Haunting The Chapel

 (Game date: 05/07/2021)

Everyone needed to prepare, and we had only a few hours.  Some of us had specific missions.

Aru needed a new BANlink, because of me tearing the wireless out of his rig.  Katrya was off to score some high-power explosives (the "good stuff").  Vamir intended to brew a scent to mimic the incense used inside the vamp church.  I sent my anthro out to buy a handful of flying drones capable of delivering a payload, while I scooted over to the Learning Center to research vampire lore.  That left only one other errand - picking up the remaining two Silver Bullets.  I don't know who ended up doing that, but it got done, and Master Nepeta didn't give anyone trouble over it.

Most of what I found was exactly the kind of thing that you see in the holovids: Vamps shy away from an aggressively-presented holy symbol, they're allergic to garlic (whatever that is), they are burned by holy water and sunlight (as if you could find sunlight), and they can be killed by a stake through the heart (as can most things).  They're stronger, they're faster, they can summon animals, they can turn into animals, they can turn into mist, they can't be seen in mirrors (or cameras, which can verify).  One source even said that they sparkle.

One bit of information had been removed from the database, but as my father so recently pointed out, nothing is ever really gone from the Matrix.  It was a ritual to create a vampire, without a master vampire at hand.  This seemed like something both interesting, and highly dangerous.  I stored it to a datastick, then performed a bit-wise over-write.  Maybe I can't do anything about the file existing in someone else's private collection, but at least no one else can get hold of it the same way I just did.

All errands completed, we met back at the church.  The six new Kourier drones were loaded with grenades.  Those didn't actually get used, but I'm glad we had them anyway, and who knows?  They could end up useful later.  All drones, and bio people, were made invisible to eyes and noses by Ryatt.  Time to go in.

The doors presented no challenge.  Their low-tech security was just as simple to defeat from the outside as from within.  The holographic projectors were swirling random patterns that were, perhaps, meant to be soothing, but under the circumstances came close to inducing nausea.  Apart from that, the room was still empty.  The crew set charges in this room, sufficent to destroy the structure from here up.  Not my area of expertise; ask Katrya & Vamir.  But even I knew that we had no idea what kind of vault lay below, nor what kind of reinforcements were on it.  We had to get to the lair.

Fortunately, we had a pretty good lead on how to get there, having seen the three vampires exiting after they locked up.  While the others set the charges, I checked the door for any alarms or traps.  It looked clean, which I didn't trust at all.  I called Varfana over, and she pronounced it clean as well.  Katrya took a moment from shaping explosives to take a look at it, and she didn't see anything wrong.  

I couldn't accept it.  The door leading to the resting place of a nest of undead was not rigged?  With a leader so paranoid that he wouldn't even connect to the Matrix via wireless?  I didn't let it go until every single member of our party eyeballed the lock, hinges, and sill.

No alarms were found.  It was just a locked door.  Not even a sealed door, as Aru pointed out when he got close enough to notice some light leaking around the edges.

Fine, then.  Fine.  Once the demolition crew was done, Ŝtelita unlocked the door.  Stairs leading down, where neon lights bounced off the walls in much the same sickening fashion as the lights up above.  At the bottom of the staircase, a bona fide wrought-iron gate blocked access.  With bona-fide rust on the hinges, which, as Aru pointed out, would produce quite an authentic squeal when opened.

Kind of over-the-top.  Someone watched way too many horror vids before deciding to enact a long-forgotten arcane ritual to become a vampire -- as if they were in it entirely for the aesthetic.  

Vamir produced a lubricant from his kit, and applied it liberally, while I asked Parker to add some similar substance to my own inventory.  We'll do it, too, and I'll carry it around for years, never to encounter rusty hinges again.

Once past the gate (which did not squeak), the passage sort of twisted around.  Varfana assures me that it led back beneath the nave; I shall have to take her word for it, for I lost all frame of reference.  It opened up into an area containing a desk, swivel chair, some A/V equipement, and a terminal.  Oh, yes, and a male vampire, the model for the priest holo, currently feeding from one of the three upstairs vamps. The other two looked as if they'd already donated; they were lethargic, sleepy-eyed.  

Wasn't this just the topper.  He even took his meals second-hand.  

It didn't seem as if we'd been noticed, and I rather preferred it that way.  If we could avoid a direct confrontation, so much the better.  Under cover of our various cloaking, Katrya started placing charges.  I picked my way toward the console, and the others got into defensive positions.

Unfortunately, we didn't get far before they all perked up.  The two that were reclining got to their feet.  The leader finished his meal, dropping his blood donor to the floor, where she stayed.  She was now the only groggy vampire, and I wondered how long she would stay that way, given how quickly the others had snapped to attention.  

The leader spoke.  "It seems we have a pest problem. I wonder what sort of creatures have scurried into our home."  He didn't look directly at anyone, so I didn't think he could see us, but unless he was in the habit of randomly making such announcements, it was a fair bet that he knew of our presence.

Realizing this, I subvocalized a reminder that the silver bullets should be used on the leader first (we only had two of them), and continued on my course toward the terminal, focused (for the moment) upon the organization's assets.  Because of this, some of my description of the action comes from an analysis of recorded footage, which does not show any of the vampires.

Katrya dropped all pretense of stealth, deliberately drawing attention to herself, taunting the leader.  "Ah, a commoner mistake, no no, we are actually the exterminators.  Since you've decided to seek religion, well...We have come to take you to church."

Well, I would have been intimidated, but I've watched her steering a golborn like a racing cycle.

I  told Parker to attack the leader with Ŝtelita.  Upon reflection, it was not the wisest course of action, because none of my tek can see the vampires.  I haven't figured out how she managed to extrapolate enough about his location to even come close; I will probably have to give up and ask because that algorithm might be worth a patent.  At any rate, it's a moot point, because she missed with strike.

Aru fared a bit better with his Ci, in the form of a plasmer pistol, against one of the lesser vampires.  Varfana directed her drone to fire an actual P.P. - that, at least, presents no mystery to me, as she was in the same room.

 "Clever prey, to disguise their scent," the leader taunted.

Now...maybe it would frighten some people to be called "prey" in so languid a manner.  Personally, I find it very kitschy.  I think that it would have made Katrya laugh, had she not been busy at that moment lashing out at another of his lieutenants.  Her claw-shaped Ci ripped through the creature again and again.  He didn't have time to begin a defense; he had only started to open his mouth in a scream when he just...dissipated into mist.

Well, now.  I suppose that's another legend we can tally in the "True" column.

Another of the officers -- I suppose it must have been the one that Aru hit -- articulated the scream.  "Their weapons! They burn!"  

If it was meant to be a warning, it was not uttered in time.  Vamir entered the fray, his own Ci in rapier form, fading into view as he pierced the third underling from the rear.  She didn't like that, oh no, but rather than hiss & moan about it, she whipped around and managed to get behind him somehow -- again, I didn't see the move, the cameras were incapable of catching it, and Vamir was too dazed by having fangs sunk into his neck.  

Needle-sharp teeth and claws - more for the "verified true" checklist. I was beginning to wonder whether I should have scattered a sack of ball bearings and shouted, "Count that!"  

But at least the master vamp gave up trying to taunt.  After trying and failing to score a hit on Katrya, he was reduced to snarling out, "Who sent you?"  

The query went unanswered.  Or, if anyone did say anything, it wasn't picked up, and I was way too busy, for about this time I broke into the gang's financial records.  For such an anti-tek attitude, they kept meticulous records - I found  ownership records and base financials for this structure, and also a number of donors who had donated not only funds to the church, but also properties.  I downloaded it all, then locked out the master account.  I figured I could get back in later, if we won this battle.

As a result, I missed Gordianus' personal epiphany.  I suppose that seeing everyone else throwing around magic gave her the idea that she ought to be able to do it too, and honestly, that's the thought which got me started on it.  However, whereas I took the approach of downtime study, she powered through her first attempt at a spell in the middle of a crisis situation, and produced a magical flame from the end of her very non-magical quarterstaff.  Then she proceeded to swing said staff at the cult leader, which he handily avoided, but you have to give points for style.  I shall work with her later on cutting out the middle man, and casting damage spells directly upon the enemy.

Now we come to my second huge mistake of the night.  

Remember that I mentioned we only had two Silver Bullet devices.  As with the last time we deployed one of these, for the best chance of a successful hit, I gave one to each of the "white crate" drones, which were being driven via deep-dive VR ... by two kids.  

Do you see where I'm going  here?  

Ryatt's drone hesitated, then fired, and missed, the device pinging impotently off a wall.  And I didn't catch my mistake.

EllieRocks' drone also hesitated, then looked like it tried to cast a spell, but whatever it was, fizzled out.  Its other hand raised a pistol and fired...

...and hit.  Not a perfect, center-body-mass hit, but a hit nonetheless.  Which should have been impossible.  

The impossibility of that shot did not hit me until much later, when I reviewed the battle footage, and I still haven't figured it out.  Neither drone has any record of the vampire in their recordings.  I shall have to investigate the nature of deep-dive VR, or at the very least, DDVR the way that they do it.

The fight went on around him, but he was out of it as of that moment.  The device is simple, and based upon what I learned of the ImagiNet OS designed by the sunchild: it drains Power, only instead of sending it back to the sunchildren, it uses it to feed its own spell.  As with all positive feedback loops, it becomes stronger as time passes, and when there is no more Power to drain, it saps the victim's will instead, ultimately ending in a most cruel death.  Like the ImagiNet, only much, much faster.

There's a reason I keep this invention a secret.

The vampire knew that something was wrong immediately.  He paused, visibly attempting to throw off the effect, then dropped to his knees as my Ci-empowered team systematically destroyed his cohorts.  When he started to shake and curse through gritted teeth, I knew he didn't have much time left.  I located and played a recording from an abandoned playground, from a few nights ago, through his own A/V system:

"You messed up, kid."

He stared a moment, I like to think in shock, then laughed wildly until his body turned to mist. 

The rest was cleanup and demolition, in that order.  Gordy found the misfired silver bullet, still in working order.  The vampires' sleeping chambers (coffins) were found, and enough explosives placed to level the gothic cellar.  

My third mistake of the night: I didn't take the time to search for anything other than financials before we set all those nice fireworks off.

But, we got the gloat, and we got the slow walkaway, and we got an immense feeling of satisfaction.  I hope it lasts.

..::Kai::..