-Linkin Park, Runaway
It burned like a fire
This burning desire
I have spoke with the tongue of angels
I have held the hand of a devil- U2, Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
"Fashion over health. That's my girl." - Clay, Sons of Anarchy
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Dramatis Personae for this recap:
Eile- Changeling (myself)
Raaf -Werewolf (B)
Cowboy/Memento-Mage (J)
TK- Geist (E)Duncan- Changeling (NPC)
Bruce- Hunter (my son)
Avere- Changeling (K)
David- Werewolf (G)
Coyote Joe-Mage (T)
Giovanni- Mage (P)
Dog- Spirit Familiar (NPC)
Walker Lee -Mage (absent PC being played by ST at player's direction)
Ghosts- Werewolves/Cops (NPCs)
Eile is tending bar and waiting tables at the Hedge Row. A phone call comes in from Officer Raaf, indicating that he'll be by shortly. Eile doesn't recognize the voice or the name at the time of the phone call. Raaf then arrives at the bar, and Eile remembers him as one of the members of David's family that was getting "medical attention" in TK's room a few weeks ago. Raaf shows Eile some pictures and wants to know if she recognizes any of the symbols on them. She vaguely points at symbols similar to those in the picture on surrounding architecture, which Raaf doesn't seem to find interesting. He then wants to talk to TK. Eile knows he is asleep upstairs, and offers to go get him. Raaf follows, and TK hears Eile's voice, so assumes it's her knocking on the door. He answers, less than fully dressed, and sees Raaf. He quickly gets dressed and comes out to talk. He and Raaf discuss things and Raaf leaves. [Apparently he had dispensation to be in the bar from higher ups on the Uratha food chain than his own Alpha, David.]
Eile heads back downstairs to find another customer, "Cowboy", looking for TK. She goes back upstairs to get him, and TK heads down to the bar. Eile learns this fellow's name is "Memento", and that he has a VERY big dog. Eile asks to meet the dog, as she has an affinity for animals and wants to learn the dog tongue soon. She recognizes that this "dog" is more than just a plain Bull Mastiff; it's something supernatural that sees her as not human. Eile quickly excuses herself back to the bar, but after witnessing Memento tell the dog that TK AND Frank are friends. Eile is now more confused about Frank than ever, but chalks the occurence up to a singular case of insanity.
TK and Memento come back to the bar a little later, and have a quiet discussion. Eile catches snatches of words and meanings she doesn't understand, and TK's responses and behavior have her attention. When the two men head upstairs to work on something, she quietly follows.
They head into the workroom, which has been locked for some time now. Despite careful preparations on TK and Memento's parts, Eile slips in behind them, avoiding notice. Just as they are about to investigate or discuss whatever they came for, Memento says something about his dog, and heads back downstairs in a hurry. Eile sneaks out right behind him, again avoiding notice. Avere and Giovanni were upstairs in another part of the Hedge Row, looking for TK.They bump into him as he is locking up, and they follow him downstairs.
Memento heads down to the dining area of the Hedge Row. Once inside the great room, am unusual occurrence is onviously afoot. In the middle of the room, there's a strange sparking and sputtering, emitting puffs of smoke and tendrils of fire. Duncan calls to Bruce to get the fire extringuisher, and he starts ushering patrons out of the establishment. Eile, as an employee of the bar; and attempting to look "normal", does the same.
As the ushering is going on, Coyote Joe is waiting outside for a meeting with Bruce. Bruce is otherwise occupied and misses the meeting.
The entity in the center of the room no longer behaves as an "electrical short", but shows its true nature. A portal, roughly car-sized, begins to open up. The portal is being pried open by a set of claws, and just the tip of a snout of some kind can be seen peeking out of the portal.
Eile hears the beast inhaling, and while she can't see the portal or the snout, she knows what is coming. She faced this creature during her introduction adventure at the Goblin Market, and Avere was there as well. Eile is a hunter at heart, and knows she is about to be prey. Just as she is about to make a move, long tendril-like vines whip out and grab at Duncan. Eile makes a grab for Duncan- he's her boss, he's a Changeling, and he doesn't hate her. She doesn't have any interest in seeing him taken “back” by this mighty hunter.
Avere calls David for help on a cell phone, and ducks to the back corner of the room. Eile is quickly wrapped in a vine, and another lashes out at Avere, who is WELL behind Eile, and just barely visible by most other PCs. It's about this time that Coyote Joe makes his presence known. He and Memento both make efforts to get Avere and Duncan loose from the vines- taking successive paradox penalties due to Bruce being present. Their spells go off without causing themselves damage, and Bruce joins the fray to get Duncan loose.
Eile is struggling on her own, and defiantly shouts that she won't go back. Coyote Joe now invokes an oath causing spell trying to deter the vines from grabbing anyone further. Giovanni provides himself with some sort of protection, and the battle rages on, with most efforts focusing on Avere and Duncan. Avere uses her “emergency calling card” to summon her protector mage, Walker Lee. [He arrives later.]
Duncan is finally loose from the vines, and he crawls in a corner, screaming like a little girl. Eile continues to resist being dragged towards the fiery mouth of hell, keeping herself firmly in place at the Hedge Row. Her mind, however, has been ravaged by the evidence of Arcadia she's been dutifully ignoring for so long, and she's close to cracking and losing clarity.
TK directs Frank to attack the vines- encouraging him to inflict his rage and violence upon these otherworldly manacles imprisoning his lady. This completely vocal discussion is effusive in swearing and directions, and all in the room hear it even if they don't register it as anything other than craziness.
Memento's dog has been dutifully getting shotguns and fire extinguishers for the mage. Memento uses the extinguisher like a clay target and shoots it directly in the open mouth of the beast, which is now very obviously recognizable as a dragon or other great lizard. Memento switches over to the shotgun rather than magic, and he and Bruce make separate efforts to shoot into the dragon's mouth, to varied or no effect.
All the while, Avere is trying to get loose. She remembers she has a unicorn's horn in her bag, and she proceeds to try to stab away at the vine with it.
About this time, Walker Lee arrives on the scene, crashing through a window, doing a ninja roll, and coming up with his “gun” hand bracing on a knee, pointing the “Dude Gun” at the dragon. He uses the mysterious Dude Gun powers, and it does something. [I don't remember or know what at the moment.] As this happens (or shortly after), Avere succeeds in stabbing the vine, which shatters the vine away and Avere is now free.
The dragon's mouth snaps shut, and the nostrils become the target. Bruce and Memento attack the nostrils with just as much effort as they did the mouth, and about as much effect (not a lot). One of the vines holding Eile has been severed by Frank's actions, with a bit of assistance from Memento and Bruce thrown in. As this happens, a roughly person shaped being emerges from the portal, and grabs Eile, who is still defiantly struggling to retain her freedom. She begins kicking at her captor, digging at him with her high heels.
While all this is going on, David has made a call to the Ghosts, who now own the block that holds the Hedge Row. David has been firmly told not to cross into this territory, and given the beating he took recently for infringing on another pack's territory, he will not do so again. David explains the problem in a decidedly hilarious way, but the subject is serious and this approach seems to annoy the Ghosts.
Eile is gutting it out with the guy holding her, but he manages to do a lethal damage to her. She's on the verge of frenzied now, and lays into him with a vengeance.
[Some other stuff happens here and I don't remember all of it. I think it was more trying to get the dragon gone and vine stabbing/shooting.]
The portal closes.
Everyone in the bar tries to get a sense of what's happening and many let down their guard. Then the lights go out.
An announcement is made that the police are on the scene, and they can see the entourage in the dark. The group is advised to put their weapons down, and to stand still.
The mages and Bruce all comply with the directions given. TK quietly puts his hands up and waits for further instructions. Avere uses her affinity for the dark to her advantage and slips out the window that Walker Lee broke coming in. Eile, in the grasp of a captor she can't see, continues to defend herself and struggle.
One by one, the various members of the group inside the Hedge Row find themselves with a person behind them, either cuffing them or frisking them. Eile's captor is forcibly removed from holding her, and Eile is left bleeding while she is handcuffed and asked to stay put.
Coyote Joe pulls out a badge of some sort and is quietly taken to another room for questions and a quick debrief. The Ghosts ask for his opinion on who to question, and Coyote Joe singles out Bruce, TK, Eile and the figure that came out of the portal (now revealed to be a new PC).
Still dark, these four are taken to the paddy wagon. Once inside, TK asks if Eile is ok, and proceeds to tell her that Frank saved her (but the damage he did to the vines was invisible, so Eile didn't see it).
We cut for the night.
Damn. I missed the Dude Gun in action. Sadness fills me.
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