Shadowrun Returns Post-Funding Update #21

While the latest post-funding update for Shadowrun Returns includes no game development news, the team at Harebrained Schemes is offering the first of many short story installments. Apparently the tumblr is going to update every Friday, so I’m going to quote an excerpt from this first installment to give you a taste of what’s to come:

Kat could think of better ways to spend her Saturday night than being tailed by ork gangers. They were behind her now, red leather jackets and pink mohawks blending into the chaotic mesh of bodies moving through downtown Seattle. She knew what they wanted a pound of flesh, her cyberdeck, the usual. It all came back to the Gunderson run. That job covered rent for the month and left enough for decent takeout, but it meant crossing the Crimson Crush. Apparently they didn’t understand ‘˜just business’.

She sped up and her limp became more pronounced. Doc Maplethorpe called the pain psychosomatic; a memory of having her meat leg gnashed off by teeth as large as her body. Dragon teeth. Of course, her doctor also worked out of the back of a strip mall, so what did he know?

Kat glanced back, pretending to notice a glitzy neon storefront. The orks were still with her. She pulled her satchel closer, feeling for the important items within. Sega CTY-360 Cyberdeck, Colt L36 pistol, stun baton, commlink, and lipstick. Everything a woman of the 2050’s needs. It was too late to double back and lose them. She had a meet to make. Maybe they wouldn’t follow her into Matchsticks. The club was officially Halloweener turf. Then again, they’d strayed this far from Redmond already. She ducked into the club. A few moments later the orks followed.

Matchsticks was hot and crowded. Rhys Corlett manned the bar. All the regulars were there Mr. McDougle, Alex Bayne, Doug Hall. She hoped that acknowledging them would send a message to the orks that this was her turf. That message was received. The gangers stayed put at the front where they could see her and she could see them.