Recipe For Disaster

## Background

Upset with the mediocre usage of his creations, a senior chef from the Endless Soup & Breadsticks Garden restaurant chain defected to their primary competitor Calzone Castle, taking with him the secret recipe for their famous marinara sauce.

## The Meet

In a fairly straightforward Matrix meet, the Johnson - of the professional intermediary variety - met the runners and laid out the parameters of the job. The primary concern of the client was recovering access to the 'proprietary information', either by recapturing the missing employee or retrieving it from the restaurant's datahost. Accomplishing either of these tasks would earn the runners a full payout, but doing both would be worth a 50% increase in the total payout.

## Legwork

The runners began by reaching out to their contacts. Deacon called up an old friend in Aztechnology's media division for rumors in the restaurant business, confirming that the chef in question had recently made a very public departure from his old employer. Trample began browsing the Matrix and found a press release from Calzone Castle inviting customers to try the creations of their new, top-rated chef at the downtown Seattle flagship location. Deacon called ahead to the restaurant, making a reservation for herself to dine alone towards closing time.

## Run

The runners arrived and parked nearby, close enough to see the front door of the restaurant. Deacon went inside, occupying her table and lingering as the rest of the diners slowly left. In the process, she confirmed the presence of their target. The original plan was to abduct the chef once the restaurant was closed and empty of non-staff, but that plan was disrupted by the arrival of a liveried Ares Roadmaster carrying a heavily armed and armored team of security troops. As Deacon found an excuse to go to the bathroom before leaving, Domino snuck inside unseen and lurked near the door - Deacon's attempts to delay the chef were rebuffed by his bodyguards, who began to lead him outside. At this point, Domino decided that it was time for a new plan and pounced the closest bodyguard, ripping his throat out from surprise. Domino was promptly blasted into temporary unconsciousness by point-blank rifle fire and the security mage's combat magic, as the team attempted to extract their principal quickly. Unluckily for them, Domino could regenerate from bullets, and snuck ahead of them to board the transport undetected.

Back in the restaurant, Deacon emerged from the bathroom with her gun drawn only to find a very jumpy rent-a-cop with a similar weapon. They traded point-blank shock rounds until Deacon ended up unconscious on the floor. Meanwhile, Domino had proceeded to ambush the unsuspecting bodyguards, killing one and stunning the other while using the chef as a hostage to keep the driver from killing them. Trample attempted to disable the enemy Roadmaster via Matrix assault, but the rigger pilot proved to be a superior Matrix combatant and bricked her commlink defensively.

With the chef as a human shield, Domino managed to avoid the transport's turret fire long enough to snipe the weapon into uselessness. They dragged their captive and the second guard (a snack for later) back to Trample's vehicle, while Trample herself charged into the restaurant to rescue Deacon. The hapless rent-a-cop ended up skewered on her polearm, and Deacon was delivered back to the Roadmaster before the trio - Trample borrowing Deacon's commlink to temporarily replace her own - escaped just ahead of Lone Star reinforcements via superior knowledge of Seattle's twisted streets.

## Aftermath

The chef was successfully returned to the clients, with a decker contact of the runners paid to delete the recipe files remotely to guarantee the maximum payout. The very public abduction combined with an inability to erase local camera footage resulted in significant visual and eyewitness evidence of the attack though, with public arrest warrants for both Domino and Trample (unnamed) circulating in the media. Deacon was questioned for her involvement but ultimately released without charges, while the CEO of Silver Star Security Services put a quiet bounty on Domino's head for - as far as he knew - singlehandedly murdering a field team and abducting their client.

## Rewards

* 5 Karma
* 14,500 Nuyen
* 2 CDP
* +1 Public Awareness for Trample, Domino, and Deacon
* Wanted Quality for Domino (50,000 nuyen, Silver Star Security Services)
* A very delicious recipe for marinara sauce

## Player After-Action Reports

*In Character* accounts of events, general impressions, or memorable moments