Saturday early morning, July 19, 2014
Vampire Joel Grayling's body was lying on a table in STRIKE FORCE offices, still staked. Next to it was the casket containing the "spare" skeleton that Ebony had got STRIKE FORCE to source for her earlier attempt to trick Oberon, On a third table were the bagged bones of the Created that Ebony had recovered from beneath Defacto's garage.
Oberon had texted Theo, and Ebony: "Bring me those bones or else". Theo threw away the SIM card.
"What do we do now?" asked Ebony.
Reginald and Leon, as one, grabbed a STRIKE FORCE cleaver and decapitated Joel's remains, giving him the True Death. The party then watched, with some morbid satisfaction, as the remnants dissolved back to the body's true age - about 85 years; the skin tightened and dried to the bones, and the organs withered to a few husks in the rib cage.
They put the dry pieces in the casket with the spare skeleton.
"May as well burn that too," mused Ebony. "Oberon knows all now."
Lieutenant Prospero arranged for a police escort to take the three sets of bones to the furnace, which was now up and running, at Pennsylvania Hospital.
This trip was uneventful.
When they got there, the furnace was blazing bright and hot. Grayling's bones and the spare skeleton was burned first. The Created skeleton was then put onto the conveyor waiting to go into the furnace.
They needed to decide who would take the moral hit. Doctor Donald had pointed out that this Created was technically an "innocent". There was no indication that it was evil, and there was no indication that it posed any threat to the group, nor to the world.
None of these moral qualms affected Reggie. He stepped up in a flash.
"I'll do it," he snapped. And pushed the "go" button. [ He made his Morality roll. ]
The created's bones slipped into the 1200 C furnace.
Saturday sunrise, July 19
Sledge Hammer had been severely wounded by the gunfight, so the party checked him into the hospital; the very hospital where they had just finished burning the bones.
Sledge was put into surgery straight away.
In the recovery ward, he was visited by Doctor Bryan Philby, the heart surgeon and ... demon. Pete the orderly worked here too. Bryan recognized Sledge straight away, and told him he'd receive the "best care" here.
"I will personally see to you," said Dr Philby.
Later, Philby presented Sledge with the three bullets that they had extracted from his body.
Saturday late afternoon, July 19
Theo was becoming increasingly worried that Oberon would now be hunting him. This was not helped by Reginald starting up another sweep-stake as to when Theo would be killed.
He took off in a taxi a way out into the country. He was sure he could get his cursed ring out of range of Oberon's tracking. So stayed the night in a bedsit, some 100 km north of Philadelphia.
Sunday morning, July 20
The party visited Colleen Thomson and ex-Captain Lassard.
Theo wanted to try Colleen's Dolly to see if she could give him a fate reading. Colleen was happy to oblige, and handed the little doll to Theo.
Dolly didn't disappoint. Theo closed his eyes and let Dolly into his mind. Her gentle ethereal whispers faded away, and suddenly an image formed in his mind: on a grassy hill stood an old twisted oak. On a rope, twisting in the wind, was Theo's body. Hanged.
There was no indication of time, and not many landmarks around.
Sunday afternoon, July 20
Preparations for Sledge's and Safiya's up-and-coming wedding were well underway. It was now only nine days away. Plans had been made to change the exact time of the wedding to be plus or minus one or two hours, and they would contact all the RSVPed guests the day before. Mrs Hammer had invited a whole swag of Sledges relatives, so security was a nightmare. The hope was that the Morte Christe biker invaders, seen in Sledge's Dolly-vision, would be fooled by this last-minute change of time.
Jacob commented soberly.
"Your vision had no indication of time," he said. "How do you know the vision wasn't of the new time?"
Sunday late afternoon, July 20
Theo went off into the country again. To get out of range again.
Monday morning, July 21
Lieutenant Prospero had some news.
My job application was approved," he said. "I have been confirmed as the new commander of STRIKE FORCE in New York. I shall be promoted to Captain Prospero."
Murmurs of congratulation all around.
"I'll be starting a week today. And it means the position for STRIKE FORCE commander for Philadelphia will now be open."
Reginald's ears pricked up.
"I will apply, sah!"
"Whoever gets the position," said Prospero. "will be promoted to First or Second Lieutenant depending on their current STRIKE FORCE standing."
Thursday, March 26, 2015
Thursday, March 19, 2015
We want those bones!
Friday midnight, July 18
The party turned up at Mina's and had a good long talk to Doctor Donald about the Created.
Doctor Donald briefed them on the mechanics of the Created:
A small subset of veil-aware humans, the Creators, (Doctor Donald was one) had the gift of being able to create. He did not know if this power was learned, or en-spelled or genetic; but with him, he was born with it. These Creators could construct a creature out of mundane materials and some magic items. Then, by imbuing a little piece of them [ permanent Willpower ] into this construct, they could bring it to life. This creature was called a Created and would actually be alive and sentient. "He" or "she" or "it" was utterly under the control of the creator, and would only attain true free will if its creator died.
[ C.f. Frankenstein's monster, or the Jewish golem, or voodoo zombies, or some flavours of necromancy ]
This skeleton that Ebony had recovered (from beneath Defacto's arms warehouse in Fishtown) was only dry bones, but there was the spark of life still in the skull. Doctor Donald was more than happy to coat the bones with the flesh to bring it alive, but the party would have none of this.
"Necromancy!" shuddered both Reggie and Jacob.
They managed to sway Ebony and Mina of the need to have this thing destroyed, and they decided that it should be incinerated. Not that there was actually any evidence of evil or malice in the bones.
So they packed up the bones for transport and headed to the car; Reggie's SUV. Donald was furious and he followed them in his own car in convoy.
Ebony got hold of Detective Noble and arranged for STRIKE FORCE to locate a single skeleton of a normal dead person. To give to Ebony. Ebony's intent was to pass off this fake skeleton to her "debtors" (Oberon or Defacto).
Saturday very early morning, July 19
On the way to STRIKE FORCE HQ, they were heading north on 611 and were just passing Lombard South Metro Station when, suddenly, the front wheels of Reggie's car were shot away. Luckily, he was a skilled driver and managed to swerve to the side without rolling it over.
The whole party evacuated the car as it was hit by another wave of gunfire.
Down the street there was a group of shadowy figures with automatic weapons, and they were blasting away at the party.
The battle didn't last very long. Jacob called for STRIKE FORCE backup, and the attackers knew that the police would soon be on the scene, so all four of them charged.
Reggie opened up with his MP5, Leon with his shotgun and Sledge with his twin magnums. Sledge was dropped, and both Reggie and Leon were injured. But all four attackers were dropped. One was dead, the other three unconscious. One of them was a vampire. He had taken a direct hit from Reginald's MP5 and the damage was enough to drop him. But before he could regenerate and recover, Reggie staked his heart. [ Stakes hold the vampire in suspended animation - basically unconscious - until the creature is killed (decapitated or burned) or released. ]
The vampire had a photo ID. It was Joel Grayling.
STRIKE FORCE support arrived soon after, and the mundane police cordoned off the street. The group was then escorted safely back to the Central Police Station and to STRIKE FORCE HQ.
Saturday early morning, July 19
STRIKE FORCE databases didn't take long to link Joel Grayling with Oberon.
So Reginald phoned Oberon. He got through to Ms Anderson who dutifully passed the phone to her master.
"We have Joel," said Reggie. "Lets make a deal. Remove Ebony and Theo's rings and you can have him back."
"Tell you what," replied Oberon. "Give me those bones and I'll remove their rings. And clear your blood rent debt."
"No can do," said Reggie. And he hung up.
While this was going on, Prospero was making calls. He wanted to find the closest furnace to STRIKE FORCE.
He got through to the Pennsylvania Hospital and, despite it now being 2 am, he confirmed that their furnace was currently running.
The plan was to incinerate the created's bones there.
The party turned up at Mina's and had a good long talk to Doctor Donald about the Created.
Doctor Donald briefed them on the mechanics of the Created:
A small subset of veil-aware humans, the Creators, (Doctor Donald was one) had the gift of being able to create. He did not know if this power was learned, or en-spelled or genetic; but with him, he was born with it. These Creators could construct a creature out of mundane materials and some magic items. Then, by imbuing a little piece of them [ permanent Willpower ] into this construct, they could bring it to life. This creature was called a Created and would actually be alive and sentient. "He" or "she" or "it" was utterly under the control of the creator, and would only attain true free will if its creator died.
[ C.f. Frankenstein's monster, or the Jewish golem, or voodoo zombies, or some flavours of necromancy ]
This skeleton that Ebony had recovered (from beneath Defacto's arms warehouse in Fishtown) was only dry bones, but there was the spark of life still in the skull. Doctor Donald was more than happy to coat the bones with the flesh to bring it alive, but the party would have none of this.
"Necromancy!" shuddered both Reggie and Jacob.
They managed to sway Ebony and Mina of the need to have this thing destroyed, and they decided that it should be incinerated. Not that there was actually any evidence of evil or malice in the bones.
So they packed up the bones for transport and headed to the car; Reggie's SUV. Donald was furious and he followed them in his own car in convoy.
Ebony got hold of Detective Noble and arranged for STRIKE FORCE to locate a single skeleton of a normal dead person. To give to Ebony. Ebony's intent was to pass off this fake skeleton to her "debtors" (Oberon or Defacto).
Saturday very early morning, July 19
On the way to STRIKE FORCE HQ, they were heading north on 611 and were just passing Lombard South Metro Station when, suddenly, the front wheels of Reggie's car were shot away. Luckily, he was a skilled driver and managed to swerve to the side without rolling it over.
The whole party evacuated the car as it was hit by another wave of gunfire.
Down the street there was a group of shadowy figures with automatic weapons, and they were blasting away at the party.
The battle didn't last very long. Jacob called for STRIKE FORCE backup, and the attackers knew that the police would soon be on the scene, so all four of them charged.
Reggie opened up with his MP5, Leon with his shotgun and Sledge with his twin magnums. Sledge was dropped, and both Reggie and Leon were injured. But all four attackers were dropped. One was dead, the other three unconscious. One of them was a vampire. He had taken a direct hit from Reginald's MP5 and the damage was enough to drop him. But before he could regenerate and recover, Reggie staked his heart. [ Stakes hold the vampire in suspended animation - basically unconscious - until the creature is killed (decapitated or burned) or released. ]
The vampire had a photo ID. It was Joel Grayling.
STRIKE FORCE support arrived soon after, and the mundane police cordoned off the street. The group was then escorted safely back to the Central Police Station and to STRIKE FORCE HQ.
Saturday early morning, July 19
STRIKE FORCE databases didn't take long to link Joel Grayling with Oberon.
So Reginald phoned Oberon. He got through to Ms Anderson who dutifully passed the phone to her master.
"We have Joel," said Reggie. "Lets make a deal. Remove Ebony and Theo's rings and you can have him back."
"Tell you what," replied Oberon. "Give me those bones and I'll remove their rings. And clear your blood rent debt."
"No can do," said Reggie. And he hung up.
While this was going on, Prospero was making calls. He wanted to find the closest furnace to STRIKE FORCE.
He got through to the Pennsylvania Hospital and, despite it now being 2 am, he confirmed that their furnace was currently running.
The plan was to incinerate the created's bones there.
Thursday, March 12, 2015
The Created
Wednesday morning, July 16
In STRIKE FORCE HQ in Philly, there was a lot of gossip going around. Captain Lassard officially resigned from STRIKE FORCE, so that he could stay, and retire, with Colleen Thomson. They were planning to settle in Philadelphia. This, of course, meant that the STRIKE FORCE Commander position of the New York wing was now vacant. Whoever would get this position would be promoted to Captain.
Sledge, Reggie and Leon put their names forward (and presumably many more in New York). Lieutenant Prospero did likewise.
Reggie and Leon got an answer back straight away. They had interviews scheduled for Friday.
Sledge didn't.
Wednesday night, July 16
Ebony checked out the target warehouse on the corner of East Albert Street and Webb Street in Fishtown. It wasn't actually a warehouse but just a garage. But it was certainly surrounded by a group of heavily armed men. She didn't dare venture any closer, but just confirmed it was some men, with some dogs.
She went back to Defacto, and managed to wheedle out of him a bunch of incendiary grenades.
"In case you wondered," he added wryly. "They won't work on vampires."
Thursday morning, July 17
Mina's veil-aware lawyer Carole Christie got all the STRIKE FORCE charges dropped for Colleen.
Ebony mentioned to Prospero and the group that she was working for Defacto as part of a deal with Oberon. When she relayed the Fishtown address, he pointed out that this was the very "warehouse" where the Morte Christe bikers picked up the heavy weapons for their attack on the STRIKE FORCE Protective Custody apartment a week ago. And this garage was already owned by Defacto.
"Why would he want his own garage destroyed?" Ebony asked no-one in particular. Not that Defacto knew that Ebony knew this place was owned by him.
The garage was still being studied by mundane CSI and forensics. They were the heavily armed men (and dogs) that she had seen last night.
Prospero arranged for them to finish up today, before sunset, so that Ebony could burn the place tonight to maintain her cover and impress Defacto of her diligence and resourcefulness.
Sledge Hammer pondered Ebony's situation.
"Let me get this straight, Ebony," he said. "You are Mina's ghoul, yet Oberon gave you (and Theo) the cursed anti-ghoul rings, and Oberon wants you to get in with Defacto, to infiltrate and tell Oberon what is going on, but in secret you work for Mina. So you are working for all three of the vampire nobles of Philly, against each other."
Ebony nodded.
"How can this possibly not turn out badly?" said Sledge.
"Let's start a sweep-stake!" said Reggie. "As to how long Ebony will survive. I say four days."
"I say four weeks," said Leon.
"Two weeks," said Sledge.
Thursday night, July 17
With the police all gone, Ebony turned up at the Fishtown garage with her incendiary grenades and some containers of petrol. She took along Theo to do a Sixth Sense sweep, just in case.
Sure enough, Theo spotted a tingling source. Luckily, it was still early nightfall and they managed to get Siri to visit to pin-point the source. It was under the concrete, in the middle of the slab floor.
So Ebony hired a concrete cutter, Siri cast a Silence spell, and Ebony cut a rectangular slab from the concrete floor, then dug down. There was a skeleton there, lying face down, but it was made up of different bones; about ten different creatures.
Siri was still hanging around, so she cast some more spells and revealed that it was a Created creature. This is another type of veil creature of the type like Frankenstein's monster, or a Jewish gollum. Despite being a skeleton, and despite probably lying there since the concrete floor had been poured (forty years, give or take), it still had a "life spark" (revealed by Siri's spell).
Ebony put the created's skeleton safely in her car, then ignited the grenades and the petrol, and razed the garage entirely.
Then she took the skeleton to Mina's place, for storage and safety. To confirm Siri's life spark detection, Mina's veil detector "mushroom" showed its own little coloured dot where the skull was stored.
Just to be sure, Ebony asked Mina to split the bones up into four separate containers. To stop anything reforming.
And then, feeling a bit wan, Ebony took up Mina's nightly offer of a drink of blood. Mina happily cut her wrist and dribbled the delicious blood into Ebony's mouth.
Mina's knowledge of the Created was scant. So she searched through her contacts and got hold of a Doctor Thom Donald. He knew a lot about the Created, and he would be in Philadelphia tomorrow night.
Ebony went and reported to Defacto. He was very impressed she had burned the place.
Ebony then went and reported to Oberon. She did mention the created skeleton.
Friday midday, July 18
Reggie and Leon drove to New York. They went to the STRIKE FORCE HQ there and were both interviewed for the position of STRIKE FORCE Commander of New York.
Leon did not have much STRIKE FORCE experience [ one STRIKE FORCE merit dot ].
But the interviewer was quite impressed with Reggie. He was a STRIKE FORCE Corporal [ three merit dots ] and he knew the STRIKE FORCE Constitution pretty well.
Friday night, July 18
Doctor Donald arrived at Mina's abode. Ebony was already there. He had a look at the Created's bones and confirmed Siri's magic. He said that he could reskin and reanimate the creature if they so wanted.
"We will think about this," said Mina.
Ebony's cell rang. It was Oberon.
"Bring me those bones."
[ Abu's hieroglyphics analysis, roll 13, need sum=20: week1(19-25 jun)=6, week2(26jun-3jul)=0, week3(4-10jul)=3, week4(11-18jul)=6 ]
In STRIKE FORCE HQ in Philly, there was a lot of gossip going around. Captain Lassard officially resigned from STRIKE FORCE, so that he could stay, and retire, with Colleen Thomson. They were planning to settle in Philadelphia. This, of course, meant that the STRIKE FORCE Commander position of the New York wing was now vacant. Whoever would get this position would be promoted to Captain.
Sledge, Reggie and Leon put their names forward (and presumably many more in New York). Lieutenant Prospero did likewise.
Reggie and Leon got an answer back straight away. They had interviews scheduled for Friday.
Sledge didn't.
Wednesday night, July 16
Ebony checked out the target warehouse on the corner of East Albert Street and Webb Street in Fishtown. It wasn't actually a warehouse but just a garage. But it was certainly surrounded by a group of heavily armed men. She didn't dare venture any closer, but just confirmed it was some men, with some dogs.
She went back to Defacto, and managed to wheedle out of him a bunch of incendiary grenades.
"In case you wondered," he added wryly. "They won't work on vampires."
Thursday morning, July 17
Mina's veil-aware lawyer Carole Christie got all the STRIKE FORCE charges dropped for Colleen.
Ebony mentioned to Prospero and the group that she was working for Defacto as part of a deal with Oberon. When she relayed the Fishtown address, he pointed out that this was the very "warehouse" where the Morte Christe bikers picked up the heavy weapons for their attack on the STRIKE FORCE Protective Custody apartment a week ago. And this garage was already owned by Defacto.
"Why would he want his own garage destroyed?" Ebony asked no-one in particular. Not that Defacto knew that Ebony knew this place was owned by him.
The garage was still being studied by mundane CSI and forensics. They were the heavily armed men (and dogs) that she had seen last night.
Prospero arranged for them to finish up today, before sunset, so that Ebony could burn the place tonight to maintain her cover and impress Defacto of her diligence and resourcefulness.
Sledge Hammer pondered Ebony's situation.
"Let me get this straight, Ebony," he said. "You are Mina's ghoul, yet Oberon gave you (and Theo) the cursed anti-ghoul rings, and Oberon wants you to get in with Defacto, to infiltrate and tell Oberon what is going on, but in secret you work for Mina. So you are working for all three of the vampire nobles of Philly, against each other."
Ebony nodded.
"How can this possibly not turn out badly?" said Sledge.
"Let's start a sweep-stake!" said Reggie. "As to how long Ebony will survive. I say four days."
"I say four weeks," said Leon.
"Two weeks," said Sledge.
Thursday night, July 17
With the police all gone, Ebony turned up at the Fishtown garage with her incendiary grenades and some containers of petrol. She took along Theo to do a Sixth Sense sweep, just in case.
Sure enough, Theo spotted a tingling source. Luckily, it was still early nightfall and they managed to get Siri to visit to pin-point the source. It was under the concrete, in the middle of the slab floor.
So Ebony hired a concrete cutter, Siri cast a Silence spell, and Ebony cut a rectangular slab from the concrete floor, then dug down. There was a skeleton there, lying face down, but it was made up of different bones; about ten different creatures.
Siri was still hanging around, so she cast some more spells and revealed that it was a Created creature. This is another type of veil creature of the type like Frankenstein's monster, or a Jewish gollum. Despite being a skeleton, and despite probably lying there since the concrete floor had been poured (forty years, give or take), it still had a "life spark" (revealed by Siri's spell).
Ebony put the created's skeleton safely in her car, then ignited the grenades and the petrol, and razed the garage entirely.
Then she took the skeleton to Mina's place, for storage and safety. To confirm Siri's life spark detection, Mina's veil detector "mushroom" showed its own little coloured dot where the skull was stored.
Just to be sure, Ebony asked Mina to split the bones up into four separate containers. To stop anything reforming.
And then, feeling a bit wan, Ebony took up Mina's nightly offer of a drink of blood. Mina happily cut her wrist and dribbled the delicious blood into Ebony's mouth.
Mina's knowledge of the Created was scant. So she searched through her contacts and got hold of a Doctor Thom Donald. He knew a lot about the Created, and he would be in Philadelphia tomorrow night.
Ebony went and reported to Defacto. He was very impressed she had burned the place.
Ebony then went and reported to Oberon. She did mention the created skeleton.
Friday midday, July 18
Reggie and Leon drove to New York. They went to the STRIKE FORCE HQ there and were both interviewed for the position of STRIKE FORCE Commander of New York.
Leon did not have much STRIKE FORCE experience [ one STRIKE FORCE merit dot ].
But the interviewer was quite impressed with Reggie. He was a STRIKE FORCE Corporal [ three merit dots ] and he knew the STRIKE FORCE Constitution pretty well.
Friday night, July 18
Doctor Donald arrived at Mina's abode. Ebony was already there. He had a look at the Created's bones and confirmed Siri's magic. He said that he could reskin and reanimate the creature if they so wanted.
"We will think about this," said Mina.
Ebony's cell rang. It was Oberon.
"Bring me those bones."
[ Abu's hieroglyphics analysis, roll 13, need sum=20: week1(19-25 jun)=6, week2(26jun-3jul)=0, week3(4-10jul)=3, week4(11-18jul)=6 ]
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)