Ash's test.

Ash, Glyph, Six.

Six, Ash and Glyph boarded the plane back to Atlanta with Daisy and had an uneventful flight. They touched down and got in touch with Ki-Rin and Sickle. They had found a new safe house and the runners headed round for some much needed rest.

For the next week little happened and the runners settled down into a bit of a routine. Six worked on Ash’s truck to get it back up to Six’s Custom quality. Glyph got together some tools to work on building a new personal weapon and disappeared into her makeshift workshop. Ash headed out into the city to see if he could make some contacts here in Atlanta.

Thursday 3rd Aug 2070

About 3pm Ash received a call from a man calling himself Ka-Hil. He told Ash that they should meet at a nightclub in Atlanta called the Cauldron so they could talk about magical tutorage. Ash had put the feelers out a few weeks previously to see if he could join a magical group, and he jumped at the offer deciding to go alone to this meet.

The nightclub was a magicians paradise with a light display augmented by several other magicians in the room competing to show the best visual display. Ash stood for a few minutes taking in the scene when a 6foot + Ork made his way across. Wearing jeans and jacket lined with a form of snake skin, he wore a chainmail undershirt, with a pair of wicked blades crossed across his chest. He studied Ash for a few moments before thrusting out his hand and introducing himself as Ka-Hil.

Ka-Hil told Ash that he belonged to a magical group and although he couldn’t tell Ash anything about it he did offer to test Ash to see if he was suitable. Ash eagerly agreed to take Ka-Hil’s test.
Ka-Hil went on to explain that there is a place under Atlanta, an underground habitat that has become a slum occupied by the unwanted, the homeless and metahumans, and Orkish Underground named by the residents as the Falls. This area has been terrorised by a Serial Killer named by the denizens of the Falls as Le Lobo. This killer had been on the loose for well over six years, and Ka-Hil wanted Ash to bring the murderer to justice. Ash was allowed to involve his friends, not to do so could well be suicide, but he mustn’t tell them the reasons why.

Ash went back and told Six and Glyph what he intends to do. Six and Glyph were dubious and Ash’s faltering reasons raised suspicions. But they had his back.

Over the next couple of days the runners gathered together some scrap heap bikes, which they repaired, they got hold of some trampy clothes, and they bought up some supplies of food booze fags and medical supplied which they might be able to use as barter in case money isn’t the only form of currency.

Sunday 6th August 2070 4pm
The runners headed off through the city to head to one of the old roadway entrances to The Atlanta Underground Habitat dressed in their old clothes riding beaten up scrap bikes. They found that the AUH had been barricaded off and now had some kind of watch at the door to deter unwanted topsiders from entering. The runners just rode past.

Entering the underground habitat the runners found why it was called the Falls. Water from the city above streamed in from the roof above. Waste, sewage, lost fresh water all rained down in a hundred acrid waterfalls. The runners got on with the task in hand and started to approach locals to ask about Le Lobo.
It was Ash’s gig so he was asking all the questions, but his human face didn’t fit in, and when he proclaimed that he was here to help clear away a problem the local enforcers took umbrage and gave Ash nothing but attitude. It wasn’t until the runners showed a bit of force followed by a calm attitude that they started to get some answers.

Le Lobo seemed to be taking victims from all over the city, and then the mutilated corpses were turning up near a place called The Dark. An area of the underground city that didn’t get any of the already patchy power at all. The runners headed over and holed up in an abandoned building.

The residents had long since moved out of the no mans land between The Dark and the rest of the Falls, but Glyph spotted a couple of people equipped with high tech equipment keeping an eye on them.

The runners surmised that The Dark is where it was happening and although they didn’t like the idea of descending into the depths of the abandoned habitat levels they felt they had no choice. At the foot of the stairs the runners were engaged by thee special operatives, equipped with cutting edge armour, Glyph Six and Ash got shooty, and eventually prevailed.

After the gunfire had stopped, they were able to squeeze a few answers out of one of the dying guards. The murderer seemed to be some kind of corporate sponsored project and that there were more of these special ops. guys down here. And then before they could ask any more, he karked it!

The runners found nearby a butchered corpse, with some kind of medical monitoring equipment attached to her body. Then the runners heard a bestial roar. The runners did a circuit of this level but found nothing noteworthy. They then decided to head down to the flooded level below, surmising that whatever murderous operation was going on, the corporation would need to hide it from the locals, and the water would dampen the heat sources generated.

Wading though the water the runners spotted a single well lit building. They headed over and took up position in the building opposite. There were 4 operators inside, working on computer terminals and getting on with their jobs, oblivious to the runners taking aim in a darkened building across the street. A hail of bullets took out the 4 ops. inside and saved the runners a messy building assault.
Inside the operations room, the runners found a high tech monitoring station with video feed coming from 4 individuals. 3 of whom were going about day to day life, the fourth was stalking around in the flooded levels not far from where the runners were.

Ash and Six headed out to take out the murderer, while Glyph tried to look into the computer code. It seemed that the murderer(s) were being controlled from this terminal, and Glyph shut down this one.

Watching the killer Ash and Six were ready to open fire, when Glyph threw the switch. The Troll had a moment of disorientation before fully realising what he had been forced to do, again, by the corporation. Emotion overwhelmed him and he broke down.

This left Ash in a quandary. The murderer was being coerced into killing by the corporation. How could he bring justice to the killer? Ash called Ka-Hil and began to explain the situation. Ka-Hil interrupted him and told him that he knew what was going on. He told Ash that they needed to meet up.

Ash, Six and Glyph left The Falls, and headed to exit ramp 5, where they were to meet Ka-Hil. Ash went over alone to talk with him. Ka-Hil then explained that the test was to find out if Ash could find the enemy, and then identify the real enemy and to show him that the real killers who need to be brought to justice are the corporations who continue to abuse the populace for their own ends. Ash had passed the test that was set for him with the help of Six and Glyph. Ka-Hil agreed to petition for his admittance to the secretive magical group, and told Ash that he would be in touch.

Six and Glyph had the distinct feeling that they had been fucked over again, and that Ash was once again getting involved in things above his head. Ash was chuffed.