Infected Greetings
By Antonio Judd [ aljudd15@hotmail.com ] with material from Adam Jury [ adamj@dumpshock.com ] and Peter Millholland [ elspud@erols.com ]

Prologue

Preparing To Play
As always, the gamemaster should read through the entire adventure in advance, taking special note of the various details about JoyCo and The Shark, and perhaps printing out multiple copies of the map (p. 14) as necessary.

Difficulty
Infected Greetings does not have a lot in the way of hand-holding for characters who cannot seem to find a clue, but the adventure is extremely straightforward. The main repercussions will revolve around the Yakuza and their future relations with the PCs.

Background Story
This all started when Eliot Grimes' Happy Times greeting card company finally got the funds and backing to purchase a Matrix host, instead of leasing space to offer his products and new sim-greeting algorithms. The small company paid top dollar for a high-quality system with the expectation that they would recoup the expenses within a year or two. The system was installed and a systems designer hired to do the sculpting and programming, but before that could happen the system was compromised and the data that had been placed there was stolen. Rudimentary traces found by the systems designer turned up the calling card of a decker named The Shark: a trideo movie of a shark tearing his way through a boat made of data, then through the helpless people on the deck.

Grimes kept the systems designer on board to clean up the mess The Shark had left, and hired a decker on the side to look into The Shark. The decker's research led towards a rival company named JoyCo, and alluded that The Shark had been working for them. Grimes then hired the decker to construct a custom virus to attack the JoyCo Matrix systems. At some point JoyCo upgraded their Matrix systems, locking the hired decker out; the virus will need to be introduced from inside JoyCo's physical facilities.

Prior to putting his system back online, Grimes calls in a lot of markers to get a fixer to connect him with a group of runners. This group of runners is supposed to infiltrate the JoyCo building and upload the virus into their Matrix system.

Things To Know
Infected Greetings is a relatively simple adventure, suitable for new players to Shadowrun, or as a quick adventure in the middle of an extended campaign. This adventure requires Shadowrun Third Edition, while New Seattle and Matrix will be helpful.

The Fun Begins

What's Up, Chummer?
This is a standard meet with a Johnson who is new to you. It was organized by one of the group's standard fixers, so the team should have little reason—beyond the normal paranoia—to suspect anything strange.

The PCs will be asked to meet with Mr. Johnson at a nightclub/restaurant named Crusher 495, in the Touristville section of the Redmond Barrens.

Tell It To Them Straight
It comes as a little bit of a surprise when your work phone rings. You stop to decide if you really want to answer it on a Friday night—you already had plans. But the extra money you might make on an advance sure could help with those plans…

The call is from one of your usual contacts. They let you know a Johnson wants to meet you tonight at a club called Crusher 495. Don't be late and dress appropriately. He'll have a reservation for a table under your name for 2000 hours.

When the PCs meet Grimes, read the following:

Hooks
This encounter is to provide a slight amount of amusement for the players and to also get some energy in to the scene. Grimes is obviously nervous and does not do this kind of thing regularly; play up that aspect of the scene. Let them see he is not the typical Johnson, but stress the fact they need to take him seriously if they want to make a rep and get better work. Let the scene at the club energize the players and characters alike. Let the characters feel the music and get into the groove, maybe run into old friends or make new ones. Here is a chance to include mood music appropriate to the scene to add some flavor.

Behind The Scenes
If the PCs arrive at staggered times, the hostess will make them wait until all have arrived before seating them. When they sit down with Grimes, he will be sweating and looking like he's having second thoughts (especially if the group has some tough-looking frags with obvious cyberware). Grimes will speak directly to whoever speaks to him first, or to the least intimidating of the runners.

Grimes is not a professional Johnson, but he is a businessman, and once the meet truly starts, his business side will take over and regain some of his calm. He will still want to get the meet over as quickly as possible, fearful of Lone Star and the possible repercussions of hiring a shadow team.

Grimes is simple when telling the runners what he wants: break into JoyCo Greetings Company and run the virus program from a chip (he will show them the chip in its container) on their host, then leave a sealed envelope in the manager's office. He doesn't really have a timeframe; he just would like it done soon. He also does not care if there is property damage, but he would prefer that there be no casualties. The host and other computer systems must not be tampered with, to ensure that the virus runs successfully. He has a limit of 20,000¥, and will start his offer at 10,000¥ for the team. This can be negotiated upwards by a successful Negotiation (5) test, with each success increasing the amount by 1,000¥. If they try to negotiate for an advance payment, at most they will be able to get half of the final sum.

All through the meeting he will be nervous and drinking. His blood filter cyberware will take care of the alcohol, but this might get the runners to buy him more drinks in hopes of taking advantage of him. Let them.

When he and the runners have concluded their business, he will give them the chip, the envelope and an anonymous telecom account to contact him at when the job is done so he can pay them. Once this is done, he leaves, nervously looking over his shoulder frequently.

Crusher 495
The club is racially tolerant and does not allow discrimination within its walls. Humanis hates the place and sometimes attacks it, making themselves look bad in the process.

The nightclub is large and usually has about 20-40 patrons in the club and 20-30 in the restaurant at any time on a given night, double on weekends and other special event nights. Grimes would like the meet to happen around 8 PM in the restaurant. He will be there around 7:30 and will get a table under the name of the lead character or their negotiator. More information about Crusher 495 is on p. 63, New Seattle.

Debugging
Several things could go wrong here, but most should still leave the group on track. The characters could get drunk or even start a fight in the club prior to meeting with the Johnson. Unless the characters do something out of place that gets them removed from the club, the meeting should go pretty smoothly. Grimes will write most things off as his own inexperience with the shadow culture, but gross unprofessionalism from the runners will cause him to abort the meet and find another team.

Did I Do That?

Tell It To Them Straight
Your meeting with the Johnson has ended in its own odd way. Having needed a strong drink after that one, you stick around to get your thoughts in order and decide what to do next. Go for information, get gear or sleep?

Read the following to a PC as they leave the club:

It almost makes you want to go back in the club, but you have work to do.

Hooks
This is a simple and fast scene. The woman is a hireling of The Shark, and has been tailing Grimes for the last couple of nights. The Shark has a mole in Grimes' office, and he has informed her that Grimes had been acting strange as of late. Therefore, she has stepped up to full surveillance of Grimes. Play the lady as sweet and innocent; her bump was accidental in all appearances.

The characters should leave this scene with legwork in mind; finding some information about JoyCo and The Shark is probably first on their agenda.

Behind the Scenes
The lady's name is Juniper. She is an employee of The Shark who specializes in surveillance, both personal and electronic. She will watch the meet with Grimes and the characters from inside the bar. When the meet is breaking up she will return to her car and fake the bumping scene, placing a bug composed of a voice-activated micro-recorder and a tracking signal (with transceiver) on one of the characters as he leaves the club. See pp. 390-391 Shadowrun Third Edition for details on the tracking equipment.

After placing the bug she will briefly go back into the club, then leave through one of the back exits and head back to her vehicle. After she sees the characters enter their vehicle and start to leave, she will enter her vehicle and activate the bug/microphone and listen to what they are saying. She will then follow with the bug on until she has them in sight, then turn it off the tracking signal and continue listening.

All Juniper knows at the moment is that Grimes is a competitor of The Shark and that there is the danger he is going to try some espionage against JoyCo. She is to find out what she can and report it to The Shark via an anonymous LTG account. If the player characters manage to notice Juniper tailing them and interrogate her, she won't reveal what she knows unless the runners resort to torture. Juniper will portray innocence at first if the PCs interrogate her, all the while looking for her chance to escape.

Debugging
This scene really can only go sour in a few ways. Mainly it depends on the characters' reactions in a public place. If they get upset and try to physically detain, kidnap, assault or abuse Juniper, the bouncers will get involved and it will be a tough night. If the runners find the bug after it has been planted on them, Juniper will attempt to relocate them based on their last known location, and this time physically observe them from a distance.

The Joy Of It All

Tell It To Them Straight
Read the following as the PCs approach the JoyCo building:

Hooks
The office is on the strip along the shore of Lake Washington. The smell of the water and the cool breezes easily wash in and can be felt by the people on the street. There are a lot of people on the street at almost any time of day. Once again, there is energy to be felt, a pulse throughout the area.

The area is brightly lit and neon of every conceivable color is glaring from shops along the drive. Stress the feeling of being in the open or conspicuous in this area. Lone Star patrols the area by car on a regular schedule and as a result there are few gangers or other low-lifes in the area. Play up the high-class feeling, but remember, wherever there is money there are people looking to lighten other people's pockets.

Behind The Scenes
At some point in time the characters are going to check out the scene. Most Seattle residents will already know that the area is a high-class neighborhood and will need to dress appropriately and ensure their vehicle does not stand out too much.

The Gates Casino sprawls along the east side of Shoreland Drive just a block from JoyCo. This casino is the main attraction in the area, and most pedestrians and traffic will be coming or going from there. One thing the GM will want to note: The Gates Casino is run and owned by the Finnigan family, so Mafia enforcers will be interested in securing the area almost as much as the Star. For more information on this section of town, see pp. 40-41, New Seattle.

The characters can observe JoyCo up close if they are stealthy, but there isn't too much to see from the outside. See p. 14 for more detailed information on the building. The night guard comes on at 2000 hours. He's a runner named Tim “The Swede” Johansen who works this as part of the cover for The Shark, who maintains an office in the back out of which she and some other Yakuza Johnsons operate. This guy can be as tough as you need for your group, at least on equal ground to the most powerful character. On some nights The Swede and other runners meet here to plan runs or conduct other business; he's taken to storing hot goods in the unused storage rooms.

The one thing that could really mess with the characters' plans is Juniper. If her bug is still with the characters, she will be listening to the group plan every step of the way, and she will be sending information to The Shark as soon as she gets it. This could easily lead to a group of Yakuza goons coming to deal with the characters, or an anonymous call to either the Mafia or the Star. If the team makes plans that Juniper intercepts, a Yakuza team will be sent to deal with the characters before they can execute the plans. If they form an impromptu plan and make their moves quickly, then Juniper will probably tip off Lone Star. Getting the Mafia involved is a last resort for Juniper, as she knows that there is Yakuza involvement and doesn't want to draw the Mafia closer to them.

If the bug was found, Juniper will have to move to other forms of surveillance. She will try and use a shotgun or laser microphone to listen to the characters' conversations. If she has time and opportunity, she might even approach the character she targeted earlier and try to get to know him or her.

Debugging
There is not a whole lot that could go wrong here as long as the group finds the bug and takes precautions. The actual infiltration should be fairly cut-and-dried. Possible things that could go wrong (besides Juniper) include: attracting Mafia attention, triggering the alarm, shooting and killing civilians, or ruining the computer equipment in some way. In this area of Seattle, attracting Lone Star attention is one thing that must be avoided. If the GM wants to make things more difficult, he can have some of the Swede's associates hanging around in the back.

If the team takes reasonable precautions, they should be able to make plans and do the run without Juniper's interference. If they don't find the bug or don't have hefty doses of good old-fashioned paranoia, the GM can feel free to run the Shark Bites (below) scene and teach them a lesson. Shark Bites can also be used if the GM thinks that the players aren't moving fast enough.

Picking Up The Pieces
Once the team has completed the virus upload, Eliot Grimes will make payment promptly, leaving certified credsticks in a storage locker in south Bellevue. If the runners royally screw up it still might be possible for them to intimidate Grimes into still paying by threatening to turn him into JoyCo or Lone Star. Of course double-crossing characters could sell Grimes out to The Shark after the fact.

Shark Bites

Tell It To Them Straight
There you are trying to be inconspicuous, and as usual, trouble seems to be your middle name. You wonder who these tough guys think they are as they move towards you up the street, acting like they own the world.

Your defiant swagger, your charming good looks, or maybe your sense of fashion has caught their attention. They're coming towards you, and it doesn't look like they plan on just talking.

Hooks
At various points in the course of this run, it is possible for the Shark to respond by sending some goons after the group. These goons are low-level Yakuza toughs—not high enough on the ladder to demand a lot of money, and still looking for respect.

Place this scene wherever you feel it is necessary. It should happen, though, in a semi-public place since they are not there to kill the runners, but simply intimidate them into not completing the run.

Behind The Scenes
The group will average two Yakuza toughs per runner and will likely be all human. They will approach and talk to the runners, making sure they understand the innuendo. If the runners respond with violence, they will respond in kind while trying to make a tactical retreat if outgunned or outclassed. Naturally, not all of the hit squad will be in plain sight.

The runners should be careful here. They could easily draw Lone Star attention to themselves or end up wounded, both of which would make the rest of the run a lot tougher. Here is where they learn control. Make sure the Yaks never outright say what they mean. Leave it to the players to decipher and feel the threat.

The gamemaster should feel free to use any of the sample characters from Shadowrun Third Edition to make up the thug party, making them tougher if necessary. The thugs should be a step (or two) below the runners in terms of competence, but they will outnumber the runners.

Debugging
A lot could go wrong here so the GM will need to adapt quickly. This scene is not intended to kill the characters, but should be used to either get them to move faster or to give up completely.

If the characters are badly outclassed (or just plain unlucky) the arrival of one or two Lone Star officers might create enough of a distraction for the runners to get out of dodge.

Picking Up The Pieces
Material that will be necessary for the completion of Infected Greetings is in this section, plus some additional details about JoyCo. Necessary statistics for the characters in this adventure are on p. 16. In any situation where Lone Star officers are needed, statistics are available on pp. 112-114, New Seattle.

JoyCo
1050 SE Shoreland Drive, Bellevue, Seattle, UCAS

Number of People Present: Manager, Assistant Manager, 3 Salespeople, and 3D6 customers.

JoyCo is a medium-sized store, around 30 x 35m in size. It has customer entrances on the east, south, and west sides, and a shipping door on the north side. Customers entering the store will be bombarded with simsense advertisements, sound effects, and flatscreen video images for everything from birthday cards to anniversary jingles to somber funeral thank-you cards.

Most of the floor space is devoted to kiosks, where people can download and quickly customize a variety of greeting cards, or create a custom card from scratch. Bubbly clerks wander throughout the store, helping customers and selling knick-knacks and small gifts. Several clerks also hang out near the center sales area, assisting customers with any packages that may need to be sent postal mail. The showroom is open from 0900 to 2000 (9 AM to 8 PM) daily.

There are also motion sensors and video cameras on the inside of the store, slaved to the computer system in the back office. During the hours the store is closed, the sensors and cameras actively notify anyone in the security room of any disturbance. If the alarms are not deactivated within one minute, they will send a silent alarm to Lone Star, which should bring a response team in 3-5 minutes.

Assistant Manager's Office
The young assistant manager is feeling pretty under appreciated at the moment. He has to work overtime opening and closing the store, as the manager isn't around to do it lately. He's usually the last to leave and is often intimidated by the night guard. He has suspicions that there is something going on after hours, but is too afraid to try and find out more. His office has little in it besides the data display unit and wrist computer (300 MP each) he uses for work. There is no valuable data on either of them. The rest of the office is full of mundane items, such as family pictures and other personal knick-knacks.

Manager's Office
The manager has recently been under extra pressure. Ever since the company changed ownership he has been relegated to his back office, made to change the security, and no longer has direct access to the host like he used to. He has a small cyberterminal here, which he uses to work on jingles or process business information. He maintains the online catalogue and also the online public portion of the JoyCo SAN. The terminal also has several accessories including a chip reader. The manager works from 1200 to 1800 (noon to 6 PM) each day, and is normally logged in the entire time. He is always careful to log out before leaving the office. Other items in the office include his furnishings and some synthahol. There is also a pocket secretary with some information pertaining to his thoughts on the new security guard and some speculation on the new owners and some illegal activity. He does not like the new management and is rebelling in small ways… that is, until the Shark gets word of it.

Security Room
This room has recently had the maglock replaced, and few people have been provided with new passcodes. The night guard is the only one who routinely uses this room. It has two video screens and the readouts of the motion sensors. It also maintains the telecom system for the business. He has a small cyberterminal here as well that is connected to the host. If the PCs are in here, they can log on and run the chip. There are few weapons here. The security guard for the day shift checks in his pepper spray and his taser at shift end, and the night guard stores an Uzi III and a Colt Manhunter here.

Conference Room
This room has been renovated recently. There is a new table in here and some trideo/video screens for teleconferencing. The manager and assistant manager never use this room; it is mainly for those nighttime visitors who belong to the new management.

Computer Room
This room houses the core of the host and all the associated electronics. Damage to this room could bring down the host, and along with it JoyCo's Matrix nodes. The characters will have direct access to all of JoyCo's files if they can log into the host.

The doors to the security office, the back office hallway, the computer room door and all exterior doors have rating 4 maglocks. The back office itself has a rating 5 maglock. The other doors have rating 2 maglocks. The day guard and the managers all have cards for the rating 2 maglocks. The Swede has a card for the rating 4 maglocks and only The Shark has access to the back office.

Some of the rooms in JoyCo have been left blank for the GM to use as she wishes—they can be storage space, more offices, conference rooms, or anything that the GM needs to help tell the story.

Legwork

Eliot Grimes
Appropriate Contacts (TN 5): Corporate, Entertainment

Successes	Results
1-2	Eliot Grimes? He's the guy from that pirate trid show right?
3	Yeah, I know Grimes. He's in the greeting card business. Or was. He's been having problems lately.
4	Eliot? I hear he's out looking for people to work for him. If you need a job, chummer…
5+	He runs Happy Times Greeting Company. Word is that The Shark has it in for him.

Happy Times Greeting Company
Appropriate Contacts (TN 4): Corporate, Entertainment or Media, Security

Successes	Results
1	Oh yeah, aren't they dealing BTLs now for the mob?
2	Happy Times? They were downtown for a while right? I heard they went under.
3	They were doing OK until a couple months back. Then something happened and they have been recovering ever since.
4	Eliot Grimes runs it. They had some espionage a month ago that set them back. I heard they're needing employees.
5	I heard they were adding a new type of simsense to their greetings. Word is this is what they were hit for.

JoyCo Greeting Card Company
Appropriate Contacts (TN 4): Corporate, Entertainment or Media, Security or Yakuza

Successes	Results
1-2	Sounds like a nice place to pick up women.
3	Near the Gates Casino, right?
4	Man, they just got a load of this nova hot new type of simsense feed for their greetings. It's wild.
5	Rumor says it's a yakuza front. Watch out there, chummer, it could be bad news.

The Shark
Appropriate Contacts (TN 5): Yakuza, Street, or Decker

Successes	Results
1-2	Man, was that one cool chip or what? Remember that part where….
3	I hear tell the Shark is one mean frag. He's definitely not your bush league decker.
4	The Shark hit someone a couple of months back for some hot paydata—had to have made them mad. Why are you asking?
5	The Shark is a hot decker, and new to town. I may be able to get you in touch…

Awarding Karma Award individual Karma as normal following the rules on p. 244, Shadowrun Third Edition. Additional Karma may be awarded to each team member based on the list below.

Cast of Characters

Juniper (surveillance specialist)

B	Q	S	C	I	W	E	M	R
4	5	4	5	5	5	6	-	5

INIT: 1d6+5
Dice Pools: Combat Pool 7
Karma Pool/Professional Rating: 3/3
Race: Human
Gender: Female
Active Skills: Athletics 3, Biotech 3, Car 3, Computer 5, Electronics 4, Etiquette 5, Interrogation 5, Intimidation 4, Negotiation 5, Pistols 4, Stealth 5, Unarmed Combat 4
Knowledge Skills: Chemistry 2 (Pharmaceuticals 4), English 4 (Cityspeak 6) [Read/Write] [2/NA], Forensics 4, Gang Identification 4, Magic Background 2, Medicine 4, Police Procedures 4, Spanish 3 (Read/Write 1), Underworld Politics 4
Weapons: Browning Max-Power (2) [HP, SA, 9M, 10(c), 2 clips regular ammo]
   Range (TN): 0-5 (4), 6-20 (5), 21-40 (6), 41-60 (9)
Armor: Form Fitting Half Suit [3/1]

Tim “The Swede” Johansen (bouncer/shadowrunner)

B	Q	S	C	I	W	E	M	R
4	6	5	3	6	3	4.15	-	6 (7)

INIT: 1d6+6 (2d6+7)
Dice Pools: Combat Pool 7
Karma Pool/Professional Rating: 4/4
Race: Human
Gender: Male
Active Skills: Biotech 1 (First Aid 3), Edged Weapons 5, Etiquette 3, Gunnery 6, Heavy Weapons 5, Heavy Weapons B/R 3, Pistols 6, Pistols B/R 4, Projectile Weapons 4, Submachine Guns 4, Stealth 1 (Sneaking 3), Throwing Weapons 4
Knowledge Skills: Arms Dealers 4, Body Armor Fabrication 3, Demolitions Background 4, English 4 (Read/Write 2), Gambling Card Games 4, Gunsmithing 5, Miltech Manufacturers 3, Physics 2 (Ballistics 4), SWAT Team Tactics 4, Swedish 5 (Read/Write 2)
Cyberware: Boosted Reflexes (2), Cybereyes (Display Link, Flare Comp, Low Light, Electronic Vision Mag 3), Smartlink-1 (alphaware)
Weapons: Browning Max-Power (2) [HP, SA, 9M, 10(c), smartlinked, 2 clips regular ammo]
   Range (TN): 0-5 (4), 6-20 (5), 21-40 (6), 41-60 (9)
Ingram Smartgun [SMG, BF/FA, 7M, 32(c), 5 clips regular ammo, folding stock and gas-vent for 3 points recoil compensation, smartlinked]
   Range (TN): 0-10 (4), 11-40 (5), 41-80 (6), 81-150 (9)
Armor: Armor Jacket [5/3]

The Shark (decker)

B	Q	S	C	I	W	E	M	R
3	6	4	4	6	4	4.8	-	6

INIT: 1d6+6
Dice Pools: Combat Pool 8, Hacking Pool 4
Karma Pool/Professional Rating: 4/4
Race: Human
Gender: Female
Active Skills: Bike 4, Computer 6 (B/R 4), Cyber Implant Combat 4 (Spurs 6), Electronics 6 (B/R 4), Etiquette 1 (Matrix 3), Pistols 5, Stealth 4, Unarmed Combat 4
Knowledge Skills: Data Havens 5, English 3 [Decker Lingo 5] (Read/Write 2/NA), Jackpoint Locations 4, Japanese 3 (Read/Write 1), Matrix Gangs 4, Seattle Corporate Hosts 4, Seedy Yakuza Bars 4, Yakuza Organization 4
Cyberware: Datajack, Headware Memory (300Mp)
Weapons: Fichetti Security 500 [LP, SA, 6L, 12(c), 2 clips regular ammo]
   Range (TN): 0-5 (4), 6-15 (5), 16-30 (6), 31-50 (9)
Armor: Armor Vest with Plates [4/3]
Cyberdeck: Renraku Kraftwerk-8 (MPCP-8/5/6/7/6, Hardening 4, Active Memory 1000, Storage Memory 2000, I/O Speed 360, Response Increase 2)
Programs: Browse-5, Sleaze-8, Deception-5, Decrypt-5, Read/Write-5, Relocate-5, Spoof-5, Attack (Medium)-5, Armor-5, Cloak-5, Medic-5 [total size of all programs 792Mp]

Yakuza Hitsquad (2 per runner)

B	Q	S	C	I	W	E	M	R
5	5	4	3	4	3	5.5	-	4

INIT: 4 + 1d6
Dice Pools: Combat Pool 5
Karma Pool/Professional Rating: 3/3
Race: Human
Gender: Male
Active Skills: Car 3, Etiquette 3 (Yakuza 4, Street 5), Interrogation 3, Intimidation 4, Negotiation 3, Pistols 5, Submachine Guns 5, Unarmed Combat 4, Knife 3, Club 3
Knowledge Skills: Area Knowledge (local turf), Local Politics 2, Rumor Mill 4, Smuggling Routes 2, Underworld Finance 3, Underworld Politics 3
Cyberware: Smartlink-1
Weapons: Browning Max-Power [HP, SA, 9M, 10(c), smartlinked, 2 clips regular ammo]
   Range (TN): 0-5 (4), 6-20 (5), 21-40 (6), 41-60 (9)
Ingram Smartgun [SMG, BF/FA, 7M, 32(c), 5 clips regular ammo, folding stock and gas-vent for 3 points recoil compensation, smartlinked]
   Range (TN): 0-10 (4), 11-40 (5), 41-80 (6), 81-150 (9)
Armor: Armor Jacket [5/3]