Campaign

The Five Punk campaign

History

The Five Punk squad was formed in early January 902SD by Operatives Grim Grimbola, Deject, Gerald, and Dirk Gently. The squad all graduated from Meny independently and were thrown together in Slayer's Crib by the infamous financier Crazy Herman. Later, the squad were joined by Gekijou Sumaniski and Emile Jaegerknack.

Squad Members

Grim Grimbola - Human, Death Squad

Has a thing about facepaints.

Deject - Wraith Raider, Scout

Is scared of shit and terrified of needles.

Dirk Gently - Ebon, Point

With burgundy hair and turquoise eyes, Dirk is unmistakably an Ebon - though the trench coat and fedora also mark him out to be a self styled gumshoe detective. Being the only member of the squad to have any 'civilised' communication skills (torture tending not to lead to many profitable BPNs), Dirk is often called upon to be the "talker". Despite having Ebon Blast abilities, Dirk prefers to rely on his detective skills when on a job. He also likes to think himself as a bit of a lady's man, though the evidence so far tends not to support this particular belief (still, if at first you don't succeed...).

Gekijou Sumaniski - Human, Kick Murder

Purveyor of Chain-axe flavoured justice.

Emile Jaegerknack - Human, Sabotage

Has a fear of cutlery, specifically sporks, after an accident with a cutlery drawer and some explosives.

BPN History

Welcome to Mort - Blue

The squad was formed for this BPN, issued by Crazy Herman. Present were Grim, Deject, Gerald, and Dirk. The mission was to excort a team of three mainenance workers to a faulty pump in the overflow system near the CS2 wall. During the repairs the squad were attacked by around 35 carriens, including a Greater and a Mutant. The carriens were driven off, with Dirk and Gerald taking serious damage but recovering quickly (Dirk by his own healing and Gerald by regenerating). The repairs were completed on time and all maintenance team members returned safely. Gerald's armour, however, did not survive.

Loose Cannon - Yellow

Shocked at being actually approached by the squad, Crazy Herman gives them his best BPN - a mission to retrieve a lost FEN 400 Surekill sniper rifle from Kiestas territory. Herman suggests they pick up a couple of extra members for their squad, as their numbers have been depleted by Gerald 'visiting his mum'. Gek and Emile are introduced. The squad begin a thorough investigation of the squad that lost the weapon, dealing diplomatically with some slippery gang members and making some good character judgements that result in getting some of the suspects do do half of the work for them. The weapon is retrieved, but not before it is aimed at Dirk from point blank range, causing much sweating and defecating.

Ultrasonic Brats - Blue

The last BPN from Crazy Herman. Tasked with discouraging a teenage biker gang from using Suburbia as their playground the Five Punks are placed in a situation they can't shoot their way out of, as these gangers are the teenage offspring of influential SLA employees. The squad do some accurate research (and Dirk hits on the Shiver Leiutenant who issued the BPN) and start off on the right lines. Things soon go awry though as Deject accidentally shoots one of the gang and kills him in front of a crown of onlookers. The whole squad's payment for the BPN bribes their way out of having to take responsibility though and they get back on track with renewed vigour. Trapping the bikers in a mall, the Five Punks force them to fight their way out. The result is one biker taking a running kick to the testicles from Deject, another being felled by a flying leg hold from Gerald, and four of the gang being shot dead. Not ideal, but the firefight was filmed and may prove a step onto the fame ladder, and Dirk got a date. A success then, if not a financial one.

Born to the Overkill - Silver

The squad's first Silver BPN, and also their first BPN from Mr Haynes. Tasked with clearing a downtown apartment building in preperation for an episode of Gorezone, the Five Punks set about with startling speed and efficiency. Various comedy encounters slow the process down though, including Deject and Dirk trying to wrestle a fat bloke, and the squad end the BPN by evacuating the last residents as the various nasties begin swarming in from the sewers below. Unfortunately the last resident was a pregnant woman whose health suffered from being moved during labour. Fortunately Mr haynes was on hand to put the disgruntled Dept of Recreation and Entertainment exec in his place and thus avoid any fines.

Moving Machinery

While washing his smalls, Dirk gets a phone call from Haynes. The squad have been issued a red BPN and need to get to Downtown to bail out a Shiver APC which is under attack from DarkNight. The squad arrive piecemeal as usual, but get the chance to assess the situation a little while Deject scouts ahead and Grim and Gerald ride the bus. They find that DarkNight have attacked and taken a Shiver APC in order to use it to hijack an armoured car containing medical supplies. A group of armed and armoured DN ops are covering their attempts to break into the vehicle, and the squad are a little nervous about attacking them. To make matters worse, Deject spots a sniper in a nearby building and wisely stays in cover. The squad go for a pincer attack, with the close-up fighters Gek and Gerald using the sewers to get to the opposite building to take out the sniper, and Grim and Dirk going around behind the nearest building to come at the group down an alley. All goes fairly well until Grim's big head gets spotted peering around a corner. The enemy are happy to sit back and let Five Punk come to them though, or at least so they think. Unknown to Deject he has been spotted and a couple of DarkNight are heading up the building he's in in a mirror of the move Gek and Gerald are pulling at the other side of the road. Luckily Deject hears the poorly trained Civilian Converts coming and hides in the bathroom of the apartment he's in, mowing them down with his FEN AR as they burst through the door.

Meanwhile, Gek and Gerald have charged towards their sniper only to find he has cover. They clear the distance between them before he has chance to react and, despite planning on taking him alive, variously beat his head in and almost chop his arm off. Gek then learns that DarkNight snipers are quite handy in close combat too as this one carves a zorro Z into Gek's chest before being dispatched by chainaxe.

Still feeling cautious, the squad try to reposition in order to attack from two sides again. Things start moving faster though when the DarkNight engineer blows one of the doors of the armoured car with a bundle of grenades. Deject spectacularly blows the head off one of the guys pinning down Grim and Dirk, causing the other one to bottle it and run. On the success of this, the squad move in. Unfortunately they're a little late. The APC starts to make a getaway and Deject does his best to take down the fleeing DarkNight by hosing them with automatic fire, with some success. He also takes the engineer out as he struggles with the mangled corpse of the passenger from the armoured car. Nobody is close enough to stop the driver starting to make away with the second vehicle though, until Grim gets off a lucky shot as the car turns around to follow tha APC. Dirk follows his example and finishes him off.

At this point the BPN goes a bit downhill. Gerald reaches the armoured car as it rolls to a halt and decides to use it to pursue the fleeing APC. Unfortunately it isn't as fast, and Gerald can't drive. What follows is the world's most destructive car chase as the DarkNight use their APC to barge traffic out of the way, and Gerald veers wildly after them, damaging any vehicles that the enemy missed. The rest of the squad catch up on their bikes, along with a Cloak Division APC. Until Deject falls off his bike while swerving through the remains of the traffic. Luckily for the Five Punks the Cloak squad flag them down and relieve them of the BPN while SCAF units take up the chase for them. Turns out the armoured car shouldn't have been there, and Cloak Division want to know why. Opening the back of the vehicle they find out - 50 Tek Trex drones open fire out of the back. Luckily for them the Cloak guys are well armoured and a quick grenade sorts out the little clockwork shooters. The squad retreat to the pub to discuss the events of the afternoon, slightly confused by the outcome but glad to have been paid.

Suburban Psycho

The squad are given a BPN requiring them to investigate the violent deaths of three teenagers in suburbia. Looking through the case files, they find that each has been apparently killed by a powerful blow by a Gash Fist. Immediately suspecting a SLA employee of some kind, they set off with trepidation to investigate the crime scenes. Despite being their first investigation, Deject, Dirk, Grim and (for a little while) Gerald examine the scenes with a fine attention to detail, but find little that the Shivers haven't already found. Frustrated but unpurturbed the squad start interviewing potential witnesses and suspects and the BPN starts taking a downhill slide. Their interviews range from the mundane to the surreal, giving the slightly bemused Ops a fine insight into the mental states of the population but little in the way of actual information. However, Dirk gets another date. At this point the BPN is possibly hampered by the squad repeatedly making jokes about penguins, or possibly by the GM being so drunk he can no longer distinguish narrative from crazy NPC.

Several nights into the BPN Five Punk make a breakthrough though. Taking teamwork to a new level, the three squad members work out how to use Grim's Oyster laptop and start using the information they have to narrow down potential suspects among SLA employees. A few dead end searches later, including a visit to the magnificently named Boris Ronny Bryant, a freelance Op with a drink problem, they have a suspect. Until now the squad have been relatively professional, but after throwing their weight around to gain access to the high SCL suspect's expensive apartment they start to vent their frustrations. While searching for something to justify their potentially illegal intrusion, Grim smashes an expensive antique desk and Dirk finds a frozen fillet steak in his coat pocket. Their ransacking provides them with a timely demonstration of how much more efficient the Shivers are in this part of the city, and the Ops find themselves desperately trying to cover their arses by ringing anyone they know with a higher SCL than themselves. Fortunately for them, their contact is satisfied that they have the right suspect and relieves them of the BPN before any more damage is done. Or so she thought, except Grim has other ideas and decides that shooting their suspect's TV on the way out is just the trade mark they need.

Having completed the BPN without even seeing the suspect, Five Punk learned a few lessons about the conduct of an investigation. They also learned a few things about how SLA bureaucracy works; the suspect was found to be guilty but goes unpunished. After all what's more important to the company, a few kids or a high level executive?

Peripheral Characters and Contacts

Crazy Herman

The Crib's most notorious financier. The Five Punks ultimately got away lightly, receiving three BPNs that were both possible and non-fatal. Hints dropped by various contacts prompted the slow realisation that maybe Herman wasn't the man for them after all.

Niall Ferguson

Human Investigation Op and leader of Red Ride squad. Ferguson held himself responsible for the loss of the weapon in the second BPN and put his neck on the line to assist in its retrieval. He feels he owes the Five Punks for possibly bailing him out of a sticky situation with Cloak Division, but as he is still under investigation it is unsure as to whether he will be seen again.

Samuel Lourenco

Lourenco is a shrewd Kiestas leiutenant in the San Angel sector. The Five Punks have gained a certain level of trust with him through a bit of mutual help during the Loose Cannon BPN, and if relations are nurtured he could prove a useful contact.

Elva Miller

Leiutenant Elva Miller is head of the 322nd precinct in the area of Wilkins Mall in Suburbia. The Five Punks ridded her of a troublesome gang and a sticky political situation. In return, shocked at having her BPN issued by Crazy Herman, she passes the squad on to the financier Jacob Haynes.

Jacob Haynes

Haynes is an ex Combat Financier, and still a Business Package Operative. He is a large, calm, stern man, brimming with Karma implants covered with expensive suits. At SCL5B.8 he is probably the highest SCL character the squad has met so far, and his influence can provide the squad with higher profile BPNs than Crazy Herman ever could.

Locations

San Angel sector

A Kiestas stronghold in Upper Downtown. There is a heavy trade in weapons with DarkNight here, and the local Kieastas are well armed and dangerous. The leadership in San Angel aren't stupid though, and are looking to divert SLA attention away rather than attract more through hostilities. Their diplomatic nature towards SLA is probably as a result of the friction and close prioximity of the Krosstown Traffic in the neighbouring sector.