Reformation Hunt 18
| Reformation Hunt 18 | |||||||
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| Part of The Reformation | |||||||
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| Factions Involved | |||||||
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ShadowHaven Reverie Viper |
Billy Heart Black Paladin The Mad Road Valois | ||||||
Summary
Reverie and Viper hunt down number 18 on the Bounty List, Billy Heart.
The Search
The search and legwork start off with Reverie doing a matrix search on Billy Heart. From that, she and Viper find out several things: Billy Heart is the outreach officer for the Seattle chapter of Humanis, meaning that he deals with much of the darker side of the organization, including funneling money and resources to the Hand of Five and Alamos 20,000, in addition to PR. Also found is his office and home addresses, the fact that he is an awakened adept, and that he was last seen in public four days ago.
Reverie then summons a Force 6 Task Spirit to search for Heart in the area between his home and office. About 80 minutes in, the spirit finds him heading away from his home, driving fast and headed towards the water. Viper is near the search point start, and as the search takes longer, they analyzes where Heart would likely be. They know a Hand of Five cell in Tarislar got destroyed about two days ago. HTR had stormed the place and found links to other cells, and those had also been destroyed. Theorizing that Heart had been sent out to help the Hand of Five out, they head out for the nearest cell they know of, over in Tacoma, about a minute away from where they are now.
When they get there, a car chase is in progress.
The Kill
There's about fifteen cars in the chase, none of them very coordinated or orderly. Reverie soon figures out that most of the cars are likely rival bounty hunters. Since Heart is more of a snake-oil salesman type and that's reflected in his choice of vehicle, she's looking at three different cars that might be the target. She eventually identifies a SUV as having three people in it: one is an adept, the other two are just muscle. Target found, she retreats and summons an air spirit (Force 6.)
Viper's pulling up alongside the car chase in a rented Jackrabbit. Suddenly, a rocket hits the SUV, and there's now a large hole in it. A second rocket hits one of the chasing cars, and that clues them and Reverie into the presence of a fighter jet above them. Reverie rematerializes in the passenger seat and updates Viper on what she's found out. Viper casts Lighting Bolt twice (with disadvantage due to difficult line of sight,) trying to run the SUV off the road, before switching tactics and aiming straight for Heart through the hole in the car with the help of Reverie, managing to wound him. Heart starts to lose control of the SUV.
A new player enters the chase: an entire bus full of bounty hunters, who are more focused on the fighter jet and the chasing cars than Viper and Reverie. All vehicles are now approaching the docks. Viper casts Lighting Bolt twice more and finally manages to fry Heart to a crisp. The SUV responds by flipping and veering off into the water. Most of the cars that had been chasing it stop; the bus, however, just keeps driving right into the water with it, and resurfaces with an inflatable skirt.
Meanwhile, someone managed to swim from the bus over to the SUV and decapitate Heart's body. The head is then thrown to a manifested spirit, who throws it out of the water into the hands of another spirit. What ensues next is essentially astral football with a severed head; most of the opposing spirits are defeated by Reverie's collection of spirits, and the head falls onto the bus, where it's again kicked into the water and finally retrieved by Reverie's Huntsman spirit.
Aftermath
The turn in is on Heron Island. The owner, Matthew, is waiting at the docks with his boat, and after being shown the head, he ferries Viper and Reverie across. Viper chats with him on the way, finding out that Matthew's father originally bought the island, that the company Matthew is a CEO of is "more of a company for owning things", and that Matthew has to attend a meeting four times a year, and Matthew's coworkers are spirits----Matthew himself is awakened.
The island, when they reach it, seems ancient, and there is a lot of free magic in the air, and well as many spirits. The castle is off in the distance: there's a strong Alarm Ward around it, and while it's mainly a sunny day, Reverie can see a dark cloud over it, and there aren't any spirits near the castle, and absolutely none past the ward.
Viper and Reverie are lead into a garage, where Valois leads them into the octagonal room. Reverie actually cannot enter it due to her being dematerialized. Viper goes forth on their own, and hands over the head. Heart's identity is confirmed via DNA scan, and Viper and Reverie are paid.
Rewards
- 32,000¥ divided between 2 runners (16,000¥ each)
- 4 karma
- 2 CDP