The Story of the Man and the Humped Horse
| The Story of the Man and the Humped Horse | |||||||
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| Part of Seattle Nights | |||||||
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| Factions Involved | |||||||
| ShadowHaven | Major Corp | ||||||
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Alkali Cleaner Cleaner Professor Wylde |
Character1 Character2 | ||||||
Summary
The crew is sent to find the whereabouts of a missing servant and her son. The crew is able to discover that Mrs. Dupoint of the Manor had turned them into a Cow and Calf with the intention to sacrifice them in order to be granted a boon of a son by a Fey Spirit. The Crew is able to rescue the Mother and Son and as punishment for her failure, Mrs. Dupoint is turned into a Humped Horse, creating the story of the Man and the Humped Horse.
Background
A Few Months ago, An secort by the name of Saria left the One Thousand and One Nights to work as a Maid at the Dupoint Mansion. Mr. Dupoint, the owner, realized her son Korre was awakened. As the Dupoints do not have a child of there own, Mr. Dupoint started keeping an eye on Korre to see if he can continue the pact the Dupoints have with Lefante, and enigmatic Cosmic spirit bound to the Dupoint Manor, who helps the Dupoint family with fortune as long as their fulfill their yearly offereing.
This causes jealously from Mrs. Dupoint, and she decides to make a spirit pact of her own with the Fey Spirit, the Laughing Rhymer. As part of the pact, Mrs. Dupoint turns Saria and Korre into a Cow and a Calf in an attempt to subvert the original offering with an offering of her own.
Saria's disappearance goes noticed by the enigmatic owner of the One Thousand and One Nights....
The Meet
The runners are told to meet Scheherazade, introduced first as "The Storyteller", after a warnin of her peculiar way of talking.
After deciphering her speech, the runners understand the objective: An ex-employee of Scheherazade stopped meeting with her and she fears something may have happened. She points them to her current employ: The Dupoint Manor in Aurora Village. With nothing more than some info on Saria, Korre, and the Dupoints, the runners get started.
The Plan
The runners plan to use their legworking skills in order to find the pieces of the puzzle, before determining if Saria is still alive, and rescuing her and her son if so.
Eventually the runners realize a golden opportunity to infiltrate the manor via the party, which coincidentally is when an "offering" will take place
The Run
The runners start with some Spirit and Matrix Searches. The Matrix Search turns up that Mr. Dupoint is a successful Agriculture Businessman and speculator, with a really strong series of business moves that seem to be either extremely savvy business, or the result of some....mystic aid. The spirits see the picture of Saria, but after searching the Manor, do not find her. But for the cost of an additional service, the spirit reports a Ward as well as an ancient spiritual pressure originating from the walls of the Manor, leading to credence that the Mr Dupoints engage in magic.
Alklai uses a Spirit of Guidance, who warns them of they should act before "The Moon halfways Wanes", and that the House is divided and that fulfulling the original contract and breaching the false contract maybe their key to success. And using his Cosmology knowledge, Alkali knows the Moon is halfway waning to a New Moon tomorrow night.
Professor looks into the Matrix and manages to hack into a comm link showing a wire transfer of 50k to two bank accounts. Over time they discover that its from Mrs. Dupoint into a Black Bag ACcount, which people know via their Syndicate or Accounting Knowledge happens with Rich people pay for illicit activity or Black ops.
More legwork determined that Saria and Korre were abuducted from Redmond while running an errand for Mrs. Dupoint. Alkali and Wylde search Astrally, first Wylde on her own, where she is introduced to The Laughing Rhymer, who tried to get Wlyde to stay and have some fun. Later Alkali and Wylde arrive together and bully the poor Fey spirit into leaving in a huff. But they confirm the magic power, and when Alkali tries to phase through the walls, the spirit lashes out and almost knocks Alkali into next week.
Alkali gets a funny idea and tries the front door after Materializing, and the Head Maid opens the door, sees Alkali in his finest Maid finery, assumes the two are extra help and informs them that they can show up tomorrow to help with the party. Alkali sees and opportunity: Alkali and Cleaner Cleaner will arrive as Maids, while Professor and Wlyde will come in as Business Associates to the party. To achieve, this Professor hacks his way into the Guest list for tomorrow.
At the party. The Maid crew arrives first, after recieving their assignments. Cleaner Cleaner sneaks into The locked study, while Alkali chats up the Maids as a distraction. Cleaner finds a wrecked Drone and a journal showing Mr. Dupoint's interest in Korre's Magical potential.
Alkali chats up the maids extremely well...almost too well, and one of the Maids introduce themselves as Lefante, the name of the Spirit of the house, and manages to slip away while Alkali is distracted with more work, but not abefore mentioning that Usually the offering to the spirit involves animals or livestock, which are kept in an underground basement in the garden.
At this point Professor and Wylde show up. Professor searches the drone and finds grimy footage of the Laughing Rhymer making a deal with...someone. Offering to deliver a Son in exchange for Saria and Korre.
Wylde and Alkali meet with Lefante, who explain her side of the story. While Lefante cannot strike against someone she's pacted to defend, she can let them know that her contract involves sacrificing a Cow and Calf tonight, and that maybe making sure an Actual Cow and Calf are sacrificed tonight is the best way to ensure Saria and Korre's safety. The crew starts to realize that Saria and Korre maybe in the Livestock section.
AFter a near miss on the stealth to the basement. The crew finds the livestock chamber, but before they can find them, they are ambused by Boggles, who are no match for the runners, but try to use their entropy to cause trouble and make noise. However, with some quick magical response, and a few swords and manabolts to the face, the Boggles are thwarted. The Shapechange spell is undone, and the crew sends a real cow and calf up to be sacrificed. Lefante accepts the offering and gives the Dupoints good fortune, while Mrs. Dupoint fails and is turned into an animal by The Laughting Rhymer.
Aftermath
Korre and Saria are safe, Mrs. Dupoint is now a Humped Horse. Mr. Dupoint is appreciative of the runners, and is now comtemplating what to do about his traitorous wife. Lefante continues enjoying the interesting lives and struggles or short-lived humans.