High Stakes Wedding

While this one-shot was written with Shadowrun in mind, it can be played in any modern or cyberpunk setting. Sample Characters can be found here.
While chilling at a bar in Amsterdam, watching a soccer match alongside various members of the Dutch Penose, the runners are joined by an Elf wearing some form of Venetian mask. She smiles at them and asks if they're available for a rush job, well paid of course. She explains someone has gone missing and has to be returned to her care within the next six hours.   Introducing herself as Nat, she tells the runners her client is a VIP sending in a representative to a poker match. The missing man works as shift leader of a construction crew during the day, but gambles heavily at night. Her client chose him as their representative, but the man and his entire crew disappeared while working underground. She needs him found before the match starts.

Natana

Metatype
Elf (Banshee)
Gender
Female
Birth Year
2026
Awakened/Ware
Magician
Type
Fixer
Personality
Cunning
A socialite magician turned Banshee decades ago, Natana has long since taken revenge on the one that made her so. Since then she has grown into a powerful magic user that is feared by many of the Amsterdam vampires. She makes use of protective magic as well as disguises to hide her true identity, while she preys on criminals to satiate her need of blood and Essence.   Two rivalling vampire bloodlines are joining with a marriage, a ceremony for which many vampires from Amsterdam and the rest of the United Netherlands are invited. Natana, however, was not. In retaliation, she has decided to send in runners and disrupt the ceremony. In truth she does not cares at all about the kidnapped construction workers, they are but a means to an end to her, a tool to hire runners and upset the wedding guests.

The Run
Some crime lords of the Dutch Penose are renovating an old metro tunnel to use as smuggling route. The crew uses sunlight spotlights to ward off Amsterdam's vampire population. This has failed somehow, with an entire crew kidnapped. While Nat only wants the shift leader returned, the Dutch Penose no doubt will repay both the runners and Nat if more are returned.   First things first, the runners should get their hands on ways to deal with vampires. Fortunately for them, alchemical Daylight Preparations and wooden frag grenades are obtainable in limited supplies. Then they must study the construction site and find tracks to follow into the various tunnels and decrepit buildings. The local homeless population can also provide well-needed intel.
Johnson
Natana
Job Type
Rescue Mission
Opposition
Vampires
Base Rewards
¥8,000
8 Karma
Word on the street
"I need this man returned to me alive if possible, or otherwise his corpse so we can justify replacing him at the table."
 
"What the hell were those crime lords thinking, renovating a tunnel in vampire territory?"
 
"I swear to you, the vamps are incredibly silent yet noisy recently. There's something going on there."
 
"... A poker match? Sure I got hired for one, but that one's next week! Still, gift horse and all that, glad you saved us! Let me know if I ever need to do you a solid."

The Complications
Following the trail of the kidnapped construction crew, the runners soon will discover a group of a few dozen vampires in Station Rokin, a ruined underground metro station. This is when they find out that there's a wedding taking place, with the crew kidnapped as a wedding gift.   While most of the vampires are weak, they're still with far too many to take on directly. But sabotage, diversions, even spiking the bloodpunch with another substance can create a situation for the runners to get the crew out. It might even give them the chance to kill vampires and turn in the corpses for a decent bounty.
The Aftermath
Even though Natana lied to the runners to hide her real motive, she still pays them well for their services. The more people they rescued, the happier the Dutch Penose are with them. In contrast, any surviving vampires will definitely hold a grudge against them.   As for Natana, in the vampire scene she subtly gloats about the ruined wedding. While it hasn't made her any friends, it did give her exactly what she wanted: Fear. It will be at least another decade before any local vampires are foolish enough to deliberately offend her. Meanwhile, at least one crime lord has covertly contacted her with gratitude.

Comments

Please Login in order to comment!
Apr 27, 2023 22:27

Nice, I like that this works as a stand alone adventure but can provide hooks for a longer chronicle too

Apr 28, 2023 07:25 by Michael Chandra

Some of the best Shadowrun campaigns involve consequences. ^_^


Too low they build who build beneath the stars - Edward Young
Do you live in or near the United Netherlands? Are you a Shadowrunner, or other kind of criminal? Do you have teenage offspring that needs the ability to turn to crime themself? Say no more, our School of Hard Knocks is ready for you. From crafting molotov cocktails to learning how to pick a lock, we have all the classes your child needs to become a criminal in their own right. Corpslaves not to apply.