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Questions/Question 218

To those who investigated the East Sophia disappearances a while back, would the way in which the outer city defectors who say too much suddenly vanish appear similar in nature to how those disappearances were happening (and is it possible to pick up any sort of trail at all)?

This is a good question, and definitely a vein of inquiry that should be explored. The answer is not straightforward, meaning that there's something to this theory, characters will find.

For anyone reading this who needs a reminder re: the missing people, disappearances from East Sophia came from an earlier Velvet Quest prompt, and can be find under the Concluded tab. Further context can be found in the "preemptive FAQ" dropdown upthread.

Much of the original kidnappings that occurred in East Sophia ground to a halt after the Augmented turned their eyes upon it, but many outer city defectors continued to be targeted. Those shady fellows who seemed to be contracted kidnappers lurk in dark, downtrodden places... but they aren't the ones responsible for kidnapping any outer city defectors this time.

Interviewing others who make do in the outer city after any disappearance is like pulling teeth. But some may indicate that they heard some kind of major kerfuffle, an argument that turned physical—then, silence. Augmented Ones can find some evidence to prove this: signs of blood splatter, torn clothes, a tooth knocked from a jaw, a clump of hair. They got serious. It seems that it was an outer city defector who fought another outer city defector, and what happened to them from there... it's hard to say.

It won't be easy to find these nomadic people, who don't often spend their time in one place... but if a character acts with haste, they may be able to find another beat-up defector who knows something. "Was paid to do it," they say, still nursing wounds. "They're dead now. Yep... They've got ears everywhere. Whaddaya going to do, arrest me? I'll kick your ass."

... So they weren't kidnapped, but someone had them killed. Someone knew they spoke out of turn. This is alarming. (Who "They" are, this person won't even be able to say. They don't know, either. The government?????? The birds????? Someone does!)

And waiting one day too long means that characters will learn nothing of the situation, as their attacker won't be found even a day afterwards. That is where someone with greater power stepped in and dealt with them, too.