Blackjack's People #114
Sewer Gold
By Blackjack [Blackjack's Shadowrun Page: www.BlackjackSR.com] [BlackjackSRx@gmail.com] [@BlackjackSRx]

Posted: 2000-07-03

Sludge

Archetype: Dwarf Sewer Cleaner

Why in the world would anybody even want to clean the sewers? Well, unless you want a backed up drainage conduit spilling shit laced vile into the business district of downtown Wherever, somebody’s gotta unclog the works.

Due to their ideal size and build, this job usually falls to underpaid, but dedicated Dwarven workers such as Sludge. Sludge, a gruff man in his early 40s with a ZZ Top beard and an elderly cassette player slung over his shoulder playing 1960s doo-wop, hasn’t been above ground for more than three hours in the past five years. While he constantly complains that he’d like to see a little bit more light every now and then, the fact that his basement dwelling is directly attached to a sewer seems to indicate that these statements are just another of his irrational bitchings. Like many other sewer workers, Sludge isn’t drawn to the job simply because it’s a job, but because he’s hoping that, someday, he’ll find a ‘treasure’ down there that will allow him to retire in the good graces of financial security.

You see, a lot of people lose stuff in the sewers. It could be a frantic wife who inadvertently flushed her wedding ring, a drug dealer who dropped his 50k certified cred down a street drain, or a sammy who misplaced his hundred thousand nuyen Crypto transceiver during a subterranean gunfight. All of this stuff ends up sliming its way through a city’s vast sewage system and, sometimes, a sewer worker finds it. Usually they get to keep the stuff with no strings attached. But, sometimes, that sammy wants his Crypto unit back - especially if it has the plans to a multi-million dollar experimental laser hidden inside.

Digger

Archetype: Dwarf Sewer Cleaner

Digger is in the game solely for the thrill of the hunt. He works silently and efficiently, tearing through clogged pipes and conduits with grace and speed, all the while hoping that he’ll make the big find. And, unlike many sewer workers, Digger is acutely aware of the possibility that somebody might want to ‘re-acquire’ any treasure he might find. For this reason, Digger also carries an extensive, but compact, array of ordinance in his ‘sewer pack’, a large, waterproof bag about half the size of Digger himself. It contains not only his tools, but also an SMG, mini-grenade launcher, flash pack array and other assorted paraphernalia. Digger is also personally armed with a heavy pistol and several defensive grenades. In addition, Digger’s eyes have been augmented with a variety of detection gear and his skin and bones have been hardened with bio/cyberware in order to endure the strain of his work - and the possible repercussions of being run down by a street sam.

Amy Crapp

Archetype: Human Sewer Cleaner

Amy Crapp is a fairly repugnant individual and is bitter towards the sewer dwarves who are able to work with more efficiency than herself. She keeps this loathing subdued and it usually only surfaces in the occasional inappropriate action of calling one of her colleges ‘shorty’. Amy hasn’t changed her clothing in god knows how long and revels in her ability to disgust people by doing nasty things such as drinking raw sewage. But behind her bedraggled exterior, Amy has a rather startling secret: She’s a former Street Samurai.

Disgraced due to an extraction mishap and discarded by her former group, Amy was all but banished to the sewers by the shadowrunning community. Over the years her bitterness towards the former friends who dumped her has developed into a near homicidal rage, and Amy is just waiting for the opportunity to regain her honor by disgracing those who put her ‘underground’. While her vast array of ware is still functioning perfectly, she still doesn’t have the monetary resources to mount the complicated campaign of disgrace and death she believes will elevate her once again to a respectable position in the Shadowrun community. After her work day is done, she simply stomps around her hidden, weapons filled, sewer based dwelling, whipping her shit laced red hair in all directions, and issuing curses to the ceiling through cracked lips. She knows she has to wait to seek her revenge until she finds her treasure - or until somebody else finds one so she can steal it.

Since Amy never once gave anybody anything other than her first name, ‘Crapp’ was added as a nickname by her fellow workers. Needless to say, Amy isn’t especially pleased about this and it would be most unfortunate if a runner, working off the information Amy’s coworkers game them, accidentally addressed her by her full name.