Session 1: Still Water

What happened#

Eleven days dry on our own block, and the fix turned out to be embarrassingly close: the missing pump was two buildings over, bolted to somebody else's riser. Vinnie worked a contact and had an address inside the hour, a rigger who'd serviced that riser about two weeks back. Hunter went stack to stack asking the same question the hard way and got the same address, plus a stairwell that's decided he's not somebody you argue with. Lux Vale worked Etiquette looking for an alternative booster pump elsewhere in Koreatown, meant for a third building, and found one.

So we went in as the Risers' own people. Hunter worked out how a Riser crew dresses and had the four of us turned out in matching hi-vis inside a day, though only three of us actually walked in. Fiche drove a van none of us owned and never left it. Vinnie and Hunter walked straight through the front door claiming to be Ozzie's boss, down from headquarters, here to audit his crew's work. Whoever answered hesitated at the sight of the hi-vis, then let them in and pointed them downstairs without asking anything else.

Down to the basement: the pump, a laundry setup, and the three of us. We wet the floor and ran a recording of dripping water off Vinnie's commlink to explain the noise before anyone asked. Two kids kept circling Vinnie playing tag until one of them skinned a knee, and four adults who'd been playing cards upstairs came down to collect them. Three of the four went back up; the fourth lingered, and it took Vinnie five minutes to talk him back upstairs too. Lux Vale brought the cart in from the van once the basement was clear. Hunter had the pump off the riser in twenty minutes, which is apparently a very good time for that kind of work.

Then somebody came down to do laundry. An Awakened dwarf, and she wasn't expecting company: she got a Stunbolt off at Lux Vale before anyone could stop her. Shock gloves took care of it before it became worse; we left her on the floor by the machine, breathing.

We took the pump and left a business card on the way out, pre-printed, the way a contractor who does this often would carry them: OUT FOR REPAIR across the front, and two days written on it by hand.

Water's back above the third floor at home and off above the third floor two buildings over, where sixty households know exactly who came through that basement wearing somebody else's uniform. If that story reaches Ozzie, so does the question of who did it.

Timeline#

• Vinnie (Network: criminal) and Hunter (Influence: intimidation) independently traced the pump to a stack two buildings over; Lux Vale (Influence: etiquette) found an alternative booster pump elsewhere in Koreatown, meant for a third building.
• Hunter had the crew turned out in a Riser crew's own hi-vis inside a day, all four of them, though only three went in.
• Fiche drove a temporarily acquired van and stayed with it the whole time; Vinnie and Hunter walked in the front door as Ozzie's boss, in from headquarters, doing an audit. Whoever answered hesitated at the hi-vis, then waved them through and pointed them downstairs.
• Down to the basement riser room. Wet floor and a dripping-water recording off Vinnie's commlink covered the noise.
• Interrupted: two kids playing tag around Vinnie until one skinned a knee; four adults who'd been playing cards came down to collect them, and one of the four lingered until Vinnie spent five minutes talking him back upstairs.
• Lux Vale brought the hand truck in from the van once the basement was clear.
• Hunter wrenched the pump free in twenty minutes.
• Second interruption: an Awakened dwarf came down to do laundry and got a Stunbolt off at Lux Vale. Shock gloves left her unconscious by the machine.
• Left a business card reading the pump was broken, check back in two days.
• Out with the pump. Water's back at the client's stack; the other stack, sixty households, is dry.

Quotes#

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