Dystopic: Returning Lost Goods

The future is in the Skyrail (OiMax)

So much happened this session that it's probably best to break it into two posts.  I mean, look at this post!  It's long enough but it still only covers the first half of things.  Everyone was present.  We had Tokyo the hacker-infiltrator, Miami the occultist-private investigator, Oxford the scientist-explosives expert, London the soldier-detective, Nomad6 the well-travelled pilot and Leningrad the assassin.  Dallas, a Changeling NPC who was picked up in a wrecked supermarket, also put in an appearance at a few points.

Firstly, they went over the assassination of the Auroch Minister and decided it was important to ensure that she hadn't just jumped hosts.  Leningrad was particularly interested in this as he felt his contract with London hadn't ended until Minister Ortega was back in the pit.  They also decided to speak to the various Ministers to assure London's self-appointment to the Minister of Aurochs.  Tokyo suggested speaking to the Minister of Eagles first but later events soon convinced them to speak to the Minister of Lions.  They also considered getting Prometheus to send a possible replacement for London in the Aurochs Minister position pronto.  They considered whether they would also need to kill the Tyrant but figured that it shouldn't be necessary at this time.

Miami excused himself for a moment and contacted his kindred contacts.  He called Dexter West first - an Ordo Dracul Ventrue who gave his condolences for Miami's loss.  Miami arranged to meet with him in two days time and mentioned that he would be speaking to Lucretia, a Crone Gangrel, as well.  As Lucretia was Dexter's ex-girlfriend, Dexter was a bit ambivalent about this.  Then Miami called Lucretia who stated that she knew that Miami (whose last named was also Ortega) wasn't the same person that she had known him to be.  She agreed to meet him but only at a place of her choosing.  At least until she could ascertain what he was.

There was a buzz at the door.  At this point it was 10.00PM and so the team were naturally a bit suspicious so they checked who it was over the camera system. It turned out it was Garrand and Jackman - grunts with the Ministry of Lions.  London spoke to them over the intercom.  Garrand stated that he only wanted to purchase a book of poetry he'd seen when he'd first come here.  London refused to let them in and was trying to sound them out when Leningrad headed downstairs and unlocked the door.  The rest of the team followed him downstairs and set themselves up around the bookstore.

Leningrad demanded all of their weapons.  Jackman just had two guns - one at her hip and the other in her ankle holster.  Garrand had a fair bit more than that.  Even his belt buckle included a knife.  The duo kept to their story of only wanting to drop by and buy the book although they seemed to want to take their time about it - as though trying to sound out the team.  The team were suspicious and impatient, however, and hustled them along.  Garrand bought the book and the two left in a vehicle.

They left their weapons behind.

With a bit of examination, they found that there was a single bug amongst the gear (in the belt buckle) that traced back to a Public Relations and After Hours call centre called 'Local Calls' which also happened to be part of Miami's "Information on your Death" kit provided by Prometheus.  The rest of the gear was clean but the team was suspicious that maybe they were relying on using the sympathetic connections to their gear later on.  So they decided to trace the duo back to their homes and give it back to them.

The duo dropped off their hovercar at a local supermarket.  Turned out it was a rental.  Then they caught the skyrail elsewhere.  Tokyo failed to hack the system but since there were only five main stations from this skyrail, it was a relatively easy matter to drop each Fallen off at a different stop using Nomad6's vehicle.  Tokyo and Oxford ended up being on the right platform.

Oxford tailed Garrand to a meet up with a pair of scantily dressed women whom he was quite familiar with.  The trio went to a casino where they gambled and flirted with the punters.  Garrand didn't seem all that bothered with the cash he won / lost as though it weren't his own.  Oxford figured that meant he was either the owner, the son of the owner, or hired to fill out the crowds and make it all look fun.  While Oxford was there, a rather pragmatic and pretty woman flirted him into buying her a drink.  In the end, Oxford took her back to her place and while he got a little over-excited (being it was the Fallen's first time, after all), Oxford still managed to woo her into a 'Friends with Benefits' arrangement.

Tokyo saw Jackman alight at her station.  As Jackman passed another woman, their hands brushed rather suspiciously but neither acknowledge the others.  As London had caught the next train over to Tokyo's station the moment he heard that she'd made visual contact, London ended up following that woman while Tokyo followed the other.  Leningrad and Miami arrived at Tokyo's station a short while later.  Leningrad went after Tokyo.  Miami and London followed the other girl.

Of course, the last two had to be more careful about being out of sight and clever about it because it was one thing for a mousey girl to be unobtrusively behind you and a whole other matter for two men on a dark, deserted street to be unnoticed following a woman.  It turned out the unidentified woman (who seemed purely human to Awareness gaze) was heading to an after hours babysitting service to pick up her six-year-old and one-year-old daughters.  She then headed home.

Anywho, Garrand dropped by a cop shop and spoke to a couple cops before heading to a bus station with a bus idling outside ready to head through a few stops on its way to the Wall.  She waited until the bus was about to leave and then passed him a letter.  Leningrad rushed onto the bus as though he were a late passenger.  He noticed the bus driver just popped the letter on a spot near where he was sitting and figured he could get at it with an easy ruse.  He pretended to be drunk and asked for the driver to stop the bus so he could be sick.  The driver did so.  Leningrad then pocketed the letter by pretending to stumble a bit before getting off.  It was only at this point that the driver realised that Leningrad didn't have a ticket.  The driver swore and drove off.

Leningrad read the letter.  It was from Garrand to his brother who was apparently a soldier at the Wall.  The letter warned him to be extra careful with the storm brewing to the west as zombies tended to move with the wind rather than against it.  Leningrad considered it might be code but also knew that there were two soldiers on that bus who had been discussing the storm so he dismissed it.  He also felt guilty pinching a family letter to a soldier and resolved to return it.  It'd only be a couple hours flight to the Wall anyway to hand it in - either to the brother or the army post office.

Tokyo kept following Jackman and found that the woman stopped at the same walk-up as the other woman she'd seen.  Miami and London also noticed Jackman arriving and fell back a little.  Jackman took her lover's hand and the family went up to their apartment.  London realised that Jackman must've been doing what most cops do in dangerous areas of dystopic London - they find secret ways to acknowledge their loved ones so that watching criminals don't notice.

Once everyone had regrouped (barring Oxford), Tokyo went up to knock on Jackman's door and asked to speak with her outside.  She returned all of the weapons to Jackman and warned her not to leave anything at their place again.  Jackman nodded, though her face was utterly inscrutable (so many successes on a Composure + Subterfuge roll).  Leningrad, who had perched on top of the apartment building, heard Jackman's girlfriend (or perhaps wife) gather up the kids into another room.  Even if she didn't know Jackman was a Fallen, she knew enough that things could become dangerous.