Session 01 — The Vilify Trail

6 min read

Session 01 — The Vilify Trail

Summary

In-game date: May 26, 2045. The crew’s first real job. Broker — with Escalante secretary Isabella Taka in tow — briefed the group at Kenny Log-ins’ workshop: a small Escalante package went missing two days ago, last tracked to South Bay before the satellite signal died. A Continental Brands shipping container was stolen around the same time — likely connected.

Working their neighborhood contacts across four locations, the crew assembled enough of a picture to point at the Piranhas — a rocker gang operating just south of South Bay — and through them, to a ripper doc called Dr. Willie, who appears to be the source of a new street drug called Vilify.

Key Events

Briefing — Kenny’s Workshop

  • Isabella Taka presents the mission: recover an Escalante package that vanished from South Bay; contents unknown to her (and Partridge was vague about it too)
  • Broker takes charge of the crew; pays for his own Uber Red everywhere rather than piling into the Zip Mobile with everyone else
  • Unity confirmed as living separately in the University District — not at the workshop

Goose Salvage — Second Sons

  • Don Swayze on duty at Goose Salvage; initially guarded about sharing intel without payment
  • Broker impresses Don enough to get him talking — Don inadvertently says “Escalante!” when the cargo is described, confirming the Second Sons know something
  • Confirms: the Piranhas are pushing a new drug (Vilify) and getting bolder in the neighborhood; the Second Sons actively oppose drug distribution in their territory
  • Kenny makes a deal: he’ll clean up the projector at Schroeder’s Theater and run Good Movie Night; in return, Don will cut the workshop protection fee to zero
  • Don: “Stay the fuck off that shit! You run across any of it, you smash it in the streets.”

South Bay Docks — Vanya Stojanovic

  • Mr. Zip’s cousin Vanya (dock worker, stocky, big cyberarm) confirms: a single Continental Brands shipping container was robbed two nights ago
  • Gang broke through the front gate in beat-up trucks, loaded the container, headed south; looked like booster gangers, came prepared
  • Vanya’s shipping boss is someone called Ted Wuziek [?exact spelling] — not contacted
  • A woman outside the port fence was screaming: “They stole the dreams! They stole the dreams! And they’re SELLING them!” — meaning unclear; she pointed at Fix-it-Felix like someone from Invasion of the Body Snatchers

Enderman’s Bar — Sloan Enderman

  • Fix-it-Felix knows Sloan from a past incident (Felix’s friend slept with Sloan’s bridesmaid)
  • Outside the bar: five ragged people staring vacantly into the distance; spent syringes in the dumpster; Vilify users
  • Inside: subdued crowd, quiet murmur; live music in the back (hybrid drum-guitar contraption)
  • Sloan confirmed: selling Vilify at $15/dose; buys it from the Piranhas; describes it as “the practical cane” — cheaper street version of the upscale drug Euphoria
  • Gave up the Piranha hideout location in exchange for the promise of a better desk: “Just past the Kowalski Clinic, pretty much as south as you can get without entering the combat zone.”

Piranha Hideout

  • Kenny picked the front door lock silently; party infiltrated
  • Back room: mattress on the floor, empty syringes, puddles of bright purple fluid dripping on the ground — no Continental Brands merchandise anywhere
  • Discovered upstairs by a Piranha enforcer; Broker’s cover story (“We’re here for the yoga”) briefly bought confusion
  • Mr. Zip attempted to flee by vaulting the banister on inline skates; rolled badly; ended up back inside doing the worm at knifepoint
  • Broker paid 500 EB for 10 doses of Vilify and the right to walk out; also received a crate of Continental Brands chocolate kibble (thrown in unexpectedly)
  • Piranha leader: “We’re not retailers, we’re distribution.” — confirms they’re middlemen, not the source
  • On the way out, Broker slipped a dose to a wasted Piranha at the door, who dropped the name: Dr. Willie — the Vilify supplier, described as one of two ripper docs in the area (the other being “the goody two-shoes”)
  • A second wasted Piranha implied the gang was connected to Continental Brands before nervously reversing: “We didn’t do nothing to Continental Brands. We didn’t do nothing.”

Standout Quotes

“I found that in the dumpster behind the Goose.” — Kenny Log-ins (about the coffee Broker is drinking)

“It keeps things from touching the floor. So thanks, I guess.” — Sloan Enderman (on the desk Fix-it-Felix sourced for him)

“Stay the fuck off that shit! You run across any of it, you smash it in the streets. Run it down the gutters.” — Don Swayze

“We didn’t do nothing to Continental Brands. We didn’t do nothing.” — Piranha gang member (slipping up while high on Vilify)

“Okay — I slowly stand up.” — Mr. Zip (after doing the worm at knifepoint)

“He’s best.” — Piranha gang member (about Dr. Willie, while very high on Vilify)

Open Threads

  • Dr. Willie: Who is he, where is his clinic, and why is a ripper doc distributing a street drug? The Piranhas buy Vilify from him.
  • The stolen container: Where is the Continental Brands container now? It wasn’t at the Piranha hideout.
  • Escalante’s package: What is it? Small (bigger than a breadbox), smuggled inside a kibble container. Broker and Isabella don’t know the contents.
  • Vilify–Escalante connection: The Piranhas stole the Continental Brands container and distribute Vilify. Are these the same operation? Is “Nonh” (Continental Brands drug label) the active compound in Vilify?
  • “They stole the dreams!” The woman at the docks — what did she mean?
  • Good Movie Night: Kenny’s deal with Don Swayze — clean up Schroeder’s Theater projector → protection fee drops to zero.
  • Felix “going through some stuff”: Seemed oddly preoccupied with Vilify and the drug scene this session. His friend once slept with Sloan Enderman’s bridesmaid.

Meta / Errata

  • NeuroPort components: Kenny’s NeuroPort package includes the NeuroLink and interface plug. DM wants individual components listed on the sheet (no extra humanity cost — cosmetic). Kenny will add them between sessions.
  • Untrained skill checks: Allowed, with added difficulty (DM ruling). Failed checks are not flat refusals.
  • Flare gun / Heavy Weapons: Felix has a flare gun but no Heavy Weapons training — DM flagged this as a risk.
  • IP awarded: 100 IP to all players for Session 01.

Player Notes

  • The neighborhood around Kenny’s workshop was historically Polish (street names: Kawólski, Cawoski area); now gentrifying toward university students. Food flavor: pierogi-ramen fusion.
  • Schroeder’s Theater: abandoned theater near the university; student squat community. Golden Girl lives there. Second Sons provide loose protection. Good Movie Night deal in play.
  • Next session rendezvous floated as “the Red” — a bar in the area? TBD.
  • The crew left with: 10 doses of Vilify (Broker used 2 as persuasion tools on the way out), a crate of Continental Brands chocolate kibble, and the name Dr. Willie. Broker is out 500 EB on the expense account.

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