Three days after the Department core collapses, Portland feels almost normal again. Rain slicks the windows of Sally’s apartment while traffic mutters below. She pours whiskey, and the knock comes before the glass is halfway full.
When Sally opens the door, The Rose and The Night Angel wait in the hall, half-shadow and all purpose. The Rose holds a thin dossier against her hip. The Night Angel’s head tilts, listening to the building, the street, everything at once.
The Rose
We found a name buried in the old files. Doctor Vladimir Polpovich. If you want the truth about what was done to you, he is one of the places it leads.
The Night Angel
And he is not easy to find. But we have a trail, labs, contacts, and a few doors the Department tried very hard to keep shut.
The Rose opens the dossier just enough for Sally to see dates, photos, and a red-circled address line. The Night Angel stays near the threshold, watchful but calm, as if waiting for Sally to decide whether the night begins now.
The Rose
Help us bring him in, and the dossier, every copy, every sealed transfer record we pull from him, goes straight to you. That is the reward, proof and leverage against the people who made you.
✓ Quest Accepted
Find Doctor Vladimir Polpovich
✓ Quest Accepted
Secure proof from Doctor Vladimir Polpovich
“I take the dossier from The Rose and start reading the address line.”
Sally takes the dossier, and the hallway light slips over the red-circled address as she reads. Rain taps the windows while The Rose waits quietly, letting the paper speak for itself.
“I ask The Rose where Polpovich is now and what does he have to do with me?”
SUCCESS (Great Persuasion, rolled +0)
Sally
Where is Polpovich now, and what does he have to do with me?
The Rose
He is moving through a private safehouse chain in Seattle. Not Department property, not exactly ours either, which is why I am bringing this to you now.
The Rose
Polpovich built the first harvest architecture. Your file was not just run through it, Sally, it was shaped by it.
The Night Angel
She keeps her tone even, but her eyes stay on Sally's hands, like she expects the paper to burn.
The Rose
If he is still where our source says he is, he can tell you who authorized the work and why your signature keeps appearing on sealed records.
The Rose
I am not asking you to trust me blindly. I am telling you this is the first clean lead we have had on your beginning.
“I ask for the dossier on my origins”
SUCCESS (Great Persuasion, rolled +2)
Sally lowers the dossier, then slides it across the table with two fingers. The whiskey glass trembles once as the paper stops near The Rose.
The Rose
Keep it. All of it. If you are going after Polpovich, you need every page.
The Night Angel straightens in the hall, eyes flicking to the open folder as if she is measuring the weight of what just changes hands.
The Rose
There is a second packet under the divider, sealed scans and custody notes. It came from a source that would not talk without leverage. This is your copy now.
The papers brush Sally’s palm, and the room seems to tighten around the new fact. This is not a favor anymore, it is a transfer.
The Night Angel
Seattle is already moving, if that address is real. We do not get many chances before people start burning evidence.
The Rose waits, hand still out, while the rain ticks against the window and the dossier settles fully into Sally’s possession.
“I head for Polpovich's Seattle safehouse”
SUCCESS (Legendary Agility, rolled +1)