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View Full Version : When real life imitates Shadowrun (An interesting real life story)



Kol Korran
2014-12-17, 06:51 AM
Hey there folks. I'd like to tell an interesting story, and how similar parts of it have been to Shadowrun (Well, it's leg work mostly). It doesn't deal with any actual game experience, rules, systems, GM-player interaction or the like. I write it because the similarities amused me (AFTER it all happened), and because it inspired me a bit, and I wanted to share. So...

I live in Israel, and I'm a 35 years old med student (Yes, a bit late, had twists and turns). Between studies, work, research, gaming and such I also volunteer in a free clinic for African asylum seekers in Israel. I won't go into politics, but this population is probably the most vulnerable, weak, and at time exploited population in Israel. In our clinic we try to provide some basic medical services. In the course of this work I've developed different kinds of connections, which will become important.

A call from "the fixer"
About 2.5-3 weeks ago, I got an email from a doctor I work in, who is now in the Ivory coast. Apparently another doctor contacted her. An Eritrean woman visited a hospital and did some blood tests, but left before she got the results. (An odd behavior on itself). No one knew why she needed the tests in the first place. However, there were some abnormalities with the test, ones that could indicate a serious disease. More tests needed to be done to confirm this but... The hospital can't manage to contact her. For most times her cellphone is blocked, and on the one occasion it answered it was a male voice, who hanged up immediately once he heard it's from the hospital.

The disease was most likely at it's early stages, but we don't know exactly how long it would take for it to progress. We needed to find this woman fairly fast. My doctor friend sent this mail to me and some others who worked closely with her, and asked if we could help. I had more free time than the others (Respectively), so I said I'll try, with the others helping where they can.

The contacts
I have made a sort of an add, but I wanted to run it past a few other people to see if it's ok (Community sensibilities and so on). I first contacted a prominent figure in the community- a remarkable Eritrean woman who is a nun, a nurse, and a humanitarian, but a straight forward, no nonsense practical one. I told her of the story, and she warned me not to mention ANYTHING about her medical condition, for it will start up lots of rumors about possible HIV or TB or other infectious diseases, which carry a heavy social stigma there... So this made things more complicated. Worse- she had once of the most common names in Eritrea. (Think a name like John or Mike or such). Other than her name and her approximate age, we knew little that was certain- only her Visa number (Think social security for non citizens).

So I could say that we were looking for this woman for... well, we were looking for her. I knew I needed to work on something else, so on a slim shot I decided to try and put it around the aid organizations themselves, and target the aid workers mostly. Hopefully they will remember we're looking for her if we do.

I met with some people from the aid organizations at a Tigrinya course I'm taking (Might come useful one day, no?) I spread the adds, and then went to some other organizations where I could spread more awareness. On the way I helped organize all kind of "mini quests" for my "contacts", shared 2 meals at small bars, and so on. Finally, I felt the "contact web" was spread, now hopefully it would wield something.

Stake out and almost breaking an entry?
One of our group suggested a more direct approach. Trying the address she gave. Now, the place is quite near the Old Central Tel Aviv Bus Station- a place that has been mostly abandoned by state authorities, a slum for most asylum seekers, where the police rarely goes, and where crime and other stuff happen more freely. At day it's ok, at night it gets somewhat... dangerous.

Now the address wasn't there, but some way off, so I went with a translator friend of mine and found the oddest thing- the entire rundown small building was made of shops, and no entrance! We found some entrance t a nearby building, which led to a tiny foyer, and an armored door, with a pad lock and a camera above. We tried getting some attention, but failed.

Which is when a computer guy I know came in to help, and got from... somewhere (I am quite the techno drek), some info about the building- Apparently the ownership of the building was unclear, some sort of a bogus name, and some work permits on the door.

So, we had no idea what it was, but we hoped that we might be able to learn more about the place if we try more. So me and 2 other friends decided to visit the place once each every day, and try to find out.

In the third night, I was met by a surprise- two big "gangster like" Russian guys didn't like us poking around apparently. They stopped me and another and questioned us quite... thoroughly... but it ended in nothing. The vibe we got is "this is not for you, scram!". Quite the area for illegal businesses. We did learn that the Eritrean in the buildings "left of their own accord" about 5 months ago.

So... the address wasn't true, the phone belonged to some man which we didn't knew, and after some more waiting- the "contact web" yielded nothing. What's next? :smallfrown:

The mystery man
Comes mister computer guy again, and somehow tracked the name of the man behind the phone. (Which sounds to me like quite an accomplishment, the number aren't supposed to be listed on regular webs, but what do I know? :smalltongue:). He had the same family name- family? This was a more unique name, and another clinic found him- Apparently he has a liver disease, and diabetes, and comes regularly. I came to meet him at the clinic, but he wished to talk outside.

We found a small eatery, and talked there. He was a bit of a character indeed! Apparently life has been hard (And they do have a hard life), so he has become an alcoholic (hence the liver problem), and has been quite bad in many ways. But... there is more to that. The man got into debt, serious debt, with some criminal elements involved. He suspected that his sister, who disappeared around the time of the test (Of which he didn't knew, and it surprised him), was taken by these debtors to "pay off his debt", most likely in a form of prostitution or drug worker.

:smallfrown::smalleek::smallsigh: Crap... Now this is a whole new shebang. Damn.

Going in, tense situation
We may be a little crazy, but after some debate we decided to get into the slum that I described earlier, not to mess with any local crime lords, but to try and find out if she was really there, and at least get her to come take the needed blood test. It was potentially life saving.

So we decided to go in 3 of our guys, and contacted one more aid worker that used to work with the prostitutions and the worst cases in the place. And since we thought she might be a sex worker now, we went in at early night. We asked round, but no one heard of her. Our presence (Mostly white folks in a mostly African neighborhood) stood out quite a lot, and drew some attention. And finally we got the wrong kind of attention.

5-6 guys came around us, and one of them would probably have gotten the nickname "Mr. Pretty" in old cliche cop movies. He explained to us, quite simplicitly, that this was not a smart place to be, and that coppers weren't welcomed.

"What coppers? We're not coppers!"
"The guys with the guns."
"We ain't carrying..." I started when one of the others said "Yeah, I thought we could use some back up".
Apparently 2 guys followed us if "things wil lget messy".(Whom I later learned were from areas allowed to carry weapons in Israel. Most Israelis have been to the military, as it's mandatory, but not a lot can legally carry arms later on)
Idiot! Really? I men Really?! These guys would probalby drop us quickly if it came to that. This is no action movie!
I tried to apologize, as did the aid guy (who totally paled, understandably). We acted meekly enough (Street etiquette), and backed away. Thankfully enough ,we seemed to mostly amuse Mr. Pretty and friends. They did say they had no "worker" by such a name. I decided to not press the issue.

And so we wee out, and after quite a few shouts at dumbass and friends, went our seperate ways. about 2 weeks have passed, and we were no place closer.

I was quite bummed out.

Language skill pays off?
2-3 more days passed, when one of the free clinics called me, that our woman was there! (They made sure through the visa). She was there to check on her pregnancy (which was the initial reason she went to the hospital). They manged to get a new phone number, and I got to her. She knew very little Hebrew, and very little English, and was afraid when I said I was about the hospital. (Apparently the hospital charged her a great deal, and she thought they were trying to collect. Eritreans can't get regular medical insurance in Israel, so they have to pay up ludicrous sums). But I managed to speak a few basic sentences I made sure to learn in Tigrinya "I am doctor. I am Tirinya student. I wish to help you. Not about money!"

This managed to get her to listen for a little while, and after long (and difficult conversation) she agreed to meet at the hospital.

Meeting "the mark"
She was late to the meeting, about 20 minutes, when she came to me. Apparently she was there, watching me, trying to judge my character- if I was a debt collector, a cop, immigration or anyone else. But we talked and she started the medical checks up today.

Apparently she is quite resourseful. When she knew of her brothers' debt, and her pregnancy, she decided to make a life switch, and "disappear". She moved from her second home (One we didn't even knew about), to another place, cut connections to her brother (who cannot be trusted), and found a new work. She was worried about using some of the aid organizations, since her brother knew most, and the hospital services, due to the charge.

We managed to have her make a pregnancy follow up free of charge at another clinic than her brother visits, and at least for the current medical situation, we are contacting a fund (My doctor "fixer" knows how to handle this stuff), so this will work out hopefully. Just when I thought she was lost to us... The doctor is optimistic about her chances, since we got her in time. And time will tell, but for now, I'm going to spend me some Karma! Hey, where's the loot? :smallconfused::smalltongue:

EDIT: The end of her story a few posts below.

TheCountAlucard
2014-12-17, 07:30 AM
I approve!

Now, since you don't seem to be a mage or technomancer, I'm gonna suggest you spend your Karma on more investigation skills; if you had the nuyen I'd suggest you spring for Tailored Pheremones to help with the social scenes.

Sadly, it does seem to go that way - your Karma for a mission is inversely proportional to how well you're getting paid. :smallsigh:

Grinner
2014-12-17, 07:53 AM
That is quite a story...I think you deserve an Internet at the very least.

Lappy9001
2014-12-17, 04:45 PM
That's amazing! You really sound like an awesome person to go that far to help someone else :smallcool:

Kol Korran
2014-12-17, 05:03 PM
That's amazing! You really sound like an awesome person to go that far to help someone else :smallcool:
Thanks! But it's just part of the aid work. We tried to find her so fast since:
a) Her condition is potentially life threatening.
b) It can be easily be solved, if she is just contacted quickly.

It looked like we could do a lot of good here, and fairly simply (I had no idea tracking her down would be so complicated when we started). The incidents with the russians duo and Mr. Pretty's gang were a mix up really. It's not like we anticipated them, yet "bravely strode in the face of danger!" Quite the contrary, we tried to minimize drawing attention, and do stuff as low key as possible (Albeit... um... not doing it so well. :smalltongue:) The part about the guy getting his two armed guys in was... well, I can't quite curse enough here, but he was diddly silly stupid!

A lot of the aid work comes out very frustrating, depressing. It's quite hard to try and help matters, fix stuff, a lot of times you're just faced with the reality of an uncaring world... So when we had the chance to go and succeed in something with good chances of success, I guess that may have driven us more than usual. It's quite nice to do some good sometime. :smallsmile:

At least no summoned spirits in this run. I hate the buggers! :smalltongue:

TheCountAlucard
2014-12-17, 06:03 PM
At least no summoned spirits in this run. I hate the buggers! :smalltongue:My experience is that a grenade in a tight hallway does wonders against a materialized spirit, Immunity to Normal Weapons or no.

Kol Korran
2015-04-01, 03:37 AM
Pardon for the slight thread necromancy, I just wanted to update you with an end to the story, if any was interested.

The Eritrean woman started medical surveillance and treatment thanks to the fund and connections of my "fixer" doctor friend- she got a doctor for her specific illness, and another for her pregnancy.

But test results quickly complicated matters- She was not at an initial stage of her disease, but rather t an accelerated phase (Quite rare at her age). So we needed to get her adequate treatment, and fairly fast! The medication, though available in Israel, is in a reasonable price range only for those who have insurance, and as an asylum seeker she doesn't... :smallfrown:

So I started to act in two venues:
1. Find a way to get her some meds, at least as a short term solution.
2. Get the UN to try and transfer her to another country where she could get medical insurance, as a humanitarian cause.

Trying to get the meds again included a LOT of leg work. I was starting to get really desperate (Almost thinking to try black market, though those meds are really ,really iffy), when a new doctor in the free clinic I work in suggested a small organization- Basically a guy who has the disease and his wife, who collect "surplus meds" from patients who changed medication or who died, and stock them for people who needed them.

She needed them, and thankfully the guy could give medications... for two months... We bought some time, but not a lot of it...

The UN has a lot of regulations, and quite a few forms to fill. But I learned that they also have a policy of not separating families. Now the woman has a child, and is pregnant, but the father is not married to her, and is "doing his own thing", though he occasionally comes and help with money and arrangements. But tracking him down proved nearly as difficult as tracking her brother before... Finally I managed to track him, and explained things simply: He can either come with her to another country (If the UN agrees), or he can sign up that he claims no custody for the children. In any case, he needs to do this fast.

He disappeared for two weeks. The man disappeared well, as our investigations didn't manage to find him. When he came back though (After "thinking about it") he was on board. We lso learned that she had family broad, in Italy, Germany and Sweden. We tried activating them to appeal to the UN in their own country, but that took time as well, and did not look promising.

A short time afterwards that her UN case worker was ready to move things further (The "Fixer" doctor explained the urgency quite... convincingly) but that they needed some forms signed, by quite a few people, including the husband, and her two doctors. And they needed them by tomorrow afternoon, cause then the case worker flies to be assigned in another country. If we miss the deadline, the process will start anew. :smalleek: One of the doctors though was abroad on convention in London, and her phone gave the message of "Currently out of the country, will get back to you when I get back..." and so on.

So... who do we know in London? Quite a few phone calls, till I got the phone of a LARPer in London who really got excited by this, tracked down the medical convention, tricked her way to the closed section of the hotel, and got to the doctor, saying to her "You don't know me, but I have this form from Israel and..." (The doctor upon her return tell me that she was now worried of working with me. Ahhhh, compliments!)

The short end, after some running around, we got the documents to the case worker to sign about 3 hours before his flight. Things were progressing well!

Until the Eritrean woman got hospitalized in urgency. Thankfully, We got all of her medical records. I don't know what would have happened if not. That was tense week, but she made it quite well and back. 2 days after she got out, we learned that the UN approved of her flying! (Thankfully they didn't call when she was hospitalized, or that might have started everything again)

So, a week ago she flew to Sweden, where her mother lives, with her husband and child. They will get citizenship, medical insurance, and a hospital already accepted her, and started supplying her the meds. It was a hard, but happy goodbye for me- I spent a lot of time on her "case", and have grown to be fond of her and family, but I'm quite happy for them. Most cases in this work don't end happily, and there is a LOT of frustration. It's nice when something does turn out for the best.

So- try, try, try, try, try ,try ,try ,try, try again! And don't lose heart, despite doubts, frustration and even some fear.

Taking a week or two more easily, and then on to the next patient. There are quite a few around. My only questions is still- Where is the loot!? :smalltongue:

LokiRagnarok
2015-04-01, 03:56 AM
Thanks for the update, and bless you for the work you are doing.

Thrawn4
2015-04-01, 06:37 AM
Amazing story, impressive performance. I am glad you gave us an update.
If you didn't get any loot, maybe you are entitled to some extra karma?

Sith_Happens
2015-04-01, 12:13 PM
Isn't there a newspaper or magazine you should be telling this to instead of an Internet forum?:smalltongue:

banthesun
2015-04-01, 10:39 PM
Forgot to reply to this last time, but let me just say, you have my utmost respect. That's seriously important work you're doing, and it sounds like you're doing an impressive job of it!

J-H
2015-04-02, 12:10 PM
Awesome story. Do you mind if I post a link to this on Facebook?