Welcome to the guide. Hopefully I'm able to provide a clear and concise guide for the game that is for the most part spoiler free. There is some variability in the skill checks needed for the challenges after the City of Darkness mission. The values I give for those skill checks are based on the order I've played them in.

Any random NuYen found in missions is likewise based on my individual run, and should be taken as an approximation and not a hard number. NuYen rewards for missions and Paydata are hard numbers and will be included when they are acquired. I'll do my best to provide accurate snapshots of my progression throughout the story so you can see how my build is panning out.

Las but not least I'd like to thank the other users who have built the initial guides that I'm using to help build this walkthrough. Most notably Bootch for his Karma guide that I'm using to level as efficiently as possible, Artorias for his skill checks and passcodes guide, and Gunbomber for his item guide that's crucial to budgeting for my very pricey build.

This is the build I'll be starting the game with. End over my goal is to have a fully chromed decker. I've got a few oddball choices with that in mind, but they do make sense in the long run.


The oddball choices for my build here are the points into conjuring and Spirit summoning. Chroming out usually is the last thing a caster wants, and being a decker and a caster is kind of an odd choice. However, with the nine karma invested in these skill I have permanent access to Haste I, a powerful utility spell which I also start with, and a totem that can provide either a passive boost to myself or a temporary boost to nearby party members. I opted for Leopard since +1 Movement and Armor is a pretty good trade for most builds.

Skill Checks

6 Karma Available


We start the game on a dock in Kowloon City, Hong Kong. Our First interaction in the game is with our foster brother Duncan Wu, a Lone Star officer, and his partner Carter. We’re free to play this conversation however we want, but a skill check of Body [3], is necessary to not upchuck within the first couple minutes.

Immediately after the conversation there is a Director’s Commentary point to the south. Continue on along to the eastern end of the docks to find the way blocked. To the south from here is our way forward. We can open the gate with an Intelligence [3] skill check, otherwise Carter will be able to get it open for us.

Move next to a cover point after this. The next scene is an ambush that’s impossible to avoid. The conversation choices don’t really matter as it ends in a fight regardless of what path you choose. For the most part there isn’t too much of a threat here, but they can mess you up pretty bad if you aren’t careful. After the fight you can find a dose of [Tokko] in a crate between the crane and a forklift. Nothing else here so continue south to another gate. Carter will open this one while we talk to Duncan. On the other side, we find more street thugs, though this time we can get the drop on them instead. Again this fight isn’t too challenging as long as you play smart and utilize your team’s abilities.

After the fight, there’s a [Basic Medkit] on one of the thugs bikes to loot. Following that push the crate on the east side of the map out of the way, and continue into the alley [1 Karma]. Swing south and grab the [59 Nuyen] in the southeastern part of the courtyard. Continue north and find the team of runners where you’re supposed to meet up with Raymond. After a brief conversation, Carter and two of the runners are gunned down by snipers.
We now have to fight our way up the alley to get out. Never end the turn out in the open during this segment. The police snipers will fire at anyone not taking cover for a decent amount of damage at the end of each turn. There are two checks that can be made here after the first pair of cops are dealt with by interacting with the eastern bike. Decking [2] or Drone Control [2] will stop the police drones from attacking us and make this a bit easier. Keep working your way up the street taking out enemies as needed.

Now that we’re clear of the firefights we find out just how badly things have gone to ♥♥♥♥. Finish the conversation and then continue out of the sewers. [5 Karma] The next scene lets us establish a little bit of our backstory. After it’s finished, there’s another Director’s Commentary point available, but otherwise, continue out into Heoi.

Skill Checks

3 Karma available

A Director’s Commentary point can be found in the middle of the docks. Otherwise, there isn’t much to do here now except talking to a temporary merchant. He doesn’t have anything worth buying. The regular shops will carry his entire stock, and there isn’t anything in the next mission we can’t handle with our current load out so continue on to the Swift Winds mahjong parlor and meet up with Kindly Cheng.

Suffice it to say Kindly isn’t happy about recent events. Going through the dialogue you’ll eventually be asked why she should keep you alive. Various etiquettes will give you a dialog option to point out that she needs to be more concerned about a loss of face than anything else. Afterwards Kindly gives us a job to do to pay her for the cost of burning our SINs. [Karma 3] Another Director’s Commentary is present here in the parlor. Following the conversation, leave the parlor and make your way northwest to enter the walled city.

Skill Checks

10 Karma Available


Walled City

We can take either Gobbet or Is0bel with you on this run. If you aren’t playing a decker, Is0bel is mandatory to get all the goods for this run. If you are, I’d recommend taking Gobbet. She has several very good utility spells, and her spirit summoning is needed for one of the side quests in this area. If you aren’t playing a Spirit summoning Shaman, or a decker, pick which you’d rather take, though I’d recommend Is0bel in this case to maximize your benefit.
Immediately after landing in the Walled City, there’s a Director’s Commentary point. There are a few random NPCs and merchants you can talk to here, but for the most part they just provide information for the setting, and don’t contribute to the story directly.
Continue into the walled city to find a bloodied woman we can speak with. Etiquette [Academic] will provide us with a dialogue option while speaking with her about her thesis on the flow of qi here in the walled city. She gives us a list of things to fix to try and improve the areas feng shui. Head north and then east through the fence to find the first point of trouble. Intelligence [2] allows us to repair the wire, otherwise we can just rip them out.
Afterwards head west and then north to find a spiritual energy point. Either Spirit Summoning [2] or Gobbet is needed to interact with the spirit here. The spirit can be persuaded to either help, which nets us a code for use later, or to take revenge at which point it will attack the nearby Yellow Lotus. I’d recommend the first option as it rewards a karma point later.
Continue south and you’ll encounter a group of Yellow Lotus working for Strangler Bao. Using Charisma [3] and Etiquette [Gang], will allow you to bypass them and walk in the front door to deliver your message to Bao [Karma 1]. Without the needed etiquette, you can fight your way past, or tell them you’re just passing through to walk past and ignore them. Neither of the latter options net you any additional karma.
Once the Yellow Lotus are dealt with continue south and view the cutscene of the old man getting mugged. Continue west and grab the bucket of sand. Return east a little bit south and dump the sand on the burning tires. This completes our second objective to try and improve the energy in the area. Head back west and enter the lower level.


Lower Level

Head straight east from here to find the Yellow Lotus thug who mugged the old man. We have a few options to get the credstick back, an Etiquette [Shadowrunner] check will pass the situation no violently, while a Strength [4] or Unarmed [4] check will knock him out. You can also just kill him. [Karma 1] There’s no benefit to returning the credstick to the old man so feel free to keep it or give it back as you see fit.
Head directly south from here to find our last point for trying to fix the areas qi. Strength [3] is need to close it. Duncan can take care of this if needed. [Karma 1] You can check in with the woman afterwards for the results, but nothing else is gained from doing so.
Return to where we entered the Lower City and make your way east to a locked door. [Decking 3] is needed to crack the door. Otherwise Is0bel should be able to get you in. Jack into the matrix here and make your way through to find the release for the deadbolt release to the left and a paydata node plus the Lotus Den Access codes to the right. Once you have everything, jack out and leave the room. Continue east to find another locked room. This is the one the spirit was speaking of so enter the code 5465 [1 Karma], and get ready for a fight with two hellhounds. Summon the spirit here for an easy fight if possible. Once the hellhounds are dead, grab the [67 NuYen] and climb the ladder to enter the den.
Head south and enter the room for [53 Nuyen]. Swing around east to find a room with a simsense chip you can steal. After you have everything, head to the secured door in the northern most area and enter code 7881 to get access. Walk in to talk to Strangler Bao. After finishing your conversation, you can find a Director’s Commentary point behind Bao. Now return to Heoi to inform Cheng of your success. [Karma 6]

Skill Checks


Return to Kindly Cheng and report on your run. Assuming you didn’t kill anyone, she’ll be very pleased and you’ll receive [750 Nuyen] as payment for the job. After your conversation head to the boat at the end of the docks to the north. This is the Bolthole, and is your safehouse for this game. A Director’s Commentary point can be found on the table here. Hit your bunk to get some sleep, and then return to the mahjong parlor once you wake up. After your conversation the shops in Heoi open up, and you now have access to your mission computer.

There’s a lot to do here in Heoi now that we’re officially a part of the shadows. First access your mission computer. Accept all the jobs and post the paydata we grabbed on the last run. The amount for each paydata is set so there’s no reason to hang onto it. Afterwards head down into the cargo hold. The guy down here is Racter. Talk to him and work through his dialogue options to recruit him into the party. An Etiquette (Academic) is available when asking about Koschei’s name.

Next we’re going to head over to chrome alley. Even if you aren’t planning on chroming, a datajack is useful for smartlink weapons. Also we need to talk to the cyberdoc here. It’s going to take a few visits, but helping Ambrose out nets us a karma point later on down the road. Exhaust all your dialogue options and then purchase any supplies or upgrades you feel you need before heading out.

Our next stop is Reliable Matthew in the Southeast section of Heoi. Like Ambrose he fills a niche role, but has a personal quest that will take a few visits to get through. Exhaust all his dialogue options, and purchase anything you need from him. Our next stop is the Parlor of Five Phases to talk with Crafty Xu.

Unlike our last two compatriots, Crafty doesn’t have a personal quest line, but her dialogue options are essential to the end game. Exhaust her dialogue options and make sure you get her to investigate the dreams everyone’s been having.

While we're hitting vendors talk to Maximum law to offload the Simsense chip for [120 Nuyen]. While you are free to talk to him about anything else, DO NOT give him any metadata yet. After Law has recieved a certrain amount of Metadata, a quest is started that will either end wtih him being unable to take anymore, or being replaced. We'll be saving all of the Metadata so that we can turn it all in at once and get as much out him as possible.

The last thing we have to take care of is heading back to the Bolthole so we can talk to our teammates. Exhaust all your dialogue options, especially with Gobbet and Is0bel so that we have access to their personal quests later. Talking with Duncan will get you some more backstory and help get you up to speed with what he’s thinking. Once we’re done talking to everyone, it’s time to head out and go to the subway to take our next mission.

Snapshot


Skill Checks

Karma available 10


Outsider is a good follow-up to City of Darkness for two reasons. First like the previous mission, this one can be completed with no combat. Secondly it’s where we unlock our final crew member. This gives some more time to save up Karma and NuYen before we really start getting into the challenges of the game.

After arriving, there’s a Director’s Commentary point immediately in front of us. There’s nothing to do yet, so follow the marker to meet with the Whampoan elders. After you’ve finished talking with the elders, leave and go visit Tong’s shop. Examine the crime scene, and then take a look at Tong’s corpse. Decking [3] will debug the computer in the back to tell you some more about what Tong did. Biotech [3] or Racter is needed to examine Tong’s corpse. Assensing can be performed by any mage or conjurer. Both reveal that there are some things that just don’t line up with what we see. After getting what information you can leave the shop.

There are a few new people to talk to. Most notably at the moment are Zippy to the north who’s the local surgeon, and Demergo in the alley to the south, a former detective. Both of these guys clue us into some important information that we’re going to need to solve the case. Working through their conversations, Zippy keys us into the disappearance of a fourth Elder, Magpie. Demergo helps us fill in the blanks on what information we have and also clues us into two strange recent events. First the HKPF were allowed into Whampoa recently, and secondly a gang has moved into the nearby garage.

Head back to the elders and get the key to Magpies shop. A Decking [4] or Charisma [3] check will be needed to succeed at this. Head over to The Jackpoint next and take a look around. Investigate everything, especially the shower. Racter and Duncan make some useful observations here if you have them. Afterward head out and make your way around to the garage. If you swing around the northern path you can talk to a couple people for some more information.

Once you arrive at the garage, you’re going to have to make an Etiquette [Gang] or Etiquette [Socialite] check to get further without resorting to violence. Talking to the gang leader will also reveal that there’s something in the sewer tipping us off to our next objective. After you’re finished dealing with them investigate the garage. There are two points of interest. One tells us what happened with the HKPF when they were here. The other is an item that we can examine with Etiquette [Academic]. If you lack the necessary Etiquette, Keita, the noodle vendor next to the garage, can clue you into what it is. Go talk to Porter and get the key to the sewers and then head down to continue the mission.

Keep to the western path as you make your way around the Sewers. The first thing you come across is a pile of limbs. Racter and Gobbet both have insights for this point. Racter in particular can identify one of the limbs as belonging to a member of a criminal organization. Next you’ll find a necklace that you can pick up. Continue on and you’ll run into another gang. Etiquette [Gang] or Etiquette [Academic] will talk them down so that you don’t have to fight. If you had Racter ID the limb from the pile, you can also use that as a bargaining chip. Missing those you’ll have to fight your way through. One way or the other, you’ll get the keycard to Magpies storage from the group. Head up out of the sewers.

Go to the storeroom and look around. After examine everything, a ghoul will come running in. You can either hear him out and then recruit him, or just attack him. I recommend the latter as he’s a useful frontline fight and has some humorous options depending on what missions you take him on. After deciding what to do, you have to return to the elders. If you killed him, the mission ends here. Siding with him however puts you at odds with Elders, and you’ll either have to use the evidence you’ve collected to prove their guilt to Porter or fight and kill them. After everything is wrapped up return to Heoi. [Karma 8] An additional [Karma 2] is also acquired if the mission was completed with no violence.

Skill Checks

Back to main hub. Swing down to Reliable Matthew and examine his trailer before talking to him and exhausting all your options. Next head over to chrome Alley. Talk to Ambrose and exhast your options with him. An Etiquette [Shadowrunner] check has you know about the cover up in Chicago.

After your done with Ambrose head out and talk to Stephen Dynamite by Club 88. A Strength [5] check is needed to break his grip on you. He wants you to get his money back from Handsome Lee for poisoning him. You’ll receive either [75 NuYen] or [150 NuYen] depending on your dialogue choices. Handsome Lee is outside the Swift Winds. Regardless of your dialogue options, you end up with a packet of Bliss for Stephen. Before you go talk to him again, go sell the packet. When talking to him the second time, you can give him the drugs, hold onto them, or knock him out with a Strength [5] check to get him off it.

Head back to the safeboat and get some sleep. You have another dream here, and can now talk to your crew members again. Head over to your mission computer. You have new mail, including a new job, and your paydata has sold netting you [270 NuYen]. Get your payment for the Outsider mission, [1400 NuYen]. Check through anything else you need here and then talk to your crew.

Talking to Racter will get you some more information on his background and why he’s in Heoi. And Etiquette [Academic] gives you some familiarity with transhumanism. If you recruited Gaichu, then you can talk to him about his condition and his past. An Etiquette [Corporate] give you familiarity with the Red Samurai. Talking to Duncan lets you dig further into your history together.

Gobbet is ready to start teaching you now, and you can comment on the familiarity of her tale with an Etiquette [Academic] check. You can also opt to rename the ship if you want. The list is restricted, you only have a limited amount of time to do it, and you can only do it once.

Is0bel starts diving into life in the Walled City. She has an Etiquette [Academic] check you can pass to know about the Yama Kings. At the end of her conversation she offers you a job to go after some software she thinks will help.

Head to the Swift Winds so that we can talk to our new client Dr. Shenyang. He wants us to dig up some blackmail on a competitor so that he can get his show off the air. With everything taken care of it’s time to hit the subway again and take off on our next job.

Useful Skills

6 Karma Available

As soon as we enter there’s a director’s commentary point available. Head around to the right to find a Matrix jack point. It’s a quick jaunt to the single node at this access point which is loaded. Paydata, The access code to the apartment, and a party invitation are all located in this node so it’s worth having a decker to get in here.

Jackout and head north to the party. If you have Gaichu with you, you’ll get a few unique reactions on this mission. Talk to the bouncer outside the party and use either a Charisma [3] check, or the invitation from the Matrix node to get in. [Karma 1]

Talk to Penelope Wong to learn that our target has apparently made a new friend recently. Afterwards step over to talk to Neville Ma. You have an option to assense his aura. While it does appear healthy, there’s something off about it. A Biotech 4 check will allow you to notice that he doesn’t have any scarring. After you’re done talking to Neville, head up to the apartment.

If you jacked into the matrix earlier, you’ll have the code to get in here, otherwise you can use astral perception to see what the numbers for the code are. A final option is to bribe the waiter for the party. He’ll sell to the code for 500 NuYen, but a Charisma [3] check will reduce the cost. Input 1635 and head on into the apartment. Check around, but our biggest interest is the sealed door here. We’ll have to find a key to get in.


You have a few different option here. You can talk to the chef who will readily agree to give you access in exchange for making Neville suffer. Alternatively you can get Penelope or Neville’s Key fobs, though the latter requires an Etiquette [Security] check.

Head into the back of the apartment and access the computer. Read through whatever information you want and then unlock the office door. Continue on to meet with Ku Feng. You’ll arrange a duel on the roof to resolve the issue. This fight can be a hassle if you try to take everyone out. Instead focus on dealing damage to Ku Feng. Once she’s lost enough health she’ll surrender and the fight will be over. At this point you can talk to her and learn what’s going on and then either help her or kill her at your discretion. [Karma 1] Head back to Heoi and talk to Dr. Shenyang once you’ve made your choice. [Karma 4]

Useful Skills


Head back to the Bolthole and get some sleep for another nightmare. Afterwards Access your computer for some extra runs and get your pay [1100 NuYen], and post the paydata from the last run. Catch up on anything else you want and then get ready for some more conversation pieces.

Starting in Chrome Alley you can further your conversation with Ambrose. An Etiquette [Security] or Etiquette [Shadowrunner] check will make it easier to talk to him. The Shadowruner check will also have him comment about how you seem a bit too familiar with the line of work for a first run. Work you r way through the rest of your conversation and move on to our next person of interest, Reliable Matthew.

Looks like Matthew is in trouble with one of his suppliers. Not much we can do with him at the moment, but this does help clarify his situation a little bit. Once done talking to him move up to talk to Crafty.

Crafty’s gotten a good chunk of research done on the dreams everyone’s having. She still isn’t sure what they mean yet, but she knows what they are now. Work through your options, and then start talking to your crew.

Is0bel doesn’t have anything new to add yet, and won’t until we get done with her mission which we’ll be tackling next. Racter wants you to take him with you on the Ares run, and until that’s accomplished won’t be opening up any further dialogue. Duncan doesn’t have anything new to add either.

Gaichu has some new conversation if you opted to recruit him. Two Etiquette [Academic] Academic check allow you to comment on the book he’s reading. Continue talking to him to learn more about his past and how he came to become part of the Red Samurai. An additional Etiquette [Academic] check here allows you to identify the Japanese political police. After your conversation with him, you can examine a few more items in his box of trinkets.

Gobbet will give you more on her history, and another story about a Run she was on. This one is a bit longer than the rest, and she gives you the option to take a break when you need to. Once you’ve finished talking to her get ready to start on your next mission. The shops have all upgraded to some better gear. This is a good time to get one maybe two upgrades to tide you over until the next upgrade point which will be in three missions. Just remember that money is tight so you need to be careful about what you get.

Useful Skills

8 Karma Available

One important note here before starting this mission. If you are not a rigger, make sure you bring Racter. There’s a Karma point that’s missable here if you don’t have a drone. Also if you go loud at any point you’re going to have to deal with security. Not too hard, but completely avoidable.

To start off with, work your way through the opening conversation with Is0bel. If you have at least Decking [3], you can ask if you shouldn’t be the one hacking the system. Regardless Is0bel makes it clear that she needs you to be the one out on the floor. First step is to get our dwarf hacker a catering uniform so she can blend in easier.

There’s a fire alarm panel dead ahead, and a Director’s Commentary point a little bit to the east of it. A Decking [3] check will let you forge access into the system and give you the option to set off the sprinkler. DO NOT DO THIS. While it does let you bypass the kitchen segment entirely to get the uniform, you will be missing out on that karma point, and some entertaining dialogue.

Directly south of the Director’s Commentary is a drone vent. We’ll be need this shortly. Continue east into the kitchen. You’ll be immediately greeted by an irritated kitchen manager. You have an Etiquette [Corporate] and Etiquette [Socialite] check you can make here that I think improve his mood. Ask the manager to buy one of the uniforms. He’ll ask for 500 NuYen, but a Charisma [4] check will bring down to 300.

Turn him down and head out of the kitchen. You’ll be stopped by a dwarf who will offer to get you a uniform in exchange for punching one of the con-goers. Agree to do it, and then head back to the vent we saw earlier. Send a drone through here and get the uniform we need for Is0bel before heading out to give the guy what he’s got coming.

While talking to our target, asking why he’s here gives an ESP [4] check to ridicule his choice of software, and call him out for trying to appear bigger than he is. You can get his side of what happenined with the dwarf as well, or just deck him. Either way afterwards go back and talk to the caterer. When you get back, you’ll tell her that you already have the uniform. When she asks what she can do for you, ask for the clams and take some for later. We’ll need them back in Heoi.

Now to continue on with the mission. Head to women’s restroom and talk to Is0bel. She passes on your updated objectives, and you now have several optional objective you can hit here. First head west to the Decking/ Simsense parlor. You have a few options here. A Body [4] check, or pointing out the guy you puched out will intimidate him, or a Decking [5] check to con him will let you in. Pickpocket the people in here for [204 NuYen]. To the north a little way is a guy who looks a little out of place. You have a few options here. Assensing his aura reveals him to be an adept. An Etiquette [Shadowrunner] check will let you check to see if your jobs are conflicting and smooth things over with him.

Head east from here to find a group of three convention goers. You can debate the best deck brand, but it’s going to take a series of checks starting with Decking [4] or Charisma [4], and then an Etiquette [Corporate]. According to _______ guide a final Charisma [5] or Intelligence [6] check is needed to settle the dispute. To the south is another decker you can talk to. A Decking [3] check will let you mention Moore’s Law to him during your conversation.

Is0bel will contact you after you’ve gone through three of these encounters. Time to move the mission forward. Head to the kiosk and get in touch with Is0bel. After a brief conversation we now find ourselves in control of her. Leave the security room. If you head south you can enter a room with some logs about the noodle extruder that are somewhat humorous. Head through the eastern door and you’ll find two more. One directly north and one directly south. Nothing in the northern door, but the room to the south has an Advanced Medkit we can take.

Continue around and enter the elevator. While in the elevator things start to get really heated with Is0bel. A Biotech [3] check will let you play off her stunt as her being schizophrenic. Otherwise you have a freaked out decker leaving the elevator.

Following the elevator fiasco, we hit another fiasco. What was it they say about milk runs again? Anyway an Etiquette [Socialite] check will give you a plausible excuse for being back here. If you ask if they want drinks, it’s followed by an Intelligence [4] check to again get us out of hot water. Work your way through and then continue on.

IN the next hall we get caught up in a rather interesting conversation that almost blows our cover, but fortunately everything works out. Before you open the door for the rest of the team head through the northern door. Take a look around and when asked why you’re in there, tell him it’s because you heard about his deck. Say decking is your life and then accept the offer to look at his deck. This nets you your paydata for the run.

Let the rest of the team in and get everything back on track finally. Get on the elevator and then make your way south to Rhombus’s room. After talking to him, he’ll give you the codes you need and pull security off you. Time to head back to Heoi. [Karma 8]

Useful Skills

1 Karma Available

As soon as you land you get a call from Kindly Cheng. Head over to the Swift Winds and see what she has to say. Turns out Kindly Cheng’s information network has finally gotten us a lead. After you’re caught up, head back to the Bolthole. Calim your paydata payment [350 NuYen] and post your new paydata. Get some sleep and have another nightmare. Now it’s time to talk to everyone again. First head up and go to Gobbet’s room. Drop the clams you got from the con into her hotpot. [Karma 1] Gobbet tells us the resolution of what happened last time and in the process explains her lesson for this go round. Is0bel is ready to unlock her memories, and gets an upgrade for the trouble. Duncan has a bit to say about the current situation as well. Gaichu will provide with some more of his history by talking to him, and examining the trinkets in his box.

Ambrose over at Chrome Alley is more open to talking about his past now. Either an Etiquette [Gang], or Etiquette [Shadowrunner] check will flag his last mission for what it actually was. A Drone Control [4] check will let you get more info on how he was blind-sided. Finish up your conversation with him, and then go talk to Reliable Matthew. Matthew definitely doesn’t seem to be himself at the moment and asks you to go get his meds from Ambrose. Either an Etiquette [Socialite], Etiquette [Gang], or a Biotech [4] check will let you ID what’s in the bottle if you examine it. If you ask why Ambros is giving them to Matthew, you can call him out on the Hippocratic oath with an Etiquette [Academic] check. When you get back to Matthew you can give him the chips which will get him back to his old personality or hold on to them and tell him he needs to stop.

Once you've finished everything in Heoi, it's time for the next mission.

Snapshot


Useful Skills

11 Karma Available

So our first goal is to loot as much as possible without tripping the alarm. We can grab up to 9 objects, and we want to get 10,000 NUyen worth of loot. IN addition to Karma, this also nets us some bonus pay when we’re done.

First head all the way north and then into the eastern room. An Intelligence [4] check will tell you something is up with the book shelf. Gaichu, or a Strength [6] check will be able to force the hidden path open, but this will also raise the alarm level. Without those options, access the computer. A Decking [4] check will let you bypass the login field to access the computer. Choose the office controls, and access the option that says restricted access. You are prompted for a password. A Decking [1] check is present, but doesn’t accomplish anything. The clue to getting in here is the painting on the west wall of the room.

Enter the password Tennyson to continue. Head into the back to find the two most valuable items you can loot. A Mystic’s Staff at [2600], and piece of Imbued Pottery at [2150]. Nothing left in the office so head back down south to the central room and go to the eastern room here. Grab the Dragon Scales [1400], and the Mummified Head [950]. This completes the first optional objective. [Karma 1] Next hear over to the west and grab the Neanderthal Skeleton [1200], Plesiosaurus Jaw Bone [980] and Valuable Urn [900]. This gets us all the loot we need to finish the optional objectives and only brings the alarm threshold up to 7, 8 if you forced your way into the back room. [Karma 1] You can grab a couple more items to bring you level up to 9 if you like, but do not hit the max threshold. After looting, head all the way north again and go west into the dig site.

As soon as you enter the dig you can find a Director’s commentary point. Leave the room and head south to find the first book we’re looking for. Continue to follow the wall east and then north to find a Matrix point. There are two nodes at the end of this run. One is paydata [Karma 1], while the other is a spell. Make sure to grab both of them. Last thing to do is get our last book, but we’re going to have to fight for it. Be careful of two things in this fight. The gargoyles will generate a toxic cloud when killed, and the mummies can teleport a target off to another dimension for a one on one fight. Overall the fight isn’t too challenging as long as you focus on your targets and make good use of your team.

On your way out after the fight you’re stopped by another mummy. This one isn’t immediately hostile. If you decide to help him, he gives a fetish that you can use to summon him later, or sell for cash. If you fight him you get a unique sword. Make your choice and head back up and go north to the security room. Wipe the security data, and then get ready for another fight. HKPF ambushes us on the way out. After dealing with the first group, head to the side door. This time we can get the drop on them. They should go down fairly allowing you to leave and go back to Heoi. [Karma 8]

Useful Skills



5 Karma Available

More dialogue is available. Ambrose opens up a bit more about his past, and you can also ask him about what’s going on with Reliable Matthew. While talking about his past, a Decking [5] or Drone Control [5] check will net you some more information. When you go back to talk to Matthew, you’ll have to give him the BTLs if you haven’t to further the conversation with him. An Etiquette [Academic] check lets you talk about Chinese swordsman. This is the end of Matthew’s dialogue options. [Karma 1]

Head back to the Bolthole and find everyone gathered up together. Is0bel’s dug up some good data, and the pieces are starting fit together. [Karma 4] Collect your pay from the run [1900 NuYen], and your paydata [300 NuYen]. Then post your paydata and get some sleep for another nightmare.

Afterwards it’s time to make the rounds and talk to the crew. Duncan is having issues wrapping his head around what he’s just learned. Next talk to Is0bel. Is0bel is still struggling to deal with all the new memories, she’ll mention that Gobbet is the one that pulled her out. Talk to Gobbet next, but be sure to ask her about Is0bel before you ask how she’s doing. Once Gobbet starts talking about what’s bothering her, it’ll end all conversation for this visit. After talking to Gobbet and getting her side of what happened with Is0bel, head back and talk to the decker some more. We can now get some more out of her as to what life was like in the Walled City and the reason for some of the things she’s done in the past.

Gaichu has set things up to go deal with his old team. He has a couple more trinkets for you to look at as well. One opens up an Etiquette [Academic] check to know about Izanami and Izanagi. When you go to visit Crafty there’s a familiar face present as well. Crafty’s dug up some more information and it looks like all the pieces are starting to fit together.

Misdirection

Useful Skills



10 Karma Available



This is Racter’s personal mission so make sure you bring him along. His drone skills will come in handy as well if you aren’t a rigger. Our first challenge is getting past the secretary. Etiquette [Corporate] and Etiquette [Socialite] give us plausible reasons to be entering the facility. Otherwise having Racter will let us bypass this encounter by saying we’re reporting field testing.

Once you’re past the Secretary, head down the west side and into the southernmost room. A Decking [5] check here will get you access to the computer. This will net you the security codes for the Secure Datastore, and Security Scheduling in the matrix. Head through the northeast door, and then step into the next room.

There’s a matrix jack point we can access from here. After the first area, there are three gateways. The ones we want to access right now are the ones to the north and south. The western gateway leads to a pair of gas control valves that serve no point currently. Be very mindful of your system trace on this level as the two areas we do want to access have ICs active in them already, and we don’t want to trip any alarms yet.

The northern gateway leads to the elevator override and security scheduling nodes. The southern door leads to the secure datastore node. The codes we received earlier will help us bypass the Blocker IC so we don’t have to hack them. The Security Scheduling node will let us get rid of the two guards in front of the elevator. The secure datastore is our paydata for this run.
After getting everything cleared up here in the matrix, go to the northwestern room and access the public terminal to plant the work for Kindly, and search for our two PoIs for Racter. Once we have all the information, go to the elevator and head up.

Head east then into the Lab. Access the computer here and read through the files to find the code to access Dr Taylor’S Room. On the north side of the lab are the shutter controls. Make sure to close them and then leave the lab to the west. The northern door directly in front of you is Dr Taylor’s office. The code for this door is [98144]. Read through the emails to get the code to Hardingham’s office just south of you. Plant the financial data here. Step into Hardingham’s office if you like, but there’s nothing of real value there at this time. The code is [23847].

Moving forward, head north and then then west to get into the lab where the prototype is held. On the way is a Director’s Commentary point. If you didn’t close the shutters, you’re going to have to deal with Ares security here. Continuing on into the lab, another team of shadowrunners is here, and they just set off one hell of an explosion. After talking to them, let them in so you can get the key to the safe for Racter [1 Karma.]

We’ve got a fight on our hands now. Four Knight Errant are going to show up to give us hell, along with gas pouring out of the vents. If you have any drones, they can shut off the gas at the source. Without them, you’re going to have to jack into the matrix to shut them down. You’ll initially have 15 rounds before the gas reaches lethal levels. Each gas point you shut down increases that number by four.

The first one is right here in the room and can be shut down as soon as combat starts if you have a rigger present in your group. In the next room are the Knight Errants who should pose little threat to the eight of you present. The next Gas valve is on the northern wall. If you don’t have a rigger, the matrix access point a little further west from the vent will drop you right into the area where all the vent controls are.

After six rounds four more security guards show up. The final vent is in Hardingham’s Office. Shut it down, and either on your way out during the fight or after everything is cleared, grab the prototype from the safe in the lab. When you try to go down the elevator one more group of Knight Errants show up. Fortunately we can mostly ignore them. It takes 3 rounds for the elevator to show, and they won’t attack until the second, leaving us plenty of time to get out of here.

Abandoned MTR
The first thing you need to figure out down here is what to do about you and the other team. You can either choose to just keep the tracking device, or take the entire weapon. Make your choice and then head along to the next room. Keep to the southern wall here, and make your way past the lockers where you can find an [Advanced Medkit] and on to the generators. With Intelligence [5] or Racter, you can shut the generators off, bypassing one fight and making the following fight considerably easier. [Karma 1] Deal with the three Knight Errant as you move towards the exit. If you killed the generator, no backup will arrive, and the turrets will be disabled. You will also have the ability to ambush them making for an extremely easy fight. After this you’ll have to deal with a third team of runners. If you tell him you ditched the laser, either a Strength [6] or Charisma [6] check will let you get past them without a fight. If not you’ll have to take them down. After dealing with them, head to the train and return to Heoi. [Karma 8]

Useful Skills


1 Karma available

Swing by and talk to Ambrose. An Intelligence [5] check, and an Assense will net you some more information about his photos, and his attachments respectively. Drone Control [5] will get you some more information about the Mustang in the photos, and you can use a Biotech [5] check to learn a bit more about Ambrose himself.

He’s up for talking about what happened with Karen now. You get an Etiquette [Academic] check during the conversation to finish a prayer. Finishing the conversation and head on out. [Karma 1]
If you’ve been giving metadata to Maximum Law consistently at this point, you’ll get a quest from Bao to shut him down, before he deals with the situation. I’ll be dealing with this later, but you’ll need either Decking 4 or Etiquette Shadowrunner to keep him alive.

Head back to the Bolthole and claim your pay, then get some sleep. More strange occurrences without much of an explanation. You can talk to your crew for some new insights. Gobbet is gone however. You’ll be able to start her personal quest now. Crafty also has some more information for you about what she thinks is happening.

Gobbet is unavailable until you finish her mission so I’m heading to go get her back. Her mission launches from the south dock. Tell the captain there you need a favor.

Useful Skills


9 Karma Total


It’s you and Isobel for this. As soon as you land you’ll find the director’s commentary point. Take care as you enter as you’ll almost immediately get ambushed by a pack of Devil Rats. Talk to the two locals who helped you fend off the ambush then go to the southwest corner for a phosphorous grenade and flashbang. Follow the locals to a flooded portion of the deck that’s been electrified. With a Intelligence [6] check you can bypass the pump, otherwise you’ll have to figure something else out. Another pack of Devil Rats will ambush you as you try to approach the hatch down. Dispatch them and head inside the ship.

The locals are eager to lead you somewhere after you get below, but let’s ignore them for now. Head north and through the door straight ahead. DO NOT go through the easternmost door here yet. There are four rooms down here. The two eastern ones are what we’re looking for. Enter the northern one and talk to the ork here. She needs to be patched up. Healing magic, a medkit, or a Biotech [5] check will do the trick She warns you about the two leading you. Next go the souther room and talk to Mercurio. He gives you a Datapad after you finish talking to him.
Return to where we entered this level and go the door directly east from the ladder. There’s a guard here but a Charisma [5] check will get us past. Coming this way sets up to better handle the coming ambush. Once you walk down the hall a brief way, Gobbet will show up and a combat encounter starts. Quickly dispatch the woman, and Patrick will surrender, and Gobbet will fill you in on what’s happening.

Head back to the sickroom we passed through and talk to the dwarf. This is Cadmus. Go through his dialogue and decide on your course of action. We can either scuttle the ship or organize a mutiny. I’ll be taking the latter path. Talk to the various inhabitants to organize the mutiny. Mercurio will require either an Etiquette [Socialite], Strength [5] check, or 500 nuyen to join. Ivan Fu needs either a Melee [5] or Etiquette [Shadowrunner] check. Finally Sparrow will want a medkit. Trying to convince the guard we talked to get through the back way will result in a fight if you try to convince her.

With the mutiny organized, we need to get past the trap. Cadmus will tell us to go talk to Yasmin. Yasmin points out the bypass. Disable the trap so we don’t drop, and head on down. There’s a scuttling charge here if you want to sink the ship.

When you leave the room, you’ll be ambushed by another pack of rats. West is the door to the alarm and another charge. Signal you intent and then wrap back around to the south and then east. [1 Karma] In this room is another scuttling charge, and a Shamanic Salve. In the room across from here is another scuttling charge and the door to Malvina’s chamber, our end objective. The fight with the Rat king is fairly straight forward. After getting it down to half health it throws up a shield and reveals the talisman. Run Gobbet over to get the talisman. A couple turns later we’ll be able to finish killing it after it restores its lost health. [Karma 8]