Rival Corp on Alert, Or what to do when PCs fail their mission Options

[Akhkharu]

Our little group is still doing our little one-offs to get the players better suited/used to Shadowrun, which gives me some time to think of ideas for the campaign. Here's the idea I've got going so far.

[ Spoiler ]

Mission 1-2 - Get players to acquire certain items for cyber-zombie
- M1: PCs delivered SURGE arm as requested
- M2: PCs delivered wrong skull - requested a skull of a hanged black mage
- PCs caught onto the possible cyber-zombie creating - will refuse work from said Johnson
Mission 3 - Get players to set-up target as spy (target gets caught and g.corp gets their spy in better position)
- M3: PCs failed and alerted b.corp
Mission 4-5 Misc. Missions that have nothing to do with campaign
Mission 6-7 - Gather info from multiple locations
Mission 8 - Misc. Mission that has nothing to do with campaign
Mission 9 - Extract spy (from mission 3) - Spy gives PCs info to deliever if injured
Mission 10 - Get players to steal dagger from Musuem in New Orleans - Dagger is used in ritual
Mission 11 - Get players to stop rival team from kidnapping mage - possible wetwork or guarding
Mission 12 - Get players to stop ritual for creating cyber-zombie

Each mission lasts 1-2 sessions (1-5days in game) so this should last awhile, but the problem I'm having is with how the players ended mission 3, which alerted b.corp that someone was trying to get target caught for spying / blackmail. The target was a high up accountant, who had access to most, if not all the financial records, which means R&D and their possible locations.

The g.corp that the players will be working for is trying to find out what is going on and get the players to stop / delay it but without their spy in place, it pretty much slowed down their progress until it's possibly too late.

Without redoing it, having another group fix the mess, or adjust the time-line, how could g.corp find out what's going on and still keep with the time-line?

[Dumori]

I need more details atm its hard to see whats actually gone on.

[YourAdHere]

The players could have been the distraction, and their success or failure didn't actually matter. They got their spy in while b.corp was dealing with the players team. Just a thought.

[Wandering One]

Offhand, I'd say they'd be given a different run that the g.corp would offer to make up for their failure that might include turning an existing corporate person to giving out information, a matrix run to change data, and what not.

Otherwise, yeah, more details on the failure point and methods would be required to assume a response.

[SpellBinder]

Without more info, there's only one thing I can think of.

You'd be amazed at how quickly rumors spread through the shadows...

[Akhkharu]

Mission 1: Break into hospital and steal unusual arm.
Aside from shooting up the hospital and setting the children's ward on fire, the players got the arm and delivered it.

Mission 2: Get the head of a hanged black mage.
Johnson gave name of known black mage - players tracked down possible location. Found that she was actually hanged by a racist group. Players get side-tracked and start a small town vs town war. Deadline for job about done, they get a random head from someone they killed during town war and deliver it. (random head was mundane and not hanged)

Mission 3: Plant evidence indicating Jacob Smith is a spy for rival corp.
Jacob Smith high-up accountant with Aztech (Wpg) - was married, seperated-not divorced and has been for 6years (ex works security for Aztech (Wpg)) - kid lives with the ex.
As to how Jacob would react, i've had certain things pre-planned and some key words that would trigger certain reactions.
killed, go see kid. Tell No one, don't see kid, but write note. $$ get as low of price as possible. - In all honest, I never thought they'd actually contact him, but expect the unexpected.

Out come:
Face calls Jacob, convinces him that Azteck is going to "force retire" him, mentions that he has proof (no proof, just total BS) and wants to meet. Bring $$. - On a side note, the bluff resulted in no net hits.
Jacob goes to ex, sobs, and wants to know if they're going to really "force retire" him. She tries to convince him not to go, they wouldn't do that, but Jacob goes anyway. After Jacob leaves, ex contacts superior and tries to find out if they were going to "force retire" him. Superior says no, and gets someone to watch/monitor Jacob.

During meet, face talks to Jacob, offers to sell the info (Jacob offers 50$, face counters with $2000 or offers extraction). Jacob interested in extraction (wants son included and father's debt paid off) but wanted the proof first, and offers to pay the amount. Face doesn't have proof and tells Jacob, who walks away. (Why wouldn't you have the proof you're selling on you if you're selling it)
Meet was just a delay tactic so the hacker could plant 2000$ into his account and a letter on Jacob asking for payroll info among other things.
Monitor noticed Jacob's comm leaves archology during his working hours, and watches. Notices someone hacking Jacobs account and started to traced it. PC hacker didn't notice the Aztech hacker. Evidence in, PC hacker logs off.

After meet, face calls Jacob's ex directly and tells them that one of their employees was seen with a known shadowrunner. She says that she can't help them but will transfer them to appropriate person.
Face ditches comm. then contacts Johnson that job's done.

NPC behind the scenes
PC behind the scenes

[Akhkharu]

Oh, I should mention that the corp the players were working for on Mission 3 had someone ready to take Jacob's place, once there was evidence enough to hang him with it. He's already inside and works for Azteck as an accountant, corp just bought him off. (Not an actual spy, just an actual Azteck employee who's been paid off)

Corp has no actual idea what's going down until missions 6-7 where the PCs steal more info.

[Wandering One]

Interesting. Actually, I'd assume the corp wouldn't be on high alert generically, but would be cautious about any project this man was working in, as well as trying to secure him specifically. The con was busted and the corp knows, after all. What you'd need to do from here is figure out if Aztech would give him time to hang himself or go to him and tell him they know and see if he spills all. Either way, they're going to know this wasn't an on the level thing for Jacob.

What Aztech's really going to do is buckle down and figure out why you'd want him out of the way, and then watch anyplace that would leak without him like a hawk... while seeing what they can do with the trace they got.

[Error]

Its always easier to watch the spy you know about than the one you don't.

I agree completely with what Wandering One is mentioning above and I think that the Azzies would probably set this Jacob fellow up as a fall guy. They may not have been planning on force retiring him before...but now he is a liability. My take would be for the corp to leave him in place, but have his actions (both matrix and meat) watched closely to see if anyone suspicious makes contact and then take action as appropriate for what they observe.

For example: If someone finally contacts him for information/spying (and the Azzie spiders or watchers notice) have them contact Jacob and offer their support to draw in the runners. He could set them up with false info, lure them into a trap, heck, they could even let him get extracted (with him tagged and traceable) in order to learn more about who is trying to sabotage their ops. Remember though, if they tag him, they will most likely do it in a way not easily noticeable, like a swallowed RFID chip or something that won't show up on a cursory scan.

Now, if the azzies catch the runners, either through a trap or by tracing them, they might either nab them and make them talk, or they might let them escape to try and find out who they are working for that way. Which would depend on what is more likely to succeed. And IF they nab the runners, they could always force them to become their catspaws instead, especially if any of them has a traceable SIN or biometric data on file they might be blackmailed with. Just remember that runners are resources...the Azzies might try to use them against the corp that hired them (i.e. Their real enemy) instead of just killing them. That would wait until after the runners turn on the original corp...or if the Azzies are particularly cruel...don't try and kill them. Pay them for a job well done and let the runners street rep take the hit for double dealing.

Just a few things I might do were I given such a golden opportunity.

[Akhkharu]

That's an interesting take on what Azteck would do, and I'm working on something similar to what was suggested. But I'm back to my original question.

Without redoing it, having another group fix the mess, or adjust the time-line, how could g.corp find out what's going on at Azteck and still keep with the time-line?

G.corp is a group/corp intent on watching corps / groups, like Aztech in Wpg and prevent any super-freaky going ons, like making a cyber-zombie. With the failed mission, the "spy" that they paid off will not be in an appropriate position to get the info, nor does he have the skills to acquire it. He's just some avg. joe. Granted, he will have a better chance at getting it with Azteck looking at someone else, but it would be alot harder.

kinda like a manager (spy) of a store trying to get something from a safe only the owner (Jacob) has access to. It's possible, but hell of a lot harder.
Employee < Manager < Owner

[Wandering One]

Without redoing it, having another group fix the mess, or adjust the time-line, how could g.corp find out what's going on at Azteck and still keep with the time-line?

There's a few things you can do. I'd start with a contact of the intended spy to find out where what he was SUPPOSED to get his hands on is actually in the company. Now, you're looking at a paydata run, to get what he should have been shipping. Now you're possibly looking at a physical run if you need to get to offline storages and the like. Following that, perhaps you need physical items, so you're talking a B&E run.

All of this would have been easier with someone with access, but now you have to go in circles to achieve the same goal... and you're on a timeline, if it's not done fast enough... they miss the opportunity... and the corp is looking at every project the failed replacement's target has going with a fine eye... Increase the threat level accordingly.

[tagz]

I would have the other group do it. You mentioned in the timeline later that there is a rival team. They went behind and cleaned up the mess. Rumors could travel through the shadows to the team about it. Maybe the rival team has even been mocking their efforts. It could be a great motivator for when they run up against the rival team, they'll already be mad at them.

Other options... Well, depends on the kind of person the spy is, but if he's motivated he might try assassinating Jacob. It would net him a new position, higher income, AND a side income selling the info he gets access to. The runners could be used to do it, or if you want it to not interfere with the rest of the plot you could have him do it himself with poison or an "accident".

Data steal. The spy can't get access to the info. Perhaps G.Corp won't deal with the runners anymore since they failed. But the spy in working with the G.Corp learned of the runners and decides to contact them to steal the data for him, that way he can still get paid and likely negotiate for even more as he had to steal data out of his reach as you already said. However much (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nuyen.gif) he's getting paid for the info, he could offer them a cut. An interesting twist could be to have him pose as G.Corp's Johnson and if they learn that it's the spy and not the G.Corp hiring them they could bring the info to G.Corp themselves, cutting him out completely and getting back in good with the G.Corp.

Just the first few off the top of my head.

[Mesh]

This is Shadowrun. Nothing should be as it seems. Even when players find out what's going on, that still shouldn't be close to the truth.

You shouldn't be trying to stick so closely to the script anyway. Ok, so the players did something way out there. Roll with it. First rule of GM'ing: Run a game you personally would love to be playing in. How would you like to play this out? Change the script. Worry about getting it "back on track" later but for now have fun. So the players stuck their noses where you didn't expect/shouldn't have? Let them discover something they didn't expect/shouldn't have discovered. This secret's trouble, more than they wanted. Something bigger is going on, and they just cracked the door open on it. Turns out Jacob's ex is handling security for development of an awesome new widget. The lead scientist on the project has been contacted with an extraction offer. The runner team hired to fetch him (forcibly) got arrested. Do they kidnap the scientist and try to sell him to the out-of-luck Johnson? Well, he doesn't want to go. Do they try to back out of this mess? Sorry, the corp now assumes you're after their lead and wants to get you and your Johnson (who doesn't exist, but they don't care - they want answers). But wait the widget is toxic to a species of warbler and the lead scientist's only love is ornithology. He doesn't want to leave his beloved corp, but he needs the project manager replaced so this widget can go back to the drawing board... the possibilities are endless so long as you don't end them in the pursuit of "staying on track".

[Mesh]

Problem solved.

[Mesh]

That help?