Steam hisses through the maintenance spine, turning the grating into a slick mirror. Dallas follows the bootsteps to a second hatch tagged for kitchen service, and the muffled clatter beyond tells him the route runs straight under the wedding floor.
Jackson Temple
That hatch goes right under the banquet hall. If they breach it, they hit the guests from below.
Dallas checks the threshold and spots a fresh smear of grime on the latch, plus a strip of white fabric caught on a pipe clamp. Someone forced this way in a hurry, and they meant to leave it open behind them.
Dallas Fontaine
The fabric matches catering whites. Rourke is close.
The German Shepherd stiffens at Dallas's heel, nose pressed toward the hatch seam, a low growl building in his chest.
The Hatch Runner
Too late. March said you’d be buried in noise before you ever found us.
The voice comes from the shadow beyond the hatch, and with it the scrape of metal, a weapon being readied. Jackson squares up behind Dallas as the wedding sabotage finally shows its shape, a kill lane leading from this spine straight into the ceremony.
The Hatch Runner
Rourke’s opening the line now. You want your wedding intact, you better get through me first.
✓ Quest Accepted
Corner the Hatch Runner at the hatch
“Kick the hatch open and fire at the shadow before Rourke can open the line.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Agility, rolled +4)
Dallas drives his boot into the hatch. The latch snaps, the panel bursts inward, and the shadow beyond jerks up too late.
He fires once into the dark opening. The shot cracks through steam and metal, and the figure inside slams back hard enough to rattle the pipework.
The Hatch Runner
Ah, hell.
The hatch hangs open now, and Dallas gets more than a body. A narrow service ladder drops into the floor space below, marked with fresh chalk arrows pointing toward the wedding foundation.
Jackson Temple
That is not a dead end. They built a route under the hall.
Murderbone surges to the lip, teeth bared, while the wounded saboteur scrabbles backward into the lower passage, leaving a smear on the rung.
The Hatch Runner
Rourke's still ahead. If you want him, you're going down here.
Reach Dale Rourke at the second hatch
Quest Complete
Corner the Hatch Runner at the hatch