GURPS Cyberpunk 2078 Session 2: The Big Payday

Characters:

Braxton "Jar" Jiggs - Cybertech/Ripperdoc

Alexander "Specter" Marshal - Solo

Pat "Peacock" Watson - "Former" Nomad

Ruby "Paxos" Lang - Netrunner

The Haul

Peacock and Jar took positions behind the car and took aim at the corpo guards, while Specter and Paxos kept loading what they could into the trunk from inside the semi.  The guards tried to open fire, but both of their guns jammed simultaneously, and return fire from Peacock and Jar sent them back into cover - though they were protected by their armour.  Thinking he was safe, the driver started to gun the semi, at least as much as he could.  Once they finished unjamming their weapons, they ran up closer, but fainted from the wounds they'd taken when their SUV crashed.

Paxos and Specter grabbed the last of the loot and jumped out the back of the semi trailer before it could pick up too much speed and loaded their haul into the trunk.  After Paxos had stopped the bleeding on all the wounded with a twenty-year expired medkit she found in the glovebox, they headed back into Night City, passing under a Trauma Team AV on the way.  Specter took stock of what all they'd grabbed: 4 of the chameleon skins in black briefcase-sized storage units, 2 crates of the Firmitas anti-psychotic drug, and a climate-controlled "mystery box".

Inside the mystery box was some kind of skull implant that Jar figured would be used to inject drugs directly into the brain; perhaps the Firmitas or the anti-clotting agents that had also been in the trailer.  They decided to hold off on doing anything with them for now, and sent Haga Gonne proof that they had the goods.  Shortly they received the address for the meet: Lizzie's Bar, the Mox HQ in Kabuki.  Peacock took the ring road and they arrived just as night fell.

GURPS Cyberpunk 2078 Session 1: Stealth and Rocket Launchers

Biz

Braxton Jiggs, aka Jar, had just finished installing a set of technails for a client in the surgery suite that took up the vast majority of his one-room apartment when he received a call on his implanted 'link.  He recognized the name Regina Jones as a fixer out of Kabuki, though he'd never met her before, and answered.  A businesslike conversation ensued as she offered him and his crew a job to swipe some data for a media.  Payment details were hashed out, and Jar was instructed to meet one Trevor Nakada in a bar called The Storm on the waterfront in Japantown for more deets.

Jar put out the call to the rest of the crew, and Peacock, the only one with a ride (due to being a nomad), started the long loop from Arroyo to pick everyone up.  In their usual plain baggy black suit and heavily contrasting red mohawk, they pulled up to Specter's place in Rancho.  The solo stood out in his white and red gang leathers and white and black tech-mohawk, gave Peacock the nod, and dumped his rifle in the trunk before getting in the passenger seat.  They arrived in Coast View right as Jar had finished disposing of today's client's meat fingertips in a dumpster, having already changed into his trademark white leather jacket and pants (no shirt, so the ladies can see the goods).  His mohawk made three as he got into the back seat.

Paxos was the last one to be picked up, in The Glen, and had stayed jacked into the net right up until they'd pulled up outside her megabuilding.  Rather incongruously, this heavy-duty netrunner in a pretty sun dress and floppy hat tumbled out of an air vent in the alley, then dusted herself off and joined the others in the car as they finally set out for The Storm.  Soon enough, they were at the colourful Japantown waterfront.  It was one of the cleaner districts, which meant the piles of garbage in the alleys were only large instead of enormous.

GURPS Spooky Halloween "One-Shot" 2022 (Part 2)

Characters:

Dingus Nerdingham - Serendipity, Curious, Grocery Delivery, Could Be A Chemist, Has A Dog

Joe Schmoe - Enhanced Dodge, Violence Phobia, Bicycle Courier, Former Nurse, Caving

Leigh Prieto - Attractive, Gig Maid, Fired From Crime Lab, Aspiring Rapper

Zoe Lastgirl - Enhanced Dodge, Very Unfit, Food Delivery, Could Be A Carpenter, Accordion

Beef Hardbody - Very Fit, Darkness Phobia, Rideshare Driver, Could Be A Linguist, Basketball

A Tricky Jump

The ghost of Count Orlock continued to play the organ, and Beef's group (Gil (from the Simpsons) and Abby) couldn't find any clues in the room, so he suggested they go check out the stone tower with the gargoyles.  Gil seemed hesitant, and was proven correct when he failed to jump across the broken floor and fell down to the library, landing face-first on the wooden frame of a couch, breaking his nose.  Beef shouted down that they'd take the stairs down to meet up with Gil, but then he and Abby both slipped and fell in, with Beef landing badly enough he broke his leg.

Abby was fine, having landed on the cushioned part of a couch, and they took in their surroundings.  A fire blazed in a brick fireplace on one wall, and the other three were lined with shelves stocked full of books.  They had landed on the only furniture in the room, the two couches, one of which had a newspaper open on it.  There was also an open book on the floor in front of the fireplace.  

Beef, able to limp around on his good leg, took a look at the newspaper and saw the headline "The Dreadful Murder of Count Orlock".  Figuring it might have some clues, he sat down to read the article.  It stated that the Count had been killed on the top floor of the mansion, and that the murderer was still at large.  Beef also grabbed the open book (an encyclopedia, it turned out), and stashed it for possible future use, then headed out to take the stairs back up to the second floor.

GURPS Spooky Halloween "One-Shot" 2022 (Part 1)

Characters:

Dingus Nerdingham - Serendipity, Curious, Grocery Delivery, Could Be A Chemist, Has A Dog

Joe Schmoe - Enhanced Dodge, Violence Phobia, Bicycle Courier, Former Nurse, Caving

Zoe Lastgirl - Enhanced Dodge, Very Unfit, Food Delivery, Could Be A Carpenter, Accordion

Beef Hardbody - Very Fit, Darkness Phobia, Rideshare Driver, Could Be A Linguist, Basketball

I Really Need The Money...

The climate is imploding causing food shortages and mass displacement, the world is gripped by a global pandemic that has been declared not a big deal by those in charge, and "inflation" (which is definitely not just corporate price-gouging) has led to a formal policy to reduce employment to make labour's bargaining position more precarious...  But hey, those are Big Problems, and you just need to worry about making enough money to get by, which is why these four individuals found themselves working gig jobs that they were vastly overqualified for.

Joe had burned out of nursing during the "not pandemic", and took on the much less stressful job of being a bicycle courier in a major city with no cycling infrastructure.  Beef had found it impossible to get hired as a professor of linguistics due to issues with the established dogma in the field, and found himself taxiing other people around for barely enough money to get by.  Zoe had wanted to learn a trade, but then encountered systemic sexism and quit to deliver food instead.  Dingus had his chemistry degree, but had bombed the few interviews he'd had because the interviewers didn't like that he had brought his dog (don't they care that he has abandonment issues and can't be left alone?!).

Each of them had been lucky enough to, at one point or another, end up working for a wealthy client.  The man, a businessman in a suit with short undercut black hair, had given them a $100 tip and asked if they would be interest in working as waitstaff at a corporate gig later that week.  He understood it was short notice, so naturally the pay would be more than generous: $3000 cash for one night.  Each was given a business card by "Tad Crawley", who apparently worked for "Chester-Dreier-Kovacs" in marketing management, the logo simple boring red block letters over a grey oval.

Path to Godhood Session 31: The Godwar

Characters:

Kostis   -    God of Death and Plagues
Neilos   -    God of The Sun and Plants
Steidis   -   God of Fire and Smiths

Portents

The other gods reacted to Vunos' appearance in a variety of ways (Kostis suggested a grand feast, while Neilos retreated to a corner and brooded harder), but fell silent when he spoke again.  First, he said that it was good to be reunited after so long, then he asked how long it had been since they had all ascended to godhood.  Nephele spoke up first, stating that it had been just over 300 years, which prompted Vunos to remark that his belief seemed to have been correct.  He then asked what they knew of the cyclical rise and fall of the gods, but Kostis, who knew by far the most, played dumb and said that he would love to know what Vunos knew about it.

Vunos started from the basics (as best he knew): gods reincarnate as mortals, they complete some trials, and then ascend to godhood.  The world goes through a Golden Age, until, inevitably, the gods turn to infighting and kill each other, which plunges the world back into "Calamity", as he called it.  This all tracked with what Kostis and Steidis knew, and Kostis had a lingering suspicion that Vunos had been the unknown entity that had killed several gods in the prior cycle.  Vunos had never been the last god, and so did not know what happened to them, but was confident that they died too.

However, he had been through 3 prior cycles, and going by his experience, the longer the Golden Age, the longer the Calamity, and the Calamity was always longer than the Golden Age that preceeded it.  Therefore, to minimize the suffering of mortals and the world in general, it would be best if the gods voluntarily ended their reign prematurely by committing suicide.  While the other gods pondered this question, Neilos finally spoke up: if he had died, then why hadn't Vunos reincarnated with the rest of them?

Path to Godhood Session 30: The Golden Age

Characters:

Kostis   -    God of Death and Plagues
Neilos   -    God of The Sun and Plants
Steidis   -   God of Fire and Smiths

Flashback

In the months after they attained godhood, the group split up.  Neilos aided Meda in her prophecies in an attempt to make a good impression.  Kostis tracked down Simon the Sculptor and found that he had kept his promise never to pick up his tools again; for now, he was one of the new Syrinthan farmers, and fished on the side.  Steidis tried to help out Nephele in Syrinth, but left soon after arriving when a riot due to his presence seemed imminent and just wandered the cities until the appointed time.

In Metros, Doros was intent on establishing his own cult, and Kotum's faction of Steidis-worshippers were failing.  In Urbos, the Tetrarchs became the Triarchs when Chelak threw Voula Raptis and her infant son into the sea from the cliffside.  In Mantea, the White Queen died from the plague, while the Black Queen recovered.  She was able to seize a position as the sole monarch, and the remnants of the Circle's End cell in the city were ruthlessly hunted down.  In Eniad, Chelak slew the Emperor, putting a stop to a planned invasion of Syrinth.  Lastly, in Susae, a great typhoon sent by Keti flattened most structures in the city.

Homecoming

Drawn by the knowledge that something important had happened, the gods assembled in front of the stone gates high in the tallest mountain east of Syrinth, and once they all had arrived, Colossus pushed them open.  Beyond was a fantastic city of marble and gold, stretching up the side of the mountain all the way to the peak, and Colossus welcomed them home to Chrysos, the Golden City.  The plaza in front of them contained numerous bubbling fountains, but no residents.  According to Colossus, populating Chrysos was up to them.

Path to Godhood Session 29: Ascension

Characters:

Ajax Karo   -   Gregarious Hunter and Aspiring Kostis, God of Death and Plagues
Neilos   -   Aspiring God of The Sun and Plants
Steidis   -   Aspiring God of Fire and Smiths

Reunification

Having completed his work, Steidis gave Ajax his weapon: a finely-wrought stylus.  The others were stashed away for now, and they teleported back to the God Galley with their powers.  From there, the gods split up: Steidis wanted to wait for Neilos at the meeting point in the Antominian Swamp, while Ajax was anxious to finish his prophecies, and teleported to Susae.  From there, he headed out at night into the hinterlands to the fort of Pirus' Rest and the Lionesses.  The next morning, Neilos arrived by boat at the docks of Susae, where he resolved to wait for the others.  During his stay, ge would notice that the city seemed even more ill-managed than during their last visit.

During their last meeting, the gods had said they would go deal with the princes, but they had gone back on their word (in a sense they had kept it, because they ended the civil war in a roundabout way) and were last seen walking in an entirely different direction.  Once at the fort, Ajax turned into a rat to and infiltrated it through a crack in the wooden walls.  The Lionesses had been hit by his plague, with a trail that had seen obvious use out the north end towards a series of burial mounds.  Ajax spent the next day or so observing the fort, and was able to figure out the local political situation.

• The people with influence all wanted to achieve full independence from the Susaean royalty, though they disagreed about the means to use
• Calypso, the matriarch they'd met with last time, wanted to use diplomacy
• Themis, a huge older woman and stern traditionalist, suggested they strike while Susae was weak from plague and the civil war, burning any noble holdings in the region to ash
• Sophia, the Eniadnan woman with a pet monkey on her shoulder, sided with whatever suggestion would result in the most glorious battle
• Marietta, the other young Eniadnan woman with a back tattoo of a lion, wanted to recover the artifact known as the Fleece of the Lion (which, according to legend, made the bearer invincible) to strengthen their position before negotiations
• Theodora, who was far more richly dressed than the others and had the weakest support base, had taken on the role of a mediator, siding with one group and then the other as necessary to keep things from escalating