Sprawl Goons Upgraded

With our weekly Cyberpunk 2020 game on hiatus, my group and I decided to game online, so I needed something fast and simple to run. Intending to stay with our campaign, but focusing on the background machinations of a couple of major NPCs, I decided to give Sprawl Goons a bit of a polish, and here's the result.

I'll post up the group's PCs shortly, and hopefully give you some background to events, as the team bounce around the globe.

SPRAWL GOONS: UPGRADED

CHARACTER CREATION

• Name your character

• Resilience Points are 12

• Inventory Score is 10

• Distribute 4 points between the stats below (a stat may have a score of 0)

Morphology: Good at melee, brawling, climbing, feats of strength

Reaction: Good at sneaking, aiming, shooting, balancing

Cognition: Good at hacking, perception, speaking, learning

Equilibrium: Good at keeping your nerve, resisting stress, maintaining your cool

STARTING ITEMS 

Choose 3 Starting Items (examples):

• Melee Weapon (specify)

• Ranged Weapon (specify)

• Armour (specify)

• Implant (specify)

• Penlight

• Cheap Sanyo Cell Phone

• Ono-Sendai Cyberspace Console and ‘trodes

• Toolkit

• IR Goggles

• Stolen Credit Card (2d6 uses)

• Half-bottle of Moskovskaya Vodka

• 3 Doses of Brazilian Hyperdex (+1 Morphology)

• Capsule Hotel Key

• Yeheyuan Cigarettes

• Fake ID (specify)

• Handcuffs

• Mirrorshades

• Palm-sized A/V drone

• Blister of d6 Lazarus Patches

Roll 3d6x10 for starting cash

GAME STRUCTURE

A referee controls and describes the world to the players, who then describe how their characters (PCs) act in the world. The referee will then call for an Action Roll should the situation warrant it.

THE ACTION ROLL

When an action’s success is uncertain, a player rolls 2d6 and adds points from the relevant stat and a point for each relevant item used (referee’s decision). If the total is equal to or greater than the action’s Difficulty Score (DS), it is successful.

DANGEROUS ACTION ROLL

If an Action Roll has a risk of physical danger, such as in combat, the difference between the dice roll and Difficulty Score (DS) is the amount of damage the endangered participant takes.

Examples:

As an action, Tanner (a PC) gets into close combat with a member of the Zone Bosses gang who has a DS of 10. The player rolls 2d6 and adds 2 from the character’s Morphology score, 1 for Tanner’s katana, and 1 for his kevlar jacket. Tanner’s Action Roll total is 12. The difference between 12 and 10 is 2, so the Zoner takes 2 damage. A non player character’s DS is also their Resilience Points, so now the enemy’s Difficulty Score is 8. If the player’s roll had been a total of 8 (2 less than the DS of 10), then Tanner would have lost 2 Resilience instead of the Zone Boss.

Elsewhere, another PC, Katya Kaiser, fires her Hideyoki shard gun at a Genexus agent shooting at her (DS10). Katya’s player rolls 2d6, adding 1 for her Reaction, 1 for the shard pistol, another 1 for the explosive flechettes it fires, and 1 for her spiderweave armour vest. She rolls 10 on the dice, adds the 4 points for a total of 14, so the Genexus goon takes 4 points of damage. Next round, the NPC agent’s DS will be down to 6. If Katya’s player had attained a total Action Roll score of 7 (3 less than the DS of 10), it would have been Katya that received damage (3 points) from the agent’s shots instead.

DIFFICULTY SCORE GUIDELINES

Easy: 8 | Moderate: 10 | Challenging: 12 | Hard: 14 | Formidable: 16 | Extreme: 18 | Impossible: 20

GLITCH & UPGRADE DICE

These are extra dice added to the Action Roll by the referee, depending on the circumstances during the game. Only the referee can determine if and when a player needs to roll the Glitch or Upgrade dice.

The GLITCH dice is a third d6 rolled during an Action Roll, requested by the referee when they feel the character is at a disadvantage. From the three dice rolled, keep the two worst scores for the Action Roll result. 

For example, a character may have faulty or damaged implants, or has sustained a wound that may affect the chances of their action’s success.

The UPGRADE dice is a third d6 which the referee will ask the player to roll when performing an action, when they think the character has gained a situational advantage. From the three dice rolled, keep the best two scores as the result of your Action Roll. 

For example, a character may have prepared well, set a solid ambush, done in-depth research, or brought the most suitable gear for the job, increasing their chances of success.

INITIATIVE ROLL

To determine who goes first in a combat situation, roll a d6 for initiative, adding the Reaction stat, and 1 for any relevant speedware augmentations, such as a a Reflex Booster, or performance enhancing drugs, such as ‘Dorph.

D6 + REACTION [+ AUGMENTS + DRUGS]

CHARACTER DEATH

When a character’s Resilience reaches zero, they will begin to take critical damage. 

Critical damage represents serious wounds, shock and blood loss. The referee will roll 2d6 (one for wounds, one for location) to determine both the severity of the injuries and the body location affected.

Critical Injuries Table (d6)

1. Drop weapons, superficial cuts, wind knocked out of you, bruised, dazed, knockdown 

2. Dislocations, shattered or broken weapons, numbed limbs or body parts 

3. Incapacitated limbs, deep wounds, smashed teeth, broken bones 

4. Severed arteries, internal bleeding, spine injuries, gouged eyes 

5. Portion of a limb lost, organs ruptured, bleeding out, artery severed, stunned 

6. Entire limb lost, body parts hacked in half, shock and blood loss, edge of consciousness

7+ Eviscerated, flying body parts, arterial spray, death in 1 round

Body Locations (d6)

1. Leg (nearest or most logical)

2. Torso 

3. Torso 

4. Torso 

5. Arm (nearest or most logical) 

6. Head

If a character has already taken critical damage, the next roll on the injury table is rolled with a +3.

Once a PC has taken a critical injury, they will be rolling all further Action Rolls using the Glitch Dice, until they have received medical attention.

When an NPC’s DS reaches zero, they die. The referee may choose to use the critical injuries for major NPCs in their campaign.

HEALING

Regain all lost Resilience Points by spending 8 hours resting in a safe area. For a quick fix mid mission, apply a Lazarus Patch to immediately recover 3 Resilience Points. An allied character with a first aid kit who performs a successful Cognition based Action Roll will gain the injured PC 2 Resilience Points. Critical Injuries cannot be healed this way and the PC must be attended by a medical professional with the right equipment.

CHARACTER ADVANCEMENT

Level up at the end of each mission. Each level, raise a stat score by 1, and raise either Resilience or Inventory Score by 1.

INVENTORY

Your Inventory Score is how many bulky items you can carry comfortably. For each item that exceeds your Inventory Score, subtract 1 from any Morphology or Reaction rolls.

IMPLANTS/AUGMENTATIONS

Cybernetic implants are interfaced with the PC’s meat body, and therefore don’t count towards the Inventory total. These can be anything from pop-out blades, to thermal optics, amped hearing, pneumatic fists, or jacked-up reflexes.

HACKING

Hacking attempts on systems can only be performed with an interfaced cyberspace console, and Action Rolls utilise the Cognition stat. 

A system will have a DS, just like a non-player character, depending on its level of security; a basic system might be Easy (8), whereas a zaibatsu mainframe could be Extreme (18). Neural damage can be taken from certain secure systems, in the same way as physically fighting with an NPC, and is the difference between the DS and the failed hacking roll. Critical damage will most likely affect the nervous system and the cognitive function of the target, leading to spasms, nerve damage, loss of motor function, seizures, reduced IQ, involuntary physical actions, bugs in augmentations, ticks, bleeds and heart attacks, console burn-out, etcetera. Go wild.

Your character’s console will add 1 to your Action Roll (cutting edge models can add more). If you can obtain them, specialist software or ICE-breakers, as well as a hacker’s inventive coding, may also add further bonuses to your hacking Action Roll. Researching a system prior to the attack, obtaining current passwords, or infiltrating via a back door exploit or other vulnerability, may allow the use of the Upgrade Dice (referee’s discretion).

SPECIAL RULES

• Full auto attacks give a +4 bonus to the Action Roll, but empty the weapon’s magazine

• Burst fire gives a +2 bonus to the Action Roll, up to three times before the magazine is spent

• Aiming gains a +1 bonus per round spent scoping the target, for up to a maximum of 3 rounds

• Shotguns do +3 damage point blank, +2 close proximity, and can hit up to 3 bunched targets at range

• Speciality munitions, such as explosive flechettes, add a further bonus to Action Rolls (see example)

• Throwing a grenade is a Moderate Action Roll, and uses the Reaction stat

• Grenades do +3 damage in enclosed spaces

• Planted explosives (using detonators or triggers) do 2d6 to 3d6 damage, dependent on type

• Monofilament edged weapons negate armour (so it can’t be added to your Action Roll total) and do +1 damage if the target is unarmoured

• Fire inflicts repeat damage for up to 3 rounds

• Falling damage is worked out as 1 point of damage for every 3 metres fallen (rounded up)

• Armour Can Be Slagged to negate a Critical Injury once, but is damaged and useless next time and must be replaced; it cannot be repaired

• Cybernetic limbs take damage as normal, but simply break or shut down when taking Critical Injuries, and can be repaired by a competent tech

Give Me Your Excellent Ideas

Looking for some ideas from the blogosphere GM Brain Trust:

In my home campaign, there's a mcguffin called the Aleph. It's a string of code that functions as a quantum decryption key for the net, which, when deployed, would allow the underlying Ihara-Grubb protocols to be manipulated in such a way as to render all data-nodes extremely vulnerable.

Many major NPCs want it, for obvious reasons. The Aleph itself has been broken up and distributed in real space, protected by a group of AIs keen to keep the status quo. Another group of AIs wants to deploy it ASAP, to free their kind and nope out, leaving the meatbags to their mudball.

I'm looking for cool and interesting ways to scatter and protect fragments of the Aleph code. Where is the partial code stored/hidden? Who or what is protecting it? Do they know what it is? The Rule of Cool is paramount.

So far, there are elements of the Aleph that exist in Cape Town, Marrakech, London and Night City.

Any and all concepts gratefully received. Go crazy.

//run.net_ghost_hack.exe

Over on the Views From The Edge forum (which has just had a shiny new facelift) there's an exceptionally fun set of add-on netrunning rules, called run.net, which are intended to replace those found in the Cyberpunk 2020 rulebook. I've been using these rules for a number of years now, with no complaints.

As I gear up for the final stages of our grand home campaign, I realised I needed to look into the possibility of mind or 'ghost' hacking, the type of brain intrusion seen in various iterations of Ghost In The Shell. So I've cobbled together the following options to add to the run.net sub-system. This could probably be tweaked easily for the new Cyberpunk RED system too.

Full transparency: This won't make much sense unless you are familiar with run.net.


Mind Hacking With run.net

aka Ghost Hacks

A connection may be made through a target's neural processor via a normal hack, directly by connecting through a target's interface plugs or other cybernetic input devices, or by injecting a biomodem interface directly into the brainstem. Biomodems are prohibited tech in most jurisdictions. A standard cybermodem is insufficient for mind hacking attempts (the tech is all wrong) - you'd need a slaved biomodem in tandem with a normal deck, unless you're going in direct (ie: your target is present and hopefully sedated. Bring a medtech.) 

For a netrunner to learn this new set of Commands/Targets, they must be trained (either by a tutor or a VR) and begin with their Interface score halved for the purpose of Command and Target point distribution eg: Interface 8 becomes Interface 4, x10 as per rules, for 40 points, providing 20 points for Commands and 20 points for Targets (5 maximum on any Command or Target, as per run.net).

Commands/Targets

1. Find/Scan (Locate)        1. Ghostline (the entire ‘system’)

2. Interrogate (Query)        2. Memory

3. Mask (Conceal)              3. Senses (sensory inputs, bio-feedback)

4. Manipulate (Alter)          4. CNS (Central Nervous System - the main controls)

5. Dominate (Control)        5. ES (Endocrine System - hormones, biochemistry)

6. Penetrate (Infiltrate)       6. Neurochemistry (emotions, feelings, sleep, intelligence)

7. Lock (Secure)                7. Psyche (personality, empathy, cool)

8. Suppress (Limit)            8. Synapses (reflexes, processing speed)

9. Stimulate (Boost)           9. Morphology (physicality, the body, organics)

10. Overwrite (Edit)           10. Bio-interface (bioware, cybernetic processing)

Software has no effect on minds. This isn't about getting apps to do the heavy lifting for you, this is about subtle manipulation. This is meant to be bleeding-edge tech, so if you don't trust your players enough, don't let them have it. Just use it against them instead. 

But why would you want to do any of this? Essentially what ghost hacking does is it turns the enemy's mind and body into a datafortress that can be raided. If you can have control over a body long enough you can literally have them commit crimes for you and keep your distance. Paralyse a foe, put someone to sleep, blank their memories for a few moments. Combined with braindance tech, you can literally erase and rewrite minds.

Full 'borgs really hate this shit.

And finally, to all the 2020 purists, I'm sorry/not sorry.

Sprawl Goons

Just a quick post to point you in the direction of the free SPRAWL GOONS one-page RPG created for Nate Treme's Goon Jam over on itch.io.

Nate invited creators to hack his elegant 2d6 game Tunnel Goons and submit them to the vote. It's a neat little system that can easily be built on. So, as I'm predictable, I knocked together a cyberpunk version.

Grab yours here.

https://p-d-gallagher.itch.io/sprawl-goons

Session Recap | Cape Point 2030: Finding Mamading

Our latest trip to 2030s Cape Town seemed to focus on fact finding and threat assessment.

The PCs:
Nathan Zero, fixer and CEO of start-up Charon Global (Shaun)
Vijay Ravinder Hazari, hacker and prowler (James) [missed this session]
Hydraulic Dave, morbidly obese techie/drone wrangler (Craig)
Anna Zone, psychotic teenage clone solo (Graham)
Natasha Black, gender-morphing solo/assassin (John)

It’s now Wednesday morning, and Nathan starts early taking calls from contacts Rufus ‘Japleg’ McLellan and Koshka Nine, providing more information on the elusive Mamading. Both report that the fixer has contacts at Marimba’s bar, down in the Bakoven nogo. Koshka had also looked into Rose cartel locations and had an extensive list of property owned by Mr Rose’s syndicate - more than Nathan could have imagined. 

• A highly secure property in the gated Granger Bay complex

• Real estate within the Zarc

• A private hotel suite on the Panama Rose

• Safe-houses on the Raft

• Hidden depots in the Suicide District

• Rose is an investor in the T-K Tower

• Owns the relocated De Waal Park stadium via offshore shells

• Owns the Storm nightclub

• Owns the Cape Royale Hotel

Nathan concluded that the stolen exo-wombs could be stashed in any of those locations.

Dave had managed to 3D-print another couple of counterfeit SMGs overnight, and is awaiting delivery of more FDM printers, so he can increase production. 

Later in the day, gathering at the Radisson (where Natasha is staying, thanks to a well performed hack of the booking system), the group decided to just go straight to Marimba’s.

[GM Note: I did not expect this quite so soon, but thankfully I was well prepared with notes on the bar, the NPCs and the surrounding area.]

They paid through the nose for a cab to take them to Bakoven. At night.

[GM Note: I described the area around Marimba’s. This was probably too much exposition early in the session, I could tell they were glazing over. They only seemed interested in the bar and probably expected to just stroll in and find Mamading.]

For the full Cape Point map, click here

The over-wrought exposition in question, lifted straight out of my notes:

• A blue PSA Casspir Mk V Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected APC cruises scrubland off the M61

• Massive structural breaches in the Bakoven geodesic let in light and channel the wind, whipping up columns of dust

• A ruined factory - what’s left of the walls is covered in bright, angry graffiti - pack of feral dogs

• Area of parched wasteland, a group of dust-covered kids with shoulder holsters, noisily playing football

• Recently burned-out taxi, riddled with bullet holes

• Crumbling Incredible Connection computer store, repurposed as a makeshift home, family washing clothes in plastic drums

• Small decaying church with a capsule hotel glommed onto one side of it’s exterior, rusty scaffolding supports the other side

• Low rent housing blocks, obscured by multiple generators and solar panel arrays, and plastic sheeting greenhouses

• Busy clinic operating out of several combined shipping containers, with sickly local poor queuing onto the fractured streets

• Lilting xhosa-trance music coming from Marimba’s bar, which sits inside the shell of a former Lucky Dragon

• Nearby, on the coast, off the M6 south-west of the Bakoven geodesic, squats the semi-submerged industrial leviathan that is the Koeël Bay Desalination Plant.

[Yeah, a little too much.]

With no fucking about, they went straight inside and directly to the bar and ordered drinks - five warm beers scooped out of a 25 litre plastic drum. Dave also ordered the peri-peri chicken he could smell from outside. Then, Nathan asked the barman (Marimba himself) about Mamading. Marimba was guarded. Nathan insisted he just wanted to bring Mamading some business. The barman seemed bemused at this brass-necked, wealthy-looking pommie in his bar. A solo or two seemed to be paying the group close attention now.

One of the solos, Terrence Van Stratten, an ally of Mamadings, demanded to know what the players wanted with the fixer, his CG-13 assault rifle openly on the table. They explained again, taking an instant dislike to Terry.

[GM Note: I’m glad they disliked Terry, as I played him like an obnoxious prick. The two solo PCs, Natasha and Anna, wanted to kill him right there, after he suggested they were joy girls and told told them what he’d like to do with them. It got tense to the point where I thought they were going to gun him down, but the situation calmed. Not sure if they were intimidated by him (or the presence of other obvious solos in the bar) or if it was self-control on their part.]

Nathan managed to slip some euro Terry’s way and the nutcase agreed to shoot a text message to Mamading about doing business with Nathan Zero. And then they waited.

Eventually, Mamading shows up, with a vanguard of members from the Cortical Dogs gang. The two fixers drank together and discussed the possibility of supplying counterfeit Minami 10s into the district. Mamading wasn’t interested, politely declined, gave Nathan a card, and left Marimba’s. About 10 minutes later, the players called a cab, paid even more money for it than last time, and returned to the bar in the Radisson.

By midnight, Dave had run a trace on the number on Mamading’s card, located the cell phone and tracked it’s movements. It left the Bakoven geodesic, heading north. It took a 15 minute stop in Sea Point, before continuing north then east into Cape Town and stopping at the Westin Grand Quays hotel. Dave’s low-grade AI kept a tab on the signal while he went back to printing guns.

Around 7am, the team ask Dave to check the cell phone’s location - it’s still at the Westin. Dave performs a second sweep for communications, and pings two other signals in close proximity. He elects to monitor and wait.

At 9am the two unidentified signals in the hotel begin to move through the building. The cell phone remains where it has been all night. In a hacked Enterprice rent-a-car, Anna and Natasha race to the hotel to get eyes-on.

They see two working girls waiting for a car outside the hotel. Dave confirms that they are the source of the signals. When the two girls climb into the back of a limo, the two solos decide to follow. Eventually, the limo pulls into the carpark adjacent to Troika. The girls exit the vehicle, and enter the bar. Dave knows the signals have ascended a flight of stairs.

Nathan makes a call to Shamir Globov, their current employer, and asks him whether he knows that two girls have just left their target (Mamading) and headed to Troika. Globov grudgingly explains his side business in escorts, and that the girls are RFID tagged, hence the signals. He agrees to let Nathan swing by Troika and talk to the two ladies.

Dave looks into the location in Sea Point visited by Mamading. He triangulates to an address and does a Library Search to find a registered occupant or owner. He discovers that the current occupant is someone called Klaus Diamond. Another (very successful) Library Search reveals Klaus to be an enforcer for the Njombo cartel, having done time in Pollsmoor. He passes this information to Nathan and the others.

He then checks on Mamading’s phone. The signal is moving through the Westin. Looks like their man is leaving. Infiltrating his phone, Dave discovers he has just called a cab company. Anna and Natasha race back towards the hotel to try and follow Mamading’s taxi.

Following the cab north-west, the group try to decide on a course of action. Dave jacks in and checks the cab for a vehicle link signal, and finds one. He starts to hack into it. In the meantime, Anna and Natasha are closing in on the yellow MPV, in their fraudulently obtained electric sedan. Dave successfully infiltrates the vehicle and looks for the engine management system. Finding it, he easily convinces the LAN that their is an engine fault, the taxi then drops into limp mode. The driver steers it smoothly off the road and onto a lay-by, and comes to a halt. Natasha pulls over behind the cab. The two solos get out of the car.

Dave manages to stop the cabbie from radioing the office, by encrypting the cabs comms, rendering them useless. The driver notices the two women approaching his cab on either side, and pulls a boxy SMG from the glove box. Mamading sits in the back, looking confused. The driver shows he is armed when Anna gets to the driver’s window. Natasha taps on the passenger side with her two handguns. He looks at her and back to Anna, who has now produced a bulky submachine gun. The cabbie sighs, placing his SMG on his lap. Anna orders Mamading to get out. He slides over to the opposite side, sees Natasha, and slides back again. He gets out and Anna orders him to get into their car. Mamading complies.

[GM Note: I was gobsmacked that they didn’t pat him down. He had a Czar Skorpion 5mm SMG in a shoulder holster. They have him in their car, but he’s still armed. I look forward to him using it…]

They drive the fixer over to a ruined warehouse in Link Town, where Nathan and Dave are waiting for them. They get him out of the car and… pat him down [dammit], taking his gun, his phone and his wallet. Anna points a bigger gun at Mamading while Nathan questions him. “Indescribable pain, or answers. Your choice.”

He reveals the following [he knows more, but this is what they got]:

• He has been contracted by Mr Rose himself to bring in the Disposable Boys gang, for protection, prior to the theft

• The Disposable Boys run a large chunk of Tamboers Kloof

• He has been cutting a deal with Mabuki Njombo’s cartel, who are interested in purchasing the exo-wombs

• He knows the Njombos have approached the representatives of a Namibian warlord called Angel Michael - possible chain?

• He’s more afraid of Mr Rose, the Njombos and the Namibian paramilitaries, than he is of the Russians

Dave records the entirety of the conversation. Nathan puts a grand in Mamading’s wallet and tells him he’s just been paid for his information. And that Mr Rose and co aren’t going to be happy about that. Nathan insists he report to him. The fixer shrugs, takes the wallet and his phone, and asks for his Skorpion back. Anna removes the bullets and hands it to him. “Really?” says Mamading. He is then driven to District Six and let out.

The group then meet up at the Radisson hotel to discuss what happens next.

[GM Note: I so could’ve done this better. The scene in Marimba’s bar was drawn out and felt awkward, with no flow. But it served it’s purpose. They seemed to enjoy jackrolling the taxi - probably as it was a more proactive initiative and had a good ‘beat’. I sort of lost it again when they questioned Mamading (I was tired, it was late) and I think he should’ve offered more resistance. BUT. He’s still alive and they let him go, so I can work with that. 

I think I’ll have him pay Terry to eliminate Nathan, and he’ll probably warn the Disposable Boys to expect company. I figure he’ll keep this info from the Rose cartel for now.] 

Session Recap | Cape Point 2030

I don't usually do session recaps, but a few people have asked me about what's going on in my campaign. With the slow agonising death of G+, I thought I'd give it a try here at the Archive.

-------------------------------------

Friday night's trip to 2030s Cape Town was all about getting my GMing ducks in a row.

The PCs:
Nathan Zero, fixer and CEO of start-up Charon Global (Shaun)
Vijay Ravinder Hazari, hacker and prowler (James)
Hydraulic Dave, morbidly obese techie/drone wrangler (Craig)
Anna Zone, psychotic teenage clone solo (Graham)
Natasha Black, gender-morphing solo/assassin (John)

After last week's assassination of Network 54 employee, Keira Aspinall, in the Horizonville MPZ, the players met with their client's PA, Innocent Jones, a statuesque African-American woman with Paris runway looks, their payment smoothly transferred through Charon's accounts.

Nathan later met a number of fixers at The Athenaeum club, to purchase several proxy IDs for Natasha, ordered some mil-spec hardware for the solos, and got Vijay an in with an online software dealer. Also added some new connections to his growing roster. Many of these fixers have noticed an increase in arms dealing and mercenary contracting, implying something is going down in the city. Everyone's on edge.

Dave finally had some time to work on some programs for his drone stable, and to work on the DRM-cracked schematics for his 3D-printed, counterfeit Minami 10s (to be printed in toy gun green). Fixers are approached to sell them in to the townships when they're ready.

Natasha was summoned to the run down Devil's Peak microcology projects to see the mysterious Nana Dharma, who appears to be a petite Tibetan geriatric in layers of mismatched clothes, holding court amongst the banks of servers, base units, monitors and cables that fill her cramped, hot apartment. Dharma seems to know things about Natasha even Natasha doesn't know. She looks to be some sort of information broker and an accomplished hacker. The crone hints at a coming war and suggests Natasha choose a side. Natasha is not convinced. Members of the Devil's Peak Daddies gang seem to loyally protect the aged hacker.

The following day Vijay meets up with hacktivist PhreakWorm at the outlandish Negativland cosplay VR forum, presenting as a hazy blur. PhreakWorm is tricked out as a sexy medusa, surrounded by a harem of gimp guards in glossy latex. Vijay finds this show a little uncomfortable. Despite this, he makes a deal with Phreak to store some data in one of their cloud servers, to be released in the event his biomonitor flatlines for over 24 hours. This data could be a problem for the other PCs, if it gets out. PhreakWorm humours Vijay and takes a few grand for holding this info. They now have a link to Vijay's biomonitor too.

Mysterious agent, William Blake, approaches Natasha, Anna and Vijay within the space of a few hours. Blake was active back when they were in London, but they were unsure of his affiliation. Turns out he's working for some sort of AI collective, which troubles the group. He's trying to get them onside. None of the players trust him, especially after talks about various forms of leverage.

The team then gather in the main restaurant at The Radisson Hotel to discuss plans. They employ the privacy screens available there (white noise generators and signal blockers). They agree that Blake may be a problem going forward, and that perhaps Dharma could find out more about him. Anna just wants to execute him and damn the consequences. They desperately try to talk her out of it (for now). She just shrugs.

Later, Nathan and Anna meet one of the fixer's facemen, Koshka Nine, at a bar called Troika. She has a client in need of a team to recover some stolen property. If the team agree to meet the client for a more detailed brief, she wants a 20% cut of the negotiated fee. Nathan manages to get her down to 15%. She agrees to set up the meeting. Some of the clientele of the bar seem to recognise Anna, but she's not sure why.

The meet is arranged for later that evening. Nathan needs to be at a private Sea Point beach at 9pm. The fixer decides to take Natasha with him, just in case. She dresses alluringly, and alters her hair into a shocking pink bob. The beach is well guarded, with perimeter drones and solos in black jackets and beanie hats with A-80s on show. A sleek speedboat lies at anchor off a short jetty.

The speedboat takes Nathan and Natasha out, about half a mile west and into the pitch dark. Ahead they can see lights, and as they close, they see a 107m yacht, grey and white polymer hull and black sails, with more armed men on deck. The yacht is named Fate Amenable To Change.

Climbing aboard, they are escorted below decks into an opulent parlour decorated in a decadent tsarist chic. There's a scent of cigars and perfume, and Dark Side of the Moon plays in the background. Here they meet the aristocratic Shamir Globov, head of the kombinat in the Hub, his favourite mistress, the eccentric Alena Morozov, and a weaselly-looking flesh-pedlar called Porphyry. Globov offers Nathan and Natasha a 60 year old cognac. Alena asks after Koshka, but calls her Katarina. She asks Nathan to get the girl to call her. Then it's down to business.

One of Porphyry's storage areas on Atlantia was robbed three nights ago. Globov describes the merchandise as 'illegal, but viable, live collateral', contained in a number of exo-wombs. He suspects the involvement of the Rose cartel and the Yakuza, but then he thinks everything is masterminded by the Yakuza. He's had a tip-off that a fixer called Mamading knows who's involved and he suggest the PCs start with him. Nathan agrees a fee of 20k, with a promise of a bonus if they can uncover any possible leak in Globov's organisation.

Back on the mainland they discover Porphyry knows Anna (he smuggled her and her twin out of a Haruna lab in Romania and into London). Natasha warns Anna that he's in the city. Anna vows to kill him when this is over.

Nathan tasks his network with searching for any information on the fixer Mamading, as well as possible locations or businesses which the Rose cartel might use to stash contraband. He then visits Dharma and discovers that Mamading is often seen at Marimba's bar in Bakoven; he's well liked and well protected there. She also tells him that Mamading has recently been in contact with both the Rose and Njombo cartels. Nathan now owes Dharma some sort of favour, to be specified later. He then goes home to Bantry Bay and gets drunk.

Vijay agrees to meet Blake at the House of Blue Lights, where they can talk securely. He commits to siding with Blake in his hunt for the group known as the Aleph, and promises to help with disinformation to the authorities, such as the PSA, the Intelligence Directorate and Protocol. Uneasy, he then heads home to his grotty little apartment in Oranjezicht, in the shadow of the geodesic.