Part 33: The Aftermath

Part 33 - The Aftermath










Welcome to the final update! The insect menace has been stopped, at least for the time being, so the only thing left now is to wrap up Dead Man's Switch for good.

There are several familiar faces around the scene, but the first thing that catches our attention is Harlequin who's in the middle of recounting our underground adventures to Telestrian. Mr. Quoth seems to be by his master's side as well.



And?

And Amazon says something like "I won't let them eat you, Jessica. You're coming with me. You're going to pay for what you've done." It was very dramatic. Then, we splattered the bugs and handed her over to the UCAS FBI. They're going to want to have a long talk with her about the Universal Brotherhood. So, this nest is cleaned out and your cousin Lynne is being transported to a mental hospital for observation.

This part would obviously be a little different if Jessica had ended up as insect food, but James (who incidentally is a canonical sociopath) doesn't care much either way.



Yes yes, a grave threat to the whole world and all that, but first things first.

What about my million nuyen?

Ah yes. Do not be concerned, I will keep my end of the bargain. Mr. Quoth!

Sir?

See that our hero gets her reward. After deductions, of course.

Uh oh.

Deductions?

Yes, of course. You still owe me for your raid on my offices.

Aw come on, that was like ages ago. Does ancient history really matter between business partners?



Pff. Although, he seems to have forgotten about the "divided between living team members" clause, so perhaps we should consider ourselves lucky.

Yeah, alright. Here.

Had we negotiated ourselves an extra million with the Corporate etiquette before the mission, the damages would've instead been twice as bad and we'd have ultimately ended up with the same 15k. How's that for an unjust universe?

Very good. That transaction is complete. Now then, you have turned in a yeoman's effort, and - regardless of your obvious flaws - you are deserving of a reward. What would you ask of me?

This is the second "big" final decision of the game, our very own free wish! Our choices are as follows:

1. We can ask for the position of Telestrian's Vice President of Security, previously held by Erik Silverstar
2. We can ask for (more) money
3. Had I not missed an earlier conversation, we could ask him to cancel the city's plan to shut down the power grid in Touristville where the Union is located (I'll explain this in a bit)
4. We can ask for McKlusky to get fired

Now this is a pretty big decision and careful consideration should be

Not much. Just McKlusky's badge.

[Telestrian's ice breaks - for a moment.] You short-circuit an invasion of extra-dimensional insects and for your reward, you wish to have an insignificant police detective dismissed from his position?

I don't like his aftershave.



Very well, Detective McKlusky is now Citizen McKlusky - the man grates on my nerves anyway. And since this action requires little more than a nod to the proper peon, you may ask *another* boon of me. I am feeling generous today.

It was all worth it in the end after all.


Regarding the other choices, the position of Telestrian's VP of Security is only available to elves. Any other race (including humans) who asks for it will be given a position as the future VP of Security's Executive Consultant instead. We are in fact an elf so this hilariously blatant racial discrimination wouldn't apply to us, but I think we've seen enough about Telestrian corporate life to say with some confidence that it's not our scene.

Now, the power grid choice isn't available to us because it turns out I missed a conversation with Mrs. Kubota at the Seamstresses Union before the Telestrian run. See, that particular conversation only becomes available after the meeting with Baron Samedi where he tells you about the Aegis, but because Kubota was upstairs at the Union's front door where we no longer had any reason to go to, I completely forgot such a conversation even existed.

All credit to forums user OutofSight for pointing out my mistake.

In any case, what she would've told us had we spoken to her is that the city authorities are planning to shut down the power grid in Touristville because they don't want to continue devoting police manpower to protect the citizens who go there for seedier entertainment. Had we had that discussion, we could now ask Telestrian to pull the required strings to revoke that plan. This is how that particular conversation would have gone:


Alas, since this choice isn't available to us it looks like Touristville and the Union are both doomed. My bad!

So ultimately we're just going to have to go for the "immediate personal gain" -option. Real shame, pains my heart really, but what can you do.

I want to get paid. Real money, this time.

[Another icy smile.] I would expect no less from you. Mr. Quoth, please place a suitable bonus on our friend's credstick. A bonus of such size that additional negotiations are unnecessary. I have no interest in furthering our relationship.

That's the one thing we have in common, buddy. Well that and our shared dislike of McKlusky.







Looks like you two are best buddies now.

We're now free to have one last chat with everyone who bothered to show up.



We'll go through the area in a counterclockwise manner, starting from Coyote here.



Guess so.

Tough week, huh?

Gangers, hellhounds, amok mental patients, serial killers, ghouls, corporate deckers, extra-dimensional bugs, and an army of corp security. Yeah, I could use a nap.

I bet.

Coyote was with us almost the whole time of course, but she's too tough to complain about it unlike our whiny ass.



Back to destroying the BTL trade?

Nah. Like I said, that’s over. I’m gonna take care of Gino - get him back to health. But no more storming BTL labs.

If we hadn't saved Gino, she'd instead be planning on "taking a flamethrower to that whole slagging business".

Good to hear. That last place was run by the Yakuza and they’re not going to forget you.



Today, I run the shadows. Get paid. Get dirty. See you around, Amazon. You're quite a lady. I can honestly say, I've never met an elf quite like you.

You're one hell of a lady yourself, and almost made it feel like we had one proper crew member in this game populated by boring non-personalities. Thanks for everything.



Ol' clownshoes is up next.



Here's a cool little touch: If Harlequin dies during the final mission, there's some extra dialogue available here where you can ask how he's still around. Not only that, but there's also a slightly different variation if he went down more than once. In both cases he jokes about it and then pretty much shrugs it off as something you shouldn't question too much since the Sixth World is full of much weirder things.

Where's Herr Brackhaus? I thought he'd be here too.

He flew back to Berlin. All sorts of things brewing there. He was very impressed with you, though. It could probably turn into work someday. But I’d forget about him, if I were you. Never make a deal with a dragon, kid. They’re playing a different game entirely.

Something brewing in Berlin, huh? Bet you could make a game about that.

I'll keep that in mind. You said you were getting out of here - is there a problem?



Think they can control the press?

One way or another, they will. If they can’t be manipulated, coerced or bribed, they’ll probably disappear. Quietly. There’s more though.

Although we were here to see its beginning, the whole Brotherhood/insect spirit mess is something that will continue to be relevant in the setting for a long time after the events of this game.



Do you trust him?

No. Just like I don’t trust you. Don’t take it personally, kid. You shouldn’t trust me, either. I’ve been manipulating runners like you for years. I’m manipulating you right now. You just don’t know *my* game yet. Let’s continue the dance. I have one more to show you.



As it happens, Ares are the ones who end up being the most involved in dealing with bug spirit activity elsewhere.

Government. Media. Business. All working to ensure the truth stays hidden.

So it's a massive conspiracy.

I wish it was. In a way, it’s worse. It’s a series of conspiracies, conflicting agendas, and petty jealousies, all building upon, feeding upon, and excreting into an unending web of drek that people wade through every day and call Life. If there was one Dark Lord controlling everything and we could drive a magic sword through his heart to free the world, that would be grand. Such clarity! Such focus! Alas!

So what’s the lesson in all of this? That I did all of it for nothing?



And that's why we don't *play* their fragging game. We don't swallow their drek sandwich and politely ask for another. It's why we run the shadows. That's where real life is, kiddo. Reality's living in the places no one wants you to see.

Turns out I was wrong about Harlequin swearing normally being a nice touch. Also this whole lesson would've missed its mark pretty spectacularly had we retired from running in order to work for Telestrian.

Okay, seriously - who are you?

A friend. Until I need you for something. Then, I'm a bastard.

Right. See you around, Harlequin.

Your presence here might've been pure fanservice, but at least you brought some much-needed lightheartedness to this otherwise dry endgame.



Ah, this should be good.



We got a whole bunch of different skill checks here, all aimed at humiliating our detective friend - Charisma 4 (to make him think that he got his lieutenant's badge and he's getting a surprise party), Intelligence 4 (to claim his shoelaces are untied in order to cold-cock him while he's distracted), Strength 5 & Close Combat 5 (to knock him out with a haymaker or a flurry of punches).

Of course we don't need to resort to any of those.

Hey McKlusky - I got good news for you.

Izzat right?

You won!

Won what?

The "I-lost-my-job-and-I-don't-even-know-it" contest. See you around, asshole.

What the? Mr. Telestrian! Hey, Mr. Telestrian!

He runs to James, presumably to plead pathetically. Unfortunately we don't get to listen in.



Even Armitage has showed up for the denouement, despite presumably still having a bounty on his head and there being police everywhere. Or maybe the devs just forgot about that detail.



Did you doubt I would?

Not for a minute.



He's not wrong, it's surprising Seattle is still intact with how much crap is constantly happening in this city.

I heard Mitsuhama's looking for a team and they specifically want a woman. No idea what that's about.



Something's bound to come up. Whaddaya say?

I think we deserve a break after all this, but it's always nice to have something to fall back on.

I'll think about it, Jake.

You do that. If you want to find me, I'll be at McKraken's later - got a taste for some seafood. Take it easy, chummer.

Thanks for the help Jake, time will tell if this ends up being your final video game appearance of if you'll pop up again in Shadowrun Re-Returns or something.



It's only fitting for our last stop to be manned by this guy.



Just making more work for you.

Thanks, but I prefer natural causes.



Remember when all that happened and was relevant? Feels like it was a different story altogether. Some might say a better story, but that's neither here nor there.

[He leans in, whispers conspiratorially.] You wouldn't know anything about that, would you?

A vigilante attack, huh? Wow.

I know! It's fascinating, isn't it?



Good thing Dresden never met Erik Silverstar, that guy's habit of butchering language would've probably had the poor dwarf end up a customer in his own establishment.

So! The big question! What about that dead man's switch? Now that the ripper's dead, are you going to collect?

Damn right I'm gonna collect.

Hey, just because we got one 100k doesn't mean we don't have space for seconds.

Excellent! I'm sure you deserve it. How do you collect, anyway?

I was told I need a secure line to call the number Sam gave me. Can’t use my commlink.

[He brightens.] Lone Star’s Emergency Response Team set up a secure phone line right here to coordinate their efforts. I can authorize you to use it!

Then I guess it’s time to end this thing.

I guess so! Take care, Amazon!

You were always one of the few legitimately good people around, Dresden. At least as far as we know.



This is the point of no return. We've done everything we can and talked to everyone we can, so let's just go ahead and make this final call.



Man, has it really been just a few days?



Oh hey it's... Chet, was it? Wait, did Chet have a facial tattoo?

Hold on. Are you even a lawyer?

Yeah... of course. Well... technically I'm not a lawyer anymore but... uh... I'll just slot Sam's video for you. Hang on.





If you're calling this number, that means the job is done, right?

Technically the job was done a while ago, but we got a little sidetracked somewhere along the way.

[He closes his eyes. Shakes his head.] Congratulations, amigo! I knew you'd do it. You were always the dependable one. More than me, anyway.

[He looks back at you, trying to speak soberly.] I - I just want to say thank you. For *whatever* you did. It means a lot - not even knowing what you did - it *still* means a lot. ‘Cuz I know you did something. You know what I mean? I KNOW you made it right, somehow.

From the looks of it I doubt you knew what time of day it was, much less what we have or haven't made right since then.





Just tell her I love her.

Boy howdy. If only Sam and this whole family had managed to figure out their numerous issues when they still had the chance...

[He straightens himself. Shakes it off. That grin is back.]

Anyway, you need to get paid! Which would be great except for one thing - I got nothin’. Never did! You know how it is, right? Sorry. But hey - thanks again for giving a crap! Seriously. I appreciate it.

Excuse me?





...

...

...This is exactly how it was going to go from the start, wasn't it. You really were a real fucker of a guy all the way to the end, Sam. It's honestly kind of impressive. But it also can't be denied that at the end of the day we did dig ourselves up from the hole we had fallen in thanks to you, even if it was in a roundabout way. But still, fuck you man. For everything, and in behalf of everyone involved.

So? What did he say?

He told me to never trust a dead man.

And with those wise words, our story has reached its end.







The ending is entirely in text form, something that'll remain true for the entire series. Hong Kong does feature simple ending cutscenes in addition to the text though. And unlike this game, both Dragonfall and Hong Kong feature multiple endings.


So, this has been Shadowrun Returns. I hadn't actually played it in a long time before doing this LP, so it was interesting to go back to it after having played the later games. I stand by my opinion that it's overall a game worth playing, and I especially came to appreciate what a good job it does at easing you in to the Shadowrun universe. That said it's plain to see why it's so overshadowed by it's follow-ups, and revisiting the original has also made me appreciate just how much Harebrained Schemes learned and improved going into Dragonfall (and especially its Director's Cut version). One thing that I grew more negative on was the endgame which was even weaker than I remembered, and the game doing such a bad job at sticking its landing undoubtedly contributed to the unfavorable aftertaste a lot of players ended up with.

Still, Shadowrun is one of my favorite fictional settings and I'm glad this game got made despite its rough edges. And hey, without it we wouldn't have Dragonfall and Hong Kong either.



Thanks for reading, and special thanks to everyone who posted in the thread. You've all been great.