Runners
Carol Turpentine
Kitten Caboodle aka Kit
Creature
Aradia
Tabasco
Creep

Kit decides to take a day off and go see a movie via hotrigging his wimp, using his new William Wimpleton SIN, while doing some background research for the technomancer rescue mission that Remo gave them. Aradia heads out to take care of some witchy business. The rest of the team decides to use their downtime to look into some mysteries Tabasco had uncovered, and try to knock some tasks off Creature’s list of jobs for the Sea Dragon.

After doing a bit of research, they head over to Tacoma so Creature can try to make some connections at Fenris Nacht, the predator/hunter bar. Xe gains entrance via namedropping the Sea Dragon (a powerful hunter herself) while the rest of the team hangs nearby to provide audio input and backup if needed. Tabasco tries to surveil other arrivals but is foiled by a magical fog, which Carol fears is vampiric in origin.

Creature first enters the bar area, and finds some various Infected hanging around, mostly starring daggers at a pair of cybered-up Catholics with a lot of prominent iconography. A pair of equivalently cybered Russians are loudly trying to outdrink each other at the bar. Creature wanders a bit further in, and finds Gregory Bear-Killer conversing quietly with what looks to be a wolf shifter or werewolf in a hunting lodge area- some of the trophies are definitely immoral if not illegal.

Creature continues down into a network of grottoes, small caves, and private rooms. The whole place is laid out to make visitors feel hunted/vulnerable if they don’t view themselves as an apex predator. Creature spots a young vampire woman emerging from one of the rooms, seemingly having just been treated by a street doc who looks a bit out of place here, and is wearing a fox lapel pin. The street doc hurries off, but the vamp, who is wearing a heavily battle-damaged anime “sexy schoolgirl” style outfit (looking extra bizarre now that it cut, burnt and shot to pieces, though her wounds seem to be healing quickly), sticks around.

Creature gets a drink and makes conversation with Bear-Killer, using Aradia’s name as an intro, and also is introduced to the wolf man, Saroosh. Saroosh seems to be an assassin, new to town, who is looking to kill one or more other assassins, though he won’t specify who. Bear-Killer also seems to have taken on some contract work during the recent uptick, and it seem they are sharing info now that they’ve confirmed their targets won’t interfere with each other’s work. Creature participates once they verify that xe also won’t be working at odds with them. They both seem to think that in the current landscape, doing mob/syndicate hits is small potatoes compared to the high value contracts that are being tossed around in the lead up to the referendum.

They all split off, and Creature is approached by the young vamp, who gives xyr a hard time for a while before revealing that she is a friend/protege of Red’s, and knows who Creature is. They chat a bit, and it turns out that this vamp, EB, knows the Triad vamp that Tabasco has been investigating, Su Cheng, and offers to make an introduction, though she offers no guarantees on how that will go. Creature agrees, and buys EB some blood from some onsite blood bags, who seem happy to trade for whatever the bartender gives them small doses of after they are fed on.

Creature also asks EB about membership, and EB tells xyr that xe must complete a major solo hunt of some sort- bring down a big target. a trophy and/or a good tale will also help a lot. Creature plans to pursue this for the Sea Dragon’s benefit, though this place doesn’t seem like a community per se, it seems like a useful place to have regular access to.

The team heads back to Tabasco’s condo to “party” which entails buying 2 six packs. Creature gets a call from Su Cheng, who sets up a meeting the next day. It feels like it could be a trap, but they’re all curious enough to go along. They head to Triad turf in the Downtown Chinatown district, and after an extensive security check (and getting all their weapons checked), are ushered into a windowless room with trid screens projecting nature scenes on the walls. Su Cheng turns to them from some sort of ritual task, and they all take a seat to discuss biz.

He proposes that, since they are asking questions, they go into business together. In exchange for performing some tasks for him, he will answer at least some of their queries. There is definitely an element of threat over the whole thing, but Carol pushes for a little more info (instead of money) and Su Cheng seems to appreciate that the team recognizes the value of the immaterial. He explains that the Laeasa syndicate has been smuggling in Tir Tairngire Peace Force armaments and selling them exclusively to the Yakuza, which is an obvious source of imbalance in the local crime scene. He wants the team to get evidence of this: footage of meetings, documentation, etc, and pass it on to a Puyallup PI named Jimmy Kincaid, who should be able to make good use of it in another deal that he is working on. They are not to let Kincaid know that the info came from Su Cheng.

The team agrees, and does some recon, splitting into 2 and tracking both some Laeasa and Yakuza members around town until they do find them meeting at the Tacoma docks, and get some good footage of a handoff. If they can just get some digital records/weapon ID’s etc to back it up, they should be set. Meanwhile, Creature is getting excited for the start of OtherCon the next day, another location xe is supposed to investigate on behalf of the Sea Dragon for possible allies.

Aradia, meanwhile, finally meets up with the Sisterhood of Ariadne and begins trading a little info on entropy circles and the like, as well as getting more info on the group in general. She also tips them to the powerful leyline from the Grand Lodge on Council Island leading to Mount Rainier/Tacoma. They hint that the forces behind the entropy circles are powerful adversaries but agree to share some info or assist in the investigation. They specialize in foretelling/portents and the like, so don’t seem as skilled in physical magics, though they do some alchemy and rituals as well. Aradia is also excited to meet a bunch of cool older ladies, who give her some tips on achieving lifelong power.

Next, Aradia and Iva conjure and manufacture up some over the top outfits to get into Shades, the new club up in Snohomish. They manage to catch the doorman’s eye and get ushered in past the line- the club is officially still invite-only but with some flexibility for the famous and interesting. Aradia talks their way into a “premium” area in the back of the former Masonic Lodge, where she can access more illicit substances than are available out front. She fails to bluff her way into any of the VIP/private areas further on, but gets some info about how to potentially apply for the exclusive memberships.

She also scouts out the security a bit, and notices that the club has unusually good magical security, and multiple means of verifying its VIPs. She also does some people watching and some info gathering amongst the crowds, mostly local celebs of various levels. She decides to return later with Creep and possibly some better surveillance gear to continue the investigation.