Geist: Balance of Shadows (Actual Play)

[omenseer]

Very nice.

[omenseer]

Now that i've had time to brain some more. Does that mean the events of Bloodlines occurred in your continuity, but presumably with the old world to new world conversions? What creature group then plays the part of Kuei-Jin? It is also implied that Balance and Dream House occur in the same continuity. Not surprising, but not really something you think about until a connecting element pops up.

[Baroness Nerak]

Mostly not. None of the people/places used in my games have been Vampires* or Ghouls, and that is a deliberate choice. I have used Mortal NPCs (well, only Trip so far) but nothing with Vampires (Asylum has not come up at all, and is not likely to. Plenty of real clubs in Santa Monica) so no, Bloodlines has nothing to do with my game really. Just someone (in Changeling) wanted a semi-crappy apartment in Santa Monica, and having it above the pawnshop seemed a fun reference. I do plan to have a reference that is a ship arriving without crew, but the events related to that are Changeling-specific, not Vampire specific...no vampires have anything to do with it whatsoever, unlike Bloodlines.

Mr. Ox is never actually fully explained what his deal is in Bloodlines. He is not Kuei-Jin, he is definitely not human or Kindred. I have an explanation for him in Geist, which is semi-New WoD specific. He is sort of a Geist thing. Sorta. Nothing specifically like him is discussed in Geist but...ah I'm not gonna give it away.

The exception to this rule is my Vampire game, which is a different continuity than my New WoD games (Balance of Shadows, Malibu Dream House, Brand New Key, Beyond the Sea, the latter two of which never really got journaled). The Conspiracy of Hrad Černá Hora assumes Bloodlines happened. If it ever comes up, it assumes my Tremere Anarch playthrough of Bloodlines happened. Of course, Conspiracy is set in Prague, so there is no major impact from the game, though Nines Rodriguez is currently visiting the local Anarchs he is not a huge plot point, just a background thing in a city that is a major diplomatic hub.

The major reason Conspiracy is a different continuity is Requiem-specific Vampires and terminology occurred in Balance of Shadows, Malibu Dream House (well, not yet but it will) and Beyond the Sea.

Does all that make sense?

[omenseer]

I think it does, but then again I think a lot of things

[Baroness Nerak]

Time for your regular update for Balance of Shadows. This time we have an entry for Doc and Sara, with a word from Sara’s player on her journal. Natalie was planned but (dealt with) health issues got in the way so no journal from her this time.

Session CVIII

Doc’s Log

Doc’s Log: 1130 Hours, Thursday, October 28, 2010

I hate international time zones. We left this afternoon and after about 7 hours of Black Ops and interrogation, we came back tonight. Alaska would not do me any favors.

But I might just be a little jumpy. Let’s start again.

We left the smouldering corpse, headed down to street level, and into The Road to Hell. There we found a serene Mr. Ox waiting as usual. After the honorifics and my broken attempts at greetings, Mr. Ox let us know that he was both happy and concerned. While we were shaking down Bone Dry’s publishing shop, Mr. Ox was running reconn and intel for us. What he found surprised me. Bone Dry was reaching towards powers that were even unsafe for him. He didn’t know we could reach his operations in Hong Kong and he is having one hell of a time trying to learn who we are. This is good because he if finds us, we’re not going to enjoy it. But at the same time, it’s bad because now he’s afraid. According to Mr. Ox, the mage has learned what we are which we knew, but he has also learned what we are capable of. I don’t know how do found that out exactly, but I really don’t like it. If I find out who or what squealed on us, we may have a discussion.

But things were more complicated than that. Mr. Ox placed an ornate prayer strip on the counter. As soon as I saw it, I felt weird and the Dog snarled. The others had a similarly negative reaction. It seems our quarry has constructed this prayer strips and hidden them throughout Taiwan. He doesn’t know that we have any idea about them so they aren’t everywhere and we can probably avoid most of them. The problem is that if more than one or two of these things catch us in what amounts to a mystic laser grid, it will boil the plasm inside us. If that doesn’t kill us outright, it will definitely leave us without a way to use our powers. We talked for a moment about ways we could remove the strips but ultimately, we need to keep Bone Dry in the dark by avoiding them. The less we tip our hands, the more likely we are to catch him by surprise.

Mr. Ox gave us a final bit of wisdom before we left. He noted that Bone Dry was now aware of our powers, which meant they would be much less helpful. However I believe the way he put it, “He cannot make napalm cease to burn him.” That little koan made total sense to me. Why use magic, when a dagger will do the job.

Rotten Lily was waiting for us when we walked back outside. Each time the door to The Road to Hell opened, I could see the struggle to avoid frenzy in her eyes. Much like Noriko, Lily warned us that that was a very bad place. Once we convinced her we knew, she seemed to snap out of it and remembered why she came. Mr. Smile and the rest of Bone Dry’s fleshbound lieutenants were searching the far side of Elysium. Lily told us a way to get back to the mausoleum that didn’t take us near the vice spirits. I thought we might need to take her with us, but Rose was not pleased with adding another vampire to the house. I was worried about protecting her, but the Nosferatu felt sure that she could hide well enough. Once she was out of sight, we made for the Avernian Gate. Half an hour later, we were back at Dark Haven Bluffs.

I almost caused Karen to pass out when I patted the duffle bag filled with dynamite. Everyone else moved into the kitchen to have an ice cream party. I was too preoccupied with a persistent thought. If I couldn’t use my powers, I would still be able to fire a weapon. I took the dynamite and properly secured it in the Armory. I set the detonators aside so I can learn more about how they work later. Then I got my cleaning kit out and fieldstripped the Model 1873 I received from Stanton Marshall. The trigger had some kind of special attachment so I was very careful about handling it. Somehow I managed to miss that this was as special as it was. I knew it was a charm and I knew Stanton had it modified somehow, but I didn’t see the markings on the barrel before. It was engraved with very elegant scrollwork. In calligraphy just before the rear sights was the phrase, “One of One Thousand.” I didn’t know what that meant so I brought in my laptop and looked it up. Now I understand why Stanton’s rifle is so special. Something about the barrel was better than average when it was test fired during production. This barrel was given a special finish and the gun was assembled with a set trigger. The barrels were actually being made just for that model so no one is sure how many were used, but this was one. My charm rifle was once one of the best of the best. I took extreme care in cleaning it and making sure everything was pristine when I was finished. Then I wondered about finding a scope that could work. With that thought dancing in my head, I pulled out the Mossberg and started working on it as well. No revelations there, but I knew that one was as average as they come.

Now I think I might see what the others are doing before I turn in.

Doc’s Log: 1730 Hours, Friday, October 29, 2010

I sometimes forget how much Nightshade enjoys weapons. Today has been fun and interesting.

So after fieldstripping and cleaning my weapons last night, I mentioned to the Krewe that I might go look for a rifle scope. Apparently Nightshade and Bright Eyes had discussed the need for Bright Eyes to acquire “something” as well. The need to “point and click” came up again, which I have always felt oversimplifies the process of properly firing a weapon, but I let it go. They determined that the two of them would accompany me this morning. Karen was definitely not coming along but then she really dislikes firearms or most other non-bladed weapons.

I was able to find my scope and I’m pretty sure I can attach it to the existing sight without damaging the sights or the barrel finish. While we were shopping, we found some surplus Winchester Model 1897s. The 12-gauge has been a reliable shotgun for pretty much all the branches and even has the option for a bayonette from back in its trenchgun days. They were fairly inexpensive, but I also asked the gunsmith about any specialty stocks. I didn’t want to sound like a sexist ass, but I don’t think either of the ladies with me could fire a 12-gauge twice due to kickback. I didn’t really need to worry though. Nightshade had dressed for the occasion and her high heels and stockings were commanding the attention of the whole store. She moved through discussing various types of pistols with Bright Eyes while the various outdoorsmen present stepped aside and gawked. As luck would have it, they had some stock mods that did exactly what I wanted. A recoil absorbing stock for all three (yes I got one as it was a much better weapon than my Mossberg), my scope, ammo for all three weapons, a sling trap for skeet shooting on the yacht, clay pigeons, as well as various Airsoft replicas for Bright Eyes and I to train with were rung up. It was not a small bill, but we were prepared. And best of all, it was all legal.

We came back and moved most of our purchases to the Armory where I showed Bright Eyes where everything went, how to secure it, and how to open the secret panel. I don’t think anyone told her about the Armory and she was definitely not expecting a hidden room filled with various weapons and ammo. After her tour in the Armory, we took the Airsoft out to a field in West Haven, near the Patch. Nightshade came along but she was not interested in our wargames. The heels would not allow that kind of mobility. We’re back now and about to clean up for whatever we’re having for dinner. It seems great, whatever Cupcake is cooking.


Sara’s Letters

[Sara has been writing regularly to Sasha, both letting her know about her personal life and talking about the more supernatural aspects of things. However, as Sasha is not particularly clueful to the supernatural stuff, Sara’s presented that part as stories she’s told to pass the time on long business trips, using the other PCs as characters for fun.]

Last we left our intrepid adventurers, they’d just got done interrogating a fairly pathetic excuse for a vampire, only to have him burst into flames. The lovely Natalie had been keeping an eye on the street and managed to spot their contact’s magical shopfront below. And so we go...

Jasmine took the lead going into Mr. Ox’s shop, The Road to Hell. After the customary greetings were exchanged, Mr. Ox congratulated the team of bad luck farmers, as he called them. Your quarry is frightened, he told them, and calling upon powers possibly beyond his reach. He would be watching carefully, Mr. Ox would, for the mistake that such arrogance virtually demanded. But until then, he had a warning.

The demon laid down a prayer strip. It left an uneasy feeling in the minds of the team, raising Doc’s hackles and getting a crinkled nose from Alexia. Jasmine’s stare grew colder, looking at it, and Sara moved closer to Natalie. She moved even closer when the demon explained that, should the energy given off by enough of these prayer strips intersect, it would boil the very magic from their veins. This might even kill them, and if it did not, they would be without their powers for some time.

Of course, the sorcerer is unaware of that the heros have such an ally as Mr. Ox. He will expect to take them unawares, lying a trap like a spider lays their web. But the clever fly - the forewarned fly - can avoid the web, flying through its cracks and above its reach. Even if the fly would rather take a flamethrower to the web. Sometimes the subtler ways are best.

For now, the sorcerer sits in his lair. He does not know where the mages live, or how to reach them directly, though, Mr. Ox warned, he does have some newly acquired knowledge of their abilities. He is frightened, and desperately searching for something to shield himself with. As a final warning, Mr. Ox reminds them that even if they avoid the web, the sorcerer has his ways of restricting the flow of magic, leaving them without their own. However, he mentioned with twinkle in his eye, he cannot make napalm stop burning him.

The team left The Road to Hell to find their vampire friend, Rotten Lily waiting anxiously for them outside. She was disturbed not only by Mr. Ox and his shop, fearing them on a level she did not even understand, but also by a group of the strong evil spirits that had converged on the lair of the former Vampire King of the city. Her warning was well-received by the heros, who prudently decided to leave by a slightly circuitous route. It was returned, as the mages reminded her to keep a low profile, not wanting any harm to come to the vampire simply because she had aided them.

And so the heros left, secrecy and patience as their watchwords. Mr. Ox had promised to send swift word as soon as the sorcerer made a misstep, but until then - or until they had discovered their own way to strike a blow against them - they were to keep a low profile, allowing themselves time to build up in power and skills so that they could face him and end his threat.

That’s all I have now for you. The trip didn’t take very long, so I got to leave it on a bit of a cliffhanger. I’m not really sure what’s going to happen next, but it will have to be suitably spectacular for sure, with such a buildup. Bone Dry’s a bad one, but I’m sure the team will find a way.

Outside of story-land, we’ve had a fun, relaxing day after our last business trip. It was a bit of a rough one - things were way out of balance and some folks don’t appreciate our work. But we made some strides, so we all felt good about that. Jasmine felt good enough to want to celebrate with ice cream, so us girls had an ice cream party while Doc went off and did... boy things, I guess. Cleaning his guns, I think (not a euphemism, as far as I know ) and plotting - I’ll get to that more later.

Karen was glad to see us home again, of course. She always gets nervous when we head out, especially when she hears about folks not appreciating our presence, even when yours truly saves the day. It does usually mean some extra cuddles, so between that and the ice cream (lemon sherbert, my favorite of course), it was an awesome night.

So, about Doc and the guns - it occurred to me on the trip back that having a gun and knowing how to use it could be a sight more useful that Dad’s old balisong in a serious emergency type situation. Dad did his best to make sure I could take care of myself, but while his usual tactic of “hold them off until I can run away” does fine for just me, it doesn’t work quite as well in a group. There’s also a lot less worry about differing state laws, and customs bullshit with my line of work now. So, I asked Doc to teach me to shoot.

He was all for that, right away, and immediately started quizzing me about what gun I wanted. At first I said pistol, since, being small and everything, it seemed like the easiest. So he started in on what kind of pistol, and how fast did I want it. I just kinda stared wide eyed until Natalie took pity on me and suggested a shotgun. That apparently took care of the “how fast” kind of questions, and I escaped from the rest to the ice cream party.

The questions started up again Friday on the way to the gun store until I just said I’d take whatever he recommended. Natalie was ‘helping’ by showing me some pictures of her doing... interesting things with a massive handgun. They did not help me focus on Doc’s questions. Ostensibly, they were my first gun safety lesson, as each picture was proceeded by Natalie telling me I should never do that with a gun, nor that and especially not that. She also gave the guys at the gun shop something of a show. She was dressed up way more girl-y than usual, high heels and everything, making far to much of a show running her fingers down the guns’ barrels. Of course I, being incorrigible, joined her, asking if they had any bandoliers that wouldn’t chafe on bare skin.

At the firing range, things weren’t much different. I mean, I did fire a couple of shots to test out the gun Doc picked - the add-on he’d gotten put on mine seemed to help a lot with the kick of the gun. But mostly I just stood wrong so that Natalie had to correct exactly where my arms were going. Doc sighed and added a few Airsoft guns to the tab, so we could get some actual, safe practice. I hit a lot of everything-but-Doc in those fields, but it was kinda fun, even if Natalie didn’t join in. I don’t think her heels would have fared well anyway.

End Session CVIII

The session was somewhat abbreviated due to some focusing issues, but we got some good play in. Not a great deal to add to the above, though.

Natalie’s gun related Suicide Girl shots have come up before, but heck if I recall the journal number. Sara's format is still a little experimental...her player is trying to find the best way to record events and still keep to the character's history and background. So it may change a bit, we will see. If anything is confusing let us know.

We are discussing how to apply Shroud in GMC combat. 5-6 armor is very very powerful in GMC, and since converting over no one with Shroud has taken more than one level of damage from a hit, even from an extremely dangerous tree-monster.
There has been talk of having Shroud apply 1/2/3 Armor at levels 1/3/5 keeping the +1 for a successful roll. That is the current favored method anyway. It’s still under discussion. Any suggestions?

Should be a bit more substantial next time. Comments and Questions welcome.

[Baroness Nerak]

I apologize for the delay. It's been a rough few days, hell a rough month. But it is time for journals. Jasmine's player is taking a short hiatus, so not present in this journal but will return in a couple sessions.

Session CIX

Doc's Log

Doc’s Log: 0045 Hours, Saturday, October 30, 2010

Apparently I was smelling whatever Tavia was making for dinner. Cupcake and Chandra had plans to take the psychic out for a “business dinner.” The way they were dressed, I wasn’t sure how much business would be discussed, but I guess we’ll hear about it tomorrow.

Nightshade, Karen, and Bright Eyes invited Noriko and I along for the secret blasphemy of Olive Garden before actually getting to enjoy the 27 Club. It was a good time, but before it was over, Nightshade had two other of her followers ready to go. With five hot and bothered women pawing at each other, Noriko decided a) lesbians are weird b) we should go explore my room for dangers.

Now she’s about to pounce on my pen as it’s keeping me from paying her attention.

Doc’s Log: 1000 Hours, Saturday, October 30, 2010

It’s a wonderful thing I don’t need as much sleep as most of the Krewe. I woke up about 0830 Hours and asked if Noriko wanted to meditate with me. I took her flinging the covers over her head as a no.

It took longer than usual to get centered today. I’m not sure if I was that tired, or if something else was distracting me, but it took about an hour and a half. None of the others were either home, awake, or moving yet, except for Tavia who was making toast with honey for breakfast. She shared some toast, but I didn’t chance the honey. I think I’m going to study the road sign’s book from the DMV, at least until Noriko wakes up.

Now that the van is finished, I need to get insurance and finally get my license.

Doc’s Log: 1400 Hours, Saturday, October 30, 2010

Rose was out at a swim meet with Jean so she and Karl weren’t around when the others started stumbling in. It was about 1300 Hours when I heard Cupcake and Chandra come in. They were still wearing their dinner attire with their new friend in tow. I will call her Mouse. Mouse is very nervous and slightly timid but from what we know, she is a very skilled psychic. Not long thereafter, Nightshade, Bright Eyes, and Karen staggered in as well. Once everyone was comfortable, Cupcake asked for some backup on an information gathering meeting with an informant named Raindancer. Nightshade perked up at the name. Raindancer was a prominent and vocal member of the local LGBTQ community. She worked covertly as an information broker, easily disguised as a gossip in a salon. Rumors suggested that her deceased brother was important with several local gangs as well. This explained how she remained as well connected as she seems to be, but also why she strongly distrusts any kind of police presence. Nightshade explained that while her own aversion to police was warranted, she recognized that she did not hate them. The same couldn’t be said for Raindancer. This was the problem originally as Mouse was worried she would be linked to the police or at least suspected. Nightshade called a very large poet and mutual friend we’ve run into in the clubs before. The Poet was happy to help look for Ritchie Abrams. He confirmed that Ritchie’s boyfriend was often blamed for the disappearance and as such was fairly well shunned from social events. Because we were friends of Nightshade, the Poet agreed to meet Cupcake and Mouse at the salon to give a proper introduction. The rest of us would go and wait outside in case of trouble. Now it’s time to leave. Hopefully we’re know something when we get back.

Doc’s Log: 1800 Hours, Saturday, October 30, 2010

That definitely proved enlightening. We arrived in two cars and met the Poet at 1530 Hours beside Shear Delight salon. Bright Eyes convinced Cupcake to get bakery-inspired nails before going in. It took just over an hour for them to finish but once we were all back together and at the Bluffs, Cupcake and Mouse filled us in.

According to Raindancer, Ritchie’s boyfriend didn’t have any part of Ritchie’s disappearance. He was not welcome at most gay-friendly locations because of suspicions and him being absent has only allowed the rumors to grow. I felt genuinely sorry for the kid. Normally the gay community takes care of their own in New Haven, but this time they were shutting him out when he needed them more than ever. Next we learned about a disturbing trend had been happening at Gotham Citi for a while, which may have something to do with Ritchie. Rich, attractive, “straight” men are coming to the club on Saturday (Gay night) looking for young men to “work on their roof” or “help with their plumbing.” If questioned, they were always “surprised” it was Gay night and were only “looking for workers.” Cupcake saw a picture of a man in a horrible bowtie which Raindancer knew to be one of these recruiters. She said there was a woman who had similarly disappeared but resurfaced some time later telling friends not to ask questions. This Carol Jameson stormed into Gotham Citi and berated the Bowtie Man for trying to lure boys away, at least until the cops came and removed her. At the very least, it sounds like these men are taking advantage of teen boys which I’m not okay with. Though Nightshade suspects that the recruiters are doing so for someone else. And the overall feeling is that there could be some vampiric connection. That area is controlled by the Invictus based on what Lynne told us and that still falls within the MO. I don’t want to call Truman on this one, at least not yet since the situation with Lynne likely caused him some issues.

The Poet called Nightshade after we were well into our discussions. Apparently Raindancer felt very protective of Cupcake and asked him to shadow her. He wanted to pass the information along and also determine if he should or not. Thankfully Nightshade told him no. The Poet if a very nice man, but we do not wish to see him trying to deal with anything that plans to move on us. It did remind me to speak with Mouse about getting a brush or other personal item from Ritchie’s so we could try to track him using our abilities. She said she could go tomorrow and expect to get anything like that we would need. Bright Eyes and I shared the Plasm in the House while the others were getting ready. Then I went to clean up and call Noriko. We’ll see how this goes.

Doc’s Log: 2300 Hours, Saturday, October 30, 2010

Well we didn’t find the Bowtie Man, but we did meet up with Carol Jameson. It was strange because even though she was alive, she was not aging. It was like she was frozen in time. Bright Eyes will likely have some interesting observations for us about Carol, but not until she gets home. I dressed appropriately for the club which was much more clean cut and less gothic than my normal club gear. Noriko was a little surprised, but she looks good wherever we go. I spotted Carol at the bar as soon as we walked in. She was a little surprised that I recognized her description before becoming incredibly suspicious of my intentions. I knew lying was out so I very delicately (and quietly) told her we were looking into Ritchie’s disappearance and I thought she was on the same side. She told me to let it go and not get involved. It was immediately obvious at that point that she was trying to protect me by not telling me anything. Without giving too much away, I explained that I would be okay but if she needed some help, I’d be happy to try. After a few more failed attempts to persuade her, I apologized for ruining her mood. Carol left for the bathroom at that point and I suddenly realized how Rose must feel when she talks to people. I turned to ask Noriko a question, but she was locked on Carol like a cat stalking her prey. She mumbled something about how Carol smelled guilty. I eventually had to snap my fingers a few times to get her attention again. I also asked that she please not eat people we needed for information. I noticed that Bright Eyes had caught up to Carol and was getting a much better reaction. That was my cue to take Noriko out on the dance floor.

Before it was over (and it was over fairly quickly), Nightshade had snatched up a girl whose entire presence was dominated by her massive amounts of hair. I still don’t know what her face looked like. Bright Eyes left with Carol, Chandra had an unspoken dominance challenge with a gorgeous vampire over Cupcake and Karen picked up someone that Bright Eyes didn’t have time for on the way to catch Carol. I was vaguely glad Noriko drove. Unfortunately Carol left a lasting impression on my girlfriend. Noriko thinks that Carol has killed people or otherwise has blood on her hands from something. She told me to make sure I hear from Bright Eyes tomorrow because she went missing, Carol would be her next target.

Hopefully it won’t come down to that. But to distract Noriko and because I realized just after we got home that it’s Devil’s Night, we’re going out on patrol together. I have no idea what we might get into but hopefully it will help. She was of course all for this, so we’re about to leave.


Natalie’s Tweets

October 29th, 2010

-Cheffy Housemate is off on “business,” So Doc, Sara, Karen and Noriko are going to Olive Garden.

-So Sinful. She would not approve.

-I never thought eating at the Olive Garden would be rebellious, but there you go.

-Speaking of Sinful, going to 27 Club tonight with the gang. =-D

-Yay My club =-D

-Our Club. Karen. Ahem.

-Time to go mad with power!

-powerpowerpower.

-Sara has a better idea: Go mad with ladies.

-ladiesladiesladies? Does not sound as good.

-Oh what am I getting myself into?

-Hehehehehe

-You know what is awesome? Going out and having fun with Doc without tension is awesome.

-Doc is great.

-ladies are great

-Tonight is great! Wooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

-^_^


October 30th, 2010

-I am absolutely doing that again sometime.

-Home again home again jiggity jog.

-Hmmmmm…there is a name I have not dealt with in awhile…

-Stephan to the rescue!

-Ok, this works, time to roll out peoples.

-Oh man I am not sure what Alexia and Chandra did but this poor girl is SWOONING.

-High fives would be both appropriate and inappropriate, I guess?

-Okay, Stephan, Miss Callahan and Alexia are going in.

-Stephan gives the clear sign. Time to pester Sara and Doc.

-Looks like it was productive

-Clubbing tonight!

-Your Mistress will be at Gotham Citi tonight. Feel free to come and pay tribute

-Just not…too much tribute. I’m a little sore.

-Heading out

-Looks like one of the people we were looking for is here.

-Poor Doc :-/

-Sara will try.

-Maybe not

-Oooh, Ok you are on

-YES! Wooo! You go Sara.

-Ahem

-Ok, so splitting up tonight, is cool. I think Karen is going to interrogate the girl Sara blew off.

-For, uh, important investigative reasons.

-Speaking of which…I’m gonna solve a little mystery myself…

-Oh wow…okay, someone’s roommate did NOT like seeing me show up here.

-Wonder if it is because I am me, female, or a lay?

-Oh to better, more intriguing things!

-Oh…well…that is interesting…


Sara’s Letters

No new story this time. Our latest job is in town, so no long trips to fill. Our new job has certainly been plenty of fun, so far. Though really, it’s not new. It’s the job with Catharine, with the missing guy Richie. She’s another paranormal investigator and we kinda stumbled onto her gig a bit back. She’s been tracking down leads while we were out and about and now that she found one, she got in contact again for our (technically the rest of the troupe’s, but I made myself useful) local expertise and contacts. Plus, I think Catharine might have become a bit ensnared by the lovely Chandra and Alexia.

You see, they were really the ones who stumbled into their case, and Chandra took advantage of Catharine’s new lead to take her out on a date (with Alexia as well, of course) to one of the fancy French places Alexia prefers. They showed up back at the house *after* we did the next day, so I assume they had plenty of fun. The rest of us capitalized on Alexia’s absence to slum it at Olive Garden, as it offends her chef-ly sensibilities. Then we went to the 27 Club. Jasmine went home herself, hopefully to spend time with Karl - surely it bodes well for a case to start off with everyone well and truly laid.

For our part, as soon as we made our grand entrance and Natalie had a look around, she looked at me with a wicked twinkle in her eyes. “I think we have an important meeting tonight, don’t you?” I was certainly all for it, even just assuming she meant a most certainly non-managerial meeting with the adorable Tatum. I was also not displeased when she let Cindy know she was expected as well. It was a very stimulating meeting, where we all worked assiduously to make sure all parties were satisfied.

Tatum does continue to be adorable. She is convinced Natalie is some kind of supernatural creature, like a vampire or an avatar of a goddess instead of just a paranormal investigator. She asked if I ‘had been elevated’ and kept trying to get me to confirm her suspicions. I was very noncommittal. Maybe it's mean, but it’s far too much fun to speculate with her. Besides, she probably wouldn’t believe me.

After we’d all dragged our asses back to the house and Alexia had fixed up a light lunch, making sure the kitchen was still her domain, she and Catharine and Chandra told us about this new lead. There was an information broker, named Raindancer, with ties to the local GLBT community who might know something. At first, Alexia was just hoping we might loiter nearby as backup, but Natalie was familiar with Raindancer and did one better. She called a friend of hers, Stephen-who-writes-plays, who is a giant biker of a man, and who knew Raindancer better than Natalie and was willing to give an introduction, since she was a bit leary of cops and anyone who might be connected with them.

The meet went well - we got a strong suspect with a potential pattern of abductions and a name of someone who might have been abducted by the same group. Also, Alexia got *adorable* nails. She was just going to get her hair done, since that’s how it works - you visit Raindancer at her salon, ask your questions and tip her based on the information she gives you. She’s a genius with that fancy nail art stuff though, so I convinced Alexia to get a bakery themed deal, with cupcakes and cookies and pie, all with smiling happy faces.

More pertinent to the case, she told them there were a few regulars at Gotham Citi’s gay night, rich ‘straight’ men who need the occasional strapping young man to ‘work on their roof’ or ‘help with the plumbing’. Richie had gone off with one in particular (who we have dubbed ‘Bowtie Man’, since Raindancer didn’t know his name, he had on an awful speckled-y bowtie and he’s too much of a potential villain to be ‘Incredibly Handsome Man who can Totally Wear Whatever Bowtie He Wants as Long as He Doesn’t Kidnap Me’). To make things worse, a girl named Carol had gone missing a lot like Richie but she had come back eventually and threw a fit when she saw Bowtie Man at the club, telling him to stay away from those boys.

Which means we had a bunch to keep an eye out for when we went to Gotham Citi. Mr. Bowtie Man didn’t show, so I didn’t have to go stumbling drunk to get a few hairs. Ah, the wonders of sympathetic links. It was a little bit of a shame, but not too much of one, since Carol was there. Doc went to talk with her first and hit a total brick wall. She knew just what he was talking about when he said he was looking for someone and told him to leave it alone. That was pretty clear from her body language, and from Doc’s side of the conversation over the ear curls, things seemed to go downhill from there. She certainly seemed to have some kind of trouble, but kept turning aside his offers to help. She also didn’t respond well to him claiming that surely she was on our side, since she had confronted Bowtie Man. She eventually brushed him off, so I tagged in, going for a bit of a long con, to coax it out of her. And if that meant I had to seduce the tall, striking mysterious woman, well then, so be it. It did mean leaving my new friend Tracy on the dance floor, but there was something there - I felt it. I’ll be able to find her again, I'm sure.

As it was, I spent the night at the... well, before living at the Bluffs, I might have called it the palatial estate of the mysterious Carol. It was a big place, when not compared to the Bluffs, especially since she lived there all alone. There was no lingering... talk once we’d woken up - I’m writing this at a cafe nearby waiting for Doc or someone to pick me up - and she seemed a little reserved once hormones weren’t quite so much in control, so I didn’t push on the case or anything. She did say she hoped to do this again, so I’ll have another chance.

We'll have to move carefully on this one, especially since it's on our home turf. Bowtie Man is rich and powerful, with rich and powerful friends. Carol herself is certainly well-to-do, at the least. That surprised me a little, since I had been thinking of her as a victim of whatever scheme this is. Which is not to say the rich never victimize each other, or give their victims gifts, so they feel tied to them, as if they should be grateful. That maybe accounts for some of her guilt earlier. Anyway, with any luck, we’ll be able to help this kid Richie, and maybe give Carol a little bit of peace too. Even without getting into what Carol knows, we've got a couple of lines of questioning to go down for a bit.

End Session CIX

Compared to last session’s lack of focus, this session was very solid. A lot of good RP took place, and the PCs had lots of fun I think.

Stephan came up in session 1 (he gave Natalie a play to read) so is a major blast from earlier in the campaign when I expected him to be a slightly more important character. Raindancer is a transwoman who working on a picture for her lead me to realize how unfriendly Google image search is to finding decent pictures of transwomen, particularly black transwomen like Raindancer.

Interesting anecdote, when Sara went to talk to Carol, I had a picture ready for Tracy which I tossed down, and Sara’s player gave me the most awesome “fuck you” look ever as Sara had to blow her off. I am a terrible person.

Not much else to cover. I was worried my dental pain would keep me from having the session, already delayed a night, but after three hellish days I got it under control, and the session went better than I expected. Not quite as on task as this, but pretty good and a lot of good RP and discussion. You will be getting that in two weeks. In the meantime comments and questions welcome.

[omenseer]

Glad you're feeling better.

Transwoman? Male to female or female to male? I am unclear.

You're story made me think of a villain idea. A man who hunts young gay men for his blood rituals because they are easy targets. Normally for motivation one would expect an anti gay sentiment, but he only chooses them for their easiness. That would be the turn around, but that got me thinking which would be the worse or more angering motivation from the heroes perspective? The anti sentiment or the opportunistic because they're easy sentiment?

Or heroes as vessels for the reader perspective. If that makes sense.

[Baroness Nerak]

Raindancer is a MTF Transwoman.

Part of this is examining something that does sometimes happen in places. I knew a guy who ran into some of those people even down here. So yea, that exploitation happens. People get in over their head, and young gay men can be especially vulnerable to exploitation.

[Baroness Nerak]

New Geist journals. I am swapping the order of Natalie and Sara’s journals to have Natalie last again. This is due to the oblique nature of her journals; they make more sense in the context of other journals. If we get Jasmine journals again at some point we will position them between Doc’s and Sara’s, about where they have been. Speaking of which, Jasmine’s player was on hiatus this session also, so no Jasmine this time. I anticipate one more session without Jasmine after this one, then she will be back. In game, Jasmine is away for the weekend, so the PCs are left to their own devices. Anyway, enough exposition, let’s move on.

Session CX

Doc’s Log

Doc’s Log: 0900 Hours, Sunday, October 31, 2010

It’s almost as peaceful as a cemetery around here this morning. Just about everyone is either still out, still asleep, or off to themselves in quiet contemplation.

After our rounds on Devil’s Night, which was fairly uneventful, Noriko came back to Dark Haven Bluffs with me. We didn’t get much sleep, but that’s okay. She’s under the covers in my bed still and is very cute unless you try to wake her up. I got out of bed around 0730 Hours to meditate.

Things were easy to put in place today as I was able to find my center in about half an hour. I’ve just been hanging out since. I’ll probably study the DMV book some more until I’m needed or until people start crawling in.


Doc’s Log: 1130 Hours, Sunday, October 31, 2010

So that was unexpected.

Nightshade was up and around earlier than normal. She pulled me to the side and I thought I’d upset someone. Instead I learned that Noriko was developing a major attachment to me. I didn’t know if she meant that in a bad way or not. When I asked, Nightshade clarified that she was seriously in love with me. That explained the question of what I wanted in our relationship the other night. But honestly, I was pretty surprised. I told Noriko at the time that I was happy and enjoying us. I hadn’t put any long term goals down or anything as I was just enjoying the moment. I could tell at the time that wasn’t exactly the answer she was looking for, but it didn’t seem to upset her either. Nightshade and I talked about it and we think that Noriko hasn’t ever had a serious relationship. Supernaturals have that problem sometimes; not that I can throw stones. The running theory right now, since I didn’t think it was my place to ask, is that since Noriko was “turned” by the Colony, she has been mostly alone. That makes our relationship mean that much more as she doesn’t have to hide or lie or anything like that. Nightshade thought I should know where things stood as she didn’t think Noriko was talking to me about it. And she was right. But now we’re gathering for lunch, so I don’t think I’ll be discussing it just yet.

Doc’s Log: 1300 Hours, Sunday, October 31, 2010

During lunch, we discussed Carol’s disappearance never made waves because she was over 18 and everyone thought she, “ran off to California.” This was assisted by her being seen with someone before vanishing. Her parents, William and Karen, were loaded but we got the impression from Nightshade’s research that they believed they’d lost their daughter before she disappeared. Strangely it seems like Carol inherited their fortune when she returned, but we don’t know much else about them. That doesn’t help us find Ritchie, but it does keep the focus on the north side. The more we learn, the more circumstantially these disappearances seem tied to the Invictus. I wish I knew a way to contact Lynne. I don’t want to bring any more heat down on Truman than I think I already have, but I need some inside information. Everytime we go to one of the clubs where these kids are being lured away, I see the vampire that Chandra stared down last night. I don’t know her but she’s obviously well off and in all the wrong places to be a coincidence. I just can’t risk ruining our chances to leverage the Prince if we can ever get to the Athenaeum. Otherwise, I could have been less pleasant with the Sheriff. It serves me better for now though.

Anyway, Nightshade had news about the girl we privately referred to as The Hair. I’m still not sure I’ve ever seen her face. I now know her real name but I’ll stick with The Hair for now. She seems to be somewhat in the know as she asked Nightshade to assist her in finding a special heirloom. The Hair said some other things that led Nightshade to believe there was more to her than just copious amounts of hair. The Hair’s roommate also made an impression. She all but cornered Nightshade and stated in what was meant to be a warning that she “was into girls, but The Hair was not.” We weren’t sure if she was just jealous, being protective, or if something else was going on. In theory, we’re about to find out as The Hair is coming over for an interview with our merry band of paranormal investigators.


Doc’s Log: 1500 Hours, Sunday, October 31, 2010

The Hair is apparently from a long line of Irish Hairs. All jokes aside, she said that all the women in her family were long lived, had lots of hair, and tended to keep it naturally dark until advanced age set in. It was partially because of these traits that the family heirloom was a bone and silver comb. The Hair told us the story of the comb. Her grandmother gave it to her along with the family warning. Never give or let a man take the comb, else she would be compelled to marry him. If she had already married, she should still not give the comb to her husband as this would give him power over her. I’m not an expert but that reminded me of Irish folklore. This whole situation came up because someone had stolen the comb. Afterwards, The Hair began having dreams of men’s faces. I grabbed my sketch pad and tried to quickly get down the descriptions. The sketches weren’t my best work, but we gained a rough image of the thief, the middle man, and the final owner. The Hair went on to say she now feels pursued. Her mother gave the comb back to her own mother as she was too afraid to keep it. That was why The Hair received it from her grandmother. The comb was stolen just after school started and the dreams began soon thereafter.

The Hair confessed that she could see our death aura, which really opened up most of our doors. She noted the blonde woman Cupcake and Chandra were talking to last night had a different death aura. We told her to be careful with that woman and anyone else with that kind of death aura. Vampires might find The Hair a bit more intriguing than would be healthy for her. We explained that we were working on a missing person so we couldn’t devote all our effort into the search. She understood but she also said that she felt betrothed, which I never realized was a feeling, but didn’t think it was polite to mention. Given that, I reluctantly offered to cast a spell to help protect her from “unwanted advances.” I don’t want it to be a habit for people we just met to have everything thrown on the table, but I could tell she was scared and likely in danger. I spent the next half hour preparing the GMC room with images and symbols of resistance and will. When I was done, Nightshade accompanied The Hair down into our casting chamber. As our Krewe priestess, Nightshade blessed me with a bit of the power she can draw from our Channel. It was a welcome boost. The Hair was rightfully nervous but I did all I could. My magic is only so powerful but it’s better than going unprotected. She left with a new group of friends to watch over her and as much luck as I could lend.

When I joined the rest of the Krewe, Cupcake and Bright Eyes recognized a local pawn shop owner as the middle man, so apparently the sketch wasn’t so rough. Bright Eyes was talking about trying to sweet talk her way into learning about the comb. Something about dealing in stolen goods came up and I smiled. Well at least inside I smiled. Apparently I was a little more intimidating on the outside as Bright Eyes looked at me and declared that they were bringing me to talk with the Pawn shop owner. He should keep records just in case of something like this, but I also intend to “clue him in” that the kid he bought the comb from was fencing stolen goods. If he didn’t take that hint, I was pretty sure I could be more blunt about his involvement. But now, we’re going costume shopping for hijinx tonight.


Doc’s Log: 1900 Hours, Sunday, October 31, 2010

Sometimes I forget that Snowflake, Karl, and I are three of the luckiest men on the Eastern Seaboard. I remembered today.

Cupcake decided that she, Chandra, and Mouse needed a group costume. They were a vampire, werewolf, and victim respectively. Bright Eyes found a sexy Leprechaun outfit complete with platform boots and a cane. Nightshade was just her normally gothic self, while Karen was more an S&M Bitch (their phraseology, not mine) or just Karen. For Noriko, we found an Underworld style outfit that put Beckinsale to shame. I was an Undead Pirate. Now that we’re back and everyone is getting ready, we are a sight to behold. I may have to get pictures.

The plan for now is to hit Murder Ballads and enjoy the atmosphere. Being that it’s Halloween, we’ll see what else we get to deal with. I know one thing though. Tonight the ear curls are on.


Sara’s Letters

When it rains, it pours, I suppose. Not that I’m complaining, mind - I harbor no ill will towards any job that requires working closely with a beautiful young woman. And after the somewhat... hectic out-of-town jobs lately, I don’t really mind staying at home for a bit. Gods, but that still feels strange to type - home. Especially it being a stationary place, a house even.

The new job will get back burnered, for now at least, since a missing person is a more urgent situation that a missing heirloom, even if that heirloom likely has some kind of mystical influence on our new friend Sarah. The warnings her grandmother had passed down - to not lose the family comb, since if a man got possession of it she’d be compelled to marry him - reminded me right off of some of the water spirits of the old country: bean sidhe or night, mermaids, water hags, that sort of thing. The warning apparently had some kind of teeth, as her mother had returned it to her grandmother with some distress.

If that were all, of course, we would be unlikely to have been called in, but she had, in fact, lost it. Had it stolen, to be fair, from her dorm room. Ever since then, she’d felt an odd sense of foreboding, a feeling of being betrothed. She’d also had dreams, first of a young college-aged man, then of an older man that Alexia and I recognized as a local pawn shop owner. Recently, she’d been seeing a different man, probably in his late 30s, who presumably bought the comb from the pawn shop.

So we’ve got a decent lead to start out with. And, may I say, it is a wonder to be part of a team for this sort of thing. Alexia and I were discussing speaking with the pawn shop guy and I mentioned that since it was a case of stolen goods, we had every reason to speak with him, even not mentioning any paranormal stuff, but he’d be under no obligation to share. Working on my own, I might have gotten somewhere with a damsel-in-distress routine, but lots of folks in his situation are a bit prickly about things. Doc caught my eye though, and gave me just enough of his grumpy face to make it clear his plan. And even if he’s immune to a pretty face, I pretty sure pawn shop guy will be thrilled to help us out.

First though, we need to find RIchie. In the meantime, Doc gave Sarah a bit of luck, for the purposes of staving off unwanted advances. While he set that up, Natalie and I made some totally wanted advances - purely to avoid awkwardness, of course, since Natalie had gone home with her last night. She kept looking at me like I’d drop kick her for that any second, so it was pure kindness really, to show there were no hard feelings. She’ll hopefully be at Murder Ballads tonight for Halloween hijinx.

We did talk some about Richie’s case, it hasn’t been all new cases, pretty girls and holidays. Okay, it was mostly pretty girls, even still. I shared what I had learned at Carol’s place and Natalia shared what she’d learned online. Natalie was able to answer my main question - if Carol’s so well-to-do, how did she go missing without more of a hue and cry than I’d gotten the impression happened? Apparently, the police thought she’d run off with someone to California and her not being a minor, that was that. Other than that, however, and Noriko’s bad feeling about her, we don’t have much more. I left her on good terms though, and the rest of the team has another local contact who might know something.

But now it is holiday time. Natalie will be performing a rite to send us off this Halloween night. We’ve already made a special trip for costuming - not much has made me curse the jealousy of country people more than Doc’s dashing pirate get up. He and Noriko do make an adorable couple though. She’s been following him around like a second shadow, or a kitten set to pounce all day.

Speaking of pouncing, Karen’s just passed by, and I think I need some practice... maneuvering in these boots.


Natalie’s Tweets

October 31st, 2010

-Ah, poor Noriko. Must be hard being crazy.

-I will be little Ms. Helpful, though. ^_^

-Okay, convo with Doc went well, I think.

-Hopefully I am not meddling.

-Okay, time to see Sarah.

-I just have to not call her “The Hair”

-Simple, right?

-Ok, meeting not too uncomfortable all things considered.

-Hrm, that is unexpected.

-Very unexpected.

-If she turns into a Mermaid, I am not sure what I will do.

-Sara is on a roll.

-Doc wants to help with Magic. Cool.

-I am so bad ^_^

-Sara makes me bad. S’not my fault.

-She is a baaaaaaaaad influence

-I think we can help this girl

-Of course, it sounds non horrible now, so of course there is horrid monsters somehow.

-They are shopping, your Mistress must prepare for the night.

-Happy Halloween!

-Solemn Pagan Rituals are Solemn

-I feel powerful. I like that.

-Heading to Murder Ballads

-Wow that did not take long

-Helpful info for Alexia maybe?

-Funtime!

-Once again, Happy Halloween!

End Session CX

So well over a year ago Sarah’s pic started appearing among Clubgoers, and she developed a sort of reputation OOC as “The Hair”. The pic is of a girl with a good deal of hair. The dominant theory held by Jasmine and Simon’s players was that the girl’s body is a puppet and the hair drives her around. Simon’s player used the pic in a short lived game as a background NPC we never spoke to and the theory came up there as well. However, as it turns out she is not, in fact, sentient hair puppeting around an emo girl’s body. I hope they could contain their disappointment.

Not much else to report on, the session was largely role-playing. We did RP some at Murder Ballads…that will be covered in the session notes in two weeks. I’ll hope to see you then, in the meantime comments and questions are welcome.

[omenseer]

Is the pawnshop the part where Doc starts throwing rings the owner stating that each is a life he helped end?

[Baroness Nerak]

Heh we have not gotten to it yet (most of last night was dealing with Richie and a rather...odd...discovery by Sara) but I am sure his player will take it under advisement ^_^

[Baroness Nerak]

One more session with Jasmine away filling out the weekend. We do actually move a bit into Monday but it is okay. Come along and enjoy.

Session CXI

Doc’s Log

Doc’s Log: 0100 Hours, Monday, November 1, 2010

Tonight was interesting in ways I wasn’t expecting.

Murder Ballads was filled to capacity and I don’t remember there ever being that many incredibly attractive women in attendance before our Krewe arrived. I’m sure the costumes helped. Carol was there among many other familiar faces but no Bowtie Man. I had to keep drawing Noriko’s attention back to me as she was staring at Carol more than was healthy for anyone. I asked her if she was okay once but she just said she was “thinking about dinner.” Eating the people we need to pump for information is really not helpful and I keep needing to remind Noriko of this lately. Eventually I just pulled her out to the dance floor. That kept her focused on me at least.

Meanwhile, Cupcake decided that she should use her business as an inroad with Carol to meet this mysterious benefactor Mariah Williams. The plan was to attempt to go for a catering job for the parties Mariah threw for the upper crust (the ones where young boys go missing afterwards). That went about as far as getting the name out before Carol looked like she was going to search Cupcake for a wire. It bombed so badly that Cupcake stopped and said she heard someone calling her before walking away. I’m sure Rose had the sudden thought in her hotel room, “I hate ‘clubbing’ and Murder Ballads is just not my style,” but had no idea why.

Once we were sure things were smooth, we hit the Plasm for the week and split off for the night. I took Noriko home as it seemed like the house would be a little empty again. Now if I don’t close the journal and put the pen away, I may get dragged into bed by a werecat with thinning patience.

Doc’s Log: 0600 Hours, Monday, November 1, 2010

Okay that was different.

I was just contacted through my dreams. I was cuddling with a giant tiger curled up around me when I realized something else was watching me in the dream. My mental landscape fell away and I was standing in a dark space. I didn’t see anything except myself standing in this blank area. There was something trying to make contact with me. I expected Garlize or may even the Forgotten Scion of the Old World itself. Instead I got Timmy, the boy with a magic dream house. Timmy (who does not like to be called Timmy) was the brother of Tracy, the girl Bright Eyes left the club with. That immediately put me on edge and I asked if she was alright. Timmy said she was fine but that she was there in his dream house. They had never had visitors that were alive before so he was confused. Also he had never tried to use the phone before. I couldn’t hear Bright Eyes but Tracy also could talk to me and they relayed messages to Bright Eyes. It was a strange conversation and I think it was done mainly to see if they could do it. I’m not even sure when it happened. Now I’m going to curl back up with my tiny tiger because I can.

Doc’s Log: 0900 Hours, Monday, November 1, 2010

I got back up around 0800 Hours and went to meditate. Seems dream communication helps focus the mind. I was able to center myself in about a half hour. That was useful since I had a text from Tavia waiting for me when I got back.

“Nothing happened I couldn’t handle, be back in afternoon ”

That’s not terrifying at all. I think I’m going to work on my katas. I immediately thought of my guns when we learned our Manifestations couldn’t be trusted against Bone Dry, but I have other ways of attacking. And if I’m in close, that big rifle is going to hurt more than help me. My martial arts can’t just be turned off because I’m dealing with a mage.

Doc’s Log: 1445 Hours, Monday, November 1, 2010

For the record, Bright Eyes was fine but really surprised by the siblings with magic white dream houses.

We all got back together around 1230 Hours for lunch and to discuss the plans for the day. Breakfast really didn’t happen as such, so this was the first chance we found. Bright Eyes was going to hit the library and research Carol Jameson’s family. Nightshade was going along as well to help speed the research along. Cupcake was convinced we needed to speak with Crowley so her and Chandra’s time was filled wine shopping before searching the alleys of New Haven. Given the pallor of Cupcake and Mouse’s face, Chandra had enjoyed herself last night. Thus I planned to head to the shop to mix up something to keep Mouse’s anemia in check. We scattered to the four winds but kept our ear curls so we could actually update everyone.

Because we all were getting the information at the same time, I don’t remember who found out what now, but the end results pissed me off. Carol is a Blood Bather. This came out due to the mysterious Mariah Williams being almost guaranteed to be the fabled Mariah Winthrop. It almost sounds like she’s built a cult around her this time. And they are not subtle as the disappearances have drawn the attention of a European group of vampire hunters. They are apparently not just Christian, but devout followers of Jesus. In general, I would have little issues here minus the vampire hunter part, but they don’t seem to be the “Turn the other cheek” sort of followers. This isn’t just a bunch of book-toting occultists either. They have apparently tracked Carol to Gotham Citi fully loaded for a fight. They were packing so much heat, the club threw them out and called the police. Carol wasn’t lucky enough to slip past them though as they managed to drive a stake through her heart before escaping. That was apparently a few days before I tried to talk to her. Explains why Carol was so paranoid. But to top off everything else, the hunters have set camp in the Firehouse church. We own that church and I pushed to have Ephraim setup to stay there. It is not meant to be used by squatting vampire hunters. Nightshade is sounding nervous, so apparently I’m getting angry.

We have a plan. We use the hair we got from Mouse to track Ritchie. Then we covertly rescue him as long as he’s still Ritchie the kid. Then we sneak in and curse one of the hunters during the day (so they can’t blame vampires) with an image of Jesus come to send them on a mission. This way it looks like the hunters (that have the vampires all wound up and pissed off thanks to the Blood Bathers being sloppy) left after saving Ritchie, which was obviously what they came for. Then no one else needs to know we were involved or that someone other than the hunters is on their trail. This sounds like a Napalm Recon Mission if ever there was one.

Oh no. Tavia came in just a bit ago to inform me she “handled” Leslie summoning a spirit to her party last night. She wouldn’t elaborate but she did smile like a shark. On the way out, she mentioned that Leslie probably wouldn’t be coming into work today either. I wasn’t even thinking about when I was at the shop. One of the girls was working so I just kept working on my elixir. I’ll have to ask them about it later. At least I know I can count on them to keep the shop running. I will definitely need to speak with Leslie...maybe with bandages.

Doc’s Log: 1800 Hours, Monday, November 1, 2010

The plans changed.

Bright Eyes, Nightshade, and I accepted our mission and headed to the Firehouse church. Because we’re dealing with religious fanatics, we decided that all of them should bear witness to the Word. Yes we’re terrible people, but trust me I could have been so much worse before we were finished. I would set a trigger for the curse to take effect and then they would be visited by Jesus directly. Everyone would see the same thing. We just had to hope I was good enough to pull it off.

Nightshade used her Boneyard to find four hunters sleeping with a fifth on watch. She made it easier for me to sneak around, but I still had to be careful. I’m no Rose. I stepped over the bear trap just inside the door and then almost hit a tripwire. My heart stopped for a beat. I traced it back and found the wire led to tin cans. I felt better as that was something to alert them, not blow up intruders. Pretty smart low-tech idea. Unfortunately low-tech was not the order of the day. When I came to the basement staircase, they had barricaded half of it with furniture and pallets to narrow the passage. At the head of the stairs was a laptop on a table. Nightshade told me she couldn’t read the screen but described it enough for us to figure out it was some kind of monitoring software. I looked around at how everything was setup and realized it was using infrared beams, two ahead of the laptop and two more across the staircase. Who the hell keeps that kind of tech just on them? Made me realize this was part of something larger and that making sure they left without suspension was suddenly our top priority. I went back out and got some of Nightshade’s mirrors. Next we fashioned a sort of brace on my leg at the right spots for the most MacGyver’d countermeasures ever. Thankfully it worked. The laptop was in Cyrillic but I couldn’t say what language for sure. But at least I knew we were dealing with Eastern Europeans for a point of reference.

I made it down the stairs and avoided another can tripwire. In the basement, things got harder. There were two more laptops setup around the space. One had another set of sensors but I didn’t have to deal with that one as I could see all five of the hunters. They had more firepower and weaponry around them than we do in the armory. The problem came when I got a good look at the second laptop. The chair was sitting on was lashed to the wall shelf. At the bottom of the chair was a shaped charge, set to take the legs out from under anyone that hit the tripwire. I felt my pulse double and the red started closing in around the edges of my vision. They had constructed an IED in my church!

I don’t know how many seconds I stood there fighting the urge to finish them all or to reset the charge before I realized I was hearing Nightshade’s worried voice through the ear curl. She talked me back down and I stuck to the plan, mostly. While I’m no master like Snowflake, I’ve gotten pretty good at curses. I burned a chunk of my Plasm but I think it will be worth it. After we rescue Ritchie, Nightshade will return and strike them all blind with her Boneyard. That will trigger the Phantasmal Curse I laid on each of them. Jesus will appear to them and explain how Scientology is run by vampires in Clearwater, Florida. Obviously this is a much larger problem than the issues here in New Haven. “Followers” would be sent to handle things locally so they could leave. “Body Thetan Tests” were being used to test blood for nutrients under the guise of Scientologist beliefs. But the Lord will be displeased and also inform them, “Bring Not Weapons of Mass Destruction into My House.” Then the Savior will leave them with a final decree to spread His message to all that they trust. They will all believe these edicts as ... well gospel, for almost a week without question. After that, I’m hoping we set the situation up well enough that their belief won’t allow them to doubt and follow through anyway. With my mission accomplished, I used my countermeasures and escaped without leaving any sign of my passing.

I might have scared myself a little bit now that I’m calm. I had to convince myself not to kill five people on the spot or sabotage things so they killed themselves. I am usually the first to realize violence is not the first option. I will have to steel myself for the possibility the next time I have to go in.

Goddamned explosives.


Sara’s Letters

So, Natalie says I shouldn’t sleep with anyone new until we’d actually completed some of our jobs, which seems totally unfair since she picked up the one before last. Though, I guess, to really be fair, she said *we* shouldn’t. :-) I think I might make an exception for Timothy though, since we’re already working for his sister (and technically him) and it has been a bit of time since I’ve been with a dude, after Doc got all grumpy and everything. And besides, Timothy’s a pretty cute guy.

So, Halloween was good. I did in fact find my new friend Tracy again and after we’d enjoyed a stimulating Halloween celebration at Murder Ballads, we snuck off to her house to become further acquainted. All in all, a very good time - I even dreamed about her that night. Apparently, in my dreams she has a brilliantly white house on a stunningly bright island, and despite my state upon arrival, she usually doesn’t have beautiful naked women showing up there, which is just a shame really.

I met her brother (Timothy) that morning, seeing as he shares the house with her. Like I said, he’s pretty cute. He’s the younger one, and seems to live in her shadow a lot. It would really be cruel to leave him all alone. Besides, I'll be seeing him again anyway, since he and his sister had a job for us. It would just be teasing at that point. The job's nothing I can really talk about right now, though mostly because it’s really puzzling and we don’t have a lot that’s concrete at the moment. However, it doesn’t seem to be immediately dangerous, so again, back burnered.

Especially since things with the Richie case have heated up. Alexia got in touch with a contact she thought might be able to help and between that and the research Natalie and I got done, we have a good idea what’s going on, if not a good way to deal with it. It’s some serious shit. Nothing I would think about taking on by myself. See, there’s a, let’s say, cult, a real conspiracy theory type thing, that a different troupe nearby had dealt with before. We figured out the Carol’s family had ties to them, going way back. Also, Alexia had been approached by another man who knew about the disappearances, and the name he gave her was similar to a leader of the cult, near enough that an incredibly vain villain might think it made a good cover identity. All the pieces fit together, so most likely, that cult’s pulled itself together and has gone back to abducting kids for their rituals.

It’s bad news, for certain. Unfortunately, Carol is almost certainly a part of the cult, based on her conversation with Doc. With any, well, luck, I guess, she was blackmailed into it, coerced somehow, and I might be able to convince her to help us out. Of course, that means bad things happening to her, almost surely, but... this is seriously bad news and can’t be allowed to continue. I just hope I can, as Doc said, “fuck her into saying yes” to helping us, as opposed to having to threaten or kidnap her somehow.

Anyways, to make things more complicated, there’s a different flavor of cult/gang also in town that’s gotten stirred up. Not so much because they have anything to do with Carol’s cult, but because the gang’s rivals have showed up, thinking that Carol’s cult is actually the gang because of the way they’ve tipped their hand. So the gang is getting twitchy, and so is Doc, cause the rivals have set up their territory in his. Specifically, in an old church that the troupe technically owns, I think, but mostly appears to be abandoned.

We’ve worked out a decent plan though. We need to get Richie out of there, and fast, if he’s still around to be gotten out - the cult’s into blood magic and just, bad shit. Even so, we’re not set up to go head to head with the cult yet, and if we show our hand, it’ll likely go to ground again. So, our immediate plan is to go for a snatch and grab, getting Richie out of there by any means necessary without showing our faces. Then, we make it so the rival gang skips town. Hopefully, the cult assumes that it was the taking of Richie that stuck a bee in the rival gang’s bonnet, and since they were gone, the threat had passed.

The best part is going to be setting it up so that the rival gang will leave. You see, the gang is very... Jesus oriented, as our informant put it. So we’re going to arrange for the group of them to each have a personal visitation. Since mostly we just want them out of town, we’re going to give them a new mission. These guys will be receiving word from on high that the Clearwater headquarters of Scientology had been infiltrated by the gang they were after, which is clearly far more important than whatever was going on here. I believe Doc made some last minute alterations to the set up, since as he was going down to rig up what we’d need to convince these guys, he came across a tripwire bomb, a shaped charge no less. Doc is... not very alright with explosives and things, from being in the war and all, so he made sure they’d never bring bombs into a church again. It seems fair to me.

Our last piece of the plan before we get down to action is finding out precisely where Richie is and doing some surveillance. Ideally, finding all the snipers. I like the idea of finding *all* of them. So, wish us luck?


Natalie’s Tweets

November 1st, 2010

-Well that was a fun night.

-I have never had a more…thorough…interview.

-Man what a crazy weekend. I can’t do every weekend like that anymore.

-Damnit.

-Home again home again jiggity-jog

-Did you have a good Halloween? I had a good Halloween.

-Sara has the weirdest things happen to her.

-No seriously. I could try and explain but…no I don’t know where to start.

-Scheming, but a good kind of scheming.

-Chandra looks like the canary that ate the cat.

-Okay so I think we have a plan.

-Vlog is up!

-Reading Reading

-Not that, you know, Sara is distracting or anything.

-Oh that is so not good, on so many not good levels.

-Well, we know what we are up against :-/

-Time to Huddle.

-Well there is Karen, bout time she showed up ^_^

-Yaaaaaaaaaaaay! ^_^

-Okay Owlish Housemate scares me.

-Focus now, planning and stuff.

-Man Doc is angry.

-…Redundant, I suppose.

-Man I have a sacrilege problem.

-Okay, cursing and such time.

-Not the usual way.

-Tune in, turn on, drop out.

-Odd.

-Okay, that is done. Back to base for phase 2.

End Session CXI


Jeez 111 sessions already?

Sara’s journal, as usual, is oblique. The “Jesus oriented” gang is of course Vampire Hunters. The stirred up gang is the local Kindred and Carol’s “gang” are the Blood Bathers. Hopefully the other journals put that in context but there you go.

The “Magic Dream Island” Tracy and Timothy have has no apparent explanation…for now. But I wanted to go ahead and introduce it. Tracy was the one I was tormenting Sara’s player with previously. One thing Sara did not mention directly was dead relatives of theirs sometimes come and give them messages. But then one day they all showed up at once for Tracy, became zombie-looking, and tried to pull her into the sea. They have not appeared since, in normal or undead form, but it was recently and no relatives have died since then.

Had the Candle Cove story come up on rpg.net and I gave a bit of a recap. Good times.

Jasmine returns this coming session. Simon’s player is still dealing with his Doctoral Work so is not back, but I hope to have him back by the end of the year. Comments and Questions are welcome as always.

[omenseer]

Can't these gangs just solve their problems with the power of dance? You know like all the gangs of '82?

[Baroness Nerak]

Well of course that is how *I* would do it, certainly.

[Baroness Nerak]

Apologies for the delay, totally my fault I did not realize Doc’s player had sent his log in much earlier, or I would have had this earlier. Jasmine is back and life is good for the Krewe…of course a good life means mysteries, and they have those a-plenty.

Session CXII

Doc’s Log

Doc’s Log: 0045 Hours, Tuesday, November 2, 2010

When I finished my last entry, I came down to find Rose and Karl were back. We had dinner with most of the Krewe like normal and it felt good. We filled her in on the events of the weekend minus the copious number of sexual encounters by pretty much everyone and Leslie’s event, though honestly I still don’t know much about that myself.

After dinner, we split up. Bright Eyes drove Nightshade’s care while Cupcake cast the Finding ceremony on Ritchie’s hair. Rose went along for protection and support. Once in the area, Nightshade claimed her Boneyard and the search began. Meanwhile, Tavia drove me to go shopping for supplies and also to have me closer without the entire Krewe being identified randomly. The ear curls kept us all in communication just in case.

Nightshade found Ritchie and another girl in the target house with two women dressed as maids. It was an upper class ranch with an addition built specifically for housing their victims. A single door led in from the main house with no exterior exits. The windows were all rigged with alarms and the door on the inside of the detention area was made up to blend with the wall. Both of the prisoners seemed high. On the plus side, Nightshade found the security cameras but did not see any snipers. I picked up ski masks for the whole Krewe as I doubt this will be the last time we need to be seen but not identified. Then I found fatigues and a few other pieces based on what I saw of the sleeping hunters. We also stopped at TruValue and I found some planting stakes. Rose waited until they were far enough away then turned into a flock of birds to double check the area for snipers or anything else we might not be expecting. Once she had moved back through the area without finding any shooters, she phased into the house to determine the state of the kids. I keep saying kids, but I’m pretty sure they are over 18. Either way, they were under the influence of something.

Invisibly, Rose talked to them and determined that they were still alive and aging normally, but they were both very high. She posed as the “Friendly Neighborhood Wallaby” and learned that they were probably being fed the drugs with meals but had otherwise not been harmed. They were so high that Ritchie had never even noticed the door in the wall. When Rose pointed it out, he moved over and tried to open it, but found it was locked. I tuned out of that conversation when someone suggested that we get something from the hunters to leave behind when we assaulted the house. Thus I had Tavia take me over the the Firehouse church. It was well after dark by this point so the hunters were all gone. Thankfully so were their laptops. I found three stakes and their sleeping bags but I decided not to take their stuff for fear of alerting them. Instead I gathered up hair from their sleeping bags to leave for physical evidence at the house. Then we met the others back at the Bluffs.

I handed out the masks and fatigues then got the guns ready. We took Nightshade and Bright Eye’s cars due to number of people. When we got close, Nightshade used her Hedge magic to summon a thunderstorm. It would help cover us and also make her uses of Cold Wind Boneyard easier. Rose went invisible and I activated my Phantasmal Shroud just to I could make myself unrecognizable regardless of the mask. The plan evolved a bit since the storm provided so much assistance. We’d use thunder to cover the shotgun blast to open the front door. Then we would not speak while I took care of the maid. Once I knew where she was, I brought a black cloth bag to pull over her head then use a chair to lock her in a room. As I dealt with her, Cupcake and Rose the invisible wallaby would deal with the prison door. Since we knew the place at security cameras that didn’t display anywhere in the house, we wanted to make sure they got a look at both me and Cupcake. But then Nightshade realized she could blow a transformer with her lightning and make the whole area blackout. That made things even easier. Hard to blame supernatural influence over your cameras when a whole neighborhood goes dark. The plan worked perfectly. We got in after blowing the door open without any problems. Nightshade waited until I had the maid locked down and moved to join my accomplice before zapping the lines. Cupcake had the lock picked by the time I got to that side of the house and Rose convinced Ritchie and his cellmate to come with us. I dropped the hunters’ hair by the cell door and by the door to the maid’s room. Then we bolted.

The storm made driving a little harder, but it also mean fewer people on the roads and less chance of anyone spotting us. On the way back to the Bluffs, we learned Ritchie’s cellmate was Lindsey Davis. They were both still very high. We arrived back home without incident to find Tavia, Karl and Chandra waiting just inside the door. Tavia’s knife was on the end table next to her while Chandra had a bat on her lap. It was obvious they were prepared in case trouble tried to follow us. I was kind of glad Ritchie and Lindsey were high right then. Tavia took our guests upstairs to find a room while Cupcake called Mouse. Rose drove me over to the shop so I could gather my ingredients for a cleansing tea in the morning. Then we gathered Plasm from AMC before coming back. The storm was and is still going strong so I think we’ll get a pass on suspicion leading to us this time. I was very impressed with how well we managed this mission. No direct ties to us, completely framed another group, and no one got hurt. I really want us to get in the habit of using these tactics more often. Openly being Paranormal Investigators is one thing, covertly ruining plans of much more organized and paranoid groups is another entirely.

Now I think I’m going to practice my katas until closer to time for me to sleep.

Doc’s Log: 1000 Hours, Tuesday, November 2, 2010

I might have worked myself a little harder than I thought last night. I got up around 0700 Hours but it took an hour to meditate. Retraining muscle memory is stressful when the body isn’t prepared for it.

We all gathered for breakfast around 0900 Hours, including Ritchie, Lindsey, and Mouse. They kids were mostly sobered up but I gave them each some cleansing tea to help get the trash out of their system. I also gave Mouse more tea to keep her system from getting run down. I’m not sure how much blood Chandra took, but I didn’t want any surprises or accidents either. Then we had breakfast and got info from our rescuees. I asked each of them what they remembered before last night. Ritchie was unconvincingly vague at first. Lindsey made some reference to being with a woman and I stated that we weren’t here or able to judge people. Lindsey was with Carol when Jenny came. Jenny was Carol’s ex or something and they had had a fight. Then Jenny looked at Lindsey and basically said “Come to me!” with her eyes. This worked better than Lindsey could understand and she woke up in the cell with Ritchie. She said that here Jenny was called Mariah, but she was sure her named was Jenny. Blushing a little, Ritchie then admitted that he went home with John. It was the Bowtie Man. They had no idea how long they’d been missing and Ritchie freaked out when I pointed out he was gone a month. When I told Lindsey what day it was, she said she’d been gone for two weeks. I noted that Mouse would take them home but first, they should probably figure out what they were going to tell their families. I also told Ritchie that he needed to clear Evan’s name. I made it a point to note that the people who took them were very protected so trying to send the police after them would not be a great idea. I wanted to vomit as I said it because I wanted nothing more than to watch these people rot behind bars. But proving to remember who was behind their kidnapping would eventually prove fatal for those unprepared and/or unable to fight back against the money and influence. I also gave them both my number and told them if they ever needed help, they could always call me. Then Mouse took them home.

Nightshade waited until they were gone to state that she thought Lindsey was taken to leverage Carol back in line. I wasn’t sure that Carol cared, given that she was prowling when she picked Bright Eyes up, maybe a week or so later. But we had more to do and timing was important. So while Bright Eyes goes to invite Carol for coffee so we could see if she was worth dealing with, the rest of the Krewe is headed to the Firehouse church.

Doc’s Log: 1145 Hours, Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Nightshade used her Boneyard in the car and after just a few minutes she sat up and declared that Jesus had entered the building. We left the hunters to their vision and headed to Lulu’s for coffee and Blood Bathers.

Bright Eyes and Carol arrived separately and Carol looked very much on edge. If I had to guess, I’d say she was packing. She didn’t seem surprised to see me, but she didn’t look pleased about it either. We tried to be as honest with her as possible, given we needed her to do the same. I talked more than usual, probably because we weren’t trying to hide anything. We learned that Jenny was the mysterious Mariah Williams, but that Mariah Winthrop was behind her sudden burst of influence. Jenny came from a family that worked for a living and actually her father worked for Carol’s family. That was how they met. They were just friends at first, then lovers. But Carol said that Jenny always wanted to be part of the elite. They eventually had a fight and broke up over how close Jenny was getting to Mariah. Then after some time passed, Jenny called Carol claiming to have found a way to let her live forever. Carol said she met with Jenny intending to break off everything...then things were a blur and she didn’t really want to talk about it. She said that Jenny was different after that and she believed that Mariah was controlling Jenny somehow. The description made me think more of possession and we know better than to put anything past Mariah. I also suspected that while Jenny believed turning Carol into a Blood Bather was a favor, Mariah’s plan was to groom and prepare two new bodies to help her go unnoticed for longer. Carol agreed to bring a ring which matches one Jenny has from Mariah. Jenny never seems to be without it and she wanted Carol to wear it as well. Carol says she’s only had the ring on once, but not for very long. It has some sort of red liquid inside and is heavy. We suspect this ring is magical and I think it may be linked sympathetically to Mariah Winthrop. If so, we might finally have a led on how to stop her.

Now I think I’m going to ask Nightshade to help me with the driving part of the license test.


Sara’s Letters

Well, things have certainly moved quickly. Once we set up things so we could run the rival gang out whenever we needed to, it was about time for Jasmine to get back, so we swung round and picked her up. We took time for dinner and to get Jasmine all caught up, then we started right up after Richie. Alexia’s really good at the tracking kind of sympathetic magic, and since Katherine was working for Richie’s family, we had everything we needed. So we knew exactly where he was in just a couple of hours.

The set up was a bit strange. He (and another girl) were being kept in a house on the good side of town, not mansion-land or anything, but a good neighborhood. Most of the security, such as it was, came from the fact that there had been an addition to the house somewhat recently, 3 rooms or so, that had only one door and even that just led into the house. Still, there were windows in the addition, probably with alarms or something, but nothing making it more secure than a regular house not used for storing kidnapped college aged kids. There weren’t even any guards, just a couple of maids. The only reason the kids couldn’t just get out themselves was they were being kept drugged.

I don't mean to sound like I'm complaining or anything, because breaking them out went really smoothly and that's always good. Natalie and I stayed back in the car - Natalie for surveillance and me to keep the engine running, so the other three got suited up, pretending to be members of that rival gang. One be-closeted maid and a few moments of lockpick jiggling later, and I was off with 5 adults in fatigues/sneak suits and 2 drugged out college kids in my station wagon. Typical Monday, right?

As an aside, Jasmine has an absolutely horrendous American accent. I pray to all the gods who watch over beautiful women that we never need to all pretend to be American ever, cause that is just an affront to the hotness that is her usual accent. I’m telling you, if this whole supernatural vigilante thing doesn’t work out, I’m moving to New Zealand. Like, yesterday.

Anyways, it was pretty late, and the rescuees were drugged to the gills, so we left them parked in front of a TV, figuring we’d talk with them in the morning. Jasmine and Doc went for a bit of erranding, including getting some cleansing herbs for our guests, while I spent time with my ladies. The roof of the house is an amazing viewpoint, by the way. It’s almost like being suspended (especially when doing handstands on the peak). It’s a bit lacking in the fire aspect, but the idea last night was to get more in touch with the air aspect anyway. I’ll have to go up next time we have a lightning storm, see how the balance works then.

The kids were much better this morning. Richie was a bit cagey about the last thing he remembered before getting all drugged up, at least until Lindsay (the other girl who we rescued) started talking about how the last thing she remembered was getting seduced away from her kinda girlfriend Carol by a hot lady named Jenny. When we didn’t respond poorly to any of that, Richie admitted he’d gone off with Mr John I-didn’t-get-his-last-name Formerly-known-as-bowtie-man. That was about what we’d figured, and he didn’t remember much else, but Lindsay’s story was intriguing, as her kinda girlfriend Carol was in fact the same Carol we’d been keeping an eye on. Jenny was a new name, which at the time we figured was a more creative pseudonym for the cult leader. Turns out we had it all mixed up, but that comes later.

Lindsay’s story worked like this though - she’d been with Carol at her place when Carol’s ex, Jenny, showed up. Carol was upset that she was there in the first place, and Jenny’s response was to seduce Lindsay away from her. This Jenny has some serious mind whammy stuff going on. Lindsay said she couldn’t think clearly when she was around, and everything was kind of surreal, even before the drugs. Even so, looking back, she was pretty sure Jenny had only done it to piss Carol off, as the two of them (Carol and Lindsay) were pretty serious. Lindsay wasn’t really comfortable calling her her girlfriend, I think largely because of class differences, and also because the last time Lindsay had seen Carol she’d left with her ex, but there was something there anyway.

Natalie’s theory (and all of us agreed) was that Lindsay had been taken to get leverage over Carol. Calling it Carol’s cult (while the safest way to describe it for you) was probably unfair, as from the sound of it, she’d gotten out, or become estranged. And cults generally don’t like that. So, we figured we needed to get to Carol as soon as possible, since we had no idea what the cult might do now that they’d lost their leverage. The trap still needed to be sprung, to get the rival gang out of town, so the others went to do that while I went to go lure Carol into a meeting somewhere where there would be less likely to be sniper retaliation. At least that’s what I talked us down to after starting at storming Carol’s house and confronting her all together.

Carol was surprised to see me, but did let me in. She was extremely suspicious, which seems fair for someone being pursued by a crazy cult. I eventually got her to trust me enough to meet me somewhere, mostly by talking about saving Lindsay, and emphasizing that we wanted to stop people from being kidnapped and needed her help. She does really care about Lindsay, and for her part, had no qualms about calling her her girlfriend. I did manage to avoid tying us to the other troupe, the one that had dealt with the cult leader before - that's probably our biggest goal, to not be associated with them until we are in a place to do something for good. And if it had turned out that Carol was working with them willingly, all she would have known is that we wanted to stop the kidnappings.

I really don't want to believe she was though. Not because I'd slept with her. Well, not just because I'd slept with her. It's not like I haven't had sex with douchebags before. It just didn't seem to fit. She had an air of sadness and fear and everything seemed to point away from her being evil. Probably I'm just being silly and a pretty face will get me killed someday. I did warn Carol about Doc. Not because I thought he'd do anything to her, or even be too particularly threatening, but mostly because this was a 'lay (almost) all your cards on the table' kind of moment. Doc does have something of a hammer problem sometimes, and I was worried that if she noticed him looking at her like a nail, she'd get spooked, and it would be worse since I said my friends were safe. It all worked out anyway.

As it turns out, Carol hadn't been inducted very deep into the cult. She participated in one of their rituals, which we'd known - there are signs of that sort of thing - but she didn't know any of the details, having been kept in the dark by the cult leader, who was using Jenny as a face for the cult, setting her up as the wealthy woman I spoke of before, who ran 'parties'. Carol was strongly tied to them however. Jenny was Carol's ex, as Lindsay had mentioned, and the cult leader was an old friend of her family. Carol had always had something of a crush on the cult leader, but the cult leader had always preferred men, until she met Jenny. Now, we're pretty sure she's still just interested in men, at least sexually, and Jenny's being groomed as, well, something like a successor, rather than a romantic partner.

To that point, Carol said Jenny had changed, a lot, since she took up with the cult leader. Things like the way she smiled, and an extra added coldness to her eyes. Also, things like stealing away Lindsay just because she could. Not to mention the fact that she could in the first place, that Lindsay couldn't think clearly when she was talking to her, that Carol got talked into joining the cult. Something about their blood magic clearly speaks to manipulation. Still, Carol was very persistent in trying to get us to promise to try and save Jenny from the cult. Alexia and I promised to try, and Doc wouldn't even go so far, probably fairly. With any luck though, there will be some sort of focus we can deal with to break the cult leader's hold over Jenny. Really, our luck will be with us if she has any kind of supernatural hold over Jenny, and not just the more mundane tools of jealousy and greed - even according to Carol, having been born the daughter of a servant in her house, Jenny always had something of a chip on her shoulder. And now, as part of this cult, she has more wealth and power than Carol ever did.

So, there was good news and bad news. The good news is Carol absolutely does not want to be part of the cult, even though her participation in the first ritual could mean her death if she does not continue. Also, she has some jewelry that Jenny gave her, that might provide enough of a sympathetic link to learn more. The bad news is, we still no absolutely nothing more mystically about the cult or where the leader might be holed up. We knew before that they use a particularly nasty variety of blood magic, but the possibilities within that category are close to limitless. And each one has a different counter.

We do have a few leads to go on. She did tell us where Jenny's actual house is, which is where the ritual took place, at least for Carol. So we can check that out. The jewelry might turn out to be helpful. Lastly, though I think I'll have a fight on my hands, if Jenny is watching over Carol, and stealing away anyone she gets close to, then, well, I might just need to spend some time with a beautiful woman (the horror). Admittedly, that's as likely to get us another bolthole like we found Richie and Lindsay in as anything useful, but it might get me in physical contact with Jenny or even the cult leader. And that has some possibilities. No one liked that very much, especially Doc, so that's off the table until we have nothing else to check, I imagine.


Natalie’s Tweets

November 1st 2010

-Awwwight, now we’s got Spooky back, we’s unstoppable.

-Explaining everything to Spooky.

-Well, almost everything.

-Lady’s gotta have her secrets.

-Dinner then rescue mission

-Power Mwa ha ha ha!

-Ahem.

-Okay radio silence

-Well, that could have gone worse.

-Hmmm…your Mistress needs to snuggle with her spouses and get an emotional recharge.

-Yay Sara and Karen. ^_^

-I’m so happy…


November 2nd, 2010

-“Breakfast” went as well as could be expected.

-Catherine is taking the kids home, time for scouting. And cursing.

-Whee cursing!

-Sara was successful with her project.

-Yea, yea this is gonna be awkward.

-Pretty awkward.

-Uh boy.

-Well, it certainly could have gone worse…

--

Twilight Network Report:

Hey Guys and Ghouls, sorry to have a second report so soon, and still not about my spending my Halloween smothered in beautiful women. That report will have to wait. No no, this is relevant to your interests. Your other interests, ghoulfriends. What is it with you people and my love life anyway?

Ok serious time. The number of Blood Bathers in the area has ramped up to three minimum. They are all connected, and are part of the Winthrop Problem. Names of two are Jenny Chambers and Carol Jameson. Jenny may be under the control of Mariah Winthrop. Well, she sort of is but may be being possessed or directly controlled.

They have been culling their victims from the local gay community, though now that we have freed two would be victims that may or may not continue. Hopefully the quietus has been put on that tool. Because Winthrop is involved they may be alert to Sin-Eaters. Not rousing the other Krewe quite yet, and not looking to have Bound creeping in yet. If I need help, I’ll sound the red alert. Right now we are handling it.

If I abruptly go off the grid, I’ve encoded both Jenny and Carol’s addresses. We are probably captive if this happens. Usual contact at the usual number can answer questions.

Whiplash Girl Child in the Dark signing off.

End Session CXII

So Jasmine is back. We spent some time updating her player with what went on. They had kept up with journals, of course, but it was good to give a breakdown of the past few days in game.

Not much mechanically to go over here. Of course Mariah is not limited to just Blood Bather powers, but she is not a Mage or anything.

Doc’s player had to miss the next session due to unexpected family needs, but the session went well, and we will have, at least, something for Natalie and Sara. Some developments with Natalie and Jasmine’s personal issues and pushed the plots forward a bit. Do join us. Comments and Questions welcome in the meantime.