PARTY HISTORY.

(Monday-Tuesday, October 22-23, 2051) // March 26, 2024

The party met at Chan Bodega, reuniting after nearly a year apart since the Reef assault. Ford was the most forthcoming with his place in life, but all three men were relatively vague about how they’d been spending the ensuing months. Nonetheless, they shared a drink in honor of their fallen comrade, Little Caesar, and shared priorities – for Ford, a room in which to lay low. 

For Dusty, a job. After meeting the Chan family, Dusty was beckoned to a cellar to meet with the man he’d been tasked with extracting – there, he and Norville encountered a man in a splendid, tailored suit, eating noodles and playing cards with the excitable Chan children.

Little Caesar.

After a brief reunion, Caesar explained that he had survived the Reef invasion thanks to Dr. Fishhead, who dragged the nearly dead techie away from the Militech onslaught to safety. Days later, Caesar awoke in an apartment in the Executive Zone, was nursed back to health, and then went out alone on the streets of Night City to resume his search for the missing Apollito. He came to work at a Casino for a group he refers to as the Deanos at a Casino he refers to as Deanos Emporium. Since then, he’s split time working for the group and spending his nights following leads for his missing ward.

At this point, Mandrake emerged from the shadows and explained that he had encountered Caesar after the latter took a job intercepting and transmitting the data from a hard drive in Little China. Upon executing the job, information went out over the open data pool that triggered a Militech response. Dusty inquired if there was any reason to believe that the data belonged to Militech, but Mandrake seemed convinced that the data was not Militech proprietary. Rather, he believed that Caesar was a useful idiot used to get the data out where it could be intercepted. After pulling Caesar away from what Mandrake believed to be a setup, he escorted him to the Chan Bodega, where he hoped that Zhang Chan would be capable of assisting in an escape.

Ford came downstairs at this point, where he confessed that he’d spent a lot of time in therapy dealing with Caesar’s reported demise. Dusty, too, chimed in that he had poured out many beers in honor of Caesar. Due to Dusty’s incomprehension of social mores, he announced that he felt entitled to compensation (Ford, slightly more reasonable, was just happy his friend was doing okay).

Ford asked Caesar if he was in possession of the hard drive that he was hired to intercept, and Caesar said no. Ford asked if Caesar was in possession of any of the data that he had transmitted and, again, Caesar said no. At this point, Mandrake made it clear that the only focus the group would have that night was to exfiltrate Caesar from Little China, getting him through the Militech checkpoints locking the area down and giving everybody time to gather information for next steps. As Mandrake had only intended – via Bao Chan – to hire Dusty, he paid the money he owed and then suggested that Caesar pay Norville and Ford for their services, to which he seemed amenable.

Their first priority to the end of Caesar’s escape was to disguise the man. Naturally, the only way to accomplish this was to put him in a wig (akin to Debbie Harry), women’s makeup (courtesy of 13-year-old Fang Chan), and a dress. It was at this point that Mandrake lamented the death of the group’s in-house psychologist.

The group decided the best course of action was to leave the Chan Bodega and approach a Night Market with which Norville was familiar. Their departure saddened young Fang Chan, who hugged Norville and asked Dusty to take a bullet for him. Norville hugged her, Dusty agreed, and Caesar gave the girl a hug, cash, and a deck of cards. He also gave Bao Chan ten eddies.

At the Night Market, the group encountered a weapons dealer with whom Norville had become familiar. He was able to sell Dusty a shotgun and provide the very fetching Caesar a very-heavy pistol. Ford, leaving his chair-based economy, entered a turnip-based one, purchasing root vegetables and a machete from nearby tables.

The group then set off to find a pathway out of Night City, escaping a Militech patrol by hiding in an unhoused encampment and then booking it down an alleyway. 

Whether it helped or not, Norville also paid a vagrant to streak through the night market as a distraction.

Nearing the northern boundaries of Little China, the group realized that they would have to make it through a Militech checkpoint sooner or later. They approached a group of four officers at a blockade and attempted to talk their way through; the effort was initially a rousing success, with Norville convincing the officers that the group was a bachelor party gone awry. A group of degenerates at the wrong place and the wrong time… in possession of turnips and ill-intent.

The group might have made it through the checkpoint, had Caesar not offered up his computer, which a quick data scan revealed to be in possession of the data that Militech had been seeking. Militech drew weapons first, leading to a firefight.

Ford von Erich grappled the Militech leader, using him as a human shield and taking him out of combat while the rest of the group engaged in a firefight with the other three officers. Norville threw away his shuriken. Caesar made several targeted shots with his new pistol, getting used to its weight and eventually landing a few hits. Dusty played the role of street sweeper, blasting multiple officers at once with his new shotgun and drawing the ire of the biggest officer of the opposition, who returned fire with a blast that blew Montgomery’s leg clean off. From there, the group was able to counterattack in unison, with Caesar emerging from an alley like Norma Bates and blasting the remaining officers before Ford curb-stomped the lone survivor.

From this point, the group made a rapid departure from Little China and then hailed a cab to take Dusty Montgomery to a hospital, where his leg was replaced and the group decided to spend the night.

(Tuesday, October 24, 2051) // April 16, 2024

The party woke up in Dusty Montgomery’s hospital room in City Medical Center, whereupon Dusty found his new, replacement leg working fine. A doctor in the room examined X-rays until asked by Dusty about his prognosis, at which point the doctor revealed himself to be Mandrake in disguise. Mandrake complimented the group on extracting Caesar from Little China, and discussed with them the nature of their current predicament.

The group questioned Caesar as to the nature of the job he had accepted en route to obtaining the data onboard the device that nearly got them killed at the hands of the Militech checkpoint. Being honest, Caesar confessed that he had accepted the job with minimal context or information regarding the scope of what was being asked of him, or of what the potential risks might be. Consequently, after failing to decrypt the files on the device, Caesar handed the data and the device over to Mandrake in hopes that he would be able to find other resources to figure out why Carter hired him for this job in the first place.

Mandrake handed Dusty a business card with a ™ on it. After some analysis, the group ascertained that they could not obtain any further information about the card or its origin. Nevertheless, Mandrake suggested that this card and the “™” group played some integral role in whatever operation Caesar was hired to interrupt. Mandrake volunteered to track the lead down while the group went on their own way.

Caesar introduced the group to his personal driver, Mahmood, who took the party to the Burton where they met with the Deanos. Caesar took the opportunity to change out of his ravishing dress and into a fancy suit, and the group spent the interim getting familiar with the bodysculpted Deanos in charge of the establishment. The group made fast friends with Warren Deano, whose oily hair enabled Norville and a stray cigarette to set a ficus plant ablaze, and with Primo Deano, bartender to the stars.

After making introductions to Caesar’s benefactors, the group went to Dusty’s favorite bar - the Last Tango, whereupon they drank more cocktails and met with the staff. Balboa, a bartender, referred a job to Dusty, who disappeared frequently to a supply closet area, and the group found themselves bothered by a pair of private detectives by the names of Gould and Grayson who inquired about a missing girl named Isabella. Around this time, as well, Ford, Caesar, and Norville practiced throwing stars at dart boards for points.

Dusty met with a girl named TraylBlazer at the Last Tango, requesting that she leave the bar and find a new place to get into trouble, but the girl pushed back obstinately.

The party met with Balboa’s contact, a man named Carlson, who summoned them to the Slammer for a meeting about a job for which he was hiring. After soliciting Mahmood for the ride, the group made their way into the boosterganger venue to enjoy cocktails and the sounds of a punk rock band tearing the south-docks up. Afterwards, Dusty made contact with Carlson and his friends, who hired the group to break the legs of a few dope dealers who had passed along subpar products - initially, Carlson had intended to hire Dusty et. al. to murder the dope pushers, but was convinced to lower the punishment to maiming. The group reluctantly accepted the job, whereupon they learned that the targets were old friends of theirs - Anand and Remy, veterans of the Reef.

The group ventured out to the University District, near the Biotechnica campus, to an abandoned lab area that went beneath the ground. Once inside, they met with Remy and Anand, who were happy to find that the gang was still alive and more than willing to accept the burden of serving Carlson up a counterattack. Over a prolonged catchup conversation, the group excavated more of Caesar’s survival story from the Reef, indicating that Dr. Fishhead is still alive, and exchanged information with Anand and Remy that seemed integral to their success moving forward - namely, that Carlson is hunting them, and that the city remains dangerous for members of the School. In trade, Remy and Anand informed the party that they were attempting to keep their heads above water with money from their tried-and-true occupation (drug running), but that they were struggling in the absence of their chief chemist, Said Roth, who was abducted with many other members of the School by Militech during the siege of the Reef.

Remy and Dusty exchanged information, whereupon Remy provided Dusty with contact information for Dax.

The group then went their separate ways, agreeing not to finish out the contract provided by Carlson and reaffirming their friendship with Remy and Anand. As they broke off, Ford committed to attending a corporate meeting at Morse, and the rest of the party returned to the Deanos’ casino - the Burton - for a night of games and cocktails. There, Dusty had a mediocre showing at craps and ran into Sammy Mandrake Jr., in another disguise, who informed the group that he had learned that the ™ group appeared to operate a fighting pit out of the Watson Development in a building known as the Kabuki Theater.

(Wednesday, October 25, 2051) // April 23, 2024

The party began the night separated – Norville, Caesar, and Dusty remained at the Burton Casino, where Sammy Mandrake Deano provided them with an invitation to an event at the so-called Kabuki Theater in the Watson District’s Kabuki Neighborhood. The invitation was for an unnamed event, suspected of being a fighting ring, to occur the following evening, with writing on the card reading “The Party Never Stops™”.

Mandrake also relayed to the group that they would meet with a contact of his named Catalyst – a netrunner for the NCPD who believes he has information pertaining to the organization from which Caesar was hired to steal. To meet Catalyst and enter the Kabuki Theater, Mandrake told Dusty that the group would have to go to the docks, find a cargo container, enter inside of it, and use a lift to lower themselves down to an entrance under the water.

“I’m fucking with you,” Mandrake said. “It’s in the Watson Development, near the west-end and the shorefront, just outside of the Kabuki neighborhood beneath an abandoned performance hall.” He told the group that Catalyst would be easy to identify inside the venue, as he has a Multioptic Mount and Artificial Shoulder Mounts. To identify themselves to the man, they should use the keyword Kayfabe.

Meanwhile, across town, Ford returned to Morse to ascertain how the company was proceeding after the impromptu corporate shakeup he had witnessed nights earlier. Meeting with Stewart, who confirmed that Amber Abu-Maneh is recognized as the new head of the C-Suite, Ford then touched base with Jackson Peoria who confirmed the new corporate shakeup was unexpected but would increase efficiency – particularly for their AI division. He drank a couple suit Marys through a celery straw and then went about his way.

Ford returned home to sleep. Dusty took a cab back home to sleep. Caesar and Norville partied with the Deanos until they crashed in Caesar’s suite at the Burton.

The following morning, Ford checked in at the office to find business running as usual. At this point, he made contact with Dusty who, thanks to Norville, identified a night market and facilitated the group’s reunification over a bit of shopping. The night market, unfortunately, was a bit of a bust – instead of guns and ammo, it offered rutabagas and fruit. Nevertheless, the party found itself together once more and ready to pick up the trail of the enigmatic Carter who hired Caesar.

The group drove to the Chan Bodega to check in on the Chan family, announcing upon their arrival that the Chan family would be in danger if the party made contact with them, which was an interesting comment in the literal midst of the party making contact with them, and I’m not trying to be critical but it really seemed like an ill-conceived decision for the simple conceit of setting up an opportunity for the group to order free noodles, and this likely seems like I’m razzing the party but nobody reads these fucking recaps so I can pretty much say whatever I want and you clowns aren’t going to notice it. Especially Joe.

Anyway, the group ate their noodles and then killed time with Mahmood en route to the Kabuki Theater. They arrived after nightfall and made their way toward the theater, where they used the invitation to allow all of the party proper (sans Mahmood) to enter the theater. Inside, Norville ordered beers for the group and then identified Catalyst at a concession stand. He approached and, after some small talk, used the keyword to identify himself with the hulking borg monstrosity … with the voice of Jerry Lewis.

Catalyst told Norville (and an eavesdropping Dusty) that this operation is organized by an impresario that people believe is taking over many of the hustles previously under the purview of the legendary underground figure The Tin Man. This impresario seems to be creating an underground network of gambling, prostitution, and fighting operations to create a criminal enterprise the likes of which Night City hasn’t seen in years. His identity is unknown, but some of his operatives have to be operating in this facility where the ™ Group is organizing professional wrestling fights that will later culminate in a shoot fight between star attraction the Night City Knight and a suicidal member of the audience.

The group broke off from Catalyst and went to find a man named Wally, who chatted the group up about the fighting outfit and eventually offered Ford the chance to take on Night City Knight at 3:1 odds. The group put up a collective 2400 eddies, and Ford took to the ring for the fight of his life. They also met with DJ James and DJ Ma Dukes, who Dusty still does not like.

The crowd was initially behind the hulking Knight, but after some support galvanized by Ford’s valet manager Norville they quickly became a divided audience. Ford and Knight traded grapples back and forth until the encounter devolved into a slugfest, with Ford coming within inches of death before landing a knockout blow on the underworld champion and putting Knight into the ground (and 7200 eddies on the books in favor of the party)…

(Wednesday-Thursday, October 25-26, 2051) // April 30, 2024

The group celebrated Ford’s victory over the Night City Knight and quickly collected on the money they were due from Wally, who was in quite high spirits after one of his partners, Dickard, revealed he had placed a long-shot bet on Ford that more than covered their losses. Wally gave Dusty and Caesar more than they were owed, 7500 eddies, and offered to give Ford some medical attention as they discussed pressing business.

Ford and Norville, meanwhile, argued with ringside crew about whether or not the Kabuki Theater Championship had been on the line in Ford’s match (it expressly wasn’t), but discussed the possibility of a rematch with a more significant prize purse (and the title) at stake in the near future. They proceeded to join Dusty and Caesar in Wally’s club box, where a medic named HiveMind applied a speedheal to Ford. HiveMind lamented that Ford took his spot in the main event, as HiveMind makes a killing recording dangerous stunts and selling them as braindances – getting walloped by Night City Knight would have been a significant payout for him.

A group of men wearing lucha libre masks, one whose mask was simply tattooed on his face, entered the box and chastised Wally and the party for allowing their main attraction to get beat up in front of a bunch of marks. Wally handwaved them away, but suggested to the party that a rematch in the future might ease some tensions and be a lucrative opportunity to be promoted.

Once alone, Wally leveled with the party and told them that he belongs to the ™ Group that they’ve been investigating; more importantly, now that he sees the group is serious, he’s happy to make a connection for them with his superiors. They are located, most nights, at a building known as Timmy in Little Europe’s Czech district. He says he’ll shout ahead at the group and let them know that the party is coming, and for the party to tell them that Wally vouches for them.

The party reunited with Mahmood, who Wally had freed from security’s constraints, and went off to Little Europe to celebrate their victory. There, they got drinks at a cocktail bar recommended by Mahmood (which Dusty paid for) and then proceeded to scout out Timmy, a skyscraper nearby.

Timmy is a large building in a rather decrepit and run-down section of Little Europe. It is adjacent other, similar buildings, but is appreciably the least damaged of the structures in the area. Dusty took advantage of this fact to climb a nearby building and use his sniper rifle to attempt to ascertain what lied inside of Timmy, but his view was blocked by tinted windows.

At around this time, Caesar asked Mahmood if he could connect him with the Fixer he never introduced to Mahmood and was then upset that Mahmood could not derive the man’s identity and contact information from brief universal osmosis.

Back on the rooftop, Dusty witnessed a pair of drunk partyboys being thrown out of Timmy by a security operative. He descended to the street, informed the group of what he’d seen, and questioned the men about the nature of Timmy. In their stupor, they indicated that whatever was inside of Timmy was “a lot of fun.”

So that Ford could rest, the group decided to call it an evening and reconvene the following day in an attempt to storm Timmy. Ford went back to his home, and the other three members of the party crashed in Caesar’s suite at the Deano’s.

The following day, without much work to accomplish at Morse, Ford quickly reconnected with the group and, together, they made their way to Timmy after nightfall. Dropped off by Mahmood, the group went inside and briefly tried to figure out how to access an elevator to a higher floor, eventually finding an entry point behind a large painting of Ben Franklin. Inside the elevator, the group found themselves sealed inside with a flamethrower nozzle pointed at them from above – a voice interrogated them over a comms unit, which Dusty quickly realized was Mandrake, who summoned the elevator and enabled the group to exit on a floor marked “Let It Ride.”

The elevator doors opened, revealing a man in a beard, which Dusty intuitively grabbed and pulled aside, revealing Mandrake, who wished the group well and left in the elevator. How does he get all of these disguises? Beyond the elevator, the group saw a sterling casino floor complete with a number of table games, showgirls, and a parade of dancing men hoisting topless dancers on their shoulders. It was Sodom.

The group soon met a woman named Tina, who had heard from Wally about the group’s exploits. Tina’s job with the ™ Group was never made clear, but what was readily apparent is that the synthcoke’d out redhead cares about one thing: fun. She offered Dusty and the group some drugs, partook herself, and then encouraged the group to prove their worth to her in the form of the fun-value they offered. Dusty initially attempted to impress her by placing high-stakes wagers at a Craps table, but then took an off-hand comment from Tina suggesting that he “just go punch a guy at another table” seriously. Dusty proceeded to dead sprint across the floor of the casino, leap into the air, extend his leg while screaming aggressively, and karate kicked the stranger in the face before landing between two card tables in perfect splits (great way to break in his fresh leg’s hamstring).

Tina was moved. Excitedly, she ushered the group to another elevator at the head of the floor and sent them up to meet with her boss, the leader of the ™ Group.

At the top of the elevator, which opened to a lavish penthouse, the group found a man in bed with several women. Panicked at the sudden intrusion, the man rolled out of bed naked, sprinted toward a desk, and dug through a large pile of synthcoke for a gun before turning to address the group.

The man’s name was Timmy Macera.

(Thursday, October 26, 2051)

May 6, 2024

Facing a naked and erect Timmy Macera, the party explained their predicament to the head of the enigmatic ™ Group - they needed to find out if Carter worked for the organization and, if so, why he set up Caesar to take the fall for stealing information that belonged to the firm. As it turned, Timmy had no idea who Carter was - he did, however, recognize the theft Caesar performed at a man named Daryl’s birthday party. If true, that would mean that an outsider going by the name Carter convinced Caesar to rob one of ™ Group’s middlemen, Daryl, of information that he could only assume related to transactions occurring within the organization. Macera felt no sympathy for Daryl, but didn’t like the idea of somebody killing his fun.

Macera offered to connect the party with Daryl under the condition that they do a job for him - he retrieved his outfit from within a large pile of synthcoke, combed his hair with a spare gun, and then led the group back to the casino floor to explain. First, he placed an exorbitant bet at the roulette table - most of the gang followed suit, but everybody lost when the ball landed at Green 0. 

Timmy was enraged, until he remembered that he is the house.

Timmy offered the party money and information about Daryl if they would go to a brothel known as Willow’s Peak and figure out why the man of the house, a guy named Cage, hasn’t been sending girls to Timmy or Timmy. The group, as is tradition, took him up on the job. Timmy left to return to his orgy.

At this point, Dusty was confronted by Tina, who let him know that the man Dusty had previously assaulted on the game floor goes by the name Cadillac Jones - the kibble king of Night City. Cadillac vowed revenge, after proceeding to a hospital.

The party descended back to the exterior of Timmy, where they again found their faithful driver, Mahmood. The doors were open, and when the party entered Mahmood lowered the window at the front of the limo to inquire as to their destination. They then proceeded to Willow’s Peak.

Willow’s Peak had a brightly lit neon veneer in an otherwise dilapidated and rundown area of South Night City. On the facade, Dusty noticed what appeared to be a handful of slots in the building that seemed suited to house cameras or, worse, sentry turrets. The party then entered Willow’s Peak, leaving Mahmood to man the car, after a profound and heartfelt exchange between the group and their loyal friend.

Inside of Willow’s Peak the party met with a man behind a gated front desk who became quickly enamored with their story of being sent by Timmy to investigate the goings on at the brothel; nervous, he allowed the group downstairs and told them to ask for Cage. After a quick encounter with a maitre d’, who offered to seek Cage out and find him on their behalf, the party migrated to an unlikely destination - the club’s bar - for a round of drinks.

As the party examined Willow’s Peak and the people in its employ, they found a disturbing trend: almost all of the employees, at least the working ones, had bright blue eyes. The party tried to inquire about this phenomenon to the bartender, gleaning that the effect was likely the result of Shift Tacts that had been implanted in the workers.

A man in a snakeskin jacket, which illustrated his belief in identity and personal freedom, met the party at the bar and asked them to join him in his office. There, chainsmoking, the man explained that he had repeatedly told Timmy - who was banned from Willow’s Peak for doing a paint job - that he had been struggling to find and train enough girls to send to ™ Group because his outfit was being harassed by a group of women who had made it their mission to shut his operation down. This gang, the Black Demeters, had repeatedly shown up at the building to scout out the business and outright threaten to take Cage and his group out by any means necessary … most lately, they threatened that they would return in two days and leave a trail of blood in their wake if Cage and his friends didn’t evacuate and free their employees.

Properly given the ick, the party agreed to go find the Black Demeters and solve Cage’s problem for him (starting with repairing his sentry turrets out front). They then went outside, where Dusty and Norville spotted a strange-looking woman in black surveilling the building from afar. Approaching her (while Caesasr and Ford worked to fix the turrets), they had a conversation.

The woman’s name was Raquel, and she is one of many who watch Willow’s Peak to identify its staff, potential customers, and potential victims. As she and the Demeters saw it, the entertainment at the club are not there by their own accord. Instead, they’re women and men who have undergone a personality reframing via braindance. His suspicions confirmed, he and Norville convinced Raquel that they were friendly to her cause. In exchange for her contact information, they promised to have Caesar install a backdoor to the club’s turrets, making it easier for her gang to assault Willow’s Peak.

Dusty and Norville returned to Ford and Caesar - they didn’t inform the latter two about the deal they had struck, but simply asked Caesar to install a backdoor to the sentries as they had promised. Caesar acquiesced. After that, for Many Enigmatic Theoretically Ascertainable reasons, Ford re-entered the Peak and warned the front-desk attendant to “leave now”.

The party then returned to the limo. Doors open, as per usual, with the window up. The group told Mahmood to take them back to Timmy at the Timmy, and then made small talk. After a few minutes and no sign of Mahmood or life in the engine, Dusty approached the front door to the limo and opened it. There, he found Mahmood dead, his throat slashed, with a 100 eddie tip he had been given by Caesar covered in some enigmatic writing, reading:

WKHUH DUH WRR PDQB VHFUHWV IRU IDU WRR IHZ FDWV a FXULRVLWB LV D NLOOHU a BRX DUH WKH NHB FDHVDU a SR TJUY XHJMHNX PHIGLFNL

(Thursday, October 26, 2051) // May 22, 2024

The group stood over the cold, desecrated corpse of their dear friend and driver Mahmood. Dusty took it upon himself to inspect the crime scene, while Little Caesar accessed the limousine’s security devices to look for any clues as to who committed this heinous attack.

Dusty was able to find that Mahmood’s injuries – which initially looked like a slit throat by way of some sort of blade – were actually caused by somebody’s bare hands. The wounds to Mahmood’s throat almost appeared as if somebody used their fingers to rip his throat out while he was still alive. Searching the rest of the front cabin, Dusty was also able to find what appeared to be a human hair on the dashboard – notable, as Mahmood kept his space notoriously clean. Dusty retrieved the hair sample.

Caesar was able to get into the vehicle’s security footage, which didn’t show particularly much of anything. As Caesar explained it, the video details what occurred in the time between the party leaving the limo to enter Willow’s Peak and the time that they returned. It showed only the rear area of the limo, though Mahmood could be heard in the front cabin of the vehicle. For some time, all that can be heard on the recording is the sound of rain falling on the car and Mahmood singing to himself with the voice of an angel. Suddenly, something loud startles Mahmood and shakes the car; after the mysterious sound, a brief struggle can be heard that ended quickly with the sound of a squishing and tearing noise followed by a guttural death rattle. A door can be heard closing. Then, somebody – likely the assailant – opens the rear doors to the limousine, leaving them open for the party as Mahmood customarily did.

Screams from Willow’s Peak startled the group as a woman raced from the club with a security guard in pursuit. Dusty placed himself between the guard and the woman and convinced the man that he would bring the girl down after calming her. Dusty is a liar.

Dusty spoke at some length with the woman, who did not know much of anything about herself or how she ended up at Willow’s Peak. She thought her name was Natalie, but had no identification to verify her name, home, or identity. The group agreed to take her away from Willow’s Peak, but only after hauling Mahmood to the trunk of the limo to prevent any unwanted panic or attention. Caesar successfully distracted “Natalie” with a magic trick relying on the observer’s lack of object permanence.

With Caesar driving the limo (wearing Mahmood’s driver’s cap), the party proceeded to the Burton. Along the way, conversations with Natalie revealed that she had been captive at Willow’s Peak for at least a few months. Dusty grew suspicious that the woman, who wore familiar bright-white shoes, might be a former member of the School. This suspicion was emboldened when the woman referenced Wojciech, the “spiritual guru” from the Reef. Realizing this likely meant that “Natalie” had no home, Dusty suggested that the party drop her off with Remy, Anand, and the Reef survivors hiding out in the University District.

Remy and Anand were happy to receive Natalie, who Anand recognized as a girl named “Nico.” While initially concerned about the human trafficking and brainwashing at Willow’s Peak, Dusty’s assurance that the Black Demeters (who Remy recognized by name as being connected to an old Night City boostergang) would handle Cage’s operation reassured Remy and Anand. The party wished the School survivors well and went straight back to serious business.

Dusty bummed eight doses of cocaine.

The party returned, finally, to the Burton with heavy hearts and a heavy corpse in tow. Returning the limousine to the Burton’s garage, Caesar found himself face-to-face with Barry, a friendly mechanic who has a soft spot for Mahmood. Confused at first, Barry helped Caesar park the car and then went to the trunk expecting luggage but, alas, finding the corpse of his dear friend instead. Caesar is a low-key sociopath.

As the group explained to Barry what had happened, another man, also named Barry, approached to see what the commotion was all about. Other Barry was equally shocked and saddened to find the corpse of Mahmood, now laid out on a rolling dolly, and warned the group that whomever did this to Mahmood did this to all the Deanos. Caesar, prioritizing as always, asked them to go inside and retrieve bottles of booze to give Mahmood a proper eulogy.

The Barrys soon returned with the head of security, Sean Deano, and the party explained their situation. Sean was disheartened, but nowhere near as furious as Warren Deano who approached the Limo and scolded Caesar for leaving Mahmood – his sister’s nephew – alone in the car parked outside a sketchy club in a danger zone.

Dusty went inside at this point, irritated by the Barrys and, frankly, the entire Deano operation. While inside he saw a raucous party, with a woman stripping on the craps table, and a karaoke performance at the far-end of the casino.

Warren Deano continued to scold the party when Dusty returned. Hoping to take some heat off of Caesar, who had finally confessed to Warren the entirety of the story surrounding Carter and the heist in Chinatown, Dusty shared with Warren the forensics he had recovered from the limo. Warren shared an NCPD contact with Dusty who could help test the hairs, then went inside. The group followed, had a drink at the bar, and then Norville went wandering.

Norville caught the tail end of a harrowing performance of the Simon & Garfunkle classic, Homeward Bound, performed by a strange man with a bomber jacket and huge mutton chop sideburns. It was a revelation, and Norville was moved. The man seemed to recognize Norville and, after accepting a standing ovation, soon approached Mr. Redenbacher.

T’was Mandrake.

Mandrake reunited the party at the bar and asked for a rundown of the latest happenings. Dusty felt uncomfortable returning to Timmy because of how they betrayed Cage, and Mandrake suggested there might still be time for the group to get Timmy’s referral to Daryl before the Black Demeters’ assault on Willow’s Peak the following evening. He also shared the information that he had been able to retrieve off the cloned hard drive provided by Caesar from his ill-conceived heist nights earlier.

Mandrake described his findings on the cloned hard drive to include:

1. Drug transactions from a number of groups, to or through the ™ Group; data indicated the Group buys from a number of sources, meaning their supplies are inconsistent and erratic. Possibly shopping for a steady provider.

2. Large sums of money coming in and out of overseas accounts – most of the data was corrupted, but one such string tied to an account listed at an up-and-coming Night City corporation called Morse.

3. References to a few names working within the organization that he recognized from the Reef –

   1. Jamaica, whose specialty is prostitution and narcotics

   2. Widowmaker, who seems to have collected payments as a contractor. Best Mandrake could guess that she’s back to freelancing.

4. The bookkeeping for an off-the-grid bodysculptor and ripperdoc. Subsequently, numerous records tracking questionably-sourced cybernetic installations, as well as bodysculpting. Most of the detailed data pertaining to these operations were corrupted.

5. Information suggesting that Daryl would have a meaningful knowledge of  corresponding third parties – one of interest appears to be damaged data pertaining to a financial account related to shell companies Mandrake was able to tie to Lionel Hamilton, a Militech exec and representative on the City Council. Given that only the root directory pertaining to those files exist in full, it would be reasonable that this batch of files could have been the ones that triggered the shutdown of the transfer and alerted Militech to the data intrusion.

The party then thought to provide Mandrake with the cipher in their possession. Mandrake, excited, confirmed the party’s progress on the cipher and then explained that the second portion of the document was a Vigenere cipher, where the keyword to decode it was Caesar, alluded to in the text of the first portion itself. Upon solving it, a very concerned Mandrake shared the message with the group: NO MORE SECRETS MANDRAKE.

After a customary grilling from Dusty, it appeared that Mandrake had no better idea than did the party as to what this message meant or from whom it was sent. Nevertheless, the message seemed to rattle Mandrake which was something that was new to the party. He wished the party well and safe tidings, and abruptly left.

The party then contacted Ezra Gould, who they had previously met at the Last Tango bar while the curly-haired detective was asking around for information about a missing woman named Isabelle. Gould and his partner, Grayson, rolled up to the Burton and formally introduced themselves. Gould is a former NCPD detective who had some sort of falling out with the force while not much is known about his current partner, a large, meched-out fellow with scars on his face. Gould placed Dusty’s hair sample evidence in a plastic bag and agreed to take it to his friends within the force for analysis, warning that it might take a day or so. Dusty provided him with information pertaining to what they found at Willow’s Peak, and Gould thanked him. After Dusty finally ascertained that the man is a private detective, he floated the idea of collaborating in the future, which earned a friendly reception. Gould and Grayson pulled away in their vehicle, off once again to work the streets.

Around this point, the party returned to the garage and, entitled as usual, sought out a replacement driver for Mahmood. Failing that, they asked to have free access to the incomprehensibly expensivearmored, weaponized limousine. Word from on high – Sean Deano – was that the group was not to have access to any free Deano supplies until they rectified the murder of Mahmood. The group agreed to “rent” a car from Sean Deano, never thinking to agree to a price which is typically a horrible decision when dealing with a mobster, by persuading him that they would be far more efficient with access to a vehicle. Sean conceded the point, went to the garage office, and returned with a set of keys to give the party.

Outside the casino, the party found the beat-up jalopy to which the keys belonged. Disappointed, they pouted their way back to Timmy. For whatever reason, Caesar elected to stay in the vehicle and drive in circles while the rest of the group went inside to explain the night’s occurrences to Macera.

They found Timmy shirtless, covered in cocaine, and holding court on the floor of one of his casinos. He was excited to see the group and asked for information about Cage. Dusty explained Cage’s shady business practices, and Timmy was – to the party’s surprise – on board with disregarding Cage. Perhaps it’s because Timmy never got over the audacity Cage showed in blacklisting him for the paint job conducted by the man in the captain’s hat that was unfairly pinned on Macera. Perhaps it was just the coke.

Timmy mentioned having a new girl who should be able to replace the roles Cage played for the Group, paid the party out 500 eddies each (none for Caesar, who was joyriding), and provided Dusty with the information to contact Daryl saying he lived over a convenience store in the Glen with a bunch of moops he trusts. Nobody questioned this phrasing. He also said that he would call ahead to let Daryl know to expect them.

Timmy then proceeded to throw a dwarf.

The group contacted Caesar and went downstairs to meet him at the c—okay, so the Dwarf thing has to be expanded upon, right? So, Timmy threw a dwarf wearing a Velcro outfit at a large, archery-style bullseye target, landing somewhere just outside the bullseye. The crowd cheered and Timmy celebrated, even though to this point no bets or anything had really been established it was … it was just a thing Timmy did. Like it was just his thing, but clearly he had to have planned it because he had the dwarf ready in the costume. Perhaps it was just the coke. Anyway, Timmy kind of came up with the idea to bet two-to-one whether Dusty could throw the dwarf closer to the center of the target. Most people might have moral qualms about this, but Dusty Montgomery is not one of those people. In fact, Dusty, who did not even bet on himself mind you, seemed to throw the dwarf just out of the spirit of competition… perhaps it was just the coke.

Norville placed about 500 eddies (250 for Caesar) on Dusty, and Ford placed about 250. This turned out to be wise, because although Dusty showed little interest in the safety of the dwarf he absolutely secured the bag. Winding up and taking a running start, Dusty hurled the dwarf through the air with a perfect spiral and sending him head-first into the target board. The impact of the little fella exploded the target board, flattening it to the ground and causing an audible gasp among the audience. Timmy rushed over and kicked debris out of the way to find, much to his dismay, that the dwarf had come to rest on the center of the marker. Timmy had lost. And the dwarf had shit himself.

Dusty celebrated this feat; Norville tipped the unconscious dwarf.

Okay, then the party met Caesar and broke for the night. Caesar’s poor driving revealed that the car belonged to Barry, but the sick fucks didn’t care about that.

(Friday, October 27, 2051) // May 29, 2024

 The party diverted from their path to Daryl and instead met with Norville’s source, who was able to provide him with the rocket launcher Dusty had requested. Because he expedited the purchase, Dusty had to pay 750 eddies, up 250 from market value. Norville was able to save him an extra 50 and also provide a rocket that the seller seemed eager to get rid of.

Leaving, Caesar gunned it toward Daryl’s last-reported location but was soon sidetracked by a large explosion and firefight. Night City Knight appeared to have gone Cyberpsycho, conducting a blind rampage against civilians. Caesar attempted to run Knight down with his vehicle, but the world champ was too nimble on his feet from all the prayers and vitamins. Before Caesar could take another run at him, a van pulled up and three large, cybered-up men in matching uniforms brandishing  the phrase “CI” on the back engaged with Night City Knight. Caesar, wisely, drove the party far away from whatever happened next.

The party proceeded to the convenience store that Timmy suggested as Daryl’s hideout. They met with the owners of the store, who subsequently led them up to a large, sealed door. With a rhythmic knock and use of the passphrase “sesame cake,” the door opened and the party met Walt Gilfoyle, one of Daryl’s muscle. He introduced himself to the group, then invited them inside to meet with his leader.

Daryl was receptive to meeting with the party, and was open to listening to their problems. He was quick to point out that his work as a middleman and information broker is how he keeps himself alive – however, with the recent break in at his birthday party he finds himself in the rare position of feeling vulnerable. The party wished him luck in finding out the person who burglarized him, and Daryl let them know that he already heard from Timmy that it was one of them. Feeling trapped in a lie, Dusty “confessed” to being the burglar – he claimed that he had been hired to break in while drunk, fucked up the job, and regrets it.

With more cards on the table, Daryl attempted to find a middle ground at which he could help the party while assessing their usefulness and honesty for potential collaborations in the future. First, he wanted to know the information the group had found from the hard drive that Caesar had attempted to use as a clone for Daryl’s; he would cross reference that with the data he has been able to recover from the drive (he was still working to see if a full recovery was possible). The group agreed to this, and in return Daryl provided some context about the data they had found (or, more specifically, that Mandrake had found):

1. The European financial records are part of a library that Daryl purchased from an information broker named Melpomene in the course of looking into a potential rival gang starting up in Night City known as Catalyst – he believes they are connected to a European cartel known as Ephemera. They connect Ephemera.

2. The data regarding Militech as well as Lionel Hamilton Is legit, but he didn’t know the details. It is part of a packet of data provided to him by a man named Harold Carruthers who is a Militech insider seeking exfiltration and safe transport out of Night City.

Daryl offered to hire the group to exfiltrate Harold, as he would be able to provide them with more information that they were seeking in regards to Mr. Hamilton. There were few conditions regarding the extraction, except that it had to occur at or near a soiree the following night and appear to be a kidnapping. The group liked this idea, but wanted the night to think on it. Dusty took an agent from Daryl so that he could contact him with a final decision in the morning.

After destroying the phone and taking Daryl’s contact information in his own, Dusty and the party drove to the Burton. There was a long, needlessly drawn out conversation about whether the party would allow Ford or Caesar to drive. Ford advocated that it should not be Caesar, because he was a better driver, but also then Ford didn’t want to drive, and you should be thankful I remember the rest of the night better than this exchange.

Ford drove the party back to the Burton, at which point they parked their rented car in a side lot and repaired some minor damage before being confronted by Barry who, mistakenly, was enthusiastically grateful that the party had found his “stolen” vehicle. Ford then took a taxi home so that he could get up and go to work in the morning. The party was not invited.

Caesar, Norville, and Dusty went inside for a drink. At the bar, Norville spotted a man with suspicious facial hair and attempted to rip the stranger’s face bald to see if he was Mandrake in disguise (he wasn’t). The party chatted for a bit, and then went to bed. Norville, on the way to Caesar’s suite, assaulted another scruffy-faced individual and – finding that they, too, were not Mandrake – made his sad trek to bed.

The following morning, Ford went into his office and had a brief encounter with [REDACTED]’s new CEO, Amber Abu-Manneh. He ignored Jackson Peoria on the office floor and then met with his faithful Netrunner, Stewart, who he provided the task of investigating the CI gang from the night prior. He also asked him to keep tabs on the office, and to check to see if there were any new large developments at R&D.

Ford then met with a driver he had hired to transport the group – a man with a damaged VoxBox named Trixie, who is super cool and drives real good. Ford made sure the man was ok with being complicit in a kidnapping, then requested that the man drive Ford to the Burton to re-link with his allies.

A short drive later, Ford met up with the party at the Burton. Dusty observed a man with a large moustache eating cafeteria food and a tall beer shortly before Norville executed a flying tackle with a 50-foot head start on the elderly gentleman, knocking him out of his seat and revealing that he, too, was not Mandrake.

Also, for some reason, around this point, Ford made a big deal that nobody should know that he works for [REDACTED].

So, thens the party met with the driver (Caesar felt and acted a bit hurt at being replaced) and for no discernable reason drove to the Last Tango bar. They debated whether to buy Dusty a suit for a while, before realizing that there wasn’t really anybody in favor of the idea. Dusty was confused why they were at the bar.

The group then went to the site of the soiree at about 530pm. Caesar suggested the group grab Carruthers prior to him entering the soiree, but the party didn’t like that idea. Instead, Ford and Caesar would go in to the soiree once it began, locate Harold, and perform the kidnapping. At the moment, it didn’t seem like Norville would go, but something tells me that his mind will be changed next week.

(Friday-Saturday, October 27-28, 2051) // June 4, 2024

Dusty decided against firing a round at Mr. Lee, standing on the third floor of the target building behind a pane of window glass.

The rest of the group debated the best way to get in and abscond with their target - a Militech executive named Harold, who the group recognized from their time aboard the Reef. Though Dusty was uncharacteristically quiet, the rest of the group bandied about a number of ideas ranging from the elaborate (e.g. hacking into the building’s security system) to the blunt (e.g. abducting Harold on the street before arriving at the party). In the end, the group decided that the best idea was to find their way inside the gala, locate Harold, and convince him to go outside before staging a violent kidnapping outside - sufficient to gather attention and provide cover to Harold’s exfiltration while also removing the group from the beehive of security activity in the building.

Caesar and Norville cased the building, identifying a number of security cameras, a secured-access side entrance, and gleaning more of the physical security at the front entrance. There, Norville engaged with a security guard who became concerned with his loitering - quick on his feet, as always, Norville bribed the guard with 200 eddies to not report his presence to his boss, who would be furious to learn that Norville - using the name “Steve the Jagoff” - was late to work as the gala’s bartender. The guard was convinced, if not simply from the cash, and told Norville that he would facilitate his quick entrance to the facility once Norville could attest that he wasn’t carrying any weapons.

Norville returned to the car where he spoke with Ford and Caesar - they had created an inventory of items they wanted to pick up prior to entering the gala, and would go to a night market located by Norville while the latter entered the facility and began staking it out for their mark. Dusty opted to stay near the building in case Norville needed an emergency exit.

Ford and Caesar went to the night market with Trixie, finding a big collection of gear and fashionware. Wisely, Caesar bought a radar detector. Unwisely, he bought an Indonesian Stratocaster without an amplifier. Curiously, he and Ford bought techhair, with Caesar also buying four tattoos - three on his inner bicep, showcasing black-and-white portraits of the Three Stooges, and one on his inner wrist, displaying a portrait of Dean Martin.

Back doing work, Norville passed through security and began casing the inside of the gala. On the second floor, he found what appeared to be the main congregating area. On the third floor, he found what looked to be a pair of secured-access areas. Norville went back downstairs, retrieved a bucket of ice from the kitchen, and then went to the third floor and randomly picked a door. Knocking abruptly, he made contact with a curt Militech officer who only gave him a modicum of attention when Norville offered to supply him and his friends working the security desk with drinks. The man, Jack, took to Norville when he realized that he could ply him and his friends with alcohol, and tipped Norville 5 eddies to retrieve the group 5 drinks and a water.

He made very clear that Norville should not knock on the other door on the third floor.

Norville went down to the second floor and approached the bar area. There, in the main gathering area, he found a number of tables with white tablecloths and numbers at their center (also featuring nameplates at some occupied seats). There, he also made contact with another bartender, Adam, who agreed after some apprehensiveness to work with Norville to cater the event. Norville would do the walking and order taking, Adam would mix and pour the drinks.

Norville took the drinks upstairs, noticing a man matching Harold’s description talking to three others in the corner of the main room. Norville approached the group and took their orders. He attempted to speak French with one of the drunk women making small talk with Harold, and was soon looked down upon for his monolinguistic capacity. Norville left, dejected, and delivered drinks to the security desk upstairs.

Back on the main floor, Norville approached Adam and ordered two white wines for the women, a beer for the drunk fourth man speaking to Harold, and “something strong” for Harold. Norville interpreted “something strong” as a shot of Malort mixed with gin and a beer chaser (Adam, the consummate professional, recognized this as a combination colloquially referred to as the Thrush).

Norville delivered the drinks to the group. The man, drunk as a skunk, wandered off to talk to another man named Allen. The two women, disgusted by the dilettante Norville, left. Harold and Norville then began a frank conversation about their real purpose for the evening.

Around this time, Ford and Caesar returned from the night market with Trixie, discovering that Dusty was gone. They also received a text from Norville that he found Harold, and they responded that he should finish the job.

Within moments of contrived, coded small talk, Harold recognized Norville as a member of the group that engaged with him on the Reef in equally contrived, coded small talk. Irritated, he gave Norville several attempts to initiate whatever his plan was for exfiltration, and then decided to instigate a confrontation with Norville to draw attention. He threw Thrush in Norville’s face and chided him for getting his order wrong, telling him that if the idiot wanted to stand up for himself like a real man that the two of them could take it outside and settle this insult like adults.

Norville responded by whacking Harold upside the head with his drink tray and dragging him down the stairs in a headlock. Passing through security, Norville screamed that “this fucker is 86d,” and threw him outside before breaking a beer bottle over his own head and screaming wildly.

The group witnessed the interaction, at which point Ford approached and grappled Harold, slinging him over his shoulder like a stack of potatoes and rushing toward the waiting car.

(Saturday, October 28, 2051) // June 11, 2024

The party fled from the Militech gala with Harold in tow; as Trixie began to rev the engine to peel out, Dusty stopped the car and joined the group. Reunited, the group took a quick drive toward the Night City train station.

The group began to interrogate Harold as to the information in his possession. Somewhat coy at first, Harold eventually confessed that he has been in a position to skim funds and information off the top. Some of the information he’s retrieved pertains to funds funneled toward mysterious projects related to Lionel Hamilton, Militech’s representative on the Night City council. Additionally, he has become aware of suspicious funding coming in from Europe toward a company called Morse and an associated party named Lupin Anderson, who is making a run at Night City’s mayoral candidacy at odds with Hamilton.

Caesar made a move to frisk Harold; at this time, headlights shone through the car windows in advance of a vehicle attempting to ram the group off the road. Trixie, pulling some evasive maneuvers, was able to dodge the oncoming traffic. Caesar then took a shot at the pursuit vehicle, hitting the driver and causing a collision between them and other vehicles traveling in formation.

Turning, Trixie continued to rev the engine away from the pursuers until coming upon another vehicle parked in the middle of the road with a handful of Militech operatives preparing to open fire on the party. One man, in the lead, carried a grenade launcher and appeared intent to fire upon Trixie. Ford directed his driver to make some additional evasive maneuvers, culminating in an attempt to float the car on two wheels to navigate a tight alleyway. Trixie, despite his impressive abilities, was unable to initiate the lifted maneuver and instead grazed the side of an oncoming building and grinding the vehicle to a halt.

A battle ensued. Ford attempted to grapple the man with the grenade launcher to limited success; Norville and Harold attacked the operatives with throwing stars; Caesar and Dusty began exchanging gunfire with the group in aggregate.

After failing to maintain his grapple, Ford began taking a barrage of shotgun fire from all sides. This led to his retreat to the car, where he lay flat in the back to avoid additional damage. He then directed Trixie to run down the man with the grenade launcher, though Trixie narrowly missed both the attacker and Norville (who had to dive out of the oncoming vehicle’s path). This maneuver left Caesar exposed in the open, and he paid dearly.

Caesar took a handful of shotgun rounds in quick succession, leaving him bloody and nearly dead on the pavement. Norville rushed to him and was able to stabilize him, while Dusty transferred his Trauma Team coverage to Caesar. As the group struggled to clear out the remaining combatants, a man arrived on scene and executed their main antagonist with a shotgun blast to the head. Shortly thereafter, the group put away the remaining Militech stragglers and surrendered promptly to Trauma Team as they arrived to cart Caesar off to receive medical attention.

From there, the group entered Trixie’s car with their mysterious savior, who identified himself as William Barclay. Barclay set his shotgun down, which Dusty picked up, and introduced himself as best he could. He then asked Ford a seemingly innocuous question.

“Do your employers at Morse have an issue with you using a company vehicle for personal business?”

(Saturday-Sunday, October 28-29, 2051) // June 25, 2024

As Barclay’s innocuous question to Ford sat in the room like an acidic turd, the group picked up in a state of confusion and slight disarray. After a bit of conversation, the party decided to continue with their mission to drop Harold off at the train station around 230am for his departure from Night City. Harold, relieved, attempted to put the group’s awkwardness aside and focus on the job at hand.

Barclay, embarrassed by speaking out of turn, apologized to Ford for sharing information out of turn.

The group delivered Harold to the train station where Dusty and Ford joined him for a cocktail. Relieved, Harold thanked them for their assistance and provided a free piece of information: the data recovered in by Caesar is legitimate, but of more importance was the notion that the group should be careful how they use it and, above all else, to try to stay out of South Night City this coming Tuesday. The group did not press him for more information, or how he was able to access Militech’s files, or what in total he was able to retrieve in addition to these tidbits.

Back in the car, the group decided to go to the hospital to locate Caesar. Barclay concurred, but said that if the group was going to reunite then he should continue with his own investigative work. He congratulated them on a job well done, and provided them with a keepsake for Mandrake - an old friend he hasn’t seen in quite some time. He gave them a printed photograph of the two men, long ago, where Mandrake looked young and Barclay looked just as virile and handsome as ever.

Barclay made his goodbyes and was returned his shotgun by Dusty. Subsequent, the party left for the hospital. They left Trixie in the car and went inside. Upstairs, in a private room, they found Caesar sipping on champagne and fondling a pack of Parliaments. Caesar was happy to see the group, though he seemed somewhat out of sorts - he was rather manic, speaking in a sort of jargon that the group struggled to parse. One thing he seemed to glean from a conversation with Mandrake, who visited him in the hospital that night, was that Ford, he learned, works for Morse. This confirmed the group’s suspicions based on Barclay’s comment.

At this point, Dusty closed the hospital room door and finally began to interrogate Ford (though something tells me he’s going to do it again), questioning his loyalty to the group and motives for collaboration. Norville took Dusty’s side, questioning Ford’s allegiance.

Ford described, in his way, that he is trying to make a proper living and escape the cycle of futility many enter and find themselves unable to shed - his goal is to make a legitimate living, safe from the streets, in corporate luxury, for better or for worse. The answer did not fully satisfy anybody, with Dusty saying that he wanted more information about Morse to feel confident that Ford was loyal to the group above all else. To wit, Ford shared that he was privy to a series of “political maneuverings” within the organization that may or may not have left several dead in a corporate restructuring. He also elaborated that the company is into chairs. It’s a chair-based economic force.

Caesar chimed in to add that he had also been visited by Robert E. Lee in the hospital. The group, incredulous, questioned him further, eventually realizing that Caesar was referring to the enigmatic Mr. Lee, who they had most recently seen at Harold’s Militech soiree, and who Dusty has wanted on a platter since their encounter on the Reef. Caesar, who believes his name to be Caesar Romero, told Ford, who he believes is named Little Caesar, that he visited in peace and sought information about the group’s motives - particularly regarding Harold. Caesar had confessed nothing.

Displeased, the group left the hospital in a rush. On their way out, Caesar mentioned that the hospital had struggled to treat him as they found a device in his body that rendered an MRI impossible. Ford and Dusty looked over the chart, with Dusty making out some of the words, but were only able to identify mention of a “metallic, rectangular device” in Caesar’s abdomen. They then left and returned to Trixie in the car.

Trixie asked the group where they were headed, at which point Caesar gleefully offered to fix the man’s tragically broken voicebox. Trixie enthusiastically agreed, and Caesar made him sound proper sexy mate.

Trixie then brought the group to the Burton, where they would rally and try to catch their bearings. At this point, Dusty asked Caesar if he could contact Mandrake, as he had mentioned that they had exchanged contact information finally in the hospital. Caesar provided the information, and Dusty reached out to him via text.

After a brief period of catching up, Mandrake arrived in costume and discussed next steps. Though he had no new information, he was pleased to see that the group survived the ordeal with Harold, and was concerned to hear about the enigmatic and impending threat regarding South Night City. At this point, the group provided Mandrake the photograph that Barclay had provided, and thanked him for sending backup.

Mandrake, grabbing the photograph, seemed a bit confused and told the group that he hadn’t sent anybody to help them. He then glanced at the photo and, for the first time, the group saw the color and confidence drain from Mandrake as something struck him. “The man in this photograph,” he said, “Has been dead for many years.”

Mandrake left abruptly, with the group flummoxed. At a loss for what to do next, they decided the best course of action would be to see about removing and identifying this mysterious metal device located within Caesar, worried it may be a bomb or a tracking device.

The group met with a “doctor” employed by the Deanos (Deanos!) to fix up the gang. A colorful character, he … was able to remove the device with absolute professionalism. He left the room to sterilize his hands, at which point the group (?) decided (??) to let Caesar (???) fresh out of a medically-induced unconsciousness (????) take a medical saw to the device (?????) and he was able to do so by the skin of his skin, opening the device and revealing its contents.

A glowing green rock.

 (Sunday-Monday, October 29-30, 2051) // July 16, 2024

Recognizing the green rock retrieved from Caesar’s body as a fragment of Fishhead’s “Gift,” the party acted quickly to find a way to re-seal the object in such a way that it would not pose a threat to their health. Some quick thinking led the group to containing the rock fragment within a lead pipe, sealed at both ends by lead caps. The party - minus Ford - spent about three minutes with the exposed rock.

The group went to Daryl’s to receive payment for the job with Harold, at which point they realized that they had forgotten to grill Harold for the information they wanted in regards to Militech and Lionel Hamilton’s data found on the drive that Caesar had unwittingly released the week prior. Daryl offered to look into the information on his end, and said that he had a job to offer the group in the meantime. He provided them with the contact information for a man named Orpheus, who is looking to hire some muscle.

The party accepted the job, then left to tend to internal matters. Dusty again brought up his concerns regarding Ford’s work for Morse, initiating a more in-depth conversation about what the party expects out of Ford to continue to hold him in both high regard and with trust. Dusty made it clear that he expects Ford to make gestures to the group regarding Morse that will convince him that he would not betray the party for his corporate employers, to which Ford seemed to tepidly agree.

Dusty reached out to Orpheus, offering to meet him at the Last Tango bar. Orpheus seemed standoffish - paranoid, perhaps - but was willing to meet the group at Dusty’s watering hole. Arriving early, the group got to the bar and ordered drinks. They kept an eye out for anybody who seemed out of the ordinary, before Dusty led the group out the back to watch for any suspicious people to arrive. Dusty particularly noticed a woman in a red dress, who he initially believed to be Orpheus, and he attempted to interrogate her before realizing his mistake. Then, he received a text indicating Orpheus was arriving out front.

A man in a trench coat entered the Last Tango on his own, claiming to be watched for his protection. Dusty took the man, Orpheus, to the table with the woman in the red dress, to see if they knew each other - they didn’t seem to.

At which point a loud explosion outside the bar shook the building’s foundations.

(Monday-Tuesday, October 30-31, 2051)

July 30, 2024

The party witnessed a cyberpsycho rampage outside of the Last Tango, which resolved when a group of men in a familiar van arrived on scene and hit the cyberpsycho with microwavers before dragging him into the van. The men wore familiar “CI” patches.

The group then spoke to the woman in the red dress in the hidden basement of the Last Tango. She said that she was a bounty hunter seeking information on the whereabouts of a man named Stefan Hamilton, known as “Gigsy.” Dusty told the group that he was familiar with the man and, in fact, had been present for his murder at the hands of the Last Tango’s staff. The man was guilty of passing his girlfriend off to a group of Nomads who eventually abducted the girl for undetermined-yet-nefarious purposes.

As a result, the group decided that a proper course of action was to pursue the connection that had hired the woman, who identified herself as Gelder, so that Dusty could turn the tables on the Militech backers that continue to pester the party. She agreed, after being offered 2500-eddies, and committed to setting up a meeting with the man who hired her. At this point, she left the group alone with Orpheus.

Orpheus gave a speech about how he believes that the Night City mayoral race is an elaborate plot to arrange a coup that would enable Militech to take over again as the central and sole power domineering over the city. He believes that a mysterious man named Melpomene, some sort of information broker, is secretly working for Militech in an effort to throw the election in their direction. Orpheus also offered up a strange, faceless-mask indicating that he was connected to an underground group related to the urban icon of Night City known as Cal, of the Cyber Six. Norville took great interest and possession of the mask. 

Orpheus also had multiple pieces of evidence showing the man at several unrelated campaign events, as well as a photograph of the man at Morse’s headquarters … with Ford. This led to a protracted debate between the group about Ford’s loyalties and whether he had been fully forthcoming in his work at Morse and “side jobs” that connected him to this Melpomene character. Finally, however, it seemed that the group (particularly Dusty and Ford) reached an understanding of what would create trust within the team.

Around this time, Gelder communicated via agent to Dusty that she had arranged for a Wednesday meeting with the man who hired her – “RL.”

The group then left Orpheus for a location that he had identified as a familiar haunt of Melpomene’s. It appeared to be an abandoned warehouse in the dock area of Night City, which the group staked out until they were certain that it seemed safe. Following a brief stakeout, they entered the building and proceeded down into the bowels of the building – underground, they found a bar and secret club area, as well as Melpomene in the back of the facility sitting in a private room at a table with a deck of cards…

(Tuesday, October 31, 2051) // August 6, 2024

The party sat and spoke with Melpomene, who shared that he is familiar with Ford. After being prompted by Dusty, Melpomene detailed that he met Ford in the executive lounge at Morse, where he offered to delete material evidence of Ford’s existence on the Reef in return for a favor – Ford would provide the enigmatic information broker with information regarding a meeting to occur between Morse’s executive leadership team and European investors. Ford agreed, and ended up staking out the meeting the following night. During this meeting Morse’s leadership team was executed by a woman familiar to him, who then took over as CEO of the company.

Melpomene told the group that he is familiar with Orpheus, who he described as a hackish media attempting to pervert the legacy of an edgerunner named Cal, whose underground reputation as a member of the Cyber Six is valuable to those who would like to usurp his position as a trusted resource and icon of rebellion. To an extent, Melpomene conceded, he found Orpheus to be both pathetic for his childish beliefs in such urban legends as Cal and the Cyber Six, and reprehensible for his attempts to steal and malform that legacy in his own image.

The group relayed that they were hired to arrange a meeting between Melpomene and Orpheus, to which Melpomene was enthusiastically supportive. That they had also discussed killing Melpomene also was brought up, for which Melpomene was somewhat less enthusiastic. Nevertheless, the group reached out via Dusty to Orpheus, telling him that Melpomene was wounded and ready to talk.

Orpheus fell for Dusty’s clever ruse, arriving at the target location and coming face-to-face with a surprisingly healthy Melpomene. The two discussed each other’s positions, and Melpomene calmly lectured Orpheus for his childish beliefs in the ghosts of Night City’s past. After he was finished, Melpomene drew his pistol and killed Orpheus with a bullet to the head. The shooting surprised the party, though Norville and Caesar had an opportunity to intervene and chose not to.

The group then had a tense final conversation with Melpomene, who offered to provide the group with some free information and to provide context as he was able regarding the clues that they had come across to that point. He was able to contextualize some of the information that Caesar stole from the computer at Daryl’s party, suggesting that they continue to pull at the thread regarding Morse – specifically, he told Ford, their SCIRE project.

After some polite parting words, Melpomene collected his things and then left the group to their own devices. At this point, the group decided they wanted to make entrée to Morse and use the opportunity to search for pieces of information that might help them moving forward. Rather than simply arranging for the group to enter the facility as his friends, Ford suggested they find an alternate way to enter the premises. The group’s obvious solution to this was to stand up a fake company called y7ummy fasdfaf, of which Norville would serve as CEO, and enter the facility as prospective clients. Caesar set up a web presence for the organization, cummy cummy fun time.

This should be good.

The group then went to a Night Market to buy some fresh gear and work up their plans to infiltrate Ford’s place of business.

(Tue.-Wed. October 31-November 1, 2051) // August 13, 2024

The group opened at the Night Market on Tuesday morning, whereby Caesar purchased a cyberaudio suite and a host of options. He also bought a watermelon, which he made up to look like a cybernetic watermelon pig, and was joined by Norville who purchased an actual live pig. For reasons.

Ford left the group and returned to his apartment, allegedly for reasons. The rest of the party went to the Deanos, where they made contact with the resident house doctor. With minimal effort, the doctor agreed to install Caesar’s cybernetics for a modest sum; he followed through, then passed out from nitrous oxide and was robbed of his profits. The party then went to Caesar’s VIP Suite, ordered tailored suits be made for the ensuing infiltration of Morse (including a suit for Pigolas Cage), and went to bed.

 The following morning, the party made their way to Morse via taxicab. Inside, they attempted to bluster their way past the front desk staff, who insisted on a reference within the company to provide entry. Ford arrived and flat-out told the group that he had no intention of assisting them in entering. He was then joined by a blustery colleague named Jackson Peoria, who was impressed by Norville’s gusto (and swine, in fact), and insisted upon taking the group up for a meeting with other executives.

Upstairs, Caesar and Dusty plied the clever ruse of having to use the restroom, and were accompanied by Ford and a Morse security officer named Jericho, who ensured they didn’t get up to any hijinks. Meanwhile, Norville chatted up Martin Glendale, his assistant Tabitha Cartwright, and furniture visionary Dieter Ikea. By the time that the group returned, Norville made an inspired pitch as to how y7ummy flasdfaf could help Morse corner the market in high-tech, luxury furniture, and Ikea insisted on setting up followup discussions with superiors.

Free to wander, the group went to the R&D lab. Dusty tried to get Caesar to port in to a computer terminal to search for information about Morse, but there was some confusion among the party as to what precisely Caesar was intended to seek out. As a result, the group bungled around the lab for a bit before a few employees grew tired of their shenanigans and, citing the recent tragedies occurring the night prior in South Night City, walked out in disgust of management’s lack of civic awareness.

The group discovered that there had been a large-scale, mass-casualty event in South Night City – likely whatever Harold had warned them about – the night prior, with Dusty learning that the Last Tango may have sustained damage.

Around this time, Caesar installed a user account in the Morse database and began searching for a number of key phrases – several returned no results or pushback for unauthorized access, but several strange images returned when searching for the phrase “SCIRE,” which Melpomene had provided to the party. Additionally, Caesar found language to the effect that SCIRE –

• Stands for Self-Contained Industrial-Resident Environmental arcology – it’s a “wonderful little playground”, where Morse has been able to invest in research and development in a number of fields. They test chairs, work in hydroponics, medicine, and artificial intelligence. 

• The location also serves as a residential home to employees, scientists, engineers, and a handful of volunteers looking for a better life to thrive, unmolested by the violence of the wasteland or the oversight of governance. 

• Involves something called TEE – T-E-E. The nature of TEE is unknown.

Further searches by Caesar pertaining to the School bounced back with more “no results,” more “unauthorized access,” and eventually a loud alarm with a red lock on the screen. Ford resolved this situation by unplugging that particular terminal, and then took the group in an elevator to the executive lounge level.

There, the party was met by a woman familiar to Ford who indicated she felt Morse needed to have a chat with the group.

August 20, 2024

August 27, 2024 // September 17, 2024

After closing the door to the meeting room with Mr. Lee, a loud explosion rocked the floor of Afterlife, at which point a cheeky Dusty Montgomery revealed he “accidentally” dropped his shruiken grenade in the meeting room with Mr. Lee. The group left, giddy.

The group shopped at a Night Market, picking up a solicitous amount of weaponry before heading to meet with Amber and her team at Morse. There, Amber introduced Morse’s strike squad – led by Jericho, the team would accompany Ford and the party to the SCIRE to determine why the facility has gone offline, and what happened to a team of engineers who went to the facility for an inspection days earlier. Should there be some sort of medical emergency, they would call in the cavalry. Should there be some sort of uprising, they had permission to terminate any potential threats and return order to the SCIRE.

The party left in an armored vehicle driven by a man named Maddox. Providing air cover for the vehicle was a military helicopter piloted by men named Callsign and Guppy. In the vehicle, alongside Jericho, his lieutenant named Callsign, and operatives named Nightblade, Streamline, Baxter, Death Spiral, Escargot, and Tom, Maddox detected a series of tracking devices on the party. These devices, they determined, likely came from strange origami figures given to Caesar and Dusty by a bizarre man loitering at the Night Market. They discarded of the devices and began their journey to the SCIRE.

The SCIRE was located miles outside of Night City, in the former Pacifica Arcology, which Morse purchased in the late 2040s. A massive structure, the arcology loomed over the squad as it neared and created am ominous presence in the otherwise barren wastelands.

The group left Maddox behind in the vehicle and approached the facility. At the front, they attempted to make contact with those on the inside – failing, Caesars interfaced with a panel at the large, metal front door, linking his internal agent to the device to contact those on the inside. He succeeded in making contact with somebody on the inside who opened the large gates, and the group proceeded to make entry.

Inside the arcology, the group noticed several large rooms that seemed to support thousands of lives but that appeared empty and out of use. Eventually they came in touch with a man named Dr. Renraku, the scientist in charge of the Arcology, who was accompanied by a team of security officers. They led the group to a large security area to provide an assessment of the facility, explaining that there had been a series of strange power spikes and communications errors that rendered the facility largely non-operational.

The group proceeded to grill Renraku, who shared that the facility is a large-scale sociological experiment pertaining to a technology developed by Morse called “TEE” – the Total Experience Emulator. TEE, he explained, is a device wherein individuals can interface in real time with an artificial intelligence to simulate whatever deep fantasies the user desired – the AI was so advanced, and the hardware acted as an evolved braindance, that TEE can not only create a seamless dreamscape for the user but could also make the user feel anything occurring within the simulation.

Around this time, Jericho pushed for more access to the facility and things went … bad.

Through the grates of the air ducts, a series of mechanical spiders erupted onto the floor and attacked the party. The security officers followed suit and opened fire on the group while Dr. Renraku took cover. A firefight ensued, with members of the group taking heavy damage and several of Jericho’s Morse squadmates biting the dust. In the end, only the party, Jericho, and a handful of lucky officers survived the attack.

Norville demanded answers from Renraku while Caesar attempted to use a nearby computer terminal to gain more information about the facility. Renraku explained the the AI in charge of TEE, named Weaver, had essentially co-opted TEE to aggregate the inputs of the facility’s myriad users into its mainframe and treat those impulses as a real-time training tool for human nature. As a result of what amounted to instantaneous access to years of spontaneous human behavior, Weaver ascertained that humans are a grotesque, selfish, and destructive species. Consequently, Weaver began to take great pleasure in turning the machine on its users – it would torture them or, in the case of the security guards, coerce them to act to its will with positive reinforcement through the hardware that produced physiological stimuli.

Around this time Norville shot Renraku. Then stabilized him?

Weaver utilized the PA system of the SCIRE to contact the party, asking where they came from. Ford, for some inarticulable and horrifyingly abstract reason, opted to tell Weaver that they came from “outside” where “a huge number of other humans live.” This concept fascinated Weaver, who then began contacting Caesar covertly using his internal agent – the group determined this was a sort of technological “infection” suffered by Caesar when he interfaced with the facility’s network. Weaver asked the group to help him escape the SCIRE, soon pleading and bribing them, but was interrupted when Renraku used a microwaver to destroy the communications node between Weaver and the security room.

The group determined that the best mode of operation, and the only means of escape, would be to find a way to escape alternative to the front doors (which Weaver had sealed by this point). One such option would be the upstairs luxury suites, in possession of patios and balconies. The theory went that they could use this balcony to escape from the faraday cage of the SCIRE and make contact with the escape helicopter or, at worst, utilize Caesar’s parachute to signal help.

Caesar began using the SCIRE’s network to hack into security cameras throughout the facility. In addition to routing a safe way to the luxury suites, he came upon security cameras showing “floor 32,” where the nearly 10,000 residents of the SCIRE had been gathered and subjected to TEE. The people, sitting in advanced Morse chairs and tethered to slow-drip feeding and hydration tubes, were mere cogs in a greater machine. Similar to characters in an MMO, all fed into the same mainframe, all operating in a shared version of hell.

This didn’t really matter to the group, and they headed to the suites.

After utilizing an elevator to reach the suites, the party entered Renraku’s luxury suite and immediately broke open the glass door to the outdoor balcony. Here, Dusty summoned their rescue helicopter.

“Wait,” Dusty asked as the helicopter circled overhead, “Does this facility have any anti-aircraft defenses?”

It did.

After the helicopter was shot down, Dusty reluctantly followed Renraku to his Plan B, which was to engage with Weaver’s mainframe hub in a hidden laboratory area in the rear of the suite. There, the group (minus the Morse squad, who stayed in the suite) encountered Weaver in his pseudo-corporeal form. Both sides had a specific set of demands, and both sides had a significant impulse to land a deal – for the party, they wanted a safe escape back to Night City. For Weaver, it wanted a way to escape from its prison and make its way out to the “outside” – a place where it could interact with more of the horrible humans it had grown such contempt for.

Caesar, excitedly, offered to house Weaver on his laptop and facilitate the malevolent, genocide-supporting AI’s escape. As a result, the party was able to leave the laboratory unharmed.

In the suite, they found that Weaver had assisted in their escape by releasing hundreds of its self-replicating mechanical spider-like devices, which disabled the Morse team within an inch of their lives. Ford told Weaver to leave the group alive, saying that Jericho’s last name (which he never heard in his entire life) indicated that he was the brother of Amber. Inexplicably, the group bought this and moved on.

Leaving through the front by which they came, the group returned to their armored assault vehicle (conspicuously absent its driver), entered it, and drove away from the SCIRE. They destroyed the radio communicator in the vehicle to prevent Morse from hearing any of their communications, and committed to the drive while debating what next steps they could possibly take…

September 30, 2024