A 13 Hour Climb
Climb the corporate ladder! Although be warned, the company isn't always so eager to let its favourite employees leave.
Organic growth. Organic Marketing. Organic reach. So many business terms relate back to the natural world, it was only a matter of time before business itself became a hive.
In this session the cybermercs (the players) have been hired to pose as window cleaners, and infiltrate the headquarters of Botka Holdings to plant dirt on an employee, before ensuring the clients details are placed into the shortlist for a promotion.
Please note: This session contains imagery and themes likely not suitable for younger audiences.
Setting:
This narrative takes place in Night City (NC), a neon metropolis of towering skyscrapers, high-tech advancements, and urban decay. The city breathes with glitzy life 24/7, and there's nothing you can't find here for the right price provided you also know the right guy. Even if you don’t, this city’s a melting pot of neocorporations, street gangs, and the increasingly rare ordinary person; use your wits and I’m sure you’ll do just fine.
Specifically taking place at night on the 3rd, 12th, and 20th floors of the Botka Holdings head office, a grey insular building from the outside and a typical artificial office environment from the inside at first.
The 3rd Floor:
We begin with the cybermercs disguised as a window cleaning crew climbing into their cradle platform, already hooked up to the winch near the roof. Hired by the ambitious Mr Effandi, they’ve been tasked with 3 objectives:
Break into the security office on the 3rd floor, to prevent video evidence.
Plant “creative accounting” files in the office of Vilma Trinh on the 12th floor. Files have been provided via a secure flash drive
Insert a flattering file of Mr Effandi into the General Managers’ terminal on the 20th floor. File provided via a second secure flash drive
For an additional bonus, he also mentions some confidential client files on the 12th floor he wouldn’t mind getting his hands on.
If the characters don’t already know each other prior, a suggested hook is each person is an existing Botka Holdings employee from various regional branches. They’ve each been promised a promotion to the head office once Mr Effandi secures his own executive promotion.
The cybermercs are able to ascend via the window cleaning cradle to the 3rd floor, which opens onto an employee balcony with tables, seating, and door to a closed cafeteria. As a boon, the client has organised the door to be left slightly ajar, allowing the cybermercs to enter without need of an access card. However after this they’ll be on their own.
The cafeteria opens into a hallway decorated with various corporate slogan posters adorning the walls, and moving down there are several open working areas with office drones working late. However between urgent spreadsheets and noise cancelling headphones, they don’t pay anyone much notice unless interrupted.
The security office is next to the elevators, and is behind a secure door. Due to being on the third floor, a single fatigued guard is on duty tonight in the room to keep an eye on the cameras. A second guard, who carries a pass to the secure room, is patrolling and doing a check on all the external doors. Cameras are placed at regular intervals, and so the cybermercs need to act at least somewhat unsuspicious to avoid the attention of the tired guard watching the cameras.
The cybermercs may utilise a variety of methods to enter the room including stealing the card from the patrolling guard, climbing through space in the ceiling or vents, or even hacking the door if a member of the party is sufficiently skilled.
Being caught on camera here isn’t the end of the world, so long as the alarm isn’t set off then footage of the cybermercs will be erased when they break into the security room.
Once inside the security room, the cybermercs are able to disable the cameras by looping the footage, as well as open a window on the 12th floor to allow access as they ascend.
If an alarm is triggered on this floor, the security guards will call for backup and attempt to detain any cybermercs they see. Curiously though, they find their radios aren’t able to make any calls for 90 or so seconds, allowing a resourceful cybermerc to execute a quick plan1.
The 12th Floor:
The 12th floor is markedly darker than the 3rd, with no lighting aside from the glow of the occasional computer monitor over cubicle walls. The floor is open plan through the centre, and a maze of individual worker cubicles with short walls coming up to about shoulder height for the illusion of privacy. Vilma Trinh’s private office is through a door on the opposite side of the floor from where the cybermercs enter.
There’s no immediate threat to the mission upon entering, however moving through the floor the cybermercs begin to hear mutters around them and a slow shuffling between aisles. Occasionally, low blue beams of light moves slowly over the top of cubicles, like a search light or lighthouse.
Cautiously peering around a corner, the cybermercs can see a member of the Night Shift. Older employees who’ve been with the company forever always seeming to arrive earlier and leave later than everyone else. Moving between the cubicles computer fans whir into action as the machines react to their presence, data reports blossoming onto monitors as their blue gaze rests upon the glass.
If they spot an intruder, they react as any professional gardener would on seeing weeds disgrace their favourite flowerbed. The cybermercs are intruders, and they must be torn from the garden with extreme prejudice. Once alerted, even returning to hiding may not be so simple as computer fans whir into a shrill warning if they’re disturbed by the cybermercs.
The Night Shift are old tie-clad loafer-wearing sentinels of the upper echelons. Some patrol through cubicle aisles methodically as they go about their duties not necessarily searching for intruders. Scattered through the room, others are chair bound, looking like they haven’t risen in decades and are extremely sensitive to any disturbances.
If detected on this floor, the Night Shift immediately attempt to engage the cybermercs in melee combat and throw them out the windows. If line of sight is broken though, they will eventually return to their usual routines. Disturbances don’t happen often here, and don’t hold their valuable attention for long.
Vilma’s office is thankfully unlocked, however the files will take a minute to upload. While this is occurring, one of the Night Shift will notice the door open with the terminal on, and will come to investigate.2
The requested client files also reside on this floor. They’re located in a corner office which is attended to by one of the Night Shift, who’re seated at the desk focussed on a constantly streaming flow of economic projections. In order to access the room and steal the data, the cybermercs will need to divert their attention to force them to leave the room.
The Final Floor:
The window cleaning cradle only extends up to the 18th floor, leaving the cybermercs with little choice than to climb the remaining yards.
The balcony of the 20th floor is teeming with electronic antennae and solar collectors, arranged like blooming flowers to obscure vision inside. Cables lying on the ground like old roots are covered in a fine layer of dust and pollution, indicating no one’s come likely through here in some time. This is further suggested from the doors being propped open to allow cables to snake outside.
Inside there are no light fixtures, nor chairs, desks, or other typical office décor. Instead lining every wall are computer servers, their blinking LEDs providing the only light source. Power and data cables intermingle along the floor transmitting the lifeblood of the company, although thankfully someone has placed grating above them; possibly to provide stable footing for visitors but more likely to protect the cables underneath. Some of the Night Shift roams the area, however they pay the cybermercs no mind as they pass by.
Following the cables leads to the GM’s office. Looking around, drawn blinds permit a small amount of light from the outside to illuminate a statue-like figure seated at the desk. Shining a torch on them reveals hands entirely replaced by cables, removing the need for a manual interface in favour of direct connection to the network. Staring with blank eyes at the black monitor before them, they make no motion until either the cybermercs engage them in conversation or move to upload Mr Effandi’s file.
If the cybermercs attempt to upload the file in any other location, then the terminal is remotely disconnected by the network. The terminal then blinks back on once the cybermercs have moved a short distance away suggesting the network gently pushing them to the GM’s office.
The GM’s reception varies with how the cybermercs have treated Botka Holdings and its employees.
An overly hostile approach, harming employees, the Night Shift, or the cybernetic network is met with harsh emotionless criticism, as if the cybermercs are parasites intruding on his garden of Eden. Blue searchlights fill the room as members of the Night Shift activate from shadows around the edge of the room and attempt to forcibly eject the intruders. While uploading Mr Effandi’s file into the terminal is still possible here, if the GM notices then there is no guarantee that it will be successful3.
A passive approach, with minimal harm to employees or infrastructure is met with a soft neutral almost curious response from the GM. Instead of parasites in the garden, they are now simply unknowns that require judgement. Through displaying open curiosity about the company and specifically an interest in preserving the data gardens, the cybermercs are able to convince the GM to allow Mr Effandi’s file to be uploaded. If they’re successful, the GM remarks they actually care very little who gets the role only that it serves the company.
If the players still feel the need for a fight at this stage, then maybe Vilma Trinh has caught wind of the plan and has called the NCPD to report a break in?
With this, the dirty work is done and they are able to descend the building from the cleaning cradle, past all of the still dirty windows they’ve likely ignored thus far. Mr Effandi wires the cash, although won’t believe any of the stories about what the cybermercs saw in the higher levels. Some stories are likely better left unknown.
What did you think? Any ideas, feedback, want anything expanded on, or do you intend to use this in a session? Let me know!
This session was originally written with Cyberpunk Red in mind, and the original prompt was an offhand encounter from a previous D&D session.
Cowritten/Edited with the assistance of Alsanna.
HowTTaS is unofficial content provided under the Homebrew Content Policy of R. Talsorian Games (Creators of Cyberpunk Red) and is not approved or endorsed by RTG. This content references materials that are the property of R. Talsorian Games and its licensees.”
The company network itself interferes with the radios, as it’s curious about who these intruders are.
Later on in the GMs terminal, the cybermercs may notice Vilma Trinh’s name in the promotion shortlist as well. The dirt planted is likely then an attempt at sabotage.
This will also result in Mr Effandi being fired from the company, creating issues for the cybermercs in the future