You've all heard _that_ story, right? The one about the businessman who goes out with a
strange girl while on a junket somewhere, and wakes up to find himself in a bath of ice and
missing some kidneys or a liver, with "DIAL A HOSPITAL" scribbled on the wall above
him?
Urban myth, right?
That's what *they* want you to think.
A while ago, Vapula set a particular project in train. It involved implanting certain devices in the kidneys of a chosen group of businessmen, without the knowledge of the poor mortal victims. These devices were (take your pick):
(a) Modems. Vapula is testing out his VapuNet, using the miniaturised broadcasting modems as
vital components, and also letting him hack into the computers where the businessmen work.
(b) Genetic modifiers. Vapula is using the children sired by the businessmen after getting the
implants as the control population for a new experiment.
(c) Essence absorbers, designed to suck the Essence from the victims and from people
nearby.
(d) Something similarly fiendish.
However, Vapula now wants the devices back, because:
(a) He wants to upgrade.
(b) The businessmen have _sired_ the target population, and don't need the genetic modifiers any
more.
(c) He wants to check their functioning.
(d) Whatever.
A hit team of Vapulans is therefore out there, working with a group of Servitors of Valefor to collect the organs that contain the devices, and bring them back to Vapula. The Thieves, being their merry-wanderer-of-the-night selves (yes, Puck _was_ a giggling psychopath, I am convinced of it) have decided to turn the whole thing into an urban myth by leaving the victims alive and in the traditional situation.
Where The Players Come In
If the players should be drawn into the situation (possibly because a businessman they know gets his kidneys harvested) they may find common threads among the businessmen who have had this happen to them (perhaps they all visited a conference together three years ago, or all belonged to a particular company, or something) or they may be able to trace the Thieves or Vapulans if they are hot on the trail.
If the players are angels, they'll clearly want to do something about this. If they're demons, it's possible that one of the businessmen among the victims yet to be harvested will be of interest to their Prince or his operations - or they may simply see the chance to collect a bit of Vaputech quietly for their own Prince's benefit. (Of course, in that case, they had best not get caught doing so...)
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