Lord of games 8 (Patreon)

Hello there.

So let's talk about the game i played this time. It's Shadowrun: Honk Kong.

First, it's a RPG, so my summary, that ll come just after this message, ll spoil quite a lot of this RPG main story. That said, if you don't want to spoil yourself the main storyline, i highly recomand you to not read it. If you did the game already, or are not seeking to play it at all, OR don't care for spoils, here it is

Game mecanic and universe resume:

The game is a RPG, turn based one. It mean that you play the members of your team, if you have NPC ally on the ground, the IA ll play them all, then it's the turn of the ennemies.  Tough, it happen only on combat, the game also propose you to roam around talking to people, and use your skills to avoid combat, access forbiden zone, or unlock extra informations and power/equipment.

(official shadowrun Honk Kong splash art)

The universe of Shadowrun

It all started in 2011, when the Maya profecy happened. The end of the 5th world.... and the birth of the 6th one. Suddenly, magic was unlocked, again, for the first time in millenia. Slowly it pourred into the world, awakening ancients beings, and bloodlines.
It happened with a strong syndrome, that nearly killed 1/5 of humanity, and turned many into "monsters". Suddenly peoples were born with pointy ears and strange color eyes, or becoming higher and higher as horns started to point out of their skulls.
Some peoples started to born as orcs, or Trolls, other as Dwarves or elves. New magic viruses spread, turning peoples into ghouls. Dragons awoken, and they took over part of the world, building companies. Most government didn't survives those events, some becoming parody of government, secretly pupetted by big company in the shadows. Other  just fall into oblivion, and new counties and nation emerged from those ashes. 

The metatypes of humanity

Over time Magic became a thing peoples dealt with. Technology kept becoming bigger and bigger, the matrix took over the place internet, once closed for good, left behind, and Cybernetic became a moundain thing.
Shadowrun is that, a world of fantasy, with magic, orcs, trolls and dragons, but at the time of cyberpunk.
Tough, Magic and technology don't mix so well, when you replace your body parts by techs, you loose a bit of what make you, you, your essence. Essence being the thing that make you able to power magic,. So it's mostly, would you prefer to be able to throw fireball, or walk with augmented cyberlegs, able to reach 80 miles per hour?
That is the world of Shadowrun. It's a big and complex world, so i'll fill this resume with link for official wiki, if you seek more information about elements and details
So let's toughen up, prepare out gears, polish our cyber, and run the shadows.. And remember the code:  Watch your back, shoot straight, conserve ammo, and never, ever, cut a deal with a dragon.

(Official Shadowrun 5th edition artwork)

The resume:

The name is Amelie Steuben, I am an elf, born in the UCAS and now living in Honk Kong. I was born in the Barren lands that circle the city of Seattle, one of the biggest corporate city of the world.
Born Sinless, mean without a SIN (System Identification Number), i grew up with over street rat like me. Many didn't reached teenage years, and of all of those i called my brothers and sisters, only Duncan stayed at my side.
At one point, me and this Chinese American orc boy, we  encountered Raymond... And he took us in. Raymond was born in Honk Kong, why did he leaved, he never told us. He was the type of "father" that impose a strong discipline, and don't accept that his 'childs" talk back. For years he teach us stuff we never learned before. How to act like a average person.
I always been the cunning type, able to get of situation with a good talk, a good smile, or a good blowjob.. I know how it sound, but believe me, a little not so bad looking black elf girl in the barrens? It could have ended way, way worse than that, if Ray hadn't took me in. TBH i don't really dislike when things become a bit .. physical... I'm not a Troll, but clearly the Horny type, it's why the boys used to call me BreedStation... i know, it's gross as shit, but believe me, i heard worse in the shadows
I Was kinda the one that made sure that Ray and Duncan didn't threw themselves at each others throat over the days together. The glue in the family.... Till i wasn't. I had contact with an old friend, the type of friend that helped me as a kid, and if i wanted to leave this life behind me for good... I had to help her with her problems.... I didn't involved Duncan, that was my problems. Easy in, easy out, and it would past forever.... It didn't happened.
I ended in a corporate prison for years. First month i was sure Duncan or Ray would seek me and get me out... It never happened. So when i went out, i just took care of myself, and never reach to them ever again... 

Till Ray message came to me.  (official Shadowrung Honk Kong game cinematic intro)

I couldn't refuse after hearing this message.. i had never heard Ray in such state... I took a ticket for a plane then a boat, with the money he had sent with the message, and find Duncan at the docks... God, he had changed. Fit as fuck, goodbye chuby teen orc, and more.. a Lone Star, a Fuckin Lone star. Duncan Wu had became a cop. He was there, waiting for me with his partner and superior. We were surprised by local thugs and had to make our way through them. been weeks since i had used my gun, and wasn't that bad to feel it grip in my hand once again. That done we reach the Rendez vous point... And find ourselves with a bunch of Shadowrunners...
For those who dunno who they are, they're the non related soldiers the company use to make war between themselves. Expensive enough to make a good job, worthless enough to not sweat when they all die in a contract. Make the good ones, very good, and the bad ones, very dead.

Artwork by the awesome Lords of guns 

Seems they were hired by Ray.. who was still missing. Before we could walk away, a squad of Honk Kong Police forces assaulted us, killing Nightjar, the shadowrunners leader, one more of them, and Duncan's partner.
We barelly manage to escape, thanks to a orc local girl, rat shaman, names was Gobbet, and she came with a quite cute smile, and a dwarf girl, visibly a decker, Is0bel. As we were now, they were under a police force manhunt, so we decided to stick together to see how to get out of this... And also we had to burn our SIN to be sure they couldn't track us down... A thing not everyone is able to do super Easy.

So to survive we met Kindly Cheng : "Auntie", the local Yellow Lotus boss. She also was the local job giver for the shadowrunners, and she wasn't happy that her elite team leader been killed. She was even More pissed off when she discovered the one girl behind all of this was a Corporate head, and her personal nemesis :  Josephine Tsang
Auntie gave us a job, go in the walled city, a nightmare made block of concrete, with tons of living souls in, and give a message to one of her man going rogue.  Doing it without killing any of her former troopers would be perfect.
i won't lie, i had to relate on my charms to get in, but i manage to do it all. Auntie was impressed and accepted to burn my and Duncan SIN, and give us a job, becoming Shadowrunners.
I was appointed new leader: Duncan is too blood boiling type, Is0bel ain't the leading type, and Gobbet sense of priority is not the type that make mission going smooth. She gave us a boat to live in, that we renamed the Kraken. And we started out new life in the shadows.

While Auntie was seeking more info on Tsang and her plot, we made money. Enough so i could buy me some new books and study and add to my already good conversation skills, many local etiquettes. Things to say that would make me blend in any situation. With that i upgraded myself, first, i added a jack, to interface with some weapons, then  some cyber eyes to make targetting Easyer. A new mechanical strong arm, able to catch flying grenades and threw them back to the launcher, and with that a pheromon dispenser, to make my already wonderfull features becoming even more... hard to resist.
And to finish, i added to my bionic arm a monofilament whip, wich became my trademark weapon. With my gracile and agile body, it became a mortal weapons, and more than one guys regreted, to have walked too close to me when combat time came in.

art by Pixel artist Vertibirdo 

During the  runs, we added two members to the crew, Gaichu, a former Red Samourai, infected by Ghoul virus, but able to remain conscious and wise. He became a friend and our melee specialist. Ok he got to eat humans and meta Human flesh to live, but well, not like if our dead ennemies needed that anymore.
Once we met a newbie Vampire girl, Ku Feng, and he took her to teach her how to live with her monster side, she would become a strong ally in the end.
The other Runner to join us was Racter, a Drone Rigger, an academic scholar type. The type you can find with an interesting conversation about the essence of man and machine, and the essence itself, at any moment. A Fun but somehow, cold friend, the type you're happy to have on your side tough.

On our Shadow nights, i had time to settle some grief in some of our companion past. Racter had an ancient invention he worked on to get back from former friends that betrayed him. Gaichu needed help against his former teamate who wanted to kill him for "becoming an inhuman monster". In the end he gave them a quick and painfull death with our help, prooving them and himself he was still human, behind the beast. Gobbet had to deal with her past, as she had turned her back to her teenage time community, now taken back by a magical monstruosity. We cleaned the board for her, and became quite close together after that... quite close..
Is0bel had lived her young years in the Walled city, and had erased her own memory of it. As we advanced in our research, it became clear that Tsang game lead there, so she retrieved it to help the team... She never told me what came back from the past, what type of ghost and horror she saw as a kid. But i think i helped her to learn how to live with it. One thing is sure, i spent less than 3 days of my entire life there, and things i saw still haunt me today... Being a kid in there would have made hell look like a holliday camp.
Over the weeks, something bad came from the Walledcity.. everyone, and i say EVERYONE started to have the nightmares... the same... The blood and the teeth that came from it to gnawn our very minds... Yeah, this place was evil, that is sure.

After many weeks and Nuyen, we find back Josephine henchman, the Plastic face man. A guy that had made himself a corporate tool, with locked memories that erase themselves once a contract is done. So the perfect tool to do dirty job, as he would forget it just after and avoid you the pain to clean behind.
We had to use pirate techs to stun him before he erased his data, but we managed to extract him, killing his GF in the process sadly.
Once awoken, we had only some minutes before the memory wiping came back, so we were ready to interogate him in the bad ways... but he came clean, gave us everything. I think making yourself a corporate tools to be sure you ll never be targeted by a former client mean you don't want to be tortured too.
Big news, Ray, that we tough dead, was alive. Second, he was Josephine son, Edward Tsang. Third, he participate to build the evil place that was the walled city. Fourth, Josephine was trying to wipe his memory of something related to the walled city, and wipe us from his life in the same time.... Bad Grand ma

He also Dl us the plan of the facility hosting Ray. So we equiped ourselves, had a good night of sleep, had sex with other party members... at least i did, and took our guns to the omnious place.
With all the info, and my skilled tongue, we passed through the place EZ peasy. Is0bel managed to give us some dirt on Josephine, to please Auntie, and enough trouble fro security to be sure that we wouldn't have to deal with a complete army once the problems would come.
And they came when we reached Ray. He was in a machine built to wipe his memory out. While is0bel was trying to get him out, we had for the rest of us, to deal with 1/3 of the company elite guards, the rest being occupied by some of the fake problems we had created.
Finaly we took demon and escaped with no further problems.. And if he looked like shit, he had no time to rest, we had need for revelations.

Ray was born Edward Tsang. He was a young magic theory specialist and became an executive in his mom company. The company had to build a new city for un wealthy crowd. one with all facilities, local markets, school, parks, etc etc. Anything to make sure the poor wouldn't need to go out..
But with something else built inside. Edward had theorised a fortune machine. Propelled by the essence of the being, and based on the Feng shui theories, the machine was supposed to drain bad things and making it come clean as fortune for the people living in....
But something, on the mana realm get the machine stuck... and soon, the bad vibes, bad sentiment, bad things, started to pool here... slowly destroying the fabric of reality, and opening a gate for another realm... and not one of the pleasant type one.. The one of the Yama queen, the one with thousand teeth.
Another side effect was to make the walled city slowly becoming a pond of negativity, and soon a toxic mana well.. it was the reason the place was a nightmare zone.
The question was WHY Josephine wanted this to remain secret, why not destroying the machine?... Well it seems she find a way to drain also fortune from all the souls in the city... and make this positive energy come to her, and her alone... This is why her small company, propelled itself to one of the 10 Honk Kong big ones in the past 20 years.

Ray could stop it.. but he needed heelp.. cause as she felt us approch the machine, Josephine sent soldiers secure it....  and the Yama Queen did the same with things from her realms...
The things i saw that night.. the things i had to fight... I still smell their horrible scent on me sometimes.
This was a nightmare. but we bring our own. Ku Feng came to help. And Gaichu had teach her well. i dunno if we could have made it without her. But in the end we reached the former lab.  There we had to attack the Queen once in our realms, then dive into a portion of her world to weaken her, enough so we could close the machine.... But someone had to do it from inside the toxic pond of mana.... And Ray took this responsibility for himself. he had created this nightmare. He had made us come and put us in danger. The only way to proove us that he cared, was to be sure he save us in the final moment...

I needed a cuddle and a good night of sleep... good i knew where to find both. When i closed my eyes this night.. finaly, the nightmare were gone.

Still lords of guns this time on his Tweeter name Max Gibson 

Voila for the resume

The game came with an epilogue, but it's totally out of the base game story so in the end i decided not to include it in my run resume.
Was clearly enough already X)