Guiding North Star

Guiding North Star
Date 2084-10-02 GM Asmodeus Location Seattle Status Threat Level: Medium
Factions Involved
ShadowHaven Lady of Pain	Major Corp
Surtr Runner2 Runner3 Runner4	Character1 Character2
Initiation run

Summary

Following the guidance and instructions on Wychking, North Star Investigations has been operating in Seattle helping citizens both alive and dead. In order to solicit help for the grander ideals espoused by Louhi, the Lady of Pain has offered the teachings of Wychking with perhaps a different spin. One of the few people to reach out was Surtr, who took the ordeal as an calling, an awakening, a chance to be something better.

Background

As a mage, Surtr had spent most of their life without training. No books, no masters, nothing of the sort. The chance to learn from an actual mentor was something she wanted dearly, especially given the fact that the potential teacher was Wychking; or at least scriptures and writings left by Wychking.

The Meet

Surtr met the Lady of Pain at North Star Private Investigations. Being let in, she met with the Lady herself, who began to teach Surtr what should have been basics of magic; an understanding of some trivial magic lore, as well as teaching her the basics of astral projecting. After the rundown of basics, she imparted a task on Surtr; Find out what the Corpse Cadaver in her office wanted, and help it find peace.

The Plan

The plan was straightforward: Gather information from and on the corpse cadaver, and then find what the cadaver needs to have peace.

The Run

It started off with a simple conundrum. Find what the spirit wanted. With a name, date of birth, and blood type. Upon some simple questioning, the corpse, Roche Harrington, wanted to know how he died and who killed him.

Some basic question at the NSI allowed Surtr to figure out where Roche lived. An apartment building, fifth floor. Six different houses on that floor, and a lot of new faces that were more than happy to open their door and welcome Surtr into their home. After a few closed doors, she decided to take a look on the astral. She found a promising target area, and one warded off.

Surtr summoned a spirit of air to help with further inspection on the room with the worst background count found pictures of Roche's family. There was troubling news that tugged at Surtr's heart strings. The children and mother, after losing their father and husband, weren't so hot on the street. Upon some careful searching, Surtr found a notebook and read the passage below:

"Day 7, December, 2081 Mom and dad were fighting again. Billy's telling me I shouldn't listen to it and took me climbing on the ventilation boxes. He says it's because they love each other, but I just want to go back inside and sleep. It's so late and I got school tomorrow. The elf next door offered to let us stay, but Billy's saying we shouldn't talk to her. I just want Mom to stop yelling."

Trying the neighbor next door, Surtr found that a nearby neighbor had been taking care of the kids as she could. After some questioning, she found that the elf Nyrissa, had been the other woman in the Harrington's relationship. This didn't fly with Roche's wife, Johana harrington, who started to give Nyrissa a bad rep to her kids. The situation brought Surtr to tears, so she left Nyrissa with 2500 Nuyen to help the kids with a simple message: "I don't care if you spend most of it on yourself, just make sure you use some of it to help the kids."

Before leaving the apartment, Surtr dismissed her spirit of air with 100 drams and a message: "This will probably be the last time I summon you. We likely won't see each other again. Thank you for your protection over the last 30 years."

Stumped on where to go next, she reached out to her matrix contact, $p1keslinger. With some extra info, they found that Johana was around in Puyallup, so Surtr went to find them with the help of a spirit of man. Between the spirit and a sudden surprise visit of an angry Roche, the three smoked out a yakuza man who just wanted to clear his own name from the potential murder. Roche however, could tell his wife was inside, and wanted to kill the Yakuza member for touching his wife...

"We can't stay here forever. Gotta go back to Bellevue this week, but I don't know how I'm going to manage rent." "You will succeed. I will give you the money to pay your rent. These children cannot live here. They must have education." "I know, I know... sometimes I wonder if I should've just let the kids be taken. I'm such a failure..." "ジョハンナ-さん ! ! ! Pull yourself together! Your sons need you, now! Their father, the dog that he was, could not be a parent to them, but you can be!"

Surtr tried her best to calm Roche down, with the understanding that his death couldn't be undone. This person, through a mind probe, had been revealed to be taking care of Roche's wife, including the children. The bond they had fostered over the last three years was genuine, and interrupting that would only stand to heart his previous family.

Calming down Roche, information was gathered to infer that led surtr to believe two men from Roche's work had been the one to kill him. Heading back to the apartments, they'd find that there was security tapes that showed two men trying to strong arm Roche's wife three years ago. A simple matrix search led the duo to the houses of Roche's assassins, in which Roche promptly killed in retribution.

Aftermath

Returning to North Star and The Lady, the two informed her of what had happened. Roche, having had retribution for his death, found the revenge to be cold, just like the afterlife. He didn't feel any better or worse, but after letting his anger go, he slowly faded into ash, leaving nothing but his family behind.

The Lady of Pain, now satisfied that Surtr could handle herself, spent the next twelve hours with her, teaching in a breakneck pace, the basic understandings of necro magic. As part of the teachings, the Lady of Pain imparted a very hard question for Surtr:

Wychking, through a ceaseless war against the Invae, espoused a way of working that got things done, but at the end of the day, left little in her wake. From Wychking's own writing, she spoke not for people to follow directly in her footsteps, but to find your own path, even with the teachings of Louhi. So, the question she posed to Surtr was thus;

Choose to learn the teachings of Kalma, and learn to wield necromancy to let the dead rest in peace, or learn in the teachings of Surma, and opt to summon the dead to hunt and drag down the living to the world of the dead.

Do you want in the footsteps of war, and become hatred and aimless death? Or do you choose peace, and become a tool most tempered, to learn who you are and focus on the ways you can improve to help those both alive and dead. The world may need and have a place for the unyielding and unwavering force of Wychking, but the world also needs the earnest and empathetic Nearl, too.

Rewards

• 26 CDP
• Initiation Ordeal
• Lady of Pain, 6/3 Avatar (16 CDP)

Game Quotes

Yeeeaaah Baws!

ARE YOU FUCKING MY WIFE!?

"Don't seek to imitate me." - Part of a note from Wychking.

Player After Action Reports (AARs)

Surtr

I thought this would be a challenge, and I was right. Not physically, but in the sense that I had a lot to go through, and tonight I showed the most restraint I have in a very long time. After all this work tonight, I finally have found the beginning of a journey to perfecting my magical abilities. Thirty years I have worked without a master or even the slightest hint of temperance from a guiding hand. Now, I have the tools I need to begin.