The great dragons continue their meeting, and all of the runners have left Sasha’s Place, leaving Le Rat Blanc by himself at the bar, in deep hot sim. Eventually seeing the stickie notes from Tytus, Le Rat begins his investigation, and does some shopping, until a mysterious entity known as Emerald requests Le Rat Blanc’s presence for a chat.

Who are the Emerald? Why Le Rat? And will his corgi themed shopping items arrive in time?

The great dragons continue their meeting in private, Luca & Lily have left Sasha’s Place in different directions, leaving behind Tytus who encounters a highly suspicious corgi with an envelope for him. Following the instructions of this magical note, he heads toward and abandoned apartment building to meet with the so-called “King of Portland”, which in itself is off, as Portland is run by a council, not a monarchy.

Who sent the envelope? Who sent the corgi? and, who is this “King of Portland”?

After Luca leaves Sasha’s Place, the Orange Queen secretly sends Lily on a special mission as she attempts to distrac Ghostwalker. Simple enough of a job, got to an old FM dial radio station in Clackamas, and tell them to play “track 45”.

Imagine Lily’s surprise as she encounters the long lost Rhonda working in the stations archives, after being missing for the past year after the destruction of the Tossed Stump Tavern. Lily, Le Rat Blanc, and Luca were hired by Miss Balan over 6 months ago to track down Rhonda. Only time will tell, will Lily inform Miss Balan that Rhonda is alive?

As the 2 Great Dragons deal with their own issues, the runners separate for a bit to address their own. Luca has a somewhat terse exchange with the woman from his past, and then goes for a walk and some people watching, before finding himself at the Grotto, where he finds a very disturbing scene and a very disturbed Miss Balan.

The assault continues upon Lady Delilah’s Mansion, as Miss Balan leads the charge toward her rival, with Luca in hot pursuit. As Luca turns at the top of the stairs, a grisly scene unfolds down the upper hallway, and a familiar stranger is sighted in pursuit of Miss Balan.

Lily and Tytus continue their search for Mortimer, all too aware of the encroaching mercenaries outside, as Le Rat Blanc investigates the strange power system of the compound, and all of it’s connections to the uplifting, yet maddening influence of the dark web, in this triple congruence of magic powers within the matrix.

As our runners burst through the front doors of Lady Delilah’s mansion, and then disembark the armored troop carrier, Miss Balan quickly darts off to track down the Lady Delilah.

Luca goes after her to assist, a chance that Lady Delilah’s troll bodyguard is with her. Still in the troop carrier, Le Rat Blanc jacks into the matrix begins to inspect the compounds bizarre power grids. Lily and Tytus secure the entrance and face off with the indoor guard mages, knowing that dozens more are still outside rushing toward the mansion from only 160 meters away.

Will the runners rescue Mortimer and save themselves in time? We will know soon enough!

City of Thorns renegades is:Elijah Clemens as LucaBella Williams as LilyMichael Schoenfelder as Le Rat Blanc& Johnny Rinaldo reprising his role as Tytus Kovlovsky

And of course, I, Terra Bosart am your Game Mistress.

Intro music, and artwork by Terra Bosart for this episode. Background music is Nanoligarch by the sounds cloud artist C41M3RA, used with permission of the artist.

As the runners approach the mansion of Miss Balan's rival, the Lady Delilah, they prepare for the mission, and consider the odd goings on.

The runners pile into the armored troop carrier, headed to Miss Balan’s rival in the “Great Game.” Investigating, they uncover some interesting intel upon their target, leading them to believe that they are headed directly into a political assassination. Their gear is ready, their consciousnesses are clouded, and they are headed forward into unknown dangers.