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.