Prologue

ARTIFICIAL HEART // PRELUDE, known by the episode title "prologue", is a "lost episode" due to issues with the files audio making it unusable. A summary has nonetheless been provided.

A Hot Summer's Night
The story opens on the 15th of Ickasha, 2465, with Nakamura Runin, better known as the street assassin "Stroke", being involved in a firefight. Escaping to the roof, it's revealed that she and her gang, the Chalice Club, are currently under attack by unknown assailants in their hideout, the Kormanov Warehouse. Finally being chased to the roof, she attempts an escape but is surrounded by mysterious armored figures. One shoots her in the soldier, before another shoves her off the roof to the ground forty feet below.

Stroke wakes up in a dumpster, seemingly uninjured though with a splitting headache. She is quickly assailed by two E-SEC officers, "Johnson" and "Miles". She is violently interrogated and hit in the face, spitting some blood on the ground, before the two are scolded by another officer, "Cpl. Joshi". The Corporal questions her, before placing her under arrest, saying she just needs to check her in for a little while they investigate, driving off to the facility.

I'm A Little O.D.D.
Six months later, Diamant wakes up in her ELITE apartment, and begins the long process of getting ready for the day before receiving a call from her friend Panda. Panda requests some help, saying he is investigating an old crime scene for his forensics class. They say they've hired two Wastehunters, and request that Diamant brings her valet, Azat Bosko, along for the ride. After some discussion, Diamant agrees, saying Panda will owe her a favor, and they decide to take Panda's car. Diamant walks down the elevator and into the street.

Meeting the others on the street, Diamant is introduced to Auntie and Ringer. The group has a brief discussion about the plan, which is to investigate a crime scene that supposedly had corrupt police involvement. Azat shows up and the group loads in, with Azat choosing to take the scenic route to keep Auntie from getting sick. Along the way, Ringer looks up the area and finds the police report, informing her there was only one survivor and it was ruled a gang dispute. Panda privately confides in Diamant his belief that this has corporate ties, before a brief spat ensues as he is taking his medicine.

During the ride, Auntie receives an urgent called from her fixer Ardove, asking her to deal with a sudden situation nearby, reporting that a Fey royal had some kind of accident and is being attacked by a creature in a homeless encampment, and there may be multiple deaths. The group speeds up, pulling up to the street and running into the area, past the encampment and towards a sewer drainage canal.

Street Hazard: Toxic Avatar
The group began to fight the creature, a massive sludge monster with two mouths. Ringer moved towards some nearby devices and began a scan of the Matrix, while Diamant fires two bursts of sweet-smelling pink flames. The Fey woman began to be protected by a series of seemingly arcane controlled cryptids, which she boosted with some kind of spell. One of the creatures, a massive snake, moved towards it while the other two attacked, with the golem-like entity striking it repeatedly, and the strange mage-like entity summong a dark pool with shadowy tendrils to restrain the creature. Auntie emptied a few rounds into it, before it attempted to break out of the restraints, but failed. It sent a few hits towards the golem, before spewing acidic vomit towards the fey woman and her creatures, destroying the mage who seemingly fades from existence. Panda uses xir Scholar's Aid ability to keep the snake alive.

The royal then sends a series of icy bursts into the creature, and her remaining pets attack it. Auntie pushes herself across the canal using a boat and puts another shell into the creature, before Azat returns from the vehicle with his rifle, firing a devastating round into the creature and exposing it's heart. Ringer quickly seizes the advantage and fires a shot into it, killing the creature who slowly melts away, confirming that it was a Toxic Avatar.

The Doctor Is In
Stitches gets off of her break and is about to go back to work. She is summoned by her boss, Anthony Silvers, who informs her the companies Vice President, Jocque Murr, needs to see her. She goes to meet him and ask what's up and what he needs. She enters the room and is checked by a muscular Tethyrian, who then locks the door behind her. Murr asks if she had been assigned to a human patient recently, and she says she has, or she thinks so, as he was unidentified and she was asked not to ask any questions. Silvers hands Murr a shard, before leaving the room.

Stitches inputs the shard, displaying security camera footage, from a secret camera inside of a small pillar that stores an unknown object. It shows Stitches sneaking into a room, and looking around before approaching the object, and then seemingly leaving. She attempts to argue her case but is dismissed, with Murr ordering the Tethyrian to kill her, cutting to black just before the shot fires.

One Long Bad Day
The group chats with the woman, an Eladrin named Peppermint, who is rather vague in her answers, saying she suffered an accident while transporting herself via a teleporter. Ardove calls Auntie, and upon confirming that Peppermint is alive, she is asked to keep her with them until they can get back to the Sandman Arena. Peppermint uses a Stimpak, before asking who exactly wanted her kept safe, with Ardove confirming it was a man named Erlareo, who Peppermint informs the group is her brother. After some rather ignorant beliefs about royal lineage is cleared up, Peppermint agrees to stay with them, at least for now. The group makes their way back to the car and finishes the drive, with Panda showing signs of shock after the fight.

The Kormanov Warehouse
The group arrives to begin looking for clues, though Azat remains at the vehicle to keep watch, as the group feels like they're being stared at by other people on the street. Diamant begins an Astral Projection, and searches the area, finding a bullet on the roof with heavy rage and satisfaction mana, and a fading imprint of a person with strong fear mana. One of the dumpsters behind the warehouse also seems to have conspiracy mana attached to it.

Ringer, Auntie, and Panda begin searching for clues. Ringer finds that almost all of the electronics and clues have been ripped out or cleaned up, and instead only a small graffiti tag of the Cramoisis is left. Ringer immediately deduces this is fake, as the Cramoisis do not operate anywhere near here. Meanwhile, Panda and Auntie find a bloodstain outside. Auntie uses her olfactory booster and deduces the blood is around six months old and from a Sopratonian with AB- blood. This matches the description Ringer got earlier of the person who survived the attack.

The group goes searching on the roof, finding a scuff mark implying a fall, and a bullet casing that Diamant had seen earlier. The casing is a .JHP, which is very strange, since E-SEC uses .FMJ rounds do to armor issues. The group concludes whoever did the shooting, at least, was not E-SEC. They also do some number crunching and figure out the fall should have been fatal, except that Stroke landed up a dumpster, which investigation reveals has been replaced with a new dumpster.

After some discussion, the group concludes that all roads lead to Stroke, and therefore make their way to the Arcanum Northside Correctional Facility. Diamant sends a text to Cpl. Joshi, who is a contact of hers, and informs her the group is on the way.

Get Outta Jail Free Card
The group arrives and heads inside, where Cpl. Joshi, called just "Rebekah" by Diamant, dismisses the others before informing the group what's been going on. Rebekah explains she's been fighting to get Stroke released for months since she hasn't been charged with anything, but has been repeatedly told to leave it and her requests to the warden have been ignored. Rebekah confirms that she believes there is an ongoing conspiracy, and mentions in passing that the arresting officers got fired, though she states it was for excessive force and not for anything related to the conspiracy.

The group checks all their stuff at the door and is signed in by Rebekah, who uses an emergency signal to clear out the visitation room. She brings the group in, calls down Stroke from her cell, and dismisses the guard on duty. Stroke is brought in, and the group begins questioning her. Stroke is very paranoid and reluctant to give information, but is willing to say that she was the only survivor, the people who attacked them were well equipped, and she has no reason to believe anyone in the Chalice Club did anything to provoke it. She also confirms she fell off the roof into the dumpster. The group discusses with each other, and Panda suggests that it could've been a Private Corporate Army based on the equipment.

The three upper class girls ask the others to step out for a moment, and Rebekah is brought out of the tank and calls down the warden, Wakakoa Wright. The group sits down, and Diamant, very calmly, threatens to report the incident to the media after explaining what was found and saying she knows Stroke is innocent. Panda and Peppermint back her up, threatening to inform the Red College who are major funders, and the Seelie Court who just has generally a lot of political influence. Diamant with their help (and spending an Edge) rolls a ridiculously high Intimidation and the warden silently signs for her release and leaves. Rebekah brings the others in and gets Stroke's stuff, telling them all they're free to go. Stroke reluctantly heads to the car with the others and Rebekah thanks Diamant, before saying she's going to probably get yelled at.

Let's Start A War
Cut back to the car a few hours later. All traffic has stopped entirely. Azat seems concerned and asks everyone what's going on. Auntie rolls down the window and sniffs around for explosives. She smells plastic explosives nearby in the building next to the car as well as burning gunpowder. Before she could say anything however, half of the building explodes and everyone is momentarily deafened, though the group luckily remained unharmed due to being a fair distance away.

Stitches sits up, rubs her head, and looks around the destroyed room. She's alive, and confused as to why. The man with the gun that was pressed to the back of her head, is now a corpse on the ground, and her old boss, is an arm, and nothing else. Not wanting to take any chances or waste time, since fire is closing in behind her, she grabs the gun off of the Tethyrian and jumps out of the window towards the group, using some kind of strange thread to grapple down. She approaches the group and requests assistance, seeing as they look like riots, but before they can figure out a plan, Panda yells that PCA vehicles are coming down the road. End of session.