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AWAKENED: GAME FOUR
Disclaimer: As always events are subject to the transitory memory of the re-teller and thus may or may not be the facts, opinions, or events of major league baseball, yadda yadda yadda. Having liberated a portion of our loved ones (Relatives of Omeed, Jack, Dodge, Christine, Ryan, and, I think, Gabriel), we roll out of town and toward Palm Springs. After locating an isolated unused building (through use of Gabriel’s Fate powers) we set to trying to figure out how to cure them and also to making contact with various individuals to figure out what’s going on out there. Turns out for various reasons, Hank Reardon is wanted. Oh, but no need to fret, as we shall all eventually join him on that list. The captives are far from happy to have been “liberated”. They see this as quite the reverse; they were happy as part of McNeil’s menagerie, whereas now they’re very unhappy to be with us. Of the many ideas bandied about, the only one that seems to get any traction as far as removing the taint from their system involves blood replacement. So we contact Bill Gates, see if he can arrange some sort of dialysis setup for us. He also helps us hack the computer we liberated along with the family members. I believe this is where we got the idea that the Mayor’s office is in control of a piece of the true cross, and that this may be useful. Seems the night of blood is all about using vampire vitae to enslave mortals through actual pharmaceuticals (not just street drugs). So our current leads are: We’ve got the Succubus Club in Chicago, the Twilight Club in Louisiana, Disneyland, and the LA City Hall. Now I forget how City Hall came into this; the others I recall from various notes we’ve discovered during our various sieges. We do some party splitting but not too much. Omeed & Ryan are with Bill Gates and our captives, seeing to their captivity and needs. The majority of the characters are on route to New Orleans to check into the Twilight Club. That leaves Gabriel & Nathan, who remain behind in order to do some surveillance (Should I put that surveillance in quotation marks?) on the LA City Hall, the tall white pointy building famed in Dragnet. What they find at city hall is that there are various tainted individuals, including guards, and that fate lines extend from this building in a way that indicates that this building will soon change the world! Within 30 days. Nathan & Gabriel rendezvous with the rest in Louisiana, where we check out the Twilight club. Through the walls Hank spies that there a couple of tainted folks (vampires or ghouls), and that there’s one guy who is not a vampire or person and yet is special (via Magsight). Some of us go in, in two groups. Looks like one of the vamps “makes” us as something unusual, but makes no special moves, so maybe this isn’t that unusual for her. Gabriel and Christine try to engage the special guy in conversation but Gabriel is cut off when he tries to bring up certain subjects and then the guy excuses himself, quite obviously afraid of exposing himself to scrutiny of the locals. Gabriel and Christine leave to go after him. After they’re gone, Hank makes the bold gesture of trying to invite the vampire woman who noticed use earlier to sit at our table. She instead gestures for him to come to her table, which he does. Dodge and Nathan keep an eye on them from their own table, and Nathan uses his powers to keep an ear on them. She’s a local vampire who apparently has daddy issues as she hits relentlessly on the old codger and actually seems to make some kind of contact with them. Nathan can see that they’re “connected” now via a power that she’s using, but rather than pick a fight in a busy vampire bar, they trail the duo out the door. Meanwhile Christine and Gabriel have been notified of what’s happening and come back. Christine uses her counterspell ability to neutralize the effect, but Hank goes along with her anyway. When they are alone on the street, he makes his move, pulling her close and pointing his antivampire-bullet gun at her. Nathan is still listening in at a distance and relays the conversation bits to them. They make a bargain; she lets him know where the locals get their blood; he lets her taste some of his blood (not via biting). On the drive away from there, Simon goes ballistic over Hank’s reckless actions. Nathan congratulates Hank on his reckless actions. An uneasy continuance of our mission continues. Nathan broaches the idea that this is all busywork, that as we gallivant around the world looking for our loved ones, the real plans are taking place elsewhere. Fate-boy Gabriel says there’s a ring of truth in that, or so his senses tell him, thus we are now concerned that we need to go back to the imminent problem in L.A. There’s some discussion of whether it’s worthwhile to try and mislead the vampires. Simon thinks that maybe they are getting information from Sullivan Dane so it’s proposed that we tell him a lie and see if that sends them off out of our way. Upon discussion we decide that it’s not worth it to lie to someone who is thus far an ally, and that just not telling him anything when he thinks we’re out of town anyway would have the same effect. So then there’s this siege. No catapults and grappling hooks, though I think those might have been better choices. We go the Trojan Horse route, sort of, disguising ourselves as Lawyers and Janitors. Nathan tries out a new ability: short circuiting security. His succeeds but paradox sees to it that it’s not 100% perfect. Instead the rerouted electricity tries to short-out Gabriel as he tries to open the door stealthily. On his second try he gets it open and in we go. We make our way to the basement where we know there is a strange radiance of both darkness and light. There we find the sealed personal chamber of the master of this realm, McNeil, who is in his daylight slumber but still stirs when we enter. A fight ensues in which he tries to both stay awake and compel us not to hurt him because we love him. Christine manages to counterspell him (twice) ensuring we can carry on our dastardly deeds. Nathan sets a tablecloth on fire and holds him at bay while Hank and Dodge do the hacky-slashy (and turn themselves around). Axe and Slash combos take the vamp down. The cross is freed from a vault by application of Gabriel’s larceny and some primal gimmickry from Dodge, as he affects the spirit of the device, or some such. We consider leaving entirely now that we have a piece of the True Cross, which has been configured like a Reliquary (which is kind of a tacky, ornate gothic Cross). On the way upstairs, Nathan manages to botch the botchiest botch that ever botched. A quadruple botch on the roll to watch for trouble through walls means nobody sees the two ghoulugards coming. Nathan tries to play dumb, but they don’t buy it (which is unusual, since often he’s not playing), so a fight breaks out; he’s resists multiple gunshots…unfortunately so do they! Jack takes one down temporarily through illness which gives Nathan the opportunity to get his gun. The guard gets in a colossal crack of his baton on Dodge's dome and sends him down for the count. Now we’re having trouble doing much damage to them (outside of causing sickness) until Christine uses an ability she has to activate artifacts and tries to use the cross against them. They don’t seem fazed by it being a cross, however, they do lose some of their durability; now they’re not soaking quite like they were as we hack and shoot them into submission. As we get on the elevator, another guy spots us and calls upstairs. We get to the third floor in time for the guard up there to see us and initiative sees us kicking his butt before he has a chance to react. Sorry, but I forget who it was who nuked the guard with one shot, brutally. We search the office near the mayor’s and end up stealing a computer. Problem is that as we try to find ways out they’re all occupied by guards. This leads us to discover a hidden escape stairway in the Mayor’s office, which we use. Examination of the cross gives Hank an idea. The strange (holy?) glow it gives off seems similar to that of Sullivan Dane. So we contact him and see if he can use the cross to purify things. He complies as we (in a bit of game-end handwavery) go to the factory that we know is the crux of the next phase of the plan, and purify the giant vat of blood that is there, making the night of blood a non-event. |