Prep for the Arrival

Monday afternoon July 7

Prospero took the party to check out the STRIKE FORCE Protective Custody safe-house in Fishtown. It was a two bedroom ground-floor apartment in a six storey block.

There was a lounge/living area, kitchen, hallway, bathroom and laundry. The Fishtown suburb was pretty divey, so there were plenty of locks on the front door. The back door exited onto a blind alley with a one-way gate out to the street. Five other ground-floor apartments also shared this alley.

Every room, except the bedrooms and the toilet, had a CCTV camera in it, plus there were discreet cameras in the alley and one covering the front door.

Down the street, about three minutes walk, on the third floor, was another STRIKE FORCE apartment. Prospero told them that this was the Surveillance room, that monitored all the cameras in the apartment.

Monday sunset 8:32 pm, July 7

No-eavesdrop Ruby

Mina arrived at the Elfrith Alley apartment, and let herself in.

Sledge was fiddling with the No-eavesdrop Ruby. Mina saw him.

"Ooo ... a magic ruby?" she said. "May I see it?"

Sledge handed it over, without question.

Mina weighed it and had a closer look, then passed it back to Sledge.

"That works like my Shroud down in the cellar," she said.

Monday midnight, July 7

The group decided to check the STRIKE FORCE Protective Custody house after dark, so went down to Fishtown. The streets were teeming with whores and pushers and the dregs of society.

There were lights on in the safe-house, so, intrigued, they went to the Surveillance room to have a nosey.

It didn't take Ebony long to open the tricky security locks.

Inside the small apartment was a wall covered with monitors. Each labelled: "Gate", "Alley", "Laundry", "Hall", "Kitchen" and "Lounge".

Sledge and Ebony switched them all on, and they came on slowly.

At first the rooms showed up as empty, but all the lights were on. All were empty bar two.

On the screen labelled "Lounge", in the centre of the room, there was a woman, in her twenties, black-haired, topless, manacled to a chair, wrists and ankles, and a heavy iron chain on her neck. She was badly bruised, cut, and spattered in blood. It was all over the floor. She was slumped, head down, unconscious on the chair. She'd been badly beaten.

The "Kitchen" monitor revealed a heavy-set man, in a dress shirt and trousers. He was making himself a coffee. He drank it, then returned to the girl in the lounge. He lifted her head up. There was no response, so he let it drop again.

"Nothing to see here," said Jacob, and he turned off the monitors.

"Um ... I think we should phone Prospero," said Ebony.

Ebony phoned Prospero. It was well after 1 am. A tired voice replied.

Ebony mentioned where they were and what they saw.

"Turn the screens off," said Prospero. "Leave it."

"Yes, sir."

Tuesday morning, July 8

Sledge happened to notice something unusual about the No-eavesdrop Ruby. The Ruby had a pin, so that it could be worn like a medal. On this pin there had been threaded a tiny bead. Sledge was sure that this bead wasn't there yesterday.

"Seems Mina gave us a gift?" he said.

Theo checked it and there was no tingling.

"Maybe it is unique and can be tracked," posited Jacob.

Reggie put the bead on a Greyhound bus, and watched as it drove away.

"Track that, Mina," he muttered.

Tuesday afternoon, July 8

"Lassard and Thomson are on-time for tomorrow," said Prospero. "He's being well-guarded by Philly's Finest. So you lot will not be needed until the evening, after dark."

Prospero had Lassard's itinerary. He passed it to the group. You will be given passes to all these events.

• Wednesday night: a public meal at the Philadelphia mayor's house, Mitchell Nutter
• Friday night was home at the safe-house.
• Thursday night he was attending a function at the Fleischer Art Memorial

There was a pause as it sunk in.

"But that is Mina's house!" exclaimed Ebony.

The Fetch

Saturday Midnight, July 5

Reggie consulted his pocket edition of the STRIKE FORCE constitution, printed on rice paper.

He couldn't find any section in the constitution that specifically mentioned robbing of graves nor the violation of the dead.

"You can go ahead," he said dryly to Jacob.

Sledge and Theo set to digging, with Ebony, goggles and all, watching and guarding the whole time.

Sunday 2am, July 6

Theo's spade struck rotten wood. He scraped the grave dirt off the top of the 155 year-old coffin. The lid was broken, and it was no problem to take the skull from inside. He tossed it up to Ebony, who hid it in her backpack.

Theo and Sledge then back-filled the grave. And tidied it up to make it look undisturbed, best they could.

Everyone piled into Jacob's SUV. Ebony glanced behind with her etheric goggles. The graveyard still looked like it always did: the ghostly dome engulfing the entire cemetery, and the old ghostly church in the centre. But she noticed, etherically, that there was a ghostly coffin rising, vertically, out of the grave they had just dug, very slowly.

"Uh... we... better get going, guys," she said.

Jacob turned the key. Click, He tried again. Click.

The ghostly coffin slid further out of the ground, more than half way now.

"Try taking the skull out of the car!" squeaked Sledge.

Ebony took the skull a few paces away. Jacob turned the key again; it started this time.
Ebony ran back and jumped in. The engine kept running, so Jacob gunned it, and took off. Ebony cast a goggled-glance backward - the etheric coffin was now fully out. She thought she saw the ghostly lid fly open, like a door.

Jacob was soon on the interstate, travelling flat out, towards Philadelphia.

Throughout the whole trip, Ebony kept looking behind with her goggles. Something, a glowing speck, was up in the sky, a way in the far distance, but definitely following them.

Ebony phoned Siri.

"Siri, help!"

"Ebony? So you have the skull?"

"Yes yes. And it was guarded, and Jacob's car wouldn't start when we had the skull. And something's following us! Help!"

"Provided you maintain your speed you should be okay. We shall meet you in Tarquin square. Follow my vehicle when you get there."

Sure enough, Siri, her PA and the bodyguard were there. They waved at Jacob, who then followed in the SUV.

The convoy headed north from Philadelphia. The dot was still following, and it was closer.

Siri & Co drove into some woodlands, then left their car and walked.

The party followed likewise, skull and all. They ran.

In a clearing, in the centre of the woods, there was a campfire. Siri calmly knelt down next to it, thighs wide, and started a chanting ritual. Her soldier girl pulled out an MP5,  and her PA produced a pistol.

The party did likewise

A few minutes later, Siri was in some kind of trance, when something heavy-footed, but quick as a gazelle, came rushing down the forest path. It was a skeletal creature; all teeth and claws. It ran headlong into the clearing; well, it tried to, but instead it smacked into an invisible barrier on the edge of the clearing. Hardly stunned, it started to claw at the barrier. There was the horrendous noise like iron scraping on blackboard.

Reginald didn't need prompting. He opened up with his MP5, and emptied an entire clip (of 30) into the creature. Sledge blasted away with both magnums. Leo opened up with his shotgun. They all certainly hit the creature, but none of this fire-power seemed to do anything tangible. Ebony tried her final etheric grenade; the creature was caught in the blast, pieces fell off it, and it gave a keening roar.

Then Siri got to her feet. She extended both arms gracefully, thumbs crossed, fingers out-spread, and pointed her palms at the thing. She pronounced some throaty word, and a white-hot beam of fire shot from her palms right into the creature. It was utterly consumed by the fire.

The party rubbed their eyes as the after-burn faded.

"That," said Siri, "was a fetch."

"Thanks for warning us," said Reggie, sarcastically.

"I was not sure one would materialize. Best not to alarm you unnecessarily."

Ebony handed over the skull.

"Why d'you want the skull anyway?" she said.

"For magical experiments."

"What's so special about it?"

"Well, my research tells me that Thomas Mornay was cursed by a mage. The effects of a curse linger, you see."

"Why was there a fetch?" said Jacob. "Wasn't the guardian ghost enough?"

"They are different things. Fetches are physical manifestations of unrequited curses. Guardian ghosts look after a cemeteries, and all occupants therein."

"But if we destroyed the guardian ghost," asked Theo. "What happens to the cemetery then?"

"A good question," said Siri. "An unguarded cemetery is prone to ...  mischief. Grave-robbery, tomb-raiding, and plenty of foul misdoings; words with the 'necro' prefix. The parts of the dead are useful for many veil creatures."

Leon screwed up his face in disgust.

"Now, we must bid you all adieu," said Siri. "Thank you for your endeavours. Miss Stephenson has your reward."

Miss Stephenson handed to Ebony a colourless gemstone the size of a marble. It was cloudy.

"Here's your Gem of the Veil," she said. "Takes eight hours to link to the holder. Then it'll go clear."

Siri & Co departed.

The party stayed a little while to decide who would get the gem. Jacob got it.

Theo was feeling sick with guilt. [ His Morality stat dropped to 6. ]

[ Morality is an interesting WoD rule mechanic. All characters start with Morality of 7. Every in-game action has an associated morality: Examples: 10: lying, selfish thoughts; 9: selfish acts; 8: minor assault; 7: petty theft, 6: burglary; 5: assault, arson, rape; 4: man-slaughter; 3: murder; 1: mass murder. If your character performs (or sanctions) an action equal to or lower than your current Morality, then there is a chance that it will drop by 1 (24%@7). When this happens, there is a chance that your character picks up a derangement (12%@6). Morality can be recovered by XP and "concrete acts of contrition".
Creatures of the veil are counted as sentient beings, so that could be a problem if the Hunter character goes around killing them willy-nilly. So, we are playing with the Hunter rules mod which allows the morality-safe killing of evil veil creatures, plus the Hated creature concept which allows a character to go to town on his hated foe - even good ones. ]

Sunday morning, July 6

Jacob spent the day acclimatizing to the gem.

Monday morning, July 7

The party went into STRIKE FORCE and updated Lieutenant Prospero on Siri's job. He didn't pass judgement on them for working for a witch, nor for grave-robbing, as they expected he might. And he was very interested about the fetch, and had never met one personally.

"However," he said. "You will need to work out how you are going to pay the ten percent STRIKE FORCE tithe for the gem thing you got off witch Siri. So long as STRIKE FORCE gets the gross tithe, I don't care whether Jacob pays it solely, or if your group pays it."

Then he had some news.

"On Wednesday morning, the local STRIKE FORCE commander of the tri-state area is coming here from New York for three nights.  Captain Lassard is his name. He will be bringing his Adjutant with him: Colleen Thomson

The Philadelphia Police Department will cover him during the day, but I want you lot to organize night-time cover for him; especially Veil cover. I don't want him killed, bitten, possessed or demonized. Nor do I want to see his body parts available on Ebay. His Adjutant should be protected too, but not at his expense.

Do you think you can manage that?"

"Too right, sah!" snapped Reginald. "It would be an honour."

Prospero continued.

"Very good. We have a STRIKE FORCE 'protective custody' apartment that you can use: a ground-floor two-bedroom dwelling.

It has a security system with motion sensors and CCTVs, all controlled from a separate room nearby. This gives it adequate mundane protection.

A shipment of Veil weaponry has recently arrived, so I'm authorizing its use. It will be lent to your group for this job:

• silver bullets
• iron shotgun pellets
• Keep-me-here Grenade - stops teleports in or out for five rounds
• Non-eavesdrop Ruby - stops magical scrying
• Deadman's Candle - stops the casting of mage or fae spells in its area
• Worm of Toulon - a living worm that eats areas of rotting flesh and necrotizing fasciitis. Turns aggravated wounds into lethal wounds (so they heal faster).

Of Ghosts and Graves

Friday noon, July 4

The group got together in the Elfrith Alley apartment.

"I don't think we can handle the Warden," said Jacob. "Demons are too powerful."

The rest of the group nodded assent, with mutterings "too powerful", "reflexive teleports", "multiple forms".

"And we should stop working for veil creatures that we know nothing about," said Reginald. "It gets us into too much trouble."

"But Mina's trustworthy," said Theo.

"Really?" said Reginald. "Would you trust her with your life?"

Theo nodded. So did Ebony.

"We're hunters. Veil-aware humans. Why're we working for the creatures we hunt?"

"Well, they aren't all evil," said Theo. "Some are good. Like Mina. We don't hunt those ones."

"And Cello," added Ebony

"STRIKE FORCE doesn't have any work for us anyway," said Jacob. "Prospero says they are still recruiting."

"Where else do we find work?" asked Leon.

Just then Ebony's mobile rang. It was witch Siri.

Witch Siri

"I have a job for your group," she said in her dulcet tones.

"Yes," said Ebony enthusiastically. Ebony liked Siri.

"Meet me at Tarquin Square tonight, just on sunset."

"We'll do it!" said Ebony.

Ebony told the group. Reginald rolled his eyes.

"What were we just talking about?!" snapped Reggie.

"Well, it won't hurt to hear what Siri is offering."

Friday sunset, July 4

Siri the witch, her PA Miss Stephenson, and her bodyguard Jules (another girl in military fatigues with a side-arm) met up with Ebony and Jacob. The rest of the group, Leon, Reggie and Theo, hated mages and witches, so stayed back. Juan was still with the Morte Christe bikers. Sledge was having a meal with his fiancee Safiya and mum.

Siri outlined the job: It was to go to Salisbury (Maryland), three hours south of Philadelphia, to a graveyard on the north outskirts of the city. There was an 1859 grave of a Thomas Mornay, and Siri wanted his skull.

Payment offered for the job was a Gem of the Veil.

"We'll do it!" said Ebony.

"There might be a problem," said Siri sheepishly. "The graveyard will have a guardian ghost. You might need to deal with that."

Ebony hated ghosts.

"We'll do it!" she said.

Ebony and Jacob relayed the job to the rest of the group.

"Siri assured us that she won't use the skull for any evil purposes. She needs it for 'magical experiments'," said Jacob.

They grudgingly accepted. Reggie wanted to only investigate. He was not too happy about grave robbing. Neither was Theo.

"Why are we working for another veil creature?" said Reginald, annoyed.

Friday late, July 4

Still fearful of the Warden, the party stayed the night in Reginald's safe-house. All except Ebony, who was forbidden entry; she stayed in the apartment.

Mina was there too. She offered Ebony her wrist for a drink.

"Not tonight, thanks," said Ebony.

Saturday morning, July 5

The party headed down south to Salisbury, and had no trouble to find the Methodist Trinity church. The attached graveyard had about 1000 guests and was full; the graveyard was closed in 1950.

Contemporary geist theory states that the ghost of the last person to be buried in a cemetery becomes the guardian ghost. This ghost's task is to protect the graveyard from supernatural incursions, and would have this job (and could not "move on") until another occupant was buried. So when a graveyard gets full, it's a raw deal for the last one to be interred. In this case, parish records stated it was a John Smith.

The graveyard was surrounded by a cast iron fence, taller than a man, with spiked tops, and the only entry was a single iron gate next to the church building. This gate was padlocked closed each night.

The group had a wander through the cemetery. Despite being the height of summer, it still felt cold. And Theo's sixth sense was buzzing the whole time. But they found Thomas Mornay and John Smith's plots with no trouble.

Saturday noon, July 5

The party did a bit of research on Thomas Mornay and John Smith. Mornay was a blacksmith in 1850s, and he died in 1859 of "natural causes". Smith was an engineer who died in 1950 of a heart attack. Neither character appeared to be of any significance, and didn't make any impression on the local media of the time.

While they were back at the church, the Morte Christe gang happened to roar past on their way into Salisbury. The party chose to not let themselves be seen.

Saturday sunset 8:30 pm, July 5

The party waited outside the graveyard until it was dark. Ebony wore her Etheric Goggles. Sure enough, through the goggles, a ghostly dome could be seen surrounding the graveyard. In the centre was a small ghostly church (no sign of this in normal vision), and wandering around were five ghostly humanoid forms. They didn't react at all to any amount of shouting nor waving by the party outside the cemetery, However, the moment Ebony put her hand through the fence, the closest one reacted, and moved towards her.

The ghost drifted close. It was half skeletal, with chunks of rotting flesh drooling off it. Its eyes gleamed with a feral light. It bellowed and roared at her, trying to scare her. Then it turned inside out. Ebony managed to resist its scare, and found she could speak with it, so long as she had her hand through the fence. The rest of the group, standing nearby, could hear her but not the ghost.

It was indeed John Smith, but he was bitter at being last interred. When Ebony suggested she be allowed in the gate, he suddenly extended his fingernails, long as your forearm, and scratched her. The rest of the group, could see these nails. The theory was, that when the fingernails are corporeal, they are no longer etheric and are thus visible.

She asked about the other ghosts, and all he said was an abstruce "They're me".

Ebony moved to the iron gate, picked the padlock, and then pulled it open. Theo drew his katana and poured holy water on the blade.

Etheric Grenades

Ebony entered the graveyard, the five ghosts drifted towards her. She pulled one of her etheric grenades (obtained from STRIKE FORCE previously [ using Merit points ] ) and dropped it, then ran. The ghost recognized it too and attempted to run, but got caught by the etheric shrapnel.

Now the ghosts were wary, so when Ebony and Theo entered again, they were loathe to approach. However, one did, Ebony threw some holy water at it, and it just vanished. Another one drifted close, fingernails out and extended, and attacked. Holy water failed this time, but Theo could now see something to hit, so he swiped ... and missed. It clawed Ebony.

Theo struck again, and this time hit it. It drifted off, so Ebony threw a second etheric grenade, and caught it in the full blast. It vanished. And the other three ghosts instantly vanished too.

"Now we can dig up the skull in peace," said Ebony.

"Wait," said Reginald.