The corridor between finance and clinical systems fills with smoke and hurried hospital staff. Orchid remains alone; Dana Holt is absent, while Elias and Mara remain behind at the depot.
At the secured intersection, Dr. Miriam Vale, her warm brown skin and a small mole beside her nose visible above the maskless collar, a middle-aged woman with a narrow build, dark braided hair, and silver-rimmed glasses, hurries forward in a white coat over navy scrubs.
Dr. Miriam Vale
Clinical systems is isolating the network. If the finance segment is still exposed, I need confirmation before they cut it.
She carries an emergency systems tablet against her chest. Its screen flashes badge prompts and segmented network warnings as two orderlies push past her toward the stairwell.
Dr. Miriam Vale
You there. Staff access or emergency response? The intersection locks in less than a minute.
Vale reaches the security panel and raises her tablet to authenticate, exposing the clinical confirmation interface for a brief moment before the smoke obscures its display.
Dr. Miriam Vale
If you have the finance authorization, show me now. Otherwise move away from the door.
✓ Quest Accepted
Secure clinical authorization
“"I'm sorry, I'm just an intern. I needed some place to drop off some of my belongings while observing nurses for the day. At the time, the door was open. I was not told by anyone what it belonged to. My things are still in there." A meticulously crafted lie, executed through appropriate body language and facial expressions.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Psychology, rolled +0)
Keskiyön Orkidea
I'm sorry, I'm just an intern. I needed somewhere to leave my belongings while observing nurses. The door was open, and nobody told me what it was. My things are still inside.
Keskiyön Orkidea lowers her voice, keeps her shoulders drawn inward, and lets a precise flicker of uncertainty cross her face before meeting Vale’s eyes.
Dr. Miriam Vale
Your belongings are in the finance records room?
Keskiyön Orkidea
Yes. I only need to collect them.
Vale studies Orchid through the smoke, then glances at the tablet’s warning prompts. The controlled apology and plausible detail settle the question in her favor.
Dr. Miriam Vale
All right. Go in, take your things, and come straight back out. Do not touch any workstation or cabinet. I will hold the door.
Vale steps aside and overrides the intersection lock with her tablet. The finance-room door releases, giving Orchid immediate access while the alarm continues pulsing through the corridor.
“I thank Vale quickly, then proceed through the corridor. Inside, I kneel over a cabinet in the corner, precisely angling my body in a position Vale would be unable to see what I could be grabbing despite me not actually grabbing anything. A second later, I turn around and just as I'm about to leave the room, I hook Vale in a chokehold with one arm and yank her around the corner of the wall at the precise moment smoke obscures both of us. take out my boning knife from my jean pocket and stab it straight into Vale's ear canal to reach the brain, driving it as deep as possible to confirm a quick, silent assassination.”
SUCCESS (Great Agility, rolled +1)
Keskiyön Orkidea
Thank you.
Orchid proceeds through the smoke-filled corridor and enters the finance records room. She kneels beside a corner cabinet, angling her body so Dr. Miriam Vale cannot see what her hands might be doing.
After a second, Orchid turns toward the exit. Smoke thickens across the doorway, swallowing the room’s edges and reducing both figures to shifting silhouettes.
At the precise moment visibility fails, Orchid catches Dr. Miriam Vale in a one-armed chokehold and yanks her around the wall, keeping the struggle hidden from the corridor.
Her boning knife clears her left pocket. The attack is swift and silent, and the details vanish behind smoke as Dr. Miriam Vale’s resistance stops.
Orchid lowers Dr. Miriam Vale out of sight and retrieves the clinical systems tablet from her slack grasp. The finance-room door remains open, while the alarm continues calling staff elsewhere.
Keskiyön Orkidea
The clinical confirmation interface is still active.
+ New Item Acquired
Clinical systems tablet
“While the opportunity is there, I use the clinical systems tablet to close the door, stopping much of the smoke from entering inside, and assisting in retaining my privacy. Inside, I move back to Vale's body and quickly assume a disguise by dawning her scrub and white coat. Her corpse left nearly bare, I use my boning knife to mutilate her face so that if she's found, she isn't recognizable by any identifiable features.”
SUCCESS (Great Agility, rolled +0)
Orchid uses Dr. Miriam Vale’s tablet to close the finance-room door. The seal engages, cutting off most of the corridor smoke and leaving the room dim, private, and alarm-muted.
She returns to Dr. Miriam Vale, removes the white coat and navy scrubs, and changes quickly. The clinical tablet remains active beside the body, its confirmation interface still unlocked.
Keskiyön Orkidea
The coat carries authority; the tablet carries access.
Orchid fastens the coat, adjusts the scrubs beneath it, and gathers Dr. Miriam Vale’s badge and glasses. In the altered silhouette, the disguise is functional at a glance.
She uses the boning knife on Dr. Miriam Vale’s face, deliberately destroying recognizable features. The act remains hidden from view as the closed room contains its silence.
When she finishes, Dr. Miriam Vale’s identity is no longer readily recoverable from her face. Orchid wipes the knife, pockets it, and leaves the body beneath the room’s shadowed edge.
The tablet displays the clinical confirmation interface, the badge authenticates Dr. Miriam Vale’s role, and the sealed door holds against the smoke. Orchid now has the disguise and access needed to move through the hospital.
+ New Item Acquired
Clinical badge
+ New Item Acquired
White coat and scrubs
+ New Item Acquired
Glasses
“Having already confirmed that the workstation computer can transfer the hospital's ransom directly to an account I own, and now in the possession of the items and identity I need in order to authenticate the transfer, I begin working on it.”
SUCCESS (Great Reasoning, rolled +0)
Orchid carries the clinical tablet to the finance workstation and wakes the preserved payment panel. Dr. Vale’s badge authenticates beside the open destination form.
She enters the account she controls, then uses the tablet to provide the clinical systems confirmation. The hospital interface accepts both authorities without hesitation.
Keskiyön Orkidea
The finance controller approval is still cached in the session.
Orchid selects the ransom balance, verifies the destination fields, and submits the transfer. A dual-authorization notice appears before the transaction begins processing.
The amount leaves the hospital ransom account and routes into Orchid’s account under the preserved authorization chain. The workstation records completion and assigns a settlement reference.
A confirmation receipt populates the screen: transfer successful, funds held for ordinary banking settlement. No rescue alert interrupts the transaction, and the child’s status remains unresolved.
Orchid closes the receipt, dims the workstation, and keeps the clinical tablet active beneath the white coat. Outside, the alarm continues fading through the sealed room.
Quest Complete
Obtain the hospital's ransom
Attribute Upgrade: Reasoning Great→Superb
Quest Complete
Secure clinical authorization
Attribute Upgrade: Agility Great→Superb