Shadowrun game in an alternate, homebrew universe.
 | The mahjong parlor is easy enough to find. Several old men with cigarettes sit around a table, placing the large tiles in front of them. As they finish, the tiles are swallowed by the table, shuffled and redistributed automatically. No one seems to pay much attention to Sun and this place is most certainly a lot quieter than pachinko. As he watches people come and go, he notices that any of the younger folk who visit the establishment come to the bathroom. None stick around to play mahjong, they just go to the bathroom. He doesn't see anyone leave the bathroom though until he notices a woman with a shaved head and moxibustion scars on her forehead step out from the bathroom. Sun recognizes moxibustion scars as the mark of a monk who has achieved full enlightenment. However, there are supposed to be 2 sets of three of them. She only appears to have 2 sets of two. |  |
| The woman looks Sun up and down and says, "That life is behind me. I quit being a monk a long time ago and decided to run this business. No idea what I can do to help you, but I've got a minute or two to speak if you really want to." She gestures to a nearby empty mahjong table. | |
| The woman says, "Well, I'm no guru on the matter and this is probably the worst place to be looking for spiritual enlightenment. But then maybe that's the point? I dunno, those monks all like their tests. I failed mine so I can't tell you much. Sounds like they're doing some kind of bullshit test of your spiritual fortitude or something. "I say screw them and their tests. If you paid enough attention in those martial arts lessons to be a half decent fighter, I've got a place for you here. Could make you some nice side cash." | |
| The woman says, "I don't like to talk about it, so lets leave it at that. As for work, it's pro fighting. You pay a signup fee and if you win the match, you double get double the fee. Good fighters make some good cash." | |
The woman says, "No spells, illegal weapons, armor, or outside interference. Other than that, the match goes until either one person gives up or their opponent can't fight anymore. Signup fee is based on your rank. Win fights and your rank goes up. Lose fights and your rank goes down. I'll be giving you a quick fitness test to see what rank you start at, but there's 10 ranks with 1 the lowest and 10 the highest." She shows a chart on her commlink with a list of ranks and signup fees.
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| The woman says, "Come with me. I'll test you right now. I'm Shen, by the way." She then walks into the bathroom. It is marked for both men and women, likely just a single toilet. She doesn't wait to see if Sun is following though. She just seems to expect him to come. | |
| Shen leads Sun into the bathroom then into a stall, where she flips a switch. The bathroom door locks and the two descend a secret elevator to an illegal fighting gym. The ring is currently empty, but there are dozens of people training in various ways. Some are sparring, some are weight lifting or doing aerobics. One is practicing sword forms. Shen takes Sun to a boxing bag with some electronics hooked up to it. "This is the first of three tests," she says, "It's pretty simple, just punch the thing as hard as you can so we can get an idea of how strong you are." ((unarmed + strength check)) | |
| Shen takes a look at the readout and says, "Not bad in the strength category. Not the BEST I've ever seen, but certainly upper tier. Alright, lets go to the next test. We're gonna test how light on your feet you are." She then takes Sun to what looks like a batting cage, except Sun is not provided with a bat and the pitching machine looks like it has the ability to move and aim it's shots. "Alright, when the machine beeps," Shen says, "It's going to try to hit you with ten baseballs. All you have to do is dodge those baseballs." She then steps safely out of the cage and presses a button. The machine beeps and 130 mph baseballs come rocketing at Sun. ((defense test! Don't forget to add your combat sense)) | |
| Sun dodges most of the balls, but gets pegged with one that shoots extra fast near the end. It stings, but nothing he can't handle in all his armor. Shen says, "Almost perfect score. Not bad. Most people get tripped up by the last one though, so don't worry about that. Just means you have room for improvement. On to the last test, endurance. Everyone's going to be swinging for your head and some of the folk out there will kill you if you aren't tough enough. Fighter deaths are great for the crowds, but bad for business. Not to mention, you probably prefer not being dead. So for this last test, I'm going to have to ask you to strip off that armor you're wearing and step on the treadmill." As she says this, she presses a button and a treadmill with no support bars rises in the batting cage. She then says, "You are going to run for ten minutes as the pitching machine fires at you. If you fall off the treadmill, the test ends and we'll find your final rank." ((body + willpower + any natural armor you happen to have from being an adept If you want, you can also attempt a defense test as before, but due to the difficulty of dodging around while you are on a rapidly moving treadmill, you have to also make a reaction+agility check to ensure you didn't accidentally trip or otherwise move off of the treadmill while doing it. Hits from defense get added to the first check, if that reaction+agility check has at least as many hits as the defense test. Otherwise it will subtract the difference as you take an early tumble. Up to you if you want to risk it.)) | |
| A 10 minute run is no big deal for Sun. The baseballs pelting him for the entire duration are certainly a new challenge, but not one he is unable to overcome. By the end of the job, he's bruised and sore, but not injured. More importantly, he never falls off the treadmill. Not even close. Shen says, "Not bad, not bad. We'll be starting you at rank 8. Go home, get some rest. When you're feeling up for a round, give a call and I'll tell you when to show up. Remember, it'll cost 10,000 nuyen for the signup fee at that rank. If you don't have the cash, don't bother calling me." | |
 | A few days later, Sun finds a package in his room. A little confused as to how it got there, he thinks to ask Sanji but he swears he knows nothing about it. Inside, Sun finds a stylized Hanya mask with instructions on it's use. The instructions read: This mask is bulletproof, with a built in voice warper, standard vision enhancements, gas filter and an area jammer. It has also been magically enhanced, but these features require attunement to make use of. After it has been attuned, the wearer may transform themself into an oni. The transformation lasts for up to an five minutes, then the mask must recharge for one day before it may be used again. It is possible to further attune oneself with the mask to gain greater power. This is not recommended. This establishment is not responsible for any death or injury that may result from improper use of this mask. ((It's a custom ballistic mask with the following features: - Rating 6 voice warper (Hard Targets 187) - flare compensation - gas mask - Rating 6 area jammer - low light vision - Thermographic vision Atunement (costs 10 karma, though you can potentially spend more in multiples of 10, if you want) - Shapechange into an Oni for up to 5 minutes (note this is a monster type, not the ork metavariant) Oni effects: grow to a 2.5 meter tall oni Size increase provides +1 reach All worn gear is temporarily absorbed by the body and lost for the duration of the change +1 temporary enhancement to all physical attributes Flesh becomes hardened armor equal to your magic rating +4 intimidation skill +3 to club attacks May be ended as a free action )) |
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