This article is about the new location. For the old one, see Forlorn Hope (2020). For other uses, see Forlorn Hope (disambiguation).The Forlorn Hope is the name of a notorious bar in Night City.
History[]
Hope Reborn (2045)[]
After the destruction of the old Forlorn Hope in 2045, owners Marianne and John "The Professor" Freeman wanted to rebuild. With this in mind, Marianne sent a group of mercenaries over to Jack Skorkowsky, an old friend of the Freemans and a real estate agent in Night City. After a series of events, Jack finally found the perfect spot for the bar in the neighborhood of Woodland Park, in North Heywood. The multi-story building he chose used to be the home of a mahjong parlor that went out of business in 2041, which Jack later bought and completely renovated by 2045. Marianne sent one of her employees, Cicely "Backhand" Feng, to check it out. Assured by Jack that there were lots of space and plenty of room to do custom interior work, Marianne finally decided to buy the new place, but first tasked the group of mercs she had hired to watch over the neighborhood for a month to get to know it better. The Hope's in-house band member, Grace Steel, had also taken the opportunity to ask the mercenaries to find new members for her new band. In the meantime, Marianne, the Professor, and the Hope staff moved into the new building to start planning the renovations. Once the mercs had finished their task, they reported their findings to the Freemans, who were relived Woodland Park was a such colorful neighborhood, and soon after started construction of the new bar.
Over the following weeks, contractors worked to accommodate the building for the Forlorn Hope, however, Marianne had a small setback when trying to procure alcohol. With the help of Harriet Woodward, an old friend of the Freemans, they contracted a merc crew to recover Harriet's stolen bottles from the Devil's Cut bank liquor. Whether they were successful was up to them, however, Marianne was overjoyed if they brought her the vintage alcohol. With at least a few more weeks of renovations left prior to the opening and in order to prepare for the inauguration, Annie, Cid and Jorge were hired as additional servers. There were also multiple rumors about the Hope's reopening, including that the new establishment would angle itself to compete directly with the Afterlife for street merc business.
With the renovations complete, only a few last-minute tasks remained for the opening night, including the acquisition of the ingredients for the bar's new signature drink called the Hope Reborn, checking strange energy spikes throughout the building, and the rescue of Random, one of the bandmates of the Distortions, Grace Steel's new venture. A number of setbacks during these last preparations gave the mercenaries hired to complete them the certainty that someone at the bar was working against the Hope. In the end, the mercs were able to figure out who the spy was, and more clues led them to acquire information on an upcoming attack on the bar orchestrated by Red Chrome Legionnares led by Vox (Annie) and Populi (Arthur), who were planning on assaulting the Forlorn Hope with around two-hundred gangers from three vantage points: the basement, the ground floor, and the roof. When the mercs informed Marianne, she was seething, but was also unhesitant on continuing her plans. In Marianne's eyes, she dared the Legion to attack a place that would soon be filled with some of the nastiest and dangerous edgerunners in Night City, which would include regulars, locals, other notorious city personalities, and friends of the Hope staff.
At 9pm the party kicked off, with the bar fully packed and the staff ready for the attack. The Distortions began to play at 9:15, and at 9:19 the Red Chromers began the assault by blowing up the bathroom walls and appearing from the city sewers, shortly joined by more Red Chromers assaulting from the ground and top floors. The party soon became a slaughter fest, with around one-hundred experienced Hope guests and staff battling against the two-hundred Legionnaires. If not already incapacitated, Vox helped plant a number of fire bombs on the ground floor before abandoning the fight, while Populi and his team used a zipline from a neighboring building to led the assault from the rooftop downwards, also planting bombs on the top floor. In the meantime, in-house techie Backhand was deactivating any explosives she could find while the rest of her allies defended her, and Marianne was coordinating the Hope teams, sending them wherever they were needed the most. Once Populi planted a large fire bomb on the Freemans apartment floor, if he was able to, he tried to flee. Otherwise he made his last stand there. At the end of the night, however, the Forlorn Hope stood bloodied but unbowed, with the invading Red Chrome Legion decimated.[1]
Ripping the Ripper (2045)[]
After a baptize by fire, the Forlorn Hope's opening night became a notorious event all around Night City for some time. During the damage rebuilding process, however, the Hope's full attention was put into single purpose. Harriet had obtained the name of the culprit who had set ablaze the old Forlorn Hope, a very infamous Maelstromer known as Ripper. He was the overseer of the gang's operations in the Hot Zone, and known to force herds of desperate people to scavenge in the radioactive ruins. Of note, one of Hope's servers, Valence, had been one of these scavengers, rescued by the Freemans in 2044 when the bar's patrons fought against a Maelstrom group thrashing on them. There were rumors that Ripper took this act of kindness really personally, with the actions that led to the destruction of the bar caught on a hidden camera owned by David Ling Po, a notorious criminal lord in Little China. Ling Po eventually sold these recordings to Harriet. The video showed Ripper forcing a group of squatters to carry duffel bags filled with explosives into the sewers not far from the old Forlorn Hope, then triggering a detonation device around the time of the explosion. Looking for retribution, the Freemans hired a merc crew for 4,000eb each to take him down in the most painful way. The mercenaries had multiple ways to accomplish this, one of which was fooling the Ripper. Guided by Harriet, in this instance the mercs managed to find the Maelstromer in the Redline bar, get his contact number, plan a fake meeting to convince him about a valuable cash of lost tech, then guiding the Ripper and his people to the merc's planned location by getting the Maelstromers lost in the tunnels underneath Upper Marina and reaching an off-books Rocklin Augmentics Research Warehouse, where they would either finish him, or let the corps do the dirty work. If this didn't work, the mercs approached their objective from a different perspective.
With the guidance of Valence, the mercenary crew decided for a direct assault on Ripper's hideout in the Hot Zone, a place whose surface was filled with radioactive particles and other dangerous material dust, forcing them to wear protective masks and cover their bodies with resistant clothing and boots. With a careful walk trying to avoid Ripper's people in the Zone, the mercs reached the hideout at the ruined Ashcroft Hotel, with Valance telling them how to access the structure. After traversing the Ashcroft and dealing with Skippy, the crew reached Ripper's private playground, where they found out about all his horrible experiments and uncountable victims. No matter what the mercs decided, there was enough evidence for both MAX-TAC or Maelstrom to want to stop Ripper and his cyberpsychotic behavior. Either killed by them or in a fight against the crew, his days were over. The Hope threw a party to celebrate, inviting the merc crew for free drinks while the various staffers approached them to offer their thanks and appreciation. With their future assured, Marianne and the Professor told to the mercs the Forlorn Hope would always welcome them as part of their family.[1]
Layout[]
In 2045, the Forlorn Hope was located in the Woodland Park neighborhood. An empty lot adjacent to the building offered parking space, while a number of older buildings surrounded the establishment: the Shark apartment complex was separated by an alleyway to the southwest, the Palms container village could found to the northwest, a ruined structure past the parking lot was located to the southeast, and an even larger but mostly empty lot was found to the south. In front of the bar, separated by Woodland Avenue, was a small construction yard that housed the Zhirafa equipment that had been used to renovate the building.
The Hope was a two-story structure with two additional floors below it. All were connected via a staircase and an elevator located on the southwestern side of each floor. All maps depict the building with the southwest pointing north.[1]
Sub-basement[]
Sub-basement
The sub-basement was divided between a number of utility rooms, illuminated by dull blue ceiling lights and accented with a light chill. It included a tech workshop located behind a sliding double steel door, which was primarily used by Backhand. This area also housed the Forlorn Hope's NET Architecture server. A ripperdoc clinic operated by Doc Stoic was located below, separated by a hallway. Located to the right of the workshop, separated by another hallway, was a small utility room that housed the building's hot water heater and fuse box, as well as an industrial washer and dryer. Two quarters, one for Backhand (where she sometimes slept) and one for Doc Stoic (where he usually slept), were located below that room. Occupying the bottom side were an ancient secure vault that had been ripped out from the old Forlorn Hope (which dated back to when the original bar was a hotel), and three storage cages where the residents of the first floor could store their belongings. An empty room, a large storage room, and a secure soundproof meeting room only available for mercs the Freemans trusted occupied the rest of the middle and upper areas, adjacent to the utility and sleeping quarters. On the right side of the floor, separated by hallway, was a sizeable indoor shooting range which was useful for testing any weapon Backhand had repaired.[1]
Basement[]
Basement (bar)
The upper basement could be accessed from the side of the building, which exited to the small parking lot. Down a staircase and locked behind a keycard doorway was an "airlock style" entrance, with light decontamination and drying features to help slough off blood rain.
The rest of the floor housed the proper bar, with booths, two pools, and three arcades around the recreational space (with a Roach Race cabinet imported directly from Poland thanks to a friend of Marianne). In this area there was a small closet for cleaning supplies as well. Tables and chairs occupied much of the center of the main room, with booths in the lower side, and on the upper part there was the bar counter (this last one housing a brand new Hammered Industries Drink Master 5000). There were also a few unisex bathrooms right next to booths. A large stage was located on the right side and it was used by the in-house band, the Distortions, as well as for other performing acts, with the tables in front of the stage cleared for dancing, and a small side pocket used for electrics and storage. A green room was located next to the stage, used as a waiting area and backstage for the performers. On the opposite side of the bar, above the recreational area, there was a relatively small but well-equipped kitchen, which included a small cargo elevator that provided easy access to the alleyway between the Forlorn Hope and the Shark. Next to the kitchen was a walk-in freezer and a storage closet, both shared with the bar.
An evacuation ladder that exited on the alley behind the Hope was located between the bar counter and the main staircase. A camera and a turret maintained the entrance secured.[1]
First Floor[]
First floor
The first/ground floor could be accessed through the main entrance, which exited to Woodland Avenue. It gave access to a foyer and a large hallway with a few chairs used as a common living space where residents could gather and socialize. The rest of the floor was divided between rooms and smaller hallways.
On the central-left side there were three two-bedroom apartments, one of which was shared by Edelweiss Dolarhyde and Valence, another one by Grace Steel, and the third one was unoccupied. Four one-bedroom apartments took over much of the central area, one of which was occupied by Aurora O'Reilly, while the rest were free. Between the apartments and the staircase was the communal bathroom, washroom and laundry room. On the rightmost side there was a small music studio and practice space used by the Distortions, and four cube rooms similar to those found in cube hotels. Despite being made for temporal use, Legacy had moved into one cube room full-time. Right next to these rooms were two small utility closets.
All apartment rooms had windows, as did the common space and the easternmost hallways. The entrance was watched over by a camera.[1]
Second Floor[]
Second floor
The second/top floor was divided between the apartments of Petra David and the Freemans. Petra's was much smaller, with a kitchen/living/dining room combination, a bathroom, and a bedroom where Petra also kept her weapon cabinet.
The Freemans' apartment had a large lounge, with a kitchen area they rarely used, and a dining space where the couple could eat. The bathroom to the right had a toilet, a shower, and a hot tub. On the left side there were two offices, one for Marianne and one for the Professor, and in between there was a large bedroom.
Except for the bathrooms, the rest of the rooms had windows. A biometric locked hatch near the staircase allowed access to the roof. The walls near the elevator and staircase exit had two Stun Panels for security purposes.[1]
Known Drinks[]
- The Hope Reborn: This was the Forlorn Hope's signature drink during the 2040s, with a Light and Dark version. It was a mixture of Bourbon or Mezcal, Jalapeño Slices, Blood Orange Juice, Sweet Vermouth, and Blood Orange Peel Twist garnish.
Staff[]
- John "The Professor" Freeman (co-owner)
- Marianne Freeman (co-owner, manager, barkeeper)
- Petra David (security chief)
- Luzia Tanzia (temporal security aide, dependent)
- Edelweiss Dolarhyde (head cook)
- Doc Stoic (in-house ripperdoc)
- Cicely "Backhand" Feng (in-house techie)
- Valence (server)
- Annie Cartwright (server, formerly)
- Cid (server)
- Jorge (server)
- Grace Steel (in-house band member)
- Chevalier (in-house band member)
- Legacy (in-house band member)
- Random (in-house band member)
Regular Patrons[]
Gallery[]
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 SPIVEY C. et al., Tales of the RED: Hope Reborn. Kenmore, WA, R. Talsorian Games, 2024. (pp.55–58,66–68,89,95–107,115–117,120–139,147–169)