Protagonists#

• Short, Lance - Foreign Service Officer (Γιάννης)
• Miller, Liam (Agent Dave / Jocko) - Naval Special Warfare Group One (SEALs) (Παναγιώτης)
• Lensing, Emma - Professor of Philology (Τάσος)
• Bennet, Wendy - Criminal Intelligence Analyst / Assistant Professor of Criminology (Κωνσταντίνα)

Atlantis Casino Resort Spa – Thursday, June 1st, 2017#

Agent Locke accesses Persistent Vigil’s servers and discovers that the sicarios encountered at Caffeine Cantina had headed east out of Reno. BOLOs and APBs have been issued based on intel Agent Myra passed to Willstatter. Agent Myra contacts Pitzerelli and fills him in on the mission status. He orders them to find Anthony Cooper and bring him back alive.

Agent Locke determines that none of Persistent Vigil’s personnel have been near the area where Anthony Cooper might be hiding around. At some point during the day, she receives a message from Kim Boyer who is demanding that she know what happened to Norah Brigid. Fearing that she might be tracked down, Locke disconnects from Persistent Vigil’s servers after not answering Boyer’s.

Afterwards Locke spoofs her IP address and reconnects. She enters all the data collected from every related killing to see if the software could predict something additional. By typing in all the mathematic equations and data regarding the case, she exposes Kim Boyer to the truth (Fumble 100% roll). Realizing that she panics and disconnects.

Kim Boyer picks up all the data Locke entered in PV’s systems and manages to comprehend what happened to Norah Brigid. She rushes out with the intent of driving out to 48 Rancho Manor Drive to warn the family of the upcoming sicarios’ attack. As she starts the engine and drives, the drone sees her, and she vanishes. Her car spirals out of control and crashes into an airport fuel depot tank causing an enormous explosion.

While still inside the hotel, and while Locke takes Zen to the underground parking to do his thing, Agent Nikita notices through the room’s window smoke rising in the horizon to the east near the airport.

Locke and Nikita reconnect to PV’s server and view the explosion’s drone footage:

The Pharaoh Glitch#

• The great pyramids, smooth and beautiful.
• The mighty Sphinx, unbroken by time.
• Causeways from temple to temple, from tomb to tomb.
• Countless temples, countless tombs.
• Slaves by the thousands not struggling to build these monuments but herded by soldiers toward priests, toward basalt temples and altars surrounded by gore, some slaves slaughtered and some carrying away the dead.
• Down a wide lane between stone columns a lone figure stride. The cameras and algorithms pick him out in greater detail than any other Persistent Vigil image: a tall, slim figure in prismatic robes and crowned in a golden pschent that glows with inherent light. His face is raised to smile for the drone’s camera and his arm is raised in greeting.

The Stakeout#

Working Group Masticate rents a van and arms themselves with Molotov cocktails. Agents Jocko and Myra park near Greater Nevada Field.

Agent Myra writes a letter to his wife, Melinda, confessing his worries about Jocko—he suspects he has The Scent.

Jocko muses about his own resurrection: “Jesus resurrected himself. Maybe Pepita wants me now.”

48 Rancho Manor#

Jocko and Myra arrive at 48 Rancho Manor in the early afternoon. They stealthily ascend the hill but fail to notice the security cameras catching Jocko. Jocko texts Locke, but message is not understood because of the military jargon.

Jocko notices there are at least two people in the house, but he removes himself from the area when they hear police car sirens. Jocko manages to escape, but Myra gets arrested for trespassing and for carrying illegal weaponry.

Jocko informs the rest of the agents about the events that have transpired and then drives back to the hotel.

Agent Locke contacts Pitzerelli. He orders them to prioritize getting Cooper back. Agent Myra is not a priority.

Better Call Lance#

At Reno PD, agent Myra is interrogated by Dt. Oliver Larson. But by putting in his best speech ever, he talks way out of police custody (PERSUADE -40%).

Cooper’s Apartment#

Agent Locke, with the assistance of Special Agent Earnest Manning, discovers the location of the IP address that was used to send Cooper’s e-mails. She then prepares a needle with a sedative strong enough to knock out Anthony Cooper.

After sunset, Working Group Masticate drives down to Peppermill Apartments at 461 California Avenue.

Agent Jocko takes out the building’s internet connection by cutting down the fiber optics cable, and then all the agents, bar Locke and Zen, enter the building.

Ageny Myra tracked down Cooper’s apartment by using his Scent.

Myra checks the apartment through the window. Walls covered completely with sigils, wards, and maps. A waste bucket holds days-old blood, rotting.

Jocko breaks the apartment’s lock and allows everyone to enter. Everyone enters. The smell is terrible. An occult tome and translations are in a pile of papers, along with simplified worksheets that he prepared for the assassins.

An exhausted voice comes is heard: “Is it all done? Wait. What’s the date?”

Before he is knocked unconscious and carried outside, into the van, Cooper tells the agents that he wanted to find again the God from beyond and its comforting presence.

Desert Plains#

The agents call Pitzerelli and inform him that they have Cooper. He provides coordinates a few miles south of Reno and tells them to bring the man there.

At around 23:00, a Black Ops helicopter lands at the appointed location. Nondescript special forces men carry Cooper in. Pitzerelli congratulates the Agents on a job well down.

Wendy mentions Pitzerelli’s Scent and he asks her to elaborate. And she does mention the corruption that causes it to emanate from people.

Was it the right thing to deliver Cooper to Pitzerelli?

• Wendy -> Correct
• Lance -> Correct
• Emma -> Mistake
• Jocko -> Mistake

Shutting down the operation#

The agents pack up and leave Reno. Pitzerelli takes care of all the legal loose ends with Reno PD.

Wendy finds out that Anthony Pitzerelli was at Sierrra Nevada Corp during the time the operation was in progress.

In the following months:

• Persistent Vigil is shut down.
• Col. Mauch is prosecuted for Norah Brigid’s disappearance and Kim Boyer’s death.
• Sierra Nevada Corp remains active—now sole owner of all the surveillance tech.