027. Spectre Ops

The motley infiltrates Abford Pharma, and gets more than they bargained for….

***"The best games reach climax."***

The motley awakens at The Spark bright and early, ready for their assault on Abford Pharma. The crew go over the plan at breakfast: Claude will drive them in as James Togot accidentally creates a "chemical spill" inside the building and vents it to the rest of the building, influenced by Sophia's dreamwalking. Kyoko will intercept the call for the emergency response, allowing Braum, Patches, and Sir Xaeron to infiltrate the now-empty complex in hazmat suits.

Before setting out, Sophia continues to express her hesitance that Incisor isn't accompanying them. The redcap steps out into the garden with the sidhe, and explains, again, that someone needs to stay back to defend the Spark in case of attack. Sophia feels that "they're all in this together", and then mumbles something about Incisor "maybe looking sexy fighting in there"…. Incisor leans in to Sophia, very, very close, and casts Hardened Heart, inuring Sophia to the effects of manipulation, mundane and magical alike. She does allow her an "out", if she so chooses, by whispering Incisor's name.

The crew waits a few blocks away from the pharmaceutical company for hours, but finally, the plan is launched. Patches sets up a "containment area" outside the building as the employees gather in an orderly fashion, waiting to be allowed back in. Sir Xaeron, Braum, and Patches spread out on the top floor to look for the rocket code, and any trace of Scythe. Their search comes up empty at first, save for many different letters and memos addressed to the company from a group with a familiar logo… a P inside a diamond.

As the crew moves down to the second floor, Sophia is approached by one of the Abford employees. Noticing that her cell signal is lost, she starts complaining to Sophia about "how this always happens at the worst times". Sophia coaxes more information out of her, including the fact that her creepy boss is nowhere to be found… a woman with a very severe face and hair tied back in a bun. Realizing that she must be referring to the woman who attacked them previously, Sophia excuses herself and ducks inside the building, looking to warn the crew that they are not alone.

They meet up inside a small warehouse-like room on the second floor, filled with caged animals of various sizes and types. Several larger cages appear to have been recently cleaned out, but without any indication of where they may have gone, the crew decide to head downstairs to confront the mysterious scientist still hiding out inside the building. Before they can start to move, a freight elevator at the far end of the room opens, revealing a sheep in a cage, standing on some blood! Sophia casts Willow Whisper, asking from whence it came; "the mouth with teeth" comes the reply.

The crew realizes that *someone* must have sent the sheep back up from below and, despite the risks, they need to find out what monster the sheep is referring to. Venturing down to the sub-basement in the freight elevator, the crew braces for the worst, but find themselves instead inside a massive, dark warehouse. Although it is completely empty, the sound of rushing water seems to be coming from behind the far wall…. Noticing some antennae on the ceiling, Patches spots a control panel which, when activated, opens the far wall up.

Across the warehouse in the second room, the crew is shocked to behold a three-story tall waterfall, crashing down on top of an equally massive sapphire dragon, wings in tatters from the pounding water. The severe scientist stands on a platform off to the side, recording measurements on a clipboard and tablet as Patches shouts to her, warning her to leave the building because of a chemical spill. The woman dismisses Patches' order, noting that the "chemical spill" is clearly fake. Patches sticks to her guns as she advances across the warehouse. When the woman tries closing the door, Patches forces it open with her crafted doorjam, allowing the crew into the room with the waterfall. Patches mooches away the woman's tablet to try to learn more about her research, as Sophia takes it on herself to try a more polite approach with the scientist. Introducing herself as Cassandra, it becomes very clear to Sophia that even though she has no ambitions to take charge of Abford's research, she is *incredibly* curious about the Kithain and their existence. She asks Sophia whether they live forever; "yes and no," Sophia replies cryptically (but not dishonestly).

As Cassandra reveals to the crew that a woman named Sandy Leena is the real head of the research here, Braum and Patches spy four SWAT team members crossing the warehouse floor from the elevator. Forming a tight phalanx, they order the crew to drop their weapons and put their hands on the ground. Sophia takes cover behind Cassandra as Patches and Braum comply, against their better judgement; Sir Xaeron, though, draws himself up to his full height and orders the officers to turn around and leave before they get hurt. Wordlessly, three of the SWAT team members follow his Dictum, while the fourth looks on in confusion. Having had the tables turned on him so quickly, the rookie panics, emptying his clip right at Patches! Thinking quickly, Patches uses her telekinetic arts to jerk the gun up, forcing the majority of the spray of bullets up into the ceiling, although she is grazed by one. Braum unleashes a huge burst of eldritch energy, sending the officer running back towards the elevator. Braum charges him down, body slamming him down onto the floor, where he cracks his head and is knocked out.

Patches increases the size of the water pipe at the source of the waterfall to lessen its power; in a matter of moments, Scythe stands, and roars at the assembled group! Patches quickly offers to bring Scythe back to Little One, and the dragon stumbles out into the warehouse, battered and broken. She coughs up a small cube, which Patches quickly contains, recognizing that this is the rocket they have been searching for! As Sir Xaeron assures the group that they have at least an hour before more people enter the building, Sophia persuades Cassandra to take them to the old "YUNG" computer from Kay's photographs. In the morgue where they found Zistor, they discover an old computer system that matches the image: Patches pulls up the rocket's activation code, writing down the last two digits before deleting the file.

With a smaller-sized Scythe, a rocket, and a code now in their possession, the crew prepare to leave Abford Pharma….