SotB LII: Heart of Winter

To save Rogesh Vai from a vengeful former ally, the crew must solve a 20-year-old cold case…

## Agents

### Session 1

* Jiimb Ortuba
* Derra
* Aiden
* Pakbatt
* Saber Scintel
* Hack

### Session 2

* Rhuk
* Alro
* R0C-K4 "Rocky"
* Gristle
* Erdogan Cael]
* Wulf

## Mission Report (Session 2)

*Summary by Ben*

After receiving an ultimatum from Avadrie Norz, commanding the agents to solve her mother’s murder in exchange for Rogesh’s life, the agents first worry about recovering two of their captured agents: Wulf and Rhuk. The two are in a cell, under guard of one particularly lazy defel, while Dalan Oberos and Aurra Sing argue nearby. Rhuk forces his binders loose while Wulf slips out of his own. Their guard looks over and motions for them to be quiet before approaching the prisoners and making an offer: take him to Rogesh and he’ll let them go. Rhuk and Wulf agree, leading the defel to slip them out while the argument is still underway. The two are led to the WinterSec station where the other agents are waiting.

Once united again, the investigation begins. Erdo begins researching the stories surrounding Astrid’s death and finds them surprisingly sparse, with surprisingly few names attached. Gristle and Rhuk request a meeting with the coroner, and are first met by a detective, Falk, who demands an explanation. Gristle explains that he’s a surgeon interested in the Astrid Norz case. The detective is taken aback and quickly cancels his appointments before ushering Rhuk and Gristle into their investigation section.

Detective Falk explains that WinterSec was told to keep their investigation quiet, and also that he’s had misgivings about the Norz family for a while. WinterSec was aware of some sort of Black Sun ties, and that they were involved in some less-than-savory business. Among the evidence he turns over is a recording of a woman speaking ill of Astrid to a drunken man.
Astrid had a falleen lover
Her father was from Abregado-rae (Jeppo Sr.), but gave her a Corfinian name
Wasn’t a very good mother

After requesting the autopsy reports, Gristle sees that she definitely died of hypothermia. Detective Falk expresses some suspicion, claiming that the area in which Astrid died isn’t actually prone to avalanches. Also, there was an attack on a facility just after her death. The two events occurring so close together has always seemed suspicious to Falk. He shows the agents a transmission sitting on WinterSec’s system - something that was sent out during the attack, but is very garbled. Alro accesses the console to try to decrypt the transmission, but finds that another user is in the system. She recognizes the counter-programs as belonging to N1-M3. She asks him to stand down, but he issues the same command in return. After an exchange of offensive protocols, N1-M3 is forced out of the system and Alro is able to decrypt the transmission without interruption.

Transmission: “You were the one who turned Astrid’s father against me. Did you really think I wouldn’t find out what you did? There will never be peace between us, I swear.”

Some of the agents recognize the voice of Prince Xizor. He seems to have been the one responsible for destroying the facility, from which several YT-2400s fled during its collapse. With the information on-hand, the agents conclude that the message was to the Broker, and that the facility in question was a Broker safehouse. Xizor could have been Astrid’s falleen lover, and the Broker and Black Sun could have been secretly warring for Jeppo Eddo’s allegiance. Detective Falk informs the agents that he was the detective in charge of the investigation at the time, and with the new information they’ve brought forth, he wants to get back to solving the case. However, attaining official approval to proceed will be difficult, so he decides to let it slide if the agents want to do any prying in their systems.

Alro and Rhuk stay at the investigation area to investigate Astrid’s ties to Black Sun. Apparently she was being groomed to be a Vigo by Prince Xizor himself. The prince had visited the Norz estate twice, about a month before her death. Black Sun had been very active on Corfai during that time period, but the activity died off completely after her death. They then look into the Norz family files. Astrid and Edric were estranged for a while before her death. Edric had apparently broken ties with his criminal past, and he refused to contribute to Astrid’s growing underworld network.

The agents attempt to call up the Broker, but the line is directed to N1-M3, who repeatedly tells them to stand down. With the open line, Rhuk traces the call, cutting through the droid’s proxy in order to find the origin point of the signal: many levels deep in the center of Winterdome, deeper than the city should even go. Erdo and Alro go into the city’s schematics to try to discern a possible entry point to this underground location. They find a maintenance hatch that seems like a likely entrance. They say their goodbyes to the detective and receive his contact information, then do the same for the defel.

At the center of Winterdome, they find the hatch in question. Alro breaks out her slicing gear and opens it up. Inside, they see very similar architecture to the other Broker safehouses they’ve been inside. At the end of the corridor, a lift opens. The agents hesitantly step inside and ride it down at breakneck speed. At the bottom, the door opens to reveal Savo, N1-M3 and one of the agents from the Malastare cell. Broker asks them for the meaning of their visit. N1-M3 seems furious at the agents, but the Broker motions for him to calm down. R0C asks for an explanation, and the Broker claims that Astrid had become a liability and was too close to Black Sun. Again, R0C demands a further explanation, and the Broker drops her hood in response, revealing herself to be Astrid Norz.

The agents asks her to come clean to Avadrie in order to clear the slate, and despite her hesitation, Astrid agrees. Wanting to get Rogesh back as soon as possible, the agents set out just as Astrid sends a message to her daughter, revealing the truth. Avadrie and Gunnar are astounded and request that the agents meet them at an ice-melting plant just outside of town. The agents message the defel and tell him where the meeting place is, but Gristle hands over a UV light to Alro, who modifies it to extend to a longer range, just in case.

When the agents arrive, they land a short distance off and see Avadrie, Gunnar, Rogesh and some Norz guards in the distance. Just as the two sides move toward each other, a shot rings out and Dalan Oberos announces that he’s come to claim the bounty on Avadrie Norz. Gristle protests, but Gunnar is confused, not sure who to trust, and shoots Rogesh in his panic. From their other side, Pokhil and his clanless brethren emerge to join the fight. Erdo and R0C rush to Rogesh’s side to intercept Pokhil. R0C warns Pokhil not to advance any further. Rhuk engages one of the defel, goring it with his tusks. Gristle calls out to Gunnar and pleads for him and his guards to help - after taking a moment to consider, Gunnar agrees and his guards begin helping in the fight against Oberos and Pokhil. R0C lands a blunt blow on Pokhil, knocking him into the ice where a current begins sucking him under. At the same time, Erdo slips into a crack and falls into the water. Alro, seeing this, slides over and reaches into the ice. Dalan lashes out with his whip, knocking Alro out. Gristle takes a hit from one of the defel, suffering a slash from poisoned claws. In retaliation, he strikes a disabling blow, knocking the defel to the ice after a bolt from Wulf wounds it. One of the clanless staggers closer to Rogesh and strikes out, but Erdo deflects the blow, saving the injured infiltrator. Gristle calls out for the defel they’d made a deal with, who promptly appears, yelling for his fellow defel to stop trying to kill Rogesh. R0C is struck and deactivated by Dalan’s whip, and Gristle yells out again, convincing the defel to turn on Dalan.

Just then, the Sunflare drops out of the sky and slows to a hover. Its loading ramp opens and Jeppo Jr. emerges before leaping down to engage Dalan, fighting him to the edge of the ice field where the bounty hunter retreats, disappearing into a passage in the snow. The two clanless assassins also retreat to try to retrieve Pokhil, and the agents are left without threats to engage. Gristle runs over to see to Rogesh, and Jeppo Jr. introduces himself to Avadrie. Everyone gets off of the breaking ice and returns to Winterdome to meet with Astrid.