No One Has Ever Lived In The Castle

No One Has Ever Lived In The Castle
Date 2085-12-27 GM Sleevey Location Seattle Status Threat Level: High
Factions Involved
ShadowHaven We made a pretty cool Shark Agent in a spa, I guess	Foundational Nodes
Chance DAD Kate	Finch Finch Finch
Casualties and losses
0	1

Summary

The runners solved clues in a spooky castle and shortly thereafter confirmed that everything occurring within was perfectly mundane after unmasking the true nature of the villain. Also, they gathered some clues for a spooky skeleton and got paid, I suppose.

Background

The background, insofar as the Runners are aware, is steeped in mystery. They know a fairly talented Decker--Perhaps even a Technomancer, if the clues they'd gathered are any indication--Was in some trouble, that they were laying low, and that they needed to extract something from the foundation of a seemingly innocuous BTL addiction clinic, but none of the exacts beyond that.

The Meet

The trio, after arriving to the Host, were rudely turned away at the very door they had been invited to. Not taking 'no' for an answer, Chance and DAD Hack on the Fly in. Chance more successfully, perhaps due to his having an actual Agent to assist him; DAD eventually, after a second try. Kate simply bulldozed her way through. Upon entering, they were greeted by a spooky skeleton and a chest. The skeleton was playing the Bongos. DAD entered into a staring contest with the skeleton, while Chance extracted a scroll from the chest. Kate attempted to annihilate the skeleton. This, surprisingly, didn't work.

This is fortunate as, when Chance opened the scroll, the Skeleton began playing a prerecorded message with the job; nothing but the barest of details was given, and the group agreed to payment in the form of software, BTLs, and anything else they could grab off the Matrix. They were then informed the extent of what the John knew--The Foundation's location, and that it was set in the 15th Century. With little to go off of, and with Foundations behind so haphazard, the gang had little choice but to perform minimal research. They looked up a little on Foundations, a little on the 15th Century, and armed with that knowledge, boldly went forth.

The Plan

Plan? PLAN? What plan?! They didn't even know who they WERE until they arrived on scene! I guess you could call 'set your programs' a plan. Maybe 'get the stuff?' 'Don't die?' They were each given mysterious roles which were impossible to share, on account of the host being typically very murder-y of people who break their roles. DAD, with his EARRs, could possibly have bypassed this restriction. Chance and Kate, lacking this implant, could not.

The Run

A great deal of the run was spent on figuring out the rules of the Foundation. Who are the important players? What's the situation? What areas are off-limits and why? The basics come down to: There's a butler named Finch, a Baroness, and then there's the Lord of the castle, who is also a Lady. They generally were okay with their guests wandering the Castle, so long as they avoid any locked doors. Finch is mildly creepy, strongly Dracula-esque, and seems to be in multiple places at once. Spoiler alert: "he" was. "He" was also more of "they". Turns out it was the Finch Brothers, not just Finch. DAD called it immediately, but that didn't stop him from being incredibly suspicious.

After having tea with the Baroness, they learned that things weren't as they seemed after the Baroness badly lied about the library having disappeared. The gang split into two groups afterward; DAD distracted a Finch, this being before they discovered there were multiple, while the other two snuck into the Library. There, they discovered the Archival Node and cryptic clues hidden among the books, which they brought back to their rooms. This was good, as Kate and Chance were told to stay in their rooms after being discovered snooping.

DAD, for his part, began doing some snooping of his own after Finch ran off when he'd heard what sounded like ghostly wails. For his part, DAD decided to get an idea of what the castle looked like and wrote it down with his meat body to share with the gang at a later date. He then went ahead and cleared out a bit of rubble leading to a secret passage the lead to all the rooms--Or slits strategically located in the eyes of all the portraits, anyway. With this new piece of incredibly suspicious evidence, and a better understanding of the grounds, DAD returned to his room to insist his roomies not sleep in their rooms and to update them with what he learned.

The following morning, the Lord of the castle returned, and with her a retinue of soldiers, although they seemed ambivalent to...Well, everything. Nor were they terribly talkative. Rude, that bunch. After a brief encounter with the gang, the Lord and Baroness retired to their castle. Upon further inquiry, they discovered the Baroness and the Lord shared a room. They were, reportedly, just friends; the Baroness simply suffered from night terrors, and preferred not to sleep alone.

Regardless, with the last few actors finally on the stage, the gang once again got down to some snooping; DAD took the role of distraction again, this time opting to loudly and excitedly play the piano after failing to convince Finch to take piano lessons, while Kate and Chase excavated a previously collapsed section of the secret hall. There, they discovered a most momentous secret...The Baroness and the Lord shared the same bed! 'Just friends,' indeed. Furthermore, the Baroness was an opium fiend! How scandalous!

They also discovered, I suppose, that one of the clues was in the study, and that the Lord was wearing something of significance around her throat. That was also important, I suppose. Regardless, with this knowledge uncovered, Chase braved climbing the rubble and sneaking along the roof to claim his prize--A flag, with some sort of cryptic lettering covering the entirety. He was able to confirm it was a cypher, and little else.

Kate, meanwhile, snuck into the bowels of the castle, where she discovered...A wine cellar! And Finch, I guess, who then went on to monologue evilly before getting stabbed in the face and then finished off. There were plans to assassinate the Lord, one of DAD's assignments given by the Foundation, but alas, before they could come to fruition, they were invited to dinner. Strangely...By Finch. Who, actually, had asked if they needed anything, post-murder, pre-assassination plans. Hmmmmm. The trio still didn't know there were three Finches.

Dinner, however, proved to be eventful. Everyone got the chance to introduce themselves, then a young swashbuckler brashly burst in boisterously and began berating the Baroness Bestie brazenly. This turned out to be a mistake, as while the Lord of the castle was equipped with only a butter knife, she was more than a match for the young man, and after the Baroness returned with a rapier, sans one failed assassination attempt by DAD, the young man was promptly bested. Kate then cut the man down and, while the Lord was busy doing triage, took a clue they'd spotted on his belt. After giving the Lord their shirt sleeves to use as a bandage, the scene then progressed to DAD, who swiped the feather in the study and left his own feather from his own hat, Indiana Jones style. The feather was kind enough to outright tell him that Chance needed to go leave something where the flag had been planted, and DAD, never one to ignore seemingly magical feathers, was prompt to tell him to do just that.

After Chance had done so, the trio got the strange feeling that their job was done, and so Chance, after confirming the layout of the Foundation(And the Finch Brother's identity) by giving the Lord the ol' Pilgrim's Touch, led everyone down to the Wine Cellar. Kate and DAD left Anchors. Kate left easily. DAD and Chance left...Less easily, but did still make a clean getaway.

Aftermath

There was some strange Resonance shenanigans which may or may not have rubbed off on the trio, and the mysterious Decker was happy with the handoff. Stuff was sent in payment, celebration was had.

Rewards

8 karma (8 RVP) 10k nuyen or up to 20k in software (agent upgrades, programs, BTLs, other examples are slipping my mind rn but ill prolly say okay if its reasonable) (5 RVP) 6 CDP (2 RVP)

Optional Quality: Reverberant at gen rates (5 karma) For DAD: First Impression (12 karma)

Mundane Ascension for Chance!

Game Quotes

"This is like, a Radcliffe gothic, not a dracula gothic."

-Sleevey, making the worse mistake of her life

"This is like, a Radcliffe gothic, not a dracula gothic." - Sleevey, directly prior to 30 minutes of her players accusing the Butler of being Dracula

Player After Action Reports (AARs)

DAD: "Nice vacation. If it didn't try to kill me, I might have taken the kids."