LogBrink-Jason-13

Game log for the 2015/02/08 session of Brink, as taken by Jason

Absinthe's poisoning continues to get worse. She's at -1 ongoing.

The group that went to Control return to the Den. Swan's working them hard to get caught up on the backlog of orders. He tells the rest of his crew that it's time to take Absinthe up to Ring 8 and put her on ice, then goes to relay the news to Absinthe herself. She decides to accept the situation.

Swan takes Absinthe, Torch, Cipher, and Absinthe up to 8 via the elevators and the spine. We enter into Ring 8 Sector C and it's a gleaming reception area, all shiny white, indirect lighting, etc. There's a receptionist with perfect bone structure behind a brushed steel desk, and she asks how she can help us. Torch asks to see Dr Satin, but he's on consultation. "Tell him his brother's here," says Swan, and suddenly we're shown into a waiting area. It's all just so pretty, with plush seating and power-blue walls. Cipher asks if Swan has anything he'd like to tell the group. Swan says "don't eat anything here."

Dr Satin arrives shortly and calls Swan "Theo." He asks if Swan will be staying for dinner, which invitation Swan declines. Swan explains about Absinthe's poisoning. Satin leads the group to a cryo bay, which is four stories tall, hundreds of yards wide, and industrial in scope. Satin seems very proud of his setup. He leads us to a different waiting area with a pod sitting in it, being prepped by attendants. They offer Absinthe an appropriate white garment, a decontamination shower, and all the usual.

Cipher takes a quick detour through the psychic maelstrom. In his world of hallways and doors, behind every door, he hears a person pounding on the door, screaming. That doesn't sound so hot.

Absinthe reads the situation and determines that the biggest threat to her is the tension between Swan and Satin, Dr Satin is firmly in control here, and her best way through is to mention that she's been poisoned by fugu toxin, which would make her inedible. Satin gets the note. He confirms that they can wake her up whenever they find the antidote, however soon that is, or however long in takes, and that the process is painless. She'll only feel cold, and then warm. Cipher realizes that the Eighters would accept him as one of them if he joined them for dinner. Some prices are too high.

Swan declines refreshment and asks to talk business. Satin likes the idea of having his brother in charge of the station's arms market, since Swan will bring rational stability to that scene. The group takes a tram out because the place is huge - there are hundreds of thousands of people in stasis. Swan and Dr Satin go into an office, leaving Cipher and Torch alone. A few minutes later, another pretty woman offers them crudites and distilled water. Neither one accepts.

Satin tells Swan that if Absinthe is important to Swan, she's important to him. He says "they" have missed "Theo". They talk awkwardly, and Swan makes plans to keep a close eye on her pod. Satin cautions him not to interfere, and then assures Swan that his people will do all they can for Absinthe. The Eighter orderlies show Swan and co where Absinthe's pod is, and then show them out.

All frozen and stuff, Absinthe sleeps in her green field, only the sky has turned dark, thunderclouds have rolled in, the wind and rain wail, and she can't bring herself out of it. Cryosleep sucks.

Cipher heads to Ring 37 to see some Woots, while Swan and Torch return to the Den. When Cipher leaves the elevator, the Woots offer him a Woot mask of his own. When he asks to speak with Mama Woot, and they lead him through their bizarre labyrinth. Mama Woot's chamber is lit only by candlelight this time. Cipher makes is courtier's bow and then tells Mama Woot about what he saw on Eight. She confirms that the souls of the frozen are undefended and that nought can be done from afar. She suggests that if he truly wishes to help them, he must let them go. He asks if he could reach Absinthe, and she doubts it, though she would not call it impossible. He asks how he can help her; she tells him he must play the game and dance the dance until the moment is right, and then, when the time is right, he must make no sound, be silent as a thief, and spirit his friend away. He asks if she could give him anything to help. She hands him a bunch of sticks and twine, with two bolts, and advises him to catch Absinthe if she falls.

Swan and Torch go back to the Den. He asks Torch to watch the door and then bares into Raskolnikov's office. The Dr immediately determines that any failure to come across with the scope would be met with violence, so he surrenders the scope in exchange for the promise of its return and a favor to be named later. Swan then tells Torch to guard the quantum scope and "destroy" everyone who comes for it.

Some hours later, the power in the Den goes out. Torch is in the room with the QS, hanging with Grover and Yvette. He immediately puts a hand on the Scope and alerts Swan. A few seconds later, he hears Grover vomiting, followed shortly by Yvette vomiting. Three 'Neers come through the door, and Torch opens fire on them, full auto. They reply with some sort of electrical weapon which causes him great difficulty. Swan activates his suit light to see what's going on, which tells him that the three Neers are down but there's something else out there. There's a sharp "crack" sound and the same sort of electrical weapon hits him, burning a hole through his suit. He opens fire down the hallway, taking a light burn from the return fire. Torch screams for everyone to kill the intruders, and Swan follows suit, though he tries to make sure someone is left alive to question. That doesn't happen; the defense team is disciplined in herding the intruders back to the entrances, allowing them to retreat with all their wounded. All we have are some dead Neers and emergency power.

Cletus tells Swan that without power, we're at risk of losing two crucibles of molten titanium. We can't do a full pour so Swan makes the call to risk profit rather than people and just do whatever will make it safe. Swan then calls the Neers to find out what just happened.

Torch tries to use his Neer senses to see what's going on and comes back only with a deep feeling of dread and a desire to avoid the Neers. He suggests that Swan give the bodies back and then lies low.

A Neer arrives to fix stuff. He basically ignores everyone, walks right through to an airlock, goes out the lock to fix something, turns the power back on, comes back in, and leaves. He takes some bit of gear off the bodies, announces that it's fascinating and constitutes payment in full, and leaves.

Swan halts production for the day. Raskolnikov pulls an autopsy kit out of his suitcase and starts taking down the corpses. Cipher asks Torch what he knows about the random crap the dead Neers were carrying, but Torch doesn't even answer, he just looks at them and then hands them back.

When Torch calls Fletch to ask for a house call, nobody answers. Since we can't let the scope out of our sight, Swan decides to take Torch, the scope, and a bunch of dudes all to visit Fletch and see what's up. When they get there, the door is open, Fletch isn't home, and it looks like someone has packed up quickly. Fletch seems to be on the run. Torch opens his Neer senses and picks up a lot of chatter, but under it all, there's one low, calm, relaxed voice saying, "I apoligize for the immediacy of the transition, but I know, I just know, that this arrnagement will work out to everyone's mutual benefit." Torch describes the voice to Swan, who thinks it sounds like Rattle. Swan calls Rattle, and one of Rattle's flunkies invites him to come up. Sover and Grover head back with Torch, while the rest go with Swan after a little cajoling.

Swan goes to Rattle's place, where they're reluctant to let the gang in with Swan. Swan orders the group to stay put and let him know if anything interesting happens. When Swan finally gets to Rattle, Rattle immediately comments on the nasty looking burn and says "let's go." He says that his guys have Fletch set up in a very sweet situation and have solved her apprentice problem. Anyway, she examines the wound, tells him it self-cauterized, and makes a nasty comment about the smell of burned person. The moment Rattle leaves the room, Fletch says, "Get. Me. Out of here." When Swan asks how much it's worth to her, she jabs his open wound, and he smacks her upside the face.

They talk about Rattle's plans for Fletch and it seems that Rattle really does want to set up a proper hospital or something, so that her talents aren't "wasted." She wants out but she doesn't want to come and live in the Den. Swan points out that without muscle, she's not able to set up on her own, so she has some hard choices to make. Swan suggests a deal where she gets her own place back, Rattle's guys keep an eye on her place and her students, and Swan provides weapons for the guards. Rattle goes for it as long as the students stay.

Cipher opens his mind and tries to see how Absinthe is doing. He goes to open the door that he thinks will lead to her, a door whose knob is glowing blue, and he finds a verdant field being wracked by a tremendous storm. Way off in the distance, he sees someone fleeing a tornado, but he can't see how to do anything for her. He takes some rocks, scratches, "we're thinking of you" on them, and leaves the scene.

Absinthe's fleeing the tornado, and sees a flash of light when Cipher comes through, but it closes right after it opened.

Dr Occulus calls Swan and says, "the time has come." Swan asks to meet near the exit from the spine on 8. He grabs Torch, Cipher, Flail, and Warchest and goes to make the handoff. Occulus offers Swan the antidote. Torch reads Occulus and sees that he's being straight up. Swan tells Cipher to go with the quantum scope and make sure it stays in good shape, which Occulus accepts until he starts getting to know Cipher. Sadly there are no takebacks. Warchest and Flail then return to the Den while Torch and Swan to go Eight.

Dr Satin takes Swan and Torch to a decanting chamber. It has a table for the capsule to sit on, which is good, but also an autopsy table, drainage grates in the floor, and other stuff that doesn't give anyone a warm fuzzy.

For Absinthe, it feels like she's been running for her life for twenty years now. When she wakes up, she immediately attacks an orderly and breaks his neck. Swan and Torch dive in to restrain her, get tangled up, and in the ruckus, someone knocks Torch's mask off. By the time he recovers, Absinthe has fully woken up, concluded she's in trouble, and started fighting her way out of the room. Torch yells, "Absinthe, I need your help," but she concludes that he needs her help fighting out of here and only gets more violent. She grabs a scalpel and a saw while slicing another orderly before Torch and Swan wade in and restrain her.

Dr Satin argues against releasing Absinthe, since she's obviously suffering cryopsychosis. Swan talks him into keeping all three of them for treatment and observation. Dr Satin offers to go to work on Torch while Swan asks Absinthe for the weapons, which she hands over with some slight reluctance. More orderlies cart out the dead and wounded and bring in clean blood and medical gear for Torch. Right before leaving, Satin turns to Swan and says, "Mummy will be so glad you're staying for dinner."