To the Rescue

There are two texts that share this title.

Cannonball Tavern

Just before you enter the Cannonball, you catch the sound of a woman's voice shouting from an alley just down the street. You rush over to investigate, and see a couple of large men hovering threateningly over a thin, middle-aged black woman. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything," you say, even though you mean exactly the opposite.

As you expected, the goons turn to face you. One steps in your direction, but the second man apparently doesn't like the odds and dashes off down the alley. As soon as the second man realizes he's alone, he also turns and runs. You consider pursuing for a second but then decide to make sure the woman is okay instead.

The woman assures you that she's fine, and introduces herself as Melody, the owner of Melody's Musictorium in the galleria shops. She says, "I don't think those guys were really going to hurt me. They're just trying to intimidate me. This is the second time this month I've had goons harass me on my way home. I'm not surprised, really. I've been under pressure ever since the owner of Jax Pizza gave me an offer to buy my store. Apparently he doesn't take it well when people say no to him. I'm just afraid if I don't give in eventually, he might do something even more serious."

You ask her why she hasn't gone to the police, and she replies "Oh, I've tried talking to the cops, but the ones around here are useless--they're completely under his thumb. I don't think they're bad, really. Some of them might be, but I think a lot of them are just happy that he keeps the neighborhood so quiet. So they overlook a little extortion here and there because it beats being shot at every night like they would be in just about any other part of the city. It's not just the police, either. Nobody else is complaining, because they're not the ones under pressure right now. I can't even get the local newspaper to print my letters asking for community support. My customers are sympathetic, but they're also afraid of what would happen if nobody was keeping the peace around here."

You walk Melody home and promise you'll see what else you can do to help her.

Downtown Twilight

After a moment's reflection, you decide that an active fight trumps a potential thief, and stride over to investigate. As you approach you see a middle-aged man and a young woman struggling. Both are wearing the robes of the Zion's Tears cult. He's holding her by the wrist and trying to drag her down the alley, while she's struggling against him and shouting at him to let her go.

"What's going on?" you ask.

They both jump, startled. But then the woman says "Help me! They won't let me leave the building! They've already taken everything, and I just want to go, but they won't let me!"

The man, a couple of decades older than the woman, shakes his head sadly. He says, "This is my niece. I'm trying to take care of her. She's not well--delusions, you see. She stopped taking her medicine, and she's gone completely paranoid. We just want to take her home so she can get the care she needs."

You think about the situation for a minute, and say "I think we should go talk to the police first." The man starts to argue, but you hold up a hand. "If what she says is true, this is really serious. If you're telling the truth, she'll be back in your care in a couple of hours, and I'll apologize for the trouble I've caused."

The man sputters and yells and argues, but you make him release the woman and take her by the hand. There's a moment when you think he's about to attack you, but then he turns and stalks off, shouting that he's going to get the lawyers and his own police, and have you put behind bars.

"Thank you so much!" the woman says when the man is finally out of sight. "I never thought I'd be free! That man's not my uncle. He's just one of the senior members of the Zion's Tears brotherhood. I thought they were okay at first, but ... but once you're in they won't let you leave!" She breaks off for a minute, sniffling, but then continues. "They're doing scary stuff up there. Sometimes they talk about an invasion. At first I thought it was just metaphorical, but they've got rooms full of weapons. I wasn't supposed to see, but I did."

The woman doesn't say much else during the rest of your walk to the nearest police station, but right at the end she whispers to you the location of the Zion's Tears headquarters. It sounds like you'd better check the place out.