Part II: Dawn of the Gang War

General Summary

Balasar's Contact

The three criminals arrived at Malheur, Valland, the historical crime capital of the country. After a few makeshift disguises for Balasar, the three followed his directions into the sprawling network of abandoned subway tracks that the underworld of Malheur called its home.   Making their way through the tunnels, the party found no evidence of any other criminals, but did happen upon a recently abandoned vehicle mod shop. The place had been torn to bits, with parts and tools strewn about, glass broken, and arcs of electrical burns across the walls. It genuinely looked like the place had been struck by lightning. Jinx uncovered a laptop among the wreckage, powering it on and finding an email yet to be sent. The email reads as follows:

• Q, someone broke into the system. I’ve gotta get out quickly. It’s gotta be that Jinx chick from the Black Dawn -- I guess she’s still around. She hacked all of our customer and inventory data, she’ll be here any minute. I attached the cam footage I captured the other day, it was her scouting out the area. She’s getting parts for the Nightrunner, she’ll kill me if I’m here when she arrives.

Attached to the email was a video file, intensely corrupted. The video displays Jinx's old face arriving at the scene, as some technomagic panels softly glow to life around her suit. She seems to interact with them through some somatic gestures, until they disappear after a few seconds. The woman then hovers into the air as bolts of electricity arc off of her. She presses her fingers onto the security camera, closes her eyes, and then falls back to the ground. And with that, she leaves without being seen.   After downloading some schematics for vehicle upgrades, the gang continues their trek to Lorenzo's Den, home of the finest armorsmith in all of Malheur's underworld. Lorenzo gave Balasar his set of armor he had kept waiting all this years, and also revealed his evidence board of several murders in the criminal underworld, all tying to Jinx (which he then pinned to the original victim of identity theft rather than Jinx after convincing from Balasar. Lorenzo's evidence board included: King Cobra, leader of Venomshroud, found burnt alive in Venomshroud HQ; an unidentified deacon of the Cult's sect of love, found burnt alive dropped onto the streets of the Black Market; Jak Slater, member of the Inferno, found burnt alive in Mafia territory, burnt alive; and last but not least, Thyreos Xaltakarr, struck by lightning with actual witnesses claiming that the Unknown Human Woman committed the murder. Jinx's double was seen on camera at the scene of the crime before the bodies had been found.  

Laying Low

The gang spent the night at Jinx's apartment for the rest of the day, wherein Jinx's sleep was interrupted by a terrifyingly realistic dream of their first encounter with the Slicers.   Jinx awoke into a familiar forest, where the Misfits of Valland were frantically looking around for a Slicer attack. Her allies were suddenly attacked by different members, while CDA-2 engaged Jinx. She attempt to cast a spell, but strangely, her fingers instead released a stream of texture glitches that completely corrupted and deleted CDA-2's head. Tarik was gored to death by the raging minotaur, being pinned to a tree with his ribcage completely shattered and his chest ripped apart. The minotaur turns towards Jinx, until thoughts of escape overwhelm her and take her out of this dreamscape. Jinx wakes up the next morning morphed into her old persona.   Jinx also strangely received an email to her old criminal account, apparently from her former associate Daedalus. The email read:

• Hey Jinx,
• I don't know if you still use this address since the old days, but it doesn't hurt to try. Some of my Inferno crewmates stationed in Valland are watching your gang pretty closely, and I got the rumor that you were involved with Cromoni and that halfling Blackwater widowed. I hope that in the future, as the Inferno increases its own power, we can count on you as an ally. For that reason, I'm telling you this information.

• Tomorrow, STRIKE is undergoing a mass arrest of criminal dens that they have known of secretly, and they're all located in the North Heights region of Valland City's Black Market. Only the biggest criminal organizations know about this, mainly the Kazoku, the Mob, and the Cult. What this means is that all of these organizations will have most of their influence in one location, and STRIKE is bringing heavy firepower. These organizations will be caught in a moment of weakness.

• I don't know how much she's telling you, but I know Cromoni will be there. I say you either backstab Cromoni and her fuckin mob for your own power, or let her know and do it that way. Either way, it's best for the both of us that we attend the event.

• I'll be there with part of the Inferno. I'll be expecting you. Get back to me on your plan of action.
• King Daedalus

The group got ready for an infiltration of a Mafia front, Luigi's Pizzeria, leaving around noon. The group's messy attempt at gathering information eventually ended in the death of a mobster and Balasar locking himself in a room until found the staff's stash of dirty money in the walls. Avaahn returned after a few distractions to discover an email from a higher-up, stating that the boss was rounding up mafiosos for a big shootout in Valland City Square. Later that day, the group was sent to the Kazoku's HQ in Valland City. The criminals were greeted by the three family heads, and the two parties made somewhat of an alliance; the Kazoku agreed to stay and fight the Cromoni Mafia and S.T.R.I.K.E. as long as the Black Dawn helped to fight Isabella Cromoni and her gang (the high profiles).  

Gang War

The group assembled in the Black Market under Valland City Square, preparing for an ambush. While S.T.R.I.K.E. was drilling into the ground, they were ambushed on the surface by the Mafia. The Black Dawn and the Kazoku relocated to the top and witnessed an all out battle in the streets. The Black Dawn noticed Isabella Cromoni on the roof of a nearby building, making their way up to murder that bitch. When they arrived at the top, however, they were greeted by their worst enemies: Isabella Cromoni, V, the Unknown Halfling Woman, and the Unknown Human Woman.   The group soon realized all but V and the human were illusions, but not quickly enough before their fly spells were temporarily dispelled by the human, Jinx and Balasar Blackwater sent careening to the street. The Black Dawn regrouped at an intersection where they struggled to fight off a S.T.R.I.K.E. team before they were attacked by the elusive Nightrunner prototype, sporting technomagic unknown to the Black Dawn's Nightrunner.  They quickly escaped in their own car, but not before an adversary long thought to be dead stood in the middle of their road and exploded in flame; Malia Deceit was burning with vengeance.