The team returned the following day, rested and well-prepared for the next step in their investigation of the scrolls and the Celestial Atal.
Cruiser had used some of his free time overnight in order to repair his heavily damaged Rotodrone, while also enhancing its armor capabilities to make it more formidable in a firefight. The Shadowrunners retraced their steps through the alleyways of Puyallup, winding their way through trash-strewn heaps and scummy passages. Rain pitter-pattered on the crumbling concrete as they returned to the garbage-lined cave entrance and passed through the mouth. They walked through a more subdued marketplace this time, as it was late morning and most of the clientele wouldn't be present until much later that day. At the end of the bomb shelter hallway, they met Gigi, guarding the blast door with her usual serious face and crossed arms. Cruiser was physically present, sans bug drone and she noticed the change in roster. "Who are you?" Gigi asked gruffly. "I drive," Cruiser responded in kind. The answer seemed to satisfy Gigi because she elbowed the door open, stepped out of the way, and it responded with a rusty creak. The five runners were greeted with the same scene they had encountered the day before. A space lined with thick concrete and steel girders, the small collections of waxy candles dotting the periphery illuminated stack of old texts and a robed figure leaning over an old oak table. After a lengthy uncomfortable silence, Rutha's Irish brogue broke the stillness. "I wondered if you'd return." She postulated nonchalantly. Wyrine explained that they had brought the physical scrolls, as requested, and handed the bag to her. She proceeded to carefully unfurl each of the six texts, smoothing them out on the cold floor. Rutha examined them deliberately and pondered for a moment. "I need to make a call." The five looked at each other in confusion; wasn't Rutha opposed to technology? She turned around and started working with a mortar and pestle, sprinkling a variety of ingredients in that the group was already familiar with. They looked strikingly similar to a number of materials pilfered from the two mages involved in the Taff hostage incident: colored powders, baby's teeth, and dried plants. Rutha worked the elements into a paste and used two fingers to stuff a chunk into her mouth, like chewing tobacco. She let it sit there a moment and then spit the mass onto the concrete floor. Turning around to face the crew, a seizure immediately overtook her and as she convulsed, her eyes rolled into the back of her head. She looked straight forward with only the whites of her eyes. Rutha spoke in what sounded like four different voices. "Who seeks the Atal?" Wyrine was unsure of how to respond. "We do?" "HAVE YOU BEEN CHOSEN?" "No? Yes." "WHAT YOU SEEK IS BURIED IN A GREAT DESERT FOUND IN A CASTLE LOST LONG AGO." With that last response, Rutha began convulsing again and seized up, then lost consciousness, falling face first into the hard basement. A sharp crack echoed through the chamber as her nose split open and blood spilled across the floor. Everyone was at a loss for how to respond. Silence hung over the Shadowrunners as they held their breath to see if Rutha would regain consciousness or if she needed medical attention. Gigi seemed nonplussed and simply stood there, watching Rutha. After thirty seconds passed, Rutha shook herself out of the stupor, blood streaming down her face. She examined each of the Shadowrunners, mouth caked in blood. "Who did you talk to?" Richard recalled what he had seen in the Astral Plane while watching Rutha's episode. A large, green translucent figure with exaggerated features was boosting itself on her shoulders. It was the kind of figure one would imagine in a pirate fairy tale of a Vodou priestess attaining deity status. "Ah, you've just spoken to Marinette. I was hoping for Papa Legba, but you take what blessings you can get. What did she say?" Wyrine recounted the short conversation to Rutha. It was a cryptic message, to say the least. "Interesting. I don't know what that means," she answered nonchalantly. Rutha didn't have much to say about the interaction. They discussed their options and came to a consensus about paying the University of Denver a visit, seeing as a previous Matrix search had confirmed it had one of the largest repositories of information on the scrolls now in the team's possession. The Shadowrunners were concerned about the opposition that they would face in Denver. It was an extremely divided city, split into quarters to represent the interests of the CAS, UCAS, Pueblo Council, and Sioux Nation. Security was expected to be high, given all the politicking going on there. Furthermore, the group was venturing into a rather unfamiliar city awash with magics. Wyrine asked Rutha if she would be traveling with them. She chuckled and shook her head. "You are the chosen ones and my place is here. I cannot leave my territory." Wyrine wondered if there were some contacts in Denver or assistance she could lend. Rutha thought for a moment and began rummaging through a collection of materials housed in a dilapidated bookshelf on the back wall. After several minutes passed, she located the object of her search. She tossed it at Richard. Everyone held their breath, expecting something akin to the spiritual possession that was still fresh in everyone's minds. Richard caught it with ease and turned it over - it was a stone. It was polished, but otherwise ordinary looking. Richard made a strange face as he concentrated, attempting to decipher the way one would use the stone. Alas, he was unsuccessful. "When the time comes, you will know what to do." That explanation seemed sufficient for Rutha, despite it assuaging none of the fears the Shadowrunners held. The five headed out, discussing their next move. There were a number of complications that needed to be considered for the trip to Denver. Money was an issue, as was identification for people like Kablisk. They called upon their coyote 'friend,' Israel. Richard tried his best to be convincing and influence the troll with his charismatic persuasion, but it was all for naught. Richard chose his words poorly and actually succeeded in increasing the price. Israel hadn't forgotten about the previous promise the team had made, ensuring additional business would be sent his way. It had yet to materialize and his gruff voice was slowly growing angry. Richard had no choice but to follow through on the previous promise before any progress could be made on guaranteeing their transport to Denver. Kablisk opted to call his exotic dancer contact, Candy. Wyrine set up a meet with his Matrix contact, Neo. Candy was chewing gum noisily when she answered with her Southern CAS twang. "What can I do for you, sweetie?" Kablisk awkwardly explained the predicament, but did his best to leave out the most incriminating parts. He appeared to have Candy's attention and she promised she would ask around to see if there were any sex workers in need of a quick getaway. Wyrine set up a meet with Neo on Jackpoint, one of the most popular Matrix locations for all manner of Deckers to engage in criminal activities or just talk shop. Arriving at the agreed upon time and place, Wyrine was faced with what looked like the inside of a prison complex with two open floors full of barred cells. In addition, the cells were rotating steadily in a circuit. Scanning the area, Wyrine located Neo's signature and headed towards that particular space, as it rotated around the building. He was about to be face to face with the entrance when an entity resembling an atom attacked. It connected with Wyrine and the feedback managed to cause some damage. His head throbbing, he swung back with a Data Spike and hit the atom full force. The IC was visibly wounded and made another charge at Wyrine. He dodged this time and landed another of his own attacks, finishing off the program. Wyrine stepped through the void and into one of the white-washed interrogation rooms that are always seen on Seattle crime drama trids. He took a seat and waited no more than a few seconds when Neo appeared, his avatar a picture perfect reproduction of the Hollywood character of late 1990s fame. Neo was mostly a data and contraband smuggler, but Wyrine did his best to present the opportunity with Israel as one that could benefit his business opportunities. It was a bit of a tough sell, as Neo made it clear he had all of his own connections already secured. But Wyrine talked up Israel's prowess as a Coyote and his extensive transportation network. It did the trick and convinced Neo to send some business Israel's way. Wyrine logged off and explained to the rest of the crew that he had confirmed his contact would utilize Israel for some of his smuggling enterprises. With the promise to Israel fulfilled, Richard made another negotiation attempt to secure passage to Denver. Concurrently, Trigger was on his commlink with his fixer contact, Jennette Amos. He had confirmed a straightforward pick up and delivery run that would be built in to the passage to Denver. This would give Israel his transportation payment and also supply the Shadowrunners with some spending money, if needed. Richard was far more successful in this conversation and was able to bring the price down slightly below the original asking fee, while also including the pick up and delivery job. With the logistics of ingress taken care of, the group took the rest of the day off and headed to their local haunt in the evening, Punk Monkeys. Trigger was the first to arrive and was shocked to find himself in the midst of a full-on assault. The outfits the aggressors were wearing were obvious - Humanis Policlub members were terrorizing patrons, staff, and the club itself. They were smashing tables, swinging bats, and attacking people. Trigger immediately jumped into the fray and unleashed a series of Krav Maga moves that dispatched two thugs. Kablisk, Cruiser, and Richard rolled in shortly thereafter and also engaged with the hoodlums. They did their best to tangle with the goons, but only Kablisk was successful in landing a solid punch with his Shock Gloves, incapacitating another. One goon swung a bat and connected with Cruiser, knocking him back as he clutched his arm in pain. Wyrine finally arrived and saw the commotion outside; patrons looked visibly distressed and were comforting each other. He entered gun drawn and saw the skirmish. He fired off a round and was able to take down one of the last two assailants. Trigger finished with an Axe Kick flourish and knocked the last Humanis Policlub member out cold. Everyone began frantically searching for Maxine; she hadn't been seen and was nowhere to be found. They searched the building top to bottom, but turned up nothing. It was time to interrogate one of the criminals. The team dragged one of the disarmed ruffians up to their usual meeting space. Richard woke him up by healing him as little as he could manage. Trigger got in the Humanis Policlub member's face, brandishing his combat knife. "Who sent you? Who are you working for?" The man sneered at Trigger and divulged nothing. Trigger applied pressure in the form of his bladed weapon on the man's genitals. "Say goodbye to your balls." The man's eyes widened and he began to talk. He talked about his boss and their orders to rough the place up because Maxine refused to comply with their business proposal. In the midst of the interrogation, Cruiser was frantically calling Maxine via commlink again and again, to no avail. Finally, it connected. There was no sound on the other end of the call, but Wyrine seized the opportunity to trace Maxine's commlink icon to a sparsely populated industrial area in Renton. The Shadowrunners gathered up the Humanis Policlub members and left them, unconscious and covered in incendiary language, in front of an entrance to the Ork Underground, where they would likely be disposed of in a gruesome fashion. The team arrived at the mouth of a cul-de-sac and utilized Cruiser's drones to examine the layout. They found Maxine, bound, bruised, and bleeding on the second floor of a dim and dirty hovel of an industrial building. Maxine was surrounded by a handful of Humanis Policlub thugs and more were guarding the main entrance outside.
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The inquiries at the hospital had produced few results, but Dr. Jefferies had given Richard the suggestion to check with the retirement home as to where Rutha Batiste's remains were currently.
Richard hopped on Kablisk's scooter and they proceeded to zoom back to Rutha's last known residence before she passed away. Cruiser and Trigger were patiently waiting in the van while Wyrine worked his skill in the Matrix to examine the electronics in Rutha's former house. After examining the ancient desktop computer earlier and finding nothing substantial, Wyrine followed Trigger's suggestion and hacked the refrigerator - it showed a regular cycle of using up and replacing staples like eggs, milk, meat, and vegetables. This caught everyone's attention. Wasn't Rutha supposed to be deceased? Who was living in her house and using her appliances? Wyrine, Trigger, and Cruiser wanted to see just who would return to the house if they waited long enough, so they began their stakeout. As the three waited near Rutha's residence, Karl and Richard pursued their lead back at the retirement home. The scooter pulled up in front of the building and they were met with a few residents getting some fresh air outside from the comfort of their wheelchairs as attendants looked on. Richard gave himself a mental pep talk to rehearse his conversation with whoever he would first encounter inside in order to gain access to information on Rutha. He decided he would pose as a grandchild of the family, just looking to retrace some of his roots, as he didn't have a strong relationship with them. He walked through the double glass sliding doors and examined his surroundings - it was both a convalescent home and a retirement home. The decor reflected that with creme and white permeating all of the surfaces. Everything looked very sterile and the female ork receptionist was dressed in scrubs. As Richard scanned the generic looking lobby, he was confronted with an elderly man seated in his wheelchair, glaring intensely. The attention made Richard nervous and he wanted to divert the man's gaze as quickly as possible without attracting any notice. He muttered a quick Influence spell and briefly gestured in the direction of the elderly man. The man immediately became very involved in the wall next to him, no longer attempting to stare down Richard. With a sigh of relief, Richard returned his thoughts to engaging the receptionist. Again he shot off a quick Influence spell, this time giving her the conviction that Richard was indeed who he pretended to be. Richard began his story, explaining just as he had recited earlier. As Richard was talking, the receptionist interrupted. "It's interesting, I've never seen your side of the family around. All of Rutha's relatives that came to visit were black." Richard chuckled nervously. He was even more grateful for the Influence spell, as his Asian and Caucasian features would be significantly less convincing without the magic taking effect. He didn't want to linger too long as made two requests - to see Rutha's old room and to locate her burial site. The receptionist offered to get an address while he had a look at her former abode. Richard strolled down the hall until he came to Room 107. He entered and saw that it was a two person dormitory style room, with only one bed occupied by an elderly elf who was non-responsive. He used his Assensing powers to peer into the Astral realm for any signs of magic. It had been many years since Rutha's presence could be felt here, so as expected no trace remained. Returning to the reception desk, he was presented with an address for a mausoleum in Puyallup. Richard decided to press his luck further and inquire about the visitors who saw Rutha in her final days and probed for more addresses. It seemed the power of Influence had its limits, as the receptionist was beginning to question the validity of Richard's claims. The ork was becoming more and more suspicious until she finally asked for some identification before agreeing to proceed with anymore conversation on the subject of Rutha. At this Richard realized that he had overstayed his welcome and was not interested in going any farther with this subterfuge. He made an excuse and quickly excused himself from the premises. They now had an address for Rutha's final resting place and pulled into highway traffic to head towards Puyallup. While Karl and Richard were en route to the mausoleum, Trigger, Wyrine, and Cruiser continued their stakeout. Wyrine sat on a bench in the back of the Bulldog, slipping in and out of consciousness as he stared at the ceiling of the van. Cruiser was jacked into the vehicle, but he too was distracted and had difficulty maintaining focus on their task. It was Trigger who spotted the troll child playing on the sidewalk. Trigger's eyes continued to follow as they played with a rubber ball. The stout troll was playing some kind of shadow game and gradually approaching the house that the runners knew to be Rutha Batiste's. The child was in the yard at this point, dribbling the ball with feet that looked almost comically large. Now all three runners had their attention on the troll and waited. After another thirty seconds of playing with the ball, the child kicked it so that it went around the side of the house and into a narrower space where prying eyes most likely wouldn't interrupt. Running after the ball and disappearing from view, the team leaped into action. Cruiser immediately sent a drone towards the back of the house and caught a fleeting glimpse of the child before it ducked into a door on the back side of the house. Wyrine took the front door and Trigger ran to the back. Before barging into, Wyrine pressed his ear to the door and called out in a neutral voice, asking for Rutha. The sudden conversation appeared to startle the troll and a crash could be heard as something fell to the floor. A timid voice replied to Wyrine, asking how he knew Rutha. Wyrine mustered as much conviction as he could to mention Blossom Free as well as the lengthy efforts he and his team had gone through to track down Rutha. He was of the mind that this child was somehow possessed by Batiste, considering her notoriety as a Vodou Priestess. The adolescent troll was convinced by Wyrine's neutral tone of voice. It agreed to let him in after he also offered to help clean up the mess that was created after being startled by Wyrine's interruption. Wyrine was greeted at the door with a somewhat unkempt youth who had made some effort to wipe its face of dirt and grime, but only partially succeeded. Together, they spent ten minutes wiping the floor, throwing egg shells away, and otherwise arranging the kitchen to be more presentable. At this point Wyrine had the impression that he wasn't speaking with Rutha occuping another body, but rather a child that for some reason came to this house weekly to maintain the image that someone was living here. The troll agreed to take Wyrine to meet Rutha and together they walked to the nearest bus stop. The route was bound for Puyallup, a district that was filled with far more middle class and poverty stricken families, far removed from the idyllic neighborhood of Batiste's old haunt. Trigger returned to the van and Cruiser began following in the wake of the bus as it picked up the troll child and Wyrine, trailing the circuitous path all the way to Puyallup. As the public transit bus and the Bulldog meandered through Seattle, Richard and Kablisk reached the mausoleum where Rutha Batiste's cremated remains were expected to be housed. They entered the old brick building and were met with rows and rows of plaques buried in the concrete walls - the classism was very apparent as the more affluent could afford ornate reliefs made of precious metals where those without the means had the most basic inscriptions carved into the walls themselves. It took a good ten minutes of combing through the plaques, some requiring a deal of effort to decipher their calligraphy script, to finally locate Rutha's final resting place. They were near the end of a hall with a family praying at a relative's internment where the hall met a junction. Kablisk and Richard examined the plaque. It wasn't the shabbiest, but it certainly wasn't a high-class metal tablet, either. The dates matched those found in the death certificate. Below, there was a curious inscription. "I burn, I pine, I perish." The two were unclear as to the meaning, but Richard moved ahead with what he had originally planned to do when coming to the mausoleum. He slumped to the floor with his back against the wall and entered a trance. Astrally projecting his body and leaving his physical form, he examined his environment. There were no signs of any recent magic in this dead place, unsurprisingly. As a final effort, Richard merged with the wall and poked his head into the space where he expected to find an urn or some other reliquary of ashes. After this length investigation, he was unperturbed to discover that the space was entirely empty. Richard returned to his body, realizing that he was locked in an awkward embrace with Kablisk because the family down the hall had started to take notice of Richard's compromising position on the floor. The ruse complete and convincing, they separated and Richard relayed his discoveries, passing them along to the rest of the group. As the bus crossed the threshold from Auburn to Puyallup, the scenery changed dramatically. Gone was the blue collar industry and factories; it was replaced with garbage and derelict buildings. The bus had reached its terminus and the troll disembarked, oblivious to its dismal surroundings. It may have been a burnt out husk of a district, but it was still home to the youth. The troll led Wyrine down the street to an alleyway filled with garbage and set between two boarded up tenements. They made it halfway down the passage before the adolescent halted and pointed at the distinctly out-of-place red mailbox surrounded by a half circle barrier of cleanliness. All of the garbage had been pushed to either and Wyrine had an ominous feeling about what lay before him. The strange mailbox required an explanation and the child did its best to explain, telling Wyrine that it had to be at the post at exactly 8PM every two weeks on Tuesday, no mistakes. In this way, it ensured a steady income for the food runs it made to Rutha's old residence for keeping up the facade. Wyrine wanted to make sure he thanked the troll properly for the gracious help that required no strong-arming or intimidation. He found the nearest Stuffer Shack and told the child to get whatever it wanted. Wyrine immediately regretted saying that as the troll started tallying up as many combo meals as its burly arms could carry. In the end, it wasn't a huge charge and it left the troll dashing off in glee as it would be able to feed its entire family for several meals. This entire episode was closely followed by Cruiser, Trigger, Richard, and Kablisk. Cruiser had perched his Nissan Rotodrone on the corner of a rooftop overlooking the mailbox so it could be continually monitored from now on. Trigger had made his way through the abandoned building on the left side of the alleyway, to discover that it wasn't entirely unoccupied. A small group of squatters on the second floor had made it their dwelling. As long as they didn't interrupt Trigger's work, they would go unharmed. Some time passed as Kablisk and Richard made their way down the freeway to the location in Puyallup to meet up with the team. Trigger was continuing his stakeout from the dilapidated apartment and Cruiser was jacked into his drone to maintain eyes in the sky. Richard entered the Bulldog step-van and slumped into a bench in the back. His astral persona glided towards the mailbox and saw it in the astral plane with a distinctive pulsing sphere surrounding it. His Assensing gathered that it was encompassed by some powerful magic, but exactly what effect it would have on someone who stepped through the boundary was unclear to him. Kablisk was on his way to join the others, but as he advanced down the sidewalk towards the alleyway, his long black trench coat had garnered the attention of a couple of street toughs. The two orks, clad in mechanic's jumpsuits, began posturing and approaching him. Kablisk made an attempt to throw out some Sprawl knowledge in the hopes that it would intimidate them enough and make them believe he was a ganger not to be trifled with. He was only partially successful in the endeavor. It was enough to stop the two orks in their tracks, but not enough to get them to back down. Having caught wind of the altercation, Trigger had made his way to the other end of the abandoned building and knocked out the boards of a window where he would poke his head out to yell out in Or'zet. It was enough to throw the two toughs off of their guard and their bravado quickly deflated. They no longer outnumbered Kablisk and were nervous about starting anything with another ork, so they buried their hands in their pockets and glared at Trigger as they skirted the sidewalk and passed him. One final act of defiance was a quick middle finger thrown in his direction and then they took off down the street. Prodding and poking the barrier with his magical senses, Richard was unsuccessful until he was stopped short by glancing a figure approaching from the rooftops. Cruiser confirmed with his drone and came upon a very curious sight: a small humanoid gliding from building to building. It was as if the person were an astronaut walking on the Moon. Pushing off with one foot, it slowly ascended and descended to push off again. At a point two buildings away from where the Shadowrunners were positioned in front of the mailbox, it stopped in its tracks. Richard's astral body was floating at a point halfway between the van and the mailbox. He could see something none of the other runners were able to discern. The true form of the figure was a dark skinned female dwarf. She was examining Richard's form with curiosity; his Assensing told him that she was not aggressive or bore any ill-will. Wyrine had run to within several meters of the mailbox, calling out to the dwarf and asking her purpose. The dwarf commanded Wyrine to stay put and to let her finish her business, then they would talk. He agreed and the woman advanced. When she reached the lip of the rooftop overlooking the pristine mailbox, she stepped over the ledge and did a ninety degree pivot. Now she was walking down the building, as if gravity were no concern to her. She reached the mailbox and stepped so that now she was on top of it. She reached in and then withdrew her had. The dwarf asked what business Wyrine had. Wyrine explained the lengthy search for Rutha Batiste, the scrolls written in Creole, the passages they had uncovered, and the Celestial Atal. She considered all of his information and promised to communicate it to Rutha. She asked that all five members of the team be present exactly where Wyrine was currently standing in the alley. She would have an answer at this exact time tomorrow evening. With that, she darted off in the direction from which she had just come. The group headed back to their respective residences, there was no point in hanging around the Barrens for another twenty four hours. On their way home, Richard used his commlink to contact Blossom Free and gather more information on this mysterious individual. Blossom told him that he had just met Gigi. She was an Adept, that explained her supernatural physical powers. She was an assistant to Rutha, someone who left Batiste's territory to do errands for her. Blossom was surprised to hear that no altercations had taken place when they first met. Gigi was not well-known for having an even temper. The Shadowrunners recuperated at home and returned to Puyallup refreshed. The team stood three abreast in front and one in the back row, with Cruiser's fly drone representing him. The promised hour came and Gigi was nowhere to be seen. Richard checked the astral realm and found her, motioning for him to follow. She sped off and he spent some time carefully tracking her astral signature until he came to the end of a trail where it met a cave fashioned out of garbage. Richard diligently retraced his astral steps and returned to the crew. With some memorization of certainly alleyway landmarks, he was able to bring the other three runners to the same cave he had seen through his astral persona. The cave reeked of rotten refuse and dripped from the top of the entrance. No one was interested in getting drenched in garbage juices, so the runners scrounged for usable pieces of cardboard that would protect them as they passed through the mouth. Together they reached a metal walkway that overlooked an underground black market. The space appeared to be a former bomb shelter and had been commandeered to suit these less-than-legal ventures. Stalls were selling all manner of goods: BTL chips, drugs, weapons. The team passed through, the patrons indifferent to their presence. The smell of oily grilled meats assaulted their noses and they followed the corridor to the end of the hall, where they were greeted by a stern-looking Gigi. Gigi pushed open the thick blast door and the team adjusted to a darkness dotted by clusters of candles spread around the room. A glum looking curly haired brown woman dressed in patched robes spoke in a thick Irish accent. "I wondered when you'd finally come." Wyrine explained what the group had discovered ever since their investigation stemmed from the scrolls they had acquired way back when Taff Chakaodza was held captive by a pair of mages. He told Rutha that she was the best person to solve this mystery. Rutha pondered for a moment and turned to her table to consult her bones. She rolled them carefully on the stained and splintered wood, peering at the results. "I'll need you to return with the physical scrolls, I don't do digital. I'll be waiting." Richard had one final question before they departed. What was with the inscription on her mausoleum plaque? "You'll find out soon enough," she said, leaving them thoroughly perplexed. |
AuthorI'm Dobie, GM of this Shadowrun group. I've been playing Shadowrun since Second Edition, though I had a serious hiatus and have just recently picked up Fifth Edition to get back into the Shadowrun universe. Archives
September 2017
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