. The Halloweeners are collecting that bounty. And killing you? Well, that'll be a nice bonus.




(The soundtrack also has callbacks to the older games and Null Sheen which is based on the gunfight theme from the SNES Shadowrun is one of the more obvious ones. In fact, both of the tracks were composed by the same person; Marshall Parker and Sam Powell who did the music for the SNES and Genesis Shadowrun games respectively returned to compose the music for Returns.)




We're up against three gangers and one of them is a mage, so you could probably consider this the first "real" fight of the game. It's not particularly tough though.



Jake shows off his magic with an accuracy boost for himself. Aim gives a flat increase to your hit chance so while it might be a simple spell, it's also amongst the most useful. Doesn't work on Murphy, unfortunately.



This is just getting old now. I'm taking grenade hits off of my annual Christmas tradition list for good. Another ganger follows up the grenade with a shotgun blast, but only manages to scratch Jake a bit.







Jake and Murphy team up to teach these hooligans an important lesson about road safety and what happens when you play on the crosswalk.



The remaining mage is smarter and tries to hide behind a bike, but Jake Armitage doesn't give a flying fuck about probabilities and practically blasts her head clean off with a single pistol shot from across the road.

Meanwhile we're hiding behind a bus stop.



The big man himself makes an appearance, but apparently he took his strategy lessons from Renraku security and waited until everyone else had already been put down.

This ends now, asshole.



John Paul actually has a decent amount of health and his attacks can hurt, but he's alone and on top of that we managed to land Mark Target on him, giving Jake 99% hit chance against the poor bastard.

A couple of well-placed bullets later...



What do you think, Jake?

[He smirks.] Hey, I'm already at "shoot on sight" status with these guys. Killing John Paul means one less 'Weener to shoot me in the back while I'm buying smokes. Hell - they'll be doing the same to you as soon as there's a profit in it.

We could let him go, but Jake's been in this protagonist business for much longer than us so we'll defer to his judgment.

You're right. Let's finish this.



Ultimately John Paul's life ends in the most humiliating way imaginable: He actually gets shot by us.

With that business settled, we start heading towards the crime scene nearby, but...



Sorry friend... I think this is where our paths diverge. Thanks again for the help with those Halloweeners. Here's your payment - they don't take nuyen where I'm going, and you look like you could use the funds.

Aw man. Returns would probably be the best game in the series if the whole thing was just you and Jake solving crimes and blasting fools.

Likewise, Jake. Give me a call when you're in the clear.

Yeah, sure.



Well - nice knowin' ya.

[Jake turns, and disappears into the shadowy depths of the Redmond Barrens.]

And so does this update!


Concept art: Redmond Barrens