It's Starting Again
| It's Starting Again | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Factions Involved | |||||||||
| ShadowHaven | Spooky Haunts | ||||||||
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Coil Stray Augur | Becca Voughn | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
| Stray was infected with Slum Slime, but all runners survived | Disrupted | ||||||||
Summary
The month of October is the signal to the world that the frights should begin. Beyond the holiday cheer of Halloween and other celebrations like it, there is of course the supernatural significance of the month. It seems as if the entire world is alight with magic and spirits and beasts of all kinds. On this 3rd night of October, a group of newer runners were sent off to investigate a particular haunting at a community kitchen. An angered spirit in need of rest or banishment of some kind. It should be simple.
It never really is.
Background
Becca Voughn once ran a Konbini Store above the place of her haunting. This is a clear sign of a happy ending. She had drawn the ire of one of the members of the Red Vory, one of their higher ups. Though, ire is not exactly accurate. It was more like he believed her to be a hag who was out to curse him. Out of fear, he ordered the store to be burned down, and Becca refused to leave her beloved store. She burned in there with it, dying alongside it.
The Red Vory Boss had been killed 3 months later, apparently tripping in the shower and breaking his neck.
That was in 2074. Now, in 2085, Bone Daddy had turned the area a floor down that had been abandoned some time ago into a community kitchen, always looking out for his community. Unfortunately over the week the place had been having some difficulties. The cooks were incredibly irritable at times, always passively annoyed, some raising their voices and throwing knives and pots at times of anger and stress. One of them, Matt Eastside, seemed to be getting paranoid, irritable, and shut in even before the week. Maybe a week or two before even. Bone Daddy thought "...this place might be haunted", and without being able to muster the help of Shiawase Exorcists who didn't deem this big enough to care about, he turned to the Haven once again.
The Meet
Bone Daddy met with three other...interesting runners on the 3rd. Coil, a massive naga magician. Stray, a massive INFECTED magician. And Augur. An ex catholic. What a group. They met and discussed the basics of the job - the location, the suspected hauntings or spirit problems, all of that mess, and the price point of 2000 nuyen. This was...very low, but Augur managed to at least get Bone Daddy to offer bolt holes and places to stay for the time being after the job. With that arranged, he gave a number of places and people to speak to to start their investigation off: the cooks, a therapist who worked with them, and the shiawase exorcists. With that matter settled, the team was off.
The Plan
The matter of investigating the whole building and getting firsthand accounts of the experience was the main lynchpin of what the gang was looking for in planning. Stray outright refused to work with those corporate dogs, so the team planned to go to the therapist first and then the cooks. There was also a number of contact calls to gather background information on the building itself, which is how the team managed to find some (but not all) of the information on Ms. Voughn during their travels. After investigating the therapist and the cooks, they'd head to the kitchen itself to pin down exact location and then deal with this angry spirit. Simple!
The Run
It was not that simple.
The first oddity in their little trip was to the therapist. A helpful spot, giving them the original rumor on the Konbini store that burnt down and telling them more about the actual condition of the cooks as they were coming in, but there was a bit of suspicion when this therapist (who was using a projector) suggested that it would be better to not fully deal with it, but simply...make the haunt harmless. Leave it there to scare people. This...was a bother and concern to the group who found this request incredibly odd, so...they ignored the request. Not...not a good look.
Next was the hotel the cooks were staying at. With the briefest interruption to investigate a...strange substance leaking out of one of the windows. Augur was curious to take a sample of it, thought better of it for a second, and gave the jar they were going to use to take such a thing over to Stray instead, who took the sample instead (and exposed herself to Slum Slime). They spoke to the woman at the front desk, learned more about the strange behavior of Matt Eastside from the attendant and the cooks who worked with them, and got a better idea of the strangeness that was going on. How intense the effects were on people in the kitchen. It was either a ritual or a haunting of some kind, a spirit would be too obvious to notice at this point. The group warned their contacts about the strange substance, making their way to the kitchen itself and were already planning to go to the konbini store.
The kitchen itself was a brisk visit. They were in there for only a moment, feeling the rancid background count of the lingering grievances and annoyance in the air and choking them. It was quite unpleasant. Obvious signs were not clear, until they attempted to leave the kitchen and investigate the konbini store. Coil managed to spot the pot flying towards him, and then with Augur managed to get a hold of the signature of the briefest power being used, or rather, the spell. Odd. They did a brief investigation to track the signature and, sure enough, they found themselves in the konbini store.
With a spirit possessing a certain Matt Eastside's body by the window.
This spirit was known as Tsernoz, the Whirlwind of the Apocalypse. Here to observe the conflict Becca wrought upon the building quietly. Stray found herself intrigued by the being, with Coil soon interrogating him for astral inquiries and Augur despising this entire situation. Tsernoz spoke of his home. Of the arena where words and blades and fists were one and the same. He spoke of the ancestors of the naga, how they had been interred in stone there. He spoke of the Tower that would rise until it scraped the heavens and was struck down once again in judgement. He spoke of how much he wanted to see it, and offered a deal.
A week. A week in someone's body to walk this realm, and for them to walk his, during the last week of the month. A chance to see the tower rise and fall himself. In exchange, a clue as to how to call their pray, and stop her. Stray was too eager to accept, curiosity already too great for her to not want to see the realm of what she believed were demons for herself. Augur's protests fell on deaf ears, and Tsernoz left. But not before leaving a riddle to guide them.
"With no sight, a face, with no light, a sight, with no day, a darkness, with no soul, a hatred. Within glass, a gaze."
They found a shard of a mirror's glass on the floor. They used kitchen bags from the haunted place to block out the light of the windows. And Stray peered into the mirror, only to be stabbed immediately through it.
The fight was much harder than one would have expected. Banishment had no effect, and so the team had to physically pull their prey out of the mirror, involving a number of odd tactics and a disrupted spirit to not be killed during their attempts. And actually bringing the spirit out was not the hardest part of the ordeal. Two dual natured beings made for easy prey for the haunting figure, whose ability to attack their astral forms made her far more formidable. Stray nearly died from the encounter, using her greatest efforts to protect Augur from a blow and finding herself nearly on death's door after two intense cuts to her being. Thankfully, thankfully, a quick summon by coil allowed for them to bring a new spirit out to incapacitate the vulnerable haunt with Augur's miracle shot from their Cavalier Duty. Coil quickly summoned a spirit to accomplish the task of resuscitating Stray before she could succumb to her wounds (before Augur could really decide for themselves if they should destroy the infected before them) and the job was finally over.
Aftermath
Bone Daddy paid them, thankfully enough. Though Stray soon found herself displaying several of the symptoms Matt had suffered from. At the very least, the group learned quite a lot about the magical secrets that resided in this world, and could delve further into the secrets woven in magic.
Rewards
2,000 Nuyen (1 RVP)
5 Karma (5 RVP)
6 CDP (2 RVP)
Optional Quality: Daredevil for Stray at chargen rates, may spend any RVP to get it.
Optional Gear: Bolt Hole, Squatter & Low Lifestyles in Sophocles, must include the Haunted lifestyle aspect at gear rates
Initiation Ordeal for all three characters due to uncovering secrets about the Tower of Babel and experience in ghostbusting!
Stray is infected for at least three weeks (3 more runs) with Slum Slime, suffering a Moderate Phobia of open places (agoraphobia) and Paranoia qualities. Can be cured earlier with a proper diagnosis (Medicine (3) Test and treated with R4+ Medkit). If not treated, will end in her spreading the slime mold somewhere near her living area and clearing of the infection.
Game Quotes
Player After Action Reports (AARs)
Coil "There are Naga ancestors in some form interred in the metaplanes? I must investigate this further, this is potentially world changing for my people and its history. Also of interesting note, it seems that a ghost, may not be one and the same as a spirt, this creature was strange. Shockingly potent in astral combat. I must bolster my defense further to prepare for others like this if I am to survive a planar journey."
Stray "...hahh...how exhilirating. I should have known I'd nearly die again like that, hahahah...ahhh. I should prepare for the end of the month. This...will be quite a journey."