This is a run for experienced runners.

They are hired by an ex-star Johnson to look into some abductions that have been going on for the last 2 weeks. A crime scene shows that magic was used, as was a spirit of an unknown type. A little bit of decking and some legwork will tell that all the victims have been of the A- blood type (rather rare). They will also be jumped by a group of The Spiders pretending to be Spikes. When the group passes the Spiders’ test (i.e. the attack), they offer to tell the group the truth. They were the ones bankrolling this run (a fact the group may already know if they were smart enough to trace the Johnson’s accounts, since most ex-star can’t afford to drop 200k to a group of runners), and they have also been following the details of this hive for a while. They’re willing to tell the runners the location, but since they’ll only get one shot at the hive, they want to make sure that the group going in is strong enough to take it down. They’re satisfied with the group’s strength, and offer to double the pay if the group will take out the hive.
So they get the location and they go in. there’s a decent amount of beetles in there, but nothing huge, and the shaman seems to be a pushover (there is no mother). They will notice while in there that the beetle spirits were not the type that left the signature at the crime scene.
They get out and find two of the Spiders there waiting for them with the other half of their payment. If any of the runners (i.e. players) look at all confused, they will ask, “is anything wrong” and when the person says anything along the lines of “something just doesn’t make sense” he will respond “I was afraid of that” and the group will have to fight the Spiders all over again, but this time, one of the Spiders will be helping them out.
If they check out any of the bodies, they will see an Aztechnology logo tattoo, there will also be a blood spirit that comes out during the fight (incidentally, that is the spirit type that left the signature at the crime scene). In other words, these aren't really "Spiders" after all, they're Aztech operatives in disguise.
The gang member who helped them out offers more information to them. He is willing to do a lot for his corporation, but mass human sacrifice is where he draws the line. There is a ritual going on to summon a huge blood spirit. The ritual (which is mentioned in Threats 1) involves multiple blood mage initiates with the same blood type linked together via transfusions and allows them to cast as one, in other words their initiate grades are added (remember how initiate grades affect great form spirits?). and the abductions have been to bring in people of the same blood type as the mages to help reduce the drain. The whole insect spirit thing was merely a decoy to explain the abductions. He will also point out that since his group failed, that as soon as this ritual is complete, that spirit will be sent after them, so they may want to stop that ritual. The files on the group are in the section of the Aztech matrix associated with this ritual, and if they can get there, they should have a shortcut into those datafiles to erase them rather than having to fight through Aztech’s front door all the way to that file in order to get into the clear. The good news is that taking any one mage out of the ritual before it’s done will interrupt the ritual and cause them all to take the full drain then, and if they don’t have someone ready to kill there, then they’re gonna die. The other bit of good news is that this is being done in the woods in Salish country because the karma hazing it would generate would be a beacon to all of Seattle that something nasty is going down in they pyramid.
So then they have to get out there, fight a bunch of Azzie guards, and some drones, and some blood spirits, to get to the ritual site, where they have to sneak out the hostages before they're brought in, and then take out a member of the ritual to cause the whole thing to collapse.

All in a day's work, right?


so anyone have any feedback or questions?

Spiders -- the anti-bug gang? This is a little too disciplined and complex for a thoroughly insane crew that excels at one thing and one thing alone, terminating bugs.

That's a hell of a test, particularly when a body count might be a legitimate result.

And they better be pretty experienced to be willing to risk confronting a magic-heavy opposition, not to mention blood spirits which are fragging nasty in their own right.

-Siege

Sorry, forgot to make it clear that the "Spiders" were actually Aztech operatives in disguise trying to create the appearance that a hive had been brought down. I'll go back and edit that. sorry.

As for the test, as long as people aren't DEAD (i.e. they are still in overflow), the "Spider" mages will offer to help heal.
I had a good group so they handled things pretty well (use spirits to find the sniper, then ally spirit manabolts him, get behind cover, etc.) plus they had alot of karma pool at their disposal, and went through almost all of it.

none died, but several had serious wounds.

The idea sounds nice, but why did the Aztech guys need a coverup? If the team started to look in on thing themselves, then a coverup might be necessary. But the teams was hired to look into it! Even if the team bought the coverup how is hiring a team of people who tend to keep their activities 'quiet' going to convince the population at large that the problem has been solved?

Making the Johnson really work for the cops, and the 'Spiders' into :those guys who are looking into the same thing, might make a bit more sense.

To tell the truth my players would have taken the 400k? and run for the hills without complaint leaving someone else to deal with the baddies as it's none of their concern, and I'd be proud of them.

400k total, 80k each. I realize it's alot, but I had to make it worth going into a bug's nest.

The whole bug nest scenario is just way, way too icky for me.

There'd have to be a major hook for me to want to crawl through a bug nest for _any_ reason. For the amount of firepower you'd need to penetrate a hive, the Azzies would hear you coming miles off.

Especially for an admitted Azzie handing this mission to me.

-Siege