Hellraiser
Arcane
Chapter XIV
You enter Orłowski’s office, one of many in the Danzig Police HQ building on Karrenwall Strasse. Orłowski’s slowly-graying hair rises above a stack of paper documents, which otherwise block your view of the old cop. A half full or half empty, depending on the point of view, beige coffee mug stands next to his touchscreen computer terminal. The coffee itself looks like it has gone cold a few hours ago. Clearly the man is drowning in paperwork.
“And they say we became a paperless society twenty years ago.” You say to Orłowski, hoping his wall of paper isn’t soundproof.
“Ha! Maybe in India or Brazil.” Orłowski laughs from behind his cellulose wall. It has been a while though Frau Feldwebel, I am surprised you didn’t visit me earlier regarding the attack.”
“Well I was otherwise occupied.” You reply. “So what do we know about this latest attack?”
“I had the lab techs analyze the samples we collected from the parking lot, the explosive compound was the same as the one used in the Fuchs bombing.”
“Nitropenta.”
“Yes, that’s not the only thing that matches. There is absolutely nothing on the security vid files and the cameras are cutting-edge.” Orłowski tells you. “They could pick up anything, probably even a Reichkommando’s stealth cloak from what the GFG security said. I don’t know how they can be sure of that though, optical camo tends to be top secret guarded-like-a-nuke equipment. Doubt the government would let them test the cameras to see if it picks it up. Then again this is GFG, if any German corp has the money and power it would be them.” He muses for a bit.
“They could have planted the bomb earlier, it was under his car right?”
“Yes, a relatively small charge. Could have been planted under his car at night when it was parked at his home.”
“The bloke is bank manager, wouldn’t he have his house guarded by more security than the crown jewels? Surely he has a garage or something, they couldn’t just walk in without being spotted?” Gefreiter Smith asks.
“They shouldn't be able to do that, he does live on the Zoppot beach strip with the rest of the local rich and famous after all. We didn’t have a chance to check yet though. Too busy investigating and securing the mess at the GFG tower, damn media and vultures crawling all over the place.” The cop explains.
“We should probably investigate.” You add, the terrorists may have left something there - you think.
“I hear Zoppot is quite nice, lots of high-class locales, hotels and even casinos.” Richter comments.
“Well Gefreiter, remember that if we will go there it will not be so that you can lose your life’s savings playing roulette.” You remind Otto.
“Of course Frau Feldwebel, duty and service to the Europareich come first and foremost!” The Gefreiter replies eagerly.
“Did you find anything new related to the murders and the Fuchs bombing?” You ask the old policeman.
“Autopsies confirmed that both were strangled, however we found some kind of fabric under one of the assistant’s fingernails.” Orłowski starts explaining. “Odd thing really, artificial but the techs say it doesn’t match anything in the apartment or anything she had in her wardrobe. Could be a piece of her boyfriend’s underwear for all we know, but usually there would also be a skin flake of the other person there as well if that was the case, we found none. We're still analyzing it to see what exactly it is, should have the results tomorrow.”
“Maybe the assailant was wrapped in some skin-tight suit to cover his tracks? I mean it makes sense, the guy was some kind of assassin, they probably know how to cover their tracks. Could be a piece of that suit.” Gefreiter Mazowiecka suggests.
“Well, it is pretty obvious these guys aren’t amateurs. Either they’re trained professionals or professionals trained them.” You comment.
“Russians up to no good as always if you ask me.” Anna adds.
“I am inclined to agree, Perov and his goons know they’re on a sinking ship unless Europareich is out of the picture. Too many enemies around and no allies, too many potential fronts for the RDR.” Orłowski says. “Best way to do this would be to cause internal strife, might be a part of a greater Russian campaign of terror.”
“A likely scenario, however I am not as eager to point the finger at the RDR just yet.” You reply. “Even counting Russians alone, there is more than one group, which would be more than willing to fund such acts aimed against European interests.”
“Maybe we should talk to the GFG manager, perhaps he’ll tell us something.” Richter suggests.
“Last time we tried talking to a GFG employee we got stonewalled by a legion of lawyers. What makes you think it would be better this time Gefreiter?” You ask him.
“That is true Fraud Feldwebel. But surely the manager would be willing to help, if it means the people who tried to kill him would be brought to justice.” Otto replies.
“I’ll consider that possibility.” You tell him.
“There’s one other thing,” the old police officer mentions, “we’ve been trying to get a better look at the local criminal underworld, see if we could find who helped them smuggle in explosives. Got something, not sure what it is though.”
“What do you mean?” You ask, curious as to what he has found.
“An old warehouse on the west bank of the Vistula, not far from the Port really, the place is in Lauenthal. The thing stands empty, in theory. A patrol spotted some activity there during the middle of the night, a vehicle or two moving out of the lot. Now, this wouldn’t be all that suspicious, but technically the warehouse is supposed to be demolished, whenever the current owners gets cash to build something in its place.”
“What could they be doing in the middle of the bloody night there, not demolitions work I’m sure. Maybe an illegal rave? Reminds me of the stories my older brother used to tell me, back when you could actually go out somewhere in the night in England, without having to fear that a roaming machete-armed Ali hides behind every corner.” Sarah muses.
“Too quiet for a party according to my people. Whoever was there, they didn’t want to get spotted.” The officer explains.
“Suspicious activity such as that should be investigated.” Richter comments.
“I agree, although it may be something unrelated to our task. Either way I need to decide what to do next.” You tell everyone.
As you look around Orłowski’s office, thinking what to do next, an icon starts flashing in your field of view. Somebody is calling you, you answer the call.
“Frau Westgard,” the Major starts the conversation, “while I do understand that you are busy with the investigation, I would like to remind you that going on patrol is also your duty. As it stands, you and your squad are to spend at least 8 hours a day on patrol duty until further notice. Unless urgent matters regarding the investigation come up naturally. That is an order.”
“Of course Herr Major, I am not forgetting about my duties.”
“I know you are not Feldwebel, you did an excellent job during your previous assignment last week. However we are stretched thin as it comes to patrolling the TSZ, we need your squad on the streets if our presence here is to be visible.”
“Are the patrol areas the same as the last time Herr Major?”
“No, we also need somebody in Neufahrwasser and Brösen. Neufahrwasser in particular is a rather bad part of town, people tend to avoid that place at night, even if it is close to the port.” The Major explains.
“Brösen is similar to Saspe, although they built a few somewhat fancy restaurants and clubs there, the sea being close probably makes it a good location for that. We could use more men, but command feels there are more important places to station them than the TSZ. Saspe, Heibuden and Oliva you know obviously.” He adds.
You will…
A)…go to Zoppot, see if you can get access to the bank manager’s home and investigate it for clues regarding the bombing.
B)…visit the manager at the hospital, see if he has anything interesting to say about the bombing.
C)…go check out the suspicious warehouse at night. The entire squad will go with you should something happen.
D)…interrogate Robert Wis, see if he knows anything about local right-wing terrorists.
E)...persuade Carla Durante the hacker, to tell you more about her involvement in the Fuchs bombing, using torture. Don’t worry, it’s all in the mind.
F)…go make up for all the patrol duty you missed by playing cop. Spend an entire day doing that.
Furthermore the major orders that you actually get your squad on patrol, the rookies can’t be playing cops all the time. You will patrol the following area during the night:
1) Saspe
2) Heibuden
3) Oliva
4) Brösen
5) Neufahrwasser
Patrols work like this, two soldiers stay in the Neinmask and guard it, the rest of the squad splits into two groups of four soldiers each. One is lead by the Unteroffizier the other by Ida. For the time being the group assigned to you are the same people as you picked for this chapter, that is Mazowiecka, Smith and Richter.
You enter Orłowski’s office, one of many in the Danzig Police HQ building on Karrenwall Strasse. Orłowski’s slowly-graying hair rises above a stack of paper documents, which otherwise block your view of the old cop. A half full or half empty, depending on the point of view, beige coffee mug stands next to his touchscreen computer terminal. The coffee itself looks like it has gone cold a few hours ago. Clearly the man is drowning in paperwork.
“And they say we became a paperless society twenty years ago.” You say to Orłowski, hoping his wall of paper isn’t soundproof.
“Ha! Maybe in India or Brazil.” Orłowski laughs from behind his cellulose wall. It has been a while though Frau Feldwebel, I am surprised you didn’t visit me earlier regarding the attack.”
“Well I was otherwise occupied.” You reply. “So what do we know about this latest attack?”
“I had the lab techs analyze the samples we collected from the parking lot, the explosive compound was the same as the one used in the Fuchs bombing.”
“Nitropenta.”
“Yes, that’s not the only thing that matches. There is absolutely nothing on the security vid files and the cameras are cutting-edge.” Orłowski tells you. “They could pick up anything, probably even a Reichkommando’s stealth cloak from what the GFG security said. I don’t know how they can be sure of that though, optical camo tends to be top secret guarded-like-a-nuke equipment. Doubt the government would let them test the cameras to see if it picks it up. Then again this is GFG, if any German corp has the money and power it would be them.” He muses for a bit.
“They could have planted the bomb earlier, it was under his car right?”
“Yes, a relatively small charge. Could have been planted under his car at night when it was parked at his home.”
“The bloke is bank manager, wouldn’t he have his house guarded by more security than the crown jewels? Surely he has a garage or something, they couldn’t just walk in without being spotted?” Gefreiter Smith asks.
“They shouldn't be able to do that, he does live on the Zoppot beach strip with the rest of the local rich and famous after all. We didn’t have a chance to check yet though. Too busy investigating and securing the mess at the GFG tower, damn media and vultures crawling all over the place.” The cop explains.
“We should probably investigate.” You add, the terrorists may have left something there - you think.
“I hear Zoppot is quite nice, lots of high-class locales, hotels and even casinos.” Richter comments.
“Well Gefreiter, remember that if we will go there it will not be so that you can lose your life’s savings playing roulette.” You remind Otto.
“Of course Frau Feldwebel, duty and service to the Europareich come first and foremost!” The Gefreiter replies eagerly.
“Did you find anything new related to the murders and the Fuchs bombing?” You ask the old policeman.
“Autopsies confirmed that both were strangled, however we found some kind of fabric under one of the assistant’s fingernails.” Orłowski starts explaining. “Odd thing really, artificial but the techs say it doesn’t match anything in the apartment or anything she had in her wardrobe. Could be a piece of her boyfriend’s underwear for all we know, but usually there would also be a skin flake of the other person there as well if that was the case, we found none. We're still analyzing it to see what exactly it is, should have the results tomorrow.”
“Maybe the assailant was wrapped in some skin-tight suit to cover his tracks? I mean it makes sense, the guy was some kind of assassin, they probably know how to cover their tracks. Could be a piece of that suit.” Gefreiter Mazowiecka suggests.
“Well, it is pretty obvious these guys aren’t amateurs. Either they’re trained professionals or professionals trained them.” You comment.
“Russians up to no good as always if you ask me.” Anna adds.
“I am inclined to agree, Perov and his goons know they’re on a sinking ship unless Europareich is out of the picture. Too many enemies around and no allies, too many potential fronts for the RDR.” Orłowski says. “Best way to do this would be to cause internal strife, might be a part of a greater Russian campaign of terror.”
“A likely scenario, however I am not as eager to point the finger at the RDR just yet.” You reply. “Even counting Russians alone, there is more than one group, which would be more than willing to fund such acts aimed against European interests.”
“Maybe we should talk to the GFG manager, perhaps he’ll tell us something.” Richter suggests.
“Last time we tried talking to a GFG employee we got stonewalled by a legion of lawyers. What makes you think it would be better this time Gefreiter?” You ask him.
“That is true Fraud Feldwebel. But surely the manager would be willing to help, if it means the people who tried to kill him would be brought to justice.” Otto replies.
“I’ll consider that possibility.” You tell him.
“There’s one other thing,” the old police officer mentions, “we’ve been trying to get a better look at the local criminal underworld, see if we could find who helped them smuggle in explosives. Got something, not sure what it is though.”
“What do you mean?” You ask, curious as to what he has found.
“An old warehouse on the west bank of the Vistula, not far from the Port really, the place is in Lauenthal. The thing stands empty, in theory. A patrol spotted some activity there during the middle of the night, a vehicle or two moving out of the lot. Now, this wouldn’t be all that suspicious, but technically the warehouse is supposed to be demolished, whenever the current owners gets cash to build something in its place.”
“What could they be doing in the middle of the bloody night there, not demolitions work I’m sure. Maybe an illegal rave? Reminds me of the stories my older brother used to tell me, back when you could actually go out somewhere in the night in England, without having to fear that a roaming machete-armed Ali hides behind every corner.” Sarah muses.
“Too quiet for a party according to my people. Whoever was there, they didn’t want to get spotted.” The officer explains.
“Suspicious activity such as that should be investigated.” Richter comments.
“I agree, although it may be something unrelated to our task. Either way I need to decide what to do next.” You tell everyone.
As you look around Orłowski’s office, thinking what to do next, an icon starts flashing in your field of view. Somebody is calling you, you answer the call.
“Frau Westgard,” the Major starts the conversation, “while I do understand that you are busy with the investigation, I would like to remind you that going on patrol is also your duty. As it stands, you and your squad are to spend at least 8 hours a day on patrol duty until further notice. Unless urgent matters regarding the investigation come up naturally. That is an order.”
“Of course Herr Major, I am not forgetting about my duties.”
“I know you are not Feldwebel, you did an excellent job during your previous assignment last week. However we are stretched thin as it comes to patrolling the TSZ, we need your squad on the streets if our presence here is to be visible.”
“Are the patrol areas the same as the last time Herr Major?”
“No, we also need somebody in Neufahrwasser and Brösen. Neufahrwasser in particular is a rather bad part of town, people tend to avoid that place at night, even if it is close to the port.” The Major explains.
“Brösen is similar to Saspe, although they built a few somewhat fancy restaurants and clubs there, the sea being close probably makes it a good location for that. We could use more men, but command feels there are more important places to station them than the TSZ. Saspe, Heibuden and Oliva you know obviously.” He adds.
You will…
A)…go to Zoppot, see if you can get access to the bank manager’s home and investigate it for clues regarding the bombing.
B)…visit the manager at the hospital, see if he has anything interesting to say about the bombing.
C)…go check out the suspicious warehouse at night. The entire squad will go with you should something happen.
D)…interrogate Robert Wis, see if he knows anything about local right-wing terrorists.
E)...persuade Carla Durante the hacker, to tell you more about her involvement in the Fuchs bombing, using torture. Don’t worry, it’s all in the mind.
F)…go make up for all the patrol duty you missed by playing cop. Spend an entire day doing that.
Furthermore the major orders that you actually get your squad on patrol, the rookies can’t be playing cops all the time. You will patrol the following area during the night:
1) Saspe
2) Heibuden
3) Oliva
4) Brösen
5) Neufahrwasser
Patrols work like this, two soldiers stay in the Neinmask and guard it, the rest of the squad splits into two groups of four soldiers each. One is lead by the Unteroffizier the other by Ida. For the time being the group assigned to you are the same people as you picked for this chapter, that is Mazowiecka, Smith and Richter.
