City of the dead

ARTIFICIAL HEART // SIXTH, known by the episode title "city of the dead", is the ninth episode of ARTIFICIAL HEART, picking up directly after the previous episode during the buildup to the Sector's operation to rescue the Silvers family.

### Time (IC)

07:02 (7th of Neverwinter, 2466) to 02:15 (8th of Neverwinter, 2466)

### Forming Plans:

The session opens with the party beginning their day in an awkward silence. As they slowly begin to collect themselves, Stroke leaves the attic the party had rested in and makes her way downstairs to look for food for the group. Noticing that the bar hasn’t opened she jumps over the desk and makes her way to the kitchen to see what she can find. Looking through the pantry she finds an excellent stash of bread and decides to make toast for the party. Bringing up the makeshift breakfast for everyone, she calls for a group meeting to discuss their plans to find Silvers’ family and to make combat strategies so the group can avoid hurting themselves in this way again.

After a pause of awkward silence the group discusses what possible combat strategies they could use in the future, eventually deciding that Stroke and Auntie will be frontliners while Diamant and Peppermint use their magic from behind them. Meanwhile Ringer uses her technomancy to create some sort of weapon that could be used to help the party while Azat uses his anti material rifle from near the mages and Stitches stands by at the ready as an emergency medic. Seemingly satisfied with this plan the group then begins to discuss what they should do from there. Stitches tells the group that they are in no medical condition to go headfirst into another combat, and that they need to rest for a few days while their wounds heal, Auntie especially. The group hesitates for a moment, thinking that while this is necessary, waiting and doing nothing for a few days is bound to put Silvers’ family in more danger. Stroke suggests the members of the group that still can go and collect what information they can from the civilians of the city, while Azat goes to sell the chrome that Merlekka had on him that the party couldn’t use. Ringer and Stroke volunteer to scout out the Purple Serpent as they are the stealthiest and Diamant and Peppermint volunteer to investigate the salon that the group was advised to go to at their arrival.

### The Purple Serpent:

As Stroke and Ringer make their way to the Purple Serpent, Stroke apologizes to Ringer for drugging her the previous night, and Ringer accepts her apology, forgiving her and telling her that while it was a terrible experience, she’s lived through worse, and that she would be fine. Ringer tells Stroke that they should be focusing on the task ahead rather than getting caught up in mistakes, and together they are easily able to find the location of the Purple Serpent. They find a spot where they can watch unseen from the shadows and notice that the place appears to be some sort of club. They can’t see inside from where they stand but Ringer notices cameras around the club, and suspects that there are more to be found inside.

Ringer tells Stroke that she is going to try to hack into the cameras and begins to slowhack into the building. As she tries to infiltrate the network system in the building Ringer finds that the firewall the drow here uses is full of traps and blockades that she needs to navigate through, but mainly the building's network is protected by ICE. Taking her time so as not to be caught, Ringer slowly manages to hack through the ICE and avoid the technomancers working on their network from the other side. After a long while of waiting out the other hacker and taking care to not leave any evidence that the system is being hacked, Ringer eventually makes her way through the complex system, and finds herself with access to all the cameras in the building.

Opening the cameras to her eyes through her cyberdeck, she notices the drow with the snake scar engraved on the side of his face sitting at a desk at his computer, seemingly upset by what he sees. He storms out of the room and mutters something in Undercommon she can’t understand. As he leaves Ringer accesses his computer to find the information stored on it that could have information on where Silvers’ family is being kept. Searching through it, she finds an email addressed to the owner of the device, from a woman named Gladia. The email appears to be a conversation, an argument, between the two of them, and Ringer can read that Gladia, whoever she is, is upset with the owner of the Purple Serpent, calling them “AZ” and telling them that the actions they are taking are too much for her to cover up. The owner of the computer argues back that they only need a little more time bought from her, and that they are still moving people into their sub basement. Gladia addresses the device owner as Kartinak Szeklziel, and using this name, Ringer is able to access some of his personal information, including his bank account and a list of the people he is in contact with.

After gathering all of this information Ringer turns back to Stroke and tells her she’s found everything she can there, and the two of them move to leave. As they do Ringer offers to share the camera access with Stroke, telling her that she can access it through her cyber deck. Stroke, confused, tells Ringer that she doesn’t have a cyberdeck and Ringer asks to make a quick detour while they purchase one for her. Stroke agrees and they make their way to a nearby game store where Stroke buys a standard cyberdeck.

### Gathering Information:

Soon after Stroke and Ringer leave to go investigate the Purple Serpent, Diamant and Peppermint leave the attic to go ask some of the locals for some information. Noticing a restaurant, Diamant decides to treat Peppermint to something there. While walking over, Diamant briefly and hesitantly asked Peppermint how she was doing, and after some small talk, the two decide to focus on the job ahead rather than talk over what happened the previous day. Opening the door to the restaurant, Diamant is met with a dwarven lady by the name of Shelly. Sally greets her warmly and offers to serve Diamant to go if she would like it. While they talk with her, Diamant asks her for areas where they can see in HELL. Shelly offers quite a few places including a salon that she says is run by a sweet woman named Galadia.

Diamant asks a little bit about the culture there in HELL and Shelly patiently explains to her that HELL was divided into two different groups of people, one that was more open minded and one that refuses to leave the old ways of worshiping Lolth. She advises Diamant to stay away from the second half, as they won’t take kindly to strangers showing up in HELL. Diamant asks her if she’s seen Silvers’ family, describing them to the best of her ability but Shelly isn’t able to give her any useful information on where they are. She recommends that they check an old temple to Lolth that is being used as a Wastehunter community, or the salon, as the woman there may have some information she could share. Thanking Shelly, Peppermint and Diamant order some stew and drinks before leaving to go talk to the woman at the salon.

When The two of them reach the salon, the two of them are met with angry shouting as soon as they open the front doors. The shouting isn’t directed at them however, and while none of them can fully understand what’s being said fully, Diamant can tell that the argument is in Undercommon. It appears that an older woman is yelling at a drow man and the two of them seem not to have noticed that the two Wastehunters have entered the building. Diamant uses a translator to understand that the woman is scolding the man for being reckless and causing unnecessary trouble while the man defends himself, telling her that she doesn’t understand his vision. Diamant assumes that they are a couple about to break up and, shrugging, rings the bell at the desk so as to get their attention. As she does so the argument comes to an abrupt end, and after a moment's pause the door to the room in which the argument took place slams open and a familiar face can be seen. The drow with the snake scar on his face, looking thoroughly angered, storms out of the building, seemingly without recognising either Diamant or Peppermint.

### Old Enemies:

Diamant and Peppermint look at each other briefly before Diamant rushes out the door after the man. Peppermint watching decides to message the group and tell them of Diamants plan to speak with the man before leaving after her to make sure she didn’t get herself killed. As Diamant approaches the man it’s clear that he’s very upset by something and when she asks for his attention he whirls around on her and demands to know why she’s bothering him. Seeing just how much he has already been angered Diamant decides to cast a charm spell on him to get him to calm down. It’s not soon after the spell is cast that she realizes that charming magic doesn’t affect the mind of elves, and that now his anger is directed at her. As she attempts to apologize and leave quickly he grabs her by the horns and demands loudly to know who she is and why she was casting a spell on him. Diamant tells him that her name is Hannah and that she thought he was someone else she recognized.

The drow man doesn’t buy her lie and refuses to let her go, asking her forcefully why she was casting a spell on people she doesn’t know. As Diamant struggles in his grip Peppermint is joined by Stroke and Ringer who, after getting her message, rushed to the salon to make sure she was alright. Peppermint steps up to the drow and apologizes to him for Diamants actions, telling him that she really doesn’t mean any harm to him. Reluctantly, after Peppermints persuading, the drow releases Diamant and storms away from them. No one pursues him. Stroke and Ringer ask Diamant why she’s at the salon and Diamant and Peppermint tell them that they are hoping to get some information out of Galadia, the woman who works there. Ringer shares that Galadia is working with the Purple Serpent club and Stroke is furious at Diamant for talking to the man. After some arguing, the group of riots decide to go in together to get their nails done, and ask for information on Silvers’ family.

Galadia hesitantly welcomes in the party when they come into the building and after giving them a false name, asks them what sort of Pedicure they want done. Everyone tells her and they all sit down. Galadia is somewhat shocked when she finds blood caked under Ringers fingernails, but they assure her that everything is alright. Ringer asks Galadia if the man who just left was Kartnec, and after hesitating a little, Galadia confirms that that is indeed his name. After a few more attempts, Galadia is seen to be unpersuaded to talk any further about Kartnec. As she finishes up working on the group, Stroke and Ringer pay her and leave, happy with the nail job they’ve just received. Peppermint and Diamant however decide to stay for a moment, and ask her some more questions. After Stroke and Ringer are gone Diamant asks the woman what sort of connections to the Purple Serpent she has, and the woman replies that she doesn’t begin to panic. Diamant presses her a little harder and Galadia draws a gun on her and begins to scream, seemingly convinced that Diamant wants to hurt her.

Diamant and Peppermint begin to back away from her and tell her that they aren’t going to hurt her but, unconvinced, Galadia begins to fire on them, drawing the attention of security outside. Rushing in, the officers draw weapons of their own and demand that Diamant and Peppermint explain what is happening. After Diamant hurriedly tells them that she started to attack them the officers appear convinced that they mean her no harm, and try to get Galadia to stop shooting at them. Galadia, thoroughly panicking, appears unable to hear them, and continues to fire her gun at the officers. Seeing that she wasn’t going to stop, one of the officers shoots her in the head, killing her instantly. Seeing the woman’s head explode not ten feet away from her, Diamant herself begins to panic. One of the officers spoke with an unrecognized accent, and demanded that Diamant and Peppermint explain what happened. Diamant tearfully explains that they were just talking with her before she suddenly began to panic and shoot at them. Diamants story seems to convince the drow, and they tell Diamant that the woman was never really right in the head to begin with, assuring her that everything would probably be fine. The officer with the accent then asked Diamant where she was staying in case they needed to ask them some more questions about what happened. Hesitantly, Diamant tells him and, satisfied with her answer, the officer tells her to leave the scene. Diamant and Peppermint gladly leave and make their way back to the attic in which the party was staying.

### Sharing What’s Been Learned:

As Diamant and Peppermint somberly make their way back to the Ye Old Salt, the rest of the party immediately begin asking them questions. Peppermint, somewhat catatonic, refuses to speak with anyone and sits quietly in a corner without moving. The group turns to Diamant who mutters that Galadia was killed by some officers after she started shooting at them. Stroke asks if it was Police Assisted Suicide and Diamant simply shrugs, evidently not wanting to talk about it. She asks to drop the subject since she hasn’t learned anything and after the rest of the group talks over the information they’ve learned so far, Diamant asks Stroke for the drugs that she gave Ringer last night, offering 200 credits rather than the 20 that Stroke started to ask for. Stroke gave her the Sid, accepting the scratch and Diamant proceeded to lock herself in the bathroom and take all of it right then and there.

As the group of riots talk over what they have learned, they decide that the only place left to check for information was the old temple to Lolth suggested by Shelly. However, Diamant and Peppermint are unwilling to move for the rest of the day and Ringer has decided to take a short nap, seemingly exhausted and emotionally strained. Stitches suggests that she and Stroke go to investigate the area, leaving the rest of the party to recover. Stroke, agreeing with her, makes her way down the ladder and after making Auntie promise not to hurt herself while she’s gone, she stops momentarily by the bartender to Ye Old Salt to ask him if he’d check in on the party if she’s not back in a few hours. He told her he’d be happy to but stopped her as she turned to leave, asking her if Azat happened to be a carnivore. He tells her that he saw Azat throwing away his soup from the night before before he ordered a great deal of raw meat to eat. Somewhat confused, Stitches says that she’ll ask him and thanks the bartender for his help before following Stroke out the door and to the temple.

### Investigating the Temple:

As Stroke and Stitches near the temple the doors are closed. Standing nearby, they check to see if the building is occupied and can hear voices of a lot of people inside the building. Stroke briefly looks for windows to peer through, but finding none that are short enough for her to see into, she and Stitches open the doors to find a collection of Wastehunters. None are hostile and they seem to just be enjoying their time as if it were some sort of minor party there, and no one bats an eye at their entrance. Stitches quickly asks Stroke if she can speak Undercommon, and Stroke replies that she only speaks elvish. Deciding that that would have to do, the two of them approach a table of drow Wastehunters who are playing a game of Black Jack and ask to join. They are welcomed heartily and after a quick round of cards, the two of them begin to ask questions regarding the Purple Serpent and Silvers’ missing family.

The drow women tell them that the Purple Serpent is a place that is slowly gathering popularity, and how they seem to have developed a cult-like following. The peaceful people of the city hate them, but the others who aren’t are joining their numbers and supporting their ideas of violence. All of the drow are sorry to hear what happened to Silvers’ family, but none of them seem to have heard anything related to where they may have gone with the exception of the shyest one. Stroke softly asks her if she’s seen anything and the shy elf explains how she saw a family of elves that match her description being led into the club. She tells them that they seemed to be walking in on of their own free will but something about them seemed off to her. She seems to think that they were under some sort of influence, but be it chemical or magical she doesn’t know. Stroke and Stitches talk with them for a bit longer before thanking them for their help and returning back to the tavern.

### Missing Butler:

Arriving back at Ye Old Salt, the two of them relay all the information they had gathered so far to the group, telling them that it has been all but confirmed that Silvers’ family is being held hostage in the Purple Serpent. Deciding that the information they had gathered was going to be the best thing they get for the rest of the day, the group goes over what they have learned one last time. After sorting through the information and the hours go by, it becomes suddenly evident that Azat, who had been sent to sell the Chrome that Merlekka had on him, has yet to return. Becoming worried for their friend, the group begins to wonder where he’s gone. Stroke asks Ringer if she can check the cameras of the city and Ringer begins to tell her that it would take days for her to go through every camera in all of HELL but is interrupted by Facimilie, telling her exactly which cameras saw Azat last.

Going over the camera footage given to them by Ringers AI friend, the group watches as Azat leaves the tavern and makes his way to a shop where he would be able to sell the cyberwear. They watch him enter the building, and when he leaves, he is seen transforming into a housecat, and leaving the view of the camera. The party stands astounded, having no knowledge that he was capable of transformation, and begin to wonder what they just saw. Stitches goes to ask Diamant, finding her sitting in the shower, fully clothed and high out of her mind. Telling her that she would catch hypothermia if she sat there any longer she drags her out and brings her to the attic. The group tries to ask her if she knew of this, but Diamant is still suffering the effects of the Sid that Stroke gave her, and can only mumble about how Galadias head exploded in front of her.

Deciding to leave her alone for now, the group discusses what they can do to find Azat before eventually coming to terms with the fact that they can’t do anything. They decide it would be best to wait for him to return, if he does, and if in the morning, he still hasn’t returned, they would attempt to find him from there. Unsatisfied and worried, the group eats dinner before ending their day and attempting to relax to the best of their ability. As they wind down, most of the group falls asleep, and Diamant, Peppermint and Auntie are the only ones awake when Azat does eventually return. As he sneaks his way up the ladder he quietly enters the room, bringing with him a large duffle bag, and the party members who are awake are shocked to see that he is covered head to toe in blood.