Lore Continuation Story: Piltover
#The Piltover Slasher
Camille was standing in the sheriff’s office to discuss a string of murders occurring over the last few weeks. She would have left it to the police, but certain details of the case aroused her suspicion. They were all left with their coin purses intact, but the criminal seemed to be targeting the synthetic crystals in their hextech augments. Those he hadn’t destroyed in error had been taken from their sockets. Stranger still, the mechanical augments themselves had been left at the scene. The paper was hot on the news, and thanks to the victims’ claw-like injuries the unknown suspect had been dubbed the Piltover Slasher.
“This is the fifth victim in a month, and the month is only half over. Coincidence is off the table. If this Slasher character continues his spree, I’ll be forced to take matters into my own hands,” she told the sheriff, her voice as calm and collected as ever despite her growing concern.
“We’re working on it. I have my men working around the clock to prevent any more deaths. But if you see fit to do your own... investigation, we won’t get in your way, “ Caitlin replied. Despite the police force’s best efforts, they had made no progress and could use the extra help.
To that, Camille finished her tea and walked out of the office. Then made her way home to make preparations for a wide-area stakeout. Or worse. Because what she hadn’t told the sheriff was that the broken crystals had not been left by mistake. Even broken, the synthetic crystals manufactured by the Ferros could fetch a decent price in Zaun. What the criminal was after were prototype crystals.
Early in development, synthetic crystals were created by augmenting the broken shards of “first crystals” with other natural gemstones. But the process resulted in a weaker, less efficient, and less cost-effective power source than the fully synthetic crystals. Still, the prototypes had been sold to a small number of high bidders and found their way into the arms, legs, eyes, and hearts of several wealthy citizens.
She suspected that a competitor had gotten ahold of the information, and was trying to reverse-engineer their own synthesis process. The loose-lipped scientist would have to be found and terminated later, but the more pressing matter was to find the thief before their employer had enough samples to begin work.
That night, on the other side of the city, the Slasher made his next move. He stalked several yards away from an isolated thug who was walking all-too-casually through the back alleys of downtown, despite the public warning to stay indoors at night.
He could feel the man’s heart pulse as he approached, each beat faint, but clear enough to drive him mad.
They deserve this. They’ll pay for what they’ve done.
He could no longer hold back and charged at the man, giving him no time to react before cutting a large gash into his back and stabbing through his skull. Blood and gray matter poured onto the street as he pulled out the victim’s still-pulsing heart.
Then he held the organ up to his face to listen, hoping for a quiet voice to reach out to him. But he could hear nothing, and with an exasperated cry he crushed the crystal against the pavement.
After the news that another victim had been claimed only a day after the previous one, Camille decided to increase her search area drastically. She set Ferros’ employees to keep tabs on the remaining prototype buyers and signal her if any of them caught sight of anything suspicious.
Two nights later, as she was patrolling the rooftops, the signal beam went up several blocks from her position. She made her way towards it, and from her vantage point a block away could see the crystalline beast standing motionless next to a fresh corpse.
Do not worry. I have you now. Skarner whispered to the dying crystal as he bonded with it. But just then, he was interrupted by an incredibly powerful pulse, far stronger than the faint noise he had heard from the augmented crystal shards. The cry of an intact Brackern crystal pierced his mind, and he locked eyes onto the approaching softskin.
No sooner had Camille made her way to a rooftop above him than she was grasped by his magic and slammed onto the concrete below, unable to deploy her shield. Not seconds later, he’s charging her, and she narrowly managed to dodge his claw using her grapple. Slashing at him as she passed, she found that her blades were unable to cut through. He responded with a furious onslaught of claw swipes and lunges with his stinger, but she managed to expertly dodge every attempt. When she tried to counter with a stab to the eye, though, she found that they were just as solid as his claws. It continued as a stalemate, Skarner’s attacks getting wider and more predictable as he lost himself to the overwhelming desire to save the crystal in her chest. But regardless of how well she avoided him, her blades wore dull with every attempt to find a weak spot. Neither his joints nor his mouth proved vulnerable, either.
As a last resort, she activated her Ultimatum, hoping to subdue him long enough for a containment vehicle to respond to her signal. After several vain attempts to destroy the force field, Skarner realized he would have to escape or risk being captured and destroyed. So he burrowed down into the ground and made his way deep enough to avoid pursuit. But Camille made no attempt to do so. Her blades were far too dull to continue, let alone apprehend the monster. So she reluctantly swung off, planning repair and modify herself to find and capture the beast before anyone else could take advantage of such a valuable resource.
(End)
Writer's comment: I'd actually gotten the idea several months ago, when someone on the boards was doing a contest. But I didn't get around to it. I took some liberties with the specific details of the crystals that aren't explicitly mentioned in the current lore, like the nature of the prototypes and Camille's heart being one of the originals rather than synthetic. And the idea that the synthetic crystals give off some kind of energy similar to the voice of a Brackern. But I really felt like this is the only logical next step in the story involving the connection between Piltover and the hex-crystals. If Skarner's looking for them, of course he would wind up in Piltover eventually.
Re-posting it in hopes it'll get some feedback. Posting things too early tends to see them get flooded down by other threads by the time anyone's awake on the boards.