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allthetribbles · 4 years ago

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Revelations! - April 07, 2085

Things are looking up for the team. We've gained major favor from the NEG general and possibly even a little respect from Director LeAnne. We aren't entirely slouches at work! With the tip of the summoning location handed off to the big guns to watch (and wait for), our hands are free to dabble in other troubles.

We can follow up with two items - tracking Weaver's team or Bobby and the artifact. There is a lot of debate, but it is finally agreed that we'll visit Ricky and Luanne outside the arcology to follow up on Weaver's team. Te'ani offers Liv one of his pills since she's still looking a little rough. She accepts it.... but doesn't take it. She'll wait to talk to Ricky for his advice on healing.

The trip out there is uneventful, but there is one very interesting tidbit in the news - Sage's sister will be taking over the company. She seems to have.... shown up out of nowhere. She claims she hid from Sage when he gunned down his family to take over the company. He's not exactly around to dispute her claim...

Oh, and she's agreed to a licensing contract with Crysalis. Mental reaction - YIKES!

We arrive at Ricky's. Te'ani makes a beeline for Luanne's room without even a hello to Ricky. He comes back out less than five minutes later. Ricky, in the meantime, raises an eyebrow, asking if we had a bad night.

Alan, "You could say that." Ricky, "I might be able to help. It really depends on you guys." Liv, "What do you need from us?" Ricky, "Not what you give to me, but what you're willing to take."

Alan asks him to explain and Ricky offers us the option of nightgaunt blood and tells us that it will give us a temporary regenerative power. The downside is that we can't go through any genetics testing during the time it's active - approximately 24 hours later.

Te'ani refuses - "Hey, I'm good. This is all on you three." Liv, "That's right, Mister Regen. It's our decision."

She said this in front of Ricky, who started asking Te'ani a lot of questions. Liv knew what she was doing. She smiles as Te'ani glares daggers at her.

Liv accepts the transfusion, as does Alan and Kory. They stick around for an hour to make sure there are no additional side effects. While they were waiting, Liv slips away to talk to Luanne.

Luanne's still very damaged with little progress made for healing her. Liv is hesitant to speak with her, but she has questions. She isn't sure what Jack has talked to Luanne about so it is a little awkward. Liv asks what it would take for Luanne to re-establish a connection to the Society - or whatever she wants to call it. Luanne is hesitant to tell Liv about the organization; we're all in a precarious situation as is and the less that is known is better.

Liv agrees with that but again, she wants Luanne to establish contact with the Society for herself - Luanne requests an untraceable comm. It is made clear the Society, while having similar goals of the OIS... is definitely AT ODDS with them. Luanne recommends seeding information within the OIS to begin to test the waters and facilitate talks. Liv asks if recovering Freddy would help. "That would go a long way to smoothing some things over." She also recommends talking to Te'ani.

They couldn't return to the cabin to follow up with Bobby because they were avoiding genetic scanning, but the team didn't want to sit on their hands for 24 hours to be able to re-enter the city either. Where we dropped off Bobby is a couple more hours out... Liv insists that we pick up at the cabin instead, but that's.. dropped to focus more on locating Weaver's skull and portal.

Well, there are always ways to re-enter the city outside of the official means... as OIS we know that. That is our entire job - tracking these liabilities and plug them. For instance, there are the military tunnels, Tory, the Brothers, our contact within Sage Industries (David)... or call the office to get a reprieve from genetic testing.

We nix the idea of contacting Home Office very quickly. We may be given a lot of leeway, but we weren't willing to test the new favour of Director LeAnne. While we're debating on how to proceed, Kory's pip goes off. It's Tory... and she asks to talk to Liv.

Kory, "Why do you want to talk to Liv?" Tory, "Just... let me talk to Liv, please?"

"We wish to speak to our Little Sister."

The Brothers have come calling. Kory looks angry but hands over the pip. She doesn't ask what they're doing with Tory. She isn't curious enough to open that line of questioning.

Liv, "My Brothers... " "Little Sister, Brother has had a vision of you. Been doing something naughty with your dream friends, haven't you? Tut... tut... However, if you're willing to pay the price, we can assist you with your problem by giving you the key." Liv, "If I have to ask the price, I can't afford it." "Indeed."

Liv is hesitant and she looks to the others... but the decision is hers.

Liv, "Let's do this." "Very well, Little Sister. Go to 37640 Devin Terrace. You'll know where to find us." Liv, "See you there?" "Perhaps..."

Te'ani may have driven them out of the arcology, but Liv takes the keys to drive now that's she's back to full form. Devin Terrace is located outside the arcology, an abandoned city block that looks like any other. They look around but don't notice anything out of place... except for Te'ani. He leads the way to a manhole cover inside a building. He's able to pry it open to reveal another with an electronic lock.

Liv gets ready to crack the lock before Te'ani points out the DNA scanner. Everyone looks hesitant to put their finger in the hole. Cowards. Liv volunteers and the lock beeps and swings open to reveal a ladder leading down to a platform. Liv stops him when he attempts to join them.

Liv, "Te'ani, you're the only one of us that will come back human to enter the arcology. Take the car back and meet us inside." Te'ani, "What? Are we really splitting the party?" Liv, "I'm not happy about it either." Alan, "It isn't the most advisable plan." Liv, "We don't have a choice." Te'ani, "FINE... where are we meeting up?" Liv, "Chinese sound good?"

Three descend into the darkness. Te'ani goes back to the car, really not liking the idea of heading back alone. He comes back clean on the scanner and he enters the arcology with no questions asks.

- - - - -

The other three descend to a platform that has an elevator, leading even further down. Getting on, we have to press a button to continue our descent. We have to alternate pressing the button until we get down to the sixth level. Once it finally opens, the three are deep underground. We're well below the power station levels, close to where the military tunnels would be. It is dark, creepy... and those are definitely not rats we hear skittering about.

Alan can see that they're magically active creatures and when we step forward, several sit up and start watching our group... intently, even hungrily. Alan gets out his orbs and those scare off a few of the littler creatures, but there are still two to three hanging around. We get a closer look as we pass - they're not normal creatures, they definitely look like someone's magical experiment gone wrong.

The team walks about thirty to forty minutes in a general westward direction. It isn't a direct path, going up and down, weaving through the ground. Quite suddenly, the area opens up into an open market bazaar. We didn't expect... this. We didn't expect to see an entire city under Seattle.

Before we enter, we're stopped by two big green guys, demanding to know our business in the market. Liv is not good with negotiations, but luckily, Alan steps up and intimidates the guards to allow us entry. They warn us - "You no cause trouble. Enter. Trade."

Well, Liv didn't exactly expect to come to the market... this is a bit awkward...

With Alan's arcane sight going, he's aware of... a lot going on. There's a lot of people here - many of them outsider tainted. Most alarming is a man with three mystic unborn following him around. You could definitely say that we're staring back as much as we're being stared at. Behind Alan, a long spidery limb appears over his shoulder.

"You know, you really shouldn't be staring at people down here. People may take offense and put you down a deep, dark Pit."

"Wary" would definitely be a good word to describe this meeting.

The old man continues to talk and insults us by calling us clean and official looking. Well, maybe that isn't an insult - it's hard to tell. In the wrong place, that could be an insult? He offers to take us somewhere to get some new clothes to blend in a little better.

"The miss here has some major mojo. She can set you up, right?"

Wait, did he motion to Liv? The situation just went from leery to suspicious. How did he know that Liv had money? That was only a very, very recent affair...

He directs us to a little tent where a woman with a reddish sheen to her skin is sitting. She raises an eye at the old man, speaking to him directly. "What do you want here?"

He explains that our group needs new clothes - and that Liv is paying for it. "She's good for it, I assure you."

Kory finally, FINALLY hooks everyone up with a mental link.. and is immediately called out by the old man. He also knows that we're OIS and we "came down the pipeline." She seems alarmed to say the least. He is quick to point out that we'd only be using the back entrance into Seattle if we were no longer human...

"What kind of trouble have you brought to me?" Lilith asks reluctantly, but money is a great motivator. She gets the rundown on us - two parapsychics and one sorcerer. She avoids touching us, but she fits us with different clothing.

The price isn't discussed and Liv is reassured that it will be an unmarked transaction listed on her pip. Now that we look a little more... acceptable... The man introduces himself as "Jimmy."

He explains that we seem to be looking for a friend that we think is dead, but could possibly not be dead. The conversation gets confusing very quickly. Jimmy is much better at directing a conversation than Liv. Alan's the only one that picks up they're talking about two different people.

Jimmy asks, "Wait - how many people do you know that are dead that could be alive?"

"Two, three, maybe?"

Alan asks, "Is there any place we can be more direct with our conversation? And we can be of more help to each other?"

"Sure, I know a place. You're buying."

Liv, "Of course I am."

As he leads the way through the market, people give him a wide berth. Even those that wanted to victimize him are pulled away by others, a hushed warning given to them. He is quick for an old man and he leads the way through the tunnels. At this point, we're definitely inside the arcology... He climbs out of the pipes and through another manhole, through a building and into a vent duct. When we come out... we recognize this place.

The Golden Dragon is across the street, with Te'ani standing out front.

"Is that your friend?" Jimmy asks Kory. Liv confirms.

Jimmy walks across the street, "Friend, buddy, compadre! Let's eat. Your friend is buying."

"Who is this guy?" Te'ani is confused. Jimmy and Te'ani have a stare down....

The group enters the restaurant. Our table is set, our drinks are prepared and menus are in place. All pretenses are dropped, as is Kory's mental link.

Jimmy says to Te'ani, "I know what you are, freak." Te'ani does not like being called that.

"Name's Jimmy. I hear you're looking for a friend of mine, but Freddy's dead - I was there in Juneau when he died." What follows is a very productive chat...

He wasn't in Juneau for anything to do with the OIS.. unfortunately they didn't realize it was a setup until after the fact. He thanks us for rescuing Luanne. He asks where we got the notion that Freddy's alive.

Liv admits that she hugged George and got a vision. Liv lays out the information that Weaver and her team were in OIS custody - and eventually was settled into an OIS safehouse. He does not look happy about that revelation... only Liv catches the sight of his teeth becoming very.. sharklike.

Liv asks him to calm down - Jimmy assures her if he was upset with THEM... they wouldn't get a chance to counter.

He asks why we'd be willing to rescue one of the Society.

Te'ani says, "We might be OIS, but we could always use another perspective." Liv, "Director Elwood encouraged our unorthodox procedures."

Jimmy comments, "He did have some interesting friends." He knows where Luanne is and is aware of the nightgaunt pack. Liv requests he doesn't harm Ricky - he responds "I know George is there. George knows better."

He'll see what he can do on his end, but if we're able to recover Freddy... it will do a great deal in smoothing things over between our organizations. Luanne said much the same. If we do go across, feel free to return them (Weaver's team) dead or alive...

He gives us a warning about the minions of a common adversary have gained control over several artifacts. Alan admits we're aware of this, but disputes that they only have two.

Liv says they were looking for a friend that was holding the third and feared him dead. Jimmy says hopefully, he's still alive, but fears Liv may be right, because their latest information holds them at three.

Liv asks if they're aware of the location of the proposed summoning. They aren't. Liv gives him the coordinates.

He asks if we're aware of another threat - Alan asks, "The Ghoul?"

So we are aware of him! We learn that he's moved on from basic skeletons to "enhanced humans." Jimmy's not sure of the end goal yet.

Liv asks about Sage's sister - Jimmy confirms that she's one of "Them."

He turns to Alan, "You know some interesting words, my friend (Tagers and Dhohanoids). Where did you learn them?" Liv, "Director Elwood. So working together... does this make us friends?" "Allies of convenience at best. You're doing something I want. I have something you want. Our paths are aligned for now, whether they continue... remains to be seen."

Liv asks if he knows where the skull and portal are. He writes out a map of the sewers. "This is where it was last. Where it leads I don't know, if it's moved.. I don't know where it could be now. If you do go through with it... I hope you go more prepared than you're currently dressed. I think Weaver and her team were very unprepared. If they're alive, try to bring them back." If dead.. we don't have to bring back their bodies and we're welcome to whatever is on them of value.

He wishes us the best of luck, says he'll be in touch later, and thanks us for the "entertaining day."

Te'ani answers a few pointed questions from everybody. He finally admits that he is a Tager and that he was "chosen." Liv asks if it's like an engel - does it have a name? It doesn't, but he feels like its purpose is to "be joined with someone to give it a purpose."

It turns out that Alan has been doing his own research on the Eldritch Society...

It's questioned whether or not we really should go through the dimensional portal... time for Liv to admit she had been doing research as well, on the patron deity of sorcerers and parapsychics. Te'ani doesn't like the sound of that.

"Are we really sure we want to go through this dimensional portal for this guy?"

Liv is for going through the portal, but admits that it will be extremely dangerous...

Looking pointedly at Kory - "Remember the conversation on the way to the cabin? About who I betrayed?" Kory is no help at all. "A lot has happened, please refresh me, Liv."

So she reviews the information - when she recovered the artifact from Weaver's team, she was under instructions to take it to an address. She instead brought it to the OIS for safekeeping. Those instructions were from the patron deity of sorcerers and parapsychics. The guys don't look happy about this revelation. Kory begins to tease Liv with the name - Liv stresses, "Don't say the N-word!"

GETTING BACK TO THE STORY!

"In this dimension, I brought the artifact to the OIS, delaying the summoning. I'm fairly certain that did not happen in that dimension..."

Te'ani, "So you think that we're going to be heading to a world where Mother has been summoned."

Liv, "Yeah... and I'm fairly certain we'll be going against myself..."

Good dinner conversation, team.

#ois #ctech #liv frostburn #game notes

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