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.
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| 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.
"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.
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| Etheric Grenades |
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.
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