SDMB Shadowrun campaign Chapter 3 - Prey To The Dark: Players only!

The Game Room
241

Nightshade sits with Butcher, marinating in the stench of him. Long as he’s not breathing in her direction, it’s barely tolerable. Minutes pass into hours as Butcher cracks the security protecting the drive. Despite herself, Nightshade nods off. If Siggy trusts him, who am I to question it?

When she opens her eyes a moment later, the troll is staring at her with a wicked grin. The sight is unsettling in the extreme. He holds the pose much too long, creating an increasingly awkward moment of silence.

“What?” Nightshade finally says.

“I found something interesting,” the troll answers. “Look.”

He gestures to the screen, where a security camera recording is paused. Nightshade walks to the computer and pushes the play button.

On the screen, Seneth is standing alone in his cell. He does not appear to be distressed. He is having a one-sided conversation with himself.

“I found the memories,” Seneth says. “Finally, I am complete. I knew I was more than this. The Dark called to me, but I resisted. I rejected Him utterly. Thank you for your gift, Owl. I will serve you with fidelity.”

There is a moment of silence while the mage appears to listen to someone who is clearly not present with him. Suddenly, he looks directly at the camera. Nightshade is struck by the eerie thought that she is being watched through time and space, as Seneth’s eyes peer directly into hers.

“Yes, I understand,” Seneth says. “Your will be done.” He lifts a hand toward the camera, which is mounted far too high for him to reach. Nonetheless, the picture begins to fade to black. As the mage becomes obscured by the darkness, his final words become distorted by static.

“I will prove to be worthy of y…”

The video ends a moment later.

Nightshade turns to Butcher, who is still staring at her like a piece of meat. Still grinning like a psychopath, Butcher says, “Interesting, yes? The label for that clip is ‘Final Observation’ and is dated a few days prior to meeting Nail and Goethe for the Synthcorp job. What do you think?”

Butcher is still working on retrieving information from the cloned drive. Rescigno will be calling a meeting with the whole crew in a few hours. In the meantime, all of the “stun” damage suffered by any characters during the Psycare infiltration has been healed through resting. All Runners will also naturally heal a single point of “physical” damage, and can also be further healed through magic if Sinthia can be persuaded to help.

I apologize for the posting delays. Some significant developments at work have left me very busy lately, and the end is certainly not in sight yet. Next post will be a major update, and should be on or around 7pm PST tomorrow, 9/15/2012 (or 15/9/2012 for you communists).

242

As soon as she feels up to it, Sinthia casts Heal on herself to fully restore herself to good health. If she has enough strength and feels like she can pull it off, she will heal others as well.

243

As Nightshade starts the video, she reflexively starts her implanted video and audio recording functions. I guess it’s a good thing nobody’s found a way to record smells, she thinks to herself before shaking off the last cobwebs of sleep.

She watches the video in silence, then turns to respond to Butcher when it finishes. “Good call. See what else you can find–I’ll see what the boss thinks of this.”

A few days ago, I’d have thought this was just evidence that Seneth was even crazier than he seemed. Now I’m wondering how much he knew, and how much we’ll regret that the knowledge died with him.

Nightshade will find Rescigno and share the video with him, then return to keeping tabs on Butcher’s progress. If she runs across Sinthia, she’ll check on her status & see if she has any spare energy to help heal Nightshade’s own wounds.

244

Nail will ask Goethe if he know any talisman experts. After Sinthia rests up, Nail will ask her the same question.

Faint magic, eh? Sure hope it’s not a tracking spell, or else things are about to get real ugly, real soon…, Nail thinks at some point in the night.

245

Rescigno has gathered the crew in Goethe’s living room, and from the looks of it is preparing to brief the crew.

“We’re settling this once and for all,” Rescigno begins. “Some evil avatar of magic calling itself ‘The Dark’ has declared war on us, but we’ve seen the worst it can throw at us and came out the other side just fine. We’ve seen a lot of smoke and mirrors, and almost no actual substance. Nothing to fear.”

He looks to Goethe and Nail, who he knows will be most interested in what he will say next. “I had a crew go through the surveillance video at the Synthcorp raid. Your pal Seneth, who was not a vampire at the time of his death, was recorded walking out of the building after we tagged him. This puzzled the best of the considerably powerful minds at Universal Omnitech. The best we can figure is that whatever The Dark is, it has the power to infect a person with vampirism remotely. It’s unprecedented, but the mages in our employ think it’s not impossible, and after what I’ve seen of this demon, monster - whatever you want to call it - I’m inclined to agree.”

He lets the news settle in before continuing. "It seems The Dark can only infect willing subjects, otherwise we would be having a very different kind of conversation with 4509. Also, we know that not all of The Dark worshipers are vamps or ghouls, notably Erwin, and the thugs at the Psycare loading station and in the stairwell.

Rest assured that the greatest minds in the area are all hard at work here, and a plan is developing to keep pushing this fight into their turf. Espionage crews are tracking the Psycare link, hacking financial records, public traffic cameras, the works. We’ll find where this false god lives, and stab it through the heart."

Rescigno continues, “From what we can tell, the Dark cult began as a Synthcorp client, researching radical ways to combine cyberware with magic talent. From everything we could dig up after the raid, it appears that Synthcorp failed miserably in this task, but not before the cult had infiltrated the entire management. It’s a subtle type of influence, not overt magic. You won’t see it like a beacon in the astral. It’s something deeper, older, more insidious and psychological. We can see how The Dark changes people, over long stretches of exposure. We must steel ourselves against it, and look to 4509 as an example. It will tempt us, and offer us what it somehow knows is our heart’s desire. But as 4509 has proven, it is not infallible.”

Rescigno gestures toward Butcher, and says, “Butch has made progress cracking the drive Nightshade brought back from Psycare. I’ll let him fill you in.” He gestures to the troll, who takes over the briefing.

“Seneth was quite a powerful mage, who, to the surprise of absolutely nobody who knew him, suffered from a form of cognitive disorder. His records at Psycare indicate this madness existed long before his incarceration there. He arrived at the facility powerless, showing no particular aptitude for magic. His power came suddenly, and without warning or training; a sure sign that it was a gift from a particularly powerful spirit.”

Butcher has kept a neutral tone for his addition to the briefing, but can not keep the curiosity out of his voice as he turns his attention to Sinthia. “You and he worship the same deity, do you not? Seneth’s madness warped the image in his mind, though. Where you see a dark spirit of deceit, ruthlessness, opportunism, and underestimated power, Seneth saw wisdom, experience, sternness, and patience. The question is thus; was he mistaken, or are you?”

Butcher is giving Sinthia a chance to explain herself once and for all. He is not alone in wondering just where she stands, the nature of the spirit that guides her, and what she knows about Seneth.

Feel free to comment to each other and hold discussions. During this relatively short “in between” time, the precise order of conversations is not critical. Don’t take Rescigno’s briefing as a curtain call. The group will not start the next phase of their war against The Dark until everyone is satisfied and ready.

246

In response to Nail’s question about Talisman experts:

“Sorry. I don’t know anyone who’s an expert along those lines. Aleks or McManus might know of someone who is, or possibly even have come across something similar themselves. I can send them both a description of the thing and see if it rings any bells. Best I can do, though.”

Assuming there are no objections from anyone else, Goethe will see if McManus or Aleks can shed any light on it or point the crew in the direction of someone who can.

During the meeting with Rescigno when he mentions “nothing to fear”, Goethe will respond:

“The only people who have nothing to fear are those who are already dead…or soon will be. Never underestimate anyone, and never assume you’ve seen the worst of anything. If there’s one thing I’ve learned in my over eight years of doing this, it’s that things can always get worse. Remember, this Dark was able to get one person to mind control an entire floor of an office. Granted, we’re talking about people who were already zombies in their own way, no offense to your corp or anything, but still, it’s impressive that the Seneth vamp pulled that off. We can’t assume anything here, other than they’re gunning for us and won’t likely stop unless we finish them for good.”

247

4509 looks on in silence from the corner of the room.

248

When Rescigno pauses to let the news settle in, Nail says. "So they’re evil and out to kill us. That isn’t news. After Reggie finishes, Nail says, “So you’re saying Seneth was both dead and willing.” He blows his cig smoke lazily to the ceiling. “I’m no doctor, but it doesn’t add up.”

249

Butcher reacts very subtly to Nail’s observation. His expression is not skepticism, but rather curiosity as he shifts his gaze to Sinthia.

Apparently he is not quite certain that “dead” means the same thing to The Dark, or even Sinthia’s deity, as it does to normal folks.

250

Sinthia is quiet for an uncomfortably long period of time, though it is quite obvious that that she is going to speak and the room remains silent awaiting her reply. Her face is…oddly expressive compared to her normal demeanor. Outside the occasional outburst during battle(Die in Fire was quite memorable), Sinthia was quite calm…eeerily so at times.

But now she looked quite unusual. Sad? Confused? Angry? Difficult to tell. She stood and approached the group.

“I don’t see any power of ‘deceit, ruthlessness, opportunism, and underestimated power’, as you say. I don’t even know why you think that. I also have no idea why you think you know Seneth’s thoughts about anything. You are an ignorant being and you have unwisely revealed your ignorance to all of us. Nice choice.”

She lowered her voice to near-whisper.

“If you must know, Raven is the name of the deity that both Seneth and I know…well, I suppose I shouldn’t say ‘know’. Raven is not the kind of deity one can know. In fact, I have not heard from Raven in quite a long time. I usually expect to hear something from Raven if there has been a problem, and you might think that hearing nothing is an indication that everything is going smoothly, but I do feel that something has gone rather wrong. I do not know what(or even how I cant tell). I can assure you that Raven’s plans align with yours, at least for the time being, and that my instructions(and Seneth’s) are to aid you in your current work. This ‘Dark cult’ has nothing to do with Raven and if it is against us, it is against Raven.”

She then grows quite sad. This emotion is clearer, though she does not tear up.

“Seneth…is…dead. Well, deadish. Until our recent experiences in his cell, I was in communication with Seneth. Yes, I am including after you all witnessed his neck breaking. If you think that his neck breaking is enough to end a being like Seneth, you are quite wrong. For the record, I do believe that he is immortal, though perhaps not in the way he expected. I still would not be surprised for him to return to us yet, though I know not how. For the longest time, he was communicating with me in my mind. I heard his voice quite clearly.”

She looks down.

“In fact, I hear him now. His mind is lost for the moment and he is not making any sense. Something about Psy-care. Nothing that can help us, I think. He is a great man and as I have said, that body that looks like him is not him. My best understanding, or I should say my best analysis, is that after Seneth’s body died, this ‘Dark’ turned his corpse into its servant is not controls it. I wish I had more to tell you about the ‘Dark’, but all I can say is that its plans run against Raven’s and I am therefore against it.”

She looks back up.

“Did you need to know anything else? I suppose now would be the time. I hate discussing things like this, but even I can tell it is important to at this point.”

251

“What a load of bullshit.” 4509 leaves to go stand on the porch.

252

Edit:

is that after Seneth’s body died, this ‘Dark’ turned his corpse into its servant and now controls it.

253

Seeing Nail smoking inside the house:

“Hey Nail! If you’re going to be smoking that shit, could you at least take it outside. I’d like to get my security deposit back on this place when we’re done with it, and I don’t think the landlords are going to appreciate it smelling like an ashtray. It’s bad enough I’m going to have to spend days cleaning up after Butcher’s slobbery. I’m already paying an inflated rate due to my month-to-month lease as it is.”

254

“Fine, fine,” Nail says, throwing his hands up in faux exasperation. “I’ve heard enough anyway,” he says while getting up slowly. He starts walking to the patio. On the threshold, he turns around and addresses Sinthia. “I hope you’re right,” he says, his serious voice tinged with a subtle sadness. He then leaves, leaving the room silwnt.

255

Hearing Goethe chastising Nail, Nightshade surreptitiously slips her pack of cigarettes back into her pocket. “So, that’s an interesting story, but it doesn’t get us closer to finding these so-called servants of the dark.” Away from the dark basement, Nightshade is recovering some of her customary confidence. “I’m frankly getting tired of being ambushed, looking forward to doing some ambushing. Did you learn anything from ‘Erwin’ or the tracking device while we were on our little trip?”

Forgetting already why she’d put them away, she retrieves a cigarette and starts to light at. Catching Goethe’s stare, she shrugs and extinguishes it after one puff.

256

4509’s audio suite tracks Nail as he joins the cyborg outside. 4509’s body turns towards Nail, his head following a second later. The red rings of his cybereyes appraise Nail’s face momentarily before he speaks. “You still have the narcoject?”

257

Nail knows better than to attempt to bluff a vat job.

“Yeah, I got it,” he replies to 4509. “Why, been having trouble sleeping?”

258

“Good. Hold onto it. Never know when you’ll need it.”

259

Nail had already started reaching into his pocket to retrieve the narcoject, but upon hearing 4509’s reply stops and puts it at his side.

“Thanks,” he says. Whether he says more depends on if 4509 sticks around or immediately heads inside again.

260

“I am,” she replies quietly.