Halcyon Days
| Halcyon Days | |||||||
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| Factions Involved | |||||||
| ShadowHaven | Major Corp | ||||||
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Summary
Drokhan discovers the fate of his old mentor with the guidance of a kindred spirit.
Background
hal·cy·on
/ˈhalsēən/
adjective
Denoting a period of time in the past that was idyllically happy and peaceful.
a tropical Asian and African kingfisher with brightly colored plumage.
a mythical bird said by ancient writers to breed in a nest floating at sea at the winter solstice, charming the wind and waves into calm.
The Meet
Drokhan wakes up from another fitful sleep. He reaches over and grabs the commlink off of the small shelf on the opposite side of the room. “I hate how everything is within arm’s reach in this drekhole” he mutters to himself. A small AR screen flips open. 05:36. He sighs. At least he was going to be up soon anyways. He gets dressed and bolts up his room at The Morgue, the “cleanest and safest” Coffin Motel in the barrens. It’s been 3 years, and the Cutters had kept up their end of the business arrangement at least. Drokhan also had one of the only troll-sized rooms in the joint. His head cleared most of his quarters.
Drokhan steps outside to another dismal, grey Seattle day. At least it wasn’t raining. It was time for his caffeine fix and there was only one place in the barrens where could get real coffee without getting ripped off. The Buzz Kill, a surprisingly clean coffee bar in Touristville.
“Good morning, Maurice.”, Drokhan says as he nods to the big ork behind the counter.
“The usual, omae?” Maurice grunts as he starts up the grinder. In a few minutes, he slides over a triple espresso and a three krill breakfast muffins.
Like he does every morning, Drokhan hits the ShadowHaven BBS and sniffs around for any obscure references to the day DocWagon Seattle cleaned out a certain department which shall not be named. Still zip. As per usual. He grunts, finishes breakfast and heads back to his pad while checking the highlights of last night’s Urban Brawl match. Suddenly, a call pops up on his AR screen from Overwatch.
“Overwatch, always a pleasure. You’re up early.”
The big troll on the screen smiles with a toothy grin. “Yeah, I have an early shift, drekhead. I’m gonna be late, so I’ll make this quick. Someone from your old team has resurfaced. Jasper Diaz, a SIN forger specialist. I have it on good information that he’s squatting in Puyallup. I’m sending you the particulars. You owe me a mint copy of something good.”
Drokhan’s almost chokes. He doesn’t have time to thank Overwatch before the link cuts out.
The Plan
Looks like Jasper was seen going into an elf bar called the Daisy Chain. A quick Matrix search brings up that it’s an Ancient’s hang out. Not exactly good news, but if risking getting shot by some elf go-gangers gets him closer to the truth, so be it.
A cab ride, a lot of dirty looks, and three overpriced espressos later, Drokhan is able to loosen the lips of the barman at the Daisy Chain. He is far from welcome here, but the troll manages to earn a little respect and the whereabouts of Jasper’s shack.
As Drokhan steps out of the Daisy Chain, a beautiful bird is perched on the handlebars of a go-ganger hog parked out front. Bright, iridescent azure feathers adorn her head, back and wingspan while a complimentary rusted orange colours her bosom. Drokhan immediately is washed over with a sense of calm and serenity. The bird peers intently at him with intelligent eyes.
“Hi there, little one,” Drokhans gently calls out to his little admirer. “Are you lost?” He pats his coat pocket, and pulls out a half eaten soy snack bar. He crumbles a corner of it and holds it out in his immense hand. The kingfisher cocks her head a little and nods. With a quick hop and a flit of her wings, she lands delicately on Drokhan’s palm and pecks at the food. After finishing her snack, she looks up at Drokhan as if to thank him and takes to the air and disappears over the building.
Drokhan’s arrives to a rude welcome at Jasper’s derelict hut of sheets of rusted metal and mismatched plasticrete bricks. Jasper has obviously had it rougher than Drokhan over the last few years since they were almost terminated. Reluctantly, Jasper spills the beans on what he knows. Much to Drokhan’s horror, Jasper reveals that he suspects Marcus Matthews, while away on business the week prior to the elimination of their department, was possessed by an insect spirit. Drokhan is horrified by the news, but his resolve intensifies. He has to find out if all of this is really true.
Before leaving, Drokhan offers to have the Ancients reconsider Jasper’s application. Jasper is skeptical, but he knows Drokhan has negotiated from harder angles than this in the past. Drokhan asks Jasper to provide him with his best SIN forgery he has on hand. Drokhan tells Jasper that he should have good news for him soon and leaves.
Stepping outside, Drokhan hears a little chirp, and he looks up to see his little admirer once again perched on a slender branch of a sickly tree nearby. The calm feeling washes over Drokhan again, but this time he feels a message surface in his mind. We value peace above all else, you and I. She then nods at the troll as if to confirm what he is experiencing, glides down and lands on his shoulder. Drokhan reaches into his coat pocket and crumbles the rest of his soy snack bar and offers it to his little friend. She pecks gently at his shoulder for a while, then without warning, she takes back to the sky and disappears.
Drokhan makes a quick call to his best friend, Guapo, and asks for a favour: his executive taxi service. Guapo is more than happy to chauffeur his friend for the rest of the day.
Back at the Daisy Chain, another expensive espresso ordered and this time a bourbon on the house, the barman admires the gall of this troll ever so politely asking for a meet with the Ancients in charge of local recruitment. Against his better judgement, he says he will pass along Drokhan’s request to the lieutenant in charge, Ether. Drokhan’s leaves the Daisy Chain for good, and Guapo takes them back to his place to chill.
A few hours later, Drokhan’s commlink lights up and he receives a call from none other than Ether. She wants to know why the frag a friendly troll in a nice suit came to the Daisy Chain twice and wanted to meddle in her business. Keeping it short and sweet, Drokhan asks her if she would be interested in high quality SIN forgeries and uses Jasper’s work as an example. It catches her attention. She figures out that Drokhan is representing the little twerp she had beat up the day before. When she asks what Drokhan wants as a finder’s fee, he says that’s a favour and he just wants Jasper to get a far shake. Either scoffs, tries to hide a smirk and cuts the line. Drokhan has a feeling that he may just have pulled it off. Time will tell.
Later that night, back at his pad, Drokhan gets a follow up call from Overwatch.
“You know you are a lucky bastard to have me, right? You owe me another mint. I’ve got visual confirmation that Matthews is right here in Seattle as of three weeks ago! Drek, I have to coordinate a plat member extraction. Check your inbox, omae! Oh, you are going to need backup. It was the best I could do on short notice, but I got a nice lady, who if you ask nicely, can ask first, punch later.” Overwatch winks as the connection cuts out.
Drokhan has two items in his inbox. Contact information for Behemoth. But his attention is quickly drawn to the trideo file. Turns out, Matthews shows up in the background of the trideo report by an amateur journalist protesting the wrongful arrest of metahumans outside a Knight Errant building downtown. Matthews is seen casually entering the building with a briefcase. He looks angry, and there is something off about him. But there is no denying it, it’s him!
Drokhan does a bit of research on the KE building and it turns out they have a courthouse where civil unions can be arranged. After some persuasion, he convinces Behemoth to pose as his lover and they enter the building quite easily as an obvious couple looking to tie the knot. After investigation of the premises, it turns out only the first two floors are public and there is no sign of Matthews. They are going to have to access the private floors above.