Atlanta 2050:Sessions:20190615

Saturday, January 15, 2050, 8:00am. Dr Liz Ross is paged to Grady Health Systems hospital. ER physician Dr Brian Fien summarizes the case: Dennis Omar, male, early 40s, werewolf. Multiple deep lacerations to the chest and abdomen; stab wounds to the back. The LYC virus should be healing him; instead, he is "stuck" in a state between human and wolf. Unfortunately, by the time Dr Liz can reach the hospital, Dennis has died due to the severity of his injuries. Dr Liz performs an autopsy. The claw wounds, which nearly disemboweled the victim, appear to have been caused by a very large cat; the slashes by a large metal knife, a sliver of which Dr Liz removes from the wound and carefully places in an evidence bag. On the lower back are three small but deep puncture wounds, possibly inflicted with an icepick or sharpened screwdriver. According to Dr Fien's notes, the attack had taken place in The Underground. Although it was daylight on a weekend morning, there seem to have been no witnesses.

Les Schmidt wakes from a light sleep, immediately dons his leather armor, and goes round to Statts Brewery Pub, a popular Guild hangout. Before he can really get started drinking, however, the Merc Guild assigns Les to go deal with a giant insect at Peachtree Transit Center. Gathering his pistols, sniper rifle (his proudest possession), and his blades, he borrows one of the Guild's horses and in 20 minutes arrives at the site. Buck Harrington tells him "We have a bug problem" and describes a 70-pound scorpion trapped in a small room. Les peers through a window and judges the scorpion to be closer to 100 pounds. Its body is 5' long, not including the tail. Les sets up his rifle to shoot through the window, lines up the shot... and then his alarm sounds, indicating that "magic has come on" which disables most technology, including guns. "Guess I gotta do this the hard way," he mutters, ejecting the live round and stowing his guns. Taking a sword in one hand and a knife in the other, he goes around to the door.

Scratch, a young homeless man, happens to catch sight of Les armed with sword and knife. He thinks to himself, "I'll follow the fool, there's always something to pick up."

Les glances back at the guy following him through the door, quickly sizing him up -- homeless guy in a ratty coat, hat pulled down to partly conceal his ugly face. Les says he's about to kill a scorpion, and Scratch replies, "So I need to look out in case you fail."

Les throws a knife which pierces the scorpion's carapace. It lunges and grabs him with one of its pincers, punching into his armor. Les fumbles his sword away, fast-draws another knife and strikes the scorpion, but doesn't get through its armor. He wrests himself free of the claw. Scratch tries to grab the other claw but winds up falling across the scorpion's back. The scorpion's claw wounds Les; luckily he avoids its venomous tail. Les fast-draws another knife and attacks the scorpion's claw and 'arm'; he does no damage, but the scorpion lets go of him. Scratch rolls off the scorpion's back and tries to grab its tail, but misses. Les dodges the next claw and tail attacks. Scratch grabs its tail and exerts his ability, Instill Terror, stunning the scorpion momentarily. Les performs an acrobatic flip and stabs at the eyes, missing those targets but scraping through the carapace. The scorpion whips its tail (with Scratch clinging to it) at Les; fortunately the stinger doesn't penetrate Les' armor, and he dodges the claw attack. Scratch uses Instill Terror again, and Les jumps back as malodorous vomit spews from the scorpion's mouth. Scratch tries to bite into the tail but is unable to. Les jabs a knife into the scorpion, which pukes again and stops moving.

Les collects his weapons. A minute after the fight ends, the scorpion shrinks to normal size. Les thanks Scratch for his help. Outside, Buck tells Les "Good job" and hands him $500 cash (30% of which is the Guild's cut). Les hands a $20 to Scratch, thanks him again, and offers, "Let me get you some food."

Dr Liz starts to phone Lord Beast, but the magic is up so the phones aren't working. As she is leaving the hospital a nurse, Sheila Ray, gets her attention. (As Dr Liz is aware, Sheila is an incognito wererat.) "He doesn't smell right," Sheila says, meaning Dennis Omar; "He smells poisoned." Dr Liz and Sheila go to the hospital's morgue. Dr Liz uncovers the body, and Sheila leans over and takes a deep sniff. "His blood is corrupted," she says. "There's something inside." Dr Liz probes the deepest claw wounds and carefully removes three tiny (1/4" long) jagged shards. Dennis' corpse shudders and morphs into fully human form. Sheila helps Dr Liz turn the body over, and the doctor concludes that the minuscule shards somehow caused the three very deep puncture wounds, but she can only guess as to the delivery method.

Over brunch at the Ralph McGill Cafe, Scratch tersely explains to Les that the mana flux affects him badly. When magic is down, he appears good-looking, even handsome, and his intelligence is higher. But when magic is up, he becomes ugly. "This freaks people out... It's difficult for me to keep a job like this," so he ended up broke and homeless. Les offers to help Scratch. "You could be my eyes downtown. I'd pay you."