Shadow of the Waxwing Slain, Ch. 7
Shadow of the Waxwing Slain, Ch. 7
Case Closed?
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Chapter 7: Case Closed?
Shift 8: Night
Location: Outside the city → Santa Barbara → Abandoned Resort
Fletcher sat in the passenger seat of Dee’s Spinner, his parked right next to hers, on the edge of the island on which the abandoned resort sat, a huge dark building in the distance.
They could see a battered-down fence surrounding a huge empty pool.
Pushing into yet another shift without downtime is giving them another point of Stress, putting them both at 1 Resolve.
Fletcher had his dogtag in his hand, rubbing it between a thumb and forefinger.
“You were in the army?” Dee asked.
Fletcher shook his head. “Nope, found this on the ground one day after…after a difficult case. Felt lucky. Held onto it ever since. The name’s rubbed off, see? I don’t even know whose it was.” He showed her the faded writing before looking at her hand in her pocket. “You got something, too? What is it?”
She hesitated, before pulling out the cheap fish souvenir. “This too, I found on the ground. Rem…I liked it, so I kept it. It reminds me of a memory. Looking at the synthoid fish tanks on animoid row as a little girl.” She looked back at Fletcher. “Of course, that never actually happened.”
Fletcher shrugged. “You feel like it happened. You remember it happening. Isn’t that enough?”
She looked back at the fish, before nodded and putting it back in her pocket.
They both regain a point of Resolve for interacting with their signature items. Fletcher uses Counselor to give Dee another Resolve, putting her at 3. Hopefully, that’s enough for this next scene…
Dee led the way through the resort building, down the entombed hallways, clearing the empty rooms filled with detritus left behind. She had her flashlight out in her left hand, resting on the wrist of her right hand which held her .357 subcompact pointing forward.
Fletcher followed, flashlight and PK-D Blaster held in similar fashion. He could hear the rain against the walls when the wind blew.
Dee moved silently and swiftly.
Dee vs Rhodes
Agility + Stealth: d12 + d8 = 8,5 → One Success
Intelligence + Observation: d8 + d6 = 6,6 → Two Successes
I don’t want to push and risk losing Resolve, so he hears them coming and isn’t surprised.
They entered a large open room with a stage at the far end and dusty tables and chairs set around. They split up, moving through the room towards the stage.
There was a loud burst of static from the speakers before an old song started blaring.
Spotlights in the ceiling turned on, illuminating bright circles in the room, moving constantly at random.
A figure emerged on the stage in the chaos, carrying a gun.
“You shouldn’t have come lookin’ for me!”
He fired at Fletcher before the detectives could move.
Fletcher took a shotgun blast to the shoulder, sending him spinning, cracking his head on the corner of a table and falling to the ground.
“Fletcher!” Dee yelled, diving for cover as Rhodes jumped off the stage onto the floor, kicking over a table.
“Can’t help him right now, deal with Rhodes!” Rem yelled inside Dee’s head and Dee listened. She needed to end this quickly. She moved between tables, staying low and closing in on Rhodes. Seeing him pop up, she aimed and fired, clipping him in the shoulder before he dropped back down. She pushed over a table to give herself cover.
Bullets punched through the corner of the table as Dee ducked away.
She popped up and moved forward, gun up.
Rhodes stood to engage and Dee fired.
Rhodes’ head snapped back.
Dee continued forward, gun up until she came to Rhodes’ body, lying on the ground, bullet hole in his forehead.
The music cut out, leaving only the mechanical whir of the roving spotlights moving across the room in sudden silence.
Scene Rundown
I gave Rhodes a surprise round since Dee failed her Stealth roll.
Is Rhodes shooting at Dee?
1d6 = 1 → “No, and…"
He shoots at Fletcher.
Agility + Firearms: 2d10 = 5,10 → Two Successes
Rhodes does 4 damage with his PK-D 20 gauge, dropping Fletcher down to 0 health, making him Broken. It’s also a Critical Injury.
Crit. Roll: 1d10 = 6: Cracked Skull
Dee makes an Insight roll or loses 1 Resolve due to seeing a friend suffer a potentially-lethal critical injury.
Empathy + Insight: d8 + d6 = 5,1 → No Successes.
Dee takes 1 stress and drops to 2 Resolve.
Initiative → Dee: 1, Rhodes: 2
Rhodes is at Medium Range from Dee and Fletcher. Dee moves up 1 zone to short range and fires her .357 at Rhodes with a disadvantage due to him being behind cover.
Agility + Firearms: d12 = 7 → One Success
Dee inflicts 1 damage with her pistol, knocking Rhodes down to 6 health.
Rhodes fires at Dee, also at disadvantage.
Agility + Firearms: d10 = 1 → No Successes
Dee fires back.
Agility + Firearms (dis): 1d12 = 3.
Dee Pushes: 1d12 = 12 → Two Successes
Dee does 2 damage, dropping Rhodes down to 4, and gets a roll on the Crit. Injury Table.
1d12 = 12: “Shattered Head”
Is anyone else here?
1d6 = 2 → “No”
Dee ran over to Fletcher, who lay on his back, a bloody gash in his head and a bullet hole in his shoulder.
He groaned, still conscious, but barely. “You…got him?”
“Yes, shut up.” She called Dispatch for an emergency medical vehicle as well as a forensics team. She then tended to Fletcher. “Hold still, I’m going to see what I can do.”
Dee needs to make two Medical Aid rolls, one to stabilize the crit, and one to recover Health points.
First, to stabilize the crit and ensure Fletcher doesn’t have to make a death save at the end of the shift.
Intelligence + Medical Aid: d10 + d6 = 6,6 → Two Successes
Now, to recover Health.
Intelligence + Medical Aid: d10 + d6 = 1,4 → No Successes
Dee patched up his head and bandaged his shoulder as best she could. She worked methodically, without thinking too much, but after she was done, she noticed her hands started shaking.
“Guess you were right,” Fletcher grunted, closing his eyes. “Guess I' really am old and not in ‘adequate physical shape.’”
“Shut up,” She said, cradling his head in her lap. What was she feeling? It was such a strong emotion. “You can’t die. I will not allow it.”
He gave a smirk, opening his eyes for a second, looking up at her. “See?” He grunted. “I told you we’d get along great, you and me…”
Location: RDU - Medical
Fletcher opened his eyes, his head pounding.
Dee stood next to the bed, arms crossed, looking concerned.
“How long I been out?” He asked, touching the bandage on his head. He was on a hospital bed, wires hooked to him, a consistent beeping coming from a monitor displaying his vitals.
“Couple hours. How do you feel?”
“Like I got shot,” he replied, closing his eyes and putting his hand down. “So, what happened?”
“Forensics is still on site. Seems Rhodes had been holding up there for awhile. We found the second bomb as well as his plans for Wallace HQ.”
“So…case closed, then? We found the bomber, the bomb and the one who hired him, all before another bomb went off. Pretty dang good job, if I do say so myself.”
“Yes and no,” Dee said. “Once you’re able, Holden wants us to investigate the Iron Court. See what we can find out from Ricci, find the rest of them, round them up or retire them as needed."
“I guess you’re stuck with my old, out-of-shape ass, then.” Fletcher smiled.
Dee gave a slight grin back. “I suppose so.”
Case of the Courthouse Bombing: Closed
Fletcher and Dee get Promotion Points for “Apprehending one or more suspects or fugitives”, “Stopped one or more serious crimes from being committed” and Dee gets another for “Saved the life of another LAPD officer or performed some other heroic action.”
They each get Humanity Points for “Connected with someone on a personal level.”
Chapter 7 log
I didn’t expect the fight to go down like it did! Brutal. I’d heard that combat could be risky in Blade runner and that is true. I’m happy with how everything went down. One of the tricky things in solo-play is setting up a scene like that fight. I had a whole abandoned resort I could use, where would the fight happen? I decided to follow BR:2049’s lead and put it in a ballroom. I could’ve gone through every step of the infiltration, moving through the open yard, into the reception area, etc, and asking the oracle “Is he here?” “Is he here”, etc but I had a cool idea and went with it. You kind of have to be the GM in those instances and think ‘where would a cool place for a gunfight to be?’ Just go with the coolest idea you have and you won’t go wrong.
I’m taking a week off for vacation! I need it and won’t have much time for this and it’s good timing, between cases. It will give readers a good time to catch up. After that, I’ll have an ‘interlude’ post, where I’ll talk about how the case went as a whole, what I’m changing and planning for the next case. I’ll spend some time for what the PCs get up to between cases, focusing on some character development. Then, we’ll begin the new case!
I’m looking forward to it.
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