Who's A Good Boy?

Who's A Good Boy?
	Part of The Crow of Seattle
Date	2085-01-13
GM	Asmodeus
Location	Sapporo, Japan
Status	Threat Level: Extreme
Factions Involved
Casualties and losses
	Bleach burned 1 Edge. Artemisia is alienated by the city centre of Sapporo.
	Initiation Ordeal

Summary

Charon gets her Cerberus Hound returned to her.

Background

"Doge Vandire" was kidnapped from Swerve by Sphinx.

The Meet

The meet happens in Charon's penthouse. Bleach is there for solid grade-A work like a cold merc; Swerve's more intent on exposing the 'fraud' pretending to be Charon and Artemisia's heard rumors of Charon's extensive connections, hoping to use them to her own ends in finding information. She asks for information about Blackmane and Josephine, although Charon mishears the first target to instead be Blackmore. Still, the deal is accepted. Bleach takes the cash offer and Swerve just wants to get rid of feeling bad about what happened to the dog to begin with.

The Plan

Since the team's a little light on Matrix support, a mercenary joins the party on Charon's behalf, Shale-6. This mercenary appears to be a typical black trenchcoat mundane decker with few frills and a private attitude about their goals. They start tracking the Cerberus Hound's route from the day it was taken from Seattle and then plan to follow it where-ever it may lead.

Intel Gathering

First intelligence search has Shale-6 pointing them towards Vory docks. Artemisia and Bleach infiltrate the Vory area, attaching a data tap with some complications so Shale-6 can get a good vacuuming of data. This lets them narrow things down to a single boat, closing off potential locations like the Antarctic, Scotland and Sri Lanka. Instead, the fourth boat that left that day in the evening was a Japanese vessel heading towards Sapporo.

Sapporo

Charon's informed about this, so she arranges transportation to the city. Once there, the team investigates some local potentials: the Onmyouji, monster hunters of the Shinto tradition as well as rumors of movement in the sewers and the park that ascends from underground to the surface depending on what season it is. Bleach meets up with one of the Onmyouji, but she's too busy tracking down an adultery-tempting kitsune prankster to help Bleach. Bleach considers helping but wants to check with the team first and promises to come back (she won't).

Swerve and Artemisia follow a route underground to gain access to the park. It's currently under the surface to protect the plant life from the cold winter, but while they're wandering in the tunnels they meet another paracritter, an inhabiting tsuchigumo that leads the two Infected to an underground bar location where the unwanted youkai (paracritters) dwell, out of sight and out of mind. The park that moves between surface and underground, the Onmyouji and the Youkai, much of Sapporo appears to deal with dualities. Here, Artemisia witnesses a banshee feeding and while she attempts to take this eyesore outside, the banshee's far less willing. Swerve appears to adjust almost immediately, but this is short-lived as Artemisia's insistence eventually boils over and she prevents the creature from feeding any further with a grenade. Immediately, the bartender is livid at the act of violence in their establishment and some of the patrons scream after the fleeing vampire. Swerve barely survives the blast despite a mana barrier Artemisia erected to shield her from the blast and is taken to recover.

Artemisia appears to find nothing but ill fortune afterwards, tripping on rocks, getting hit by cars, dodging falling branches, every traffic light turning red just as she reaches them -- Bleach darts off to rendezvous and offer aid as Arti struggles to flee the city, realizing a potential shard of the city's Heart has Alienated her. On top of a moving truck, Bleach and Artemisia attempt to guide the vampire out as fast as possible, but while Bleach eventually jumps off since this really isn't something she'll risk her neck over, Artemisia manages to stall an astrally projecting Onmyouji with a mana barrier long enough to get a headstart and get outside the city central's borders. Once there, she's turned back from a small animal shape that she adopted to gain safety with Bleach, now lacking any kind of clothes. She rips the tarp off the truck bed, jumps off and heads towards a nearby urban area in search of clothes. Bleach eventually regroups with her and brings her a bag containing her own gear.

Meanwhile, Swerve awakens in a resting room and speaks with the bartender. The being appears directly from the concrete floor and, while, still somewhat irked by violence in the bar, is willing to give Swerve the benefit of the doubt given that she was hit by this act as well. When asked about a Cerberus hound, the bartender remarks that it felt one leaving the city and that it does no longer remain in his area of influence. Swerve offers to come back another time to help, which the spirit accepts.

Shale-6 is still in the hotel room and eventually Bleach and Swerve return as well, tracking any potential vessels that might match the intel they've gathered. Bit by bit, they piece things together thanks to all the knowledge they've accumulated from talking to the locals as well as the Matrix Searches. This narrows things down to one underwater complex, although the lack of reports makes it seem somewhat out of the ordinary. In addition, the team finds that an investigative team has been sent to check the complex out and the three decide to attempt social infiltration, posing as Leviathan's enforcers sent to link up with the investigators.

The Underwater Yamatetsu Lab

Shale-6 forges fake documents to back up this con and they meet the other group on open waters. While the social adept, Montrose, appears somewhat suspicious at first, Swerve and Bleach successfully double team the con through and the team dives underwater to enter the facility. Once inside, it quickly becomes apparent that the offline host is temperamental, closing doors on a whim while the staff appear to have been killed and their bodies possessed by shedim. Once Swerve sees one in person, she recognizes them from a previous job she took, Crimson Herring. Communicating with the spirits is impossible due to a language barrier, so they approach two remaining life signs that Swerve's spell detects. She also sends an air spirit to follow the investigators who attempt to locate the control room.

Once they get close, however, they see two shedim banging on a secure-looking door and with some hand signals and primitive communication, manage to convince the shedim to chase after the investigator team. Bleach starts cracking the keypad lock on the door while Artemisia heads after the shedim and triple taps all three from behind. A firefight ensues as the investigators decide they're not being paid enough to fight undead and head back to the elevator to get up to their ship and call for proper reinforcements. Artemisia and Swerve's air spirit put up a thorough fight against the hordes, managing to stem the tide against superior numbers.

Once the door opens, Bleach is mortified to find Catherine The Mundane, the same woman who guarded Woedica Kryptman during Reject Enlightenment now guarding the Cerberus hound's tank, heavily entrenched in the room. Swerve attempts to tell the woman to surrender which is answered with buckshot. Two devastating direct spells appear to pacify the fierce street samurai, but Bleach sneaks around to breach the opposite wall from behind with thermite just in case. She manages to communicate with Catherine, who keeps both Swerve and her bound Air Spirit at bay, having mortally wounded Shale-6. Catherine is on death's door and offers to cease fire for the time being, willing to accept the L this time around. Swerve stabilizes Shale-6 enough for the decker to operate the critter tank and open it. Doge Vandire is confused, scared and hostile, attacking Swerve immediately -- the animal's mauling doesn't do any lasting damage, however, so the banshee takes her licks.

Successful Extraction

Meanwhile, Artemisia's gradually beginning to whittle down the number of shedim that invaded the place from the cargo freighter with offensive mana barriers that the hateful spirits smash into with abandon. While she endures an increasing amount of drain, she regroups with the team. They are informed by Catherine that she noticed a second vat, but has no idea who is inside. Arti's curious, so Shale unlocks the tank to reveal a red-haired elven woman with unknown augmentations. The team takes both the Cerberus hound and the woman from the complex and head to the elevator, having convinced the other team to wait for them. Once on the boat, Swerve has to employ intimidation to convince them that they're taking both back to "Leviathan" as their enforcers. Selling this con is also her potent masking as a drake and using her Fear power on Montrose, the social adept team leader.

Aftermath

Artemisia gets information about Josephine and Mariel Blackmore. She also manages to extract the comatose elf to one of her own contacts, not trusting the Lodge to handle the elf with dignity.
Swerve stays in Sapporo's Youkai Bar for a while before returning to Seattle. She may end up working for Sapporo's Heart in the future!
Bleach is genuinely thanked by Charon for getting her dog back. The dog also appears to have taken a liking to her and shows her great affection. Her increasingly reliable reputation with the Lodge grows.

Doge Vandire is secured, the bizarre elf is taken by the Avalon Council's member for safekeeping but she appears comatose. Artemisia also requests karma instead of nuyen as payment, so Charon arranges a particularly murderous spirit to offer a karmic pact or suffer. The spirit has little choice and surrenders additional karma to the vampire as penance for its past crimes, whatever they may be. Artemisia later discovers that this guardian has helped several megacorporations put down unionizing workers in massacres and killed innocents when summoned by various magicians. It has grown disillusioned by metahumanity and wishes for them all to suffer and die for their disgusting lack of morality. While not toxic, it wouldn't be the hardest thing in the world for a spirit like this to become corrupted and twisted. Thankfully, the loss of karma may have weakened its future growth into any larger of a threat.

Rewards

Game Quotes

Amusing quote from game.

Player After Action Reports (AARs)

Artemisia - I am thoroughly disgusted. At our vociferous employer and her apparent return to humanity. At Swerve and her antics. At that nest of vipers below the waves. At myself. Now, a city wants me dead and I bear the knowledge of Leviathan's unpronounceable name, along with a few scant leads on Mariel and Josephine. I suppose it was a good deed, in some regard. A 'dog' has been reunited with its owner. How very touching.