We grab a bite at "Ma's." Ma is an orc. We agree that we want to go after Gabel. Cairo would rather not go to San Francisco. Jane remembers the warehouse she tracked Mr. White back to when the accepted the job; that may be a lead Cairo thinks he can have us in Seattle by Saturday..
We hit the road.
We arrive in a small town in the Salish Shee an hour south of Seattle. One of Cairo's friends, a trucker, gives us a lift to Seattle. Bert's van is in range and comes to get us. We get dropped off near our homes.
Derek tries to call the Buffalo Jump. The number is disconnected. Bert drives by, the building has been destroyed, apparently by some sort of explosion. Checking the news the official explanation is a gas leak.
Derek discovers that his home telecom has been totally wiped.
I notice an odd whirring sound in my apartment, it seems to be coming from my telecom. I call Derek on my new cell phone, he says he'll call me back in a bit.
Bianca discovers that someone has been calling for her. Her boss(?) calls; apparently a thuggish looking Indian has been asking around for her.
Jane returns home. The outer door is open. There are claw marks on her mother's bed. Much of her mother's clothing is missing. There are red flecks around the ring around the bathtub and in the sink; it looks like dried blood. Scouting around astrally she notices something wrong in the refrigerator. Physically opening the refrigerator she finds a dead dog, a small black terrier. The dog's tongue and eyes are missing. Chunks are missing, as though human teeth had bit into it. Projecting into her mothers room there is residual hatred, anger, and confusion. The feelings intensify in the bathroom.
Derek calls me back, he heads over. We exchange notes and head up to my apartment. He hears a servo motor. Derek cracks the system open. Behind the display is a small camera. The work is exceptional. I pack, we head out.
Jane calls, she's got problems too. She asks that I call Bert for her to get her a lift. I call for a taxi for myself; then call Bert.
Bert tracks down his other vehicle; it's in a private garage. He cracks the lock. He still can't connect to the car. he searches the vehicle and runs diagnostics. He discovers that the computer is infected with a virus.
Bianca heads to the restaurant she works at. She heads in the back; a cook gets the owner for her. The owner is relieved to see her. Apparently two Amer-Indians have been asking after her. Bianca heads upstairs and sees her sister.
Derek and I arrive. Derek looks into the car. Jane calls me, she wants to know where to go. I tell her to meet me at a nearby intersection.
Bianca's restaurant owner friend shows her video footage. The two men are human AmerInds. One is tall, wearing a suit and long coat. he has dark hair with a shock of white, The other man is average height, nondescript face, younger, has auburn hair, and is wearing a nice suit and long coat. He has pin of some sort on his lapel. The tall guy apparently did most of the talking. The younger guy asked if the owner knew any of Bianca's friends.
Jane, Bianca, and I head to our old hideout. Jane sends a spirit in to scout. According to the watcher spirit, there is s spirit waiting inside. It's a man in suit with a sash. A moment later the Asian man spirit manifests in the van. It bows its head, "I was very angry. Events nearby have caused me to reexamine my anger. Because of our past I thought I would seek you out." Apparently the astral has changed, things are changing. Something is coming back. We need to look to the north. With that, the cryptic spirit disappears. We pack up the hideout's contents and return t the garage.
Meanwhile, Derek and Bert try to remove the virus. They think they succeed.
Bert heads home. His doorman says someone came calling and was asking about renting Bert's apartment. Obviously they were declined. Bert gets a copy of the footage of people who asked about the apartment. He asks for a bug sweep of his apartment.
Derek heads to a personal safe house. Derek will research what happened to the Buffalo Jump.
Jane and I head to Jane's place in Bert's van; Bianca tails in her car.
I notice flecks of dried blood on the edge of the floor and in the sinks in the kitchen. One of the walls has a discolored patch like a serious cleanser was used on it. The dog has a collar identifying it as Mr. Tippy. There is an LTG number.
The claw marks on Jane's mother's headboard look like they were made by someone with human sized hands kneeling on the bed reaching toward the headboard. Jane astrally perceives gets a strong sense that her mother is somehow involved.
Bianca researches the LTG number on the dog tag. The number matches Edward and Vivian Catronovia; they live near the Queen Anne Hill area. It's about 20 minutes away. It's marginally en route to Jane's mom's work.
Bianca and I collect samples of the blood. We take them from the kitchen sink, kitchen floor, bathroom tub, bathroom sink, the dog's bite wound, and the dog's blood.
Jane calls her brother back. She explains what is going on; her brother panics and calls Lone Star. Bianca and I wipe the place down for our prints. We leave.
We regroup at a McHughs in Auburn.
Derek does research. Kit Hofsteader is a German national. He was part of a delegation that went to Japan in his youth. He signed up with Mitsuhama. Kit works for Kansawa Taigen. Kansawa is a long time Mitsuhama person. Kansawa is of Japanese descent and as in Shimshan when Mitsumana moved in and hired him.
Looking at the video Bert got, it's the same two men who came looking for Bianca.
We decide to use the rental property Derek and Bert had arranged prior to the run.
It's early in the morning. We won't be able to get the rental property until morning. We head to a cheap hotel for the night. Jane summons a ward. We rest.
Later in the morning we head to SeaTac to pick up Jane's nosy brother. Bianca ditches her car in a parking lot.
Bianca and Jane head into the airport to meet Jane's brother. He identifies himself as Henry and his sister as Charlette. They head out to get a bite at some chain restaurant. Bianca, Jane, and Henry head in. Bianca leaves her mike on so we can hear the conversation. Henry knows what Jane does, but isn't happy about it. Henry blames Jane for their mother's disappearance. We learn that their father was a runner.
Derek Bianca calls a friend looking for a place to crash.
I call up Wrench and ask to get together. He mentions that he met some AmerInds in the supermarket. Drek. We agree to meet at a strip club, Superdads, at 18:00.
Bert calls a contact Tokata and attempts to arrange a meeting. He's to call back at 15:00. Jane arranges a meeting with someone magical the next day. Bianca calls her fixer, he isn't too happy to hear from her, but in a bit he calls back: he may have an apartment.
After some discussions we decide to store our gear in a secure storage locker. It'll run 450¥ per month. (Level 4 security). We go to pick up my bike. We give the bike a quick once over, toss it into the van, and head off. As we're driving Derek examines the bike. There is some sort of transmitter in the wheel well. We ditch the transmitter into a random car with an open window.
Derek notices transmissions in Ref's bags, in Jane's box, and under the van. Looking around Derek finds a transmitter under one of Jane's rocks. There is a transmitter in my grapple gun. Derek breaks both transmitters.
We stop at a gas station. While Bert refills the tank while Derek hunts down the bug on the van and destroys it.
Derek also detects a transmitter in Bert's other car. Frell there are a lot of these. We pull into a rest stop and begin searching everything. There are additional, more subtle transmitters in Bert's van and the sedan. While examining one he sees a brief spike; Derek captures the frequency. There is another advanced transmitter in Bert's blimp. Derek destroys the little, loud transmitters. He disables and keeps the two nice ones.
In my box of slap patches Jane finds a note.
This is just so you know. This is not personal. This isn't anything from us. I don't want you to think this is from us. The cause cannot be sidestepped. The cause is not something that you can stand in the way of. All this is being done so that we can secure the future. Please, try to understand.
I hate these guys.
After a thorough search we don't find anything else.
At 15:00 Bert gets a call. He heads off to take it.
Jane spends some time setting up a strange pile or wires and rocks and junk. It's her lodge or something; it seems to check out.
We ditch gear (and my bike) at the storage locker.
I'm dropped off at Superdad's to meet Wrench. Meanwhile Derek arranges a week at an Extended-Stay Seattle. They also work over Bianca's car, it has bugs.
I catch up with Wrench. He's in the corner booth. The gentleman who talked to Wrench is Joseph Laughingtree. Wrench doesn't think he was contacted as my friend, but as a fixer. Joe is a Saleesh runner; he is usually in Bellingham. He used to run with loose gangs. The gangs in that area are cause oriented; violent policlubs (like in Germany). Joe probably isn't from Saleesh Shee. Joe was looking for us; he knew us by name. Myself, Herbert, Derek, Bianca. I explain to Wrench what I know.
Wrench has heard that there is something going around. A perfectly normal guy goblinizes into an elf. He also heard of someone turning into a cat person. He's suspicious; but the stories are going around.
I let Wrench know almost everything else. I notably don't identify Jane's relative specifically.