KAVolume 1

GE

Howdy,As you can tell, it's been over three months since the last issue and it feels

even longer. Ka-ge 8 went out about three weeks early and Ka-ge 9 is abouttwo weeks late, so that's a long time any way you cut it. Sorry about the delay,and I hope it hasn't caused problems for anybody. And speaking of Ka-ge 8, Imissed a credit in the Table of Contents. The Dwarven Stoic was designed byBrian Walker. Sorry about the omission.

Lots has been going on with GenCon, the summer in general and AWOLProductions. First of all, Gil Cooper went back to his real job at PittsburghCollege (in Kansas) so (as usual) we're short on manpower. It's made things,well, interesting is the only way to describe it. We've added additional person-nel, however, in the form of Rodney and Kim Knox. Although they haven't"officially" joined the staff at AWOL, they're both already working on futureissues and other projects for the near future. Many members had the chance tomeet Rodney and Kim at GenCon where they were severely overworked.Fortunately that did not scare them off, and they're ready for more. I can hardlywait.

You'll probably notice some subtle changes in this issue. They're the resultof our changing typesetters. The new crew are guys I've worked with in thepast, and I've always been impressed with their work, but we've never man-aged to make a connection with Ka-ge. Now all that has changed, and I knowwe'll be able to do more and more with the actual production process (andkeep the price down).

With Rodney's and Kim's help, we're really going to push to have issue tenof Ka-ge out before the Christmas rush. That means you should have the issuein your hands on Christmas Eve (if not, sooner). Keep your fingers crossed.

Some of you might have noticed Ka-ge for sale in hobby stores. Ka-ge isavailable over-the-counter. It is shipped to distributors 30 days after it reachesmembers. So far distribution is fairly small, but we hope that will change in thefuture. Our primary focus is still the member, however, so don't worry if yousee an issue on the shelf. We're still a player's organization.

Enjoy,Jim

C o n t e n t sNotes from theNet.............................. Page 3

Paterson's Guide toParanormal Animals .. Page AAzatlan Awakened critters byNetwork member StephenKenson. The Alicanto,Calchuna, and Onaqui.

Ka-ge Fiction ............ Page 10"Wonderland" by Networkmember Chad Olson. Thefourth of a series.

Shadows................... Page 17The Troll Ranger archetype byNetwork member BryanWalker

Tuning's Guideto Organizations ......Page 18Armour International byNetwork member Chad Olson

Ka-ge Fiction ............ Page 23"Business Unusual" by Net-work member Vicki Kirchhoff

Gear ..........................Page 28Ten pages of new gear hits thestreets by Network memberStephen Kenson.

Paydata..................... Page 39

Calendar ofEvents .......................Page 44

Network MemberGraffiti ......................Page 46

Writing on theWall ..........................Page 47

is anAWOL PRODUCTION

AWOL Management................. James D. LongAWOL Office Manager.................. lane FosterAWOL MembershipCoordinator.......................... Arleen BuschJostAWOL Dude .............................JeffSchroeder

Magazine StaffSenior Editor..................................... Jim LongContributing Writers ............ Stephen Kenson,

Chad Olson, Vicki Kirchhoff,Brian Walker, Jim Long.

Cover Art..................................... Sean ParrackInterior Art.............. Sean Parrack, Dan Smith,

John Morrissey, Corey Gulley

For FASAPresident-Person........................... Sam LewisShadowrun-Person........................ Tom Dowd

Layout..................................... Dave GibbonsMiddlecoast Publishing, Inc.

Shadow run and Matrix are trademarks ofFASA Corporation, registered In the USPatent and Trademark Office. ShadowrunNetwork Is a trademark of AWOL Produc-tions, Inc. All materials In Ka-ge are© 1993 AWOL Productions and® FASACorporation.

Ka-ge Is published quarterly for $20.00 peryear by AWOL Productions, Inc., 310 TigerLane, Suite 3, Columbia, MO.

POSTMASTER: Send address changes toAWOL Productions, 2IOI W. Broadway,#305, Columbia, MO 652O5 6O18.

T a b l e of

I'm a fairly new player and Ihave a suggestion. How aboutproviding a service for membersto introduce themselves toother local members? Just anidea.

Doug Neale

Good idea. A simple "here Iam" can be handled with thegraffiti section in the back ofKa-ge. In the future however,we hope to assemble a player'sguide of all members. Keep aneye out for more on this in thefuture.

... and one more thing. Areyou or are you not on GEnie? Ihave just found it recently andhave started posting thereslowly...

You bet Postings have beensporadic over the summer, butwe read everything that getsposted in the Ka-ge section ofthe BBS, and we normally readeverything that has anything todo with FASA. If you 've gotinformation or questions, pleasepost them to GEnie and we 'IIhandle them there. Coveragehas increased over the last fewweeks and will continue toimprove over the fall and win-ter.

... Language changes a lotmore slowly than people think.One of my players speaks aboutfive of them to one degree oranother. Certain words havebeen in our vocabulary for along time and the difference

between 1993 and 2053 is sortof an eyeblink linguistically. It'sthe introduction of the terms"ooze," "drek," "frag," and theirredeemably loathsome"chummer" that really offendsus. We understand that it's forthe younger players but they seeand hear much worse on televi-sion and in the schoolyard. Andthe rationale that it protectsFASA from the religious right orthe ire of parents is equallyspurious.

Let's be realistic. The gameis about betrayal, violence,racism, etc. Pretty adultthemes. ... The double standardconcerning language in thisgame is both appalling andslightly insulting (unless it's theresult of naivete in which caseit's just as sad)...

Anthony Forster

Good points. I'II stay off thesoap box, but these questions,and others along the same line,have been asked of game manu-facturers for a long time andperhaps a short explanation is inorder (at least as far as A WOL isconcerned).

Shadowrun does cover manyadult themes. It allows playersto put their characters in dangerwhile still in the comfort of theirown living rooms. The action isthe thing. The rules and thebackground are just a "hook" onwhich to hang the story and theaction. What makes it comealive is the gamemaster, whowill have his own personal style.

It has always been the policyof FASA and AWOL to providethe product to the widest pos-

sible market. This only makessense from a business point-of-view. We both need the moneyto survive. Offending potentialbuyers with language they findobjectional is poor business. Itmight not make a lot of sense,but many people are perfectlywilling to play a game whichinvolves terrorism and blood-shed, but they'll not purchasethe same product with wordingthey find objectionable.

In the late 70s and early 80sTSR took a tremendous hit in thewallet when people (mostlyparents and the religious right)decided the company was"evil." They've recovered andso has the industry, but theshort-term effects were veryreal. It may sound too easy tosay "that's the market, " but insimple terms, that is the answer.

I doubt anybody who hasbeen subjected to late nightphone calls, public ridicule, orincessant demands to defend amoral position against some-body with only half the storywould call the problem "spuri-ous. " I know I don't. The factis, when you're an individualyou can do, say, and play asyou see fit When you publish,you must do, say, and play withat least a thought to the con-sumer. Unless, that is, you haveunlimited financial resourcesand can afford to anger yourbuyers. When players purchaseShadowrun they know theenvironment they're getting.How they choose to portray thatenvironment is strictly up tothem.

Paterson Field Guide to Paranormal AnimalsNew Animals for a New Age

>>>>[From Vol. 6 of the infamous Paterson's Guide comes this little excerpt on our friendssouth of the border. Just a few things to be on the look out for the next time you're in Azz ie land]<<<<

Talon <16:10:26/11-15-53>

Identification:Alicantos are small, flightlessbirds about the size of apigeon. The have elongatedlegs and are capable runners.Alicanto feathers range fromdark brown through tan andgrey and generally have glitter-ing gold and sliver highlights.

Magic Capability:Innate

Habits:Alicantos, in addition to thetypical diet of small birds, eatsmall quantities of gold andsilver, either in refined state oras natural ore. It is believedthat the metals contribute insome as yet unknown way tothe maintenance of the bird'smetabolism, perhaps aidingdigestion. Alicantos often nestnear veins or deposits of pre-

cious metals to sustain theunusual feeding pattern.

Alicantos are highly territo-rial and use their ability to castillusions to frighten other crea-tures away from their nestingand feeding areas.

Powers:Illusion

Weaknesses:Dietary Requirement (gold orsilver)

»»[Prospectors often look fcsigns of Alicantos in the areawhen searching for gold orsilver deposits. The birds havean uncanny ability for trackingdown the best ore.]«« -Diamond Jim <13:21:42/11-15-53>

»»[Prospectors are also

careful, because there are talesof Alicantos deliberately usingillusion to lead the unwary overthe edges of cliffs and intoquicksand. One paranaturalistsuggests that it could be somekind of instinct to lead preda-tors away from the nest. Otherbirds, like quail, display similarbehaviors.]«« - Ranger[20:03:23/11-15-53>

»»[I've heard that somegold and silver can even berecovered from the bodies ofdead birds.]«« - Wraith[04:12:17/lt-l6-53>

»»[It can be, but there'sgenerally not much, maybe afew ounces, and it's a messyand lengthy process to get allof it. Most real prospectors Iknow wouldn't bother.]«« -Diamond Jim [13:11:45/11-16-53>

Game Information - AlicantoB Q S C I W E R Attacks1 5x4 0 1/5 1 6 5 2L

Initiative Dice: 1D6Powers: IllusionWeaknesses: Dietary Requirement (gold or silver)

Identification:Calchona are large dog-likeanimals, averaging 1.3 metersat the shoulder. They haveheavy black or brown fur,lightening toward white or tanon the muzzle and paws. Be-low the jaw is a long beard-likegrowth of hair similar to that ofa goat.

Magic Capability:Innate

Habits:Calchona are nocturnal animalsthat live in packs in highlandsareas, generally near humanhabitations where sources of

prey such as farm animals areavailable. They hunt a varietyof small prey, and packs willoften attack and bring downlarger animals such as mountaingoats.Powers:RegenerationWeaknesses:None

»»[Calchona are incredibletrackers and can sometimes betrained as bloodhounds orhunting dogs. They're smarterthan ordinary dogs, and theirregeneration ability makesthem fraggin' near impossibleto kill.]«« - Ranger

[20:18:24/11-15-53>

»»[Aztechnology usestrained Calchonas as guardanimals at a number of theirfacilities.]«« - Pyramid[22:35:22/1 1-1 5-53>

»»[l've heard that if you cutoff a Calchona's beard, it losesits regeneration power. Anyconfirmation out there?]«« -Nightblade [02:12:55/11-16-53>

»»[Chummer, I don't thinkanyone wants to get closeenough to try that one...]««- Johnny Zen <18:03:38/11-16-53>

Game InformationB Q S C I W E R Attacks8 5/4 6 - 3/4 2 6 6 6S

Initiative Dice: 2D6Powers: RegenerationWeaknesses: None

Identification:An Onaqui is a hideous crea-ture with a humanoid torso,limbs similar to a jaguar and thehead and wings of a bat. It

stands nearly 3 meters tall onits hind legs and has a 10 meterwingspan. The creature's heartgives off a du l l , booming beatthat can be heard at distances

of up to 15 meters.

Magic Capability:Innate

Habits:Onaqui are deadly predatorsthat feed on large, warm-blooded animals, includinghumans. Their preferred food isthe blood-enriched tissues ofthe heart. When Onaqui aresatiated with food, their heart-beat is loud and quite audible.As they grow hungry it softensto allow them to hunt moreeasily.

Powers:Flight, Immunity to NormalWeapons, Invisibility

Weaknesses:Vulnerability (Jade)

»»[Onaqui are thankfullyfairly rare. They require a vast"hunting ground" to support

them, and two Onaqui arefound within 100 kilometers ofeach other only if they are amated pair.]«« - Ranger[20:52:31/11-l5-53>

»»[The creatures are dimlyintelligent and possessed of afierce animal cunning. Theyhave been known to lure preyinto natural traps such asswamps and the like. If you'reever in the jungle and hearsomething that sounds like aheartbeat or a quiet drum,better start looking forcover.]«« - Vert [12:11:30/11-16-53>

»»The fraggers are fast as allhell, too. Most weapons don'teven slow them down, jadeweapons can hurt them, but I

wouldn't care to try and getclose enough to use one.]««- Nightblade[ 19:43:12/11-16-53>»»Then follow the advice ofsome of the Indians and usejade-tipped spears and arrows,chummer.]«« - Johnny Zen[21:06:02/11-16~53>

»»[A little tricky when youcan't see what you're aiming at,isn't it?]«« - Nightblade[20:03:43/1 l-20-53>

»»[Johnny neglected tomention that he's a physicaladept and a zen archer who canhit targets dead center withblindfolded. Don't try this trickat home, folks]«« - Ranger< 15:46:13/11-21-53>

Game InformationB Q S C I W E R Attacks7 5/3 6 - 4 4 (6) 6 6S

Initiative Dice: 3D6Powers: Flight, Immunity to Normal Weapons, InvisibilityWeaknesses: Vulnerability (Jade)

Clink... Clink... Blaze reached for thevase of wine to fill his now iced glassbut changed his mind. With a shrug,he unscrewed the lid of the synth whis-key bottle and filled the tumbler full.He held the drink to the light, watch-ing the various shades of amber swirlaround the crystal ice. Something alittle stronger, tonight, he thought.Quickly he upended the double shotand filled himself another. Blaze, anon-drinker, had increased his drinkinghabits, especially now since he wasnumber one on some demonic mage'shit list. His depression was also broad-ened by the failed attempt to avengehis fiance and the return to square one.

Tonight Blaze, Dice, and Patcheswere in Dice's hellhole, the place hecalled home. The medium sized apart-ment was a mess, as expected of thedecker. Despite the mess, though, theplace had a cozy feel to it. It felt livedin. Blaze for the past week had beenlaying low there and had accustomedhimself to his surroundings. In fact, HElooked like HE lived there wearing apair of Dice's old jeans and a flannelshirt. He didn't even wear his ever-present shades.

So close...so close, he thought.Maybe It's just a futile effort and I'ma fool.

His self-annihilation was interruptedby the delicate touch of Patches's handon his shoulder. She had stolen upbehind him without a sound. "Are youOK, Blaze. You're out of style." It wasthe first time she had seen him sincethe failed run.

Blaze looked at her; her concernedsmile, warm eyes, and heart-shapedface fringed by shiny, dark-brown haircomforted him a little. He had to becautious though. Knowing she was asnake shaman, she could be a little toocomforting, and he didn't want to in-terfere with the relationship she andGronk had. At times like this, though,he couldn't really trust his self-control.

"Don't worry, I ' l l be alright. It's justa little aggravating to have to start over.And I've asked so much of you all al-ready."

After hearing this, and factoring inBlaze's tone of voice, Patches knewsomething was wrong. "Ah, Blaze, I'msure we wouldn't do it if we didn't wantto. We all seem to owe each othersomething. That's why we work so welltogether. And besides, what elsewould a two-and-a-half meter chromedtroll and a cantankerous, womanizingdecker have to do out there in the cor-porate world anyway? As for startingover, we're not doing so bad. We'vegot that name you pulled out of Tursheyat the hotel. Dice should be able tocome up with something tonight."

"Yea," Blaze grimaced, "a run in 'TheBlack hole of Mitsuhama.' He's toldme himself that a matrix intrusion likethat is serious. He could get hurtdammit!"

"He won't get hurt. Dice is a pro,one of his better qualities. You knowthat as well as I. Even if things lookbad, we can always pull him out of it.Is that why you're feeling so drekky, oris there something else?"

Blaze took a sip of his synth drink,swallowed hard and looked again atPatches. "You don't think I'm takingthis revenge thing, this..., this missionto extreme limits, do you? After all,who made me judge, jury, and execu-tioner anyway?"

"Well, Blaze, I think Christy's killershould pay just as any other murderer,but you know how I feel about unnec-essary violence. I believe that what-ever you do when the time comes,you'll make the right decision."

"Yea, if the time comes," Blazegrumbled, swirling his drink.

"Is this the same confident, myste-rious mage 1 signed up with?" Patchespatted him on the back. "This is veryunlike you. You know, even the mostpowerful mages can have an off day.Try not being so hard on yourself.You're only human you know."

"And what about big, black andnasty out there!" Blaze exclaimed, pull-ing himself from the bar set to walkacross the living room. He was afraidhe'd start ranting with Patches's coun-cil, but it was too late now. "How can

1 keep up my own agenda in Seattlewhen I've got this mutant wanting myhide for his personal collection."

"That's what we're here for, Blaze,"Patches said turning to face him."We're all going to do our best to helpyou out on this. You know, all for oneand one for all."

Blaze didn't turn to her. "Yea right,you know how quickly it rendered ourentire group helpless in the alley be-hind the hotel. This thing is powerful!You know how powerful it is! I knowyou felt it back there!"

"Yea, 1 felt it. Snake hated it. It'sjust a setback that we can overcome ifwe have faith. It's not indestructible.You saw what that helicopter did to it.Come to think of it, how do you knowthat it wasn't destroyed back then any-way?"

Blaze looked back at her, stared ather for a moment. "I know. I've felt itspresence ever since we rescued youand Gronk from the docks. It's likewe're connected." He walked over tothe window and looked at all the mul-ticolored lights and flashes of the Plex,like trillions of twinkling stars on a clearnight in the awakened forest. He whis-pered, "It's still out there, somewhere,just waiting to strike."

In a boarded up, run down, oldbuilding in the Barrens, a dark figurestalked. Its long, flowing duster flewnearly horizontal as it rushed overcreaky boards and mice infested cracksin the walls. Their squeaks only ac-cented the monotonous dripping ofwater from rusted pipes and the evilhowling wind that managed to blowthrough the glassless windows. Adeep, guttural, menacing laugh piercedthe building expressing the form's anx-iousness for the evening's hunt.

"The Fusion grows weak. I mustfeed," it spoke thunderously. Uponreaching the rooftop of the building, thedark figure hurled forth another laugh,echoing against the surrounding build-ings. It watched the flickering lights ofthe cars and the signs of the Downtown

area with a maniacal grin as the windthrashed its duster and hair angrily.

"I'm coming for you, mage!" itshouted. "I'm coming for you! If nottonight, then some other! YOU CAN-NOT ESCAPE ME!" The dark form re-leased another deep laugh, louder andmore hideous than before, and a crackof lightning split the sky. Outstretch-ing its arms to the night, the formshifted to mist and let the wind carry itaway.

Blaze emptiedhis drink in a finalswallow, still staringout into the night. Iwonder who hisnext victim will be,he thought.

Patches felt theneed to break thethick silence. "Diceis waiting for us in hiscomputer room. Doyou think you canhandle going inthere?"

Blaze pausedm o m e n t a r i l y ."Alright. But ifthings get crazy, I'mpulling the plug onthis operation." Heset the glass downand headed for thecomputer den.

"Whatever yousay, Blaze. You'rethe boss" Patchessighed followinghim.

They walked intothe chaos that couldbe none other thanDice's computerroom. Every squareinch of table spacewas filled with vari-ous colored papers, data chips, elec-tronics and computer equipment, tools,and left over packages of Chung Lee'stake out. Draped over overflowingshelves and boxes were grungy

T-shirts, jeans and other clothing des-perately in need of washing. The onlyway in was through a narrow path ofdebris, boxes, and papers that entirelycovered the floor. The only indicationof human life in the room was thegentle tapping, snapping, and mum-bling coming from deep within thelabrynth of a room. They carefully madetheir way through the obstacles thatstood before them to find Dice busily

of working over his cyberdeck."How goes it, Dice?" Blaze chimed.The decker, so engrossed in what

he was doing, knocked over a fewbooks as he nearly jumped out of his

skin. "Jeez, what are ya tryin' ta do, killme!"

"No, I was just wondering howthings..."

"They're fine," Dice cut in. "I wasjest about ta come and get cha. Had tamake a few 'justments on my ride, yaknow, jest ta be safe. Little mo' pep-per!"

"What did you add?" Patches asked.Dice looked at her, "Aw well it's

rather technical,kinda outta yourleague. Let's justsay I'm a little bet-ter equipped forthe run."

"Are you sureyou can handlethis?" Blaze ques-tioned. "I knowthis one will betough."

"Aw, don'tworry; where I'mheadin', the iceain't as tough.Now if you'll finda seat, we can getstarted."

Blaze andPatches lookedaround to findstanding roomonly. After a mo-ment and a fewmoved boxes andpapers, they man-aged to find abare spot on thefloor.

"Comfy?" Dicechuckled.

Blaze ignoredhis lighthearted-ness. "Now youknow what to do,right? Get in asquietly as pos-

sible, find the personnel records andsearch for the name Cain McClintoc.Get as much dirt on him as possible,and get out. Don't do anything stupidin there, all right? If you can't find any-

thing, don't go digging a hole you can'tget out of."

Dice just smiled and shrugged."Hey, it's me." Patches had to laugh;Blaze just sighed and shook his head.He lifted the dataplug and slipped it intothe porcelain rimmed jack behind hisear. "See ya on the other side, Blaze."And with that Dice tapped in a few key-strokes and punched the GO button.

Somewhere in a grimy alley of Se-attle, a catatonic joygirl was grasped inthe clutches of an evil predator. Thegirl's unblinking eyes stared blankly intothe face of her soon-to-be life-taker. Thedark form hovered over its prey, halfdisgusted, half ravenous.

"Foul feeding tonight," it uttered."But I must succumb to the Fusion, theforce which drives my life." With a flickof its wrist the dark form released itscontrol spell, bringing the joygirl to hersenses. The girl's eyes blinked a fewtimes, only to open wide in sheer ter-ror at what she saw above her. Herscream was stifled as the dark one fedon her fear.

The dull, cluttered world aroundDice gave way to the open, majesticpanorama of the Matrix. All aroundDice's icon were a multitude of geo-metric shapes representing other sys-tems from the huge to the very small.Hovering overhead in the distancewere the brilliant, shining icon build-ings of the mega corporations. A sky-line of pure electricity, light, and intensecolors like none other in the real world.Dice stood next to the image that washis cyberdeck--a run down shack witha flashing neon sign reading "Mr.Rogers's House of Ill Repute and Spir-its Emporium" It was his own design.

Dice looked down at his own per-sona icon. It was a rather normal look-ing human form wearing a long jet blackduster with silver trim and blue high-lights. Under the duster was a blackone-piece jumpsuit with a crimson cen-ter line that seemed to split the icon intwo. Long, silver, ultra fine flowing hairtousled in the electronic breeze,

semi-hiding a grey, featureless facewith blood-red eyes. To top it all off,Dice wore a gray fedora with a red bandalong with a electric blue rose pinnedto his duster lapel. To the decker, theimage resembled a mobster outfit fromthe thirties, but with the usual Matrixflair.

Dice pulled aside a flap of his longcoat. The interior of it pulsed with whitejagged electrical static, bringing light tothe otherwise dark icon. He reachedinto the static a though it were a poolof water and pulled out his attack pro-gram. He wielded an early 1900's spe-cial Ml Thompson sub-machine gun,carefully crafted and imaged to perfec-tion.

Hope you're ready for this Tommy,he thought to himself. After replacingthe weapon, Dice's meat body punchedin the LTG number for the infamousMitsuhama Corporation. With a sud-den rush, the icon rocketed upward intothe Matrix sky. After a moment, theimage power dived, only to bankgradually to a horizontal level at elec-trical impulse speed. Dice soared likea digital eagle, past blurred Matrix iconsand systems. Finally the fuzzy imagesslowed, and Dice found himself stand-ing before the mighty neon green pa-goda of Mitsuhama. The structure waseven larger and more impressive upclose than at a distance. If Dice's iconcould have gulped, it would have at thepowerful image that floated before it.

Well, the quicker I'm In, thequicker I'm out, Dice thought, won-dering if he had bitten off more thanhe could chew. Of the several LTGSAN's to the place, Dice's contactshooked him up to the one before him.This SAN was supposed to have a backdoor through which he could enter, butback doors could be just as dangerousas the front door, especially against asuper corp like Mitsuhama. However,he decided to take it, for any regularentrance to the system would be very,very heavily guarded.

He walked up to the towering greengate guarded by two high-rez samuraiof ancient Japan. Each stood to one

side of the door, with feet spread apartat shoulder width and interior armsholding nasty looking spears crossedin the center of the door.

Uhg, ugly lookin' brutes aren'tthey. Reaching into his duster, thedecker pulled out a throbbing bluesphere--hopefully his key to thebackdoor. The door was supposed tobe rather new, thus the passcodeshould be legit, but Dice didn't let thatrelax him too much. With his Attackprogram at close reach under his coat,Dice moved up to the door.

As he moved closer, a swirling ofdigitized lights formed before him intothe form of beautiful geisha girl.

"Welcome to Mitsuhama ComputerTechnologies," she spoke. "All thosewho enter must come bearing gifts forthe emperor. Do you have such a gift?"

Dice took that as the signal for histrump. "A beautiful jewel for theemperor's crown." He handed thesphere to the geisha who studied itclosely. Here goes everything, hethought.

After what seemed like way toolong for Dice to handle, the geisha girllooked up at him. "A handsome gift.The emperor will be most pleased.Please enter his kingdom with his high-est regards." With that, the girl liftedher hand and de-rezzed to the sameswirling lights as before. The samuraibehind her uncrossed their spears andthe mighty doors before Dice slowlyopened.

Well, I'm In but that doesn't meanI'm clean. He walked through thedoors and waited until they closed be-hind him. He stood in a dark, blackroom, lit only by the strange light ema-nating from an opening to his right.Dice reached into his long coat to pullout a neatly stacked column of pokerchips of various colors. With a quicktoss upward, the chips flew chaoticallyin all directions, finally encircling Dice'sicon in a swirl. Confident his Sleazewas properly running, Dice moved to-ward the light.

As he moved closer, the particlesthat made up his icon broke apart and

shot down the tubelike passageway.Upon reaching the end of the tube, theparticles rematerialized and he stoodbefore a hexagonally shaped icon sur-rounded by a sizzling barrier of red andwhite. An ancient samurai stood at at-tention to one side. It was identical tothe ones at the gate, but rendered inless detail.

The samurai didn't move as Dicemoved up to the electric door. Keep-ing a careful eye on the ancient war-rior, he al-lowed thepoker chips tospin aroundhis right hand.Certain theywere properlyaligned, hepushed hishand into thedoor. Thedoor's colorchanged toblue and whiteand the direc-tion of theelectrical jagsshifted to theopposite di-agonal. After amoment, thedoor's colorchanged topure white ande v e n t u a l l yfaded away.Looking againat the samurai,who was stilldormant, Dicemoved in tothe node.

Inside Dice could tell it was an SPU,probably used for data routing. Thebanks lining the walls pulsed with pureenergy of vibrant colors. From the nodewere three circular portholes, one di-rectly in front of him and two on eachside. The tunnels that led from the port-holes flashed as particles of white en-ergy zipped down them at nano-sec-ond speed.

Dice recalled the small system maphe acquired through his contact, a re-cently liberated employee ofMitsuhama. Assuming the system ar-chitecture of the lower system cell hadnot been changed since his contacts'sdeparture, Dice knew that he neededto take the dataline to his right. Brush-ing back his fine silver hair and tippinghis fedora back, Dice stepped up to theporthole and allowed the tube to takehim as before.

Dice knew the node he moved to-ward would be another SPU. From thisSPU he would just pass through to getto the next node, the one where heneeded to go.

As he approached he could see noIC present. This Is strange, there's gotta be somthin' there. This IsMitsuhama after all. He reached intohis duster and pulled out a small globe

of green energy. After setting the globeon the floor, it shifted and reformed,shaping itself into a medium sized slotmachine reminiscent of 1800's era, withwhat looked like a trumpet horn stick-ing out of the top and pointed behindthe displayers. Dice adjusted the hornto point in the direction of the nodeand pulled the lever on the one-armedbandit.

The decker carefully watched the sixspinning wheels as they told their story.

The firststopped on anempty hexa-gon, relaying toDice what healready knew.The node wasan SPU. Thesecond slot re-vealed a cut or-ange withseven seedsshowing. Anorange sevennode--he mustbe cautious.The third slotstopped spin-ning on a birth-day cake withsix candles,and the forthshowed an ex-ploding fire-cracker withfive jags point-ing from theexplosion im-age. The fifthrevealed alemon and thesixth was a yel-

low happy face. Looks like I got anAccess-6 and a Blaster-5 ta deal with.But that lemon Is bad news. Fraggit,I couldn't get a readin'. Well at leastthere's nothin' more In there. As Ifthey needed anythin' more!

After giving the machine a quick tap,it instantly snapped back into the greensphere shape and Dice replaced it inhis duster. Apprehensively he strolled

up to the node opening. As he drewcloser, a small flicker of light like an in-tensely bright firefly zipped out of thenode, slowly enlarging as it approachedDice's icon. Now at full size in theshape of a bright white sphere, thewords "Enter passcode" flashed off it.

Dice directed his poker chips with abroad sweep of his right arm. The chipsflew like a swarm of multicolored beesoff to his right. The IC sphere zoomedafter them and Dice quickly moved tothe SPU. Unfortunately, he didn't movefast enough. The sphere stopped sud-denly and immediately placed itself infront of the decker. Dice could see thegeneral hue of his surroundings glowyellow and the brightness of the spherewas near blinding. Out of the cornerof his crimson eye he could also seethe samurai lift his head and move towhere Dice and his nemesis werestanding.

Drek! Drek! Drek! Fraggin' Ac-cess IC. Drek!! Dice knew the samu-rai coming up wouldn't be a bother, yet,and so he tried the chips again. I couldblow this fraggin' sphere away but Ican't waist precious deck powerholdln' It down. With another grandgesture, Dice directed his swarm ofpoker chips across the sphere and thesamurai. With a small twirl of his fin-ger, he made the chips fly in elaborateformations, intertwining, and at variousspeeds. The intensely glowing spherechased after the chips again and Dice,at breakneck speed, charged for thenode.

It looked like the extra touch paidoff for he was now standing inside thenode--lone. Where's that other IC?Something should be here accordingto my Analysis. Well, no sense wor-rying about It now. Dice checked outthe node and the datalines leading outof it. There was one to his west, north,northeast, east and southwest. As hispoker chips returned to twirl aroundhim, Dice recalled his limited systemmap and bolted for the one on his west,the yellow flashing lights reminding himto hurry.

As he approached what he knew

would be another SAN, he was stoppedby the sight of a large icon too largeand grand to be a normal IntrusionCountermeasure. The icon resembleda shogun of the ancient Orient, its ar-mor crisscrossed with red and bluepulsing energy and brandishing a swordof white-hot jagged power in its lefthand. It strode up to Dice's icon, stand-ing nearly twice as tall as Dice, and heldout its right hand. The hand glowedyellow and hissed, waiting for Dice'saccess code. Dice stood intimidated,figuring this was the missing IC, andpulled out his Thompson Attack iconwhile directing his chips to spin aroundthe IC's head. He rapidly twirled hishand clockwise, increasing the speedof the chips to the point where theylooked like a flashing, spinning cylin-der around the head of his opponent.

He made a move for the node en-trance but was blown off his feet as theshogun broke free from its cylindricalcell with an explosion of computerizedchips. Dice looked up to see thewarrior's piercing eyes staring back athim. The shogun lifted its sword to thesystem sky and bolts of energy snappedand cracked against the white hot blade,flashing and casting infinitely long digi-tized shadows in all directions.

Frag! I didn't get past it! NowI've done it! Dice lifted Tommy up andpointed it at the shogun, but the 1C wastoo fast for him. With a broadunderstroke of its sword, the ICgolf-clubbed Dice off the system floorand against the interior of the node witha buzzing of energy.

Back in the real world, Dice's meatbody jerked, his head bounced backand then slumped forward again.

"What was that!" Blaze hollered."Trouble."

The decker's icon pulled itself up offthe floor, leaning against the SAN wallthe whole time. Leaking from a woundin his belly area were small bits of col-ored light, each de-rezzing with a siz-zling sound as they hit the floor.

OUCH! That hurt. Dice could seethe shogun running toward him. I'llget ya for that! The IC was just about

on top of him now, arms raised, swordready to cleave. As it swung down-ward, Dice ducked and rolled to the left,raising Tommy to fire. Synthetic reso-nances clapped as the Attack program'sbite stitched the shogun. Red flicks oflight leaped from the IC's right hip as itstepped back from the blow. But be-fore Dice could give a cheer, his oppo-nent spun and threw a golden weightednet. Dice tried to dodge but wasn'tquick enough. Once the net landed ontop of him, it electrified, spikes of lam-bent energy zapping into it from thenode's walls.

In the mundane world, the real Dicebegan to shake and a moan escapedhis throat.

"We've got to get him out of there!"Blaze screamed jumping to his feet.

"NO! I've seen this before," Patchesexclaimed, pulling back Blaze's handfrom the datajack cord. "You've got togive him more time."

Dice's icon shook and jerked as hemanaged to throw the net off. Hewatched it vanish after he noticed thathis icon's grey skin was seared and hisduster was shredded.

Frag! I need to restore! But Dicedidn't get a chance to as he just barelyrolled out of the downward sweep ofthe shogun's sword. Having the IC ina flank, he raised Tommy and fired an-other burst. Each blip of energy con-tacted, blasting a groove into the leftside of the construct and blowing thething off its feet with a high-pitchedbuzz. Now he had the superior posi-tion. He knelt down, aiming his Attackat the IC and prepared for it to get up.

Suddenly there was a bright whitelight engulfing the shogun. Dice couldbarely see, but he could determine aform rising from it. Then slowly thelight faded, and the shogun stoodready, sword in left hand and goldenweighted net swinging in the right. Itseyes seemed like flashlights, in theirbrightness. Dice loosed another burstfrom Tommy, taking careful aim at thehead. With metallic springing sounds,the ammo blips made contact, explod-ing the thing's head in a multitude of

flashing, ultra-bright particles. Theheadless body slowly slumped to thefloor, the sword faded and vanished,the net wove itself into the lattice ofthe node, and finally thebody de-rezzed to noth-ingness.

Dice didn't have timeto celebrate. He pulleda small silver ball aboutthe size of a gumdropfrom the interior of hisragged duster while atthe same time he tookoff his grey fedora. Hedropped the ball into thehat and quickly replacedit on his head. As soonas the hat touched his sil-ver hair, his head wasencircled by a neon pinkhoop. The hoop slowlymade its way down-ward, replacing his greyskin and repairing hisduster. When it finallyreached the floor, it fadedaway.

That's better, butI've gotta move. Theplace Is hot and It ain'tgonna be long beforebigger friends come aknockin'. He reorientedhimsel f and moveddown the dataline whichlead to the datastore hewanted to be in. Sureenough, the entrancewas blocked by a wall ofsizzling red and whitejags like the one before.

No sense for stealthnow. Dice raisedTommy and sprayed ahole in to the energywall. The jags flickered,then faded from view.

Inside, the walls ofthe datastore glowed luminously withred flashes in each ceiling corner. Gi-ant cubes of swirling alpha-numericsequences hung suspended in the air.Dice quickly replaced his sub-machine

gun and retrieved another greensphere. After placing it on the floor, itreshaped itself into the round form of aroulette wheel. Like a magician would

pul l a coin from a child's ear, Dice sud-denly held a blue marble sized ball inhis hand. After panning it across thedatastore, Dice tossed it into the alreadys p i n n i n g wheel. He watched the

marble revolve and finally bounce in aslot with the number 50 in it.

Fifty MP's huh. Good, won't clut-ter my space. He picked up the ball

and flicked it into the air.The thing zoomed in andout of the suspended datacubes, finally ramming intoa cube, illuminating it fromwithin. Dice, already pick-ing up the wheel, now agreen sphere, moved tothe illuminated cube. Af-ter thrusting his hand intoit, Dice started to read therapidly scrolling informa-tion.

Hmm... Personnelrecords... WilberJenkins?... here it Is, CainMcClintoc. Born: Seattle,WA. Date of Birth:... etc.,etc., drek, etc.... Here'ssomething. Special op-erative for TamatsuSakura, CEO, MCT NorthAmerica, Seattle. Wellwhat do ya know, the bigguy himself. I Just won-der what kind of specialoperative, Dice thoughtsarcastically. Let's see-corporate affiliation...performance record...salary... phew, big one...benefits... recent employ-ments... aw look at this.Horihito Tamaki hired himout on 05:15:2053, thenight Christy was killed.Raymond's adoptive fa-ther! That can't be coin-cidental! I better down-load this and read it later.

Dice started to fl ip hiswrist in order to downloadthe data when suddenly hisleft side was seared by theobsidian black blade of a

black garbed ninja. Flung by the forceof the attack, Dice rammed into thedatastore wall, small bits of color splash-ing on the floor from his side.

Back in the labrynth of paper and

debris, the real Dice went rigid, sweatbeaded and dripped from his head andhis arms glistened with moisture.

The electronic Dice looked up atwhat had hit him. The ninja lookedbasically human except for the verticalyellow snake eyes that beamed frombehind the mask. The ninja jumped athim, a mere blur of black, sword raised.Dice lurched to the left only to feel thesting of the sword again. Swing afterswing cleaved and sliced Dice's iconwith blinding speed and accuracy.

Dice attempted to reach into hisduster to pull out Tommy. As he didso, the ninja, its synthetic "ka-yee"resonating, ran up and did a backroundhouse jump kick, planted heavilyon Dice's featureless face. Dice's iconspun and fell hard across the Datastorefloor. Trying to find his opponent, againhe felt the bite of the bastard's swordslice a line diagonally across his back.Pain washed over him in waves as hefell to the floor, his icon fading in andout.

Knowing his end would be near ifhe didn't jack out, Dice clapped hishands together and suddenly thereappeared a small silver lever suspendedin the air. He reach up to pull it downbut was quickly knocked away from itby the ninja's sidekick. The ninja racedin for the k i l l , its scream of death echo-ing in the node. It hovered over Diceand swung.

Then instantly it was black.

"He's convulsing! Patches, dosomething!" Blaze sat over hischummer, clearing away objects andboxes from Dice's spasms. The decker'seyes rolled up into his head, his skinand face were beet red, drool trickledfrom the corner of his mouth, and Blazecould feel the heat rising off him.

Patches sat close too, singing a hiss-ing song and waving her arms as grace-fully as a willow in the wind. Light of adifferent nature slowly began to glowaround her hands, and she reached forthand placed them on the bouncing andshaking decker.

Frag, if he doesn't make it..., Blazethought to himself. He looked over toPatches and hoped against all hope thatshe could help. Healing was her spe-cialty but he got nervous when it cameto Dice's health.

"He's coming through," she man-aged to whisper in between chorusesof her erie song. Dice's convulsingstarted to slow and his eyes began tolower to their proper position. After amoment longer, his jerks completelystopped, and his color returned to nor-mal.

"Help me sit him up," said Blaze,breathing a small sigh of relief. "Dice,Dice, are you alright? How do youfeel?"

Dice just shook his sweat-soakedhead. "I-I couldn't get it. Got ju...jumped before download. Not much...B-Blaze... it was Tamaki. Set the hit."

"We better let him rest," Patches in-terjected. "He's gonna be out of it fora while but he'll make it."

Blaze nodded and helped lift Diceto his feet. They took him to his bed-room, a similar looking affair to thecomputer den. He was asleep beforehis head hit the pillow.

"Worthless, just worthless," Blazeuttered, walking back to the livingroom. "Just what I was afraid of. Nearlygot him killed." He walked over to thebar set and poured himself another tum-bler of synth-whiskey. Shaking his headand grumbling, he moved over to thewindow again--staring out in silence.Patches could only watch as the weightof his plight landed on his shoulders.

The dark figure squatted on the roof-top of the run down building fromwhich it came. Wiping the blood fromits chin, it looked outward to the Plex.To the north the Downtown skylinecould barely be seen through the cloudsand the sheer distance. It knew its de-sired prey existed somewhere out thereand the Fusion would soon be joinedby his presence. It was only a matterof time.

Troll RangerTough? You got the nerve

to ask if I'm tough? Breeder,you don't know what the wordmeans. Once you've had to sitthrough a hurricane, holdingyour guts in with one hand andfighting off an angry piasmawith the other, then you got thestuff to talk about tough withme. I'm tough enough, don'tworry, ya wimp.

And before you ask, no Iain't just a woodsy neither. Ibeen around the city couple oftimes too. Really it ain't a lotdifferent from the woods.There's still predator and prey.Ya still have to be able to knowwhen you're being tracked andhow to turn it around. Afterlearnin' how to walk on dryleaves quietly, doing the sameon concrete ain't so hard.

Yea, I can move quietenough, even as big and uglyas 1 am. Maybe some day I ' l lgive ya a demo. The way I ' l lleave opponents, ya won'thave to worry about how Ilook. Now do ya want to dobusiness or sit around insultingeach other?

CommentaryThe troll ranger is one of thebiggest and toughest guysaround. He went into thewilderness at a young agebecause he didn't like dealingwith people, and he stilldoesn't. The only reason he'srunning the shadows is for themoney (and the thril l of thechase). He can hunt in the city

just fine, but his realhome is in thewilderness. Itdoesn't matterwhere, the RussianSteppe, Australianoutback, SaharaDesert, or Americanforests, just as longas there are nopeople around.

AttributesBody: 11 (12)Quickness: 4Strength: 9Charisma: 2Intelligence: 3Willpower: 4Essence: 6Reaction: 3 (+1D6)

SkillsStealth 6Armed Combat 5Unarmed Combat 6Projectiles 5Projectiles (Bows) 7Throwing 3Biotech 1Biotech (First Aid) 3Etiquette (Tribal) 2

Dice PoolsCombat: 5

CyberwareNone

Contactspick any 2

GearRanger X compund

bow w/ 20 arrowsand laser sight

Combat AxeSurvival KnifeSecure JacketSurvival KitMedkit

NotesThermographic Eyes+1 reach with armed/unarmed

combatMay take an allergy

Armour InternationalHome Office Location: London, EnglandPresident/CEO: William Kingston III

PRINCIPLE DIVISIONSDivision Name: Marketing and SalesDivision Head: Kenneth JordanChief Products/Services: The marketingof all AI weapons and equipment.Marketing also maintains commerceamong the other AI locations.

Division Name: Research &DevelopmentDivision Head: AmbriCostelloChief Products/Services:The development of all AIhardware.R&D is alwayslooking for new andinnovative ways toupgrade AI'sproducts as wellas to expand onthe competition'swork.

Division Name:ProductionDivision Head:Anton SheppardChief Products/Services: Theproduction of allAI equipmentfrom light pistolsto panzers.

Division Name: SecurityDivision Head: DamonGarlockChief Products/Services: Thesecurity of all AI facilities andinternational shipments.

Division Name: Shipping and ReceivingDivision Head: Sarah BrooksChief Products/Services: Responsible forall international transactions both outgo-ing and incoming.

SEATTLE BRANCH DIVISIONSCEO Seattle Branch: Sebastian Trent

Division Name: Marketing and SalesDivision Head: Kristi O'Brian

Division Name: Shipping and ReceivingDivision Head: Tina Kirby

Division Name: SecurityDivision Head: Maximillian Slaughter

Division Name: Arcology DevelopmentDivision Head: Dianne BaxterChief Products/Services: Managementand development of the Armour Interna-tional Arcology in Auborn district, Seattle.

»»[Max Slaughter. Doesn't soundlike someone I'd like to meet.]««(FINELINE 01:23:45 / 04-10-54)EMPLOYEESPersonnel:180,000 (Worldwide approximation)

Human: 93%Elf: 3%Dwarf: 2%Ork: 1 %Troll: 1%Other: 0%

Average Income: 38,000 nuyenBelow Poverty Level: 0%On Fortune's Active Traders List: 2%Corporate Affiliation: 100%Education:

< 12 years: 3%High School: 14%College Degree: 65%Graduate Degree: 17%

»»[Hey, what's up with the humandomination In this corp? Don't they

know about the high quality of workmetahumans can provide?]««

(SLEDGE 01:14:43 / 04-10-54)

»»[I've seen you Inaction, Sledge. It ain't

high quality]««(TICK TOCK

03:50:12 /04-10-54)

»»[Whydon't you gofind a clock torun up,Tikky««SLEDGE04:32:33 /04-10-54)

»»[lt'sthem Brits.Got ametaphoblaabout it, that'swhy.]

««(TURB1NE23:11:47/

04-10-54)

»»[Doesn't botherme none. It's

one lessTrollcompany

man I gotta skrag.]««(FINELINE 02:12:32 / 04-10-54)

BUSINESS PROFILEArmour International first blasted

into the world of security in 2037with the production of its light-

weight, highly durable body armors. Astime went by and contracts became moreplentiful, AI started expanding commer-cially its production of vehicle armors.These armors, first prototyped in the EuroWars, provided the protection of a lighttank at the weight of a reconnaissance

vehicle. Needless to say, the desire for such a product was great, and contracts and capital came pouring in.Now boasting not only the finest armors in the world, but also a long line of other products from light pistols to panzers, AI

holds manufacturing facilities and offices in London, Tokyo, Sidney, Paris, and New York. Plans are already in full swing to build theirlargest complex in Seattle, breathing life and creating jobs in the blue collar district of Auburn.

Temporary offices are already in full operation in Downtown Seattle at the corner of Marion St. and Boren Ave. Employees therework diligently and feverishly, anxiously waiting for the AI arcology ribbon-cutting ceremony.

»»lGreat! Just another arcology to darken our red skies!]«« (SLIMJIM 10:55:ZZ / 04-10-54)

»»['only the finest armors In the world'??? What are these guys, a weapons corp or a wine tasting soclety?]««(SLEDGE01:20:13 / 04-10-54)

»»[I wonder how Ares, Knight Errant, and New Age Arms feel about these guys on their turf? Maybe they know somethingabout it? Hmmmm.]«« (TICK TOCK 03:55:36 / 04-10-54)

»»[AI Isn't breathing life Into Auborn, they're stomping out the riff-raff In the low class neighborhoods betweenGeorgetown and Black Diamond. Any means necessary, ya dig. How do you think they're going to put an arcology there,huh?]««(AI VICTIM 16:23:41 / 04-10-54)

SECURITY/MILITARY FORCES:Being a organization affiliated with security, it comes as no surprise that Armour International maintains an extensive force to

uphold the peace.

»»[I hear that once the arcology Is built, AI plans to strip Lone Star's contract from the city.]«« (ANONYMOUS 07:09:57 /04-10-54)

»»[Yea, right.]««(SLEDGE 05:28:33 / 04-10-54)

ARMOUR INTERNATIONAL CORPORATE PERSONALITIESMaximillian Slaughter — Security Director

Max is a cold, powerful man who takes great pride in his position and employer. Refined to the cutting edge, he'll stop atnothing to ensure the security of "his" corp or its employees.Max dresses in the finest nuyen can buy when in the office but prefers loose fitting, durable clothing when doing his b4iz.

B Q S C I W E M R I n i t Armor5 5(7) 6(8) 3 3 2 1 - 4 6+2D6 7/5Dice Pools: Combat: 6Ski/Is: Firearms: 6 / Gunnery: 4 / Etiquette (Corp): 3 / Etiquette (Street): 2 / Armed Combat: 5 / Unarmed Combat: 3 / Interroga-tion: 3 / Bike: 3 / Stealth: 3Cyberware: Smart Gun Link / Wired Reflexes: 1 / Muscle Replacement: 2 / Cyber Eyes (Low light, Thermographic, FlareCompensation) / Retractable Cyber SpursGear. Kevlite Partial Armor / Smart AI R-l 1 / Smart AI Dagger pistol w/30 rounds Penetrator ammo / Smart Ingram Valiant w/3-50 reg round belts / Stun Baton / Data Reader (100 mp) / BMW Blitzen 2050 / Pocket Secretary / DocWagon Contract (Platinum) /Luxury Lifestyle - 5 mo prepaid / Access to ALL AI security equipment.

Dianne Baxter -- Arcology DirectorDianne Baxter, the shrewd, beautiful head of the Seattle Arcology department has devoted the past three years of her life to

succeeding in that position. Climbing over any obstacle, she'll find any means necessary to see her dreams fulfilled.There are some who maintain that she achieved her position by allowing certain special favors, but it was her quick thinking and

sly tongue, as well as her strong desire to succeed, that brought her the notoriety.

B Q S C I W E M R I n i t Armor3 4 2 4 5 2 4.5 4 4+1D6 3/0Dice Pools: Combat: 5Skills: Negotiation: 6 / Etiquette (Corp): 6 / Computer Theory: I / Firearms: 2 / Car: 3 / Athletics: 2Cyberware: Datajack / 100 mp internal memory / Hearing Amplifi- cation / DamperGear. Data Reader (100 mp) / Pocket Secretary / Barreta Mod 10IT w/laser sight / Concealable Holster / Eurocar Westwind 2000/ Armor Clothing (rarely worn) / Micro-recorder / Dataline Tap / Luxury Lifestyle - 3 mo prepaid.

Steven Jacoby -- Chief Security AgentJacoby was trained under the thumb of Max Slaughter. Because of this, he basically knows everything his mentor knows. He

often uses this knowledge in his plans to someday taking over as Director of Security. Jacoby has been fragged over too many timesby Slaughter and longs for the day when he can set his plans into motion.

B Q S C I W E M R I n i t Armor6 6(8) 6(8) 2 2 2 0.5 4(8) 8+3D6 6/3Dice Pools: Combat: 6Skills: Firearms: 6 / Gunnery: 6 / Etiquette (Corp): 3 / Armed Combat: 4 / Unarmed Combat: 5 / Bike: 3 / Stealth: 3Cyberware: Smart Gun Link / Wired Reflexes: 2 / Muscle Replacement: 2Gear. Kevlite Armor Jacket / Smart AUG-CSL system / Smart Al Dagger pistol w/30 rounds Penetrator ammo / Ranger ArmsSM-3 w/30 explosive rounds / Stun Baton / Harley Scorpion / Pocket Secretary / High Lifestyle - 2 mo prepaid.

Devin "Smitty" Smit -- Chief Matrix Overwatch AgentDevin is an easy-going guy who loves his job. He works his hardest to maintain the position he has attained. Despite the

responsibility of the job, Devin always tries to find time to party. But when duty calls, Devin is not one to take it lightly.

B Q S C I W E M R I n i t Armor3 5 2 4 6 4 0.5 4 4+1D6 3/0Dice Pools: Combat: 7 / Hacking: 10Skills: Firearms: 2 / Computer: 6 / Computer (B/R): 6 / Computer Theory: 6 / Etiquette (Corp): 3 / Etiquette (Street): 3 / Electron-ics: 4Cyberware: Datajack / Internal Memory (200 mps)Gear: Armor Clothing (rarely worn) / Baretta 200ST / Pocket Secretary / High Lifestyle - 4 mo prepaid.Cyberdeck: Fuchi Cyber-6 (Response increase: 2 / Active memory increase: 300 mps)Programs: Bod: 6 / Evasion: 6 / Masking: 3 / Sensors: 3 / Attack: 6 / Armor: 4 / Mirrors: 4 / Restore: 4 / Poison: 3Persona Icon: A poodle about the relative size of a wolf. Some utilities are carried in a small barrel on his collar.

Carley Jasmine -- Security AgentCarley Jasmine is a company woman. Skilled in the finesse of magic, she felt her services could be beneficial to a corp for the

right price. Being one of the highest paid security agents in Al, second only to Max Slaughter himself, she is often looked downupon by her peers. However, you get what you pay for, and Carley is well paid for.

B Q S C I W E M R I n i t Armor4(7) 5 3 4 6 5 6 6 5(8) 8+1D6 6 / 3Dice Pools: Combat: 8 / Magic: 8Skills: Firearms: 3 / Sorcery: 6 / Magic Theory: 6 / Conjuring: 6 / Etiquette (Corp): 3 / Computer: 1 / Car: 1Cyberware: NoneGear: Kevlite Armor Jacket / Al Dagger pistol w/30 rounds penetrator ammo / Stun Baton / Pocket Secretary / High Lifestyle - 2mo prepaid. / Spell Lock (3 successes Personal Combat Sense) / Spell Lock (3 successes Armor) / SAAB "Dynamit" 776T1Spells: Mana Bolt: 6 / Power Bolt: 6 / Fireball: 6 / Personal Combat Sense: 3 / Detect Enemies: 3 / Heal Severe Wounds: 3 /Invisibility: 5 / Armor: 4 / Confusion: 4

ARMOUR INTERNATIONAL SECURITY EQUIPMENT

Kevlite Body Armor"The best just got better. For the best, chose the best. The best would."

Combining the stopping power of Kevlar, and making it even stronger with a Gortex-duraweave inner lining, and making it all ata lesser weight than your standard body armor, Al has developed the best body armor ever created. Armors come in an array ofstyles to please even the most meticulous customer.

Conc. B/I Cost Weight Legality Avail SIArmor Jacket 6 6/3 1260 1.8 Legal 6/7 days 1Armor Vest 1 1 3/1 280 .8 Legal 6/7 days .8Lined Coat 7 5/3 980 .85 Legal 4/7 days 1Partial Suit NA 7/5 14000 8+Body 3P-K 16/10 days 3Full Suit NA 9/7 28000 12+Body2P-K 18/14 days 4Helmet NA 2/1 24O - ( - l )P-K 14/10 days 2

Penetrator Ammunition"For the stopping power of APDS without the weight, choose the ammo that does the job. Choose Penetrator."

Penetrator ammunition appears to be your basic ammo except the round contains a 1 mm diameter core of amagnesium-aluminum alloy. Penetrator ammo comes in all calibers and can be used in all weapons without any preparation.

Conc. Cost Weight Legality Avail Street Index EffectPenetrator Ammo 8 80 .20 As weapon 4/36 hrs .8 +1 Power Level/-2 Ballistic

»»[Looks to me like these little fragger's could be useful against this new Kevlite armor.]««(SLIMJIM 01:40:53 / 04-11-54)

AI Dagger"Sleek, simple, and sinister. TheDagger stuffs it all into one deadlypackage. When in a pinch, youknow you're safe with the Dagger."

The Dagger is a sleek heavypistol best suited for the Penetratorammunition. However, the weaponcan also fire standard heavy pistolammo without any rebarreling ormaintenance.The Dagger also comes with an integral laser sight and is ready for any other attachments the userdeems fit to add.

Type Conc. Damage Ammo Weight Legality Availability Street IndexAI Dagger Heavy 6 4M 15 clip 2 6P-E 4/3 days 1

»»[The Dagger may be a little too sleek. Doesn't give much room for big fingers to pull the boltback.]««(SLEDGE 01:02:43 / 04-11-54)

»»[Ah yes, my bumpy friend. But In the proper hands with the proper ammo, the Dagger can be avital tool In the biz.]«« (KILLIAN 01:05:23 / 04-11-54)

»»[lf you ask me, the weapon Is too new. I'd like to see more field testing before I part with myyen.]««(SLIMJIM 01:54:51 / 04-11-54)

AI R-11"For an assault rifle that packs a punch, the R-l 1 is the obvious choice. With simple design and extreme versatility and durability, theR-l 1 will be a refreshing change of pace from the weapons on the market today."

The R-l 1 is the standard assault rifle manufactured by Armour International. AI wanted to make a simple weapon capable ofwithstanding everyday stresses as well as be attachment-ready and easy to maintain. They succeeded with the R-l 1. Variationspictured with R-l 1 assault rifle in clockwise order: the R-l 1 integral smart gun adapter, laser sight and scope with 'lens caps', one ofmany telescopic scopes with 'lens caps', the R-l 1 silencer, the R-l 1 mini-grenade launcher, box magazine as opposed to thebanana-shaped, and an the integral folding stock.

Type Conc. Damage Ammo Weight Legality Availability Street IndexAI R-11 Assault 3 5M 30 clip 4 4-G 5/3 days 1

»»[Sounds pretty wiz. How can I get one?]««(TURBINE 01:32:12 / 04-11-54)

»»[You have to ask??]««(SLEDGE 01:40:27 / 04-11-54)

»»[lf you want one, be prepared to wait. It has to be shipped In from New York, across Injun territory. They're pretty pickyabout things like that.]««(SLlMJIM 02:02:39 / 04-11-54)

»»[You must not support these killers! Every purchase aids In the destruction of lives In the Auborn! Don't betray human-ity like this!]««(AI VICTIM 02:07:38 / 04-11-54)

»»[Gee, chum lighten up already.]««(SLEDGE 02:10:51)

Trans-Detect Security System"For the security of home when away from home, theTrans-Detect offers the most reliable choice. Compact andlightweight, this devise fits easily into any corporate brief-case. Traveling corporate employees swear by it; now youcan have one too."

The Trans-Detect System is a portable laser surveillanceprotection system. The device is made up by a laser unit and10 reflectors. With the Kleen-tac backing on each piece, thereflectors and laser unit can be attached virtually anywhere.Simply mount the laser unit next to a door, window, orcorner of a room and place the reflectors so they reflect thebeam to the laser receiver or to another reflector. Anynumber of reflectors (up to 10) can be used, depending on

the user's provision. If the continuity of the laser beam is broken, the unit will sound an alarm either in the form of a nerve shakingwhine or by a beeping and/or light flashing on the hand unit that comes with the unit. The laser will operate for up to 10 hours ofcontinual use before the battery needs recharging. Battery can be recharged from a simple wall socket, and will take three hours.

Conc. Cost Weight Legality Avail Street IndexTram-Detect Laser 5 2,500 1.5 Legal 3/3 days .75Surveillance System

Game Note: Requires an Electronics (4) roll to properly align the reflector(s). Add a +1 modifier for every 2 reflectors past 2 (ie: upto 2 reflectors: target 4, 3 and 4 reflectors: target 5, 5 and 6 reflectors: target 6, etc.) Base set-up time is 15 seconds per reflectorused (minimum 5 seconds each). Requires a Perception (6) roll to avoid triggering the alarm. Thermographic or Infra-Red goggles/vision apply a -2 modifier.

Dimensions:Laser unit--Length 8.5 in (21.59 cm) / Width 3.75 in(9.53 cm) / Height 1.25 in (3.16 cm) Individual Conc. 7Remote unit--Length 3 in (7.62 cm) / Width 1.75 in(4.45 cm) / Height .75 in (1.91 cm) Individual Conc. 12Reflector--Diameter 1.75 in (4.45 cm) Indiv Conc. 18

»»[A clever little gadget. But I shall suggest the use of two reflectors or less for It gets a bit tricky to align themproperly.]««(KILLIAN 02:10:52 / 04-11-54)

»»[But why would I want to carry amini surveillance system with me In mybiz?]««(SLEDGE 02:12:28 / 04-11-54)

»»[It comes In very handy when lostIn a system and you don't want to bedisturbed.]««(KILLIAN 02:13:49 /04-11-54)

»»[Huh. I'll take a chromed razor guyguarding my butt any day, thankyou.]««(SLIMJIM 02:15:12 /04-11-54)

»»[Sometimes subtlety can be abetter choice, my friend.]«« (KILLIAN02:17:35/04-11-54)

»»[By the way, has anyone heardfrom Tick Tock lately? I miss rubbinghim the wrong way.]««(SLEDGE02:51:19 / 04-11-54)

»»[Hello...Hello outthere...?]««(SLEDGE 03:26:31 /04-29-54)

Latangia Johnson tucked theloaded pistol in her purse before shestepped out of her midnight blueWestwind. She smoothed the cream-colored suede skirt that was slit up towhat the corporate dress code allowedand flipped her long, beaded braidsover her shoulder. She straightenedher jacket and glanced briefly in theside mirror to make sure she lookedcalm, cool and professional, and thather deep brown eyesshowed no trace of hernervousness. Her contactwould be satisfied withnothing less.

She had arranged thistype of meeting before. Hercontact was a decker namedDancer who represented afixer who called himselfSanta. She made appoint-ments to see them throughOld George, a squatter wholived in a dumpster nearDante's Inferno. It was acomplex dance that musthave been inspired bycorporate bureaucratics.

This time was a littledifferent. This time she wasin a hurry, and she'dpromised Old George anextra bottle of his favoritesynthahol if he couldarrange the meeting fortonight.

Dr. Carter and all ofAres Macrotech's ResearchBlock 4 were counting onher. Their project had hit amajor snag, and the one place that hadthe solution was unwilling to part withit. As Dr. Carter's personal administra-tive assistant, it was her job to makesure he had everything he needed, nomatter how she had to get it.

To make matters worse, thedivision manager, Alex Grant had beenasking questions and towing hisrecently-graduated daughter around.Rumor was that he was looking for ajob for her and Tangi was pretty sureher's was fairly high on his list.

The fact that Grant was a racist inthe old twentieth century style didn't

help matters any. He not only hated allof metahumanity, but anyone whowasn't white skinned. She was prettysure it wouldn't take much for him totry to rid the project of 'that niggerbitch'.

Still, if she could get her hands onthe Fuchi file, there was a good chancetheir project could be completed aheadof schedule and under budget. Resultsthat would make it very difficult for

even Grant to have her terminated.She checked to make sure that the

chip case she'd gotten from the projectdecker was still in her purse. Dancerwould probably want to have a look atit.

She exited the parking garage inthe gritty Seattle drizzle, which wasonly slightly less acidic than the rain.She popped open her umbrella andjoined the stream of people whomoved along the sidewalk.

She passed by Dante's Inferno,amazed that the line to get in was solong so early in the evening. The alley

was not far away, but the street therewas less crowded and it was too darkto see anything clearly. No one in theirright mind would go far into the areawithout being heavily armed. "OldGeorge?" she called.

A tall shape detached itself fromthe shadows, much too tall to be thederelict. She backed up, drawing hergun.

"It's all right," the figure saidstepping into thelight.

He was a tallCaucasian with longblonde hair andsparkling greeneyes that met herswith confidence.His loose fittingwhite shirt andbrown breechestucked into calf-highboots reminded herof something out ofan old piratesimsense chip Heeven had theattitude.

"Old Georgesaid time wasessential," he said."So Santa sent me.You can call meComet."

He took herhand and brought itto his lips. Shesnatched it back."Where's Dancer?She's the one I

usually meet with."He shrugged. "Dancer's busy, I'm

not. You said time was important."She peered back down the alley.

"Where's Old George, then?"Comet glanced over his shoulder,

gestured once and the whole area litup. "Hey, cut that out!" shouted afamiliar voice. "Fraggin' mages."

The light died. Tangi chewed onher lower lip, not wanting to have todeal with him, but having little choice."We're not going to talk here, are we?"

"Of course not. I would nevermake such an attractive woman stand

out in the rain. If you've no objections,I'd like to go into Dante's. They haverooms for meetings such as ours."

"Are they secure?""You insult my professionalism," he

said. "I should ask you if you've beenfollowed."

"Point taken," she said.She stopped. "Oh, before we go, I

have to give Old George his bottle.""Allow me," he said.She handed it to him. He tossed it

in the air and it hovered there for a fewmoments before floating into the alley."Hey, what the... Oh. Fraggin'mages."

Comet was smiling. "Expertlydelivered, wouldn't you say?"

He offered his arm. "Now, if youwould allow me to escort you..."

She took it hesitantly and Cometled her to the front of the Dante's line.A troll bouncer, who looked perfectlycomfortable in his well tailored tux,made a space to let them through."Hey, Wiz boy, nice piece ya gott'night. Number 3 in Seduction's freean' I know that's one a yer favorites."

The mage coughed. "Thanks, Ram,but this is business. What have you goton Deception?"

The troll took a long look at Tangiand then glanced back at Comet. "Oh,sorry, ma'am. Ya see, the Wiz here'sgot this rep an' you bein' so pretty an'all, I jus figgered..."

"You figured incorrectly," Cometsaid.

Tangi laughed, feeling more atease. "It's all right. Thank you for thecompliment. ln fact, I think it would bebetter if anyone asking thought wewere heading for Seduction, don't youagree?"

She gazed up at Comet and gavehim her best 'come hither' look. Ramlaughed and thumped him hard acrossthe shoulders. "Don't know what I wasthinkin1. Yer lots classier than the joytoys he usually brings 'round, but I ' l lkeep yer secret. Far as I know, yerhavin' a great ol' time wrappin' thisspell-castin' lady killer's heart 'roundyour finger."

He grinned at the mage andhanded her a passkey. "Number 6 is

empty, but they're still cleanin' it up.Give 'em half an hour."

She smiled. "Thanks, Ram."She turned her smile back on

Comet who was trying to look angryinstead of amused. "Shall we?"

He offered his arm again and ledher through the crowd on Purgatory,the first level of the Inferno. It was a farcry from the Stuffer Shack where sheand Dancer usually met.

"Hope you don't mind if we takethe stairs!" Comet shouted over thenoise. "The elevators are too crowdedand take too long."

She nodded. He guided her to thestairwell. Dante's being what it was, thestairs only led down. The noise ceasedas soon as the fire door shut behindthem. "Isn't it going to be very difficultto conduct business in all that noise?"she asked.

He smiled. "All the rooms onDeception are soundproofed. In fact,the cleaning Ram mentioned is themanagement's way of making sureeach one is surveillance-free betweenmeetings. There are few better places."

He paused. "Sorry about Ram.Sometimes I think he forgets that I'm aprofessional."

She laughed. "1 don't think heforgets that you're a professional. Ithink he just forgets your profession."

He laughed. "You know, I thinkI'm going to request to be your contactfrom now on. I never have this muchfun with those stuffy oriental types.They usually make you sit for an hourbefore they'll tell you what they want."

He paused. "And they're notnearly as nice to look at."

He held open the door to Decep-tion and the music hit them again. Hechecked his watch. "We sti l l havetwenty minutes. Would you like a drinkor something?"

She shook her head. "No thanks.""Would you like to dance?""Dance?""Well, we can either stand here

with no drinks and stare at our watcheslooking like we're waiting for somekind of meeting and be conspicuous, orwe can dance and look like normalpatrons until the room is ready. Your

choice."She considered it. "Okay, let's

dance."By the time Comet's watch alarm

sounded to let them know their roomwas ready, she'd discovered that hewas an excellent dancer. However, thathad no bearing on her current situation,and business was business so theyheaded for the room.

She slotted the passkey and thedoor opened, revealing a sparse roomthat held only a long oval table andseveral chairs. Comet flopped into oneof them and leaned back. "So, Ms.Johnson, what do you need?"

It startled her that he knew hername until she remembered that insuch business deals the person in herposition was always Johnson.

"I need data extracted," she said."And time is important."

"From where?""Fuchi. I have the appropriate

browse program on a chip."He folded his hands behind his

head. "Do you want the data copiedand wiped or just copied?"

"Copied and wiped. And I'd like todeal with the team myself. That's theway it's been done for me in the past."

"Yeah, that's what Dancer said.Have you got the chip with you?"

She handed the case to him. Hestuck it in a reader and his face broad-ened into a grin, "Arcology of Pas-sion," he said, smirking. "Strangename for a browse program don't youthink?"

She snatched the chip reader andfelt her face flushing. "Uh, that's not it.I borrowed this from the same deckerwho made the browse program. I musthave gotten the chips confused."

She tucked it back in the case andhanded him the reader. " I ' l l have thereal one for you tomorrow."

"Arcology of Passion?" he laughed."I don't think my taste in simsense

is a consideration."He tried to wipe the smile off his

face. "Of course not. Tell you what, Ithink I can get a team for you bytomorrow around midnight. When youcome in, Ram will let you know whereto go."

"That's fine. I'll negotiate paymentwith the team and Santa gets 10% ofwhatever they agree to, correct?"

"That's the way it works."She stood and offered him her

hand. "Well then, I'll see you tomor-row evening. It's been a pleasuredoing business with you."

He kissed it. "Ohno, the pleasure was allmine."

Tangi checked thechip again before sheleft the Westwind. Astupid mistake like thatcould have beendisastrous had it beenthe runners instead ofComet. Still, thatmeeting had been mostinteresting.

When she reachedthe entrance to Dante's,the line stretched allthe way along thebuilding and thencurved around thecorner. She hadn'tplanned on that muchextra time to get in.

"Yo, babe!"She turned around

to see Ram waving ather over the heads ofthe people in line."Over here."

He cleared a pathfor her and stopped anypotential complaintswith a glare. "Youdon't never have tastand in line when I'mat the door."

He guided her tothe entrance. "Wizboy's on Deception.He's got the key an' you'll be innumber 5."

"Thanks," she said.He smirked. "I get off at 2. How

'bout havin' a drink?""I'd love to, but I have to get up

early. Next time, I promise."

"Yeah, sure," he said. "That's whatthey all say."

He was smiling as he waved herthrough.

She saw Comet at the bar. Shecaught his attention and waved. Hereached into his pocket and handed hera chip case. "A small token of my

admiration; personally recommendedby Dancer."

The case was labeled: Seduction inthe Shadows. She felt herself gettingred again and hoped her complexionwas dark enough to hide it. "What ifI've done this one already?"

He smiled. "I doubt it. It's not acorporate approved chip. It's made byan underground company. Dancer saysshe likes them much better than thecommercial ones."

She gave it back. "Why don't youhold onto it until after the meeting...just in case."

"Good idea."He paused. "Oh,about the meeting.The group I got foryou should do the job,but they're prettyrough. Their leader isan ork named DMZwith a major attitudeproblem. He'llprobably do all thetalking. If you thinkyou might need someenforcement help, I'llsit in with you.""I've done this before.I can handle it.""Can I sit in andwatch?" he asked."I'm just protectingour assets, youunderstand.""I suppose as long asyou just watch, thereshouldn't be aproblem."He tucked the chipcase back in hispocket. "This way."The room was largerthan the previous one.She took a seat at thehead of the table.Comet smiled,stepped behind herand disappeared."Don't worry," sheheard him say. "I'll beright here if you needme.""Don't worry, I

won't."The team came in as a group.

There were five of them. The male orkwas obviously muscle and probablyDMZ. He strode in, glanced briefly ather, and then took the chair next to her.He had stringy black hair and his tusks

were yellowed and broken. Hesmelled as if he hadn't bathed inseveral days. He watched her closelyand she knew he was waiting for herreaction. "You must be DMZ," she saidand kept her eyes on his.

The second member was a femaleAmerind and looked like a razor girl.Her brown eyes darted across all fourcorners of the room before she satdown, and even then she was like acoiled spring. The human male besideher had a datajack behind his left earand was probably their decker. He satvery close to the girl.

The shaman she recognized by thefetishes tied into the fringe of his tanduster. He seemed very interested inher crystal bracelet, and his eyes driftedfrom that to DMZ. The fourth memberwas difficult to categorize. He didn'tmove like someone wired, didn't haveany other evidence of cyber enhance-ment, nor did he wear fetishes of anykind. She wondered what his job was.

"What's the job, Johnson?" DMZdemanded.

"Data extraction," she told him.He snorted. "All ya need is a

decker for that, babe.""Not if the system is isolated," she

said. "Even if your decker is willing toaccess the Fuchi system from theoutside to get the information I require,he couldn't access the research data-base."

The decker whispered to him andthe ork snarled. "Okay, but a runthrough Fuchi ain't gonna comecheap."

She checked the chip case onemore time before sliding it across thetable to the decker. "This browseprogram should do everything youneed when you're in the researchdatabase. Once it has recorded theinformation, I would like the originalfiles deleted."

The decker nodded. "Null perspi-ration."

"I would like the job done asquickly as possible," she added makingsure she kept eye contact with DMZ."The payment will bring 10,000 nuyenapiece. There is a 7,000 apiece speedbonus that will drop by 1,000 at

midnight every night, beginningtomorrow. The faster you do the job,the bigger the bonus. I will also supplyyou with a certified credstick with5,000 nuyen for expenses. Whateveryou don't use is yours when the run isover. I ' l l pay you 25% up front and theremaining 75% after the job is done."

"Fifteen thou apiece and half upfront," the leader said. "And it's adeal."

"If you get half up front, you won'tneed the expense money.'"Whattaya think yer tryin' ta pull?"DMZ growled and rose to his full 2meter height. "This ain't some little no-name corporation we're breakin' into,it's fraggin' Fuchi. Deckin' in there islike runnin' the 'Raku Arcology."

He loomed over her, but sherefused to let him intimidate her.Instead, she stood right up in his face,her high-heeled shoes giving her theadded height to meet his eyes withoutlooking up. "Forty percent up frontplus the expense account and thespeed bonus starts at 10,000. That'smy final offer."

He grumbled and glanced at histeam. "Okay, we'll take it."

"Fine. When you're finished here'san LTG number where you can leaveme a message. We'll set up a meet forfinal payment and delivery of the goodsthrough Santa."

She paused and made sure she hadhis eyes again. "Are those termsacceptable?"

"Yeah, sure," the ork said. "You'llbe hearin' from us real soon."

"I hope so," she said and handedhim the credsticks.

He turned and left with his teamfollowing close behind him.

"Very efficient," Comet saidappearing beside her.

"And relatively inexpensive. I wasprepared to go up to 15,000 apieceand 10.000 for expenses."

He smiled. "I like the way youhandled DMZ. He's not used to peoplewho don't shrink from him."

"Shadowrunners aren't the onlyones who understand winning throughintimidation."

Yeah, well that trick won't work on

all of them.""I wouldn't use it if I didn't think it

would be effective. I deal with hun-dreds of people every day, and 1 thinkI'm a pretty good judge of what worksand what doesn't."

He smiled. "So, can I buy you adrink?"

"Sorry, I have a regular job,remember? It's way past my bedtime."

His smile widened and he handedher the simsense chip. "Can I tuck youin?"

She laughed. "Are sure Ramwasn't right about your real profes-sion?"

It was only two days after hermeeting with the shadowrunners whenTangi got word that the job was done.

It was an incredible relief sinceAlex Grant was looming over everyone.Dr. Carter hadn't been dealing with thepressure very well and neither had thelab techs. More mistakes had beenmade in the past two days than in theprevious two months, and the moreangry Grant got the more bad thingshappened.

She smiled as she headed downthe stairs to Deception. That was allgoing to change. If the data waseverything the researchers at Fuchi hadboasted, she could download it into thesystem from her terminal at home, andby Monday they'd be weeks ahead ofschedule.

The room on Deception was thesame. The first thing she did when shesat down was to recheck her box ofcertified credsticks. It was a small priceto pay and was coming out of theproject's budget anyway.

DMZ and his team came in late andlooking much worse for wear. He wasbruised and sported a bandage acrosshis forehead that had a drying red stain.The razor girl had her arm in a sling,and only two of the other humansshowed. The decker was missing.

"I'm pleased that you camethrough so quickly," she said.

"Can the flattery and hand over thecash," DMZ said, his breathing labored

and raspy."May I see the chip?"He tossed a case on the table. She

barely caught it before it skidded offand hit the floor. She removed thechip, slotting it in the jack behind herear.

She could feel herself smiling asshe reviewed its contents. It was betterthan she hadhoped.

DMZ wasglaring at her whenshe glanced back upat him. She fannedthe credsticks andset them on thetable. "Each one isfor 17.000. Six fordoing the job and 9for the speedbonus."

DMZ. snatchedthem up. "We kinadd."

She stood andoffered him herhand. "It's been apleasure doingbusiness with you."

He turned hisback on her. "Yeah,right," he said andmotioned to histeam. "C'mon, let'sblow."

He herdedthem out andslammed the door.

"It was a roughrun."

Comet ap-peared beside herand she jumped. "Idon't rememberinviting you toattend this meet-ing," she said tryingto compose herself.

He shrugged."Well, I was the one who had to dealwith DMZ earlier. I was afraid he mightdo something stupid."

"He's a professional."He snorted. "Professionalism

doesn't mean drek when you and your

buddies are nearly killed, and theirdecker came damn close. I've seenreally torqued off teams go after aJohnson before, and it's not pretty."

"What happened to the decker?"she asked.

"DMZ wasn't exaggerating whenhe said running the Fuchi matrix waslike breaking into the Renraku

Arcology," he said. "Fuchi's specialty isIC. He'll live."

"Well," she said. "I have what Ineed, they've got their money, and myjob is safe."

She handed him the remaining

credstick. "For Santa."He took it and smiled. "A true

business woman.""It's what I do," she said and

sighed. "I need a drink."He offered her an arm. "Allow

me."She smiled and let him escort her

out of the room. "Will you continue tobe my contact from nowon or will I get Dancerback?"

"That's your choice.Of course, I would snatchup any excuse to see youagain."

He kissed her fingers."Now, since tomorrow isSaturday and you don'thave to work, would youlet me buy you thatdrink?"

"Is this guy buggin'ya?"

Ram was leaning upagainst the bar, his tuxreplaced by blue jeansand a red flannel shirt. "Iain't on the job, but I kintake care of him if yawant."

Comet laughed. "Isaw her first."

Tangi took the troll'sarm. "Yes, but I'vealready agreed to have adrink with him."

The mage gave Ram adirty look and the trollgrinned. "Always told ya'I had a way with theladies."

Comet bowed andkissed Tangi's fingersagain. "I surrender you tothe better man. Until wemeet again."

He headed across thedance floor to the stairsand Tangi started to

laugh. "Now, about that drink..."

AmbidexterityUsing the same reflex-boosting technology used for

skillwires, it is possible to "correct" handedness to fullambidexterity (equal use of both hands). Characters withthis modification do not have an "off hand" and do nottake penalties for using either hand. Penalties for usingtwo weapons at the same time still apply.

Essence Cost: .3 Availability: 4/40 hrsCost: 3,000¥ Street Index: .8

Balance tailCyberneticists have developed a "cat's tail" which can

assist balance. The bionic tail is grafted onto the base ofthe character's spine. Nanoprocessors and balancesensors move the tail to keep the character's center ofgravity in the appropriate place, improving balance andgranting two extra dice for balance-related Athletics test,including helping the character fall properly (or tumble, ifhe has Athletics). The tail is NOT under the character'sconscious control and tends to twitch randomly as thecharacter moves (watch out for revolving door!).

Essence Cost: .5 Availability: 5/36 hrsCost: 3,000¥ Street Index: 1

»»[This one may look funny, but it does work. Iknew a second story guy who had one of these and hemoved just like a cat.]«« - Thrash < 13:20:25/12-05-53>

»»[Was that guy you were referring toAlexandrof?]«« - Spanner <02:05:43/12-06-53>

»»[Yeah. Damn shame about him.]«« - Thrash< 14:07:01/12-06-53>

CybertentacleInstead of humanlike limbs, a cyber-arm replacement

can be designed as a long, flexible tentacle. Thecybertentacle does not have a hand on the end, rather, thetentacle can be used to poke or wrap objects.Cybertentacles are often installed along with and extraarm mount for characters who need and extra handcapable of delicate work.

Essence Cost: .8 Availability: 4/4 daysCost: 80,000¥ Street Index: 1

Extra Arm MountThis is the construction of an artificial shoulder that can

be used to mount a cyberlimb. Most commonly this isdone along the rib cage, just below the character's naturalarms. The mount includes the additional neural wiringnecessary to control the extra limbs, although it is stillusually necessary for the character to spend a week or twogetting the "feel" for manipulating an extra limb.

Having extra limbs (no more than two can be practi-cally added) does not grant the character additionalactions, although it may still allow the character to per-form actions that other cannot (such as getting an oppo-nent in a hold and then pummeling him at the sametime). Note for this to be effective the mount must stil lhave a cyberarm placed in the mount.

Essence Cost: .5 Availability: 6/4 daysCost: 10,000¥ Street Index: 1

»»[That rocker, Spyder, is gonna make this systemfamous. With those extra arms he's like a one-manband.]«« - Drake <21:48:I5/12-05-53>

Flex-Bonz ™This modification replaces the bones of the hands with

a form of memory plastic that deforms under continuouspressure, then returns to its normal shape. This will allowthe user's hands to narrow and contort to slip throughropes, handcuffs, etc. more easily (-2 to TN for Escapetests involving the use of the hands)

Essence Cost: .3 Availability: 5/48 hrs.Cost: 6,000¥ Street Index: 1.5

Image ProjectorA system of low-level holographic lasers are im-

planted in the user's eyes. When linked via a display linkto internal memory, the lasers can project images directlyonto the retina of another person's eyes, provided theuser can make eye contact with him. Only images storedin memory can be projected (see Shadowbeat for anindication of the memory required for any given visualimagery). An intelligence (6) test is required to notice theillusion is false. The images cannot generate any soundand do not have any effect beyond appearance.

Essence Cost: 1 Availability: 6/4 daysCost: 10,000¥ Street Index: 1.5

Internal Status DisplayThis option requires a Display Link. It projects a

readout onto the user's retina or cybereye that lists allvital signs (heart rate, respiration, blood sugar, galvanicskin response, etc.). They system also displays status andsystem reports on all the character's cyberware. If thecharacter has a datajack, the status display can also betransferred to an external monitor. If the character oranother individual can see data from the monitor theygain a -1 target number for medical treatment and first aidtests.

Essence Cost: . 1 Availability: 3/24 hrs.Cost: 1,000¥ Street Index: 1

Metabolic SuspensionThis system consists of internal enzyme dispensers

and neuro-processor regulators that can place the charac-ter in a state of extreme metabolic slowdown (suspendedanimation). Multiply the level of the system by the basetime to determine how much longer a suspended charac-ter lasts. For example, a level 4 system means that amortally wounded character will take an additional woundbox every 4 minutes rather than every minute.

The system has two standard means of activation.The first is for the character to intentionally go into sus-pension, in which case the character sets the amount oftime before reviving (a maximum of 12 hours per level).The system also automatically activates if the charactertakes a Deadly wound in order to maintain life functionsuntil help can arrive.

Essence Cost: Rating/10 Availability: 5/24hrs.Cost: Rating x 10,000¥ Street Index: 1

»»[l've heard of this system malfunctions sometimesand users imitating death much better than theyplanned...]«« - Ranger <21:13:24/l2-06-53>

Quick Release MountA special bayonet-style mount can be build into a

cyberlimb, allowing hands or feet to be removed by thewearer. This modular system allows the user to make useof a variety of different hands and feet. The system is notavailable for shoulder mounts.

Essence Cost: 0 Availability: 3/24 hrsCost: 1,000¥ Street Index: 1

Sonic CharmProgrammable voders (such as those used by voice

masks and other vocal cyberware) can also have sublimi-nal tones encoded into them. These tones work at thesubconscious level and serve to create a mood in thelistener, rather than giving specific directions. A voderwith subliminal capability give +2 dice on all Social Skilltests.

Essence Cost: 1 Availability: 6/7 daysCost: 50,000¥ Street Index: 1.5

»»[Note, however, that a listeners with High RangeHearing can detect these subliminal tones for whatthey are and will not be affected.]«« - Blade< 17:04:56/12-05-53>

Subdermal StunnerThis weapon system implants a high-density battery in

the arm of the user and runs leads to two fingers. Whenactivated by mental command, the user can touch anopponent, completing the electrical circuit and doing 6Mstun damage. Opponents who are insulated may takereduced damage (games master's judgement). Essencecost for a cyberlimb is zero.

Essence Cost: .8 Availability: 6/7 daysCost: 8,000¥ Street Index: 1.5

»»[Shocking...]«« - The Kid <22:30:44/12-06-53>

»»[Everybody's a fraggin' comedian.]«« - Ranger<23:07:ll/12-07-53>

Time DisplayAs part of the "heads-up" display in the cornea or

cybereye, the character can have a built-in clock, theclock display appears in the corner of the character's fieldof vision. It maintains the time-of-day in seconds and canbe reset or change time zones by mental command. Theoption is availability from any cybereye manufacturer.

Essence Cost: .1 Availability: 2/24 hoursCost: 1,000¥ Street Index: .8

Friendly-Fire™The Friendly-Fire system was designed by

Aztechnology to help protect its employees when itbecomes necessary to use deadly force against criminalelements on company ground. The system consists of asmall transmitter (which can be placed in company IDtags, as well as items of jewelry such as pins, bracelets,etc.) and a receiver which is connected to a weapon'ssmartgun circuitry. The transmitter tells the smartgun thatthe wearer is not a valid target and thus prevents thesmartgun from firing at the "friendly" target. Now securityguards can act to deter criminal elements without fear ofharming innocent civilians.

Cost: Transmitter: 100¥ Availability: 3/48 hoursReceiver: 50¥ Street Index: 1

»»[Criminal elements... that's us boyz and girlz]««- Wraith <22:05:34/12-01-53>

»»[Yeah, like the corps are worried about Innocentcivilians to begin with. Only company employees gettransmitter. They're just protecting their own as-sets.l«« - Kaos <04:21:20/12-02-53>

»»[This system has some other Interesting applica-tions, too. If you can get hold of one of the transmit-ters that the corp uses, you become effectively Invis-ible to the corp cops' guns.]«« - Dancer < 13:08:18712-05-53>

»»[Would that It were that simple, but it's not. Firstcorps don't equip every wage slave with one of thesedohickeys cuz they could care less If Joe Chummer gotgeeked or not. Only people whom the company wantsto make sure don't get accidentally shot get the trans-mitters, like execs or Important R&D types. Secondly,the transmitters are often carefully hidden In watches,tie clips, glasses, etc. Some are even Implanted andthere's no way you're going to "borrow" one of those.Secondly, the coded signal that the transmitter Issupposed to send out Is changed regularly and ran-domly, anywhere from weekly to daily depending onhow paranoid the corp is. So even If you get the doe,It may not do you any good by the time you do the run.Lastly, the system only works on smartguns and onlythen If they have a receiver attached. The majority ofcorp guards don't have that kind of chrome and I'veknown quite a few hotshot corp cops who've disablethe receivers on their smartguns just to prevent thekind of thing Dancer mentions from happening (It'sagainst regs, but that only comes a problem If you getcaught doing it.).]«« - Daikoku < 15:16:02/12-05-53>

Gun Lokk ™This system by Ares Arms can prevent any unautho-

rized use of your weapon. The system comes in twotypes: pattern recognition and cybernetic. The patternrecognition system uses scanner technology built into thebutt of the gun to recognize the fingerprints of the user.When an authorized user's hand grips the gun, the safetyis automatically disengaged and the gun can be usednormally. Otherwise, the safety will not disengage andthe gun cannot be fired.

The cybernetic option is available only for smartgunweapons. This system is keyed to a specific coded pulsefrom the user's smartlink software, which "unlocks" thegun and gives the user access to all normal smartweaponfunctions (safety, rate of fire, targeting, ammo, etc.).Either system can be programmed to recognize up to sixvalid users. Don't let your weapons be turned againstyou one day. Protect yourself with Gun Lokk TM, by AresArms.

Cost:Pattern recognition: 1,200¥

Cybernetic: 1,800¥Availability: 6/48 hours

Street Index: 1.5

»»[Despite the hype this system actually works.Saved my live one time when a ganger picked up myPredator and tried to geek me with it. The look on hisface when It just went "click" was worth every nuyen Ispent on the thing.]«« - Ranger <2O:09:53/12-03-53>

»»[Yeah, but on the other hand, I lost a chummerbecause he forgot about this new system and pick upmy gun to try to take down a wagemage who had us onthe ropes. The wiz fried my friend when the gun failedto work.]«« - Walks-ln-Shadow <O2: 11:09/12-05-53>

»»[Don't ever wear gloves If you're planning onusing the pattern-recognition system. I made thatmistake... but only once.]«« - Southpaw <11:23:46/12-06-53>

»»[l've heard that some armorers have modified thissystem in some...interesting...ways. One Is to link therecognition system to a tiny explosive charge, so thatwhen an unauthorized person pulls the trigger, he'ssuddenly holding a live grenade in his hand(ouch...)]«« - Drusella <19:45:57/12-06-53>

Power HolsterWhen being fastest on the draw is a matter of life or

death the Ares Arms Power Holster is essential. Thesystem consists of a specially designed holster along witha bracelet worn on the user's gun hand. The braceletsenses the flexing of muscles as the user reaches for hisgun and responds by transmitting a signal to the holsterwhich sends the wearer's gun leaping into the hand. Theholster flap falls open to allow the weapon to clear faster.A power holster gives a -1 target number to quickdrawactions. The holster is +1 to concealability.

Cost: 1,000¥Availability: 4/24 hours

Street Index: 1

»»[This thing can be useful, but don't think that justowning one will Improve your drawing speed like thepitch Implies. You need to practice with It to get a feelfor how the system works.]«« - Ranger <2O:18:43/12-03-53>

»»[yea, I've seen wannabes whose guns haveJumped right past their hands. It takes some realpractice and coordination to use this system right.] -Blade <2I:14:00/12-04-53>

»»[Also, I don't care how good you get with a powerholster, If you're not fast enough to begin with (eitherby wire or wizardry) you still won't be able to out-drawthose who do have the speed.]«« - Spanner<03:24:30/l2-05-53>

»»[lf a good quickdraw Is all you're Interested Inand you have the nuyen, you're better off getting a setof custom wires designed to do Just that. A lot lessexpensive than full wires, and more effective than thisgadget.]«« - The Kid <15:44:37/l2-10-53>

Implast WeaponsImplast (produced by Zeta-ImpChem) is a plastic that

is normally light and somewhat flexible, but whichbecomes rigid when struck. Blunt trauma weapons madefrom Implast help to concentrate the kinetic force of thewielder's blows, and their light construction allows themto be wielded with less effort than similar weapons madeof wood or meta. Weapons made of Implast add +2 totheir power rating.

The most common type of Implast weapon is a shortclub similar in design to the police billy club which is nowcoming into use with a number of security services,including Lone Star.

Longer clubs, along the lines of bo and quarterstaves,are also produced. These are much less common, but arestill widely used by street fighters, martial artists andothers who prefer a relatively silent and effective hand-to-hand weapon.

Recently, a set of light, wrist-length gloves made ofImplast have been produced. The gloves are as flexible asnormal leather, but they stiffen when the wearer strikes,creating a rigid striking surface which relaxes and flexes asplit-second later. Implast gloves are becoming verypopular with street fighters and cover operatives of al lkinds.

Cost: Normal Weapon Cost x 5Gloves: 1,000¥

Availability: 4/48 hoursStreet Index: 1

»»[I love these things! I Just got a new set of glovesand they work like a charm. Nothing like them for alate night tussle.]«« - Rodeo <14:32:22/01-25-54>

»»[Evidentially Lone Star Is just as excited. Althoughnot all of the patrolmen carry these new weapons, theyare easily the hottest new piece of gear to come outsince the Predator II.]«« - Ranger <11:43:55/01-31-54>

DELIVERS EVEN MORE FOR ITS MEMBERSFASA Products For Less!

SHADOWRUN PRODUCTSCatalog# Item Name Suggested Retail Member

Price PriceSHADOWRUN: GAME SYSTEMS

FSR7111 DMZ 30.00 26.00FSR7900H Shadowrun (2nd ed.) (Hard cover) 30.00 26.00FSR7902 Shadowrun Game Screen (2nd ed.) 12.00 10.20

SHADOWRUN: RULES AND CAMPAIGN SUPPLEMENTSFSR7104 The Street Samurai's Catalog 12.00 10.20

FSR7903 The Grimoire (2nd ed.) 15.00 12.75FSR7107 Virtual Realities 15.00 12.75FSR7108 The Rigger Black Book 15.00 12.75FSR7109 Shadowbeat 15.00 12.75

FSR7110 Shadowtech 15.00 12.75FSR7201 Seattle Sourcebook 15.00 12.75FSR7203 London Sourcebook 15.00 12.75FSR7208 Neo-Anarchist Guide to Real Life 15.00 12.75

FSR7103 Sprawl Sites One 12.00 10.20FSR7105 Paranormal Animals of N. A. 12.00 10.20FSR7112 Paranormal Animals of Europe 18.00 15.50FSR7202 Native American Nations Vol. 1 12.00 10.20FSR7207 Native American Nations Vol. 2 12.00 10.20FSR7210 TirTairngire 18.00 15.50FSR7113 Corporate Shadowfiles 18.00 15.50

FSR7401 SprawlMaps 15.0012.75OctFSR7211 Tir na nOg 18.0015.50 Oct

SHADOWRUN: ADVENTURESFSR7302 Mercurial 8,00 7.20FSR7303 Dream Chipper 8.00 7,20FSR7304 Queen Euphoria 8,00 7.20FSR7305 Bottled Demon 8,00 7.20FSR7306 Harlequin 12.00 10.20FSR7307 Dragon Hunt 8.00 7.20FSR7308 Total Eclipse 8,00 7.20FSR7309 Imago 8.00 7.20FSR7310 Eleven Fire 8.00 7.20FSR7311 Ivy & Chrome 8.00 7.20

FSR7312 One Stage Before 8.00 7.20FSR7313 DarkAngel 8.00 7.20FSR7314 A Killing Glare 8.00 7.20

FSR7315 Celtic Double Cross 8.00 7.20 NovSHADOWRUN: NOVELS

FSR5078 Never Deal With a Dragon (Vol. 1) 4.50 4,00FSR5125 Choose Your Enemies Carefully (Vol. 2) 4.50 4.00FSR5145 Find Your Own Truth (Vol. 3) 4.50 4.00FSR5210 2XS 4.50 4.00FSR5218 Changeling 4.50 4.00FSR5220 Never Trust an Elf 4.50 4.00

FSR5302-1 Shadowplay 4.99 4.25FSR5310 Night's Pawn 4.99 4.25FSR5313 Striper Assassin 4.99 4.25

BATTLETECH PRODUCTSCatalog t Item Name Suggested Retail Member

Price PriceBATTLETECH: GAME SYSTEMSFBT1604 BattleTech (3rd Ed.) 25.00 21.75FBT1640 The BattleTech Compendium 15.00 12.75FBT1608 CltyTech 20.00 17.00FBT1609 AeroTech 15.00 12.75FBT1641 MechWarrlor (2nd Edition) 15.00 12,75FBT1660 Solaris VII 25.00 21.75

Prices guaranteed If order Is postmarked by December 15,1993All orders held until merchandise Is available from distributors

Catalog * Item Name Suggested Retail MemberPrice Price

BATTLETECH: TECHNICAL READOUTSFBT8613 BattleTech: Technical Readout 2750 12.00 10.20FBT8603 BattleTech: Technical Readout 3025 12.00 10.20FBT8606 BattleTech: Technical Readout 3026 12.00 10.20FBT8614 BattleTech: Technical Readout 3050 15.00 12.75FBT8919 BattleTech: Technical Readout 3055 15.00 12.75BATTLETECH: RECORD SHEETSFBT1625A Reinforcements 1

(Record Sheets 3025 book only) 15.00 12.75FBT1647 BattleTech Record Sheets # 1

(LightMechs) 8.00 7.20FBT1648 BattleTech Record Sheets #2

(Medium Mechs) 8.00 7.20FBT1649 BattleTech Record Sheets #3

(Heavy Mechs) 8.00 7.20FBT1650 BattleTech Record Sheets #4

(Assault Mechs) 8.00 7.20FBT1667 BattleTech: Vehicle Record Sheets 8.00 7.20FBT1668 BattleTech Record Sheets:3055 8.00 7.20

(3055 Technical Res. Mechs)BATTLETECH: MAP SETSFBT1618 BattleTech Map Set #2 15.00 12.75FBT1638 BattleTech Map Set #3 15.00 12.75FBT1663 BattleTech Map Set #4 15.00 12.75BATTLETECH: RULES AND CAMPAIGN SUPPLEMENTSFBT1620 Kurita: The Dranconis Combine 15.00 12.75FBT1621 Stelner: Lyran Commonwealth 15.00 12.75FBT1623 Davlon: The Federated Suns 15.00 12.75FBT1664 ClanTroops 15.00 12.75FBT1639 BattleTech 20 Year Update 12.00 10.20FBT1642 Wolf Clan Sourcebook 15.00 12.75FBT1665 Objective Raids 15.00 12.75FBT1644 Jade Falcon Sourcebook 15.00 12.75FBT1655 Comstar Sourcebook 15.00 12.75FBT1659 Solaris: The Reaches 15.0012.75OctFBT1670 Mercenary's Handbook: 3055 18.00 15.50FBT1673 Intelligence Op. Handbook 18.00 15.50FBT1675 BattleTech Recognition Cards 20.00 17.00FBT1679 Hot Spots 12.00 10.20 OctFBT1678 Luthlen 12.0010.20DecBATTLETECH: SCENARIO PACKSFBT1643 Rhonda's Irregulars 8.00 7.20FBT1657 More Tales/Black Widow 8.00 7.20FBTI669 McCarron's Armored Cavalry 8.00 7.20BATTLETECH: ADVENTURES (MECHWARRIOR)FBT1666 Bloodrlght 15.00 12.75FBT1656 Unbound 8.00 7.20FBT1672 Null Set 8.00 7.20FBT1677 Day of Heroes 8.00 7.20BATTLETECH: NOVELSFBT5158 Way of the Clans (Vol. 1) 4.50 4.00FBT5164 Blood Name (Vol. 2) 4.50 4.00FBT5200 Falcon Guard (Vol. 3) 4.50 4.00FBT5219 Natural Selection 4.50 4.00FBT5224 Wolf Pack 4.50 4.00FBT5221 Decision at Thunder Rift 4.50 4.00FBT5309 Ideal War 4.99 4.50FBT5312 Main Even 4.99 4.50FBT5315 Blood of Heros 4.99 4.50FBT5335 Assumption of Risk 4.99 4.50FBT5337 The Far Country 4.99 4.50 OctBATTLETECH: MISCFBT8611 Shrapnel 18.00 15.30FBT1615 BattleTech Blueprint Set (Boxed) 10.00 9.00FBT1661 OmniMech Blueprints (Boxed) 10,00 9.00

FEATURED FASA PRODUCTSTake an additonal $1.00 off member price for these two FASA Products

(offer good until December 15, 1993)

FBT1980BattleSpaceFSR7113 Corporate Shadowfiles

Catalog # ASRO »»[Ka-ge Issue ZeroSquasher & Squeeker(our first network fiction piece

ever), the Fetishmonger and limo driver contacts, the HighSecurity Warehouse Location Archetype, the "FishingSeason" Scenario, the DantA Corporate Profile, and theFreelance Reporter Archetype. New gear includes theGrumman Cargomaster vehicle, Microvision cyberware,Improved Visual Spectrum eye enhancements, and the lethalScreecher cybernetic throat implants.]«« Only $4.00

Catalog # ASR1 »»[ Ka-ge Issue One"Lucy," a short story by Jim Long. Also includes the

Cyco Circuits corporate profile, (with the Cyco Circuits MatrixMap), the "No Free Parking" scenario, the Hairstylist and E-Wizzard contacts, NINE Cyberdeck Utilities in the new gearsection, as well as THREE Cyco Cyberdecks. Official modifica-tions to the Weapons Fire Modes, and the first appearance ofour Reviews section.]«« Only $ 5.00

Catalog # ASR2 »»[Ka-ge Issue TwoSOLD OUT

Catalog # ASR3 »»[Ka-ge Issue ThreeOur last 32 page issue, sure to be a collector's item!

Letters to the Sysop debut, Ragfeather, the corporateprofile on the Dwarven Technical Guild, a Private Investigatorarchetype, Backstreet Butcher and Joy Girl contacts, Short inthe Dark scenario and the rigger bar The Torque Wrench. TheNew Gear section provides four manipulation spells, theEverlast Chem Grenade, Diamond Back Combat Boots, newslap patches and the every handy Hypo-Doc. Add all thisstuff to the article Sprawl Survival and the Ka-ge reviewsand your character just might make through it through thosedark Seattle nights.]««

Only $5.00

Catalog # ASR4 »»[Ka-ge Issue FourOur first 48 page issue! In it you'll find new paranormal

animals, magic bikers, how to play the legal game, new gearand spells, the Neo-Anarchists guide to the boston Sprawland much more!.]«« Only $6.00

Catalog # ASR5 »»[Ka-ge Issue FiveStarting our second year out with the Neo-Anarchists

guide to M.S.P. Lots of new places to hang out, corps to runagainst. Decking utilities, contacts, gear and more make thisissue another that is a must have for allShadowrunners.]««

Only $6.00

Catalog # ASR6 »»[Ka-ge Issue SixThe Neo-Anarchists give us more paydata on M.S.P. and

Patterson's Guide to Paranormal Animals fills us in on thecritters running around M.S.P. as well. Two pieces of fiction,gear, new contacts, NPCs and more.]«« Only $6.00

Catalog # ASR7 »»[Ka-ge Issue SevenThe Neo-Anarchists give a rundown on Australia!

Complete history on the continent, major corps., Brisbanesprawl and more. Patterson's Guide to Paranormal Animalsgives us the scoop on some oriental critters. Chad Olson's"A Night's Change of Plans" continues with part two. Newgear, contacts, three Knight Errant archetypes and moremake this an info packed issue.]«« Only $6.00

Catalog # ASR8 >»[Ka-ge Issue EightInformation on Boston and the Black Lotus. The saga of

Blaze continues with the third installment, "First Contact" byChad Olson. More information on Oriental Critters. Alsoincluded is the latest official Errata from FASA on ShadowrunII and Grimoire II. How can you pass these forty-eight pagesup?]«« Only $6.00

Catalog # ASR9 >»[Ka-ge Issue NineThree new critters from Aztlan, the continuation of the

Blaze sage, and first of two installments on Armour Interna-tional, a multi-national weapons and security corporation.Ten new pages of gear and the Troll Ranger Archetype."Business Unusual" short story by Vicki Kirchhoff.]«« Only$6.00

Catalog # ASR200 »»[Ka-ge Feathered Serpent T-shirtThis 50/50 white shirt with the trademark FASA Shadow-

run feathered serpent and the Ka-ge logo in full color soldlike crazy at GENCON. Don't be left out! Please specify Largeor X-Large]«« Only $18.00

Catalog # ASR201 »»[Ka-ge Logo Golf HatThese hats sold out at GENCON and it's not hard to see

why. The red and silver logo is on a sharp black hat thatstands out for quite a distance!]«« Only $12.00

Catalog # ASR202 »»[Ka-ge Logo BandannaSold out the first day of GENCON, these bandannas are

in stock again for those with flair enough to wear them.Printed with the same Red and Silver design as the hats, thisblack bandanna is large enough to tie on your head in thestandard manner, use as a hat band on a cowboy hat or forany other use you can think of.]«« Only $6.00

ORDER FORMNAME: _____________________________________________MEMBERSHIP #: ______________________________________ADDRESS: _________________________________________

CITY/STATE/ZIP:COUNTRY: _________________________________________PHONE #: _________________________________________

Line CostCatalog # Quantity Item Description (price x qty)

SHIPPING & HANDLINGPlease check the appropriate box(es)

United States S&H (CAPO, FPO included)..... $5.00(AK & HI must add 2nd day charges)

C.O.D. (UPS, United States only) add ............ $5.002nd Day Air (UPS, United States only) add.. $5.00+

$1.00/item(AK&HI 2nd Day Air add $ 10.00 & $ 1.00/item)

Canada or Mexico S&H................................. $10.00Overseas S&H.................................................. $23.00

Total Line Cost: ___________The Cost of S&H: __________Total Amount Due: ________Please include check or money order payableto AWOL Productions in US Dollars Only.

Mail To:AWOL PRODUCTIONS

2101 West Broadway #305P.O. Box 6018

Columbia, MO 65205-6018

All purchases shipped via UPS ground whenever possible. Purchases accompanied by a money order/cashier's check are mailed within 72 hours of receipt. Please allow 3 weeks for personal checks to clearbefore shipping. All return items must have a RMA# and are subject to a restocking fee. (993)

Upcoming from FASAOctober

Tir na nOg a source book for $ 18.00. Tir na nOg,the Land of Youth, has long been protected by apowerful veil. The former nation of Ireland now standsrevealed in its Awakened power. Who are its masters?Where did they come from? And what does its emer-gence hold for the world of 2054?

Sprawl Maps for $ 15.00. Full-color 11 x 17" mapsoffer detailed scenes for your Shadowrun encounters.Sites include a night club, back alley, monorail station, aselection of apartments, and other colorful sprawllocations.

NovemberCeltic Double Cross an adventure for use with Tir

na nOg for $8.00. The mere thought of elves andpolitics give even the most hardened street samurai theshakes. But when the elves are Irish and the politicsAmerican there's only danger in store. But for whom?

Upcoming from Ral ParthaDecember 6

20-560 - Mercenaries, male and female (2), 20-561 -street Mages, male and female (2), 20-562 - Street

Samurai, male and female, 20-563 - Maria Mercurial andKyle Morgan, 20-564 - Harlequin and Ehran the Scribe.Each set sells for $4.00.

Corporate Shadowfilesby Nigel D. FindleyRating 4.5 out of 5

In the world of Shadowrunthere has long been the hint ofhuge multinational companiescontrolling the fates of entirenations as well as individualshadowrunners. I say hintbecause even though thesource material always saysthese companies exist, therehas never been any attempt toput life into the huge compa-nies of the year 2054. All thatjust changed.

Shadowfiles is more thanjust an outline of the biggestand most powerful companiesoperating in the Seattle area. Itis a primer on how business of2054 operates. If you thoughtthe streets were dirty, wait tillyou see the board rooms.Shadowfiles is essentially di-vided into four sections.

The first is a corporateprimer and history of howthings work on the inside of thecorporation. The second sec-tion is on the Zurich-OrbitalHabitat. This section is impor-tant as the habitat houses theCorporate court system and thebank of most (if not all)megacorporations, the Zurich-Orbital Gemeinschaft Bank. Thethird section is a system forrating the corporations for usein game play. Obviously with asystem such as this it is veryeasy for gamemasters to in-clude their own unique corpo-rations in their game environ-

ment. The final section in onthe big eight corporations ofSeattle: Ares, Aztechnology,Fuchi, Mitsuhama, Renraku,Saeder-Krupp, Shlawase, andYamatetsu.

ProsThe first pro for this product

is the very nature of the bookitself. This has been long over-due in the Shadowrun universeand provides gamemasterswith much needed informationon their favorite corporations.It is presented in a very cleanstyle with lot of informationpacked into a little space. Notonly are the companies spelledout, they are given enoughdetail to make them usablewithout giving away everysecret. With the book largecorporations are not only inter-esting, they are playable.

One of the things thatmakes the style work is themethod of delivery. Roughly50% of the entire book is donein shadow vox, which gives theentire product a gritty feelingthat should serve to spark theimagination of gamemasters fora long time.

Finally, the primer on corpo-rations is priceless forgamemasters who really haveno idea how business works inthe "real" world. Everybodyknows businesses attempt tomake a profit, but it's amazinghow people (gamemastersincluded) think business comesup with that profit.

ConsAlas, it is not a perfect

product. Perhaps the mostglaring omission is the lack ofinformation on the orbitalstation. FASA has long beencagey about releasing informa-tion regarding near-space;however, they've just openedthe flood gates (something wemidwesterners know a thing ortwo about) with the near orbitstuff and now they need toproduce more. As a powerfulentity off in space, the orbitalstation, along with the associ-ated court and bank, shouldhave been explained witheither less or more detail. As itis we'll have to wait for thenext several months (or more)until some type of near orbitsource book is available. Thegiven information just isn'tcomplete enough to use in acampaign setting or as anadventure site.

If there is anything else thebook is missing, or does wrong,it is the lack of corporate insid-ers. We now know a thing ortwo about what goes on insidethe corporations, but thegamemaster has little informa-tion on playing a group ofcharacters who actually want towork for the corporation. Fullyfinanced shadowruns you can'tturn down. Sounds like fun tome.

OverallThis is a great product. It

opens some issues I'd like tosee resolved as quickly as

possible (Azatlan, near space,Japan, etc.), but it does anexcellent job at getting the ballrolling and providing somereally dark atmosphere forShadowrun in general. As asourcebook this is among thebest and most useful FASA hasproduced. Although playerswill not have to refer to it in thecourse of every adventure,gamemasters will find it veryuseful. At $18.00 it is wellworth the price.

In Brief

A Killing Glareby Louis ProsperiRating 3.5 out of 5

In this scenario book runnersget the chance to interact withthe Urban Brawl team theSeattle Screamers. As you canimagine this is not necessarily ahealthy thing to do, especiallywhen the runners are standingbetween several of the brawlersand a very powerful corpora-tion. The adventure is very welldone and quite unique. It isalso good to see the return ofcharacters we've seen in previ-ous adventures--proving itreally is a small world. Thegrand finale is best handledwith DMZ, however, which canprove very lethal to playercharacters. Although otherendings are provided, they lackthe grand gesture of a trulyepic ending you get with DMZ.A good, but bloody, adventure

for $8.00.Tir Tairngireby Nigel FindleyRating 4.5 out of 5

This is one of the mostrequested source books tocome out since the release ofShadowrun (along withShadowfiles). This slick book ispacked with excellent art andfantastic ideas about a culturethat is just a little left of human.Although gamemasters will findit of the most use, players couldwell use the information infleshing out those elven charac-ters. Easily on a par with theSeattle Sourcebook, its proxim-ity to the Seattle sprawl ulti-mately makes it much moreuseful than an European sourcebook. The price is also ashocker -- only $18.00.

CALENDAR OF SHADOWRUN EVENTSThe following calendar lists

the conventions for which wehave heard rumors of Shadow-run events. If you know of anyconventions that are not onthe calendar, please let usknow so we can inform otherNetwork members.

FEBRUARY 1994ORCCON 17: February 18-21,1994 at LAX Hyatt Hotel, LosAngeles, CA (310.670.9000).Sponsored events, prizesvariable: two BattleTech tour-naments, one Solaris VII tour-nament. Multiple miniaturesevents privately sponsoredand plenty of open gaming.Attendance 600+, 30+ forBattleTech. For more informa-tion please write toStrategicon / P.O. Box 3849 /Torrance, CA 90510-3849 orcall andleave a message at (310) 326-9440.

APRIL 1994CLARE-VOYANCE: April 1-3,

1994. Held on the campuses ofClaremont Colleges in Clar-emont California (about 30miles east of Los Angeles).Includes Shadowrun and otherrole-playing games, an artdisplay and more. GMs wel-come. Registration $5.00,$2.00 table fee per game.Write to Games Central,Storyhouse, ClaremontMcKenna College, Claremont,CA 91711. Call (909) 624-3413 or (909) 624-3664.

MAY 1994GAMEX 1994: May 27-30,1994 at LAX Hyatt Hotel, LosAngeles, CA (310.670.9000).Sponsored events, prizesvariable: two BattleTech tourna-ments, one Solaris VII tourna-ment. Multiple miniaturizeevents privately sponsored andplenty of open gaming. Atten-dance 600+, 30+ for BattleTech.For more information pleasewrite to Strategicon / P.O. Box3849 / Torrance, CA 90510-3849 or call and leave a mes-

sage at (310) 326-9440.Please note that we need toreceive information aboutevents at least 60 days beforemailing dates in order toinsure that they will make itinto the issues they need tobe in. (i.e. to have conventioninformation in the Decemberissue (which mails at the endof Dec.) we would need tohave the info in early Nov.Our other mail dates are theend of March, June, andSeptember.

* An asterisk means that thereis more information about thisitem in the classified section.@ An at symbol marks theconventions at which FASAplans to have representationas of press time.& An ampersand marks theconventions at which MNAplans to have representationas of press time.

(Please Use a Pen and Print Clearly)Name: _________________________________________Street Address: ____________________________________City: ___________________ State: __________Zip: ________Phone: ______________ If Renewal, list Membership #_______Full Membership (U.S. 2nd Class Postage included)...................................... $20.00Canada/Mexico 2nd Class Postage ..................................................................$4.00Overseas 2nd Class Postage ............................................................................$6.00Total Amount Included ............................................................................. $ ___

Prices subject to change without notice.

Shadowrun Apazine, Skrawls from theSprawls, is still accepting members toparticipate. For more info write to: NikoWieleba / P.O. Box 10097 / Glendale CA91209-0097.

Runners &. Mr. Johnson who are old enoughto work in a corp, wanted in lowerwestchester area. Interested? Call me to talkbiz aat LTG#(914)-633-525l. Ask for Paul.

Private, non-commercial shadowtalkline by E-Mail. Subscriptions / questions to<SHADOWTALK@FIM.INf.UNI-MANNHEIM.DE>with "Subject: Request". M.Emami /Lutherstr.23 / 68169 Mannheim / GERMANY.

Runner in Germany looking for penpals.Great interest in discussing internationalShadowrunning and other aspects of thegame. Please contct Erik Schreiber / KirchfeldStrasse 29 / D-7500 Karlsruhe 31 / Neureut /GERMANY

Tampa area shadowrunners: if you haveaccess to the matrix then give the AuschwitzBBS a call / LTG 813.581.5754 / messages /doors / files / RPG contacts. Give Ka-ge areference. NO HUMANIS! See ya!!!

Whoever fried Mr. Shyster will have me todeal with. Watch your back! DataDark

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I survived Digital Dragon 2.0. I'm Mixer, astreet samurai looking for a run. I've gotsafe-houses in NYC and N). Contact: ArmandLarraga / 14 Gillian Dr. / Kendall Park / NJ /08824

Smoke from NorseCon 3 says "HOI" to all thechummers who made his event a wizzertime.

»»(Reposted from the newsnetfor your reading conve-nience.)«« - Quirk <11:05:45/09-14-53>

INTERNATIONALVeil Lifts on Tir na nOg

Officials for the awakenedgovernment of Tir na nOg, once thenation of Ireland, prepare to take theirplace among the other nations of theworld stage by relaxing their strictpolicy of isolation and separatism.Analysts across the globe haveadvanced countless theories aboutthe changes in the global marketplacethis will cause.

The land beyond the veil has longbeen viewed with mistrust and fear,especially by Tir na nOg's closestneighbor Britain. It remains to beseen if the relations between thesetwo countries will be as close, or asstrained, as they were at alteringtimes prior to the awakening, (con-tinued on page A-20)

LOCALFlex Lenard Rescued

Popular trideo personality FlexLenard was rescued from his abduc-tors after over 150 days in captivity.The much thinner Flex was "slightlyinjured" in the rescue, which washandled by a strike team of KnightErrant. Three Knights were injured inthe rescue, which resulted in thedeath of all seven captors.

Flex could not be reached forcomment; however, his spokes-woman, Samantha Mclgra, stated"Mr. Lenard is resting comfortablyunder the finest medical care the cityof Seattle has to offer. Once he hasbeen cleared by his medical team, hewill issue a personal statement."

Captain Ikagu of Knight Errantinitially refused to comment on thedetails of the rescue; however,increased media pressure finallyforced him to make a few statements,(continued on page B-15)

Inmates RecapturedIronhead Tiamartz and Wilson

Gressman, inmates from the Holly-wood Correctional Facility whoescaped three weeks ago, werereturned to the facility following anexhaustive manhunt of the SeattleSprawl. The two men were returnedto their respective cells earlier today.

"Of course we're pleased whenthe system works," said Lone StarCaptain Otto Villar. "These two menhave been the target of our best andbrightest detectives." Rumors ranwild that the two men were notcaptured by Lone Star, but by an asyet unidentified group of individuals.Captain Villar called such reports"nonsense."

"If there are any individuals evenremotely associated with the captureof these two felons who are not full-time members of Lone Star, I haven'theard of them." (continued on pageB-12)

BUSINESSBlack Friday

In what is already being calledthe worst one day slump in the stockmarket since the crash, the stockmarket plunged when a computervirus apparently entered the systemduring a routine maintenance check.As the stock index began to drop forno apparent reason, officials werequick to close the exchange; how-ever, they could not prevent a floodof automatic sales as individual stockprices plummeted.

"At this point the market isclosed," said exchange officials."We're looking into the virus and theactivity surrounding its introductioninto the exchange."

Officials went on to explain thatthey may revoke all transactionsconducted after the introduction ofthe virus. "We've never done itbefore, but that doesn't mean we'llnot start now." (continued on pageD-24)

ENTERTAINMENTGhostman Released Amid Con-sumer Riots

Hollywood Simsense releasedtheir latest chip "Ghostman" amid anear-riot of buyers at local entertain-ment outlets across the city. Theprerelease publicity, which includedfree samples of individual scenes,seems to have struck a sympatheticcord in the public, who turned out topurchase the product in near-recordnumbers.

"Of course we're pleased," saidOlivia Zaine, product manager for thenew title. "We've been very carefulin the marketing campaign; however,when you try something new, like thefree promotions, you're never reallysure how the actual product will bereceived." When asked if otherHollywood products would bemarketed in a similar manner, Zainedeclined to comment, (continued onpage F-3)

SPORTSCoach Carlisimo Eats His Words

Seattle Screamer player Marion"Dozer" Barnkowski finally got hischance to address Berlin coachCarlisimo, whose comments earlierthis season were less than kind.

"Yea," said Dozer, "I guess youcould say I got really motivated forthis one." The Screamers were uptwo goals to one when Dozer andcompany scored a wipe-out againstthe Backbreakers. Commented oneBackbreaker scout who asked not tobe identified, "I guess Dozer'sclothes-line tackle of our Outrider wasthe telling blow. Georg never knewwhat hit him. I'm still not sure he'sregained consciousness."

Carlisimo was livid after thegame, but the angry coach wasrestrained by his assistants when heattempted to enter the field. "I washoping we'd get the chance tomeet," said Dozer thumbing his knife."I guess there's always next year."(continued on page C-l)