Foot Meets Mouth

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Shadow and Balor leverage loaning Quizkid to get a meeting with one of the head honchos of the Jackals, Road Wraith, tomorrow at Handbrake Crag. With business concluded, the runners leave while Quizkid is taken up to his accommodations. The Jackals relieve Quizkid of his personal affects, promising to return them after his service has been rendered. Early the next day Quizkid is blackbagged and taken to the workshop where the Jackal's prize bike awaits his tender love and care. Quizkid is dropped off in his "guest room" in the lower levels of the garage where he meets the captive engineer, Francis Duvalle. Duvalle is dubious about Quizkid's skill, but nevertheless agrees to work with him, especially if he has friends on the outside who are awaiting his return. Around the same time, the runners make their way to the crag in Osuna's buggy. The group is directed to the top of a large stony mound, where they must navigate a narrow switchback to the summit. There waits Road Wraith, who watch the maneuvers of his gang in the crag below with Lynx and a third party. The group quickly notes that Wraith appears to be more intelligent and clever compared to his fellow bikers, though just as garishly garbed. Balor demands they be allowed a call with Quizkid to verify his safety, which Road Wraith obliges. Using a sat phone handed to him by Lynx, Road Wraith contacts the garage boss Gort, who puts Quizkid on the line. Quizkid has reached his destination and is being treated "well enough". He tells his pals that he's about to start work on the bike and asks them to check in with him later. Satisfied enough for the moment, Shadow begins negotiating with Road Wraith. The fixer is interested in having the Jackals provide muscle at his night market located at the Queen's Row, and also offers the gang a booth where they'd be free to peddle their drugs. Road Wraith considers the offer and finds it well to his liking. The two begin high-level negotiations. Back at the garage, Quizkid almost immediately over-torques a bolt in the weight compensation assembly, causing the housing to snap and severely damaging the solid fuel recoil booster in the process. Outraged, Quizkid is severely beaten and brought to Gort for interrogation. Quizkid is dense however, and does not directly reveal his connection to the Cruzers. That will be Osuna's job. Lynx's satphone rings: it's Gort. He reports the damage to the bike to Road Wraith, and suspects the new engineer to be a saboteur. It's the only reasonable explanation! Worried about his hide should news reach Crackfang that Lynx's recommendation nearly scrapped the prize bike, Road Wraith reluctantly agrees to send one of the runners to accompany Quizkid. Shadow is elected, and Lynx begins arranging for transport to the garage. Road Wraith then offers to transport the runners back to their camp, but they decline as they already have a driver: Osuna de la Luna. Without prompting, Osuna puffs his chest and declares that he is a mighty racer, and so the party has no need of external transportation. Road Wraith, his interest piqued at meeting a fellow racer, asks an innocent question: have you been racing long? "Yes," replies Osuna, "as a matter of fact, I'll be in the Thrasher!" "Is that a fact?" replies the motoboss, "and which outfit will you be representing?" With a booming voice, Osuna proudly declares, "The Cruzers!" A silence suddenly fell on the mound, as even the distant sounds of the growling Jackal motors faded into nothingness. Heartbeats stretch on for eternity for the remaining members of the group who just realized the position Osuna has now put them in. Lynx pulls his radio and alerts the bikers below that their prey has walked into the lion's den. The drone of the bikes re-emerge as the Jackals make a bee line for the hill. Thinking quickly, the group blasts Lynx from his saddle, snatch his satphone, and pile onto his gyrobike, dropping a grenade and blasting a good chunk out of the switchbacks as they fly off the mound and glide onto the desert floor below. Now the runners must make sure Road Wraith and his cronies don't report these events to Gort, or Quizkid may just face a firing squad.

Clash with the Jackals

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The runners spend the evening celebrating Osuna’s victory with the Cruzers well into the night. In the morning they’re summoned to the tent of clan boss Quique Carrera for a briefing. A week ago, a Cruzer test driver named Alarico Cardiel and two guards drove deep into the badlands to test a modified solid fuel recoil booster far from prying eyes. This didn’t go to plan however, as Cardiel and company were ambushed by a pack of Gone Jackals, a quasi-feral motogang haunting the outskirts of Night City. All that was recovered the head cam footage of the incident, and the bodies of the slain Cruzers. Quique notes that only a handful of people knew of the test run and its location. Foremost was Francis Duvalle, an ex-RGM engineer who assisted the Cruzers in creating the test module. No one has been able to get in contact with Duvalle in days, with many believing he’s fallen into the hands of the Jackals. The mission is threefold: 1. Obtain the fuel module 2. Rescue Duvalle (or deny him to the enemy if he can’t be evacuated) 3. Pay the Jackals back in kind With their objectives made clear, the team returns to the city to collect their gear. The runners are ambushed en-route to the city by a small detachment of Jackals, who brazenly harass the Cruzer vehicle. The runners take out two of the gangers, who quickly break their assault. After retrieving their gear and returning to the nomad camp, Osuna commandeers a buggy. As the sun sets, the runners make their way to the Kickstand, a small watering hole on the edge of civilization and known to be a Jackal haunt. After observing the antics of the Jackals outside the bar, the group decides to split up. Balor and Shadow will make an impression on the Jackals, while Osuna and Quizkid watch the buggy and keep a low profile. Balor kicks the swinging doors off their hinges, immediately turning all eyes in the captive bar to him. An impression is made on the Jackal rallymaster, Lynx, who respond to the duo's inquiries with a challenge: if the newcomers can go shot for shot with the hardest moonshine, then Lynx will entertain their entreaties. Otherwise, they'll be lined up and used as pit jump obstacles. Balor and Shadow (through a touch of deception) hold their own against the rotgut, earning Lynx's attention and interest. Meanwhile, Osuna and Quizkid are shaken down for cash by the gangoons loitering in the lot. After refusing further advances for payouts, the Jackals hotwire the buggy and crash it into the bar (driving a spear through the heart of the captive bartender). Outraged, Lynx orders Osuna and Quizkid to pay for the damages. Of course, the hapless pair don't have nearly the sum demanded by the ganger, but they offer to pay in assistance with the Thrasher! Lynx puts Quizkid to the test, challenging to identify all the mods to his boy's souped-up bikes. Quizkid succeeds by the skin of his teeth, but Lynx is impressed all the same. Turning to Balor and Shadow, he offers them work with the Jackals trafficking their new patented Frag formula in exchange for Quizkid's services. The dealmakers eagerly accept, hoping that they'll be able to track Quizkid to wherever the fuel module and Duvalle are being held...

Osuna and Quizkid Cleared by Tribunal, Win Qualifying Race!

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Osuna and Quizkid were brought before the tribunal, accused of unsporting espionage and attempting to sabotage their opponents, with Quizkid's photos of Paz's bike being submitted as evidence. However, this also exposed Paz's illegal rocket pod modification. To settle the matter, the tribunal ordered the racers to surrender their bikes for inspection and for the modifications to be removed. The judges also ordered that the race be moved to sundown that day! Quizkid and Osuna wasted no time in scouting out the track. While the duo withered under the scorching desert sun, they were able to find numerous devious traps and obstacles, including one that could have easily ended the life of a careless racer. During this time, the remaining crew spent their time moving and shaking within the camp, gathering information for the upcoming race and setting up future deals for themselves… When evening came, the race kicked off. Paz was swiftly taken out by his own trap in the gulch, which the duo had moved, and was unable to sufficiently recover. Despite some of Osuna’s now trademark bad luck, he was able to keep a close distance with Henry. The race seemed lost until Henry, not noticing the dead man’s drop, failed to maneuver out of harm’s way, causing him to crash and burn just meters from the finish line. With this, Osuna crossed the finish line and secured his right to represent his clan in the Thrasher! There’s no time for the victor to rest though, as the Cruzer family head honcho is calling in a favor. The prototype bike meant for the Thrasher was ambushed during a proving run in the badlands by the Gone Jackals, and it’s up to the runners to track down the bike and the experimental solid fuel recoil booster it was carrying…