TEXT: ®
  
  contents 
  & Credits
    //  CHAPTER
  
  The cost of Doing 
  business .................... 4
  seattle in the 
  balance ................. 8
  Tense Times .............................8
  Overview .................................9
  The Shape of the City ..............10
  The Culture ............................. 11
  The Sprawl Today ....................13
  Seattle Rivalries ......................15
  Parts of  
  the Whole .............................. 16
  Downtown ...............................16
  Bellevue ..................................17
  Tacoma ....................................18
  Everett ....................................18
  Renton.....................................18
  Auburn ....................................19
  Snohomish ..............................19
  Fort Lewis .............................. 20
  Redmond .................................21
  Puyallup ..................................22
  Council Island ..........................23
  Outremer ............................... 24
  The Seattle Underground ...... 24
  Introduction ..............26
  Seattle’s Future  
  at Stake .................................. 26
  Preparing to Play ....................27
  Preparing the Adventure ........27
  Adventure Structure ...............27
  Non-Player Characters ........... 28
  Background ............................ 28
  Plot Synopsis .......................... 28
  adventure ............26
  Scene 0 ..................................29
  What’s Up Chummer?............. 29
  Tell It To Them Straight .......... 29
  Behind the Scenes ................. 29
  Pushing the Envelope ............ 29
  Debugging .............................. 29
  Scene 1: Welcome  
  to the Show ...........................29
  What’s Up, Chummer? ............ 29
  Tell It To Them Straight .......... 29
  Hooks ..................................... 30
  Behind the Scenes ................. 30
  Scene 2: Chaos Cover .............30
  What’s Up, Chummer? ............ 30
  Tell It To Them Straight .......... 30
  Behind the Scenes ..................31
  contents 
  & Credits
  CONTENTS & CREDITS  //   
  
  Pushing the Envelope .............31
  Debugging ...............................31
  Grunts and Moving Targets .....32
  Scene 3: Digging Dirt ............. 32
  What’s Up, Chummer? .............32
  Tell It To Them Straight ...........32
  Hooks ......................................32
  Behind the Scenes ..................32
  SSC Host ................................. 34
  Pushing the Envelope ............ 34
  Debugging .............................. 34
  Grunts and Moving Targets .... 34
  Scene 4: 
  The Sordid World of Politics ..34
  What’s Up, Chummer? ............ 34
  Tell It To Them Straight .......... 34
  Hooks ......................................35
  Behind the Scenes ..................35
  Bunraku Parlor Host .............. 36
  Pushing the Envelope ............ 36
  Debugging .............................. 36
  Grunts and Moving Targets .... 36
  Scene 5: 
  Gotta Break a Few Eggs ......... 37
  What’s Up, Chummer? .............37
  Tell It to Them Straight ...........37
  Behind the Scenes ..................37
  Pushing the Envelope .............37
  Debugging .............................. 38
  Scene 6: Terror Down Below ..38
  What’s Up, Chummer? ............ 38
  Tell It to Them Straight .......... 38
  Pushing the Envelope ............ 39
  Debugging ..............................40
  Grunts and Moving Targets ....40
  Scene 7: 
  The Final Coup ...................... 40
  What’s Up, Chummer? ............40
  Tell It to Them Straight ..........40
  Behind the Scenes .................40
  Pushing the Envelope ............ 42
  Debugging .............................. 43
  Grunts and Moving Targets .... 43
  Scene 8: 
  The Final Choice ....................43
  Scan This ................................ 43
  Behind the Scenes ................. 43
  Picking Up The Pieces ............44
  Aftermath..............................44
  Awarding Money .................... 45
  Awarding Karma .................... 45
  Team Karma ........................... 45
  Individual Karma ................... 45
  Awarding Contacts ................. 45
  Building Reputation  
  and Heat.................................46
  legwork .................... 47
  Charles “Chuck” Beale ...........48
  Gilroy “Romeo” Steele ...........48
  Margaret Telestrian ...............48
  John Abernathy ......................49
  Major Brenda Reed ................ 49
  Carl Derrick ............................ 50
  Shun ....................................... 50
  Shan ....................................... 50
  Urubia .................................... 50
  Sea Dragon..............................51
  Takuto Nakagawa ....................51
  Dewei “Dewey” T’ao ................52
  Thomas Miranda .....................52
  cast of  
  shadows ....................53
  Charles “Chuck” Beale ........... 54
  Gilroy “Romeo” Steele ........... 54
  Margaret Telestrian ............... 54
  John Abernathy ...................... 54
  Major Brenda Reed .................55
  Carl Derrick .............................55
  Shan ....................................... 56
  Shun ....................................... 56
  Urubia .................................... 56
  Takuto Nakagawa ....................57
  Dewei “Dewey” T’ao ................57
  Thomas Miranda .....................57
    //  CONTENTS & CREDITS
  3
  SHADOWRUN: FREE SEATTLE
  CREDITS
  Project Development: Jason M. Hardy
  Writing: Jeff Halket, Jason M. Hardy
  Additional Material by: O.C. Presley, Scott Schletz, RJ Thomas, Malik Toms, 
  Thomas Willoughby, Russell Zimmerman
  Editing: Rachel Merrill
  Cover Art: Benjamin Giletti
  Illustrations: David Lecossu, Dan Masso, Victor Moreno, Seth Rutledge
  Design & Production: Matt “Whoop Whoop” Heerdt
  Art Direction: Brent Evans
  Shadowrun Line Developer: Jason M. Hardy
  © 2019 The Topps Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Shadowrun and Matrix 
  are registered trademarks and/or trademarks of The Topps Company, Inc., 
  in the United States and/or other countries. No part of this work may be 
  reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any 
  means, without the prior permission in writing of the Copyright Owner, nor 
  be otherwise circulated in any form other than that in which it is published. 
  Catalyst Game Labs and the Catalyst Game Labs logo are trademarks of 
  InMediaRes Productions, LLC.
  First Printing by Catalyst Game Labs,  
  an imprint of InMediaRes Productions, LLC
  7108 S Pheasant Ridge Dr
  Spokane, WA 99224
  FIND US ONLINE:
  Shadowrun questions: info@shadowruntabletop.com
  Catalyst Shadowrun website: shadowruntabletop.com
  Catalyst Game Labs: catalystgamelabs.com
  Catalyst/Shadowrun orders: store.catalystgamelabs.com
  
  by Jeffrey Halket
  As the rain fell upon the cold waters of Puget 
  Sound, little wisps of smoke appeared, a result 
  of the acidic effects of “progress.” Black Knight 
  stood on the docks of Tacoma, staring at the 
  wisps and thinking that the city had finally and 
  fully become a drekstorm. This was another 
  example of why he’d come to hate Seattle—or 
  more accurately, to hate what Seattle represent-
  ed. He had spent a quarter-century defending 
  the city from bullies and thugs, all while the 
  real criminals were looking down from their 
  neon-glass towers or their draconic aeries.
  He knew that Mr. Johnson was one of 
  those fetid cancers on the city. Knight knew 
  what to expect as the sleek dark Mitsubishi 
  Nightsky rolled with an electric whir up to 
  the docks. It sat there, the electric engine sim-
  ulating the purr of a tiger, ready to pounce.
  Knight checked in with the rest of his team, 
  making sure everyone was ready for the sudden 
  but inevitable betrayal of their employer. In 
  many cases it was easier to dispose of your as-
  sets than to pay them, so in this business, para-
  noia was the norm. The window rolled down 
  smoothly. A lithe, graceful hand stretched out 
  of the window, beckoning Knight to the car. 
  As he approached, he noticed that he couldn’t 
  see the arm’s owner. He had never actually met 
  Mr. Johnson, but Knight assumed that he was 
  an elf. Elves had an elegant charm to them that 
  was equal parts endearing and infuriating, as 
  well as a sense of the dramatic—like the arm 
  was displaying.
  While making sure he wasn’t far from po-
  tential cover, he pulled a datachip out of its 
  slot in his commlink and placed it in the out-
  stretched hand. The alabaster fingers wrapped 
  around it and retreated inside. The window be-
  THE COST OF 
  DOING BUSINESS
  THE COST OF DOING BUSINESS  //   
  
  gan to roll up as the car’s engine whirred loud-
  er. Knight knew then that he was betrayed. He 
  signaled to his team that the fight was on and 
  ducked behind a massive reel of cable.
  As the Nightsky peeled away in a shower of 
  gravel and asphalt, Borderline looked through 
  the lens of her smartlink-enabled Aztechnolo-
  gy Striker. The smartlink indicated that Black 
  Knight was out of range of the warhead and 
  that a lock had been acquired on the Nightsky. 
  She pressed the button and heard the distinc-
  tive and satisfying “THOOMP” of the rocket 
  leaving the tube. As it sailed through the night, 
  Borderline savored every second of it, record-
  ing it all on her commlink. It exploded into 
  the front of the Nightsky, taking out the whole 
  front axle and leaving the car disabled.
  Borderline had a reputation of being a bit 
  more reckless than most runners Knight could 
  have hired, but the old veteran had a gut 
  feeling and decided to take a gamble on her. 
  Throughout the run, she had done everything 
  in a much more professional manner than he 
  expected, taking orders and avoiding unneces-
  sary bloodshed. Now the leash was off, and 
  Borderline knew it. She cackled with mad de-
  light as she activated her Spin-X brand hand 
  razors and wired reflex system.
  As her bladed fingers encased the hilt of 
  her razor-sharp katana, Borderline noticed the 
  time-dilation effects of her wired reflexes kick-
  ing in. No matter how often she used them, 
  it was always darkly satisfying. Everything 
  around her slowed to a crawl, and she could 
  see each individual raindrop. She saw the elves 
  in green armor approaching Black Knight’s 
  position and ran at them as fast as she could.
    //  THE COST OF DOING BUSINESS
  5
  SHADOWRUN: FREE SEATTLE
  
  The first elf she met turned toward her, but 
  too slowly. By the time he faced her, she had 
  lifted a plate of his armor with her left hand 
  and bored her right into his exposed flesh. 
  With wide-eyed ferocity, she pulled her hand 
  back across him, hard. One down, six more to 
  go. The rest wouldn’t be so easy—they had no-
  ticed her attack. With lupine grace and speed, 
  Borderline repositioned herself to try to find 
  a new angle and protected herself by darting 
  among the shipping containers.
  A stealthy black Lockheed Optic-X spy 
  drone soared above the battlefield, providing 
  a bird’s-eye view of the attack to Sounder. 
  Sounder sat in her submersible craft a cou-
  ple hundred meters away from the battlefield, 
  prepared to move in quickly to provide an ex-
  traction if the team needed it. In the meantime, 
  her drones would help to ensure that Mr. John-
  son never got away.
  She saw as Mr. Johnson attempted to betray 
  the team. She watched as Borderline fired the 
  rocket that triggered the counter-attack. She 
  got the alert from Black Knight to activate the 
  traps and had done so—shipping containers fell 
  to block the only roads in and out of the area. 
  Then she looked on as Borderline tore some-
  thing meaty out of the side of one of the sol-
  diers. That was the image she needed—Border-
  line had lifted the armor plating, and Sounder 
  was able to cross-reference its image against her 
  database of known uniforms. She expected that 
  there wouldn’t be a result, but to her surprise 
  it came up with the name of the Tír Paladins. 
  Sounder captured the whole battle on her feed, 
  prepared to leak the footage to her contacts at 
  KSAF if necessary. The local media would ab-
  solutely be interested in an elven military unit 
  being deployed on sovereign soil—even if said 
  soil’s sovereignty was currently in dispute.
  Just as she began to lean back and relax 
  a bit, she noticed several blips on her radar 
  racing toward the dock. She tried to get a 
  look at what was approaching but couldn’t 
  see much out her portholes. She indicated to 
  Black Knight that his hunch had been correct. 
  “Looks like we got merrow approaching fast, 
  boss. Just like you said they would.” She didn’t 
  take much comfort in knowing that things 
  were going according to plan.
  “Yay, the cavalry is coming!” The sarcasm 
  dripped from Respec’s every word. She had 
  been in the Matrix since before the meet had 
  happened, keeping the team’s positions se-
  cret and monitoring for any opposition. Safe-
  ly stowed away from the rest of the fighting 
  was Respec’s body. She had slipped away from 
  it before the fight had started and had been 
  running a passive form of overwatch from the 
  deep end of the Matrix. Through the virtual 
  reality of the Matrix, and Respec’s unique con-
  nection to it, she felt the presence of the elec-
  tronic devices around her.
  Respec gathered Resonance to her, feeling 
  the ebb and flow of data and connection, pro-
  viding it shape, form, and life. With a snap 
  of her virtual fingers, she created a sprite 
  she called Cid. Cid stood before her with an 
  oversized sword and way too much hair. She 
  asked Cid to go demolish any enemy electron-
  ic devices, and the sprite made a short chime 
  before blinking away into the battlefield. She 
  could see him swinging his gigantic sword at 
  guns, commlinks, and anything else that he 
  could find. Sparks popped out of these de-
  vices with each swing, and she knew the op-
  portunity she was looking for would present 
  itself soon.
  The enemy hacker stopped trying to mask 
  the devices and started to look for the cause 
  of the mayhem. As a result, he made himself 
  known to Respec. She coalesced the energy of 
  the Resonance at her command and shaped 
  it into a ball of her own design, a shape that 
  reminded her of footage she had seen of old 
  video games back when they had single-dig-
  it bits. She flung the ball of virtual fire at the 
  enemy hacker, and it moved in an arcing pat-
  tern, bouncing along the ground until it hit the 
  target solidly. Unfortunately, the hacker had 
  anticipated the attack and the fireball died in 
  a firewall.
  The hacker then looked directly at Respec’s 
  persona, a buff, anime-inspired man with a 
  purple shirt, high-collared blue jacket, and 
  gold chains. The attack was faster than Respec 
  had expected, and it slipped past her defenses. 
  The damaging code was nasty—biofeedback 
  damage wracked her head. Respec’s vision 
  darkened, and her head throbbed as the code 
  consumed her every thought.
  In the back of her mind, she felt the trickle 
  of blood dripping down her nose and felt the 
  concrete of the dock slapping against her body 
  as it convulsed. With the last of her will, Re-
  spec reached out to the Resonance and called 
  THE COST OF DOING BUSINESS  //   
  6
  SHADOWRUN: FREE SEATTLE
  
  for help. Something must have answered, 
  because she felt the power of the Resonance 
  around her accumulate in a cacophonous 
  wave; as soon as that wave touched her, she 
  felt peace. A moment later, she unleashed this 
  wave against the enemy hacker. She saw the 
  hacker’s icon disintegrate just before her vision 
  went black.
  Black Knight was pinned down and couldn’t 
  reposition. Borderline had done a number on 
  several of the Paladins, but there were just too 
  many of them. He felt that things were getting 
  a little too close for comfort when the merrow 
  emerged from the water.
  There was a baker’s dozen of them, and 
  they rose with the force of a tidal wave. While 
  in mid-air, two of them threw down a magical 
  effect upon the battlefield, engulfing most of 
  the Paladins in a watery tornado on the docks. 
  Black Knight saw as the Paladins were picked 
  apart by the remaining merrow, who threw 
  their harpoons at the elves with unearthly 
  force. As the Paladins fell before the onslaught 
  of the merrow’s harpoons and their magic, 
  Knight took the opportunity to go to help Re-
  spec.
  Knight insisted that all his team wear bio-
  monitors, and as soon as Respec had collapsed, 
  Sounder moved in for extraction. Sounder was 
  a few seconds away, but Knight needed to give 
  Respec first aid immediately. He found her, ly-
  ing unconscious and with extensive injuries. 
  He wasn’t sure she would make it through this 
  night. Another casualty of the city. But he felt 
  a faint pulse, so he had hope. He scooped her 
  up and carried her over his shoulders to the 
  middle of the docks, where the two exception-
  al shapes he’d seen earlier were now waiting.
  One was male, one was female. They both 
  had vaguely draconic facial features, borrow-
  ing from mostly Asian cultures and in sharp 
  contrast to the distinctly fish-like faces of the 
  merrow. They were both immaculately well-
  built; while the man directed the merrow to 
  sweep the area, the woman moved peacefully 
  toward Knight, softly saying, “We appreciate 
  your call, Mr. Knight. Our mistress knows now 
  that she can count on you for further work, 
  should you wish to remain in the city during 
  the negotiations. I trust that you have the real 
  datachip somewhere on your person?”
  Black Knight didn’t want to be betrayed a 
  second time. Borderline was a bit banged up, 
  Respec was out of commission, and he just 
  wanted to go home and crack a cold one. He 
  reached up under his shirt and pulled the skin 
  on his stomach. The smuggler’s pocket opened 
  with a wet pop, like a suction cup releasing 
  from plasticrete. Knight reached in and pulled 
  out a small datachip, visually identical to the 
  one he had given Mr. Johnson. He placed the 
  chip in the hands of the woman in front of 
  him, and she slipped several glistening cred-
  sticks into his hand.
  The transaction done, the two drakes 
  and the merrow returned to the water just 
  as Sounder’s submarine broke the surface. 
  Sounder put a medkit on Respec and lowered 
  her into the submarine for transport. Knight 
  watched a blip on a map showing them easing 
  away from the shore. He knew this was just 
  the beginning of what Seattle had in store. He 
  wrestled with the question of whether or not 
  he wanted to protect his city still, knowing the 
  metahuman cost that would be paid while the 
  powers-that-be played their games.
    //  THE COST OF DOING BUSINESS
  7
  SHADOWRUN: FREE SEATTLE
  
  Tense Times
  The shadows of Seattle are deep, dark, 
  and filled with money and blood. If Mr. John-
  son doesn’t betray you at the end the run, 
  it’s because a simple double-cross is so passé. 
  It’s been done to death. Why be predictable, 
  Mr. Johnson wonders, when instead of dou-
  ble-crossing your runners, you could put them 
  on the first step of a path that will eventually 
  torment their souls and wring their bank ac-
  counts dry? Seattle is a million long cons all 
  happening simultaneously, a serpent’s nest of 
  schemes no individual can unravel.
  This is why Seattle has a reputation for 
  producing the best shadowrunners. Other cit-
  ies may host more polluted toxic zones, wilder 
  critters, or more autocratic despots, but Se-
  attle is unique for how many knives may be 
  pointed at your back at any one time, and for 
  how quickly alliances can shift. Surviving for 
  any significant period of time in Seattle means 
  anticipating who might be coming after you, 
  negotiating tricky circumstances, and avoiding 
  incoming fire. And oh yeah, completing the job 
  you’re paid to do.
  All of these pressures come from Seattle’s 
  unique situation. All members of the Big Ten 
  have a significant presence there, but none 
  have a headquarters. No one corporation dom-
  inates, and local corps like Telestrian Indus-
  tries and Microdeck punch above their weight 
  thanks to their local knowledge and connec-
  tions. On top of that, several nations of decent 
  power have an interest in the city, including 
  the UCAS, the Salish-Shidhe Council, and Tír 
  Tairngire. They actively meddle in the affairs 
  of the city to maintain their interests and hin-
  der others. Even more distant nations like the 
  Japanese Imperial State, California Free State, 
  SEATTLE IN  
  THE BALANCE
  SEATTLE IN THE BALANCE  //  TENSE TIMES
  
  Sioux Nation, Pueblo Corporate Council, 
  Athabaskan State, and Algonkian-Manitou 
  Council play games in the city so that they can 
  keep their rivals in check.
  Of course, part of the beauty of a city where 
  many factions fight for control is that no one 
  has complete control. Neutral ground, disput-
  ed territory, and hidden lairs dot the city, and 
  bars, clubs, restaurants, and assorted hangouts 
  provide opportunities for people representing 
  various interests to meet, size each other up, 
  and work out creative betrayals. The most se-
  cure areas of the city, Downtown and Bellev-
  ue, are not dominated by any one power. That 
  means that even if you cause mischief there 
  and arouse the ire of Knight Errant, you won’t 
  also have a single corp who takes your actions 
  personally (unless that’s what you meant to 
  do). A run in the corporate sector of Berlin will 
  inevitably get the attention of Saeder-Krupp, 
  and Mitsuhama pays close attention to the 
  core of Neo-Tokyo. Seattle’s core, though, is 
  more divided.
  What this means for runners is simple in 
  conception and complicated in execution: 
  Gently redirect some of those knives pointed 
  at your back toward someone else. Suspicion 
  and paranoia run deep in the Emerald City, so 
  sometimes all people need is a hint that one 
  of their old rivals is moving against them to 
  jump to conclusions that could direct attention 
  where you want it to be. Knowing the territory 
  and understanding the rivalries will help you 
  know what kind of misdirection you should 
  employ. We’ll cover those rivalries later, but 
  let’s look at the sprawl as a whole first.
  Overview
  Posted by: Sounder
  The way Seattle hits you depends on how 
  you enter. Come from the air, and the first 
  thing you notice is Mount Rainier, especial-
  ly if you’re flying in on a low-altitude t-bird 
  and the mountain peak is higher than you. It 
  lords over the sprawl like an ancient Greek 
  god; the lights and the pavement of urbanity 
  may have stretched across the region for doz-
  ens of kilometers, but most of Rainier remains 
  untouched. You quickly find out how vast the 
  sprawl is, but you never shake that first im-
  pression of it being dwarfed by a massive peak.
  Come by land, and odds are you’re assault-
  ed by green. Unlike some sprawls in the heart 
  of North America, the Seattle skyline is not 
  a distant beacon that can be seen from any 
  slightly elevated position within fifty kilome-
  ters. You don’t see it until you are already in 
  the sprawl, so the outlying areas hit you first. 
  You see the evergreen trees, the emerald-green 
  road signs, and (assuming you are a normal, 
  AR-using person) the green AR overlay that 
  tints everything. It’s the color of perpetual life, 
  which is what the civic leaders want you to 
  think, but it also holds a longstanding connec-
  tion to the color of money (a notion that seems 
  increasingly quaint in a mostly cashless soci-
  ety, but one that still stubbornly persists). You 
  are bathed in green, and while it seems pretty, 
  it can also be a pretty strong reminder of what 
  others in the sprawl have in abundance and 
  you perpetually lack.
  Enter by water, and the first thing you see 
  is the purple glow in the sky as you round the 
  western peninsula and make your way to the 
  Puget Sound. Visual obstacles move out of 
  your way, and you see that skyline looming 
  over the reflective water, the lights and neon 
  looking pristine and clean from a distance. It is 
  every urban wonderland you ever dreamed of, 
  it holds all the possibilities in the world, and it 
  dares you to come closer and attempt to find 
  a flaw. You approach, because you cannot help 
  it, even though you know that the lights and 
  beauty are very likely a trap, and once you’re 
  in you’ll be caught in a grasp that will not eas-
  ily let go.
  All of these impressions are true, and all of 
  them are incomplete. Any single impression 
  of Seattle is going to be inaccurate, because 
  one impression cannot contain a city as large 
  as this, a population so varied. Every type of 
  person you can conceive of is here—unimag-
  inably rich business magnates, master thieves, 
  staunchly judgmental law-enforcement offi-
  cers, relaxed neo-hippies, shamans looking 
  for deposits of toxic sludge to bury themselves 
  in, brilliant inventors, equally brilliant patent 
  thieves, gangs looking to build power for them-
  selves, gangs looking to burn everything down, 
  mobsters who would shoot their own broth-
  er and sell their own mother, pimps, muggers, 
  robbers, murderers, assassins, every possible 
  kind of sinner, and precious few saints. 
  It’s this variety that helps make Seattle the 
  shadowrunning capital of the world. Oth-
  er cities may have more devastated barrens, 
  wealthier corporate headquarters, or more 
  magical resources, but no city has it all like 
  Seattle does. Its location, an isolated UCAS is-
  land surrounded by the Salish-Shidhe Council 
  OVERVIEW  //  SEATTLE IN THE BALANCE
  9
  SHADOWRUN: FREE SEATTLE
  
  and not far from the Tír Tairngire, ensures that 
  government tensions will always be part of the 
  city’s mix, while its North American location 
  and historically high traffic and immigration 
  from Asia means that all the megacorps feel 
  they have a key population base there (Aztech-
  nology and Saeder-Krupp may have the least 
  claim on the city, but they still compete fiercely 
  in its borders, partly out of habit). The sheer 
  amount of wealth involved in these battles at-
  tracts all variety of organized crime. And on 
  top of that, dragons have taken root in the city, 
  grabbing what power they can. 
  The equation is simple: bright lights of 
  power combined with the need to perform 
  dark, illicit deeds makes shadows everywhere.
  The money is high, the stakes are higher, so 
  the competition in the shadows is fierce. One 
  reason Seattle shadowrunning is so danger-
  ous is not just the array of powers lined up 
  to double-cross or trip you up—it’s also the 
  other shadowrunners who will wait for you to 
  show a sign of weakness and then make you 
  pay. That’s the real trick of the city, knowing 
  that any gun, even the one on the hip of your 
  best chummer, may be pointed at you at any 
  second. Living with that possibility is exhaust-
  ing. Surviving it is exhilarating.
  The Shape of the City
  Like any sprawl, the underlying land shapes 
  what happens on top of it. To understand 
  what’s happening on the streets, you need to 
  understand what they’re built on.
  Seattle is nestled between mountains on the 
  east and the Sound to the west. The protection 
  of the mountains and the ocean currents keep 
  the climate mild though often cloudy. Most 
  things about the climate tend to be gentle. 
  Seattle has more rainy days than New York, 
  but less total rainfall. On-and-off rain is very 
  common (especially in Everett), as is morning 
  rain that fades to afternoon sunshine and then 
  returns in the evening. 
  Metahumanity contributes some of the 
  cloudiness of the area. Air sometimes has 
  trouble moving past those mountains to the 
  east, and all those trash fires in the Barrens, 
  along with industry across the sprawl, has 
  a cumulative effect. Fog is a frequent morn-
  ing-and-evening visitor, and often it has odors 
  that make it clear it’s more than just water va-
  por. It’s great for giving cover to covert night-
  time operations, but not so good for more 
  basic purposes like breathing. Tacoma is the 
  part of the sprawl most notable for its range 
  of unpleasant odors, but bad smells can be 
  found anywhere in the city.
  The good news about the climate is tem-
  perature extremes are rare. You don’t see too 
  many summer days above the mid-thirties, 
  and most winter days get at least a few de-
  grees above the freezing line, if not all the way 
  to ten. That means that the sizable portion 
  of the population without reliable heat and 
  cooling (or luxuries such as a roof) can usual-
  ly find a way to survive without the elements 
  killing them.
  While Seattle is not immune to the general 
  rule that wealth flows toward waterfronts, it’s 
  not a perfectly reliable rule because Seattle has 
  so much shoreline. The Sound runs on almost 
  the entire western border of the sprawl, and 
  while this includes the luxuries of Downtown, 
  it also includes less-glamorous locales such as 
  Tacoma and Everett. The well-to-do residents 
  of Bellevue have Lake Washington on which 
  to build palatial estates, but just east of that 
  is Lake Sammamish, where residents of the 
  Redmond Barrens dump trash, shopping carts, 
  and corpses. Water is used many ways across 
  the city—Lake Youngs in Renton is tree-lined 
  and welcoming to strolling residents, while 
  the artificial reservoir known as Lake Tapps in 
  Auburn provides hydroelectric power, a source 
  of cooling for local industries, and a place to 
  dump chemicals. One of those bodies of water 
  is a lot more pleasant to be around than the 
  other.
  > Don’t be fooled into thinking Lake Tapps is a good spot 
  to dump a body. Yeah, it’s toxic, but also a preservative. 
  Bodies don’t dissolve; they more mummify, or embalm. If 
  those are verbs. Anyway, they don’t go away.
  > Cayman
  Food-wise, Seattle is in an interesting spot, 
  as there is a lot of food production in the vi-
  cinity, but the vast majority of it is owned by 
  foreign powers. The Salish-Shidhe Council 
  grows a wide variety of fruit and grains, while 
  fishing in the Sound and waters beyond pro-
  duces additional food. There are some crops 
  grown within Seattle’s borders, but nowhere 
  near enough to feed the entire population. 
  That means they rely heavily on imports and 
  shipping, which in turn means two things: 
  First, Seattle has to play nice with its neigh-
  bors to keep food coming in; and second, the 
  food supply can be vulnerable to outside ac-
  SEATTLE IN THE BALANCE  //  OVERVIEW
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  SHADOWRUN: FREE SEATTLE
  
  tion, which can potentially throw the sprawl 
  into a spiral of turmoil.
  This is another part of the appeal of Seat-
  tle—its greenery and temperate weather can lull 
  you into a sense of safety, a feeling that while 
  bad things may happen, true disaster is distant. 
  Hurricanes don’t hit it, tornadoes are rare, it’s 
  usually too damp for wildfires, and volcanoes 
  are generally too far away to directly harm the 
  city. Earthquakes are a real threat, but big ones 
  manage to occur so infrequently that they don’t 
  weigh on people’s minds. People may die, the 
  feeling goes, but the city will live.
  One of the curses of being a shadowrunner 
  is you see enough under the fabric of society to 
  know the lie behind that sentiment. The Ma-
  trix Crashes were excellent examples of how 
  a seemingly stable infrastructure can rip apart 
  at the seams and throw everything into chaos, 
  and the Matrix is not the only part of daily life 
  that could break. Head down to Occidental 
  Square Park and listen to someone on the cor-
  ner listing the various ways the world might 
  end, and you’ll dismiss them at first and then 
  slowly realize just how real the possibilities 
  they go on about are. Shutting down the ports, 
  taking out bridges over the Snohomish River, 
  keeping planes from landing at SeaTac—any 
  one of those things would be painful. All of 
  them at once might be ruinous. Get control of 
  the minds of some financial leaders, have them 
  make a few nightmarishly bad decisions, and 
  the bottom falls out of the city’s business infra-
  structure. Complete disaster and ruin wait on 
  the other side of the next shadowrun; some-
  times it’s waiting on the other side of the street. 
  If you run in Seattle for a long time, you are 
  balancing on a knife blade for years on end. 
  Doing that without losing a significant amount 
  of blood is an accomplishment indeed.
  > This is just one of the reasons why, if people know you ran 
  in Seattle, you’ll go up a notch or two in their esteem. Of 
  course, then they’ll wonder why you aren’t there anymore.
  > Traveler Jones
  The Culture
  Let’s start this with admission that defining 
  a single culture in a city of millions is a fool’s 
  OVERVIEW  //  SEATTLE IN THE BALANCE
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  SHADOWRUN: FREE SEATTLE
  
  errand. There are a thousand micro-cultures 
  in the city, sub-groups of people in neighbor-
  hoods butting against each other, or different 
  cultures from floor to floor in a megacorporate 
  complex. So this is written with the knowledge 
  that anyone reading this could pick out doz-
  ens of people they know in Seattle who don’t 
  really reflect these elements at all. What we’re 
  talking about is a tendency, an inclination in a 
  certain direction that flows through the resi-
  dents of the city. Here are some of them:
  Change: There used to be a time when cer-
  tain Seattle residents were resistant to change, 
  talking about how things used to be ten, twenty, 
  fifty years ago, and offering suggestions on how 
  the city could reclaim its past. Some of the older 
  residents were called mossbacks, because they 
  had settled in the area like a large, moist rock. 
  That doesn’t happen much anymore. The 
  sprawl has a way of beating people’s resistance 
  to change right out of them. At the top of the 
  sprawl’s social pyramid, you have people who 
  have millions or billions of nuyen at their dis-
  posal and a government built to facilitate their 
  desires. If they want to bulldoze a neighbor-
  hood to make way for a new arcology, they’ll 
  bulldoze that neighborhood. If they want to 
  buy out a rival’s chain just so they can shut 
  down a dozen locations, allowing their spots 
  to dominate the market, they’ll do that. Some 
  buildings may stay put, but ownership will 
  change hands, names and signage will alter, 
  and so on. 
  > This happens more when there is open competition for 
  business, like spots Downtown. In a subdivision solely 
  owned by one corporation, or inside an arcology, things are 
  more permanent, as the owner corps don’t feel they need 
  to do anything to win the business of the people inside, 
  and they don’t really care about impressing them.
  > Sunshine
  Meanwhile, at the bottom of the social 
  structure, the Barrens in general may look like 
  a bombed-out war zone day in or day out, but 
  the particular details of its devastation change 
  from week to week, or even day to day. Street 
  peddlers migrate from place to place looking 
  for business while avoiding former custom-
  ers they might have inadvertently poisoned, 
  people squatting in shipping containers move 
  to a new block because someone meaner and 
  tougher than them decided the container 
  should be theirs, and gang territory shifts due 
  to the changing fortunes of the various groups 
  of thugs strewn across the area. In both Red-
  mond and Puyallup, the term “permanent ad-
  dress” is laughable, and you usually have to 
  track down residents of the area the way a lion 
  tracks a wildebeest.
  Some things seem permanent—Dante’s In-
  ferno, the Pike Street Market—but Seattleites 
  have learned to treat them like the exception, 
  not the rule.
  Openness: If we remember that there is no 
  such thing as a perfect utopia where everyone 
  is accepted for their skills and character rather 
  than their appearance, then we’ll see that Seat-
  tle, despite its imperfections, tends to be very 
  accepting of a wide variety of people. Now, I 
  can hear orks and trolls chortling as they read 
  that, and I can hear the protests from people 
  saying it’s tough to claim you’re accepting 
  when a pretty dedicated racist has been at the 
  head of the government for years on end, but 
  remember, it’s a sliding scale. Did it take the 
  Ork Underground a long time to get recogni-
  tion, leaving tens of thousands of people dis-
  enfranchised in the interim? Yeah. But it hap-
  pened, in a democratic way that would never 
  happen in most of the other cities in the world. 
  So you’ll find Humanis and other racists in Se-
  attle, and you’ll find every kind of prejudice 
  metahumanity can imagine, but you’ll also see 
  orks and elves on the same runner team, trolls 
  and humans in the same bar or the same gang, 
  and humans and dwarfs manning the same 
  roadside work crews. And you won’t be sur-
  prised to see any of it, and they won’t act like 
  it’s a big deal. Seattleites are often willing to 
  see what you got instead of judging you.
  Now, there’s a downside (or upside, depend-
  ing on your perspective) to this. The “live and 
  let live” attitude often leads people not wanting 
  to rush to judgment about others, so when they 
  see something that appears suspicious or even 
  outright criminal, they may tell themselves that 
  they don’t know just what’s going on and don’t 
  have all the facts, and it’s probably none of their 
  business anyway, so they’ll just leave it alone. 
  This is a problem if someone is beating on you 
  in the street and you’d like someone to jump in 
  and stop it, but it can be beneficial if you’re the 
  one committing the crime.
  > Note that this primarily applies to the average person on 
  the street, not to law enforcement or security guards. It’s 
  not a good idea to count on them being lax just because of 
  the culture of the city.
  > Ma’Fan
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  SHADOWRUN: FREE SEATTLE
  
  The Seattle Freeze: This sometimes seems 
  like a contrast to the openness quality, but a 
  certain chilliness toward outsiders sits side by 
  side with an acceptance of those same outsid-
  ers. That is to say, just because Seattle residents 
  won’t necessarily judge you on your appear-
  ance doesn’t mean that you’ll instantly be 
  friends. You’re not just going to stroll into a 
  bar, start up a conversation with strangers, and 
  immediately find yourself part of their runner 
  team. Social networks are important. Getting 
  an introduction from someone who knows 
  someone can help thaw out the freeze, so use 
  your connections. Remember, just because Se-
  attleites are not always immediately friendly 
  doesn’t mean they’re mean.
  > Don’t press your luck, though. I’m not going to introduce 
  you to all my friends in Seattle just because you ask. You 
  have to earn it.
  > Sunshine
  > There’s some of that warmth to outsiders, right there!
  > Ma’Fan
  Loyalty: Loyalty is a quality in short sup-
  ply in the Sixth World, but there is perhaps a 
  bit more of it in Seattle than you’ll find else-
  where. I’m not talking about the megacorps 
  here—they have draconian contract terms 
  and lifelong servitude agreements whose sole 
  purpose is to keep them from having to wor-
  ry about whether their employees will ever 
  leave them. But if we move beyond the corp 
  drone world, we find people who are some-
  what more likely to stick with something they 
  are building rather than jump ship. Runner 
  teams won’t disband just because a job goes 
  pear-shaped, street gangs will hang together 
  through lean times, and Mr. Johnson is of-
  ten more interested in finding a team he can 
  trust than in screwing them over. That loyal-
  ty tends to be more to an individual’s clique 
  than to the over-arching city organizations, 
  which means Knight Errant has a devil of a 
  time finding people to inform on others or 
  act as confidential informants. The police fo-
  cus a whole lot more on gathering physical 
  evidence than attempting to find witness tes-
  timony, since witnesses are often difficult to 
  come by. They are more loyal to their own 
  people and neighborhood than to the law.
  Remember that this has limits. The loyalty 
  of Seattleites doesn’t mean Mr. Johnson will 
  never turn on you, or your teammates will nev-
  er sell you out for a nice pile of nuyen. This 
  is the Sixth World, after all, and those are the 
  sort of things that happen in the shadows. And 
  if they happen in the shadows, they happen a 
  lot in Seattle.
  The Sprawl Today
  In 2078, Seattle elected a new governor—
  Corinne Potter of the Technocrat party. She 
  made noise during the campaign about look-
  ing out for Seattle’s lower and middle classes, 
  but the real shocker was she followed through 
  once she got elected. It’s not like she got radical 
  and built homes for the homeless and opened 
  soup kitchens for all, but she at least consid-
  ers the impact government actions will have 
  on people who are not corporate executives. 
  She’s improved electricity and water access in 
  the Underground, put some green space into 
  Tacoma and Puyallup, and made some noises 
  to indicate that she remembers labor laws are 
  a thing. Her approval numbers are climbing, 
  but while she’s courted the broader populace, 
  she hasn’t alienated the corps, so they’re not 
  looking for a way to push her out. Yet.
  > Classic bread-and-circuses approach. Give the people just 
  enough to pacify them, and never let them think that real 
  equity is possible.
  > Puck
  > Yeah, but when the previous guy seemed like he was 
  always thinking about ways to throw you to the lions, the 
  bread-and-circuses approach is a nice change of pace.
  > Cosmo
  That’s the big change in the city. Outside it, 
  the major situation that could affect Seattle’s 
  future is the Ares/Detroit situation. If you ha-
  ven’t been tracking it, here’s a brief rundown: 
  Ares took dramatic action against the bugs, 
  action that trashed wide swathes of Detroit. 
  They looked around at the wreckage and de-
  cided maybe they’d be better off basing their 
  headquarters somewhere else. No sooner had 
  that notion crossed their collective minds than 
  Atlanta volunteered to be that somewhere else. 
  UCAS government then weighed in, essentially 
  forbidding Detroit from leaving. To back up 
  their words, they’re sending an Army corps to 
  Detroit. Ostensibly, it’s going in for “recon-
  struction and peacekeeping,” but everyone 
  knows the real goal is to force Ares to stay—at 
  gunpoint.
  OVERVIEW  //  SEATTLE IN THE BALANCE
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  SHADOWRUN: FREE SEATTLE
  
  Now, I don’t think I need to remind any-
  one in the shadows that Ares has significant 
  firepower at their disposal. They can meet an 
  army corps on its own terms. Violence—and 
  more damage to Detroit—is likely, but the real 
  unknown is what the final fallout will be. Will 
  Ares actually leave? Will UCAS’ power play 
  open a new era in government oversight of 
  corporations? How much of Detroit will be 
  left standing when this is all over?
  Whatever the result will be, the fact that 
  the UCAS would be so quick to send troops in 
  has a lot of people in Seattle nervous. The city 
  is distant from the seat of UCAS government 
  and isolated from the rest of the nation, and 
  there has long been a separatist movement 
  in the sprawl. Some Seattle residents wonder 
  just what their distant national cousins do for 
  them, while the UCAS sometimes has sniffed 
  at the sprawl as too distant and too foreign 
  to really understand unfolding national af-
  fairs. While these divides exist, they have 
  never become deep because enough people 
  on either side see the advantage of continual 
  partnership. For the UCAS’ part, Seattle gives 
  them an unparalleled economic engine and 
  access to West Coast trade that they would 
  not otherwise have. It also helps them deliver 
  more oomph when negotiating with border-
  ing or nearby nations such as Tír Tairngire, 
  the Salish-Shidhe Council, the Pueblo Corpo-
  rate Council, and the California Free State. 
  For Seattle’s part, the UCAS brings a certain 
  negotiating and defensive heft—the size and 
  power of the nation helps them get conces-
  sions from their neighbors that they would 
  otherwise not get. 
  Usually the powers that be can keep it to 
  nothing more than a murmur, but the events 
  in Detroit have built it into a roar. It helped 
  that Governor Potter spurred the noise early in 
  her administration, laying out in an interview 
  that she wasn’t entirely convinced that Seat-
  tle needed the UCAS, and that “it only makes 
  sense to regularly evaluate any relationships 
  the city has.” Separatists have been pressing 
  her more and more to do some re-evaluating, 
  and both she and the UCAS seem to be tak-
  ing it seriously—Governor Potter has taken a 
  few meetings with high-profile people in the 
  separatist movement, and the UCAS has been 
  sending a stream of diplomats out the Seattle 
  to make the case for Seattle staying with them. 
  Potter hasn’t said much publicly in recent 
  months, but the fact that these conversations 
  keep happening show that she’s sympathetic to 
  SEATTLE IN THE BALANCE  //  OVERVIEW
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  SHADOWRUN: FREE SEATTLE
  
  the separatist cause, because otherwise there’d 
  be nothing to talk about.
  > She’s more than sympathetic—she’s working to make it 
  happen. The post-inaugural interview was a trial balloon, 
  where she floated the idea to see how people would 
  respond. The response was better than she hoped, so 
  this is the direction she’s moving in. The crisis in Detroit 
  presents a great opportunity for her to get the public on 
  her side and help her do what she wanted to do anyway.
  > Kay St. Irregular
  While the UCAS wants Seattle to stay, plen-
  ty of other forces would be happy to see them 
  go, so lots of other diplomats are making their 
  way to Seattle. That means the shadows will 
  be hopping—interfering with meetings, eaves-
  dropping on meetings, planting bad informa-
  tion, and so forth will be going on. Loads of 
  powerful people will be spending money to 
  try to get their preferred outcome to happen. 
  Shadowrunners, of course, will be trying to 
  earn cash and stay alive.
  Seattle Rivalries
  All the discussions about Seattle’s future 
  that are happening now are bringing focus to 
  some of the rivalries that fuel the city. Know-
  ing how these go will help you navigate the 
  current environment, so let’s run down some 
  of the critical ones. 
  Renraku vs. Horizon
  Renraku has a troubled history in Seattle. 
  Their arcology, formerly called the SCIRE and 
  now known as the ACHE (Arcology Commer-
  cial and Housing Enclave), was the site of vi-
  olence and death, which led to its temporary 
  abandonment and then repurposing. It was 
  more than a decade ago, but Renraku’s rep-
  utation in the city still has not recovered, and 
  they are often viewed with suspicion by Seattle 
  residents, especially those with deep roots. 
  Horizon is very much not above exploiting 
  this. With Horizon alum Potter at the helm of 
  the sprawl, Horizon is looking to tie its im-
  age closely to the city—and to force out peo-
  ple like Renraku. They don’t want people to 
  forget the deepest wound Renraku suffered in 
  the city—a series of trid and still memes about 
  the ACHE that combined memories of the past 
  with an old cartoon showing violence caused 
  by an automated house gained a lot of trac-
  tion on pop culture streams recently, and some 
  hackers thought the origins of the memes bore 
  distinct Dawkins Group fingerprints. Renraku 
  would like to build a new image for themselves 
  in the city, and Horizon is there to make sure 
  no one forgets the past. This has led to a grow-
  ing resentment of Horizon by Renraku, and a 
  growing suspicion within Horizon that Renra-
  ku will be targeting them soon.
  Microdeck vs. Mitsuhama
  This is a straight tech war. Mitsuhama is ex-
  tremely proud of their position as the top dog 
  among the megacorps—a position that was 
  held, long ago, by one of Microdeck’s anteced-
  ents. They have challenged Microdeck’s dom-
  inance in their backyard, and Microdeck is 
  fighting back. Microdeck is one of the high-lev-
  el agitators pushing hard for independence—
  they think Seattle, as a possible city-state, has a 
  great chance to build a strong brand, and they 
  want to be the technology associated with that 
  brand. Part of the issue is that their brand has 
  developed a downscale image over the years—
  it’s not seen as a status symbol. They want to 
  change that, which means they want a piece of 
  the high-end market, and they know stealing 
  prototypes from their rivals can be a valuable 
  way to gain critical intel. Ripping off an MCT 
  prototype has become a coveted goal of many 
  Microdeck teams. Mitsuhama, for their part, 
  tends to view them the way a big kid views an 
  annoying younger sibling—they’re dismissive 
  during those times when they even bother to 
  acknowledge them. But any success Microdeck 
  has in gaining a chunk of the Seattle market 
  will make them more than just annoying—and 
  will draw an appropriate response.
  Lone Star vs. Knight Errant
  When Lone Star lost the municipal securi-
  ty contract in the early ’70s, it was a bitter pill 
  whose nasty aftertaste still lingers. They’ve 
  taken every opportunity in the past decade to 
  draw attention to Knight Errant’s shortcom-
  ings—the Mayan Cutter affair, where Seattle 
  was tortured by a serial killer and multiple 
  copycats, provided some early ammunition in 
  this ongoing war. Knight Errant has managed 
  to hold on to the contract through the cha-
  os of the movement to make the Ork Under-
  ground a full district of the city and the resig-
  nation of Kenneth Brackhaven, so they’re in 
  confident in their ability to weather difficult 
  times. But with Lone Star being a part of the 
  OVERVIEW  //  SEATTLE IN THE BALANCE
  15
  SHADOWRUN: FREE SEATTLE
  
  newly large (and emboldened) OmniStar Cor-
  poration, and with the possibility of indepen-
  dence threatening to introduce chaos to the 
  city, Lone Star is busily pursuing the idea of a 
  new security provider for a new era—hoping 
  that everyone will forget that they’re not ex-
  actly a new provider.
  > The OmniStar thing is important. They’re touting a new 
  level of integration in emergency services, and that may be 
  alluring to a city that might want to promote itself as the 
  Free City of the Future or something.
  > Cosmo
  Technocrats  
  vs. the Old Guard
  The election of Technocrat Corrine Potter 
  as governor was a seismic change in the politi-
  cal landscape of Seattle. Make no mistake: The 
  Technocrats are not wild-eyed radicals, and 
  Potter is the product of deep corporate roots, 
  so it’s not like the city is on the verge of turn-
  ing the means of production over to the people 
  by any means. But after a long period where 
  the government pretty much never told the 
  corporations “no” about anything, having a 
  governor who occasionally balances the wants 
  of the corporations with the needs of the peo-
  ple has caught the corporate elite and estab-
  lishment conservatives very much off balance. 
  They may not have the governorship, but they 
  still hold considerable power (and wealth) in 
  the sprawl, so they can throw a lot of obstacles 
  at the governor. If the city goes independent, 
  their campaign to hold on to as much power as 
  possible will only grow more intense.
  Humanis vs.  
  Ork Rights Collective
  The adoption of the Ork Underground as 
  a full district of Seattle was a seismic shift in 
  the political landscape, and it also greatly in-
  creased the political power of the primarily ork 
  and troll residents of the district. Those newly 
  official residents weren’t going to just let go of 
  that power, so they continued to use and grow 
  the coalition they had used during the cam-
  paign—the Ork Rights Commission (ORC; 
  the fact that the word “troll” is nowhere in 
  that name is an occasional sore spot, but to 
  this point the political gains have been signif-
  icant enough that they are able to sweep that 
  problem under the rug). ORC has kept their 
  profile high, and thought they did not endorse 
  Potter in the gubernatorial election, they have 
  managed to forge a good relationship with her, 
  as her recently announced Underground infra-
  structure funding attests. 
  The equal and opposite reaction to the ac-
  tion of ORC’s growing strength is increased 
  animosity from Humanis. They know the 
  history of racial relations in North Ameri-
  ca is all about every seeming step forward 
  being met by a vicious backlash, and they 
  are preparing to build and capitalize on that 
  backlash. They are grooming candidates for 
  all levels of political office, and they are also 
  actively stirring racial resentment in their 
  strongholds, especially Snohomish and Bel-
  levue (the urban-rural and rich-poor dynam-
  ics between these two districts are very much 
  the yin and the yang of contemporary rac-
  ism). For the time being, they have settled 
  on not confronting ORC directly, for fear of 
  legitimizing them too much by constantly 
  targeting them. But that doesn’t mean they 
  won’t send a few bandanna-wearing thugs to 
  any ORC rally they hear about.
  Parts of  
  the Whole
  With the foundation of the city established, 
  let’s look at the individual districts that make 
  up the whole city.
  Downtown
  Before the Treaty of Denver created the 
  city-state of Seattle, Downtown was Seattle. 
  Today, it’s the heart of the sprawl. When peo-
  ple think of Seattle, they think of Downtown’s 
  skyline in its chrome-polished, neon-infused, 
  never-sleeps, AR-enhanced glory.
  Downtown is where the biggest biz in the 
  sprawl happens. Other districts have their own 
  action, but it pales in comparison to what’s 
  happening Downtown. Only the best can han-
  dle operating here, and if you can’t deal with 
  that fact, then get the hell out.
  What makes Downtown so fragging spe-
  cial? Well, it’s got more corporate, business, 
  and government real estate per square kilo-
  meter than anywhere else in the Sprawl. Five 
  of the Big Ten megacorps have regional HQs 
  in Downtown, which makes the area ripe for 
  running opportunities.
  SEATTLE IN THE BALANCE  //  PARTS OF  THE WHOLE
  16
  SHADOWRUN: FREE SEATTLE
  
  > And let’s not forget all the overlapping security zones. 
  Each corp or government agency defends their own 
  patches of turf in different ways. The government is 
  usually legally bound not to kill you outright for stepping 
  on their lawn. But with the corps’ extraterritoriality, it’s a 
  totally different story.
  > Slamm-0!
  But all work and no play makes Downtown 
  a dull boy. So when biz is done, Downtown is 
  the place to go. Want to check out the trendi-
  est shops? Need to find that hard-to-find item? 
  Want to dance the night away in the hottest 
  nightlife scene in the Pac-Northwest? Care to 
  sample some of the finest in local or exotic 
  cuisine? Are you a professional sports fan? Or 
  maybe you’re a touristy type who likes local 
  flavor. Then guess what, omae? Downtown is 
  for you!
  > More shadowruns happen in Downtown than any other 
  district. It’s also the best area, IMHO, for mixing business 
  with pleasure.
  > Kat o’ Nine Tales
  Bellevue
  If Downtown is where the rich and pow-
  erful go to party, then Bellevue is where they 
  sleep at night, tucked away in tailored mi-
  cro-arcologies and shuffled around the city in 
  luxury APCs. “The Belle,” as it is known by 
  locals, sits between Lakes Washington and 
  Sammamish, flanked by Redmond, Renton, 
  and Snohomish. Downtown is across Lake 
  Washington, Council Island is in it. The Belle 
  got its nickname from longtime mayor Mari-
  lyn Shultz, who dubbed it “belle of the ball” 
  and the most popular place to live in Seattle. A 
  version of that name dug itself into the psyche 
  of the residents, recently resurrected as part of 
  Jonathan Blake’s mayoral campaign.
  The slogan, like Bellevue itself, is a com-
  plete fabrication. Nothing is genuine. Bellevue 
  is based on every image we see on the trid of 
  an idealized suburban enclave culture; a Hori-
  zon-scrubbed vision of the best stuff to emerge 
  out of other parts of the city.
  This false vision extends into the racial 
  makeup of the area. Twenty years ago, the ork 
  population was close to twenty percent, but a 
  long campaign of redlining and Tolkien-esque 
  bigotry reshuffled the population breakdown. 
  The Blake era took things one step further, 
  triggering an influx of highly educated corpo-
  rate types with disposable incomes looking to 
  live in the next “it” part of the city.
  The Belle is that place. Bellevue boasts roll-
  ing green hills, lakes, and million-dollar views 
  of Downtown. The area is speckled with gated 
  communities that are arcologies in everything 
  district snapshots
  Downtown
  Population: 561,000
  (Human 63%, dwarf 3%, elf 13%, ork 18%, troll 2%, other 1%)
  Bellevue
  Population:  215,000
  (Human 75%, dwarf 2%, elf 18%, ork 3%, troll 1%, other 1%)
  Tacoma
  Population: 380,000
  (Human 66%, dwarf 5%, elf 9%, ork 17%, troll 3%, other 1%)
  Everett
  Population: 232,000
  (Human 72%, dwarf 3%, elf 15%, ork 5%, troll 2%, other 2%)
  Renton
  Population: 217,000
  (Human 53%, dwarf 4%, elf 9%, ork 27%, troll 4%, other 2%)
  Auburn
  Population: 561,000
  (Human 63%, dwarf 3%, elf 13%, ork 18%, troll 2%, other 1%)
  Snohomish
  Population: 118,000
  (Human 88%, dwarf 1%, elf 5%, ork 4%, troll 1%, other 1%)
  Fort Lewis
  Population: 103,000
  (Human 60%, dwarf 5%, elf 13%, ork 17%, troll 3%, other 2%)
  Redmond
  Population: 435,000
  (Human 65%, dwarf 4%, elf 5%, ork 20%, troll 4%, other 2%)
  Puyallup
  Population: 511,000
  (Human 47%, dwarf 4%, elf 21%, ork 22%, troll 5%, other 1%)
  Council Island
  Population: 4,750
  (Human 34%, dwarf 4%, elf 26%, ork 29%, troll 3%, other 4%)
  Outremer
  Population: 105,000
  (Human 41%, dwarf 6%, elf 29%, ork 20%, troll 3%, other 1%)
  The Seattle Underground
  Population: 49,000
  (Human 5%, dwarf 7%, elf 1%, ork 78%, troll 7%, other 2%)
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  but name. Several offer domes and purified air 
  shipped in from the Canadian wilds. This style 
  of living comes with a high price tag, and even 
  if you have the money you also need to have 
  the social capital to jump to the front of the 
  waiting list.
  Still, not everyone in Bellevue is white-col-
  lar wealthy. Virtually all of the population is 
  corporate affiliated, but sixteen percent of the 
  people still live below the poverty level. Most 
  of those individuals are not affiliated with the 
  corps. These are the workers who keep Bellev-
  ue running while living in a society entirely sep-
  arate from their upper-echelon counterparts. 
  The two sides rarely meet, but when they do, 
  it is usually back-alley affairs, black-market 
  deals, or rich kids trying to play gutterpunk.
  Tacoma
  Tacoma will forever be etched in memory 
  as the place where the Night of Rage found 
  its worst moments and some of its greatest he-
  roes. When the violence peaked, the Sheraton 
  Tacoma opened its doors to fleeing metahu-
  mans and protected them through the night. 
  Once the tide shifted from rage to remem-
  brance, sculptors erected a Crying Wall to 
  commemorate the sacrifice. That wall became 
  a symbol and eventually a tourist attraction 
  that brought more attention to the area.
  Tacoma was an area on the rise—an area 
  originally built around the very particular 
  needs of Shiawase, but in recent times the tide 
  quite literally shifted. The Nicaragua Canal 
  diverted shipping from the area, and with it 
  the shoreline commerce that powered the city’s 
  wealth dropped. Office Parks emptied. Taco-
  ma fell victim to sagging real estate prices and 
  thriller gangs. The so-called City of Tomorrow 
  faded into yesterday’s news.
  Everett
  Not yet a barrens, not even definitively slat-
  ed to become one, Everett is balanced on a tee-
  tering scale, waiting for one thing or another to 
  shift the district into whatever it will become. 
  There are high-tech corp facilities here, resi-
  dences most of us can only dream about ob-
  taining, but also areas of high abandonment, 
  squatters’ paradises, and traffic routes where 
  smugglers outnumber law-abiding folks. The 
  population of the district is growing, but it’s 
  unclear if this is people moving here as a stag-
  ing ground for a better life or people falling to 
  this district from something better. One large 
  investment in a mixed-use complex may push 
  the district into a long, upward growth trend; 
  while a riot, other disturbance, or simply a 
  persistent increase in violent crime may doom 
  it to becoming the cousin of Redmond and 
  Puyallup. My crystal ball isn’t telling me how 
  it will end up, but I can tell you this: Many 
  people across the sprawl are plotting on ways 
  to profit from whatever changes overtake Ev-
  erett. But that’s not exactly news.
  The good news is that people like us don’t 
  need to wait for the district’s fate to be decid-
  ed to enjoy it. Have you ever been in Bellevue 
  on a run and wish you could just travel a few 
  blocks and lose yourself in the twisted ruins of 
  Redmond’s streets? Well, while Everett’s highs 
  do not approach Bellevue and their lows do 
  not touch Redmond, you still have a chance to 
  lift something from a corporate pad, travel a 
  short distance, then hide out in an abandoned 
  apartment complex full of squatters. Enjoy it 
  while you can.
  > If I had to wager, I’d say the area is as low as it’s going to 
  get and will soon trace an upward, gentrifying pathway. 
  Federated-Boeing has substantial investment in the area 
  and are unlikely to sit on the sidelines while Everett 
  becomes a barrens around them. They may have to wait 
  until after the election, once Brackhaven or his successor 
  have their feet under them, but I’d expect some major 
  Everett redevelopment to be on the agenda for early 2079.
  > Mr. Bonds
  Renton
  Considered by many to be “Seattle’s Apart-
  ment,” Renton was once an example of Sixth 
  World suburbia run amok. Compared to other 
  districts such as Downtown, Tacoma, or even 
  Redmond and the Ork Underground, Renton 
  is almost forgettable by comparison. Simply 
  put, Renton is the place that nice wageslaves 
  or other working-class drones looked to as an 
  example of making it.
  Renton isn’t where business is done, it’s the 
  place where the nice, “good” people of Seat-
  tle call home and retire to when the working 
  day is done. It’s where families live and (try to) 
  play in a nice wholesome, neo-WASPey, family 
  values state of domestic bliss. Or at least that’s 
  the sales pitch.
  > In other words, it’s the kind of place that makes most 
  runners (or anyone with the capability for independent 
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  SHADOWRUN: FREE SEATTLE
  
  though) want to puke. Renton is so damn artificial and 
  bland that it hurts! And then there’s ... ah, never mind; 
  don’t want to give any spoilers to the newbies.
  > Slamm-0!
  For decades, Renton was the home of sev-
  eral security services and small tech firms; the 
  latter was hit hard after Crash 2.,0 while the 
  former got even bigger. In the following years, 
  the local economy foundered, and crime rose. 
  In the past two years, however, the new Matrix 
  has helped reinvigorate Renton’s tech industry, 
  and the district has been slowly returning to its 
  former perceived glory.
  Renton has an abundance of nice housing 
  along with enough shopping and entertain-
  ment to keep residents satisfied. Throw in 
  some green hills, lakes, and rivers for good 
  measure, and it’s little wonder why so many 
  people want to live here. Too bad it has an un-
  dercurrent of anti-metahuman racism just be-
  low that wonderful middle-class façade, along 
  with a few nasty local criminal elements.
  Ever since the Night of Rage, Renton has 
  been a Humanis stronghold, even though no 
  one will admit it. Because of a combination of 
  (slightly) shifting societal norms and increas-
  ing metahuman birth rates (especially among 
  orks), hardliner racists and bigots in Rent-
  on have been forced to impotently watch as 
  “metahuman encroachment” threatened their 
  idea of domestic tranquility. But that just 
  means they switched tactics.
  > As much as I still hate Renton, I have to be honest for the 
  sake of accuracy. Things aren’t as bad as they used to be 
  even a decade ago. Metahumans can walk the streets of 
  Renton without too much fear of being assaulted on sight, 
  because anti-metahumanism is seriously frowned upon—at 
  least openly. The metahumans who live in Renton however 
  can be expected to experience plenty of microaggressions 
  against them. Poor service at some shops/eateries/public 
  services, being stopped in the street for no reason other 
  than just being an ork, receiving less leniency by KE 
  patrols, or just being silently shunned by the locals are just 
  some of the public things metahuman residents of Renton 
  can expect. Behind closed doors, it’s worse.
  > Bull
  Auburn
  The first thing people talk about when they 
  get close to Auburn is the hum. The sound, like 
  the famous Taos hum, seems to come from ev-
  erywhere at once, a low frequency buzz that 
  can only be the result of 363 square kilometers 
  of industrial equipment churning twenty-four 
  hours a day. The people who live here put up 
  with it, because that is who they are—survi-
  vors. They are the blue-collar wageslaves who 
  keep the gears of Seattle spinning. This men-
  tality results in a community that is extremely 
  insular, preferring to take care of its own prob-
  lems. Those problems are plentiful, including 
  a budding race war and a Mafia family trying 
  desperately to hold on to its claim.
  On the bright side, real-estate prices here 
  are excellent, which is why a handful of tech 
  start-ups chose to make Auburn the new Sil-
  icon Valley. New capital and new attitudes 
  have not gone well with the locals, leading to 
  a cultural separation that mirrors the age-old 
  separation of haves and have nots.
  > With all of the automated manufacturing, Auburn is the 
  easiest place in Seattle to acquire cheap gear and services, 
  but the community isn’t big on outsiders. You need to know 
  someone in order to get anywhere in Auburn, so get real 
  good at making friends and keeping them.
  > Pistons
  Snohomish
  When most folks think of Seattle, they 
  think of the hustle and bustle of the Emer-
  ald City, so the quiet country of Snohomish 
  comes as quite a disquieting surprise. It’s an 
  old-fashioned community that managed to 
  hold together while most of Seattle changed 
  after the Great Ghost Dance. Before and after 
  that event, it has been the main source of lo-
  cally grown produce for all of Seattle. Many 
  have called it the Breadbasket of the Emerald 
  City for its expansive wheat fields, but I don’t 
  want that to be the only image people have. 
  Snohomish has wheat, corn, and soy fields in 
  abundance, and it also has hundreds of ap-
  ple orchards, berry farms of every variety, 
  potato farms that rival the Idaho of old, and 
  large greenhouses that grow everything from 
  peaches to coffee, both out of season and out 
  of their normal region.
  Along with all this food production, the rest 
  of what you would expect from agribusinesses 
  came along for the ride. Underground growth 
  testing sites; river pens full of modified salm-
  on and seaweed; and massive soy-processing 
  plants to turn those bland little beans into de-
  licious dishes and pastes. The megacorps have 
  research and development work going on all 
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  SHADOWRUN: FREE SEATTLE
  
  over this region to develop better crops. And 
  by “better” I mean more profitable for them, 
  not healthier or anything crazy like that.
  Beyond farms and fish, Snohomish is well-
  known for its antiques and has been for over 
  a hundred years. The difference is a hundred 
  years ago, the odds of an antique possessing 
  accessible arcane potential were non-existent. 
  Now, those looking for rare items that have 
  been infused with mana from powerful emo-
  tional events or pre-Awakening ritual magic 
  often find them here. During the recent rush 
  to find arcane artifacts, Snohomish became a 
  popular location for folks to trade and make 
  their deals, since it already had a reputation 
  for arcane antiquities. Several individuals in 
  this area have made a name for themselves in 
  the field of artifact identification and classifica-
  tion, making it a common spot for artifacts to 
  pass through or spend some time while these 
  folks dig up their mysteries.
  > What a pleasant view! Too bad that’s not even close 
  to the most shadowy aspect of Snohomish. While food 
  and antiques may be big business, and thus important 
  to runners, it’s the corporate safehouses that bring 
  most runners to this quiet district. The rundown farms, 
  abandoned homes, and a few small mountain cabins on 
  the outskirts are used by companies, governments, and 
  shadowy organizations to lay low or stash important assets 
  while the heat dies down.
  > Sounder
  > The rare and lucky runner might get some training time 
  at one of the several corporate black-ops training sites in 
  Snohomish as well. Several corps that have safehouses 
  here also have training grounds. The trainees are 
  sometimes used as first responders (or only responders 
  when they want it kept quiet). The sites are usually located 
  on former farms where the ground can’t sustain crops 
  anymore.
  > Hard Exit
  > Since most of those farms were bought up by Ingersoll-
  Berkeley early in the century and have since been sold 
  off to other interested parties, I-B has a healthy chunk of 
  insider information on where other corps are training their 
  goons. Good if you want some info on those locations, but 
  also bad because if you get caught, I-B can pull from a wide 
  pool of talent by just asking a nearby friend.
  > Pistons
  > The training grounds here tend to have higher-than-
  average metahuman enrollment. The entire district tends 
  to be a bit metaphobic, and the racial tension allows the 
  trainees to practice two very important skills: patience 
  and restraint.
  > Picador
  > Metaphobic! Ha! Snohomish is the most racist district in 
  the ’plex. It’s a regular spot for Humanis recruitment, and 
  they’re rumored to have a training facility for members 
  of the militant arm of the Human Nation, the Flaming 
  Sword. Metahumans are regularly assaulted, and murder 
  investigations tend to be short and usually blamed on 
  other metahumans.
  > 2XL
  Fort Lewis
  Do you know what Fort Lewis is? Fort 
  Lewis is your chance to look at a totally dif-
  ferent dystopia than the one we have. Sick and 
  tired of living in a corporate-controlled dys-
  topia? Then head on down to Fort Lewis for 
  a chance to look at an authoritarian military 
  dystopia! Vive la difference!
  One advantage of the military dystopia? It’s 
  cleaner. The military puts up with far less crap 
  than Knight Errant cops tolerate, and soldiers 
  in general are pretty good at keeping the place 
  neat and not throwing garbage around.
  > Cleanliness and order have always been some of the 
  hallmarks of an authoritarian regime. It’s part of their 
  appeal—whatever their faults, they can at least keep 
  things orderly.
  > Aufheben
  > Some of that depends on how much the military decides to 
  share with others. Any general knows the value of having 
  technology that the other side lacks, so any breakthroughs 
  in critter-related research, especially when it comes to 
  critter-based security, are likely to be kept under wraps 
  instead of disseminated far and wide.
  > Kay St. Irregular
  > Yeah, so they won’t sell their secrets, they’ll just invent 
  something so powerful that they’ll lose control, break out, 
  and start killing us in our sleep.
  > Sounder
  > That’s how the chupacabra was created.
  > Plan 9 
  It also is a lot prettier than most parts 
  of Seattle, with its lush greenery and rela-
  tive quiet. Honestly, it’s downright eerie—go 
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  SHADOWRUN: FREE SEATTLE
  
  there some morning, when the fog is brush-
  ing the pines, and listen to the muffled quiet. 
  A bird will chirp here and there, and then fly 
  away as another sound slowly rises. You’ll 
  hear it before you see it, the sound of boots 
  hitting the ground in unison as some patrol 
  or another passes nearby. Freaks me out ev-
  ery time. And it’s even worse in the evening, 
  when they play “Taps.”
  > Man, do you ever have some weird problem with the army. 
  It’s pretty clear you never served.
  > Hard Exit
  Now, don’t let me give you the wrong im-
  pression. Fort Lewis has a seedy side—it just 
  does a lot better job than other places of keep-
  ing the criminality and debauchery behind 
  closed doors. The place is populated with peo-
  ple, after all, and people are going to pursue 
  their vices. It’s what we do. The leaders of Fort 
  Lewis would just rather such activities be kept 
  in their proper place, out of the sight of chil-
  dren and the faint of heart.
  And then, because nothing in the Sixth 
  World is complete without a touch of the 
  surreal, in the middle of this military state in 
  miniature is one of the most popular fami-
  ly destinations in the sprawl, the Fort Lewis 
  Zoological Gardens, with some of the most 
  spectacular critters to be held in captivity on 
  display in stunning replicas of their natural 
  habitats. Of course, behind the scenes of the 
  zoo, researchers are looking into how to tap 
  into, alter, or even enhance the powers of the 
  critters kept there, which means the friendliest 
  part of Fort Lewis is also the one with perhaps 
  the best odds of killing us all.
  Redmond
  If you’ve never lived in Redmond, you don’t 
  know Redmond. Wageslaves on day trips or 
  rich thrill-seekers on weekend benders can 
  never know what it’s like here. Neither can 
  runners who happen to have a safehouse here 
  just to lay low for a while. Yeah, they see the 
  same drek. They smell the same filth. The dif-
  ference is, they get to leave. For those of us 
  born into it and don’t know anything else, it’s 
  not that easy to escape.
  But sooner or later, every shadowrunner 
  finds themselves in Redmond, where Seattle 
  dreams come to die. Nothing thrives here. It’s 
  infertile. Unproductive. Toxic. That’s why they 
  call ’em Barrens. Once upon a time, Redmond 
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  SHADOWRUN: FREE SEATTLE
  
  was shiny. It was Seattle’s new tech district, full 
  of innovators and their money. But now, Red-
  mond is like a perverse dreamcatcher, capturing 
  and distilling the nightmares of the entire Seat-
  tle sprawl. After the tech crash of ’29, Redmond 
  lost everything. Eighty percent of its industry 
  tanked overnight, along with its government. 
  Everyone with means bolted. With no author-
  ities to stop them, those who were left behind 
  turned to rioting, looting, and every other form 
  of lawlessness. Metahuman nature, chummers. 
  The abandoned businesses and homes were ir-
  resistible to the addicted, destitute, and criminal 
  from all over the sprawl, so while the rest of 
  Seattle was getting cleaned up, Redmond was 
  collecting society’s detritus.
  Even the “safe” areas of Redmond are more 
  socially diseased than the worst parts of Seattle 
  proper. Redmond is broken up into fiefdoms, 
  separated by wastelands of decaying technol-
  ogy. Tribes of gangs, acting like warlords, each 
  control their own slice of hell. What used to be 
  high-density areas became the most sought-after 
  real estate. The corp buildings and assets that re-
  main are fortified with strong walls and heavy 
  artillery. Most of the time, mercs or local gangers 
  play security. Utilities like water, trash, sewage, 
  and electricity don’t function; anyone with those 
  luxuries has jury-rigged their place to get them.
  > The Matrix used to be nearly impossible to access in 
  Redmond, but the new Matrix infrastructure has improved 
  things a bit. Describing it as “spotty” is still generous, 
  though.
  > Slamm-0!
  > You said it. The astral in the Barrens is fragged up pretty 
  bad, too. Unless you have been raised there, slinging spells 
  feels like swimming in jelly.
  > Lyran
  Astonishingly, Redmond has a government. 
  Sonya Scholl is the mayor of Redmond. She’s 
  usually fighting with the corps here, but she’s 
  managed to choose her battles wisely. And 
  she’s won some (it helps that the corps don’t 
  care enough about Redmond to put their full 
  heart into the fight). Unfortunately, no amount 
  of winning can make any real difference here.
  > Sounds downbeat, but it’s accurate. If the Barrens gets 
  anything—a new business that’s making money, a runner 
  that made a big score—the first thought is to get out. In 
  Redmond, success is defined by leaving.
  > Haze
  > Nothing gold can stay.
  > Man-of-Many-Names
  Hope is the rarest thing in Redmond, and 
  that’s good, because hope gets you killed. 
  Makes you think about tomorrow. Distracts 
  you from surviving right now. And that’s all 
  that’s left in the Barrens—survival.
  Puyallup
  “Barrens,” they say, lumping us all together. 
  Redmond, too, like we’re next door neighbors, 
  not sixty kilometers apart. Here in Puyallup, 
  we’re used to getting written off by outsiders. 
  They figure we’re just ashy gutters, Mafiosi 
  and Yakuza thugs tearing each other apart, 
  beetle dens and whorehouses competing for 
  desperate nuyen, elves and orks killing each 
  other over table scraps and corner deals.
  We are all those things, but those things 
  ain’t all we are.
  People live here, chummer. Always have, 
  and always will. A hundred years ago this was 
  farmland, wide-open spaces, blue skies, and 
  green hills. Then came Rainier and refugees, 
  ash and assholes, the Night of Rage and Tír 
  Tairngire’s leftovers. After that, we layered on 
  a couple generations of corrupt politicians and 
  parasitic crime families sucking the place dry. 
  Sprinkle with desperation. Add a pinch of ha-
  tred. Season to taste.
  So we ain’t like Downtown, sure, but peo-
  ple are still just people. Over half a million 
  souls—just by official count—are trying to get 
  by, wanting to live their life, put a roof over-
  head, fill their belly, have some kids.
  If the corps would give us half a chance, 
  just a fair shake, they could make some real 
  money here. We’ve got space. We’ve got 
  nothing but room for improvement, we’ve 
  got people with nothing but hunger for a 
  better tomorrow. They could build here, in-
  stead of always being teases about it. They 
  could invest, and we could work, buy, sell. 
  Everyone would win.
  But that ain’t what Puyallup’s for, if you 
  ask our neighbors. Nope. They come here 
  to hide from the law, to buy drugs or chips, 
  to rent joyboys or cred-slots, to bash some 
  keeblers. They come here in tricked-out rac-
  ers to compete, or souped-up rigs about to 
  make the Route 7 smuggling run. They come 
  here to slum it, to get a kick out of some real 
  streets if Bellevue or Downtown are too safe 
  for their liking.
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  SHADOWRUN: FREE SEATTLE
  
  Someone once said you don’t pay a hooker 
  for the sex, you pay ’em to leave you alone 
  afterwards. To our neighbors, Puyallup’s that 
  working girl. They come here so they can 
  leave again, and feel better about themselves 
  for doing so.
  Council Island
  In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, 
  Council Island was known as Mercer Island, 
  named for brothers Asa and Thomas Mercer 
  who were the first white men to call it home. It 
  grew into a thriving community, joining Seattle in 
  1960. With the signing of the First Treaty of Den-
  ver, the greater Seattle metroplex was retained as 
  American territory, serving as the largest non-Na-
  tive reservation in North America, while Mercer 
  Island was ceded to the Salish-Shidhe Council to 
  serve as an ambassadorial residence and a gener-
  al touchstone with other native nations. The Sal-
  ish razed the modern buildings and stripped the 
  roadways, spending over a decade restoring the 
  land to a natural state while embedding power, 
  water, and Matrix nodes well out of sight. Under 
  the leadership of first Chief Jon Moses, then Chief 
  James Grey Bear, the Salish ambassador to Seattle 
  for decades, Council Island was turned into one 
  of the prettiest areas of Seattle while also serving 
  in a diplomatic capacity. The death of Grey Bear 
  just before the negotiations for the third Treaty of 
  Denver was devastating, as his seasoned experi-
  ence as a negotiator was missed and talks even-
  tually collapsed. As Denver has retreated, Coun-
  cil Island has stepped up, and now stands as the 
  primary ambassadorial region for the NAN. The 
  island is still adapting to this new status, and new 
  buildings are springing up rapidly.
  > Council Island’s groaning under the weight of the Salish-
  Shidhe Battalion that was assigned there in the wake of the 
  collapse of the Third Treaty of Denver negotiations. On top 
  of this, they have the expanded NAN-corp presence on the 
  island, but it’s the soldiers who have really done a number 
  on the demographics, particularly in terms of bringing 
  down the average of pay and education. Three quarters of 
  the troopers are orks, with more than five hundred being 
  drawn from the Cascade Ork tribe, where you can enlist as 
  young as sixteen and without a high school diploma. With 
  soldiers come higher levels of carousing and prostitution.
  > SeaTac Sweetie
  > The SS-Council has never been clear about that “other” 
  population of about a hundred and fifty sentients. Do they 
  count spirits in this number or not? Artificial intelligences? 
  We know that there are shapeshifters and wendigo in 
  the mix, but what else? There are rumors of intelligent 
  freshwater merrow present, even dracoforms. The only 
  ones who know for certain are the Salish-Shidhe, and they 
  aren’t telling.
  > Elijah
  Council Island is left in a natural state—or 
  more accurately is guided into a natural-seem-
  ing state—as much as possible. Greenery is 
  ever-present, most obviously in tree coverage 
  and shrubbery, but in the spring and summer 
  months, there’s a colorful explosion from the 
  widespread flowers in bloom. Buildings are con-
  structed to resemble the traditional dwellings of 
  the Pacific Northwest Natives but are made of 
  modern materials with a thin wooden veneer, 
  rather than being actual wooden structures. It 
  should be reminded that, all across the island, 
  this theme will be seen repeatedly; citizens in 
  native garb who’re using cutting-edge NeoNET 
  commlinks, wireless support is drawn from un-
  seen points hidden in artwork or fountains, and 
  while you’ll never see a hint of modern wiring 
  strung through trees, the roots share the ground 
  with an impressive array of circuitry and pipes. 
  The majority of the population is composed of 
  bureaucrats, diplomats, and their families, but 
  there are quite a few scientists around as well, 
  including botanists to parabiologists.
  > We Seattleites can forget this often, thanks to the NAN 
  tourism boards always pushing for “NearCations” in Salish 
  territory, and we all know somebody who was broken by 
  the rat race, sold everything they owned, and joined an 
  ersatz “tribe” to get back to nature. The vast majority 
  of NAN citizens live in cities (former American cities at 
  that!), drive cars, grumble about taxes, and check the news 
  on their commlink, all before getting ready for today’s 
  meeting about the Running Deer account. There’s a bit more 
  environmentalism and the spiritual beliefs are different, 
  but otherwise, they function in the city and share the same 
  concerns, with same range of beliefs, as everyone else.
  > Bull
  > There are also those who fully walk the Old Path, but it is a 
  choice that must be made, not an obligation to force upon 
  another. It is a harder path, one fraught with danger, but 
  what you see while walking it is glorious.
  > Man-of-Many-Names
  > While NAN drones and choppers can fly around, Council 
  Island is officially NAN airspace and they are quite antsy 
  about defending it. If you aren’t in a medivac chopper or 
  PARTS OF THE WHOLE   //  SEATTLE IN THE BALANCE
  23
  SHADOWRUN: FREE SEATTLE
  
  on a pre-cleared diplomatic visit, expect spirits to land you 
  gently in the lake.
  > Kane
  Outremer
  What folks call “Outremer” these days 
  might as well speak French and actually be 
  overseas for as disconnected as it feels from 
  the Emerald City. Don’t get me wrong, Outre-
  mer is part of the Metroplex, but it is about as 
  far as you can get from Seattle without actual-
  ly leaving. This is both a blessing and a curse 
  for those who work, live, or just visit any of 
  the islands that compose Outremer.
  Outremer isn’t one place—it’s the name 
  given to the five major islands in the Puget 
  Sound that are still considered part of the Se-
  attle Metroplex. All of them are actually easier 
  to reach from Salish-Shidhe lands, while two 
  are linked by bridges, but hey, the land deal 
  that set up the Seattle Metroplex was written 
  by politicians, not geographers. From north to 
  south, the islands are Bainbridge, Vashon (yes, 
  like the clothing line), Fox, McNeil, and An-
  derson. If you want to seem like a complete 
  outsider, feel free to add “island” to the end 
  of any of those names when referring to them 
  in front of a native Seattleite. All five together 
  are considered a single district, but no one ever 
  really cares, because Bainbridge runs the show 
  thanks to their overwhelming population ad-
  vantage and the unfair rules of democracy. 
  Also, no one cares, because anyone who calls 
  the islands home would prefer their islands to 
  have nothing to do with anything involving 
  metroplex politics. Even the politicians. This 
  “Outremer” attitude is the closest thing to a 
  single connective principle for the islands.
  The islands saw extensive growth during 
  the beginnings of the metroplex after the 
  United States was shattered. Refugees poured 
  into Seattle and many were sent to the islands, 
  assigned to government development teams, 
  and set to build them up. The process gave 
  them something to do, though their lack of 
  skill meant it wasn’t done well, and their lack 
  of money meant a failure in the local econo-
  my. The islands were too far and ex- pensive 
  to commute from for the refugees and while 
  the con- struction was shoddy the distance at-
  tracted the rich and pushed the cost of living 
  out of reach. Each island reacted a bit differ-
  ent- ly, and this is where I’ll split my words 
  between the islands, as they grew much of 
  their identities after this point.
  The Seattle  
  Underground
  The Ork Underground has roots dating back 
  to Seattle’s ancient history. After the Great Seat-
  tle Fire of 1889, they decreed that new buildings 
  must be made of fire-resistant material rather 
  than wood. Since the city was built on a flood-
  plain, which often, you know, flooded, they de-
  cided to lift everything by two stories as well. 
  The lower levels of older buildings were used 
  mostly for storage, and eventually they were 
  just sealed off and ignored. In the late twentieth 
  century, there was some interest in exploring 
  them again, revealing that in the years between 
  the undercity had been expanded by bootleg-
  gers and red-light workers, then expanded 
  again by the city for underground transit. Some 
  areas were refurbished and cleaned up for tour-
  ism, while most were left untouched.
  > The underground was initially sealed off due to fear of 
  disease back in 1907.
  > Nephrine 
  When Mt. Rainier shook Seattle in 2011, 
  the underground was closed off again for fear 
  of collapse and poison gas pockets (poison is 
  far more dangerous than lava in an eruption, 
  but lava gets all the airtime). Desperate people 
  gradually opened small pathways down be-
  low—first the homeless, then the goblinized—
  as society turned a blind eye. “Out of sight, out 
  of mind,” after all. In 2039, Governor Victor 
  Allenson rounded up every metahuman in Se-
  attle and concentrated them into camps in the 
  warehouse districts of Tacoma and downtown. 
  On February 7, those warehouses all went up 
  in flame. Thankfully, the goblins down below 
  had already opened some passages for smug-
  gling supplies up; those passages were then 
  used to get thousands of people to safety. Not 
  every-one, but a great many. If you ever won-
  der who’s getting burned in effigy during the 
  Night of Rage remembrances, it’s Allenson.
  > Rotting in Hell’s too good for him.
  > Butch
  The city woke up from the madness, and most 
  of the metahumans were brought back into so-
  ciety, but many couldn’t overcome the betrayal. 
  They stayed below. Goblins and dwarfs worked 
  together to expand the underground tunnels, 
  shore them up, and establish places both large 
  SEATTLE IN THE BALANCE  //  PARTS OF THE WHOLE 
  24
  SHADOWRUN: FREE SEATTLE
  
  enough for a community to thrive and small 
  enough to provide hiding places should they ever 
  be needed again. They further discovered many 
  tunnels created in the aftermath of the volcanic 
  eruptions; science can’t explain how they came 
  to be, but to the creators of the underground, 
  they were a blessing no matter the source.
  In the mid ’40s, there was a big falling 
  out between the ork and dwarf communities. 
  There’d been many arguments in the past, but 
  the trolls had always managed to keep the 
  peace, but this time? It was too much. The 
  dwarfs, who’d had the majority of engineering 
  lore and college education, gathered up for a 
  mass exodus, turning the Seattle Underground 
  into the Ork Underground. Details are sketchy 
  about what caused it, but the dwarfs have car-
  ried a grudge about it ever since.
  Which brings us to today. The Seattle Un-
  derground, re-branded now that it’s official, is 
  the hottest property in the ’plex. Young artists 
  and risk-taking investors are flocking to the 
  area, marveling at the low cost of living and 
  thriving local culture. Gentrification is a grow-
  ing concern, but with it comes a massive over-
  haul of city services, with legitimate power and 
  water lines instead of spotty, and illegal, taps. 
  There was also work to improve schools, and 
  Renraku will soon break ground on the first 
  hospital in the Underground’s history. Sanita-
  tion, police protection, and badly needed nuy-
  en are flooding in.
  > And orks are flooding out. 
  > 0rkCE0
  > When Prop 23 passed, making the Ork Underground an 
  official city region, the dwarfs who’d left thirty years ago 
  started streaming back, bringing with them documentation 
  about ownership, hiring Hard Corps to toss hundreds of 
  orks out of their homes. Women, children, families—it didn’t 
  matter. Gimli Harris (third-oldest dwarf in Seattle—there are 
  lots of first-generation names like that) is the angry face of 
  the “Reclaimers,” driving a wedge through the heart of the 
  Underground.They claim original ownership of great swaths 
  of land, using strong-arm tactics to drive out the locals and 
  establish settlements along prime territory. They claim it’s 
  about heritage. The orks claim it’s hate.
  > Sunshine
  > Despite what you’ll see in corporate media, most orks 
  down there are ordinary people, working two or three jobs, 
  trying to raise money to raise a family in peace. They’re as 
  worried about gang activity and crime as anyone else, but 
  the dwarven incursion is agitating extremists to activity.
  > Butch 
  > Obviously magical. Similar tunnels have been found all 
  over the world. We don’t know why or how they’re created, 
  but we’re certain about the source. 
  > Ethernaut
  > Of course, these counterattacks are recorded and 
  rebroadcast by the media, who are all too happy to paint 
  orks as violent brutes and savages. It keeps escalating and 
  won’t end well.
  > 2XL
  > Potter is trying to settle things down; she’s taken some big 
  loans (Renraku is a major creditor) to strengthen existing 
  infrastructure, bring more electricity to the Underground, 
  and carve out new territory. She hopes to show that there 
  is space for everyone.
  > Haze 
  PARTS OF THE WHOLE   //  SEATTLE IN THE BALANCE
  25
  SHADOWRUN: FREE SEATTLE
  
  Introduction
  Seattle’s Future  
  at Stake
  By: Blanche Phillips, KSAF
  A little over a year ago, Seattle governor 
  Corrine Potter was elected on a platform that 
  carried the popular vote but with few promis-
  es in it. Brackhaven left her a lot of unsolved 
  issues, and Potter promised to address each 
  one, though her campaign was thin on details. 
  Since her election, Potter has brought in con-
  sultants and experts to try to identify the cor-
  rect solutions to each of these issues. Because 
  of this, her decisions have sometimes rubbed 
  her voters the wrong way, as they may have 
  expected her to go with her heart rather than 
  her head. Now she steps into perhaps the most 
  controversial issue of the campaign: Seattle’s 
  independence movement.
  During the election, there were several calls 
  for a free and independent Seattle. These cries 
  were met with acceptance and rejection in 
  nearly equal measure. Seattle is clearly divided 
  heavily on this issue. To help her resolve this 
  crisis, Potter has brought in representatives 
  from several entities that have a special inter-
  est in how Seattle handles its independence.
  Not surprisingly, Potter invited several 
  different elements of the Corporate Court, 
  specifically Major Brenda Reed from Ares, 
  Thomas Miranda from Horizon, and Taku-
  to Nakagawa from Renraku. Potter also in-
  vited the Pacific Prosperity Group, who sent 
  Wuxing executive Dewei T’ao to sit at the ta-
  ble. Additionally, Seattle’s nearest neighbors 
  will have a say in the fate of Seattle: the Sal-
  ADVENTURE  //   
  ADVENTURE
  
  ish-Shidhe Council has sent John Abernathy 
  of the Salish tribe, the UCAS sent freshman 
  Congressman Carl Derrick to ensure that 
  things remain steady, and Tír Tairngire sent 
  Margaret Telestrian to represent them at the 
  conference. Perhaps the most surprising invi-
  tation to the meeting is the Sea Dragon, who 
  has yet to be seen at the conference. What 
  the presence of one of the most controversial 
  dragons in the world will mean to this confer-
  ence is anyone’s guess.
  Over the next week, Seattle’s future will be 
  determined in part by these entities. Only time 
  will tell if the voice of Seattle’s people will be 
  louder than the voices of Seattle’s megacorpo-
  rate interests.
  > This is perhaps the smartest political play that Potter could 
  do. She can publicly garner support and test the waters 
  with some power players, and if things go sideways, she 
  can always lay the blame on them.
  > Peregrine
  > Yeah, but it also means that she avoids the limelight and can’t 
  take full credit for any possible success. She’s gambling away 
  some of the publicity of success in order to dampen criticism 
  of failure. It could be seen as being spineless.
  > Kay St. Irregular
  > Either way, it’s good work for us. Anyone want to take bets 
  on which representatives leave alive? And the end result 
  of this conference? I’m giving 2:1 odds on Seattle going 
  independent.
  > /dev/grrl
  > Seriously, we need to get her some help.
  > Netcat
  Preparing to Play
  Free Seattle is an introductory adventure 
  for Shadowrun, Sixth World. It gives players 
  the opportunity to experience the events that 
  transpire in Seattle during the summit of 2080. 
  The city has recently elected a new governor, 
  and there is enough public desire to push the 
  city for independence that she has called on a 
  special summit to discuss the options.
  Free Seattle is an adaptable adventure; 
  gamemasters can adjust the challenges to suit 
  their players’ skills and team composition. The 
  adventure centers on runners working for Se-
  attle’s Secretary of State to get involved with 
  the various participants of the summit to deter-
  mine their true loyalties and how far they are 
  willing to push things.
  Players should stop reading now. The rest of 
  Free Seattle is for gamemasters only. It lays out 
  the plots, characters, and secrets in the adven-
  ture. Reading beyond this point would reveal 
  major spoilers.
  Preparing the Adventure
  Free Seattle uses the Shadowrun, Sixth 
  World Core Rulebook. Historical information 
  regarding Seattle can be found in various sup-
  plements for Shadowrun, Fifth Edition, includ-
  ing Seattle Sprawl, The Complete Trog, Hard 
  Targets, and Better Than Bad.
  Adventure Structure
  In Free Seattle, the players travel to and 
  around Seattle on behalf of powerful benefac-
  tors. The gamemaster can run all these stories 
  or choose only those stories that are best suited 
  to their group. They can also create or add new 
  stories as they see fit to make this into a longer 
  campaign.
  Main Sections
  This book is organized into sections to as-
  sist with running the adventure:
  •	 Preparing to Play: A plot synopsis, neces-
  sary background information, and other 
  useful details and data.
  •	 Scenarios: The adventure itself, broken 
  down into individual scenarios/scenes.
  •	 Picking Up the Pieces: Information about 
  wrapping up the game. This includes any 
  aftermath, nuyen/Karma rewards, and 
  information pertaining to legwork.
  •	 Legwork: Information that may be dug 
  up by the players about the people, plac-
  es, and relationships of this adventure.
  •	 Cast of Shadows: Profiles of the prima-
  ry NPCs with whom the player charac-
  ters will interact (directly or indirectly) 
  during the adventure.
    //  ADVENTURE
  27
  SHADOWRUN: FREE SEATTLE
  
  Adventure Scenarios
  The adventure plays out over a series of se-
  quential scenes. Some of the scenes require the 
  players to make a choice, whereupon you will 
  navigate to a new section that describes the ef-
  fects of that choice. Each scene contains the 
  following subsections:
  •	 What’s Up, Chummer?: A brief summa-
  ry of the events in the scene.
  •	 Tell It to Them Straight: A text selection 
  that can be read directly to the players 
  or paraphrased when they reach specific 
  points in the scene.
  •	 Hooks: This section offers hints on the 
  mood for the scenario. It also reminds 
  the gamemaster of twists and hidden 
  information that the player characters 
  may or may not discover.
  •	 Behind the Scenes: The mechanics be-
  hind each scene, including NPC motiva-
  tions, secrets, or special instructions/in-
  formation. Places of interest along with 
  any grunt NPC stats are also found here.
  •	 Pushing the Envelope: Suggestions on 
  altering the scene to provide more of a 
  challenge.
  •	 Debugging: Suggestions for dealing with 
  any potential problems.
  •	 Grunts and Moving Targets: A handy 
  reference of stats for people, monsters, 
  and other entities that the players may 
  encounter in the scene.
  Non-Player Characters
  Non-player characters (NPCs) are essential 
  to any adventure. NPCs can be allies, enemies, 
  or even contacts with whom the player charac-
  ters interact. Relevant NPCs have profiles/stats 
  in the Behind the Scenes section, while major 
  NPCs who appear in multiple scenes are listed 
  in the Cast of Shadows section at the end of 
  this book. Gamemasters can tweak NPCs to 
  make them more (or less) challenging oppo-
  nents as needed. NPC groups benefit from the 
  Grunt Group rules detailed on p. 114, SR6.
  Background
  Seattle is a city-state in turmoil. It sits as the 
  last bastion of the United Canadian and Amer-
  ican States on the West Coast of North Amer-
  ica. Surrounded by several nations and sepa-
  rated from their national capital by thousands 
  of miles, it’s hardly a surprise that Seattlites 
  are feeling disenfranchised with their national 
  government. Following a massive scandal in-
  volving their former governor, Seattle called a 
  special election and chose to bring in a relative 
  newcomer with a vague past.
  In her first few months in power, Corrine 
  Potter has been trying to walk a tightrope be-
  tween the wishes of the people and the wishes 
  of the megacorporations. To that end, she has 
  decided to call a summit to bring people from 
  the various interests to make their case for or 
  against independence. She does not trust any 
  of the people at the summit and has tasked her 
  Secretary of State to run an independent in-
  vestigation into the motivations of each of the 
  participants. Potter believes that this will help 
  her to make the correct decision for the future 
  of Seattle.
  Plot Synopsis
  The Secretary of State, Chuck Beale, has 
  tasked a prominent Seattle fixer named Ro-
  meo to pull together a team who can do this 
  investigation. Romeo will cast a wide net to 
  find the right running team—they don’t have 
  to be Seattle-based, because there might be an 
  advantage to having a group with no local ties 
  or preferences. In the end, the team will report 
  back to Romeo about the status of each job, 
  what happened on the job, and what the team 
  thought of the job. This information will be 
  fed up to Beale, and ultimately to Potter.
  Romeo will reach out to the players to form 
  the team and act as the team’s liaison with the 
  summit. Getting moles into each of these or-
  ganizations is too time-consuming to get the 
  information needed. Instead, the players will 
  be doing several tasks for the members of the 
  summit. Enterprising players are encouraged 
  to find opportunities to further investigate 
  their employers’ motivations, and Romeo will 
  pay a bounty for paydata related to things like 
  finance, correspondence, or intentions.
  ADVENTURE  //   
  28
  SHADOWRUN: FREE SEATTLE
  
  Scene 0
  What’s Up Chummer?
  The runners need to get to Seattle, if they ar-
  en’t already there. The specifics of this scene are 
  largely left to the gamemaster to determine, but 
  a few suggested methods are described below.
  Tell It To Them Straight
  If the runners are outside of Seattle:
  You get a call on your commlink from a 
  contact, who quickly briefs you on a situation 
  going down in Seattle. You are being called in 
  because you have impressed a fixer there who 
  is willing to foot the bill for an extended visit. 
  You’ve got a week in Seattle on Mr. Johnson’s 
  tab, with airfare and accommodations includ-
  ed. All you have to do is go talk to Mr. Johnson 
  and see if you want to do a job for him. You 
  hop the next suborbital to Seattle.
  If the runnerS Are on the run:
  Your hiding spot is not well-documented. 
  That’s the point of a hiding spot, after all. So, 
  when you get the knock on your door, you 
  answer it with a loaded gun and the expecta-
  tion of an ambush. Instead, you find a piece 
  of electronic paper attached to your door with 
  a suborbital ticket to Seattle, leaving that eve-
  ning, along with a receipt for a week-long stay 
  in the city. You’re not sure who was listening, 
  but you’re glad that someone has given you a 
  way out. You hop the flight and touch down in 
  Seattle shortly thereafter.
  Behind the Scenes
  Mr. Johnson is a fixer named Romeo, who 
  needs neutral talent for a series of jobs. He’d 
  prefer to bring in outsiders, but he’s not averse 
  to bringing in someone local who knows their 
  way around.
  Pushing the Envelope
  There’s really no need to push the envelope 
  in this scene. If you want to expand on the 
  campaign, though, this is a good opportunity 
  to segue from another campaign, or to provide 
  some extra motivation or roleplaying.
  Debugging
  If the players are particularly skittish, get-
  ting an invitation like this will set off red 
  flags immediately. Remind them that the hotel 
  they’re set up in isn’t corporate-affiliated, isn’t 
  managed by criminals, and all the runners have 
  to do is to show up. Think of it a bit like those 
  timeshare seminars—why not get the free stuff 
  if the burden being placed on you is light?
  Scene 1: Welcome 
  to the Show
  What’s Up, Chummer?
  The team meets with Romeo and finds out 
  the details of the jobs that they’ll be undertaking.
  Tell It To Them Straight
  You arrive at the most luxurious hotel 
  you’ve ever seen: Pan Pacific Seattle. Despite 
  being a chain of hotels, the Pan Pacific brand 
  has managed to keep each location feeling 
  unique, and that continues in the Seattle 
  branch. The furniture has hints of what ap-
  pear to be emeralds, and the view of Puget 
  Sound from the rooftop bar is said to be as-
  tonishing.
  SCENE 0  //  ADVENTURE: THE GAUNTLET
  29
  SHADOWRUN: FREE SEATTLE
  the gauntlet
  
  Fortunately, you’re going there. Romeo, a 
  big name in Seattle’s fixing business, has invit-
  ed you for a drink to talk business.
  Hooks
  This scene is intended to let the characters 
  settle into their new digs, meet their boss, and 
  see the dichotomy between the world in which 
  they work and the world in which they live. 
  Emphasize that dichotomy.
  Behind the Scenes
  Romeo wants to hire the runners on a tem-
  porary basis to be his team for running a series 
  of jobs. Romeo is going to set the team up with 
  a safehouse in Puyallup, the elven version of 
  the Barrens. During the jobs that the runners 
  are being given, Romeo wants the runners to 
  also dig up any information and intelligence 
  related to their employers.
  Romeo lets the players know that they will 
  get 7,500 nuyen immediately (for the whole 
  team, not apiece) for various expenses they 
  may encounter during the week.
  Romeo describes a job connected to the sum-
  mit in town about possible secession. He will 
  pay for any data that the runners can dig up on 
  the participants, no matter how they get it. They 
  could get the information from contacts, local 
  sources, recordings, data storage, or witnesses. 
  The players and GMs should be encouraged to 
  be creative with what data the runners can un-
  cover. Details about the kind of information that 
  can be turned up are in the Legwork chapter.
  Romeo’s first job for them is to meet a con-
  tact at a party that is being held at the Pan Pa-
  cific hotel’s ballroom the next night. He’ll pro-
  vide formalwear as needed, and he encourages 
  the team to arrive early, don’t bring weapons, 
  and act like they belong
  Scene 2: 
  Chaos Cover
  What’s Up, Chummer?
  Riots are picking up in the streets as the 
  summit starts. Using the riots as a backdrop, 
  the runners are hired to go to Council Island, 
  sneak into an embassy, and steal data.
  Tell It To Them Straight
  True to his word, Romeo arranged for 
  you to stay at a townhouse in Puyallup. Puy-
  ADVENTURE: THE GAUNTLET  //  SCENE 2: CHAOS COVER
  30
  SHADOWRUN: FREE SEATTLE
  
  allup isn’t the best neighborhood, being only 
  a couple steps above the Redmond Barrens. 
  It’s a community of the disenfranchised, pri-
  marily elves, but accepting almost anyone 
  that is a castaway. It’s a great place to lay 
  low or hide out, but it’s also dangerous and 
  unpredictable. Sitting atop a volcanic calde-
  ra can do that.
  Some of the streets are paved with recycled 
  plastics and cooled lava. The roads are smooth 
  in patches, and rough in others, and occasion-
  ally rocks and craters have formed. It’s not 
  good for driving or walking, but it’s marginal-
  ly better than no paving at all.
  The safehouse appears to be an abandoned 
  townhouse. The windows are covered with 
  thick grime, and the exterior siding is slough-
  ing off in places. But the door locks seem stur-
  dy, and the bones of the house seem well-main-
  tained. That implies that the dingy appearance 
  is intentional.
  You find the formal wear already stored in 
  one of the bedroom closets. They are a sharp 
  contrast to the peeling paint and flawed AR 
  displays throughout the rest of the house. Still, 
  you’ve stayed in worse. You get a few hours of 
  rest before heading to the Pan Pacific hotel’s 
  ballroom.
  When you get to the ballroom, you are im-
  mediately overwhelmed with the opulence on 
  display. People are wearing clothes that cost 
  more than a wageslave’s monthly rent. The 
  food is real food, not soy or mycoprotein. And 
  surrounded by a pocket of people stands a ra-
  diant elf who walks over as she sees you. Her 
  dress sparkles and glows, Lilliputian stars cre-
  ating an aura of beauty around her. Her short-
  cropped hair emphasizes the length of her ears, 
  and as she approaches you, she has the grace-
  ful, confident stride of a predator.
  Behind the Scenes
  The elf approaching the runners is Marga-
  ret Telestrian. She offers up some small talk 
  about how great Romeo is, and how much she 
  loves to work with him. She’s trying to butter 
  up the team, to make them forget that she’s 
  trying to take advantage of them. In the end, 
  she offers the runners 2,000 nuyen each. If 
  they accept, she will reveal details of a riot that 
  is happening on Council Island.
  She will arrange to smuggle in the run-
  ners via submarine to Council Island. The 
  submarine leaves at 9 p.m. (about two hours 
  after the meeting) from Pier 25 in Tacoma 
  and will insert the team on the northwestern 
  shore of Council Island. She then wants them 
  to break into John Abernathy’s offices and 
  steal data that is stored on hardcopy in the 
  office. At 11 p.m., the same submarine will 
  be waiting for them at the same location. It 
  will then take the team back to Pier 25. The 
  submarine pilot will not be taking the mate-
  rial. Instead, the runners will meet with Ro-
  meo back at their safehouse, exchange the 
  goods with him, and he will arrange delivery 
  to Telestrian.
  Telestrian is a big fan of haggling, but not 
  of obstinance or impertinence. She’s willing to 
  pay an additional 300 nuyen per net hit on a 
  Negotiation test. However, if the players glitch 
  the test, she dismisses them as amateurs (see 
  Debugging, below).
  Pushing the Envelope
  The runners might get attacked by the 
  Ancients, the dominant gang in Puyallup. An 
  Ancients ambush tends to be overwhelming, 
  so have a number of Ancients equal to dou-
  ble the number of party members. Remember 
  that as a Professional Rating 2 group, they 
  will flee after taking only 2 boxes of damage 
  each (p. 203, SR6). If the group loses their 
  Lieutenant or more than half of the group, 
  the survivors flee.
  Debugging
  The runners absolutely cannot be allowed 
  to bring weapons to the party. Any weapons 
  brought in (that are detected) are immediately 
  confiscated. Cybernetic or smuggled weapons 
  will earn the runner in question a bench out-
  side the ballroom to wait for the rest of the 
  team. At the end of the meeting, the runners 
  can retrieve anything that was confiscated.
  If the runners are negotiating with Telestri-
  an and glitch their test (she uses Edge in the 
  test), then she will walk away from the run-
  ners without another word, dismissing them as 
  boorish amateurs who cannot hold a simple 
  conversation. It takes two hours, but Romeo 
  will manage to salvage the operation. Howev-
  er, the runners will be taking less money. For a 
  glitched test, the runners will only be offered 
  1,000 nuyen. For a critical glitch, the runners 
  will only be offered 500 nuyen. Additionally, a 
  glitch or critical glitch will prevent Telestrian 
  from potentially becoming a contact (see Pick-
  ing up the Pieces chapter).
  SCENE 2:CHAOS COVER   //  ADVENTURE: THE GAUNTLET
  31
  SHADOWRUN: FREE SEATTLE
  
  Grunts and  
  Moving Targets
  Ancients Soldier
  (Professional Rating 2)
  B
  A
  R
  S
  W
  L
  I
  C
  ESS
  2
  3
  3
  2
  2
  2
  2
  3
  6
  DR
  I/ID
  AC
  CM
  MOVE
  5
  5/1
  A1, I2
  9
  10/15/+1
  Skills: Athletics 2, Close Combat 4, Firearms 3, Influence 5 (Intimidation 
  +2), Perception 3, Piloting 1 (Ground Craft +2)
  Gear: Armor jacket (+3), commlink (Device Rating 2), 2x doses of Cram [+1 
  Reaction, +1d6 Initiative Dice, p. 124, SR6]
  Weapons:
  Combat knife [Blades, DV 3P, Attack Ratings 8/2*/—/—/—]
  Steyr TMP [Machine pistol, DV 2P, SA/FA, Attack Ratings 8/8/6/—/—, 
  30 (c), w/ laser sight]
  Ancients Lieutenant
  (Professional Rating 3)
  B
  A
  R
  S
  W
  L
  I
  C
  ESS
  3
  3
  3
  2
  2
  2
  2
  3
  6
  DR
  I/ID
  AC
  CM
  MOVE
  6
  5/1
  A1, I2
  9
  10/15/+1
  Skills: Athletics 2, Close Combat 4, Firearms 4, Influence 5 (Intimidation 
  +2), Perception 3, Piloting 2 (Ground Craft +2)
  Gear: Armor jacket (+3), commlink (Device Rating 2), 2 x doses of cram [+1 
  Reaction, +1d6 Initiative Dice, p. 124, SR6]
  Weapons: 
  Combat knife [Blades, DV 3P, 8/2*/—/—/—]
  Steyr TMP [Machine pistol, DV 2P, SA/FA, 8/8/6/—/—, 30 (c), w/ laser sight]
  Scene 3: 
  Digging Dirt
  What’s Up, Chummer?
  The runners break into an embassy on 
  Council Island to steal hardcopy data from 
  John Abernathy.
  Tell It To Them Straight
  You head to the Tacoma docks and easily 
  find Pier 25. Bobbing in the water at the end of 
  the pier is a small flotilla of submarines. Each 
  submarine only accommodates two passengers, 
  so it’s time to get cozy. I hope you didn’t get any 
  bright ideas about bringing heavy hardware 
  and armor, because there’s no room.
  Hooks
  Because the SSC is dealing with a riot on 
  the south end of the island, the guards in the 
  embassy will assume that the runners are riot-
  ers and will deal with them using non-lethal 
  means.
  Behind the Scenes
  Each runner can bring a two-handed weap-
  on or two one-handed weapons, plus what-
  ever can be carried on their person and in a 
  backpack. There is one submarine for every 
  two runners in the group. The submarines will 
  drop the runners off about 1,000 meters north 
  of the target building. Shortly after depositing 
  the team and their equipment, the submarines 
  will float back out to Puget Sound to avoid de-
  tection.
  Council Island is mostly forested areas, with 
  the native flora and fauna are protected by the 
  Salish-Shidhe Council. Conveniently enough, 
  the forested areas also provide excellent cov-
  er for traps and hunting animals. The building 
  that the team is looking for is the three-story 
  Council Embassy.
  The automated security, including cameras, 
  passive sensors, and drones, is managed via 
  the Matrix Host for the Salish-Shidhe Council 
  Embassy. The host is detailed below. The spi-
  der manning the host is detailed in the Grunts 
  and Moving Targets section. Additionally, the 
  runners will need to bypass a pressure-detect-
  ing mesh, a maglock with a tamper detection 
  system, and a patrol of guards (also detailed in 
  Grunts and Moving Targets).
  The pressure mesh is used in sporadic, in-
  tentionally spaced areas approximately 200 
  meters around the target building. The rules for 
  pressure mesh are found on p. 242, SR6. These 
  meshes are designed to trigger when anything 
  weighing more than 50 kilos is on them. If trig-
  gered, the guards inside the building are put on 
  alert. The meshes are running silently but are 
  present on the SSC host’s security node.
  The building itself has twelve exterior cam-
  eras covering every possible angle of approach, 
  including the tree line 100 meters away. The 
  building’s windows have a Structure rating of 
  11 and do not open. Bypassing the cameras 
  can be done directly (spray paint, shooting the 
  cameras, spells, etc.) or through the SSC host’s 
  security node (details for hacking can be found 
  on p. 178, SR6). If the characters are spotted 
  by a camera, have them roll Sneaking + Agility 
  (3) to avoid detection by the security spider. If 
  the spider is disabled in some way, the camer-
  as will not trigger additional tests, but may be 
  used to increase Heat after the job.
  ADVENTURE: THE GAUNTLET  //  SCENE 3: DIGGING DIRT
  32
  SHADOWRUN: FREE SEATTLE
  
  The maglock keypad on the doors re-
  sponds to a pass card. The maglock can be 
  bypassed using the rules found on p. 241, 
  SR6. The maglock is rating 4, as is the tam-
  per detection system. Remember that this is a 
  cardreader system, which allows the use of a 
  maglock passkey.
  The building has fourteen interior cameras 
  on each of the three floors. These cameras can 
  be bypassed using the same methods described 
  for the exterior cameras. As with the exteri-
  or cameras, if a character gets detected by an 
  interior camera, they must roll a Sneaking + 
  Agility (3) test to avoid detection by the securi-
  ty spider. If the spider is disabled in some way, 
  the cameras will not trigger additional tests 
  but may be used to increase Heat after the job.
  Inside the building, there are five guards 
  on duty. If any alerts have been triggered, the 
  guards will be prepared for the runners and 
  will attempt to ambush them when they enter. 
  Upon entry, the guards will start with a stun 
  grenade to incapacitate the runners and will 
  use Stick ’n’ Shock ammunition to finish them 
  off. After the fight, the guards will signal for a 
  Knight Errant patrol.
  If the guards were not alerted to the run-
  ners’ presence, they will be conducting rou-
  tine patrols around the building. There is one 
  guard on each floor, and two guards on break 
  in a security office. The guards’ communica-
  tions are all attached to the SSC host’s security 
  node. The guards’ devices are all running wire-
  lessly, and not silently. They are not linked to 
  each other.
  Bypassing the guards requires Sneaking + 
  Agility tests against the guards’ Perception + 
  Intuition tests. If the runners are detected, the 
  detecting guard will signal to the rest of the 
  guards that there are intruders. The remaining 
  guards will signal for a Knight Errant patrol 
  and move to intercept the runners.
  Because of the riot brewing, the Knight Er-
  rant patrol will be delayed up to 30 minutes.
  Once inside John Abernathy’s office, the 
  runners will need to find the hardcopy of plans 
  for the summit. The plans can be identified 
  with an Perception + Intuition (5, 1 Combat 
  Round) Extended test. If the runners wish to 
  continue searching, they need to make a suc-
  cessful Perception + Intuition (3) test; if they 
  do, they will also find paydata about Margaret 
  Telestrian and Dewey T’ao. See the Legwork 
  chapter for specifics about the content.
  After the run, the runners will return to 
  find the submarines waiting where they were 
  SCENE 3:DIGGING DIRT   //  ADVENTURE: THE GAUNTLET
  33
  SHADOWRUN: FREE SEATTLE
  
  dropped off, and head back to Tacoma. From 
  there, the runners will go back to their safe-
  house and find Romeo there, waiting for them. 
  He will collect the reports for Telestrian, hand 
  over credsticks with their pay, and will pay 
  1,000 nuyen per piece of paydata about a sum-
  mit attendee that the team recovered.
  SSC Host
  The host always runs Patrol IC, and launch-
  es IC in the following order: Marker, Scramble, 
  Blaster (IC is detailed on p 187, SR6).
  The host has a security host behind the 
  public host.
  Matrix
  PUBLIC HOST
  SECURITY HOST
  ASDF: 5/4/7/6
  ASDF: 6/4/5/7
  Pushing the Envelope
  During the mesh-crossing challenge, throw 
  a few barghests at the runners. The stats can be 
  found on p. 216, SR6.
  If things are going too smoothly, consider 
  adding a sixth guard to monitor the building, 
  and then make the guards patrol in pairs. Let 
  the guards do their Perception + Intuition test 
  as a Teamwork test.
  Debugging
  If the runners cause a lot of noise by using 
  high explosives or something along those lines, 
  the Knight Errant patrol should come in by air, 
  and arrive within one minute. The sovereignty 
  of Council Island will have been violated, cre-
  ating an international conflict and making the 
  riot go out of control.
  Grunts and  
  Moving Targets
  ssc patrolman
  (Professional Rating 3)
  B
  A
  R
  S
  W
  L
  I
  C
  ESS
  3
  3
  3
  3
  3
  2
  3
  2
  6
  DR
  I/ID
  AC
  CM
  MOVE
  7
  6/1
  A1, I2
  10
  10/15/+1
  Skills: Athletics 2, Biotech 2, Close Combat 4, Con 1, Firearms 4, Influence 
  3, Perception 4
  Gear: Armor vest [+3, w/ cold resistance 3], commlink [DR 3, 2/0], helmet [+1) 
  w/ low-light vision, subvocal microphone, thermographic vision, trode net]
  Weapons:
  Fichetti Security 600 [Light Pistol, DV 1SI, SA, 11/10/7/—/—, 30 I, w/ 
  Stick ’n’ Shock ammo, detachable stock, laser sight, 2 spare clips]
  Stun baton [Club, DV 5SI, 6/—/—/—/—]
  Stun grenade [Thrown, DV 10S / 8S / 6S, Blast 15m]
  ssc security spider
  (Professional Rating 3)
  B
  A
  R
  S
  W
  L
  I
  C
  ESS
  2
  2
  3
  2
  4
  5
  4
  3
  4.5
  DECK CONFIG 1
  DECK CONFIG 2
  A
  S
  D
  F
  A
  S
  D
  F
  5
  4
  7 (8)
  6
  7
  4
  6 (7)
  6
  MATRIX DR
  MATRIX I/ID
  AC
  CM
  MOVE
  14 or 13
  12/4 or 11/4
  A1, I5
  10
  10/15/+1
  Skills: Cracking 5, Electronics 6, Perception 4
  Augmentations: Cyberjack [Rating 2, D/F 5/4]
  Gear: Renraku Kitsune [Device Rating 4, A/S 7/6, Programs 8]
  Programs: Armor, Configurator, Exploit, Fork, Lockdown, Signal Scrubber, 
  Toolbox, Trace
  Scene 4: 
  The Sordid World 
  of Politics
  What’s Up, Chummer?
  Major Reed (see p. 55) hires the runners to 
  implicate a sitting politician in the murder of a 
  prostitute at a bunraku parlor.
  Tell It To Them Straight
  The following afternoon, you get a com-
  mcall from Romeo. He indicates that he’s got 
  a line on a job that needs to be done tonight. 
  He’s sending you the details via a courier and 
  a datachip. A few minutes later, you hear a 
  light rapping at the door. You ready a weapon 
  and check the door cautiously. On the other 
  side is a bored-looking, pimply faced teenage 
  dwarf girl rocking a pink mohawk and chew-
  ing a wad of what you hope is bubblegum. 
  When you open the door, she hands you a 
  datachip and then turns and walks away, nev-
  er saying a word.
  On the datachip, you see a message from a 
  woman who doesn’t look immediately familiar 
  to any of you. She says to call her “Major.” She 
  wants you to go to a bunraku parlor in order 
  to deal with a client of theirs. The rest of the 
  details are located on the datachip.
  ADVENTURE: THE GAUNTLET  //  SCENE 4: THE SORDID WORLD OF POLITICS
  34
  SHADOWRUN: FREE SEATTLE
  
  Hooks
  Bunraku parlors are one of the more terri-
  ble aspects of the Sixth World, and this scene 
  may be troubling for some players. The gam-
  emaster should gauge if the players are pre-
  pared for a scene like this. If not, please feel 
  free to skip the scene.
  A bunraku parlor is a club, typically owned 
  by the Yakuza, that features “dolls.” These are 
  people, usually women, who have implants 
  that allow the bunraku owner to overwrite 
  their personalities and replace them with the 
  contents of a personafix chip. These dolls can 
  be made to act like almost anyone, and they of-
  ten undergo cosmetic surgeries as well to help 
  them complete the job. Afterward, they are 
  usually put into prison-like conditions where 
  they wait for another client and a new per-
  sonafix chip. The dolls cannot remember the 
  events they experienced while under the effects 
  of the personafix chip and eventually burn out 
  and become psychotic, at which point they are 
  permanently disposed of. Often these dolls are 
  immigrants who owe a debt to their coyotes or 
  other victims of human trafficking.
  Behind the Scenes
  Major Reed wants to eliminate her rival in 
  the UCAS, weakening their position in nego-
  tiations and providing her with ample black-
  mail. To do so, she wants to hire the runners 
  to go to a bunraku parlor that Carl Derrick is 
  known to attend and find a way to get him to 
  kill one of the prostitutes. Because she is not 
  present, there is no opportunity for negotia-
  tion or follow-up questions. This job requires 
  the runners to go in a little blind. Reed offers 
  the runners a flat rate of 2,500 nuyen apiece.
  There are lots of ways that they might want 
  to do this job. None of them are pretty, as they 
  all involve a degree of manipulation and wet-
  work that the runners may not be comfortable 
  with. They might want to drug Derrick and 
  manipulate the crime scene so that it looks 
  like he did the killing; they might want to use 
  magic to mentally manipulate him into killing 
  her; or they might even hack the girl’s person-
  afix chip so that she attacks him, and he must 
  defend himself. Shadowrun players tend to be 
  creative about this sort of thing, so the game-
  master should be prepared to improvise a lot 
  of this scene.
  Derrick has a preference for the Marilyn 
  Monroe fantasy. If the runners are looking for 
  the puppet he uses, she’ll look like Marilyn 
  Monroe. Additionally, her personality file will 
  be named appropriately.
  Getting to the parlor is straightforward and 
  shouldn’t require any tests. However, once in-
  side, the runners will potentially encounter sev-
  eral defenses, depending on how the runners 
  choose to execute the job. The defenses will be 
  detailed here, and enemy forces will be detailed 
  in the Grunts and Moving Targets section.
  The parlor is open 24/7 to anyone willing 
  to pay the membership fee of 5,000 nuyen or 
  who knows the password (which might be 
  obtained from a client stumbling out, for ex-
  ample). The parlor is under constant surveil-
  lance from hidden cameras, but also from the 
  puppets themselves. Every puppet is equipped 
  with cameras, microphones, simrigs, and other 
  implants that help keep tabs on their clients. 
  The puppets receive chips that are slotted into 
  their skilljacks, which overwrite their normal 
  personality and upload a suite of skills as well.
  At any given time, there are eight Yakuza 
  guards and one Yakuza mage present. The 
  Yakuza host for the bunraku parlor is man-
  aged by a technomancer security spider. Their 
  highest priority is protecting the puppets, since 
  each puppet is a massive investment and the 
  only way that the parlor turns a profit.
  The mage has established a rating 4 ward 
  (see p. 145, SR6) around the parlor, preventing 
  anyone dual-natured, with active foci, or other 
  active magical effects from entering easily. Ad-
  ditionally, the mage will use mental manipula-
  tion spells on belligerent or dissatisfied clients. 
  The mage prefers to keep his spells subtle and 
  intentionally dresses like the other guards so as 
  not to stand out.
  The parlor is composed of six different 
  “suites,” each one tailored to a customer’s de-
  sire. There is also a full-service bar that has 
  twelve stools, and a dancer is on a stage to 
  keep people entertained while they await their 
  suite’s availability.
  The personality chips are printed in a spe-
  cial room located in the basement, near where 
  the puppets are stored while inactive. While 
  the puppets can receive signals and even skill-
  softs sent to them wirelessly, the personafix 
  software requires a chip to be manually insert-
  ed into the puppet’s skilljack.
  The office that stores the chip printer is 
  locked with a rating 6 keypad maglock (rules 
  are detailed on p. 241, SR6). The blank chips 
  are stored in a safe behind a rating 6 biometric 
  maglock that is keyed to the staff.
  SCENE 4:THE SORDID WORLD OF POLITICS   //  ADVENTURE: THE GAUNTLET
  35
  SHADOWRUN: FREE SEATTLE
  
  Like with the last mission, the payment and 
  Romeo are waiting at the townhouse. Romeo 
  will pay 2,000 nuyen for each additional piece 
  of information on a summit attendee that was 
  recovered by the team.
  Bunraku Parlor Host
  The host always runs Patrol IC and launch-
  es IC in the following order: Blaster, Killer, 
  Sparky (IC is detailed on, p. 187, SR6).
  The host layout is:
  The Persona host stores all the personality 
  software that can be imprinted onto the chips. 
  This host also controls access to the puppets’ 
  skillsofts, and embedded codes that can turn 
  the puppets into a violent fighting force. With 
  a successful Electronics + Intuition (3) test (see 
  rules for Matrix Perception, p. 178, SR6), the 
  hacker will identify paydata worth 2,000 nuy-
  en. It is protected by rating 2 encryption.
  The Security host controls access to the 
  doors, but not to the maglock on the safe. Ad-
  ditionally, it provides access to all the cameras.
  The Yakuza like to collect data about their 
  clients, particularly the ones that can be black-
  mailed. That data is stored in the Data host. 
  With a successful Electronics + Intuition (3) 
  test, the hacker finds paydata on Carl Derrick, 
  Thomas Miranda, and Takuto Nakagawa. See 
  the Legwork chapter for specifics on the pay-
  data’s contents. If the hacker’s Matrix Percep-
  tion test got more than 5 hits, additional pay-
  data is identified, valued at 5,000 nuyen.
  Pushing the Envelope
  If the runners make a scene in the parlor and 
  threaten the property, the Yakuza Security Spider 
  can send a wireless signal to the puppets that makes 
  them hostile to all non-Yakuza. They will pick up 
  the nearest object that can be used as a weapon 
  (DV 2S or DV 2P) and will relentlessly attack.
  Debugging
  Because this scene involves a high degree 
  of improvisation, the gamemaster may need 
  to slow things down and review their options. 
  In order to maintain the flow of the game, the 
  gamemaster should make on-the-spot deci-
  sions that keeps things moving. The rules ref-
  erences are stated in their relevant sections, but 
  when in doubt, just do whatever seems like it 
  might be the most fun for the players.
  Grunts and  
  Moving Targets
  yakuza security spider
  (Professional Rating 4)
  B
  A
  R
  S
  W
  L
  I
  C
  ESS
  R
  2
  3
  3
  1
  6
  5
  5
  5
  6
  3
  MATRIX DR
  MATRIX I/ID
  AC
  CM
  MOVE
  11
  10/3
  A1, I4
  11
  10/15/+1
  Skills: Cracking 6, Electronics 4, Perception 4, Tasking 5
  Complex Forms: Diffusion of Data Processing, Diffusion of Firewall, Mir-
  rored Persona, Resonance Spike, Static Bomb, Tattletale
  Yakuza Guard
  (Professional Rating 4)
  B
  A
  R
  S
  W
  L
  I
  C
  ESS
  3
  4 (6)
  4
  4 (6)
  3
  3
  4
  3
  4.25
  DR
  I/ID
  AC
  CM
  MOVE
  6
  8/1
  A1, I2
  10
  10/15/+1
  Skills: Athletics 3, Biotech 1, Close Combat 5, Con 3, Engineering 1, Fire-
  arms 5, Influence 4 (Intimidation +2), Perception 4, Piloting 1
  Augmentations: Datajack, muscle replacement [Rating 2], retractable 
  spur [right arm]
  Gear: Armor vest [Defense Rating +3], commlink [device rating 3], earbuds 
  [capacity 3, w/ sound link, select sound filter 2], glasses [capacity 4, w/ 
  flare compensation, image link, smartlink]
  Weapons: 
  Spur [Blades, DV 3P, 7/—/—/—/—]
  Ingram Smartgun XI [Submachine gun, DV 3P, SA/BF, 13/11/8/—/—, 32 
  I, w/ gas-vent system, integral silencer, smartgun, 2 spare clips]
  Yakuza Mage
  (Professional Rating 4)
  B
  A
  R
  S
  W
  L
  I
  C
  ESS
  M
  3
  4
  4
  2
  4
  4
  4
  4
  6
  5
  MATRIX
  public host
  Rating: 4
  ASDF: 4/7/5/6
  security 
  host
  Rating: 5
  ASDF: 7/6/5/8
  persona 
  host
  Rating: 5
  ASDF: 5/7/8/6
  data  
  host
  Rating: 5
  ASDF: 5/8/6/7
  ADVENTURE: THE GAUNTLET  //  SCENE 4:THE SORDID WORLD OF POLITICS 
  36
  SHADOWRUN: FREE SEATTLE
  
  DR
  I/ID
  AC
  CM
  MOVE
  5
  8/1
  A1, I2
  10
  10/15/+1
  Skills: Astral 4, Athletics 2, Biotech 1, Conjuring 4, Enchanting 2, Firearms 
  2, Influence 2 (Intimidation +2), Perception 4, Piloting 1, Sorcery 5, Stealth 2
  Spells: Antidote, Armor, Clout, Combat Sense, Control Actions, Control 
  Thoughts, Detect Magic, Mind Probe, Physical Barrier, Stunbolt
  Gear: Actioneer business clothes [Defense Rating +2], commlink [device 
  rating 3], earbuds [rating 3, w/ sound link, select sound filter 2], glasses 
  [rating 4, w/ flare compensation, image link, smartlink], trode net
  Weapons: 
  Ingram Smartgun XI [Submachine gun, DV 3P, SA/BF, 13/11/8/—/—, 32 
  (c), w/ gas-vent system, integral silencer, smartgun, 2 spare clips]
  Telescoping staff [Club, DV 4S, 8/—/—/—/—]
  Bunraku Puppet
  (Professional Rating 1)
  B
  A
  R
  S
  W
  L
  I
  C
  ESS
  3
  4
  3
  2
  1
  3
  3
  6
  3.9
  DR
  I/ID
  AC
  CM
  MOVE
  3
  6/1
  A1, I2
  10
  10/15/+1
  Skills: Athletics 2, Biotech 2, Close Combat 5 (skillsoft), Con 6, Influence 6 
  (Seduction +2), Perception 5
  Augmentations: Cortex kink bomb, cyberears [capacity 1, w/ microphone, 
  sound link], cybereyes [capacity 1, w/ camera, image link, retinal dupli-
  cation 6], datajack, enhanced articulation, simrig, skilljack [capacity 6], 
  skillwires [rating 6], voice modulator [rating 3]
  Gear: Clothing, commlink [device rating 1]
  Weapons: 
  Unarmed [Unarmed, DV 1S, 4/—/—/—/—]
  Scene 5: 
  Gotta Break 
  a Few Eggs
  What’s Up, Chummer?
  The runners are hired by Shan and Shun, 
  the Sea Dragon’s representatives, to steal an 
  item from an underground vault. The item is a 
  massive egg belonging to an unspecified drag-
  on (there’s only one female known to lair in 
  Seattle: Urubia).
  Tell It to Them Straight
  A whole day goes by without a call from 
  Romeo. You begin to get a touch concerned, 
  and then you get a message asking you to come 
  to Underworld 93, a local bar and club in 
  Puyallup. You arrive shortly after 3 p.m., and 
  there’s almost no one there. You go inside and 
  see a few people milling about and hanging by 
  the bar. And then you spot Romeo sitting in a 
  booth, with two of the strangest-looking peo-
  ple you’ve ever seen.
  On Romeo’s right, you see an exceedingly 
  handsome man who probably would be a bit 
  shorter than average human height, but with 
  gently-curving tusks that are vaguely orkish. 
  To Romeo’s left, you see a lovely woman who 
  seems like the spitting image of the man to 
  Romeo’s right. You realize that these are Shan 
  and Shun from the summit.
  Romeo warmly invites you to pull up chairs 
  and sit to talk business.
  Behind the Scenes
  Shan and Shun will be mostly quiet during 
  the meeting, so long as Romeo stays on point. 
  They are not interested in discussing the sum-
  mit, only the job. Shan is the one who nego-
  tiates and does most of the talking. Shun ap-
  pears preoccupied but is watching the runners 
  closely. Shan offers the runners 5,000 nuyen 
  each, increased by 500 nuyen for any net hits 
  on the Negotiation test.
  The job is to break into an underground 
  vault and steal the contents within. Shan and 
  Shun will not specify what the team is after 
  inside the vault, only saying that it is fragile 
  and must be handled with care. To get into 
  the vault will require a plasma lance, which 
  is an industrial-grade cutting tool that will be 
  provided to the team via an industrial drone. 
  The team is to enter the Seattle Underground 
  and look for an unused tunnel. They will take 
  the drone to the specified point, and then be-
  gin operations to cut through the wall. On the 
  other side, they will be inside the vault.
  After acquiring their goal, they need to put 
  it into a protective case, which is also pro-
  vided, and haul it to a warehouse in Tacoma. 
  There, Shan and Shun will meet the runners 
  and transfer the funds.
  The runners will know the object when 
  they see it. Shan and Shun refuse to speak of it, 
  only saying that acquiring it is of utmost im-
  portance to their mistress, who forbade speak-
  ing about it aloud.
  Pushing the Envelope
  It’s a negotiation—there shouldn’t be any 
  need for violence or pushing the envelope. 
  However, if something like that happens, con-
  sider having a security team on-hand to take 
  care of troublemakers. Use the stats for the 
  Mafia Soldato on p. 207, SR6. 
  SCENE 5: GOTTA BREAK A FEW EGGS  //  ADVENTURE: THE GAUNTLET
  37
  SHADOWRUN: FREE SEATTLE
  
  Debugging
  There’s a chance that some of the runners 
  may not be willing to work with a dragon or 
  her proxies. If that’s the case, then increase the 
  pay to 7,500 nuyen apiece. If they are still un-
  willing to budge, skip this scenario. Shan will 
  be displeased with the team, but Shun will give 
  them a begrudging respect for holding to their 
  morality. This will influence the outcome of 
  the Picking Up the Pieces chapter.
  Scene 6: Terror 
  Down Below
  What’s Up, Chummer?
  The characters break into a subterranean 
  vault, fight a metaplanar monster, and steal a 
  dragon’s egg.
  Tell It to Them Straight
  Getting into the Seattle Underground is a 
  very different experience from what it was 
  before this was a legally recognized district. 
  There are patrols of Knight Errant police of-
  ficers and gentrified communities all over. But 
  you’re going deeper. The ventilation shaft that 
  you climb down smells fetid and has a sharp, 
  acrid flavor that lingers in the back of your 
  throat. When you emerge, you find that you’ve 
  managed to bypass the other residential levels, 
  and you’ve entered the area that people refer 
  to as the Feral Underground. The only light 
  here is what you bring with you, and the air is 
  thick and cold like a tomb.
  You’ve heard the rumors that there are 
  vampires, ghouls, and other nasties living in 
  the Feral Underground. You put your fingers 
  on your weapon out of habit, and it makes you 
  feel more comfortable. The Packmule drone 
  clambers down on its spidery legs and turns 
  on an industrial floodlight to illuminate the 
  tunnels. You hear what can best be described 
  as scuttling as the light illuminates the area in 
  front of the drone.
  Looking at your GPS, you see where you are. 
  Your destination is roughly east by a few hun-
  dred meters. But since no one has mapped these 
  tunnels, there’s no telling how you’ll get there.
  And then it blinks out with no service. 
  Great.
  ADVENTURE: THE GAUNTLET  //  SCENE 6: TERROR DOWN BELOW
  38
  SHADOWRUN: FREE SEATTLE
  
  When the players arrive at the  
  target area, read the following:
  You round a corner of the tunnels, and the 
  air seems to change to become less musty and 
  a bit warmer and more humid. An archway 
  of old stones is formed in front of you as you 
  come around the corner. The stones appear to 
  be ancient, almost like they were placed before 
  bricks were invented. On the other side of the 
  archway is a large cavern. The cavern floor is 
  covered in a fine, almost clay-like dust. Look-
  ing up to gauge the height is fruitless, as the 
  ceiling stretches to beyond your vision, and 
  ends in darkness. The air here is moist and 
  warm, almost tropical. On the south end of the 
  cavern, you see what can only be your target – 
  a wall of stone that has epigraphs and etchings 
  in it. Straddling the wall are two stone statues.
  Behind the Scenes
  The drone stats are in the Grunts and Mov-
  ing Targets section. It is an Ares Packmule, 
  which walks on four spindly legs that allow it 
  to easily navigate rough terrain.
  Navigating the tunnels is a challenging en-
  deavor at best. It requires an Outdoors + In-
  tuition (10, 1 Combat Round) Extended test 
  to find the location where the lance should be 
  used. Remember that dice pools decrease by 1 
  for each test after the first (p. 36, SR6).
  The wall that they are seeing has carvings 
  on it that look like they are older than Seattle. 
  The scene depicts a group of people in a circle 
  around a serpentine figure. If the characters 
  have the relevant Knowledge skills, they can 
  surmise that the people are worshipping the 
  serpent. The statues are actually people who 
  encountered the Subterranean Terror (see be-
  low). With a Perception + Intuition (3) test, the 
  characters can realize that these are not stat-
  ues, but real people who have been petrified.
  The players should begin firing up the lance 
  and cutting through the wall. The lance will 
  cut through the wall and the metal on the 
  other side over the course of several combat 
  rounds. If the lance is being operated by the 
  drone, it takes a Pilot + Targeting [Plasma 
  Lance] (10, 1 combat round) Extended test. If 
  the lance is being operated by someone else, it 
  takes an Agility + Engineering (10, 1 combat 
  round) Extended test.
  Carrying the lance requires a Strength of 5 
  or higher. The lance constantly drains battery 
  power, which is provided either by the lance 
  drone or another source. At the end of the op-
  eration, the lance and the device that has pow-
  ered it will be drained and useless.
  During the cutting process, the players will 
  come under attack by a petrophage. The stats 
  for the monster are in the Grunts and Moving 
  Targets section. The petrophage is a native of 
  a metaplane of Earth. It lives underground in 
  its native metaplane and eats rocks and stone. 
  It uses its Petrification power to solidify or-
  ganic prey before consuming it. The creature 
  has a blobby body that expands and contracts 
  as necessary to keep it moving. The leathery 
  hide protects it from most attacks, and its six 
  tentacles are lined with tiny hooked barbs 
  that resemble Velcro patches, but with bone 
  instead of plastic. The petrophage can also 
  use its tentacles to suspend itself and climb 
  walls and ceilings. In the center of the blobby 
  mass is what can generously be referred to as 
  its “face.” It has no visible eyes or ears, rely-
  ing instead on the ability to perceive auras. In 
  lieu of a mouth, the petrophage has a gaping 
  maw lined with rock-crushing teeth that oscil-
  late and pulse within. It prefers to stalk from 
  the shadows, using its Concealment power to 
  hide itself until it is ready to attack. When the 
  petrophage attacks, it prefers to start with the 
  Petrification power, and it will use Paralyzing 
  Touch via its tentacles to protect itself.
  After finally getting through the wall, the 
  players will enter a vault that is decidedly 
  modern. The air is extremely warm here, and 
  a perceptive player may realize that this isn’t a 
  vault—it’s an incubator. Sitting in the middle 
  of the vault is an egg, surrounded by thousands 
  of nuyen worth of gold and jewels. It’s about 
  1.2 meters tall and one meter wide, and it per-
  fectly fits inside the carrying case that Shan 
  and Shun gave the players. The characters can 
  recover the gold and jewels as well, and fenc-
  ing the materials is covered in the Picking Up 
  the Pieces chapter.
  When the players return to the warehouse 
  in Tacoma, they are greeted by Shan and Shun. 
  They take the case and carefully open it to exam-
  ine the contents. When they are satisfied that the 
  egg is undamaged, they provide the characters 
  with credsticks containing the money they were 
  promised. Shan and Shun are not very talkative, 
  and when the deal has concluded they will head 
  to a nearby boat and off into Puget Sound.
  Pushing the Envelope
  The runners could easily run into any num-
  ber of terrible things in the Feral Underground. 
  SCENE 6: TERROR DOWN BELOW  //  ADVENTURE: THE GAUNTLET
  39
  SHADOWRUN: FREE SEATTLE
  
  If they are struggling and getting lost, they 
  should bump into anything from devil rats 
  (and their variants) to vampires. The stats for 
  these critters are found on pp. 217-219, SR6.
  Debugging
  There are a few ways this could go wrong. 
  If the players run out of dice on Outdoors Ex-
  tended tests while navigating the caverns, give 
  them an opportunity to catch their breath and 
  refocus. This should take a couple of minutes, 
  and it’s an opportunity to attack the players if 
  you’re pushing the envelope, or to enhance the 
  paranoia by making the players think they’re 
  going to be attacked. Once the team has had a 
  chance to rest a bit, let them start navigating 
  again with a fresh dice pool.
  Likewise, if the dice pool runs out while op-
  erating the lance, have the lance stop function-
  ing for a minute as it overheats. The characters 
  will want to let it cool off, which should take 
  approximately 10 combat rounds. Once it’s 
  cooled, the characters can pick up where they 
  stopped with a fresh dice pool.
  Grunts and  
  Moving Targets
  Ares Packmule  
  w/ Plasma Lance
  HAND 
  (ON/OFF 
  ROAD)
  ACCEL
  SPEED 
  INT.
  TOP 
  SPEED
  BODY
  ARM
  PILOT
  SENS
  3/4
  6
  5
  30
  8
  6
  2
  1
  Autosofts: Targeting [Plasma Lance, Rating 6]
  Weapons: Plasma Lance [Exotic, DV 20P, Attack Ratings 20/10/5/—/—]
  petrophage
  B
  A
  R
  S
  W
  L
  I
  C
  ESS
  M
  8
  4
  6
  8
  3
  1
  5
  1
  6
  6
  DR
  I/ID
  AC
  CM
  MOVE
  14
  11/3
  A1, I4
  12
  5/10/+1
  Skills: Astral 4, Athletics 6, Close Combat 8, Outdoors 8, Perception 8, 
  Stealth 8
  Powers: Armor 6, Concealment, Dual Natured, Enhanced Senses (Touch, 
  Smell), Fear, Natural Weapon (Beak, Tentacles), Paralyzing Touch, Petrifi-
  cation, Sapience
  Weaknesses: Allergy (Sunlight, Extreme), Dietary Requirement (Stone), 
  Reduced Senses (Sight, Hearing)
  Attacks: 
  Bite [Unarmed, DV 4P, 10/—/—/—/—]
  Tentacle [Unarmed, DV 3S, 10/—/—/—/—]
  Scene 7: 
  The Final Coup
  What’s Up, Chummer?
  One final job—Thomas Miranda wants to 
  know how the chips will fall. Specifically, he 
  wants the runners to steal the contents of his 
  report to Governor Potter. Romeo wants the 
  runners to manipulate the report so that it fa-
  vors Seattle’s independence.
  Tell It to Them Straight
  With the summit drawing to a close, the 
  parties involved appeared on the local news-
  cast, trying to portray a diplomatic level of 
  politeness. You turn off the drivel as you get 
  a commcall from an unknown number. It’s 
  Thomas Miranda, the Horizon rep from the 
  summit.
  “Good morning! I’ve heard that you’ve 
  done some good work for Romeo over the last 
  week. I’m not privy to all of the details, but I 
  know enough to know that you’re the team 
  I want for a job.” He goes on to explain that 
  a report is being compiled, based in part on 
  information that the team has been acquiring. 
  That report is in Chuck Beale’s office, and Mi-
  randa would like you to get a copy of the re-
  port before Beale sends it to Governor Potter.
  He’d like you to get the report during the 
  afternoon summit session, while all the attend-
  ees are busy. He figures that the Secretary of 
  State will have the bulk of his personnel with 
  him for this event, and therefore the office will 
  be less protected than normal.
  Who says government is dull?
  When Romeo calls:
  “I’ve heard you’re doing some work on 
  your own, without my input. No worries—I’m 
  fine with it. However, I’d like to ask you to 
  call me before you complete that job. I may be 
  interested in you making some changes to the 
  material.”
  Behind the Scenes
  Miranda is willing to offer the team 5,000 
  nuyen each. This is a job that requires stealth, 
  discretion, and absolutely no lethal force. Get-
  ting into the Secretary of State’s building isn’t 
  terribly hard as it’s a public building, but get-
  ting into the offices requires some finesse. Since 
  ADVENTURE: THE GAUNTLET  //  SCENE 7: THE FINAL COUP
  40
  SHADOWRUN: FREE SEATTLE
  
  players tend to excel at finding ways to impro-
  vise solutions, a gamemaster will need to know 
  the details of the building, without forcing the 
  players to use a specific path.
  When the players arrive at the Secretary of 
  State’s office, they will get a call from Romeo 
  (see Tell It to Them Straight, above). When the 
  players get to the datachip, if they call Romeo, 
  he will offer them an additional 2,000 nuyen 
  to alter the contents of the datachip to make 
  the report favor independence.
  The State Department building is a 
  twelve-story glass-and-steel lump that sits in 
  the middle of Downtown Seattle. Beale’s office 
  is on the twelfth floor of the building, just be-
  low the roof.
  The roof has a helipad and a roof entrance 
  that leads to the stairwell. The entrance to 
  the stairwell has a rating 6 keycard maglock 
  with a rating 6 tamper detection system. Ad-
  ditionally, the roof has four turrets to provide 
  protection from aerial threats (the turrets are 
  detailed in Grunts and Moving Targets). The 
  rooftop entrance is also protected with a rat-
  ing 6 ward, put in place by the security mages 
  on staff.
  There is a public entrance that exits to the 
  street. Anyone that enters from the front of the 
  building must undergo scanning by a rating 6 
  chemsniffer and a rating 6 MAD scanner (rules 
  are detailed on p. 242, SR6). Additionally, to 
  be granted a visitor’s pass requires passing a 
  rating 6 SIN scanner.
  Around the back of the building, which ex-
  its to an alley, is a shipping dock that allows 
  for small- and medium-sized trucks, vans, and 
  so forth to load and unload cargo discreetly. 
  This is used as a VIP entrance as well, bypass-
  ing the public scrutiny that the front door can 
  sometimes draw. There is a rating 6 keycard 
  maglock on the door with a rating 6 tamper 
  detection system (same access as the helipad). 
  Additionally, a guard is stationed at this door 
  to monitor entrances and exits. A rating 6 
  ward is present on the rear entrances as well.
  There is a security team present in the build-
  ing, composed of twelve of Knight Errant’s 
  HTR forces. The security team is stationed on 
  the first floor, and the remaining ten floors are 
  patrolled by two guards who patrol five floors 
  each. The twelfth floor is not patrolled by a 
  security guard, as the floor is considered too 
  top secret for private contractors to be grant-
  ed access. In addition to these forces, there are 
  two HTR mages on staff who are ready to be 
  deployed if needed.
  The building is mostly offices for bureau-
  crats. They don’t care who wanders among 
  their cube farms, so long as the people walking 
  around don’t seem too out of place. If there’s 
  a question about whether an employee con-
  tacts the security team for assistance, have the 
  runner roll a Con + Charisma vs. Perception 
  + Intuition Opposed test. If the runner wins, 
  the worker just goes back to their grind. If the 
  worker wins, they get suspicious. If the worker 
  wins with 3 or more net hits, they contact the 
  security team.
  Access to the twelfth floor requires using 
  the elevators or the stairwells. The elevators 
  will not allow anyone past the tenth floor 
  without an appropriate keycard (treat as a rat-
  ing 6 keycard maglock). The stairwells have 
  rating 6 motion sensors throughout. Exiting 
  the stairwells requires on any floor requires 
  getting past a rating 6 keycard maglock with a 
  rating 6 tamper detection system.
  The twelfth floor is much like the other 
  floors, but with high-ranking bureaucratic offi-
  cials. They will be even more suspicious of any-
  one that they don’t recognize. Have the runner 
  roll a Con + Charisma vs. Perception + Intuition 
  Opposed test. If the worker wins with any net 
  hits, they contact the security team.
  Beale’s office is locked with a rating 6 bio-
  metric maglock, equipped with a rating 6 tam-
  per detection system. The floor is equipped 
  with a pressure pad directly inside the door. 
  This pad is calibrated to alert the security team 
  if anything that weighs less than 75 kilos or 
  more than 85 kilos lands on the pad. This pad 
  is disabled when Beale is in his office, con-
  trolled by a switch that sits at his desk.
  Beale’s desk is made of real mahogany and 
  is substantially heavier than it should be for 
  this size. There is a button that disarms the 
  pressure pad system, and another button that 
  is a PanicButton hardwired to the security 
  team. The buttons are not labeled or identified 
  in any way.
  The desk also contains Beale’s private safe. 
  The safe is concealed behind a drawer pull and 
  requires Beale’s fingerprint to unlock. It is pro-
  tected by a rating 7 biometric maglock with a 
  rating 7 tamper detection system. Within the safe, 
  one will find a datachip labeled “SS REPORT.”
  The files on the datachip are protected by a 
  rating 4 Data Bomb (see rules on p. 183, SR6) 
  that does not destroy the files when it deto-
  nates. Additionally, the files are under the ef-
  fects of rating 6 encryption, requiring a Crack 
  File action (see rules on p. 180, SR6) to bypass. 
  SCENE 7:THE FINAL COUP   //  ADVENTURE: THE GAUNTLET
  41
  SHADOWRUN: FREE SEATTLE
  
  Once the encryption and the data bomb are 
  dealt with, the files can be transferred to an-
  other device with an Edit File action (see rules 
  on p. 181, SR6). The contents of the file are 
  completely visible and are detailed in the Leg-
  work chapter. Runners may choose to modi-
  fy the file if they want. After the file has been 
  copied, the hacker may wish to use the Encrypt 
  File and Set Data Bomb actions to replace the 
  protection that they removed.
  In addition to the “SS REPORT” datachip, 
  there are two datachips labeled with the names 
  of “Dewey” T’ao and Brenda Reed. The contents 
  of these datachips are not encrypted or protected 
  and can be copied over with an Edit File action.
  In the event of an alert, the security proce-
  dure is as follows:
  •	 The security spider initiates a lockdown 
  of all elevators so that they do not ac-
  cess that floor. The elevators continue to 
  operate.
  •	 The security spider initiates a lockdown 
  of all stairwell doors to prohibit entry 
  but permit exit.
  •	 Lights and alarms go off on the designat-
  ed floor, indicating to the staff that they 
  need to evacuate the floor.
  •	 A pop-out turret is deployed to each of 
  the four stairwells, equipped with a cam-
  era to perform facial recognition scans 
  on anyone exiting the floor. The turret 
  is treated as a drone, and the stats are in 
  Grunts and Moving Targets.
  •	 The employees will vacate the floor to 
  the stairwells and begin to exit to the 
  bottom floor. This process takes approx-
  imately 20 combat rounds (60 seconds).
  •	 If you choose to use the additional step 
  detailed in Pushing the Envelope, this is 
  where that step should be used.
  •	 Once the floor is cleared, the mages will 
  astrally project to the floor to look for 
  any remaining astral signatures or auras.
  •	 If the mages detect an aura or astral sig-
  nature, the security guards use the stair-
  wells in teams of three to enter the floor 
  and sweep it for intruders.
  Seattle Secretary  
  of State Host
  The Secretary of State has its own host 
  that is discrete from the rest of the Seattle 
  government. It is always running Patrol IC, 
  and when an alarm is triggered it deploys IC 
  in the following order: Marker, Track, Blast-
  er, Black.
  The Public host has multiple assistants to 
  help the public with finding information, filling 
  out forms, and performing other civic tasks.
  The Security host controls all of the build-
  ing’s security devices and security personnel. 
  It manages the cameras and other passive de-
  fenses, as well as the drones and other active 
  defenses. It also manages the deployment of 
  security personnel.
  The Operations host is where the Seattle 
  State Department manages their operational 
  information. It’s considered to be top secret 
  on the level of other national interests. If one 
  wanted to find out what happened during an 
  operation, or get information about personnel, 
  this is where they’d look to find it. With a suc-
  cessful Matrix Perception test, the hacker can 
  identify paydata worth anywhere from 3,000 
  to 10,000 nuyen (gamemaster’s discretion). 
  The data is behind rating 6 encryption.
  The Data host holds most of the data for 
  the host. In it, one can find everything from 
  written reports and essays to payroll and hu-
  man resources data. With a successful Matrix 
  Perception test, the hacker can identify pay-
  data worth approximately 2,500 nuyen. The 
  data is behind rating 3 encryption.
  Pushing the Envelope
  Consider adding another step to the 
  building’s security procedure, in which they 
  flood the floor with Neuro-Stun IX (see p. 
  122, SR6).
  MATRIX
  public host
  Rating: 7
  ASDF: 8/7/10/9
  security 
  host
  Rating: 8
  ASDF: 10/8/9/11
  operations 
  host
  Rating: 8
  ASDF: 10/8/9/11
  data  
  host
  Rating: 8
  ASDF: 8/9/10/11
  ADVENTURE: THE GAUNTLET  //  SCENE 7:THE FINAL COUP 
  42
  SHADOWRUN: FREE SEATTLE
  
  Debugging
  If your hacker is not up to the task of de-
  crypting the file, the chip can be stolen. This 
  will still fulfill the needs of the mission, but it 
  exposes the operation. There will be after-ef-
  fects in the Picking Up the Pieces chapter.
  Grunts and  
  Moving Targets
  Knight Errant  
  HTR Security Officer
  (Professional Rating 6)
  B
  A
  R
  S
  W
  L
  I
  C
  ESS
  4
  4 (6)
  5 (8)
  4 (6)
  5
  3
  4
  3
  2.24
  DR
  I/ID
  AC
  CM
  MOVE
  14
  10/4
  A1, I5
  11
  10/15/+1
  Skills: Athletics 4, Biotech 2 (First Aid +2), Close Combat 6, Electronics 2, 
  Firearms 6 (Automatics +2), Influence 4 (Intimidation +2), Perception 6, 
  Piloting 3, Stealth 2
  Augmentations: Cyberears (Alphaware, capacity 2 w/ audio enhance-
  ment, damper, sound link, select sound filter 2), cybereyes (Alphaware, 
  capacity 3 w/ camera, flare compensation, image link, smartlink), dermal 
  plating 3, muscle replacement 2, wired reflexes 3
  Gear: Commlink (DR 4, 2/1), full body armor w/ helmet (+7), 2 x stun gre-
  nades, 2 x smoke grenades
  Weapons: 
  Ares Alpha [Rifle, DV 4P, SA/BF/FA, Attack Ratings 4/10/9/7/2, w/ 
  smartgun, underbarrel grenade launcher]
  Ares Predator VI [Heavy Pistol, DV 3S, SA/BF, Attack Ratings 
  10/10/8/—/—, w/ gel ammo, smartgun]
  Smoke grenade [Grenade, DV — / — / —, Blast —]
  Stun baton [Clubs, DV 5S(e), Attack Ratings 6/—/—/—/—]
  Stun grenade [Grenade, DV 10S / 8S / 6S, Blast 15m]
  Knight Errant  
  HTR Security Mage
  (Professional Rating 6)
  B
  A
  R
  S
  W
  L
  I
  C
  ESS
  M
  4
  4
  5
  3
  5
  5
  4
  5
  6
  6
  DR
  I/ID
  AC
  CM
  MOVE
  11
  9/1
  A1, I2
  11
  10/15/+1
  Skills: Biotech 4, Close Combat 2, Conjuring 6, Firearms 4, Influence 5, 
  Perception 6, Piloting 3, Sorcery 6, Stealth 2
  Spells: Analyze Truth, Armor, Clout, Combat Sense, Heal, Increase Reflex-
  es, Manabolt, Silence, Stunball, Vehicle Armor
  Gear: Commlink (Device rating 4), full body armor w/ helmet (+7), 2 x stun 
  grenades, 2 x smoke grenades
  Attacks: 
  Ares Alpha [Rifle, DV 4P, SA/BF/FA, Attack Ratings 4/10/9/7/2, w/ 
  smartgun, underbarrel grenade launcher]
  Ares Predator VI [Heavy pistol, DV 3S, SA/BF, Attack Ratings 
  10/10/8/—/—, w/ gel ammo, smartgun]
  Smoke grenade [Grenade, DV — / — / —, Blast —]
  Stun baton [Clubs, DV 5SI, Attack Ratings 6/—/—/—/—]
  Stun grenade [Grenade, DV 10S / 8S / 6S, Blast 15m]
  Knight Errant  
  HTR Security Spider
  (Professional Rating 6)
  B
  A
  R
  S
  W
  L
  I
  C
  ESS
  3
  3
  3
  3
  5
  6
  6
  5
  3.7
  DECK CONFIG 1
  DECK CONFIG 1
  A
  S
  D
  F
  A
  S
  D
  F
  7
  8
  6 (7)
  7
  8
  6
  7 (8)
  7
  MATRIX DR
  MATRIX I/ID
  MATRIX 
  AC
  MATRIX 
  CM
  MOVE
  14 (16)  
  or 15 (17)
  13/5  
  or 14/5
  A1, I6
  11
  10/15/+1
  Skills: Cracking 7, Electronics 8
  Augmentations: Cyberjack [Rating 4, D/F 7/6]
  Gear: Shiawase Cyber-6 cyberdeck [Device rating 5, A/S 8/7, 10 active 
  programs]
  Programs: Armor, Biofeedback, Biofeedback Filter, Configurator, Edit, En-
  cryption, Fork, Lockdown, Toolbox, Trace
  Ares Arms Sentry VI
  HAND 
  (ON/OFF 
  ROAD)
  ACCEL
  SPEED 
  INT.
  TOP 
  SPEED
  BODY
  ARM
  PILOT
  SENS
  0
  0
  0
  0
  6
  6
  3
  3
  DR
  I/ID
  AC
  CM
  6
  6/4
  A1, I5
  11
  Autosofts: Clearsight 4, Targeting [HK-227] 4
  Weapons: 
  HK-227 [Submachine gun, DV 3P, SA/BF, Attack Ratings 10/11/8/—/—, 
  200 (b)]
  Scene 8: 
  The Final Choice
  Scan This
  This isn’t so much a scene as a chance for 
  the runners to make and execute their final de-
  cisions. They should have found some black-
  mail material on various summit participants, 
  and they also should have obtained a copy of 
  the report to edit. At the end, they will have to 
  figure out what they do with it.
  Behind the Scenes
  Romeo is the best person to get pro-inde-
  pendence material to, and since the PCs are 
  already in touch with hi, that should be easy 
  enough. Carl Derrick, UCAS representative, 
  would normally be a natural candidate for 
  sending anti-independence material, but by 
  this point in the adventure his position is pre-
  SCENE 8: THE FINAL CHOICE  //  ADVENTURE: THE GAUNTLET
  43
  SHADOWRUN: FREE SEATTLE
  
  carious and the leadership he can provide is 
  dubious, so he might not be able to do any-
  thing with material given to him. Takuto Na-
  kagawa is pushing for Seattle to remain in the 
  UCAS, so he would be a good person to hand 
  off information to. Both sides are eager to have 
  information they can use, so they’re not go-
  ing to ask too many questions about where it 
  comes from.
  More information on what happens next is in 
  the Aftermath section of Picking Up the Pieces.
  Picking Up  
  The Pieces
  Aftermath
  No immediate announcements about Se-
  attle’s independence are made in the wake of 
  the summit, but certain paths may have been 
  cleared. If the PCs try to act to favor indepen-
  dence, specific after-effects include:
  •	 The calls for John Abernathy’s resigna-
  tion are redoubled after it is revealed that 
  he had connections to Human Nation. 
  He resigns in disgrace. The Salish-Shidhe 
  citizens in Seattle are given a new repre-
  sentative, who plays a little more hard-
  ball than Abernathy. Tír Tairngire forces 
  muster along the SSC/Tir border, but due 
  to some revelations that Telestrian had a 
  hand in the pollution of Tsimshian, the 
  forces withdraw before any skirmish can 
  break out.
  •	 Horizon wins a contract to provide the 
  city’s Matrix services, focusing specifical-
  ly on the Redmond Barrens. This means 
  potentially thousands of new sources of 
  human and metahuman data, especially 
  the SINless. Horizon stock immediately 
  jumps five percent.
  •	 Renraku wins a contract to provide 
  some of the city’s services, though at an 
  amount that is substantially less than 
  they had originally hoped. They renew 
  the contract to provide the city with 
  GridGuide, and they lose their opportu-
  nity to establish a firmer foothold—for 
  now. Nakagawa commits seppuku and 
  is buried with honors among his ances-
  tors.
  •	 Dewei T’ao is lauded as a hero of the 
  PPG after PPG members Aztechnolo-
  gy, Federated-Boeing, Gaeatronics, and 
  Wuxing all win massive contracts to 
  provide everything from city services to 
  aircab services.
  •	 Major Reed is instrumental in bringing 
  Ares to Seattle in a big way and takes a 
  position in the Ares field office in Seattle. 
  The effects of having a war criminal in 
  a position of power in a newly indepen-
  dent nation are yet to be seen.
  •	 Carl Derrick is not re-elected. He ends 
  up going back to DeeCee as a one-term 
  representative. His dealings with prosti-
  tutes and novacoke force a very public 
  and very messy divorce, and he seeks to 
  rehabilitate his image and his life.
  •	 Rumors circulate that Urubia has lost an 
  egg. She is furious and kills a dozen gang 
  members in Redmond in the resulting 
  rage. She then pledges to find the parties 
  responsible and to visit swift draconic 
  justice upon them. The reparations she 
  negotiates with Redmond include her 
  paying part of the contract that Horizon 
  is providing for the Redmond Barrens.
  If the players decide to steer things to favor 
  remaining with the UCAS, the city is sent into 
  a scramble. The events that are about to un-
  fold in the UCAS are not something Seattle can 
  stop, but Seattle’s path going forward becomes 
  more uncertain. The following events happen 
  to the members of the Summit:
  •	 The Salish-Shidhe Council is made aware 
  of John Abernathy’s dealings with Hu-
  man Nation. He’s immediately forced to 
  resign, but the deal is never made public. 
  In return, Telestrian wins a new contract 
  to support the cleanup efforts of the for-
  mer Tsimshian region.
  •	 Horizon makes off from the whole summit 
  like a bandit, winning a massive contract to 
  provide Matrix services to the Redmond 
  Barrens. If this project works, it opens up 
  thousands of new subscribers to Singulari-
  ty, Horizon’s Matrix Service Provider.
  •	 Renraku cleans house as well, with the 
  multibillion-dollar contract for the city’s 
  infrastructure and services being award-
  ed solely to them. Nakagawa is hailed 
  as a hero and given a new office a floor 
  above the one he currently occupies.
  ADVENTURE: THE GAUNTLET  //  AFTERMATH
  44
  SHADOWRUN: FREE SEATTLE
  
  •	 The PPG loses ground along the Pacific 
  Northwest. With the influx of Japana-
  corps coming to the rescue of Seattle’s 
  government, several smaller PPG mem-
  bers debate leaving the PPG altogether. 
  Dewey retires and goes on to live a hap-
  py life with his family in Hong Kong.
  •	 Major Reed’s war criminal record is ex-
  posed to the public, and she is immedi-
  ately brought up on charges by the CAS 
  government. Ares throws her under the 
  bus and agrees to extradite her and her 
  entire unit of Marines. They are all sen-
  tenced to life in prison for their involve-
  ment in the destruction of a tribe in the 
  Carib League. She also brings down a 
  two-star general and his staff, but they 
  get lesser charges.
  •	 Carl Derrick is disgraced as news of his ex-
  tramarital affairs, his involvement in bunr-
  aku parlors, and his addiction to novacoke 
  all come to the fore. He’s the laughingstock 
  of DeeCee. His wife divorces him, and he 
  ends up in a destructive shame-spiral from 
  which he never recovers.
  •	 Urubia discovers that one of her eggs is 
  missing. She loses her temper, and ac-
  cidentally engulfs a block of Redmond 
  buildings in flame. She immediately of-
  fers reparations, which come with the 
  assistance of Horizon, since they are re-
  building things in the Barrens anyway.
  Awarding Money
  Per the terms arranged by Romeo for each 
  of the scenes, the players are given the agreed 
  upon monetary recompense at the conclusion of 
  each job. If they acquired any additional payda-
  ta above and beyond the kind that Romeo was 
  looking for, that paydata has a value defined in 
  that scene. The runners may fence any goods or 
  paydata that they acquired along the way.
  Awarding Karma
  Karma is sort of the universal currency for 
  hard work, effort, and inspiration. At the end 
  of an adventure, Karma is awarded to players 
  based on their individual and team contribu-
  tions. A player will earn some of the available 
  Karma rewards, but not all of them. Addition-
  ally, recall that Karma can be lost by some 
  particularly atrocious actions. Taking Karma 
  away from a player should not be done lightly.
  It is not recommended for a gamemaster to 
  share what characters can earn Karma for, as 
  they may wish to play the adventure again with 
  different outcomes. Additionally, it prevents 
  players or gamemaster from second-guessing 
  their decisions, and decisions are the basis of a 
  good roleplaying game.
  Team Karma
  •	 Discovering a valuable secret about a 
  summit attendee: 1 (can only be earned 
  once per attendee)
  Scene 2
  •	 Fought the Ancients when arriving in 
  Puyallup: 1
  •	 Peacefully dealt with the Ancients when 
  arriving in Puyallup: 2
  Scene 3
  •	 No alarms in the SSC Embassy: 1
  •	 Avoided any fatalities in the SSC Embas-
  sy: 2
  Scene 4
  •	 Framed Carl Derrick for murder: 1
  •	 Framed Carl Derrick for another crime, 
  not resulting in a fatality: 2
  Scene 6
  •	 Cut through the wall without having to 
  stop: 1
  •	 Defeated the Petrophage: 1
  Scene 7
  •	 No alarms in the Secretary of State’s 
  building: 1
  •	 No fatalities in the Secretary of State’s 
  building: 1
  Individual Karma
  •	 Survival award: 5
  •	 Guts or bravery: 1
  •	 Pushing the storyline along: 1
  •	 Independent investigation efforts: 1
  Awarding Contacts
  Many of the characters represented in Free 
  Seattle can be reused in future Seattle cam-
  paigns. This means that if the characters have 
  established a working relationship with them, 
  they might be called upon as contacts in the 
  future. Gamemasters are encouraged to use 
  AFTERMATH  //  ADVENTURE: THE GAUNTLET
  45
  SHADOWRUN: FREE SEATTLE
  
  and grant to the players any NPCs they see fit. 
  Some possible contacts are listed below:
  •	 Romeo Steele (Connection 5, Loyalty 1)
  •	 Margaret Telestrian (Connection 6, Loy-
  alty 1)
  •	 Shan (Connection 3, Loyalty 1)
  •	 Shun (Connection 3, Loyalty 1)
  •	 Thomas Miranda (Connection 6, Loyal-
  ty 1)
  Building Reputation  
  and Heat
  Through the course of the mission, several 
  things may contribute to building Reputation 
  and Heat. The rules starting on p. 235, SR6 
  cover the general acquisition of Reputation 
  and Heat, all of which apply to this adventure. 
  This section will cover specific things or events 
  that may generate Heat and/or Reputation for 
  a runner.
  Scene 2
  •	 Killed more than half of the Ancients: –1 
  Reputation, +1 Heat roll modifier
  Scene 3
  •	 Killed guards at the SSC Embassy: +1 
  Heat roll modifier
  Scene 4
  •	 Started a public fight in the bunraku par-
  lor: +1 Heat roll modifier
  Scene 6
  •	 Collected proof that they killed the Pet-
  rophage: +2 Reputation
  Scene 7
  •	 Any fatalities in the Secretary of State’s 
  building: +3 Heat roll modifier
  ADVENTURE: THE GAUNTLET  //  AFTERMATH
  46
  SHADOWRUN: FREE SEATTLE
  
  Legwork is about searching for information 
  about a person, place, or relationship. It can be 
  done by calling contacts that might know the 
  information you seek, performing extensive 
  and deep Matrix searching, or some combina-
  tion of the two. These charts help gamemasters 
  determine the results of legwork efforts.
  To determine what information a contact 
  knows, roll the contact’s Connection + Loyalty 
  as a test. If a contact could reasonably be said 
  to have a connection to the target information, 
  the gamemaster should apply a +2 dice pool 
  modifier to this test. The number of hits de-
  termines what information a contact knows. 
  To determine what a contact is willing to tell 
  the character, have the player roll Influence + 
  Charisma, with the contact’s Loyalty rating as 
  a bonus to the dice pool. The number of hits 
  determines how much information the contact 
  is willing to share for free. If the contact knows 
  more than they are telling the character, the 
  character can buy that information from the 
  contact for 100 nuyen per level. Contacts can-
  not give the character more information than 
  that contact knows.
  Additionally, Matrix searches can turn up 
  useful information. The Matrix Search action 
  (see p. 183, SR6) allows characters to perform 
  an Electronics + Intuition (variable, 10 min-
  utes) Extended test to dig up information. De-
  pending on how much time one is willing to 
  invest and how much information is publicly 
  available, a Matrix Search can be as useful as 
  a contact. But because the information must 
  be publicly available, the information is rarely 
  more useful than a contact.
  If a character gets hold of one of the valu-
  able paydata logs about a character, treat it 
  as if the whole table has been exposed to the 
  character.
  LEGWORK
    //  LEGWORK
  
  Charles “Chuck” Beale
  Contact 
  Matrix 
  Results
   
  0 
  0 
  No useful information.
   
  1 
  1 
  The Secretary of State for 
  Seattle.
   
  2 
  2 
  Left Horizon as a vice 
  president for International 
  Relations.
   
  3 
  3 
  An integral figure in the 
  peace talks between Aztlan 
  and Amazonia, bringing 
  both sides together at their 
  worst.
   
  4 
  4 
  Went to Dartmouth College, 
  and graduated summa cum 
  laude with a double major 
  in psychology and political 
  science.
   
  5 
  5 
  His father was extremely 
  abusive to his whole family. 
  In the end, his father 
  committed suicide.
   
  6 
  — 
  Chuck is a social adept, 
  but he did not learn about 
  this until after his father’s 
  suicide.
   
  7 
  — 
  Horizon identified Chuck 
  as a social adept during 
  testing in high school. They 
  offered him a position 
  within Horizon after his 
  father’s death.
   
  8 
  — 
  Chuck was responsible 
  for his father’s death. The 
  management at Horizon 
  managed to convince him 
  to stand up for himself and 
  his mother, causing his 
  magical powers to manifest 
  in his father’s death.
   
  9 
  — 
  Convinced an Amazonian 
  tribe to appear in a 
  fictional video showing the 
  “war crimes” of Aztlan. All 
  of the tribe members were 
  later killed.
  Gilroy “Romeo” Steele
  Contact 
  Matrix 
  Results
   
  0 
  0 
  No useful information.
   
  1 
  1 
  Born in Boston to human 
  parents, moved to Seattle 
  shortly before going to 
  college at Stanford Law 
  School.
   
  2 
  2 
  Private practice lawyer 
  who works on a variety of 
  cases.
   
  3 
  3 
  When he was a teenager, 
  Humanis thugs burned 
  down his parents’ house. 
  This forced the family 
  to move to the Pacific 
  Northwest.
   
  4 
  4 
  Hosts an annual gala 
  to raise funds for 
  organizations like Mothers 
  of Metahumans, Ork Rights 
  Commission, and other 
  pro-metahuman rights 
  organizations.
   
  5 
  5 
  Known to be someone that 
  the elite can turn to when 
  they want problems to 
  disappear, or to be “fixed.”
   
  6 
  — 
  Works actively against 
  policlubs like Humanis 
  and uses them to drive 
  charity functions for pro-
  metahuman charities.
   
  7 
  — 
  His parents were members 
  of Humanis but left the 
  organization after having a 
  dwarf child.
   
  8 
  — 
  Some Humanis members 
  say they are still in contact 
  with Steele’s parents, and 
  that they keep connections 
  with Humanis operatives 
  despite dropping their 
  membership.
   
  9 
  — 
  Funded a Humanis 
  operation that killed several 
  orks, trolls, and dwarves. 
  This was done in order to 
  help spark the movement 
  for Proposition 23.
  Margaret Telestrian
  Contact 
  Matrix 
  Results
   
  0 
  0 
  No useful information.
   
  1 
  1 
  Often talked about in the 
  society pages of Seattle 
  and Cara’sir screamsheets.
   
  2 
  2 
  Hosts charity auctions 
  and galas throughout the 
  Pacific Northwest.
   
  3 
  3 
  Has supported several 
  Tsimshian cleanup efforts 
  prior to their integration 
  into the SSC.
  LEGWORK  //   
  48
  SHADOWRUN: FREE SEATTLE
  
   
  4 
  4 
  Vocal opponent of the 
  Salish-Shidhe Council, 
  often suggesting that they 
  cannot support Tsimshian 
  correctly.
   
  5 
  5 
  Was informally accused by 
  the Salish-Shidhe Council 
  of interfering with their 
  tribal elections. Charges 
  were never brought, but 
  Margaret is under strict 
  scrutiny by the SSC for 
  her interactions with their 
  tribal leaders.
   
  6 
  — 
  Supports UCAS control 
  over Seattle because the 
  Tír Princes worry that an 
  independent Seattle would 
  become hostile to Tír 
  Tairngire’s interests.
   
  7 
  — 
  Bribed (and is still bribing) 
  tribal leaders of Tsimshian 
  to allow Telestrian 
  Industries to dump waste 
  in Tsimshian.
  John Abernathy
  Contact 
  Matrix 
  Results
   
  0 
  0 
  No useful information.
   
  1 
  1 
  Ambassador to Seattle 
  from the Salish-Shidhe 
  Council.
   
  2 
  2 
  Member of the Salish tribe.
   
  3 
  3 
  Has an office in the SSC 
  embassy, located on 
  Council Island.
   
  4 
  4 
  Struggles to navigate 
  the tricky intertribal 
  relationships that exist in 
  the SSC.
   
  5 
  5 
  Has been previously 
  criticized for being too nice 
  to the Seattle governor’s 
  office.
   
  6 
  — 
  Wants to try to find 
  information that would 
  undermine Governor Potter 
  to use as leverage. He 
  wants to be able to take 
  a tougher approach to 
  negotiations with Seattle.
   
  7 
  — 
  The Salish-Shidhe Council 
  wants to support a free 
  Seattle because they see 
  a weakened Seattle as a 
  better ally in the event of 
  an economic war between 
  the various powers of the 
  Pacific Northwest.
   
  8 
  — 
  Financially supported 
  Paladin Group LLC, which 
  turned out to be a front 
  for Human Nation. While 
  he never intended to 
  support a terrorist group, 
  he has tried to hide his 
  financial contributions in 
  order to prevent people 
  from getting the wrong 
  impression.
  Major Brenda Reed
  Contact 
  Matrix 
  Results
   
  0 
  0 
  No useful information.
   
  1 
  1 
  Formerly a CAS Marine, 
  retired at the rank of Major.
   
  2 
  2 
  Joined Ares 
  Macrotechnology shortly 
  after leaving the CAS 
  Marine Corps.
   
  3 
  3 
  Brought several of her 
  former soldiers with her to 
  be her personal staff.
   
  4 
  4 
  Brought into Ares in part 
  because of her connections 
  with the CAS.
   
  5 
  5 
  Scheduled to be formally 
  charged by the CAS Marine 
  Corps for war crimes that 
  took place in the Carib 
  League. Retired before 
  charges were brought.
   
  6 
  — 
  Brought in by Ares in 
  part because she has dirt 
  on CAS leadership and 
  politicians.
   
  7 
  — 
  Her squad was responsible 
  for wiping out a village of 
  Carib natives in order to 
  make a base that would be 
  used by the CAS Marines.
   
  8 
  — 
  Ares wants a free Seattle 
  because an independent 
  Seattle is more dependent 
  upon corporate interests, 
  and Ares is well-positioned 
  with Knight Errant already 
  in the city.
    //  LEGWORK
  49
  SHADOWRUN: FREE SEATTLE
  
  Carl Derrick
  Contact 
  Matrix 
  Results
   
  0 
  0 
  No useful information.
   
  1 
  1 
  Inaugurated in 2079 to 
  represent Virginia’s 2nd 
  district (the area around 
  Norfolk) to the UCAS House 
  of Representatives.
   
  2 
  2 
  Elected on a platform of 
  reforming UCAS politics 
  by getting money out of 
  politics and returning 
  power to people through 
  more direct election.
   
  3 
  3 
  Married in 2070 to Cindy 
  Adams, and has three 
  children: Jack, Finn, and 
  Cathy.
   
  4 
  4 
  Graduated from Princeton 
  University in 2068 with a 
  degree in Economics.
   
  5 
  5 
  Rumored to have had an 
  affair in 2076, but the 
  rumors were never proven 
  and did not derail his 
  election.
   
  6 
  — 
  Has had several 
  extramarital affairs, and 
  is also a known user of 
  several drugs, such as 
  novacoke.
   
  7 
  — 
  UCAS wants to keep 
  Seattle in place for several 
  reasons, and they feel 
  insulted that they have 
  to make a case—Seattle 
  should want to stay in the 
  UCAS because it belongs 
  there, simply put.
   
  8 
  — 
  Slept with the Speaker 
  of the House’s daughter, 
  which prompted the 
  Speaker to send Derrick 
  to some of the worst 
  committees and has 
  hindered Derrick’s 
  legislative work.
   
  9 
  — 
  Because of Derrick’s lack 
  of progress in Congress, 
  his re-election path is 
  challenging. This has 
  caused Derrick to slide 
  further into debauchery, 
  including the regular use of 
  bunraku puppets.
  Shun
  Contact 
  Matrix 
  Results
   
  0 
  0 
  No useful information.
   
  1–5 
  1–5 
  There is no publicly known 
  information available.
   
  6 
  — 
  Shun was born in 2061, the 
  Year of the Comet. He was 
  born in Indonesia and was 
  promptly acquired by the 
  Sea Dragon.
   
  7 
  — 
  Shun prefers to use 
  weapons and technology to 
  fight his opponents, and he 
  tends to be hot-headed.
  Shan
  Contact 
  Matrix 
  Results
   
   
  0 
  No useful information.
   
  1–5 
  1–5 
  There is no publicly known 
  information available.
   
  6 
  — 
  Shan was born in 2061, the 
  Year of the Comet. She was 
  born in Indonesia and was 
  promptly acquired by the 
  Sea Dragon.
   
  7 
  — 
  Shan has extensive magical 
  abilities centered around 
  the use of ice and water 
  magic.
  Urubia
  Contact 
  Matrix 
  Results
   
  0 
  0 
  No useful information.
   
  1 
  1 
  She’s Seattle’s very own 
  adult western dragon, 
  based out of Redmond.
   
  2 
  2 
  Rumors suggest she’s 
  mated with Kalanyr, who 
  recently lost his bid for 
  Seattle governor.
   
  3 
  3 
  Dual citizen of the UCAS 
  and Salish-Shidhe Council.
   
  4 
  4 
  Urubia owns the Fun 
  House, a club in the heart 
  of Redmond.
   
  5 
  5 
  Currently in a feud with 
  Sonya Scholl, the mayor of 
  Redmond, over the future 
  of the district.
   
  6 
  6 
  Owns several properties in 
  Redmond and throughout 
  LEGWORK  //   
  50
  SHADOWRUN: FREE SEATTLE
  
  the Seattle metroplex. Her 
  property holding company 
  is Crimson Wings, LLC.
   
  7 
  7 
  Partial owner of several 
  businesses focused on 
  resource extraction, 
  such as Olympic Logging, 
  Olympic Woodcraft, and 
  Olympic Nursery.
   
  8+ 
  8+ 
  There’s more to know, but 
  dragons keep their secrets 
  very well.
  Sea Dragon
  Contact 
  Matrix 
  Results
   
  0 
  0 
  No useful information.
   
  1 
  1 
  It’s right there in the 
  name—it’s a dragon that 
  likes to live in the sea.
   
  2 
  2 
  The Sea Dragon does not 
  tolerate metahumans. She 
  eats them on a regular 
  basis.
   
  3 
  3 
  The Sea Dragon is rumored 
  to fund eco-terrorist cells 
  to remove metahumans 
  from the oceans, and she 
  has a particular hatred for 
  Proteus AG.
   
  4 
  4 
  Her eggs were switched out 
  without her knowledge, but 
  after Hestaby’s exile, the 
  eggs were returned to her.
   
  5 
  5 
  One of her lairs is in 
  Indonesia. This is her more 
  public lair, and where 
  meetings between her and 
  other dragons tend to take 
  place.
   
  6 
  6 
  One of her lairs is off the 
  western coast of Hawai’i. 
  This is an undersea 
  mountain and everything 
  within 10,000 square 
  kilometers. She uses 
  this lair to store dragon 
  eggs, and also to house a 
  massive mining operation.
   
  7 
  7 
  Her primary lair is in 
  Cardigan Bay, guarded by 
  merrow and water spirits.
   
  8+ 
  8+ 
  There’s more to know, but 
  dragons keep their secrets 
  very well.
  Takuto Nakagawa
  Contact 
  Matrix 
  Results
   
  0 
  0 
  No useful information.
   
  1 
  1 
  High-level executive for 
  Renraku, based out of the 
  Seattle office.
   
  2 
  2 
  Born in Seattle to Renraku 
  parents. Went to college 
  at the University of 
  Washington.
   
  3 
  3 
  Married to Margaret 
  Nichols, an elf from Seattle 
  with ties to the Salish 
  people.
   
  4 
  4 
  Supported the Ork 
  Underground becoming a 
  district because it would 
  provide Renraku an 
  opportunity to open new 
  markets.
   
  5 
  5 
  Connected to the 
  Shotozumi-gumi. His 
  personal attorney is a 
  Kaikei of the gumi and 
  provides the gumi with 
  legal support.
   
  6 
  — 
  Renraku wants to keep 
  Seattle in the UCAS 
  because they’ve worked 
  extremely hard to rebuild 
  their image with the UCAS, 
  and Seattle is their crown 
  jewel. A multibillion-dollar 
  city support contract 
  is expected to go to 
  Renraku, and they don’t 
  want to jeopardize these 
  negotiations.
   
  7 
  — 
  Funded an effort by a 
  group of hackers to attack 
  the Seattle government 
  nodes, promoting 
  Renraku’s own security 
  specialists in the eyes of 
  the government.
   
  8 
  — 
  At the time of the SCIRE 
  Incident, Takuto was a 
  programmer who worked 
  on Deus. He was directly 
  involved in torturing the AI 
  and making it go insane.
    //  LEGWORK
  51
  SHADOWRUN: FREE SEATTLE
  
  Dewei “Dewey” T’ao
  Contact 
  Matrix 
  Results
   
  0 
  0 
  No useful information.
   
  1 
  1 
  A Chinese elf working for 
  Wuxing as an executive in 
  charge of logistics in the 
  Pacific region.
   
  2 
  2 
  Born in Hong Kong in 2057, 
  married to Wei Yuan in 
  2070. The couple adopted 
  two children, Tseng and 
  Chiu.
   
  3 
  3 
  Practicing wujen of the 
  Wuxing tradition who lives 
  life by the tenets of Taoism. 
   
  4 
  4 
  Sits on the board of 
  directors of the Pacific 
  Prosperity Group, acting 
  as liaison between Wuxing 
  and the PPG.
   
  5 
  5 
  One of the founding 
  executives of the Pacific 
  Prosperity Group.
   
  6 
  — 
  A complete control freak 
  that practices mental 
  manipulation magics in 
  order to maintain control 
  over a situation.
   
  7 
  — 
  The PPG wants to 
  “liberate” Seattle because 
  it sees an opportunity to 
  form close business ties to 
  their coastal partners. Also 
  because it would irritate 
  the Japanacorps to no end, 
  and the PPG likes to do 
  anything it can to disrupt 
  them.
   
  8 
  — 
  Has practiced blood 
  magic in the past, though 
  he publicly decries it. It 
  happened once when he 
  was a child, before he was 
  taught Wuxing and before 
  he met his husband. If this 
  was revealed, it would 
  destroy his life and his 
  career.
  Thomas Miranda
  Contact 
  Matrix 
  Results
   
  0 
  0 
  No useful information.
   
  1 
  1 
  Executive with Horizon 
  from Los Angeles, works 
  in the Talent Acquisition 
  division of Horizon 
  Americas.
   
  2 
  2 
  Latino ork from Los 
  Angeles, very gregarious 
  and kind to the 
  underprivileged.
   
  3 
  3 
  Born in the barrios of Los 
  Angeles and still goes back 
  to give his time and nuyen 
  to the community in which 
  he was raised.
   
  4 
  4 
  Reports directly to Mira 
  Castillo, the vice president 
  in charge of Horizon 
  Americas.
   
  5 
  5 
  Formerly worked with 
  Chuck Beale, and the two 
  of them hated each other 
  in the friendliest, politest 
  way possible.
   
  6 
  — 
  Knows Beale’s dirtiest 
  secret and has indirectly 
  leveraged it against him on 
  a few occasions. No one in 
  Miranda’s staff knows the 
  secret.
   
  7 
  — 
  Horizon has no interest 
  in either independence 
  or maintaining the status 
  quo. Instead, they are 
  just interested in learning 
  which way the Summit will 
  go, as far in advance as 
  possible.
   
  8 
  — 
  A Dawkins Group agent, 
  specifically the handler for 
  Corrine Potter. He’s using 
  the summit as a cover to 
  check in with her.
  LEGWORK  //   
  52
  SHADOWRUN: FREE SEATTLE
  
  cast of 
  shadows
  
  Charles “Chuck” Beale
  Formerly involved in the PR department 
  for Horizon, Chuck Beale was a company 
  man until recently. His first big break came 
  with his team being chosen to work on the 
  Ares PR campaign. He also successfully ar-
  bitrated the dispute between Amazonia and 
  Aztlan. He’s shown a willingness to work 
  outside the lines in order to get a successful 
  resolution. Corrine Potter knew him from her 
  days in Horizon and tapped him to be her 
  Secretary of State.
  This summit might be the greatest test of 
  his administrative and negotiating abilities. 
  He’s been advised to keep an open mind and 
  listen to all participants. However, he’s also 
  not above hiring shadowrunners to follow up 
  on leads, dig up dirt, and find out the truth 
  behind each of their promises. His efforts will 
  put his life in danger but also could help sway 
  the future of Seattle.
  > This guy’s a straight up Horizon shill. He was plucked 
  directly from their executive pool, and he’s as cold and 
  conniving as they get. Still, he’s young enough to still have 
  some ideals left, so perhaps that can be used as leverage. 
  It seems like he genuinely prefers non-violence, but that 
  may only be because it helps the corporate ledger.
  > 0rkCE0
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  6 (9)
  3
  6
  3
  5.3
  5
  DR
  I/ID
  AC
  CM
  MOVE
  5
  5/1
  A1, I2
  10
  10/15/+1
  Skills: Athletics 2, Con 7, Electronics 3, Influence 7 (8), Perception 4, 
  Piloting 2
  Adept Powers: Danger Sense, Enhanced Perception, Improved Ability 
  (Influence) 4, Kinesics, Rapid Healing 2, Vocal Control
  Augmentations: Datajack, cerebral booster 3
  Gear: Actioneer Business Clothes (+2), commlink (Device Rating 5)
  Weapons: 
  Unarmed [Unarmed, DV 2S, 5/—/—/—/—]
  Gilroy “Romeo” Steele
  Romeo was born into a family of shadow-
  runners from Seattle, who managed to get out 
  of the business by leveraging blackmail on al-
  most everyone in the city. He learned that the 
  best way to deal with someone is to smile at 
  them while twisting the knife. He’s a dwarf 
  with serious charm, knows a hell of a lot of 
  powerful people in Seattle, and is one of the 
  top fixers in the city.
  > I know Romeo well. Hell, everyone in Seattle seems to know 
  Romeo at least in passing. He can move mountains with a smile. 
  Be extremely wary of anyone who has that kind of influence.
  > Sounder
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  2
  2 (4)
  3
  4
  2 (4)
  5
  6 (9)
  3
  4.1
  DR
  I/ID
  AC
  CM
  MOVE
  4
  7 (9)/1
  A1, I2
  9
  10/15/+1
  Skills: Athletics 2, Con 6, Electronics 6, Firearms 4, Influence 6 (Negotia-
  tion +2), Perception 4, Piloting 3
  Augmentations: Cerebral booster 2, datajack, mnemonic enhancer 3, re-
  action enhancers 2, tailored pheromones 3
  Gear: Actioneer business clothes (+2), commlink (DR 6, 3/1)
  Weapons: 
  Ares Viper Slivergun [Heavy pistol, DV 4P (fl), SA/BF, 12/8/6/—/—, 30 
  (c), w/ integral silencer]
  Margaret Telestrian
  The eldest daughter of one of the original 
  Telestrians, Margaret was blessed with an un-
  rivaled upbringing that allowed her to tour 
  the world and learn from some of the world’s 
  brightest minds. She has a natural gift for ma-
  nipulating others, and she can keep her cool 
  better than the polar ice caps.
  Margaret is beautiful, even by elven stan-
  dards. She has the high cheekbones and point-
  ed ears that most elves sport, and she inten-
  tionally cuts her hair short to emphasize these 
  differences. She’s an elf supremacist at heart, 
  but she’d never actually deign to confirm or 
  deny such an accusation.
  > Never call her Marge or Maggie. She’ll have you 
  eviscerated. She might look like the peak of grace and 
  sophistication, but she’s a scorpion. If you let her get inside 
  your defenses, she’ll pick you to pieces, and you’ll thank 
  her for the experience.
  > Kat o’ Nine Tales
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  3
  2
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  4
  4
  6 (8)
  2
  5.5
  DR
  I/ID
  AC
  CM
  MOVE
  4
  7/1
  A1, I2
  9
  10/15/+1
  Skills: Con 4, Electronics 4, Influence 6, Perception 5, Piloting 2
  Augmentations: Datajack, Tailored Pheromones 2
  Gear: Actioneer business clothes (+2), commlink (DR 5, 3/0)
  Weapons: 
  Unarmed [Unarmed, DV 1S, 5/—/—/—/—]
  John Abernathy
  John Abernathy is a well-respected member 
  of the Salish tribe, one of the larger tribes in the 
  CAST OF SHADOWS  //   
  54
  SHADOWRUN: FREE SEATTLE
  
  Salish-Shidhe Council. Despite mostly cordial 
  relations with Tír Tairngire, they often serve as 
  a barrier between Seattle’s and Tír Tairngire’s 
  political and economic conflicts.
  Abernathy wears a business suit as a con-
  cession to how the modern world works, and 
  moccasins as a concession to how he likes his 
  feet to feel.
  Abernathy maintains an office on Council 
  Island, with his personal staff of three and his 
  administration staff of about a dozen more 
  workers. Most of them are volunteers from 
  the SSC, and he uses these volunteers to help 
  keep an ear to the street about what is going 
  on within the Council and how it might affect 
  these negotiations.
  > This guy reminds me of the old businessmen from the late 
  days of Silicon Valley. He’s a bright mind, wrapped in a cool 
  and collected package, and he’s what we would have called 
  a benevolent capitalist. He honestly thinks that he’s doing 
  good, but he does it at the expense of those that he can’t 
  see from his ivory tower.
  > Bull
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  4
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  4
  3
  5.9
  DR
  I/ID
  AC
  CM
  MOVE
  5
  8/1
  A1, I2
  10
  10/15/+1
  Skills: Athletics 2, Con 2, Electronics 4, Engineering 2, Influence 4, Out-
  doors 2, Perception 3, Piloting 2
  Augmentations: Datajack
  Gear: Actioneer business clothes (+2), commlink (DR 5, 3/0)
  Weapons: 
  Unarmed [Unarmed, DV 2S, Attack Ratings 7/—/—/—/—]
  Major Brenda Reed
  Major Reed is a small figure, and people 
  often underestimate her strength. She’s a mid-
  dle-aged Asian human who served with the 
  CAS Marine Corps for almost fifteen years. 
  Her career in the Marines was peppered with 
  rumors that she had committed war crimes, 
  but nothing stuck. She ended up retiring from 
  the Marine Corps in 2070 and started working 
  for Ares Macrotechnology. She picked her per-
  sonal staff from her former Marine unit.
  Her face is severe and serious, which is ac-
  centuated by her hair being pulled into a bun, 
  and she has the hard, flat muscle of athletes. 
  She is an avid runner as well, and general-
  ly runs two kilometers every day, no matter 
  what. Major Reed also has the distinction of 
  having earned all the CAS Marines’ close com-
  bat badges, making her an exceptionally dead-
  ly foe in hand-to-hand combat.
  > Rumor has it that she retired just as the JAG for the Marine 
  Corps had her dead to rights. Convenient that she retired 
  rather than face her accusers.
  > Marcos
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  4 (5)
  4 (6)
  5
  5
  3
  3
  4
  3.4
  DR
  I/ID
  AC
  CM
  MOVE
  6
  7 (8)/ 
   1 (2)
  A1, I2 
  (A1, I4)
  10
  10/15/+1
  Skills: Athletics 4, Biotech 2, Close Combat 6, Electronics 3, Firearms 6, 
  Influence 4 (Leadership +2), Outdoors 3, Perception 4, Piloting 2, Stealth 2
  Augmentations: Datajack, muscle replacement 2, sleep regulator, wired 
  reflexes 1
  Gear: Actioneer business clothes (+2), commlink (DR 5, 3/0)
  Weapons: 
  Ares Predator VI [Heavy pistol, DV 3P, SA/BF, 10/10/8/—/—, 15 (c), w/ 
  smartgun system]
  Carl Derrick
  As the youngest member of the House of 
  Representatives, Carl Derrick differentiated 
  himself from the rest of his political opponents 
  by expressing a knowledge of social media and 
  public manipulation that the older generation 
  just couldn’t grasp. He quickly pointed out in 
  his campaign that his opponents still thought 
  about the Matrix in terms of megapulses of 
  data, a laughable concept in 2080.
  Of course, he didn’t make many friends 
  by pointing out that the rest of the House 
  was so behind the times. He won his seat, 
  but he got the unenviable job of trying to 
  represent the UCAS in negotiations with Se-
  attle. He’s a hardline supporter of the UCAS 
  and will not tolerate any unpatriotic talks of 
  secession.
  > This poor sod only made it to Congress on the coattails 
  of others in the Archconservative party. He doesn’t care 
  about Seattle, or what happens to it.
  > Kay St. Irregular
  > Then why is he in Seattle?
  > Chainmaker
  > Because he pissed off the wrong person. The UCAS 
  Congress feels like this whole Seattle matter is 
  something that shouldn’t even be an issue. They sent a 
  junior representative as an insult to Seattle, and as an 
  insult to Derrick.
  > Kay St. Irregular
    //  CAST OF SHADOWS
  55
  SHADOWRUN: FREE SEATTLE
  
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  1 (4)
  4
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  2
  5.0
  DR
  I/ID
  AC
  CM
  MOVE
  5
  6/1
  A1, I2
  10
  10/15/+1
  Skills: Athletics 3, Con 4, Electronics 5, Influence 4 (Leadership +2), Per-
  ception 3, Piloting 3
  Augmentations: Cerebral booster 3, datajack, mnemonic enhancer 3
  Gear: Actioneer business clothes (+2), commlink (DR 5, 3/0)
  Weapons: 
  Unarmed [Unarmed, DV 2S, Attack Ratings 5/—/—/—/—]
  Shan
  Not much is known about Shan. She’s a 
  drake, and she vaguely looks like an Asian ork, 
  but with a wider jaw, no tusks, and a set of gills 
  at the base of her neck. She’s the representa-
  tive for the Sea Dragon, and she often wears 
  clothing with high necklines to conceal her gills 
  when she’s around others. She refers to the Sea 
  Dragon as her “mistress,” but based on her dis-
  tinctively aquatic appearance, she might more 
  accurately refer to the Sea Dragon as “mother.”
  Shan never travels anywhere without her 
  brother Shun. Whereas he is more likely to get 
  in the face of a threat and handle it head-on, 
  Shan is more manipulative and calmer. She 
  prefers to put events into motion that will re-
  sult in her desired conclusion, rather than di-
  rectly confronting the challenge in front of her. 
  Perhaps because of this dispassionate and cal-
  culating nature, the Sea Dragon relies on Shan 
  to negotiate for freedom for Seattle.
  > While Shun may be boisterous and energetic, Shan is cold 
  and calculating. However, she’s also the most likely to lend 
  a hand and be beneficent. There’s some weird yin/yang 
  thing going on here.
  > Peregrine
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  6
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  MOVE
  8
  11/1
  A1, I2
  12
  10/15/+1
  Skills: Astral 6, Athletics 3, Close Combat 3, Conjuring 6, Influence 6 (Ne-
  gotiation +2), Outdoors 5, Perception 4, Sorcery 6
  Powers: Built Tough 1, Dual Natured, Elemental Attack (Cold), Hardened 
  Armor 2, Hardened Mystic Armor 2, Low-light Vision, Underwater Adap-
  tation
  Gear: Actioneer business clothes (+2), commlink (DR 6, 3/1)
  Weapons: 
  Fangs [Unarmed, DV2P, 9/—/—/—/—]
  Shun
  Shun is the other drake at the summit, rep-
  resenting the Sea Dragon along with his sister, 
  Shan. Like his sister, Shun has a vaguely Asian 
  ork appearance, but with a wider-set jaw and a 
  pair of gills at the base of his neck, in addition 
  to tusks. He also tends to favor clothing with 
  high necklines to conceal his gills when around 
  those they might upset.
  That’s where the similarities with his sister 
  end. Whereas Shan would prefer to approach 
  a problem indirectly, Shun hates to have to be 
  surreptitious. He prefers to approach his chal-
  lenges directly, defeating them in a straight-
  forward way. He does not shy away from his 
  drake nature, his relationship with the Sea 
  Dragon, his “mistress,” or a challenge.
  > Anyone else troubled by the fact that the Sea Dragon sent 
  not one but two drakes to Seattle?
  > Respec
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  6
  6
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  I/ID
  AC
  CM
  MOVE
  10
  11/1
  A1, I2
  13
  10/15/+1
  Skills: Astral 3, Athletics 6, Close Combat 6, Conjuring 2, Electronics 5, 
  Firearms 6, Influence 2, Outdoors 6, Perception 6, Sorcery 2
  Powers: Built Tough 1, Dual Natured, Elemental Attack (Fire), Hardened 
  Armor 2, Hardened Mystic Armor 2, Low-light Vision, Underwater Adap-
  tation
  Gear: Armor jacket (+3), commlink (DR 6, 3/1)
  Weapons: 
  Fangs [Unarmed, DV2P, 9/—/—/—/—]
  Urubia
  With Hestaby being forced out of her en-
  clave on Mt. Shasta, Urubia is now the most 
  powerful dragon on the West Coast of North 
  America. She wields her power from her seat 
  in the Redmond Barrens and displays a bit of 
  a mercurial nature. While she loves metahu-
  mans and encourages them to come see and 
  talk with her, she’s also quick to act in violence 
  toward any threats (or perceived threats). If 
  you find yourself involved with Urubia, stay 
  on her good side.
  She owns several properties in the Red-
  mond Barrens and throughout Seattle. The 
  center of her power is a building known as 
  the Fun House, where she has been known to 
  dance in her natural draconic form.
  > Anyone who isn’t familiar with Urubia yet will be soon. 
  She’s an interesting ally for metahumanity, but often ends 
  up at odds with the Man. She’s pretty cool to hang out 
  with, though.
  > Mika
  CAST OF SHADOWS  //   
  56
  SHADOWRUN: FREE SEATTLE
  
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  40
  8
  8
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  8
  9
  10
  16
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  I/ID
  AC
  CM
  MOVE
  30
  16/2
  A2, I2
  19
  10/20/+2
  Skills: Astral 9, Athletics 7 (Flying +2), Close combat 7, Conjuring 7, Influ-
  ence 5, Perception 8, Sorcery 9
  Spells: Whatever she needs at the time
  Powers: Dragonspeech, Dual Natured, Elemental Attack (fire), Enhanced 
  Senses (smell, low-light vision, thermographic vision, wide-band hearing), 
  Hardened Armor 10, Hardened Mystic Armor 10, Natural Weapon, Sapi-
  ence
  Weapons: 
  Claws/bite [Unarmed, DV 20P, 48/—/—/—/—]
  Takuto Nakagawa
  Renraku has been through a rough couple 
  of decades in Seattle. Under Brackhaven’s rule, 
  Renraku managed to repair their relations. But 
  with Potter stepping in, that work could be un-
  done. Nakagawa doesn’t want to rock the boat 
  and would prefer Seattle stay with the UCAS. 
  He wants to ensure that these events never dis-
  rupt the work that Renraku is doing with the 
  UCAS at large, and he’s willing him to do what-
  ever it takes to maintain the status quo.
  A slight human of late middle age, Taku-
  to Nakagawa is a lifelong company man with 
  Renraku. Not surprisingly, he even has a hu-
  man remains recycling plan with Renraku 
  picked out for himself and his wife so that he 
  can serve the company even after his passing. 
  He spent decades working out of Japan before 
  getting transferred to Seattle in late 2076. He’s 
  been chosen to represent Renraku at the sum-
  mit, with his superiors believing that he can 
  ensure Renraku’s future in North America re-
  mains stable.
  > He’s also been rumored to be Renraku’s Seattle liaison with 
  the Yakuza.
  > Khan-a-saur
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  4
  4
  2
  5.5
  DR
  I/ID
  AC
  CM
  MOVE
  4
  7/1
  A1, I2
  9
  10/15/+1
  Skills: Athletics 2, Con 3, Cracking 5, Electronics 7, Engineering 5, Influence 
  5 (Leadership +2), Perception 3, Piloting 4 (Ground craft +2)
  Augmentations: Cerebral booster 2, datajack
  Gear: Actioneer business clothes (+2), commlink (DR 6, 3/1)
  Weapons: 
  Unarmed [Unarmed, DV 1S, Attack Ratings 5/—/—/—/—]
  Dewei “Dewey” T’ao
  Dewey T’ao is sometimes referred to as 
  “Doughy,” but not to his face. A Chinese elf of 
  indeterminate age, he’s developing some wrin-
  kles around his eyes and lips, leading many to 
  believe that he’s in his fifties. He’s also a bit over-
  weight and slightly shorter than the average elf. 
  He’s a happy, warm, and inviting elf who often 
  takes on the appearance of someone’s uncle or 
  lifelong friend of the family. His greatest asset: 
  listening. He will give you the floor and encour-
  age you to talk about yourself until you are giv-
  ing away secrets you never knew you had.
  > It’s strange to me that no one seems to know much about 
  Dewey. Other than that he works for Wuxing and that he’s 
  a wujen as well, there’s almost no records of interactions 
  with him. What gives?
  > Peregrine
  > It’s because he’s fond of wiping the minds of people he 
  comes across. And if that won’t do, he’ll bribe them. Or kill 
  them. He doesn’t like to leave footprints in the sand.
  > Ma’fan
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  6
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  I/ID
  AC
  CM
  MOVE
  3
  7/1
  A1, I2
  9
  10/15/+1
  Skills: Astral 5, Con 2, Conjuring 6, Enchanting 4, Influence 6, Outdoors 1, 
  Perception 4, Piloting 2, Sorcery 6 (Counterspelling +2)
  Spells: Analyze Truth, Clairaudience, Clairvoyance, Control Actions, Con-
  trol Thoughts, Mana Barrier, Mind Probe, Physical Barrier
  Gear: Actioneer business clothes (+2), commlink (DR 5, 3/0)
  Weapons: 
  Unarmed [Unarmed, DV 2S, Attack Ratings 5/—/—/—/—]
  Thomas Miranda
  Hailing from Los Angeles, Thomas Miran-
  da is a Latino ork with a rotund and robust 
  build. Even by ork standards, he’s really big. 
  He’s a full head taller than most orks, and 
  towers over the smaller metatypes. He likes to 
  talk about his time in the barrios of Los An-
  geles, and how Horizon gave him a new lease 
  on life, taking him out of the barrio and into 
  the boardroom. An affable and gregarious ork, 
  he loves to hug and has a hearty laugh that is 
  simultaneously irritating and infectious.
  > So we’re all pretty sure that Horizon has a plant in the 
  governor’s chair, right? And if Horizon has the governor 
  and the Secretary of State, why send a rep to the Summit?
  > SEAtac Sweetie
    //  CAST OF SHADOWS
  57
  SHADOWRUN: FREE SEATTLE
  
  > It’s simple: the idea that Potter is a Dawkins Group agent 
  is bulldrek. I haven’t found a single substantiating piece of 
  evidence to suggest that the rumors are true.
  > Snopes
  > No, it’s not that simple. There are two reasons for all 
  this effort. One: By inviting Horizon to the table, Horizon 
  distances themselves from their Dawkins Group agent, 
  supporting her cover. Two: If Seattle leaves, they have an 
  agent in the president’s chair, and if they stay, they can 
  maintain the status quo. They win either way, because 
  that’s how the megacorps operate.
  > 0rkCE0
  B
  A
  R
  S
  W
  L
  I
  C
  EDG
  ESS
  4
  2
  2
  5
  4
  5 (6)
  5
  5
  4
  5.4
  DR
  I/ID
  AC
  CM
  MOVE
  6
  7/1
  A1, I2
  10
  10/15/+1
  Skills: Athletics 2, Con 3, Electronics 3, Firearms 3, Influence 7, Perception 
  3, Piloting 2
  Augmentations: Cerebral booster 1, datajack, mnemonic enhancers 3
  Gear: Actioneer business clothes (+2), commlink (Device Rating 7)
  Weapons: 
  Unarmed [Unarmed, DV 3S, 7/—/—/—/—]
  CAST OF SHADOWS  //   
  58
  SHADOWRUN: FREE SEATTLE
  
  The Seattle sprawl is an iconic part of the Sixth World, and it’s 
  about to take the next step in its evolution. Its mother country to 
  the east, the UCAS, is flailing, and pressure is building for Seattle 
  to make its own path and go independent. Lots of power players 
  are trying to force the city’s hand one way or another, and lots of 
  money is flowing to the shadows to help or hinder those efforts.
  There is a roster of luminaries descending on the city, and 
  some people want them safe, and some people want them dead. 
  Shadowrunners have lots of chances to make money, and also 
  plenty of chances to get people gunning for them. They’ll have 
  to navigate the increasingly challenging conditions of the city, 
  dealing with corrupt politicians, enraged gangers, conniving 
  spies, and other runners bent on fouling up their business. All 
  this might lead to a new era for Seattle—or at least, for whatever 
  residents survive to see it.
  Free Seattle is an adventure for Shadowrun, Sixth World, 
  designed to immerse you in this edition and help you learn how 
  the rules work. 
  © 2019 The Topps Company, Inc. All rights reserved. Shadowrun, Sixth World, and Matrix are registered trademarks and/or trademarks of The Topps Company, Inc.,  
  in the United States and/or other countries. Catalyst Game Labs and the Catalyst Game Labs logo are trademarks of InMediaRes Productions, LLC. Printed in China.
  catalystgamelabs.com   I   shadowruntabletop.com
  Under License From
  ®
  CAT28401
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Shadowrun [multi]/6th Edition/Shadowrun 6e - Free Seattle.pdf