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With a successful Episode 41 under the Team's belt, they have now increased their visibility by smashing the Trans-Pacific slavery ring and rescuing people from not only Night City, but also Seattle and the San Francisco area.  The credit for this rescue did go to the Team as the media, Jennifer Jones (Bambi) and her cameraman, Scotty, from WNS arrived on scene even before the Night City Police Department.  The Team was joined on the final battle on the docks by the US Marshals Gunsights and Nails from the Forlorn Hope and an Officer Suárez, from some sort of Federal agency.  Even the Harbor Police showed up towards the end of the fight.  True, the Indonesian gang leader and one of his men escaped, but the rest were killed and their ship seized.

For Samantha and Suzy the next couple of weeks didn't bring any happiness for their little company B&B Technologies.  The military rejected their Battle Mapper System with a report that it was a total failure.  The two found their DARPA association cancelled.  Militech, who had previously expressed interest in the system, are no longer interested in their project.  The C.I.A. however will still use it.  Of course, the two young women then got a call from Arasaka and they have secretly begun negotiations .  In anticipation of this Samantha and Suzy have decided to incorporate B&B Technologies under the laws of St. Kitts-Nevis in the Caribbean.  The two will issue 100 shares with a fixed value of €1,000 per share.  The corporation will have first right to buy any shares at this stated value if the owner wishes to sell them.  This rule will be in effect for 10 years or until a majority of the stockholders vote to abolish this restriction.  This gives both young women continuing absolute control of the company.  It is being set up this way in anticipation of coming to an agreement with Arasaka, which will (hopefully) bring in a substantial amount of money.  The two plan to declare part of this profit as a dividend to the "stockholders".  

As there will be, at first, only 100 shares each share equals 1% of the company.  The shares will be divided in the following manner:

Samantha - 35%

Suzy - 35%

Night City University (endowment) - 10%

Angel - 7%

Mitzi - 3%

Cossack - 2%

8-Ball - 1%

Fawkes - 1%

Jake - 1%

Jamal - 1%

Mr. Cool (a student at NCU) - 1%

Rue - 1 %

Sleepy (a student at NCU) - 1%

Violet (a student at NCU) - 1% 

This isn't going to make anyone rich as negotiations are under way and will take some time to complete.  For now the Team has other problems as they have learned that Samantha and Suzy have used drones and computer skills (along with Mitzi's and Suzy's stealth skills) to run a several month long investigation into the Voodoo Boyz's plans.  They have learned that this gang is planning to attack them at Samantha, Suzy and Mia's graduation party in June.  This will be followed by an all out attack on South Beach during the July 4th weekend.  Needless to say, the Team is planning a preemptive strike before that time.

The summer of 2073 is looking like a major street war in Night City! 

With Episode 41 coming up tomorrow I wanted to clarify a few changes to the end of the last episode since we were rather rushed at the end.  You are now hot on the trail of that international kidnap/slaver gang that escaped the Team's grasp down in Colombia over a year ago.  The problem is you have (wisely) chosen not to tell anyone, who wasn't directly involved in the previous incident.  Since this previous incident occurred while you were all undercover with different identities and those identities are officially 'dead', you aren't able to simply inform the authorities.  If the South American Alliance or any of almost a half a dozen drug cartels found out you are actually alive, the rest of your lives (however brief) would be would be spent 'on the run'.

The Team's choices on how to handle this situation have been excellent.  You have run down the local gang that the Indonesian KKB (the kidnap gang) is using as foot soldiers and taken many prisoners in your last assault on that gang's combat zone bar HQ.  Your search of the bar has uncovered the stash of Chinese military grade weapons (actually the weapons are cheap Indonesian knock-offs) that the KKB used to help bribe the locals.  As it was getting late in the day (Real Life), we ended with you taking everything and loading it in your van.  My middle son has been following this game and is privy to a lot of information.  He is an accomplished GM himself, as are all three of my boys, and pointed out that this Team would never have loaded anything in their van without thoroughly checking it, which is quite true.  So, I am ruling that you did look carefully in every container of the gear that the KKB gang gave to the locals before loading it into your van.  At the bottom of one of the large ammunition cases you find 21 kilograms of plastique explosives attached to a timer with 4:32 left on the countdown!

It is a simple bomb and Mitzi has no trouble defusing it with Jamal's help.  Those two have the best Demolitions skill.  You can show this to the local gang and they will tell you that their (now previous) employers let them know that the bomb case was supposed to be picked up tomorrow and after that they got to keep the guns.  Of course the gangers now realize that they would all have been blown up by then.  The Team knows that the death of the local gang signals the fact that the international kidnappers are about to flee the country.  This shouldn't change your next move, which is heading to the apartment where the locals dropped off their 'victims'.  The KKB gang is about to flee the city and escape (maybe).  On the ride to the KKB gang's apartment, Suzy calls for some back-up and gear from the Chrome Berets who are on full alert to assist.  After all, that gang considers the attempted kidnapping of Mary Knowles as a direct attack on them!  The back-up and gear won't arrive until well after they arrive at the target apartment.

As to the condition of the Team after this last fight.  Only 3 Team members are wounded.  Jamal has a single point of Impact Damage.  Fawkes has 9 points of damage (three of these are Impact Damage) and he is currently at the Critical Wound state.  .  Suzy took 11 points of damage (4 are only Impact).  Her Auto-injector delivered a dose of Stim to keep her stats up for the fight.  Before the drug cut out she had Mitzi help put in her Adrenaline / Endorphin Surge Chip to keep her stats up afterwards (thereby guaranteeing two points of damage when the Stim wore off) for a total of 13 damage.  Both Jamal and Rue have tended to the Team's (and surviving gang members') wounds.  This is the current wound status of the Team.

When we restart on Saturday the Team will be arriving at the KKB gang's apartment building.  See you all tomorrow!

For the mission to test the Tactical Battle Mapper Program, everyone who went to Peru (except Suzy, who doesn't get paid) gets the basic €15,000 plus an additional €5,000 from, well, Kronos gave you the money, but who knows where it is actually from.  Ouch, pickled heads on the mantle, shall we call that being Baronti'ed from now on?

As to MItzi's opinion on the mapper system, it matters little.  The system is owned by B&B Technologies, which is a partnership between Samantha and Suzy.  It will take several weeks before those two can disentangle the unit from their contractual obligations to SOCOM and the US military.  SOCOM has turned it down and is in the process of severing B&B Technologies, who owns the system, from their DARPA programs.  

Hmmm... Well, Kronos leaves the room before anyone has a chance to ask him a question, since he is only there to tell everyone what he has discovered about the fiasco in Peru and give some context to what Suzy wants to tell the Team.  If you ask him outside the SCIF room his answer is, "What are you talking about?"

Inside the SCIF room, Suzy just gives you a confused look and walks away.  This young woman has just under gone an emotional catharsis with her 'confessions' to the Team.  Despite her paranoia and secretive nature, she has just unloaded many of her deepest and darkest secrets, putting herself out like never before.  This NET Runner is with Mitzi and Samantha when you ask.  Samantha leads Suzy away and starts talking about things that happened at Suzy's 8th Birthday party in Pacifica.  Mitzi waits till those two are out of earshot before answering your question and giving you some more explanation. 

No, Mitzi has NO intention of doing any work with SOCOM until this is resolved.  This is the first time she has accepted a contract that deals with SOCOM with this group.  It is important to note that this job didn't come to her from SOCOM but rather from B&B Technologies (Samantha's and Suzy's umbrella tech company).  They needed to do a 'live fire' test before their Battle Mapper system would be accepted and SOCOM was paying a (relatively) large amount of money for the test.  The two didn't take any 'slice of the government pie' for this test.  In fact, Suzy took nothing since she is already rich.  Samantha just took the standard that everyone else got.  The money that would normally line the pockets of 'pentagon contractors' instead went into increasing the salaries for the Team on this mission.  Mitzi is shocked by this betrayal and admits she never saw it coming.  The Fixer tells you, "No, we are not taking any contracts from SOCOM until I am fully satisfied that the elements who tried to have us killed are purged from Special Forces Command.  Until that happens all contracts that we are offered will be thoroughly scrutinized for any connection to that group.  I don't work for people that have a proven desire to kill me."

As to using your radios and any enemy SIGINT, Suzy did tell you to keep radio traffic to a minimum right at the beginning.  A tight beam satellite uplink for all your communications gear was not part of the parameters of the test.  You did have that type of uplink attached to the physical field computer for the Battle Mapper system.  It was fried and caught fire from an attack on it originating from within SOCOM.  Suzy did come prepared for communications failure by secreting sets of earwigs, a small radio along with a small satellite uplink with a few other items, in gear that she had smuggled in for you all.  (OOG, this is the only contribution made by the C.I.A. to the Battle Mapper test).  

Concerning Suzy's tactical judgement being 'suboptimal', her decisions here are colored by the GM not wanting his NPC to solve the all the problems of what was about to happen.  While she and Fawkes were off setting up the 'communication repeaters' for the test, 8-Ball was instructed to bring the Team to the barn where the 'extractee' was supposedly being held and begin surveillance.  You were provided with a map of the immediate area and information that this barn was part of a cattle ranch whose main hacienda and component ranch buildings were located about a half a mile away to the south.  That part of the Team was on location there for about 14 hours.  You were also informed that the ranch had a small militia of little value; more on that further on.  Until the two (Suzy and Fawkes) returned, 8-Ball was in tactical command giving you about 9 hours during the late afternoon until about midnight to do recon before the other two returned. 

This mission was a trap from the very beginning; a dangerous gambit by someone in SOCOM to kill Suzy.  (Wah, wah you were betrayed by your employer, welcome to Cyberpunk!)  As GM I never want to send any of my players into a situation where they are doomed to death or failure without giving them the tools to escape or maybe succeed, although the only success here would be measured in survival.  So, I set up a situation that screamed, "TRAP!"

I built in a number of ways that you all could discover this:

1) You have several of the stealthiest players in the game with you.  Did you recon the nearby hacienda and other farm outbuildings?  You knew there was a ranch 'militia', so looking for their barracks and such in that period would seem to be a basic part of the surveillance assignment.  If you had, you would have discovered the 30+ soldiers of the veteran Jose Marti Brigade along with their armed technicals and transports hidden in one of the barns.  That would have given you your first clue, but it would mean you would just have to be quick on the extraction before they could muster. 

2)  Once Fawkes had arrived, he discovered he could see the heat signatures of the ten people in the barn during the night.  There wasn't a single farm animal in this barn, still, this didn't prove anything, yet.  Fawkes was very diligent and watched them closely.  They hardly moved; just enough to show they weren't any kind of IR dummy.  He and others did inquire as to the the movements of the four guards dressed in civilian clothes outside the small barn.  You were told that they appeared vigilant and each one always had at least two of their comrades in sight at all times.  Definitely not the training one would expect from a ranch 'militia'.  

3)  While watching the heat signatures in the target barn, at no time did any of them disappear from sight, like they were going into a basement in which some hypothesized their 'package' might be being held.  I showed you a picture of that barn's exterior.  It was a small, crudely constructed building, not something that would have a basement.  Still, if you are not experienced with farms, it might not mean that much by itself.

4) By now, as GM, I had to watch the Team as it prepared to suicide itself against this 'TRAP!'.  Even some of the Team members were talking about this being an obvious trap, but were still determined to attack.  So, I laid out my last bread crumb.  Just before dawn I had the next day's shift arrive.  Ten heavily armed troops came through the woods and replaced the ten already inside the building.  These were clearly members of the crack, veteran Jose Marti Brigade and not members of a local militia.  Ten go in and ten go out and no thermal signatures goes down to check on any prisoner in a hypothetical basement.  Suzy was set up where she couldn't see the change of the guard shift, so any call about this would have to come from a player, not the GM.  

5) Well, there was also my low tech alarm system to deal with.  A flock of noisy geese can often be more effective that high tech sensors in a situation like this and harder to defeat.  The geese were being watched so killing them with silenced weapons would have been noticed very quickly.  Despite seeing all the evidence, the players on the Team felt confident they could take down four 'civilian' guards outside and the ten inside .  I agree that the Team might have been able to do just that, but clearing the barn of ten heavily armed veteran troops would have taken time.  As you saw from the one attack the Jose Marti troops got off, the Team would have been seriously hurt and slowed by this fight.  Within two minutes of the start of that fight, the remaining 30 troops of the Jose Marti Brigade who were waiting in one of the large barns would have come riding in on their armed transports with their heavy weapon equipped technicals and been on you.  Maybe Suzy and and possibly Fawkes could have escaped due to their extensive Special Forces training and their thermo resistant gear, but odds are the rest of the Team would have been headed for intensive interrogation and a brutal execution.

6) If Suzy had been a PC and I was just a player (not the GM), I would have had everyone pull back, but the Team was bound and determined to attack.  Since no one had suggested to report in to SOCOM about all these 'irregularities' in the intelligence about what should have been a simple extraction.  I had Suzy do it, since it was clear no one was going to act on all the evidence that this was a complete 'TRAP!'  Well, that started the betrayal as you lost comms, satellite uplink and drone support.  The initial exchange of gunfire went badly for the Team, but everyone was determined to (dead) soldier on.  An admirable quality in most situations, but not here.  As GM, I thought the whole team (or most of them) were now doomed since, as GM, I had SOCOM destroy your communications grid.  You were using their equipment so, it was easy for them to destroy it.  Without radios the Team was separated and unable to communicate.  As GM, I was a bit in panic mode now about what to do.  For the first time ever, I found a use for Suzy's loudspeaker function on her AudioVox.  She shouted the order to retreat by yelling in Spanish, "Fall back to Rally Point South." 

As your only rally point was to the north, she hoped everyone would get the 'code' here and they all did.  When it was clear that Escape and Evasion Point A was compromised, Suzy went to her secret 'Plan C'.  The Team was able to get out of the country and help some random indigenous folk along the way.  It was not the victory the Team was expecting, but could prove to be useful in the future.

So yes, while Suzy's tactical judgement may seem 'sub-optimal', a lot of that is based on GM's desire to let the PCs be the decision makers and not have the GM solve all the the mysteries.  Now that she has confessed (most of) her story that she has been hiding, or at least all she can talk about without getting killed, she intends to take a more active role with the Team.  No longer does she feel she has to play the simple college student.  Suzy has to step up to the responsibilities that have been thrust on her.  In most ways this will make her more proactive with the Team, but in other ways, you all are aware of her confidence in any decisions she makes.  As a GM, I will try to balance this against my desire to have the PCs make many of the important decisions during a mission.  Future jobs will not have the restrictions put on you for this last test.  There is really very little blame to go around for the Team over this last job.  You were set up to fail in an attempt to kill Suzy, but you escaped and succeeded in getting out of the country, while doing a good thing by protecting a village of Quechua.  Yes, four years of work by Samantha and Suzy has been wrecked, but but all in all, this has been a win for the Team.

Next up, more parties in April and other things!

Well, our merry band of Cyberpunks have suffered their first major betrayal.  They were hired to do a live combat test the Tactical Battle Mapper system that their two NET Runners have developed.  SOCOM (Special Operations Command) tasked them to enter Peru, a hostile South Am Alliance country and free a human asset being held in a small barn on a cattle ranch.  They did notice that the barn was defended more heavily than their briefing suggested.  When the Team was in position to strike, they called in to report this turn of events.  As soon as they did, their communications grid and Satellite uplink failed.  The small portable computer running the Battle Mapper System caught fire.  The last thing they heard from SOCOM was to initiate their Escape and Evasion plans as they couldn’t fly in and extract them as planned.  Because Suzy cheated and brought an unauthorized drone she was able to detect an ambush waiting for them at their first Escape and Evasion point.  The Team often finds their NET Runner’s secrecy and paranoia annoying at best, but this time it paid off as she had developed an unauthorized ‘Plan C’.  During their escape from Peru, the Team took time to help a village of indigenous Quechua repel an attack by troops of the Devil’s Cartel.  This earned the Team the locals’ gratitude and more importantly civilian clothes and important intelligence on the area.

On returning to Night City, they were greeted by a man from the Forlorn Hope called Kronos, a ‘retired’ C.I.A. operative, who is a friend and contact to a number of people on the Team.  He promised to get to the bottom of this.  Many on the Team suspected this gross betrayal had something to do with Suzy, their NET Runner. On the second evening after their return to Night City, Kronos called everyone, who was involved with that mission, to a meeting in a secure room at the Forlorn Hope using the cover of a birthday party to tell them all what he could about why everything went so wrong.           

Kronos begins his talk.  “First of all, let me explain my function here.  As a friend to a few of you, I have been sent to talk regarding what I have been able to find out about what went wrong in Peru.  This Battle Mapper test was under the authority and command of SOCOM so my …. friends were out of the loop on most of the planning.  SOCOM claims your system failed at about the same time that Peru declared an aerial exclusion zone over the region you were operating in so they couldn’t pick you up.  They also deny that there was any trap at the pick-up point of Evasion Plan A.  From recordings Suzy made with her ‘unauthorized drone’ she brought, and confirmed by certain satellites my friends have access to, yes, enemy forces were waiting for you.  We have since learned that Peruvian Navy Riverine forces positioned themselves to intercept you if you tried Evasion Plan B.  Also, the air exclusion zone was actually declared a couple of hours after SOCOM cancelled your pick-up.  Preliminary examination of the electronic parts to the Battle Mapper computer that you brought back indicate that the system was fried by an attack from inside the SOCOM monitoring system.  In other words, it looks like you were all set-up to die on this operation by someone in Special Operations.  Now, SOCOM is officially standing by their assessments.  The mission was a failure and therefore Samantha and Suzy’s project is finished.  Their contract, access to DARPA funding and support is cut off.  As this entire project and operation is deemed top secret, there is nothing that can be done officially about the Battle Mapper System.  At least you still have it and I know some people that might be interested.  Also, I have been authorized to pay every one of you an additional €5,000 over what you have been paid already as a small compensation for your trouble.  I can assure you that the people inside SOCOM responsible for what happened will be dealt with, and this situation should pose no further threat to any of you.” 

“Now, Suzy wanted to tell you why this all happened, but the ‘powers at be’ have instructed her to keep her pretty, little mouth shut.  I have been authorized to speak on her behalf.  You may know, or not, that years ago Suzy was involved with a large criminal conspiracy in Night City; not as a principle, but just having the wrong friends.  Present company excepted, of course.” (That is directed at Mitzi, Jake and Samantha.)

“Well, she saw a few things that made her a ‘loose end’ and earned the girl a price on her head.  So, LEDiv scooped her up into Witness Protection and then I offered her an alternative to do a little work for … let’s say the government.  It’s the kind of work you can never talk about; a lot like the work you do as Edgerunners, so please, don’t ask her, she can’t tell you.  Anyway, a person who occasionally does a certain kind of work, can make enemies.  In this case, an enemy on our own side.  All I, or she, can say about it is, she did nothing wrong.  None of this is her fault.  That’s all I am allowed to tell you.  I hope its enough because, well, it has to be.”

Kronos then tells you that Suzy has some things unrelated to the last mission she wants to talk to you all about, so he will see you upstairs.  With that he heads up to the party.

Although Suzy was looking at and listening to Kronos as he spoke, she turned her eyes to the floor almost as if she were ashamed, when the ‘retired’ C.I.A. officer says, “She has been instructed her to keep her pretty, little mouth shut.”

It takes a moment after the door closes (and the room secures), but Suzy finally stands and looks at you all saying,  “First, I want to apologize for endangering all of you.  If I even remotely thought something like this might happen I never would have asked you to take part in that equipment test.  I do believe Kronos when he says that this issue will be taken care of.  Actually, I have no choice but to believe him.  So …”

“I am sorry, but I can’t answer any questions about this.  I know what would happen to me if I talk and I fear what might happen to anyone I tell.  I know I am very secretive and not particularly trusting.  I am working on that, but maybe what just happened gives you a clue to why I am this way.”

The NET Runner is quiet for a few moments as she tries to gather her thoughts.  Finally, she looks at you all and continues, “I have no surviving family and that’s a little bit my fault.  You all are the closest thing I have to a family and I have lied and hidden things about me from you.  I need to stop that; well, at least as far as I am allowed to.  What you should know is what my connection to Marco Baronti and the whole thing in Night City a few years ago was about.  I was just a ‘weefle runner’ (low level NET Runner) back then so I made a little money gleaning stray data from the NET, but actually I made my living mostly as an ‘exotic dancer’, well, that’s just a fancy word for stripper.  I was the favorite of a local businessman named Jack Reynolds and I just used him for all the money I could get.  Like a lot of my ‘customers’, he would say he loved me, but I knew that no one could ever love me and he was a liar, just like everyone else.  What I didn’t know, or care about really, is he was also involved in a lot of the criminal rackets in our old neighborhood.  One night when I was at work, I was taken by Marco Baronti and two of his henchman to a warehouse.  They had Jack tied up there.  They thought he cared about me, so they made him watch as all three of them …. they …. ah … hurt me, for hours.”

Suzy’s demeanor cracks as a shadow passes over her face while her mind revisits that night.  She collects herself and continues, “Finally one of Marco’s men pulled out a knife as that monster told Jack that he was going to cut my face so no one would ever want to look at me again and then move down to …..  well, other parts, Marco wanted Jack to be his partner and sign over half his holdings to him.  I found out later this agreement included  a survival clause, so if something happened to Jack, Baronti would own it all.  I thought I was going to die.  I couldn’t believe it when Jack agreed.  I looked into his eyes and knew that I had been a fool; here is someone who truly loved me and I never even gave him a chance.”

These thoughts from her past now bring a small, brief smile to her face, before, “I was literally tossed out a car in front of my old Team’s house.  I crawled into the shower.  Mitzi, Red and Vito were there and did what they could for me.  Jack showed up later.  They had roughed him up a bit more, but all he was concerned about was that I was finally safe.  I knew at that moment, here was a man that loved me and would never hurt me.  All the walls I built around myself over the years melted away.  I fell in love.  Eventually, he asked me to marry him on a trip to Catalina.  I said no, but told him to ask me again in a month.  If he still wanted to marry me then, I would say yes.  Jack never got the chance.  Marco Baronti murdered him.  He tried to make it look like suicide.  Well, Baronti owned the police, the judges and everyone, so he moved to take all of Jack’s properties.  I was the only witness that he had forced Jack to sign the partnership agreement, so he put a price on my head.  Jack didn’t have any family.  I didn’t know he had changed his will and left me everything in anticipation of us getting married.  His will ended up in the hands of an honest local Assistant District Attorney who brought in the Feds.  With Baronti’s control over the police and the courts, they didn’t have enough to bring him down.  They needed one more witness, which they never could find.” 

The NET Runner thinks for a moment to consider if she should tell you this, but finally comes clean.  “What Kronos told you about what happened next is true, but he did mix up the order in which it occurred.   I was first given the option of, as he so quaintly put it ….working for the government.  If I said no, then I was on my own with Baronti.  What choice did I have?  So, I agreed.  It was only then I was ‘scooped up’ by LEDiv to be placed in Witness Protection, at least on paper.  I should be mad at them, but I’m not.  I was given a sense of purpose, I got to continue working on the Tactical Battle Mapper with Samantha in the NET and take the preliminary versions of it into actual combat.”

By now Suzy is starting to smile as she puts some of the darkness of her past behind her.  “With Marco Baronti alive, I could never resurface, but I understand he ran afoul of some South American Drug Cartel.  When his pickled head was discovered in some Las Vegas mobster’s study.  I was free, sort of.  The government sued Marco Baronti’s estate on behalf of me and many of the people he killed.  Jack’s will, which gave me everything he had, came out.  A lot of these properties in the 88^th Street neighborhood had changed hands several times so I was given the choice of fighting for them in court or taking fair value from unencumbered properties in South Beach along with a sizeable cash settlement.  During this time, I met Raymond James III (he owns South Beach Redevelopment), who also took properties in South Beach as recompense for the murder and thefts perpetrated on his father and grandfather.  I liked his concept of creating a safe neighborhood where neighbors could stand together against those who were continuing to destroy this country with their greed.”

By now the young woman is standing tall and confident again.  She looks everyone in the eyes as she finishes her confession,  “Why is this of any importance to you all?  Well, if you haven’t figured it out yet, I am the sole owner of Reynolds Realty which includes the building that serves as the Team’s headquarters, all but two of the buildings on that block and every building on the block south of there, including the new mall and the South Beach Hotel that is opening this spring.  I used my cash settlement to not only fix up the properties I have received, but I am also the patron Mitzi ‘found’ to fund this Team’s start-up.  If you are wondering why I haven’t mentioned all of this until now, as a senior in high school, I received a scholarship to Night City University.  There was an incident in my senior year at Saint Mary’s.  A couple of my male classmates felt … entitled … and well, some of you may know I have issues about being touched and back then I was … more sensitive about this.  I stabbed both of them.  Nobody died but their parents had pull and I was the troubled kid with the dead drug whore for a mother.  I lost my dream, my scholarship and the chance to even finish high school.  Next thing I know, I am on the street, running with a gang and finally working in a strip club run by another neighborhood gangster.”

“One of the promises made to me for my … government work … was, I would receive enough class credit towards my college degree and that I would get at least one year actually going to college.  I didn’t want anyone to know about all the money.  I just wanted at least one year of being a normal college student.  If you have money, people treat you differently.  I didn’t want that.  I just wanted that time to go hang out with my friends, go dancing, be in my friends’ band.  I never got to do any of that.  I know now I can’t escape who I am or the responsibilities that comes with Jack’s inheritance.  I’ve gotten three semesters of my life back.  I graduate in June, so its time I assumed the responsibilities I have.  I would appreciate if my inheritance and wealth didn’t become public knowledge yet.  Oh, Bambi from WNS figured this all out finally and we have come to an agreement.  She will wait until June and I will give her an exclusive interview about Marco Baronti and my small part in his story.”

By now your NET Runner is more relaxed as she concludes her story.  “After I was disappeared, Marco destroyed my old Team, forcing most to leave town.  I think Mitzi was allowed to live as an example so no one in our neighborhood would forget about how he scattered our old Team.  Mitzi and I founded Whyte Hat, LLC, back in the day.  Both of us have seen and experienced the rich and powerful as they take what they want from those who have no power.  Some say there is nothing to be done about it, but she and I disagree.  That is why Whyte Hat’s motto is, ‘Thou shall NOT get away with it’.  We know we can’t save the world, but we will be happy to save whoever we can.  Fate has given me a unique set of skills and I intend to use them.  You don’t have to believe in any of this, but we do expect you to help with it.  In return we will make sure that you all prosper, at least with other jobs we do.”

Suzy appears very relieved at this point.  She has finally been able to speak about what has been churning in her soul for years.  The young woman has told you all she has been authorized to talk about.  Well, actually a bit more than approved, but that is of no consequence to anyone.  She ends with, “Well, I think there is a birthday party waiting for us in the other room and I haven’t had one in four years.”

[GM Note:  Unless anyone has anything pressing to say, then all head upstairs where food, booze, cake and good friends await.  Besides a few small jobs coming up this month, all that is on the Team schedule is a ‘Victory Party’ Mitzi is throwing on April 15^th which is also her birthday and on April 17^th it will be Kathleen Knowles 13^th birthday.  Both Crusher and Mary Knowles are planning a big celebration for their little sister to be held at the Chrome Berets’ headquarters.  Let me know if anyone has anything special planned for this month.]           

Nothing except it is a single human asset.  When you arrive at the Lancero base in Colombia, you will be given more information including a picture and a code word to speak, including a response code word that they will (and should) give back.  If the person you find doesn't give the correct response ..... well, he becomes a loose end. 

Simple answers for all:

Cossack:  YES, on the smart-linked / suppressed FN-RAL; YES on the two Jaguars smart-linked and with suppressors; NO on double capacity magazines (these are coming out of stockpiles and no one is making any of this up for you); DP ammo is a YES along with the grenades you requested.

Fawkes:  YES on the smart-linked  FN-MAG machine gun with the 100 round hoppers (but you really aren't very good with heavy weapons); YES on the Jaguar and grenades; YES, on the two claymores; YES on the local B&E kit; NO on the Advanced Alarm & Removal Kit (nothing locally produced like that.

Question: Is Fawkes getting the Advance Corvette Cyberlegs with real-skin and stealth foot, having one of Suzy's spare cybereyes installed and getting Enhance Anti-bodies before you go.  Yes, you can afford them all. 

Also, YES, machetes for the both of them.  They will be furnishing you with rations, but no camel packs.  You get a large canteen and water purification pills.  This are is one of the wettest places in the world.  Water is everywhere and the pills make the local water potable.  Everyone also gets a tac vest and backpack with their armor.

Your weapons requests for both characters are noted and I am adjusting your character sheets on ASTRAL so you can use them.  SOCOM's instruction to the Team are that you pack nothing and only use gear and equipment provided by them.  They will provide rangefinder binoculars (or a few if requested) with one addition vision component (IR, LL etc).  As to the Optitech Magviewer, maybe the girls could adapt it to interface with their battle mapper, but they have no time to do that.  They are two busy working on a portable base station to connect the field team with Samantha, who will be in Night City monitoring the mission along with a representative from SOCOM who will be based at the Colombian Lancer base in that other country.  The drone will be provided for you and you are not to use your own.  The test must be done with current equipment that the Special Forces use.  

Yes, Suzy will be in command, but 8-Ball will be her second.  At a certain point in the op (laid out in the mission time table above), Suzy will be going off herself to implant repeaters to enhance communications for the operation.  She will be depending on you to lead the Team to the cattle ranch and begin surveillance of the target area.

Now as to Angel coming on this mission.  It wasn't Suzy's intention to bring him since he really isn't qualified for an operation like this.  That said, it is clear that he wants to go and she wouldn't tell him no.  His technical skill set could be very useful.  Her concern is that his weapon and stealth skills aren't particularly strong.  That said, she also believes that experience is the best teacher, so she will not discourage him from going.  Her only request will be that he install one of the Team's spare Spanish +3 chips, so he can talk to the native Peruvians, if necessary.

Here are some answers to these questions:

FN-RALs are available with underbarrel GLs and suppressors.  They can be smart-linked or fitted with laser sights or not as you wish.

Taurus makes a weapon similar to the Armalite 44 (a 12mm) that is called the Taurus Jaguar.  The major difference is that the Taurus weapon holds two more rounds in its magazine (a good thing!).  Again, they can be fitted with suppressor and either be smart linked, or have a laser sight, if desired.  If your request is for DP ammo (don't know this DA ammo, so I assume that is a typo, yes they will provide that.

Your medics will be provided with 1st world medical gear (Japanese made) and a limited amount of drugs.  Each Team member will also be provided with a 1st world basic med-kit (Japanese made).  Yes, they will provide one collapsible stretcher.

As to the opposition, they don't have a lot of information.  Satellite surveillance has noticed about a half dozen or so people around the target barn.  They think at least four are armed guards and the others are probably workers on the cattle ranch as they leave at night.  The larger barn (where the target is) might have more guards inside, but, as the building is small, there are probably no more than 8 to 10, if any.

SOCOM does have intelligence that elements of the Devil's Cartel's Jose Marti Brigade could be in the area since they have been driven out of Colombia.  This used to be a veteran unit, but suffered serious losses of men and material when they were driven out of that country.

[GM Note:  This isn't in the briefing but those who were in the Buenaventura arc have dealt with the Jose Marti Brigade before.  That time you were fighting WITH them and not against them.]

As to the quality and alertness of the guards at the barn, they have no information, but suggest you treat them as well armed, motivated and on constant alert.  There are Peruvian army and police units in the nearby city of Inqinto.  However the poor road net and communications puts their response time at about 30 minutes to over an hour.  However, most cattle operations of this size have a small militia of locals to deal with bandits.  They are probably based at the main hacienda are which is a mile a mile away by road (a dirt track).  Actually running would take them a bit longer as there is jungle covering the straight line route.  Your escape route is in the opposite direction of the hacienda.  This militia probably isn't of the highest quality, but are usually loyal to their employers.  Estimates put them at no more than two score (20), but since they also work on the ranch, it will take them time to mobilize.  

This is the information you have at start.  There may be (or not) an update once you reach Colombia.  

I hope this answers your questions.  Everyone should give me their requests for gear, so we can get stated quickly on Saturday.  As always questions are always welcome!

No, Mitzi doesn't have either a Cooking or a Motorcycle Scholar chip, but she will buy them for the Team's equipment store.  The idea of a monthly or bi-weekly Team 'potluck' diner (with drinks) is an excellent idea.

I believe I have answered most of Cossack's and Fawkes's previous questions in a PM to him earlier.  Cossack can easily find Rusty and he will give you his old call sign when I think of a good one.

Now as to the next assignment.  You are being sent to Peru to distract a US Special Forces asset that is being held in a small cattle barn.  This will be a 'live fire' test of Samantha and Suzy's Tactical Battle Mapper.  It is being run by SOCOM which is now working with a more friendly Colombian government.  Those going will be issued all new equipment and weapons for this operation.  You can bring nothing that will identify you.  Also, you do have a limited choice of weapons and none can be of American manufacture or rare.  That means all assault rifles are either of the AK variety, a FN-FAL or a FN-RAL.  You will be issued jungle camouflage (SP14) with torso & leg inserts, if you so desire, and an armored (SP14) boonie hat.  You will also be issued personal comm links and specialized smart goggles.  This all must be returned at the end of the mission.  Here is the mission time table:

Friday, March 24, 2073:

Team departs from military airport near Night City after equipping under Army supervision for an overnight flight to Columbia where Mitzi and Suzy have arranged to get other gear for the Team; then on to joint Colombian Lancer/American Special Forces base in Amazonas, Columbia.  You rest and re-equip there.

Saturday, March 25, 2073:

Team is inserted into Peru by Colombian military AV (Lancers) landing just at first light, and march all day towards Iquito, Peru. 

Sunday, March 26, 2073:

After another half day’s march, Suzy and possibly one other breaks off from main group to set up repeaters to facilitate communications with the main base.  The rest of the Team will move to Fundo Ojo de Agua (a cattle ranch) where the extraction target is.  The Team will watch the barn where the man is being held and make note of al defenders and guard shifts.  Suzy will return by midnight to rejoin the Team.

The marker on the map is the position of the small barn.

There is another small barn a few meters to the NE of the target barn.

Monday, March 27, 2073:

The Team will strike when they feel the time is right, but at least before noon.   When the 'package' is secured, The Team will head north to a designated extraction point which is marked on your NavStars.  It should take you about six hours to reach it.  The AV will pick you up at 20:00 hours.  If by 18:00 hours you know you can't get there on time use your long range radio and reset the pick-up time. 

Should circumstances prevent an AV pick up, your Team will has two Escape & Evasion Plans:

Plan A:  The Team will head to Caserio El Porvenir, the ghost town, on the Rio Momón where a boat will be waiting to pick them up. 

Plan B (if Plan A is FUBAR):  The Team will steal a boat and head down the Amazon River to Puerto Nariño which is on the Amazon in Colombia across the river from Peru. 

The Team should be back in Night City between Tuesday night or Saturday at the latest.  AS this is a MAXIMUM hazard operation, Mitzi has negotiated a pay increase to €15,000 each.

As always, send me any questions you have so we can kick this off as soon as possible on Saturday!

The Team has been victorious defeating the Desert Devil's (a Raffin Shiv group) at Rachel, Nevada in in that gang's attempt to disrupt the Universal Records Christmas Tour for their newly signed bands.  Of the slightly more than 200 attackers, you killed about 88, wounded another 38 and had one prisoner, who the Nye County Sheriff executed when you turned him over.  You also destroyed, crippled and damaged many of their vehicles along with capturing three of the better motorcycles they left on the field.  Of course, the Desert Devils have declared eternal vengeance against you, but that is just them howling at the moon.  They are actually trying to hunt down the fixer that gave them the job to attack you in the first place.  It would be fair to say that the intelligence briefing they got on the tour and its security was woefully inadequate.  The fact that you didn't fire on them while they were retreating and gathering their wounded earned you all what little respect people like that can give.  

Yes, it is sad that Hollow is dead, but he went down fighting against overwhelming odds.  FYI, Mitzi contacted his family, who do come down to Night City.  They gather his belongings (the gear he wasn't carrying, his car and motorcycle) and close out his (public) bank account.  After they leave to return to Seattle, Mitzi discovers that they didn't pick up Hollow's ashes.  When she calls them, they tell her, "We got the money; just toss the fucker's ashes in the trash!"

It is sad, but Hollow's family is just a bunch of greedy criminal assholes.  Mitzi arranges for a time for a small service before scattering them in the ocean at South Beach.  The Chrome Berets holds a farewell party for him at their club house in his honor for helping free them from the clutches of the Storm Kings.  The Team and their various hangers on are invited.  

As you know now, Bambi (Jennifer Jones), the WNS media was on the tour with you doing a documentary of it, or so she told you.  Her van was equipped with a satellite uplink.  Her cameraman, Scotty, launched a small drone (controlled by a microwave link) and Bambi had her Raven MicroCybernetics Cybercam EX-1.  They live streamed the entire battle in Rachel back to the Night City WNS newsroom.  It was a slow news day, so it was quickly shared to many WNS stations and was even picked up by other networks (with a slight delay).  Millions of people saw the battle and Bambi's subsequent interviews.  This is why the Nye County Sheriff got their so quickly.  Also, the governor of Nevada saw it and decided that this was an opportunity to improve his popularity by embracing you all as heroes.  This is why Las Vegas greeted the Team with such enthusiasm that evening.  Most of those who signed Bambi's release forms will find themselves gaining some Reputation over this.  Your company name, Whyte Hat LLC, is also becoming well known.

On this tour, Fawkes learned of his family's fate after they were scattered by Petrochem, after the Mega-corp crushed the labor protest led by Fawkes' parents.  His twin brother Ramón is now a wanted 'eco-terrorist' along with his two older sisters.  He also learned that his family (along with Petrochem) though he was dead.  His siblings sent the youngest sister, Valerie (15), to him since they were concerned for her safety as Petrochem (and the Texas Rangers) are pursuing them.  This youngest sister is the only one (besides Fawkes) that isn't wanted.  

The tour's last road show was in LA where Angel is from and some of his family live.  They also saw the fight at Rachel on the vid screen and their wayward brother, so some showed up at the LA performance.  Angel was a bit suspicious about why they showed up at first, but it was clear they just wanted to say hi (and maybe score some free tickets to the show, yes).

One of the results of this tour has been to raise up the Team's Reputation in the world.  Hence, the campaign will be taking a step up in the coming months.  In June, Jamal, Rue, Samantha, Suzy (and Mia) will be graduating from Medical School or NCU.  The cancer that is the Voodoo Boyz is spreading through Night City and with these graduations, the only thing holding the Team back from all out war, will be gone as those five will no longer be easy targets for retribution.   Fortunately, the Voodoo Boyz are unaware of this.  They have their own plans to deal with the Team, but for now, they have more important issues to deal with.  One of these "issues" is that the NCPD has formed a special squad to deal with that gang.  The gang is unaware (but they suspect) that the Team maybe behind this new police interest in them.  In this they are right.  Before leaving on the tour, Mitzi, turned over her rather extensive collection of evidence on the crimes of the Voodoo Boyz to her police contact, Richard Tanque.  This included samples of the "Blue Goo" that has caused so many deaths among the Night City gangs, along with chemical analysis of the various samples from reputable laboratories.  The now, Sergeant Richard Tanque, is in charge of the special squad dedicated to bringing down the Voodoo Boyz.  Also, Fawkes has informed two of his (lifepath) contacts (Kronos and Major Karl Schrader at the North Oak military base) about the threat.  For now that gang is quite busy dealing with this new combined police and military threat.

It is now the beginning of the year 2073 and in January and February there will some smaller jobs for individual Team members.  These will be mostly bodyguard and guarding valuable shipments of goods.  These aren't exciting assignments, but they do pay the rent.  The next major job will be in March 2073, which will be a final field test of Samantha and Suzy's Tactical Battle Mapper program.  This test will be a 'live fire project'.  The girls are hoping to get the US Army to adopt their creation which is now used only by select C.I.A. and Special Forces units.  This will be the pride and joy of the two's little company, B & B Technologies.

The range of the 5.56 MG is 450 meters, giving it an extended range of 900 meters,  Rusty has a REF of 9 and a Heavy Weapons of 7 for a base 16.  To this add the WA of the MG of +1 and the ending base is 17 to Hit.  There are two ranged modifiers to consider.  There is a +4 to Hit an immobile target and a +4 to Hit size modifier for a truck.  This totals a 25+ before you drop the die.  There could be some minuses to Hit due to firing from a moving vehicle depending on how well Cossack does of his Drive roll for that round.  At these ranges you might get a hit or two, but there is virtually no chance of being hit in return.  The Desert Devil's that were riding in the gun truck (and Hummer) have deployed outside their vehicles and moved away to close a little on your incoming GevHog.  You can make your run closer if you want to.

As to the Armadillo, if you look back (4, I think) posts on this thread, it has moved up to the restaurant and just shot up two vehicles attacking the buses.  Suzy and Rue bagged two more of the attackers with their RPG-As.  There are two dune buggies left facing the Armadillo, both RPGs and a wall of fire from the band members and drivers.  The final wave of attackers is moving in from the northwest and will be at the buses in four and a half minutes unless something is done.  The pursuit group will be at the south end of town in less than a minute (about 15 to 18 rounds).  You have plenty of targets.  

Its a good thought, however, many of the containers in the yard serves as homes, so many are air-conditioned (and heated) because they would be too hot to live in day and too cold at night.  Therefore, Suzy wants everyone setting up this ambush to have two container walls between them and the on-coming enemy.  The container homes that you can see the insides of are off the ground, but have (homemade) walls reaching to the ground.  The "two wall rule" should negate the enemy noticing the Team members waiting in ambush. 

Well, having Rue set up closer to the action on the south edge of town, might have allowed her to get an RPG-A shot at he armored gun truck, but if it didn't get a kill on the first shot, she would have been bathed in .50 caliber fire along with shots from every other vehicle.  Suzy positioned Rue so, she could cover the west corner of the defenses.  She and Suzy have set up a cross-fire between them, which the trikes and dune buggies are driving right into.  The results of the new vehicle assault (and the Armadillo's) ambush is near the end of this post.  While this attack is playing out, the eleven Raffin Shiv that just come up, rushes across the road.  Jamal will shoot as they cross the road.  Once I have the new map up and Fawkes, Stepan and Mitzi have put themselves on that map. I will give you the results of that fire.  Those three PCs are instructed to set up back from where he enemy will come from (the SW) as Suzy thinks that they are scanning with thermographic vision.  If they spot you before the scheduled rush, the enemy will wait and bath the whole area in weapons' fire.  Fawkes' armor is (90%) immune from discovery this way but still....

The gun truck is immobilized along with the MG armed (& rebuilt) Hummer, but both vehicles still have their weapons active.  This has forced the Team's snipers off the roofs.  However, those guns and escorting men no longer have viable targets.  Using the GevHog to attack them could be a good idea, but these targets are no longer much of a threat at the moment.  As Cossack approaches for his attack run, he can see that the troops defending these two crippled vehicles have deployed to meet his attack.  These men are no longer riding inside a moving vehicle and in there new positions can fire out to 400 meters with their rifles (and reach 800 meters for extreme range) and maybe more since you don't know exactly what kind of rifles they have.  Yes, the GevHog is moving quickly, but these nine riflemen will get two shots per combat round.  They will of course have their +3 careful aim bonus too, so they won't need to roll a '10' to hit you at long range (400 meters).  Its a big number, but if you are in range for three combat rounds, that is 54 shots!  A single hit could damage your motive gear as you have NO armor.  That might well be the end of you.  The enemy has been cursing you (Cossack) over their comm channels for a couple of minutes now.

Rusty is a bit concerned about this, but he does want to take a shot at the gun truck.  His suggestion is to make your pass on the enemy's rear at just between 850 and 900 meters.  This will give him 5 to 6 shots before being out of range instead of just 3 shots, if you close to under 400 meters to use the grenade launcher.  Rusty figures he will get two to three hits with the MG which would be the same number as using the grenade launcher from closer in.  However, by staying at range, there is only a "slim to none" chance of being hit in return.  With a third wave coming down the road from the northwest, someone must slow, stop or peel off some of the incoming numbers.  What you do is, of course, up to Cossack.

When (and if) you repel the current assault on the container yard, there will be time to go "RPG-hunting the immobilized vehicles".

The Pursuit Group will be at the south end of the town to reinforce the Raffin Shiv already there in one minute (18 combat rounds) after we start.  Your enemy should probably have waited for these additional men before launching this rush, but they are attacking now!  Three and a half minutes after the Pursuit Group arrives, the third wave will hit the town unless, Cossack and Rusty have delayed them.  

The enemy is/has loading(ed) much of their wounded into the cars that just dropped off the new eleven men that will be rushing the container yard.  The remaining motorcyclists are clearing the container area they have overrun and are clearing the white building closest to there.  This advance is slow and methodical, for now.

Since everyone in the village has moved to positions that Suzy suggested, I will give you the results of the six vehicles (3x trikes & 3x dune buggies) moving around your west flank to attack the buses.  They drive right into the crossfire of Rue's and Suzy's RPG-As.  Suzy's (rear) shot hits a trike's fuel tank.  The vehicle doesn't explode, yet, but is on fire!  The wounded crew bails out and their empty trike continues north in flames, but is slowing down.  Rue gets a flank shot and detonates another trike's engine.  The vehicle and crew explode in spectacular fashion.  As the first of the remaining four vehicles round the restaurant's west wall, they are greeted by the Armadillo sitting there.  

Unknown to the Team, Wovoko (the driver of the Cyber Revolutionaries bus) is at the wheel.  Loco Skysinger has an assault rifle at the front passenger's gunport and Samantha is firing the 40mm Auto GL.  The NET Runner targets the remaining trike and two of the three dune buggies.  The trike takes some hits, but only suffers some minor equipment damage.  One of the dune buggies takes three grenade hits and a rifle blast by Loco.  This vehicle disintegrates and its crew are killed.  The second dune buggy (and third target of the Armadillo) takes only one hit, and the effect was a catastrophic 'empty space' hit!  The crew and vehicle are undamaged except for the fact that the gunner has peed his pants.  This vehicle ends up in the smoke of the battle and hasn't cleared west wall of the building.  The last dune buggy fires on the Armadillo through the smoke, but misses.  The last trike finally gets ready for a clear shot on the buses, but the bands and their crews are ready.  Frankie S. and Gene Koopa open fire with their Thompson sub machine-guns along with pistol and rifle fire from other members of the Heartthrobs.  Rajneesh Sudha and Herbert ‘Sully’ Sullivan, the drivers the buses carrying the Heartthrobs and the Death Merchants, also fire with their assault rifles along with gunfire from Genghis, Attila, Celestine and Cassie.  The driver and crew of this last trike are killed and that vehicle slows quickly as it is crippled.  This leaves two dune buggies (& their crews) along with two more wounded Raffin Shiv left alive from that attack, but they are surrounded by the smoke and flame of the fighting.  This part of the assault is being contained.     

As to one of Cossack's earlier comments, Rusty can have his MG unjammed and reloaded.  He also can have his M-212 Grenade Launcher reloaded with which ever rounds he wants (and has left - 1x HEDP, 4x Smoke & 16x HE). 

Oh, I have put the container yard map on the site.  Suzy is where she is when she fired her RPG-A last round.  Fawkes, Mitzi and Stepan are on that map now.  They may be placed anywhere in the container yard, but must have at least two container walls between them and the road to the south.  Fawkes may try to risk being seen since his armor has a 90% chance of fooling a thermo-scan, but I would suggest being safe at set up.

18 hours ago, TigerGuard said:

if Suzy's realignment calls for all 5 of us moving simultaneously for those 6 turns, Fawkes is out.  That's how a retreat becomes a rout.  If her movement plan allows for covering fire while elements retreat to cover and provide covering fire the next round for the next set of retreat, then I can handle that plan tactically.

The order to fall back was directed at primarily at Jamal and Stepan as they are just going to be killed by that .50 caliber MG before the GevHog can get there and destroy it.  Cossack should remember that there is also a disabled Hummer w/a 7.62 MG in its top mount.  Both of these vehicles have their passengers/fighters deployed to protect them.  We need a new line of defense.  Stepan, Mitzi and Jamal need to get off the roofs.  

(It is now 6 hours later and I discover this in my editor when I am about to respond to these last posts.)

Suzy in no way wants to just keep going back for whatever many turns.  So, a bit of information;  Mikael van Atta is right, neither the gun truck or the disabled Hummer can see through the village buildings to the Team's buses.  Yes, technically they could eventually put enough holes in the buildings, but they aren't carrying that much ammunition.  Your buses and tractor trailer is safe, when we stopped.  As to interparty communications, those on the Team's channel have radio and Tactical Mapper (with the proper equipment).  Suzy gave Stepan a one channel (small) radio set so he can talk with you all.  That Ukrainian can't see the mapper.   

Now, several things are about to happen.  As GM, I want to take all the players' plans into consideration as the action unfolds.  So, what happens in the next 30 seconds (9 combat rounds or 3 turns) is this:

1) Cossack and the GevHog use this time to move into position for a fast attack across the rear of the gun truck and Hummer (your choice as to range).  Both immobile vehicles have riflemen deployed to defend them (6 w/truck, 4 w/Hummer).  While you are closing, you learn that another group of Raffin Shiv (a third wave to block your escape, if you tried to flee) is five minutes out coming down the highway from the northwest.  It consists of 1 trike and 24 motorcycles.  The remains of the Pursuit Group that Cossack and Rusty led away will arrive to deploy one minute (18 combat rounds) after we restart from this GM PAUSE. 

2) The remnants of Raffin Shiv's motorcyclists move slowly through the first group of containers.  Jamal comes down off the roof, but remains in the same hex inside.  He hides and prepares to lay down a one meter wide field of suppression fire down the dirt path to his southwest.  The remaining four cars of the Flanking Wave drop off eleven Raffin Shiv.  These fresh reinforcements line up to rush the container yard just south of Suzy's position.  This is why Jamal has his suppression field set up.    

3) The three trikes and three dune buggies of the flanking wave will sweep around the west end of the map to come at the west side of the Team's camp.  However, they drive right into a crossfire of both Rue and Suzy with their RPG-As.  The Armadillo has moved up to the front of the restaurant and is also waiting in ambush.  

4) If the Raffin Shiv take over that next container yard, you will be hard pressed to get them out of it.  So, Suzy will want Mitzi, Fawkes and Stepan to join her in that container yard.  She thinks the four characters can drop eleven Raffin Shiv, especially after they have run through Jamal's suppression fire.   

So, when we restart, we will be running on 3.3 second combat rounds.  Cossack & Rusty will fight the gun-truck and the Hummer on one map (I will make that up).  Meanwhile, Mitzi, Stepan, Fawkes and Suzy will take on 11 Desert Devils (after they try to run through Jamal's fire) on a detailed one meter battlemap of that container yard.

This is how I would like to restart next time.  If no one has serious objection, I will set up new maps, process the damage from the charge through Jamal's field of fire and the results of the Raffin Shiv's vehicle charge (into the meat-grinder).  Everyone can set up on the 'container battlemap' then, so we can get started immediately next session.  

On 02/10/2021 at 17:53, senior officer Mikael van Atta said:

OK, so to keep it in mind next time:

• 8-Ball's BOD is 13, +2 on Death Saves due to Bodyweight Vein Clips.
• his biomonitor was set up to fire up a dose of Trauma 1 (a TraumaTeam drug providing +3 to Death Saves) if he hit Mortal4 or worse - which had certainly happened.

So, yes, he's hanging to life by the skin of his teeth. But he is likely to hang there for a little longer than Joe Average.

 

Yes, I have rolled the length of time your Trauma 1 will last and 8-Ball has 7 minutes before that drug's effect ends.  Therefore, he doesn't need to make a Death Save for that length of time.  Even after it expires all you will have to roll is an 8 or less not to die.  I think the battle will be decided by then.  8-Ball is down to 2 hit points (out of 40), so even though the Raffin Shiv will overrun your body, you look VERY dead, so no one is going coupe de grace you.  Your long time npc, Hollow (a former PC), is DEAD 10 however.  He had a good run, but the Team no longer needs the character to back them up.  

As to how things worked out last Saturday, let me give you all a brief run down.  The Assault Group coming down the main road has been smashed and broken.  Of the four Homemade AFVs: 1) the guntruck, an up-armored 2 1/2 ton truck w/.50 caliber MG behind a gun shield, has been blown up by the Armadillo.  2) The crew of the rebuilt BMW2069 (same as BMW 2020) has its minigun in the turret taken out and them suffered a catastrophic crew & passenger hit.  This sent that vehicle off the road, where it overturned, crashed and killed all aboard.  3) The up-armored Hummer had three 40mm HEDP grenades enter the crew and passenger compartment killing everyone.  This vehicle has rolled to a stop.  Fawkes, wielding his M-90 sniper rifle, crippled or destroyed both incoming trikes and the dune buggy before they could get into effective range.  He also did the same to 3 of the incoming 5 cars.  Stepan, your other sniper, concentrated on the motorcyclists with his Dragunov SVD.  He killed 5 of the 12 incoming bikers and seriously wounded two others.  Fawkes also counted  a biker in his tally.  Once the attackers reached under 400 meters, the riflemen on that side of the camp opened up.  Hollow critically wounded one and Jamal killed Biker #10.  At this point, the attackers broke with the two remaining mobile cars and two motorcycles turning back into the dust cloud following them.  At this point the Team shifted their attention to the flanking group coming in from the south.  The remaining people in the camp kept up fire on the retreating Assault Group keeping the Raffin Shiv in full retreat.

While this was taking place, Cossack (driving) and Rusty (as gunner) took the GevHog and looped to the west around the town and then headed south to intercept the Flanking Group attack.  One of the disguised raiders hidden in the town that was wounded (in the previous episode) fired on them but missed.  Rusty lit him up and killed him.  Before we started this fight, Cossack announced that he (with his GevHog & Rusty) were going to show the Raffin Shiv how 'real raiders' fight.  He definitely has done that!  His high speed slashing attacks with the machingun and grenade launcher peeled off a Homemade AFV, dune buggy, a trike and a dozen motorcycles totaling 27 men to deal with him.  It also delayed the flanking attack long enough for 8-Ball, Hollow, Jamal, Mitzi, Rue, Angel, Stepan and Suzy to get into positions at the south end of the town to meet this incoming attack.  With the Assault Group in retreat, Samantha and some of the tour's techies got to work on trying to get the Armadillo's engine started so they can move it.

The Raffin Shiv Pursuit Group chasing Cossack didn't have much luck.  Its sole Homemade AFV (an up-armored Kumo) got blown up.  Its one dune buggy had its motive gear destroyed, one of the car's drivers was seriously wounded and two of the twelve motorcyclists were also dropped.  The Pursuit Group has finally given up chasing Cossack and is racing to rejoin the Flanking Attack Group since they have now succeeded in entering the south end of the town.  The GevHog has passed them going north and continues to be a major 'pain in the ass' to these attackers.

The remains of the Flanking Wave consisted of two Homemade AFVs (another Guntruck and an up-armored Hummer), three trikes, three dune buggies, five cars and twenty-six bikers.  Fawkes and Stepan took up positions on the roofs of two buildings and began to fire.  Fawkes was able to cripple the engine on the Gun Truck reducing it to a fixed machine gun position a few hundred meters from the south edge of town.  He also destroyed the motive gear on the up-armored Hummer reducing it to the same status.  Stepan took out a car and a single biker.  This was all before they succeeded in closing.  

The motorcycles closed to about 50 meters where the drivers dumped their bikes and charged the first line of containers where 8-Ball and Hollow has taken cover.  The trikes, dune buggies and cars stopped a bit earlier and unloaded 11 more Raffin Shiv for the attack.

The first wave of twenty five dismounted bikers met a 'wall of fire'.  Seven of the Raffin Shiv were killed, eight are in critical / mortal and either unconscious or retreating.    Two more are in serious but are continuing forward and eight more are unwounded and still advancing.  Unfortunately, the enemy reached the containers where 8-Ball and Hollow are.  Hollow was riddled with assault rifle fire at point blank range and is now DEAD 10!  8-Ball has been reduced to only 2 hit points and is unconscious.  That position is now "over run".  

The drone sees that the Raffin Shiv in the cars have re-boarded their transports and they, along with the trikes and dune buggies, are about to go mobile again.  The .50 caliber machinegun on the immobilized gun truck is still firing.  This gun has forced Fawkes to duck and Stepan's cover has been destroyed.  This is where we ended.  I will add one more bit of "what's happening".  With 8-Ball down, Suzy comes on the radio,says she is taking over command and orders Jamal, Mitzi, Stepan and Fawkes to fall back to the next line of buildings (Fawkes is already there).  Jamal and Mitzi will follow this instruction as will Stepan (he is an NPC) as his cover has been destroyed by the .50 cal.  Let me know what Fawkes wants to do.  The last thing that comes over the radio is Samantha announcing that she (and others) have gotten the Armadillo started.  She is on her way to provide fire support. It will take a little time for her to get into position. 

Now, if everyone involved in the fight at the south end of town listens to Suzy, she will direct everyone to a new position in the town.  What I would like to do is move 20 seconds ahead (6 rounds) which will be about the time everyone needs to reposition themselves.  Those with access to the Tactical Battle Mapper in their Time Square of Video Imager will be able to see the Raffin Shiv's movement.  Your opponents, however, will have no idea where you are.  Your advance into the town cleaned out the rest of the survivors of the town ambush group.

The Team has devastated the initial assault and the Raffin Shiv are nearing a tipping point on morale.  However, each group has a leader (or two) who are key in keeping up the attack.  You may assume that the leaders in the Assault Group have been neutralized, but the other leaders are still very much alive.  Let me know if everyone is going to take the positions that Suzy suggests and I will update the battle map.  Also, the pursuit group is now racing for the village, so I need to know what Cossack plans to do.  While there are several other encounters planned, this is the major one of this tour.  So far, you are all doing fine, more than fine actually.

As always, send me your IP claims, and remember that you LUCK will be fully restored when we stat next!

All of this is very interesting, but you are taking a bunch of things for granted, which may be right (or wrong).  However, you are out of time for something like that.  You "don't have the 5 minutes to sort it out".  In 50 seconds, the 'assault group' will be at your perimeter.  In five minutes the flanking group will be storming you vehicle perimeter.  You should take some solace in the fact that Angel has earned his paycheck by fixing the jammed turret on the Armadillo.  

When we restart today, it will be by 'dropping the dice' for Initiative.  Fawkes has the opportunity for a few shots before this, but those will be at Extreme Range.  His penetration for the .50 caliber rounds are at 1/4 at that range.  With only 20 rounds to use, he might want to wait until the Assault Group reaches the 1000 meter mark.  That is his choice, of course.  

Excellent questions on communications!

Every member of the Team has a radio either in their M-82A2 helmet or in their ear.  These are all functioning.  Any Team member wearing the M-82A2 helmet or using Video Imager, Times Square or Time Square Plus will also have access to the Tactical (Battle) Mapper.  Only Angel doesn't have any way to access the Mapper, but he is on the radio.  Suzy and Samantha had already patched the three buses and tractor trailer radios into one of your comm channels.  As soon as the shooting started, that link was jammed, so you can no longer communicate with those vehicles.  This also means that you can't communicate with Stepan or any of Bambi's people by radio either.  As you readied yourselves for this fight, Usman (at Nancy's request) tried to radio out for help, but finds his radio is jammed too.  Nancy tried her phone, but all phones are also now not working.  For some reason, the Team's short range comms are still working.  

This presents a unique problem for Cossack and Rusty in the GevHog.  Rusty's radio is also jammed.  He and Cossack will have to shout to communicate.  This will be an annoying, but not crippling problem.

The only positive outcome of all of this is that the civilians won't be generating any "clusterfuck" on the airwaves.  They do understand that their job in this fight is defend their bus and try not to get killed.  They will probably be somewhat effective in combat, if the stay behind their buses' light armor.  From what you have seen, only Attila and Genghis have any 'combat cool'.  Of course, Stepan, being a Ukrainian Army veteran, has not only 'combat cool', but also 'combat discipline'.

In the close in map of your vehicle camp, you will see your prisoner is now inside one of the tents.  This man is stabilized, tied up and drugged into unconsciousness, so he will be no issue in the upcoming fight.    

Here is the situation map when we start this Saturday.  The defensive circle of the tour buses is located at about the little red bed symbol of the Little A'Le'Inn.  The Assault Group appears to be executing a wild charge on your position.  They will be at your camp in 50 seconds (15 combat rounds).  The Flanking Group, which saw the effect of Suzy and Samantha's 40mm grenade barrage, have spread out and are staying at extreme range of the Armadillo's main weapon in the hope of avoiding another "Death Blossom" attack from the young women.  They probably hope to put the buildings of Rachel between them and the Armadillo.  If they can get among the buildings of the town, then they can close on your position and at least cripple or destroy your transports.  If they succeed, then you are all probably finished. 

If you could move the Armadillo in time, you could stop this, but the young women's experimental attack program has crippled their van's electrical system so it won't start.  The rapid firing and turret movement jammed said turret, which by game start, has been fixed by Angel.  Samantha and Suzy have succeeded in restoring their computer assisted firing system and Team's Tactical Battle Program by switching them to battery back-up.  This hasn't fixed the fact that the Armadillo won't start.

The Flanking Group should reach the cluster of buildings around the Little A'Le'Inn between 4 to 6 minutes after we start.  Their arrival time maybe be seriously effected by whatever Cossack and Rusty do with the GevHog.  They can depart the camp on the first turn to intercept the Flanking Group.  Unfortunately, the GevHog has NO armor, so its protection will depend on its high speed and Cossack's superb driving skills.  Rusty is ex-military and an accomplished heavy weapons expert.  The ex-soldier will have his M-212 Grenade Launcher and the pintle mounted 5.56 machine gun to engage the attackers.  

The Team is in for the fight of their lives!

Yes, It's about a 3 meter gap when the GevHog leaves.  Scotty, the driver/cameraman, has launched a small drone to get aerial shots of the attack.  He can not (will not) move it from where it is.  The news vehicle has paper thin armor and is full of equipment that doesn't respond well to bullets.  If the subject come up, the co-owner & cook of the restaurant, has a car there that he will move to close that gap when the GevHog leaves.  

As to Rue's positioning, that bus is facing ESE and right down the road where the first assault group is coming.  Her positioning makes the best use of the buses armor and gives her a wide field of fire on this first group.  I will let you move Rue if you don't feel this is the best spot for her to be on Saturday, when you see the complete maps.  

The Raffin Shiv can move under the tractor trailer, if they dismount.  However, they will have to survive both snipers on top of the trailer, where the two have the height advantage.  If the raiders get that close, they will also have to survive the automatic weapons fire from the snipers' back-up weapons.  In addition, both Nancy Chang and Usman, the driver, are also manning gun ports in the tractor.  

Deploying your four free combat capable people in two pairs is an excellent idea.  Mitzi doesn't have a grenade launcher, but Hollow has one under slung on his FN-RAL.  Jamal doesn't have a grenade launcher, but 8-Ball does, so each pair will have one.  Rusty, who will serve as Cossack's gunner, is taking his grenade launcher with him.  This will give him a chance to engage the flanking vehicles that have armor.  Also, if the GevHog is disabled in the fight, he can then rain grenades on any raiders trying to take him and Cossack out.   

I should mention that most buildings in Rachel are little more than trailers, so they don't provide a lot of cover.  However, the restaurant and the sheriff's station are very solid.  If the Raffin Shiv's flanking action gets into the town, they should be able to close on your position in strength.  If you don't thin that flanking move, then you will be in bigger trouble.  The GevHog can help here, but that vehicle depends on speed for safety as it has NO armor.

This is NOT going to be an easy fight.  You all have the skill and gear advantage, but they have the numbers.

OK, Celestine has the Arasaka Rapid Assault.  No, you didn't see what it was loaded with, but she checked.  It is a mix of shot and slug.  She has set it to single shot.  

As I have not heard from Cossack yet, Rusty is set to be his gunner.  He will also keep his M-212 grenade launcher with him.  This will make the GevHog an even bigger threat.  

Stepan has a Federated Arms Light 15 also which is by his side (and a handgun) for when the Raffin Shiv get close. 

As far as Bambi goes, tell her what you want, but she is a Media and a huge story is unfolding before her eyes.  Oh, yes, thanks for remembering that it WAS Bambi that "put things into motion" that got you out of your jam with LEDiv.  She has been more 'friend' than 'enemy' in the past.

Since Fawkes was already in position and ready to shoot before anyone else, he will have 15 rounds before everyone else is ready to fire on the approaching vehicles.  This will all be at Extreme Range, so his base to hit number will be 30+.  As he has only 20 rounds of .50 caliber ammunition, he might want to wait until the first wave of attackers reach the 1000 meter mark (from the Team), which is when everyone else will be in position and Angel finishes fixing the 40mm Auto GL.  The second group of Raffin Shiv is now swinging around your south flank to avoid the Armadillo and its 40 Auto GL.  It should reach the town ~5 minutes after we begin.  This flanking move will allow them to close on you without any resistance.  Of course, committing the GevHog to a fast harassing attack could change this. 

I hope everyone is ready for this coming Saturday.  It should be quite the fight!

Ah, as to a grenade launcher on 8-Ball's rifle.  My notes show he did take a rifle. but NOT a grenade launcher.  After I read the previous post, I turned over my page of notes and saw that 8-Ball did draw 6x rounds of HEDP 40mm, so, I must have just forgotten to note the launcher was installed since it was ordered from Militech with everything else.  You have the GL and the 6 rounds of HEDP.

I do have stats for the SVD that I use.  They are from a combination of the listing in Cyberpunk 2021 and Edge of the Sword Volume 1.  The stats are:  RIF; WA: +2; Conc: N; Avail: P; Damage 6d6; Cap: 10; ROF: 2; Rel: VR; Range: 1000 meters.  Stepan's weapon is smartlinked and scoped.  He will gladly join Fawkes on the opposite end of the roof of the tractor trailer rig and start to snipe at the oncoming motorcycles.  

If Cossack wants to drive the GevHog with a gunner in the back, that could slow the attack by forcing the Raffin Shiv to break off some of their people to deal with the armed hovercraft.  If 8-Ball wants to go as the gunner, he will be away from the main defenses.  He is much better with his rifle.  As I stated before, Rusty Walker, the chief tech of the tour, is a South Am War vet and a heavy weapons specialist.  Rusty has a 16+ vs. 8-Ball's 14+ on heavy weapons.  Rusty's skill is 7, but he is getting old so he has slowed a bit (REF 9 even with boosts).  Rusty has an M-212 GL with 24 rounds (16 HE, 2x Flash Bang, 3x Smoke, 3x HEDP); 16 on 2x 8 round belts (manual reload), 8 loaded in weapon.  He will hand that over to a qualified security person if you want him to ride in the GevHog as the gunner.  This is 8-Ball's decision (although Cossack also has a say on who rides in the GevHog), as the ex-ganger is the Security Chief for the tour.  Mitzi is the owner if the company (Whyte Hat, LLC), but this style of large combat isn't her specialty.  Suzy is way too busy pulling her hair out and trying to get the rest of the Armadillo's systems up and running.

Angel has just finished getting the 40mm Auto GL up and running, so he starts out in the Armadillo.  He can run to link up with Rue, when we start.  Rue will have all the launchers and excess grenades at her location, so Angel just needs to worry about his combat gear, which he has with him.  

The old couple who own the restaurant are happy to help defend the Heartthrobs' bus.  Celestine has Rifle 2 and would be glad to use the Arasaka Rapid Assault.  Yes, your captured Raffin Shiv is stabilized, tied up and under guard.  His fate is a future decision to be made.

I am working on some more maps right now and will post some of them in the next couple of days. 

Schedule noted and good for me.  Now on to your defensive plans:

Yes, trying to run at this point would be a recipe for complete defeat, capture and/or possible slaughter.  Also, shrapnel from a micro-missile hit on the front of the Death Merchant's bus has given the Team's van a flat right front tire.  That same bus has its "check engine" light on now.  Also, the Armadillo's engine won't start and many of its systems are dead.  In fact only the electronics, weapons and equipment put in by the Team along with the young women's Tactical Mapper program are currently working off their emergency battery power.  

The buses and the big rig are bullet (resistant) enough to provide sensible protection to the people inside and to their rooftops in different degrees.  The trailer, where Fawkes is, is set up for people to fight from there.  You have to be prone, but you have better protection than on top of the bus.   (see Big Bus pgs. 60 to 62 in Neo Tribes)  Each of the bands are ready to defend their own bus, along with its driver.  All drivers (Rusty Walker, Usman Katsui, Rajineesh Sudha, Sully and Wovoko are all armed with smart-linked Ronin Assault rifles.  Nancy Chang, who has an SMG, and the truck driver, Usman Katsui, will defend the truck cab.  

Death Merchant's bus (defending the south):  You know from experience that both Genghis and Attila are the real deal.  They can fight as well as Hernando, their manager, and Sully, the driver, can.  Both Cossack and Jamal (along with 8-Ball's tactical judgement agrees) are confident that this bus is well defended meaning Cossack and Jamal are available for deployment.

Heartthrobs' bus (defending west):  Frankie S. and Gene Koopa both possess Thompson Model 1928 SMGs.  Ricky Nielson and Harvey Connick Jr. both possess M-1 Garands.  Paul McGear and Gracie Park also both own double barrel shotguns and the women all have handguns in the 9 to 11 mm range.  8-Ball's gang knowledge also with working with this band leads him to be confident that they also can defend their own bus along with Rajneesh Sudha, the driver.  This leaves both 8-Ball and Hollow available for deployment. 

Cyber Revolutionaries' bus (defending north):  Loco and Cassie can handle themselves in a fight, but the others, not so much.  Even so, along with Wovoko, the handgun skills of the rest of the band should be enough to defend that vehicle.  This leaves both Rue and Mitzi available for deployment.

At start, Samantha will be in Armadillo working on stabilizing the vehicle's system.  Suzy,who is also in the NET, will have her finger on the 40mm auto GL's trigger now that Angel has the mechanical issues resolved.  That leaves Angel starting in the Armadillo.  The girl's will want him to man one of the gunports at least and be available if they have any more cascading failures.  However, he can leave if he is needed to act as a loader for Rue and her RPG launcher.  In fact, if Angel carries the other launcher and spare grenades, he can load while Rue fires  every round, instead of every other round.     

This leaves only Fawkes to be considered.  He was already set up on the roof of the main trailer.  The barrages of grenades land at a bit more than 2000 meters from the Team's position.  It takes 50 seconds for everyone to get in position and the 40mm auto GL to be back on line.  In those 50 seconds Fawkes get 15 rounds of possible shots with his M-90 at extreme range.  However, he has only 20 rounds of standard ammunition.  At extreme range he might want to build up some careful aim bonuses to reach the 30 threshold.   

The first assault group will be 1000 meters out when the 40 mm auto GL comes on line and Fawkes along with Stepan & his Dragunov are now in long range.  The attack spearhead will be at the Team's position in 15 rounds.  It is moving at 66/67 meters per round (200 meters per 10 seconds).  So, the lead vehicles will reach extreme range (800 meters) when 12 rounds from the Team's position.  This first group is coming straight down the road.

The bulk of the attackers have turned south and are moving to put the buildings of Rachel, NV, between them and the Team's Armadillo.  This has bought the Team a few more minutes before this group makes the village and the survivors of the raiders you bloodied in town.

It is important to note that the only people that have underslung 40mm GL are Fawkes and Rue.  Rusty Walker, the chief tech is also a South Am Drug War veteran and has a M-212 Grenade Launcher and has 'mad' Heavy Weapons skills (16+).  The water cooled machine gun was dismounted when you arrived, but can have been remounted or put anywhere on the ground.  You might consider sending Cossack speeding around on his GevHog with 8-Ball on the machine gun.  The hover can outrun any ground effect vehicle they have and if you keep the range between 101 and 112 meters your machine gun is firing at close range and most all returning rifle fire will be at medium range.  At 201 to 225 meters, your machine gun is firing at medium range and most all returning rifle fire will be at long range.  Just keep winning initiative and be faster (which you are).  This is the mobile cavalry role that 8-Ball suggested for the Armadillo, which would be easily caught by the raiders, unlike the GevHog.  

The Armadillo is stationary for the moment and will be opening fire with its 40mm Auto GL now that it is back on-line.  It has been reloaded with a belt of 40mm HEDP.  Suzy will begin firing on the larger armored vehicles coming down the road.

I am sure everyone has an opinion here as it should be.  

8-Ball has the right idea here.  Any of these taser weapons would have put down most of the combatants at the club in Sacramento.  Yes, some were jacked up on drugs and would have been harder to take down, but still these would have been, for the most part, very effective!  And they could still be!

Yes, tasing the troublemakers and turning them over to the police is a better idea than beating the crap out of them.

So far, no one has questioned your weapons, but the bigger venues (larger casinos & hotels) might ask you to not carry guns that can be detected by the customers (Nova Arms Arno & Mare's Leg for example).  It is judged on a case by case (and location by location) basis.

Fawkes' concern about the first night at the Oakland Coliseum is interesting.  Maybe a coincidence, maybe not.

Celestine would definitely like to go on the photo op with the rest of the young women.  Besides the exposure, the hotel is going to give each of them one to two pool outfits from the Resort's high end clothing store in exchange for wearing them at the shoot; free clothes!  She isn't concerned about Stepan.  If he has been in Night City for over a year already, then he probably isn't going to try and kill anyone on the tour.  It wouldn't help his rep as a bodyguard.  

The Death Merchants jumping into the fight in Sacramento wasn't in Nancy Chang's plans.  There isn't a whole lot you can do about the fighting.  Try not to let the Death Merchants get killed.  As to weapons you can carry that will depend on where you are.  Each venue will have different rules.  No one challenged you in Oakland, because no one noticed the four guns.  In Sacramento, the club security didn't give a shit.  At the big casinos, concealed weapons are limited to security personnel, which you are, but you must be discreet.  Unless you are wearing a long coat (and that would be suspicious on the floor of the casino), your Mare's Leg is not completely concealed when strapped to your thigh.  In every location at the hotel, except for backstage and at your camp, you are expected to be well dressed.  You are representing the hotel and Universal Records.  

Being the first to draw a gun and shooting someone during a show will be viewed very dimly by the local authorities.  Most of you have enough martial arts to beat the crap out of your barroom yahoos anyway!