Big Trouble in Hong Kong

Chapter One — 2069: Strangers in the Shadows

In October 2069, five shadowrunners, Hammer, Aaron, Lone Eagle, Kiril, and William Mayne, find themselves in Hong Kong, a city whose criminal underworld is dominated by powerful Triads, foreign syndicates, and corporate interests. With few local connections and no established loyalties, the newcomers are attractive prospects for fixers looking for capable outsiders.

Their first assignment comes from Tokyo Joe, a local fixer who hires them to provide security for a meeting of Hong Kong’s underworld elite following the funeral of influential information broker Lee Wo. The successful job introduces the runners to the city’s complicated criminal politics and leads to further opportunities. Working for the emerging Ten Thousand Lions Triad, they transport a sensitive diplomatic message across the city, fighting off rival Triad members and establishing relationships with the local smuggling community.

Their growing reputation brings them into contact with a diverse collection of employers, including the enigmatic hacker Tiger Bright, a former Mitsuhama operative who has returned to Hong Kong to settle unfinished business. The runners are initially hired to capture Tiger, successfully delivering him to a corporate representative before escaping a violent ambush by the Red Dragon Triad. Later, they recover a missing smuggler for the Ten Thousand Lions, clashing with members of the Tolo Vory in the process.

By December, the Vory have become increasingly aggressive in their attempts to establish a foothold in Hong Kong. Despite their earlier disagreements, the runners accept a contract to disrupt a brothel operated by the Smoke Circle Society, eliminating its management and helping the Russians expand their influence.

Their next assignment takes them aboard a boat bound for Macau under the supervision of Ivan Romanov, a particularly unpleasant Vory enforcer. What begins as a routine smuggling operation quickly turns sinister when Ivan executes two prisoners at sea and brings the team to a meeting with representatives of Evo Corporation. Unknown to most of the runners, the Russians have uncovered something about Kiril’s past and intend to turn him over to the corporation.

The deal falls apart, and Ivan attempts to eliminate the team upon their return to Hong Kong. The runners survive the resulting firefight and escape, taking Ivan prisoner. During a subsequent interrogation, Kiril abruptly shoots the Russian twice in the head, revealing to his shocked companions that the Vory intended to sell him to Evo.

The revelation triggers a bitter argument, and the group fractures, leaving Kiril temporarily isolated from the others. Whatever secrets he carries, they have clearly attracted dangerous attention.

Chapter Two — 2070: On the Bleeding Edge

The new year brings an unexpected reunion with Tiger Bright, who approaches William Mayne seeking assistance in rescuing an old friend from a Mitsuhama medical facility. The woman suffers from Artificially Induced Psychotropic Schizophrenia Syndrome, a condition associated with the catastrophic Matrix Crash of 2064. Unknown to the public, she has become part of a corporate research program investigating the mysterious emergence of technomancers—individuals capable of interacting with the Matrix without conventional technology.

The extraction goes smoothly, but it proves to be only the beginning of the team’s involvement in the developing technomancer crisis.

In February, the runners accept a lucrative contract to steal an experimental surgical drug called Cryosec from a DocWagon facility near Queen Elizabeth Hospital. While conducting reconnaissance inside the building, explosions tear through the neighboring hospital, plunging the district into chaos. Security systems lock down, communications fail, and the team finds itself trapped inside an increasingly dangerous medical complex.

As violence erupts throughout the area, the runners fight their way through DocWagon security, eventually escaping with the stolen pharmaceuticals. Lone Eagle, however, is left behind during the operation and subsequently disappears into custody.

In the aftermath, news reports blame the destruction at Queen Elizabeth Hospital on escaped psychiatric patients, many of whom allegedly possess dangerous technomantic abilities. Anti-technomancer hysteria spreads through the city, and the authorities begin a massive security crackdown.

The runners are soon drawn into the corporate scramble for technomancer research. A hurried assignment takes them to San Francisco, where they infiltrate a secure Mitsuhama research facility and steal information connected to the corporation’s secretive ROM project. Although discovered during their escape, they manage to evade a corporate response team and return to Hong Kong.

Their old acquaintance Tiger Bright becomes the subject of another corporate recovery contract, but the team refuses to betray him. Instead, they accept an alternative assignment from Tokyo Joe, arranging a meeting with Tiger atop the Kowloon Walled City. The exchange is interrupted by an aerial assault involving three helicopters, forcing the runners into a desperate rooftop firefight before they escape.

By this point, the team has become deeply entangled in the growing conflict surrounding technomancers, artificial intelligence, and corporate research. Meanwhile, Hammer and William begin investigating Lone Eagle’s disappearance, eventually tracing him to a heavily secured detention facility.

Chapter Three — 2070: Playing Both Sides

With their reputation firmly established, the runners begin accepting larger and more lucrative assignments, often working for employers whose interests directly conflict with one another.

In March, the Ten Thousand Lions hire the team to sabotage a manufacturing facility controlled by their rivals. Rather than simply destroying the installation, the runners must interrupt production without causing excessive damage or casualties. After extensive reconnaissance, they identify a vulnerable employee with a gambling problem and arrange for him to sabotage the facility from within.

Their next major operation involves extracting valuable biological specimens and experimental subjects from a secure DocWagon vault. Working through the sewers beneath Kowloon, the team blasts its way into the building, only to discover that another group of runners has arrived with similar intentions. Rather than fight over the contents of the vault, the two teams negotiate an arrangement, divide their objectives, and escape before DocWagon’s heavily armed response forces can intervene.

Shortly afterward, the runners become involved in an international crisis when an artificial intelligence seizes control of an Aztechnology satellite and threatens to release biological weapons unless captive digital intelligences are freed. The AI launches a probe containing a dangerous biological agent into southern China, and Brother 9 hires the team to recover it. After tracking the probe into hostile territory near Shenzhen, the runners defeat another group attempting to seize it and successfully secure the device.

Back in Hong Kong, a particularly unpleasant assignment takes the team into the notorious Kowloon Walled City to locate a supposed Triad rival. Their investigation reveals that the target is actually a prominent leader of the Red Dragon Triad, who has fallen into the hands of the Black Chrysanthemums. The runners eventually locate him inside a gruesome organ-harvesting operation, recovering what remains of their target and completing the contract.

The team’s increasingly impressive list of accomplishments leads to several more high-profile jobs. They infiltrate Clockwork, one of Hong Kong’s premier cyberclinics, to substitute a piece of advanced cyberware scheduled for implantation. They later return to the Griffin Biotechnology facility, which they had surveyed months earlier, and successfully steal sensitive research data using a combination of physical infiltration, magic, and Matrix manipulation.

They also take an opportunity to settle scores with the Black Chrysanthemums, assaulting a Triad-controlled warehouse and destroying the installation. Although the operation succeeds, the prisoners held inside are killed by their captors during the fighting.

By the summer of 2070, the runners are earning substantial sums and have become established figures in Hong Kong’s shadow community. Their growing success, however, has done little to resolve the mystery surrounding Kiril’s past—or the corporation still searching for him.

Chapter Four — 2070: The Evo Ultimatum

Concerned by Kiril’s secrecy and his apparent history with Evo, Aaron begins investigating his companion’s background. His inquiries eventually lead to a meeting with Vladimir Prelovac, the Evo representative previously encountered during the disastrous Macau operation.

Aaron negotiates an exchange: information about Kiril in return for cash, a future meeting with the mysterious Russian, and a week’s service from BuHao, a technomancer who has recently joined the team.

BuHao accompanies Evo personnel to a research facility in Vladivostok, where the corporation is conducting advanced technomancer research. Upon arriving, however, her memories abruptly stop. The next thing she remembers is being escorted back to the airport, assured that everything she agreed to was entirely voluntary.

Returning to Hong Kong, she conducts a diagnostic scan and discovers something deeply disturbing: Evo has implanted an unknown quantity of hardware inside her skull.

The team’s troubles continue when they accept another assignment involving the familiar Griffin Biotechnology facility. During the operation, the runners experience a strange sense of déjà vu as events repeatedly unfold in exactly the same way. BuHao eventually hears an unseen voice order the simulation to reset, and the team discovers that their apparent infiltration is an elaborate virtual exercise.

Those who awaken find themselves strapped to hospital beds inside a warehouse, connected to unfamiliar medical equipment. The runners break free, fight their way out of the facility, and escape.

Furious at having been manipulated, the team attempts to identify who arranged the deception. Suspecting Griffin Biotechnology, they kidnap and interrogate the company’s head of security, but eventually conclude that another organization, possibly Knight Errant, was responsible. With few promising leads remaining, they reluctantly abandon the investigation.

Meanwhile, Kiril finally agrees to meet Vladimir.

During their conversation, the Evo representative reveals his intentions. Kiril is a former corporate asset, and Evo wants him returned to its service. Furthermore, the runners’ involvement in the corporation’s affairs has made them liabilities that Evo intends to bring under its control.

Vladimir offers the team a choice: report to an Evo aircraft in two weeks and enter the corporation’s service, or face elimination. Kiril agrees to deliver the ultimatum, and the runners scatter to consider their options.

During the following fortnight, the team concentrates on investigating the mysterious hardware implanted in BuHao’s brain. With assistance from Dr. Yang and a contact named D.B., they discover that the device houses an artificial intelligence—or something very close to becoming one. They successfully extract the intelligence without harming BuHao, freeing her from Evo’s experimental technology.

At the same time, Lou begins searching for a way out of Hong Kong. Through contacts in the local rigger community, he arranges transportation to India, providing the team with a possible escape route.

Ultimately, however, the runners decide against fleeing. Despite their misgivings, they agree to accept Evo’s offer, taking what precautions they can before surrendering their independence.

In August 2070, the team arrives at Evo’s private terminal, where Vladimir greets them and provides a briefcase containing their initial operating funds. With their affairs in Hong Kong settled, the runners board a private aircraft bound for Vladivostok.

Their adventures in Hong Kong have brought them wealth, influence, and no shortage of powerful enemies. But after nearly a year of navigating the city’s dangerous underworld, the price of their success has finally come due.

They arrived in Hong Kong as independent shadowrunners. They leave as corporate assets.

And somewhere in Vladivostok, their new employers are waiting.