Thicker Than Blood

Sax and Violins

A cool, early October night. Thick, low fog and rain like a fine mist fall, making everything black and damp; staining the rough concrete into black basalt pillars and making every streetlight a yellow beacon that distorts the wet stone with veins of ivory light. The soft patter of water droplets against the deep green foliage and trickle of the runoff into the gutters is like a soft play of symphonic violins and percussion to the build up of some natural opus. Mozart reverberates softly in my skull while I wait against the alley wall and sip my tall soycaf with an extra shot. A perfect Seattle night.

When the gun fire begins I hardly notice, playing sweetly against the low bass rumble of the drums in my during the second movement. Exit and his new elf friend have obviously gone from the quiet way to the loud way in and out of the building; which is my cue, but not before I finish my caf or they signal me. I pull off my hood and roll my neck in the refreshing coolness of the night before switching on my wired reflexes and unbutton my jacket, then watch as the world slows down to a crawl and turn up the speed of the music playing to keep up.

Exit's hand cannon blares as I hear the front door around the corner wheeze slightly against it's hydrolics. I can hear his heart pounding in my augmented ears between the crack of his gun and casings twinkling on the street, an opera of street chaos mingles with the rain and the music playing directly into my cerebral cortex. The immensity of his troll form blots out the streetlight as I take a last sip of my caf and he sprints past ponderously holding the limp body of the daisyeating hacker. I wonder off hand if they managed to get the paydata and I hear the low, bass rumble of Exit yelling for me to help him as he glides by in slow motion.

The empty soycaf cup drops into the recycling bin next to me as I switch to my jazz station and stroll to the edge of the alley, wild erratic saxophone and drum beats exploding suddenly into my brain. I feel the familiar slide of steel as I unsheath my katana and cross hairs ignite like fire in my vision as my left hand brings my pistol into view. Music throbs and whines as I step smoothly around the corner in front of Exit into the line of fire. Another perfect Seattle night.

On the Run

I will be including session notes for the players and myself with which to keep track of the action and character/plot development. If the players wish to leave in character accounts of their experience, I would highly encourage it, and will be awarding experience points for their contributions.

Inspired by Bill's 8 week episodes, I am making an attempt to keep this idea going, and will hopefully be following it up with a review from the players, at which point we'll determine to continue play or shift to something else.

Chapter I

Episode 1	Episode 4	Episode 7
Episode 2	Episode 5	Episode 8
Episode 3	Episode 6	Evaluation

Sprawl Sites

With a bit of time and a little help from some of my old source materials I will be including a number of locations in and around the Seattle area, as well as a number of original locations. Yet again, players are encouraged to add in the fun.

Friends of Friends

This section is reserved for the wide array of NPC's the characters will meet, as well as their contacts and other major personalities of Shadowrun.

An Shou Tian	Red Pole of the Wo Shing Wo Triad. Professional Chef and foodie. Owner of the Glass Tortoise, a Chinese/Japanese/Vietnamese restaurant in Queen Anne.
"Aunty Kasau" Tosashi	Oni immigrant who grew up on Yumi island. Stay at home mother of eight, barrens baby-sitter, and wife of Osaku Tosashi.
Andrew Elkhorn	Salish Raven Shaman and avid comic book collector.
Blythe Waters	Elf Ghoul and vocal political activist for the Ghoul Liberation League in Seattle. Licensed Surveyor and Civil Engineer in the UCAS.
Bolin	King Yee of the local Sun Yee On Triad.
Buttons	Ork Lonestar Veteran Beat Cop. He's been around the block a couple of times and has a good ear for what's happening in the 'hoods and the Ork Underground. Though he's got a good heart, he isn't above a little "Street Justice" and "Urban Renewal", and stays happy as long as his beat just stays quiet.
Cap Cortez	Ork Lieutenant of the Redmond gang the Rusted Stilettos. Gun runner, drug dealer, and area enforcer.
Charity v6.8	Self-proclaimed "High Priestess of the Airwaves". Charity claims to be an "Alternate Intelligence" AI. Public whistle blower, blogger, and pirate Trid broadcaster. Loud, abrasive, and angry with a penchant for Max Headroom antics, speech hacking, and the sign off "We'll meet again...when you're ready to travel the most secret path of all."
Dirdrik Vladnikov	Vory v Zakone information broker. Runs an small entertainment insurance business in Capital Hill.
Gruff	Head of the local troll and orc gang, the Trogs, Gruff is untrustworthy and underhanded, but happy to deal with anyone if the Yen is right and they aren't daisy-eaters. Gruff's pride and joy is his wide array of elf skulls taken from other gangers and elfs who just happen to be in the wrong place at the wring time.
John Silverston	An Aboriginal Kuradji; owner and proprietor of Numereji, a small talisman shop in First Hill.
Jimmy The Saint	Dwarf Street Doc and cyber/body-mod specialist. Probably better with nano-tattooing, piercing, and blowtorch than actual medical care, but he can keep his mouth shut and doesn't ask questions for the right price. Jimmy operates his own shop out of his apartment in Lower Queen Anne.
KitKat Boom	A changeling "catgirl" who lucked out on the cute side of SURGE. Also, an accomplished "seamstress", sticky fingered shopgirl, and an avid clubgoer.
"Krissy" Gajra Samanthi Kishen	Bartender at The Rendezvous and lead singer for the Indian Neo-PRock Trip Hop group "Plasma Burn Sarangi".
Mr. Matz	Enigmatic Johnson of South American descent and a particular taste in Mayan and Aztec art and artifacts; and, one might say, an unhealthy fascination with Aztechnology.
Oma Endofski	Russian Troll neo-agriculturalist. The gun toting Trog ex-ganger and vigilant defender of her squat/garden in Puyallup.
Osaku Tosashi	Oni immigrant born on Yumi island. Auto mechanic at Ares Auto Supply and Repair in Burien.
Paku Ikibaku	Fixer of multiple mixed backgrounds who normally resides in the International District and is fluent in a wide number of languages.
Red	Rastafari Dwarf hacker who has been in the shadows since before Crash 2.0, and claims to be one of the few who survived being jacked in during the crash.
Slider	Information broker, organlegger, and seller of second hand cyberware. Rumored to have connections to Tamanous.
Sensei Frank	Master of mixed martial arts and street fighting tactics. An active pacifist and Zen buddhist, Frank teaches his students everyday survival in in the city. Rumors have it that Frank is a retired Street Samurai, and despite his calm demeanor, is heavily cybered.
Walter "Wrecker" Jones	Hailing originally from Tennesse, Wrecker is an impressively large troll and, despite his size, is quite an effective mechanic. An Ex-Trog gangmember, Wrecker has many contacts with the local gangs and can lay his hands on all kinds of interesting things.