This Mortal COIL Once again, gentle readers, I come to you with sad news. I was contacted by another long time GM, whose story of his PCs' sudden and stunning loss of clues touched my heart (twisted and evil though it may be). I leave you to read on, and bear witness. The Group: One Street Mage, Two Sammies, One Rigger, and One Rigger/Decker, with combined gaming experience of 14 plus years. The Job: To infiltrate the private work office of one of the owning partners of an oil refinery, get evidence that he was laundering money, and get the proof to the other partner. Easy, right? Due to ongoing environmental protest at the gates, security at the facility was abnormally high. The decker was skilled enough to hack the refinery and get layouts of the facility as well as some of the security systems. One thing the group did note was that there were no actual physical guards at the dock side of the refinery. The docks themselves contained large supply pipes (where the tankers would connect and unload the crude oil) that ran to the storage tanks, which were well inside the facility. After about fifteen minutes of discussing the data at hand… Sec Rigger/Decker: "Are there any ships currently at the docks?" GM: "No" Sec Rigger/Decker: "Hey! This is a piece of cake! We can get a boat, land at the docks, crawl up the pipes into the compound, and jump out of an access hatch." Mage: "Are there any access hatches on the pipe line?" GM: "Yes." Sammie2: "Yeah, but they probably only open from the outside." (This was followed by general nods of agreement from the group) Sec Rigger/Decker: "No prob. We'll just cut our way out once we get inside the compound." Sammie1: "We need to get some special gear, and a boat." Rigger: "I'll call my fixer to arrange for what we need." Mage: "Be sure to get gel rounds, we don't want to be firing live ammo inside of an oil refinery." Fixers were called, and arrangements made to get all gear needed. Nothing that could be potentially useful was left out: chemsuits, respirators, even flashlights. The decker went back into the matrix right before they left and put a feedback loop onto the cameras at the docks. Soon it grew dark, and the run was underway… GM: "Your raft pulls up to the supply pipe. The fitting over it looks tight, and has a big 'Caution - Flammable' sign. Sammie2: "I'll remove the cover." Sammie1: "I'll help." GM: "After you remove the cover, a small but steady trickle of crude oil oozes out of the open pipe. You can smell the distinct odor of crude oil." Rigger: "I'll put on my respirator and climb in first." (the rest of the group follow suit) Rigger: "Once my GPS tracker reads that we're in the compound, I'll cut us out." GM: "You're inside a metal pipe, you have no signal." Mage: "I'll go astral and see how far in we are, and make sure there is nobody around." GM: "You can see the aura of the ocean (rolls perception dice). You estimate you're about 80 yards within the facility. Mage: "We're in far enough, let's get out, nobody's around. I'll activate my barrier spell lock just in case there's company." Rigger: "Okay, I get the torch ready." GM: "It's covered in crude oil from the long crawl up the pipe." Sammie1: I'll use some bandages from my med pack to clean off the business end." Rigger: "I unpack the striker and light the torch." GM: "You reach for the striker but it slips through your hands since it's covered in oil." Sammie1: "I'll clean that off too and hand it back to 'Rigger'." Rigger: "I strike the striker and…" BBBBBOOOOOOMMMMMM!!!!! ***sigh*** There was, however, one survivor from the oil refinery explosion. The mage with his barrier spell lock was using a custom spell, one that allowed him to transfer physical damage to stun damage. Burning copious amounts of karma, he was able to survive the blast. However, the force of the explosion shot him back out the pipe like a human cannonball. So, instead of dying in a fiery explosion, he hit the water and, being unconscious from stun and drain, promptly drowned. And to think that the only one drinking any beer during this game was the GM! After this, however, I bet they all needed a stiff drink or three (I know I do, hmmmm now where did my husband hide the Tequila…). So there you have it. They all laugh about it now (it's either that or cry…). Oh, and the GM informs me that this (infamous) run has been aptly named… The Flam Karen - karenmr@shadowrun.html.com