It was just the kind of “Dark and Stormy Night” that it would be in a bad Sim. I did not enjoy the choppy waters as the Drunken Mistake took us in. Tai Po had once been a fishing village, but it was mostly a warehouses now. Somewhere in that maze of buildings was out final shot at ending the conspiracy between Ares and Krait.
Once we arrived on the docks, Qiu warned us that both Ares’ and Krait’s forces would likely be patrolling the area. But with the heavy storms we had some cover. If we hit quickly and vanished we could eliminate a number of patrols before we hit the main warehouse. Qiu would try to help with her sidearm, but magically she was still fried from the exertion escaping earlier.
It didn’t take Iz long to hack into the street cameras and rig up tracking for the local troops. She let us know where to avoid heavy patrols and where to find isolated groups out of earshot of the others.
We took full advantage of the opportunities.
We found an area where a number of armored-up Ares goons were guarding a small office building. Seemed odd to have that kind of firepower outside such an ordinary building. So we decided to take a look. I fried the guards – and their electronics – before they could respond.
Inside we mostly found offices empty for the night… except for one very surprised accountant working late. He immediately gave us the admin password for the manager’s office. Said they didn’t pay him nearly enough to try to deal with the likes of us.
Hacking in through the manager’s terminal Iz found various files related to the Ares takeover of the HKPD. Including some rather interesting bits about their plans for “outside contractors”. Firing current HKPD leadership within 2 months of takeover, and “liquidating” Krait! Apparently Ares didn’t trust her either. Considered her a “disposable liability” long term. I had Iz copy those files. Could prove useful.
Further on we found a storage yard under heavy guard. Dunk and I blew them out before they knew what hit em.
In the wreckage Iz found a high-tech controller of some sort. She said it was military grade – used to reprogram high end drones. But this one had a number of features she’d never seen before. She pocketed it so we could check it out later.
We eventually found a particularly well-guarded but unmarked warehouse. This was undoubtedly the place. By now Krait surely knew we were here, so we were done being sneaky.
Looking around inside we discovered just how far things had gone. There were rows upon rows of high-end combat vehicles. From armored cars to mobile artillery. All branded with both HKPD and Ares… If this wasn’t proof Ares had been up to its neck in this for some time I didn’t know what else would be.
Suddenly Qiu collapsed. She was barely holding it together. I checked her aura, and it was purple, black, an tattered. She’d really put herself deep into drain breaking loose. “I can’t help you, Ye” She said. ‘I’m just a liability from here. You’ll have to take on Krait and then come back for me”. Unfortunately I had to agree. She could barely stand at this point, much less fight.
We heard Krait on the PA, welcoming us to “the future site of the Toho Harbor Complex”. She warned us that none of us would live if we didn’t immediately turn and walk away. I blasted the intercom for an answer.
We headed in further to a large open area, and took up defensive positions. This looked like as good a site as any to make our play. The cargo doors in back slowly opened, and we heard loud thumps from the distance. Too loud. And then a pair of huge combat drones – friggin tanks on legs – stomped into the room. Frag Ares and their fraggin unlimited budget.
We tried hitting them straight, but they seemed to shrug off just about everything we had.
Iz hissed on our private channel “Just keep em busy for a few minutes! I’m working it!”. Was that all. Just play nice with the giant spiders with plasma cannons for brains. Sure. No sweat. Gob and I threw everything we had into holding them back and interfering with their targeting sensors.
Then suddenly one turned around and blasted the other! Iz had used the control chip we’d grabbed from the storage yard to override one of the AI’s! We let them shoot each other to pieces.
But that wasn’t to be the end of it. A clearly irritated Krait came in behind them. Kitted out in a freakin ten foot tall combat exoskeleton and accompanied by a full squad of SWAT in power armor. The Ares big boys had arrived.
They immediately concentrated fire on me. Clearly Krait considered me the primary threat. So I focused on defense…
While Iz and Gob started thinning out the support.
And when the cover fire was gone Dunk and I took matters into our own hands. I held the exoskeleton immobilized while Dunk shredded its legs with anti-tank rounds.
Afterwards, as Krait sat stunned in what was left of her pride and joy, She asked why I didn’t just finish her off. I told her I hadn’t quite decided what to do with her yet.
Just then a call cut in. Auntie. She already knew where we were and what we were up to. And she had a counter-proposal. She said that Mitsuhama was out of its league competing with Ares. Sooner or later Ares would push them out – regardless of what we did. And she preferred dealing with Mitsuhama. Neither was a friend to the Triad, but Mitsuhama was far less likely to resort to outright war.
She wanted us to blow up the entire warehouse! Destroy the entire Ares Hong Kong arsenal. It wouldn’t stop them in the long run, but it would set them back for years and give her more time to get ready for them. But that would also destroy all the concrete evidence we had of Krait’s and Ares’ shenanigans. She was very insistent. I told her I’d think about it.
Dunk didn’t want to even consider it. Our deal with Qiu for reinstated SINs was dependent upon delivering the evidence she needed. And somebody ought to *pay* for all this mess, rather than letting it get swept under the rug. Iz and Gob wanted to blow the place. They didn’t believe there would be any real justice for the bigwigs anyway, and they didn’t want to cross Auntie.
Finally I had a chat with Qiu, and told her I had a third way in mind. She looked at me like I was crazy when I laid it out, but had to admit it seemed the best way to take down the conspiracy while still crippling Ares.
I walked over to where Krait still lay trapped in her ruined exoskeleton. “Come to gloat before you kill me?” she asked?
“Got a counter offer to make”, I answered.
“What could you possibly have to offer me?” She asked.
“Show her, Iz”.
So Iz showed her the files we had found detailing Ares’ long term plans for her and her team. She scowled. “Want to take them down with you?” I asked. “Qui can offer a deal. No death penalty, and exchange…. you tell the Council everything about what you and Ares had cooking“. She spat, and then answered. “What the hell. Its better than what they had in mind. Fuck Ares!“
With Krait on side, I finished the third way. Qiu needed evidence that Ares was involved. Auntie wanted all of Ares’ arsenal destroyed so they’d have to start again. I figured I could fry the electronics – turning the fleet into glorified paperweights – while leaving enough intact to still point the finger firmly at Ares.
And then we left – hoping that my wheeling and dealing would work out.
Krait turned on Ares, as expected. And between the warehouse evidence and Krait’s testimony Ares got a big black eye. They didn’t give up on their long term plans for Hong Kong, but they’d at minimum been set back decades.
Tsang lost her position on the Council. She’d been too tied up in the scandal, and Krait was spilling names. Without the Qi she’d been siphoning from Kowloon her fortunes soon left her bitter and isolated.
Krait didn’t survive long after testifying – deal or no deal. Giving a corp with the power and reach of Ares a black eye wasn’t healthy. But I suspected she had known her days were numbered, and just wanted to take down Ares with her.
Auntie did well for herself, as she always did. Always playing the long game in moving up in the Triad.
Qiu was good to her word. She had Dunk and I re-instated before the week was out. But she couldn’t do the same for Gob and Iz. They’d never had SIN ID’s in the first place. And they’d never known any life beyond shadowrunning. So this was where we’d part ways. They’d made off pretty well in our time together. And with Racter and Gaichu they still had a solid team. We’d keep in touch. Even visit sometimes.
Dunk got a little friendlier goodbye from Gob than he expected. “Always wanted to do that“, she said. Dunk just stammered. I’d never let him live *that* down.
And then we were on the plane, back to Seattle and Uncle. Dunk was considering whether he wanted to sign back up with Lone Star. Being a cop had been his dream, but we’d seen an awful lot of the darker side of corporate law lately. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do. Shadow-running had felt so natural… Couldn’t really see becoming a wageslave.
Uncle was thrilled to see us. Said we could stay at his place as long as we wanted until we found our own. He looked good. The treatments had been going very well.
As for me and Dunk? Turns out had other ideas. He wanted to start his own Private Investigation and Security Agency. He wouldn’t be a corporate badge, but he’d be helping people out in the open. And we could start making a difference back here in Seattle. In the Barrens where *we’d* grown up. “I need a good magic expert, Ye. Don’t know much about that side of things. Know anyone who might partner up with me?”
I figured I could come up with some ideas…
Author’s Notes:
So the actual in-game choices/consequences at the end of this DLC are among the most irritating and frustrating I’ve ever seen in an RPG that I actually finished. Your choices are:
- A: Side with Cheng, Burn the warehouse, let Qiu die in it
- B: Side with Cheng, Burn the warehouse, save Qiu
- C: Side with Qiu, turn warehouse over to Mitsuhama
- D: Show Krait the evidence or not, and either kill her or let her walk.
That’s it. Those were the options.
To make matters worse, in ALL cases Ares ends up taking over the HKPD contract. Its just a matter of how long it takes them to recover from the setback. In choices A & B Dunk is furious that we lost our chance to leave the underworld and walks out on you. C is the case where Ares recovers and takes over the fastest – as it is treated as you just abandoning Hong Kong and walking away. Including abandoning Gob and Iz to dealing with an angry Auntie who things you double-crossed her. All of these options SUCK! So I had to spend some time dreaming up my own Headcanon for the final resolution.
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