Who's Side are We On?

Who's Side are We On?
Part of Festering Infestation
Date 2083-08-10 GM Asmodeus Location Redmond, Seattle Status Threat Level: Extreme
Factions Involved
ShadowHaven	Demoncallers
Swerve Skimmer Samsara Bannerette Katherine Tyler	Feral Ghouls Vrygoth Krimelin
Casualties and losses
	Feral Ghouls, Vrygoths.

Summary

Nameless is back in town asking for some friends to help him investigate what has happened since he was gone. And after the first 20 minutes, it all went crazy.

The Meet

The team is contacted by Nameless through their Fixers and meets up in a safehouse he resides in. As some of the group knows Nameless, they do a little catching up, talking about his stay away from Seattle. He tells them that he has been gone for about a month. He was on his mission to “cure” feral infected, believing the feral nature to just be a mindset that can be overcome. To prove this he introduces the group to a feral ghoul named Lockwell. She seems, for all intents and purposes, to be cured. She seems to be fully devoted to Nameless.

Getting to the Run itself, he tells the group that his flock is gone, and asks for help. The last place they were was the OU in Northeast Auburn.

Samsara assenses him and he is now Magic 9 where previously he was Magic 8. Unfortunately he now also appears to have leukemia. The Runners think about possible solutions to get him help. Swerve calls Amelie to try and get treatment. The only place she could find was with a Tamanous Doc and they decided to look for better options.

Gaz's Place

Samsara offers to have the Runners meet at Gaz’s place in Renton to go into the OU and check things out. Samsara shows up and has to immediately smooth things out. Gaz is not thrilled about Swerve but relents due to the nature of their mission and out of respect for Samsara. She does have to wear a tracker at all times, but this is barely an annoyance for Swerve.

Samsara asks Anything Andy for help about Nameless, but he draws a blank. He suggests Weirdboi but Nameless needs real care and not the street doc treatment Weirdboi gives.

Samsara asks Gaz about ghoul movements. He says Renraku is taking a more active measure in purging the tunnels. With fire. He says that there are some Renraku facilities to check out under Redmond.

Kate calls Bautista for extra info. Unfortunately he couldn’t share much, but gave the Runners the use of some safehouses. The Huk had been trying to get info about the Renraku ops in the area, but had been having trouble. He tells her to keep a lookout for anything.

Upping her game, Samsara calls Warboss, who is actually trying to find her. He has a request for her in a fighting match, owing to the fact that she is one tough “orc”. She politely declines for now, saying that she is on a job. She stresses the importance of it and he reluctantly puts his request on hold.

The crew continues to brainstorm. They don’t want to have to run through Redmond mile by mile. Getting nowhere, Kate summons Teldragon. After introducing himself to the other runners he informs them that he may be able to help but wants to meet Nameless. Kate starts to tell him where to find Nameless, but stops when Samsara recommends they meet on neutral ground. Samsara calls Nameless, and they set up a meeting in Touristville.

Touristville

Upon entering the Touristville apartment room they encounter Red Cloak Nameless. Having dealt with this before Samsara explains a bit of what is going on over DNI. Red cloak Nameless has no idea why he is there. He complains of hearing voices. He also has the old Renraku commlink that Samsara gave him a long time ago and not the Fairlight Caliban he had as a priest. He also has a different sword, sporting a wicked, hiltless Nodachi. The group tries to find out more info from Nameless while delaying calling Teldragon for now. Assensing the new Nameless reveals he does not appear to have Leukemia but still suffering nonetheless.

Putting their heads together, the group tries to find a way to get info from Nameless. To this end Swerve calls a ghoul psychic named Ezekyle Burton. Samsara also remembers that Gaz had a Renraku trooper that was captured in the tunnels. He offered him to her to use for whatever purpose she needed. Probably assuming torture for information. Samsara decided that she would give him to Nameless, as the ghoul did seem a little emaciated. Not a very glamorous act but Nameless needed it.

As the group continues to question Nameless Samsara asks Swerve to project back to the old meeting place and see if the old Nameless is there. There is a thought of Nameless possibly being two completely different individuals. There she finds the ghoul woman working a keyboard. Swerve begins asking her a few questions. She seems utterly subservient to Nameless as he was the one who cured her. She also gives Swerve a hard time about answering questions. Swerve begins to break open her toolbox to get some info…

…But decides that there are better ways to find information. She goes back to her body. After some talking, Swerve decides to go try to track Nameless’s astral signature, and decides to look at the ghoul some more. Cranking an assensing roll she noticed that the ghoul’s aura does NOT match its body. The ghoul still introduces itself as Lockwell, Nameless’s loyal servant. Swerve also realizes that this is in fact a spirit, and a really bad one. Swerve has seen dark spirits before and could find similarities between this one and a Necro spirit. But she couldn’t be sure. Getting feared and having no backup, she quickly retreats back to her body.

Further Investigations at Nameless's Safehouse

Deciding that more investigation needs to be done, Kate and Bannerette head out to Nameless’s old safehouse. Arriving they found an ambush of feral ghouls set up. Using their combined decades of military training, Kate and Bannerette set up their own ambush. Utilizing silencers and melee weapons they cleared out the first room. Each taking a shot at one, they dropped two with precision, and Kate lept through the window and finished the last one off with her sword. She almost hit a snag. The combined actions of running and jumping through a window almost caught her up, but she didn’t falter and managed to kill the third ghoul in one swipe. Bannerette got the cool idea to shoot the ones in the next room with a through-the-wall shot. Lining it up, she aced it and blasted through two of them. Kate followed up to finish the last one.

Turning their attention to the room’s computer Kate attempted to get data from it. Hacking in was easy, but cracking files is not Kate’s speciality. She can break into devices easily but still needs some real decker training. Kate began cracking files but could not seem to get it right, causing extreme damage to her commlink in the process. Failing to actually crack into some files Kate called her friend NirVanna. NirVanna easily cracked the file, teasing Kate all the way. After demanding a ludacris price and the promise of a date later she left Kate and Bannerette with the computer’s messaging history. Apparently Lockwell was communicating with a person named “Kreim”. For a split second Kate thought Kriem might be Krimelin, but the names didn’t match so she dismissed it.

Back in Touristville

At the safehouse Ezekyle and Nameless go into the other room to have a counseling session. Soon, Gaz’s boys arrive with the body. It’s brought in and the ghouls begin eating it in the other room. Soon after Samsara heard a thud and burst into the room. She found Ezekyle passed out on the floor, apparently suffering the crash effects of Shade. Nameless was a little spooked by this. He was perched up on a wardrobe. When they asked what happened Nameless was unsure. Using magical talents the Runners did determine that, somehow, spirits were summoned in the room. But they couldn’t find out where they went, and seemed to find info that they are still somewhere in the building.

Swerve took the time while this was going on to try and track Nameless’s trail from his safehouse here. It was tough but she did it, only to find that the trail abruptly stopped about halfway there. It didn’t fade or anything, but just cut out completely which was strange.

Kate began to get tired of the magical problems. She decided to try and get help from the smartest person she knew. She called for Teldragon in the room. Appearing, he began to ask questions about Nameless. Kate explained the deal with the supposed two different Nameless’s. Teldragon didn’t seem to put much faith in this new Nameless. He said Nameless didn’t appear to have the virtues Kate described.

He did offer her a way forward. Either because he couldn’t figure it out, or because he was testing her, he offered Kate a boon. He made a spirit pact with her to use some of his powers to try and get to the bottom of things. Being mundane Kate was not used to such a thing. Flashing with eldritch power she began to want to try things mages did all the time like assensing and using powers. But she focused on the job and used Teldragon’s Divination power. This was one of Teldragon’s specialties so she thought it would help. Thinking for a while, she begged the question “Is this entity the same as the priestly Nameless we met before”, to which fate responded “No”. This raised as many new questions as it answered. The group was back to thinking about what to do next. Kate began asking some questions about psychometry as a possible next move.

As the group ponders further Samsara calls Skimmer for help. Skimmer has close personal ties to Nameless so she wanted to offer him a chance to help. He arrives and she fills him in, then she Detox’s Ezekyle and begins to wake him up. As she does this she assenses him and comes up with “a magic 2 aware ghoul”, which does seem to check out. Kate begins to use Psychometry on Nameless’s mask.

This was possibly a bad move but it did reveal some information. Kate is a warrior. She has seen war, suffering, pain, and hate. She has experienced all of these at some point in her life. The flood of emotions she felt from Nameless’s mask was suffocating. She felt years of pain and suffering in a single moment. The feeling paralyzed her. She fell, stunned for the time being.

Meanwhile, Skimmer gives some back and forth banter with Nameless about trials and tribulations, the words of god, and discussions about belief. Soon, Kate wakes up. She immediately turns to Nameless and, with new conviction, promises to free him from whatever forces bind him and continue to cause him pain. She hands him the mask, and as he puts it back on. Sitting there he mutters "Caelium videri esset. Et terra rus ad sidera tollere vultus. Ex uno disce omnes.", which Samsara and Bannerette used skilljacks to translate to "When you see her, you see the sky, and those on earth must lift their faces toward The Star. All will know (better) once they see the one."

About this time Ezekyle wakes up and tells the group what happened. He offered Shade to Nameless as a method to calm him down. He has success using certain drugs to help people calm down and thought to try it here. Next thing he knew, he was seeing dark hands come out at him, passing out in a feeling of cold and fear. He gives Nameless some OTC medicine and starts to head out. Samsara offers part of the corpse as a gift and he takes it.

The group still tries to put two and two together. The crew keeps trying to see any obscure magical auras on Nameless. It’s tough, but Skimmer comes through.

A cranked assensing roll reveals new info. Nameless appears to still have the remnants of spirit possession, and something strange is attached to his aura. There also appears to be a huge collection of Deltaware that wasn’t seen before. The team tries to get more information about it, but no one knows Cybertech except Samsara. Rubbing her 3 dice together, she sees…nothing. Kate’s knowledge of her own ware pointed out a few items but most were still unknown.

Samsara then calls Wierdboi to see if he can give any more info. There was a theory that Nameless’s ware was from Renraku, but Weirdboi debunked that theory. Bannerette called her AI friend Miyuki who traced the commlink messages they got from the first safehouse to Anderson Island in Outremer. An island Kate remembers fondly. This also makes her think Kreim is actually Krimelin. But further investigation is needed. Contrary to NirVanna, Miyuki was respectful and professional and Kate thought for a moment about re-evaluating her friends.

Anderson Island

Getting out there is a pain. KE and local forces restrict travel. The only way to get there is by boat, or so people think. Kate remembers another way. Last time they had received intel about some OU tunnels that went there, but had infected problems. However Kate remembered that Von Neumann was doing work there cleaning them up. Using this to their advantage, they traveled underground. It was uninterrupted but still an 8 km hike, which was annoying.

At the island the tunnels opened up to some underground structure. It seems like it was inhabited recently. Skimmer uses his radio signal scanner and actually picks something up in Russian. Feeding it to Kate, she translates it and it sounds like a Calling trigger. Specifically it said:

The conjured of demons, hear my decree. Your voice is demanded to emerge as I speak. Hear me, oh conjured demon. Your caller demands your loyalty. Hear my voice and emerge. Hear my voice and emerge. Witness the one who allows my voice to ring and rend his soul from his flesh.

Kate decided it was best not spoken aloud.

Upon investigating the rooms the group found them to be akin to bedrooms. In one they found a terminal. Kate, being the resident matrix expert, went to turn it on and see what data she could get from it. She touched the power and caught Krimelin’s trap head on. Hitting a contact prep she was zapped with necrotic damage. Very painful, but Swerve helped her deal with it with a heal spell. At that point the group began to check every inch of the place for traps. Assensing revealed that the floor of the hall was coated in FAB II, which would show that someone was here and left footprints.

At the end of the hall, they found a locked door. Swerve noticed a contact prep on the lock. Skimmer used a mini welder to cut it off and looked inside. Inside There was another terminal. Upon seeing it Kate discovered that this one had a mundane booby trap on it. After tapping on the keyboard she went to put a wireless data tap on it and it was immediately zapped. Ignoring all that, Samsara looked around the room and found a commlink. It appears to be the one used to communicate with the ghoul/spirit. Kate once again called upon Teldragon’s power to use Psychometry.

This time she felt the opposite from before. Krimelin thinks of himself with such confidence and lack of emotion that it feels almost wrong to Kate. She caught glimpses of his thoughts. Of a meeting with priest Nameless. Of a great form spirit within him. Glimpses of Vrygoth. Glimpses of the Islamic Jihad, and feelings of strife and paranoia from them. Krimelin was completely devoid of emotion, but there were flickers of…something…when his thoughts turned to the New Islamic Jihad.

In these moments Teldragon feels what Kate feels. For unknown reasons, he decided to leave after this Psychometry. Kate herself began to worry about the whole situation and completely understood why Teldragon wants nothing to do with it. Even she is putting on a serious face for this.

Armed with this new information Kate called Chaplain Carmilla as her resident expert on Demonology. Kate didn’t immediately spill the beans, but Carmilla wanted all the details so she could assess the situation. She answered questions about Vrygoth, and about Krimelin. She possesses distaste for the man but respects him for his connections. Carmilla then told Kate she had to tell Krimelin that Runners broke into his lab, but won’t mention names. More of a CYA thing for her. She also wants nothing to do with this whole mess.

Samsara then called Nameless on the Caliban. He answered, but text only. Apparently he was in danger. Samsara prodded, and he said there were demons chasing him. Coincidence? With this, Swerve called Amelie. Inquiring about Nameless, apparently he just broke out of the treatment facility.

Back to Redmond

With nowhere to really go, the group went back to the Redmond safehouse. Whe they arrived they found a booby trap on the door. They decided to go in the back way. Inside they found red cloak Nameless silently suffering. He doesn’t appear to be much better. As they talk to him for more info, Kate and Bannerette take up lookout on the windows. Immediately, they spot the tell-tale forms of the Vyrgoths. They were just standing there, when the Runners noticed something unexpected.

Ezekyle was casually standing down the road. He seemed to be casually taunting the Vrygoths. What really confused everyone was that this man had a very particular katana that Skimmer, Kate, Swerve, and Samsara were used to seeing priest Nameless with. This led to the Runners collectively assuming that Nameless was possessed, and that red cloak Nameless is the real one.

Not people to run from any fight, they engaged the Vrygoths. Samsara did Samsara things, jumping out of a window. Skimmer and Bannerette put accurate shots down on the Vrygoths, and Kate followed suit. Ezekyle began to use magic and filled the streets with napalm. Unfortunately this was still in Touristville, so a pitched battle on the street would quickly become an issue. However, Nameless joined the fight. Displaying supernatural martial skill, he cut and sliced at the Vrygoths. With his Nodachi, Bannerette and Kate’s rifles, and Skimmer’s marksmanship, they defeated the demons.

Meanwhile Ezekyle just sort of started walking away. Samsara and Swerve tried everything to stop him. With her punches often missing their mark, and a spicy gravity well from Swerve getting reflected, he managed to escape. But not before Bannerette came in for a well placed CSG. Grabbing her rifle, she put her years of marksmanship training to practice and hit a shot that knocked Ezekyle’s leg clean off. This was picked up by Kate and given to Swerve, as this is perfect for a material link to the spirit.

Afterwards, the group fled Touristville. Kate, Swerve and Bannerette took some time at Swerve’s apartment, Samsara escaped into the OU, and Skimmer just kind of vanished.

Nameless was saved. The group discovers Ezekyle is back in Sophocles maintaining his old cover, and the individuals begin to re-acquaint themselves with Nameless. Each Runner thinks about what to do next, but the immediate threats seem to be dealt with for now. The Renraku facilities will have to wait for another Run.

Rewards

50 Karma (50 RVP)

8,000 Nuyen as compensation from your fixers (4 RVP)

10 CDP (4 CDP)

Optional Quality: Astral Bouncer (10 RVP)

Optional Quality: Perceptive 1 or 2 (5 or 10 RVP)

Optional Quality: Sensei: Blades w/ Nameless (5 RVP)

Optional Contact: Nameless, 5/1 Ghoul (5 RVP)

Bannerette gives 1 Chip to Miyuki

+1 Wild Reputation

May upgrade Nameless' Loyalty from 4 to 5 OR 5 to 6, just one step, not two.

Player After Action Reports (AARs)

Katherine Tyler

My god. What did I get myself into? This went from a rescue op to a much more intense rescue op. This job took so many twists and turns I don't know if I really caught everything that went down. I feel like I experienced a year's worth of work in the Shadows in a single night.

~pAAR not finished~