The Web
Sizzle and Cruncho went looking for the Spirit of Capitalism and, in finding it, have put the Nameless at war with its Private Military Corporation (PMC)!
Damn, if I had a nickel for every time Sizzle and Cruncho’s duo-maneuvering at the edges of large-scale supernatural powers occurred prior to a gang war with the Spirit of Capitalism, I’d have two nickels, which-
Yes, thank you, we know the quote.
So as a recap-within-a-recap, the Spirit of Capitalism was contained in a series of arcane papers and documents, seemingly created by the Immortal Emperor and imbued into selected individuals (including Sizzle’s dad, Joseph Woodward). Thus empowered, Woodward created the Seventh Tower Consortium, expanded his business, and ultimately got owned by the Nameless. The arcane papers were captured by Sandro, and the Nameless held onto them for a bit before using them as a diversion/scapegoat for Breaker’s death. That diversion/framing has gotten a little TOO real, because now Render’s forces are primed to go thermonuclear at the slightest hint of their reemergence. When the Nameless tried to employ those papers a few sessions ago, a bunch of people got slaughtered and the papers vanished.
Damn, that IS a recap-within-a-recap!
Eh, it’s been 2 months. ANYway . . .
As Sizzle and Cruncho began their investigations as to where the papers had gone, they learned a few things from a few people:
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The papers had been guarded by several of the Grinders (a paramilitary group of Skovlan nationalists), of whom four were unaccounted: Jack R (psychopath), Plaz (local neighborhood small-scale politician), Enfant (orphaned tween daughter of two original Grinders), and Ray (ex-mercenary with a mysterious past).
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Based on studying and talking to the current impaired version of Joseph Woodward, the arcane papers can only gain purchase on their host if the host already has something in them that would make them susceptible to the lure of capitalism. The papers then rip out any part of your soul that permits empathy/makes you capable of remembering that people are anything other than statistics.
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By talking to the ghost of Jack R, Cruncho learned that someone of indeterminate gender had grabbed the papers during Render’s assault. This person had escaped via arcane means, but not before using Jack’s body to create a vampire with Plaz’s soul.
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After a little bit of tracking and some arcane chicanery, the duo realized that this Plaz-vampire is somewhere in the Lost District. Coincidentally, the bodies of the first and second command of the Silver Nails had just recently washed up in a Six Towers canal, with their souls having been violently removed. Also coincidentally, the Silver Nails are a hardened group of Severosi mercenaries that primarily operate within the Lost District. These coincidences . . . Might not be coincidences.
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A quick conference with a recovered Sam the Black Knight reveals that Render’s forces are INTENSELY interested in and worried about the arcane papers. They are, apparently, adaptive, deeply dangerous, and their “motivations” are mysterious to even Render. And, yknow, they’re definitely responsible for killing Breaker.
Dang! So, how’d that scouting mission go?
The duo did everything right: hired some Deathlands Scavengers, approached from a distance, kept their heads down . . .
And then a sniper started exploding heads all over the place.
As the Deathlands Scavengers fled or died, Cruncho managed to shield Sizzle long enough to sight up and fire on the sniper, who turned out to be partially-possessed by the Spirit of Capitalism. By dint of some incredible shots, impeccable stealth, and careful body manipulation, our heroes managed to get in close and learn the following:
The Spirit of Capitalism has learned to split its essence, thereby creating multiple avatars for itself. Using Ray (a one-eyed mercenary with a distinctive gravelly voice) and Enfant (a seemingly-mute sniper with a traumatic past), it is creating an army of vampires by combining the bodies of the Silver Nails (all slain) with a smorgasbord of militant ghosts around the deathlands (including privateers, Bluecoats, and some of the ancient Legionaries that keep popping up). It is also mining the ghosts of the dead leaders of the Silver Nails for international arms contacts. This interrogation is being headed up by the Soul of Plaz in the body of Jack R., aka Plasma Jack.
Having ascertained all of this, our heroes readied to depart (they’d hired a SECOND team of Deathlands Scavengers and set them up with the Fog Hounds as an emergency exfiltration). However, they had some personal business to take care of first:
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Destroying the ghost jars, preventing Plasma Jack from learning about all of the weapons salesmen known to the Silver Nails.
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Sizzle fired some of her specialized ammo into Enfant, permitting her to rescue the tween in the hopes of rehabilitating her from the Spirit of Capitalism’s harmful effects.
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Cruncho, having already gotten some psychic backwash of what the Spirit of Capitalism was offering, engaged Ray in a battle of close quarters combat. Though relatively evenly matched, Cruncho was able to elicit the Spirit’s pitch: to break the current world order and create a nation of mercenary-citizens, creating profit from the one commodity that would never lose value: violence.
In the process, Cruncho also managed to see that the spirit was in the process of creating its own eidolon (an amalgamation of spirits, like Scurlock or Splighterlock). To what purpose? Who can say!
Cruncho and Sizzle also learned that this group was calling themselves the “Dogs of War”, because subtlety is for assholes.
And as our heroes escaped the scene with this new knowledge and an unconscious Enfant over their shoulder, they know that the Dogs of War will (figuratively and literally) soon be on their tails . . .