Difference between revisions of "Twilight Police Department (downtown)"

Revision as of 09:30, 5 December 2007

This page is UNDER CONSTRUCTION: Text for the level 5 quest

Back to Downtown Twilight

Unless you have an ongoing quest or a quest is to be acquired, the following message will appear:

"You stop in at the office, but Officer Rand isn't around and nobody else seems to want to take you seriously while you're wearing that costume. Come to think of it, it's kind of hard to blame them."

The first time you visit:

"Officer Rand is looking over a map at his desk when you come in. "Hey kid," he says. "Glad you stopped by. There's some kind of weirdness going on underneath part of the city near your neighborhood. We're not really sure what it is, but something seems to be spillng over into the sewers from some neighboring tunnels. There's been some vandalism down there, and some thefts where the criminal escaped down a manhole. A few people have gone in to investigate, and either they've come out addled and dazed and unable to remember anything about the tunnels, or they don't come back at all. If you get a chance, could you check it out, and see if you can clear up what's going on?""

The second time you visit:

"Rand greets you with a new assignment. "A riot just broke out on campus at University Heights. Reports say it started out as some kind of dance party, and somehow it got mixed up with a political rally and people started fighting. I know this sounds pretty mundane, but something's very strange there. For one thing, there seem to be a number of instigators who are hanging out there solely to keep the chaos going. Still, we ought to be able to take them out, but we've tried every thing we can think of to get this riot to stop, and it just keeps growing bigger. Even worse, some of the police officers on the scene seem to be losing it and starting to join the riot instead of keeping the peace. Can you check it out for us? Take out the instigators and see if you can get things calmed down.""

The first time you visit after defeating the Mind Bender:

"You relay to Rand the story of the dank and rusty maze, and the Mind Bender who was at the center of it all. Rand listens patiently, and at the end shakes his head slowly. He says, "There sure is some strange stuff going on in this town. Powerful villains with strange powers ..." He pauses and looks at you. "No offense, of course. It's what you do, not what you're capable of, that counts. Still, I don't know if a swat team would have stood a chance down there. When an officer can't track down a criminal and do his job, even when he knows where the criminal is, I don't know what this world is coming to. Guess I'm trying to say I'm glad we've got you around for the tricky stuff."

You smile and nod, biting your tongue to keep from blurting out "sticky truff" or some other nonsense."

The first time you visit after defeating the a very dazed John Steele:

"You catch Rand at the office and fill him in on your exploits regarding John Steele and the Galleria shops. He congratulates you on your good work but doesn't seem nearly as excited about the experience as you are. When you ask if he can arrest Steele, Rand just shakes his head. "Fraid not, kid. I'm glad you showed him up, but you don't have anything you can use as legal evidence. I'm sure he was guilty, but in a legal sense you don't have any reliable proof. In fact, if he wanted to, he could probably sue you for assault, and you'd be the bad guy in the case."

"Really?" you ask. "I hadn't even thought about that."

Rand nods. "Yeah, you've got to be careful, or you're going to end up making as many enemies with the law enforcers as with the criminals."

You say, "But at least that neighborhood is safe now, right?"

Rand snorts, and starts to laugh, until he realizes you were being serious. "For a few days, maybe. But Steele's just a small fry. Some guy running extortion in a few blocks of a small neighborhood? He may have been pretty efficient at keeping things quiet, but there isn't a fraction of a chance that he could have held the neighborhood if someone above him hadn't let him keep the territory. There's a crime syndicate that controls most of the city. Steele isn't even a bit player in that organization. He's a flea that lives on a rat that eats the crumbs that the syndicate drops now and then. There's a dozen parasites just like him living on your city block, waiting to take his place."

"Huh. Wow. I hadn't even thought about that. So the whole thing was basically pointless?"

"Aww, don't be too hard on yourself, kid. You did a good thing. A bunch of people are better off than they used to be. That's not a bad start at all.""

The first time you visit after completing the Protests Aren't for Amateurs quest:

Rand greets you as you come in. "Hey, kid. I was hoping you'd stop by. I've got something kinda unusual I thought you could check out down at Porcelain Bay."

You say, "Let me guess: something's fishy at the docks?"

Rand gives you a long, steady stare. Eventually you shrug and look away.

"Not entirely, but close. Incoming shipments have been disappearing--ship and all. Mostly high-tech stuff. Whoever it is seems to be targeting specific cargo. All the missing ships have been carrying valuable, cutting-edge stuff. The attacks always occur at night, and one of the few surviving witnesses claims the attack came from under the water."

"Wait," you say, "you want me to go fighting crime under water?"

Rand nods. "Yeah. I figure you can handle it, right?"

"All right," you sigh. "I'll see what I can do."

The first you visit time after defeating the Troutmaster:

You tell Rand all about your adventures "under the sea," deciding--probably wisely--not to relay this information via the tropical song and dance Disney parody that you've been working on in your spare time. Rand mutters his gruff thanks, calls you "kid," pats you on the back, and you go on your way.

A few hours later he contacts you to let you know that when police divers raided the Troutmaster's underwater lair, most of the stolen goods were already missing. One of the logbooks in the lair made some references to The Mick, though, suggesting that he might have been involved. Or he might now have those stolen goods.

The second time you visit after defeating the Troutmaster:

Rand greets you as you come in. "I don't have anything specific to tell you this time, but I've been noticing a strange trend downtown. There's been a weird spike in all kinds of criminal activity--particularly murders and break-ins, but other stuff, too. I was wondering if you'd have some time to spare, just keeping an eye on things down there?"

You shrug and then nod. Yeah, why not?

The first time you visit after defeating the Zion's Tears demiurge:

It's difficult to get through all the details without sounding like a crazy person, but you explain to Rand that some kind of nonhuman force was behind the Zion's Tears movement. Rand has a few moments of incredulity, but once you get him down to the building with a couple of S.W.A.T. teams and start to work your way through the building, they're ready enough to believe you.

Spookiest of all is a half-built mechanical contraption you find on the top floor. At first nobody seems to have any idea what it's for, but Rand gets back to you later and says that the best guesses of the scientists examining it suggest it's some sort of interdimensional transportation device. Clearly the Zion's Tears creatures had to come from somewhere, and it looks like they were trying to bring more in soon.

You shudder at the thought, but Rand assures you that the dimensional gate has been removed from the building and is being kept somewhere safe while the scientists try to study it and learn how the superior technology is supposed to work.

The second time you visit after defeating the Zion's Tears demiurge:

Rand greets you warmly when you stop by his desk. "Hey, kid, good to see ya. I think I've got something for you. There's a guy called The Bard, thinks he's Shakespeare or something, who's taken over a theater downtown and is causing problems. It's a tragic story, really. Used to be a high-school drama teacher, but some jock prank accidentally killed one of his students during a performance. The guy went a little nutty after that, and disappeared a few months ago. I'd feel bad for him, but his costumed thugs have been committing armed robbery left and right. Thought this might be your kind of thing.

The first time you visit after defeating the The Bard:

Rand says, "Hey, kid, that was some nice work, taking out The Bard in his theater. Thanks from all of us here on the force."