Hey kids! In my continuing effort to keep you all safe and healthy, I've collected a bunch of stories to worry and disturb you. We have weird tattoos, bad trips, screwy samurai and corporate conspiracy. As always, I welcome comments, especially if you know more than the author did (someone needs to help poor Braindead with his writing skills). I haven't edited anything, but I did add my own nifty titles to the stories. Enjoy, and be careful out there.

-- Dirk P. (02:03:45/08-21-58) BODY ART

One way or another, you've heard about it. Magically active microorganisms are a big thing in corporate security now. Turns out, some corp eggheads got a little creative and decided to try injecting the stuff (into some hapless "volunteers," of course). Guess what - it thrives. They found a breed of this stuff which can happily exist in your body, growing just under the skin and living off your metabolism.

The upshot of this is that this stuff glows like crazy in the astral, sort of taking up space around your body. Anything that tries to get to you has to claw its way through the hugs first. This doesn't just mean mages, but dual beings (like Hellhounds), spirits, and spells. Yes, that's right, having this crap under your skin gives you a magical barrier.

There are, of course, problems. The obvious one is that when these things are living under your skin (the only place they really survive) they're visible, as sort of a blue color. Of course, if you can incorporate them as elaborate tattoos, you're set. The second problem comes when a magical attack actually manages to overcome them. If this happens, the little bugs keel over dead. Conveniently, the blue color goes away soon after this happens.

• Wow. So how do I get this?
  -- Scraper (14:12:46/08-21-58)

• Probably not at your corner store. Maybe a talismonger?
  -- Uri (17:30:21/08-21-58)

• I doubt it. Pyg missed something big here - this stuff frags with mages, big-time. It's just like entombing yourself in your own body.
  -- Walter (06:15:44/08-22-58)

• Pyg really left out a lot of stuff. Any mage with half a brain can ground a spell out from astral space through any one of the microcritters - and they're not hard to take out individually. I've also seen someone who actually had this stuff under his skin. It just kept growing and growing until he was a big, blue corpse.
  -- Blue Wire (19:02:35/08-22-58)

ROLES

Magically active microorganisms can be injected into someone's skin with the ease of normal body art. Once there, they will survive without any additional care. They must cover most of the body's surface to be effective. The easiest way to do this is to have a tattooed pattern over most of the skin; a solid "colored" surface is not necessary. Once this is done, the microorganisms will resist any attempt to reach or affect the body as if they formed a collective level 5 magical barrier.

The bad points mentioned above are very true. Any and all astral intrusion is deflected, including helpful spells and any attempt by a mage to cast spells, summon spirits, or use astral space (if a mage were ever dumb enough to get a "living tattoo"). Any mage who is sufficiently clever will realize that any one of the bacteria can be used to ground a spell from astral space to normal space, bypassing the protective layer in the process. It is up the GM whether the microorganisms are prone to spreading, as described in Blue Wire's comment. 

USES

This can either become a new toy for players, or something strange and unique to add to the opposition. If player characters are allowed to have it, the treatment should be hard to find (Availability 12/10 days) and at least as expensive as a comparable ward. With sufficient research, the characters may be allowed to find the Shadowland post by Pyg (above). An antagonist with magically-active body art is another way to throw a curve to an experienced team of runners, especially one that has grown reliant on magic. It's best to not let the characters see any Shadowland information in this case, letting the team figure out their opponent's strengths and weaknesses as the plot develops.

NIGHTMARE PATCHES

There are some sick puppies in the world. That's all there is too it. The latest bit of fragged-up cruelty on the street is tainted patches. Someone's been distributing stim patches with strong synthetic hallucinogens instead of the normal uppers. This is really bad drek - not like that peyote old uncle Bill used for his vision quest last year. It dredges every bad thing from the back of your skull and replays them on all your senses. For what can be up to half a day, the real world goes away and you're living your nightmares.

There are some things to watch out for. Make sure you get these things sealed tight, and always, always go for corp ones (buy them from an arcology drugstore, if you can). If you think you got a bad one anyway, then tell a friend as soon as you can and dump your gear, especially guns. It's gonna be bad, and you'll lash out. If you know a mage who can detox you, then go for it. From the outside, if your chummer just slapped a bad patch, deal with it fast. You only have a couple minutes before reality ditches him, so pull his gear and look for a street doc, or a Bear shaman or something like that.

• It's worse than Mary thinks. I heard about a batch of bad trauma patches last week. Talk about your horrible ways to die...
  -- Colm (12:52:36/08-21-58)

• I managed to acquire one of those funny stim patches. I'm not done testing it, but I'm pretty sure of most of the ingredients already. It's a nasty cocktail of stuff, including some agents with sufficiently rare synthons that they should be reasonably traceable. I'll post a full report once I've finished with it.
  -- Lewis (10:38:03/08-23-58)

• You will be translating it into English for the rest of us, right?
  -- Col m (13:40:18/08-23-58)

rules

The psychoactive agents in "tainted" stim patches begin working soon after the patch is used. The affected person must make a Body (4) test; Dermal armor, Armor spells and the like do not count. The victim will fully lose touch with reality in one minute, plus an additional minute for each success on the Body test. Once the drugs take over, the GM can either take the character over for the duration, or describe the strange and terrifying things the character experiences and trust the player to roleplay it well. The effects last for 12 hours. Subtract 2 hours from this duration for each success on a second Body (4) test.

uses

Nightmare patches can be the center for an adventure or series of adventures. One of the runners may personally experience a bad patch, or someone who lost a friend to a tainted trauma patch may hire them to find the source. These patches may be the next bad thing for a Lonestar team to confront, in a law enforcement game. The source of this cruelty is up to the GM. It may just be a really sick street chemist or it might be something far more sinister (like Shuulashama and its servants).

RAZORBOYS FROM HELL

What's scarier than a fully wired, cold-as-ice razorboy? One with magic powers, of course. This isn't another batch of combat mages, not by a long shot. These folks are servants of a very old spirit, one who uses them to further its own strange ends while giving them strange abilities. Some people have stories about the sam who's so quiet no one notices him at all. 

With these guys, it's more than just those soft-soled shoes. To slightly butcher a quote, "They're eeevil."

• That's it? Anyone have any actual information about these guys?
  -- Focus (05:26:03/08-21-58)

• Yes, a great deal. These men and women have been touched by Shuulashama, a very old spirit indeed. Shuulashama used to prey upon those who had faced true, mind-numbing horror or fear. Most often, its victims might be accurately described as "shell-shocked," in our terms. The spirit looks for a soul in this sapped state and takes over while the mind is still on cruise control. Apparently, during its brief time awake in the Sixth World, Shuulashama has discovered that the souls of the heavily enhanced fit its needs perfectly.
  -- Hocus-Pocus (08:13:56/08-21-58)

• I thought cybered people couldn't use magic? How can they get powers from this spirit thing?
  --Thomas (14:34:12/08-21-58)

• I have no idea how it works, but I've seen it in action. I was with a group doing a normal B&E on an office. We were in, no alarms or anything. We'd split up a bit to find what we were looking for, but it was only in a big room full of desks clear LOS to everything. Orion walked right past a bookshelf and this guy just stepped out of nowhere behind him. Before any of us could react, he gunned down Orion and ducked below a desk. I pulled my gun and hosed down that side of the room, then ditched.
  -- Hadrian (10:47:30/08-22-58)

• That could have been anything. What makes you say it wasn't a mage?
  --Thomas (13:18:01/08-22-58)

• It wasn't. I didn't explain this properly to Hadrian, but I assensed that man, and he had some kind of connection to... something other. It was dark, and it filled the space carved out of his soul by his cyber.
  -- Nanna (15:50:31/08-22-58)

RULES

Shuulashama is a powerful free spirit, waking from a long dormancy in an astral domain. It operates pretty much as described in the commentary above. Once there is a connection between the spirit and a person, the person gains access to special powers. These are best represented with one or more Critter Powers (pp. 214-219, Shadowrun, 2nd edition). Especially appropriate powers include Concealment, Fear and Regeneration. Shuulashama requires that its servants use these powers to complete specific tasks only it understands, and at all other times to make the world a bleaker place. For all powers requiring Essence, use the total rolled on 2d6 instead of the individual's natural Essence (which is usually zero).

USES

Those touched by Shuulashama can be a big surprise to jaded shadowrunners. Pop a street sam with Concealment on them and see how long it takes them to figure things out. If they bother to assense the street samurai, it will be apparent that something is touching him. If anyone foolishly tries to break the astral link (perhaps thinking it's a spell lock) they may bring Shuulashama in person. If this happens, keep in mind that Shuulashama is thousands of years old; treat it as a powerful Free Spirit (p. 76, Grimoire II). In all but the most magic-laden groups, Shuulashama will be too much to fight head on. The runners will have to think carefully and call in some markers. 

VOICES IN YOUR HEAD

Skillsofts - an easy way to the top, right? Just pop the chip and BANG you're an expert gunner (or driver, or short-order chef, or whatever). One of the many ways the SINless get an edge in life. Sure, it was an expensive operation, but now no one will screw with you again, especially those corp suits. Right? Not even, chummer. Not even.

There's something even freakier than BTLs on the streets these days, and if you're not paying attention, it'll nab ya. Sure, you're careful about what you stick in your head (no sense getting a virus that crashes something important, like your reflexes). But eventually, it comes down to trusting that the stuff is good at the source - and that source is corp. Believe me, they know exactly where a chunk of their product goes, and they're doing something about it.

Despite the title, this isn't some paranoid rant about mind control through skillsofts. It's worse, in some ways, because it's so fragging obvious. A whole ton of the most recent chips have an added feature you may not know about. Built into each is a radio receiver/transmitter combo. If you know the frequency it receives on, and you know the coded activation signal, all you have to do is transmit and that little chip starts singing its heart out. After that... well, any old signal locator will find you.

So what do you do about it? Be very, very careful. Have a techie you trust open the chip up and check the guts out. I don't know if there's a pattern to the distribution of these suckers, so you just have to watch out where you buy. Hell - wear some tinfoil in your hat.

• The title has this author pegged pretty well. Voices in his head, at least.
  -- Gamera (11:07:46/08-21-58)

• Actually, that's a frighteningly simple idea. There's enough space in there to do it, too. Skill chips are a fair amount larger than they need to be. Most runners are technical washouts anyway, so who's gonna know what they're sticking in their head?
  -- Quinton (14:18:30/08-21-58)

• Anyone know what the activation code is?
  -- Trembler (15:56:10/08-21-58)

  I hope not. It's not like every chip in existence responds to the same code either. Each manufacturer would have their oven activation code. Presumably, they tell those who need to know, like their own security force.
  -- Hiro (19:41:21/08-21-58)

• If any of this really exists.
  -- Midnight (01:03:53/08-22-58)

RULES

Rules aren't really necessary for this. If Cooper's story is true, then it's possible that any chip a runner sticks in their head contains someone's transmitter. Since the corps are unlikely to share info on activation codes, it's a gamble whether the chip will even respond to a particular security group. This is mainly the GM's whim. If it's dramatically appropriate, the chip responds to a hostile party's activation code, and the character's days are numbered unless he figures out why the secguards are always able to find him.

USES

This is mainly a tool to make life harder for the runners. If the group could use some complications to keep them on their toes, traceable chips are a good start. In a more altruistic campaign, the chips may be the product of only one corp. If this is the case, the runners have a chance to publicize this dangerous practice. Of course, publicizing it may just bring the idea to the ears of other corps...