Part 4: Champion of the Thunderdome knockoff

Well, we've been in worse situations I guess. At least we know what our name is. Anyway, let's find some information about this place, and try to avoid getting a shiv in the ribs.



By the way, get used to recycled portraits. There are actually a ton of portraits, but there's also a ton of NPCs to talk to. As of right now I have 18 portraits uploaded to lpix, excluding both of Jake's.

"I'm starting to suspect that Glutman was being sarcastic."

"None of us are here by choice... things just turn out this way sometimes."

"I'm more interested in getting out than why I'm in. How well do you know the Caryards? Want to be the Sean Connery to my Nic Cage?"

"Didn't they break INTO a prison?"

"...erh, right, brain burnt and all that."

"The King is your only way out of here!"

"...I can already see where this is going."

"I don't think the King would like it if he saw me talking to you."



Well that's just plain rude. Let's go talk to someone else.



"Hey pal! Why so blue? "

"I used to be the best there was in the Matrix"

"Probably not much access to the Matrix in this kind of place, is there?"

"No IC could stop me. My Datajack and my cyberdeck allowed me to do as I wanted in the Matrix. I could open any door or grab any data you needed. I was the best!"

"You wouldn't happen to know a street doc who could check out a Datajack, would you?"

"I don't know... I guess I've been here too long..."

The caryards aren't quite a jaunty romp. Below the decker is a guy with the same sprite as the "Heavy Dude" enemy.



"Hahaha oh god you're serious, I've killed well over a hundred of guys like you, and it was so uneventful it was done between updates."

"...admittedly I thought the others were making that up."

"Nope. I pretty much put those Mortician guys' kids through college and we're only on update three. Drake is probably going to have a job fair soon."

"Now that I've seen ya, I can't see what he's getting all worked up about. You don't look that dangerous!"



"What the hell, disembodied voice?! He just outright said he'd try to kill me!"

So this is what happens if you try to kill a semi-important NPC. The game is a little wierd on who you can shoot and who you can't. Those NPCs that were hanging out in that little square where the doggie was can be killed with impunity, but Drake's goon here can't. Also if you continue to shoot one of these NPCs, the game will reset your karma to zero.



"Yeah, apparently Glutman's real scared of the world's worst assassins trying to chase me down."

"Hey!"

"Quiet you, the only reason you're alive is because God or whoever will wipe out my experience if I keep shooting you."

"The King don't allow just anybody in here. He don't want the heat coming down on this place!"

"I'm hearing quite a bit about this King fellow. What's his deal?"

"Most of us here are hiding from someone. The King makes sure no one can get at you... for a price!"

The game is actually fairly vague on some plot points, and leaves it more to your own interperatation. The Caryards are actually a fairly safe place for people in Jake's situation, where some asshole has a billion dudes looking for them, but at the same time we're stuck here until either Glutman pays, or we pay. Did Glutman set us up in here to protect us while he tries to sort out the problem? Or was Glutman paid off to 'dispose' of us in a place like this? Glutman never shows up again, by the way. Either he got taken out by Drake like the nameless Johnson who set up the run, or he took a pay from Drake and got the hell out of dodge.

Or the writers just kinda forgot about him since he's intensely irrelevant at this point in the plot.



"Everyone's hiding from someone or something. Just don't ask too many questions!"

I really only posted this because I don't remember this portrait being used anywhere else in the game. Most of the hirable and named Shadowrunners don't even get unique portraits, but this guy with two lines does.




Case in point

"So uh, you run the place, eh?"

"Sure do! If you wanna leave, you gotta pay me!"

"And if I don't have the money?"

"You ask that as if it was my problem."



We actually have more than enough to pay off the King, but Jake is a cheapskate, so let's wander around a bit more.



"How the heck did YOU get in here?"

"Had a run that went south, turns out the guy I fragged was the son of some Renraku big-shot. Johnson turned on me, and now Renraku's out for revenge."

"Damn, that's messed up, kid."

"I blame the public school system."

The kid will sell you slap patches if you need them, which you might if you're not a pro like me*

"Someone heavy must be after you for that big fixer dude to bring you here."

"Someone named Drake who apparently never heard of "Quality over Quantity"."

"You pissed off Drake? Haha I thought I was hosed!"

"Yeah yeah, anyway what's up with this shithole?"

"People come here to hide. The King get's paid by the fixers sometimes. Otherwise, you have to pay him to leave. Most guys though don't make it. They usually die trying to get the money together by fighting in the arena."

"That sounds like the opposite of protecting people. I'm starting to think the King might not be the sharpest tool in the shed."

"How much is the King asking to let you leave! He wants 100 nuyen before he let's me go! I guess I'll be here for a while!"

"Wow, you butchered those exclamation marks, kid. Maybe you were right about that school system."



"This might be the first good thing to happen to me in recent memory."



So this is the RPG mandated arena! The combat may not be the biggest drawing point of the game, but this is one of the best ways to make a ton of money early on.



Talk to this guy here, and he'll ask if you want to fight, but before we do that...



Let's finish that little sidequest.



A thousand bucks seems pretty steep, but wait until you see the amount of money we'll get from fighting. Plus, by learning negotiation, we can lower our escape price from 4000 to 2000, netting a 1000 nuyen savings!

If we were losers, anyway. More on that later.



"Wait, is that it?"

"Yup"

"You made me pay a thousand nuyen for THAT?"

"That's the power of Negotiation."

"...You know, I think I get it now."

And now for the moment you've all been waiting for! Let's kill people for the glory we deserve!

BATTLE ONE: GANG MEMBER



Dude's got a knife and he runs like a psycho. He'll usually just run up to you and stab you in the face repeatedly.



Gang Member also... has pathing issues.



In any case, we get him stuck on a barrel and shoot him until he drops. We also got three karma for it. I have to kill four of drake's goons for a single karma point, for reference.

"You good fighter. We like good fight. Here's 300 nuyen. Money better if fight again."

And fight again we will!

BATTLE TWO: HEAVY DUDE




It's just one of Drake's goons. I think he has a little more HP. He was somehow easier than the idiot who got stuck on the barrel.

"You good fighter. We like good fight. Here's 700 nuyen. Money better if fight again."

There, that's the negotiation skill paid off. But we're not done yet!

BATTLE THREE: HEAVY DUDE 2




Aside from looking like he put his gun on my shoulder and shot behind me, nothing to talk about here. He had a little more attack power and got a couple good shots in, but you could survive this fight with your base stats.

"You good fighter. We like good fight. Here's 1000 nuyen. Money better if fight again."

BATTLE FOUR: MAGE



"The hell does that even MEAN?"

Mage is a bit tough, he has the same attack power as Heavy 2, and a bit more health.



If you didn't do any grinding, this fight might be rough, but since we literally can't miss, we're alright.

"You good fighter. We like good fight. Here's 2000 nuyen. Money better if fight again."

For those not counting, that's 4000 in total arena earnings. Unless you somehow managed to waste a ton of money on slap patches, you can get out now.

BATTLE FIVE: MAGE 2




Same fight, higher damage.

"You good fighter. We like good fight. Here's 3000 nuyen. Money better if fight again."

BATTLE SIX: SAMURAI WARRIOR



Alright so this battle is probably the first legitimately difficult one. Samurai Warrior is a bit hectic, but there's a way to exploit his attack pattern.



Samurai Warrior's first attack is to run up and slash you with wolverine claws. This does a lot of 1s and 2s of damage, and might look scary at first.



Samurai Warrior's second attack is to run away and start shooting at you.



This hurts. A lot. The best tactic is to keep running up to Samurai Warrior so he keeps trying to use his claws. Eventually he'll drop like the rest.



"You good fighter. We like good fight. Here's 4000 nuyen. Money better if fight again."

BATTLE SEVEN: FEROCIOUS ORC



Hey Ferocious Orc! How the hell are ya?



Ferocious Orc likes to smack talk, but he's not very good at it. No tactics here, just keep shooting the giant green man.



"You good fighter. We like good fight. Here's 5000 nuyen. Money better if fight again."

BATTLE EIGHT: GANG LEADER

So here's the thing about Gang Leader.



Gang Leader doesn't fuck around. This is literally the first frame that isn't the game loading and he's already hit me for three damage



He also runs around in circles and sometimes shrugs off your shooting cursor. Gang Leader is a MESS. Gang Leader is the second hardest fight in the arena, and it shows.



The best part about doing an SSLP is that I can use save states all I want, and no one will ever know .

So that's the end of our arena stint for now, we'll be back for Samurai Warrior another time. I guess we can just pay our way and head out.



OR WE CAN JUST KILL THE KING OURSELVES



The King can be an annoying fight, mainly because he likes to run around a lot. Usually he'll run to one side, shoot at you, then run to the other side, and shoot at you again.



Other times he'll run off screen This means you have to run over, at which point he'll shoot at you while you're getting your attack icon up again.



Overall, the King is a pain, but once again, you can exploit his AI a bit.



When he's off screen, he'll just stand around and wait for you to come chase him. If you're lucky, you can just slightly get him on screen without him noticing, and unload on him. If you're unlucky, he THINKS he's on screen when he isn't, and he gets a ton of free shots on you.



But if you can get the screen juuuuuuust right...



Not only do we not pay 4000, or even 3000, we GET nuyen!

"I don't believe it. You beat the King! Here's 3000 nuyen!"

And with that, we're free to leave the caryards!

CARYARDS EPILOGUE

Ended up moving back to Tenth Street with her twin sister, who was fired from her job as a secretary because her boss got gunned down by a bunch of really terrible assassins.

Got really confused from spending so long in the caryards, and became a carpenter who specializes in building decks. Best decker you've ever seen.

Still too scared to leave the caryards after watching Jake kill most of the arena combatants.

Got killed in a carpenter gang war because the rival gang thought he was that other blue dude.

Seriously, who the fuck is this guy.

Moves out east and becomes the Terror From the West. Eventually hits puberty and has an irritating teenage on-again-off-again relationship that no one cares about.

Some say he never left the arena, waiting for the next good fight. Some still hear the faint whisper of "money better if fight again" when they walk by.

Really, really dead.

*May not actually be a pro at all.