The Lake Never Gives Up Her Dead

The Lake Never Gives Up Her Dead
Localized hurricane over the site of the wreck.
Date 2085-12-22 GM Villiers Location White Fish Point / the location of the Wreckage of The Edmund Fitzgerald Status Threat Level: High
Factions Involved
ShadowHaven	Spirits of Lake Superior
Star of the Sea Thunder
Casualties and losses
	9 Force 7 Lake Spirits

The lake, it is said, never gives up her dead when the skies of November turn gloomy

This is the longform title of the run.

Summary

In 1975, the Edmund Fitzgerald sank in Lake Superior during a hurricane, resulting in the loss of all 29 crew members and becoming a famous maritime disaster. In 1995, the ship's bell was recovered, disturbing the spirits of the Lake. Recently, eight heirs to victims of the tragedy launced an illegal expedition to the wreck to prevent what they thought was the beginning of a shedim infestation, causing rage of the spirits, the deaths of the eight heirs, and ongoing storms in the area of the wreckage. Carleton Moreau hires runners to investigate the disappearance of his employee, on of the heirs by the name of Howard McSorley, and to resolve the weather disturbances affecting his logistics business. The runners discover that the spirits are enraged by the recovery of the ship's bell and return it to the wreckage site, performing a ritual to calm the spirits. Their success soothes the spirits and stabilizes the weather, though the theft of the bell from the local museum angers the Chippewa people.

Background

The wreckage of the Edmund Fitzgerald lies at the bottom of Lake Superior since it sank during a huricane with up to 25 feet high waves, on November 10, 1975. All 29 crew members aboard perished, and the ship's sinking remains one of the most famous maritime disasters on the Great Lakes. In 1995, a marine expidition recovered the ships bell which has since been on display at the Great Lakes Shipwerck Museum at the Whitefish Point Light Station in Paradise, Michigan. During the expidition that recovered the ships bell, spirits were disturbed and have been in agony since.

Carleton Moreau is a successful businessman whos operations depend on the safe passage from Lake Superior to Lake Michigan through the passage after White Fish point. Recent events have infuriated the spirits at the site of the wreckage, causing storms and dangerous seas which are dangerous to navigate through, increasing operational costs for his Logistics Company, High Latitude Logistics, as well as last, but not least increased danger to human lives. In particular, 8 people went missing and are presumed dead in an incident which seems to be related to the shipwreck. One of the missing people, Howard Mc Sorley, is an employee of High Altitude Logistics. So, Carleton has decided to act in order to find out what happened to his employee, what might be the source for the constant bad weather at the site of the wreckage, and what might be done to normalize the situation.

The Meet

Thunder picks up Star of the Sea in Snomish and they drive to the Zephyr-South Building in Touristvill to meet with Carleton Moreau in his office. After greeting the runners, he explains that an employee of his company High Latitude Logistics, Howard McSorley, has gone missing and is probably dead. Further, he explains that Howard's whife Veronica, who is also an employee at High Latitude Logistics is a nervous wreck and needs closure regarding what caused Howard's dissapearance and why.

Additionally, a low preassure-cell above the site of an old ship wreck which went under approximately 110 years ago is causing bad storms and rough seas which is a true disturbance for the logistics across Lake Superior, including Carletons business in the area.

He offers the runners is 16 000 Nuyen, transportation and lodging if they manage to find out what happened to Howard, and find out what is behind the weird weather occorance and to solve the problem with the weather if possible.

After the runners accept the task and payment, Carleton suggest the runners meet with Maryann Clay two stories down, whom he has already paid to perform devination and hopefully offer the runners some clues and possible advice.

With tarot cards Maryann foresees: Situation: An impulsive and eager character who doesn't usually let once they have set their mind to something has ventured into dangerous territory. Obstacle: Sorrow and grief which is being dewlled upon and seem very difficult to let go of. Solution: Protect the teritory by defending yourselves.

And her crystal bowl reveils: A research yacht called "David Boyd". A necromatic raven king using his necromantic powers in an aquatic environment. A water spirit which looks like a possible nymph.

After the meets with Carleton and Maryanne, the runners grab their things and fly off to Sault Ste. Marie without wasting any time.

The Plan

Star and Thunder plan to go to Sault Ste. Marie to see Veronica Mc Sorley and hopefully find out relevant information about Howard Mc Sorley's dissapearance. After that they plan to visit the Shipwreck Museum at Whitfish Point to find out more about the lake and its ship wrecks. After information gathering is finished, they hope to have enough clues to what has happened to do something about it.

The Run

Star and Thunder meet with Veronica McSorley at the local office of High Altitude Logistics in Sault Ste. Marie. During the conversation with her, the search of Howard McSorely's office and through a burner commlink they found, they learn that Howard got obsessed with the idea that shedim would be infesting Lake superior and posess the many non-decomposed drowned coropses from shipwrecks that the lake "never gives up" because of the lack of bacteria that would normally decompose corpses and fill them with gases that would cause them to rise to the surface and eventually be found by people or eaten by animals. As an heir to one of the sailors of the Edmund Fitzgerald, the largest ship to have gone under in Lake Superior, he has formed bonds with seven other heirs to other crew members who also lost their lives in the terrible accident. Howard and the other heirs all went missing at the same time and a yacht full of forensic evidence including blood and other DNA of the eight heirs was found abandoned shortly after their dissapearance. While their bodies have not yet been found, evrything points at them all having lost their lives under unusual circumstances on the yacht.

The commlink found includes a connection to Heinrich Bueler, a necromancer in Seattle, whom the runners eventually hire to help perform a ritual to calm the spirits of Lake Superior around the wreckage of the Edmond Firtzgerlad.

The most interesting things the runners find out at the Lighthous are that a mission which took place in 1995 recovered the 200 lb. bronze bell of the Edmond Firtzgerald, and that the research yacht used by the eight heirs belongs to the museum and is currently in the nearby small harbor. They come up with the theory that the spirits of the lake are upset because the bell was "stolen" from the wreckage in 1995 and that the recent prying around the wreckage by Howard and the other Heirs would have caused the spirits to enrage and caused the storm cell to ward off further intrutions to the area around the wreck.

In a late-night smash and grap coup, Star orders a spirit which resembles a piate to get in the way of the surveillance camera while she and Thunder break into the museum and steal the ships bell. The plan is to return the bell to the site of the wreckage while the Heinrich Bueler performes a ritual to soothen the spirits.

In the same night they steel the shpis bell, they capture the unmanned yacht the unfortunate eight heirs used to anger the spirits in good pirate manners and sail (yea, it's actually called sailing, even though it's a motor boat) to the site of the wreckage. The sea is rough, but Star is a true pirate who fearlessly meneuvers through the storm and high waves. At site, the necromancer performes the ritual while Star and Thunder guard him from nine attacking spirtis of the lake. It is an intense fight and with the help of two additional spirits the runners summon to help them ward off the lake spirits, the runners manage to win the fight without any casualties on their own side. The water spirit of Star deserves an honorable mention in this story for its exceptionally heroic and effective fighting against much stronger opponents.

After the completion of the ritual and the conclusion of the fight with the spirits of the Great Lake, the weather clams down which proves that the lake's and its spirits been comforted.

The runners report back to Carleton and return to the motel for a well deserved rest before eventually flying back to Seattle.

Aftermath

The return of the ship's bell to the wreck calms the angry spirits. The theft of the bell greatly angers the Chippewa.

Rewards

High TL 16 X 1.1 17 RVP

16,000 Nuyen (8 RVP)

8 Karma (8 RVP)

2 CDP (1 RVP)

2 CDP (Base)

This run counts as an initiation ordeal

Optional: Thunder Drug Tolerant at chargen rate (6 RVP)

Game Quotes

Amusing quote from game.

Player After Action Reports (AARs)

Thunder I wonder what spirit posessed Howard and his seven compatriots to go hunting for what they thought were shedim in an area so densely populated with shipwrecks and intact bodies, instead of paying 3k Nuyen to a service provider who would take care of the problem for them. ...but then again, maybe it has something to do with the service provider being a necromancer and the general perception amongst people that necromancers shouldn't be trusted. Whatever, read the disclaimer! "Don't try this at home. This feature has been performed by trained professionals and similarly trained professionals have been known to fail and die on similar quests. Gottit?". Oh, and one more thing before I log out. I heard rumors that Howard and his crew of 7 Unlucky Heirs have been nominated for the Darwin Awards -and that's not a good thing.