Session 18: The Murder at the Masquerade Report
General Summary
Introduction
Anna, Jason, Botley, William, and Alexa remain through the ship on very high alert. You haven’t heard anything for about a minute from over the Coms. Finally a Chiara’s familiar voice, though out of breath and ragged, cuts in: “She killed Dash. She…she killed him. I had to stop her. He’s…oh fuck, Dash…” We zip along the bouncing radio waves to the form of a beautiful, petite girl wearing a ripped catsuit and broken stilettos kneeling over the body of a man wearing a now-torn Duster sprawled on a wooden dance floor. She seems to be palming a knife in one hand while reaching out towards his his neck with another. A female body wearing a beautiful gown slowly topples backwards, long blonde hair floating behind her, and sprawls gracelessly over the rings of lights beaming up around the edges of the dance floor that created a living barrier of pulsing lights. Several people in the dispersing crowd behind her are pointing, shouting, and running away frantically. The collapsed body of the blonde woman provides a small break in the light wall enough to see the rest of the roof and the dark sky behind it edged by towering city walls and trees. The drowning beats of the unattended DJ tables cover the vibrant jungle noises echoing around the city. On the roof, directly on the other side of the broken edge of the light barrier, a toga-wearing guard with a bright red face and bulging veins drops the now corpse and head of a still shocked looking staff member and spins frantically looking for the next closest victim with his purely dilated, black eyes. In the midst of the crowd fleeing the berserk guard, Guru Kevin stops on the edge of the stairs as the crowd pushes around him. The sight of Dash’s silhouette through the light barrier, the shape of a collapsing body, blood dripping from the raw gunshot wound and body twitching from the dart in his chest, forces Dashes last words to Kevin to echo in his head “Kevin, RUN!”. A flash across the bar shows Kyra, frozen in place staring at the masked figure brandishing a knife who stares with deadly purpose at a hole in the roof over the East Wing. The last reverberations of a sniper shot still rings out over the beat of the music as Kyra follows the assassin’s gaze to see the arrow embedded in the hole with a thick, metallic cable plunging into the dark, dust-filled depths. In the hole, Mark 37-091 quickly drops with his left arm extended upward, cable sliding out of it rapidly as he descends. His arm shakes, weakened by the gaping hole showing the whirring, straining machinery within. His right arm holds Li tightly as they slow fall into the room. Li holds his Tanto ready, despite currently bleeding from a gaping hole in his chest and wearing a tattered flapper costume while his face matches that of Anna Cross identically. Beneath them, a large balcony awaits them overlooking a beautiful, golden room adorned with art, luscious couches, thick rugs, and a ladder set up on the balcony adjacent to the hole. At the bottom of the ladder, a towering hulking form of a man walks toward a large case with a knife sticking out of it while looking up towards the hole. Over the balcony on the floor beneath, a bald man in a suit with a feathered mask limps with determination, despite what appears to be a miscalculated and detrimental jump, towards the open door in the room’s eastern exit. We return to the top of the round in round 4. Stress and Fate will not recover until the end of the scene. A resurgence of Fate does fill you each, however, and you will each gain 1 at the moment. Dash will gain 2 total as he Compelled his own Defeat this last turn. To my knowledge, everyone but Kyra had used all of their Fate Points. After this scene, you will regain your normal refresh.Game Start
"I. Am. Zeus!" Kevin jumped out of the crowd while shouting into his Bracelet that the city was under attack by the Terrorist Group, stood tall, and held his orb aloft for all to see. With his battlecry, he began to pour arcing bursts of electricity out of his orb into the bodies of the Plastike Assassin, Beauty, and the Rampaging, Sprin-laced Guard. His body began to tremble, weaken, and bleed from the extreme, unnatural effort as the energy slammed into Beauty, burned her skin to a crisp, and left her sprawling on the ground unconscious with the thinnest line of life left in her. The guard took the massive burst of power to the chest and seemed injured, but in no way was his rampage slowed down. After the incredible display of arcane, supernatural power, Kevin collapsed to the ground. He seemed to be unconscious to any onlookers, though this was largely due to his incredibly skills of deception aided by his very real self-inflicted physical injuries. Meanwhile, across the rooftop Kyra ducked behind a counter as another sniper shot slammed into the rooftop beside her. Beauty turned towards her, but was slammed by the burst of electrical energy and utterly defeated. Kyra heard Chiara's desperate "Kyra, get Dash out of here NOW!" and saw her pointing down at Dash's limp body lying on the dancefloor. She ran into the nearby fleeing crowds and slid through them as Chiara ran towards her. The Rampaging Guard killed both of his fellow guards as they ran to try and apprehend him (and draw him away from the crowds) with unnerving ease. As the crowd ran past, Chiara jumped in front of Kyra as she ran towards Dash. Kyra grabbed Dash, threw out an apology towards the limp form of Guru Kevin, and dragged Dash towards the stairs as the Rampaging Guard closed in behind. In the exploded hole in the roof, Li jumped down towards Beast with a surprising plunging attack. He stood toe to toe and narrowly missed the man's meaty fist connecting with his face in response. Fortunately, Mark released the grappling hook and plunged like a massive metallic projectile into the Beast. Li took the opportunity to grab the case and sprint down the stairs towards the exit doors. He noticed the 2 interior doors beneath the balcony in addition to the red door also set on the interior wall at the far northern end. He sprinted towards the unopened door, reconsidered, then turned and ran after the hobbling assassin who pushed open the southernmost massive double-doors. As Li ran out behind him, the man spun around and looked Li over. He obviously concluded in that split second that Li was in fact Anna, in no small part due to the excellence of his disguise and facial reconstruction holding up despite his injuries. The man whispered "Of course they couldn't complete the contract", pulled out an Krasian Operator Model 7, and fired a round into Li's chest. The surprising attack took Li off guard and only the most extreme amount of luck and fate had Li's body turn just enough to take the bullet right next to his heart instead of the perfect kill-shot that it would have been.Li collapsed back as the man turned and left him and the case itself. The last thing he heard was the pounding of Mark's feet running after him before it fell to darkness. Mark sparred with the Beast for only a moment. The man pulled out a sawed-off, riotlike shotgun and narrowly missed blasting Mark in the chest. Mark used his grappling hook to bound off of the balcony and run after Li. He rounded the corner of the door just in time to see Li's body falling still. He grabbed Li, the case, and Li's blade and sprinted towards the Villa seeking medical attention. Back at the ship, Anna had spent her time trying to hack into the city's main defenses mainframe to commandeer a turret by using the Intrepid Explorer's systems to boost her signal. She successfully hacked into an artillery-type wall turret meant for ship to ship combat and spun it towards the rooftop. She used the sights to observe what was happening then hacked into the intercom and used the threat of the turret to attempt to intimidate everyone on the rooftop into falling to the ground and lying still. Several people complied but the majority were too consumed in fleeing in pure panic to register the threat. Back on the Rooftop, Chiara stood between the Rampaging Guard and Kyra, trying to buy the girl time to get Dash's body to safety. Everyone else between her and the guard ran past or lay dead on the roof. He turned and charged her, fist at the ready. She attempted to dodge but was caught by the raw speed and brutal power of the berserk man's fist. A sickening crack echoed over the roof as she was caught in the stomach and her ribs snapped under the pressure. His follow-through sent her flying back across the rooftops into the bar surrounded by the hallucinatory fog while smashing through the chairs and tables in the way. She pulled herself out of the twisted wood and metal moments later, limping and hobbling away towards the stairs while nursing broken ribs, an obvious concussion, and a full dose of the hallucinatory mist.
The Sprin-laced Guard sprinted after her to finish the job but was unable to get close enough to swing. His hands went up to his head and he screamed in pain as the inability to lash out caused an adverse effect in himself. Kyra managed to drag Dash down through the crowd towards the stairs just in time to see the fully armored guards running up holding assault rifles. They rounded the stairs, clocked the threat, and immediately fell in to a firing position as the berserk guard almost reached Chiara. Bullets riddled his body, though he turned and began walking into them slowly as they tore into his flesh. He managed several steps before falling to the ground, ripped to shred. The guards did not stop firing until he stopped moving. Guru Kevin heard a noise moments before as the berserker ran past over towards the hole that sounded like scuffling and the movement of a ladder. He remained in his play-dead state until the guards killed the berserk man, then he jumped up and shouted that the assailants were this way. He pointed towards where the body of the assassin Beauty was moments before. No body remained, but obvious drag marks and the sounds of a ladder indicated someone had just grabbed and pulled her into the hole. Realizing he was alone on the roof and near death himself, he called out what he'd seen to the guards and left after his friends.
The Heroes' Return
Mark, carrying Li, ran back towards the Villa on their own. Kyra carried Dash while Chiara and Kevin made their best effort to keep a good pace behind them. Some time later, they arrived at the Villa where the medical personnel they'd called for awaited them. Mark had clocked Li's faint breath and he was rushed into triage. One of the doctors wheeled in their large metallic hovercart and began sterilizing the room using the device. The other quickly patched Dash to the point of recovery before joining his associate in what was to be a long night of surgery. Dash regained conscious not long after. They each fell on their various couches (before or after getting a strong drink). Thessa Wheeler arrived shortly after Dash gained consciousness. They had called for more help but were told the town was exceptionally shortstaffed at the moment after the "terrorist attack". Thessa, obviously concerned and not technically allowed to be there, tried to help however she could. Chiara slowly came down from her hallucinatory trip and allowed Thessa to help patch her, though the girl's clumsy attempts just caused more pain. Chiara bandaged herself with experience of someone who had done it many times before. Thessa made them dinner before leaving, luckily slipping out unseen by other Staff members. They attempted to get a good night's rest despite the constant noise from the hours-long, lifesaving surgery happening just a room away.The Morning After
Li awoke in a bed back in the villa. A medical Staff member stood by his bed, seemly alarmed by his quick recovery. He asked the man to gather his friends so they can talk with him in his room. The Staff member walked out to find Guru Kevin getting a glass of orange juice in his "whitey-tightys". Chiara stumbled off her couch and joined him in the psuedo-breakfast before heading towards Li. They called for the ship crew to join them over the radio and informed the group of everyone's survival with the exception of being very obvious about "Anna having died last night". They gathered and discussed next options. Guru Kevin admitted that his display of power left some obvious changes in the fabric of the universe that certain people may use as a beacon to come after him now. Everyone noticed for the first time his eyes being pure black. Unlike the blackness of the dilated berserk guard's eyes, even the whites of Kevin's eyes appeared to be fully gone. Kevin admitted to the group for the first time that he was not entirely human, more like a soul travelling along with the human form. The group, reeling from the revelation, pressed onto more direct issues ahead of them. The group decided that it would be best to let the assassins think that they successfully killed Anna last night as they very apparently did. Li's near-death experience bought them a level of truth behind their deceit. The last question was what was to be done with her invention. They decided it would likely be best to put it out on the market opensource to keep them from coming after her for it in the future. Anna, escorted by Jason, William, and Botley, made her way in disguise back through town. She saw the groups of Guests trying to leave through the starport entrance, the flustered Concierge's dealing with their exodus, and the heightened alert with each guard fully armed and armored. No toga-only guards with no weapons seemed to be standing by any longer. She joined the group at the villa and heard their plan. She decided that she wanted to keep the invention and market it as originally decided. The idea of approaching the Court of Scavs with it was broached.The Sultan's Offer
Concierge Marla stood outside of the hardlight barrier with two heavily armed and armored guards. They invited her in. She gave her apologies for the events of the last night but assured them that their guards responded within 30 seconds of the initial incident. Li took hard exception to her praise of her guards as he was shot and almost killed during the events. She told them that their aid in the "attack" the night before at least worked in their favor. The Sanguine agreed to meet with them to discuss the event and their request. He had an availability within the next 2 hours or the morning in 2 days. They discussed and opted for 2 days. Kevin asked if he could have another robe ordered, she said that anything within their power would be remanded to them to aid them for their effort. He ordered a new robe via his bracelet at her request. She left accompanied by the guards. While in the Atrium, Li saw the case with the knife still sticking out of it. The red light was still blinking. With Anna's aid, they discovered the bomb in the hilt was either remotely detonatable or on a timed trigger. She was able to safely remove the knife and, at Li's request, reprogram it so he would have the ability to throw and trigger the bomb in it using his datapad. Finally, they took the time to restore Li's face to it's old features. Anna almost altered his features from what they originally were, but they were able to salvage the situation and restore him to how he looked before.Rewards Granted
[Minor Milestone] Bomb-Hilted Dagger - Li Meeting with Sanguine Sultan in 2 days (28:3:2352)
Missions/Quests Completed
Scene: The Midnight Masquerade
