Dark*Matter: Discovery, The Chicago Ripper

[industrygothica]

Nick pours over the rituals looking for anything useful, and trying to memorize as much of it as he can.

Looking at the map, Nick says, "I know it can't be this easy, but my gut says we should start somewhere around here," and points at the block of East Ontario and North Fairbanks.

 

[Falkus]

After examning some of the rituals, Nick can understand why they're kept under lock and key. They're all relatively easy to cast, requiring no preexisting arcane or psionic abilities. And they all cause death and destruction, often on a scale that usually requires nuclear devices to achieve mundanely.

After spending three long hours pouring through the rituals, Nick finally hits paydirt, and finds a ritual that matches the information he's retrieved so far.

The Summoning of Dak'Kar. Created by the Cabal of Five shortly before they were destroyed by the armies of ancient Egypt. The purpose of this ritual is to summon the dark demon of slaughter, Dak'Lar, and give him a city to do with as he pleases.

The first step is to make a pentagram on the city in question, done by performing a human sacrifice at each of the five points. The sacrifices aren't especially involved, once the initial casting is done, all it takes is one of the people involved to kill someone and chant a few specific words. This has to be done over the course of five days, and at the same time on each day. Using a lesser summoned fiend, ideally a servant of Dak'Lar, to perform the sacrafices can enhance the power of the ritual.

The second stage is a sixth sacrifice, which must be a being of power, at the center of the pentagram. This involves a two hour ceremony, culminating in the caster of the ritual carving out the heart of the sacrifice and eating it.

Dak'Lar will then be summoned. He will take the city as his own, and engage in a fortnight of slaughter and destruction, at which point he'll return to the lower planes, taking the city with him.

According to an attached document, the only known casting of this ritual occurred at Pompeii.

The only thing that doesn't match the facts you've gathered so far is that completing the ritual doesn't actually give the people casting it any sort of power or demonic favors or whatnot. In fact, the most they'll probably get is to be Dak'Lars first victims.

 

[Shayuri]

"That's...insane! Unless they just want to destroy a city...but why?!" Meredith demands, on hearing the summary of the ritual.

"There's only one place they can do it, at least...we can get there ahead of them, and be ready!"

 

[industrygothica]

"We're going to need a LOT of firepower," Nick says. "Does the Institute have snipers? We can't let this go down."

Nick looks at the rest of the group. "But why Z? I mean, she's smart. She's damn smart, but what significant power does she have other than being associated with the Hoffmann Institute? I don't understand. And what the hell does Cliff have to gain... from Hong Kong, no less?!"

ooc: For clarity: four sacrifices have gone down in four day, the fourth just happening. There's one more to go tomorrow, and then the big one. Is that about right? Does the sixth sacrifice take place on the same day as the 5th one, or on day 6? Sorry, I guess I've lost a little bit over the course of the game. /ooc

 

[kinem]

"I don't know anything about this ritual stuff" Diego admits "but I agree it doesn't add up. Most of the cultists are probably deluded pawns, sure, but the top guys must have something in mind that benefits them. Which ... well, I guess if you know a city's going to be destroyed, you could make a killing in the stock market if you know how to.

The only other thing in what you described that might be useful to a madman is hitching a ride in the city to hell, in the flesh, after the two weeks are up. But you'd think there'd be an easier way to do that.

The other possibility that comes to mind is ... it's not the same ritual. Egypt fits, of course. But if they mix it up somehow, maybe instead of summoning the slaughter guy, they can summon someone more likely to cut a deal."

 

[Falkus]

OOC: Correct. The fifth sacrifice takes place tomorrow, and once it's done, they don't have to wait a day to begin the sixth sacrifice, they can begin immediately after the fifth sacrifice.

"We have snipers, yes, but, damnit," Stanfield scowled, knocking over an empty coffee cup as he started punching keys on his computer. "I'll make the arrangements, see what I can get. Also Ryker's got some fiendhunting kits in the stores that he put together last night."

"As for Z, well, ah. It's not up to me to tell you the details. Let's just say that there's a reason why neither you nor I know her real name."

 

[industrygothica]

OOC: Correct. The fifth sacrifice takes place tomorrow, and once it's done, they don't have to wait a day to begin the sixth sacrifice, they can begin immediately after the fifth sacrifice.

"We have snipers, yes, but, damnit," Stanfield scowled, knocking over an empty coffee cup as he started punching keys on his computer. "I'll make the arrangements, see what I can get. Also Ryker's got some fiendhunting kits in the stores that he put together last night."

"As for Z, well, ah. It's not up to me to tell you the details. Let's just say that there's a reason why neither you nor I know her real name."

"Xeria?" Nick asks no one in particular.

"We've got to find the fifth point of the pentagram before tomorrow; if we can stop them sooner, the better off we'll all be. Cade, put you rcomputer magics to work and do some math--distances from one sacrifice to another. If they're exact, we'll be able to pinpoint the next location, and the center too. If not, then we'll have to approximate."

"Sir," Nick says to Stanfield. "I realize that the Institute has its policies, but this damn hierarchy is starting to get in the way. If there is anything you know about Z that can help us, or anything that the Institute knows, we could really use it. If not, well, there may not be an institute left to worry about anyway."

 

[Falkus]

"It has nothing to do with out security system, it's a personal matter of Z. If she wants to tell you, that's her decision. I will respect her privacy, mainly since it has no bearing on the present situation aside from making her suitable as the final sacrifice," Stanfield said. "Believe me, I understand the severity of this, I have no intention of withholding information that could help us stop these lunatics before it's too late.'

 

[Friadoc]

"Souls have powers, just says names do," says Cade simply enough. "People use to have an idea that if someone of power knew your name, your truename, they had power over you."

"Maybe it's greed," says Cade as he looks over all the information that has been gather before everyone. "Stocks, reconstruction contacts, or simple blackmail."

"Think about it, you can remove a city so effectively from the face of the earth without the need of an infrastructure that it takes to make a large scale nuclear weapon." Cade states. "If you demonstrated the ability to remove one of the largest, most influencial midwestern cities without the most powerful government on the planet stopping, who would stand up to you?"

"Honestly, though, the why doesn't matter, Z's truename doesn't matter," says Cade as starts a rundown of the gear checklist that should be needed. "We just need to stop it, we've got two chances, two sacrifices, to stop it and I'd prefer not to wait to the last one."

"Hit 'em hard, hit 'em fast, and keep on hittin' until they stay down," says Cade as he looks at everyone in the room with a sly, almost cocky grin on his face as a cover for the weight of the situation. "I mean, how many people have the chance to save Chicago?"

 

[industrygothica]

Nick looks at Cade, almost bored, as he continues talking. Finally, when he's done, Nick speaks. "Yeah. That's a great speech. Where's the data?"