Shadow of the Waxwing Slain, Ch. 11

Caught

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Photo by Omid Armin on Unsplash

Chapter 11: Caught

Shift 4: Night

Location: Sector 9 “Commercial District” → Retirement Row

Up above, in Sector 9, the rich lived in private luxurious penthouses atop the skyscrapers built over the old, faded construction below, an elite community around which the Fashion District founded itself, establishing the hottest restaurants and entertainment for VIP guests.

Fletcher moved through the streets far below, where the towering skyscrapers blocked out the sky, where the poor and destitute scraped out a living, huddled around barrel fires, and lived in derelict hovels. Gangsters and wannabes ran around with knives trying to rob anyone who might look like they have Chinyen to spare, which would be rare around here.

Fletcher had to show his gun and badge to scare off a couple thugs but otherwise hadn’t had any issues. As he got closer to Retirement Row, though, he’d have to be even more careful. If he was found there, they wouldn’t be scared off by a gun and the badge would be more likely to cause an incident than solve one.

Half-standing structures, collapsed roofs and walls, piles of debris, barrel fires and even more ragged-looking folk than before…Fletcher knew he’d come to Retirement Row. He kept to the shadows and tried to make his way towards the coordinates Holbrook had given him.

Stealth: d10 + d8 = 1,2 → No Successes

Before he’d gone far, a man and woman standing at a barrel fire noticed him.

“Hey,” the man called out. “What are you doing, sneaking around?”

Fletcher emerged from the shadows, hands out to show he didn’t mean any harm. “Just passing through, friends.”

The man scowled. “I don’t know you and that means we are not friends. What are you doing here? I don’t think you belong.”

“Listen, how about I give you a little something, and I go about my business? Everybody wins.”

Manipulation: 2d10 = 3,5 → No Successes

Push: 2d10 = 7,1 → One Success, One Stress

Fletcher handed over some Chinyen(-1) and kept moving.

(AR) Location: 2d10 = 1,5 → Art Dealer or Gallery

He saw the downed spinner Holbrook mentioned, on the roof of what looked like an old abandoned art gallery. The windows and doors were long gone, replaced by plywood.

Is the group still holding out here?

2d6 = 6,1 → “Yes, and…” they’re distracted

No match → no random event

Fletcher maneuvered around the front into an alleyway, peeking in through a busted window panel that hadn’t been boarded over. He spotted Quela talking to a couple other people.

The Iron Court was still hiding out here.

Fletcher heard footsteps coming around from the back and dashed behind a dumpster.

Stealth vs Observation

Fletcher: d10 + d8 = 2,1 → No Successes

Unknown: d6 = 4 → No Successes

Tie means the PC fails.

“Come out from behind there, now,” A male voice called out.

Fletcher weighed his options, putting his hand to his PK-D revolver. He wouldn’t be able to talk his way out of this. He drew and came around the dumpster, slowly, gun up.

A tall, muscular man with close-cropped black hair and beady eyes held a .357 magnum, pointed Fletcher’s way.

They pointed the guns at each other.

“Who the hell are you?” the man asked.

“Just passing through, friend. This doesn’t need to get messy,” Fletcher said.

“This isn’t a place you pass through.”

“You put your gun down, I put mine down and I walk away. Nobody gets hurt.”

“I’m not worried about getting hurt,” the man said, and charged, dropping his gun.

Fletcher fired, hitting the man in the shoulder but not slowing him down at all.

The man grabbed Fletcher’s hand around his gun and squeezed.

Fletcher felt sharp pain and heard the snap as multiple fingers broke. He called out in agony.

With the other hand, the man slammed his fist into Fletcher’s stomach, knocking the wind out of him.

Fletcher fell to one knee, dropping the gun on the ground, holding his wounded hand in the other.

The man picked up Fletcher’s PK-D. “Walk,” he said.

---

Here’s what went down.

Range: Short

Since the man is attempting to charge while Fletcher has a gun, I’m not going to draw for initiative but say Fletcher gets to go first.

Firearms: 2d10 = 7,1 → One Success

Fletcher does 2 Damage to the man.

The man charges and gets into Engaged range, engaging in hand to hand.

HtH vs Firearms

Fletcher gets a disadvantage for using Firearms in melee.

HtH: d10 + d8 = 10, 5 → Two Successes

Firearms w/disadvantage: 1d10 = 6 → No Successes

The man does 2 damage, dropping Fletcher to 4 health. He also gets a Crit.

Crit. Roll: 1d10 = 3 → Broken Fingers

Shift 5: Morning

Location: Sector 12 “LAX” → Warehouse District → Maeve’s Bar

The seedy dive bar stood out among the rows and rows of massive storage facilities, where nearly all of the consumer goods bought and sold in LA passed through, legal and illegal. As such, the bar was filled with all kinds of people, suits with briefcases, punks with mohawks and backpacks, smugglers with heavy satchels and watchful eyes. All kinds of business was conducted at Maeve’s. If you wanted something brought in or wanted to get something out without it being monitored, tagged or analyzed, this was where you could make it happen.

Dee fidgeted at the bar, untouched drink in front of her.

Fletcher hadn’t been in touch and hadn’t responded to her message.

It was unusual.

“It’s fine, you need to keep a clear head. Focus,” Rem said.

"Shut up,” she replied in her mind, taking a sip of her drink.

The door swung open and a man entered, carrying a black briefcase. He walked over to the bar a couple seats over and set the briefcase on the ground. He ordered a drink.

He matched the description.

She moved to sit next to him, bringing her drink. “I think you have something for me,” she said.

He looked at her. “You got mine?”

She pulled an envelope from her coat and put it on the bar in front of him. Leaving her drink, she grabbed the briefcase and walked out of the bar.

In the dingy parking lot, she placed the briefcase into her spinner and got in the pilot’s seat. She lifted off, heading towards Sector 9, where the drop off was.

Smooth and easy. Whose going to pull over a Blade Runner’s spinner?

Blue lights flashed in her rear view mirror, followed by the LA Police siren.

“Shit,” she said out loud. What the hell?

“Land immediately,” a voice over the speakers from the LA police spinners called out.

She piloted down onto the roof of one of the storage warehouses, while the two LA Police Spinners landed behind her.

“Get out of the vehicle with your hands up!”

“They’re going to ruin everything,” Dee said.

“Play it cool,” Rem replied, ever the irritating voice of reason.

Dee glanced at the briefcase but there was no use trying to hide it. She opened the door and got out slowly, hands up.

Two policeman stood outside of their cars, behind their open doors, guns at the ready.

“I’m RDU! Blade Runner!” Dee called out, carefully pulling her coat back and revealing her badge on her belt. “You’re making a mistake!”

The policeman looked at his partner for a moment, then back at her. He seemed unsure. “Walk slowly towards us and kneel!”

Someone had reported her vehicle. It was the only thing that made sense.

Dee felt her hands clenching into fists. These assholes were wasting her time. “I want your names and badge numbers now. I’m going to report you all to Chief Holden for hindering an RDU investigation.”

Manipulation: 2d8 = 5,7 → Success

After a couple tense moments, one of the police motioned to the others. The flashing lights turned off.

The one who’d motioned to the others walked over, an older man with wisps of gray hair under his hat. “Sorry, officer. We got a report that a vehicle of your description was carrying contraband. Didn’t know you were RDU.”

“Of course,” Dee said, dropping her arms. “You were just doing your jobs. Now let me get back to mine.”

Dee landed on a still-standing patch of pavement on the crumbling bridge that was once the LA Viaduct. She could see scrawny kids scrambling away and homeless in cardboard boxes or pushing shopping carts with trash bags full of scrap.

No sign of the replicant she was supposed to meet.

She got out, figuring she was being watched from somewhere.

Observation vs Stealth:

D: d10 + d6 = 8, 4 → One Success

Unknown: d8 = 6 → One Success

If there was someone watched, she couldn’t see them. She reached into the spinner and pulled out the briefcase. She leaned against the hood, holding the briefcase, and waited.

She was good at waiting.

Shift 6: Afternoon

Location: Sector 9 “Commercial District” → Retirement Row → LA Viaduct

(BR:RPG) Weather: A cold drizzle of sleet

Morning passed into afternoon and sleet came down, pinging off the Spinner.

Dee didn’t retreat into her Spinner, staying out in the sleet and letting it rain down on her.

Still nothing from Fletcher.

Eventually, she spotted a figure making their way up the hill of detritus, coming towards her. They resolved into a woman with short brown hair wearing a black raincoat, carrying a translucent umbrella in one hand and a handgun in the other, barrel pointed at the ground.

“There’s nothing in this, is there?” Dee asked, holding up the briefcase.

The woman shrugged, not saying anything.

“You all called the cops on me, didn’t you?” Dee asked.

The woman walked over to the passenger seat of Dee’s spinner.

“Let’s take a ride.”

Photo by Julius Drost on Unsplash

Chapter 11 log

Once again, I apologize for how long this took to come out. Before I hit publish on any post, I always wonder “Did I write enough? Is this long enough? Is this good enough?”

I hope the answer is yes.

In glancing at Dee’s character sheet, I noticed something about her Key Relationship that I hadn’t before. Dee thinks that Rem might be hiding something. I’ll definitely need to get into that more as we go along.

I had the idea of Fletcher getting grabbed as soon as I realized he was going to investigate the hide out, but the dice would have to allow it. After I rolled that they would be there, I decided one would be patrolling and would come across Fletcher. I could have asked the d6 oracle “Does someone come patrolling?” but I thought it would be cool if it just happened, so I made it happen. The characters need opportunities to use their skills and you can just make that happen! At times, when solo-gaming, you can just step into the GM role. Ask ‘If there were a GM in this game, what might they do?’ To make things exciting, they would probably have a patrolling replicant walk around the corner!

I still gave Fletcher a chance to get out, though, I didn’t want to just have him be taken. Then I would just be writing a story and not solo-gaming. So he tried to hide but failed, and got into a scuffle that quickly turned poorly.

I wonder what’s in store for him and Dee both?

Thanks for reading!

Chapter 12: Retirement