Part 15: Watts on My Mind

Part 15 - Watts on My Mind










Time to get back on track. The plan for today includes hiring some suckers to take bullets for us and potentially meeting Sam's sister.



Before we get two steps into the quiet establishment, Cherry Bomb addresses us and confirms Jessica's presence within the premises.

Thanks, Cherry.

No charge, chummer.

Why's the bar so empty?

We don't get much action in the early afternoon. Just a few salarymen slumming Touristville and hoping to talk to "Madam Sinful" and some die-hard regulars.

As a side note, "salaryman" is another term derived from Japanese and in the real world generally refers to white-collar Japanese men who work long days at some given corporation or government office, often for their entire lives. It's kind of a depressing concept in its own way and while some of the Japanese stuff in Shadowrun feels a little shoehorned in, this one fits the setting pretty well.

Madam Sinful?

That's what the Downtown folks call Mrs. Kubota. It's a Touristville thing - they like her to have a naughty name like that.

"Madam Sinful" is the only name she ever gets called in the Anthology stories which expand on the backgrounds of certain characters. The Seamstresses Union's status as brothel was far more explicit there than in the game's final version, so the moniker also made a bit more sense there.

Is that guy still bothering you?

You mean my ex? Shane?

Yeah.

No, he hasn't been in since that last time. No calls or pages or handwritten notes either. Weird - he was so persistent. I guess he finally got the message. Maybe he'll find someone at that Universal Brotherhood of his and settle down.

We meet enough weirdos on a daily basis already, I'm all for having one fewer to deal with.

So, who's around?

I just got in but I think Coyote's cleaning the back bar. Mr. Delilah is hanging out in his usual place. The vendors downstairs came in a few minutes after me. Oh, and Bartlett's here. Don't think you've met him yet.

Who's Bartlett?

Jon Bartlett. Big presence at the end of the bar. He's in the biz. Connected. You might want to meet him.

Alright, I'm gonna have a look around.

Have fun.



Since he's standing right here, we might as well start today's question tour from this Bartlett fellow.



The way this artist draws lips throws me off a bit, they often end long before reaching the sides of the character's mouth. Amazon has it too, but with this guy it's especially obvious. And now that I've mentioned it, you can't unsee it either!

What's it to you?

I got something that might rock your world. If you got time.

That better not be some terrible attempt at a pick-up line.

Time is money. I'm listening.

You ever heard of the Nephilim Network? Of course you have. An in-the-know lady like you has to have heard of *the* premier merc team out there.

If you say so.

We're a tight unit. We cost a bit more than the common rabble but we're worth it.

Debatable, but we'll get to that soon enough. Outside of his advertising, Jon has nothing of relevance to tell us.



Van Graas is our next stop since we picked up a little something he'll probably be interested in.



Data from the NTSB. Renraku would pay to keep it quiet, and Ares would pay to know what it is.

In case you've forgotten, this is the plane crash data we swiped from the dead guy's computer during our visit to the NTSB.

I've got 800 nuyen for something like that.

We have the opportunity to make use of our Shadowrunner etiquette here, and so we do.

I know you'll double dip on this one. Make it 1,000.

As long as you keep bringing in stuff like this, sure.

Doesn't exactly make an earth-shattering difference but hey, every little bit counts.



With our metaphorical purse metaphorically fattened once again, we move on. This lady has a main quest objective on her head, so it's not hard to guess her identity. Get comfortable, we'll be here for a little while.



Ms. Watts? Jessica Watts?

[She eyes you up and down warily. She does a good job of hiding it, but it is clear that she is well outside her comfort zone.]

Yes? And you are?

Name's Amazon. I used to work with your brother, Sam.

I should have guessed.

How's that?

You look like the type. Seedy.

This again? Please, we're obviously just a normal tourist. We got socks in our sandals and everything!

[She seems to instantly regret saying it.]

I'm sorry. Look, I just want to understand what's going on here. A woman who called herself "Coyote" contacted me this morning to inform me that my brother was dead, and that I should come to this place and speak to someone about an "investigation".

That's right. And I'm hoping you can help me get to the bottom of this.

I don't know what use I'll be.

Just answer a few questions is all.

All right, but...

[She then furrows her brow, regarding you more critically.]

You're not with the police, are you?

I'm getting that a lot lately. But no.



I don't think the "proper channels" handle anything especially fast unless you're willing to lubricate the gears of justice with some ¥¥¥-brand oil.

Surely, there is an official police investigation going on. Why not let the professionals handle this?

Lone Star? Professional? Not the ones I've seen.

But you must have better things to do than waste your time searching for whoever killed my lowlife brother.

I resent both of these ludicrous-yet-recurring notions of us looking like some kind of a shady lowlife and we supposedly having something better to do.

With this kind of payday, there's few things I'd rather be doing.

[She seems genuinely surprised.] Someone's paying you? I find it hard to believe that anyone who really knew Sam would put up the money. Who is it?

We could just tell her, but...

I'm afraid that's on a need-to-know basis.

This is ridiculous. He was my brother.

And you seem real shaken up by his death.

Fine. I'll pay you a hundred just to tell me.

Done. Sam Watts.

...that'd be like throwing away free money. Refusing to tell her the name isn't an available option, so I guess Amazon is just as easily bribed as the rest of 'em.

I don't understand.

He set it all up before his death, as a contingency.



[Jessica composes herself, and in a breath, the mask is back in place.]

Listen to me, Amazon. You seem like a decent person. But I'm trying to move on with my life. Our mother killed herself last year and Sam... Well, Sam was Sam. You know? I've worked so hard to put my family issues behind me. I don't want to see this drag on.

You're not asking me to quit, are you?

No. I don't know. Maybe.

For someone who doesn't want this to drag on, you sure love making this needlessly difficult. But it's not like we're doing this out of love for Sam, so there's one obvious win-win solution available.

Sam's paying a hundred thousand. Can you beat it?

So just like everything else with Sam, he finds a way to use people, whether he's alive or dead. No, I don't have that kind of money.

Let's not pretend that was ever going to work, but it's the thought that counts.

[She sighs. She's done.] Nevermind. I can see that you are not going to let this go and I respect that you are honoring my brother's memory - in your own way. But I hope you understand how emotional this is for me.

We've had a couple dozen people of various levels of crazy try to murder us over the course of this mess already, I'm sure you can bear the emotional strain of five minutes of harmless questioning.



Finally! We have a veritable wall of topics we can ask about, though funnily enough they're all completely optional despite us questioning her being the whole point of this meeting from the start.





Where were you on the night of Sam's murder?

I will overlook the implied accusation and tell you that I was at a fundraiser all evening. A very crowded fundraiser.

A fundraiser for... murder, perhaps?

Did Sam have any enemies?

Sam's biggest enemy was Sam. I don't know any others. You would likely know better than me these days.

When was the last time you saw or spoke to Sam?

It's been ages. I can't even remember.



There was a note on Sam's body. Sounded like an apology. An offer to meet up and bury the hatchet. It was signed "Jessica".

I wrote many such notes, in the beginning. But I haven't made such an effort in a long time now. I don't know why he would have kept it.

I guess that's plausible, there was no date on the note so we don't know when it was sent or received. The tone was decidedly different from the way she talks about Sam now, as well.

Were you and your brother close?

I think I've made my feelings about Sam pretty clear, don't you?

You don't seem to care whether his killer faces justice.

Of course I want justice. I just can't let him drag me down again.

This is going nowhere fast, so let's go for the guilt trip method by showing her the childhood picture of her and Sam we found.



Sam's bunk.

I can't believe he kept this...

It was one of the few possessions he had.

[She studies the old photo for several silent moments.]

What happened between the two of you?

Things were different back then. We were different. We were a family.



[Jessica then steels herself to tell the rest.]

Sam tried to be "the man of the house". He truly did. But he couldn't handle it, and pretty soon he had spent every dime of our father's life insurance. Every dime. After that was gone - with Mom working two, three jobs - he spent all her money, too. I couldn't stand the way he abused her trust... so finally, I just had to leave.

I don't think anyone has had anything good to say about Sam outside of Coyote's "he was pretty cool when he was sober which was about never". I can certainly see how one's reserves of sibling love could easily run dry with a guy like that.



We could refuse, but let's not be jerks for no good reason.

Sure, I got what I needed from it.

Thank you.

Where were you living before you moved back here?

CalFree.

I know that's short for "California Free State" but it could just as well be the brand name of some cheap weight loss product.

What brought you down there?

It was less of what brought me there than what made me leave here. I felt lost in Seattle, so I moved to California to see if I could find myself.

And did you?

Actually, yes. While I was there, I developed a whole new outlook on life. A vision for what the world could become, and I came back here to help make it happen.

Great, maybe you can go exchange notes on the subject with the local brotherhood clowns we got hanging around in these parts, if you're not with them already.

Tell me about your mother and her death.

She was a devout Catholic. I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that she sacrificed her life for Sam and me. But she turned a blind eye to what Sam was becoming, refused to acknowledge his downward slide. I couldn't watch her do it anymore so I moved out. After I left, we drifted farther and farther apart. I wasn't here when she died, in fact I didn't even know about it until I returned to Seattle five months ago.

That's all we got. I don't know how much of this has been of practical use, but at least we've another suspect and a better idea about Sam's family circumstances.

I've taken up enough of your time. Thank you, Ms. Watts.

Just as well. I need to get back to the office.



Why not, maybe someone relevant we haven't met yet will be attending too.

Wouldn't miss it.

Goodbye, Amazon. I hope you find what you're looking for. Stay safe.

Phew. We get 2 Karma for our conversational efforts.



Coyote, Kluwe and Mr. Delilah are hanging out in the back, but let's take a quick trip downstairs first.







The vendors here don't actually have anything new to sell, but a few of them have some new dialogue. We'll start with the good doctor.



Just a pit-stop, doc. Night's not over yet.

I suppose it's nights like this that ensure I have plenty of work come morning. Granted, a repeat customer means a person courting death more often than any good doctor should condone. But I don't suppose I can dissuade you from your course of action?

If only life was so simple.

Very well. Then let's talk about how I can help ensure you make it back alive once more.

Slowly getting to know the people in your base of operations as the story progresses is a tradition in these games. Actually doing so is almost always optional, but we're going for the complete package in this LP so sit tight.

How'd you fall in with this operation anyway, doc?



But the reality is that I grew up knowing this is what I would do with my life. My parents were both shadowrunners, and very successful ones at that. So successful that they retired in a very large house and raised a litter of kids who grew up hearing the impossible tales of their parents' younger years. Of course, we were expressly forbidden to follow in their footsteps. We were all expected to attend university and take full advantage of the opportunities they had fought so hard to give us.



So I suppose you could say I was born into this life, after a fashion.

Well that was much longer and less interesting than I had hoped, so let's just move on. Neither Fry or Mersmann have anything new to say, so Gruberman is up next.



Tell me a little about yourself, Buster. Were you military?

After a fashion, yes, ma'am. Sergeant in the 31st California Militia. It's no longer a recognized unit, and there are those who would say we never were. But someone had to stand up to the Tir, and it fell to us.

Tir Tairngire?

Tir Tairngire is a primarily elven nation which declared independence from the Native American Nations in 2035. It's located on the west coast of North America and run by the High Prince Se'Har Maera Lugh Surehand together with the very fancily named Council of Princes. Their capital is Cara'Sir, more familiarly known to us as the mythical city of "Portland".



California itself was kicked out of the United Canadian and American States in 2036 and as anyone who has played Paradox games could've predicted, they got themselves all kinds of invaded by their neighbours immediately afterwards.

We drove them elves all the way back to Yreka. Would have pushed them all the way back to Portland, too, but some ninny down south reached out to the Japanese for aid and got our own version of Normandy for the trouble. Things went to hell in a handbasket from there. Don't much like to talk about those later days... So let's talk about guns instead. Can I get you anything?

As mentioned earlier he has nothing new to sell, not that we're big on guns anyway. The magic vendor is the last remaining person down here with something new to say.



Tell me a bit about yourself, Aljernon.

My story is not so different from those who have come before. I am but a merchant, though one whose wares are far from mundane.

If you love hilariously cryptic mystical elves who seem to know everything and will tell you none of it, Aljernon is definitely your man.



At times I miss the Tir, but as unlikely as it may sound, this new home of mine is far more interesting. Is there anything else I can help you with?

Nothing whatsoever, and so it's back upstairs with us.





Still hanging in there? Good, we're almost done. Let's see how Coyote's feeling.



How's Gino doing?



Good man at shooting people at least, and that's all that really matters to us.

The world looks pretty different for me, now that I've got Gino back.

So what happens now?

Now I'm gonna finish my shift and get some sleep. I think I'm due some. After that? Probably buy some ammo. I'm running low.

Silly Coyote, we all have infinite ammo already.

See you around. And don't forget about me if you need some backup of your own.

Despite her offer, we can't actually bring her with us on the next mission. She'll be around later on, though.

The big man is next.



You, too, Mr. Kluwe. What's the state of the troops?

Combat ready. Perhaps more so than usual, tensions are up. Word got around about that latest Ripper killing, and people aren't feeling safe. And when people feel unsafe, they either go to ground or they huddle up.

Or surround themselves with killer drones, though I guess that might have the opposite effect on some.



Not that we need numbers here. I got it covered.

All I ever needed was one. Later, bud.

Later.



Was real great chatting with you all, but now we've at last arrived at our final stop.



Yes, Mr. Delilah. I have a need I think you can fill.

Of course you do. That's why you came back. Street talk is that you are tracking down the Ripper. What can I do for you, Ripper Tracker?

I need to put a crew together.

You got scratch or you planning to pay me out of your earnings?

He just gets pissy if you choose the latter, which makes me wonder why he even bothered asking in the first place.

I can pay the runners upfront.

Excellent. We agree on terms. I've got some runners on call if you've got any special requests.

Yeah, I'm ready. Let's go see 'em.



So, here we are. This is the first mission where we're allowed to bring a group of our choosing into it, hand-picked from a list of available runners. For me personally this is also the one aspect that clearly puts base Returns below Dragonfall and Hong Kong - The lack of a set crew with their own distinct personalities present in the later games means we have to bring these boring and mute nobodies along instead.

We have two available categories, "Fixer Contacts" and "Nephilim Network".



"Fixer Contacts" are a set of 12 runners created from the ground up by the developers. The exact pool of available people is randomized and changes between missions, but to my knowledge it'll always include runners of each archetype.

Any available extra characters are here as well, in this case we have Shannon who is automatically included in our party for this mission. She doesn't charge anything, at least.



"Nephilim Network" which Bartlett talked about is a set of 15 Kickstarter backer characters which always remain the same. They tend to come with better equipment than the runners in the Fixer Contacts category, but skill-wise they're roughly on par with them depending on who you happen to get. There's a couple of decent guys here but I'm planning on sticking with the non-backer characters, at least for the most part.

Regardless of where you grab your people from, they're pretty much universally weaker than the main character.



Keeping Amazon and Shannon company on this second trip to the docks will be the mage Gallowglass and the street samurai Hidden Fancy. I'll go over their stats and gear next time as this update is quite long as it is.

See you there.