Ghost Cartels 2: Body Snatchers

[Dog Pants]

Would it be possible for Deej to cast his spell at a reflection in something metal and shiny, or the window?

I'll clear my throat to catch Davis's attention.

Mr Davis? How do you do, I believe you can help me.

[Joose]

The guy jumps a little, and turns around, with a syringe in one hand, full of blood.

Oh, hello. You must be here about the Doe. Corp types, eh? Runner then? Thought so. Whatever you people pay, its not enough.

He gestures at some masks on the table next to him.

Grab a mask if you wish. You don't have to, but I would, she is a little ripe. She's the one on the end, help yourself!

With that, he turns back to the table, where he labels up the snap off container part of the syringe and labels it in AR, muttering to himself.

Jania Shields, Sample A, blood test. Suspected drug use, check specifically for drugs with a inhalation vector, this may have contributed to the issue with her lungs. However, rash on upper arm consistent with repeated Patch application, check for common use DMSO based drugs also.

[Dog Pants]

I'll mask up and have a look at the Doe. I think we'll probably not be able to do a body switch if this one's decomposed.

[Joose]

Ok, I need to look up a "loose your lunch" test, I'll get back to you.

[Dr. kitteny berk]

Ok, I need to look up a "loose your lunch" test, I'll get back to you.

[Joose]

Well done Berk, you have found the quote button. Have yourself a cookie.

Aaaanyway:

Cant find anything specific, so lets go for a straight Willpower test, have +2 for the mask, 1 hit to not sick in your mouth a little, 2 or more and you just grimace.

The reason for it is that the corpse on the end table is Fucked Up Big Style. Its eyes are all broken up on the left side of the face, like its halfway between human and a compound eye, and the right side of the mouth looks like something from predator. You are not sure what's happened to the rest of her, but whatever inhuman shape it was going to before, its been set on fire and is now just crispy meat. The meat is oozing fluids.

[Dog Pants]

That's 7 then...

2, 2, 5, 1, 5, 4, 2: 2 hits.

Ugh, holy shit! Those assholes didn't warn me about this.

I'll take a few steps away and move a bit nearer Davis, composing myself. Not too close though...

Mr Davis, have you done any work on this body yet?

[HereComesPete]

So it looks like jeff goldblum in fly mode got jiggy with your mum in one of those evil cloning phone booths? Damn that's nasty.


Editz - so can we take both bodies? I'm interested in melty fly chick as much as I am in our intended withdrawal.

Could we say it's some serious quarantine shit and that everyone will have to back off sharpish whilst we call in clean up (ie remove the bodies)? To pin that con on a doctor might take a bit though.

[deject]

JOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSE what about my assense and looking about stuff???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

I have a number of actions I could potentially take, but I really could use the feedback before deciding!

[Joose]

JOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSE what about my assense and looking about stuff???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

I have a number of actions I could potentially take, but I really could use the feedback before deciding!

Oh, aye, sorry about that. I was trying to do too many things at once last night, forgot your ass sense.

Its pretty clinical in the morgues astral, but not enough to affect the background count. In fact, its weirdly "flat", they probably have a mage on the books who can scrub astral to keep it safe and clean. No sign of any magic going on at the moment though, no spirits either. The bugged corpse has some nasty astral signatures on it though. You can do a magical theory roll to try and ID it more if you want.

As for the question about spell-casting and shiny surfaces: The basic rule for spell-casting is that it has to be natural line of sight, but purely optical effects are ok. So you can cast through a window, via a mirror, through purely optical binoculars, or even through what they call "Magesight" systems, which are like security cameras that run off optical cables and lenses. What you cant do is cast spells on someone you cant see, or that you can only see via digital means (cameras, drone feeds, electronic binoculars, etc). Unfortunately, the only thing in the morgue that kind of qualifies is the shiny metal examination tables. As they are not really designed for their mirror like surfaces, you would have to roll a perception test with a -4 modifier to be able to target anything with it. Other than that, the room isn't exactly chock full of stuff, so its not even like you could duck behind something to cast. The only person in the room is Davis the coroner though, and he has his back to you.

[Dog Pants]

That was going to be my next suggestion, I was going to move around so that he had his back to Leland. This works out well actually, with magic shizzle on the body it gives us a great excuse for Leland to be wiggling his fingers, it's something the doc probably won't know much about, it gives us credibility that we had prior knowledge by bringing a wage mage, and with Lelend's forboding and my bulshitting we should be able to convince him to fuck off for a bit. As long as N-Zo can stop Mr LaFleur watching on camera, we should be good to go.

Also, I was thinking exactly the same as Pete. I wouldn't mind getting our butcher thing to have a look at this body. Might be some interesting indy work in there. Reckon we could fit two bodies in the drone Grimmie?

[Joose]

By the way, ive not forgotten to reply to your question to Davis, im just giving Deej a chance to let Leland do something first, if he wants to.

[Grimmie]

Reckon we could fit two bodies in the drone Grimmie?

The description in the Arsenal book is "Special Cargo: 2 Exterior Airdrop Cargo Mounts"
So as long as you have a couple of boxes to dump the bodies in to then sure, you can clip them both on I guess!

I also have signature masking on the Kull, so I should be able to fly it off pretty well hidden, in theory.
The only downside is that it's not a VTOL aircraft like my LEBDs, it'll need a short runway to take-off on.

[deject]

I could just KO him right now with some righteous stunbolt action. Otherwise, we can just go with the original plan of hitting him with Foreboding and try to make him stop.

In that respect, how far away is this dude from us, and how big is the morgue in general?

[HereComesPete]

Remember his notes, her personal affects and such. Plus stop him sooner rather than later and there will be less body parts to push back in the carcass.

[Dog Pants]

Stick with plan A while we can, Deej. Here we go.

I'll move over to Davis so as to appear conspiratorial, leaving enough room for Leland's forboding. As I do it I'll try to see what device he's speaking to.

Mr Davis. As I'm sure you're aware, there are some very strange things about this body. I'm going to assume you already know a little of its nature, and you've already made some astute but unwise assumptions on what our contractor was hired for. Now I'm sure I don't have to paint an elaborate picture for you to understand what kind of interest this will draw from our competitors, and I'm sure the last thing you'd want is some of their contractors in here looking for this body. While my colleague performs a few tests of his own I think it's probably best if you weren't witness to it. Professional courtesy dictates that I keep you as far removed from this business as possible for your own safety, as well as to the benefit of my employers. As soon as the paperwork is in order we'll be removing the body anyway, although if you can hurry the process along I think it would be beneficial for all parties. I deal with contractors like these people every day, and the less cause they have to come here the better you will be. I don't expect they'd dare try to infiltrate our corporate facilities, but if they did we're far better equipped to handle them than you are here. So if you could indicate where we could get the equipment to package the body for removal that would expediate things, although I understand if you're uncomfortable with the departure from protocol.
Also, I notice you're recording. It's possible that our competitors have already compromised your comms, and as soon as you spoke to us you implicated yourself. They may want whatever device you're using. I'd suggest you destroy it, or if you'd prefer we can impound it along with the body. Mr Davis, I can't stress the importance of cooperation between us here. We need your help to secure our asset, and you need our help to secure your safety.

Here we go. I'm using an edge for the con. Deej, your cue is in there.

Con 5 + CHA 5 = 10

6, 6, 6, 2, 4, 5, 4, 2, 2, 4, 3, 4, 6, 3: 5 hits.

Phew, that's pretty good. Now just to make sure I don't make any faux pas;

Etiquette 4 + CHA 5 = 9

1, 3, 1, 5, 1, 1, 2, 1, 2: 1 hit. G!

Fuck, not another glitch! Hopefully he's shitting himself so badly now he won't notice.

[Joose]

Davis looks up at you, smirks a little, and starts taking off his gloves.

No need for the dramatic talk. My interest in her stretches to cause of death, which is a quite simple mundane fire. She was soaked in accelerants, ignited, and burnt do death. The reason she looks like that is not why she died. Frankly, I don't care why she looks like that. As for letting her go with you...well, she doesn't have a SIN, or any other form of ID, and no one else is staking a claim, so there's not much paperwork to bother with. You want her? You can have her. Here is the release form.

He sends a file to your comlink with the details for the bodies release.

Don't worry about the comms. I wasn't recording, I was talking to myself. I know, sign of madness and all that. I doubt a hacker has accessed my notes.

He taps on a pen and paper on the table next to Jania. This guy is old school.

Besides, if they have compromised things, that is going to be more of an issue.

He points up at a camera in the corner of the morgue.

Anyway, if you are going to start with the voodoo, I shall leave you to it. Got some paperwork to do anyway. Oh, bodybags are in that storeroom in the middle if you are moving her, gurneys too. I presume you know the way out.

He wanders off through the door in the corner, marked Coroners Office.

[deject]

Hey now wait, I gotta do my thing, not to mention I haven't been told how big the space between us is so I can properly cast the spell.

[Dog Pants]

Well either I just blew him out of the water, or I made a tit of myself. Either way, it looks like we're in business. I hope N-Zo's got these cameras covered or we'll have LaFleur down on us with our dicks in the wind.

Bagging our mark now, plus one extra passenger. Will be bringing them into the garage in about five minutes. Nik, you can use the piers as a runway. N-Zo, can you manipulate this release form so that we can get our girl out too? I've got us an interesting piece of meat to look at for free. Frank, Chopper, if things go asswards it'll be in the garage.

[deject]

There is the problem of him having the blood sample. Considering they've ID'd her, even without the body they have the blood sample to test. I'm thinking we need to do something about that. I could start a fire down here and maybe we could try to get him out of here.