Scarlet Footsteps
| Scarlet Footsteps | |||||||||||
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| Part of By Royal Decree | |||||||||||
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| Factions Involved | |||||||||||
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ShadowHaven The Seelie Court Treasa ke'Vedryn | Tir Tairngire | Black Lodge | Ancients | ||||||||
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Babylon Charon Rabbit Bollwerk |
Ghosts Peacekeepers |
Enemy Runners, Knife, Charon | Members | ||||||||
Summary
Ancient scrolls were found and stolen, taken to be sold to the highest bidder. Runners infiltrated an auction, stole the scrolls, and made increasingly poor decisions.
Background
A cache of ancient scrolls were uncovered in the Salish Shidhe Council, near the Tir border. Discovered by accident, a complex array of tunnels were revealed, strange iconography painting the walls. None of this was expected, the find clearly not compatible with any local cultures or time periods. As news of the discovery spread, the curiosity of outside factions grew.
As Treasa began to organize an operation, local Ancients managed to strike first. While security by the Salish was growing increasingly strong, the bikers managed to raid and steal an preserved scroll from the excavation, then escaped southward, towards the Tir. Treasa had already sent an operative to surveil the site, and the agent continued after the Ancients. However, they never checked back in. Wanting the scroll and its secrets for herself, Treasa called together a team of runners to follow the trail and uncover what happened.
The Meet
The team is called to meet together at Treasa's request. Like most of her meets, she provides food to the runners. Charon decides to be excessively old-meme-cringe-etc. The other runners adapt as best they can.
Briefing the team on the job, she lets them know that a spooky relic had been uncovered, and then stolen. Given that the Ancients were the ones to take it, this was not a comfortable mission for Babylon. Unfortunately for her though, Treasa was calling a debt she had earned in the past.
Treasa wanted the team to find the scroll, wherever it was, and return it, intact. A very simple mission.
Most of the team was alright with normal rewards, but Charon, the queen of poor decisions, decided to demand karma. Treasa graciously accepted the request. Babylon, knowing Treasa was a fae, was nearly exploding in "wtf Charon". She held it in though while Treasa was dealmaking. She didn't want draw a negative response from the J.
Prelude and Party
Heading into the SSC, the team deliberates how to start. The digsite was now swarming with security, and the Ancients were likely long gone, so they decide to focus on finding the missing agent. Charon realizes that asking for karma from a possibly hostile spirit could have repercussions, so she tries to make contact with Mr. Herenight to get help in beating them. Somehow though, she associates with the only vampire with more concentrated Elderly-Vibes than her. Herenight doesn't use phones, so communication is slow. While Charon tried to get the team to wait several days so she could secretly make contact, the rest tell her no.
They investigate the missing agent's home, hoping to potentially find some clues. And in fact, they find a very obvious clue that someone had broken in. The clue was a bomb. An exploding bomb. There was a bit of pain shared around the team, but they lived! It did thoroughly destroy the agent's home though. Some nearby witnesses mentioned seeing the agent run away with a bugout bag, but their memories seemed altered.
Following the few clues they could find led them to a shack in the middle of nowhere. Inside, heavily interrogated, the agent was bound to a chair. For whatever reason, he couldn't describe the people who had captured him, but the team did learn where the Ancients were likely headed, the estate of the Tir Duke, Caridan Bern. Bern, periodically opened his estate as a 'community auction' of sorts. Wealthy buyers flock to a party and conduct business with the upper crust of the black market. Likely, the Ancients were planning on selling the scroll there.
The team already very unhappy about having to enter the Tir, were less happy when they realized the estate was south of Cara'sir. Far from the border. Still, they prepared for the next steps. Rabbit hacked invitations for the team, identities were forged, and to make the party a bit more interesting, Babylon invited Juliette Burns to attend.
By investigating the hacked guest list, the team discovers a black market talismonger, Eithne Cyneras, would be attending the party. Thinking she might be the one who contracted the Ancients to steal the scrolls, the team decides to work towards finding her.
As the team entered the manor, the saw the exterior guard were official Tir Peacekeepers, but the interior was guarded by poorly disguised Ancients. Charon used adept powers to take the form of an elf.
A large amount of social happened. Babylon got to meet a princess. Bollwerk got an offer to snitch for money, and denied it. Rabbit stayed away from most of it.
Eventually, a pretty elf started pulling away Babylon for some private time, and she of course couldn't resist. Things were going well for her, until she got pricked with a stinger. Confused and angry, Babylon fell unconscious. It turns out that Knife had his eye on these scrolls as well, and hired his own runner team. The team saw evidence of their work with the agent and the bomb. The enemy face, Mirage, with Babylon dispatched, made contact with Eithne. After a bit of back and forth, Mirage secured the scroll and started to walk out of the party. The rest of the team was a bit behind on information, but Rabbit cornered the escaping face.
At this point, Rabbit felt that the subtle approach was failed, and decided to be a bit more direct. Letting out a banshee's wail, she paralyzed a large number of people, grabbed the scrolls, and then ran into the forest. People shot at her, but not very successfully. The party, and the rest of the team, was still a bit shocked.
As Rabbit ran into the forest, far from any real escape, the team disengaged from the party. Well, except for Babylon. Deciding to pretend to be a law abiding citizen, she put on her best shocked face and hung around.
Leaving the Party
Rabbit didn't have much of a plan at this point beyond run to the car stashed in the forest. While not the worst idea, there was a bit of a complication. That other runner team. As a sniper rifle opened fire from far away, the team realized things got complicated. In a hovering VTOL, a rigger shot at them from long range. After a bit of exchanged fire, it was clear this wasn't a great situation for them to be in. As they moved away, the VTOL followed, creeping closer to them, spirits from an enemy mage joining as well.
Throughout this, the enemy face, Mirage, communicates with Babylon and Gomorrah over DNI. She tries to get the team to surrender and hand over the scrolls. They'd even pay them 10k each. Sometimes jobs go poorly after all, and there's no need to bring more heat down on all of them. They might as well walk away from each other peacefully. And alive. The team doesn't take the offer though.
Charon eventually makes a very good decision, and somehow manages to grab on to the VTOL when it ranges particularly low. She activates terrorscape, radiating fear and despair. Hoping to paralyze them in fear, it more causes them to flee, rapidly. With Charon holding on to a VTOL, she very rapidly starts moving upward. As Charon manages somehow to hang on, the rigger starts maneuvering in the air to throw her off, causing Charon to fall a great distance, far away from the rest of the team.
With this distraction though, the team manages to pass the scrolls off to Gomorrah, who should have an easier time getting away, and all start to drive off. While not being actively shot at, they are still deep in the Tir, and their law enforcement is mobilizing quickly.
Thankfully, the enemy runner team doesn't reappear to continue shooting at them. On the down side though, unbeknownst to them, they decided to avoid drawing the eye of the Tir government at the moment, and decided to pursue a different tactic. They sent an information packet anonymously to the constabulary detailing the team, their location, and their means of escape. With this, the other runners felt they could try again later, and hopefully not become wanted fugitives.