| Now, me no big city doctor... This article needs a bit more detail. If you're familiar with the topic, please consider expanding it. |
Description[]
New York, city of angels… of demons… of high-pursuit Lyft chases down the winding streets of 5th Avenue. The Dragon Friends have had enough of high society and are trying to find a way out of this no-good crooked town… if Freezo will just stay still long enough to be trampled to death, please.
Synopsis[]
Freezo and Bobson Dugnutt are on the show floor of the Guggenheim in the middle of a crowd fleeing for the exit as the emergency siren sounds. Freezo, being invisible, is seriously trampled by the crowd while attempting to sell his Voss-Saito shares using a mobile ticker from the middle of the stampede. The police arrive and calm down the riot, but then begin validating citizen's identity chips. Fearing that their black market chips will not pass the police scan, Freezo casts Burning Hands into the crowd, breaking his invisibility, killing 9 people and setting off the sprinkler system. Bobson, having a valid chip, allows himself to be scanned and thrown out. Surrounded by police officers with snub-nosed riot shotguns, Freezo - thanks to a double skill check including a critical success - manages to sell his Voss-Saito shares, buy shares in Ares Microtechnology (the corporation that owns the New York Police), then persuade the corrupt police that as an investor he should not be harmed. Thanks to the spectacular success, the police sergeant escorts him out and also agrees to give him his non-lethal shotgun in exchange for Benny Davis (Weapon); at Alex's suggestion he names the shotgun Beanie Davis. The shotgun fires non-lethal "beanbugs" which automatically call the police after incapacitating the target. As they both leave, Bobson calls a Lyft driver to take himself and Freezo to the Glam Clam, their planned rendezvous for the end of the operation, where Baston is waiting.
While Bobby, as jazz werewolf Robert, is in Glitter Gleam's quarters with Philge when two riot police officers, Gump and Jimmy, burst in. After Philge attempts to attack them with a pair of silver fruit platters, Bobby jumps out of the 2nd floor window, shortly followed by Philge, landing in Central Park. Philge, upset at the turn of events and by the news that Katey 2 has been impounded, sits down to cry and accidentally crushes a squirrel, adopting its crushed body under the name "Squatie" (although he is immediately forgotten). As the police surge towards the park, Bobby and Philge hide in the undergrowth. While attempting to carjack rides to the Glam Clam, Bobby and Philge are both hit by cars, causing a traffic pileup in which the Lyft car becomes stuck. The main body of the police force arrive, trapping Philge in a net, when Sally Gunbear, a gun-wielding razorbeargirl with an Irish accent (sent by Mr. Sour to help protect the Dragon Friends) wearing Ray-bans arrives in a helicopter and attacks the police while slamming a Pepsi. After destroying several police cars, Sally calls her remote-controlled armored van Leila in which the Dragon Friends escape, but Philge - still struggling within the net - is seriously wounded by the police as she is pulled into the van.
People[]
Dragon Friends[]
Non-Player Characters (NPCs)[]
- Bobson Dugnutt
- Gump and Jimmy, riot police
- Squatie, dead squirrel
- Betsy, Lyft driver and kindergarten teacher
- Sally Gunbear
Bestiary[]
Places[]
- New York City (Shadowrun)
Themes, tropes and running jokes[]
- Two Guards - or two riot police, in this case.
- Deus Ex Machina in the form of Sally Gunbear. That's way "ex machina".
- "Street Samurai" is a phrase used in Neuromancer to describe a fighter, and is also the Shadowrun class for an enhanced fighter; "Razorgirl" for a female fighter is also from Neuromancer but not a Shadowrun term. The original Razorgirl (and Street Samurai) character in Neuromancer, Molly, used "Sally" as a pseudonym in one of the later books in the series.
- "Quantum bears", or "whenever you fail a roll, a bear shows up" was a parodic exaggeration of infamous Gaming Den poster Frank Tollman's views on the dis-cohesive game world in RPGs with large improvisational components. It appears in the rulebooks of several improvisational games as an example of what not to do.
Quotes[]
- "I will defeat you, food." — Baston, discovering chewing gum
- "A jet plane is really a type of horse." — Philge
- "Ma'am, I'm going to need you to not jump out the window." — Jimmy
- "Oh, I'm sorry. I had no idea you were an investor. I am...please don't tell my boss. Any of these folks, just roast 'em. Honestly, anything you like, sir." — a sergeant of the New York Police
- "Stock market manipulation is not magic." — Dave
- "This is worse murder than usual, Hing, you realize." — Edan, on Freezo's plan to escape the police that includes setting fire to several innocent bystanders
Table Talk[]
- "I have some questions.. " "You're in a stampede!" ".. about the financial instruments available in 2075... Are there still credit default swaps in 2075 and is the SEC still against what you might describe as insider trading?" "That's a great question. You get trampled by the mob."
- "There are eight people.. there are two aides, one junior artist, two art students from Columbia who are excited to be there, one art critic who deserves everything they get, and a cat." "I would like to make a request that the people from Columbia are from like the University, not the country." "Wait.. are you only going to do this if they're all white!?" "Yes."
- "In a room full of New York City's finest.. in a lull in the riot.. in a moment when the sergeant has brought everyone's attention into sudden clarity.. you appear in the middle of the room and toast 9 people including one of the Guggenheim's most treasured art critics." (We learn much later, in Freezo's Funhouse (Part 1), that the art critic was named Reginald.)