14th Racoons
The Saint Ignatius hospital seems to be a Jesuit hospital. Nestled on the hill overlooking the city-node of Vultan. The bartender told me it’s an avenue, but he forgot to tell me there’s an entire district they own. Locals call it the Ignatia District and believe me I didn’t expect Jesuit War Priests to be hanging around.
“I see you have come a long way, from the City of Sinners, friend.”
“Yes. I’m here to look for clues and I believe the medical examiner may be able to help me.”
The Jesuit captain invited me after I requested to speak with him. I could have sneaked in. Made my way without them noticing, but it’s not worth the effort. My logic is if this city really is full of Vampire spawns and ghouls. Then they will find out one way or another.
“Your allies are hoping to find this anomaly. It seems we are facing a more dire situation.”
Guess the armored train being battered. The army of agents, templars, and freelancers isn’t enough to make this threat evident to the Jesuits here. They are clerics. Men and women who heal in the name of God; I can’t be harsh knowing this.
“And that is why I need to find any clues. Once I find the root, we may be able to find the anomaly as well.”
He is contemplating. I didn’t want him to think further and I continued persuading him.
“Sooner or later the OB will proceed with the witchhunt. The sooner we find any clues, the better.”
“Your words speak true. Very well. You may wander our hospital. May God guide your way, Agent.”
He hands me a pass and the appropriate credentials for my own investigations. After the Captain left, I wasted no time to find the medical examiner who held the list.
Middle-aged and full of augments. The man himself has the benefits of a chrome-runner and yet he wears the livery of his god as well.
“How may I help you?”
I explained to him how I need the list of the men and women who have been exsanguinated. He gave me a good look. Called his superiors and led me to their morgue where it was full. Contrary to what I expected, there are still examinations left. I stood with him on the side of the door with arms crossed.
“Looks like there are still deaths happening as we speak.”
“It’s grim. Just yesterday we found ten. 56 people are dead now. Same death. Drained to their deaths. Those who have augments got harvested.”
“Harvested. You mean augs ripped out?”
“Yup.”
He takes his datapad out. Shows me some of the footage he took. Could hear his banal tone as he makes reports.
“You do voice reports?”
“Yes. The Jesuits have been allowing it. Auto-transcriptions have been time-savers. You’ll be surprised how we need it.”
I look around. Saw no Bots you usually find in hospitals. Most hospitals have one since the precision on them. Religious institutions usually don’t trust machines and have most trust in medicine. Soulless creatures, they always say.
“Here’s one of the latest victims.”
He makes a sign and the examiners treating the bodies went back to their tasks.
The body’s clearly normal. No Augs or threadings which indicates an augmentation procedure. The examiner takes the cloth off on the stomach. Revealing an auto-cutting tool is used based on the markings done. Too neat. Too precise for humans or possibly could be just a cyberware hand.
“Victim’s missing most of his organs. All left is his intestines. The Small intestine got a puncture from an auto-doc tool, judging by the preciseness of the cut.”
“Could be an augmented hand.”
“Maybe. But auto-doc tools leave a distinct marking.”
He hands over specialized glasses. I activated the glasses and saw the serialized markings. I did hear they have a way to identify the tool that did the auto-procedure.
“Can only be seen through these glasses. Serials are nonsense though.”
“It is. There’s no auto-doc tool with those serial markings. Probably wiped the markings, but didn’t bother to remove the serial that wipes them.”
“Seems sloppy.”
“Hardly. Removing them means you have to go through the tools programming. Write the code up and honestly it’s not like you can trace them back when the serials are pretty much useless to begin with.”
The examiner takes the glasses back and then shows me the cause of the death. Person got drained most of his blood. Like all the blood in him was just drained and emptied out. On the neck are the usual markings and then I can see holes on the person’s body. Could guess he got strawed. Sucked out by vamps who think of him as a drink they can share.
“Guessing multiple people emptied him.”
“Yes.”
He points at the face.
“Bruises on his face. His knees have been dislocated and there are signs he’s been forced-fed. Probably to keep him alive. Also found drugs. Positive is the patient was probably drugged out of his mind.”
“Sweetened him, didn’t they?”
The examiner nods curtly.
“There are certain cases where Viagra and adrenaline shots have been administered to the victim. Some consume enough drugs and they are probably using the drugged blood to create red candies.”
“Red candies. Heard of them.”
“Nasty stuff that mostly works on Vamps. They eat, snort, and consume the drug. Is addictive too. High chance they're not only using the victims as living blood bags, but also to produce the red candies.”
“Any proof of that?”
“The drug’s enough proof, but we also found squares inside of the victims.”
He takes this foul-smelling drug that smells strong enough to clog up your nose.
“It doesn’t make you high, but it will make them Vamps feel like they have brain orgasm and send them into wonderland.”
“That strong?”
“Equivalent to snorting 100kg of cocaine.”
“How do they even survive?”
The examiner takes one of the charts. The patient here seems to have been turned to enhance their physical form. Brain’s all fucked and patient’s mind is broken beyond repair.
“Any place where they find the body?”
“Mostly thrown like rags. The Baro’s the place you find the dead mostly. You could probably find more now.”
“Could be their dumping sight.”
“Yeah. No TCU and OB around there since it’s Syndicate territory.”
“What syndicate?”
“14th Racoons.”
“That a syndicate?”
“Yup. Runners from the Gulf Cartel who started a new business here. Name’s silly, but they have a way of assuring you they aren’t the kind to be messed with.”
“So they became bloodsuckers?”
“Some rumors say they did.”
He checks his watch and then places the items in an orderly manner on the cart.
“But they are all business. They don’t have any large force stupid enough to deal with the OB and the TCU at the same time. Guessing they’re just puppets.”
“Quite familiar with them.”
“No surprise here. Once in a while you get to meet people like them. If you haven’t met these types. More common than you thought.”
“The Baro, right?”
“Yeah. Just watch out for the Racoons. Their trigger-happy especially now with all kinds of folks in this city-node.”
Calm like it didn’t matter. It’s like he’s putting more thought on reason than acting on emotion. It’s hard to point out what makes this guy somewhat unnerving.
“Thank you for the information.”
“Agent. You think you can find these Vamps?”
“Who knows? Lead was zero until then. At least I can start finding people there. Maybe sniff some out.”
He eyes the swords on my waist.
“I wish you good luck, Agent. Please excuse me, I need to go back to work.”
“Thanks for your time, Sir.”
“You’re welcome.”
Had to think. Had to get some options. I sat down and made notes of what he said and then sent the bullet points to Kei. She called me.
“Now we have Syndicates involved?”
“Seems like it. I’m beaming the summary. Lots of dead people here. Fucker basically made them as consumables.”
“Red candies. Heard of them. Didn’t think Vultan had this problem.”
“Going to the Baro next to chase some lead.”
“Want me to send Eta?”
“No. I’d rather not attract eyes now. Examiner told me the place's trigger-happy.”
“Seems risky.”
“Got no leads other than this. Unless there’s new info there?”
She snorts.
“Nope. Just the usual. Too focused on the threat rather than looking at others. Captain Hawke is pursuing a lead, but he isn’t too optimistic.”
She’s running something while talking to me.
“Looks like there’s little talk with the 14th Racoons from local sources. Hmm, we’ll keep this to ourselves for now. You sure you don’t need Eta backing you up?”
“I’ll keep the beacon on just in case.”
Quite proactive, Akun. Why’s that?”
“Don’t know. Guess it bothers me that I ain’t in Changye, Ma’am. Just want to get things done.”
“Same here. Place’s almost too foreign without that platform around.”
“Yeah. It feels strange without it. I’m going to change my attire before going there though.”
“Alright. Come back and try to keep out of our friends' sight.“
***
The Baro’s a shack town. Galvanized roofs and thin walls you could punch a hole through. There are concrete buildings around which seem to be mostly inhabited by people who got into the pockets of the Racoons here.
I was sporting a poorer look. Got myself a machete. Felt naked without my Castor and Pollux though. Did keep Riki’s blade around, but it just doesn’t feel right.
Got into one of the seedy bars. Place smells like urine and it’s quite greasy. Like there's mold on the walls and the smell mixing with the alcohol just isn’t right.
“You new here?”
One of the women practically smelled me. She’s too close and yet she can’t hide the perfume and soap she’s been using to cover the smell.
“Just want to have a drink, sis.”
“Don’t be like that, brother. You don’t have to drink alone.”
“Piss off will you?”
I still remember some of the things I learned from the bordello. Told me how to handle girls like this. Thankfully, she has enough sense to tell me I'd really try to hurt her if she tries. Of course, the bouncers ain’t happy with their girls being refused, but right now I was just the grumpy fucker who wants to have a drink.
Bartender behind the counter isn’t the kind to ask questions. He made no effort for smalltalk and just stared at the girl on the dance bar showing off her move while drugged out of her mind.
It's a creep joint and you can tell how they don’t exactly care about privacy or sanitation. Bet someone’s making money with all the footage they get here. It’s just that kind of place.
I started drinking. People can usually tell with a glance if you’re a tourist, but drunkards are like the same thing you find everywhere. So I acted like I didn’t want anything other than to drink my fill.
It usually works. Seen a lot of mercs who do this shit in bars and bordellos it’s practically a decoration. Creep Joints like this also don't give a shit since the regulars are too drugged out of their minds. The only ones you have to worry about are the thugs who might be kind enough to rob you in the open or the bartender trying to make you think you bought more than usual.
After two hours of drinking, I was starting to feel like shit. I took some pills to minimize what I’m feeling and started baiting. Making sure some ears can hear me grumbling about my desperate need for some fix to improve my day.
Surprisingly, it took another two hours before they started offering me some behind the counter products. Told them to fuck off and drank some more before I got ‘persuaded’ into buying some product from them.
And I was so wrong.
Under the bar’s a marketplace where all kinds of thugs and degenerates gather.
14th Racoons
The Saint Ignatius hospital seems to be a Jesuit hospital. Nestled on the hill overlooking the city-node of Vultan. The bartender told me it’s an avenue, but he forgot to tell me there’s an entire district they own. Locals call it the Ignatia District and believe me I didn’t expect Jesuit War Priests to be hanging around.
“I see you have come a long way, from the City of Sinners, friend.”
“Yes. I’m here to look for clues and I believe the medical examiner may be able to help me.”
The Jesuit captain invited me after I requested to speak with him. I could have sneaked in. Made my way without them noticing, but it’s not worth the effort. My logic is if this city really is full of Vampire spawns and ghouls. Then they will find out one way or another.
“Your allies are hoping to find this anomaly. It seems we are facing a more dire situation.”
Guess the armored train being battered. The army of agents, templars, and freelancers isn’t enough to make this threat evident to the Jesuits here. They are clerics. Men and women who heal in the name of God; I can’t be harsh knowing this.
“And that is why I need to find any clues. Once I find the root, we may be able to find the anomaly as well.”
He is contemplating. I didn’t want him to think further and I continued persuading him.
“Sooner or later the OB will proceed with the witchhunt. The sooner we find any clues, the better.”
“Your words speak true. Very well. You may wander our hospital. May God guide your way, Agent.”
He hands me a pass and the appropriate credentials for my own investigations. After the Captain left, I wasted no time to find the medical examiner who held the list.
Middle-aged and full of augments. The man himself has the benefits of a chrome-runner and yet he wears the livery of his god as well.
“How may I help you?”
I explained to him how I need the list of the men and women who have been exsanguinated. He gave me a good look. Called his superiors and led me to their morgue where it was full. Contrary to what I expected, there are still examinations left. I stood with him on the side of the door with arms crossed.
“Looks like there are still deaths happening as we speak.”
“It’s grim. Just yesterday we found ten. 56 people are dead now. Same death. Drained to their deaths. Those who have augments got harvested.”
“Harvested. You mean augs ripped out?”
“Yup.”
He takes his datapad out. Shows me some of the footage he took. Could hear his banal tone as he makes reports.
“You do voice reports?”
“Yes. The Jesuits have been allowing it. Auto-transcriptions have been time-savers. You’ll be surprised how we need it.”
I look around. Saw no Bots you usually find in hospitals. Most hospitals have one since the precision on them. Religious institutions usually don’t trust machines and have most trust in medicine. Soulless creatures, they always say.
“Here’s one of the latest victims.”
He makes a sign and the examiners treating the bodies went back to their tasks.
The body’s clearly normal. No Augs or threadings which indicates an augmentation procedure. The examiner takes the cloth off on the stomach. Revealing an auto-cutting tool is used based on the markings done. Too neat. Too precise for humans or possibly could be just a cyberware hand.
“Victim’s missing most of his organs. All left is his intestines. The Small intestine got a puncture from an auto-doc tool, judging by the preciseness of the cut.”
“Could be an augmented hand.”
“Maybe. But auto-doc tools leave a distinct marking.”
He hands over specialized glasses. I activated the glasses and saw the serialized markings. I did hear they have a way to identify the tool that did the auto-procedure.
“Can only be seen through these glasses. Serials are nonsense though.”
“It is. There’s no auto-doc tool with those serial markings. Probably wiped the markings, but didn’t bother to remove the serial that wipes them.”
“Seems sloppy.”
“Hardly. Removing them means you have to go through the tools programming. Write the code up and honestly it’s not like you can trace them back when the serials are pretty much useless to begin with.”
The examiner takes the glasses back and then shows me the cause of the death. Person got drained most of his blood. Like all the blood in him was just drained and emptied out. On the neck are the usual markings and then I can see holes on the person’s body. Could guess he got strawed. Sucked out by vamps who think of him as a drink they can share.
“Guessing multiple people emptied him.”
“Yes.”
He points at the face.
“Bruises on his face. His knees have been dislocated and there are signs he’s been forced-fed. Probably to keep him alive. Also found drugs. Positive is the patient was probably drugged out of his mind.”
“Sweetened him, didn’t they?”
The examiner nods curtly.
“There are certain cases where Viagra and adrenaline shots have been administered to the victim. Some consume enough drugs and they are probably using the drugged blood to create red candies.”
“Red candies. Heard of them.”
“Nasty stuff that mostly works on Vamps. They eat, snort, and consume the drug. Is addictive too. High chance they're not only using the victims as living blood bags, but also to produce the red candies.”
“Any proof of that?”
“The drug’s enough proof, but we also found squares inside of the victims.”
He takes this foul-smelling drug that smells strong enough to clog up your nose.
“It doesn’t make you high, but it will make them Vamps feel like they have brain orgasm and send them into wonderland.”
“That strong?”
“Equivalent to snorting 100kg of cocaine.”
“How do they even survive?”
The examiner takes one of the charts. The patient here seems to have been turned to enhance their physical form. Brain’s all fucked and patient’s mind is broken beyond repair.
“Any place where they find the body?”
“Mostly thrown like rags. The Baro’s the place you find the dead mostly. You could probably find more now.”
“Could be their dumping sight.”
“Yeah. No TCU and OB around there since it’s Syndicate territory.”
“What syndicate?”
“14th Racoons.”
“That a syndicate?”
“Yup. Runners from the Gulf Cartel who started a new business here. Name’s silly, but they have a way of assuring you they aren’t the kind to be messed with.”
“So they became bloodsuckers?”
“Some rumors say they did.”
He checks his watch and then places the items in an orderly manner on the cart.
“But they are all business. They don’t have any large force stupid enough to deal with the OB and the TCU at the same time. Guessing they’re just puppets.”
“Quite familiar with them.”
“No surprise here. Once in a while you get to meet people like them. If you haven’t met these types. More common than you thought.”
“The Baro, right?”
“Yeah. Just watch out for the Racoons. Their trigger-happy especially now with all kinds of folks in this city-node.”
Calm like it didn’t matter. It’s like he’s putting more thought on reason than acting on emotion. It’s hard to point out what makes this guy somewhat unnerving.
“Thank you for the information.”
“Agent. You think you can find these Vamps?”
“Who knows? Lead was zero until then. At least I can start finding people there. Maybe sniff some out.”
He eyes the swords on my waist.
“I wish you good luck, Agent. Please excuse me, I need to go back to work.”
“Thanks for your time, Sir.”
“You’re welcome.”
Had to think. Had to get some options. I sat down and made notes of what he said and then sent the bullet points to Kei. She called me.
“Now we have Syndicates involved?”
“Seems like it. I’m beaming the summary. Lots of dead people here. Fucker basically made them as consumables.”
“Red candies. Heard of them. Didn’t think Vultan had this problem.”
“Going to the Baro next to chase some lead.”
“Want me to send Eta?”
“No. I’d rather not attract eyes now. Examiner told me the place's trigger-happy.”
“Seems risky.”
“Got no leads other than this. Unless there’s new info there?”
She snorts.
“Nope. Just the usual. Too focused on the threat rather than looking at others. Captain Hawke is pursuing a lead, but he isn’t too optimistic.”
She’s running something while talking to me.
“Looks like there’s little talk with the 14th Racoons from local sources. Hmm, we’ll keep this to ourselves for now. You sure you don’t need Eta backing you up?”
“I’ll keep the beacon on just in case.”
Quite proactive, Akun. Why’s that?”
“Don’t know. Guess it bothers me that I ain’t in Changye, Ma’am. Just want to get things done.”
“Same here. Place’s almost too foreign without that platform around.”
“Yeah. It feels strange without it. I’m going to change my attire before going there though.”
“Alright. Come back and try to keep out of our friends' sight.“
***
The Baro’s a shack town. Galvanized roofs and thin walls you could punch a hole through. There are concrete buildings around which seem to be mostly inhabited by people who got into the pockets of the Racoons here.
I was sporting a poorer look. Got myself a machete. Felt naked without my Castor and Pollux though. Did keep Riki’s blade around, but it just doesn’t feel right.
Got into one of the seedy bars. Place smells like urine and it’s quite greasy. Like there's mold on the walls and the smell mixing with the alcohol just isn’t right.
“You new here?”
One of the women practically smelled me. She’s too close and yet she can’t hide the perfume and soap she’s been using to cover the smell.
“Just want to have a drink, sis.”
“Don’t be like that, brother. You don’t have to drink alone.”
“Piss off will you?”
I still remember some of the things I learned from the bordello. Told me how to handle girls like this. Thankfully, she has enough sense to tell me I'd really try to hurt her if she tries. Of course, the bouncers ain’t happy with their girls being refused, but right now I was just the grumpy fucker who wants to have a drink.
Bartender behind the counter isn’t the kind to ask questions. He made no effort for smalltalk and just stared at the girl on the dance bar showing off her move while drugged out of her mind.
It's a creep joint and you can tell how they don’t exactly care about privacy or sanitation. Bet someone’s making money with all the footage they get here. It’s just that kind of place.
I started drinking. People can usually tell with a glance if you’re a tourist, but drunkards are like the same thing you find everywhere. So I acted like I didn’t want anything other than to drink my fill.
It usually works. Seen a lot of mercs who do this shit in bars and bordellos it’s practically a decoration. Creep Joints like this also don't give a shit since the regulars are too drugged out of their minds. The only ones you have to worry about are the thugs who might be kind enough to rob you in the open or the bartender trying to make you think you bought more than usual.
After two hours of drinking, I was starting to feel like shit. I took some pills to minimize what I’m feeling and started baiting. Making sure some ears can hear me grumbling about my desperate need for some fix to improve my day.
Surprisingly, it took another two hours before they started offering me some behind the counter products. Told them to fuck off and drank some more before I got ‘persuaded’ into buying some product from them.
And I was so wrong.
Under the bar’s a marketplace where all kinds of thugs and degenerates gather.
