Part 5: Ahead of the Game
With our new found freedom, we find our selves in Old Town. This is, sadly, the only other place besides the morgue that has that song I really like. It's also the smallest and least relevant area, we've already done nearly everything we can in this place due to escaping the caryards.
There's also a bar! It's the hangout for bar-none (
) the WORST shadowrunner in the game. We might talk to him in another update. For now let's just talk to the barkeep.
"Cut the yappin'. Ya want something or not?"This bar fucking sucks.
One of the patrons of this bar (I didn't get a screenshot of it because I almost never come into this shithole) apparently mentions that he got his datajack fixed by a Doctor Ed somewhere in Old Town. I never realized this since it's actually kind of easy to wander into Ed's office by accident. For now though, let's check out the Old Town sites!
"Seattle is Seattle no matter where you go, I guess. At least that one guy already disposed of himself."
At the end of the street are two shops. The one on the left is a magic shop for all kinds of chotchkes we don't really care about. The one on the RIGHT however...
"GUNS! 
"
Before we start browsing, let's speak to the proprietor of this fine establishment.
"I can already tell you and I are going to get along just fine."
"You want to buy this gun? Good buy! Only one owner. He's no longer around if ya know what I mean! Yar ho tee hee har." "Nah, I already had a slightly used gun. Right now I'm stuck with this hunk of crap." "Huh? Come on lad let's set our hair on fire!" "You know, I think I'm just going to take a look around."The shop here sells a bunch of different kind of guns, but really there's only one choice. You'll understand why in a moment. Let's take a look:
Colt American L36 Pistol
Required Strength: 1
Attack Power: 3
Accuracy: 1
Price: 500
The L36 is precisely the same as the Beretta. There's literally no reason to buy this unless you never leveled up firearms and are stuck with the zip gun, in which case how the fuck did you get out of the caryards.
Fichetti Light Pistol
Required Strength: 1
Attack Power: 4
Accuracy: 1
Price: 2000
An extra damage point, not worth the money.
Ares Viper Heavy Pistol
Required Strength: 2
Attack Power: 4
Accuracy: 2
Price: 4000
Pass.Ruger Warhawk Pistol
Required Strength: 3
Attack Power: 6
Accuracy: 2
Price: 9000
Now we're getting somewhere. 6 damage is a nice little bundle, but there's one more gun left.
Defiance T-250 Shotgun
Required Strength: 4
Attack Power: 8
Accuracy: 2
Price: 15000
This baby right here. This is expensive as hell and worth every penny. Eight dick-punching points of pain packed into each shot. This is legitimately the best weapon we'll have available for a while, so you should absolutely save your money for it. Forget about the other weapons, the Defiance T-250 is all we're going to need.
We also get a mesh jacket, which has two armour points. In a surprising departure from normal Danaru style, I actually remembered to equip it right away.
There are three main areas in Shadowrun. Tenth street is where we started off, we just basically finished most of Old Town. The third area is Downtown, easily the biggest of the areas. Spoilers, we won't get there this update.
To get between the area, you take the subway. The subway looks something like this:
[Tenth Street] <----> [Old Town] <----> [Downtown}
We actually have some unfinished business on Tenth Street, so let's head on over.
"What a fucking day. Started off the night by dying, killed a ton of guys, got thrown into a caryard, killed everyone there, at least the whole "keep shooting until the problem is resolved" approach has been working well. This data-thinger is driving me nuts though. There's no way it's supposed to be this itchy."
"Well heck, who knows, maybe Drake forgot about me, or sent all his dudes to Old Town after realizing I wasn't here anymore."
"Yeah even I didn't believe that one."Tenth Street is exactly how we left it. Literally. It's 100% the same except that Glutman isn't at that club anymore. Maria's still playing, and Glutman's secretary is none the wiser.
"Heyyyyyyyyy buddy"
"Tabernac! J'y pens-- ahem, Hamfist thought you were dead! Heard you wound up in the caryards. How'd you get out?"
"Let's just say, The King..." "...has left the building." "...huh?" "I killed him." "Oh, damn, that'll do it." "Anyway come on, we've got shit to do." "'We'? Hamfist stood outside that club the entire duration of the run you paid for. You gotta pay for a brand new run." "You do realize I just told you I killed the guy that made everyone scared of the caryards right?" "Hamfist is open to price negotiations."
So if you remember, Hamfist used to charge us 500 nuyen, with our negotiation skill maxed out, he lowers it to 300. It doesn't seem like much now, but it'll save a lot of money when we start hitting up the expensive runners.
"Oh yeah, Hamfist" "Yeah?"
"Let's have that gun back."This is the only way to have both the Beretta and the Zip-gun in your inventory at the same time. There's... no real reason to ever do this, but there you go.
"So where are we headed, anyway?" "Well the only place we haven't explored yet in this area is the graveyard, so we have to check to see if there's treasure in there." "...That makes zero sense, but I'm getting paid anyway."Naturally, as a graveyard in an action adventure/RPG, it'll be a completely normal place for respecting the dea--
"SKELETONS!"
In all seriousness, that was the best shot I could get of one of the ghouls still being alive. Hamfist usually does what he does in the last screenshot and one-hits the ghouls the second they come out of the ground. If we were still looking for karma, this would be a fairly decent spot to grind. By running around and letting Hamfist kill everything, you can make a decent amount. The ghouls get slightly harder every time you leave and re-enter to get them to respawn though, so keep that in mind.
The doors on the crypts are all locked, so we use the scalpel we stole in the beginning of the game to... pick the lock?
I have no idea. "What's so special about this crypt that makes you want to get in so bad?" "Locked doors can mean only one thing; treasure! Who knows what could be in here, it could be a secret weapon! It could be gold! It could be..."
"...A dying Native American." "Aboriginal." "Right, what did I say?" "Native American." "Wait, what's wrong with Native American'?" "Well America doesn't really exist anymore." "I always thought it referred to the two Americas, the continents. Those still exist, right?"
"Cough... Blrf..." "Oh, right, let's save the semantics for when he's not bleeding out."
Our new friend is in rough shape, but fortunately we have just the thing.
That slap patch we stole from the morgue! Any slap patch will do, so if you use this one yourself, you can go buy one from the kid in the caryards.
All better! One band-aid and he's immediately stabilized. It's wierd, but it makes more sense than giving our ice tea to some random dude to learn about concert tickets.
"By the way, I prefer 'First Nations'" "Your portrait looks a lot more Jamaican than your sprite implied." "Just a big fan of Reggae" "I can respect that. Anyway I think you've got the wrong guy, I only found you because I was looking for treasure." "A little keepsake for you man... take this Magic Fetish" "Wait, like, getting turned on by people using magic?" "No, no, it's a magical item." "Okay good, because that would be weird." "...er... yeah... real weird..." "I'm not sure what I'll be able to do with it though, I'm no Shaman" "If you be a true shaman, you are one with the Earth. She provides the power for your magic." "...I just said I wasn't though." "Your totem calls to you. Appease his wishes and he will serve you well..." "Are you being annoyingly cryptic on purpose?" "Heh, yeah. Normies really eat that shit up." "Right. So what's up with the Magic Fetish" "I see a need for it in your future. He who seeks it is a bearer of untruth!" "You're not going to give me any info I can use, are you." "Nope! Chrome Coyote awaaaay!"
And with that, our cryptic friend disappears in a cloud of smoke.
"...What just happened?" "I have no idea. His name makes him sound like a member of Foxhound though."With that done, we leave the graveyard. The other crypts just contain more ghouls and sometimes 10-20 nuyen.
Let's head back to Old Town and get this damn Datajack looked at.
This is clearly the entrance to a reputable medical practice.
"Seriously Jake, this is way too sketchy for me." "Wuss."
Hey Kiddo!
"Yeah doc, this damn thing's been itching and sparking for a while now."
"Well if you're having trouble getting in to the Matrix, that could be your problem. I can do a quick Examination for 500 nuyen." "Sounds good. Examination it is."
"I hope your medical skills are better than your humour skills."
"A WHAT."
"A CORTEX BOMB?!" "It's um... designed to destroy anything stored in your head computer if it is tampered with!" "You've GOT to be shitting me. Can't you get it the hell out?!" "Um, I think it started ticking... if it goes off, it's likely to take a good portion of your head along with it. Sorry, here's a refund... try some aspirin. I don't think I can help you."By the way, if you don't talk to Ed, he totally won't give you a refund. Make sure to use the Talk option.
"Ed I swear, if you didn't give me my money back, I'd gun you down right where you are." "I uh, I'm glad you feel that way. You should really find an actual doctor though" "An 'actual' doctor? Are you telling me you're not an actual doctor?!" "Well um, 'Doctor' is my nickname, so uh, I guess you could say I'm a Doctor..."
With that said, here's our current stats. Next time we'll try to find a doctor who can save us from going all Darkseed 2 on the sidewalk