A Final Recap: Part 2
Vaccuum tubes activate. Lasers scan holographic crystals.<<System Recovery In Progress>>
Attempting to Reconstruct Data...
Partial Record Recovered. 37% Complete.
Archiving Fragments...
2 PM, Olympic Sculpture Park
Daemon and Hunter wandered under the massive red structure known as the Eagle. Hunter sweated inside his facade's jacket while Daemon strolled comfortably in a Tee-shirt and jeans. They stopped to watch the preparations for the Fourth in a nearby field."Where is the Mutilationist?" Hunter asked.
Daemon pointed to a bench directly below the modern artwork.
The Mutilationist had the hood of her jacket up despite the heat and her sleeves pulled down over her hands. Large dark glasses obscured her features. She turned as they approach, blondish hair poking out from the hood.
Her cover looked young, perhaps twenty but sick with something. White lines of scar tissue covered what paper-thin skin peeked from her clothing.
“Hello,” Daemon said. “We have a meeting."
“So you want to know about Repurposement facility?” she said in Occitan, revealing a mouth short a few teeth. “I think I can assist you. For a price.”
Occitan is a language related to French and Catalan. Should be rare enough to avoid easy translation.
“What price?” Daemon asked, switching languages.
“Two items. First, you share your intel. Second, if you investigate the Infrastructure directly I am going along. Deal?"
"Deal."
Hunter sat down on the bench opposite her. He could see a resemblance to Clare Smith. It wasn't perfect. Her face had a different shape. She was a touch shorter. Thinner too. But she definitely wanted to look like Clare.
"Why don’t you start by telling me what you already know?” she asked.
Daemon sat down. "I know there's an angel watching over the place. There's a lot of missing and dying children associated with the location, going back decades. Those disappearances seem to be starting again. Also, it looks like the entire place is Infrastructure.
"What can you tell me?"
"It is worse than you think. The angel is just an observer. The real defenses are underground. That is where it takes the children." The Mutilationist's gaze fixed on Daemon. "Have you heard about the Legion? They were an Agency, more of a family really, who were trying to breed demon blooded children. The Machine decided to use these offspring." She shifted on the bench. "It did things to them. It made them into its own servants. Into angels. Then it sent them after their parents."
"Now it is doing it again," Hunter said.
"Nobody has heard from Legion for years," Daemon said. "Were you one of them?"
“No.” She shifted again. "I was one of the ones the Machine took."
"So you've been inside? Where are your allegiances now?" Daemon extended his senses for any signs of the angelic. Nothing. If she was a pawn of the Machine she was biding her time.
"Once. Before my mission. I know the ways in." She paused and looked down. "The machine took my humanity and I've spent the past decade trying to get it back. I want revenge."
Daemon nodded. "I can understand that motivation."
The Mutilationist looked back up. "I know going in alone will only get me killed or worse. With a team and some care however, I think we could shut down the facility."
"There are those of us interested in tearing down this piece of the machine. Give us your intel and we can work together."
She smiled slightly. "There are four entrances to the Repurposement Facility but only two are accessible to us. A seaside entrance allows access for large shipments. It opens every 16 hours for a short time. It will be watched. The other entrance is in the church. The organ is a piece of Infrastructure. The correct chords open an access port. The hitch is that it also serves as the recharging station for the angel stationed in town.
“Inside, the facility resembles a grid of tunnels and shafts surrounding a large cubical space. The core contains the Infrastructure that enacts the transformation. There should be a data storage center within. That might include some details on its vulnerabilities. Otherwise some explosives should do the trick."
"I can help with that piece," Daemon said. "Hunter here can help with the demo. And we have others that can assist with the operation. Let me discuss this with the others and we will be in touch."
She added, "I want to access the data storage before we destroy it. It may have some the pieces of myself I've been searching for."
Something bothered Daemon. "You said that the machine is focusing on the children of the fallen? To what end? To use them against the fallen themselves?"
"Yes. That's how it makes-" She stopped herself. "I'm sorry. It turns the children into weapons against the fallen. I think it also does so to make them into servants. More angels. I think we might all have been something else, someone else, once."
"Was it focused on the Legion alone," he asked. "Are they destroyed?"
"The Legion was most definitely destroyed," she said coldly. "The Machine must now have another Agency as a target."
"I'll look into that," Daemon said. "It seems something activated it again."
Daemon guessed this was the Naturalist's fault and failing that, Accabish’s, for having children.
I corrected him. The whole ring is the trigger. This is revenge for the loss of the Lizard Brain.
Hunter leaned in. "Your appearance seems very similar to one of the missing children. But it isn't exact, even accounting for the time difference. Why?"
"I am Clare Smith," she said putting some anger into her voice. "I've spent years trying reclaim my life, the life it took from me."
"Don't mind him," Daemon said, getting up and pulling Hunter along with him. "We'll be in touch."
July 3rd, 2012, 5PM Outside Moe's
First Nat’s player and I worked out some house rules for constructing covers in “downtime” and the Naturalist’s plan to swap bits between covers.
By bargaining for a major aspect of a person (a close family relationship, a key physical feature, something that would fit in a two or three word description of the NPC) and spending a scene arranging the deal (and whatever rolls that come out of that), you gain a dot of Cover.
If a demon cross-patches material from an existing cover, they needs to spend a Willpower and roll for compromise for the old cover. For each dot, roll using the modifiers of the new level. If it is a patchwork cover it is easier to tease the threads out. For other Covers, the roll suffers an additional -3 penalty as the demon modifies the pact.
The Naturalist ran over the plan for their meeting with Mill. Even though Mill would be meeting Dorian, the Naturalist played the message the detective left for Jenny first.
“Hi, this is Robert Mill of One of a Kind Investigations. We are investigating a man who has been seen around your neighborhood. I'd like to see if you recognize him and know anything about him. My number is 555-4352. Can you call me back? Thanks for your time.”
The Naturalist closed the phone and switched covers.
Dorian exited the car and walked across the street to Moe's. Inside people downed beers in small knots, eager to begin their Independence Day celebrations a day early. He spotted Mill by the bar chatting with Stacie.
Stacie pointed in his direction.
At this point unfortunately the game began to fall apart. We never resolved this scene.
7 PM: Washington University Campus
As Daemon weighed the ring's options, he absently check his guild to see if any new tidbits about Bainbridge had emerged. The chat and forums were oddly quiet. The last post was hours ago.He did however find a large number of private messages.
"I got a call from a detective today."
"Someone is snooping around. I overheard my mom talking to somebody about my gaming habits."
"I think they are private detectives."
"One of a Kind Investigations called me."
"I think I saw something about these detectives on a conspiracy site. Here's the link. They seem like bad news."
"I'm telling everyone to keep their heads down. Legally they have nothing. We should be in the clear as long as we don't make waves."
The last one was from Zanity. Smart, if frustrating.
Basically Daemon's cult is laying low. He can still use them but it runs the risk of exposing his activities to One of a Kind Investigations, the Hunter cell. Otherwise they will eventually (by the end of the story) stop their surveillance. Essentially this is a condition.
Being Watched: earn a Beat if lacking your allies causes a significant inconvenience. Resolved by exposure or laying low for a story.
Daemon clicked on the link in one of the messages. The two page narrative displayed was more coherent and less racist than most such rants. It also filled in a number of gaps.
The poster appeared to be close to both Verdant Technology and One of a Kind Investigations.
Basically I was closing off further inquiry into this issue since we’d basically exhausted that thread.
Daemon earns a Beat and resolves the Verdant Technology Aspiration.
5PM near Adamant Technologies
Jeanette let the security door lock behind her and walked quietly down the street. Halfway she ducked down an alley, disappearing for a couple minutes into the Weaver's bolthole to file clues and blood for later analysis. The demon exited in their new cover, Sam, and headed for the young teen’s apartment.And Stan.
Sam was waiting on the steps when Melanie’s father staggered in drunk around 6 PM. 6’ 4" and stocky, he shuffled into the apartment building with a case of beers in his meaty hand. Weaver realized belatedly that Stan could inflict Melanie's bruises with one hard squeeze.
The man’s dark eyes focused on Sam. "What the fuck do you want?’ he shouted. “Another lazy loafer? Don’t you have something productive to do.” He raised a hand. “Get out of my sight.”
Weaver makes a Wits + Empathy roll. Total Dice Pool 4, 3 successes.
As Stan advanced, Weaver concluded the relationship that formed the cover of Sam depended more on Stan self loathing and how he acted that out than anything else. This powerful thug might not hold back against someone who isn’t actually related to him.
Weaver uses Sum of All Fears. Wits + Empathy - Composure + Willpower, Total Dice Pool 5, 2 successes. Fears include: having to face the terrible things he's done sober (murder, torture, maiming), all done for the local mob underboss Big Freddie; destroying his life through drink; ending up on Big Freddie's bad side; and having his crimes exposed.
The Weaver stood their ground and looked past the calloused skin to the frightened man beneath. A man tormented by the terrible sins he committed for the mob. Stan feared exposure of his crimes and of Big Freddie’s wrath. The damage caused by his chosen medication for these stresses only added to his anxieties.
As Sam, they stepped towards the door to her apartment, ready to dart for cover at the first sign of trouble. “I’m pretty sure I’m not the one you want to hit, Stan,” she said.
Manipulation + Persuasion +2 for hitting some his fears. Total Dice Pool 3, 1 success.
Stan shouted a few curses at her before stumbling up the stairs.
Risking physical harm to learn Stan's secrets counts as satisfying Weaver's Virtue. The demon regained all willpower.
Sam watched Stan walk up the stairs before speaking. “What if I told you I could make Big Freddy go away?”
Stan whirled around. “What do you know?”
"I know you fear him. What you've done for him, and what you might have to do for him in the future." Sam smiled at him, doing her best to look confident. "I know a fair number of things.”
Weaver allowed their facade to drop slightly, allowing small amounts of wood grain to show through Sam's skin, and the cutter to peek out from behind her shoulder. "I could cut his thread out of the weave of your life, if you wish, replace him with something kinder and safer perhaps?"
Weaver used Download Knowledge. The demon rolled Wits + Computers, Total Dice Pool 6, 3 successes. They gained 3 temporary dots of Persuasion.
The demon also did a partial transformation. Wits + Manipulation -2 for cover -2 for being supernatural and witnessed +1 for Stan being intoxicated +3 for willpower +7 for unused abilities, Total Dice Pool 11, 5 success. The Weaver takes a Cover Beat for Sam and regains a Willpower.
Next the Weaver rolled Manipulation + Persuasion +2 for overt demonic power and appealing to his Aspirations +2 for his drunkenness -2 for his resistance. Total Dice Pool 7, failure. The demon accepted a Dramatic Failure, gained a Beat and things escalated.
Stan was stunned only for an instant. Then he was on top of Sam, bringing down a bottle like a club.
She sliced upwards but the large man sidestepped her blade, forcing the demon to squirm to the door for safety. Adrenaline surged through its veins as pain shot up its arm.
We roll initiative. Weaver and Stan have the same modifier, Weaver wins and fires as Stan approaches. The demon rolls Dexterity + Firearms + Willpower, Total Dice Pool 5, failure.
Stan attacks 6 dice - Weaver's Defense of 3 and connects for 1 Lethal.
Weaver twisted the knob open with their uninjured hand, pressing Sam's slim body through the door before Stan can catch her. The demon threw the bolt and began fiddling with the other three locks and chains.
Because I think Sam's "parents" would be paranoid. This is not the nicest neighborhood.
Stan slammed into the door like an angry bull. The bolt wrenched free of the wood, hanging loosely from the door.
Stan tries to knock the door open. Stan rolls 6 dice and gets 4 successes. The door has 6 Structure (1 Durability, 5 Size) and Weaver tries to soften the blow by holding it shut. The demon rolls Strength + Stamina, Total Dice Pool 4, failure. Stan does take a bashing damage as well.
Weaver let the door swing open and stares at Stan defiantly, folding her arms in front of her.
As he swung at her again, she dissolved into a cloud of nanoparticles. "Stan, this is pointless! Can't you see I want to help you!"
I learned it is technically against the rules to acquire new demonic form abilities after a partial transformation. But I never enforced it before and I didn't here.
Weaver completes a normal partial transformation. So Wits + Manipulation -2 for the weak Cover and +6 for unused abilities +1 for drunkeness -2 for obviously supernatural + 3 for Willpower. It costs another Aether. Total Dice Pool 7, success.
Weaver spends the Aether and Stan simply swings through the cloud the demon became. The shock certainly frightens him.
Weaver rolls Presence + Persuasion + 4 for him being terrified - 3 for his resistance +2 for still being drunk. Total Dice Pool 8, 2 Successes.
Stan blinked, his mind processing the impossibility before him. He lurched left, a meaty hand gripping the door frame as he slid into the corner. "Oh God, what are you? Don't hurt me. I'll leave you alone. Just don't hurt me."
Stan probably thinks Weaver is some sort of angel or devil.
Sam looked at him and sighed. "Well if you'd just listened from the beginning, maybe we wouldn't have had to go through this. I don't intend to hurt you, unless you attack me again, and I don't intend to take up any more of your time than necessary. So I'll get down to business.”
The demon kept their eyes on Sam as they pulled out a clean sheet of copy paper. Weaver walked over the kitchen table and picked up a pen. "Now that you are ready to listen," she said as she wrote, "I have a proposal for you. You don't have to say yes if you don't want to, but given what sort of life you're living right now, and what Big Freddie has had you doing, it could really be to your benefit. Wouldn't it be nice to not have to answer to him? Not be constantly doing things that could one day land you behind bars for him? Maybe even have a chance at a halfway decent life? What do you think? I could make it happen for you. All you would have to do is sign this paper."
The contract removes the mob connections from his life in return for a job he actually wants to do. Mechanically it is an exchange of a Medial Asset (+2, for the new job and the resources that come with it) for a large chunk of his life - Greater Cover (+3), both with a permanent duration. It is a bit and would cost 2 Willpower.
The demon slides the paper the side of the table along with the pen. Weaver stepped away and gestured to Stan to take a look.
Weaver rolls Manipulation + Persuasion roll with a net +4 bonus (+1 for being drunk, +2 for being scared, -2 for his general resistance, +3 for his Aspirations and fears). Total Dice Pool 9, exceptional success. I decide this leaves Stan a bit unsettled. He gains the Leveraged Condition. Weaver can ask him to do something for the demon in the future and he will do it out of a mix of fear and gratitude.
Stan pulled himself up and stumbled to the table. He looked over the paper, glancing occasionally in Sam's direction. Then he took the pen and scratched his name at the end. Weaver felt a satisfying drain as the pact is completed.
The demon nodded.
Stan stood up and, shaking slightly, backed out of the room. He almost reached the stairs before snatching up the case of beers lying on the floor and running. Weaver heard his heavy foot steps racing upstairs.
Weaver’s cover Sam got another Cover Dot. They will be able to use Legend to get Streetwise or a number of violent skills with it. Adding this to Sam changes the cover a bit. I also decide this alters the abusive relationship that forms the backbone of the cover. Not detrimentally but Sam is definitely a survivor of abuse now rather than a victim. Adding the mob connections suggests she's older, perhaps late teens and probably a bit more tough looking.
Weaver regains 1 Willpower due to a good night's rest afterward.
Improving Sam’s cover to 2 dots makes it a lot less risky. Worst case the demon loses a dot not a whole cover. Also the penalty for compromise is only -1.
July 4th, 2012, 7PM
Two demons team up for a research montage.
Accabish rolls Intelligence + Occult, Total Dice Pool 4, 1 success. Then Weaver rolls Intelligence + Occult + Accabish's successes, Total Dice Pool 7, 3 successes.
Weaver and Accabish met the next evening to pool their knowledge about the original Lilith. According to demonic folklore and scraps of angelic memories, she was the first rebel, the first angel to fall. Her story is at least as old as Sumeria where she spawned stories of the Lilitu, child stealing and breath sucking vampires.
Weaver recalled hearing about her in ancient Egypt as a story passed around by mortals. Neither demon can recall knowing about her directly from the God-Machine. Some rumors claimed she exists as a blind spot in the God-Machine’s plans, free of its influence due to completing her Cipher and fulfilling her Koan. Others claimed she developed a device known as the Satan Signal which caused angels to fall.
One thing was clear. To learn more the demons would need more help. From their knowledge of local demons, the most likely source of information, outside of hacking some Infrastructure, was an extremely old demon called the Gerent. It lived at Hell on Earth, a dive bar in the University District.
Weaver asked Accabish if she thinks they should find out if Gerent is willing to share any information it has.
So at this point the game began to fall apart due to scheduling and life pressures.
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