®
CONTENTS
A Bad Omen............................. 6
SHADOWS OF DENVER.... 10
History of the Front Range......... 10
Places to Go .............................. 12
Arvada............................................ 12
Aurora Warrens...............................14
Boulder........................................... 15
Brighton.......................................... 17
Broomfield......................................18
Castle Rock.....................................19
Centennial...................................... 20
Colorado Springs.............................22
Commerce City............................... 24
Elbert..............................................25
Englewood......................................25
Front Range....................................26
Lakewood........................................27
Lowry..............................................28
Stapleton....................................... 29
CONTENTS & CREDITS // 
The Gap...........................................32
The Hub...........................................32
Thornton........................................ 38
Westminster................................... 39
Denver Metaplane..................... 40
Black Canyon.................................. 40
Shattered Lands............................. 40
Iron Horse Nation.......................... 40
City of Steel.................................... 40
Rumor: Dragon’s Den......................41
Denver Matrix Hotspots............. 41
... People to Meet.......................42
Koshari........................................... 42
Nahmana Circle.............................. 42
Ohanzee Circle............................... 42
Wahchinksapa Circle...................... 42
Outer Circle.................................... 43
Komun’go....................................... 43
Mafia Families................................ 43
Tamanous....................................... 43
Triads............................................. 43
Vory v Zakone................................ 44
Yakuza............................................ 44
Local Gangs.................................... 45
Individuals..................................... 47
Business is Good............................ 48
Loose Ends................................50
MISSION 1:
mile high mission.............52
Hook......................................... 52
The Job..................................... 52
Hotspots................................... 53
The Cruise Room.............................53
Free Zone Meats............................ 54
Who’s Who.................................56
Carol “Cat” McTavish...................... 56
Kelly Jones..................................... 56
Dr. Terrance Tersh.......................... 56
Dr. Elivetri Qicharette.................... 56
 Special Notes.............................56
MISSION 2:
toward the edge.............57
Hook......................................... 57
The Job..................................... 57
Staking Out the Warehouse............57
On-Site Surveillance...................... 58
Breaking into the warehouse......... 58
Success............................................59
Returning to the Johnson...............59
Who’s Who.................................59
MISSION 3:
BreadcrumbS....................59
Hook.........................................59
The Job.....................................59
Meeting Ms. Johnson..................... 60
Wrath of GOD................................. 60
Tactical Situation........................... 60
Aftermath...................................... 60
Hotspots................................... 61
Miller’s Safehouse...........................61
Who’s Who................................. 61
Stiletto............................................61
Special Notes............................. 61
MISSION 4:
a certain glow................. 61
Hook......................................... 61
The Job..................................... 61
What’s Happening? ....................... 62
Investigating the Glyphs................ 62
Hunting the Hunter........................ 62
Tracking the Source....................... 62
Glyph Locations............................. 63
Who’s Who................................ 64
Guide.............................................. 64
Special Notes............................ 64
MISSION 5:
wispy will.......................... 64
Hook........................................ 64
The Job.....................................65
Hotspots...................................65
One-Up Bar and Arcade................. 65
Who’s Who................................ 66
Arcane............................................ 66
Special Notes............................ 66
MISSION 6:
i’m here to see... ...............66
Hook........................................ 66
The Job.................................... 66
Hotspots.................................. 66
Above It All..................................... 66
Who’s Who.................................67
Special Notes.............................67
MISSION 7:
it does what now?.......68
Hook.........................................68
The Job.....................................68
Legwork....................................68
Contacts......................................... 69
Site Scouting.................................. 69
Anatomy of a
Government Archive...................... 69
Foci................................................ 70
Defenders...................................... 70
Success........................................... 70
MISSION 8:
selection............................... 71
Hook......................................... 71
The Job (Part One)..................... 71
Walkabout....................................... 71
A Night On the Town....................... 71
Backroom Meeting.......................... 71
Paydata Obtained...........................72
Follow the Leader...........................72
The Job (Part Two)..................... 72
Getting There is Half the Fun..........72
Knock, Knock .................................72
What Secrets Lie Inside...................73
Paydata Obtained...........................74
Time to Go.......................................74
Hotspots...................................74
Deep Diver......................................74
Green Water Bay.............................74
Who’s Who................................. 75
Dark Wave Syndicate......................75
Special Notes............................. 75
MISSION 9:
the refugee.........................76
Hook.........................................76
The Job.....................................76
Details, then Legwork.....................76
The Troll at the Door,
the Enemy Aboard..........................76
The Refugee....................................77
MISSION 10:
who wrote
the book?..............................78
Hook.........................................78
The Job............................................78
Hotspots...................................79
The Library of Alexandria (Kindred
Metaplane)..................................... 79
Who’s Who.................................79
Mr. Bookbinder.............................. 79
Special Notes.............................79
MISSION 11:
rearing heads..................80
Hook........................................ 80
The Job.................................... 80
Short-Notice Legwork.................... 80
Legwork................................... 80 3
Security and Defenses................... 80
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
Opposing Forces and Tactics..........81
Returning to Ms. Johnson...............82
MISSION 12:
get the goodies...............82
Hook.........................................82
Meeting Mr. K..................................82
The Job.....................................82
Cast of Shadows.........................83
MISSION 13:
those who
know too much...............84
Hook........................................ 84
The Job.................................... 84
Hotspots...................................85
Who’s Who.................................85
Target: Cap’n Kludge...................... 85
MISSION 14:
fade to black....................86
Hook.........................................86
The Job.....................................86
Archer Heights .............................. 86
Sunshine Estates............................ 88
On The Offensive............................ 88
On the Front Range........................ 89
In da HUB....................................... 89
On the Edge
(of the Sioux Nation)...................... 89
Hotspots.................................. 90
Club Charybdis............................... 90
Archer Heights and
the Paladin Health
and Welfare Clinic.......................... 90
Sunshine Estates............................ 90
MISSION 15:
best of enemies..............90
Hook......................................... 91
The Job..................................... 91
Legwork..........................................91
Security and Defenses....................91
Legwork....................................93
MISSION 16:
data cleanup......................93
Hook.........................................93
The Job.....................................93
Hotspots.................................. 94
Carnegie Arms............................... 94
Penthouse Suite............................. 94
Who’s Who.................................95
Fidian Serverson............................ 95
 // CONTENTS & CREDITS
 Disian Gargoyle.............................. 95
Special Notes............................ 96
MISSION 17:
4 the trail
of betrayal.........................96
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
Hook........................................ 96
The Job.................................... 96
Returning to Mr. Johnson............... 98
Using Foundations.....................98
Entering the
Resonance Realms......................... 99
MISSION 18:
cracks in the
foundation........................100
Hook.......................................100
The Job................................... 101
Hotspots................................. 103
Olympus........................................103
The Reflecting Pool.......................103
ZDF Precinct 3...............................103
The Jester’s Nest.......................... 104
MCT Offices.................................. 104
Zero Factor................................... 104
Who’s Who...............................104
Null Sect....................................... 104
MISSION 19:
down on the farm.......105
Hook....................................... 105
The Job................................... 105
Do I Know You
from Somewhere?.........................105
Wrap Up..................................106
Who’s Who...............................106
MISSION 20:
agents of
instability..........................106
Hook.......................................106
The Job................................... 107
Hotspots................................. 108
Jester’s Nest..................................108
Sunset Ridge.................................108
MISSION 21:
powerful wrath..........108
Hook....................................... 108
The Job................................... 108
Legwork........................................109
The Site.........................................109
Returning to Mr. Johnson..............109
MISSION 22:
greater darkness........ 110
Hook....................................... 110
The Job................................... 110
Hunting the Bear........................... 110
Shadows of Fear........................... 110
CONTENTS & CREDITS // 
Astral Hazing.................................111
Who’s Who................................ 111
The Shades.....................................111
Ainsley Marshall............................111
Mason Marshall..............................112
Piasma...........................................112
MISSION 23:
watching you,
watching me........................112
Hook........................................112
The Job...........................................112
The Setup...................................... 113
We’re Here to Rescue You?........... 113
It’s a Trap!..................................... 113
Arenas of Combat......................... 113
Aftermath..................................... 113
Hotspots..................................113
Fitzsimons Army
Hospital (former).......................... 113
Who’s Who................................114
Special Notes............................114
MISSION 24:
den of asps..........................114
Hook........................................114
The Job....................................114
Hotspots..................................115
The Viper’s Den..............................115
Who’s Who................................115
Vipers.............................................115
Blockade....................................... 116
ASPS Mage.................................... 116
Special Notes............................116
MISSION 25:
WARP & WEFT.......................116
Hook........................................116
The Job....................................117
Legwork...................................117
The Site......................................... 118
The Corridors................................ 118
The Main Chamber........................ 118
The Boxes...................................... 119
The Matrix..................................... 119
The Fight....................................... 119
Escape? Not Likely........................ 119
Returning to Mr. Johnson..............120
Disclaimer............................... 120
MISSION 26:
the art of asking........ 120
Hook....................................... 120
The Job................................... 120
Who’s Who................................121
Riggers...........................................121
Combat Medics.............................. 122
Door-Kickers................................. 122
Combat Healers (Hermetic).......... 122
Special Notes............................122
MISSION 27:
closing the door......... 123
Hook........................................123
The Job....................................123
Legwork........................................ 123
Behind the Curtain........................124
Hotspots................................. 124
Who’s Who............................... 124
MISSION 28:
old scars........................... 125
Hook........................................125
The Job....................................125
Hotspots................................. 126
CAS/UCAS Border......................... 126
Aztlan/PCC Border........................ 126
CAS/PCC Border............................ 127
Sioux/PCC Border......................... 127
UCAS/Sioux Border....................... 128
MISSION 29:
digital assault............... 129
Hook....................................... 129
The Job................................... 130
Hotspots..................................131
The Nexus..................................... 131
Who’s Who................................131
Perri.............................................. 131
MISSION 30:
the collector................ 132
Hook........................................132
The Job....................................132
After Entering
Zecorporatum............................... 132
After Entering Caelum..................134
Returning to
Zecorporatum............................... 135
Returning to Denver..................... 135
Hotspots..................................135
Zecorporatum............................... 135
Caelum (Selam)............................. 135
Who’s Who................................135
Santiago Salazar........................... 135
Scriniarii / Chief Archivist.............136
MISSION 31:
proof of concept........ 136
Hook....................................... 136
The Job....................................137
Legwork........................................ 137
The Encounter...............................139
MISSION 32:
vengeance is ours!.... 140
Hook.......................................140
 The Job...................................140
Responding to Niki........................140
Legwork on the Run......................140
The Aftermath.............................. 141
MISSION 33:
MISSION 35:
a hole in
the world.......................... 148
Hook....................................... 148
The Job................................... 148
The Refugee.................................. 159
Stiletto.......................................... 159
Thomas White Feather..................160
Vishala..........................................160 5
Niki the Gardener.......................... 161

SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL

final audit.......................... 142
Hook....................................... 142
The Job................................... 142
A Quick Reunion............................142
Down the Rabbit Hole...................142
Tactical Situation
and Opposition Forces..................142
Connections Revealed...................142
Crossroads....................................143
Parting Ways.................................143
Hotspots................................. 143
Former U.S. Air Force
Academy Grounds.........................143
MISSION 34:
into the gap....................... 144
Hook....................................... 144
Smallest Breezes...........................144
The Mile-High
Railway................................... 145
Hotspots................................. 145
Special Notes........................... 147
What Is Happening?......................148
One Last Job..................................148
The Seer........................................149
Breaking the Machine...................149
Hotspots................................. 149
Never Deal with a Null..................150
The Aftermath......................... 150
afterword.......................... 151
Plot Summary...........................152
For Gamemasters Only!................ 152
character Trove..........153
rules reference........... 165
The Allies.................................153
The Runners’ Neighbors............... 153
Arcane........................................... 155
Carol “Cat” McTavish.................... 155
Cap’n Kludge.................................156
Goldsmoke.................................... 157
Kangee Ohanze ............................ 157
Mr. K.............................................. 157
Masque..........................................158
Magnum........................................158
Perri..............................................158
Adversaries ............................ 162
Null Sect
Protosapiant Constructs...............162
Null Qualities .......................... 163
Special Null Attacks......................163
Authority.......................................163
Deviceless.....................................164
Fnord.............................................164
Noiseless.......................................164
Real World Naiveté.......................164
Virtual Processing.........................164
Dissonance Pools .................... 165
Small Dissonance Pool..................165
Medium Dissonance Pool..............165
Large Dissonance Pool..................165
Metaplanar Translation........... 165
Using Foundations .................. 166
Entering the
Resonance Realms................... 167
New Hacking
Program: Hitchhiker..................... 167
Mana Ebbs............................... 167

CREDITS
Writing: Jeff Halket, Jason M. Hardy, J. Keith Henry, Romain Pelisse,
Alexandra Pitchford, Louis Ray, Grant Robinson, Scott Schletz, RJ Thomas
Editing: Aaron Webber, Jason M. Hardy
Cover Art: Ben Giletti
Illustrations: Bruno Balixa, Wagner Chrissante, Brent Chumley,
Angga Dwipayana, Phil Hilliker, Lukasz Matuszek, Victor Moreno,
Marco Pennacchietti, Júlio Rocha, Marc Sintes
Design & Production: Matt “Frostland” Heerdt
Art Direction: Ian King
Shadowrun Line Developer: Jason M. Hardy
Proofing: J.M. Comeau, Bruce Ford, Jim Greene, Mason Hart,
James O’Laughlin, Carl Schelin, Jeremy Weyand
Special thanks to Romain Pelisse and Louis Ray for going above
and beyond in pulling things together. Also thanks to Pierre Michaud, Travis
Theune, and Mathieu Thivin.

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 // CONTENTS & CREDITS

 A Bad Omen
by Alexandra Pitchford
It was supposed to be a milk run.
The job had gone smoothly. The schematics and
security information Lyfe had dug up on the building
proved to be accurate enough to let them cut through
to the secure host on one of the lower levels. Lyfe hun-
kered down to crack the security door, the troll squint-
ing behind his thick goggles as a digital readout scrolled
across the lenses.
“The security matches what was in the files Mr.
Johnson gave us. Door controls are isolated from the
rest of the system. Uses older tech, some serious 2050s
stuff. I think I can crack it, though.” He unspooled a
cable from the back of his neck, blowing on the plug
before nodding and jacking into the panel. A few mo-
ments later, the door opened with a grinding screech of
metal, revealing darkness beyond broken by a handful
of blinking lights. “Ladies?”
Morgana smiled as the hulking troll swept a mock
bow, motioning them ahead with his gesture. Striga
was less amused, the lean woman hefting her gun and
striding through without a word. Rose followed af-
ter her, motioning the odd mechanical spider she kept
close to her to stand guard by the door.
THE THIRD PARALLEL // A BAD OMEN
“Did I say something wrong?” Lyfe asked, lifting
his goggles.
“Don’t worry about it, big guy,” Morgana said.
“This is our first run as a crew, and Striga … she’s
just Striga. If my stupid jokes can’t get her to smile, I
don’t think much will.” She patted the muscular decker
on the back before following the other two into the
room. Striga had already found the node, resting a
hand of matte carbon fiber against the casing as her
eyes—gleaming an eerie crimson in the dark—flitted
toward them.
“Lyfe. Wipe the data. The sooner we get out of here,
the better.” Striga’s words carried a slight accent, East-
ern European of some sort, though Morgana had never
been able to place it.
The troll nodded, lowering his overloaded duffel
again and fishing out another cobbled-together piece of
tech. He bit his tongue as he worked, clamping a metal-
lic box to the side of the server casing and hooking wires
that ran from it into ports in the node’s exterior.
“You sure about this, Striga?” Rose leaned back
against another bank of servers along one of the walls,
the lights around her blinking lazily. “We’re getting
paid a lot of nuyen and got dragged all the way out to
fragging Denver to wipe whatever’s on this thing. If the
price tag for destroying it is this big, how much do you
think we could get for hocking a copy of it?”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Morgana said.
The elf frowned, glancing toward the rigger. “We
gave our word we’d erase the data without looking
at it, right?”
“I don’t care. We’re all in it for the payday, right?”
Rose snorted, looking at Striga and crossing her arms.
“Why’d you bring the spell-jockey, anyway? This is a
tech run. Should have left her at home—bigger payday
for those of us who’re actually useful.”
Morgana caught Striga’s jaw tensing, a slight twitch
of muscle just below her ear.
“And I told you, Morgana and I are a package
deal.” The reply was curt, the mercenary not even look-
ing over at the rigger. “And if you start in with the
suggestion that she doesn’t get an equal share, I’ll make
sure to shove that spider drone down your throat. Are
we clear?”
“Chill, eh?” Lyfe said, breaking the tension as all
eyes turned back toward him. “I’ll just make a copy,
and we can hash this out later. If we decide not to sell
it, we just delete it, yeah? Easy.”
Striga let out a breath, giving him nod.
“Go ahead.”
“Right-o, boss! Just let me connect real quick,
and—”
The moment Lyfe plugged in, the server node lit
up, its lights flickering like mad. For a brief moment,
Morgana thought she caught a pattern in the flickering
lights, but it was gone just as quickly. The troll seized,
his body jerking backward hard enough to rip the ca-
ble from his head, smoke pouring from the jack in the
back of his neck. Lights recessed in the ceiling flared
red, bathing them all in hellish light as alarms blared
around them.
“Lyfe!” Morgana ran to him, falling to her knees
beside the troll, but a strong hand closed on her shoul-
der and dragged her back.
“We don’t have time,” Striga said, hefting her rifle.
“He’s already dead.”
“You don’t know that! He could have just been
knocked out!”
“Striga’s right,” Rose said. “Tachi is reporting that
the facility’s defenses are coming back online. Whatev-
er that drekking trog did tripped the backup systems.
Dead or not, we need to move.”
They didn’t give Morgana time to respond. Striga
pulled her from the room as Rose and Tachi brought
up the rear, the drone scurrying along behind its cre-
ator. As they passed beyond the server room’s heavy
door, a strange chill passed down Morgana’s spine.
Something was there with them. She struggled to keep
up with Striga’s pace as they ran for the lift at the other
end of the hall, the alarms stuttering and glitching and
the lights starting to flicker overhead as they moved.
“Something’s wrong!”
“No drek!” Rose snapped, tapping the illuminated
screen on her wrist. “The entire net in this building
is going haywire. Security drones are incoming, but
… frag it!” She flinched as the screen sputtered and
cracked in a sudden electrostatic burst. Behind her, Ta-
A BAD OMEN // THE THIRD PARALLEL
 chi twitched and stumbled, falling to the ground in a
clatter of lifeless metal. “This doesn’t make sense!” She
turned as Striga punched the lift button, dropping to
8 a knee beside Tachi and popping open a panel in the
drone’s chassis.
“Leave it!” Striga said.
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
“No way. Do you know what it took to build this
thing? I just need to get it moving again.”
“Build a new one, come on!”
Rose shot Striga a glare. The lift chimed, and Mor-
gana stepped inside, drawing her gun as Striga moved
in after her. Behind the rigger, Tachi twitched and shud-
dered, its eye lenses flickering and flashing white and
red. Rose let out a relieved sigh, starting to stand.
“There we go. Come on, we can get out of here, and
I can give Tachi a proper look-over on the road,” she
said. The drone twitched and stumbled as it got up on
its legs again, a pair of metal barrels emerging from its
carapace as its eyes flared red. The hall was filled with
the sharp rattling of machine-gun fire, Morgana throw-
ing herself to one side as Striga hit the lift panel, bullets
streaking past to thud into the elevator’s back wall as
the doors slid closed. The sound grew muffled, but it
was still firing as they began to move, that last image
of Rose’s form jerking under a hail of gunfire burned
into Morgana’s mind as she hunkered against the wall
and gasped for breath.
“It … it killed her. Tachi killed her! Why?”
Striga crouched quietly on the other side of the lift
from her, just beside the door, checking the clip in her
rifle before slotting it back in and chambering a round.
“Whatever’s causing the building’s systems to go
haywire. She was tied in through her deck, and it took
control of the drone through that. Given how much she
crowed about how ‘un-crackable’ her little toy was, I’d
guess it has control of the security drones, too.”
That thought didn’t make the mage feel better in
the slightest, and she took a deep breath to try and
center herself. Tachi didn’t make it onto the lift, but the
facility had a small army of drones that were nearly as
dangerous. Lyfe had hacked into the system and taken
them offline, at least until he’d tripped the alarm.
“So if whatever or whoever hacked Tachi has con-
trol of the drones—”
“It changes nothing,” Striga said, her words flat.
“They’d fire on us either way.”
“That’s comforting.”
“It wasn’t meant to be.”
The lift jerked, the control panel flashing as the en-
tire thing ground to a sudden halt. Morgana reached
out to brace herself against the wall, but Striga seemed
entirely unbothered, getting to her feet and slinging her
rifle over her shoulder.
“The schematics showed stairs on the above-
ground levels, didn’t they?” Striga asked, wedging her
fingers into the seam of the door. Morgana wasn’t sure
how much of the mercenary’s body had been replaced
with ’ware, but the most obvious pieces were her arms,
cyberware of some military-grade design armored in
plates of carbon fiber. The woman didn’t even strain
as she wrenched the two halves of the door open. The
lift hadn’t quite reached one of the floors when it had
come to a stop, but there was enough of the exterior
door accessible that Striga was able to pull that one
open as well and hoist herself out of the lift and onto
the floor above them. She swung her weapon around
THE THIRD PARALLEL // A BAD OMEN
again, sweeping from one side to the other before lean-
ing down to offer Morgana a hand up behind her.
“I think so. I don’t remember the exact layout. Lyfe
and Rose had the schematics.”
“Then we find out what level we’re on and go from
there. Avoid the drones if we can and hope that any
live security teams that show up are on this thing’s bad
side, too.”
“And what about you? You’ve got a lot of tech, and
whatever this is, it blew out Rose’s deck and took over
her drone.” Morgana was cautious, but she couldn’t
keep a note of worry from her voice. “Are you going
to be okay?”
“I’m not in the habit of hooking myself up to any
wireless systems,” Striga said, the reply curt, though
her demeanor softened after a moment. “I’ll be fine. I
promise.”
The floor they’d emerged onto was office space, a
broad expanse of sleek cubicles that would have been
packed with wageslaves during normal business hours.
Terminals crackled and sparked, some flickering madly,
others completely blown out from the constant power
surges that were wreaking havoc on the building. The
lighting was dim, flickering like old burned-out fluo-
rescents with an irritating buzz to match. The back of
Morgana’s neck prickled, the sense of being observed
making her stomach knot, though there was no sign
of security—drone or otherwise. The charge in the air
felt like the pressure just before a spell went off, the
crescendo of magic that preceded something big, just
hanging there. Potential unfulfilled.
“There’s something else here, too …” She said,
finally. “I can feel it. It doesn’t make any sense, but
it’s here.” Morgana swallowed. Her throat felt dry. “I
think we let it out.”
Striga began to wend her way through the cubicles,
carefully sweeping each one they passed, and Morgana
fell into step behind her.
“Do you think it took control of the security sys-
tems and Rose’s drone?”
“No. I don’t see how. Magic and tech don’t mix.
Not like that. Maybe it’s a decker with facility security.
Someone has to be controlling the drones in the first
place, right?”
“Maybe.” Striga paused, nodding toward a door
set against the wall to their right. “There. This floor
isn’t one we stopped on on the way down, but the lay-
out is similar enough. Stairs should be that way.” She
started to jog toward the door, cursing and dropping
behind a cubicle wall when the door was pulled open
from the other side. Morgana ducked down beside
her, holding her pistol close as the sound of voices
reached her ears.
“I don’t care if the drones are going nuts, fragging
fix it!” a man shouted, followed by a string of curses.
“Team B’s comms just went down. It sounded like they
were under fire.”
“The intruders, or …?” A second man’s voice
trailed off.
“I have no fragging idea. Just … stow it. We’ve got
work to do.”
Striga lifted her head enough to peek over the edge
of the cubicle, hissing a curse that Morgana didn’t
quite catch before dropping back down.
“Centurion,” she said under her breath. “Either
this is an S-K facility or they’ve contracted with them.
We need to stay low, move toward the door they came
through, and we can avoid them entirely.”
A sharp crash snapped their attention toward the
opposite side of the cubicle farm, a hovering shape
breaking through a wall of frosted glass that had sep-
arated the cubicles from the rest of the floor. The secu-
rity drone wheeled around, its photoreceptors flashing
like mad as it sprayed bullets across the length of the
room. The sudden burst of weapons fire sent the two
women and the security officers scrambling. The pair
of women ran for the door, a shout of surprise follow-
ing as one of the guards spotted them. Striga opened
the door, stopping short as a second drone hovered
down from higher up in the stairwell, a high-pitched
whine building as it prepared to open fire.
“Down!”
Striga pulled Morgana with her as she threw her-
self to the side, another barrage of lead raking across
the room from the open door. One of the guards was
caught by surprise, crumpling in a heap as he was per-
forated, but the other managed to duck behind a desk
just barely in time.
“Enough of this.” Morgana pushed herself up, al-
ready drawing on the charged energy that filled the air
around her. Light crackled around her hands, arcane
power building before she thrust her hand outward
toward the drone that flew in from the stairwell. The
moment the bolt left her hand, it felt as if the atten-
tion of whatever was present locked solely on her, but
she pushed it out of her mind. The bolt struck home,
punching through the drone’s chassis and knocking it
out of the air. A single sharp report followed, and the
other drone fell, smoke curling from the barrel of Stri-
ga’s rifle.
“In for a cred,” the mercenary muttered, standing.
“Let’s go.”
“Stop!”
The second guard had pulled himself up as well, his
weapon leveled at them. He started to move closer, but
the moment he took a step, the air congealed behind
him, boiling as an indistinct shape materialized—the
charge in the air swirling toward that single point in
the room. A spectral face twisted into a rictus, letting
out an echoing scream that made lights flare and burst
around them in showers of glass and sparks. The guard
didn’t even have time to turn around. A ghastly tendril
swept across his frame and tore him apart in a spray
of gore before the entity’s gaze turned toward Morgana
and Striga.
The plan didn’t even need to be spoken. As one,
Morgana and Striga ran, bolting through the stairwell
door and heading up. The markings on the wall indi-
cated they were still several floors underground. When
they reached the ground floor, Morgana staggered to a
stop, desperate to catch her breath.
“Dammit, Cass, there’s not time,” Striga snapped,
the use of a name other than her handle startling Mor-
gana. She nodded, following her companion out into
the floor proper, emerging into a long stretch of hallway.
9
Behind, that strange hollow scream followed them, far
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
too close for comfort. There was no choice but to keep
running. This floor, at least, was familiar, and they bolt-
ed past dead guards and broken drones on their way
to the extraction point. Another trio of drones swept
out of a side room ahead of them, and Morgana forced
herself to focus—electricity flung from her fingertips
this time, arcing and snapping between the drones and
allowing Striga to shoot them down while they were
immobilized. The pair racing past them as they clat-
tered to the ground around them.
An unused security room had been their entry point,
through an exterior door. As they stumbled inside, Stri-
ga hit the door’s lock mechanism and snarled a curse
as the panel flickered with static like all the other mon-
itors and panels in the building had been.
“Drek!” She turned, quickly slamming the door
they’d entered through shut, drew her pistol, and fired
into the panel beside it. “What the fragging hell is that
thing, Morgana? Some answers would be real great
right now, because I don’t think I can kill a fragging
ghost with a gun!”
“It’s not a ghost. I don’t know what that was, Stri-
ga. I’ve never—I’ve never seen anything like it.”
In the distance, the howl echoed, and Morga-
na shuddered involuntarily. Each time she heard the
noise, it sliced into her soul. Outside the room, some-
thing slammed against the door, jarring it in its frame.
Striga moved to flip over the desk, laying her rifle over
the top and staring down the door as whatever was on
the other side slammed into it again. Streamers of mist
began to leak around the door’s edges, the lights over-
head buzzing in increasing pitch. What it was didn’t
matter as much as the fact that it was trying to rip
through the door and kill them both. So be it.
Morgana braced herself, focusing what power she
had into orbs of arcane light in her hands, poised to
fling the charged bolts at whatever came through when
the shuddering door finally gave way.
It never came.
The shuddering stopped with a screech of metal.
The mage heard gunfire in the distance, a sharp stac-
cato that increased in tempo as a fading howl cut the
air. Someone else—possibly more security forces—had
drawn the thing’s attention, and it even sounded as if
more drones were firing back at them. In front of her,
Striga exhaled, lowering her gun and getting up to pry
open their exit.
“Frag Denver. Frag S-K. We’re going home.”
A BAD OMEN // THE THIRD PARALLEL
 SHADOWS
OF DENVER
Posted by: Peregrine
March 10, 2079, marks the last time I commu-
nicated with a good friend of mine who lived in
Denver. Her name was Perri, and she was a sys-
op for the Denver Data Haven, also known as the
Nexus. But a couple months ago, I got a message
on an old, encrypted channel that hinted that Perri
might still be alive. I owed it to her to follow up
this lead (and I had nothing else on my plate any-
way) so I made a trip to the Mile High City. What
I learned about the Front Range Free Zone on that
trip seemed like it’d be a good tract for my fellow
JackPointers.
History of the
Front Range
We’ll start with some historical context to get
you situated. The Front Range Free Zone (FRFZ)
has long been populated by a mix of various Amer-
SHADOWS OF DENVER // HISTORY OF THE FRONT RANGE
ind tribes and Anglos. At various points in history,
the region was claimed by Amerind tribes, Spain,
France, and the USA. Currently it is firmly in the
claws of Ghostwalker, a great western dragon who
has changed the landscape (literally and figurative-
ly) in ways we’re still discovering.
Some of the first people to populate the area
were the Ute, who still play a role in its cultural
development to this day. The Ute were joined by
the Cheyenne, Lakota, Kiowa, Pueblo, Coman-
che, Sioux, and Arapahoe. You can see traces of
all these tribes throughout the region, and the Na-
tive American Nations remain some of the most
dominant cultural powers in the whole FRFZ. The
Pueblo Corporate Council represents the largest
land border with the FRFZ, encompassing the
whole of the western and southern borders, and
most of the northern and eastern borders.
The Anglos came along in the early 1800s, led
by a man named Zebulon Pike. You’ll see his in-
fluence over the region as well. He named Pike’s
Peak, and his “discovery” of the region inspired a
wave of independent, free-spirited Anglos to come
to the area and call it home. However, it was the
gold rush of 1859 that really brought significant
and irreversible changes to the region.
> There was a massacre near Sand Creek in 1864, in which over
150 people from the Arapahoe and Cheyenne tribes were
slaughtered by American soldiers. This was a turning point in
the relations between Amerinds and Anglos and led to dozens
of reciprocal attacks by both sides. If you want to visit the
battleground, bring some spiritual protection—the spirits of the
land still remember and don’t tolerate Anglos at all.
> Lyran
The three major cities that make up the FRFZ
were all founded around the gold industry, which
means you shouldn’t be surprised to hear that all
three are deeply ingrained with violence, deceit,
and murder.
Denver was founded in 1858 by General Larim-
er, who settled next to an existing gold claim and
forced the people on it to leave so he could claim it
himself. Pretty nasty piece of work. It was there he
built up Larimer Square, which is still in the cen-
ter of Denver. Following the collapse of the gold
mines, the city had to look forward, and it became
a haven for software startups, entrepreneurs, and
an early pioneer of the Matrix. It now serves as the
capital of the FRFZ, and on a clear day you can see
Ghostwalker standing atop his tower in the middle
of the city.
> Lately, you see more and more of Ghostwalker. For a while
after the Eviction, Ghostwalker wasn’t around much at all. It
was basically just Nicholas Whitefeather telling everyone what
Ghostwalker said. But the last six months or so, we’ve seen
Ghostwalker a lot more often.
> Kay St. Irregular
Colorado Springs was founded in 1858 as well,
and while there was some gold present, it wasn’t in
the quantities found in other areas. The city grew
up anyway though, thriving on the area’s prolific
hot springs, which promised health and purifica-
tion of the spirit to weary travelers and workers
in the region. By the twentieth century, Colorado
Springs was known more for its military presence
than its healing properties, as it boasted the Air
Force Academy along with five other military in-
stallations in and around the city. Rumor has it
that the Air Force Academy’s McDermott Library
housed the Denver Data Haven while it still exist-
ed. I’ll get more into detail about that later.
Boulder has a slightly different kind of histo-
ry. Also founded in 1858, it was the territory of
Arapaho Chief Niwot, who attempted to warn off
the Anglo interlopers. Chief Niwot was granted a
vision of a flood that would wipe away his people
but leave the Anglos unharmed. Thus, he decided
to allow them to stay, but he also uttered the Curse
of the Boulder Valley: “People seeing the beauty
of this valley will want to stay, and their staying
will be the undoing of the beauty.” You can still 11
see this curse etched into the arrivals gate of Ni-
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
wot airport. While Boulder was founded on a gold
claim, it really began to boom once the University
of Colorado took root. Unlike many of the gold
mining towns of the West at this point, Boulder is
known more for its artistic and intellectual culture.
Indeed, as Chief Niwot stated, the beauty would
convince people to stay. In recent years, there’s
been a major push to try to reclaim the natural
beauty and reverse the curse.
> Under Ghostwalker, funds have been pouring in for
naturalization projects. Of course, this means that we’re also
seeing an uptick in people trying to siphon those funds for
personal gain.
> Bifrost
In 2018, the First Treaty of Denver changed the
political landscape of North America forever. The
United States and Canada returned a lot of their
land to form the Native American Nations, and
the FRFZ was established as a politically neutral
region. This led to the creation of the United Ca-
nadian and American States, the Confederation of
American States, and the balkanization of North
America. Eventually, the Treaty of Denver under-
went some revisions to account for the separation
of Tsimshian, Aztlan, and Tír Tairngire, along with
the development of the CAS.
On Christmas Eve 2061, the city got a new
leader. Ghostwalker emerged from the Watergate
Rift and immediately flew to Denver. He wrecked
things throughout the region, focusing his rampage
in the Aztlan sector. He then kicked Aztlan out of
the FRFZ and established himself as its leader.
This, of course, required a rebuilding of the Trea-
ty of Denver. The Second Treaty of Denver was
written and established Ghostwalker’s rule over
the Hub district. The Pueblo Corporate Council
(PCC) took over the former Ute districts as well,
and things stabilized eventually.
> This was a scary time in the Mile High City. No one knew what
Ghostwalker wanted, only that he was on a tear through the
area, killing hundreds and razing whole neighborhoods to the
ground. It was only later that we learned that the focus of his
attacks was on Aztechnology when he announced that he was
going to recompense all parties except them.
> Kay St. Irregular
Ghostwalker took a small hiatus in 2073 and
returned in 2074 with the free spirit Zebulon. Ze-
bulon was an amazing spirit who showed a great
amount of compassion and consideration. Some
scholars argued that Zebulon convinced Ghost-
HISTORY OF THE FRONT RANGE // SHADOWS OF DENVER
 walker to spare more than a few metahumans.
However, Zebulon is also the reason Ghostwalk-
er would sometimes make some very odd or even
12 downright callous decisions. For instance, he
would grant a building permit to one person and
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
tear down that same building shortly after it was
constructed. Astral scholars have said that he was
doing this to affect the manasphere in Denver, to
make it more amenable to Zebulon. The full truth
is still unknown, and in 2079, Zebulon was report-
ed to be destroyed. Not just dispersed or disrupted,
but obliterated.
Since 2079, things have been crazy. As I said
before, communication with the region was shut
down on March 10. The cities all went into lock-
down, and Ghostwalker’s Zone Defense Force
(ZDF) forcibly ushered out every government enti-
ty from the FRFZ. Ghostwalker’s Voice, Nicholas
Whitebird, declared that the ZDF was maintaining
martial law over the zone per Ghostwalker’s wish-
es. Ghostwalker had given the various member na-
tions a month to evacuate, and anyone left behind
was treated as fair game by the ZDF. The whole
thing was to be known as Ghostwalker’s Recla-
mation, but some folks on the street will refer to it
as the Great Eviction. Things were very tense for
a few months while people acclimated to the new
normal.
Places to Go ...
The FRFZ is a lot more than just Denver, Col-
orado Springs, and Boulder. It’s also more than all
the transportation, politics, and shadow games.
To my knowledge, Denver is the only city in the
world that boasts its own metaplane. Additionally,
it’s got a very outsized Matrix presence. To discuss
these last two areas, about which I am no expert,
I reached out to Bifrost and Voxel, two Denver
residents who know a ton about the astral plane
and the Matrix, respectively. I also collected some
feedback from a couple of local Denverites named
14er and Mile High Mike, who can provide some
street-level input that might be useful. I’ve put
their comments in the relevant sections, since they
don’t have access to JackPoint.
The FRFZ is broken up into several semi-auton-
omous districts, and they cover the territory from
as far north as Boulder, to as far south as Colorado
Springs. The Zone is simply humungous, covering
12,754 square kilometers of what used to be Col-
orado. There is a total of nineteen districts, with a
demilitarized zone (DMZ) around the whole thing.
The DMZ is about a kilometer thick, with autho-
rized checkpoints along major roads connecting
the PCC and Sioux Nation with the FRFZ. Cross-
ing the DMZ requires a scan of your vehicle and
passengers, and then a similar scan on the other
side. Despite all this, there is a lot of illegal traf-
SHADOWS OF DENVER // PLACES TO GO ...
fic, because the size of the FRFZ prevents the ZDF
from patrolling every kilometer effectively.
Getting into or out of any of the districts re-
quires passing through a checkpoint. The check-
points are pretty unobtrusive, having just a gate
that covers the road scanning SINs in real time, Pe-
destrian access uses the same system. You can just
drive right through without ever slowing down.
The whole thing is automated, but if they detect
a falsified SIN or contraband in your vehicle, the
ZDF will be deployed to your position, and you’ll
be tracked by drones almost immediately.
All the districts have a representative on the
Zone Council, except for the Gap and Englewood,
which both lack the population to warrant such a
position. Members of the Zone Council are giv-
en free accommodations in Ghostwalker’s private
suites in The Hub. And while they are the legisla-
tors and representatives of the people on paper, the
fact remains that if Ghostwalker chooses to crush
them and eat their families, they’re all now very
close at claw.
You’ll see that theme throughout the FRFZ, to
be honest. Everywhere I looked, it seemed like peo-
ple were happily going about their days as if noth-
ing was wrong. But it just took a knowing glance
around to find all the cameras, drones, and agents
watching everyone’s every move. It was the sort of
thing that was very paranoia-inducing. No wonder
people prefer to pretend it’s not all there.
Arvada
arvada at a glance
Size: 226 square kilometers
Population (2081): 152,000
Human: 65%
Dwarf: 3%
Elf: 13%
Ork: 15%
Troll: 2%
Other: 2%
Population density: 673 per square kilometer
Per capita income: 65,000¥
Hospitals and clinics: 8
Education (2081):
Less than 12 years: 25%
High school equivalency: 38%
College equivalency: 23%
Advanced degrees and certificates: 14%
Located just north and west of the city center,
the Arvada district is a large area that covers about
230 square kilometers of mostly urban space. On
the western edges of the district, things get more
rural and spread out. On the eastern edges, things
are very dense. Arvada is still very much a bed-
room community for the larger Denver region.
> All those wageslaves who live in Arvada are pumped to the brim
with chemicals. All those uppers have taken their toll on the soul
of Arvada and its residents.
> Bifrost 13

SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL

> Be aware that there are packs of feral Libertines running around.
For those that don’t know what those are, they’re Emerged
raccoons. Like normal raccoons, they tend to be a nuisance for
anything that isn’t nailed down. The difference is, they like to dig
through your commlinks and mess with your data.
> Voxel

Atlantean Foundation Offices

The Atlantean Foundation runs its affairs out
of this tall building. Visitors are permitted on the
first two floors, which are dedicated to their collec-
tion of relics, promotional materials for their orga-
nization, and public relations. The remaining five
floors are off-limits to the public and presumably
are reserved for the Atlantean Foundation’s meet-
ings, support staff, and perhaps even more secure
storage. The presence of a basement vault has been
hinted at but not confirmed.

KMAG Headquarters
Local media outlet KMAG leases the top two
floors of this building. The topmost floor is re-
served for sets, broadcast equipment, simsense
equipment, and other tools of the trade. The floor
below is reserved for corporate offices, writing
rooms, and other support personnel. The roof is
used for broadcast equipment such as satellites,
antennae, and repeaters.

Lakeside Amusement Park

A former amusement park that fell into dis-
repair and was rebuilt as a casino, the Lakeside
Amusement Park now caters to more adult enter-
tainment. The amusement park still exists, but the
real money and focus is on the casino and brothel
run by the Chavez Family.

> If you have to do business with the Chavez Family, there’s a

very strong chance it’ll happen here. If you are asked to meet
somewhere else, it’s probably a setup. They prefer to do their
business where they can control the action.
> 14er

Mesametric Factory
Mesametric is one of the largest local compa-
nies in the region. They build everything from con-
struction drones to light military craft. Currently,
they have a contract with the Sioux Nation to pro-
vide military vehicles to them.

PLACES TO GO ... // SHADOWS OF DENVER

 Table Mountain
Prison Complex
14 Located within hollowed-out areas of Table
Mountain, this super-max prison is said to be near-
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
ly impossible to escape. A lucky few have managed
to escape through the top, but the cold air, harsh
winds, and steep descent create a small pile of bod-
ies near the streets below that is regularly cleaned
up by the ZDF.
> Ghost, the astral plane here is almost as bad as in Aurora. Hundreds
of people have tried to escape this prison, only to end up falling or
freezing to death. All that death, combined with the complete lack
of empathy on the parts of the guards makes the place pretty hard
to deal with. Despite that, they don’t bring Awakened prisoners
here. They know that spirits and magical abilities would make short
work of most of their security measures.
> Bifrost
Aurora Warrens
The Aurora Warrens is a land of urban blight
and decay. The other Denverites thought that
the residents of Aurora bred like rabbits, which
is where the name “Warrens” originated. Many,
many years later, some residents prefer to live un-
derground, away from Ghostwalker’s prying eyes.
This has only reinvigorated the use of “rabbit” as
a slur against the residents.
Things went downhill for Aurora back when
the area was targeted as a source of wealth that
needed seizing following the First Treaty of Denver.
Wealthy people moved out, often going to nearby
Englewood, and they were replaced by high-densi-
ty, low-income housing. Land values plummeted,
which some hoped would lead to a surge of devel-
opment in the area, but that never transpired.
Public utilities are a joke in the Warrens. Most
residents have to buy their water from the local
aurora at a glance
Size: 102 square kilometers
Population (2081): 503,000
Human: 58%
Dwarf: 5%
Elf: 10%
Ork: 20%
Troll: 4%
Other: 3%
Population density: 4,931 per square kilometer
Per capita income: 6,000¥
Hospitals and clinics: 5
Education (2081)
Less than 12 years: 85%
High school equivalency: 12%
College equivalency: 2%
Advanced degrees and certificates: 1%
SHADOWS OF DENVER // PLACES TO GO ...
gangs, who get it from the Quincy Reservoir. For
electricity, most residents have to scrape together
their own generators and power them via refur-
bished solar panels, old-fashioned fuels, or even
hand cranks.
All this is to say essentially: avoid the Aurora
Warrens if possible.
> Astrally speaking, this place is just as bad as it is physically. The
despair of millions of souls weighs heavily on the astral plane
here. But, if you look closely, you might see the occasional spark
of hope or light in the gloom. That’s because even in a place like
this, there is a spirit of freedom and independence.
> Bifrost
> People and sprites in Aurora tend to take a lot of pride in their
cobbled-together decks and hacks. You’ll find AR graffiti all over
the district.
> Voxel
Aurora Village
Medical Center
Take everything I just said about the day-to-
day horror of Aurora and forget about it when it
comes to this one place. It was built in 2072 to
help support the Olympics in the city, and they
chose a place right on the border of Aurora and
Stapleton because it was on the good side of land
prices, but close enough to the arenas that it could
still service them.
> The ZDF has constant patrols to ensure that staff and patients
get in and out safely. Oh, and forget about going here if you’re
not a full-fledged citizen.
> Mile High Mike
Meat Market
If you’re Infected in Denver, you better know
about the Meat Market in Aurora. Built into an
old mall on the north end, it’s an open secret that
the place is run by Tamanous. They cater, literally,
to the special dietary needs of the Infected. It’s a
great place to find buyers for any fresh “product”
you might have available.
Paradise Lane
Honestly, I could have broken this entry up into
six or seven other entries. The story goes that sev-
eral former shadowrunners decided to retire and
open businesses that would provide critical ser-
vices to the shadow community. The street known
as Paradise Lane is one of the only places in the
Warrens where the Fronts and Zombies have no
direct presence. The businesses along this street are
barricaded and protected by this team of runners,
their contacts, and some of the residents who have
taken on the role of local militia. This is about the
safest place in the Warrens.
There’s a weapon store called Dartguns 2
Smartguns, run by a guy named Rattler who has
two crazy cyberarms. Rattler will provide you
with nearly any weapon you could want and can
even customize them for you on the spot. He’s
married to Trinket, who runs a talismonger shop
across the street (it’s creatively named Trinket’s).
Trinket is a raccoon shaman, which you’ll learn
quickly when you get into the store. It looks like
a cluttered mess, but Trinket knows where every-
thing is, always.
> Rattler will also let you use the back room of his shop for private
meets, but only if he knows both parties.
> Mile High Mike
Sam’s Gadgets is a bit of an anomaly in the
Warrens—it caters to users of electronic gadgets
and tools. Run by a technomancer named Sam,
the store is just about the only place on earth I
could find an old RadioShack commlink. Next
door to Sam’s Gadgets is Allie Cats XXX, a strip
club that also doubles as a place where you can
find nearly any drug or pathogen known to man.
Allie, the lady who runs the place, takes great
pride in ensuring her dancers are safe, and also
provides special back rooms for private meetings
with Johnsons.
> Phrasing.
> Bifrost
Grunt’s Orkish Delights is a restaurant that spe-
cializes in making very spicy and hearty meals to
cater to ork tastes. Basically, it’s a Szechuan place,
and they have some of the best noodles I’ve ever
had. It’s run by an old ork named Grunt who sup-
posedly was a cook for the Big Rhino in Seattle.
Hippocrates is a clinic right next door, run by a
street doc named Hippocrates. The way I under-
stand it, he got his name by fixing up the gang
members who attempted to run him out of town—
after he shot them, of course.
Dracula’s Coffins is one of the strangest places
I’ve ever seen. It’s run by a guy who calls himself
Dracula and claims to be a vampire. To be honest,
I can’t independently verify this story, but he cer-
tainly seems to fit the part. He runs a coffin hotel
out of the front of this old garage, where he can
sleep up to twenty in coffin-like pods. However,
his real passion seems to be tuning up cars. The
rest of the garage is set up to work on cars big and
small. He can tune up your Bulldog just as easily as
he can fix your Scoot, and while you wait you can
chill out in one of his coffins. If you trust a vampire
to watch over you, of course.
The last stop on our tour of Paradise Lane is
Hole in the Wall. It’s a bar like most bars, but
with a twist. The place is run by a free spirit of
fire named Frantic. Not only are her pours legend-
ary—as you might expect, there’s a lot of flaming
drinks—but she can even open an astral gateway 15
and hide an object on a metaplane, away from
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
prying eyes. Frantic is the only person who knows
where her gateways go, and there’s no way she will
talk about it. She’s sworn some sort of geas about
it, which prevents her from ever speaking to any-
one about the metaplane.
> Hole in the Wall is also unique for catering to the needs of
spirits. It’s unclear exactly how Frantic does it, but she whips up
“drinks” for her spirit clientele. They seem to love it, and I swear
I’ve seen some of them get what I can only call drunk.
> Bifrost
Quincy Reservoir
Known to locals as “the Rez”, the Quincy
Reservoir is the only place where locals can find
reliably clean water. Compared to the rest of the
FRFZ, the water is toxic beyond compare—but for
the rabbits of the Warrens, this is their best option.
Distribution and collection are controlled exclu-
sively by the Fronts, a gang that I’ll be covering
in more detail later. Needless to say, there are con-
stant fights as residents squabble over their share
of the water.
Smoky Hill Marketplace
The Aurora Warrens’ very own open-air souk!
One can find almost anything here, provided that
you’re okay with things that are previously used.
And by “previously used,” I mean “still covered in
the blood of the previous poor sap who bought the
thing.”
Tír’Rae
A small neighborhood of elves in the east-
ern part of the Aurora Warrens. The residents of
Tír’Rae live primarily underground, taking refuge
in a series of old mining tunnels. They are fiercely
protective of their holdings, and protection is pro-
vided by the Silver Thorns, an all-elf gang.
Boulder
Boulder is the northernmost city in the FRFZ.
It’s a gorgeous place, truly. The residents there
have done a lot to make the city environmentally
friendly, even requiring new buildings to be built
so that they don’t obstruct the landscape. This
means there are fewer corporate buildings in the
city, but the residents think that’s a worthwhile
tradeoff. Home to one of the oldest universities
in the region, Boulder produces some of the best
artists and creative talents in North America.
PLACES TO GO ... // SHADOWS OF DENVER

Boulder at a glance
Size: 1,440 square kilometers (150 urban)
16 Population (2081): 207,500 (200,000 urban)
Human: 50%
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
Dwarf: 6%
Elf: 19%
Ork: 18%
Troll: 4%
Other: 3%
Population density: 144 per square kilometer
(1,333 in urban area)
Per capita income: 90,000¥
Hospitals and clinics: 10
Education (2080)
Less than 12 years: 18%
High school equivalency: 45%
College equivalency: 25%
Advanced degrees and certificates: 12%
> The ZDF in Boulder is more aggressive about environmental
crimes (such as littering) than in most other parts of the Zone.
In most parts of the Zone, you’d just get a ticket, but in Boulder,
expect to get arrested and detained for a few hours at least.
> 14er
Fox Theatre
A favorite nightclub for students at the Univer-
sity of Colorado for generations, the Fox Theatre
is a hint of retro cool in the midst of an ever-chang-
ing landscape. It specializes in jazz, indie rock, and
even hosts a few poetry slams. An unspecified alum
purchased the theatre back in 2068 and began ret-
rofitting it to keep the aesthetic while moderniz-
ing the facilities. You’ll find AR-enabled elements
throughout, carefully woven into the art deco styl-
ing of the building.
Halferville
There is a small area on the eastern side of Boul-
der that is affectionately known as “Halferville.”
It supports a large community of dwarves, and
they lean hard into their communal identity. Every
week they host a farmer’s market where you can
buy dwarven-made arts and crafts, among other
things, and generally participate in what they refer
to as “Halfer culture.” By which I mean, everything
is basically normal, but the prices are inflated in
order to bilk the tourists.
Heritage Museum
Back before the Ute Nation was absorbed by
the PCC, Boulder was in the Ute sector. The region
boasts a tremendous amount of historical Ute sites
and artifacts, most of which are housed in the Her-
itage Museum. The Heritage Museum also caters
to other types of exhibits though, but they try to
SHADOWS OF DENVER // PLACES TO GO ...
remain mainstream. For instance, you won’t see a
single image of Daniel Howling Coyote here, be-
cause he’s considered too “edgy.”
> Which is total bulldrek. Honestly, someone should break in and
put a bunch of his artwork and the old propaganda posters up.
That would probably slot off some sort of bigwig in the PCC—and
rightly so!
> Lyran
> Hey, if you’re paying, I’ll break into it and set up an impromptu
art exhibit.
> Mika
> Let’s talk offline.
> Lyran
Horizon Office Complex
Depending on how you approach this building,
you might see the plains to the east or the moun-
tains out west. That’s because Horizon built this
facility with unique exterior panels that mimic the
surrounding environment. Designed to curve and
move with the landscape, this office is truly an ar-
chitectural marvel. Rumor has it that this office
houses a branch of Horizon Internal Intelligence,
their own gestapo that monitors internal employ-
ees for the Consensus. If true, this might be a gold
mine for an intrepid interloper who wanted to get
their hands on data about Horizon assets.
SpiriTech Headquarters
SpiriTech is one of the local AA-rated corps,
based here on the north side of Boulder. They em-
ploy a large number of spirits and shamans, and all
of them work out of this office. So naturally, this
building is well-guarded from a magical perspective.
They hired Ming Solutions to provide guidance on
how to make the building accessible yet private.
There is no living material on the exterior of the
building, allowing spirits and astral entities to free-
ly enter and exit. Internally, however, there is living
material inside each wall, which preserves privacy
and ensures that company activities are secure.
> As one might expect, the magical defenses on this place are top-
notch. But unlike most corporate facilities, the magical security
is shamanic in nature. This means that you’re more likely to
encounter spirits working alongside security guards who may be
well-trained in resisting your magical influences.
> Bifrost
University of Colorado
The University of Colorado recently underwent
massive reforms and rebuilding efforts, thanks in
large part to the University of Denver. While some
might view this as aiding a rival, the universities
both saw that there was greater potential in pre-
serving that rivalry than in stifling the competi-
tion. The University of Colorado draws substan-
tial numbers of magically active students and has a
burgeoning technomancy department that studies
the effects of Resonance.
Brighton
brighton at a glance
Size: 1,093 square kilometers
Population (2081): 37,800
Human: 84%
Dwarf: 1%
Elf: 6%
Ork: 5%
Troll: 2%
Other: 2%
Population density: 35 per square kilometer
Per capita income: 35,000¥
Hospitals and clinics: 8
Education (2081)
Less than 12 years: 24%
High school equivalency: 52%
College equivalency: 20%
Advanced degrees and certificates: 4%
Brighton is located on the far northeastern edge
of the Zone, bordering the Sioux Nation. It’s in-
credibly rural, especially when compared to the
rest of the Zone. It is named for the largest town
in the area, but with a population in the low thou-
sands, it’s hard to say there’s a lot of reasons to
visit. That being said, there are some very inter-
esting locations within the Brighton district that
take advantage of the ruralness to provide an extra
layer of privacy and security.
> Brighton is a lovely place to see the sun rise in the astral plane.
You can actually see what the plains might have looked like back
when the world was young, before humans walked its face.
> Bifrost
> Every single farm here makes extensive use of drones to manage
their fields, crops, and do other work. Most modern farms are
highly technologically advanced and are usually owned (or are
at least subsidized) by a corporate sponsor.
> Voxel
Change the Range Solar Farm
One of the advantages to being in a massive,
flat, rural plain is that you can open a solar farm.
The Change the Range solar farm actually provides
almost all the electricity requirements of both the
Brighton and Stapleton districts. If something were
to happen to the Castle Rock Fusion Plant, this
solar farm is slated to provide power to the Hub at
the expense of all other districts.
CodeBlue Biotech Office 17
Most people don’t realize that MCT does some
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
of its sketchiest research under the names of its sub-
sidiaries. CodeBlue is one of them. They operate
a research facility on the farthest outskirts of the
Zone, and they’ve even set it up as a Zero Zone.
It must be some sort of self-contained facility too,
because the only things coming or going are drones
carrying supplies. Though supply drones don’t usu-
ally get an accompanying combat drone escort.
> I knew a chummer named Pike’s Pete who tried to get in here.
We never found his body, so we had a service for him at Five by
Five.
> 14er
Horse Trot Ranch
A very large corporate retreat owned by Jarone
“HammerJack” Falcone. Falcone purposefully
built the whole facility to support secret and clan-
destine meetings. The ranch is used by corporate
types now. No idea how he’s doing under Ghost-
walker’s rule, but back in my day he ran a hell of
an operation. Soundproofing and counter-surveil-
lance were just the beginning. He also put memory
locks on all the guards, so they have no idea who
the guests were once their visit is over. He’s still got
some sympathy for fellow runners, but don’t abuse
his trust.
Pearson Park
Hoo-boy is this a crazy place. Only ever went
there once, and I’m lucky I made it out alive. Sto-
ry goes that the town of Fort Lupton used to be
a suburb of Denver that did pretty well for itself.
Following the Awakening, though, the town start-
ed to experience a bunch of weird phenomena.
There was an unspecified “natural disaster” in the
town that forced everyone to evacuate—this was
around the time of the First Treaty of Denver, so it
was sort of lumped in with the Anglos leaving the
newly created Sioux Nation territory. Fast forward
to today, and the place is overrun with flora of all
kinds. It’s like nature did more than just reclaim
the town, it devoured it whole. No one has been
able to figure out what happened here exactly, but
it’s extremely dangerous.
> The thing about Pearson is that the mojo is just wrong. It’s not
toxic per se, but it’s definitely not clean, either. When you go into
the astral in this area, you’ll feel what I mean. There’s a sense of
dread, and it’s palpable. It gets worse the closer you get to the
actual park, too. Whatever’s in there is not happy to have visitors.
> Bifrost
PLACES TO GO ... // SHADOWS OF DENVER
 Safiya’s Critter Care
Just your average, run-of-the-mill pet clinic ca-
tering to a rural community. Or it would be, if not
18 for the fact that Safiya’s a gifted geneticist. She can
actually whip up some chimeric animals in this
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
clinic, which makes her a tidy sum on the black
market. If you need some patching up while you’re
in Brighton, Safiya’s a good person to know. In
addition to her pet clinic, she operates as a rural
version of a street doc.
Sitting Bull Shooting Range
Brighton used to be in the militant Sioux Na-
tion, so it’s hardly a surprise to find that there’s
still a strong philosophy of self-defense. The Sitting
Bull Shooting Range allows people to come and
practice their gun skills with almost any weapon
imaginable. They even rent their guns to people for
practice time. They can’t sell anything that’s illegal
to possess, but they can rent it out. If you want to
practice your skill with a Panther Assault Cannon,
go for it. Also, they will sell ammo in huge bulk
quantities in any caliber you could ever want.
VOR Robotics Office
Another MCT subsidiary, hidden away out in
rural Brighton. Unlike CodeBlue Biotech, VOR
Robotics isn’t very secretive. It’s also not a Zero
Zone. VOR Robotics is a drone manufacturer, spe-
cializing in drones that look like animals.
> They use those same animalistic drones to provide Matrix
overwatch and surveillance for the surrounding area. Be
cautious—any animal you see may be a drone providing a live
feedback to the MCT security guards and spiders onsite.
> Voxel
Broomfield
broomfield at a glance
Size: 277 square kilometers
Population (2081): 57,200
Human: 60%
Dwarf: 4%
Elf: 15%
Ork: 16%
Troll: 3%
Other: 2%
Population density: 206 per square kilometer
Per capita income: 85,000¥
Hospitals and clinics: 8
Education (2081)
Less than 12 years: 19%
High school equivalency: 43%
College equivalency: 26%
Advanced degrees and certificates: 12%
SHADOWS OF DENVER // PLACES TO GO ...
This cozy district just northwest of Denver’s
city center boasts some of the nicest real estate
in the region. It’s a well-to-do district, with many
corporate enclaves. Per-capita income is on the
high end for the FRFZ, and as a result they tend
to have lower ZDF response times, lower crime
rates, higher education rates, etc. All the things
that privilege and money can buy can be found
in Broomfield.
> Imagine a whole district populated by Karens. That’s what
Broomfield is. If you’re going to encounter a shade or negative
spirit here, it’s almost certainly going to be one for greed
or avarice. Envy is the predominate emotion in the district,
as neighbors are willing to sell each other out for their next
promotion or step up the ladder.
> Bifrost
> I’m not even going to pretend to understand what a “Karen” is.
If you want to find information about which boss is sleeping with
which secretary, just tap into one of the local neighborhood chats.
The gossip mills are constantly running, which provide a frankly
astonishing amount of intel that you can use for your runs.
> Voxel
Cerebrotech Factory
A subsidiary of Ares, Cerebrotech focuses
heavily on cyberware components. This factory
produces most of them for their Ares Consumer
Goods division.
> This facility has more Matrix security than it should. They’re
just a manufacturing plant, but they’re protected like an R&D
facility. I’ve seen technomancers and traditional spiders working
hand-in-hand, which implies they’re protecting something worth
stealing. I would pay good nuyen to know what’s inside.
> Voxel
HyperSense Headquarters
Back in the early 2060s, Renraku bought out
this homegrown simsense tech company and made
it one of their subsidiaries. Since then, Renraku has
regularly pumped out upgrades to their simsense
technology, constantly pushing boundaries and
opening up new avenues of sensation. They owe it
all to the work done in this building.
> A data courier sprite told me that there’s a technomancer who
heads up R&D here. Goes by the name of Neuron. Last I heard
about Neuron, he was one of the folks who was liberated from
that Horizon facility in Las Vegas. It’s good to know that he’s
landed on his feet, but rumor has it he’s using some of the
techniques Horizon used on him.
> Voxel
Newlife Medical
A top-notch medical facility in Denver, New-
life Medical has contracts with the ZDF to pro-
vide them with upgrades, implants, and medical
services at a discounted rate. Thus, the security at
Newlife is always better than one would expect,
since there are so many officers that literally owe
their lives to the doctors there. If you can get in,
expect to be treated well and to have excellent ser-
vice. But know this: they have been known to send
off-duty ZDF officers to collect on those that fall
behind in their payments.
> They also have fantastic facilities for Awakened clientele.
> Marko
Sedalia Airport
Built by the PCC following their absorption
of the Ute Nation, the Sedalia Airport is one of
the newer airports in the FRFZ. The facility is
extremely modern, having been completed just
before the 2072 Olympics. It’s one of the more
popular airports for getting into the FRFZ, as its
location gives tourists and commuters a lot of op-
tions for getting around the Zone or connecting to
other areas.
Unfortunately, it’s relatively small and can’t
handle intercontinental flights. As a result, the air-
port is actively trying to buy up the land around
itself to expand. The Ghostwalker administration
has prevented these purchases, though, which led
to litigation against Ghostwalker by the Sedalia
airport owners. I think they’re just hoping for a
settlement, since there’s no chance Ghostwalker
will ever show up in court for something like this.
It’s a great opportunity for someone to pull a
con here. Just present falsified papers that indicate
that the land is available for sale, take the money,
and run. It’s the old “Brooklyn Bridge” scam.
> Part of why Ghostwalker is so hesitant to allow the airport to
expand is because one of the owners is Martha Kasten. The
name probably doesn’t sound familiar, because she used to go
by Frostbite. That was when she was a runner for Aztechnology.
Just surrendering that old identity hasn’t given Ghostwalker
whatever closure he needs.
> Voxel
Towne Center Mall
Despite the fact that malls lost their mainstream
popularity over a century ago, the Towne Center
Mall remains open and busy at most times of the
day. Perhaps there’s something that rich people like
about being able to touch the goods before they
buy them? Rumor has it that the mall’s owners are
deeply in debt and are on the verge of closing their
doors for good. But for now, busy parents can find
respite by spending their nuyen on vapid shopping
experiences.
> I was once hired to remove a spirit of despair affecting shoppers 19
in the mall. The owners contacted me directly, which was very
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
unusual. I found the shade, who had attached itself to a group
of sullen teenagers who were moping about the mall. In the end,
one of the teenagers was hospitalized by the shade, but I got
rid of it. It’s important to know that Ghostwalker’s decree about
spirit rights ends as soon as one attacks someone.
> Bifrost
> Wait, are you implying that you allowed the spirit to harm that
teenager so you could attack it freely?
> Lyran
Castle Rock
castle rock at a glance
Size: 629 square kilometers
Population (2081): 54,600
Human: 63%
Dwarf: 2%
Elf: 15%
Ork: 16%
Troll: 2%
Other: 2%
Population density: 87 per square kilometer
Per capita income: 56,000¥
Hospitals and clinics: 7
Education (2081)
Less than 12 years: 31%
High school equivalency: 37%
College equivalency: 23%
Advanced degrees and certificates: 9%
Named for the large rock formation to be
found just east of I-25, Castle Rock is sparse-
ly populated but maintains some of the most
critical infrastructure for the entire FRFZ. The
district is focused heavily on the I-25 corridor,
which splits the district in half going north-
south. Most of the important areas are within
a few kilometers of I-25, which means the rural
areas to the extreme east and west are virtually
unused.
> These areas are used, just not by metahumans. The rural areas
are rumored to be home to a group of fairies. The fae that I’ve met
tend to be interested in meeting the rest of us. If there are fae out
in the woods there, they’re some breed of fae I’ve yet to meet.
> Bifrost
> With the exception of Stonegate, there’s not much of interest to
me except what’s immediately along I-25’s borders.
> Voxel
PLACES TO GO ... // SHADOWS OF DENVER
 Castle Rock Fusion Plant
Built inside the Castle Rock, the fusion plant
is run by Shiawase’s Fuzion subsidiary. It serves
20 as the primary source of electricity to the entire
FRFZ. It provides clean, nuclear power for mil-
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
lions of homes and businesses, and the whole oper-
ation is primarily subsidized by Ghostwalker. Shi-
awase maintains a strong military presence here,
given that the whole thing is a giant fusion bomb
just waiting to go off.
> Shiawase spends time every year trying to shed some of the bad
mojo from the fusion plant. If you’re willing to take some of that
bad mojo into yourself, Shiawase will pay you. You simply stand
in the area and let the toxicity enter your aura. It takes about a
year to go away, during which time you’re going to notice a toxic
tint to your magic for at least a few months. They pay extremely
well, but they also tend to keep a close eye on anyone that takes
the job, lest that person become addicted to it.
> Bifrost
Pradera Resort
Craving a western-themed break from the hus-
tle and bustle of the city? Come to Pradera. The
massive 250-acre resort includes three golf cours-
es, two horse tracks, secluded wooded areas, and
rentals for log cabins.
Sorry for the pamphlet spiel, but that’s what
Pradera is in a nutshell. It’s a western-themed
resort for rich slots who have more money than
sense. If you think this would make a mark easy to
take while they’re away from their corporate boss-
es, think again. Pradera boasts some of the best
security and privacy money can buy but integrates
and interfaces with all the Big Ten and local cor-
porations. They’ve got liaisons and “ambassadors”
to ensure the corporate types are protected, albeit
with a lot more discretion.
Stonegate Judicial Complex
The Stonegate Judicial Complex is a large pris-
on that also houses a small judicial wing for trials.
The homeless from Englewood and Castle Rock
sometimes will try to get arrested during the win-
ter for vagrancy. It’s better to be in a ZDF prison
than on the streets during the harsh winters.
> I spent some time in Stonegate during a bad period of my life. I
wouldn’t recommend it, but as Peregrine says, it’s better than
being on the streets in the winter. The guards who work here
are a lot softer than you’d expect in a prison. My arrangement
allowed me to compile some sprites in exchange for wiping out a
gambling debt for a guard for the Chavez Family.
> Voxel
SHADOWS OF DENVER // PLACES TO GO ...
Terracotta Arms Factory
Renraku subsidiary Terracotta Arms maintains
a small facility in Castle Rock. In addition to the
factory, Terracotta Armaments maintains a region-
al office here to provide weapons to the zone’s
Sioux and PCC neighbors. Their excess stock tends
to find its way onto the streets, especially in Au-
rora. However, if you want to get your hands on
a weapon before it’s been registered and tagged,
you’ll need to make a contact at the factory.
Centennial
centennial at a glance
Size: 156 square kilometers
Population (2081): 117,600
Human: 60%
Dwarf: 3%
Elf: 17%
Ork: 15%
Troll: 1%
Other: 4%
Population density: 754 per square kilometer
Per capita income: 115,000¥
Hospitals and clinics: 11
Education (2081)
Less than 12 years: 10%
High school equivalency: 33%
College equivalency: 36%
Advanced degrees and certificates: 21%
Centennial is the tech capital of the FRFZ
and recently expanded to take over what was
left standing of Englewood. More on that below.
Here’s where you’ll find companies almost exclu-
sively dedicated to the Matrix, with lots of little
unranked corporations hoping to get gobbled up
by one of the big guys. Centennial manages the
University of Denver as well, which will be pour-
ing out enough tech gurus to keep the area busy
for decades to come.
> If you astrally project and watch this area from above, it’s really
quite remarkable. When someone has a new idea, you can
actually see the flash of inspiration or the spark of hope. It’s
a bit like watching thousands of supernovas all happening in
distant galaxies.
> Bifrost
> As you might expect, Centennial boasts a high number of free
sprites. There are also a few smaller companies that exist entirely
virtually and are run by free sprites. It’s a truly inspiring district.
> Voxel
Aegis Cognito Office
One would expect that in a city like Denver, the
world’s largest private spy organization would have
an influence. Aegis Cognito has an openly observed
office, and you should treat it like an embassy—it’s
full of bureaucrats and spies, but you can’t tell which
is which. While they might have some data on-site,
it’s likely the kind that isn’t useful on its own. There
is one person in the office who I know for a fact is
a spy: Janice Valdes. It’s a complicated story, but ba-
sically, we used to spy on each other for our respec-
tive masters. We caught each other many times, and
it sort of turned into a thing. I’ve got leverage on her,
and I’m sure she’s got leverage on me, too. We respect
each other, and I don’t go after her anymore.
> Sounds like you’re still going after her, posting her info on here
and outing her as a spy.
> Fianchetto
> You know the game. If someone goes after her, they might drop
my name. Then she comes after me. And so, the game continues.
> Peregrine
Centennial Airport
One of the larger airports in the Zone, the Cen-
tennial Airport caters to corporate types. It’s not
used for leisure travel, in part because it’s so far
from touristy attractions. It’s located close to Cas-
tle Rock on the south end of Centennial and can
support all kinds of aircraft. Some of the mainte-
nance staff have a side gig where they’ll do work
on your t-bird or whatever, putting it into an un-
derused hangar. Just make sure that the corporate
owner of that hangar doesn’t come back while the
work is being done on it.
> There’s a free sprite who lives in the Centennial Airport. He likes
to play little pranks on people, sometimes switching their seats
around or making it seem like their flight is five minutes early.
Nothing too painful, and all easily resolved. But if he keeps
going, the airport may hire someone to try to get rid of him. If
you get hired for this job, please be gentle. He’s just learning his
abilities and doesn’t necessarily know better.
> Voxel
Chamberlain Airport
The second airport for the Centennial District,
Chamberlain Airport is substantially smaller than
Centennial Airport. It’s primarily a commuter
hub for sky taxis, helicopters, and similar vehi-
cles. Given its proximity to the university, it also
sees some use from the richest corp kids going to
school there. The airport cannot handle any kind
of non-vertical takeoff or landing craft, but if you
want to get a helicopter and need it quickly, this is
the place to go.
Cherry Creek Country Club
Back in the day, Centennial was run by the CAS,
and their … old-fashioned attitudes are still some-
what prevalent in the area. The Country Club is a 21
bastion of racism and misogyny. For more than a
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
century, it’s only allowed human men to play, and
uses human women as trophies and waitstaff, ex-
clusively. Not surprisingly, the nearby University of
Denver won’t tolerate that kind of thing, and so
protests are an increasingly common sight.
Drones, Drones, Drones!
As the name suggests, this is the place to go if
you need drones, drone parts, or advice on how to
use your drone. They have bins full of parts, all of
which are collected by drones and brought up to
the counter. Their local riggers give great advice to
anyone who has questions about which model can
do what. Those same riggers will often provide af-
ter-hours support to people who are willing to pay
a little extra, if you catch my meaning.
> If you want to find a little shell or body for your sprite friend, this
is a great place to go. Talk to Candice Wise. She’s a deft hand at
outfitting drones with all kinds of parts that you might not expect.
> Voxel
Free Zone Voice Offices
For those of you who might be a century old,
I’ve heard of a thing called “public broadcast ser-
vices” that used to be available to anyone and any-
where. The Free Zone Voice is modeled on that
concept. They’re based out of the University of
Denver, and they get by without a lot of ads or
corporate sponsorships. As a result, they’re about
the closest thing to a free and independent jour-
nalistic source in the Zone. Instead of focusing on
investigative journalism, they prefer to work on
what they call micro-news, deep dives on narrow
topics, and frequently getting the voice of the com-
mon person on the street.
FTL Technologies
Headquarters
FTL is kind of a hot mess. I talk a lot more
about the FTL/Warpdrive fiasco in my section
about Matrix Hotspots. If you want deeper de-
tails, that’s where you should look. For now,
just know that FTL is owned by a guy named
Charles Lightfoot, and he wants to take his com-
pany private. It’s currently owned by Spinrad
Global, so that’s a huge problem for him. His
past is also coming back to haunt him as well—
since the ownership of FTL has changed hands a
few times, things are a little convoluted when it
comes to tracking down who owns what within
FTL.
PLACES TO GO ... // SHADOWS OF DENVER
 Novatech Matrix
Services Office
22 This is yet another tech company that at one
point found its way into NeoNET’s hands. Now
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
it’s in the hands of Spinrad Global, but the future is
extremely uncertain. Novatech made a bid follow-
ing Ghostwalker’s Reclamation to provide services
for the new public grid. That bid failed and made
their dissolution a near certainty. Even though they
are presenting a brave public face, the staff is jump-
ing ship for other companies, such as Warpdrive.
The Tipsy Chip
One of the coolest bars I’ve ever been to is
the Tipsy Chip. It’s built in a basement and very
reminiscent of a British pub. It also has a strange
collection of Aztlan trophies, supposedly liberated
during the brief Aztlan occupation of the area. The
owner is Papa Tepin, a hacker who is constantly
tweaking the bar’s host. He holds nightly hack-
athons to see which hacker can put their tag on the
host first. First one to hack it gets free drinks and
bragging rights.
> Don’t bring your sprites or complex forms to this party, folks.
Anyone caught using those is automatically expelled. You can
use your technomancy all you want, but you’ve got to play by
the same rules as the other hackers. No agents, no sprites, no
teams, and no complex forms. May be the best hacker win!
> Voxel
University of Denver
The oldest school in the region, the University
of Denver has been in continuous operation since
1864. They grew to take over a whole chunk of
Denver. Following Ghostwalker’s Reclamation and
the preceding destruction of Englewood, the univer-
sity area is now under the control of Centennial.
Nominally, this means that subsidies are now more
likely to come from tech companies than from old
money, but it really hasn’t changed much. Housing
is still an absolute nightmare, which has led to a
bid by MCT to build a mini-arcology nearby. The
university has yet to accept the bid.
Warpdrive Systems
Headquarters
The other side of the FTL coin. The important
thing to know about Warpdrive Systems is that
their CEO, Steven Ridgemont, is a very well-con-
nected dwarf. He’s got money coming in from
somewhere that I can’t account for, as he’s rolling
with deeper pockets than he should have. What’s
he doing with all that money? Hiring shadowrun-
ners to tear down his competition.
SHADOWS OF DENVER // PLACES TO GO ...
Wuxing Cherry Park
The Wuxing, Inc. regional headquarters is final-
ly constructed, after several attempts by rivals to
sabotage it. With the support of their subsidiary,
Ming Solutions, they have done a tremendous job
of enhancing the natural landscape while expand-
ing their buildings in a respectful way. The Cherry
Park complex acts as the regional headquarters for
the Malaysian Independent Bank and the Pros-
perity Development Corporation, both of which
finance companies and startups in the region.
> Wuxing managed to build the whole facility on a confluence of
ley lines. The buildings and landscaping actually move the ley
lines to form the confluence, upon which is built a fountain. The
fountain literally springs forth with magical potential.
> Bifrost
> They chose Cherry Park in part because of its connections
with the nearby neighborhood of Chinatown, and their direct
connections with the tech corridor. They have also subtly hidden
antennas throughout their facility, allowing them to monitor and
control the flow of data in the Resonance. I can’t say for sure
that using geomantic principles on data has had an effect, but
it’s calming and re-assuring nonetheless.
> Voxel
Colorado Springs
colorado springs
at a glance
Size: 1,891 square kilometers
Population (2080): 294,000
Human: 71%
Dwarf: 1%
Elf: 11%
Ork: 15%
Troll: 1%
Other: 1%
Population density: 155 per square kilometer
Per capita income: 59,000¥
Hospitals and clinics: 6
Education (2081)
Less than 12 years: 25%
High school equivalency: 48%
College equivalency: 21%
Advanced degrees and certificates: 6%
The third and southernmost city in the
FRFZ, Colorado Springs has undergone a sort
of exodus in recent years. At various points, the
city has been claimed by Aztlan, the CAS, the
PCC, and now Ghostwalker. All these shifting
powers have led to the city being poorly man-
aged and many residents leaving for greener
pastures. Still, there are some diehards who re-
fuse to give in and hope to restore the city to its
former glory.
Cheyenne Mountain
Formerly the home of the US military’s NORAD
division, the Cheyenne Mountain installation is a
massive honeycomb of tunnels and elevator shafts.
No one knows just how deep into the mountain
the complex goes. It has lain abandoned since the
First Treaty of Denver, but recently people in the
nearby areas have been going missing, and con-
spiracy theorists think that something in the Chey-
enne Mountain is kidnapping people.
> The fae I’ve talked with have all suggested that Cheyenne
Mountain could be a hot spot for the Unseelie Court. If that’s the
case, I expect we’ll see some work to go in there and apprehend
or eliminate the threat. But as with all things involving the fae,
be careful who you trust and what you say.
> Bifrost
Church of the Holy Word
Despite Ghostwalker’s Reclamation, the Church
of the Holy Word continues its mission of prosely-
tizing its unique brand of Christianity. The church
represents a well-funded and well-organized front,
with a militant arm called the Followers of the
Holy Sword. Rumor has it that they have connec-
tions to the Human Nation.
> The Followers of the Holy Sword is just an extension of yet
another hate group. It shocks me that Ghostwalker didn’t do
anything about these guys when he was kicking out all the other
folks. Frankly, it pisses me off. The Followers have been ramping
up attacks in the area too. They’re cowards, to a man, but
they’re well-armed and dangerous.
> 14er
Colorado College
A small college that formerly focused on arts
and other soft skills. Since the Awakening, Colora-
do College has added a rigorous magical curricu-
lum. Their magical studies focus on all the major
traditions, but hermetics and shamans are by far
the most popular. The region is heavily patrolled
by Lone Star in an effort to protect the valuable
“resources” (students, faculty, materials, etc.).
> The students are more than happy to help with research
initiatives to earn a little spending money on the side.
> Bifrost
Denver Data Haven Ruins
Housed in the McDermott Library of the for-
mer US Air Force Academy, the Denver Data Ha-
ven had access to the US Air Force’s cyberwar-
fare suite, extremely strong data connections to
the whole world, and lots of redundant systems
to ensure operation even in the event of a cat-
aclysm. Unfortunately, no one could have built 23
a site to withstand the attacks of Ghostwalker.
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
When Ghostwalker razed the Denver Data Ha-
ven, all personnel were considered killed in ac-
tion.
Energia Viva Solar Farm
When the US Air Force Academy was in use,
this solar farm provided power to the entire acad-
emy. Aztechnology subsidiary Energia Viva man-
aged to acquire some of the infrastructure and ar-
ranged to purchase the land from the PCC prior
to the Reclamation. Because of the importance to
the infrastructure, they’ve been allowed to contin-
ue operations, albeit with a lot of oversight from
Ghostwalker’s administration.
Fort Carson
Formerly a US Army base, Fort Carson now
belongs to Ghostwalker and is used primarily to
train his elite mercenary group, the Black Talons.
They have a range for small arms training, a simu-
lated urban environment, and they perform aerial
maneuver training for insertions and extractions.
Fort Carson also boasts a top-notch medical facili-
ty, but it’s only available to the Black Talons.
Garden of the Gods
A massive 1,300-acre park made of natural
sandstone formations, this park was a private park
until the owner’s death. Upon his death, the park
returned to the property of the nearby community.
The park now serves as a communal area for hik-
ing, camping, and ritual magic.
> During the brief period when the Azzies took over this region,
they attempted to use the Garden’s energy to fuel some pretty
heinous rituals. Ghostwalker’s been spending a lot of time and
money since trying to restore the Garden to its original glory.
> Bifrost
Peterson Airport
Built on the former Peterson US Air Force base,
Peterson Airport now caters almost exclusively to
commercial travel. It’s one of the best ways to get
into Colorado Springs, and even though it’s on the
far eastern part of town, it’s well connected to all
the major highways and roads.
Shrine of the Sun
I didn’t get close to this place. As soon as I was
near, it seemed that the wind started gusting and
pushing me off the mountain.
PLACES TO GO ... // SHADOWS OF DENVER
 The Shrine looks like a stack of stones atop
Cheyenne Mountain, but it’s actually a really tall
tower and a small church. The Shrine of the Sun
24 was built to commemorate the memory of humor-
ist Will Rogers. Briefly taken over by Aztlan during
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
the 2050s, the shrine was rededicated to Huitzilo-
pochtli, the Aztec god of the sun. Since then, the
tower has been inhospitable to anyone not of the
Aztec faith, with spirits actively opposing anyone
who attempts to approach it.
Tesla Experimental Station
Legend has it that this is where Nikola Tesla
performed some of his most famous electricity ex-
periments. The building itself was demolished long
ago, but the residual energies seem to have created
an alchera that manifests there monthly. If one is
particularly lucky, they may find a powerful spirit
of air that manifests as Nikola Tesla and will an-
swer questions about his life. The accuracy of these
answers has not been ascertained.
Zebulon’s Revenge
A local watering hole that has been around for
a few years, Zeb’s Revenge is a favorite for the Col-
orado College students. There are rumors that the
spirit of Zebulon Pike (not to be confused with Zeb-
ulon, the spirit that Ghostwalker fancied) wandered
in one night and bought everyone a round of drinks
before disappearing and leaving the bar tab unpaid.
The stories grow more fantastic the longer one
hangs around and the more drinks one has imbibed.
Commerce City
commerce city at a glance
Size: 57 square kilometers
Population (2081): 50,400
Human: 65%
Dwarf: 2%
Elf: 11%
Ork: 19%
Troll: 2%
Other: 1%
Population density: 884 per square kilometer
Per capita income: 32,000¥
Hospitals and clinics: 7
Education (2081)
Less than 12 years: 30%
High school equivalency: 42%
College equivalency: 26%
Advanced degrees and certificates: 2%
SHADOWS OF DENVER // PLACES TO GO ...
Commerce City is a densely populated blue-col-
lar district just north of the Denver city center. The
region has always been sort of second-best behind
other districts, which has left many of the residents
with something of a chip on their collar, especially
toward the well-to-do districts.
Krupp Chemicals Refinery
One of the largest employers in the district,
Krupp Chemicals maintains a large refinery that
straddles both sides of Brighton Road. Here, they
manufacture and refine industrial chemicals. Most
of the Commerce City population is employed by
Krupp Chemicals, so there’s no chance they’re go-
ing anywhere soon, but environmental activists
have long expressed concern about the plant’s
safety and security.
The Solution
A bar that sits near the Krupp Chemicals Re-
finery. The story goes that it was built by a chem-
ist who used to work for Krupp Chemicals who
had the idea that it’d be a fancy bar with lots of
chemistry puns. Unfortunately, no one wanted a
bar like that, and he went deep into debt before
killing himself. The current owners joke that he
found his solution in the end. Now it’s your basic
blue-collar bar where you can find locals drowning
their sorrows. It’s a great place to get info if you
can ingratiate yourself. Don’t go flaunting money
or influence, though—those don’t work on people
like this. Make them think you’re a roughneck,
and you’re in.
Truman Distribution
Networks Office
Truman Distribution Networks (TDN) is the
largest media outlet in the region. They got to be
big enough to attract the attention of Horizon and
Ares. Ares bought them out and traded them to
Horizon in exchange for Horizon’s PR work on
their Excalibur fiasco. There was some debate
about integrating TDN into Horizon’s office in
Boulder, but they decided that this facility still had
enough value to keep it active.
Tsuruga International
Warehouse
You won’t see the name Tsuruga Internation-
al on many of the packages you get delivered, but
most of them pass through this warehouse at some
point or another. It’s a customs warehouse for all
goods entering or leaving the FRFZ, and Tsuruga
International is the company fortunate enough to
hold that contract.
> Evo owns Tsuruga International and has put a lot of nuyen into
the Matrix security for its host. Not really a surprise, given the
importance of this facility to the region’s economy.
> Voxel
Elbert
elbert at a glance
Size: 1,792 square kilometers
Population (2081): 25,700
Human: 81%
Dwarf: 9%
Elf: 2%
Ork: 4%
Troll: 1%
Other: 3%
Population density: 14 per square kilometer
Per capita income: 34,000¥
Hospitals and clinics: 5
Education (2081)
Less than 12 years: 25%
High school equivalency: 52%
College equivalency: 18%
Advanced degrees and certificates: 5%
One of the largest districts, Elbert includes basi-
cally all the rural plains to the east of I-25 between
Denver and Colorado Springs. There are nomadic
“tribes” that wander the area, making camp wher-
ever they want, and otherwise operating much like
go-gangs. There’s not a lot of places that are per-
manently established, but if you can find one of
those tribes, you may be able to get them to help
smuggle you in or out of the Zone.
Grassy Knoll Ranch
Run by a dwarf named Jeb Johnson, the Grassy
Knoll Ranch is one of the only horse ranches left in
the area. It also has a unique side business of raising
hellhounds. In addition to the monetary benefits, hell-
hounds have the benefit of keeping away horse thieves.
Little Wolf Nursery
Being in rural Elbert has some advantages. For in-
stance, you can play around with Awakened plants
without running the risk of creating a Fort Lupton
situation. That’s basically what Luna Cochran decid-
ed to do when she opened up her nursery.
> I’ve heard rumors that Luna may be a shapeshifter. I can’t
independently verify that, but I do know that she’s Awakened
based on her aura. If she’s a mage, I’ve never seen her use a
spell or a spirit, but she definitely has some affinity for her
beautiful little plants.
> Bifrost
Englewood
englewood at a glance 25
Size: 104 square kilometers
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
Population (2081): 378, most in Ketring Park
Human: 65%
Dwarf: 3%
Elf: 7%
Ork: 18%
Troll: 5%
Other: 2%
Population density: 4 per square kilometer (most
residents live within the same kilometer)
Per capita income: 2,305¥
Hospitals and clinics: 0
Education (2081)
Less than 12 years: 53%
High school equivalency: 46%
College equivalency: 1%
Advanced degrees and certificates: 0%
At one point, Englewood was one of the richest
districts in the Zone. All of that changed over the
course of a couple of days at the end of October
in 2074. Seizing their opportunity, Aztlan moved
troops into Englewood and set up shop. For some
unknown reason, Ghostwalker allowed this for
four whole years. As the catalyst for the Reclama-
tion, Ghostwalker and the ZDF unleashed holy
hell upon the district. Starting from just south of
the University of Denver, Zone forces systemati-
cally bombed and burned every building and res-
idence until they reached the southern border of
Englewood. By then, the Azzies had been annihi-
lated, along with the rest of Englewood. Officially,
Englewood doesn’t have a seat on the council. The
only reason I mention it here at all is because there
are still people and places of interest.
> The place is awash in bad spirits. Anyone who lives here is
desperate enough to not even go to Aurora. And the shades
that take hold in a place like this have lots of misery to feed on
for years and years. It will take an immense effort to clear the
people out, but these are some of the toughest critters in the
city. As if they weren’t enough, there are also shedim that are
starting to run rampant.
> Bifrost
Ketring Park
One of the only places in Englewood to mostly
survive the assault, Ketring Park became a refugee
town almost overnight. The shacks of the shanty
town only barely provide any kind of shelter, and
every winter the people camping here suffer more
and more. For more than three years, the refugees
here have been waiting for relocation. With Ghost-
PLACES TO GO ... // SHADOWS OF DENVER
 walker opening up citizenship, it’s possible some of
them might get out, but it’s more likely that some-
one will forcibly relocate people to Aurora.
26
> This is the place where the shades of Englewood do most of their
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
feeding. All supplies are scarce, and people are willing to do
some horrible things to ensure their survival for the next day.
Places like this are breeding grounds for spirits of Rage, Envy,
Lust, Greed, and of course Despair.
> Bifrost
> There’s work to be found relocating people out of the Park.
Some of these folks used to be well-connected, and despite the
fact that they’re now no better than any other poor slob, with
perseverance they can pull the right string to get an escort out.
Just be prepared to have to fight off the people who aren’t
getting pulled out.
> Mile High Mike
Knight Errant Training Facility
Ever the opportunists, Knight Errant has set up
a training facility in the ruins of Englewood. They
do live fire training and set up a shoot house to
plan for urban assaults. I’ve heard what I hope are
just urban legends about Knight Errant forces go-
ing to Ketring and getting a bunch of refugees to
serve as “OPFOR,” or “opposing forces.”
Front Range
front range at a glance
Size: 2,445 square kilometers
Population (2081): 42,600
Human: 63%
Dwarf: 5%
Elf: 18%
Ork: 10%
Troll: 2%
Other: 2%
Population density: 17 per square kilometer
Per capita income: 38,000¥
Hospitals and clinics: 10
Education (2081)
Less than 12 years: 22%
High school equivalency: 53%
College equivalency: 21%
Advanced degrees and certificates: 4%
Easily the largest district in the Zone, the Front
Range encompasses a huge 2,500 square kilome-
ters of the most mountainous and rugged terrain in
the area. It’s the district furthest west of the Zone
and stretches all the way from Boulder to Colora-
do Springs. This district has a few areas of dense
population, centered around resorts and casinos in
the mountains.
SHADOWS OF DENVER // PLACES TO GO ...
> If you’re of a shamanic bent, you may find some work putting
up wards and dispelling spirits who wander down from the
mountains.
> Bifrost
Blackhawk Resort and Casino
The Blackhawk Resort and Casino siphons
money from tourists with an ease and grace that
one is hard-pressed to find outside of Las Vegas.
But unlike Las Vegas, the Blackhawk can offer
views of the Rocky Mountains from their wrap-
around heated infinity edge pool. The ten-story re-
sort has more than two hundred rooms that vary
in accommodation to suit every budget.
Echo Mountain
A man-made mountain that was built in the
1960s, Echo Mountain has changed hands many
times. It has the distinction of being the only ski
resort in the sprawl that hasn’t been overtaken by
nature. The security here is top-notch, with drones
flying about to ensure that only authorized skiers
are present.
> It’s worth noting that when they talk about a “man-made”
mountain, they’re actually saying that they cleared the forest
that was present and used the trees to make the slopes taller. It
was a travesty to nature, which I believe has directly impacted
its ability to remain under a single owner for more than a
decade. It seems like bad luck plagues this place, but the current
owners seem to think they can change that luck.
> Bifrost
Red Rocks Amphitheater
The Red Rocks Amphitheater is one of the most
amazing structures ever built. What started as a
naturally occurring amphitheater was built up and
perfected by the US Army Corps of Engineers. The
amphitheater has hosted every major musical act
from the Beatles to Maria Mercurial.
> Since the Awakening, the amphitheater gained a new following
among the spirits who come to the area to witness the amazing
astral performances that happen as a result of thousands of
people grooving on a song together.
> Bifrost
ZDF Station Front Range
Normally I wouldn’t cover a ZDF station in this
sort of thing—it’s safe to say that most of them
are pretty similar. However, this one is unique and
therefore deserving of its own entry. The extreme-
ly mountainous terrain of the Front Range district
demands that ZDF officers are trained in surviv-
al techniques their more urban brethren are not.
Additionally, the Front Range district has a larg-
er-than-normal presence of drone patrol forces,
and they are trained in border security and count-
er-smuggling operations.
> They also make extensive use of drones as repeaters to keep
signals strong. If you can find which drone is being used as
a repeater and take it out, you can effectively eliminate the
entire fleet.
> Voxel
Lakewood
lakewood at a glance
Size: 306 square kilometers
Population (2081): 168,000
Human: 65%
Dwarf: 3%
Elf: 14%
Ork: 14%
Troll: 2%
Other: 2%
Population density: 549 per square kilometer
Per capita income: 64,000¥
Hospitals and clinics: 9
Education (2081)
Less than 12 years: 26%
High school equivalency: 39%
College equivalency: 23%
Advanced degrees and certificates: 12%
Lakewood is Arvada’s southern neighbor, put-
ting it on the southeastern corner of the Denver
metropolitan area, and there’s something of a
friendly rivalry between Arvada and Lakewood.
The regions share a lot in common, with both be-
ing sort of bedroom communities for suburban-
ites, and both sharing a reputation for mediocrity.
However, Lakewood is a bit more blue-collar than
Arvada, and they claim to have a greater apprecia-
tion for hard work.
> Lakewood’s proximity to Englewood presents some challenges
for the local magical community. The ZDF regularly hires
freelancers to keep the shades in Englewood and out of
Lakewood. Be careful if you interact with spirits there, especially
near the border. I’ve heard that some of the shades are learning
to disguise their auras.
> Bifrost
All the World’s a Stage
This place is an absolute drekhole of a bar.
The only reason I’m even mentioning it is because
it’s affiliated with the Ghost Riders go-gang, and
they’re kind of odd. I’ll let Bifrost explain.
The Ghost Riders are a go-gang that likes to
roam 470 around town. What makes them unique
is that they use magical effects to make their mo-
torcycles look like flaming horses, or appear to be
chased by thunderclouds that spark lightning, and
things like that. If you see anything like that com- 27
ing your way, get off the road. The Ghost Riders
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
aren’t the most violent go-gang, but they’re defi-
nitely the most stylish. I cover them in a bit more
detail in the … People to Meet section.
Ares Arms Factory
As the largest single manufacturer of guns and
ammunition in the world, Ares Arms has factories
all over the place. This is just another one of those
factories. While you can get the guns easily enough
that you don’t necessarily need to steal them, one
of the things that makes this a juicy target is that
you can get blueprints for weapons that haven’t
yet been released to market.
Casa Bonita
In keeping with the Ute tradition of gratuitous
excess, Casa Bonita has thrived in this same loca-
tion for more than a century. Known for its ridicu-
lously cheap all-you-can eat food, its campy décor,
and its cheesy live shows, Casa Bonita has re-
mained a mainstay for families and gluttons alike.
> Every time I visit Denver, I have to make a pilgrimage to Casa
Bonita at least once. Somehow it still maintains its charm even
after all these decades.
> Red
> Wait, you don’t eat things like enchiladas and sopapillas—so, why
do you go?”
> /dev/grrl
> Because I still have to find Black Bart’s treasure.
> Red
Compri Hotel
The illustrious Compri Hotel has a well-earned
reputation for privacy. This makes it a hotspot
for all kinds of people who might benefit from
that discretion. Government employees, megacor-
porate managers, Mr. Johnsons, fixers, runners,
spies—they all come to the Compri when in town.
However, due to Ghostwalker’s strict rules forbid-
ding espionage, all detected instances of espionage
are reported to the ZDF.
Denim
This is a Hopi-themed nightclub run by the
Koshari crime syndicate. There is usually business
to be done here, assuming it is done with discre-
tion. The ZDF knows that this is a Koshari night-
club—they just can’t prove that anything illegal is
PLACES TO GO ... // SHADOWS OF DENVER
 going on here. The fact that most of the ZDF in the
area are former PuebSec officers probably helps
ensure that evidence remains unnoticed.
28
> They have a free spirit who acts as a bouncer on the weekends.
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
His name is Tawa, and he often manifests as a large Hopi man
with a long black ponytail and thick arms. You don’t want to get
on his bad side.
> Bifrost
Joe’s Drop Off
A longtime runner hangout, this bar is also very
popular with the local smuggling community. If
you’re looking for a t-bird pilot, you’ll probably
find one (or three) here. If you’re an Anglo, you
might have a hard time, as the place still hasn’t
shaken its Ute roots completely.
Lakewood
Correctional Institute
Part prison, part psych ward, all creepy. Exper-
iments are done on their criminal wards, and they
really push the ethical boundaries of what is con-
sidered “science” and what is considered “torture.”
Their latest round of experiments focuses on BTL
addiction. The lead researcher there, Dr. Richard
Hutton, has a theory that if BTL was addictive
enough, the addict would never need to seek out
more. His theory is that this would cripple crimi-
nal enterprise, as the addicts would never need to
commit crime to fuel the habit.
> Yeah, there’s a book about an entertainment so addictive people
don’t seek out anything else. Spoiler alert: It doesn’t work out
well for anyone.
> Sunshine
> My belief is that Horizon owns the Lakewood Correctional Institute
and supplies subjects from their other facilities around the world.
There are a lot of similarities between this facility and the one in
Las Vegas, but this one is proving a challenge to reveal. Hutton is
aware that the technomancer community in the Zone would like
nothing more than to expose his atrocities to the world, and as a
result he’s beefed up his security like you wouldn’t believe.
> Voxel
Lowry
A small, low- to middle-class district on the
eastern edges of the Hub, Lowry has been the
beating heart of industry in Denver for more than
a century. Formerly a US Air Force Base, the dis-
trict has a reputation for hard work and steel grit.
When the base was closed down, the mechanics
and industrialists opened up other shops. As a re-
sult, the district has a reputation for breeding an
affinity with machines.
SHADOWS OF DENVER // PLACES TO GO ...
lowry at a glance
Size: 48 square kilometers
Population (2081): 12,600
Human: 63%
Dwarf: 4%
Elf: 12%
Ork: 17%
Troll: 3%
Other: 1%
Population density: 263 per square kilometer
Per capita income: 36,000¥
Hospitals and clinics: 5
Education (2081)
Less than 12 years: 32%
High school equivalency: 44%
College equivalency: 22%
Advanced degrees and certificates: 2%
In addition to all the blue-collar areas of Lowry,
the southern tip of the district is known as China-
town due to the abundance of Asian buildings and
businesses in the area. Not large enough to qualify
as a district on its own, Chinatown was lumped in
with Lowry during the Reclamation. There’s a bit
of racial tension as well, since the district is sup-
posed to represent both groups, but fails to do so
with equity.
> There are a lot of garages in Lowry, which may be part of why
I’ve noticed an uptick in the number of gremlins I’ve seen
around. Formless spirits that need to take a mechanical “body”
to remain will often make deals with racers and tuners to take
over the machine in exchange for “enhancing” it. It rarely ends
well for the person who allows a gremlin to take over their
machine, as the gremlin will eventually ask for payment in
Karma in order to even keep the machine operational.
> Bifrost
> Similarly, I’ve noticed that the reliance upon Matrix devices in the
area tends to attract free sprites who love machinery. They will often
try to take over a machine and improve it, but never at the cost of the
device’s core functionality. Sometimes the owners are unhappy with
the upgrades, but the sprites aren’t malicious. Usually.
> Voxel
Ascending Star
Operated exclusively by the Golden Triangle
Triad, and the pet project of Lodge Master Li
Zicheng, the Ascending Star advertises that it ca-
ters to all the needs of any sarariman or traveling
businessman. While sex is available if one desires,
the primary purpose of the women is providing life
coaching and guidance through one’s challenges.
As you might have surmised, Li is using the facility
to extract secrets and information from the busi-
nessmen and uses that information for blackmail
or extortion.
Happy Canyon Mall
A gigantic shopping complex that offers almost
every Asian good imaginable. The mall is jointly
owned by the White Lotus and Golden Triangle
triads and serves as a neutral ground for the two to
meet up and discuss business. Inside the mall is the
Temple of Inner Light, which can be used by either
of the triads for religious purposes.
Lowry International Airport
Located near the site of the former Lowry Air
Force Base, Lowry International is a small airport
that, due to the small runway, is only rated to handle
semi-ballistic, suborbital, and HSCT flights. There
are also facilities for VTOL aircraft, such as heli-
copters and skycabs. Rumors say that there were
missile silos buried under the facilities, along with
a command-and-control bunker. No one has found
evidence of these things, but the rumors persist.
Klub Karma
Formerly operated by the White Lotus triad,
Klub Karma is currently run by the Casquilho
family. While talking business is allowed there, vi-
olence is not. There are private rooms up on the
second floor for discreet meetings. Getting access
to one of the private rooms requires talking with
the manager and convincing them to let you in.
> The White Lotus want nothing more than to take back Klub
Karma for themselves. They see the Casquilho Family as
interlopers with a temporary lease on things. There will be a
reckoning.
> 14er
Ming Solutions Office
The local office of Ming Solutions, a subsidi-
ary of Wuxing. The researchers and geomancers
in this office were responsible for coordinating the
construction of Wuxing Cherry Park. Now that
Cherry Park has been built, there was a concern
that Ming would be moved to that new facility.
However, it seems that Wuxing likes to keep some
influence over Chinatown and will not be moving
Ming Solutions any time soon.
Nu Shen Massage
A bunraku parlor that caters to the nearby cor-
porate types from Centennial. Nu Shen is run by
an elf (maybe?) named Da-xia “Daisy” Wu who
keeps slotting herself into different bodies. One
day she might be in the body of a human man, or
another day she might be a troll woman.
> I’m of the opinion that Daisy is a very dangerous artificial
intelligence who just hops into the bodies of puppets when
needed. The callous nature of an AI like this is only part of why
it’s dangerous. It clearly revels in the suffering of others and
takes some sort of pleasure in seeing humans damage each
other. I can’t even begin to fathom what would motivate an AI to 29
be so hateful.
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
> Voxel
> No comment.
> Clockwork
Rusty’s Garage
Rusty is an old-timer in the former CAS sector.
He’s got that thick Southern drawl that one might
expect and is missing several teeth that he should
have replaced years ago. He’s also missing one of
his arms, which has been replaced by what can best
be described as a self-built cyberarm. Regardless,
Rusty is still the best mechanic in the sector, and
his drones help him keep up with the workload.
> Rusty is a Machinist technomancer, but he doesn’t seem to know
it, or maybe he doesn’t care. His affinity for machinery has
allowed him to do things that no other mechanic should be able
to do, but he chalks it up to skill from his decades of experience.
> Voxel
Three Delights
Three Delights is a perennial favorite to find au-
thentic cuisine from Taiwan and Hong Kong. The
ex-pats who live in the surrounding Chinatown
neighborhood flood this restaurant nightly. If you
don’t speak Mandarin or Cantonese, you won’t get
service. If you can slot a linguasoft at the least, the
drunken noodles are worth the effort.
Wings Over the Rockies
Air & Space Museum
The Air & Space Museum has a long-standing
history for excellence. They proudly display repli-
ca and original aircraft from almost every era of
flight. Everything from classic propeller planes to
modern t-birds and military aircraft of all kinds
can be found here. None of it is functional any-
more, but if you need a quiet place to have a meet
that doesn’t seem super pretentious, this might be
your ideal location.
Stapleton
The easternmost district of Denver, Staple-
ton takes up a large amount of land but is not
densely populated. Most of that land is used for
large corporate facilities and is mostly off-limits.
There is a small area of Stapleton, close to the
city, where you’ll find a more typically Denver
experience.
PLACES TO GO ... // SHADOWS OF DENVER

stapleton at a glance
Size: 1,241 square kilometers
30 Population (2081): 21,000
Human: 72%
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
Dwarf: 1%
Elf: 14%
Ork: 11%
Troll: 1%
Other: 1%
Population density: 17 per square kilometer
Per capita income: 58,500¥
Hospitals and clinics: 10
Education (2081)
Less than 12 years: 21%
High school equivalency: 34%
College equivalency: 33%
Advanced degrees and certificates: 12%
> By that he means that the area there is pretty “suburban
boring.” There’re things to do here, of course, but all the good
stuff is out in the rural areas. That’s where the corps keep their
secrets, and therefore, that’s where the action is.
> Voxel
Brainwave, Inc. Office
The local office for Brainwave, Inc., a Mitsuha-
ma Computer Technologies (MCT) subsidiary. This
is a research facility that keeps a low profile out on
the far edges of the Stapleton district. I’ve never met
anyone who has gone in there, but Voxel has.
> Brainwave, Inc. specializes in neural interfaces. MCT likes
to use their tech in cyberdecks, simsense players, etc. The
cost of making those advancements is often metahuman
experimentation. I had a friend who went into Brainwave on a
job—nothing criminal, he was a paid test subject. When he came
out a week later, he barely recognized me. I have no idea what
they did to him, but I’m guessing the tests failed.
> Voxel
Buckley Air Force Base
This was once home to a proud squadron of
UCAS fighter pilots who loved to show off their
aerial prowess, but since Ghostwalker took over
the area, the Buckley Air Force Base has been led
by the ZDF. Now the ZDF uses it for training their
forces in air and ground insertions, as well as for
surveillance operations.
> There’s also a contingent of Ares Global Commsat officers at
Buckley. From what I’ve heard, they’ve helped Ghostwalker
enhance his network of control over the city. Supposedly, he can
directly hijack and control any drone he wants, but that may just
be the jazz talking.
> Mile High Mike
SHADOWS OF DENVER // PLACES TO GO ...
Casquilho Imports
The Casquilho Family runs their mafia opera-
tions out of this storefront. Of course, the ZDF
can’t prove it, but it’s an open secret. It has a large
warehouse in the back that stores nick-nacks
from California, and the Casquilho Family runs
their smuggling operations from that warehouse,
disguising the illegal goods among the legitimate
ones.
Children of the
Dragon Headquarters
The Children of the Dragon believe that Dun-
kelzahn was their messiah. Following the appear-
ance of Ghostwalker, a splinter sect broke off and
called itself the Church of the Dragon Reborn. The
two churches have been at odds ever since. Given
their proximity to each other, it’s not uncommon
to see members of each church trying to poach
each other’s members. It’s a very petty fight in the
end, since we all know that Jibbers is our true lord
and savior.
Denver International Airport
Denver International Airport (DIA) was once
one of the busiest airports in the world. Leading
up to the 2072 Olympics, it was renovated very
hastily. In the years since, the renovations have di-
minished and now give the place a shabby appear-
ance. Due to some fiscal malfeasance by the former
management, DIA has lost a tremendous amount
of business. Following the Reclamation, Ghost-
walker replaced all the management and started
to pour money into the airport to get it back to
the top.
> Rumors of all kinds of crazy things have followed DIA for
decades. One such rumor is that they have tunnels and bunkers
below the airport that are used by a global cabal of rich people
to escape nuclear apocalypse. Another is that the tunnels are
holding everything from the Ark of the Covenant to the Crown
Jewels of the United Kingdom. All these crazy conspiracy
theories have led some to believe that there may be a free
spirit using Influence and Illusion magic to play a long prank.
Personally, I think that’s yet another crazy theory.
> Mile High Mike
Denver Sports Complex
A multi-tiered sports complex that houses sev-
eral Denver teams and hosts dozens of events
throughout the year, the Denver Sports Complex is
one of the city’s proudest achievements. It houses
Broncomania Stadium on the top tier, open to the
sky above. Below that is Vertex Arena, home to the
local basketball team, the Nuggets. And below that
is Century Centre, named for the one-hundredth

anniversary of the hockey team, the Colorado Ava-
lanche. While the facility does not host urban brawl
matches, the Thunderheads maintain an office in
the complex that serves as their headquarters.
Front Range Space Port
Ghostwalker poured some money into building
a space port out in the far reaches of Stapleton,
east of Denver International Airport. The idea is
not a new one, but it’s impressive to see a dragon
who cares about space flight. He’s trying to com-
pete with places like the mass driver in Kenya. If
successful, it could mean a new age of tech and
business innovation for the FRFZ.
> The project is riddled with delays. They haven’t even broken
ground yet. I think he’s more likely using this project to move
assets around so that no one else can follow where they’re
going.
> 14er
Marcel’s
While this may appear to be a mainstream Ital-
ian restaurant on the surface, it is owned and heav-
ily visited by the Casquilho Family. Additionally,
the waitstaff is odd, employing changelings and
31
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
people with radical body modifications. There’s a
bunch of one-way mirrors from which the Casqui-
lho family monitors visitors.
Rocky Mountain Arsenal Park
Rocky Mountain Arsenal was a chemical weap-
ons facility in the 1940s. It was finally shut down
in the 1990s and rededicated as a national park
just in time for the United States to go belly-up a
couple decades later. Under Ghostwalker’s direc-
tion, the Rocky Mountain Arsenal Park flourished.
Wildlife made a comeback in the area—including
some of the rarer animals.
> Rare indeed. One such animal is a white buffalo the local
Amerinds revere. They believe it is a symbol of abundance and
good times to come, and the Sioux are especially protective of
it. Ghostwalker’s PR team made quick work of emphasizing that
the white buffalo is only safe under Ghostwalker’s protection,
of course. This led to an influx of converts to the Church of the
Dragon Reborn.
> Bifrost
Stapleton Airport
This is the oldest civilian airport in the sector.
However, it was decommissioned in the 1990s
PLACES TO GO ... // SHADOWS OF DENVER
 when Denver International Airport was built. Sta-
pleton was rebuilt when the sectors were divided, the hub at a glance
so the buildings relatively unused and in good Size: 68 square kilometers
32 shape despite being so old. With the increased Population (2081): 42,000
funding going toward the Denver International Human: 45%
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL

Airport again, Stapleton is back on the bubble Dwarf: 7%

for closing. The only traffic they see is municipal Elf: 20%
short-range flights from commuters, skycabs, and Ork: 18%
helicopters. Troll: 4%
Other: 6%
Population density: 618 per square kilometer
The Gap Per capita income: 140,000¥
Hospitals and clinics: 8
the gap at glance Education (2081)
Less than 12 years: 10%
Size: 585 square kilometers High school equivalency: 38%
Population (2081): 250 College equivalency: 35%
Human: 40% Advanced degrees and certificates: 17%
Dwarf: 5%
Elf: 27%
Ork: 25%
tors. Now, it’s the tower from which Ghostwalker
Troll: 4% exerts his control over the region. The sky of the
Other: 1% Hub is abuzz with sky taxis, drones, and spirits.
Population density: <1 per square kilometer The ground is flush with pedestrians and cars. It’s
Per capita income: 780¥ dense, crowded, and has an electric feel that is
Hospitals and clinics: 0 hard to replicate.
Education (2081) The Hub is home to more corporate facilities
Less than 12 years: 95% than any other district of the Zone. In it, you can
High school equivalency: 4% find offices dedicated to Architectural Dynamics,
College equivalency: 1% Awakened World Research, Spellweaver Consor-
Advanced degrees and certificates: 0% tium, and UnlimiTech. The other corporate fa-
cilities are unique enough to deserve their own
entries.
The Gap is an area between Castle Rock and
Colorado Springs districts and has almost no pop- > My favorite place in the FRFZ is The Hub. The astral space there
ulation at all. It’s even more rural than the neigh- is inhabited by the most cosmopolitan group of spirits and
boring Elbert and Front Range districts. The place entities that I’ve ever seen. Under Ghostwalker’s authority, the
is mostly highway, with I-25 running north and FRFZ is the safest place on earth for spirits, and all of that is
south through the middle of it, and almost no com- centered around the Hub. In fact, just last weekend I met with
mercial or residential value. tourists from Dis, a regal gentleman from Celephaïs, and even
a Tsuchigumo from Metabeles. The metropolitan nature of
> Spirits are wild here. There are free spirits who roam these Denver’s Hub can’t be overstated.
areas, attacking people on sight. It’s a very dangerous place > Bifrost
once you get off of I-25, and it seems like Ghostwalker either
doesn’t care or is actively encouraging it. Anasazi Holding
> Bifrost Company Headquarters
The Anasazi Holding Company deserves its
> There are small go-gangs that roam I-25, making the Gap
own entry because it is the only company (that
dangerous for any kind of travel. Anyone who decides to travel
we know of) to be wholly owned by Ghostwalker.
on the ground is going to fall victim to one of the go-gangs that The company holds his other properties and assets,
claim the Gap as their own. none of which are reportable or public knowledge.
> Voxel There is a vault below ground that supposedly
houses many artifacts that were recovered during
the 2061 deposing of Aztlan.
The Hub
The living, breathing, heart of Denver, the Hub > If the rumor is true, it’s very likely that those artifacts are
serves as Ghostwalker’s personal enclave of per- tremendously powerful and dangerous. There are also
fection. During the First Treaty of Denver, it was supposedly a few artifacts that were recovered from Englewood
neutral ground for all the nations that had sec- there. It’s unclear why Ghostwalker would want to hold onto

SHADOWS OF DENVER // PLACES TO GO ...

 Aztec artifacts, but if I had to make a guess, he thinks that he’s
protecting the world from the danger they represent.
> Bifrost
> I can tell you a lot more about the Matrix setup for Anasazi,
which I’ve done in the section below about Matrix hotspots.
> Voxel
Ares-McAuliffe
International School
Once a public school, McAuliffe is now whol-
ly owned by Ares Macrotechnology. Ares brings
in faculty from around the world to teach their
students the latest in self-defense, military theory,
and business strategy. It’s a combination of mili-
tary education and business school, which pretty
much describes Ares to a T. Graduates here are
usually fast-tracked into management positions
within Ares.
Ares Spire
Ares has a lot of manufacturing facilities in the
region. Arthur Vogel wanted a way to make Ares
really stand out in the FRFZ though, so he ordered
construction of this narrow fifty-story skyscraper.
Shortly after, Ares Consumer Products division
moved its headquarters into the Spire.
Because Aztechnology was ousted from the
region, Ares Consumer Products decided to try
to use Denver as a test bed for products from all
the various nations. This strategy was working
well until Ghostwalker’s Reclamation. The offic-
es for Ares Consumer Products and other divi-
sions are all above ground, and occasionally Vo-
gel himself visited. The R&D labs are all below
ground. Ares proudly recruits dwarves to work
in the Spire, and they boast that they have more
dwarfs on their payroll than any other business
in the FRFZ.
Brown Palace Hotel
The original Brown Palace hotel was built in Den-
ver in 1892. It has remained open ever since, but it
has undergone significant renovations over the near-
ly 200 years of its history. The Brown Palace Club, a
triangular-shaped bar in the hotel, was made into a
speakeasy during prohibition and became a popular
watering hole in the decades afterward.
> Both the club and hotel are said to be haunted, with guests
reporting things like feeling the carpet moving or seeing even a
train conductor standing in the doorway. Because of its magical
significance, the hotel is popular with spirits, and guests are
expected to treat every spirit as if they were another guest.
> Bifrost
Church of the Dragon
Reborn Headquarters
Located directly across the street from Ghost- 33
walker’s liaison’s office, the Church of the Drag-
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
on Reborn was built from a splinter sect of the
Children of the Dragon. With the resurgence in
membership since Ghostwalker’s Reclamation,
the church began construction on other locations
throughout the FRFZ. Often, one can find Joshua
Morningstar leading prayer services in the shadow
of Ghostwalker’s liaison’s office.
> Joshua Morningstar has more than a few skeletons in his closet.
For one thing, he never existed prior to 2061. Rumors have it
that he’s actually a drake of Ghostwalker’s, but none have ever
seen him shift into draconic form, and his aura has a lot of
powerful masking magic.
> Bifrost
Council Hall
What was once a political arena built for the
executives for each sector, Council Hall has been
converted into a museum. A grotesque display
of Ghostwalker’s power, the museum essentially
taunts each of the former member nations of the
FRFZ. Each of the nations that previously had a
sector has a dedicated exhibit, with statues and art
commemorating their failures as leaders, and ex-
alting Ghostwalker as the savior the Zone needed.
Daniels & Fisher Clock Tower
Built in 1910 as part of the Daniels & Fish-
er department store, the clock tower was, at the
time, the tallest building west of the Mississip-
pi river. Since the department store’s closure, the
tower traded ownership multiple times. The top
five floors of the clock tower (which include the
clock face) are available for rent, even potentially
as a very unique residence. The bottom floors have
been leased out for decades as a cabaret/bar. The
remaining two floors of the building are used as
office space by the 1owners.
Denver Administration Building
Following Ghostwalker’s Reclamation, he took
on all the administrative responsibilities of the FRFZ,
and the Denver Administration started hiring staff
members in droves. It is home to offices for each of
the district representatives, along with the bureaucra-
cy needed to keep Denver operating efficiently.
> If the rumors are true, then Ghostwalker has taken and captured
someone or something critically important to each of the
leaders of the districts. Odds are that those items are stored
here somewhere.
> Voxel
PLACES TO GO ... // SHADOWS OF DENVER
 Denver Zoo
Under the careful, watchful eye of Ghostwalker,
the Denver Zoo takes great care of its animal resi-
34 dents. The zoo is permitted to contain any non-sa-
pient critter or paracritter, so long as the environ-
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
ment is kept as authentic as possible. The zoo has
a display of mated greater phoenixes on loan from
the PCC, which serve as a huge draw for the crowd
when the phoenixes begin their mating dance only
to incinerate each other and then be reborn in
front of everyone’s eyes.
Draco Foundation Office
The Draco Foundation maintains an office in
the Hub. Most standard office functions can be per-
formed here. Recruitment is one of the primary func-
tions. Some of the leadership, including Nadja Davi-
ar, can occasionally be found here, using the facility
as a remote office. There are unsubstantiated rumors
that the Draco Foundation managed to recover pow-
erful artifacts after the fight between Ghostwalker
and Harlequin. The fact that the building has a base-
ment protected with very powerful hints that these
rumors may have basis in truth. The Draco Founda-
tion also runs a homeless outreach program in an an-
nex building. In exchange for a warm meal and bed,
they ask that all residents provide news of the streets.
> The primary reason for maintaining this office is to maintain
their spy network within the FRFZ. The Draco Foundation also
has close ties to the Children of the Dragon through one of their
newest board members, Alexis Glimmerscale.
> Bifrost
Evo Gardens
Easily my favorite area in the Hub, Evo Gardens
earned its name because of the greenery growing
all over the buildings, especially on the roofs and
bridges that connect the structures. Evo moved its
North American headquarters to this campus, and
the head of Evo North America, Mary Luce, often
visits the area to check on local businesses. Evo,
through its MetaErgonomics subsidiary, secured
many of the contracts to provide metahumans
and sapient critters with comfortable residences,
restaurants, and infrastructure. Evo Gardens also
houses the local branch of MetaMatrix, the Evo
subsidiary that provides electronics and equipment
to get sapients of all types onto the Matrix. Oth-
er subsidiaries with offices in the Gardens include
Shibata Construction and Engineering and Tsuru-
ga International, which they hope to use to win
construction contracts in the region.
Feed Trough
Feed Trough was built by Evo with the expec-
tation that centaurs were an underserved market.
SHADOWS OF DENVER // PLACES TO GO ...
Turns out, it’s also popular with non-centaurs due
to the work of their excellent chef, Monique La-
bonté. The Feed Trough is one-hundred-percent
vegan and organic, and it gets most of its produce
from local farms in the Elbert and Stapleton dis-
tricts.
Fillmore Auditorium
One of the older nightclubs in Denver, the Fill-
more Auditorium hosted bands for almost a centu-
ry and retains its venerable and illustrious status.
Since the destruction of Weekday Eclipse, the Fill-
more Auditorium has seen a lot more bands per-
form. Acts here run the gamut from modern rock
to classical. The Fillmore hosts weekly shows that
raise money to help artists who were displaced by
the arrest of Perianwyr.
Five by Five
Five by Five is a favorite haunt for smugglers and
coyotes. Located in an unused cistern beneath the
Hub, the bar has a reputation for being discreet and
relaxing despite its dank surroundings. The bar has
a tradition that helps reinforce this reputation: if
you discuss business openly, you must buy everyone
a round. The owner of Five by Five is a hobgoblin
rigger named Squid, who knows just about every
smuggler and coyote in the FRFZ personally.
> Squid set up a series of repeaters to ensure a strong signal, even
underground in a cistern. Sometimes, those repeaters need
work. If you’re willing to go digging around in the sewers of
Denver, Squid pays pretty well considering, and it’s a great way
to ingratiate yourself to the rigger community.
> Voxel
Focused Consulting and
Brokerage Headquarters
The worldwide headquarters for Focused Con-
sulting and Brokerage (FCB), a consulting firm
that manages “problems” for elite clientele, is a
prominent Hub building. The story goes that FCB
is a corporate fixer of sorts, arranging jobs for
high-end runners to be paired up with clients at a
decent rate.
> If you’re approached for a job with FCB, it means you’ve reached
the top of the game. No one knows who owns FCB, but the
rumor mill is churning with suggestions that everyone from
Ghostwalker to Daniel Howling Coyote own the company. Of
course, no one within FCB is going to reveal the truth.
> Voxel
Gadgeteer’s Electronics
If you need some electronics, Gadgeteer’s is a
great place to go. They have a beautiful showroom
floor promoting all the latest in electronic innova-
tion. The stock is constantly replenished by drones,
and interaction with others is rare, but metahu-
mans are available for consultation as well.
Ghostwalker’s Liaison Office
If you must go to this building, you better have
a great reason. Ghostwalker’s liaison, Nicholas
Whitebird, lives and works in this building. As
the living embodiment of the great dragon, all his
edicts are broadcast from these offices. The ZDF
maintains a constant vigil alongside Ghostwalk-
er’s contingent of spirit allies. This building starts
with two stories of regular floors before it forks
out into four narrow, fifty-five-story spires that
appear to be covered in dragon scales, with hab-
itable floors only on the upper and lower floors.
It stands as a testament to Ghostwalker’s domi-
nance.
Goodfriends
Goodfriends has undergone substantial changes
over the years. It started as a family-friendly piz-
za parlor, but its current incarnation is as a club
known for quiet and discreet hooking up. In the
early 2070s, the owners thought they would start
to gather blackmail material on the people using
their many private rooms, but the ZDF cracked
down hard on that activity. Now, the only threat
is from other patrons, and business has thrived as
a result.
> I can tell you that they’re still spying on the customers and using
that information. The owners have just become much better at
hiding it and distributing the information through third parties,
to distance themselves as the source. I may have helped them
out with this on occasion.
> Voxel
Hargreaves Clinic
Not the actual Hargreaves Clinic—that’s locat-
ed in Philadelphia—but rather an extension of the
clinic built to service Awakened patients in the Do-
main. Because it’s built in the Hub, anyone can get
treatment. Awakened and non-human metasapi-
ents are given a free pass on all medical procedures
with a valid (or convincing) SIN. Mundane hu-
mans can get treatment but have generally longer
wait times as they are treated with lower priority.
> It’s easy enough to get a fake SIN that says you’re Awakened.
They don’t check your aura, and they don’t really care much. It’s
just that the subsidies they’re given from Ghostwalker require
de-emphasizing treatment for mundane humans as part of an
“equity” program.
> Mile High Mike
Idyll Recovery Center
The Idyll Recovery Center is one of the region’s
most effective recovery facilities. They treat addic-
tion, mental illnesses, and brain trauma. The pres- 35
ident is a young doctor, Dr. Paul McKnight, who
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
proved himself to be a prodigy when dealing with
mental ailments. His techniques are somewhat
controversial, but extremely effective.
> Okay so this is a bit of a conspiracy theory, but hear me out. I’ve
heard rumors that people who go into Idyll sometimes come
out as technomancers. And that they go on to be employed
by Ghostwalker. I have no idea if this is true, and it sounds
completely insane, but if it is true, then that means someone
may have found a way to force Emergence. And it would explain
where Ghostwalker is getting his little army of technomancers.
> Voxel
Inari Jinja
Established by Shiawase to help spread the in-
fluence of Shinto the region, the priests who work
in this small temple are high-level Shinto priests.
These priests serve as eyes and ears for Shiawase,
in addition to holding the religious services they
are called to perform. The shrine is dedicated to
Inari, the foxlike messenger kami. It boasts a small
walking trail covered with torii in a fashion similar
to the Fushimi Inari Shrine in Japan.
> Do not mess with the priests. They are all highly initiated
magicians with a lot more magical mojo than you. Plus, since
the area is deeply aspected toward Shinto, they will have every
advantage in a fight. I’ve been fortunate enough to not fight
them, but I did see them take out a shedim once, and it was a
very enlightening experience.
> Bifrost
Lunar Noctum
It’s a local mage hangout, so I’m not really qual-
ified to talk much about it. I’ll leave the description
of the magical things to Bifrost.
Lunar Noctum is shrouded by an anchored
Darkness spell. Astral perception is required to be
able to navigate the club, which keeps the mun-
danes away. Once a month, generally the day be-
fore the New Moon, the bar shuts down to cover
the surfaces with a thin layer of neutralized FAB, so
mages can navigate properly. On the New Moon,
a huge party draws massive crowds of spirits and
mages alike. The club is owned by a dwarf mage
named Brandi “Bam Bam” Bautista.
Mile High Limo and Taxi Service
Offering service across the Hub and nearby
neighborhoods, the black-and-white Mile High
taxis operating out of this garage are a common
PLACES TO GO ... // SHADOWS OF DENVER
36
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
sight. The owner, Viktor Ivanov, is a middle-aged
human Ukrainian ex-pat with suspected connec-
tions to the Vory. When Denver was a divided city,
Viktor had an active smuggling network moving
people and material across sectors, but these days
he runs a mostly legitimate business.
> The second floor of the garage building is leased to Dr.
Rutherford Kaine for his consulting office and the private
residence. He’s a well-known arcanoarcheologist and specialist
in ancient languages.
> Bifrost
Mitsuhama Tower
This thirty-story tower serves as home to three
major MCT subsidiaries: HermeTech, ParaShield,
and Mitsuhama Media. HermeTech specializes in
security solutions for mundanes against magical
threats. ParaShield provides dual-natured paracrit-
ters for security contracts, along with the infamous
ParaShield dart series of weapons. Mitsuhama Me-
dia is the smallest of these subsidiaries, focusing on
simsense and trideo production.
One-up Bar and Arcade
Divided into three sections, the main room of this
entertainment venue is the One-Up Bar and Grill, a
SHADOWS OF DENVER // PLACES TO GO ...
typical bar with a contemporary style, serving drinks
and food along with occasional live music. The One-
Up Arcade is a game room featuring reproductions of
video game machines from a century ago as well as
an assortment of modern AR game areas. The One-
Up Back Room is a dark and smoky members-only
private club that is actually a hangout for runners—
the only real membership requirement being good
street rep. The owner of the bar, Carol “Cat” McTa-
vish, is a retired runner and well-known fixer, and
occasional Mr. Johnson, in the Denver shadow scene.
Pam’s Pawn
“Second Hand” Pam is a sweet old ork with a
heart of gold. She will pay you emotional value for
your goods! Well, not really. She’s a tough-as-nails
ork who has seen too much of the bulldrek you’re
peddling. She is a savvy businesswoman who takes
her job seriously. Pam’s Pawn provides a wide ar-
ray of goods and armory services. If you get on her
good side, she might show you the stock she keeps
in the back which includes illegal firearms, explo-
sives, and armor.
Patterson Mansion
Originally built in 1890 and owned by a Thom-
as Croke, the mansion was sold in 1893 to Thom-
as Patterson. During a renovation in the 1970s,
vandals roamed across the grounds and moved
things. The crew decided to get a couple of guard
dogs, but things got decidedly strange the next day,
when the dogs were found to have jumped out of a
third-story window to their deaths.
Since then, the mansion is said to be haunted, and
no one wanted to live there. It was converted into
a bed and breakfast, capitalizing on its status as a
haunted house until the Awakening. That was when
the ghosts of the house managed to chase out every-
one who was there, and since then they have forceful-
ly resisted any attempts to settle on the ground.
> No one has been able to exorcise the ghosts, and now the
property sits empty, staring out at Millionaire’s Row like a skull.
The most powerful spirit of the house lives in the basement
and takes the form of a little girl named Emma. She takes
tremendous offense at the living stepping foot on her property.
Somewhat ironically, free spirits are allowed to gather here
without interference. There are even reports of spirit-only
parties and festivities taking place on the grounds.
> Bifrost
Rocky Mountain Post
Headquarters
The Rocky Mountain Post is a local media out-
let that focuses on news related to Ghostwalker.
Most people assume that it’s owned by Ghost-
walker as his primary PR mechanism, but the staff
and publishers insist they’re independent and any
perceived slant is unintentional.
Sakura Square
Since 1973, Sakura Square has been the heart
of the Japanese experience in Denver. At its heart
is the Tri-State Denver Buddhist Temple, which
has stood on this site since 1947. Since then, the
Square has expanded slightly to include a small
shopping mall, and it can be rented out for events.
Due to the square having both commercial and re-
ligious aspects, there have been extensive legal bat-
tles over the privacy of the events that take place.
Without a direct order from Ghostwalker, the ZDF
policy is to leave the events alone without an abun-
dance of legal cause. As a result, Sakura Square has
seen extensive use by the Karemasu Clan.
Sal’s Cheap Sleeps
Coffin hotels are all over the city of Denver,
but this one is truly unique. It’s got an absolutely
stellar reputation for discretion, comfort, and val-
ue. It’s run by a free spirit named Sal, who is an
immensely powerful spirit of Man. Anyone who
has caused trouble at Cheap Sleeps has been found
a few days later, face-down in the nearby Cherry
Creek.
The Church
The Church is one of the oldest nightclubs in
Denver. The building is much older than the night-
club—originally a cathedral built in 1865. The 37
Church features nightly live performances rang-
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
ing from classic EDM to modern trog rock. When
Weekday Eclipse was torched, the Church held a
massive candlelight vigil for the victims. Rumors
are that the Church is also owned by Perianwyr,
but they were discounted as fiction created to drive
away business.
The Grind
A biker bar popular among the orks and trolls
who were unfortunate enough to live in what was
CAS territory, the Grind makes an ideal meeting
place. There are enough patrons to discourage bad
behavior but few enough to allow for discretion.
Gibson, sometimes called “Sarge,” is the owner
and operator of the Grind.
> Sarge is a really great guy. He was a sergeant for Lone Star and
was forced to grind down his horns to fit in. After a while, he
decided that the racism was too much to tolerate and left.
Anyone affiliated with law enforcement will have a hard time
in this bar, as will anyone with racist tendencies. Sarge still
has friends from his days in Lone Star, which discourages
organizations like Human Nation from trying to get rid of
him. Still, Sarge is getting older and could use some help with
idiots.
> 14er
Tower of Babel
Prior to Ghostwalker’s Reclamation, the Tower
of Babel was a nightclub with a notorious streak.
Turns out that the place was being used by the
CAS to listen in on wireless traffic throughout the
Hub. Well, Ghostwalker shut that nonsense down
quick, and now the club is open again to the pub-
lic. To get in, you have to get into an elevator that
takes you up twenty floors to the club itself. Don’t
get tossed, since the elevator isn’t the fastest way
to get thrown out.
Truman Tech Tower
When Horizon gained control of the Truman
Distribution Networks, they also gained posses-
sion of the Truman Tech Tower. Horizon has given
over some of the building to Pathfinder Multime-
dia, but most of the building is operated by Hori-
zon subsidiary Singularity.
> The merger between TDN and Horizon hasn’t gone as smoothly
as Horizon would like. There are still elements of TDN that think
that they should have gone private instead of being bought
by Ares, and they’re trying to leverage the merger as another
PLACES TO GO ... // SHADOWS OF DENVER
 opportunity to go private again. Horizon will win in the end, but
the question remains about what the leftovers will be.
> Mile High Mike
38
Union Station
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
The primary station for all maglev and sub-
way traffic throughout the Zone. There’s a maglev
route that connects Boulder, Denver, and Colorado
Springs, and subways that connect all the districts
of the Denver metropolitan area. Just be aware
that if you’re boarding a train bound for the PCC
or Sioux nations, you’ll have to go through cus-
toms just like if you were crossing the DMZ.
Weekday Eclipse Memorial
A memorial stands in the place where the most
famous nightclub in Denver once stood. Weekday
Eclipse, formerly owned by the dragon Perianwyr,
was firebombed in 2076 by unknown assailants.
In the ensuing blaze, seventy-four people lost their
lives. Many assumed it was some draconic retribu-
tion for Perianwyr interfering with Ghostwalker’s
plans several years earlier. The assailants were nev-
er captured, and Perianwyr set up this memorial.
Thornton
Thornton at a glance
Size: 227 square kilometers
Population (2081): 126,000
Human: 60%
Dwarf: 2%
Elf: 16%
Ork: 18%
Troll: 2%
Other: 2%
Population density: 555 per square kilometer
Per capita income: 57,000¥
Hospitals and clinics: 9
Education (2081)
Less than 12 years: 30%
High school equivalency: 37%
College equivalency: 24%
Advanced degrees and certificates: 9%
A suburb of Denver in between Westminster
and Brighton, Thornton was once managed by the
Sioux and still retains some of that attitude. It’s not
uncommon to see people openly carrying weapons
of various styles, sizes, and lethality.
> Many of the ZDF in the area were once Sioux Defense Force
officers. This causes issues for them when their allegiance
to their tribe is put in confrontation with their allegiance to
Ghostwalker. But it also means that if you’re clever, you can
SHADOWS OF DENVER // PLACES TO GO ...
mess with the IFF information in their heads-up display to make
it seem like you’re affiliated with the Sioux Nation. Just be sure
to sell the act with a convincing performance.
> Voxel
Apex Plasmids Complex
Apex Plasmids is the largest food producer in
the FREZ. They produce almost all the soy, myco-
protein, and algae used by the sprawl. As a result,
they own huge swaths of land where they have
hydroponic facilities. However, the side effect of
all this production is the area around the Com-
plex is just disgusting to smell. Thus, there are not
many businesses in the area, other than Hardpan,
the rough-and-tumble bar that serves many of the
employees.
Carnimore
This spot is part of a very popular chain of
restaurants that cater to protein-rich diets and big
appetites. The Carnimore franchise features a huge
buffet specializing in meaty flavors and textures.
They are tremendously successful in areas with
heavy ork and troll populations, and the advertis-
ing reflects that. It’s not as obvious as places like
the Big Rhino in Seattle, but it’s still pretty clear
that this is where you can go if you have nine hun-
gry kids and you’re on a budget.
> Their advertising is straight-up offensive. I was never raised in
a “litter” with a bunch of other orks, and I absolutely knew my
mother and father. That new ad where the single mother with six
ork babies is wondering where father went off to, and decides
to take the kids to Carnimore? Sickening. Though I will say that
their brisket is almost worth it.
> 14er
Hardpan
The only business willing to put itself close to
the Apex Plasmids algae tanks, Hardpan has a long
tradition of catering to the blue-collar workers in
the area. The owner, a Sioux human named Susan
“Banshee” Johnson, keeps a running list of those
who get thrown out with pictures of their beaten
faces hanging from the back of the bar like trophies.
> You’re still welcome in Hardpan if you’re Anglo. Just be
cognizant of Sioux traditions like making challenges and
contests of strength, will, and intelligence. And don’t get baited
into throwing the first punch, because you will get tossed and
banned for life.
> Mile High Mike
Overmon-Aberny
Don’t let the log cabin décor fool you—this cor-
porate-friendly hotel has some of the best physical
security in the sector. Most of the security here are
former Sioux Defense Force, and the management
ensures their skills stay sharp by giving them a
month each year for training. They also make ex-
tensive use of traps and alarms to supplement their
staff, allowing them to respond to threats quickly.
> Their Matrix security is pretty weak, to be honest. These guys
focus so hard on traditional combat that they forget just how
vulnerable they are to a Matrix assault. One good hack, and you
can be in their PAN and messing with their systems before they
know what happened.
> Voxel
> Though they do have some spirits on site, their magical security
could use a boost.
> Bifrost
Shiawase Plaza
Headquarters to Shiawase operations in the
FRFZ, the Plaza is a large campus spread out
across a wide area. The buildings are arranged in
such a way as to emphasize harmony between the
various subsidiaries on the campus. Some of those
subsidiaries include Arboritech, which focuses on
agricultural products, Shiawase Fuzion, which
provides power to Denver and much of the Zone,
and Shiawase City Services, which provides infra-
structure, water, and waste management solutions
to Denver.
Westminster
westminster at a glance
Size: 67 square kilometers
Population (2081): 105,000
Human: 60%
Dwarf: 3%
Elf: 15%
Ork: 17%
Troll: 3%
Other: 2%
Population density: 1,567 per square kilometer
Per capita income: 60,000¥
Hospitals and clinics: 8
Education (2081)
Less than 12 years: 28%
High school equivalency: 40%
College equivalency: 22%
Advanced degrees and certificates: 10%
The final district in our tour of the Zone, West-
minster is a small suburban area just north and
west of the Hub. As busy as the Hub is, it some-
times spills over into Westminster. As a result, the
ZDF here are always vigilant, and you’ll rarely find
more aggressive police.
> The spirits here seem to enjoy peace and quiet. That’s part of
why many of the free spirits are willing to work with the ZDF to
report any interlopers, especially if they’re causing chaos. Keep
your business private and you should be fine. If you make a 39
scene, you’ll get what’s coming to you.
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
> Bifrost
> Drones and devices are expected to be broadcasting their
identifying information at all times here. That can make being a
technomancer a bit tricky in Westminster, but with a commlink
you can get around without any issues.
> Voxel
Iris Firmware Office
The Denver office for this Renraku subsidiary,
Iris Firmware focuses on developing new software
to operate cybernetic components. If you’re us-
ing some sort of optic cyberware, there’s a good
chance the software was developed here. Iris is the
leading supplier of software and firmware for op-
tical devices.
> Which means that if you can get in here, you can get access to
code before it’s released to market, and potentially find some
zero-day exploits. That’s a tricky thing to do, so if you plan to do
that sort of thing, bring a competent crew.
> Voxel
Native American
Broadcast Service (NABS)
One of the oldest media outlets in the area, the
NABS is well-known for its hard-hitting investi-
gative journalism. They’re also considered to be
extremely fair, and they protect their sources well,
which means if someone’s going to get a scoop on a
story that might cause damage to someone’s polit-
ical ambitions, NABS is going to be that someone.
> They make extensive use of spirits as witnesses too, and they
have a couple shamans on staff who analyze the residual effects
of any sort of magical activity to find the cause.
> Bifrost
> They also have a team of dedicated hackers who are more than
happy to go into someone’s personal commlink and dredge it
for data. NABS is unscrupulous, and they pay well, which makes
them an excellent resource for shadow work.
> Voxel
Northern Lights Enchanting
Northern Lights is run by a very large man with
one eye who I swear thinks he’s the embodiment
of Odin. He goes by Northman, and he even has a
raven familiar named Huginn. He claims the other
one, Muninn, is away and up to no good. Despite
the fact that Northman follows the Norse tradition
PLACES TO GO ... // SHADOWS OF DENVER
 a bit too literally, his work is absolutely top-notch.
He can enchant nearly anything, but he excels at
rune work and qi foci.
40
Rattlesnake Grill
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
The Rattlesnake Grill is a family-friendly south-
western food restaurant. The food is quite good,
which keeps it high on the list for locals and tour-
ists. While a family-friendly restaurant may not
seem like a good place for a meet, the number of
eyes around you will ensure that everything stays
friendly.
Denver Metaplane
Posted by: Bifrost
As everyone should know by now, the astral
plane is shaped by the physical world. Emotions
are like echoes, and they ripple across the astral
plane, shaping the world of spirits. Ghostwalker
is deeply interested in the world of spirits, having
even fallen in love with one in particular named
Zebulon. Some sources I have on the metaplane
told me that Ghostwalker spent a lot of time there
with Zebulon until they died. The Denver meta-
plane is made up of several hyper-metaplanes, and
up until Zebulon died, they were all arranged and
connected to each other in a way that allowed for
metaplanar travel throughout the area.
Once Zebulon was gone, these hyper-metaplanes
began to drift apart, and there is a popular theory
among the denizens that if the hyper-metaplanes
drift far enough apart, it might end the metaplane
completely. Ghostwalker has been spotted here
many times since losing Zebulon, leading some to
speculate that he’s either trying to repair the damage
or trying to eradicate the metaplane completely.
Traveling between the hyper-metaplanes used
to be as simple as walking across a border. Now,
you’ll need to find transportation that can connect
you. Each hyper-metaplane has a thematic element
to it, and if you find that thematic element out
of place in your hyper-metaplane, there’s a good
chance it is the transportation you need. For in-
stance, if you’re in the Black Canyon, known for
its primeval forest, and you see a motorcycle belch-
ing black smoke, there’s a great chance that hop-
ping on that motorcycle will take you to the Iron
Horse Nation.
So far, we know of four hyper-metaplanes. It’s
very likely that there are more, but we just don’t
know of them. Travel between the hyper-meta-
planes is exceedingly difficult, which makes veri-
fying the existence of other planes tricky at best.
I’ll discuss the four known hyper-metaplanes, and
I’ll add some information about the rumors I’ve
heard. Feel free to add more detail to the rumors
if you’d like.
SHADOWS OF DENVER // DENVER METAPLANE
Black Canyon
The Black Canyon is one of the oldest of the
hyper-metaplanes. It appears to be a massive pri-
mordial forest, with trees that block out the sky.
The trees hold untold dangers but also unknow-
able possibilities. Looking into the dark, you might
notice a dozen or more eyes staring back at you
from the depths. Those eyes may be a trick of the
light or some of the predators that stalk the Black
Canyon. One does not go into the Black Canyon
lightly, because it represents the isolationist ideol-
ogies of the region’s inhabitants. As a result, the
denizens of the Black Canyon will not come to
your aid. Ever.
Shattered Lands
A desolate, near-empty region of grey rock and
sand, the Shattered Lands are a depressing simula-
crum of reality. The landscape is dotted with com-
munities all inspired by events, people, and places
from Denver’s past. Some of these communities
might represent the gold- and silver-rush mining
towns, others might represent small enclaves of
Amerind tribes, and I’ve seen one that looked like
a small Aztec community, which I’ve noticed has
grown over the years. The Shattered Lands are
both empty and full of promise. While the region
is relatively lawless and chaotic, it’s also full of po-
tential and possibility. One can find opportunity
here, if one knows how to forge it.
Iron Horse Nation
The Iron Horse Nation is a land that looks like
something from an old post-apocalyptic action
trid. Take the wild-west attitude of Denver, with
all the ferocity and intensity that entails, and then
give that attitude guns and vehicles of destruction.
The region is choked with black smoke from chug-
ging engines and the landscape is riddled with the
discharged brass of millions of rounds of ammuni-
tion. Gangs rove the area on motorcycles, cars, and
even in t-birds. They attack each other, fighting
over scant resources such as water, bullets, and fuel.
No one knows where the resources come from, but
they are always replenished in just enough supply
to keep the violence at a consistent level—enough
to keep things going, but not enough to that things
spiral out of control.
City of Steel
One of the more interesting hyper-metaplanes
is called the City of Steel. It’s undergone a lot of
changes since Ghostwalker kicked everyone out
of the FRFZ. It used to be a mirror of Denver it-
self, segregated into different sectors, each similar
to their real-world counterparts. But like the real
world, the sectors are all gone now, run by a single
unified entity called the Authority. In the City of
Steel, the denizens have all their decisions made for
them by the Authority. Free will is an illusion here,
but it’s a well-crafted illusion.
Rumor: Dragon’s Den
The Dragon’s Den may or may not be a real
hyper-metaplane. Rumor has it that this is where
Ghostwalker spends most of his time when he vis-
its. People who claim to have visited and returned
say that it’s a massive mountain inhabited almost
entirely by dwarves. They also talk about fanta-
sy things that we’ve never seen before, like people
made of rock and oddly flamboyant lizard people.
I’ve never met someone who went there, so all the
information I’ve ever learned about this place is
from associates of associates. And naturally, they
went missing some time later. All this lends cre-
dence to the idea that this place may be real.
> Lately, the Denver Metaplane has started to show some very
odd behavior. We know the hyper-metaplanes can be a pain to
traverse due to their fractured nature, but now I’m seeing gates
appearing, with people walking in and out. I have no idea where
the gates are going, and I have no idea who these people are (or
even if they are people) but it’s got me, and my spirits, pretty
freaked out.”
> Lyran
> Those sound a lot like the gateways used by the fae to traverse
their realms. I mean, the magical ability to traverse metaplanes
and hyper-metaplanes via a gateway isn’t unique to the fae. In
fact, I’d posit that the traversal between the hyper-metaplanes
in Denver operate on a similar concept.
> Bifrost
> Some do, but the destination of the portal is as important as the
talent needed to create, operate, or destroy them.
> Marko
Denver Matrix
Hotspots
Posted by: Voxel
During the events of Ghostwalker’s Reclama-
tion, it was revealed that Ghostwalker targeted the
Denver Data Haven, a.k.a. the Nexus, because he
was under the impression they had targeted him
first. See, Ghostwalker doesn’t just keep a physical
hoard, or a magical hoard. He also has a digital
hoard, and apparently it got hacked.
The goods from that hack have never been re-
leased, so far as I can tell. But it must have been
something extremely juicy, because he burned ev-
ery bridge available to him within the tech com-
munity. The last several years have seen him try
to rebuild some of those bridges, while also con-
structing some new ones. He’s hired an army of
technomancers, presumably because he feels more 41
comfortable understanding the Matrix when it’s
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
presented to him with a degree of mysticism.
However, the question should be asked: Where
did he get all his technomancers on such short no-
tice? It’s not like he just put out a want ad and
hundreds of unemployed hackers answered the
call. Or maybe he did exactly that but hid it be-
hind lots of layers of secrecy so no one knew it
was Ghostwalker until it was too late. Either way,
he’s got serious Matrix firepower at his fingertips,
and you can expect that nearly every public grid
or host in the area is patrolled by technomancer
demiGODs.
The Holy Grail of the Matrix in the Zone is the
location of the Denver Data Haven. That’s why Per-
egrine reached out to me in the first place. I won’t
go into details about our transaction, but I knew
he was looking for it and he managed to pique my
curiosity enough to make me want to explore.
I don’t want to spoil what the results of our
investigation were, but we found some survivors
from the Denver Data Haven. They are currently
in the deepest holes they could find, but they do
exist. And no, I don’t know where they are any-
more. After we met with them, they disappeared
once again.
A big source of work for techy types is the on-
going shadow war between Warpdrive Systems
and FTL Technologies. The CEO of Warpdrive
Systems, Steven Ridgemont, founded FTL back
in 2038. FTL was extremely successful, to the
point where it became the victim of a hostile take-
over by Fuchi and Ridgemont’s former partner,
Charles Lightfoot. Lightfoot betrayed Ridgemont
and took over FTL after the takeover was com-
plete. Now, FTL was purchased by Spinrad Glob-
al during the whole affair involving the crash of
NeoNET, but Lightfoot remains in charge of the
subsidiary. Lightfoot wants to go private again,
but there’s no way in hell that Ridgemont will let
him do that. Lots of great shadow work to be had
in this feud.
And finally, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that
Ghostwalker’s digital hoard is likely to have been
rebuilt. It’s probably located on a host somewhere,
but no one’s ever found it. If I had to hazard a
guess, there’s some sort of information about it
behind the firewalls of Anasazi Holdings. Ghost-
walker set up this company to manage all his pur-
chased properties, and they have the most sophis-
ticated security in the entire Zone, hands down.
Sculpted to look like an old Anasazi cliff dwelling,
each of the houses, doors, and windows are actual-
ly tunnels that lead deep into the mountainside. All
of these tunnels overlap, connect, and intertwine,
making it almost impossible to navigate.
DENVER MATRIX HOTSPOTS // SHADOWS OF DENVER
 The place is constantly crawling with agents,
who take the form of local tribespeople. They run
files back and forth in the form of various trinkets
42 and goods, or in the form of things like basins of
water. They won’t interact with you at all, which
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
just emphasizes the overall feeling that you’re an
outsider and wrong. The worst part, though? Any
one of them, or any one of the sculpted elements,
can easily be IC or a spider, and you’d never know
it. Whatever technique or technology they’re using
to hide their icons, it’s the best I’ve ever seen.
... People to Meet
Now that we’ve covered the major places to vis-
it on your trip to Denver, let’s spend a bit of time
talking about the players, both big and small. Each
of the people and organizations I’m going to talk
about here are important to the overall scene of
Denver or played a role in my personal story of
finding Perri, and therefore earned a spot on my
list.
First off, we have to talk about the criminal syn-
dicates that run the city. Most megasprawls are lit-
tered with gangs, but that’s not the case in Denver.
For the most part, the criminal elements are orga-
nized, and that can be chalked up to the fact that
Ghostwalker doesn’t like criminal activities to be
obvious. He’s mostly claw-off, provided that you
can keep your business private.
Koshari
The Koshari are an Amerind crime syndicate
from the PCC. They’re organized loosely into cir-
cles, with each circle specializing in a type of crim-
inal activity. There are two smaller circles and two
larger circles in Denver. The Koshari are open and
accepting in their lower levels, taking in anyone re-
gardless of their gender, ethnicity, or talents. How-
ever, the uppermost echelons are entirely Hopi
and Zuni, and that’s unlikely to ever change. The
Koshari leadership operates primarily out of Den-
im, the Hopi-themed nightclub in Lakewood.
Language of the Koshari
Kachina: Origin: Hopi, Zuni; Noun referring to specific
spirits, often summoned or courted with dancing
ceremonies.
Nahmana: Origin: Dakota; Adjective meaning “Secret”
or “Arcane.”
Ohanzee: Origin: Lakota; Noun meaning “shadow.”
Wahchinksapa: Origin: Hopi, Zuni; Adjective meaning
“wise.”
SHADOWS OF DENVER // ... PEOPLE TO MEET
Nahmana Circle
The Nahmana Circle is responsible for manag-
ing the Koshari’s magical assets, as well as their
magical criminal enterprises. They deal in bioen-
gineered Awakened drugs (BADs), talislegging,
and crafting illegal telesma. The Nahmana Circle
is managed by an Amerind woman named Ma-
jenda. She started her business in the tempo trade,
survived two assassination attempts, as well as an
attack that leveled the apartment complex where
she was living at the time. She’s believed to have
single-handedly brought in revenue in excess of
600,000,000 nuyen. Most believe that she’s next
in line to join the Wahchinksapa Circle.
Ohanzee Circle
The Ohanzee Circle is responsible for bringing
ruthless and effective violence to bear. They could
be seen as soldiers, but it might be more accurate
to refer to them as “force multipliers.” Each of the
Ohanzee Circle is extremely well-versed in how to
not only devastate an enemy, but how to destroy
the morale of their compatriots. A single Ohanzee
soldier can be as effective as five Triad soldiers.
The leader of the Ohanzee Circle is an ork named
Tahahum Soyoko. He learned a lot from Makawi
Jameson back before she joined the Wahchinksapa
Circle. He learned how to manipulate events with-
out using a heavy hand by identifying patterns and
recognizing opportunities. He brought his nephew,
Nata-aska, to serve as his lieutenant. Nata-aska
may be an unusual choice for lieutenant, given
his indiscretions and propensity for violence, but
Tahahum uses him more for his raw intimidation.
With a healthy dose of intimidation and coercion,
Tahahum has managed to accomplish a great deal
with very little overt violence.
Wahchinksapa Circle
Managing the other two circles in Denver, the
Wahchinksapa Circle is a group of five chiefs. These
are the leaders who call the shots for the rest of the
Koshari in Denver. When there is a dispute or dis-
agreement, the Wahchinksapa are brought in to me-
diate and keep the peace. In keeping with Kachina
tradition, each of the chiefs in the Circle takes on
an aspect or totem, even if they are not magically
active. These totems provide them with clear roles
in debates, discussions, and negotiations.
The lead chief is Mark Longfeather, who takes
his totem as the Raven trickster a bit too seriously.
The Bear chief is Doba Standing Kodiak, who
represents a voice of calm and resilience to chal-
lenges. The single most respected chief is James
Greytail, who adopted Coyote as his totem. Like
Coyote, James is a great storyteller who knows the
wisdom of the past can be applied to the future.
 The youngest and newest member of the Elder
Circle, Makawi Jameson, often finds herself as the
deciding factor when the rest of the chiefs can’t agree
on something. She may be a gnome, but she was for-
merly in PuebSec, and she led the Ohanzee Circle for
many years. She is crafty and dangerous, even though
she represents the often-overlooked Rabbit totem.
The last chief in the Elder Circle is Kimo Taaho,
who represents the Snake totem. He’s a crotchety
old bastard, stuck in the past and proudly conser-
vative in his values and advice. Be aware if you
have to meet Kimo—he will most likely refuse to
speak to any “colonist.”
> Rumor has it that Kimo Taaho actually wasn’t always like
that. He was supposedly the lead singer and guitarist for a
band called Wild Cards, when he went by the stage name of
Richard Diamond. Do not mention this to him—he will never
acknowledge the rumor, and he hates that it even started.”
> Voxel
Outer Circle
The Outer Circle is the leadership of the
Koshari across North America. Each of the major
Koshari markets has a single voice in the Outer
Circle. Denver, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Phoenix,
and Santa Fe each have a representative, and the
Denver representative is Joshua Kawaibatunya.
Joshua is a fifty-something Amerind male who
prefers to avoid interacting directly with the other
circles when possible.
Komun’go
A small syndicate with origins that can be traced
to the Korean peninsula, the Komun’go are only
just getting their footing in Denver. They mostly
operate on the fringes, sticking to the northern bor-
ders. They manage smuggling operations through
the Salish-Shidhe Council and Pueblo Corporate
Council, working closely with the Dogmen and
First Nation to bolster their numbers. They’re led
by a troll named Jesse Feldspar, who would rath-
er rule through fear than inspiration. He tends to
be an obstacle to the Komun’go’s growth, which
means at some point he might find his position in
danger.
Mafia Families
As a general rule, Mafia families are defined in
large part by their secrecy. They’ll never admit that
there’s even such a thing as a Mafia, and they’ll
constantly walk that line between legitimate and
illegitimate business. The two Mafia families that
run Denver are structured similarly, with a don
sitting at the top and a consigliere who serves as
an outside voice to advise the don. There are also
many sotto capi and capi, who are captains in
charge of specific types of criminal activities. The
main force of the families is the soldati, who serve
as muscle and bagmen, and picciotti, who serve as
non-combat specialists. 43
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
Chavez Family
The Chavez family deals primarily in classic
Mafia pursuits: drugs, prostitution, and gambling.
They primarily operate out of the Lakeside Amuse-
ment Park and Casino, and led by Miguel “Caesar”
Chavez who keeps his distance in Dallas. Local
operations are managed by Carlos Chavez. When
Carlos’ father, Omar, was killed, the position should
have gone to his brother Emilio, but Carlos man-
aged to get Emilio exiled, which led to some indirect
actions by Emilio to get back at his brother.
Casquilho Family
Hailing originally from the California Free
State, the Casquilho family represents the new
guard of the mafia. Their primary product is in-
formation. Their hackers buy, sell, and trade in
paydata. The family also deals in BTLs, primarily
CalHots that they smuggle in through their false
businesses. They’ve also added some limited pros-
titution to their portfolio, but so far, they’ve man-
aged to avoid stepping on the toes of the Chavez
family or other syndicates. The whole operation is
managed by Vasco Casquilho, who was groomed
for the role since he was a kid. Relatively young to
be a sotto capo, Vasco has proven himself over and
over again. If he has one weakness, it’s that he likes
things that are shiny and new.
Tamanous
There is extremely little information about Tama-
nous in Denver. Like most organized operations in
the Zone, things are kept in the shadows to avoid
attracting Ghostwalker’s attention. But Tamanous
have the added pressure of being one of the more
reviled organizations in the world. They definitely
have some sort of affiliation with the Nocturna street
gang, but beyond that, the Infected in Denver are un-
willing to talk about Tamanous—probably because
the organization keeps them well supplied through
the Meat Market. The only thing close to a contact
I have found for Tamanous is a ghoul named Loco.
Story goes that Loco was an Aztlaner follower of the
Path of the Sun and was prepared to be sacrificed
when Ghostwalker interrupted the ceremony. Sup-
posedly he was given to Tamanous as punishment
for the failed ritual, and they turned him into a ghoul.
Triads
Triads are some of the oldest organized crime
syndicates in history. They are commonly found
... PEOPLE TO MEET // SHADOWS OF DENVER
 in Chinese communities, and their name actually
comes from a British interpretation of the symbols
of their original organization, the Hung Sun. Ap-
44 parently, the triangles represent the relationship
between Heaven, Earth, and Man. The Triads are
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
very religious and rely heavily on rituals, even for
their mundane members. Triads tend to vary in
their organization, though some basic roles can be
found across the board. Lodge masters give guid-
ance and advice, providing an indirect source of
leadership. Incense masters are initiated magicians
who ensure the rituals and traditions of the Tri-
ad are preserved. Red Poles are the military com-
manders of the Triad, frequently augmented or
adepts with years of demonstrated loyalty under
their belts.
One other note about the Triads: it’s true that
part of the reason police cannot infiltrate a Triad
is the initiation ritual that kills anyone who lies or
talks about the Triad.
Golden Triangle Triad
A very conservative Triad based in the China-
town neighborhood of Lowry. They will go to sur-
prising lengths to avoid confrontation and prefer
to grow slowly and legitimately when possible.
They have a larger-than-normal number of techno-
mancers and metahumans in their ranks, and they
tend to be willing to try out new business ideas.
Their lodge master is Li Zicheng, who managed to
build a network of hackers and information bro-
kers, giving him an edge in a city where subtlety
and discretion are key. An Peng is the Golden Tri-
angle incense master—he used to be found in Klub
Karma, but once the Mafia took that place over,
he became scarce there. He rarely makes the same
mistake twice. The red pole for the Golden Trian-
gle triad is Chen Seng-Ho. Chen Seng-Ho actually
has two master’s degrees: one in computer science
and another in network security. He graduated
from CalTech, where he was friends with Vasco
Casquilho, the head of the Casquilho family’s op-
erations in Denver.
White Lotus Triad
Compared to the relatively sedate Golden Tri-
angle Triad, the White Lotus are rabid hellhounds.
They lost Klub Karma and failed to take over the
Lakeside Amusement Park and Casino. Not con-
tent with that, they went on the offensive against
the Kirillov Vory, and lost some of their brothels in
the process. Of the two Triads, the White Lotus is
the most likely to operate outside the Chinatown
neighborhood, and they are more than willing to
step on toes to advance themselves. Their current
lodge master is “Auntie” Zhi Feng, who took the
reins after her father was assassinated by the Vory.
She led an assault and managed to kill one of the
SHADOWS OF DENVER // ... PEOPLE TO MEET
Vory tsars, Nikolai Kirillov. The two organizations
have been in open war ever since. The incense mas-
ter for the White Lotus is a dwarf named Yue Fe.
He’s a very powerful wuxing magician, who can
call upon ancestors from the Black, Red, White,
Yellow, and Green lodges for guidance. I’m not
exactly sure what all that means, but it sounds
impressive as hell. The White Lotus red pole is an
elf named Hu Yan Zhuo. He likes to wear a fear-
some beard to help offset the fact that he’s an elf.
In combat, he wields two iron whips that tend to
crush skulls instead of cut flesh.
Vory v Zakone
The Vory is sometimes referred to as the “Rus-
sian Mafia,” but that term is not entirely apt. The
name actually means “thieves inside of law” as an
allusion to the fact that they are organized, and they
are willing to commit any crime, no matter how
small. Formed in Russia, the Vory now has fami-
lies all over Europe and parts of North America.
They’re organized similarly to a Mafia, with a Tsar
at the top who runs operations in an area. They’re
supported by the Lideri, who are like project man-
agers for a specific criminal enterprise. Uniquely, the
Vory maintain a communal fund called an obschak.
If you make money, you pay into the obschak, and
when you get jailed or killed, your family gets taken
care of from the obschak.
Kirillov Vory
When the Vory initially moved in on Denver’s
underworld, each of the leaders took a section of
the city. In the years since, the various tsars have
all been killed or gave up their ownership in order
to make Vladimir Kirillov the only tsar standing
at the end. Some folks from outside the Vory insist
that the removal of the other tsars was orchestrat-
ed by Vladimir, but no one would dare say that
openly. Without a large European immigrant pop-
ulation, the Vory here are unable to rely on pro-
tection rackets and such. However, the Vory are
excellent smugglers, bringing in weapons and sex
slaves from Europe and Asia, forcing the latter to
work off their debts in disgusting brothels scat-
tered throughout the city. They also bring in most
of the opiates on Denver’s streets, with supply con-
nections throughout Asia. The Vory frequently co-
operate with various street gangs, most notably the
Fronts in the Aurora Warrens, who the Vory outfit
with weapons and drugs for resale.
Yakuza
The Yakuza has been around in Japan for about
five hundred years. The Yakuza are currently the
richest and most powerful of all the international
crime syndicates, so naturally they have a presence in
Denver, though it’s small. They are shaped by strong
adherence to tradition, duty, and honor, which tend
to give people a romantic view of their activities, un-
til they see behind the mask. The Yakuza will engage
in nearly any business, legitimate or otherwise, pro-
vided it makes money for the organization. In charge
of a clan is an oyabun, who demands complete loy-
alty at all times. The oyabun is often treated like the
CEO of a corporation, and their wakagashira serves
as first lieutenant. The wakagashira is something like
a company’s president.
Karemasu Clan
This is extremely hard to explain, but I’ll do
my best. The Denver Yakuza is run by a white guy
named Seth Kramer, but he goes by Setto Karema-
su, and if you call him anything close to his former
name you can expect to be found dead. Setto was
actually the wakagashira for the Yamato Clan when
they were in charge of Denver. However, he was
mysteriously absent during an attack that wiped
out every other leader of the Yamato Clan. Setto
gathered up whatever members he could find and
reached out to the Shotozumi-rengo in Seattle for
support. The Shotozumi-rengo isn’t fond of having
a gaijin in charge of the Denver operations, but they
figured they could spare some of their more reckless
and headstrong members to help. So if Setto proves
to be a valuable asset, then the Shotozumi-rengo
has a strong ally in Denver once again. If Setto fails,
then the Shotozumi-rengo has simply proven why
gaijin cannot be trusted with positions of authority.
Setto’s wakagashira is Izuru Konishi, who was
appointed by the Shotozumi-rengo. He moved
from Seattle, and honestly has never been happier.
He’s an avid outdoorsman and uses his trips to the
various resorts in the Front Range district to iden-
tify businesses the clan can overtake.
Local Gangs
The gangs in Denver underwent a serious
shakeup shortly before Ghostwalker’s Reclama-
tion. Most of the gangs have become unified under
the leadership of the Fronts. It’s hardly a proper
organized criminal syndicate; it’s more like a feu-
dal system of vassalage. Even though we know the
Fronts are affiliated with the Vory, it seems like the
Vory had nothing to do with the recent blitzkrieg
that the Fronts put on.
Still, the region is gigantic and there is room for
lots of gangs in the region. Here is a partial list of
the gangs you might run into during a visit to the
Zone.
14ers
The 14ers, named for the mountains just west
of Denver, are a gang of eco-activists. They are
sometimes accused of being a terror cell for Terra-
First!, the worldwide eco-terrorist network. They
see any corporate interests in the mountain regions
of the Front Range as a direct threat to the earth. 45
Despite the eco-friendly nature of Ghostwalker
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
and his administration, the 14ers often run afoul
of the ZDF. The gang is small, but every member is
initiated and skilled in ritual magic.
> Our leader is Whisper, and she speaks to the trees and wind.
Anyone who thinks that they can come onto our turf and screw
things up is going to run afoul of us.
> 14er
Ancients
The Ancients is one of the largest gangs in the
world, which means I may not be able to correct-
ly elaborate on the entire organization. They’re
primarily elven, with a rigid militaristic structure
and access to military-grade equipment. In places
where elves are disenfranchised, the Ancients can
be seen working to reclaim their individuality and
authority. They use this image to help recruitment
efforts; and because of their primarily elven mem-
bership they frequently clash with organizations
like the Humanis Policlub. They also have an on-
going feud with the Cutters, who I’ll talk about
soon.
The Ancients are managed by an elf named
Firethorn. Each of his colonels run a region of the
world. The FRFZ belongs to the Southwestern
region, and the colonel here is named Ironwing.
He operates primarily out of Las Vegas and leaves
day-to-day operations to his captain, Buckshot.
Each of Buckshot’s five lieutenants manage a crew
of fifty, and each group is then further divided into
five ten-man squads.
Chrome Domes
The Chrome Domes are a really small but ul-
tra-violent gang of cybernetic enthusiasts. They
are all about augmenting their bodies in any way
possible, and they’re led by an ork named Atlas
who looks bigger than many trolls. It seems like
the Chrome Domes are going to flame out before
they can become a larger threat, but so far Atlas
has managed to keep a steady supply of stims and
chrome for his members.
Cutters
The Cutters may be the largest go-gang in
North America. Locally, though, they have only
about 120 members, making them smaller than the
Ancients. Unlike most gangs, the Cutters are orga-
nized a lot like a corporation, with a board of di-
rectors of various chief executives. Each “market”
is controlled by a director who directs operations
... PEOPLE TO MEET // SHADOWS OF DENVER
 through managers. In a lot of ways, the Cutters
resemble the Yakuza, but they lack polish and still
hold onto their street tough imagery. Also, they
46 have historically been reluctant to be involved in
legitimate business, which until recently was an-
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
other major distinguishing factor.
The FRFZ market is managed by a director
named Janie “Baroness” Robinson. She has three
lieutenants who each manage a crew of about for-
ty people and handle operations in Boulder, Den-
ver, and Colorado Springs. Because of the history
of Denver’s espionage business, the Cutters here
are more talented than most in spy craft, surveil-
lance, and counter surveillance. In a change from
their previous operations, it’s also possible that
you may find the Cutters taking some more le-
gitimate contracts for things like private security
and distribution, without specifying what is being
distributed.
Dogmen
Technically the Dogmen are an international
gang, but they’re way smaller than either the An-
cients or the Cutters. They often run as couriers
for the First Nation, and also work with the Ko-
mun’go. They have a couple of t-birds and are led
by a woman named Yaahl. Yaahl has a taste for
the finer things in life and pimped out her t-bird to
an extreme degree. The Dogmen claim no specific
territory and frequently work in the Gap and El-
bert districts.
Durin’s Sons
If you see a bunch of dwarves wearing chain-
mail and sporting axes in Boulder, there’s about a
fifty/fifty chance that they’re members of Durin’s
Sons, or LARPers. They’re a psycho thrill gang
that started up about twenty years ago and act like
they live in a fantasy trid. They refuse to work with
elves or humans and will go straight for the throat
when dealing with orks or trolls. You can see them
riding around Halferville with their motorcycles
and augmentations decorated to match their cos-
tumes.
First Nation
Technically, the First Nation is a criminal syn-
dicate of organized criminal elements in the Sioux
Nation. However, they have no leadership struc-
ture in the Zone, so they are classified as a gang.
They work alongside the Dogmen and Komun’go,
focusing their smuggling efforts along the Brighton
and Stapleton districts. For the most part, the First
Nation steers clear of other, larger gangs. They pre-
fer to work rather than fight and will usually nego-
tiate some sort of deal instead of fighting.
SHADOWS OF DENVER // ... PEOPLE TO MEET
Fronts
Okay, so the Fronts are an interesting gang. They
have hundreds of members scattered primarily in
the Aurora Warrens, where they’ve consolidated al-
most every other gang under their banner. They’re
led by an elf named Amy Steur, who is never without
her bodyguard, an absolutely massive ork named
Gob. The Fronts have a bunch of lieutenants, each
of which manages a cell of about twenty to thirty
members. These lieutenants roam the streets of Au-
rora like a plague of locusts, collecting protection
money and distributing drugs. They’ve managed to
work out deals with both the Casquilho family and
the Kirillov Vory. The Casquilho family provides the
Fronts with BTLs, and the Vory provide them with
weapons.
Aurora Angels
A vassal gang of the Fronts, the Aurora Angels
are excellent at hacking and blackmail. Their small
size left them vulnerable to the Fronts when they
went on the offensive in 2078. Since then, the lead-
ers, Base 13 and Tenebrous, have worked for the
Fronts providing technical expertise.
Dambusters
A thrill-gang that used to run the area around
the Quincy Reservoir. They wear bomber jackets
and sport the “greaser” look from the 1940s. But
don’t let the ridiculous outfit fool you—they’re
experts with explosives and have a unique knack
for throwing grenades right where they need to be.
They were absorbed by the Fronts and now serve
as protection and a threat against anyone who
might challenge the Fronts’ authority.
Three Kings
The Three Kings used to run independently in
the Aurora Warrens, but that all changed when the
Kirillov Vory attempted to wipe them out. Their
dwarf leader Rembrandt reached out to the Fronts
for support. The Fronts provided heavy weapons,
which turned the tide. The Vory retreated and the
Three Kings were forever sworn to the Fronts. They
are heavy weapons specialists, given that most of
their members are former soldiers in the UCAS Army.
> There’s a connection between the Fronts getting weapons from
the Vory, and then providing said weapons to the Three Kings
to fight the Vory, who had no good reason to attack the Kings in
the first place. Seems to me that this was all orchestrated by the
Vory and Fronts to get the Kings rolled up.
> 14er
Ghost Riders
The Ghost Riders are a medium-sized go-gang
that controls the 470 between Route 121 and
Highway 285. They are led by Wanda Pascoli and
Felicity Warren; the former is a magician with a
lot of skill in illusion magic. Every time the Ghost
Riders are on the move, there’s some sort of mag-
ical effect that travels with them. They might have
a thunderstorm riding behind them, their motor-
cycles might instead look like ghostly horses, or
they may even leave trails of flames on the road
behind them. They hang out at All the World’s a
Stage in Lakewood, and they’re known to have
worked with the Koshari doing delivery jobs and
talislegging.
Ironsiders MC
The Ironsiders used to be a legitimate motor-
cycle club made up of Sioux. Following Ghost-
walker’s Reclamation, the Ironsiders turned into
a so-called “one percenter” club, which means
they went outlaw. They still have a lot of control
over smuggling routes that travel through Brigh-
ton and Thornton, and they often require crimi-
nals to “hire” the Ironsiders for protection. Like
a traditional MC, they have strict rules against
members “poisoning” their bodies with injected
drugs. However, they’re more than happy to bring
in intravenous drugs to the Zone, provided their
members abstain from using them.
Nocturna
A very small and niche gang in the Aurora War-
rens—no one in the Fronts even tried to overtake
Nocturna. There’s less than a dozen members, but
they all share one thing in common: They’re all
vampires. Despite their small numbers, they can
put up a hell of a fight when they need to. Howev-
er, they try to avoid conflict unless it’s on someone
else’s turf. One of the founding principles of the
gang is to keep their neighborhood safe from any
external threats. All they ask for in exchange is a
donation of blood from their neighbors. Anyone
passing through their territory must provide a pint
of fresh blood in exchange for safe passage.
Silver Thorns
Operating in the primarily elven neighborhood
of Tír’Rae, this all-elven gang has ties to the An-
cients but refuse to join up with them. They are
led by a free spirit of Man who calls himself Pal-
adin Dufort. Paladin Dufort takes the form of a
medieval knight, and according to Bifrost, he
definitely has connections to the Korrigan spir-
it faction in charge of the Brocéliande Forest in
France. He’s also got connections with local faer-
ies. The gang doesn’t really act like most criminal
gangs though—they’re focused more on protecting
Tír’Rae and making sure their fellow elves are safe
in the dangerous Aurora Warrens.
Smooth Criminals
This is a small gang in the northern part of Col-
orado Springs with ties to some really nasty peo-
ple. The leader, Curtis Rivers, used to be a member 47
of the Humanis Policlub and found Humanis’ ac-
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
tivities to be too tame for his liking. He formed the
Smooth Criminals and allied with Human Nation.
Several of their members are known to attend the
Church of the Holy Word and are likely connected
with the Followers of the Holy Sword.
West Side Bloods
Running out of the western side of Colorado
Springs, the West Side Bloods are your typical
gang. They sell drugs, they rob people, and they
try to push everyone else out of their territory.
The only thing that makes them unique is the fact
that they’re an all-Hispanic gang and their leader,
Sleepy, is rumored to be connected to Aztlan.
Zombies
Based out of Aurora, the Zombies are the one
of the few gangs in the district that wasn’t ab-
sorbed or destroyed by the Fronts. They’re a thrill
gang with nearly no leadership. Their only direc-
tive seems to be to have fun and terrorize every-
one. Despite their “we’re all independent and cha-
otic” attitude, the Zombies are surprisingly similar
to each other. They tend to rock that heroin-chic
look, and they dress in grey and black. They sell
chips, drugs, and extort people in Aurora, squeez-
ing blood from the stone somehow. Their leader,
Romero, leads the gang around in a repurposed
school bus, which they use as a troop transport
and party bus.
Individuals
And finally, a list of individuals you may not
have heard of before. I’d like to give a little love to
these folks, whether they want it or not.
Alexis Glimmerscale
A Denver native who used to be a member of
the Children of the Dragon, Alexis Glimmerscale is
now a member of the board of the Draco Founda-
tion. She has pale skin that seems almost shimmery,
but this is an effect achieved with excellent use of
makeup rather than anything mystical. She could
have been a model in another life but felt called
to further metahuman/dragon relations. The story
goes that during one of Nadja Daviar’s visits to the
Children of the Dragon in Denver, the two struck up
an unlikely and close relationship. Following one of
Daviar’s extended hiatuses, she nominated Alexis to
the board, and the motion passed unanimously.
... PEOPLE TO MEET // SHADOWS OF DENVER
 Charles Lightfoot
One of the founding partners of FTL Technolo-
gies, Charles is an unscrupulous slitch. He stabbed
48 his partner in the back in order to take control of
FTL. Now that he’s nearing his sixties, he’s start-
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
ing to act like he wants to repair that bridge, but
no one is taking him seriously. It’s more likely that
he’s chafing under the recent change of leadership
involving Spinrad Global.
Dean Costello
A very talented hacker and infiltrator known
to work for the Casquilho family, Dean Costel-
lo helped to provide JackPoint with crucial in-
formation during the fighting that took place in
2078. Dean is known as a bit of a heartbreaker,
having had romantic relations with at least one
person from the Denver Data Haven, and also
with Tenebrous from the Aurora Angels. How-
ever, he’s also extremely cold-hearted, having
turned Tenebrous into the Yamato Clan in order
to force the Aurora Angels to turn to the Fronts
for support. This further ingratiated the Fronts
with the Casquilho family, giving them anoth-
er avenue for acquiring hackers and technology
specialists.
Lester Truman
The heir and president of Truman Distribu-
tion Networks. Lester Truman is an extremely
unassuming individual, with a round face and re-
ceding hairline that makes people underestimate
him. He seems extremely friendly at first and has
a talent for remembering people’s names. All of
this puts people off-guard for when he strikes.
He’s a ruthless businessman who learned every-
thing about business from his father—a famous
corporate raider.
Nicholas Whitebird
The orkish Voice for Ghostwalker, Nicholas
Whitebird can be seen on trideo almost every night.
He’s an Amerind ork shaman of some sort. Ru-
mors say that it’s either Wyrm, Dragon, or Eagle,
but no one knows for sure. He speaks intelligently,
with a soft voice in welcome contrast from his pa-
tron and master. He was presented to Ghostwalker
by an enigmatic figure known only as Guide and
remained at the dragon’s side ever since. Allegedly,
he was born in 2030 and raised in Boulder. They
say that Guide found him at nine years old and
began training him for his future duties.
> That timeline means this “Guide” knew about Ghostwalker’s
impending arrival some twenty-one years in advance.
> Marko
SHADOWS OF DENVER // ... PEOPLE TO MEET
Rhinegold
Sometimes a guy sees a trideo and decides to
adopt the lifestyle they saw. I have no idea what
Rhinegold’s real name is, but after he saw Die
Nagelring, he didn’t look back. He’s got chainmail
and a zweihander sword. He looks like a Teutonic
knight, but once you get up close, you’ll see his
cyberhand and datajack.
Rhinegold is an excellent rigger who works as a
smuggler and data courier. He drives a large station
wagon, which seems very out of place, but it holds
some secrets under the hood that only Rhinegold
knows about. He will bargain down his prices if
you buy into the “Beer and Glory” imagery that
he favors.
Silver Streak
Another freelance smuggler in the region, Silver
Streak is a cyclops with a reputation for secrecy
and hooding. She wears a large red menpo mask,
which obscures the bottom part of her face. Some-
times people will refer to her as the Crimson Cru-
sader, or the Phantom. She prefers to run with her
BMW motorcycle and a swarm of flying drones,
but for big or discreet jobs she has an unmarked
white panel van. If she believes your cause is just,
she will help you out.
Steven Ridgemont
Anyone who ever used the Matrix since 2064
owes some of their success to Steven Ridgemont.
He’s a brilliant programmer and a bit of a Matrix
socialite. There was even a period of time when
Ridgemont wanted to be a freelance hacker, but
following his first ‘run, he changed his tune and
went corporate. He founded FTL Technologies be-
fore his friend and partner betrayed him. Now he’s
focused on his new company, Warpdrive Systems,
and wants to crush FTL under his heel.
Business is Good
We all love to hate ’em, but we wouldn’t be able
to get anything done without corporations. There is
a veritable laundry list of companies with a presence
in Denver. Naturally, the Big Ten all have a presence
in the city, even Aztechnology through their subsid-
iaries. But there are a few homegrown corps with an
outsized presence in the city. I’d like to spend a bit
of time talking about those companies.
Anasazi Holding Company
A shell company that helps to manage Ghost-
walker’s money. Basically, they buy up properties
and then handle mergers and such, all of which
is presumably funded by Ghostwalker. It took a
lot of work to figure it out, but we found that the
 Corporations and Brands in Denver
Aegis Cognito HermeTech Associates Prosperity Development Corporation
AN Meridian HyperSense Pueblo Security Services
Anasazi Holding Company Iris Firmware Shiawase City Services
Apex Plasmids KMAG Shiawase Fuzion 49
Arboritech Knight Errant Shibata Construction and Engineering

SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL

Architectural Dynamics Lone Star Singularity
Ares Global Commsat Malaysian Independent Bank Spellweaver Consortium
Awakened World Research McHugh’s Stuffer Shack
Brainwave, Inc. Mitsuhama Magical Services Taco Temple
Cerebrotech Mitsuhama Media Terracotta Armaments
CodeBlue Biotech MediCarro Truman Distribution Networks
CrashCart Medical Services MetaErgonomics Tsuruga International
DocWagon MetaMatrix UnlimiTech
Eagle Security Services, Inc. Ming Solutions VOR Robotics
Energia Viva Monobe International Warpdrive Systems
Focused Consulting and Brokerage Novatech Matrix Services Weapons World
Free Zone Voice ParaShield Wolverine Security
FTL Technologies Pathfinder Multimedia
Hard Corps Prism Aerospace

president of the company is none other than Steve
Ridgemont, the CEO of Warpdrive Systems. This
implies a potential connection between Anasazi
and Warpdrive. At least, it shows that Ghostwalk-
er has a vested interest in Steven Ridgemont.
Apex Plasmids, Inc.
Apex Plasmids is the largest provider of my-
coprotein, algae, and hydrocarbons in the Zone.
However, their history is rather embarrassing and
spotted with issues. In 2045, they were known as
Denver Foodstuffs, Inc. They had a terrible repu-
tation for food quality and safety, but didn’t really
have much competition to challenge them. How-
ever, in 2061, when PCC expanded to Los Angeles,
the cost of importing goods to Denver plummeted
and Denver Foodstuffs was suddenly competing
with the big boys. Shortly afterward, Ghostwalker
arrived in Denver and attacked a bunch of Aztech-
nology and Saeder-Krupp facilities, which caused
collateral damage to Denver Foodstuffs, Inc.
They took out massive loans in order to repair
and stay afloat. The future looked bleak, but then
they won a settlement with Ghostwalker for dam-
ages and were granted plasmid technology stolen
from Aztechnology. Almost immediately, Denver
Foodstuffs had the ability to craft nearly any hy-
drocarbon from algae, which they had in abun-
dance. Unfortunately, no matter what they did,
their reputation preceded them.
So, they did the most logical thing possible: they
rebranded. They changed their name to Apex Plas-
mids and tried to move on from their embarrassing
past. Their corporate culture is almost as stagnant
as their algae tanks, though. Low-level corruption
is rampant, and their safety standards remain sub-
par.
Focused Consulting
and Brokerage (FCB)
There’s very little to learn about FCB. What is
known is that they were formed in Denver about
30 years ago. They provide consulting services to
the Zone’s elite and managed to remain one step
ahead of all the political shenanigans. Their rise
to prominence and their ability to remain a step
ahead of the ZDF led to rumors that they are
Ghostwalker’s personal company to hire runners.
No one can say for sure, though.
FTL Technologies
FTL is a subsidiary of Spinrad Global based out
of Denver. The story goes that in 2038, the com-
pany was founded by Steven Ridgemont and his
partner Charles Lightfoot. They worked together
and built a proprietary programming language
and filed about a dozen patents for early cyber-
deck designs. All of this put target on their backs,
and they were bought out in a hostile takeover
by Fuchi in 2055. As part of the buyout, Fuchi
made Charles Lightfoot CEO and ousted Steven
Ridgemont. Ridgemont later learned that Light-
foot had worked with Fuchi to facilitate the hostile
takeover. When Fuchi collapsed in 2060, FTL was
put under the ownership of NeoNET. Their work
helped build the Matrix backup following the
Crash 2.0 in 2064. Following NeoNET’s collapse,
the firm transferred to Global Spinrad. There are
rumors that Lightfoot wants to take the company

... PEOPLE TO MEET // SHADOWS OF DENVER

 private again. If so, expect Spinrad to put up
a hell of a fight.

50 Warpdrive Systems
Formed in 2055, Warpdrive Systems is a
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL

company literally built on revenge. Found-

er Steven Ridgemont built the company
specifically to spite his partner-turned-nem-
esis, Charles Lightfoot of FTL Technolo-
gies. Warpdrive has grown rapidly in the
last twenty years, and following the Emer-
gence they started hiring a bunch of techno-
mancers. Ridgemont claims he’s doing this
because he can help provide them with a
standard of living better than the rest of the
Zone. But if there is a connection between
him and Anasazi Holding Company, it may
be that this is a pipeline that helps to provide
Ghostwalker with his technomancer spiders.

Loose Ends
I told you at the beginning that I was try-
ing to find my friend Perri. Well, it took some
doing but we managed to find her. She’s alive
and well, and she’s deep in hiding. We also
found another sysop for the Nexus, Kludge.
Perri and Kludge have formed something of
a resistance movement in response to Ghost-
walker’s increasingly aggressive control over
the Zone. I can’t say if their movement will
ever be successful without outside help,
though. I reached out to some contacts of
mine and got them what they need. We’ll see
if it’s going to be enough.

> One of my local spies in Boulder just found a group of

oddly dressed people going into the National Center for
Atmospheric Research. Anyone know these guys? Video
feed incoming, I apologize for the quality.
> Marko

> I think I recognize one of those guys. If he’s who I think

he is, he’s a member of the Order of Eagles. And I’m
pretty sure the other guy’s a member of the Shorn Ones.
> Bifrost

> Who or what are the Order of Eagles or Shorn Ones? And
why do I think I’m not going to like the answer?
> Ecotope

> They’re Aztechnology special forces. The Order of Eagles

are mostly social adepts. The Shorn Ones are straight-up
terrorists. Not nice people, but they can get a job done. I
hope this isn’t what Peregrine meant by “outside help.”
> Bifrost

SHADOWS OF DENVER // LOOSE ENDS

 51

SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL

LOOSE ENDS // SHADOWS OF DENVER

52 mission 1
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
mile high
mission
This mission throws players into Denver and
gets them running right away, as there is no time
to waste to find out what has been happening in
the city. Denver is a city of intrigue, and all sorts
of partnerships and odd coalitions are underway.
The runners need to get to work to unravel them.
Hook
The first step is getting the team to Denver if
they’re not already there. The gamemaster can de-
termine how that happens—simply inviting them
to start a job would be enough. A fixer named Cat,
aware of the PCs’ reputation, reaches out to them
for a new job. If they’re newer to the shadows and
haven’t built up much of a reputation, then Cat is
counting on them not having any entangling alli-
ances that would complicate the job. She knows
that any number of power parties might be a part
of the PCs’ eventual work.
The Job
Cat plays it straight with the PCs—she says
there is a lot of work to do and a lot of plots
to untangle. The first job she has for them may
seem simple, but it’s probably going to lead to
a lot of complications. She doesn’t know how
many or what kind of complications, as that’s
part of the problem—she doesn’t know just how
much she doesn’t know, and that makes her ner-
vous. This means that instead of having a specif-
ic target, the PCs are to go to a site and get as
much information as they can.
The team is gathered in Denver, whether they’re
local or imports, and hired to perform a “simple”
infiltration and intel assessment on a corporate
black site. They don’t have a specific target, but
are tasked instead with gathering as much infor-
MISSIONS // MISSION 1: MILE HIGH MISSION
mation as possible about the owners and activities
at the site.
Cat reaches out to them to invites them for a
face-to-face meeting at the Cruise Room (p. 53)
at 1930 hours (for character details on Cat, see
p. 155). Cat will be watching the PCs’ demean-
or throughout the night to see how they handle
themselves. Their first test will be at the host’s
desk, where the host makes them wait through five
minutes of answering phone calls before offering
to help them. Charging in ahead of the host’s wel-
come will be a mark against them.
Once the PCs are in Cat’s presence, she engag-
es in some brief small talk and then gets to the
heart of the matter. (Note that she has two body-
guards with her; use Lone Star SWAT Officer, p.
207, SR6.) She describes the job as an infiltration
and intel-gathering operation. She offers the team
50,000 nuyen (with stipulations on the completion
value payments) and a safe house in town if they
take the gig, as Cat is certain there will be more
work to come.
The objective is a black site located “in the vi-
cinity of” Free Zone Meats. The site is likely sub-
terranean, but Cat is not positive. The assignment
is to determine what research is being done at the
site, as well as who owns it. The latter intel is the
more important but also more difficult to discover.
Failure to acquire complete data on either aspect
will result in a decrease in pay. Failing to retrieve
owner data lowers the payment by 25,000 nuyen,
and recovering only partial research data reduc-
es the payment by 12,500 nuyen. Cat is very pro-
fessional about the details and makes sure to be
explicit about the needs for the job. She’s no-non-
sense when it comes to the runners earning their
pay. If the players try to negotiate their pay, they
earn a bonus 2,500 nuyen for each net hit (max 4)
on an Influence + Charisma Opposed test against
Cat.
 Cat is not the only person interested in this job.
This new Denver is still a place of spies, and one of
those spies, Kelly Jones, is currently in the Cruise
Room, covertly surveilling Cat and the PCs. This
was more a job of opportunity than a planned mis-
sion—Jones saw Cat walk in and decided it would
be a good idea to keep tabs on what she was up
to. That means she’s not as fully prepared to work
as she would normally be. This makes her spying
somewhat easy to notice (Perception + Intuition
(3) vs. Stealth + Agility). See her description on
p. 56 for her reactions if she is caught.
This is not going to be a simple job, because
even the people working on the site don’t know
exactly who they’re working for. They get research
assignments and complete the experiments, but
they never know who the instructions are coming
from or where the data is going. They just watch
the certified credsticks roll in. This payment meth-
od makes getting the details of the operators of the
location tough, but it provides a bit of bonus pay
options for the team if they decide to confiscate
some of the sticks. Which is good, because they
won’t make the full payment if they can’t defini-
tively identify the owners of the site.
Once the runners finish the meeting, they’re off
to check out Free Zone Meats. The investigation
should involve a little exterior reconnaissance to
get a feel for the place and look for potential en-
try points. There are several different options, each
with its own unique struggles. Once inside, the
team needs to locate the entrance, head down to
the labs, and get searching. They’ll likely hit a time
crunch beginning when the guards call in exteri-
or security reinforcements. The team needs to pull
data from both sides of the facility and question
the head scientists in order to get any ideas or spec-
ulation on the site operators.
See Hotspots below for details on Free Zone
Meats and the challenges of this location.
Once they have the paydata, they can depart and
slip back out to deliver it to Cat, who will pay them.
Hotspots
The Cruise Room
A speakeasy located inside the Oxford Ho-
tel (1600 17th Street), the location is accessed by
checking in with the hostess (Evelyn) at Elson’s
Steakhouse. She’ll tell you to go over to the mir-
rored glass wall with the image of the Queen Mary
in the lobby. There, you touch the metal bar direct-
ly below the image that, when activated by Evelyn,
allows the door to open. It also briefly pops up on
the Matrix when activated.
The Cruise Room is a quaint little cocktail
lounge that appears as if it was frozen in time,
with Art Deco styling fashioned after a lounge on
the Queen Mary cruiseliner. It is a long, thin space,
shaped like a wine bottle, with a long bar along
most of one wall and booths lining the remaining
walls. Only the main door (the two-way mirror that 53
slides out of the way) offers access to the main bar.
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
The restrooms are in the hotel proper. The bar has a
hidden access behind it that goes to a small storage
room they share with Elson’s. This is also the way
food ordered in the Cruise Room is delivered.
hosts
Oxford Hotel Hosts (Public, Security,
Data)
Theme: A well-appointed stone castle with medieval
figures in place of personas and IC icons.
Rating: 2, 3, 2
A/S/D/F: 3/2/5/4, 6/3/4/5, 5/3/2/4
IC: Patrol, Blaster, Tar Baby (Security only)
Organization: Public is used to make reservations
and requests. Security controls access to rooms, security
cameras, elevators, doors, and all other security features.
Data stores guest data and security footage older than
twenty-four hours.
The Cruise Room Host
Theme: This host is themed to resemble the bar with
service staff overlaid in AR costumes and IC to fit the
cruise-ship theme.
Rating: 4
A/S/D/F: 5/7/4/6
IC: Patrol, Blaster, Binder, Tar Baby
Free Range Meats Hosts
(Public, Security, Data)
Theme: Old ranch house and farm
Rating: 2, 3, 2
A/S/D/F: 3/2/5/4, 6/3/4/5, 3/2/4/5
IC: Patrol, Acid, Blaster, Tar Baby (Security only)
Notes: Audio monitoring is handled from the security host.
Organization: Public handles the front of house and
staff features. Security is in charge of monitoring staff be-
hind the public host. The data host sits behind the securi-
ty host, tracking the stock going in and out.
Black Site Hosts (Main, Security,
Awakened Data, Emergent Data)
Theme: Aztec/Mayan theme
Rating: 5, 6, 5, 5
A/S/D/F: 7/6/5/8, 8/7/6/9 (security)
IC: Patrol, Acid, Tar Pit (Security), Blaster, Binder, Tar Baby
Notes: Owner data is nowhere to be found. Research
data needs to be pulled from each side with a wireless key
located on the head doctors’ commlinks, which makes it
easier by reducing the Firewall by 1 per key, when the keys
are deployed.
Organization: The main host only handles employee
inquiries and minor paperwork. Behind that is the securi-
ty host, which works to limit access to the Awakened and
Emergent Data hosts.
MISSION 1: MILE HIGH MISSION // MISSIONS
 Free Zone Meats
This place has long been a staple of the Denver
54 region. They ship under the familiar names of Real
Beef™ , Rocky Mountain Steak Company™, and
Front Range Filets™, but no amount of cute mar-
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
keting titles are going to change the aura of this
slaughterhouse and meat packing plant.
The plant operates as the aboveground cov-
er for a corporate black site below. The site has
several unique properties that make it ideal for
its intended purposes: interrogation and study of
Emerged and Awakened individuals. There has
been significant damage to the local astral plane,
which contributes to security on the surface and
helps in the research taking place below. Apart
from the astral damage, the site is afflicted by
a Dissonance pool as well. The black site’s data
cache does not clearly identify test subjects as
metahumans but has material that should raise
the PCs’ eyebrows by describing supposed lab an-
imals in distinctly unanimalistic ways (e.g., “sub-
ject 437 was improperly obtained as it was not
clear if all social connections were properly sev-
ered before experimentation commenced”).
dissonance
Dissonance is a—force? substance? material? thing?—
that disrupts Resonance, making it more difficult for
technomancers to access the Matrix. In game terms, this
works similarly to mana ebbs, as follows:
Small Dissonance Pool
Any technomancer touching a small Dissonance pool
receives a –1 dice pool penalty on any test where the Res-
onance attribute is part of the dice pool.
Medium Dissonance Pool
Any technomancer touching a medium Dissonance
pool spends 1 Edge more on Edge actions and Edge boosts
than normal on tests using the Resonance attribute.
Large Dissonance Pool
Characters cannot gain or spend Edge on tests using
the Resonance attribute.
Free Zone Meats is located off Blakeland Drive,
just west of Highway 85 near where the railroad
crosses under the highway and just a few hundred
meters south of Colorado 470. The complex con-
sists of a double layer of electrified fences [8S(e)
damage] three meters apart and one hundred me-
ters from the main building with a single gate and
guardhouse. The guardhouse is staffed by a total
of five guards (use Lone Star Patrolman, p. 206,
SR6). Two are in the guardhouse at all times while
MISSIONS // MISSION 1: MILE HIGH MISSION
the other three walk the interior perimeter of the
compound.
The main building is a large square structure,
130 meters long on each side. The northeast cor-
ner holds three floors of offices in a thirty-meter
square. Office staff of approximately forty people
arrive around 0830 and leave around 1730.
The offices are set up in a very orderly design
based on nine approximately ten-meter-by-ten-
meter squares spread across three floors. Hall-
ways form the edges of the squares. The north-
east square is the reception area on the first floor,
plant manager office on floor two, and the site
manager office on floor three. On all three floors,
the central square holds the personnel elevators,
break rooms, and bathroom facilities. Each floor
is better appointed than the one below it. On the
first floor, the two squares adjacent to the recep-
tion area are sales offices for in-person clients and
businesses. On the second floor, these are sales of-
fices for more distant clients as well as interna-
tional clients, and most appointments are handled
through AR and VR. On the third floor, these are
the offices for the sales managers who manage the
lower floors and handle VIP clients. The south-
west square holds the service elevator, building
storage, and maintenance staff offices. That ser-
vice elevator is also used to access the black site,
located ten meters below ground. The remaining
four squares on the first floor are offices for the
general staff. On the second floor, these offices are
larger and include site and corporate executives.
On the third floor each square is a massive of-
fice/living space. The two corners are intended for
Free Range Meat VIP guests, while the other two
are for site executives.
The remainder of the building consists of a
slaughterhouse, packaging and processing plant,
and the shipping docks. The slaughterhouse and
cattle pens are in the southeast section, processing
and packaging take up the center section and the
area around the offices, and the shipping docks are
in the southwest corner with trucking docks facing
west and the train-loading docks on the south wall
using the same rail line that brings the cattle to the
slaughterhouse. The worker staff consists of 150
employees who arrive at 0800 and leave at 1800.
The interior facility is patrolled by only four guards
(use Lone Star Patrolman, p. 206, SR6). On Fridays,
some of the staff from the black site slip in and out
with the regular office staff and worker staff.
Astral space and the flow of mana in this area
are severely disrupted by the continuous slaugh-
ter of cattle in and around the facility. This results
in a high mana ebb (see p. 167, Street Wyrd) for
all traditions in the plant. Second- and third-floor
offices don’t have any wireless negating paint
around them, but the rest of the facility has rating
6 wireless negating paint on all exterior surfaces,
including the floor. The paint generates 6 points
of noise (p. 176, SR6) to any Matrix signal that
passes through it.
The processing plant is in the depths of dark-
ness. The astral here is thoroughly tainted. The
cattle brought in are not just slaughtered but are
tortured and filled with fear before their slow and
painful deaths. Instead of standard techniques, the
cattle are brought in, cut repeatedly, then hung to
slowly bleed out. Their fear and terror create the
base for the local mana ebb, which is pushed to
the next level by the metahumans who are brought
in and subjected to similar acts in order to thor-
oughly corrupt the astral in the region. There is no
physical evidence of this, though—animal remains
might stay in the processing plant, but never meta-
human remains.
The layout of the plant is a labyrinth of kill
rooms, pens, butcher chambers, and packing
rooms, with a series of belts running between the
butcher chambers, processing rooms, and packing
rooms. The interior has no video surveillance but
offers audio monitoring in case of emergency that
can be accessed via the Matrix. Staff are generally
apathetic, and if the runners are spotted they get
ignored unless they attack the staff or look really
out of place (excessive armor, excessive weapons,
obvious spells, etc.). In those cases, the staff will
either defend themselves or will simply announce
verbally that there are intruders at their location.
The audio sensors are geotagged, and an IC pro-
gram monitors the audio feed for the words “in-
truder,” “help,” or loud screams.
The black site is accessed via that service ele-
vator that is normally used to lift bulk materials
and items to the upper floors of the offices. To get
the elevator to descend to the black site, the run-
ners need a commlink with the ARO access key,
or they can hack the black-site host (which is dis-
coverable once you are on the premises) to reach
the virtual elevator panel. Access commlinks are
located in the upper-floor executive office and on
the security guards.
In the depths, the elevator opens to a small foy-
er with two doors, one each to the right and left, a
bulletproof reflective glass window and a pair of
ceiling-mounted remote gun turrets holding Colt
Cobra TZ 100s. Behind the glass are a trio of
guards (use DocWagon HTR Officer, p.207, SR6).
If they see intruders, one guard moves to the pan-
ic room to alert exterior security, while the oth-
er two move into the two separate branches of
the facility to warn the staff. Staff in the facility
consists of nine mundane security guards (three
in the office and three resting on each side when
off shift), two security spiders (use Cutters Data
Harvester, p. 205, SR6), four mundane lab staff
for each side, four Awakened staff on the arcane
side (use Lone Star Combat Mage, p. 207, SR6;
reduce Magic to 4), four Emergent staff on the
Resonance research side (use DocWagon HTR
Support Engineer, p. 208, SR6), the two lead doc-
tors (use Technomancer, p. 89, SR6, and Street
Shaman, p. 88, SR6) and their assistants. All of
the staff lives on site and switches out on Fridays 55
when they are on a break. The staff on each side
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
are only allowed to interact virtually, with the ex-
ception of the security guards. None of the staff
will attack the runners unless they know anoth-
er staff member has been killed or seriously in-
jured (takes over 3 boxes of Physical damage) or
a large amount of non-suppressed gunfire breaks
out. If it looks like the runners are just going to
kill everyone, the staff will use their arcane and
Emerged talents to frag them up!
The right hallway leads to the arcane research
wing. This consists of a single thirty-meter-long
corridor with heavy doors to seal the corridor ev-
ery ten meters. The first ten-meter section has five
doors. One on the left immediately through the
entrance leads to the security office visible from
the foyer. Two others on the left lead to offices,
one on the right leads to living quarters and re-
strooms, and one on the right leads to a small
lounge. The second ten meters has four doors.
The first door on the right leads to the electron-
ics room where the security spider for this side of
the complex works. It’s also where all the hard-
wired data storage is for this side. The other three
doors lead to research labs. Inside the labs are a
main observation room, a main testing room, and
four holding cells for test subjects (use Street Sha-
man, p. 88, SR6; reduce Magic, Conjuring, and
Sorcery to 3). The test subjects primarily want to
flee and are not anxious to fight anyone, as they
fear they will lose. The last ten-meter section has
five doors—two on the right wall, two on the left
wall, and one at the end of the hallway. The two
on the right are two more labs, the two on the left
are storage and an office with living quarters for
the head researcher and his assistant, and the one
at the end is a large, warded chamber used for
experimentation. All the walls on this side of the
compound are covered with wards (rating 6), one
ward per wall.
The left hallway leads to the Emergent research
wing. It mirrors the layout on the arcane wing but
instead of wards it has rating 6 wireless negat-
ing paint and the test subjects are Emerged (use
DocWagon HTR Support Engineer, p. 208, SR6).
As with the Awakened subjects, they have no de-
sire to fight.
The security office is accessed via both hall-
ways and contains a panic room in case of a
breach. The panic room is warded (rating 8),
painted in wireless inhibiting paint (rating 8),
and has a hardline connection to the surface. It
is intended to be the impenetrable center that one
guard makes it into in order to create time pres-
sure on the runners.
MISSION 1: MILE HIGH MISSION // MISSIONS
 Who’s Who
Carol “Cat” McTavish
56
Cat is a semi-retired shadowrunner who oper-
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
ates as a fixer and sometimes Ms. Johnson in the
Denver shadows. As a runner, she had a reputa-
tion as a powerful mystic adept who excelled at
both long- and short-range combat. These days
she can usually be found in her club, the One-Up
Bar and Arcade, on the east end of the Hub. Cat
is a green-eyed, brown-haired, female ork with a
slim but athletic build who looks to be in her early
thirties. Born and raised in Scotland, Cat still has a
pronounced Scottish accent despite living in Den-
ver for most of her adult life. More information,
including game statistics, can be found on p. 155.
Kelly Jones
No, that’s not her real name, but whatever her
name was is long lost. It’s her preferred nom de
guerre as it’s simple, common, and makes her as
unmemorable as her plain brown hair, brown eyes,
and girl-next-door looks. She could easily pass for
any average Jane.
She’s not here as a threat, merely as a distrac-
tion to demonstrate that spies are still present,
despite the shifts in the city. They just don’t op-
erate with the same impunity they did previously.
When confronted about her interest in the team,
she doesn’t bother feigning confusion. Instead, she
simply explains who she is and that she’s not really
interested in the runners per se. She’s just interest-
ed in all things happening in her town.
How this progresses depends on the runners’
behavior. If they get violent, she calls the police.
She’s got no reason to worry about the law, but
it’s very likely the runners are not similarly inno-
cent. This is yet another sign of life in the FRFZ.
Maintain a good cover, and you don’t have to
worry. Break the laws, and you might end up as
dragon chow.
Dr. Terrance Tersh
Head of the arcane research lab, Dr. Tersh has
been studying interactions between arcane phe-
nomena and technological (particularly Emer-
gent) phenomena. His efforts have focused most-
ly on metaplanar rifts and Dissonance pools, but
the actual effects on technomancers and Awak-
ened individuals are also part of the data.
Dr. Tersh is not one to ask questions and sees
no reason to try to find out who he actually
works for. He suspects Aztechnology, because of
the theme of the Matrix host, but also suspects
MCT based on much of the formulas and equip-
ment the facility uses. He’s more than happy to
MISSIONS // MISSION 1: MILE HIGH MISSION
share this speculation when under duress, even
just a little duress.
He has a wireless key on his commlink to help
him access the data cache easier.
Dr. Elivetri Qicharette
Once known as “EQualizer” on the Matrix, Dr.
Qicharette is the head of Emergent research at the
facility. Her research focuses in a similar way to
Dr. Tersh but with the inverse impact of the effects
thanks to her ability to analyze the Emergent as-
pects. She is actually the architect behind the Ma-
trix layout of the facility. She chose the early-Amer-
ican themes solely because she liked their calendar.
Not the sacrifice, not the megacorporation, just the
well-ordered measuring device created before the
fancy technology.
She’s been tempted to dig into who pays the
bills, but has discovered that information is very
well-hidden. In her eyes, this means knowing is
dangerous—possibly deadly dangerous. She’s
quietly speculated with her top staff that the
money must come from an AAA, or possibly the
well-funded fragments of Novatech.
She will claim she is certain the site is support-
ed by Novatech if she’s tortured, claiming she has
obtained the information from the Resonance
Realms.
The wireless key on her commlink makes ac-
cessing the data cache in the black site host easier.
Special Notes
The safe house is located at 6811 E. Florida Ave,
about halfway between the Hub and Aurora War-
rens. From a footprint of fifty-eight meters per side
at the base, the building tapesr in steps above the
tenth floor, narrowing by two meters on each side
at the eleventh, sixteenth, nineteenth, and twenti-
eth floors. Floors two through ten have twenty-two
condos per floor, eleven through fifteen have nine
condos, sixteen through eighteen have four condos
per floor, nineteen has two condos, and twenty is
a single large unit. The runners’ safehouse is a pair
of condominiums that were merged into a single
unit on the eighth floor, 818 and 819.
Numerous NPCs populating the Warrens are
described in the Shadows of Denver chapter (p.
14). They are developed in the Character Trove (p.
153) so the players can foster relationships with
their neighbors during the course of the work.
The information-gathering stage continues as
people around Denver look to find out more about
what sorts of schemes are happening. For this mis-
sion, it’s time for a good old-fashioned data-heist.
 mission 2
toward
the edge
Hook
In this mission, we meet some of the players for
one of the main subplots of this campaign. During
this mission, runners are tasked to bust into a
warehouse and grab anything that looks valuable.
This is a simple mission, and one that should help
the runners find their groove, as they (presumably)
shoot, bribe, talk, or magic their way past guards
to grab a data storage device. The guards are most-
ly standard security, but there is spirit support and
a hacker on site.
The Job
A fixer contacts the team with a message af-
ter catching wind of the runners’ work on their
last job. “I’ve been talking with my friend Cat.
She’s been impressed by your work, and word is
you can get in places you’re not supposed to be. I
have some work for you. Do you think you can go
get something for me? I’ll meet you at the Rocky
Mountain Oyster Atrium to give you the details.”
Rocky Mountain Oyster Atrium is a family-style
flavored krill restaurant. At the time of the meet, it
is almost deserted.
When the runners arrive, a fixer, Niki the Garden-
er, will greet them, make sure they’re comfortable,
and when appropriate, discuss business:
“I am acting on behalf of a Mr. Johnson, who
has a lead on a hidden research operation. I don’t
know what the research is about, but this sort of
thing is normally kept secret if it’s very profit-
able, very dangerous, or both. We want you to
go to a particular warehouse, break in, steal any
computers and commlinks that might have data
on them, and bring them to me. We have a team
ready to look at the data to see what kind of val-
ue it might have.” Niki offers the runners 2,000
nuyen apiece.
57
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
If asked about acceptable losses, Niki doesn’t
care what sort of damage the PCs do, but she’s not
paying for a body count; she’s paying for data.
This is, of course, early in the relationship be-
tween the runners and Niki; she won’t hold back
mission-critical data, but she isn’t yet willing to
move beyond a professional relationship—she’s
not the runners’ friend yet. She is also quite inter-
ested in the information; if the runners don’t get
back to her with something in a couple of days,
she’ll call to see what’s happening. Niki is also
playing up how much of a friend Cat is; while they
know each other professionally, they aren’t close
and don’t regularly work together.
The weapons research that the runners steal
will have ramifications in later missions.
Staking Out
the Warehouse
The warehouse is, in fact, a covert facility, oc-
casionally used for shadowrunning purposes by
mega-corporations, and has medium-low security.
Runners attempting do the legwork on the place
can find information in the following ways:
Checking with contacts:
Street: Street people who live in the area can tell
runners who make a successful Influence + Charis-
ma (2) test that the warehouse has been occupied
on and off for years. When it’s not in use, it’s easy
to sneak into and a warm-ish place to stay, but all
the old holes in the wall got fixed. The people who
come and go at the moment just seem like regular
people, even if their clothes and cars are a little
fancy for the neighborhood. They don’t seem to
stay long, they are just there during the day.
Corporate: Corporate contacts who have been
involved in shady business recognize the address as
one of the more deniable locations for down-low
work. It is sometimes used as dry-goods storage,
MISSION 2: TOWARD THE EDGE // MISSIONS
 sometimes used for corporate espionage. It hasn’t
been part of any known illicit activity for a few
years. Experienced Mr. Johnsons will mention that
58 it is valuable because it’s so basic and simple that
you can do almost anything inside.
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
Matrix search: The warehouse doesn’t have
a strong Matrix presence. There are cameras at-
tached to a mid-grade security system that are
hackable, but the system doesn’t connect to any
interior cameras, and anyone who hacks in finds
that it doesn’t connect to any devices on the in-
side. There is a monitor that can be hacked to fool
anyone who might be inside the warehouse and
watching the external cameras. Otherwise, the
whole place seems to be carefully locked down, or
maybe people have to turn off their devices inside.
On-Site Surveillance
Scoping out the astral plane: The warehouse is
warded. An Assensing test with 4 hits tells a mage
that the ward is fairly strong (rating 7). There ap-
pear to be no patrolling spirits visible, or magically
active people outside the walls. Runners who man-
age to push through the wall will see a large empty
space with a circle of protection ritual (Structure
7; see p. 144, SR6) cast by a Shaman. The inside
of the circle is not clear, but there appears to be
some sort of toxic residue in it. There isn’t enough
to identify what kind of toxic magic created it, but
there is an impression of pain. During the day, a
few living people move about the warehouse; at
night, it’s just the guards and someone in a big
box of some kind (see below). There is also a beast
spirit (see below) who is hiding and watching for
anyone to come by. It will stalk intruders for a few
minutes before attacking.
Scoping out in person: If the runners check
out the warehouse, they will see a building with
front and rear secure doors, as well as cameras on
the doors and hidden in surrounding buildings. If
they manage to observe for at least a few hours,
they will see an occasional two-person patrol of
non-magical security guards in civilian clothing,
with armor vests. A few more hours will show a
small group of researchers leaving and taking a car
to somewhere else in the city. Whenever the door
opens, there is a person who checks some sort of
ID card.
The only other interesting thing happens if a
person with an interest in old languages physically
checks out the warehouse. They will notice an odd
symbol applied to a nearby wall in AR. It’s not im-
mediately recognizable as belonging to a particu-
lar language, though it looks generally foreboding,
and it will have been erased by the time the run-
ners try to enter the building. No one will have no-
ticed the erasure. (see Mission 4: A Certain Glow
for more details, p. 61).
MISSIONS // MISSION 2: TOWARD THE EDGE
Breaking into
the warehouse
Tactics
The warehouse is reasonably well defended but
should not be too difficult for runners to get into and
out of. There are a total of ten security guards (use
stats for Sons of Sauron Brute, p. 205, SR6). These
guards are well trained and authorized to respond to
lethal force, but they can’t shoot first.
In addition to the security guards and magical
ward (above), there is a Force 5 beast spirit bound
to the location (p. 148, SR6), and a decker on site
(use Decker, p. 84, SR6). The decker is in full VR and
inside the host.
The inside of the warehouse is one large, most-
ly empty space. The concrete has been polished, but
the walls and ceiling show scrapes and smoke marks.
The place has seen significant firefights in the past,
and no one has cared enough about appearances
enough to clean the soot off.
A fresh magical circle of protection sits next to
a kitset room (see below). The inside of the circle is
pocked, cracked, and smoke-marked from multiple
explosions. Military or security personnel will recog-
nize the marks as something that could be made by
a grenade.
In the center of the warehouse is a large-ish kitset
room (about ten meters on a side). This room is an ob-
vious recent addition (there is still sawdust on the floor
from its construction) and has been carefully covered
with signal-blocking aluminum foil (add 6 noise for
any Matrix signal moving through the wall; use the
rules for wireless negation, blocking wall coatings, p.
177, SR6). Even the one door into the room has been
covered. A metal cage sits near one wall.
Facilities for washing and convenience are in a
small room near the external door.
The decker is in the kitset room, next to a deck
that has been used to collect data from the experi-
ments. When researchers are in the building, they are
also in the kitset room.
The device holding the research is rating 6 (Attack
7, Sleaze 6, Data Processing 8, Firewall 9). It weighs
about two kilos and is about the size of an awkward
suitcase. The decker will be happy to engage in cy-
bercombat or negotiation for anyone who decides to
jack in, although runners may find it easier to shoot
the passive body of the decker or pull out his plug
(probably causing dumpshock, p. 176, SR6).
Sitting in the server are data files with the results
of the tests. Most of the data files are encrypted and
archived, but one file is currently being written and
hasn’t been archived yet. It contains data on explo-
sion patterns, spirit aura readings, and other arcane
information. This will be impenetrable to most peo-
ple, but academic magical researchers browsing it
will get the feeling that there is some sort of mix of
tech and magic here that involves spirits.
 Anyone trying to talk their way into the build-
ing will be firmly asked to show identification or
leave, but the guards are susceptible to manipulation
and can be bullied or bribed into letting runners in
through opposed Influence tests.
Guards attempting to spot runners sneaking in
gain two points of situational Edge due to the favor-
able setup and bright lights inside.
Success
The paydata that Mr. Johnson has asked for is
in the device. There isn’t much else of value in the
warehouse other than the weapons and equipment
of the opposing forces.
There doesn’t appear to be any active exper-
iments at this time. Everyone seems to be analyz-
ing data from experiments that have already been
completed. The metal cage is a square, about seven
meters each side, and it appears to have been dam-
aged. Looking in from the outside shows a series of
scorch marks on the floor, as well as a pile of melt-
ed and smashed electronics, and what appear (to a
magically active character) to be used-up reagents.
An Assensing + Intuition (3) test will allow the
viewer to notice an odd emotional vacuum in the
cage and a slight mana ebb. Any technomancer who
examines the electronics and makes and Electronics
+ Intuition (3) test will detect wisps of Dissonance.
mission 3
BreadcrumbS
Hook
The Ms. Johnson for this mission is an elven
woman named Stiletto. Word from either Cat
(Mission 1) or Vishala (Mission 2) got to Stiletto,
saying the PCs could do a good job for her. She’s
learned of a possible whistleblower from Ares, last
seen in Denver, who may be a goldmine of paydata.
But she’s unable to act directly, so she hires shad-
owrunners to secure the whistleblower.
Returning to the Johnson
When the runners contact Niki the Gardner to
arrange delivery of the server and any other evi- 59
dence they collected, she sets up a meeting with
her employer, Ms. Johnson—a woman who will
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
introduce herself as “Vishala.”
In addition to the server or copies of the files, if
the runners thought to take pictures or videos of
the warehouse, they will earn a bonus from Visha-
la. If she is asked what she is going to do with the
information, she will matter-of-factly say, “I’m go-
ing to decode the research data and see how valu-
able it is.” The files are well encrypted and consist
of a lot of data, so decrypting and analyzing them
will take some time. She says more work might be
forthcoming once she looks through the data.
Who’s Who
This mission introduces Vishala, who will be a
recurring character in this campaign. More details
about her can be found on p. 160.
This mission introduces the PCs to an import-
ant Ms. Johnson and puts them on the trail of an
important antagonist—though it will take time for
them to find out who that is.
The Job
The PCs’ fixer contacts them, saying their repu-
tation in town is growing. Another possible job has
come up. An out-of-town Johnson needs talent for
an extraction/escort with maybe some data recov-
ery—because everyone in town is suddenly looking
for info.
MISSION 3: BREADCRUMBS // MISSIONS
 Meeting Ms. Johnson
The meet is at a diner called Sam’s No 3, an estab-
60 lishment that’s battered but stands defiant despite the
Zone Defense Force patrols. Ms. Johnson (a.k.a. Sti-
letto; see p. 159) is sitting near the back, working on
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
her commlink with a pair of AR gloves and a discreet
jammer active next to her cup of coffee.
A Perception + Intuition (3) test reveals that
Stiletto has two bodyguards; one is sitting next
to the main entrance while the other sits three
tables away. Their features are hidden, but their
demeanor screams “mercenary” (use Special Forc-
es, p. 208, SR6). If the PCs succeed in an Astral +
Intuition (4) test, they’ll see that Stiletto appears
mundane but has a very powerful dagger weapon
focus (Force 7) on her hip.
Without stopping, Stiletto politely asks the PCs
to sit, order whatever they want, and give her a
minute. Three minutes later, a jet-lagged Stiletto ad-
dresses the PCs, saying she’s looking to secure a per-
son of interest (POI). Naturally she doesn’t divulge
details yet, but says this POI has information that
she requires and is in great danger. Stiletto offers the
PCs 10,000 nuyen (plus 500 nuyen for each hit on
an Influence + Charisma Opposed test, maximum
increase of 2,000) each plus a 5,000 bonus if the
POI is recovered alive. If that’s unfeasible, the job
then becomes data recovery. If the PCs accept, Stilet-
to gives them a datachip with all pertinent contact
information, including the location of a safehouse.
The POI is Martin Miller, an ex-Ares Matrix se-
curity engineer and decker. He went AWOL during
the chaos that followed Ares’ move from Detroit
to Atlanta and apparently took some valuable
paydata with him. His last known location was a
safehouse on the outskirts of the Aurora Warrens.
Wrath of GOD
Making entry into the safehouse is ridiculously
easy (see Hotspots for details). Once inside Mill-
er’s office, the PCs see a combination of modern
SOTA and jury-rigged Matrix gear. In the center
is a modified Valkyrie module desperately fighting
(and failing) to keep a jacked-in Miller alive. The
module’s diagnostic panel indicates that Miller is
dying; his nervous system is now almost complete-
ly fried by deadly Matrix feedback. Any decker or
technomancer will instantly realize that Miller is
link-locked because of Convergence.
It’s too late to save Miller, and the Grid Over-
watch Division undoubtedly has minions on the
way. It has now become a data-recovery operation.
Miller has dozens of data chips and cyberdeck
data modules stacked nearby on various shelves
and tables, all of which are easy to snatch. If the
PCs attempt to recover what’s left of Miller’s cy-
berdeck, it’ll require an Electronics + Logic (5) test
to prevent any further damage.
(Note: The deck’s condition monitor is already
MISSIONS // MISSION 3: BREADCRUMBS
half full when PCs arrive. Any glitch on the Elec-
tronics test means the deck is bricked.)
Within five minutes of the PCs finding Miller,
a six-member GOD “Recovery Unit” can be de-
tected a half-kilometer away if the PCs have taken
proper precautions. For stats, use Lone Star Com-
bat Mage (p. 207, SR6), four Doc Wagon HTR
officers (p. 207, SR6), and one rigger (p. 86, SR6).
Tactical Situation
The PCs will have to deal with the GOD Recov-
ery Unit. While there are multiple ways of doing
so, these are the most common or likely.
1. Direct Combat
The Recovery Unit is conducting a termination
sweep. If they’re able to get close enough, they will
come in guns blazing and will neither negotiate
nor attempt to take prisoners. Their standard op-
erating procedures will be to use drones and create
a perimeter around the safehouse while the HTR
operators use Small Unit Tactics (p. 86, Firing
Squad) to get close. They then will employ frag-
mentation grenades and follow up with a dynamic
entry to eliminate anything still alive. The combat
mage will deal with any magical threats and pro-
vide general magical support and overwatch. If the
PCs can figure out the unit’s tactics (Perception +
Intuition vs. Influence + Logic Opposed test), they
can try and develop a counter-response and coun-
terattack the Recovery Unit. If the Recovery Unit
suffers three or more casualties, they’ll withdraw.
2. Attempt to Escape
Discretion sometimes truly is the better part of
valor. If the PCs detect the Recovery Unit before
they arrive, they can attempt to exfiltrate the area
without being detected. If the PCs are unsuccess-
ful, the Recovery Unit will give chase using drones
to harass, corral, or track the PCs or attempt to
incapacitate their vehicles. If the Recovery Unit’s
rigger or vehicle is incapacitated, the chase will ter-
minate, and the PCs will be in the clear.
Aftermath
After the PCs have dealt with the Recovery
Team, they’ll need to contact Stiletto via the com-
mcode she provided. Mission 6 (p. 66) has more
information about the data they recover. They
meet back at Sam’s No 3, but this time behind
the battered diner. Stiletto will quickly debrief the
PCs, asking them to explain in detail exactly what
they saw and if they saw any of the data. The PCs
can respond however they want. Either way, she’ll
leave the PCs with their payment (plus bonus).
She’ll also ask if they keep her commcode handy,
as she may need more help in the very near future.
Hotspots
Miller’s Safehouse
Located on the edge of the Aurora Warrens, the
safehouse was once a used car dealership. Derelict
vehicles, chassis, and equipment litter the 100-me-
ter-by-100-meter lot, creating a small maze of rust-
ing metal. In the center is a two-story building that
used to be the office and maintenance/repair shop.
Miller has refurbished the main office on the sec-
ond floor to suit his needs. Right away, the PCs
should spot several defensive measures (maglocks,
sensors, mines, and even some sentry guns), only
to discover that they’ve all been deactivated. Two
heavy metal bolts are the only thing securing Mar-
tin’s office door (Structure 12) now that the ma-
glocks have been deactivated.
mission 4
a certain
glow
The PCs have helped three different Ms. John-
sons gather information, found some interesting
items, and made some connections. Now it’s time
to start dealing with current events.
Hook
All over Denver, devices are randomly tagged
by strange glyphs. These glyphs are mysteriously
and quickly deleted. Hired to explore the city to
gather those inexplicable clues, the runners dis-
cover some unsettling truths—namely, that the
Null Sect is removing those tags. They do it to help
one of their allies on Earth, but also because they
Who’s Who
Stiletto 61
A female elf who looks to be approximately thir-
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
ty-five years old, Stiletto is a former shadowrunner
who beat the odds and not only managed to retire
but was able to successfully implant herself into
the world of academia. Stiletto is currently known
as Professor Hanna Pierce, PhD/ThD, and is one
of the leading authorities in experimental magical
theory. Only a select few know about her past. She
is also a member of the organization known only
as Grey Cell, which has tasked her with her current
investigation.
Special Notes
Stiletto, who is working for Grey Cell here, is a
major NPC in this adventure and will work to culti-
vate any and all allies she can. However, she will not
do anything or allow anyone else to jeopardize her
investigation and will treat everyone accordingly.
want to track down the AI creating those coded
messages.
To make matters worse, the runners may real-
ize that their employer is Aztechnology and that
the glyphs have a magical meaning: assembled and
deciphered, they will reveal a specific location in
Denver. What is going to happen in the location is
something they will have to figure out.
The Job
The client reaches out to the runners through
one of their most trusted and careful contacts. He
presents himself using the street name Guide and
MISSION 4: A CERTAIN GLOW // MISSIONS
 asks to meet them in a rather secluded and unusual
place in the Rocky Mountain Arsenal Wildlife Ref-
uge (p. 31) or any other remote location the run-
62 ners agree to. On the site, a Ute shaman carefully
approaches them. He wants first to be sure they are
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
not being spied on.
Once confident that the meet is secure, he brief-
ly tells them about the strange glyphs appearing
in Denver’s Matrix (see Mission 3, p. 59). He also
adds that the tags are often deleted, without any
trace, sometimes only a few hours after appearing.
He wants to know what those glyphs are, what
they mean, and also who is deleting them and why.
As an incentive to accept this run, he offers
double the payment of their last run, with twen-
ty percent of their last payment upfront. He will
negotiate the final payment amount, if pressed,
with each net hit adding another ten percent up
to a maximum of three times their last payment.
Whether the runners agree or not to the job, Guide
quickly disappears from their presence.
What’s happening?
A talented talismonger, Kara Jay had a magic
shop in Denver in the ’50s called the Phoenix (see
below). She died online back in ’64, and part of
her personality became an e-ghost, the Seer, who
has haunted Denver’s Matrix since then. Too frag-
mented to be able to coherently send a message,
the AI identified patterns that allow it to foresee
upcoming events in Denver. The e-ghost began tag-
ging key locations in the city that will play a role
during the campaign’s finale. It’s a cryptic way to
send a warning.
MCT soon realized that those glyphs could be
a hint to what they are planning. Unwilling to ex-
pose themselves more by using their own runners
and spending good nuyen on what could be a wild
goose chase, the AAA reached out to the Null Sect.
The Sect is not normally a group that can be hired,
but MCT has something they want—information
about several technomancers in Denver. The Nulls
started deleting the glyphs, and before long they
realized an AI was behind them. That drew their
interest—they started tracking the author of the
glyphs, fueled by a desire to “correct this Matrix
anomaly.”
Investigating the Glyphs
The first job for the PCs will be to locate glyphs
that have not been deleted yet. If the runners kept
a digital copy or picture of the one they saw, they
will realize, maybe during the meet, that the file
they made is gone and there is no trace that it ever
existed (courtesy of the Nulls’ ability to erase data
from the Matrix). Talking to locals, contacts, or
searching the Matrix will take them to a few spots
where the glyphs have been sighted. For the first
MISSIONS // MISSION 4: A CERTAIN GLOW
few places, it will be too late. People nearby will
remember the symbol tagged, but it will be already
removed. No one saw who or what created those
glyphs. Eventually, the runners will catch a break
and find one that has not been erased.
Digital copies will quickly disappear, so the run-
ners should soon realize that they need printouts.
They should be able to catch an image with cybe-
reyes, vision aids, or a commlink and then make a
print at a nearby Stuffer Shack. With hard copies
of a few glyphs in their hands, the runners may try
to decipher them. That task requires a specialist,
which leads to Mission 5.
The glyphs are a creation of Kara Jay, a weird
mix of fictitious kabbalistic signs and symbols em-
ployed by her tribe that have been lost to histo-
ry. She designed them for her own personal use to
keep her enchantment notes coded.
Hunting the Hunter
With at least one glyph still up, the runners may
want to stake out the place and see what comes to
delete it. Unfortunately, the Nulls are very careful
with their appearances, so if they can spot the PCs,
they won’t attack directly, but deploy a few Greys
to deal with them. The second time the runners
find a glyph, a Clear will appear and attempt to
delete it before they can secure it (see Character
Trove, p. 162).
At this point, the Null Sect informs their ally,
MCT, and asks them to deal with this “physical
world problem.” Reluctantly, MCT agrees to dis-
patch a team of runners equipped with foci creat-
ed by Kara Jay to find and kill them. Once those
are defeated, the runners can try to figure out who
hired them, but MCT went through two different
fixers to hire the team. However, identifying the
source of their assailants’ foci should be a hint that
the AAA has a role in whatever is going on.
Tracking the Source
The Seer is quite difficult to track down. The AI
is not tied to any device and lives only as a Matrix
entity. It has no commcode; it simply emulates a
device, for a brief moment, in order to act in the
virtual world (i.e., to tag a device). This virtual de-
vice disappears from the Matrix the moment the
task is executed. That means that tracking the de-
vice used to leave the glyphs will lead them no-
where.
Once they have collected three or more glyphs,
Matrix research, focused on Denver or using one
of the city university’s resources, will yield a picture
of Kara Jay’s shop, with a book having the latest
glyphs found on the cover. This shop, called The
Phoenix (corner of Logan Street and 56th East Av-
enue), is now closed, with no active management.
Filled with trinkets and new-age books, whatever
information that survived does not indicate that
the owner, Kara Jay, actually had any magic talent.
However, anyone running the shadows back in the
’50s will tell a different story: her shop was a front, 63
and she was a very skilled talismonger.

SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL

The shop was closed and abandoned for over
a decade. Kara’s daughter never returned to it af-
ter her mother flatlined and she moved away from
Denver a few years ago, without mustering the
strength to sell the place.
If the runners stake out the place, after a few
days they may spot a device running silently, pop-
ping out of nowhere. Running silently with a per-
sona looking like a flaming bird, the Seer just ar-
rived to recover from an ambush from the Nulls.
Whatever the PCs do, the e-ghost is not really
helpful. It’s incoherent when it speaks, babbles
repeatedly and is impossible to truly understand.
It’s badly damaged, having barely survived a few
encounters with the Nulls.
In order to restore the digital sapient, the run-
ners must move it into a powerful device (cyber-
deck rating 5 or above) with a Software + Logic (3)
test. Apart from providing the hardware, they first
have to convince the Seer to agree to the transfer
(an Electronics + Logic [9, 3 hours] Extended test).
Until the Seer is transferred, the Nulls will regular-
ly attack the AI.
Once relocated, they’ll have to nurture the poor
AI back to health and sanity (Software + Logic [10,
1 day] Extended test). If this fails, a deep run into
the Foundation of the host of Denver University
(rating 7) may restore it, even if it was destroyed
by the Nulls. This is where Kara Jay was doing
some research online when she died. See Mission
35 (p. 148) for more information on the Seer’s rev-
elations.

Glyph locations
• In Chinatown, in an underground games
room owned by the Golden Triangle triad.
The glyph is tagged into one of the slot ma-
chines, and runners would need to find the
right one before security notices them.
• The Psychology Department’s Penrose Li-
brary, Denver University, has an incredible
magical archive used by the students for re-
search (p. 29, Spy Games). The glyph (the
first one to appear) is tagged on the research
desk used by Kara Jay when she died and is
thus protected by Archive’s host (rating 7).
• At Lakeside Amusement Park, the glyph is
in a key component of a ferris wheel that
the runners need to remove, which requires
powering down the attraction. Parashield
(owned by MCT) handles the security and
will be notified.

MISSION 4: A CERTAIN GLOW // MISSIONS

 Who’s Who
64 Guide
If the runners look into Guide and do some
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
legwork, they’ll learn he was a mysterious person
visiting schools in the former PCC sector seeking
children with enough Talent to become shamans.
Nobody knew his true name—he was often de-
scribed as a tall, skinny human Native American.
It’s almost impossible to give him an age. Some
claim he was one of the fragments of the original
spirit of Denver.
He was always careful, kind, and respectful
with the children he mentored. His main goal ap-
pears to be simply increasing the number of mag-
ically active metahumans.
Nevertheless, Guide has not been seen in Den-
ver for a few years—almost a decade in fact.
Special Notes
The glyphs are always running silently, mean-
ing the runners need to get close enough to their
physical location to see them. Also, the glyphs are
only the tip of the iceberg; more information is
hidden in the numerous files on the device. Seer
has been using her glyphs not just to attract atten-
mission 5
wispy will
After collecting the glyphs, the runners find they
are unable to decipher them. A little research will lead
the runners to a local expert in mystic languages.
Hook
When looking for a local symbologist to help
them out, the team finds the name and commcode
of Dr. Rutherford Kaine. When contacted, he pro-
MISSIONS // MISSION 5: WISPY WILL
tion, but to mark devices that contain potentially
important information. Runners should notice
that devices associated with the glyphs have un-
usual data storage with encrypted files, and real-
ize that they should investigate the devices as well
as the glpyhs.
Once the runners have collected at least three
glyphs, they can look for someone to help trans-
late them. Their contacts will lead them then to
Arcane. Alternatively, they can also find his name
and address in the paperwork of the shop and go
see him from there. Ideally the runners have also
rescued the Seer and are patiently restoring the
poor AI so that it can help them during the finale
(p. 148).
The runners should have a fair chance to un-
cover their employer’s true nature. During the
initial meet, if they are suspicious, let the dice
speak. If they see through Masque’s (p. 158) dis-
guise, he has a backup cover (French agent inves-
tigating what’s happening in Denver on behalf of
the French Touch consortium). But if the runners
confront him smartly (for instance, pointing out
his use of blood magic if they spot that), he will
simply come out clean and convince them of the
relatively benevolent intent of Aztechnology in
the context of the current events. Which, oddly
enough, is actually true.
poses an 8:00 p.m. meeting at One-Up, a club on
the east side of the Hub. If the runners already
have Cat as a contact, they may know this is her
bar. After introductions, Dr. Kaine looks over the
glyphs and explains that they are a shorthand code
developed by a talismonger named Kara Jay, who
had a shop in Denver during the ’50s. He doesn’t
know the exact meaning from memory, but he has
a copy of her notebooks back at his office. Dr. Ka-
ine doesn’t want money to do the work, but he
needs a favor, stealing something from the owner
of the club. He explains he once worked with Cat,
the club owner, using the street name Arcane in a
group called Front Range Consulting. One of the
items FRC acquired while working together was a
trophy in the shape of a dragon statue, and that’s
what he wants. Arcane explains that he and Cat
have stolen it back and forth for a while now, and
it’s turned into a sort of game.
The Job
The statue is in Cat’s office on the second floor
of the club, and Arcane wants it brought to his
apartment three blocks north of the bar. He plac-
es four conditions on the job: No one gets hurt,
no property damage, don’t steal anything else, and
don’t get caught. If Cat catches the team, the game’s
over. If the runners negotiate, for every net hit on
an Influence + Charisma Opposed test, Arcane will
pay each of the runners 500 nuyen (2,000 nuyen
max) in addition to the translation work. Once an
agreement is reached, he takes the glyph data and
leaves, telling the team he will have the transcrip-
tion ready when they arrive.
There are two ways up to the second floor: a
rear exterior door accessed by stairs, and an ele-
vator behind the bar. There are no second-floor
windows or roof access. Cat is currently working
behind the bar, and it’s not possible to use the el-
evator as long as she’s nearby. She could possibly
be drawn into another area of the club if the run-
ners want to sneak into the elevator. If the runners
decide to just ask her she will confirm everything
Arcane said. She’ll also tell them they’re welcome
to the statue, but they have to steal it. She adds
“but don’t get caught” with a wink.
The club has a rating 6 host that controls the
elevator, maglocks, and cameras. The second-floor
door has both a rating 6 maglock with rating 5 an-
ti-tamper, and a second rating 6 mechanical lock.
The elevator has a biometric scanner that opens
for an authorized user or can be operated by the
host. Cameras in the office will send a motion alert
to Cat’s commlink if they are not disabled. In the
office, the statue is easy to find—it’s a meter-tall
dragon made of a white metal holding a red-gold
orb in its front claw, sitting on a pedestal under a
glass case. An astral ward (rating 5) circles the ped-
estal; breaking the ward alerts Cat. Inside the ward
is a throwback alarm system (no Matrix icon) with
pressure plates around the pedestal that activate
an alarm in the bar. The glass case is covered with
a nearly invisible mesh that will deliver a taser
shock if touched, 10S(e) damage with 6 charges.
Lifting the statue will also set off a throwback trap
that fills the room with Neuro-Stun XII and alerts
Cat. These three traps each require a Perception +
Intuition (4) test to find and an Engineering + Log-
ic (3) test to disarm. The statue weighs 400 kilos
and takes a total Strength of 7 to carry it (it can be
a team effort). As a side note, the statue has little 65
real value, since it’s just platinum-plated cast iron.
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
If the runners get caught by Cat, Arcane will call
and say the game is over, but they can still come by
and pick up the translation.
Once the runners get to Arcane’s address, they’ll
find it’s a commercial building with a sign reading
“Dr. R. Kaine—Consultant” on the rear stairs. A cat
sitting next to the bottom step looks up and says
“Arcane’s waiting upstairs.” You notice the “cat” is
actually a tangle of vines in the shape of a cat, and
its fur is long, thin thorns. Another one of the crea-
tures can be seen by the door. A ring of the door-
bell is rewarded by a three-meter-tall suit of ancient
plate armor opening the door. If the team has the
statue, the armor says, “Good, I’ll take that,” and
effortlessly carries it over to a pedestal before sit-
ting back on the couch, moving another “cat” out of
the way before restarting its paused trid program. If
they don’t have the statue, the armor calls out, “Ar-
cane, they’re here,” before returning to the couch.
Arcane motions the team into a luxurious library
office. Once they’re in there, he asks about the job
and will settle up for any payment owed.
“Here is what I know about the glyphs,” Arcane
says as he transfers a data file, which describes the
glyphs as a kind of spirit attractor—certain spirits
feel the pull of this mystic symbol and approach it.
If the runners broke any of the first three rules of
the job, his manner will be brusque, and he will see
them out quickly. If they followed the rules of the
game, Arcane will continue with, “I hate to admit
it, but I’m not certain of the entire function of the
glyphs—that is, while they attract spirits, I’m not
sure which spirits, or why.” He then promises to
get back in touch if he uncovers more information.
Hotspots
One-Up Bar and Arcade
The main room of this neighborhood club is the
One-Up Bar and Grill, a typical bar with a con-
temporary style, serving drinks and food along
with occasional live music. The One-Up Arcade
is a game room on one side of the bar and grill.
It features reproductions of video game machines
from a century ago as well as an assortment of
modern AR game areas. The One-Up Back Room
is a dark and smoky members-only private club
that is actually a hangout for runners, the only real
membership requirement being a good street rep.
The second floor is the business office of the club’s
owner, Carol “Cat” McTavish, a retired runner
and a well-known fixer and Johnson in the Denver
shadows (see p. 155 for more information on her).
MISSION 5: WISPY WILL // MISSIONS
 Who’s Who
66 Arcane
The name Dr. Rutherford Kaine is a high-grade
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
fake SIN that Arcane uses for his academic work.
He looks human, but Arcane is actually the son
of a wild fae calling herself the Queen of Roses
and a British nobleman. He has spent most of his
life in the metahuman world, attended college, and
trained as a mage, an arcano-archaeologist, and
mission 6
i’m here to see...…
This chapter gives the PCs a chance to engage
in investigative/espionage work and introduces an
important antagonist.
Hook
Using the paydata obtained from the whis-
tleblower, Stiletto has learned of the existence of
someone known only as “the Auditor.” To continue
her investigation, she contacts the PCs for assis-
tance.
The Job
Approximately a week after the last job, Stilet-
to contacts the PCs through their fixer to inquire
about another job and arranges a meeting in a pri-
vate Matrix chat room that looks like a hunting
lodge, complete with fireplace.
If the players parted on good terms with her,
Stiletto informs them that the data they recov-
ered has been decrypted, and it revealed another
person of interest. This POI will be meeting with
a VIP from Evo in the next two days at an exclu-
sive restaurant in the old Sioux Sector.
Their job is to covertly surveil that meeting,
and she offers double the pay rate from Mission 3
(p. 59). If the PCs accept, Stiletto transfers a data
packet with all the available data they’ll need, in-
cluding a few choice bits as a token of goodwill if
they are on good terms.
MISSIONS // MISSION 6: I’M HERE TO SEE...…
a linguist. Unwilling to be bound by the normal
academic niceties, Arcane decided the best way to
accomplish his goals was to go outside the system
as a shadowrunner. Arcane’s profile can be found
on p. 155.
Special Notes
Arcane’s “cats” are Force 3 free plant spirits,
and the suit of armor is a Force 9 free guardian
spirit named Dovos.
If the players parted on bad/shaky terms and did
anything that could be considered untrustworthy or
reckless, Stiletto only offers 2,000 nuyen apiece and
only gives the PCs a basic description and stats to
help identify their target, nothing more (see sidebar
for more information). This job could also go to-
ward mending any fences with Stiletto, if necessary.
Stiletto doesn’t care about what methods the
PCs use as long as they don’t attract attention,
cause any major damage/casualties, or (most im-
portantly) endanger her investigation.
Hotspots
Above It All
A relatively new establishment, Above It All
(AIA) was in the midst of a soft open when Ghost-
walker reclaimed Denver, and it gained the atten-
tion of the great dragon’s voice, Nicholas White-
bird. This bit of patronage ultimately saved the
restaurant but also helped it become the biggest,
most exclusive eatery in Denver.
While the food is of the highest quality, AIA’s
security measures make it stand out as a favorite
among the power brokers in the FRFZ. Custom
area jammers (rating 6) built into the walls keep out
wireless signals, but also create a low-level noise area
around the establishment. Matrix access is available
(theoretically) only through the host server (rating
7). The stylish hardwood walls are backed by rating
7 wards for a modicum of astral protection, and a
Subject 001-A, a.k.a.
“the Auditor,” and the Meeting
Basic information: The POI is designated “Subject 001-A” in
Stiletto’s data file, and his background is currently unknown.
Subject is approximately 2.1 meters tall and is estimated to be
a human male. Subject’s age is unknown, but by standard ap-
pearances is consistent with a human male in his early fifties.
Build is extremely slender; subject’s most pronounced feature
is the complete lack of hair, especially on his head/face.
According to decrypted data, the subject identifies as
male. Name is unknown, but subject is known in high-lev-
el corporate circles as “the Auditor.” His exact affiliation
is unknown. The Auditor has been meeting with multiple
high-level corporate officers over the past several months.
The Auditor’s next scheduled meeting is with Wade
Takao of Evo Corporation at an upscale restaurant known as
Above It All. Takao is a regional VP in North America and was
sent to Denver to act as their representative in Ghostwalk-
er’s new domain as a corporate ambassador. Takao is known
for being unremarkable in all aspects, but he is exceptional-
ly good at towing the corporate line and kissing hoop.
security magician is on duty during business hours
(use Combat Mage archetype, p. 82, SR6).
Physical security is also tight. No one gains entry
without a reservation, and weapons generally are not
allowed, though there are exceptions. The restaurant
employs both overt and covert security; the latter often
posing as wait or cleaning staff (use Lone Star Patrol
Officer, p. 206, SR6, with appropriate attire), while the
former are more concerned with access control.
The restaurant consists of three floors. The bot-
tom two are dining areas, while the third has offices
and maintenance. The roof is the most exclusive area,
with just six tables available for only the most im-
portant VIPs. And of course this is where the Auditor
will be meeting. (Note: At the time of the meet, only
three of those tables, including the one with the Au-
ditor, will be occupied.)
Conducting Business
For all its security, AIA is not a fortress. The
PCs have some possible options for completing
their job.
A. Remote Observation
If the PCs can infiltrate and set up a data tap to
gain access to the security system, they can attempt
to access it remotely and eavesdrop on the Audi-
tor’s conversation.
B. Proximity Observation
If the PCs can find a way to gain access, they
can directly plant a device or insert a drone into
the area. Or they can simply watch and observe.
Masquerading as patrons or staff is one possibility,
but they will need appropriate disguises and iden-
tification.
Data Dump
If the PCs are able to successfully infiltrate or
surveil the Auditor’s meet, they will learn a lot of
information—see Special Notes for more details. 67
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
Who’s Who
The only new character of note that’s intro-
duced in this chapter is the Auditor, who typically
does not have direct dealings with the PCs.
Special Notes
• The Auditor has his own, four-person, all-ad-
ept security detail present (use Seraphim
Avenging Angel, p. 208, SR6). They will not
act unless the Auditor is threatened. If combat
breaks out, they will escort him out, shielding
him with their own bodies if necessary.
• The Auditor disdains any modern technolo-
gy, as he asks for a paper menu rather than
use “disgusting” AR.
• The meet is also a test for Wade Takao, who
also has his own two-person security de-
tail (use Marine Corps Special Ops, p. 208,
SR6). The Auditor wants to see if Takao or
his security can detect any eavesdropping
or interference and sufficiently deal with it.
Otherwise, the Auditor or his security will
not interfere with the PCs, even if they de-
tect what they’re doing. If the Evo security
team detects the PCs, they will move swiftly
to neutralize the PCs with stun munitions.
• If the PCs are successful (and after a lot of
small talk initiated by the Auditor about
“this world’s cuisine and drink” and how
“magic keeps getting weirder, doesn’t it?”),
they will learn that the Auditor has agreed to
accept Evo’s invitation to negotiate a possi-
ble arrangement with “the Dis” and that Evo
is looking to create a “working relationship,
similar to and better than what they have
with others.” Evo is most eager and willing
to offer excellent terms and full cooperation
in return for Dis patronage, as they feel they
“have more to offer” to Dis.
• The Auditor will seem to make a tentative
deal with Evo, but after Takeo leaves, it is
clear the Auditor found the man distasteful.
• Before he leaves, the Auditor will do some-
thing to indicate he knew he’d been under
surveillance all along. For example: looking
directly into a camera the PCs are using,
and/or saying something like, “I hope you
got what you’re looking for. Good day.”
MISSION 6: I’M HERE TO SEE...… // MISSIONS
68 mission 7
it does
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
what now?
The analysis of the datasteal in Mission 2 (p. 57)
is now complete. The analysis looks fascinating, but
some of the experimental notes were not recorded.
To work out what the missing parts are, Visha-
la needs to re-create the experiment, but doing so
requires summoning and binding foci. These have
been outlawed by Ghostwalker for a long time, and
his agents have taken them when they have found
them. Now there is a governmental storage facility
with all the confiscated foci just sitting there, and it’s
time to get Niki to hire some more runners.
Hook
Niki (from Mission 2, p. 57) calls the runners
with a lucrative offer. If the runners are willing to
take a little risk, they could be in for a big payday.
The Job
Niki calls with a message. “Glad I caught you,
I have some interesting work, if you think you can
handle a little risk. Come and meet me at the Ur-
bane Brawl.”
When the runners arrive at the restaurant-bar
in Littleton, they are shown to a table with a view.
Niki is already there and seated. She’s ordered
food and drink for the runners based on what she
knows of them from previous interactions. It’s
high-quality soy and krill food—tastes great!
“It’s good to see you again. I have a lucrative
job that sounds riskier than it probably is. There
is no easy way to say this—I want you to steal
from Ghostwalker. Only technically, though. You
remember that heist from the warehouse? Ms.
Johnson, Vishala, wants to re-create some of the
experiments, and she needs powerful spirit sum-
moning foci to set up. You may already know
that Ghostwalker doesn’t like people summon-
ing spirits in his city. If you get caught with spir-
MISSIONS // MISSION 7: IT DOES WHAT NOW?
it-summoning gear, you get it taken off you. The
confiscated foci are stored in a secure government
facility. Now, though, with Ghostwalker’s atten-
tion elsewhere, and with the recent changes to the
city, I think there is a good chance for a skilled and
resourceful group of shadowrunners to break into
this facility, grab a great big summoning focus, and
bring it back to me. I’m offering significantly more
than your normal rate for this job. The location is
a storage facility underneath a train museum.”
Runners will no doubt be nervous about run-
ning against Ghostwalker. If they decline the job,
Niki will find another crew to do it, but she is keen
to keep her information footprint as small as she
can, so would prefer to use runners she has em-
ployed previously.
Niki can offer pretty good information on the
underground facility. She has the original floorplan
from when it was built, she knows the security
company with the contract to guard it on behalf of
the city, and has even managed to get a copy of the
physical key used for a maintenance shaft.
Niki also offers a good sum of 12,000 nuyen
per person, specifically because people might be
uncomfortable running against Ghostwalker or
the government. Each net hit on an Influence +
Charisma Opposed test increases that figure by
500, up to a maximum of 15,000.
As the runners accept the job, Niki will add,
“Oh, and no need to mention this to Cat; I don’t
think she’s into technically upsetting Ghostwalk-
er” If the runners do get in touch with Cat and
spill the beans, Cat will thank the runners for the
information, and will report it up the chain. Run-
ners won’t be rewarded for doing the right thing.
Legwork
The PCs will want to find out information about
the targeted location, so here is some of what they
might learn.
Contacts
Street: Not many people from the sprawl even
know this place exists, but lucky players might find
someone who went there years ago. They will talk
about the trains, and how they look really different
from the high-speed ones that are around in the fancy
parts of town. Talking to people who live nearer the
museum will get a bit more traction—most people
who grew up in the suburb used to go to look at the
trains every now and then when they were kids, and
even now it’s one of the very few places people can
go without having to pay for the privilege. That said,
it never really changes, and one visit is probably all
that most people need. Perceptive contacts will point
out that there is more going on at the site, since there
is really good security, with armed guards on site, but
the guards never bother people who visit.
Corporate/Johnson: Records about the muse-
um are public, and anyone who is anyone in the
shadows knows that there is a focus-storage facil-
ity below the museum. People are pretty vague on
security—no one has ever considered hitting the
place, despite the huge stockpile of foci, because
anyone caught with summoning foci in the city is
going to have a hard time, and it would be real-
ly hard to smuggle stuff out to sell. Theoretically
priceless, effectively worthless, is the main thrust
of the messages from this group.
Matrix searching: The museum is barely online.
There is a poorly maintained public Matrix site for
the museum itself, obviously decades old (it looks like
it has been migrated from the original Matrix, before
the first Crash). The storage facility doesn’t have a
specific mention on the site. There is a security con-
nection to the city, however. Hackers who are keen
can hack the local server (see below for more details).
Site Scouting
Scoping out the astral plane: The museum has
strong astral security. The concrete pad above the
storage facility is heavily warded (rating 9), but the
security office is outside the ward. Half a dozen ba-
sic watcher spirits (p. 146, SR6) drift lazily about
the entire complex with orders to report to the
security team if anyone Awakened comes on site.
Anyone watching can see that there are a mini-
mum of two Awakened guards at any time—a her-
metic wizard and a hermetic adept. Anyone who
manages to move through the wards into the con-
crete tunnels will be able to find their way into the
complex. They may well quickly find themselves
out of their depth.
Scoping out in person: A trip to the museum
sounds like a fun day out!
Anatomy of a
Government Archive
The archive is an underground facility built by
the UCAS not long after it was formed. The mem-
ory of the Great Ghost Dance was still fresh in the
minds of the city. The archive is housed some dis-
tance from the center of the city, in the suburbs 69
near the mountains, under the old Colorado Rail-
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
road Museum. The place was chosen to be a hid-
den archive because the city could buy the prop-
erty for fairly cheap, there was lots of space, and
some significant digging could be explained away
as being a part of the museum.
The museum is still technically open. No one
really visits it nowadays (any given week might
have a handful of people visit), and the exhibits
are pretty run-down, but a couple of employees
and a handful of volunteers keep things accessible.
There is almost no security for the museum itself
(no one seems worried about people stealing the
trains, and the big barns are not great places for
the homeless to sleep in). A concrete pad guard-
ed by four disciplined security guards stands sep-
arate from the rest of the museum. The pad has
a building about the size of a shipping container
along one side. This building has an elevator down
to a subterranean storage facility. A maintenance
hatch set into the pad beside the building leads to a
ladder inside the elevator shaft. It is clearly visible
from the door to the building and watched by the
guards. This hatch is locked, but the key provided
by Mr. Johnson fits.
The underground area holds a storage facility,
a magical security team, and significant warding.
The facility has a guard post just outside the
elevator door, with facilities for the guards. Be-
yond lies an open space (visible from the elevator),
about thirty meters by thirty meters, but with only
a two-meter ceiling. It’s quite large, but trolls will
probably brush their horns on the concrete ceil-
ing. Sitting in the room are long tables with dark
cloths across them, and transparent plastic cases
revealing a huge variety of items, from metal trin-
kets and engraved gauntlets to feather carvings
and crystal-topped staves—almost anything you
could imagine a focus to be is in here somewhere,
each neatly labelled with a metal barcode tag and
watched over by magicians and spirits.
The host is tough to crack from the outside
(rating 8, Firewall 11, Data Processing 10, Attack
9, Sleaze 8; loaded with Patrol, Binder, Tar Baby,
Crash, Blaster, and Track IC), but it just has the
duty roster for the guards to use. Enterprising
hackers could put themselves on the duty roster to
help them get in the door. Connected to the main
security host is a much easier database listing the
foci (Rating 4, Firewall 4, Data Processing 7, At-
tack 6, Sleaze 5; loaded with Jammer, Crash, Pa-
trol, and Blaster). This database has a list of the
foci in the building, their location, and an estimate
of how powerful they are. It looks like each focus
has been evaluated by no fewer than three differ-
ent mages. Hackers can quickly rank the foci by
MISSION 7: IT DOES WHAT NOW? // MISSIONS
 power. There are 306 foci within the building, of
any imaginable shape, and all summoning or bind-
ing foci. A few are listed below
70
Foci
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
See p. 155, SR6, for general information about
foci. The foci vary in power; most are low-rated,
with a handful of rating 8, another handful of rat-
ing 7, and a double fistful at rating 6. There are
dozens for each ranking lower than 6. Examples
include a Phoenix tail feather permanently burning
in amber, a cheap silver locket with “To my love”
scratched clumsily on the outside, a preserved
piece of meat about the size of a wallet, a golden
link from a large chain, a levitating drop of blood,
a serrated copper thread, a cork, and a chipped
plastic model of the Niagara Falls.
Runners with access to the database can find
any focus within minutes. Runners who have to
evaluate the foci by aura reading will take fifteen
to thirty minutes to sort through the collection and
find the most powerful ones. Runners who success-
fully interrogate a mage, shaman, or the librari-
an will be led to the top three most powerful foci.
The librarian could talk for hours, but will only do
so if it looks like no one is getting impatient (and
violent). The adept and mundane guards have no
knowledge of the particulars of the foci.
Defenders
At any given time, the guard post above ground
has four guards: an adept (use Yakuza Blademas-
ter, p. 208, SR6), a mage (use Lone Star Combat
Mage, p. 208, SR6), and two guards (use Lone Star
Swat Officer, p. 208, SR6). This is a serious team,
but this assignment is low-risk, and they are not
particularly paranoid. They don’t stray from the
front as a part of their normal routine, but they
will investigate suspicious activity after calling it
in.
Underground are five people, all Awakened.
They include one shaman and two hermetic mages
(use Lone Star Combat Mage, p. 208, SR6), one
adept (use Yakuza Blademaster, p. 208, SR6), and a
MISSIONS // MISSION 7: IT DOES WHAT NOW?
magically active librarian (use Talismonger, p. 215,
SR6). These people defend the facility, but their
primary purpose is to make sure no one summons
any spirits.
The security computer is patrolled by city hack-
ers as a part of their normal routine. Most of the
time there is not a hacker on site, unless IC has
been activated.
The defenders will immediately assume anyone
within the facility is hostile. If the runners have
forged credentials through hacking or bribery,
they will still be watched carefully. No runner will
be allowed to go anywhere unaccompanied or al-
lowed access to the foci (they can wander around
and look, but no touching). If the runners some-
how manage to replace a security team and not get
detected, they deserve the run of the place.
Success
Success means the runners make it back with at
least one high-power summoning focus. Runners
will immediately be paid the agreed-upon amount,
and Niki will be delighted. Additional foci (above
Force 5) will earn an extra 5,000 nuyen per focus.
Note: It’s quite possible that the runners will
steal one or more high-grade foci for their own
use. This is fine, but no fence in Denver will touch
a summoning focus, let alone buy one. If the run-
ners are later caught with one of these foci in their
possession, they will be arrested immediately. If it
becomes clear that the runners stole the focus from
the storage facility, Ghostwalker himself will want
to know what has happened. Ghostwalker has a
lot on his mind, but runners who have not been
careful should expect private investigators to be
asking around about them, and connected fixers
will hold meetings with Ghostwalker’s staff. It is
out of scope of this set of missions, but runners
who gain too much notoriety during their time in
Denver will likely find that they have roused the
personal attention of Ghostwalker. If this happens
while they are incarcerated, they will probably get
a personal audience. Probably best to break out
and take a long vacation if things get to that point.
 mission 8
selection
This mission has two parts and builds on events
from Mission 6 (p. 66) to give more clues as to the
Auditor’s plans and motivations.
Hook
The PCs are once again called on to assist Stilet-
to with her ongoing investigation into the enigmat-
ic individual known as “the Auditor.” This time,
she’s discovered that the Auditor has left Denver
and has resurfaced in Los Angeles. Because the PCs
have first-hand experience with him, Stiletto turns
to them to pull off another surveillance job.
This time, the trail leads the PCs to an aquat-
ic habitat in the Deep Lacuna, where, if they’re
lucky, they’ll uncover some of the Auditor’s sinister
machinations.
The Job (Part One)
This job starts like the previous one, with Sti-
letto contacting the PCs through their fixer or di-
rectly. She informs them that she has another sur-
veillance job for them, again involving the Auditor,
who’s been spotted in Los Angeles. She’s learned
he’s there to facilitate some kind of big deal or
business arrangement, and she needs the PCs to
tail him and find out what this deal is. She’ll pay
another twenty thousand nuyen each and cover
travel expenses, including any ID requirements to
get them across borders.
Walkabout
Stiletto arranges for the PCs to crash at a mod-
est motel just outside of LA proper, allowing them
to quickly get on with the job. As soon as they set-
tle in, they get a message from Stiletto informing
them that her local contacts have spotted the Au-
ditor in Downtown LA … alone.
Once the PCs arrive in downtown LA, they eas-
ily find the Auditor simply walking about the city
doing extremely mundane things such as eating at
local restaurants, cafés, and food trucks. He also
71
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
takes his time visiting locations most would con-
sider tourist traps, making small talk with the lo-
cals on various topics, and asking seemingly odd
questions about the weather, their worldviews,
what they think about magic, why they have pets,
their favorite foods, what do they consider fun, and
whether they would change their lives (and how),
just to name a few topics. He is always polite and
offers something to everyone he talks to, usually
something of value like a gemstone or coin made
of precious metal. The one thing he never seems to
have or use is any technology, such as a commlink.
He makes no efforts to hide his movements.
And if he knows about the PCs (or anyone else)
following him, he either doesn’t make it known or
simply doesn’t care. The PCs can easily keep track
of him or get close enough to hear some of his con-
versations.
If they’re brave enough, the PCs can even di-
rectly approach the Auditor; he will be more than
happy to talk to them, if conversation is all they
are after.
A Night On the Town
The Auditor will continue his walkabout for
approximately three days, eventually heading to a
luxury LA hotel at exactly 2345 hours each night.
Again, he makes no efforts to hide his movements.
On the third night, however, he boards a limo and
heads to a local club known as Deep Diver, which
is near the border of the infamous sunken area of
downtown LA known as the Deep Lacuna.
Arriving at midnight exactly, the Auditor will
walk through the crowds but does not interact
with anyone; he looks more like someone watch-
ing animals in a cage or insects through glass. At
exactly 0135, he heads to a private room in the
back for a secret meeting.
Backroom Meeting
Exactly as in Mission 6, the Auditor is here for
a meeting, but this time he wants to be undisturbed
and has instructed his bodyguards (backed up by
MISSION 8: SELECTION // MISSIONS
 club security; use Lone Star Beat Cop, p. 206, SR6)
to prevent any eavesdropping. The room the Audi-
tor will be using is a special lounge often utilized
72 for private parties and the like. Wooden panels and
other natural materials line the walls while a rating
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
6 jammer is active during the meet. There is only
one way in or out, and no one other than three spe-
cific individuals (one being the Auditor) is allowed
access to the room. If the players want to conduct
a surveillance operation or find out what is being
discussed, they have a few possible options.
1. Through the Windows
The lounge is on the third floor and has large
windows and a balcony that overlooks the harbor
hiding the Deep Lacuna. The PCs can attempt to
bypass the jamming and use a laser microphone
to listen in on the conversation via watercraft or
drone. However, Deep Diver has a security magi-
cian on staff who has tasked two Force 4 spirits
(air and water) to watch for any water or aircraft
that may be working against the club or its pa-
trons.
2. Security System Infiltration
When in doubt, the PCs can attempt to hack
or take direct control of the club’s security system
to monitor the Auditor’s meeting. The club’s host
is rating 7 and has a security spider on duty (use
Minuteman Security Decker, p. 206, SR6). There
are also two security guards stationed outside the
security office at all times.
3. Direct Observation
The PCs can always try to directly access the
lounge. They can do this any number of ways, rang-
ing from posing as staff to plant a bug or taking
over an adjacent lounge to surveil through the walls.
Paydata Obtained
If the PCs are successful, they could possibly
learn some or all of the following information:
1. The Auditor is meeting with a group of smug-
glers who work out of a secret location in the Deep
Lacuna.
1a. The smugglers’ home base is known as
Green Water Bay. A Matrix Search (3) will inform
the PCs that Green Water Bay is an aquablock
that was supposedly lost when the Deep Lacuna
formed. There is no information on where Green
Water Bay is. PCs with appropriate contacts can
also use them to get information on Green Water
Bay. Only contacts with a connection rating of
3 will even know about it, and only those 4 and
above will know the actual location.
2. The Smugglers are ahead of schedule with the
project the Auditor has tasked them with.
MISSIONS // MISSION 8: SELECTION
3. The Auditor is extremely pleased to learn
this and now wants to see the final phase of this
endeavor immediately and suggests they relocate
there to finish the meeting. While initially hesitant,
the smugglers agree, and the meeting at the club is
concluded.
Follow the Leader
The Auditor and the smugglers will then head
to the club’s docks, where a modified Aztechnology
Nightrunner is waiting to take them to Green Wa-
ter Bay. The PCs will then have a choice. First, they
can call it a day and contact Stiletto with whatever
paydata they’ve found. Or they can take the initia-
tive and tail/track the stealthy craft (which has rat-
ing 4 passive stealth mods) to Green Water Bay or
find it on their own later. If the PCs choose the for-
mer, Stiletto will instruct them to find Green Wa-
ter Bay and offer them an additional 5,000 nuyen
each. The PCs can always refuse; if they do so, this
mission will be over.
If the PCs agree to continue, they’ll move on
to the second part of the job. (If the PCs contin-
ue of their own initiative, Stiletto will give them
the additional 5,000 nuyen apiece and pay for any
medical care for any injuries sustained.)
The Job (Part Two)
For the next part of the job, the PCs will travel
to Green Water Bay in an attempt to learn more
about what this mysterious project the Auditor has
the smugglers working on.
Getting There Is
Half the Fun
The first thing the PCs will have to accomplish
is finding Green Water Bay (GWB). Unless the PCs
come up with an alternative, the two main choices
will likely be immediately trailing/tracking the Au-
ditor or finding the aquablock on their own.
If the PCs elect to follow immediately and can
successfully track the smugglers’ watercraft, they’ll
easily find GWB. But a potential downside to this
is that as they continue their pursuit, they may not
have the necessary underwater gear available. They
can always mark the GPS location and come back,
but they risk the Auditor leaving. They’ll face the
same situation if they elect to find GWB on their
own. With the right equipment, they stand a better
chance of infiltrating the smuggler haven.
Knock, Knock ...
Once the PCs find GWB, they will have to de-
termine how to gain access. Surface watercraft can
gain entry via a submersible dock that normally

sits fifty meters below the water’s surface, rising
when needed. An entrance tunnel/elevator shaft
connects the garage and the main building. Part
of the main structure is submerged, and it features
multiple airlocks and cargo bays for external ac-
cess. Multiple underwater drones provide securi-
ty patrols and defense against intruders and the
various Awakened species roaming the Lacuna. To
gain access, the players have a few options.
1. Direct Infiltration
This means using submersibles and scuba gear
to access GWB directly either through the airlocks
or via one of the cargo bay doors. The cargo bays
have massive doors that open up into large pools
where cranes lift any cargo into the bay. Some
cargo bays are for general use, others are private.
Once inside, the runners will either have to go full
stealth mode or find a way to blend in to avoid the
roving security patrols.
2. New Tenants
While this may take some time and doing, GWB
is (if you have the right connections) open for new
tenants. It is possible for the PCs to act like new
tenants in order to gain access. But once inside,
they’ll have to deal with an escort who stays with
73
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
them until some kind of deal is made. Additional-
ly, security is especially tight, and firearms using
anything but less-than lethal ammunition are for-
bidden.
3. Just Hack It Already!
Even an underwater facility needs access to
the Matrix. So if the PCs are unable to make it
on board, there is the possibility that they could
find one of the several antenna buoys that are pe-
riodically deployed and directly attach a data tap
to one of them in order to allow a decker or tech-
nomancer access to GWB’s security systems. The
downside to this is that GWB is a rating 8 host and
has drone patrols specifically designated to guard
the antennas and will react with lethal force to-
ward any intruders.
What Secrets Lie Inside
Once the PCs have gained access to GWB,
they’ll need to find the Auditor and his smuggler
compatriots. They can accomplish this by access-
ing the security systems and using security foot-
age, questioning some of the tenants, recognizing
one of the Auditor’s escorts and following them,
or any combination thereof. If successful, they dis-
MISSION 8: SELECTION // MISSIONS
 cover that the Auditor and his smuggler associates
(known as the Dark Wave Syndicate) are meeting
in Bay 31 on level three.
74 If the PCs immediately follow or are able to ar-
rive within two hours after the Auditor’s arrival,
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
they could directly observe the meeting between
the Auditor and the smugglers. If not, they could
get the same data from GWB’s archived security
footage and secure data files from the DWS’s por-
tion of the host server.
Paydata Obtained
1. Inside Bay 31 are almost a hundred cargo
containers filled with modified Valkyrie Modules;
all of them are emblazoned with code numbers.
2. These modules contain various metahumans
of varying ages (as young as six) and metatypes.
These individuals are being kept in some kind of
stasis.
3. These metahumans were selected for their
certain qualities. Some are powerful Awakened
individuals or have the potential for great magi-
cal ability because of family heritage. Others have
very specific genetic markers and makeup. The
Auditor seems especially interested in this second
group. A third group is, in the words of the Au-
ditor “nothing but troublemakers and annoyances
for my associates, but at least they’ll provide some
fodder for the ongoing work.”
4. All of the containers were originally bound
for Aztlan, but the Auditor selects a few specific
containers and tells an ork smuggler named Gow
to send them to Denver. Gow hesitates until the
Auditor triples the rates.
5. The Auditor tells Gow to be especially careful
and alert, as “there are individuals and organiza-
tions that have are “poking their noses into places
they don’t belong, and one especially troublesome
individual in particular who will have to be dealt
with sooner or later.”
6. One of Gow’s lieutenants, an elf named Lu-
cas, asks the Auditor, “What’s so special about
Denver?” In reply, the Auditor stretches out his
hand, and a black-purple tendril of energy reaches
out and lances into Lucas’ chest. The elf glows and
has his astral form ripped from his body, killing
him. The Auditor then tells the corpse, “That is
none of your concern.”
Time to Go
After the PCs have directly witnessed the
meeting or reviewed (and hopefully recorded
or copied) the security footage, it’s time to ex-
filtrate Green Water Bay. Getting out will be just
as difficult as getting in. If the PCs are detected,
GWB will go on complete security lockdown,
with emergency bulkheads being engaged (bar-
rier rating 20).
MISSIONS // MISSION 8: SELECTION
If the PCs make it out of GWB and to the sur-
face, they are not out of danger, as the Dark Water
Syndicate and other smugglers will pursue them.
At least two Aztechnology Nightrunners (armed
with Ingram Valiant MGs and Onotari Interceptor
missile launchers) will pursue. The gamemaster is
free to add in any combat drones they see fit.
If the PCs can successfully evade or eliminate
their pursuers, they’ll need to contact Stiletto
ASAP (or she will contact them if they wait too
long). She will then arrange for an immediate ex-
traction from LA and back to Denver. On the way
back, she will debrief them, sometimes repeating
the same questions two or three times and coming
off as extremely stressed. Only after the debrief-
ing will she release the promised payment and tell
them that she may have more work for them “very
soon.”
Hotspots
Deep Diver
One of the most popular clubs in the LA Metro-
plex (on par with Dante’s Inferno in Seattle), Deep
Diver sits on the edge of the Deep Lacuna and has
docking facilities for watercraft and parking for
ground craft. It also boasts a small three-pad land-
ing area on the roof for VIPs. The club’s overall
décor can be described as industrial-punk with a
neon-nautical flare. The main bar/dance floor is on
the first floor, where AR and holographic ocean
life flows in the background and along the walls
and ceiling. The second floor has multiple private
lounges for patrons (100 nuyen per hour), while
the third floor boasts the exclusive VIP lounges
and club offices.
Security is tight, and all workers are profession-
als who will remove problems quickly and effi-
ciently. But staff is still not above taking some oc-
casional “supplementary funds” from patrons for
access to certain areas of the club, if the right price
is offered and if the PCs ask nicely.
Green Water Bay
With construction originally beginning in late
2066, Green Water Bay was intended to be a proof
of concept for a new self-sufficient underwater ar-
cology. The aquablock was designed to be com-
pletely modular, and the original specs allowed
the base model to be tailored to the specific needs
of the client. Entire sections could be configured
for any number of environments including (but
not limited to) housing, office space, warehouse/
storage, machining, small business, recreation, and
food prep/storage. But project overruns and oth-
er issues (including embezzlement and sabotage)
caused the project to only reach ninety-percent
completion before the earthquakes that formed the
Deep Lacuna supposedly claimed it and the sur-
rounding area.
But somehow, the entire structure survived,
drifting six kilometers southwest of its original lo-
cation, where it settled into its current one mostly
intact. Its lowest floors are flooded as it sits alone
in the water, but most of it is dry and airtight. An
independent salvage team found it in 2073, and
they kept the existence of their find off the books
and began the slow process of refurbishing. By
2080, roughly sixty percent of the aquablock is
fully operational.
Today, it’s one of the best kept secrets on the
North American west coast and has become a ma-
jor smuggling hub for anyone who has the nuyen
to rent space and is willing to follow the rules. And
of course, no questions are asked.
Rules for Operating
in Green Water Bay
1. Pay your rent on time.
2. Mind your own fragging business and stay out of others’
way.
3. Make sure your business doesn’t bring down any heat or
risks to Green Water Bay.
4. Keep it professional; all beefs must be handled outside
or in designated areas.
5. Make sure your business doesn’t violate any of the
previous rules.
6. Failure to follow any of the previous rules gets you a
one-way trip outside, without O2 tanks.
Who’s Who
Dark Wave Syndicate
A small but potent coalition of smugglers and
metahuman traffickers, the DWS has enough skill
and reputation to do business with both the Yakuza
and Triads as well as corporations such as Aztech-
nology and not get any static for any of it. They
operate all over the Pacific Ocean and are known
for their ability to locate hard-to-find items and in-
dividuals as well as their ruthlessness. Led by a Chi- 75
nese ork known only as Gow, the Dark Wave Syn-
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
dicate is the biggest operation in Green Water Bay.
While they are technically tenants (for now), they
pretty much run the place. For game stats for these
characters, use Covert-Ops Specialist, p. 83, SR6.
Special Notes
• There is always a chance the PCs may eval-
uate the situation and determine that kid-
napping the Auditor to get the necessary in-
formation may be the most prudent course
of action. While possible, this plan would
be extremely risky, as the Auditor has co-
vert security: the security detail from Mis-
sion 3 (p. 59) as well as additional resourc-
es from the Dark Wave Syndicate who look
out for him.
• The Auditor has also hired local shadowrun-
ners to shadow him and augment his security
team in order to prevent any attempts at kid-
napping or worse. Gamemasters can use any
and as many of the character archetypes from
SR6, pages 81–90, as needed to keep the Au-
ditor free from capture or harm. A successful
Perception + Intuition Opposed test will re-
veal any shadowrunner security that may be
shadowing the Auditor.
• If the PCs still insist on going through with
a kidnapping plan, the gamemaster can use
the threat of numerical superiority to dis-
suade them. However, the Auditor’s security
and runner teams will only intervene if the
players make a hostile action toward him.
• Should the PCs actually get past his protection
and into a position to threaten him at any time,
treat the Auditor as a grade 6 initiate combat
mage (use Sioux Wildcat Magical Support, p.
210, SR6) with access to any Combat, Detec-
tion, and Illusion spells he needs.
MISSION 8: SELECTION // MISSIONS
76 mission 9
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
the refugee
Everyone does extractions if they’ve been in the
shadows long enough, but very few people ever do
extractions from places that were unreachable as
recently as last week. And things will get weirder
when they meet the target.
Hook
With the rising level of activity happening at
the Mile High City, it should not surprise the run-
ners when they are contacted by a new fixer or Mr.
Johnson. Depending on the runners’ history, they
have a buffet of options. Each choice comes with a
unique set of considerations.
The Job
The runners are contacted by one or more of
the following individuals, with their goals to be
made clear to them at the time of their acceptance
of the offer.
Johnson A (Atlantean Foundation): Louis Be-
laran, a human male in his mid-thirties. Dressed
like a corporate magician, he is in fact a special-
ist in astral work and is associated with the Astral
Space Preservation Society (ASPS). He will meet
the runners at a secure room in a middle-class ho-
tel in the Lakewood neighborhood. He is offering
4,000 nuyen per person to retrieve someone who
he describes as a “changeling” being held just out-
side the FRFZ. He will not explain where, but he
recommends that the individual be transported un-
conscious, if possible, to a location he will give to
the runners only after they accept.
Johnson B (Aztechnology): Cat (see Character
Trove, p. 153). Her choice of meeting place will
be in the Glendale neighborhood. Cat wants the
same type of extraction as Belaran (above). She
offers 5,000 nuyen per team member to retrieve
the target alive but insists that the extraction take
place within twelve hours of their meeting. If the
target is deceased, she’ll pay a flat fee of 15,000
nuyen total for the body and whatever is upon its
person at the time. The corpse and items should be
MISSIONS // MISSION 9: THE REFUGEE
delivered to a designated location, which will be
detailed when the team accepts the job.
Johnson C (MCT): Hank Tom, human male
of Asian origin, who meets the team in the Engle-
wood neighborhood. He is a technomancer who is
extremely comfortable with hiring runners to do
the kind of work he is seeking done. He offers the
runners 6,000 nuyen each to kill someone. The in-
dividual is Awakened and is being kept at a remote
location just outside the FRFZ. Tom wants the indi-
vidual dead within the next twelve hours (he doesn’t
mention this, but the target has been talking to the
wrong people and letting too much information slip).
If the job is completed within six hours, Tom will pay
a bonus of 5,000 nuyen to the team. Proof of death is
required, meaning a body or a similar form of tangi-
ble evidence. If the whole body is recovered, the team
is awarded an additional 3,000 nuyen.
Details, then Legwork
The runners, regardless of their decision, have
little time once they accept the offer. Mr. Johnson
gives them the location of the place where their
would-be target is being held—it’s in the Apache
Mountain area, just west of the FRFZ DMZ (see
Places to Go. p. 12). It is more than three kilome-
ters from any sort of road or similar infrastructure,
and it does not have a Matrix presence. The loca-
tion is something between a shallow cave and a
log cabin. There are a few long-range trid images
of the location’s exterior, showing there really is
only one face or wall to confront. Contacts with
knowledge of the area have no real information
about the cabin-cave, as it didn’t exist more than a
week ago. One detail can be learned from contacts
with a successful Influence (Etiquette) + Intuition
[5] test: other people are heading to this target.
The Troll at the Door,
the Enemy Aboard
Security for the cabin-cave is very rudimen-
tary, which is part of its charm. The structure is
sheltered inside a cleft of solid rock with no read-
ily available access besides a single door. Outside
its door is a 200-meter drop. About one kilometer
north of the cabin is an open area of stone sur-
rounded by pine trees that is large enough for a
helicopter to land on. Both it and the cabin-cave
are located at an elevation of 2,700 meters. The
front wall of the cabin-cave is made of rough-
hewn logs (Structure rating 16), while the back
of the cabin is carved into the mountainside. The
front door is a large three-meter-by-three-meter
square. The clearing is visible from the front door.
The cabin wall also has two windows fashioned
from polished shocked quartz that resembles
stained glass (Structure rating 10). There are no
active Matrix devices at the location—no com-
mlinks, no cameras, nothing. Astrally, most of the
structure is stone from the mountain, meaning
auras cannot be seen through it. The door is made
of wood.
A troll named Slab stands guard. He is a native
of the Sioux Nation and has been doing outdoor
environment security now for more than a decade.
His adept abilities allow him to move about the
steep canyons and mountainsides of the region
with ease. He was hired by individuals who kid-
napped the Refugee from someone else less than a
week before, and who desire to keep him alive and
unharmed. To that end, Slab has portable cool-
ers and battery backups that will last for another
week in the cabin’s interior, with the appropriate
food and water to go with it.
There will, of course, be complications. The Mr.
Johnsons whom the PCs did not agree to work for
still want their jobs done, so they’ll be sending run-
ner teams of their own. They could easily get in the
PCs’ way.
The Refugee
The individual known as Ersatz is a being
originating from the metaplanar city of Dis.
They wear loose clothing and a hoodie or hood-
ed coat. Beneath the clothing, they look human-
oid, with oddly smooth olive skin and large,
wide-set eyes. Although they are a metaplanar 77
being, their specialty is technology, not magic—
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
Ersatz functions as a technomancer. They can
speak over a dozen terrestrial languages, two of
which are dead, and several other languages not
known on Earth.
So far, Ersatz has resisted all forms of interro-
gation. They specialize in resisting spells like Mind
Probe, and they get a bonus point of Edge when
resisting those spells. Their stats can be found on
p. 159.
Ersatz’s enchanted shackles are crafted of un-
known alloys and embedded with strange technol-
ogy (Electronics + Logic [6] to determine they are
unlike anything known on this world). The shack-
les inhibit Ersatz’s abilities, both technomantic and
otherwise.
Anyone attempting to remove the shackles
must defeat a rating 8 mechanical locking mecha-
nism. The shackles are enchanted with a Strength-
en Wall spell that increases the Structure rating
of the shackles from 11 to 16. Dispelling would
make the shackles Structure rating 11. If the en-
chantment is not successfully defeated in one ac-
tion, it will trigger an alarm that goes out by way
of metaplanar communications. The lock is pure-
ly mechanical, but if it is not defeated in a single
round, then the mechanism will fuse shut, requir-
ing tools that cut through the shackles.
Should Ersatz die during this operation, their
kin appears at the meeting in Mission 34.
If rescued, Ersatz of course will be close-
mouthed about their background, why they were
captured, what they know, and anything else. Mr.
Johnson wants them delivered quickly, and Ersatz
wants that, too, so that’s the path the PCs will be
encouraged to follow. Doing so earns Mr. John-
son’s gratitude (and nuyen) and keeps the machi-
nations in the city of Denver moving.
MISSION 9: THE REFUGEE // MISSIONS
78 mission 10
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
who wrote
the book?
The team has a new job offer: steal a library
book. Sounds like a milk run, right? The catch is,
the book is on another metaplane.
Hook
Cat contacts the runners for a meet at One-Up’s
private back room. “I have a job from a client call-
ing himself the Collector who wants a very specific
book. It’s located a distance away, but transport is
arranged and the pay is quite good. Interested?” Cat
tells the runners that the target is a book called ei-
ther the Silver Book of Saeletra or The Seed, and it’s
located in the Library of Alexandria on the Kindred
metaplane. She explains the travel arrangements are
through Arcane, who is actually fae and has control
of a small metaplanar gateway. The pay for the job is
7,000 nuyen. Each net hit on an Influence + Charis-
ma Opposed test adds 500 nuyen, up to 3,000 extra.
The Job
When the team arrives at Arcane’s office, he
lets them know he will be traveling with them
but he can’t actually enter the Library, so he’ll be
waiting nearby. The gateway forms in the center
of the room, and a cobblestone street can be seen
through the opening in reality. Stepping through
creates a moment of disorientation as the team re-
alizes their outfits have all changed to a neo-Victo-
rian steampunk style. Cyberlimbs and drones have
become assemblages of pistons and gears vent-
ing steam at every movement, and weapons also
have additional tubes and gears. Commlinks and
cyberdecks have become clockwork boxes full of
whirling gears and crystal lenses projecting their
data into the air in front of them. If asked about
the changes, Arcane explains about metaplanar
translation (see sidebar) and then crosses the busy
MISSIONS // MISSION 10: WHO WROTE THE BOOK?
street, walking toward a tavern, saying, “I’ll be in
there. Good luck!”
Metaplanar Translation
Physically traveling to a different metaplane by metapla-
nar gateway is entirely different than projecting or using an
astral gate. Physical travel creates a phenomenon where the
local reality enforces physical changes on travelers to make
them conform to its rules. Some are basic, like speaking the
local language or knowing that computers can access the
local networks. Other changes could be outfits altering to
match local fashions, pistols changing to hand crossbows,
and drones becoming birds or other animals. The best-doc-
umented examples of metaplanar translation come from
visitors attending the Seelie Court in the metaplane of fae.
Game effects of this are actually minimal—whatever
form the equipment takes, its function and profile remain
exactly the same (see Court of Shadows for a more in-depth
example).
The entrance to the library is three massive
bronze doors at the top of a wide stone stairway.
The doors are shut but unlocked—it takes Strength
5+ to pull one open. There are also bronze knock-
ers; striking one will summon one of the inhu-
manly tall (2.5 meters), thin, grey-suited librarians
who can be found throughout the Library (Force 7
spirits of kin with Fear and Innate Spell: Stunbolt).
Any questions will be met with a low groan or a
suggestion to ask Mr. Bookbinder, the curator of
the library. The interior is cavernous, bookcases ex-
tend up to the ceiling five meters overhead, and the
book-lined shelves seem to stretch in all directions.
Walking any distance reveals large, open stairwells
extending up and down through too many floors
to count. The books on the shelves appear to be
a random selection drawn from every book that
has been, and maybe ever will be, written. There is
no apparent organization—each section looks like
every other one. There is a Matrix here consist-
ing of a single rating 8 host. User access reveals a
searchable index of the library’s holdings and AR
numbers attached to each shelf. Admin-level access
provides a map of the demi-plane and permission
to use security devices. The runners can hack the
library’s host to locate the book or go talk to Mr.
Bookbinder. If he is located and asked about Saele-
tra or The Seed, he will let the runners know it’s in
the rare book section and can be reviewed but not
checked out. He will also offer to send one of the
librarians with them to locate it.
The rare book collection is on the fourth floor,
and the books are on raised pedestals inside locked
cases. Saeletra’s book is located in a case about
a fifteen-minute walk from the entry doors. The
locks function as a rating 5 keycard maglock with
anti-tamper. The librarians all have keys to open
any of the cases; they can be opened through the
host or bypassed like a regular maglock. If the run-
ners are escorted to the case, the librarian will open
it for them to examine the book but will remain
nearby to return it to the case. The book itself is
a thin, embossed silver slab with a glass plate in
the front. It functions exactly like a Transys Ava-
lon commlink, and the files contained inside are
the text of the book. The book is as hackable as
any other commlink, and the files can be copied to
another device without upsetting the librarian. Re-
moving the book from the immediate area of the
case will provoke a hostile reaction, and the librar-
ian will attempt to stop the runners with Influence,
Confusion, Fear, and finally Innate Spell: Stunbolt.
If the PCs found the book on their own, the theft
will be discovered in 1D6 minutes. Additional li-
brarians (enough for a challenge), or perhaps even
Mr. Bookbinder, will engage the team as they move
toward the exit with the book. Arcane is standing
in front of the tavern as the team exits the library
and will immediately open the gateway if the run-
ners are being pursued. None of the librarians will
follow the team into the gateway.
Hotspots
The Library of Alexandria 79
(Kindred Metaplane)
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
The street in front of the library is perfectly
straight and filled with people and horse-drawn
carriages. The exterior wall extends as far as you
can see in both directions, and the top is lost some-
where in the overcast sky above. This is actually
the boundary to a separate realm within the kin-
dred metaplane and doesn’t follow the normal
rules of reality. If the PCs attempt to find the end
of the building by traveling along the road (that’s
perfectly straight), they will eventually find them-
selves back at their starting point.
Who’s Who
Mr. Bookbinder
Mr. Bookbinder’s desk is about a half-hour walk
in from the front doors. Mr. Bookbinder is a four-
meter-tall version of the other caretakers (use stats
for a Force 14 spirit of kin with Fear and whatever
Innate Spells are desired). He is generally friendly
and will answer any questions about the library.
Special Notes
The Silver Book of Saeletra is unaffected by
metaplanar translation and always keeps the same
form. Once studied, the files in the book will lead
to a prototype Matrix program allowing the full
team to operate in the Foundation during Missions
18 and 29.
If the runners stole the book (instead of down-
loading the files), each of the team members will
soon receive a parchment notifying them of their
permanent expulsion from the Library of Alexan-
dria.
MISSION 10: WHO WROTE THE BOOK? // MISSIONS
80 mission 11
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
rearing heads
The analysis from Missions 2 and 7 continues,
but word has leaked out, and people are interested
in finding out what’s going on. People are curious
enough to send shadowrunners to find out what’s
up, and then steal some critical items.
Hook
The runners get a call from Niki from Mis-
sion 7. “Are you ready to go, right now? I’ve got a
profitable run ready to kick off, and I thought fast
movers like you might like a bonus payday!”
Assuming the runners are keen, the fixer will
give an address where the PCs can get started and
explain the job on the way. “That stuff you stole a
while back? Ms. Johnson is studying it, but it looks
like someone wants to steal it. We’re pretty sure
there are some runners on their way right now. We
don’t have a great idea of exactly what we’re up
against, but you will have support from on-site se-
curity.” Niki offers 5,000 nuyen per runner, with
an extra 250 nuyen for each net hit on an Influence
+ Charisma Opposed test, up to a maximum of
6,000.
The Job
The job is pretty simple—there is a laboratory
in an office block that is conducting high-powered
magical and Resonance research. It’s under the ra-
dar, so while there is security on site, it’s not top-
notch security by any means. The PCs’ job is to en-
hance the security, protecting the lab and making
sure nothing critical is stolen.
Short-Notice Legwork
Runners don’t have the normal amount of time
they might like to research and scout this mission
ahead in advance, but they can certainly call a cou-
ple of people on the way over and make a few Ma-
trix searches to try to gather a few details. Given
the short notice, runners might be able to get one
or two pieces of information.
MISSIONS // MISSION 11: REARING HEADS
Legwork
Fixers and Johnsons: Anyone involved in brok-
ering deals in the shadows might have heard that
someone has been looking for runners for a job
like this. Anonymity is prized in these matters, but
the contacts can look into who might be behind
the job. They won’t come back with information
before the assault begins.
Matrix searching: Searching on the Matrix can
net the runners some information about the facility,
but the information is not as detailed as Vishala pro-
vides. Essentially, it looks like someone has carefully
erased all mention of things like floorplans, build-
ing permits, and deliveries for this building from the
Matrix. External photos are available; they show a
two-story office building in an office park. It looks
like a small building with rental space suitable for
temporary manufacturing or office work.
Astral scouting: Runners can scout the building
astrally. They won’t be allowed through the wards
until the rest of the team physically arrives. They
can see the astral defenses (as below). In theory,
they could try to break in, but it’s probably not a
good idea to break down the defenses of the place
you’re supposed to guard. Until the defenders
know that the runners are friendly, they will treat
them like they are the ones hitting the facility.
Security and Defenses
The facility has average security for a corporate
site. It could have been higher, but the manager
pulling the strings didn’t want to attract attention
by spending too much money on it. This has not
worked as well as they would have liked.
Facility layout: The building is two stories with
no basement. There is one elevator and a stairwell
between floors. There is a roof entrance, which is
padlocked and barred from the inside. The ground
floor has administrative desks and terminals, along
with the front security guard post. The next floor
up is configured as a laboratory with one large
room, a smaller room inside, and recently installed
structural reinforcing suitable for weapons testing.
 Structural security: The site has strong concrete
walls (Structure rating 15), and armored glass
(Structure rating 9) throughout the building. The
front door is attached to the front security guard
post, and anyone entering the building has to walk
through a corridor that goes past the guard post.
Security personnel: The site has fifteen standard
guards (use Mafia Soldato, p. 207, SR6). The runners
can reposition these, but by default nine will be at the
guard post/front door at any given time, two will be
standing guard just inside the side entrance, and four
will be split into two patrols of two, working their
way around the building in a regular patrol.
Matrix security: Most of the administration is
handled within a standard rating 5 host. No sen-
sitive information is stored on this host, but there
are internal maps of the facility. Nested inside this
host is a rating 7 host that has the security infor-
mation. This also controls the doors, lights, sirens,
and other items around the building. The experi-
mental data is stored in an offline rating 9 system
within the lab. When it’s not work hours, these
hosts deploy Tracker, Tar Baby, and Blaster IC.
Magical security: Due to the nature of the ex-
periments, the building is heavily warded (rating
9). No spirits are inside the building, but there are
two astral mages on call (use Lone Star Combat
Mage, p. 207, SR6). They can be called in at the
request of the on-site security, who will ask the
runners whether they should do that. Note: There
is a low mana ebb in the lab (p. 167, Street Wyrd).
At the time the runners are assigned to defend
the site, there are no researchers on base and no
civilians in the area.
Opposing Forces
and Tactics
The opposing force consists of two runner teams
who have been hired by one fixer. The teams are
aware of each other, but not coordinating—they
have been told that there is competition, and that
the team that gets the information out first will get
a significant bonus. Both (incorrectly) believe they
are being employed by MCT, and haven’t bothered
to ask who their ultimate employer might be.
The A-Team
This is a reasonably standard runner team. There
is an adept named Bunny (use the Adept archetype,
p. 81, SR6) for brawn, a covert-ops specialist named
Blinken (use the Covert-Ops Specialist archetype,
p. 83, SR6), a technomancer named Sidle (use the
Technomancer archetype, p. 89, SR6), and a street
samurai called Glitter-bits (use the Street Samurai
archetype, p. 87, SR6). For each of the runners add
a stun-baton (p. 249, SR6), stick-n-shock rounds for
their weapons, and a metal-mesh bag.
This team has a fairly straightforward plan.
They intend to have Blinken sneak up and disable
the external cameras on the side entrance. When
Blinken sees people investigating, they will let
Bunny, Glitter-bits and Sidle know that it’s time to 81
hit the front door. These runners have done their
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
legwork, and they will have a valid card to open
the door. They will hit the security forces (and any
runners at the front) with non-lethal rounds on
their way in. If they make it past the initial assault,
they will methodically move through the building,
shooting out cameras, until they get to the main
lab. If they make it this far, they will break in and
attempt to put any electronic devices or experi-
mental equipment in the bags. They will then head
for the side entrance, where Blinken will attempt
to give cover as the team escapes to a van parked
about a block away.
Note: In the lab, Bunny the adept will have a –1
penalty to any test using her Magic attribute due
to a low mana ebb; see sidebar p. 109.
The A-Team isn’t out for murder, but if the fight
is going badly against them, they will pull out le-
thal weapons as they attempt to fight their way out
the nearest entrance.
The B-Team
Complicating matters is that at about the time
that the A-Team is hitting the front door, the
B-Team is blasting their way into the second story
from the outside. This team is a lot messier—they
are shooting to kill from the start. Two riggers, Ag-
atha and Christie (use the Rigger archetype, p. 86,
SR6, add explosive ammo to all the drones), send
their roto-drones in to shoot out the second-sto-
ry windows while they press a button to slide
jumping ramps out of their vans. Up these ramps
speed two weapons specialists, 221B and Baker
(use Weapons Specialist archetype, p. 90, SR6), on
motorcycles borrowed from the riggers. These two
will smash the windows, blasting out “Ride of the
Valkyries” on external speakers, and then use the
motorcycles to roar through the building toward
the labs. Depending on how fast the PCs deal with
the A-Team, the runners might have to deal with
both of these at once.
If the B-Team gets into the lab, they will grab
any likely looking equipment and just make a run
for it (on their cycles if they still have them). This
team is happy to be lethal, happy to make a mess,
and not afraid to make enemies while they do it.
Both Teams
If captured and hacked or interrogated, neither
team knows exactly who they are working for.
They got their job through a fixer and thought
it was nothing more than a standard data grab.
They will be able to finger Guide as their fixer;
see p. 158.
MISSION 11: REARING HEADS // MISSIONS
 Returning to Ms. Johnson
Assuming the runners are successful in killing
82 or driving off the attackers, Vishala will be very
grateful, paying for any medical attention needed
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
or ammo expended as well as paying the agreed-up-
on amount. Vishala is genuinely happy that people
haven’t managed to get the information. If the run-
ners were not successful, Vishala will still pay, but
will be visibly worried and frustrated.
If the runners check later, or ask their fixer
mission 12
get the goodies
This mission will have the PCs taking a short
leave from the Mile High City in pursuit of some
stolen items.
Hook
With the heat rising in Denver, any opportuni-
ty to get out of town for a while is a good thing.
It’s even better when it’s a paying run. Opportu-
nity knocks in the form of a call from a new Mr.
Johnson. who prefers to be called “K.” On this oc-
casion, K wants to recover some goods that were
intercepted in Seattle by the Blood Mountain Boys,
who have arranged to sell their ill-gotten swag to a
buyer in the city of Butte, Sioux Nation.
Meeting Mr. K
This meeting can take place pretty much any-
where the gamemaster feels is appropriate. Mr.
Johnson—he’ll introduce himself as K—will only
set it someplace where he can get a good sandwich.
His offer is a flat rate of 20,000 nuyen for the op-
eration, as well as passes that will get the team
across the border out and back into Denver. The
passes for the way back include customs claims for
licensed telesma. K refuses to explain exactly what
the goods are, and the PCs won’t see the passes
until acceptance has been confirmed.
MISSIONS // MISSION 12: GET THE GOODIES
contacts to see who was behind the raid, no one
will be one-hundred-percent certain, but at least
one contact will identify Guide, a newcomer to the
shadows, as the person who hired the opposing
runner teams.
The runner teams aren’t out for vengeance. If
they survived, they understand that it’s all just biz.
If the PCs try to track down Guide, they will find
that he’s gone to ground after the mission became
a bit too hot. Rest assured, he will pop his head
above the parapet again soon.
K explains that the operation needs to be done
before the thieves make their sale to their buyers.
Once the goods change hands, they become much
more difficult to trace. K is open to negotiation, but
inflexible about the timetable. The Blood Moun-
tain Boys meet their buyer sixteen hours from now
in Butte, Sioux Nation. If the runners attempt to
negotiate partial payment in advance, K will agree
to front them 500 nuyen per hit on an Influence
+ Charisma Opoosed test, maximum 2,000. If the
runners wish to negotiate for the use of a vehicle
that can’t be tied to them at all, he can provide a
Bulldog Stepvan, but they would be on the hook
for any loss or damage to it. The Blood Mountain
Boys are already en route to Butte. The PCs need
to get there, intercept the gangers, and retrieve the
goods.
The Job
This run requires the runners to travel to Butte,
which by land is a twelve-hour trip. If they want
to do the whole job in a day, they need to hurry.
It also brings the runners into a potential conflict
with two parties involved. The first are the thieves
who intercepted the materials originally, namely
the Blood Mountain Boys out of Seattle. They are
meeting with the Ohanzee Circle in Butte, who will
transport the materials in question to another in-
terested party in the FRFZ. With the transfer mov-
ing into the hands of Koshari circles, the material
could easily become lost if not intercepted at this
point.
The materials in question are rods of a finished
Mountain Boys will help defend the goods, but
only until three or more of them get wounded. Af-
ter that, they will break away and turn back to-
ward Seattle. The cases the rods are kept in are 83
worth 3,000 nuyen each.

SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL

alloy with manavoltaic properties. Where they
came from is not known to the Blood Mountain
Boys, and K will not disclose their origin if pres- Cast of Shadows
sured after the recovery. There are twenty-one of
the meter-and-a-half rods in three cases of seven. Blood Mountain
The cases themselves are crafted to block astral re- Boys gang member
connaissance as well as electromagnetic detection. Use Sons of Sauron Brute, p. 205, SR6.
The fact that manavoltaic rods are being brought
into Denver is another sign that something involv-
ing the intersection of magic and technology is go-
Ohanzee Circle Smugglers
ing on. (Vehicle Pilots)
The Blood Mountain Boys are using a pair of Use Minute Man Security Rigger, p. 206, SR6.
Nissan Striders (p. 33, Double Clutch) to transport Raise Professional Rating to 4.
the cases as well as some other materials they ac-
quired in Seattle that are headed elsewhere. There Ohanzee Circle Members
Use Mafia Soldato, p. 207, SR6. Add Yamaha
word of the day Raiden and four magazines of standard ammunition.
Manavoltaic (adj): Related to electricity that is gener-
ated by a metaphysical process similar to solar-collection Ohanzee Circle Wolf Shaman
technologies. Requires exposure to a higher than ambient Professional Rating 4
B A R S W L I C EDG ESS M
source of aetheric power or active magical phenomena.
3 3 4 4 5 5 6 4 4 6 6

DR I/ID AC CM MOVE
6 10/1D6 A1/I2 10/11 10/15/+1
are four members of the gang per vehicle, who
will be driving via dataport connections to avoid Skills: Astral 3, Athletics 3, Close Combat 2, Con 3, Conjuring 5, Firearms 3,
Influence 3, Perception 3, Sorcery 4, Stealth 3
wireless issues. The Ohanzee Circle has six vehi- Knowledge Skills: Lakota N, English S, Sioux E
cles meeting them in Butte: one Ford Bison (p. 30, Spells: Catalog, Detect Enemies, Heal, Manaball, Manabolt, Stunball,
Double Clutch) heading to Cheyenne with med- Treat, Vehicle Mask
ical and magical reagents, two Bulldog Stepvans Tradition: Shaman, Wolf mentor spirit
Gear: Lined coat (+2 DR, with gear access, MEMS pouch [large], tough-
(p. 297, SR6) taking armaments to Salt Lake City, weave 3)
one Ares Venture (p. 298-9, SR6) traveling to Fort Weapons:
Collins, one Toyota Adventure (p. 33, Double Beretta 201T (2P, SA/FA, 9/8/6/—/—)
Clutch) transporting people to Santa Fe, and one Shock Gloves (4S(e), 5/—/—/—/—)
Shotgun (4p, SS/SA, 7/9/8/—/—)
GMC Banshee (p. 299, SR6) heading to Kittredge
and the Denver Sprawl. That last vehicle carries
the cases, so that’s the one the PCs will have to
intercept or catch up to.
The Ohanzee Circle will defend their vehicles,
their people, and their goods with zeal. The Blood

MISSION 12: GET THE GOODIES // MISSIONS

 mission 13
84
those who
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
know too much
Early missions in this campaign focused on get-
ting more information, but now it’s time for some
of the powers of the shadows to worry about who
might know too much.
Hook
The runners are hired by Hank Tom, who is
working for MCT but won’t reveal that fact, for
a hit on the Nexus (Tom would prefer the Nexus
not uncover any information on what he’s up to,
which is the sort of thing the Nexus is good at).
The pay is excellent to compensate for the poten-
tial backlash, but any runner team worth the title
shadowrunner can get a job done without blowing
their covers. Right?
Mr. Johnson requests a virtual meeting in a pri-
vate chat room at the Denver Public Library. In
the invitation, he expresses how important it is for
the meeting to sound mundane. To that end, he’ll
couch things in terms of a fashion design course
project at the Community College of Denver.
“I think an investor would give you at least
30,000 nuyen, with half paid up front for pro-
duction, if you were able to have your line bring
down those snobs at Nexus Designs. I think the
key would be to use a spin on some of their own
tired designs in order to get our line to go viral. I
have a whole business plan worked up that I could
send to you if you’re willing to take this on as your
project for this week. What do you think?”
If the runners agree, they get a file with the
details of what Mr. Johnson has planned. If they
choose to negotiate, Mr. Johnson’s dice pool is 12
dice. If the team can’t keep the ruse up during the
attempt at negotiation, Mr. Johnson gains a point
of Edge on his Influence test.
MISSIONS // MISSION 13: THOSE WHO KNOW TOO MUCH
The Job
The file they are given has details on the where-
abouts of Cap’n Kludge, the virus file, access codes
for the upfront portion of the payment, and the
plan (see the Info from Mr. Johnson sidebar).
info from mr. johnson
Cap’n Kludge
Kludge is an admin for the Nexus, the Denver Data Hav-
en. He’s a skilled hacker but has not focused on keeping up
with tech. Instead, he worries about keeping the Nexus up to
date with its access coding while leaving protection proto-
cols to his Emergent associates. This makes him a weak link
in the security chain.
Null Virus
Accessing the virus file causes it to create a copy of itself
on all connected devices, duplicating itself until it burns out
the device it is opened on. This process takes five minutes.
Interrupting it requires hacking using either Brute Force or
Probe, then editing the virus file. One helpful edit is to make
it turn on the other viruses and destroy them, but at very
least telling it to stop duplicating and then telling the other
copies to do the same would be useful. The virus file copy
looks mundane on the system and often imitates a com-
monly accessed file or application ARO. These copies can be
accessed on any device. The virus is treated as a separate
device (ASDF 4/1/2/3).
Operational Brief
PCs will find Kludge at his safehouse in the Sunny Spire
Condominium Complex. They should neutralize him and ac-
cess his deck. They are then to upload a copy of the virus
onto his deck and use it to access the Nexus root files. Once
access has been acquired, they should upload and activate
the viral code to the Nexus itself. The PCs should not have
any devices currently logged into the Nexus, as this will up-
load a copy to their device.
 The goal is to insert a viral code into the Denver
Data Haven, a.k.a. the Nexus.
Cap’n Kludge is a little lax in keeping up his
skills, but he’s had time to infiltrate building secu-
rity. He knows about the runners as long as they
stay there but pays them no mind, as runners are
at the Nexus frequently. Depending on what time
they go after him, he may already be monitoring
them. He only sleeps from 0900 to 1100, still not
leaving his decking cocoon. He then takes a short
break every day from 1100 to 1300 to go out and
sit on his balcony to eat some real food. Kludge
gains a point of Edge when hacking while in his
cocoon, as he does not have to worry about his
meat body.
Building security (a doorman; use stats for Beat
Cop, p. 212, SR6) is cool with anything going on
as long as there’s no trouble. Many of the condos
here are safehouses, dosses, or rentals rather than
regular residences, but the HOA fees are low and
everyone minds their own skeletons in the closet.
After the runners neutralize Kludge, they need
to use his deck to access the Nexus. They also need
to use the biomonitor on Kludge in order to access
his deck within the cocoon. Accessing the proper
biomonitor connections requires a Logic + Engi-
neering (2) test.
Once on the Nexus and using Kludge’s iden-
tity, the PCs face a social encounter as someone
instantly pings Kludge, looking to enter a virtual
chat with him.
The ping includes some harrowing data about
damage done in a recent hacking attack, and the
pinger says she’s coming to talk strategy right now.
It’s V!raL5!X3n, a Nexus up-and-comer. She and
Kludge have a personal relationship, so she asks to
come stay with him. She also asks how he’s doing,
says she misses him, and expects all the same in
return (in truth, Kludge loves her but thinks she is
too young and out of his league). The runners, or
the runner impersonating Kludge, will need to nav-
igate this situation or they will alert her to the ruse.
Gaining access to the root system for the Nex-
us, the spot to upload the null virus, requires an
Electronics + Logic (16, 1 Major Action) Extend-
ed test. Once completed, the runner can access the
root system, then upload and activate the virus.
The moment the virus is activated, Kludge’s deck
is bricked.
Kludge has a DocWagon Ultra-Platinum con-
tract, and any negative readings from his biomon-
itor will initiate a health response. If he’s rendered
unconscious or takes more than 2 boxes of Physi-
cal damage, an HTR team will arrive via a GTI Ra-
phael in two minutes and deploy via the balcony.
Hotspots
The Sunny Spire Condominium Complex was
externally described in Mission 1, as it is the same 85
place the runners were given a safehouse by Cat.
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
Kludge has one of the four condominiums on
the seventeenth floor. The interior layouts of the
condos on this floor are all identical. A central
bank of elevators opens to a central foyer on all
floors. Kludge is in 1703, the southeast corner con-
do, accessed via the east foyer exit. The entrance
for the condo has a small foyer with a closet, lead-
ing to a hallway that opens at the end to a living
room with a balcony off the outer wall. Off the
hallway before the living room is a kitchen. Three
individual rooms—two bedrooms and an office—
are all along the southern wall, each with their
own private full bath.
The office is set up as Kludge’s operational
center, complete with a rigger cocoon adapted for
extended hacking. The cocoon requires an En-
gineering + Logic (4, 1 minute) Extended test to
open without the proper commands. It has a Struc-
ture rating of 16, making it very difficult to shoot
through.
Who’s Who
Target: Cap’n Kludge
He’s been an admin for the Nexus for years and
he’s well-known all over the shadows of the Ma-
trix, not just Denver. He’s a bit of a curmudgeon
but has a soft spot for the new generation that are
back to “real” hacking and not just running scripts
on a commlink.
He uses a Fairlight Excalibur and rating 4 cy-
berjack, and he has 16 dice in any Matrix-related
dice pool that he needs. The Fairlight Excalibur
built into his decker cocoon is required to access
the Nexus, and it will get bricked after the upload,
making every hacker on the team cringe. His stats
are on p. 156.
MISSION 13: THOSE WHO KNOW TOO MUCH // MISSIONS
86 mission 14
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
fade to
black
Random power outages are happening
around Denver, alarming people because of the
recent blackouts. The powers that be want this
stopped—now. The runners are hired to inves-
tigate and stop the blackouts occurring around
Denver.
Hook
The PCs are invited to Club Charybdis for a
meeting with Mr. Johnson at 2100 hours. This is
a Mr. Johnson they have not met before, and he
refuses to share any information about himself.
Trying to identify him through facial recognition
software or other biometrics will get them no-
where. His bearing and tailored suits speak of
him as a person of power and probable wealth.
The club will be just starting to fill for the night.
If it’s a weekday it will get to about three-quar-
ters of capacity by 2200. If it’s a weekend, the line
starts to form around 1900. A bribe (100 nuyen/
runner), simple commlink hack (Electronics + Log-
ic vs. 4 dice), or social interaction (Con + Charis-
ma vs. 4 dice or good roleplaying) will get them
past the line.
Mr. Johnson has a dark booth in the back cor-
ner surrounded by an AR and trideo whirlpool
along with a white noise generator. He has six
bodyguards (use DocWagon HTR Officer, p. 207,
SR6; they only have the Manhunter and armored
clothing) in the crowd (Perception Thresholds 4, 5,
5, 6, 7, 8 to spot). The guards only break cover if
trouble starts.
At the beginning of the meeting, they are told
the blackouts have occurred in Archer Heights
and Sunshine Estates. Mr. Johnson wants the ori-
gin of the blackouts discovered, info on the parties
responsible gathered, and the further blackouts
prevented. Each one of those elements is worth a
different payout for the team.
MISSIONS // MISSION 14: FADE TO BLACK
Pay for info on the cause is 10,000 nuyen for
the team, info on the force behind them (name-
ly, the Aztechnology connection) is worth another
10,000, and stopping them is worth 30,000 if done
subtly, 10,000 if it makes the screamsheets.
Net hits to negotiate the payment increase pay-
ments by 500 nuyen per net hit, with a maximum
increase to the total of 2,500 nuyen. Nothing is
available up front. After the deal is struck, Mr.
Johnson will share that he knows of at least three
other teams on contract with other patrons, so no
payment is guaranteed. He offers access to a few
good contacts if the runners are beat to the job.
He doesn’t pay for any drinks, and he leaves
the bar immediately after the deal is struck. He is
joined by four of the dancers in the area (at this
point it should be obvious that they are body-
guards).
The Job
There are two spots for starting the investiga-
tion: Archer Heights and Sunshine Estates.
Archer Heights
Archer Heights was blacked out, but the real
investigation site is the Paladin Health and Wel-
fare Clinic adjacent to the community. The clinic
has been running on fumes for a few years after a
terrorist attack and some bad publicity marred its
reputation. It was once home to a secret research
facility that was illicitly connected to the city’s
power grid. That connection was the source of the
small blackout in the area.
Investigations in this area involve several local
types. Archer Heights residents are entirely human,
and they are all members of or sympathetic to the
Humanis policlub. Paladin HWC staff have a lit-
tle more variety, but the metahumans tend to be
more submissive and leery of talking in front of
humans. Local shop owners and workers are a mix
and demonstrate the typical skepticism of Sixth
World residents. With the right approach (possi- 87
bly including bribes, persuasion, intimidation, and

SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL

hacking), the runners can get info from the locals
about an LTAV (lighter than air vehicle) that was
in the area when the blackouts occurred. Deeper
questioning (give a point of Edge to the opposi-
tion, or require a Perception + Intuition (4) test
from runners reviewing commlink video) reveals
a cable running down to a service entrance at the
Paladin HWC.
The entrance is marked out of service. A thick
(15 cm diameter) cable with a hastily severed con-
nection lies under some trash bags (Perception +
Intuition [2] to spot). It runs through a crude hole
into the building. An Engineering + Logic (4) test
on the door gains access to an elevator shaft that
leads to the stripped underground facility, where
that cable runs into the power connections for the
local power grid. The cable incorporates a filament
of orichalcum, and upon astral inspection it ap-
pears to be enchanted in some way (see The Astral
Area sidebar).

The Astral Area

Astrally projecting characters and spirits in the
region feel a sense of thinness in the astral plane, almost
like a lack of oxygen at altitude. There is a medium mana
ebb in this area after the experiments being performed
by the LTAV.
When assensing the general vicinity of the back
entrance of the clinic or the former lab, use the following
table.
0–1 hits: The wrongness of this place stings your
nose and makes you nearly gag. While it is usually a sim-
ple “visual” reading in most places, this place assaults all
of your senses.
2–3 hits: Through the disorientation, you push past
the acrid odor and feel the ebb. The mana here is thin,
and a medium mana ebb is present.
4–5 hits: Reaching out with all your senses, you not
only feel the thinness but the alien nature of the mana in
the area.
6+ hits: With a head shake and some astral cough-
ing, you clear your senses to the nature of the local as-
tral. Beyond just the ebb and the alienness is a coppery
stink you have never sensed before. Something unique
has happened here.

When assensing the cable:

0–2 hits:The local manasphere blurs your senses.
3–5 hits: The cable glows faintly. Strange for a bit of
tech, but the local oddness still clouds your senses.
6+ hits: The mundaneness of the cable fades, and
you see the astral energy—orichalcum!

MISSION 14: FADE TO BLACK // MISSIONS

 If the runners take the cable section that was
left behind, they can salvage 5,000 nuyen worth
of orichalcum from it with an Engineering + Log-
88 ic (16, 1 hour) Extended test as long as someone
who can assense the cable and the progress is also
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
involved. The cable length left behind weighs 20
kilos and is quite bulky.
Attached to the power grid connection inside
the facility is a bulky commlink that is working
with the connection box. The commlink contains
nothing besides its base operating system and a
virtual room where a single program can be run.
Analyzing the program with an Electronics + Logic
(20, 1 Combat Round) test reveals it to be an ad-
vanced power-fluctuation-control algorithm that
appears to be able to handle massive power fluc-
tuations with extreme variances and mitigate the
effects on a given system.
Witnesses in the area can describe the aircraft,
and between witness accounts and video footage,
the runners should be able to identify the craft as a
Goodyear Commuter-47. It’s a very common LTAV,
but video reveals some modifications to the passen-
ger area in the underbelly and central chamber.
Sunshine Estates
Sunshine Estates is the second neighborhood
where there was a blackout. The residents here are
friendly and forthcoming about the LTAV that was
anchored for repairs. The locals enjoyed the aeri-
al trid effects the LTAV provided for sports events
while getting serviced assuring everyone knows it
was there, hiding in plain sight. Most of the lo-
cals are unaware of its illicit purpose, though a few
have become in the know after it blacked out their
neighborhood.
After the blackout, Aztechnology activated
four agents in the neighborhood to start a quiet
investigation. They may interfere with or work
with the runners. Their assignment is to investigate
the strain on the reactor under the school and the
blackout. The strain on the reactor created a risk
of overload, and Aztechnology wants to know if
the risk is still there.
Both groups, the runners and the AZT opera-
tives, will speak to locals (all AZT assets, so they
are more open with the AZT team) and get the
story on the LTAV anchoring over the local school.
Everyone knows the LTAV had several small an-
chor cables and a large power cable. A good in-
teraction will get a comment about the size of the
cable being rather large for such a small vehicle.
The larger investigation comes with looking
into the school, which was built over a black site
reactor to hide assets and repair crews coming in
and out. School and reactor staff know there was
a break-in that was fought off, but what they don’t
know is that the incursion succeeded in connecting
the needed cables and power hookups.
MISSIONS // MISSION 14: FADE TO BLACK
Infiltrating the school, the runners find the ca-
ble and connection in the lowest-level maintenance
room where the power grid comes in. The mainte-
nance staff here are all AZT operatives, and they’ll
be a bit more savvy after the runners have an easy
break-in to access the school.
If the school break-in is detected, it draws two
members of local law enforcement, who figure it’s
only a teenage prank. If the PCs are found in the
maintenance room, the AZT team from above is
called in. They’ll agree to resolve the disturbance
socially, but negotiation of an appropriate bribe
starts at 2,000 nuyen. If anyone on site has been
killed, law enforcement can’t be bribed. They gath-
er data on the runners, and they plan to turn it all
over to their bosses, putting them on Aztechnolo-
gy’s drek list.
Like Archer Heights, astral space has been dis-
turbed. But instead of a mana ebb, hazy and faded,
Sunshine Estates is experiencing a medium mana
flow, making it excessive and hard to control. The
cablong has the same orichalcum filament, though
the AZT team won’t want the PCs taking it this
time. As an added bonus, this area has attracted
a large number of e-sapients (use Sprites, p. 193,
SR6; with animal characteristics and behaviors),
and technomancers get an alien feeling about the
Resonance here. The control commlink is not pres-
ent and appears to have been removed with care.
There is no way to tell, but the experiment here
involved pulling mana from another plane that
had a strong technological aspect, which also af-
fected the local Resonance.
The runners can encounter the AZT team for
a social or violent encounter. Use the Professional
Rating 5 and 6 Lone Star and DocWagon assets (p.
207-208, SR6) for the four AZT operatives.
Socially, the team has their answers. They found
the connection but are leaving it for Aztechnology
investigators. The Azzies will share with runners
who offer a decent reason in the form of a steep
bribe (1,000 nuyen) or a good Con or Influence
+ Charisma Test or roleplaying encounter. Their
main information is that AZT was not involved
with the LTAV. These aren’t typical Aztechnology
combat forces; they’re undercover operatives, and
as such have no desire to draw attention with a
fight, but they also don’t respond to threats well.
Efforts to intimidate them should come back on
the runners with a team of AZT toughs in the near
future.
On The Offensive
To find suspicious LTAVs, the runners need a
hacker or a spirit to run the search.
The hacker can perform an Electronics + Logic
(24, 1 minute) Extended test as a data search for
images on the Matrix of those LTAVs with modifi-
cations. A spirit with the Search power can be sent
The LTAVs
These models are prototypes of what will hopefully be a
production model. The LTAV, a Goodyear Commuter-47, isn’t
the most important item—the device inside the LTAV and the
unique cable that it uses are the key items to investigate.
The devices, three in total, are being run from their
LTAVs. The LTAVs are tethered to the local power grid by a
single cable but also linked to the Matrix from 200 meters
up, and they’re running a power booster.
There are three different models with unclear effects. At
very least, it seems like they activate in the presence of a
changing mana flow and generate a measure of that change.
The orichalcum wiring is unique to the project and a key
element that creates a link between the tech and arcane
sides of things.
Security consists of a hacker (use Decker, p. 84, SR6), a
mage (use Combat Mage, p. 82, SR6), and two toughs (use
Street Samurai, p. 87, SR6). All four are in the LTAV. One of
the toughs watches the approach to the LTAV via exterior
surveillance cameras and operates as a long-range deter-
rent using a gel-loaded Yamaha Raiden with a silence spell
quickened to the rifle. The other tough is close-quarters
defense in case the team reaches the LTAV. The hacker and
mage both operate in the LTAV. The hacker protects the LTAV
and the control commlink on the LTAV. The mage lives dan-
gerously with four bound spirits (two Force 5 air spirits, one
Force 2 earth spirit, and one Force 3 fire spirit).
Runners likely will not learn who is responsible for the
LTAVs here, but the ultimate answer is that it’s MCT, laying
the groundwork for the plot their experiment in Mission 35.
out to find a cable with orichalcum in it as long as
its summoner assensed the cables. The spirit makes
a Magic + Intuition (24, 10 minutes) Extended test.
There are three separate LTAVs in the Den-
ver region that fit the bill. One at the University
of Denver: Front Range South Campus, one near
the stadiums in the Hub, and the third is in the
Brighton district, right at the border with the Sioux
Nation. Taking them down is straightforward but
doing it quietly is tricky in two of the three areas.
On the Front Range
The University of Denver has a small research
campus near Palmer Lake in the southwest area
of Front Range. The school does scientific research
that requires large amounts of electricity. That elec-
tricity is supplied by an experimental generator.
The LTAV in the area belongs to Professor Sukie
Redflower (an obvious fake name) and is registered
with the university. It has hooked up to the local
grid with a standard power cable that is paralleled
by a ruthenium-covered special cable that runs to
a connection with the generator.
Security on campus is designed for rowdy frat
boys, not runners. The LTAV has the security de-
scribed in the sidebar. This one can be a little loud-
er as they’re in the middle of nowhere, but it is
a college campus, and plenty of the students have
social media and are constantly recording every
moment of their mundane lives.
This LTAV is playing some abrasive noise rock
and seeing if that does anything to the local mana
flow.
89
In da HUB
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
The LTAV downtown is hovering over Mile-
High Stadium and providing bonus AR and trid
features for games. It’s registered with Ads, Inc.,
but that’s a shell company. It’s pulling the same ru-
thenium trick but it’s in protected and monitored
airspace. It has the same security detail as described
in the sidebar, but without the bound spirits as no
mage would be foolish enough to risk that in the
heart of Denver.
This one needs to go down quietly if the run-
ners want that extra nuyen.
This LTAV is watching the ebb and flow of
sporting events to see how they affect the local
mana flow, if at all.
This is a matter of sneaking around and trying
to not get spotted by the security on the LTAV or
look suspicious in the Hub. This is not the place
for combat armor and heavy arms, it’s a place for
high fashion and flashy pistols.
On the Edge
(of the Sioux Nation)
If you want to do something to distract a drag-
on from your overall plot, you might as well play
games near the border.
The LTAV here sits one hundred meters from
the official border and one hundred meters above
the ground. It’s in the non-threatening airspace
(but just barely), and the cable it has covered in
ruthenium runs down to a cavern that crosses the
border. When it activates, the Sioux side blacks
out, not the Denver side.
The cavern is known by coyotes but unused
since Ghostwalker kicked folks out of it. This al-
lowed operatives to rig a cable set up to draw from
the Sioux grid rather than the Denver.
This LTAV watches to see if its very presence
heightens tensions near the border, and if that
in turn affects the mana flow. It also sometimes
shines spotlights randomly in the nighttime, or
makes sudden gunfire noises.
Sioux eyes and Denver eyes are both watching
the LTAV and activity in the region. They’re sus-
picious of the ruthenium tether but can’t risk an
incident with so many Denver eyes around, and
Denver can’t risk it seeming like their project—
but that’s coming to an end. Ghostwalker’s forces
know, and they’re about to pull the plug.
It’s a race between the runners to get the data
while Ghostwalker’s forces try to get approval for
some extreme measures, and Sioux forces attempt
to get a shadow team in the region.
MISSION 14: FADE TO BLACK // MISSIONS
 Hotspots
Club Charybdis
As a staple of the Denver party scene in the
90 heart of Downtown, this club is both locally and
world renowned. The aquatic tempest theme is up-
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
dated on the regular, and the interior gets a facelift
at least twice a year. It currently sports booths
formed from transparent blue acrylic in the form
of waves. The servers move around in flowing blue
and white dresses, accented in AR but still quite
remarkable in the meatworld. It’s designed with a
large circular central dance floor that rotates at dif-
ferent speeds, moving inward to create a spiraling
whirlpool appearance of the revelers. It also adds
a fantastic level of confusion to the club when you
come off the floor and don’t know where you are.
Archer Heights and
the Paladin Health
and Welfare Clinic
Archer Heights offers affordable, family-friend-
ly living. It surrounds the Paladin Health and
Welfare Clinic to the southwest. It’s bounded by
Cherry Creek along its western edge and Broncos
Parkway to the south. The development was fund-
ed by Paladin Investments and Holdings LLC, an-
other member of the Paladin Group LLC.
Archer Heights is a quaint little corporate-sub-
sidized neighborhood. Manicured lawns and
white-picket fences characterize the single-family
homes at the south end of the neighborhood near
the school. Townhouses occupy the central area, and
block-wide barbecues are common. Even the con-
doplexes (usually home to thousands of folks who
don’t know each other) just south of the PHWC are
mission 15
best of enemies
Vishala, the Ms. Johnson who hired the runners
in Missions 2, 7, and 11 has come up with some
good results, but she’s begun to worry that she’s been
using the runners too often, so they now know too
much about her operation. The runners need to be
silenced. Once again using Niki as a front, Vishala
MISSIONS // MISSION 15: BEST OF ENEMIES
filled with neighborly folks just out to keep their
neighborhood clean (and metahuman-free). This
neighborhood is entirely human. The roadside edge
along Highway 83 is lined by a four-meter-tall wall
meant to protect the neighborhood from the sounds
of passing cars. The same wall runs along Highway
88 and Broncos Parkway. Along the creek, the trees
and bushes have been cultivated to form a solid wall.
From the inside of this private hateburg, there is no
view of the world outside. The single-family homes
of this little piece of pleasantville with their Rock-
well-esque touches just scream “only small-minded,
anachronistic racists need apply to live here.” Near
the PHWC, there is a fire station and small strip
mall. The strip mall houses a grocery, Hard Corps
offices, Humanis Policlub chapterhouse, and Stuffer
Shack. The clinic is the main target of the run, but
the neighborhood is what got blacked out, and
they’re touchy and a bit paranoid now.
Sunshine Estates
It appears to be a suburban revitalization effort
but actually acts as a cover for Aztechnology/Aztlan
agents. It’s located in Brighton and is a quaint little
subdivision that supposedly boasts a self-sufficient
life and reciprocity from the local power grid for
excess solar power. The truth is much shadier. There
is an underground reactor, formerly operated by
Aztechnology for a black site in the area that was
destroyed by Ghostwalker, generating extra power
that is sold to the local grid. The profits are shared
with the local residents, with some extra going into
Aztechnology’s coffers for black ops in Denver.
The locals are pleasant and suburban friendly,
though they all know each other and they know
who are and are not Aztechnology employees.
None of their connections are obvious, or Ghost-
walker would have razed this place.
hires the runners to steal an item from a rival corpo-
ration with significant assets: MCT. Vishala has no
intention of using the item, instead she alerts MCT
and snitches out the runners just as they arrive.
As the bullets start to fly, someone new then
reaches out to help …
Hook
It’s been a while, but Niki gets back in touch!
She says that she’s got more work. “Are you up for
a bit more breaking and entering? Vishala needs
some very specific samples from a secure site.”
Niki isn’t aware that Vishala intends to betray the
runners; she is being played just as much as the
runners are. “Pretty good pay, this one, but a diffi-
cult site that needs to be cracked in the next day or
so. Are you in?”
Niki has some details—she’s happy to share that
the site belongs to one of the megas, it’s a high-se-
curity site, but her boss has managed to nab some
keycards, cleaning uniforms, and fake IDs that
the runners could use. Niki is authorized to offer
5,000 nuyen per runner, with fifty percent down.
The target is some cryogenically frozen samples
that the runners will need special equipment to han-
dle. This isn’t portable, but Niki says her boss will
have someone waiting nearby with a van. As long as
the runners get the samples to the van in less than
five minutes, they will remain viable, and the run-
ners will earn the rest of their payment. The runners
will need to let Niki know when they are heading
in, so the van can be on standby. The lab is in room
JHW87.
The Job
Legwork
Corporate: The address is, indeed, a scientific
facility. It usually handles biological research, and
contacts with a Connection rating of 5 or more
and corporate knowledge will be able to tell the
PCs that the facility is owned by MCT.
Scientists: Anyone who has a scientist contact
will be able to discover that the lab is currently han-
dling some delicate research on magical critters. No
one knows exactly what the critters are, though.
Fixers and Mr. Johnsons: All that fixers and Mr.
Johnsons can reveal is that this job has not been
shopped around, so the runners are probably the
only ones getting this offer.
Matrix searching: The facility itself has been
scrubbed from the Matrix as thoroughly as a
shadowrunner when they get zeroed. However, as
people work at the facility, clever searchers will
be able to look at the gaps where things interact
with the facility. Depending on how well people
search, they may be able to find out that the facil-
ity normally has around 250 scientists during the
day, many of whom work late into the night. The
facility is guarded by MCT security (but the spe-
cific guard team is subtle, working itself into the
background).
Astral scouting: Runners can scout the build-
ing astrally. There are four beast spirits (Force 4,
p. 148, SR6) patrolling the perimeter. A rating 9
ward covers the building with a cut out for the
front entrance. The front entrance is guarded by a
combat mage (p. 82, SR6) and a Force 7 spirit of 91
kin (p. 148, SR6) who intercept anyone attempt-
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
ing to enter astrally. Anyone who manages to push
their way through the ward finds the magical de-
fenses as below. In addition to the large external
ward, most of the laboratories are also individual-
ly warded (rating varies between 6 and 8).
Security and Defenses
The facility has reasonable security in place
most of the time. When Vishala judges the runners
are well inside the building (about five minutes af-
ter they say they’re going in), she sells the runners
out. She sends an alert directly to MCT and to site
security, with accompanying dossiers including
the runners’ descriptions and any details she has
collected about them (such as equipment invento-
ry and device IDs), along with a warning: “These
shadowrunners are out for blood and have killed
every hostage they’ve ever taken. They are coming
to murder their way through your facility. Shoot
on sight! Use lethal force! A bounty will be paid
to anyone who makes a confirmed kill.” This will
panic the on-site security and will scramble a high-
threat response team from a nearby corporate
enclave. Although panicked, security will shout a
warning to any runners they come across and give
people a chance to throw down their weapons be-
fore opening fire with lethal rounds on non-com-
pliant suspects. When they yell their warning, they
will use the Full Defense Action (see p. 43, SR6).
Before the Alert
Security is competent if not inspired. There is
the aforementioned combat mage guarding the
door, as well as three additional on-site mages
(also use combat mage stats).
There are thirty guards on-site (use Lone Star
SWAT Officer, p. 207, SR6). Before the alert, twen-
ty of them are in the command center. The remain-
ing ten are patrolling the building in pairs.
A security rigger watches cameras (use Rigger,
p. 86, SR6). The rigger has ten Doberman drones,
but they are all in the security center, recharging.
A remote hacker monitors on-site systems (use
decker, p. 84, SR6). There’ss enough camera cov-
erage to give the hacker a free point of Edge every
time they try to detect people.
Immediately After the Alert
The doors close and lock. Lights go out, and the
corridors are lit only by red, strobing alarm lights. The
guards deploy twenty people in groups of five to hard-
points around the building (these are concrete bar-
MISSION 15: BEST OF ENEMIES // MISSIONS
 ricades with hard cover, Structure rating 15 (p. 113,
SR6). Each group gets a Doberman to accompany
it; the Doberman drones take about four minutes to
92 reinforce each guard post. The remaining guards and
drones converge on any intruders detected.
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
Four MCT elite hackers (use SEAL Team 6
Counter-Electronics Commando [Decker], p. 209,
SR6) log into the system, and start attacking any-
one they can find. The deckers will attempt to use
Tarpit and Trace Icon actions on anyone they find,
and then either Snoop (if the runners somehow ha-
ven’t noticed them) or Data Spike for anyone re-
sisting (a.k.a. not surrendering fast enough). Their
decks have Signal Scrubber, Toolbox, Armor, Bio-
feedback, Biofeedback Filter, Exploit, Fork, Lock-
down, Overclock, and Trace loaded (p. 184–5,
SR6).
The onsite mages deploy with the guards and
use astral perception to detect active magic. Spirits
are dispatched from MCT (Force 7 spirits of earth,
p. 148, SR6) mages, and placed under the com-
mand of the combat mages on site. There are two
of these spirits per mage.
The HTR will arrive about four minutes after
the alarm goes off. This will likely occur as the run-
ners are attempting to break out of the building.
If runners think to look through the commlinks
of the guards, they will see the message that Visha-
la sent through, although Vishala was good at an-
onymizing the source of the message.
As the Alert Continues
Runners are elite forces and shouldn’t get
pinned down by basic security forces for too
long, but being constantly attacked should feel
like a high-stakes situation. The runners shouldn’t
feel immediately overwhelmed, but their options
should dwindle over the course of a few minutes.
Runners keen to push on with the mission will be
able to see hardened security barriers with drones
and guards in their way.
Just when things are looking pretty grim, there
is a large explosion from one side of the building.
It’s possible that a dedicated and skilled group
(or part of a group) will be able to fight or sneak
their way out of the facility, especially during the
distraction.
Anyone pushing for the mission objective in the
face of all opposition could make it to the room
indicated in the mission description (JHW87). It is
empty and appears to be currently unused. There
are no biological samples and no refrigeration
equipment. This is clear evidence that the runners
have been sold out.
A few minutes after the full alert has been trig-
gered (possibly after combat with the guards, if the
runners have allowed this to happen), security will
be thrown into a panic from another attack. Some-
one is lobbing missiles at the building.
MISSIONS // MISSION 15: BEST OF ENEMIES
A Sudden Explosion
The explosion is caused by a missile strike
against the side of the building, alongside an attack
by three beast spirits (Force 8, p. 148, SR6), they
have the Confusion and Noxious Breath optional
powers (p. 222 & 226, SR6); note that the guards
do not have chemical seals on their armor. This is
a powerful shaman who has heard about the run
and believes the runners have information about
the stolen research. This is exactly the scenario
that Vishala wanted to avoid by setting the run-
ners up. The shaman attacks the site when it looks
(from the outside) like the runners have screwed
up the job and are likely to be caught. The mage
will have time to fire three high explosive rockets
(p. 264, SR6) from his Aztechnology Striker before
leaving. The rockets will open significant holes on
the eastern side of the building.
While the shaman and the spirits distract the
on-site security (and HTR team), watchers are
speeding through the building. If one finds one of
the runners, it manifests along with a little sign
that says “You should probably escape while the
guards are distracted. It won’t last long. When you
get out, call me.” A contact number is included.
The attack will distract about three-quarters of
the remaining guards and forces, which should al-
low a desperate team to make a run for it, burst
out a window, or go out through an emergency
exit.
The shaman is making more noise and dis-
traction than actual damage (other than blasting
a large hole in the wall). After he sets his spirits
going, the shaman will turn invisible and levitate
off into the distance. The on-site mages and guards
will take several minutes to deal with the spirits,
heal the injured, and scout the area. This should
leave plenty of time for a fleeing team to escape.
Should the team make a stand, they could po-
tentially kill or disable most of the defenders. If
they don’t they will be captured alive.
A New Face
Vishala has, by now, destroyed the phone she
used with Niki. The promised van actually is in
place, but it’s empty of people and equipment and
is laden with tracking tags. Niki has no idea what’s
going on and can’t raise Vishala. She stays on the
line long enough to say, “If you’ve been betrayed,
they’re probably coming for me now. I’m going to
lie low. If I live, I’ll let you know any information
I get.”
If the runners call the number that was delivered
to them by watcher spirits, a calm voice answers.
“Ah, I’m glad you got in touch. I think we should
catch up. You have some information that I’m in-
terested in buying.” The shaman will work with the
(justifiably) paranoid runners to allay any concerns,
but he believes he is offering a lifeline to a team that
has just been hung out to dry. This shaman is al-
ready known to the PCs as Guide, but others know
him as Masque.
Any runners who were captured by site se-
curity spend a night in restraints before a truly
magnificent series of bribes results in them being
released into the custody of Guide. He will invite
the rest of the team to retrieve their companions
and will take the opportunity to talk to the run-
ners.
Guide heard that some big action was going
down related to some research that he has been
just a bit slow to get to. If the runners are willing
to tell the shaman everything they can remember
about the experiments from Mission 1, the ingre-
dients from Mission 7, and the lab in Mission 11,
Guide will pay handsomely. (If the runners have
not played those missions, Guide will offer mon-
ey in exchange for everything the runners have on
Niki and Vishala.) In fact, Guide will offer the re-
maining amount that the runners were expecting
for the mission, with a bonus ten percent if there
are images, videos, or other evidence.
Guide is potentially interested in continuing
mission 16
data cleanup
It’s time to check in with Cap’n Kludge and the
Denver Nexus to see how they’re holding on.
Hook
There is no fixer invitation here. All of the run-
ners get the same message on their commlink:
“Follow this <link>. CK and the Nexus Admins.”
No matter how they left Cap’n Kludge, he’s still
alive and kicking somehow and on the other end
of the link that was sent. The link takes the run-
ners to a virtual conference room, where they find
Kludge’s persona seated at the head of the table.
When all the runners arrive, he talks and doesn’t
let them get a word in.
“Welcome! First off, no hard feelings. Biz is biz,
right chummers? But karmic debts get created and
need to be repaid. You were hired to take a shot
at the Nexus. The shot was good but missed the
to work with the runners in the future, and will
tell them that he will reach out. This comes across
as positively polite after their recent betrayal. He
doesn’t have anything in mind just at the moment, 93
but he’s got irons in the fire that runners could help
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
with, and he has significant money backing him
up. He’s willing to work around reasonable needs
of runners for privacy, recognizing that they’ve just
been hung out to dry.
Legwork
Experienced runners will want to investigate
this new person. Matrix searches aren’t useful, but
the right in-person contacts will help reveal that
the shaman has done work for one of the large
megacorps. People who have really excellent con-
tacts might even reveal that he has worked for Az-
technology in the past. No one will have anything
particularly bad to say about the person … well,
nothing worse than any other power-hungry shad-
ow-operator. He’s paid well for robbery, assassina-
tion, demolition, and many other standard shadow
jobs.
vitals, and we’ve got a great medical team, if you’re
following the euphemisms. Sorry for the explana-
tions, I just don’t know how bright you all are.
On to work. We need to turn the tides. We have
a good line on who signed the checks for your at-
tempt, and we’d like you to take care of our little
problem-child before he tries again with a better
viral program or more competent crew. The offer
is 30,000 nuyen and a clean slate with the Nexus.
You’re pros so, negotiate … negotiate … negoti-
ate … all right, 40,000 nuyen, final offer. Refusal
won’t turn out well for you. Here’s the data file.
You’ve got seventy-two hours to deliver.”
After he talks, he logs off.
The Job
The Nexus needs to fight back to survive, and
they hire the runners to knock out the forces of
MISSION 16: DATA CLEANUP // MISSIONS
 Dis placing the contracts on their heads. They
don’t know why the attacks are coming, but they
figure if the people doing the hiring are gone, the
94 contracts will cease. Trouble is, the lead Disian is
among those deep into the multiplanar research,
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
and his penthouse is surrounded by complex mag-
ic, Matrix, and meatworld traps.
Between the blackouts and the Matrix attack,
the Nexus is not happy with what’s been going on,
so they look to the PCs to help shore up their de-
fenses—and find out why they are being targeted.
The target is the contractor for the job against
the Nexus. The target location is described in
Hotspots below. It’s simple wetwork. If the run-
ners have a problem with it and refuse, go to the
Special Notes section.
The target is known as Fidian Serverson. He is
currently at the Arms, registered under the name of
Phillip Techson in room one, which is a single large
penthouse suite on the tenth floor. Hotel security
is the least of the runner’s worries, as Fidian has
performed several unique rituals allowing his pent-
house to become slightly shifted toward his home
metaplane and he has employed other odd security
measures.
Hotspots
Carnegie Arms
The Carnegie Arms is a super luxury hotel near
the heart of Denver, at the northwest corner of
Larimer and 14th streets. It’s a modern hotel with
an historic look reminiscent of the two-story ho-
tels of the 1800s, but its ten stories were construct-
ed in a more recent time. The first two floors have
no rooms, rather a bar, lounge, and restaurant on
floor one, and six ballrooms on floor two. Floors
three through eight have twenty rooms each, floor
nine has ten rooms, and the top floor is a single
massive hotel residence with multiple bedrooms,
bathrooms, and living areas. A bank of six eleva-
tors sits at the center of the hotel; four are for the
lower eight floors, and the other two serve floors
nine and ten.
Physical security consists of six guards (use Lone
Star Patrolman, p. 206, SR6) who respond to inci-
dents and do an hourly walkthrough patrol of floors
three through nine over the course of their shift.
Astral security consists of an onsite mage who
does an astral patrol of public areas once per hour.
They do not engage problems and instead report
incidents and call the ZDF for backup.
Matrix security consists of two onsite spiders
(use Cutters Data Harvester, p. 205, SR6) to mon-
itor the hotel’s host. They act to prevent access to
the penthouse node but do not patrol the node.
Instead, they hand off security to the current res-
ident.
MISSIONS // MISSION 16: DATA CLEANUP
Carnegie Arms Hosts
Organization:
Public Security Data Penthouse
Public, Security, Data,
and Penthouse Hosts
Theme: Themed in the style of an old western hotel
with a wraparound porch. The IC icons all match the theme
and look like characters in an old western movie.
Rating: Public 2, Security 5, Data 3, Penthouse 4
A/S/D/F: 3/2/4/5, 6/5/7/8, 4/3/5/6, 5/4/6/7
IC: Patrol (All), Acid (Security, Penthouse), Blaster (All),
Binder (Security, Data, and Penthouse), Tar Baby (Security)
Notes: There are two security spiders on the porch at
all times unless they’ve moved elsewhere in the host.
Penthouse Suite
To make this site unique, Fidian has hired hack-
ers to connect his Matrix security to a Null site in
the Foundation, and he is keeping some interesting
“pets” as physical security.
Physical security consists of limited penthouse
access via the lack of physical elevator controls.
The penthouse exterior entrance is at the end of a
narrow L-shaped foyer four meters in each direc-
tion and only 1.5 meters wide. The foyer contains
a series of traps that range from comical to deadly.
Each trap is initiated by a different physical trigger
that requires either an Athletics + Agility test to
avoid or an Engineering + Logic test to bypass. See
the Traps sidebar for the traps, their thresholds,
and effects.
Inside the penthouse, physical security is pro-
vided by twelve Disian Gargoyles (see p. 95) that
attack anyone who is not their Disian master.
Astral security is aided by a Force 5 ward that
has a different signature from any ward the PCs
have seen. The interior of the penthouse is a high
mana ebb (p. 167, Street Wyrd). Astral projection
causes similar disorientation but allows access
to the Disian home metaplane through the door
of the penthouse. Returning requires a Magic +
Edge (12, 1 hour) Extended test.
Matrix security helps to prevent physical ac-
cess through control of the elevator. It is also con-
nected to a twisted Foundation node incurring a
–4 penalty to all Matrix tests; technomancers are
physically ill as they enter this Foundation, incur-
ring the Nauseated status (p. 52, SR6).
If the PCs make some inquiries around the hotel
about the resident of the penthouse, they’ll hear
some rumors that it’s being used by “some MCT
bigwig,” which should be an item of interest to
them about a possible connection between Dis and
MCT.
Traps
Each listing has the trap’s location, description, and effect. damage increases to 9P, a glitch raises it 10P, and critical
The numbers are thresholds to spot the trap (Perception + In- glitch makes it 11P.
tuition), move around the trap (Athletics + Agility), or disable
it (Engineering + Logic). The one-meter square at the corner: 2/5/4 95
Description: This is another pressure plate that activates
Elevator: 4/2/3

SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL

Description: An IR laser at ankle height activates a bag
full of whipped cream that swings down from the ceiling and
splatters on all the occupants of the elevator.
Effect: The whipped cream is a bit old and funky, so you
smell bad. If this trap is tripped, an audio recording plays a
voice saying, “You’ve been warned. Go away,” three times.
One meter from the elevator: 3/3/4
Description: A pressure plate in the floor activates four
low-power lasers in the wall.
Effect: The lasers hit the target and burn them. Dwarfs
resist 2P, trolls resist 4P, and all other metatypes resist 3P.
Two meters from the elevator: 5/-/special*
Description: A thin glass plate covers almost the entire
hallway. Bypassing involves a very careful pushing down of
the glass before letting it slide back up into place. If the glass
is impacted, it shatters, releasing a monofilament wire trap
consisting of four wires spinning upwards, shooting from the
floor to the ceiling.
Effect: Whoever triggers the trap resists 8P damage.
*Bypassing this trap is a Strength + Agility (16, 1 Combat
Round) Extended test. An attempt with no successes, glitch,
or critical glitch causes the glass to break. No hits means the
four saw blades spinning out of the walls at differing heights.
Effect: Resist 6P damage. This trap automatically resets
and can affect multiple targets.
One meter square after the corner: 3/5/4
Description: Another pressure plate, this one fires a hail
of darts.
Effect: The darts all contain a toxin. Make an Edge + Armor
(8) test, with damage being 2S plus the difference between the
threshold and the number of hits (e.g. with three hits, increase
the damage by five [8 – 3] to 7S). Any systems for resisting
toxins can be used for the Body test to resist the damage.
Two meters from the entrance: 2/-/6
Description: Eight IR lasers across the hall.
Effect: Nothing, it’s just to slow them down.
One meter from the entrance: 1/-/-
Description: Several thin pieces of filament that look al-
most like monofilament (Engineering + Logic [6] test to know
they aren’t).
Effect: Looks like the thin glass trap setup but with mono-
filament. Nothing happens when they cut one or all of them;
it’s another stall tactic.

Who’s Who Disian Gargoyle

The Disian Gargoyle is not unlike the species
Fidian Serverson that exists on our metaplane. It has a general-
A Disian who has come to the material plane ly metahuman body structure that appears to be
and has been acting as an agent for his realm. He made of a grainy white stone. Differences include
is not particularly malicious and simply acts and the pair of wings on its back and an extra pair
does things as he is ordered. His efforts to increase of arms. Its face has highly angled brows, a broad
his connection to his home metaplane are more flat nose with only a single nostril, and four sets of
about homesickness than security, but both are eyes—two angled up, two angled down, two set
motivations. As an extraplanar being, he is grace- straight, and two looking to the sides. Its hands
fully awkward in his movements. He regularly sus- and feet have four digits each, and they are all
tains a Physical Mask spell that hides his appear- tipped with razor-sharp claws.
ance, but he drops it if confronted by the runners.
His true form is a spindly humanoid with stringy B A R S W L I C ESS M
white hair over his entire body, four arms, and four 5 4 5 6 2 2 4 3 6 5
eyes set in an arc across his face. His skin is pasty
pale, and his teeth are jagged and sharp. DR I/ID AC CM MOVE
14 9/2 A1, I3 11 15/20/+1 (Flying)

B A R S W L I C EDG ESS M Skills: Athletics 3 (Flying +3), Close Combat 5 (Unarmed Combat +3), Per-
2 3 3 2 6 5 5 6 4 6 8 ception 6 (Olfactory +2, Visual +3)
Powers: Armor 6, Corrosive Spit, Enhanced Sense (Low-light, Improved
Smell), Hardened Armor 3,
DR I/ID AC CM MOVE Natural Weapon: Claw, DV 5P, AR 9/—/—/—/—
9 9/2 A1, I3 11 10/15/+1

Skills: Athletics 2, Close Combat 2 (Blades +3), Perception 4, Sorcery 6

(Spellcasting +2)
Spells: Agony, Armor, Clout, Confusion, Heal, Improved Invisibility, Lev-
itate, Light, Mind Probe, Physical Barrier, Physical Mask, Silence, Trid
Phantasm, Stunball
Powers: Compulsion, Dual Natured, Enhanced Sense (low-light), Fear, Pet-
rification, Sapience
MISSION 16: DATA CLEANUP // MISSIONS
 Special Notes
The shadows are dark and dirty, and sometimes
96 uncomfortable work gets pushed on you. If the
team is opposed to wetwork, maybe they need to
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
subcontract it. If they come up with some other
solution to permanently deal with Serverson, that’s
fine.
mission 17
the trail of
betrayal
Masque (or Guide, as he introduced himself to
the runners) has plans. He hired the PCs in Mission
4, worked against them in Mission 11, and saved
them in Mission 15. Now, he wants to manipu-
late the runners with the truth. The first step in his
plan is to have the runners investigate the person
who betrayed them. Masque has some pretty good
information in this area—his main goal is to con-
vince the runners that he’s is on their side, while
also revealing how much Vishala is mucking about
with stuff she shouldn’t be mucking about with.
Hook
(Assume that Niki is the point of contact for the
group; substitute another fixer if Niki is persona
non grata).
You get a call from Niki. You thought that she
was lying low. “Hey there, I’m out of hiding for
a minute, and if you do this job I have lined up,
I might be able to stay out. You remember that
shaman who blew up a building so that you could
escape? Apparently, he wants someone to find out
what the big deal was with your original employer.
I’m calling you because you probably want to hunt
down the person who hung you out to dry—and
also because if you take care of them, I’ll feel a lot
safer. The guy wants to meet up at The Sauerkraut
Skillet. I hope you take the job, and not just be-
cause it could let me live longer, but also because
MISSIONS // MISSION 17: THE TRAIL OF BETRAYAL
If they don’t succeed in this job, seventy-two
hours and one second after Kludge’s log-off, a cy-
berattack will begin on all of their networked de-
vices from sprites. The sprites brick cheaper items
first and keep getting nastier until the runners
reach out to Kludge to try to make amends.
of the generous cut he’s offering me!”
Assuming the runners are at least willing to meet
Masque, he will meet at the mentioned restaurant.
He is acting cautiously at this point—he will be well
protected with Armor, Levitate, and Increase Reflexes
spells, as well as several high-Force spirits on call.
Masque will ask the runners to get some real pay-
data, specifically on their former employer, and will
give a couple of names and suggested locations where
information might be gathered. He is willing to pay
them each 7,500 nuyen for a good-faith effort on be-
half of the runners to gather information on:
• What the experiment was intending to do
• What Vishala wanted
• Why Vishala betrayed the runners
• Where Vishala is now
Extra information over and above this will
might earn a small bonus.
The Job
How the runners might gather the information
below is up to them. Runners might kidnap likely
subjects (such as the former boss), they might bribe
people (such as the former workers), they might try
to rip the information from the minds of the sub-
jects using magic, or they might hack commlinks and
complete Matrix searches to get the job done.
 In the interests of encouraging variety, make
each subsequent attempt using the same technique
more difficult. Perhaps there are more guards, or
the second subject has a higher-grade commlink.
Let the players unspool the mystery step by step.
Runners have many options to investigate. The
ones most likely to bear fruit are:
Niki the Gardener
What they can reveal: Vishala’s corporation,
and a physical description
Specific details:
• Vishala is a physically fit female human with-
out obvious cyberware or magical ability
• Vishala tried to keep it secret, but over sever-
al months of working together, she revealed
to Niki that she has worked for the PPC and
MCT in the past.
Vishala’s former
boss with the PCC
(Masque can provide this name and contact
info; the supervisor lives and works in Las Vegas.)
What they can reveal: Vishala’s history before
Mission 2 but after leaving MCT. She started
working with the PCC after leaving MCT, seeking
protection from her former employer.
Specific details:
• Mundane, but well versed in magical theory.
• Worked with other government researchers
on projects investigating metaplanar phe-
nomena.
• Put in charge of investigating metaplanar
anomalies occurring recently in Denver.
• Working directly with Thomas White Feath-
er, who was in charge of investigating the
Denver Matrix anomalies.
• Went dark shortly after arriving, and no one
with the PCC has been able to locate her.
Vishala’s former boss at MCT
(Can be tracked down at home in the Hub.)
What they can reveal: Will potentially reveal
Vishala’s original brief and how the reports went.
Specific details:
• Vishala was assigned to repeat some experi-
ments that MCT had become aware of.
• The experiments had to do with opening
portals to the metaplanes; they came about
after stories describing Aztechnology’s re-
search on an Antarctic rift started circulat-
ing years ago.
• After a series of spectacular initial reports, they
became progressively more full of buzzwords 97
and less full of information over time—Vishala
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
was trying to conceal something.
• The misdirection didn’t meet the threshold
of investigation until Vishala up and left the
employ of MCT.
• Vishala is now in the wind. MCT tried to
track her down, but she has avoided the
places predicted by the “Metahuman Re-
sources” team.
Workers at one of
the research facilities
(As seen in Mission 11; workers can be tracked
to their homes or workplaces.)
What they can reveal: Will potentially reveal
specific research details after Vishala struck out on
her own, as well as how she deals with her work-
force.
Specific details:
• The experiments were originally around
metaplanar gates, but pretty quickly became
around how to pollute astral space, and then
weaponize it. Coincidentally, similar exper-
iments, but with technomancy instead of
magic, revealed that hosts could be infected
with Dissonance
• The runner team was mentioned once or
twice, but only with the instructions to “nev-
er say anything of value to the runners, be-
cause they can’t be trusted.”
• Vishala was always really focused. Although
she pushed her employees hard, she wasn’t
needlessly cruel or obsessed.
• Several workers overheard comm calls
where Vishala was very interested in finding
information on a project MCT was said to
be running in the Denver area.
A digital dive into
MCT or PCC records
What they can reveal: Vishala’s personnel re-
cords (as well as details such as her last name).
Specific details:
• Vishala’s full name is Vishala Trotter; most
of the records have been deleted (as is not
uncommon for up-and-coming influencers),
but she has obviously been working her way
up the ranks quickly.
MISSION 17: THE TRAIL OF BETRAYAL // MISSIONS
 • There are a number of intersecting records
that suggest Vishala is good at sabotaging
the careers of competitors, using that to get
98 ahead.
• Vishala has no next-of-kin listed, makes
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
no unusual or regular visits to anyone, and
seems to spend a lot of time working.
• Vishala is single, with no children recorded.
• Vishala was investigated by the accounting
division for potential misuse of funds, but
after the investigator was demoted, the case
was dropped.
A technomancer quest
into a Resonance realm
(This is not particularly likely, but a skilled
technomancer might think to search the Reso-
nance realms for deleted information; see p. 99 for
information on the realms.)
What they can reveal: Operational data that has
been deleted. This will explain the experiments, but
the reasoning and goals were never written down.
• Vishala quickly switched from opening meta-
planar portals to equipment that can open
dozens of pinprick holes, just big enough for
mana to seep through.
• Vishala had a stroke of inspiration applying
the idea of astral portals to the Resonance
realms, alongside the data that MCT had
collected from the torture of technomancers,
to open microsecond connections to Disso-
nance realms within hosts.
• The experiments were really fruitful, and the
teams were on the threshold of weaponizing
the techniques to create toxic-magic bombs
and Dissonance-based attack programs.
• Vishala had several reasonably plausible
plans to execute the team; sending the team
on a suicide mission was selected over a di-
rect confrontation or assassination because
it would be cheaper, and having the runners
attack MCT would make it harder for any
survivors to get assistance.
Returning to Mr. Johnson
Assuming the runners have gathered some of the in-
formation, Masque will pay them the agreed amount.
If the runners haven’t discovered that Vishala
was trying to kill them, Mr. Johnson will share
a document with that information. Masque will
keep looking into Vishala. She hasn’t been amaz-
ing at operational security before, so she’ll proba-
bly slip up. If the runners are interested in resolv-
MISSIONS // MISSION 17: THE TRAIL OF BETRAYAL
ing that particular loose end later on, Masque will
give them a call.
He’ll also suggest that he has good jobs, a good
rep, and hasn’t sent even one team on a suicide
run, if the runners would be interested in other
well-paying jobs in the future.
Using Foundations
The Foundation of a host can only be entered
from the host’s portal. Finding the portal requires
an Electronics [Computer] + Logic (12, 1 minute)
Extended test. There will almost always be IC
guarding the portal of a host. Opening the portal
requires a Control Device action with Admin access
as if the portal were a separate device from the host;
entering is a separate Enter/Exit Host action. Deck-
ers operating inside the Foundation must use hot-
sim with a physically modified sim interface so that
the equipment has the bandwidth needed for the
higher sensory input. The modification is an Elec-
tronics [Hardware] + Logic (6, 1 hour) Extended
test. Technomancers do not require anything past
their natural abilities to operate inside the Founda-
tion; in fact, most say that it feels more natural that
operating in the regular Matrix.
Host Foundations are hyper-realistic, even more
than a UV host, and the version of reality within
them can be addictive. This reality, known as the
Paradigm, is drawn from the subconscious of the
user at the time of entry and can be literally any-
thing imaginable. It will also be different each time
a Foundation is entered. The exception is that this
Paradigm is set by the first mind that enters the
Foundation—anyone following will share the same
Paradigm until everyone inside has left.
All host Foundations always have seven sections
or areas, each with its own function:
• The portal: Your Foundation / host entry
and exit point.
• The archive: Where all the normally inacces-
sible files are stored.
• Master control: Control over the host Foun-
dation.
• Scaffolding control: Control of the host out-
side of the Foundation.
• Security control: Control of the IC within
the host.
• Slave control: Control of devices attached to
the host
• The Null site: This site has an unknown
purpose.
Only an icon with all four Matrix attributes
(Attack, Data Processing, Firewall, and Sleaze) can
enter a Foundation. Entering a Foundation chang-
es the normal Matrix icon to a Foundation avatar
that matches the paradigm of the Foundation and
is created from the memory and self-image of the
hacker. Generally, this is a copy of the hacker’s re-
al-world body and equipment. Foundation avatars
have physical attributes equal to the unmodified
Matrix attributes of the cyberdeck/cyberjack com-
bo or the living persona used to enter the Foun-
dation. Programs that increase Matrix attributes
don’t count for this purpose, and the attributes
can’t be switched once you enter.
Firewall = Body
Sleaze = Reaction
Data Processing = Agility
Attack = Strength
Actions taken within the Foundation are simi-
lar to those taken in the real world, but they only
mimic real-world skills. In reality, they are a sub-
conscious application of a Matrix action and use
either Electronics or Cracking.
Social Tests = Cracking [Hacking]
Perception / Physical / Piloting =
Electronics [Computer]
Combat = Cracking [Cybercombat]
Technical Tests = Electronics [Software]
or Cracking [Electronic Warfare]
The exceptions are knowledge skills relevant to the
current paradigm, which act as a bridge to using skills
besides Electronics or Cracking. For example, a par-
adigm that mimics feudal Japan may allow a runner
with Bushido Philosophy to use their Influence skill
for interactions inside the paradigm instead of Crack-
ing [Hacking]. This is especially useful for non-hackers
riding along through a Hitchhiker program.
All Resonance actions work exactly as they do
outside of the Foundation.
If combat occurs while in the Foundation, the
damage code from attacks is either 3P or 3S (attack-
er’s choice), regardless of the form that a weapon
takes. Items such as a grenade (or spell) that nor-
mally have an area effect will only affect a single
target. The Attack Rating is always Strength + Agili-
ty, regardless of the weapon, and the Defense Rating
of a Foundation avatar is always Reaction + Body.
Initiative inside the Foundation is Reaction + Intu-
ition, with 1 Initiative Die. Wired reflexes, synaptic
boosters, and Increase Reflexes spells and powers
add their bonus dice but do not increase Initiative.
Control rigs also add their rating to the Initiative
dice pool while inside the Foundation.
Entering the
Resonance Realms
The Resonance realms are a sort of Matrix
metaplane of pure information. Many techno-
mancers believe that any information that ever
existed electronically is stored somewhere in the
realms, which means they are vast and full of
treasures buried beneath oceans of nonsense and 99
useless data.
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
As with most of the Matrix, interaction with
the realms comes in the form of visual metaphors,
but unlike the rest of the Matrix, these metaphors
are not consciously programmed. That means
they are varied and sometimes shifting—in game
terms, the gamemaster can determine what the
metaphor is and how players interact with the
realms.
Technically speaking, the realms can be entered
from any part of the Matrix, but it’s easier from
Foundations. When in a Foundation, you can find
a way to the realms using the same Electronics
[Computer] + Logic (12, 1 minute) Extended test
it takes to find a Foundation. In any other spot,
it’s much harder, requiring an Electronics [Com-
puter] + Logic (30, 1 minute) Extended test. If a
PC runs out of dice before they find a way to the
realms (using the rules on p. 36, SR6), they can-
not search for an entrance again for twenty-four
hours.
There are no precise tests for finding infor-
mation in the realms, but it should not be easy.
Players should have to navigate a range of hostile
sprites and sometimes make bargains with them.
Do not just hand them information when they
visit the realms—make them work for it.
Any metahuman carried into the Foundation
with a Hitchhiker program generates their own
Foundation avatar. Hitchhikers cannot act quite
as effectively as the cyberdeck’s primary user, since
this increased dataflow taxes even the best decks.
A number of hitchers up to the device rating of the
deck suffer a –1 dice pool penalty to each physical
attribute. This becomes –2 for all hitchhikers after
the count exceeds the device rating. For example, if
a rating 3 cyberdeck is carrying one to three hitch-
hikers, all hitchhikers take a –1 penalty to all phys-
ical stats. Increasing this to four to six hitchhikers
will make each hitchhiker take a –2 penalty to tests
using their physical attributes.
Actions taken by avatars are based on Matrix
skills, not the actual skills of the runner (with the
exception of relevant knowledge skills, as noted
above), which means most characters will be far
New Hacking Program:
Hitchhiker
This program allows a number of passengers equal
to 2 x the cyberdeck’s device rating to travel along on a
Matrix run. These passengers share the sim output of the
deck and are vulnerable to dumpshock and attacks, but
they do not have any control over the deck or any effect
on actions that the decker takes.
MISSION 17: THE TRAIL OF BETRAYAL // MISSIONS
 less effective than they are outside of the Matrix.
While normally not available to the untrained,
Cracking skills are usable by everyone (with a dice
100 pool of linked attribute – 1). Magic does not actu-
ally work in the Foundation, but the spellcaster’s
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
memory and intent creates an effect that operates
off of the tradition attribute in the same way that
other hitchers’ skills and equipment emulate a
Matrix skill. Drones may be created from memory
and spirits may be “summoned,” but these con-
structs are simply extensions of the Foundation av-
atar and are not separate entities in any way. The
actions of a drone or a spirit following an order
take the place of the normal action of the avatar.
This rule does not apply to sprites, which can be
compiled and used as normal.
Specific to Missions 18 and 29
After the Silver Book of Saeletra was brought
to the Nexus, a wealth of information about the
Foundation was discovered in it. While most
of the data is still being studied, one very use-
ful program was spotted right away. Normally,
unskilled users would be relatively ineffective in-
mission 18
cracks in the
foundation
As investigations continue, the PCs look into
the involvement of a group no one wants to be in-
volved in all this activity.
Hook
The runners are contacted by Cat to meet Mr.
Johnson at Olympus. Mr. Johnson will be in the
MISSIONS // MISSION 18: CRACKS IN THE FOUNDATION
side the Foundation, but this program creates a
more complete translation of the reality inside the
Foundation where memory, intent, and force of
will are just as important as Matrix skills.
While the actual Foundation dive still occurs
through a cyberdeck, the Silver Book program
can only be run on a mainframe with processing
power equivalent to what is needed to generate
a host. Cyberdecks or other portable equipment
simply do not have sufficient power to operate
it. The program must be used in parallel to a
Hitchhiker program, and Foundation avatars
are generated from the cyberdeck’s Matrix attri-
butes as normal. The big change is in actions. In-
stead of just unconsciously using Electronics and
Cracking skills, or requiring a relevant knowl-
edge skill, the actual skills possessed by a run-
ner are translated into actions by the program.
Hackers and technomancers can still operate as
normal, but snipers aim their virtual rifles with
full proficiency, faces are just as convincing as
they would normally be, and mages cast proce-
durally generated fireballs (using the tradition
attribute instead of Magic) just as skillfully as
they would in the real world.
private meeting area located in the central area of
the club, a.k.a. Mount Olympus. Mr. Johnson of-
fers the team 25,000 nuyen for a rather interesting
but relatively low-risk job. While true, the runners
will not be familiar enough with what they are do-
ing in order to assess whether it is low risk or not.
They are hired to make contact with a certain
individual named Chiron and request access to the
Reflecting Pool. Mr. Johnson won’t disclose any
more on what that is, and instead tells them they
need to enter and explore this place looking for the
source of whatever is causing the sense of wrong
that seems to be affecting it.
No amount of questioning will get more from
Mr. Johnson. The PCs can use this lack of detail in
order to negotiate. If they mention this lack of intel
and vague job description, they can receive a point
of situational Edge to use for their negotiations.
Mr. Johnson has 13 dice in his Influence pool. Each
net hit increases the payment by 1,000, up to an
additional 10,000 nuyen.
The Job
Information from previous missions pushes the
PCs deeper into the Matrix, exploring one of the
Foundations to try to find out the meaning of what
they have discovered. As they explore the weird
and wild of the Matrix, they find signs pointing to
what no one wants—the involvement of a group
known as the Null Sect.
The runners need to contact someone to open
access for all of them to the Foundation, a tech-
nomancer named Chiron. Chiron lives in a GMC
Bulldog modified as an RV and moves around Den-
ver, seeking the best places to touch the Resonance
and the core realms of the Foundation. Locating
him and providing a quick favor takes up the first
section of the adventure.
His commcode is provided by Mr. Johnson.
Chiron gives the runners the GPS coordinates to
meet him at an out-of-the-way spot in the nearby
mountain forests within the Front Range District.
As the runners approach the location on the one
road in, they drive past a collection of four RVs
forming a small camp. The runners spot a drone
flying in from the west and landing on top of one
of the RVs before lowering into the RV through a
dumbwaiter-like device on the roof.
This camp will come into play when Chiron
asks the runners to chase off this group of smug-
glers from the area. He says they are damaging the
local Resonance pool with their presence. While
the operation has four RVs, it is actually being run
by just two riggers, a plethora of drones, and a pair
of deckers for electronic security. Two of the RVs
have rigger cocoons and sleeping quarters, one of
them is a drone-operated redistribution operation,
and the last houses a drone workshop.
The two riggers are Pitch and Roll, brothers
originally from the St. Louis area, now operating
this mid-point redistribution center. Smugglers in
this network run from the northwest down into
the Denver region, then release the brothers’ cus-
tomized drones. The drones head to a preset loca-
tion (the small camp), where they land and have
their goods offloaded and redistributed for ship-
ment. Some are headed for Denver, others to dif-
ferent smugglers at another location.
Pitch and Roll won’t be happy to relocate, and
they’ll put up a little fight before they leave, but 101
they aren’t die-hard combatants. They’ll lose a few
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
drones and then surrender before they endanger
themselves. Their decker associates are die-hard
drekheads, and they will wreck every bit of equip-
ment they can before “surrendering.”
See the Pitch and Roll sidebar for the inventory
of what they have to toss at the runners and the
stat blocks to use for them and the deckers.
Pitch and Roll
Pitch controls six unarmed Sikorsky-Bell Microskim-
mer XXS microdrones, two MCT-Nissan Roto-Drones with
Colt Cobra TZ-110s, and two GM-Nissan Dobermans with
AK-97s. Use the Rigger archetype (p. 86, SR6) for Pitch.
Roll controls four MCT-Nissan Roto-Drones with In-
gram Smartguns XIs, four MCT Hornet drones loaded with
tranq-patch feet, and two Steel Lynx drones with Ston-
er-Ares M202s loaded with APDS ammo. Use the Minute-
man Security Rigger (p. 206, SR6) for Roll.
The two deckers are Hack and Iceman (use Cutters
Data Harvester, p. 205, SR6; modify Iceman for the troll
metatype). They work mainly as security for the drones to
keep them from getting hacked and turned against them
or reprogrammed to deliver goods to the wrong place.
Once Chiron is satisfied, he offers access to the
Reflecting Pool, a specific section of the Founda-
tion of the Matrix. The characters need to access
AR or VR and walk into the waters of the Pool
near his campsite. They are then translated into the
Foundation as versions of themselves with slight
alterations, making them more real than real (see
Reflections of … sidebar).
If asked about where they are going, he explains
it is a place where they will not be who they are
but reflections of who they have always been. It
is not a physical place, but rather a Matrix place
that is not necessarily in the Matrix. The thing they
need to know is that they are not physically going,
simply “jacking in” in a way, even if they lack the
hardware for the task. As they enter the Pool, they
fall unconscious.
Chiron offers to drive their unconscious forms
around if they are concerned, but time passes dif-
ferently in the Reflecting Pool, and they should not
be gone for more than an hour.
He says that everyone needs to go—no one can
stay back, or the Pool will not have the full reflec-
tion to reveal the truth.
Inside the Reflecting Pool, the runners are im-
mediately deposited into a reflection of their own
doss. The first change is that all of these dosses
open to a parking lot like one would find in a mo-
MISSION 18: CRACKS IN THE FOUNDATION // MISSIONS
 tel. No matter how large their personal doss is, the
motel doors are all three meters apart. Parked in
the lot are their vehicles.
102 The motel office is run by a reflection of Chiron,
who directs them toward the downtown hub. The
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
world around them is sparsely populated com-
pared to the real Denver. Everyone the runners en-
counter, they know, and the people all know them.
They are strange reflections of people from their
past or present who don’t acknowledge any of the
strangeness between them and simply talk as if this
is a totally normal world—unless the runners start
asking about the strange aspects of the Reflecting
Pool near the downtown hub.
Beyond this initial introduction, the Reflecting
Pool is simply a reflection of Denver in your game
with a few key locations that need to exist. Three
of these locations exist in both realms, but one of
them is unfamiliar to all of the runners.
The events within the Reflecting Pool transpire
slowly, with small hints and clues appearing and
disappearing quickly, but all pointing to something
being off in this Foundation representation. Creat-
ing small side encounters for the runners can in-
crease the feeling of time passing as they are inside
the Foundation.
In the Jester’s Nest, the runners encounter a re-
flection of Mr. Johnson, who points them in a bet-
ter direction. When they reach the downtown area,
they feel drawn to the slightly brighter and less
shadowed sign over the Jester’s Nest. He warns
them that something is amiss, and he thinks clues
can be found at the ZDF Precinct 3 and MCT of-
fices, both of which are nearby.
While in the Jester’s Nest, the runners will be
attacked by the patrons, who suddenly gain a
shadowy haze in their eyes and then lash out at
with whatever they have. This is a runner bar, so
some will have firearms, but most come after the
runners with bar stools, fists, and tossed bottles.
This is really meant to be a good old-fashioned
bar fight, but the runners can handle it howev-
er they want. There are thirty patrons (use Sons
of Sauron Brute, p. 205, SR6, and Grunt Groups
rules, p. 114, SR6) in the bar who all attack the
runners—the runners can either defeat them all
or exit the bar. Once they exit, the patrons don’t
follow them.
At the ZDF Precinct, the runners can talk to the
officers (all still reflections of people they know,
some of them comically miscast in the role of
lawmen) for information. The officers talk about
shadowy sightings in the area and some random
attacks by shadow-eyed people. They have no
problem with the runners strolling around the pre-
cinct and perusing the files. The files are full of data
on their previous runs and personal lives. For very
private runners, this could be bad, but it offers a
chance to talk backstory and have a little internal
team dynamics.
MISSIONS // MISSION 18: CRACKS IN THE FOUNDATION
The bulk of the information at the precinct
points the runners into the area of the MCT offices.
The MCT offices are included due to the link
between MCT, the Null Sect, and the experiments
in Denver. While the runners may not know this,
the Foundations and these realms hold all data.
The MCT office is not as forthcoming as the ZDF
precinct. The occupants are more reserved and
don’t talk to the runners as freely. They all have
slight hints of a shadowy haziness. It could be their
eyes, wisps of their clothing, or something else, but
each is slightly touched by this shadowy presence.
Some of the denizens are lightly touched, but a few
are exceptionally shadowy. They actively lie to the
runners and tell them everything is okay and that
all of this is totally normal. This office is the place
the runners may hear the words “Null Sect” for the
first time as one of the denizens whispers a plea for
help escaping their influence.
The occupants of the offices are the runners’
chance to connect to Zero Factor, a place with use-
ful information. If the PCs follow one of the people
from the offices, they will lead them to the alley
where the Zero Factor entrance is set in the center
of a strange brick wall.
At Zero Factor, the runners are going to be in
for a wild ride. The entrance is only on one side
of the brick wall. On the other side, the brick wall
disappears until they walk past the midpoint in the
alley and turn around. After they enter, they en-
counter only lying people and need to sift through
the falsehoods to try to gather whatever data they
think they can. Those inside don’t fear the runners
or telling them something they’re not supposed to
know. They already know how powerful their al-
lies are and that the runners are tiny cogs in the
reflections of...
For the duration of their stay, characters get some
boosts, and everyone operates by standard game rules rath-
er than Matrix rules. Every character has their highest rat-
ing skill and attribute increased by 1, even if it goes beyond
their natural maximums. Characters with an Electronics skill
gain a pool of bonus dice to use while here. This pool is equal
to the skill rating and refreshes each combat round. Outside
of combat, a maximum of half the pool can be added to a
test. Any test can be augmented this way, as this represents
this character’s inherent skill in the Matrix.
Injuries in this reflection feel real, but if the Physical
Condition Monitor gets filled, the character does not die.
They black out and then suddenly wake up back at the mo-
tel. They are completely healed.
The only way for the runners to leave the reflection is to
return to their dosses, lie down, and all go to sleep or just
close their eyes at the same time. Mr. Johnson can tell them
this when they visit the Jester’s Nest, or they can suffer for
a while feeling as if they might be trapped in this reflection
forever.

massive machine of their world. They will reveal
the Null Sect involvement, but only with lies. As
the gamemaster, take your time to answer ques-
tions and make sure to always lie. It’s intended to
be a struggle for the team to feel as if they con-
cretely know what is going on, but they should
come out with plenty of odd clues.
Hotspots
Olympus
This club has a Greek mythos theme. The main
feature of the club is a “mountain” at the center
with a private party room inside. The private party
room offers a trid projection of the rest of the club
for those inside if they want it as both security and
a party feature.
The Reflecting Pool
The Foundation they dive into is a reflection of
the real world, but populated only by people the
characters know. There is only one place in the
Reflecting Pool that does not have a real-world
reflection. Four primary places will be part of the
story here, but the runners are free to explore the
entire realm. Three of the places have a reflec-
103
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
tion in the real world, one does not. The world
is active but not busy at most locations and most
times. Due to the limited number of people that
the runners know, the world will double up and
repeat people who all remember what they talked
about but see nothing odd about suddenly shift-
ing locations.
This realm doesn’t just create reflections of
things the runners know; it reflects the real world
and shows some of its darkest machinations. Its
depth and seclusion mean only the rare powerful
technomancer and those they grant access to can
reach these realms to investigate the truths they
hold, which means they end up sounding like cra-
zy conspiracy theorists when they talk about what
they experienced.
ZDF Precinct 3
The precinct resides inside a three-story build-
ing with a basement with holding cells. It is odd-
ly busy compared to the rest of the world. While
most of the rest of the realm is a dull hum of activi-
ty, this precinct is like a bustling beehive. There are
units heading out and heavily patrolling the area.
Despite the fact that none of the runners would
normally have access to the precinct, they all have
access here.
MISSION 18: CRACKS IN THE FOUNDATION // MISSIONS
 The people of the precinct are willing to answer
questions, and they talk about strange sightings
and events occurring all over their territory. This
104 includes odd shadows that keep appearing and dis-
appearing, as well as several attacks by invisible
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
assailants. If the runners offer to help try to track
them down, the precinct denizens gladly accept the
assistance and hand over a radio to track reports
and sightings.
The invisible assailants are forces from the
Null Sect. The Reflecting Pool is an extension of
the Foundation. Anyone who ever used the Matrix
can have a reflection here and can interact with the
reflections of other users. As the Null Sect works
to undermine and weaken the Matrix overall, their
efforts and operatives are also mirrored here.
The Jester’s Nest
This popular spot with runners is a strange, cir-
cus-themed dive bar. Its overall imagery features
big-top attractions with trid displays of animals,
clowns, and daredevil acts all playing constantly.
The displays are interesting, but their main pur-
pose is distraction and noise.
The Jester’s Nest in the real world is a gather-
ing place for those who quietly support the efforts
of Harlequin. The famed immortal elf isn’t active
in a significant way here, but he still promotes his
people doing things to act as a nuisance to Ghost-
walker and his new efforts. Their efforts in the real
world brought them in contact with the other el-
ements who are working against Ghostwalker, in-
cluding the Null Sect and MCT.
MCT Offices
These offices sit in a bland, six-story office
building. They appear fairly normal but seem to
be a focal point for sightings. Inside the offices,
the runners find those same people they know, but
they all demonstrate levels of confusion that other
reflections do not have. They also appear to have
MISSIONS // MISSION 18: CRACKS IN THE FOUNDATION
deeper shadows to their appearances inside the of-
fice.
All of this is a way for the reflection realm to
connect the efforts of MCT to the Null Sect and
the crazy metaplanar machinations they are work-
ing on in the real world.
The MCT connection to the metaplanar manat-
ech devices and the chaos of their efforts, as well
as the potential problems and damage they may
cause, are reflected here thanks to their arcane/tech
mix.
Zero Factor
This location does not have a reflection in the
real world. In the heart of downtown, near all of
the sightings and the troubles, is an alley between
two large high-rise towers. In the alley is a random
brick wall with a metal door at the center. Over the
door is a trio of neon zeroes. The door opens into
a small and seedy dive bar filled with a shadowy,
smoky haze.
This bar is the primary haven of the Null Sect
entities that have infested the Reflecting Pool
Foundation. This bar is mirrored in every single
Reflecting Pool iteration, and the Null Sect entities
come and go, seeking to control all of these realms.
They are currently heavily involved in the reflec-
tion for the runner team.
The patrons of this bar do not bother to hide
their otherworldly appearances and thus show
themselves in their full Null Sect strangeness. They
still look like people the runners know, but they
also reflect the form of program they arose from,
most of which are various IC programs.
Who’s Who
Null Sect
For information and stats on the Null Sect, see
p. 162.
 mission 19
down on
the farm
K, the Mr. Johnson from Mission 12 reaches out
again­­­­­. This time, he’s looking for a prize head of
cattle. Simple enough in theory, until the PCs dis-
cover who’s the diner-to-be. And that’s not the least
of their problems. This mission is intended to allow
the players a bit of respite and have some fun.
Hook
The Mr. Johnson known as “K” wants to meet
with the runners again. He has a rather unusual
assignment for them. Instead of a milk run, he’s
asking “Where’s the beef?” More specifically, he’s
looking to recover a bull that’s been abducted.
The technical term for this animal is a “beefalo,”
a fertile hybrid of domestic cattle and American
buffalo resulting from an old agricultural research
project, kept alive by a small collective sponsored
by the Shoshone tribe (currently part of the Sioux
Nation). One of their prize bulls has gone missing
and has considerable value. K wants it found and
returned alive.
K is offering 2,000 nuyen just to meet with him
at a very comfortable steakhouse in Lafayette,
north of the Denver core. At the meeting, he ex-
plains that SNSANI#-0844 has been stolen from
its pasture and he’s been asked to recover the an-
imal—big brown eyes and all. Having known the
runners from before, he explains his initial investi-
gation only turned up that a few back-alley tables
were all abuzz about tales of a massive steer (near-
ly 3,000 kilos) thought to be in the Rocky Moun-
tain Arsenal preserve area. The tags it normally has
on it are being suppressed, and K no longer has the
time to dig around and chase it down, so he wants
the runners to do it. The kicker for the pay is if the
prize steer is returned, intact, alive, and otherwise
unharmed, he’s offering 20,000 nuyen to the team.
He doesn’t have any advance cred to offer (apart
from that promised 2,000), but he has a contact
who can get the runners a trailer capable of haul-
ing the animal safely and securely.
105
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
The Job
The job must be completed within forty-eight
hours due to dietary requirements for the steer.
The team can approach the contact for the trailer,
which can be hitched up to any larger vehicle, such
as a large pickup truck, Bulldog Step-Van, or equiv-
alent. Tracking down the beefalo requires some
legwork. Evidence might be gathered if the team
visits the tribal herders and keepers who originally
had possession of the creature. Smarter and wiser
runners might realize that the dietary requirements
might be a good lead to follow up with, giving the
decker some specific opportunities to follow.
what to look
for in the matrix
A 3,000-kilo steer eats a lot of food and creates a lot
of waste. The beefalo eats seventy-five kilos of hay dai-
ly and generates more than one hundred liters of waste.
Have some unusual hay deliveries been noticed anywhere
in the area? Is an area getting particularly smelly as waste
rapidly builds up? Are neighbors noticing that all the grass
nearby is being devoured? Let the Matrix specialists of
the group have fun looking for signs of the beefalo’s pres-
ence. Data Search tests (Electronics [Browsing] + Intuition
[6], 30 minutes) can help them find these kinds of signs.
Do I Know You
from Somewhere?
When enough clues are gathered and leads fol-
lowed, it turns out that SNSANI#-0844 is being
kept safely away from prying and searching eyes
at an unused horse-show arena in the Brighton dis-
trict of the FRFZ. The location looks simple and
natural, but its appearance is misleading. In addi-
tion to a few hands around the location, there are
two individuals here worth particular attention.
The first is Magnum, an elf samurai turned tech-
nomancer who is managing the data-related activ-
MISSION 19: DOWN ON THE FARM // MISSIONS
 ities and associated Matrix security. He’s trying to
prevent the internal tags in Tyson (their nickname
for the steer) from causing them problems. He isn’t
106 out to kill the steer immediately—he seems to be
impatiently waiting for others to show up.
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
The second is Goldsmoke, an eastern drake. He
is the prime reason that Tyson has been abducted,
as he has a significant liking for prime beef. Ty-
son popped up on their radar when they were do-
ing some tracking down of likely prospects. Now
they’re just waiting for some friends to join them
so they can have a down-home barbecue.
If the group is detected by either Magnum or
Goldsmoke, this will set into play a very special sit-
uation. They are both part of the group that initially
extracted the Refugee in Mission 9. After the runners
performed that mission, these two were part of a re-
sponse sent back to investigate what took place. If any
Awakened runners used magical abilities at the scene,
Goldsmoke learned their astral signatures. Magnum,
for his part, found a few traces of Matrix-related ac-
tivity involving the extraction of the Refugee from
where they left him, which included digital finger-
prints left by Matrix operators doing legwork or ex-
ecuting the job. If Magnum or Goldsmoke manage
to recognize the PCs (Astral [Signatures] + Intuition
[2+], or Electronics + Intuition [2+]), their “just go
away” attitude will quickly turn into “Hey! We want
to talk to you!”
If the runners did not perform Mission 9, then
they have been set up—someone planted evidence
related to them, and that’s what Magnum and
Goldsmoke respond to.
mission 20
agents of
instability
The ignored parts of a city often have vital sto-
ries to tell, so the PCs are sent to go find some of
these tales.
Hook
There are a lot of plots going on in a city Ghost-
walker is supposed to rule with an iron fist, so
where are they bubbling up from? The PCs go to
MISSIONS // MISSION 20: AGENTS OF INSTABILITY
Wrap Up
If the runners manage to retrieve Tyson from his
holding pen and evade Magnum and Goldsmoke,
K is pleased with them. If the runners inform him
of the unusually tough pair of people who were
protecting him, he will softly chuckle, mumble, “I
wondered where they went,” and give them their
pay plus a bonus 1,000 nuyen gift card to any Car-
nimore location.
Alternatively, if the runners are subdued and
find themselves being interrogated by the pair,
they will be knocked out and have their devices
battered but not broken. If the runners are able to
win some social tests against the pair, the conver-
sation might turn constructive, to the point where
they might be able to summon K to the location. K
seems to know Magnum and Goldsmoke, and they
have a good conversation that ends in the PCs be-
ing released. The runners will receive their pay and
the gift-card bonus, as well as a statement from K
that he will be in touch with them again soon.
Who’s Who
Magnum (male elf, 2 meters tall): Character
Trove, p. 158
Goldsmoke (male dwarf, eastern drake): Char-
acter Trove, p. 157
look at two parts of Denver that have been sup-
pressed but not eliminated so they can gain the in-
sight of the oppressed on the current machinations
in Denver.
One of the team’s regular fixers reaches out and
sets up a meeting with Hank Tom (p. 76), who will
be acting as Mr. Johnson for this mission. He says
the gig is a simple intel-gathering op. The meeting
is set for 2300 at the Jester’s Nest.
 the rumor mill
Social Test Information
Influence or Con (3) Yeah, whatever, the wyrm’s power ain’t eternal, but backing this quickstep sally is just bad news. You can’t
107
take him down that fast without a lot of mess and collateral damage, and that’s bad for the rest of us.

SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL

Influence (4) I’m not so sure backing this Dis group is a better choice than going with the wyrm. Someone from another
metaplane isn’t going to give a squat about us.
Influence (5) or Con (2) (Neo-nahuatl) The tech department is talking about the Null Sect. That’s bad news. I don’t think
they’ll stop with just the aberrations. They get too much control, and they’ll be as bad as GOD. Prob-
ably worse.
Any (3) Just trading one unstable dictator for another isn’t the solution. We need unity. We need every-
one to get on the same page with where this city is going. I like some of the arcano-progressivism
Ghostwalker’s regime is suggesting, but he’s just doing it the wrong way. People need to understand
what’s good for them, and the neo-feudalist fascists are all screaming so loud no one can hear the
real message.
Influence or Con (2) The sides are forming. Denver is going to get split again, and this time it’ll be a wedge between the
dragon and anyone who opposes him. Dissenters are like grains of sand—the harder he squeezes, the
more fall through and get into those uncomfortable cracks and crevices.
Any (4) The clown had a beef. Old-school, ancient magical stuff. This new sect, they’re all tech and progress,
but no finesse. Now, if they could get H and his clowntown pals on board, that would be something.
But I hear that anachronism still calls people on a pocket secretary and refuses to drive a car.
Any (3) The blackouts here aren’t the same. They’re isolated. It’s a copycat. Possibly someone using the
blackout as a ruse to draw attention in the wrong direction. Like, the city goes dark over in Boulder,
and the action’s out in the Warrens. Then again, the action is always out in the Warrens.
Influence (4) After G-Dub gave everyone the boot, I got solid insider info that MCT came in with a sweet deal. They
used their top-seat clout to get in good with the wyrm. Certainly helped that it probably pissed off
Lofwyr. Gotta cook that dragon’s cojones to be knocked down to number two after so long atop the
pile of electronic gold.
Any (4) This city has seen enough. Whoever is going to stop this chaos, we need to support. I don’t care who
issues my scrip, we need stability. We need solidarity. I don’t think it matters who we get it under—we
just need to get it.

The meeting is held in the back room, and the
runners are offered 12,000 nuyen to do some intel
gathering in two areas: the turf around the Jester’s
Nest and the area known as Sunset Ridge in the Au-
rora Warrens. Mr. Johnson wants some street-level
intel on some of the happenings going on in Denver.
Any and all rumors are welcome, as long as they
come with some small connection to reality. They
need to look at who the people support, what kind
of rebellion might be percolating on the streets, and
what they think is going to happen next. No action
is to be taken on the rumors; the runners are just
supposed to gather and deliver this information to
Mr. Johnson. Standard negotiations can bump the
pay by 500 nuyen per net hit up to 15,000 nuyen
total (3,000 nuyen extra). Mr. Johnson has an Influ-
ence + Charisma dice pool of 10.
The Job
This is a straightforward legwork run, but the
places the runners are being sent to are filled with
desperate people willing to take a risk for a good
reward. The runners could look like easy or tough
marks, which could help determine the level of
struggle that comes their way while they are down
in the area hunting for rumors. The Rumor Mill
sidebar contains social tests and information to
disseminate along with possible sources.
The Jester’s Nest sits just outside of the Auro-
ra Warrens. This area is mostly wageslaves, gang-
ers, or worse, and there is a thriving community
of anti-Ghostwalker anarchists who worship that
clown-makeup-wearing elf who went toe-to-talon
with the dragon a few years back. They keep an
ear to the ground and have been digging into a
lot of the conspiracy theories around recent events,
but much of their intel is actually good.
Sunset Ridge is a slum within a slum. This
section of the Aurora Warrens is known to be a
gathering place for displaced Aztechnology/Aztlan
refugees and sympathizers. Ghostwalker has sent
in the brute squad a few times, leading people in
the area to be a bit closed-mouthed with strangers.
If this was easy, Mr. Johnson wouldn’t be paying
the kind of cash he is. Since this area is rife with
anti-establishment types, it’s another great spot to
gather intel, and they have some solid lines on the
work being done by Aztechnology in trying to stop

MISSION 20: AGENTS OF INSTABILITY // MISSIONS

 this metaplanar mayhem from getting out of hand.
The three bars mentioned in Hotspots are great
spots, but feel free to add more or something else
108 if you want to toss in a little personal flavor.
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
Hotspots
Jester’s Nest
This nightclub with a circus theme is filled with
AR, augmented by trideo projectors. Several staff-
ers have real costumes they wear to add to the fun.
The guests are offered masks at the door in the
form of animals, clowns, or masquerade designs
in a variety of styles. They are also offered a bit of
code that adds the same mask to their AR or VR
persona. The bar is a wild time 24/7. Even if there
are not enough guests to make it wild (a rare occa-
sion, as this place draws a wide variety of gangers
to a “neutral” site), the AR and VR, along with
the trideo displays, are always amped up to keep
it crazy.
mission 21
powerful wrath
Masque has a mission to investigate a building
that has had its astral side ripped to shreds. Ideal-
ly the runners will pick up some fragments from
magic grenades at the center of the building.
The runners will likely only know Masque by
the name Guide, as that is how they have met him
previously.
The runners may have made an enemy of
Masque or may not trust him enough to take a
call from him. If the runners will not work with
Masque at all, consider working the information
gained in this mission into other missions. If the
runners prefer to work through a fixer, Masque
would be happy to accommodate this.
Note: All mana ebbs in this mission are aspect-
ed toward the Toxic (corruption) tradition.
Hook
Your link rings with an incoming call from
Niki. “Hey there. It looks like you made quite the
MISSIONS // MISSION 21: POWERFUL WRATH
Sunset Ridge
This place is an armpit within an armpit of the
Aurora Warrens. Runners will need to visit one of
the three local bars for the best intel. The Blue Sun
is an off-shift private security bar that caters to
all private security corps and prides itself on the
presence of friendly banter, some scuffles, a little
boxing, but no lethal violence. The Lazy Susan is
a family-style pub with a bar that caters to local
workers and blue-collar types. The Sunset Bar and
Grill is a high-end bar for mid-level execs and up
that caters to the “no-synthahol” clientele looking
to slum it in the rough part of town. All three are
filled with appropriate characters the team can
chat up, scuffle with for intel, bribe, or pull into
alley for torture. The world is their oyster to shuck
as they wish.
impression on that shaman a while back. He wants
a reliable team to do some field work checking out
another experiment, and he asked for you by name.
Are you up for doing a bit of magical snooping?”
Masque provides an address and a statement
that says, “About three days ago, it looks like an
experiment from your former employer, Vishala,
went south and blew up a research facility. From
a distance, it looks like something magically twist-
ed the manasphere. I want you to break in, check
out what’s happened, and then steal anything that
looks like it might be magically corrupted. If there
is something out there that can twist mana, I want
to know about it.”
Masque offers the runners 3,000 nuyen each for
this bit of potentially hazardous snooping.
The Job
About halfway through the preparation or leg-
work phase, Niki calls with news. “It looks like
Lone Star has cordoned off the area you’re inter-
ested in as a crime scene. I can put you in touch
with an officer who takes bribes, if you want.”
Legwork
The runners can find some information about
the venue if they dig around on the Matrix or ask
about it on the streets. They can’t find any more
information about Vishala—at the moment, they
are the people who know the most about Vishala.
• The site is a former ice-skating rink that
hasn’t been in operation for thirty years.
• The site was occupied a few days after the
runners were sent on their suicide mission.
• The site appears to have no Matrix connec-
tion—at least nothing noticeable from the
outside
• Examining the aura of the site (from a dis-
tance) shows that the whole area has been
polluted; it has a low mana ebb (see p. 168,
Street Wyrd) starting about fifty meters from
the front door. An oozing, smoky pollution is
seeping out the cracks in the walls and win-
dows. There is no warding, but the walls are
creating some sort of astral barrier.
• Examining the aura of the site up close is
both brave and risky. Toxic spirits (see below)
roam inside the building. They appear con-
fused but will close in an aggressive fashion
with anyone entering the ice rink (see below).
They will not pursue anyone who flees and
appear to be contained within the building.
Inside the door of the building is a high mana
ebb, and right in the middle of the old ice rink
is a mana void (see p. 168, Street Wyrd).
mana ebbs
Mana ebbs and flows are described in detail in Street
Wyrd on p. 168. If you don’t own that book, for the purpos-
es of this mission, you can use these simplified rules:
Low mana ebb: –1 dice on any magical actions in the
area.
Medium mana ebb: Edge actions and boosts for ac-
tions that use the Magic attribute cost 1 Edge more.
High mana ebb: Awakened individuals cannot gain or
spend Edge on tests that use the Magic attribute.
Mana void: No magic can be performed in the area.
This includes alchemy.
The Site
The site is fairly easy to get access to. There is a
front door that was boarded up that has obviously
been damaged in some sort of explosion. There are
two other exits, which are closed and have locked
doors (using old-fashioned padlocks). These can be
easily muscled open by anyone of average strength.
Inside the building, the runners will be con-
fronted by toxic spirits. These spirits will not be 109
immediately hostile; they will instead be curious
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
about any runner who is not approaching the cen-
ter of the former ice rink. Runners entering the
ice rink inside the building will notice the spirits
become immediately hostile, and then violent to
any runners in the rink. The spirits will defend
themselves if attacked by people outside the rink
but will otherwise ignore anyone who doesn’t en-
ter their area. They won’t pursue people who flee
the ice rink. If observed closely, they appear to be
circling the mana void in the center, occasionally
attempting to grab items in the mana void without
being able to move directly into it. Runners who
successfully manage to grab things will be attacked
by any surviving spirits.
Sitting in the middle of the ice rink, in the mid-
dle of the mana void, broken and blasted, are some
twisted metal objects. Anyone familiar with mil-
itary hardware will be able to identify fragments
from several low-powered grenades, perhaps a
dozen. Anyone who can read auras (once the frag-
ments are outside the mana void) will be able to
see strange astral energy, but it is unusual energy
that isn’t an alchemical preparation, the result of a
spell, or residue from a spirit. It looks to be relat-
ed to spirit summoning. The spirits are only in the
main ice rink area.
Clever runners may try to use the ceiling crawl
space or the maintenance area under the ice rink
to get to the mana void. This will work just fine,
but any runner removing items from the void will
attract spiritual attention if they are noticed, and
the spirits will pursue.
If one or more of the fragments are knocked
out of the mana void, the spirits will immediately
begin fighting over them.
Runners may be worried about touching the
items. The items won’t hurt anyone immediately,
although the aura of anyone who holds one for
more than an hour or so will start to slowly as-
pect toward the toxic tradition. This will reverse
over time (assuming the runner doesn’t continue
to hold on to the object) and will be completely
gone after a dusk and a dawn have passed. Put-
ting the pieces in a box will shield people from
this effect.
Returning to Mr. Johnson
If the runners return with one or more of the
fragments, Masque is happy and cheerfully pays
the remainder of their fee.
Masque promises to let the runners know what
he finds out about the fragments, but he says they
look like some sort of toxic grenades—a prospect
that should sound terrifying.
MISSION 21: POWERFUL WRATH // MISSIONS
110 mission 22
greater
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
darkness
Astral weirdness in the Denver area is increas-
ing, which means the runners need to keep digging
into what’s happening.
Hook
The runners are contacted by Cantor Bix, a
colleague of Cat. Cat informed Cantor that the
runners were involved with some investigations on
recent blackouts. He wants to hire the runners to
return to those areas and investigate some strange
reports about astral entities in the region and some
other paranormal animal problems.
The job meeting is held at Club Charybdis, fa-
miliar territory for the runners. The job offer is
straightforward: Go to Sunshine Estates and inves-
tigate the astral plane in the region to see if some-
thing has changed. Report on any astral entities
or paranormal animal sightings in the area, and
check the local manasphere for anything out of the
ordinary. Pay is 10,000 nuyen for the team. Cantor
does not have extra nuyen to offer, but he can pro-
vide access to his vast network of connections and
possible discounts on gear or access to rarer items
if the runners do well.
The Job
When the runners arrive at Sunshine Estates,
they find Eagle Security and DocWagon personnel
in the area and quite a bit of commotion from sev-
eral other parties. There are actually three missions
to take care of in this area: Hunting the Bear, Shad-
ows of Fear, and Astral Hazing.
Hunting the Bear
Asking around, the PCs can find out that a pi-
asma (an Awakened bear species) attacked a lo-
cal while they were out walking their dog. The
person survived and is being treated for a vicious
MISSIONS // MISSION 22: GREATER DARKNESS
claw wound, but the dog, an Irish wolfhound, was
killed and taken by the bear. The dog was a rare
and expensive pure breed, so it was GPS tagged—
and the tracker is still working. An ARO broad-
casting from the victim’s PAN (even while he is be-
ing treated in the back of a DocWagon ambulance)
offers a 25,000 nuyen bounty on the Awakened
bear.
Shadows of Fear
Watching from a nearby upper floor window
in one of the homes is a young girl. She stands in
plain view of all the emergency personnel and the
runners. While she is not signaling anyone actively,
her posture is definitely intended to garner atten-
tion. Use an Intuition + Logic (3) test for runners
to understand she wants attention.
If the runners approach the house, the girl will
leave the window and come to the front door. As
she opens the door and attempts to engage the run-
ners, one of her parents grabs her by the shoulder
and forcefully tosses her back inside. The door re-
mains open for 1 combat round before the par-
ent returns to slam it shut offering the runners a
chance to slip in without breaking a door down
with security and DocWagon in the area.
Both of the parents are currently possessed by a
shadow spirit that was attracted to the fear in the
area after the blackouts. They take over the mother
and father when they sleep and terrorize the little girl,
feeding off her fear. The earlier excitement and noise
woke the parents and broke the spirit’s possession,
but they went to bed once things started to settle.
Once the shadow spirits are taken care of, the
runners can talk to the girl. They can also hack
into the home’s security camera footage to show
the parents what they have been doing in the night.
The parents are mortified and apologize profusely
to their daughter.
There is no money in this mission, but Karma
awards should be heavily increased for runners who
step in for the sake of altruism alone. Even if they
don’t know it’s shadows spirits behind the problem,
tossing a kid around like that deserves some inter-
vention. If the runners try to blackmail the parents, 111
the karmic scales balance once again, and the par-

SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL

ents offer them 5,000 nuyen to keep quiet—but that
takes the extra Karma off the table.

Astral Hazing
This is what they are being paid to do by Can-
tor. If they move around this area and do some
assensing, they can get a thorough impression of
how the blackouts, and thus the effects of tech-
nology, have affected the astral plane. It’s more of
an indirect relationship, as the blackouts induced
fear in the metahumans, which in turn began to
shape the mana in the region. The shadow spirits
came and then made it worse, which cemented the
mana shift.
To complete this portion of the mission, the
runners will need to complete a Magic + Assensing
(24, 1 hour) Extended test. This can be performed
by multiple astrally sensitive runners at the same
time as a Teamwork test.

Who’s Who
The Shades
(Force 6 and Force 4 Shadow Spirits)
These two were drawn to the area after the
blackouts for two reasons. First, the events stim-
ulated a baseline fear of the dark, and that’s good
energy for them. Secondly, the connection made by
the device was to a plane of shadows, and they
felt that closer-to-home connection. One possesses
mom and the other dad each night when they go
to sleep.

Ainsley Marshall
(Mom, Force 6)
Ainsley is a teacher at the local MCT-sponsored
high school. She’s 1.61 meters tall, with brown
hair, rounded features, and green eyes. The shadow
spirit controlling her is named Cahethlimell, and it
enjoys fear induced by the dark.

B A R S W L I C EDG ESS M
3(6) 3(6) 4(7) 1(4) 5(6) 4(6) 4(6) 3(6) 2 6 6

DR I/ID AC CM MOVE
12 13/2 A1, I3 11 10/15/+1

Skills: Athletics 6, Close Combat 6, Perception 6

Powers: Armor 6, Dual Natured, Enhanced Sense (see in complete black-
ness), Fear, Immunity to Normal Weapons, Mimicry, Possession, Psycho-
kinesis, Sapience

MISSION 22: GREATER DARKNESS // MISSIONS

 Mason Marshall length of three meters, a height of 150 centimeters
at the shoulder, and a weight of 600 kilograms,
(Dad, Force 4) the piasma more than doubles the size of most
112 Mason is a fireman with the local Denver Fire mundane black bears. The piasma is further dis-
Protection District. He is muscular, 1.99 meters tinguished by a steel-grey pelt color and a pair of
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL

tall, dark-skinned, with a bald head and amber powerful boar-like tusks mounted on its lower jaw.
brown eyes. The shadow spirit controlling him is The piasma is an aggressive nocturnal predator. It
named Shihazramec and enjoys fear induced by depends upon its enormous power, lethal natural
the unknown. armaments, and surprising speed to hunt virtually
any animal it finds. While it exhibits a strong pref-
erence for live prey, the piasma does not hesitate to
B A R S W L I C EDG ESS M scavenge through the trash of metahuman society.
6(8) 4(6) 3(5) 5(7) 2(4) 2(4) 3(4) 4(4) 1 6 4 Piasmas often establish their lairs near metahuman
DR I/ID AC CM MOVE
settlements or waste dumps.
12 9/2 A1, I3 12 10/15/+1

Skills: Athletics 6, Close Combat 6, Perception 6 B A R S W L I C ESS M

Powers: Armor 4, Dual Natured, Enhanced Sense (see in complete black- 13 4 5 11 3 1 5 4 6 5
ness), Fear, Immunity to Normal Weapons, Possession, Psychokinesis,
Sapience DR I/ID AC CM MOVE
19 10/1 A1, I2 15 10/20/+2

Skills: Athletics 5, Close Combat 8, Perception 5

Piasma
The piasma is very obviously a descendant of
the black bear (Ursus americanus). It shares the
bear’s muscular body type, dense coat of fur, and
powerful claws and muzzle. However, the Awak-
ened piasma is also a distinct breed. With an adult
Powers: Armor 4, Enhanced Sense (Low-light), Hardened Armor 2, Natural
Weapon (Bite, DV 6P, 10/—/—/—/—), Natural Weapon (Claw, DV 5P, 13/—/—
/—/—), Natural Weapon (Gore*, DV 8P, AR 9/—/—/—/—)
*Gore attack requires three meters of movement to build up speed. A gore
attack with no speed is just a bite.

mission 23

watching you,
watching me
This chapter is a chance for the PCs to cut loose
as they come to the aid of an associate they may
not have seen for a while.
Hook
The last time PCs heard from Stiletto was after
they made their way out of Green Water Bay. After
dealing with recent blackouts, the PCs receive an
urgent distress call from Stiletto, who’s under at-
tack and needs immediate assistance.
The Job
The PCs are at their safehouse/base of operations
and receive an emergency commlink message. The
message is encrypted, requiring a Cracking + Logic
(2) test to decrypt. The message shows Stiletto look-
ing like she’s in the middle of some serious drek. She’s
disheveled, battered, and haggard-looking, and her ar-
mor looks scorched and marked by a few bullet holes.
“I’m glad you picked up. I didn’t have any-
where else to turn. My escorts have been geeked,

MISSIONS // MISSION 23: WATCHING YOU, WATCHING ME

and I can’t reach any of my local contacts. I need
an extraction, like, yesterday. It’s worth 50,000 for
your team if you can get me before they do. Oh
drek…they’re almost <sounds of static> … here’s
my last GPS location—follow the fireworks, I’m
sure you’ll find …”
The transmission goes silent, and it’s up to the
PCs to ride to the rescue.
The Setup
According to the sent GPS coordinates, Stiletto
is at the old Fitzsimons Army Hospital. When the
players arrive, they don’t see or detect any imme-
diate signs of combat. A quick scout/search of the
area reveals a Toyota Gopher pickup truck (most-
ly) hidden in what was the hospital’s old ambu-
lance bay.
An Outdoors (Tracking) + Intuition (3) or Per-
ception + Intuition (4) test allows the PCs to find
the tunnels and the markers that Stiletto has left.
However, they do not see any signs of active com-
bat. Additionally, as they continue, they soon find
bodies (or parts) of several shadowrunners. Some
of them still have their gear, while others have been
stripped. Many look like they’ve been fried, burnt,
or simply blown apart.
Another Outdoors or Perception test will allow
the PCs to find Stiletto in one of the old under-
ground chambers.
We’re Here to Rescue You?
When the PCs find Stiletto, she almost fries
them with a Force 6 Ball Lighting spell. She looks
like she’s been in a serious fight—she is extreme-
ly pale due to her constant spellcasting. But her
condition doesn’t match the message, and she’s
extremely surprised when the PCs show up, espe-
cially when they inform her of the “message” she
sent. She tries to explain that she was here inves-
tigating some leads with an escort, but they were
ambushed, and her escorts were taken out. She
was barely able to escape.
It’s at that moment she realizes what is going
on—and then another group of shadowrunners
attack.
It’s a Trap!
At this point, another team of shadowrunners
(one or two Street Samurai, one combat mage or
street shaman, one weapon specialist, and one rig-
ger; all from the SR6 archetypes) attack the PCs.
The PCs will recognize two adepts leading the
group as part of the Auditor’s security detail. At
this point, it becomes a simple fight for survival.
The PCs are encouraged to use any and all tricks,
tactics, or brute force methods to neutralize their
adversaries.
Arenas of Combat
While the goal is survival, where the PCs fight
will greatly influence their tactics or provide sig- 113
nificant obstacles. If the PCs elect a more cat-and-
mouse style fight in the tunnels, they will have to
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
temper themselves or risk sealing themselves in
(see Special Notes below). If the PCs can make it
out of the tunnels, they can cut loose without wor-
ry because even the local law and ZDF seem disin-
terested in responding.
The rival runners will not stop until the PCs are
eliminated.
Aftermath
If the PCs are successful in repelling the enemy
runners, Stiletto (assuming she survives) will direct
them to her safehouse for medical care and rest.
She informs them that she’d gotten intelligence
that the tunnels held more leads concerning her
investigation. She also tells the PCs that she’s been
investigating some devices that are rumored to
have the potential for massive astral destruction,
which could be a major factor in what is currently
going on.
When the PCs are ready to depart, she gives
them twenty-five thousand nuyen as a thank you
for saving her life. She also warns that the Auditor
and whoever he works for will likely have targets
on their backs and to watch them carefully. In the
meantime, she still has an investigation to finish.
If the PCs decide to stay in Denver, she may need
their help again.
Hotspots
Fitzsimons Army
Hospital (former)
An old U.S. and later UCAS Army hospital lo-
cated near the old UCAS/CAS sector border that
had been shut down in the late 2040s, Fitzsimons
was re-purposed by the members of the Denver
Data Haven (a.k.a. The Nexus) as one of their
fallback positions when their original home in
Colorado Springs was compromised by the Zone
Defense Forces. When Ghostwalker ejected all the
Treaty of Denver nations out of the FRFZ, he also
sent a task force to eliminate the Nexus once and
for all. After a massive battle between the ZDF
and a cadre of local shadow talent, the old hospi-
tal was all but demolished. However, most of the
Nexus’ members and their dependents were able
to escape in underground tunnels that they sealed
behind them.
In the aftermath, ZDF engineers found and
opened the tunnels, and found nothing of value.
The entire area was sealed off and has since sat
MISSION 23: WATCHING YOU, WATCHING ME // MISSIONS
 quiet and empty while the FRFZ powers-that-be
decide what, if anything, to do with the area. Cur-
rently, the building is mostly a blasted out pile of
114 rubble, with maybe a quarter of the old hospital
structure having been removed to facilitate the
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
post-battle investigation.
The underground tunnels are almost completely
intact, but there are several areas of structural in-
stability. They form a compartmentalized network
of smaller structures, each one meant for a specific
purpose, including: living quarters, food prep/stor-
age, general storage, power/Matrix access, and so
on. All useful gear and tech have been stripped, but
there is enough material and collapsed tunnels to
make navigation tricky.
Who’s Who
There are no major NPCs to introduce in this
chapter.
mission 24
den of asps
An invite to a meet might go well, or it might
turn into an ambush for the ASPS (Astral Space
Preservation Society) to get their hands on the run-
ners. In their grASP, they get questioned but what
the runners have been through is enough intel to
get them enough leverage to get some answers of
their own.
Hook
The runners are contacted by Cat, who says that
a new player on the street wants a meet with them.
They’re offering 5,000 nuyen upfront just for the
team to show. Cat warns the team that the upfront
money seems fishy, but she sends it as long as they
agree to go to the Viper’s Den for a meeting with
Hypnalia, another local fixer.
As Cat has been working with the runners, she
can be offered a little nuyen (she’ll ask for 250) for
some details on Hypnalia, who is known to work
with the Astral Space Preservation Society. What the
MISSIONS // MISSION 24: DEN OF ASPS
Special Notes
• Use of heavy ordnance or explosives with a
damage rating of 12 or higher has the poten-
tial to collapse a tunnel.
• Navigating the tunnels can be a challenge. To
avoid becoming lost, PCs will need to make
periodic Outdoors (Navigation) + Intuition
(3) tests or to map their progress. Any glitch
on this test raises the threshold on the next
such test by 1; a critical glitch means they
become lost.
• The tunnels have a natural noise rating of 3
due to the amount of rock, earth, and debris.
• Stiletto has one-half of her condition moni-
tor (five boxes) filled but will provide what-
ever support she can.
• The gamemaster can adjust the roster or
number of adversaries as they deem neces-
sary, with a second team awaiting them out-
side of the tunnels.
society wants, she’s not sure, but if they’re paying
money upfront, they’re probably looking for info.
When the runners show up for the meet, go to
the Job section.
The Job
Not so much a job as an ambush. Hypnalia
waits at the bar and invites the team to a table near
the center of the room. Which is kind of a strange
start. She offers some introductions, explaining
that she works for the ASPS and understands the
runners have come across quite a number of pos-
sibly problematic astral phenomena recently. She
just wants a rundown on what they’ve seen. If the
runners start to claim street rep and professional
courtesy, she smiles politely and says, “We can talk
again later.”
That is the signal for the ambush.
What has been going on since the runners ar-
rived is a decently orchestrated ambush trying to
be stealthy while looking for advantages against
the team and weak points.
Hackers from the Blockade have been poking
at the active wires and ’wares on the team mem-
bers, looking for exploits to shut down their more
dangerous systems. When the ambush starts, they
reboot systems to keep them offline, especially re-
flex and sensory systems.
Several ASPS mages have been assensing the
runners since they walked in. The bar has a medi-
um mana flow in their favor, and they’re also look-
ing for ways to bring the runners down if need be.
When the casting starts, they plant one non-lethal
spell after another on the runners as best they can.
Area-effect spells when possible, but individual
when they need to. When attacking individuals,
they target whoever they think will go down the
fastest.
The Vipers are ganger toughs, and they’ve been
eyeballing the runners since they walked in. They’re
looking for dangerous gear and arms. When the
ambush kicks off, they either activate stun batons
or draw their gel-round-loaded Praetors from their
coats.
All three groups are communicating via the
host for the bar, which is bolstered by the defenses
of three Blockade members logged in and happy to
play electronic security.
the viper’s den host
Architecture and Structure: The host looks like a
cavern with writhing snakes all over the ground.
Host: Rating 4; A/S/D/F: 7/4/5/6
IC: Patrol, Acid, Blaster, Binder
Spider: Blockade members
The three groups want to get the drop on the
runners and bring them down gently so that Hyp-
nalia can have another conversation after they
awaken. This should be obvious in their tactics.
If the fight goes very poorly because the runners
start killing people, the forces opposed against
them escalate, and the expectation is that the run-
ners escape the bar before becoming mass mur-
derers.
If/when the runners go down, they wake up
bound and hooded in the basement of the Viper’s
Den and hear Hypnalia’s voice saying, “Well, it’s
later.”
She apologizes for the violence but says she
needs every bit of information the runners have.
She places an offer of 10,000 more nuyen on the
table, minus 250 nuyen for each box of Physical
damage that was inflicted against her side. She has
the ASPS mages now assensing the team for decep-
tion and holding back info. With that in place, she
gladly holds a conversation with them, then lets
them go.
The mages assensing the PCs try to gauge the
runners’ potential for future violence. If there is a
definite possibility of one of the runners threaten-
ing revenge or plotting quietly against them, Hyp- 115
nalia will get a signal, and a conversation will be
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
had. She wishes the team no ill will but wants them
to understand she won’t leave an open wound to
turn gangrenous. “Best to amputate the limb right
away.” She’s not a fan of killing but will gladly in-
ject the runner with a healthy dose of laes to erase
their memories. If she has to erase memories, she
also deducts 500 nuyen and tells the rest of the
runners what she did. They can choose whether to
deduct the pay from all of them or just the blood-
thirsty individual.
Hotspots
The Viper’s Den
From the outside, one would think it is a dive
bar, but beyond the doors lies opulence and an
exotic array of physical, astral, and Matrix dis-
tractions. This place is a home base for a trio of
Denver operations, The Vipers street gang, who
deal in BTLs and BADs, the Astral Space Preser-
vation Society, who use it as a club for shadow
meets and illicit artifact deals, and the Blockade
Matrix gang, who stage operations and test their
skills against the potent host the ASPS has pro-
vided.
In the bar are ten members of the Vipers, six
ASPS mages, and six Blockade hackers, as well as
eight non-involved parties, including the bartend-
er, two waitstaff, and five patrons.
Who’s Who
Vipers
(Professional Rating 2)
B A R S W L I C ESS
4 5(7) 4(5) 4 4 3 4 3 4.6
DR I/ID AC CM MOVE
8 9/2 A1, I3 10 10/15/+1
Skills: Athletics 2 (Sprinting +2), Biotech 1 (First Aid +2), Close Combat
4 (Blades +2), Con 2, Firearms 3 (Submachine Guns +2), Influence 2 (In-
timidation +2), Outdoors 1 (Urban +2), Perception 2 (Visual +2), Piloting 1
(Ground Craft +2), Stealth 2 (Sneaking +2)
Augmentations: Muscle toner 2, wired reflexes 1
Gear: Armor jacket (+4), commlink (DR 6), glasses (capacity 4, w/ camera,
image link, low-light vision, smartlink)
Weapons:
Combat knife [Blade, DV 3P, 8/2*/—/—/—, *max range is 20 meters]
FN P93 Praetor [SMG, DV 4S, SA/BF, 9/12/7/—/—, 50(c), w/ smartgun,
silencer, gel]
Stun baton [Club, DV 5Se, 6/—/—/—/—]
MISSION 24: DEN OF ASPS // MISSIONS
 Blockade ASPS Mage
B A R S W L I C EDG ESS B A R S W L I C EDG ESS M
116 1 1 2 1 5 6(7) 3 1 3 4.1 2 3 2 2 5 4 3 7 3 6 6
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL

DR I/ID AC CM MOVE DR I/ID AC CM MOVE

4 5/1 A1, I2 11 10/15/+1 5 5/1 A1, I2 9 10/15/+1

Skills: Cracking 5 (Cybercombat +2, Hacking +3), Electronics 3 (Computer Skills: Astral 3 (Emotional States +2), Close Combat 2 (Blades +2), Conjur-
+2), Perception 3 ing 5 (Summoning +2), Perception 3 (Visual +2), Sorcery 5 (Spellcasting +2)
Augmentations: Cyberjack 2, cerebral booster 1, cybereyes 2 [w/ low-light Spells: Agony, Armor, Clout, Confusion, Detect Truth, Heal, Improved In-
vision, flare compensation] visibility, Levitate, Mind Probe, Physical Barrier, Physical Mask, Silence,
Gear: Armor vest (+3 DR), commlink (DR 6), Ford Americar, glasses [capac- Trid Phantasm
ity 4, w/ smartlink, thermographic vision], MCT 360 cyberdeck Tradition: Hermetic mage
Initiattion/Metamagics: 1, Spell Shaping
Gear: Armor vest (+3), commlink (DR 6)
Weapons:
MATRIX STATS Combat knife [Blade, DV 3P, 8/2*/—/—/—, *max range is 20 meters]
Browning Ultra Power [Heavy Pistol, DV 3S, SA, 10/9/6/—/—, 10(c), w/
A S D F AR DR I/ID AC CM laser sight, gel rounds]
6 5 5 4 9 12 10/2 A1, I3 9

Program Slots (6): Armor, Fork, Overclock (Data Spike), Toolbox, Biofeed-
back, Baby Monitor
Special Notes
If the ambush goes off without anyone getting
killed, the Vipers will offer the runners a pair of
custom Viper-skin Praetors, each with a full load
of gel ammo. They become a solid contact in town
(Connection 2, Loyalty 2) if the PCs need backup
in a scuffle.

mission 25

WARP & WEFT

Masque has found Vishala’s location. He
wants some of Vishala’s research, and he reach-
es out to the runners to ask if they would like
a chance to take a shot at the person who hung
them out to dry. Masque wants Vishala as a pris-
oner but thinks the runners are quite likely to kill
her. In which case, getting her equipment, deck,
and notes will be a pretty good second prize. It’s
possible the runners will let Vishala escape. In any
case, this is the last that the runners hear of Visha-
la directly.
The runners will also have an opportunity to
loot some of the astral pollution and Dissonance
weapons that Vishala has been working on.
Hook
The runners may not have a friendly relation-
ship with Masque. If they do not, Masque will at-
tempt to give them the mission via Niki the Gar-
dener. In addition, the runners may not have given
Masque information or the grenade fragments
from Mission 18, so some plot adjustments may
need to be made.
“Hey there. Good news! The information you
gave, along with the bits of exploded weapons, have
borne fruit! I managed to trace the astral signature
of Vishala. I want a reliable crew to break in, kid-
nap her, steal her stuff, then burn everything down
on the way out. I am reaching out to you because I
thought you might want to kidnap the person who
tried to get you killed. Let me know if you’re in—I

MISSIONS // MISSION 25: WARP & WEFT

need someone to move on this place while Vishala is
still there. If you’re not interested, let me know and
I’ll get another team on it right away.”
Masque knows a few details about Vishala and 117
is happy to share them with the team, specifically:

SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL

• Vishala’s location—she was seen on drone
camera entering a two-story house on the
edge of Denver about an hour ago.
• Vishala appears to be wounded.
• There are weird spirits in the area, and they
seem to be interested in Vishala.
• Vishala has hired a few of cyber-samurai and
a street gang for security.
• There appears to be no magical security of
any kind at the site, probably because of all
the spirits, which seem pretty hostile.

The Job
Vishala, former Ms. Johnson for the runners
and a corporate traitor, is ensconced in a hardened
facility. While she doesn’t have forewarning that
the runners will be attacking, she is currently try-
ing to lie low and is fairly paranoid.
One hole in her defenses is that she doesn’t have
any spirit support, although she does have a couple
of combat mages on hand.
Her main vulnerability is that she doesn’t have
anyone to look after her network. She had hackers
and technomancers, but the Null Sect has killed
them with Data Spikes and dumpshock. Even
worse, the security system has many drones on
standby to defend the facility; they are powered
down, but a resourceful enemy hacker or rigger
could turn Vishala’s resources against her.
Mundane protection comes in the form of three
street samurai (use Street Samurai archetype p. 87,
SR6) sitting in the same room as Vishala, along-
side a hefty contingent of local mobsters who have
been drafted. Vishala has burned her corporate
contacts, flushed her street rep down the toilet,
turned her back on the pro-spirit principles of her
corporation, and is now holding very valuable in-
formation without any friends to watch her back.

Legwork
• Anyone who looks at the site can see that it
consists of a largely empty lot in an indus-
trial area, with one building. The building is
constructed of dozens of steel shipping crates
welded together to make well-armored cor-
ridors and rooms. There is a larger structure
in the middle of the welded corridors that is
the best place to stage a defense.
• Street contacts will reveal that the structure

MISSION 25: WARP & WEFT // MISSIONS

 belongs to two sisters and one brother who
all became shadowrunners some months
ago. The three have been augmented and are
118 not to be underestimated. They also have
a reputation for doing almost any kind of
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
work for the right price.
• Conducting astral reconnaissance will show
that there are mana ebbs around the build-
ing, but they aren’t as strong as they were at
the ice rink. There are absolutely no spirits in
the vicinity, and any spirits an astral projec-
tor brings with them or sends into the area
will be initially hesitant and will only enter
the area with reluctance. If pressed for details,
the spirits will say that the place “feels bad.”
• Checking out the site in the Matrix reveals
little. The site appears to have some intermit-
tent Matrix signal, but it’s not strong enough
or reliable enough to make a connection.
This has all the hallmarks of a site that has
an active Matrix but shields it from the out-
side world—probably the only way to know
what’s on the local site is to be on-site
The Site
As described in the legwork section, the site is an
empty lot with welded shipping containers. The site
is fairly large, about the size of three football fields,
and the building is in the center, with motorcycles
and burned-out cars scattered about. The building
has two main zones: the corridors leading to the
central chamber and the central chamber itself.
The area next to the building is clear of vehi-
cles, and anyone with tactical training will be able
to see that it is set up so that defenders could fire
on anyone in the clear area from solid cover. In
fact, the approach is being watched by hired gang
enforcers (use Eye-Fiver Go Ganger, p. 204, SR6),
who are weapons out, safeties off. The gangsters
are no pushovers, but they are not as disciplined as
Lone Star and not as skilled as runners. They are
being paid a lot of money on short notice to keep
their mouths shut and shoot.
Sufficiently cunning runners who wish to sneak
into the building may be able to use tactical skill
to find blind spots in the fields of fire. If they suc-
cessfully use their tactical skill (use Perception +
Intuition [4] to notice where those blind spots are),
they gain 2 points of Edge for every Stealth-based
test until a shot is fired or someone is killed.
Street contacts will not have revealed the gang-
ers (since they have kept their mouths shut), but if
the runners get a description or a photo of some
of the gangers in the place, they might be able to
bribe their way past an individual or two. Techni-
cally, they could bribe all of them, but that would
probably cost a lot more than the runners are mak-
ing for this mission. Vengeance-minded runners
might do this anyway, in which case they could
MISSIONS // MISSION 25: WARP & WEFT
have significant supporting fire when they walk in
and assault the street samurai and Vishala.
As described earlier, there is also a supply of
drones (Doberman drones, p. 300, SR6, armed
with AK-97 assault rifles) in the central chamber
intended for deployment against intruders, but
unfortunately for Vishala, the rigger who was in
charge of these was killed by Null Sect, and Visha-
la has not been able to recruit a replacement yet.
The drones are all powered up, but currently
locked in boxes. The drones don’t have manipu-
lators that can open the boxes, but shooting their
weapon just once will smash the plastic. Whether
this is more or less stealthy than ramming the wall
and smashing their way out is something for the
PCs to ponder. Enterprising hackers who use the
drones to eavesdrop before blowing everything up
will hear a cybernetic twitching from the cyber-sib-
lings and frustrated pacing from Vishala. Every
now and then half of a phone conversation will
be audible as Vishala checks with her contacts to
see if anyone is moving against them, if anyone is
available for security, or if anyone can get her and
some cargo out of the city with no questions asked.
Most of these conversations are a frustrating “no”
for Vishala, but eventually she will manage to get a
coyote able to get her and her things out of the city.
She’ll announce to her security. that“Someone will
be here to pick me and my gear up in three hours.
You have to keep me alive till then, and no shoot-
ing my ride.” After that, the pacing stops.
The Corridors
Gangers (as above) have been deployed into ev-
ery corridor that is accessible from the outside. The
gangers are positioned in armored cover with clear
fire zones. Each of these defensive posts also has a
medkit (p. 281, SR6), a few fragmentation grenades
(p. 263, SR6), and an old-fashioned walkie-talkie
to signal the central chamber in case the Matrix
connection goes down. The guards are all alert and
paying reasonable attention, which means they are
certainly alert enough to make a Perception test
if any runners try to use an acetylene torch to cut
through the walls. They may even be able to notice
someone drilling, since you can only be so quiet
while drilling through metal. There is one chemical
toilet and one small kitchenette in the corridors,
right next to the main chamber.
There is a minor mana ebb here (p. 186, Street
Wyrd). Spirits will appear (with reluctance)—they
feel a dreadful foreboding but can’t explain why.
The Main Chamber
This is a large room, roughly square shaped.
It’s tough to see across the chamber because there
are 1.3-meter-tall boxes (some metal, some plastic)
stacked throughout the area to provide cover from
the entrances. In the center of the room is Visha-
la, along with several large black containers, each
about a meter high, two meters long, and another
meter wide. They are heavy and armored contain-
ers that could easily contain a metahuman. Vishala
herself is in brand-new (you can still see the stick-
er!) corporate security armor with a helmet (see p.
160 for more details about Vishala). If observed
without her noticing, she will have her helmet
open with a cigarette between her lips. As soon
as anything happens to alarm anyone, the helmet
closes, cutting the cigarette in half.
If the runners stop to talk, Vishala will offer
them large sums of money, triple or quadruple their
normal rate, if they will just walk away. She isn’t
interested in technical discussions about what she’s
found, although it’s obviously valuable, but it has
taken a toll. If the runners decline her offer and she
has an opportunity to comment, she’ll say “It’s a sad
day when a shadowrunner turns down a payday.”
The three cyber-samurai move about the room.
They are usually in cover, they are twitchy, but it
seems to be more a general sort of twitchyness
rather than nervousness or worry. The drones
mentioned above are in boxes lining the north wall
of the room. If they were to burst out, they would
be very distracting for the defenders. Perhaps the
attackers as well, if they weren’t aware of them.
There is a medium mana ebb in this room, (p.
186, Street Wyrd).
The Boxes
The luggage of Vishala sits in the two armored
boxes described above. Inside one of the boxes
is a series of prototype mana-pollution weapons
in the form of grenades and rockets. The runners
are not likely to be able to research the contents
of these weapons, but they each contain the last,
tortured shred of a spirit, punctured by dimen-
sional pinholes. When the weapon detonates, the
shred is finally destroyed, the energy of which
spreads dozens of dimensional pinholes through
the room. This doesn’t have a physical effect, and
the pinholes are not strong enough for anyone to
come through from the other side, but they are
big enough to allow the essence of the connected
metaplane to seep through and pollute the area
that they are released into. The spot where the
weapon detonated immediately becomes a mana
void, the area surrounding it becomes a strong
mana ebb, both aspected toward Toxic magic.
The pollution lasts until the area is scrubbed
clean, or for a night and a day.
Anyone knowingly using one of these weapons
even once has spirits become more hostile toward
them. Manufacturing these weapons, or using
many of them, will cause spirits to become im-
mediately hostile as the aura of the manufacturer
becomes tainted with the agonized screams of the
spirits that they have tortured to create the weap-
ons. The taint will fade in time.
The other box contains equally dangerous data
chips. 119
Vishala has also been killing sprites in the Ma-
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
trix for a similar effect. Each data chip contains a
one-shot program that breaks a sprite to connect
to a Dissonance realm. When used in a host, it cre-
ates a Dissonance pool in the host.
The Matrix
The reason that the Matrix has been cut off
from the outside world is that the Null Sect has
targeted Vishala for death. They are very limited
in what they can do outside the Matrix and don’t
seem able to connect to the separated host. If a
runner somehow manages to create a bridging sig-
nal (perhaps by blowing up enough of the metal
walls, or jury-rigging a signal repeater), the Null
Sect will eventually notice, move in, and eliminate
every Matrix entity visible.
Null Sect appears to have taken issue with the
Dissonance weapons.
Note: The Matrix here is not Dissonant, at least
not until someone starts to use the data chips.
If the runners successfully abduct Vishala, Null
Sect will not immediately be able to track them
down.
The Fight
If there is a conflict in the main chamber, it
could be violent and lethal. The street samurai are
experienced, professional, and hyped up on adren-
aline and novacoke (p. 125, SR6). Vishala herself
has some skill using weapons.
At the first hint of danger (probably when a
gunshot goes off somewhere in the complex), the
street samurai will pop a hit of nitro (p. 125, SR6)
Tactically, the street samurai will work together
as a unit. One of the team will lay down suppres-
sive fire (using the Full Auto Rules p. 109, SR6, to
attack more than one person at the same time), a
second will snipe, prioritizing anyone who looks
like a mage or a decker, the third will get up close
and personal with the hardest-looking opponent.
Vishala will use her pistol to support any of her
bodyguards who need help.
The bodyguards will fight until the opponents
or Vishala are dead or have fled.
Vishala is good at judging situations, and if she
believes her team are outmatched, she will attempt
to flee on foot.
Escape? Not Likely
It’s quite possible Vishala will die in the firefight.
If she manages to flee (ideally with one or more
of the weapons from her cases as a working pro-
MISSION 25: WARP & WEFT // MISSIONS
 totype), she will make a run for it. Unfortunately,
her crimes against spirit-kind have not gone unno-
ticed. If she makes it out of the mana ebb, spirits
120 will notice and begin to attack. Small ones at first,
but before she has gone more than a city block,
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
word will have spread among the spirits, and she
will be under continual attack by medium- to high-
Force spirits. This will not go well for her.
Runners who manage to capture her alive, and
who attempt to extract her, will run into a similar
problem, although if there is someone who is good
at talking to spirits, an explanation that she is go-
ing to be punished could hold off the assault. If
that doesn’t work, then legging it at speed should
work. Masque has a shielded area in which to
store Vishala.
mission 26
the art
of asking
Disclaimer
Warning: Shadowrun often takes dark turns.
This is one of them. This mission is about getting
information from someone through any means
necessary. This could involve a number of uncom-
fortable approaches. Make sure your players are
okay with what they need to do. If they aren’t, skip
this mission.
This Mission also assumes Vishala survived
Mission 25, as it involves getting information from
her. If PCs don’t play this mission, you can skip to
the end to find out what happens and be ready to
move on to the next mission.
Hook
This work comes immediately on the heels of
the previous mission (as long as Vishala survived).
After a healthy payout, Masque offers some ex-
tra nuyen and a bit of payback. Vishala has intel
Masque’s benefactors need, and he is willing to let
MISSIONS // MISSION 26: THE ART OF ASKING
Returning to Mr. Johnson
Assuming the runners made a good-faith at-
tempt to complete the mission, Masque will happi-
ly pay the balance owed. Masque will give a bonus
(1,000 nuyen) for physical proof of the death of
Vishala, and another bonus (1,000 nuyen) if the
runners managed to capture the weapon cases
and what they hold. If the runners deliver Vishala
reasonably intact, he will give a significant (5,000
nuyen) bonus.
If the runners gathered the surviving drones,
they may have the basis for a very tidy profit on
this mission.
The street samurai also have a stash of drugs,
including novacoke, jazz, kamikaze, and nitro.
the runners handle the interrogation.
If they haven’t realized it already, Masque will
point out that the spirit world is now actively hos-
tile toward Vishala, and his wards are the only rea-
son she isn’t already dead. He will withdraw his
protection after the interrogation is concluded. The
runners can watch if they want, unless they prefer
to finish things themselves.
Masque offers 1,000 nuyen per runner to ques-
tion Vishala (after asking if they’d pay for the
privilege), with a bonus for extracting useful intel.
A trideo or sim recording of the interrogation is
reqiured for payment. He can supply the necessary
equipment for either.
The Job
Vishala is not a monster but a weary professional
like the runners. The job is an interrogation to get
Vishala to dish everything she knows about the on-
going plot to the runners. The question here is what
techniques the runners might use and what Vishala
might tell them. Her main goal is to reveal as little
as possible while waiting for her saviors to arrive.
Who are those saviors? DocWagon!
Vishala is smart and has long kept up her payments
to DocWagon. While she’s never been Platinum, her
Gold status and years of dedication, along with plen-
ty of encounters with the staff, have given her some
ins and connections with the local HTR crews. She’s
helped several of them out of tight jams and even in-
troduced a few to the world of shadowrunning for
some extra nuyen. She may be down, but she’s not out
because she has friends in the right places. When her
primary transponder reports her as unconscious, miss-
ing, or severely stressed, those she has helped come
down like flaming arcane bats out of hell.
The runners get thirty minutes before three
DocWagon HTR teams approach. They can try to
extract information from Vishala, and it turns out
she knows a lot. What she knows falls into two
categories: things she would be willing to tell the
PCs in an attempt to convince them she is being co-
operative, and things she really doesn’t want to tell
them. Here are summaries of those categories:
Things she is willing
to tell the PCs:
• MCT, the Null Sect, and Dis are working to-
gether. She believes MCT initiated the part-
nership with the others, but they initially
had other corporate partners. Lately, though,
MCT has gone their own way.
• She’ll admit that the combined effort is relat-
ed to manatech, but she insists it’s defensive
in nature. Disians have warned them about
attempts by other metaplanar residents to
mess with the metaplanes, so she is involved
in an effort to defend them.
• She claims that the Null Sect were approached
to wipe out the “tech” part of the manatech,
since they’re good at that sort of thing, but the
other parties are regretting including them,
because they have trouble keeping their de-
structive tendencies in acceptable boundaries.
Things she does not
want to tell the PCs:
• The partnership is not about preserving any
manaspheres. It’s about trying to drain mana
from other planes, and build machines that
can automate that process.
• The Null Sect was brought to the partnership
because they can abuse the Matrix like no
one else, and that’s exactly what was needed.
• Aztechnology did some of the early work on
pulling mana through rifts, and MCT stole
some of their ideas and is now running with
them on their own.
Torture will not work on Vishala. She will break
down, act pained, and sob out the information she
is willing to say, but under no circumstance will
she divulge the secret information because of tor-
ture. Torturing her will also cause the PCs’ reputa- 121
tion to drop by 1—word of those kinds of actions
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
has a way of getting around.
If the runners want to get information she is not
willing to share, they need to use Con, Influence,
or the variety of spells and adept powers that can
help gain information. Use the Social Test Edge (p.
98, SR6) table to help determine who might gain
Edge as the interrogation process continues.
Eventually, the three DocWagon teams ar-
rive—two on land and one in the air. Each team
has five members; a driver, a combat medic, two
support personnel, and an arcane support special-
ist. A total of three riggers, three combat medics,
six door-kickers, and three spell-slinging docs are
coming their way. The runners best be ready.
The one thing they lack is tech support. The air
team drops in from above to the roof or drops to
the street from a safe vantage to join the others.
The two land teams approach from opposite di-
rections and move in a well-coordinated fashion to
trap the runners in the middle. On approach, they
announce who they are and that they are exercis-
ing their legal access in order to retrieve a client
currently under medical duress.
They use cover, tactics, and suppressive and
focused fire very well, and it should be obvious
from the get-go that DocWagon is not out to kill
the runners, just retrieve the client. They start with
non-lethal tactics, but if the runners are using lethal
ammo, or the stun weapons don’t seem to be doing
the trick, they will switch to real ammo and focus
on suppressive fire. Therefore, if the runners catch
a bullet, it’s their own fault for running out into it.
Who’s Who
Riggers
B A R S W L I C ESS
3 4 5(6) 2 4 5 4 3 2.15
DR I/ID AC CM MOVE
7 10/2 A1, I3 10 10/15/+1
Skills: Athletics 3, Biotech 3, Close Combat 4, Cracking 5, Electronics 4,
Engineering 4, Firearms 3, Perception 4, Piloting 5 (Aircraft +2, Ground-
craft +3), Stealth 3
Augmentations: Commlink (internal, DR 5), control rig 2, cybereyes (rat-
ing 3; w/ camera, flare compensation, image link, low-light vision, smar-
tlink, vision enhancement), sound link, internal air tank 1, wired reflexes 1
Gear: Armor jacket (+4), commlink (device rating 4), Vulcan Liegelord RCC
(rating 5, DP 6, F 5)
Vehicles and Drones: Ares Dragon (w/ Ingram Valiant; gel ammo),
2 x GMC Bulldog Stepvan, 3 x Horizon Flying Eye, Lockheed Optic-X, 2 x
MCT-Nissan Rotodrone (w/ 2 x AK-97; gel ammo)
Weapons:
Colt Manhunter [Heavy Pistol, DV 4P, SA, 12/10/8/—/—, w/ smartgun
system, explosive ammo]
Combat knife [Blade, DV 3P, 8/2*/—/—/—, *max range is 20 meters]
MISSION 26: THE ART OF ASKING // MISSIONS
 One rigger is in the Ares Dragon helicopter con- Combat Healers (Hermetic)
trolling her craft, the Lockheed Optic-X2 watch-
ing the scene from above, and a Horizon Flying B A R S W L I C ESS M
122 Eye to keep track inside. The other two riggers are 3 4 4 2 4 4 4 4 6 5
each controlling a GMC Bulldog Step-Van, Hori-
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL

zon Flying Eye, and MCT-Nissan Roto-Drone. DR I/ID AC CM MOVE

10 8/1 A1, I3 10 10/15/+1

Combat Medics Skills: Astral 4 (Aura Reading +2), Athletics 2, Biotech 2, Close Combat 2,
Conjuring 4, Electronics 1, Firearms 3 (Pistols +2), Influence 2 (Intimidation
+2), Perception 4, Piloting 1, Sorcery 4 (Spellcasting +2), Stealth 2
B A R S W L I C ESS Spells: Armor, Blast, Clairvoyance, Clout, Combat Sense, Confusion, Detect
3 3(5) 4 3(5) 5 4 5 3 3.6 Enemies, Detect Magic, Heal, Levitate, Light, Physical Barrier, Stunbolt
Gear: Commlink (rating 4), full body armor w/ helmet (+7), sustaining ma-
DR I/ID AC CM MOVE nipulation focus (Force 4)
13 9/1 A1, I2 11 10/15/+1 Weapons:
Colt Manhunter [Heavy Pistol, DV 3S, SA, 12/10/8/—/—, w/ smartgun,
Skills: Athletics 3 (Throwing +2), Biotech 6 (First Aid +3), Close Combat 3, gel ammo]
Electronics 2, Firearms 4, Influence 4, Perception 5, Piloting 2, Stealth 3 Stun baton [Club, DV 5Se, 6/—/—/—/—]
Augmentations: Cyberears 2 (w/ audio enhancement, damper, sound
link, select sound filter 2), cybereyes 2 (w/ camera, image link, smartlink),

Special Notes
dermal plating 2, muscle replacement 2
Gear: Commlink (rating 4), 6 x flash-paks, full body armor w/ helmet (+7),
2x smoke grenades
Weapons: If the runners are able to obtain information
Colt Manhunter [Heavy Pistol, DV 3S, SA, 12/10/8/—/—, w/ smartgun,
from the “Things She Does Not Want to Tell the
gel ammo]
Stun baton [Club, DV 5S(e), 6/—/—/—/—] PCs” list, Masque will pay a bonus of 1,000 nuyen
per runner above the initial 1,000 he offered for
running the interrogation. If they successfully fend
Door-Kickers off DocWagon, he doubles both the promised pay-
ment and the bonus.
B A R S W L I C ESS
If the runners use physical torture or personally
6 4(7) 5(6) 5(8) 3 3 4 2 1.3 execute Vishala, everyone gains 1 extra Heat and
loses a point of Reputation. Word gets out on the
DR I/ID AC CM MOVE street quickly about how this went down, main-
17 10/2 A1, I3 11 10/15/+1 ly because Masque thinks these runners are likely
Skills: Athletics 4 (Throwing +2), Biotech 2 (First Aid +2), Close Combat getting too big for their britches.
5, Electronics 1, Firearms 5, Influence 3 (Intimidation +2), Perception 6, The runners might choose to let DocWagon
Piloting 2, Stealth 3 take Vishala, counting on the spirits to catch up
Augmentations: Cyberears 2 (w/ audio enhancement, damper, sound
link, select sound filter 2), cybereyes 2 (w/ camera, image link, smartlink),
with her eventually. If they allow her to escape,
dermal plating 4, muscle replacement 3, wired reflexes 1 Masque only pays half (500 nuyen per runner) and
Gear: Commlink (rating 4), 6 x flash-paks, full body armor w/ helmet (+7), expresses his extreme disappointment: “I expected
2x smoke grenades better from runners of your reputation.”
Weapons:
Ares Alpha [Rifle, DV 4S, SA/BF/FA, 4/10/9/7/2, w/ smartgun, gel
ammo, APDS ammo, underbarrel grenade launcher, stun grenades]
Colt Manhunter [Heavy Pistol, DV 3S, SA, 12/10/8/—/—, w/ smartgun,
gel ammo]
Stun baton [Club, DV 5Se, 6/—/—/—/—]
4 x stun grenades (DV 10S, 8S, 6S; Blast:15m)

MISSIONS // MISSION 26: THE ART OF ASKING

 mission 27
closing
the door
Arcane needs to find out who is trying to kill
him, and why. Then he needs someone to stop
them.
Hook
After several attempts on his life, Arcane con-
tacts the team with a simple offer. Find out who’s
behind the attacks and stop them. The initial offer
is 10,000 nuyen per runner; each net hit in negoti-
ations adds 500 nuyen, up to an extra 3,000. The
negotiations take place over a commlink, so no
in-person bonuses.
The Job
After the runners accept the job, Arcane will re-
late what he knows. He will not leave his office or
let anyone in until the situation is resolved. Com-
munication continues to take place over the com-
mlink. It’s currently about 8:00 p.m.
1. The first attack was eight hours ago in
the Aurora Warrens. While driving to his
weekly lunch with Trinket, a local tal-
ismonger, the Zombies used one of their
school busses to block off Quincy while a
second crew came in behind. Arcane was
able to fight off the gang without much
trouble. In retrospect, it was obviously
a planned attack but at the time he dis-
missed it as a random incident.
2. Four hours ago near the University of Col-
orado in Boulder, Arcane was hit with a
hail of Stick-n-Shock rounds. He recov-
ered quickly, got back into his car, and
drove off just as his attacker approached.
The attacker was a troll with glowing red
cybereyes and jet-black skin, tusks, hair,
and horns.
123
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
3. Arcane arrived home two hours ago, and
a missile hit his car right in front of his
garage. He survived the explosion with
his fae regeneration and made it inside the
building unseen by using Concealment.
4. Just before the call to the runners, a pow-
erful bound spirit managed to get through
the wards around the office. Arcane and
his free spirit allies fought it off, but it was
close. Arcane tells the runners he will try
to trace the summoner in the astral plane,
but that will take at least an hour before
he has any results.
Legwork
Armed with Arcane’s information, the runners
need to hit the streets and see what else they can
dig up.
The Zombies
The Zombies are easy to locate. They have a
well-known funhouse in the Warrens. Getting them
to talk may involve a bribe (about 500 nuyen) or
intimidating them. The leader of the gang, Rome-
ro (use Mafia Soldato, p. 207, SR6), will say they
were offered 10,000 nuyen to bag someone. Mr.
Johnson knew the target would be driving down
Quincy around noon. It should have been an easy
job, but the target was a mage who stunned most
of the gang then called an earth spirit to push the
bus out of the road.
Romero has an image of Mr. Johnson on his
cybereye that he will turn over for 500 nuyen.
Showing the image around to a high-Connec-
tion (3 or better) corporate contact or searching
the Matrix with an Electronics + Intuition (10, 10
minutes) Extended test will turn up the name Dex-
ter Wright, an Ares regional manager who works
out of the Denver Ares Spire.
MISSION 27: CLOSING THE DOOR // MISSIONS
 The Bounty Hunter
Asking around about a troll with a jet-black skin
mod and glowing red cybereyes will turn up the
124 name of Midnight, a local bounty hunter (add rating
3 cybereyes to the Street Samurai, p. 87, SR6) who
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
hangs out at Five by Five, a bar on the west end of
the Hub. Midnight is willing to talk about the job
over a drink. He tells the runners it was a contract
his fixer called about. He located the mage and hit
him with enough Stick-n-Shock rounds to take down
a juggernaut, but before he could get to him he was
up and in his car, driving away. Shortly after that, the
job was upgraded to “Eliminate.” Midnight doesn’t
do wetwork, so he dropped the contract.
Checking with a fixer contact will reveal that
there was indeed a 15,000 nuyen contract out to
extract Dr. R. Kaine, with Arcane’s description and
information. Three hours ago, it was changed to
a 30,000-nuyen wetwork contract. Tracking down
the Mr. Johnson offering the contract should be a
very difficult task, but eventually the trail will lead
back to Dexter Wright.
The Hitman
Research about who has taken the wetwork
contract, or about someone who uses a missile
launcher for hits, will turn up the name “Boom-
Boom” (for stats, add an Aztechnology Striker to
the Marine Corps Special Operations profile from
p. 208, SR6). After the hit Boom-Boom was ex-
pecting DocWagon to show up and pull his target
out of the wreckage but they never arrived. Cur-
rently he is on a nearby rooftop watching the car
and the building to see if he can either confirm the
kill or reacquire his target. If the runners locate
him and convince him to talk, Boom-Boom has the
same information as Midnight.
The Spirit
After an hour, Arcane calls with the news that he
was able to track the summoner to somewhere in the
North Park Hill area, about five kilometers away, but
the exact location is concealed.
Behind the Curtain
The Mountain Edge Society, a lodge of Nos-
tradamus within the Black Lodge, is behind the
attacks. The lodge is researching why Disians
MISSIONS // MISSION 27: CLOSING THE DOOR
are in Denver and discovered that Arcane can
control an astral rift. Acquiring an asset like
Arcane would be a huge accomplishment but
failing that, they have decided that he must be
eliminated to stop the incursion from Dis. Dex-
ter Wright is in charge and started with hiring
the Zombies. Then he issued the extraction and
wetwork contracts, and finally he sent the spirit
that attacked Arcane. Dexter Wright is a trustee
on the board of the Ares-McAuliffe Internation-
al School. He has full access to the building and
has set up a secret room there. He and several
lodge members are currently there, attempting
to summon an even more powerful spirit using
an obscure ritual known to the Black Lodge.
Once Dexter Wright and the other lodge mem-
bers are located, the runners can either attempt
to eliminate them or reason with them. Any com-
bination of the following may convince them to
stop the attacks: Outright intimidation, blackmail-
ing with a threat to expose them, explaining that
the Dis are actually being brought into Denver by
MCT, or pointing out Arcane’s potential as an as-
set if left alive.
Hotspots
The Ares-McAuliffe International School is a
three-story building with a basement and is the only
Ares-owned property in North Park Hill. It has a
rating 5 host for administration and controlling
the building security. There are interior motion
detectors, cameras, window alarms, and rating 6
maglocks on the exterior doors. The Mountain
Edge Society members are in a concealed base-
ment lodge protected by a rating 8 ward modified
to conceal magical activity.
Who’s Who
Dexter Wright: Use the profile for Sioux Wild-
cat Shamanic Support (p. 210, SR6) and swap spell
shaping for flexible signature.
Mountain Edge Society: Up to five other lodge
members may be present. Use a mix of Seraphim
Avenging Angel (p. 208, SR6), Lone Star Combat
Mage (p. 207, SR6, add +1 magic and +1 initiate
grade w/ masking), Combat Mage (p. 82, SR6, add
+1 initiate grade w/ masking).
 mission 28
old scars
Denver dealt with some astral ruptures a few
years ago, and the scars are still there. With the
ongoing astral interruptions, the PCs are sent to
investigate if anything has leaked through the
scars—and what plane it might have come from.
Hook
The runners may not trust Cat after the ambush
by the ASPS, however it went, but Cat still feels
bad about it and recommended the team to a col-
league for some intel gathering. The team is invited
to Club Charybdis for a meet with a local fixer
named Sol. It’s a familiar spot, and the meet is once
again over in a corner booth with the swirling pool
keeping snoopers at bay.
Sol is polite with the runners and has some idea
that their experiences in Denver have been trou-
bling, but she has a job that should be right up
their alley. Plus, it pays well.
She has several locations that are reporting
strange sightings and odd astral phenomena. Since
the runners have dealt with something like this
before, Sol figured they could handle it, though
she also admits it’s a bounty hunt for evidence of
metaplanar intruders.
Sol says she has five locations that need to be
checked out, but a wry smile reveals there’s more
to the story. The sites have been previous rift sites,
and reports indicate that metaplanar access is easier
there. Sol would like to know what metaplanes are
gliding a bit too close to ours. Each site they check
on is worth 2,000 nuyen (for the whole team, not per
person). Data on the metaplanar source for the intru-
sion at each site is worth an additional 5,000 nuyen.
This mission has a potential payout of 35,000 nuyen
for the team. The money could raise eyebrows, but
Sol is happy to point out it may be a challenge and
offers some very valuable and rare intel.
Obviously, this will be dangerous. The runners
might also suspect, with that sum of money, that
something else is going on, and someone else might
be behind these events. See Digging into Sol for a
little more on that.
125
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
In order to seem less threatening, Sol does not
have extensive personal security in the area. She
has a single guard (use Seraphim Avenging Angel,
p. 208, SR6) near the booth, but nothing else in
the bar.
digging into sol
Sol is actually working a little extra side business with
all the crazy going on. She usually works with an array of
corporate and criminal patrons, but she’s currently being
heavily funded by MCT, hence the big money. She isn’t re-
vealing that to anyone, but if the runners get nosy and
hack Sol’s commlink, they will see several recent commu-
nications with Mountain High Holdings, a well-known MCT
North America subsidiary.
The Job
Every site sits at a former border between the sec-
tors—they are remnants of the rifts that rose from
the destruction of Zebulon. The areas have changed
in recent years—some worse, some better. The job at
each site is directly tied to the place. For this job, the
hotspot info below will cover not just the spot, but
the events and adversaries that will come into play
as the runners investigate. Each hotspot is named for
the borders shared.
If the runners collect live bounties, Sol will be a
bit skittish at first, as she knows the Denver view
of all things astral and metaplanar. She will need to
reach out to his current employer (another chance
for the team to hack her communications) and get
approval to take possession. The specimens will be
bought at 5,000 nuyen per individual species and
will need to be handed off back at one of the inves-
tigation sites. The runners may choose which site.
At the location, a series of black vans, enough
for all the specimens, will pull up. The rear doors
will open, a mechanical voice says, “load them
up,” and a payment ARO appears for the runners
to accept.
The vans are all individually rigged by a secu-
rity rigger (use Rigger, p. 86, SR6) and electroni-
MISSION 28: OLD SCARS // MISSIONS
 cally protected by a security hacker (use Decker, p.
84, SR6). The vans are modified Ares Roadmasters
(see stat block).
126
ares roadmaster
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
SPD TOP
HAND ACCEL BOD ARM PIL SENS
INT SPD
3/5 20 20 160 16 10 3 3
DR I/ID AC CM
26 6/4 A1, I5 16
Hotspots
CAS/UCAS Border
The rift between the UCAS and CAS is older
than Denver, but their issues and the rise of this
city all started about the same time. The rift is lo-
cated just north of where East Fourth Street turns
south and changes to Abilene. It is an empty patch
of dry retention pond next to the railroad tracks.
The railroad tracks are the key. When the rift rolls
up, it looks like the deep black of a railroad tunnel.
Along the edges a faint trace of dark woods can be
seen. This portal leads to the outermost layer of
the cracked Denver metaplane, the Dark Canyon.
On new moon nights, darkbeasts, creatures of
shadow and death, slip through. They’ve settled in
the area near the rift, as it is the only place they
can survive long. They used to sicken and weaken
after about a week, but they have discovered a way
to keep themselves whole longer. They can sustain
themselves with a sacrifice laid on the railroad
tracks every sixth night at midnight. This makes
them vulnerable, though, as they are completely
unable to hide when the light of the moon hits
them directly and there is no cover near the tracks.
There are currently six darkbeasts present. They
have been stalking and killing the local squatters
to avoid detection. The squatters in the area talk
about the shadow dogs as if they are some kind of
Awakened canine with the ability to hide in shad-
ows. Two of the current darkbeasts will be in need
of making a sacrifice at the tracks when they are
being hunted. The others will be nearby, and the
six of them have formed a pack on this side. They
will defend each other.
Darkbeast
These six-legged canine-like creatures usually
appear as little more than a darker patch of shad-
ow, but when the light of the moon hits them, they
turn stark white and display their full extraplanar
nature. Their six legs have six joints each, making
them exceptionally flexible and quite powerful.
They have a long, thin tail that can be used for
balance or for wrapping around a branch or post
MISSIONS // MISSION 28: OLD SCARS
for stability when climbing. Their bodies are lean
and muscular, and their heads are canine-like but
with longer slits for eyes and shark-like teeth in
their jaws.
B A R S W L I C M ESS
SEAT 5 7 5 4 2 1 4 4 4 6
2/8
DR I/ID AC CM MOVE
7 9/2 A1, I3 11 20/30/+2
Skills: Athletics 5, Close Combat 5, Perception 4 (Visual +2), Sorcery 4
Powers: Armor 2, Concealment, Enhanced Sense (Low-Light Vision), Fear,
Innate Spell (Darkness), Natural Weapon (Bite, DV 4P, 8/—/—/—/—), Natu-
ral Weapon (Claw, DV 2P, 12/—/—/—/—)
Weaknesses: Light of the moon [the darkbeasts cannot use their Conceal-
ment or Innate Spell while being touched by the light of the moon]
If the runners hunt on the new moon or seek out
the rift on the new moon, they can step through to
the cracked and damaged Denver metaplane. They
will step into the treacherous Dark Canyon but
can gather enough information in just a short time
to be able to turn around and pass back through.
If they stay for more than six hours, they will be
trapped there until the next new moon. And they’ll
likely not survive. The Dark Canyon is not a place
to step into unprepared. In the trees of the Dark
Canyon are hundreds of darkbeasts, all drawn to
this strange phenomenon. Some will try to cross
over.
Aztlan/PCC Border
Across the river from the corner of West Virgin-
ia Avenue and South Platte River Drive is the high-
way that once separated PCC and Aztlan. In the
space between the river and the road, rips formed
from the contrast of humanity’s destruction of wa-
terways and the long flowing South Platte River.
The area has become overrun with something the
locals are calling bleedweed. This tumbleweed-like
critter/plant has monowire-sharp thorns, so cuts
from it bleed extensively. The weeds are normal-
ly stationary, but they are exceptionally light, and
breezes swirl often in this area. Make an Edge (1)
test each round the runners are within two meters
of a bleedweed. Failure means they are bumped by
a rolling creature, and it can attack. This is quite
dangerous because the bleedweed doesn’t just
make you bleed, it paralyzes you and then goes af-
ter Essence.
The rift here is a patch of cracked and dried
mud along the shore of the nearby river. This patch
of ground doesn’t match the areas around it. The
river is not currently in contact with this patch, but
if a liquid is poured on the ground it immediately
disappears, sucked into the cracked ground. The
runners may see a bleedweed get blown through
the rift, shifting from its native form into the tum-
bleweed-like appearance on our metaplane.
 On the other side of that rift is a Desert/Wind
metaplane with a vast stretch of dry, cracked earth,
with the exception of a shallow pool of water they
stepped out of to get here. At various distances
from them, they can see a creature that looks like
the bleedweed, but it obviously self-locomotes as
some move against the constant wind blowing
across the plain. If these creatures are attacked,
they spatter large amounts of gore and then move
more quickly toward whoever attacked them, leav-
ing a trail of red and black ichor in their wake.
bleedweeds
On our metaplane, they look like tumbleweeds with a
lot of thorns. On their home metaplane, they look a little
thicker and more fluid, as if they are made of worms rath-
er than branches.
B A R S W L I C
1 4* 1 1 1 1 2 1
DR I/ID AC CM MOVE
1 3/1 A1, I2 6 0/0/+0*
Skills: Close Combat 4
Powers: Essence Drain, Immunity to Normal Weapons, Natural Weapon
(Prick, DV 3P, 12/—/—/—/—), Paralyzing Touch
Weaknesses: Vulnerability (Fire)
* Movement speed is 5/15/+1 on their metaplane
CAS/PCC Border
Beneath the overpass, in the shadows created by
470 going over 177, is a rift to a realm of shadow
and despair. The rift was fueled by an urban leg-
end that was strengthened by the mercurial nature
of the teenage mind. The urban legend spoke of a
teenage girl at her lowest point, saddened by the
lack of understanding in her family, the ridicule
of her friends at school, and the self-loathing she
had created in herself from the gossip and rumors
of those around her. She went to the bridge and
threw herself off only to survive the impact and
find a clarity in her own situation that assuaged
her depression and led her to a more fulfilling life.
Despite the best efforts of the local law enforcers,
they were not able to stop other sad teens from
leaping. Urban legends kept relating tales about
the successes as a friend of a friend, but the scream-
sheets kept graphically showing the truth.
During the separation of the city, this spot often
became a meeting place for star-crossed lovers from
different nations who would sneak into the shadows
under the overpass to meet, only to find the restless
spirits of those who leapt there to terrorize them, oc-
casionally chasing them down into the traffic below.
This place has seen its share of death, despair,
fear, and terror, so as the rifts formed, this one
connected to a dark place. From this dark place,
creatures called shade stalkers are emerging. These
creatures have been slipping out from the overpass
at night and finding other shaded and shadowy
spots to haunt. They cannot stand the sun and
must live in shadow at all times. 127
They have discovered a taste for metahuman
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
flesh, leading some people to mistake their pres-
ence for ghouls lurking in the area.
The rift is located in the deepest shadows of the
overpass and is less than 1.5 meters in diameter.
Two of the most powerful shade stalkers (increase
all attributes and skills by 1) have claimed this
hunting ground and enjoy that ability to pass back
and forth between here and their home metaplane.
This is especially useful when they can bring back
a tasty morsel to their masters on the other side.
The metaplane on the other side is a dark dun-
geon where the runners will immediately encoun-
ter a being that makes a troll look small. The shade
M ESS
stalkers are basically the giant rats of this meta-
4 6 plane, and this imprisoned individual has trained
them. The fact that they keep bringing him these
snacks has intrigued him, and he watches the small
hole they travel through frequently. When he sees
living snacks come through, he bellows excitedly
in a tongue the runners do not understand. He’ll
try to grab the runners, and they need to make an
Agility + Reaction (2) test to avoid him. If they find
a way to communicate with him, he talks about an
evil king imprisoning him for being in love with his
daughter. The being looks remarkably metahuman
but has blue skin and fine white hair. He wears
rags but looks well-fed.
If the runners decide to try and help him, feel
free to make up an adventure of tiny shadowrun-
ners in the realm of giants and award them Karma
for their altruism.
shadestalker
These creatures are a mix of quadruped and biped.
They can drop to all fours and run quickly in an awkward
lope, but most of the time they stand on their rear two
legs. They have large claws and a vaguely bovine appear-
ance to their head and torso.
B A R S W L I C M ESS
4 5 5 3 3 2 6 4 4 6
DR I/ID AC CM MOVE
8 11/2 A1, I3 10 15/25/+2
Skills: Athletics 4, Close Combat 6, Perception 5
Powers: Armor 4, Concealment (self only), Enhanced Sense (Low-Light
Vision, Thermographic Vision), Natural Weapon (Bite, DV 3P, 9/—/—/—/—),
Paralyzing Howl
Weaknesses: Allergy (Sunlight, Extreme)
Sioux/PCC Border
In the chaotic crossroads of 25 and 76, there’s
a strange bit of folklore. When you pass through,
MISSION 28: OLD SCARS // MISSIONS
 you can’t blink. If you do, you could fall victim
to a tire shredding and maybe, if you’re really un-
lucky, an animal attack from some invisible para-
128 normal animal. This is really happening—after the
attack, the culprits flee to the chaos of the nearby
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
trees and planted areas. The foliage makes it easy
to forget you’re in the center of a massive highway
cluster. Some report seeing something before their
tire blew, others just report a normal blowout but
noticed odd markings on their vehicles.
This rift has always been an odd one, between
two Native tribes who spend as much time getting
along as they do arguing. The border here has al-
ways been an odd mix of hiding in plain sight or
relying on old agreements to prevent things from
getting out of control. The beings slipping through
are a great reflection of that and are known as
blink wolves. Blink wolves flash in and out of in-
visibility with the added touch of a Concealment
power to make them hard to see both physically
and astrally, but only one side at a time. When the
blink wolf is astrally visible, they are physically in-
visible, and vice-versa. To penetrate the ruse, char-
acters need to make either a successful Intuition +
Perception (6) or Magic + Astral (6) test or use an
Observe in Detail minor action and succeed at the
same test at half the threshold.
The metaplane connected to this rift is another
strange one. It’s a vast and interesting frontier blended
from the lands of these two Native American Nations,
but truly feeling like neither. The rough mountains and
plains of the Sioux Nation blend with the mountains,
plains, and deserts of the PCC. This is actually a rare
metaplane that reflects the resources of our own world
and would be an ideal place for a ruthless megacorp to
strip for valuable materials.
Accessing this metaplane is actually easy but
rarely done. In order to cross over, a person or ve-
hicle simply has to drive the cloverleaf of the ramps
twice in immediate succession. This is rarely done
on purpose, but accidents occur. Local legends and
rumors talk about this, but most of the stories are
dismissed as idle, crazy talk. Even though no one
in this area will ever drive the cloverleaf twice.
blink wolf
When visible they look like a big wolf, like the troll
of the wolf species. Their fur is a metallic blue color and
drapes from their sides like curtains of hair. Their teeth
are transparent but always reflective and tinged by the
last color they passed through, be it a neon green Ameri-
car door or the crimson red of a bloody limb.
B A R S W L I C
7 5 4 8 3 2 5 3
DR I/ID AC CM MOVE
13 9/2 A1, I3 12 15/25/+2
Skills: Athletics 5, Close Combat 6, Perception 5, Sorcery 6
Powers: Armor 6, Concealment, Enhanced Sense (Low-light), Innate Spell
(Invisibility), Natural Weapon (Bite, DV 3P, AR 9/—/—/—/—)
MISSIONS // MISSION 28: OLD SCARS
UCAS/Sioux Border
The rift sits beneath the overpass where High-
way 2 passes the railroad tracks at the end of the
Colorado Boulevard Service Road, but the trouble
hides in the old trailer lot to the east. The aban-
doned cargo trailers are where the creatures that
slip from the rift seem drawn. They are forming
their own little community among the rats and
squatters.
The trailer depot is filled with cargo trailers and
containers stacked and smashed in a mishmash
maze. There is a small space for a forklift hauler to
traverse and drop new additions, but nothing new
has been added for several decades. The whole
place is a mass of wrecked and rusted trailers, with
patches of refit plates and parts where squatters
have made small homes for themselves between
the occasional ZDF clear-outs. It’s intended as a
chaotic maze that’s hard to traverse and hard to
map out.
The metaplanar visitors traverse the mess easily.
Their bodies are shapeable and can slide through
razor-thin spaces with no concern for the tetanus-
or bacteria-riddled cargo boxes. These entities are
all about converting this space to something that
reflects their home plane. This actually helps to
keep them anchored to our plane. The runners
will find many of the cargo containers filled with
thin crystalline slivers that make passage deadly
for the unprotected, difficult for the protected and
careful, and a slow painful death for those filled
with the hubris of armor. Moving through the
crystals results in cuts and scratches that are an-
noying at best. A careful transit helps—Agility/2
meters per combat round and an Agility + Athlet-
ics (2) test protects the traveler. Each additional
meter moved in a round adds 1 to the threshold
of the test. Failure of the test results in 1P unre-
sisted damage + 1P/additional meter moved re-
sisted with only Body. Moving without caution
(no test) results in the same damage test but adds
a later effect. Each combat round spent moving
through the crystals without caution causes the
crystals to not just shatter but powderize. This
makes a fine crystal dust in the air that is inhaled
and inflicts 6P damage each combat round there-
after, resisted by Body with air filtration systems
aiding. This damage occurs until the character is
clear of the area plus a number of combat rounds
equal to the number they spent inhaling the pow-
der (minimum two).
The invaders are called crystal sliver beasts.
For now, they are content to build a new home,
M ESS
5 6
though some may eventually seek a way back to
their plane.
This path back is the runners’ opportunity for
an additional payout, but it requires a little work.
The runners will need to destroy one of the beasts
and collect a pair of pieces from its body and use
them as a sort of glasses or binoculars. Two piec-
es like glasses allow them to see the crystal sliver
beasts without the Perception test, and also allow
the runners to follow a trail to the origin point of
the CSBs with only an Outdoors + Intuition (16,
5 minutes) Extended test. Each additional pair of
pieces they add cuts the threshold in half.
The home of these beings is called the Razor-
plane and it’s not an unknown place, having been
explored and deemed “inaccessible” by MCT. Its
link to this rift comes from the razor’s edge be-
tween war and peace for the UCAS and the Sioux
Nation. The access to the Razorplane is located
beneath the overpass but is only accessible when
an accident occurs on the bridge above and the
shattered glass of headlights skitters over the edge
to the ground below. This actually occurs fairly
regularly due to poor lighting and frequent racing
on this strip, but the runners will need to dig into
local records on sightings in the area of the strange
beasts and connect to local accident records. A
Matrix search with a threshold of 24 will get them
the clues they need.
The gamemaster can have an accident occur
and then present a quick choice to the runners
to jump through the rift or miss this opportunity.
They can also let them create their own or wait for
another chance.
The plane itself is much as MCT would de-
scribe. Everything is made from a fragile crystal-
line substance with razor-sharp edges that cut with
the slightest brush. Then to make it worse, when
they break, they turn to a fine powder that shreds
mission 29
digital assault
The Nexus has picked up some Matrix chatter
that makes them believe they’re about to be at-
tacked, so they are scrambling to beef up security.
Hook
Perri contacts the runners and asks them to
come out to the Nexus for a new job. “Directions
are attached; make sure you aren’t seen coming
in. It’ll be a fight, so bring your gear with you.”
the lungs. Even protective equipment only lasts so
long in this unique environment.
If the runners cross over, they need to use the
same rolls as above but made once per minute to 129
represent the chance of brushing a plant or a rock.
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
Animal attacks are common, including the CSBs.
The plane itself resembles a lush forest, but rather
than green, everything is prismatic and crystalline.
The place rings with an eerie shrill and smells emp-
ty, as if the only thing producing an odor are the
runners themselves. The place is also never dark.
crystal sliver beast
They look like six-legged crystalline panthers. Their
hairs are crystal slivers, and their entire body can shift
from three dimensional to two. They are fragile when at-
tacked but resilient with a form of regeneration that al-
lows them to pull their bodies back together. Despite the
fact that they appear similar to an animal on our plane,
they are entirely sapient.
B A R S W L I C M ESS
5 4 5 5 2 1 3 2 4 6
DR I/ID AC CM MOVE
5 8/1 A1, I2 11
20/30/+2
(swimming)
Skills: Astral 3, Athletics 5, Close Combat 4, Influence 3 (Intimidation +2),
Perception 4, Stealth 6
Powers: Energy Aura (Corrosive), Natural Weapon (Claw, DV 2P, 12/—/—/—
/—), Regeneration, Sapience
If questioned, she explains that she believes the
Nexus is about to be attacked and the site’s only
physical security is a few old drones. If the run-
ners want an agreement upfront, Perri will offer
6,000 nuyen apiece over the commlink. If the
runners want to negotiate, Perri will say that she
doesn’t have time now to haggle, but she’ll prom-
ise to owe them a favor. If the runners are okay
with coming straight out, the offer will happen
after they arrive.
MISSION 29: DIGITAL ASSAULT // MISSIONS
 The Job
Following the directions takes the team north-
130 west toward Boulder then down a side road
through a dilapidated residential area. The final
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL

approach to the Nexus is an abandoned road up a

lightly forested hillside. A quick Matrix search will
reveal that the location was the old UCAS Nation-
al Center for Atmospheric Research. At the crest of
the hill, low ivy and moss-covered buildings can be
seen. An overgrown perimeter fence surrounds the
complex, and the rusty gate faces a lot that blocks
the way forward with abandoned cars. The gate
opens as the team approaches and an AR map ap-
pears, showing a way through the maze of vehicles
and into a hidden parking garage.
Perri walks up after the team parks, introduc-
es herself, and explains that the group working on
the manatech machines has hired some mercenaries
to stop the Nexus from looking into what they are
doing—by killing everyone and leveling the place.
Perri has hacked their commlinks, and the attack-
ers are a team of twenty mercenaries (use Lone Star
SWAT Officer, p. 207, SR6) who plan to attack with
throwback gear. Perri estimated they will be at the
site within the hour. She will finalize the deal with
the runners (see p. 158 for her stats); each net hit
on an Influence test to negotiate adds 500 nuyen,
with a maximum bonus of 3,000 nuyen. Perri will
answer any questions the runners have, agree to any
defense plan they come up with, and provide any
Nexus resources that are available.
Physical Security at the Nexus is minimal. In
addition to Perri, there are six support staff who
have stayed onsite (use DocWagon Support Engi-
neer, p. 208, SR6). They are watching the sensors
around the perimeter and have an assortment of
drones staged in hidden spots, including a Steel
Lynx armed with an RPK HMG and an Onotari
Interceptor (only has 2 fragmentation rockets) and
six Dobermans armed with AK-97s. None of the
staff have vehicle rigs, and they are controlling the
drones through cold-sim VR.
Astral Security is nearly non-existent—moss
and ivy prevent casual astral perception, and most
activity happens underground in the basements.
Matrix Security is extremely strong. The Nexus
is a rating 10 host with cutting-edge IC and there are
always at least a few friendly technomancers (same
profile as staff) with sprites patrolling the host.
The attack arrives just as Perri predicted. Three
Bulldog vans smash through the gate, and five
four-person teams move out across the property
heading for the buildings. A few turns after the at-
tack starts, Perri gets a visit from a messenger sprite
sent by one of the technomancers in the host. It
seems that the physical site attack is just a diversion
from the real attack. The Null Sect is destroying the
Nexus host. The Nexus now has a battle on two
fronts, stopping the mercenaries from getting inside

MISSIONS // MISSION 29: DIGITAL ASSAULT

the buildings and stopping the Null Sect from de-
stroying the Host. Perri tells the runners that she is
going to get the word out across the Matrix, but it
will be a minute or two before she can get enough
help to drive out the Null Sect. She asks the team to
send whoever they can spare into the host Founda-
tion to delay the Null Sect and keep them from tak-
ing control until she gets back. The program from
the Silver Book is still online, so the runners will
have that available when they go in.
The Nexus host is sculpted into the accretion
disk of a giant black hole hanging in space, the
planets and stars in the disk and the black hole it-
self are locations inside the host. Black, white, red,
grey, and clear protosapient constructs (see p. 162
for the profiles) are all attacking the host, far too
many for a lone hacker to make a difference, but
inside the Foundation things may be different. The
Foundation portal is a planetary ring without the
planet, exactly where Perri described. Her access
code bypasses the IC, and it opens immediately. The
paradigm of the Foundation is already set, though,
and the Null Sect is inside. The paradigm is a vast
factory floor; steam fills the air, and the sound of
clanking metal is deafening. A pair of black pro-
tosapients guard the portal and demand the runners
leave before they attack. Inside, there is a convey-
or belt moving through the host carrying strangely
shaped metal pieces. Greys guarded by both blacks
and whites can be found in each site, working on
the piping, modifying the layout in some way. In
the Null host, there are a number of greys with
an overseer building some type of device that has
green leafy vines extending out across the floor and
wrapping around the factory pipes. Disrupting the
protosapiants in the Null host and destroying the
machine (Structure rating 16) will prevent the Null
Sect from taking over the Nexus Foundation and
will buy enough time for Perri to return, driving
the Null Sect from the host with dozens of techno-
mancers and a veritable army of sprites.
131
Hotspots
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
The Nexus
The physical location of the Nexus is the former
Beta Site inside the old UCAS National Center for
Atmospheric Research near Boulder. The buildings
are supposed to be abandoned, so travel in and out
is held to a minimum. The current host is a Founda-
tion construct, so physical servers are not required.
The cavernous basements still contain rows of old
server banks that hold backups of all the Nexus data
and can generate a non-foundation host at the flip
of a switch. There is also a secret landline connect-
ing to the PCC’s KivaNet just in case Ghostwalker
shuts down the Denver grid again. The Nexus also
uses tons of other redundancy; data is duplicated in
hidden files across hundreds of other hosts and in
remote backups at hidden locations scattered across
Denver and the PCC.
Who’s Who
Perri
Perri is the master system admin of the Nexus
and a highly skilled technomancer (see p. 158 for
her stats). She oversees all of the Nexus operating
systems and rarely leaves the Beta Site. Perri was
an otaku living at the Denver Data Haven Alpha
Site as early as ’54 and is the daughter (either ad-
opted or biological) of the famous decker FastJack.
She also had a brief runner career in the early ’70s
using the street name Skald.
MISSION 29: DIGITAL ASSAULT // MISSIONS
132 mission 30
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
the collector
The runners are hired by the Collector to re-
trieve a weapon that may be effective against the
Null Sect, but it won’t be easy to get. They need to
find a way into a machine metaplane that has no
connection to the astral plane.
Hook
After the attack on the Nexus by the Null Sect,
the Collector and his ally decide that a new type
of weapon will be needed to defeat them. The Sil-
ver Book of Saeletra hints that such a weapon may
be found on a distant metaplane inhabited by ma-
chine-like spirits. Cat calls the team to a meeting
at the One-Up back room. When the PCs arrive,
they see Cat, Arcane, and two other people. Cat
introduces one as the Collector, a.k.a. Thomas
White Feather, and the other is his ally, Kangee
Ohanzee. White Feather has been studying the files
from the Silver Book and has seen references to an
extremely powerful Matrix weapon referred to as
the Discidium. The weapon was created by a col-
lective of artificial intelligences inhabiting a meta-
plane called Caelum (selam) that was purged of all
organic life. No life means there is no mana and
therefore no connection to the astral plane or the
rest of the metaverse. Since that discovery, Kangee
Ohanzee has been searching the metaplanes for a
way into Caelum and has heard rumors that some-
one on the metaplane of Zecorporatum has a path
in and out of there.
Arcane can get the team to Zecorporatum, but
once there they will need to find and access the
pathway to Caelum on their own. After entering
Caelum, the team will have to convince the enti-
ties there to give them a copy of the Discidium.
Then they’ll need to find a way back to Zecorpo-
ratum. For the rest of the return trip, Arcane will
send along one of his free spirit allies to wait at the
entry point and let him know when the runners are
ready to return.
Since this is an extremely dangerous mission,
with no guarantee they’ll return, the allies are
offering to pay the runners 10,000 nuyen each.
They’ll forward that amount to the next of kin if
MISSIONS // MISSION 30: THE COLLECTOR
necessary. Kangee Ohanzee will handle the negoti-
ation over payment; his stats are on p. 157. Each
net hit against him adds 1,000 nuyen, up to an ex-
tra 6,000 nuyen.
The Job
If the runners are ready to leave, Arcane will
open the metaplanar gateway; if they have some
preparations to make, he will set a time to do it
later. The gateway is large enough for bikes, large
drones, even a small passenger car, but no vehicles
with Body higher than 5 can get through. Arcane
is sending one of his free spirit allies along with
the runners into Zecorporatum—the “cat” made
of vines with thorns for fur from Mission 5 (p. 64).
After Entering
Zecorporatum
The gateway opens into a dark, trash-filled al-
ley that wouldn’t look out of place in any modern
sprawl. Between the dark buildings, a brightly lit
cityscape illuminates the low-hanging clouds that
obscure any hint of moon or stars. The streets
reflect the city lights, and it looks like it has just
rained. Vehicles can be seen slowly moving on the
cross street ahead. The metaplanar translation
seems to be non-existent, as the runners are hard
pressed to notice anything different about them-
selves or their gear.
Zecorporatum appears to be a very close reflec-
tion of the material plane, but some differences are
quickly apparent.
1. Magic and tech work as normal, but since
the world of Zecorporatum is smaller than
the prime metaplane, astral space here cov-
ers less area and this version of the Matrix
has fewer hosts and icons.
2. It’s always nighttime with an overcast sky.
The streets are always wet, but it never rains.
3. Maps of the metaplane can be found on
the Matrix. It’s shown as a 300-kilometer
 disk, but in reality there is no discernible
edge on the ground. Physically traveling
past what’s shown as the edge of the map
in any direction will just take the team to
the opposite side of the map.
4. The metaplane is dominated by ten
megacorporations with names that are
disturbingly familiar, such as Mars Mac-
rotechnology, Az-Corp, and Mitsudaishi
Corporate Technologies.
5. Natives fall into one of three groups:
workers, corporates, and dissidents.
a) Workers make up the majority
of the natives. They seem normal
enough, but they never do any-
thing on their own initiative. They
carry out their assigned tasks
without question and spend their
free time on corporate-approved
entertainment.
b) Corporates are the executives
and managers of the megacorpo-
rations. They are the movers and
shakers who make all the decisions
about the lives of the workers.
c) Dissidents wage a constant war
against the corporates. They op-
erate like hooding shadowrunners
and have networks of supporting
workers (arms dealers, bartenders,
fixers, street docs, etc.). They gen-
erally fall into one of two groups:
the professional and methodical
black-trenchcoat-style Blackjacks,
and the pink-mohawk-style An-
archs, who thrive off chaos.
Legwork can be performed through the Matrix,
or the team can hit the local bars and nightclubs to
make some contacts among the dissidents. Either
way, they will eventually turn up two clues about
AIs—and indirectly, about Caelum.
1. It seems that AIs can’t actually be found
in the Zecorporatum Matrix. Everyone
agrees that they exist, but no one seems to
have actually met one or know where to
find one.
2. Prime Software, a subsidiary of Az-Corp,
advertises that they use AIs to write their
code. The physical address of the subsidi-
ary is easy to locate. The company also has
a rating 7 host open to the Matrix.
The runners can get more information by
hacking the Prime Software host and searching
for the keyword Caelum, or by hitting the office
building and searching for physical records relat-
ing to Caelum. The Prime Software building is an
unremarkable ten-story glass structure in a neigh-
borhood of similar buildings. Inside the building,
numerous workers are busy at their tasks (all attri-
butes are 2, and they have no skills) and they will
be confused by the runners’ presence. The records 133
office is on the third floor and consists of rows of
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
paper-filled file cabinets. Finding the relevant re-
cords will be a Perception + Intuition (24, 1 turn)
Extended test per item researched. If the team forc-
es their way into the building, 2D6 security work-
ers will arrive in 3D6 turns to engage the team and
attempt to arrest them (use Lone Star Patrolman,
p. 205, SR6).
Hacking the host or locating the physical re-
cords will produce the following information.
1. Employment records list all code writers
as Caelum natives.
2. Several major shareholders in the subsidi-
ary are Caelum natives.
3. All Caelum natives have the same address
listed (this is the lab with the passage ma-
chine).
The lab address is a nearby Az-Corp-owned
complex. If the runners decide to check, they can
also discover the name and contact information for
the CEO of Prime Software, Santiago Salazar.
At this point, the runners can either contact
Salazar and try to make a deal for access to the
passage, or go directly to the lab and see if the pas-
sage into Caelum is located there. If the runners
contact Salazar, they will discover he’s eager for
any opportunity to turn a profit and is open to
anything that could increase revenue; he will also
agree to meet with them in person if they ask. After
the runners explain who they are and what they
want, he will give them access to the passage in
exchange for copies of any programs they bring
out of Caelum.
The lab is in a nondescript fifty-meter-by-one-
hundred-meter warehouse building with no signage
beyond the address. It has a perimeter fence with a
single gate. Past the gate is a parking area with a few
vehicles. The front of the building has one regular
entrance and one overhead door. There are no doors
on the sides or the back of the building. A guard
station is next to the gate, manned by two security
workers at all times. Another four security workers
patrol the area between the perimeter fence and the
building. There are two cameras at each corner of
the building, and rating 4 maglocks with keycard
readers are on the regular door and the overhead
door. There are no Matrix icons visible inside the
building (the walls incorporate a Faraday cage) but
the cameras and maglocks are connected to the rat-
ing 8 isolated host inside the building.
The interior of the warehouse is filled with
banks of equipment that surround a large ma-
chine in the center of the building. There are four
more security workers stationed inside, and there
MISSION 30: THE COLLECTOR // MISSIONS
 are about fifteen office workers in lab coats busy
at the numerous workstations sitting between the
other equipment. A heavy door can be seen on the
134 side of the central machine. This opens to a room
with eight heavily built chairs arranged in a cir-
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
cle; the walls and ceilings are covered with circuit
boards, cabling, and dozens of strange devices. If
the runners made a deal with Salazar for access,
the workers will operate the machine for them and
answer any questions about how it operates. If the
team used force to enter the facility, they’ll either
have to “extract” the information on how the ma-
chine operates from the workers or search through
the host for operating instructions with a Comput-
er+ Logic (12, 1 minute) Extended test. The ma-
chine seems to operate by converting everything
in the chairs (including medium-sized and small-
er drones) to energy and transmitting it through
a trans-dimensional conduit, where it is converted
back to matter in a matching machine. The work-
ers will assure the runners that the process is com-
pletely safe, and that can be confirmed by the data
in the host showing hundreds of successful oper-
ations. Once the machine is set to start, the door
seals and the capacitor banks in the machine start
building up energy.
After Entering Caelum
Oddly colored lasers play across the runners,
there is a moment of disorientation, and an end-
less tunnel forms from streaks of light. A moment
(or eternity) later they find themselves sitting in a
similar room in a similar chair, but the details are
all very different. Everything in the room is either
shining chrome or a smooth bright white plastic.
The metaplanar translation is extreme; the flesh of
the runners is now a dull, matte-textured, silvery
metal. Metahuman proportions remain the same,
but facial details are oddly generic and washed out.
Cyberware jumps out as gleaming chrome covered
in glowing, pulsing traces of light that mimic cir-
cuit patterns. Drones and other gear seem to be
more alive than the runners themselves.
Standing in the center of the room is a human-
oid figure with four arms and four legs composed
entirely of brilliant chrome, covered in circuit-like
light paths that shift almost too fast for the eye
to follow. “Greetings, travelers. My designation is
Legatum, or if you prefer your common language,
Ambassador. Welcome to Caelum. It is my func-
tion to guide you during your visit. How may I
be of assistance?” Legatum, or Ambassador, will
answer any questions the team has about Caelum
to the best of its ability and will also offer to give
the runners a tour of the city. Eventually the run-
ners will ask about the Discidium. The response
will be: “A weapon, of course.” Disdain is evident
in its voice. “We have evolved beyond the use of
such crude programs. In fact, the very concept is
MISSIONS // MISSION 30: THE COLLECTOR
taboo. I would advise you not to use that word in
polite company.” As quickly as its attitude cools, it
warms back up again, moving the conversation to
a different topic.
Several aspects of the reality in Caelum will be
discovered by the runners.
1. Magic is completely non-existent; quick-
ened spells have evaporated; foci are now
inert objects; spellcraft, conjuring and as-
sensing produce no results. It’s like trying
to look around in a room where light does
not exist.
2. There are no kitchens, restaurants, hotels,
or even sleeping quarters on the plane,
the natives (and the metaplane-translated
runners) have no need for food or sleep so
such places don’t exist.
3. There is a Matrix of sorts, however the
technology is an order of magnitude ahead
of ours (10x normal ratings). It is so ad-
vanced that the hackers on the team can
perceive its existence, but they can’t access
it and hacking into it would be like trying
to hack a commlink with a hammer and
chisel.
4. The last aspect may take longer to notice:
Physical violence has been written out of
the reality of Caelum. Firearms and explo-
sives do not operate and physical attacks
will not produce so much as a scratch, no
matter how much force is attempted. All
Damage Values of all attacks are now 0,
and cannot be increased.
The runners may either take Ambassador up
on his offer of a tour or explore Caelum on their
own. Either way they will discover that the meta-
plane consists entirely of universities, libraries, and
temples dedicated to every conceivable concept ex-
cept violence and warfare. In fact, the building they
arrived in is known as the Temple of Transference.
Natives of Caelum can be encountered on the streets
or in any building and will generally be friendly,
talkative, and curious about such obvious outsiders.
Discreetly asking the natives about the Discidium
will either result in a claim that they have no idea
what that is or an excuse to hastily end the conver-
sation. The clue should eventually be dropped that
anyone looking for an outdated program should try
the Archive at the Temple of Knowledge.
Once the runners get the idea to look in the Ar-
chive, it will be easy to find. The Temple of Knowl-
edge is the single largest structure in Caelum and
sits in the exact center of the metaplane. The Ar-
chive is directly under the temple and anyone asked
can provide directions. There are a large number of
assistants in the Archive, but when the runners men-
tion the Discidium, they will direct the team to the
chief archivist, who’s designation is Scriniarii. The
chief archivist has a four-meter-long body with a
few dozen legs, like a giant metallic centipede. As it
approaches, it raises the front of its torso up about a
meter and a half, turning the front six legs into arms.
Compound eyes made of dozens of lenses glitter at
the runners as it speaks. “Greeting, travelers. I am
Scriniarii, and word of your purpose has preceded
you here. You come to Caelum seeking a weapon,
I am told.” The chief archivist seems far less squea-
mish about discussing a weapon than his fellow cit-
izens and is willing to part with a copy in exchange
for information of equal value. Its first request is
a copy of the runners’ “data cores,” and by that it
means a copy of their minds. If pressed, it will admit
that it’s an inexact process with organics, and there
may be some data loss. Scriniarii will accept other
data that it considers equivalent—a dozen datasofts
would work, and it would consider a copy of the
Silver Book of Saeletra as an even trade. It can also
be negotiated with. Its Influence dice pool is 8, and
it will use its 2 Edge to improve the roll. Net hits on
an Opposed test against it will reduce the number
of datasofts or “data core” copies it will accept in
trade. Any runners who submit to the copying pro-
cedure will need to make a Logic + Willpower (3)
test or lose a random knowledge skill (this knowl-
edge will return after the runners translate back to
Zecorporatum). A glitch on this roll causes the skill
to be permanently lost, and a critical glitch causes
the temporary loss of their primary language skills,
requiring the player to communicate with gestures
until they get to Zecorporatum, where they regain
their ability to talk.
Once the team has a copy of the Discidium,
they can return to the Temple of Transference and
let Legatum know that they are ready to return.
It’s too polite to say anything unpleasant, but the
runners get the impression that the construct is re-
lieved to see them go, as it quickly sets up the ma-
chine and activates it.
Returning to
Zecorporatum
As the team materializes in the Prime Software
lab and exits the machine, they find themselves
surrounded by security workers (three per runner),
a few HTR workers (use Renraku Red Samurai,
p. 208, SR6), and the CEO Santiago Salazar. This
should be expected if the team threatened their
way into using the machine the first time. If the
team had instead made a deal with Salazar, they
will discover that he has taken some insurance to
make sure the runners won’t double-cross him. Ei-
ther way, he wants whatever the team acquired in
Caelum turned over to him. The runners can either
fight their way out of the lab and be pursued by
security all the way back to the extraction point or
hand over a copy of the Discidium. Salazar will let
the team go free once he gets it.
At the extraction point, Arcane’s free spirit ally
is entertaining itself chasing devil rats. Upon spot-
ting the runners, it mumbles something like “about
time,” then disappears. About a minute later, the 135
metaplanar gateway opens to reveal the One-Up
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
back room.
Returning to Denver
Time runs differently in these two metaplanes,
and only about thirty minutes have passed since
the team left. The allies are still in the room with
Arcane and are eager to get a report on what the
team accomplished. Thomas White Feather exam-
ines the Discidium program. After a few minutes
he concludes that, in addition to disrupting icons,
it can be used to permanently sever a host from the
Foundation. He also expresses a concern that us-
ing it may “contaminate” other nearby hosts and
interfere with their connection to the Foundation.
It’s also possible that it could spread like a virus
and eventually compromise the connection to all
Foundation-based hosts. He suggests that, in light
of its potential for collateral damage, it should be
a weapon of last resort.
Hotspots
Zecorporatum
A dark reflection of our own plane, Zecorpora-
tum is a city that endlessly circles back on itself and
stays locked in eternal night. The metaplane is a
mixing pot of cultural, racial, ethnic, national, and
metahuman types that mirror the material plane.
These different groups tend to cluster together
in small areas, and the different neighborhoods
are named after whatever the prevalent group is.
Names like Chinatown, Americanville, Elf City,
Little Nippon, and Trogburg can all be found here.
Caelum (selam)
In many ways the opposite of Zecorporatum,
Caelum is a city of gleaming art-deco silver towers,
like an illustration from a Hugo Gernsback story
with an eternally shining sun directly overhead. The
machine bodies used by the resident AIs consist of
every type of walking, rolling, and flying construct
imaginable. Every color of light plays across the me-
tallic skin, changing patterns and shades in response
to the changing thoughts of the inhabitants.
Who’s Who
Santiago Salazar
Salazar is a low-level executive for Az-Corp
who has managed to work his way into the po-
MISSION 30: THE COLLECTOR // MISSIONS
 sition of CEO of a small but profitable subsid-
iary. Salazar is a greedy self-centered shark with
slicked-back dark hair and an expensive suit. He
136 represents the absolute worst aspects of corporate
culture and will betray anyone or destroy anything
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
if it profits him personally. The only advantage the
runners may have is that he believes they can be
used to turn a profit with little risk or investment
on his part.
mission 31
proof of
concept
Vishala is now dead or captured, her plans in
ruins, but before she was taken out of the pic-
ture, she had set up a manufacturing facility for
the Dissonance and astral pollution weapons. In
this mission, the runners are offered a chance to
destroy or capture the facility where these things
are made. This irritates the Dis/Null Sect/MCT al-
liance enough that they will plan revenge on the
runners (see Mission 32)
Hook
Another call, this time direct from Guide (a.k.a.
Masque). “You and your team have done an amaz-
ing job so far! It looks like those weapons Vishala
had on her were not prototypes—they were engi-
neering samples. Before you took care of her, she
set up a factory for this stuff. This is a mess; do you
want some money to go clean it up?”
After the mission to eliminate Vishala, Masque
discovered that Vishala’s plans were well ad-
vanced. Masque is well aware of the potential
of the weapons, and thinks if they are left alone,
there is a good chance that they will fall into the
wrong hands. Masque is not at all confident that
he could relocate the facility to a more Aztechnol-
MISSIONS // MISSION 31: PROOF OF CONCEPT
Scriniarii / Chief Archivist
Having a different attitude than the other
Caelum natives, Scriniarii seems absolutely fasci-
nated with the topic of violence. He has extensive
knowledge of Caelum’s own violent distant past
and some knowledge of other metaplanes gained
from Zecorporatum travelers. The Archivist has
no issue with giving such a powerful weapon away
to the runners. They can’t use it in Caelum, and if
the alien primitives use it to damage their home
metaplane, it’s of no concern to him.
ogy-friendly area, and while it is in Denver, there
is far too high a chance that it will fall into the
hands of Ghostwalker or some megacorporate
rivals. He also suspects that his own corporation
would probably develop the weapons for field de-
ployment, setting off an arms race that would like-
ly destroy the manasphere. This is not something
that he wants, so out of self-interest and long-term
thinking, he wants the facility destroyed. If the run-
ners manage to capture the manufacturing plant
largely intact, he might re-evaluate his options.
This is likely to motivate him to leave Aztechnol-
ogy, because he wouldn’t trust anyone else to look
after the technology. He is less interested in Reso-
nance and Dissonance, but he would rather sweep
the whole thing under the carpet than risk his own
corporation getting their hands on something that
will hurt him in the long term.
Masque offers 10,000 nuyen per runner, half
upfront. He can tell them where the facility is, and
that it’s underground—which is how Vishala man-
aged to keep the magical effects from being a big
beacon in astral space.
Masque can also arrange for an explosive dis-
traction to the guards on the front door if the run-
ners are happy with the idea of being unsubtle.
The Job
Legwork
This job is about getting information, which
means legwork. Both the Matrix and the streets
are potential sources.
Matrix
• There are old records online about the site.
It used to be an underground wastewater
processing plant, but it was too expensive to
maintain. The plant is no longer operational,
so the sewage that is still connected to the
system just passes through without process-
ing and is dumped straight into Barr Lake.
• If the runners are interested in alternate
points of access, the wastewater outflow can
be found in about the middle of Barr Lake,
or the runners can simply walk through
sewers to get to the machinery. (They will
have to cut their way through thick pipes—I
wouldn’t use explosives.)
• The site used to have a Matrix address—
there are references to it all over the Ma-
trix—but it seems to have dropped off sud-
denly a couple of weeks ago.
• Anyone interacting with sprites will find out
that there used to be some machine sprites in
there a while ago, but no one has heard from
them recently.
Street
• The processing plant was once connected to
a large part of the city, but no one has been
repairing the pipes when they have been
breaking. In the past forty years or so, it
only takes the sewage from the surrounding
suburbs.
• People use the sewer pipes to get around
sometimes, but it’s unreliable, and most
people don’t want to be covered in sewage.
There are rumors of ghouls in the sewers,
but there are always rumors of ghouls in the
sewers.
• The entrance has guards. They are hired lo-
cals, but they are keeping their mouths shut
about who hired them.
• The fixer who hired the guards can be
tracked down, if they are bribed or otherwise
convinced to part with the truth. They give a
physical description of Vishala; it seems that
the fixer was Vishala in person all along.
• There are sometimes big thumping sounds
from deep underground.
Magic / Astral
• The guards are non-magical.
• There is a gentle astral haze around the en- 137
trance—not enough to make a mana ebb, but
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
certainly enough to make people feel bad.
• The facility itself is deep under the ground, and
the living earth is impossible to penetrate. If
runners follow the sewer pipes, however, they
can enter the facility in astral form, without the
ability to leave in a hurry. See below for details
• If runners take the time to examine the out-
flow of the sewage pipe under Barr Lake,
they will see that the spirits of the lake are
becoming corrupt from the sewage pouring
into the natural environment, but none of
them are anywhere near the outflow pipe.
The lake near the outflow pipe is a medium
mana ebb (see sidebar, p. 109).
Recon and physical scouting
• At the address provided by Masque, there is
a squat concrete building. Built as a civic fa-
cility and almost immediately abandoned as
local government collapsed and megacorpo-
rations moved in, it is not attractive.
• In the building is one well-guarded room
holding an elevator and stairwell. The rest
of the facility is abandoned—glass is broken,
furniture is warped and rotted. There is evi-
dence that people have been sleeping in the
building, but no one is there now. Presumably,
they have been moved along by the guards.
The Site
The site consists of a largely abandoned build-
ing above ground, along with some guards protect-
ing a cargo elevator and a staircase heading down.
There is a hardwired camera in the stairs and the
top room, but not in the elevator. The elevator and
stairs descend about twenty rattle-y meters to a
steel door at the bottom. There are no guards in-
side the staircase, but the steel door opens into a
concrete room with a dozen guards (see below).
The guards may have noticed the runners descend-
ing the stairs and would definitely notice them us-
ing the elevator. The guards will be deferring their
actions so they can shoot when necessary; they
won’t mmediately open fire.
Hackers who are inside the facility will be able
to detect a weak network signal, isolated from the
outside. It is used to coordinate security within the
concrete sewage-processing plant. Connected to
the network are the doors, camera hardlines (from
above), and cameras showing the whole facility, in-
cluding the manufacturing plant (see below).
MISSION 31: PROOF OF CONCEPT // MISSIONS
 Guards
There are a variety of guards, including: twenty
frontline guards (use Lone Star Patrolman, p. 206,
138 SR6), two physical adepts (use Adept, p. 81, SR6),
two shamans (use Street Shaman, p. 88, SR6, anyone
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
astrally perceiving will notice that their auras appear
tainted), a decker (use Decker, p. 84, SR6), and a
technomancer (use Technomancer, p. 89, SR6).
The guards haven’t heard from their boss since
she left with some engineering samples about a
week ago. They still have their orders to guard the
site but are becoming slightly more nervous. This
gives the runners a small window to talk their way
around the guards. If they can provide credible ev-
idence of the death of Vishala, then they will gain
2 points of Edge on any social tests they attempt.
At any given time, some guards are sleeping
in a storeroom-converted-to-a-barracks, but the
remainder are awake. Most of the guards are de-
ployed as listed on the site (above); the rest patrol
the reclaimed facility and the nearby abandoned
rooms. The hackers remain jacked into the Ma-
trix most of the time, their physical bodies resting
in the barracks. The Awakened guards are spread
among the patrols, and the team in the concrete
room is at the base of the stairs.
Layout of the Building
Sewage plants are not naturally easy to defend.
The main point of entry is what used to be the
main administration hub. The plant was heavi-
ly automated but required a staff of a dozen or
so technicians, riggers, and managers to maintain
when fully operational.
Almost none of the automation remains. The
technical equipment, which would once have been
very expensive, is non-functional, sitting in a server
room. All of the actual functions needed by the plant
when it was fully operational could now be replaced
by a mid-range deck, and now that almost everything
is broken, the remaining functions could be handled
by a cheap commlink. Vishala’s people needed a serv-
er, so they put in a mid-range deck in the machine
room to handle the things they needed to get done.
The Sewage Processing Plant
Most of the facility is given over to tanks. The
smaller tanks originally held chlorine and other
processing chemicals, while the larger tanks held
tens of thousands of liters of sewage. Since this is
an underground facility, the settling pond that most
plants have in the open air are instead very large
concrete tanks. Identified risks, such as the build-
up of methane and other gasses, were compensated
for by collecting the gasses for later use and having
emergency chimneys to the surface. None of these
safety systems still work, but what is in the tanks is
no longer sewage. Instead, each holds a shallow lay-
MISSIONS // MISSION 31: PROOF OF CONCEPT
er of nutrient-rich soil. The intake pipes are most-
ly blocked, and the few that are not blocked have
been connected directly to the sewage outflow pipe.
The large plastic pipe that connects the intake and
outtake pipes is a little newer than the rest of the
facility, but still old enough that the plastic is start-
ing to fall apart. The plastic is still tough enough to
resist the pressure of thousands of liters of sewage
pouring through every second—it’ll take bullets or
explosives to make a hole fast, or a saw and lots of
patience to make one slow.
Runners might explore the facility—it’s unsafe,
dirty, and mostly unused, but accessible. Vishala’s
people haven’t felt the need to open up the rest of
the building, and all of the mission-critical things
are clustered near the elevator.
A weapons manufacturing plant has been set up
in one of the old chemical tanks near the adminis-
tration block.
Weapons
Manufacturing Plant
This sits inside an old tank that is about twenty
meters in diameter. A door has been cut into the
side, with a new-looking airlock. If the runners
have control of the network, the door is easy to
open; otherwise, it must be bypassed or destroyed.
On the inside of the tank, to the right, is a small
but heavily modified deck, attached to two reclin-
ing couches. A data cable with trodes runs from
each couch to the deck—it looks like two people
could be connected to the deck at a time. Several
cases of datachips are stored, sealed, and labeled,
right next to the deck. If the cases are opened, the
PCs will see that they look like the chips that Visha-
la had on her when she encountered the runners
previously. There are also three body bags occu-
pied by former technomancers stacked against the
wall, where they may look like stored equipment.
Anyone who can perceive Resonance can detect
lingering wisps of Dissonance among the corpses.
On the inside of the tank and to the left is the
spirit grenade manufacturing area. This takes up a
lot more of the inside of the tank. There is a steel
bench with steel fabrication tools, jars with explo-
sive components, grenade shells and the chips and
microcontrollers to manufacture grenades. Along-
side this, and mixed in with the tools, are sum-
moning fetishes, two concentric circles of protec-
tion, conjuring reagents, and other bits of hermetic
magic use.
Anyone who can astrally perceive will see a
mana void through the whole tank except in the
gap between the outer circle of protection and the
inner circle of protection—that area is just heavily
tainted. People astrally perceiving will see ectoplas-
mic chunks of spirits drifting around the room, oc-
casionally whipped into motion by odd eddies and
astral currents. Most mages who aren’t of a toxic
tradition will feel sick, and mages deeply connected
to the land may feel physical pain or nausea.
There are several ammunition cases with com-
pleted spirit grenades, as well as all the half-manu-
factured components.
The Encounter
There are several possible approaches that run-
ners could take to this situation, including the fol-
lowing.
All-out or Frontal Attack
The attack is against a hardened position, with
guards who know the terrain and are expecting
trouble. The guards are not a smooth military ma-
chine, but they have practiced some sensible tech-
niques and will get a home-ground advantage of
1 Edge on each combat roll for actions that could
be practiced in advance. The guards are being well
paid but are not zealots, and they will retreat if the
fight is going against them. Retreat options are lim-
ited underground, but they might flee into the large,
unused areas of the complex, or they might run up
the stairs (if they think there is no one guarding the
top). In an emergency, they could grab a couple of
rebreathers from the guard post, blow a large hole
in the main sewer flow-through pipe, and take their
chances swimming to the outflow lake.
The guards will use cover to their advantage
and focus their fire on anyone who looks like a
mage or a hacker, and they won’t be afraid to cause
collateral damage through grenades or explosives.
They don’t have any drugs on them and haven’t set
up traps such as mines or trip-wires.
The two hackers will defend the network if
there is an incursion, and if they have fought off
any Matrix attackers, they will rig into Doberman
drones to defend their friends.
Stealth-Based
Scouting and Sabotage
It is hard to sneak into the base, there is only one
likely entry point, but it’s not impossible for a skilled
and sneaky runner. The door is watched, but if there
is a distraction or if the PCs are lucky, they might
be able to get by the first guard. Due to the way the
base is defended, if the runner can get past the main
guard post, they will have the run of the outpost. The
manufacturing plant will likely be inaccessible due
to the security door, but runners could penetrate al-
most any other part of the building. The patrols will
seem random to runners, so there is always a chance
that they will be discovered, but with a little luck they
might be able to set explosives, gas traps, or other
sabotage. One of the most useful things they could
do is to create a noisy, explosive, or magical distrac-
tion at the back of the plant. This would allow other,
less sneaky runners in, at which point an attack will
have the element of surprise.
Hacking 139
Hackers are powerful in very specific areas of
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
this mission. If the hacker can get to a hard line on
the outside, or can get to the wireless signal on the
inside (there is even a faint signal at the bottom of
the stairs, just outside the door), they could poten-
tially activate or deactivate systems such as:
• Cameras and motion detectors
• Lights, air pumps, clean water pumps
• Sewage flow through the bypass pipe
• Inventory of weapons and components
Hackers might also attempt to reactivate some
of the long-inactive systems. These will likely not
work as intended, but making the systems accessi-
ble could well create a significant distraction. This
would do much to distract the guards if people are
attempting to sneak through the door.
Bribery and Negotiation
The guards are professional but not inhuman.
They are also not psychopaths, and will offer intrud-
ers a chance to surrender before opening fire. Run-
ners who talk back will get a chance to negotiate,
offer bribes, con, and discuss things with the guards.
The guards will be most receptive to people
who appear to understand the situation they are in
(e.g., those who demonstrate that they know who
Vishala is or what the manufacturing is for) and
who appear to be offering a pragmatic way out.
If the runners convince the guards that there is
nothing for them here, they will exit. A couple of
the guards will try to trash the manufacturing fa-
cility, as none of them want anything to do with
the weapons—the screams of the spirits and mages
were not contained within the manufacturing tank.
A total bribe of about twenty percent of the pay-
ment of the mission would guarantee the guards
look the other way. If bribed with lesser amounts,
any amount of bribery at all will add a point of
Edge on each social test the runners attempt.
Returning to Mr. Johnson
Reporting back to Masque will earn the run-
ners the remaining balance of their payment.
Masque will be happy as long as the equipment
and prototypes are destroyed or captured. Masque
will overlook any weapons that the runners have
chosen to steal, unless it looks likely that they will
be able to reverse engineer the weapons—in which
case Masque will first offer to buy the weapons,
then suggest the weapons would make the runners
a target. If these tactics don’t work, Masque won’t
press the point, but he will keep a very close eye on
the runners, hoping not to have to intervene.
MISSION 31: PROOF OF CONCEPT // MISSIONS
 mission 32
140
vengeance
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
is ours!
The runners have been working against the in-
terest of the unholy MCT/Dis/Null Sect alliance
for long enough that they have now irritated all
three factions. The factions are now collectively
willing to spend time and money hunting the run-
ners down, and they don’t care for any return oth-
er than the death of the characters.
The only thing working in the runners’ favor
is the factions are not used to direct, side-by-side
coordination—they are much more accustomed
to working independently. This means that the at-
tacks they stage are not simultaneous.
The runners will face an attack by hackers, spir-
its, and a corporate assassination squad. They will
be attacked until the costs get out of control, at
which point (if the runners are still alive), the alli-
ance will move to more of a containment strategy
than an elimination strategy.
Hook
Your commlink rings with a group call from
Niki the Gardener. You pick up and see her face
looking earnest—she seems to be taking cover be-
hind the door of a car. “Thank the spirits you an-
swered! They’ve …” At this point there is a loud
“blam,” and the picture goes dark. The audio still
works, and you hear a pained shout: “Argh! you
shot my hand, you ass …” There is a loud crunch
as if someone had stepped on a link, and the call
ends.
The Job
This is the only notice the runners get that they
are about to be attacked. Niki is at least a valued
contact, if not a friend, and if she’s in troubl, they’ll
probably want to look into it.
Responding to Niki
If the runners manage to track Niki’s location
(possibly by hacking her commlink signal, possibly
MISSIONS // MISSION 32: VENGEANCE IS OURS!
by looking for clues in the image), they will find
that she was attacked near Garland Park. There
are not many clues at the scene—there is Niki’s
car and a few shards of glass and plastic from a
broken commlink (the link itself is gone). There is
blood at the scene, but probably not a full person’s
worth. People nearby saw an attack squad in full
security armor attack the car with high-end corp-
sec weapons and equipment. There were drones
and animals, and at that point the witnesses were
trying hard to hide. They heard someone shoot-
ing, and someone crying out in pain. One person
will come forward to say that they dragged some-
one away who was limp, but they didn’t know if
they were alive or dead. There was blood, but she
wasn’t missing limbs.
All cameras in the area appear to have had their
memories scrubbed clean.
Anyone trying to track her number to call or
reverse-hack find that the device is unreachable,
which probably won’t be a surprise.
Legwork on the Run
Matrix Attack
It doesn’t take Null Sect long to dissect the bro-
ken commlink and find the contact details of the
runners. At that point, the Null Sect mounts a dig-
ital attack on the runners. The first attack comes
about ten minutes after the signal from Niki goes
dark, and consists of four Nulls, each of which at-
tack over the Matrix. Clever hacker runners will
have set up decoys and choke points. These will
work as expected, but will likely be overrun by
the Nulls in short order. This gives the runners a
chance to react or prepare, before the Null Sect
attacks.
If the runners don’t have a hacker to defend
them, they will find that almost every electronic
device has been compromised—and worse, the
Null Sect field agents will provide efficient commu-
nications and intelligence to the attack team later.
Spiritual Attack
Agents of Dis are not risking their few physical
agents on this mission, but once the runners have
caught their breath after the attack by the Null Sect,
they send a pack of high-powered spirits to attack
the runners. (The summoner spotted the runners
somewhere, such as the scene of Niki’s abduction,
which is enough for a spirit’s Search power.) These
spirits will make an uncomplicated attack, each
targeting a different person in the group. They will
manifest next to them and attack using physical at-
tacks and spirit powers. Use Force 6 spirits of fire (p.
148, SR6) with Fear and Search optional powers—
one spirit for each runner the Disians know about.
Gamemaster Note: This is potentially a physical-
ly difficult fight, especially as non-combat charac-
ters will also have their own spirit to deal with, and
it may come with little warning. Be aware that while
the spirits are individually powerful, they don’t nat-
urally work together and won’t resist runner ac-
tions that try to maneuver the spirits into disadvan-
tageous situations. They won’t spend Edge to help
each other or use flanking or pack tactics.
Attack Team
Eventually an MCT response team will also track
down the runners, who may be at a safehouse or may
have attempted to go dark. If the runners are at all
competent, they will have gone dark, so they may get
some notice if, for example, they see people in the
area knocking on doors, showing AR images of the
runners, and asking “Have you seen this person?”
Most people will shake their heads, but at least a few
will nod and gesture to the apartment/warehouse/
sewer/whatever that the runners are taking cover in.
The response team does have an idea of the general
area that the runners are in (from the Dis attack, if
nothing else), and the fighting may have spilled out of
their safe area—fire spirits aren’t known to be subtle.
Use Elite Corporate Security (p. 208, SR6) with
MCT security equivalent to two Renraku Red Sa-
murai and one Seraphim Avenging Angel. If the run-
ners were not able to deal with the Null Sect effec-
tively, the security forces gain 2 Edge on each action
as the AI provide team support over the Matrix.
Gamemaster Note: The runners should have a
little time to catch their breath between attacks.
First aid and healing magic has time to take effect,
although there probably isn’t time to pop down to
the street doc for emergency surgery.
Friends to Call On
At this stage, it’s very likely that the runners will
have friends to call on who can help out. If the
runners are in a jam, their friends won’t abandon
them, and even professional acquaintances will
stick around for good money (unless they have a
reason not to).
As a rough guide, if the contacts are Loyalty
5+, they will answer the call and help as best they
can. A token of appreciation after the fact would
be appreciated, but these are good friends, so it’s 141
not required.
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
If the contact in question is loyalty 3–4, they
will answer the call for a promise of money, with
some up front. An appropriate amount could be as
low as a few hundred nuyen for a low-risk Matrix
task, or as high as a few thousand nuyen for high-
risk combat assistance.
Contacts of Loyalty 1–2 will require convincing
and payment upfront.
If the runners have been jerks to any of their
contacts or are unwilling to front costs or money,
the contact will hang up.
In all cases, if the property or equipment of the
contact is damaged, they will look to the runners
for some sort of compensation (even if it’s a token
or a promise to repay).
Contacts can help by:
• Putting themselves in harm’s way, whether
in person, in the Matrix, or in astral space.
• Providing healing and support; magical heal-
ing would be especially useful.
• Making space in a safehouse for the runners
to hide out.
• Loaning weapons, magical equipment, or ve-
hicles to the team.
• Providing transport across borders.
Some of these will be more useful than others,
for example as the team will be ritually traced,
simply hiding in a safehouse will be of limited use,
however, hiding in a safehouse that is maintained
by a mage or magic group will help protect against
a magical attack in the favor of the runners by pro-
viding defensive wards, a safehouse maintained by
a hacker friend could help protect the devices of the
runners. Creative runners using contacts to tilt the
odds in their favor should gain additional Edge on
their actions to reflect their foresight and planning.
The Aftermath
When the last member of MCT security has
been driven off, the runners will be able to recov-
er. The runners may be apprehensive for a while,
but simply surviving and driving off or killing the
forces against them has driven up the cost of the
operation, and also proven to the forces arrayed
against them that their tactics are not working.
While MCT, Dis, and Null Sect have deeper re-
serves to call on, coordinating and agreeing on an-
other attack has become a difficult task. None of
the enemy trusts the battle plans of the others, and
given their widely diverging areas of expertise and
power, it will take significant work to rebuild the
close cooperation that they enjoyed.
MISSION 32: VENGEANCE IS OURS! // MISSIONS
142 mission 33
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
final audit
This chapter reveals a major connection be-
tween the Auditor, several Big Ten corporations,
one of the major projects they’ve been collaborat-
ing on, and how this is connected to all the weird-
ness going on in Denver.
Hook
A lot of weird drek has been going down in the
FRFZ, and the PCs have been in the middle of it.
Stiletto contacts the PCs with another job offer,
one that may give some answers to the question:
What the frag is going on?
The Job
Soon after the PCs deal with the hit teams, Sti-
letto contacts them. After healing up, she pulled
together various leads and paydata concerning the
Auditor and his connection with current events in
the FRFZ.
A Quick Reunion
Stiletto’s message is simple: “if you want to
know what’s going on, be at this set of GPS co-
ordinates near the Aurora Warrens border in one
hour.” When the PCs arrive, they see a parked Ford
Bison III with Stiletto in an open door, waving
them in. Once inside, the van heads off. Stiletto
gets right to it, saying that she’s discovered that the
Auditor is once again in Denver and meeting with
several prominent corp members for some kind of
“special project test” in twelve hours.
She knows where and when, but not exactly
what. She has a theory but wants to confirm her
data. She offers the PCs 50,000 nuyen total to help
her … and, if possible, stop it.
Down the Rabbit Hole
The test is to be conducted at the old USAF
Academy in Colorado Springs. When the PCs ar-
rive, they see a derelict campus with few buildings
MISSIONS // MISSION 33: FINAL AUDIT
still intact. One of them is the old R&D building
where discreet Matrix and power sources have
been set up.
Tactical Situation
and Opposition Forces
To avoid alerting the Zone Defense Forces, co-
vert security has been established. Armored secu-
rity has taken up position in several abandoned
buildings throughout campus and backed up with
sensors and stealth drone patrols. But with such a
large area to cover, there will still be several gaps.
These hidden guards (use any appropriate NPC
archetypes from SR6) are under strict orders to
maintain project security, but to do it undetected
and without alerting any ZDF patrols. All weap-
ons will be suppressed and no overt/flashy magic
or heavy ordnance will be used.
Once inside the main R&D building, the PCs
will have to avoid detection not only by roaming
and static security, but also by any technicians or
VIPs in the area. The PCs will have one advan-
tage: Leading up to the experiment, the lab will be
a scene of controlled chaos, with people moving
from one location to another, sometimes in a hur-
ry. It should also be noted that the lab is more se-
cure than the outside. If necessary, security is more
than willing to be less measured and more loud in
their response to intruders.
Connections Revealed
If the PCs gain access to the labs, they’ll dis-
cover test preparations are underway. In an adja-
cent staging area are dozens of stasis containers;
the PCs will recognize several from their job at
Green Water Bay. Each container has an AR man-
ifest that describes the subject contained within.
Most contain subjects that are Awakened (regular
magicians, adepts, even blood mages), have unusu-
al properties about them (SURGEd), are Infected
(ghouls, vampires, and even a wendigo), or oth-
ers that are described as having “desirable genetic
traits.” Each container has a date for processing.
 While the PCs examine the containers, the
lights in the adjacent lab turn on and the doors
open. The Auditor leads a procession of what look
like corporate VIPs (based on their expensive attire
and corresponding corporate lapel pins or badges).
Techs begin to man terminals and stations as the
lead technician speaks:
“This is where the first phase of the experiment
will commence. All the necessary test subjects
needed to fuel the upgraded devices have already
been assembled in the chamber next door. Accord-
ing to our data, we expect a ninety-three percent
success rate.”
After a round of murmurs and nods from the
corporate group, the Auditor steps toward a group
of three people wearing Aztechnology pins.
“Before we begin, we must address a grave mis-
take, one that could have caused total ruin of this
project and may still cause considerable issues in
the future. Representatives of Aztechnology, you
have reaped some of the greatest benefits of our
patronage, yet it was your failure to keep your se-
crets that has jeopardized all of the work we have
achieved thus far. What do you have to say in your
defense?”
The Aztech reps are completely surprised and
are unable to mount any worthwhile defense. To
which the Auditor simply says:
“I am unsatisfied with your answer. Aztechnol-
ogy will have to pay penance. I choose you.”
The Auditor points at one of the Aztechnology
reps, an obvious magician, who is quickly seized
by armored security. The other two try to protest,
and one of the reps offers themselves instead. The
Auditor simply holds up a hand to silence them.
The unfortunate magician is then placed inside
an empty stasis container, pleading for mercy and
eventually screaming before it activates and she
goes silent. The Auditor then says:
“I shall consider the matter settled, as long as
there are no additional complications.”
The other reps nod in defeated agreement.
Crossroads
At this point, Stiletto has had enough and looks
ready to kill. Without warning, a fireball forms in 143
her hand, and the PCs suddenly have choices to
make. Their options include:
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
• Let Stiletto frag the lab and take their chanc-
es with the security forces (and maybe the
Auditor).
• Help her frag the lab.
• Incapacitate her and get the frag out quietly.
• Talk her into a “discretion is the better part
of valor” strategy and get out with her help.
• Bail and let her be the distraction, leaving
Stiletto as the sacrificial lamb.
Whatever decision the PCs make, they’ll find that
with the experiment imminent, security will have
tightened and will be more likely to actively engage
any intruder with lethal force, just to be sure.
Parting Ways
Stiletto will attempt to contact her associates
with the paydata she’s recorded as soon as possible.
She’ll pay the PCs as promised (if able) but will still
be extremely slotted off. Whether at the Auditor, the
corps, the PCs, or a combination thereof depends
on how the end of the scene plays out. Regardless,
this is the last contact she has with the PCs.
Hotspots
Former U.S. Air Force
Academy Grounds
Located at Colorado Springs, this spot was also
home to members of the Denver Data Haven until
they were forced to flee by the Zone Defense Force
when Ghostwalker took control. When it was cleared
of undesirables, it was abandoned. But one of the re-
search labs was secretly re-activated and used to con-
duct research into developing the devices.
MISSION 33: FINAL AUDIT // MISSIONS
144 mission 34
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
into the gap
The runners have just come out of a very tense
situation, having witnessed something or someone
with tremendous power, an item that is both cool
and extremely frightening. They have also wit-
nessed at least a partial operation of a box that
seemed to kill without any obvious physical at-
tack. What comes next is a call from a Mr. John-
son or a fixer (any except Stiletto) that the PCs
have worked for in this campaign. This meeting
will not only show the severity of the situation
but also beckon the runners to venture to unstable
metaplanar destinations to perform several very
important tasks.
Hook
The runners receive a call from Mr. Johnson to
participate in a live, secure conversation. A vari-
ety of agencies with interest in the ongoing affairs
would like a firsthand account of what took place
at the lab they’ve learned was recently infiltrated.
They would prefer to meet in-person given the lat-
est problems with the Matrix environs of Denver.
They emphasize the importance of this conversa-
tion and where it’s going to take the characters,
and even Denver, in the very near future.
Smallest Breezes
The runners are directed to meet at a location
established by the Mr. Johnson or fixer they have
developed the most rapport with (the gamemas-
ter and players can decide who this is). They will
be paid 1,000 nuyen per character to act as both
bodyguards for the individual and to help answer
any questions that may be asked at the gathering.
The PCs will have to travel by air to the meeting—
helicopters and LAV/VTOLs are the only vehicles
that can land at the location, which is a small mesa
southwest of the Denver core. If the player charac-
ters have such a vehicle in their possession already,
it will be used; otherwise Mr. Johnson will pro-
vide transportation. Matrix signals in the area are
negligible, made more so by a Matrix dampening
material (rating 5) placed on the inside of a very
MISSIONS // MISSION 34: INTO THE GAP
large teepee that has been put into place for the
gathering. A trio of Shoshone shamans have placed
a ward (rating 9) on the structure, as well as Trid
Phantasm and Sensor Sneak spells (p. 138, SR6). A
Matrix relay has been established using sprites and
technomancers aligned with the Nexus datahaven
to provide trid projections for people who are not
attending the meeting physically. That network is
closed to outsiders, so regular Matrix access is not
available inside the teepee.
Those present at the meeting are a collection of
Denver’s Mr. Johnsons and fixers who have been
directly involved in this overall series of events. The
meeting is intended to be a clearinghouse of infor-
mation, where several different parties are gather-
ing to decide on how to approach the situation they
have learned about. This includes a few surprise
guests, including Magnum and Goldsmoke from
Mission 19 as well as the Refugee from Mission 9.
The characters gather to hear what else they may
have missed and offer any additional insight from
other events or actions they have participated in.
This meeting is a big deal. Actions have been put
into play that pose dangers for everyone in Denver.
There will be no interruptions to this meeting, due
to a combination of its abruptness and measures
taken. That, and the opposition are already putting
their plans into action, so they are occupied.
At the conclusion of the meeting, one or more
of the people present receive alerts from outside
sources, informing them that MCT and others have
already put their plans into action. That will lead
to increased urgency to end the meeting. The PCs,
because of their experience through the whole cam-
paign, are pushed to venture directly to the Denver
metaplane and work to end the problems.
Cat will be able to provide tickets to ride what
she calls the “Denver Railway.” The tickets will en-
able the characters to use the railway to travel to
any of the stops in the Denver metaplane as long
as they keep the ticket on their immediate person.
Arcane will provide a pair of manuals that out-
line steps and measures to disarm or destroy most
of the devices that are going to be used. Using the
manuals requires PCs to make an Astral (Aura
Reading) + Intuition (4) test; success means char-
acters gain a point of Edge when using the devices
described by the manuals. Operating the devices
requires interfacing with them directly via a Ma-
trix-like connection. Some have dataports, while
others do not, at least not obvious ones.
Mr. K provides the characters with seven oddly
crafted tuning forks about half a meter in length,
each made of an alloy the PCs cannot identify. If
the character can use them in a device that is trans-
ferring aetheric energies from one plane or place to
another, it will enable the device to realign and func-
tion to generate a stabilizing metaphysical energy
field, thus ending a problem with a machine in any
single metaplanar domain. It is possible that any
single device may require more than one such item
to manage this; when used in combination with
Arcane’s manuals, the details can be determined. A
side effect of this stabilization is that it will close
any connections between the Denver plane and oth-
er metaplanes (besides the material plane).
Masque will provide the group with a unique
item that is referred to as a Sunstone. To activate
this item, an individual must touch it under an
open sky (the sun does not need to be out) and give
a voluntary drop of blood. This activates the item,
which restores one condition monitor to its full
value, except for one box of damage sustained in
the process. This can be the Stun or Physical con-
dition monitor, or the item can refresh the Edge at-
tribute of the character to their rating. This can be
done seven times in any single span of twenty-four
hours. This is, of course, a form of voluntary blood
magic. Blood given involuntarily in any way can-
not activate the device.
The Refugee, wearing a shawl with filaments
of a grey material, lends the characters a single
metaplanar oculus. It is a unique item that, when
looked through by anyone, magical or not, gives
them the ability to see as if possessing an item with
vision enhancement, vision magnification, and as-
tral sight.
Representing the Nexus, Perri supplies six data
chips that have a single use of a virus-like program
designed to rework ownership of any single device
to someone new. These are intended for specific use
with the various aetheric devices, and they do not
work on anything else. If a device they encounter
does not have a dataport on it, someone with the
skinlink ability (via Resonance; see p. 195, SR6)
can upload the program with a successful Spoof
Command (p. 184, SR6) action. The person who
has the ownership transferred to them gains a bo-
nus point of Edge when performing operations of
the device.
A combined payment from each of the indi-
viduals gathered nets the runners 10,000 nuyen
apiece, plus medical costs. Negotiations with this
group can be rough, as everyone is an experienced
negotiator. As a group, the people present can do a
teamwork test for Influence + Charisma that gives
them 24 dice to roll, along with two points of
Edge. If the PCs manage any net hits, they receive
a 1,000 nuyen bonus per person for each net hit. If 145
the metaplanar oculus is returned intact, increase
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
the payment by 3,000 nuyen per person.
The Mile-High
Railway
If anyone in the group took part in any pre-
vious adventures involving the Denver metaplane
(also known as the Mile High Realm), they may be
in for a shock. Many of the locations will be very
similar, but there have been significant changes
since the ’70s. First is the railway itself—it not only
travels through all of the domains, but it will also
travel back and forth along its entirety, enabling
it to be used to return to a train stop in Denver
itself (though never starting from there). If a char-
acter brings across a vehicle, as riggers are often
wanting to do, a cargo car is available to trans-
port it along with a valid ticket holder. The train
is still named the Zephyr, but the railcars are more
memorable than before, with a food car as well as
sleeper cars. Travel across the lands between the
fractured borders takes roughly an hour for each
border crossed.
Details and descriptions of the various lands
that now compose the metaplane are found in the
Denver metaplane section (p. 40) of this book.
Hotspots
The goal is to find the various devices that are
now scattered about the Mile High Realm and
deal with them. And they are in several locations.
These do not have to be performed in any partic-
ular order, though the one placed after the party
enters the crumbling Mile High Realm should be
last. Doing some in one order or another can even
benefit from later actions.
A Disian Arch in what remains of the Iron Horse
Nation. This archway is in a small, barren, forgot-
ten cemetery. It is guarded by six Disian Gargoyles
(p. 95), and the device present is a Disruptor, set to
stop expanding its field at 10 meters radius. The
disruptor is of non-terrestrial origin and is placed
there as a defense measure against unauthorized
access to the doorway from either side, which
leads to a small apartment in the Dis metaplane.
Another arch is in the remains of the City of
Steel domain, located in the basement of what
might have been a Tower of Finance that for histo-
rians looks a lot like the Colorado National Bank
built in the 1920s. It is protected by a large team of
specialist security operatives. This device inside is
an Adjuster and is situated immediately adjacent to
MISSION 34: INTO THE GAP // MISSIONS

Device types
There are two principal types of devices.
146 The first of these is an Aetheric Adjuster. These devices
directly alter the flow, direction, and aspected nature of
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
astral and metaplanar energies as desired by the settings.
These devices are roughly 1 meter wide x 1 meter deep x
3 meters in high, and weigh 250 kilograms. The protective
shells on these have a Structure Rating of 14 and utilize
an induction type dataport to access the Matrix-like inter-
face (device rating 12). Within their interior are a series of
quartz-like metallic forks and other eccentric devices and
doodads, some of which are not explained in the manuals
provided by Arcane.
The second class of device is known as a Planar Dis-
ruptor. They are stone columns infused with veins of grey
metal in a hexagonal pattern; they are 2 meters high and
2 meters in diameter and weigh 300 kilograms. Their pro-
tective casings have Structure rating 18. Hard dataports
behind a concealed access tile, which must be found with
a Stealth + Intuition (12, 10 minutes) Extended test, pro-
vide access to the Matrix-like interface (device rating 12).
These devices create areas of extreme astral or metapla-
nar distress, which in turn generate mana ebbs, astral
voids, or (when placed in the correct place) an inhibitor
against any kind of astral or metaplanar travel. When
the item is set as an inhibitor, no form of astral travel
or projection, nor Astral Gateway (p. 66, Street Wyrd) or
Metaplanar Gate (p. 78), functions. This includes spirits of
any kind, even when calling bound spirits with a remote
service (p. 62, Street Wyrd). Should a spirit of any kind be
disrupted within the area of such a device, the being is
truly killed, as they are severed from any opportunities of
escape, up to and including the Planar Protection task (p.
63, Street Wyrd). Spirits and similar beings that were ma-
terialized before entering the field may move about using
those mechanics but cannot retreat into whatever form of
astral plane exists in this spot.
Both types of devices can be adjusted using some of
the tuning forks that Mr. K gave to the group. Adjusters
require two forks to make the changes, while Disruptors
require three. Adjusters can move mana-like energies
from any place or plane of existence to the location of
the Adjuster if the operator knows the signature of the
place in question. For Disruptors, the radius of the effect
starts at 10 meters and expands 1 meter every minute
that passes while the device is active. Once ownership is
transferred to a new user, their locks can be opened by
command, allowing a person or team (no more than three
in total) to make changes. Doing so requires an Engineer-
ing (Mechanical) + Logic (20, 10 minutes) Extended test.
The devices cannot be moved by any force while they are
activated.
MISSIONS // MISSION 34: INTO THE GAP
the arch itself, which is built into the frame of the
old vault. There are twenty people on the securi-
ty team: twelve general security (use Renraku Red
Samurai, p. 208, SR6), two electronics specialists
(use Seal Team 6 Counter-Electronics Commando,
p. 209, SR6), two Recon and Vehicle Support (use
Delta Force Logistics and Support Rigger, p. 209,
SR6: replacing the Ares Dragon helicopters with
four Ferrari Appaloosas, p. 37, Double Clutch),
and four magicians (use Sioux Wildcat Shamanic
Support, p. 210, SR6). These people are protecting
the device, which is already in operation, drawing
power from the arch (and the plane beyond). If
the team can get access to the device, the opera-
tor will be able to discover this device is having
power transferred from it to another device locat-
ed somewhere else. The exact location cannot be
determined from here and is not within the Mile
High Realm; it will be covered later.
The third location is a Disruptor that has
been operating for a while in the remains of the
Shattered Lands. It is buried beneath the ground
in a horizontal position much like a coffin. It is
generating a mana warp over a one-hundred-me-
ter radius. The top of the cover is quick-drying
concrete (Structure rating 10). There are no
guards, but at the edge of the warped field are
a crowd of very angry wild spirits, numbering
more than twenty, all of Force 4 to 9 (roll 1D6+3
to determine Force as needed). The spirits are
air, earth, beast, and kin. They want to reach the
source and destroy it, but the warp prevents it. It
will take some quick negotiating to convince the
spirits not to destroy it so that it can be turned
to a stabilizer.
The fourth location, the Black Canyon, holds
another Disrupter. It was not started until after the
characters had traveled into the inner domains of
the Mile High Realm. As long as it is on, the abil-
ity to use the Zephyr to get back to the Earth is
disabled. The tracks are warped, or even dislodged
entirely, and cannot be followed on foot to get
back into the tunnel. If this one can be disabled,
as some unique part of its nature is unable to be
converted to a Stabilizer, another Adjuster could
be used to fix the rail corridor itself, thus allowing
travel out of the Mile High Realm. This is a real
dilemma for the player characters unless they can
find another way out of the metaplane. Time to
innovate! Getting to this device requires an Ath-
letics (Climbing) + Agility (10, 1 hour) Extended
test. The disturbed nature of this part of the realm
accounts for its hazardous conditions.
 147

SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL

Special Notes
Presuming the player characters can get the
Zephyr’s railways operating again, they can make
it back to the Denver rail stop near the downtown
hub. At this point they should know that there are
multiple types of devices being put into use. They
should also know that the different devices were
built by different designers, possibly with different
corporations. On the outside chance that truly in-
novative player characters managed to recover one of
the devices in any condition, working or not, they will
receive a bonus of 20,000 nuyen from the collective of
individuals involved.

MISSION 34: INTO THE GAP // MISSIONS

148 mission 35
a hole in
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
the world
Hook
The drek is about to hit the fan, and it comes
down to the runners to decide who will pay for
MCT’s hubris … and how.
The Job
What Is Happening?
For weeks now, MCT and its allies from Dis,
along with the Null Sect, have been building in-
tricate manatech machines. The Auditor’s knowl-
edge has been instrumental to the experiment, as
most of the magic wielded in these machines is still
years beyond Earth’s current magic skills. Soon,
the contraption will be complete and ready for de-
ployment.
Aztechnology (and maybe some other megas)
were involved in the inception of the project, but
MCT has managed to take the lead in the last
months, running in their own direction. A few
Azzie assets are still involved, but they are hostag-
es and have not been in contact with their corp for
weeks. Those are the few Aztechnology reps the
runners saw in Mission 33. The eviction of Aztech-
nology from the project was engineered through a
ploy from MCT. Runners working for MCT stole
data from the Azzies and their employer, then en-
sured it found its way to whistleblower Martin
Miller (in Mission 3).
So everything’s coming up MCT and now the
megacorp is putting pressure on the secret proj-
ect to deliver. Which, of course, leads to cutting
many corners. So despite the inhuman comput-
ing power supplied by the Null and the Disians’
magical lore, the machine has several hidden
flaws. With the blow the runners just gave it in
the metaplane of Denver, the system will soon go
critical and explode, causing mana tempests all
over the city.
MISSIONS // MISSION 35: A HOLE IN THE WORLD
Human Factor
Some time after the arrival of Martin Miller in
Denver, Aztechnology changed Masque’s mission.
On top of figuring out exactly what was going on
in Denver, he was tasked to do damage control
after the data breach and prevent precisely what
just happened: the Auditor punishing the AAA for
their actions.
His mission has failed, so Aztechnology is cut-
ting its losses. The corp recalls him while the run-
ners are in the metaplanes.
This could be just business as usual, but it has
become quite personal for Masque. The murdered
rep was, secretly, his lover, whom he has been try-
ing to locate and free since he arrived in Denver.
Despite being ordered to stand down, he uses the
runners to make the MCT experiment fail (to get
back at the Auditor). The spy also suspects that
stopping the experiment now will have terrible
consequences, but he keeps this to himself so that
he can be sure the runners take the job.
One Last Job
In the previous adventure, the runners went to
the metaplane of Denver and destroyed several
weird devices. Unbeknownst to them, some were
related to the MCT contraption and by wrecking
the Adjuster (p. 146) in the City of Steel, they al-
ready put a severe dent in MCT plans and destabi-
lized the experiment.
When the runners come back to the physical
world, the mysterious group of persons who tasked
them during the prior mission has disbanded (the
Refugee is in hiding; Cat, alarmed by the situation,
left town to warn Ghostwalker; and any others
found reasons to not remain visible). Assuming
they did their part, they get paid as negotiated,
by the only one left: Masque. Indeed, he agreed
to handle the runners’ debriefing for the collective
(Cat and the others still believe him to be Guide, or
at least one of his followers. No one among them
realizes he is actually an agent of Aztechnology.)
After compensating them for the previous task,
Masque offers them one last, very highly paid and
equally dangerous job. It’s 100,000 nuyen apiece,
with ten percent in advance. (Masque plans to dis-
appear after this meeting, so sadly, they won’t see
a penny of the rest of the money.)
The mission’s target is simple: halt the experi-
ment that MCT is about to run in the Hub. Masque
also warns them that the facility is very secure, and
they should be well equipped and ready. It’s up to
them to do legwork and recon. The gamemaster
may decide to have Masque help the PCs, using his
own contacts and connections in Denver. He will
do so carefully, as he does not want his employer
to know he was involved in MCT’s failure.
If the runners suggest he enlist his former part-
ners (reaching out to Cat or the others), Masque
will shoot down the idea. He argues that it would
take too long to reassemble them, and their per-
sonal agendas or allegiances may interfere. He also
mentions that MCT might be spying on them.
In truth, Masque is worried that the other mem-
bers of the team would let the experiment proceed
rather than risk blowing up Denver by intervening.
If the gamemaster prefers, or if the runners are
on the fence about taking the job, Masque can
go all-in on vengeance and decide to accompany
them. This will be then a suicide mission for him.
He will die—not while trying to help the runners,
but while attempting to inflict as much damage to
MCT as he can, before joining his lover in the af-
terlife …
The Seer
If the runners have rescued the poor AI and
helped restore it (p. 62), the digital entity is finally
coherent. The e-ghost of Kara Jay can, at last, tell
them what it has been intuitively comprehending
all this time: mana is building up, in the wrong
way, in Denver. The AI is adamant that something
is not right.
It gained its understanding by studying various
effects on the physical plane. The entity is obvi-
ously not Awakened, but it remembers enough of
Denver’s complex connection to the metaplanes
to spot what the MCT research team missed (or
refused to see). The Seer does not know for sure
if the machine will go critical (it will). It realizes,
however, that if it is stopped now, the resulting
mana discharge will be catastrophic.
Given the way ley lines have been altered, there
will be side effects all over the city. If the machine
is disabled soon, the effect will be greatly reduced,
but a massive buildup will be released into (or
rather attracted to) the Aurora Warrens. There, the
loss of life will be substantial. And since the run-
ners won’t be back in the Warrens in time to help
anyone survive it, the repercussions will be imme-
diate. The event will maim and kill many residents.
In essence, the runners now have a horrific
choice to make: forget the mission and save the 149
people they got to know since they moved into the
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
Warrens. Or stop MCT despite the consequences
for the neighborhood of their safehouse.
Note that the Seer is not strong enough to be of
any assistance against MCT and its allies. Howev-
er, if the runners ask it for its aid, the e-ghost will
join them and sacrifice itself in the battle with the
Nulls to buy them the few extra minutes.
Breaking the Machine
On the physical plane, Masque expects the ma-
chine to be a rather sturdy contraption, but using
explosive charges (a lot) remains an option. Al-
ternatively, the runners, the Seer, or Masque can
theorize that a sudden “mana event,” in front of it
may also do the work. Summoning a very power-
ful spirit, detonating an equally potent alchemical
preparation (magic rating 12 for game purposes)
or, more gruesomely, committing something suffi-
ciently atrocious to have an instant ripple in the
mana. With the damage on the metaplane in Den-
ver, this would be enough to destabilize the system
beyond repair.
If Masque goes in with the runners, he might re-
sort to this option by murdering (or rather sacrific-
ing) one of them. The sudden horror of the betray-
al, the inhumanity of the act, mixed with his own
rage, may be enough. It’s best, though, to leave
this in the players’ hands and let them decide what
kind of horrible deed they are willing to perform
to stop the machine—and how they will do it.
Regardless of the method they select, once the
mana around the machine in the Hub has been
disturbed (or if the apparatus is blown up), cata-
strophic failure ensues. Magical energy is brutally
released all over Denver, following ley lines and
other astral pathways. Quickly, the stench of mis-
ery in the Aurora Warrens attracts the disturbance,
and a violent mana tempest suddenly emerges
there.
Hotspots
True to itself, MCT has adopted its infamous
Zero-Zone concept to defend the machine’s loca-
tion. This being a covert operation, of course, they
had to adjust it.
They divided this large perimeter in three sec-
tions. The first tier is discreetly protected by pow-
erful spirits invoked and bound by Shinto priests.
This means that this line of defense is invisible to
the human eye; the Kamis will only attack intrud-
ers who are identified by a Detect Enemy spell. A
dozen spirits patrol the streets surrounding the
MISSION 35: A HOLE IN THE WORLD // MISSIONS
 building and check on any individuals getting too
close to the structure. Since it’s the Hub, they can’t
really inspect everyone, so smart runners may slip
150 through. If an enemy is spotted, a spirit will wait
for them to sneak inside the edifice and will man-
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
ifest there to assault them. Note that the spirit’s
presence has not been unnoticed. Some people,
feeling the spell cast on them without understand-
ing what’s happening, claim the place is haunted.
Some Awakened, like Arcane, may have spotted
the Kamis and wondered about their presence.
The second tier is the building itself. The his-
torical property is currently being restored, but the
MCT subsidiary running the project stopped all
work, so the place is empty. It was transformed
into a “no device allowed” zone. The Null Sect
ensures that anything active in the Matrix inside
this perimeter is immediately attacked (whether
it’s a gun, a commlink, a cyberdeck, or a cyber-
limb). They are supposed to report any intruders,
too. MCT does not, however trust those alien en-
tities entirely, so one of their spiders also monitors
the area. The Nulls may not keep up their bargain
(see below), but the runners will need to deal with
MCT’s decker or the last tier will be notified of
their arrival.
The final section is physical security operating
with the benefits of a medium mana ebb produced
by the machine. It’s an army of drones along with a
dozen elite soldiers. They are holed up in the base-
ment, within the only corridor leading to the mas-
sive safe where the contraption is located. With
such a setup, tossing a grenade might be tempting,
but the blast will most likely cave in the passage-
way, blocking physical access to the device (yes,
MCT planned that purposely, tagging their elite
unit as an “acceptable loss” for the project).
Never Deal with a Null
If you want to add a twist or if the opposition
is simply too much for the runners, have the Null
Sect betray MCT.
The Nulls recently discovered that Dis has its
own version of the Matrix. And they hate it, per-
haps even more than they hate AIs and techno-
mancers. They waited for an opportunity to hurt
the Disians, and despite their peculiar grasp on the
physical world, they realize the runners may be
their best shot to prevent the Disian Matrix from
reaching the physical world.
So if the runners can sneak into their perimeter,
the Nulls pretend not to see them. If they are not
discreet, they will attack them. However, strange-
ly enough, the runner’s device will always manage
to (barely) fight off their assault. It may fool the
MCT’s spider monitoring them for a few rounds,
but he will catch on before long, unless the runners
promptly spot and deal with him somehow.
MISSIONS // MISSION 35: A HOLE IN THE WORLD
The Machine
Once they have dealt with the physical securi-
ty, the runners need to open the safe (explosive or
good old-fashioned cracking). They’ll discover the
machine constructed by MCT.
It’s a massive circular arch, built from steel and
concrete mixed with some ancient engraved stones
of Disian origin. The drawings on those look like
the glyphs used by the Seer, with some missing de-
tails (see Mission 4).
While no mechanism can be seen, a loud bang-
ing noise fills the room, and a sickening smell fills
the place. Odd lights disturb everyone’s vision,
and everything in the space seems to be twisted or
shaking.
The weird-looking contraption feels very mod-
ern, while mixed with ancient and alien designs.
Even stranger, it appears exactly the same in both
the astral and the Matrix (its icon perfectly over-
laying the physical device).
For game purposes, the machine is both a host
(device rating 12 in the Matrix) and an artifact
(Force 12 if it needs to have one). Its Structure rat-
ing is 17. Once the runners encounter it, they have
ten minutes in game time to disable it somehow, ei-
ther by breaking it, bricking it, or sapping its astral
energy. If they don’t defeat it in this time, it fully
activates, and the city suffers greatly.
The Aftermath
Once the machine has stopped, its immediate
surroundings slowly return to normal. On the
physical plane, the lack of manifestation is almost
anticlimactic. In the Matrix, it’s terrifying. The
icon of the machine explodes into thousands of
tiny shards that do 8 boxes of Matrix damage to
anything within two kilometers (this damage can
be resisted with Firewall).
The worst damage is, of course, in the astral
plane, where the substantial amount of mana ma-
nipulated by the machine is expelled brutally into
the skies of the city (thus sparing the runners any
direct harm), before falling down on Denver—not
like a rain, but a myriad of energy “snakes” fly-
ing toward the most attractive (to them) place of
the town. Soon, most of them rush to the Aurora
Warrens
If the runners let the experiment finish, the same
happens but on an even larger scale. The devasta-
tion in the Aurora Warrens is terrible. However,
the rest of the ’plex also receives much more dam-
age
In any case, Denver paid the price of MCT’s
hubris and has become yet another victim of the
astral arms race.
 AFTERWORD
There are machinations shaking multiple meta-
planes at work in this campaign. So what happens
after the dust settles? Some of the after effects will
play out in future Shadowrun books, but here are
some immediate reactions Shadowrun players and
gamemasters should be aware of.
MCT knew they were treading on dangerous
ground with this whole experiment, and Aztech-
nology is coming after them because they have a
lot of inside information about what’s going on—
since they helped in the project’s early stages. They
have a cover story ready to go. They will claim that
any destruction that hit Denver was the result of
an out-of-control alchera that they were investigat-
ing as part of their ongoing work to look into these
phenomenon. If the PCs go public with anything
they found, MCT will cop to most of it. Yes, they
have been experimenting with how machines might
effect mana, but only because they knew that the
manasphere was being harmed and they wanted to
get ahead of the curve to look at how to repair it
(they will of course deny torturing spirits or people
as part of this work). Yes, they have been communi-
cating with Disian agents, but that’s because there is
a deep level of knowledge in that plane about mana
flows, and they would be foolish to not tap into it.
Yes, they have even contacted the Null Sect, because
what better way to deal with one of the more dan-
gerous threats to the Matrix than open up a dialog?
Behind the scenes, they’ll know they need to be
careful, because another slip up could undermine
their PR campaign. This means that their work to
make unholy alliances between magic and technol-
ogy go on the back burner.
The overall motive of the Disians remains un-
clear, but unlike MCT, they are not planning on
putting their efforts on the back burner. If MCT
is not willing to help them advance their plans—
whatever they may be. They return to the work
of seeking out allies, reaching out to anyone who
knows how metaplanes interact with each other.
More of their objectives and motifs will be re-
vealed in upcoming books.
For the Null Sect, the alliance with MCT was
purely one of convenience. Their mission is to de-
stroy AIs and technomancers, and they see MCT’s
research as helping them build more powerful
weapons to that end. If MCT is not helping them,
it doesn’t much matter to them—they’re going to
keep going about their business, and they’re going
to remain a nightmare on the Matrix.
Aztechnology had a big role early in this proj-
ect but has been sidelined. They’re not ones to just
stand aside while technology advances around
them, so if they can’t be involved, they’ll look to
make life difficult for those who are. This includes
getting specific information about what MCT is up
to now, publicizing it, and then working on what-
ever blackmail activities they can develop. They’ll
be vigilant about finding everything they can.
The biggest headache in the wake of these events
belongs to Ghostwalker. Autocrats rely on an image
 // AFTERWORD
 of strength to support their power, and if that im-
age becomes shaky, they are vulnerable to uprisings.
Destruction and death visited on the home territo-
ry is a clear indication that the leader’s strength is
152 not what the people want it to be (even if their ex-
pectations are impossible to meet), so Ghostwalker
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
will have unrest to deal with. This could come from
the masses or from members of the leader’s inner
circle. Ghostwalker has long been thought to not
really have an “in” circle, but there are people he
must trust, such as the leaders of his military and
intelligence organizations. If they turn on the wyrm,
or if public unrest grows, Ghostwalker will have to
figure out a response. His usual strategy is a display
of blood and thunder, but that might not resonate
with a stressed, wounded population. Maintaining
his grip on the city might require him to learn a few
new tricks—or go to new heights of ruthlessness.
Plot Summary
For Gamemasters Only!
Rather than having this earlier in the book,
where it might too easily be spied by players, we’ve
slipped his plot summary here so that gamemasters
can use it to help them get a feel for the over-arch-
ing plot that is spread between thirty-five missions.
Some of the background is important to remem-
ber here. First, the Null Sect is a band of Matrix
sapients who loathe AIs and technomancers. Their
mission is to cleanse the Matrix of these things, and
they are fierce and ruthless in this goal. Second, the
metaplane known as Dis (see Bad Mojo, p. 66, Slip
Streams)was recently encountered in connection
with alcheras and rifts that have popped up across
the world. Some of the soldiers of the UCAS’ III
corps who disappeared and then returned to the
material plane spoke of visiting Dis. Clearly, Dis is
connected to these recent events, but the exact na-
ture of the connection remains unclear.
With that said, here is the basic story that un-
folds in the missions of this book (note that there
are some other one-offs and side plots not de-
scribed here; this covers the major story beats).
Multiple megacorps have been analyzing how
mana flows through connections between meta-
planes for years, looking for a way to use that flow
to their advantage. Aztechnology had the lead in
this area for a time thanks to their discovery of
an anomaly in Antarctica, but the loss of access to
that anomaly set their work back. The corps have
been busy trying to spy on each other and steal
each other’s data, and in the course of this espio-
nage MCT learned what Aztechnology had been
up to. They decided to use the data they had stolen
to get a jump on the competition.
The core of this work is related to geomancy,
the desire to enhance the astral strength of a par-
ticular reason, but the relationship of geomancy to
this work is akin to the relationship between gentle
AFTERWORD // PLOT SUMMARY
landscaping and strip-mining.
MCT wants to quickly and brutally reshape
local mana flows, and they know they would be
more effective at it if it were automated. They re-
cruited some extreme allies to help them. First,
they reached out to residents of the plane of Dis
to help them better understand how to exercise
brute force on mana. With Dis’ help, they set-
tled on an approach, and they started working to
build the needed machinery. The roadblock be-
came the computation power necessary to make
the real-time micro-adjustments to the hundreds
of parameters required to keep the device stable.
To solve this problem, they connect with the more
technologically oriented branch of MCT who had
already opened communication with the Null Sect.
MCT and the Nulls started working to create a
dedicated host powerful enough for this purpose.
Denver was settled on as a test location because
of the already-fractured state of the physical/meta-
plane barrier. Ghostwalker has not been very active
around Denver since the death of Zebulon, leaving
his assistants to handle the day-to-day manage-
ment of the FRFZ, so the risk he represented to the
project was deemed minimal. Early experiments
began slightly before the campaign kicks off, and
they almost immediately drew the attention of sev-
eral powerful organizations and individuals who
keep track of changes in the astral and the Matrix.
The Sioux nation and the PCC have instructed
their agents in Denver to figure out what is hap-
pening and handle matters before the disturbances
escalate. This is how the PCs connect to the work.
As the campaign develops, the runners slowly
piece together the purpose of the machine and,
eventually, its location. MCT, Dis, and the Null
Sect group continues to move toward full-scale
operation of the final machine as the runners con-
tinue investigating. The PCs are already behind in
this, so by the time they uncover the full extent of
the plot, they’ll have to race to stop it.
One of the great gifts of new technology is that it
often has multiple uses. As the MCT/Dis/Null part-
nership advances, they realize that Resonance and
Dissonance might also be affected through their ac-
tions—which is of great interest to the Nulls. Some
of the early investigations in this campaign involve
looking into the effects of this technology. These ef-
fects are profound enough to cause some people to
question their loyalties, which leads to some revers-
es, double-crosses, and betrayals. People involved in
these missions will regularly be questioning who is
working for them and why, as well as how much
they can count on their loyalty. The common belied
underlying much of this thought is that people will
do just about anything for money.
In the meantime, a figure named the Auditor is
moving behind the scenes, lining up a role that is
revealed toward the end of the missions.
 CHARACTER
TROVE
The Allies
The Runners’ Neighbors
If the runners are not from Denver, they will
get a safehouse during the first adventure and use
it until the conclusion. This section contains a se-
ries of NPC living nearby. They are here to help
flesh out the runner’s home, but they can also be
used as local contacts. Particularly, if the runners’
contacts are not based in Denver, they might know
and vouch for this NPC. They are all described in
the section about the Aurora Warrens (p. 14).
Here is some extra information about them:
• Rattler (Connection Rating 4), a low-rent
weapons dealer, wants the runners to be
regular customers. One of his main gun sup-
pliers, a Triad thug named Fang, is pushing
hard on him to sell more, and he hopes they
runners will bring him the extra sales he
needs. First, Rattler will turn on the charm,
offering free use of his private room, but if
the runners resist him, he may become quite
insistent or even aggressive, as Fang is put-
ting a lot of heat on him (use stats for Mafia
debt collector [p. 205, SR6] for Rattler).
• His wife, Trinket (Connection Rating 3), is
not aware of the situation with Fang, but has
a problem on her own. She has been losing
a lot of customers and business lately. She
confides with her friend Arcane during their
weekly meal (see Mission 27). This means
she is also eager to get the runners’ account
and will feel betrayed when they start deal-
ing with someone else. (If needed, use the
Street Shaman archetype, p. 88, SR6, with
Raccoon as a totem). Her marriage has also
been strained lately, which adds to her stress.
• Fang (Connection Rating 2) is an Asian
male in his early thirties, with an ugly scar
over his face, that he wears proudly. He has
THE ALLIES // CHARACTER TROVE
 a nasty smile and constantly behaves like a
bully. Right now, he is a low-level thug for
the Triad, but he wants to make the Aurora
154 Warrens his turf. He will first see the run-
ners as peers—brutes that, like him, punch
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
their way to the top. He will quickly con-
sider them as a threat, especially if they side
with the people he tries to harass, and he
may even attempt to get rid of them (or stay
as much as possible away from them, as he
is, at the core, a coward). Use stats, for Mafia
Soldato, p. 207, SR6).
• Dharavi (Connection Rating 3) runs a mo-
bile clinic out of the back of a modified
Roadmaster in the Warrens. The four-armed
blue skinned nartaki uses a mix of spells,
alchemical preparations and modern tech-
nology to provide care to the poor. He only
charges what someone can pay for his medi-
cal services but makes enough money to cov-
er overhead by selling non-medicinal prepa-
rations and other less-than-legal alchemical
mixtures to those who have deep pockets
and a need for discretion.
• Sam (Connection Rating 2) is a techno-
mancer, which makes her a careful and
very private person. She will gladly accept
the runner’s business and deliver an excel-
lent job, but she’ll be more prudent when
it comes to information trading. While she
keeps his distance, the runners may have a
chance to get on her good side when the Null
attack them. Indeed, part of the deal with
MCT in Mission 4 involves the corp feeding
her technomancer shop to the Sect. Follow-
ing the mega’s breadcrumbs, the Nulls finally
locate her and assault her (use stats for Tech-
nomancer, p. 88, SR6)
• Allie (Connection Rating 3) is friendly but
careful with the runners. While she certainly
likes the idea of high-paid runners putting
their hard-earned money into her dancer’s
panties, she is also wise enough to know they
might be trouble. So, at first, she has the fake
warmness useful for her line of work, but if
the runners behave properly and maybe help
when the Mafia enforcers get cocky in their
racketeering, Allie might become a real ally.
• Grunt (Connection Rating 2) would be very
careful about the runners when they move
in—unless they come from Seattle. Then we
will be very curious about the latest news on
the Big Rhino and the Underground becom-
ing a full district. Apart from that, there is
no shortcut with him. If the runners behave
properly as neighbors and patrons, his ap-
preciation of them will grow over time. Be-
ing a decent person, even before a friendship
with them appears, he may come to the run-
CHARACTER TROVE // THE ALLIES
ner’s rescue if local gangers or other miscre-
ants try to mess with the group.
• Security (Connection Rating 4) is another re-
tired runner with the shadow connections to
set himself up in a profitable business. He’s
a semi-famous hacker who once crashed the
NYSE as a prank and who now runs the
Zero Network, a smuggling ring bringing
in black market electronics and hacker soft-
ware straight from Chiba to his customers
in Denver.
• Hippocrates (Connection Rating 4), the
gun-trigger-happy street doc, is a tough sell.
He’ll take the runners’ money to fix them up
after a bad fight, but he will keep his dis-
tance. If someone comes to him to install
’ware, this means solid nuyen for him, and
he might give them more credit. Or at least
think twice before selling them out to the
highest bidder. Hippocrates secretly gets his
’ware from MCT and his contact, both of
whom are using him to gather intel. So any-
thing the runners tell him will be known to
MCT very quickly.
• Walker (Connection Rating 5) was once a
successful face with a Denver shadow crew
but these days he has retired to take over
the operation of a very lucrative ID manu-
facturing operation. Walker has the world-
wide connections to pull information from
around the globe and his crew can craft
top-rated fake SINs to the exact specification
of his customers.
• Absolute Garbage (Connection Rating 1)
is your run-of-the-mill hobo. A human is
in early forties, he is battered by life and
can often be found rummaging through any
garbage he can find, often screaming, “It’s
garbage! Absolute garbage!” while he seeks
something edible. He is, of course, harmless.
However, he always shows up at the worst
time for the runners. He has become a fix-
ture of the area, and other residents of the
Warrens will not look kindly if he is hurt or
killed. If the runners investigate his back-
ground, they’ll discover that he got infect-
ed by CFD at a free clinic, and afterward
healed when Celedyr’s treatment made it
to the street. Sadly, his brain was already
badly damaged. If needed, roll 2 dices for
any tests.
• Dracula (Connection Rating 3), proprietor
of Dracula’s Coffins, is perhaps most useful
to the runners with his garage and vehicle
repair skills. The garage functions as a vehi-
cle repair facility (p. 273, SR6). Dracula will
rent his facility out for 400 nuyen per hour
and himself out for 100 nuyen per hour.
These will drop as he gets to know and trust
 the runners, down to as low as 100 nuyen
per hour for the facility and 25 nuyen per
hour for himself (use stats for Mechanic, p.
214, SR6).
• Frantic (Connection Rating 3), the free spirit
who runs the Hole in the Wall, will hide ob-
jects for the runners on request, unless they
have been hostile to her. She will not say
why she is so willing to be helpful—perhaps
that’s part of her geas, perhaps she just likes
secrets. She will not talk about anything she
has hidden for anyone else, because, as she
says, the runners wouldn’t want her talking
about what she has done for them with
strangers. Frantic is a Force 6 kindred spirit.
Arcane
(Connection Rating 5)
Arcane uses the name Dr. Rutherford Kaine for
his academic work, but this is actually a top-grade
fake SIN. His real given name is something he’s
not willing to share. He looks human, with light
brown hair, average build, and medium height.
For a lot of his life he thought he was human, but
Arcane is actually fae. He has always known he
was the son of a minor British noble, but now that
he has discovered his true heritage he claims to
be the son of a wild fae calling herself the Queen
of Roses. Arcane has spent most of his life in the
metahuman world, where he attended college and
earned doctorates in thaumaturgy, archaeology
and linguistics. After college, he became frustrated
by official (legal) academic procedures, and Arcane
decided the best way to accomplish his goals was
to go outside the system and take what he wanted,
using the skills of a shadowrunner. He spent sev-
eral years with Front Range Consulting, a runner
team based in Denver, and he now considers the
city his home. Arcane became close friends with
another member of FRC, the local fixer Cat, and
that friendship has led some to speculate that he
also works with Ghostwalker. The facts that he
has a hostile reaction to anyone known to practice
spirit binding and that he always seems to be in
the company of numerous free spirits lend some
weight to that theory.
Dr. R. Kaine is a well-known researcher special-
izing in ancient languages as well as antediluvian
and pre-antediluvian lore. Within an elite circle of
clients however, Arcane is also known as a multi-
planar traveler for hire who has the ability to take
people along with him. Arcane has several spir-
it-like powers due to his fae heritage including an
ability to open a small metaplanar gateway, allow-
ing people to travel to the metaplanes directly and
physically without the need for astral travel.
Arcane
B A R S W L I C EDG ESS M
4 4 3 (7) 2 5 (9) 6 (10) 6 (10) 5 (9) 5 6 10 155
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
DR I/ID AC CM
9 17/5 1A/5I 10
Active Skills: Astral 9, Athletics 3, Con 3, Conjuring 4, Enchanting 4, Influ-
ence 5, Perception 7, Sorcery 8
Knowledge Skills: Antediluvian Lore, Anthropology, Arcana, Arcano-Ar-
chaeology, Denver Shadows, Draconic Lore, Fae Lore, Fourth World Lore,
Linguistics, Magical Artifacts, Magical Societies, Magical Theory, Magical
Threats, Metaplanes, Mythology, Parabotany, Parageology, Parazoologey,
Seelie Court Politics, Spirits and Entities
Languages: English (native), Sperethiel (native), all known ancient lan-
guages, Or’zet and several “lost” Fourth World languages
Qualities: Analytical Mind, Focused Concentration (3)
Fae Powers: Concealment, Immunity (Age, Disease, Toxins), Metaplanar
Gateway, Movement, Regeneration, Vulnerability (Meteoritic Iron), Weak-
ness (Severe Allergy to Meteoritic Iron)
Initiate Grade: 8
Metamagics: Centering, extended masking, flexible signature, masking,
psychometry, quickening, reflection, shielding
Gear: Mortimer of London Berwick Suit and Greatcoat (+4), hood (+1),
Power focus (Force 8), Transys Avalon commlink
Spells / Rituals: Analyze Device, Analyze Magic, Armor, Blast, Chaos,
Clout, Combat Sense, Foreboding, Heal, Ice Sheet, Ice Spear, Ice Storm,
Increase Attribute, Increase Reflexes, Improved Invisibility, Levitate, Mag-
ic Fingers, Manabolt, Mindlink, Mind Probe, Mystic Armor, Physical Mask,
Stunbolt, Trid Phantasm/Ward, Watcher
Quickened Spells: Combat Sense (6), Increase Attribute (Logic, 4 net hits),
Increase Attribute (Intuition, 4 net hits), Increase Attribute (Willpower, 4
net hits), Increase Attribute (Charisma, 4 net hits), Increase Reflexes (4)
Carol “Cat” McTavish
(Connection Rating 4)
Carol McTavish, also known as Cat, is a
semi-retired shadowrunner who operates as a fixer
and sometimes Johnson in the Denver shadows. As
a runner, she worked with the Denver shadowrun-
ning team Front Range Consulting and had a rep-
utation as a powerful mystic adept who excelled
at both long- and short-range combat. These days
she can usually be found in her club, the One-Up
Bar and Arcade, on the east end of the Hub. Cat
is a green-eyed, brown-haired, female ork with a
slim but athletic build who looks to be in her ear-
ly twenties. Born and raised in Scotland, Cat still
has a pronounced Scottish accent despite living in
Denver for most of her adult life.
As a successful Denver fixer, Cat has a lot of
contacts with local runners, shadow merchants
and shadow service providers. She can put runners
in touch with each other, make arrangements for
them to acquire untraceable legal items as well as
heavily regulated (or illegal) weapons, electronics,
’ware, and spell formula. She can also put runners
in touch with service providers who don’t ask
awkward questions including street docs, mechan-
ics, and talismongers. On the downside, runners in
Denver know that if you dig deep enough, the jobs
Cat handles as a Mr. Johnson will sometimes lead
back to the FRFZ government or even Ghostwalk-
THE ALLIES // CHARACTER TROVE
 er, fueling speculation about her exact relationship Cap’n Kludge
with big, pale, and scaly. So be warned, if you’re
taking one of Cat’s jobs, check it out carefully— (Datahaven Sysop, Connection Rating 4)
156 you may actually be working for a dragon. These days the Cap’n mostly just goes by
Kludge, He’s well-known as a curmudgeon all
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL

over the shadows of the Matrix, not just in Denver.

Carol “Cat” McTavish
Now in his mid-fifties Tom Kwan (his real name)
B A R S W L I C EDG ESS M was once a child prodigy, finishing a masters in
7 6 (10) 6 (9) 5 4 6 (9) 6 4 2 4.4 8 computer science at MIT&M before he turned
DR I/ID AC CM
fifteen. He was recruited by Fuchi before gradua-
11 15/4 1A/4I 12 tion. That didn’t last long, though, and by ’47, the
rising star had dug a little too deep into company
Active Skills: Astral 5, Athletics 3, Biotech 3, Con 3, Cracking 3, Close Com- secrets and had to flee to the shadows. His playful
bat 5 (8), Electronics 3, Engineering 3, Firearms 9 (12), Influence 6 (Nego-
tiation +2), Perception 5, Sorcery 4, Stealth 7 bouncing ball icon and the handle Cap’n Kludge
Knowledge Skills: Antique Video Games, Draconic Lore, Denver Govern- soon became well known around the Matrix. He
ment, Denver Local Knowledge, Denver Runners, Denver Shadows, Espi- was brought into the Denver Data Haven by Shiva
onage Techniques, Magical Societies, Magical Theory, Metaplanes, Ork in ’49 and has been working with the Nexus ever
Cuisine,
Languages: English (native), Japanese (specialist) since—in fact, he’s been there longer than anyone
Qualities: Aptitude (Firearms), Built Tough (1), Catlike, Low Light Vision / else still alive.
Addiction (alcohol), Dependents 2 (kids) Ever since Ghostwalker destroyed the Alpha
Initiate Grade: 8 Site, Kludge has become slightly paranoid, believ-
Metamagics: Adept centering, centering, extended masking, flexible sig-
nature, masking, power point (2), shielding ing (correctly) that security at the Beta Site won’t
Adept Powers: Astral Perception, Danger Sense, Enhanced Accuracy, En- stand up to any type of attack. He has set up his
hanced Perception, Improved Ability (3) (Close Combat), Improved Ability own safehouse in the Sunny Spire Condominium
(3) (Firearms), Mystic Armor (4), Traceless Walk Complex complete with a decker cocoon built
Augmentations: Cerebral booster (deltaware) (3), datajack (deltaware),
smartlink (deltaware), muscle toner (deltaware) (4), synaptic booster
from a salvaged valkyrie module and an up-ar-
(deltaware) (3) mored rigger cocoon with a built-in Fairlight Ex-
Gear: Vashon Island Ace of Cups (+4), Spinrad Falcon Cyberdeck, Transys calibur, a Vulcan Leigelord RCC and all the adap-
Avalon Commlink, tations necessary for extended hot-sim VR. Kludge
Spells: Analyze Truth, Armor, Blast, Catfall, Detect Enemies, Fashion,
Improved Invisibility, Heal, Levitate, Magic Fingers, Makeover, Manabolt,
typically spends his days inside his cocoon, work-
Mindlink, Silence / Ward ing on the Nexus’s connectivity and communica-
Weapons: tions software or jumping into one of the battered
Cavalier Arms Crockett EBR [Rifle, 5P, SA, 7/12/15/12/12, w/ scope, anthrodrones he keeps at the Beta Site so he can
silencer, smartgun system, 20 rounds regular ammo]
Katana , Force 8 weapon focus [Blade, DV 4P, 17/—/—/—/—]
work on the Nexus hardware without leaving the
safety of his cocoon.

cap’n kludge
B A R S W L I C EDG ESS
3 3 3(4) 1 5 6(8) 6(8) 2 4 2

DR I/ID AC CM MOVE
7 12/ 2 A1, I3 10 10/15/+1

MATRIX

A S D F
13 15/1(3) M1, I2(I4) 10
(numbers in hot sim)

Skills: Biotech 3, Con 2, Cracking 8, Electronics 8, Engineering 5, Firearms

5 (Pistol), Influence 2, Perception 4, Piloting 5 (Walker)
Qualities: Analytical Mind, Hardening, Home Ground (The Nexus)
Augmentations: Cerebellum booster 2, cerebral booster 2, cybereyes
(betaware, rating 3 w/ flare compensation, image link, low-light, smar-
tlink, vision enhancement), cyberjack 4 (betaware, D 7, F 6, +2 IS, ID, I),
vehicle control rig 1 (betaware), wired reflexes 1 (betaware)
Gear: Armor jacket (+4), Hermes Ikon commlink, Fairlight Excalibur cyber-
deck (DR 6, A 9, S 8, program slots 12), Vulcan Leigelord RCC
Weapons:
Ares Viper Slivergun [Heavy Pistol, DV 4P(f), SA/BF, 12/8/6/—/—, w/
built-in silencer, smartgun, spare clip, 60 rounds of flechette ammo]

CHARACTER TROVE // THE ALLIES

Goldsmoke
Kangee Ohanze
(Connection Rating 5)
B A R S W L I C EDG ESS M
Goldsmoke’s commonly used form is a male 3 4 3 2 6 4 5 6 5 6.0 8 157
dwarf, but he’s a drake who has a draconic form

SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL

he can pull out when he needs it. He dresses well DR I/ID AC CM MOVE
6 8/1D6 1A, 2I 10, 11 10/15/+1
and has expensive tastes, but he can become a
blunt instrument when necessary—and he tends to Active Skills: Astral 6, Athletics 4, Close Combat 5, Con 6, Conjuring 6,
really like it when it’s necessary. Still, he knows the Enchanting 4, Firearms 5, Influence 7, Outdoors 6, Perception 6, Piloting
4, Sorcery 7, Stealth 4
value of a good relationship and will put in the Knowledge Skills: Arcana, Magical Theory, Magical Threats, Metaplanes,
work necessary to maintain one, especially if he Mythology, Sioux Politics
thinks the relationship can lead to a good supply Languages: English (E), Sioux (N), Spanish (S)
of fresh beef. Qualities: Fire Resistance, First Impression, Focused Concentration 2,
Honorbound (Code of Ethics), Mentor Spirit (Crow), Spirit Affinity (Kindred)
Initiate Grade, Metamagics: 4, Centering, exorcism, flexible signature,
masking
GOLDSMOKE
Gear: Erika Elite commlink (DR 4), contacts [capacity 3, w/ thermographic
B A R S W L I C EDG ESS M vision, vision enhancement], jammer (area, rating 5), lined coat (DR +3),
5[9] 5 [6] 5[8] 7 [10] 5 5 6 7 6 6 6 (12) Spells: Analyze Truth, Antidote, Blast, Fireball, Increase Attribute, Phan-
tasm, Silence, Stunbolt, Warming Heal
DR I/ID AC CM MOVE Weapons:
10/15/+1 (Ground), Fichetti Security 600 [Light Pistol, DV 2P, SA, 10/9/6/—/—, 30(c)]
5(10) [15] 10 [13]/5D6 1A/I5 11 [13]/12 Survival knife [Blade, DV 3P, —/—/—/—/—]
10/20/+3 (Flying)
Attributes in brackets are for drake form.

Skills: Athletics (4, Flight +3), Biotech (2), Close Combat (5, Monofilament Mr. K
Whip +3), Conjuring 7 (Summoning +3, Binding +2), Firearms (3), Conjuring
(6, Summoning +3), Electronics (3, Computers +2), Engineering (2), Fire- (Connection Rating 4)
arms (2), Sorcery (7)
Magician: (Initiation Grade 8) This male human, task-driven fixer operates as
Spells: Any Desired. the head of a Grey Cell (p. 39, Collapsing Now).
Metamagics: Centering, cleansing, divining, extended masking, improved He has a primary team who works with him, but
astral form, masking, shielding, spell shaping
Drake Abilities: Armor (6), Dracomorphosis (+MAG to Physical Attributes),
he also reaches out to handle many specific opera-
Dual Nature, Enhanced Senses (Smell, Hearing, Low Light, Themographic tions. He and his cell are not geographically bound
Vision), Elemental Attack (Fire), Magical Flight, Mindspeech, Mystic Armor to any single area or region, but are called in to as-
(6), Natural Weapon (Bite/Claw: DV 4P, AR 10/—/—/—/—) sist other cells when larger and more intensive ac-
Gear: Armored kimono with ballistic hood (DR +5, quick folding collapse
for easy carrying)
tions need to take place. He possesses a magical ca-
Weapons: pability stemming from an uncommon nature and
Monofilament whip weapon focus (rating: 4, DV 6P, 14/—/—/—/—, extensive studies in most magical fields, including
adaptive/custom grip) hermetic magic. He has been active in the shadows
for more than thirty years and as a guerrilla merce-
nary in the Russo-Yakut wars before that.
Kangee Ohanze
(Connection Rating 4) MR. K
Now in his sixties, Kangee is old enough to B A R S W L I C EDG ESS M
remember when magic was still fairly new to the 3 5 5 3 6 5 5 5 4 6.0 6
world. Crow called to him when he was a young
DR I/ID AC CM MOVE
man, and shortly after that he joined the Sioux Spe-
5 8/1D6 1A, 2I 10, 11 10/15/+1
cial Forces as a combat shaman. After decades of
service in the military, he was recruited into the co- Active Skills: Astral 4, Athletics 6, Close Combat 5, Con 3, Conjuring 4,
vert ops division of the Sioux government. He was Enchanting 3, Firearms 5, Influence 4, Outdoors 6, Perception 6, Sorcery
6, Stealth 5
assigned to Denver where he took the street name Languages: English (E), Russian (N), Yakut (S)
Crow of Shadows. He has spent several years now Qualities: Built Tough 2, Quick Healer
in Denver building up a network to collect infor- Initiate Grade, Metamagics: 1, Quickening
mation on Ghostwalker’s activities for the Sioux Gear: Armor clothing (DR +2), counterspelling focus (Manipulation, Force
4), Hermes Ikon commlink (DR 5)
government. Spells: Agony, Analyze Magic, Combat Sense, Decrease Attribute, Elemen-
tal Armor, Ice Spear, Improved Invisibility, Increase Reflexes, Powerball
Weapons:
Ceska Black Scorpion [Machine Pistol, DV 2P, SA/BF, 10/9/8/—/—, 35(c)]
Stun baton [Club, DV 5S(e), 6/—/—/—/—]

THE ALLIES // CHARACTER TROVE

 Masque
(Connection Rating 4)
158 The man masquerading as an Amerindian sha-
man who hires the runner during Mission 4 is
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
an Aztechnology operative. His disguise and the
masking on his aura are designed to make them
believe he is Guide (a free spirit that used to roam
around Denver). This is all a smoke screen to mis-
lead them into thinking they work for the NAN,
Ghostwalker, or at least, anyone who is not Az-
technology.
Indeed, “Masque” is a spy of the AAA. He is a
French blood mage working for Dassault who spe-
cializes in covert operation. His mastery of the mask-
ing metamagic allows him to mask his aura, hiding
the stench of blood magic. However, his disguise itself
does not rely on magic, but very advanced cosmetics.
He speaks fluently, without any accent, in several lan-
guages and is an expert at espionage.
Being a blood mage that committed his fair
share of atrocities, especially during the Az-Am
war, he is not at all a “nice guy.”
Without any disguise, Masque is a white male
in his late thirties with black hair, an aquiline nose,
and small blue eyes. Those three features are always
altered with cosmetics when he’s using a disguise.
In the context of this book, he is to become a
powerful (but repulsive) ally. As the runners realize
his true nature and uncover the fact he is an opera-
tive of Aztechnology, they should also discover his
goals (stopping MCT) might be aligned with their
own.
MASQUE
B A R S W L I C
4 4 5 3 5 4 4 5
DR I/ID AC CM
9/1 A1, I2
7 12
(Astral: 8/2) (Astral A1, I3)
Skills: Astral 5, Biotech 2, Close Combat 3 (Blades +2), Con 6 (Disguise
+2), Electronics 3, Firearms (2), Influence 4 (Etiquette +2), Perception 4,
Piloting 2, Sorcery 5 (Spellcasting +2), Stealth 3
Magician: Blood Mage (Initiation Grade 3)
Spells: Armor, Blood Puppet, Boil Blood, Chaff, Chilled Claret, Detect
Magic, Fashion, Increase Reflexes, Levitate, Mana Window, Mask, Physical
Mask, Translate, Viscera Web
Metamagics: Extended masking, masking, sacrifice, shielding
Gear: Armored vest (DR +4), commlink (rating 7)
Weapons:
Beretta 201T (Light Pistol, DV 2P, 9/8/6/—/—, w/ adaptive/custom grip)
Ritual knife (Blade, VD 1P, 9/2/—/—/—)
CHARACTER TROVE // THE ALLIES
Magnum
(Connection Rating 3)
Magnum is a two-meter-tall male elf. He is a
member of the Grey Cell led by Mr. K, having been
a part of such now for at least three years. He has
a bit of an anxious nature to him, but when he is
focused on a task, he is quite deliberate in his ac-
tions and responses.
MAGNUM
B A R S W L I C EDG ESS R
5 (7) 5 5(9) 6 3 5 4 4 4 4.75 4
DR I/ID AC CM MOVE
7(11) 10(14), 5D6 A1/I5 11/12 10/15/+1
Skills: Athletics 4, Biotech 2, Close Combat 5 (Blades +2), Cracking 4 (Cy-
bercombat +2), Electronics 4, Firearms 5 (Rifles +2), Perception (5, Visual
X), Stealth (5), Tasking (3)
Languages: English S, Japanese N
Technomancer: (Submersion Grade 4), Edge Boosts for actions involving
cyberware cost 1 less. Essence loss for cyberware is reduced by half grade.
Edge boosts cost 1 less when compiling Fault Sprites
Complex Forms: Cleaner, Editor, Emulate (Baby Monitor), Emulate (Browse),
Emulate (Blackout), Emulate (Exploit), Puppeteer, Resonance Spike
Echoes: Living Network, NeuroFilter (2), Skinlink
Augmentations: (Delta) Bone lacing (rating 4, Bod+2, DR+2, UDV 4P,
UAR+2), Cyberears (rating 4, w/ audio enhancement, balance augmenter,
damper, sound link, spatial recognizer), cybereyes (rating 4, w/ flare com-
pensation, image link, low light, smartlink, thermographic vision, vision
enhancement, vision magnification), reaction enhancers 4, wired reflexes 4
Gear: Armor Jacket (DR+4, w/ chemical protection 4, electrochromic, fire
resistance 4), Yamaha Kaburaya (heavy motorcycle; p. 23, Double Clutch)
Weapons:
Ares Predator VI x2 [Heavy Pistol, DV 3P, SA/BF, 10/10/8/—/—, 15(c), w/
guncam, smartlink]
Combat knife [DV 3P, 8/2/—/—/—]
Ranger Arms SM-6 [Rifle, DV 5P, SA, 3/6/9/11/12, 15(c), w/ silencer,
smartlink]
Red Samurai katana [Blade, DV 4P, 10/—/—/—/—]
EDG ESS M
4 6 7
Perri
MOVE (Datahaven Sysop, Connection Rating 7)
10/15/+1
Not much is known for sure about the Master
System Admin of the Nexus, according to rumors
she scrubs information about herself off the Ma-
trix on a regular basis. What is known is that she
is a highly skilled human technomancer and the
daughter (maybe adopted or maybe biological) of
the famous decker FastJack. Except for a brief run-
ner career using the street name Skald in the early
’70s, Perri has been with the Denver Data Hav-
en and the Nexus for most of her life. People that
have been involved with the Nexus for a long time
(like Kludge) remember her as a very young Otaku
living at the Alpha Site as early as ’54 and that she
had some history with Puck before he became one
of Deus’s Whites. Perri currently heads up a team
of technomancers, personally overseeing the Nex-
us operating systems and security protocols. She
lives at the Beta Site near Boulder and rarely leaves
it for any reason.

perri
B A R S W L I C EDG ESS R metaplanes of which they are familiar).
3 3 5 2 6 7 6 5 5 6 9 159
DR I/ID AC CM MOVE
5 11/1 A1, I1 10 10/15/+1
MATRIX (living persona)
A S D F
5* 8* 7* 8*
*Perri’s 9 points of Resonance may be added to her living persona’s
Attributes (up to a 50 percent increase)
Skills: Athletics 2, Biotech 3, Con 4, Cracking 7, Electronics 7, Engineering
5, Firearms 4, Influence 7, Outdoors 2, Perception 5, Piloting 2, Stealth 3,
Tasking 9
Qualities: Analytical Mind, Exceptional Attribute (Logic), Hardening,
Home Ground (The Nexus)
Complex Forms: Diffusion of Attack, Diffusion of Firewall, Emulate (Ar-
mor), Emulate (Biofeedback), Emulate (Fork), Emulate (Lockdown), Infu-
sion of Attack, Infusion of Sleaze, Infusion of Firewall, Pulse Storm, Pup-
peteer, Static Veil, Stitches, Tattletale
Submersion Grade: 7
Echoes: Living Network, Sleaze Upgrade (2), Firewall Upgrade (2), Over-
clocking, Skinlink
Gear: Auctioneer Business Clothes (+2), Erika Elite commlink, glasses
(capacity 4, w/ flare compensation, low-light vision, smartlink, vision
magnification]
Weapons:
Colt Manhunter [Heavy Pistol, DV 3P, SA, AR [12/10/8/—/—] w/
integrated smartgun system, spare magazine, 28 rounds of
normal ammo]
The Refugee
The Refugee is a Disian citizen who originally
served as an agent of Dis some decades ago. For
whatever reason, they chose to permanently relo-
cate to Earth, roaming the Native American na-
tions all the way across the pole into Russia and
Yakut. They are a limited shapeshifting being, ca-
pable of moving between three forms (a winged
gorilla, a human male of varying ages, and his na-
tive form, which is a tripedal being with six arms
ending in four-fingered hands).
Their involvement in the events leading up to
this campaign began when a chantry of the Black
Lodge located in Russia (Novosibirsk) captured
them. Yakutian intelligence became aware of the
situation and attempted to extract them from im-
prisonment, but not before they were transported
to the chantry house in Denver for direct research
and interrogation. It is from that chantry house;
they were successfully extracted by a team of Grey
Cell operatives. From there, the details regarding
them are found within the scenarios of this book.
They function as an adept of the Analytical
Path, something practiced by certain Disians,
which enables them to coordinate and function
much like a technomancer, similar to certain indi-
viduals from the Seelie Courts. Their abilities are
not fully documented at the time of these events
but should be inspired by technomancers for the
most part (except for their ability to open meta-
planar gates enabling them to travel to different
the refugee
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
B A R S W L I C EDG ESS M
5 7 4 5 7 6 4 3 4 6 10
DR I/ID AC CM MOVE
9/2D6,
10/15/+2 (Ground),
10 10/5D6 1A,3I 11/12
5/40/+3 (Flight)
(Matrix)
Skills: Athletics 5 (Flight +2), Astral 5, Close Combat 4 (Unarmed +2), Con
3, Cracking 7, Electronics 5, Influence 3, Stealth 4 (Urban +2)
Qualities: Analytical Mind, Bad Rep (Dis), Hardening, Loss of Confidence,
Photographic Memory, Will to Live 2
Adept: Path of the Mind, Initiate Grade 4: Analytics, Cloak 4, Cool Resolve
2, Countermagic 2, Iron Will 4, Linguistics 4, Momentum 4, Mental Reflexes
2, Pain Resistance 4, Three-Dimensional Memory
Metamagics: Adept Centering, Infusion, Machine Mind, Masking
Powers: Innate Spell (Physical Mask), Metaplanar Gateway, Shift (Winged
Gorilla, Metahuman Male, Self) All attributes are same in all forms, but
winged gorilla has claws and fangs that can be used in combat (DV 4P,
AR 6/—/—/—/—)
New Adept Ability: Mental Reflexes functions
similarly to the normal Improved Reflexes of ad-
epts, but they only boost purely mentally derived
functions such as in a virtual/Matrix environment
or for an astrally projected individual. This pow-
er costs the same as Improved Reflexes and has a
maximum of two levels.
New Metamagic: Machine Mind enables the
individual to enter a Matrix environment without
the need for a cyberdeck, trodes, simrig, or other
similar hardware. Similar to the talents of a tech-
nomancer, Machine Mind acts like a full cyberdeck
with commlink. Matrix attributes are figured the
same was as for a technomancer. The individual
can emulate Matrix programs (and buy them with
Karma as a technomancer), but cannot learn other
technomancer Echoes, summon Sprites or inde-
pendently enter Resonant Realms. Their Matrix
condition monitor is their mental one. They can
engage wirelessly and do so as if they possessed a
device rating equal to their Magic attribute. They
do not have the ability to boost or shuffle their
attributes like a Technomancer.
Stiletto
(Connection Rating 4)
Also known as Professor Hanna Pierce (PhD/T),
Stiletto is an elven female (real age unknown) and
former shadowrunner/combat mage who managed
to not only get out of the biz but made several deals
that eventually landed her at MIT&T as a student
first and an instructor later. With a new identity and
purpose in life, Professor Pierce became an authori-
ty on experimental magical theory and application.
THE ALLIES // CHARACTER TROVE
 But one can never truly leave the shadows and even-
tually Stiletto was called back in the action, but this Thomas White Feather
time working for the organization/alliance known B A R S W L I C ESS
160 only as Grey Cell. Her current project (which bor- 3 3 5 (7) 3 5 5(7) 7 5 2.05
ders on obsession) for Grey Cell is researching—
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL

DR I/ID AC CM MOVE
and hopefully destroying—the mysterious machines
6 14/3 A1, I4 10 10/15/+1
known only as “The Devices.”
MATRIX
stiletto A S D F
B A R S W L I C EDG ESS M 8 7 8 7
3 4 4 3 6 6 5 5 8 6 10
DR I/ID AC CM
15 15/3 M1, I4 11
DR I/ID AC CM MOVE
9 9/1 A1 I2 10 10/15/+5 Skills: Athletics 3, Biotech 3, Close Combat 4, Con 5, Cracking 7, Electron-
ics 7, Engineering 5, Firearms 6, Influence 6, Outdoors 4, Perception 5,
Active Skills: Arcane 11, Close Combat 3, Conjuring 8, Electronics 4, En-
Piloting 5
chanting 6, Firearms 4, Influence 7 (Instruction +2), Perception 5, Piloting
Qualities: Analytical Mind, Exceptional Attribute (Intuition), Photographic
4, Sorcery 10, Stealth 6
Memory
Knowledge Skills: Academics, Magical History, Magical Theory, Magical
Knowledge Skills: Denver Politics, Denver Shadows, Matrix Hangouts,
Traditions, Meditations, Spy Craft
Matrix Who’s Who, PCC Politics
Languages: Aztlaner Spanish (E), English (Native), French (S), German (S),
Languages: English (N), Spanish (S), Cityspeak (S), Dakota (S), Japanese
Japanese (E), Or’zet (S), Sperethiel (S)
(S), Hopi (S), Salish (S), Siouan (S)
Qualities: Analytical Mind, Astral Chameleon, Focused Concentration 3,
Augmentations: Cybereyes (betaware, rating 3 w/ flare compensation,
Indomitable
image link, low-light, smartlink, vision enhancement), cyberjack 5 (bet-
Spells: Analyze Magic, Analyze Truth, Antidote, Clout, Detect Enemies,
aware, D 8, F 7, +3 IS, ID, I), (betaware), wired reflexes 2 (betaware) / cere-
Detect Life, Detect Magic, Fireball, Heal, Increase Reflexes, Improved In-
bral booster 2, sleep regulator
visibility, Lightning Bolt, Physical Mask, Powerbolt
Gear: Armor vest and lined coat (+3), hermes icon commlink, shiawase
Initiate Level, Metamagics: 4, Flexible signature, masking, quickening,
cyber-6 cyberdeck (Device Rating 5, A 8, S 7, program slots 10), data tap,
shielding
autopicker, jammer: directional 6
Gear: Armored jacket (+4), Transys Avalon (DR 6), glasses (rating 4, w/ flare
Weapons:
compensation, smartlink, thermographic vision, vision magnification)
Combat Knife [blade, DV 3P, 11/—/—/—/—]
Weapons:
Ares Predator VI [Heavy, DV 3P/3S, SA/BF, [12/12/8/—/— w/ internal
Ares Crusader II [Machine Pistol DV 2P, SA/BF, 9/9/7/—/—, 40(cy)]
smartgun system, spare magazine, 16 rounds gell ammo (8 in each
mag), 14 rounds normal ammo (7 in each mag)]
Ingram Smartgun XI [SMG, DV 3S, SA/BF, [13/11/8/—/— w/ internal
Thomas White Feather smartgun system, integral gas-vent system, integral silencer, 32
rounds gelammo]
(PCC Mr Johnson, Connection rating 6)
Once a rising star within the matrix warfare di-
vision of the PCC military, White Feather moved Vishala
up quickly through the ranks. He developed a rep- (Connection Rating 5)
utation for being just as effective outside of the
matrix as in, especially when placed in a leadership The first word that comes to mind when you
role. The PCCs office of counterintelligence soon see Vishala is “sculpted.” Nothing about her is left
took notice of the young deckers potential and re- to chance, from the carefully styled bob-cut to the
cruited him for undercover operations in LA, Las line of her trousers. Vishala gives the impression
Vegas and the PCC sector of Denver. Now with that she might park and recharge her body every
decades of experience running shadow operations night, instead of sleeping, like the rest of us.
the fifty-five-year-old White Feather has spent sev- Most of the time, Vishala will be wearing
eral years in charge of shadow ops inside the FRFZ low-profile, armored business clothes, with a slight
for the PCC government. bulge in the jacket where her heavy pistol ruins
how the clothing drapes. She wears excellent qual-
ity suits, chosen for function rather than looks, but
which nonetheless seem to emphasize how tall she
is. No item of clothing shows any wear, and her
makeup is never smudged. She could walk through
a mud puddle and come out clean. Her one affec-
tation is that she smokes old-style cigarettes, using
a long cigarette holder. She will do this any time it
is socially acceptable to do so.
Vishala has a plan to become a big player. Over
the course of this campaign, Vishala stumbles onto
some weapons research and decides to keep it for
herself. Initially, she tries to keep it secret from her

CHARACTER TROVE // THE ALLIES

sponsoring corporation (PCC), but despite the care Niki the Gardener
that Vishala takes with the other aspects of her
life, she is unable to effectively keep information (Connection Rating 4)
about her activities from sneaking out. Her ability Niki is friendly and always gives the impression 161
to keep things almost, but not quite, secret enough that she is putting off several other clients just to

SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL

to stay safe, eventually causes her downfall, as the talk with you. No matter whether she is negoti-
people she betrays in the course of the missions ating with you on a job or having a glass of wine
eventually catch up with her. to celebrate a contract that has gone well, she is
Her gamble is that she can take the research, making time for you out of her busy schedule. She
produce some prototypes, move the device into is dressed in fixer-chic; this season, that includes
production, and then make enough money to ei- good quality armored clothing, a diamond choker,
ther retire or to buy her way into a very influential and a big perm.
position. Niki usually has a smile on her face, especial-
Born in the PCC, Vishala doesn’t claim any par- ly when talking about money, and always when
ticular tribal affiliation—instead, she was always meeting someone new. She is happy to talk to peo-
called to the corporate world. Her parents set her ple where they are, and she can fit in very well—
up with a middle-management job in MCT before she would be just as comfortable at a meeting with
they died, but she was mired in petty corporate Ghostwalker as with a bunch of street-sweepers.
politics for years, until she discovered the glitter- The perfect friend.
ing high-stakes, high-reward shadow-operations Niki is still breaking into the fixer business; she
division. Ever since, she has been in her element, is intent on building bridges, making money, and
buying and betraying shadowrunners and fixers to getting a solid rep underneath her. She knows just
get the job done for first MCT, then the PCC. Now, how hard it is to break into this biz and still live,
it’s her turn. but she knows she is good at negotiating contracts
and building working relationships, great at reading
vishala people, and absolutely amazing at making the kind
of tough street and shadow connections that she
B A R S W L I C EDG ESS
4 4 4 3 6 5 5 5 3 5.2
needs to be a hit in the shadow community. Right
now, she’s thinking about the next few months, and
DR I/ID AC CM as the missions progress, she becomes more and
4 +(2 or 5) 9+1d6 1 10/10 more pleased with the progress of the runners. As
Skills:Athletics 2, Close Combat 3, Con 7, Firearms 5, Influence 5 (Negoti-
they become successful, she becomes successful, and
ation +2), Perception 4 she doesn’t forget the people who help her on that
Languages: English N journey. This works wonderfully until she is (inevi-
Augmentations: Cyberears (rating 4, w/ audio enhancement, damper, tably) betrayed, but even after that, if she survives,
sound link, spatial recognizer), cybereyes (rating 4, w/ flare compensa-
tion, image link, low light vision, smartlink, thermographic vision, vision
she has built up the connections and reputation to
enhancement, vision magnification) build back more successfully than before.
Gear: Auctioneer Business Clothes (DR+2) OR (as noted in the appropriate Starting out in retail and making her way up
mission) full body armor w/ helmet (DR+5 chemical protection 4, electro- the corporate ladder through tech support was dif-
chromic, fire resistance 4), Burner commlink: Renraku Sensei (this is only
on when calling the runners, calling Niki, or during a meet), three packets
ficult, and leaving the comfort of the corporate life
of cigarettes and a lighter to become a freelance fixer was even more difficult.
Weapons: That said, she’s found her background in electron-
Colt Manhunter x 2 [Heavy Pistol, DV 3P, SA, 11/9/7/—/—,14(c), w/ ics to be pretty useful—you never know when you
silencer, smartlink]
might need to pull apart your own commlink to
look for tracker RFID tags.

THE ALLIES // CHARACTER TROVE

 Whites
Niki the Gardener
Whites appear as totally dead white versions
B A R S W L I C EDG ESS of the Black-offs and work with them as perime-
162 3 3 3 2 5 6 5 5 5 5.9
ter security. Instead of a warning, Whites will stay
back and gather information on the intruders for
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL

DR I/ID AC CM
3+4 9+1d6 1 9/10 as long as they can. Some people report that after
being studied by a White, they feel like it continues
Skills: Close Combat 3, Electronics 5, Firearms 4, Influence 6 (Negotiation
+2), Perception 5, Stealth 4
to watch them whenever they are in the Matrix,
Languages: English N sometimes for months afterward.
Augmentations: Cyberjack MPI (rating 6, D/F 9/8)
Gear: Armored jacket (DR +4), Suzuki Mirage motorcycle, Renraku Sensei
commlink whites
Weapons:
Browning Ultra Power [Heavy Pistol, DV 3P, SA, 10/9/6/—/—, 14(c), w/ A S D F W L I C EDG
100 rounds regular ammo] 6 7 4 4 3 5 6 2 2

DR I/ID AC CM
10 10/3 M1, I4 11

Adversaries Skills: Electronics 4, Cracking 4

Null Sect Protosapiant
Constructs
The Null Sect has the ability to create con-
structs that fall somewhere between IC and true
protosapiants and operate something like sprites.
It’s unknown if these constructs have some form of
free will or if they are merely automations created
to carry out the instruction of the Null Sect. Teams
of protosapiant constructs seem to communicate
with each other but outside of the warnings issued
by Black-offs, they will not communicate in any
way to any other icon.
All Null Sect protosapiant constructs will act
as Patrol IC and run Matrix Perception when not
engaged in another action, specific types will also
mimic the attacks of other forms of IC. All con-
structs have the ability to fool the Matrix into be-
lieving they are a legitimate component and never
accumulate an overwatch score.
Qualities: Deviceless, Noiseless, Real World Naiveté, Fnord, Virtual Pro-
cessing, Special Null Attack (White)
Programs: Armor, Biofeedback, Fork, Lockdown, Stealth
Red Spread
Thankfully Red Spreads are rarely seen, they
have the basic outline of the Blacks-off and Whites,
but they have no mouth and their skin seems to be
covered in tiny tentacles. They are actually com-
posed of hundreds of individual red worm-like
icons acting in unison. They peel off of the main
body to attack in mass by wiggling into gear.
In game terms, when Red Spread swarms on a de-
vice, it’s akin to Brute Force attack, gaining User and
then Admin access to devices associated with icons.
Once they have control, they will randomly use Con-
trol Device (to cause a random action), Crash Pro-
gram, Format Device, and Reboot Device actions.
red spread

Black-Offs A S D F W L I C EDG
7 6 4 4 4 5 3 3 2
Black-offs act as perimeter guards for Null Sect
operations; they will issue a warning to leave an DR I/ID AC CM
area and attack if the warning is ignored. These 10 7/3 M1, I4 10

constructs are completely jet black and appear Skills: Electronics 5, Cracking 6 (Cybercombat +2)
vaguely humanoid but the arms are too long and Qualities: Deviceless, Device Mastery, Noiseless, Real World Naiveté, Run-
the face has no features except an overly large ning All Programs,
Programs: Armor, Biofeedback, Exploit, Fork, Lockdown, Stealth
mouth. When attacking this mouth is full of sharp
oversized teeth.
Clear-outs
black-offs These constructs operate in packs and only ex-
A S D F W L I C EDG ist to erase information. If you manage to spot one,
7 6 4 4 5 3 6 2 2 they appear as a colorless, translucent version of a
Black-off or White.
DR I/ID AC CM
10 7/3 M1, I4 10
In game terms, Clear-outs use Probe and Back-
door Entry to gain access to devices. Once inside a
Skills: Electronics 4, Cracking 4 Device, they run Edit File, with Crack File if nec-
Qualities: Deviceless, Noiseless, Real World Naiveté, Fnord, Virtual Pro-
cessing, Special Null attack (Black-off)
essary, until all the data is erased (or they are de-
Programs: Armor, Biofeedback, Fork, Lockdown, Stealth stroyed). They always run silent and execute Hide
actions when spotted.
CHARACTER TROVE // ADVERSARIES
 clear-outs overseers
A S D F W L I C EDG A S D F W L I C EDG
5 8 4 4 2 5 6 4 2 Host Host Host Data Host
7 7 5 3
Host 163
Attack Sleaze Processing Firewall Rating

SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL

DR I/ID AC CM
10 10/3 M1, I4 9 DR I/ID AC CM
Host DP+FW Host DP + 5/3 M1, I4 12
Skills: Electronics 5, Cracking 6
Qualities: Noiseless, Deviceless, Real World Naiveté, Virtual Processing Skills: Electronics 7, Cracking 7 (Cybercombat +2), Influence 1 (Intimi-
Programs: Armor, Edit, Fork, Stealth dation +3)
Qualities: Noiseless, Deviceless, Real World Naiveté, Virtual Processing,
Authority, Special Null attack (Psychotropic Biofeedback)

Un-Grey-tfuls Programs: Armor, Biofeedback, Exploit, Fork, Stealth

Greys appear as humanoid figures wearing long

grey trench coats with high collars and hats. A close
look will reveal that their skin is the same grey col-
or, and they have the same blank featureless faces and
wide mouth full of teeth as they Black-offs and Whites.
Greys are Null Sect hitmen. If they have to act
fast, they will attack directly, but if they can ambush
their target, they will use their Authority quality to
first mess with their opponent’s gear before striking.
Un-Grey-tfuls
A S D F W L I C
12 6 5 5 2 7 2
DR I/ID AC CM
12 7/3 M1, I4 9 seers inflict biofeedback damage and each time
Skills: Electronics 5, Cracking 5 (Cybercombat +2)
Qualities: Noiseless, Deviceless, Real World Naiveté, Virtual Processing,
Authority
Programs: Armor, Fork, Stealth
Overseers
These are the most sophisticated and dangerous
protosapiant constructs of the Null Sect. Overseers
appear as a version of the Greys with defined facial
features. The only constructs that are not mono-
chromatic, they have black overcoats and hats, dead
white skin, blood-red eyes without an iris or pupil,
and the mouth full of teeth common to all Null con-
structs. Overseers are in charge of carrying out the
instructions of their masters and coordinating the
actions of the lesser constructs. Fortunately, they are
bound to a host they have taken over (seeded host).
Null Qualities
SPECIAL NULL ATTACKS
Black
When Black Nulls hit in cybercombat, the tar-
get’s Firewall attribute is reduced by 1 per net hit.
Lost points are restored after the device reboots.
Psychotropic Biofeedback
EDG
1 3
Overseers have similar communication proto-
cols as Black IC which allows it to afflict its targets
with psychotropic biofeedback. This means Over-
actual damage is inflicted, the target must make
a Willpower + Firewall with a threshold equal to
half of the Host Rating to avoid suffering from a
psychotropic effect.
Psychotropic effects are short-term emotional
adjustments lasting for (Edge rating) hours. This
may include effects such as aversions to certain
objects or activities, desire for a certain product,
complacency or lethargy, guilt, paranoia, aver-
sion to the Matrix or other phobias, and so on.
Short-term memory loss is also an option. The
target cannot be largely incapacitated or reduced
to a catatonic state but will behave in a markedly
strange fashion.
White
When White Nulls hit in cybercombat, the tar-
get’s Sleaze attribute is reduced by 1 per net hit.
Lost points are restored after the device reboot.

Authority
The Null convinces devices that its orders are
coming from a trusted and privileged source: the
owner. Whenever it uses Control Device action, the
Null gains 1 Edge that must be spent as part of the
action or vanish.

NULL QUALITIES // CHARACTER TROVE

 Deviceless
Nulls are native to the Matrix itself and do not
have a device to execute upon. For game purposes,
164 consider that the device they are running on is an
emulation and that its icon has simply no actual
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
device attached to it.
Fnord
A Null can stay hidden from any certain entities
in the Matrix it wishes. There is no mechanic at-
tached to it. The Null simply disappeared into the
depth of the Matrix …
Noiseless
For game purposes, Nulls are simply immune to
Noise, at least based on distance. GM may allow
Nulls to be affected by other sources of Noise (like
one generated by a hacker or spam zones).
CHARACTER TROVE // NULL QUALITIES
Real World Naiveté
As creatures of the Matrix, Nulls are at best
ignorant of the defining aspects of the physical
world; things like gravity, friction, and inertia
have no meaning to them. Most have never even
heard of meatspace or simply refuse to believe it
exists. As a result, Nulls with this quality have little
knowledge of the real world and may suffer hefty
negative dice pool modifiers (at the gamemaster’s
discretion) when interacting with it or otherwise
exercising knowledge about it.
Virtual Processing
Nulls do not really execute programs. The pro-
vided list is just a way to simulate some of their
abilities. They are considered to always run all of
their programs.
 rules
reference
Below are some rules presented in the text,
compiled here for reference.
Dissonance
Pools
(SEE p. 54)
Dissonance is a—force? substance? material?
thing? that disrupts Resonance, making it more
difficult for technomancers to access the Matrix.
In game terms, this works similarly to mana ebbs,
as follows:
Small Dissonance Pool
Any technomancer touching a small Disso-
nance pool receives a –1 dice pool penalty on any
test where the Resonance attribute is part of the
dice pool.
Medium Dissonance Pool
Any technomancer touching a medium Disso-
nance pool spends 1 Edge more on Edge actions
and Edge boosts than normal on tests using the
Resonance attribute.
Large Dissonance Pool
Characters cannot gain or spend Edge on tests
using the Resonance attribute.
Metaplanar
Translation
(SEE p. 78)
Physically traveling to a different metaplane
by metaplanar gateway is entirely different than
projecting or using an astral gate. Physical travel
creates a phenomenon where the local reality en-
DISSONANCE POOLS // RULES REFERENCE
 forces physical changes on travelers to make them
conform to its rules. Some are basic, like speak-
ing the local language or knowing that comput-
166 ers can access the local networks. Other changes
could be outfits altering to match local fashions,
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
pistols changing to hand crossbows, and drones
becoming birds or other animals. The best-docu-
mented examples of metaplanar translation come
from visitors attending the Seelie Court in the
metaplane of fae.
Game effects of this are actually minimal—
whatever form the equipment takes, its function
and profile remain exactly the same (see Court of
Shadows for a more in-depth example).
Using Foundations
(SEE p. 98)
The Foundation of a host can only be entered
from the host’s portal. Finding the portal requires
an Electronics [Computer] + Logic (12, 1 minute)
Extended test. There will almost always be IC
guarding the portal of a host. Opening the portal
requires a Control Device action with Admin ac-
cess as if the portal were a separate device from the
host; entering is a separate Enter/Exit Host action.
Deckers operating inside the Foundation must use
hotsim with a physically modified sim interface
so that the equipment has the bandwidth need-
ed for the higher sensory input. The modification
is an Electronics [Hardware] + Logic (6, 1 hour)
Extended test. Technomancers do not require any-
thing past their natural abilities to operate inside
the Foundation; in fact, most say that it feels more
natural that operating in the regular Matrix.
Host Foundations are hyper-realistic, even
more than a UV host, and the version of reality
within them can be addictive. This reality, known
as the Paradigm, is drawn from the subconscious
of the user at the time of entry and can be literally
anything imaginable. It will also be different each
time a Foundation is entered. The exception is that
this Paradigm is set by the first mind that enters
the Foundation—anyone following will share the
same Paradigm until everyone inside has left.
All host Foundations always have seven sec-
tions or areas, each with its own function:
• The portal: Your Foundation / host entry
and exit point.
• The archive: Where all the normally
inaccessible files are stored.
• Master control: Control over the host
Foundation.
• Scaffolding control: Control of the host
outside of the Foundation.
• Security control: Control of the IC within
the host.
RULES REFERENCE // USING FOUNDATIONS
• Slave control: Control of devices attached to
the host
• The Null site: This site has an unknown
purpose.
Only an icon with all four Matrix attributes
(Attack, Data Processing, Firewall, and Sleaze) can
enter a Foundation. Entering a Foundation chang-
es the normal Matrix icon to a Foundation avatar
that matches the paradigm of the Foundation and
is created from the memory and self-image of the
hacker. Generally, this is a copy of the hacker’s re-
al-world body and equipment. Foundation avatars
have physical attributes equal to the unmodified
Matrix attributes of the cyberdeck/cyberjack com-
bo or the living persona used to enter the Foun-
dation. Programs that increase Matrix attributes
don’t count for this purpose, and the attributes
can’t be switched once you enter.
Firewall = Body
Sleaze = Reaction
Data Processing = Agility
Attack = Strength
Actions taken within the Foundation are simi-
lar to those taken in the real world, but they only
mimic real-world skills. In reality, they are a sub-
conscious application of a Matrix action and use
either Electronics or Cracking.
Social Tests = Cracking [Hacking]
Perception / Physical / Piloting =
Electronics [Computer]
Combat = Cracking [Cybercombat]
Technical Tests = Electronics [Software]
or Cracking [Electronic Warfare]
The exceptions are knowledge skills relevant to
the current paradigm, which act as a bridge to us-
ing skills besides Electronics or Cracking. For ex-
ample, a paradigm that mimics feudal Japan may
allow a runner with Bushido Philosophy to use
their Influence skill for interactions inside the par-
adigm instead of Cracking [Hacking]. This is espe-
cially useful for non-hackers riding along through
a Hitchhiker program.
All Resonance actions work exactly as they do
outside of the Foundation.
If combat occurs while in the Foundation,
the damage code from attacks is either 3P or 3S
(attacker’s choice), regardless of the form that a
weapon takes. Items such as a grenade (or spell)
that normally have an area effect will only affect a
single target. The Attack Rating is always Strength
+ Agility, regardless of the weapon, and the De-
fense Rating of a Foundation avatar is always Re-
action + Body. Initiative inside the Foundation is
Reaction + Intuition, with 1 Initiative Die. Wired
reflexes, synaptic boosters, and Increase Reflex-
es spells and powers add their bonus dice but do
not increase Initiative. Control rigs also add their
rating to the Initiative dice pool while inside the
Foundation.
Entering the
Resonance Realms
(SEE p. 99)
The Resonance realms are a sort of Matrix
metaplane of pure information. Many techno-
mancers believe that any information that ever
existed electronically is stored somewhere in the
realms, which means they are vast and full of trea-
sures buried beneath oceans of nonsense and use-
less data.
As with most of the Matrix, interaction with
the realms comes in the form of visual metaphors,
but unlike the rest of the Matrix, these metaphors
are not consciously programmed. That means
they are varied and sometimes shifting—in game
terms, the gamemaster can determine what the
metaphor is and how players interact with the
realms.
Technically speaking, the realms can be entered
from any part of the Matrix, but it’s easier from
Foundations. When in a Foundation, you can find
a way to the realms using the same Electronics
[Computer] + Logic (12, 1 minute) Extended test
it takes to find a Foundation. In any other spot, it’s
much harder, requiring an Electronics [Computer]
+ Logic (30, 1 minute) Extended test. If a PC runs
out of dice before they find a way to the realms
(using the rules on p. 36, SR6), they cannot search
for an entrance again for twenty-four hours.
There are no precise tests for finding informa-
tion in the realms, but it should not be easy. Players
should have to navigate a range of hostile sprites
and sometimes make bargains with them. Do not
just hand them information when they visit the
realms—make them work for it.
Any metahuman carried into the Foundation
with a Hitchhiker program generates their own
Foundation avatar. Hitchhikers cannot act quite
as effectively as the cyberdeck’s primary user, since
this increased dataflow taxes even the best decks.
A number of hitchers up to the device rating of the
deck suffer a –1 dice pool penalty to each physical
attribute. This becomes –2 for all hitchhikers after
the count exceeds the device rating. For example, if
a rating 3 cyberdeck is carrying one to three hitch-
hikers, all hitchhikers take a –1 penalty to all phys-
ical stats. Increasing this to four to six hitchhikers
will make each hitchhiker take a –2 penalty to tests
using their physical attributes.
Actions taken by avatars are based on Matrix
skills, not the actual skills of the runner (with the
exception of relevant knowledge skills, as noted
above), which means most characters will be far 167
less effective than they are outside of the Matrix.
SHADOWRUN: THE THIRD PARALLEL
While normally not available to the untrained,
Cracking skills are usable by everyone (with a
dice pool of linked attribute – 1). Magic does not
actually work in the Foundation, but the spell-
caster’s memory and intent creates an effect that
operates off of the tradition attribute in the same
way that other hitchers’ skills and equipment
emulate a Matrix skill. Drones may be created
from memory and spirits may be “summoned,”
but these constructs are simply extensions of the
Foundation avatar and are not separate entities in
any way. The actions of a drone or a spirit follow-
ing an order take the place of the normal action
of the avatar. This rule does not apply to sprites,
which can be compiled and used as normal.
New Hacking
Program: Hitchhiker
This program allows a number of passengers
equal to 2 x the cyberdeck’s device rating to trav-
el along on a Matrix run. These passengers share
the sim output of the deck and are vulnerable to
dumpshock and attacks, but they do not have any
control over the deck or any effect on actions that
the decker takes.
Mana Ebbs
(SEE p. 109)
Mana ebbs and flows are described in detail in
Street Wyrd on p. 168. If you don’t own that book,
for the purposes of this mission, you can use these
simplified rules:
Low mana ebb
–1 dice on any magical actions in the area.
Medium mana ebb
Edge actions and boosts for actions that use the
Magic attribute cost 1 Edge more.
High mana ebb
Awakened individuals cannot gain or spend
Edge on tests that use the Magic attribute.
Mana void
No magic can be performed in the area. This
includes alchemy.
ENTERING THE RESONANCE REALMS // RULES REFERENCE
Your eyes have to be everywhere. In front. In back.
On the Matrix. On the astral. Threats come from
every possible direction and dimension, and runners
who don’t keep an eye on every possible danger end
up falling to the one they neglected.
The threats are lined up in Denver, a city ruled by a
dragon and home to one of the greatest outlaw tech
archives in the world. Shadows are aligning and plots
are fomenting, and shadowrunners have the chance
to learn what’s happening in enough time to make
some nuyen and save a few lives—including their own.
The Third Parallel is a campaign book for use with
Shadowrun, Sixth World.

CAT28403 Under License From

catalystgamelabs.com I shadowruntabletop.com
© 2021-22 The Topps Company, Inc. All rights reserved. Shadowrun, Sixth World, and Matrix are registered trademarks and/or trademarks of The Topps Company, Inc.,
in the United States and/or other countries. Catalyst Game Labs and the Catalyst Game Labs logo are trademarks of InMediaRes Productions, LLC. Printed in China.
 denver Map key
1. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Anasazi Holding
Company Office
2. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Apex Plasmids
Complex
3. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Atlantean
Foundation Offices
4. . . . . . . . . . Casquilho Imports
5. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Children of
the Dragon
6. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Church of
the Dragon Reborn
7. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Council Hall
8. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Denim
9. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Denver
Administration Building
10. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Denver Sports
Complex
11. . . . . . . . . . . . Draco Foundation
Office
12 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Fox Theatre
13. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ghostwalker’s
Liaison Office
14 . . . . . . . . Happy Canyon Mall
15. . . . Horizon Office Complex
16 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Inari Jinka
17 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Joe’s Drop Off
18. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ketring Park
19 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Lunar Noctum
20. . . . . . . . . . . . Northern Lights
Enchanting
21 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Pam’s Pawn
22. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Paradise Lane
23. . . . . . . . . Patterson Mansion
24. . . . . . . . . . . . . Rocky Mountain
Arsenal National
Wildlife Refuge
25. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sakura Square
26. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Smoky Hill
Marketplace
27. . . . . . . . . . . . . Tower of Babel