Stranger Series: The Dangers of Drinking

## Summary

The crew decided to spend their evening frequenting a new high end bar in the little Europe called Il Sangue Della Città. An elite club set in a disused, converted church. The crew all arrived individually attempting to make their way inside. It became quickly apparent that there were 2 separate queues here, one queue was of people who all shared a common theme, all of them extremely wealthy and all of them fashioning some sort of rose.

The other line was made up of typical glitterati hipster night city crowd. Upon closer inspection a common theme was noticed with them too, many of them all had a similar tattoo or two pointed wings.

Friendly got in by joining up with a crowd in wing section, after some quick talking he managed to swindle some help and information on getting inside. As he entered he was given a very strange opportunity to get the winged symbol brandished by a small contraption. He of course took it.

Amari made her way in by befriending an old couple on the rose side who took a shining to her beauty. After some conversation the doting lady gave her a cred chip that had been sculpted into a rose. The lady told her to walk right through the main doors and present the rose.

Mad Max had caught the attention of a tough guy in the rose side, however when asked if he "ate clean" the conversation descended into Max hooking the "tough guy", much to the shock of the roses that surrounded them. Just before the man snapped his Trauma team card Clarke got into the mix, Clark had previous also had a run in with the same person, but used this opportunity to get into his good books. Clarke grappled Max and threw him to the ground in front of the beautiful rose crowd. Unfortunately for Max this was the end of the line as he had caused too much of a commotion with the VIPs. Fortunately for Clark the show of bravado was enough to catch the eye of the tough guys very good looking female counterpart. He was provided with a rose cred chip and told to walk through the front doors.

Upon entrance to the church Clarke and Amari set about looking for their "Roses" whilst Friendly made his way to the bar with his new friends. Upon arrival to the bar Friendly accepted the offer of a drink from his group, surprised enough that there was no alcohol, instead only fresh pressed, real juice of all kinds.

As the evening went on, each edge runner had a similar conversation with a rose. They were offered payment for a small medical procedure in which a small amount of blood would be removed from them, less than would be taken when given blood. They were told that the rose would be hooked into a machine next to them in some sort of "brain dance" and that they would be in a state of calm and sleep.

All of them took the money.

They were all bought downstairs into an old set of crypts, each bought into an individual room that had been converted into a small medical theater. The walls and ceiling however 100% covered in mirrors, in the room was a nurse, a plushly laid out medical bed and a strange machine attached to both the bed and a headset. The crew were told the particulars of the procedures including the fact that due to the length (45mins) there would be a sedative involved, so should they agree to participate, they will be in for the duration of the procedure.

During this both Clarke and Amari noticed that although there were 3 people in the room, they could only see 2 reflections, Their own and the nurses. Putting it down to tricks of the mind all three of the crew decided to go ahead with the procedure.

When injected with the sedative all passed their resist drugs, what was supposed to send them to sleep, instead allowed them to stay awake during the procedure, however their bodies were very much out of their control. All of them mellowed into what was quite a pleasant, almost out of body experience, with time seeming to become untrackable.

After however long all of them started to hear what sounded like faint screams, some long, some loud. The crew playing them off as noise from the machines as they mellow into the strange state of being unable to move their bodies as if sedated, but still being conscious.

The calm was broken when a strange woman entered each person's room, each crew member saw a different person as they stood over their beds looking down at them, after a while sniffing them around their ear before turning their attention to the chair of the rose.

It was at this point Friendly also realised he couldn't see the reflection of his rose, all chairs looking empty to the crew, this was until the strange figures started to kill the roses, the mirrors around the room glitching to reveal the reflections of the now dead roses. With one last inspection the strange women leave the room. Clarke's rose had been particularly brutalised.

After what felt like forever with nothing more that the sound of their own heartbeat for company, the crew regained their control and almost instantly total chaos ensued. As 15 other people woke to the same scene. Installing bolting for where they remembered the exit. The crew also bolted for the stairwell back to the exit upon hitting the main church floor they were presented with what can only be described as a massacre. Every rose murdered some in extremely violent ways.

Stood in the centre of the bar, a man with long black hair, pale white skin, blushed red lips. His flesh torn away from his skin to reveal a metal beta frame. Behind him flashes a symbol that is emblazoned into the crews memories. With a smile he leaps into the air, out of the dome of the church and into night city.  Dr. Acula

## Loot/EXP

* Clark // 7DT // 250eb // 40ip // 1\* rose credchip (empty)
* Tomo // 7 DT // 250eb // 40ip // 1\* Rose Credchip (Empty) // 1\* Old Lady body (uninspected)
* Friendly // 7 DT // 250eb // 40ip // 1\* strange symbol tattoo // 1\* Friend in Phang.
* Mad Max // 7 DT // 100eb // 20ip //