Introduction
This vid has been partially censored, and the original ending is different to the one approved for public release.
Plot
There’s an opening text scroll that immediately has a red border:
Legend has it that the Enclavers of Jensen possessed an artefact that dates before the founding of the Dominion, an item that was already old in the time of the Forerunners. This item is reputedly a statue of a mythological flying creature, made of precious metal and studded with gems. Rumour has it that the item was hidden by the Enclavers when Jensen was reintegrated into the Dominion after the Hiatus, and so no-one today knows the location of
The Enclave Bird
The story opens with a shady pair of former Legionaries (that part is redacted) down on their luck being put in touch with a potential client by an equally shady bartender. The client, Chantico, is seeking help finding a missing sibling who was romantically involved with a local underworld figure, Marsgood. One of the pair, Bowman, agrees to help and leaves with the client.
The other member of the pair, Diamond, is contacted by the Legion the next Cycle. Bowman has been killed, and Marsgood as well. The Legion suggests that Diamond had motive to kill Marsgood as revenge for Bowman’s murder. Diamond trades on being a former Legionnaire (again censored so it’s unclear in the uncensored version why Diamond isn’t arrested.) With some difficulty, Diamond locates Chantico, who has apparently tried to flee. Chantico admits there is no sibling but it was they that was romantically involved with Marsgood. Chantico says Marsgood probably did kill Bowman, but Chantico has no idea who killed Marsgood. Diamond agrees to try and find out to remove the Legion’s suspicion of either or both of them.
Before Diamond or Chantico can progress the investigation, Diamond is confronted by a character named Winner at gunpoint. Winner searches Diamond’s small lodging but Diamond subdues Winner and discovers that Winner is looking for ‘an old statue’ and figured Diamond might have it as the word is Diamond killed Marsgood. Chantico arrives and it turns out that Chantico and Winner know each other. Winner becomes distressed when Chantico says that someone name Rue-Verdant is here and looking for the statue.
Diamond tracks down Rue-Verdant, who turns out to be an enigmatic but apparently powerful figure who is seeking the statue. Rue-Verdant reveals the history (some of which is redacted in the official version) of The Enclave Bird to Diamond and offers a rich bounty to Diamond if it can be found. Diamond goes to Marsgood’s and finds a clue that leads to a freighter at the spaceport. On investigating, the freighter is deserted, but Diamond finds the captain hidden within, apparently having died from gunshot wounds and clutching the statue.
Diamond and Chantico meet Rue-Verdant, and Winner is there already, but Diamond bargains with Rue-Verdant and says that part of the price for the statue is the identity of Marsgood’s killer. At this point it becomes apparent that there are alternate endings to the vid, in the uncensored version there is a tense negotiation during which Diamond catches Chantico in a lie and deduces Chantico is the killer. Chantico pulls a gun but Diamond kills Chantico. Diamond tells Rue-Verdant and Winner where to pick up the statue, takes the money and then contacts the Legion, telling them about Chantico and Marsgood and also about Rue-Verdant and Winner and the illegal artefact.
In the censored version, the tense negotiation becomes a guns-out standoff that devolves into bloodshed. When the smoke clears, an injured Rue-Verdant crawls to Diamond’s corpse and recovers the statue only to discover it is a fake and dies.
Argyle’s Review
There is a much more aneamic version of The Enclave Bird that isn’t censored. Fortunately I have the better one, though for some reason this copy has a slightly distracting red border around the scenes that have been cut.