Upon This Rock I Shall Build My Church

Upon This Rock I Shall Build My Church
Part of Temple in the Shadows
Date 2082-11-14 GM Sarcarian Location Downtown, Seattle Metroplex Status Threat Level: Deadly
Factions Involved
ShadowHaven Amelie and Jean-Baptiste	Order of the Temple
Katherine Tyler Potato Six of Hearts Swerve	Guardian Spirit Missionist Mage Spirit of Man Templar Guard
Casualties and losses
Swerve (captured, will need a rescue run)

Summary

In which the runners are tasked with recovering a vampire who has been buried alive.

Background

In Take Back the Night, a team of Haven runners were hired to burn down a nightclub called Darklands known to be frequented by vampires, as well as kidnap the owner, one Nicholas Sullivan (not his real name). Nick was interrogated by Rose of Sharon Howlett for information on the local Infected community, before being entombed in a coffin and sealed in concrete, sending him into torpor. Rose then handed him over to Father Uriel, who had it placed in the foundation of a new church - Our Lady of Perpetual Redemption - on the site of the former nightclub. After the events of The Harker Gambit, Amelie and Jean-Baptiste of the The Night Throne became aware of Nick's predicament, even having a taunting quicksilver photograph sent to them; Amelie has resolved to rectify the situation, and call in some runners from the Haven (as well as one of her minions) to do the job.

The Meet

The runners are contacted by Amelie, either directly (with Six and Swerve) or via their fixers (with Kate and Potato) and asked to meet with her in her "court" at level B13 of Underworld. Swerve, already being present and working, heads downstairs to speak to Amelie in private, who shows her the quicksilver photograph she obtained and asks her to narrow down its location; she astrally projects from Redmond to Downtown and calls a spirit to assist, quickly finding that the trail leads into an alarmingly-high background count aspected to Christian Theurgy. Returning to Underworld just as the others arrive, she passes this information off to Amelie via DNI.

Amelie explains in broad-scope terms what she requires of the runners - a search and rescue mission for one of her associates - and privately tasks Swerve with recovering as much information as she can about his captors. She offers the runners 10k each for their services, and the runners (perhaps being sympathetic to the plight of a vampire who is being made to suffer a terrible fate) agree to take the job.

The Plan

After being dismissed from Amelie's presence, the runners reconvene at Six of Hearts' apartment in Bellevue to do a bit of planning before resolving to visit mass the next morning (minus Swerve, who sleeps at a nearby coffin motel while the sun is up). Managing to play nice, they fly under the radar and avoid attracting undue attention to themselves (except Potato, who sticks out like a sore thumb). After getting a layout of the public interior and doing a bit of recon on the exterior (noting concealed turret emplacements), they reconvene with Swerve, who contacts Miss Moon to get some records on the building. With the footage and Potato's architecture and mathematics knowledge, they note some inconsistencies which suggest that there are a series of secret passages throughout.

With a bit more recon where they determine there are guards and cameras on the visible entrances to the under-croft, the team decide that they need to take another strategy. Swerve calls up her contacts to see if anyone can tell her more about the church and it's potential connections to Infected hunter groups; Silas Vespasiano is able to connect her with one of the deacons of the church and arrange a meeting with one of the leaders, telling Swerve in no uncertain terms that the man should not be harmed (the Black Lodge has heard of the presence of the Order of the Temple in Seattle - see: Coffin Dance - and wishes to learn more about the situation). Swerve agrees to pass along any information that the team acquires, and in exchange Silas passes along the contact information.

Suspecting that the Church is working with and possibly recruiting from local Infected hunter groups, Kate and Six concoct a shared backstory to convince the church folk that they're both devout as well as seasoned hunters who are dedicated to the cause; working together, they manage to convince the deacon of the truth of their words, and he in turn sets up a meeting with Father Uriel, who, after a brief conversation with them, takes careful measure of their intentions, ultimately allowing them some limited access to the abbey and cloister areas of the cathedral but revealing little about his order. Using the opportunity to perform further recon, they manage to map out one of the passages inside the walls which leads down to the undercroft, as well as a secret exit to the exterior.

The Run

After kitting up in their gear, Swerve first approaches the secret exit under cover of concealment and RPC; she manages to avoid notice by the cameras and spirit patrols, slumping over behind an outcropping to astrally project through the warded wall. On the other side, she summons a small spirit and asks it to materialize and activate the sconce which opens the door, allowing both herself and the others to enter unseen (however one of them is heard sneaking about through the walls, alerting those present that something is up). Making their way through the passages using the maps and floorplans that they've put together and doing their best to avoid the watchful eye of the cameras, they eventually locate a set of stairs which leads down to the catacombs below.

Once they're downstairs, the runners use their sensors to scan about the crypts, managing to locate a hidden vault using a radar sensor; Kate identifies the mechanism to open it, and manages to jury-rig a way to activate it without triggering an attached trap. The hidden wall slides aside, revealing a seemingly-bare room (to the mundanes) and a powerful ward (to the banshee) - Kate, Potato and Six make their way inside while Swerve waits outside, spotting both the tripwire and the hidden recess where the sarcophagus containing their target has been interred. As soon as Kate and Six begin to remove it however, the pair of spirit guards materialize.

Combat begins with Kate and Six opening up on the materializing spirits, which respond by attacking the latter with a sword and inducing overwhelming terror in the former. Outside, Swerve - hearing only the gunshots - calls a fire spirit to assist with combat, shortly before Kate emerges from the ward in a blind panic. Six, after watching her bullets deflect off the spirits, heaves the sarcophagus onto her shoulder and begins to make her exit, with Potato hot on her heals. However the four of them end up walking right into the path an armored knight sent to investigate their intrusion, who opens up on them with an auto-shotgun full of wood pulp.

A brutal fight ensues with the spirits pushing the team towards the templar, who tanks the many bullets, molotov cocktails and lightning bolts sent his way. Swerve's spirit holds off the other two while they retreat and works to scrub her signature as best it can, however the mage ends up blasted in the chest with wood pulp and knocked out with a sword. Kate rushes back for her, activating her bodyguard BTL to keep her unconscious body safe, however she feels the astral form of the projecting mage passing through her as they come to investigate, shortly before finding herself unable to continue moving Swerve due to a mana barrier in the way. The team fight as best they can, however they're unable to deal with the mana barrier - Kate slap patches Swerve awake, however the mage manages to knock her back out before she can get through the ward, and they are forced to leave her behind as they make their retreat.

Aftermath

The retreating trio plus the sarcophagus manage to make it back to Kate's truck, and the templars, occupied with their new captive and not wishing to draw undue attention, do not persue into Downtown proper - they've gotten everything they can from Nick already, and left a surprise inside the casket. Upon returning to Underworld, Amelie opens the sarcophagus, and Kate's sharp senses pick up the presence of a bomb with an attached oxygen sensor; reacting quickly, she manages to disable it in the split second before it goes off.

Amelie is unamused to see that Swerve is not with them, tasking her brother with plotting a rescue mission as soon as possible. She honors her agreement with the other runners however; Kate and Six, both deeply affected by having to leave a teammate behind, promise to help recover Swerve.

Rewards

• 10,000 nuyen
• 8 karma
• 20 CDP
• Optional Contact: Amelie and Jean-Baptiste (C5/L2 Infected Cabal Leaders) for 6 RVP or 12 CDP

For Kate and Six:

• Optional Contact: Father Uriel (C5/L2 Order of the Temple Spymaster) for 6 RVP or 12 CDP

For Swerve:

• Captured, and an uncertain fate (rescue run TBD)
• +1 loyalty on Amelie and Jean-Baptiste

Game Quotes

Kate: "Well, where do you think they'd keep the undead monster? No offense of course."

Player After Action Reports (AARs)

Katherine Tyler

I kind of liked Father Uriel at first, but things change. Now I want nothing more than to see his church in flames. But that comes later. Swerve comes first. As far as I am concerned, this job is not finished.