The Key and the Machine

Synopsis
Death singers are recruited by a gold-eyed, seemingly golden-blooded mysterious Haxan
witch named Kritizc to retrieve a Holtzfield from a dungeon. Will require a degree of
nanotech know-how to convince the holtzfield to return. If needed, a Psycho Tech NPC is
hired or offered to accompany.

Setting
The Citadel, an ambush, a conflict against Haxan elite commandos.
Meeting the golden Haxan witch, the offering of a task.
Travel to the far edges of Babylon where a dead, unmoving Machine angel sleeps. It is
located just beyond the horizon... A map is needed.
The insides of the said Machine angel, are the dungeon.
The Holtzfield Lily hides inside the dungeon.
After retrieving the Holtzfield, return to the witch at the Citadel.

Secrets
The golden witch Kritizc is in reality a noble jester demon known as the Hollow Moon,
stripped of her title of a lower princess of Hell. She is trying to get back to her previous
position of nobility. She is infiltrating Haxan, working her own interests and finding any and
all information about the Tesseract (the source of the Witches', among others' arcane
powers) to leverage her back into previously achieved unholy glory.
A Sixth sense roll reveals something weird about her; but what isn't weird about a golden
witch of Haxan, in Fracture? She has support in Haxan and elsewhere, thus masquerading
as one and commanding a few of their elite commandos.

The holtzfield is a digitalized and immortalized grand master cartographer Martyna, tortured
for an eternity and lost herself split in nanoswarm, experiencing a neverending journey to
salvation - a purgatory of sorts. Touches physical reality every few seconds, hard to contact.
Easy to recognize from the appearance of a 1800s style lady, mostly sitting and drawing.

Walk in the Citadel

Give players one day to go around the Citadel's sights or whatever they want to explore. If
one night passes or they try to leave the city, move to Ambush.

Ambush
An ambush and a conflict by Haxan elite commandos.
End trouble is always getting captured.

5 Black Horrux Commandos (ov the Iron Witch, Thelema)

Ambush, violently threaten to obey and follow. Will aim to maim if confronted.
Repeating end trouble: all characters captured, maimed or unconscious.
If two or more of the commandos are killed, end trouble: use lethal force.

1 Death Diver elite (ov the Sulfur Witch, Stregheria)

Accompanies the witch, elusive and seems to be constantly in the shadow.
Deadly strikes, end troubles are always one character killed
Golden Haxan witch
After dealing with the commandos or getting captured, the characters are approached by the
witch. Meeting the golden Haxan witch Kritizc, and the offering of a task.

Kritizc asks to retrieve a specific Holtzfield from a gargantuan, dormant red god (actually a
Machine angel known as Lily). Kritizc offers a map to enter the valley where it lies. It will
require a degree of nanotech know-how to convince the Holtzfield to return. If needed, a
Psycho Tech NPC is hired or offered to accompany. Once the Holtzfield is convinced, the
buster device provided will be used to capture it. The characters will recognize the Holtzfield
having a detailed, if shifting, 3D lady in 1800s attire working on something. Should be a
piece of cake for Death Singers.

Under the command of Thelema, Black Horrux Commandos accompany and loom around
the Witch. The mere presence of the Black Horrux warns you of the importance of this great
witch - maybe better not to get on the bad side of her. One of the elite commandos looks
different though, it looks darker, even more black than the other Black Horrux. It is wielding a
long, sharp spear instead of the huge clumsy two-handed weapons (both melee and big
guns) the other commandos carry.

Prepping for the task

Spend a couple of more hours in the Citadel, if needed.

Equipment provided by the employer

Breathing masks, simple design
If some of the Death Singers are Dark souls or Satanic entities, a vacuum suit provided and
the use of a mask and the swarm-burner warmly recommended
An efficient (Nano-) Swarm-Burner in the form of a rusted torch, stolen and unblessed
Holtzfield-Buster, a small device with the looks of a Ghostbusters entrapment box
A map in the form of a magnifying glass, self-made by the personal mapmaker of the witch.
Burns after use, and secretly releases an almost non-existent, tiny spying insect, which
follows and records characters' quest.

Lily of the Starry Skies, the machine angel

The bright coloured machine angel Lily, of the Starry Skies, is truly dormant and dead, laid
upon a wasted valley. A valiant last stand against a demon horde that, upon entering the
machine's insides, burned and poisoned everything thoroughly. Automated nanotech healing
bots have repaired most of the Genesis organs, gateways and the few hardware server
rooms during the thousand year dormancy. The air inside is full of the machine's nanospray,
the still lingering neural network twitching and causing one's breathing to be weirdly
pleasant, but a bit nauseating experience. Demons and creatures of Unlight can't enter the
insides without constantly burning the spray with infernal torches or other tools, such as
gasmasks or lung modifications.
Various other Holtzfields also linger in the machine. Most hiding, but some peeking curiously,
especially at nanosuits or genesisborn.
Lily's wings are crystallized and broken into millions of sharp pieces of varying size. The
wings expand all around the machine angel, into the soil and some twisting and reaching
tens of meters high. The crystal-like glass of the broken wings turns the otherwise pale blue
light into different colours, creating a unique atmosphere of rainbow-like shadows around the
dead machine. A few rough paths have been formed to known entrances, with most of the
crystals pushed aside.

Overall very useful skills inside the angel

Scrounge (look for useful, practical stuff that will save us)
Sixth Sense (ready for absolutely anything)
Read Situation (what will this stuff do in this room at this time if we touch or start it)
Genesis Tech (Genesis wonders everywhere)
Pantheon (what the fuck is inside this magnificent ex-holy beast?)

What will you find inside the dungeon

Internal cleansing spaces, "killrooms", where healing bots are larger drones equipped with a
fire which burns through to void.
*Listen, Read Situation, Ranged Heavy, Stealth

Overgrowth spaces, like a thick jungle with vines and roots everywhere. An ancient contract,
a fertility covenant, still seeds the growth. Lily was once a holy miracle, an avatar of the
nature that was lost in the REGENESIS and the Fracture.
*Dominions, Pantheon, Climb, Maneuver

Two dozen Holtzfields, but very rarely caught in sight. With good results, one or two could be
found and communicated with by a Nanotech. Consists of semi-corrupted nanites. Mostly
dormant, fleeting, and activated in certain ways - nanotools, the whispers of a Psycho Tech,
or using the arcane arts.
*Genesis Tech, Lockpicking

The cartographer Martyna's study and workshop - a mix of a steampunkish 1800s style and
a Star Trek lab. Light wooden surfaces and dimmy lights. Created by Martyna's Holtzfield, bit
by bit in random moments of clarity.
In her study:
Martyna’s Holtzfield is the exact copy of the human with the same name from the year 2688,
digitalized some time during the REGENESIS. The Holtzfield’s nanite cloud is accompanied
by an early Genesis-based 3D-enhancer drone, at times creating a vivid real existing copy of
Martyna’s humanoid figure.
*Genesis Tech, Secular Tech, Read Situation, Sixth Sense, Affinity, Psychology, Fable

Loot. Unused infernal grenades and other consumables lay around. Finely hidden and
locked away Genesis tools, vestiges and weapons are in caches in different places of the
Machine angel Lily. Some rare, blessed holy artifacts hang from archs and pillars. Vestiges
and other random loot up to IV quality.
*Scrounge

An infernal implant, an ancient robotized arm lies twitching in a pile of remains, waiting for a
cleansing by the nanobots. The arm is an infernal vestige, IV, and can be installed to be a
new arm with (complex check with Harrowed Tech skill and Medicine or very roughly and
poorly attached with Emergency Aid). Has an AI will of its own, responding to threats.
Designed to sense Haxan witches and the use of arcane arts. Twitches and spasms a bit.
The character's inner demon starts slowly to take control of the implant. Can be soothed with
infernal and unholy words.
*Harrowed Tech, Abyssal Rituals, Alchemy Tech